Let me (Grace) go on a short rampage about 7 day work weeks. We're working the weekend in order to get a 3 day holiday, Mon-Wed (Qing Tomb holiday, when people decorate tombs of ancestors). The result = exhausted teachers, cranky kids, and the 7th day ends up being movie day, which is a basically a lost day but as a teacher I have no energy left to think of one more creative way to teach adjective phrases. --Btw, if anybody out there knows of any great teacher websites, please let me know!! -- All in all, we're working for such a short reward that in the end, it cancels itself out. Why do they do this in China? Because the government told them to, and no one asks questions.
People have learned to just accept things the way they are and though there is some complaining, it is the foreigners that ask "why?" But, whether or not they ask questions, we've been learning the Chinese like to give opinions. I've been hearing this line a lot this week: "wear more in the spring and less in the fall." It's a Chinese saying, meaning that because there are so many germs going around in the spring, you should wear more clothes to keep from being sick (not sure what the fall part means). I followed my TA's advice, but I'm still sick :( Which means I've been hearing this line a lot as well: "drink hot water." Apparently, the Chinese believe that cold water is bad for you, and you should only drink hot water to keep from extinguishing the "fire in your belly." There is also a drink here that Petra swears is to cool the fire in your belly. I haven't quite figured out what the fire signifies, other than it can be bad for you if it's too strong. There is also the belief that you can get wind in your joints, which is like joint pain/rheumatism, from my understanding. But whether you have fire or wind, the Chinese like giving advice, and everybody says the same thing! It's quite interesting.
And yes, I'm sick. I think it's to be assumed that any time we post, one of us is sick. It's getting to be a bit trying, but Chris hasn't been sick in 3 weeks, which is a record, and I went a good 2 months without getting anything major. We talked with some other expats, and they told us the first year was the hardest health wise, after that, it's fine. Good to know there's an end in sight.
In other news, we decided we're staying another year! Though Beijing is not the greatest city in the world to live in - there is currently a thin layer of dust covering EVERYthing due to spring winds - we feel like this is where we want to stay and have a sense of purpose here. It's nice to have the stability, job wise, and we can keep getting to know people through church, etc. We will be coming back to the States this summer, though the dates are still up in the air. Probably early July to mid/end August. We'll mainly be in WA and OR, and OH for a few days. Please do let us know if you will be around this summer, we are excited to see all of you!
Hope all is well in your homes, thanks for reading :)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Snow today in Beijing. At least an inch. The most we've gotten all winter has been a dusting, due to the utter lack of precipitation in this place. Humidity has frequently been in the teens, which is unthinkable to a person who grew up in Seattle. Anyways, I'm no expert on northeastern Chinese climate, but perhaps this mornings' snow is coming at the intersection of a cold winter and a wetter spring. It makes the view from our windows less gray.
In other news, we had a feast on Friday night. A few weeks ago, a teaching couple from our school invited us over to their apartment for dinner. They really like to cook and they made us an amazing dinner with at least six different Chinese and Thai dishes. We finally got to return the favor, with Grace leading the way in the "kitchen" and all the rest of us helping (I made the tortillas, with help from our floormate, Veronica). The Western food included a dish that you could call Mexican lasagna, salsa, a cheesy pot of pasta, and bruschetta. Petra, our Chinese floormate, also made a number of Chinese dishes, including baked chicken wings and some other good things that I don't know how to describe. Our Chinese friends enjoyed our Western cooking and, even with all the other food on the table, the Mexican lasagna (with the tortillas that I made) was demolished by the end of the evening.
