This post may become a little long as there is a lot of news to catch you up on, so here we go.
About ten days after arriving back into Xi'an and getting settled in a routine, my friends and I were happy to host a group from the States. Two of the girls stayed at my house and I had fun spending time with them outside of their work time. One of the girls that stayed at my house is from a Chinese background, but was born in Indonesia and grew up in Australia. She speaks a little Cantonese (a Hong Kong dialect), but not Mandarin, so it was a funny sight around town to have Chinese people talk to her and for me to have to say that she did not understand and to translate instead.
On September 20 I began teaching the Life Education course for the semester and it has been going really well. In this culture it is typical for the students to listen to the teacher and to not ask questions, but every week these students have asked some really great questions, and are eager to know more. Several of the students have even stayed after class to talk to me as well.
Chinese National Holiday was October 1-9, so it was a week full of fireworks and people everywhere. Chinese people are given seven days off of work, so it can be very difficult to go anywhere because taxis are hard to find, food is sold out in grocery stores, etc., but it is nice to see the people spending time with their families like we do at Thanksgiving.
A few weeks ago I also began helping a friend study for the American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (ACSM cPT) exam. I took the exam a few years ago and missed passing the exam by 5 points, and have always wanted to take the exam again. Becoming a cPT has been a dream of mine, and know it is helpful tool to my teaching of health and wellness in any culture, so I once again am pursuing the tasks necessary to take the exam. My friend and I meet once a week to study and to see how we are progressing with our weekly practice tests. My friend plans on taking the exam here in December (it is a computer exam offered in English here at a university), and I will take it again stateside most likely in January.
Relationships with Chinese friends has kept me busy as well, and I am so glad for the opportunities that I have had to spend with each one of them. My time with Jo (the lady from my newsletter) has been really good and she is always excited to see me. I am continuing to ask that I can see her come into the family of believers before I leave here, so please be thinking about that for me too.
In other random news one Line of the new Xi'an Subway system opened up the end of September, along with Xi'an's first Burger King, so my roommate, Chinese teacher and I all went and rode the subway one night and ate at Burger King for dinner. The subway is really nice and makes getting to certain places quicker and more convenient.
Well, I will conclude there for now. I will be traveling to Beijing for 4 days the end of next week with my roommate to do the tourist things, as the only other times I have been to Beijing have been for the Life Education training and for a few hour layovers on my way stateside. I am looking forward to this trip and sharing with you when I get back.
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