Teacher, You're from Texas, Right? No? Ok... New York City, right?

I've been having fun introducing myself to each of the elementary and high school classes by asking them where they think I am from. Every class has guessed America in seconds. However, in a few classes, I have asked them which state they think I am from. Texas had gotten the most guesses. I've tried to tell them that my voice would sound a little different if I had grown-up in Texas, but I don't think many students have understood that. I have tried comparing it to how all the different regions of China speak different dialects, but I don't think I've made a good enough comparison with that analogy. I have received a lot of guesses that I am from New York City, LA and Houston. I have received on San Francisco, which was very close. Once I show them on the map where I live between California and the state of Washington (no, I'm afraid not where President Obama lives kids) they seem a little disappointed that it is not one they are familiar with. However, I had one middle school student ask me which NBA team that I lived near and wanted to know if it is where Kobe is from. He said he had never heard of the Trail Blazers before and that I should move to Chicago to be close to the Bulls.

I decided that Star Trek the movie's pace was just too fast for English Language Learners. I instead had an awesome conversation about what they think will be like in 100 years. I had to teach the word "alien" to the class. They quickly picked up on the idea of an "alien" being a person moving from one country to another country, but I was having a rough go of explaining an "alien" from another planet. I attempted to draw the Earth and the other planets and made a lot of arrow from different planets to Earth. I'm pretty sure the students had a vague understanding after that. We spent some time on those pesky infinitives and I gave a very brief definition of Science Fiction to the class. I gave them an even briefer description of the three main characters on "Star Trek" and how they are on a mission of peace. I put on the beginning of the "Tribbles" episode and they loved it. They especially enjoyed Spock's ears and were quick to call him an "alien." They asked me to bring more episodes next time. I was just subbing in for a teacher on holiday today, but it was a fun group to teach. Maybe I'll get some of them as students later in the year.

The rest of the day at work was not too exciting. One of my classes was canceled and I got a lot of planning done for the next few weeks. I am trying to build a decent portfolio of lesson plans so I can have some proof of my work here for future potential employers back home.

I made another adventurous trip to the Lotus this evening for groceries. I only got a bag of sweet peas taken away from me, even though they had been weighed and everything! I found an Australian brand of oatmeal that is much, much cheaper then my normal box of ridiculously expensive cereal so I am excited to try that out. Tonight I made my first traditional Chinese dish of eggs and tomatoes over rice that one of the local teachers told me would be simple to make. I've had the dish from restaurants, but it was fun making it on my own.

Captain's Log: 3 Weeks down!

Saturday Morning: Classes not Cartoons for my little students

After an infuriating discussion over Skype with Cricket Wireless this morning (a representative and a manager kept on calling me a liar about living in China) I walked past a huge wedding party on my way to work this morning. There were nine bridesmaids and groomsmen. They were taking pictures in front of an apartment complex with a beautiful landscape. It was a fantastic way to transition from an ugly phone call to a very pleasant day at work.

I had a nine o'clock preschool class. We are still learning about items of clothing and figuring out what "put on" and "take off" mean. This particular group is my favorite class so far. They are just so happy, and although they get a little distracted at times by one another, they seem genuinely happy to be there. I am happy to be there.

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon planning for tomorrow's lessons. I taught two separate elementary level classes this afternoon the same lesson because the second class's teacher is out on holiday. My first class just had two girls in it and it was very fun. We practiced our conversations a lot more and I got to spend some extra one-on-one grammar time with both of them. We were studying the difference between holiday and festival. The students taught me that June 1 is Children's Day in China (and in other parts of the world, too) where school is closed for the day, except for a musical celebration at the schools, and parents give their children presents and spoil them. Both of the little girls in my class have their fingers crossed for a Barbie or two.

My second afternoon class had ten students. I knew it was going to be a rough class period when I had to create a seating chart just after the first ten minutes! They were rowdy, but mostly in a fun way. They are all very excited for Children's Day. They really had a rough go of learning about Hanukah. One boy came up to me perplexed, "Teacher. Those people with all the candles and all the presents. So happy. Why don't those Christians figure it out that they are losing out on presents with just the one day. They just need to put the tree in the garbage." Priceless. I can imagine all those holidays being very confusing and illogical to a boy who is a traditional Chinese Atheist.

Well, gotta go do some "research" for my high school class tomorrow. They are starting a unit on the future and I am going to show them a clip of the new Star Trek movie and have them write to one of the characters telling them what they think the future is going to be like.

Hope you all are having a lovely start to your Memorial Day Weekend!

This morning I went by cab to meet my friend Cindy at a Starbucks near her apartment complex. In the taxi on the way over I saw one of the crazy pesticide trucks spewing at the plants along the freeway's divider. I had read and had heard about those trucks before, but I kind of shrugged it off because it sounds so weird. It was weird... and a little heartbreaking to watch this huge hose from a gigantic truck spraying out all those gross chemicals on those plants giving us a little oxygen in this polluted town.

However, seeing Cindy was nice this morning. We went into this shopping mall where the Starbucks is and had to go through several big department stores in order to find it. It was a huge Starbucks with much of the same furniture as there is in any Portland or Seattle location that I have ever been in. There were even black and white photographs of the first Starbucks in Seattle up on the walls. It was like a piece of the Northwest was in Beijing and it was comforting. Cindy I both ordered coffee and sat and talked and looked at some Chinese fashion magazines. It was a nice way to spend some time before work, but a pretty expensive outing. I took my first bus ride in Beijing back to work. The buses here are so long and crowded. They also have a TV on in the bus playing advertisements just like in the subways and most elevators in the city.

We had our weekly academic staff meeting this afternoon where our boss let us know that she is leaving in six weeks time. I was just starting to really like her! Her long time boyfriend got a fabulous gig back in their home of England that they just couldn't pass up. Both of their EF contracts are up for a contract renewal this July, so it is the perfect time for them. This means our school will be out of a academic director right when the crazy Summer Course begins. Claire, the senior teacher, will have to take on much of Vicky's role, and the rest of the teaching staff will have to cover some of her classes and the class's Vicky teaches! Everyone just sat for a bit processing.

The people who smoke on the staff decided to go outside and two other teachers, Miles and Stephanie, and I went back to the staff room to start lesson planning again. I went to warm up my lunch in the microwave and it started to billow lots of grey smoke. I unplugged it and we opened up all the windows. Miles decided that we were breathing in some pretty nasty air and suggested we join the rest of our crew outside. It was a nice humorous save for the afternoon. We later discovered that there was an old dumpling that had caught on fire in the microwave and we put the old machine to rest.

I had a really fun class today of mostly third and fourth graders. I taught them about mysteries and detective stories. I even found this cool site online akin to the old school choose your own adventure books, but for a detective. They seemed to enjoy it even though I think a lot of the vocabulary was probably too advanced. It was a nice way to end a rather weird work day.

I love a rainy night...

The early heat wave subsided today for some rain, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The city just smells better! The first week or so the smell was a bit hard to get use to, but it had gotten a lot better for me. However, even though the rain makes our windows disgusting, it does refresh the air. I've noticed that when it rains stores and businesses will put out rugs or towels that run across the entrances. It is very kind.

I was taken out today by my boss and the center manager along with Cindy, a local teacher who has already been here for a month, but hadn't had her welcome lunch yet. Claire, the senior teacher was also asked to go along. We went to a restaurant across the street for some spicy Chinese food. The center manager was freaked out by my semi-vegetarian eating habits and decided to order a lot of meat dishes in the hopes of changing my mind. He ordered this huge bowl of tiny baby shrimp with everything still on them! It is a much more honest way of eating meat, for sure, and I respect that, but it grosses me out! We did get some good broccoli and tofu dishes, so I had plenty. The restaurant was very pretty and had a great view of the street. We even got treated out for ice cream for desert and it was lovely.

I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for my future classes and I am starting to feel more comfortable in the staff room. I even got my own basket to carry materials around from classroom to classroom. I even have my own shelf so I don't have to stow away my lesson plans and books in my little personal locker. I found out today that I cleared all my medical tests and now can apply for a year long residency. I will be going with Lucia, my representative and the cute European boys next Tuesday morning to apply. It is nice to know.

My classes this evening were fantastic. My first class is all little girls and we learned about the letter "T." I feel that I am doing my own spot for "Sesame Street" sometimes in the preschool classrooms. I'm going to try to see if I can find any "Sesame Street" video clips that pertain to our specific letters of the day for my classes to watch sometimes online. My last class of the evening has a lot of students. I had a mom ask me to have her kid speak in complex and/or compound sentences back to me. We teach simple, complete sentence structures and phrases in most of the preschool classes, and often that is a struggle. I tried to appease the mom, but her little student was more interested in putting his little chair on his head tonight!

