Thinking about Old Shoes

My friend Adam said he needs me to update my blog because he is tired of listening to teenagers talk about MTV all day and he wants to think about something deep and challenging. I am tired of listening to 2 year olds talk about Thomas the train all day. Even at night, at least half of my dreams are about changing diapers or calming tantrums or catching a kid from falling to their death. The problem is I think about my job too much, and believe me, hearing about my job would not be one of those deep thinking, challenging things you are looking for, Adam. But I did think of something interesting that happened earlier in the month…

A few weeks ago at church, we gave away our shoes. Our pastor (Erwin McManus) spent the morning talking about sacrifice. It was one of those inspiring messages that makes you want to sacrifice something…something big…sometime in the hazy future. But at the end of the message, Erwin said,

“Why don’t we take our shoes and make them a metaphor today of all of our possessions…our dreams… our concerns…our burdens…our wealth…our desires, of everything we have, and let’s take our shoes and say, ‘God this is a declaration of all of me, and I want to give them to you…I’m going to give them to You by giving them away to someone who doesn’t have any shoes’…I want to invite you to join me and give your shoes away.”

I thought, hey that’s cool, a metaphor. Then I realized that he actually wanted us to take off our shoes and give them away. What? But we need our shoes. You don’t just ask people to give away the shoes they are wearing. Does he really mean it?

When I saw several other people bending down to take off their shoes and walking up front, I saw that he did really mean it. As I took off my shoes I was struck by my first reactions to the request. How much do we really need our shoes? Who couldn’t go home and pick up another pair of shoes at home, or even buy a replacement without too much difficulty? Why is it so difficult to give when we aren’t prepared?

I looked at the pile of shoes at the front and thought were probably some really nice, expensive shoes up there. My sandals had just been cheap ones from China, but Kevin had given away his tennis shoes, and my sister Anna, who was visiting, her favorite pair of Chaco’s. We walked home barefoot and got along just fine without our shoes. When we got home, we put on a different pair of shoes. As Erwin had said,

“I’ll bet you have more shoes than you have feet, but there’s people out there who have more feet than they have shoes.”

What was most interesting was that when we discussed this event at our small group almost two weeks later, everyone was still thinking about it. People shared their thoughts and reactions. Most of us were surprised and hesitant because it was such an unusual request. There was generally a bit of inner conflict because we felt some kind of attachment to our shoes. One girl who caught wind of what was happening before she attended an evening service struggled throughout the day with wanting to change shoes and chose a different pair to give away. Another person remarked, “It would have been a lot easier if he had asked us to give money.” We’re used to doing that, and we don’t have the same attachment to a check.

After a pile of shoes lined the front of the stage, Erwin also invited us to bring other clothes and shoes for the homeless ministry, but I think that initial act of giving up our shoes was important. We didn’t get to choose what to sacrifice. We didn’t go through the back of our closets to find the things we don’t really want or need, keeping the best things for ourselves. I think that is why weeks later, we are still thinking about it.

Teaching Chinese in America

The LA Times published an interesting article about a Chinese man who left his home in northern China to teach Chinese in an LA high school. The article tells the story of the difficulties he faced due to cultural differences, discipline problems, and difficult students. I'm not going to put up the whole article because it's a bit long, but I'd encourage you to check it out. It's a pretty interesting perspective. I sure wouldn't want to have his job.

In LA, his own wall of China
By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2008

Zhao yan feng finally lost his cool minutes before the bell sounded, signaling the end of fourth period.

For nearly two hours, his classroom had teetered on the edge of anarchy. Students chatted ontheir cellphones. They put their feet on their desks. Some had their heads down, sleeping. A clique of girls loudly debated where best to shop for jeans.

"I need your cooperation," Zhao pleaded in a clumsy Chinese accent. "If you don't want to learn this language or be in my class, just don't interfere with others learning. I'm just a guest teacher."

It had been three weeks since Zhao (pronounced Jow), 27, left his hometown in northern China to join a program that sent dozens of Chinese teachers to school districts across the United States.

His two-year assignment: teach Mandarin at Dorsey High in South Los Angeles, where test scores are well below the state and national averages, two-thirds of the students live near the poverty line and most have had scant exposure to Chinese culture.

To continue this article, go to: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-teacher1mar01,1,6184858.story

2 Year Old Talk

You’ll have to forgive me if the quality of my writing/blog posts has dropped this year. It has, I know it has. You will have to remember that I spend my days surrounded by two year olds, talking to two year olds, reading two year old books, doling out playdough, and sprinting across the room, vaulting over obstacles and (ever so gently) moving children aside in a lunge to stop two year old A from pummeling two year old B. While my agility and physical strength has increased, I’m afraid my mental functioning and vocabulary have suffered. It is rather a drop from teaching college students, albeit ones not quite proficient in English.

