This is Cherie and I having fun at a Christmas party we had for the Chinese English teachers we work with!

On Christmas morning Andrew and I decided to make fresh squeezed orange juice for everyone by hand, we did not have a juicer. It took 48 oranges and I think I had blisters afterwards. But it was worth it for that one glass I had!!

A lot of sleeping happened Christmas day!

On our way to football

On the crowded bus!

Football

On Saturday we played a big game of football. The guy that I play tennis with every week organizes a big football game after each holiday. So he brings some guys and some of his Chinese students. We played for 2 and a half hours! It is a fun time and on my team was a Chinese student named Kobe (like Kobe Bryant b/c he loves b-ball), and he has never played football before, but he was out of control. I named him MVP of the game. This kid could run all over and catch anything. We were going for a touch down and he ran into a soccer goal caught the ball and fell through the net and still held on to the ball. He was so tangled in the net that two guys had to help him out of it. Every time he would run a play he would shout out "I will catch it" and sure enough he would show up and catch the ball out of nowhere.

We had a really fun morning and thankfully it the wind was not blowing so it was not too cold to play!!

Christmas Happenings

On Christmas Eve we had a party for our entire team at Shi Yi the school that is about 30 minutes from us. They warned us that it will be really really hard to find a cab on Christmas Eve b/c a lot of people are coming into our district for a Christmas Eve service and it is also rush hour. So four of us left really early in order to get there on time. I had to take 4 two liters of pop and the other girls had dishes of baked goods. We waited outside for 45 minutes for cab, and we were freezing so we called the Shi Yi people and found a bus number that we could take. The only problem was the bus was the most commonly used bus and it was rush hour. It was SOO crowded, after we got on there was a man standing on the street with his arms stretched out shoving people into the bus so that he could get on, and the bus driver was yelling b/c he could not shut the doors. It was insane. Then this sweet Chinese lady started talking to us in English and helped us figure out what stop to get off on, and she told us we had to move to the other end of the bus in order to get off. Well I could not even move my arms let alone walk to the other end of the bus. So she took my arm and started pulling us through the bus, she was hitting people with pop. It was unreal. The bus was really hot and stuffy and one of the girls with us was not feeling well, and the bus was really jerky, and the girl threw up but held it in her mouth for 10 minutes until we got off the bus (sorry for the details but it was unreal).

We finally got off and thankfully there was a cab right next to the bus stop that we were able to take the rest of the way. But when we got in the cab we did not know where to go b/c the directions are complicated to get to Shi Yi. So I called someone and figured out the directions but as we were nearing the school I could not remember which gate was right so I told the cab driver to stop like 3 times and then go again and he was so entertained by my mistakes, he would laugh every time I messed up. We finally made it to the right place an hour and 45 minutes after we left our school.

Once we got there it was great and we had a lot of fun and ate a lot of good food.

Christmas:

Christmas day was great, we had a gift exchange in the morning with brunch. Then in the afternoon all of us are either sick or exhausted from a crazy week with activities with students that we all napped all afternoon and then ate dinner together. It was a relaxing really enjoyable Christmas here in Beijing. Although, it did not really feel like Christmas but it was still a fun day. We ended the day watching the nativity story (the movie) and it was a great reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

Our awesome crooked Christmas tree in our apartment. Notice the box I got in the mail and how it isn't open, I am waiting until Christmas, and it has been soo hard.

Marley from the Christmas Carol

Christmas Time Christmas Time... I can't wait for Christmas Time!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

I just finished my classes on this beautiful Christmas Eve day. I get Thursday and Friday off of school. Then I only have to teach Monday and Tuesday of next week and I am done for a month and a half!

You might be wondering, how do you celebrate Christmas in China, a country that does not celebrate Christmas. Great question! We have actually had so much fun getting ready for Christmas. Every Tuesday during my office hours we do Christmas crafts, and this week in class we explain why we celebrate Chrismtas, which is a great time for us to share with our students the "true" meaning of Christmas. On our team we do a gift exchange and I am spending today doing last minute shopping. I am on a search for wrapping paper, it is kind of scarce here.

Our entire team is having a party tonight (Christmas eve). We will have lots of food, games, singing, and movies. Then tomorrow we spend with our smaller team at each individual school and do our gift exchanges. We are having brunch and singing and spending time together tomorrow.

Other Christmas fun:

It has been really really cold here. This weekend it was in the negative and a very bad windchill. Walking and riding your bike in the cold with wind is like torture, but it makes for a good work out b/c we ride and walk extra extra fast. And I am so thankful for having McDonald's all over b/c they have really good cheap hot chocolate!

