Teaching English

Our Xining Apartment

Nov 19 2009 ~ Jan 11 2010


 

Our Apartment

Published on 1-Dec-2009 by Ray Fried

We are extremely thankful for our Xining apartment. Some friends from the US made it available to us while they are in America. It is located very near a bus stop that has buses going to all parts of Xining and yet it is in a very quiet neighborhood. Furthermore it has a central heating system, hot running water, and a "western" toilet! In addition to that it is outfitted with dishes, bedding, cooking utensils - every thing we need! We also have dependable high speed Internet.

Office


Our living room is very nice too however we really don't spend any time in it as we typically only spend time using the Internet in the office or are outside someplace. Our Living Room

Teaching English

Twyla meets with two students from a minority group twice a week. These students are from a group that does not have a written language however these particular gals also speak and read Mandarin.

Twyla also teaches English to a man from the Hui people group .


Christmas at the Fried's

Published on 26-Dec-2009 by Ray Fried

We invited Twyla's two students and one fellow we met at the Sweet Dew Cafe along with three foreigners to come to our apartment for supper the evening of Christmas day. We also encouraged the students to bring some of their friends. We ended up with 14 people - three Korean foreigners, two Tibetans, two Han Chinese, and the rest from the "Tu" people group. Christmas Group As the people began filing in, Twyla became a little concerned that she had not prepared enough food. As it turned out, there was plenty for all. We sang Christmas carols, read the Christmas story and did a bit of visiting. As with many mixed groups here, there is no common language that all understood. Fortunately, there were people that could bridge the language barrier. Eating A highlight for all of us was the opportunity to "look-into" the living rooms of both of our sons via Skype technology. We introduced the locals to our grandchildren and provided them with a visual understanding of how Americans celebrate Christmas!