Last Full Weekend Until the End of the Summer...

I wanted to take this weekend pretty easy since it is my last full weekend until the end of the summer and last weekend was filled with the work conference and being sick!

My little faithful ipod died a few weeks ago and I have been missing not having it, especially at the gym. Through my trusty guidebook and the Internet I found the directions for closest Apple store in the city. When I got out of the subway I was introduced to what may be the craziest intersection in the entire world. No joke! Not only were there numerous lights but also police officers running around with whistles. I have never waited at an intersection with so many people before! I am taking more people and bicycles then there are going to Autzen Stadium people! It was nuts! I found the big mall I was looking for called The Village after a few wrong turns. It is this huge, beautiful mall with mostly outdoor halls. The building itself looks like something out of a futuristic movie, a happy futuristic movie. There were these awesome statue fans that blew a nice mist onto anyone nearby, which was lovely because it was so muggy yesterday. I found the Apple store pretty easily and a nice sales associate told me that my Ipod was indeed dead and not coming back. I upgraded to an Ipod that also play videos. I'm pretty excited about it.

There was an International grocery store in the complex where I bought flaxseed, vegetarian refried beans, taco shells, whole wheat pasta, Hunt's tomato sauce, and for the grand find, M and M's.

I spent the rest of the afternoon, early evening avoiding rush hour traffic by sipping on a blueberry smoothie and walking around looking through very posh stores. I found a restaurant called Fresh Elements. I had the best salad ever (with lettuce that I am use to because I'm having a hard time finding a lettuce that I really like at the grocery stores) and a glass of white wine. It was heavenly and nicely air conditioned. I got to come home and have a good Skype conversation with Annie!

Today, I went to what should have been my first Mandarin lesson, but when I got there, there was no teacher and no other students. A woman in the office asked me to wait, and a half an hour later, told me that the class had been canceled and there might be one on Friday. I was pretty disappointed. I had packed my The Office notebook and spent a long time on the subway to be bailed on. I came back to my part of town and ran a few errands.

This evening I got a pedicure in a little place across the street from work. I talked to two women who were also getting their nails done. One was a little older then me but had spent a long time studying English, and another was a twenty-year-old who has been studying English for a long time and is going away in late July to finish her Bachelors degree in Ireland. Very cool! I'll be going back there again!

Meat, Meat, Meat!

Here are some pictures from Sunday night's farewell party for three of our staff members. The first two are me with a bunch of the teachers and the Customer Relations office staff. The last picture is of my mentor teacher, Amy, another foreign teacher, Sarah, who is leaving to be with her fiance in another part of China, and Claire, our senior teacher.

EF treated us all out to a big farewell dinner for three of our staff members, Illene, a customer relations staff member, Sarah, my friend and fellow teacher, and Vicky, the academic staffs boss. We went to this beautiful Japanese restaurant where they cooked the food right in front of us. All 25 of us were in a big, beautiful room that even had some couches to lounge on. We had two chefs for the evening and quite a few wait staff serving us. At this place, you pay one lump sum and you can eat and drink as much as you want. All the food was meat! Much of it could look back at you... so that wasn't so fun. I did have some fish though and some great egg and vegetable rice. It was an impressive amount of food. I've never seen a dinner with so much meat before.

John, our center director, ordered sakai and I got to try it for the first time. I didn't care for it because it kind of burns going down the throat. We had put together gifts and cards for the three women who are leaving. We sang the preschool "Good-bye" song to Vicky as a big group. We had tried to get it on film for her at our last staff meeting, but it didn't take. It was a really, really nice evening.

I went back to Amy's apartment along with Sarah and Miles. Sarah had been staying with Amy for the last week she packed and we watched England get slaughtered by the German team. I was glad to have the opportunity to thank Sarah for her support over the last few weeks. I already missed her today at work.

I went to bed last night with the air conditioning unit on and I woke up this morning way too early to the realization that it wasn't on anymore. In fact, nothing that runs by electricity was on anymore. I guess that's what happens when you run out of quai on your card.

I met up with Shirley, one of the office staff members and Marie at school this morning so Shirley could help us both get to the police station and officially register our year visas and rent agreements with them. Luckily, mine was processed quickly, but Marie's apartment wasn't in that particular station's boundary even though she lives a five minute walk from my place, so we had to drive a long ways to her station.

Afterwards, I went to the bank, electricity card and quai in hand, but when I handed it to the teller she ran the card and laughed at me. She made a sliding motion with the card, so I went back home and slid my card through in the "electric room" (my own term of endearment for the dark closet on the other side of my floor that has all the power generators) to hopefully activate it. I went back to the bank and they took my money. I came back to the apartment and slid my card through and raced back to my place. Jason, the real estate agent said the power would come on instantly, but I waited for a bit turning the lights on and off and went back to the electric room. I ran my card again and raced back, but I still didn't have any power. I ran back to the electric room and took a look at all the other generators. I noticed that all their switches were at the "on" position and mine was on the "off." I flipped the switch and was greeted by light in my apartment. Happy day! At least I know how to do that smarter next time. This is how most countries by their electricity. We are spoiled.

Tonight starts my last two day weekend for eight weeks. Everyone is complaining big time, but I've had some experience on making the most out of a one day weekend....

Celebrating a new start from afar...

Today is one of those days that I wish warp speed was really possible. My good friends Meghan and Brian are getting married today and I am sad that I am not there. All of my best wishes are with them though...

I finally found and signed up for my neighborhood's gym today for a month just to try it out. Mission accomplished. It took a few wrong turns and a trip through what is a very lovely neighborhood park, but I made it there. It only took seven people speaking Chinese, one letter written in Chinese from my friend Stephanie explaining what I wanted, one really nice gym patron who could do some translating and myself! And I thought signing up for 24 Hour Fitness was a bit of an ordeal... Ordeal has a whole new meaning to me now. The gym is very clean and air conditioned. There isn't a huge amount of equipment, but definitely all that I need. Plus, all the Chinese game shows that I want while on the machines! There is a swimming pool and they also hold yoga classes. I am good to go!

Nothing too exciting at work today. We are all gearing up for my friend's Sarah's last day and our boss's last day tomorrow. We are all going out to a nice dinner tomorrow night after work. I gotta pick out one of my two dresses that I brought here for the occasion. Oh, the choices! I hope to take some good pictures of my new friends here to share.

This week has been a little rough, but I've learned a lot, and I know it could have been so, so much worse. I found this quote from the author of Eat, Pray, Love that has given me a bit of perspective....

"I thought about one of my favorite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

No Puke Today!

Much better day, today. I slept a solid 13 hours last night and felt like a new person today.

I talked to my boss at work today and asked her to go over the sick leave policy. I was right in discovering that I just get paid at 60% for the day, but I do need a doctor's note for that. It is written in a totally different clause then the rest of the sick leave part and I am sure it is tricky to find for a reason. I am going to get paid for the full day since I did show up to teach, but she told me in the future it is best to come in, lie in a classroom feverish, and be sent home. One of the teachers did that a few weeks ago, and I though he was crazy, but I now understand the madness. My boss reassured me that she completely trusted that I was truly sick, and that made a big difference to me, too.

Marie and I are both taking over some of the Demo classes on the weekends starting tomorrow. Demo classes are classes for perspective families. The children are taught an introductory lesson while their families watch sitting behind us. Marie and I both did a practice run with the office staff and our boss today as children. It's always a little nerve wracking to practice those things with adults, but I am glad I got the opportunity before the parents come in. I never signed up for selling classes, though!

I taught one elementary level class this evening. We talked about adjectives relating to the human body. The students helped me brainstorm a long list of adjectives. It was really cute.

A Case of Grossness...

I went to bed feeling like something was just not quite right. I woke up at 2 AM feeling awful and I finally threw up an hour later. Gross... I managed to get a few hours of sleep though.

I woke up at seven to call my boss and senior teacher to let them know I wasn't going be able to make it to the summer class workshop today. I was still being sick and watched The Princess Bride twice this morning until I was finally able to keep water down. The last time I had the flu I fainted, and I was freaked out it would happen again and I would be here completely alone.

I Skyped with my brother Alex and my Mom and Maria. It was good to talk to them, but it made me miss my Mom a lot. I got a call from work saying I either had to choose between going to a doctor's office that I had no clue to get to get a sick note or I had to come in and teach my classes or I had to take this as a one of my holiday days. I did not want to go to a doctor's, and I did not want to loose a holiday, so I went in at 5:30 to teach my two classes. I did re-read my contract on sick time, and it just said they would dock your pay by 60% for the day if you took a sick day during your first 90 days. I'm going to try to have some conversations with a few other teachers I really trust before going in to the boss tomorrow to see what the true scoop is. I work with kids, so I am sure I'm going to take another sick day in the year.

So, to sum up my two classes tonight, we colored. A lot. They loved it.

I've been developing several theories about why I got sick with some of my co- workers and my Mom.

1. I caught something from a kid.

2. I made pasta for dinner last night, and out of habit, I rinsed out the jar of spaghetti sauce with some tap water and added it to the pot. I went back and boiled it, but maybe?

3. My friend Sarah said that often vegetables go bad when it is so hot outside. She is blaming the eggplant I added to the pasta.

4. My body did not like the Russian food.

5. I didn't wash a fruit or vegetable as well as I should have.

I'm feeling so much better then I did an awful night ago, and am ready to just move on from this week of sickness. Right now, I don't think I'll be eating pasta anytime soon.

Teacher's Conference and Beijing's Russian Quarter

Yesterday was the day of the big conference at work. I went to my friend's workshop on using real situations in the classroom, and then had my own workshop on icebreakers. I got very nervous before I started talking, but it went ok. I didn't talk much, we played a bunch of game, and it flowed really well! I even got people out a few minutes earlier for lunch. I felt really good about it and received some nice compliments about it.

The conference was at my school, so our center director paid for lunch for us that were there. I had my first McDonald's experience. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and a small ice cream. It tasted quite different from the McDonald's experience at home, and it is something, like at home, I will be pretty much choosing to avoid.

In the afternoon I went to a session on relaxation and using your diaphragm breathing to help your voice survive class after class and another session on error correction in the classroom.

