3/22/2016

Ｔｈａｎｋｓ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｅｍａｉｌ．　Ｙｅｓ，　Ｉ　ｈａｄ　ｑｕｉｔｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｗｅｅｋｅｎｄ．　Ｉ　ｃａｍｅ　ｂａｃｋ　ｅｘｈａｕｓｔｅｄ，　ａｎｄ　Ｉ＇ｍ　ｓｔｉｌｌ　ｅｘｈａｕｓｔｅｄ．　Ｉ　ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ　ｓａｗ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｅｍａｉｌ　ｌａｓｔ　ｎｉｇｈｔ，　ｂｕｔ　Ｉ　ｗａｓｎ＇ｔ　ａｂｌｅ　ｔｏ　ｒｅｐｌｙ　ｏｎ　ｍｙ　ｌａｐｔｏｐ　ｆｏｒ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｒｅａｓｏｎ，　ｓｏ　Ｉ＇ｍ　ｏｎ　ｍｙ　ｅｍａｉｌ　ａｔ　ｗｏｒｋ．　Ｔｈｅ　Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ　ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ　ｉｓ　ｗｅｉｒｄ，　ａｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ＇ｓ　ｈｏｗ　ｃｏｍｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｙｐｉｎｇ　ｌｏｏｋｓ　ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ．　Ｉ　ｄｏｎ＇ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｈｏｗ　ｔｏ　ｃｈａｎｇｅ　ｉｔ　ｓｏ　ｉｔ　ｌｏｏｋｓ　ｎｏｒｍａｌ． Ｉ＇ｍ　ｇｌａｄ　Ｍａｒｉｅ　ａｎｄ　Ｂｏｄｉｅ　ａｒｅ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ａｌｏｎｇ．　Ｉ　ｈｏｐｅ　ｓｈｅ　ｉｓ　ｈａｖｉｎｇ　ｓｕｃｃｅｓｓ　ｉｎ　ｍａｔｈ　ｃｌａｓｓ．　Ｉ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｗｉｓｈ　ｔｈａｔ　ｍｙ　Ｐａｎａｃａ　ｋｉｄｓ　ａｎｄ　ｍｙ　Ｓｕｚｈｏｕ　ｋｉｄｓ　ｃｏｕｌｄ　ｍｅｅｔ．　Ｔｈｅ　ｉｄｅａ　ｉｓ　ｉｎｔｒｉｇｕｉｎｇ．　Ｉ　ｂｅｔ　ｔｈｅｙ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｌｏｖｅ　ｔｏ　ｍｅｅｔ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ． Ｉ＇ｍ　ｓｏｒｒｙ　ｔｏ　ｈｅａｒ　Ｇｒａｎｄｐａ＇ｓ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｗｏｒｓｅ．　Ｉ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｗｉｓｈ　Ｉcould see him one last time, but if that's not to be, then the important thing is that he's not in pain. (I have no idea why it randomly switched to normal, but I'm not complaining.) Anyway, I'm glad you had fun in Reno. Ally said you were jamming out to Muppets and Disney songs. It sounds like we all had an exciting weekend. I hope you recover quickly. I had Chinese class last night, so I was home late, and I still haven't recovered from my adventure. I'm so glad I went, though. Did you get the pictures okay? I'd better get ready for my next class. Talk to you later! 苏州是好。我爱你们。再见！ Love, Chelsey<3

