Cover Letters and Seafood Dinners

Today was my last "official" day at Beijing 2. I practically didn't do any work and I didn't feel too guilty about it. I went to the staff meeting and then had a late lunch out with Cindy, Miles and Vivian. I did get a bit of work done before asking Cindy and Miles to help me with a cover letter that I have been working on. They were both super helpful and helped me make my writing more concise. A few of the Beijing 2 teachers called out ideas. It become quite the group effort!

After work, I went grab a cup of coffee and wait for Vivian to get off work. Today was her birthday and she had invited me out to a Seafood restaurant with a bunch of her friends. Cindy and Miles couldn't make it and I was proud of myself for going out without someone from my school. I had dinner with a very diverse interesting group of people and there were lots of different languages floating across the table. We were in a Hutong neighborhood and we sat outside, right across from a public bathroom! Not a bad way to spend a Friday night.

Love and Logic

Today was my the Spring Teacher's Conference for Beijing's Kids and Teens Schools at the newest school that has just recently opened. I was so happy to just find it on my own! Finding a place successfully in Beijing is always still sweet to me!

I got there a little bit early and had a chance to wander around the new school. It's absolutely beautiful! If our school looks a third of how nice Beijing 6 looks we will be in for a treat!

The conferences always fall on a day off for most teachers, but this time, EF really tried to show that they were appreciative of us attending. They set up a raffle system and made time for mingling socially with the other teachers. I went to a workshop on building rapport with students and was able to take away some new insights. Then, we were put into teams to do a pub quiz of sorts about random facts about EF and China. Did you know that China shares borders with 14 countries! I didn't. EF even paid for Subway sandwiches for lunch which is a big deal!

Then, it was time for my workshop on Love and Logic, which is a student management theory that I was taught to use at Outdoor School that emphasizes positive enforceable statements and guiding students to help them solve their own problems through examining choices and their potential consequences. I had some really nice people in my workshop which helped me be a little less nervous. All four local teachers from Beijing 2 attended my workshop, which was really special for me.

Then, we had a lesson plan share where we passed out some of best lesson plans for other teachers to borrow and adapt. Then, there was a raffle and my number was picked! I won a bottle of Chinese white wine! Then, it was off to one last workshop. I attended one on healthily releasing emotions. It was much different from all of the other workshops, but pretty awesome.

Then, we all gathered back together to learn who were the winners of the pub quiz. All the presenters were awarded with a certificate and an alcoholic beverage of some kind. I won six pack of beer! Then, the new head of Beijing took us out for dumplings and beer. It was pretty great!

My friend Sabrina had asked me where I buy movies, and I offered to take her to the movie store I go to. Stephanie decided she wanted to come along since we had a few hours to spare before meeting up with Marie and her family from Australia for a night of KTV. We successfully found some movies for Sabrina and headed back to Beiyuan to meet up with Ryan and Nina for dinner at the Korean BBQ restaurant.

Marie's family was running late at their own dinner, so we walked over to take a gander at the school. We have now started taking bets! It doesn't look like we will be able to start classes up on Monday! We'll just have to wait and see.

I had a lot of fun at KTV with Marie and her family. Her two siblings are pretty young, but are enjoying China. Her parents are truly lovely and I think they enjoyed meeting some of Marie's friends here. I was really tired, though. Tomorrow is my one day off this week and I am looking to chilling out a bit!

Miles and Ying's Wedding!

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I attended a wedding I'll never forget yesterday.

All of us teachers living in the Beiyuan area met up at the subway at 6:30 to take the subway to get to the bus that would take us to Tanshan to celebrate Miles and Ying's wedding. We were all happy to reconnect after a few weeks of being apart due to people on holidays and us all at different schools. We were signing "It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding" as we crammed into the subway train. Seriously, Beijing, why is everyone up so early on a Sunday?

