AAAAHHHH!

At a pretty high octave, that's as close as letters come to representing the sound I made in the hutong last night. Dan and I opened the door and were instantly appalled by what smelled like poop somewhere in the hutong. It is not a large place, but whatever the smell was coming from was well hidden (presumably behind the furnace since we still haven't found it). I walked in and flicked on the patio lights the doors to the bedroom and living room were closed, but the bathroom and kitchen doors were open.

Thinking, quite logically of course, that a poop smell might be coming from the bathroom, I stepped up to flick on the light when... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I screamed like a little girl. Something rather substantial had run by and hit me in the leg just before I could switch on the light. Not having seen anything, I turned to Dan, panicked. He had this funny look on his face, somewhere between disbelief and amusement. At this point, I don't remember the words exchanged, but he did inform me that it was just a cat, with a look that said, "Why on EARTH would you scream like that about a cat!" Of course, I didn't know it was a cat.

In my life, there have been plenty of bats in the house, and mice and even rats, but never cats. I can assure you though, had I seen what it was and that it was coming, I wouldn't have freaked out like that.

So, the cat scared me. I think, though, that I just might have scared the cat a bit more. It ran for the door, which leads us to believe that's how it must have come in in the first place, but the door was closed. I went to try to open the door, but then, of course, the cat ran the other direction (back onto the patio). It stood for a few seconds on the table, beautiful orange and white hair on end, tail enormous and then whoosh, it ran into the kitchen and as far as possible under the cupboards where it would stay for a good portion of the evening.

At this point, I felt like a real idiot for not having shut the kitchen and bathroom doors before going to open the patio door. All of those times we had a bat in the house haven't prepared me for anything!! I still forget to shut the door! In the hopes that the cat would leave on its own during the night, we left the hutong door open a crack. I insisted on leaving it open because I didn't want to have to torture the cat in the morning to get it out (it had already been in our place for at least a couple of days without food). Unfortunately, I'm paranoid, so leaving the door open meant that I didn't sleep well at all last night. I started awake about every half hour or whenever there was any noise. At a couple different times I got up to see if the cat had left yet so I could shut the door. It wasn't the case.

So, today's been a bit rough. I sort of feel like I have a hangover or something. On the up side, classes were super easy and there were no major happenings after school. I came home, had two sips of red wine and crashed for about an hour. I'd like to just go to sleep now, but I have work to do :-(

So, until the next incident...

Another busy week.

It's Sunday morning. The weeks are flying by now. Last Sunday, we went to brunch at Frank (the upper school principle) and Louise's (humanities teacher) house. I was a little nervous about it at first, because I wasn't sure who else would be there, but it turned out to be great. Dan spent a great deal of time talking to Delinda (a Chinese teacher) about the origins of French. She claimed French was influenced by Chinese and Dan argued stubbornly that it wasn't possible. For whatever reason, he was convinced (and wrongly so), that an alphabet couldn't come from a character based language. I'm really not sure who was right or who won in the end, but the argument lasted a while.

I spent some time talking to several different people and eventually, when most people had left, Dan and I stayed a little while longer to taste whiskeys with a couple of other teachers. It's odd, because I was convinced that I didn't like whiskey, but whatever Frank had was really good. They were all single malt and I guess that makes a huge difference and we tried three different kinds. I think both Dan and I were surprised that we actually liked it!

Tuesday, I had climbing club again. It's getting a little more interesting, but the kids are still kind of a pain in the butt. There is one child who cannot follow anything we're doing and neither Bruce nor I can figure out exactly why. When I tried to teach him how to tie the knot for his harness, I showed hime 6 to 8 different times, using different techniques. He still can't do it and this is the third time we've had climbing. Apparently he was no more of a whiz with belaying. It doesn't seem to be a language thing, but I have a hard time believing it's spatial either since he's in fourth grade.

