Pomegranates and Tofu Burgers

After one day of work, I begin five days off for National Day that is tomorrow. Every October 1st China celebrates the anniversary of it becoming the People's Republic of China. There are flags up everywhere and beautiful flower displays in front of many buildings.

Today, I taught two small star classes this evening that both went pretty smoothly, especially since there were not as many students because of the start of the holiday.

I had a late dinner with Cindy in one of the Hutong neighborhoods at the Vineyard Cafe that I have been to before. I had a tofu burger! It was the first tofu burger that I have seen in Beijing and it was delicious! I have also been excited lately because pomengrantes are in season here, and in China, I can afford to eat as many of them as I want! So awesome. They are not as red as the ones we buy at home, but they still taste the same.

" I am feeling very Olympic today, how about you? " Sanka from Cool Runnings

Today, I decided it was finally time to see the Olympic Green and Forest Park. I have been wanting to go for a long time and today was just the perfect weather. Plus, Bartholomew has had cabin fever for awhile. He's still mad at me for not taking him to the Great Wall. They built the Line 8 Subway just for the games in 2008 and I was able to find it after a few subway transfers. There are only three stops on the route and I got off at the first one that said Olympic arenas. Bird's Nest here I come! Not quite so fast. I found the Olympic Center and wandered around for about an hour trying to see if I would ever find the Bird's Nest. I listened to China's National Anthem over and over again on the speakers while I walked past tons of soccer, golf, and track and field fields. There were students and athletes running around everywhere. I learned I was actually in the training center and not close to the Olympic Green. I walked back to the subway and decided to try the next stop. At least I got a good walk in!

After playing some enee meany miny mo, I decided to take the exit that said "National Aquatic Center." Bazinga! I walked outside and was able to see the Bird's Nest again in the distance. I walked through some tent villages until I was able to get through security to make it on to the green. It was so cool seeing all the buildings that I watched on TV in Hawaii with Kelsey and her family two years ago!

I bought my ticket to get into the Bird's Nest. I felt excited, like I was actually going to see an Olympic meet or something. I had fun walking around inside the stadium thinking about all the thousands of people that must have been in the building for the two weeks during the Olympics. I even went to see the museum of wax figurines of all the IOC presidents. Wax figurines are always a bit creepy and silly to me at the same time, but this time, they were also a bit educational. I then found the stairs to get to the nose bleed section where I was able to truly imagine seeing a competition. I was also able to see a lot of the Olympic Green from up high. It was very fun.

Next, I went across the street to the Water Cube. I got my ticket and walked inside, and felt so cheated because right inside, all one sees is a huge aquatic park. It looks like a lot of fun, but I wanted to see the pool Phelps swam in. A girl has her priorities! Luckily, I walked around a corner and there was the Olympic Competition Pool. There are two pools, one for the divers and one for the other swimming competitions. There really is not much seating compared to what I imagined there to be. I bet it was hard to get tickets to get to a swimming meet. Bartholomew and I had fun taking pictures and pretending we were rooting for Phelps. I walked around the rest of the center. The 2008 Olympic Water Museum was closed for the day... at least... and I wasn't able to go in to see that. Maybe another time.

I waited a bit until they lit up the Bird's Nest. It's so pretty! I ran out of time to get to Forest Park, but I hope to see it soon!

If you are interested, here's my link to the pictures I took today on my facebook account:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2384940&id=11515731&l=99b6b97ac0

Sorry that the IOC presidents are all out of order!

Training Day

All of the teachers and customer relations staff arrived at our school this morning for a company wide training on the administrative aspects of the small star courses. I thought it was weird because they kept all of the schools together in their own teams for each of the presentations so there was no socialization with the other groups with the exception of lunch time. I was disappointed that I didn't get much of a chance to talk and meet with other teachers from the other schools. We also had to wear our uniforms all day even though students and parents were not allowed into the school all day. Kind of weird.

Stephanie took Nick, Evelina, and me to a big Ross-like clothing store where Nick and Evelina were able to buy coats for the Winter. We made our way to La Bamba for dinner. When we arrived, the TV was on and showing the last part of the Oregon vs. Arizona game. Nick went to school at Arizona so it was a cool moment. One Duck and one Wildcat watching a game taking place thousands of miles away in Beijing in a Mexican restaurant.

Claire came for dinner a little while later as did some of Stephanie's friends. It was a fun Sunday evening. I had a delish vegetarian burrito and coconut juice.

Pumpkin Moon Cake

Big news. I felt good enough to eat my pumpkin moon cake. It was delicious. Any holiday that celebrates the moon and eating yummy cakes I'm all about!

Today was a pretty chill day at work. We had four hours of small star training methodology training. Most of it was practical applications but we had fun debating Gardener's multiple intelligences and how we all have been taught different words for what they are depending on the culture that we are from. That was pretty cool.

I taught my two Monday evening small star classes this evening to make up for the holiday. I only had two students in my first class, but they were still a handful. The little girl in the class was chewing on her elastic belt on her pants and taking bites of it and trying to eat it. Ah, the glamour of it all! My second class, always energetic, but got crazy when it started to rain loudly towards the end of class!

Getting Back to It...

I made in to work today! I was slow and pretty grumpy early in the morning, but it felt good to just be able to be there. Not my best day of teaching ever, but luckily many of my students were not there because they were still enjoying the holiday with their family. All the students in China have to go to school this weekend, so we were making up our normal weekend classes yesterday and today. Tomorrow, we have small star training in the afternoon and then most of us are making up our normal Monday evening classes in the evening.

Everyone at work was super sweet to me and made me feel grateful that I get to work with the people that I get to work with. I even returned to have a moon cake waiting for me. A pumpkin one. I haven't tried it yet since I'm keeping my food pretty bland, but I'm excited for it.

I also got two pieces of mail! I got a package from Sandra and Laura that is just fantastic! I can't wait to eat a box of mac and cheese when I feel better in a few days. I've already started drinking the tea though! Thank you so much!

Uncle Ladd sent me an awesome letter today that also made my day! Thank you Uncle Ladd! It arrived on a day when I needed some encouragement.

Mom and Maria, thanks for talking to me on the phone a lot yesterday even when I had really nothing to say. It did make me feel better.

Meghan and Crystal- Thank you for the pep talks earlier this week.

I feel really, really lucky that I have so many people, in two countries now, giving me a lot of support and love.

Happy Birthdays to Maria and Reilly!

The Demon that Took Over My Body like Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters

I had to make the awful call to stay home from work today. I had been stomach sick all night and this morning. We were teaching our Saturday set of classes today to make up for the holiday. In China, if there is a holiday, you still have to make up your school work day on the weekend, which is kind of like not really having a day off, but I digress... It was a rough call to make to the boss because they had to cancel my classes and scramble around people's schedules in order for other teachers to take my older classes. I also loose one day of annual leave because they don't give sick days at EF. I don't like that.

I have a lot of theories about why I got sick. It could have been because I had a salad last night with chicken and cheddar cheese which are two things that I have not had in a long time here. It could have been from a ton of other things.

It sucks to be sick anytime, anywhere, but for me, it feels so much worse so far away from home. A few of my friends sent me texts from work to check up on me which was really nice.

Mid-Autumn Festival

Yesterday evening, EF put on another wine tasting event. This time it was at the apartment of the person who sells the wine. She has a really big apartment with the main room having a beautiful bar and a few long tables. There was not very many people at the event, but there were a few people from some of the other schools that I have never met and it was nice to get to know a few more teachers at EF. The wines were delicious and now I understand what it means when a wine has "legs."

Today was the official Mid-Autumn Festival day. The weather was a perfect and everyone was out and about. Even though many people in Beijing and students have the day off, shops and restaurants were still running. I went to the mall this late afternoon and got my hair cut. I went to a place called Toni and Guy that one of the other teachers told me about yesterday. The person at the front desk translated for my stylist. My stylist even had his own assistant who washed my hair and kept handing scissors and the blow dryer to the stylist. I think my hair looks nicer at a shorter length.

