Running With Ron

Part 4: After the Great Climb

2011-06-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

In May, my wife's family came to visit us, and it was deja vu when we discussed our plans with them. We received responses similar to the ones back during the CNY break.

By this point in time, my own resolve was clear. Probably what won them over was this statement:

"I may be doing fine with what I currently have. At 35, it's ok for now. But what about in 10 years? What good will it be when I have 16 years of teaching experience based solely on a TEFL certificate?"

It was practical, and it made sense. If it worked for Temy's family, would it work for mine? All that I had was based on someone's word.

In mid-April, I was interviewed by Hong Kong Baptist University. I preferred HKBU over PolyU over the following reasons:

1) Well established academic institution

2) Native English speaking, English language trainers

3) A difference of 20K HKD in tuition fee

At the end of the interview, it was verbally known to me that I would receive an offer. So even before the physical offer would be sent out by mail, I was already in. It was a great relief, and we took it as confirmation that I was to enter grad school rather than the work force. This place a slight amount of pressure on my wife to resume her job search.

In June, she applied for a position that she didn't think would reply back to her. They did. After the first successful interview by Skype, a method rarely used, she completed a written test and had a second interview on a Friday. She received the offer on Monday.

The pieces were coming together.

Things moved faster afterwards. I had sent my acceptance of their offer, and applied for my student visa. We spent the next few weeks boxing up our belongings. Just this past weekend, the movers came and took all 27 boxes away. Friends and neighbors have come and purchased our furniture and other items. Only a bed, one desk, and a tv remains. Life has quieted down just in time to allow us to reflect over the next two weeks of what being in Beijing had meant to us. Already, it has meant a lot for my wife since the social work agency had been searching for a local Hong Kong professional who has experience working at an international school. If there isn't any more confirmation, this next piece of factoid would: the local school she would work at is her former middle school. Things are coming full circle for her and that's the type of validation she had been looking for.

Part 3: Defining Faith

2011-06-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

In April, we made a few major decisions:

1) We would wait out the full extent of the period I had before the deadline to reply to PolyU

2) My wife would postpone her job search until we had moved to Hong Kong

3) We would visit Seattle during the summer

Each of those decision carried its own risks:

1) If no other grad school accepted me, then I would have to accept PolyU's offer and pay the higher tuition fee (115K HKD)

2) The more preferred school counselor positions would not be available by the time she resume her job search in June

3) The trip would be costly

What has guided us through was constant prayer and remembering God's promises which comes from His Word. It is not desire that we go to a place that would result in our lives moving at a faster pace, work under greater pressure, deal with constant heat and humidity, and a living standard that is among the highest in the world. It is our desire to return to a place our families have called "home" and to be among them and the locals and share our faith. We lifted up this desire constantly to God, and in return we gained a sense of peace and assurance as a reward for our patience and trust in Him.

The hardest part during this stage was the wait, and part of the wait was not telling our friends and co-workers of our plans. It just seems a bit useless to inform others that we won't be returning in the fall, and yet not know where we're going.

Part 2: The Pre-mature Announcement

2011-06-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

After we returned to Beijing from our month long vacation in Hong Kong, we were about 80% sure that we would move to Hong Kong. We gave it a percentage because we came away knowing where to go, but not knowing how nor what.

We had several desires: work as a teacher, work as a social worker, or counselor, attend graduate school, start a family. There are times when having too many desires can cloud a vision.

I wrote an update letter to my principal, which was intended to announce our decision to resign after the term ends.

We were met with much questioning. I couldn't say our principal opposed us to leaving, though it felt like. In retrospect, he was guiding our decision making process. So over the next month, we backtracked our decision and became patient.

At this point in time, I had already applied to over a dozen schools with no response. I also applied to three graduate programs with no response yet. The silence was killing both of us - more for my wife as she knew she would be the only source of income if I was to go into graduate school. The stress of the wait cast a shadow of doubt - if both of us were to be completed rejected by Hong Kong, would it mean that we were meant to stay in Beijing? February and March were indeed dark times and we both struggled to find answers. For myself, I knew I was too sure of myself and was over-confident in the face of reality which was a competitive, job-scarce Hong Kong. Day by day, my six years of experience started to look more and more ridiculous as my selling point for employment.

The stress level reached a fever pitch during Qing Ming Festival (April), when my wife pursued a position she was quite interested in. We were both so sure of the chances she would land the job that she went off to HK on her own to physically attend the interview. While it was a great opportunity to spend time with her family, she ultimately did not get the job. However, while she was down there, I had received my offer to attend Polytechnic University. My acceptance wasn't quite the appeasement she was looking for, and since we had spent the past few weeks waiting, we decided to wait a little longer if another graduate school would interview me.

Part 1: The Vision

2011-06-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

In February, my wife and I spent Chinese New Year holidays (a month long) in Hong Kong. During that time, we explored the possibilities of moving to Hong Kong. The responses from the people we talked to were mixed:

"I think life is better up in Beijing. The pace is slower, and the work seems more relaxed."

"Yeah! Come back to Hong Kong, we all miss you!"

"You wouldn't want to live here, the rent is high and property prices are expensive."

"It's not safe up there, you don't know where your food is coming from."

Thankfully we didn't spend all of our time talking to others. It was important that we discussed it ourselves. I've always known that any reason for making such a major decision must come from a shared vision. And our vision is that we wanted to be relatively closer to our families. HK isn't any closer for me, but it is a much better place for my folks to travel to rather than to Beijing. Our vision includes raising our own family that is surrounded by our family and friends. We were able to envision that, despite knowing how hard it would be to find a job. Our vision includes personal and spiritual growth - and we both felt that we couldn't grow in Beijing. There was an opportunity to seize for academic growth, and also for spiritual growth. All these ideas formed our short and long term vision. The vision became our guiding light through the next phase that proved to be difficult and challenging.

An Update LONG Overdue

2011-06-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

So.......

To follow up on my last post "A follow up", here it is:

My wife and I are moving to Hong Kong.

I almost forgot this blog existed, and since I have only two weeks left in Beijing I've been reminiscing my six years here. I'm able to return to blogging now that the major items have been taken care of: resignation letter, transition team in place, finished up the last Bible studies, shipped boxes of our belongings, etc.

All that is left is to finish the school term, attend the teacher's banquet for a grand "good-bye", and fly out to Hong Kong. I'm going to break down the last seven months with a series of reflections and updates. Stay tuned.