Last night Micah Chambers and Colleen Derry's drama classes at Ren Da performed their dramas they have been working on all semester. One did Sherlock Holmes and the other did a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. They were really good, but it was hilarious to see Chinese students do a Christmas Carol. It was fun to watch.

Cookies everywhere

Laura and I are making Christmas crafts during our office hours every Tuesday. So far we have made red and green paper chains and snowflakes. For this week we thought we would make cookies in the office with students (b/c most of them have no idea what baking is) however we realized that would be chaos. So we decided to make enough cookies the night before.

We got some Christmas cookie cutters from Jana, but we did not start baking until after our meeting on Monday, so we did not start to make cookies until 9:30 at night and we had planned on making 200 christmas cut out cookies.

Thankfully, we were able to borrow some toaster ovens, so we had three ovens going, but we did not realize how long it would take to roll and cut the dough. We finished by 1am but we did have a lot of decapitated gingerbread men, elves and Santa Clause b/c we were using a coffee table to roll out the dough on and it was not very big, but our kitchen is even smaller. So we blame the oddly formed cookies on our work environment.

It turned out great. We had red and green icing the kids could use to frost the cookies and we made them hot chocolate! It was quite a hit and the kids loved it!! Most kids have never had sugar cookies before. And it was great b/c we invited all our classes to come to the office and we were able to get some of our students to come to the office for the first time!

Oh SH**

My senior students are giving commercials for their last speech b/c it uses persuasive speaking and informative speaking together. And they get to have a lot of fun making up creative speeches!

Anyways, my last class went today and this kid got up there and started giving his speech and kept using the word Sh**. The amazing thing was he did not seemed phased by it (the Chinese students definitely know the English curse words)and was just going on with his speech. At first I could not understand what he was saying, but that can be a usual thing. I have some students who can give an entire speech and I never figure out their topic by the end. This kids english was not very good, and about half way through the speech the kids and I realized what he is saying and we are all laughing b/c he is just using the word every five seconds, and you can tell by this point he does not know what he was saying. Finally he stops and asks what is wrong and they tell him. He turned bright red and apologized over and over again to me.

Now I have two problems 1. I still don't know what his speech was on and I don't think he finished but it was to crazy at the moment 2. How do you grade a speech when all you could understand is the word Sh**

Shady business

I just purchased 5 tickets to Malaysia for my friends and I over the spring festival. The travel agent lady told me a car will arrive in front of our school on Wednesday and I can meet the man and give him all my money and he will give me the tickets. This sounds pretty shady. I will be carrying an envelope with a lot of money it and getting into an unknown car. Oh the things I do in China!

The first picture is of me waiting to go outside. If you cannot tell I have three pairs of pants on and 3 shirts, and once I am outside the scarf turns into a face protector.

The second picture is of a bunch of us standing and freezing waiting for the bus.

Bicycle menace!!

So everytime I go out to my bike there is always new trash in my basket, and it is almost a game now, waiting to see what new items will be in my basket. However, that was funny but someone has crossed the line, I went out last weekend to get on my bike and a biker was coming at me so I went to ring my bell, and when I flipped the flicker there was no sound. I look down and someone ripped the bell off of my bike!! How mean! So now I ride around saying DING, DING, DING, but people only look and laugh at me. So I really just need to brave the cold and go to the bike store and buy myself a new bell. I had no idea how much I used it until I did not have one. They are very important b/c people are always walking out in front of you or cars pulling next to you.

It is officially WINTER!

I complained all four years of college b/c the wind was bad when I walked around Cedar Lake. Well I take all of that complaining back b/c I really had not experienced what a cold winter is. Winter has come to Beijing and it is cold, but the cold is not always the problem it is the wind that comes with the cold that is very hard to bear. To get anywhere I have to ride a bicycle and when I went to the store last week I had tears in my eyes from the wind and they froze on my cheeks, and riding into the cold wind is hard on a bicycle! Long johns could be the best invention ever! I teach in common classrooms and not the students normal classrooms and they are not heated well and the windows are stuck open right in the front of the classroom where I stand. So I teach with my winter coat on and I really want to wear my hat but figured I better not. However it does make things quite hilarious when we all bundle up with tons of layers just to go down the street for dinner.

On another note, my friend, Micah and I have been helping teach a youth group on Sunday mornings and it has been awesome. We are starting with the basics of the good book and how we know it is true and why we think it is true, and is that enough to give our lives for what it says. We have had awesome discussions with our kids, last week we did a court case and the book was on trial. They brought up such good arguments. But I am learning so much from this. Understanding the foundation for everything I hold to, it is refreshing and reassuring! Even through struggles I have seen that there is one thing in my life that is constant!

China's GOT TALENT!!

