So, I had to fill in for another one of Wang’s groupies on Thursday morning because he had a family emergency.  Thankfully, I teach this class every now and then anyway so I know the students well.  One of my students, during the course of the morning class, asked me if I could tell them what really happened in 1989.  (Look it up if you can’t remember or weren’t born yet. Not sure it would be wise for me to talk about it on here.)  I told this student that I wouldn’t talk about it in class but that if he wanted to have coffee with me sometime I would be willing to chat with him about it one-on-one.  He said fine and that he was looking forward to our chat.  So, “coffee sometime” turned into supper the next night.  So, tonight for supper he treated me, another teacher, and another one of the students (and this other student’s wife) to Korean barbecue.  (I love Korean barbecue. A lot.)  

During the course of the conversation (almost like yelling at each other because the restaurant was so noisy) he asked me about the “incident” in 1989.  I didn’t want to dive into it too much when we couldn’t hear each other so I asked him what he already knew.  The information he told me was so far from the truth and incredibly watered down.  The other teacher and I made eye-contact and then sort of a shocked look at each other.  The whole “ask-the-teacher-what-she-knows” situation may have been fueled by the “Equal Rights” discussion that we had in class the previous morning.  My students spoke very candidly about their desire to make changes to the way things are politically, but I think their fear of what might happen to them if they try to do anything far outweighs their drive to “rebel”.  Honestly, I’m looking forward to my one-on-one chat with this student. Pr*y for him and for the other people in his generation who also strive to “make a change of it.”  Keep the whole country in your pr*yers too!  They need them desperately. 

Another brief comment from the same conversation that night was a bit more light-hearted.  The “other” student (who brought his wife with him) was chatting with me. I asked him, “how long have you two been married?” He proceeds to get out his hands to count…1, 2, 3,… Then he said, “seven” (In my head I’m thinking months–way too young to be years…sounds about right.) Then he said, “days.” WHAT?!? This news came to me after I found out (the day before) that another one of my students also got married over the weekend.  You leave Beijing for five days and your students all get married.  Wow.  So, we had a round of congratulations at the table.  His name is Marty. Every time I see him I can’t help but think of Back to the Future for some reason. 

The other student of mine who got married over the weekend is named Clark. (obviously these are their English names)  He wanted his name to be Superman but I nixed that one and told him it wasn’t a name. (apparently Mars, Tsinghua, and ‘Log on’ didn’t get the “not English names” memo–at least they are more creative than Tim 1, Tim 2, and Tim 3)  To make him feel better about losing Superman as his name, I suggested that we call him Clark. He didn’t get the reference but agreed for that to be his name.  Every now and then I call him Superman anyway to be funny.  I didn’t actually find out from him that he had gotten married. One of the other students told me.  I congratulated him in class and asked him if he was planning to tell me that he had gotten married. No.  Hmmm….  Then I told him I couldn’t wait to meet Superwoman (round of laughter from the class) followed by me asking them if anyone else had gotten married over the weekend. (another round of laughter)  It doesn’t really take much to be a comedian in this country.  I might actually consider that for my job next year! 🙂  Later in the class, Superman’s phone rang.  I said, “you might want to answer that, it could be your wife.” Which was followed by more laughter. 

Ah, China.

Unfortunately, most of the time they are ignored! 🙁

I knew I would find one somewhere. 停车场 = Tingche chang = parking lot = (literally) "stop car place" 🙂 🙂 I love Chinese!!

After a “working vacation” with my classes from Qinghua, I was ready for a vacation from teaching.  Thankfully, because of Labor Day, I had Thursday through Tuesday off.  However, I only had one class on the previous Wednesday so I decided to find a sub for that class so that I could travel with two friends to Chengdu, Sichuan and Xi’an, Shaanxi. 

Chengdu 成都 –  Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province. Chengdu means “city capital” and Sichuan means “four rivers”.  Chengdu is known for it’s teahouses and pandas! 

Our flight from Beijing was Tuesday evening.  I don’t know why I have developed a hatred for flying.  I used to love flying.  Maybe it is because I have recently had some really terrible flights.  Why is it that you have to fly to get somewhere quickly? 🙂  We landed in Chengdu late in the night and found a taxi to our hostel.  The hostel was amazing!  They only had the beds for that night so we had to find ourselves a different hostel for our remaining nights. 

Le Shan乐山

Our first day in and around Chengdu was spent outside of the city about 2 hours.  We first went to Le Shan乐山, which literally means “happy mountain”.  It was a beautiful bus ride out to Le Shan city.  The hills were covered with tea.  I thought maybe it was rice at first but then we asked someone what it was.  I didn’t take any photos in the bus. You’ll have to take my word for it.  We arrived in Le Shan city and had to transfer to a local bus to take us the Le Shan giant buddha.  Ever since I saw the picture in the Lonely Planet, I wanted to see this. 🙂  We had a little climb before we got to the top of the buddha’s head.  (Not like the climb up Taishan) 

Le Shan Giant Buddha - he was carved right in the mountain. If you look closely at the top of the picture you can see people to get a size comparison.

This is from the other direction. After seeing this side of him, we ventured down the staircase to get a view of him from below.

This was his foot. Notice the size of the people next to it.

The sad part of all of this was that people were actually w*rshiping this statue at the bottom.  I don’t understand how someone could put their faith in a stone statue. This is the thing that strikes me the most about the temples and other various places of w*rship here.  The artwork is beautiful but it’s purpose is very sad.

A few other things struck me about Chengdu and the surrounding areas.  First, it was so warm there.  Beijing was having some terrible cold spell or something so it was nice to be in warmer weather.  It was also very green.  This country is full of contradictions.  There is a drought in the north but flooding in the south.  The trees and other greenery were very beautiful!  Below is a picture of part of Le Shan.  I couldn’t resist taking a photo! 🙂

I loved how tropical it was. It was so warm and green. I could live there!

I was having a great time photographing HIS creation! What a blessing! 🙂

Emeishan 峨嵋山

From Le Shan we headed to Emeishan which was about 40 minutes away by bus.  Emeishan was also very beautiful.  When we got off the bus we were bombarded by people trying to sell us tickets back to Chengdu.  This was incredibly hilarious and my roommate, who’s Chinese is much better than mine, was having fun talking to all the people.  We decided to just wander around for a while and then catch a bus later on.  We found our way down a little river walk.  It was lovely. 🙂

One view of the river. There were numerous little restaurants, teahouses, etc. along the river. I would love to come back here and stay for a couple days!

Even the sidewalk was green (from the moss). It was difficult to get used to the humidity.

This waterfall is definitely man-made. They didn't even try to make it look real. Behind it was a big wall! 🙂 It was still nice to stand next to it and cool off.

This one looks a little less man-made. We actually had to climb up behind it to see the tubes/etc. It was still very beautiful. The rest of the surroundings were very pretty.

We encountered some interesting people while were climbing around.  One lady wanted to sell us beads.  She was super cute and told us she was over 80 years old. Then this little old man (I thought they were working together) wanted us to buy his oranges.  🙂  After we hiked around a bit, we went back to the town to catch the bus.  The bus ride home was brutal.  What was supposed to take an hour and a half ended up taking almost three hours.  We don’t really know why either.  Traffic wasn’t bad and there was minimal stopping.  We made it back to the hostel to collect our things so that we could get to our other hostel.

