So this was my first Thanksgiving that I didn't spend with my family, and it was one thing I was honestly worried about when I came over here. When I came over this time, I wasn't sure what to expect. During student teaching, homesickness was a huge struggle for me, and I was kind of expecting that to happen again. However, it has not been an issue this time around. I still miss family and friends, of course, but it is not in the same way it was during student teaching. I wasn't sure how I would handle the holidays, but it was surprising to find that it was not the struggle I thought it would be. Though, that might have something to do with the fact that I get to go home for Christmas this year-which is actually in only a few short weeks.
The holiday was actually quite fun. After school on Thursday, a group of teachers went to Aloha (an American style diner) who was serving all of the traditional Thanksgiving foods. It was fun to spend the evening eating way too much with everyone-that tradition still lives on:) Another tradition that my roommate has is to go shopping for Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. So, on Friday a few of us went to the "crazy" market. This market is aptly named because it is HUGE-and there are lots of people............everywhere...........because it's China. We got some new decorations and a few other things for the apartment.
We spent the evening putting up the tree and decorating. If I could ever figure out how to post pictures on here, I might have to put some up. Our apartment is a bit of an eclectic assortment of colors that may or may not match. The walls in our apartment are stark white and I think that we decided we just wanted color.......everywhere. All in all, our apartment feels quite homey:)
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
...........it's been awhile.............
So I have realized that I'm not very good at keeping up with regular communication-type things-as evidenced by the fact that I haven't updated this blog in about 3 weeks. I was trying to think of how to distill my life over the past month into a succinct blog post-which really wouldn't be that difficult because everything has become quite routine of late. I think my biggest adventure was the volleyball tournament couple of weeks ago, and I will now relate that epic journey.
The sports seasons here really only last about a quarter during the school year, and after a couple of months of practices (and a few games if you can find some Chinese teams willing to play), all of the schools meet in one of the cities for a two day tournament. Usually, we fly to the cities, but this year the tickets were so expensive that we had to find alternate means of transportation. So, with 45 middle school/ high school students in tow, we boarded an overnight train to Beijing on a Wednesday evening. We arrived in Beijing at 6:30 in the morning, where we boarded a bus to take us to another train station where we boarded a "fast" train to our final destination. The "fast" train took about 5 hours and we finally arrived..........22 hours after we left our original location.
The tournament itself was really fun. The high school girls team actually won the entire tournament. I'm certain it was due to my excellent assistant coaching skills:) Actually, I just took the stats-the head coach did all of the hard work. So, the tournament ended on Saturday, and we started our exodus back home on early Sunday morning. We took the "fast" train back to Beijing and then we split the group into two busses. The middle schoolers went on to the airport while the high schoolers went to a shopping/eating area in Beijing because we had 5 hours to kill before our plane left. However, we received a call from the middle school group, and they informed us that flights out of Beijing had been cancelled all day due to weather. The high school group got to the airport, and we assumed that our plane would also be delayed. However, the board didn't indicate a delay so we checked in and went to security. Sadly, it took us so long to get through security that we had to sprint to get to the plane because they were sitting and waiting for us.
As I was running through the airport (the first time I've ever had to do that by the way), I really wanted to stop and see the reaction of the Chinese people who were probably really amused by the huge group foreigners that were sprinting through the airport. Well if nothing else, we're certainly good for a show:)
And so, our plane took off on time while the poor middle school students were still waiting at the airport for their plane. Thankfully, they were able to leave about 20 minutes after we took off so we arrived at the airport around the same time-which was around 11:30....a mere 16 hours from the time we left that morning.
The sports seasons here really only last about a quarter during the school year, and after a couple of months of practices (and a few games if you can find some Chinese teams willing to play), all of the schools meet in one of the cities for a two day tournament. Usually, we fly to the cities, but this year the tickets were so expensive that we had to find alternate means of transportation. So, with 45 middle school/ high school students in tow, we boarded an overnight train to Beijing on a Wednesday evening. We arrived in Beijing at 6:30 in the morning, where we boarded a bus to take us to another train station where we boarded a "fast" train to our final destination. The "fast" train took about 5 hours and we finally arrived..........22 hours after we left our original location.
