I managed to avoid the stomach bug. Using hand sanitizer about 20 times a day seems to actually help you not get sick surprisingly.
The thumb thing was just my inner hypochondriac acting up I'm afraid. The thumb is not broken, just badly sprained, although considering that is swelled, bruised and still doesn't have full range of motion back after nearly 2 weeks, I feel justified in making that mistake.
Since I started running/working out during gym instead of volleyball, I've dropped down to 166 from the 170 that I was when I arrived. The treats were well appreciated. The Gingerbread men tasted really good.
I have run into Derek once, didn't really have the chance to talk to him, and we couldn't take pictures. Hopefully I'll see him a time or two more before he leaves.
We're getting the snow pretty good down here too. Have Cam email me first, I don't have his address. And the info for me and my companion is the exact same, just change the name to Elder Xean Cook.
I ran into a man who recently got back from the NYNYCN Mission, Mandarin speaking. He said that we will be spending most of our time in Chinatown, so no surprises there. The surprise is that apparently 99% of the people we will be teaching are illegal immigrants, and as such are highly transient, meaning that we may call them to set up another appointment, and they'll be in North Carolina the day after we teach them. Should be interesting to see how that works out.
As for hosting a new missionary, you have to have been here for about 6 weeks before they ask your district to begin volunteering for it, so I haven't been able to yet.
I understand more of what's being said, the problem is that being the visual learner I am, when I hear the word, I then see it in my head, and then I can remember the meaning. If I see the wrong spelling though, then I'm completely lost, even if it's a word I've heard every day for the last 20 days. Other than that, I'm struggling with speaking up more during lessons, because my companion is so much quicker on the uptake (both understanding and speaking it.) I'm getting better, its just a matter of time and forcing myself to open my mouth. A few examples of failed grammar this last week: Aizi (4th tone) and Aizi (3rd tone), the first meaning beloved son, the second means beloved midget. Don't say that to your investigator while talking about Jesus, it confuses them (one of the other companionships did that). Also, using the words for fellow man is apparently slang for gay. That didn't turn out very well. Chinese sentence structure, just to give you an idea, is STPVO (subject, time, place, verb, object) the exceptions are few and far between, but it is really hard to try and say everything with that structure, especially when there are certain words you have to use at the beginning of the sentence EX: IF, STPVO, SVO (if first stpvo, then the svo at the end must follow, kind of like if...then...) there are also 3 different ways to say can, (permissive, physical ability, and mental ability) and 4 ways to say receive (I don't even get the difference between those yet.)
Love you all a lot, and I'm sure these letters will get a lot longer once I'm out in NYC.
Jacob (Elder Christensen)(Chen ZhongLao)
The thumb thing was just my inner hypochondriac acting up I'm afraid. The thumb is not broken, just badly sprained, although considering that is swelled, bruised and still doesn't have full range of motion back after nearly 2 weeks, I feel justified in making that mistake.
Since I started running/working out during gym instead of volleyball, I've dropped down to 166 from the 170 that I was when I arrived. The treats were well appreciated. The Gingerbread men tasted really good.
I have run into Derek once, didn't really have the chance to talk to him, and we couldn't take pictures. Hopefully I'll see him a time or two more before he leaves.
We're getting the snow pretty good down here too. Have Cam email me first, I don't have his address. And the info for me and my companion is the exact same, just change the name to Elder Xean Cook.
I ran into a man who recently got back from the NYNYCN Mission, Mandarin speaking. He said that we will be spending most of our time in Chinatown, so no surprises there. The surprise is that apparently 99% of the people we will be teaching are illegal immigrants, and as such are highly transient, meaning that we may call them to set up another appointment, and they'll be in North Carolina the day after we teach them. Should be interesting to see how that works out.
As for hosting a new missionary, you have to have been here for about 6 weeks before they ask your district to begin volunteering for it, so I haven't been able to yet.
I understand more of what's being said, the problem is that being the visual learner I am, when I hear the word, I then see it in my head, and then I can remember the meaning. If I see the wrong spelling though, then I'm completely lost, even if it's a word I've heard every day for the last 20 days. Other than that, I'm struggling with speaking up more during lessons, because my companion is so much quicker on the uptake (both understanding and speaking it.) I'm getting better, its just a matter of time and forcing myself to open my mouth. A few examples of failed grammar this last week: Aizi (4th tone) and Aizi (3rd tone), the first meaning beloved son, the second means beloved midget. Don't say that to your investigator while talking about Jesus, it confuses them (one of the other companionships did that). Also, using the words for fellow man is apparently slang for gay. That didn't turn out very well. Chinese sentence structure, just to give you an idea, is STPVO (subject, time, place, verb, object) the exceptions are few and far between, but it is really hard to try and say everything with that structure, especially when there are certain words you have to use at the beginning of the sentence EX: IF, STPVO, SVO (if first stpvo, then the svo at the end must follow, kind of like if...then...) there are also 3 different ways to say can, (permissive, physical ability, and mental ability) and 4 ways to say receive (I don't even get the difference between those yet.)
Love you all a lot, and I'm sure these letters will get a lot longer once I'm out in NYC.
Jacob (Elder Christensen)(Chen ZhongLao)
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