Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
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.
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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!!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
