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

Alpha (fe)Male

As life progresses, most humans become more self aware of who they are and who they're not. What gifts and talents they have and with what talents they have not. It is in the hopes of getting older that one becomes at peace with what is given to them and at peace with who they are, and then use that person to change the world with what they've been given. There is one person who I never was, and never will be. I was never that girl in high school. The cool one, leader of a pack, any pack, several packs. I was a serious academic goofball. Who giggled a lot. I'm realizing now that it's becoming incorporated in my teaching style, which seems to work for most people. But it didn't work for Kristy.

It's actually kind of ironic how sometimes a name totally fits the person that it's given to. Do we grow into these names, or is it just coincidence? I recall compiling a sheet of English names to allow my students to pick from. Coming up with 50 names is a lot harder than one might originally imagine it to be. Regardless, as I was compiling this list I was thinking to myself "Whitney--thats a name for a party girl." "Matt--thats a name for a heart breaker." "Bruno--thats a name form a beefy dude." "Kristy--thats a name for a really cool girl." Destiny, my friends. Destiny. 

(ps, no offense to those of you named Whitney, Matt, or Bruno.)

Jenna and Kristy being crafty. Can you see her gray streaks?

Kristy was that girl. It became very clear even from the first day that Kristy played a huge role in the social realm of Summer Dream. She was always being clung to by other members of class, and always had a smile spread across her face, especially when the boys were around. Kristy had a "cool" factor. Just like the movies, she could be walking down the hallway at school and every head would turn and the boys would drop their books and this heavenly glow would follow her in a five foot bubble. I caught myself in my head (as the teacher) saying "wow, I want to be like Kristy."

Kristy was my secret girl crush, and my biggest struggle. Kristy was blatantly the lowest ability English speaker in my classroom. For the first few days while she would chit-chat away when I was teaching I tried all the tricks in the book. The "proximity factor" where you as the teacher move closer towards whatever distraction is in the room. The "staring", "Waiting game"...of course, I couldn't do these for too long, it made me feel mean inside. It wasn't until we took an afternoon to have "girl talk" and "boy talk". This opportunity was spawned after the heavens decided to open up and not allow us to play various outside activities. I brought a bag of Starburst and the kids were set to go (seriously... they went crazy over it). While having "girls talk", we allowed them to talk about hopes and dreams, more personal stuff than what one would say in front of a classroom of twenty. I recall going around the circle and asking each of my 9 girls various questions. As soon as I would ask Kristy a question she would immediately lean over to a friend and speak Chinese. Her answers would come, very slow, and in very poor English. It was then I realized that all of the side conversation was a translation. We were trained that there would be talking in our classrooms and students would ask each other questions, but Kristy was my only student who really struggled. All I received from Kristy were blank stares. Oh, she would laugh if I did something goofy (which was an every other minute occurrence). She would constantly have her phone out, translating from English to Chinese. 

Yes, those are real mountains in the background.

Kristy was certainly not a star student, but she still had that 'it' factor. She didn't wear the school uniform like the other students. She had this flowing black hair, streaked with gray. She had the walk of a model, and the laugh of a child. I learned that she was my only student who actually lived there at the school full time (while others, like Jaime, would go home on the weekends). When there were boys, there was Kristy. And they listened to her. Our final day we spent the morning going on a photo scavenger hunt. Twenty pictures, two hours. One of the assigned tasks was to spell out your teachers name using your body. So together, Summer Dream assembled to spell "Kayla". I have never seen so much sheer chaos in my life. Kristy directing the way, twenty minutes later, my name was spelled on the field. All I could do was stand back and laugh...and take the picture for proof.

Kristy was oober crafty, just like many girls in China. Her favorite day of all time was when we learned about the American wedding. We brought in rolls upon rolls of toilet paper, and the classes were to dress up their teachers for a "bridal fashion show". Although we had planned for this to take like, a half an hour, our students got super into it. An hour later, they were still designing our dresses, adding on the most meticulous details with toilet paper and tape. Kristy, my fashionista, had to make sure that Miss Kayla looked all right. One of her fellow students placed the flower in not the right spot so she had to do it all over again. I have never felt so pampered in my life as to when my kids decorated me with toilet paper. We tried out several bouquets and colors to match my hair (mind you these were flowers that were stolen from the auditorium decorating). All of the students were so proud of what they had done, but not a face shone brighter in the room than Kristy's.

