Saturday

I don't know when or where it was I first heard a sermon on the "Saturday" of Easter Weekend.  In fact, I had never given much thought to the day at all.  Good Friday is obviously celebrated as is Resurrection Sunday for the same obvious reasons.  But who has ever given a second thought to Saturday.  I mean, geez it was so unimportant THE BIBLE ITSELF doesn't even hardly mention the Saturday of Jesus' death at all.  There are FIVE WHOLE VERSES in the book of Matthew that talk about Saturday.  And this part is only to point out that soldiers were sent to stand guard and put a seal on the tomb.  What is most interesting to me is that the priests and Pharisees remembered Jesus' words stating he would die and then rise again on the third day which is the exact reason they asked for the guards in the first place.

Anyway...

But we never think about Saturday.  It's almost Black Saturday.  In Catholicism, the Saturday is actually known as Holy Saturday.  Of course, most know that in Bible times the Sabbath was celebrated on Saturday.  And it was against all religious law to break the Sabbath which included carrying things or working at all.  Sabbath was to be kept holy and revered in Bible times.  Any town or city would ultimately shut down on Saturdays.

What do I do on Saturdays here in China you may ask? Oh a lot of laying around, watching movies, avoiding school/work related things like the plague and occasionally get out of the house to walk around and inhale the nice smoggy air.  This past Saturday was no different.

Going back, I cannot even imagine the grief and sorrow that enveloped any of Jesus' followers.  I know the pain of losing a parent but the death of someone who was...more of a person than any other person that had ever lived?  A man that they were in constant presence of for 3 years?  A man that claimed he would would save the entire world from their sins and that people could be reborn?  A man that had made the dumb speak, the blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame leap, fed 5000 people, turned water to wine and countless other miracles that aren't even mentioned in the Bible?  This man was more than a man.  He was a Savior. THE Savior.  And to have my Savior die?  I can't even imagine what the disciples felt like.

As humans, life to us is so...finite.  We get one shot so don't screw it up. YOLO. Live your life.  Play your cards the right way.  All these quotes and tidbits to tell us to make the most of life.  For Jesus' followers at that time, they were done.  I mean the church leaders had already come after Jesus so who's to say they weren't next?  The disciples were probably just shut up in closets all day, crying and shivering in fear for their lives and wondering why Jesus had abandoned them.

And Mary the mother?  By this time the woman was in her 40s but was the one that found favor as a Godly woman in her teens.  She's the one person that had known Jesus' His entire life and watched Him grow up.  What would it be like to have the perfect child? One that never broke the rules or sassed his mother?  That's an odd concept to even think about.  But as merely humans, we can never have a clear, complete concept of God.

Our lives here on Earth are in a constant state of Saturday.  We are physically separated from God.  Yes, God longs to come and dwell within each of us and will as long as we invite him in.  I think that once we do, it almost becomes Saturday evening.  And in living our lives in prayer and meditation on God and doing His will we become ever closer to Him and that wonderful Sunday Morning of his triumphant return.

Two Worlds, One Family

And I'm back to clever Disney titles again.

This one I feel deserves more thought but I guess I have put thought into it as I've taken so long to write it and so many thoughts have been swirling around in my head about it in the days following.

If you haven't yet heard, even though I hope you have been decent human beings that keep up with current events (don't worry I'm the BIGGEST culprit on embracing ignorance), on Wednesday morning an ferry line sunk off the coast of South Korea around 8am in the morning.  There were around 470 people on board making a trip to the island of Jeju, otherwise known as the Hawaii of South Korea.  Of the 470 passengers, around 320 were high school students on a school trip.  According to the most recent article I could find, the official death toll was 50 with over 200+ still missing and only 174 that were rescued soon after the sinking.  This event has been heavy on my heart teaching so many Korean students.

Here I must enter in a plug about a wonderful teacher that I may have mentioned before. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I got from any teacher was my 9th grade English teacher, Ms. Miller.  Every Friday, she would tell us the wise words of, "Be safe! Be smart!"  Now having my own classroom, I like to add in a, "Make good choices. Honor yourself. Honor what you believe in," as a homage to my high school small group leader, Danelle O'Dell.

I felt I couldn't let Thursday go by without mentioning or saying something to my students.  I told them that I couldn't even imagine what I would do if anything like that ever happened to ANY of my students.  I'm not afraid to tell my students I love them. I do. 100 percent.  They're the closest things I have to children and it's incredible the type of love you have for someone that you are responsible for molding their minds and who they become as a person.  I went on to tell my students that events like the ship sinking is EXACTLY why I tell them to be safe and smart and make good choices every weekend.  I won't see them for 2 whole days.  And until I see them again on Monday morning, I worry and wonder about them.  It scares me to a certain degree even if they are gone for extended amounts of time. (Which our students are gone often it seems. Seriously, if kids in America missed as much school as our students do, the truancy officers would be breaking down the doors.)

