As I sit in my room here at the Shijiazhuang Number 24 High School dorm, I can hear what sounds like a choir outside practicing. It is amazing how beautiful the music is in this country. Every day has been a new discovery. A new adventure. A new piece of my heart that I will take back with me to America.
My students continually tell me they "love me". I am "beautiful". One told me yesterday "you eyes, nose and mouth are most beautiful." Their words make me fill my eyes with tears at least once each day because they are so earnest and sincere.
On the first day the students would not talk to each other and they still are hesitant. But, they have begun to participate in games and activities and even make new friends. They have given me a Chinese name: Mei Li. According to them "Mei" is a plum blossom and "Li" means pretty. Together it is a beautiful flower that is even more beautiful in the snowy weather and, Mei Li is a symbol of beauty. I think it is such a pretty name. (I told Glenn on the phone if we were to have a daughter I would name her some form of this!) One student told me she thinks of me as Ma Lan hua. "Ma" is a family name meaning horse and this is the year of the horse in China. Lan hua is a flower and the name stands for people with good qualities.
After a long rest, Debra and I ventured out. We were headed back towards the park, but decided to go left. We ended up in a small, residential (high rise apartments) neighborhood. We saw a temple, a life sized Transformer, ate a delicious noodle dinner ($5 per person and this was a "nice" restaurant) and then walked through the very ornate mall. We came upon a leather store at the mall where we each purchased leather purses for very inexpensive prices. We walked through the park and enjoyed the singers and dancers before heading back to the dorm.
It is hard to believe that today we finished our fourth teaching day (fifth day overall) here in Shijiazhuang. We'll be finished with this teaching session one week from tomorrow. I'm excited to get to Beijing and tour it, but I will definitely miss these students. One has "friended" me on QQ so hopefully I will be able to stay in touch when I return to the US.
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