Note: various links or
other references may be mentioned below that no longer apply.
Sorry for the
inconvenience.
January update (Jan 19, 2013)
I sent my grades to the
university a week ago,
and since then I've been very distracted with computer problems. A recent
class exercise (talking about the past) reminded me that today's students
have grown up with technology that would have been unimaginable when I was
a student. One student said: "When I was a child, telephones had buttons
with numbers." After musing for a moment about how "when I was a kid
telephones had cords and were actually used to talk to people" I simply
said, "My phone still has buttons!" Call me old-fashioned if you wish, but
I'm stuck in an era that needs Windows XP to run my website, and where
"communication" means an interactive conversation with
grammatically-formed sentences, voice inflection and even body language
[not "JU C that? LOL :)" --i.e., Did you see that? It was very funny + a
smile.].
Change is just part of what it
means to be alive. One minute you are looking for "Mrs Right" and the
next, it seems, your
son is in college and your
daughter is raising a family of her own.
As I get older, it gets clearer
and clearer that "contentment" is one of the greatest treasures in life.
My faith helps me to be content with whatever each new season brings. I
sleep well because I don't have to regret things I've done in the past,
and I can look forward to my tomorrows knowing that (whatever awaits me)
the future is safely in God's hands.
At the moment, Chinese New Year
decorations beautify my home, though it is interesting to see so many
Christmas trees still around Xiamen. We enjoyed sharing the
Christmas season with dozens of students and local friends
(I hope to put more photos on line during the break). On several
occasions I got the chance to sing Christmas songs, and two of the
season's highlights were a big Christmas party at D'cups Coffee Bar near campus and
a concert with friends on Gulangyu. We also hosted many fun activities at
our home.
After participating in meetings
for ex-pats (in Thailand), we'll be back in Xiamen to get ready for the
new term, looking forward to whatever blessings the new term's changes and
challenges bring!
Happy New Year!
春节快乐!
Michael Krigline
Photo captions:
In early December, we agreed to adopt (or foster?) Zoe
while her American family is away for the next year or so.
PS: I'm extremely grateful to my student Kevin, who helped
me get krigline.com.cn back on line in late December. When it disappeared,
I'd been told that it was gone forever, so I consider this a "miracle"!
There is no telling how long it will stay on line (it has disappeared many
times since I started it in 2005), but we hope many Chinese
English-learners will enjoy it while they can.
I'm too busy to look at my website statistics
very often, but after my Chinese registration was canceled this month I
thought I'd have a look. It was interesting. My ".cn" website got 8934
page hits in Nov 2012; most visitors were looking for English-learning
resources (like help with essays, standardized tests, and movies), though
88 people found my song "Jing Ye Si"; my own students visited the
"materials" page 159 times; over 200 were related to my textbook. It's
good to know that so many people find this website useful!
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March
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May update (5-10-13)
As the old saying goes, "April
showers bring May flowers." In Xiamen, we had a lot of rain in April, but
we were grateful because the "rainy season" was late. Thus, we were spared
from the bone-chilling dampness in February, and yet, April’s showers also
spared from the kind of drought we had last year.
So, are the "May flowers" blossoming?
Well, flowers seem to blossom year round here, but the grass is certainly
greener and the seasonal flowers are lovely. Indeed, my cactus had grown
so "bushy" that I had to trim it back and repot it--a first for me. The
weeks ahead will tell if I helped it or killed it in the process!
As you can tell (by the above drivel,
as well as the four month delay since my previous update), there is no real
news to report. Things go as they normally do, with a mixture of very busy
school work, enjoyable times spent with students and other friends off
campus, and the occasional crisis (health, electronic, or otherwise). As
we approach the end of the spring term, school work will take over our
lives until it is time to fly to the US for the summer. In the US, we look
forward to seeing our parents, children and grandchildren, plus all the
other dear ones who we've missed since our last visit in 2011.
Our dog Zoe seems to be getting used
to us--just in time for us to disappear for the summer! At the moment,
lots of uncertainly shrouds the months ahead. We don't know who will stay
in our apartment to care for Zoe, don't know whether Akron University will
need me to teach during the summer, and aren't completely sure what my job will
be next fall (but Xiamen University officials have indicated that I'll be
offering a course to upper classmen--which is kind of cool!). But these unsettled times make
our faith stronger, and make us grateful for our relationship with One who
exists beyond the boundaries of “time.” He will make whatever comes “work
together for good”, even as He helps us be content in the midst of
uncertainty.
Anticipating a great summer,
Michael
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June
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July/August
Summer 2013 notice:
From June through September,
I'll be away from the old computer that runs our website via Windows
XP/FrontPage software, so don't
expect many changes or additions to this website! Have a great
summer, and check back in the fall.
--Michael
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September/October
Fall 2013 notice:
We are back in China, but we're
too busy to be "web hosts". Michael is teaching a new course about
American Culture, which means lots of "prep", and we are both busy with
lots of other things too. There are still lots of interesting things to
see at krigline.com--just not much that is new.
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November/December
December 2013 notice:
As expected, this term has kept
me too busy to mess with the website (except for adding
resources for my students), but this photo
shows that we've been busy with fun activities, shared by students and
friends. If I can, I'll add more Christmas photos, sometime in January.
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Don't forget that Vivian has a photo scrapbook website,
too. She has a lot more time to play with fun things than I do, and she
frequently adds a page or two. Her pages are more elaborate than the
simple photo pages on krigline.com, so they load slowly in China, but you
might enjoy seeing her nice pictures. Click here to start your journey:
www.scrapbookflair.com/China_Doll
