Beijing's heaviest rainfall in 60 years

China's capital experienced the heaviest rainfall in decades yesterday.  It was reported that 10 people were killed as a result of the storm.  

The amount of rainfall ranged from 6.7 to 18.1 inches.  More than 500 flights were cancelled stranding over 80,000 people at the cities main airport.

You can read the whole story here.

Picture credit: Reuters Beijing

Patrick's Post

Apologies again readers.  It's been awhile since I updated my mother's blog.  I have a whole list of excuses... no internet this week, packing/cleaning for moving back to MO, and a 30 hour drive across the country.  I drove 13 hours today and am currently updating from Salt Lake City.  From now on, I should have regular internet access and will post any reports as I get them.

A special thank you to Becky... She pointed out a problem with the font color for a couple of the posts. Apparently they were the same color as the back ground.  My author screen looks different than the page you all see, so I had no idea there were parts you couldn't read.  Anyway, I think I've fixed that problem.  If it happens again and I don't notice, post a comment as those get forwarded to my email and I can fix it quickly. 

Saturday, July 21st

So we have a half day off today and rode a bus and a subway to get to the nearest Starbucks before we had to report to duty.  Although I loathe giving Starbucks my $$, my convictions have flown out the window when it comes to getting scrambled eggs.  They have a teeny whole grain bagels with scrambled eggs and white cheese with dill.  Three of us went...we had been planning this meal all week.  We got there at 7:30 only to discover they open @ 8.  Upon the store opening, we were saddened to learn they only had 2 of these tasty morsels.   Oh, what to do?  Apparently, the do not replenish their supply of items when they run out.  We split two bagels three ways and returned to campus happy!

Today's plan?  I will be supervising the production of TIP commercials.  Each small group will write, act, and film a commercial touting the benefits of TIP.  All their classmates must be in the production.  Tonight, we will have a talent show.  More on that with a later post.

We are one week away from packing up and returning home.  This has been quite a learning and growing experience which was one of our goals.

Until next post!

Marjie Post

If you are ever in China, you don't want to get sick or hurt in Beijing! I have a student, Dawn, who develop incredible pain at 11 pm the other night; she called herself an ambulance; another student, William, jumped in with her because he knew she should not go to the hospital alone. Turned out, she had kidney stones. William sat next to her bed all night and even paid her bill, about 700 yen (around $116) since she had no money.

William did not call the school until 11:00 the next morning to tell us what was going on. The Chinese staff here told William to come back immediateIy or risk being expelled; so he hopped in a cab and returned just as I was leaving to visit her at lunch time. He jumped back in my cab because he said I would never find her in such a large hospital, especially since I don't speak Chinese! 

When we got there, she was not in her bed and no one working in the hospital knew where she was! They only knew that she had left with her purse right after William left. Turns out, she was trying to find somewhere to buy porridge, the only thing she was allowed to eat. And get this--hospitals here do not feed their patients! Family and friends are supposed to get them food. This hospital, supposedly one of the best in the area, looked like a make-shift triage area from M.A.S.H.--all kinds of personnel walking around, wearing masks, looking busy, but no one helping the patients or even keeping track of where they are! Since William had been ordered to return to school, Dawn figured she was on her own for food and headed out into the streets to find it.

Food Game

Marjie and I have created a new game.  One of us yells out a restaurant and we start listing a full day's worth of menus. Panera??  Egg souffle for breakfast, soup for lunch with whole gran baguette and real butter, dinner....okay, kid Mac and cheese. Green tea, too!

Monday, July 16th

Just a quick note:  in the Chinese culture, saving face is very important so they have developed a technique of social lying to avoid losing face.  Over the weekend, one of the students left campus, a huge no-no.  She said she had to see about her sick son.  When she returned and a staff member asked her about the sick son, the student drew a blank, apparently forgetting the lie.  However, denied she had a massage even though the cupping marks were on her arms and legs.  Stuck with her false story until the bitter end.

