HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1997-10-01, Page 14PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1,1997.
Mission to Mongolia to teach English a success
Christine Knorr, the 20-year-old
daughter of Alice and Clayton
Knorr of Ethel, spent eight weeks
this past summer in Mongolia,
teaching English to secondary
school teachers and taking the
gospel to the "unreached".
She wrote to The Citizen, telling
of her mission.
DEAR FAMILY AND
FRIENDS,
Ni hao! (Hello!) Well, I’m back!
What a wonderful summer! I've
been home for just over a week
now and am trying to get ready for
my impending move back to school
this week and also to catch up on
all the things I've missed while I've
been gone ~ sleep was first on my
list (at least for die first couple of
days)!
So, where do I begin? There's so
much to tell - I'll save it for my
book! - so, for now I'll give you the
Reader's Digest version. When we
first arrived in Beijing, I was struck
with the sight of all the bikes. I was
to find out later that bicycles are
their main form of transportation
cause it is just too expensive for
everyone to own their own vehicle.
I was also struck with the realiza
tion that I was the minority; that I
was the different one. To be honest,
it took some getting used to and I'm
not sure I was completely used to it
even when I left for home. It helped
me to realize that I harboured some
prejudices that I hadn't realized I
had.
While in the Beijing area, our
group went to the Great Wall and
had the amazing experience of
walking it! What an amazing view!
It was really beautiful. I'll never
forget it (or what my feet felt like
afterward!).
It was at the hotel at the base of
the Wall that I first experienced the
ever-famous "squat-pot". Each one
is unique, but this one was a wood
en building with a cement floor
which had rectangular holes cut in
it. That's it. No walls. No doors.
Just rectangular holes and bare bot
toms. For this little Canadian girl, it
was a rather humbling, rather
embarrassing experience. But I
managed and actually grew to
appreciate the sanitary benefits of
such a system. In a way I actually
miss them.
Before leaving Beijing, we had
the opportunity to visit all of the
tourist spots - Tian'an Men Square,
The Forbidden City, McDonalds,
Pizza Hut. I enioved each soot verv
much! From Beijing, my team took
a night train to Shenyang, the city
where I would spend the next
month. We went "hard sleeper"
which meant that our compartment
had six beds (or "coffins", three on
each side, stacked on top of each
other) and no door. It also meant no
air-conditioning and a stuffy night.
While in Shenyang, we stayed in
a building belonging to the compa
ny that runs the English program at
the city's university. This meant
that we had to fend for ourselves -
clean, cook, go to the local outdoor
market and buy food. We had to
"market" every couple of days
because there were no preservatives
in the food. We became quite adept
at the whole "market" experience.
Once we were settled, we started
our Chinese and Chinese culture
classes, both two hours every
morning. The morning seemed to
last forever, especially when you
were awakened by the early rising
sun at 5:15, and by the sound of
vendors biking and yelling to sell
their waves. On more than one
occasion my attitude concerning
this was a little less than kind, but I
managed. It seems awfully quiet
around here without them!
Learning Chinese was not an
easy task. It is a tonal language,
which means that the tone of the
word can change the meaning
entirely. So one had to be very
careful or you could accidentally
call your mother a horse. Oops!
We did, however, master the
most important phrases, like
"Where is the bathroom?", "How
much is this?" and "I would like to
buy some ice cream".
Our afternoons were to be spent
preparing lessons and culture
lessons for our upcoming trip to
Neirji to teach English, but due to
some scheduling conflicts on their
part, we couldn't go. It was very
discouraging knowing you were in
a foreign country with nothing to
do, but God proved faithful and
filled our days with much.
So, we spent a lot of time meet
ing Chinese people and building
friendships with them. My team
mates and I had some great times
taking our new friends shopping,
having them over to dinner and tak
ing them on picnics. We practised
our limited Chinese on them and
they practised their impressive
English on us. We had a wonderful
time with them. I miss them a lot!
My teammate, Tricia, and I spent
a little over one week tutoring our
Chinese culture teacher in his
English. It is so much harder than it
sounds. What we do naturally from
birth we had to them put into words
and explain to our student.
Our team also travelled to the
city of Dandong for four days
where we could see North Korea
from the shore of the city. We also
walked onto the bridge that was
bombed in the Korean War. You
could still see the mangled metal
from the blast. Wow. I won't forget
that for a while.
During our last week in
Shenyang we had the privilege of
teaching eight students who, with
the help of a grant, came to better
their English. That week was one
of the best! The students were so
much fun! We played games with
them and took them on their first
picnic complete with com on the
cob, Oreos and peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches. They enjoyed
these almost as much as we did. It
was hard to say goodbye at the end
of the week.
What more can I say? Actually, I
could go on for days describing the
experiences that I had there, the
people I met, the lessons that God
taught me. The one thing that I will
have trouble forgetting are the peo
ple themselves. Before I left I knew
that Chinese people existed, but
now I know that they are real. They
have feelings; they experience pain
and joy, sorrow and happiness aswe
do. They are also equally loved by
our Heavenly Father who is long
ing to have them come to know
Him and believe in Him.
We are so blessed to be living in
a country where we are free to
learn about God and the sacrifice
He made out of love on our behalf.
Free to share this love with others
and to bring them into God's fami
ly. Not so in China. It's illegal to go
out and share the Gospel with the
people. But it's happening anyway!
Please pray for those serving in
China, teaching English or work
ing. Pray that God would use them
to help the Chinese find out about
the Truth about Him.
Zai jian! (Goodbye!)
In His love,
Christine Knorr.
DID YOU
KNOW?
You should feed
your kitten a wide
variety of foods,
flavours and
textures to prevent
"food fatigue”.
TO MEET ITS
nutritional
ST ANO ARCS
CVMA Pet Food
Certification Program
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