A little bit of Chinglish goes a long way. . .

Since I’ve been in China for a few months, I’m picking up all the Chinglish words westerners say.  Some of them are legit, others are a little sketchy with that way they are used.  Either way, these words are a normal part of my every day language:

Dong xi (Dong-she) – Stuff, Any kind of Stuff.  As in, “Grab your dong xi, we gotta leave!”

Shen me (Shen-muh) – Question word: What, Chinese often use this twice in a row. As in, if I didn’t understand you because you were mumbling, I might come back with a quick: “Shen me Shen me?”

Deng yi xia (Dung-E-sh-yah) – Wait one moment.   This comes in handy as I was still saying Uno Momento in Spanish.  Now I can throw it out in Chinese

Dui (dway) – Yes.  Chinese use this word twice in a row, or sometimes 5 or 10 times.  When there is confusion and finally someone understands, they will say, “Dui Dui Dui Dui Dui Dui.”   I’m not sure why.

Ting bu dong (ting boo dong) – I hear you, but I didn’t understand you.  Unfortunately whenever I use this, the Chinese person keeps right on speaking in Chinese…. And then I keep saying ting bu dong, ting bu dong, ting bu dong.  They usually keep smiling and talking, until I nod my head and say, Dui! (yes).  Then they usually say goodbye and we part ways…. I’m never really sure why this phrase doesn’t work. 

Je ge (juh-guh) – That.  As in, I can’t speak any other words in Chinese at a restaurant, so I point at a picture and I say, “Je ge!” Meaning, I want that. 

Wo yao (whoa-yao) – I want.  I use this phrase more than I think I did in English.

Mei you (Mayo, like mayonnaise) – Don’t have.  Ben will say mei you mayo in the house, since he doesn’t like mayonnaise… but I don’t know the word for mayonnaise in Chinese….

Hen hao (hon, like in honey, hon-how) - Very good.  As in, “My Chinese lesson was hen hao”

Bu hao (boo-how) – Not good…  As in, “The bus is 15 minutes late! Bu hao!!”

Zhang fu (jong-foo) - Husband

Tai tai (tie-tie) - Wife

Xie xie (sh-yeah-sh-yeah) – Thank you.  I’m finally out of the “Gracias” stage, and can now be polite in Chinese, too.

Hao chi (how-chur) – literally, good eats, or delicious, or good food.  However, our staff use it for everything, like a slang for “that’s cool” or “I’m glad” or “exciting!”  So, I could say, “Our team won in basketball yesterday.” And another person would say, “Hao Chi!”  It doesn’t make any sense, but it always makes us laugh.  I don’t think Chinese people use Hao Chi this way.  J

And my favorite Chinese word:

Li hai (lee-high) – literally means something like, becoming anxious about, or it can describe a very particular person.  Westerners use it as a synonymous term for OCD. “She is li hai about her toe nails; she goes in for a pedicure every week.”  Or “I’m really li hai about wanting things at right angles” 

I love being able to add to my vocabulary!  I learn new things every week, especially from my Chinese teacher, Susie.  She’s so helpful in teaching me new things to say!

One Reason I Love my Job

This is a fairly normal email exchange from my co-worker and bosses:

Jason (P.E. coworker, American):  What do you think of a Pep Rally/ISQ spirit day?

I pitched this idea to Damian last year but he just pooped on it– but now that there are a couple of able Americans in the Student Services, this year I think it can fly. =) We really need to get some school spirit generated here – its just kind of sad how we don’t have it.  This will take an hour or so – we can take an assembly time or – it might be better to take the last block of the day and play this out. I’m thinking before the Christmas break.   Wadayathink?

Amy (Me, American): Fun idea, Jason. I'm all for it if it's approved! School spirit and a fun/healthy view of competition is a great thing to implement!  ...However, I'm the last one to ask how to get this organized. I may be American, but I've only been to about 2 pep rallies in my life.  :) 

Nitta (Principal, Korean):

Great Idea.   I love pep rallies.  Do we have people who are spirited enough to lead this?  :) Each time, during the assembly, we can have some sort of activities.  I can give some ideas from what I have seen. 

Damian (My boss, Australian): See I actually thought you had asked for a poop rally... this has cleared up a lot of confusion.

Jason: Yeah - I coordinate pep. If you want to participate in a poop rally, please schedule some time with my children.

Airports are my Friend

Airline flight numbers are rattled off in Chinese on the intercom…. And I recognize the numbers!  I listen… Nope, that’s not our flight.  I find our flight number on the TV screen, and I notice the area to get our tickets is not yet manned.  I know that no one ever mans these booths until one hour before the flight.  I look at the time.  3 hours to kill before we can even get our tickets…  Time for KFC and a little downtime while my students work on homework! 