The next morning we decided to do a bike tour of the city with a group from our first night’s hostel.  Our ‘tour guide’ Joe was terrible.  Most of the time he wasn’t in the lead and we didn’t know where to go.  But he did have a pretty sweet outfit on.  We bike all around Chengdu along the river and through the city.  He took us to a seafood market where we found this:

This man was skinning snakes. The snakes were still alive and trying to climb out of the blue bin. Gross.

They had their jaws taped shut. 🙂 They weren't that big.

On the bike ride were the three of us, two Israeli men, one Israeli woman, a guy from Texas and another guy from Maryland.  It was a very interesting group of people.  Most of the time we didn’t know where we were going and we had to stop numerous times to get bikes fixed for some reason or another.  🙂  It was definitely a very “China” day.  Joe also took us past the largest statue of Mao in China.  Below is a picture of Joe.

This is Joe. He was our 'tour guide' through the city. Check out that awesome outfit! He was a really nice guy. Just not a very good guide.

After the biking tour of the city, we went to a really beautiful temple in the city.  There was much more green space in this temple than any other temple I have been to. 

Part of the garden of the temple.

The next morning we found ourselves on a minibus with a woman from Australia.  It was the three of us and this woman.  We don’t actually know who she was talking to but we do know that she wouldn’t stop talking.  Thankfully, the ride was only about 40 minutes or so.  We arrived at the Giant Panda breeding and research center.  Our minibus driver was also the one who ‘led’ us through the center.  It was very beautiful there and taking pictures of the pandas was addicting.  They were so cuddly looking. 

"Love me, don't bother me" This was at the panda breeding and research center. 🙂

This guy was taking a bath or something. He may have just been splashing around in the little pool. Nevertheless, he was cute.

Mmmmm.... Wouldn't you love to munch on bamboo all day long? I guess if it was in a pile right next to you and you didn't have to move to get it you might! 🙂

It looks like they are playing. Or maybe they are fighting over the bamboo. Either way, it's pretty cute.

It was so funny to watch them.

They're actually much more flexible than you would think. I think this one was putting on a show for us.

I think most of their day is spent lying around and eating bamboo.

These two babies were having a fight. At the end of the fight, one of them ended up at the bottom of the hill. I also saw another one fall off of it's wooden structure. They seem so clumsy. 🙂

Hmmm..... It's not? I am fairly certain I would never eat a panda but many wild animals taste very delicious. 🙂

This lake was called "Swan Lake" hehe 🙂

I specifically like #1 "Don't spit", #2 "Don't jump the queue", #3 "Don't step on the grassland", #6 "Don't force foreign tourists to take photos", and #7 "Do not utter dirty words"! 🙂 🙂

And so ends our time in Chengdu.  That afternoon, we got on a flight (super bumpy-not my favorite flight) to Xi’an, home of the terracotta army and also home of my dear friend Michael who was one of my students last semester.

Xi’an 西安

Michael came to the airport to pick us up.  It was pretty great to not have to find a bus or take a taxi.  The traffic in Xi’an was crazy and way worse than Beijing!  It took us just over an hour to get to Michael’s apartment.  I was hanging on for dear life to the handle above the door when Michael said, “Take it easy! Keep your heart inside your body!” 🙂 Ha!  Hilarious.  His English is actually really good.  I think it would have been easier for me to keep my heart ‘inside my body’ had there not been 3.5-4 lanes of traffic occupying 3 lanes.  It’s really every car for itself here in China.  But I think Xi’an takes it to the extreme.  I always laugh at the drivers who park on the sidewalks here in Beijing or the drivers who honk at the people walking on the sideWALKS.  But now I know, Michael is one of those drivers.  And part of the reason is because there is literally nowhere else to put the cars.  Crazy.

After we dropped our stuff off in his AMAZING apartment (very modern and so not China), he took us into the part of the city that is enclosed by the old city wall.  It was very beautiful down there.  I neglected to bring my camera with me that evening. Sad.  We saw the Drum Tower, Bell Tower, and the Muslim area.  Michael treated us to a delicious supper in the Muslim district.  After walking around for a bit, we decided to try to find a specific wood carver’s shop.  He carves wood and then uses the relief for a painting.  I bought one of his paintings and another painting by one of his students.  He and his wife were so nice.  I actually felt bad bargaining with them. 

We made it back to Michael’s apartment later that night and he told us that he and his wife would stay with his parents. What?!? Okay? So, we had his apartment to ourselves. 

The next morning the plan was to meet Michael at the south gate of the old city wall.  We were going to bike around the city wall (14 km) with him.  We got to the south gate and sent him a message.  To which he responded: “go without me. I can’t get there before noon.”  Okay.  So we climbed to the top of the wall, rented some bikes and were on our way.  A little way into our journey around the wall we decided to see how fast we could ride around the wall.  The rental fee was for 100 minutes of biking.  Surely we could bike 14 kilometers in 100 minutes or less.  So after we decided that we didn’t stop.  It was super bumpy on top of the wall.  But, we made it all the way around the wall in 49 minutes! We even got one “加油!” on the way. (加油 literally means ‘add oil’ but it’s a way to cheer someone on).

This man tried to sell me one of those instruments. I almost bought one but then decided they were too much.

After we were finished with that escapade we found ourselves walking through the incredibly crowded markets.  It was, after all, a holiday.  We met Michael for lunch as planned and then visited a Mosque in the Muslim area.  The mosque was definitely not worth the Y25 it cost to get in.  It’s bad when all temples/mosques/religious buildings start to look the same.  Hmmm…  This was an active one.  Also very sad to see.  One good thing that came from visiting the mosque was the addition of a few Chinglish signs to my collection. 🙂

Michael then drove us to a completely different part of town to see the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (I love the names for things) and these really awesome fountains!  The fountains were set to music and the show lasted about 20 minutes.  It was really cool.  I wish we could have seen it at night.  They were especially nice to stand near because the temperature in Xi’an got to 97.7 that day! Whoa!  It wasn’t even that warm in Chengdu, which is further south. 

We were standing near this pool when I noticed these hoses pointing in all different directions. I asked Michael if he thought we should move or not. He said we should be fine. About three minutes later everyone started to run to the other side! 🙂

 The above picture was taken before the fountain show started.  They had many ‘warning’ signs that we were about to get wet. 

We'll call this flat area a 'tier'. There were probably 5-7 tiers just like this in addition to the lower large pool and the one in the previous picture. The show was huge and crazy.