A follow-up

2010-11-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

Since the letter I wrote to one of my supervisors, he asked to schedule a time to meet with him and perhaps with the principal. A couple of days later, I wrote another lengthy email regarding my thoughts on a potential candidate. This resume exemplify the ideal person to take over my position. It's kind of a funny thing, to be enthusiastic for someone to take over your own job. Anyways, the second long email was directed at the principal, and had several of my suggestions which made it sound like that if my conditions were met, I'd stay for at least another year.

The language is becoming a bit complicated and I need to be careful on how I sound: Yes, there are problems within the departments I'm leading. But no, I don't want to stay even if the problems get resolved. And then ultimately no, I'm not leaving because of these problems. There are actually two different things I'm voicing, they just both happened to be rolled up into one voice.

My own mind has become divided. Much of my thoughts concern the success of my teachers, their students, and the program. My other thoughts concern how I am find a job elsewhere.

So anyways, I've got at least one or two meetings with my higher-ups. I'd like to sound positive and willing to help with the changes, but at the same time gently let them know that I'm bowing out for good.

5 Years Later

2010-09-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

August marked my fifth year in Beijing.

I started writing an entry reflecting my five years, then got interrupted by work, and a couple of months ago the school staff finally caught up on awarding me for my 5 years of commitment. But it wasn't a good feeling, as a fellow co-worker asked me if he could use one of my gifts, a guest hotel voucher good for 5 nights. Ordinarily I would have said yes, but as my mind idled and wandered into darker places, I decided to vent back to him. Here's the letter, with the names replaced to protect their ID's:

"Yesterday ***** asked me if you could use my Guest Hotel Coupon for your friends' visit to Beijing.

I would have said "yes" - but with most decisions I wanted to think about it first.

I thought about it all last night.

It would be a nice gesture to give you my Guest Hotel Coupon so it can help your friends find a place to stay - however, this coupon, as well as the beautiful 5th Year Anniversary crystal, are my only reminders of the work and results I've made for the Company and School.

The coupon is definitely a nice gift, but realistically my wife and I will not use it ourselves, and we don't forsee any of our friends visiting us in the near future to take advantage of this great coupon.

Honestly, I would have preferred a 100 RMB voucher for Merry Mart, a far more useful coupon. Better yet, a Merry Mart voucher that equals the face value of the Guest Hotel Coupon, if it has any face value at all.

Then I thought about it some more.

Just how many of us 5th year employees are actually still working for this company? How many of us have arrived with practically nothing, started out at basically entry level, and have risen up to lead teams of employees, and to perform tasks where we have received no training nor educational background? How many of us have given up so much back in our home countries to bring a greater sense of purpose to the local people here?

Under my five years of employment with the Kindergarten and School, I basically helped create the English program when it first started with just 12 kindergarten students - trying my best to simulate the program in Shanghai. When I realized that Beijing and Shanghai are actually quite different, I gathered the courage to adjust and continued to aim to make these schools great.

Then we grew rapidly, and I took on more responsibilities not only overseeing the expansion of the kindergarten, but the growth of the primary school as well. I'm still shocked whenever I realize that my equals (those who are also Language Learning Center directors) in Shanghai are far more qualified (Ph.D.'s in linguisitics) than I am in this position. I have been through the toughest struggles, like the situations with Teacher ***** and Teacher *****. I've come across the most confusing of ethics - like hiring only "white-faced" teachers at the expense of well-qualified ABC's or other ethnicities.

If I could be truly honest with you, my dear brother *****, this job is no longer a joy.

When I was presented the coupon and the crystal last month, I was delighted at first, but it was very short-lived. I no longer smile like I used to back in the early years of 2005-2007. The smile I have is very rehearsed, because I feel I am now simply a face to show to the parents whenever they have concerns or complaints.

I blame my own shortcomings. It really is no one else's fault, only my own. When I see my teammates frustrated with the way communications are handled in the primary school, I take the responsibility because the person in my position ought to be fluent in both English and Mandarin. However, I am not quite fluent and I am frequently an inconvenience to the Mandarin speakers of my team. Sometimes I place them into very awkward positions of unwarranted authority. This is not a new issue, I have actually brought it up before with you and Principal *****. I have actually brought up the issue that having me oversee two schools (three if you count the middle school, but there's really only one teacher to oversee) is actually quite stressful even just thinking about it. No matter how much help (in which I'm very truly thankful for) I receive in easing the administrative responsibilities - it's still quite heavy as I'm constantly worried about the two schools.

This isn't fair to any of my teachers. Last year, as it began with the situation of Teacher *****, I spent most of my time at the primary school tending to the Oral English teachers' needs. Also, I taught mainly Oral English (grade 3 and grade 7), so it made sense for me to stay in that side. I had confidence that the Kindergarten English teachers could take care of themselves and for the most part they did. However, they took upon a bit more than they can handle and I believe had I spent more time at the kindergarten the situation with ***** could have been prevented.

This year, the reversal may be happening. My full teaching load is now all kindergarten classes - 18 classes per week. I now work at two desks, in which more than half the time is at the kindergarten. I am now relying on experienced teachers like ***** and ***** to continue building up the Oral English program. Whatever time I spend at the primary school is mainly to follow up with new teachers like 'A', 'B', and 'C'. Only yesterday, 8 weeks after the semester has stared, I was finally able to catch up with Tim to hear about how he was doing and if there were any issues that need to be resolved.

I can not put my mind on handling the Oral English department while I'm putting in about 60% of my effort in building up this K2 class of kindergarten seniors. There are almost 60 of them that I'm preparing for the first grade. Having been in this area for over five years, I have actualy witnessed the growth of the English level in this kindergarten students, as well as the rising expectations of the young, highly educated and successful parents. If there is any passion in me left, in other words, motivation for continuing another five years with this school, it is indeed my desire to put in 100% of my effort in developing, revamping, remodeling, remaking the Kindergarten English program.

But this Guest Hotel coupon is supposed to convince me to stay for another 5 years? The coupon now sits in our bookshelf in our living room. It's actually become a somber reminder of who I am and what I've done for the school. It's become a sign, a symbol, a reminder that perhaps my career here at the School and Kindergarten, here in Beijing, is coming to an end. It's more like a "pink slip" (a notice of a lay-off) letting me know that there is still a greater world outside of the School and Kindergarten, the harvest is still plentiful, and that there are opportunities to learn and grow and eventually fulfill the position that I'm in now.

In short, ***** and I are now at a crossroads in our lives. We aren't sure where we're going to next, but however the Guest Hotel coupon might have just shown us that there are other paths.

