Bowling, Cow Stomach, and Americans in Dong'an!
8:29 PM | Author: Nikki Checketts
So I’ve decided to drop out of school and normal life in America and just live here in China like my cousin for a couple years or so… I love it so much! *Sigh* I wish. I’ve never had such a simple but enlightening lifestyle before and to give it up is going to be so hard. Were it not for David coming home from his mission, work, school, and turning in my mission papers and then serving I would be SO tempted to stay here. Nothing could make me go home if those things didn’t stand strongly in my near future.

This week I told my classes that they were the teachers and I was the student and it was their responsibility to teach me their names. See, I think it’s super important for me to remember all 800 students names. Why? Because they are children of God and each one is important to Him and I want them to know I care enough to learn all their names, because they are the future of China and if I ever get the chance to meet any of these amazing people again I want to remember them (hint hint: if China opens to the church), because I want them to know I sincerely care about them enough to make the extra effort, and because I want them to know I am honored to be their teacher and wish to connect with them. So this week, because “I” am the student, I have the homework assignment of memorizing their names. They seemed very surprised, but in the end, I could tell they were touched by my sincerity. Teachers normally just have a seating chart, lecture, leave and don’t come back until next class. I want them to know I am different. I care about each of my students and I am determined, with God’s help and my memorization skills, to memorize all my students’ names. After they all taught me their names I got pictures of them and their nametags so I can review the names in my spare time. Then we sang some English songs they were interested in singing with lyrics.

What’s motivating to note, my love for my students has grown tremendously as I memorize their names and see the look of admiration shining back in their eyes when I call them by their names. They feel singled out and important and they know more and more I care about them. I want to stay here forever. I adore these students like they are my own children! I never want to leave them and I’ve only been here for 2 months. Coming home will be super hard for me. I love my children. I wish people could just come move to China to be with me; then my life would be complete.

Some of Sam’s students (to whom he also teaches guitar lessons) come over on Wednesdays and they are teaching me some Chinese songs in exchange for letting them practice in my apartment, which makes me very happy! I try to connect with as many students as I can, whether it be helping them with spoken English, discussing stress, taking them out to eat, letting them relax in my apartment, exercising with them, etc, and the more I get to know them, the more I love them, and the more I want to share with them all the plain and precious truths that I’m nearly bursting to share.

Good news! It’s warming up here! It’s been raining the past month and I’m hoping it’s warming up for good. I got some sweet pictures with Madi outside around the school in the sunshine this week. Sunshine is beautiful! I’ve never missed it so much in my life. This weekend Sam, Madi, and I (from Yongzhou), Shelby and Cierra (from Shuangpai), Savanna, Mariah, Alyssa, and Nora (from Longhui) all took a train to Dong’an (so this is my second time there), and we just had a blast! We walked around the markets and such, where I got some sweet communist army shoes and some books to read, and just got to all hang out as Americans. Alyssa and I (being the rebels we are) bowled with pomelos (a thick-pealed, white, bland fruit that nobody likes) and water bottles in the Carter’s living room, Nora and I got to just sit outside in the sun and talk about life, Shelby read to us, and we all just got to chat, read, play cards, watch movies, and just have normal, casual fun. I love Americans!

Saturday night we all went out to eat and I got to add “cow stomach” to my list of odd foods I’ve eaten. It’s not a favorite of mine…it tasted like some sort of chewy tentacles. Later that evening we had a blind “Chinese Lays Chips Tasting”. They had chicken flavor, cherry tomato flavor, cucumber flavor, lime flavor, seaweed flavor, mango flavor, and blueberry flavor, all of which I got wrong. Out of those, I think the seaweed was my favorite-which I’m sure wouldn’t have been had I known what it was before I tried it. It’s funny how different your perspective is on things when you are blind to prior knowledge or color. Sunday afternoon for lunch we had an “American Food Party”! Madi and I made Reeses Brownies (thanks to Madi’s mom ;), Sam made some instant potato soup, the Dong’an couple (Matt and Kristal Carter) made potatoes, gravy, and stuffing, Nora and Alyssa made amazing scrambled eggs (with cheese!), Shelby and Cierra made hot chocolate, and Savanna and Mariah made s’mores. Oh it was delicious!

So that was my week. This week is the May Holiday, so I only teach Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Thursday all of the previously mentioned people minus the Carters are going to Zhang Jia Jie (张家界) and Fenghuang (凤凰). Zhang Jia Jie is a famous national park and beautiful rock forest, and for those of you who know how crazy I am about rocks, you know how exceptionally thrilled I am about visiting there and filling up my cameras with geology. From what I hear, Fenghuang is like Yangshuo but foreigners usually don't know about it, so I am so happy about this week. I’ll have from this Thursday through next Monday off school. “I’m happier than a raccoon at Christmas-WITH PEANUT BUTTER!” Haha, that’s what I say a lot out here when I’m super happy, which happens rather frequently. Life is just so good out here. I think I’ll teach my first two days of classes an English song and work on their names, and whatever else they want to learn. I just have to be careful not to tell them too much or else I’ll get confused about what I taught my first 8 classes as opposed to the other half, you know?

So life in China is super super good as always! If you can’t tell, I absolutely LOVE it here in China! Thank you everyone for emailing me back (it is always exciting to hear from people I know when I can’t see them!) and writing me letters. I feel loved! :) I appreciate all your prayers and responses in my behalf.

I love you all!

First Batch of Photos

Pics 1-3: Students and their nametags

Pic 4: Sam's students that meet in my apt

Pic 5: A Grandma and baby playing on the campus

Pic 6: A student enjoying 10 minutes of sunsine between classes

Pic 7: My campus lake

Pic 8: My campus. Pretty, huh? Pic 9: Enjoying nature.

Pic 10: The oldest tree in the area...a few hundred years.
Pic 11: "Alright, up against the wall!" "How about 'up the wall'?"

Pic 12: Nora and I in Dong'an

Pic 13: Just another normal cultural picture



Second Batch of photos

Pic 1: Bet you can guess what's about to happen.

Pic 2: Huh, that's weird. A fire hydrant is urinating...too bad not on a dog.

Pic 3: Alyssa and I chillin' after our dance music video (without the video part)

Pic 4: Pomelo bowling!

Pic 5: Our Group out to dinner (Madi took it)

Pic 6: I got a new hair style

Pic 7: Making our American food (and sharing an apple with smears of peanut butter)

Pic 8: Mine and Madi's masterpiece

Pic 9: My contribution (I love peanut butter, like a raccoon on Christmas :)


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY4MDE1OTky.html

There's the video link of a short clip of the markets, watch for what animals you see for food.

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Yongzhou the Beautiful
10:19 PM | Author: Nikki Checketts

Know what’s funny? After last week’s email about sunshine and blue skies, it rained all week. God has a sense of humor, and do I know it! But the rain was good. See, when it rains it doesn’t smell bad, and for once China seems to at least appear a little more clean. I like the rain, but given it’s rained a lot of the time since I got here, I am looking forward to the second half of my time being sunny and nice (knock on wood).
This week I taught my students Weird Al’s song “Eat It”, and taught them about American food customs. They all sang the song because they already knew Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, so they only had different lyrics, which I explained, and for the most part, the lessons went exceptionally. It was a lot of information all in one day, and a lot of practicing in one day, so this week I’m going to talk to them a little bit about my house, some new slang and mannerisms, and let them sing along to some of their favorite American songs with the lyrics provided. I figure they deserve it after an intense week. Oh, and I’m going to make it a point also this week to learn as many names as I can. I have about 1,000 students, but I love them all and I want them to know that…the least I can do is remember their names, right? At English Corner on Friday (just a time for kids to speak ‘only English’ for an hour outside with us foreign teachers and other students who are pretty good) some of my students told me that I was like a boy. I asked how, and they reminded me that girls in China are reserved and shy for the most part, and the guys are the crazy ones. I told them I had to be crazy in order for them not to fall asleep with their ridiculous schedules. They laughed but agreed and a bunch of other students told me they’ve seen me teach through the windows and wished they were in my class. Haha, that always makes me feel happy inside.
So teaching went very well, although I am super sick of the song now and will probably not sing it anytime soon again. Life is good. This week I bugged Sam enough so he took us to the university here in Yongzhou, and the scenery is beautiful! We walked through the campus and down a strip of stores and then across some bridges all lit up at night and got some sweet pics. We crossed the bridge onto an island to look for buried treasure. Instead, we found some people who could speak English! Now that’s my kind of treasure. It was super fun. Sam, Madi, and I are pretty much our own little family. We eat usually one or two meals together every day, we go out to town and shop for food together, we go see things together, travel together, read conference talks every night together and have family prayer, and we are just way tight. Sometimes I feel bad Sam’s name isn’t included in my blog title. Haha. So we got to see some sweet things on Thursday night, and Friday night Shuangpai came in and we went out and got our favorite chao mien (fried noodles), and I bought a side of jiaozi (steamed dumplings-I LOVE those things), and every week it’s sorta like a family reunion, and I like it. We get together and see things, play cards, have church, visit, laugh, joke, tell funny stories all as Americans, it’s a good time. Friday Daoxian and Dong’an came into town and we went out to eat with the director of the school, Mr. Zhou, and our liaison Mr. Luke Liu, took us to dinner and I got to try some awesome things.
DISH LOCATION OPINION
Chicken Foot Shenzhen and a few places since Pretty delicious, not gonna lie. People eat it like beef jerky here.
Dog Here in the Yongzhou cafeteria It was accidental, but good, and I feel horrible to say this, but I’ve craved it since.
Eel Here in Yongzhou The meat is very good, but the guts and head are nasty.
Duck Head Here in Yongzhou The meat is good and tender, but the brains are pretty gross.
Chicken Head In Ling Ling City Not as good as the ducks, but worthwhile to try.
Boiled, Pre-matured Chicken Egg (Inside the chicken, before it gets a shell) Yongzhou Good. Just tastes like a hardboiled yoke.

