Wyatt's Adventures in Asia

A few days in advance, multiple weather forecasts called for 暴雨, which means torrential rain. Even on Saturday night, the forecast still called for consistent thunderstorms through the day starting in the early morning.

But when I woke up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, there was a still calm in the air and a bright sunrise color splashed across the clouds. For that day, the 19^th of May, Twenty-Thirteen, The Zhiying Stars of Zhiying Middle School in Xiwei Village, Guangdong Province, China were meant to take the next step on a life-changing journey, and no dismal weather forecast was going to stop it from happening. And so, we set out from Xiwei Village, and oh what an unforgettable day it was…

For most of the 56 Zhiying Stars, it was their very first time to step foot out of the countryside. For many, it was their first time riding any other vehicle besides an electric scooter. The buzz, excitement and anticipation in the air was thick, tangible and contagious.

We pulled up to the gate, stepped off the bus and a whole new world opened up before my students’ eyes.  These students are the most exceptional and talented students in the seventh grade at Zhiying Middle School, and yet for many of them, the thought of going to college one day had never even crossed their mind before this year. The statistics say that less than 3% of the students in China’s rural countryside will make to university. Before this year, only a few of my students had ever met a college student, as many of their friends and family members dropped out in or after middle school to begin work to support their families. So as that new world unfolded before their eyes, it was bright, beautiful and glorious.

 

From around 9am until 3pm, The Zhiying Stars’ role models and friends showed them around their home, their laboratory, their classroom—Shantou University.  From an hour in the library, to the School of Art & Design, to lunch in the canteen, to interacting with sea creatures in the Biology Lab, the life of a college student came alive for The Zhiying Stars. Easy to find dressed in our new Zhiying Stars class t-shirts, over 21 incredibly welcoming, generous and engaging university students found and joined us as we explored and engaged. I will give these priceless pictures a chance to tell the story my words could never do justice to.

For these Zhiying Stars, the journey to Shantou University started back fall when they first started to interact with their lifelong role models at Zhiying Middle School. Most recently, the student’s in the incredible Amy’s outstanding class came twice to Xiwei in May.  These world-changers selfishly gave countless hours of their time to invest, encourage and inspire The Zhiying Stars.

And oh how they inspired.

Through sharing their stories, meeting my students where they are, and completely erasing the 5-7 year age gap separating them, these students planted seeds that will germinate, grow and bear fruit for years and years to come, echoing into the very depths of eternity.

Yesterday afternoon around 3’oclock, we climbed on the bus after a day full of warm sunshine and ocean breeze. The weather was gloriously perfect, and gave us space to leave it all on the table in Shantou with not one second wasted. As soon as our bus reached the main intersection and we started the journey back into the countryside, the clouds released the rain that was supposed to be falling the entire day.  Over the next hour and a half as we drove closer and closer to Xiwei Village, the rain suddenly stopped and a bright yellow light appeared on the horizon to lead us home. The bus atmosphere was thick with mouths moving a mile a minute, processing every second of the unforgettable day at Shantou University. Oh the memories to reflect on and share.

After the bus arrived at Zhiying Middle School around 4:30, we got off the bus and the students started the journey back to their homes, many having to travel 30 minutes by bike to far-away villages. At 5 o’clock, Terry, one of the Zhiying Stars whose village is the farthest away from Zhiying, called me to let me know he was home safe and sound. We chatted about the day for a minute or so, and I sent him off to share with his parents and get some rest for the coming week ahead. As soon as I pulled my cell phone down from my ear and ended the call, the looming dark sky outside belched a loud and rippling roll of thunder, and the rain began to fall. It was that torrential 暴雨that rivaled the infamous Hurricane Fran that passed over my hometown as a child. At that moment, my heart that was already filled with joy, awe and gratefulness began to overflow.  My mind quickly bounced back to the calm feeling I experienced that very morning when I realized that the weather forecast and threat of rain was not going to threaten a day and an event that was much bigger than black clouds and rolling thunder.

