Crossing the street in China By: Brinson Davenport

Hello friends, family and strangers this is Brinson Davenport and I have come to tell you about crossing the street in China. First I want to tell you that it is very dangerous. Also it is a life time experience. You can watch the video then I'll tell you about some heart stopping experiences. The first thing that is interesting is that the cars don't stop. And you have to stand in the middle of the street. Once a car got so close to an old lady I'm sure the hairs on her arm were hit and to make it more dangerous the car was a huge bus. Once we were by a two lane street waiting for the bus. We spotted two cute little preschoolers. One had a tricycle, they were on a mission to make it across the roaring stream of cars. The two preschoolers started their journey across the street, my mom looked away, a car was coming! Then rush! a car flew past the small adventurers. My mom was scared to death the three boys of the family looked intently as the small preschoolers made it past one lane all the way to the middle. Cars zoomed past them at all angles and the little fellas took a small step for preschoolers and a big step for preschooler kind.And just at the right time they sprinted across the last lane. ( One zooming on a tricycle ) they had made it across the street!! By the way my mom was brave enough to look and take a picture of the last step of making it across the street. It is kind of blurry but you can get the point.
                                                                                   

                                                                                                  

I Miss my Friends and Other Matters By Hannah

    I never really got culture shock but I got sad shock. I am fitting in well and I really like it here. But one thing is missing my Friends in America. Although I am making new friends but my Friends that I know will forever hold a place in my heart!    MISS YOU ALL MY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                                                             - Hannah

It will be neat to have great friends on both sides of the planet By Hannah

A couple of nights ago I went to go play with some girls that were my age.  Before I went I did not want to go at all. But I  did anyway and it turned out better, Way better than I expected. Because I MADE A FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The girls that I went to play with did not speak much English at all. And I  do not speak Chinese. But one of the many things I leaned that night  is this, If you smile people smile back. You can hold a great conversation   with laughs and smiles, as with words. And sometimes an even better one.


That night we played so many fun games, but the true greatest part to me is this. At the end of the play date my Mom, a college girl, and the girl's Moms all took out a camera and began taking pictures as all the girls and my college student friend, Rita, and me got in a picture taking pose. All the cameras flashed. But it wasn't the cameras that I liked, it was this, I felt an arm of my now best friend in China, wrap around my shoulder in a loving embrace. I held still. Could this really be happening! It was! After all the picture we all went home but the walk was partly together.  On the way back I felt my hand  wrap into another hand. It was Snow.

                                I have such wonderful friends in San Antonio and I am thankful that God is beginning to give me new friends in China. It will be neat to have great friends on both sides of the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
         

Hard day

I was heart broken to learn that one of my students passed away over the weekend.  Just the week before she sat in the front row smiling ear to ear at me and eagerly responded to every question I asked.  I loved having her for this short time and for the joy that she brought to me as I taught her.  I had already chosen her in my mind as one that I really wanted to get to know better outside of class time.
The students said that she fell from a disorder in the shower and hit her head.  The doctors were unable to save her.  Our work here seems quite urgent in light of today. ~Wendy

Random Phots- by Wendy

If only we could read this menu then ordering would be so much easier!

This woman sat by us on the bus.  "I feel like chicken tonight".

The babies and toddlers wear 'split pants' and no diapers.  It's just a big opening down the middle and back of their pants or outfit.  Think how much money they save!  Also, think how careful you have to be where you step.

This little guy is getting a lesson in toileting. The parent whistles to cue the baby to pee while mom helps him assume this position.  He didn't go right on cue but he did several minutes later.  He'll get the hang of it :)

Our city has an awesome park that has a replica of the Great Wall.  It's quite a climb.

Who wouldn't skype this face!  We miss Gracie :)

Sounds of the Night

It's been many years since I've lived in an apartment until now.  The lives going on around me are no longer seperated by a fence and a yard but mere walls and windows.  The giggle of a baby, a quarreling couple, a melodious tune, a little one crying himself to sleep, a weeping woman......all reminders of the individuals and families above, next to, and nearby.  I bring them before Him not knowing their names or faces but that He will love, comfort and heal the broken-hearted. 

And then.....there are the sounds of the morning.  Several days ago at 7:30 a.m. I found myself ready to run, duck and look for cover as fireworks were set off just feet from our windows.  Thus I learned the tradition that when someone moves into a new home (or any other life event) the fireworks are meant to scare off the evil spirits.  ~ From Wendy

The Fun and Frusrating Experience of Doing Tricks in China- by Brinson

This is how the Chinese enjoy my magic tricks.

1.      They are speechless

2.      They look at me amazed

3.      They grab the trick

4.      They say: "teach me how you did that"

Here is an example. Once I went to a big park and people started to gather around us. I decided to do a few little tricks and by the time I got started 30 people had gathered around me. I went to the middle of the circle, unzipped my backpack, and got out my first trick. I showed the first one to them and they looked amazed. Then an old man grabbed it and showed everyone how to do it. Meanwhile, I was kindly trying to get it across that I wanted it back and wanted to teach them that you’re supposed to either be amazed or say to yourself, "well that’s really cheesy" and then quietly stand there. And, just to help you out in the future if you grab a magic trick from a magician he will be quite upset with you and he may have a lifelong grudge against you. But as a small loving child I had grace and mercy upon that old man and let him go on with his demonstration. When he was finished he gave me back my belongings and I went on with the show. The next trick I did was one when I take a coloring book and make it go from completely blank to drawings without color to drawings with color. First they stood speechless. Then a young girl about ten or eleven grabbed it from me for the second time and I was kind of getting tired of it. Then we had to go and I felt pretty excited for the next time I had the chance to do some more magic tricks.

Turns out it is just a few days later when ten students came over to our house. They were amazed and, of course, grabbed the tricks. It is kind of risky to do the hard ones in front of a lot of people because the more people the more eyes and the more eyes the easier to see the trick. So they figured out a lot of them because of three reasons.

1. I messed up a few times

2. There were a lot of people

3. They grabbed the tricks.

Then a few days later we invited two students over and I rocked the party out! They didn’t figure out a single one! And they also helped by not grabbing any of them. And to make it better, one of them (who my mom named Joy) videoed every trick. I also learned to keep my distance from the eager little tentacles reaching out to me. I'm getting used to the customs of doing tricks in China.    

                                  

                                                             

Pics by Tiffany

A send off from sweet friends!

The Pagoda on Campus

So very curious!

Mandatory Freshman Military Training

Making Friends!

A Strange Day at the Pool- by Aiden D.

Once we went to the pool and we caught a taxi.  We told him to go to the pool and he said no (in Chinese).  So we got out of the taxi and called another one.  He took us. 

In the middle of the ride he gave his phone to my mom.  And my mom answered it and it was somebody speaking English which is very rare.  The person on the phone told us that she was the taxi driver's sister.  She wanted us to know that it would be a long ride and that her brother was safe. 

We got to the pool at 12:00 p.m.  We learned that it openend at 2:00 after arriving.  So, we wandered for 2 hours.  Then it opened and we went inside.  The people wouldn't let us wear our bathing suits.  The manager motioned to us that we needed to buy Speedos.  The lady that was selling Speedos tried to sell us some tiny yellow ones with lambs on them.  My mom had run out of money, thankfully. 

Brinson and I were carrying a bundle of our shorts and underwear for after swimming.  One of the workers saw it and pulled out Brinson's boxers and motioned that he wanted us to swim in them.  Then he held up my whitey-tighties and waved them around in the air.  

We communicated to him that we didn't want to swim in our underwear in a public pool and that we would just go home.  So he agreed and we got to swim in our regular suits. 

I'm not much of a writer but I do love photos.  Here is a link to view some more pics from our journey here and the first week or two. 

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QYtW7dw3ZqYp4

 

Click the blue button that says 'View Album' then on the next screen click on the white button that says 'Play slideshow'. 

 

Love~Wendy

Hello from Shiyan!

Welcome to the Team Pritchport blog from China! (Deryk, Tiffany, Hannah, Ayden Pritchard & Eric, Wendy, Brinson, Aiden Davenport)

Our two families are teaching English at the Yunyang Teacher's College in Shiyan, Hubei Province.  We arrived tired yet excited on August 24th, 2012.

This will be the spot each of us (4 adults and 4 kiddos) post pictures, share videos, tell stories of our happenings, and give updates.

We hope you enjoy!

Team Pritchport

Skyping with NWCC friends in San Antonio

Some of our students wanted to come and watch how we homeschool.  They stayed for Math and Science. 

Hannah's neuron in Science class

One of our English classes

Having some students over

Our apartment

Dinner one night

The dryer

Hannah toasting the President of our College at a formal banquet

Banquet with the President of our College

A sea of umbrellas approaching class one rainy morning

Headed to Shiyan Museum

This photo speaks for itself

Celebrating Wendy's b-day

This one too

This kids wanted to teach classes to each other.  Brinson teaches drama, Hannah-- cooking, Ayden-- P.E. and Aiden-- art

The birth of a blog!

Stayed tuned for more!  ~ Wendy