Okay, again, I've procrastinated and so I have quite a bit of catch-up to do.  So the last thing I talked about was my dad's birthday.  That weekend, a bunch of people went to Nanjing to "hike" Purple Mountain.  I met up with Aimee, Savannah, Danielle, and Olivia to head up to Wanda Plaza together.  It just happened to be Pi Day, so at 3/14/15 9:26 am we all ate an Orion Pie since that was pretty much the closest thing to pie we had.  I'm pretty sure the other people on the bus were really confused by the fact that a) Savannah opened up her suitcase to get out the box of Orion Pies, b) we all sat holding the Orion Pies for like 10 minutes, and c) when the time came all the sudden all of us were taking pictures/eating the Orion Pies.  Yeah, it was quite the 25 minute bus ride.

When we got to Wanda, we only met up with Kirsten so while we waited, some people went into Starbucks.  Danielle and I sat outside the store to wait.  Soon, an old beggar came up and started begging, but unlike most, he was quite persistent and also rather touchy.  He was touching Danielle's legs and kept trying to prod her for money for like 3+ minutes, so I told her to go in the store.  He then came over to me and I gave him the coins I had, hoping that would satisfy him and he'd go on his way, but then he wouldn't leave.  He kept prodding for more money and even though I told him I didn't have any more, he kept doing the touching thing.  When Kirsten came over, he also did the same thing to her, and after poking us in places he shouldn't have, he finally left to go into the store where he continued to prod for money from the other girls.  It's one thing when they just beg, but he was quite persistent and would touch each person in areas that were quite uncomfortable (chest, butt, upper thigh, etc).  Let's just say that once they came out, we were all happy to get away.

We found Ari and Koy in the station when we went to buy our tickets, found out Tyler forgot his passport so he had to go back, and also Chris and Natalia were going to be late, and Kyra was sick.  The decision was to get our tickets and either wait for them in Zhenjiang or in Nanjing.  Our train left in 20 minutes, so we just waited in Nanjing for everyone to get there.  We met up with some of the girls from YangZhong, Alex and Adison, and also the 3 from Zhenjiang that were behind. While waiting we were hungry, so I convinced Kirsten to get this purple rice porridge that I was getting.  She had a slightly difficult time with it because it was pretty bland (except for the parts that actually had a little sugar in it) and the texture was thick, etc.  I thought it was pretty good though.

Today is my dad's birthday!  Since I'm kinda far away, and he's spending the day in the hospital (he had to have his shoulder replaced- yikes!) I decided that he would need something to cheer him up because hospitals are just not fun.  And since the thing that really cheers me up almost without fail are my students here, I decided to enlist their help to make his day.  Here's the video we made of them singing "Happy Birthday" for him:

Obviously they didn't sing his name (they usually don't sing the name of the birthday person here), and I don't have my 2 first grade classes in here, but it was nice how excited they were to sing happy birthday for my dad.  They have SO much energy, and I hope some of that energy rubs off on me instead of me using all of my energy to try to contain their enthusiasm and hyperactivity.  I guess I didn't need to put this here since I got it to him directly, but I'm kinda using this blog like a journal of events and this has been an important event so far.  Thus, I am putting it up here.  If anyone ever needs a little lift, feel free to watch it and just enjoy.

So in other news, I also finally figured out how to make my washing machine work!  So the only outlet in the bathroom is taken up by the water heater and is too far for the washing machine cord to reach.  So, I had to become inventive:

So, it's been a bit since I wrote. I think I may have already mentioned this, but I'm really not very good at being the most consistent at writing things like this.  Oh well, I'm already doing better than I have at other times.