3/20/2016

To Kelly Wadsworth Message body I spent the weekend of my birthday in Shanghai for district conference. It was an adventure in every sense of the word. Just getting there was pretty interesting. I left my apartment at 6:50ish to take the 40 minute train ride, got confused in the train station, had several meltdowns, and got to the house of my host family after 11:30. Yeah. . . it was a very educational experience. They had a couple of tour options for the young single adults. I went on the city tour of the Bund. I was a little torn, because the tour of the water town called Qibao also sounded awesome. But, I definitely had fun. They had sent out emails saying it would be cold and rainy. On Friday night I felt way too hot, so I left my coat at the house where I was staying and just took my umbrella, which I totally didn't need, so I was lugging it around all flipping day for nothing, but later, someone said I looked cool doing it. Oh, well. We started out by meeting up at a subway stop at People's Square. The tour guide pointed out different famous buildings, most of which I don't remember much about, but it was cool. We went to a little park where the Meet Market is. It's the place where parents go to display information of their offspring in the hopes of finding someone to marry them off to. (Yeah, I'm really serious.) Taking a bunch of YSA's there seemed like some kind of sick joke. (A pretty hilarious one, though.) One woman there saw us all walking through and asked the tour guide if we were there to find someone ourselves. (Was she serious? I think she was.) We walked along a street that looked a lot like being on Times Square with a lot of Western-style clothing stores and stuff. We didn't stop to shop, but it was fun to see it all as we walked by. We rode the subway to get to a big market that literally looked like it could have come right out of a cartoon like Avatar or Kung Fu Panda. It was big and bustling, and all the buildings were red with the pretty curved roofs with upturned eaves. Super touristy, but pretty awesome. The tour guide took us through Yu Garden. (I think that's what it's called.) It's not a big garden, comparatively speaking, but it feels big because the path has nine zigzags. (Nine is a symbolic number in China.) It was built in the 1500's by a wealthy guy for his parents to enjoy when they were retired. There were a lot of people there, but it was so pretty. After we got through in Yu Garden, we came back out into the market and had an hour of free time to eat and shop. I am not a haggler, but, luckily one of the chaperones, whose name is Christine, was very experienced in the art of haggling. She and I had fun. I saw some gorgeous silk dresses, but even at a fifth of the price, I couldn't justify buying one. Christine got three silk fans for thirty kuai just because she could, and she gifted one to me. Those vendors are very desperate to sell! We went on a ferry across the river to walk along the New Bund, on a walkway called the Promenade. We saw the Oriental Pearl Tower, which is a very interesting structure, but I didn't get a picture, because by that time, my phone battery had died. We took the subway to the big building where church services were held and changed into our church clothes, and we were only a little fashionably late for the adult session. Then we had dinner and went to the YSA dance at 7. The next day (today) was kind of weird, because it was my birthday, but it didn't really reel like it. Not many people even knew. I was feeling a little down, because the lady we were staying with was really nice but high strung (who can blame her?), and it kind of got to me a little. But, church was good, even if we got there a bit late. They talked a lot about the Sabbath day, which was interesting given that so many were traveling that day. After that, they had a dinner for us, and then a YSA devotional. I attached myself to some other girls from Suzhou, so that I wouldn't have to travel home by myself. No way was I going through that again, not on my birthday! We had to wait till 7 before our train left, so we had a lovely afternoon together just hanging out. I am happy to report that we made it back with no incident. I (finally!) made it back to my apartment, hoping to enjoy the cake that my school got for me with Amelia, but she's out with friends again. She left me a cupcake and a sweet note on my bed, though, and even did the dishes while I was gone! (Oh, bless her!) It's been a rather exhausting weekend, and here I am still up so I can tell you about it before I forget what I did. I hope you are all doing well. I loved the picture of Natty with the Wild Kratts cutout. Please send news from home. I still haven't gotten anything about Grandpa. How is Miss Swallows' class? Tell them hi for me! I love you! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck

3/17/2016

Dear Mom and Everyone Else, I'm doing well, I think. I hope Natty had a good birthday. Chicken pot pie and Oreo cheesecake sound awesome. Of course, I'm doing pretty well with Chinese food, including the free cafeteria food. Payday was the fifteenth, which means I have a little money now, though not a whole lot, as it was only for the last week and a half of February. I went to the ATM to check that I had money on my kuai card last night. It was the only errand that I set out to make, but I also remembered that I needed to do shopping, so I came home with a bunch of stuff. That's how it goes, isn't it? Teaching is going all right, I think. It's a little frustrating that I only get each class once every two weeks, because how am I supposed to know how to teach them effectively if I can't get more used to them. It is what it is, I guess. I survived the first two weeks and perfected my introduction lesson plan for each age group, but then on Monday I basically had to start all over again. After two weeks, I had forgotten that my third grade class on Monday is the rowdy class. Like, extremely rowdy. I haven't had problems like that with any of the other classes, but Monday two weeks from now, I'll have to change tactics and do something different for them. I've been getting so frustrated with myself as a teacher, not knowing what the kids would or wouldn't understand and having lessons that didn't go as well as I wish they would have. But, then, I think I had the exact same frustrations the first time around, and it took me a couple more days to get over it than it did this time. Today, I finally feel like I've got it. And then, Monday two weeks from now, we'll start all over and see if I can catch on even faster. I've been teaching them about Easter/springtime. Or, trying to. I made a lovely PowerPoint to show them. I don't like the idea of relying on technology in class (for good reason), but I think it's good for them to know about English-speaking culture, as long as I stick to the Easter Bunny, and not get into the other stuff. They seem to enjoy it. They go crazy over the pictures I found of jelly beans and chocolate eggs. For Grade 1, I just don't think they'd understand well enough, so I made some cute visual aids of spring animals, and also some baby animals. Then I say, "Is this its mother?" And they say, "NOOOO!!!" They're very enthusiastic. Then, there's the classes that just don't go as planned at all. Like the one where we couldn't get the PowerPoint to work, so the teacher said, "I have lessons I want to teach them. So, bye." And then, today, the PowerPoint didn't work again, so I did the springtime lesson that I used for the first graders and modified it for third grade. I was actually quite impressed at how well I pulled that off while thinking on my feet. Also, they do really well with "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." Yesterday was an interesting day. The principle, Mr. Chen, invited me to go on an outing in the morning with two other teachers. We went to a lovely park around Stone Lake, which is so pretty with all the blossoms, and then we went to a famous Suzhou restaurant for some more fancy food. I got the leftovers, and will enjoy them quite well. It was great. But, then I had to come back. I had missed one class because we took longer than planned, and one class we had an issue with PowerPoint (see above), so I only got to teach one class. And, it was only an okay lesson, so it was, overall, an up-and-down sort of day. Today I didn't do anything too St. Patrick-y. As you might expect, they don't do St. Patrick's Day in China. I did wear my pretty green sweater that I found on sale, and, coincidentally, one of the teachers in my office brought some special green dumplings for Qingming Festival, which is coming up soon. They're colored bright green, but they're really sweet and delicious. I also got to observe a music class today, just for fun. It was kind of like Miss Swallow's music class, but not really. It was more Chinese. The teacher had me perform a song for the kids, so I played and sang "Scarborough Fair" cold turkey. It must have been okay, because they liked it. After my last class, the music teacher, Miss Peng, and I played the piano together and had fun. And, all my classes went well, so I'd say, overall, it was a lucky sort of day. I've been wondering about things back home. How is Grandpa Wadsworth? How is Marie doing with Bodie? Do they miss me at school? And, how are Grandma and Grandpa Frehner? And anyone else you can think of that I might want to know about? Happy St. Patrick's Day! I love you! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck

3/13/2016

To Kelly Wadsworth Message body I saw God's hand in Suzhou this weekend. I don't know what you consider as a "miracle", but I'll tell you about it, and you can decide for yourself. The first thing that happened, was on Friday afternoon, when it was almost time for me to go home. I left the office for a brief moment, and while I was gone, Alisa sat at my desk. I came back and she let me have my desk back, but then realized that she couldn't find her phone. She turned her back for a few seconds, and somehow it was just gone. We searched everywhere, and it was nowhere to be found. I prayed in my mind that we could find it, but no luck. I remembered when I got lost at West Lake, and how it wasn't until I sat down and said a real, heartfelt prayer that things were okay. So, I went and hid in a bathroom stall and prayed that Alisa could have her phone. Sure enough, right after I came back, she found it in a really obscure place, in the pages of a book on my desk. (How it got there, I'll never know.) That night, after going for an evening stroll and having dinner, I showered and watched one of my DVDs, and it was awesome! (Me parties are the best.) Amelia had a bit more excitement than me. She went to a club with some friends. The house was so quiet the next morning, I thought she must have stayed over at someone else's house. But, then I walked down the stairs and saw Rosie (another intern) crashed on the couch. I was confused for a second, but figured out what must have happened pretty quickly, and I picked up on more details throughout the day. Amelia, Rosie, Lisa, and a bunch more of them had a bit too much fun, and then at some point in the morning, somehow or other made it up the stairs to our apartment. The others all made it home, though a couple of them are not sure how. Lisa had lost her wallet. They were all really sick, and I just wanted to make them feel better, but all I could do was let them have water and rest. I said a secret prayer in my room that Lisa could have her wallet, and literally as soon as I finished, I heard a joyous exclamation downstairs that someone had found a wallet at the club. Prayer works, I guess. That afternoon, I finally got out the door, after I was really sure the invalids would be all right. I'd been dying to explore the markets in my area a bit more. I had a fabulous time just walking around. I found a nice little park, and an entire marketplace dedicated to tea and tea-related things. I had so much fun looking at the beautiful tea sets. I finally found the shop where I got my coat. When I got it, the lady forgot to take off the magnetic thingy that makes the alarm sound, but I finally got it off. As I walked through some more street markets, I saw a man, who looked as though he'd been born crippled, calling out, "Ayi! Ayi!" to get people to drop coins in his bucket. I gave him a couple extra coins I had, but as I walked away, I couldn't help feeling like I should do more. I was sure Christ would, if he was there. So, I went to a supermarket and found some red bean buns, and bought one to give him. He couldn't take it from me, because his hands didn't work, so I put it in his bucket, and opened it for him. He smiled and said, "Xie." (Thanks.) I was really touched when another man (his father?) came and lovingly fed it to him. As I walked away eating my own bun, I almost cried. I wished Christ could come and touch him and make him better. In China, begging is the lowest thing you can do. I just wanted him to know that he is worth it, and that he is loved. I made it to church today, for the first time since I came to China over a month ago. It's an entire branch of foreign passport holders, since it's illegal to go to church with Chinese citizens. Joan, who also lives in Wuzhong District, was willing to go with me, which was good, because there's no way I would have known how to get there myself. You never know how precious the gospel is until you've been isolated from it. It was so wonderful to take the Sacrament, go to Sunday school, and play the piano in sharing time. (They're happy to have anther piano player.) Next weekend is district conference in Shanghai, and they're having a bunch of YSA activities there. Know what that means? I'm most likely spending the weekend of my birthday in Shanghai! I'm going to work on some lesson planning before bed, so good night to you all. Good luck with everything. I love you! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck

3/9/2016

Dear Mom, Teaching is going well. It took me a while to perfect the lesson plan for grade 3, but I did. The cutest thing happened the other day in a grade 3 class. I showed individual students a slip of paper with a verb on it, and they had to act it out, and everyone else had to say what they were doing. I showed one little boy the word "dancing", and at first he looked at a loss and embarrassed, but then he started busting out "Gangnam Style." And he was really good! He looked so embarrassed afterwards, but everyone in the classroom thoroughly enjoyed it. It was awesome. And hilarious. I don't think you could appreciate it unless you were there, but I wanted to share that little moment with you. Teaching is awesome. Yesterday (March 8th) was International Women's Day, which is similar to Mother's Day. I had been informed by Miss Huang that, as all the foreign teachers were being invited by the school district to go do things, I would not have any lessons that day. This made me sad, as it would have been the first lessons I had with any of those classes, and I only have each class once every two weeks, but there was no way out of it. The Chinese don't seem to like taking no for an answer. So, I went, and it was awesome. The first place they took us was a chocolate museum on the edge of town. Everything in there is made of chocolate! There were so many beautiful sculptures, and with most of them, you had to look really closely to tell that it wasn't made of porcelain or whatever. As impressive as it was, though, in my opinion it was a tragic waste of chocolate. Chocolate is for eating, because no matter how beautiful it looks, it tastes even more beautiful. I got some really good pictures, and if at all possible, I'll try to get them to you. (I don't know how, but I'll try and see.) After that, the bus drove about half an hour to Tai Lake, and we got to see some of the scenery there. Once again, it was really cloudy, and, in fact, it rained all day that day, so I still didn't see it in the sunlight. Still, it was really beautiful by the silvery light of the wet sky. I was really glad that I had brought the umbrella that our apartment's previous occupant left behind, because I had to wear my glasses most of the day, and with the rain, I wouldn't have been able to see much. We walked along a walkway on the lake's shore to the Yixi Teahouse, which is right next to the restaurant where I ate on Sunday. It was a really nice place, where you can sit and enjoy warm tea. They served us Japanese green tea, which is apparently a kind of herbal tea. (It had better be, because I had some.) We also enjoyed the tiny, delicious cakes that they gave us. After that, they took us to visit another school. I wasn't sure why we would need to visit some random school, but there were cameramen there. I'm thinking we were probably on the news or something, I don't know. A group of us had to go to the restroom, and we all got lost, and so we missed out on whatever the others were doing. (This seems to be a theme with me.) I found out later that they had been looking for me, specifically, so they could interview an American. (There is actually one other American, but apparently they didn't think to interview her.) Darn it! I could've been on TV! On the bright(ish) side, due to the weather, my hair probably looked terrible. They then took us to one of those nice, fancy dinners that I'm starting to get used to, where everyone stuffs their faces with a glorious array of food before heading back. We then had the afternoon to do whatever, except that my school had been planning something for its female teachers, so I only had a couple hours. (I did get the bathroom clean, finally.) They had cancelled the hike, but we went to dinner (another one!) and a movie. The dinner was nice. Not as fancy as the one before, but no less good. A few of the staff did a dance to a Chinese pop song for us, in honor of the holiday. It was unexpected, and I loved it! Then, we went to the cinema and saw an American movie with Chinese subtitles, about the miners that got trapped by the earthquake in Chile. I wasn't sure what to expect on the movie, considering that one of the options was rated R (since they don't take no for an answer), but it was a really good movie. Then we made it to the car without being blown away or drowned, and went home. I'm sorry for writing such a long email again, but there's just so much to say! In honor of Women's Day, I want to say thank you to Mom, to my grandmas, and to all my teachers, some of whom helped me through hard times as a kid. And also to the sister missionaries, including Rachel. I love you! Love, Chelsey<3

