Teaching at SDU

It is Friday evening and I have just completed my first week teaching at SDU.  Richard starts his classes on Monday.  All 4 of my freshman classes will begin on Oct. 7 after the National Day Holiday.  Richard and I will be spending that week on the Silk Road Tour with Marvin Wu.  We are both really excited.

It has been a busy week preparing for classes and getting registered with the Entry and Exit Department in Jinan.   The trip took almost an hour on Wednesday afternoon and when we arrived, we found that all of our documents weren't original.  We had given the wrong ones to our department.  We felt so badly when we got home and found the originals in our apt.  Fortunately, Robin, now one of our best friends, was very kind and took us back on Thursday.  We visited the Shandong (Jinan) Museum.  It was the most spacious building I have ever been in in my life and the architecture and beauty were stunning.  We spent about an hour there looking at ancient Buddha statues and other ancient archeological finds.  The culture here in China is many thousands of years older than anything we have in the United States.  I can't wait to go back and explore more.

My first day of class was Wednesday.  I loved teaching my 1st period of 52 sophomore students.  My 2nd period class was at a disadvantage because the room was changed and I wasn't able to include the music that I had planned.  Today, I had 3 more (2 hour) classes and loved the experience.  How blessed we are to be here with these beautiful, kind Chinese young people.  Some of them waved to me on campus and my last class of Dental and Pharmacy students left with smiles and waves... even the boys.  I hope that they will be able to receive at least a portion of what they are giving me.  The Lord is with us in China.  He loves ALL of His children, all over the world. 

We have also eaten at the school cafeterias and at a local restaurant with Robbie called Southside Story.  The food was delicious.  Tomorrow, we have a potluck on the Main Campus with other Foreign Teachers, then church, with the sacrament, this Sunday.  How grateful I am for that.