I am having a mad craving for a tuna fish sandwich. On wheat. Toasted. Samantha - your homemade bread. Chances of this happening: slim to none. It's August 12, which means that I've been in China for ten days. I'm already over Chinese food. This is not good.
In a wonderful turn of events, Dave declared last night to be "date night," and we went out for dinner at this great pizza place up the road from us called Tube Station. One of the coordinators told us about a special pizza they serve - Peking duck pizza, to be exact. There was no way we were leaving Beijing without sampling it, and it did not disappoint. We ordered a medium, which was enormous (even by American standards), but we still managed to finish all but one slice. It was topped with slices of Peking duck breast, hoisin sauce, scallions, and a bit of cheese. East met West in a beautiful culinary masterpiece. Another vegetarian hiatus, but I was in heaven.
Yesterday was also the first day of new classes. I had been teaching Grade 5, but I will now be teaching Grade 9 for the rest of my time in Beijing. It is quite a change, with some positives and some negatives.
Positives:
We can talk about more advanced topics, i.e. the environment and conservation, rather than birds.
I. Don't. Have. To. Speak. So. Slowly.
I get to have little power trips when I use authoritarian rule to keep kids in line.
Negatives:
Junior high boys are idiots. They like to write about poop, they're loud, and they smell.
It's next to impossible to get them to be quiet.
The notorious pre-teeen bad attitude seems to be universal.
I really tried to make that list even, but I couldn't. It's no secret; I can't stand junior high kids.
Luckily for me, I've already been told that I'm definitely going to be teaching primary. Even if I weren't a really good fit for it, the fact is that most of the available positions are for primary school teachers. I'm incredibly excited about this. For me, the most rewarding part of teaching is seeing real, marked progress, and I feel that this is most pronounced in primary-aged kids. Plus they're adorable.
So, the Great Wall! I finally got to see it in real, living color! The section of the Wall that we went to was fully restored, yet not mobbed with tourists like other parts of the Wall. They had a little ski lift that you could ride to the top and an alpine slide that you could ride down. I'm trying to be frugal, so I opted out of the ski lift and decided to walk up...wow. I don't know how many steps I climbed, but I was glad I'd been doing CrossFit OTB all summer; it was brutal. Then, the Wall itself is really wavy and also has a ton of steps, so they were basically never-ending. I wish I had more to say about the Wall, but I was honestly so caught up with the steps that it was difficult to enjoy or admire it. I also had insane motion sickness from the two-hour bus ride there, but I am pleased to say that I was able to avoid vomiting on yet another major world landmark (for those of you who remember my little incident on Machu Picchu). What I will say is that it is massive. If you take a moment to think about the enormity of it and then consider that it was build by thousands of laborers by hand, it will really blow your mind.
Even though we were a little bit exhausted from climbing all over the Great Wall, we were determined to make the most of our first day off. We're lucky enough to be conveniently located just a little over five minutes away from the Summer Palace, a sprawling park and palace on the fringes of Beijing. It was absolutely breathtaking. There's a huge, pristine lake flanked by willow trees and carpeted with blooming water lilies. It was perfect weather; people were flying kites everywhere. The architecture is stunning and modeled in pagodas, covered walkways, and - of course - the palace itself. And there were tons of Chinese tourists, many of which asked my friend Polly and I for pictures. Always charming. I'm having to use Dave's laptop while we're here (only one of us can be online at a time, and I don't want to spring for a second ethernet cable), so I'll update with pictures as soon as I get to Shenzhen (which will be on the 20th!).
Tomorrow we get to see a Chinese acrobat show in the evening; our next day off isn't until the 19th (the day we leave for Shenzhen). We're all counting down the days. I, for one, am ready to be done living out of a suitcase.
xx
In a wonderful turn of events, Dave declared last night to be "date night," and we went out for dinner at this great pizza place up the road from us called Tube Station. One of the coordinators told us about a special pizza they serve - Peking duck pizza, to be exact. There was no way we were leaving Beijing without sampling it, and it did not disappoint. We ordered a medium, which was enormous (even by American standards), but we still managed to finish all but one slice. It was topped with slices of Peking duck breast, hoisin sauce, scallions, and a bit of cheese. East met West in a beautiful culinary masterpiece. Another vegetarian hiatus, but I was in heaven.
Yesterday was also the first day of new classes. I had been teaching Grade 5, but I will now be teaching Grade 9 for the rest of my time in Beijing. It is quite a change, with some positives and some negatives.
Positives:
We can talk about more advanced topics, i.e. the environment and conservation, rather than birds.
I. Don't. Have. To. Speak. So. Slowly.
I get to have little power trips when I use authoritarian rule to keep kids in line.
Negatives:
Junior high boys are idiots. They like to write about poop, they're loud, and they smell.
It's next to impossible to get them to be quiet.
The notorious pre-teeen bad attitude seems to be universal.
I really tried to make that list even, but I couldn't. It's no secret; I can't stand junior high kids.
Luckily for me, I've already been told that I'm definitely going to be teaching primary. Even if I weren't a really good fit for it, the fact is that most of the available positions are for primary school teachers. I'm incredibly excited about this. For me, the most rewarding part of teaching is seeing real, marked progress, and I feel that this is most pronounced in primary-aged kids. Plus they're adorable.
So, the Great Wall! I finally got to see it in real, living color! The section of the Wall that we went to was fully restored, yet not mobbed with tourists like other parts of the Wall. They had a little ski lift that you could ride to the top and an alpine slide that you could ride down. I'm trying to be frugal, so I opted out of the ski lift and decided to walk up...wow. I don't know how many steps I climbed, but I was glad I'd been doing CrossFit OTB all summer; it was brutal. Then, the Wall itself is really wavy and also has a ton of steps, so they were basically never-ending. I wish I had more to say about the Wall, but I was honestly so caught up with the steps that it was difficult to enjoy or admire it. I also had insane motion sickness from the two-hour bus ride there, but I am pleased to say that I was able to avoid vomiting on yet another major world landmark (for those of you who remember my little incident on Machu Picchu). What I will say is that it is massive. If you take a moment to think about the enormity of it and then consider that it was build by thousands of laborers by hand, it will really blow your mind.
Even though we were a little bit exhausted from climbing all over the Great Wall, we were determined to make the most of our first day off. We're lucky enough to be conveniently located just a little over five minutes away from the Summer Palace, a sprawling park and palace on the fringes of Beijing. It was absolutely breathtaking. There's a huge, pristine lake flanked by willow trees and carpeted with blooming water lilies. It was perfect weather; people were flying kites everywhere. The architecture is stunning and modeled in pagodas, covered walkways, and - of course - the palace itself. And there were tons of Chinese tourists, many of which asked my friend Polly and I for pictures. Always charming. I'm having to use Dave's laptop while we're here (only one of us can be online at a time, and I don't want to spring for a second ethernet cable), so I'll update with pictures as soon as I get to Shenzhen (which will be on the 20th!).
Tomorrow we get to see a Chinese acrobat show in the evening; our next day off isn't until the 19th (the day we leave for Shenzhen). We're all counting down the days. I, for one, am ready to be done living out of a suitcase.
xx
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