The Zhiying Stars’ journey to May 19^th began not just last semester when they began to interact with their role models for the first time, but back who knows how long, into this epic, global and always-unfolding story of odd-defying hope.

Working with The Zhiying Stars over the past two years has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.  It has changed me, challenged me, blessed me, inspired me. The Zhiying Stars have made me a better person in countless ways. They have and continue to work with everything they have within them to prove to the world that the crippling statistics stacked against them have no say on their future, that where they were born, in the rural coastal countryside of southeastern China does not decide for them their life path, and that indeed nothing….NOTHING is impossible.  I’m treasuring every single second I get to spend with these future world-changers as I finish up my time teaching here at Zhiying Middle School.  This Wednesday and Thursday, our dear friends from Shantou University will make two final trips to Zhiying as we wrap up this semester and year that has flown by.

The road ahead for The Zhiying Stars is anything but easy. In fact, its absurdly and unfairly difficult. But here on May 20^th, 2013, fueled and encouraged by all the experiences we’ve been a part of this year, The Zhiying Stars and I together look forward with an intense, relentless and bright hope and faith. As CS Lewis so beautifully put it, ”now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before…”

And so, the journey continues…

Every year just a few weeks after the Chinese New Year, the citizens of Xiwei young and old turn their attention to honoring their ancestors through a festival and parade. Here is an inside-look at this fascinating and beautiful ancestral worship festival that has taken place for generations dating back thousands of years. I was so proud to see so many of the Zhiying Stars perform! Enjoy!

 

Time is a precious gift; and as I’ve grown up, I’ve realized more and more that how we spend it really matters.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve had the eternal privilege of spending the Chinese New Year holiday here in Xiwei.  I will treasure these times for the rest of my life.

Chinese New Year in Xiwei is a big deal. Those working or studying in far-away places always find their way home to their family here.

When I walked into Xiwei in August of 2011, I was the first foreigner most here had ever seen in person, much less met. I looked different, talked different and came from a land called America, far on the other side of the world. They didn’t have to welcome me into their families, they didn’t have to include me, and they didn’t have to make me feel treasured, but they did.

Oh, they did, and it has changed my life.

From day one, the people in this village have welcomed me into their families and community like I grew up here all my life and am one of their own children. Never more have I experienced this than over the past few weeks. Before break started, I told the Zhiying Stars that I’d be around Xiwei for break and would love to celebrate with them and their families. I never expected to get such a flood of invitations. I’ve spent almost every lunch and dinner over the past two weeks at the homes of the amazing Zhiying Stars or of the local teachers here at Zhiying Middle School.

In between meals, the days have been packed. From hours of basketball…

 

to countless games of UNO…

 

to three dozen Peanut Butter cookies…

…no time was wasted!

I was also blessed to spend a lot of time with my Auntie and Uncle and their family, the angels who treat me as their own son day in and day out. From eating BBQ with DongDong, my Chinese brother, to being with MeiMei for her first steps on her own, words don’t even begin to describe my gratitude.

Last Wednesday, the Zhiying Stars and I had the privilege of welcoming back the Zhiying Middle School Class of 1983 and their former teachers back to Xiwei for a reunion celebration. 30 years later, they live in places far and wide and have children of their own, but still tie their roots back to this village and school.  I’ll never forget the conversation that reunion inspired sitting on the basketball court with several of the Zhiying Stars that afternoon.  Jonathan and Lebron looked at each other and then to me and mentioned that in 30 years, I’ll be 54 and they will be 44; we’ll be grown up and have families of our own. With smiles on our faces, we dreamed about where we might be in 30 years and looked forward to that day when we’d be reunited from far and wide back at Zhiying Middle School to celebrate. I look forward to that day very much.

It takes a village to raise a child, and that sentiment could not be more true than here in Xiwei. Living here in the Teacher’s Dormitory here at Zhiying has been the adventure of a lifetime. I find myself returning to my room at night just before bed after evenings full of great conversations over Chinese tea and running around playing hide & go seek with the kiddos.

