Too much excitement for tomorrow!

I'm writing now because I might not get another chance to do so until Sunday. It's been a busy week and I can't wait for tomorrow. I will get to sign my new contract, let out a HUGE sigh of relief and move into our new apartment. I will probably spend about two hours cleaning and then I imagine I'm going to sleep the rest of the evening away.

Yesterday was much less stressful because I knew I was still getting my dream job, but I was still so busy. I've been trying to get my grad school application finished which involves a lot of pestering people (to get references and transcripts and such). At work we practiced our Chinese song for the performance tomorrow, and yesterday evening I had to judge a speech competition.

Among the highlights of the competition was a girl using what sounded like foul language as part of her speech. I'm pretty sure her pronunciation was just aweful, but I honestly had no idea what she was trying to say. One of the skits done at the end of the competition was an amusing rendition of foreigners who don't speak any Chinese trying to order food. Think hotdog + China = roast dog. What really made my night, though, was the two middle school kids who sang (if you can call it that) "That's my name" If you're too old that might mean nothing to you, but for those of you who are younger, think "Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay!" And, no, that song is not decent enough for a middle school assembly.

Today it's raining. I actually missed the rain, I think. It sounds so nice and smells so good! I didn't bring my umbrella to work, though.

This afternoon we don't have class, but I'm really not looking forward to more singing practice. We are just so bad at it, so off key.

As a side note, there are some weird bugs here (one of which is currently flitting around my desk). Unfortunately, there are plenty of mosquitos too, and they apparently like my blood as much as the Western variety.

Anyway, it's time for lunch, so I'm going to get some canteen goodness (and maybe a slice of leftover pizza)!

Emotional rollercoaster

I have been up and down too many times in the past few days. We got an apartment (high), but we had to pay 5 months rent up front (low). I got a job (high). I didn't get a contract(low). I got a contract (high). I figured out they thought I had a teaching certificate (low). I got confirmation that I should still have the job (high), but that the contract will change (low). Right now I feel like I've been medicated.

I'm somewhere in between, but I'm exhausted. It doesn't help that I have to learn a really long Chinese song for a performance on Friday. At least they gave us more than one day to prepare though. I have about half of it memorized.

I'm hungry too, but I can't eat too much because I have yoga at 1. I think this weekend is going to be a godsend. I'll have to clean, but I'll get to spend some quality time with Dan. That is to say, time where neither of us is fretting or upset about anything. I need that! We both need that!

One down, one to go.

I still haven't received the contract from BCIS, which makes me worry that they're just buying time and don't actually want me to work there. It probably isn't true, but it's just so good that I can't help but worry about losing it. I've felt rotten all day, mostly stress related, I think.

On the up side, Dan is currently signing the contract for our apartment. YAY! It will be so nice to have a place to spend our weekends. This weekend will be a cleaning marathon, but I'm even excited for that. I just can't wait to decorate!! Pictures will definitely be posted soon.

Chairman Mao.

This past weekend seemed incredibly busy, but, in all honesty it wasn't even. It was just over way too fast.

Friday, I didn't feel well. I still had the head cold I started to get on Wednesday, so I felt pretty bad. I slept most of the day and then went with Dan to the village for about an hour. Only Jennifer was home, but it was good to see her. I really want to help her with her English, but it's so hard. I'm not sure if it's hard because she just isn't talented with languages or because she doesn't study enough or what. It's frustrating because I wish I could just snap my fingers and she would speak English. Of course, then it wouldn't be nearly as good for me to learn Chinese, but I wouldn't feel so useless.

Saturday, we woke up early, like usual. I keep telling Dan I want to sleep in, but I can't even when I try, so it's pointless to have a free day. We had our Chinese lesson and I went off to teach one of my little brats for an hour. Afterwards, I went rock climbing, of course. I'm addicted! I made it up two harder routes and I made it around a corner I couldn't do before... I'm definitely improving (and, of course, I'm kicking Dan's butt)!

That evening we had plans to play majong with friends, so we rented a hotel room and headed to their place. We didn't finish a normal majong game (cause it's like 16 hands if it were cards), but I won more than anybody else. Technically, it might still be beginner's luck because I had only played once before. We stayed there playing until about 2 a.m. and then headed back to our hotel.

Our cabby was awesome. He spoke only a little English, but he was so funny! To be completely honest, I thought there might be something wrong with him at first, but he got us back safe and sound so I'll never know. Dan asked him where he learned his English and I quote him directly:

"1971. Middle school. Lesson one, Chairman Mao. Lesson two, long live Chairman Mao. Lesson three, long long live Chairman Mao. Lesson four, workers, peasants and soldiers love Chairman Mao best!"

Dan and I were laughing so hard, he never got to lesson five. What's possibly funnier than hearing this guy say this stuff is that it's true. That's what they learned in middle school English class. They weren't taught how to say, "Hello, how are you?" And here I thought that my language classes were sort of off.

Sunday morning we had brunch with Dan's cousins. It was a really pleasant morning and the food was pretty good. We just sat and talked for a few hours sipping away at coffee (which I later regretted getting). Then, we went our separate ways. They were off to the silk market and Dan and I went to find an apartment.

