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.

April Fool's Day Video

I forgot to mention in my last post about my April Fool's Day joke I played on a few of my classes. I showed them the pop-up video below and said it was important that they watch the car very closely.





I showed this to a few classes, but only recorded it once. Here was their reaction.

A crazy fun month!

A week after Kirk visited me in Wuhan, my parents and I were visiting him in Beijing! We're at Tiananmen Square.

Mandi and I with Elise, our "daughter."

Well, it’s time for another update. Which also means it’s time for my apology for not updating enough! As usual, the weeks when I have the most stuff to write about are the times I have no time to post on here! This has been one of those times, so I’ll try to condense it as much as possible.

My birthday was at the end of March. I’m now 27! It’s still weird to think that. Last year, I had a huge double birthday party with another American teacher. We invited quite a few Chinese and foreign friends. It was a great time, however, I wanted to just relax this year. I ended up going to Papa John’s with the other foreign teachers, which is typically how we celebrate almost every occasion! Rebecca also went to the local bakery and ordered a chocolate birthday cake. Somehow we ended up with a cake that tasted like orange creamsicle instead. So I guess we had a normal Chinese experience. Not what we planned, but it still turned out pretty good!

Mandi’s birthday is about a week after mine. We ended up going to Huangshi to visit our teammates the weekend between our birthdays to have a double birthday party with our whole group. We had a fun time watching movies, talking, and hanging out. My favorite moment was at KFC. Huangshi is a pretty small town, so we went to the only western restaurant they have to get ice cream. Becca Carpenter had brought some birthday decorations. As she was setting them up, a Chinese KFC worker came over and started talking to us. We thought she was asking us whose birthday it was. We pointed to myself and Mandi. She then continued to ask Mandi and I what gift we would like to give our daughter (Adam and Becca’s daughter, Elise). I loved it, and had fun playing it up for awhile!

I’ve also had quite a few visitors in Wuhan the past few weeks. The same weekend we went to Huangshi, my high school friend Kirk Lacy came and visited from Beijing. He has lived there for two years, and is returning back to the states for a few months. It was good to show him around Wuhan and Huangshi before he headed back to Michigan.

The very next week my parents came to visit me in China for a week and a half! I met them in Shanghai for a day. We then took a train to Beijing to see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and Forbidden City. After that, we took another train to Wuhan so they could see my everyday life here.

They sat in on a lot of my classes. My students had a great time meeting them and asking them questions. I told them as long as they were asking questions, we wouldn’t have to do the listening exercise (they hate that part of class). So of course, most classes asked questions the whole time! They had all kinds of great questions for them: What is the best way to attend an American university? Why did you live in so many different places? Was Ryan a good kid when he was little? Why is Ryan so skinny? And lots of others.

I was glad my parents could come and see my life over here. They enjoyed getting to know my students, and I enjoyed hearing them make comments on so many strange things that I’m used to now!

Lastly, one of my students is now a sister! I had given her a Book and talked with her a little over the past two years I’ve taught her. I was so humbled and excited to be a part of it. I’m currently meeting with her and another interested student occasionally to talk with and encourage them. I’ve had quite a few other chances to talk with people about Him, and I’m thankful for these opportunities.

With so many great experiences and friendships here, it’s been REALLY hard to decide on what I am going to do next year. All I’ll say is, my next blog update will have that decision! Be lifting me up!

I hope you’re all doing well. Happy Easter!

Around the world and back

Hello again everyone. It’s been quite awhile (as usual) since my last update. Except this time, I think I have legitimate reasons for it! I’ve traveled half-way around the world, and internet “guidance” has recently been a little more tight and hasn’t allowed me to access my usual way onto sites like facebook and this blog.

Two weeks ago today was my Grandpa’s funeral in Bloomington, Indiana. As I mentioned, my friend Joe was able to help me get tickets at about half the price I would have had to pay. I also got to fly first class, which makes the long flight seem a LOT shorter. I wish I had been home for another reason, but it was still great to see everyone from my dad’s side. The funeral was sad, but also very hopeful with my dad (who led the funeral) talking about heaven and what it can mean to us. My cousin Michele and I read memories that all of our cousins had about him. It definitely seemed strange to not have him there with everyone else, but it’s a reality that everyone must face at some point.

The entire trip was about a week, and about 40 hours of it was spent traveling by plane or car. With the 12-hour time difference, my sleep schedule was really messed up! I just got back to normal about a week ago only to mess it up again to watch the NCAA Tournament this weekend!

Anyways, after I returned from America, I was told by the other teachers that we had a new boss! Apparently, the school has elections every 4 years during the school year for administrative positions. A different English teacher (Tony) will replace our old boss (Dominic). The little I’ve talked with Tony, I’m really excited to work with him. I think he understands our situation as foreigners very well and will do a great job supporting and communicating with us.

Last week, I attended my first completely Chinese wedding (Cory and Lara’s was a mixture of American and Chinese). It was for Elva, another teacher at our school who we also know from Mr. Mai’s. It’s difficult to describe a Chinese wedding. I think the best way to describe them is that they’re similar to our wedding receptions without the service that we usually do before it. Mandi, Cory, and I sat with other teachers from our school. It was fun as always getting to know some teachers better that we often only casually pass at our school.

