Camp China

hi danile

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:04:58 -0700

hi danile
very good news . now you can buy new iphone 4 from this site
i just got one this week
i like it much . new original !!
you can order directly on this company : elerong.com
just do it now !
save more than 30% !!!

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Back in America

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:55:04 -0700

Everyone from our Summer programs has made it safely back home. We are thankful for a remarkable Summer of teaching, fun, and impact in Asia. The stories that we're hearing from the teachers is life-changing. We've all been changed this Summer in unique and unforgettable ways. Our hope is that many of these teachers will feel compelled to return next year or even come live in Asia for a season of life. If you or anyone you know might be interested in a life changing Summer please tell them to visit www.elic.org for more information.

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Camp China Does Debriefing

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 07:17:58 -0700

Today, all of the Camp China teams returned to Beijing where they had the chance to spend time debriefing their summer experience. We began with 'mixed groups' in the afternoon. Each of the teachers met with individuals from other teams to process and share about their summer. This was followed by a time of discussing how to tell others what we experienced while in Asia with friends and family back home. Knowing that sometimes 'reverse culture shock' can be a big challenge for readjusting to life back in the States, we talked about how to transition back home effectively. Alumni teachers of Camp China shared their insights and encouragement about the process. Teachers were given the opportunity to hear about future service opportunities with ELIC and also gave their feedback and thoughts regarding their Camp China experience via an evaluation. At dinner, the teams enjoyed their last meal in China with one another soaking up their final tastes of favorites they had come to love over the summer like gong bao ji din (spicy chicken and peanuts). Our evening session began with each of the teams sharing songs and dances that they had performed at their schools over the course of the summer. Highlights included the 'Summer Dream' chant, an appearance from the DeYang Spice Girls, a rap by "END" of Shashi, LonDe's rousing rendition of "Lean on Me," team Tai'an's climb to the top of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and team Wujin showing everyone "A Whole New World." Things turned more serious as we spent time in song and reflection, thanking the Father for His faithfulness throughout the summer and hearing stories and testimonies of His provision. The evening ended with teachers writing a letter to themselves that they will receive later in the fall, as a reminder of the things they had learned this summer. Tomorrow, everyone will get up bright and early for the 7:45am flight back to the States. It's been an amazing summer. Thanks so much for reading this blog and remembering us as we've served. Partnering together with you--Camp China 2010.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

From Camp Shashi...

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:55:46 -0700

Hello again from Shashi!

So much has happened in the past week since we have written. Classes went smoothly last week and culture nights were a blast. We had fun with the students while learning about Christmas, weddings, and Valentine’s Day. Some of our team members even got married. Don’t worry, we did not abuse the ELIC no dating policy. There was no dating involved.
This weekend, we got the interesting experience of going on a field trip with all of the students and the Chinese officials. We visited the city of Yichang. We ventured through mountains, caves, and rivers. Spending quality time with our students was an absolute blessing and it was very neat to see some of the beautiful scenery that China has to offer.
We are sad that our time is almost over in Shashi. Getting to know these students has taught us so much about our hearts individually and as a team. We hope the we have made as much of an impact on these students as they have made on us.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Longde #1 Final Update

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:47:16 -0700

Longde 1 has said goodbye to the students they've taught and loved. We were showered with many thoughtful gifts, notes, tears, and followed back to our hotel by a posse of our students helping us carry things or just wanting to spend a little more time with us. It's amazing what 3 weeks can accomplish in relationships, even cross-cultural ones. While the day brought much sadness, we're grateful that this sadness means that there was a real connection. We can only hope for what that will mean for our students in the future. I have continually been blown away by how my team truly loved their students even when it was difficult, how He brought us through our exhaustion, how He provided us with a team that gets along (!), and how we have been so warmly received in Longde. We are all so excited for the laborers who will continue investing in this place.