The tournament itself was really fun. The high school girls team actually won the entire tournament. I'm certain it was due to my excellent assistant coaching skills:) Actually, I just took the stats-the head coach did all of the hard work. So, the tournament ended on Saturday, and we started our exodus back home on early Sunday morning. We took the "fast" train back to Beijing and then we split the group into two busses. The middle schoolers went on to the airport while the high schoolers went to a shopping/eating area in Beijing because we had 5 hours to kill before our plane left. However, we received a call from the middle school group, and they informed us that flights out of Beijing had been cancelled all day due to weather. The high school group got to the airport, and we assumed that our plane would also be delayed. However, the board didn't indicate a delay so we checked in and went to security. Sadly, it took us so long to get through security that we had to sprint to get to the plane because they were sitting and waiting for us.
As I was running through the airport (the first time I've ever had to do that by the way), I really wanted to stop and see the reaction of the Chinese people who were probably really amused by the huge group foreigners that were sprinting through the airport. Well if nothing else, we're certainly good for a show:)
And so, our plane took off on time while the poor middle school students were still waiting at the airport for their plane. Thankfully, they were able to leave about 20 minutes after we took off so we arrived at the airport around the same time-which was around 11:30....a mere 16 hours from the time we left that morning.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
......holidays are neat.......
This last week was October holiday at school, which means a delightful week-long vacation from school. The first half was spent at a teacher's conference in Beijing. All of the teachers from the five different international schools in China met in Beijing for a few days of workshops. After the conference, I stayed in Beijing for an extra day with some other teachers to do some shopping. While there, I had my first legitimate hostel experience (the first "hostel" I ever stayed in was actually a bunch of apartments this guy owned that he rented out to various people). My first hostel stay gave me quite the story.
The hostel itself was actually really nice. It had a nice lounge area and a large courtyard outside with lounge chairs and a small restaurant. While we were checking in, they informed us that there were some issues with the dorm room we had booked for all four of us. They were then going to upgrade us to two rooms with two single beds each-so it was more hotel style than dorm bunk-bed style we had originally booked. The guy in charge started to lead us to the rooms, but my roommate and I were told to wait. After our other two friends left, we were told to wait because our room was in a different area. The lady then proceeded to explain that there was a bed broken in one of the rooms so we would be sharing the dorm room we originally booked with two other strangers. My roommate discussed this with her for awhile, trying to find out if there were any other rooms available. Eventually the guy returned and said that bed was not, in fact, broken, but the two people there had decided to extend their stay so they had to split us up. He ended his explanation with "your friends have better rooms."
To which my roommate replied, "I know."
So we went to the dorm room we were supposed to have and then called the other two to tell them what was going on. She then went back to the desk to explain that we didn't want to be with other people (because we're typical Americans), and we wanted the room we originally booked. So they decided to move the two people out of the dorm room and into the hotel style room. We would have felt guilty except for the fact that the other room was extremely nice so they definitely benefited from our stranger avoidance.
The only problem with this new plan was that the other two people staying in our room weren't currently at the hostel, and we weren't sure when they would return. We left to eat dinner, hoping they would be back by the time we came back.
When we got back, only one of the other girls had returned. We went to the room to find an elderly Chinese lady packing up her stuff to move to the other room. She then informed us that she had been enjoying that room for the past month and wondered how long we were staying. We all stared at our shoes as somebody mumbled "one night." We waited for about another hour, but the other girl still hadn't come back yet. So, we all went to bed. My roommate and I got to share a tiny single bed since the other bed still had the girl's stuff on it. Someone finally came in around 11 and started packing up the stuff while exclaiming how weird and strange the whole thing was. All of us pretended to be asleep. After she left, the housekeeping person came by and asked if he could change the sheets. Someone mumbled yes as we pretended that we were all still "asleep" and he changed the sheets. After that rather long process, he left and we all popped up because, of course, none of us had actually been sleeping.
So we finally got to sleep around 11:30 and the rest of the evening was uneventful. Though, when I woke up in the morning and looked around at the stark, white walls with no windows and the cold tile floor, I wondered if this was what it was like to wake up in prison. That aside, the hostel was really nice and besides the room mix-up, it was a good experience.
