Outings

 

We are now halfway through our month in Bangkok.  Teaching is one part of the “job” our Northwestern students have.   Friendship building is the other big part of the “job” here, and that is going well.  With over 200 Thai people enrolled in November’s English courses at Santisuk English School (a record for the month of November), there are many new friends being made.  On weekends, when classes are finished for the week, outings to various parts of the area have been organized  by groups of Thai and their “foreigner” friends.  Last night a large group went out to experience the annual Lantern Festival, where  flame-fueled  paper lanterns were released (like small hot air balloons) into the air, creating a sky filled with beautiful orange floating “stars” rising high into the night sky.  Other people released small floating floral “boats” lit with candles on to lakes and canals.  Many never to be forgotten experiences like these are filling our days. These picture capture some recent day-time outings: 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

Dollar Menu

Eating out in Bangkok is a favorite pastime of our Northwestern team!  Every Friday they are given a weekly allowance for food, transport, and incidentals.  Their Thai students love to go out to eat before or after class, and they really like going with their American friends because it gives them a chance to practice English more, and also because they are very friendly and sociable.  They fan out to various small restaurants, food stalls, and even mall food courts for delicious and inexpensive meals. Most dishes consist of either noodles or rice with seemingly endless possible combinations of meats, vegetables, broth, and seasonings.  Delicious iced coffees and fresh fruit smoothies cost between 50 cents and a dollar.   Here's a sampling of what the equivalent of one U.S. dollar can buy here:

Barefoot Teachers

 A large shoe shelf at the back entrance of Santisuk English School invites you to remove your shoes before entering.  It is customary in Thailand to not wear outdoor shoes inside.  We had been coached to dress professionally while teaching, but I didn't realize that it meant teaching barefoot!  But, yes, we are adapting to the culture in this way, as in many other ways.  Here's a little photo gallery of some of our barefoot teachers in action.

Caity

Brooke

Caroline

Jenifer and Chee

Maly

Teaching Tremors

(written by Dr. M)

Monday, November 4: Everyone experiences their first day of teaching at Santisuk English School (SES). Most of the Northwestern students have never been on the other side of the lectern before and there are some jitters and a lot of prayer. But this is what we came for. Everyone will teach two two-hour classes, Monday through Thursday, for four weeks.

We arrived Friday evening and jumped into a whirlwind weekend of church service, teacher training, cultural orientation, Bible study and cell groups (in pairs we are assigned to 7 of the cell groups that make up Peace Fellowship Church). We are staying at a small guest house run by Thai Christians. It’s pleasant, though a bit of a squeeze for the ladies, ten of whom have to share one bath. Because land in Bangkok is so expensive, the building is one room wide, two rooms deep and five stories high. It is only a ten-minute walk to SES.

The Thai people love to eat (a common Thai greeting is “Have you eaten?”), and there are small restaurants, food stalls, and mobile carts everywhere. There are more than 25 within 100 yards of SES. Most are small enough that we can see what they are cooking and just point to order, but Santisuk has helpfully provided us with key rings containing 20+ cards with pictures of the most common food items, the names written in both Thai and English. There is also a supermarket nearby, so no one has gone hungry.

Monday ends, and most of the Northwestern team has found that the teaching went better than expected. Many of them have found they even enjoy it.

China Wrap-Up

(Note: most blog entries have been written by co-leader Connie Morgan; this one is written by her husband Garry, aka “Dr. Morgan.”)

Farewell to conversations with Chinese university students, crowded subways and Costa Coffee. Saying “goodbye” is hard, and learning to leave well is an important skill the internship tries to develop. We were surprised at how hard it can be even after just two weeks.

We spent our last full day in China on a bus outing to the cities of Yangzhou and Zhenjiang. The first is where Hudson Taylor and his team settled in 1862. The house they lived in is still standing, although it is in very poor condition. Did Taylor and his colleagues have any idea of the legacy they would leave behind? Probably not, at the time. But because they persevered through tremendous difficulties a tree was planted that continues to bear fruit. With historical hindsight it was moving to reflect on what took place in that building. We stand on broad shoulders.

Zhenjiang was the childhood home of Pearl Buck, born to missionary parents and the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1938). The house is well-maintained as a museum and contains most of the original furniture. Zhenjiang is also where Hudson Taylor is buried. As we stood in front of his tombstone, the ELIC (English Language Institute – China) country director told us that there are over 100 Chinese universities on a waiting list for ELIC teachers (three in Nanjing alone), but they don’t have enough personnel to meet the demand. He reminded us that Jesus did not command his followers to pray for finances or opportunities, but rather to pray for laborers. Truly, the harvest is plentiful and the need for workers is great.

Friday morning we flew from Nanjing to Guangzhou (historically, Canton). Then after a four-hour flight delay, on to Bangkok. More on Thailand to come soon.

Hudson Taylor's Home in Yangchou, China

Three Self Church (Government Approved)

Solemnly Commemorating Confucius

Team at Hudson Taylor's Home

Bangkok!

We arrived in Thailand Friday evening local time after a full day of travel from China.  All is well. We will report more soon. We launched immediately into teacher training at Santisuk Language School and orientation, with teaching to begin on Monday! It's 95 degrees outside - we know we're not in Minnesota!

New Santisuk Teachers

Teacher Training

Subway Stops

Zhujianglu.  Xingjeikou.  Zhangfuyuan.  Xuanwumen.  Xiamafang.

Whew!

When we first arrived in China, these words were quite intimidating.  How do we begin to pronounce them correctly?  Yet, we had to know them, because they were some of the subway stops in the area where we stay or where we travel for school visits and trips around Nanjing.  Most signs are written in Chinese characters, so we were fortunate when we could see words written in Roman letters.  By now, some of these words are rolling right off our tongues!

What’s even more interesting is to learn what the words of our subway stops actually mean in English.  Some of them translate to : “Three Mountain,” “Pearl River,” “Drum Tower,” or “Dismount a Horse.”

Place names are often poetic and reflect nature or events from the past.  Some of us have visited the Yuijiang Tower on the Yangtze River, which translates “Enjoying-the-River” Tower.  While there we were amused by a sign in English that said, “Love-sickness carrying pavilion.”  Say again!?

Today was our last day for classes, and tomorrow we’ll be free for a bus tour to an outlying district.  We hope to see where Hudson Taylor lived and worked, and also where Pearl S. Buck grew up.

We then will reluctantly say good-bye to China, and expectantly say hello to Thailand.