Thank you for your time that it took to read my letter. In actuality, someone of a higher position than me should be reviewing my performance, asking me about my career objectives, and evaluate if what I'm doing makes any sense. This letter is five years overdue.

Sincerely, Ron"

Wow. How did it ever come to this? On reflecting on my career alone there really is only one conclusion - I have no more to give to help this school grow. Despite how angry my mail sounded, I really am grateful for everything the school has done for me. I just think that my time is up and me leaving would actually do wonders for the departments I'm overseeing. The problem is, administration values my ability to take on numerous responsibilities for the sake of efficient resourcing and tapping into my 5+ years of experience with this school. The bigger problem is, I have only so much experience to benefit my teams and the programs to take it forward to new and exciting directions as the student demographic evolves with better English proficiency. It's time for me to go to greener pastures where I can grow as a teacher and someday, return to administration.

And yes, a part of me was a little bitter about the voucher - I'd think it would be easier to understand considering that the Guest Hotel is part of our community, and located in an area that isn't the touristy part of Beijing. I've even recommended that my visitors stay in the central city rather commuting all the way out in the sticks. Let's just say, the voucher isn't something I could really use and use immediately, thus the preference to having a supermarket gift certificate instead.

Sadly my joy has become somewhat compartmentalized. I just don't look forward to work as an administrator, but I do look forward to teaching those kindergarten students. I enjoy the other activities here in the community, and I love this city so much - I still prefer it over Shanghai. But to realize that I do actually have options means that I'm not obligated to stay here any much longer.

Major decisions are coming soon...

Yi Zhuang, the Second Boom

2010-09-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

A memory to reference to:

Shanghai, 2005 - I remember hanging out with a few expats who were reminiscing about how the Zhangjiang Technology Development zone had first developed. Back in 2001, the subway wasn't in existence. There were no restaurants around, and there just wasn't much to do. SMIC was in its infancy back then. When the subway began running, the areas surrounding the school and the LQ began developing quickly. Later, when I revisited that same area in 2007, the subway station finally had its own Starbucks. There were lots of restaurants to choose from, and a short ride away from Jin Qiao and Da Mu Zhi (Big Thumb) Center gave residents plenty to do without the need to go across the river and into the Puxi side of Shanghai.

Yi Zhuang is experiencing its second boom. It must its second since the first reclaimed all the farmland, cleared it out, moved the residents into government housing, and built the first companies here. SMIC BJ was one of them back in 2004. Foreigners, though much fewer in comparison to other parts of BJ, had lived in Yi Zhuang for maybe a decade, recently these foreigners are usually English teachers for the local kindergartens or for Yew Cheung International School.

When I moved up to BJ from SH in the summer of 2005, the Living Quarters (LQ), its neighbor, Youth Mansion (a dormitory), and an apartment community, Lu Hai Yuan, were the only spots of residences in a vast area of dirt. There was no sign if life south of the local river, which smelled horrible. Thankfully, these were the last months that companies were allowed to dump anything before runoff restrictions were finally in place and enforced. Civilization was north of the river, where there was Shanghai Salon - a plaza of shops, restaurants, and its major supermarket, Merry Mart. The well known residences were Greentown, Singapore Gardens, Dear Villa, and Ideal House. Just north of that was Da Xiong, where the area's only foreign recognizable establishment, Domino's Pizza existed. The other place where foreigners like to eat is Subway, but that's closer to the companies and factories. That was pretty much it.

When the Olympics were around the corner, there was a small attempt to draw more companies and businesses into Yi Zhuang (officials like to call it "eTown") by quickly building office buildings. They weren't utilized until a whole year after the Games had been completed. The financial crisis had gone global, and Beijing simply looked new and pretty on the outside, but dead, cold, and empty on the inside. But China, with brute force and loads of capital, forged ahead and pumped millions of RMB for development into eTown. Soon, DHL and Nokia built their offices alongside pre-existing Bayer and SMC. Auto Mall opened up a few more dealerships. Suning, a major electronics store came to compete against Gome. KFC opened up, and just last spring, a second one opened up at Shanghai Salon.

The No 5 Light Rail extension into Yi Zhuang has now taken over two years. But the end is very near. It's September and these are the months when test runs are taking place. What used to cost from 4 to 35 RMB, whether by busses or taxi, to go into the city, a short bus ride of 1 RMB will get you to the subway station, which will then cost 2 RMB.

More apartment communities are on their way. Just right beside the primary school is a new upscale apartment community called "Paradise Court" (or Papadis, I think it's a typo). The large "UFO" looking business complex is finally complete, with a few touch ups like sidewalk repairs. That area had been vacant for over two years. The main street leading up to the 5th Ring Road are now lined up with more business offices and larger communities. Sam's Club will open soon nearby.

Back in the LQ, I've lost my clear view of what used to be a barren place south of the river. The apartments in the LQ are no taller than seven stories. The new, local government apartments are at least 25 stories tall. One of those complexes is to our east, and another to our south, blocking my favorite views. Lu Hai Yuan had already expanded their community, blocking our view to the west. And now, I have to look north through my 3rd floor office window to enjoy the last of the barren piece of land, which belongs to SMIC BJ, and in a few months ground will be broken to build the second phase of the LQ.

Yi Zhuang is booming. And I'm blocked in.

Five Months Later

2010-09-24T23:24:00.001-07:00

Last week a friend back home asked for an update, which then motivated me (rather reminded me that I'm getting very lazy) to update this blog.

Yes, this blog still exists and I intend on keeping up with it.

Why an update now?

I've been sitting at my desk for the past hour and a half doing basically nothing. It's a great feeling considering I haven't been this at ease since the school year began. Times like these inspire me to think, and then express.
It's September 25, a Saturday, and I'm working a full day today as a "make-up" day for one of the October holidays I'll be taking. I read somewhere that the Sept. 22 Mid-Autumn festival, being a 3 day national day, followed by National Day Week, from Oct. 1-7, has thrown one ginormous of monkey wrench into everyone's vacation plans. Holidays need to be made up - but my school, being the quirky private yet still very Chinese school, decided to go against the national flow by taking only Sept. 22 off. We came back to school the next day and the day after that. AND THEN THE DAY AFTER THAT! I'll have tomorrow, Sunday off, then school for four more days before going on a 7 day break. That break will then be followed by school on Friday, and then another Saturday. Could it get any more confusing? I'm sure it will...
Speaking of which, being the supervisor of both the kindergarten and primary school English departments - I have to adhere to the longest day. It means that on this day, the primary school had a half day. Everyone there was dismissed at 12PM. Except for me, I still had classes to teach the whole day at the kindergarten. I know my wife is waiting at home, missing me.
Oh, that's a major update: I'm married! This was the major reason why I hadn't updated this blog in over a quarter. All that free time was taken up by wedding planning.