I took myself out to dinner at Element Fresh again. This time, I asked to sit outside, and I had a great view of a pretty full moon. I had to spend some time with the moon on its special day.

No moon cake for me, though. I can't tell any of the ingredients, but we are having our moon cake exchange at work tomorrow so I'll wait until then.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you!

Great Aunt Claire

My Dad told me today that my Great Aunt Claire passed away a few days ago. She lived to be 91-years-old and outlived all of my grandparents. I knew that her health had been declining rapidly the last few weeks, but I still wasn't expecting it.

My Aunt Claire was a true original. I only saw her maybe once or twice a year on average, but she always made an impression. I have silly memories of her always wearing purple and creating extraordinary purple accessories. I remember her bringing over a few "gentlemen" friends and giving my parents and my aunt and uncle alcohol she made in her basement! It made an impression on the little girl me. I was always happy to see her because she always turned our nice family gatherings into something fantastic.

I was thinking a lot about her today as I puttered around the neighborhood and my apartment. My mind continued to return to the fact that Aunt Claire was truly an individual. She lived life her way and she never seemed, in my eyes, apologetic for her actions or words. She honestly said what she felt, even though sometimes it was controversial for our family, and I admire that very much. She lived through so much change in our world and I am sure that many times she was rejected by certain groups of people because she wasn't conventional.

The last time I saw her was on Christmas. She wasn't in the best of health then, but she was still spunky and made sure her thought were heard by the family. She liked the idea of me working in China.

I'm sad that I won't be home to celebrate her life with my family, but I like to think she might be smiling down of my adventures here now.

Here's to you, Aunt Claire! Thank you for being a model of living your life as your most authentic self. I'm going to miss you and the world will never be the same again without you, but as my Mom said on the phone, Heaven is not going to be the same either. I like to think there's a lot more purple and rebel rousing!

Moon Cake Secret Pal

It has been fun walking around the neighborhood and watching people buying and carrying moon cakes around everywhere. My friend, Claire, at work was telling me today that her family and friends sit outside on the official Mid-Autumn day and just stare at the moon, drink wine and talk about the future. I think that's pretty cool. We are having our own little "moon cake secret santa." We all picked a name out of a hat and have to buy a moon cake for that person. This should be interesting.

I had a full day of teaching yesterday. I feel that I am starting to build more of a rapport with one of my older group of students. They had a really fantastic teacher before me, but I think they are starting to think that even though I am a lot different then her, I can still be alright. It starting to feel better. We talked about International cuisine yesterday and we had fun describing different foods from different cultures.

I went out to dinner last night with Laura, Marie and Ryan to the little Korean restaurant near the school. They make this really good toasted bread in a tomato sauce, kind of like bruschetta, but also not like it at all. Ryan and I are trying to convince Laura to have EF support us in some way so me can visit or volunteer at a general education school to see what the students' school life is like. I hope it works out.

Today, we had no students at school, so we had time to plan because the day we get back we will be teaching our weekend classes. I didn't have enough time to plan and grade everything so I'll have a little homework myself over the holiday. We also did some training about Oral Placement Tests in the afternoon.

This evening, I went to the Lotus and bought a DVD player for myself. I watched one movie on it tonight and it is nice to watch the TV screen and not my computer. It will be nice to have friends over to watch a movie sometime.

Long Sleeves Weather

Today was a Beijing first for me: Long Sleeves Weather! It was actually cool enough for me to put on my Columbia rain coat. It's actually a touch chilly. It is only suppose to get to a whooping 64 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow. I left my windows open all day while I was at work to get some (fresh-like) air into the apartment.

At work we all gearing up for the big mid-Autumn or Moon Festival. September 22cd this year, based on the Lunar calendar, is the official Mid-Autumn Festival day here in China and throughout much of Asia. It means a lot of different things for every community or even family here it seems. It seems like the festival celebrates the harvest time or the fullest full moon cycle, and Cindy told me a story about a fairy trying to get to the moon. You are also suppose to eat a moon cake. A moon cake is a little, but filling, pastry that has either egg, meat, or fruit in the center. I'm hoping to at least try a fruit one sometime. It also means that I will be getting three days off in a row next week!