The rest of the day was spent shopping at the market and eating large amounts of western food before heading back to home and off my grown-up teachery responsibilities.
The hostel itself was actually really nice. It had a nice lounge area and a large courtyard outside with lounge chairs and a small restaurant. While we were checking in, they informed us that there were some issues with the dorm room we had booked for all four of us. They were then going to upgrade us to two rooms with two single beds each-so it was more hotel style than dorm bunk-bed style we had originally booked. The guy in charge started to lead us to the rooms, but my roommate and I were told to wait. After our other two friends left, we were told to wait because our room was in a different area. The lady then proceeded to explain that there was a bed broken in one of the rooms so we would be sharing the dorm room we originally booked with two other strangers. My roommate discussed this with her for awhile, trying to find out if there were any other rooms available. Eventually the guy returned and said that bed was not, in fact, broken, but the two people there had decided to extend their stay so they had to split us up. He ended his explanation with "your friends have better rooms."
To which my roommate replied, "I know."
So we went to the dorm room we were supposed to have and then called the other two to tell them what was going on. She then went back to the desk to explain that we didn't want to be with other people (because we're typical Americans), and we wanted the room we originally booked. So they decided to move the two people out of the dorm room and into the hotel style room. We would have felt guilty except for the fact that the other room was extremely nice so they definitely benefited from our stranger avoidance.
The only problem with this new plan was that the other two people staying in our room weren't currently at the hostel, and we weren't sure when they would return. We left to eat dinner, hoping they would be back by the time we came back.
When we got back, only one of the other girls had returned. We went to the room to find an elderly Chinese lady packing up her stuff to move to the other room. She then informed us that she had been enjoying that room for the past month and wondered how long we were staying. We all stared at our shoes as somebody mumbled "one night." We waited for about another hour, but the other girl still hadn't come back yet. So, we all went to bed. My roommate and I got to share a tiny single bed since the other bed still had the girl's stuff on it. Someone finally came in around 11 and started packing up the stuff while exclaiming how weird and strange the whole thing was. All of us pretended to be asleep. After she left, the housekeeping person came by and asked if he could change the sheets. Someone mumbled yes as we pretended that we were all still "asleep" and he changed the sheets. After that rather long process, he left and we all popped up because, of course, none of us had actually been sleeping.
So we finally got to sleep around 11:30 and the rest of the evening was uneventful. Though, when I woke up in the morning and looked around at the stark, white walls with no windows and the cold tile floor, I wondered if this was what it was like to wake up in prison. That aside, the hostel was really nice and besides the room mix-up, it was a good experience.
The rest of the day was spent shopping at the market and eating large amounts of western food before heading back to home and off my grown-up teachery responsibilities.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
.....hhmmm.......
So I have been trying to figure out what I should post for this week. As I get more and more into teaching, I have started to realize what a huge responsibility this is. We always talked about that in education classes, but you don't really realize how true that is until you actually get into a classroom. One of the classes that I'm teaching this year was just added because there is a small group of ESL students that need some specific instruction in reading strategies. And so, along with attempting to figure out ESL in general, I have also been planning/teaching this brand new class. There aren't a lot of resources out there, so a lot of it is very experimental. I have finally come to a place where I see what the students need, I'm just trying to figure out how to teach it.
I didn't realize how many skills you just kind of pick up in school in the States without specifically being taught. For example, I'm attempting to teach them how to research-I can't even remember how I was taught. In fact, I don't think I was specifically taught, I just started researching in high school and that was about it. But, I have found it rather difficult to explain effective internet searching and finding the information you actually need out of the millions of articles that you find. These students have done a lot of research before, but it's an extremely frustrating process for them because they are language learners (and from cultures that don't view research the same way that States does), and I am really trying to show them things that will make the process less agonizing.
Along with that, we are also reading a novel in that class and the themes and life application that can be taken from the book are really good. Again, I have been attempting to connect these themes and issues with their lives. In and of itself, doing this in an English class in the States is hard enough--then you add the language barrier and it gives a delightful twist to life:) .....meh....I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably trying too hard. I don't know, I want so much to show them that books and reading really do matter, but I suppose I can only do so much.