Alright, with the "why now" reasons out of the way, the real update:

My wedding in Hong Kong was perfect. And funny I don't mean perfect to mean that everything went according to our plans. In review and reflection of all that had happened since I proposed to my wife back in November '09, the day couldn't have gone better, nor could it have gone any worse. I have this strange sense of "as long as we're going with the flow, we'll remain cool as cucumbers". And really that's all we could do on our special day. Everything that we've planned for we've handed over to those responsible - and all we had to do was sit back, relax, and give it all up to God. In another sense, there wasn't anything we could do about anything that didn't turn out well. She and I were very aware about that. And by 3A.M., we finally exhaled.
Believe us, we've had our share of family dramas. At first, something bad had happened in my family. Soon after my case was resolved, something bad had happened in her family. The stress of it all was a huge distraction at work (especially since we both work in the same school office), and presented opportunities for us to resolve interpersonal conflicts. After a couple of months of peace, the drama tide returned to me, stayed with me, and intensified by the day as the wedding drew near.
All that has happened during those months taught us humility and developed a greater dependence on prayer. It was not fun, it was rather painful, but in the long run we felt it had purpose.
We had our honeymoon in Tokyo and Hakone. Hakone was a welcomed change of scenery of foliage and a lake compared to the concrete jungle of Tokyo.
We returned to Beijing and back to work in late August. With the new school year came five new teachers (and last year's teachers returned). Four of them work in my department. September kicked off with a busy fury, but a lot less stressful compared to last year's start.
The Mondays: I've taken on a lighter role in this group - no longer being part of the planing team nor facilitator. The purpose here is to use the time to develop my newly wedded life with her. I'll still attend and participate in the discussions, and to befriend the other guys who come visit this group.
The Wednesdays: has become "The Fridays". After much discussion, the team here decided to move this group to Fridays. This move will draw more kids since most of them don't do homework on Fridays. There's also the potential for more fathers to come home earlier from work to join in the adult's discussion group. Our youth section has split into two, and I took on the younger group. So far, I've only had six kids while the older group has reached 13. It's a great privilege to help this way, as it gives the adults a chance to discuss important life issues without the distraction of kids.
The Sundays: After several months of "trying this" and "trying that", discussing our vision as a married couple gave us clearer direction on which service to attend. We decided to commit to the Cantonese language service as it fulfills three purposes 1) So my wife can get fed 2) So I can learn Cantonese 3) For potential equipping should we move down to Hong Kong.

Life in general has indeed changed, and of course for the better. Married life is such a blessing.

Spring Update

2010-04-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Long time no write!

It sure looks like I'll be updating once a quarter, which would make sense considering my next update would be in the end of June when school ends and I'll fly off to Hong Kong for the summer.

"I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose for me." (Psalm 57:2)

It's still "Sitting with Ron", as I haven't run for about 3 months now. For two weeks, I gave running a quick spurt to earn a reward in the form of sushi in Hong Kong during the CNY holidays. But I have picked up weight training again and for some odd reason, I remembered that I still have a blog out there.

It's been an amazing four months since I last wrote. Just having read my past entry, I hadn't mentioned about how the engagement and wedding planning have been going. The planning in itself was all new, and we had some trouble figuring out exactly what we wanted and what was expected of us. But that wasn't really the hard part. The hardest part was the drama resulting from unmet expectations, cultural differences, and miscommunication. Back in December, we (yes, I'm going to be using the pronoun "we" a lot more from now on) were facing an ultimatum: go on a destination wedding (get married on an island without family present), or never go home again until a baby's been born. I can't go into detail on how that ultimatum came about - that alone would require a whole blog for itself.

So for about two months - a huge cloud loomed over our heads. My parents adamantly requested that we not go back to Seattle. CNY arrived and our first week was spent in back in HK to mainly take care of wedding stuff. Then off we went...

...Seattle was a blast! Again, going into detail would require a whole blog in itself - let's just say that miracles were happening right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately we weren't able to catch up with everyone there, but we felt that the time spent reconciling and then building up our relationships with my parents were well worth it. And then as soon as we left Seattle on good terms with my folks, more drama ensued with my fiancé's family. Going into detail...yeah, you know the drill.

The bottom line was, we had spent more time crying out to God and leaning on Him.

School: The first semester just felt long. Actually, it really was long considering it took 21 weeks and this second semester is flying by with just 19 weeks. I've learned a lot from the previous five months, and the start of the new semester was relatively easy. I took on another class - the 2.5 year olds. I hadn't taught this class for two years, so I was at first a bit rusty, but soon found it to be joyful and my main source of a good body workout (singing and dancing to entertain them).

Projects: I've pretty much stayed out of the Monday group. The energy required to keep up with personal issues just wasn't there for me to help out the Monday group. Thankfully, God provided the extra hands to help lead and facilitate conversations. I've stayed focused on the Wednesday group, even though it's been challenging with a much younger demographic and so it's been hard keeping their attention. Overall the dynamic has changed: two years ago this gathering started with just the kids and the moms tagged along. A while ago, some friends came to help take the moms into their own group - and has become quite fruitful. I see my role fulfilling another purpose - teach the kids so that the moms are freed up to learn. One other activity has been Sunday teaching - and oddly this has been my happier medium. Despite the fact that there are only 6-8 kids, and that four of them constantly cause me headaches, I can at least use English completely and can go more depth in the study than I usually do for Wednesdays.

The quarter so far: God is good, and He is faithful. I've learned to be humble, realizing that I don't have all the answers to life's stressful problems, but that's okay because the Bible has the answers. I've also learned that there's only so much I could do to change other people's attitudes and their hearts - especially with other believers. For them, I can simply rely on God and trust in Him and the Holy Spirit to do the work. Most importantly, I cannot let one personal issue can block my entire view, losing sight of God's big picture.

