connie's space

I have a departure date, folks! I’ll announce in the next entry.

And along with that announcement will come the much anticipated story of my rescue dogs from China, terrier-mix Beanie and campus stray Lucy. They’ve been with me since March and after several unsuccessful visits with possible adopters where they were separated, I discovered pretty quickly they must remain as a pair. This kind of bonding is one which causes great difficulty in placement. Not many people want two dogs, and these two especially have specific quirks and persnickety behaviors which not everyone wants to put up with.

After advertising numerous times in my local newspapers, on Facebook, posting flyers around my community, emailing friends and just word-of-mouth, my two have found their forever homes.

It’s quite the story, one which still has me astounded and affirms that, yes, prayers are absolutely answered. Be watching for that to follow as well. (See below Beanie with Lucy, in the back seat of the car, after spending a week with their new mom and loving every minute of it! Full hand-over is tomorrow.)

In my 27 years of teaching English overseas, the word “exotic” never entered the descriptions of my environment. I did have a few that came rather close.

The Monkeys

There were the rather mischievous creatures which came with visits to a Japanese mountainous area, Arashiyama, where I fed wild monkeys. That was 1988-89, during a year I spent as an English language teacher at the Kyoto Japan YWCA. That was my first overseas stint as a professional teacher. To this day, I still hold a strong image of my mom’s visit, with us enclosed in a protective caged area while eager monkey hands reached through wire fencing to snatch at our peanut offerings.

Colorful Birds

Taiwan came a close second with colorful indigenous birds perched on bushes outside of my apartment. Every morning, I marveled over the green Taiwan Barbet or the vibrant Blue Magpie. These I saw on a regular basis while walking across the small bridge that led to Wesley Girls High School, where I taught English for 3 years.

The Panda

China had me in panda country for many years but I never saw any in the wild. I only saw them from a distance at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center, although for a donation fee of $50 US, anyone could hug/hold a panda for a nifty tourist picture.

I remember several of us Amity Foundation teachers, all with very limited salaries, had discussed on our visit if we should pay what we felt was an outrageous $50 for a panda photo. We nixed the idea At least, in 2005 that was the price but then it exploded (inching upward every year) to $350 US. And now, from what I’ve read, in 2018 this opportunity was suspended in all research centers throughout China despite tour websites saying otherwise.

I guess we missed our chance, never to come again.

The Elephant

For this Midwestern American, an elephant I consider exotic, although I never saw myself being anywhere near one except in the zoo. My comfort and desire in working in northern Asia, not in the African continent, kept me far from those mammoth beasts . . . until now.

Yes, folks, my new teaching position will have me in a very special region of the world where elephants are still used to work the land, although in a limited capacity.

The country Laos used to be known as the Kingdom of Lan Xang (1354 to 1707), which translates to “Land of a Million Elephants.” As Laos had extensive forests and sparse human population, wild herds of elephants roamed all over. However, due to environmental factors and encroaching on habitat, the Laos government and conservation groups estimate there are only about 800 elephants left in the country — 400 wild elephants, 400 in captivity.

Elephants and Buddhism

From my research, the fact that the elephant is a Laotian national animal originates from Buddhism, the major religion of the country. From the Buddhist perspective, the elephant represents luck, peace, and wealth, especially the sacred and rare white elephant which represents power and royalty.

The colors of the elephant refer to the conscious mind.

When people are born, they are as a grey elephant. They don’t know what is right or what is wrong and can’t control their actions. This is similar to a wild elephant which runs freely and destroys everything it encounters. After a person leads a religious life, however, the person becomes like a a white elephant, one that controls his/her actions and is powerful enough to eliminate all obstacles.

Interesting, yes?

Opportunities to Volunteer

I fully understand I’ll be busy as Coordinator of the Sunbeam Language and Vocational Center in Vientiane, the capital city. I expect the first month will have me racing about, getting housing, arranging my things to arrive from China, meeting the Center’s staff, continuing with existing programs while contemplating new ones and just figuring out how to live in a different environment and culture. But I’m certain I’ll eventually have opportunities to volunteer in the communities I come in contact with.

While it’s nice to volunteer my time as a language teacher, what I’d really enjoy doing is something different. Visiting an elephant sanctuary for a week and helping take care of these beautiful, unique creatures would be such an incredible experience. Reading the article below truly inspires me.