American brides? Miss Stephanie, Miss Jane, Miss Liu, and myself.

As a teacher, I quickly felt so disconnected from her because of the communication barrier. I often wondered if I had enlightened her life at all if all she was doing was getting translations day after day. It wasn't until the closing ceremony. We were originally told that the ceremony would be on Saturday morning, and then we would leave. However, as they often happen in Asia, plans change rather quickly and you just have to go for it. Our ceremony was moved to the previous day, cutting in on quality time with our students. As soon as the ceremony began, it was over. Huge 'to-do's are never very long, our closing ceremony lasting a matter of 15 minutes as we handed a certificate to each of our students. Jaime, stepping up to shake my hand "Miss Kayla, I'm so proud of you", and Kristy, already tears welling in her eyes.

We progressed outside to take pictures, say our final goodbyes and Kristy patiently stood in line to hug me. As she approached she collapsed on my chest, sobbing, wailing as if at a funeral. "Miss Kayla, don't go. Please don't go. Miss Kayla I love you, don't go." What does one say to that? I responded with tears and tighter squeezes. Perhaps I did make a difference after all.

There is no way Im finishing this post on that note. There still is one memory of Kristy left, a memory that leaves me joy and spurts giggles from my gut. You see, we progressed into the most extensive photoshoot I have ever been a part of, lasting an hour and a half in length. Every student wanted their own picture with the teachers, then every friend group wanted a picture with the teachers, then strangers off the street wanted pictures with the foreign teachers...lots of smiling to be so sad inside. At one point my Summer Dreamers gathered around, jabbering in Chinese, myself just nodding and smiling, as always. Out of nowhere Kristy's voice level raises. She begins shouting and jumping, pointing, a look on her face of determination and slight anger. She slaps Mateo across the arm and he begins to run across the street, dodging three wheeled cars and cyclists. The remainder of the class starts go giggle and laugh and Kristy comes over to embrace me. I inquired as to what just happened. "Mah-few go get ice cream. Your favorite." And minutes later, Mateo returned with five ice creams in hand, one for each of us foreign teachers. Thank you, Kristy, for being the leader of the pack.

-康妮

It says "Queen of Pop", not poop. I swear.

Class Clown

If there is something in my life that I must have on a daily basis, it would have to be humor. I could live without the coffee, a shower, or socks but I know that a day is not complete if I haven't laughed or found something to be funny. Trust me, chocolate is pretty high up there too, but laughing causes the same effects. There is something special about laughing with a group of people who are different from you, laughing with a group of people when there is a huge communication barrier.

Every class has a "class clown". A show-off, a trouble-maker, a kid who likes to stir the pot. For class Summer Dream, Matthew played that role rather well. I can't tell you what his family is like, or about his childhood, but I can tell you about his lifelong ambition: to become a famous singer. Matthew was by far one of my most enthusiastic students, the most into the songs that we sang, and the most persistent when it came to carrying the Summer Dream banner. He's this kid that you just have to love.

There is a flower petal stuck to my head. Matthew put it there.

My earliest memory of Matthew would be on day four of teaching. I was starting to get into a routine in the classroom and beginning to feel confident in what I was doing. I developed this habit of "Teach Teacher" at the end of class that the kids absolutely adored. It allowed them the opportunity for them to teach me Chinese, to give back for the hours of English I was teaching them. I had learned all sorts of phrases (little did I realize the ridiculous accent that the people of LongDe spoke with---my little Chinese is pretty much worthless in all other places in China). I also developed a habit of allowing students to reflect on the day (in English) and allowed them an opportunity to pretty much say whatever they wanted (as long as it was in English). Day four came around and Matthew volunteered to speak. He stood at his desk, head down, reading a piece of paper on his desk. In front of the whole class, he proclaimed his love for Miss Kayla and for summer camp, spoke about how much he is learning and how he never wants it to end. To top it all off, Matthew finished his reflection with a tear. Ever not know what to do in a situation? I honestly can't remember how I reacted or what I said, but I do know that it was the talk of the teachers office that day after school.