Anyway, so last Tuesday was the last time I wrote.  Well, last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I got to teach all of my classes again. Basically, I'll be teaching each class twice a week (I probably already mentioned this though, huh).  So my classes for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were a whole lot better than the first two days of teaching.  It's not so much that the students were in any way different, but even with just teaching a second class, I understand them better now and I better understand how to teach them.  Also, I'm starting to get the hang of doing the discipline thing better.  I don't know, I just really have a hard time being very strict.  In my classes, most of the time there is a "translation teacher" in the back of the class.  Basically, they're other English teachers who are there to help translate when needed.  Anyway, almost all of them would ask me how I felt the class went and then tell me that I need to be more strict, especially at the beginning of the semester.  It's so hard for me to be strict, especially when I don't even know the words needed to be strict.  I tried just being quiet, but that did NOT work.  They just kept talking.  I mean, kids talk and that's to be expected.  I just need to try and focus their energy into learning instead of playing.  It's getting better, though, and I'm sure as I keep teaching them, I'll be better able to control the class.  However, it's really hard not to speak Chinese to them.  Because there's a lot they don't understand, I end up trying to explain a lot to them in Chinese. I'll say it multiple times in English and then if they still don't understand, I'll say it in Chinese.  I should probably use Chinese less though so that they learn more English, but I feel that if they don't understand (especially at that age) they'll just say "I don't understand" and tune everything out even if they could understand some of it.  I've noticed that I do that sometimes when I'm here- I'm listening to part of a conversation and I don't really understand what they're talking about so I zone out and then a bit later they ask me something and I haven't been paying attention so I have no idea what to say.  I don't do this all the time, mostly just when I'm tired and don't feel like trying to pick up on what they're saying.

So I have to say that my students really are great.  I've only met with them a few times, but they get so excited just to see me.  When I go by the first year classes, I just put my hands up and they constantly give me high fives.  No joke- I could probably stand there for 3-5 minutes just giving high fives because they'll just stand there each one constantly giving me a high five.  Also, I'll have 3 different people trying to high five each hand.  It's really cute.  I also have some who like to come up and hug me.  Actually, the other day, I had one girl come up and hug me, so I spun her around.  Then a boy came up and he's probably the biggest in the class, but I hugged him and spun him around too.  Even though he's probably the heaviest in his class, he still isn't that heavy.  These kids are so small and it's fun that in China it's not seen as questionable when I hug them or play with them.  In fact, some of the second grade girls want me to go to their apartment.  I haven't made it yet because I'm not sure when they have free time that I could go other than night time (which I don't know what time that would be), and the night they said to come, I couldn't because I was planning 2 lessons for the next day.

So, there's 3 people I regularly sit with at lunch- Ray （王雷）, his girlfriend （才才）, and another 2nd grade teacher （周倩）(the girlfriend and this teacher are the two homeroom teachers for the 2 2nd grade classes).  It's fun sitting with them because the 2 girls mostly talk about students and funny things they do or whatever.  I've noticed that I do the same when I meet up with other foreign teachers- we exchange stories about what our school is like or how our students are.  I guess it's just a common thing for teachers to do- which makes me wonder about my past teachers and what stories they may have told.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon, I went up to WanDa (万达）(it's basically a shopping center) to meet with some of the people here in 镇江 (ZhenJiang) to go see the lantern festival.  Well, I got there fine (though it was a rather cold and somewhat rainy day), and when we went to leave, we realized we didn't actually know what bus to take to get to the park where we were going to meet the others.  We figured it out, but after waiting for the bus to come for about 40 minutes, we decided to just take a taxi.  Unfortunately, when we decided to actually take a taxi, there were no taxis coming by that didn't have people in them.  So we waited for another 20 or so minutes.  Finally, we got a taxi and made it to the park.  Jacob was in town and came with us, then took us all to dinner and we had pizza!  It was pretty decent pizza, at least as far as China standards go.  It was fun getting everyone together and hearing everyone's stories.  It got to be about 8 pm and I felt like I remembered that the buses stopped at 9, so we left and tried to catch our bus back to our area.  Well, the bus that I took to get to WanDa stopped running at 6:30.  So, Chris (one of the teachers that's down in my area) and I grabbed some food from one of the little street vendors and then got a taxi and went home.  In taxis here, a lot of people sit up front with the driver, and I ended up in the front.  I felt really awkward about it.  In Taiwan, the taxi drivers would try to talk to us and stuff like that.  Here they're practically mute, at least the ones I've met.

Well, Friday I randomly decided to go up to Kirsten's and have a sleep over then go together to the RS activity on Saturday morning.  We wandered around WanDa for awhile (she was looking for a keyboard to practice for playing in church) and I was looking for a place to get a cheap guitar so I have something else I can do in my apartment other than my computer and phone (I really don't have much in my apartment).  Obviously, I should get out more and interact with the students, but they're in class almost all day.  Because they're so young, I think the school tries to have even more of a schedule for everything.  Even exercise time is scheduled what they'll do, etc.  The only unscheduled time is the times between classes which is when they pretty much go crazy.  Maybe when it gets a bit warmer the kids will be playing outside more often.  I just don't really like the cold.  Cold here isn't as bad, but when you're constantly in the cold and you never really warm up completely, it's just not a happy feeling.  Plus, even though I put my heater up to 30 (which is like 86 degrees Fahrenheit), my room never actually warms up all the way and I feel like I need to wear gloves in my apartment in order to keep my hands warm.  Seriously, I am constantly wearing like 4 layers of pants and 3-5 layers of shirts.  It will be really nice when I don't feel like I have to wear so much just to stay warm (though as my family knows, I tend to like being warmer than other people do).  I would much rather be too hot than be cold.