Thank you so much for following our journey here. Please enjoy these pictures from our last couple days.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Team Deyang Goes to Chengdu

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:39:47 -0700

Team Deyang had the amazing opportunity to travel to Chengdu last Saturday to visit the panda reserve. Our outstanding Foreign Affairs Officers arranged the trip for us in the school bus. The STP team serving here this summer and the AFS group at our school also enjoyed the field trip. During the last part of our day we were able to watch several pandas playing, sleeping, and lounging. It was so much fun to watch these incredible creatures up close. A memorable day!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Hello again from Team Deyang

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:56:54 -0700

Last week Team Deyang had a packed schedule: lots of classroom time, outside activities, and culture nights. We have shared Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, including our Hope in our Risen Savior! Last Wednesday night our students performed for us in a talent show which included violin, piano, saxophone, and dance performances, singing, skits,and chirades. The evening ended with the microphone being passed from student to student as they shared how much they love and appreciate their North American teacher. Our hearts were full as we walked back to our dorm rooms that night.

Several from our team have had opportunities recently to spend more time with students one-on-one or in small groups. Our desire for deeper relationships has been honored by the Father in fun and memorable ways. One team member attended a birthday party for one of her students and conversation was meaningful. Two team members went with students (and a student's parents) out to eat and did some shopping and site-seeing.

We are noticing how most of the students' comfort level in spoken English has increased greatly. Watching them gain confidence blesses these teachers,who are working so hard to plan lessons appropriate for the levels of their students.

With only three days left of camp we are feelling the urgency to make every moment count. Thank you for Lifting Up our Camp China teams! Please Ask for significant, salty conversations and that we would bring honor to our Father in every way.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Team LongDe 2 :: Final week!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:42:36 -0700

With our last week of camp halfway over, Team LongDe 2 is facing our last few days here with a desire to end well and make a lasting impact. Though many of us are ready to leave behind our status of "celebrity foreigner" and the paparazzi that come with it, we are not yet ready to leave behind students and fellow Chinese teachers who have made the past three weeks so meaningful for us. The next few days will be bittersweet as we teach last classes, play final games, and prepare to leave our summer home of LongDe. As we say our goodbyes, we are comforted in knowing that the love we have known in our hearts this summer will remain with our students, even when we cannot.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

A Letter from the Hanyuan Team Leader

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:05:00 -0700

Hanyuan is a tiny little village about 6 hours south of the city of Chengdu. The village is surrounded by the beautiful mountains of Sichuan with green trees all around. We have had the privilege to work in this special place and meet hundreds of students and show them love. Though our team has had a couple of small trials, the Father has continued to show us His love and allowed us to pour out into these kids from all around the surrounding areas. As a team leader, I was called to accompany an ill teammate to Chengdu, however, my team continued to teach in my absence. Here is an excerpt from one of my teachers named Valerie, explaining an afternoon activity with the students: Last Wednesday, we were able to play water games with our students and it was a big hit! They told us that they have never played with water in our ways before. They got to move around to stations of bucket brigade, water trivia, water balloon toss, water gun tag, and duck duck splash. It was a little hectic for the teachers when the students got a little rowdy, but we know that they had a blast! It was so much fun to be able to do something new with the students that they could just let loose and enjoy.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

A Field trip to the Earthquake Region of Sichuan

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:05:08 -0700

We mentioned previously that most of our students are from earthquake-affected areas here in Sichuan province. Last Saturday our Foreign Affairs Officer took us all on a trip to Mianzhu, a city about 30 km north of Deyang. We passed rice fields, noticing smaller houses rather than tall apartment buildings. The small city of Deyang (population of 3.8 million!) offers a lot for us to see and do during free time, but being out in the countryside, seeing people going about their daily lives outside the city, was a refreshing change. Many of them were working in their gardens, using every available space to grow food.

Our time in the town of Hanwang, a “suburb” of Mianzhu, is hard to describe. Most of this town was destroyed by the May 12, 2008 earthquake to such an extent that they are unable to rebuild in this area. We were told that Hanwang was near the epicenter of the earthquake and is very close to the mountains. Rather than the earthquake originating at the epicenter and radiating outward into the plain where Chengdu and Deyang are located, the mountains held the earthquake. The affected areas are located in an elongated zone that fingered into the mountains.

The section of Hanwang we visited will be preserved as a memorial. There was an eerie quietness as we walked past cracked, destroyed, and fallen buildings that were vibrant places of family life 2 1/2 years ago. Seeing empty and broken shops, factories, schools, and homes that once held busy workers, parents, and children made our hearts ache for the loss of these people.

