Changing address

So in case there's anyone that keeps track of addresses out there, please remove the address at Tai Yang Yuan from your book.  We're looking to move so any mail that arrives in China after mid-December might not get to us.  Scott's work address is always a reliable place to get stuff to us (well, 85% of the time).  They at least have a receptionist there that can coordinate deliveries. 

After living within 5 minutes walking distance from work for the past few years, Scott is ready for a change in scenery.  We're hoping we'll find a place in the more happening part of Beijing in Wudaokou.  It's only one subway stop away from where we're living now so it won't be that much of a change.  I'm not even sure if Scott can still consider it much of a commute when the majority of other people in this city have at least a one hour commute - his will still be under 20 minutes. 

Anyway, as soon as we have info about our new diggs, I'll post it.  Maybe I'll even post pictures but knowing me, it takes me a couple of months so maybe you can expect some by February 2010.  =)

Year One Pictures - finally!

I figured out a way to post pictures non-manually so they're loading as I type.  It only took me a few months to figure it out. =P  There's 355 pictures - one for almost every day of Year 1.  Enjoy!  I'm especially proud of the mapping I did so you can get a sense of where the pictures were taken.

Playing teacher

So the lady I do book recordings for needed a substitute for her Tuesday and Thursday classes.  At first I didn't want to but eventually I gave in.  We figured it would be good experience for me - I'd have a better idea of how her classes are run and therefore improve the quality of my recordings.  First of all, let me give a shout out to all the teachers I know.  I now fully recognize that work doesn't start and stop when the students sit in there seats.  There's alot of prep work involved.  For me, prepping for class included memorizing a story about a monkey and a crocodile, the story about King Midas and then practicing pausing and playing a movie at the right time so I can add some commentary.  Probably nothing difficult compared to teachers back home but still. 

There were a couple moments when I blanked out and forgot what I was supposed to say next or perhaps used a more complicated word than what I was supposed to but my boss seemed impressed and invited me to teach a future class during the next semester.  So we'll see.  It can be nervous though not because of the 12 or so kids I had to entertain but because the entire class was being recorded.  Evidently all the kids (and therefore their parents) get an audio copy of the class so they can play it back and review what happened.  The parents were probably also eager to find out if the substitute teacher was actually a native English speaker.  I got some funny looks when the parents dropped off their kids with the occasional "She's an American" explanation coming from my boss.  I even had a kid come up to me and ask multiple times if I was Chinese (in Chinese).  I would just respond in English that I cannot speak Chinese and that he should be using more of his English.  When the kids aren't punching each other and screaming they can be quite cute. 

The lady that runs the school though is pretty straight with me.  She recognizes that parents are very much focused on what the teacher looks like and not whether or not they're competent in English.  If asked I'm to tell them that I'm American (no need to mention the Japanese part) and that I have teaching experience.  Since I technically taught four classes, I guess I wouldn't be lying.  So we'll see, this coming Spring I might be teaching more regularly and I can add teacher to my resume.

My funny husband / Counting somewhere

So as everyone knows Scott has been here for a little more than three years and I've been here a little over one.  And as those who follow this blog or studied with me in Japan know foreign languages are not my strong suit.  So when my husband tells the census people (in Chinese, no less) to return the next day when his wife is home, I could only draw two conclusions of what was going through his head.
1) The most flattering - "My wife's Chinese language skills are much better than mine.  She'll be better suited to deal with these people."
2) The most likely - "I had a long day at work and I don't feel like dealing with you people right now.  Better to come back tomorrow - my wife has more patience for this type of stuff."
Luckily the people returned the next day with someone who spoke English but still, when he first told me that people were going to stop by the next day conveniently while he was at work, I could only laugh.

Anyway, I think it's kinda neat we're included in a census somewhere.  For obvious reasons we weren't included in the US's 2010 census but we're counted here in China.  For the first time they're including foreigners in their head count but even when they come up with an official number, people have their doubts that it'll be close to the actual figure.  The tricky part is they have large migrant population so locating them and getting their information is probably futile.  Oh, also I got a neat little collapsible laundry basket (kinda like the ones we used in college) for participating in the census.  Maybe if they handed out free stuff in the US, people would be more willing to give up all of their personal information... probably not.  For the census here, they asked us the following questions - name, birth year and month, highest level of education, purpose for being in China, and the length of time we were here.  Again, it's kinda neat to be counted somewhere with the added bonus of a souvenir to commemorate the what-turned-out-to-be uneventful visit.

