No Turning Back...

The first special talk in Chinese was given by Frank. He and his wife, Amanda, had just returned from serving in China for 5 years. My friends had already attended a few classes before this. After the talk, I decided I wanted to join them, because I was afraid to be left out. From there I attended classes regularly. This all began in June, and when the end of July came, we found out about the Chinese Convention in the middle of August. 

Scott and Jeffrey made plans to take a trip up to New York to go. Naturally, I didn't want to miss the opportunity so I tried my best to make arrangements to go with them. Nothing I seemed to come up with worked, and I began to become discouraged. At the very last minute, Frank and Amanda offered to take me with them. I was overjoyed. 

I will admit, at first, it was selfish reasons that were pushing me to go. I couldn't stand the fact that Jeffrey and Scott would be there and I wouldn't, so I was very relieved when I got the chance to go after all. And the week I spent in New York will forever be one of the best weeks of my life. ❤

Frank, Amanda, and I left for New York right after the Wednesday night meeting and drove all night listening to broadway musicals on Pandora. We arrived in New York around lunch time and decided to take a tour of Bethel, only to run into Wang Hui and Jackie, friends from Illinois, where Frank and Amanda had first stopped when the got back into the States to give a public talk. 

Frank, Amanda, Me, Hui, & Jackie
at Bethel.

We ended up spending the rest of the day with my new found friends. We even went out to eat with them and Frank's brother and his wife. If was a good day but after being awake for over 24 hours, I was exhausted. The couple who were letting us stay in their house were in Hong Kong for the International Convention the same weekend. Their house was not too far from the assembly hall of 

Jehovah's Witnesses on Flatbush in Brooklyn, where our Chinese Convention was being held. Scott and Jeffrey had drove all night Thursday to arrive a few hours before the convention, that started at around 9 a.m. We met up with them as we parked, about a block away from the assembly hall. 

The cool thing was, the morning we arrived in New York, Frank got a phone call that informed us that we were officially a group, approved by the Branch. So when the convention started on Friday, we were able to tell others that we 'had just became a group, yesterday!"

 

I was absolutely BLOWN away. There were so many chinese people, and english people who were learning just like me! And when we stood up to sing the songs, just thinking about it makes me want to cry again. So much emotion and love could be heard through a simple Kingdom Melody. In English, we just sing the song, but hearing it in another language made me actually feel it. 

Of course, being very new to Chinese, I new next to nothing. On the trip up, Frank had suggested to me to keep a journal so I wouldn't get bored during the 3 day convention. On my first day, I dissected the characters of the theme  and it's meaning. 

保护你的心

(Bǎohù nǐ de xīn) 

In English it was Safeguard Your Heart! It was the very first set of characters or 汉字 (Hànzì) that I was able to learn. Also on the first day was when I received my Chinese name. There is no literal translation of English names into Chinese. Some think that going to Google Translate and just processing their name would be sufficient. Unfortunately it is not that easy. A native speaker has to give you your name. Wang Hui was kind enough to give me my name.

胡佳妮

（Hújiā nī）  

In English, it means 'cute girl'. Hui also tried to keep my name as close to my English name as possible. 

So when I pronounce JiaNi, it still sounds similar to Joni.

After the Convention we took a trip over to China Town. It was a wonderful experience. I got to see for the first time the confusion when and English speaker starts speaking Mandarin to a Chinese person.  They literally do not comprehend that someone of another race is speaking their language. Frank had to repeat what he said twice before the lady understood he was not speaking in English. And when she realized it, her face lit up. China Town is also where I got to try authentic Chinese food for the first time. I was scared at first, but the food turned out to be delicious!!!!  

Amanda chewing on a Chicken Foot

China Town!

This post would be as long as a novel if I were to mention every single thing that happened during my trip to New York. If I could be certain about one thing though, that trip changed my life for the better.