3/6/2016 pics

3/6/2016

I had another exciting weekend. On Friday night, Georgia, one of the other interns, stayed the night since her roommate went to Shanghai for the weekend. (It would be nice to have that kind of money to throw around.) On Saturday morning, Amelia and Georgia decided to pick a random subway stop and "have a wander." They invited me along. It's really convenient that the Panli Lu subway station is right outside the East gate of the Mei zhi Guo apartments. Saturday was a really nice spring day, and it was even a bit hot. Perfect weather for an adventure. We picked to go to the Culture and Arts Expo Centre, just to see what it was. We got out of the subway station and found ourselves in a lovely park. We leisurely made our way through the park, enjoying the blossoms on the trees, and got to the Expo Center. It's a large, modern building with a funky design, and I wish I could show you the pictures I took. We wandered around inside. It's basically the place where they do big shows and stuff, although there are other things there, too, like a small art shop filled with expensive, fancy things, and also seriously the nicest bathroom I have been in since coming to China. It felt just like being in a bathroom in America. There were sit-down toilets, and the stalls were stocked with toilet paper, and everything. (Oh, the things that excite me now. If you came to China, you'd understand.) The building sits right on the shore of Jinji Lake, which is really pretty, with the skyline of Suzhou on the other side, even though there was a lot of smog. Instead of going straight home, we decided to stop by Central Park, to see what was there. It looked a lot like the park we had just come from, but with a big fountain, a playground with exercise equipment, and a shady area with lots of palm trees. Not as impressive as the other Central Park, but at least as pretty. Once exited Panli Lu Station, we stopped at a tiny little restaurant on the street by the Mei zhi Guo East gate. It was really good, and although we can't afford to eat out too often, we decided that when we do, that will be our new place. Overall, it was a good day out. That night, Jay, the older guy who's in charge of giving us teaching advice and such, had arranged a dinner meeting for all of us to vent about our first week of teaching. I was the only one who showed up, besides the two teachers who are a married couple from Poland, and they aren't even part of our organization. Everyone else ditched. There had been some drama on WeChat, and some people had been outright rude to Jay. No one wanted to go. I was tempted to ditch, myself, but I thought someone should go. It's good that I did. The organization over the foreign teachers in Hangzhou and Suzhou (not ImmerQi in Beijing) are really bad at communication, and Jay didn't even realize that we were interns instead of fully paid teachers. Also, I think it made him feel better that one person took the time to come. He even paid for me to eat, although I offered to chip in. On the way home from that, I had fun looking at some of the stores and shops along Baodai Road. Today (Sunday) I had been invited to go to Mr. Lu's home near Tai Lake (or Tai Hu), along with a few of the other teachers. He and his wife, who teaches Chinese at our school, and his son, whose English name is Kevin, live in Mei zhi Guo, but they have a really nice home outside of town. I got to meet Kevin's grandmother and see their house. The other teachers who were there were amazed at how big it was. I guess they don't generally have big houses in China. Then, we went to a restaurant and had a really nice meal. One thing about the Chinese: they love their food. (Yet, somehow, they are so skinny!) In Suzhou we eat a lot of fish, as we are really close to Tai Lake. I ate some more of those snails, too. We walked around the lake a bit. It's a really huge lake. "Tai" means "too," as in "too much," so maybe that's why it's called that. Although it was really nice and warm yesterday, it was cold and hazy today. I think the others were a bit disappointed, but personally, I think it was gorgeous. Everything looked so mysterious and magical. Sitting on the lake were some old-fashioned junks, and through the fog, they looked a bit like something out of the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. (They were just for show. They don't actually go anywhere.) I would like to see Tai Lake in the sunlight sometime, but I thought it was perfect today. You're probably tired of reading by now, but I want to let you know, I'm doing fine. My biggest problem (aside from the squat toilets, which I got used to faster than I expected) is that I don't feel like I fit in with the other interns. I love them all individually, but when a group of them comes to our apartment, they all drink beer and swear a lot, and I feel so awkward, that I find things to do elsewhere, and I go around singing hymns to comfort myself. But, things are going well at school. I'm being pretty well spoiled by the Chinese teachers, so there's little to no chance of me starving. I love you all, and I hope all is going well. Good luck with everything! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck Inline imageTh Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image Inline image The two in red coats and the one in the dark blue coat are the people I share an office with. Miss Huang is the one with the blue coat. She speaks really good English and is more or less in charge of me. I don't know the other two's names, but the don't speak English. They keep giving me snacks at school, though. The man is Mr. Lu. He used to have my desk until I came, and then we played musical chairs and he moved to another office. He's really nice. He speaks very, very little English, but Kevin is pretty good, at least considering he's at a primary school level. Kevin always comes to my office and practices with me. The girl in the white coat is Yuki. She's a couple years younger than me. Yuki is her English name. I don't remember her Chinese name, but it means "Quiet Cloud." I think it's funny, because she's very friendly and outspoken. The Ferris wheel is just for show. It doesn't actually do anything. The ship in the background is also for show, but it looks cool.

