The Last Two Weeks

Right now we're in the middle of a dance festival, and this is the one time the last two weeks that I don't have something going on. I've literally been booked pretty solid. Notice there hasn't been much on my facebook page? No time. Well, that and the Chinese government is cracking down on internet usage because they have their Party Congress going on right now in Beijing. So here's an interesting bit of information that I'm sure none of you know about me: I'm an assistant dance coach. Cool huh? I've never formally danced in my life before, and I don't plan on doing it any time soon. I mean if I get married, I'll take some couples ballroom classes with my wife, but never for competition. Here's the story. You remember how I CHAPERONED our dance team to Taipei a few weeks back? Well I got back and the dance director, Kelly asked me to help run the Asia Pacific dance festival that we're hosting. Simple enough. "Sure," I said. Lo and behold, the program got printed, and my name is listed as the Western Academy of Beijing assistant dance coach. Huh? I mean I'll take it and put it on my resume if it makes me look better, but shoot...I know nothing about dance. Interesting how things fall into your lap huh? That's sort of how international schools work though. Here's the link to the program, by the way, if you're interested. Scroll to the Western Academy of Beijing on page 27 and there it is: http://apac.wab.edu/sites/default/files/APAC_DANCE_2013_Booklet.pdf

In other news, last weekend we had our church's high school camp. We had a great time at the Duck and Goose ranch outside of Beijing. Some of the guys from my cabin and I hiked to the top of one of the mountains and we could see Mutianyu, a section of the Great Wall from it. It was quite the beautiful place. Maybe I'll post some pictures later when we get them this weekend. We weren't allowed to have technology so I didn't get any personal pictures. Great time though. The theme was media and using it for God's glory, but really the speaker took it from a heart motive perspective and explained how so many people use media to escape the reality of a broken world. Many kids struggle with their use of media because here in international schools, laptops are given to them and they're used for everything they do, EVEN PHYSICAL EDUCATION. They program workouts in their laptops and watch slideshows. Then they get home after school and get on their laptops again, all the while being on facebook, looking at pornography, etc. It's a big issue, even more so here than in the U.S. It was a much-needed camp and I think all of us, counselors and campers alike learned a lot.

The weekend before that I got to direct a volleyball tournament. The other tournaments we've done have been a smaller job for me because I've just been a site director. We have different venues that games are played at and I would just direct one venue, or site. For this last one, I directed the whole tournament, so I got to organize food catering, awards, the schedule, and contacting the teams and coaches. It was a lot of work, but man did it go well! It was great to see the kids play, some of them for their last high school games ever.

That's about all that's going on for now, but I have a feeling I will probably post again here in a few days.