Anyway, after climbing I went to the hutong. Dan and I went out for dinner and then to the police station. Apparently, letting somebody stay with us wasn't a great idea. A cop came by the hutong when just Peter was there and told him that we all needed to register (let the cops know we're living there). I had been under the impression that because we were registered elsewhere in Beijing, we didn't have to register there as well. I was wrong. So, we walked down to the police station and asked several different cops whether we needed to register or not. They were all soooooo nice and it is so painfully obvious that cops in China don't have much to do on a regular basis (aside from pushing paper work, anyway). They even had a sign on the desk that said, "Please speak nicely to us" in Chinese. Softies! Long story short, they didn't seem to think we needed to register, but they took my phone number and said they'd call me the next day. Imagine cops in NYC doing that. "Hey, I'm not sure, but I'll find out and call you, ok?" Yeah, right! They did call, though! Not the next day, but the day after. They told us we had to register and what we needed to bring. So, that's what we have to do today.

Wednesday, I had soccer practice. It was fun, and I have a great group of girls. They're really keen to learn and they're always willing to try something new. They had their second game on Thursday. They only played six on six, which was good because that's how many kids we had for the game. The girls totally outplayed the other team, but lost by one unlucky goal. We had more shots, but since we were playing with really little goals, it was tough going. I'm really proud of them! Our next game is Tuesday against WAB, though. They're supposed to be really good, so I'm just hoping we don't get creamed!

Oh, yeah, and this week I did something really cool. I figured out how to simplify the reports that we have to do for midterm and end of term. It took me all afternoon on Wednesday to figure it out (I had no idea what I was doing to begin with), but when I finally did, I was estatic! Basically, I created short cut keys for fillng in a grid. It isn't too complicated, but I got a lot of praise for it (and, more importantly, I was proud of myself)!

Friday and Saturday Dan and I didn't do anything other than exercise really. I made chocolate chip cookies to totally undo all of the good things that we did, though. Today, we're planning on going in to the hutong to register and then hopefully do some climbing.

Being a busy bee...

It goes without saying that I have been busy since I got here at the beginning of August. The last couple of weeks, however, have been even busier. Dan arrived on the 26th, which was nice, because I missed him, and not, because his flight got in really late and we only had a few hours together since I had to work the next day. I had him doting on me for a full week before he had to start work. He brought me a couple of awesome presents, a necklace and matching earrings and a spice rack (really great because all I had in the apartment up till that point was salt).

This week was the first week both of us were working and it was a rough adjustment. We spent a couple of nights at the hutong, a night apart and a couple of nights at the Chaoyang apartment. Rough as commuting can be, it's totally worth it, I think, to have the hutong. I've had a lot of work to do, but I've been managing. I haven't relaxed too much though.

Last night was pretty cool though, and I'm really glad Dan was able to come with me. There was a dinner for work at the Landgent Courtyard. Basically, it's this enormous, beautifully redone courtyard that the board uses to wine and dine people. We left on school busses at 5:30 and got there around 6. There were drinks ready when we got there and they spent very little time making speeches, maybe 15 minutes. We met the founder of the school, Mr. Nee, a thirty-two year old realestate tycoon who does not look like he has that much money. Then, we had a really nice dinner, buffet style, but a really nice variety of asian food. They served us wine that they were very proud of, from France, and great dessert. In all, it was a really nice evening and we were back to the school by about 8:30. Oh, and I forgot to mention what was probably the most Chinese aspect of the whole evening, the presents. On our way out, we were told to choose two presents each and they ranged from business card holders and wallets to silk scarves and ties. They were very nice gifts, but I still think it's a bizarre thing to do.

So, now it's Friday and Dan and I don't have plans this weekend. It's great! I think I'd be happy to be a slug for a couple of days. On Sunday, we have a brunch to go to, but it's the next building over, so it's hardly a task!

From good to bad and back again.

This afternoon was positively awful, but then I started to feel pretty good about it. Had I written this blog around 6 this evening, it would have been a pretty upset entry. Luckily, the only thing people do fast in China is build stuff. I spent two hours at the bank. It's sort of like the supermarket where they think long and hard before lifting a finger and getting something done. That and as any Chinese person will tell you, there are too many people "Ren tai duo le!" At any rate it was probably a good thing I had the time to mull over the things that were bothering me.