Each day, my classes have an exercise in a famous fairy tale or famous speech.  Last week, I gave them the challenge to memorize the Gettysburg Address.  They had three days and tonight had an hour open for students to come say their speech.  Almost 30 accepted the challenge!!!  These brilliant people, who already have 12-hour days and many hours of reading, found time to memorize this speech.  Their reward??  A penny...which they are so proud of!  Not only did they memorize the entire speech but recited it with feeling and passion.  I was humbled, amazed, and honored!!

More apologies from Patrick

This apology, unlike the previous one, is preemptive.  Erin and my actual move day is today.  I do not believe I will have internet access at home (our new one) again until tomorrow at the earliest.  If I have time, i'll run to a coffee shop and check for updates from China.  It may be another day or two before you see more new posts.  So, my apologies for those daily readers who are on the edges of their seats anxiously awaiting the new posts. :D

A "Tramps like us..." first: Video!

Okay, so I am not entirely sure if this video was for my benefit or for the blog.  But since Madre did not specify, here it is.

New Pics

Starbucks in Beijing: Started our day off at Starbucks...a little taste of home.

Just a sculpture in front of the mall

Everyone must have one of these...a furry cover for the actual toilet seat.  Notice the great slogan:  warm and handsome.  Doesn't say a word about the collection of fecal bacteria growing on it.

Laura and Austin at Peking university

Today, 3/4ths of our group enjoyed a day off campus so we spent the day visiting the official Peking University (the Harvard of China) and some shopping.  Our campus is a satellite campus of PKU.

The bike rack at the college.  However do they know which one is theirs???

Another view in case you needed verification this is a man.  All his manly bits in full view for all the mall shoppers to enjoy.  Why not?

Quick story from Marjie

I taught my class a new game called "Blow Wind, Blow." The person who is "It" says, "Blow Wind, Blow!" The remaining members of the class are in a circle around "It" and reply in unison, "Blow What?!" "It" replies, "Blow if...." and names something that some/most/all of them might have in common. Those people who have this in common must quickly exchange spots before "It" can take one of their spots. In my class of 40, 38 are females; most are mothers. IT said, "Blow if you are a mother." 30 or more of them immediately started running around to find a new spot, including 1 of the 2 men. All the women began laughing and pointing at him. He was mortified and sheepishly said, "I thought you said HAVE a mother!" He was quickly nicknamed "CLASS MOM," an honor he seems to be enjoying.

Friday the 13th

All right, friends and family!  Been awhile since I've given you much news...did get some of Marjie's pictures posted for your enjoyment but now, sit back and allow me to bring you up-to-date.

First off, I'm not quite sure I have much of a career as a blogger.  Still not sure whether I should offer a simple travelogue, just the daily facts, or journal and let it all hang out.  I fear an earlier post might have been a bit too revealing but was I tired; I figure all my readers are friends and will forgive any whining or complaining!

It is 8:00 PM on Friday, July 13th.  Just stepped out of the shower and settling in for the night.  A group of our facilitators (must not refer to ourselves as "teachers") left a bit ago for dinner out away from campus.  Marjie and I are too tired to do anything more than answer a few emails before we crash.

Today was a killer day.  Very long, very tiring, very rewarding.  Began the day @ 7:00 AM and ended @ 7:10 PM.  Even though my first class begins @ 8:00, I have to get there by 7:00 to turn on the AC and get my day organized.  Students are already at the door waiting for me.  They like to come in for some quiet time as I play classical music for background music while I'm working.  The room is a large auditorium as you can probably see from the pictures and seats 250+.  For four+ hours, my teaching partner, Austin, and I team-teach.  During this time, we go through the daily announcements, daily diction, then Morning Motivational, aka Mo-Mo.  We do break at the half-way point.  During this break, the students swarm us for photo ops.  They are crazy about pictures; my picture has been snapped probably 1,000 times...and that is not an exaggeration.  It is just their culture.  Austin and I work to make their large group experience enjoyable and we get very silly. 