We made it to the bus on time were we met up with a group of Ying's work friends who we shared the bus with to Tanshan. It was only suppose to be about a two hour or so ride to Ying's hometown, but we hit some traffic and it took us closer to three hours to get there. We had been scheduled to get there much earlier than the wedding party. However, as we rounded to the corner to the hotel where the wedding was taking place, we ended up following the wedding party's car that was covered in beautiful flowers. Our bus followed their car through the smoke of all the fireworks and and under the big flower wreath! Luckily, the wedding party thought it was pretty funny and Miles seemed happy we had gotten there on time, even though we enjoyed some of their deserved fanfare!

We got off the bus and were told to cheer loudly as the hotel staff unraveled a red carpet for the wedding party and the close family to walk down. We cheered as we were ushered into the hotel's big conference hall. We were at the table right behind the table of Miles's family hailing from Australia and New York. Ying's colleagues took up four tables adjacent to us. We just had enough time to make a bathroom run and take some pictures before the ceremony started at 11:28, the luckiest time of the day for yesterday.

We calculated that there were about 600 people at the wedding! Ying's family had seriously almost invited their whole community! Everyone was happy and in high spirits. The MC for the event pumped us up and the wedding began! There was tons of cheering through the whole wedding, but our table exploded the most when Miles successfully said his vows in Chinese wonderfully! Miles's sister and brother-in-law sat with Ying's parents on the stage. They looked happy and just were going with it! Cindy and Joyce helped translate most of the ceremony for me.

There was also a bubble making machine on the stage!

The ceremony last about 30 minutes. Ying's father, Miles's sister and Ying's head boss gave beautiful toasts. Then, it was time for the huge dinner! A crazy amount of food was served and it was all delicious. Our two big EF bosses showed up and started making trouble, which led to some of the boys getting drunk off of the Chinese wine, which made for a fun ride home!

Then, about 20 minutes into the meal, people just started to leave in this gigantic flood. It was just a sea of people getting out of the hotel as fast as they could! It was kind of crazy. We just stayed eating and drinking Tanshan beer. The only tables left 30 minutes into the meal were Ying's closest friends and family, her work friends, Miles's family and us! The bride changed into her traditional Chinese dress and the couple went around collecting their red envelopes. Poor Ying had to work the room. She had to either feed her guests a piece of candy or light their cigarette. Miles just had to have a drink with every table. He did get to share his nephew's first alcoholic drink with him!

Then, the bus driver made it quite clear that it was time for us to go! It took awhile, but we gathered everyone up and onto the bus. Ying's family shook our hands as we got on the bus, and Miles jumped on to say good-bye before he and Ying and their families waved us good-bye. It was a merry, and long ride back to Beijing! We got on the bus at 2 and didn't hit downtown Beijing until 6.

Then, most of us Beijing 3 teachers all went to a coffee bar and had some coffee and snacks and decompressed a bit. Eventually we all parted to different parts of the city. Cindy and I were off to a housewarming party for one of our new Beijing 2 friend, Vivian. We went to a Seven-Eleven! I hadn't been into one in Beijing yet, and they sell Chinese food kind of like how they do at the Safeway deli counter, which cracked me up! We bought snacks and dinner and went to Vivian's. Her and her boyfriend recently moved into an apartment building that is right behind where Jackie Chan's infamous son from his baby mama lives. It's quite a big deal in Beijing! The housewarming party was fun and Vivian's friends are pretty fantastic. It was a great way to end a magical Beijing/Tanshan day!

I was also just happy I didn't say anything truly horrible and offensive like I did during my first Chinese wedding experience.

Congratulations Miles and Ying!

Calling Holly Holiday

I've been enjoying playing the role of substitute at Beijing 2. Need a VIP teacher? Colleen! Need someone to take a class for someone whose Academic Hours are too high? Colleen! Need someone to cover your holiday leave? Colleen! Need someone to train the new teacher? Colleen

I think I'm being used.

I'm trying to have fun with it, though.

I've used Bruce Springsteen to talk about Of Mice and Men. I made a class of elementary students help me practice saying my numbers in Chinese. (They, of course, laughed hysterically at me). I had a 30 minute conversation with an upper elementary class about Earth Day and what we could do to help the planet. I even made them take an oath to be Earth Warriors, which totally cracked me up, but they were so sincere about it, it also made me so happy. Plus, I've gotten to pass on some of my good lesson plans with the new teacher, and she's working on making them work for her teaching style, and that's pretty awesome!

