I accepted the job in
Huilongguan, which means I had to move again. Let me just say that I am done
moving. If this job doesn't work out then I am heading back home to Kentucky. So on Friday I
had to again pack up all my things so that I would be ready to move when the
school could provide a driver to come and help me. (That was a positive, the
school provided someone to come and help me get my stuff and take me to the new
apartment that they provided). I was kind of sad to have to leave that
apartment because it was cozy. I know I had only lived there for a week but I
knew my way around and I liked my roommate and I had my own bathroom! That is
very hard to find in China, your very own bathroom. My new school called me Friday afternoon
and said that I would be moving on Monday. I was happy and sad with this news. I had
already packed everything up so I was ready to move, but I was glad that I
would get to stay in my apartment in Wangjing for one more weekend. I also
didn't know what to expect of the school come Monday. I know I had visited and actually liked it, but it had been
2 weeks what if I didn't like it anymore?
So Friday night I had my home tutoring. It has been nice having something to do regularly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. I know it sounds like a lot but I need to keep myself busy because too much time in my room with nothing to do just makes me even more homesick. The little boy's birthday was Saturday and the family invited me to the party. They said there was going to be 70 people there! That's more like a family reunion rather than a birthday party. LOL. But they were going to come pick me and up so how could I say no? So Friday night they asked me to teach him a song to sing the next day at his party. Teach him a song in one day? Ok so like Row Row Row Your Boat, right? No. The mom wanted a song like, Let It Go. I know I had been practicing that song with him on Wednesday but there was no way I could have him ready to sing it (like she wanted) by Saturday. It would have been nice to know that she wanted him to sing something in English at his party and I would have been working on something the past couple of weeks. But anyways, we practiced Let It Go and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (because maybe I could convince her that this would be a simpler song for him to do in front of everyone). When class was over we had accomplished the second verse of Let It Go, but it was nowhere near ready to be performed in front of an audience. But the good news was that he had mastered Row, Row, Row Your Boat. LOL. I tried to convince his mom that Let It Go wasn't ready. She said ok, but I don't think she understood me.
So she took me home and dropped me off at the apartment. I told her that next week I start a new job in Huilongguan and it will be easier if she just picks me up at the subway station by her house. She said ok and then she would drop me off at my apartment in Wangjing. This began the odd conversation of trying to tell her that she has to drop me off at the subway because I have to move again. She looked at me and said, “What? Moving 3 times in 2 months.” Yes. :(. I don't plan on moving anymore. Then she proceeded to call one of her friends to try and get me a job in Wangjing. I tried to tell her that I was ok with this new job but it got lost in translation (another motto for living in China). So when we got to my apartment her friend that owns a school was ready to offer me a job, but I told her that it had to go through my agent (recruiter) because he was handling my jobs. Let me just say, "Thank God for my agent." because I probably would have been on a plane how last week (and I know some of you are probably think why does she have an agent, I wanted her home last month! LOL). So he talked to her and it worked out. I am still going to be teaching in Huilongguan. I don't think I could have handled another job change.
Saturday morning, I was picked up at 10:30am to go to the birthday party. The father and his parents picked me up. It was a quiet car ride. I always feel bad because I don't talk very much because I can't speak Chinese and then they feel bad because they can't speak English. I am perfectly ok with them speaking Chinese but I know they want to include me in the conversation. Hopefully one day I will know how to communicate in Chinese. It took us an hour to get to the party because of the crazy traffic in Beijing. Also it was Saturday morning and I swear everyone and their mother are traveling. When we get to the party I am greet with a bunch of Ni Haos (Chinese for Hello). I just smile back and say Ni Hao. At least there is one person there that could speak English, the cousin of the boy I tutor. She is my age so we stayed together for the whole party. I felt kind of bad because she had to do a lot of translating for me. But she was able to practice her English with me, so I guess it all worked out. She even taught me a few new Chinese phrases! After the party the family took me home. I got home around 4pm. I definitely wasn't expecting to be at the party for so long.