On the return trip to Deyang the bus stopped at a newly created community that was built by people from another province in China. Beautiful shops and homes for people whose lives were turned upside down two years ago! The people of Hanwang and other earthquake-affected areas are out of refugee buildings and into new neighborhoods. We are hoping that lives are being truly changed after experiencing such a horrific disaster. We hope that they see our hope.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Longde Team 2 Update

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:40:27 -0700

After a busy and eventful first week, we are happily settling into a more organized and planned week of camp. However, as our first festivity filled week taught us well, no plan is China is ever really a sure thing. We headed to school Tuesday afternoon with a well organized afternoon of American sports to teach our students; all requiring the great outdoors. As we walked to school beneath a perfectly blue sky, we had only small fears that our afternoon would be rained out. Afternoon thunderstorms are quite frequent here. But the sun was shining and the clouds were white.

We got to school and began preparing classes to go outside. Then the heavens opened. We stood at the windows and stared at the same blue skies and the same white clouds, yet somehow we were in the midst of a torrential downpour. And then it began to hail.

We stood and looked around at four classrooms full of students whom we now had nothing planned for. A perfect time to panic. Yet as our students realized their afternoon plans had come to a halt, they settled into their classrooms and began to ask their teachers all the questions there had not been time for in the past week. As we waited for the rain to stop, we watched as students began to open up and form deeper connections with both their teachers and their classmates. It was truly a blessing. We left school thankful to know One whose faithfulness does not depend on a perfectly planned schedule.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Longde 1 Celebrates the Little Things

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:51:10 -0700

It’s a party here in Longde. There are two Camp teams, one Summer Teaching Program (STP) team, and Matt, the Camp China director, was also here this week. There have been many reasons to celebrate: we have finished up our first two weeks (!!), we got to have some relaxation time over the weekend, and our teammate Jane’s birthday was on Wednesday. Having hot water for showers and a care package of goodness are also plusses. We’ve had more opportunities to hang out with our students at lunch in the cafeteria and in “Tea Times” with the classes.

We’ve also had many chances to enjoy some Chinese culture – both the beautiful and the crazy. On Sunday, some officials took us to the famous Liu Pan Mountain very near Longde. We also saw the Longde Museum, art district, and flower/vegetable gardens. Our banquet with Matt was another 3-hour long extravaganza, complete with 2x the amount of food we could humanly consume, much toasting, dice games, and toothpick games.

I think one of the biggest things we celebrate here is how much love He has given to us for our students. It’s one of my biggest joys to hear the teachers come back from their classes just beaming about something one of their students said or did, or just being joyful about their roles as teachers. They choose to love their students with a love not of themselves even on the difficult days when they’re exhausted or the students - especially the older boys - are squirrely. It has blessed us all in more ways than one to be serving and growing in this area, with these kids, for such a time as this.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Hello from Hanyuan!

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:47:06 -0700

Greetings from the remote mountains of Sichuan province (a six-eight hour bus ride from the capital city of Chengdu). Team Hanyuan has had a streching, but great first week of Camp. The accomodations where we're staying are excellent and the food here is (spicy!) but great. This past week, we enjoyed getting to know our students better and had fun with them during afternoon activities such as a Camp wide birthday party that we threw for everyone including a birthday dance party! Have you ever heard of hot pot? We had the chance to experience it twice this past week with our school officials. Thankfully there were lots of veggies and not to much mystery-meat! We are looking forward to the next two weeks. Thanks for remembering us in your thoughts.

Valerie, Jenna, Mandy, Erica, Amanda, Alanna, Kelsey, and Shannon

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Checking in from Team Shashi

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:17:27 -0700

We have just started our second week of teaching in the beautiful city of Shashi. We have had a week full of teaching, culture nights and great food. Yesterday, Sunday, was a day of rest for our team, so we are finally caught up on sleep and planning. Our team is in high spirits.
All of the teachers are finally getting into the swing of things with their classes. The students’ personalities are coming out and it has been a pleasure to start developing relationships with them. The students absolutely love culture nights. So far, we have presented Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Besides holidays, we have watched “Finding Nemo” and had a game day. If you do not already know this, our team is extremely blessed with acting and musical talent, so we have really enjoyed pulling those talents to make English Summer Camp 2010 a great experience.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

LongDe Middle School #1

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:53:25 -0700

Hi everyone! Longde Middle School 1 checking in. To see a picture of what it’s like to live and teach in Longde, please enjoy the following insights:

“It’s a stretching experience in many positive, joyous, frantic moments; moments of laughter and companionship. We embrace the simplicity.”

