How many miracles do you want to occur?

I wanted to take today's blogst to tell about my wonderful Chinese friends I have made while being here.  In earlier blogsts, I occasionally mentioned about wanting to have opportunities to speak Chinese more, make Chinese friends, and basically connect with the culture of China on a deeper level.  Working at my school where there are ALL Korean students, all American teachers and several Chinese staff who all speak fluent English it is difficult to broaden my horizons.  Especially since I work a regular 40+ hour job here unlike most foreign teachers living in China who work maybe only around 15-20 hours a week.

Over the semester, I have managed to make some national friends.  A few have been through mutual acquaintances and another happened totally by chance.  Some friends speak no English whatsoever, while others have the vocabulary of a native English speaker.

Carol: My Chinese mama.  She adopted myself and two other friends within the first month we moved to Yantai.  She and husband have taken us out multiple times for dinner, invited us over to their house for dinner and multiple other activities. She is a Family Member and her son lives in Shanghai and study abroad in France for a year or so, so she knows what it is like to have children that live abroad.  She never fails to greet us with a smile and tell how much she loves us.

Jack:  My newest friend in Yantai.  I met him on the Beach during an Easter BBQ.  We became fast friends.  He attends a local university and is an English language major.  His English is very good and it's easy to communicate but at times his accent overtakes his speech or he sometimes forgets to switch between Chinese and English when we're speaking.  He loves learning English and is very dedicated to his studies and always wanting to use high level words whenever he speaks.  An interesting thing about him is a way that he studies English is by watching Barack Obama speeches and episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Noah:  Noah (as my good friend Bri and I affectionately named him) is an excellent masseuse.  This man knows where it's at.  He speaks no English except for Hello and My Name is Noah and a few numbers.  He really is a fun guy to talk to and just watch.  The man actually knows and has been trained in Kung Fu and looks like a freaking Kung Fu master when he gets going.  He's also basically boss at rock climbing and basically just being fit in general.

Wang Yi Lin:  This woman.  Lord bless her.  She NEVER fails to make me laugh and just be there for general conversation during my work day.  She is ALWAYS there for a chat and to help me with whatever I need.  Wang is a no nonsense woman though that doesn't take crap from anybody though.  She is not afraid to tell someone when they're acting dumb.  She speaks English well and is our school's receptionist. It's very entertaining to hear her speak Chinese as it's normally at a very high pitch and rapid speech making her sound like an old Chinese grandma screaming at random passersby. 

Jessie:  I hate that I don't get to spend as much time with her as I want to since we're both busy in our respective classrooms throughout the day.  But let me tell you, when we get going, we get going.  She tells me when my Chinese sucks and agrees with me when we decide we should just start selling our students to other teachers to the highest bidder (or lowest bidder when the kids are really driving us nuts).  I know I can always call her if I run into trouble somewhere and get stuck in a language jam.  I admire her sassy self and she's not afraid to 'shake a child' if needed.

So those are just a few of my wonderful Chinese friends that have made living here so much better.  Please keep them in your thoughts and blessings this week.  I also ask that you keep YAS in your yarps as new teachers are being hired and contact information between them and veteran teachers are being sent.  HE is doing great things in this city as KING!

PS The title of this post comes from my friend Jack as one of his often said quotes that makes me laugh.