Pictures! 3-31-10

China Alley

Tienanmen Square

Bruce, Katie, and Jack

China buildings

You Are Going to Dance for Us, Yes?

I've been meaning to write every day this week. I think I've officially gotten past the horror stage in culture shock. (Mostly) Our kids were a little rowdy again this week. This week I taught the kids games. Wednesday I did the Cup Game. It's a very popular game from Girls Camp. I showed them the small cup, the tall cup, and the bowl. One of the boys (Cookie- he choose the name himself) thought it would be funny to pretend pee into the bowl. I started laughing because it's so something a Chinese person would do. Then the other boy in the class pulled down his pants and showed us his anatomy . . . Me and the 3 other girls closed our eyes and refused to open them until everything was put away! I won't admit it to the kids but it was kinda funny.

This coming Friday we are leaving on another vacation. We are going Qingdao, very close in our province. It is only a 4-hour bus trip. It is supposed to be really pretty. We are planning on hiking a mountain to see some temples and stuff. I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I am excited to see more of China!

Thank You Heavenly Father!!

So we asked a DVD-shop guy to get a copy of the new Alice in Wonderland movie for us about 2 weeks ago. We were supposed to pick it up last week, but we were in Beijing. Today (Saturday), Bruce and I decided to go grocery shopping and run some errands. We got on the bus in front of our school, #38, and rode to downtown Weihai. We got off and headed for the market street. We picked up our video plus two more - at Bruce's brother Daniel's recommendation, we got X-men Wolverine origins. Then we headed for Big World to look for toys for our kids and gets some of Bruce's favorite muffins. We were done just in time to catch the last bus back to school. All the buses stop at 6pm for the day, and our last bus leaves downtown at 5:20pm (the alternative is to pay an expensive taxi to take you home, if you can find one). We made it on the bus, and about 10 mins into the ride it stops on the side of the road. The bus driver gets off and starts talking in Chinese on her cell phone. Bruce and I look at each other; we had no idea what was going on. Then she got back on the bus and started yelling at the passengers. Everyone started getting off the bus. We guessed - the bus had broken down! So we waited for another bus to pick us up, along with all our fellow passengers. The best they could do was to just stick us on another route for free - there was no replacement bus for our route. When the free bus got to our stop, it was already full... so yet another game of "How many people can we fit on the bus?" We paid a lot of attention to where we were going, and some things looked familiar, though others did not. Eventually the bus stopped at a grocery store that is only 3 blocks away from our school. Bruce suggested we get off. I was sure that since they took all of our passengers, the bus would also go to our stops and take us by our school. So we stayed on. A minute later, the bus turned away from the school, but we thought surely it must stop right in front of our school, like the other bus would have. Nope. At every stop, the bus got emptier and emptier. Finally we pulled up to a gated parking lot on a dusty road, with only two other passengers. Bruce ran up to the bus driver and said the name of our school in Chinese, "Daguanghua Swayshao?" We wouldn't understand his Chinese answer, so we looked for other body signs as indications. If we were still going to our school, the bus driver might nod his head and point forward. After confirming our destination, his eyes got big and he said something in Chinese. The other two passengers started laughing. Bruce and I got red in the face. We were supposed to have gotten off. This was his last stop. The other two passengers got off and gestured for us to follow them. I wondered if they would call us a cab. We got off and started walking down the abandoned street. I was almost in tears. Then the bus honked behind us. The driver waved for us to get back on. We did, and he pulled a BIG u-turn, and started backtracking his route all through our neighborhood. Nearly ten minutes later, he pulled up to our school. . . The Lord was definitely watching over us. WoW!! I'm so grateful!!

