Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival!

No, this is not a holiday.  But it would be if I could create one!  Today in class, we read about Memorial Day.  Since our article talked about how Memorial Day was created, I had my student create a holiday.  To make it fair, I created one too.  We spent the class period creating holidays, and when I was done, I actually was proud of this, so I decided to post it for the world to see, and then create!

Enjoy my new holiday :)

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What the world needs is more holidays! Holidays are a fun part of life, as they allow for celebrations. They are a wonderful mix of needed relaxation and a reminder of something important—for example, Memorial day is a mix between camping out and relaxing, but it reminds us to be thankful for the people protecting our country!

The only holiday that the world is missing, though, is Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival! Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival would be celebrated on the 6th day of summer, as 'F' is the 6th letter of the alphabet. This year, that would be June 26. It would include a lot of fun things that involved flying. Summer Schools, Daycare centers, and other such locations would celebrate the day before by having a paper airplane making contest. The kids would learn techniques to allow the planes to fly super fast. They'd also learn about aerodynamics and streamlining. They would not, however, fly their airplanes that day: that must wait until Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival!

On Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival, the Air force would begin the celebrations by having an air show. Then, at the Air and Space museums around the world, people would zoom in to listen to pilots speak, and to play games having to do with flying. They'd learn about the Wright Brothers and their first plane. They'd learn about Amelia Earhart and her attempt at flying around the world. They'd learn about space expedition. They'd also learn about how birds are able to fly, and why humans cannot. Kids and adults alike would have a BINGO sheet to fill in with the answers to various questions. Once they found out the answers to the questions, they'd receive a prize (one that flies, naturally!). It would be one where they pull the string and a propeller-mounted toy would spin and fly high into the air, sailing smoothly to the ground.

In addition to the museums having activities, there would be tours of airports and airplanes. On that day, there would be hot air balloon and helicopter rides, as well as rides in small aircrafts available for a small cost.

Fun Fun Flying Fun Festival is both educational and, as the name suggests, fun! By the year 2020, it will have spread to all of the major cities across the globe, and will serve to educate people about the present and future knowledge in flight!

To make the holiday more meaningful, people would donate money that would fly over to countries that are less developed, and who need help. They would fly fresh water and shoes and other needed supplies to the countries. They would learn how flight technology makes it easy for us to send something to another country that will really impact the people living there!

Friends

Things are going fairly well.  Classes are good, people are good, exercises is good, and God is good! (That should be number 1, though!)

Things are not always good, though.  I very often feel loneliness here in Macau, being a single person with no roommates, and no single Americans with me.  I know that Macau is filled with people, but sometimes it's difficult to form close relationships where I do something with them more often then once a month or once every 2 months.

But...right now I don't feel it so much. I reconnected with the first person that I met here, and we may get together after work next week.  I reconnected with a friend who I haven't seen in over a month, and we may hang out soon.  My Mandarin teacher and I will be getting together on Sunday to cook.  Some of our free class students and I will be travelling to a hot spring in a little over a week.

Every time I get feelings of loneliness, it just seems horrible at the time, but when I look back at it, it makes me appreciate the people who I can call my friends here, and I am thankful for being able to spend time with people, and to share God's Word with people here.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! :)

Party in the Park

Howdy!
We had a fun time this weekend having a party in the park!  I've included a few pictures to show you what happened :)   It was a fun time.  We introduced our new teacher, Bob, who came from America to be with us for a couple months.  He is a pastor, and has worked with deaf ministry in South Dakota before, so he will be a great addition to our team, as we have a deaf ministry that is constantly growing!


Today was a 'fun' day, full of...well, not much.  I  had repairmen at my house for the majority of the day, so I was not able to make plans to leave the house.  I just caught up on Cupcake Wars and Mythbusters.  Mythbusters has become one of my favorite shows, because I absolutely love the science and technology made and explained in the show.  Plus, it's not controversial.  They tackle easily proven or busted myths: not the controversial side of science!

Mid-May Updates

It's been a busy month thus far!

I started out the month in a small village a few hours away from me.  We visited families, gave out scholarships, and taught English classes.  It was an awesome experience, and I thank God for the people there!

Some of the scholarship students!

I was also blessed this month to visit a friend who went to college with me and attend her wedding!  She lives in Asia, so it was very easy for me to visit her on her wedding day! I travelled with another university friend from Taiwan, and it was a wonderful (but very short!) trip!

in Thailand for my friend's wedding

I also had some friends visit me from Hong Kong.  One of them attended MCDH, a school that is connected with the missionaries in HK.  I met her when she took part in the South Dakota exchange program, where she spent 2 weeks figuring out what life was like in South Dakota, the polar opposite of Hong Kong!  We bonded over the mutual love for Spanish, and she is a very fun girl!  She brought a friend with her, and the 3 of us spent the weekend doing everything possible in Macau that is not gambling!  We fit most of it into the weekend.  I think that by the end of this year, I could apply to be a tour guide in Macau, because I seem to be doing it so often! :)

2 friends from HK came to visit! This is at Hac Sa (Black Sand) Beach 

Today we have special visitors.  One is coming all the way from America (St. Louis, to be exact) to see how we are doing here.  There is also a couple from Texas coming to see what happens in this area of Asia!  The others are careers in Hong Kong.  It will be good to see all of them!  