Now remember, these are all educated, professional teachers giving up three weeks of their summer to come to a former prison to improve their English with native English speakers.  Their living conditions are deplorable, the food is nasty (even they say so), they are trapped here and not allowed to leave campus for threat of expulsion.  Earning their certificate is a BIG deal.  Marjie has a student from Inner Mongolia who shared she is feigning a toothache tomorrow so she can leave for a few hours to get away.  The student said, "In Mongolia, we would NEVER allow someone to live under these conditions!"

Austin and I mix it up a LOT.  We have a great deal of curriculum to cover but take enough time to keep things hoppin'.  During break, we blast some good old American Rock-n-Roll and dance on the tables.  They love Adele (okay NOT an American singer!)  Today, they were treated to Journey, CCR, What a wonderful world/Over the Rainbow, Sting "Fields of Gold", etc.  

We played a trick on them today.  When they returned for their afternoon session (Fairy Tales and Famous Speeches) we told them we had a surprise for them...a quiz!  We had very serious faces, then broke out the Cha-Cha Slide.  We jumped on the teaching tables in the front of the room and started dancing.  It was great fun seeing 225+ Chinese teachers acting silly and laughing!  Every one of them attempted to follow the steps and begged to do it again.  After we finished, I asked them what their students would think if they saw their teachers dancing since they are so proper and dignified.  Oh, they just howled.  They would never let their students see that side of them before...but maybe now, they might decide to make some changes.

I have had soooo many of them share they are going to make changes in their teaching methods based on what we are teaching them.  Imagine that....some little Chinese kid in Inner Mongolia is going to be impacted by something I taught their teacher.  Just paying it forward, man!  

8:00 - 9:50:  Blue Group A

10:10 - 12:20:  Yellow Group A, same lesson

12:50 - 1:20:  eat lunch with the Muslim students (they do not eat where pork products are served)

2:00 - 3:00 Attribute lesson (teaching strategies)

4:00 - 6:20 - Famous speeches and Fairy Tales

6:40 - 7:10 - dinner with  Muslim students

Yesterday, our famous speech was "The Gettysburg Address."  We started the lesson with asking what they knew about LIncoln.  Oh my, their knowledge is incredible.  We will ask for volunteers and run a microphone to them.  One lady went into Lincoln's bio for 10 minutes.  Amazing!  Then, we played an audio file of the speech.  There are follow-up discussion questions for them to answer then share with a partner.  After this time, again, we run around looking for volunteers.  One of the questions was asking about the significance of  government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."  The discussion was spot on!  They were conversing with each other and challenging ideas.  Austin and I were running around the room to keep up with the number of people who wanted a chance to share.  How incredible their brains are to take these concepts in English, think about their ideas in Chinese, then back to English to talk in front of 225 classmates.  It is very humbling to see their eagerness to perfect their English and to help each other.

Tomorrow, we have our day off.   Whew...we will need it.  The school runs with 25% staff on the weekends.  We each have a half day responsibility.  Marjie and I have to cover Sunday morning.  Get this...our gig is to show "The Incredibles."  The students will have a viewing guide and discussion questions to answer.  Really?  Yep!  I will imagine James and Caroline sitting beside me while I'm watching the movie.  Man, I miss those Huffman children....their sweet smiles and tender hearts....sniff, sniff.

A couple of funny stories for you:  Apparently social lying is totally acceptable.  This is difficult for me to understand and I don't have much of a poker face.  Why lie?  Just state your facts, take your lumps, and move on.  Situation:  Attendance is a BIG deal.  They are not allowed to miss class and attendance is taken every hour.  Class monitors were elected in their small groups and these folks are to take attendance in our class, too.  So we HAVE to have each class stand up, the monitor takes a head count, and reports their findings to us.  Every day, every attendance we are told "all students are here."  This is noted on the official attendance document.  Then, 20 minutes into the class, 4-8 students trickle in.  WTH???  So I use my best dramatic hurt look and say, "I thought EVERYONE was here.  Hmmmmm....I do not understand."  Cell phone usage in the class is another big no-no.  We are to take phones away for the class period if they are out.  So, of course, people cannot seem to unplug from their phones and we confiscate them.  Oh the stories we are told when they come to retrieve their phones...such fibs.  

