I was hoping to blog a lot more than I did about CISP and the MMK project, but I got wrapped up in the lovely craziness of it all, I suppose. (That...or I just had bad time management skills. heh.) I've been home three weeks now and am heading back to college tomorrow, but three weeks hasn't been enough time to make me stop thinking about the awesome program all the time. (I also miss good China food and shopping at fab Chinese prices!) So here's a post to wrap it all up...in haiku form, like the two others, of course.

A PESI Summer

~"China and the World"

Three intense weeks of learning

My eyes were opened

Perspectives were stretched

New thoughts; old flipped upside down

...the food was good too.

Saw it all firsthand:

Pain, progress, hope, tradition

Shanghai neighbors, friends

"China's on the rise,"

they told us. I believe them -

growth like no other!

Is the change for real?

Beneath the flurry of gain,

the hard cost remains.

Growth at people's cost

Taxi drivers, migrant kids

Can you call that gain?

China's on the rise, 

true. But China, don't forget

those who brought you there:

Your people: proud, strong

Nameless, earnest, left behind

...my new Shanghai friends.

Memories, lessons

Fun, crazy, hard, worthwhile

Head spinning, heart touched. ~

I miss Shanghai and the PESI team SO much! I thank God for the awesome privilege of going to China this summer with such a great group of people! Love to all!

CLM <3

P.S. JAM AND JELLY.

MMK Project
This past week we taught 4^th graders at migrant school here in Shanghai for four days. It was intense, tiring, and fabulously fun. The school and neighborhood will be completely torn down within the next few years, so the kids will be forced to leave their little community of a school. It’s heartbreaking all the kids have already had to go thru (leaving their home province, having to go to a migrant school because the public schools won’t take them, busy working parents, etc). At the same time, it’s really amazing to see how much these students are just, well, kids. As some of my team members said, school seemed to be the place where they could just leave all of that baggage behind and be free to act their age. They have the same attitudes, desires (to play, go crazy, win games, and be praised), abilities, dreams as anyone else. I just hope they get to act on those dreams and abilities.

I have somewhat lost any real desire to write in complete sentences, so the rest of this is in haiku form (again).

Four days is too short
Not much connection at first
Now…I miss them. Lots.

Expected fear, hurt
Craziness and love instead
Normal, special kids.

Mark 10:14’s words
Acceptance, warmth, honesty
Kids had more than us

We didn’t do much
Smiles, games, English words, small talk
Maybe that’s enough.

School in three years: GONE.
Anger, frustration, sadness
Why more suffering?!?

Tears for their future
Injustice, but God still reigns
That’s tomorrow’s hope.

Some favorite memories:
-teaching them the hokey-pokey. HAHAHA.
-“Stop, drop, and a rolllll.” –our students’ pronunciation of the fire drill during English lesson
-“We’re going to play the rock game…where you have to act like a rock.” –Aaron’s description of the teachers’ favorite game :P
-“Photo voice”: seeing the kids’ joy in finding beautiful/random/strange things to photograph.
-“Da gege is from Africa.” [Da gege is definitely Chinese] –James
-Finding out the kids’ dreams, ranging from model to teacher to dad.
-14-yr-old Eric asking me to play basketball with them the last day
-Talking with the brilliant little Carol
-Playing “Big Wind Blows”




-CLM<3

The First Week in Shanghai: A Series of Haikus

Gone, my previous post
Sigh, Chinese wi-fi. I tried.
So again I write.

Shanghai, ocean's gem
Excitement, skyscrapers, heat
Opportunities

Lectures, field trips, fun
I have learned so much this week
Lessons jam-packed, fast

AH, must speak Chinese
I have been shoved out of my comfort zone
Yeah, it's good for me

Taxis, homework, food
I feel stretched, challenged
Bigger China dreams

To bed I must go
Tomorrow, MMK starts
Make a difference.