Last night, we had our boss's going away celebration. We went to a very beautiful Russian restaurant not too far from the Lama Temple area. There, you buy beer at the percentage, such as at 3, 5, 7, or 9 percent. I stuck to 3 percent and especially since I am still getting over a cold, I wasn't allowing myself to drink much. The food was really rich. I had an eggplant, mushroom and cheese bake with mashed potatoes on the side. It was delicious but much heavier then the food I have been getting use to eating here.

We all piled into a few taxies and went to club called, Chocolate. It was a really posh club. The furniture was elaborate and there was huge Russian paintings hanging from the ceilings. They had both a DJ and a small band. There were also girls in very little clothing dancing around. Another center's boss's fiance was there, who is from Russia, said those women were most likely prostitutes, too. For drinks, they would just bring vodka and orange juice to the tables, so screwdrivers all around for everyone! Miles remarked that this was probably the Russian mafia at work.

I had fun dancing with the girls from work and was able to have a nice moment with Vicky. I left with Cindy and Marie, and we went to a 24 hour Cantonese restaurant close to Cindy's place. We got a few little snacks to share, and I finally got back to my apartment to see the light of sunrise beginning to show.

I didn't get much sleep last night, and woke up feeling more gross from the food then the drinks and lack of sleep. I spent today recovering, talked to my Mom and Maria on Skype and went grocery shopping. I made up a big pot of food for quite a few meals. We are all going to an all day workshop tomorrow at another school to learn how to teach the summer course. It should be interesting...

Not the only American anymore...

Today, was a much better day. I am still on the mend, but my sore throat is nothing compared to what it was on Saturday and Sunday. I was able to relax all morning and I didn't go into work until 2, which was lovely.

I spent most of my time at work today planning my presentation for tomorrow's big Beijing Kids and Teens Conference. It was originally titled "Goofy Songs and Icebreakers" but now I've just made it into icebreakers. Why pressure myself with the song part? I'm hoping that it'll be at least fun for the participants!

Amy brought in some household things for Marie and me today after doing some cleaning. I inherited a few new glasses and a cutting board! She also brought me some more of her awesome herbal drink powder stuff that helped me sleep last night! She's so sweet.

The new American teacher stopped by for a bit today. His name is Nick and he is from Arizona, so his accent isn't anything too different from my own. He seems really nice and I was able to assure him that I also woke up at 4 AM ready to go for about the first week.

I had a lot more energy for my classes tonight, which was a really good thing. The child that I've had problems in the past about hitting other children was really in a dark place tonight. I had him taken out of the class four times in one hour for first hitting his peers, then our TA, and finally, myself. It makes me sad to imagine what his home life must be like. My second class was healthily robust, but did not involve any major mishaps.

I'm going to try to get a lot of sleep tonight so I'll feel better, enjoy the conference and my boss's Lithuanian theme good-bye party tomorrow evening!

My Crummy Weekend...

It was just one of those weekend when nothing goes quite your way... I woke up with a full on bad cold on Saturday. I had been having a sore throat for a few days before, but Saturday's sore throat was the worst. I dragged myself to work, and it was already very, very hot outside before 8:30 in the morning. Luckily, I only had to teach one small preschool class and had some time to plan for the rest of the weekend.

I had to substitute for a class at another school across town in the afternoon. I had given the taxi driver the school's directions written in Chinese and he ended up dropping me quite far away from the school. Luckily, one of the customer relations workers was able to rescue me over the phone, and at the end, by foot. It was a really large class and it is always hard to not know the students' names when coming into a classroom. I had created an interactive vocabulary power point for them, but it wasn't downloading, so I had to come up with new plans on the spot. It could have been worse, but it wasn't fun. I hung around at that school on an OPT shift, but no students came in to be tested. I finally got back home after waiting in traffic for over a half an hour.

Today, I was happy to wake up to a seriously less sore throat, but I sound worse now, even though I feel much better. I checked Facebook this morning and realized that it was the evening of The Lion King with the family and Meghan's Bachelorette party in Portland. It made me all homesick on top of the cold. My friends at work were really, really sweet and caring though. Amy brought in some nice tasting cold and flu herbal drink for me and Miles told me he went through the same thing when he was just six weeks in like I am. Sarah told me that it is just my body finally adjusting from the beautiful Northwest clean air to this madness.

Tonight, I made plans to meet up with a girl coming in from Florida today to have dinner together. We've been e-mailing since the online community was set up for incoming teachers in March. I went over to her hotel after work, and she wasn't there. There could have been some confusion, but I still was cranky getting right back on the hot subway.... It's bad when the outside is cooler then the "air conditioned" inside.

Anyway, I am home now in my nicely air conditioned space, counting my mosquito bites, (gotta pick up some spray tomorrow!) and ready to say good-bye to this weekend.

Smart Board Madness

Today, we had an early morning meeting with the crew from another school to learn about our new Smart Boards that were installed about two weeks ago. Smart Boards are like computerized white boards where you can flip back and forth from showing a computer screen to a screen that you can write on. They are very fun and flashy, but our projectors have been blowing up and have been repaired a few times already. It's mainly because we have been leaving them on for the entire length of our two hour class periods and they are in such hot little rooms.

