Unfortunately, some things do not like to save. More unfortunately, one of those things is my post from yesterday. Thus, a quick recap.
Yesterday a bunch of us went to a park that was very mountainous and had some great hiking trails with scenic waterfalls and some steep climbs. Basically, Andrew and I were champs and hiked up the whole way, even the part where the stone steps were so steep and high, we were basically climbing them, rather than walking up them. The view from the top was nice, but I'd say it felt like more of an accomplishment just getting up to the top in the first place. Plus, we got to see the mysterious cave, which was plaguing out curiosities the entire way up the trail. The cave, in fact, turned out to be kind of shallow and not all that impressive, but there was a small shrine built in it, and it was nice to say we'd made it that far. However, top entertainment was definitely the walk back down the trail with some of the Chinese helpers from our program. There were about 5 Chinese guys, and we spent the hike down the mountain teaching them silly slang terms like "Whaddap dogg?" and "Holla atcha boyy" or "Fo shizzle my nizzle." Nothing quite breaks the language barrier like butchering each others' languages. Fo' sho.
Today was probably one of the most entertaining and confusing days I've had here. It began at 7 am with an extremely long bus ride to a hospital for medical checks. I gotta hand it to China - they are extremely efficient. We were able to get about a dozen of us X-rayed, blood-drawn(ed?), and STD-checked within a half hour.
The blood drawing process requires some explanation though. It was one of the weirdest sights to see: a row of small windows, each half-open, looking like drive-through windows. They had little stools in front of them, and people would sit at the stools and stick their arm through the window. You couldn't see the other side, so, for example, I had no idea whose rubber sanitation glove grabbed the other side of my arm and quickly twisted a tube around my bicep to force my veins to the surface. Even more terrifying, I couldn't see the face that belonged to the hand that jabbed the needle into my arm and drew the blood. The process itself wasn't painful (even though yes, I am a baby, and yes, I did cry) but it was unnerving. It was so fast, I barely blinked and it was over.
The STD tests were interesting too. First of all, girls' medical checks cost about 10 more yuan that the guys' medical checks. The reasoning was never really explained to us, but I think it had to do with the STD testing. It was taken via the normal process (girls, you know what I'm talking about), but instead of the normal privacy we are used to with doctors and closed doors and knocking, there were two patients to a room, each with their pants down and legs up in stirrups for the doctors to take samples. Let's just say, this was not a place for the bashful. Also, the doors to the rooms were always open. The only barriers were bedsheets that hung from the door frame about halfway to the floor. Thus, anyone could peek their head in to inquire about how long the wait was going to be, or when their child could be seen for their head cold, or whatever.
After the whole med operation, me, my good friend Michele, and two others were all taken to the 4th ring road in the north east of Beijing to see the school we were going to be working at. It's a Montessori school (I'm pretty sure I've already explained it, but here's the website again: http://www.keerlido.com/). It's really quite cute and very laid back and modern. The teaching style stresses teacher observation and student independence and exploration. A funny thing though - we have to wear these uniforms that are like, traditional dark blue silk Chinese tops and black slacks. It's a matcher's nightmare. Alas, they looked comfy. Guess I didn't need two suitcases of clothes. Oh well. Also, the school's owner and designer is apparently very fond of modern architecture and design styles, so the whole school is entirely white. It's like, insane asylum white. And the echo is pretty intense as well. A whisper sounds like rocks falling down stairs. At one point, one of the guys who was also interviewing decided it would be okay to try and play a piano that was in a dark room with a cover on it. Bad idea. It was so loud, it wasn't long before a worker rushed over and begged him to stop - the children were napping. Also, why was he playing the piano in the first place? These things I cannot explain.
After the interviews and whatnot, the day dragged awkwardly. We weren't really sure when the bus was coming to pick us up, so we got kind of bored and antsy and tired. When the bus did come to pick us up though, it had lots of new, older people in it who were pretty experienced with Beijing from the viewpoint of foreigners. A lot was learned on the bus ride back to Miyun Impressions Lodge today.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
I got a phone, I got a phone, I got a phone hey hey hey hey
So these past few days have been crazy and curious. We've had lots of general info sessions where teachers have given us tips and tricks for teaching the kids English. While most of the time it's been alright, sometimes it's downright boring. BOR. ING. In fact, yesterday, I resorted to counting the number of times the speaker showed us pictures or videos of himself in which he was wearing the same yellow shirt that he was wearing during the presentation. I lost count.