The quarter ahead: 9 more weeks of this semester to go! And the next 9 weeks are not letting up. I just got done giving midterms to my English language students. The next 3-day weekend, May 1st (Labor Day) is coming up, soon followed by a camping trip with the 6th & 7th graders, International Day that involves the entire school, and then Kindergarten Graduation, which always involves me as being the photographer, emcee, song director, or all three. And finally - July. We're flying off to HK and spend the month tying up all the loose ends before we tie the knot. :)

Winter Update

2009-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I've become the opposite of what this blog is called. Welcome to "Sitting with Ron". I haven't run in about three months, the longest break I've taken yet. That just goes to show how busy I've been, not even sparing time to go for a 30 minute jog.

And by that, I haven't found time to update this blog until now. Fitting, since it is 1-1-2010. New Year rang in a little over two hours ago and I had extra energy to burn up.

Without further ado, here's my winter update.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Oh my, this verse still rings true! If the fall incident with the angry parents had taught me anything, it's that I have the ability to toughen my skin and widen my ears. Another set of parents raised an issue about one of my teachers and I had to jump in to hear them out, conduct an investigation, facilitate a meeting, and follow-up to make sure that "no hard feelings" remain true.

It's stuff like this that make my job unpleasant. I'm seriously trying to find the silver lining in this. But it really pays to listen, and I mean, really listen. I've learned that I'm just too quick to "problem solve" and too slow to really listen and understand where they're coming from. I've learn to develop this ability from my pre-marital counseling. Who knew this would apply to dealing with my frustrated co-workers and angry mothers?

It boils down to this: I can't always trust my own knowledge. Sometimes I get myself into trouble. I definitely need to be on my knees and praying.

School: Overall, it's been challenging. Towards Christmas, there were no other parent incidents because most of November and December was focused on Thanksgiving and Christmas activities. I've had the privilege of working closely with my fiance on the school's talent show. That was a growing experience as we learned how to deal with each other's stress. Dealing with teachers hasn't been bad at all, it's the tricky balance of doing both teaching and administration. I can't seem to do an excellent job of either, but only "good enough" for both.

Projects: The Wednesdays have been awesome. It seems that more is going on with the parents than with the kids. I would look forward to my ride home as I listen from the parent's group leader about how things went. A few parents have taken a genuine interest in the topics, meaning, they don't come just because their kids are getting the chance to interact with me in English. Now - finally - I feel like what I'm doing is second tier to what's needed: parents to be free from their kids so that they can have a study. When this group started over a year ago, it was the other way around. I gathered the kids first, the parents just hung around.

The Mondays have taken on some interesting and new directions. The group size started large when the school year began. New teachers, and some returning, would stop by to check out the group. As October rolled around, the group stabilized to low number. But for the past month or so, new visitors from the local Sunday gathering just started showing up. And they kept showing up! Soon, our own format had to adjust - where two mature leaders were needed to take on a smaller group for discussion. We didn't ask for it, but we knew God had been providing for us.

The Sundays have seen quite a bit of variety. I still teach every second Sunday at the local Sunday gathering. For a while, I've visited the English speaking international church, but found myself motivated to going there just because they offered free breakfast. Out of care for my fiance, I decided to go to the Cantonese speaking service. It's been good.

Other Stuff - in my last update, I mentioned that I was in a courtship. I'm glad to say that the courtship is over, and resulted in an engagement on Thanksgiving Day! This time is filled with blessing and a little bit of uncertainty as wedding planning is being done remotely and in spurts. The ceremony and banquet will take place in Hong Kong, but it's been a challenge to plan them since we're up in Beijing. Also, a recent faux pax concerning my family has caused a strain in our relationships. This on top of my dad's recent medical emergency has reminded me that the most powerful tool I have is prayer. I must confess that every time I fall is because I didn't listen to my heavenly Father first. But after much prayer I would then gain the wisdom and know-how concerning relationships.

About 2009 - One word: wow. My fiance and I were chatting and reflecting about where we were last year at this time. She was on a flight back from Turkey. I can't remember for myself, but guessed I was alone in my apartment counting down to the new year. There was no indication in 2008 that I would: attend a conference in HK that helped me reconnect with a friend from the summer of 2004, take on a challenging administration role, go into a courtship that resulted in an engagement, and then take a serious look at my family relationships strained by my faux pax. And also, I didn't think I would pray this much and so hard.

About 2010 - I'm going to keep praying. On some days, prayer is all I have. I hope to draw closer to my family, and get closer to my fiance's. I want to be a respectable administrator that will perform with integrity. I hope to grow even more responsible, and to be the husband/spiritual leader she needs me to be. I also want to grow deeper in my relationship with God, seeing how He's kept me afloat in all the difficult times in 2009. And I hope to go to Bali in October for our honeymoon. :)

Fall Update

2009-11-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Fall is here! Well, it's been here for a while now and I apologize for the long delay of this update.

Busy, busy, busy...

In my last update I mentioned about the trial I had gone through. Now in retrospect, I can truly appreciate the experience, as unpleasant as it was, it prepared me for two similar situations but on a smaller scale. One was quite saddening due to a clash of cultures, but I'm glad to say that we've all grown up from it.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

What I love about the Word is that it rings even more true as I struggle through each trial. I'm still adjusting to being both an admin and a teacher, still learning to manage my group of teachers, and still trying to be more efficient in juggling kindergarten, elementary, and middle school ESL classes.

School - It's hard to believe that two months have already come and gone. Grand Opening, Open House, Sports Day, Field Trip, Fall Harvest. Next on the calendar: midterms! And with the midterms come another round of parent conferences. I'm still waiting for a time of lull - and then I realized that admins like me don't ever see a time of lull as different teachers deal with different kinds of issues at different times. I'm in constant need of wisdom, and hopefully by the end of this semester, I will have grown wiser.

Projects - I'm slowly reclaiming my usual routine after work. I don't have after school classes anymore, and I've started up the Wednesday kid's group and the Monday English adult group. These have been slightly more challenging to keep up with as the demands of school drains me. But I thank God for the Holy Spirit, even on my most tiring days I get a nice boost after teaching and fellowshipping.

New stuff - Every Tuesday I've been meeting with a fellow brother for prayer. I've been blessed greatly to be able to lift up my needs in prayer, and as a big plus, be able to learn about courtship and marriage. This is good timing, since I'm currently in a courtship and wedding planning has just begun. Yes, I suppose the courtship is another reason for being busy, busy, busy... :)

Since I've been back in Beijing...

2009-08-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

It figures that on a Saturday morning that I found time to rest my weary soul by reading up on my devotionals and the Bible. It has been over a month since I last updated here in this blog.

