Pilgrims, Turkeys, and the Final Day
22 July, 2010, 03:47 am
We are now done with the English Camp in Hanzhong China for 2010. We had a great time with a fabulous team from the USA and Hong Kong. We had some great conversations with the students both in and outside of the classroom, and four in particular were very wonderful.
We were together with the students for 9 full days. A typical day for us began when we wake up around 6:30 or 7am. We had the EPI Coffeemaker in my room which gets going at this time. People start coming by and getting ready for the day. Some of our team elected to go down to the hotel restaurant on the third floor, where there was a variety of authentic Chinese breakfast food, none of which you might recognize as breakfast. But as the old saying goes, "1.3 billion people can't be wrong". Nevertheless, the hotel graciously provided some eggs and toast for us.
The next step of the day was getting to the lobby by 8:30am. This is not an easy task in that we were on the 16th and 17th floors and the elevators were very slow. So we have to start pushing the "down" button at 8:15 or so. At 8:30 sharp the university sends a 22-passenger bus to pick us up. The ride to the school takes about 20 minutes.
Our classes started at 9am when all the students gathered for homeroom. The first hour of the teaching day is used for general instruction. We talk about many things....the movie the night before or announcements for the day. We might sing a song, go over some tongue twisters, or play a game with movements to get some energy going.
For the next two hours from 10am to 12pm we have topical classes, where we go over vocabulary related to 16 different subjects, i.e. Computer, Leadership, Advertising, Media, Marketing, and Medicine. By rotating the teachers around to different classrooms for the different topics, each teacher gets to teach all of the students in the camp. This means that every teacher is in front of every student at least once during the camp and has the chance for dialogue and relationship.
Since we brought teachers with us from all ages and backgrounds our students found someone they relate to. We've had the privilege over the years of developing friendships with students, some of which remain today. All of the kids are eager to learn and latch on to the openness of the teachers. It is really a joy getting to know them.
One of the best parts of the learning process is role playing and skits using English. We do things like, a daughter asks her father for permission to go to a dance. A young man asks a girl to marry him. We had a skit the other day that the kids made up about Thanksgiving. Two of the students were Pilgrims and another student was a turkey. The Pilgrims chased, captured, and decapitated the "turkey" for dinner. It was hysterical. It was interesting during discussion to find one of the kids stood up and gave a 5 minute history of American Thanksgiving, complete with accurate names and dates.
So now we are done for another year. We have been working in China for about 12 years now and each time is different. I'm so very grateful to each of the 20 teachers who came and volunteered their time to making this a success. The days were very long but everyone hung in there and engaged as many students as they could.
Thank you also to those of you who prayed for and supported the project participants. We could not have accomplished anything without that partnership. Pray for the students we talked to and the relationships that have begun.
Posted By: Phil Eyster
Photo: The entire English Camp on the final day
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We Are Now Beginning the Second Half of English Camp
16 July, 2010, 05:08 am
It is Friday morning and we are beginning our 5th day of classes. I will try to bring you up-to-date on what has been happening the past few days since our last plog.
First, we are very thankful for the weather. It has rained some nearly every day, but that has kept the temperature down and made things much more comfortable. Today, as I write this, it is raining quite hard. We don’t have a thermometer, but I would say it has been in the mid to high seventy’s. That is much cooler than we have normally experienced here in China.
The day is divided into three sections. In the morning we have three, one hour blocks of teaching time. The first block is homeroom where the teaching teams are with their respective groups. The second two blocks of time in the morning are topical sessions that rotate from class to class each day. The morning session is from 9:00 to 12:00. The afternoon session is from 2:00 to 4:00pm and the teachers are again with their homeroom groups for this session. The evening session involves the entire camp and generally runs from 6:00 to 8:00pm.
Most of the time between sessions is spent with individual students or small groups of students. Students and teachers often eat together and share about their lives and cultures. It is great to see relationships develop, and it is always a time where many “questions” come up.
Classes have been going very well. We have reached the point where the students are now very comfortable with our interactive teaching process. This is somewhat foreign to them because their education system is quite formal. So it takes a few days for them to understand that we want them to talk and get involved in the class. The good news is that once they understand it, they are very engaged and will do anything they are asked.