Yesterday I was told I was going to meet the Vice Principal of one of the kindergartens that wanted me to teach with her school. The school is a Montessori school (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method), which has this really alternative method of how to teach children and how children learn. I love it, and although the school is around the 4th ring road in Lido (further than I originally wanted to be), it's in the expat/foreign district, which is supposed to be quite a nice area.
Last night we had a big bbq buffet with unlimited beer between 6:30-10:30pm...all for free. It was quite interesting bonding time, and it was also a nice de-stresser. I waited till I had had my interview with the VP of the school, KeEr international kindergarten, (http://www.keerlido.com/) before getting my drink on. The woman I met with was incredibly nice and seemed very open, which makes sense since Montessori teaching seems like a really open form of teaching - more based on a child's interaction with their environment than with the teacher's command of the child's environment. She was wearing slight eye glitter in powder form along the creases of her eyes, and her head had a long silk scarf that she wore as a cap, tied off to the side so that it draped on her shoulder. It was really inventive, although I still haven't figured out how she kept it from falling off of her head. Her only complaint about the school was that the walls were too white. Not so bad, considering some other people have had much more nerve-wracking experiences with their possible schools.
After the interview I actually spent a lot of the night attempting to talk to the Chinese staff and workers at the lodge we're staying at. I talked to them for about an hour at least, and although a copious amount of hand signals were used, I think it was all-around a success. Today, they even gave me some green tea and invited me to sit with them. Last night she gave me a plum. Lol. They are are quite the gift-giving people, the Chinese.
ANDDDD today we got out phones!!!!! Yayy!!! Mine is so cute. It was 268 yuan (about $40), and I am abnormally excited about the prospect of adding a cell phone charm to it (like all the Asian girls have). But now, I must go. We have a park excursion :D Woot woot!
Yesterday I was told I was going to meet the Vice Principal of one of the kindergartens that wanted me to teach with her school. The school is a Montessori school (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method), which has this really alternative method of how to teach children and how children learn. I love it, and although the school is around the 4th ring road in Lido (further than I originally wanted to be), it's in the expat/foreign district, which is supposed to be quite a nice area.
Last night we had a big bbq buffet with unlimited beer between 6:30-10:30pm...all for free. It was quite interesting bonding time, and it was also a nice de-stresser. I waited till I had had my interview with the VP of the school, KeEr international kindergarten, (http://www.keerlido.com/) before getting my drink on. The woman I met with was incredibly nice and seemed very open, which makes sense since Montessori teaching seems like a really open form of teaching - more based on a child's interaction with their environment than with the teacher's command of the child's environment. She was wearing slight eye glitter in powder form along the creases of her eyes, and her head had a long silk scarf that she wore as a cap, tied off to the side so that it draped on her shoulder. It was really inventive, although I still haven't figured out how she kept it from falling off of her head. Her only complaint about the school was that the walls were too white. Not so bad, considering some other people have had much more nerve-wracking experiences with their possible schools.
After the interview I actually spent a lot of the night attempting to talk to the Chinese staff and workers at the lodge we're staying at. I talked to them for about an hour at least, and although a copious amount of hand signals were used, I think it was all-around a success. Today, they even gave me some green tea and invited me to sit with them. Last night she gave me a plum. Lol. They are are quite the gift-giving people, the Chinese.
ANDDDD today we got out phones!!!!! Yayy!!! Mine is so cute. It was 268 yuan (about $40), and I am abnormally excited about the prospect of adding a cell phone charm to it (like all the Asian girls have). But now, I must go. We have a park excursion :D Woot woot!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tricked ya!
So, technically, this blog is "blocked." But alas, I am back on it and will continue to blog on it until what I use to avoid the block, gets blocked as well. That's China for ya.
I guess I should do somewhat of a quick run-through of what this past day (days?) has been like for me. We were piled into a bus, about 20-30 of us, and taken an hour outside of Beijing to a more mountainous, rural region. The place we were going to was described to us as a "resort," but in China slang, that just means...well, not quite a resort but better than most other options. If you were in Europe, you would describe this place as a hostel - it's got a central courtyard with an eating area and two small ponds. There are also two ducks that hangout in the courtyard and act like dogs, especially while we're eating. I never noticed ducks have tongues, and I've been fascinated by it. If you've ever eaten muscles out of the shell, that's kind of how the duck's tongue looks in its mouth.