From seeing YongYong become quite the talented musician, to playing piano with TongTong, it has been an eternal privilege to walk alongside these precious, precious children as they grow up and get to know the parents who are so wonderfully raising them. Over this Chinese New Year break, I was honored to visit many of the homes where many of the local teachers grew up here in Xiwei and surrounding villages.

 

Hospitality, like time, is another one of life’s precious gifts. As I look back over this break, I can’t even begin to describe how overwhelmed I have felt by the way I’ve been included and joyfully welcomed here in Xiwei. One of my favorite memories I will forever cherish was spending the afternoon and evening of Chinese New Year at my student Jonathan’s house. I had been there to visit with his family and drink tea several times before and was so blessed by the warmth and love so tangibly present in their home. Way back in September, they invited me to come celebrate Chinese New Year with them and oh what a celebration it was.

Spending the Chinese New Year holiday at Jonathan’s house and all the other incredible people I visited, I was blessed by generosity in a way I cannot even begin to fully describe in words. When we sat down at the dinner table, it was absolutely clear that it was no ordinary meal, it was no ordinary time together.  They went out of their way to buy the best meat, the best vegetables, the best everything . And they put it all on the table and invited me to enjoy it as a part of their family.

I could write on for pages and pages, and at the end of the day, words would never do justice to the love and hospitality I’ve experienced here in Xiwei. Though I don’t know where the Author of the Great Adventure will take me after July, I know that my life has been forever blessed and changed for the better by these precious souls in Xiwei. And as I look ahead to my last semester here at Zhiying Middle School in Xiwei village, I do so with a great sense of urgent joy, as not a single second can be wasted. Encouraged and rejuvenated, I can’t wait to work tirelessly these next months to stand as a door-holder for the Zhiying Stars to help give them the opportunities the all deserve. I want every Zhiying Star to know that they are treasured, valued, significant and have a bright, world-changing future ahead of them.  And as they and their families have so graciously done for me, so I will do for them–leave it all on the table.

I continue to cherish the opportunity to visit the homes of the Zhiying Stars. Today, I had the privilege of going home with Terry!  Though Terry lives in another village around 20 minutes away by bike, he gets to school before 7:00AM every morning to give himself enough time to prepare for the first period starts at 7:30AM. He has a rare, unrelenting work ethic that has propelled him to consistently test in the top 5 out of the over 700 7th graders at Zhiying.

When we arrived at his home, Terry’s grandfather immediately welcomed me with a firm handshake and a smile on his face. I sat down and visited for nearly two hours with his grandfather, grandmother, father, brothers, and cousins. I quickly learned that Terry has one of the most supportive families I’ve ever met. They encourage each other, they hold each other accountable, they support each other and dream big…together. Terry’s dad and grandparents shared about how proud they are of how much Terry has accomplished already; I gladly chimed in and shared about how much Terry has progressed this semester and how much of an honor it is to be his teacher and friend.

When our friends from Shantou University came to visit this semester, Terry and I started a conversation we’ve been continuing ever since about his dream to go to college one day. I was so encouraged that today his entire family told me about their collective dream for him to one day be the first person in their family to go to college.  Through talking with his family, it was so evident that Terry’s family aren’t pressuring him/trying to direct his future for him, they are standing there on the sidelines cheering him on as he dreams big and works hard to reach the finish line! What a beautiful picture of family and oh what a strong foundation to build upon. At lunch today, Terry told me he wants to go to Qing Hua, the Harvard of China. I can hardly wait for that day!

Dream big, Terry and may you stand strong upon the foundation that has been laid for you. You are loved and supported more than you will ever know! The world so desperately needs your intrinsic work ethic, your passion, and your hope!

What an incredible semester.  It is so hard to believe my last class of the semester with the Zhiying Stars is tomorrow! There is so much to say as I reflect back on all that has happened these past few months, but for now I will let this semester speak for itself through this video compilation I made to show at our class party tomorrow afternoon! Enjoy!