I’ll compare China and America once again.  Think back to the crazy New Year’s fireworks.  Chinese fireworks were crazy-huge and out of control.  The Chinese definitely know how to do things in large quantities (I mean, come on, 20% of the world’s population lives here–large quantity? Yes.)  But I would take an American firework show any day simply because it is more beautiful.  Then there’s this fountain show.  Quantity? Yes, for sure! It was huge and crazy.  Quality? It was good, but I’ve seen better.  The most entertaining part of this was watching the young men gang up on their buddies and drag them out into the water.  That, and the little girl who was behind me posing for her father’s pictures.  I’m not actually sure which one (the girl or the father) wanted her to be out there…

After the fountains we went back to Michael’s apartment and then found a really good restaurant near there.  We ate the Xi’an specialty before heading back to his apartment to hang out and wait for Mrs. Michael to come home.  I was excited to meet his wife.  I had only heard about her from him.  She didn’t get off work until really late and then had to wait a long time to take a bus home.  So we passed the time by looking at their wedding photos.  Chinese wedding photos = hilarious!  Michael’s did not disappoint!  There’s something about fake poses, rented dresses, and super-photoshopped photos that make a person smile!  I also love how newlywed couples (Michael and his wife have been married for one year) have incredibly large photos of themselves hanging everywhere in their apartment!  After Michael and his wife left, we tried to watch Kung Fu Panda (since we had been to the pandas and can fully appreciate the very accurate Chinese culture in the movie) but the movie didn’t play on Michael’s computer.  You would think that in a sweet awesome apartment with a ginormous TV, this man would have a DVD player to go with it. Nope.  That’s okay. I needed my sleep anyway. 

The next morning we got up to head to see the terracotta warriors.  Michael picked us up in his dad’s SUV (not his typical red Beetle) because he thought it would be more comfortable for the long ride. We made it to the location of the terracotta army and it was a madhouse.  There were people everywhere!  This was definitely not the time to be at this particular tourist location.  We zoomed through the museum part and also through the warrior part.  It was neat to see the pieces but this wasn’t my favorite place to visit.  I know people say that not visiting the terracotta warriors when you are in Xi’an is like not going to the Great Wall when you are in Beijing.  I felt obligated to go.  I took a few photos but all in all it was ‘just so-so’. 🙂  Below are some photos.

Pieces of the warriors that have not been put together yet

A few 'more complete' warriors

I'm not sure all of the horses are different. It was cool to see all of the different warriors though.

There were three different exhibition halls. This was the largest hall with the most complete warriors. This hall also had the most people. It was kind of a pain but Michael and I had fun trying to take photos! 🙂

After seeing the army, we met another one of my students (from this semester) for lunch.  We had a nice lunch and then went back to Michael’s apartment to rest a bit.  The rest of the afternoon was spent getting our things together and napping.  Michael then took us to a restaurant before sending us off on our overnight train back to Beijing.  This was my first time having a sleeper.  It was awesome!  I definitely want to take the train again! 

HE has blessed me again with safe travels!  Enjoy!

This past weekend was certainly placed in the “ridiculous/crazy/insane memories of China” folder of my brain.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my students–Sunny–asked me if I wanted to go on the ‘class trip’ with them.  Well, you know how I am about traveling. I love it. So I asked her when they were leaving, etc.  In typical Chinese fashion, she could not give me a straight answer.  So, I went about trying to rearrange my Saturday classes.  Couldn’t do it.  So I found two people who were willing to sub for me so that I could go with my class. 🙂  I found out two days before the trip that it wasn’t a trip at all but that they were going to the CRCC school in Daxing (a southern suburb of Beijing) to have class. WHAT?!?  So, they really wanted me to come along so that they could still have my class. Hmmm….  Okay, I can work with this.  I told Ms. Fan that I was uncomfortable teaching all 80 of them at the same time and that if she didn’t find another teacher that I wouldn’t come.  She found another teacher. 🙂  So, we got on the bus and we were off!  I didn’t actually know what was in store for the weekend!

Ms. Fan had told me to plan for a regular class for Saturday morning.  That morning she changed things. The class went well. The other teacher and I decided to combine the two classes for the last part of the class and teach them how to play Taboo.  They liked this game more than I thought they would. It was funny to watch grown men and women get up out of their seats and be excited about it! 

It was difficult to put them into circles because the classroom was for lectures and the chairs didn't move.

The previous night, Ms. Fan told me that she wanted me to plan an activity for Saturday afternoon. She wanted them to be occupied for a couple of hours.  OK?  So the other teacher and I came up with an idea for a photo scavenger hunt.  We told them to get into groups of 4 or 5 and that they had to have a camera (or camera phone) in each group.  At the appointed time, we gave each team a list of items to photograph and gave them a time limit.  The first team back with all the correct photos would be the winner and would get to have dinner with the teachers!  🙂  Below is the list of items: (in photo form–courtesy of the winning team!)

Bananas

Mangoes

Kiwi

A Comb -- What most teams didn't realize was that there were a few items that they could find in their rooms!

A Bridge

A Pink Flower

A Hairdresser -- I'm not really sure if this one is a man or woman.

A Bottle of Baijiu -- This is a popular alcoholic beverage among Chinese men. It's disgusting.

A sign for an internet cafe -- these are everywhere!

A dog -- these are also everywhere

A blue car -- when we made the list, we didn't realize that there were two blue cars in the parking lot. 🙂 A couple teams still didn't catch on.

The number 14 bus -- They had to take a picture with the number visible.

A showerhead -- this team figured out that there was one in the room!

An orange building -- These are also surprisingly common in this city!

A bush -- this was the most pathetic of this team's pictures. Would you call that a bush? I can't believe we let it slide!

A Public Toilet -- These are also very common. We should have made our list harder.

One team member with a man with a beard -- This is actually harder than you would think. Most Chinese men cannot grow beards. This is why this team found a picture of a foreign man with a beard. They were rewarded for their creativity!

...and All Team Members with a Guard -- since there are also guards everywhere, we thought this would be an easy one, and it was! This particular guard didn't really know what was going on but was very excited that people wanted to have their picture taken with him. 🙂 Most of the teams asked him! From L-R: Michael, Sandy (who comes to B study with me), the happy guard, Rebecca, and Tim 2. Oddly enough, Tim 2 looks almost exactly like Tim 1. Tim 2 is super shy but he came out of his shell over the weekend. It was fun to get to know him also!

The rest of the weekend consisted of KTV on Saturday evening, (KTV is the Chinese version of Karaoke. You have your own private room and they sing super loud. I had to leave because I didn’t want to destroy my hearing) and an English debate on Sunday.  The debate was ridiculous but kind of fun!  I left on Sunday after the debate but the classes stayed for a party that night.  I won’t get to see them until next week Wednesday because I’m going on vacation!  Oh, the life of an English teacher in China! Always on vacation!….

The weekend before, I visited Yuyuantan Park in Beijing.  This park is known for it’s Cherry Blossom trees!  I rode my bike down there with another one of the teachers.  Below are some photos I got from the park.

🙂 It was beautiful!

🙂 It was definitely not a blue sky day! I hope to go back when the sky is blue but I'm afraid that I might be too late!

This little girl was posing for many people but I think she got nervous when she realized just how many people there were! I caught her as she was jumping off a tree stump!

The other teacher I was with insisted on taking a picture of me with the blossoms! Notice my nail polish. The color is called "cherry blossom" 🙂

This one was from a different day at the Forestry University

Another from the Forestry University

I will be leaving tonight to fly to Chengdu.  Chengdu is in Sichuan province and is said to be very beautiful.  Hopefully I will get some more great pictures!  On Friday, I will fly from Chengdu to Xi’an, which is in Shaanxi province.  I will be visiting one of my students from last semester! I’m very excited to see him again. 

I’ll leave you with a photo I took yesterday in our apartment.  My roommate’s boyfriend often buy her flowers so our apartment is always decorated with them! 🙂  Have a great week in HIM!!

🙂 They are so friendly looking.