Even though I come from a completely different culture and speak a different language from my students for 8 hours a day, we are in the same family.  They are my world and I am theirs.

Two Worlds, One Family. Trust your heart. 

Yes, I love Technology...

Not as much as you, you see. I STIIIIIIIIIILL love technology......... always and forever.

Typical aka atypical series of events when I meet a real live Chinese person or new Western person in China

Starts off great oh hey!

Then we start up a conversation and I'm mainly like this because they either A. understand my Chinese or B. We both speak fluent English.

Then sometimes, like a recent time talking with a rather attractive Asian man who happened to be born and raised in Australia thus having a delightful Sydney accent, I'm like this:

Then it gets to the point where the group must part ways but definitely exchanges contact information. Yay new friends!

Then comes the DREADED QUESTION:

"OH! You have WeChat?!"

ME:

As an aside, WeChat is the Chinese equivalent of facebook/texting/linkedin/omegle all riddled into one. If you don't have WeChat you're screwed socially in this country. So when I give an apologetic shrug and say no... I get this reaction:

Any potential friendship is over...

Then this is me:

NO! FRIEND! COME BAAACCCCKKKKK!!!!!!

Why can't I just get this WeChat that I have so spoken of you say?  Because my friends it is a Smart phone app of which most I am able to add on my wonderful KindleFire which I love but some of those apps just don't work the same.  It kind of works but theres a really long story that involves myself, a hacked account, some phone number exchanges, passive agressive emails from a person I only met once, and ultimately it just doesn't work the way it's supposed to.  And also the large factor that is, I don't have Smart phone. Cue this reaction

Well I was going to upload another gif. But it won't load. Plus this post is pretty gif heavy anyway.  It took a really long time to upload all those. 

It's been my favorite blost (blogpost) to write yet.

 Also I get to go visit the doctor on Friday.  No I'm not sick just a government required physical examination. Woot.

Ok au revoir, farewell, auf wiedersehn, Zai jian, Adios!

I never look back darling.

It distracts from the now.

After getting past the atrocity that was my weekend, I am in somewhat better spirits.

NEVER LOOK BACK!!! (machine washable dearie that's a new feature)

I made myself enough food for my dinner on Monday that lasted me until tonight, the kids responded well to my lessons, and I had Chinese lessons with my tutor tonight.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?  It worries me sometimes that my secondary kids aren't enjoying music or actually like singing.  I have no idea what it was like to not like choir as I've lived and breathed choir and music for roughly the last 10 or so years of my life.  It's what kept me going through high school.  As much as I was pushed by my high school director and how many times she made me cry or my voice teacher and how many times he made me cry and my piano professor and how many times he made me cry (though I seriously have never played piano better in my life than when I was in his studio).   I took my choir folder home everyday to just play through the songs and my pieces just because I could.  I got to choir early everyday and always tried to be the last to leave.  I NEVER missed a concert or was late to any event.  I was the ultimate choir nerd. It WAS my life.  I didn't date in high school and only twice in university and choral activities took up 99% of my time.  Perhaps it was a small reason no relationship has worked its way out for me just yet. (HA)

High school is a time I will never look back.  It distracts from the now of my secondary students in 6th to 12th grade and what their life is like.  I've straight up told them I didn't like high school and it's one of the reasons why I'm back teaching: is to get them through it and ON TO BETTER THINGS.

Like university.

Like real adult life.

THERE'S MORE OUT THERE!!

I've also straight up told my students I don't care if they hate singing, and hate me and hate everyone at this school.  But they WILL be respectful and act like choir is the best freaking thing in the world for 50 minutes a day.

And if they do that, they might just end up loving my class.  ( I can only hope.)

Also,  it makes a difference when you work together as a group and ensemble.  Seeing the looks on their faces when we actually start to make music is rewarding.  Especially because I start doing a giddy dance and skip like a fairy around the room.  Or I jump on the risers and start singing with them because they don't expect it.

And I also straight up tell my students they're being lazy.   Because nobody else does.  And I SO WISH now that more people in my life had given me wake up calls and called me out when I was screwing up even though I probably would've hated them for it.

I'm doing them a favor.  They just don't realize it yet.

I try to tell my secondary kids that I love them everyday.  At first I think they thought I was just kidding with them.  "No. Seriously. I love you.  You are my students and I care about you TOO MUCH to let you slack off and slide through school."  I feel like I already made a post about that but I'm stating it again because of how important it is.

HELLO! IS ANYBODY IN THERE?

WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT'S WORTH LIVING FOR?!?!?!