Quick Updates:

Remainder of my Seattle visit - ran the Seafair 8K race - it was actually tough because I had not been running consistently. But during the times I did go training, I ran on hilly terrain which helped alot as the first 4K was a slight incline. The reward was being able to really pick up the pace on the latter half to the finish line.

Macau-Hong Kong - after my month long visit in Hong Kong, I flew to Macau to see my girlfriend and her mom. That was for a few days before taking the ferry back to Hong Kong. The week was spent hanging out with her, her family, and her friends. It culminated on Monday, when it was time for her to say "good-bye" to Hong Kong, and "hello" to a new chapter of her life in Beijing.

August - It has been a busy month, especially since arriving back in Beijing. I returned to school a little over two weeks ago, spent a few days settling into my new office and my new position as the director of the ESL department. Then there were days of orientation, training, and helping the new teachers.

It has been a lot of work, but the real point of this blog is about my current trial. As my first real test being the "face" of the ESL department and representing the school - 10 parents of the 3rd Grade are staging some sort of revolt against one of my English teachers. They have unfavorable opinions of her teaching and classroom management styles. They brought several reasons why they do not wish to have this teacher, however, some of the reasons seems baseless. What the parents are saying and what I've witnessed in this class at the end of the last semester are truly day and night.

Last year, I was simply a Kindergarten English language teacher. And now, I'm an ambassador, a diplomat, a champion of teachers' rights and at some points a politician. I have a lot of bitter feelings towards this situation, as it has taken away much of the precious time I needed to do my lesson planning. I have some bitter feelings towards these parents, and feel a little perplexed by the teacher and the school's policy.

But after having sat down with the Lord this morning - I realized one thing. I'm too dependent on my prideful self. There is a reason why this situation is draining me. I've been dealing with this situation with too much of my face, and not enough of Jesus' heart. I've taken advantage of God's grace for me, and cheapened it by not showing the same grace towards these parents.

I'm reminded that Jesus sat with prostitutes and tax-collectors, for they need a physician. What I have is a situation where these parents need a savior. They may not be saved during the next meeting, but at least in my words and actions they may find a glimpse of God's unconditional love in me.

May God grant Jesus' humility in me, so that speaks greater volumes that will reach the hardened hearts of these parents. May I continue to be a servant to them and to their students. And, may this situation be dealt with God-pleasing integrity.

My Visit Home So Far

2009-07-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

Time really flies...so I must be having fun!

I can't believe it's been three weeks already! And I have 9 days to go! My time here has been great - here's what I've gotten accomplished so far:

1. Relax. It was my #1 priority when I came home and all I wanted to do was to simply chill. The end of the school year had gotten too hectic for me and I definitely needed to just get away from it all.

2. Family time. It was made better with my brother visiting home from Berkeley. Took a trip to California with mom and brother for a wedding. Spent a day in Vancouver to see relatives. Good times!

3. Eat. Trying to eat up all the foods I've been missing out on, like In-N-Out in Cali, Five Guys in Renton. Home cooked meals and home made won tons. Dim sum. Real ice-cream. Fish tacos. Fresh sushi.

4. Maintenance - health. I realized that my check-ups in Beijing weren't quite preventative in nature, so I had a check up here in Seattle. Good to know that I'm vitamin D deficient and that I need to keep a close eye on my cholesterol. Need to eat more fish and need to get out more when I go back to Beijing.

5. Maintenance - computer. I enjoy tweaking my laptop and netbook. I attempted to swap out a 100Gig drive in my laptop with a faster 320 Gig HD. Failed due to totally different contacts. So I swapped out my netbook's 120Gig instead - success!

6. Movies - in a theater. Caught two so far: Transformers 2 and Up in 3-D. Liked Up a lot better than Transformers.

7. Shopping. Found the books I had been looking for: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Some ESL resources. Pre-marital counseling materials. Found some gifts to bring back to Temy like a Husky (University, not the size) sweatshirt. Found a replacement AC adapter for my laptop (spare blew a fuse in Beijing). And most of all - clothes! I tore up two pairs of jeans, so I had been waiting to come back to Old Navy to stock up.

8. Picture taking. Yup, for the sake of showing Temy what life is like here in the states, I had been taking snapshots as if I was a tourist. Most of the pics were of food.

9. Hanging out. Not quite "accomplished" as my schedule has recently been more open. I hope to find more peeps to hang out with in the final week.

What's there left to do?

1. Hanging out. Still plenty of people I'd like to see before my trip ends.

2. Seafair Torchlight Run this Saturday.

3. More family time.

4. Work. Yeah, after putting it off for three weeks, it's time to put in some work like class assignments, curriculum review, scheduling. Apaprently much has happened within the week I was gone.

Overall, I'm feeling quite "re-connected" with the people, the culture, and the surroundings. I am truly enjoying my stay here and I'm amazed that it has not become something that would make me think "hmmm...maybe I should return for good". There is absolutely nothing wrong returning to the comforts of home and spending time with the people you love - because that is totally different than living out your purpose. My purpose in life isn't here in Seattle. It's waiting for me back in Beijing. Unfortunately, very few of my friends understand that. Some have thought that my time in China was only a phase, say one or two years. Only now many of my friends have learned that I've been in China for over four years; they are realizing that this is more than just a phase. This is the real deal. And it disheartens me to share that I have this weird feeling that I've become merely a visitor to my own home church. It's only a somber reminder that I am truly an alien to this world, and my real home is up in heaven. What I can do is be a positive influence and let others know that we are all waiting to go home, our true home. While waiting, we are to be active in our lives, being a faithful steward of the time we have here on earth.

Seattle, now en route to San Jose

2009-07-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a great few days here in Seattle. The weather has been warm and comparably drier than Beijing's (I had one nosebleed this morning).

I've done a bit of shopping already, like helping my parents acquire an HDTV. They have two older analog sets with converter boxes, but seeing these 22" (AOC and VIZIO) at discount prices of $200 were too hard to pass up.

I haven't really eaten - but more healthily with dad's home cooking of mainly vegetables. The only time I ate out was at a mall food court. "Noodle King" or something like that where my mom had wonton noodles and I had fried noodles. Not cheap by any standard, but there is definitely a difference where the veggies used are fresher and the flavors aren't bland.

It seems like everytime I'm home, there's something new about the house. This time, new toilets because one had been leaking. New couch set because the old ones were sagging in. New faucet, water heater, is this my house. I then realized that the house is about 17 years old. So things are bound to leak, sag, break, and fail.

