Meager March

Tomorrow begins Meager March for some of us. You might remember me blogging about Jovial January, well this is another idea brought to you by our great Shiyan friends. (There was a Festive February but I didn't participate in that one.) Check out Angelyn's blog for more info, but the basic gist is this: Angelyn came across an article that said the amount a person could live on in China is 169 RMB (about $23) per month. So if a person only makes 100 RMB the government would supply the remaining 69 RMB they need to live on. That a person could, or be expected to, live on this amount of money was shocking to many of us! So in an effort to be mindful of the least of these, and to reduce and simplify waste in our own lives, we're embracing Meager March. Some people are sticking strictly to the 169 RMB budget, while others are making modifications and goals to reduce spending and increase giving in other ways. Because we have apartments with electricity, water, gas, etc all paid for, it's a little difficult to figure out how to work with the 169 RMB budget. We have free internet, free TV. Also we're here with relationship-building Work in mind and don't want to neglect that in any way.

So here is what Meager March will look like for me:
-I will reduce my personal Internet time to 15 min a day. I know I waste an exorbitant amount of time on the computer, but some types of communication are necessary for teaching. And our families wouldn't like it too much if we cut things out all together. I have a feeling this will leave me open to an abundance of time...
But if I were living in poverty, I think Internet would be the last thing on my mind.
-I will buy my vegetables and fruits from a local person in the markets instead of buying from a big supermarket like I usually do (prepackaged and priced). This way I know that money is going to a person that needs it, and even though I'll be overcharged because I'm a foreigner I think it will still be cheaper than buying in a large store.
-I will only take the bus or walk for the month of March. It only costs 1 RMB (2 RMB round trip) to go into town by bus compared to 8 RMB for a taxi. This will take more time since we'll have to walk more places, but time shouldn't be a problem (see #1).
-I will be more mindful of conserving resources, for example, making sure lights are out, turning off my computer when I'm not using it, and only using heat when I really need it. Thankfully it's getting warmer. Also conserving water by taking shorter showers (as it gets warmer, turning off shower until you have to rinse) and washing clothes only when they're really dirty.
-I will spend time in prayer alone, or with others, each day remembering the least of these and ways that I can give of my time and resources to show His love.

We're looking for a praying about ways we can use the money we save in a productive way here. So pray for those opportunities for us too. Also, check out Daniel and Amanda's blog. They were interviewed on Oprah recently where they had the opportunity to talk about dumpster diving and other ways they're trying to follow Christ in living with less and giving to others.

I'm so thankful to have friends from all over challenging each other to live as He called us to. What is Meager March for you?

Blog Jar Catch Up

Alright, I've been slacking in my blog jar...so here we go!

What is your favorite thing to do at home?
Blare my music, dance around, and sing

Between the ages of 5 and 10, what was your favorite activity?
Probably doing random craft projects with my mom

What food or beverage do you crave?
Diet Coke the size of my head and avocado (not necessarily together)

Have you ever sung in a group, choir, or band?
Yep, all three! Choir in elementary school, "group" in Junior High (we were going to be famous), and I sang with my friend Tammy Rochelle's band and on her cd a few years ago.

Have you ever appeared on TV?
Yes, during preschool Talk of the Town came to interview my class about Easter. I said "stickels" instead of stickers. How cute.

What is your favorite scripture and why?
Psalm 143:8-12. It soothes my soul at all times.

When you hear "teach English in China" what is the first word that comes to mind?
Chinglish

What is your favorite color? What associations do you have with that color?
I like scarlet, cranberry, crimson, whatever you want to call it. I associate it with Alabama football, though I couldn't care less about it, cherries, and my favorite decor.

Guess that's enough randomness for now.

Especially for K and K

So usually the bigger the class, the bigger the nightmare. It's just so hard to control so many students. And in my experience, somehow they've squeezed all the terrible speakers into one huge class. Well, it doesn't appear to be that way this term. My bigger classes have seemed pretty cool. Strangely enough, out of those huge classes (nearly 100 all together) I only have a few names of interest! So here they are.