“Teaching is easy because the students are so obedient and disciplined. It’s culturally eye-opening: education is LIFE here in Ningxia. Living is humbling and makes us grateful.”

“Working cross-culturally, especially with a new school with ELIC takes all the energy we possess and forces us to rely on Someone else for our strength each day. We are blessed by fantastic school leaders who are excited to advance the English programs in Longde.”

A typical day in our life here in Longde looks like the following:

Eat breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Nescafe coffee included.
Walk to school – about a 10 minute walk. People nearly get into accidents by excessive staring.
Teach until lunch.
Have lunch somewhere… we’ve found noodle places everywhere! Even had the chance to have lunch in the cafeteria with students.
Have maybe an hour to “rest;” Walk back to school and have a culture or activity afternoon.
Have dinner somewhere. Once we ordered sweet and sour chicken, and we got a sweet and sour whole fish.
Plan for lessons/activities/ have team meetings.

We continue to covet your thoughts with school communication, team concerns, and relationships with our students.

More next week!

Longde 1

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Team Tai'an!

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:48:00 -0700

The first picture is some of our students and team members at the birthday party culture afternoon. We had a great time playing "pin the tail on the donkey", making cards, and eating cake. We had two students in the picture whose birthdays were the day we had the party. It was a great day.
On Saturday, we climbed Taishan, the famous mountain in our city. The girls all posed with some students on top with the gate to the "street in the clouds".
Our team is doing well and we are having a great time teaching. The students are precious and we are ready to start our second week teaching.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Team Deyang Update

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:29:22 -0700

We feel it is a privilege to be here at Deyang Foreign Language School teaching English to an amazing group of students. 99 students have come from earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan Province to be part of our camp this summer. We were warmly welcomed by representatives from the school's Foreign Affairs Office and have appreciated their help here at camp. Early this week, city education bureau and school officials welcomed us to Deyang by hosting a banquet in our honor. This special event included lots of toasts and speeches in between the ten courses that were served during the meal. The most exotic dish was shark fin soup! A trip to Deyang's town center to interact with the locals and climb to the bell tower was a great ending to our first day of camp.

Interaction with our students has been the highlight of our week! Seeing them learn, become more comforable in class, and open themselves up to us has been a blessing. We have had such fun doing water relays and other outside games, teaching them about Valentines' Day and how we celebrate birthdays. There have been late nights doing lesson planning and lots of team meetings to plan student activities. We are looking forward to the weekend to learn more about this area of China and its people, as well as to rest up for another busy, fun-filled week of camp here in Deyang.

Thank you to everyone who is Remembering our teams here in China. We are grateful to be here and thankful for good health and relationships.

Team Deyang: Anna, Kristin, Megan, Meredith, Paikwin, Tanci, and Julie

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

LongDe Camp Team Arrives!

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:44:31 -0700

Having survived a six-hour bus ride into the mountains of China, the LongDe Camp teams arrived in LongDe, Ningxia on Sunday afternoon. Three banquets, two opening ceremonies, hundreds of wide-eyed stares, and a few television debuts later they are beginning to feel at home in rural China. It has been an exciting two days of teaching for LongDe team 2 as the teachers get to know their students. The students of Long De No. 2 Middle School are shy and nervous around their teachers, the first foreigners they have ever seen. However, their personalities are beginning to show, leaving no doubt that soon they will be the topic of many a conversation for the team.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Camp China Explores Beijing

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:13:02 -0700

Before meeting with their school officials, the Camp China teams went out this morning to explore the local cultural and get a taste of what happens at the nearby parks, markets, and public spaces. Since it was the weekend, there was a lot to observe. Everyone had a great time documenting their experience through pictures, before preparing to be sent off to the schools where they'll be teaching this summer.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »

Meeting New Friends in China

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:19:24 -0700

One highlight for our Camp China teachers was meeting like-minded friends for dinner at a local restaurant. Each team was able to join a group of college students from local universities who share the same values and beliefs that we do. During the time together, Camp China teachers were able to share their own life stories and learn about the lives of their contemporaries. For many, this event was one of the most exciting events of our training time thus far. The Camp China teams are excited to depart for their school tomorrow!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment »