So, I've now been in China about a week.  I haven't really had much internet service here, so this is the first time I'm really able to post anything.  I did, however, write about a week ago so here's that (it's mostly just an overview of what we did since we did so much and there's only so much I can cover):

February 21 2015

We made it!

So, I met up with Jacob (the director of China Horizons) and some of the other teachers at the airport at 5:45 am.  It was really early!  Anyway, we were able to smoothly get through security and everything.  The flights themselves were nothing special- just long amounts of time to talk, eat, watch movies or sleep.  I tried to stay awake during the time that it would be daytime in China and only sleep during the night.  That meant that most of the trip I didn’t sleep.  Instead I watched random movies.  One of them was Big Hero 6, which was super cute!

Once we finally got to Beijing, it was snowing.  Yup, I had prepared for maybe a low of 40-45 degrees; instead, we were greeted with 25 degree weather.  In Utah, 25 would be cold, but not that bad, but in Beijing they have humidity and bone-chilling wind.  Luckily, it wasn't super cold and that night we just went back to the hostel in a bus so we didn’t have to be out in it too long.

The next day was pretty chill.  In the morning we got together and had an orientation about language, what to expect, and just a few “how to survive China” things.  Lunch time, we went to a little place and had to be split up into different rooms.  In my room, they kicked the people that were there out to let the foreigners in.  The food was pretty good, though I keep expecting certain things that I love, and the flavors and method of cooking just isn’t the same.  To be honest, I haven’t been super impressed with Beijing food so far.  Anyway, after lunch we were going to go to the Pearl Market, but because of the Chinese New Year, it was closed.  In fact, a lot of places are closed right now, so finding food has been a bit more difficult than it would be any other time of the year. 

When we discovered it was closed, we decided to go over to the Temple of Heaven which was right across the street.  When we got there, the weather was chilly but not too bad so everyone split up to explore.  About 20-30 minutes after we got there, the temperature dropped like 10 degrees, and the wind picked up.  We were freezing!  Seriously, after walking around and discovering we couldn’t even go into the actual temple part, we just found a corner that blocked the wind and huddled.  The corner we found was by some older Chinese that were singing Chinese folk songs at the top of their lungs.  It was really fun to listen to them sing because even though they weren't necessarily great singers, the love they had for the music came through and it made me want to learn the songs.  The building we were by was the North animal killing building, but it was closed so we couldn't go inside to warm ourselves.

When it was finally time to go to dinner, we braved the wind and made our way out to the front.  We got into our mentor groups, and then my group combined with another that would also be in Zhenjiang.  We decided we wanted to take the metro back first, and find dinner near the hostel.  When we came out of the metro, we realized that on the way to the Pearl Market, the other mentor and I hadn’t paid much attention to where we were going, so we didn’t actually know how to get back (we were just expecting that everyone would go back together).  So, we went down what looked fairly promising to be the right street.  Well, we got to the end of the block and realized we were lost.  Being lost didn't worry Kirsten or I as much as it probably worried the others, since getting lost is just part of life in China.  There happened to be a college student also standing on the corner with us, so we asked him where to go (we did have a map, and the address of the hostel).  He had no idea; he had rather good English but even then he just didn't know where the hostel was in relation to where we were.  There was another woman there, and so she chimed in and asked where we were headed, and she didn’t know the address either.  Anyway, after trying to look at the map and lots of discussion, she called the hostel.  Turns out we had just gone right when we should have gone left on that street.  So we thanked them, and turned around.  The other mentor and I decided that it was a good experience for the rest of the teachers to understand what to do when they get lost- just ask someone for help.  On the way back to the hostel, we found a baozi (filled steamed bun) and dumpling place.  We stopped in, got some hot food and everyone made it back to the hostel safe and sound.

Today (Sunday), Jacob decided to have everyone split into five groups and each group had to find their way on the subway to church.  We had directions, so it was really easy to follow, but as mentors we were supposed to let them figure it all out.  Alyssa, Kirsten and I all got into the same group, so there were 3 mentors in one group with 4 others.  We made it just fine, and church went well.  There was a group or two that got a bit lost, or had difficulty in the subway, but eventually everyone made it.  Afterward, we all traveled back, got some lunch, and then came back to the hostel for more training.

I have to say that this training has been really bad for me.  Because almost all of it is stuff I’ve already known, I am a bit bored out of my mind.  Like, seriously.  So for once in my life, I have felt like the bad student in the class because Alyssa and I end up just chatting or doodling or whatever.  I mean, I do listen and I really respect the teacher (Brad) and I think he's a fantastic teacher- I just have been having a hard time focusing because it's mostly review, and trying to just sit that long after moving every day is hard.  But, there have been multiple times that Brad has talked about things I haven't heard before or things that would be good things for me to incorporate into my own teaching, so I've taken notes and stuff.  Those notes are just supplemented with doodles. 

Following the training, we all went to a group dinner of the specialty Beijing noodles.  I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but I think I just keep expecting certain flavors that they don’t really use as much in Beijing.  Also, the noodles were super filling, so I wasn't able to eat that much of it.  Anyway, I was the only mentor at my table, so I ended up answering questions and stuff.  It was good to get to know different people in the group since usually I end up around some of the same people.

Anyway, that's it for now.  I'll cover the rest of the Beijing trip in my next post, so for now, 再见 ("Again See").