Hello friends and family! I know it's been awhile since my last blog post...I wish I could say I have a good excuse but I don't :) Wow this year has gone by fast! It's already almost March!!! A lot has happened since the year 2013 has started. After our Christmas break we had 5 weeks of school and then another 2 week break for chun jie (Chinese new year). I must say that I love being at an international school where we can celebrate American and Chinese holidays!
This semester a few of my classes are different. I have a praise band class with some really talented kids and my high school choir class grew from 6 to 20! I think that might have to do with the fact that we are going to the ISC Choral Festival in a few weeks in Tianjin but I still like to think it's because they like the class ;) I'm really excited for this trip. My students will get to perform with students from 5 other schools and work under the direction of a university choral director from New York. They are also commissioning a piece and the premier will be at the concert with the composer present in the audience (no pressure...)! This year is also the first year that they are going to have a band festival in addition to choral festival. I am excited because I am the only brass teacher in all of our ISC schools so I get to lead brass sectionals. On that note I should mention that in the past few months we have purchased and received instruments and, as of this week, have started an after-school band. Because of after-school sports practices we have only 10 students in it right now but we are expecting a pretty good turn-out next year when band will be part of the school day! I AM SOOOOOO HAPPY TO BE TEACHING BAND!!!! Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed teaching choir, but my heart is in instrumental music! This class will also take place of my general music class for middle school which for most music teachers is a challenging class to teach (its a big challenge for me).
The Father is continuing to teach me and show me things that He has planned. A long-time struggle I have dealt with is anxiety and self-doubt. This has been magnified since being here. The enemy knows this is my weakness and he is constantly attacking me with it. I lose a lot of sleep but really would rather not resort to sleep-medication to help cope. Depending on the time of year it gets better and worse but He is continually showing His faithfulness in being right beside me in my struggles.
I am looking forward to summer and being with my friends and family. I am also creating an extensive list of items I want to bring back (many of the items wouldn't be on there if there was a Bath and Body Works here lol). I am excited to be going home and being somewhere that is familiar but going home doesn't seem real to me right now, it kind of feels like a dream. I come home on June 8 and will stay until the beginning of July so if you're around let me know!