My friend Cindy is taking me to a Starbucks in her neighborhood tomorrow morning! I am so excited. I wonder if they have a Pike's Place Roast in Beijing? That would be sweet....

Hutong Party Time!

I've had a pretty great weekend. I wasn't moving luggage around in a crazy taxi, and that made all of the difference!

I spent my Tuesday afternoon at a park a short subway ride away with two other girls from the school, Amy and Sarah. It was a beautiful park full of Cypress trees which are very beautiful. The entrance fee was 2 RMB. You have to pay to visit most parks, even neighborhood parks, in Beijing. We walked around the park and found some shade and sat and chatted. It was nice to be surrounded by more nature then the little courtyard my complex has. There isn't much greenery in the city. It was a very hot day.

Around dinner time, we walked over to the Lama Temple neighborhood. The Lama Temple is a Buddhist temple and most of the restaurants around the area cater to a very clean, mostly vegetarian way of cooking. One of Amy's friends came to have dinner with us. She worked with EF, but her last day of work was last week, and she is moving back to Florida to pick up the kindergarden class she left on sabbatical for to come to China. It was nice to talk to another American girl and it made me realize how lucky I am in to be in the school I was placed in. Maybe that switch that happened the day I arrived was the best thing for me? Maybe a little bit of fate was helping me out. The restaurant was beautiful. There was an indoor courtyard that we sat in. We drank two bottles of wine together and talked and talked mostly about boys. It was a fun girls' evening. I had a fantastic salad with all recognizable vegetables and some hummus on toast. I was very content. I am excited to go back to tour the Temple and eat there again.

I left the girl around nine to head back to our school's neighborhood because I was meeting with our senior teacher, Claire, to go to a housewarming party for an American teacher name Ryan. Claire and I took the subway there and a couple of teachers met up with us at the stop to walk us over. Ryan moved into a Hutong neighborhood. A Hutong is an alleyway of one story apartment buildings and shops, one right after another. Here is a link for a better description: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/hutong/ Hutong's vary in socioeconomic standing and Ryan was living in one that might be in the middle-ish ranking of a Hutong neighborhood. He wanted more of a traditional living space.

The party was fun. I was able to meet a few more teachers. My boss, Vicky, and her long time boyfriend, Liam, were there, and I got a chance to get to know them both a little better and it was lovely. Liam told me a lot about the underground city that you can't visit anymore. A police officer came to tell us to quiet down, and most people were moving to another bar, but I decided to call it quits and go home. I was pretty tired.

I had a pretty lazy day today, which I think I needed. I slept in, talked to Laura, Dad, Joanna and my Mom on Skype which was really good. I braved a trip to the Lotus, and again, bought too many groceries. I guess I learn slowly. You can only buy soy-sauce here in huge jugs, and that was weighty. I did find some skim milk, though, and got all of my vegetables correctly weighed. I had no problem at the check out counter! I steamed a lot of veggies and made enough rice for quite a few meals so I can bring them to work over the next few days, at least. It is nice having more control over the food I eat.

Hope you all have a great Wednesday! I had a pretty good one out here in the future!

Uncle Ladd's Corner: How much is it for a coke, quart of milk, McDonald's fish fillet?

I bought a quart of refrigerated skim milk for 16.95 RMB = 2.48 USD

I found just a can of coke at the grocery store for 1.95 RMB = .28 USD

I haven't been inside a McDonald's yet. I have only really been passed one, but I don't think there is one in my neighborhood. I'll keep out on the look out and let you know!

My first class trip to crazy town!

Hello Everyone! Today, I was having a pretty great day. I got to talk to Laura and my Mom for a long time over Skype, which made me feel a lot better. I went to work and planned for today's classes and started planning for Thursday's lessons. I even got one workshop out of the way with John, the Center Director. We talked about parent teacher communication and the difference between Western and Eastern parents and I learned a lot. Since families in China are only allowed to have one child, they just want to provide that child with a lot of love and the best opportunities possible. I know that the school I am working has families that make a good income, but I have also learned that there are families that are scrapping by in order to provide their students with the opportunity to learn English in order for them to have more academic and career opportunities in the future.

