Rude Awakening

So, I think it was on Thursday, I was sitting on one of the twin beds in our room reading and rappin with him and I heard what seemed like yelling. It was coming from outside the window. I opened the door and to my lower right was a while building that I found out later was a hospital. Interesting thing about this hospital was that there was a lady sitting on a ledge, sobbing hysterically and screaming at some people down the hall from her. She was threatening to jump. She was about 4 stories up. I don't know what was going on with her but I know she was in deep distress. We started rappping for her and got the rest of the team to rap for her. For twenty minutes until we had to leave. It was a harsh reality that hit us in the face. This is not uncommon here. Some of our team were probably experiencing this for the first time. We don't know the outcome. Whether she jumped or not. We had to leave to go to our teaching duties. It was a very sad situation.

About two hours later, we met some graduates of the high school where we are teaching. They were very excited because they were getting their "marks", or grades from their college entrance exam. They came into our class and we practiced english with them. Then it was time to go and we didn't see them for a while. We came out of the room when it was time to go and one of them was standing there crying. Alone. Deep sobs. Robert, the head teacher said that this girl had not passed. See, only 20% of the kids pass. Those get to go to college and have a future. This girl failed. No college. No future. She was standing there, alone, realizing that the things she and her countrymen prize the most will be denied her for the rest of her life. This is common here. We take college for granted. But 80% of the kids that can go to high school can't go to college and not all kids get to go to high school.

During the class in the morning, I got to talk to two teachers, Carl and Robert. Robert is the head teacher. I showed them the ultrasound that we had just gotten. They enjoyed seeing it and understanding what everything was as I pointed it out. "That is illegal here", Robert said. I asked him why. He said, "Because here we have a one child rule and people don't love the girls, they love the boys. If they have this, they will cut the girl." So, the baby's life would be ended if ultrasounds were legal. So, they are made illegal.

This is culture shock. This is why we are here. To try and turn darkness into light. Talk to our father for us. But more importantly, for them.

Potty Training?

Yep,

So, we went to a middle school for the second time today. It was our first full day of teaching. The middle school kids don't see foreigners very often so they want to talk to us, shake our hands and stare like crazy at us. Well, today was a day where one of our members had to use the restroom. In a squatty potty. With no door. In the students bathroom. With kids all around who like to stare at foreigners. Do the math....needless to say, our team member didn't go and suffered the half hour car ride back to the hotel!

Other than that, things are going very well. We've had some sickness but nothing major. Just and upset stomach here and there. A lot of the food has a little spice even though they say it has no spice and I think some of the oils are not sitting well with a lot of the folks. For some reason, some of the folks wouldn't try the boiled pig tail or the fried pig ear last night. Shocking. My wife, Jennifer needs you to rap for her to dad. She skipped teaching this afternoon because her stomach wasn't feeling well. I think it's a combination of being pregnant and long fights and lots of bumpy rides. The thing is, Jennifer is not a wimp so if she is skipping teaching, it's the real deal...she doesn't feel well. So, any rapping you can do would be great.

That's all for now...it's Wednesday afternoon and we are getting ready to grab some dinner. I hope everyone is doing well and keep holding the ropes!

Hello from East Asia!

Well, thanks to our bird flu-B-gone, we were not quarantined when we arrived at our destination! The guys boarded the plane to check us out and shot the vulcan death ray at our heads but evidently we all came up normal as we didn't get taken away. Three people from the flight did though. One was a little girl that looked very sad.

One neat story we have is from our first meal we had in country. When we came into the restaurant, one of our team members noticed a calendar on the wall. This calendar had sayings on it that you all are familiar with! We talked to them and found out that they are people that are in the family. What a great way to be introduced to the country. Especially when you consider we were just walking around looking for a "random" place to eat. Well, turns out it wasn't so random as there is no such thing as "chance"!

So, far the trip has been great but our plans have changed little. Turns out some folks here are afraid we are infected with bird flu due to some certain people spreading craziness. So, the first place we were going is closed to us. So, the first day we just visited some homes. today (tuesday) we are preparing to talk to some teachers at a middle school to see what they need from us. So, keep talking about us to dad as we can feel what you are doing for us!

I have to run because I am late for the planning session but I hope to post again soon!

It's almost time!!

Well, the preparations have been made...and are being made....and we are about to leave. We leave on Saturday, June 20, at 7:12am. Yeah, that's THIS coming Saturday morning. For those of you who are squeamish about coming to see us off at the airport, just schedule an early tee time and you can go straight from the airport to the course! You know...knock out two birds with one stone! Speaking of birds, I'm wondering what type of birds we will get to eat while we are over there! Sparrow is no good...kinda like cardboard. I can't handle chicken feet. Maybe with peanut butter?? Oh well, I guess we'll see! Please think about us very much while we are gone and talk to dad for us. When we get off the plane we will be tested for temperature. If it is too high, we could be quarantined. We don't want that! I can't imagine what that would look like, but maybe there would be some good opportunities to share stories, etc., with the folks around us. We will be coming back on July 3rd at 10:31pm out of Chicago in case anyone is wondering. We'll try to update the blog as often as we can. Stay tuned....same Bat-time....same Bat-channel!

Ready to board the plane!

Our Team

Lori, Olivia, Caroll, Christina, Jennifer, Debbie, and Gordon