Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Sandstorms
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Amazing Race
During the month of February we had Mandarin TIP. So, now, even though I am by no means fluent I can understand a lot more and my vocab has increased by so much! It is still a work in progress though.
One of our Saturday activities was an Amazing Race scavenger hunt around Beijing. We were give a list of locations we could visit along with assigned point values. My team consisted of Dan, Elim and I and our Chinese teacher Ethan. We set off as fast as we could trying to converse in Chinese and plan our route to maximize the points we could obtain. Luckily for me my teammates were competitive like me : )
Out first stop was the main campus of Peking University. That is also where we met our first problem, where we missed our bus stop and had to walk about 10 minutes out of our way!
"climbing" the pagoda
Then we hopped on the subway on our way to the Olympic village where our tasks were to take various pictures in front of the venues.
Swimming in front of the Water Cube
Kung Fu and the Birds Nest
We earned extra points for every tiger in a picture. Because it is now the year of the tiger there were tigers everywhere, including this decoration at the Olympic Village
Then it was time to hop back on the Subway on a trip to the CCTV building, where were supposed to poise like it.
Then we moved onto Tienanmen and the Forbidden City where things such as
Kissing Mao and
Poising like statues was on the list to complete.
A short walk later we were at the Egg, which is the National Preforming Arts Center
More pictures of Tigers and Lanterns finished the day
All in all it was a lot of fun, even though it was pretty crazy to try to speak only Chinese the whole time! We ended the day by meeting up to eat Hot Pot together, which is a boiling broth that you add various meats and vegetables to and enjoy! I am so thankful for this opportunity to learn Chinese, even though I have a long way to go.
I'm on break right now and am really enjoying this time to relax! We start a new session the 8th and as of right now we don't know how many students we will have or what our roles will be, but I am so excited to be back in the classroom after 2 months! So much has been going on, but the fact remains that God is good and His plans are perfect. I am learning a lot and and am so blessed. Love you all!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
mandarin madness
March Madness is right around the corner (go Boilers!), but right now I am in the middle of Mandarin Madness. We just finished celebrating the Spring Festival, which is the Chinese New Year and are back to our full days of Mandarin lessons, much like our student have full days of English classes. We had classes last week which I missed because of my migraine, so I am trying my hardest to learn as much as possibly can in order to hopefully survive Mandarin only which will happen Friday-Monday. I am anticipating a lot of sitting and listening and hopefully giving one word answers when I can. It should be interesting!
In other news...God is SOOOOO good. He has been teaching me massive lessons and bringing me closer to Him in huge ways. If you want to know more send me an e-mail...and I'll try to explain :) Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers...I love you all!!!
In other news...God is SOOOOO good. He has been teaching me massive lessons and bringing me closer to Him in huge ways. If you want to know more send me an e-mail...and I'll try to explain :) Thank you so much for all of your continued prayers...I love you all!!!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Rest
Sometimes I wish I learned things the easy way. That God would just tell me the lesson He wanted me to learn and I would say, ok God, I understand, and will live my life that way. But, I am human, and it really doesn’t work that way. Lately, I have been learning a very important lesson the hard way. My whole life I have had a hard time really and truly resting, taking time for myself and putting myself before others. I had come a long way in this lesson, but apparently God wanted me to learn more.
Last week I got a really bad headache that didn’t go away after taking ibuprofen, so I thought maybe if I rest for a day or so it would go away. That thought proved very wrong and I ended up with a migraine that lasted about 6 days. Let me also say that last Thursday, when it started, was the first day of Mandarin TIP, the program that I worked to help develop over the past month and was very excited to participate in. Let’s just say God had different plans for me right now. Instead of my brain being filled to overflowing with new vocabulary and the Chinese language it has been keeping me in my room avoiding stimulation as much as possible. For the first few days I tried to participate as much as I could, but each time I found myself with a worse headache and headed back to bed. I wanted to push myself so that I could learn more of the language and help my teammates but I was constantly told no by those around me. Which means that for the majority of the past 6 days I have been trying to learn how to truly rest, something that God calls us to do and something that I am not good at doing.
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” This is a verse I have read and heard countless times and I have always known that we can always find rest in the Lord. Knowing it and practicing it can be such a different thing. During this past week I have had to lie so much down at the feet of the Lord. I am what you could easily call a control freak and a perfectionist at times. Putting so much work into TIP Mandarin brought some of that out of me and finding the balance between letting go of the planning I put into it and fully becoming a student was a difficult prospect for me. I was having a hard time letting go of the control, and resting in the fact that the Lord had it covered, and didn’t need me anymore. But obviously I didn’t learn this lesson the easy way, but I fully believe that I have learned it in a much fuller way that I would have if I hadn’t had a migraine. These past 6 or so days of rest have been so fulfilling.
I have found myself in quiet conversation with God so many times when I couldn’t do anything else because my head hurt too much. The normal distractions of daily life were taken away and I sat for hours and listened to Gods still soft voice speak words of love to me. I have fallen more in love with the one who has created me and know that He loves me despite all of my imperfections. I am humbled that I serve a God who knows me so intimately and yet loves me so purely. I am able to rest in the reassurance that He is in control of my life, He always has been and He always will be. I am learning and growing, and loving the fact that I serve a God who is patient enough to teach me lessons in the way He knows is best for me.
Last week I got a really bad headache that didn’t go away after taking ibuprofen, so I thought maybe if I rest for a day or so it would go away. That thought proved very wrong and I ended up with a migraine that lasted about 6 days. Let me also say that last Thursday, when it started, was the first day of Mandarin TIP, the program that I worked to help develop over the past month and was very excited to participate in. Let’s just say God had different plans for me right now. Instead of my brain being filled to overflowing with new vocabulary and the Chinese language it has been keeping me in my room avoiding stimulation as much as possible. For the first few days I tried to participate as much as I could, but each time I found myself with a worse headache and headed back to bed. I wanted to push myself so that I could learn more of the language and help my teammates but I was constantly told no by those around me. Which means that for the majority of the past 6 days I have been trying to learn how to truly rest, something that God calls us to do and something that I am not good at doing.
Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” This is a verse I have read and heard countless times and I have always known that we can always find rest in the Lord. Knowing it and practicing it can be such a different thing. During this past week I have had to lie so much down at the feet of the Lord. I am what you could easily call a control freak and a perfectionist at times. Putting so much work into TIP Mandarin brought some of that out of me and finding the balance between letting go of the planning I put into it and fully becoming a student was a difficult prospect for me. I was having a hard time letting go of the control, and resting in the fact that the Lord had it covered, and didn’t need me anymore. But obviously I didn’t learn this lesson the easy way, but I fully believe that I have learned it in a much fuller way that I would have if I hadn’t had a migraine. These past 6 or so days of rest have been so fulfilling.
I have found myself in quiet conversation with God so many times when I couldn’t do anything else because my head hurt too much. The normal distractions of daily life were taken away and I sat for hours and listened to Gods still soft voice speak words of love to me. I have fallen more in love with the one who has created me and know that He loves me despite all of my imperfections. I am humbled that I serve a God who knows me so intimately and yet loves me so purely. I am able to rest in the reassurance that He is in control of my life, He always has been and He always will be. I am learning and growing, and loving the fact that I serve a God who is patient enough to teach me lessons in the way He knows is best for me.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
changes...
So, I have now been in China for 4 months. January has brought a lot of changes with it. Normally during the session I will have a class and my main role will be as a class facilitator. This session I am instead working on planning for Mandarin TIP. Next month is the spring festival, or Chinese New Year. Because of this we cannot have a normal session with teachers so we are going to have a session in which the facilitators lean Chinese! Because of my teaching and lesson planning past I was asked if I would be willing to help plan the lesson plans for this new TIP session and of course I agreed. This has been challenging because I do not know the subject matter that I am writing lessons about, but also very exciting as I am so excited to learn more Chinese and be able to communicate better in this country. This is also a lot of work but thankfully I have some really awesome people helping me and it has been really fun!
This also gives me a different role with the students. In the evenings we are assigned one night to do dorm visits. We use this time to build relationships with the students and share our stories. This session I have gotten to know one student in particular that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to if I was teaching my own class. We have had several discussions and the other evening after dinner she told me that she has more questions and wants to know more about God. To this I gladly responded yes and am very excited to talk to her a lot more next week!