A view of the altar for Easter

Spring is here in the capital city and along with it comes the wind! Yesterday and today have been very windy.  We’ve had a streak of incredibly beautiful days the past week.  I was loving the nice weather and it makes biking so much more enjoyable. Last week I took advantage of the lovely weather and biked 16 miles in one day!  On Wednesdays I teach for three-and-a-half hours in the morning, meet my Chinese tutor for one-and-a-half hours in the afternoon, and have a children’s B study in the evenings.  Each of these ‘appointments’ is at a different university.  I always bike to school but I usually take the bus to tutoring and to kid’s study.  So this past Wednesday, I decided I was going to bike everywhere and save the 0.40 RMB that it costs to ride the bus each way! 🙂  (Actually, it’s normally 1 RMB if you don’t have a transportation card.) I biked to school and then home, I biked to Chinese class and then home, I biked to kid’s study, then to compline, then home.  I wanted to see how far that was so I checked online and it was just over 16 miles! I think I’ll do it again. My rear end didn’t like me too much he following day but I’m sure I’ll be fine.  Actually, after I did my biking that day, I made a new biking goal for myself (besides not dying):  Bike around 4th Ring Road! While I was measuring my distance from last week I decided to see how far it would be. The distance around 4th Ring Road is just under 44 miles! I will let you know when I end up doing this and I will try to document it with photos!

Another biking mishap occured the other night.  I’ve been pretty confident on my bike and haven’t had much to report in the area of Beijing Extreme Biking. But, last week there was an incident on my bike.  I was coming home with my roommate from a lovely supper with a large group of my students.  On the last leg of our journey home we generally ride on the wrong side of the road for about a tenth of a mile. Biking on the wrong side of the road is not technically legal but everyone does it and no one enforces it.  We don’t even think about it really…no one does.  We were crusing down this side of the road when a young (20-something) woman tried to cross the road without looking.  I plowed right into her. I had no time to even think about stopping. We smash heads, she falls to the ground, her glasses fly off her face.  Hmmm….. Immediately, her friend says (in English), ‘you weren’t obeying the traffic laws.’ Ha! Then she said, ‘you were going too fast!’ Although I feel bad for taking a person down on my bike, part of me still thinks that people in China should be taught to look both ways before crossing the street.  What if it would have been a car crusing down the wrong side of the street in the bike lane!? (don’t laugh, it happens all the time.) She would have been in much more pain. Her friend did get my phone number, I presume to call me if anything serious happened.  Personally, I think she over-reacted a little. I haven’t gotten a phone call yet.

I think that traffic in general will always be a frustration to me.  No one watches where they are going (pedestrians, bikes, cars, buses) and the right of way goes to the person who gets there first or wins the game of chicken.  Twice in the last week I was shocked at the kindness shown by two car drivers.  I was in the bike lane on one road (going the wrong way again…gotta stop that) and there was not enough room for both of us to maneuver through. He actually waved me through!?! [shocked face] I honestly didn’t know what to do. Was this a trick? Hmmm….so, timidly, I went first and then he went. I was so amazed/shocked/dumbfounded that I sent a text message to two of my friends.  Then, just this past Saturday, a cab driver waved me through an intersection instead of pulling out as far as he can without hitting me like they usually do.  I don’t know why things in China still shock me.

I’m loving my students at the university.  The class that I have most often is my favorite! They are very fun in class and like to get together outside of class. This has been an extreme blessing in the area of evan.el.sm.  One of my students, Jeffrey, who I am fairly certain has a crush on me, asked me what sort of things I look for in a man. (This was after beating around the bush for a while about how my parents must miss me and must be worried about me and how I need someone to take care of me, blah, blah, blah…) I knew exactly were he was going with this.  So, I listed a whole bunch of things that I look for in a man to make it as hard as possible. One of those requirements was Chr..tian.  He said, ‘so, you want the same things as every other girl.’ I disagreed with him saying that not every other girl would want someone who is Chr..tian.  He said, ‘Okay. How do I become a Chr..tian?’ Haha! I asked him what he was doing the following night. He wasn’t available that night but he did join me on Saturday night at a B study. This was his first exposure to the BOOK and I think he was a little lost. I have to give the guy credit though. He came again on Tuesday and then again the following Saturday.

Easter Sunday morning we had a sunrise service. I was able to introduce another one of my students to HIS WORD that morning.  This student’s name is Sandy. 🙂  He wanted his name to be ‘Sandwich’ but I wouldn’t let him do that because Sandwich is not a name. (I suggested Earl but he didn’t go for that one either.) Sandy is super friendly and really polite.  He enjoyed hearing HIS WORD for the first time and meeting some other Chinese believers. He and Jeffrey both joined me on Tuesday for B study! Praise HIM!

We were blessed with 20+ people for our Easter morning service! Instead of our usual wrshp-in-a-circle, we had rows of chairs and an altar. As I write, I’m still enjoying the lilies that are sitting on the piano. The service was lovely with special music; clarinet, flute, trumpet, and soloists. We had a few guests with us that day also. One of the teachers invited a few of her students who were “Chinese” but have American and Canadian passports.

Last week, my students had a basketball game. The two classes played against each other and I took a few pictures. The weather was gorgeous and the game was a lot of fun! After the game, a few of my students, two of the other teachers and my roommate and I had supper together. 🙂

I’m a tad disappointed that I haven’t had much time to do any photography. I’m also having a hard time keeping up with my writing. I meant to update about a week or so ago but I ran out of time. I was pretty proud of my introduction to that ‘non-existant’ blog entry. (see below) One of these blog entries (to come) will be a day in the life of Amber. 🙂 I’m excited to do this!

“Ever since I arrived in China, people back in the states have been asking to see pictures of my apartment.  Well, folks, it’s not much to look at.  I mean, it’s fairly large and spacious, covered in tile and other hard, easy to clean surfaces, but at the moment it’s freezing cold.  About a week ago, the day that I found myself stuck on a not-moving bus for almost an hour in the rain/snow, the powers that be (whoever they are) decided that we no longer need heat in our apartment.  I was kind of excited at first because our apartment is usually pretty warm. Almost to the point of uncomfortable. I quickly changed my thoughts about the lack of heat while I was in bed sleeping that same night.  Brrrr. Currently, I’m wearing fingerless gloves, covered in a blanket, listening to the song “Carbon Monoxide” by Cake.  Every time I hear that song I think that it’s sort of like living in Beijing! :)”

The apartment remains a bit chilly, I’m still listening to Cake, and the weather outside is unstable. So not much has changed since my last attempt at updating! Ha! I’m looking forward to constant warm temperatures, blooming cherry blossom trees, and walks in the park with dear friends. I’m also looking forward to the random holidays coming up in May and June. I’ll leave you with some photos and two things I’ve learned from living in China. (I’ve learned more than two things but I wanted to share two of them with you.) 

1. The longer you wait to shower, the more beautiful you become to Chinese men. (This one never ceases to amaze me.) I showed up to class one day after not having time to shower.  A few of the men in the front of the room gasped (audibly) and said, ‘so beautiful!’ when I came into the room. If you ever want to feel really good, come to China and don’t take a shower.

2. Maybe means yes….or no….or maybe. It’s hard to say.

Here's a picture of the whole group for Easter Sunday. I believe a couple people are hiding. For those who are interested, this is also my home!

