The Calling

Last week my friend Liz and I decided to head to the zoo specifically for the purpose of renting a dog to walk.  I had heard about this available practice from a woman who had taken her children to the zoo and ended up spending over an hour with an array of furry friends.  So armed with a zoo map and lots of hand sanitizer we braved the massive may holiday crowds and went in search of dogs to befriend.  For those who have not been, the Beijing zoo would not make it onto my list of places that one should visit in Beijing.  You'll probably leave feeling sad for the animals.  The children's section of the zoo is equally sad, however, the dogs there seemed to be quite happy, probably due to the large amounts of treats they receive from visitors.  Liz and I were pretty thrilled with the whole thing, mostly because we do not get to have any contact with anything furry and cuddly where we live.  I have only recently realized how much one of my 'love languages' is physical touch.  Going without it is really hard.  I am thankful I at least receive hugs from my students.  So visiting with something fluffy and lovely was pretty great.  Now I just have to find someone who has a dog I can walk without having to pay them :) 

I chose to walk a Samoyed mostly because it was cute and fluffy.  Liz chose a chow puppy that was equally cute and fluffy, but pretty much didn't want to walk anywhere.  The zoo even had St. Bernards, which for China is really rare.

Two weeks ago we went to the Olympic Basketball stadium down the street and got to watch the US women's team play the China team.  The US won the game that night, but unfortunately China took the second game they played.  We had amazing seats though, we were in the 9th row!  There were about thirty of us.  It was nice to hear the national anthem, as well as to be able to cheer on some people from home.  It seemed to make a difference to the team as well, since they were thanking us after the game.  It was by far one of the best times I've had at a sporting event because were pretty much the only Americans there in a sea of Chinese people and we were able to out cheer them (maybe that just perpetuates the stereotype of how loud Americans can be)!! 

I've tried to post this for aprox. two weeks, but our internet has been horrible lately, so here it is much later:

Last week Thursday Isabel (a girl whose family lives on my floor) and I went to the Olympic Synchronized Swimming Qualification Meet.  It was UNBELIEVEABLE.  Not only was it gorgeous, but I can hardly believe the strength it took for those women to swim like that and never touch the bottom of the pool.  Here are some photos from the afternoon.  All of the swimming events for the Olympics will be held in the Water Cube.

This is a photo of part of the security before the event.  The large grouping of people to the left is where we had to claim check our water bottles if we ever wanted to see them again.  We tried dumping out water out and just going in with the bottle, but that wasn't allowed either.  It is a HUGE hassle, and I'm thinking that all the people showing up to events will not know about this water bottle thing beforehand.

We got our pictures taken with the two FuWa in attendance--BeiBei and NiNi.  My favorite is JingJing, but he wasn't there.  

Good Luck Beijing is written EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING.

Sadly we didn't get to see the above Chinese team perform. 

In the practice pool the duet teams were preparing for the following day's events.  It was pretty awesome watching them prep.

Another photo of the practice pool.

One unique thing that is not really found anywhere else in Beijing--a DRINKING FOUNTAIN!!  The sign said it was safe drinkable water...lets hope so.

This building--the water cube--is pretty incredible.  Basically it is made out of this stretchy plastic and there is this HUGE space between the outer wall and the inner wall and in-between there are all these tubes that then basically inflate the whole thing.  The structure itself is made out of metal but making up all the little geometric shapes are sections of plastic that are then blown up.  

A Chinese man explains the design to his friend.

The future Olympians of China, I got to talk with them for a moment, they are really sweet.  I cannot imagine the amount of pressure they must live under.

The main Pool and Diving pool.  They had all these flags hung from the ceiling, yet not one of them was an American flag...not sure why it was omitted.

They stuck this HUGE banner over the pool.

One of the teams as they came out.

Afterwards we walked around the outside of the birds nest which is the main stadium and is right across from the Water cube.

This is coming way out of order of things I've done lately but mostly I just feel kind of like I want to pour myself out now, so here goes.

