Recent News

 

 I had a fun treat to be able to go to Hong Kong to visit some friends and supporters as they went to a local school on a mission trip.  It was great to be able to see them and experience a little of what they do and see when they travel to Hong Kong to help with MCDH.  The girl eating ice cream with me (left) is Amber, and the guy in the next photo (right) is Pastor Sterzenbecher from Black Hawk, South Dakota.  Their team was a blessing to the school, and I could tell that they have a passion for helping out!

 Recently I have also had the blessing to attend a friend's wedding.  I didn't get many great photos, because of my camera's inability to take clear photos in darker settings, but here is a photo of the traditional first course in a wedding dinner: roasted pig.  We ate the skin off the top, then they took it away and chopped it up, and we ate the rest of it.  The wedding was beautiful, and the food was good.  It was also fun to sing Karaoke with them afterwards!




I also had a fun time at the Hard Rock Cafe with some friends for another friend's birthday.  On the left is a photo of a mural made of drumsticks at the Hard Rock Cafe in Macau.  It was fun to listen to American live music and then wander around the casino for a while looking for cake :) I then took a taxi to catch a bus--fun day

 I also tried my hand at Chinese cooking.  I made 煲仔饭, which is clay pot rice.  This was my first time making it, and it turned out pretty well!  It tasted delicious, but next time instead of steaming the egg on top I will just crack it and mix it in right away so that it cooks from the heat of the rice and not the steam! 

Women's Day, etc.

Hello!

Today (March 8)  is Women's Day in China.  It celebrates how valuable women are to society, and was set in place 100 years ago to try to help women gain equal rights in society! So today is the day to say "Man, I feel like a WOMAN!" :)  We celebrated when one of our students and his wife brought us cheesecake for the holiday!  It was great!  In mainland China, women get the day off of work.  Many schools are off today because of that...even in Macau!  But most women still have to work (like me), cause it's not a mandatory holiday for the employers to give ;)

Well, things have been changing around here!  I have been advancing a little more in Chinese (both languages, but especially Cantonese) in the past few weeks than I have been in a while.  I had many people in Hong Kong look at me in extreme surprise wondering how I learned Chinese so well, and exclaim "WOW!! le zhong mun hoa hoa!" (Your Chinese is so good!)  or "Wow!! You sound just like a Chinese person!"  Of course, I think they are being just a little lenient on me, but it's still extremely encouraging!

I have been formatting my work computer (that just got moved to my desk last week!) to my preferences...adding my newsletter program, changing the desktop, and arranging icons and folders to my liking. That's great :)  I like making it feel useful to me.  I'm still working on getting the Asian script installed and working so that I can type Chinese when needed.

I have been listening to KLOVE a lot via their online streaming.  I even sent them an e-mail thanking them for their wonderful online streaming, because it really helps!

On a less positive side, I've been in a lot of pain lately, because of my back.  I haven't been to a chiropractor in about 7 or 8 months, and my shoulder is really feeling the pain, which leads to my neck, which causes migraines....boo.

The weather is now Spring.  It's the rainy season.  Though it hasn't been raining while I have been commuting,  the ground is soaked as I walk by, and I often fall asleep to the sound of rain.  There is also cardboard all over the ground!  My dehumidifier is running whenever I am home, which helps!  Also, I have stopped wearing 10 layers, and am only wearing 1 layer today, which is great!  I even have short sleeves on!  I do have a jacket just in case, though!

The internet has been down for a while, so we ventured out of our offices and worked on a few things in the office.  It's back up now, so I can update you all about the events!

I've found myself on top of things lately.  It's been a good thing!  I am able to plan for my classes a week a head, and am able to stay organized and such!  Tomorrow we are teaching the story of Ruth and Naomi to the kids--finally--a kid-friendly lesson!  Unlike last week's Hosea and Gomer!  (for last week I changed it to a child who ran away from home again and again until finally she went to jail and the parents had to bail her out, then changing it to many people--us--who run away from God, and God comes to us and dies on the cross to pay the price for our sins!)  This week we will be singing "We Love (CLAP CLAP) because God first loved us!" and playing follow the leader, and talking about how Ruth followed Naomi wherever she went, and put her trust in God!