The apartment search, up until yesterday, had been a disaster. We had been dragged all over the place to see some of the most disgusting rental properties I have ever seen. Landlords in China don't seem to understand the importance of a good cleaning and a paint job before showing a place. Fortunately, the place we saw yesterday was really nice and aside for some dust, not really dirty. It was as close to exactly what we were looking for as it was possible to get in our price range. It's a hutong house with two rooms a kitchen and a bathroom (sort of). Ok, well, it has a toilet and a shower, but it's tiny and there's no sink in the bathroom, it's sort of in the courtyard. Dan and I will be living a very Chinese life for the next year. The best part of the house, aside from double paned windows that open very easily, is the courtyard--fifteen square feet of joy, and it's all ours. That's right, it's a private courtyard.

What's odd though, is that Dan seems more nervous about taking this place than I am, even though it's everything he wanted. Maybe because it's everything he wanted he's afraid of being disappointed. I don't know. It doesn't really matter though. We're signing the contract today. We have a home!!!

An update... sort of.

I got my "formal offer" of employment for BCIS!!! I'm really excited, not to mention thankful. I still have no idea what they are offering me in terms of salary or benefits. I only know that it is a two year contract (don't worry, mom, I'll be home for Christmas and summer vacations) and I will be doing exactly what I want to be doing.

I can only hope it won't take them another week to send me my initial contract!

Life is good.

A sore throat but no job.

I read some of my brother's blog last night and found it ironic that the first post I saw had a whole lot to do with patience and waiting. I have been "waiting" for two months now.

Exactly two months ago, to the day, I had an interview for a position as an ESL teacher at an international school in Beijing. This is, I should mention, pretty much my dream job. I am, however, slightly underqualified (as in no teaching certificate aside from my TEFL).

So, at the beginning, I was actually waiting to be rejected more than anything. I hoped, but didn't expect to get the job. As the weeks passed, I figured it wasn't going to happen and I applied for a few other jobs. Dan and I had an interview in Shanghai, which was a total disappointment because they lied to us. They said that Dan would be teaching philosophy, but at the end of the 5 hour interview we found out that it was only two hours of philosophy and 18 hours of English or History. Needless to say he wasn't interested.

I also had a couple of interviews in Beijing. One of those interviews was seriously disappointing because it reminded me a lot of my current school. The other was for a Montessori school, which I actually ended up liking. They came in solid second to the previously mentioned international school. They offered me a good package for a job that seems pretty low stress. I told them I would sign the contract today.

So, while the job with the Montessori school was panning out, I received an email from the principle of my first choice, saying that they were going to make me a formal offer. This was last Thursday. I figured that by Friday or Monday, I would have the offer and would be able to inform the other school that I wouldn't be working for them. Apparently, however, the President of the Board of Directors was out of town until yesterday or today. Since his or her signature is necessary before they can make me an offer I haven't seen anything yet.

Hence, my dilemma. I have been waiting so long for this job, which, I'm told, is practically mine. Yet, I'm due to sign a contract with somebody else this afternoon. What do I do??

Well, first I asked as many people as possible what they thought I should do. Most of them told me to lie to the Montessori people to buy more time. A few suggested I should probably just sign the contract because the other school seemed too disorganized (and, they added, I could break the contract if I really wanted to).

Oddly, neither of these was my first instinct (you would think I would try to keep as many doors open as possible, right?). Instead, I called the woman from the Montessori school and told her exactly why I wouldn't be coming in to sign the contract this evening. I closed a door, so to speak.

In being honest, however, I think I gained even more respect from her. She told me that we should keep in touch and that if things didn't work out with the international school I should call her back and she would do what she could to offer me something. I was amazed! I honestly didn't think that she would be so kind and understanding. In taking that risk, though, I got an even better deal than I had hoped for. I have no job at the moment, but both doors are still open.

A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and even though the waiting is still difficult, it is less so. I do have a sore throught, which I'm convinced is stress related, but now i can sort of relax.

Now I suppose I should listen to my mom's advice: If now isn't the time for one thing, it must be the time for something else. I know exactly what I should be doing. So now I'm going to stop blogging and finish writing my essay for GMU.

It's been a while.

The title really says it all. I've been in a writing rut. I realized, actually, that I rarely write when I'm living with Dan, not much on paper and never online. I think the problem is that he listens to me too much. I'm not complaining, I swear, but he is ruining the possibility of a writing career for me! When I can talk to him, I just don't really need pen and paper.

That said, my lack of dedication is also to blame and I apologize to all of you who might have been thinking I died on my way to Mt. Everest. I didn't, obviously, and I do plan on posting back blogs at some point in the near future. That will probably happen around the same time I figure out how to post pictures...

Recently, I've been super busy. There hasn't been a lot to do with school, in part because I realized that what I had been doing before was not only simpler, but more effective. In addition to that, after the February break, I came back to find I had a smaller course load. So, life is easy in that sense, but I've been finding other ways to fill up my time.

For Labor Day, which lasts seven days in China (I love this place), we spent most of our time climbing at a rock wall we found. It's about 18 meters high and has about 10 different faces, each with various routes. In all honesty, I actually can't remember if we did anything but climb that week. I'm addicted. Today I almost made my hands bleed because I was trying to climb routes without points. It's hard, but I love it. Here is where my mom is probably thinking, "Not only does she go almost as far away from home as possible, but she is actively trying to kill herself!" I love my mom!

Lately, I've been stressing out quite a bit because of my job search for next year. I am really close to having it all figured out, but I've just got a few days left to go. It's between working for a Montessori school or an international high school, neither of which would be bad, but I want to work for the international high school. I'm nervous that it's not going to work out, though. They're supposed to make me a formal offer soon (said the principal), but I don't want to count my chickens just yet. Instead, I've tried to occupy myself as much as possible, so that I don't have to think about it until the time comes (tomorrow or the next day).

In other news, my Chinese is improving! I can understand a lot of simple conversation (though sometimes with some serious delay) and read about 30 characters (which isn't much, but it's an accomplishment for me). I would be doing better if I studied some, but I am happy with what I can do so far.

I was trying to think if there was anything about China that I should write in my blog, and there probably is, but I can't think of it right now. Maybe I'm just getting so used to being here that everything seems normal. HA! Right.

There are actually plenty of stories, about Shanghai and Chinese realestate agencies, but they will come in back blogs. I promise it won't take me another three months to blog this time, so check back soon!

Mt. Everest

We're going!! We leave tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. (packed into a Landcruiser with the two French guys we met on the train). We'll be making a few stops along the way, but presumably nowhere with internet, so I'll have a lot to say on Sunday! We'll actually be at Mount Everest base camp on Friday. I've got my fingers crossed that the weather will be clear and nobody will suffer from the altitude, 5200 meters above sea level!! Wish us luck or pray for us, whatever floats your boat!

The longest 7km ever!

Today I decided that I wanted to walk out to Drepung Monastary, in part because it's supposed to be one of the most important in Tibet and in part because I wanted to see if I really was doing well adjusting. I didn't have to convince Dan to come with me, but by the end of the walk he was probably wondering why he had. Let's just say we didn't end up seeing the monastary. We just walked and walked, took a bus and walked some more. We also both got a bit too much sun and we didn't see much other than a gypsy camp and a shanty town.

It was a really uplifting experience. Right. Anyway, we did get to see the monastary on the way back (to be fair, it was hidden by the mountains from the other direction). It looked awesome so we're planning on giving it another shot on Sunday, but maybe we'll try biking instead.

Other than my failed walk, there wasn't much eventful today. I have, however, become a little weary of not blending in. Dan, with his beard and curly hair, doesn't help (pictures will eventually be posted). I can't tell you how frustrating it is that a good number of people (mostly kids) treat us like walking wallets. I'm even tired of people being nice (so many people yell "Hello" or "Welcome to Lhasa" as you walk by). It sure beats the people who just say "Money" but being a celebrity is just not my thing.

Anyway, now I'm exhausted. I expect to sleep like a log.

Lhasa shmasa

I'm alive!

I know you're all shocked, but I made it to 5180 meters above sea level and I didn't even get sick! Well, ok, I felt pretty rotten at some points, but at least I didn't throw up (and there were plenty of people who did). I'm still getting used to the feeling of walking uphill all the time. Lhasa itself is at about 4000 meters, I think, and it's hard to imagine that a couple thousand meters could make such a difference, but it does. It feels a little like having worked out too hard.

The train ride here was, well, interesting. I was definitely glad we had gone all out and paid for the expensive sleepers, but that didn't change the fact that we were stuck in a very small space (with very little fresh air) for two days. The first few (like 12 or so) hours were fine. We got comfortable and went to bed relatively early and I slept well. The next morning I woke up to the praying of the muslim woman next to me (one of the two people Dan and I shared a cabin with). The praying was fine, very quiet and peaceful, and I was ready to wake up anyway. It was her breakfast that was a little on the loud side. Chinese people eat soup louder than you probably imagine possible.

To make a long story short, I went from fine to extremely clausterphobic as the day progressed, and the fact that we ascended at least a thousand meters didn't help. I had a headache all afternoon and didn't feel like dealing with the hordes of people coming into our cabin to visit the matriarch. The other guy who shared with us wasn't a can of peaches either, but at least he wasn't traveling with dozens of family members. To be fair, the woman's entire family was very generous and they were very nice to us, it was just a tad crowded.

Later in the day, both of our roommates got off the train, and we were left with a cabin to ourselves!! I felt better, because we had more space, and worse, because we had less air. There was an incident in the restaurant car with the waitress lying to us, and me getting perhaps just a little too indignant about it, which didn't make things any better. I have issues with people thinking i'm stupid, or that I can't do math, or that a bowl of rice costs five kuai when it says one kuai on the menu (and the menu was in English mind you).

Sleeping that night was hard to say the least. I had trouble convincing myself that I wasn't suffocating. The next day, however, was significantly better and I began to acclimatize. As a side note, breakfast was amusing because it was not unlike the incident in Besancon (where the waitress told me there was no salad when there was). The waitress who had lied to us the previous day told us there was no breakfast, so we had to ask the other one to get service. In the end, we got our breakfast (more or less) as it should have been, but I hope my life never depends on that woman because she clearly doesn't like us.

We arrived at Lhasa at 9ish and grabbed a cab to the center. We were trying to find the hostel I had reserved for Dan and I, but it turned out to be a tad difficult. We were tired and grouchy by the time we finally found it, but it turned out to be nothing like what it promised. They actually lied about the accommodation and used pictures from another hostel. The people there were really friendly though and we might have stayed, except I was dying for a hot shower, and when I saw the shared bathroom, I knew that wouldn't be happening there. A really nice Tibetan girl, who presumably wanted to practice her English, helped us find another place which was close by and not bad.

