Tuesday, February 26, 2013
I made it through the first week
I'm in the laundry room right now and holy moly it's crazy busy in here!!!! So stressful trying to find a washer and dryer. There are a million missionaries in here. Well i finally feel completely better and so does my companion. She got what I had like the next day. It's been rough. I don't even know what to write. I feel so rushed right now. The first few days were a little difficult and I kind of got discouraged since I got sick and my companion got sick. We had to catch up a lot. I think it was a little harder for my tongban though. She doesn't know any Chinese so it's been harder. My teacher is Si Kong Lao Shi. He served in Taiwan. All the missionaries here tell the new missionaries to just make it to Sunday. Sundays are really the best! You don't have to do language study and you just get to be spiritually edified all day. We had R.S. in the morning with all the sister missionaries at the MTC. we meet in the gym and it used to be half empty. Now it is completely full all the way to the top of the bleachers. Crazy!!!! So many missionaries are coming in but so many are also leaving. The MTC is seriously exploding. Meal times are crazy and all the Chinese speaking missionaries sit together. We take up almost 3 huge really long long long tables. There are so many of us. Sacrament meeting was in Chinese, partly. Then we had a district meeting. My district consists of the people in my class. There are 5 elders and 4 sisters. Some are going to England, some to Canada, some to Taiwan and one to Texas. My district can get a little distracted sometimes so it's hard to concentrate. So many young elders. I feel old. I can definitely tell the difference between the 18 year old elders and 21 year old sisters. Only one sister in our district is 19. The rest of us are oldies. So the food...let's just say I'm pretty sick of it already. Not going to lie, it gets really old fast. The wrap bar is just basically a salad bar put in a huge tortilla that i don't usually eat. I put my name on the special list since im lactose intolerant. I get to go into a secret room and get special food. haha. They have almond milk. The room is mostly for gluten free people though. VERY RARELY they will have quinoa!!! I was soooooo excited when they served that in the special room. They had salmon too, but it was nasty and it was raw, not like the kind in sushi. I almost barfed when i put it into my mouth. It was squishy. I mostly eat frozen vegetables that they have which only consists of corn, peas, and carrots with rice or something. Sometimes I'll have fries if i want to. haha. and I have an apple and banana. And sometimes i'll have a salad. it's going to be a long 8 weeks thats for sure. They eat so unhealthy here. The MTC should really make more healthy foods.
Well we have an "investigator" to practice teaching and we have to teach in Chinese. I've kind of been struggling a little trying to balance time to help my companion and still have time to help myself get better at Chinese. I feel like i'm constantly helping her that I dont have time to study on my own and get better. I feel like ive been progressing really slowly and i know i can move so much faster but I can't since everyone in my district doesnt really know chinese. I'm actually picking it up a lot faster than i thought i would be able to. I talked to my teacher about it and he said that sometimes i will have to stop progressing a little to help my companion. He says that he will try to help me more later. I know that i was sent to the MTC to learn patience and christlike attributes and not only the language. I know I can pick up the language quicker, but thats not why im here. Im here to help others. Its been hard because im so used to a fast paced learning environment that in the MTC, it's been the opposite for me at least. But it's okay. I know I'll be more fluent soon. I just need to be patient. It's hard teaching my investigator because i feel like i have so much to say but I cant fully express myself in Chinese and my comp has no idea whats going on. So its basically me talking the whole time. Im trying not to use notes and just teach by the spirit. thats a little hard. Anyways, I dont think ill leave the MTC early, since they do it by transfers. The Taipei missionaries that are leaving next are leaving this week, then taichung in 4 and then my group in 8 more weeks. So I'll just have to learn to love the MTC.
Alma- im learning to forget myself. it is definitely not easy being in the mtc. I feel like it's more of a social learning experience for me trying to deal with so many different types of people. I like to learn in peace and quiet but it gets pretty loud here. send me a dear elder on how i can help my comp while still progressing myself so i can get better at it too.