This is getting long, so I will post later about Hong Kong and all that awaited me there! :)

To all of you women out there: HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY!  You are a wonderful daughter of God, and He loves you so much, and has made you beautiful: not only on the outside, but on the inside, where He has washed you clean of sin and its ill effects!

To all of you men out there: Say something nice to the women in your life today to remind them how special they are to you, and how God created her beautiful just the way she is!  Men, sorry, there is no Men's day in China, but God created you beautiful too--from the inside out! :)

March Newsletter

My March newsletter is up and ready to view--click here or visit the link under the "Newsletters" tab on the left of the screen to see it!  It got a little pixilated during the upload, but it's still readable :) The photos are just grainy.

Have a great day!

Tomorrow I am off to Hong Kong until Monday.  I should have a post up about that soon afterwards with pictures! :)

Leap Day

Here is a picture from the potluck!

Happy Leap Day!

Mine was filled with things.  We started this 'extra' day with a lunch potluck.  It was wonderful!  I went a little overboard and made 4 dishes, and brought boiled eggs for a 5th, but didn't serve it.  The food was delicious--a huge mix of Chinese and American food, as I made homemade macaroni and cheese, goulash, and black bean salad, and there was roast duck and soy sauce as well (which was the chinese side, not brought by me, though!).  I also made eggplant for the first time in my life.  It was really good.  I followed a Chinese recipe, and it tasted great.  I will be making it again!

The rest of Leap Day was spent rearranging many things in the center--my classroom is no longer a storage room!  And all of the teacher desks now have computers on them, instead of having 3 in the waiting room that are usually not used, and 2 in the teacher area that we fight to use...now we all have our own!  And that means that I no longer need to lug my computer back and forth if I don't need a Mac at the office...for newsletters I'll need to bring it, but other than that I can leave it at home.

I had 3 students today, and we talked about very different things in each class.  In one we did mostly grammar, in one we talked about Jeremy Lin and the great impact that he is having on basketball and also on the world with his good sportsmanship and wonderful conduct in the sport--not to mention a wonderful Christian influence on many young people!  With my last student I taught the story of the American Flag--what the stars and stripes represent.  He had never heard it, and was really intrigued.  He told me about the China flag, but didn't know what the stars represent.

I should be uploading my March newsletter soon.  It is formatted, I just have to add some text.

I am very excited for Hannah to get here!!!  She gets here on the 13th, and we are planning a get-to-know-the-new-teacher potluck the next day :)  I am so excited!  The potluck today was amazing, and I can't wait for another!

On the 17th (yes, St. Patty's day!) we are having an event from 12-2.  I have class from 10-12 and from 2-5, so that will be a busy day!  But I am excited.  It should be a good time.  I have 2 new students starting next week, too, so everything is starting to pick up!

This Saturday after classes, I am going to Hong Kong to visit some people.  I am visiting some supporters, some friends, and other people that I don't know but are from South Dakota!  I am very excited to get to see some people from home!

Ok, that's about it, I think!  Have a wonderful day :)  Enjoy every minute of Leap Day!

Wow--it is the middle of February!  I think I say how surprised it is that it's the middle of the month pretty much every month--but this month especially.

Today I celebrated my 6 month anniversary with Macau.  I am so excited to have reached this point, but I realized that that means that I am half way done with my 1 year commitment.  Before you ask, my plans for next year are yet to be determined, so stay tuned to hear about what God has planned for me and where He will send me :)

But on to the updates!

This month has been full of things.  I feel like I have been busy all the time, which is great.  It has included spending time with some friends both in Macau and in China, and doing last minute things which lasted a lot longer than planned.  I spent time with one of my students for the first time.  I got to spend time with his entire family as I helped his oldest son with a school project and then we toured the wine museum.  It was a fun day.  I also got to see lots of Chinese culture by eating at Chinese restaurants, visiting temples, and more!  

