A Winter Surprise

The day I took the pictures of all the leaves, i took this picture too.

The next day, I took this picture. Funny how the weather can change so quickly, no matter where you are.





It was Sunday morning. I woke up and could not believe that we were having snow on the first day of November. (Last year the only snow we had came in February) Having grown up in Kansas, I'm used to getting pretty excited about any skiff of white on the ground, and this time was no exception.

I pretty much felt like the kid on the left. These boys were having a blast.

This one paused long enough to let me take his picture.

The street in front of my building.

I walked to this park and took a bunch of pictures while the snow continued to fall. I loved seeing all the fall leaves covered in white.

It was really cold out there, but I didn't really notice.

Maybe that's why I got sick later that day and had the flu all week. :-)

Autumn in Beijing

I just can't get enough of these trees...

Favorites

I'm way behind on updating this with pictures. However, life has been a little crazy lately, so posting pictures has been put on the back burner for a while.

Here are a few shots that I like from the past few months...

Longqing Gorge

This is Liu, a new friend this year. He owns a drink shop down the street from us, and we visit him and his store very often to get iced coffee or milk tea. He is always happy and loves to practice his English.

Tiananmen Gate at night.

Love these kids. They are students from last year, but we still get to hang out sometimes. This was taken on Sports Day a few weeks ago.

Fall is finally starting to show itself. :-)

More pictures to come...

60

The beginning of this month marked a pretty significant holiday for China. October 1st is the Chinese National Day, which always means a week off of school and work for many people. However, this year marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic, and because of that the celebration was significantly more grand all across the country. Here in Beijing, flowers lined the streets, banners hung from every street lamp, and the entire center of the city was shut down on that day for a massive parade. It was a pretty amazing sight to see.

Here are some pictures from the days leading up to the celebration and of the day itself. Even though the month is half over now, I wanted to post these for you to be able to see.

We made waffles and watched the parade. :-)

Probably the hugest parade ever, just a guess.

The day finished out with a spectacular fireworks display all over the city. These were going off outside my apartment building. Who doesn't love fireworks?

Long Time No Blog

So, keeping this updated is a little difficult from my side of the world. Sad to say, I have been in China for close to two months now and this is my first post, but I'm hopeful that that will change now. I roped my family into posting things for me that I send to them, such as the text and pictures you are seeing right now. (I still can't access any blogs from here.) I'm hopeful that thanks to their willingness to help me I can continue to put up pictures and updates on here for you to read.

August 21 seems like a really long time ago. This first month and a half here has sped by and has been really busy--classes, meetings, new team, new experiences, and a lot of new responsibilities. Amidst all that, I have managed to take about 1000 pictures. :-) Needless to say, there are a lot of different things I could make a post about.


Let's start with the basics: the new team. This year, we have 10 American teachers at Shi Yi: 5 returners and 5 new ones, and it's really a great group. The beginning of the year was a whirlwind--figuring out class schedules, living situations, etc., and the team has done a great job through it all. We're are having a great time getting to know one another more and more as we live and work together.


Coming back for a second year has been awesome. Understanding cultural situations, knowing some Chinese, and being familiar with many students from last year have all contributed to making the transition back to Beijing both smooth and enjoyable. I was so excited to return to such a familiar place full of people that I had grown to love last year. It's truly a privilege and a joy to be here.

I hope that this brief update on my life is not the last for while. I'll do my best to keep up with posting on here, both because I want to stay in touch with you, and also because I enjoy giving you a taste of day-to-day life here in Beijing. I'd hate for you to miss it.

Until next time...

here we go again!

Well, I'm going back.

After a 7-week break in America, I'm returning to Beijing for another year. And I can't wait.

Going back is both exciting and overwhelming. This time around there will be so much that is familiar and "normal" to me, and for that I'm really thankful. I'm most excited about seeing my teammates again and all my Chinese students and friends from last year.

At the same, time there will be some new challenges with getting a new school year underway. I was asked last year to be the leader for my team of 10 teachers at Shi Yi, which means that as we start the new year I will have a number of responsibilities in communicating with our contacts over there and passing that information on to my teammates. Don't get all excited, because it's not like a huge promotion or anything, but I appreciate you thinking about that as I prepare for the new year. I really want us to do a good job and to continue to build a good relationship between the foreign teachers and the school.

