After a relaxing Sunday that followed the school New Year's party Julie and I rolled out of bed this morning ready for our day of work then running off to the city to celebrate New Year's Eve. We are going to have January 1st, 2nd and 3rd off for the New Year holiday and Julie and I were making jokes about how nice it would be to have today off as well. All the same Monday's are an easy day, I had spent part of last night in the office getting my lessons finalized and I would always trade a day of work on a Monday for a Thursday off (Thursday's are when we go to our branch school and can be interesting.).
After the morning routine was complete we headed downstairs to get our breakfast. For breakfast we walk down to the teachers dinning hall which is located on the ground floor at the opposite corner of the building from our dorm. Now that we are in winter, it is dark at breakfast time and if we are lucky the thermometer has hit 0. Due to the dark and the cold it is not unusual to walk down the steps toward the dinning hall for breakfast and not hear a sound. I credit this to: 1) the door to the dinning hall from the stairs stays shut to keep in the body heat of the dinners, 2) everyone eats in what we've affectionately coined as Chinese style, as fast as possible not wasting time for idle chit chat and 3) from what I can assume most people have only been awake for about a half hour and just aren't that lively come breakfast time.
A side note on eating Chinese style, I have never been known to eat slowly until I came to China. Julie and I are almost always the last ones to finish at lunch time. (At breakfast we eat pretty fast because it's cold and well we have found Chinese breakfast food to be life sustaining and that's about it.) When it comes to lunch a lot of people take naps after they eat so that seems to be a good explanation for the speed eating. Dinner, especially on special occasions, tends to break from this trend. This eating Chinese style is especially impressive due to the fact that it seems as if Julie and I are out eaten at nearly every occasion. Our co-workers, for the most part, must have incredible metabolisms.
Where was I, oh yeah, walking down the stairs to breakfast and it was cold and dark and quiet. The closer we got to the door the more frequent our jokes about a day off came and then we got to the door and it was very dark and very quiet - no one was there. At first we thought maybe we set our alarm clock for the wrong time but no it was five after seven and this place should be bustling, but not a single non-US citizen was present. We are going to start joking about having day's off more often.
That brings us to now. We will text our boss this morning and confirm our new suspicion which is that our days off are actually the 31st, 1st and 2nd. If it is day off there is no need to bother her so early in the morning. Julie and I will be enjoying our surprise day off and wishing everyone a safe and happy new year's eve.
Now the next big surprise will be if Julie and I can stay awake until midnight!
-Ryan
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Happy New Years Eve Eve
Hello All,
I hope everyone is ready for 2012 to come to an end. All those back in the states, you have a little more time than Ryan have in 2012. I guess we will make it up in 2013.
Ryan and I have always been pretty flexible but since moving to China we have become about as flexible as two can be. We have been told for weeks that there would be a New Years Eve party where all the teachers in the branch would perform in a show like a talent show and go to some hot springs. Ryan and I have been working on learning a Chinese song for just over a month. For the last week, pretty much every waking moment I have been practicing to make sure I had all my lines memorized. Memorizing a Chinese song is one of the hardest things I have ever done. So anyway, we were told on Friday that we would be going on an overnight trip and to make sure we brought our bathing suits.
So Saturday morning comes and Ryan and I pack for our trip. One night away so I pack my small backpack and a small suitcase (the size you can take on an airplane without having to check it). I tried really hard to pack light. The only thing extra I took that I wouldn't have included on a trip in the states was extra tissues. You just never know if there will be toilet paper. We have stayed in nice hotels that didn't have toilet paper. I'm not complaining though, as long as there is a western toilet I'm happy. We were called by one of the teachers that it was time to meet so we walked down to the teachers office to meet the teachers. They were astonished by the amount of luggage we had. Like I said, I thought I packed light. Ryan packed about twice as much as any of the other teachers. And I think I packed about 10 times as much as the average teacher. I think when they told us to bring our bathing, they meant, just our bathing suit.
Next we were off. We traveled about an hour by bus to have lunch. Here are some pictures of a typical meal out at the restaurant:
Salad
Some type of noodles like Lo Mein
Fish, fish head or eyes anyone?
I think this is pork skin. I tried it once awhile back. That was enough.
This is beef and pork sausage. No thanks.
Chicken anyone? Yes please, it is delicious. Just don't think about it.
After lunch, time for the talent show. The talent show lasted about 2 hours. Ryan and I preformed a play with the English teachers. They taught us some Chinese words and everyone had some instruments. I'm not sure what it was about but something went wrong and we got messed up. Not sure if it was me or what happened but the first half was pretty funny because the audience was laughing. After a couple more performances Ryan and I were up. Hopefully they will give us a copy of the video to post. I think it went pretty well. I don't think I'll be on American Idol when I get back though. They also gave away prizes. It was like the price is right. People got so excited. Everyone got a number and they called numbers for the winners. I won but I was a bit delayed because 161 sounds a bit different in Chinese. I can count to ten so 161 is a bit advanced for me. I got a very nice tea set. Not sure if it will make it back to the states, it's big and breakable.
After all the performance, we off to the hot springs. Ryan and I changed into our swim suits, then one of the teachers came to get us and she was dressed in her winter clothes. Oops we needed to walk outside to get to the hot springs. I think the high was somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees yesterday so we had to put on more clothes. We got to the hot springs place, had some confusion about a shoe check-in (I checked my shoes in like you do when you go bowling) because they wouldn't let me where the flipflops I brought. The hot springs were pretty amazing. There was a giant room with about a dozen hot tubs. It was decorated like the tropics. There was also a hot tub outside. It was so hot, Ryan and I had to stand up with our upper body out of the water in the freezing temps so we wouldn't get too hot.
The other English teachers told me I could shower in the locker room so Ryan and I left a bit before everyone else so I didn't have to try to explain that I am modest and preferred to shower at the hotel. There was a bit of a mix up at the shoe check in. They got my shoes mixed up with one of the other teachers. I got to go back in the shoe room. It's a bit difficult to explain what my shoes looked like. After getting my boots back, we walked back to the hotel. It was just across the parking lot and I was burning up from the hot tub, I walked back in my flip flops. I knew I brought them for a reason.
Then off to dinner. After dinner, we were invited to sit with the administrators. This is a picture of Ryan with our principal.
It is always fun talking with him and others. Only one of the administrators knows English very well, she tried to translate for us as much as she can. "Gambai" which means bottom's up or cheers is very important. In China, if someone says gambai that means they like you and the more they/you drink it means the more they/you like the other (so we've been told). Last night, there was a lot of bottom's up so the teeny tiny glasses were oh so important.
The night wasn't over, next was karaoke. It started off with me being asked to dance. He was a great dancer, I am a terrible dancer.
Next they wanted me and Ryan to sing. After trying to find an English song with no luck, we got to preform our Chinese song again. We did much better the first time. I finally found an old Trisha Yearwood song How do I Live.
We made it back to our apartment by mid-morning. Ryan went to go get a hair cut and I got to try out our hot plate now that we learned how to use it. We had to ask the English teachers and found out it only heats up when you have a pot on it. Safety first! We had tried and tried and all we needed to do was put the pot on the burner. We usually go out to eat on the weekends but it has gotten so cold that it's not really worth a walk. After making dumplings for lunch we had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.
Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we are off to the city for a party tomorrow night.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.
Julie
I hope everyone is ready for 2012 to come to an end. All those back in the states, you have a little more time than Ryan have in 2012. I guess we will make it up in 2013.
Ryan and I have always been pretty flexible but since moving to China we have become about as flexible as two can be. We have been told for weeks that there would be a New Years Eve party where all the teachers in the branch would perform in a show like a talent show and go to some hot springs. Ryan and I have been working on learning a Chinese song for just over a month. For the last week, pretty much every waking moment I have been practicing to make sure I had all my lines memorized. Memorizing a Chinese song is one of the hardest things I have ever done. So anyway, we were told on Friday that we would be going on an overnight trip and to make sure we brought our bathing suits.
So Saturday morning comes and Ryan and I pack for our trip. One night away so I pack my small backpack and a small suitcase (the size you can take on an airplane without having to check it). I tried really hard to pack light. The only thing extra I took that I wouldn't have included on a trip in the states was extra tissues. You just never know if there will be toilet paper. We have stayed in nice hotels that didn't have toilet paper. I'm not complaining though, as long as there is a western toilet I'm happy. We were called by one of the teachers that it was time to meet so we walked down to the teachers office to meet the teachers. They were astonished by the amount of luggage we had. Like I said, I thought I packed light. Ryan packed about twice as much as any of the other teachers. And I think I packed about 10 times as much as the average teacher. I think when they told us to bring our bathing, they meant, just our bathing suit.
Next we were off. We traveled about an hour by bus to have lunch. Here are some pictures of a typical meal out at the restaurant:
After lunch, time for the talent show. The talent show lasted about 2 hours. Ryan and I preformed a play with the English teachers. They taught us some Chinese words and everyone had some instruments. I'm not sure what it was about but something went wrong and we got messed up. Not sure if it was me or what happened but the first half was pretty funny because the audience was laughing. After a couple more performances Ryan and I were up. Hopefully they will give us a copy of the video to post. I think it went pretty well. I don't think I'll be on American Idol when I get back though. They also gave away prizes. It was like the price is right. People got so excited. Everyone got a number and they called numbers for the winners. I won but I was a bit delayed because 161 sounds a bit different in Chinese. I can count to ten so 161 is a bit advanced for me. I got a very nice tea set. Not sure if it will make it back to the states, it's big and breakable.