So, it hasn't been as easy as I thought it was going to be. The boss said I was just going to cover a class or two and get to do my own work...and I have a lot of that left to do... but it's refreshing to meet some new students and learn from other teachers.

Speaking of refreshing, we had a huge thunder and lightening and rain storm this afternoon! It was super cool! It's been pretty muggy the last few days, so it was a welcome weather activity! Beijing smells a little more spring-like to me now!

Happy Earth Day!

It's All Happening at the Zoo...

A lot of people told me not to go to the zoo. They said I would be pretty sad at the space most of the animals have. Then, Annie went to the zoo once while I was here and she reported that the animals were in small spaces, but looked like they were well tended to. I decided to give it a chance today. I wanted to see some Giant Pandas!

People were right about the size. It's really too small, and unlike the Oregon Zoo, the Beijing Zoo doesn't even try to replicate the atmosphere of the animals' home terrains. However, Annie was right in the fact that the animals do seem cared for even in such tight places. The zoo has a ton of birds of all different kinds, but not too much else! I saw two giraffes, a hanful of rhinos, some of China's own Golden monkeys, and a few monkeys from other countries, a bald eagle, and two pandas were on display while I was there. There are also lions, tigers and other bears (Oh My!) but they weren't on display while I was there this afternoon. You have to pay extra to see the penguins, which Annie had done and said there were maybe two around, so I decided to skip out on that even though I love penguins.

The Giant Pandas are the pride of the zoo, of course. I saw one that was just sleeping... I learned today that Giant Pandas have adapted to vegetarianism because of where they live. They spend 14 hours of their day finding and eat bamboo! The display also stated that in China, Pandas are classified as their on species, while in Western countries they are classified in the bear family. There was a lot of information about pandas being goodwill ambassadors to other countries which is pretty awesome! The other panda that was on display was putting on a show for some special guests that were with the zookeepers. They were feeding the panda bamboo and the panda was loving the attention. However, it was disappointing to me and the little ones around me who only got to see the backside of this show! The panda turned around once to look in our direction and we seriously gave a little cheer, but that lasted about five seconds. I was a little disappointed.

The biggest surprise for me was in the "reptile" area. There were tons of turtles on display behind glass. People were so fascinated with them and banging on the glass trying to get their attention! I found this a bit funny because I pass by turtles on their last stop before the dinner table all the time in most of the big grocery stores I have been into!

I'm glad that I have experienced the zoo here, but it's not something I would recommend unless you were going solely for the pandas.

Then, I took myself out to a movie. I saw "Rio" in 3D. I had gotten there just in time, and the only seats left were in the front room, so I had a real experience. I've only seen three movies on the big screen here, and they have all been kids' movies!

Cheese and a Taxi Driver with a Death Wish

One of the fun things being at another school is meeting some new people, and developing more of just a "first impression" from some of the other teachers who have been around a bit that I've only really seen at trainings and the random events. Cindy and I have made friends with one of the new teachers, Vivian. She went to college at Evergreen State College and spent a lot of her twenties living in Seattle, so it's nice to have someone to talk to about home. I taught at a conversational English camp during the Summer of 2008, which is when I first learned about EF, and Vivian said she would enjoy talking to the EF kids every summer on campus because she is originally from Hong Kong and can speak Cantonese. One of the other Beijing 2 teachers, Prentice, who is from West Virginia, had a bad car experience in Portland one summer. He had to wait around to get it fixed, but spent the time waiting enjoying Portland. He keeps yelling, "I love Portland!" whenever I see him. Pretty funny.

The three of us girls decided to go out to get manicures last night after work. Then, Vivian took me to this tiny little shop where they sell cheese, lots of good, fancy kinds of cheese! It was a great find. We went out to dinner and Cindy and I gave her the lowdown on EF, the good, the bad and the quirky. We had to take a taxi back home, and as soon as we got in, the taxi driver kept saying he was so sleepy. He almost killed a man when he missed a turn to drop off Vivian. The man's life seriously flashed before my eyes! The driving got worse as we wound our way to Cindy's and I could tell from the mirror that his eyes were closing at times. I decided it was time to bail! We walked the rest of the way to Cindy's and then I got another taxi home with a much more alert driver!