The group in front of the altar. The thing I love about Ch..ch in China...wearing animal print slippers!

I’m back into the swing of things with my new ‘not-so-awesome’ schedule.  If you remember from my last update, Mr. Wang pulled a fast one on me and changed my classes on me the day before I started teaching.  He actually wanted me to start one of the classes that same afternoon.  Why does he not understand that a person needs time to prepare to teach?  I will probably never understand him. 

Last week was pretty ‘normal’.  I had two different classes of students to try to get to know.  The class that I have the most often is my favorite.  They are much more willing participators than the other class.  They ask good questions and are willing to try some silly things. 🙂  I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.  I was even able to have lunch with a few of them after class on Friday.  One pretty huge frustration of mine is the movie class.  Remember how excited I was and how ‘lucky’ I felt that I get to teach this class?  Yeah. I was wrong. You would think that if you are asked to teach a particular class, you would be provided with the tools to teach that class.  Wrong again.  Thankfully, I got to my first ‘movie class’ about an hour early because I didn’t want to go all the way home just to be there for 30 minutes and come back again.  I tried the DVD in the computer (which has the projector hooked up to it) and it didn’t work.  I called Ms. Fan.  She told me to go across the hall to have the format converted. Did that. Didn’t work. One of the students had her computer so we were able to watch the movie with her computer hooked up to the projector.  This was almost in time for class. 😉  We started about five minutes late.  Thursday’s class was better because we were aware of the problem.  However, I got to class yesterday (Monday group again) about 45 minutes early.  I sent Ms. Fan a message to ask her if there would be a computer there.  She immediately responded, Yes! Ok. Good news. Time was wasting away and there was still no computer.  A different student had his computer and so he hooked it up.  The video still would not play. When we finally got it playing but there were no English subtitles. (They like the subtitles because they can understand better.) By the time everything started working, 40 minutes of class were over! And I looked like an idiot. 🙁 Thank you, Ms. Fan. She even wanted me to stay longer because of the delay.  I had made plans to meet a friend right after class.  I was thankful because I wasn’t sure I could take the class anymore.

Last week on my way to class on Thursday, I was biking up ZhongGuanCun East Road and listening to my iPod. (which has revolutionized my biking in Beijing!) Because I was so engrossed in the music, I didn’t hear my cell phone fall out of my pocket!  By the time I realized that I didn’t have it anymore, I was almost all the way to the university.  I stopped, turned around, and proceeded to bike ALL THE WAY home in search of the missing phone.  On the bike ride home, my bike chain fell off 4 TIMES!  Talk about frustrating. I was already late (I was told to come a little late) for school that day.  Thankfully, I’m a perpetually early person so even ‘late’ wasn’t that late.  I wasn’t able to send Ms. Fan a message because I didn’t have my phone.  I decided it would be best to take a cab back to school.  I arrived and explained the story to her (and the class–she wanted me to tell them).  One of the men said, ‘what is your number? I’ll call your phone!’  I don’t actually know my cell phone number. 🙁 I usually just look in my phone for the number.  Thankfully, Ms. Fan had my number and she tried to call my phone.  ‘Unable to be connected.’  I was okay.  I figured that I would walk to another teacher’s apartment after class that day to see how I could go about getting my number back.  I walked to one teacher’s apartment. No one home. I went to the next teacher’s apartment and explained my problem to her.  She helped me find some numbers of people that I needed if I wanted to get my number back. Then another teacher had a phone that I could borrow for a couple days until I got mine back. I was more concerned about the phonebook on the phone than keeping the same number.  I called Ms. Fan to see if she knew how I could get my number back.  She explained. About 10 minutes later she called me and told me that someone had found my phone! Amazing. In a city this huge someone found my phone and was willing to return it.  She said I would have it back by the next day!  That was a relief.  On my way to school the next morning, my chain only fell off twice and got stuck three times.  I anticipated this problem and left much time for traveling.  At the end of my first class, Ms. Fan came into my classroom carrying my phone!  I celebrated by having lunch in the university cafeteria with three students.

Saturday morning was new.  I can now say that I’ve been in a sand storm.  The sky was yellow when I got up for school that day.  I really wish I would have taken pictures of it.  I’ll probably get another chance. (But I won’t be disappointed if I don’t!) The sand storm came again on Monday.  It’s almost like chewing dirt.  I really need to look into buying a mask.  After the skies clear up, it is so beautiful.  I could see the stars very clearly last night. 

Another new experience for me is visiting a tailor to have something custom made.  I’m having a new pair of jeans made!  I’m pretty excited and I will be able to pick them up on Monday.  The only question I wasn’t anticipating was ‘what color of thread?’  Who knew that this would be the thing that would take the longest to decide. At first I said keep it yellow to make them look like regular jeans.  Then I saw different colors and i couldn’t decide.  I finally settled with two colors.

Other than my adventures in teaching, B studies, and losing/finding my phone, things are going well.  I met my Chinese tutor and she keeps telling me how great my pronunciation is!  It makes me feel good when she says, ‘Feicheng hao!’ I can’t wait to have a regular routine set with her.  She told me not to practice with foreigners but to only practice with Chinese people.  This shouldn’t be difficult.  🙂  This week I also managed to sit in a broken chair and crash to the floor as we (3 Americans, 5 Chinese) were sitting down to eat supper. Thankfully it was me and not one of them. (I’m also thankful that it was at a home and not a restaurant!)  However, I think my tailbone will be sore for quite a bit.  I also managed to slip in my classroom and land on my knees.  It’s been an eventful week!  I’m looking forward to what other troubles I can get myself into! 🙂  Have a great week!

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.

Having to leave the country once again for my visa I found myself in Seoul, South Korea. Technically this post doesn’t belong in my blog since I was not in ‘The Middle Kingdom’ but I think you’ll forgive me. 🙂

My trip began with a quick (less than two hours) flight from the capital to Incheon, South Korea. The flight was in the middle of the day which is nice because I didn’t have to get up early but also isn’t nice because by the time I got to Korea, traveled to the hostel, and found some supper, the day was pretty much shot. I can’t decide which way is better. 

If you recall, back in November I had to go to Hong Kong for similar reasons.  That was by myself but I felt like I had way too much help.  The trip to Korea was a different story.  I got to experience ordering a ticket and having it delivered to my door and paying for it in cash!  That was fun.  I found a place to stay in Seoul called the “Happy House”.  It was highly rated on the internet and, let’s face it, it’s called “happy”.  How can you go wrong?  I arrived at the airport, exchanged some money, and found myself on the airport express heading into Seoul.  My ticket for the express train cost 3400W!  I made it to the subway station that was near my hostel and followed the directions. (Thanks to my handy iPod Touch I didn’t have to write anything down.) 🙂  I managed to find the hiding hostel.  It was in an interesting part of town.  I’m glad the directions included certain ‘landmarks’ along the way or I never would have thought to go that way. 

After checking in, I found some supper at a nearby Chinese 🙂 restaurant.  I guess I can’t avoid them!  I was informed (through charades once again) that I was to take off my shoes if I wanted to eat at that table. Okay. Check.  I pointed to something at the menu because, even though I feel comfortable ordering for myself in China, I find myself in Korea…at a Chinese restaurant…with a waitress that speaks Korean. I’m starting over again. Back at square one. The food was enjoyed while watching pairs figure skating on the huge TV right in front of me.