Teaching is going on as normal, and I am having many one on one classes, and many of my students are preparing for their final exams coming up.  The others are adults who are studying English for their work, which is very commendable!

That's all for today, but I hope to put up another update soon!

3 months?

I was just looking back at the posts and drafts that I had before, and I found out that I had a post titled 3 months.  I opened it up, and found that it said that I was leaving for Macau in 3 months.  Wow--that feels like so long ago!  I sit here and realize that it's actually almost exactly a year ago.  It is 2.5 months until I leave for home, and 3.5 months until I return to Macau to start my second year.  Wow--this has gone by so quickly!

I also looked back a a few posts ago, and noticed that I mentioned the importance of a dehumidifier.  I did actually start using it more, and it gets full of water super fast.  It's funny, because if I run it in my bedroom but not in the rest of my house, switching rooms is crazy--you hit a wall of water on your way out of the dehumidified room!  I haven't ever used one excessively before, so this is a first for me.

The clothes and bags that I found mold on have been washed--the bags I washed myself, and the clothes I took to get dry cleaned.  They are unfortunately dry clean only suits.  They just sat in a pile for about 3 weeks as I tried to figure out where a dry cleaners was, but then I soon found out that there was actually one in my apartment.  Crazy.  Anyway......

Time for me to go, as there are others fighting for the internet.  One of the complementary computers is broken, so I should probably give up my spot, as I've been on for about half an hour.

I hope that you all enjoy the posts!  I will be in Thailand for a wedding for 3 days, but I hope to update soon with photos!

Bunco

I think that I am backed up on my blog posts, so I will write one as I wait in the airport in Macau!

We had a social event in April called Bunco.  This is a game where you use dice, and it can be played in groups of multiples of 4.  You sit at a table with 3 others, and you're partners with the person sitting across from you.  You then take turns rolling the dice, looking for certain numbers, and tallying up the scores.  At the end of each round, you switch tables, AND partners.  This way, you get to play and converse with a wide variety of people--probably at least half of the people in the room, depending on how many people are playing.

Serena and I were super excited about the event.  I bought 100 dice (not because we thought we'd have 50 tables, but because that's the smallest number I could buy!), and we set up 8 tables, expecting about 32 people.  I was nervous: what would happen if we have more than 32 people?  I guess then we'd take ourselves out of the game, and we'd wander around.  The event was to take place from 4-6pm.

4:00 came.  4:00 went.  4:30 came, along with our first student.  Within the next half hour, we had a total of 5 students walk in, with one being a child.  Now, don't get me wrong--I was ecstatic that people showed up.  The people who showed up are people who I don't normally get to chat with, so it was great to be able to talk with them.  However: expecting an excess of 30 people really caused me to feel some degree of disappointment.  What did I do wrong?  Everyone was so interested in the game!  We had such positive informal RSVPs, and we thought that people were just gonna flock in.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work like that.  After I got over the initial disappointment, I realized something. I am not looking for quantity.  Although quantity is something that we strive for, it's not something that is always best.  Because our quantity was down, we were able to have more quality.  I was able to have deeper conversations with those who came, and we were able to even exchange phone numbers in order to keep in touch outside of the center.  Since the game was complicated, it was easier to answer questions.  Now, if we do it in the future, there are 4 people who know how to play and can help explain in Chinese!

Sometimes my plan isn't God's plan.  My plan was to have a great multitude of people show up, and for the place to be packed.  But that apparently wasn't God's plan.  He apparently wanted us to have a smaller group with a more small-group style conversation.  I thank God for Him allowing His plan to unfold, and not mine.  With my plan unfolding, who knows where we'd be.  But God always shows his dominance, but also his compassion to us when we think we know what's right, but we are actually far from what His plan is!

I am actually thankful for the people who showed up, and I thank God for his bringing them there at that day.  I am all for having a better relationship with a few people.

Speaking of, please pray that God would send me some close friendships.  Most of the friends that I have made here that I see on more than a monthly basis either are moving or have moved away.  I could use a few solid friendships around here, especially since I'm staying for another year, possibly more.

May Newsletter = UP!

Hello everyone!

My trip to the village was great.  I will write more about it later, but for now I am busy once more getting ready for my trip to Thailand.  I leave in 5 hours, and I am very excited!

I uploaded my May newsletter--better late than never, I guess!  Check it out and see how April was!