All this cooking got me to thinking about foods from back home, and the list of foods I miss would be quite long. I'm not starving here by any means, though, so instead of publishing a list of foods, I think I'll share a list of some larger things I miss from Seattle and Bellingham:
In other news, we had a feast on Friday night. A few weeks ago, a teaching couple from our school invited us over to their apartment for dinner. They really like to cook and they made us an amazing dinner with at least six different Chinese and Thai dishes. We finally got to return the favor, with Grace leading the way in the "kitchen" and all the rest of us helping (I made the tortillas, with help from our floormate, Veronica). The Western food included a dish that you could call Mexican lasagna, salsa, a cheesy pot of pasta, and bruschetta. Petra, our Chinese floormate, also made a number of Chinese dishes, including baked chicken wings and some other good things that I don't know how to describe. Our Chinese friends enjoyed our Western cooking and, even with all the other food on the table, the Mexican lasagna (with the tortillas that I made) was demolished by the end of the evening.
All this cooking got me to thinking about foods from back home, and the list of foods I miss would be quite long. I'm not starving here by any means, though, so instead of publishing a list of foods, I think I'll share a list of some larger things I miss from Seattle and Bellingham:
- fresh air
- mountains
- salt water
- fresh air
- rain
- the color green
- fresh air
- personal space on public transportation
- and of course, people
 |
| Above: This is what cooking in our "kitchen" often looks like. |
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| L to R: Petra, Mr. Guo, Mrs. Wong, Veronica, Grace |
Friday, March 9, 2012
Reasons Why We Never Get Anywhere in Beijing...
-Grace: "Isn't north what's in front of you?"
Chris: enjoying a good laugh
-Grace: "Did you write down the street names?"
Chris: "No, it's all in my head. I read Chinese better in my imagination than on paper."
Grace: "?!?!?"
-The city's too big, it has too many streets
-Can't tell the cab driver for the life of us more than our three Chinese phrases. It's amazing we make it home at all.
-We forget to do our Chinese homework, and so never learn more than 3 phrases.
- Chris thinks the maps are lying to him. I've heard this speech more than once.
But somehow, in the end, we make it home in one piece, mostly thanks to our Chinese floormate, Petra. So here's to being in one piece in Beijing with more funny stories by the day. Like the one where we walked west instead of north (that's wasn't my fault either, even though I'm slightly directionally challenged. Beijing makes everybody directionally challenged). We've managed to find ourselves a small group and it feels so good to be in community again. And, Chris is over his 3 week sickness and we're hoping he'll stay healthy another little bit. Maybe that will make living here easier next year. We've also joined an Alpha course as facilitators and brought 2 Chinese friends to it, and it was so cool to hear their questions and be able to answer them. God was present. Please keep August and Helen in your prayers.
Love from cold but sunny Beijing.
Chris: enjoying a good laugh
-Grace: "Did you write down the street names?"
Chris: "No, it's all in my head. I read Chinese better in my imagination than on paper."
Grace: "?!?!?"
-The city's too big, it has too many streets
-Can't tell the cab driver for the life of us more than our three Chinese phrases. It's amazing we make it home at all.
-We forget to do our Chinese homework, and so never learn more than 3 phrases.
- Chris thinks the maps are lying to him. I've heard this speech more than once.
But somehow, in the end, we make it home in one piece, mostly thanks to our Chinese floormate, Petra. So here's to being in one piece in Beijing with more funny stories by the day. Like the one where we walked west instead of north (that's wasn't my fault either, even though I'm slightly directionally challenged. Beijing makes everybody directionally challenged). We've managed to find ourselves a small group and it feels so good to be in community again. And, Chris is over his 3 week sickness and we're hoping he'll stay healthy another little bit. Maybe that will make living here easier next year. We've also joined an Alpha course as facilitators and brought 2 Chinese friends to it, and it was so cool to hear their questions and be able to answer them. God was present. Please keep August and Helen in your prayers.
Love from cold but sunny Beijing.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Recap of Taiwan and New Beginnings in Beijing
Hello all! We have successfully come back from Taiwan - as opposed to unsuccessfully... not sure what that would look like! But successful equals tans and fun adventures and amazing food and very kind people. Also a few extras pairs of shoes (Chris wanted to buy this really cute pair of brown boots, but I told him to buy them for me instead... don't feel bad if you're not laughing because I have fun cracking myself up :). Anyways, we had a blast. From a 5 star hotel on the beach, to the lady that bought me bubble tea and told me that she hoped we liked Taiwan better than China! I laughed out loud! We went to many night markets, had lots of street food, walked around Taipei, went to the jade market, tried using my Chinese but people just responded in English. People were also very kind and polite. Needless to say, it was a wonderful break from Beijing and the endless shoving, spitting, yelling, nose picking.