Today we finally got to see Lhasa! The old town is cool, filled with markets and pilgrims and monks and very few Westerners this time of year. It wasn't cold at all today, so we just walked and walked and ate and walked some more. We had some good dumplings, some yak meat stew, some tortilla type things (they weren't unlike your typical flour tortillas, but filled with herbed cream cheese and vegetables and meat), and I did give yak butter tea a try, but I think it must take some getting used to (it pretty much tastes like you're drinkig melted butter).

Aside from the fact that Lhasa is a lot smaller than I'd imagined (at least the traditional part), the only annoyance is that there are constantly people asking for money. The people here are poor, but they aren't lacking. It's mostly kids that come asking and the occasional monk. I was pretty sure monks weren't supposed to ask for money, but I may be mistaken. It's also worth noting that a fair number of monks have nice sneakers and/or cell phones. Dan played pool with one monk/hustler, who consequently beat the pants off him. Luckily the price for losing was only one kuai.

While we walked the "circuit" some old woman blessed me, or something like that. Ok, really, I have no clue what she said to me, but she was smiling and put her thumb up as she said whatever it was, so I have to imagine it was good. Or, maybe she was smiling at the thought of my eternal damnation and thumbs up in Tibetan means "up yours," but I have my doubts.

Tonight we went out to dinner with two French guys with whom we're trying to orchestrate a trip to Mount Everest this week. It was amusing because we went to the only restaurant in the Lonely Planet guide that was open, and so did every other foreigner in Lhasa. I haven't seen that many Western faces in one place in a long time.

And now it's time for bed. Dan and I have to wake up early to help bargain for our trip. I am getting sort of tired of bargaining, but being on a budget makes it a necessity. It's funny, though, that a theoretically communist country has one of the most capitalist economies (at least on a micro level).

On vacation, I'm off to Tibet!

So, as several people have pointed out. It's been a while. I have been lazy, but I have also been cursed by unbelievably slow internet as you can see from my January 1st entry that has finally been published.

I have been on vacation for nearly a week. It's been wonderful, but I am so ready to get off this campus, and tonight's the night!

Last week we bought tickets and permission (yes, you buy permission in China) to go to Tibet, and tonight we are finally leaving. We decided to take the train to Lhasa even though it would have cost about the same to fly and the train takes two days as opposed to 6 or so hours by plane. But, come on, it's a train. We thought it would be fun, at least one way, to be able to see the Chinese countryside.

We leave at 9:30 tonight and arrive at 9 p.m. on Saturday, which reminds me I still have to call about a reservation for a hostel! We'll stay there a couple of days, but then we're not really sure where we'll go from there. It sort of depends if Dan can handle the cold or if either of us gets mountain sickness or any number of other ailments. We could try to get over to Nepal or maybe just to a warmer part of China. It will be a surprise. Our train tickets are one way, so who knows how we'll be getting back here, but we have until the 18th to do it!

I will do my best to blog along the way, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to. If I fail, you have the right to deny all knowledge of me. Either way, I promise to post a big one on the 18th, which is, consequently, the lunar new year so I will probably be making a resolution of some sort.

Wish me luck!

Bad, bad Becca.

I have a valid excuse for not blogging, I swear! According to all of my sources, the reason we haven't had access to any foreign websites recently is because of the earthquake in Taiwan. Apparently some cables were snapped, seriously impeding telecommunications between Asia and the U.S. It's sort of freaky to think about how little it would take to cut us off from everybody we care about, so I'm going to change the subject.

There have been many blogworthy moments in the past two weeks, but I'm sure I won't remember them all. The weekend before Christmas was a mad rush, though I'm not really sure why. We stayed in that Saturday, but I don't get the impression we rested much and Sunday we left early for Beijing. We spent most of our morning in the cafe where we have gone a lot lately to fill up on Western style breakfasts. Although both are edible, eggs and toast certainly beat boiled cabbage and fried peanuts for breakfast.

Later in the day we headed towards Tianamen Square because we had plans to meet a friend at 6 p.m. As a brief preface, this is a friend that loves to walk, you'll soon understand why this is important. He had given us a card for the restaurant and told us it was "10 minutes away" from Tianamen. So, we started walking. We walked to Wanfujing and thought it would be a block or so north of there. We walked and walked and walked right out of that neighborhood asking, every five minutes or so, where the restaurant was. Most people didn't know and a few people just told us to keep going straight. To make a long story short, it took us from 5 p.m. at Tianamen until 6:30 to arrive at the restaurant. Only then did we find out that it was 10 minutes from Tianamen by bus. Next time I'll ask.

The food was odd, but most of it tasted good. What made the meal interesting, however, were the dances and other performances during dinner. It was an "imperial" restaurant. All in all it made for a nice evening.

Christmas was average, as usual. Without family, it just isn't Christmas. Dan and I exchanged gifts and then went downstairs to make brunch with all the others who were around. It was a decent brunch, but it was rushed because there were people going to the Great Wall for a walk. Dan and I stayed back, partly because he has a hurt ankle, and partly because it just seemed like too much.