Last note for tonight...Austin.  Not sure what I've told you about him.  Austin is a 17-year-old California kid...happens to be Chinese American.  He is tall, handsome, smart, funny, darling.  When they made the teaching assignments, he requested large group thinking he would be a helper to someone.  Nope, they put him in charge of a group.  There are four leaders for the large groups.  This caused him a bit of consternation.  We share the classroom and he asked if he could sit in on my classes for a few days so he could get some confidence to figure out how to teach his classes.  That plan lasted about 20 minutes.  The first day, I pulled him into my class discussion and we were off and running.  Team-teaching both his class responsibilities and mine.  This makes for double the amount of time we are in front of students but easier in a weird way.  Keeping the high energy required for 225 students is exhausting but with a partner, it is much easier to play off their energy.  The second time we do each lesson is a piece of cake.  Today during the Fields of Gold song, we did an impromptu waltz for the class and had fun with it.  He is a great, great kid with so much potential.  I cannot imagine the future for this kid.  At 17, he is comfortable teaching in front of all these professional teachers.  Can go from delivering curriculum to dancing on tables!  We thought we would just team-teach for a few days...now, we don't want to give it up.  It does add hours onto our already busy day...but makes those hours enjoyable for ourselves and our Chinese teacher friends.

Enough for one night.  Hopefully, Patrick will edit this as necessary as I don't have many active brain cells willing to work tonight.  Special thanks to all of you for the sweet emails.  It means so very much to run back to the room for a 15-minute break and pull up messages from home.  I have some Skype dates already set up for the weekend.  Let me know if you are interested and available ... would love to see your beautiful faces!!

Apologies from Patrick

Hello, readers.  I must apologize for the lack of updates.  I am currently moving and with all the packing, loading, and driving, I have fallen a bit behind with my mom's blog updates.  Additionally, there was some miscommunication between my mother and me.  She was originally sending updates to my school email, and thought that since I had my last day that I wouldn't have access to that email anymore and started sending her updates to my gmail.  Unfortunately, I only check my gmail once a week or so and I subsequently missed the last few posts.

I usually try to edit her blogs, but with the move I am a bit crunched for time.  So here they are in their unedited glory.

Last Night's Dinner

Patrick: So I assumed I would be getting a description of what exactly we were looking at here.  I am 100% confident of the quinoa, as my mother brought a bunch of that with her.  In the background behind the bowl might be a banana (though I thought fresh fruit was a no-no there... then again she had an orange from a street vendor last week).  As for the beans and greens, your guess is as good as mine. I'll update the post if she provides a description.

Picture Post

Plans for the first official day

Lots of activity over the past few days.  The teachers/students started arriving on campus Saturday morning.  Since then, we have been involved with large group orientation and individual interviews.  We received training in how to ascertain their language proficiency so they may be placed in the proper class.  This is tough to do with only three minutes.  Many of them lack the confidence so don't really show their true level.  

It was very humbling to visit with these teachers.  Their fervent desire is to improve their English speaking ability.  Some have traveled over 80 hours to get here!!!  They are giving up 21 days of life back home to dedicate themselves to this goal.  Some of them are here under duress.  One lady shared her job is in jeopardy if she doesn't improve.  She began crying and it was tough to minister to her as she was quite upset.

Their English names are amusing.  Some of them have had English names since they were small children in their first English classes.  Others have just recently taken on their English name.  There are lots of Sunnys, Mays, Marys....then we have Easy, Swing, Wisdom King (my personal favorite!), Green, Greener, Swift (she likes fast animals), Me....to name a few.

I ditched the canned questions and went for questions about their teaching and families.  We were to ask them about a dream vacation.  90% of the students answered "France, because it is romantic" or "America, so I can improve my English."  I think they were given a list of potential questions and they all prepped together!  Most of the teachers love teaching, a few said they only liked teaching "so-so."  Their favorite part about teaching is impacting the students for the future.  Their least favorite is dealing with naughty students.  Sound familiar anyone??

