Dear Family and Friends,
Well, here the time has flown by again, and I decided I’d better write this while I have the chance. It seems like time has speeded up and there is so much to do I hardly have time to get prepared for classes, let alone write and do other things. Or maybe I’m just slowing down! I’ve noticed it takes a lot longer to do the things that didn’t used to take near as long.
We are in full swing in our classes again. It is a lot more fun this semester, as we have a better idea of what we need to teach. We have quite a few of the same students as we did last semester, with some new ones. It’s fun to get the same ones again, as you already know their names, and they are actively involved in the discussions and lessons. It doesn’t take nearly as long for the new students to get involved when they see how much the others participate and contribute. In traditional education in China, the students have to sit quietly and listen to the teacher lecture, and if there is any participation at all, it is group recitation of what the teacher tells them to say. When we do a class and finally get them talking, it’s so novel to them, and it takes them awhile to learn that it’s OK to make comments in class, to talk to the others to get their ideas, and to state their opinions. We don’t have a set curriculum, we pretty much get to choose what we want to cover and how to cover it. Most of our classes only have a chalk board, so we do a lot of discussions. I do have three classrooms this semester with media capabilities, so am having fun with powerpoints and movies, but still don’t use it for the whole time.
This week we are giving our lessons on overcoming hardships, as so many of the students in the university are preparing for their TOFEL and BAN-4 and Ban-6 advanced placement tests. They are the tests that determine whether the students will be allowed to go to graduate school, or even study abroad. The pressure on the students here is unbelievable, as they have been prepared by their families since they were in elementary school to excel so that they can support their parents and grandparents in their old age. Most of our students were in the top 1% of their class through High School, so it’s quite a shock to them to be put into classes full of other brilliant students, and suddenly they’re no longer the big fish in a little pond, but a little fish in an ocean! They are no longer the sun that is the center of the universe, but a minor star in the Milky Way. For some of them, it is almost insurmountable. We try to teach them that they shouldn’t try to be better than everybody else, but to be the best they can be. Many of them have had everything done for them all their lives so they could keep up on their studies, and for some of them, it’s a real shock to get away from parents and home and have to wash their own clothes and take care of themselves. They still have their meals in the cafeterias, but some of them are trying to learn to cook, and they are SO proud when they learn to make soup or dumplings or something by themselves. It’s really fun to hear them describe their experiences in their journals.
I have a non-traditional English class again this semester. I had one last semester, too, and had a really hard time with it. The students are those that are English students, but don’t have good English skills, so they understand very little of the spoken language, and can’t speak hardly any. They can still read a little, but they are required to take the class so they have a better chance of passing their tests. This semester I have a better idea of what to expect, so I prepare separately for that class on a really basic level and cover things really slowly. We are doing a lot better this semester, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll see how it goes. My other classes are really good, the students speak and understand spoken English very well, and we have some fun class discussions. We try to cover things that will help them to talk, and we have a lot of fun. This semester I organized my classes into “families” of 4 or 5 students each. The kids choose an English first name that they use in all their English classes, but they’ve never had an English surname before. Also, most of the kids are an only child, so they’ve never had brothers or sisters. I do have one girl from the country that has two sisters and a brother, and everybody is in awe of her! So the first day of class I told my students that they were going to find out what it is like to have brothers and sisters. They got to choose who was in their family, and if they didn’t, I’d walk up them and say, “Who’s your brother?” Or “Who’s your sister?” If they didn’t respond, I’d point at one of the other indecisive students, and say, “Meet your brother, Steve.” Or “Meet your sister, Julie.” Then I’d have them move over next to them. After they were organized into groups of 4 or 5, then I told them they needed to choose an English family name. We