26 Mar Update from Bridger Fetters in Macau

At the time of this writing, I have now finished the first day of my second week at Pui Va school. Things have been great so far. In week one, I got to meet the 200 students, spread across four classes, that I will work with for the final 10 weeks of the semester.

I shared a bit of my story and experiences with the class to give them a chance to get used to the way I speak English. After a few questions to confirm comprehension, I conducted a survey so that I could get a sense of their English level along with some suggestions for what they might be interested to study. The school has given me freedom to teach however I choose, as long as the students are learning conversational English. I wanted some feedback so that I could create engaging and valuable lessons.

On each of my last two trips to Macau, I have had the chance to spend a day walking around the old parts of town with Living Stone members Jeffrey, Carolina, and Tyrone. All three of these friends have spent parts of their lives living in more Western cultures. Jeffrey attended high school and university in Canada, Carolina lived in England for a number of years, and Tyrone is from the Philippines and has traveled a lot of places for work.

This past Saturday, the four of us decided to head out on the town again, talking in our usual jumble of Cantonese and English. We ate at a Mexican restaurant (surprisingly good) and then walked around Taipa for several hours. Finally, we stopped to get something to drink and ended up sitting and talking about culture and language (including a small competition on who knew the most world capitals) until after 2 am!

Even though it took me a few days to catch up on my rest, it was a wonderful opportunity to build friendships with people at Living Stone Church. While I am attending Living Water Church on Sunday mornings, I am happy to be able to connect with the people of Living Stone during the week.