3/4/16

Dear Mom (and everyone else), I survived my first week of teaching! It went all right, I think. I don't think it's the same situation for all the interns in China, but for the Suzhou group at least, our job is extra practice. The kids have their Chinese English teachers, and then we are here to help them practice their oral English. I teach grades 1-5, and there are several classes in each grade. I get each class once in a period of two weeks. So, after a whole week of introducing myself, I get to do it all over again for another week! I'll be really good at it (supposedly). It's tricky, because I have a wide variety of ages, and I've been trying to figure out who understands what, and such. The first graders understand almost nothing, except some vocabulary about colors, numbers, and animals. The fifth grade are pretty good at English. It's been an adventure, that's for sure. It was a bit awkward, after I decided to abandon Plan A for third grade because it wasn't working, and I tried to explain a game, and they stared at me and said, ''What?'' Of all the things I've done as far as teaching experience goes, the one that has helped me the most is primary. The kids are very cute. I love seeing their big, happy grins as they greet me with ''Hello, teacher!'' and ''Laoshi hao!'' A few of them come into my office to practice their English with me. They are so nice and loving, I hope I can be what they need me to be. I keep praying that I can be a good teacher for them. There's no way I can learn all their names, but I love them. My friend, Alisa (who gave me the phone), has been coming over after school to study for a big English test that she's preparing for. It's hard work! It's really impressive that she has taught herself, mostly. I hope I'm enough help. I've been helping others with English a lot, but it would be really nice if I could have someone to help me with Chinese. I sit in the office and listen to the other teachers jabber and think, ''It would be awesome if I knew what the heck was going on.'' They always sound angry until they start laughing. I went shopping for toilet cleaner the other day and I had to play charades so the lady could help me find it. It was an experience. Be nice to all the Mexicans who don't speak English. It's hard. Well, I love you all. Have fun. I hope everything goes well with the play. Have fun with kids and whatever else. Be nice to each other. And all that good stuff. Love, Chelsey