US Embassy

I went to the US Embassy today because Scott needed more pages in his passport. If only I had gone a few months earlier, it would've been free but now they charge $82! The process was pretty quick though and only had to stick around for an hour. While I was waiting, an 85-year-old woman came into the office because she lost her passport. The poor woman was traveling by herself! Evidently it was her 12th visit to China but after this incident she said she's never coming back. I wouldn't blame her. I myself don't tend to go back and visit a place more than once so coming to China 12 times is amazing. Kudos to her for traveling solo at the age of 85 too. She seemed pretty sharp so hopefully it all worked out for her.

Her story reminded me of the time I forgot Scott and my passports in the hotel safe in Amsterdam. We made it all the way to the tip of Holland ready to jump on a boat and cross the channel to England when we realized that we didn't have them. Luckily the passports were still in the safe when we got back to Amsterdam but if they weren't, I might not be alive today to tell the tale... haha.

Studying Chinese

So Scott and I went to a CCC class that taught us some of the lingo to get a foot massage. Being here for 3 years Scott is already a pro and has his favorite spot close to where we live but I dragged him along anyway. Besides, what's an hour-long lesson when you know you get a foot massage afterward? So when (or if) anybody comes out to Beijing, I'll at least have my handy booklet to say, "Ouch, the water is too hot!" or "Can you work that spot a little bit more?"

This weekend was also my 10-year high school reunion. 10 years has definitely gone by fast. I'm a little bummed that I couldn't go but I'm sure 2020 will be here before I know it. Go wildcats!

Shanghai World Expo

The 6-month long World Expo in Shanghai is coming to an end this month so we thought we'd finally go and check out what all the commercials and television coverage was all about. Timing is everything - we were planning on initially going out there for a few days but we ended up staying longer because the trip turned into a business trip. "Yay!" for partial reimbursement of travel expenses. Anyway, we spent the equivalent of a full day there which was plenty according to our feet but not nearly enough time to see all of the pavilions.

We managed to get into the USA pavilion which was relatively simple compared to some of the other big countries. Word has it that for the pavilion to even be made possible there was a last-minute ditch effort to get money from corporate sponsors. The sponsorship was evident the moment you walked in with a wall of sponsors covering the entrance. There really wasn't much in the way of information about the US - just three video clips that essentially showed off how well we can produce a video and after going through the videos there was an area with a few interactive activities and a gift shop (with mostly Disney merchandise and stuff with US flags on it). Luckily we went at night and so the wait wasn't that bad. While we waited in line I correctly answered who the 16th President was. I think they were disappointed though when they found out I was an American. To get into any of the big pavilions like Saudi Arabia, Japan, or England, it required at least a four hour wait and we had little time to just stand in lines. They were going to supposedly give out tickets like the Fast Passes at Disneyland so you can come back later but we were either mis-informed or arrived too late to get a ticket.

We chose this particular weekend because we thought there would be fewer people going than if we chose to arrive the last week of the expo but it turned out to be a record-breaking attendance weekend. On Saturday alone there were over a million people! The souvenir of choice were booklets or passports that you can get stamped when you visited a pavilion. Again, Chinese people and lines can be stressful and there was alot of pushing and cutting to get your stamp which sometimes you had to pay for. I guess the individual pavilions figured out they had a money-maker when you had people go up to a desk with 10 passports in their hands, wanting you to stamp every one of them so they can pass them out to their relatives. The idea was cool but I think it created a Pokemon "Gotta catch them all" mentality. People were running mad through the pavilion just to get their stamp and not even paying attention to the displays are artifacts presented. I'll admit though, I was guilty of it too.

In the end, I think it was a great event for Chinese people to see other parts of the world without going through the process of getting your visa to leave the country. It's not easy especially if you're a single female. My language partner was stressing about her visa application because every other single female in her office was denied a visa to go to some European country. It's evidently rare - perhaps they fear you'll never come back. Going to another Asian country is not as difficult. But in any event, for us I think it was cool to see what the Chinese had put together and having an excuse to visit Shanghai but like anything, it doesn't beat actually going to visit a country and experiencing it first hand.

I have more pictures and I'll post them - eventually. :)