Transportation in China will always be my arch-nemesis.  Actually, I’m unsure if it is the transportation or the lack of common sense by the people operating the different forms of transportation. 

Whether I’m on my bike, on a bus, in a taxi, walking, or even on the subway, the lack of common sense is glaring.  For example:  if you have to make a left turn on a busy street (because there is a school there and many many bus routes) it is only natural to turn your car in front of the bus coming at you and wait there until you are able to get through, thus blocking the rest of the cars behind that bus and causing traffic to be backed up for kilometers.  And then, of course, if you are not in that car or on that bus but riding your bike, it is only natural to ride between all of the cars/buses/etc. to quickly get to your destination…this just makes sense people. 

This morning I rode my bike to Chinese class.  It takes me anywhere from 28-35 minutes depending on the flow of traffic near this aformentioned school.  This particular road was probably not the greatest idea that the city planner came up with unless his/her intention was to see what 3 kilometers of buses and cars packed bumper to bumper looked like.  I really need to photograph this for you.  It’s amazing what people will do to be first here.  When I got to the “neighborhood” where my Chinese class is held there was another massive traffic back up.  Apparently we haven’t figured out the green arrow in this country.  Naturally, if you are waiting for the light to turn green so you can make a left turn, your first reaction should always be to turn in front of the oncoming traffic, convincing the cars behind you to do the same and causing the non-turning cars to wait and back up.  It is diffucult to recover from this sort of “jam” because (believe it or not) the cars KEEP COMING…  Add this situation to a location where there is a railroad track going right through the neighborhood (with quite frequent trains) and it’s even more entertaining. 

It doesn’t just happen with left turns.  Question: when you make a right turn onto a road (busy or not) what is your first reaction?  I hope you answered, ‘check if traffic is coming from the left.’  If you live in China, however, there is no need to check this direction because the person turning onto the busy (or not) street (at a much slower speed, mind you) is clearly more important than the cars or buses speeding down the road.  No problem. Those cars will stop for you.  (It affects the bikers too…this is how I got hit by a car once)

One of my favorite situations while using the subway system is when people try to get on the subway before allowing anyone to get off. I think this might actually be a game for some people. Or elevators. The same.  The key is to stand right in the middle of the opening of the door so that the “exiters” are not able to exit before you get on. 

THE SOLUTION to these traffic problems is simple, however:  HONK YOUR HORN INCESSANTLY.  🙂

Okay…I’m done venting.  Have a great day!!

This morning when I went to park my bike near my Chinese school I noticed a line of 50+ bikes where we “aren’t supposed” to park our bikes…I was wondering how they would enforce this.  It’s exactly like any of the other “laws” this country has.  We drive on the right side of the street?  But what if I only need to go 100 meters on the wrong side of the street?  Is that okay?  I think the laws broken the most are traffic laws, and next to that it’s tax evasion.  But that’s another blog post.

The weekday homeschool kids are getting into a better routine and are therefore much better behaved.  The struggle with this group now is to get them to learn algebra in a language they don’t speak natively.  Hmm….this could be interesting.  (To clarify–I teach at two different “homeschools”–one is the FOC “homeschool” and the other one is a co-op of teenage girls. The aformentioned homeschoolers are the FOC students…7 boys and 1 girl)

Having never taught in a multi-grade classroom, I’m finding it difficult to overcome the language barriers while teaching three different levels of math.  Thankfully, the girl (Vivian) is really awesome at learning things on her own, and her English is better than her Chinese.  (I have Vivian on Mondays at the co-op homeschool also!)  She basically reads through the algebra book on her own and does the lessons.  She’s awesome.  Every Monday after our classes together, we share a taxi back to my part of the city because she stays with my friend Gretl so that she doesn’t have to get up so early to come to our school. (She lives over an hour away in the northern suburbs in a large house.)

As I’m writing this, I just got home from tutoring a 9th grade boy, Mark, in US History.  He’s going to the US for high school after this year and he desperately needs help with his English if he’s going to survive.  His mother cooks supper for me every time I go to their apartment.  They live about a 15 ish minute bike-ride away, and they don’t care where I park my bike… 🙂

Hopefully I’ll be more interesting after I’ve had some good sleep! That’s all for now…

I’ve heard many theories about forming new habits (or routines) and about how many days it takes to do so.  One said 60 days, one said 30 days, another said 21 days, and still another said anywhere from 21-250 days.  Is there really no research on this?  Honestly, I think it really depends on the habit/routine that you are trying to form.  I’m having a difficult time adjusting to my new routine/schedule and how best to use the time in the middle part of my day.  I can’t decide if I would do better with mornings free or afternoons free. 