The foreign teachers were asked to help judge the auditions for the upcoming school talent show. No one else had time to go so Cherie and I decided to go and check it out. We show up and there were junior students everywhere singing and taking pictures, so we knew we were in the right place! They girl in charge gave us the papers on how to judge the contestants, things like performance, tone, pitch, basic, and so on. At first we thought we were the only judges and were positive we were not qualified b/c we do not understand Chinese, however, other girls showed up to judge as well.
So China does not have as much talent as I thought in the junior section. There were some good voices but the acts were a little rough.

My favorite act was the group of 5 boys and 2 girls. The girls sang a song while the boys held hands and swayed behind him.

Also, one rather chubby boy got up and sang alone a very high pitched love song with absolutely no emotion.

My favorite was group of boys who did a rap using a broom and beating each other up.

Check out

My picture website for new pictures of thanksgiving and my birthday! http://picasaweb.google.com/oadolph

FOOTBALL!!

This is me after two Thanksgivings and I was completely full but still trying to eat more apple crisp.

Thanksgiving!!

My Thanksgiving started Tuesday night when my roommate and I peeled and cut 45 potatoes because we were suppose to provide the mashed potatoes. We filled 8 mixing bowls with pieces of sliced potatoes. Our team’s thanksgiving meal was on Wednesday. Cherie and I started cooking potatoes at about 3:30. We had four hot plates of boiling potatoes, and thankfully we had some help stirring and mixing. I never knew how great hand blenders are until I had to mash and mix all our potatoes. I woke up the next day with a sore arm. The potatoes got done right on time, and we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, with all the traditional foods except turkey! It was soo delicious to eat so many familiar foods from home. After eating our team spent the evening playing games and relaxing, it was a great day. I ended the night by watching a movie in bed with a bunch of other people (it is great having a huge bed).
The next morning we had a football game, we had four teams of 7 playing and played for about 2 and half hours and it was great. It was a chilly morning but great for football! The rest of the day a couple other girls and I prepared another thanksgiving dinner for the 3 american kids that go to school here. So we got to have two amazing meals in a row. It amazes me that I made whole thanksgiving dinner in a toaster oven without all the ingredients I needed and everything turned out tasty and nothing was burnt (Erica I wish you were here so you could have witnessed my sweet cooking skills!). It was quite the experience cooking a large meal in a toaster oven with only one hot plate. The only thing that did not turn out so well was the pie crust I tried to make, I used so much butter that when we cooked the pumpkin pie it was floating in a pool of butter. However, the pie still tasted good!
Thanksgiving night we put up our Christmas tree and played games while listening to Christmas music. I love the holidays!!!!

BIRTHDAY

For my birthday a bunch of us went to Pizza Hut b/c I had never been there, and it was soo amazing to eat real american pizza! And all the cheese tasted amazing! We do not really eat anything with cheese over here. We ordered garlic bread, which tasted good but was these mini pieces of bread that were like two bites worth.

After pizza hut we split up into groups and each person had to go somewhere different and get a dessert and bring it back to our apartments. All of the ice cream and cookies we mixed together in a bowl and it was delicious! All the gifts they gave me were in sets of 23 b/c I have 23 on the 23rd.

The next day on my real birthday they gave me 23 different cards, and some were even from my family!! It was a lot of fun!

Yesterday my roommate and I spent the night peeling, washing, cutting 45 potatoes for Thanksgiving today! More about Thanksgiving later!

My kids are out of control

This week was such a fun teaching week because everything was interactive. The first half of the week my kids got an object and had to come up with a new use for it and inform the class about (we are doing informative speeches). One group of guys had one of my head bands and made it an IQ drainer. They took a kid and he acted like his IQ was being drained and he fell to the floor and could not speak then they put it on another kid and he started writing bit equations on the board b/c he became smart.

They had soo many funny ideas, it was a lot of fun to see my students be creative. Usually they do not use their creativity as much and it is exciting to see it. I am teaching them to make their speeches different and more exciting. To step out of the box and do not just get up front and start their speech with,"I am going to talk about". I am teaching them to use stories and examples and props. So we will see how this goes.

The second half of the week they had a "how-to" activity. I gave each group a task and they had to write down the steps to show me how to complete their task. I followed it word for word. One group had to tell me how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (they have never heard of that before), they do not make sandwiches in china (usually). So they would use three and four pieces of bread to make it, and they would forget to tell me to use a knife so I would have to dip the peanut butter with my finger and they were grossed out.

Another group taught me to tie my shoe and one class was trying to be funny and they had me tie my two shoes together, and I taught the rest of class with my shoes tied together.

It was a fun week of teaching and my students really came alive using their creativity, so stay tuned to see if it actually shows up in their speeches!

BIRTHDAY WISHES!!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and cards! I am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!!!

PICTURES!!!! Try number two

So I think this is the real site for my pictures, try this one... http://picasaweb.google.com/oadolph

SUPER STAPLER!!