Their orientation schedule looks like this:  Arrival night, 7- 9; Morning 8:00 - 12:00; Afternoon 2:00 - 4:30.  Whew!  I sat in with my group and was amazed.  Their TIP student book was gone over in excruiating detail having most of it read aloud to them or the entire group reading in unison.  Oh, sometimes they mixed it up by having the ladies read a paragraph, then the gentlemen.  There are just so many details and regulations.  And it is the Chinese way of teaching.  Lots of group recitation.  Our teachers would mutiny if they had to sit for hours reading from a manual!

Tomorrow begins the official first day with 1000 people going to their various classes.  My day will look like this:

8-10:  Large group   Morning Exercises, Motivational Moment (MoMo), Diction Lessons

10-12:  Off for  lesson planning, working individually with students, helping other teachers

12:10 - 12:50:  Lunch in the classroom with students

2:10 - 3:00  Clubs--Attributes (like a mini-character ed class)  Large group 225+

4:00-5:30:  Famous Speeches and Fairy Tales, large group 225+

5:40-6:20:  Dinner in classroom with students

Evening responsibilities:  Supervise the reading room or dorm visits until 8:15

Whew!

Snacks and Pics!

Soooo.....found a street vendor selling oranges.  $1 each but worth it.  Then today, walked into the cafeteria for lunch and discovered a snack store with....Oreos.  I have eaten 4 more Oreos today than I have in 5 years.  I won't even think about the transfat.  Gary, the Royals gnome, took a leap off the table and has broken his arm.   Sadness in Beijing.

We are still testing our tummies.  We are hopeful our new food plan will work.  We get the oily cooked veggies from the cafeteria, rinse them 4-5 times, add to quinoa.  Voila!  Tummies are doing okay after a few days of this plan.    Oops, maybe I already shared that??

My class

Fellow facilitators

Friday Night Pics

Subway ride back to campus after the acrobat show

After we rode the subway for 35 minutes, we caught the bus back to campus, 20 minutes.  BIG city!

Went to the Chinese acrobat show...it was amazing!

Dinner Friday night. They have vegetable soup!!

July 5th Post

Teaching assignments:  Yesterday, we rec'd our teaching assignments and we are both pleased.  Marjie will be facilitating a small group, 45-50 adults, along with David, a young, college student from California.  They had already made great connections and this is a perfect partnership.  Marjie misses her sons terribly and David reminds her of them in many ways.  David is super bright and is a natural teacher/leader.  Very compassionate and a go-getter.  They have been busy planning their first week and decorating their classroom.

I will be a large-group facilitator.  For four hours a day, I will be facilitating in front of 225+ adults.  Piece of cake....I think.

We have all the tools given to us which is a HUGE blessing.  TIP has done this many time before and have perfected the program.  Lesson plans, ppts, video/audio clips have been given to us.  There is plenty of flexibility for lesson modification, which allows for the personality of each teacher to shine through.  The days will be long but fulfilling.

Up to this point, we have been in intensive training for most of the day and into the evening hours as well.  Even though we are getting slap happy, each training has been valuable and will serve us well when the students/teachers arrive on campus, Saturday/Sunday.

Even though I am a detail-oriented person, I cannot imagine the logistics for planning programming for 1,000+ students, facilitators, staff, facilities, etc.  There is a medical team on site should any medical emergencies arise.  The cafeteria staff will be busy making three meals a day for the TIP group.  

How about a cultural lesson?  Pushing and Shoving 101

Every time I am out on the street, I am amazed with the multitudes.  The busses are jammed with people, the streets, the stores, the restaurants, the malls, the national buildings/parks/museums.  There are almost 23 million people in the city, they must go somewhere, right?  Their personal body bubble is narrow and they push a LOT.  When we are in queue for anywhere, if you are not right up to the person in front of you, that is an open invitation for anyone to line jump and push you out of the way.  My good manners are quickly disappearing after being pushed from behind, the side, in front.  When a bus seat opens up, there is a scramble for the seat...unless there is a senior citizen or disabled person.  I've seen men of all ages push their way in front of a lady to get the seat.  I just stand so I can people watch and not lose the battle for the seat.  I've not been out working hard all day and I don't feel like fighting for a ten minute ride.