After all the performance, we off to the hot springs. Ryan and I changed into our swim suits, then one of the teachers came to get us and she was dressed in her winter clothes. Oops we needed to walk outside to get to the hot springs. I think the high was somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees yesterday so we had to put on more clothes. We got to the hot springs place, had some confusion about a shoe check-in (I checked my shoes in like you do when you go bowling) because they wouldn't let me where the flipflops I brought. The hot springs were pretty amazing. There was a giant room with about a dozen hot tubs. It was decorated like the tropics. There was also a hot tub outside. It was so hot, Ryan and I had to stand up with our upper body out of the water in the freezing temps so we wouldn't get too hot.
The other English teachers told me I could shower in the locker room so Ryan and I left a bit before everyone else so I didn't have to try to explain that I am modest and preferred to shower at the hotel. There was a bit of a mix up at the shoe check in. They got my shoes mixed up with one of the other teachers. I got to go back in the shoe room. It's a bit difficult to explain what my shoes looked like. After getting my boots back, we walked back to the hotel. It was just across the parking lot and I was burning up from the hot tub, I walked back in my flip flops. I knew I brought them for a reason.
Then off to dinner. After dinner, we were invited to sit with the administrators. This is a picture of Ryan with our principal.
We made it back to our apartment by mid-morning. Ryan went to go get a hair cut and I got to try out our hot plate now that we learned how to use it. We had to ask the English teachers and found out it only heats up when you have a pot on it. Safety first! We had tried and tried and all we needed to do was put the pot on the burner. We usually go out to eat on the weekends but it has gotten so cold that it's not really worth a walk. After making dumplings for lunch we had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.
Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we are off to the city for a party tomorrow night.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.
Julie
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
On the second day of Christmas ... the week in review.
My Dad in GW has been imparting on his daughter and in the more recent past his son-in-law that we shouldn't forget that there are twelve days of Christmas. I'm sure there is a good lesson plan idea in there somewhere: counting and ... well that's for me to work on. I digress.
It has been a very wonderful and very cold week here in our little corner of the world. For the last few days we haven't seen positive numbers (C) on the thermometer and it looks like that might continue for a while. At times like these Julie and I are again thankful for our wonderful commute. Julie is quite content that there is very rarely a legitimate reason she has to go outside and while I get a little stir crazy and need to venture out at least once a day, I don't have to be out for very long. This past weekend the farthest we made it was the Wu-Mart, which entails a ten minute walk to the bus stop and a couple minutes from the bus stop into Wu-Mart. For recreation, I get to play basketball on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the school gym, which can be reached in doors, it is a charmed life.
As was shared last week our school gave Julie and I a half day on Christmas Eve and basically an entire day off for Christmas day. I think going into the 12 days of Christmas conversation would have been a bit greedy on our part and there is no way could've communicated that with any success. After lunch on Christmas Eve, Julie and I headed out into the cold to go buy presents for each other. We had aspirations to surprise each other, but quickly came to our senses. Our mutual disdain for excessive unnecessary shopping does wonders for the marriage. After shopping we met up with some fellow teachers and administrators to head our for dinner and then to the KTV (karaoke). Dinner was very good and beyond Christmas the conversation topics included whether they should call one of the dishes pig's head or pig's face. Julie and I decided to abstain from that dish, but we went with calling it pig's head; just in case you were wondering.
After dinner it was off to our first KTV experience. As Julie and I will be performing a Chinese song at the upcoming New Year's party we (Julie and I) concluded that they (teachers and administrators) thought we could use all the practice we could get and they weren't and still aren't wrong. We sang our song at least three times along with several English songs that I am afraid to admit did include a duet by me (Ryan) and one of the Chinese English teachers of a Justin Bieber selection.
The KTV facility was incredible. One of the nicest places we have been in China. Everything was very clean, with nice leather seating and marble topped tables. There is a registration and waiting area as you enter and also a supermarket where snacks and beverages of the alcoholic (from Bud to Chivas) and non-alcoholic variety can be purchased. Purchase whatever you want there and then carry it back to your room or order off the menu to have it delivered. They had a very nice fruit and vegetable plate delivered with an impressive presentation. Each group has their own private room. Most that we saw had about four or five people. The rooms are spread out from the center and there were over 80 of these rooms. Once you get your purchases back to the room then an attendant helps poor any beverage or any set-up that is necessary and would deliver any made to order items when ready. Scrolling through all the songs was a bit difficult as the instructions were all in Chinese but Julie did manage to find the Taylor Swift selection without too much difficulty. The many performances of our group were quite hilarious and in a few cases impressive and I think the bar has been set at the appropriate level for our (Julie and my) upcoming performance.
Our one duty for Christmas day was to do the morning broadcast for the school. At 7:50 AM each school day their is a broadcast to the entire school. Over our four months here everyone has been in Chinese so we can't tell you what is usually delivered but on Christmas day it was all up to Julie and me. We had practiced over the weekend but as with most activities we do in China we kept finding out more of the details over time and made the necessary adjustments. We got into the office about 7:30 on Tuesday morning and the teachers had decorated it for Christmas and someone had bought a Christmas tree to surprise us. (We are quite lucky to work with such wonderful folks.) After about five minutes we were whisked away to the TV studio that we didn't know existed in a remote section of the third floor. We got about ten minutes and did a dry run for the staff and student workers before we went live. The highlight had to be our rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It was a fun experience and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The only times The only issues were when I started watching myself on the monitor in the studio. One surprise since coming to China is how much time we've spent on camera.
After we finished the broadcast we handed out a few Christmas presents and then made our way out into the cold. A quick two hour trip to the east side of the city and we were within walking distance of Baoyuan Jioazi Wu. It's a dumpling restaurant. Jiaozi (饺子) is Chines for dumplings. Chinese dumplings are right at the top of my favorite local foods and when Julie didn't capitalize on picking where we were going to eat Christmas dinner it was off to the Beijinger's No. 1 dumpling restaurant. This restaurant will dye the dumplings purple, orange, red or green. Don't ask me why but we got purple and orange dumplings. Being the gentleman that I am, I let Julie pick the majority of the dumplings we ordered and only order one type. Can you guess which type she liked best or for that matter liked at all? She is lucky that I have such a diverse palate. While she might not be ready to sign-on to a new tradition I have been thinking up some dumpling recipes for the future. Doesn't a Thanksgiving dumpling sound delicious?
We are back to work and the second day of Christmas is winding down over here in our corner of the world but we will be keeping the Christmas spirit alive and hope you do to.
Merry Christmas,
Ryan
It has been a very wonderful and very cold week here in our little corner of the world. For the last few days we haven't seen positive numbers (C) on the thermometer and it looks like that might continue for a while. At times like these Julie and I are again thankful for our wonderful commute. Julie is quite content that there is very rarely a legitimate reason she has to go outside and while I get a little stir crazy and need to venture out at least once a day, I don't have to be out for very long. This past weekend the farthest we made it was the Wu-Mart, which entails a ten minute walk to the bus stop and a couple minutes from the bus stop into Wu-Mart. For recreation, I get to play basketball on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the school gym, which can be reached in doors, it is a charmed life.
As was shared last week our school gave Julie and I a half day on Christmas Eve and basically an entire day off for Christmas day. I think going into the 12 days of Christmas conversation would have been a bit greedy on our part and there is no way could've communicated that with any success. After lunch on Christmas Eve, Julie and I headed out into the cold to go buy presents for each other. We had aspirations to surprise each other, but quickly came to our senses. Our mutual disdain for excessive unnecessary shopping does wonders for the marriage. After shopping we met up with some fellow teachers and administrators to head our for dinner and then to the KTV (karaoke). Dinner was very good and beyond Christmas the conversation topics included whether they should call one of the dishes pig's head or pig's face. Julie and I decided to abstain from that dish, but we went with calling it pig's head; just in case you were wondering.
After dinner it was off to our first KTV experience. As Julie and I will be performing a Chinese song at the upcoming New Year's party we (Julie and I) concluded that they (teachers and administrators) thought we could use all the practice we could get and they weren't and still aren't wrong. We sang our song at least three times along with several English songs that I am afraid to admit did include a duet by me (Ryan) and one of the Chinese English teachers of a Justin Bieber selection.
The KTV facility was incredible. One of the nicest places we have been in China. Everything was very clean, with nice leather seating and marble topped tables. There is a registration and waiting area as you enter and also a supermarket where snacks and beverages of the alcoholic (from Bud to Chivas) and non-alcoholic variety can be purchased. Purchase whatever you want there and then carry it back to your room or order off the menu to have it delivered. They had a very nice fruit and vegetable plate delivered with an impressive presentation. Each group has their own private room. Most that we saw had about four or five people. The rooms are spread out from the center and there were over 80 of these rooms. Once you get your purchases back to the room then an attendant helps poor any beverage or any set-up that is necessary and would deliver any made to order items when ready. Scrolling through all the songs was a bit difficult as the instructions were all in Chinese but Julie did manage to find the Taylor Swift selection without too much difficulty. The many performances of our group were quite hilarious and in a few cases impressive and I think the bar has been set at the appropriate level for our (Julie and my) upcoming performance.
