I know some of you may have been asking that question? I can't believe I haven't written for so long. I have other friends serving abroad and they write pretty regularly - about every month or so, and then I feel so guilty because I haven't written to you all. I'm leaving China tomorrow and I decided that I better at least let you know that I'm coming home! I am finishing my fifth year here.
Wow, it's been a whirlwind semester. One of the highlights was teaching softball to my 250 boys. We didn't all play at once, of course, but within one week I took every class out to play ball and that equals 250 in a week - and we only had 3 gloves and one "made in china" bat that dented if we used a real softball. I think it was a success because as a result a small group of students started an official softball club on campus. It is a little slow getting started, but they are enthusiastic. I'll be soliciting for some used equipment when I get home this summer to donate to the softball club.
One of my lessons this semester was about restaurant English - what does the waiter say, what do you say to order your food, etc. I set up 8 mock restaurants in the classroom with 8 waiters and the rest of the students were customers. In this way they could practice their English dialogues. I had white "waiter" hats for those playing waiters. One boy refused to wear the white waiter hat. I tried to coax him to wear it but he still refused. Finally he confessed that wearing a white paper hat meant that someone in your family had died. Oh dear, I felt like I had broken some social traditional code asking them to wear these hats. Needless to say, I didn't force that boy to wear the hat. However, everyone else wore them without hesitation and they all wanted their picture taken with the hats on.
I leave for the airport tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 7:00 so I better get to bed. I will be traveling for a little more than 24 hours. I would greatly appreciate your prayers for safe travel. I'm looking forward to being home and having a krispy kreme donut and real pizza :) Seriously, it has been a great year. I thank God for allowing me this privilege of teaching these students. I thank Him for another year completed.
Blessings, annie
