Finally Here!!

Hello to you faithful blog readers. It's with much happiness that I write you to let you know I have arrived in the city where I will be teaching and living for the next 2 years. Its wonderful to finally be here after a month of living out of our suitcases. In fact, our suitcases just arrived today--(we shipped them to our school from Beijing.)

My reality for the immediate week (before classes starts) is working on team building with the other teachers and also getting my apartment clean and comfortable (the clean part will be the more challenging.) I have spent quite some time scrubbing, and it gives me a new appreciation for my mother and grandmother who both have done their fair share of cleaning in their lifetimes.

Thanks for your thoughts--I will write a more exciting blog soon. . . To be continued!!

Purple Bamboo Park

This park is a 15 minute walk from our place in Beijing. In the morning, we can see groups of people doing tai chi, ballroom dancing, aerobics, Chinese yoyo drills, and other exercises.

Email Update

For the past 3 days, our email server has been done, so do not fret if your emails are not going through or if I am not responding. Last night, we went out for one last meal as a big group. It was wonderful--we had a real feast for about $3 a person.
Afterward, I had my first experience (ever) of getting a massage. I went with 2 other teachers, and the massage lasted over an hour for about $10. I am still pretty fascinated with how cheap everything seems here, but I know that it is all relative. Thanks for all your lifting up. Today, we travel to Hunan. I cannot express how excited I am to see our city and meet our school officials.

Good-bye dear Beijing.

Greetings to my faithful blog readers.
Our time in Beijing has come to an end, and I am looking forward to the next step of our journey. Tomorrow, our team flies to Hunan. From the main city, we will take a bus to our town. We will likely arrive at about 1:00 AM (this is just a personal guess actually.)

My team is great, and I feel a real peace about it. The last member just arrived today, so we have a lot to get to know each other real well yet, but we have the whole year for that.

It feels a little sad and anticlimatic to be saying good-bye, but I am also ready to be settled. This whole month has been one of transition.

Teaching and Leaving

This week, we had a practicum teaching session in Beijing. We were on teaching teams of 3. We had the morning to prepare, and the afternoon to teach for 3 hours. I was with two other women around my age. The students were local, Chinese college students. We had a lot of fun with our students, and they gave me a lot of confidence.

Today in class, I told them a technology story about a time when one of my friends had accidentally forwarded an email to me that was about me. After telling this story, I asked the students what quality the story had that made it a good story. One student said, "It's your story, and we like you, so we enjoy your story." This student clearly knew how to tug at my heart strings. But moments like this have been an encouragement to me throughout the week.

On Tuesday, we will leave Beijing, and take a plan to Hunan. From the capital city of Changsha, we will take a train or a bus to our city. We shipped our big suitcases yesterday, so for at least 5 days, I have been living on very few outfits and extras. It's amazing how few clothes a person really does need. Yes, I may not feel as fresh all the time, but freshness is over-rated.

Going Up?

We took trams to get up onto the Great Wall.
These are some of the other teachers. They are quite sprite, and they will be teaching here in Beijing.

Great Wall of China

This is me and some other teachers on the Great Wall.

Your comments--I love them!

Okay--I have to give a disclaimer about blogging in China. Some of you have been sending me comments, and don't worry--I am able to read them. All comments are automatically emailed to me. But, since my blogging control screen is in Chinese characters, I am not sure which function to select to accept and post the comments. It's only by trial and error that I have even been able to post messages at all.

The same is true for the pictures I post. The picture posting function works about 30 % of the time, so I am not able to post as many pictures as I might otherwise.

Thank you for your patience, and please keep reading and commenting. I will do my best to update the blog and keep the pictures coming.
Your thoughts are needed!!

Random biciclist. I was trying to get a picture of the alley.

Thoughts after 3 weeks

We have been in China now about 3 weeks. In that time, we have had a lot to figure out—the banking system, the transportation system, the food situation, the shopping, and more. While walking around, I have started to notice some uniquely Chinese qualities about life here: 1. the younger aged women wear high heels—the more straps and sequins, the better. 2. the men roll up their shirts to mid-nipple when they feel hot (it’s normal). 3. the fruit vendors outside the school will charge twice as much as the fruit vendors by the grocery store. 4. the local restaurant owners have started to recognize us and become more friendly. 5. the aerobics and dance classes happen in the morning and at night in the nearby park (Purple Bamboo Park). 6. the maids only give you toilet paper once a week—we exceed this quota and have to buy our own. 7. yogurt is more expensive than ice cream; so hey, eat ice cream. 8. noodles are delicious. 9. if you have the lightest color hair in a large group of Americans, you will be stared at more than the others. 10. if you say one word correctly in Chinese, the Chinese will assume you are fluent and start speaking rapidly to you in Chinese. 11. street food is delicious and cheap.