I headed back to the hostel after supper and met my roommate and her three-year-old child. Funny thing…when I met them I said, ‘she’s cute!’  To which the woman replied, ‘He’s a boy.’ 🙂 In my defense, he had longish curly dark brown hair and the longest eyelashes.  He really did look like a little girl.  They were from England and it was fun to listen to the little boy speak to his mother with an English accent. It reminded me of the commercial that comes on in the Subway here in Beijing with a little English boy. ‘Mummy! ….’  

The interesting thing about hostels is that you get to meet a varied group of people.  I didn’t really get to know any of them well (I mean, how can you in a week?) but it feels like you are immediately connected to them simply by being foreign.  This woman and her son were there just as long as I was and each night we told each other about our activities of the day.  There was a group of girls that I didn’t meet because they were only there for one night.  Two men from Spain, Charles and the other guy whose name I didn’t catch.  I chatted with Charles for quite a while one morning.  Oliver, who said he was from England but didn’t really sound like it. I made small talk with each of these people in the mornings before I left and at night when I came back.  I exchanged email addresses with two of them!

The Church, Olympic Park, Insa-dong Market, Namsan Tower

The next morning I woke up and made my way to the ELS mi**ion congregation.  I met with the teachers there and the Shepherd of the Flock also.  One of the teachers gave me some pointers for what to see and what not to see.  I was looking forward to exploring on my own.  About 10 min into our conversation, a Korean man (Sean) comes into the office and just stands there. The teacher introduced him to me and then he left.  Later, I learned what the exchange was with Sean and the teacher’s wife (who is his English tutor).  It went something like this: 

            Sean: Do you think she wants someone to show her around?

            Teacher’s Wife: I don’t know. You could ask her.

            Sean: No, that’s okay.

            TW: Okay.

            (five mintues later)

            Sean: (stands up abruptly) I’m going to go ask her.

So, he came back upstairs to ask me if I wanted someone to show me around. I said sure. Really, he wanted someone to practice his English with.  He wasn’t available until later in the afternoon so he wanted my phone number to give me a call when he was done with work.  I told him I didn’t have a phone. He was confused as to how he would contact me.  So he went back downstairs with his teacher.  I figured something out and then wrote where he should meet me and at what time and took it down to the room where they were studying.  It is interesting to not have a phone where I can just text someone where I am.  I had lunch at the school—a delicious soup-like dish—and then left to explore a little on my own.

I found myself at the Olympic Park.  I imagine that the park would be much more beautiful in the spring or summer (as any park is) but it was still beautiful.  I loved the mountain backdrop behind the large buildings.  I wandered around the hiking area for a while. Then I walked along the little river that runs through the park.  I wanted to be on the other side of the river and I had already passed up one bridge.  I figured there must be another way to cross a little ways down.  I found the crossing point and with it found a little outdoor ‘sculpture’ gallery.  For the ’88 Olympics sculptors from all over the world were asked to create sculptures to display in the park.  It was fun to see which part of the world they were all from.  Eventually I found the subway station and I was off to meet Sean.

A bridge across the river that goes through Olympic Park

One of the outdoor sculptures in the 'gallery' inside Olympic Park

Peace Gate near the entrance to the Olympic Park

Sean met me at the subway station near Insa-dong market.  This is a place where you can buy chintzy Korean souvenirs.  It was fun to walk around the market and look at stuff though.  There were many foreigners at the market. Actually, there were many foreigners in Seoul period.  After the market, we went back to my part of town so I could get my tripod. (a must for nighttime pictures)  We ate some supper and then headed on a bus up the large hill in the center of the city. On top of this large hill is a tower. Usually when you see a picture of Seoul it will have Namsan Tower in it! The tower was pretty neat. On the windows surrounding the tower there were city names in the appropriate direction with the estimated distance to each city.  The South Pole is over 14,000 km away!  The area around the tower was also pretty cool.  There were a bunch of these wire sculptures of men that were illuminated by a beam of light. Very neat. I included a picture of one of them below!

A view from Namsan Hill. We weren't in the tower yet.

One of the illuminated wire sculptures near the entrance to the tower.

The lights illuminating the tower changed every so often. Here is the red version.

Namdaemun Market, Hanyang University, Korean barbecue, 76ers bar

The next day we met for lunch at the previously mentioned Chinese restaurant. Sean wanted me to try a certain Korean food that was made by a Chinese person that you can only find in Korea…or something like that. Hmm… I didn’t really understand.  The food was delicious and after lunch we were off to the market. 

Namdaemun market is the biggest traditional market in Korea.  It sells tons of clothes and miscellaneous items.  It was pretty crazy at this market.  I heard that over 40,000 people visit the market each day.  My favorite part of the market was the flower shops. It smelled wonderful in all of the flower shops.

Namdaemun Market on a weekday. It's busier on the weekends!

After visiting the market, we were planning to go to Yeouido Island but thought that might be better during the warmer part of the day.  We ended up visiting Hanyang University where Sean studied Law.  The campus was beautiful and is known for its cherry blossom trees. Unfortunately, I was there in the winter and did not get to see the cherry blossom trees. After wandering around and taking pictures for a while we went to a restaurant where we had Korean barbecue.  We then walked around in the university area.  We visited a bar called 76ers. Hehehe  It was back to the hostel after that.

Traditional Korean Barbecue. Yum!

Itaewon, Yeouido Island, the small island, bridges, 63 Building

The morning was spent by myself exploring Itaewon area.  Itaewon is the foreigner part of town.  There are many many foreign shops and restaurants.  After walking along the street and window shopping I went to Starbucks 🙂 and had some coffee while sifting through my pictures. I then left to go visit the island.  When we got to the island we rented bikes and rode around the island for an hour.  During our bike ride I was able to take some pictures of the bridges we saw.  We took the bikes back and then walked (quite a distance) to the 63 building.  Then we decided it would probably be neater to see it at night.  So we walked back to the subway so that we could go to a different, smaller island.  This island was only accessible by foot.  We picked up some chicken on a stick on the way to the island because we were hungry and didn’t have enough time for a sit down meal.  The chicken was delicious!  On the island there are many plants, but again, it isn’t springtime and I’m sure it would have been much more beautiful if the plants would have been in bloom.  There was a good deal of bamboo growing there.  We stayed on the island until sunset so that I could take some sunset pictures.  Then, we headed back to the 63 building via bus.

One of the bridges we saw while biking

Same bridge, different view, color version

We went to the 60th floor of the 63 building (which is actually the top floor because three of the floors are underground).  On the 60th floor there is a Pop Art gallery.  The art gallery was pretty cool but the view out the windows was even cooler.  I probably would not recommend paying the price to go up the building because you can go up Namsan Tower for almost half the price and see a cool view also.  After the 63 building we walked along the river so that I could take some more night photos before we found some supper at a nearby restaurant.  It was also delicious.

A view from the 63 building.

