China On My Mind

Next month, it will have been four years since I went to China. I can honestly say that my time in China was one of the most life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. I have not been the same person since I stepped off that plane after a long flight home.

For those who are not familiar with my trip to China, here’s a quick recap: I spent one month living in China - one week training in Hong Kong, and 3 weeks teaching an “English Camp” for high school students in a semi-rural area of the smallest province in China. It was amazing experience to live in another culture, especially in a small city where we were the first foreigners to ever stay there more than a day. Without a doubt, the highlight of the trip was time spent with students. We had so much fun together, and I developed close bonds with my students as I learned their stories, hopes, and struggles.

This was our first day together.

 And this was our last.

Even though it’s been four years, I can’t think of a single day when I haven’t thought about China. However, lately, it has been weighing more heavily on my mind.  I still keep in contact with some of students, via email and QQ. I recently received an email from one of them, telling me of his struggles at university: he worries that he picked the wrong university, his major is difficult, the power is shut off at night, the professors are rarely present, it’s such a financial burden to his parents, and he is faced, like all Chinese students, with an overwhelming pressure to succeed. And as the son of a farming family from the country, he is already disadvantaged. His email ended with a simple plea: “help me, help me.”

I felt completely helpless. What on earth could I possibly say or do to help this young man? With limited email as our only means of communication, very little. After spending some time thinking about it and talking to a friend who has also taught English in China, I wrote back to him expressing my concern and empathy.

It’s so frustrating to me that there’s so little I can do for him and other students like him. And as difficult as it was for me to answer his email, and as difficult as my life seems sometimes, I realize that his is most likely much more difficult. In a society where students face an overwhelming pressure to find a good job to support their parents (especially if they are the only child), failure leaves them feeling hopeless and helpless.

Judah and I always have the thought in the back of our minds that we want to go back to China one day. These faces remind me why.

My girls

My boys

Learning about Christmas

"Miss Jane, this is our very very very special Christmas tree!"

So much laughter!