Meat On a Stick and Divine Appointments

The highlight of school this week was getting to go on a field trip! We got to go to a park near the mountains on the outskirts of Beijing. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids had a blast. There were many team building and “field day” types of activities. They did everything from having to work together to get all of their classmates over a 10ft wall, to picking up ping pong balls with chopsticks and having to race across a field without losing it and drop it in a bucket. It was fun to cheer the students on and have a day to just spend time with them. The most interesting part of the day was lunch time. As we spread out for a picnic, all the kids got out their snacks- it was like Halloween, only Chinese style. In my opinion, dried packaged meat on a stick and seaweed are not exactly treats. The kids were running around trading their food with each other and putting all kinds of food up to my mouth to try. Needless to say, I was glad I packed a good old peanut butter and jelly! I think it was definitely a day of bonding for me and for the students.
Another highlight this week was getting to go observe some English classes at a local University in Beijing that some other ELIC teachers teach at. We are encouraged to do this to see how it is different and what it would be like, so since our Fridays are just office hours we got permission to go on this special trip! Renmin University is one of the best University’s in China and it felt so good to be back on a college campus…I’m still kind of mourning the fact that I am no longer a college student! The campus was beautiful and had everything you could ever need, including two grocery stores, a cell phone store, and many restaurants in addition to their dining halls. The students in the class we observed were preparing for their midterm assignment which is going to be giving a speech. I got to talk with a few students about their ideas and give them some feedback. I was so impressed with the depth of their speeches, maybe even more because I am really only use to being able to teach basic vocabulary to my ten year old students! One student’s speech title was “A Walk in Autumn.” She was using the metaphor of how the leaves in autumn change colors and then slowly wither away and die, to talking about our lives and humanity. This led to a really great discussion about the meaning of life and our purpose here on earth. I respect these students so much, as I cannot imagine having to give a speech in Chinese! It was a really fun and encouraging day to connect with students there, including two girls I had met on the train ride I took to Taiyuan a few weeks ago! I walked into the class we were going to be observing and knew I recognized one of the students and then realized we had sat across from each other on the train. Of all the people in Beijing for me to sit across from on that train ride, and of all the classes I could have attended on that campus! I had actually gotten the other girls phone number so I called her once I got to campus and we were able to meet up for lunch. I am so thankful for the Divine appointments and opportunities that arose over this weekend.