Toward the beginning of the month 2 of our teammates left. Laura and Peter retuned to America to prepare for their upcoming wedding and find out where God would continue to take them on their journey of life. Because Laura moved out it left Syrena without a roommate. Syrena and I have become very good friends and decided to move in with each other in order to make more room for others. So once we have our room organized and decorated I’ll be sure to post pictures of it!
Finally, God has really been teaching me to be content in each moment. There is so much that He has given to me and so often we hurry through life and miss the little things that are sometimes the most important. The times when I have felt the most alone, the most homesick have also been the times where I know that God is the closest to me. I know I have said it before, and I will say it again, but God has blessed me so much and has been so faithful to me here. It hasn’t always been easy, just as it is not promised to always be easy. None the less we are called to follow God, and do all that we can to further His Kingdom, so I will press on and do my part, I will do all that I can do.
Ps- check out more pictures from my trip to Harbin and the Christmas break! http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/WallsCitiesIceTigersAndMapleTwist#
Also check out my picasa site…I finally posted pictures from the December session! http://picasaweb.google.com/a.b.twarek/DecemberSession
You can also receive e-mail updates when I post by putting your e-mail in the box on the left and subscribing to my blog!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Harbin
Who wants to go visit a place where the temperatures are almost always below zero without a windchill in the middle of the winter? In this case the answer is me along with 6 other facilitators and s few friends that came along for the ride. We left for Harbin aboard a 12 hour train ride Sunday night. We arrived to freezing temperatures and our first experience of freezing eyelashes.
After settling into our hostel we began to explore the city that is rich with Russian influence. In fact, the city has belonged to Russia and Japan longer than China has had possession of it and the only thing keeping it from being Siberia is the imaginary line between the countries. Venturing down the streets was amazing seeing the wonders that are the ice sculptures along with the beauty of creation in the cold that God sent. I felt at home among all the snow and was refreshed in the environment.
The two big events of the trip were outings to the Harbin Ice Festival and the Siberian Tiger Park. Both of these were absolutely amazing in their own way. We bundled up for a night at the ice festival and marveled at what skilled hands and talent can do to turn blocks of ice into huge buildings and sculptures. The night ended with an amazing fireworks show to commemorate the opening night of the festival. I watched the fireworks in awe while reflecting on the one who created it all. The next day we were off to the tiger park where there were over 900 Siberian tigers. It was amazing to see these huge majestic creatures in this environment.
The trip ended all too soon, but it was a wonderful time of relaxation, reflection, and community before we start the January session. Be sure to check out pictures from the trip!
http://picasaweb.google.com/a.b.twarek/ChristmasBreak
After settling into our hostel we began to explore the city that is rich with Russian influence. In fact, the city has belonged to Russia and Japan longer than China has had possession of it and the only thing keeping it from being Siberia is the imaginary line between the countries. Venturing down the streets was amazing seeing the wonders that are the ice sculptures along with the beauty of creation in the cold that God sent. I felt at home among all the snow and was refreshed in the environment.
The two big events of the trip were outings to the Harbin Ice Festival and the Siberian Tiger Park. Both of these were absolutely amazing in their own way. We bundled up for a night at the ice festival and marveled at what skilled hands and talent can do to turn blocks of ice into huge buildings and sculptures. The night ended with an amazing fireworks show to commemorate the opening night of the festival. I watched the fireworks in awe while reflecting on the one who created it all. The next day we were off to the tiger park where there were over 900 Siberian tigers. It was amazing to see these huge majestic creatures in this environment.
The trip ended all too soon, but it was a wonderful time of relaxation, reflection, and community before we start the January session. Be sure to check out pictures from the trip!
http://picasaweb.google.com/a.b.twarek/ChristmasBreak
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Reflecting...
During these past few days I have been doing a lot of reflection. It is now the year 2010 and we have entered a new decade. I can vividly remember when the year 2000 was rapdily approaching and how everyone was so worried about Y2K and what that might bring. That now seems lightyears away as I am now graduated from college and living half way around the world in China, something I could have not even fathomed at the turn of of the century. The past decade has been a whirlwind, but the year 2009 seems to have passed by in a blur that has taken several days for me to completely unpack, and I am sure there is still more work I could do.