Thoughts

a traditional Chinese door down an alley
We have gone down several of these alleys on our detours to visit the tourist sites.

Acrobats

Yesterday evening, our group attneded the Chinese acrobats. It was amazing--unlike anything I've ever seen. All the performers were clearly gymnasts, ballerinas, and dare-devils all wrapped into one great show. I had a huge smile of fascination on my face the entire time.


Other than that, our time in Beijing has been mostly spent in class. We have class from 8 until 11:30 and then from 1 until 4:30. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I am tired of sitting. But, it's nice to have some breaks during our classes. Also, all the information we are learning is to better prepare us for teaching in China.

I am starting to really enjoy the adventure of finding unique street food, and creative drinks here in China. They have some really excellent bubble tea that has tapioca balls in it. Also, on the street, you can pick up jiazo (dumplings) or fried vegetable pockets (to name a few.) Part of the adventure of street food is that it allows me an opportunity to try and communicate in Chinese. I am quite brave in speaking what little Chinese I know here. The people are greatful for any attempt you can make at communicating, and I find this factor motivates me greatly. But, I have lots to learn.

Our group for the scavenger hunt. We had to take a picture in front of the count-down clock for the Olympics. Only 355 days before the games.

Bustling around Beijing

A year ago at this time, I was leaving China—wondering and hoping that my future would find me returning to China. Now that I am here, I feel even more confident of my calling here. I have already had the chance to meet up with one of my Chinese friends from the States. Yesterday, we visited the zoo together. It was a wonderful culture experience to visit a Chinese zoo. Some of the animals and displays were quite different than we might see in the states. In addition, it was entertaining to read the signs. Apparently, they have actually started a website where you can register signs that are grammatically incorrect with hopes that the signs will be changed before the Olympics. After the zoo, we enjoyed a relaxing meal and talked about the next time we could meet. My friend also helped me buy a local calling card and showed me how to use it in the phone booth.
Today, we had our first, official Teaching Methods class. Our teacher is quite young and has a unique sense of humor. It makes me wonder whether or not I need to work on being funny in order to be a successful teacher. I really don’t think so—I think everyone has their own style of teaching—I may never be the comedian in the front of the classroom, but that’s probably okay.

Beijing Buses

The day after we arrived in the city, we were put into groups and paired with two Chinese speaking students who were also studying English. We had a list of items and tasks we had to accomplish such as buying some kind of unique Chinese snack, taking a picture in front of Tiananmen square, riding in a taxi, taking a picture with the taxi driver, etc. I will try to post some of our pictures. Our guides were so sweet. They were actually twins.

Today, I am meeting a Chinese friend who I actually met this past semester in school. She is very sweet, and she told me that since returning to China this summer, she has gotten married. I am happy for her. I asked her if they had a wedding, and she said that they did not have a wedding--they only had to register with the government.

Weddings must be different here. I have also noticed that hardly any of the Chinese people wear wedding bands even though I assume that the majority of them are married. When we visited the Temple of Heaven, we saw a bride getting her pictures taken in the park. People here do not normally buy wedding dresses, but rather rent them probably by the hour.

Thoughts on the Plane

Right now, there is no place I would rather be going than China. I am so excited for this adventure and the plans he has. We are sitting next to a man from China who is returning from California to his home in Beijing. He is kind and seems excited to return home and visit his friends and family. About half of the people on the plane look like they are Chinese and the other half are American or some other nationality. The announcements are all given in English and Chinese. As I write this, it’s a little over midway point on the flight and people are starting to feel antsy—congregating in the aisles and drinking pop and coffee more as a distraction that anything else. When I think about this year and look at the Chinese faces around me, I feel that the year will hinge upon lifting up my thoughts and petitioning for these people. More than my own interests and thoughts, I want to have a heart that petitions for the people I am teaching and the relationships I am forming with these people. And obviously, not my thoughts alone but everyone who is joining me on this adventure.