Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!

National Day (Week)

Map of Hangzhou

Map of Hangzhou

This is a club....

How strange.... People were dressed like nutcrakers also...

Our lovely boat captain!

 

View at hour 14 of the 15 hour train ride....never again!

Bungee Jumping!!

This is what I jumped from!

Even though it may look like it, I was NOT pushed. I jumped on my own!

Making Lanterns!

Fish Ball Soup from my 6th Graders

My 6th Graders!

The balls are made of fish and the the inside is meat (it's not really ever more specific than that though...)

It's About Time!

It’s been over a month since I last posted, so I will attempt to catch you up on all that has been going on.

At the beginning of October, China celebrated National Day and it lasted a week.  During that week, I went bungee jumping (from the tallest bungee jumping place in China!  It was AMAZING!!!), to Hangzhou, and experienced my first 15 hr slow train ride.  The latter was a mistake, one that I will NOT make again! Haha

I also took my first field trip during October.  We went to a memorial called Yushan and guess what, it was all in Chinese, so I can’t tell you too much about it.  There were traditional temples there and it was truly amazing how a group of 20+ 5 year olds can go from being, well a normal group of 20+ 5 year olds yelling and running to quiet and reverent. Even at such a young age, they can recognize that Temples are special places.

As crazy as my schedule is and as crazy as it makes me, I wouldn’t change it!  If it changed, then I wouldn’t be teaching my 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders and they have become my favorite part of the week. This could be due to the fact that my 6^th graders have now made me breakfast on 2 different occasions or that I can have conversations with them, or maybe, just maybe, I do enjoy teaching older grades.  Who knows!  All I know is that they have quickly become my favorite part of the week!

We visited the University that is affiliated with our Kindergarten and saw/learned two things that are worth noting.  First, everyone that attends university also must join the military (like ROTC in the States). EVERYONE.  Second, at the Teacher Universities, students have to take four specialty courses before they can become teachers: piano, dance (ballet style), art, and singing!  Crazy huh?!?  Needless to say, if the States was like this, I probably would not be a teacher right now!  I would have loved the singing class, been frustrated by the art class, kicked out of the dance class (unless it was two-stepping), and maybe learn how to play the piano.

Next comes Halloween. As an American, I am an expert on all things American, like Halloween. That being said, Erin, Chris (expat from England), and I got to plan a school wide Halloween party.  Imagine 100+ 4 year olds doing a group dance, then rotating stations to do Halloween crafts.  If you are picturing kids running around screaming and dancing, then you aren’t too far off. Haha Honestly though, it wasn’t as crazy as we thought it would be.  And even though Halloween hasn’t been at the top of my favorite holiday list, it was fun to see how differently it is celebrated here versus at home.  At home, it is more of a big deal at home than in school (especially public schools) and here, it’s the opposite. 

I have been taking Chinese lessons for the past two months now.  First off, for any of you who don't already know, Chinese is very practical and straightforward. There's no fluff and it is only spoken in present tense (hooray for no verb conjugations!!). But Chinese is also very hard. There are 4 different tones that completely change a words meaning. But that same word in the same tone can mean 10+ different words, depending on the character and context. For those of you who know me, you know that I didn't like school growing up (I know, I know! Ironic). I would even go as far as trying to pretend I was sick (notice how I said “trying”).  So this process should be interesting and fun, hard and frustrating, but the way I see it is I am gaining more empathy for my students here and at home that are learning English.  And I will (hopefully) be able to say that I can speak Mandarin!

That's what I've been doing, but I figure that if you made it this far, you deserve to know how my head and heart are as well. It's been tough being here (which I expected). There are days when I take it in stride and others where I don't. I've been thinking a lot about next year and what I want to do. My heart longs for normalcy and to be back in my old life, but in my head I know that even if I went home today, nothing would be the same. I know that what I miss are my “people”.  The people who know my heart and I know theirs. The people I have been doing life with, that I share struggles with, that I share good times with.  I know that in order for me to enjoy my time here, I have to find those people here and let them in. I also need to stop looking at the future and enjoy my time here and now.  For now I take comfort in knowing that I am where He wants me and that as long as I am striving for Him, the plan will be made known.  I don’t want to look back at this experience in 5 or 10 years and realize that I let my feelings ruin what could have been an amazing year.

As always, thanks for reading, for the thoughts, and all the other stuff!

I will post pictures ASAP!

Peace, Love, and Go Frogs!  (frog is Tiánjī田鸡)

Jodi

Influencing the lives of the next Chinese generation!

