Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday... 2 days before I leave China
Wow I can't believe this is almost over! We have really enjoyed it and learned so much. Yesterday we climbed the great wall which was aweomse and hard. The history is so great here and I really Enjoy it. I miss Jingzhou so much though. I've realized I don't like big cities very much and miss the personal relationships at the other place. As for Beijing it is pretty and full of great things but I am ready to come home I don't care for too big cities and don't want to stay to long here. I really wish I could go back to Jingzhou though and would trade my plane ticket tomorrow if I could, I'm out until I get back home but I hope you all are doing well.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
When I stopped - Wed. June 16th
Sorry I have been unable to do it for awhile I realize! Things have been going good and I am learning more and more stuff everyday. Stuff about the culture, the work here, my life and how I work, people who live here and daily life. All of this is so awesome and I can't really write about most of it either. You pretty much missed only one week. This was our last week in Jingzhou you missed. We didn't have much planned during this week. Mainly it was saying goodbye to the people we had met and building even closer relationships. We did go to Yichang though and saw the Dam and Three Gorges. The university took us there and it was gorgeous. We went with the girl in the office. It was really good talking to her more and getting to know more about her. The three gorges held alot of the province's heritage and history. I even got to play an instrument with some of the Pros there. They tried to teach some of it to me but I'm slow and don't speak much Chinese. We got to see all the war stuff and hike down the mountain we went up through a gorgeous scenic route. Also that last week in Jingzhou we through a Tex Mexican style dinner for the friends we have met. This went off fairly well. Many of the students don't really like it because it was spicy. We made tacos from pork meat since that was all we could find. We brought our own tortillas and made a salsa from random peppers we found in the store and fresh tomatos. Getting to know the students even deeper was better. We got to talk to them about more than just school and such. It was really good and I will look back on it as one of the greatest times. We talked at the meeting sunday morning and that went fairly well. As i'm writing this I am really missing Jingzhou and the people there. In a later post, when I get back home, I will post some of what I feel as "accomplishments" (I don't really like this terminology) and things I would change if I did again. I will also put some about the work there and how we helped with that. I can't yet as I am in Beijing and Beijing is worse than Jingzhou in that. But one thing I can say as I look back on Jingzhou is one thing I would change or do differently is spend more time with the few than meeeting many people. I don't know how much of that is possible as we were constantly meeting new people. There were a few though that I wish I could have spent more time with and got to know even more. I feel that would have been even more effective. I will miss the people there quite a bit and expecially those who I really got to know. I have been blessed by their lives.
We are in Beijing though right now so I will post some current things. We flew out sunday night from the airport. This was one "adventure" getting to Beijing. First we tried to get train tickets. They didn't take american credit cards online so we went through someone elses because you couldn't get it from the agency without getting a bus ticket with it. So we got the train tickets and a few hours later we get a call saying the train is full and we can't get the tickets. So we quickly try to decide what to do. We decide the only other option is getting plane tickets so we get those. A few hours later I get a call again saying they need to confirm my address. They wouldn't take my address so it became even more complicated oh and the date was changed. We got it worked out though and got even the date changed back. We get to the airport Sunday and wait and find out there is a storm in Beijing (it only rains like 8 days here keep in mind) and so our plane is delayed 6 1/2 hours. We wait through that to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 the next morning. That day we were really tired. We went and saw one of madison's friends who we our house sitting for because they left yesterday. Well at night I get a fever of 102 but luckly it is going away. It didn't stop us. Yesterday we went to the biggest mall in Asia. It was pretty cool and BIG. It's amazing how western it is though. They had Starbucks, DQ, Harley Davidson, and many moe but those were the surprising ones. There we also fell into a tourist trap and got led to a hotel to buy paintings which we couldn't get out of. We looked it up when we got home and it was on the internet as a clear tourist trap to watch out for, LOL. That night though we went on snack street. Snack street is just a street full of food that is exotic and weird. I didn't have many things weird only like crab legs and a meatball that wasn't any meat we recognized. There were LIVE scorpions though on sticks, Sea horses, Starfish, squid...a nd you name it. OH also cockroaches and other bugs are included in that list. It was a great experience though. Today, even though I'm still kind of sick, we went to the Forbidden City and Tienmen Square. These were very interesting. The Inside city was really spectacular and the square was big (DONT mention anything about it!!!!!!!!!!). That has been the day. Oh we ate at a korean restraunt it was ok, but not my favorite I like Chinese food better. Good Night wo Ai Ni... Peace with you