The boys are separated to one side of the courtyard, the girls on another. Most of the rooms contain 3 or 6 beds, depending on the size, and most of us have finagled ways to be in rooms with people we like. The two girls who happened to be on my same flight in, are actually the ones I've also bonded the most with, so that worked out well. We're now all rooming together in a "luxury" room, which is categorized as such because it has effective air conditioning and a shower. However, the lighting in the bathroom makes it look like the torture chamber/bathroom from the movie "Saw" because its this bluish gray, fluorescent lighting - the kind that, when you look in the mirror, makes the veins in your face and under your eyes look all purple and sickly.
It's funny because we have air conditioning and wifi (kind of loose, limited wifi though), yet we have only 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the night where hot water is available. Also, our shower is not quite a shower...it's like, two shower heads on the wall of the bathroom. There's no clean delineation between where shower ends and the rest of the bathroom begins. However, shifting the shower head to the far right mostly ensures that the dry change of clothes I put on the toilet seat won't get wet.
Our meals so far have been pretty good, definitely better than I expected. One of my new guy friends actually found a spider in his cooked spinach, but mostly these things are oddities rather than common occurrences. One thing that really surprised me was the amount of couples that came on this trip, with this program. There are probably about 4 or 5 couples on this trip, which is about 10 people out of the 70 in the program. I think that's a pretty hefty amount, especially since most of us are relatively young. It's not that I'm against couples (obviously), but, I don't know. What if something happens and they break up? Then all their memories of China and this unique experience, will be slightly muddled with the memories of their relationship. Maybe i'm a cynic. I hope none of them find this blog and take personal offense.
Anyways, I feel like I've said enough for the day. Most of the people seem pretty cool, but I've definitely bonded closely with a core group of maybe 4 other people, two girls two guys. I'll be sure to keep you updated if that number expands. Some of the kids are typical Caucasian, East Asian Studies major, types, if you know what I mean. One kid is wearing a black shirt that outlines the food pyramid of zombies. However, word on the street is that he also knows how to get onto Facebook, so he definitely had his 15 minutes of fame with that rumor. My new friends and I are trying to get housed with each other, even if that makes our commute a bit longer. After all, a lot of China is about discovering it, and I feel like it'd be great to have people with similar-minded ambitions, living together to explore together.
Oh, and I have made a little secret discovery that makes my social life here wayyy easier. It starts with an "F" and ends with "book." Yes, my friends, I found a way to skirt the filters and still get on Facebook. Tell me that's not awesome. Seriously.
I guess I should do somewhat of a quick run-through of what this past day (days?) has been like for me. We were piled into a bus, about 20-30 of us, and taken an hour outside of Beijing to a more mountainous, rural region. The place we were going to was described to us as a "resort," but in China slang, that just means...well, not quite a resort but better than most other options. If you were in Europe, you would describe this place as a hostel - it's got a central courtyard with an eating area and two small ponds. There are also two ducks that hangout in the courtyard and act like dogs, especially while we're eating. I never noticed ducks have tongues, and I've been fascinated by it. If you've ever eaten muscles out of the shell, that's kind of how the duck's tongue looks in its mouth.
The boys are separated to one side of the courtyard, the girls on another. Most of the rooms contain 3 or 6 beds, depending on the size, and most of us have finagled ways to be in rooms with people we like. The two girls who happened to be on my same flight in, are actually the ones I've also bonded the most with, so that worked out well. We're now all rooming together in a "luxury" room, which is categorized as such because it has effective air conditioning and a shower. However, the lighting in the bathroom makes it look like the torture chamber/bathroom from the movie "Saw" because its this bluish gray, fluorescent lighting - the kind that, when you look in the mirror, makes the veins in your face and under your eyes look all purple and sickly.
It's funny because we have air conditioning and wifi (kind of loose, limited wifi though), yet we have only 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the night where hot water is available. Also, our shower is not quite a shower...it's like, two shower heads on the wall of the bathroom. There's no clean delineation between where shower ends and the rest of the bathroom begins. However, shifting the shower head to the far right mostly ensures that the dry change of clothes I put on the toilet seat won't get wet.