The first few days of our return to Beijing were a bit rough, and I have to say, we were pretty discontent with being back. I mean, who wouldn't give up Beijing for nice, warm, beautiful Taiwan? We're at a place were we're having to decide what our move is this fall and though we're still praying about it, we have a peace that should we stay, our cups will not run dry. This country, though the people are selfish and sometimes rude, are this way because of circumstances outside their control. Keeping those facts in mind keep us smiling, holding open doors and being apart of life here. Our cups continue to flow over with grace and love for ourselves and for the people here.
We've been getting more involved in a church, and we love it. The people are from everywhere you could possibly imagine, it's incredible! We've started going to a small group, ok, we've only gone once, but it's wonderful to be apart of a community again! We were sort of drying up last semester and are realizing how important people
and fellowship are. God heard us loud and clear because we have been meeting a good number of new ppl and are hoping to get involved in a few serving opportunities.
It's amazing how he never ceases to watch out over us, we feel so taken care of. We praise Jesus for his new mercies everyday and continue to walk and grow with Him on this incredible journey. May you be touched with His spirit today and renewed with His love. Amen.
The first few days of our return to Beijing were a bit rough, and I have to say, we were pretty discontent with being back. I mean, who wouldn't give up Beijing for nice, warm, beautiful Taiwan? We're at a place were we're having to decide what our move is this fall and though we're still praying about it, we have a peace that should we stay, our cups will not run dry. This country, though the people are selfish and sometimes rude, are this way because of circumstances outside their control. Keeping those facts in mind keep us smiling, holding open doors and being apart of life here. Our cups continue to flow over with grace and love for ourselves and for the people here.
We've been getting more involved in a church, and we love it. The people are from everywhere you could possibly imagine, it's incredible! We've started going to a small group, ok, we've only gone once, but it's wonderful to be apart of a community again! We were sort of drying up last semester and are realizing how important people
and fellowship are. God heard us loud and clear because we have been meeting a good number of new ppl and are hoping to get involved in a few serving opportunities.
It's amazing how he never ceases to watch out over us, we feel so taken care of. We praise Jesus for his new mercies everyday and continue to walk and grow with Him on this incredible journey. May you be touched with His spirit today and renewed with His love. Amen.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Lunar New Year Fireworks
The Chinese really know what they're doing when it comes to fireworks. The shelling seemed to go off almost non-stop leading up the the Lunar New Year (January 23rd) and then kept going. Even two weeks later, as we returned to Beijing on February 6th, we could see from the plane that people were still lighting off fireworks all across the city.
Check out the video we took from our balcony in Beijing just before midnight on the eve of the Lunar New Year. Absolute craziness. Fourth of July in the states looks mundane in comparison, I'm sorry to say.
Check out the video we took from our balcony in Beijing just before midnight on the eve of the Lunar New Year. Absolute craziness. Fourth of July in the states looks mundane in comparison, I'm sorry to say.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Taiwan: Around the Island in 10 Days
We just got back to Beijing last night after a 10-day trip to Taiwan. Check out the photos on Flickr. I'll put some highlights below. Hope you enjoy. We had tons of fun and ate lots of great food. We’ve concluded that Taiwan is much more foodie-friendly than Beijing. We were a little sad to come back; Taiwan was so warm, and Beijing is still soooo cold.
We’ve been enjoying our semester break and the Chinese New Year festivities. We have today and tomorrow to rest, and then it’s back to the office. Semester 2 starts on Monday.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Finally... the end of the semester
Well, we made it to the end of the semester and the end of winter camp. We're exhausted, but here are a few highlights from 3-1/2 months of work and adjustments:
-We can ask for beef, chicken, lamb, pork and duck meat at the market in Chinese!!
