Who Needs Fire?

Well, I have been back at school for two weeks. So far it has been busy, to say the least. It has been a little difficult to find my bearings in my study abroad classes. The classes are twelve weeks long, and I had a substitute cover the first three weeks, so I could go back to the US. It has been a difficult transition, but I am finally in control of my two classes. There has also been an added complication. I have also been asked to teach two more. Our staff lost our math teacher. As a result, I am now teaching a social sciences class and an algebra/trigonometry class. My friend Ted has also offered to help. He is teaching a statistics and business math class. I am glad too, because that stuff is beyond my understanding. I would feel much more comfortable teaching calculus, and I might end up doing just that, if we cannot find another math teacher. I have not yet started teaching at the high school. The students returned today, and they will have to go through a week of military trai

A few days ago, I took yet another plane ride back to China. For those of you who don’t know, the trip from Chicago to Shanghai takes about 14.5 hours. So, I had plenty of time to reflect. I can’t believe that I am going back to China for a fourth year. It really doesn’t feel as if it’s been that long. The past three years have been amazing. I really believe that it is what God designed me to do. The adventure and fulfillment that I’ve felt in these recent years completely shadows the six years of job-hopping and searching that I did before I came here. I am so excited that I will be reunited with the thirty students in the study abroad program tomorrow. I’ve only been back for three days, but I start teaching on Monday. I suspect that the energy and excitement in my classes will be more than enough to combat the jetlag that woke me up at 3am today. In just one more month, I’ll be meeting the next sophomore class; there will be around 800 new students. I love to teach them. They are al