We are in Beijing though right now so I will post some current things. We flew out sunday night from the airport. This was one "adventure" getting to Beijing. First we tried to get train tickets. They didn't take american credit cards online so we went through someone elses because you couldn't get it from the agency without getting a bus ticket with it. So we got the train tickets and a few hours later we get a call saying the train is full and we can't get the tickets. So we quickly try to decide what to do. We decide the only other option is getting plane tickets so we get those. A few hours later I get a call again saying they need to confirm my address. They wouldn't take my address so it became even more complicated oh and the date was changed. We got it worked out though and got even the date changed back. We get to the airport Sunday and wait and find out there is a storm in Beijing (it only rains like 8 days here keep in mind) and so our plane is delayed 6 1/2 hours. We wait through that to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 the next morning. That day we were really tired. We went and saw one of madison's friends who we our house sitting for because they left yesterday. Well at night I get a fever of 102 but luckly it is going away. It didn't stop us. Yesterday we went to the biggest mall in Asia. It was pretty cool and BIG. It's amazing how western it is though. They had Starbucks, DQ, Harley Davidson, and many moe but those were the surprising ones. There we also fell into a tourist trap and got led to a hotel to buy paintings which we couldn't get out of. We looked it up when we got home and it was on the internet as a clear tourist trap to watch out for, LOL. That night though we went on snack street. Snack street is just a street full of food that is exotic and weird. I didn't have many things weird only like crab legs and a meatball that wasn't any meat we recognized. There were LIVE scorpions though on sticks, Sea horses, Starfish, squid...a nd you name it. OH also cockroaches and other bugs are included in that list. It was a great experience though. Today, even though I'm still kind of sick, we went to the Forbidden City and Tienmen Square. These were very interesting. The Inside city was really spectacular and the square was big (DONT mention anything about it!!!!!!!!!!). That has been the day. Oh we ate at a korean restraunt it was ok, but not my favorite I like Chinese food better. Good Night wo Ai Ni... Peace with you
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday June 1st - Wednesday June 2nd
Tuesday:
Tuesday was Children's day here in China! childrents day was so awesome. We went to the Primary school after going to the banquet for class one. My fist class was an off class and so I just visited with some of the english teachers who also didn't have a class. The next class I went to was an music class. I didn't come to teach it but just to observe it. They were teaching a new song to the kids. They weren't teaching like we use to learn in elementary but they were teaching the actual notes, key, and solfesh of the song. The kids picked up the song fairly quick it was quite impressive. The teacher played piano when they also sang it. Next unexpectedly they asked me to play something and sing. Oh NO! I deffinetly don't play piano but one song. So I played Titanic and sang to it. It went bad to say the least. Oh well they enjoyed it and then we taught them what a cannon was. We taught them row row row your boat. They really enjoyed this and did it really well. It was alot of fun seeing how they did a music class over here. It is really cool to see as many students study music in their "free" time which doesn't really exist. My next clas was another 6th grade class. I did tongue twisters again . this time we taught them the rhythm also that you ahve to say with it. This made them so much fun and I have it recorded. They say them really well and truly want to try saying it. After this we wen to the canteen and then rested. We went to a really comfortable ofice and rested a little and hoped we didn't have to use the restroom which is two buildings over and the 4th floor. It was quite funny. Next was Party Time! Oh man this was fun.... I went to a great class. The kids did many performances like a talent show. They did many different performances. Many sang and dance and then one did an Erhu performance. Theses were 6th graders. The other one did another type of performance on an instrument and another did one on the clackers. It was so awesome and they are also recorded. They gave me a gift of this ancient drum figurine of the han dynasty. we went to many other classes that were awesome. One thing I am noticing is the red scarfs some of the children are wearing. From what I hear, but i don't know the whole story, they are a sign of members of the communist party. I am trying to learn more but may have to wait till I get back. The nicer looking students though are the ones mainly that wear them. All the students are so great though and I am lucky to have met many of them. We also tried many types of their candy as this is Children's day and they get alot of it on this day. It was such a good day. After school we went to a restraunt with the teachers from the primary school. It was so good seeing them outside of the classroom and talking to them more. They also taught us a Chinese Gambling game (we didn't gamble) called Majong or something like that. It was a very difficult game but alot of fun. I really enjoyed tuesday so much and it will be a day I remeber for a long time.