Anyway, back to the sleepover.  So, after WanDa, we went over to Walmart (yes, they have Walmart here, in fact there are like 2-3 in my city).  We got some presents for the 2 teachers in my mentor group whose birthdays were Friday and Saturday.  Then we met up with some of the teachers including those two and walked around WanDa a bit.  They were all going to go to one of the other teacher's apartment (Koy, who has a really big, nice apartment) to hang out, but by 8 we decided we'd better head out so we didn't get stuck without a running bus to Kirsten's apartment.  We went back, and then as we entered her school, we realized we probably weren't going to get back out to go buy food.  Luckily we had bought a few extra things at Walmart, and she had some fried rice left over from before.  So, that became our dinner.

These are all of the kids at my school.  There are 2 1st grade classes, 2 2nd grade classes, and 4 3rd grade classes.  I teach all of them except the 3rd and 4th class in the 3rd grade (they are public classes, so apparently they don't get a foreign teacher).


This is the welcome sign for my school.


I don't know if you can tell but the ceiling and doorway are REALLY short.  Every time I come in or out I have to duck down so I don't hit my head on the ceiling or the door frame.  Haha.

So today is Tuesday and I'm going to talk about yesterday and today.

So in the morning I got up for the flag raising ceremony (8:10 am every Monday) and was first told that I need to go, then about 2 minutes beforehand, they said I didn't need to go, but I could if I wanted to.  I decided to just go because I had woken up just so that I could go because I was originally told I had to go every week.  Anyway, I went and some of the other English teachers leaned over and asked me why I was there.  I didn't really have an answer for that.  Then the vice principle came up to me and told me that they were going to "introduce me" and then have me say a few sentences in English.  (5 minutes later, another guy came and told me the same thing).  Anyway, the flag ceremony was nice and it was pretty interesting.  The principle ended up talking for what felt like a really long time (it felt like 10 minutes, but it was probably only 5).  After he talked they had me come up and talk.  I had absolutely no idea what to say, so I just said hello and that I was excited to be there and to meet them.  And then I was done.  
Afterward, I went back to the office, and they gave me my schedule and stuff like that.  So this school only has 3 grades (1, 2, and 3).  I really have a nice schedule-- I teach 6 classes twice a week.  Every day except Tuesday I only teach 2 hours a day (from like 1:40-3:45 or something like that) and Tuesday I have 2 classes in the morning, though the first one doesn't start until 10:20.  So I really have a pretty nice schedule at the moment!
Well, the morning came and went and then it was time to teach the 2 grade 2 classes.  Just as I was about to go to my first class, 王蕾 came and told me that Jacob had come to check out my apartment and stuff.  So, they had me go to my apartment and I met up with Jacob and Chris (one of the other teachers in my area- he actually teaches at the school that's right across the street from my school).  It was fun seeing them here.  When they left, class was already halfway over, so I just taught that class during the next period instead.  
Catherine (one of the English teachers) sat in the back of the class, and I was really glad because she was able to help me explain a few things.  It really is different teaching kids rather than high school/middle school students.  The students here know a decent amount of English, but sometimes they don't know some basic words that I tried to use.  My first class loved to talk.  Seriously though, they talked a lot.  The second class wasn't as talkative, though.  Which basically meant that they were more well-behaved.  I'm still getting used to the whole Chinese discipline style, so after I taught my classes, each of the English teachers (each one sat in the back for different classes) told me I should be more strict with them. I'm really not good at being strict.  Seriously, I think that is one area I don't even know where to begin in.  But I guess I'll have to work on it a bit more so that I don't completely lose control of the classes.
