High Roller

Hey everyone! It's funny to me the things that seem normal now. Last week, one of my high school friends (Joe Bentle, whom a lot of you know) who works for Delta Airlines came to visit me for a few days. Because of his job, Joe has been to China a few times to visit me and another friend of ours (Kirk Lacy) who lives in Beijing.. He came here for a long weekend to hang out during his vacation. I'm used to it now, but it's funny that he comes to hang out for the weekend, like I still live in the midwest, not the other side of the world.

We had a great time as usual. Watched some football and basketball through my Hava system. Got caught up on Spring Arbor news. We also went to a fundraiser that is run by the American Chamber of Commerce that gives money to a local Wuhan charity. We got some free tickets because Kirk played the guitar and sang at it. It was a casino night, and everyone started with a few chips for free. I've never gambled other than a few dollars for an NCAA Tournament bracket, so I decided to give blackjack a try since it seemed like the easiest game. I actually started to do pretty good. At the end of the night, they had a "high rollers" blackjack table. I had enough chips to last four hands. I gave it a try and immediately went 0-4. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

You may remember that I am going to run the Shanghai Marathon on December 5th. Joe rode a bike with me while I ran my long training run of 20 miles. For those of you who don't know him, Joe LOVES to talk, which is perfect when I want to be distracted from the pain I'm inflicting on my body! I ran a great pace, and I was really starting to feel like I could run the time I'm hoping for (somewhere around 3 hours and 20 minutes). However, since then my right ankle has really been bugging me. It hurt so bad, that I couldn't finish 4 miles last Friday. I'm starting to get nervous. I haven't been running much, and it's still been hurting me. Rebecca and Kirk are running the half-marathon the same day, and they have been having some leg problems as well. You can be thinking of us as we've all been training for a few months with these problems coming just before the race!

The same weekend Joe was here, I also went to a birthday party for one of my students. Margaret invited all of us foreign teachers to go KTVing (karaoke) with her and a few of my other students. Most of these students are in English Club and they can speak really well. It's fun to do things with them outside of school where everyone can just be themselves. As I've said many times, our students are very busy, so it's great to help them relax, even if it's just for a little while.

I handed out some Books last week to those students I mentioned, and all of them seemed excited to receive one. I'm hoping they will find some time to read it and talk with me about it.

Other than that, no big news. I still can't get over how much another country can feel like home. I'm starting to pick up the language a little better, but mostly it's from getting to know so many great people over here.

This weekend, we will go to Huangshi to celebrate Thanksgiving with the rest of our Zhong team. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I'm sure you do too. Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy weeks. Busier weekends.

Hanging out with our new friends Jean and Tian Min in Zhangjiajie

Huanglongdong Cave

Daniel and Kirk at Tianzi Mountain

Apparently it's good luck if the Miao people rub this black stuff on your face!

The entire Zhong Relations team together in China for the first time!

The last few weeks have been extremely busy! I usually make notes to myself on things I want to mention in this blog, and the list ix much longer than usual. So, here it goes…

Our Chinese friend Lily turned 21 a few weeks ago, so we celebrated her birthday. She was one of our first friends here last year. Surprisingly, another one of our old Chinese friends showed up. Solomon was in Wuhan last year, but he moved to Australia to study. We all had a blast hanging out with both of them and learning to play ma jiang (mahjong), a traditional Chinese game.

The Aloha Diner is an American restaurant on the other side of the city run by a brother and sister. They do some great work reaching out to their Chinese staff members and the local community. Recently, they have really been struggling financially. So much so, that they are trying to determine whether to continue with it. To help raise funds, they have had two special events the past few weekends. The first was their 4^th anniversary party. Janie (the owner) asked a few of us from Wuhan No. 1 if we would be willing to help lead some games and contests while Kirk played the guitar. We’ve loved eating there as well as getting to know the staff, so we agreed to help out. The event went well, and Kirk’s singing and guitar-playing were a hit.

The next day, Kirk, Daniel, and I set off for a vacation! We teach Senior 2, and our students had a week of hiking in the country side, visiting a prison, and learning about “real life.” That’s about the most information I can get from anyone that I ask about it. While they were living the hard life, the three of us went to Fenghuang (Phoenix City ) and Zhangjiajie in Hunan province. In Fenghuang, we visited the village of a minority group called the Miao. At the village, We went up on a stage to take part in a race with some other visitors where the three of us had our feet in things that looked like skis and we had to walk in unison. Daniel and Kirk’s feet were too big for the straps, so we came in last place! Actually, we didn’t even finish! Because of that, we had to sing and dance on the stage, then they wiped some black stuff on our faces for good luck!

