我最喜欢的记忆 (My Favorite Memory)

I'm a person who is all about the memories and melodies. Photo opportunities, crazy ideas, and (most likely) a song coming out of my mouth. I'm learning to cope, and so are the people around me. During our time in LongDe China, every second was an opportunity for a memory or photo. I was blessed to be on a team with nine other women. Nine wonderful women who I could (and would) consult as sisters in a heartbeat. It's been truely beautiful as our lives begin to take their form back here in the U.S. and we are still able to keep our experience alive amongst ourselves. Yay for beauty.

Team One : Stephanie, Danielle, Kayla, Kristina, Jane

Team Two: Alyssa, Lian, Tiffany, Mary Beth, Phiet

The rainbow that we drove through.

It quickly became a tradition of our teams to take 'jumping photos' anywhere that we went. They're fun, right? And unpredictable, and they make you stand out from the surroundings around you. That basically encompasses our entire experience in LongDe. (Looking past the fact that it made us scream out "Hey, we're crazy foreigners", it provided quite the wealth of entertainment for those who watched us. Our translators and posse thought that it was endearing and even tried to get in on the fun a few times.) I don't think that any of us can deny the fun that we had. Yes, even on the days that were to be for 'resting', that instead resulted in twelve hour trips, risking our lives on a car trip through the clouds and around corners with thousand foot drops. (You think I'm kidding?) God always has a way of being faithful. The sights that we saw were so exceptionally majestic that no photo device could ever capture them properly. We were so high in the clouds that we actually realized that we were driving through a rainbow. Allow me to repeat that again, we were driving through a rainbow. Through a rainbow! Who gets to do that ever?! I love rainbows. Besides being beautiful I think that they stand for so much hope and promise that is incomprehensible to our human minds. The amazing part was that it came at just the right time. Our van, quickly climbing up this mountain, raising hundreds and thousands of feet and we twist and turn around bend after boulder after bend. Oh, never mind the truck in the other lane, twice as big as the designated lane, coming the opposite way, missing our van by centimeters while rocks from underneath our wheels tumble off the ledge to a new home a couple thousands feet below. It's safe to say that chaos and panic were rising within that van. I recall sitting next to my [freakin' awesome] team leader, Kristina, trembling with excitement and fear inside. Luckily for me, I had a window seat that allowed me to see oncoming traffic and not the alternate universe below us. But trust me, I could hear screams and squeals, and yes, even tears. Kristina took the opportunity to capture a wonderful video, which now I would pay money to see. The end of the story is this: we eventually made it to our destination which ended up being the beautiful and serene "Dragon Lake." Those tales for another time...

Let's see, other crazy memories. Oh dear, so many to choose from. Well, I previously mentioned that 'jumping photos' are fun, unpredictable, and make you stand out. These were lessons we quickly learned when we entered LongDe. Even within the first hours. 

When we arrived in the city we were immediately welcomed with a banquet. We were briefed during training in Hong Kong that we would most likely be attending Chinese banquets, and had to be coached on the proper manners. For example, you do not choose your seats, the hosts choose for you. Toasts are appropriate. There will be as many as 30 to 50 dishes of food sitting on the lazy susan in front of you, you must try them all to be polite (praise the Lord we were able to get away with this sometimes). The point of a Chinese banquet is not to finish your food. If you do, you insult the host. By them bringing the food and displaying it they are showing and representing themselves. To eat it all would make them lose face. It was also explained that we (as the guests) should have some mode of entertainment prepared, as entertainment would be an appropriate 'thank you' towards our hosts. There's a variety of other rules as well but I'm currently drawing a blank.

Dont be fooled: the beds were boards and the pillows sacks of oats. Our cozy home.

Anyways, we were then escorted to our place of stay, which was thankfully just behind where we ate. We moved our belongings into rooms on the first floor of the 'hotel'. After settling in, one of the school officials came back and scolded the hotel employers that the first floor is far too damp for the foreigners, so we were moved upstairs. We repacked our things and hauled them up the uneven stairs to new rooms. (Ok, I know people say that stairs are 'uneven' all the time, but trust me, it really messes with your psyche when you continue to trip over things that are there that shouldn't be. It's not like you could walk down these stairs and not look at them...you had to watch your step. That was just a side note--a little more detail in case you cared.)

Team LongDe with Mary (center)

That very night we were invited to our first official banquet. The room we entered had a round table the size of a swimming pool. We entered and the lazy susan was spinning with vegetables, breads, and various other things. The ten of us were terrified out of our minds. We did not want to screw this up. We were the first foreigners to ever be in LongDe, we had a lot riding on this. Then entered the school officials. I can't tell you who they are... they all kinda looked the same, but there were about ten men, then the governor of LongDe (a woman), and our soon favorite Mary. Mary, over the course of our time there, was more or less our tour guide. She taught English at LongDe Middle School #2 ( I taught at #1) and quickly became friends with all of us, moreso with LongDe team 2.