Today was pretty good in general, but this afternoon was a total disappointment. When I was told I would have a homeroom, there was mention of going on the Experience China Week trip with them. I was kind of excited because I thought it would be fun and kind of nice to spend time with the kids outside of school. I know being a chaperone is hard work, but I was actually looking forward to it. When we started talking about it at school, however, I got the impression that I would not be going with my class. This afternoon, the principal confirmed that.

I imagine that at some point I will not care that I am not going (because it is a lot of work), but I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on the only chance I'll have to get to know the kids better. I am a little worried that it will set me up to be the "odd man out" so to speak. I know the school doesn't want to pay for all of the teachers to go, but it really wouldn't cost that much to have all of the homeroom teachers go. I think my disappointment is especially strong because this trip was moved forward in the year to make it a bonding experience, and I feel like I might miss out on a lot in terms of seeing the kids in a different light. Regardless of what I think, however, nothing is going to change at this point, so I suppose it's time to suck it up.

After getting all down about the trip and having that compounded by the heat and long wait at the bank, I had a really pleasant surprise. It may have been a total accident, but Huijia paid me for the last two weeks of school!! I had 2000 and some rmb in my account! I thought I had nothing, so anything would have been nice, but that's a chunk of money.

Maybe the title of this blog would have been more accurate if it was "For every action there's an equal and opposite," but I'm not sure if that's always true. 2000 rmb will certainly help if Dan and I decide to take a trip of our own during October holiday! So, it put a smile back on my face.

On my way home, with my pockets a little fuller, I stopped by the market. It was the first time I had really walked around there and it was absolutely fabulous! There were so many vendors with nice looking fruits and vegetables and all far cheaper than the local carrefour. I was a little hesitant about buying because foreigners almost always pay too much, but I'm getting better at reading and can certainly pretend to speak a few words. So, I went for it. I only bought some grape tomatoes and some grapes (which turned out to be slips kins!!), for a total of two kilos at 12 rmb. That's a dollar fifty for over three pounds of grapes, which are deliciously juicy, and 30 cents for a little over a pound of tomatoes.

It's hard to feel down when life is so cheap!! It is, however, easy to feel exhausted. Good night!

An uncomfortable update...

I'm really uncomfortable right now, laying on the hard floor because my butt was starting to fall asleep. I do have a desk in this room, but my battery was low, so I had to move the computer to the floor to be able to plug it in. Obviously, I am not yet lucky enough to have wireless. I guess I should buy an extension cord. Unfortunately, or not, it's a bit too late for me to go out (Carrefour is still open, but it's almost my bedtime). It just seemed time for an update.

Last week was my first week of school. I think it goes without saying that I survived. My classes went fine and the students are really great. Everybody is as helpful as possible, though, of course, not everything is possible. I feel like my classes are off to a good start, but I am incredibly disorganized. I have plans for a few weeks, but feel like they change a little every day. I guess that's par for the course though. I'm really not freaking out about school anymore, but I do feel like I have a lot to do to catch up.

Last weekend was pretty nice because I actually relaxed and managed to get out of the city for a day. On Friday after work, I went to our school social club's "Survivor Party." It was a barbeque and drinks at a bar sort of nearby. I had a good time talking to people and the food was o.k. I probably should have had more to eat before I started drinking, but that's a lesson that's hard to learn. Regardless of how quickly I felt tipsy or why (I'd like to blame some of it on exhaustion), it was meant to be an early night for me. I caught a cab back to the apartments with another teacher and was in bed by 11:30.

The next morning was hard. I had only had a couple of drinks, but the combination of that and lack of water and sleep was killing me. I had to be up at 6 and on the bus by 7 and I made it, with a few seconds to spare! I was off to a place that I didn't even know of and I still can't tell you the name, but it's somewhere South and West of Beijing. The ride itself was nice, there were only twelve of us on the bus, so there was plenty of room. I tried to sleep a bit, but wasn't very successful. The plastic palm trees by the side of the road were just too distracting!

We arrived at the park around 9 and the good (lead) climbers started setting up the routes for us top ropers. I was a little nervous, but not so much because I thought I would hurt myself. Actually, I was thinking, I hope I can make it up at least one of those! I think there were six different routes. I did two of them, the easiest of course. I did, however, do the second easiest one twice. I think I'm ready to do better the next time we go out. I realized that while it is more of a mental challenge, it was actually easier on my hands than climbing a fake wall, and there was less strength required.