talked about some of the common names, and how many of them were determined, like Smith, Johnson, etc. Or they could choose the name of someone they were familiar with in their studies. We have Washingtons, Lincolns, Jeffersons, Jordans, Scofields, Whites, Bonds, quite a variety. Whenever we have a group activity, they talk with their brothers and sisters. Sometimes they have to make up a skit, or make a presentation to the class, which they do as families. It’s really fun, because now when students e-mail me about a question, they’ll say, “Dear Mr. Powell. This is Alex Washington, and I have a question.” I even have one boy that got quite upset that he ended up with three sisters, because he always wanted a brother and still didn’t get one! J
This next weekend is the Foreign Language Festival, a college activity that involves the entire college of Foreign Languages. It goes on for a couple of weeks, and will be filled with activities that focus on foreign languages. All of our students are required to take a foreign language besides English, so many of them are studying French, German, Japanese, Russian, etc. This will involve all of us. We have a couple of Russian teachers, some French teachers, a German teacher and a Japanese teacher that live here in the same apartment building we are in called “The Foreign Guesthouse.” I have gotten to know some of them as we ride the same bus to the other campus where I teach three classes of Freshmen. It had really been fun to talk to them, but a little sad that they all have to talk to me in English because I only know one language. They are very kind and gracious, but I have come to realize how limited and vain we Americans are. I think we are the only nation in the world that only can speak one language. Reminds me of the riddle, “What do you call a person that speaks three languages? Tri-lingual. What do you call a person that speaks two-languages? Bi-lingual. What do you call a person that only speaks one language? Gringo.” Sad but true! I think it’s pretty awesome that so many of our family speak more than one language!
Anyway, back to the festival. They have asked me and two other Kennedy teachers to sing a couple of songs in English at their opening ceremony next Saturday night, we thought we’d sing “This Land Is Your Land” with a Chinese twist (From Shandong Province, to the Hong Kong Island…) and “You Are My Sunshine,” which they all know and love. Then next week Mom is judging a debate, we are making some American food for the food festival (peanut-butter sandwiches), and we will be attending some speaking competitions. It should be a lot of fun, but time consuming.
We had a fun party over at Brother Cheung’s house yesterday, a fund-raising BBQ to help the youth of our branch go to Shanghai to youth conference. We did hamburgers with salads that were great! Afterwards we had a bake sale auction that was a lot of fun. Everybody made desserts to sell, then we all bought them back. There were cookies, hot-cross buns, mom made a pumpkin pie, Emily made chocolate no-bake cookies, we really had fun. We raised quite a bit of money, will find out how much today when we do the finances after church. It was a lot of fun, and we ate popcorn balls last night while we watched a movie. We were supposed to go to the other campus where mom was supposed to give a talk on public speaking, but just a little while before we were supposed to leave we had a big lightning storm and a downpour, so they called and rescheduled it for next week. I wasn’t disappointed, as we were pretty tired.
The Olympic fever here is really getting intense! They are really excited about the Olympics, and are doing huge preparations for it. Although the Olympics will be held in Beijing, there are several venues that are scheduled for here in Tianjin, and they are really using the opportunity to beautify the city. I have really been impressed at how fast they do things here! Their construction crews work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they used huge crews and a lot of equipment. A week ago Friday we went to the church to get some stuff, and they were bulldozing a whole block of brick houses, some of them that still had smoke coming from the chimneys. Two days later they were loading the rubble into dump trucks with loaders and hauling it off, while at the same time hauling in load after load of top soil. At the same time a road crew had taken up all the blacktop from four lanes of the major road out front, and the cars were driving in the dirt or on the other side of the road going the wrong way. (TIC). When we took the taxi to Cheungs yesterday, the lot where the houses had been had been landscaped, trees planted, sod mostly all laid, and they are putting up a brick fence. They almost have that side of the street ready to blacktop, and they have the other side ripped out and are laying new water and sewer lines, all the while the traffic is still as heavy as ever. The road is horrible