The End of May and Memorial Day

This month has been very busy, and June is going to be even busier. My time spent in the kindergarten is helping me develop some teaching skills I did not have before. Tonight, it may have helped my art skills a little, but probably not since my bear drawings are very lacking.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, I cannot help but think of all who have sacrificed for freedom. Do not take that freedom for granted. I know what it is like to be in places where freedom like ours is unknown. I am thankful for a long line of patriots from the The War for Independence to the current times who are unafraid to sacrifice themselves for our nation. Tomorrow, I will wear my Wolfhounds shirt in honor of my Uncle John who was killed in Vietnam.

I have met several nice young ladies since being here. Last week I baked cookies with one, and tomorrow, I will go out for lunch with another. I hope I can have a positive influence in their lives. Several are going to college, and some have chosen secular schools. They need lots of petitions to go up for them to stay firm in their beliefs. There are also several young men who are home from school. Some have been to the specialized classes, but some have only made one appearance. This is a little discouraging to the Teacher.

Several summer get togethers will take place, I will get to teach in quite a few of them. I have already been thinking about topics, and I am excited to see the results that come from these activities. These get togethers will focus on young people, but some parents may join in.

Next month, I will go to South Korea to renew my visa. During that time I hope to see a couple of friends who live their. It will be fun to catch up with my former roommate.

Requests
Summer Get togethers
Sister, Janna- possible surgery
Sisters, Julie and Joy- pregnancies
Parents- find a house

A New Kind of Busy

Another week has rushed by. I began volunteering in a Kindergarten last week, and I will be helping there four days a week. I have three classes, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 years old. I was a little overwhelmed at first, but this week is going much better. The kids know English words, but do not always understand full sentences. The some of the teachers understand what I say, but they cannot speak back to me. Hopefully, they will learn along with the kids.

Tonight, I had a girl named Willa come over dinner. We made crepes, and I taught her how to make peanut butter cookies. We had a good time talking and cooking. Next week, we will go to her house for hotpot.

As we move closer to summer, I will be much busier helping with several types of English camps, including Specialized ones. There may be opportunities to introduce people to our Friend and make new Friends.

Requests
A friend's new baby who has some difficulties
Chyenne Barnes (my sister's father-in-law)
My parents to find a house
Future plans

Happy B Day to Me!

Thursday, I celebrated 34 years of life! Time has definitely flown in the last ten years. It was 11 years ago at the end of this month that I made my first trip to China. The journey since then hasn't always been easy, but I can look back and see where I was led to the right places at the right times.

My life is about to get very busy. I will be volunteering in some phonics classes, and I made my first visit today. I also rode a bike for the first time in 10 years. I was pretty proud that I didn't wreck and embarrass myself.

I have been helping with a lot of small but important projects for my friends here and in Puerto Rico. This week, I finished the yearbook for the PR school, and I am almost done with the calendar for here. I enjoy being a blessing to all the people I come in contact with.

I hope any mothers who read this were able to enjoy a nice Mother's Day. I was able to send my mom some flowers. I have missed a number of Mother's Days at home in the last few years, yet my mom has been my biggest encourager on my journeys. When she surprised me for my birthday in Puerto Rico, we were able to spend Mother's Day together and speak at a mother-daughter banquet.

I talked with my sister, Julie tonight, and my niece Serenity, who is 4, wanted to talk to. I asked Serenity to read me a story. She read several short words, then read a story about a pig who sat in the mud. I asked her if she was reading a dirty story. She laughed and said, "Yes, I'm reading an Aunt Jenny story." I laughed so hard. She is definitely a chip off the block of sarcasm that runs in our family.

Requests:
Parents to find a house
Wisdom for my dad
Wisdom for decisions for my future trips
Chyenne Barnes-My brother-in-laws dad- The bucket of a backhoe fell on him and broke his leg.
My sister as she helps care for Mr. Barnes

Daily Living

Another week and month gone! Time seems to fly with each passing year. I will celebrate 34 years of life on Thursday, and I feel that the last three have gone way to fast.

This week was busy with a lot of normal everyday things like cleaning and cooking, but on Friday, I was able to guest teach phonics for a co-op mom and kids group. I had so much fun. Then on Saturday, I was able to use my English grammar teaching skills to help two high school boys. I love teaching, and I especially enjoy teaching English.

We are gearing up for some English camps which will happen during the summer. One will be a writing camp, and we will enjoy a lot of sightseeing and activities in order for the kids to have something to write about. I will also help with a specialized English group teaching stories like David, Daniel... Please keep me and the kids in your Thoughts to our Friend.

