Feb 22 - Birthday, Relationship building #2

Now the relay teams are really into competition ((033). It was all good fun with people of all ages learning new English words, including, "God's blessings on you."

Finally the cakes made by the teachers with a total of 70 candles - that was blaze to blow out. It's fun to be blessed with 70 years.
Jane


Jane Moody
in Macau

Feb 22 - Birthday Party in Macau - Relationship building

Did we have the birthday party at the the glitzy Lisboa Casino? (053)


No! The February social event at Concordia English Center was an awesome birthday party for me with American style party games. Here is Jeff an archeology student making a birthday card (018). Then there was a contest between four teams making a "structure" out of 70 pieces of different shapes of macaroni, peanuts, colored markers (029). The same four teams had to deposit their shoes, which they did all very neatly, until Jan our "party director" mixed them all up (038).

More in next e-mail.



Jane Moody
in Macau

Relationship Building

Right now at the English Center, we have eight teachers, so I am not assigned any students. Now my focus has changed more to Relationship Building, which is also part of my mission. There are three people here more or less permanently, so the English Center depends on short term volunteers to do most of the teaching. Right now we have too many teachers, however during the April-May term there will not be enough teachers. We are praying for a few more volunteers.

Here's a little on how we go about relationship building. I am involved in conversation in English with students at our two hour lunch times Tuesday through Friday. Friday at lunch we got into a big discussion of American history , starting with beginnings of the American Revolution in Boston, Tea party etc. Then there was a question about African American history and we got into the causes of the Civil War and finally up to Obama being president. One of the young men is studying archeology, so that led us into the history discussion. He brought in a textbook showing how they have traced the migration of various people groups through their DNA. We are encouraged to find creative ways to form relationships with people who are interested. A girl named Candy, from mainland China, works at the security desk where you enter our building. She often comes to our lunch get togethers. She is trying very hard to learn English. She has an accounting degree, but her job doesn't really make use of her skills. Today, Valentine's Day, is her birthday, so we gave her a book of devotions, signed by all the teachers. Candy's bright smile graces our comings and goings.

I am also involved in the Tuesday and Friday night free Bible Classes. Last night for the Friday class, which is at the church we started the Alpha course. Are you familiar with that? It originated in England. We have a video in "British" English with Chinese subtitles, then discussion. We divide into smaller groups after the video, according to those who know a lot of English, some English and no English. I was with the group that know some English last night. The groups are led by Macanese, who are fairly fluent in English, and as teachers we can jump in and clarify if needed. It went quite well.

Another way we build relationships is through monthly Sunday afternoon or evening social events. The event for February is to celebrate Jane Moody's 70th birthday! My birthday was on February 6, so I celebrated in Singapore with my friend Eng and family that was 3 days of non stop celebration - I needed a rest after that vacation! It looks like the BIG 7-0 will be a long celebration, including my family and grandchildren when I get back home.


Blessings,
Jane

Year of The Ox

January 24 began the Year of the OX for the Lunar new year. This is the best rendering of an Ox I have seen so far. (064). Standing near the Ox was this little boy celebrating the holiday with his family (063).

Blessings,
Jane

There are many recent archaeological discoveries in old Canton. (058) Remains of streets from several eras going back to the Ming dynasty were discovered when they were rebuilding the main street.

When they were digging the foundation of a new building they discovered a huge area of an old palace and a man-made brook of how it may have looked flowing through the grounds. There was a highly developed system for lowering and raising the water level of the water way. A rendering of how it may have looked is what you see in (058) I found this dig nearly as impressive as the dig in Xian with the Warriors.

Beijing Street is the main shopping street. It is decorated for Chinese New year, so you see lots of red, including the flag of China. It is a very crowded street. (054, 057).

Happy Lunar new year and more Guangzhou scenes

The days we visited Guangzhou were very overcast and cloudy (046, 047), so the Pearl river has a silvery gray look. We crossed the Pearl river River on a ferry to get to some of the older parts of the city. It's a very watery city with many bridges.

