So last Friday I was in my office and decided that I had to go to the bathroom. So I walked out the door, not realizing that the fire alarm had gone off. My office is on the same wall as the stairs, and right next to it. So I walk out the door to find students (3rd graders, not little people) running out of their classrooms, completely filling the hallway and running right at me. After I realized I had a shocked look on my face (I was in my own little world walking out of the office) I did what any normal person would do, I quickly went back into my office and closed the door. I found out later that the students are "running orderly" outside, they're supposed to be running with their class or something, but it doesn't look like they were.
Chinese fire drills are a lot different than ones in America, besides the reason above. They had fire trucks come, and they had a demonstration of firemen putting out a pretend fire in one of the students dorms. There was red smoke coming out in spurts from the building and they had a hose on it and everything. It was pretty neat, AND it was during class so I ended up not teaching one of my classes because of it.
I found out yesterday that some of the students in one of my classes has started calling me piglet, because the Ju part of my name sounds like pig (zhu). I'm not completely sure about the end of my name; I'm trying to figure that out. It's not meant as an insult, and it could be worse. Apparently the name Ben sounds a lot like the Chinese word for stupid.
I also got my hair cut last Saturday. It wasn't very interesting. I didn't say anything in Chinese. I wanted to get it layered, but didn't want to take the chance with it so I got it cut around my shoulders and got my nice swoopy bangs back. He did a pretty good job (had fun curling the ends of my hair when he was finished). I noticed two days later, though, that there is a random chunk of hair missing off the top of my head. Sooooo random. He wasn't supposed to be cutting anything up that high. Oh well.
Not too much is happening over here. The students have a field trip today (Friday) which means that we don't have to go in for class, so I'm getting much needed rest, and stopping myself from losing my voice. It's been really cold here lately. Weather.com is stupid and doesn't understand Beijing weather. It said it was in the 60's this week, but it was definitely in the 40's. Maybe I should start wearing my coat.
Oh! And the food I was talking about is called mooshoo (moo shu?) pork. They definitely have it in the States but I'm not sure if it tastes the same because I've never tried it there. I tried googleing it but the pictures don't look the same.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
I hate thinking of blog titles
I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile. First, our wireless internet stopped working, and now we can't get on the VPN at home so we can't use facebook or blogs while we're there. I can get on at work though, during my crazy long breaks.
Sooooooooo I got a job!!! It was crazy. I answered this add in the newspaper, but I didn't think I would get it because it was for the Beijing International Language School (BFSU) which is linked to Beiwai University, so I didn't think I was good enough to get in, but they called me up for an interview last Thursday. I went to the office (of the person who wrote the ad, not anyone who works at the school) and she said that they need someone right away and can I start tomorrow? Long story short, I observed on Friday and had training, taught for the first time on Saturday (Chinese holiday messed up the weekends again), and I've been here for about a week so far and I like it a lot. I'm teaching 1st and 3rd graders oral English, which means that they have other Chinese teachers who teach them English, but I come in and make sure that they understand things and are pronouncing them correctly. Since I am not the only English teacher, I don't give out homework (which is good considering how many classes I teach) and I don't give out tests, I just make sure they understand the material and pronounce things correctly.
I teach 27 classes a week, 9 classes 3 different times. So, I don't have too many lesson plans to make, but since I have two grades I have to make twice as many as everyone else, but it's not bad at all. The teacher emails me the material for each day and I just put it together.
The principal went into my class yesterday (she was visiting all the classes) and said she really liked it and I asked my teaching assistant how it went and she said it went very well and she thinks I'm a better teacher than the person I replaced (which is probably a good thing). They said the teaching assistant, who is in charge of the foreign teachers and is close to the principal didn't like the other person because he wasn't prepared, but she seems to like me a lot, so that's really good and it's relieving a lot of stress.
The only thing about it is the traveling, which is a good and bad thing. I work two stops north of where Dan goes to school. So it takes me almost an hour on the subway then I have a 20 min walk, so I have to get up at 6, BUT Dan and I get to ride the subway to work/school together now, which is nice, except for days like today when we're going down the escalator and we see people getting off our train so we're going down really fast and Dan runs into the train and the doors start to close and I'm trying to get in but slip and fall right outside the train (I wasn't going to make it anyway). So we didn't ride together today, and I think I got laughed at by a lot of Chinese people, but at least I wasn't late for work.