After a few days there, we went to a nearby city called Zhangjiajie. It is known for some famous mountains that inspired the Hallelujah Mountains in Avatar. We took the world’s longest cable car (about ½ hour ride) up and then did some hiking. I think that by and large, the Chinese people are very kind, and Zhangjiajie is probably the kindest city so far in my opinion. As soon as we arrived, we met a younger guy (Qu Qiao) who helped us find our hostel as well as introduced us to two of his friends (Jean and Tian Min). As tourists, people have tried to hustle us out of money before, so I was skeptical. But these three quickly won my trust and we ended up hanging out with them quite a bit over the two days there. In fact, they were the ones paying for most of the meals, saying that we were their guests. We even had our first Chinese “pay-for-the-bill” fight with them. They won. The waitress wouldn’t take our money, only theirs!

The day after we got back, we helped with Aloha’s next weekend event: a Halloween party for children. Kirk and I dressed as butterflies because that was the cheapest and quickest costume we could find in a day! Aloha is in a neighborhood with a lot of foreigners, so there were kids from China, America, Turkey, France, Australia, and possibly a few other countries. Mandi, Cory, and I helped lead some games for the 3-6 year olds. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I worked with that age a lot during my last job, but not with a group of kids that spoke 4 different languages! The good news is that Aloha raised enough money for the immediate future, but they still have a long ways to go for the next few months.

We followed that with a “back to normal” week of teaching before our school had its huge 60^th Anniversary celebration this past Saturday. Basically, the entire campus was cleaned, renovated, and redecorated for this one Saturday event. There were performances in two separate auditoriums, and of course we were one of those performances! We did a short skit with the English club where I took a student in a time machine to America to show them some differences between our cultures.

The next day was Adam Carpenter’s (Zhong Relations founder who is now teaching in Huangshi, China) birthday. We celebrated at Aloha, of course! For the first time this year, our whole team was together to celebrate his 30^th. Happy birthday, Adam! As you can see in the picture, we have a pretty big group between our two cities this year.

This week, all of the foreign teachers have the week off since our students have midterm exams. That’s right, I’ve only taught one out of the past three weeks! It’s a tough life over here, but someone’s gotta do it. Joe Bentle, a high school friend of mine, is coming to visit in a few days so that should be fun.

Also, I passed a Book around my classes on the first day this year. A few students asked me about it, so I wanted to give them one. I have already given one away, and I plan to give a few more out next week. Be thinking of them as they read it.

My dad led the funeral service for my uncle a few weeks ago. I really wish I could have been there with my family, but I have faith that we will all be together some day.

I always want to go more into depth about everything, but it would just take too long. I’d love to hear from all of you on Skype, Facebook, or e-mail sometime. I hope you’re all doing well!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Spring Arbor, China

Hello again everyone. As usual, I lost track of time and waited too long for an update! So, here it goes.

National Day (October 1st) is basically China's July 4th. It celebrates the day that communism came in to power. We had about 5 days off. Rebecca and Mandi went to Shanghai. Cory and Lara went to her hometown. Kirk, Daniel, and I couldn't really make up our mind if we wanted to go somewhere or not. We finally decided to take a train trip to Lu Shan, a mountain a few hours away. In China, you can't buy train tickets more than 10 days in advance, so during peak travel times buying tickets is crazy! Needless to say, we waited too long and there were none available. We didn't really care and just hung out with some of our friends that we don't get to see often.

After vacation, we FINALLY got our schedules worked out with the school and everyone's happy. It's nice to get back into a rhythm. Just in time for a week-long vacation next week! The Senior 2 students (juniors) that Kirk, Daniel, and I teach are hiking to the countryside to experience the "real world," so the three of us are planning on traveling to Fenghuang (Phoenix City). I don't really know anything about this place, but maybe I'll see Steve Nash!

Yesterday was an interesting day at our school. Our group (Zhong Relations) was started by a couple who is connected to Spring Arbor University, the school in my hometown. Over the past few years, our organization has built a relationship with SAU as well as our high school. Now these two schools have reached an agreement to try to send Wuhan No. 1 students to study at SAU! I'm excited because I think it can be a great connection with a C school. Plus, I might be seeing some of my students in Spring Arbor in the future!

