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Hi,Dear Friends
 How are you?
Have you had a wonderful weekend and started a good new week?
Last Thursday, Feb 12, 2020 is a special day for me.
At about 3:00pm, I completed the 15th lesson at St. Joseph Catholic Academy, in Springfield, MO, which is the 78th lesson of my current American travel, and Principal Bonnie Johnson came to the classroom and gave me a certificate and a check for my teaching in their school.
I was happy for she said that “You are welcome to come our school in 2021, and if you want to teach more lessons next  year, that would be fine as well.”
With a grateful heart, I returned the check to her and donated the money to our Chinese Art Program in her school.
So, until Feb 12, 2020, I have completed 78 / 93 hours of our teaching plan in 4 American K-12 Schools since Nov, 2019. We missed the 15-hour lessons in the 4th school because of the bad weather and also for they cancelled the courses for their kindergarten students that they had planned before I came to the US.
Totally, I have taught in 40 American schools/art centers 347 times for about 7,200 students (person-times) for 505 class  hours for free Sept, 2009 to Feb, 2020. And we have created teaching model for the initial courses already. We will continue to work together and tried to create something more and better for native English speaking students or non-Chinese speaking students.
And then, as soon as I came back home on the same day, I was informed that the MFA Program of Missouri State University had rejected my application 2nd time (the first time was in 2014).
To be honest with you, it's impossible not to feel any frustration or pities when I got the bad news since I had worked on it for 34 days and 4 professors of Chinese National Academy of Arts and an instroctor in the US had written letters of recommendation for me... However, I was quickly recovered after sleeping for a night. After all, compare with so many people who were dead in the epidemic area of infectious disease, include successful scientists  professors, doctors and ordinary people in Wuhan City, Hubei in my motherland, compare with so many patients who are still suffering the threat of death in the hospitals, especially compare with those brave doctors, nurses volunteers who are fighting with the viruses and saving their patients and this world, include me at this time... to be rejected by a MFA program was really too small failure on my cross-cultural and comprehensive art dream seeking road.
Moreover, who can say this may not be a good example of“Misfortune might be a blessing in disguise?”
After all, the same MFA program of the same university rejected me in 2014, indirectly or directly impelled me become a candidate for MFA at Chinese National Academy of Arts in 2016, published my new book in  2018 and will have completed my study on Chinese Painting for 10 years in 2 top art colleges of China in July, 2020.
Maybe the same thing happened second time would directly or indirectly drive me go to a bigger and broader world art field, which I wished to learn via the MFA program in Missouri State University?
So, in the following a few days, I clarified my thoughts and started to work on my 2nd plan. Here is what I have done since Feb 12, 2020:
-- I have checked, found and chosen 10 courses on World Art History and Contemporary Art by University of Oxford online, which have basically covered the courses that I had  wished to learn via the MFA program in the American University, and I am going to attend those course in Europe as soon as they are starting in 2020.
-- I have found and stored the connect information of “The Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Research Program” of the Research School of Humanities & the Arts at Australian National University. I am going to connect them and visit it when I have my new reunion with my family members in Australia.
-- I have caught the best opportunity that Chinese Government have opened 25,000 university courses online since Feb 13 to all of the Chinese for free and I have enrolled 6 of them and checked and chosen more courses by some top  professors on philosophy, aesthetics, arts, history and western culture and so on. Can you imagine? Just the course "English Writing" has about 10 versions by a lot of universities... so that my current feeling is that I have suddenly had a huge professional and alive course' library that is enough for whole of my life to study...so, now,I have started 2 English courses by 2 famous universities, one of them is “ Academic Writing in English” for candidates for master and doctoral degrees. I am really happy for they offered their courses in English and with captions, and I could repeatedly watch them in case I couldn’t understand the professors...
-- I have booked 70 vocal music courses by the professors of China Conservatory of Music and Central Conservatory of Music, as soon as my daily vocal practice recorder didn’t work. I  mean that I have been keeping practice my voice everyday and now I am following some new professors.
-- Since my return flight has been cancelled by an American Airline and they will not arrange any flight to fly to China until April, 2020, with more serious attitude, every day, I keep walking for 80 minutes to attend English course face to face at Ozarks Technical Community College while having the aerobics physical exercises consciously.
Also, I created 2 little paintings and you can see them via the links below.
So, now, in my heart is full of the appreciations to those professors, tutors who have helped me during I did the applications in Missouri State University and Chinese National  Academy of Arts, the great people who are working in the epidemic area of infectious disease of China who have save so many people and are saving this world, include me, the Chinese Government and the innumerable Chinese universities who have opened their 25,000 courses for all of the Chinese at this special time...
As a common Chinese student who is lucky enough, I am going to cherish my life and opportunity, try to study as much as possible for working and beautifying this world with harder work...
I am sure, along with disaster passes away, my motherland, nation and people will certainly become more strength and go up on a higher human and educational level via learning from those  general but real heroes who are fighting with the epidemic viruses in the forefront right now and studying so many great university courses…
How about you? Do you have anything special to share?
Photo Notes:
No.1: Principal Bonnie Johnson of St. Joseph Catholic Academy sent me a certificate.
No.2: I donated the teaching money to the Chinese Art Program of St. Joseph Catholic Academy.
No.3: Pringcipal Bonnie Johnson, Mrs. Diana Morgan
 who is the art teacher of the school and I.
No.4: One of groups of my America students, Mrs. Diana Morgan
and I.
No.5-6:Some American students'first Chinese flower & Bird Paintings.
No.6-8: Some American students'first Chinese flower & Bird Painting.
No.9-10: Some American students'first Chinese Landscapes.
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