Settled

“See, here’s where we are right now,” he said pointing to the map on the wall of the subway station, “We take Line 4 up one stop to Line 10 and take that east to Line 5, and up one stop and we’re home.”

This -- from the guy who four days ago was totally overwhelmed. Amazing how fast a team of mature adults can settle in and become familiar with a totally new country. The jet lag is past, the teaching training has gone extremely well, and we are off and running. The team is taking care of each other as if they had been friends for years – though many met less than a week ago.

What is involved in orientation? In the case of this team, orientation is a combination of learning to function in a huge Chinese city as an individual, and learning how to teach Chinese learners, either university students or university professors. We’ve worked on TESOL methodologies, explored the curriculum and seen it modeled by experienced teachers, discussed what goes on in plenary sessions and how to prepare lessons. We’ve talked about how Chinese learn and where they are in English level. A Chinese language teacher has taught survival Chinese. Another Chinese administrator has given us a broad orientation to the university system in Beijing, while yet another Chinese teacher – a fellow follower -- has briefed us on the emotional and spiritual needs of the students.

We’ve walked the campus, looked at classrooms, and explored.

Meanwhile, in the living situation, we’ve settled most of the room issues…at least for now. Several team members have changed rooms three times due to air conditioners not working or plumbing problems. But all in all, the dorms where we are living are spacious, bright, and comfortable. Each room has a private bath, and even couples have enough space to breathe in their room. Our rooms are a place to retreat from the bustle of the streets, off on a far end of the campus, with a shaded garden out front. We share the dorms with students from around the world – Africans, southeast Asians, even a few Americans like the Black kid down the hall who loves rap at full blast but who is always quite willing to turn it down, AGAIN.

Not only has the team settled into life, but they are mobile.  They have learned how to use buses, subway, and taxis, and of course, how to walk, walk, walk. One couple clocked over six miles yesterday on their pedometer.

This morning the team worshiped with hundreds of other internationals and then did lunch together. Two tables, packed elbow to elbow, chopsticks flying, food disappearing, talk and banter.  Tomorrow we begin classes, and a whole new chapter of life in China, but for now, the team is settled.