We were all properly instructed on how to turn them on and flip from the computer screen and a "white board" page. There was a lot of "ohhs" and "ahhs" and geeky teacher talk about how they will be fun to use. Afterwards, I went out to lunch with the new teacher Marie, and we bonded a bit. We are both hippies and love environmental education.

At our teacher meeting we learned that we are getting a new boss a few days before Vicky leaves. Her name is Laura and she was the one who put together the wine tasting party. I think I will like having her as a boss. Our senior teacher, Claire, is best buddies with her, so I think that is a good sign.

Claire spent some time with me today putting together my presentation for the conference next week. She told me that it will be a good thing to put on my resume in the future. We wrote our biographies for the conference pamphlet together and turned them into single ads. We had a little too much fun putting them together. We'll see if they get approved!

I had an awesome upper elementary school class tonight. Even though this particular group of students can write paragraphs in English, I learned that they didn't know any English punctuation marks! They were actually excited to learn some grammar and it was really fun. We got through almost all of my lesson plan for the evening, but punctuation was a fun, and educational, detour!

I then taught a special "study hall" for lower elementary school students about clothing. It was a little rough because anyone in that age group can sign up to attend so they were a little nervous and no one was from any of the same classes. It was an interesting experience.

Nothing too exciting to report...

Hey everybody,

Nothing too exciting to report. I did wake up to fireworks being blasted from the roof across the street yesterday. Then, I noticed a couple of cars driving on the wrong side of the road, and I wasn't shocked by the sight of it. Maybe I am starting to settle a bit. I had the day off, but I woke up with a cold so I had a pretty quiet day off. I went out to search for a gym between rainstorms and thought I found one that was closed. I spent way too much time watching youtube videos of the Tony Awards!

Today, after being woken up to huge booms of thunder that I thought were signaling the end of the world ( but I noticed that everyone outside was not freaking out, and I calmed down) I went proudly back to the gym and walked in to show the person at the desk a few phrases in Chinese my friend Stephanie wrote out for me. I just got laughed at. I thought that maybe that I had not gotten far enough on the map that Claire drew for me. I kept on going until I ended up in a field someplace and I figured she probably would have mentioned walking through a disgusting field of trash. However, it was beautifully cool all day and evening. No air conditioner needed tonight!

I walked back a little defeated, but ran into our center director as I turned onto my street and I told him about my journey. He just laughed a little and turned my map around and pointed me in the right direction. I had just enough time to go home to take a shower and have lunch before work.

We only killed one cockroach today in the staff room today! I found out I got accepted into a Beginner Chinese class on Wednesdays at another EF Kids and Teens Center on our subway line. I'm pretty stocked! My classes today were a bit rough because I'm losing my voice. The children laughed at my at me. It was one of those days...

Uproar in the Teacher's Room...

Today was a very quiet day of work. Even though we were running our busy "Sunday" schedule many families have gotten out of the city for the Dragon Boat Festival. I had two classes where not one student showed up, which was awesome because I got to plan ahead for the week. At noon today when I went to take out my lunch from the fridge, I noticed that a bunch of cockroaches started to nest in a corner. So disgusting. (I went to a Science site to identify them because the Center Director didn't believe it was possible to have cockroaches in a fridge. My Animals' program leader past comes in handy sometimes. I classified them as true "oriental" cockroaches). I quietly pointed this out to a few other teachers and the place went crazy. One teacher was refusing to come back in on Thursday unless the fridge was thrown out and the air conditioning was put back onto full power. The head of the center had the two custodians cleaning out our disgusting staff room and eventually the fridge got moved into after a lot of swearing that my middle school class gleefully translated for me, into the hallway. The staff room we have is tiny and there is only five computers in it for ten teachers, plus we all eat in there, too, which makes it even grosser. Half of us are always kicked out to a classroom where you have to stand to type. We have started writing a petition for us to move our office into one of the classrooms so we can have more space and turn our working space into the big closet it needs to be.

In the middle of the chaos, I was able to call around to the Ef offices that hold free Chinese language lessons for EF foreign teachers. I'm still waiting for a teacher' s approval but I think I might be taking an hour class on Wednesday mornings and another hour on Friday mornings. I'm pretty excited.

I went back to the same restaurant with some of the girls from work, which was lovely. As I was walking home, many of the outside gates to the apartment complexes had red lights up, and a lot of people were out enjoying the holiday. I hope my complex gets some up before the big day tomorrow.

Uncle Ladd's Corner: How much is a McDonald's fish fillet?

A bunch of the office staff ordered McDonald's and it costs 10 RMB for a fish fillet or $1.46 American.

From Puke to Gratitude...

Today was a good day. My family was celebrating my brother Patrick's birthday at my Mom's so I was able to call home and talk to my Mom, Patrick, Maria, Dylan, Edna and my aunts and uncles. It was a pretty awesome way to start the morning!

Today we taught our Saturday classes to make up for the weekend. In my first class, their is a little boy named Leo who is always a bit of a rascal. He told me he was sleepy, but I thought he was just being silly like normal. I felt pretty bad when moments later he is throwing up all over the carpet! Poor little guy. He went outside to his mom, but then he was back before we could get it all cleaned up. I was able to get my TA to tell his mom he was not fit to be in class any longer that day. The rest of the class enjoyed the excitement, but we ended up having a pretty fun class otherwise.