We were at the park all day, so it was easy to get a nap in there, and then headed back to Beijing around 4:30. We went straight out to dinner (PIZZA!!) and then most of us went home to crash. I went back to the hutong because I thought it would be nice to go there and easy enough. I got home and started getting undressed and... knock, knock... crap. The neighbor was at the door so I had to get totally dressed again and see what she wanted (as if I would understand anyway!). I opened the door and she handed me something to do with the water. She said there were two bills, that much I understood, but when I looked at them I was shocked. One said Y560 and the other said Y180. I freaked out, because that's about a hundred U.S. Dollars for water! I even had a nightmare about it, well, that and the water damage in the house (I'm petrified that something bad will happen and I won't be there).

So Sunday I woke up early and did some laundry. While that was happening I laid in bed and read or re-read The Diaries of Anne Frank. I am planning on using a few excerpts for class, but once I started reading, I had some trouble putting it down again. Like any good war story, it left me really freakin' depressed! I felt like crap the whole rest of the morning.

Luckily, Dan called in the afternoon, and I was reminded why life is good and why I shouldn't be depressed. Actually, it wasn't that deep. He called, I told stories, he told stories and I was happy. It was pretty simple.

Oh, and before I left the hutong I collected a few of the bugs. It turns out they are Rolly Poly bugs or Pill bugs or whatever people call them. It also turns out that Tamara wants some for her science class. Unfortunately, they're still in the school apartment because I forgot them on my way out this morning. I hope they don't die after all the crap I went through to get them here!

Today, I asked one of the Chinese teachers about the water bill. I wanted her to translate so I knew what the heck we were supposed to pay $100 for. Turns out that instead of using decimal points, they write Chinese characters, so Y560 was actually Y5.6 and Y180 was Y1.8. The stupid thing is that if I had really looked carefully, I might have even figured that out before I had all sorts of anxiety!

WARNING: I plead not guilty (for the style and appearance of this entry) by reason of (hopefully temporary) insanity.

sort of freaked out last night for various reasons and didn't write because i didn't have internet access in my apartment and aaaaaaaaaaahhh, they are currently playing really horrible screaching noises over the p.a. system. anyway, i've been uber jittery this whole week and last night was just sort of the worst. i was up well past midnight reading things in sort of a last minute attempt to cram everything ib myp means into my head. needless to say, it was a failed venture and then when i did try to sleep i found it near impossible. i actually had to do yogic breathing to fall asleep.

going back about a week now (time is going by sooooo quickly!!), i didn't do a whole lot on the weekend aside from going to ikea on saturday which was not really fun to say the least. i went with a list of things i thought it would be easy to get there and managed, more or less. i bought dishes and sheets for our king sized bed :-D a cookie tray, and other random things. i had about forty-five minutes to shop and we got there right when the store opened, so i just sort of shot through the store and then didn't really have time to get distracted by things, which was good. what i did buy actually came out to a little over 1000 kuai!! the most expensive items, though, were ones like the italian coffee maker (like the old one except with spare rubber thingies in case dan forgets to add the water again ;-) and the dishes and sheets.

in the afternoon i had planned on going climbing, but i was exhausted and it looked like it was going to rain. i ended up buying some food and going home to eat and sleep. sunday i spent most of the morning doing laundry and discovered the hard way that the exit hose was out of the drain... oops. water was all over the bathroom! and it wasn't clean either, it had all kinds of lint and crap in it. it was fun cleaning that up. the washer and dryer are actually really good though, i'm super happy with them.

sunday evening i went to changping to meet up with john and jennifer. taking the subway to jishuitan, it took me almost exactly an hour and a half to get to changping. i got there around 6 and both of them came to pick me up. it was really hard without dan there. i found i could communicate some stuff, but some of it was just impossible. they were asking about his brother's wedding and practically all i could say was that it was in a big hotel and it was really fun. i tried to explain that it was jewish, but they didn't get it and i didn't know the right words. all of this while i am riding a bicycle was a bit much.