Anyone here want to join me? Give me a year to get my feet on the ground, and a bit of the language under my belt, and I’ll be good to go!

As you know, if following this site, I will be off soon to be engulfed in experiencing a new country, new teaching position, new people, new culture and overall new everything.

Years ago for my teenage overseas ventures (age 16 to Germany as a summer exchange student; age 18 to Tunisia on an archeological dig), technology was not advanced enough with today’s computers and cell phones. I had to go to outdated book encyclopedias for most of my information.

But now we have incredible resources at our fingertips that give us the most updated information possible about every area of the world. We can easily learn about all kinds of people: their stories, their cultures, their heartaches, their personal struggles. . . . Searches on the Internet reveal inspiring and informative documentaries, personal blog sites, Youtube video tours, hourly published articles and even give us the ability to actually connect via email or text message with anyone anywhere in the world.

A Hmong Connection

For my future home in Laos, I discovered of the roughly 7 million people in the country, “the Lao people comprise four main ethno-linguistic families: Lao-Tai (62.4 percent), Mon-Khmer (23.7 percent), Hmong-Iu Mien (9.7 percent), and Chine-Tibetan (2.9 percent), which are officially divided into 50 ethnic groups. The 50 ethnic groups in the country can be further broken down into more than 200 ethnic subgroups.” Each has its own language, tradition, culture, traditional dress and way of life.

When I read this, the Hmong stood out immediately. This group I have encountered in several areas of China on my different teaching placements. Guangxi Province, where I spent 3 years, had many of my students being of the Miao minority peoples, with a subdivision being Hmong. Sad to say, my contact was limited to only the classroom and campus activities. I learned very little of their special traditions or lifestyles in their small-town homes or villages.

With my upcoming departure to Vientiane, the Lao capital city, I looked into what brings people to this metropolis. Many Hmong and others come from poverty-stricken villages to find work or sell goods. Others stay contained in their village environments, never receiving much education beyond 3rd grade, getting married as early as 14 with children quickly following. Farming is the life of many and making ends meet is a challenge.

An Eye-opening Documentary of a Hmong Girl in Vietnam

It was just by chance my mom and I tuned into PBS on Monday evening to watch the Point of View (POV) segment. Every week, an independent documentary is chosen which illustrates a fascinating personal story of families, cultures, countries or individual people. I share with you the below, which gives a very raw view of a young girl’s carefree life thrown into turmoil as she navigates her teenage years.

I’ve also linked an interview with the director far below. Such a bright, sensitive young woman.

Both make for an enlightening viewing. I found the documentary to be heartbreaking at points, sometimes disturbing and difficult to watch. If you take the time to view either one, let me know your thoughts.

Interview tied Ha Le Diem, the Director

I’m unable to change my domain name to another unless I purchase it every year and link it to my current one. That means I’ll be paying for two names at full price. I would rather save that money so I will continue with connieinchina.org, despite me not being in China but somewhere else. (You all are bright enough to figure it out!)

Hope the above will answer questions about why I am continuing with the China tag. I’m still in Asia, though. In fact, I’ll be sharing a China border in my new country. There’s a high-speed bullet train built by the Chinese that goes directly into Vientiane, the capital city where I’ll be located. I can visit “my” China at any time, which will only be 3 hours away. What a perfect best-of-two-worlds (or rather best-of-two-countries) option I have for weekend get-aways.

Lucky me!

Well, folks, I now have a brand new friend. Her name is Rosie Gal, due to her gorgeous rose-colored shine and utterly vibrant personality.

As of yesterday, she’s taken the place of silver-haired, steadfast-yet-storage-deprived, now disabled, Lady Gina. (Gina means “silver” in Japanese, FYI.)

If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m talking of my MacBook Air Apple computers: One 6 1/2 years old which is no longer functioning; the other just slipped out of her plastic-encased box and clicking along eagerly.

The Story

Last year, Best Buy had a series of computers on sale which looked very enticing.

My old MacBook Air (Lady Gina) was working well but updates were not possible due to storage issues. Plus poor Lady Gina had been through so many trials and tribulations: dropped several times on hard floors, dragged on many transcontinental flights and local countryside bus journeys, keyboard letters rubbed off in numerous places, not to mention scratches, dents and dullness issues.

In my excitement of retiring Lady Gina, I checked out the before-Christmas sales and purchased a rose-tinted, 2021 updated Apple MacBook Air version with plenty of storage and additions to make me happy.

With my coveted possession in hand and not wanting to see it spoiled with use, I waited.

I waited to unpack gal Rosie until I was ready to deal with what I assumed would be hassles in transferring data, set-up, adjusting passwords, connecting to favored networks and so on.

After all, Lady Gina was still working just fine, albeit slowly and with “More storage needed” pop-ups whenever I wanted to download something. That was OK. I could deal with that.

Now fast forward 8 1/2 months later.

Here we are in August of 2023, with my new teaching placement on the horizon, and me thinking, “Hmm. Rosie gal is still waiting for her debut in the Wieck household. Maybe it’s about time to let her out.”

Despite this thought, I hesitated yet again until . . . . the coffee incident on Friday.

Tragedy in my little church office

I was finishing up some emails for my Mission Advocate position in my little church office, and quite anxious to get out of there on a Friday late afternoon, when the unthinkable happened: While taking that quick, final swig of coffee filled with half-and-half, I spilled.

I spilled coffee on myself.

I spilled coffee on the dark blue batik cloth that covers my desk.

And, yes, I spilled coffee on the computer.

The culprits: coffee and a splash of half-and-half

My re-constructed visual for your amusement

Granted it wasn’t much but that little bit was all that was needed.

Circuits whirred. The screen flickered. The cursor stuck.

I watched in horror as a liquidy, wavy sheen began seeping it’s way across my screen-saver mountain landscape. I watched helplessly while it engulfed my desktop files one by one, as colors began to fade and darkness took over.

I desperately tried to sop up what I could, including holding the computer keyboard upside down in the hopes the coffee would drain out, but it was useless.

Lady Gina was damaged beyond her ability to recuperate.

She was disintegrating fast, holding on just long enough for me to quickly slip in that external hard drive to back up what was not in my iCloud account. (Yes, lesson learned from computer geeks who remind us careless folk over and over and over again to ALWAYS back up everything on a daily basis.)

Thus my story of Lady Gina’s demise and Rosie Gal’s entrance into the cyberspace world.

Protective measures now taken

Rosie is currently speeding along smoothly, with only a 20-minute task on my part to turn her on and get all that was needed for our new relationship to begin. Passwords saved, Netflix connected, bookmarks operational, email accounts accessed . . . What a relief!

In preparation of further mishaps, I have now ordered a hardcover snap-on case for those future accidental drops, a keyboard protector for upcoming spills and a screen cover to keep off dust, pet hairs and splashes that might send me once again into panic mode.

Despite the tech headache, it seems all has ended up for the best.

As for Lady Gina, she’ll be delivered to my local computer store as a give-away. If salvageable, I’m happy to have someone try returning her from the after life. She’s served me well these many years and deserves a little of God’s saving grace.

From Marshall, Illinois, here’s hoping your computer woes never, ever, ever match mine.

It’s been a very long wait of several months for my new placement’s announcement and it’s now official: I’ll be going to a country in Southeast Asia as the coordinator of the Sunbeam Vocational and Training Center, located in the capital city.

As I learn more, I’ll post here but in celebration of this new move in life, I made sure to include my new language component (hello) in my yearly summer swimming video. Bowing with hands together, saying “Hello” in the local language, is the custom of greeting, thus I included below along with greetings to my Chinese friends and former students in Luzhou.

For those not aware of my swimming prowess, I’ve been swimming since age 3. This website has numerous entries about my pool experiences throughout Taiwan, China, Japan and the US over the many years I’ve been teaching overseas.

I’ve participated in swimming teams during my younger years and then, after college, just for my own pleasure to keep fit, meditate and enjoy socializing with those of different cultures who have the same health and exercise interest as I do: lap swimming.

I’m not the only one in my small town who feels this way when it comes to the water. Here are the die-hard swimmers of Marshall, Illinois, all in our 50’s and going strong.

A Pool Story from China Worth Telling

I can’t tell you what a joy it is for me to visit a new pool with new people to connect to and a new environment to explore. My pool searches have led me on so many adventures.

In Guangxi Province, China, I remember taking fascinating local bus journeys through beautiful, lush countryside, with walks through an ancient village market place, to enjoy a middle-of-nowhere pool located in the midst of a vast pineapple field.

One day upon my arrival, the 50-meter pool had been drained and the staff of 7 was scrubbing the bottom. Since I’d spent an hour getting there and couldn’t swim, I figured I might as well not make it a wasted trip so I joined them in their efforts. Picking up the long-handled heavy scrub brush, we worked together under the roasting hot sun to finish getting off all the fuzzy green algae. (The water wasn’t chlorinated and was replaced every 3 days). Afterwards, the staff invited me to have a snack of bananas, picked fresh off a nearby tree, and tea before I departed.

The next day when I arrived to get in my daily laps, the 10 yuan ( $1.50) fee was waved.

My protests went unheeded as the manager insisted I accept my free ticket. After a culturally acceptable number of attempts of trying to pay, I gave in, making us all happy.

Joining in a new culture through a sport is not a time-wasting activity

To this day, I still have clearly embedded in my memory that special relationship established with the pool staff and the market ladies I met along the way to my swimming outing. And that’s not the only amazing story I’ve had of where my pool searches have taken me.

I’ve had Chinese Christian ladies corner me in the changing room and openly pray over me as we stood in our undies. I’ve given swimming advice after my workouts to anyone interested in improving his or her stroke. I’ve played water games with little kids who were fascinated by the foreigner who swam so fast. I’ve met strangers who became close friends all due to my daily pool visits and my willingness to converse.

For those who think my pool time is a money waster, an indulgence that needs examining, an obsession that is unworthy of the work I feel tasked to do as an educator and a Christian, I beg to disagree.

Keeping healthy, nurturing a sound mind, staying physically fit while being socially active, is a necessary part of fitting in to a new country and environment.

Thus my advice for earth-shattering, life-altering moves is this: Hold onto that stable something that keeps you from getting overly anxious, worried, upset, overwhelmed and depressed, because all those feelings will absolutely attack your well-being once you’re thrown into different, strange surroundings.

For me, that special something is the pool. And don’t you know I’ve already found several lap pools in my area that look very promising on Youtube!

Who knows what new friends and experiences await me there. I’m sure it will be just as rewarding and blessed as all those past encounters in my Asia placements, maybe even more so.

Thanks for joining me in this space. Have a great week!

Just another update on my rescue dogs from China.

As previously posted, Lucy and Beanie are looking for a home.

This bonded pair will not be able to come with me on whatever my next overseas placement will be thus the need for a loving owner to take them in. They have waited so long for a permanent home, over 3 years in a Chinese kennel during Covid and now here with me, settling into an American lifestyle of good food, cozy beds, leash walks around my small town and nearby Lincoln Trail State Park and even a few wild abandonment races around the county fairgrounds. There the pair have worked together as a team, chasing groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels and even deer.

Want to see their excitement? Here you are, captured on video.

Are they really that wild, you might ask? Not when it comes to their evening snack.

Lucy delicately takes her piece of popcorn every night from my mom while Beanie greedily snatches her goodie. Much like the critters she desperately craves to race after, Beanie the terrier is unable to contain her eagerness or enthusiasm for anything in life.

As always, I am willing to bring them over for visits, overnights and trial runs. They do not do well with children and Beanie is a fan of the ladies but not so much the men. I can give more details if you wish. Just contact me at: corneliaw2000@hotmail.com.

This is Connie, waiting for hearts to be moved and a match to appear.

For Mother’s Day, my hometown church is having a Mothers-Daughters-Friends banquet with fun activities afterwards. I purchased 4 tickets for me, my mom, friend Beverly (same age as my mom – 89) and our church secretary, Pat. Both Bev and Pat have helped me out so much with my newsletter mailings, copying and stuffing envelopes, so I wanted to treat them to something special.

After the dinner, the entertainment is to deck oneself in various hats, leis, hair clips and beads, go about to different photography stations and take pictures using your own personal cell phone. Before we begin our photo-taking sessions, one of our members (a professional photographer) will give a short program how to pose yourself, family members and what settings to use on your phone camera to make your pictures spectacular.

This idea was actually my mom’s so we’ll see how it turns out.

My mom’s Newspaper column for Mother’s Day

(My mom writes a weekly column for the newspaper, called Walk with Me. I’ll include the below which she had published yesterday, in honor of mothers.)

The only thing I can say about our last few weeks of colder and windier than normal weather is that we have had a longer than usual time to enjoy the flowering trees and bushes. Even the early blooming flowers have hung around longer. I hope you haven’t missed some of the local spectacular floral displays. Now it is time to put in those summer bedding plants as the ground is finally getting warm enough.

This week we all have walked right into Mothers Day, a day that includes grandmothers, sisters, mothers-in law and really, all women. If we haven’t been a mother, we all have had mothers. In our culture, it is a women-inclusive day. Recently I read that more phone calls are made on Mothers Day than any other time during the year. It is also the time when flower sales are highest. I learned from the National Retail Federation that over 312 billion dollars are spent on gifts for this special day with an average of 245 dollars spent on each gift.

Wow! 245 dollars for a Mothers Day gift carries a pretty heft price tag. I can recall a few of the gifts I gave my own mother but the price tag wasn’t anyway near that. Often the gift was a small vial of Evening in Paris cologne from the local Five and Dime . Those cobalt blue vials with the blue tassels looked really uptown to me and besides, they were within my price range.

One year as a gift, I vividly remember spending over an hour reading labels on 78 rpm vinyl records trying to decide which one to purchase. Our family had just acquired a record player and I wanted to add to our small collection of discs. I seem to recall it was a Decca label with a recording of Roy Rodgers singing something. Looking back now, I realize Roy Rogers was not really to my mother’s musical taste, but I am sure she appreciated the well-intentioned effort.

One year, for some strange reason, the family (husband Bill, son Paul and little Connie) and I decided to take both grandmothers to our nearby Lincoln Trail State Park for a grand cook-out and walk around. I’m not sure what we were thinking because both of those women were definitely not the outdoor type. Oh, they did appreciate nature as long as they didn’t have to spend too much time in it. It was a very warm day and as I remember, there wasn’t a lot of shade because the trees’ dense foliage had not yet fully developed. In addition to the lack of shade, the gnats were beginning to swarm. I don’t think either of the grandmothers enjoyed the great outdoors that year. The food, yes. Nature, no!

I don’t have too many memories of gifts I received on this great day. There were, of course, many hand- made cards carefully constructed in various of the children’s school classrooms, thanks to caring teachers. However, one special gift will never be forgotten. Connie and I still laugh about it today. That was the year I was trying to eat a low fat diet. For Mothers Day, husband Bill made a special, intentional grocery trip. Imagine my surprise when I opened the fridge to find it filled with a lot more food than usual. Every item had been wrapped in paper bags and labeled: Celery, carrots, lettuce and other veggies considered “healthy” were identified as “low fat.” His favorite ham, bologna, margarine tub and various meats (as well as ice cream in the freezer ) bore the words “high fat.”

For 30 minutes, I had great fun revealing from the paper bags what Bill had so carefully prepared but it took us several weeks to eat through this bounty of food. I will say that surprise gift has since become our most remembered, and favorite retold, Mothers Day story.

We all have wonderful stories to share but I include this last note concerning those mothers you don’t know: When you are celebrating Mothers Day with your friends and family, please take time to remember those mothers who are in war zones all over the world. Their day will not be as pleasant as ours. We should all acknowledge this and not forget them. Peace

My three rescue dogs in China have finally arrived in America.

Chihuahua Little Sister, terrier Little Bean and sweet campus stray, Lucy, are adjusting well in my smalltown community after over 3 years being away from me.

These three had been kenneled in Luzhou, my Chinese city, since I left in 2020 on what was to be my 1-month winter break as a college teacher. Unexpectedly,  my four-week holiday ballooned into over 3 years when China’s strict Covid lockdown policies went into effect.  Foreigners and Chinese alike were stranded overseas and not allowed to return.  Despite my best efforts from afar to place my pets, none of my Chinese friends would take them.

On March 15, China finally threw open its doors to full international travel but my placement as an English language teacher with the Amity Foundation closed. I had expected to return to start up the new school year but that will not be happening.

Instead, I will be assigned to a new teaching position overseas, in another country. This news left somewhat of a dilemma concerning two things:

1. When to get back to China to pack up over 30 years worth of household things in the school’s apartment (still working on that one)
2. What to do with my four fostered animals.

Three-legged Three Finds a Home

I had been asking numerous friends to adopt my 4 foster animals left behind with kennel staff but only one person took me up on the offer. Just recently, Three, 3-legged kitty, found his way into one of my former student’s home along with her husband. “Angel” has been sending numerous pictures of fat and sassy Three flopped on her floor, cuddled under covers or hanging out at a kitty-friendly coffee shop she and husband, Wolf, patron quite often.

For Three, life now is finally once again full of love, attention and family.

My uncle to the rescue

 But the dogs, after 3 years, had yet to be taken in.

On many phone calls to my uncle, my mother’s brother, I had spoken of missing my pets and how distraught I was as to what to do. When I broke the news I was not to return to China as a teacher, he said, “Connie, you need your pets with you. I know how much my little fuzzy doggie means to me so just bring them back and I’ll take care of the cost.”

A Fascinating Journey

After an American friend put me in touch with DD Pet Relocation Service, an animal shipping company out of China, I arranged for their arrival. It took a total of 16 days with quite a round-about travel: private van pick-up from. my Luzhou kennel to the Chongqing Airport (2 hours away), flight to southern Guangzhou Province (2 hours), a 3-day wait there for overseas documents, a flight to Turkey first (16 hours) with Serbian caretaker Dusan, then to Serbia, after which Dusan was put in charge of getting their US paperwork completed. That took 7 days. Next came the flight to America–Serbia to Turkey to Chicago (18 hours) –after which Dusan immediately loaded them into a rented van to bring them directly to my doorstep in Marshall, Illinois.

They landed at 1:30 a.m. and have been here ever since.

Sister will stay with me.  But my fervent hope is that someone in Marshall, or the surrounding area, will welcome terrier Little Bean and campus stray Lucy into their homes as fosters or permanent family members. I would love to see the two stay together as they are best friends.  Please think on it, either for yourself or someone you know, as you read their stories.

Little Bean, the Terrier

On a main street near my college was a veterinarian clinic.  Unwanted pets or sick street animals were often dumped at this facility because no one wanted to pay for their care. They were thrown into rusted cages in an unlit back room.  Aside from being fed, they were basically ignored. Some died; others clung desperately to life.

One day, a compassionate staff member waved me in, showed me the back room and wondered if I’d ask friends to adopt any of the cats or dogs there.  I did manage to find loving owners for two but the rest were problematic.  In the end, I took the ones in greatest need:  Three, the three-legged kitten with a mangled limb, Stinky the Yorkie with a leaking urinary tract, and Little Bean, the terrier with a horrific case of mange.   I hustled Three and Stinky to Chengdu, a city 4 hours away by bus, to an excellent veterinarian hospital.  They had the operations necessary to give them normal lives.  Three accompanied me back to Luzhou and Stinky stayed in Chengdu with an American couple.   

Beanie, meanwhile, remained with me, Sister and Three.  After several months of medicated shampoos, good nutrition and a lot of comforting care, she was added to our little clan.

 Sweet Lucy, the Campus Stray

My college campus was full of strays.  Dogs of all sizes wandered through the gates, looking for food or shelter, until they were chased away by the school’s security guards.  One was Blackie, who was looked after by several campus workers.  When she had a litter of 2 puppies, which I named Linus and Lucy, tolerance of her presence changed. Student safety became an issue as more animals appeared. Edicts came down from school leaders to get rid of all homeless dogs and cats by any means possible.  Blackie, Linus and numerous others were poisoned.  Lucy managed to escape the poisoning but not the harsh methods used by the workers to evict any dog in sight.  I found her cowering under a bush, her front leg snapped in two.  Without hesitation, I scooped her up, carried her to my apartment and the next day, took her to one of the better veterinarian clinics in my city.

The X-ray showed a nasty break, one that could be stabolized with an implanted metal rod.  After a successful surgery, Lucy recovered to her full, happy self.  She joined Beanie, Sister, Three, and me to complete our contented, peaceful little household.

Hanging Out in the Wieck Household

As you read this article, our migrants are happily playing in the back yard, enjoying the sunshine.  Three, however, did not join his canine siblings.  

Will someone reading this consider offering Little Bean and Lucy a similar happy ending as Three?  Please contact me at corneliaw2000@hotmail.com.  I’ll be happy to answer questions and discuss foster or adoption details.  Working together, let’s welcome our newly arrived immigrants with the best homes imaginable.

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The message from my Chinese college’s foreign affairs director was heartbreaking. 

 “Connie,” it read.  “We are so sorry.  Amity has ended the teaching program. We will not invite you back.” 

For 24 years, the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries partnered with China’s Christian-founded service organization, the Amity Foundation, to place me as an educator at struggling colleges in China.   

Since 1987, Amity has been inviting foreign language teachers to teach at  small universities and junior colleges whose budgets couldn’t pay top salaries for a foreigner. Colleges in China offer majors in business, international trade and English education. Furthermore, Chinese PhD candidates wishing to study overseas or those doing research, hoping to be published in international journals, must have their articles written in English, the common language for such publications. All of this requires students choosing from numerous selected courses in our language, thus the importance of dedicated, qualified English language teachers in the country. Many higher educational institutions in China can’t afford insurance, flight fees and bonuses which larger, more prominent Chinese universities can.    Thus Amity has stepped in by offering an Amity Foundation Teacher, one committed to service rather than wealth. 

I have been very honored to be a teacher through this uplifting, vital program.  When I became stranded in the States due to Covid, with China closing its borders during the pandemic, it was devastating.  While I’ve been very grateful to my denomination for giving me a USA position (Mission Advocate for the North Central Jurisdiction), it hasn’t been the same as teaching.  

Now China has finally opened.  But after anxiously awaiting for 3 years to return to Luzhou Vocational and Technical College, I have been told the Amity Teaching program has come to an end.  

In a recent Zoom meeting, it was fully explained the reasons behind this. 

First, the Amity Foundation status at sponsoring schools is becoming problematic.   China is divided into 31 provinces, which are similar to America’s 50 states.  During these 3 years of Covid, without my presence, my position as an Amity Foundation teacher was not reinstated in Sichuan Province.  In fact, I was told the provincial government denied Amity’s application because the officials didn’t understand why an organization located in Jiangsu Province was requesting to have a foreign teacher employed in Sichuan Province.  The strong ties Amity had with government officials in Sichuan since 2001 had, sadly, disintegrated during the Covid years.  

Secondly, the number of Amity teachers has dwindled.  We used to have 40 to 50  instructors from all over the world who taught in this program.  But over the years, this has not been the case. Many teachers couldn’t commit to living several years overseas without adequate salaries.  Advertising among denominations and service organizations for possible Amity teachers in China also diminished.  Plus the request by colleges for Amity teachers plummeted as China became more prosperous, with schools becoming financially sound enough  to hire their own teachers at competitive pay scale.  In 2020, I was the last Amity Foundation teacher left standing.  All of my colleagues had left due to retirement, health reasons or monetary constraints. 

Thirdly, Amity staff is stretched too thin.  The Amity Teaching Program is  a minuscule part of Amity’s education division.  The cost of the program, staff involvement, and paperwork involved was just not feasible for only one person, myself. 

 Lastly, Global Ministries  requires partnership between its in-country organizations and our placements. If the placement ends, or is no longer viable or needed, we move on to where we can be of better service.

Discussions are underway of sending me to a different country where my skills as an English teacher can be of more help.  I should know where that will be in a few weeks. So exciting!!

As for my apartment on my college campus in China, when the time comes,  I will be returning to clear out, pack up and send my things onward to my next teaching position. I will have the ability to say goodbye, sing with my church choir once again, enjoy numerous farewell banquets, and lead a few English language seminars for interested students and colleagues.  Absolutely, I will have the necessary closure to emotionally, mentally and spiritually depart from the country and people that have so warmly embraced me these many years.

Be following this space for more news from me! (See below our recently taken church directory photo: me, China rescue Bridget and my mom, Priscilla. Yes, I’m still living with Mom in her “new” little house. And, yes, I am a VERY grateful, and feel extremely blessed, to have such a wonderful mother.)