I can’t take credit for the use of “albeit,” by the way. I just saw it in a card my sister sent and was impressed by the way it was fit so naturally into an ordinary sentence. It made me start thinking about my ordinary sentences and their link to the decline of my writing. I have been realizing recently that I say a whole lot of dumb/obvious things. My ordinary sentences are starting to sound like this:

“No-no-no-no! Don’t hit/push/bite/body-slam your friend. Use your words. It hurts! See, he’s crying. Give him a hug. That’s right.”
Or
“You’re wearing a jacket! Look at your jacket! What color is it? Yellow! That’s a good color! Hey, it has a zipper!”

That’s right, I’m becoming one of those nauseating kindergarten teacher types who ends every sentence with an exclamation point. I try to make up for it by being especially dour around adults, but I still have my worries that it will be one of those “don’t cross your eyes or they’ll get stuck that way” kind of deals. I’m not trying to make excuses (ok, a little bit) so much as just inform you that what you are getting is well above the average of my daily interactions. So...probably you should just lower your expectations, and then it will all work out even.

California Weekend

It was a very California weekend. Yesterday, Kevin and I went around and looked at rich people houses. Not all of them, obviously. There are a lot of rich people here. There are a few normal, not-so-rich people living here, but I am still perplexed as to how they are pulling it off. It must be frustrating to be rich in California, though. You have to be rich to afford a small, normal house or a decent apartment. You would have to be super rich to live in one of the fancy houses and disgustingly wealthy for one of the mansions. Yeah, I don't think I could handle being rich. Too much pressure. You'd have to think about money all the time. And people would expect you to wear $500 purses when any old bag would do. Still, there's a lot of nice houses (and a disproportionate number of Ferrari's) around here.
We interrupted our tour to stop by the nearest In-n-Out, a really good burger chain that had about a dozen cars in the drive-thru even though it was 3:30 in the afternoon. It was the first place my friends took me when I came to visit them in California two summers ago, and it will probably be one of the first places we will take my sister Anna to when she comes to visit next month.
Tonight we watched the Oscars with some friends. I had never watched the Oscars before, so that was kind of interesting. I bet all those rich famous actors and actresses don't have to get up for work tomorrow morning. They'll be partying the night away not even dreading the fast approaching Monday. I'm jealous of them for that. Please tell me - does anyone have any salve that makes Monday less jarring? I'm thinking that we really need to start some kind of really good Monday tradition so there is something to look forward to.
Un-California-like was the weather of the weekend - cool, rainy, foggy, cloudy, blah. Southern California, you are letting me down. Fortunately the forecast calls for a return to sunny 70 degree days. That's more like it.

Pollution, Steroids, and the Internet

These are several interesting article segments from ZG Briefs, an email China news update.

[I figured they would do this. Don't worry, though, I'm sure it's only temporary. After the Olympics, I'm pollution will be back to normal.]

China to Shut Factories to Cut Air Pollution Before Olympics (February 9, 2008, Bloomberg News)

China will shut coal-fired power plants, cement factories and chemical manufacturers near Beijing to reduce pollution before the Olympic Games in August. Operators of these sites have been told they will be closed 30 days before the Olympics begin Aug. 8 in Beijing, said energy newsletter publisher Platts, citing unidentified people. Ten ``major polluters'' have already been shut and more than 15,000 old buses and taxis in both Beijing and Tianjin have been pulled off the streets, the State Environmental Protection Administration said in a statement on its Web site dated Feb. 1. ``The Olympics are the main theme this year so all the companies will go in line with the government's directives on the environment,'' said Zhou Xizeng, an equity analyst who covers steel companies at Citic Securities Co. in Beijing. ``Summer is a good time to cut supply because it isn't a peak season traditionally.''

[ Sometimes I think I'd like to get into the organic, no preservatives, limited processed foods thing. But I know that I'm just going to go back to China and who knows what will be in my food. Since I don't have much control over it anyway, maybe it's better just not to think about it too much.]

Wary US Olympians will bring own food to China (February 9, 2008, The New York Times, by Ben Shpigel)

When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. “Enough to feed a family of eight,” said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues. “We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.”

[It's just interesting how fast things are developing and expanding.]

95% of villages to have access to broadband service in 2008 (February 10, 2008, Xinhua)

China's information industry authority plans to expand broadband service to more than 95 percent of the nation's villages in 2008. Some of the central and eastern provinces will have all their townships and villages covered by broadband service by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). Telephone service will be expanded further in the rural areas, the ministry said on Sunday, which vowed a more extensive Internet connection to the rural areas with better quality. Of late some 99.5 percent of the country's villages have access to telephone links, and the broadband connection have reached 92 percent of the villages nationwide. Last year, 73 million people were added to the nation's total netizen population. Of the increment, 29.17 million, or 40 percent,lived in rural areas. This brought the number of rural Internet users to 52.62 million at the end of 2007, up 127.7 percent year-on-year. The rate was much higher than the 38.2 percent for urban areas.

