American Good-Byes

I realize it has been quite awhile since we last updated--though in defense we've updated our Chinese blog in the meantime.

Last Thursday night my Gram passed away. I had just talked with her on Monday when she told me she was fine. We talked about when we might meet up again. Last night we got back from time with my family in Pennsylvania. I had work and Jordan had school, but both of us still feel a little like we're out of it--like somehow life is moving too fast for us to keep up with.

At the same time we feel blessed...blessed to be back in the States, to have spent once last Thanksgiving with her, to have been able to talk to her and tell her we loved her just days before she would leave us. We also look forward in hope to the time when we can see her again. Until then we'll miss her.

catching up with friends

Last weekend we had a chance to meet up with friends we haven't seen for a long time, and yet when we met up it was like picking up where we left off--it's a great feeling to have friends like that

Friday night we met up with Jenny and her husband Paul to eat at a Sichuan Restaurant in Boston (I love Shui Zhu Yu!). Jenny was my roommate for six months when I first moved to Beijing. She was around when Jordan and I first started dating. I hadn't seen her since my bridal shower 3 1/2 years ago! They live a short ride away from us, but with Jenny and Jordan both in school (and the fact we don't have a car) we don't get many chances to see them.

On Saturday my long lost friend Obenewa came over--I haven't seen her, or really talked to her since my wedding! She's been studying for her Master's in South Africa and doesn't like email which has limited our chances for correspondence. It was fun to have Jordan get to know her a little better.

Finally! The end of 2007...

This year has by far been one of the hardest in my life. At the Christmas Eve Service I went to with my family, everyone would ask how we were doing and seemed surprised that we would not say "Great!". We can say we are doing "pretty good" though, which right now is good enough for me.

Jordan did well in his classes (though he's still waiting for the grade in one course), my first week at my new job before the holidays went well, and I actually feel like my 11 days of vacation are enough to leave me feeling refreshed for the new year.

In December, I began fulltime at Approach International Student Center as an Academic Coordinator--basically I'm the person "stuck" between teachers and administrators. My first task has been to identify places where the curriculum needs to be updated which is a lot of fun for this lover of books. When I get back to work on Wednesday I should have boxes of textbooks waiting for me to preview

Jordan will have two more weeks of vacation to rest and prepare for the coming semester. He's already been previewing books for some of the courses so that the reading and the new concepts in the courses are less overwhelming. Hopefully we'll also be able to use these two weeks to help him get to know Boston a little better and enjoy some of the things the city has to offer.

We're heading back to Boston on New Year's Eve and will begin the new year in our still relatively new "home". I'm looking forward to a new year and a new start and a chance to grow more as we reflect on the past year.

We haven't updated our blog forever! Sorry, Lois. I am not complaining since you did most of the previous entries.  I've been so stressed about my study throughout the whole semester. Now I am finishing my last paper...so close.

Our camera broke right before we came here. Anyways, we would not have had time to take pictures. So we requested for a new digital camera as one of our christmas gifts. There should be some pictures after Christmas.

more stories from students

While the past few weeks have continued to be hard weeks of adjustment, my students continue to bring me moments of joy that make me smile. Through the lessons I've come to learn so much about who they are, their experiences and their dreams. I also feel lucky because my class gets along pretty well. The Europeans and Asians actually mix in my class and make efforts to get to know each other rather than staying in isolated cliques.

My favorite class from the past few weeks was when we were using present perfect to talk about things we have done--particularly those others may think unusual or strange. I gave examples (I have eaten aloe and I have been sand-sliding) and students followed suit. The Asians did a good job thinking of all the "strange" (strange being a relative term) foods they have eaten--dog, whale, octopus etc. However, my student from Italy kept insisting that Italians were "normal" and did nothing strange, as did my student from Germany. Their group struggled. The other group, though, was laughing and enjoying all the differences (and similarities) they found with each other. When I told them the other group was struggling to think of ideas, a French student in the group told me to ask the Europeans in the other group if they ate horse. So, I went back and asked if they ate horse. While the German looked slightly disgusted, the Italian looked surprise--"of course, doesn't everybody!" And as the rest of the group turned their heads to look at him with confusion he realized....everybody's got something that others may not consider "normal". What a great moment of cross-cultural understanding.