The next day, I played hooky and Dan and I went into Beijing again (Dan actually doesn't work on Tuesdays anyway). We went to Tianamen Square and started walking north. We were aiming for Beihai park, but were distracted by Hutongs, the old dilapidated villages that have been preserved. The Chinese seem very good at letting buildings go for a long time and then "preserving" them just as their about to topple over. It seems more romantic I guess.

When we finally got close to the top of the park, we saw another park which looked interesting. We went in and climbed up a small hill (which is apparently the highest point in Beijing (not including tall buildings), hoping to get a view. It was, unfortunately, a little too cloudy to see much of anything, but we'll go back on a clear day and take pictures. So, we walked from one pagoda to another until we were back at the bottom of the hill. It was getting late, so it was time to go back.

The following day it was back to the daily grind, though when a week only has three days it's a lot easier to handle! I take that back, it was three and a half days because they made us work Saturday morning, but it was still o.k.

Yesterday, we went into Beijing with Michael and Naomi just to walk around. This time we went to Hou Hai park (just North of Bei Hai) and went chair skating on the lake. They literally put blades on chairs and give you two poles with screw drivers welded on the end to push yourself around. Two of us fit on one chair so Dan and I raced, and beat, all the little kids that would take us on. This, however, led to a snowball fight (Dan against about 12 little kids). Unfortunately, I don't think he can claim victory.

We walked around a lot more after that. It was a beautiful, albeit cold, day. By the time we got back to Huijia, we were all pretty exhausted and the rest of New Year's consisted of Boggle and movies. I feel so old!

Small but tasty!

Last night the I.B. department took all of their teachers (and Naomi and I) out to dinner at a restaurant that specialized in Peking Duck. The only difference between Beijing style and a normal roasted duck is how you eat it. They give you what are basically flour tortillas, onions and plum sauce and you are supposed to wrap the duck with that and eat it. It's actually quite tasty. The presentation of the duck is perhaps the most interesting though. The chef comes out with the duck he has cooked and slices it in front of you. First they put out some of the pieces of skin which you are supposed to dip in sugar and eat (it does taste better than it sounds, but I would have preferred salt to sugar). Then they give you the slices of good meat that you're supposed to wrap and eat. Then, they slice the head open and put it on the table. It seems to be that Chinese really value the head of any animal and seem to think it's the best meat.
So, yeah, I ate it (or at least half, and somebody else ate the other half).

Be forewarned, anybody with a good imagination and a weak stomach might want to skip over the next paragraph.

As I popped the little duck brain in my mouth, all I could think of was what my mother would say and how my dad would have definitely eaten it with me. The brain was tasty, but as they say, pure cholesterol (it really coats the inside of your mouth). I then ate the ocular muscle. I left the eye there because that just seemed to be going a bit too far for me in one night. I ate the cheeks, which were delicious and then I ate the skin. Frankly, it was tasty. Waste not, want not!

And I'm still alive!

After proving that I will try just about anything, one of the people at the table (originally from Taiwan) offered to take me to try sheep's head at a restaurant down the street. If I don't die in a week from some strange duck brain disease, I might take him up on it.

China takes it's toll...

I was recently reminded, very subtly of course, that it had been a while. It's been almost a month to be exact. To be fair to myself, however, I did actually write another blog in the meantime, but it turns out my computer is smarter than me and it was deleted. Since I had spent an absurd amount of time writing it, I wasn't really inclined to give it another go. So, I'll try to avoid the same fate this time and use that handy little "Save as Draft" button. Or, perhaps if I'm really smart, I'll just hit copy every once in a while!

The previous blog was an elaborate description of my Thanksgiving dinner, which I will not attempt to repeat here. I do feel the need, however, to point out a few things. First of all, it was my first Thanksgiving in three years and I really enjoyed myself. It was also the first time I have ever roasted a duck and I managed to roast a chicken and bake four pies (three apple and one pumpkin) at the same time! Any of you who have ever eaten my chicken would be glad to know it was not undercooked this time! As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it's close to impossible to undercook a Chinese chicken because they're about half the size of a normal American or European one. But that, in my opinion, is a detail. Anyway, long story short, there were lots of people and it was fun, though admittedly not the same as celebrating with family.

The weather here has now become a pretty constant freezing. It only changes once in a while when there's a strong wind and it gets pretty close to unbearable. I find it really hard to believe that as a teenager I could brave similar conditions without a hat. Living in Madrid must have made me a wimp! It actually might be easier to deal with if the weather would stay outside, but it doesn't. Our room is a tad leaky to say the least. It seems the only remedy for that would be to seal both doors (we have a balcony and an inner door that don't fit) with plastic and hibernate until April. I'm pretty sure they would stop paying us though, so that could be problematic.

Aside from the slightly cooler than comfortable living conditions, I don't really have many complaints! There is less and less sunlight, but thanks to the fact that they don't follow daylight savings, it's at least light out when I go to work. Besides, after a couple more days it will start getting lighter again. Work is going well, though like anybody, I have my days. I am exercising and eating well. I have developed a severe addiction to milk and haw fruit roll-ups (Mom, you should have bought me that food dehydrator when I was 10! haha), but they don't seem to do much damage.