Wednesday:
wednesday was a good day and we didn't have anything on the schedule so we got to sleep. Sleeping is always good and then we went to the movie shop and a women's study. We studyed Elijah. It was so good. I'm out we are watching how to train a dragon. Peace and Love
GB you all,
Lindsay Smith
Tuesday was Children's day here in China! childrents day was so awesome. We went to the Primary school after going to the banquet for class one. My fist class was an off class and so I just visited with some of the english teachers who also didn't have a class. The next class I went to was an music class. I didn't come to teach it but just to observe it. They were teaching a new song to the kids. They weren't teaching like we use to learn in elementary but they were teaching the actual notes, key, and solfesh of the song. The kids picked up the song fairly quick it was quite impressive. The teacher played piano when they also sang it. Next unexpectedly they asked me to play something and sing. Oh NO! I deffinetly don't play piano but one song. So I played Titanic and sang to it. It went bad to say the least. Oh well they enjoyed it and then we taught them what a cannon was. We taught them row row row your boat. They really enjoyed this and did it really well. It was alot of fun seeing how they did a music class over here. It is really cool to see as many students study music in their "free" time which doesn't really exist. My next clas was another 6th grade class. I did tongue twisters again . this time we taught them the rhythm also that you ahve to say with it. This made them so much fun and I have it recorded. They say them really well and truly want to try saying it. After this we wen to the canteen and then rested. We went to a really comfortable ofice and rested a little and hoped we didn't have to use the restroom which is two buildings over and the 4th floor. It was quite funny. Next was Party Time! Oh man this was fun.... I went to a great class. The kids did many performances like a talent show. They did many different performances. Many sang and dance and then one did an Erhu performance. Theses were 6th graders. The other one did another type of performance on an instrument and another did one on the clackers. It was so awesome and they are also recorded. They gave me a gift of this ancient drum figurine of the han dynasty. we went to many other classes that were awesome. One thing I am noticing is the red scarfs some of the children are wearing. From what I hear, but i don't know the whole story, they are a sign of members of the communist party. I am trying to learn more but may have to wait till I get back. The nicer looking students though are the ones mainly that wear them. All the students are so great though and I am lucky to have met many of them. We also tried many types of their candy as this is Children's day and they get alot of it on this day. It was such a good day. After school we went to a restraunt with the teachers from the primary school. It was so good seeing them outside of the classroom and talking to them more. They also taught us a Chinese Gambling game (we didn't gamble) called Majong or something like that. It was a very difficult game but alot of fun. I really enjoyed tuesday so much and it will be a day I remeber for a long time.
Wednesday:
wednesday was a good day and we didn't have anything on the schedule so we got to sleep. Sleeping is always good and then we went to the movie shop and a women's study. We studyed Elijah. It was so good. I'm out we are watching how to train a dragon. Peace and Love
GB you all,
Lindsay Smith
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Sunday May 30th - MOnday May 31st
Sunday:
Sunday morning I felt sick at my stomach so I slept in and couldn't really go to the meeting so. that afternoon around 2pm we went to get noodles at a new noodle shop cause the old one was torn down. They were slightly delicious I got rice noodles so that made me happy. After words we went to the later night meeting and talked with the people there after words. Oh I had Persian cat food , it was actually the companies name of snacks but since we couldn't read the Chinese all we could read was Persia cat Food. It was funny. Afterwards instead of going witht he other americans here to eat and play settlers we went out with one of the sweetest girls here and had dumplings with her at a chinese restraunt. It was amazing time to spend with her and get to know her better. She took us shopping afterwards so Dr. Cavitt could get a jade necklace for his wife. I enjoyed just hanging out on the streets though and meeting interesting people. We went to sleep after that because we were wiped out.
Monday:
Monday was our first day in the primary school. It was a good day and a good morning as this was the first morning we had breakfast. We actually had cake for breakfast. My first class was just observing a class that dr. Cavitt was teaching. This was fun and interesting. The next class was one I taught. They were 4th or 5th graders. Before I went into the class the teacher told me that this is a problem class. I thought surely not, but they were. I came in and people were punching eachother and stuff. I knew not much could be accomplished if I taught so the teacher and I decided that we should just play english games. She had told me they really didn't like english and so she wanted to see if that could be changed. They started getting into some of the games though. We played alot of Hangman and english charades. It was awesome. The next class they just asked us to rest in the office so that is what we did. Then we had lunch in the canteen (cafeteria). It wasn't horrible but I still had to lie to save face.
Saving face is an interesting thing here which I will have to tell you more about when I get back, so ask me about it. The point is not to devalue the other person to their face. So in other words you praise them is the opposite. If they asked you if you like the food, you say yes in order to save face. Also the same with if they mis pronounce something. You don't ever say it there... There are many other instances and at first this was annoying, but eventually it got better and I realize it is just apart of the culture and so now I like embracing it.
Anyways, back to the day. The next class I taught was 3rd graders. I loved this age best. They were so much fun to be around and we talked about the animals. They learned new vocabulary and were brilliant. This was so good. We did the animal sounds and just had a blast together. I taught one more class that day which was another 6th grade class. This grade level was always the hardest. We mainly practiced the vocabulary they had already learned. Witht hem though I did tongue twisters. These were an absolute blast to do with them. They really enjoyed them and it helped with pronounciation. After that we had dinner at the canteen again. They served us shrimp. I don't know how to peal or tear off heads of shrimp, Thank you dad for always doing that for me, so it was a learning experiance. We did though and have pictures and video of us doing it for the first time. then of the eyes staring at us as we ate them. It was creepy. The shrimp tasted good and all though.
that night we went to a Senior recital of the Erhu. It was gorgeous and two hours of some of the best music. I love that instrument and wish I had one so I could learn it. It was gorgeous and all I could do was be mesmorized by her hands. It made me think about music alot and my music alot as well. Her passion was evident in the way she moved and such. I enjoyed it alot.