Our meals so far have been pretty good, definitely better than I expected. One of my new guy friends actually found a spider in his cooked spinach, but mostly these things are oddities rather than common occurrences. One thing that really surprised me was the amount of couples that came on this trip, with this program. There are probably about 4 or 5 couples on this trip, which is about 10 people out of the 70 in the program. I think that's a pretty hefty amount, especially since most of us are relatively young. It's not that I'm against couples (obviously), but, I don't know. What if something happens and they break up? Then all their memories of China and this unique experience, will be slightly muddled with the memories of their relationship. Maybe i'm a cynic. I hope none of them find this blog and take personal offense.
Anyways, I feel like I've said enough for the day. Most of the people seem pretty cool, but I've definitely bonded closely with a core group of maybe 4 other people, two girls two guys. I'll be sure to keep you updated if that number expands. Some of the kids are typical Caucasian, East Asian Studies major, types, if you know what I mean. One kid is wearing a black shirt that outlines the food pyramid of zombies. However, word on the street is that he also knows how to get onto Facebook, so he definitely had his 15 minutes of fame with that rumor. My new friends and I are trying to get housed with each other, even if that makes our commute a bit longer. After all, a lot of China is about discovering it, and I feel like it'd be great to have people with similar-minded ambitions, living together to explore together.
Oh, and I have made a little secret discovery that makes my social life here wayyy easier. It starts with an "F" and ends with "book." Yes, my friends, I found a way to skirt the filters and still get on Facebook. Tell me that's not awesome. Seriously.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Some Words Before I Go
Hi all,
I'm not sure if everyone who reads this knows me, but I am hoping there will be people who read this who do not know me but come to know my experience all the same. Maybe who will come to feel as though they know me as well as if they had met me in the first place, before all of this.
I'm going to China. "Why blog about that?" you might ask. I might ask that too, but that would be repetitive. So I'll answer it as best I can. I'm writing a blog because I love to write. For me, writing is my most natural, instinctive form of self-expression and self-evaluation. I don't know if I'm "good" at it, but I know I'm honest with it, and that has to count for something. Also, I have friends and family who mean more to me than anything else in the world, and they are so much a part of who I am, I want to make them a part of what I do, wherever I am.
I would add more to this post, but currently it's 12:14 am, and the Vitamin C face peel sample my friend gave me has caused my face to constrain all basic movements - it's like stretch-and-peel Botox. Also, the longer I stay awake, the closer I get to the realization I will really be gone for a year...that I will be in a country whose language I speak like a clumsy parrot (although sometimes I do have a knack for repeating tones pretty accurately) and that I will be 12 hours and thousands of miles removed from the people who have made the past 22 years of my life so good, it feels like I'm bragging just thinking about it.
It's weird because although there are things that I will really, really miss, like "big picture" things, I can only seem to concentrate on the smaller details. It's like, my mind can only comprehend the depth of sadness in edible chunks. Here's a list of the silly things that have crossed my mind of what I will miss (a warning, none of them are family or friends. That should all be known and assumed that my heart will be aching for them each and every day, although it will simultaneously be filled with the sweetness of their faith and hope in what I hope to do and learn while away):
- Halloween: The logistics and general thematic layout of Halloween make it possibly one of the most impossible holidays to attempt to celebrate by yourself in a country that does not celebrate it
- The comforter I've had since college: It is a lumpy comforter that is filled with, I'm pretty sure, cottonballs. However, it magically keeps me warm enough in the winter and cool enough in the summer. I deem it, Sisterhood of the Traveling Comforter, that is how all-purpose it is. Also, it's a pretty light blue with lace detailing that criss-crosses along the front in tiny lines and has pattens of burnt orange and marigold-colored flowers on it. The other side is this interesting bohemian pattern. It's perfectly imperfect.
- My rainbow fish picture in white-washed frame: It hung in my apartment bathroom all last year. It's rainbow fish. Need I say more?
That's all I can think of for now. Plus, if you know me, I am one for ending things with a smile. So, I shall go and make a goodnight phone call, tuck a photo from the luau (from my family vacation to Hawaii) into my purse to take to the airport, and remove this face peel, which is, by now, the consistency of dried Elmer's glue. If you've ever covered your hand in glue as a kid so that you could wait for it to dry, then slowly peel it off so that your palm was imprinted in the thin, papery glue-hand, you might have an idea what I'm talking about.
Comment if you'd like. I like comments, and I really like to read them, so if that is any further encouragement...feel free...
Love,
Amy
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