So today in class I gave my kids objects like staplers and calculators and pens. They had to come up with a new use for this object, instead of what it was actually used for. Then they had to give a small informative speech about it. One group of guys got a stapler. When they got up front they opened it up and put it on their forheads. They said when you use the stapler like that it turns you into action man! You have super human powers to provide justice to the world. Then they raised their arms and sang a chant they made up about action man (He brings justice, he brings peace, everyone wants to... and I can't remember the rest.) they explained by adding extra staples gives you more energy just like the spinach and popeye. It was soo funny. My kids are soo cute!

PICTURES!!!

Please look at my pictures I have taken in China! Especially from my Jinan trip! I will keep adding pictures as I have more adventures. I have decided to make this website b/c it is to filling to put lots of pictures on my blog! I hope you enjoy, I am so thankful for all of you who keep up with my blog and send me emails!

http://picasaweb.google.com/home

40 KUAI MITTENS!!!!!!!!!

I went to carefour tonight, our grocery store, and it was reallly cold on the way there so I thought I will buy a cheap pair of mittens in the store until I can find some I like. So I picked up some UGLY mittens under the sale sign. At check up they rang up at 40 kuai so I told the lady in Chinese I did not want them. She put them back in my bag. So I told the lady again, and again, and again. SIX times this lady put the mittens back in my bag, and at this point the line was grumbling at me, so I PAID FOR 40 KUAI mittens. I was quite angry as I was leaving, I could feel I was red and flushed from arguing with this lady. I think she was new and did not know how to take something off the receipt and there was a long line so did not to want to learn. So she thought she would take advantage of the foreigner.

Well I left mad and thinking about it, and father knew what I need b/c outside carefour there was this lady slowly peddling a huge load of stuff with a little girl next to her on the bike. Her gloves were tattered and torn and so I gave her the 40 kuai mittens b/c if I kept them I knew I would be upset everytime I wore them. So thankfully there is someone who can get better use than I would of out of my 40 kuai ugly mittens!

Jinan

Jacinda and I went to Jinan last weekend to visit the business people she helped tutor in the states a few years ago. I was just along for the ride. We had an incredible trip, although it started off a bit rough. We couldn't find the train station only to find out it was the HUGE building behind us that took up the whole block and all the people were walking towards. We managed to get on the right train, but it was a 7 hour train ride, and the train was so crowded people were standing everywhere. They were especially crowded around us b/c we were white. I have never been frustrated with people staring at me and I use to the Chinese taking my picture all the time, but this put me over the edge. They were staring at us for 7 hours and everytime we stood up they would take our picture over and over. We met these ladies on the train who were entertaining at first, but then were slightly hard to be around after so many hours. So we pretended to sleep for a few hours (although, I don't really have to pretend in moving vehicles). The train was hot, long, and my feet were jammed under my seat. So it was a rough beginning. jacinda and I were slightly concerned about what we were getting into.
We arrived and Robin, Jacinda's friend, picked us up in his own car and took us to our sweet four star hotel. Then we went to the the top floor to a rotating restaurant where we had a lavish meal with the rest of the group. All weekend they wined and dined us, literally. They made us drink this wine and white spirit stuff that was so strong it burned my throat on the way down.
The next day Robin planned the whole day out for us. In the morning we met some kids our age who took us on a tour of Jinan and to see the natural springs (Jinan is famous for the springs). Then Robin and Bert met up with us and showed us the most famous spring and took us to the yellow river. That evening we were wined and dined again. We ate so much food but by the end of Monday night we wanted some familiar food soo bad b/c everything we had eaten was completely new to us and we tried everything that was on the table. So at 11:00 at night Jacinda and with the help of a hotel receptionist helped us get a cab and have them take us to McDonalds for a hot fudge Sunday and french fries! It was the best hot fudge Sunday ever!! We enjoyed trying new food but it was soo good to taste something familiar.
We had such a great time, but it was exhausting b/c we had to use a lot of Chinese (and I don't really know Chinese) and really speak slow clear English. But we really had great opportunities to encourage these people and we learned a lot about Chinese Culture. In Jinan it is not a Western even though it is a big city (the capital of the Shandong province) and so things we get in Beijing are not as accessible and we only saw one other white person.
On the way home Robin bought us train tickets for the fast train, which looked like an airplane with lots of leg room and tray tables. There was no one standing in the aisles and no one staring at us b/c most of the passengers were business people who did not care about us. IT WAS GREAT. It also only took 3 hours to get back instead of 7, and my seat reclined to a comfortable sleeping position. We had such a fun time and the people treated us like royalty, I am pretty sure I will not experience another vacation like that one.