Anyway, after my second class, I went shopping for necessities with Chris.  I helped him get what he was wanting (speaking Chinese really is quite useful!) and I got some stuff I needed (like a towel, toilet paper, bottled water, etc).  When I was checking out, the girl behind the counter and I had a little conversation and she told me that she though my Chinese had a bit of a Chinese flavor to it.  I was surprised because I had the impression that my Chinese had more of a Taiwanese flavor to it.  I'm still working on changing some of the wording I use and stuff to be Chinese rather than Taiwanese, but it's really been fun being able to just talk to all these people who I'm sure aren't very used to talking to foreigners.  For instance, when I was trying to figure out which shampoo and conditioner to get, I was able to ask the lady there and so she helped me figure out what one would probably be best for my hair (since I don't know the characters that they put on hair product bottles).  She was also really good at making sure I knew which one was shampoo and which one was conditioner.  It was really nice of her because she seemed to actually care about helping me.
Afterward, I realized that I missed dinner time in the cafeteria.  They generally eat pretty early (dinner is served between 5 and 5:45) but I'm used to eating later, and I'm not usually that hungry at 5.  So, Chris and I took our groceries back to our apartments (first mine, then his) and then we went to a restaurant across from his school.  I got to eat curry!!  It wasn't as good as the curry I would have in Taiwan, but it was still pretty good.
So, everything tends to calm down as soon as it starts getting dark here, so as we went back, both of the schools had kinda closed down for the night (the guards still let us in, of course, but the gates were closed).  
Anyway, so that concludes Monday, and Tuesday (today) started pretty much the same.  I woke up, got ready, and went to the office.  Then I went to my first class at 10:20.  This morning I taught the 2 3rd grade classes. They knew more English, but there were also more that were 'naughty' rather than just being excited to speak English like some of the 2nd graders had been.  The lesson I had prepared didn't seem like it covered enough material for them, so at the end I felt like I was scrambling to fill the time (each class is 40 minutes long).  After my 2 3rd grade classes, I went to lunch.  On my way one of the teachers walked with me and clung to my arm.  It's actually a really common thing for girls to hold onto each others' arms, it just kind of shows closeness.  I was really happy to talk to her and she and I sat together at lunch and everything.  I hope that as the semester goes on we can become good friends.
After lunch, I had an hour of a break and then I went to my 1st grade classes.  Again, there are only 2 classes in the first grade.  They were so cute- as I went to their class, they all came up to me in the hall to ask me my name and give me a high five.  I hope that I can help them learn English, but I mostly just hope that I can help all of my students have confidence in themselves and in the English that they do know.  I'm already beginning to love them, even though I don't really know them that well yet.  Since I don't have that many students, I hope I can learn all of their names and be able to use their names when I talk to them.  The only problem is that I tend to be bad with names. Oh well, I just have to work a bit harder then.  
When classes were over, 王蕾 and the driver took me to the police station.  I didn't really have any idea why I needed to go or anything like that, they just said I had to go.  When I got there, they took us back by an office, but the guy wasn't there so the person that took us back went to look for him.  Anyway, across from the office were the "interrogation waiting rooms" which were just cells that only had slits in the walls for light.  It did not look like a very nice cell.  Well, they filled out the paper work that they had to do to say that I was living there or whatever, and on the way out some of the policemen told me I am very beautiful.  王蕾's reaction told me that he felt it was kind of inappropriate for them to say that.  I don't think he realizes how often people say things like that to me (or other foreigners).
Well, when I came back, I just got to hang out in my apartment again until about 8:30 when 王蕾 came by and told me that the boss was coming to meet me.  The school is owned by a Taiwanese man named Sebastian.  Anyway, when I met him he was really nice and told me that he had gone to school in Kansas.  I also talked to him in Chinese a bit, and he told me my Chinese was really good but that with the students I shouldn't speak in Chinese very much.  I understand why of course, but it may be a bit more difficult because my first reaction when they don't understand is to try explaining in Chinese (when I actually know the Chinese).  Oh well, I guess I just need to do better at playing charades. :)
I'm finally caught up!  Obviously I have been spending a lot of time alone so far because the other teachers all have to be in their classes and I just have a lot of time during the day.  Anyway, my hands are freezing cold as I'm typing this, so I'm going to just call it good and find a way to warm up my poor fingers.
Until next time, 再见！

Oh, what a day!