Mateo leadin' the way with his cool moves and love for dancing.

From that point on Matthew (or as I had a habit of calling him Mateo) became quite the little bugger, in a good way. His energy was unreal and he was always trying to show off when we played sports in the afternoon. He was a leader in his own way, the cool kid. If Mateo gave it a try, everyone else would too. One of my favorite times in the classroom was when I got to play music. They had a cable that would allow me to connect and play my ipod through an ancient TV in the classroom. Every day, the kids received a 15 minute break to go play with Miss (Kristina) Bennett, and I would take that time to regroup, clean up the class, play a few tunes and dance around the classroom. Mind you, we were in China at the end of the World Cup 2010 so all the kids wanted to talk about was sports. I (in complete honesty) had lost all interest in the World Cup since all of the teams I wanted to win were eliminated in the first round. Nonetheless, I had been jammin away in my own classroom when Mathew came bursting through the door, sweaty and out of breath. He immediately flashed this ginormous smile and started dancin' on stools. As the rest of the class followed I realized that they too had positive reactions to the music that was being played. From that point on, I tried to incorporate "Wavin' Flag" into as many activities as I could.

Mateo was your average, aggressive boy. We would play games of "flyswatter" and somehow Mateo's competition would always end up on the ground. He was always the sweatiest kid at the end of the day, and always the one to be the center of attention. There was one class day when Mateo didn't show up. Though I thought it was odd, I knew that there was always a kid or two missing from class. Fifteen minutes into my lesson, Miss (Danielle) Liu bursts into my door and asks about the whereabouts of some of my boys because a handful of hers were missing. Ironically, seconds later Mateo and one other student came gliding into the classroom door, trying their best to sneak in. Covered in sweat, one carrying a basketball in his hand, there was no doubt why they had been late to class. Miss Liu ran to her class to grab her boys that had also joined in on the fun. "Miss Kayla, these boys are very late. What must we make them do so that they will never be late again? I think we should make them all perform 'happy birthday' for the classes." And that they did. Sheepishly and stumbling over the words (we had learned it the day before) the basketball boys performed Happy Birthday for class Summer Dream and class All-Star Monkeys (Miss Liu's class).

Summer Dream proud of their Christmas Tree. Of course Mateo is holding it.

In the curriculum that we were teaching a "secret word" game would sometimes be an option for class.This quickly became one of my favorite activities to teach because I could be as crazy as I wanted and the students would have to reciprocate. The gist is that every student would draw a piece of paper with a 'secret word' on it (there are maybe like, 10 words). They would then have to read the given passage and highlight/underline every time their word is used. I then, as the teacher would read the passage aloud and every time I read one of their secret words they would have to make a sound. Now, I'm not talking like a pipsqueak noise. I'm talking like a full belly gut grunt. Think Tim Allen in Home Improvement, and then double that. Anyways, the kids would have to identify all the words and then make a sentence out of all the secret words. I know, not as cool as the full belly gut grunt. The best part about it was that I, as the teacher, could stop and continue to repeat their word if their grunt wasn't up to par. On either the last or second to last day, we played this secret word game in my class. I don't think I have ever had so much fun in my life. The two paragraph reading passage took us a good half hour to get through because I kept pushing my students for better full belly gut grunts. I have never seen my kids laugh so much either. Right from the beginning their grunts were not what I expected, so i didn't move on until I was pleased. Oh the poor shy quiet ones, I made them come out of their shell that day. I might have been out of control, getting in a few of their faces like a drill sargent (only to the ones who I knew could take it. I'd end up getting two inches from their face and we'd both start cracking up).  Anyways, there was many a time that the grunt wasn't satisfying, or that a person would miss their word (I obtain the answer key so I know these things. Ahhh, the power of teachers). There came a point nearing the end that the kids were really into it, my side was hurting from laughing so hard, and we were just having fun as a class. Matthew and Kristy (who I'll talk about next time) were paired together with the secret word "a". I, knowing that it was coming up, made eye contact with the two of them while reading the given passage. I watched as Matthew, in his oober excitement to please me with his full belly grunt, leaped up before it was time to speak. Only, half of him leaped up. His torso and upper body were so ready, but his legs must not have gotten the mental 'go' because they stayed put. This resulted in an unbalance of weight for his poor tiny stool, which quickly collapsed behind him, Mateos body soon following. Now mind you, I was the only one seeing this because Mateo was in the very back of the classroom. The following crash scared the tar-nation out of the rest of the class.