I had an elementary class in the early afternoon that only has two students. We are learning how to form and ask questions. I made them up a little human bingo assignment where they had to go around to all the office staff and ask them questions. We had fun doing that. In the late afternoon, I was on an Oral Placement Testing (OPT) shift where I have time to curriculum plan until a new student shows up that needs to be tested in order to be placed in a class. I was able to hang out with the new teacher a bit and got a lot of work done. I was even able to give her one lesson plan for a class that she is having tomorrow.

I went out to dinner with a couple of teachers from school tonight. I walked over with my friend Sarah, who has been really kind and awesome to me about helping me feel that what I am feeling and going through is perfectly natural, just asked me how I was really doing. She told me that I have been doing all the right things, and I'll just continue to grow happier while I am here and make some good friendships. I believe her. She is leaving in two weeks to go live in another part of China with her fiance and I am going to miss her.

The other two girls came a little later and we got on the topic of families and friends from home. The three women were saying that their families don't communicate with them very often because they at least think, that there family and friends think they have made the choice to come here and leave them. I stayed pretty quiet because I feel grateful that I have people who have supported me through all stages of getting here and now living here and trying to make a go of it. Just having people reading this blog other then my Mom feels so wonderful! I'm a lucky girl.

Uncle Ladd's Corner: Okay, so Uncle Ladd didn't ask this question, but I think he would find this interesting. I learned tonight at dinner that China literally controls their weather! They shoot rockets up into the sky early in the morning hours when they are desperate for rain. I don't exactly understand the Science, but the rockets do something to the clouds. They do this more during the Winter than the Summer because Beijing often goes through a draught in the Winter. Fascinating! I'll keep you posted if I learn more.

Mother Nature's Thunder and Lightening Show

I just got home from picking up some groceries when it a huge thunder and lightening storm started and has been going strong all evening. I'm hoping it will really help clear the air and maybe tomorrow won't be as muggy as today.

I went to Jennifer's church today to see what it was like, but I ended up learning more about China. I told Jennifer that I noticed that there wasn't any local Chinese people in the congregation and I thought that was odd. She told me that foreigners and the people of China are not allowed to have any sort of religious ceremony together. I had gotten there late after getting on a subway going the opposite direction, so I had missed the person checking passports to let people into the restaurant that holds their celebrations. (Also a plus since I had no clue about this and do not carry my passport on me). Over lunch, Jennifer told me that even if foreigners attend a prayer meeting in a local person's home, they could get their hosts in trouble with the government. It made me appreciate where I come from, where people can celebrate what they choose or choose not to believe in as long as it does not physically hurt other people.

Captain's Log: 5 Weeks Down!

Two Quakers in Beijing

Franklin High School Quakers, actually. A classmate of mine from Franklin and I connected on Facebook when we both realized that we were both living in Beijing. I haven't seen Jennifer since graduation, and it was a nice surprise to learn that she is here, too. She is in an intensive language study course here and works at a shelter for women.

We met up outside of a subway stop and proceeded on to the 789 art district. It is this fun neighborhood full of galleries and eateries. It's kind of like a Chinese Portland First Thursday event in the Pearl. We had fun looking at the numerous pieces of art and browsing through some of the shops. We had lunch at a pretty restaurant with a very relaxed atmosphere that served Western sandwiches. I had a grilled cheese. Very good.

We moved on to a shopping district. Jennifer took me through a huge four story flea market that sells knock off brands. We each got a nice smelling candle. The market is full of individual booths and if you just eye something, they are very excited to talk to you. It is a little intense. There were a ton of tourists there shopping because it is one of the "it" places to go in Beijing. Outside of the flea market was a bigger shopping mall that had an REI and designer department stores.

We then hopped back onto the subway and went to find a park. It was a huge, beautiful park, much bigger then the one I went to near the Lama Temple. There was a very clean human made pond. Jennifer spotted a little frog in it. There were also some pretty human made waterfalls, too. It was full of trees and beautiful flowers. I plan to go back there on a day off when I am craving some time away from my little suburbia. It was nice to be around some nature. It was really nice to catch up on nine years with Jennifer. I love it when you travel and you end up connecting again with someone from home.

Today's weather was not too gross, but we are getting a little thunder and lightening show, tonight. Very cool.

World Cup Fever

Here is a few more pictures from my visit to the Temple of Heaven, and of course, Bartholomew.

Everyone had World Cup Fever today at work. We were all suppose to go out and watch the opening ceremonies together as a big group at the bar, but someone realized that it was on TV, and everyone decided to just go home and watch it. I was bummed, and right now they are just playing the games, so I missed out the big opening ceremony. We have a pool going at work for which team is going to win. The thing was, we couldn't decide for ourselves and had to pick out of a hat. I ended up with South Korea.

I had my first High Flyer (Elementary aged) open doors program tonight. There was only four students at class today because the public schools are making up for their Dragon Boat Festival by extending their school day into the evening. I also learned that the Dragon Boat Festival isn't this weekend, like I though, but on Wednesday. We get this weekend off because all of our students are making up for their three day holiday by taking their classes this weekend at their public schools. We have it so easy in the U.S. These kids don't ever get a true "day off."