Some SAU staff visited the school yesterday to take a tour as well as give a speech to interested students. It was cool seeing the president as well as some other staff members I know from home, including my Mom's boss!

Two other quick notes. My uncle is still not doing well and probably does not have much time left. Also, I had my phone interview with Teach for America. There were A LOT of technology issues as we talked. I could barely hear my interviewer for the first half of the interview. We finally got it worked out. I thought it went okay, and figured it could go either way. Unfortunately, I found out a few days later it didn't go the way I was hoping! Oh well. So I guess I'm still a free agent after this year with the option to re-sign!

The first day of class, I have my students fill out a sheet with various information. At the bottom, I give them the option to ask a question about me or America. I'll leave you with my favorite English names and questions (some serious, some funny)!

Favorite Names
Frozen
Nith
Castro
Eating
Mr. Bean
Nothing
Silence
Ehome
New York
Shevchenko
Fuke
Joker
Soil
Sure
Z
Gilbert Artest (Named after Gilbert Arenas and Ron Artest. Two CRAZY NBA players.)
Icy Roc
Pfizer
Tragedy
Sherlock Holmes
Cloud Strife
Jacky Spitzer Godot
Caviar
Snoopy
Sonic
Thunderboy
Big Sea
Zooney
Son of Dragon
Elysion Laflanzie
Rnbaye (His favorite soccer team is Bayern.)
Viper SB
Geasy (pronounced Gassy)
Jack the Ripper


Favorite Questions
Do you have a girlfriend? (The #1 asked questions both years)
Do you like Mr. Bean?
Why don't you find a girlfriend quickly? You're handsome.
Come on! Try your best to teach us!
Do you like Lady Gaga?
What's your favorite bank?
Do you want to marry a Chinese girl?
Is it true that almost every high school student has a love affair?
Do you like your girlfriend?
To be or not to be?
What if there is no church in Wuhan?
Could you take me to America?
I want to know more about chrch. I'm also a C.
Who is the most beautiful girl in America?
Why are you so handsome?
How many girlfriends does an American boy have? What about you?
Do you like the person who sits on my right?
What costumes do you love?
Who do you admire? Obama or Jsus?
Is there a real God in the world? Or just in everyone's mind?
What's your favorite sentence in the Holy Book?
You can choose a girlfriend from Grade 1.
What is the meaning of mankind?
What do Americans think of octopus?
Life is boring, isn't it?
Hello, stranger. How do you do?
Love and sex. Which is more important in marriage?
What makes you become a C?
When will you have a baby?
Aha! How do you think about gay?
How to become taller? It's terrible to be short.


As I finished up this post, my dad told me on Skype that my Uncle Tom just passed away. Please be thinking of him and all his family and friends. He was a great man.

Ryan Mathews: Superstar

A picture of the Wuhan No. 1 High School foreign teachers.
Me, Cory, Mandi, Steve, Rebecca, Kirk, and Daniel

Hey everyone! It's been an interesting past couple of weeks.

As far as teaching, it's been a little crazy. Last week was Mid-Autumn Festival (think Thanksgiving) and tomorrow is National Day (think July 4th) in China. Holidays are usually a good thing because you get a break from work or school. Not so here! We do get a few days off, but we have to make up those days on the weekends. Because of Mid-Autumn Festival, I actually had to work more days than I would have if there hadn't been a holiday! At least our Huangshi team was able to visit us in Wuhan for an American cookout on one of our days off. Hamburgers taste even better when you can't eat them as often!

Today started our 6 day break for National Day, but we'll have to work the following weekend. All in all, it's not terrible. It's just that I'm a routine-oriented person who can't get into a routine for about a month! However, I am looking forward to relaxing and traveling around Wuhan these next few days. Should be fun.

On top of the weird weekend workdays, the school decided to change the class schedules because of some government reforms, which messed up most of our class times! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting this all worked out so I can just focus on teaching!

