We have spent the past few days in Zhuhai, after visiting Zhixin high school and taking in the city of Guangzhou for a day or so. I want to begin by talking about what happened during the first day.
The opening ceremony when we first arrived at the school in the morning of the first day was one that I will never forget. As we walked up to the school and turned to our right to enter the front gate, two lines of students around a red carpet met us. Students in dragon costumes danced and loud music blared, and the pictures of our team were proudly displayed on a big screen somewhere up high. We were given flowers and were led to a stage, where we introduced ourselves to the many students. We got settled into our office building, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day teaching English. Our three classes that day consisted of showing pictures of ourselves in order to familiarize ourselves with the students, and playing simple English games like Duck Duck Goose, Blow Wind Blow, and Dog or Cat. At the end of the day, the whole team was exhausted, as it had felt like we were teaching forever, and that the day had dragged on forever. It was rewarding to get to know some of the students, but I was glad the day was finally over.
The next few days went similarly, with our teaching of three classes and meeting some new students. Over the course of teaching, I learned a lot about stepping outside of my comfort zone, and just being confident in my own abilities. Making the students cooperate with my instruction and directions was difficult and confusing in the beginning, but I think that by the end of these few days, I have already felt growth within me. I have also been able to feel more confident in my performing abilities. Normally I would feel terrified if I had to dance and play violin (a song that we hadn’t really prepared at all) in front of a big crowd, but I just tried to have a good time, and I came out of it alive and kicking. I never even felt nervous, and I came out of it alive and kicking. No harm came to me, and I think I have been able to really enjoy the events of the days so far.
One thing that I really wanted to try and carry through with this summer was to do quiet time every day, or at least for many or some days at the minimum. Thus far, I haven’t done it, and it has made me feel slightly guilty. It is still early in the trip, though, and not being able to settle down as of yet has made it really difficult to find time to read the Bible. As we transition into the next phase of our Zhuhai trip by moving in with our host families, I hope I will be able to find the time and motivation to do so.
On a less serious note, China has been interesting but also kind of inconvenient. It’s really hot, everyone is constantly sweaty, and mosquitoes are raging rampantly. China is also often not very clean, and I like to be in America more than China. But overall, I have enjoyed my time here and the food is really good. I bought a cool hat and sunglasses that make me look way cooler than I am, and I have bought Boba almost every single day. Well it’s been a long day, and we’re about to go try the Durian we bought at the mall across the street. Aditya just spilled something. Daniel out.