For now, my very busy schedule is okay.  I’m enjoying teaching what I’m teaching but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.  I’m wondering if this is a habit/routine that is just taking a little longer to form.  Every beginning to a school year takes a while to get used to.  Maybe I’m just being impatient…

In other news:  Chinese class is going pretty well.  I miss every Monday because I’m in a different part of the city teaching. When I’m there it’s pretty good.  I don’t spend as much time studying as I would like because I am spending most of my “free” time planning my other classes…  Today there were five students in the class (it changes every day).  Two 美国人(Americans), one 英国人(British), one 俄国人 (Russian), and one Algerian (don’t know that one in Chinese).  Class today was probably the most fun of all of them so far just because we spent a lot of time just talking/discussing different habits of people in our home countries.  I felt less afraid to speak…maybe it’s getting better.

When I arrived at class this morning, I parked in my usual place (along the sidewalk with a whole mess of other bikes) and got my iced coffee. (Pretty soon it will be hot coffee as the weather is rapidly getting chillier–46 degrees when I woke up this morning)  After class, I went to retrieve my bicycle from the line of bikes and it was gone! (Now, I know you know that I’ve had two bikes stolen so far…this was not like that.)  My bicycle was not the only one that was “stolen” from the place.  There were ZERO bikes along the sidewalk.  I was baffled as to where my bike could possibly be.  Another man was there and we looked at each other with a “what-in-the-world-just-happened” look on both of our faces.  I quickly scanned the area for any evidence of the recent events.  There were three men in orange jackets pushing one dolly (yes-three men for one dolly) on which was an electric bike/scooter thing.  Hmmm….I wonder if this is what happened to my bike…

I asked one of the men what happened to all the bikes. (in Chinese—because, for some reason, if I am forced to speak Chinese I have no problem)  He told me they were on the other side of the road.  I glanced over and there were no bikes directly there.  I crossed the street in search of the missing 车 and discovered a sort of parking garage for bikes buried behind the entrance to the subway.  It was at this point that I was very thankful that my bike is very recognizable.  It’s obnoxious in color and has a blue seat (most have black) so it was relatively easy to find among the probably 1000+ bikes in rows.  Attached to my bike was a little white piece of paper with a printed note on it.  Later (from a friend) I would find out that the note said that I cannot park my bike in that place anymore and if they find my bike there again they will take it! 🙂  Yikes!  If everything could be so efficient in this country…

So, I need to find a better place to park my bike.  I wonder how long it will take me to form that habit…? Hopefully not too long or I may be walking…

Until next time…

NO, I’m not getting married. But a very dear friend of mine got married this past Sunday. I was honored to be the photographer for her wedding. Below are some of the pics of the beautiful day!  Let me just say that this was not the most organized of all weddings. But, we did manage to have a pretty good time!

Fiona's bouquet

The lovely couple 🙂

She must have been talking to Ted.

They had a champagne tower. But, with only one bottle of champagne, it didn't really work...

Groomsmen attire. Their suits were custom made in China and had red-silk lining. We were told that the pants were also lined with red silk.

The cliche, but fun jumping picture. They all griped about doing it but then kept trying. 🙂 We never were very successful with this one...

Really, if you want to see more, check out Facebook. There are a few more there. It takes a really long time to upload photos with a poor internet connection.

The wedding was a lot of fun. It was also a bit stressful…exciting, very busy stressful though.  I spent the greater part of this week editing photos and catching up on my planning. It’s almost Friday and I haven’t even thought about my classes for the weekend and Monday. Looks like I’ll be in the same boat I was in last weekend.  Maybe I can catch up on some sleep during the week next week. 

Until next time…

So, I was really excited about only having 12 (maybe 14) teaching hours this semseter.  Part of the reason I was so excited was so I could put more effort into studying Chinese.  (My listening is improving tremendously, thank you for asking.) 🙂  I was going to have weekend class and two tutor kids, each twice a week.  Awesome.

However, things change.  The FOC Homeschool is beginning it’s first year and I’m its math teacher.  I’m excited to teach math. (add three hours a week)  My Chinese friend Gretl taught for a Co-op (sort of like a homeschool with a few different families who have a few teachers for a few subjects and the rest is done online) last year and asked me if I was interested in teaching for this co-op.  They want a native English speaker to teach them English/Literature and also Physical Science.  There are 5 girls in this class. Three are 13, one is 15, and one is 17.  The 17-year-old also wants me to tutor her in math so she can take the SAT.  (add 1.5 hours for science, 1.5 hours for English, 1 hour for math)  I’m excited to teach these girls, too.  Hmmm….I see my free time dwindling away…

I find myself with 19 teaching hours, only 6 Chinese class hours, and 4 B studies.  We need to revisit this…

In other news: The brakes work on my bike (for now), I’m still not entirely unpacked, I’m photographing a wedding on Sunday, my washer still jumps around, and I have 1.5 days to plan my classes for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.  I better quit here!

Until next time…