Saturday, September 1, 2012

There and Back Again

It's hard to believe that I haven't even been home from China for one full month.
So much happened in my month there that it is incredibly hard to think about what to say in a short blog post. For those of you who don't know what I was doing over there, I was teaching English to university students. Half of our group taught the university students, while the other half taught grade school children.
Guangzhou airport


Me and Zach's awesome class, along with our American assistants Caleb and Vicki
When we first arrived in Kunming, I experienced sensory overload! Our team leader didn't want any of us falling asleep {in order to get us over jet lag asap} so we hopped on a bus with our teaching assistants and went out to explore the city! It was huge and beautiful, the air full of exotic spices, the streets lined with trees. We spent the weekend getting to know the teaching assistants {who helped translate for the children's classes} and seeing the city.
The school where we taught: Yunnan Normal University Business School

It was an incredible month, full of getting pushed far outside of my comfort zone {in a good way!}, growing in my dependence on and knowledge of Jesus Christ, learning that God's timetable isn't the same as mine, getting to know our students, getting to live the big city life, and getting to know the Chinese culture. I miss that beautiful place, and the friends that I made there. I'm so thankful for the internet and the connections that it provides.

Here are just a few more pictures, it was so hard to narrow the selection down after a month of taking pictures!
Downtown Kunming with friends
Starbucks in Kunming!
One weekend we got to visit the Jiuxiang caves, and they were breathtaking!
Jiuxiang caves: reminded me of the Cave of Wonders in Disney's Aladdin :)


Downtown Kunming
Another weekend, we got the opportunity to visit Dali, China.
Me with several of the assistants - such sweet friends!
Sweet sweet friends: Sara, Happy, Tina, and Christina
Long story short... it was an incredible, life-changing trip. I would go back in a heartbeat.

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