when we got where we were going to eat, john handed me the menu to pick something. i really wished i could have spoken fluently at that point to tell him that we usually just point and see what we get, but that was too hard to say, and i don't really know if he would appreciate how amusing it is to us so i just told him i could only read two things. anyway, we had chuar and some bean things that were really good and we ate some jaozi on the side. we couldn't put them on the plates because they were pork jaozi and we were in a muslim restaurant. that was probably a total faux pas i think, to eat it there in the first place. anyway, it was good food and i'm not sure what we talked about but it wasn't painfully silent. now that i think about it, they may have just talked to each other most of the time, but i was fine with that. we drank a lot of beer, of course, and by the end of the meal i was pretty tipsy.

we went shopping for a bit (by that i mean we went to buy anti mosquito stuff and look at dvds for a few minutes) and then we went back to their place. since their new place is still just one room they set up a curtain between jennifer and i and john. i ought to mention that before i came, i had no idea i'd be spending the night and it was really bizzare to me that john had to sleep on the little bed and jennifer and i on the big bed. it was like some sort of false modesty or perhaps something cultural that i, having had many a sleepover in college and beyond, did not understand.

i brushed my teeth. they have running water, but no place for the dirty stuff to go, so that was interesting. they have the sink set up to run into a large bucket which they periodically empty. of course, this means that they also have no toilet, so we had garbage cans with lids to go in should the need arise in the middle of the night. i managed to hold out, but woke up every single time they had to go because peeing in a plastic bucket is LOUD when there are no other sounds. and jennifer pees a lot during the night!

5 a.m. rolled around and it was time to get on my way. by that point i regretted staying overnight and regretted having to work. but i made it through the day on monday the same way i've made it through most of the week, with horrible jitters and a lot of nervous energy. i'm sort of wondering what's going to happen when i'm not nervous anymore. i might just stop functioning all together and have a breakdown!

anyway, since monday it's just been one meeting after another and frankly, i'm really sick of meetings. i still don't have my room decorated and new kids and parents come to see us on saturday morning. yay. seriously, i will be enormously grateful for the first weekend i have when i don't feel like there are a million things i have to do, none of which are really to benefit me. this whole teacher thing... maybe i meant i wanted to be a professor. we'll see once the kids get here. i do have one kid that i'm already excited to see because he's from madrid. he's apparently sort of a pain in the butt, but i'll deal. anyway, i need to go get food and such so i am off for now.

I hate leaving!

I haven't blogged since I've been home, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because when I have had time to write, I haven't been in the best of moods. I'm nervous about starting the new job and worried about my sister and I hate leaving!

Coming home has been great. I've gotten to see my parents, all my grandparents, some cousins, an aunt and uncle, my brother and sister, my nephew, my dogs, etc. I missed every single one of them so it was nice to reconnect. I have, however, only been able to see a couple of friends, because seeing people all over the east coast becomes a lot more difficult without a car. I'm glad I saw the people I did, but as time is running out I'm starting to feel rotten about not having seen the people I didn't. I wish I could see everybody, but that probably wouldn't be possible even if I did live in this hemisphere.

On a positive note, I did get into the FAST TRAIN program which means that I will be forced to spend some time in the D.C. area next summer and, therefore, will be able to see the majority of my friends. I'm really excited to start school again, too. I just got my textbook for the fall class I'm taking and when I was ordering it, I couldn't stop myself from ordering about five other books on teaching. I read through one of them in about an hour which makes me think I may have been a tad starved of stimulation for the past year. Not to fear though, I'm sure I'll have plenty of challenges this year! I'm not looking foreward to writing papers, but I do think it will be good for me. Over the past four years, my English has slowly declined to about an eighth grade level, so being forced back into academic writing should help a little.

Only a few days before I leave and I feel so unprepared, like always. I have my bags almost packed, but in my head I'm screaming "Noooooo, not yet, please!!!" Unfortunately, I signed my own fate. Six days until take-off.

Slacking

Today I signed in to blogger only to realize that I hadn't published my last blog (probably thinking I would write more) and I hadn't written anything for over a week! I have been super busy, lately, and internet access has been fickle at best at school.

