Going back to China

This blog has been long neglected. I'm headed back in two days!

new year; new blog

Hello everyone!

Thank you again for coming to this page and reading my blog about my summer 2008 spent in China.

But now I have a new blog!

I felt it would be the best way to just reflect on my life, while keeping this one specifically about China.

Please check it out:

www.MorganisBlogging.blogspot.com

Happy New Year!

One month

Hey everyone,

It has been exactly one month since I returned home from China. The Olympics have come and gone, and all of the blissful, harmonious excitement that went along with them will soon be washed away as "life in America" starts to take over again.

School, work, presidential elections, hurricanes, celebrity scandals, social drama; all of these things will soon occupy our time and the TV stations, and the glory of Beijing will soon fade away into the thick, foggy, humid background of our minds.

I've been really busy lately, which is somewhat bad, because I still have not completely finished unpacking, but also it is very good, because everything in my life since returning has been full and bright and wonderful. I have had a lot to do either way.

But, I know that I will not forget Beijing. I will never forget Sichuan, or the people there, or the people at T.I.P. that I worked with, or my students which I grew close with, or the way that I found God alive and well in both in the big smoggy city of Beijing and also the remote rural farmlands of Shiban village in Sichuan.
Everything I experienced in China was beautiful and unforgettable, and my memories of these places will not diminish as the headlines do.

I am thankful and fortunate because I was asked to speak at my church one Sunday and share about my trip. It was a blessing being able to pass on the things that I was blessed with while I was there.

But also, a large part of me knows that so many stories are still left untold - that there are countless things I must write about, somewhere, here, even, but then so many more that I will be unable to tell.

I still need money to pay off my debt to teachoverseas.org - so I'm going to write letters about my trip and send them out soon.
Hopefully that will be a good way to summarize my thoughts.

Also, I've added more pictures to my older posts, so go back and read them!

Xie xie!

Back in America!

Hey everyone, I'm back at home and all my flights went really well.
:)

It's good to be back, and China was amazing, and I hope you are all watching the Olympics now because they are incredible.

I think I will continue to update this blog from time to time, as my mind is able to sort through everything that happened to me during my time in China.

But for now, thanks for reading and for your prayers and support, I was truly blessed!

Also just keep praying that I get the financial support that I need, because I still owe teach overseas a lot of money!

Xie xie

我爱你 Beijing!

Almost all of the summer staff have left T.I.P. and there are only a few of us left who are not staying until the end of August.
It has really been an amazing time and I love and miss everyone very much!

Two days ago I went to the Summer Palace in Beijing, and also the Bird's nest stadium and the olympic village! It was all really amazing, even though it randomly rained off and on and soaked all of us to the bone.

Since I'm still around the campus I have been helping with the new session that just started. Interviewing new students and things like that. It's nice, but I'm sad I won't get to get to know all of these students as well as my own from last session.

Anyway, today I'm going to meet my dear friend Becca and her "group" at the Airport because she is just arriving in Beijing today!
Woohoo!
I hope we get to do some great work and have some fun before I leave!

I might get one more chance to post before I go back to Americ, but I'm not entirely sure.
If not,I love you all, and thanks for reading!

Speeches and the end of T.I.P

Life back at Beida fen xiao is going well, but sadly, T.I.P. is almost over!

The graduation ceremony is tomorrow morning, and tonight we had a huge party and went into town and had dinner and then KTV!

It was great fun and I wish that time was not running out!
Everything seems like it happened so fast!

In the next few days I plan to travel a little in Beijing and meet up with my dear friend Becca when she arrives here with her church!

I guess I didn't write very much right now... but it's late and that's about all I have to say for now!

Goodnight!

Back in Beijing!

The four of us who went to Sichuan just got back to T.I.P. this morning at around 6 am!

The 27 hour train ride went really well, and I have so many stories to tell I don't even know where to begin!!!

I will have to tell more about the adventures we had there - about the train rides and meeting the children, and living in the village of Shiban, and living in the Camps with the people, and being caught in a lightning storm, and getting to know Jessie, learning Chinese, singing Hokie-Pokie until I lost my voice, meeting the village "butcher", climbing up a mountain to find crazy mountain cows, seeing whole cities destroyed and displaced from the earthquake, meeting Phillip and Bill and Spencer and Louie, seeing the beautiful Sichuan countryside, hiking across a river, celebrating Hannah's birthday in Guangyuan, being in a restaurant during a huge earthquake, playing speed with Connor and "Warm" on the train, riding motorcycles with random Chinese people, sleeping in dirt and showering in cold water with other people, being sick and taking Chinese medicine, eating pig face and chicken feet for lunch, peeing in piles of poop, growing closer to God, learning the stories of the people, crying when we hugged the children goodbye, sharing all the love I know and have with everyone I met, and just all around experiencing every thrilling aspect about the journey.