And this, my friends, poses a moral debate. Someone is potentially injured. Do you laugh? I can tell you this, I certainly did, after I realized that Matthew was laughing too. 

There was one point where we held a "LongDe talent show" for all the students. We as the teachers put together a skit and performed. I guarantee they only understood half of what we were saying, but nonetheless I have never laughed so hard in assembling a skit. Great teamwork, LongDe teachers. The amount of students we got to participate in the LongDe talent show were slim to none. However, Mateo, destined to become a famous singer, got over his stage freight to perform for the school some Chinese pop song. Yea, it was pretty adorable.

LongDe was a small city. LongDe was a street. All the peoples within a 20 mile radius knew where we were living for our time there. Our final day, after our sob fest at the closing ceremony, a fair number of our students showed up at our place to say goodbye one last time and to help us pack our things (they were so sweet). There were two students from my class, one of whom was Mateo. Good 'ole Mateo who broke all cultural barriers to give me a goodbye hug and cry in my arms. I mean, I returned the favor too. The bus driver must have thought we were nuts because the first hour or so of that bus ride, all one could hear was wails and sobs and sniffles. We waved out the window what seemed like time in slow motion. Hearts torn in two for a passion for our students and a desire for a cheeseburger. I'd take the students any day. Mateo provided for me one final memory of LongDe. As the crowd of students and administrators clustered beside the bus, they too waved and shed tears as we began to pull away. In a movie-moment, one broke free and one followed us, chasing after the bus keeping up until we reached the city limits. He ran and waved and smiled and wiped away tears, all while managing to dodge traffic in efforts to keep up with us. Watching this made the tears burn even hotter. That boy was Mateo.

-康妮

The Artist

 There is some sort of art within each of us. Being a music major, I feel like it is my destiny to say this, however there is a deep part of me that truely believes that everyone has the capacity to truely be an artist. The wonderful thing about art is that it can be expressed in an infinite amount of ways. Art is a true testament to the individuality within each of us. Yet it can also be a tool to see universal humanity. To truely understand it, one must not have the skills to judge, but the skills to see.

Jenna is a girl with a vision. She tries at English very hard and plans on going to school to be a doctor. But Jenna also has a love of music, and a love of art. She was designated our class artist the very first day of camp through a series of activities and I learned very early on as a teacher that she would be a help to me in the classroom.

Allow me to fill you in on what was to happen the first day of class. English Language Institute (ELIC) set up a curriculum that would allow us the first day of class to determine the English capability of the students. We had a series of games and testing that we would use and the four of us teachers would work together to evaluate where the students were to be placed.  After the division, we had a few introductory games and activities planned for only a half hour of time before lunch. Please do not be fooled, as this is what certainly did not happen our first day of class. LongDe Middle School #1 held an opening assembly for the arrival of the foreign teachers (...us) at which we were introduced to the student body as a whole. We got to sit in these huge leather chairs at a fine table before the students, making us feel like ambassadors for the UN. There was a constant hum of Chinese whispering among the student body, and a vast number of points and giggles as the students saw us for the first time. At the very end of the ten minute assembly, we were told by the school English teacher, Mr. Liu, that the students will be going to their classes. We explained to him that we had our own process for dividing up the classes. "Oh no, no, the students have classes of their own. They are already there."

"Mr. Liu, we have a process to divide students by their level of English"

"Oh. Well. The students have already been divided for you"

Testing process out the window, we now had 10 minutes to plan for a three hour lesson period, teaching students we didn't even recognize, none of us ever before running our own classroom. We didn't even have their textbooks for them. This was the first of may times that God taught us not to abide by our own plans.

As we walked down the hallways we could see the students sitting properly in their seats (mind you this was the only time...) and as we progressed Kristina, our team leader handed us random rosters to go with the classroom we were passing. Miss Jane, Class One. Miss Liu, Class Two. Miss Kayla, Class Three. Miss Stephanie, Class Four. As I and my fellow teammates entered our classroom,the kids broke out into a thunderous applause. 