January

My sister Anna just sent me a kindly suggestion that I should update my blog. I would like to let her know that I was already planning to that, so she can't really take credit for this. It's already February thank goodness since January was a little bit of a blah month. It always is, except when you are hanging out in tropical Thailand drinking fruit smoothies. We missed Thailand this year. In the absence of Thailand, this is what has filled our time in the past month.

1. Work. There's always somebody's little kids to take care of. I have finally stopped dreaming about changing diapers and tying shoes. Kevin, however, had a nightmare last night that he had to take care of all my kids. Recently it has been the season of sickness. I was quite proud to stay healthy for three weeks (it's got to be a record) until yesterday when I was one of maybe four teachers out sick. I'm feeling a good deal better today (despite a 7am staff meeting) so hopefully it's not a long lasting thing.

2. Rain. We got an abnormal amount of rain. We essentially live in the desert, but we got full weeks of rain. While I am happy to see everything greener than normal, I have developed a particular dislike for rain. When it rains, the kids have to stay inside all day and they start getting stir crazy. They have no where to release their abundant energy except on each other. Plus, I can't bike to work when it rains. I have to leave an hour early and take the bus.

3. Football: The season finally ended. :) Kevin was very disappointed with the loss of the Cowboys. I was disappointed too because if you have to watch football, at least it's better to have someone to root for. I believe this was the first Super bowl I have actually watched. I did learn much more about football this year than ever before. Like, I never realized just how many games there were.

4. Duke! Almost three years since my last college basketball game, I watched my first (and second) Duke game. It was quite a joy. The players have all changed, so I'll have to reacquaint myself with them, but they are still the same Duke.

5. China. We got all kinds of information and paperwork about returning to China that we've started working on a little. I'll talk more about that later. Kevin has gotten to cover several Chinese related stories. We are hoping to connect with a foreign student in the area (I'm not sure if they'll be Chinese or not).

6. Lost. We are still mourning the loss of The Office, whose humor and sarcasm gave us relief in many times of stress and tension. We don't ask for much out of TV. After losing our one TV show, we were particularly glad for the return of Lost and all the new mysteries it brings.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Like I said, it wasn't a super exciting month. And now I need to leave for work, so that's all.

The General Update

Another day, another cold. Actually, it's more of an alternation (is that a correct form?) between a good week and a sick week. Frustrating. That's what I get for working with little kids. If I were to be entirely pessimistic about my job I would summarize my days like this:
Changing diapers
Potty training
Tantrums
Mediating toy conflicts
Wiping runny noses
Incessant noise and movement
Putting on and taking off shoes, socks, coats, and dress up clothes
Knee high sinks and tables, tiny chairs, and lots of bending over
Semi-constant smell of poop (and I thought I had left that behind with my China plumbing...)

So surprisingly, besides the sick factor, there are a lot of days when I like my job. The kids are cute. There are several kids who just go around smiling almost all the time. Others run up and grab your legs. I like rubbing their backs to calm them down at nap time (anything to make them fall asleep!). Sometimes they wake up all sleepy or a little bit sad and need somebody to hold them. Sometimes they need you to run around and bang drums with them. And they are funny. There is one kid who tries to throw tantrums and he's just really bad at it. He goes off into this fake crying thing and then pauses to see who's watching or gets distracted by a toy before he remembers he was supposed to be upset. We have to laugh at him sometimes. They ride around on their tricycles with perfect displays of road rage. When one person gets hurt, everybody wants an ice pack. They expect you to be super excited when they use the potty, and you are (excited that you didn't have to change wet clothes). They wave at airplanes, lovingly harass insects, and fall down for the fun of it. They listen to story after story. They are all crazy about trains, princess dresses, and crackers.
At the end of the day, no one dies and everyone goes home to their parents. There's something satisfying in that.

Besides my job, the rest of life, besides the sick factor, is going well. We got to go back to Georgia to be with my family for Christmas. From there, we drove up to Kentucky for my friend Mallary's wedding. I had a fun time seeing a lot of college friends. We also got to spend New Years Eve with my family, after our original flight back was canceled. Now we are back, as you might have heard, it has been raining in California. We didn't get too much of the flooding and bad storms in our area, but it was still quite an event. Our Christmas tree, which survived our week-long abandonment, is quietly morphing into a January tree. January is kind of a blah month. I think more people should keep a tree around for company. Kevin and I have been married for three months and we still like each other a lot. I am best friends with my crockpot. I have a year's supply of Airborne. And there are just a few more weeks of football left.
So, yep, besides the sick factor, things are pretty good.