Many, many, many, more stories (and literally thousands of pictures) to come!

To Sichuan and beyond

Today we went to Haidian church again in Beijing, and tonight was a very wonderful night because all of our classes preformed for the talent show and it was a quite hilarious and happy experience! My class even had a song that mentioned me. I felt really special. :)

But, well, right now I am trying to get things all prepared and settled at TIP because...

I am going to Sichuan!

That's right, tomorrow morning at 8 am I am going to take a 27 hour train ride to the center of China in order to help with the earthquake relief efforts.

Man this trip changes everything...
It will be sad and strange leaving all of the people here at TIP and leaving my students during the second week of their session, the good news though is that I will be back to see them them again, but the weirdest thing will be leaving the structure and environment here on campus.

I won't have internet for about a week so I won't be updating this blog! But everything will be well I think, just keep me in thoughts your prayers!

Also a shout out to my dad - It's his birthday next week but I might not get to wish him happy birthday on the actual day!
So Happy Birthday!

An update and a request for me to work in Sichuan

Things have been going really well here and the students have been working very hard!

Today is Saturday and I did not have to work today, so me and a few other facilitators went into Changping to go shopping and it was a very lovely day!

Earlier this week we rescued a kitten that was stuck in the Ceiling, but, perhaps I will explain more about that later, because for now I wanted to tell you about something that I might do next week, but I am still praying about it.

I was asked this morning if I would be able to travel to the Sichuan province (which is in the southern/central part of China - the area that was devastated by the earthquake) to work at a children's camp there. They need a lot of help there, what with the villages being destroyed and everything, and me being asked to go and work there for about a week was an important and exciting opportunity.
If I went, I would leave on Monday (in two days) and be there for about a week, but we are not sure exactly how much help is needed there so the time may vary.

The only problem is that I am going to need about $250 more in order to travel and stay there, and considering the fact that I still owe TeachOverseas more than $1000, things are not looking good. But the need is great, and my heart is open, and I know that if I am meant to go, I will be able to, but at this very moment I do not have the means!

If you are unsure about the extent of the damage in Sichcuan, or the need for volunteers to go there and work, just google "Sichuan Earthquake" to see.

So, dear friends and family and readers of this blog, If you are interested in supporting me, and not only me but the Chinese people here and God work in this country, please email me at: MorganA.Miller@gmail.com

Thank you a million times over for your support and prayers!

Beijing on a very rainy day.

Today was the second day of teaching, and everything is going wonderfully - the only unfortunate thing was that a torrential downpour occurred out of nowhere during the middle of the day, and small floods occurred and stairs became waterfalls, and while I was wading through a river that was once a street back to class, a huge hole ripped in my umbrella and soaked me to the bone. Dang crazy Chinese Government-controlled weather.

But besides that, things have been great, though at times a little stressful. The students are all wonderful, and my class, class M, is Magnificent!

When the students arrived and went through interviews on Sunday, they were told to chose an English name for the duration of T.I.P. and some of the more interesting named people that I have met so far include: Vinson, Prince, Panda, Gladiator, Snow, Charmian, Swift, and my personal favorite: Future!

Teaching has not been very difficult for me because the goal of the T.I.P. program is to get the students speaking in English, so I don't actually have to spend very much time standing there and talking, I usually just introduce an activity and then they gladly participate in it. In fact, I am not even a "teacher," I am a "facilitator!"

Usually I am not requited to help the students understand the basics of English (besides new vocabulary), because most of them have studied English since middle school, and, surprisingly, almost all of them are English teachers!
"How can this be?" you ask, "If they can barely speak English?"
Well, the thing is, in China, everyone learns and teaches English by speaking in Chinese, so most of the students know more grammar and vocabulary than I do, but they have never spoken in English before, because they have never been required to.
The most important thing in the Chinese school system is passing the test, so whether or not someone can speak a language is not as important as if they get a high grade on the test.

So this immersion program is very different in that regard; we have no grades or tests, but instead we encourage everyone to know their ABC's:

Attack your limitations!
Build your confidence!
Commit yourself!

Ok, goodnight everyone!

Beijing on a sunny day

Things are certainly picking up here at the T.I.P!

I got to meet all of my new students in class M, which is a higher level class, so all of them speak English really well!