Nothing too exciting today. I taught a VIP student who is preparing to take a huge, huge examination that will test whether he can move on to an English speaking university. He is studying the text, Of Mice and Men. I found the song "The Ghost of Tom Joad" on itunes this morning an downloaded it so I could use it in class today. Totally stole that idea from my junior year English teacher Mr. Mateo from Franklin. It still works, and my VIP enjoyed the break from his writing exercises.

Before

Nothing too exciting to report about the last couple of days. I have been getting a lot of planning done, but I've been missing teaching and my other friends from school. Even though the individuals are Beijing 2 are lovely people who I am enjoying meeting and spending time with, the school culture is so much different! Not a bad different, just different, but it makes me realize that I think I was put in the school I was suppose to be in.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend before the remodel officially began. The picture outside is my students after writing haikus. I especially enjoy the pictures of my tiny small star blues in their Bill Cosby inspired sweaters!

The Stinky Tofu Experience

Miles and I had made a pact that we were going to try stinky tofu or chao do fu, before I left. We made that pact a reality today. We brought James along on the adventure, too.

We went to the Hou Hai area which is known for its person-made lakes, expensive Western beer, and a beautiful Hutong neighborhood. We ate lunch on a restaurant patio right on the lake. We had fun watching two brave or crazy people, depending on your perspective swim in the lake along with the ducks. The weather was perfect, warm, but not hot yet.

Miles decided that we all needed some liquid courage to face the smelly, smelly tofu! It really is smelly. We found an awesome rooftop bar where we could see all the Hutong roof tops. It was a pretty awesome site. I think I might want to have my going away party there!

After some beers, and the boys asking for directions, we smelled our way to the smelly tofu booth. The odd thing was that we had smelled it from so far away, yet when we got it into our hands, we couldn't really smell it. It was like it had burned our sense of smell! It was pretty nasty, though, but not as bad as I thought it would be. None of us could eat all of it! It was definitely a memorable experience. We had to get ice cream to cleanse the palate, though!

Fluff Season

Fluff Season has arrived in Beijing! I was arrived late into Fluff Season last year. Fluff Season relates to all the pollen, fluff from the cherry blossoms, and all the other wonderful, but allergy filled wonder that comes from the plants! Lucky for me, after surviving four springs in Eugene, Oregon, it's not too much of a big deal for me, but certainly brings out the face masks for a lot of people here! The fluff is actually pretty beautiful, like cotton balls floating in the wind. I was watching a few float through one of the buses I was on today.

I went to Starfish today for my classes. I haven't been there for three weeks. Three weeks ago, I had a training, and then the next two weeks the women were away. Most of my students were out today, so I only worked with Xiao Li who is a beginning student. She is the one that is pregnant and is busy with a little one less than a year old. She was just exhausted, so I ended class a little bit earlier.

My landlord came over today so I could pay for my last month of rent! They were really nice to let me stay an extra month without raising the rent!

Beijing 2

Today was my first day at my temporary school while our school is being remodeled! I met Cindy on the Subway and she showed me how to walk there. It's not very far from the subway which is awesome! Cindy told me that she likes this neighborhood more because she feels that people are really living in this area unlike in my neighborhood where it is more rich people. The Wang Fu Jing neighborhood does have a lot of life, tons of shops and mass amounts of people. I love it.

The big, big bosses of EF are in town inspecting the Beijing Schools this week. Beijing 2 is getting inspected tomorrow morning. We were lucky we just skidded by out of that madness!

I had lunch with Cindy, Miles and Laura at a big cafeteria food court. The food was really good and it was delightful company. Cindy was asking us about the difference between Western restaurants and Chinese restaurants. It was fun.