Rachel- hope you feel better soon!!! Im better and yes i did the cleanse as well, by being sick! hahaha. on can you change on my address to 0423? it got changed. and how is posting the letters on the blog going? thanks for doing that. send me more dear elders! :) i love to hear from you. tell me about the food. i miss food.
aborn and keely- i got your dear elders. thanks so much! keep them coming. :) good luck on your exams!
Kaitlin- i love you! Thanks for the dear elders.
Mo and lucas- got your email! love you guys! sorry i dont have time to respond.
Please write me dear elders during the week. it gets here faster. and i love mail. its great hearing from you!!!!
dad i got the package, thank you.
mom i sent you something in the mail.
Megan, Eveie, oscar - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
im praying for you all!!!!!!!!
Wo ai nimen,
Zhao Jie Mei :)
Friday, February 22, 2013
Not the best way to start off at the MTC
Hello family!
Well, It's friday and we get to e-mail our family real quick to tell them we are alive. We are normally just allowed to email on Tuesdays, which is our P-day. We haven't been able to check the mail yet, so I haven't received any dearelders yet. I will probably get them tonight or tomorrow, so sorry I won't be responding to those questions if you had any.
The first day was good. Got here, got my name tag, put away my luggage, and went to class. The class was all in Chinese and I understood all of it. It was just things like ni hao ma? haha. It was fun. My teacher seems like a very recent return missionary and has a strong American accent when he teaches Chinese. Dad I was thinking of you the whole time and couldn't stop laughing inside. It is actually really hard to learn from him because he pronounces things weird and i feel like I'm going to speak like him, which i hope not to. I wish they would have a native teach us so we can hear the correct accent. Dad i wish you were our teacher. Okay, what you have all been waiting for...the FOOD. We had dinner at 4:15!!!! So early!!! Let's just say the food was worse than i thought. They were serving Fried Chicken with nasty gravy and mashed potatoes. yep...and no wrap bar today because it was ice cream instead. And the salad bar only had lettuce, carrots, and ranch. So, I ate a little bowl of granola with almond milk. Yes they have almond milk!! And i ate cantalope and stole an apple for later. I was hungry that night. Then we just had more orientation stuff. When i went to bed, I had the biggest headache and felt so nauseous. I couldn't sleep the whole night. I think i may have fallen asleep at 3AM. Then I woke up at 6:30am and while i was getting ready, i became really sick. i didnt want to tell the nurse because i knew they would keep me in bed. And i didn't want to drag my companion and watch me nap. So i just tried to man up, and went to breakfast with everyone and class. But i felt really sick the whole day and felt achy and cold and dizzy. So at 2PM they told me i had to go to the clinic, which was so unhelpful. I just went back to my room and napped for 2 hours. Then i decided to go back and we had a long meeting and met our branch presidency. I still felt really sick and didn't feel better. I already missed class and we have to teach our first investigator in chinese today....we will see how that goes. But I got a blessing last night and feel a lot better today, but still felt sick. So i had to miss gym time and sleep. All I'm allowed to eat in bread, crackers, apple sauce, and drink gatorade or water. SICK. I feel so gross. Hopefully this will pass soon. I don't like missing class. Don't worry dad, I've been using on guard and digest zen.
Oh and my companion is Sister Oborn from Roseville, CA. She is a red head too! I like her alot. We get along great. She doesnt know any chinese so the language is really hard for her. She is lactose intolerant and likes to work out like me. She eats really healthy too. But there hasnt been much to eat here. So many fried foods. Ew.
I know Satan is just trying to stop the work of missionaries but I have faith i will get better soon. We had 1200 missionaries come in this wednesday. the biggest group yet. And there are SO many chinese missionaries. They never had this many new chinese missionaries come in at the same time. Cool huh? Anyways, I have to go now. I'm running out of time and I have to write a letter to the Branch President. Love you all!!
Wo ai nimen,
Sister Chao
Zhao jie mei
Thursday, February 21, 2013
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