Last week flew by! I think it helped that Dan and I went into Beijing on Wednesday night and so it sort of broke up the week. We intended to go climbing, but it was raining, so we just hung out with Matt and Tamara. We ate too much and drank some wine and watched "Little Children" which was actually a decent movie. It's hard to explain without giving it away, but it's basically about the reactions of people living in suburbia when they're faced with morally unacceptable situations. If you do watch it, be forewarned that there is a slow part somewhere in there.

Friday, I had to run into Beijing to get my passport, mostly thinking I was going to start changing money. I got the passport alright, but changing money was another story. Apparently, China published something saying that foreigners would be allowed to change up to 500 U.S. dollars with just their passport at any Bank of China. So, on my way back to the apartment, I stopped by to give it a shot. It totally didn't work! The woman told me that foreigners couldn't change money. Unfortunately, my arguing skills are limited to "Yes, they can!" which isn't much of an argument, I know. So, I left, really frustrated.

Friday evening, Dan and I went to Wangfujing to watch a movie in English. It is the only original version theater we've found yet, and it only had one movie in English. So, we saw Pirates of the Carribbean III. It was actually better than I expected and excepting a few scenes, I thought it was amusing. Dan and I did laugh out loud at at least one thing, though now I can't remember what that was. After the movie, we went to a bar to meet up with Matt and Tamara. The plan was to have a drink or two and then Tam and I would join Traci and the other Matt at a club. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way because Matt and Traci wimped out and left the club by 1.

The rest of the weekend flew by hanging out with Matt and Tam and Traci and Matt. Sunday we tried out a new restaurant that has the best french fries I've had in a long time. It also turned out to be way cheaper and way less crowded than our regular haunts. We have Matt and Traci to thank, because we will be going back there every now and then.

Now there are only a few days left before I leave. As always I have so much to do and so little time. I hate leaving!

Keep going and going and going...

I feel like the energizer bunny right now, and I don't think the feeling will go away until I get on that flight home. This past weekend was anything but relaxing. In spite of getting enough sleep, I still feel exhausted.

Friday, I spent all afternoon baking. I made two pretty awesome pies, but didn't take pictures of them, and two batches of banana bread. I went into Beijing on Saturday morning, carting way more stuff than seemed humanly possible. I'm not sure quite how the morning hours got away from me, but they did, and soon enough it was one o'clock. Dan and I met at the supermarket to do our shopping for the party and had a hard time figuring out how much stuff to buy. In the end, we only wasted a little bit of food, so we did O.K. A lot of people showed up, which was cool, and in general it was a good time. I think I prefer smaller gatherings, but every once in a while it's O.K. to have a big one. It was exhausting though, and I pretty much crashed after we cleaned up. The next morning, I had to wake up at 7:30 to do the tutoring I had put off. I tutored all morning and then went to the rock wall. Before I got to the wall, though, I made the mistake of eating hot pot (sticks of various things like meat, tofu or vegetables in boiling broth) at a street stand. The food was good but way too spicy! I had heartburn for the rest of the day. I still climbed a little bit, but I spent most of my time laying on the mats at the bottom.

Later, bad weather gave me an excuse to go inside and just hang out for a bit. I love the people there. They're fun and so nice to us. After the storm subsided, they took us to a restaurant nearby, but all I managed to eat was some rice. Stomach still on fire, Dan and I headed home. I passed out at eight o'clock and it felt so good! Today we had to get up at the crack of dawn to get to work, but it was totally worth the extra night in our apartment.

The good life.

It seems like things are really shaping up. I added pages to my passport so that they could give me my visa, and hopefully I'll get that back soon! I also got permission to come late to orientation so that I can go to Jon and Emily's wedding! I almost feel guilty about it, but I'm glad I'll be able to see all of Dan's family now. After knowing about it for over a year, I would have been upset if I couldn't go. To top it all off, I got my flight changed so I'll be coming home a little earlier!

Last weekend, Dan and I stayed at our apartment and had another barbeque Saturday night. We were sort of celebrating his birthday and another friend of ours at the same time. After stuffing ourselves, we went out salsa dancing. We all had a great time, but Dan and I realized that we could definitely use some lessons. Any salsa teachers out there?