Anyway... the open door program went very well. The students seemed to impress their family members and only one parent at the end asked me to have them speak longer sentences. Overall, I felt it was successful!

Resident Visa and Passport Back in my possession and survival of my first Parent Open Door classes: Check and Check!

Here's a few pictures from the Hall of Sacrifice from yesterday's outing. The first is people playing card games in the Hall. The second is Bartholomew enjoying some people watching. The final picture is of the hall's ceiling. I thought it was pretty cool!

Today was a big work day. I got my Resident's Visa and passport back. I'm good to go to live here until April 10th even though my contract is not up until May. I wrote my representative today to ask about that problem and she wrote back saying if I was still working here then they would add a month's time to it. It really instilled confidence...

I had my first two open door classes tonight. Open door classes in EF speak are specific classes that schedule the parents to come in and watch the class. In the preschool programs, I just have to tell the parents about myself and then just hold a regular class period. For elementary, middle and high school crowd, teachers have the first hour with the students to practice for the second hour with their parents. I learned that my preschoolers were much more behaved with their caregivers in the room. My first class acted like little perfect beings, with the exception of one boy who refused to move to another chair after a little tiff with another student. My second class actually really excited about having their caregivers in the room and were very much, "Check me out, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and other relatives." They went a little crazy, as this class does, during the 8:00-8:15 PM block of time. I tried to get them all together to sing the official "Good-bye" song (complete with some awesome dance moves), but I just gave up on it and starting pulling them off the tables like normal. I felt a bit embarrassed by the otherwise usual chaos because the parents were in the room, but the parents seemed to all leave pretty happy with the situation. I'm hoping they all understand that four-year-olds are just tired at that time of night.

African Wine Tasting and an afternoon at Tiantan (Temple of Heaven)

Hello everybody! Here are a couple of pictures. Bartholomew and I traveled to Tiantan, or the Temple of Heaven today. The first picture is of the Temple of Heaven. The second is me trying to take a picture of myself. The second is Bartholomew chilling in a Cyprus tree. He needed a little rest before the subway trip home. I didn't blame him.

Tiantan, or The Temple of Heaven is one of the most famous, historical sites in Beijing for Chinese history. Emperors of the past would gather here with there people and pray and make offerings to Heaven. The Emperor would go three times a year to make sure the people of China would have a good harvest. He would go when there were problems brewing in the country to sort them out with the celestial beings. He and his party would pray in the Temple, make an animal sacrifice in the Hall of Sacrifice and walk up the Pathway to Heaven.

The entire park is very vast, so I did what I felt comfortable with, and followed a group of Japanese tourists! I love it. The tour guide would lead them from area to area, giving them enough time to explore, and then they would move on... and I would move on with them! They were all wearing red baseball caps, so I could spot them easily. Bartholomew appreciated his time outside, too, I think.

We started in the Hall of Sacrifice where the Emperor's people would slaughter a calf and other animals to use as an offering. Today, people enjoy playing music, playing card and selling hacky sacks in the Hall. It was a fun people watching area.

Next, I moved on to the Temple of Heaven. There were only a few entrances open where you can peak inside of it, but you can not go in. The original was hit by lightening in the 1800s, so much of it is replicated. It was fun being high up and looking over the city a bit. I also toured two museums were they explained the ceremonies that were practiced at the Temple. There was a picture of President Nixon visiting up in one of the museums.

Next, I walked with the tourists to the bridge that led to the Pathway to Heaven. I was expecting a big climb, because I had read that it is a circular path that leads up toward Heaven. It was about maybe twenty steps up! I was a little disappointed, but it was still very cool.

I then moved on to the Hall of Echoes. There is a Temple there, too, but the very cool thing is that if you stand in one part of the courtyard, your buddy on the other side could hear your echo. Very fun. Children and dads and grandpas seemed the most into this activity!

Bartholomew and I went back to the courtyard area where people were selling a lot of stuff. This is the first time I have really been hounded in China. One woman followed me half way out the courtyard trying to get me to buy an umbrella. Other then that incident, it was a very lovely touristy afternoon.

Yesterday, I had a fun evening. One of the senior teachers at another Kids and Teens Center put on a wine tasting event at a beautiful bar across town. I had fun getting all dressed up and meeting some new people. We tried six different wines, on sparkiling, two white wines, and three red wines. I now know some bona fide wine tasting terms. They were all from South Africa to celebrate the up coming World Cup that is being held there. We even had a South African in the group to vouch that those are wines he would drink at home!

Not the new kid anymore...

I woke up early this morning at 6:30 to a loud symphony of Chinese music from the neighbor that I have never met. I responded back by putting on an episode of "Glee" as loud as my little computer speakers could go, but it was no match.

My friends Sandra and Laura had my Mom over for dinner tonight and taught her about video Skype. It was really good to see her, even though we were having some connection problems. Thank you fellow Jones girls!

It was a hot day in Beijing today. My first outing out of the apartment this morning, I stupidly wore jeans and a tee and it was hot! I can never tell how hot it even looks like outside because of the pollution-y haze.