Classes have been fun--I have been teaching grammar to some students and TOEFL prep to others, with some other students who are doing other things.  But by far the most interesting are the free classes.  I have a children's class on Fridays, which is never boring.  We recently got construction paper with has allowed me to be a little creative with letting them make books of the lesson, and I have been asking them to tell the story in Chinese to their parents using the pictures.  Last Friday we did Psalm 23, and we drew a picture of a sheep, shepherd, and a background with various elements from the psalm, and it is great.  It turned out great.  The kids had lots of fun, and I think they learned something as well!  I had my friend and coworker Lily help me by teaching the lesson in Chinese after I taught it in English, and it helped with comprehension, especially since we have some kids with zero English ability!

Even though classes have been enjoyable, my favorite part is relationship building.  I spend a wonderful evening at a special Valentine's Day concert with a friend of mine.  She and I both got roses on our way in, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear the Italian opera music, which was translated on screens into Chinese, Portuguese, and English.  It was great.  Then we walked around the area of Macau that we were in and just had a great time 

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day: church in the morning, followed by getting ready for our social activity.  We will be having a "Wii love English" party where we play the Wii and also other games all while conversing in English.  Afterwards I go to the newly opened Hard Rock Cafe.  I think there was another thing or two on the agenda, but I don't remember!

**update** 

I didn't eat at the Hard Rock Cafe--time was too short, so we ate fast food pizza instead!  But the Wii Love English time was fun, and we had some great conversations, amazing food (Maggie cooked an amazing Pumpkin-Coconut soup!!), and some fun time with the Wii!

**end update**

Anyway, please pray for peace and serenity and wisdom, along with health, safety, and confidence :)  

Have a wonderful day, and God bless!!

Life's happenings.

It's a wonderful day in China!  Tonight I am going to a Valentine's Day concert with my friend Mandy.  I will then come home to a full house of people!  I have a family staying with me tonight, and I am excited because they have a baby: I hope to be able to spend some quality time with the baby--and the rest of the family too, of course! I just miss spending time with babies!

Classes are coming to an end for the week.  It's kind of exciting to experience the first week back to classes after New Year and to discuss with my students about what they did.  I enjoy hearing the stories and such of the traditions and the celebrations.

Mostly I am excited because our team is just really pumped up right now.  We had a training in China that I wasn't really excited for.... but as much as I hate to admit it, my boss was right: it was a wonderful thing for us.  We learned some things with teaching, but most importantly it got us pumped up about our team and about our work, and also got us pumped because we have 2 new teachers coming to Macau!  One just arrived--he will be here for 2 months.  He is a retired pastor from Canada, and seems to be very nice.  The other is a sweet girl from Illinois, Hannah!  She will be here for a year.  Serena and I are very excited for her to come to join us in the office.  We have tons of fun by ourselves in the office, but it will be even greater to have a 3rd young lady!

Another thing that we all got pumped up about was language learning.  We were revitalized in our desire to learn the language: Serena and Matt, Cantonese; me, Mandarin.  It's been fun around the office lately with lots of jokes and songs and what not.

We have a Bilingual (but this week mostly English) Worship service on Sunday (tomorrow), and Serena and I are going to be singing a song where the first part is just acapella and we are singing harmonies.  We sang it in China when we had training, and it was requested for us to sing it again tomorrow, so we are excited to do that :)

I can't think of other updates...for those of you who heard that I was sick yet again...I am better!  I have been drinking more water in these last couple days than I did in all of January, probably.  I am mixing the hot and the cold so that it warms me up on the bus and in my house and at work where...well...it's fairly cold.  But it's been melting the water bottles...not sure if that's safe or not, so I should probably just get a thermos or something...we'll see.

I just want to say that my "Macau Facts" page has had over 4,000 hits since I started the page.  Most are from Google Images searches, but it has been a blessing to know that people from all over the world are looking at the site.  Hopefully while they're there they are able to look around the website and see some more stuff besides just the pictures of Macau!  I know that I have had a few people actually message me to comment on some stuff, so this blog has truly been a blessing :)  Thanks to those of you who read it and are interested in what is going on here in Macau!

Newsletter Up

I just posted my february newsletter, so check it out!

I have some wonderful news:

Hannah is now past 70% funded, so can make preparations to come to Macau!  I am very excited for this to happen :)

Check out her blog when you have some time!  And help her reach the 100% mark while you're at it! :)