Guitar Hero

Hey everyone. Just wanted to post a quick update since it's been a couple weeks since my last one.

For the past few months, I've been practicing the guitar quite a bit. Kirk is a really good player, and he's been helping me a little, though it's difficult with only one guitar between the two of us. Kirk is the only one that can play that well of our group, so naturally, he's the one who has to play all the time when we perform at random events. He also plays every Tuesday night at Mr. Mai's because that's Music Night. He likes playing, but not the whole night! He doesn't get too many chances to just talk with people like the rest of us do.

I've loved learning to play and decided it was finally time to start (trying!) to help him out. Recently, I've been playing a few songs. I definitely don't feel all that comfortable doing it yet, and I'm by no means a great player, but it's fun to try something new. Especially something I never thought I'd be able to do!

I've also purchased my tickets to come home for the summer. I'll be home from June 29 - August 23. I'm hoping to do a little traveling to see as many of you as I can. Let me know when/if you're available!

This past weekend I went to KTV (karaoke) yet again. Nothing special, except one of the Chinese girls that was in the group had the English name "Ice Tea." Thought you might enjoy that!

Also, another of my students has become a C! It's been really cool to build relationships, hand out Books, and have a lot of great conversations with different students and friends. I'm continually humbled that I get to be a part of things like that.

Lastly, I recently finished a great book called "Heaven is for Real." You might have heard about it. If you haven't, it's about a 4-year-old boy who almost died during surgery and visited heaven for a few minutes. It's pretty incredible and almost unbelievable, but the author (the dad) gives some amazing examples to prove it's authenticity. It was really encouraging to me and helped me realize that there really is more to life than this world. You might say that's wrong. I would say you're wrong! :)

I think that's pretty much everything. Hope you're all doing well!

The Decision Part 2

Jolie, Me, Kirk, and Daniel at the Three Gorges Dam in Yi Chang.

Unfortunately, I did not work out a deal with ESPN to air my decision process for next year. However, I can stall and put it at the end of this update much like LeBron James did. So I guess I'll stick with that.

The last two weeks have been great. For Easter, our fellowship met and David McNabb (aka Mr. Mai from the coffee house) shared with our group. After that, we went to a nearby field with lots of grass (which is rare here!) to have a picnic, Easter egg hunt, and play some games. It was a lot of fun to be outside, especially since the cold weather is officially gone. It's summer weather here, and I'm loving it! We played football and an Australian guy taught us a type of cricket that is popular there, so that was fun. Unfortunately, I hurt my shoulder playing football when I was trying to avoid a sack as the quarterback. I slipped and landed weird on it. I don't think it's serious, but I'm hoping it completely heals soon.

Last week, Senior 2 students had exams, so Kirk, Daniel, and I had the week off. We decided to go to Yi Chang with our friend Jolie. It's another city in our province. It's not the most exciting place, but it has the world's largest dam as well as some caves. We just wanted to get away for a while, so we decided on there. As I mentioned, there wasn't a ton to do, but it was nice to just relax and get ready for our last two months of the year. They had a bungee jumping place near the caves, and we seriously thought about doing it, but decided against it because of the cost and it closing too early. If I ever go back, I think I'll give it a shot though!

This is a 3-day weekend because of China's Labor Day being on May 1. I have today off and also had time to go to the local Chinese chrch with a student of mine that has been interested in going for awhile but has never had the opportunity to go. This chrch just started an English service that we enjoyed. I'm hoping to go back again. After that, we went to Wuhan's "Snack Street." Basically, it's a street that's about 1/4 to 1/2 mile long with all kinds of snacks and TONS of people. Think Black Friday shopping busy.

That's what I've been up to for the past few weeks. Now my decision....after this commercial break. Just kidding.

This year has been even more tough to decide than last year. I THINK I know what I want to do long-term in the states now. I'm still not 100% sure, but after teaching here for 2 years and coaching in America for awhile, I would like to teach and coach in a high school.

I applied for a few college graduate assistant positions hoping to help with some campus recreation programs while working towards my teaching certificate. However, the last month or so, I've really felt like I'm supposed to come back for one more year. I didn't hear back from any of those positions, which helped with the decision process! I've had a lot of little circumstances (many of which I can't talk about on here), mostly with students that have helped me make up my mind as well.

After I graduated from IWU, I always wanted to live in Indiana, close to friends and family. Instead, I've lived in Kansas, Iowa, and China! Every one of them has been a great experience. I still hope to move back closer to home eventually, but it's not time for that yet, which is why "I'm leaving my talents in Wuhan." I love the challenges of living in another country, learning a new language, and most importantly, knowing that I'm being used over here.

I'm still excited to come back and visit all of you this summer! See you soon.