and the traffic is horrendous, but nobody seems to be upset, and it goes fine. About a mile before the church there is an industrial area that has a bunch of shops. We were there last week looking at electric bicycles, and I asked the guy to bring in one for me to look at. We called him on Thursday to see if it had come in, and he said it would be a few days still, as he had to move because they were tearing down the building he is in. When we drove by yesterday his whole building about 300’ long was gone, just some cement floors left. When he calls, we’ll have to ask him where he moved to. They are taking out so many of the little brick single-story houses that have been here for a hundred years and putting up huge apartment buildings. There is so much construction that it has become a national joke that the new national bird of China is the construction crane. J
It’s fun to go to the grocery stores and see Easter displays. They have colored eggs and candy, Easter bunnies and such. We asked the students in class what Easter is, and they say it’s a Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Christ. But they don’t believe that part (at least most don’t admit it), but they think the holiday is fun because of the candy and the excuse to celebrate. Mom bought a bunch of eggs last week and colored them and took them to class and gave them to her students. They eat a lot of boiled eggs here, and they thought it was fun to get colored ones. She also took an Easter basket with an Easter Bunny in it and talked about it in class, but she didn’t do a whole presentation on it. I didn’t have time to do one at all, as I was behind because I BS more in my classes, so it takes me longer to get through the lessons. The kids really enjoy learning about Western holidays and cultural customs, so we usually talk about them when we get the chance.
Today at church is our Easter program. We are going to have talks in Sacrament meeting about the atonement and resurrection, plus I’d imagine the lessons will focus on them. I’m looking forward to them. We don’t have our meetings until 1:00 p.m., as the Chinese branch meets at 9:30 so they don’t get out until just before we get there. I usually get home pretty late with meetings that late, then finances afterward. ReNee is teaching the Relief Society lesson today because the sister that was going to give it ended up having to go to a different Easter program out near where they live. I think she’s going to cover Elder Uchdorf’s talk about being happy in our lives.
On the day the branch presidency was changed on November 11, 2006, Heinz Dickens took several pictures and we just received copies of those pictures from him. On the front row from left to right: Heinz Dickens, 1st counselor in the China International District Presidency; Steven Toronto, President; Charles Kewish, member of the District Counsel. Back row from left to right: Tiffany Larsen, Young Women’s President; Ellie Larsen; Kyle Larsen, Sunday School President and Branch Clerk; Eric Larsen; ReNee Powell, 1st Counselor in the Relief Society; Dondavid Powell, 1st Counselor in the Tianjin Branch; Don Bird, President; Bonnie Bird, Sunday School teacher; Ron Derby, 2nd Counselor; Larry Lowder, Executive Secretary.
Well, I guess I’d better be getting ready for church. I hope you are all doing well, and that you have a great Easter today. We are having a wonderful experience here in China, and are grateful for the opportunity we have had to be here. We still don’t understand or speak any Chinese, but it’s amazing how you can get along in China. The people here are wonderful, friendly and helpful. They laugh at us a lot, especially when they see me trying to shoe-horn myself into the front of one of these tiny taxi cabs. We just laugh along with them and enjoy the experience. We have come a long way at playing Charades, and usually can end up getting what we need. We have also found that there are a LOT of things we used to think we really needed that we can get along fine without. We really don’t much miss the $3+/gal gasoline or automobile maintenance, we take taxi’s or the bus almost everywhere we go, and it’s still pretty cheap, although prices here are going up too, especially with the devaluation of the dollar. It still only costs us about $2 US to take a cab to the church, and that’s about the same as a gallon of gas round-trip, and we don’t have to find a parking place! Usually we share a cab with another couple so it ends up being half price, too! I hope you all are well and feeling good. Deanna, thank you for the awesome card you sent ReNee, she loved it. Thanks to those others of you who have written and prayed for us. We certainly feel and appreciate your prayers! We are grateful for the Gospel in our lives, for the peace and purpose it gives us, and especially for the knowledge and testimony of the Atonement and Resurrection. May God bless you at this special Easter season. With all our love, Dondavid and ReNee.