The Great Wall at Mutianyu

Yesterday I went with a a few teacher friends on a day trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. We began around 6:30 taking a few subway transfers to a special bus. The bus was over an hour late, but we were happy checking out the freakishly orange pollution-y sun and making small talk (or gestures in my case) with a lot of older locals also waiting eagerly for the bus.

We eventually made it onto the bus, which was really nice, and sat in the back. I had fun talking to my friends and watching Beijing slip into a beautiful rural agricultural area full of farmlands. It felt so good to just be getting out of the city. Everything became greener and greener. I did learn that you can't see the Great Wall from space on the bus ride over. So disappointing. The bus made a couple dozen stops along the way. A few black cab drivers tried to hustle us into getting off the bus, but luckily, the friendly group of senior citizens that we befriended at the bus stop had our backs!

We arrived at the Mutianyu site and only paid 6 RMB for the entire trip. We paid less than one American dollar for a two and half hour bus ride. The bottom part of the entrance has the ticket office and lots of people selling their wares to people from all over the world. I enjoyed watching an American family, who were all in American flag tee-shirts, buying the rice paddy hats! We bought our tickets and started the long climb up to the wall.

The climb up to the wall was the hardest part of the walk. It took about a half an hour and was pretty much all staircases with a few places where it was just a hill. The landscape was so gorgeous and my lungs felt like they were on a vacation from the awful Beijing pollution. Marie and I spotted a chipmunk and we investigated a lot of huge, huge insects, but it is nice to know that other animals besides cockroaches live in China!

Once at the top, we were all in a flurry of picture taking and amazement that we were actually on the Great Wall! Nick was the only person who had been to the Wall before, but another, more touristy section. There was still quite a few tourists, but not as many as I would have thought. It probably helped that it was Wednesday and students are all back to school. We spent the next three hours hiking the wall. Most of the walking path is just stairs that are about half the length of my feet, and I was so impressed that I didn't fall! The watchtowers were so beautiful. I spent some time lost in my own world reflecting on the hundreds of thousands of people that died creating the Great Wall. I wonder if any of them thought their life's work would eventually become one of the greatest tourist destinations on the globe thousands of years into the future.

I realize that I was standing on numerous replications of the Great Wall since it has been build and repaired and rebuilt several times over the century, but it was fun thinking about maybe this stone has been here the entire time...

We had fun taking pictures and chatting with some of the other tourists. An older father and son duo from Russia were pretty hysterical. The Russian dad kept slapping the back of his thirty-something son's head when he kept asking if they could stop to drink a beer!

There were a few people selling water and snacks in the shade of the watch towers. We made friends with a man who tried to sell us his donkey for $800 American dollars! We saw an engaged couple and a photographer taking their wedding pictures in advance. They must have taken the cable car on the way up!

I loved being there in the forest with the Great Wall. It felt healing. The weather was really foggy because of the humidity, but it added to the true magic of the day!

The walk back down the stairs was another challenge. There was so many tiny stairs and some huge stairs that took a bit of agility to scamper down. My eyes were more on my feet then the scenery, but it was still nice.

A few people in our group decided that they wanted to take the Toboggan down. Yup, you can Toboggan down the Great Wall! I decided to hike back down with There because it just didn't look too safe. No helmets. We actually got back to start of the hike before our Toboggan-going friends did. They all had a blast going down and Ryan video taped his ride.

We had lunch at a subway sandwich shop, which was delicious. I've been wanting a subway sandwich since I have been here! We sat outside and waited for the last bus out of there.

We were all pretty mellow and tired on the way back into the city, but still had a fun time. The worst part of the trip back was that a few of my fellow passengers spotted a big truck with a huge pile of sheep, living and dead all on top of one another. Luckily, Nick quickly warned me not to look, but we got into a big discussion about whether or not animals have feelings or not as the bus inched itself through Beijing's rush hour traffic.