Our one duty for Christmas day was to do the morning broadcast for the school. At 7:50 AM each school day their is a broadcast to the entire school. Over our four months here everyone has been in Chinese so we can't tell you what is usually delivered but on Christmas day it was all up to Julie and me. We had practiced over the weekend but as with most activities we do in China we kept finding out more of the details over time and made the necessary adjustments. We got into the office about 7:30 on Tuesday morning and the teachers had decorated it for Christmas and someone had bought a Christmas tree to surprise us. (We are quite lucky to work with such wonderful folks.) After about five minutes we were whisked away to the TV studio that we didn't know existed in a remote section of the third floor. We got about ten minutes and did a dry run for the staff and student workers before we went live. The highlight had to be our rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It was a fun experience and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The only times The only issues were when I started watching myself on the monitor in the studio. One surprise since coming to China is how much time we've spent on camera.
After we finished the broadcast we handed out a few Christmas presents and then made our way out into the cold. A quick two hour trip to the east side of the city and we were within walking distance of Baoyuan Jioazi Wu. It's a dumpling restaurant. Jiaozi (饺子) is Chines for dumplings. Chinese dumplings are right at the top of my favorite local foods and when Julie didn't capitalize on picking where we were going to eat Christmas dinner it was off to the Beijinger's No. 1 dumpling restaurant. This restaurant will dye the dumplings purple, orange, red or green. Don't ask me why but we got purple and orange dumplings. Being the gentleman that I am, I let Julie pick the majority of the dumplings we ordered and only order one type. Can you guess which type she liked best or for that matter liked at all? She is lucky that I have such a diverse palate. While she might not be ready to sign-on to a new tradition I have been thinking up some dumpling recipes for the future. Doesn't a Thanksgiving dumpling sound delicious?
We are back to work and the second day of Christmas is winding down over here in our corner of the world but we will be keeping the Christmas spirit alive and hope you do to.
Merry Christmas,
Ryan
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Merry Christmas ... week 1
Julie and I have started our first week of teaching about Christmas and today I got to watch one of her class, which was very helpful. We often use a lot of the same material in our classes and it is good to see another persons take on how to present the material. As some great artist said, ".... great artists steal", I quickly tried to implement some of her ideas with varying degrees of success. Maybe it'll work better tomorrow.
We found out this morning that on Christmas day Julie and I will be doing the morning TV broadcast to the school. I've been trying to find a way to incorporate "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" all week, talk about the perfect opportunity! Until I consulted with my co-host. Who eventually convinced me that it would be too advanced and would take up over half our time on a song that is "completely inappropriate." I don't agree with her on all those arguments but given I have a penchant for devising lessons that are way over the level of my students it's reasonable to think this would be another occurrence of that habit.
(Don't worry, I haven't given up on it through another avenue, time will tell.)
So we have some extra work for next week but that should be fun, no biggie. Have I mentioned that Julie and I are learning a Chinese song that we have to sing at the New Year's party a week from Saturday? The title of the song is translated into "Intimate Lovers." This has been no easy task. We are not a musically inclined couple and saying Chinese words is a struggle, singing them has not been easier. We have been practicing with our coach (Mr. Wang) for the last month and are making good progress, but today we found out that we would be participating in a skit the other English teachers are performing for this same party. These people are going to force us to learn Chinese! Well perhaps I am taking a bit too far as we have to say about ten words.
We got another surprise today, someone decided that we should get a half-day off on Christmas Eve and then after our broadcast on Christmas we would get the rest of the day off. It's odd how just on Monday we had told the other English teachers we got a day and a half off for Christmas at our old jobs. Talk about a weird coincidence! : )
That's enough for tonight. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
-Ryan
We found out this morning that on Christmas day Julie and I will be doing the morning TV broadcast to the school. I've been trying to find a way to incorporate "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" all week, talk about the perfect opportunity! Until I consulted with my co-host. Who eventually convinced me that it would be too advanced and would take up over half our time on a song that is "completely inappropriate." I don't agree with her on all those arguments but given I have a penchant for devising lessons that are way over the level of my students it's reasonable to think this would be another occurrence of that habit.
(Don't worry, I haven't given up on it through another avenue, time will tell.)
So we have some extra work for next week but that should be fun, no biggie. Have I mentioned that Julie and I are learning a Chinese song that we have to sing at the New Year's party a week from Saturday? The title of the song is translated into "Intimate Lovers." This has been no easy task. We are not a musically inclined couple and saying Chinese words is a struggle, singing them has not been easier. We have been practicing with our coach (Mr. Wang) for the last month and are making good progress, but today we found out that we would be participating in a skit the other English teachers are performing for this same party. These people are going to force us to learn Chinese! Well perhaps I am taking a bit too far as we have to say about ten words.
We got another surprise today, someone decided that we should get a half-day off on Christmas Eve and then after our broadcast on Christmas we would get the rest of the day off. It's odd how just on Monday we had told the other English teachers we got a day and a half off for Christmas at our old jobs. Talk about a weird coincidence! : )
That's enough for tonight. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
-Ryan
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Tuesday
Tuesday are always interesting. Due to lesson planning procrastination and having a class with all three of the grades I teach on Monday's I have adopted a system to start my Grade 6 week on Tuesdays. No use and having to have all three lessons ready for Monday, right? Also, as a new teacher it takes a few time of giving a lesson for me to get a good feel for it. This is a problem because I only teach a lesson four or so times depending on how well it works and if the students can get more out of it. If you do that math, it means the lesson is in good shape by the time it is getting shelved. (For those teachers out there feel free to send any constructive commentary you would like, at anytime.)
Jumping back to last week - or maybe it was the week before - our principal told Julie and me at breakfast that he wanted to watch one of our classes that day. Before breakfast was over he said it may have to be the next day. Julie and I didn't here any more about it until this morning. As I was working on putting together my grade six lesson that need to be delivered in a couple hours one of the other teachers let me that the principal would be observing today. Fortunately, he choose the second grade six class (on Tuesday's I teach two grade six classes in the AM and two grade two class in the PM), so I got a rehearsal.
After three months it is still quite difficult to get the lesson level of difficulty on par with where the students are. This was evident in my first grade six class. It was too hard. So I got ten minutes to re-organize for the next class. The good thing about being observed is that the students that are normally in your class are replaced with incredibly well behaved identical twins. The flip side of that positive is that they are much more shy than under normal conditions. (This statement is backed by an entire two experiences of being observed while teaching.) The class went well and while I am sure my lesson will get better over the next two classes, it could have been a lot worse. After about half the class the students got up the nerve to ask the principal some of the practice questions and he was a good sport and did his best answering.
Julie's class went extremely well. She told me she forgot the principal and other teachers were even in the room. This is that big of a surprise as I am pretty sure she is better at this than I am.
The other big event of the day was that a school wide meeting is being held tomorrow for the teachers to discuss student assessments and evaluations. The English teachers have to due their discussion in English. This is quite daunting for the non-native speaking English teachers so they were rehearsing their comments and getting Julie and I to do some fine tuning. It will be interesting to see how it goes. This time we'll actually see as Julie and I are going to participate. Hopefully we'll do as well as the other English teachers who have prepared their comments much more than we have. Luckily I only have two classes tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time if I need to prepare anything!
Have a great Tuesday,
-Ryan
Jumping back to last week - or maybe it was the week before - our principal told Julie and me at breakfast that he wanted to watch one of our classes that day. Before breakfast was over he said it may have to be the next day. Julie and I didn't here any more about it until this morning. As I was working on putting together my grade six lesson that need to be delivered in a couple hours one of the other teachers let me that the principal would be observing today. Fortunately, he choose the second grade six class (on Tuesday's I teach two grade six classes in the AM and two grade two class in the PM), so I got a rehearsal.
After three months it is still quite difficult to get the lesson level of difficulty on par with where the students are. This was evident in my first grade six class. It was too hard. So I got ten minutes to re-organize for the next class. The good thing about being observed is that the students that are normally in your class are replaced with incredibly well behaved identical twins. The flip side of that positive is that they are much more shy than under normal conditions. (This statement is backed by an entire two experiences of being observed while teaching.) The class went well and while I am sure my lesson will get better over the next two classes, it could have been a lot worse. After about half the class the students got up the nerve to ask the principal some of the practice questions and he was a good sport and did his best answering.
Julie's class went extremely well. She told me she forgot the principal and other teachers were even in the room. This is that big of a surprise as I am pretty sure she is better at this than I am.
The other big event of the day was that a school wide meeting is being held tomorrow for the teachers to discuss student assessments and evaluations. The English teachers have to due their discussion in English. This is quite daunting for the non-native speaking English teachers so they were rehearsing their comments and getting Julie and I to do some fine tuning. It will be interesting to see how it goes. This time we'll actually see as Julie and I are going to participate. Hopefully we'll do as well as the other English teachers who have prepared their comments much more than we have. Luckily I only have two classes tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time if I need to prepare anything!
Have a great Tuesday,
-Ryan
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday: Back to Work
After checking the weather, we decided Saturday would be a good day to go to the city. High of 43. That is the warmest we have seen in a while.