On the other hand, my 8th grade lit. class has been a lot of fun. They are a group of students that just love reading. I continue to be impressed with their insight and their desire to learn and ask questions.
I also have a new appreciation for the teacher who teaches the religion class here. My ESL student (yes, I only have one-my other student was deemed proficient enough to pass out of ESL) brings in her homework from that class, and we work on it together. There have been many times that I have been rather stuck as to how to explain certain passages, or faith in general to someone who has very basic English skills. Again, I kept thinking about the opportunity that I have in that class as I work with her and attempt to explain things about faith.
Even in these couple short months, I have experienced many challenges and opportunities that I wasn't expecting. There have been bright spots, but I think I'm just beginning to understand what this job will require of me. He certainly does like to stretch and challenge us:)
I didn't realize how many skills you just kind of pick up in school in the States without specifically being taught. For example, I'm attempting to teach them how to research-I can't even remember how I was taught. In fact, I don't think I was specifically taught, I just started researching in high school and that was about it. But, I have found it rather difficult to explain effective internet searching and finding the information you actually need out of the millions of articles that you find. These students have done a lot of research before, but it's an extremely frustrating process for them because they are language learners (and from cultures that don't view research the same way that States does), and I am really trying to show them things that will make the process less agonizing.
Along with that, we are also reading a novel in that class and the themes and life application that can be taken from the book are really good. Again, I have been attempting to connect these themes and issues with their lives. In and of itself, doing this in an English class in the States is hard enough--then you add the language barrier and it gives a delightful twist to life:) .....meh....I think I've come to the conclusion that I'm probably trying too hard. I don't know, I want so much to show them that books and reading really do matter, but I suppose I can only do so much.
On the other hand, my 8th grade lit. class has been a lot of fun. They are a group of students that just love reading. I continue to be impressed with their insight and their desire to learn and ask questions.
I also have a new appreciation for the teacher who teaches the religion class here. My ESL student (yes, I only have one-my other student was deemed proficient enough to pass out of ESL) brings in her homework from that class, and we work on it together. There have been many times that I have been rather stuck as to how to explain certain passages, or faith in general to someone who has very basic English skills. Again, I kept thinking about the opportunity that I have in that class as I work with her and attempt to explain things about faith.
Even in these couple short months, I have experienced many challenges and opportunities that I wasn't expecting. There have been bright spots, but I think I'm just beginning to understand what this job will require of me. He certainly does like to stretch and challenge us:)
Sunday, September 18, 2011
...I went to a basketball game......yes....you should be proud of me....
Currently, the FIBA Asia Championship basketball tournament is taking place at a stadium a mere 15 minute walk from my home. One of the teachers at school got tickets this weekend and so my roommate and I went to a couple of games on Saturday afternoon. Apparently these games decide which teams go on to compete in the Olympics so they're a pretty big deal. However, we went on the first weekend so we saw some of the lowest teams playing. It was quite a unique experience, and I will try to relate it as best I can.
The first thing I noticed when we sat down was the fact that I'm pretty sure the court is smaller than any basketball court I've ever seen. I assumed that all basketball courts were set up according to some type of regulated measurements, but this court was definitely smaller than ones I've seen before. It was also strange that there weren't a lot of people there. Now, we were at the Saturday afternoon games watching teams that weren't really expected to do much, so I know that had a lot to do with it, but it was still strange.
The first game was between Korea and India. So they start the game like normal.......and then..........the music......oh my. Throughout the entire game they played short clips from all of the following (this is not fabricated, we made a list):
-If You're Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands,
-Star Wars: The Imperial March
-It's Raining Men (quite appropriate actually-I approved of that selection)
-Smoke on the Water
-A random tune that sounded Greek
-Traditional Chinese music
-Popular Korean songs
-An Indian ditty
-The Final Countdown
-She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain
-American pop songs (I don't know the titles, but I recognized the tunes)
-BINGO
-Battle Hymn of the Republic
-A distinguished English classical sonata
There were a few more, but you get the idea-all of these would repeat throughout the game. It was the best game of "Name that Tune" I'd ever played. I'm pretty sure that the best part of the whole thing was the music.