This afternoon, I prepared for a special VIP class that I will be teaching tomorrow afternoon and starting my research for our new student conduct code. We were also amazed about how quiet their center is and how organized it is! The teachers were so quiet getting ready for their classes to start in the evening! We are always yelling about who took the last Roddy puppet...where is the Orange Small Stars book... screaming at our craptastic copier and eating our dinners! I wouldn't trade that for their organized peace, but it's fun to see the different school cultures. They also have a lot more windows which I am totally envious of!

Under Construction

Beijing 3 is under construction! Workers started to remodel our demonstration room Thursday afternoon. Everyone was walking around with face masks due to all the sawdust floating around. One classroom was put out of rotation because it was holding so many sharp and dangerous tools. The teaching team was pretty upset that they were being stored in an unlocked room.

We did get to have our weekly Friday academic team meeting at the little park across from my gym. Laura bought us ice-cream! I'm loving this Spring weather! It was officially announced that half of our teaching team is leaving EF between May 20th and June 7th. Nick is leaving on May 20th, Joyce and I are leaving on May 31st, and Marie and Cindy are leaving on June 7th. The school is going to go through some big changes. Luckily the person who is taking over my classes will be here in early May so I will have time to help her get settled into my classes... well her new classes. I am excited to hopefully pay forward some of the kindnesses that were shown to me when I first arrived in Beijing to her.

The best class I had this weekend was my highest level class that is composed of all young women. We spent the first hour working on book work and the curriculum I needed to cover, but during the second hour we went on a little field trip. We walked to the little park. I had gotten permission from Laura and the students' parents the day before. The girls were giddy to get out of our windowless classroom! We sat out in the sun on a patch of grass and we talked about how to write haiku poems. Then, I had the students find a spot where I could still see them and just reflect and write what they were feeling for about five minutes. Most of my students told me that this was the longest time they had been with "nature" in years! They were so happy just spotting two butterflies! I was so proud of the beautiful/funny/touching haikus that they wrote. I loved having an hour to teach outside. I think we would have been all happy to stay there all afternoon, but they had to get home to studying and I had a class of little ones to get to!

After our last set of classes, we all spent the next two hours moving all our teaching resources and computers into storage. It was a bit of mass chaos with not enough tape and boxes, and the boys clamoring to show off who could lift the heaviest box! It's not going to be pretty figuring out where everything is when we get back into the school in three weeks.

We all went out to dinner to celebrate the end of Beijing 3 as we know it. It's ironic that they school is going to be all shiny for the last month I will be there!

Tomorrow, I am Beijing 2 bound! Cindy, Miles and I will be located out of that school during the remodel. Miles is only going to be there for a few days before he is off to get ready for his Chinese wedding. Cindy is going to take over the OPT shifts for the school and i am going to be pitch hitting for another foreign teacher and planning Beijing 3's new student conduct code. I know I'll miss my friends, but I'm excited to work at another school with some new people for three weeks. It's all a part of the adventure!

Boom! 11 Months!

Today marked my eleventh month in Beijing!

However, it was a pretty normal day. I went to the bank and only waited an hour! A new subway line was installed near the bank and I was able to use it to get home. It took three transfers, but it was a bit faster than the bus I normally take there.

I had a busy day at work. I walked in to a construction site! No one had told us that they would actually be starting to physically start the construction part of the remodel today. Everyone was frantic getting everything cleaned up and power tools safely away before the little ones began to descend upon us at five for our first set of classes at six!

I need to take pictures around the school this weekend before everything is changed so much. I'll remember the school more the way it is now then when it is completed just a few weeks before I leave!

Cherry Blossom Festival

Happy Cherry Blossom Season, Everyone!

Spring has sprung in Beijing! Our weather has been getting into to 60's by the afternoons and the flowers and trees are beginning to bloom. It was already seriously hot here by the time I arrived last May so I know I must enjoy this "springtime" as much as I can!

Today, I went with some of my friends from school to a beautiful park where they celebrate the cherry blossoms every year. I had never been there before and the park is lovely. There are lots of trees and flowers and a person-made lake that included two ducks! I haven't seen ducks here before! The cherry blossoms are gorgeous and I felt like I was in a story book.