Food CONTINUES to be a struggle for me.  Even though I planned well by bringing food from home, I haven't been able to totally avoid it here.  I have had an achy tummy every day since I've been here except the few days I ate oatmeal only.  During training, we are able to leave campus during the meal breaks.  Once we start teaching, we are required to stay on campus and eat with our classes so they can continue to practice English.  Half the days, I've stayed back in the dorm to study up on materials or eat lunch here with a few folks.  The other days, I have ventured out with various groups. There are plenty of vegetable/tofu options...the issue is the oil.  Everything is swimming in some type of oil.  It is simply too greasy for my stomach.  The food tastes good but something isn't okay.  Even Marjie is struggling.  

Yesterday, I was able to find seaweed salad on the menu.  That seems to be doing okay which is good as I love seaweed salad!  Don't wrinkle up your nose unless you've tried it.  It's my go-to option when I join friends for sushi.  

Tomorrow we have a completely free day.  Some of us are planning to head to the grocery story (like a Pick and Pay) to buy some produce.  I'm planning on making some stir-fry with them, add them to quinoa, and have ready-to-eat meals for both Marjie and myself.  We have to go to the American Embassy early in the morning as Marjie has some personal, family business to attend to.  We are going to do a bit of site-seeing then back to building up our lesson plans.

Sleeping is improving.  Up until last night, we were averaging five hours of sleep.  Last night, we slept about 6.5 hours.  

China has one time zone to in Beijing, sunrise is around 5:00.  That is a weird concept to have an entire country this size on one time zone.  It was explained to me that it helps with industry and commerce when companies are on the same time.  Makes sense. 

How am I doing??  Feels really good to be this busy.  I've hit a few rough patches and have reflected upon it.  The way I see it, during the school year, I was busy doing my library job during the day and the after-school program during the late afternoon.  Found reasons not to do some serious soul searching.  Here, those layers are peeled back and those particular excuses have been removed.  I anticipated the month of July to be a tough one with our wedding anniversary and the year anniversary of Bob's death fast approaching.  July 2nd proved to be more emotional than I wanted.  Was able to keep my emotions under control for most of the day.  Then evening hit, was so tired, stood under the shower until I was done with the tears.  The sun rose on Wednesday and the day went out as planned.

As you know, I am a list person.  Being able to check off the "first of...." has been a way of tracking my progress.  Making through the first observance of our wedding anniversary without Bob is now behind me.  Still hurts like hell...but the aching is lessening.  One more major "first" on July 25th...the observance of his passing.  

BUT, I shall not worry about that today.  I have 1,000+ Chinese teachers headed my way and need to prepare for them.  July 25th is 20 days away and I have miles to go...

Marjie has given me the go-ahead to share with you that she, too, is finding the pain lessening.  Telling her story to the group was quite cathartic and people have been unbelievably kind, tender, and generous.  We are both making progress and feeling stronger.

Must run off to our afternoon training.  Please do keep those emails coming.  We end up having 5 minute breaks every once in a while and we run back to our dorm room to see if we have a new letter from home!

Love to you all...thanks for your support and your prayers.

Happy Independence Day to all the readers of "Tramps Like Us..."

 Of all the holidays to miss out on being in Beijing, July 4th is not much of a hardship as it is my least favorite American holidays.  Now before one declares me unpatriotic, I DO love the sentiment of the holiday.  My displeasure is rooted in my frustrations with the goofballs in my neighborhood.  On this holiday, the air around my house will be hazy green for hours and hours.  Shooting off fireworks is illegal in KC limits but that doesn't stop people.  I do enjoy a professional fireworks display and even the smaller versions under SAFE conditions.

The neighbors living directly behind me have been affectionately dubbed "The Bumpuses."  The original Bumpus family were the neighbors in The Christmas Story who owned the big, ferocious dogs who stormed in Ralphie's house and ate the turkey resulting in the family going to a Chinese restaurant for their holiday meal.