Foods we ate:
pigs feet, donkey, sea cucumber, swordfish, duck, duck egg, duck feet, pig kidney, many types of fish (my favorite was the yellow flower fish), many soups (my favorite was fish bone soup: meaning the bones of the soup soaked in water basically), shrimp still with the eye balls, other sea creatures in a weird soup, and a few other things I cannot remember.

You ate what??

Last Friday night, some friends and I went shopping and then to this famous street (you probably saw it on TV during the olympics), where you can eat scorpion, sea horse, bugs, and star fish. My friends and I have been talking about it b/c we have wanted to say that we ate scorpion, so we got there and saw the scorpions on a stick, STILL CRAWLING! We were positive there was no way we could eat live scorpions, but then we realized they fry them before you eat them. So we got scorpions and a sea horse. I tried the sea horse first and it tasted like the ocean died in my mouth, so I was not impressed. Then I tried the scorpion and surprisingly it tasted like Chicken.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN... a few weeks late!

It is tradition for the foreign teachers to throw a big halloween party for all kids at our school and the branch school. We did the same party three nights in a row; one for the juniors, one for the seniors, and one for the branch school. It was so much fun, each foreign teacher dressed up in a costume and created a game for kids to play. Then we bought 1000 kuai worth of candy, which is A LOT (it took Andrew, Caleb and my book bag to carry it back in plus my bike basket.)
The nights that we did the party it was very very cold, but totally worth it. We had so much fun hanging out with students and laughing and playing with them.
I dressed as a butterfly with huge wings and antennas made out of a headband, straws, and tiny balloons. My game was balloon races such as putting the balloon between your knees and hopping from one line to another. They also did balloon games with partners which was funny to watch, usually it ended with someone being dragged or people on the ground, but they loved it!

The night we did the party at the branch school, we had to bike there b/c it is too far to walk. The only way to get my butterfly wings there was to wear them, so I rode on my bike with balloons tied to my handle bars and my wings on. I think that I was the talk of the Haiden district. Everyone was laughing and smiling and pointing at me. I think I should do this on a regular basis just to make people laugh! We had a great time and hopefully were able to build more relationships with our students!

23!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT IS 23 DAYS UNTIL I TURN 23 on the 23!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wendy's!! Could it be??

Oh how I miss Sunday afternoon lunches! I was reminded of those wonderful times this Sunday when I went out to eat after my meeting. We went to a place called Pete's TexMex and I ordered a Chicken sandwich and it tasted just like Wendy's homestyle chicken sandwich. It was AMAZING!!!! I forgot how much I missed that yummy sandwich until I had one, and how much I miss going out to eat every Sunday.

Me feeling victorious in the aisles of silk alley after getting great deals!

This silk alley the place we go to buy clothes, paintings, jewelry. This is a HUGE tourist spot, so we have to spend lots of time bartering for lower prices. Most of the workers speak enough english to sell their products. But it is crazy b/c people are everywhere and booths with clothes and shoes etc are everywhere. The workers grab and pull you saying "pretty lady want to buy". It is insane and you really have to be in the mood to go shopping b/c it is exhausting, but I love it!

In China for weddings,instead of just writing on the car and attaching streamers they put real flowers on the car. The cars look amazing!

Are we there yet??

On Saturday, Laura, Tim and I wanted to go find a plant market that we had heard about, and Laura had seen it a few days before when we were taxing back from Shi Yi. We got directions from a vetern and took off on our bikes. We rode down 4th ring road and we rode and we rode and we rode. Thankfully it was a beautiful day with blue skies. It was pretty chilly b/c it was really windy, but a nice day to be outside. As we were riding we decided to call a vetern b/c we felt like we should have been there by now. They gave us some advice and then we kept going. Finally we saw this big wavy tower that we know and realized we had gone too far. So we called our leader and we found out we went the wrong direction on 4th ring road. We rode over an hour in the wrong direction, and the sad part was we had to ride back into the wind for over an hour. 4th ring road is an 8 lane highway so it was kind of crowded and there were lots of hills, but after it was all done and we made it back I really enjoyed spending the day outside in the sunshine! It was quite the workout, and the next day I was in a taxi coming home and saw the big wavy building that we rode to and on the other side of it was the birds nest, which means we rode our bikes all the way to the olympic park. We never did find the plant market, we gave up after riding home in the wind!

This is a picture of the building I live in (I live on the 8th floor). The building in the background is the building that we are suppose to move into at the the semester break (but we do not know for sure).

This is what the classrooms I teach in look like.

These are our Jr 1 and Sr 1 students finishing military training. For Five days all they do from 7:00am to 4:00 pm is learn to march and run in unison. They also learn to shout out the numbers to be able to march. It does not look very exciting but they are really good at marching.