So yesterday I had to tell 王蕾 (Ray) that I had to go to Nanjing and when he asked why I told him that I was going to church.  So he said to meet him at 7:30 am and he would take me to the train station.  By the way, as a side note, I basically froze all night last night.  This meant that I didn't sleep all that great and I was really tired when I had to get up.  So, I met up with him, and it turned out that he had waited for me to come down before eating.  It was fast Sunday, so I just told him I had already eaten since I didn't want him to feel like he needed to encourage me to eat; nor did I want to get into the discussion of why I fast.  It just was too early to try figuring out how to explain something religious in a secular way.  Anyway, we left for the bus stop, but as we walked there the bus we were looking for drove off.  So, we waited for a bit before he decided to just take a taxi.  It's only a 5-10 minute drive from my school, so it wasn't too bad.  When I got there I saw Chris, Aimee, and Savannah waiting there since we're all in the area Dantu (丹徒）.  Basically it's just like an area of ZhenJiang that's on the southern end.  Well, I went up to the window to get my train ticket and realized I didn't have my passport with me.  See, last time I was here I didn't need my passport for train tickets and stuff.  Apparently that changed.  So I called my liaison and he walked back to the square.  He called the principle's driver to come pick us up then take us back to the school and then back to the train station to catch the 9:00 train (we originally were supposed to meet at the train station at 8:00 am to catch the first train that came after that).  On the way back to the train station he told me that there is a church in ZhenJiang and so "next time maybe you just go there".  I had to try explaining that the churches were different, which is very difficult sometimes when they don't understand anything about church to begin with.  Anyway, I figured it out and we got our tickets to the train 10 minutes before it left so by the time we got inside it was already time to line up to go to the train platform.  Anyway, we made it on the train and got to the subway alright, but then we had to figure out where the right staircase for the direction we wanted to go on line 1 was at (they separated them in two areas).  So long story short, we finally made it to church just in time to sing the last line of the sacrament song.  Next time we'll know where we're going, so it'll be easier to get there on time. :)
So, church was really nice.  It was really cool to hear the testimonies of the people who have been living in China for awhile.  We also got to meet a lot of them and start getting to know the people we'll be meeting with every week.  I have to say it was really nice to actually meet with people because even though it had only been a day, I think most people were feeling a bit alone.  So it was good that we could all meet up and talk about what happened our first day with the school and stuff like that.  Anyway, I have to say that if today was any indication, no one seems to sing any louder than like a whisper almost, so when I actually sing at what would normally be a regular volume, it felt like I was singing super loud.  We'll see how it goes next week- hopefully I don't end up sticking out too much.  Oh, and after church ended a lady came up to Kirsten and I and asked if we could help out with Primary next week (her playing piano, me leading).  So, that should be fun.
Aimee and Savannah were supposed to be back at their school by 3:15, so I went back with them to just make sure they could get back alright (the first time tends to be more confusing and stuff).  Anyway, when we got our tickets we were told that the next train with available seats wasn't leaving until 4:30.  So we got to wait.  Since we knew we would have to wait for 2 hours, we decided that it was an "ox in the mire" situation and we bought McDonald's so that we could break our fast and sit inside instead of out in the cold.  Well when it got to be about 3:45 we decided to go find our way to our gate. I found some seats while they went to the bathroom, and I happened to sit across a boy about 14 years old.  He started talking to me with the English he knew, and when I said something in Chinese after a bit he was excited and we just had a nice conversation.  It's really cool that I can just have a conversation with a random boy in the train station and it doesn't feel weird at all.  In America, that type of thing always made me feel a bit weird, but here it just seems normal.  Anyway, he helped us know when to go line up for the train.  When we lined up for our train car, we briefly met another guy who was also in our car.  Well, once we got off the train and found our bus stop, we discovered that he was actually going on the same bus we were.  Since I hadn't actually taken the bus that morning, I was a little wary about recognizing when to get off, especially since I took a different bus than the one we were originally going to take that morning (according to my liaison, I could take either one, and Aimee and Savannah were taking this one).  So I asked him if he happened to know where my school was at, and it just so happened that he was also getting off where I needed to go, so he said to follow him.  When the time came, we got off and just started walking.  I got to talk to him quite a bit and it turns out that he is a college student in Nanjing but he was coming home for whatever reason.  Anyway, we had a really good conversation and it just reminded me again of all the wonderful people there are here in China that are so willing to help.  He walked me all the way to my school gate.  I'm not sure where he was headed after that, and I don't know if the school was actually on his way or not, but I'm really grateful he was willing to help a foreigner who didn't really know the area.
One random tidbit is that many of the people I've talked to today have asked me how many years I have been in China (usually this is followed by me talking to them in Chinese for a couple minutes).  When I tell them I've only been here for 2 or so weeks, they're all really surprised.  I have to say this made me feel SO much better about my Chinese, especially after feeling like I didn't understand anyone yesterday.
Anyway, the rest of today was mostly just me catching up on blogging, etc.  I'm still behind, so I wrote this in Word, and I'll post it after I get the rest of the Beijing trip written down.
Well, until next time! 再见！