Only the Lord knows how we survived that first day. I barely remember giving each of my students a speech/writing sample. In fact, the only part about that day that is vividly clear is when I had them gather in a circle as we thought of a class mascot. It is so important for the Chinese to have a symbol to unite behind, to have something that brings them together. After minutes of looking at each other and audible whispers in Chinese, I thought it was a hopeless attempt. That is, until one girl, Zhang Jingjing (Jenna, as she later picked her English name to be), inquired about the name "Summer Dream." I was immediately stunned at the suggestion, my immediate response was to ask "why?"...so I did. In very broken English she explained that this camp over the summer was like a dream come true for them all, and it made them very happy. Really and truely, I kid you not, it was a movie moment, because as I looked around the classroom, a wave of smiles, head-nods and approvals slowly made it's way around every single one of their faces. And that, my friends is how Summer Dream came to be.

Jenna, as I previously mentioned, was my class artist. The second day of classes we had a combined lesson about the American holiday of Thanksgiving. While planning this lesson, we as the teachers, decided it would be fun to tell the story of Thanksgiving with actions and sound effects. "Pilgrims", "Native Americans", "Thanksgiving", and "Turkey" were the special words of the story that had sounds effects to accompany them. Guess who's class got the pleasure of being the gobbling turkeys?  Yes, that would be the Crazy Miss Kayla class (trust me, I was so excited about gobbling up a storm. I have personally never gobbled so hard in my life). Of course, we had to have a turkey to represent us, so Jenna set to work. We also had a class banner that came with us everywhere. I thought it would be really representative of us if each of my students traced their hand, that way we could all be a part of the banner. I wish I could show you how proud the students were of their banner and what great respect they had for it, it was so endearing to watch every day.

Jenna was also my tomboy. Looking out at the courtyard she would be the only girl amongst the aggressive male 'futbol' game occurring. She was also my little keener. Now, in all complete honesty I had never heard of the term 'keener' before until my China experience. Simply, a keener is a student who is continually trying to impress the teacher and is the over involved student. Anything that I needed, Jenna was always there to supply it for me or to help me out.

The Summer Dream banner. We all had a "hand" in putting it together.

I was drawn to Jenna because of her unique personality. She definitely stood out in a crowd not only because she was one of the tallest girls with the purple glasses (woah--so similar to me), but also because of who she was, how she carried herself, and this confident smile and laughter that just radiated out of her. I sometimes like to think that God, when creating people, has these templates and then just tweaks them ever so slightly so that they can be adaptable anywhere world wide. With this thought, we all have 'twins' around the globe that are ridiculously similar to us by nature. Of course, we all are nurtured in different ways which also takes a toll into who we are, but the heart is made of the same foundation. I like to think that Jenna is my Chinese twin. 

As she had tears in her eyes, I distinctly remember telling her before I left that when she is sad, she can simply look at the moon and know that I see the same moon she does. This cheered her up so much, knowing that she and I could continue to have in common that we see that same moon. Plus, when you think about the moon, we really aren't that far away from each other.

Dear Kayla It is rain day, I really miss you. I remember It is a beautiful Summer that you came China time went by, It is Autumn.I think it is very quikly. How are you? It is a chance that I can write letter for.   Do you remenber you took so many photors in last day summer camp. I watch it everyday. I always talk it with Lily,Ned,Mandy,and so many classmates. We all like you. You are beauliful,funny ,and how much we love. You made us interested in English. We thanks you so much.   Time goes by.Our town is cool,I know Autumn will out. I still remenber the time when you leave.I was so sad,I want to play with you long time.I look at sky evernight .I remenber you told me if I miss you I can see star.Next year we will say bye for our middle shool.We have to study hard ,we are really bessy.   I really miss you ,I want to play with you next time.I really thanks for you giveing me a happy holiday.Kayla how about your time?Are you bessy? It is teacher's day In Sept10th.So I want to give you my congratulation,because you are my teacher.But I also sad I can't see you and play with you again. You are my sunshin my only sunshin, you make me happy. how much I love you .but ... Miss Kayla we hope you happy happy happy.smile on you face in you life .We will miss you in our country. see you next wensday.                                                                         Yous,   Jenna

-康妮

Raising Helen

I am currently in a series of posts that involve children I know. Children that, I believe, have the world deserve to know their story. The world deserves to know who they are, because the world would be changed by them. These are students in China, currently 16 and 17 years old. Students who have never left the mountain range in which they live. Children who have dreams and passionate hearts, just like the rest of us.