Today was a gloriously sunny day unlike any I have seen in Beijing. The air was completely clear and as we drove into the city, I could see for kilometers and kilometers!
It almost made me miss sunny southern California.

This morning at church I sat next to a young Chinese man, and he asked me how long I had been attending Hiadian Church, and I told him, "This is only my third time here, because I have only been in China for two and a half weeks." And he replied, "I have been coming here for about sree months, but I am not a Christian."
I thought that that was a strange bit of information for someone to share with me the first time I met them in church, so after a moment i inquired: "Why?"
And he said, "Well, it seems difficult to be a Christian because there are many things that I still want to figure out. But also I really like coming here because my sister comes here, and I think that it is really a very, very nice place."

And I would agree.

But that is all I have to say for now because I am going to get some sleep - I need to wake up at 6 to have breakfast with the students!

Student Interviews

Happy July 4th!

Today was quite a day!
I woke up this morning to my roommate Laura packing all of her bags, and it was a very sad sight to see her go, but we all knew that it was for the best, and we had a peace about her leaving, although we will miss her dearly!

But there wasn't much time for grief, because the students arrived today!

But before they could get settled into their dorm buildings, there was a need for us (the T.I.P. staff) to move around a hundred beds from the 5th floor of one building to the second floor of another, and it was quite a task!
We set up another assembly line on 10 flights of stairs and passed mattresses down them until we all were soaked with sweat. It hasn't rained the last few days so it's be HOT! The greatest thing though, about working as a team in this fashion is the feeling of purpose that comes with it. Standing on the 4th story of a huge building endlessly passing mattress pad after blanket after mattress pad can start to seem tedious, especially when you aren't able to see the big picture of what you are doing. But knowing that what are you doing has a great purpose, and that without you there, things will won't function as well, is encouraging. I hope that everyone can find their place, even if it is seems small and sweaty and insignificant at the time.

After that we did the student interviews, which were very exciting!
We were dressed very professionally, and the students came into a class and we talked to them to determine their English speaking level. I had a few students from every level that I interviewed, but I knew that all of them would grow immensely throughout their time at T.I.P., whether they were able to fluently converse with me or if when I asked, "How are you?" they responded, "Yes."

I'm eager to start working in the classroom with these students!

We were all pretty tired after the long day, but we ended the night by having a crazy 4th of July party in our dorm!
It was probably one of the most fun and interesting independence days that I have ever celebrated. There was ice cream and Chinese "fireworks". Which were quite a blast!

And big news about tomorrow, it is orientation day for the students, and also me and the 4 other girls in our gross old dorm get to move into the really, really nice dorms! I'm so excited, you have no idea.

And here is a picture of the facilitator team here, who are all amazing!

T.I.P. assembly line

We are almost ready for the students to arrive; they all come tomorrow!

Tonight we spent a few hours in the Library assembly-line-passing a few hundred chairs and desks up and down 3 flights of stairs in preparation for the opening ceremony.
It was tiring work, but we make quite a team!

All is going well here! The sunshine even came out for today for the third time since I've been in China. We are eager to see what will occur in the next few days.

The only bad news is that my roommate Laura that was really sick is going home so she can get some testing done. I'm really sad about it!
But we all prayed with her and have a peace about her going home, though we will miss her greatly.

Pray that all goes well with the students!

Oh! And my address here is:
TIP Teacher Morgan Miller
Peking University, Changping Campus
Changping District, Beijing
P.R China 102249

Happy July

It's hard to believe that it's already July!

This is a random picture of some of the things my roommate and I have been drinking since I got here. We collected them all on a gross shelf in our room for this picture. :)

Things have been progressing quite well here at the T.I.P program and we are finally almost done with our training. The students arrive this week!

I received the roll of the games facilitator and also the facilitator for the Travel Club!
Woohoo!

It's going to take a lot of preparation to get ready for the new classes, and we are all busy and eager preparing for it.

On a not so wonderful note, my roommate Laura got really sick this morning and has been sick and in bed all day, please pray that she'll get better and that our other teammates won't fall ill.

God has a lot to do here!

I love Beijing more than ever!

We went to the Haidian Church in Beijing again this morning and it was amazing.

Then Sarah and I went across the City, which required a taxi cab ride (my first one!) and then three subway rides, and then a long walk after that.
It was pretty amazing.

I'm actually really tired out right now because Beijing is such a fast-paced and chaotic city.

But I just wanted to let y'all know that everything is going well and I am loving China more and more and more everyday! And the title of this post is what is says on a t-shirt that they are selling everywhere, I'm thinking I might get one. :)