Marie, Ryan and I said good-bye to the rest of the group to take the subway back to our neighborhood where we had dinner at the delicious restaurant near our apartment complexes. I was so tired and happy after a long day. It was a day that reminded me how indescribably lucky I am to be here.

If you are interested in learning about the section of the Great Wall that I traversed, here is a concise site of information:

http://www.mutianyugreatwall.net/

If you would like to look at all my photos on my facebook album, no need to sign up or anything:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2377962&id=11515731&l=66258a6fbb

The Great Wall

2 Subway transfers + a 2 and a half hour bus ride + four hours of climbing and exploring the Great Wall+ the most delicious Subway sandwich perhaps ever made +2 and a half hour bus ride back + one awesome dinner with friends = one tired, but happy Colleen.

I promise a long blog entry and pictures tomorrow!

There Goes the Electricity Again, Part 3

I woke up in the early morning thinking that it was incredibly stuffy in my room. I then realized that the air conditioning light was off and the light from my power protector was off. There went the power again.

I woke up a few hours later, to an even stuffier apartment and crazy loud hammering and drilling coming from somewhere upstairs. It was time to wake up and get to the bank. Luckily, I brought my Ipod along and watched an episode of "Castle." Not too shabby, and I returned home with power again! Time for coffee.

I talked to Laura, my Mom and Maria throughout the morning as the incessant hammering and drilling continued. It finally stopped around lunchtime. I was laughing with my Mom over it.

I went into work. Laura and I have been talking a lot about two of my small star classes where the parents are not too happy with having me as a teacher. I'm a lot different then their last teacher who actually just ran around with them and didn't teach them how to converse with one another. Plus, I'm just not a dude, and most of the parents prefer having a foreign male teacher teach their students. Not to say that there isn't things I know I need to work on, like my graded language, but I know that I'm not awful, either. Laura observed one of my classes tonight and she thinks that we will be able to appease the parents. Luckily, at least I am feeling supported by my boss. I appreciate that a lot.

Laura and her boyfriend, Paul, and Marie and I went out to dinner at the place in our neighborhood with the yummy eggplant. I even got to take home some good leftovers this time!

I'm ready for the weekend.

Hans Christian Anderson Inspiration

Nothing really too exciting happened over my class filled weekends. Weekends at EF are super busy and most teachers are pretty zombie like at the end of the weekend after the ten plus hour days of teaching. I mean, I have to admit, I got a pretty good gig going here. I usually only work about six to seven hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, but they get us on Saturday and Sundays.

I had two really awesome classes this weekend. One was my favorite small stars Saturday morning class that I've written about several times before. It was a special "life club" class where the curriculum is usually a bit more relaxed, but it involves using the puppets a bit more. In this class, Roddy's mom gives him a new pencil that he takes to school and one of the other animal friend puppets steals it away from him. Rodddy and the kids in the class have to become detectives in order to find the pencils. We took a field trip around the school trying to find the pencils and after they were found, all the students got their own Roddy pencil. They were pretty psyched about it.

Today, I had my highest level class where I was scheduled to talk about Scandinavia. I'm getting schooled in my utter lack of knowledge about geography in this job. All I really know about Scandinavia comes from a little history about the Vikings and Conan O'Brien's trip to Finland. I had some research to do.

Luckily, I learned in my research that Hans Christian Anderson hailed from Denmark and I thought it would be fun to do a writing workshop with this class. We spent the first hour learning about Scandinavia and we started the workshop in the second hour. We read "The Princess and the Pea" and talked about important aspects of fairy tales. Then, I tried to teach the students quickly about the concepts of "brainstorming" and "concept mapping" before writing a story. I told them that we would come up with an example concept map of a fairy tale. It turned out to be this ridiculously awesome story about me being a Queen and that a few of the students were my daughters who fell in love with my long lost son. It was pretty awesome. My "homework" is to write that story and their homework was to write a rough draft of their own fairy tale. I can't wait to hear about what they come back with next weekend.

