April 12, 2016

To Kelly Wadsworth Message body Dear Mom and everyone, Da jia hao! Hello, everyone! Sorry I didn't email last week. The plan was to do it sometime on the weekend, but I was really busy, even though nothing much happened. Last week wasn't that exciting. I guess all the excitement got used up on Monday, when it was Qingmingjie, and then there wasn't much left for the rest of the week. I feel like I'm turning into a work zombie. I sit at a desk all day and try (and fail) to get over writer's block for lesson planning. I feel like I have the personality of a block of cement when I'm sitting there. I have the creativity of one, anyway. On Friday, it was a nice day, so I went and sat outside, hoping it would be more conducive to good ideas and stuff. Thursday (the seventh) was Amelia's birthday. She turned twenty-one. Caitlyn and Georgia made her a birthday meal, so we went to their apartment. She got Oreos and toilet paper for birthday presents, which made her happy. Most of the handful of people who were there were planning on going to Shanghai for the weekend. Amelia had been planning it for her birthday weekend. She stayed over that night, so when I left was the last time I saw her until Sunday night. On Friday afternoon, right after work, I went with Alisa to go shopping. It was a typical Chinese clothing store- small and scrunched up, and the employees there were eager to sell. I pretty much just went along for the ride. A lot of people don't like window shopping, but, usually, it's the only kind I can afford to do. Alisa persuaded me to just try some things on, which was fine. But, since the store lady knew I was even remotely interested, she kept trying to sell me things, which is what they do in China. The store seemed similar to the idea of T.J. Maxx, in that it sold really nice, expensive clothes for lower prices, but I still couldn't afford them. (It's almost payday.) I had fun not being holed up in my apartment, though, and the ride on the back of Alisa's e-bike was nice. We drove past an Eiffel Tower. (Not the Eiffel Tower, obviously.) They seem quite obsessed with Paris here. There was also a nice park I might try to walk to sometime. That was the excitement of the weekend, other than watching general conference. My Friday night consisted of working on TurboTax, eating dinner, watching a movie, and going to bed. General conference was great. I wasn't sure if it would be able to play on my laptop, but I managed to watch it with only a couple minor problems. In order to get the heck out of the house, I walked around the block, just to see what was there. A young boy on his mother's e-bike recognized me and called out, "Hey! Laoshi hao!" I waved but didn't have time to say hi back. That was the closest thing I had to a spoken conversation all day. Other than that, what saved my sanity was talking to Cami and Piper through Skype messages. (Isn't technology awesome?) After conference, I worked more on taxes and went to bed. On Sunday, they showed the Sunday morning session of conference at church, and I needed human interaction, so I figured it was worth the eight kuai it takes for a round trip on the subway. It was lovely to be with other people. It felt more like watching conference should. Then, to avoid going back to my lonely apartment, I walked through the park on Jinji Lake. (Remember the story of how I got lost on Easter morning?) It's such a pretty park! Then I went home, ate dinner, took a nap, and watched the last session of conference. Amelia finally made it back. It sounded like they had a nice time, although they didn't get to see the Bund like I did. I was glad she was safe. Also, I was glad to not be alone. It's only Tuesday, but this week is stressful so far. I began another two-week cycle of lessons. Remember that writer's block I talked about before? After much sitting there staring at my lesson planner, and much prayer, I finally came up with some plans for my first few classes. After a couple days' experience, I may need to revise one or two of them. Like a lot. I had a bit of a hard day today. I had one class where the kids had way too much energy. They love having a foreign teacher, but they're too excited to learn much. They were so noisy, in fact, that I didn't even notice at first the boy who was crying because another boy hit him. And, after I talked to the hitter, they kept right on hitting each other. That bell could not go off soon enough! Then, as I hurried out of the classroom, they flashed their cute little grinning faces at me, shouted, "Good bye! See you next time!" and gave me high fives. You know on How to Train Your Dragon, how they have the adorable little mini dragons called the Terrible Terrors? That's what I thought of. Suzhou is still a beautiful place. The ancient Chinese weren't kidding when they said, "Above there is heaven. Below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou." It rains quite a bit, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who's so happy about it. (The others are mostly English. See Rachel's email.) But, it also gets warm and sunny. It's perfect! Right in front of my apartment are a couple of trees with fluffy pink blossoms. Lately, the petals have started raining down. Today, as I got home from a bad workday, I saw it, and watched as the pink petals floated down on the breeze and felt happy inside as I remembered that God loves us. He loves us enough to gives us beautiful blossoms and "popcorn trees." I enjoyed the last email from home. It made for a nice pick-me-up at work today. Remi looks beautiful in the dance picture. I'm glad you're surviving baby-sitting. I miss you all. In fact, I often find myself thinking that the only way Suzhou could be more beautiful, is if you were all here enjoying it with me. (Don't try to drive, though.) I love you all. Zaijian! Love, Chelsey*:x lovestruck hpaich on