My roommate came back around 5 and we decided to go out to get some food and then some ice cream because we have been talking about Cold Stone Creamery since she got here. So we walked up the street and found a Canadian/Irish Hockey bar. So we look at the menu and decide to eat because we were hungry and didn't know if we would find anything else. Of course no one else is eating, only us. Everyone is drinking and watching the Rugby (yes Rugby) game. The food was not that good, I guess normal bar food. So we finished our meals and left to go to Cold Stone, which was our main purpose for going out anyways! LOL. On our way to get ice cream we saw a movie store. This store had every move that has come out and it only cost 15RMB. For those of you not familiar with Chinese currency, that is about $2.50. The store had the movie Divergent, which just came out on DVD in the states, and I just had to get it. So I spent the 15RMB praying that the movie was good quality and not some videotaped screening. It wasn't! It was actually great, China doesn't have copyright laws so they have a lot of pirated movies. I know where I will be going to get my movies from now on!
Then we headed to Cold Stone. Finally! We had seriously been talking about Cold Stone the whole week, saying that we would go but every time we got back to the apartment we were either full or didn't want to go back out in the smoggy, humid weather. The Cold Stone was just like back home in Kentucky, if only everyone who worked there only spoke Chinese. But you chose your ice cream and then they would mix things in for you. Now they do have different flavors here, like green tea ice cream and dumpling flavored ice cream. LOL just kidding, there is no dumpling flavored ice cream. They had the normal: sweet cream, chocolate, cheesecake, mint, etc. I played it safe and got the chocolate ice cream. My roommate got the green tea (she said she had it in Korea). Then they mixed in different toppings according to the signature creations. We did our best at trying to describe the other thing we wanted mixed in. Then they tossed the perfectly formed ball of ice cream in the air and caught it in the cup. I think they have been taking lessons from my brother because they did it pretty well. However, it will never be as good as back home because the ice cream is made by my brother and tossed in the air (I promise it makes the ice cream taste better). But it is almost like a performance. So if you are in Lexington head to Cold Stone and make sure you ask them to catch the ice cream in the cup, you know you want some! (I want some as I am writing this. LOL)
On Sunday I went to church. I love going to church, even if it is a farther distance now that I moved and will be even farther when I move again. I like that I have a place that feels like a family. I know a lot of people there and they know me. God has really provided a great place for me connect with other believers and be encouraged during my time in China! After church, my agent and I met my roommate at Carrefour (a local and foreign store in Beijing, probably my favorite place to shop for food and other basic necessities). She was buying a comforter and coffee pot and then we were going to head to IKEA. Although I really didn't want to go to IKEA on a Sunday because it is super busy. I swear people go to IKEA for fun on the weekends and for the 1RMB ice cream cone. We decided to go to Ladies market instead because our agent said we could get things there cheaper. Well the market did sell the things she wanted but none of the designs she liked. Also we were trying to bargain hunt and they were not interested in haggling. LOL.
So Friday night I had my home tutoring. It has been nice having something to do regularly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. I know it sounds like a lot but I need to keep myself busy because too much time in my room with nothing to do just makes me even more homesick. The little boy's birthday was Saturday and the family invited me to the party. They said there was going to be 70 people there! That's more like a family reunion rather than a birthday party. LOL. But they were going to come pick me and up so how could I say no? So Friday night they asked me to teach him a song to sing the next day at his party. Teach him a song in one day? Ok so like Row Row Row Your Boat, right? No. The mom wanted a song like, Let It Go. I know I had been practicing that song with him on Wednesday but there was no way I could have him ready to sing it (like she wanted) by Saturday. It would have been nice to know that she wanted him to sing something in English at his party and I would have been working on something the past couple of weeks. But anyways, we practiced Let It Go and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (because maybe I could convince her that this would be a simpler song for him to do in front of everyone). When class was over we had accomplished the second verse of Let It Go, but it was nowhere near ready to be performed in front of an audience. But the good news was that he had mastered Row, Row, Row Your Boat. LOL. I tried to convince his mom that Let It Go wasn't ready. She said ok, but I don't think she understood me.