I'm sitting in Starbucks (Beijing has TONS of them, they've even started giving out maps) and listening to Billy Joel's "A Matter of Trust", and while the lines of the song don't totally fit to my life (though some do), the idea of things being a matter of trust is so true.  This does not only apply to relationships, but to all areas of life.  I've been thinking a lot lately how much we have to trust the Father, and how we are dependant on him while the world sometimes goes crazy, and for someone who is a 'feeler' this can be difficult.  This morning I got a call from my parents saying that they had a fire at my father's business.  My heart broke for my Father, because I know how much it meant to him, and how much of himself he invested, heck I feel like I invested a bit of myself there and I'm sad to think of all of that just gone.  On the other hand I see how much my family was blessed by God and the way that He took care of them by keeping everyone safe, and that there wasn't as much damage as there could have been.  The other thing I've really realized in the last few years is how important it is to have community and people who will help you out when something disastrous like that happens.  People responded to my family in their time of need, and that makes me so glad, especially because I cannot be there to help them.  Anyways, so basically I just feel like that this 'matter of trust' is something that I'm always having to give up to the Father.  That I have to give over my family, friends, and my singleness over to the Father and trust him with it, because He is able and will take care of it better than I ever could.  So here goes...may I be able to trust Him moment by moment regardless of the situation. 

Last week Wednesday my students and I went on a field trip to 'world park'.  Now you may be guessing what world park is.  Basically it is miniature replicas of famous places around the world.  They created this park way back before many Chinese people were able to travel overseas.  While it was by far the best field trip our school has been on in awhile, it would not be my first choice in a place to go. 

Part of why we were at this park is to perform their morning exercises for the kids parents.  They did a good job on the dance routine they've been learning for months.

Me with a group of my students, they are so much fun, this particular class is one of my favorites to teach.  The student standing behind me is one of my favorite kids, he is so sweet and has just the best smile ever when he is really happy.  

I don't actually remember my co-teacher doing that...

This was taken in the America section.  The kids had a great time here because they got to ask me what everything was :)  They particularly loved this eagle...

The cherry blossoms are all in bloom right now, and the park was so gorgeous.  Even better than that though, was the fact that the whole park was covered in giant lilac bushes that were in bloom and very fragrant.  I went around sniffing all of the bushes.

I love this photo...she is washing her glasses in the sprinkler.

Pretty much the kids climbed all over all of the monuments, even though there are all of these signs saying not to.  I ended up yelling a lot in Chinese while we were there.

All over the park they had various animals.  This is one of my students and her mom riding a horse around. I really wanted to do it, but I had to walk around with everyone.

This woman was getting wedding photos taken while we were there.  They had the whole place covered in doves or pigeons.  Notice she is actually wearing combat boots under her dress.

Checking out Egypt

We had great fun with this camel.  The kids LOVED it, and the camel's owner had walked away, and the camel, though tied to this stand, kept coming over, and let us pet him.  After I decided that the kids were getting too close, we backed off a bit, which turned out to be a good thing, cause then it sneezed and snot flew everywhere, which thrilled the kids even more.

Oh yes, they had peacocks that we could pet.  That was loads of fun.  They are really soft and beautiful, but I felt kind of bad for them actually cause I don't know that the one with his feathers extended really liked being that way.  Every now and then a man would run behind its' rear end and do something to make the feathers go down so he could rest. 

Two weekends ago our youth group had their spring youth camp, and I went as a counselor. It was an awesome time of refreshment, meeting new people, seeing old friends from other cities, and playing some awesome games.  Here are some photos:

A couple of weeks ago I had one of my best friends in China visit on her way back to Canada.  She left due to circumstances here, as well as at home, and as sorry as I was to see her go, I was really, really thankful for time together before she left.  Love you Ros!

I did not go with her, but I helped her carry her stuff out to the school gate.  And yes we are wearing matching outfits.