I've failed to give very many detailed updates on school and baseball, so thought this a good time to do so! The picture is of me and my teacher, Xie Lao Shur, who I just call Kathy. She is AWESOME, and has been such a blessing and encouragement to me! The way it works is that Kevin goes to class every morning (meaning Monday through Friday) from 8-10. Being punctual as he is, he leaves on his bike around 7:15am and it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to ride to the building where our language school is located. We both opted to take classes one-on-one rather than with small groups, mainly so that we have increased flexibility with our schedules. I go only two afternoons per week (Monday and Wednesday) for two hours at a time. We have it timed so that I go to class in the afternoons (from 1:30-3:30) so that Kevin can be home to watch kids and manage the crew during nap time.
We've learned a ton in the last month--but still have SOOOOO far to go! It definitely gets overwhelming some days. In fact, I hit a wall this weekend after being so frustrated at still feeling like I can hardly put a sentence together. I want so badly to be able to communicate with all the friends we're making and the people we meet even just in passing! Kevin encouraged me with the fact that it is good to have this frustration, as it definitely helps motivate me to do as much as I can to learn as quickly as possible. We both come back from the two-hour class time absolutely fried mentally. Kevin has two different teachers (one 3 days per week and the other 2 days per week--both of whom he really enjoys). Kevin is a lot further along in his studies than I am as a part-time student, so he has just begun writing characters, rather than just doing the pin yin (which is the written form of Mandarin that uses the English alphabet we're all familar with). We have a good deal of homework to complete after each class, and I just took my first test today! Yikes!
As far as baseball goes, Kevin has re-connected with the Tianjin Lions, the professional baseball team in town. He waited for several weeks before going to the sports complex, mainly to make sure that all of us were somewhat settled (and his wife was emotionally stable enough!) before he got into any sort of committment with the team. He made it over there about 2 weeks ago and re-introduced himself to the team. They were somewhat receptive, but the next day when he went back to work out with the team he got a really positive response--ptl! The team's star pitcher was even able to speak some English, so they were able to have a longer conversation. The players seemed to really like having him there, even asking him informally to pitch in their season opening game this spring! Unfortunately, the team left town the next day for a 2-week long road trip for a tournament, so Kevin hasn't been with them since. The team should be getting back in the middle of this week, so if Kevin's schedule allows, he should be re-connecting with them again to continue working out with them for a short time in the morning after he's finished classes.