Hello!

School has been in full swing since the Mid-Autumn Day Festival (also called Moon Festival).  It is a celebration of the day when the moon is out longer than most days, providing more light for farmers so they can continue harvesting their crops in to the night.  We had last Thursday and Friday off, but had to make it up by working Sunday.  So even though, it's Thursday, it is day 5 of work.  It is also my first week that I am actually teaching my full schedule, and let's just say they are making me use every bit of my Teaching Certification (Early Childhood through 6th grade) but I LOVE it!

Here is my schedule:

8:00-9:30      Plan time

9:30-11:00    Teacher Toddler and Nursery Classes (I go to each class and teach an hour of English once a week)

*Wednesdays from 8:00-11:00  Teach 4th, 5th, and 6th grade at the local elementary, 50 in each class

11:00-12:00  Plan time

12:00-2:30    Lunch (it's great isn't it!)

2:30-4:45      1/2 Day International Class (kids from all the other Chinese classes come to me for English instruction every afternoon.  Kids range from 2.5-6)

**Tuesdays 4:45-5:45   Teach an after school English class

I NEVER thought I would say this, but I LOVE my 4th, 5th, and 6th graders!  I am teaching a 10 week series on traveling to the USA.  They will learn (hopefully) how to have conversations about everything from the airport and shopping, to ordering food and how great Texas (and other places) is!  

After just one class, they have already learned the most important thing (how to take a TCU worthy picture..see below :] ), had tons of questions, and can't wait to learn more about the USA.  They also cheered for me when I told them that I would give them English names.  I am very excited!

So to all you fellow Frogs, know that TCU pride has made it to China!

Go Frogs!

Jodi

4th Grade

 5th Grade

6th Grade

A Lot Can Happen in 2 Weeks

Hello! 

First of all, I apologize for not blogging more!  Hopefully things will begin to settle down and I will get in to a better routine.

Here's what you've missed (bullet points first)

• Goodbye Dinner with all the Cornel Teachers
• Went to Hong Kong to get my Visa
• Arrived in Fuzhou, moved in to the apartment, and started teaching
• Went back to Hong Kong for my Visa
• Teacher's Day in China

(pictures of everything at the bottom)

Hong Kong: Part 1
We (Erin and I) left Taichung on August 28th to go to Hong Kong to get our Work Visas for China.  We were supposed to be able to go, drop off all of our paperwork, and pick it up the next day.  In the meantime, we planned to explore. Well, Murphy's Law happened. If something (related to our Visas) could go wrong, it did. China required (keep the past tense in mind later during Hong Kong: Part 2) people getting Work Visas to have a Physical Health Exam done.  We got them done in the States, had them notarized by local and State notary's and approved by the Chinese Consulate in Houston.  For those of you who weren't firsthand witnesses to the saga, let's just say it was stressful. Fast forward back to Hong Kong.  Those documents weren't accepted.  We had to get the exam done in Hong Kong or China.  We eventually just got a 30 day visitor Visa and planned to do the health exam in China.

Putting all of the Visa mess aside though, Hong Kong was wonderful!  We went on a beautiful sunset dinner cruise around Victoria Harbor and my boots made their Asian debut!  I got a lot of envious looks as I walked around. :]  

Key differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Hong Kong drivers, walkers, and cyclers all do so on the opposite side of the road
• While the MTR is big in Taiwan, it wasn't everywhere.  In Hong Kong though, the MTR was the main way to get anywhere
• There are many more harbors and ferries in Hong Kong (at least in a more condensed area)

Fuzhou (pronounced fu-joe)
We arrived in Fuzhou around 2:30am Saturday (31st), and had a meet the parents at 9:00am that day!  It was fun meeting the parents though.  Most of them could not speak English, so we would explain the curriculum and then it would be translated.  It was interesting being on that side of the situation.  

School has been interesting.  Traditional Chinese schools (at least Kindergartens) are pretty similar to U.S. schools in the fact that they strive for structure, but allow for fun.  Upper Chinese school may be different, but I have no experience with that, so I won't say one way or another. Our school though takes on a new approach.  It is a Montessori type school, meaning they encourage exploration, creativity, curiosity, and discovery.  I don't have any experience in teaching this way, so it's been interesting to say the least, but I am willing to learn.  

