As we prepared the lesson plans this week, we decided that with the coming of Thanksgiving, it would be a good idea to do a lesson on Thanksgiving. We set our objectives as follows:
To express thanks to our parents and others for life, for caring, for sacrificing, for laboring to provide us with food, shelter, warmth, clothing, opportunities and education during our growing up years.
And yes, it must be done on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, so we would have it for the rest of the week.
For the Thanksgiving lesson, we would study the origin of the holiday, the custom and the tradition we have developed throughout the years. Some nice stationary was designed with school logo and Thanksgiving greeting in both Chinese and English for the students to write a thank you note to their parents.
I ran enough copies for my Tuesday morning class earlier, but soon ran out of card stock, which was left by the Leavitts, the last English teachers here. So, my challenge for Tuesday was to find card stock for the greeting cards. There were a few stationary stores at the New World Market (about a 20-minute walk from our apartment), I decided to go there after my 10-12 class on Tuesday. Yes, it was a Tuesday…and I had much to do.
I was told at the training before coming to China that they didn't have card stock paper in China. With my Chinese speaking talent, I must be able to find some. ☺ I took bus #75 from north gate of the campus to start hunting for card stock. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for me to found them. Yes, they have card stock in China. I was ecstatic! They have multiple colors and with embossing on them too. They were beautiful. I bought 7 packs of 100's and it cost 15 yuan (2.25 USD) per pack. What a deal.
Imagine carrying all that paper and had to walk over a mile with traffic going all around you to go home. I suppose I could have taken a cab. But, it was a Tuesday and I must work hard. I knew where to get when I needed it. I called Elwin and he came out to meet me to carry the paper home. What a guy! Thanks, Honey!It’s Tuesday, so there must be more to do…yes, I ran out of ink for the printer in the middle of the night. After handing over the 7 stacks of paper to Elwin at the intersection of Jinshi Lu and Qing Nian Xi Lu, I took another bus for about 6 or 7 miles to the Technology Market to get the ink. The guy told me he had the ink, so we agreed on a price. Then I waited and waited because he really didn't have the ink and had to get it from another vendor somewhere. Isn't the world complicated here, especially on Tuesdays? I finally got the ink and thought I would walk downstairs to minus 1 floor to get more paper (that was when I realized why I couldn't understand Shandong Chinese, I never had the vocabulary that basement floor was called minus 1 floor). I found out minus 1 floor was the cartridges wholesale place, where the salesman got the cartridges for me. What a bunch of entrepreneurs! More on this…
Technology Market on Jie Fang LuYes, it was till Tuesday and I had an art class to attend. Yes, I’m taking Chinese brush painting. Since I didn’t know the art teacher’s address to tell the cab driver where I needed to go, I decided to find a bus that would take me to my art teacher's neighborhood. I was lucky to find one busline quickly, but failed to recognize the area and got off one stop after I should have. They have long distance between bus stops, so it took me another 25 minutes to walk to my art class. I didn't get lost as I had a good sense of directions here.
We are not done yet, this was still Tuesday and I usually walk home after my art class, but it was dark and cold, so I opted to take a bus. I only had to walk about 15 minutes to the bus stop, but there were so many people, I had to wait for 3 buses before getting on. By then, I was cold and hungry. (Heavens, how did I forget to get a cab? It would only cost $1.25) After I got off the bus, I still had to walk another 15 minutes to get home. The American couple upstairs (BYU China Teachers) sent down a bowl of stew to share. Hallelujah! Imagine, a bowl of hot beef stew after that long Tuesday. What a couple of angels! They didn’t even know I was gone.
It was still Tuesday and I wasn’t quite done yet. I had to run off those Thanksgiving stationary note cards on card stock that I purchase earlier this afternoon, and the trouble began all over again. Wow, life can be tough sometimes. Elwin and I have a total of 650 students and the printer just didn’t want to work so hard, especially to pull through the card stock. After doing it one by one for a while, I decided it wasn’t going to work. Short of blessing the printer, a sincere prayer was said, and now the work was done and Tuesday was almost all gone.
Epilogue: That was the longest Tuesday I even had. The Thanksgiving lesson was delivered and all the students took time to write to their parents in Chinese, English or both. It was touching to see them writing quietly to their parents, both male and female. I asked some of the boys if they ever wrote to their parents. Most of them said this was the first time. I can’t help remember when my own children were going to BYU and how I was so happy to receive a letter or a card from them. I would read and cry. I would put it away, then, when I missed those kids, I would pull out the letter or card again and read and cry again. I love my children. I love the Chinese students I’m teaching now too.
Greeting to the parents of our Chinese students:
We are grateful for the privilege of being your daughter/son’s English teacher at Shandong University.
Happy Thanksgiving! 感恩节快乐！
From the Davis’
Happy Thanksgiving! 感恩节快乐！
From the Davis’
http://hillmanwonders.com/china/chinese_phrases.htm#_map_china
2 comments:
You are amazing Mom! I wish I could get half the amount of stuff done that you do!
Don't forget you can always take a cab! :) Keep up the good work.
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