Helen is the student that I wish to highlight this time around. She wasn't the brightest student in the classroom, in fact her face was most often a rosy shade of pink because she frequently blushed when speaking English. I was even hesitant to call on her for the embarrassment she would seem to display (I got over that real quickly though. I soon found myself having the most fun embarrassing the quiet students). Helen was meek and mild, and not the most popular amongst her peers, Helen holds a special place for me. Helen was a passionate student, and passion was something that wasn't in the eyes of every student.She was a very lovable person and expressed love openly.

It is in Chinese culture to be very touchy with those of your same gender. Walking down the street holding hands or giving piggy back rides is very common among students. Touching is a sign of friendship. This is something that we were prepped about before arriving. I had come to my second week and found myself slightly discouraged that my students hadn't yet been comfortable in giving me a hug, or holding my hand. Helen was the first to "break the spell". I found myself engaged in a conversation with her, and before I knew it, both of my hands were clutched in hers and passion and excitement bubbled out of her eyes. From that point on, Helen was my hugger, most often attached at my hip, and looking at me with love in her eyes.

Perhaps one of my favorite days teaching was the day we taught about South Africa. Our curriculum was beautiful in that every day we focused on a different country and learned about customs, language and focused on "Our World: United". South Africa just so happens to be a country that I am also passionate about, so I took the opportunity to teach my students a song from the country, entitled Njalo. Little did I know that this song would soon be a favorite among my Chinese students, and we would find ourselves singing it as we walked across the courtyard, or as we walked to lunch. Helen was entranced by singing in class, and always an active participant for whatever crazy Miss Kayla was doing. During our day on South Africa, I saw it inevitable to teach about apartheid. Although this was not a part of the curriculum, I took some time to explain apartheid to my students. They were completely clueless in regards to this part of the nations history, many of them appalled that a nation would have such segregation and hatred. And, although they couldn't express themselves in English, it was clear by the looks on their faces that they had learned, and that they were impacted.



We spent another day discussing the nation of India and focused on the abundant population of poor people that are in that country. We had a "special guest" visit our room, and the students were able to meet Mother Theresa in person (aka, Miss Stephanie). During this lesson day we also had the opportunity to discuss what goals and ambitions were, and what our students wanted to be when they 'grew up'. I distinctly remember Helen rising to share with tears in her eyes, saying that when she grows up she is going to travel to India to help the poor people, just like Mother Theresa. Throughout the course of our China adventure, she would remind me of the poor people of India, and all the help that is needed there.  This touched my heart hard core, knowing that these students themselves were all poverty stricken- yet they refused to see themselves that way. Instead some had a desire to help those who were in worse conditions than their own. That is compassion, and that is love, and that is something you don't see everyday.

I was able to pull a sample of Helen's writing to share. Being the collector that I am I have various stacks of memories from my past summer. Somewhere there are writing samples that I took the first day of camp, and I wish so terribly that I could find them. I wish that I could demonstrate the improvement that this summer camp provided for these students. Nonetheless, the following is a reflection done by Helen about her favorite memory of Summer Camp.

"Time goes by. I'm very happy during these days. I have learned a lot. So I'm grateful to all of you. I very like Miss Kayla's class and listening she sing songs. I love Miss Bennett's games. especially during the classes when we were tired. I like all dances Miss Bennett, Miss Stephanie, Miss Liu, and Miss Jane, and Miss Kayla taught us.I love all kinds of activities you taught us. I also like the American birthday and we learn lot of about it. If we had enough time, I wanted to stay with you all the time. Finally thank you for teaching us a lot. I best wishes you. Happy every day and all the best. I love all of you.

-Helen."


I hope with all my heart that I one day will turn on the CBS Evening news to find Helen in India, to find her helping others. I hope and pray that she follows her heart and loves the world with all the passion that's bundled up inside her.

-康女