So, sitting next to the principle was definitely an experience!  He really likes to talk- but he talks using more ZhenJiang dialect than anything else.  So, I had a hard time understanding a lot of what he said, and the more he drank, the less I understood.  See, his accent is pretty thick to begin with making it a bit more difficult to understand what he’s saying, but as he got drunk it got even worse.  Needless to say, I felt worse about my own ability to speak and understand Chinese that night than I have in quite a long time (I didn’t realize how much of what he was saying was in the local dialect until a day later when one of the English teachers told me that she didn’t even understand everything he said because of that).  Well, throughout that night, he would turn to talk to me about something or other and those conversations included, ‘If you eat so little, how can you be so fat?’ ‘Are you single?’ ‘My children are [blank] years old, so I will treat you like my child’ ‘I am very straightforward with the foreigners I have worked with and after a while they all really like it, so I will be straightforward with you’ ‘You need to toast [insert name here] (he said this many times about different people including himself, the other authorities of the school, and the English teachers)’ ‘Toasting is a Chinese tradition and while you are in China, you should learn to “Do as the Romans do”’ and one of my favorites, ‘You must drink it all, then you are family.  If you don’t drink it all you are just a guest’.  I was told that they wanted me to be like part of the family, which could be good, but could also be potentially not good.  So I just hoped I would still be treated with the hospitality/respect that they show guests, but that they would still treat me as a friend too.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this will play out over the semester.

Well, that was Saturday- the beginning of my real life here in China!  I'm excited to get to know the people here and make friends with some of the teachers and students.

Until next time! 再见！

So the day after the Great Wall and stuff, I woke up and Kyra (my roommate for this part of the trip) let me know that she was really not feeling well.  It seemed that she had food poisoning, so I let Jacob know, we got her some food and something to drink and then we left for the Summer Palace (颐和园).  While we were there, I mostly just went around with Beth, Kirsten, and Alyssa.  We hiked up over the 'mountain' part of the palace and then walked down a long path to the lake.  After being by the lake for a bit, we decided it was probably time for us to head back so Alyssa could meet up with those that wanted someone to take them back.

We decided we didn't particularly want to hike back up all the stairs and the hill/mountain thing (Alyssa's knees are also bad, so between the two of us we often made decisions based on what would hurt knees less).  So, we heard that there was a path around from the side of the mountain; thus we went off in search of this mysterious path.  Instead, we ended up just deciding to go out the East gate then walk around to the North gate.  It worked pretty well and we realized just how far we walked while inside the palace.  By noon, we had already walked over 12,000 steps (maybe that can give you an indication of how much walking we have done in any given day).  Oh and we climbed 37 floors (almost all in the palace).

Anyway, after we grabbed a bite to eat I went back to check in on Kyra.  Apparently she basically just slept all day; she also had to throw up a lot, but luckily she was able to get it out.  After lunch, we had some more training.  I have to say (this coming from the end of everything rather than during this time), Brad is really an amazing teacher and it's really cool to see the love that emanates from him as he talks about China and the students.  It's really clear that he loves his life here in China and I just really admire that love he has for the people and the culture.  

So after more training, we had another group dinner (it was really good) and then a lot of them went to the 南锣鼓巷 (Shopping Street) where they bought some of the more "crazy" foods.  Kirsten, Beth and I just hung out for awhile.

The next day was just all orientation stuff.  It was a really long day of sitting; though they did have us mentors get up and talk about one of our students.  I had a really hard time deciding, so I kinda just mentioned two people really quickly (Twinkle and Star). 

Finally, Friday came.  The morning was mostly just ESL training stuff and in the afternoon a bunch of people went back to the markets for shopping (we just had free time).  I again just ended up hanging out with Kirsten and Beth for awhile and then it was (finally) time for the kungfu show.  Now, Brad warned me that it was more just a story about some history of kungfu, so I was a bit more prepared.  Basically it was a mixture of kungfu and dance, but we did get to see different animal and weapon forms.  Those were probably some of my favorite parts of the show.

