Hello!
We have survived our first week in China! And...we are still enjoying it! We both have had our first teaching experiences now, so it should only get easier from here, right? =) They actually went quite well, and we are continuing to enjoy our students very much. They are so eager to learn, and we have just fallen in love with them. We are quite exhausted from all of the activity and exercise, but we are doing quite well. A lot of our students are really searching for answers in life, and Rick especially has had some really good opportunities to talk with them.
Rick's Class
Lauren's Class
Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a very special birthday here in China. My students showered me with gifts, and I even had a beautiful birthday cake that tasted delicious! I don't think I've ever had anyone sing "Happy Birthday" to me as much as they did yesterday. I felt so loved. It was also one of my student's birthday, so we celebrated together. Thankfully, it fell on Saturday, so it was a pretty fun day.
We went to a really nice park and had a crazy relay race and then had a picnic by a lake. It was quite beautiful! Rick took me to KFC for my birthday dinner. I never thought I would be so excited about going to KFC. =) The Chinese dining common food is starting to wear on us just a little bit, and that KFC chicken has never tasted better. We had real french fries and hot fudge ice cream sundaes. It was absolutely wonderful! One of my students even showed up to help me celebrate!
Well, there is so much more that I could tell, but we have another full week of teaching next week so lesson plans are calling. Thank you so much for the many emails that we received. It i
s so good to hear from home. I thought you might be interested in this funny sign right outside our campus gate--it is to remind everyone that car horns are not to be used on campus since they are used constantly everywhere else!)
Rick & Lauren