I made a list a while back about 30 before I'm 30. Time to get some things checked off: plan day in Beijing, get me and Ryan to Beijing, plan something special for Christmas and eat Haajen Dazs. I decided I wanted Koren food for lunch and decorate cookies for Christmas. I started planning the day while Ryan was playing basketball. Great I have plenty. Wrong, he got back and I barely had anything planned. I decided to take a shower then get back to the plans. It was weird, when I finished my shower and started planning again, Ryan's computer had directions to a Koren restaurant and an international grocery store (for the Christmas cookies) pulled up. An angel must have come along to help me out.... ok the angel may be named Ryan. Thanks for the help, bud! :o)
Off to the city. We got there no problem. We are trying to learn a Chinese song. The long subway ride is the perfect place to practice. Also, I believe I am very entertaining. Lots of people look at us and smile. I'm not sure if they can understand what I am saying or not. Anyways, I think they get a pretty big kick out of us.
So after getting off the subway, we were off to eat lunch. Koren restaurant here we come. Or so we thought. After much walking around and showing the name of the restaurant to a security guard with no luck, we decided to eat at another place. As you can see we ate lots of squid. It was a pretty great meal. We also got to eat with 20 of our new friends. well, we ate at a giant table with all the other guests at the restaurant.
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Also had to get a pic in front of the pink building. And this is how I dress on a warm winter day.
Next off to the international grocery store. Took a little bit of hunting but we finally found it. We bought coconut and chocolate oatmeal cookies, icing and M&M. not quite like making cookies at home but they WERE delicious. Yeah, they are all gone now. We put a pretty big dent into them yesterday and took the rest to the teacher's office today.
Next Haagen Dazs. So we have heard the Haagen Dazs here is quite fancy. We heard it is pretty expensive and there really isn't a comparison to the USA. Well, we got there and didn't really know what to do so we ordered at the counter. Then we look our seats. Well, we skipped some steps. We had a waiter and missed the fancy menu. The icecream was oh so yummy. Might have to go back and try the ice-cream art.
Christmas cookies:
We were very sadden by the tragic events in Connecticut last Friday. So sad waking up to the news on Saturday morning. My heart goes out to all the friends and family affected. May God be with them.
As we deal with this as the Christmas season comes, maybe hug those you love a little tighter this year. Also, remember there are 12 days of Christmas and keep Christmas in your heart all year long.
Love,
Julie
I made a list a while back about 30 before I'm 30. Time to get some things checked off: plan day in Beijing, get me and Ryan to Beijing, plan something special for Christmas and eat Haajen Dazs. I decided I wanted Koren food for lunch and decorate cookies for Christmas. I started planning the day while Ryan was playing basketball. Great I have plenty. Wrong, he got back and I barely had anything planned. I decided to take a shower then get back to the plans. It was weird, when I finished my shower and started planning again, Ryan's computer had directions to a Koren restaurant and an international grocery store (for the Christmas cookies) pulled up. An angel must have come along to help me out.... ok the angel may be named Ryan. Thanks for the help, bud! :o)
Off to the city. We got there no problem. We are trying to learn a Chinese song. The long subway ride is the perfect place to practice. Also, I believe I am very entertaining. Lots of people look at us and smile. I'm not sure if they can understand what I am saying or not. Anyways, I think they get a pretty big kick out of us.
So after getting off the subway, we were off to eat lunch. Koren restaurant here we come. Or so we thought. After much walking around and showing the name of the restaurant to a security guard with no luck, we decided to eat at another place. As you can see we ate lots of squid. It was a pretty great meal. We also got to eat with 20 of our new friends. well, we ate at a giant table with all the other guests at the restaurant.
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Next off to the international grocery store. Took a little bit of hunting but we finally found it. We bought coconut and chocolate oatmeal cookies, icing and M&M. not quite like making cookies at home but they WERE delicious. Yeah, they are all gone now. We put a pretty big dent into them yesterday and took the rest to the teacher's office today.
Next Haagen Dazs. So we have heard the Haagen Dazs here is quite fancy. We heard it is pretty expensive and there really isn't a comparison to the USA. Well, we got there and didn't really know what to do so we ordered at the counter. Then we look our seats. Well, we skipped some steps. We had a waiter and missed the fancy menu. The icecream was oh so yummy. Might have to go back and try the ice-cream art.
Christmas cookies:
We were very sadden by the tragic events in Connecticut last Friday. So sad waking up to the news on Saturday morning. My heart goes out to all the friends and family affected. May God be with them.
As we deal with this as the Christmas season comes, maybe hug those you love a little tighter this year. Also, remember there are 12 days of Christmas and keep Christmas in your heart all year long.
Love,
Julie
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Snow day
Around breakfast time this morning we started to see white flakes descending from the sky. The very small specs began to grow through the morning as the temperature crept up towards zero (we use Celsius in these parts). Before lunchtime there was a nice cover over the ground. Some thought it was about a quarter of an inch and some thought not quite that much. The students took a better approach and just ran outside to play at every opportunity.
It's funny how in North Carolina the kids would all be wondering if would snow enough to get school closed for the day and maybe more. Here, I have a feeling, that is not the case. We have been told that Beijing get's a lot of snow and we have been told that Beijing doesn't get much snow. The language barrier can be significant. It's hard to tell if someone is simply incorrectly using a word or forgotten the meaning of a word, but everyday it's a little easier to empathize with those aspiring to be bi-lingual. Time will tell just how much snow we get in Beijing this winter, but I know Julie is pulling for a low number.
The snow stopped around mid-afternoon and it appears that we'll see a warming trend, perhaps out of single digits by the weekend. Hope all is well with you.
Ryan
It's funny how in North Carolina the kids would all be wondering if would snow enough to get school closed for the day and maybe more. Here, I have a feeling, that is not the case. We have been told that Beijing get's a lot of snow and we have been told that Beijing doesn't get much snow. The language barrier can be significant. It's hard to tell if someone is simply incorrectly using a word or forgotten the meaning of a word, but everyday it's a little easier to empathize with those aspiring to be bi-lingual. Time will tell just how much snow we get in Beijing this winter, but I know Julie is pulling for a low number.
The snow stopped around mid-afternoon and it appears that we'll see a warming trend, perhaps out of single digits by the weekend. Hope all is well with you.
Ryan
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Weekend, Inside Pants and Face Masks
It's been another great weekend here in China.
On Thursday, I woke up with a minor case of the sniffles. I was afraid I was getting sick again but it looks like its just little cold. I was feeling better by Friday. I just asked Ryan what we did on Friday night and we can't seem to remember anything other than we had dumplings for dinner. I think I watched Desperate Housewives. Not sure how I got Ryan half way interested in the show. Never had he watched an entire episode back in the USA. (We finished watching the series on Saturday. What should we watch now?)
Saturday it was pretty cold. We decided to stay a little closer to home by going to the outlets at Ping Guo Yuan, which is a shopping center near the subway station. It's 1 long bus ride away or 2 short bus rides so it was still a bit of a hike. When we were waiting for the bus to come, we saw bus 980, which we had never seen before. We were wondering where it went. Just as it was pulling away, we realized it was bus 960, which was the bus was wanted but it had a broken something that didn't block out the line that made the 6 look like an 8. Oops. It was a cold wait for the next bus. We wanted to purchase some inside pants (see the previous blog for more info on that). We both found some inside pants. When we got home, we tried on our new pants. Ryan's are a perfect fit. Mine are about 7 sizes too small. It's a bit difficult to buy pants when there are no sizes and no dressing rooms. I also wanted to buy a face mask. I'm sure you have noticed from TV that people where face masks here. Not sure of all the reasons why but one of them is to keep your face warm. Best 10 yuan I have ever spent. And it looks like a panda: bonus! :o) I also bought a pink Christmas sweater.
After shopping, we head to KFC for some ice-cream and a snack. Yes, ice-cream in the freezing cold. It might sound crazy but we see plenty of people eating ice-cream on cold days. Ryan got a chicken sandwich which had peas and carrots inside. That counts as eating a vegetable, right? Then we headed back in the cold. We haven't had to wait out in the cold too long for the buses lately. Part of it is that we are learning more bus routes and part of it is just plain good luck.
Sunday, with slightly warmer weather, Ryan's inside pants and my face mask, we headed to the city. All the clothes, scarves, hats, mittens, etc are needed outside but when you are inside the subway with 1000s of your new closest friends it gets pretty hot. We call it our "inferno": storing up our heat inside our layers for when we go back outside. First we headed to a restaurant that we pasted a couple weeks back called Mississippi Steak House. On the subway ride, Ryan and I have plenty of time to talk. Part of this trip the topic was food. I envisioned a Mississippi pizza. I decided it should be a deep crust pizza with chili and macaroni and cheese on it baked in the oven so the top's crispy. Please feel free to create this pizza at home and let us know how it turns out. When we got to restaurant it wasn't opened yet because it was before 11. A quick trip to Starbucks ate up some time. We were the first customers to the restaurant. They did have Mississippi pizza on the menu but nothing like we have envisioned. From there, I don't think we could have been wowed for lunch. The was fine but "nothing to write home about." But exciting enough to be included in the blog... We were also the only people in the restaurant when we left. I guess a steak house isn't super popular on a Sunday morning.
From there, we headed to Nola, the new Orleans restaurant we went to several weeks ago. We just hung out and Ryan had a bloody mary and I had lime water. I have had several great lime waters since being here in China. This lime water had lime, mint, and a hint of sugar. Yum!
Then off to the art store. On the way to lunch, we saw the Art and Craft Mansion. We thought perfect, we won't need to get back on the subway. We went in the mansion, which was just a big store and never saw anything that looked like arts or crafts. We just went back to the art store we went to last weekend.
