Tai Feng

Well, Hello there! So guess what, I survived the typhoon. We actually got hit by the northern tip of a huricane that caused a lot of distruction and killed a few people at it's eye in Hainan (the island south of us). School was cancelled monday due to the storm, but it was actually not that bad here. We just had a lot of strong winds and rain. Hainan had winds up to 125mph I believe! Amazing that it came so close... causes me to be reminded of what's going on in the States as well. In Chinese they call it Tai Feng, sounds similar to typhoon, this is where we get the word.

Class was fun today as I told them some origins of words in English. Then we played this game that I found on the internet (Dave's ESL cafe has a plethra of ideas, PTL!) called "Talk, Talk, Die." Crazy name I know, but it was a fabulous game that the kids loved and it got them talking a lot in English which is exactly my goal: to get them using the language. I call several students to the front by birthday, I give them a topic that they must talk about such as "animals." I point to a student and they must start talking, anything about animals and can't stop til I point at another student, etc. If they falter or stall or can't think of what to say the class yells out die! I spose I could have chosen a more pleasant word than "die." But they had a blast. It got even funnier when I let another student play me... got to dirrect the others. Such fun. I laughed hard.

Unfortunately I still struggle with one class in particular. They astound me with their lack of motivation and participation. I know that they know more then they let on, but I'm at my wits end getting them to speak up in class. I even asked them yes or no questions and no response. I just stand there listening to myself! Arg! So frustrating. It's a gift from the Father that there is only this one bad apple and the rest are fabulous to work with. But I don't want that to be an excuse to give up on them. I really want to get these kids working and motivated... I just don't have a clue how to do it. Any one out there with any good ideas... I could use all the help I can get with this one.

PTL! I discovered an encouragement: KTIS online! I can listen to MN radio online... it's so great. Makes me feel close to home, and it's good for my spirit to hear uplifting messages, encouraging music, and every hour the news. It's good to feel connected. But it's kind of weird listening to 494 morning traffic report at 9 pm.

I finally bought me a Chinese-English dictionary. About time, eh? So far it's been super helpful. I went to the post office today and actually had a positive experience thanks to the halpful little book. I got to mail my letters finally. But I still think their mail system is wack.

Tomorrow night we've been invited by the City to attend a dinner party for foreign experts in celebration of the national holiday... it's huge here. There will be a lot of business men and teachers. Hey, free food... I'm there. What else have I got to do?

Still workin on plans for our week off that we get for national holiday. We were planning on going to Hainan before the typhoon, but now we are not so sure. But how nice would it be go go to the Hawaii of China! Yeah... super nice. I still pinch myself to see if this is for real. I'm in China! How good is He!?!