One of the many bridges over the Han River

Same bridge, different view. Namsan Tower in the background

Ch*rch, The National Theater, The Yoduk Story, COEX

The next morning was Sunday and I made my way across the city for w*rship.  There were about 20 people for the English service and about 200 or so for the Korean service!  After ch*rch I went to a Communicating Chr*st Class.  Then everyone was invited to join for lunch.  Lunch was delicious, again, and after lunch the P*stor said that he had some tickets for a musical in the afternoon.  I only had a small idea of what the musical was going to be about.  So, one of the members drove me and another American (who is teaching in Korea) to the National Theater for this musical.  The musical was about one of the North Korean prison camps.  It was a great musical and very well done! 

ELS Ch*rch

Inside of the ch*rch

After the musical, the American and I met up with Sean at COEX which is basically a really busy shopping mall.  We had supper together at Sbarro where I ate Bulgogi pizza.  Pretend it is meat lover’s pizza and don’t ask what kind of meat it is! 🙂  The American left us after supper and Sean and I had ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  (Korea is so American)

Insa-dong (take two), Gyeongbokgung Palace, Palace Museum, Cheonggyecheon

I was intending to visit the DMZ (demilitarized zone) with a friend of mine from Beijing (who was going to be in Seoul for a few days).  The DMZ is basically a strip of land that’s kind of a buffer between North and South Korea.  We didn’t end up going to the DMZ because they had a rule about wearing jeans.  So I ended up in Insa-dong once more to try to find some sort of souvenir from Korea. All of the stuff I could buy there looked just like the stuff I could buy in China.  So, I didn’t get anything except a magnet. 

After Insa-dong, I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace which is almost in the middle of the city.  It was fun to see the similarities between the Chinese temples and the Korean ones.  The Korean temple had much more green space than the Chinese ones.  Below are some pictures of the palace and of the museum that was connected to the palace.

Inside the 'throne' room

Mountains in the background

This is actually a pine tree.

Some cool statues in the outdoor part of the Palace Museum

Where should my next trip take me?

After the palace and the museum I went to Cheonggyecheon. This is an area in Seoul that has this man-made river/stream.  It was beautiful for taking pictures, especially at night.  I also got to witness a protest and see hundreds of police officers!  I took a video of part of the chaos but the file is too huge to upload. Below are some of the photos I got from Cheonggyecheon. 

One view of the stream

This was kind of cool. A little further down there was an outdoor photography exhibit. Very neat!

🙂

To go along with the man-made river, there was a man-made waterfall. If you look closely in the background you will see a few of the police officers. On the bridge behind me is where the protest was happening.

This was the best picture of the protest of the ones I tried to take.

It was a wonderful trip!  I’m looking forward to the next journey I get to take.  🙂

FIREWORKS!! These fireworks were right outside my apartment. Notice how high (or should I say low) they are! Craziness!

My Chinese New Year celebration began with a visit to my friend Gretl’s hometown, Tianjin.  I left shortly after my class at Nong Da finished.  (And after a lovely pizza lunch with a few of the other foreign teachers.)  The train ride to Tianjin was exactly 30 min.  We left at 4:30 and the train stopped at 5:00.  This was the fastest train ride I had ever been on.  Literally.  The train is one of the fast trains in China.  It topped out at 330+ km/hr.  When I arrived at the train station in Tianjin, Gretl was there waiting for me so that we could take the bus back to her place.  It actually took longer to get to her home than to get from Beijing to Tianjin!  I had a lovely supper with her family and then taught her a couple card games while we ate M&Ms and watched some Chinese TV! 

The next morning, we headed to an antiques market with Gretl’s father.  Having conversations through a translator is a little difficult.  I wish my Chinese was better!  I was impressed with Gretl’s patience with me and her ability to go back and forth between English and Chinese.  She was amazing!  We were able to have a ‘conversation’ over lunch about hunting in Wyoming.  Her dad wanted to know how much it cost to hunt and what kind of animals could be hunted.  He was really nice and very patient. 

After our lovely lunch together, we headed to Gretl’s grandmother’s home.  The plan for the day was to teach me how to play Ma Jiang 麻將 (the real game, not the lame ‘windows-matching-tile’ game on the computer).  Her grandma explained the game to me (with Gretl translating again) and then we decided it would be best to learn as we go!  Those who know me well will know that this was a highlight of the visit because of my love of games!  I caught on quickly and even got three ‘dragons!’  Apparently, a dragon is not something that is too common to get. Gretl told me that she has only ever gotten one!  I told her it was beginner’s luck!  We played for quite a while with her aunt, uncle, dad, mom, and grandma taking turns and all of them letting me play every game.  I think they wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing by the time we were finished playing.  They also told me to practice saying the names of the tiles when I discarded them so I could practice my Chinese.  Gretl keeps telling me how awesome my tones are!  🙂  Must be the music background. Now if only I knew more words, especially verbs.  I really liked that I could understand a lot of what her grandma was saying even though I didn’t understand the full meaning.  I don’t know if that makes sense to you at all. 

After playing Ma Jiang 麻將, we cleared the table and began the dumpling making.  This is a tradition in China.  Families get together, make dumplings (jiaozi) and then spend time consuming them.  I was learning how to make dumplings from the master: Gretl’s grandmother.  It was hilarious that I was the only one in an apron…an apron that they insisted that I wear…an apron made for a Chinese sized person!  I was really bad at making dumplings.  I had one or two that looked like they were supposed to look.  The rest were edible but not the best looking dumplings!  Gretl took many pictures of my time with her family but I haven’t gotten them from her yet.  When I get them, I will share them with you.  Her family also wanted me to play piano for them.  I’m not the greatest when it comes to memorized piano repertoire so I was glad that Gretl brought along some music.  I played and Gretl and I sang and everyone loved it!  Her grandma and I were instant friends! 

We hung out for a while and then Gretl, her cousin, and I left to go visit a coffee shop.  Her cousin could understand almost all of what I was saying but lacked the confidence to respond to me in English.  The three of us sat there drinking coffee and chatting for a while.  Gretl wanted me to teach her cousin some card games.  So I taught her a new one that they both liked.  Actually, I think Gretl might be addicted to it!  Any time we had some down time she wanted to play it!  🙂  She’s like the Chinese version of me when it comes to games and being competitive! 

The next morning we walked around the ‘European’ part of Tianjin.  I always seem to find the non-Chinese parts of Chinese cities.  They tried to explain to me why there is so much European architecture in the city.  I didn’t really understand what they meant.  We ended up eating at an Italian place for lunch and then visiting the “Tianjin Eye”.  This wheel is 120 meters tall.  It is surpassed in height by the Singapore Flyer, the Star of Nanchang (in China), the London Eye, and the Great Berlin Wheel.  There is a bigger one being constructed in Beijing on the east side of the city.  Beijing’s will be the tallest in the world at 208 meters.  The Tianjin Eye took 35 minutes to make one revolution.  It also claims that it is the only wheel of it’s type to be constructed on a bridge.  We enjoyed the ride but I was a tad uneasy since I am a bit afraid of heights. 

This was the view from below the Eye.

After our ride on the Eye, we wandered around for a little while longer before I had to catch my train home.  Another 30 min. train ride back to Beijing and then about an hour on the Subway.  The subway ride was pretty surreal.  There were almost no people riding the subway.  The city has died down because people have gone to their hometowns for the festival.  One would think that in a city of over 14 million people there would be more than 10 people in my subway car.  Not so. 