Here are the logistics of my class:
-I only teach in the afternoon (my class is a pull out English class, so they are from many different Chinese classes.  In the morning, I will be teaching at a public elementary though)
-I don't have a classroom (I did take over the science room in the afternoons though)
-I have 10 kids on my roster, but will be getting more. Only 1 of the 10 can somewhat communicate with me at this point.
-I have no Chinese teacher/translator, so if a kid is saying something to me in Chinese, it could be anything from "you're the best Teacher Jodi!" to "you are talking to fast" to "you look silly and I won't listen." Really, the sky is the limit with my class.
-I teach a multi-aged class, meaning my kids are between the ages of 2.5-almost 6 years old.

I will definitely learn a lot this year and be prepared for much more when I return to the States!

Everyone at the school is very helpful and nice.  They also want to take us to see places and to do different things.  One of the Chinese teachers (Lim) took us to the park to go dancing.  Here is a video.  

So crazy!  At one point I was dancing with a different, slower, older group and Erin looked down and said I stood out really bad!  This could have been for many reasons. Maybe it was my white shirt; maybe it was because I was at LEAST a step behind everyone; it was probably because I was the ONLY foreigner down there.  :]
Once again though, there were some ladies who went out of their way to include us in it.

It has definitely been harder here than in Taiwan.  We aren't around any other foreigners(one of the two that I have met was actually born in Ennis!!  What a small world!!)  and people aren't used to foreigners.  They are learning how to relate to us just as we are learning to relate to them and live in their world.  I know that at the end, it will be worth it though! 

We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

It is already better though, because my flags and pictures are hanging proudly!!

Hong Kong: Part 2
We went back to Hong Kong with every piece of paperwork the Chinese Consulate could possibly need and even made copies of it all just to be on the safe side.  We walked in and were told that we had the old forms (even though we got forms less than a week before), so we filled them out and waited.  When it was my turn, I gave the lady all of my papers, she shuffled through them and handed me all the copies back as well as my Physical exam that I had redone in China.  I told her that she needed it (because everyone loves being told what they need for their job...) and she said that she didn't.  So I made sure she knew that I wanted a work Visa, and she said that as of September 1st (two days after we were there the first time), they no longer require physical examination.  In these types of situations, there are many ways to react.
1. Cry
2. Get angry and yell
3. Burst out in laughter, causing other to question whether you are ok or not.
I chose #3.  
Even though loads of stress was essientially for nothing, it makes me appreciate my Visa and my passport has become even more valuable to me!  

The rest of our time in Hong Kong was great, once again.  We went to The Peak and saw a 360* view of Hong Kong.  Being able to see the whole island was amazing!  

We also went to Cheung Chau, an outlying island, by ferry. As we were hiking a trail on the way to see a cave, we walked past some huge rocks. My natural instinct was to climb them, so I did. That was the prettiest view by far!  It was also a view that I am sure not many people get, probably because they know NOT to climb the rocks.  
On the way back from the island, we sat outside on the deck of the ferry.  In that moment, with no building, no smog, surrounded by the ocean, and seeing stars for the first time in a long time, I felt extremely comfortable and at home.  I suppose that you can take the girl out of the country, but can't take the country out of the girl.


This whole experience has really opened my eyes to how people act around new, strange people.  There are many responses when you see something/one new or different.
1. You stare. When the new person smiles or says hello, you can: 
(a) smile, 
(b) look them up and down, or 
(c) keep staring.
2. You smile.
3. You smile, say hello, and begin a conversation (lots of gesturing).
I hope that I am and will always be someone who smiles, says hello, and tries to make them feel a little bit more comfortable and a little less out of place.  I know that I have definitely appreciated it.

I promise to keep trying to post more frequently, and hopefully now that I am settled in, I will be able to do so.  

Love y'all!  Thanks for reading and sorry it is so long!

The School

My "Classroom"

WanDa Plaza
There is a WALMART HERE!!

This is what happens when you order food without being able to ask how many people it serves...

My Room

Aside from the greatness of the flags, please notice the quilt, which my grandma made for the trip, and the pillowcase, which my great aunt made for the trip!

This wall will be of all the places I visit this year.  I can't wait to add more!

Going old school on the laundry!  

Then I put it in my "closet"  :]

Hong Kong

Just driving on the other side of the road... no big deal

Before the Harbor Cruise.
Please notice that my boots who have now been worn in Asia!

  

Sony, Panasonic, Espon, Samsung, Toshiba, and Canon, among many others, crowd the shore line

  

St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong

View from the rocks we climbed

View from the rocks we climbed

This is the path we were supposed to be on...

"Wǒ tīng bù dǒng" I don't understand what this says...hopefully not "please don't climb on the rocks"