However, while I was busy running around my first classroom tonight to prepare for the lesson, a child went a wild kingdom and started beating up another boy. The TA and I pulled the kid off of the other child and brought them both out to their parents. The TA was able to tell the parent and child who was acting like a bully that it was not acceptable behavior in the classroom. However, when he entered the classroom, he sat right next to boy he had been wailing on. I asked the TA to ask the mother to help us encourage him to move to another part of the room, but the mother said it was fine. The child continued to be awful during the rest of the class, which ruined the learning and fun for the other children and drove any patience out of the TA and I. It was a rough hour. The mom complained when I didn't give the child a reward sticker at the end of the class!

My next class was from 7:15 to 8:15 PM with fifteen three-year-olds. The first forty-five minutes were pretty good, but the last fifteen minutes were utterly chaotic. The children just lost it. I don't blame them, because it is so late for little ones. I am learning to not push any academic material at them, but mostly everyone was running around like little monsters at the end.

I went back to the staff room feeling defeated. One of the other foreign teachers, Sarah from South Africa, saw me and announced we were going out for a beer. She rounded up Cindy, one of the local teachers, and we each bought a can of Chinese PABST Blue Ribbon and sat in a little park outside one of the media village's and talked. It was really kind of them. Sarah said she recognized my "I had an awful day and I have no one to go home and talk to, stuck in this place" face, because she wore it often for the first bit of time in Beijing. We swapped being picked up at the airport and feeling just dumped in this place experiences, and it was really nice to talk to someone who has been through it. Cindy was so sweet just listening. She is considered really independent for a young Chinese woman here because she isn't married and does not live with her parents.

We were getting ready to leave when Claire, our Senior teacher at the school, came around and said she was taking us out for another round. We got into a taxi and went to a restaurant in Cindy's neighborhood. We talked about working at the school and all of their different traveling experiences. It was pretty awesome sitting at a table where every person was from a different country, but we've all ended teaching in the same school. It was a fantastic, unexpected beginning of my "weekend."

I had great Chinese food... In China! (That may never get old.)

Picture Time! Bartholomew chillin' after our crazy taxi ride to the apartment. The second is of my door, Room 1506. The third is some pink birds and leaves right above my couch. I haven't totally decided if I like it or not.

I had 8:45-10:15 accelerated preschool class this morning. The first hour was pretty ok, but the last half an hour was way too long! Those poor kids. I tried to get them moving around as much as possible, but I still had content I had to get in that day, so it was rough finding the right balance. My second class was also a preschool class, but it only had five students in it. They are all five-years-old and can already sight read quite a few English words. I had a lot of fun with them. We are continuing to learn how to tell time and today I taught them 12:00, noon, and midnight and they caught on really fast.

One of my afternoon classes was canceled, so I had some more time to prepare for my final class of the day. It was a second/third grade age class and it was a special class, called a "Life Club" that parents pay extra money for. The focus for life clubs this term is other English speaking countries, and today we focused on storytelling rituals in Ireland. I showed them pictures from Ireland, and like true city kids, they were amazed at the rolling mountains and bright, bright blue sky from the country side. They were very impressed with castles. They did not buy the Leprechaun business one bit. They kept calling him "the green alien." I understood where they were coming from. They are not into Santa or the tooth fairy over here, so a Leprechaun would probably seem outrageous. There is one boy in the class named Potato. I met Potato when I entered the classroom and he had made a little bed for himself out of the preschool stools. He made quite the first impression. He kept looking at me like I was crazy. I had showed them on a map where I had come from and he kept saying, "Teacher, are you from L.A.?" It's close enough.

I went out to dinner with some other teachers and my boss this evening. It was fantastic food. So far, I haven't done a very good job of finding great food on my own, but when there are other people around that can speak a little (or fluently in the case of the local teachers) I've had the best stuff! We had lotus root, broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, a beef dish that I didn't participate in, and a fish with sprouts that I did have and it was a little spicy, but fantastic. It was fun eating dinner with people from all over the globe. We each had a Chinese version of PABST Blue Ribbon and had a fruit plate for desert. Everything was on this lazy susan. So good!

Captain's Log: 2 Weeks Down...