Captain's Log: 18 Weeks

Plus, I had my four month anniversary with this city on Tuesday. I've already completed one-third of my contract!

Teacher's Day

Today was teacher's day in China. EF paid for a pizza lunch for all the teachers and the customer relations staff at work today which was really fun. I even got my own individual pizza since I am the one "vegetarian" of the group. Well, first they ordered a pizza with baby shrimp all over it that still had their heads and I just didn't want to pick that off... so i tried to be as appreciative as possible of them ordering another pizza for me! The customer relations staff gave all the teachers cards which are lovely and definitely will be a keepsake.

We had a teacher's meeting where the Americans and Miles were put in charge of putting together Halloween. Last year, there was a big party for all the students and their families and I think it will be fun to help plan for it.

I taught just one class this evening. I only had three students, but we were talking about International food, so it was really fun. I even got a rose from one of my students for teacher's day.

However, one of the best parts of my day was as I was walking home from the gym tonight. I looked up to the sky and I saw four stars. It was a lovely way to end a good day.

Double Happiness

I just read on facebook that my friends Libby and Ryan little baby girl entered the world today! Seems like Mom and Baby are healthy and doing well. I can't wait to meet her! Congratulations Libby and Ryan!

My first squeal of excitement today was when there was a package waiting for me from my Mom and Maria in the teacher's office. Maria sent me a Camp Namanu shirt and my Mom sent my Columbia jacket still smelling freshly cleaned (and I can tell it had been dried in a dryer, which seems luxurious) and other awesome things! Thank you!

Every other part of my day was good, but boring in comparison to a news of a brand new baby and a sweet package from home. I'm a happy girl.

Plus, tomorrow's teacher's day in China and EF is treating us for lunch. Not too shabby!

Leaving Do

Yesterday was a busy day off. I took the bus to do some International banking. I was a little nervous because the teller who helped me only had two stars lit up on her name plate and the other two tellers on either side of me both had four stars. Luckily, everything worked out fine and I think that teller deserves an extra star.

Then, I went shopping for my friends' leaving do party that evening. I bought on behalf of the staff, each a set of earrings. I had been wandering around aimlessly for so long in the store thinking of a lot of possibilities, but the earrings seemed the most interesting. Luckily, both Amy and Claire liked them.

We all met up for dinner at a restaurant called Tree by the Yard. It was a nice little place and it had Western food. I had a veggie quiche that was delicious and a nice green salad. It was nice to chat with Amy for a bit since I hadn't seen her since she had started her new job.

Eventually, some people went home, including Amy who starts work super early, and the teacher who worked that evening arrived, so we moved on to sit outside a bar in the village and had a beer. It was really nice eating outside. I've missed doing that at home. The weather was just perfect, not too humid but not chilly either. This bar area in Sanlitun attracts lots of tourists and it was kind of odd that mostly the only Chinese people who were there were people who worked in the restaurants, bars and dance clubs. We found a tiny hole in the wall dance club where it was just us, the DJ, a few cute French backpackers and a few other people. It was really fun and Claire had a good time, so that's what mattered.

Today, I slept in late and talked on Skype with Meghan and Angela which was wonderful! I watched some tv online and read and spent some time at the gym. I went over to Marie's for dinner and we found Ryan leaving to get some food, too, so he joined us for dinner and we watched a movie. We were all pretty tired from the night before.

It was a successful weekend.

Inspiration: Roddy Stickers

This morning I had a fun phone conversation with my Mom and sister. I got to hear a bit of the telethon in the background.

However, there's no labor day in China, and I was busy at work making good-bye cards for Amy and Claire. We are all going out to dinner tomorrow night for their "leaving-do" which is what the Brits call good-bye parties. I made two big cards and everyone was given a Roddy sticker to represent themselves. I choose Sherlock Holmes Roddy to represent my essence. However, I brought them to the gym with me after work, and I dropped one somewhere between the gym and my apartment. I went back when I realized that I had lost it, and tried to retrace my steps, but it's gone. I'll be back to the drawing board tomorrow!