I really hope that gif works above.  I feel like it's only right the first gif should be a Sherlock one.

"The name's Sherlock Holmes and the address is two two one B Baker Street. Afternoon!" Duh DUH duh duhduhduhduhduh Duh DUH duh duhduhduhduhduh duh DUH. duhduhduh duhduhduh duhduhduh duhduhduh duhduhDUUUUUUHHHHHHHH...That actually a pretty good rendition of the theme music.

...And you could have no legs

My face and current attitude about life.  This pretty much sums things up.  It could be worse.  I remember a quote a dear friend I used to have in high school always said.  He was my go-to guy that was an older brother figure to me at the time.  Whenever things went wrong or I complained he told me, "Elizabeth. It could be worse. You could be having a really crappy day right now AND you could have no legs.  Be thankful you have one of those."
My lesson planning has gone down the drain. I don't know what I shall teach my students tomorrow.  Grades are due soon.  I felt ill on Friday night while unbeknownst to me, people were out having a good time.  Saturday I had to lounge around in Korea for my visa run since I don't like travelling alone and didn't want to spend the weekend.  Saturday night was definitely the highlight after getting pizza with a friend and seeing the new Captain America movie. Today, I made my room messier and half the people for fellowship didn't show up for several different reasons. whatever. But overall, the picture above roughly illustrates this weekend.  And I'll get over and through it.  Maybe listening to some J.T. will help.  I looked at ticket prices though and I'm not willing to pay 245 dollars for nosebleed tickets. No thanks.  Will I actually publish this post.  Probably.  But i won't advertise it.

That's all she wrote.  I write what I want.

He had one of those rare smiles...

with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. -The Great Gatsby

I decided to use a literary quote this time rather than a movie quote.  Make me sound like a more rounded person. And smarter. Maybe

China, and several other Asian countries and people, have a large unspoken concept or rule they all follow: saving face.  This has proved itself to be true time and again while coming to call this country home. I see it especially in my students.  In my secondary choir I get the honor of teaching 35 Korean, 1 Russian, and 1 Norwegian students.  Granted, many of these children have never sang much or received any real training much less singing in a choir but it takes almost all of my energy in the early morning to get the kids moving and get sound out of them. My boys in particular have their own qualms about singing particularly in front of their female classmates. (The work and sound I could get out of them if I had gender separate classes. First world music teacher problems. HA!)  Anyway, I finally was proving the point that they were not loud enough as I could outsing the roughly 21 girls in the class and almost singing lower than some of my men.  Finally, one of my freshman boys who has enough confidence and personality to fill the classroom already, started belting his voice out and not caring who was listening.  This got the class worked up and everyone started laughing instead of singing but I quickly corrected their behavior as I told him there was a problem with EVERYONE else's sound because they could only hear his voice.  Any well trained music teacher knows the key to a good sounding choir is blend, blend, blend. (and intonation. and breathing. but mostly blend)
"If you can't hear yourself AND the person next to you, YOU need to change something."

I also confronted one of my students for the first time today about his grade in another class.  He had a low C in another subject and had also just recently left one my tests he took half blank.  After asking him why he did so and why he had such a low grade in other classes he kind of got this shocked look on his face and was really uncomfortable. (YAY. my job is to push my kids to their limits!)  I told him I care about my students too much to let them get lazy in other academics when he works so hard in my class.  Come to find out, several of my students have low grades in other classes but tend to excel in music.  Not surprising, as music is an elective course and we don't have many tests or homework assignments but I still expect them to work just as hard as they do in their science and history classes.

Most of the time I can tell you, I look like a complete and utter fool in front of my students.  And I don't care.  My kindergartners think I'm a comedienne.  I should honestly just start doing stand-up according to them.  If I was looking at myself though,  I would say I'm quite an unfunny person.  My comedic timing is off and I always come up with funny things to say several hours after the fact.  This may be due to the fact I never had siblings or someone to practice on.  But anyway seeing the kindys doubled over in laughter giggling until they are literally rolling on the floor to my middle school boys that will occasionally crack a smile if I start doing some weird dance move in the middle of a song, tends to make this job worth.  I think that a lot of people tend to think Asians are so focused on schooling or their work, they don't know how to have fun.  For some, this is a completely true statement.  And many of my students do only do work at school, and after school tutoring and don't ever have to time to just have fun and be...a kid/teenager.  Music is their muse.  I know it was mine.  Heck, that's why I stuck with it for so many years and then actually decided it's what I loved doing more than anything else so I chose it for a career. Seeing the rare smile of my little Estelle or Emilie in Kindy and Caleb and Amanda in my secondary choir makes me remember that maybe I am actually teaching these kids something.  I just hope it's something more than music.

"Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens." -Maria Von Trapp