Well, I'm going to try covering like an entire week plus the first two days being in ZhenJiang (镇江）which have been an adventure in and of themselves.  I'll probably do it in multiple posts since there's a lot of stuff to cover.  By the way, since part of the reason I'm here is to improve my Chinese, I'll be trying to put in the Chinese names of places and things- though since I'm in China I'll be using Simplified Chinese instead of Traditional Chinese like they use in Taiwan (台湾).

On Monday (February 23) we got to go to Tiananmen Square (天安门广场), the Forbidden City （紫禁城), Jingshan Park (景山公园), the Pearl Market （红桥市场), and an Acrobatic Show.  In the morning, we got up to go to Tiananmen Square (天安门广场）which in and of itself wasn't extraordinarily exciting.  We didn't really feel like seeing Chairman Mao (毛主席) encased in a glass coffin, so we just walked the square to the other side and waited for the time that the group was all meeting up.  While we waited, we got to see so many different people come and go; some stared at us, some ignored us, and some came up to get their pictures with us.  It was actually really cool not feeling like we had to try seeing everything because we got to just enjoy being there and really think back on the history of the place.  I tried picturing what it may have looked like before the Communist Party took over, back when Imperial China was blossoming and what kind of traditions there would have been.  Obviously, it was a bit difficult since everything is built up so much, but it was really cool to think about.

When we finally went into the Forbidden City Kirsten and I decided to take the side path since the main area was super crowded.  It was really neat getting to look in old, dirty windows and seeing places that people may have sat or lived in.  On our way, we came across a little boy and a little girl who were dressed up in the old traditional dress.  We said to each other that we really wanted a picture of them.  Happily, as we came closer, their fathers saw us and wanted the kids to take a picture with us.  So after several pictures of us with the kids, and then some with the mothers, and some with the fathers, we walked on our way.  It was a good reminder to us that although all of the people there were Chinese, a large majority were probably tourists just like us, we just happen to stick out a bit more.

Kirsten happens to be really into traditional Chinese history, so we both really enjoyed trying to picture ourselves back in those times and seeing servants and eunuchs going from building to building.  By the time we reached the end, we had seen a lot of different buildings and also saw a lot that had been turned into souvenir shops and bathrooms.  We had to wait for 30-60 minutes before the group was supposed to meet, so we sat in some benches in the sun (since the ones in the sun were about 5-7 degrees warmer than the others).  As we sat there, the Chinese people around us just kept looking, but when we would look back they would quickly turn away as though they had just been caught doing something they shouldn't.  After a bit some guys came by and sat a seat over from me.  They were posing for a picture, acting as if it was just them, but the one guy said "Take a picture of me with the beautiful girls" not realizing that we actually understood what he said.  We decided to just let them do as they wanted.  Sometimes I just feel lazy (I'm not sure if lazy is quite the right word, but it's the one that comes to mind) and don't feel like talking to everyone.  This would not have been okay on my mission. :)

As the group arrived, there were bunches here and there.  Some were taking pictures with tons of Chinese people, others just sat down and hung out for a bit (though they probably had their pictures taken unknowingly).  Most then went to JingShan Park and were able to look over the Forbidden City.  We were super lucky because the sky was blue the whole time we were there, which is extremely rare, especially in Beijing.  

After JingShan Park, we went to the Pearl Market so people could try bargaining-- it was actually open this time!  Before everyone dispersed, Jacob told them that if they wanted help getting back home that I would be at the front to wait for everyone (he did ask if I'd be willing to do it).  Normally I really don't mind doing what I can to help out, and even in this case I didn't mind helping out; however, he gave them 3 hours to shop. Neither Kirsten nor I were really in the mood for bargaining (when you're not in the mood, it's really hard to bargain for a good price), so we got food, sat, talked, and waited for 3 hours.  It was quite a long wait, but I'm glad that I could help Jacob out.  Being a mentor I've gotten a little taste of what Jacob has to deal with and I really don't envy him.  Everyone looks to him to solve their problems, lead them where they need to go, and just figure out everything.  I really admire him for being so willing to help so many teachers come to China and experience this life.  In all honesty, Jacob is an amazing person and I'm lucky to get to know and work with him.