-We can get ourselves home with a taxi in Chinese (this is actually quite difficult as our school is a ways out of town)
-We took Chinese lessons ;)
-Biking on the streets of Beijing. Anything goes.
-Stories from the classroom. Here's one: In my sixth grade class (Chris'), we were learning prefixes such as trans-, sub-, and inter-. I was asking students for examples of words that used these prefixes, and one truly innocent student raised her hand and emphatically declared: "Intercourse." I fell on the floor laughing, in my head, but maintained my composure. Of course, no one else had any idea except for the TA.
-Students putting both fingers in their nostrils simultaneously. No shame.
-Watching where you put your feet because people spit everywhere.
-Finding a church we really like and hopefully a small group soon.
-Finding a Chinese guitar. 750 RMB.
-Celebrating our first Christmas and New Years away from home... It's not quite as special here as it is in Europe/America, but we still had a good time. Hamburgers for Christmas Eve, presents, etc. Petra, Chris' TA and our floormate, had her first Christmas, so that was really fun.
-Being so tired we could barely talk straight... not that that's different from the norm for me... (grace). But thank G for a break!
-Taiwan in 8 days!
-Putting on 2 plays each for Winter/English Camp, a lot of work, but worth it. They did great.
-Having to take over 4 science classes a week 2 weeks before finals (for grace). Not fun.
-Being taken out to lunch at a hummungous Chinese buffet - amazing food experience!
-Fireworks! This is what Chris is looking forward to in the next few days leading up to Chinese New Year.
Overall, we're really happy here. Communicating is an adventure, but I love that (grace) and I love trying to figure out "how to fit in." We both love discovering new places together. We're hoping to explore the city more in the next few weeks as well as enjoy some good restaurants. Thanks for reading our adventures, we love your comments! (Hopefully we can post more often now as we think we have a better connection.)
Happy Chinese New Year! (Haven't learned that one yet...)
-We can ask for beef, chicken, lamb, pork and duck meat at the market in Chinese!!
-We can get ourselves home with a taxi in Chinese (this is actually quite difficult as our school is a ways out of town)
-We took Chinese lessons ;)
-Biking on the streets of Beijing. Anything goes.
-Stories from the classroom. Here's one: In my sixth grade class (Chris'), we were learning prefixes such as trans-, sub-, and inter-. I was asking students for examples of words that used these prefixes, and one truly innocent student raised her hand and emphatically declared: "Intercourse." I fell on the floor laughing, in my head, but maintained my composure. Of course, no one else had any idea except for the TA.
-Students putting both fingers in their nostrils simultaneously. No shame.
-Watching where you put your feet because people spit everywhere.
-Finding a church we really like and hopefully a small group soon.
-Finding a Chinese guitar. 750 RMB.
-Celebrating our first Christmas and New Years away from home... It's not quite as special here as it is in Europe/America, but we still had a good time. Hamburgers for Christmas Eve, presents, etc. Petra, Chris' TA and our floormate, had her first Christmas, so that was really fun.
-Being so tired we could barely talk straight... not that that's different from the norm for me... (grace). But thank G for a break!
-Taiwan in 8 days!
-Putting on 2 plays each for Winter/English Camp, a lot of work, but worth it. They did great.
-Having to take over 4 science classes a week 2 weeks before finals (for grace). Not fun.
-Being taken out to lunch at a hummungous Chinese buffet - amazing food experience!
-Fireworks! This is what Chris is looking forward to in the next few days leading up to Chinese New Year.
Overall, we're really happy here. Communicating is an adventure, but I love that (grace) and I love trying to figure out "how to fit in." We both love discovering new places together. We're hoping to explore the city more in the next few weeks as well as enjoy some good restaurants. Thanks for reading our adventures, we love your comments! (Hopefully we can post more often now as we think we have a better connection.)
Happy Chinese New Year! (Haven't learned that one yet...)
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