The new teacher stopped by briefly today. He looked exhausted and overwhelmed. I bet I looked like that too when I first started.

I taught two small star classes this evening. The first class, the one with the violent one, was complete chaos. Not even the normally behaved students were listening to me. Finally, I got them all sitting down in their little chairs, which was quite an effort, and I stomped me foot and said, "I'm angry" and erased all their little stars on the board that they earn when they are being good. The exceptionally bright student in the class whispered, "Teacher is angry" and they all nodded their little heads. (It was actually pretty precious and it took all of me to not smile at that moment). The rest of the class still wasn't great, but they were trying hard to listen. At the fifteen minute break between the two classes, I went to the teachers' office and vented to Miles who shared his own small star war story. Ryan came walking back into the room after his own small star class and he just sighed and said, "I lived to survive another small star class. Thank God it's over!" It's a rough world for a small star teacher sometimes.

Alarm Clock Craziness...

I had a busy, work filled "weekend." I am trying to implement some phonics into my elementary and high school level classes. It feels so much more natural in the preschool classes, but the older students, of course, need it to. A few of my classes were receptive to it, but one of the older classes just thinks I am pretty crazy. Teenagers...

Early this morning, I woke up in the middle of the night and realized my alarm clock had stopped working! I was thrashing around my apartment at two in the morning trying to find batteries that, of course, I didn't have! I found another old alarm clock from Outdoor School days that I still had in a suitcase, and miraculously, it worked!

Luckily, I got up and at work at time. It could have been bad.

This morning, I taught a new class that I am taking over for our senior teacher that left to become the Director of Studies at a new EF school (Which doesn't even have a bathroom... the teachers and all the kids have to go out to a public bathroom in a mall next door... Not the most brilliant way to cut a few corners). Anyway... they are a lovely group of five and six-year-olds. One little boy, a Leo, is already so tall and solid for a child his age. He ran up to hug me at the end of the class and he slammed in to me! So funny.

I think I've mentioned the Marco Polo videos we watch at the end of the elementary and high school classes. They are videos filmed by two EF teachers, an American woman named Christina, and a Frenchman named CoCo. They have been traveling the globe this past year going from city to city around the world. They have made about forty videos so far. They are arriving in Beijing soon, and EF is hosting a student talent show for them. From my classes over the weekend, I've signed up one boy to sing a Michael Jackson song, one student to show off her fencing skills, one student is singing a Taylor Swift song, and one student singing a Chinese song. I wish I could go to the talent show, but it is on a Saturday, and there is no way I'm getting out of my classes for that!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Captain's Log: 17 Weeks...

Observation Conversation

This morning, I chatted with my friend Laura online and we had to dial each other over and over again because Skype was just being awful or my Internet connection was acting up. Either way, it was good to talk to her. My new friends here are wonderful, but sometimes you just need to talk to someone who has been your friend for most of your life!

I had my observation review with Laura today. We had a really awesome conversation about teaching. It's funny how much we talk in the staff room about our plans and activities, we rarely talk about how we think about what we are teaching and what really happens while we are teaching. It was nice to have someone tell me what I can improve on. I've never taught this way before, and with the exception of my online TEFL certification course, I haven't even studied how to be an ELL teacher. We had a really long talk and we have set up some new goals for me. We had a good laugh about how I crazily write things on the board sometimes when I am trying to make a point.

We had a long teacher's meeting about a bunch of new things and upcoming holidays. We are getting a new teacher from England on Monday that everyone is pretty excited about.

Today was also picture day. We have a teacher's profile wall by the computers in the lobby that have teachers' pictures and a little "About Me" next to them. Most of the teachers have left in the last few months so most of us had to be photographed and had to write up our little profiles.

I taught one elementary level class this evening. Our theme was dreams and nightmares. Only one student was vocal about her pretty amazing dreams. It was a bit of a rough go of a class.