On Sunday, we met my co-teacher, Lena, at "Computer City" (a gigantic electronics market). She was there to help us buy an electronic dictionary for Dan's birthday. There were loads of dictionaries on offer, but that didn't make it easy. We ended up getting one that you can write the characters into (as long as you're fast enough... no pretty handwriting allowed) and it shows you a bunch of options for words. You can see the pronunciation and hear the words. It's a pretty cool toy. Needless to say, Dan takes it everywhere now. On the bus, he busies himself by translating the advertisements stuck to the ceiling. Oddly, almost all of them are medical adds. Some of the gems he translated with his new toy were "prostatitis" and "can't have baby disease" (we're pretty sure that last one translates to infertility, but Lena was all embarrassed when Dan said it, so we're still not sure).

Other than that, I've been trying to do more running. I was inspired, in large part, because Trillium (a high school friend who didn't really do sports) recently ran a half marrathon. I don't know if it is possible to get back into shape anymore, though. I mean, I can still run, but it's a 10 minute mile, not 7. In spite of having run 4 mornings out of the past week, I don't feel like I've made any progress! By the end of the summer I'd like to be able to run a few miles without dying, but right now, the fourth lap still kills me. I'd like to blame it on the pollution, which probably does play a part, but it seems I really only have my fat butt to blame.

Ouch.

Dan and I never made it to Beijing yesterday because it was raining all afternoon. Since climbing was out of the question, we decided to be lazy instead. We went into Changping for dinner with Matt and Tamara. The food was mediocre at best and Tamara and I still have remnants of the stomach virus we had last week. It didn't make for a very nice combination.

This morning I felt much better though. I woke up at six and went for a run. It was really nice to be outside today. The rain had made everything smell better and it was actually cool for the first time in about two weeks. Unfortunately, I may have overdone the running.

I am already sore and it's only been about an hour an a half since I finished. One of my co-workers even asked me if I hurt myself because I am apparently walking funny. I had to admit that "No, I'm just horribly out of shape." In spite of that, I think I'm going to try to do it again tomorrow! If I don't I might be too sore to walk.

Falling into place.

My life is starting to settle down a bit. I completed my application for grad school and I've gotten a little more information about what I'm going to be teaching next year. Dan has signed his contract and we're both making our plans for while we're home. Yet, I can't help but feel like I won't be able to really relax for a long time.

I guess I'm pretty nervous about my new job. I know I will do well, but not knowing exactly what's expected of me is making it harder for me to visualize success. It's a bizarre sensation, really. I haven't ever been nervous about a job before. What's especially odd is that I think my perception of the job is different because of the pay, as if they can't possibly want to pay me that much money to do the job I've been doing for four years now. I've had to do massive amounts of planning, creating materials and paperwork before. I've even taught up to 32 hours a week before (which was absolutely insane looking back on it)!

There are many things I'm really excited about, such as having small classes, being involved in an active school, possibly coaching soccer (they don't have a girls' soccer team and it would count as one of the two extra activities required). It's a beautiful school with a lot of resources and a lot of community involvement. Still, it will be a lot of work and a lot of new things to learn. I just hope I don't get totally overwhelmed.

Fear of failure, anyone? Dan pointed out that not only have I never been rejected from any place that gave me an interview, but I've also never been fired. I know these are good things, but they do add to the pressure to do well.

As I mentioned before, though, aside from freaking out about my job, things are going fairly well. Last weekend Dan and I took our village friends out for dinner, which was a real treat.

We met up with them at 7:30 on Friday evening and set out in search of a restaurant. What Dan and I didn't realize is that if you invite people out to dinner, you can't just sit in the normal dining room of a restaurant. You apparently have to reserve a private room. It's not like it costs any more or anything, but it's just expected. There is also apparently no concept of having a drink and waiting for 15 minutes or a half an hour for a table to be ready. Because of this, we spent about an hour driving around Changping looking for a restaurant with an empty room.