So she took me home and dropped me off at the apartment. I told her that next week I start a new job in Huilongguan and it will be easier if she just picks me up at the subway station by her house. She said ok and then she would drop me off at my apartment in Wangjing. This began the odd conversation of trying to tell her that she has to drop me off at the subway because I have to move again. She looked at me and said, “What? Moving 3 times in 2 months.” Yes. :(. I don't plan on moving anymore. Then she proceeded to call one of her friends to try and get me a job in Wangjing. I tried to tell her that I was ok with this new job but it got lost in translation (another motto for living in China). So when we got to my apartment her friend that owns a school was ready to offer me a job, but I told her that it had to go through my agent (recruiter) because he was handling my jobs. Let me just say, "Thank God for my agent." because I probably would have been on a plane how last week (and I know some of you are probably think why does she have an agent, I wanted her home last month! LOL). So he talked to her and it worked out. I am still going to be teaching in Huilongguan. I don't think I could have handled another job change.
Saturday morning, I was picked up at 10:30am to go to the birthday party. The father and his parents picked me up. It was a quiet car ride. I always feel bad because I don't talk very much because I can't speak Chinese and then they feel bad because they can't speak English. I am perfectly ok with them speaking Chinese but I know they want to include me in the conversation. Hopefully one day I will know how to communicate in Chinese. It took us an hour to get to the party because of the crazy traffic in Beijing. Also it was Saturday morning and I swear everyone and their mother are traveling. When we get to the party I am greet with a bunch of Ni Haos (Chinese for Hello). I just smile back and say Ni Hao. At least there is one person there that could speak English, the cousin of the boy I tutor. She is my age so we stayed together for the whole party. I felt kind of bad because she had to do a lot of translating for me. But she was able to practice her English with me, so I guess it all worked out. She even taught me a few new Chinese phrases! After the party the family took me home. I got home around 4pm. I definitely wasn't expecting to be at the party for so long.
My roommate came back around 5 and we decided to go out to get some food and then some ice cream because we have been talking about Cold Stone Creamery since she got here. So we walked up the street and found a Canadian/Irish Hockey bar. So we look at the menu and decide to eat because we were hungry and didn't know if we would find anything else. Of course no one else is eating, only us. Everyone is drinking and watching the Rugby (yes Rugby) game. The food was not that good, I guess normal bar food. So we finished our meals and left to go to Cold Stone, which was our main purpose for going out anyways! LOL. On our way to get ice cream we saw a movie store. This store had every move that has come out and it only cost 15RMB. For those of you not familiar with Chinese currency, that is about $2.50. The store had the movie Divergent, which just came out on DVD in the states, and I just had to get it. So I spent the 15RMB praying that the movie was good quality and not some videotaped screening. It wasn't! It was actually great, China doesn't have copyright laws so they have a lot of pirated movies. I know where I will be going to get my movies from now on!
Then we headed to Cold Stone. Finally! We had seriously been talking about Cold Stone the whole week, saying that we would go but every time we got back to the apartment we were either full or didn't want to go back out in the smoggy, humid weather. The Cold Stone was just like back home in Kentucky, if only everyone who worked there only spoke Chinese. But you chose your ice cream and then they would mix things in for you. Now they do have different flavors here, like green tea ice cream and dumpling flavored ice cream. LOL just kidding, there is no dumpling flavored ice cream. They had the normal: sweet cream, chocolate, cheesecake, mint, etc. I played it safe and got the chocolate ice cream. My roommate got the green tea (she said she had it in Korea). Then they mixed in different toppings according to the signature creations. We did our best at trying to describe the other thing we wanted mixed in. Then they tossed the perfectly formed ball of ice cream in the air and caught it in the cup. I think they have been taking lessons from my brother because they did it pretty well. However, it will never be as good as back home because the ice cream is made by my brother and tossed in the air (I promise it makes the ice cream taste better). But it is almost like a performance. So if you are in Lexington head to Cold Stone and make sure you ask them to catch the ice cream in the cup, you know you want some! (I want some as I am writing this. LOL)
On Sunday I went to church. I love going to church, even if it is a farther distance now that I moved and will be even farther when I move again. I like that I have a place that feels like a family. I know a lot of people there and they know me. God has really provided a great place for me connect with other believers and be encouraged during my time in China! After church, my agent and I met my roommate at Carrefour (a local and foreign store in Beijing, probably my favorite place to shop for food and other basic necessities). She was buying a comforter and coffee pot and then we were going to head to IKEA. Although I really didn't want to go to IKEA on a Sunday because it is super busy. I swear people go to IKEA for fun on the weekends and for the 1RMB ice cream cone. We decided to go to Ladies market instead because our agent said we could get things there cheaper. Well the market did sell the things she wanted but none of the designs she liked. Also we were trying to bargain hunt and they were not interested in haggling. LOL.