The Bumpus family in my neighborhood also have BIG dogs.  Mr. Bumpus use to get very busy in his back yard if I were reading on the deck in my swim suit.  One day, he just walked on over to "ask me about my landscaping."  TRUE!  He always has some half-completed home improvement project going on with all the paraphernalia stacked for the world to enjoy.  For about three months, half his driveway was covered in a load of gravel.  One day, the fire department appeared when the trash he was burning ILLEGALLY got out of control and started burning his tree!

There are Bumpus teen boys and they love July 4th which on their calendar begins on June 18th and ends July 12th.  But the 4th is truly their favorite.  How do I know this?  They begin with the M-80s around 4:00 by throwing them down the storm drains.  The neighborhood dogs begin howling and don't end until the wee hours of the morning.  When the Bumpus teen boys tire of M-80s they begin launching the bottle rockets.  From there they go for the BIG displays that are launched while the kids are holding them.  

This time last year, we were in Fairhope enjoying the last night of our Alabama/Florida vacation.  We had a fabulous holiday with Bob's parents and the Huffman family.  Deep-sea fishing out in the gulf was checked off the Bucket List.  We watched fireworks over Mobile Bay listening to the local community band playing patriotic tunes.  

July 4th, 2012....I'm in Beijing and NOT missing the Bumpus teens!!

Happy Grammy!

This is one happy Grammy!  Was able to Skype with the kiddos last night before bed (8:00 AM for them!)  John Thomas looks like he has grown and seemed to like seeing me on the computer.  He just smiled and smiled.  James and Caroline were cherubs and my teaching buddies here fell in love with them.  Just wanted to look at their beautiful faces for as long as they could stand sitting at the computer screen.  Miss them so very much!

We are still in day-long intensive training and will not greet the new batch of teachers/students/participants until Saturday.  Once the students arrive, we have responsibilities from early in the morning to dorm visits lasting until 10:00 PM on some nights!  This schedule is quite an adjustment for me as my head usually hits the pillow by 9:00.   The training is beginning to get serious with the realization that our students will be here in a few days.  They have forfeited 21-days of their vacation to come to this place to improve their English.  The classes are becoming more specific and I get the sense, the expectation is for us to fly/soar as soon as possible.  Soooo many participants in this session!  Lots and lots of scheduling and planning!

Today:

8-9:  Devotional in small groups

9-12:  program specifics training

12-2:  lunch and break

2-5:  Team building, Diction technique training; Computer language lab

5-6:30 dinner and free time

7-8:  Team Fellowship and worship

On Schedules...

I've had a couple of questions about our daily training.  So here was Monday's game plan.

8-9.  Devotional with small group.  Phil 2:8-11.  Romans 12:1-2

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is."

9-12.  Christianity in China, lecture.    Www.christianityinchina.org

Heart of a Teacher, brainstorming and teaching strategies presented.      

Lunch break

1:00-5:00.   Introduction to class time; Class practicum preparations; Class practicum

Dinner break

7-8:30.  Movie on education in China

Food

Food

Some of you have asked questions about food so here goes:

Dorm food...

Already told you about the first night when Marjie had chicken feet and the food has not improved much since.  Breakfast is interesting:  gingerbread-like pastry, no fruit options, fried dough, egg/ham on an oily, squishy bread (Marjie's description).  We don't each there now.  Instead, I make us steel-cut oats each morning.  We found some walnuts and dried plums.  We add a scoop of chocolate protein powder and we are good to go!  

Lunch/dinner in the dining hall:  there are vegetarian options but the veggies are so spicy and oily.  Once I quit eating the dining hall food, my stomach has settled down.  Marjie has found some   semi-okay options.  One of her go-to meals has noodles, cabbage, and a mystery meat, possibly pork.  Not too spicy.  She has her granola bars from home to add.

Snacks:  there are some chips here in the staff living room that are intriguing.   Lays makes various flavors that are not available in the states:  Lemon-Tea flavor, Lobster & cheese, cucumber, etc.  Wild tasting...really weird.

Marjie has found a grocery store nearby that sells Coke Zero so she is a happy camper.  No Diet Dr. Pepper for me so am drinking lots of FRS and Matcha green tea.