Okay, anyway, on to the acrobatics show!  I've seen some amazing acrobatic shows back in the US (at BYU, especially), so I felt like I kind of knew what to expect.  In fact, I did know a lot of the tricks and stunts that they did during the show, but there were still plenty of surprises.  For instance, they had what looked like 2 hamster wheels with a guy in each one and the wheels themselves would turn as well as the whole thing would go around.  One of the guys got on the outside and would jump and pretend to wobble just to make the audience gasp (or scream, as some were prone to do).  Another one that I hadn't seen before started out with a guy and a metal cage in the shape of a ball.  Basically, he went inside and rode sideways, then started going around from the bottom to the top.  Then another motorcycle came, and another, and another, and another.  By the end there were 7 (I think) all in the cage riding around and barely missing each other as they went around.  That one did make me shrink in my seat a bit.  I mean, I know that they practice these things over and over but it just takes one little mistake and there could be a serious injury, so I was a bit worried for their safety, even though I probably didn't need to be.  Oh, so during the show I sat next to Brad who had seen it many times before (apparently it's almost exactly the same every time) and he seemed more amused by the reactions of the audience, which makes sense for someone who has seen the same show over and over again.

Well, that was essentially Monday.  Yup.  

Tuesday we got to get on a bus with our wonderful tour guide, Clemet, and visit the Jade Factory (玉器厂), Ming Tombs (十三陵), and the MuTianYu (慕田峪) section of the Great Wall (长城).  The Jade Factory was really cool because we got to see a couple people actually working with the jade as well as see some amazing finished pieces.  The Ming Tombs were fun as well because we went to the ghost world and on the way back as we went through the door we had to say "我回来了" (I've come back).  We had to say it in Chinese so that the ghosts of the past emperors could understand what we said.  It's really kind of fun doing the little things that other Chinese would do, even if they do seem a bit silly at times.  I guess to me it's the little things that help me understand the Chinese people a little better.  Of course I'll never be able to truly understand everything, but I can get just a bit closer to understanding each day.  Actually it makes me think of the Chinese character for repentance 悔改 which when broken down essentially says 'heart every day change'.  I think that if I can change myself just a little everyday to become better, I can also change myself a little everyday to better understand and accept the people and culture that I love so much.

If you haven't noticed by now, when I'm writing, I tend to just put down what I'm thinking which can often be rather random.  So, I hope you don't mind when I go off onto random tangents.  Anyway, when we finished with the tombs, we went up to the Great Wall.  Most everyone decided to take the cable car up (MUCH better than trying to hike up) and the toboggan down!  Being on the Great Wall was really cool, though we kept mentioning to each other how we were currently walking on top of thousands of bodies that had been buried under the wall.  That was a rather sad thought, but it really is amazing what the hard work and sweat of all those people was able to accomplish.  I mean, the fact that it is in as good of shape as it is so many years later is truly amazing.  Beyond that, just being on the wall gave me a sense of awe and wonder.  Looking out at the little villages nestled in the mountains, I just felt peace and I was happy to just soak up the moment.  Some try to go see places that people haven't been on, or areas that are more difficult to get to (aka up TONS of steep stairs- we saw the stairs and decided we didn't want to climb them).  Anyway, when it was time to go down we got on the toboggan.  It was SO much fun.  I was a bit wary at first because I didn't know how well they worked or whatever, but mine was prone to getting stuck on the more flat areas.  Once I finally got past those I was able to pick up only so much speed before having to slow down again so I wouldn't hit the person in front of me. The ride back to the hostel after that was great-- everyone sang karaoke.  Well, I didn't, and there were a few others that didn't actually sing, but it was a lot of fun singing along with the songs I knew and just watching the others perform.  I guess I could've gone up to sing, but I couldn't remember all the lyrics to any fun popular songs.  I could remember some musical songs or choral pieces, but I guess you can say they just didn't quite fit the mood.

Oh, and we've actually gone to a few restaurants that had some really good food.  I was really excited about those places.  Also, eating with Richard (Brad's Chinese friend) was absolutely hilarious.  We ended up talking about a Chinese phrase that's kind of like slang and yeah, it's hard to explain the humor, but he's a really funny guy- I'm glad he's come along for the Beijing trip.

Okay, so that's probably going to be it for this post.  I'll get the next couple days in my next post.
再见！

Since the Chinese firewall blocks sites such as Google, Gmail, and Facebook, it'll be difficult for me to communicate with people back in the states about what I'll be experiencing.  Thus, I'm going to attempt keeping this blog going (though I'm not usually the best at doing this type of thing-- I even to tend to fail at remembering to write in my journal).  Anyway, the point of the matter is that for anyone who would like to read about my experiences there, this will be a good place to look.