Fermented Tofu

We have been in China for one month now. I think I'm starting to like it here. In a strange and disgusted kinda of way. I'm starting to make peace with the food even. I've found some foods that I like. I'm trying more food from the cafeteria. That is always an experience . . . Today Bruce and I went to dinner with two other English teacher (not from ILP) and our foreign affairs person Kaile and her boyfriend. It was the first time we really spent social time with a China person. I absolutely love Kaile! She is in her mid 20. She is sooo funny. She is always trying to teach us new Chinese words. So we ate at a restaurant that serves "hot pot" or as their sign said "hop pot". Basically, there is a mini stove in the center of the table. They put a big bowl on it filled with broth. Then you order meat, veggies and other foods you want in your pot. Let me tell you, it is soooo much easier to order at a restaurant when someone can speak the language. She even got us free drink. So, once the broth gets boiling you add the meat and veggies one at a time. First she added the meat, let it cook, then we ate it out of the bowl. Then she added the veggies, and we ate that. Then some more meat, and so on. It was amazing!! We even got some sesame seed sauce that tasted like peanut sauce. It was great! I think I may try to make it when we get home. Over dinner we talked about some pranks we were going to play on Tim. I won't give it away, you'll have to wait to read it next week. As it turns out, the Chinese celebrate the 1st of April in the same fashion we do! I can't decide if I want to play a small prank on my students. I've really gotten to know them this week. My home group was all girls for the first 2 weeks. But we switched some kids around, because of conflicting personalities, so now I have 5 girls and 1 boy. Drew, my boy, was very rowdy when he was with his other group. But from the moment we switched him, he has not been a problem. I think he was too stunned at first to misbehave. He didn't participate for the first week, but in this last week he has opened up. He is such a cute boy. I'll get his picture up sometime. Other than that, my classes have been going well. We started visiting the kids in their dorms at night, I think they really like it. They really are starting to melt my heart.

Next week we have a vacation. I don't remember the name of the city and Bruce is asleep other wise I would ask him. (Forgive my bad grammar too!) So I will get back to you on that. Oh, and I wanted to say happy late BirthDay to PAM!! Miss you all!

Great Wall 3

Who Built This 2- It's a power line in the middle of the Great Wall. Are you kidding me? I'm betting that it went up during the "Mao Dynasty," i.e. the mid 1900's.

Who Built This- I don't think this shack is part of the Great Wall, but rather a small tower off in the distance. We zoomed in our camera and took a picture. Someone had to strap those bricks and concrete and water to the top of that mountain and build that. Crazy...

View from Guard Tower- You can vaguely see the Chinese writing on the side of the hill.

Steep Wall 1015- This more accurately shows how steep some of the sections of the wall could be. This shows, from bottom up, Sam, Nathan, Whitney, and KATIE at the top. A girl in our group asked, "Why did they shoot arrows? They should just let the Mongols climb the wall, and then just push them down the stairs..."

Inside a Guard Tower 1- This is me in the tower at the top of the mountain. I am walking toward a window that we climbed out of to explore more of the wall.

More Great Wall

Huge Guard Tower- This is probably the largest guard tower we explored before we hiked up the section of the wall in the background of the picture.

Great Wall Town- This is the town where the people live who work at this section of the wall. In the bottom left of the picture you can see a birdcage with a small bird in it.

Great Wall Entrance- This is at the base of the Mountain. On the left you can see the window with the sign that says, "Toboggan Run Ticket Office." That is where we went.

Great Wall- Little Shops- This is where we bought the panda nesting dolls. Our lead teacher's husband, Sam, bought a cowboy hat that says, "The Great Wall." It was pretty funny. That is Bruce's head in the corner of the picture.

Great Wall pics, and Silk market

Silk Market in Beijing. This is Katie with our group standing outside the Silk Market at 9pm on Friday, when it closes.

Great Wall- Katie's toboggan- This is the beginning of the toboggan ride down the mountain. It went super fast after a while. They have workers at certain checkpoints to yell at you to slow down, in English. Notice the bridge in the background of the picture. That is part of the toboggan ride. Katie thought that was the scariest part. Bruce didn't remember going over the bridge...

Great Wall- Cable Car- This is what we took to ride from the base up to the Great Wall (Instead of hiking for an hour on the mountain, we hiked for an hour on the Wall.)

A girl in our group, Michaela, standing up on an abandoned section of the Wall. Even though it doesn't have me or Katie in it, I think it is one of the cooler pictures that we took.

Great Wall- I climbed off the wall and took a picture of Katie poking her head out over the edge so you could see about how tall it is. It would definitely keep the Mongols from getting horses across the border very easily. I'd say it's about 30 feet tall. Our guess is also that those huge bricks at the bottom are from the original wall, while the smaller bricks at the top might be from more recent restoration efforts.

Beijing 5: Great Wall Pics

Cool view of the steep stairs, with Anna pointing, Kilee and Whitney in our group. The Chinese guy on the left is a Great Wall worker who tried to sell us cold beers. They place them on the wall every half mile or so...

As you can see, they build the bricks to align with the wall, NOT gravity. Why? How? Dunno.

Nathan and Kilee hiking the Wall. In the background they put Chinese writing on the mountain, like Provo's "Y".

Bruce and Katie, right before we dipped down and hiked to that top guard tower.

It gets pretty steep. Yes, we climbed this part of the wall ALL the way to that TOP guard tower.

Beijing 4

LG Twin Towers- This was taken right outside the Beijing Railway Station (train station). When you get off the train, you see this.

Little Shop Street- There were a lot of high-end shops on this street (including a Starbucks, Hagendaaz ice cream, Nike, and tea shops.)

Tienanmen Temple 2- Another temple just across the street from the first one. It was all locked up, so I think no one goes inside it anymore.

Tienanmen Temple 1- The Huge Temple built on one edge of Tienanmen Square, facing the government building which holds Chairman Mao's body.

Tienanmen Square 2- Our ILP group standing in Tienanmen Square. This is where the guy stood in front of the tanks in protest of the government. People from left: Katie, Anna, Abbie, Kilee, Nathan. Bruce is taking the picture.

Beijing 3

Great Wall 0934- you can see in the middle the Wall splits into 3 different walls- weird.

Broken Wall 1009- yes, we crossed this section of the Wall.

Broken Wall 0997- Katie standing on a section of the abandoned wall. It was a few places like this where I got my rocks.

Base of the Mountain 1- you can see the China flag, the Great Wall, and part of the cable car tower.

Abandoned Wall- Bruce n Katie- We had to climb through a window on a guard tower to get to this section.

Beijing Sights and Shopping

Ok so it's been 2 days since we got back to school from Beijing so I'm gonna try to summarize/ remember what we did . . .
The moment we got off the train we were surrounded by like a thousand people! Thanks to my amazing packing skills, we only had one small suitcase and a large purse as luggage. Sean- you would be proud of me! The second thing I noticed is the thick pollution floating through the air. The sky was gray, and it smelled funky. We hopped in a cab and rode to our hostel. Don't let the name (hostel) fool you, it was like an awesome hotel! The beds were soft, there was hot water 24/7, and the service was spectacular! It was located about 2 blocks away from Tienanmen Square. We dropped off our luggage and headed out for some food and sight seeing. As you walk down the streets there are millions of little shops and alleyways. We walked down the biggest side street and found an scrumptious restaurant called 365. It was a "western" restaurant, which means it was American food! Yesssss!!! Just what my body needed. Let me tell you the food was to die for! The food was better even than the States. (We ended up going there 4 more time before the trip was over!) I have not been that full since we came to China. After that we walked to Tienanmen Square. It was cool to see those old buildings. It was exactly what I pictured China buildings to be like. Then a China man came up to me and wanted his friend to take a picture of us . . . yeah it was weird and awkward . . . After that we left to do some shopping.

Possibly the most efficient system in China is their underground subway. It's like playing connect-the-dots for a 3-yr-old! We made it to the Silk Market in no time. I'm at a loss as to how to explain the atmosphere in the Silk Market. It's like a flea market x1000 with the salespeople as persistent as Jehovah's Witness missionaries. My favorite thing about the market is that you see what you want and you get to choose the price. The bargaining was unbelievable (and sometimes sickening). I'd look at a handbag, and ask the price. They say it's usually 3000 RMB, but they will sell it for only 1500. (We didn't even bring that much money to the market in the first place.) I'd shake my head, "Too expensive." They tell me to name my price. I say no more than 100. The salesperson goes down to 800, final offer. We start to walk away from the purse stand. The salesperson yells out, "Ok, 400. No, 300. Ok, 200! 200, to finish!" As we disappear around the corner, we hear them yelling, "Ok, your price, 100!" We were told by several natives to never pay more than 10% of the asking price at the Silk Market, because even 90% off would be a rip-off. Just amazing right! So we got a lot of souvenirs. As we walked out of the market we a lady came up to us offering a bus trip to the Great Wall. Don't be alarmed. This is how legitimate business is done in China. Illegal in the US; totally legal in China.

The next morning at 11am we pile in a van and head for the Great Wall. It was a 2-hour ride. We took a cable car to the top. All I have to say is it's breath taking!!!!!! I didn't even mind the long hike up the stairs. Some parts were so steep we had to use our hands to climb. I didn't realize how stunning it could be! You just have to look at the pictures. We spent most of our time on the rebuilt part of the Wall. However, Bruce and Michaela (a girl from our group) and I climbed through a window in one of the towers and walked about quarter mile on a stretch of the Wall that hadn't been rebuilt. It was the best part! It was all overgrown with little trees and bushes. You could see where the was was crumbling. I could have spent a whole day there! But we had to head back. The next coolest thing about the Wall was riding the toboggan down! If you ever get a chance to go to the Great Wall, DO IT!! We spent the rest of the day shopping at the Pearl Market, which is like the Silk but more clothes, shoes, and purses. I was a supper-shopper. I got 2 pairs of Puma (knock offs) for 60 yuan each(about 10 USD), 2 Coach purses for 75 yuan each, (12 USD) and 2 China tea sets for 75 yuan each. I also got some make makeup, a brush set and mascara for 65 yuan ($10). I was pretty excited. Oh I almost forgot to tell you about something really cool. While in Beijing we saw other white people! It was kinda weird. Every white person says hi to every other white person. I talked to a lady form Denmark, guys form Germany, Australia, and Switzerland, and a few people from the States too.

Our last day of the trip was Sunday. We were able to meet with other LDS people in a business building. There were about 15 of us in attendance. There are about 250 people who are active in our district. The president's wife was kind enough to invite us for an American dinner. It was a sweet taste of home. We had taco stew, rolls, salad, cake, and cookies! Yum! That was the second time in China I was completely full. We decided to take one last shopping trip to the Silk Market. It wasn't as successful. We looked at every purse stand and found some we liked but we couldn't get the sales people to go lower that 100. On our second time around I decided to barter the best I could for a purse I really really wanted and just pay the final price. As I walked up to the stand I saw a man grab the bag I wanted and walk off. I couldn't believe it! The purse I was dying to get had just been stolen! I quickly asked the lady if she had any more. To my disappointment, she didn't have the right color. I guess it wasn't meant to be. We left that evening for Weihai.

I really like train rides! It's smooth and I can sleep comfortably and walk around when I want and use the bathroom with out stopping. And you meet neat people while your riding. One such person was a young boy
(4 yrs old) and his mom and dad. For the last 3 hours of the train ride we entertained him and the surrounding Chinese people with funny faces and a skit involving a frog chin. I hope to get the video of us . . . we'll see. All in all, it was an incredibly fun, amazing, exciting vacation.

Beijing 2

Sidewalk by Tienanmen. Bruce walking, halfway between our hostel and Tienanmen Square (You can see the temple roof in the background.)

Food Street- this was a back road right next to our hostel, and we found a great American restaurant there (where we ate 4 times in 3 days.)

Beijing Railway Station- Our head teacher, Whitney, on the cell phone, and her husband, Sam, when we arrived in Beijing and were looking for a cab.

Train Cards- Michaela and Nathan playing "speed" at the Weihai train station before we left for Beijing.

Hard Sleepers- Katie is the one at the top of the picture, with her hand showing.

Trip to Beijing 3-17-10

View from Guard Tower on Great Wall

Bruce and Katie on the abandoned wall.

The Beijing Subway

Tienanmen Square

Train ride to Beijing

We Leave Tomorrow

Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Whitney, our head teacher, walks in to my class room and says we need to have a group meeting at lunch. Upon arriving at the lunch table, she announces that we are leaving for our Beijing vacation tomorrow (Thursday) after we are through teaching at the public school. We were ecstatic! I didn't think we'd have a March vacation, but 28 hours later we were on a night train to Beijing.
Have you ever traveled by train? Or an over-night train? I think it's my favorite way to travel, although some parts are a little awkward. We got "hard sleeper" seats. That means we slept on one of three rows of bunk beds. Bruce and I slept across from each other on the top bunk. Below us were 4 Chinese people. So we fell asleep and woke up 8 am the next morning right outside of Beijing. The hardest part of the train ride was not the beds but trying to use the "squatters." They are holes in the ground (at ground level) that you use to go to the bathroom. I thought I could control my bladder long enough to finish the train ride and wait for a real toilet. My bladder had other plans. I grabbed the toilet paper roll and nervously walked to the makeshift train bathroom with the dreaded squatter. I opened the door and hoped for the best. Turns out, it's not so bad. After relieving myself I stood quick and heard a clink-clink-clink. I patted my pocket for my ticket, and it was gone! I realized it had fallen down the hole (and out the train onto the side of the road)! In humiliation, I found an attendant and made charades to her about what happened to my ticket. After a few tries she understood what happened. Luckily, the ticket only cost 10 yuan (about $2 US) to replace and everything else went well. That was the beginning of our Beijing adventure.

How Many Chinese People Can You Fit on a Public Bus?

Aww, Sunday! My favorite day of the week. As I have told you this was a busy week. While we enjoy the cute things our kids say and do we are starting to get worn out. We teach about 72 students each week. It is starting to get overwhelming to teach so many students who either barely understand you or don't understand you at all. And to top it off we are trying to adjust to a culture that is drastically opposite our own. This is by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I keep telling myself that in the end I will have grown so much and will be grateful for this opportunity. But for now, I let Bruce be my rock. Our head teacher, Whitney, has also been an amazing support. She says that the first few weeks are usually brutal for new teachers. Our school has been to sending us to the other two schools in an effort to recruit students for the ILP program as well as their school. Lately, I have felt like a walking advertisement. Whitney said that on her second trip to China her group left their area early to do some demo teaching in a different city 8 hours away. Although at the time it was inconvenient, now that area is the biggest city in China for ILP. They even built a school building that is dedicated solely for the ILP program. Everybody here wants to learn English, so even exposing our kids for just a short period of time could have a great effect on them. At church today, one member suggested we do an "English Corner" at the local University, because the college students here who know English are dying to use it. I think that is something we will look in to. It could prove to be very interesting!

You Can Have Two Cuz' Your Mouth Is Big

It's been another long week here in Weihai. It was our second week of teaching and our classroom control is getting better. We are getting to know our students much much better. Along with the classes we teach, we are being taught too. Twice a week we get Chinese lessons; and once a week we get Tai Chi (a slower form of Kung Fu).
So, one thing to know about Chinese school systems is that there are about 10 principals and about twice as many vice principals for a single school, and even more coordinators/directors! One of these people is a 5'5" late-forties man named Tim. I think his main function is to drive us crazy! The first time we met Tim was at the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Years, and it's a pretty big deal. We were sitting at our table for dinner examining the whole fish they had served us (skin and bones and all), trying to decide what was eatable when one of the principals noticed we had not opened our beers. He came over to us and tried to convince us that we should drink. Tim was his translator. All he kept saying was, "It is, um, Chinese tradition, um . . ." Thank goodness there were three other English teachers there who could communicate with the principal better. None of us had to drink and we did not offend anyone. But as we covered our cups with our hands, they poured beer over some of our hands to get it in the cup. So, for our first week of Tai Chi we had Tim, one of the many coordinators (we really aren't sure what his role his . . .) translating for our real teacher. We couldn't understand the majority of what he said, although we did catch one sentence: "You need to twister your waister." (Tim's way of saying we needed to twist our waist). Other than that, we have been enjoying trying new foods at the grocery store. I found salt, garlic powder and butter to make my rice more tasty. Bruce really enjoys these little muffins we get at the bakery near 'Big World' (a multi-level barter shopping center). We just switched from a private internet provider to the government provider so I hope my proxy site still works! Thanks for reading!

3-12-10 Pictures

These crackers we found at the store demonstrate the weird translations they get in advertising. "Body Loves Roughage." We bought them, and they actually taste pretty good.

The stairs we have to climb a few times every day at our school. We live on the top floor of a five-story building at the TOP of all those stairs.

A couple of Katie's students holding up their names that she just gave them. She named one after me, Adam.

A couple of Bruce's kids holding up their names. This kid is Bubba. I also have a Sam and a Brent, after our dads.

McDonalds again (Bruce also buys little sausage pizzas at one of the chinese markets).

Pictures 3-5-10