After we left the market
we all decided to go home. It was later than we expected to get home. Both of
us were planning on getting some things done in the afternoon to prepare for
the start of our jobs. But instead we got back to the apartment and decided to
go out to the Korean restaurant down the street to get some dinner. I know we
are in China and are getting Korean food for dinner. But it was delicious, I
ordered the Kimchi fried rice and it was sooooo good. Yes all I ate for dinner
was rice but it was delicious and it filled me up and I still had some left
over. It’s always fun to order food and get the check in China because you have
to say things in Chinese. Well the two of us don’t have a large Chinese
vocabulary, so it was hard to get the waitress to bring us to-go containers.
She was trying to order us an entirely new dish but give it to us to-go. Thankfully
the nice Chinese family at the table next to us could speak a little English
and tell our waitress what we wanted. It is so nice to meet friendly Chinese
people. I don’t know what people are talking about when they say all Chinese
people are rude. It just isn’t true!
Then on Monday I had to
leave the apartment at 6:45 to catch the bus so that I could make it to the
school in Huilongguan on time. At least the bus wasn’t really crowded but the
subway was CRAZY! I am so glad the school provides an apartment because I
really don’t want to ride that subway in the morning every day. However I do
end up having to ride the subway every day to go back and forth to Wangjing for
my home tutoring and church activities. But I like that I am filling my time,
it makes it hard to be homesick.
My first day at the school
was pretty nice. I followed my new roommate around, shadowing his classes. He
is really nice and helpful. The school is actually pretty easy. The students
have theme English, where they are introduced a new theme each week with
flashcards and then they build on that theme throughout the week. They also
have different special classes, such as cooking, science, drama, and arts &
crafts. Either the teacher incorporates these special classes into the lessons
or they have another teacher come. There is also a break for the teachers from
11-2 for lunch and nap time. I love having this break! It will definitely come
in handy to prepare lessons or to take a quick nap between classes. LOL.
I should be getting a schedule of my classes either
tomorrow or Friday. I was told that I am going to be teaching cooking and
science classes in the morning (which is easy because I just do the same lesson
over and over again with different classes) and then have an English class in
the afternoon. I am actually really excited about this because I love cooking
and I love doing science experiments and activities. And in the afternoon the
English teaching is actually really simple. I have to present the vocabulary,
play a game, sing songs, and have students use the words in a sentence. I know
it sounds like a lot but it actually seems quite simple. At least I am hoping
it is! J
Next week is my first day teaching!!!
One of the other foreign teachers at the school is a
Christian. She started talking to me yesterday and it was God’s timing because
I was ready to pack up my bags and reschedule my plane ticket. We started
talking about church and music. It was really comforting to know that another
teacher is a Christian and that we can encourage each other and help each
other. And I can see this becoming a great friendship. I know there is a reason
God has me at this school. I don’t know how long I will be here in China but I
know that God has a purpose for me. I can’t wait to see what he does in and
through me. For I may not know how or why something happens but I trust that God
is taking care of me!