My schedule is a little crazy. The latest I'm going to get back is a little after 6 2 days a week, but it could easily be a lot worse (working 3-8pm) and I like it here a lot. Today I have a 4 hour break, so I'm updating my blog, I finished my lesson plans, and I might read, or take a nap or something.
I'm also getting a 6th month tourist visa, so that should relieve lots of stress too.
Our lives are going well, we're eating pretty healthy food...maybe...Dan has a two week break coming up which is soooooo not fair, but he's been working hard so he deserves it.
I have a new favorite food. It's this thin strips of pork in sauce stuff and onions and you put it on these thin tofu "pancakes" and fold it up and eat it. I can't remember what it's called, I don't think I ever knew. Sooooo good but I think Dan got tired of ordering it.
One day, when we both actually have our passports, we're going to go to a Bible study or something. I will write about that too if there's anything interesting to say.
OH! And Dan and I both get paid this weekend!!! For the firs time since we've been here. We're excited!
I hope everyone is doing well. We miss you guys. I like getting updates from people too.
Sooooooooo I got a job!!! It was crazy. I answered this add in the newspaper, but I didn't think I would get it because it was for the Beijing International Language School (BFSU) which is linked to Beiwai University, so I didn't think I was good enough to get in, but they called me up for an interview last Thursday. I went to the office (of the person who wrote the ad, not anyone who works at the school) and she said that they need someone right away and can I start tomorrow? Long story short, I observed on Friday and had training, taught for the first time on Saturday (Chinese holiday messed up the weekends again), and I've been here for about a week so far and I like it a lot. I'm teaching 1st and 3rd graders oral English, which means that they have other Chinese teachers who teach them English, but I come in and make sure that they understand things and are pronouncing them correctly. Since I am not the only English teacher, I don't give out homework (which is good considering how many classes I teach) and I don't give out tests, I just make sure they understand the material and pronounce things correctly.
I teach 27 classes a week, 9 classes 3 different times. So, I don't have too many lesson plans to make, but since I have two grades I have to make twice as many as everyone else, but it's not bad at all. The teacher emails me the material for each day and I just put it together.
The principal went into my class yesterday (she was visiting all the classes) and said she really liked it and I asked my teaching assistant how it went and she said it went very well and she thinks I'm a better teacher than the person I replaced (which is probably a good thing). They said the teaching assistant, who is in charge of the foreign teachers and is close to the principal didn't like the other person because he wasn't prepared, but she seems to like me a lot, so that's really good and it's relieving a lot of stress.
The only thing about it is the traveling, which is a good and bad thing. I work two stops north of where Dan goes to school. So it takes me almost an hour on the subway then I have a 20 min walk, so I have to get up at 6, BUT Dan and I get to ride the subway to work/school together now, which is nice, except for days like today when we're going down the escalator and we see people getting off our train so we're going down really fast and Dan runs into the train and the doors start to close and I'm trying to get in but slip and fall right outside the train (I wasn't going to make it anyway). So we didn't ride together today, and I think I got laughed at by a lot of Chinese people, but at least I wasn't late for work.
My schedule is a little crazy. The latest I'm going to get back is a little after 6 2 days a week, but it could easily be a lot worse (working 3-8pm) and I like it here a lot. Today I have a 4 hour break, so I'm updating my blog, I finished my lesson plans, and I might read, or take a nap or something.
I'm also getting a 6th month tourist visa, so that should relieve lots of stress too.
Our lives are going well, we're eating pretty healthy food...maybe...Dan has a two week break coming up which is soooooo not fair, but he's been working hard so he deserves it.
I have a new favorite food. It's this thin strips of pork in sauce stuff and onions and you put it on these thin tofu "pancakes" and fold it up and eat it. I can't remember what it's called, I don't think I ever knew. Sooooo good but I think Dan got tired of ordering it.
One day, when we both actually have our passports, we're going to go to a Bible study or something. I will write about that too if there's anything interesting to say.