This weekend, I was travelling…again.  Since August, I have taken 4 weekend trips and one week long vacation!  There is only one more weekend trip to go for this first semester.  I never thought I’d travel this much.  I never expected to get use to airports, much less navigate one in China! 

The trip I took this weekend was to Tianjin, a city I have been to before!  I was asked to go about two weeks before the trip.  Although I had short notice, I understood that God knew what he was doing.  I accompanied 2 students to a spiritual weekend retreat, hosted in the city Tianjin.  Other ISC schools met us there, and I could tell God was working.  The retreat was a success on multiple levels, but what I’d like to focus on for this blog, is how the retreat aided my heart.

If you’ve read my last blog, you’d understand that recent times have been difficult as God has been teaching me and molding me.  When I was asked to go on this trip, my initial heart reaction was, “I really just want to have a lazy weekend!”  With everything going on at work and at home, I thought God could speak to me most after a long night of rest, some morning reflections, and maybe some coffee while I listen to God in my pajamas and in silence.

Instead, I got about 6 hours of sleep each night from Thursday to Sunday.  I was around 60 screaming teenagers for 17 hours each day.  However, I did get some coffee.   The weekend was insane!  Along with all of the craziness, though… I also got to praise my God with 60 teenagers, and often yell at the lunch table, “I love Jesus, yes I do, I love Jesus how ‘bout you?!”  I got to serve alongside 12 students who gave up their weekend to serve other students.  I got to meet and talk with amazing staff members that spoke into my life.  I got to see a great friend who never ceases to be a blessing! Finally, I got to meet my God in a chapel service that was meant to reach the students…. God decided to also reach me.

The weekend was not what I wanted.  However, the weekend was what God knew I needed.  Despite the craziness and lack of sleep, my soul is restored.  I can enter this week with thanksgiving, and sit in his presence with praise in my heart.

Truth is more important...

Last week, I received an email that our school will be having a visiting counselor for any staff that would like some time to process through personal issues.  Since I’m a counselor, I’m all for seeing one!  I’ve never really been one to hide issues or feel embarrassed if I need to talk about them.  However, I always leave room in case it doesn’t “work out.”  I let Ben know that I’ll be leaving on the 5:00 bus, unless I don’t think he’s a good counselor, and I’ll try to rush our session and leave on the 3:45 bus.  :) That’s me trying to be logical with my time.  

Well, he was in fact a great counselor, and it was well worth my time.  I’ll spare you all the details of the session, but I’m so glad that I got to process through all the transition I’ve been in.  Personally, I think our school needs at least a part time counselor for our staff… it seems very much needed. But that’s beside the point.

Because the counselor and I spent some time talking on a professional level as well, he felt as if he could speak counselor to counselor.  At the end of our session, he said, “I’m going to say something very un-counselor like.” He paused as he carefully chose his words, “Your life sucks right now. And I’m glad I’m not you.”  I laughed at his comment, ...and I realized what he did was actually a very counselor like thing to do, as he was trying to disengage and allow me enough humor to move on.  He continued to say, “You’re in the middle of transition. You’re in the middle of the wilderness.”  I finished his sentence and said (just like I’ve said to dozens of other people) “…and there’s no 3 step process or book that’s going to fix me.”  “That’s right,” he said.  “You are right where you should be. In the wilderness.” Then we said at the same time, “It doesn’t help, but it’s the truth.”  As I laughed at our simultaneous statement he ended our conversation with, “That’s okay that it doesn’t help.  It’s the truth.  And the truth is more important than feeling helped.”

Feeling Grumpy

Nothing bad happened. Maybe I was a bit more tired than usual today, but I didn't forget anything today.  No one really got on my nerves. The day came and went, probably smoother than a lot of other days this semester.  I finished Pinyin today in Chinese class... this is definitely something to be celebrated.  I ate my husband's great chili for lunch, I had good conversations with people...

...But today, I was grumpy.

I don't think anyone noticed.  I tend to just stay by myself when I'm in these moods.  But I knew I was tired, and annoyed, not any one, but just at life.  Days like today make me wish I could choose to stay home because I don't know if I did anyone good by being outside of my apartment.

On the bus back home, I checked my heart.  Is there something wrong?  Did I get enough sleep last night?  Did someone hurt my feelings?  Am I enjoying my job?  Everything seemed to check out OK... so there was only one thing to do.

Stop being grumpy!

Yes, I can choose to NOT be grumpy.  I can choose NOT to be annoyed.  I can choose to love and act selflessly, even when I do NOT feel like it.  When I got home, I could have done many things to slap a band-aid on my grumpiness.  But I knew I would just bleed out until Ben came home... and then it wouldn't be pretty from there, either.  Instead, I listened, and I learned, and I was convicted, and I prayed.   (I also slept for 20 minutes and had a bit of chocolate... those things can help, too!)  Here's some of what I watched to heal my soul from being selfish, grumpy, and annoyed.

Matt Chandler:

Beth Moore: