Call in the Replacements

This past weekend wasn't quite as busy for me as it normally is. Two of small star classes were canceled due to the parents being nervous about their children being submitted to the "bad air" from the remodel. All of us teachers are blaming any mistake we are making on the "air."

We now have three out of the five replacement teachers for the five of us that are leaving at the end of this month and the beginning of June. A woman named Aminata is going to be taking over most of my classes along with Miles and Ryan taking one or two each. She is my age and from New York. She has been teaching special education for the past six years. She's lovely and my students are going to be lucky to have her as a teacher. She observed my two small star classes this evening. She actually made me feel better because she was able to pick out a few students who may have some learning/socialization behaviors that should may be checked out by a specialist. It was a bit of a relief to hear that news from someone. I have asked for help with this class and EF had not been able to give me much support. I had actually wished that the violent one was there today. I bet Aminata could provide a lot of insight into that special case. One of the little ones in that class that I can usually really count on to set a good example was acting very abnormal. He was touching the computer, hitting his classmates and not listening to my instructions at all. I kept him after the class for a bit to see what was wrong with the help of the TA translating for me. The little boy told us he just didn't want to be there today and that he was tired... It's good to be reminded that even the sweetest of little ones have their bad days, too.

I told my two highest level classes over the weekend that I will be leaving at the end of the month. Aminata is going to be either observing and co-teaching with me for the next three weekends so I wanted to be able to tell them on my own so they could be free to ask me questions. Both classes were sad to hear that I was leaving, which was really sweet, but also excited to learn about their new teacher. I had told my highest level students that I had big news to share with them and they were hoping I had found a Chinese boyfriend! They were highly disappointed! I am going to miss them a lot, but it's good to know they will be in capable hand.

I want to wish my Mom a happy mother's day! Wǒ ài nǐ!

Happy Mother's Day to all those women in my life: Joanna, my aunts and my mentors and friends, too, because it takes a village to raise a child (or a 28-year-old), and I'll take all the help I can get!

Boom!!!!! 1 Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A year ago today my Mom, Dad, Joanna, Crystal and Reilly dropped me off at the Portland airport to start my journey to Beijing.

It's amazing what a year can do...

I was thinking how crazy my first walk around the He Ping Le hotel was like. The smells were overwhelming, Mandarin sounded like one big yell, and I was just trying to not cry all the time. I was hungry and truly just exhausted from all of the good-byes and the mad rush of only really four days to move out of my apartment and pack!

There were so many moments where I wanted to get back on an airplane and turn back, but I am sure glad I didn't!

I had lots and lots of hopes going into this new adventure and many of them came true!

I am living in one of the most International cities in the world on a whole different continent.

I kept just one job for an entire year

I made lots of new friends and was enveloped by an amazing community.

I've had the opportunity to visit some of China's most treasured landmarks.

I was thinking today about how amazingly normal my day felt. I taught three great classes. I had a fun lunch with my friends. I went to the gym and picked up some groceries. I would have never imagined life feeling "normal" here in China a year ago!

I did do one thing that I have been scared to do previously tonight, though. There's an individual hot pot restaurant near my grocery store that I have always wanted to try, but was too nervous to because everything was in Chinese. I went in, picked out the tofu and vegetables that I wanted, actually understood how much it cost and could even ask where the chopsticks were! It was delicious! It was one of those small victories.

I think I lived a lot this year trying to go from one small victory to the next. I think that was maybe one of the many lessons I needed to learn while being here. I've learned to appreciate the small things much more and maybe have become a bit more patient and less anxious. Everything when I arrived was a small victory. I was reading a few of my first sets of blogs earlier this week when my friend Ryan suggested that I take a look back at the earlier me in Beijing. A year ago, those small victories were pretty huge,,,figuring out the subway... paying for electricity at the bank... learning how to cook for myself in a new country... crossing the street... Those are just a few examples...

Those small victories led me to live in the present a bit more. My year can really be defined by the quiet moments. The moments were I felt accomplished or just scared. The moments that I decided to be brave and try new things. The moments where I decided to let go of trying to control how a situation would go in my mind and just watched it play out. The moments where I shared a piece of myself or my past to help build new friendships. The moments when I appreciated a student as just one individual child. The moments where the only way I could respond was with a smile and I received one back in return. Beijing gave me enough noise to create the soundtrack of my past year so I could concentrate on those quieter moments, whether shared or by myself.

Of course, those big things, the "booms" and the facebook status worthy moments, and the post card sending tourist spots were all wonderful and amazing and exciting, but I think I did most of my Beijing education came from those quiet moments.

I only have about three more weeks left in this city. I hope it will be filled with moments of grandeur and lots of shared quiet moments.

Thank you for letting me reflect on all of these types of moments, my blog readers. Some of my best quiet moments have been writing in my little studio apartment and smiling thinking about who might be reading this in the future (or you know, really the past because most of my readers are from the states).

I really am a lucky girl!

Boom!

Thunder and Lightening and Narnia

I woke up in the middle of the night to a huge clap of thunder that scared me! I got up and watched the show from my window until I got sleepy again. The weather yesterday was pretty humid and it looked like it was going to rain all day. I woke up today to a drizzly sky, but it grew into an absolutely beautiful Spring Beijing day.

Today was the first teaching day for me back at my school. I now really appreciate my seven minute walk to work and the extra two hours of my day that I had because I wasn't at Beijing 2!

The school is still pretty disheveled, and if it was an American school or day care, there would be no way the school would be open to students/children! There is still a lot that needs to be fixed and there are still pretty dangerous tools around. Today, workers were replacing light bulbs everywhere and we were all ducking around the school hoping to not get anything dropped on our heads! All of our basic materials have found homes, but a lot of our own personal resources have no place to go. Right now I am sharing a little cubby space with both Miles and Nick for all of our supplies.

Before the remodel, the classrooms where all named after cities that EF has schools in such as London, New York, Rome, Cambridge, Los Angelos, Boston, Beijing, etc... Now, they are all adjectives such as magic(al), fantastic, laugh, courage... We knew that the rooms were getting new names but James, Ryan and I had imagined all the rooms named after science fiction/fantasy planets and ships... Narnia, Hoth, Enterprise, Millennium Falcon, the Shire, Serenity, etc... We lost!

My two small star classes were fun and it felt like we hadn't been away for the last three weeks!

Last Day at Starfish

Today was my last day at Starfish. I decided that since I only have a few weeks left in Beijing, I need to use my Wednesdays for a few last minute adventures and take care of moving matters. It seems like it was the perfect day for me to say good-bye. One of the women in my intermediate class left a few weeks ago to live with her boyfriend in the South. My other intermediate student, Wang Fei, had been taking tests to prepare her to go to school in Russia. I was scheduled to tutor my beginner student today, but when i arrived, so was so exhausted she did not want a class. Luckily, Wang Fei was around and we had some time to catch up. I had written her a letter because I thought I wouldn't get the chance to talk to her in person, but luckily I was able to tell her what I wanted to tell her in person. We both talked about our big life transitions. Wang Fei is leaving Starfish after three years of living in the shelter and working for the company. Today was her last day at Starfish and she will be moving out of the shelter at the end of May. She will be starting school in Russia in August. I'm glad I got to have my last experience at Starfish just chatting with her. I hope that we will be able to stay friends over e-mail.

I talked to the director at Starfish for a bit and she asked me to share what I have learned about the women at Starfish and their spirit with my friends at home. She gave me a blue starfish necklace and helped me take pictures with the women that were there today. I left pretty teary.

Tutoring at Starfish gave the opportunity to learn a little more about China outside of the EF bubble that I normally found myself in. I will be always grateful to my fellow Quaker, Jennifer, for introducing me to the women at Starfish, and giving me a different lens to see Beijing in. The women that I have met at Starfish have taught me so much about making changes in your life with joy and a lot of hard work. They have inspired me.

Tonight, I came home to a prostitution advertisement hanging on my door handle like I do a few times every week. I'm glad that Starfish is around.

The Great Clean

We arrived back at our school at 10 this morning. The workers were still working away, but we had a lot of cleaning to do! However, we had absolutely zero supplies and they wanted us to just use dish soap to clean up the tables, chairs and desks! I was sent to the Lotus to fill up on cleaning supplies, including tons of cloths and sprays and cleaning gloves. I got back and worked with Joyce and Ryan to disinfect the teachers' office.

I left a bit after noon to go home to shower and eat lunch before taking the subway back to Beijing 2 to substitute for a teacher on holiday. The school was still looking pretty chaotic, but things were getting cleaned. I think it'll look really pretty on Thursday when I get back from my day off.

I taught a big, but fun young elementary class this evening at Beijing 2. The students were learning greetings and the difference between "a" and "an" today.

Cindy also had to substitute at Beijing 2 today so we went out for a sushi dinner and enjoyed that Wang Fu Jing neighborhood for our last day of working there. I'm glad I got the opportunity to get to now a different neighborhood well!

Ryan's Birthday Dinner

Tonight, a few of us from work gathered for dinner to celebrate Ryan's 30th birthday party. We had delicious food and talked about how the remodel is going at our school. We talked a little bit about the news about the death of Osama Bin Laden. A few people were saying how on Chinese news a few of the announcers were accidentally saying that President Obama was dead. Osama/Obama... one can understand the mix up. It's been a little surreal thinking about how this huge story that was breaking in the US this morning Beijing time actually happened in one of China's bordering countries.

After dinner, we walked over to the school were workers are, I'm sure, still working on some last minute details. The teaching staff is going in tomorrow to start moving resources, and then a few small star classes will resume on Wednesday evening if all goes as planned. The school is looking pretty shiny. Laura's office is now back in the teacher's office and is all glassed in so she is going to feel like a zoo animal! I feel bad about that! They put in long glass windows on the doors of both the male and female bathrooms which is going to be a bit unpleasant, especially for the gentlemen because everyone walks right past their bathroom! The paint is now pretty shades of blue and green and now every classroom has an interactive white board which is pretty exciting. Too bad they didn't do this earlier in the year so I could appreciate teaching in such a pretty school, but I'll just have to enjoy it for the month I have left. I hope to take some pictures to show you tomorrow!

Happy Chinese Labor Day!

Happy Chinese Labor Day, everyone! I guess I'll get to celebrate labor day twice this year. Classes were canceled today and all the teachers got the day off!

I went shopping at Tinuyi or the plastic market today with Sabrina and her sister. It was pretty crowded because of the holiday and the sales. I came out of the crazy shopping center with two treasures, a pair of earrings and a panda wallet! We even had dumplings for lunch! It was a good day.

While I was walking back to the subway, I realized I was walking behind a man wearing an Oregon sweatshirt. I wonder if he he has ever been to Oregon before?

I realized today that I have exactly one month left in Beijing! I hope to fill it with lots of fun adventures, making sure I tell the people here how much I care and appreciate them, and helping my students transition successfully to their new teachers. I have a lot to do!