OH! And Dan and I both get paid this weekend!!! For the firs time since we've been here. We're excited!
I hope everyone is doing well. We miss you guys. I like getting updates from people too.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
No, We Aren't Tourists
Ok...well I guess the title isn't true, since I still have a tourist visa...
We went out to eat a couple days ago at a restaurant that we'd never been to before, about a 30 second walk from out apartment. We decided they probably get a lot of tourists. When we got in they gave us these two dishes of ginger stuff and sun flower seeds. We started eating the sun flower seeds, shell and all cause we didn't want to make a mess on the table. They started laughing at us and came over and asked if we had ever seen sun flower seeds before and showed us how you can open them and eat the seed, so we just started doing that. I think by that point they had already asked us if we knew how to use chopsticks. So, we started to order our food and I guess they either decided that the stuff we ordered was too cheap or they wanted us to eat some of the dishes they specialize in because they started showing Dan the more expensive things on the menu, the whole fishes or the chicken, and we didn't want either so Dan just ordered another random vegetable dish and they took our menus and went away. Once we got our food one of the people said she was going to give us a chopstick lesson (I hold my chopsticks the wrong way, which amuses Chinese people but I can use them fine), but we told her we didn't need any and she went away. Later, one of the waitresses walked up and tried to give each of us a fork and knife. We were at least halfway done with our meal at that point, so I don't know why they thought we couldn't use chopsticks, but oh well. The whole thing amused me and made me laugh on the inside. Maybe I should figure out how to hold chopsticks the right way...and also how to hold a pencil the right way while I'm at it.
We're doing pretty well. I found out on Monday (by text message) that the school I've been teaching at is not going to hire me, so I've been looking for a job. I'm waiting til the end of the holiday (Thursday) to hear back from one place and I'm hopefully going to be meeting up with a guy who is in charge of the Asia part of a international advertising company. We went to The Temple of Heaven yesterday, which was the most perfect and gorgeous day ever, and here are some pictures:
The first two are pictures of us standing next to the 70-Year-Old Door. It's a door that was made for an emperor because he was 70 and it was easier for him to get to his garden and take shorter walks and he made it a law that emperors could only use that door after they turned 70...but no other emperor lived to be that old so he's the only one who's ever used it.
We went out to eat a couple days ago at a restaurant that we'd never been to before, about a 30 second walk from out apartment. We decided they probably get a lot of tourists. When we got in they gave us these two dishes of ginger stuff and sun flower seeds. We started eating the sun flower seeds, shell and all cause we didn't want to make a mess on the table. They started laughing at us and came over and asked if we had ever seen sun flower seeds before and showed us how you can open them and eat the seed, so we just started doing that. I think by that point they had already asked us if we knew how to use chopsticks. So, we started to order our food and I guess they either decided that the stuff we ordered was too cheap or they wanted us to eat some of the dishes they specialize in because they started showing Dan the more expensive things on the menu, the whole fishes or the chicken, and we didn't want either so Dan just ordered another random vegetable dish and they took our menus and went away. Once we got our food one of the people said she was going to give us a chopstick lesson (I hold my chopsticks the wrong way, which amuses Chinese people but I can use them fine), but we told her we didn't need any and she went away. Later, one of the waitresses walked up and tried to give each of us a fork and knife. We were at least halfway done with our meal at that point, so I don't know why they thought we couldn't use chopsticks, but oh well. The whole thing amused me and made me laugh on the inside. Maybe I should figure out how to hold chopsticks the right way...and also how to hold a pencil the right way while I'm at it.
We're doing pretty well. I found out on Monday (by text message) that the school I've been teaching at is not going to hire me, so I've been looking for a job. I'm waiting til the end of the holiday (Thursday) to hear back from one place and I'm hopefully going to be meeting up with a guy who is in charge of the Asia part of a international advertising company. We went to The Temple of Heaven yesterday, which was the most perfect and gorgeous day ever, and here are some pictures:
The first two are pictures of us standing next to the 70-Year-Old Door. It's a door that was made for an emperor because he was 70 and it was easier for him to get to his garden and take shorter walks and he made it a law that emperors could only use that door after they turned 70...but no other emperor lived to be that old so he's the only one who's ever used it.
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