The one interesting addition is the neighbor's new pet: goats. Two of them, and they occasionally slip through the fence and eat the weeds in our yard. Not to mention the poop pellets and pee they leave behind.

I'm at the airport now waiting for my flight to Oakland, where I'll attend a wedding in San Jose and hang out with mom and my brother in SF and Berkeley.

School Year Reflections 2008-2009 - Part 2

2009-06-21T07:21:00.002-07:00

I had been religiously (haha) reading the word every day as part of the 1-year reading plan. I had gone through much of the Old Testament without any complaint - even enjoying books like Deuteronomy and Leviticus. A part of me wanted to side with folks like Abraham and Noah saying "Really God? You're asking me to do this?" As I kept turning page after page, from one book to the next, I was getting the big picture - and that big picture had one central character: God.

I felt pretty small then. Despite being hard on myself, I was starting to see glimpses of God's grace and forgiveness in my life.

I reconnected with a friend in Hong Kong whom I have known for over four years. We were able to meet during my visit to Hong Kong back in February, and even though I was struggling with a cough, I really enjoyed spending time with her. She enjoyed our time just as much.

Our chats became frequent, and one thing was starting to happen - I was caring for another person more than I cared for myself. And not only that, I was caring for her through God's eyes, not my own. This was new to me.

This was reoccurring back in school. I had been grumpy around my kindergarten kids because they were annoying me. But turning my thinking around really made the difference - caring for them through God's eyes.

And more recently, taking upon this position in the ESL Department meant providing the care these teachers need, and doing so in the manner of God's love.

This school year is ending on a great note. This week will be one of the busiest and most demanding, but I'm enjoying it because it's a way for me to provide care for both the teachers and students.

I'll close out this entry by saying that I'm still learning. I'm still human. But a lot more aware of what I say and do. I'm learning to love, and I thank God that He loved me first. And I am in awe and amazed, that nearly four months later, I still have someone who loves me back. (Thanks, Temy - I love you.)

Well, I'll be in Seattle for the month of July - and hopefully I'll be able to blog a little more and with pictures.

School Year Reflections 2008-2009 - Part 1

2009-06-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

My last visit to Seattle was in July of 2008. It was actually my second visit home last year, the first was during Chinese New Year. It was always a blessing to see my parents and my brothers. During those months, my family had some issues to work through regarding their new phase in life...retirement. And with age comes health issues. With that, I wasn't really all that looking forward to returning to Beijing. But I did.

The Beijing Olympics were a good distraction and definitely a highlight for 2008.

Then the school year began. It got off to an exciting start as with the help of some friends, starting teaching elementary school kids in an Awana like study. I was also co-teaching on Mondays for the young adult group. I guess you can say that I was more busy after-school than I was with school itself. And one Sunday a month was all the more interesting as I helped out teaching Sunday school.

Teaching the kindergarten kids English was fine, but for some reason, going into my fourth year doing pretty much the same thing wasn't as exciting as it used to be.

What turned it around was the opportunity to teach Oral English to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders for the elementary school. That brought back the joy of teaching - albeit making my daily schedule even more busier and leaving me a little more exhausted. Later in the semester, I felt the tug in my heart that I had to step back teaching the young adults on Mondays and place a greater focus on this new club for the kids.

In the meanwhile, I was training for two marathons - and after completing one in December, not sitting still finally took its toll on my restless body. I struck down with some lung infection to end the first semester. I had to quit a marathon in Hong Kong after only 2 kilometers.

And boy was that a blessing in disguise. While traveling from place to place seeing friends - I was battling this cough and continuing to lose sleep over it. Never before had I prayed this hard to maintain a humble attitude. And that's when I discovered just how prideful I had been all year long.

I am used to having things going my way. And when they didn't, I had become an immature kindergartner myself, secretly pouting. Being sick for nearly a month, finding times of reflection while waiting in airports in Hong Kong, Japan, and Dalian (China) made me see that being selfish and prideful does result in lonliness.

In tears and in anguish, I prayed to God "in whatever condition I'm in, I worship you".

I looked forward to a fresh start in 2009. (to be continued)

June 2009 Update

2009-06-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at my desk on a Sunday night catching up on last week's New York Times crossword puzzles.

Strange, I thought to myself. I actually have free time. So I better post this entry before I lose the chance right before visiting Seattle this July.

Running through this week's "to-do items" in my head, this is what I came up with:

Club Activities:

Prep Monday's study on the last half of Mark, chapter 4.
Come up with a bunch of games for this Wednesday's kid's corner. It's our last Wednesday before the summer break.
Prep the Monday's group last get-together - a day of sports this Saturday followed by dinner.

Work:

Finish editing a promotional video for the kindergarten. Create a slideshow for the graduation ceremony. The ceremony's this Friday.
Three more rehearsals with the graduating class on their English language play. Gotta make sure their props and masks are ready.
Semester reports for 52 students.
Pack up the classroom into boxes for the summer.
Teacher evaluations and leading one more department meeting.
Recruiting a new kindergarten teacher.
Finalizing the fall's ESL teaching assignments and selecting the curriculum.

Personal:

Pack for my home visit in July. Writing up a list of things I want to get in Seattle.
Downloading directions so I know how to get to my friend's wedding in San Jose.

So I'm enjoying my crosswords during this calm before the storm. A storm that will hit hard this week. My past month has been more or less this busy, and while staring at this list, I realized how faithful God has been in my life this past year. I didn't just teach all year long. God made this past year truly abundant with opportunities to share the word and develop relationships. Almost by surprise, He recently placed me in a position at school that will create an impact to more students.

In fact, it's God who has been doing the teaching. (to be continued)

Summer Plans shaping up

2009-05-25T01:12:00.000-07:00

May isn't over yet, and there's still June to teach - but my mind has gone pretty deep into "vacation" mode.

My last day before the summer break is July 1. Due to the flight departure at 4PM, I'm putting in a half-day.

I'll be flying with Hainan Airlines directly to Seattle. I flew with them last summer and it was alright. I had good company and there were plenty of movies for me to choose from to pass the time.

The first thing I'll do when I arrive in Seattle: renew my driver's license! I had the WSDOL send a letter of extension, which means I can still drive around for another 6 months as long as I carry the letter with my license.

Still fresh off the plane, I'll fly to Oakland, July 3rd for a friend's wedding. This should be interesting, as this wedding brings together not only the friends that I know, but the friends my mom knows! I'll be in town until the 7th.