I had dinner at a hot pot place with Marie and Laura tonight. We had taro root and it was delicious. We were the last people in the restaurant and they turned the lights out on us! Time to go!

I want to give a special shout out to my "adopted" little brother Dylan. Happy Birthday to you! You are cheersing me from the September picture on my calendar!

Ups and Downs of Culture Shock... or Back to the Graph

I woke up today after my weekend ready to go back to work compared to the last few weeks. Having two days off makes such a huge difference! I felt renewed and refreshed and ready to get back to it.

I talked to my sister and Mom this morning. My conversations with my sister usually end with us comparing what food we have had recently. It's pretty funny.

I talked a little bit with my Mom today that I am definitely at the point in the culture shock graph where I am questioning and at times, frustrated that things here are not like my own country's. Why isn't there any recycling?... It would be so much easier if I could just drink out of the tap... Why do I have to wait forever in lines at the store to buy a few items or to make a payment at the bank?... What's up with the gross spitting so close to me?...

I realize that this is just a stage. I'm not miserable, though, so please don't take this questioning phase of this journey like that. I'm still really grateful to have a job I really, really enjoy and the opportunity to live in one of the most International cities in thew world and work with and become friends with people from all over the globe. It's an incredible gift I have going for me and I am trying to take advantage of it as much as possible.

I've been raised by my family and taught by many of my good teachers that just because we don't live the way another culture or group of people lives doesn't make the "other" bad or us bad. It's just different. I'm definitely being tested on this belief right now, sometimes catching myself thinking, "That's so wrong."

However, I've been thinking a lot about how much my life and the lives of many of the people I love have changed so much in the last year. The "new" school year has always been a big reflective time for me. So many of my good friends have started families and/or have made such positive changes in their lives in the past year. I remember having a talk with a very pregnant Crystal this time last year when I was going through a huge transitional phase where I had just moved for the first time in two years and had been rejected from so, so many numerous job applications. She had told me that this was my opportunity to chill and start thinking about how I wanted my life to change. Very close to the same wise words my Mom had told me.

Anyway... so what I am trying to say... is even though I am feeling a bit lower on the culture shock graph right now, at least I am on it. The universe had been telling me I needed change for a long time. It's just another phase of the gift.

Shopping Frenzy

Marie and I met up with two of the TAs, Arwen and Shei Shei this morning at the "zoo" market somewhere far from where we live. It is this gigantic shopping area where every seller has their own tiny stall packed in with as many things as possible! Think Portland's Saturday Market with no breathing room. Only Marie ended victoriously with a few scarves from our first stop of the day.

Next, we went underground to another packed shopping center. I can't even estimate how big it was and there were hundreds and hundreds of stalls with people selling everything from jeans to knock off hand bags and tons of jewelry and shoes. We spent the rest of the morning there until we got hungry. We went across the street to a delicious kongi restaurant. Kongi is a type of porridge here, which is rice and smashed vegetables all mixed together. It reminded me of baby food, but it was still very good.

After some bathroom craziness where I dropped my phone in the toilet (Hey, I guess my skill of dropping electronic things into toilets extends across continents and not just at Namanu Outdoor School) we went back to the underground shopping. I bought my sister a pink scarf with giraffes printed on it and a much needed watch for myself.

The phone, luckily, continued to work after some drying out and massive applications of santatizer!

We then took a bus to HaoHie, a touristy destination frequented by lots of tourists. It's a person-made lake that has shops and restaurants all around it. I knew we were in a good spot when "Shorty Fire Burning on the Dance Floor" welcomed us to the site. We windowed shopped around the lake and then ended up in a beautiful Hutong neighborhood where Shei Shei excitedly introduced me to my first serving of traditional Chinese yogurt and cheese from a little Hutong shop. It looks a lot different then any kind of dairy product from the states but it was very yummy.

Eventually, Shei Shei and Arwen went home and Marie took me to a Carefour store a subway station from our neighborhood where we nerded out and bought a bunch of school supplies since EF barely gives its teacher pencils!