Silly girl, Volvo's hurt.
Hi!
It has been a great couple of days. First and foremost, our coworkers made it safely to mainland! They landed in a major city and are heading to many beautiful cities soon. ;) Anyway, lately I've been trying to be a wallflower and watch other people. This is not an easy task considering the big red x that is innately placed on my forehead. However, I've realized that people's non-verbals and emotions are similar no matter what culture. For example, Tiph and I stopped to grab a bite at an indoor cafe and there was a live folk band there. They sounded like Bryan Adams meets Jewel. They were obviously singing love songs in Mandarin and you could see the moods change on everyone's faces as they sang. I had no idea what the lyrics were, but I could tell that the girl to the right of me had been hurt by someone and I could tell the girl in front of me was in love. At one point I turned to Tiphanie and said, "I guess the idea of love sounds and looks the same." I think it's absolutely wonderful how alike, yet different we are. Thanks be to our Creator.
Well, let's fast forward to today. Today was national silly Jenna day. Mark it on your calenders! On our way home from Morrison village I was riding in the bike lane like a good girl when this lady decided to walk her stand toward me in the bike lane. I swerved around her because I was going down hill and I almost got creamed by a Volvo. Oh well, another exciting day on my bike. Don't worry, I always wear a helmet. And a anti-pollution mask for that matter. Tiph and I think we look like ninjas in them. What do you think? :)
I forgot to mention that we found a badminton set and a frisbee in the village 10 N.T. store (think Family Dollar store) for a grand total of 75 N.T (2.50) So we went to the park next to our complex and played badminton and frisbee until the sun went down. It turns out that we both are terrible and I took two diggers during frisbee. At one point Tiphanie fell on the ground laughing at me. Actually, I think the entire park was laughing at me but it's not like they weren't already. :)
We are starting to get a loose schedule of what we will be doing here. We will be teaching two English classes and two bible classes. In addtion, we are going to start a youth group for the teens. This leads me to a question for you guys: What do you remember from your youth groups if you were in one? Email me any comments. :) Mine was great. The best memory was white river canoeing with Diana. We must have flipped that boat at least ten times.
Finally, I just want to say that I love it here. The people are so nice and it's been great just getting time to think. I always wanted to teach overseas and apparently God thought it was a good idea. In addition, I've been praying for clarity and growth for such a long time and this experience is a blessing in both of those areas. Don't get me wrong, I miss my family and friends every day but sometimes you don't know how much you love some people and how much they love you until your looking back on it. It's funny how that works. Sigh*
Well, I have a major test tomorrow in Chinese class so I'd better start studying. Goodnight or Good Morning to you all!
Love,
Jenna