This is the theme of the school, whatever it is suppose to mean. These are painted on our basketball courts. The words are factualism, erudition, virtue, innovation.

What is really funny about China is instead of permanent flower pots about every two weeks trucks come around and line up flowers in plastic pots and then remove the dead ones. They do this instead on all the streets in Beijing.

Jacinda and I enjoying the beautiful day!

We found a really wooded area and walked through it.

This is a picture of some trees we found that were changing color and we found all the leaves that had fallen and crunched them all! P.S. continue on to older posts for more pictures that did not fit on this page, and a story about my elective!!

This is a picture of some trees we found that were changing color and we found all the leaves that had fallen and crunched them all!
P.S. continue on to older posts there are more pictures and a story about my elective but this page ran out of room!

We thought this bush looked like a butt, so I am pretending to have a big butt! (Caitlin once told me that is what will happen if I eat too many Sister Shubert rolls!)

Creating my own fall activities!!

We have had a lot of absolutely BEAUTIFUL days here with blue skies, and so my friend Jacinda and I spent a day enjoying the weather and found as many fall activities as we could do. On our way to the fruit market we bought caramelized hall berries and they are delicious (the closest we could get to caramel apple).

I LOVE JUNIORS??!!!

On Friday I had to start teaching my speech elective which is 80 minutes long right after school on Friday (from 4:25 to 5:45). I was dreading it because who would really want to be in class on Friday afternoon. However, the students choose to take the class b/c they are required to take two or three electives throughout high school. There was a mix up and my speech class was put online for Wednesday but Jacinda and were suppose to teach the classes on Friday. Only junior students (middle schoolers) take electives on Wednesday and I am really struggling to teach junior students. I do not know how to connect with them so I was really disappointed that I was only going to have junior students, AND we had SIXTY FIVE juniors sign up for each speech section Jacinda’s and mine. Going into my class on Friday I knew there was NO way I could handle 65 juniors. I really did not have a very good attitude going in, BUT when I got there we only had 11 students each! It was amazing, the class was small enough that I was able to memorize everyone’s name and they were awesome. They volunteered to answer questions and give their mini speeches, which never happens in my real classes. They were attentive and quiet. That class was the most fun I have had teaching since I have been here. Who knew that I could like juniors!!!

How I miss fall in Ohio

Beijing is a really fun city, and it is beautiful at night with lots of people and lights everywhere. However, it does not have the same fall feeling like good old Ohio. Who would have ever thought that I would miss Ohio, not me that is for sure. This weekend has been the most beautiful weekend I have had in Beijing because it is cool here, I can wear jeans and a sweater and be perfect outside, and we have had blue skies for three days in a row! This weekend had extra special meaning to me and actually made me feel homesick because we were able to see a little bit of pink in the sky on the way to dinner (we never see color from the sunset) and on the way home we were able to see three stars in the sky. We have also seen the moon all last week, it has been shining bright.

While it has been beautiful here the colors are not changing yet and I have heard that the colors change really fast here. I know that Ohio looks beautiful right now with the colored leaves and the golden cornfields. It makes me miss all of the fun fall activities there is to do b/c there are not good fall activities to do here. However, we are getting ready for our big Halloween party that we put on for the whole school (thousands of kids). We dress up and create games that they can play for candy. I have heard that is a blast and I cannot wait. There will be pictures to come on that activity.

So all of you enjoy fall and the fun activities, carve a pumpkin for me eat lots of good candy!

Oh China and there mullets

I guess this means I am really adapting to their culture.

The Precise Mullet!!

In China a very popular haircut is the mullet! I do not understand it but they love it. Guys also love really fluffy hair, the guys will where their hair very high and puffed out. I was so afraid when I was getting my haircut that I would get some kind of mullet because in China the mullet can come in many different forms.

I must start from the beginning. Jacinda wanted to get her hair cut and our Chinese friend, Grace, wanted to take us, which was great b/c she could explain how we wanted our hair cut. We went on Sunday and it was pouring rain, so by the time we got to the mall to meet Grace we were soaking wet and then Grace called us and we explained where we were and we could not seem to see each other so we kept walking around. The problem was we went to the wrong mall. Both malls are about a 5 or 10 minute walk from our school but in opposite directions and we were already late and it was raining so we took a taxi which was about a 3 minute ride. The taxi driver looked at us like we were crazy.

We finally got to the hairdresser and they took all three of us in (at first I had not planned on getting my haircut but they convinced me it was for the experience)sat us in chairs next to each other and three assistants came in and started skirting liquid out of bottle onto our dry hair. They kept rubbing it in the same spot for about 10 minutes, so by that time half of my hair was soapy and she finally rubbed all my hair into the shampoo, but they shampoo your hair for a long time when it is dry. The assistants then take you to wash out the shampoo at a sink and bring you back to the chair where they give you a head, back, and arm massage which was awesome all the while they are serving unlimited hot drinks.

