Weekly Recap

So what have we been up to this week?  Teaching and learning!

Elisabeth went away to her high school camp.  Every year, the high schoolers go up to the mountains for a few days.  This year, the speaker taught from the book of Ephesians on being aliens and strangers in the land.  Valuable teaching for kids who are growing up in a country that is not their passport country.  For some this is their third or fourth country to live in.

Paul started teaching oral English at the local pharmaceutical university.  We are involved with an English corner that involves many of  students from this university.  The job is part time and the hours change every day.  This gives him time to be involved with some of the students and student leaders.  It also gives him time to keep studying Chinese and the other activities that we are involved in.

I started studying Chinese again.  I switched programs this year to a university near our home.  I really enjoyed our private language school last year but wanted to study at a university this year.  I have a grammar class, reading (yes, all in characters), speaking and listening.  My classmates are Korean, Japanese, Russian and North Korean.  Yes, I met my first North Korean- a very sweet girl of about 19 or 20.
The classes are interesting.  I expected a more teacher center approach but the teacher's are remarkably accessible and expect a high level of involvement.  Homework is usually preparation of the next lesson.  I really am reaching a new level of empathy for my ESL students as I am now learning Chinese in Chinese!  All the grammar explanations, all the instructions are in Chinese.  It's interesting how much you can pick up even if you don't understand all of  the language.

The baby keep growing and developing.  He has discovered he can bubble and spit a little and thinks these are the coolest things ever.  I've been consulting over the internet with a friend who is a professor of speech pathology about some of his swallowing issues (he has a wet rattle) and that has been remarkably helpful.  We are hoping to start him on some solid food soon.  He still feeds every two hours during the day but sleep pretty well through the night.  He has a lot of anxiety about day time sleeping so getting him down for a nap can be arduous.  Aside from that, he is delightful!

The high temperature today is 77 and there is a definite coolness to the air.  As much as I like the cooling down, it means that winter is on the way.  At least this year I am mentally prepared for the cold!