This week, I started up with Chinese lessons again, at Hohai (/Hehai) University – 河海大学 this time. There are fewer students studying Chinese at Hehai, so I’m enjoying smaller classes and a more personal atmosphere. My plan is to work full-time as an English-teacher this year, but most of my classes will be in the afternoon/evening so there is lots of time for Chinese classes in the morning.
Plus, so far my working schedule is not very busy. My school is an "English training-school" that parents send their kids to after normal kindergarten/primary school-time, and these classes often start up slightly later then the normal school-semester does. So I expect to be more busy at work by the end of the month, and in the mean time I’ll try to enjoy the extra free-time.
I know that too much free time hardly is anything to complain about. Especially when I know that most of my Chinese friends don’t have time to do much besides their work. But I can’t help but feel restless at times. The thing is I really wanted and expected to be busy with work this year, but after two weeks I’ve only taught four classes.
I think God is teaching me a few things about patience. I know I’m not very good at waiting for Him. When He’s shown me glimpses of what He’ll do for me in the future, I just want to skip the process and jump straight to the person I will be and the roles I will have then. Yet the process is important in it self. We spend most of our time waiting, it’s what we do while we wait that’s important.
So I’ll try to spend my extra free-time on doing something nice for the people around me that are too busy to do it themselves.
I have appreciated the classes I’ve taught so far, by the way. The kids so far have been between 3 and 5 years old. Apart from the couple of months I spent at a centre for autistic children as a volunteer for Amity through Hald International Centre a year and a half ago, I’ve never worked with kids before. So I don’t know too much about how to teach them English. But so far I’ve enjoyed our time together and even if I still have lots to learn I can tell that the class I taught Thursday went smoother than the one I taught a week earlier, which is encouraging.
Other than teaching and studying, I’ve been re-reading Shane Claiborne’s book The Irresistible Revolution. It makes me inspired, uncomfortable and wanting to make radical changes both in my life and in the world in general for God’s kingdom. But I realise that God’s kingdom is closer when we do small things with great love than when we try to make small things great. (http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/1865)
I’m also reading Joshua these days. Here’s a quote I read this morning:
Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. (Josh. 21:45)
The Israelites had to wait for 40 years before they could receive their promised land. I’m sure I’ll be able to wait a few weeks for more work.