Those are just the abnormal meats that might interest people. I’ve tried a ton of other things, but nothing as cool as those.
Anyway, out of those things I listed, I had some chicken foot, eel, duck and chicken head, and a pre-mature egg this week. It was weird, after I’d eaten those things, I think my appetite grew (not for more of the same though) and didn’t disappear like some people’s might when they try such “disgusting” food. Haha, I love it here. I love trying new things. So Saturday we went out to lunch with the group and then we climbed the pagoda in our city overlooking the river, which was amazing, and then we went to a haunted amusement park with old, broken-down rides. It was very pretty. Then we just walked down by the university and the bridges again. Great sights. Sunday I gave a talk virtually via skype to all the foreign members in China, which went very well, thanks to God’s grace, which was actually the topic of my talk, how fitting. :)
By the end of the week, everyone was sort of tired, so the only person who was still game with seeing new things was me, so a couple 3rd year students, Bruce and William, took me to a Confucius Temple, which is so beautiful. There are actually many Buddhist influences in that temple, and it was absolutely beautiful to explore. I think I’m dragging Sam and Madi back for FHE next week. After we went to the temple, my students asked if I wanted to see the 2,000 year old house on a rock in the river. Why not?!?! So we got to ride in a fishing boat paddled by some fishermen to this house on a huge boulder originally built two millennia ago, and it was just so amazing to be able to see so much history in one day. It was Nikki Heaven. Then for the last stop Bruce and William, and their friend who ended up driving us around- Liu Jie I think his name was- took me to an old Catholic church now a daycare. The students were saying there are some Catholic people who go there sometimes, but for the most part it’s a kindergarten. There were some Bibles on a shelf, and William, one student that always asks me about religion opened one and read me the first part, translated. He read for a little bit. I wasn’t going to stop him…………….So this week was awesome!
Luckily my package with my camera arrived in perfect timing! I felt the Easterness and love from home, which is always a joy! With my camera I was able to get some pretty good pictures this week. Life is so good! I am super excited for this week! Can you believe I’m halfway through my time here in China? It has flown way too fast, but I’m very happy with what I have done thus far.
I love you all! I can feel your prayers and I love love love to hear from you all!

Nikki Checketts
C/o Zhou Zhixi
Foreign Affairs Office of No. 1 Middle School of Yongzhou City
Hunan Province, P.R. China
Post Code: 425006


Group 1 Pictures
Pic 1: Assembly line making French Toast before General Conference
Pic 2: Madi in our grocery store
Pic 3: Checking out the university campus
Pic 4: Madi and Sam walking through the university campus
Pic 5: Sam rocking out in a guitar store on university street
Pic 6-9: Bridges
Pic 10-11: Eating with the teachers
Pic 12: Our group
Pic 13: The pagoda at a distance
Pic 14: View from the Pagoda
Pic 15: Sam on top the Pagoda



















Group 2 Pictures
Pic 1: Me in the pagoda
Pic 2: Me at the haunted amusement park
Pic 3: Lawrence, Quincy, and I rode that paddle boat duck through the lake.
Pic 4: The Confucius Temple here in Yongzhou
Pic 5: William, Me, and Bruce at the Temple
Pic 6: The Liu Temple statue of Liu
Pic 7: Our Boat Ride to the 2,000 year old castle on a rock
Pic 8: The castle on the Rock
Pic 9: Me in the castle












Group 3 Pictures
Pic 1: Originals from the 2,000 year old castle on a rock
Pic 2: The Catholic church now a daycare in Yongzhou
Pic 3: Chinese Bibles and Hymnals there
Pic 4: The outside of the church





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