On Wednesday we had a day off. The team went to Stone Gate. A large hydro-electric project. It is the site of an ancient plank road that ran along the river bank. Now, because of the hydro project, most of it is under water. As part of the attraction, a thousand-foot zip line traverses the river gorge 600 feet above the water. You take the zip line across, climb up a long set of stairs, and take another zip line back. Most of the team took advantage of the experience and found it exhilarating and a bit scary! Wednesday afternoon was a time for shopping and/or relaxing. In the evening, the university took us to a very nice restaurant for Peking Duck with all the “fixins”.
Thursday morning it was back to class for continued work with the students and helping them with their spoken English. Today (Friday) we started the second series of topical morning classes. Tonight is Q&A night. Our teachers stand in front of the auditorium and the students get to ask any question they like. It is always interesting and sometimes hilarious.
By Monday it will all be over. Please pray for our relationships with the kids as we move toward the close of camp.
Posted By: John Pullen
Photo: The EPI Group on our day off
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Very Long First Day of EPI English Camp
12 July, 2010, 05:27 am
It is Monday morning here in Hanzhong and we are beginning our second day of classes. We have had limited access to the internet, so getting the plogs and photos on has been slow and tedious. We've been able to update Twitter and the EPI Facebook page though, so keep checking them out. Let me bring you up to speed on what has been happening over the last few days.
After arriving in Hanzhong at about 2:00am Friday morning, everyone got a relatively short night of sleep. At 1:00pm Friday we began orientation to prepare the team for the beginning of camp. Orientation continued Saturday morning, and each of the homeroom teams had time to prepare for the opening day of classes on Sunday.
The hotel where we are staying is very comfortable. There have been a few glitches to work through like negotiating to have the air conditioning left on all night. After three nights we seem to have resolved that issue, PTL! That’s pretty quick compared to past experiences. The biggest issue is that we are on the 16th and 17th floors. There are three, rather slow, elevators so one has to plan ahead to get to the ground floor on time to meet the bus that transports us to the university - a rather minor problem in the big scheme of things. All-in-all, we are very comfortable and are thankful for the accommodations. Physically everyone is doing well, getting adequate rest and nourishment. The temperature has been quite comfortable thus far, averaging in the low to mid 80’s.
The opening ceremony for the camp began at 3:00pm on Saturday. This was the first time we had contact with the students. Everyone on the team was excited to meet the students and as usual, we received a warm welcome and rousing round of applause as we entered the auditorium. Following the opening ceremony we all had a chance to mingle with the students and introduce ourselves. It is always exciting to see how quickly some of the students seek out and connect to members of the team. Teachers also had a chance to visit their respective classrooms and begin to plan their strategy for the first day of classes on Sunday.
It is truly a privilege and joy to work with the students. They are so energetic, engaged, and anxious to develop relationships with their “foreign” teachers. This year we have approximately 135 students in the camp and have broken them into four homerooms.
Saturday evening we were blessed to have an extended team meeting where we shared, encouraged, and prayed for each team member as they prepared for the first day of classes.
Classes officially began at 8:30am Monday. The entire camp gathered in the auditorium. Phil then began the process of dividing the students into four groups. This is always an interesting process because friends get split up and they are always trying to figure out a way to stay together. It took a little over a half hour, but by about 9:00, all of the students had been assigned to a home room and all of the groups were ready to get started.
Teams began by introducing the teachers and then getting a class roster established so we would be able to take attendance at each session. This year it is necessary for a lot of flexibility. We discovered shortly after arriving that some of the students are still taking exams. So, for the first few days we will have some students coming and going at different times.
By the end of Day 1 the students and teachers were well acquainted and excited to be a part of the camp. The first day ended with the entire camp together in the evening for the first Narnia movie. We show the movies with Chinese subtitles so the students can hear the English and follow along in their language. They all seemed to enjoy the movie and a number of the classes are using it for discussion in their homeroom class this morning.
We ended the day with a very brief team meeting after a very, very long day that started at 6:30am and ended at 9:30pm. By that time, everyone was more than ready for bed and a much deserved nights rest. The entire team was encouraged by the enthusiasm and attitude of the students.
Please continue to hold us up – for safety, sensitivity, compassion, opportunity, and protection from our Adversary. We appreciate and depend on your continued support.
Posted by: John Pullen
Photo: Tracy Gibbs of Memphis, TN teaches her class
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Opening Ceremony Day in Hanzhong, China
10 July, 2010, 00:04 am
We are settled into our hotel in Hanzhong. We arrived at around 2:30am on Friday morning after a 3 hour plane ride from Hong Kong to Xian and a 4 hour bus ride from there through the mountains with 65 tunnels to Hanzhong. By the time we arrived at our hotel we were very tired and ready for bed. It took some effort to get checked into our rooms, but most of us were in bed by 3:30.