Eventually, we found a place. We ordered a bunch of food and a lot of beer. The food was all actually good, but the beer was killing me. I pretty much hate beer now. It might just be because of the way Chinese people drink. Every couple of minutes they do a toast that requires you to down your entire class (small as it may be, it's disgusting). I am sort of exempt because I am female, but I still end up having to drink way more than I want because they keep toasting. In all, though, it was a great dinner. Dan and I went home relieved. Oh, and I almost forgot, we got a housewarming present from one of our friends. It is the best lamp ever! Dan and I were laughing so hard when we got it, but I'm not sure what we're going to do with it now. A picture will definitely be posted soon!

On Saturday and Sunday, Dan and I did some climbing, but mostly we took it easy. We woke up at 6 a.m. on Sunday to go get fried dough, but then went back to bed. It was so nice to do nothing, especially because the next couple of weekends are going to get busy!

Today we're going into Beijing to go climbing and take some more stuff to our apartment, while we're at it. It means I'll have to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to get back to work, but I'll be glad to go climbing. My fingers have stopped hurting (and peeling) from what I did on Sunday, so that means it's time to go again!

Nothing new...

I don't really have much to report from this side of the world. I got sick on Monday along with the other two girls that were at the barbeque. We still haven't figured out what caused the horrible stomach cramps, because nothing really makes sense. The two other girls are vegetarians, so they ate vegetables and pasta (all washed and either freshly cooked or soaked in vinegar). The two guys didn't get sick, but they ate and drank everything we did and even had double portions of most of it. My dad actually suggested it might be the potato chips, since it is the only thing that all of the girls ate and the guys didn't eat much of. Who knows. There are some leftover chips, so theoretically I could test that hypothesis, but it might not be worth the suffering.


The barbeque mystery, however interesting, isn't actually the reason I'm posting. I just got some pictures from Traci and wanted to post them. They're pictures of Dan and I trying to save a HUGE night crawler from my merciless kindergartners (they tried to rip it in half!!). In the end, Dan managed to convince them there was never a worm there in the first place by chasing them around the lawn. The last one is a good, Chinese style, victory picture. Asians are obsessed with peace... weird, huh?


In other news, I have almost finished my application for George Mason! All I have to do is pay and click send. I love electronic applications! I'm actually really excited about the idea of studying again. It's been FOUR years since I graduated! I'm a little bit nervous, though, since I have apparently lost my ability to write academically. I'm hoping that will come back to me, but if it doesn't come back quickly, I may find myself in over my head.

I signed my contract!!

I am so excited! Even so, I'm still nervous that they will find somebody else they like better and take it away. I'm probably a tad paranoid, but it's just such a good thing, I really don't want to lose it.

I will be working at a real school, with students who care and grades that matter. I will have small classes and good resources. I will be able to get my master's and teaching certificate and even pay off existing debt! I am so lucky, and I know it.

Since Friday afternoon, I spent the majority of my weekend cleaning and buying some things for our new place. I kind of forgot how much stuff we use on a regular basis. Even after my shopping spree, I realized I forgot things like kitchen towels and sink stoppers. Our hutong is looking a lot better now, though, especially thanks to the intustrial strength floor cleaner (which, according to some really strange salespeople is exactly the same as floor wax) and scrub brush.

I wanted to post pictures today, but I forgot the camera this weekend, so it will have to wait until next week. I wish we could go during the week, but it's just really not practical since I have to be back in Changping so early every day. For that reason, we also decided to hold off on the plants for a few weeks. In all honesty, they would probably be fine since it seems to rain more in June, July and August here, but we didn't want to waste money on nice trees, just to have them die on us. Knowing Dan and I, it will probably be a struggle to keep them alive in the first place!

Yesterday, we went to Carrefour and bought a barbeque, and last night we tested it out. Turns out it works, but I'm glad I have a boyfriend who can light the thing. We had a few friends over for steak, for the first time since we came to china, sausages, veggie kebabs, salad, pasta and watermelon. Oh so American, except I had to use chopsticks to eat because we didn't have enough forks! It was good, but today I'm not feeling so well. I'm not sure if I ate too much or just the wrong stuff, or maybe it's because we had to wake up at 5:30 to get back to school on time.

Today, I will sleep. I will write my essay for GMU and I will sleep. I might eat, and I will sleep. I wish I could sleep now!

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.