Sunday morning I felt sick at my stomach so I slept in and couldn't really go to the meeting so. that afternoon around 2pm we went to get noodles at a new noodle shop cause the old one was torn down. They were slightly delicious I got rice noodles so that made me happy. After words we went to the later night meeting and talked with the people there after words. Oh I had Persian cat food , it was actually the companies name of snacks but since we couldn't read the Chinese all we could read was Persia cat Food. It was funny. Afterwards instead of going witht he other americans here to eat and play settlers we went out with one of the sweetest girls here and had dumplings with her at a chinese restraunt. It was amazing time to spend with her and get to know her better. She took us shopping afterwards so Dr. Cavitt could get a jade necklace for his wife. I enjoyed just hanging out on the streets though and meeting interesting people. We went to sleep after that because we were wiped out.
Monday:
Monday was our first day in the primary school. It was a good day and a good morning as this was the first morning we had breakfast. We actually had cake for breakfast. My first class was just observing a class that dr. Cavitt was teaching. This was fun and interesting. The next class was one I taught. They were 4th or 5th graders. Before I went into the class the teacher told me that this is a problem class. I thought surely not, but they were. I came in and people were punching eachother and stuff. I knew not much could be accomplished if I taught so the teacher and I decided that we should just play english games. She had told me they really didn't like english and so she wanted to see if that could be changed. They started getting into some of the games though. We played alot of Hangman and english charades. It was awesome. The next class they just asked us to rest in the office so that is what we did. Then we had lunch in the canteen (cafeteria). It wasn't horrible but I still had to lie to save face.
Saving face is an interesting thing here which I will have to tell you more about when I get back, so ask me about it. The point is not to devalue the other person to their face. So in other words you praise them is the opposite. If they asked you if you like the food, you say yes in order to save face. Also the same with if they mis pronounce something. You don't ever say it there... There are many other instances and at first this was annoying, but eventually it got better and I realize it is just apart of the culture and so now I like embracing it.
Anyways, back to the day. The next class I taught was 3rd graders. I loved this age best. They were so much fun to be around and we talked about the animals. They learned new vocabulary and were brilliant. This was so good. We did the animal sounds and just had a blast together. I taught one more class that day which was another 6th grade class. This grade level was always the hardest. We mainly practiced the vocabulary they had already learned. Witht hem though I did tongue twisters. These were an absolute blast to do with them. They really enjoyed them and it helped with pronounciation. After that we had dinner at the canteen again. They served us shrimp. I don't know how to peal or tear off heads of shrimp, Thank you dad for always doing that for me, so it was a learning experiance. We did though and have pictures and video of us doing it for the first time. then of the eyes staring at us as we ate them. It was creepy. The shrimp tasted good and all though.
that night we went to a Senior recital of the Erhu. It was gorgeous and two hours of some of the best music. I love that instrument and wish I had one so I could learn it. It was gorgeous and all I could do was be mesmorized by her hands. It made me think about music alot and my music alot as well. Her passion was evident in the way she moved and such. I enjoyed it alot.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday May 29th
OH Wow! Satuday was such an awesome Day!Oh but I want to preface all of my blog posts saying my english has gone out! I'm so used to listening and even speaking to everyone in broken english that It is kind of messing me up. So Saturday morning we met some of the students and MORE FRIENDS at 9 am out by our gate. They had asked to hang out with us and take us shopping. WE were super exited to get out and see the city and to hang out with them. There were 5 of them who we spent time with. We got into the taxi and drove to Shasher (this is only what it sounds like I don't know how to spell it). Shasher is the big downtown of the city and the shopping district. We went to this huge shopping center where we went and looked around. THey tried to get us to buy a pair of shoes, but the biggest size of shoe they have here is a 39 which equates to like a 7. The shoes were cute though. We got a mirror though for our room, but mainly we were there just to spend time with everyone. Oh, also madison got a shirt that was in English but we couldn't understand what it said even. After we left the shopping center we found a street vendor and got corn on the cob which is always delicious and took the bus to the city wall.
Ok about the busses, since I haven't talked about transportation yet. There is pretty much 3 ways to travel. One is by walking, which isn't practical when you are across town and don't know where you are. We actually walk several places within a mile or two but not much past that. Another way is to take a taxi. for the taxi we have a sheet of paper that has where we want to go in Chinese. This is convienient in a way but a little more money. It isn't alot comparitivley. The most we have payed has been 13 qui which is about 2$, but that is still over the price of a meal. A meal ranges for one person around 5 qui at the most really unless it is a nice resaurant. Another form of transportation is by bus. Bus is 1 qui, so it is less money than a taxi. Busses are very crowded though and you are usually standing for long distances going over pot holes, swerving (normal asian traffic stuff) and abrupt stops with little room to move or breathe. I have gotten fairly use to busses as they are so helpful. One of the bad things is you must have a Chinese person with you or you will have no clue what to do!!
Ok back to the story. So we went to the city wall where we played a few carnival type games along the river there and took photos. We also went to a street vendor where they got us a pretty Chinese knot thing that stands for saftey in Chinese. It was so sweet! I absolutely love it. Come to think of it though, most "souveniers" I will bring back are gifts or things we have been taught by our students to make as well. We went to lunch at a random place off the street. It wasn't too clean, chopsticks had mildew on them, but the food was excellent. We had of course tomato and Eggs (a Jingzhou staple), a beef dish, purple cabbage, and greenbeans(cooked diff.). It was a great lunch we had. Well we walked back to campus and left very sad froma great day spent together. We invited them to come to our apartment one day cause we are going to cook them mexican food (we brought tortillas for this reason). They are some awesome friends we met.
After we got done with that we got ready for the dinner and show with the other foreign teachers here for the same purpose we are. This was a good time to sit around with them and other chinese "members" and talk. I enjoyed the time together alot. the show was this magic 5 minutes sortof. I got it on tape. It is pretty cool as he changed opera masks and that was the magic. I can't wait to see the Beijing Opera.
Cool Story!!!! After dinner Madison and I decided to walk around the streets in Downtown Shasher by ourselves and see the street life and several little shops set up. We decided we would be ok cause we had the sheet with our campus written on it to give the Taxi driver. So we went and had great fun seein the city and occasionally we would be stopped and someone would practice their english with us. We enjoyed it alot. We went into a cd/pirated dvd store (you can't buy non-pirated dvds anywhere all of them are pirated). I got two cd's I am so exited about. One is chinese music with the traditional chinese music on it and the other one is "12 girls Band" based out of Shanghai and who are chinese musicians that play the traditional instruments. I am so Exited to hear them. We also looked at the many homeade selling things and found a really cute headband someone made. We enjoyed looking at this stuff so much! It just lined the streets in Downtown. Well towards the end when we were tired around 10pm we decided to go back. We found a taxi place and hailed a taxi. The firt taxi got someone else and so we saw a second one who stopped for us. I was inside the car and madison was getting in when we realized neither one of us had the paper to give the cab driver to tell them where to go. We don't speak Chinese well enough and the name of the campus is difficult to say and neither one of us remembered it anyway. As she was getting in though I heard him say "Where do you want to go". It didn't click that this was in english until a few seconds. None of the previous taxi drivers (there have been alot) have spoken any english whatesoever. It was a shock! So we replied back with the english name of the University and he said ok and started talking with us. Asking us where we are from and how long we have been in china, etc. We couldn't communicate which campus as there are 5 campuses in the city North, South, East, West, Central. So we started worrying a little but trusted that HE brought us to this taxi driver he has the power to see that we get to the right place as well. It was amazing and we got to the right campus even the right gate at the campus! It was aweprovoking. HE is so good and we are so thankful. What are the chances we get one of the only english speaking taxi drivers that night at that specific place? I doubt it was chance but HIM. We were stuck and didn't know what we would have done to get home. It was late and many people were shutting down the city including the lights. Praise be to him and we have such great goosebumps right now, even still. So that is my reletively very eventful amazing day. I'm off to get some noodles for breakfast/lunch.
GB us All,
Lindsay Smith
Ok about the busses, since I haven't talked about transportation yet. There is pretty much 3 ways to travel. One is by walking, which isn't practical when you are across town and don't know where you are. We actually walk several places within a mile or two but not much past that. Another way is to take a taxi. for the taxi we have a sheet of paper that has where we want to go in Chinese. This is convienient in a way but a little more money. It isn't alot comparitivley. The most we have payed has been 13 qui which is about 2$, but that is still over the price of a meal. A meal ranges for one person around 5 qui at the most really unless it is a nice resaurant. Another form of transportation is by bus. Bus is 1 qui, so it is less money than a taxi. Busses are very crowded though and you are usually standing for long distances going over pot holes, swerving (normal asian traffic stuff) and abrupt stops with little room to move or breathe. I have gotten fairly use to busses as they are so helpful. One of the bad things is you must have a Chinese person with you or you will have no clue what to do!!
Ok back to the story. So we went to the city wall where we played a few carnival type games along the river there and took photos. We also went to a street vendor where they got us a pretty Chinese knot thing that stands for saftey in Chinese. It was so sweet! I absolutely love it. Come to think of it though, most "souveniers" I will bring back are gifts or things we have been taught by our students to make as well. We went to lunch at a random place off the street. It wasn't too clean, chopsticks had mildew on them, but the food was excellent. We had of course tomato and Eggs (a Jingzhou staple), a beef dish, purple cabbage, and greenbeans(cooked diff.). It was a great lunch we had. Well we walked back to campus and left very sad froma great day spent together. We invited them to come to our apartment one day cause we are going to cook them mexican food (we brought tortillas for this reason). They are some awesome friends we met.
After we got done with that we got ready for the dinner and show with the other foreign teachers here for the same purpose we are. This was a good time to sit around with them and other chinese "members" and talk. I enjoyed the time together alot. the show was this magic 5 minutes sortof. I got it on tape. It is pretty cool as he changed opera masks and that was the magic. I can't wait to see the Beijing Opera.
Cool Story!!!! After dinner Madison and I decided to walk around the streets in Downtown Shasher by ourselves and see the street life and several little shops set up. We decided we would be ok cause we had the sheet with our campus written on it to give the Taxi driver. So we went and had great fun seein the city and occasionally we would be stopped and someone would practice their english with us. We enjoyed it alot. We went into a cd/pirated dvd store (you can't buy non-pirated dvds anywhere all of them are pirated). I got two cd's I am so exited about. One is chinese music with the traditional chinese music on it and the other one is "12 girls Band" based out of Shanghai and who are chinese musicians that play the traditional instruments. I am so Exited to hear them. We also looked at the many homeade selling things and found a really cute headband someone made. We enjoyed looking at this stuff so much! It just lined the streets in Downtown. Well towards the end when we were tired around 10pm we decided to go back. We found a taxi place and hailed a taxi. The firt taxi got someone else and so we saw a second one who stopped for us. I was inside the car and madison was getting in when we realized neither one of us had the paper to give the cab driver to tell them where to go. We don't speak Chinese well enough and the name of the campus is difficult to say and neither one of us remembered it anyway. As she was getting in though I heard him say "Where do you want to go". It didn't click that this was in english until a few seconds. None of the previous taxi drivers (there have been alot) have spoken any english whatesoever. It was a shock! So we replied back with the english name of the University and he said ok and started talking with us. Asking us where we are from and how long we have been in china, etc. We couldn't communicate which campus as there are 5 campuses in the city North, South, East, West, Central. So we started worrying a little but trusted that HE brought us to this taxi driver he has the power to see that we get to the right place as well. It was amazing and we got to the right campus even the right gate at the campus! It was aweprovoking. HE is so good and we are so thankful. What are the chances we get one of the only english speaking taxi drivers that night at that specific place? I doubt it was chance but HIM. We were stuck and didn't know what we would have done to get home. It was late and many people were shutting down the city including the lights. Praise be to him and we have such great goosebumps right now, even still. So that is my reletively very eventful amazing day. I'm off to get some noodles for breakfast/lunch.
GB us All,
Lindsay Smith
Thrusday May 27th - Friday May 28th
Thrusday:
Classes were good today. They were the same ones we had on monday, different students though. Everything went really well. THis was a slow day with not much action though. That is ok though we got to meet new students and visit more with our roomates who cooked dinner that night for us.
Friday:
Friday was a good long day. We went to our first class which was really good. We learned more about he culture of China with differnt things. Talking with the students and answering questions was awesome. Both of the morning classes were like that and we got Jouzi (dumplings) for lunch, but we wern't supposed to tell, LOL. They were amazing and we all ate like 25 of them. The manager of the restauraunt came and helped us prepare the sauce, which made it all the better. We then went to take rest at one of the teacher's apartments. It was so nice of her to let us in her apartment to sleep a little before our two o'clock class. Next we went to another teacher's class where we got asked to add one more class to our schedule. THis class was really good and we learned about he World Expo which was in Shanghai right now. I wish I had known so I could have made a trip there. We saw video from the tents and such. IT was really good and it brought up really good questions. The questions were hard and it got into heavy political thingking. Also we were asked to teach a song "Three little birds" by Bob Marley and teach a dance. We taught a samba and a few hand motions. Many classes ask us to sing for them. Singing isn't my strong suit. After class around 5:30 we left for Shasher (outside of Jingzhou) to eat at a banquet with the teacher's who we had met all week. We also met the principal and main english teacher we will work with in the primary school next week. Everyone was there and watching the banquet atmosphere was very interesting. There truly is an order to how people sit. Around the table went the dean, Dr. Cavitt, Head of Foreign affairs, etc. toasting is a big thing! Everytime there is a toast you have to stand and accnowledge it. Toasts happen every 5 minutes also or as soon as you sit down. It was a great experience though and I enjoyed it. We did not have to Gung Bay though which is downing Rice Wine several times. We have been told it is a custom here and very rude if you do not. WE do not plan on doing it because of how intense rice wine is in it's alchol and you never stop until you are wasted I hear. We plan on just using excuses but it was awesome we didn't have to deal with that. I was very greatful that I didn't have to face that and be rude but I can't drink that stuff. After the banquet we left and said our goodbyes to some of the teachers we may not see. The teachers here are amazing and their students have great respect and love for them. Much like I have for my teacher's in the States. I was very blessed to have gotten the time too work at this school and in these classrooms talking to the many students. The students are texting us and emailing us and we hope to continue to hang out with eachother outside the classroom and have all ready gotten the oppurtunity this morning to hang out with a few.
So here is a rundown of the schedule we know so far for next week. Monday we are meeting at 8 am to go to the primary school and teach a few english classes there grades 3-6. We are super exited. Also monday night we are seeing a solo erhu performance. I can hardly wait, the anticipation is high for me. Also we will get to see the music building at south campus. Tuesday We will go to the primary schools in the afternoon to celebrate a major holiday here "children's day" with the kids. I am so very exited to play with some of the kids and such on this special holiday. Wednesday we have no plans yet, I hope we get some free time to hang out with some of the students we have met. Thursday at night are the only plans right now. First we are doing what they say is a "culture Experienc" with the college of engineering and technology, then we are doing a performance exchange. They want us to perform three different things and then they will. They wan tto find a French Horn so I can show them but luckly it isn't looking good since they need me to show them a picture of one. I guess playing is better than singing for me but I still am not too exited to get up and perform. We also might do a dance step. Also thursday night we are meeting with the english majors. Friday I think we may go dancing with the students at what they call a ball and then sunday we will go to a Senior Dance Recital.
All in All I look forward to another great week that doesn't seem quite as busy as it was this week.
Classes were good today. They were the same ones we had on monday, different students though. Everything went really well. THis was a slow day with not much action though. That is ok though we got to meet new students and visit more with our roomates who cooked dinner that night for us.
Friday:
Friday was a good long day. We went to our first class which was really good. We learned more about he culture of China with differnt things. Talking with the students and answering questions was awesome. Both of the morning classes were like that and we got Jouzi (dumplings) for lunch, but we wern't supposed to tell, LOL. They were amazing and we all ate like 25 of them. The manager of the restauraunt came and helped us prepare the sauce, which made it all the better. We then went to take rest at one of the teacher's apartments. It was so nice of her to let us in her apartment to sleep a little before our two o'clock class. Next we went to another teacher's class where we got asked to add one more class to our schedule. THis class was really good and we learned about he World Expo which was in Shanghai right now. I wish I had known so I could have made a trip there. We saw video from the tents and such. IT was really good and it brought up really good questions. The questions were hard and it got into heavy political thingking. Also we were asked to teach a song "Three little birds" by Bob Marley and teach a dance. We taught a samba and a few hand motions. Many classes ask us to sing for them. Singing isn't my strong suit. After class around 5:30 we left for Shasher (outside of Jingzhou) to eat at a banquet with the teacher's who we had met all week. We also met the principal and main english teacher we will work with in the primary school next week. Everyone was there and watching the banquet atmosphere was very interesting. There truly is an order to how people sit. Around the table went the dean, Dr. Cavitt, Head of Foreign affairs, etc. toasting is a big thing! Everytime there is a toast you have to stand and accnowledge it. Toasts happen every 5 minutes also or as soon as you sit down. It was a great experience though and I enjoyed it. We did not have to Gung Bay though which is downing Rice Wine several times. We have been told it is a custom here and very rude if you do not. WE do not plan on doing it because of how intense rice wine is in it's alchol and you never stop until you are wasted I hear. We plan on just using excuses but it was awesome we didn't have to deal with that. I was very greatful that I didn't have to face that and be rude but I can't drink that stuff. After the banquet we left and said our goodbyes to some of the teachers we may not see. The teachers here are amazing and their students have great respect and love for them. Much like I have for my teacher's in the States. I was very blessed to have gotten the time too work at this school and in these classrooms talking to the many students. The students are texting us and emailing us and we hope to continue to hang out with eachother outside the classroom and have all ready gotten the oppurtunity this morning to hang out with a few.
So here is a rundown of the schedule we know so far for next week. Monday we are meeting at 8 am to go to the primary school and teach a few english classes there grades 3-6. We are super exited. Also monday night we are seeing a solo erhu performance. I can hardly wait, the anticipation is high for me. Also we will get to see the music building at south campus. Tuesday We will go to the primary schools in the afternoon to celebrate a major holiday here "children's day" with the kids. I am so very exited to play with some of the kids and such on this special holiday. Wednesday we have no plans yet, I hope we get some free time to hang out with some of the students we have met. Thursday at night are the only plans right now. First we are doing what they say is a "culture Experienc" with the college of engineering and technology, then we are doing a performance exchange. They want us to perform three different things and then they will. They wan tto find a French Horn so I can show them but luckly it isn't looking good since they need me to show them a picture of one. I guess playing is better than singing for me but I still am not too exited to get up and perform. We also might do a dance step. Also thursday night we are meeting with the english majors. Friday I think we may go dancing with the students at what they call a ball and then sunday we will go to a Senior Dance Recital.
All in All I look forward to another great week that doesn't seem quite as busy as it was this week.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday May 25th - Wednesday May 26th
Tuesday:
tuesday was a great day. I wasn't expecting much of a good day as I was exausted when I woke up. The night before was really rough going to sleep and there was so much noise to make it even harder. Tuesday Morning 7am came very vast. Our first class was an oral english class and it went farely well. The students were amazing and I felt so blessed to be in that class and take part of it. After the class we had time to hang out with the students of the class. this was amazing! They showed us Lover's lake much like the abilene one. This was a beautiful spot on West campus and it gave us a chance to talk with the student's and find out more about each one of them. I had about 4 girls who I talked with most. I really enjoyed getting to know them and learn more about the chinese school system and culture. They were such a blast to hang out with. After that we went to the canteen (lunch cafeteria at the school). I was not too impressed with it, but looking on the bright side it made me really appreciate the Bean! After lunch we had about an hour to go back and rest. This was excellent and I was super tired. The rest of the day it was only Madison and I in class and Dr. Cavitt worked on his presentation. The first class we went to was another oral english class. In this class we played a great game and My side of the class won! Yeah go us!! The next class was a reading english class. This was a much harder class to teach. We don't know how to do this! That night after english corner we went with some of the students to a KTV. A KTV is a karoke type place. They put your group in a room and you sing karoke. It was so much fun and I enjoyed it alot. We had a blast and stayed out until 2am pretty much. We got Jouza though (dumplings) that night.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was pretty cool. Tired was an understatement though 7am came even faster and harder. We went to an oral english class first where they split us up. I tought a different class by myself. This was really difficult the first period was over memories and reunions. It was very difficult to do and very few people really spoke english so that made teaching even more difficult. We did get to play a game though much like charades. They asked hard questions though the ones that could speak very well. They asked many political questions and such. The next class and last class of the day was an oral english class and we talked about the different types of education in America. This was a good day. we came back and took a long 3hr nap and then went to the women's study. Everything is going great. I am tired and am looking forward to sleeping thsi weekend :)
tuesday was a great day. I wasn't expecting much of a good day as I was exausted when I woke up. The night before was really rough going to sleep and there was so much noise to make it even harder. Tuesday Morning 7am came very vast. Our first class was an oral english class and it went farely well. The students were amazing and I felt so blessed to be in that class and take part of it. After the class we had time to hang out with the students of the class. this was amazing! They showed us Lover's lake much like the abilene one. This was a beautiful spot on West campus and it gave us a chance to talk with the student's and find out more about each one of them. I had about 4 girls who I talked with most. I really enjoyed getting to know them and learn more about the chinese school system and culture. They were such a blast to hang out with. After that we went to the canteen (lunch cafeteria at the school). I was not too impressed with it, but looking on the bright side it made me really appreciate the Bean! After lunch we had about an hour to go back and rest. This was excellent and I was super tired. The rest of the day it was only Madison and I in class and Dr. Cavitt worked on his presentation. The first class we went to was another oral english class. In this class we played a great game and My side of the class won! Yeah go us!! The next class was a reading english class. This was a much harder class to teach. We don't know how to do this! That night after english corner we went with some of the students to a KTV. A KTV is a karoke type place. They put your group in a room and you sing karoke. It was so much fun and I enjoyed it alot. We had a blast and stayed out until 2am pretty much. We got Jouza though (dumplings) that night.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was pretty cool. Tired was an understatement though 7am came even faster and harder. We went to an oral english class first where they split us up. I tought a different class by myself. This was really difficult the first period was over memories and reunions. It was very difficult to do and very few people really spoke english so that made teaching even more difficult. We did get to play a game though much like charades. They asked hard questions though the ones that could speak very well. They asked many political questions and such. The next class and last class of the day was an oral english class and we talked about the different types of education in America. This was a good day. we came back and took a long 3hr nap and then went to the women's study. Everything is going great. I am tired and am looking forward to sleeping thsi weekend :)
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