Now that I've vented a little of my frustrations, the fun parts of the past few days here:

Our group has gotten a little media attention as of late! The nearby coffee shop, Mr. Mai's, had its 7th year anniversary. At last year's program, Taylor, Kirk, Daniel, and I dressed up as girls and danced to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." It went over pretty well, so they asked Kirk, Daniel, and I to do something again this year. We were struggling to come up with an idea, then Lara (Cory's chinese wife) showed us a song/dance called "Nobody" by a Korean group called the Wonder Girls. Here's a link if you want to see a little of their famous song (http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA2ODQ3MzAw.html) It's HUGE in Asia! We decided it would be fun to give it a shot. The crowd LOVED seeing some foreigners trying to pull this off. Some person we don't even know recorded it and posted it on a Chinese video site. As of now, it's been viewed over 16,000 times! That may not be a lot by internet standards, but it's about 15,550 more than I would have guessed!

Mandi recorded the dance with my camera, and I've posted that to the end of this update. Here's the link to the "famous" internet video if you're having trouble watching that. (http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/hlcY8xrNa1g/)

Three days after that, a TV news crew came to Mr. Mai's to see how foreigners celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. Since we don't, we pretty much just did what they told us to do! Ate mooncakes (a traditional Chinese snack), sang Chinese songs, and recited Chinese poems. If you want to see the news clip, you can see it on my facebook page. I get a little more face time on there!

I'll end with a few pryr requests. I had a phone interview with Teach for America a few days ago. It's a program that sends teachers to low-income areas around the country. I still have no set plans, but this will probably be my last year in China. If/when I return to the states, I'm starting to think that I would like to be a teacher. This would be a fantastic opportunity if I get it. I find out if I advance to the next stage in a week. If I do, I have to fly back to America, possibly in mid-October which could cost quite a bit!

Also, my uncle who I have mentioned a few times on here is getting weaker from the cancer. He may not be here much longer. Be thinking of him and his family. It's sad and frustrating, but it's also great to have our hope in J no matter what happens in this life. He will be going home soon.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Back in business

Hey everyone. Here's another update. I'll try to keep short and sweet!

Obviously, a lot has gone on during my first few weeks back. The good thing is, I feel so much more comfortable this year. Just like anything, the second time around is much smoother. Wuhan does feel a little like home. I know a lot of the teachers, administration, students, as well as my way around town. I can already tell that this year is going to be a lot of fun.

The first week of classes was frustrating, and not at all because of the teaching. There is an argument going on between the administration and the Senior 2 International teachers (a department that Kirk, Daniel, and I teach for). The school would like us to teach these students twice a week. The teachers always want as much time as possible with their students to get them ready for exams. As I mentioned last year, exams in China mean everything! The three of us talked to both sides, but couldn't get an answer. They were telling us that the scheduling department would fix it all. However, they were also telling us that we were going to teach classes during times we were already teaching! It was frustrating because we knew the only two ways it could be solved, but no one would listen to us. After this continued for a few days, Peggy (our waiban) told us that we would just teach once a week but it would be worked out later. For now, our schedules are set. Now, I just hope it stays that way! I like my current schedule except for Wednesdays when I teach 5 classes (almost 300 students). My voice will be shot every Wednesday night!

I think I have told quite a few people, but I am planning on running the Shanghai Marathon in December. I hate missing the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon when I am away, so I wanted to find another race that would keep me running this year. I'm excited, but a little nervous as well. I've ran a marathon before, but never trained in such terrible air. I hope I don't get sick too often! Last week, I had to get a physical to show that I was able to run. Cheryl, a doctor who attends our fellowship, was able to help Kirk, Rebecca, and I out. Kirk and Rebecca are running the half-marathon. It'll be fun to travel with them and a few others from our fellowship. We are now officially registered. We just have to train!

I love running, and I thought this would give me a great opportunity to run in some new areas around our apartment to find out what's around. It was pretty amazing to run back to where I thought there was very little and find dozens of colleges and thousands of people! Last Saturday, I got lost and couldn't find the road I was looking for. I tried to ask people for directions because I knew I was close, but they couldn't explain it to me or didn't know either. I had ran about 9 miles, and I just wanted to get home! I didn't have any money for a bus or taxi. I was about to give up and try to explain to a taxi driver that I would pay him if I could run up to my apartment. Right as I started looking for taxis, a car pulls up next to me. It was one of my Chinese friends, David! I couldn't believe I ran into one of my friends in a city of 8 million people! He had just bought a new car and was practicing driving! He offered to drive me home, which was great. I also learned I wasn't really lost. The name of the road was different in that area, I just didn't know it.

Teacher's Day was last week. In China, Teacher's Day is a pretty big deal. Students will give their teachers cards and gifts. There is also an assembly to honor everyone. Plus, we get a bonus in a traditional Chinese red envelope. The assembly is extremely boring, even for the teachers who speak Chinese! But the bonus is worth the two hours!