Lastly, I’ve lately had a few great conversations with some Chinese friends about J and the Book. I’m grateful for the opportunities, and you can be thinking of them as well!

I hope you are all doing great and enjoying March Madness during the day while I’m staying up all night!

Spring Festival

Thanks to everyone for your "thoughts" and words of encouragement for me and my family. I think the toughest times can often remind us how blessed we are when so many people are there to pick us up!

I will be flying to America on Wednesday for my Grandpa's funeral. My friend Joe (the same one in the pictures below) who works for Delta was able to help me book a flight for about half the usual price! The school has helped me out a lot as well. The Chinese teachers will cover my classes while I'm gone, and they have even given me a little money to help cover some of the cost of flying home. I'm so grateful.

Similar to last year, I had a blast and did a ton of things on my month-long Spring Festival vacation. Hung out with a few Chinese families, caught up with old friends, and visited Tokyo, Shanghai, and Beijing. It would take forever to review it all, so below are some pictures that I thought you might enjoy.

Eating Beijing Duck. But in Beijing, it's just called duck.

The Water Cube where Michael Phelps won all his gold medals.

The longest escalator in Asia! 8 floors! You could just feel the history while riding it...

Kirk Ransom, Coral, Me, Daniel, and Kirk Lacy hanging out at Coldstone in Beijing.

Believe it or not, the Tokyo subway system was even 5 times more difficult to figure out than this map makes it look like!

Apparently every country has one of these.

Just a cool-looking pier in Tokyo.

A bunch of dead tuna at the world's largest fish market in Tokyo.

A giant Buddha statue. I'm pretty sure this is the 500th one of these I've seen in Asia.

Behind the fog and clouds is the beautiful Mount Fuji. Just imagine it. That's what I did.

A cool little street in Tokyo.

Unfortunately, sumo wrestling was not in season while we were there. But this is where the big tournaments take place.

Entertaining the Japanese as they walked by.

Just to give you a little idea of how big Tokyo is. This is a picture of the city quite a ways away from the center of town. And the picture is facing away from downtown!

The Tokyo Dome. Home to the most famous baseball team in Japan: The Tokyo Giants.

Our hostel beds were in "capsules." Or as I like to call them, "boxes."

A traditional Japanese building similar to the Chinese style.

Cartoons are HUGE in Japan for people of all ages!

We looked for this Godzilla statue for quite awhile. We thought it was going to be just a little bit bigger...

Joe, Kirk, and Daniel at a sports bar watching the Super Bowl.

Hanging out with our new friend Takaki eating some traditional Japanese food.

I'm assuming this is Mickey and Minnie on drugs.

Joe was able to get our flight to Tokyo in first class! Maybe the first and last time I'm ever there!

A few of us visiting Lara's home in Hanchuan, Hubei, China.

Norman Mathews

My grandparents Norman and Doris (sitting) with their 5 kids. My dad is on the far right.

The Mathews family (minus a few people) in 2008

I returned just a few days ago from my week and a half in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Beijing. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to post some pictures with a few highlights soon. But I'll do that another time. This post will be a little different from my past ones.

About a week and a half ago, I was in Japan with some friends. We were in our hostel, and I was catching up with people on facebook when my Mom wrote me and told me about a couple from my home chrch in Spring Arbor. They had been married 15 years and were about to give birth to their first child who was due in just a few months. While driving on some icy roads, they lost control of their car at the same time as a semi truck. The semi slid into the wife's side of the car. She was killed, but their daughter was delivered barely clinging to life, only to join her mother in death a few days later. As my Mom told me this via facebook chat, I couldn't believe it. It broke my heart to think of this man who had almost instantly lost his family. My main thought was, "Why?"

A few days later, I was in Beijing. I got a call from my high school friend Kirk who lives there. He said that my parents had been trying to contact me, but they apparently couldn't reach my Wuhan cell phone if it was outside the city limits. He passed on the word that my Grandpa had some serious problems during his heart surgery (on Valentine's Day, no less!). This surgery is usually a fairly simple one, but our family knew that there was a small chance something could go wrong because of a past heart attack many years ago.

The next few days in Beijing, and after I returned to Wuhan, were spent constantly checking e-mail and Skype for his health updates. Friday morning, I woke up to check my e-mail and found out that he had passed away. It was, and still is surreal. In the past four months, my Uncle Tom and Grandpa from my father's side have died. My aunt has lost her husband and dad. Our family is very close. Every July 4th weekend for over 10 years we have gotten together to eat, play sports, talk, and have chrch. It is one of the things I look forward to more than just about anything else.

I am so thankful for my Grandpa. His influence on our family is one of the biggest reasons why we are C's as well as so close to each other. I'm extremely sad that he's gone, but even more happy for the time I had with him. I'll never forget when he told us that he would get up very early every morning to walk. While walking, he would pry for every member of our family.

I wish he was still here, but I know that he was ready to move on to see his real Father. I am excited to see him again in a place where death and sadness are no more. I know that all of you have had deaths and terrible experiences of your own. I pry that you have the same comfort that my family and I have at this time. If you don't, I hope you find it. This world is not the end of the story.