Train
Melon
Papaya
Yore

(Melon and Papaya are girls....and friends no doubt)

Trains of Yore carried Papayas and Melons.

Not a bad week all together.

Oh, my class yesterday went on and on about their old foreign teacher. Where is ____? ____ used to do this. ______ used to take us outside to enjoy the sunshine. We miss ______. What are you going to do? Great. An expectation.

Assessment smeshment

If you would like to know #11-20 of the top jobs for you, go to this site and answer a bunch of questions that reveal what you already know about yourself: www.assessment.com

What! No one wants to know #11! I want to know 1-10! But alas, I'm way to cheap to pay for it.

And the list goes on...

This morning I had my first 8:00. I actually perked up at 6:45 this morning sans alarm (amazing what going to bed at 10 will do). My 8:00 class actually turned out to be pretty great. They seem to have a good sense of humor as a class and their English is pretty good. I'm glad to have an 8:00 that might keep a pulse that early. My 10:00 may be another story. Though it is one of my smallest classes, it was like pulling teeth to get them to even say "My hobby is playing basketball." Sigh.

But the name list goes on...
(all guys again)
Sky
Sunny
Windy
Summer
Speed
Bridge
Hero
Snowman
Ntcat (how do you even say that!)

"The Sky looks Sunny and Windy in the Summer so why is there a Snowman?" asked the Hero crossing the Bridge at high Speed. Ntcat!

In other news, I'm on the same hall with Katie and my students from last year, so that should be fun. It was fun to see them again. They kept asking me why I wasn't their teacher this term...if they'd been too naughty. I just laughed. Even if I'd asked to be removed b/c they were "naughty" it would never work. The school just randomly puts people where they want. They said they missed me, which probably isn't true, but maybe we'll get to hang out more outside of class now.

What's in a name...

Well, one class down so far. It's what I expected: freshmen who are scared of English/don't care about English. A few of them had pretty good speaking skills from what I could see. This first class were all Civil Engineering majors. And as always, English names are never dull. Check out this list (all guys):
King
Cookie
Panasonic
Tomorrow
Future
Mars

Tomorrow the Panasonic King will determine the Future of a Mars Cookie.

Aiya.

Schedule and Disclaimer

Well, it's been good to be back and catch up on all I've missed. And it was good to be back in my bed! I've just been cleaning and unpacking getting ready for the new term. I start teaching tomorrow. My schedule looks pretty good; mostly 10:00 classes and no night classes! Woohoo! I'm teaching 16 hours of Freshman Oral English. I've taught this book before, and it's ok, so hopefully my classes will be good!

Now in my last post I mentioned that I flew over the North Pole. Beth informed me that we've done that every time. And that would make sense. But I swear I've never seen it on the little map on the plane before! I must have always been asleep at that point. Anyway, I'm not a complete idiot, but it was entertaining to see a little plane flying over a map of the North Pole! So there.
:)

Back.

Car plane plane minibus dank hotel minibus plane car stairs.
It went something like that. No problems at all! (thank you!)
We did fly over the North Pole which I thought was interesting...

Anyway, I'm back. There was much rejoicing to see my friends here. Hopefully I'll get my teaching schedule today and figure out the next step!

Update time

Well I've been pretty bad about blogging stateside. Not too much to report. I just got back to Orlando last night. I spent two weeks in Nashville seeing friends and family. While I had more downtime than my overachieving personality desires, it was still a good visit. I left feelin' the love. So here I am in Orlando for a few days, shopping, packing, and getting everything together for the next round. I fly out on Friday for my two day flying adventure back to Yichang.

I'll say this: I am ready to be back in Yichang, actually ready for the semester to begin. I've missed having a schedule and purpose. And I've missed my China pengyous! This has been a nice, refreshing vacation, but I'm ready to get back to it!