The second game we saw was between Chinese Taipei and Qatar. The Qatar team only had 5 players, and it appeared that they didn't really have an actual coach. They had at least 6 people sitting on the bench that looked coach like, but every time they had a time out one of the players was telling everyone what to do. At one point, one of the players had some type of injury and had to sit out for a few minutes of the game-leaving the other four to fend off the opposition. Needless to say, they lost-however, they actually didn't lose as bad as India lost to Korea.
Other than the music, the games were not as intense or aggressive as I've seen in the States. Also, the refs don't really catch much. If I can tell that they aren't calling it when people are traveling or fouling each other, than there's a serious problem. It was also fun to watch the crowd because they cheer for everybody. This is probably because China wasn't playing in either of the games so they didn't care who won either way. Though it was strange that they really only cheered when anyone made a basket. Other than that, it was basically silent. I was actually thankful for the random music because when it stopped for a few seconds all you could hear was the squeaky shoes of the players. It was strange to go to a sports event without die hard fans screaming at each other, the players and the refs.
And so, it was a pretty fun afternoon and quite a unique experience.
The first thing I noticed when we sat down was the fact that I'm pretty sure the court is smaller than any basketball court I've ever seen. I assumed that all basketball courts were set up according to some type of regulated measurements, but this court was definitely smaller than ones I've seen before. It was also strange that there weren't a lot of people there. Now, we were at the Saturday afternoon games watching teams that weren't really expected to do much, so I know that had a lot to do with it, but it was still strange.
The first game was between Korea and India. So they start the game like normal.......and then..........the music......oh my. Throughout the entire game they played short clips from all of the following (this is not fabricated, we made a list):
-If You're Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands,
-Star Wars: The Imperial March
-It's Raining Men (quite appropriate actually-I approved of that selection)
-Smoke on the Water
-A random tune that sounded Greek
-Traditional Chinese music
-Popular Korean songs
-An Indian ditty
-The Final Countdown
-She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain
-American pop songs (I don't know the titles, but I recognized the tunes)
-BINGO
-Battle Hymn of the Republic
-A distinguished English classical sonata
There were a few more, but you get the idea-all of these would repeat throughout the game. It was the best game of "Name that Tune" I'd ever played. I'm pretty sure that the best part of the whole thing was the music.
The second game we saw was between Chinese Taipei and Qatar. The Qatar team only had 5 players, and it appeared that they didn't really have an actual coach. They had at least 6 people sitting on the bench that looked coach like, but every time they had a time out one of the players was telling everyone what to do. At one point, one of the players had some type of injury and had to sit out for a few minutes of the game-leaving the other four to fend off the opposition. Needless to say, they lost-however, they actually didn't lose as bad as India lost to Korea.
Other than the music, the games were not as intense or aggressive as I've seen in the States. Also, the refs don't really catch much. If I can tell that they aren't calling it when people are traveling or fouling each other, than there's a serious problem. It was also fun to watch the crowd because they cheer for everybody. This is probably because China wasn't playing in either of the games so they didn't care who won either way. Though it was strange that they really only cheered when anyone made a basket. Other than that, it was basically silent. I was actually thankful for the random music because when it stopped for a few seconds all you could hear was the squeaky shoes of the players. It was strange to go to a sports event without die hard fans screaming at each other, the players and the refs.
And so, it was a pretty fun afternoon and quite a unique experience.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
...apparently I was channeling my inner feline...
My roommate is an amazing cook, and she likes to make lots of tasty food. This week she made a huge pot of vegetable soup that is full of health, and we were excited to have food for lunch/dinner for the next few days. We have not been extremely motivated to shop for groceries lately, so this is basically all of the food we currently have in our house.
I was excited to have some good food for lunch, but sadly I arrived at school before realizing that I had left my food at home. I was preparing for a foodless day at school when my roommate brought me a can of tuna that she had left in her drawer. And so, along with some chips I sat at my desk eating my tuna out of a can. As I was eating, I couldn't help thinking about how similar cans of cat food and tuna are. I do enjoy tuna, but it was slightly amusing to sit and eat it straight out of a can, and I felt slightly cat-like.
