Last week I was blessed with a visit from a dear American friend. Her visit began with a ride on the awesome Beijing subway. I forget how convenient the subway is. I kind of take it for granted now! 🙂 First of all, it was really fun to see Beijing from a new person’s eyes. I think I forget about some of the oddities that happen in my everyday life here. But, when there is someone who does not experience these things everyday, it turns out to be amusing all over again. Her first night here was pretty crazy. It was the Lantern Festival so there were more fireworks. We had supper at a hole-in-the-wall (but favorite) restaurant and then headed to the 17th floor of another teacher’s apartment to watch some fireworks!
While she was here we visited the silk market to buy scarves! 🙂 They are just so cheap in China that you can’t go home without two or three (or ten) scarves! We also visited the pearl market, and three other ‘normal’ markets to practice our bargaining skills. We went to the Olympic park, the Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, and Mutianyu (a beautiful section of the Great Wall). I have now been to the Great Wall four times and I would still go back! She was able to come to B Study and hang out for a full day with one of my dear Chinese friends. I think she enjoyed that a lot.
After her week here it was time for me to get back into my routine. Mr. Wang had not called me about teaching so I was still wondering a little when I would start. I called him to ask him about it and he gave me a list of classes I would teach. I should have known that this was just the beginning of another whirlwind, schedule-changing, phone conversation of craziness. Funny to note: Wang is a common family name in China but the word ‘wang’ (when said with different tones) can also mean ‘to deceive or scare’, ‘in the wrong’, ‘absurd or rash’, ‘disappointed’ or ‘to forget’. Hmmm. At first he told me that I would be teaching the Business English class again at Tsinghua/Qinghua University along with a pronunciation class. Fantastic. Bring on the coffee. However, the schedule for these two classes would have been amazing so I was actually pretty excited about it. Then, he told me I would keep Bus. English but have a conversation class at Sinopec and an American Culture class. Schedule = way less amazing. So I called him and told him I would rather have it the other way. Okay. He called Ms. Fan to tell her he was changing it back to just the two classes. They argued. I listened but didn’t understand. He told me that I would have it the other way. Then, I got a phone call from him at 8:00 one morning to ask me if I would be willing to keep the culture class. As a bribe, he told me I could pick the textbook for the class! Ha! I told him I would try it out for a week but there was no guarantee! (He eats this stuff up!) So he picked me up yesterday to take me to the university to do oral testing for the new bunch of gentlemen (and a couple ladies) of CRCC. (How are they ever going to be as awesome as last semester’s group?) The oral testing was brutal. I don’t remember my students being that low last semester. We have a lot of work ahead of us. This morning he took me textbook shopping and broke the news to me that I wasn’t able to have the pronunciation class. (He also tried to kill me with his horrible driving skills. I keep trying to tell him that if he’s going to talk on his phone while he drives that he has to pick a lane and stay there. Either that or I will bike to wherever we are going and get there before he does.) They wanted to give the pronunciation class to another teacher. Okay. But he told me they have a different class for me to teach. He called it ‘American Film Appreciation’. Basically, I show them American movies and we discuss them. How awesome is that!?! I get to do this twice a week. I’ll let you know how the first class goes. 🙂 So, tomorrow (Friday) begins the craziness. I hope that I’m able to get to know some of them like my students from last semester. I keep reminding myself that it will be different so as to not be disappointed.
Another thing that happened in the past week was that I got a Chinese tutor! I’m really excited to actively study Chinese in the country where it is spoken! When I told one of our Chinese friends that I had a tutor, she told me that there are students at Bei Da (Peking University) that major in Chinese as a Second Language and part of their requirements is to tutor someone learning Chinese…for free! So, I’m going to keep the tutor that I made an appointment with and also get a free tutor from the university. I should be fluent by the time I come home! 🙂 Ha!
Lastly, I can tell you and tell you in a journal-like blog entry how awesome it is to be here and see firsthand HIS WORD working in the hearts of the people here. But–I think that when a person experiences it for his/herself, that person fully understands what I’m talking about. Just ask my friend. She’ll tell you. She was only here for a week and I think she gets it. The tug in my heart to stay another year doesn’t come from the touristy places of Beijing, or the Wall, or the other awesome places I’ve gotten to see or have the potential of seeing. (and they are all awesome too!) The tug comes from the people here who I’m so blessed to see on a regular basis and with whom I get to read The Greatest Story Ever Told. I just don’t think I’m ready to leave that yet. Come to China and see for yourself! You’ll understand.