There was a lot of hesitation, but we all eventually found our places, Kristina and MaryBeth joined as one, knowing that they had to lead all of us through this, and even give a toast along the way. The governor of LongDe expressed her thanks and appreciation for us being there and then recited a Chinese Poem. This poem was particularly important because it was about the great, the famous Liupan Mountain. I realize that means nothing to most of you, and that's fine. There are so many stories about this mountain that I could sit here and type nonstop and still fear that graduation would come before I get to type them all out. 

Our banquet consisted of dish after dish, toast after toast. They quickly realized that we didn't drink alcohol and so we toasted with orange juice. This however, did not stop them from alcohol consumption. After about the fifth toast we began to dread when someone would rise with a glass in hand. We would dread even more when they finished their speech with "bottoms up". Throughout the course of the evening there were nine toasts. Please, allow me to get across to you that consuming nine glasses of orange juice in one sitting is not good for anyones digestive system.

About one and a half hours into our banquet we as team LongDe arose together to entertain our hosts. We appropriately aligned and busted out a three part "lean on me" sequence along with side steps and snapping. If anything it was a testament to the true power of music because the look of joy and appreciation on the faces of the men in that room were as if they were little children getting to ride a ferris wheel for the first time. After our completion they quickly begged for more. Honored, we agreed to sing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Eh, we forgot the words, and there was no choreography, but we made it work. Well, the power of music quickly spread because then a group of the school officials had a Chinese song that they wanted to sing for us. Mmmm, it was quite the experience. They were so proud of themselves as the song was completed, they quickly passed off that the next song should be sung by us. We soon realized that we had accepted participation in a sing off, America vs. China, all for the sake of entertainment. After an hour of Chinese songs and random American songs, I began to scathingly hate the power of music. Within that time I participated in a duet of "A Whole New World", and various other Disney songs. The sing off (and more toasting) continued another half hour, at which point our team leaders so graciously made it known that we were tired and needed to sleep. The school officials quickly agreed and escorted us out as we made our way back to our rooms. Damn you, power of music.

Summer Dream in trees with the "Class 3" flag.

I need you to know that when I say 'this is my favorite memory' I don't just mean that this is my favorite memory from China. I'm saying that this is perhaps my favorite memory from my whole life, one that I will tell my children, my husband, the world. I will say this, my favorite memory did in fact involve the power of music. For as much as I try to stop it, deny it, and keep it under control it's this thing that just flows out of me. I was able to incorporate this into my class on a daily basis. It was blatantly clear that class Summer Dream would be singing every day. I'm your teacher, therefore you sing. Inspired by the above story, the first song that I taught them was "lean on me", complete with hand motions and clapping. This of course, did not all happen in one day, it took time. Summer Dream quickly became my first practice choir. The language barrier proved for some difficulty, but they made it known that their favorite part of every class was when Miss Kayla would sing to them. 
We learned a whole variety of songs. One of my favorites to teach them was "You Are My Sunshine". This song means so much to me personally just because of my childhood, and because I've taken on the nickname 'sunshine' throughout my college years. In class I explained to them that in America, you can substitute the word 'sunshine' for girlfriend or boyfriend. That got them giggling like no other. (That's another thing--it is very rare that you can get a crowd of Chinese students to erupt in laughter like students would here. All laughing is kept to giggles and hidden behind a hand or an arm that they put up to cover their face.) Me, being the culturally insensitive drill sargent that I am (I say that with sarcasam) told the boys that they had to perform this song for the ladies, using the word 'girlfriend' instead of sunshine. Of course, Mateo was all into it but the rest of the guys weren't. They girls had to do the same, perform for the boys. Barely any singing was done due to the high amount of giggling and flushed cheeks. Oops :)

Cindy & I

That was background information. Our final day as I have mentioned in previous posts was very interesting. For those of you just tuning in we had a closing ceremony at which we all bawled our eyes out. This was the last time we would ever be together as a group, to live the Summer Dream. I previously posted about Kristy and how she sobbed in my arms. I didn't tell you what happened next. You see, as she was being held by me, she began to drag me over to a section of the courtyard where the remainder of my class had gathered in a semi circle. Jaime stood in the middle, waving our pink "Class 3" flag loud and proud. My students heads were bowed, surround sound sniffles. I was approached by my student Cindy who quickly came to the middle of the semicircle. She led the class in the song "Njalo" which I taught them the day we learned about South Africa.  I was touched. They were able to remember the songs that I had taught them, on their own, they didn't need me there to lead them. I knew in that moment that I had left a song in their heart and a way for them to always remember Summer Dream. "Njalo" ended and I graciously applauded them, so excited for their gift. The crowd somewhat disassembled and I assumed all was over, that is until I heard Cindy taking charge. It sounded like this: "chinese-chinese-chinese-chinese-SUNSHINE-chinese-chinese-KAYLA-chinese-SUNSHINEKAYLA" and my class instantly regrouped to perform as Summer Dream for one last time:

"You are my Kayla, My only Kayla

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear how much I love you.

Please don't take my Kayla away."

Instant tears.

-康女