I took the Subway with Cindy and had a bit of time to wait for our other friends. We walked through the first half of the park and then went to take some pictures in a grove of trees. Waiting for us there was a woman with a huge camera who kept on just taking pictures of me. Cindy eventually got annoyed and asked her to stop, but then the lady told Cindy that she was a reporter and that she thought I was an "interesting" subject. Cindy told me to just go along with it and I ended up being the lady's model for awhile! My pictures might be splashed across some Chinese paper or magazine in the future!

We met up with Marie and Sabrina, and Sabrina's sister at a tea house in the park. Sabrina's hometown is lax about the one child policy and so Sabrina's parents had four children! That's a huge family in China! Her sister was lovely even though I wasn't able to talk to her. There was a lot of translation going on all afternoon.

After tea and snacks, we continued to walk and take pictures. I eventually couldn't stand it and decided to buy an awesome plastic crown of yellow and pink cherry blossoms! I had seen so many people walking by with them on and I just couldn't resist. I had fun wearing it around for the weekend, and continued to wear it grocery shopping this evening.

It was a great way to spend a day off!

From "Hello's" to an "Exquisite Heart"

Sometimes it's a joy to jump from tiny little one's to young adults.

We were back to work after a day off. I feel bad that the local teachers don't receive the actual Tomb Sweeping festival off. A few of the local teachers have to take their own vacation days to go to their family's hometown to care for the tombs of their family members.

It was a quieter Sunday than normal since a lot of people are away. I had two small star classes this morning. I actually got to hear one of my tiny small stars say, "hello" for the first time! It was a bit of a thrill for me! Now, we are starting to work on learning the names of Roddy and his friends.

After lunch, I only had two students in my oldest class. We reviewed the last two units before they had to take their quizzes in the first hour. Then, in the second hour, we did the Star Trek life club I wrote during the Winter where we talk about teamwork and equality. Both girls talked about how their teachers treat the girls very differently than the boys. One of the girls said that her main teacher tells the girls that they should be as smart as the boys, but that they should not talk as much in class. However, both girls agreed that in Beijing it is possible for women earn the same equal pay for the same job as men do, but that it's a completely different story in most of the smaller towns and villages in China.

We talked about how even though it is possible that all people can be equal, it does not mean that we have to be the same. Totally got inspired with that idea because I had been listening to Barbra Streisand's "The Concert" album over and over again throughout the Winter and she talks about how "We all should be equal, but definitely not the same!" I had the girls write down three things that make them special and gave them a chance to share if they wanted to. Both girls talked about how they are special because they have good hearts and that they do good things for other people. One of the girls wrote that she has an "exquisite heart." She had to look up what exquisite meant, but it was still beautiful.

We then went on to watch a few minutes of the Star Trek movie and I had the girls write down all the different types of "people" that they could see and we talked about working with and being friends with people that looked very different from us. Then, the girls wanted to talk to me about bi-racial marriages. It was interesting to get their points- of -view on the subject. I think one of the best parts of teaching is that sometimes the students teach you so much more than you could ever teach them.

Rain and a Dinner Party

The sky looked like I was in Portland today! It actually hasn't rained in Beijing since October. It feels like such a treat. I have missed rain this year.

I had a pretty easy day at work today. I only had my tiny small stars. We got the moms and dads and stubborn grandmas out of the classroom today, so it actually felt like a real class. The class began with half of the students crying, some pretty vocally, so we began with some coloring and listening to music to begin the hour and then I was able to get through most of the prescribed lesson! They are so cute!

After class, Cindy and Sue walked back with me to my apartment so I could change my clothes and Cindy and Sue could check their facebook accounts through my VPN before heading over to Laura's for dinner with the other teachers and Lee, our new big boss. Laura made a great dinner and we had some fun conversations. We were celebrating the fact that we don't have classes tomorrow! This Saturday-Wednesday is the Tomb Sweeping Day Festival. Families will travel to where their ancestors' remains are to clean the area. However, since we are in China, everyone has to make up for their lost days at work for the holiday, so parents can not bring their children in for classes like normal tomorrow. We will be teaching our normal Sunday classes on Sunday and our Saturday classes on Monday. I have a pretty easy teaching week this week, two days of work, a day off, and two more days of work!