Dan and I have continued our visits to the village in spite of the fact that the original couple that we went to visit is no longer there (they should be back at the end of February). The other day we had a slight misunderstanding with a couple of the guys. We thought (keep in mind this is entirely in Chinese) that they were inviting Dan to go drinking on Friday night. They are always asking how much he can drink, so it was funny, but entirely plausible to us. However, we had a birthday party to go to first. It was for a little kid, so Dan figured he would go and meet up with the others a little later. They decided on a time which would give Dan enough time to eat first (they did say drinking, afterall). They made some joke about saying hi and bye that we didn't truly understand until much later. So, Friday rolled around and we went to the birthday party. The restaurant was awful, but Dan ate a bunch because he didn't think he would get to later and certainly didn't want to drink on an empty stomach. He left, and I stayed. Apparently, however, drinking in China means eating too. They had invited us both out to dinner and we totally misunderstood. So, not only did they think we were weird because only Dan showed up, but when he only managed to eat about eight spoons full of food, they were a little confused.

The next day, we went to visit the old mother and told her the story, but she didn't seem to think it was that funny. A friend of hers stopped by to look at us though. That was fun. After hearing that Dan was from France and I was from America, she looked at us confused for a minute and then said, "But you have the same face!" They, apparently, think all Caucasians look alike. She also commented that I had oddly small feet for a foreigner. Why was she looking at the size of my very normal feet?? We may never know.

Since I'm on the subject of cultural differences, I'd like to draw a mental picture for you. Imagine a world without diapers. It's sort of frightening. It's China. They do not use diapers. Little babies just pee when they have to (and yes, I have at least one friend who came close, too close, to getting peed on). This in itself is kind of bizarre by western standards, but it's a little weirder when you see the pants they put on their kids. Imagine mini chaps, but with a bit more butt cover. The kids have a huge and presumably drafty slit down the back of their pants (summer and winter) so that when they have to go, there's no struggling with pulling the pants down. They just squat and go. Yeah. All I have to say is that I'm really grateful they stop wearing those pants at some point.

Perplexed, proud, frustrated, sad and annoyed... one at a time.

I was kindly reminded that it has been a while since I last wrote. I appologize. The past couple of weeks, I have been especially busy. Doing what? I can't say exactly. I'm tempted to suggest that there may be fewer hours in the day in China. I've been working a bunch (7:30-5), but that ought to leave plenty of time for simple things like writing and the like. My schedule seems to have filled itself with unnecessary obligations: Dan and I go to the village a few times a week to talk with our friends (and usually spend most of the evening there) and two other nights I teach a little Fillipino girl English. It seems, however, that I ought to have at least a couple more hours than I actually do every day.

I know what you're thinking, but I don't sleep that much!! I do take a short nap at lunch time(que la siesta no me deje!), but I also wake up at six a.m. to start my day. Life is hard :-)

Anyway, this weekend, I actually did a lot. Friday, I went to get a foot massage after work (I know, life is rough, but for 3 dollars I can afford a massage) and then we went into the village for dinner and lessons. Saturday, we woke up bright and early for the Great Wall! I'll post pictures if I ever figure out how. The wall was amazing, but not what I expected. I think it's incredible that they built such a long and intricate wall over hundreds of small mountains, without a single machine and so long ago. I was, however, expecting something a little more massive in terms of height. Obviously it's tall enough that you can't just climb over it, but it's not that high. Another thing I wasn't expecting was the incline of the hike. It was steep! The pictures I have may not do it justice, but there are some stairs you don't want to go down without holding on to the railing. After a short afternoon nap ;-) we went into Changping in an attempt to find me some markers and other supplies.

Today was "interesting". I woke up early to go into Beijing with the church bus and Dan slept in. On the ride in, I was looking at the trees and wondering, for the umpteenth time, why they paint some of the trunks white. There doesn't appear to be a pattern, but I think maybe it's a certain variety of tree that they paint. All of the trees that line the streets of Changping, for example, are painted white (but only the bottom three feet or so). Once we asked a Chinese person why they were painted and they told us it was for visibility reasons. Now, in any other country I would have thought he was nuts, but the way they drive here it seemed plausable. Today, however, I saw an entire forest that had been painted like that. So, while it's plausable that somebody might take out a few of the trees, it seemed just a tad overboard to paint the whole woods. I'm perplexed. Any suggestions?

This morning I had an agenda. I went to Beijing with a purpose. I was going to get a laminator! I found the store I was told sold them and it was ENORMOUS! It was five stories tall and each floor had at least a hundred small booths that sold electronics of all kinds. I managed, speaking almost no Chinese and in less than an hour (bathroom break included), to find a laminator and, admittedly half-heartedly, I bargained just a little. No more crappy paper flashcards for my kids, no sir-ee!

After my wild success at Computer City, I decided to try my luck in Carrefour. Needless to say, my luck had apparently run out. All I wanted was some ground cinnamon (it's hard to find around here) and maybe some other spices if they had them. So, I entered (or so I thought) the complex. It was enormous and confusing and I literally spent a half an hour just trying to find the entrance to the store. That done, I realized that it wasn't the grocery part of it and it took me another ten minutes or so to locate the food. To my utter disappointment, they didn't even have what I was looking for! So, I bought myself some chocolate and headed back to the bus, wallowing.

Back on campus, Dan had the B.B.C. on. I sat down to watch it with him, but I'm either extremely hormonal today or it was more depressing than usual. I started crying because they were talking about the forest fires in Borneo. They didn't say anybody had died or anything, just a forest burning and I cried. I had to leave the room, to do something to distract myself. I was just immensely sad for everything all at once.

