The Adventures of a typical Monday!

So today was semi-typical.  The title may be slightly misleading, but the events that happen happen quite often, and Mondays are always a surprise as to what's going to happen that day! :)  Here's this Monday's adventure!

Today, I went to meet up with a girl that I had corresponded with via Facebook...a friend of a friend.  We met up with each other at a hotel that I did not know the name of in Chinese.  Being the not-so-punctual person that I am, I was running late, so I decided to take a taxi.  Someone had told me that the taxi drivers normally know what Rio Hotel is in English, so I decided to try it out.  I said, in English, "Rio Hotel", and he said, "hai bin doe?"(where?) I said, "Rio Hotel... le ji mm ji?"(do you know?).  His reaction came in Chinese (which I missed because all of the above is Cantonese, but I am learning Mandarin.).  I realized I was gonna have to work for it.

In Cantonese I told him a street that was near, and then I switched to Mandarin which is more comfortable.  I told him. "wo bu yao qu 'ba king guy', wo yao qu 'rio hotel', dan shi wo bu zhi dao pu tong hua zhen me shuo" (I don't want to go to Beijing Street, I want to go to the Rio Hotel, but I don't know how to say it in Chinese.).  His Mandarin was significantly better than mine (go figure) so I didn't understand all of the response, but he was still determined to get an exact location out of me.  Our conversation continued like this, but eventually I said, "wo xia liang zham yao xia che" (I want to get off in 2 stops...and then I said in Cantonese..bus stop).  (I'll stop writing the Chinese Pinyin...just know that this conversation was all in Mandarin).

He asked me if I wanted to turn after the bus stop, and I said no, no, go straight.  He went straight, and I told him, TURN LEFT HERE! and then at the end of the road, I said, "This is the Rio Hotel.  This is where I want to go.  Turn right and I'll get out."  He was like, "ohhhhh Rio Hotel" (slowly, as if trying to memorize it for next time).  He said, "Your Mandarin is not bad!"  I responded "I'm really sorry. It's very bad!" (It's not proper to say thanks for a compliment.)  He then insisted that it was really good and easy to understand.  I was flattered, but honestly, I felt overwhelmed at that point.  I was just glad that I knew how to say left and right! :)

I ended up meeting the friend, and it was great.  We went to a new Starbucks that I had no idea existed, and we enjoyed some lime and berry refreshers and a wonderful conversation!  Earlier today I had also had lunch with a friend, and we officially became prayer partners and partners in evangelizing to our group of friends that has been forming recently. Now, I'm off to make a sweet potato and chili with a side of veggies, compliments of my mother who bought the chili for me, and taught me that sweet potatoes and chili are amazing together!  Thank God for a great day :)

Back in Action!

Click on the photo.  Can you find the green
blob?  That is a friend of mine!

When I went home for home service, I hit the ground running.  When I came back, I thought I was going to have a nice quiet 2 weeks to get over jet lag, and to test out some new computer programs for my newsletters. (By the way if you have any suggestions, I'm open to them!)  Key word: thought.  The day I got home, a friend met me at the ferry terminal to help me get my bags home.  The next day, I met up with some missionaries coming and going, and we all spent a jolly day together eating Japanese food, watching bungee jumping, and playing Zilch (a VERY fun game, by the way!)  I haven't really played that game outside of home, so I was ecstatic to be able to play dice.  I am a HUGE fan of games.  Especially ones including dice and cards, so I was happy to have people who would play with me!


The next day was Sunday, so I went to church with 2 other GEOs (from out of town), and then we went to the English Center, one for an exit interview, and one for orientation, and me to...well...hang out!  We played more Zilch, we worked on setting up a new laptop, we ate Chinese food, we ate Portuguese food, and I feel like we did more, but I can't be too sure.

Monday was fun too.  The new GEO had never been to Macau before, so I showed him around the city, starting in Taipa, and working our way to Macau proper.  For lunch, we met up with a friend of ours, and we went to a hotel...for Portuguese food, I think...probably more like Macanese.  Then, we walked over to a Christian book store that I had never been to yet, and it was cool to look around and see familiar CDs and books and such.  Then, we headed over to the deaf center to see what our friend does at work.  It was nice to see her at work.  While we were there, we planned a party for that Thursday.

Sharon and I pose with a free class student: the
same one that I'll be playing badminton with on Sat.!

Tuesday...When I left America, I left without a China visa.  I was sad to do so, because the best visas are gained whilst in America, but long story short, I had to get my passport back before they could attach a visa to it.  So, on Tuesday I prepared the paperwork for the visa, and on Wednesday I went to the embassy to turn it in.  It won't be a great one, but it will be multiple entry, which will be good.  Later that day, I taught free class. It was such a wonderful class!  I felt in control of the classroom, and I felt like the students really learned, and were interested in what they learned.  I feel like it was a success!