I think that is pretty much everything from my end. Kirk, Daniel and I are preparing a dance for the Mr. Mai's anniversary. If you YouTube the song "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls, that's the dance we're going to TRY to do! It's extremely popular over here. It should be interesting...

That was easy.

Be honest. You're happy right now. You're ecstatic! The single most informative and entertaining piece of reading in your life is back. Maybe not, but I still hope you enjoy Skinny White Kid round two!

This year, Zhong Relations training was in Spring Arbor which was fun. I was able to stay home for a few more days and my family was able to meet most of the team, which is up to about 15 people this year. My school has the same group: Me, Kirk, Daniel, Cory, Rebecca, plus a new teacher Mandi, who is from Louisiana. I think we're all going to work well together, so I'm excited for this year. I hope to get a picture of the group up soon.

Training went well. It was strange to be one of the "experts" this year. Last year, I had no clue what to expect. I knew that some of the new teachers were feeling that way this year, so all the returning teachers tried to prepare them the best we could.

Our trip from Detroit to Wuhan was smooth and problem free. Psych! Here is a chronological list of "highlights" of our trip from Detroit to Chicago to Los Angeles to Shanghai to Wuhan.

- A few days before the trip, we learn that our flight from Shanghai to Wuhan had been changed. We were supposed to transfer airports in Shanghai. The airline never told us. Rebecca was double-checking and found this out. We were able to get a solution figured out for everyone except Kirk and me. The two of us flew back to America on Air China, so we had a ticket code under them. However, our flight back was on China Eastern. Both airlines were saying they couldn't fix it because it wasn't their flight or it wasn't their ticket code. We just decided to try to argue our way onto a flight once we got to Shanghai.

- We arrived to DTW airport at 3:00am. If you want to meet some strange people, try this sometime.

- We had no problem with our layover in Chicago. Landed in LA on time.

- Our flight from LA to Shanghai was our first China Eastern flight. We decided to try to argue with the airline there instead of Shanghai since they speak English. As we were doing this, we realized that at that time, all of our flights were messed up, not just Kirk and mine! We would have to change airports in Shanghai. With all of our luggage. During the world expo!

- We knew it was very possible that we would miss our flight while transferring airports besides the fact that we paid for tickets out of the same airport. We argued for about 30 minutes. All the while our departure time from LA was getting closer and closer. The China Eastern workers were saying there were absolutely no flights out of the same airport they could transfer us to. We were pretty sure that wasn't true at all, so we refused to go away.

- Finally, one of them (from out of nowhere) said "Okay, we have it fixed. We have you on a flight you want from Shanghai to Wuhan." We were ecstatic, but this new flight gave us only an hour to land, go through customs and security, and board. The workers made sure our luggage would go straight to Wuhan since we wouldn't have time to get them in Shanghai. Plus, they would have a worker waiting for us in Shanghai to guide us through everything quickly. We were pumped! From here on out, no more problems. Smooth sailing. And it was just like that....only the exact opposite.

- We arrived in Shanghai after a 14 hour flight. No worker there to escort us. We waited for a few minutes, then decided that we would have to go it alone. Just in case, we decided to check to see if our luggage had been unloaded here. We were hoping to find all of it (to transfer it to Wuhan ourselves) or none of it (meaning it had been transferred straight to Wuhan). We found exactly half of our bags. Awesome! We just had to hope that the other half were going straight to Wuhan and re-check the other half.

- We busted our butts through bag check and security to make it to our terminal a little before our boarding time.

- We boarded our flight in Shanghai at about 7:00pm . We were almost there. We would arrive in Wuhan at about 8:30pm. Or not. Our plane sat on the runway for almost four and a half hours before taking off! We never found out for sure, but we think it had to do with lightning.

- At about 1:00am on August 27th, we landed in Wuhan....and found all of our luggage! If this year is anything like that trip, it's going to be crazy.

We've been in Wuhan for about a week. It's been similar to last year so far. Getting our schedules figured out, finding an office, cleaning my VERY dirty and moldy apartment. I finally feel settled in and ready to start classes on Monday. I will be teaching most of my same students from last year which is really cool.

Looking forward to the new year and what it could bring!

On a side note, please keep thinking of my uncle Tom whom I mentioned last year. He is still fighting brain cancer and just received some more bad news recently. Thanks!