We went to the village and I asked to go get my favorite soup with noodles. Dan obliged, but even my noodles were different and the restaurant people were less friendly. They gave us beer without bubbles! Towards the end of my meal a few men walked in for dinner. That in itself would have been relatively harmless, but one of them kept spitting. Mind you, he wasn't spitting in a napkin or getting up to spit out the door. He would just spit right next to himself, on the floor, for everybody to hear and see. I didn't feel ill. I didn't lose my appetite. I was just disgusted. I was annoyed with the restaurant owners and more so with the spitter. The food was fine, but the atmosphere was killing me.

Now I'm home, warm and cozy. Soon I'll be asleep. Dan killed the flies that had been haunting us, so I will hear nothing, no buzzing, no spitting, maybe just the hum of my computer.

Another week, another weekend!

I made it through another week. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great, but it wasn't normal either. I got the usual crap from work and caught a cold to go with it, but made it through most of my classes without any major problems.

Aside from work though, things got a little odd. On Wednesday, we found out that one of the foreign teachers was being sent home because the doctors wouldn't give him medical clearance. Whatever they were unhappy with was nothing contagious or dangerous to anybody else (he was still allowed to be around the students and us). Regardless, the school decided that they weren't going to let him stay. The school's overreaction is nothing less than typical, but it's still disappointing to have to say goodbye to somebody already.

The really annoying thing is that, according to the Beijing government, the medical exams aren't even necessary if you're staying for less than a year, but our school insists we pay the 85 dollars to get it done, and will revoke the contract if there's something they don't like.

So, we went out to dinner Thursday night to say goodbye. Afterwards, a couple of the I.B. teachers, including the one who left, participated in the "Aerobics Competition" held for the 10th graders. This was not a dance competition. All of the students used the exact same song, with only very slight differences in the actual routine, all of which resembled your run of the mill aerobics classes in the U.S. Some of the classes were better than others, but the whole thing seemed just a little strange. The highlight of the show, however, was probably the eleventh grade "club team" which performed to a different song and with a whole lot more energy.

The Chinese government puts a lot of emphasis on exercise and healthy eating, both of which are mandatory at all levels of schooling. In the primary school, the kids have mandatory group exercise for 30 minutes every morning and once a week, for twenty minutes, they are forced to listen to somebody lecture about the importance of eating well. It probably isn't a bad thing, but it's a little more rigid than what you would get in the U.S.

Friday was, as it was the week before, welcomed. The day flew by because it was over by 2 p.m. and I went home to sleep off the stress. In the evening, Dan and I went into town for dinner. On our way back we stopped by to see our "friends" at the movie rental place and ended up staying for about 2 hours! Of course, I don't understand much of what they say, but it is entertaining, and I always learn something. We got back exhausted, and I was soon asleep.

Plans for today have yet to be made, but probably include going to the village at some point, maybe even into Changping and studying some more Chinese (the language is practically painful to learn). We'll see though, it's promising to be a pretty low key day so far.

If I disappear, check the restaurants in Changping!

Just order kung pao lao shi (kung pao teacher for you English speaking folks). Seriously though, I published what was previously censored, but it happens to be hiding behind the post asking for advice because it was saved earlier. All of you who know me know that I am unbelievably stubborn, amongst other things, and so I had to publish that post in spite of Dan's concerns.

To clear things up, however, I feel the need to add that I am not miserable here. On the contrary, I quite like the nearby village and the people I've met here. China is cool, the food is fine and the language is killing me. I couldn't ask for a better challenge right now!

Self-censorship. Am I nuts?

I just finished a post, a rant really. It's seriously critical of this school, but not China. Yet, Dan seemed to think that we could lose our jobs for something like that, so I thought I'd think about it for a day or so before publishing it. I may be totally naive, but I honestly didn't think they would ever find my blog or bother to read it if they did. It's hard to imagine (and horribly ironic given the topic of the post I have temporarily suppressed) that my writing might get me in trouble.

Am I crazy?

You decide!

Totalitarianism is annoying after all.

Not long ago, I tried to argue that a totalitarian state might not be so bad. I was, admittedly, arguing for the sake of arguing, but I partly believed what I said. Claiming that freedom of speech was overrated and rules are a necessary evil, I was pretty sure it would at least be possible to not be miserable under totalitarianism. I was right. Plenty of people are satisfied if not actually happy in this country. Where I was wrong, however, was in thinking that I too would be able to tolerate the same state of affairs with the same degree of complacency. It appears that once you have rights, it's pretty hard to grapple with the idea of not having them.

The irony of this revelation is that it has nothing to do with anything that has happened to me directly. In fact, it has more to do with the treatment of Chinese people, specifically at this school. Most foreigners (westerners, at least) seem to be exempt from real life in China. To anyone who knows me, it's no surprise that I would become enraged about something that has nothing to do with me. I have a passion for "fairness" and at times become vehemently righteous about the way I think people should be treated. That said, I will move on to the nitty gritty.

In the past few days, the seriously off balance policies of this school have become utterly apparent. I'm not feigning ignorance where salary is concerned. I knew from the beginning that I would be making two or three times the salary of the Chinese teachers at this school (not to mention about 10 times as much as local employees), and working a heck of a lot less. A meal in a restaurant in the village costs 12 rmb ($1.50) for two people and I make about $700 a month, but I digress.