After chilling out with the family and church friends for a month in Seattle, I'll return to Beijing August 1st. With just a night's rest, I'll catch a flight to Hong Kong to help my girlfriend pack up and move. We'll be on the same flight to Beijing, August 10th.

Plenty of flying, but hopefully the lines won't be too long and the flu situation gone.

May 2009

2009-05-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

How odd that in nearly exactly a month later, I get the urge to post a new entry in this relatively new, but seldom updated, blog.

And just as my fingers are ready to transmit my reflections...Blogger gets blocked in China!

I haven't heard the official word, but I'm assuming Blogger has joined several other blogs and user-oriented video and/or content sharing sites that were blocked this year due to the nation's important anniversary's - 50 for Chinese rule of Tibet, and 60 for the Com.Party. To minimize or prevent the spread of local news, sites like YouTube has been blocked.

Anyways...nothing new under the sun, really. :)

It's been a month since I've last posted, so what's new?

Sundays - I still teach a kid's class one Sunday a month, and that has been a great blessing. I approach it ESL style because 80% of the kids there are local. I'm thankful for my bilingual assistants, but moreso, thankful for my patient expat kids - who have heard the stories before but do not act out their boredom in the form of rebelious behavior.

Mondays - I'm still on the "backseat", meaning I chose to step down from teaching due to the busy schedule. We've been going through the book of Mark, and only on chapter 3 after spending a month. Soon, I'll return to facilitating since the main leader will go on 'paternity leave'.

Tuesdays - I've startup up running again after a long bout with a lung infection back in Feb., and just regaining full lung capacity. This time, I'm training for the 10K run for Seafair on July 25. Would love to run with you if you're in town!

Wednesdays - The kindergarten after-school class has finished after its 12 week run. It has been great! And I'm thankful for the new approach - ESL Style Bible teaching. Basically, teach the important target language first, then share the stories so that they can relate to them and hopefully apply. The evening fellowship group for elementary school kids are still going, but the numbers have gone down, 25 to now averaging 10. Small is nice, since I feel I can connect with each kid more. It's also safe...25 was basically pushing it.

Thursdays/Fridays - usually I work out. Hang out with friends. Rest.

Other:

Teaching - I'm moving up in the career of ESL/EFL teaching, I've been made Department Head for the entire school including the Kindergarten and the future Middle and High School. I feel the weight of the expectations already.

Courtship - I've been courting this great woman of God since early March (another reason I've been busy). Don't know how much to share about it here, but I'll say this: she is a huge blessing in my life and I'm having the greatest and easiest of time gearing our relationship for God's glory. I'm off to Hong Kong next week to see her family! Also, she'll be joining my school as a counselor - so this "long distance" aspect of our relationship will soon end!

Rest of the school year - While transitioning to this new position, I'm focused on wrapping up the school year by writing and directing an English language play. It's been fun (so far)!

Summer plans - I'll be home (Seattle) for the month of July, with a side-trip to San Francisco for the 4th of July Weekend. It'll be good to see my brother before he moves on to Virginia to begin his career as a professor. Then I'll fly back to Beijing, then off to Hong Kong to help my girlfriend move.

It's been a while!

2009-04-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hey readers!

Hope you are doing well. It's been a while since I last posted on this new blog. Kind of a useless blog if I don't keep up with it, right? Sorry...

Updates:

Obviously too busy to keep up with this blog. :) But I'll share some of the highlights since February.

The "Wed's" have been going well - I just love sharing stories from the good book to these kids. What's also awesome, the mommies (and 1 daddy) have started their own group with the help of a couple of friends of mine. It's an introductory class to x'ianity. After a month of those sessions, 8 families went on a weekend getaway, a retreat actually. I put together a children's program and had three other friends help me. Good hiking at the spot we were at!

The "Other Wed's" is half-over! It's a 12-week after school course for kindergarteners to learn ESL stuff using the good book as the source material. So far we've learned: weak vs. strong, clean vs. dirty, scared vs. brave, can vs. can't, etc.

Because the two "Wed's" have kept me busy, I took a backseat during the "Mon's". I don't lead it anymore, but I go to be fed and to help contribute. My good brother W. has been leading.

Easter was quiet. I always looked forward to this time of the year as it is one of the two main events where the teachers get to share, in an educational manner, what X'mas and Easter is all about. We still have the traditional egg hunt. :)

And finally, this update was five years in the making, and accelerated by a few events that took place during my CNY holidays in February - I'm in a courtship! It's been an exciting experience so far - so much to learn - been so blessed! Totally seeking G' in this...

Catch ya next time!

A great dinner, getting to know teacher Ye

2009-03-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. After spending a couple of hours at *$'s working on bbl lesson plans, I went with a bunch of teachers to visit the school's music teacher.

I didn't know him quite as well as the rest of the teachers, but I have noticed much less of him. Meaning he isn't at the school very much.

I then learned that he works for our school only part-time. How could I not have noticed? And it makes sense, the kids do not have music class every day.

Then I wondered about how he makes a living for himself if he's only at our school part of the time. I found out tonight.

His apartment, like many others, isn't just a place of resident, but one room is dedicated as the classroom to teach others to play the "zheng". There are concert posters of his teachers and other students along the hallway. The shelves along the classroom wall contains CDs of music played by his teacher. And apparently she's a really good teacher - his amazing skill and refined talent is the result.

After playing several songs for us, it was time to eat. His mother cooked up eight dishes! Honestly, this was the best home cooked meal I've had in a long time, in a local sense. The other night, my Cantonese friend cooked Cantonese dishes, which I grew up eating.

I must've eaten a lot. The moment I leaned back on my seat in the taxi, I fell asleep.

Looking back on this in the context of the bigger picture, I would have not visited a local at this time last year, or any time before that for the past four years. Hanging out with the locals teachers, especially at a home not located at our living quarters, is a step of faith for me.

Why hadn't I done this before? In the beginning it was mainly isolation that I've put on myself. A refusal to really mingle. But this past year has been different. Special individuals with outgoing personalities have been reaching out to me, and including me in all their activities. Sticking with them has paid off, as I've become more comfortable being anywhere and with anyone.

Running With Ron - 1st Post!

2009-03-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

this has sort of come full circle. after blogging for 3 years in xanga, and dabbling with google pages for only a few months, i've return to my first experimental site - here in blogger. initially i had wanted to blog in a site that was filled with bells and whistles, but lately i've become a lot more content with blog site that just simple, unblocked, and easy to access to via my gmail account.

so here it is, with a new title (old: shanghairon), calling it "running with ron".