From a month ago

[This was an update letter that I sent to friends and family at the end of August. I'm just now posting it here, and hopefully will be able to do some more regular posting now that I'm finally on a regular schedule again.]

Well, my summer is officially over.  Sixty-four days after leaving my apartment here in Y----, N----, China, I’m back – home for another year.  But before I get back into the swing of things (teaching and lesson planning and all), I thought I should give a quick recap of how I spent the last two months.  So, here goes:

At the end of June, I finished giving and grading all my class finals and then quickly hopped on a plane for the 12-hour flight to Portland, Oregon.  After one spectacular day at home with friends and family, I again found myself air-born – this time to Los Angeles.  I spent a week and a half there, attending leadership and team training for another of the Organization's programs called “Camp China.”  (The program I am currently in is the “University Teaching Program,” which is for college graduates and is a year-long teaching position in a university; Camp China is a five week trip for current college students and is an English camp, combining teaching with activities).  The Organization had asked me to lead a “pioneering” team way out to northwestern China in Yining, Xinjiang Province.  It was to be a new location for the Organization to work in, so I had been asked to lead specifically for my experience in China and with that area's culture. 

After picking up my team of seven college students, I, yet again, crossed the Pacific and arrived in Hong Kong.  From Hong Kong, we took a bus to a large southeastern city by the name of Guangzhou.  Now, the original plan was to fly from Guangzhou to Xingjiang Province, but, as anyone who has spent much time in China can tell you, plans change.  When my team arrived in Guangzhou, we were told that instead of heading to the airport, we were heading to the train station.  And instead of going to Yining, we were now going to Nanning.   “Oh, and by the way,” my contact said, “you’re now joining another team, so there are 20 of you, not eight.” 

I, of course, had no idea where Nanning was nor did I know the other team, but, as I was the leader of an even more clueless crew, I felt I should try to give off an aura of calm to quiet everyone’s fears and concerns.  Thus, as we boarded the train, I told them that it was all under control and that there was nothing to worry about.  And though I truly believed that, I must admit that during the 13-hour overnight train ride, though I was casually brushing everyone’s fears aside with a flip of my hand or a shrug of my shoulders and reassuringly spouting off bits of sagely advice such as, “Things like this happen all the time in China - you just have to roll with it,” I couldn’t help but wonder, Where on Earth are we going?!  (By the way, the answer is that Nanning is in Guanxi Province – a few hours northeast of Vietnam and about as far from Yining, Xinjiang [our original destination] as you can get.  Think of being scheduled to go to Washington State and instead going to Florida, and that’ll give you some idea of how extremely our plans changed.)

But, yes, in the end, everything did work out.  It actually worked out quite well.  The other team leader and I got along great together, and our two teams quickly became one giant super team.  For four weeks, we spent all day, everyday with the 150 Chinese kids who attended the camp.  We lived next to them in the dorms; we ate with them in the cafeteria; we taught them; we played badminton, frisbee, and football (aka “soccer”) with them; and I got to see 18 American college students absolutely fall in love with them. 

Truly, the best part for me was that.  As I have spent over two years, collectively, in China, being around Chinese children and teenagers was nothing new for me.  But to see other young adults (my team members ranged in age from 19-26) fall in love with the people of China for the first time and to watch them investing their lives in each other and to be able to help facilitate that process…honestly, what an amazing thing to be a part of.

Naturally (I was, after all, an English major with a penchant for writing), I could go on and on about the various happenings of the camp over the course of the month.  The kids, my team, the activities, the area, the weather – they all provided more than a few stories.  But I think for now, I’ll just have to give a few, quick headlines to give you some idea of the random, crazy whirlwind that was Camp China.  Here we go: we had a typhoon-induced flood; two members of my team had hospital visits, two others sprained their ankles and I chipped a tooth; some members of my team were told, after the fact, that they had just eaten raccoon meat; a group of us, myself included, was made to perform a song and dance by the Backstreet Boys; and we had Christmas…in July.  : ) 

Sure, there were highs and there were lows (and it was tiring beyond belief!), but…it was all worth it.  I saw a great hand at work in incredible ways in the lives of the Chinese students and in my team members’.  One national student made a life-changing commitment, and I believe that many of the American college students who experienced those four weeks had their perspectives changed forever and will continue to use their lives, in some way or another, to share love throughout the world.  Not a bad way to spend a summer, hey?  : )

After I said my goodbyes, and my team boarded a bus to Hong Kong (to fly back to the states), I then headed up to Beijing, where I spent the next three weeks doing administrative work for the Organization staff.  It was busy and tiring, to say the least, but I was glad that I could be of use.  Although I would have loved to be able to spend more time with family and friends back in the states, I felt that my staying in China (after the time in Nanning and before starting this coming school year here in Y----) would be a better use of resources (as those trans-Pacific flights aren’t exactly cheap) and time than another dash back and forth over the ocean. 

Of course, that meant that I didn’t get to see you all, and for that, I am sorry.  Know that I’m thinking of you and appreciate all your thoughts and support.  As I have been asked (and agreed) to sign on for teaching here for another year, my plans have changed quite dramatically from when I came over here last February.  I now am not scheduled to return to the states until July of 2007.

It’s an incredible time in China’s history, and I look forward to seeing and reporting back to you the many ways that truth and love are moving across this land.