Before continuing, I have to note that a job at this school is superior to many for any Chinese person. That said, I am appalled by the collective differences in treatment and disgusted by a few recent events. Not only are the teachers paid less, but they are forced to pay more. Our housing deposit was a mere 500 rmb, theirs is 3000 (or so I've been told). We have free meals, they do not. In addition, it appears that their pay can be docked for almost any reason. I've been told that several teachers were paid only 2/3 of their salary last month because they didn't demonstrate enough discipline in the classroom. Unfortunately, I'm sure these are only a tiny tip of the iceberg.

Even more disturbing, however, is the fact that a Chinese teacher was recently mobbed by a group of 15 or so students (only two or so of whom were suspended and are awaiting further decisions regarding punishment). The teacher was dragged out of his office and repeatedly kicked and punched by the mob. Needless to say, with the majority of those students still in his classroom, he has not and will not return this year. Sadly, I have my doubts that the school will do the right thing by kicking the students out of school (for good) and paying the teacher a year's leave.

Needless to say, I'm convinced that the students wouldn't have even considered doing the same thing to a foreign teacher. Frankly, they knew they could get away with it. They get away with everything. I'm not even going to get into academics here.

Everybody loves Friday!

Yesterday morning I went to work dreading the day to come, but to my surprise, it turned out o.k. I might even say it was a great day. My advisor seemed to be much nicer to me, and when I asked, I was even given rags to wipe my desk with! Still no markers, but hey, one thing at a time. It is China.

The morning flew by and at lunchtime I was given a belated birthday cake. It looked a little sketchy, but turned out to be alright. On top of that, I found out that on Fridays we finish at 2:30. The day just got better and better.

So, after work, I went back to the dormitory and found the people we usually hang out with. We ate cake, some nasty meat candy and yak meat pie and talked about random stuff. And we planned to go to town a little later to have dinner.

In the end, it was only Dan and I that went. We took a nice long walk through the whole village and then found a place to eat. The people were super nice and tried to talk to us even when we (or at least I) really didn't understand. We ordered kung pao chicken and mystery noodles (I only know the word for noodles, not what goes in them). Dan got his enormous dish with a bowl of rice and I got my huge bowl of soup along with a pot of tea. We ate and ate and ate until we were stuffed, and then I fed some of my egg to the cat when I thought the owners weren't looking. As a total sidebar, there are a lot of pet cats and dogs here, which surprised me, but they are all really dirty and sort of mangy looking, well fed though, thanks to people like me.

During our dinner, the owners sat at the other end of the room watching something on television, more or less ignoring us. And a child, or perhaps a very large fish, splashed around in a tub in another room. The man who owned the restaurant came over at one point to ask us why his cell phone had an error message, which was sort of odd, but understandable, since the message was in English and he didn't understand it. Needless to say, we couldn't figure it out. And, I believe that even if we had, we wouldn't have known how to tell him.

We paid our bill and left, heading back to campus. Along the way there were puddles and a few cars to dodge, as usual. We stopped for a moment when we saw a "store" that looked like it might possibly sell books. A moment turned into an hour as they told us to have a seat and then bombarded us with questions. We found out that it was a rental shop for books and vcds and when two friends of the couple came in, we found ourselves answering even more questions. And, yet again, we were presented with a cell phone to fix. This time was slightly easier though because the language had been switched to English and he just wanted it back to Chinese. After about an hour of babble we decided it was time to leave and headed back for some shut eye.

We slept through the night!! That might not seem exciting, but having woken up at 3, 4 or 5 a.m. for the past week, it was really nice to sleep normal hours. We were in bed until 7! And, since breakfast starts at that time, I consider that to be perfect timing.

After breakfast, we left campus with a couple of friends to go for a hike. The trail began on the edge of Changping near the railroad tracks and went steeply up and down hills. At the top of the first little hill, my butt and legs already felt tired, and the dusty air seemed to be taking its toll on my lungs. Surprisingly, however, I seemed to recover a bit and get a second wind, enough to carry me over 5 or so more peaks. There were some very interesting things up there, and some beautiful birds, though looking back at Changping was not exactly breathtaking. Chinese people have not really been all that interested in aesthetics for the past few years so there are more than a few ugly buildings. I should also mention that Chinese people do not have the same respect for their natural surroundings as most western hikers would. There was trash along the entire trail. In parts, it was only a plastic bag or a cigarette pack, but in others the ground was covered. One place in particular, a pagoda on the top of one of the peaks, was especially tragic. There was trash everywhere, the pagoda was filthy and someone had even decided to use it as a bathroom! For a moment the four of us contemplated coming back someday to clean up the trash, but when we thought about hiking back with huge garbage bags, we thought it might be easier said than done. That said, it is a shame that nobody cares for the trail.

We traversed some of the steepest parts of the trail before coming to the end, where a sign warned us that the area we were coming from was forbidden. Chinese people are weird. Needless to say, we were starving when we finished, so we found a small restaurant to eat at and got lucky enough to get good food knowing only the words for vegetables, hot, meat and chicken. Afterwards we did some shopping and headed back. Dan and I crashed for the better part of the evening and only woke up hours later for some late night cleaning and blogging.

This jetlag thing is killing me!