My plan for the evening was to meet a Chinese friend for a movie.  He said he would find one that was either in English or had English subtitles so that I could understand it too!  I got a message from him saying that there were no good movies playing and that maybe we should just meet somewhere for a drink.  I suggested just watching a movie at my place and he agreed that it was a good idea!  So, I figured I had enough time to get home, take a shower and go grab some supper.  As I was getting supper to go he came into the restaurant and asked what I was doing.  I told him that I hadn’t had a chance to eat and was just grabbing some supper.  He then told me that he brought supper!  Ok.  So, we walked back to my apartment and I put my supper in the fridge.  Then he informed me that he needed to use my kitchen so that he could MAKE supper. 🙂  Thankfully I had the sense to do my dishes before I left for Tianjin and the kitchen wasn’t too bad.  He made–you guessed it!–dumplings.  We also had some chuar and spicy bamboo with peppers.  The food was good and the company was great!  We ended up watching the replay of the olympic opening ceremonies in Chinese with him translating!  All in all, it was a really fun, totally unexpected night!

After he left, I thought I would end up going to bed fairly early.  I putzed around for a bit while listening to the constant sound of explosions outside.  Even though the city had much fewer people, there were still millions shooting off fireworks. (Hey, when you start out with more than 14 million people, missing a few million still leaves you with a few million.)  🙂  I think that almost everyone in the city had to be shooting off fireworks at the same time.  It is difficult to describe the magnitude of the noise.  You know when you see footage of a war-zone on TV? Yeah…kind of like that, but possibly louder.  Imagine your typical Fourth of July fireworks display. Pretend it took some steroids and then multiply that by about 100 and you might be getting close to the chaos that was occuring in Beijing from about 8:30 pm to about 2:30 am.  Granted, it was a little more tame during the hours before midnight but still a constant din.  It died down a bit after 2:30 when I went to bed.  Either that or I slept really well through it.  I woke up the next morning and people were back at it again.  Sunday during the day was much quieter.  In the evening it started again and I wondered if we would have another show that evening.  Fortunately, it was not nearly as crazy as the previous night.  And now, the city sleeps. 

I will leave you with some pictures of my time in Tianjin.  This coming Wednesday I will travel to Seoul, South Korea.  Look for a blog update sometime when I return from that trip.  HIS blessings to you always!

This was part of the market that Gretl and I visited with her dad. Here, people are buying a bunch of decorations for their homes. It was pretty crazy there.

This was a crazy Chinese restaurant that we walked by. There were many 'sculptures' like this made out of chunks of pottery. The dragons were pretty cool!

Another part of the market. Notice the red lanterns. This is a popular and significant decoration for the festival. I'm not sure why. I should research.

This was part of the temple that was near the market. Along this wall are many 'plaques' with different styles of Chinese calligraphy. It was pretty cool.

More of the red lanterns

People hung red decorations on their windows and on their doorframes.

This dog was dyed by his owner to look like a panda.

Anyone want to go to the 'Outlandish Tourist Area'? I'm sad that I didn't get this one straight on.

And this one is only because it is Valentine's Day

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust

This quote is appropriate in how I am currently feeling.  The past few weeks have been a huge blessing to me.  It is difficult to describe my experience to people and to express emotions that I feel.  I’ll give it a shot but I still believe that some parts of it are indescribable. 

When I left you last I was being a tourist in my own town.  I haven’t done too much ‘touring’ but I have been doing a good deal of living. I even took some time to paint my bedroom so my walls are not dirty white anymore.  One wall is dark purple and the other three are clean white! 🙂  If you remember from a previous post, I had agreed to teach English for a winter camp at Nong Da. I wasn’t really looking forward to it but thought it would a good way to make some extra money. 

This particular group of students is studying there on a government scholarship.  They are being trained to be future leaders in their country.  Most of my students are from the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang.  I also had a few that were from Beijing. The students from Xinjiang are minorities…Uygher and not of Han descent like the majority of the Chinese population.  They were chosen to attend high school in Beijing.  The downside to this honor is that they only get to see their families 2-4 weeks out of the year in the summertime.  They don’t even get to go home for the largest of all Chinese festivals, The Spring Festival.  🙁  Even though they have many hardships in their lives, they have made the most of their individual situations.  I have never taught a nicer group of students.  They were very respectful, friendly and lots of fun!  I also thought it was interesting and also ironic that the future communist leaders were being trained by democratic/capitalist Americans! 🙂 

On the last day of the camp I was required to give them an oral exam.  Basically, they had to visit with me for five or so minutes, one-on-one, so that I could evaluate their grammar, pronunciation, and fluency.  I took it as an opportunity to learn more about their backgrounds, their families, their goals and their feelings about life.  This was probably my favorite part of the class.  I wish I could have done it on the first day.  Although with a small class it was pretty easy to get to know them.  I had them for three hours each day and we had some break time so that I could chat with them. 

Teachers don’t have favorite students 😉 but if we did mine might be Tom. He is from a family of five.  He has two older siblings and one of them is married and has a child.  All of them live in the same house and his parents are farmers.  I asked him if he could change one thing about his life what it would be.  His response was that his family could have more food.  They are happy that he is studying in Beijing, not only because it is a great opportunity for him to further his education, but also so that they don’t have to feed him. 🙁 Or maybe it would be Sophia, one of the sweetest Chinese girls I’ve ever met.  She is intelligent, kind, caring, and beautiful.  She would be good at whatever career she wants in life.  But I have a feeling she is already feeling the pressure of getting married and having children.  She is only 17.  I hope that she is able to reach some of her dreams in life.  She really wants to work in finance. It could also very well be Owen.  (Actually, it would be pretty tough to have a favorite in this bunch.  They were all really awesome!)  Owen is the one who disagrees with education in his country.  He would like to see changes in the way children are educated in the future.  Maybe it is a good thing he will be some sort of leader in his country.  🙂  I asked him what he disagreed with.  His response was that he didn’t think Chinese students were allowed to develop their creativity enough. 

I’m really glad that I agreed to do the camp.  At first I was not super excited about it but it ended up being very worthwhile. I won’t forget these kids. 🙂

The members of the class that were there the for the last day. A couple of the Beijing students had left already to travel with their families for the festival. This bunch was awesome!

During my teaching at Nong Da, I was also able to meet quite a few foreigners who were also pretty awesome!  Below is a picture of the foreign teachers.  One of them is not foreign but her oral English was really good so Mr. Wang had her lie and say she was from the states.  Two of the teachers were British, one was Canadian, one was Chinese, one was from Latvia, and the rest were American.

A group of some pretty awesome people! Our bus rides in the morning were never lacking entertainment. I'm happy that I met these people. One of them will be in Seoul at the same time as me and he and I are going to hang out one day! From L-R back row: Jasper (GB), Vincent, Gordon, Rebecca, Danielle (Chinese), George (GB), Deke, Landon, Sigmund, Mike, Graham, Benny. From L-R front row: Vivian (Mr. Wang's assistant--hilarious that Chinese people pick this name because Vs are really hard to say for them), Sebastian, Mary, Barrett, Laura 1, Laura 2, Amber, Ona (who is actually from Lativia but speaks perfect English and also really good Chinese!)

 After my teaching ended on Thursday last week, I headed to the city of Tianjin.  My next post will be about my time in Tianjin. Enjoy!