Rebecca and Melodie bought us couples' shirts! They're popular in China. Our Chinese friends don't understand why we think they're so funny. When you put our shirts together it's a heart and says LOVE.
Signing contracts with our new waiban, Linda.
Hanging out with some of my best friends! From L-R: Joe, Kirk R, Patrick, Kirk L, Daniel, Coral
I'm closing in on my 30th month living here in Wuhan, China. It always has and will probably continue to be surreal that I live in China. If you include next year, I will have lived in China as long as I went to college! It's been a great 3 years here, but I'm excited to be heading back to the states in 10 days! I'll be in America from June 27-August 19. I'd love to see as many of you as possible while I'm home. I've had lots of stretches where I've been really busy here, but the last month and a half has probably been the busiest so far. Here's a quick update on what I've been up to.
- Mandi and I have visited Jingzhou three times over the last few weeks to go through all the steps to be ready to move there next year. It's been great to visit so much with our new waiban Linda who is going to be awesome to work with, but it's been incredibly frustrating getting everything done in time with the police station so we could make our flight to America! Fortunately, someone from Jingzhou is bringing our passports to Wuhan tomorrow with our completed visas and residence permits!
- I was able to visit all of my old classes which I had taught the previous two years. All of those students just finished up the the biggest exams of their lives, the GaoKao. I've mentioned it before, but this exam will determine their future in many ways. Pretty much nothing else matters in their high school careers besides this exam. I've been able to hang out with a few students who took it last week. Most of them are relieved, bored, and still anxious while they wait for the results to be released on June 25th.
- I've played in a few basketball more basketball games with the teachers. My most recent game was against teachers from another local high school. I was just planning on going to the school gym to shoot around with some friends, but found out it was half-time of a teacher's game. The teachers from my school yelled over at me to join them. We were down 4 at half-time but managed to pull out a two-point win. It was a lot of fun to play a full-court and semi-organized game (which is rare here).
- If you've been reading my blog for the whole time, you might remember Daniel who was on our team for two years. Last year he returned to California to attend seminary. He flew in for a visit. It was a lot of fun to catch up with him. My high school friend Joe also flew in a little later. The four of us trained to Beijing last weekend to hang out and see some of our other foreign and Chinese friends who live there. It was a great weekend catching up with some of my closest friends!
- Over the past week, the air in Wuhan has been AWFUL. It was so bad that there was even an article about on the Drudge Report website! There have been rumors of factory explosions and nearby cities burning crops, but I still haven't heard a definite cause. I'm ready for some clean air so I can get back to running!
As usual, there's so much else I could write about, but I'll keep it brief. Please be thinking of me and my teammates as we finish up our time at Wuhan No. 1 Middle School (almost all of us will stay in China, but do something else next year). Most of us have been working together for 2-3 years. It's going to be strange to be away from them in a different city. And as of now, it'll still be just Mandi and I in Jingzhou.
Since I'm leaving soon, this will probably be my last post until the fall. I hope you all are doing great, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
1 John 4:18
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