Friday morning we slept until lunch, at which time we all met at the hotel dining room. After eating we began the orientation sessions which will run until Saturday afternoon.
There are 21 of us altogether in the EPI group, and we are spread out over 12 rooms on the top floors of our hotel. Our accommodations are very nice, although the hotel turns off the air conditioning at night. We're hoping to get this policy changed. We will be having breakfast at the hotel and then lunch and dinner at the university with the students each day.
Our team has joined together very well. Last night we split into 3 groups of 7, praying and laying hands on each other. There have been some problems getting this camp set up, which lets us know that we need to be in prayer constantly this week.
Right now it is Friday morning here in China. We will be meeting the students at the opening ceremony this afternoon, and it is at that point I will find out exactly how many we have at the camp. We divide the camp into 4 homerooms and give each room a city name...Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Memphis, and Denver were the names we chose for this year. Each of our teachers is assigned to one of these homerooms and will stay with that room for the entire camp.
Our orientation time has been spent on going over the camp schedule, activities, curriculum, and rules. We have also had some time to get to know each other and to meet with our fellow homeroom teachers. The team this year seems great and we look forward to what God is going to do through us.
This afternoon, Saturday, at 3pm we will meet our students for the first time at the opening ceremony. This ceremony is attended by officials from the university and is a big deal with lots of clapping and introductions.
The internet connection at the hotel has not been stable so it has taken me a while to get this posted. Thank you for your patience. I will try to get something on each day.
Posted By: Phil Eyster
Photo: Team meeting in our hotel room at night
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The EPI Team Assembles in Hong Kong
7 July, 2010, 08:43 pm
We are all assembled in Hong Kong...16 of us. This afternoon we will meet up with 5 members of our team from Hong Kong and then all of us will fly up to Xi'an. From there we will take a bus to the city of Hanzhong arriving at around 3am on Friday morning if all goes well.
John Pullen (EPI) and Nancy Wilkinson (RI) arrived on Tuesday flying east through London. The rest of the team, Dave Schlup (CO), Tracy Gibbs (TN), Veronica Kernodle (TN), Chris Law (TN), Becky and Kristen Weaver (TN), Lauren Lancaster (TN), Saul Gutierrez (CA), Ashley Johnson (CA), Sandra Oliger (AR), and Deborah Young (AR) arrived at 5:30am on Wednesday having flown West from Los Angeles.
I have been in Hong Kong with my daughters Michelle and Kimberly since last Friday. We have been getting things set up for the arrival of the team. This past weekend Michelle and Kimberly presented the ministry at one church while I preached at another church. We've been busy, however, on Monday we decided to go to Hong Kong Disneyland...had a great time.
Last night the team had dinner at the best noodle house in Hong Kong, a tiny little place with just a few tables, cash only, no English, and usually a line that extends around the corner. The team then took a bus to Hong Kong Harbour where we watched the nightly light show synced to music. Following this we went to the outdoor night market in Mong Kok, then came back to the Booth Lodge for the night.
As I write this, it is Thursday morning. We are 12 hours ahead of US Eastern Time. We will check out of the hotel at noon and head somewhere for lunch. We will then take a bus to the airport at 2:30pm. It's going to be a long day....a bus, a plane, and another bus. We will arrive in Hanzhong around 3:00 or 4:00am on Friday morning.
I want to take this time to thank those of you who supported and are praying for our team. We could not do these projects without our teams who sacrifice so much to go with us. We are looking forward to a great time as we begin the work on Friday.
Posted By: Phil Eyster
Photo: The EPI China Project Team at Hong Kong Harbour
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China Project Plogs
28 June, 2010, 00:39 am
The Plogs for the China project will get underway when the team arrives in Hong Kong on July 7th.
In the mean time I will be traveling to Hong Kong with my daughters Michelle and Kimberly beginning on June 28th. We will go through London where we have a couple of meetings and then arrive in Hong Kong on July 2nd. I will be preaching in Hong Kong on July 4th and then getting things ready for the full team's arrival on the 7th.
In the mean time I will be updating Twitter and the EPI Facebook page starting on June 28th.
Posted By: Phil Eyster
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