Conversation topics tend to be limited, and I am finding out more about these kind of problems. Some of the Friends have been asked to go home to be added to a list that tells who are Friends. Others have been told they cannot bring children to the Sunday learning groups. Another Thought to share with our Friend.

Requests
Camps, health, safety, protection, wisdom for future decisions

Keeping Busy

A schedule is definitely the only way to keep up with the daily life here in Beijing. Just trying to keep the dust at bay and do daily cleaning tasks can keep me busy most days. I do a lot more cooking than I was, and I am enjoying it. We have been out a few different times in the last few weeks for meals with friends, and the food has been amazing! I had Peking Duck again this week as well as lamb and fish. I also made homemade dumplings with some friends. This was my favorite meal!

I cannot explain all that my schedule entails, but I have been able to observe a few English classes, and I will be doing more observing this week and next. I am learning a lot about the needs of the students here in China. The classes are door to making new Friends. Some of the people interested  in becoming Friends attend specialized English classes on Sundays. These classes are geared of course, to developing the whole person not just educating them.

Certain aspects of Friendship are becoming more difficult because of the national leadership. It is sometimes difficult to print the materials needed for the classes. There is still a strong fear of others, and many times friendships are tested before someone fully trusts another person to be their friend and not be seeking them out for personal gain or to expose them.

 Requests
Growth among the Friends
More Students
English Summer Camps
Wisdom for the Future

Fun times in China!

I have been in China at week and have climbed the Great Wall twice, had a lotus boat ride on Bei Hai lake, had Peking duck in Peking (Beijing), had an amazing hot pot meal, made new friends, and making plans to meet up with some friends I knew in college and Chicago.

One of my new friends is returning to the US tomorrow. We have been roommates and buddies the last week, so I will  miss her fun personality. She will be starting college this fall and hopes to return to China in the  future.

I spend my days, when not sight-seeing, cleaning house and being a blessing to my friends. I have been able to sit in on a few English classes, and on the weekends, I have been able to play piano for specialized classes.

I am beginning to learn my way around, and I am remembering some of my Chinese. I hope to learn more as time goes by. The people here love Americans, and it is nice to feel famous as the people are always asking to take pictures.

Requests
Wisdom  for my time here in China.
Wisdom about my future plans.
My family

China!

Wow! The last two weeks were very busy. I finished out my time in Nepal by visiting Pokhara in the Annapurna Mtains. It is a beautifull place. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, ate Korean bbq, fajitas, Dahl bat (rice, soup, meat) crepes, and so many other delicious things. We visited the Gurkha soldiers museum which if you do not know who the Gurkha are, do some reading. They were and are amazing, brave, soldiers. We also visited the international Mountain museum. It is a beautiful place with a mini Mt. Everest to climb, so I climbed Everest. We also drove up into the mountains and watched the sunrise. Because of the clouds, we only saw the tiptoes of the tallest peaks. It was not until the last day that we actually saw the Annapurnas in their glory of beautiful, snow capped peaks. It was an answer to prayer. I did not get to see Everest due to clouds, but someday if I visit again, I plan to trek to see the mountain.

The end of my last week in Nepal was busy with packing, cleaning, and completing a few crochet projects for the kids. I left Nepal at 11:30 pm and arrived in Malaysia at 6am. What a beautiful airport! They have a small atrium with a jungle and waterfalls. It was a very relaxing place to walk through. I ate breakfast and did a little shopping, then went to have lunch. I only had a little bit of Malaysian money left, so I was trying to figure out how much my meal would  cost... the waiter had a little trouble understanding my questions, and a man from Singapore asked what the trouble was. I explained my lack of Malaysian money... He told the waiter to give me whatever I wanted and paid for it. I did not get to ask him if he was a Chr....., but it wouldn't surprise me.

I left Malaysia at 5:30 pm and arrived in China at midnite. Customs was quick with no problems. I headed for my hotel only to find out that they consider 2am to be part of the night before. My room was not ready, and there were not  available. I went to my friend's for a few hours then returned to the hotel to rest and freshen up.

The next day, I went to the Great Wall. The area was beautifully landscaped and did not seem to be a main tourist area.  We spent a couple of hours climbing, chatting... We then had an amazing fish soup lunch. Mine was very spicy, and one of the peppers , Szechuan peppers, had a strange numbing effect.

Yesterday, I spent the day at the English Center working on personal projects and learning about how the center works. Today, I am sitting in  on classes and learning how English is taught. Tonight we will have a time with friends to learn about the best Friend.

Please wait to comment about my adventures until you see how I write about things due to the regulations here. You will notice certain words are not used and are replaced with other words. If you do not understand something, please feel free to ask my family.

Requests
Trouble that my parents had with the moving company they hired.
Future plans