The assistant then takes me into the hairdresser and a man walks out. Grace told us that mostly men are hairdressers and a lot of the women prefer men because they have a better idea of how hair should look or different ideas than girls. So the man was cutting my hair and he spent an hour cutting my hair. He would cut some dry it and play with it and trim some more until it looked absolutely perfect to him. It was like my hair was a piece of art and he was working to make it a masterpiece. I wish I could find hairstylists like that in the U.S. There were even people waiting in a line for him to cut their hair but he kept working with my hair. It was great to have someone spend that much time cutting my hair because you could tell he thought that he did a really good job. It was great.

However, I think my haircut looks pretty good but it has lots of layers and most of them are short (the picture does not show the haircut that well) and there really is not much long hair so I think that if the long hair I left is on my back and not layed around my shoulders it looks like I have a mullet b/c all the front is short and the longness is in the back. I knew it would happen b/c so many women have haircuts like this one and it definitely is a borderline mullet. We like to call it the precise mullet b/c he worked sooo hard to make me the perfect precise mullet!

No matter how it looks Jacinda, Grace and I had such a fun day and the experience and the massage was worth the haircut b/c it only cost me about three american dollars.

HAIRCUT??!!!

Coming soon the crazy story about getting my haircut and a punching massage!

Oh What a Week!

The Stairmaster 10,000
October 1 is a national holiday, similar to our 4th of July, and to celebrate we got the whole week off of school. When you ask our students they are not excited about holidays because their teachers give them a ridiculous amount of work so they cannot enjoy the time off. However, I was able to enjoy my week off.
I started the week by exploring lots of new places in Beijing, wherever the Subway could take me! We ate at many fun new restaurants and spent the nights out in Beijing finding fun places to shop and hang out. It was a blast to explore and feel more freedom and independence. I also had some down time to work on lesson plans and prepare for my elective that I start teaching this week.
The greatest part of my break was getting to camp on the Great Wall of China!! Yes I conquered the great wall and I think that I can say that because I had quite the experience. Let me start from the beginning… Our plan was to take a train to Wubeiko and taxi to Semitei, then we would hike back to Wubeiko. We had planned on camping two nights and hiking one full day and two half days. I did not fully realize what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this trip. I did not think about the very heavy camping pack that I would have to carry and that the wall was made of up of all steps. When we got to the wall I was exhausted by the long hike just to get to the wall, and I was convinced that I would not make it b/c my bag weighed too much and it was just too hot. Besides the rough start everything started out according to plan until early evening of our first night.
We started hiking at 12:30 Tuesday afternoon and we had planned on making it a leisurely day and not kill ourselves hiking b/c the great wall of China is made up of all steps. We were having fun taking pictures because it was a beautiful blue skied day, and we have not seen many of those since the Olympics have been over. Then as it was nearing evening time we were coming up on a lady who sells tickets to get into different parts of the wall, and usually she will sell you a ticket for the next day so you can camp in her area. However, she said that they are patrolling that area more and we would not be able to stay there (technically you are not suppose to camp on the wall). We were at tour 14 and she suggested we go to tower 27, and it was getting close to dark. So at this point we have no choice but to pick up the pace and book it to tower 27 before dark. When we get to tower 27 we found a tourist spot and realized she must have been mistaken because we needed to camp at an unrestored part of the wall so no one will see us. So we continued on as the sun continued to drop in the sky, and some of our group members were far behind us as we were rushing to find a camp spot. Finally as it was just getting dark we found a rundown tour (tower 35). It was a step drop to get down to the tour and as we got there photographers were just leaving and they were holding us back with their arms telling us to turn back because it was too dangerous. We had to fight them off to let us pass, and Tamara and I set up the tents in the dark as Ben and Andrew went back for the rest of our group to show them the way. Finally we were able to settle in for the night and give our aching bodies a rest.
We got up at 6 am to watch the sunrise the next day and continued on our journey at 7:30. We decided since we went over half the journey in one day that we would try to catch the 4:00 train on Wednesday instead of staying another night. Ben said that it should be a leisurely day b/c we did not have far to go. Once again we were deceived. We camped near the military zone and so to continue on we had to get off the wall and hike the mountains until we came upon the wall in a tourist area. We hiked down a mountain to walk the valleys and we came upon a small Chinese village where we ask for directions. That sent us to another Chinese village where a man took us to the green dot path. For the rest of the day we followed green dots all the way to Wubeiko. However, the path on the mountains was not very clear, there was brush up to our shoulders and we were scratched up by thorns.
The whole time we were walking we always had the wall in sight to make sure we were walking parallel with it. Once we had passed the military zone we were at the bottom of huge hill that would take us back to the wall and we were told the town would appear shortly. We decided to have a small snack at the bottom of the hill at 11:15am and then we would eat lunch in the town and explore before our train. We made onto the wall and saw the tower where the town was suppose to be. We anxiously arrived and to our disappointment there was NO town. We continued on but at this point we had not seen another hiker all day and the wall was very treacherous, some parts was only a path big enough for one person to walk on and there were no sides just at 20 foot drop off. Some parts were very scary with broken down steps. I slide down a dirt path with nothing on either side and it is a miracle I kept my balance with my pack on my back.
So we marched onward and eventually came to the end of the wall where it was broken down and you could not go on, we searched and found a green dot path in the weeds and started following it as the town slowly appeared. However, the path ended on the edge of the mountain, and we knew we could not go straight down so we searched for a path and after making a long path of our own through the brush we connected to another path that lead us to a cornfield and finally right into someone’s backyard of the town we were looking for. At this point we were on a time crunch rushing to get down because our train was leaving in 45 minutes. So when we walked down a dirt path that lead to a house we all rejoiced as the Chinese were staring oddly at us and laughing because we looked ridiculous. But we had time to grab an ice cream treat and head to our train. We made the train and five hours later were back at good old Ren Da FuZhong .
Even though our trip was not leisurely and at some points very unpleasant, it was an amazing experience, seeing the wall is incredible and to be out in nature and enjoy the beauty was breathtaking. We figured out we walked about 15 miles between Tuesday at 12:30 and Wednesday at 3:30. However those 15 miles were mostly stairs or hills. This was an incredible experience and I can still feel the wall with me everytime I use the stairs or where a back pack of any kind. I wish you were all here to experience it with me!