I got to meet the new foreign teacher, Marie from Australia, today. She's been already working in China for nine months in a smaller city for another company. I gave up my new girl tiara today and it felt nice. I even shared with her my personal apartment hunting journey.

I have my toughest night of classes on Monday, and I never thought that they would end up being preschool classes. I didn't pass out many of the reward stickers at the end of the first class. The kids just couldn't keep their hands to themselves and one little boy has a serious problem of smacking the other children relentlessly. I kicked him out of the class twice! My next class is a little more relaxed, and we had to watch a video, so they were a little bit better then normal.

My friend Cindy and I picked up ice cream bars and chatted in my courtyard after work today. It seemed like a large portion of the residents were outside escaping from their warm apartments. It made for some good people watching and Cindy taught me how to say bathroom in Chinese. Plus, I learned that there are Subway sandwich places here here. It was a good night!

Boom!

First month down!

Pasta for dinner tonight!

Here's the last bit of pictures from the Lama Temple. The first is of the main entrance. The second is of the courtyard, and the third is a side angle shot of my building.

I had a long day at work, but still good. I taught a preschool class this morning. It is so, so much better to teach preschoolers at nine in the morning instead of eight o'clock at night. They are able to concentrate much better and are excited to be there, and so am I! I prepped for awhile for my parent open doors class this afternoon, but it was canceled at the last second. I was glad to have a lot planned since the class went through many more activities then most classes go through. It was fast paced and fun. We read Eric Carle's A Very Hungry Caterpillar and they loved it. I read it to them twice. Sadly, the only English story books we have hear are Carle's classic and a children's book Ricky Gervais wrote.... I wish I brought some from home now.

My last class of the day was an upper level class and they were pretty obnoxious. They were really rude and wouldn't stop talking even when I had their peers present. It was a rough way to end the day.

However, after work I checked out a new grocery store Sarah told me about. It is only a couple of blocks away from my apartment. It is a huge department store that includes a grocery. It sells some Western products, much more so then the Lotus. I was able to find salad dressing (which is a rare find here) brown sugar to sprinkle a little on my oatmeal in the morning and whole wheat bread! Very exciting stuff. I splurged and bought some pasta and tomato sauce. I had it tonight with a salad and it made me feel a little closer to home.

So Close to the Bird's Nest, and yet so far....

Hello Everyone! Here are a few more pictures. The first is of round thing that spings found at the Lama Temple. I overheard a group of French tourists saying that if you spin it and make it wish, it should come true. I made a wish when no one was looking. The second is of another beautiful temple. I'm not sure if it is a temple, since it was closed to the public, but I liked it. The third picture is of a traditional Hutong courtyard.

Today at our staff meeting, we learned that our boss is actually leaving a bit earlier, the end of June instead the beginning of July. We learned that we are getting two new teachers this month, a woman from Australia, and a man from the U.S.!

I had a very fun class this evening of third and fourth graders, and one fifth grader who really probably should be moved up. We learned about vacations and weather today and how to express like, don't like, hate and love. Heavy subjects. We talked about our favorite vacations and I showed them pictures online of my trip to Oahu to visit Kelsey and her family. They thought flower leis looked stinky though!

I went out to dinner with Cindy and Shirley from work. We rode the bus to Shirley's neighborhood, which is actually very close to the Lama Temple. On the bus ride over, I finally spotted the Bird's Nest. I hope to go over and visit it soon. I even learned that I can go swim in the same pool as Phelps! That would be fun!

Shirley directed us to a Chinese restaurant in a Hutong neighborhood that once housed Confucius's school! There are really no remains, but it is still an important place for the people that live here. The restaurant served Chinese food, but it looked like a posh Western restaurant with big, comfy chairs and balcony seating. Shirley was telling me that many new Chinese restaurants are trying to create a Western feel but still keep the Chinese style cooking. We shared a spicy fish dish, a peppers dish, and a tofu and veggies hot pot. It was all so lovely and it was nice to have dinner with people! Shirley is still working on her English and I absolutely know no Chinese, but Cindy was able to help us translate, and it worked out really well. They taught me to say "Waiter" to bring over the check in Chinese and made me try it out! They said I did ok. I'll have to keep working on it.

It's about two minutes away from my brother Patrick's birthday here in China. Happy Birthday, Patrick, from the future!

Teaching preschoolers Outdoor School songs

Here are a few more pictures. The first picture is of a monk that in his cool robes. The next picture is a little history about the Temple. The final shot is a view of my apartment building. I couldn't walk far back enough to get the whole thing in one shot. Can you see Bartholomew up on the 15th floor in my studio? He's waving at you!

I went into work a little early to get more planning done for this weekend. I'm teaching my first "Open Doors" class where the parents sit in for the second hour of class. EF has you teach the exact same curriculum in the first hour so the students seem so good during the second hour. It seems a little bit like cheating, but I haven't ever taught this class before, I'm just subbing in, so I don't think I care too much. I do care about having a good lesson though.

Miles and I compared ourselves where we are suppose to be on the EF culture shock graph. I'm almost a month in and should be hitting one of my happiest points of the year in the next month. Miles is close to three months in and is should be in his lowest point of unhappiness. It's nice to hear about what lies ahead!

