Chinese National Day

Many people have asked me to share about my students: primarily where they are from. So here are a few pictures of some of my students. This photo shows a number of the Sophomores from my homeroom and British Literature class. Starting on the left is Ji Soo from South Korea (she is actually in ELD class instead of my lit. class). Next to her in order are Sonja (Finland), Vikanda in the white shirt (Thailand), 'Jennifer' (South Korea), 'Tim' (South Korea), Gary (a Tawainese raised in South Africa--he has a great accent), Ji Sung in the glasses (South Korea), and Grace (very American). In front posing is 'Adam' from South Korea. Any student's 'name' with quotation marks around them denotes that these are not their given names. These are the Western names they have, of their own volition, chosen to be called. Ji Sung also goes by Ashley.
Here is another shot of some of the Sophomores goofing around after the Chinese National Day presentation held on Friday, 29 Sept. 2006. Chinese National Day is actually 01 October, but that is a Sunday this year, so we celebrated early. I will be going into downtown Kunming to see the parades on Sunday after services. In the picture are Russel (from the U.S.), Gary, Adam, Tim (hiding in back) and Grace. If you have not guessed it, Adam loves to ham things up and his classmates are more than willing to help by laughing at him.
Miss Audrey is a Southern Belle from Texas who has lived much of her life in China. She loves track and her clothing is indicative of the 'modern' Chinese fashion. Audrey is a Junior in my American Literature class.
Here I am with some of my other Juniors who dressed in traditional Chinese clothing for National Day. On the left is Rosemary, who, when she graduates next year, will be the first student in KIA history to metriculate from Kindergarten all the way through high school graduation. Next to her is 'Joshua', a student who is from California with a U.S. passport, but who is still very aware of his father's Korean heritage. Wai Leuk appears in the blue. Wai Leuk is Cantonese, his parents coming from Hong Kong. His mother teaches Chinese History and Chinese Language at KIA. Hopefully, the traditional clothing does not hide the nature of the person on the far right.

These last two photos are of a group of Seniors and Tim and me. The Seniors are Marcus from South Korea, Weng Hei from Singapore, and on my right, Martina (older sister of Gary) from Taiwan/South Aftica (she also has a wonderful accent). You cannot see it very well, if at all, but Tim's hat has a fake 'queue' or braided ponytail coming from the back and draped over his left shoulder. I expect Joe Coco to know the significance of the hand jesture. It has a specific meaning in the martial arts world (the open hand covering the closed fist). It is also used as a sign of respect when greeting others and when showing sincere thanks.

I will send more picture of the downtown celebration events. Also, for those of you who remember Tyler Durham, who spent some time in Whitefish with a number of his friends from back east (New Hampshire), I received an email from him to let me (among others) know that he is now in China. I have not heard what his final destination is, but he told me about a month ago that he would love to end up in Yunnan Province where I am. I know that Katie Reimer is aware of this, because her email was on the list of recipients who received Tyler's transmission. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

Grace and Peace to all my Brothers and Sisters,

Roland

Camping!?in China

This weekend, the male section of our youth group travelled into the Western Hills to camp, while the females roughed it in a wonderful hotel in downtown Kunming. Because I am a man and slept on the ground, my photos will only depict the exploits of the young men's trip. Sorry ladies. Evidently the young women were too "precious and lovely in His sight" to rough the great outdoors:)).
On Friday, after school, we hoped onto a bus (and into three smaller vehicles) and drove into the Western Hills. The 'road' we took easily surpassed any byway I have ever been on in terms of outright engineering frightfulness. Switchbacks, of which there were many, held very little bank and offered little in the way of taming the precipitous slope our tiny bus was being whipped into climbing. You could barely call it paved, as well. Often times, our driver would honk as he came around sharp turns. Evidently, if you honk and get into a wreck, you are no longer liable, because you made your presence known.

Once our bus reached a point where it could no longer proceed, we hiked the remainder of the way into our idyllic setting. We camped next to a small lake surrounded by small terraced hills supporting a variety of crops, as well as trees. Joe Coco, sorry. We certainly were not what you would call light on our environment. However, we did have a trash pick-up party at the end, and left the place cleaner than when we had arrived.
During most of the weekend, we enjoyed the company of six men from Minnesota who were travelling in the area. They lead campfire songs and spoke to the boys about various topics of concern to young men. We also played some fun games, like soccer through a slightly terraced, mostly wet area down close to the lake. The boys also participated in a boat race out to an island. They had to carry their boat around the island, paddle back, cross the area we used as our soccer field, re-enter the lake on the other side, and use their pellet guns to hit a paper target.
With the requisite camp fires and camp food, the boys mostly managed to have a wonderful, uplifting time with one another. Most of the young men attend KIA, but we also had a couple boys from Holland who are homeschooled. I enjoyed talking to them about their homeland and my trips to the Netherlands with the girls' soccer teams I coached. We talked about croquettes and frikandel, two wonderful Dutch foods. Hopefully, if their family orders any in, I will be treated to some traditional Dutch food. Bart and Willhem (their names) treated us to some dark chocolate from Holland!
However, as all good things must, the weekend came to an end, and now I have Les Miserables essays to correct for the seniors and The Scarlet Letter essay tests to grade for the juniors. I hope the students and the administration understand if I feel a bit flustered this week for not having been able to prepare properly. Maybe He can grant me some extra energy to get stuff done. In anycase, we had a wonderful time.

Roland

Much Thanks

I would like to extend my thanks to my twin brother Robert and his co-worker Jacob for setting up this blog site for me. I have been given a number of wonderful suggestions on how to post my photos from a number of you who are reading this. However, by the end of a school day, here in China, I have very little time to think about anything other than food and sleep.
I appreciate all the support I have been given during this first month and a half of living in China, and while I still worry about the financial aspect of things, I know He has a plan. Some days I believe I can actually see it happening before my very eyes. I cherish these days, because they feel easier and shorter. So I have to try to remember them for fear that the longer harder days might overwhelm me. So thank you very much for keeping me in your thoughts and bringing me before the King, and for the financial support that is sustaining this endeavor.
Now enjoy some pictures!
The first shot is of my humble transportation, the "Super Magic" bicycle. I bent the left crank the first day I owned it and lost the left pedal two days later. But it gets me to and from school, among other places.
The next two shots show the "Golden Archway". These traditional Chinese arches mark the nothern end of the Burma Road in downtown Kunming. My great-uncle, a Flying Tiger, flew raids to protect this road from Japanese control during WWII.

There is a picture of the entrance to our school. Everything here seems safe. There is a gated entryway to nearly everything. Our school is no different. We have two guards that patrol the grounds throughout the day. They are also involved in maintenance of not only the school facilities but also some of the items in staff housing.
Lastly, there is a view from the terrace of my apartment. I live on the seventh floor. However, while the picture does not show much traffic, it is quite loud, none-the-less.
I will be posting more pictures, and as I become more comfortable with the whole blog thing, the format will hopefully get better.

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