Sunday Night, July 1st

This morning all the incoming TIP facilitators/teachers plus much of permanent/semi-permanent staff had a field day and what a day we had!

Public transportation:  We made our way around Beijing using a combination of city bus and subway.  Really slick but with so many routes, it was a bit harrowing, at times, to ensure we were on the right route, the proper side of the subway, etc.  Everyone made it back to campus safely, so all is good.  The subway was very clean....and sooooo many people.  

Stop #1 - Haiden church

Wow, this was an incredible experience!  This church has received government approval to meet.  A few years ago, it started in an alley and now is in a large church about triple the size of Second Baptist-Liberty.  When we arrived, there was a line that wrapped around the block and doubled back.  Can you imagine wanting to worship with your faith community so desperately, you would stand in a hot sun for over an hour?  Once inside, every seat was taken and then some.  The personal bubble space for the average Chinese person is very close so if there looks like there is space between two people, they will jump right in.  We were like sardines all smooshed together.  

The contemporary music was joyful and was sung in both English and Chinese.  Amazing to hear "How Great Thou Art" with drums, guitar, bass, and Chinese voices pronouncing the words to the best of their ability.  The sermon was "Being a Soldier of God" and Ephesians was the scripture used.  They have 12 services each Sunday in Chinese and in English.  Bible studies are offered throughout the week, as are classes for the new believers.  Amazing!

Stop #2 - Temple of the Heaven

Marjie and I had already been to this site and it was one of our favorites.  However, in the 95+ degree heat, we weren't lovin' it sooooo much.  Everyone made the best of it but by the time we rode the train/bus for over an hour to get to church, stand outside in the queue for an hour to get in to church, sit in the semi-cool church for 75 minutes, ride the subway to the Temple, we were wilted and I know I was a bit cranky.  

Stop #3 - Pearl Market

IF you like shopping (and I do not!) this would be Utopia for you!  Five floors of booths covering every inch of marketing space with electronics, jewelry, silk, trinkets, shoes, t-shirts, etc.  And it that isn't enough to keep you happy, after selecting your merchandise, the haggling begins.  Twenty minutes later, you are exhausted but man, oh man, do you have a great deal to tell everyone!

Stop #5 - Dinner, finally!

Around 6:00, we finally stopped for supper and ate at a local chain, Hot Pot.  It was the best Chinese food I've had since I've been here.  Seating is on high bar stools on long cafeteria style tables.  Each spot has a burner built into the counter.  They plunk down a pot of hot water and set it to boiling.  Marjie and I shared the vegetarian meal.  A huge turkey platter sized plate was set between us heaping high with various greens, funky looking mushrooms (I loved them, Marjie wasn't a fan!), tofu, carrots, etc.  Using the chopsticks, we added whatever we wanted to our own boiling pot.  Not too bad, at all.  

Stop #6 - Back to the dorm

What a day!  I just stood under the shower head for about 15 minutes without moving.  Ahhhh...felt grand to be clean again!

More Pics!

Quick story:   The TIP teachers/students love taking pictures with the phones or cameras.  Fatima, one of my fellow facilitators, receives a lot of attention as she is African American.  Marjie requested I share this part, I seem to get a lot of attention as they think I look like Elizabeth Taylor.  Now how is it these Chinese teachers, ages 22 - 40, know who ET is??

This batch of pictures include the front gate to the school and the street scenes immediately to the left and to the right.  Perhaps Patrick will google the back story for your reading enjoyment on the dragon.  He is a dragon baby.  He has a large mouth to take in good fortune.  So with dung shui, he is to be placed at the front of the store or a home.  With each tour we've been on, we've heard the story.  The silly part is there is not rectum so not to lose the good luck.  At the jade factory yesterday, the guide was explaining the story and simply says, "he has no asshole..." and continues without even the tiniest pause.  Marjie and I had already heard the story but the others had not.  She pronounced it a la the baby in "Meet the Fockers" or if you held your tongue while speaking "apple.". People are still chuckling about it today.