Some would say the biggest accomplishment of the past year would be graduating from college. And won’t lie, it was a pretty big accomplishment. College was a huge time of growth and learning for me in all area of my life and graduation was super exciting! But I would have to disagree. I believe the biggest accomplishment of this past year is that I have really and truly listened to God and learned to follow His plan for my life instead of trying to follow my own.
When I started this blog I was in the middle of many different life changing decisions. The quote that I tried to revolve my life around and is the name sake of this blog is “Not what I have planned, even better.” This year I have really and truly learned that Gods plans are so much better. My plans definitly didn’t involve coming to China. If you know me at all you know I like to stay close to home, I would rather stay ot home with my family or a few close friends than go out and do things and I am not a huge fan of change. Lets just say that God took this things and reworked all of them for His glory.
These past three months in China have been more than I could ever imagine. I have been broken down, crushed, homesick, emotionally, physically, and spiritually drianed, but I have also experienced restoration, redemtion, blessings, grace, and more love that I could ever imagine.
About a month ago a group of us were watching a sermon that a few of us had allready seen. At the end of the sermon the worship band plays the song, Blessed be Your Name. After reflection I realized that the first time I listened to the sermon I was at the other side of song. The part that starts out with “When I’ve found in the desert place” is exactly where I was finding myself. It was right around Thanksgiving and the first wave of homesickness was hitting hard. I was also sick and completely overwhelmed with everything going on during the session. During this time I had to rely on God more than I ever have had to in my life and I eventually dug out of that season. The second time I watched the sermon I was back on the “When the sun’s shining down on me and the worlds all as it should be” part of the song. Being able to look back and reflect on how faithful God is and how through it all I can truly say “Blessed be YOUR Name!”
That really sums up my time in China. God has blessed me richly through every experience I have been part of. I have no idea what He has in store for me in 2010 but I can tell you that I am excited to find out along the way. I know I will go through valleys and mountians, but in the end I hope that I will stand and proclaim, Blessed be your Name!
Some would say the biggest accomplishment of the past year would be graduating from college. And won’t lie, it was a pretty big accomplishment. College was a huge time of growth and learning for me in all area of my life and graduation was super exciting! But I would have to disagree. I believe the biggest accomplishment of this past year is that I have really and truly listened to God and learned to follow His plan for my life instead of trying to follow my own.
When I started this blog I was in the middle of many different life changing decisions. The quote that I tried to revolve my life around and is the name sake of this blog is “Not what I have planned, even better.” This year I have really and truly learned that Gods plans are so much better. My plans definitly didn’t involve coming to China. If you know me at all you know I like to stay close to home, I would rather stay ot home with my family or a few close friends than go out and do things and I am not a huge fan of change. Lets just say that God took this things and reworked all of them for His glory.
These past three months in China have been more than I could ever imagine. I have been broken down, crushed, homesick, emotionally, physically, and spiritually drianed, but I have also experienced restoration, redemtion, blessings, grace, and more love that I could ever imagine.
About a month ago a group of us were watching a sermon that a few of us had allready seen. At the end of the sermon the worship band plays the song, Blessed be Your Name. After reflection I realized that the first time I listened to the sermon I was at the other side of song. The part that starts out with “When I’ve found in the desert place” is exactly where I was finding myself. It was right around Thanksgiving and the first wave of homesickness was hitting hard. I was also sick and completely overwhelmed with everything going on during the session. During this time I had to rely on God more than I ever have had to in my life and I eventually dug out of that season. The second time I watched the sermon I was back on the “When the sun’s shining down on me and the worlds all as it should be” part of the song. Being able to look back and reflect on how faithful God is and how through it all I can truly say “Blessed be YOUR Name!”
That really sums up my time in China. God has blessed me richly through every experience I have been part of. I have no idea what He has in store for me in 2010 but I can tell you that I am excited to find out along the way. I know I will go through valleys and mountians, but in the end I hope that I will stand and proclaim, Blessed be your Name!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)