I fly out in just a few hours, so I better get to bed, but I just wanted to write something on here since it's been such a long time. As far as I know, it will be difficult to post things on here from China, but with the help of my friends and family in America, I really hope to be able to keep this updated with pictures, etc.

See you on the other side!

update.

Hey everyone. I know, it's been a long time, but here's the deal: it's not my fault. :-)

I just wanted to update you quickly (via my family in America) about why I'm not writing on the blog so much anymore. Since I last posted a while back, the blogspot websites have been blocked over here, and I'm unable to sign in or even view my blog site, let alone post anything on it. So, you're missing out on some fun pictures, and I'm missing reading your blog if you have one. I keep thinking of things I should put on here, but then I realize that I'm unable to do that.

Perhaps in the future I'll be able to figure out another way to post pictures and keep you updated, but until I return to America at the end of June, I'll probably not be putting anything up on here. Thanks!!

-james

crazy faces.

teachers' class.

On Monday evenings I teach a beginner English class for Chinese teachers. The students in there are at somewhat varied levels of language ability, but one of my students in particular is definitely a beginner at English. Every time he comes in to class and I say "How are you?" he usually just responds by repeating what I say, rather than answering the question. It happens at other times too; for instance, once, when I found out that he was a chemistry teacher, I got all excited and said (slowly) "My father is a chemistry teacher."

He simply repeated: "My father is a chemistry teacher." :-)

Anyway, the past few weeks we have been learning a lot of food-related vocabulary, and on Monday I was teaching all the flavors--like sour, salty, sweet, bland, etc. Things weren't clicking with the class, especially with my aforementioned friend. My limited Chinese and their limited English were not connecting in this instance, but then all of the sudden, Mr. Chemistry Teacher came running up to the chalkboard, and wrote this:

He finally got it, and so did everyone else. :-)

Thanks, Dad, for making sure I knew this too.

Botanical Gardens--Round 2

May 1st is a national holiday here in China, so all of the students had a much-deserved day off. The night before, one of my students called and invited me to go to the "plant park" for the day with him and some other students. Not knowing exactly what the "plant park" was, I gladly accepted the invitation and agreed to meet them at 8:00 the next morning (wow...on a day off, seriously?)

Turns out, the plant park is none other than the Beijing Botanical Gardens. I had been there before, but it was great spending the day there again and seeing how everything had changed now that we're closer to summertime.

More than that though, it was so cool to spend a day in the life of my students: watching them interact with each other, listening to their music, and picking out words and phrases they used in talking with each other in Chinese (it was good listening practice!).

p.s. I LOVE ginkgo trees.

We climbed on rocks,

checked out the waterfalls,

But then it started to rain...

so, we sat on newspapers under a tree and waited it out--Bill on his PSP, Robin with his cell phone, and Crystal with her camera. I need to invest in an umbrella.

Later that day, the sun came out and we were at it again, this time catching tadpoles in the lake, right next to the "No Fishing" sign. :-) I really wish these kids could live in the country.

Checking out their catch.

Group shot at the end of the day: Bill, me, Robin, and Crystal.

At the end of the day I thought: "I have no idea why they wanted me to hang out with them on their day off, but I'm so glad they did."

Sports Day

Today was Sports Day for most of my students, which meant they had no classes and got to spend the entire day outside running races and playing other sports. It was a ton of fun. I took lots of pictures and tried to pick out some of the better ones. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day, more of people than of events. The best part of the whole experience was being able to hang out with all the kids all day long. I think they enjoyed the break from school work.

This is Darren, and his awesome camera.
I told him it was way cooler than mine, because it is.

Along with relay races, here are some other essentials of a good sports day:

three-legged races...

...tug of war...

...and arm wrestling.
This is ABC, a funny and athletic student who makes me laugh in every class, despite his limited English ability. Many of my stories involve this kid. He's hilarious, and pretty good at arm wrestling too.

This is David and Henry. They're funny too.

Nowitzki and Arthur.

David and Jack, rockin' the three-legged race.

Miss Korkosz and Sapphire.

Tony and Andy.
Also note my new favorite T-shirt from Wal-Mart. It says "two hand touch basketball."

Some more of my favorites.