If you are a reader of Chinese literature/novels your view of Canton may be like (059). Most of Canton looks much more modern, which you will see in my next entry.

Blessings,
Jane

Alina and I are hugging a lion in front of one of the modern buildings ((037). Notice the reflection of more modern buildings.

The main gate is at the North entrance bordering the River. (039 and 043).

The University was formerly Lignan University started by Presbyterians in the early 1900's. The original red brick architecture and layout is very beautiful with gates at the north, south east and west entrances. (010) This is one of the original buildings, now in some disrepair, but still very beautiful. Many buildings had/have blue tile roofs.

Back in Macau - Blog on Guangzhou (Canton)

Here are blog entries for my visit to Guangzhou (Canton) on January 28-29.

I visited Sun Yat-sen University with Alina, David and their son Jerry. Alina and David both have degrees from this University. It is named for Sun Yat-sen, who was a native of this province, and an early Chinese leader who saw the importance of uniting China into one country. He spent time in his childhood in Hawaii and it had a great impact on his ideas. (068) is a statue of Sun Yat-sen at his Memorial Hall in the city.

Back in Macau

Greetings from the Concordia English Center in Macau,

I'm back! I arrived back in Macau last night after spending Feb. 4-8 in Singapore. It's the end of a two week break, so I'm back at the Center catching up on e-mail and finally getting a chance to use my own computer!

We officially begin again tomorrow, however I had lunch today with Mary Eddy U, our local center manager and John Bowerman, one of the permanent teachers here. I found they are in desperate need for a short term teacher for the term beginning April 7 and going until May 23. It would be good to arrive at least 5 days before the classes begin. You need to have a current passport. The cost is the cost of a round trip flight, plus $250 a month for utility costs and food, which is quite minimal. Do you think someone from OSLC would be interested?

It is teaching adults conversational English. The main requirement is to be on current events and enjoy talking to people.

If this sounds like something that may be possible, please contact Jennifer Mustard at LCMS World Missions in St. Louis. Any more questions, let me know.

Blessings,
Jane

Chinese Lunar New Year

I've been in Zhuhai, China since Jan.25. I am visiting my friend Alina and her family, David and Jerry. I hosted Alina when she was a student at Harvard. It has been a fairly quiet time, as they are on vacation, as is the English Center in Macau. Everyone takes off one to two weeks for the Lunar New Year. It is a family time, so families visit each other. Alina and David's families live in Kunming, Yunnan Province. It didn't work out for us to visit them.

We did go to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) on January 28-29. We visited and stayed at Sun Yat-sen University, where Alina and David went to school. It is a beautiful campus with red brick buildings in Chinese style. It is laid out in two main tree-lined boulevards: north to south and east to west with four gates at each end. The original buildings built around 1905 are still in use, but of course many new modern buildings have been added, as about 20,000 students are enrolled. Some of the new buildings are also red brick. It was originally Lingnan University founded by the Presbyterians. Lingnan is now in Hong Kong.

We also visited an archeological site going back to the Ming Dynasty and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Guangzhou. Our mistake was having dinner at a restaurant where there weren't too many patrons. Jerry (age 12) and I got very sick that night from contaminated food. In the morning we went to a clinic and were given antibiotics. It has taken us several days of careful eating to get back to normal. We are calling our return to Zhuhai on Thursday, the "Flight from Guangzhou."

Next I will visit Singapore from Feb. 4-8. I will visit Eng Titus Yong, another Harvard student I hosted six years ago. His wife Li Ching had their first child, Aron, in Boston at Brigham and Women's. They have a two year old daughter named Chloe. This is a Christian family. Eng was converted in Malaysia when he was 14 years old.

February 8 I will return to Macau, classes at the Concordia English Center begin again February 10. Then I am on the home stretch: I return to the States March 27. More stories and pictues will follow once I return to Macau and have a better Internet connection and can send photos.

I appreciate your prayers and e-mails. I am also praying for many of you, as I know there are many feeling the loss of jobs, income and facing serious illnesses. We pray for missions around the world, and our new president. God bless you all.

Jane
Jane Moody

in Zhuhai