On the way home, we got seats on the subway pretty early on the trip. I have gotten a bit more aggressive and we have a whole strategy figured out.
My new sweater.
New sweater and face mask.
yeah, you should see me with my hat, ear warmers, scarf, coat, mittens, etc. When I put on the sunglasses today, Ryan said that it looked like he was walking with a robot.
We had pizza...
Also had chicken and fries.
On Thursday, I woke up with a minor case of the sniffles. I was afraid I was getting sick again but it looks like its just little cold. I was feeling better by Friday. I just asked Ryan what we did on Friday night and we can't seem to remember anything other than we had dumplings for dinner. I think I watched Desperate Housewives. Not sure how I got Ryan half way interested in the show. Never had he watched an entire episode back in the USA. (We finished watching the series on Saturday. What should we watch now?)
Saturday it was pretty cold. We decided to stay a little closer to home by going to the outlets at Ping Guo Yuan, which is a shopping center near the subway station. It's 1 long bus ride away or 2 short bus rides so it was still a bit of a hike. When we were waiting for the bus to come, we saw bus 980, which we had never seen before. We were wondering where it went. Just as it was pulling away, we realized it was bus 960, which was the bus was wanted but it had a broken something that didn't block out the line that made the 6 look like an 8. Oops. It was a cold wait for the next bus. We wanted to purchase some inside pants (see the previous blog for more info on that). We both found some inside pants. When we got home, we tried on our new pants. Ryan's are a perfect fit. Mine are about 7 sizes too small. It's a bit difficult to buy pants when there are no sizes and no dressing rooms. I also wanted to buy a face mask. I'm sure you have noticed from TV that people where face masks here. Not sure of all the reasons why but one of them is to keep your face warm. Best 10 yuan I have ever spent. And it looks like a panda: bonus! :o) I also bought a pink Christmas sweater.
After shopping, we head to KFC for some ice-cream and a snack. Yes, ice-cream in the freezing cold. It might sound crazy but we see plenty of people eating ice-cream on cold days. Ryan got a chicken sandwich which had peas and carrots inside. That counts as eating a vegetable, right? Then we headed back in the cold. We haven't had to wait out in the cold too long for the buses lately. Part of it is that we are learning more bus routes and part of it is just plain good luck.
Sunday, with slightly warmer weather, Ryan's inside pants and my face mask, we headed to the city. All the clothes, scarves, hats, mittens, etc are needed outside but when you are inside the subway with 1000s of your new closest friends it gets pretty hot. We call it our "inferno": storing up our heat inside our layers for when we go back outside. First we headed to a restaurant that we pasted a couple weeks back called Mississippi Steak House. On the subway ride, Ryan and I have plenty of time to talk. Part of this trip the topic was food. I envisioned a Mississippi pizza. I decided it should be a deep crust pizza with chili and macaroni and cheese on it baked in the oven so the top's crispy. Please feel free to create this pizza at home and let us know how it turns out. When we got to restaurant it wasn't opened yet because it was before 11. A quick trip to Starbucks ate up some time. We were the first customers to the restaurant. They did have Mississippi pizza on the menu but nothing like we have envisioned. From there, I don't think we could have been wowed for lunch. The was fine but "nothing to write home about." But exciting enough to be included in the blog... We were also the only people in the restaurant when we left. I guess a steak house isn't super popular on a Sunday morning.
From there, we headed to Nola, the new Orleans restaurant we went to several weeks ago. We just hung out and Ryan had a bloody mary and I had lime water. I have had several great lime waters since being here in China. This lime water had lime, mint, and a hint of sugar. Yum!
Then off to the art store. On the way to lunch, we saw the Art and Craft Mansion. We thought perfect, we won't need to get back on the subway. We went in the mansion, which was just a big store and never saw anything that looked like arts or crafts. We just went back to the art store we went to last weekend.
On the way home, we got seats on the subway pretty early on the trip. I have gotten a bit more aggressive and we have a whole strategy figured out.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Inside pants
This week we have been asked on multiple occasions if we are only wearing one pair of pants. Actually, someone will point to my pants and ask if that's the only ones I have on. Then I usually pull up my pant leg to show them that it is. You all know how reserved I can be.
At first we blew it off. Wear two pairs of pants it doesn't really get that cold here. I don't even have two pairs of pants that I can wear at the same time. Finally, on Wednesday the teachers had a meeting in the afternoon (Julie and I get excused from all meetings because they are conducted in Chinese. What's that saying about ignorance being bliss.) and Julie and I were given the afternoon off. Since we had the afternoon off we decided to head to the Wu Mart for our weekly run, a.k.a I was out of peanut butter.
The other teachers had told us they buy their 'inside pants' at Wu Mart, so we stopped to check them out. They reminded me of the Under Armor pants for mountain climbers and Julie said they were thicker, more like a wet suit. As we've only been in China for three months we are still a bit naive and decided we didn't need any. Also, I almost ripped a pair in half when I was 'testing the quality' and that sped up our decision making process.
Quick side trip, I initially told the other teachers we should call the now referred to as inside pants as underpants. Julie didn't think this was nearly as funny as I did. Quickly I was advised to adopted the term 'inside pants'.
Now it is Friday morning and after spending 7:10 am to 7:30 am at the gate welcoming students it seems like a great idea to go buy some inside pants this weekend. March is only three short months away. Come on Spring.
Have a great Friday,
Ryan
At first we blew it off. Wear two pairs of pants it doesn't really get that cold here. I don't even have two pairs of pants that I can wear at the same time. Finally, on Wednesday the teachers had a meeting in the afternoon (Julie and I get excused from all meetings because they are conducted in Chinese. What's that saying about ignorance being bliss.) and Julie and I were given the afternoon off. Since we had the afternoon off we decided to head to the Wu Mart for our weekly run, a.k.a I was out of peanut butter.
The other teachers had told us they buy their 'inside pants' at Wu Mart, so we stopped to check them out. They reminded me of the Under Armor pants for mountain climbers and Julie said they were thicker, more like a wet suit. As we've only been in China for three months we are still a bit naive and decided we didn't need any. Also, I almost ripped a pair in half when I was 'testing the quality' and that sped up our decision making process.
Quick side trip, I initially told the other teachers we should call the now referred to as inside pants as underpants. Julie didn't think this was nearly as funny as I did. Quickly I was advised to adopted the term 'inside pants'.
Now it is Friday morning and after spending 7:10 am to 7:30 am at the gate welcoming students it seems like a great idea to go buy some inside pants this weekend. March is only three short months away. Come on Spring.
Have a great Friday,
Ryan
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Freezing Cold Weekend
So we heard it was going to be cold this weekend. We had decided we would stay in and stay warm. Well, Saturday morning came and by 8 was a bored. So we bundled up and headed to the city. I had also decided I wanted to take up painted. Sometimes there's not much to do here and I don't know how more times I can play Monopoly card game. (Which is a great game but Ryan and I have been playing nearly everyday.) (Also, if you know a good card game we can learn using a single deck of cards, let us know). I had asked the other teachers if there was local paint store. That lead to them getting me some paint from the art teacher for me to have. Very nice but I want canvas and acrylic paint. I want acrylic only because I have "extensive" practice with that type from the 2 art classes that I attended last year. :) Ryan and I headed to the city to go to the Art Museum because there are many art stores near there according to our online research.
Off the the city we went. With a high was 28, we needed to bundle up. I thought about wearing everything I own. Once we got to the city, we tried to go to the Art Museum but you are required to show your passport which we didn't bring. So, we just need to head back next weekend. We went to several paint stores and bought paint supplies and canvases. So I decided to paint small pictures. Why? So we don't have to carry large canvases back home.
After Art shopping, we heading out into the cold. To escape the cold, we decided to stop and get something to eat. We weren't that hungry to we decided to get tea. So, we were in a very nice part of town. Our 2 cups of tea were 96 yuan (16 dollars). It was good but not sure if it was that good. Oh well, well worth the price to get out of the cold. It was some type of green tea and had a buttery taste.
Next, Ryan wanted to walk down this famous street in Beijing. Remember how cold it is? He promised we could make frequent stops along the way to warm up. I saw a Forever 21 so we walked in. We found out it was an entire mall. This mall was very much like American malls. There was a pizza hut there so of course we had to go there for lunch. We got a beef steak type pizza. It had an interesting sauce on it but it was good. Anything we cheese is good since it's such a rarity. The staff at Pizza Hut was dressed up with Santa hats and there was a Christmas tree outside. (And that's my tinny tiny sweater.. it's' used to be longer then a accidentally washed it in hot water.)
I ended up going back to Forever 21. I actually bought some clothes. No Haggling, fair prices, and a dressing room... much better than the markets. Now back into the cold...
Next we saw a Coca-Cola shop were they sell drinks. Perfect place to warm up (with a cold beer...)
Finally made it to the subway and back home for dinner. I decided I would be getting fruit for dinner since I had eaten McDonalds and Pizza Hut. (Oh forgot to mention, we had Mcdonalds for breakfast.)
Sunday, I decided to try out my paints:
This one looks better than my second attempt. Ryan wants to know what I will do if I can't bring all my paintings back. We decided I can sell them. Not sure for how much though?
After that I got my hair cut. I was pretty nervous about this but it went very well. One of the best cuts I've ever had. Almost easier here than in America. Shampoo, cut and dry 20 yaun. I couldn't believe it. Also got a facial. Much more difficult to explain what I wanted there.
This week I'm teaching Humpty Dumpty, I'm a little teapot, and Family Members.
I hope everyone is having a good week.
Julie
Off the the city we went. With a high was 28, we needed to bundle up. I thought about wearing everything I own. Once we got to the city, we tried to go to the Art Museum but you are required to show your passport which we didn't bring. So, we just need to head back next weekend. We went to several paint stores and bought paint supplies and canvases. So I decided to paint small pictures. Why? So we don't have to carry large canvases back home.
After Art shopping, we heading out into the cold. To escape the cold, we decided to stop and get something to eat. We weren't that hungry to we decided to get tea. So, we were in a very nice part of town. Our 2 cups of tea were 96 yuan (16 dollars). It was good but not sure if it was that good. Oh well, well worth the price to get out of the cold. It was some type of green tea and had a buttery taste.
Next we saw a Coca-Cola shop were they sell drinks. Perfect place to warm up (with a cold beer...)
Finally made it to the subway and back home for dinner. I decided I would be getting fruit for dinner since I had eaten McDonalds and Pizza Hut. (Oh forgot to mention, we had Mcdonalds for breakfast.)
Sunday, I decided to try out my paints:
This one looks better than my second attempt. Ryan wants to know what I will do if I can't bring all my paintings back. We decided I can sell them. Not sure for how much though? After that I got my hair cut. I was pretty nervous about this but it went very well. One of the best cuts I've ever had. Almost easier here than in America. Shampoo, cut and dry 20 yaun. I couldn't believe it. Also got a facial. Much more difficult to explain what I wanted there.
This week I'm teaching Humpty Dumpty, I'm a little teapot, and Family Members.
I hope everyone is having a good week.
Julie
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Headin' towards the weekend
Happy Thursday everyone! We are winding down the day and avoiding the cold. I'm not sure how much research I did on the cold here but I'm afraid Julie might locked down in our apartment a majority of the winter. We looked at the weather for this weekend and the high for Saturday is 28 - Julie wanted me to ensure you knew that was 28 Fahrenheit - with a good chance of precipitation.
No worries we got invited to a co-workers house to make dumplings tomorrow night. Not sure I've shared this but I love dumplings. While I was eating ravioli last weekend I finally realized why I love dumplings so much. They are just oddly shaped ravioli with more filling. It turns out one of our co-worker's has a sister-in-law that is an English teacher. This sister-in-law was at our school today and came by to say hello to us. One thing led to another and we were invited to go make dumplings. A good day.
We have been attempting to workout for 30 consecutive days. Today finished off our first seven days as we missed Thanksgiving. There were extenuating circumstances that included being forgotten, a big celebratory dinner, and a cop car, but no excuses. Since we have dinner plans that means we need to get up and workout before work. That should be fun, but for dumplings it's worth it.
-Ryan
No worries we got invited to a co-workers house to make dumplings tomorrow night. Not sure I've shared this but I love dumplings. While I was eating ravioli last weekend I finally realized why I love dumplings so much. They are just oddly shaped ravioli with more filling. It turns out one of our co-worker's has a sister-in-law that is an English teacher. This sister-in-law was at our school today and came by to say hello to us. One thing led to another and we were invited to go make dumplings. A good day.
We have been attempting to workout for 30 consecutive days. Today finished off our first seven days as we missed Thanksgiving. There were extenuating circumstances that included being forgotten, a big celebratory dinner, and a cop car, but no excuses. Since we have dinner plans that means we need to get up and workout before work. That should be fun, but for dumplings it's worth it.
-Ryan
Monday, November 26, 2012
Weekend: Italian pasta, Doritos, New Orleans' po boy, and Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate. I almost thought I was in America.... then I remembered I spent 7-8 hours on public transportation.
Ryan in front of the bird's nest.
Hope everyone had a good weekend
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thanksgiving ends in the back of a police car
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Julie and I are back home and wrapping up our first non-US Thanksgiving and don't worry we are very full after a big meal featuring poultry.
Holidays have proven to be good teaching topics, so we have been teaching Thanksgiving all week. It has been an unusual week. Monday started off with our afternoon classes being cancelled, but we didn't know they were cancelled until we got to our empty classrooms. That was fortunate for us because we both needed to spend more time on our lesson plans for Tuesday as we were going to be observed by all the English teachers from the main school and our branch schools. Well that is what we thought. Later that afternoon we were told our classes were being pushed to Wednesday as most of the teachers needed to get physicals on Tuesday, and then I lost my motivation to work on the lesson plan.Tuesday started off normal with my two 6th grade classes. Those lessons were very good learning opportunities for me. Judging by my track record I have very little ability to fully appreciate my students level of English. Isn't it better that I keep over estimating their ability than underestimating it? After the first class I had ten minutes to simplify the lesson for the next class, I was mildly successful. I taught it for the third time today and I am starting to get there.
Well after those two 6th grade classes I was told I would only be teaching one of my afternoon classes because Julie would be teaching that class on Wednesday morning (for her observed class) when that class normally has math, so they would have their math lesson during my class. Thanks Julie! I was teaching 4th grade for my observed class so I couldn't return the favor. Sorry Julie. Don't worry she is letting me go standout in the cold tomorrow morning to greet the students for her.
Come Wednesday (my easy day) all the teachers observed Julie teach Grade 2 at 8 am. This is my class normally and we were later informed that the students like Julie better, when asked why they said because, "she is beautiful." Smart kids, they must have a good teacher. I was up next in my 4th grade class which I normally teach on Wednesday afternoons but it was moved up so all the other teachers could observe at the 8:50 class period. Both our lessons went well and the other teachers gave us many compliments. As we have said on many occasions they are very nice to us. It was by far the best behaved class I have ever had. It is amazing how those students transform when certain Chinese teachers walk into the room. Julie tells me that that is how the students always behave at her branch school but given how my students at my branch school behave, I just can't understand.
Since my 4th grade class was bumped up my teaching day ended at 11:45 am on Wednesday. It's been a rough week. Oh yeah, and I was told my two afternoon classes on Friday would not be held this week either. I have an ominous feeling they are setting my for some terrible task.
Thursday's bring our weekly trip to the branch schools. Julie teaches little angels, so she says, and I have delicious food with something different every week. We are taken to the branch school by an administrator and so far someone from the branch school brings us back. This has occurred without failure every time we've taught at the branch school, so why would one worry about. Well I wasn't until at 4:45 one of the teachers ask who was coming to pick me up. It is times like these that not being able to speak the language really makes you feel borderline helpless. Luckily I am well taken care of here and they arranged for someone to come get me before too long. This was crucial because one, we were headed out for a Thanksgiving feast and two, I didn't bring all my warm clothes and it's kind of a long walk and today was not warm.
We made it to the restaurant and had decided that we would feast on duck as turkey doesn't seem to be available in Mentougou. We also feasted on squid, fish, spicy hot pot, some sort of eggplant dish, a cold gelatin with hawthorn berries, spinach and about ten other things (including corn) that I can't remember. It was fun sharing some of the history of Thanksgiving with our fellow teachers and we all took turns saying what we were thankful for. After dinner we head out the door and there was a police car. Julie was instructed to get in and was mildly curious about what was going on as no one else was getting in. I had quickly walked down the street to get my brief case from another teachers car so I couldn't tell us that the man driving us home (the boyfriend of one of our co-workers) was a police officer.We pulled up the school with the lights blazing and I'm sure the security guard (if we haven't mentioned there are gates on the school and we have be let in an out by a security guard, which can be problematic if they have left the gate for some reason) was quite surprised at the sight. Some good pictures were taken at this point and we'll be sure to share them once we get them.
Happy Thanksgiving and eat a little extra for us.
-Ryan
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving Eve
Thanksgiving Eve is here! Happy Thanksgiving.
It's very different awaiting the holidays here. I haven't seen any Black Friday sale ads. That's one thing I won't miss: the crowds on Black Friday-- not that I would have gone shopping anyway. And shopping here seems to be as busy as Black Friday any day so I don't plan on shopping.
Well, now that I'm finally feeling better, I'm back to work. We thought we would be teaching a full week with all of our classes but things are always changing around here. On Monday, Ryan and I went to our afternoon class and there were no students to be found. I've never heard the halls so quiet. Apparently, our students went on a field trip and Ryan and I didn't connect the dots. We saw some buses taking some children and didn't know they were students from our classes. The students went to see a play. Good thing though, Ryan and I needed to work on lesson plans. We were told last Friday that we would be teaching an extra class this week and the other teachers would observe and give us feed back. We were told it would be Tuesday but it ended up being Wednesday. They gave us a lesson plan to use which we have never had before. In the past, they have just told us to teach whatever we would like. The class went better than normal. Having 10 or so teachers in the classroom makes a big difference on the student's behavior. It was nice to see one of Ryan's classes. I have never seen him teach before. He did very well and the students think he is funny. Ryan watched 2 of my classes this week. In the first class, it was just Ryan watching, not the other 10 teachers, so I pretended Ryan was a student and called on him. The student's got a big kick out of that. We've had some other classes moved around to different times and skipped this week. We just never know. We always try to have our lessons planned the day before because we never know what activity might come up during our normal planning time.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I can't allow myself to look at turkey day stuff online because it makes me a little sad. I'm also a little sad that I will be working on Thanksgiving. At least I am teaching about Thanksgiving. Trying to teach the 3rd and 5th grader about being thankful. Not sure if they understand. Ryan and I were planning to go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. We were thinking duck. Turkey is hard to come by in this part of the world. Ryan asked one of the teacher's today where we should go. They said they were planning for us to go out to eat. Not sure what food we will be having. I'm sure it will be a nontraditional Thanksgiving feast. We will let you know how it goes. Hopefully we will remember the camera.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
It's very different awaiting the holidays here. I haven't seen any Black Friday sale ads. That's one thing I won't miss: the crowds on Black Friday-- not that I would have gone shopping anyway. And shopping here seems to be as busy as Black Friday any day so I don't plan on shopping.
Well, now that I'm finally feeling better, I'm back to work. We thought we would be teaching a full week with all of our classes but things are always changing around here. On Monday, Ryan and I went to our afternoon class and there were no students to be found. I've never heard the halls so quiet. Apparently, our students went on a field trip and Ryan and I didn't connect the dots. We saw some buses taking some children and didn't know they were students from our classes. The students went to see a play. Good thing though, Ryan and I needed to work on lesson plans. We were told last Friday that we would be teaching an extra class this week and the other teachers would observe and give us feed back. We were told it would be Tuesday but it ended up being Wednesday. They gave us a lesson plan to use which we have never had before. In the past, they have just told us to teach whatever we would like. The class went better than normal. Having 10 or so teachers in the classroom makes a big difference on the student's behavior. It was nice to see one of Ryan's classes. I have never seen him teach before. He did very well and the students think he is funny. Ryan watched 2 of my classes this week. In the first class, it was just Ryan watching, not the other 10 teachers, so I pretended Ryan was a student and called on him. The student's got a big kick out of that. We've had some other classes moved around to different times and skipped this week. We just never know. We always try to have our lessons planned the day before because we never know what activity might come up during our normal planning time.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I can't allow myself to look at turkey day stuff online because it makes me a little sad. I'm also a little sad that I will be working on Thanksgiving. At least I am teaching about Thanksgiving. Trying to teach the 3rd and 5th grader about being thankful. Not sure if they understand. Ryan and I were planning to go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate. We were thinking duck. Turkey is hard to come by in this part of the world. Ryan asked one of the teacher's today where we should go. They said they were planning for us to go out to eat. Not sure what food we will be having. I'm sure it will be a nontraditional Thanksgiving feast. We will let you know how it goes. Hopefully we will remember the camera.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Rest and recooperate
This was an interesting week. Julie only taught two and a half days and I only taught three and half days. On Monday it was business as usual, except Julie was fighting off a cold. On Tuesday the cold was starting to win but we had our normal schedule. On Wednesday morning it was time to see the doctor. That meant we were headed to the hospital. Apparently, their are doctor's offices but those doctors aren't held in the highest esteem. After I went downstairs to get Julie breakfast and headed to office to tidy-up. (On Wednesday's it's Julie and my day to clean-up the office and get the hot water containers filled. The other teachers were initially concerned about asking me to help but Julie quickly told them that it would be my pleasure. She's always looking out for me.) One of our bosses (Ms. Wang) had received my text that Julie needed to see a doctor and told me stop cleaning and go get Julie as a car would be waiting to take us to the hospital.
A fellow English teacher (Ms. Liu) and an administrator (Mr. Wang - no relation) drove us to the Mentougou Hospital. We walked in the door and headed to the registration counter where they quickly got Julie's information. Julie was given a card to carry in her wallet and a small notebook that doctors wrote all their notes in so should she need to go to the hospital again she can bring her records with her. Make the patient take more responsibility for their record keeping, I like it. After registration our Ms. Liu led us to the instructed department where Julie was able to meet with the doctor (I guess) in about five minutes. (While the US medical system is well ahead of what we've experienced in China, in the aspect of time waiting by the patient the Chinese are lapping us.) The consult took about three minutes and we were sent to have some blood drawn at the rapid body fluid testing center that was located in the ER. They had one window for blood and one window for other body fluids. There were very specific instructions about when some other fluids could and couldn't be accepted translated into English. It was reassuring that I didn't notice any translation errors on the signs in the hospital.
It only took another five or ten minutes to wait for the blood to be drawn and then a half-hour to get the results. We waited in the hall of the ER. there wasn't an ER waiting room that I noticed but two rows of seats down the center of the ER hallway. We got a seat right outside of the emergency surgery room. One lady came in with a pretty nasty looking bandage on her arm and fortunately they closed the door - not always the case. Privacy is a bit more of a luxury than Julie and I had grown accustom too.
After we waited our half-hour is back upstairs to take the results to doctor Julie had seen earlier. The doctor (again I am assuming) took a look at the results and after a discussion about any medicines Julie had taken and some other things I am sure but can't confirm, we were given three prescriptions and sent to the pharmacy. A quick trip to the pharmacy an we were out the door and headed back to school. Julie was told to take the day off and Wednesday's are my easy day - as I only have two classes - I was promptly told to go take care of Julie after the second.
Julie and I are very lucky to have wonderful hosts. They take very good care of us and refused to let us pay any of the bills at the hospital, which came out to about 150 yuan ($25 - $30). Then on Wednesday evening we got a visit from Ms. Wang long after school hours as she was worried about Julie and I had not noticed the text message she sent us asking for an update. She also brought us a thermometer.
Come Thursday things had not gotten any better. Upon this news I was told that we (Julie and I) would not be going to branch schools and I was to stay home and take care of the patient. Ms. Wang asked what Julie wanted for breakfast and while I had already gotten her something from the dinning hall downstairs I did let her know that Julie wanted either an orange or a banana. About an hour later two of our fellow teachers stopped by our room with a a bag full of bananas and a bag full of oranges. By the end of Thursday it was appearing as if the worst was behind us and Julie fought her way in to work Friday morning and survived Kindergarten. When we got back from Kindergarten we were told that their was an activity on Friday afternoon so we wouldn't be teaching those class and we could have a rest. This phrase (we could have a rest) must be a close translation to some time off, otherwise Julie and I must always look like we need a nap.
With the weekend upon us hopefully Julie can get back to 100% but she has definitely turned the corner. Now if we could just get the construction site next door to let us sleep past six.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan
A fellow English teacher (Ms. Liu) and an administrator (Mr. Wang - no relation) drove us to the Mentougou Hospital. We walked in the door and headed to the registration counter where they quickly got Julie's information. Julie was given a card to carry in her wallet and a small notebook that doctors wrote all their notes in so should she need to go to the hospital again she can bring her records with her. Make the patient take more responsibility for their record keeping, I like it. After registration our Ms. Liu led us to the instructed department where Julie was able to meet with the doctor (I guess) in about five minutes. (While the US medical system is well ahead of what we've experienced in China, in the aspect of time waiting by the patient the Chinese are lapping us.) The consult took about three minutes and we were sent to have some blood drawn at the rapid body fluid testing center that was located in the ER. They had one window for blood and one window for other body fluids. There were very specific instructions about when some other fluids could and couldn't be accepted translated into English. It was reassuring that I didn't notice any translation errors on the signs in the hospital.
It only took another five or ten minutes to wait for the blood to be drawn and then a half-hour to get the results. We waited in the hall of the ER. there wasn't an ER waiting room that I noticed but two rows of seats down the center of the ER hallway. We got a seat right outside of the emergency surgery room. One lady came in with a pretty nasty looking bandage on her arm and fortunately they closed the door - not always the case. Privacy is a bit more of a luxury than Julie and I had grown accustom too.
After we waited our half-hour is back upstairs to take the results to doctor Julie had seen earlier. The doctor (again I am assuming) took a look at the results and after a discussion about any medicines Julie had taken and some other things I am sure but can't confirm, we were given three prescriptions and sent to the pharmacy. A quick trip to the pharmacy an we were out the door and headed back to school. Julie was told to take the day off and Wednesday's are my easy day - as I only have two classes - I was promptly told to go take care of Julie after the second.
Julie and I are very lucky to have wonderful hosts. They take very good care of us and refused to let us pay any of the bills at the hospital, which came out to about 150 yuan ($25 - $30). Then on Wednesday evening we got a visit from Ms. Wang long after school hours as she was worried about Julie and I had not noticed the text message she sent us asking for an update. She also brought us a thermometer.
Come Thursday things had not gotten any better. Upon this news I was told that we (Julie and I) would not be going to branch schools and I was to stay home and take care of the patient. Ms. Wang asked what Julie wanted for breakfast and while I had already gotten her something from the dinning hall downstairs I did let her know that Julie wanted either an orange or a banana. About an hour later two of our fellow teachers stopped by our room with a a bag full of bananas and a bag full of oranges. By the end of Thursday it was appearing as if the worst was behind us and Julie fought her way in to work Friday morning and survived Kindergarten. When we got back from Kindergarten we were told that their was an activity on Friday afternoon so we wouldn't be teaching those class and we could have a rest. This phrase (we could have a rest) must be a close translation to some time off, otherwise Julie and I must always look like we need a nap.
With the weekend upon us hopefully Julie can get back to 100% but she has definitely turned the corner. Now if we could just get the construction site next door to let us sleep past six.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ryan
Monday, November 12, 2012
Around school
For the past few weeks I've been meaning to get some pictures up of the area surrounding our school. Our school is called the Yongding branch but from what I can tell we are located in Feng Cun (cun is Chinese for village). Julie works at the Feng Cun branch on Thursdays which is about a quarter of mile down the road. Over our two plus months here it has been fascinating to see the rate of development in 'our' little slice of China. Within a half-mile radius of our school their are seven cranes putting up residential buildings. Three of them are for luxury apartments. See here:
Below you can see a very large residential building which is over twenty stories and the exterior was just finished a little over a month ago. Whether anyone is living in it yet I do not know.
Directly behind the school was an open area when we arrived two months and stayed that way for about a month. It was a grassy area with a large hill of about twenty to thirty feet in the center and sloping up (from the left to the right in the adjacent picture). It has changed dramatically in the last few weeks. You can see some of the earth moving equipment and the hill is now gone. I've asked a couple of people but they either don't understand what I am asking for don't have a clue what this land is being prepped for.
I spent a few minutes watching the large pole looking contraption work this afternoon. It appears that is a large drill and works as a giant post-hole digger. They lower the drill bit and casing into the ground then retract and dump a big pile of dirt on the ground and then repeat. It kept my attention for five minutes.
Below the building on the left you can see the green coverings of a luxury development, I am not sure if it is related to the one you saw above. It looks like that project has been stalled for a while as a large concrete wall was built, it appears, sometime ago. Just the other week a crane was added over this development so it appears things are headed in the right direction.
Across the street you can see a playground. This playground belongs to the kindergarten we teach at each Friday morning.
Hope you've enjoyed the pictures and here is a view from above the school if you'd life to explore. Map
Till next time, Ryan.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
rainy weekend
Last night we went to Ryan's branch school for dinner. Before dinner, they asked us to play a game. The game invovled a rope that was a large circle big enough for 4 or 5 people to stand inside of. So 5 people stood in a row with the rope under their feet and the rest of the rope in their hands above their hands making a circle. Then, the group walks sideways in a line moving the rope little by little trying to get the finish line first. Well, needless to say, our team finished last being our first time playing.
They were having hot pot for dinner. So now I know what sheep tastes like. I only had one piece. As with most meat around here, there were lots of bones so I opted to eat mostly bread and vegetables for dinner. Spanish, lettuce and noodles were very tasty. If you have never had boiled lettuce with seasoning on it, you really should try it. It is surprisingly delicious. I also got to see where Ryan teaches his large classes. The room is giant with enough room for 60 or 70 desks and chairs. I teach one class with about 60 students but they are all crammed into a normal size classroom with lots of chairs.
After dinner, we walked to the bus stop to go to Wu-Mart. We bought everything on our list: lotion, chapstick, mouthwash, and ziplock bags. I think that's a first. There always seems to be something we can't find. And then we bought things not on the list, peanut butter and German beer. Well, I think it was German. It cost about 4 times as much as the Chinese beer but well worth it. It tastes much better. I think it was a special so I hope other people liked it so they keep it in stock.
We came home and stayed up late playing monopoly deal, a card game. Best card game ever. Stop reading and go to Target and buy the game now.
This morning, I woke up with a sore throat. I'm not sure how I am the one getting sick when I'm always telling Ryan to wash his hands and use hand sanitizer. He says he's just building up his immunity.
For lunch, we walked to a local restaurant. We have been there before so we knew they had a picture menu. Well, today they has a special menu written in Chinese. I'm sure the food would have been good if we could have ordered it. We decided to leave and go to our usual place. Since it was raining we thought about ordering extra food to take our room for dinner but we forgot the translation book. So that would be a little difficult to explain.
Since need dinner and I'm feeling a little under the weather (and it's raining), Ryan decided to celebrate international food day. (Which we celebrate just about ever weekend). He is on his way to McDonald's right now.
Tonight is going to be movie night. Since the internet it slow, we started downloading movies this morning. We think the internet is slow because they are doing more censoring because of the congress change over. We will be watching Aurthur Christmas and Gone with the Wind.
They were having hot pot for dinner. So now I know what sheep tastes like. I only had one piece. As with most meat around here, there were lots of bones so I opted to eat mostly bread and vegetables for dinner. Spanish, lettuce and noodles were very tasty. If you have never had boiled lettuce with seasoning on it, you really should try it. It is surprisingly delicious. I also got to see where Ryan teaches his large classes. The room is giant with enough room for 60 or 70 desks and chairs. I teach one class with about 60 students but they are all crammed into a normal size classroom with lots of chairs.
After dinner, we walked to the bus stop to go to Wu-Mart. We bought everything on our list: lotion, chapstick, mouthwash, and ziplock bags. I think that's a first. There always seems to be something we can't find. And then we bought things not on the list, peanut butter and German beer. Well, I think it was German. It cost about 4 times as much as the Chinese beer but well worth it. It tastes much better. I think it was a special so I hope other people liked it so they keep it in stock.
We came home and stayed up late playing monopoly deal, a card game. Best card game ever. Stop reading and go to Target and buy the game now.
This morning, I woke up with a sore throat. I'm not sure how I am the one getting sick when I'm always telling Ryan to wash his hands and use hand sanitizer. He says he's just building up his immunity.
For lunch, we walked to a local restaurant. We have been there before so we knew they had a picture menu. Well, today they has a special menu written in Chinese. I'm sure the food would have been good if we could have ordered it. We decided to leave and go to our usual place. Since it was raining we thought about ordering extra food to take our room for dinner but we forgot the translation book. So that would be a little difficult to explain.
Since need dinner and I'm feeling a little under the weather (and it's raining), Ryan decided to celebrate international food day. (Which we celebrate just about ever weekend). He is on his way to McDonald's right now.
Tonight is going to be movie night. Since the internet it slow, we started downloading movies this morning. We think the internet is slow because they are doing more censoring because of the congress change over. We will be watching Aurthur Christmas and Gone with the Wind.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Political week
Now that the US elections is behind us I'm sure everyone's attention has turned to the 18th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. What! This isn't the case. Okay so I am not that informed on the meeting either but given that we are in the country it seems like a good idea to get educated. Here is the Wikipedia write-up if you want to learn more yourself: 18th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China
For streaming information from the Congress (in English) you can go to this website: 18th National Congress. Also, here is a funny link I came across this morning: Chinese Electoral Map. If you want to get an inside perspective on and about China the Sinocism daily newsletter is a good resource. I attempt to read it everyday although it can be extensive, however I always learn something. You can find it at sinocism.com. No link, I know you can make it if you want too.
The Congress will consist of 2200+ of China's top movers and Shakers gathering in Beijing's Great Hall of the People to elect the top leadership of the Communist Party set policy for the next five years, as the Congress is held every five years. This has been taking place every five years since 1977. The first Congress was held in 1921 when a very few members of the Party met (including a 21 year-old Mao Zedong). At the time the Party had only about 60 members in the whole country. Today membership stand at just over 82 million, which in a country of 1.3 billion seemed a little low but I'm still learning about what party membership means. All told it should be an interesting week and I'm looking forward to learning more about how politics work here in China.
We were asked not to venture into the city as the Congress will last through the weekend and most likely most of next week (if not longer). Our hosts are very protective of us, so please do not be alarmed. From one of my co-workers I was told it's no big deal you just need to make sure you carry your ID. Leaving the city is especially not difficult it is entering the city that there is extra scrutiny to ensure one's identity. On that note, I have been quite surprised with the ease of movement in China. On our fall trip to Shanghai we even traveled under a false name because train tickets are bought up early by travel agents so they can re-sell them, which requires the travel agents to buy the tickets in names other than the end user. The only time we need our ID (passports) was to check into hotels. We were told we would need them to leave the train station in Beijing but this turned our not to be the case. Not sure what I was expecting but it has been a quite pleasant. Just don't get Julie started on the mosquito's that have managed to survive the first freeze.
-Ryan
For streaming information from the Congress (in English) you can go to this website: 18th National Congress. Also, here is a funny link I came across this morning: Chinese Electoral Map. If you want to get an inside perspective on and about China the Sinocism daily newsletter is a good resource. I attempt to read it everyday although it can be extensive, however I always learn something. You can find it at sinocism.com. No link, I know you can make it if you want too.
The Congress will consist of 2200+ of China's top movers and Shakers gathering in Beijing's Great Hall of the People to elect the top leadership of the Communist Party set policy for the next five years, as the Congress is held every five years. This has been taking place every five years since 1977. The first Congress was held in 1921 when a very few members of the Party met (including a 21 year-old Mao Zedong). At the time the Party had only about 60 members in the whole country. Today membership stand at just over 82 million, which in a country of 1.3 billion seemed a little low but I'm still learning about what party membership means. All told it should be an interesting week and I'm looking forward to learning more about how politics work here in China.
We were asked not to venture into the city as the Congress will last through the weekend and most likely most of next week (if not longer). Our hosts are very protective of us, so please do not be alarmed. From one of my co-workers I was told it's no big deal you just need to make sure you carry your ID. Leaving the city is especially not difficult it is entering the city that there is extra scrutiny to ensure one's identity. On that note, I have been quite surprised with the ease of movement in China. On our fall trip to Shanghai we even traveled under a false name because train tickets are bought up early by travel agents so they can re-sell them, which requires the travel agents to buy the tickets in names other than the end user. The only time we need our ID (passports) was to check into hotels. We were told we would need them to leave the train station in Beijing but this turned our not to be the case. Not sure what I was expecting but it has been a quite pleasant. Just don't get Julie started on the mosquito's that have managed to survive the first freeze.
-Ryan
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