Wednesday was an early morning, and I observed our new teacher teaching a class.  He did well, but we only had one student, so we threw plans to the side and worked a little on that, and she helped with Chinese as well.  And we did some free talk.  Then she and I went to grab some "da bao" (take out) and we brought food back to the center to enjoy.  It was soooo delicious!  We had dumplings and some wonderful combination of noodles and spice.  Yumm :)

Thursday started out as a semi-lazy day.  I finally got to rest a little in the morning, but then I darted over to the store to figure out what I was going to make for the party that evening!  I made a chicken-rice casserole, which translated in Chinese as cheese rice (cheesy fan.... yes, cheese in Chinese is cheesy! Just not spelled like that).  It was good, but I added a LITTLE too much rice, so it was dry.  Oh well...better luck next time! :)  The party was AMAZING!  We went to Sharon's house because there was plenty of room for hosting.  I brought my guitar, and we sang some great songs!  We ate a potluck dinner (as pictured below), and we had lots of fun! We listened to some people share about Christianity, and why it's important to them, and we had a lot of fun!

Friday was a day for me to play miss fix-it.  I had some lights that weren't working for one reason or another, my shower hose broke that day, and my garbage can had been broken for about 6 months, but I finally decided to get a new one.  I believe there were a few other things as well, but I don't remember.  I was very proud of myself for fixing everything.  It was a day to get all of that done, plus relax a little, and then I had free class in the evening, where we finished watching Soul Surfer which they had started the week before, but not finished for technical reasons.  It all worked out, and we were able to watch, and then share how the movie showed someone relying on her faith after a tough situation, and how through that she was able to get back on her feet...or in this case, her surf board!

Today should be fun as well.  At 5, I am meeting a friend and we are going to play badminton.  I am super excited, as I haven't actually played badminton in the entire year that I have been here, even though it's the most popular sport in China!  So I am prepared to be laughed at, and to fail, but it will be fun nonetheless!

I hope you were able to make it to the end of this gigantic post, and I hope to keep you updated more often in the future, and not one entire week in one long post! :)

Goin' back!

Hello!  I have mixed feelings right now as to whether or not I should say that this was a quick trip.  On one hand, it went by so quickly.  On the other hand, it was a really long time.  I was on a month long trip, which is longer than I normally take.

I am currently in the Denver airport on my way back to Macau.  I fly from here to San Francisco, and then on to Hong Kong.  After that, I'll take the ferry to Macau.  There is something that could change that, though: there is a typhoon in the South China Sea right now.  If the winds are not cooperating with us, then I might end up delayed somewhere in the world.  I think it'll be ok: the typhoon was not in the path of the plane, but it is only 200 kilometers out (which means there would still be some pretty strong winds).  So as for now, i am just waiting in Denver to get to San Fran to learn more! :)

While I was at the Sioux Falls airport, I wanted to gate check my carry-on.  As I was waiting for the attendent to be free, I overheard her saying that she was unable to speak to this man because he doesn't speak any English.  I looked at him, looked at her, and asked: does he speak Chinese?  She looked at me, and hesitantly said yes, and I told her that I speak a little Chinese.  She said...wow, that would be great...much better than trying to translate it on the phone.  So she told me what she wanted to say, and I was prepared to bashfully bow my head and say that I didn't know how to say that, but as she kept talking, I knew how to say it in Chinese!  So I told the man the information, and we had a small conversation back and forth.  As this was happening, some other airport workers who knew about the situation came in from whatever they were doing with the airplane, and as they looked at me and looked at the man, I glanced over and saw their jaws drop.  All 3 were just staring at me like, how in the world does this girl know Chinese?  And so after the man thanked me and left to go sit down, they continued to look at me curiously, and I told them that I live in China.  Later on I explained to one of the men that I am a missionary in Macau, and that I am learning Chinese, and was just thankful that I actually knew the words that she wanted to say to the Chinese man!

I don't think this was a coincidence.  Now, this is such a small thing, but it's the little things that build up to make your day go great or poor.  This lady was noticeably frustrated, so I was happy to be able to lighten the load a little bit.  Plus: I need to get back into the habit of speaking Chinese!  It's been a while!

As I am waiting here, I remember that the Denver airport has a Jamba Juice, so I am off to get a nice fruit smoothy as I wait in line.

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who hosted me while I was in America, and I hope that I will get to see you during my home service next year, especially if I did not see you this summer!  And remember that you're always welcome to come to Macau! :)