Student journal entries:
Thank you, Mr. Powell.
For nineteen year, I am alone in my family. I have no brothers nor sister. I am sometimes felt lonely. I had to keep everything deep in my heart, because I had no one to tell. Oh? My parents? No, they are too old. They couldn’t know what I thought. I had wondered how was like if I had brothers and sisters. My father has three younger brothers. When they are together, I tell myself, “Hey, they’re brothers.” It’s a feeling that I can’t feel. February 25th is an amazing day. That day I got three sisters. And I get family and family name, Washington, a great word. That day, I am very happy. I have never thought about would be someone using the same family name as me and be my sisters.
I know, I didn’t get really sisters, but a study team. In that team, we can be trained to be more teamwork and active. It’s a good way, I think. But if one day anyone ask me, “Do you have brothers or sisters?” I needn’t to say no. I can tell him proudly, “Yes, three sisters, we are four Washingtons!” Dave Washington
Jane Writing(Jane explains some of the frustrations with relationship with parents) Today is my father’s birthday. The 47th birthday. I called him at lunch time, but now I’m feeling a little sad about that call. The conversation was quite simple and short, and as always I said, “Happy Birthday”; he said “Thanks,” then was silence; then I asked “Did you have lunch?” he said “Yes, and you?” then a few meaningless lines and I hanged up. I felt so bad that this conversation kept repeating on my mind the whole afternoon. If this happened several years earlier, I wouldn’t be that sentimental at all. But now I am already 21; and I am supposed to act as an adult. There are just no improvement between father and me. My father is a silent man. He was almost absent during my childhood because of his work. When I grow up into a teenager, he was always very strict to me, but still short in word. So all I could think of whenever the image of father comes to my mind, there would be either his angry face or the serious look. I couldn’t imagine that someday in the future I would run into my father’s hug happily that others might do. Almost every of my father’s birthday is on my school days. So usually I just call him and say “Happy Birthday” to him; and the dialogue are often 4-6 sentences long. As I get older and older, I care about the relationship between us more and more. Why can’t we just talk like everyone else do? Why can’t we share our happiness with each other? Why can’t I be close to him? I understand that it’s harder for a father to express his love to the family than the mother. But still, I hope that both I and father could step forward voluntarily and make it better. (This so hard when you are far away for so long—still you are wise to keep trying. Family is important)
Celia: (Students here have a kind of coming of age as far as I can tell. When they turn 21 they are suddenly adults are required to help with making dumplings, house work etc as if they have never done that before. The result is as they turn 21 they begin to think they can’t continue to get help from them parents to go to school. This girl Celia expresses some of the feelings at this time. Most students in college are not to date until 21—of course many do. They have boy friends and often only see them a few times a year because they are at different universities. Much like their marriages later. Both husband and wife work. They have a child. They leave it with the grandparents to take care of and go off to work sometimes in different cities for lengthy periods of time Many students have poor relationship with their fathers. Children are sent to boarding schools by junior high.)
Today, Mina, Rachel, and I went to Beijing Road to do some shopping there, which is not very often for us. It was sunny and warm, making walking on the street comfortable. All of us bought something and we had a good trip. I bought a pair of high heeled shoes and other small things. I was very happy buying the heels. As a college student, I don’t usually wear high heeled shoes, just like most of my schoolmates. But I think it is time for me to wear them, which is not easy for a beginner, as part of preparation for being an office lady a year later. I am already twenty-two years old, not a teenager any more. I think I will try making myself more adult-like both in appearance and psychology. It is interesting that students usually appear younger than workers of the same age. They are more mature, fashionable, and sophisticated than we students. I remember meeting some former classmates during the winter vacation. Among them I looked at least five years younger. In another word, they behaved just as our age people should be; it was I who looked not like an adult. They were out of school, and some of them even married. This reminded me that I was old enough to be a worker, and even a mother. So I should change and begin my adult life.
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