at last...

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look what i found in my blogger achieve!! i can't believe i didn't post this before!!
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date: may 9, 2006

fact: it's taken me 40 days to blog about my beijing mission trip.

but to be honest, i've had it saved on my blog for a few weeks now and due to my ocd tendencies, i would go back every so often to edit my post because i wanted everything (all the words and pictures) to measure up to what i had experienced in beijing.

and how do you condense 6 INCREDIBLE days onto a single blog? that was my first initial struggle.

the last hurdle was mustering enough courage to actually post my bj blog.

i was scared because i knew this was something that deserved a response. i can hear a voice inside my head saying, "okay cherie, what's next? what are you going to do now that the truth has been revealed to you?" i knew that as soon as i put my experiences in writing, it no longer exist in my head but in the flesh for the whole world to see. it will become a true testament of my faith and my promise and something that people can look back on and judge me for it. am i ready for that? am i ready to talk the talk and walk the walk? am i ready to cover my butt if i fail? am i ready to defend my faith? am i ready to reveal His love and His grace and His truth according to my life? my actions? my words?

the answer to that is no.

but the bigger answer is that i am willing.

so here goes...

day 1: beijing (北京)



after a 3 hr plane ride from hk, our team arrived in beijing and was greeted by the gorgeous sun and the afternnon clear skies. for a split second, i felt like i was in canada because the weather and climate was so similar to what spring was like in vancouver. and after meeting our wonderful guide lynn and the rest of our team at the airport (the birks) and train station (cliff and jade), we boarded the overnight train which took us straight to our first destination- chifeng (赤峰) in inner mongolia.


day 2: chifeng (赤峰), inner mongolia

the train ride itself took about 10 hours and as soon as we arrived in chifeng, i was met by my first test- the drama bag. janice had put me in charge of the drama bag and i had forgotten it on the train!! luckily, cece was with me and knew exactly where the drama bag was so the two of us bolted back and got the drama bag before the train made its return trip back to beijing. the drama bag had all our props in it and i don't know what we would have done with out it.

after my little heart attack with the drama bag, we were whisked off to a local breakfast canteen (where a gross bathroom story took place, ask crif), sampled some local delicacies (salty mongolian milk tea) and learned we had to teach a 4 hr class all by OURSELVES! initially, we thought we would be teaching in pairs but because the junior school had 2000+ students, we had to split up to accommodate everyone.

when we arrived at the school, we were paired up with our host students who brought us to our classrooms for the day. i was in charge of a gr. 8 class and my host student was a bubbly 15 year old girl named lucy. after a quick intro by the teacher, i was at the front of the class answering questions from my students.

my first task? singing 'i want it that way' by the backstreet boys.

before the trip, we all joked about how teens in china really loved the backstreet boys and whenever we had trouble thinking about lesson plans for the kids, we can always wow them with our bsb knowledge. i had no idea that it was going to come true. it all started when philip(student) asked me what kind of music i liked. in return, i asked him what music he liked and conveniently, he had a tape of the backstreet boys in his desk (bless him). after about 5 min of clapping and cheering, philip and i (along with 2 of his friends) sang the entire song along with the rest of the class.

in the afternoon, i went to my host student lucy's home for lunch and her dad made us a huge meal with all the fixings. inner mogolians sure like their deep fried meats.

some of the older students who greeted us when we arrived

my awesome (and very energetic) year 8 class.

hanging out with some of the girls during break time.



imagine this whole field filled with kids. our drama and dance team put on an awesome performance on the red stage for all the students.

in the evening, my other host student (bill) took me to a local restaurant and his parents treated me and five of his best buddies for dinner. i didn't know what to expect b/c it's been a while since i've hung out with 15 year old boys but they were such an amazing group of boys- charming and so hilarious! we played cards, had a chili eating contest (jack, the skinny kid with glasses, won) and had my first taste of...deep fried, giant BEETLES!

day 3: english corners

after my beetle encounter, our team regrouped at the school and headed out to the train station back to beijing. and even tho i was only in chifeng for a day, it was sad saying goodbye to the kids nonetheless.

we arrived in beijing early in the morning and quickly got settled into our hotel and recharged with yummy beijing noodles and baos. the rest of the day was followed by a trip out to the beijing language and culture university where we were meeting a bunch of uni students to hang out.

walking along wang fu jiang and towards the subway

on the way to beijing language and culture university

group pic at the uni

bowling in our vip lanes and english corner at the parrot cafe

part deux coming soon...