I taught two preschool classes this evening. I had to teach the same extra special class, called a life club, to both classes. We were learning about superheroes. We ran around pretending to fly and shoot webs and the such. Very good fun. Each class colored and cut out wings that I taped to their backs. My last class finished early with the lesson plan and were growing restless. Their little chairs were starting to fly and wings were getting ripped off. Not pretty! I got them to sit in a circle, not really knowing what I was going to do. A voice of inspiration popped in my head that whispered "Guava Hunt." "Guava Hunt" is a repeat-after-me song about a child going on a search for a Guava through swaps and mountains and big trees and such. I changed it to going on a "Dragon Hunt" because since a guava is a figment of my imagination, I thought it was best to change it to something a little more tangible for my little students. They loved it and did a great job of keeping up, and they left happy and not all crazy like normally. It felt like my first big "win" at work so far. Then, a parent caught up with me while I was cleaning up and said she thinks that her four-year-old child should be practicing complex sentence structures and wanted a syllabus. You win some, you lose some!

Tuesday = My Sunday

I had a pretty lazy day today, so nothing too crazy to report. Cleaned up the apartment, went grocery shopping where I found some instant coffee that wasn't too expensive ( and waited in a line for over 30 minutes!) and got caught up on "The Bachelorette." Very important stuff. I also had a long Skype talk with Laura, and she had such perfect timing. I was feeling lonely and she called at just the right time. It made my day so much better!

Here are a couple more pictures from yesterday. The first is of one of the many Lama Temples. The next is a large mass of burning incense that had been deserted. The last is entrance of my apartment complex. I always like seeing the rings. I think that is what made the biggest impression on me as I was searching for apartments. I do live in a "gated" community now. There is a guard outside that checks everyone's IDs as they enter and exit the premises. There is actually a lot of guards around the complex. There is one posted in front and outside of each apartment building and there is always one milling about the grounds at all hours. It's definitely the most secured living area I've ever lived in.

Resident's Registration and Meeting a 50 m. Buddha

I began today by meeting my EF representative Lucia and the European boys to register for our Resident visas. We all met at a subway exit and then walked a few blocks to what looked like a very big, important building. However, this building was much nicer then the scary medical clinic. We waited in line for a long time as other foreigners in front of us did their best nod and point to the paperwork. I felt pretty lucky to have someone there who could talk for me. We all chatted as Lucia talked to the person at the desk and watched every single piece of paper I have ever given EF being given to the office, including my passport! We all passed and will be gaining residency! However, they are taking our passports for a week to put in the residence's visa and alert our respective police stations our change of status.

The European boys all had classes to go teach, so I said good-bye to them and started my own adventure for the day. The very official looking building is in the same neighborhood of the Lama Temple, a place that I wanted to go visit. (The European boys all said it was a "must do" on my list for the Buddha alone!) I wound my back to the area of the Temple and searched for the entrance for awhile. I passed lots and lots of street vendors selling incense and prayer beads. I accidentally found the entrance and got in line to buy a ticket behind a bus load of Japanese tourists on a "China Spring Tour" their sign read. They were a lively bunch and I enjoyed getting into grounds behind them because I could just follow them. I think it would be pretty fun to see a country on a tour like that someday.

The entrance to the Temple's grounds was tree lined and beautiful, full of people speaking all types of languages. Some of the entrance's signs were in English and I learned that the grounds was built in 1615 AD and has been protected by most of the dynasty's since. I thought I was going to see one great big temple, but there were actually maybe twenty buildings on the entire grounds. A few of them were shops and and small museums, but most of them were temples to worship in. Many visitors brought incense that they would light outside in front of each Temple. In a few of the temples, visitors were allowed to bring incense in, but not lit, as an offering to the Buddha. It was the best smelling part of China I've been to so far!

I felt a little odd, maybe disrespectful is the best word, as I went from temple to temple as people from all over the world were praying and making their offerings to the Buddha. Once I saw a few more people like me who were interested in being there standing to the sides trying to take it all in, I felt better. It was definitely a humbling experience watching so many people making a pilgrimage of sorts to one of the oldest, most famous lamasery.

All of the temples are beautiful, open air buildings, full of intricate, large Buddha statues. There were statues of other people too that I had no idea who they were! However, the last temple was just fantastic. The temple holds a 50 meters Buddha made out of one large chunk of Sandalwood. I first walked in and the awning blocked the Buddha from his knees up. Then, I went in further and was only able to see up to his waist, and finally when I was in the main hall I was able to see all of him. It was astounding. I think I just stared like an idiot for a while, it so crazy impressive. The funny thing was there was a Tibetan monk in each Temple, making sure people were not getting too close to the artifacts, but the monk in the 50 meters Buddha temple was asleep and snoring against the Buddha's feet.

I was not allowed to take pictures in the temples, but I tried to take quite a few of the grounds and the outside of the temples to get a bit of a flavor of the place. I'll keep posting a few more this week.

After I sat and people watched for a while, I went back to that awesome Western restaurant I went to with Sarah and Amy last Tuesday. They have a really good lunch special and I got a Greek side salad, a pesto and veggie pizza with the greatest cheese ever and a ginger ale. It was lovely! I kind of love that the day I official earn my resident's visa, I officially became a true tourist.