So, later that day I also had my Chinese lesson. I get Chinese lessons twice a week at the end of the day. Right now, I'm just learning the vowel sounds. The first round of sounds went pretty well, but the ones I was learning this week were a bit tricky. I'm saying all of the sounds and attempting to get my mouth to move the right way so that they sound right. As I'm repeating all of the sounds, I notice that my head keeps bobbing up and down as I try to pronounce all of the words. I wonder if my language teacher ever wants to chuckle at how ridiculous I look as I try to make the right sounds. My last lesson was pretty fun-I learned how to count from 1-10, which now enables me to count from 1-100. I'm quite proud of my kindergarten level Chinese skills:)
I was excited to have some good food for lunch, but sadly I arrived at school before realizing that I had left my food at home. I was preparing for a foodless day at school when my roommate brought me a can of tuna that she had left in her drawer. And so, along with some chips I sat at my desk eating my tuna out of a can. As I was eating, I couldn't help thinking about how similar cans of cat food and tuna are. I do enjoy tuna, but it was slightly amusing to sit and eat it straight out of a can, and I felt slightly cat-like.
So, later that day I also had my Chinese lesson. I get Chinese lessons twice a week at the end of the day. Right now, I'm just learning the vowel sounds. The first round of sounds went pretty well, but the ones I was learning this week were a bit tricky. I'm saying all of the sounds and attempting to get my mouth to move the right way so that they sound right. As I'm repeating all of the sounds, I notice that my head keeps bobbing up and down as I try to pronounce all of the words. I wonder if my language teacher ever wants to chuckle at how ridiculous I look as I try to make the right sounds. My last lesson was pretty fun-I learned how to count from 1-10, which now enables me to count from 1-100. I'm quite proud of my kindergarten level Chinese skills:)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
....so this week.....
This past week at school was a bit crazy. Fall camp was awesome, but it put me behind with my planning. The entire week I felt like I was running to catch up, and as soon as I did, I realized I was still way behind. I find myself just making sure that everything was in place for the next class I had to teach. I don't enjoy feeling that unprepared, and it left me feeling like I was completely failing with all of my classes.
Teaching ESL is a quite a different experience as well. So much of the planning depends on what the students need, so many times it's not possible to even plan far in advance. It's also disconcerting when I walk into class with my neat little plan, and they look at it and say "this is easy." So then it's time for Kara to come up with a new plan on the spot-quite the growing experience:)
Though the week was difficult, I clearly saw Him working through all of my failures and insecurities. I had a particular lesson and activity in mind that I wanted to do this week, but I did not have the time to plan it like I wanted. I went to my 8th grade English class and before I started with everything, I asked if they had questions about the reading. We ended up discussing the book for the entire class period. He knew what the students needed, and it was really fun just to talk about the book with my students. I continue to be impressed with their insight and questions about the material. And so, I started the week struggling with my weaknesses and failures and wondering why He has called me to do this, and He faithfully encouraged me and helped me realize that He is, of course, in control and able to work through me in spite of all my failures.
Teaching ESL is a quite a different experience as well. So much of the planning depends on what the students need, so many times it's not possible to even plan far in advance. It's also disconcerting when I walk into class with my neat little plan, and they look at it and say "this is easy." So then it's time for Kara to come up with a new plan on the spot-quite the growing experience:)
Though the week was difficult, I clearly saw Him working through all of my failures and insecurities. I had a particular lesson and activity in mind that I wanted to do this week, but I did not have the time to plan it like I wanted. I went to my 8th grade English class and before I started with everything, I asked if they had questions about the reading. We ended up discussing the book for the entire class period. He knew what the students needed, and it was really fun just to talk about the book with my students. I continue to be impressed with their insight and questions about the material. And so, I started the week struggling with my weaknesses and failures and wondering why He has called me to do this, and He faithfully encouraged me and helped me realize that He is, of course, in control and able to work through me in spite of all my failures.
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