There is also a picture of our campsite.




This is a pic of our group after coming up the last big hill, so we thought, to get back on the wall.



A picture of the ice cream I enjoyed after the wall, and a picture of us flexing the dirt path that was our last step until we were in the town, we conquered the wall!

These were our first steps onto the wall

















This was only early morning, by the evening I sweated through my entire shirt, I have never done that in my life.

Yet another fun adventure

Yesterday, Laura, another girl on my team, and I decided to go to the silk market to buy some gifts. The silk market is a giant shopping center with booth after booth of anything you can think of from paintings to jewelry. You have to bargain with the sellers to get a good price. The people there all want you to buy from them so they will grab you and yell at you. They always say,"girl, pretty necklace, come look girl". They know a decent amount of English, but only the words they need to know to sell their merchandise. It is a very crazy and busy place. There are lots of people and not a lot of room. We always have to convince them that we live in Beijing and they can't rip us off b/c we know how much the items really sell for.

Laura and I made it to the silk market we figured out how to use the subway. It took about an hour to get there by subway. Then we started to shopping and bargaining with people. We have never been before and no one else wanted to go with us because they wanted to go with old team members who have been before. Laura and I decided that we wanted to try and bargain for ourselves. So we started shopping and I actually was able to get good prices on some jewelry and some pictures. If someone would not give me a good deal I would leave and find someone else. So we felt very accomplished after getting there and buying items for a good deal.

We started home and we had to hurry because we had one hour to get home and it took 50 minutes by subway to get home. The subway pulls up and it is so packed with people that their faces were smeared against the glass. When the doors opened only one tiny person got off. Laura and I looked at each other and were unsure if we should try to fit. So we squeezed in, I barely fit when the door closed. I did not even have to hold on to anything because there were so many people I could not move. I could not even raise my hands to fix my hair. Thankfully we only had to go a few stops on that subway car. The next subway was not nearly as full. We made it back just in time for our meeting. It was a great outing, I like taking little adventures like that because it makes me feel like I have more independence.

I was meant to be in China!!

If you do not know, my favorite cereal is Trix. Growing up my mom would only buy it if it was on sale and we had a coupon. So I did not get to eat it very often. I always loved going to visit my nana because there was an endless supply of Trix awaiting my brother and I. Still to this day there is always a new box of Trix in the cereal cabinet when we arrive at my Nana's house.

I am happy to report that in China Trix is one of the cheap cereals. They sell cereal in the import section, but it is more expensive. You can buy Cheerios, Milk and Egg Stars, or Trix for a much cheaper price. And this is why I knew that I was meant to be in China this year, I can eat Trix whenever I want!

Blind running

This was amazing, these runners ran with a guide.

Medal Ceremony

Paraolympics

We were able to go to the para olympics and see track and field inside the birds nest it was awesome!

This is a picture of me attempting to make peach cobbler in my toaster oven. The first one was very bad, but by the third time it was great!

Peach cobbler