Post #3, Wuhan, China

At 8 a.m. Monday morning Jim and I walked into a class of 50 seminary students, me to listen (and knit) while Jim taught. These were first year seminary students, many of whom had finished high school and started seminary, apparently four years of seminary can be done without college. So they were 18-19 years old, many of them. They were sitting in a crowded traditional-type room wearing their coats, sitting on chairs with straight wooden backs and at tables with all of their textbooks piled in neat rows, leaving just a little room for their note-taking. Most were very attentive, though the one I sat by had a pillow with a dogface on it and hugged it to her and slept through most of the class. Jim taught three hours, with two ten minutes breaks. These students have class from 8-12 and 2-4 each day, in the same classroom and with about the same bunch of classmates. Jim was translated by a very proficient teacher of English at the seminary who finished her own training last year in Hong Kong. I have such admiration for people who can extemporaneously translate, especially difficult ideas.

We ate lunch with her in the seminary dining room, sitting at long tables with other students. We were given four bowls: one full of rice, one of soup, one of green beans and cabbage in some sauce, and one with two pieces of chicken. Plus chopsticks, of course! The food tasted great. I could not eat all the rice.

It was my turn in the afternoon. I returned to the same class, with the same translator, and taught English to these students for two hours. We had fun. First I had each one introduce him/herself by name and hometown, and to say something they like to do. For some it was easy and for others quite a scary endeavor. But they all made it through. Then we told a shaggy dog story, each student adding a sentence. The story got quite ridiculous and we had a lot of laughs. I gave me a chance to work on pronunciation a bit, and also on agreeing verbs and tenses. Then we worked on identifying what was a sentence and what was needed to make one. Grammar is their strong suit. Finally, I taught them the English words to Jesus Loves Me. They were quite excited about that and sang it out a couple of times.

We switched hotels in the afternoon to a 7 Days Inn. Might be related to Days Inn in the states. It is much more modest, but is closer in location and very clean.

We had a wonderful dinner with the seminary president, such a kind person who is caring for us very well, and our translator and a couple of others, one a leadership trainer from Bali and the other, an American living in Hong Kong, a supervisor of programs for youth being offered around China. I should have taken photos of the lovely dinner. My favorite dish was lotus-root and park meatballs, spicy and in a reddish sauce with, cooked egg white pieces and red and green peppers. There was also a wonderful freshwater fish, steamed and spiced with soy sauce. We all picked pieces from it with our chopsticks. Then there was a lovely chicken soup with noodles, head and beak included, also a dish of tofu in a tasty sauce and another of fresh bok choy. Served with hot water, not tea, and no fortune cookies! I am thinking that is an American addition.

So a great first day doing what we came for. Looking forward to more.

Andy gave me another blog site possibility, so I am to investigate that.