12 Things I Have Learned in China Thus Far

1. Crossing the street is like playing Frogger
2. It is okay to drink beer and liquor at lunch time and then go back to work
3. People not only eat dogs here they keep them as pets too
4. People are always worried about you wearing enough clothes and drinking enough hot water
5. Compared to American prices everything here is a steal
6. No tipping saves you a lot of money
7. Please is no longer a necessary word to remember
8. What is a line again?
9. Stop asking why and just go with it
10. Dogs are not the only ones who poop and pee on the street
11. A public toilet is very much that...PUBLIC
12. and the most important phrase that has served me quite well even though it can sometimes be embarrassing: Ting Bu Dong!!!

Need an Update

There is so much to talk about. Let's start at the beginning.
Classes have been going great. Awhile ago I showed my classes the pictures from our trip to Shanghai and Suzhou...they loved them. Most of them have not had the opportunity to travel and I think they like the fact they can live a little vicariously through me and the other foreign teachers through our pictures and our stories. I have tried some games as well that they seem to really like. They go crazy for the game categories where I divide the class into four teams, have them pick one person from each team to come up to the board and then I give them 45 seconds to write as many things from a category that I choose. The other game that gets a good response is the dating game. I pick one boy and three girls or one girl and three boys and ask them questions. Whoever gets to five points first is the winner of a date (just pretend). There is a lot of oooooo's and ahhhhh's from the class. It gets them riled up and embarrassed which is adorable at their age.
Another interesting happening was Kirk's visit to Shijiazhuang and to Handan. Lauren and I went up to the Shiz to see Kirk and the others since he wasn't going to be able to stay in Handan as long as he had first planned. It was a great time. When he came to Handan it was quite an entertaining experience. Let's just say lots of toasting and good times. Plus I am totally jealous of Kirk's Chinese. I find myself in situations all the time where I wish hard that I could speak Chinese as well as he does. Mine is terrible and mostly broken when I try to speak it. Most of the time I can get my point across but I still want to know more...much more!
A couple of months ago the school had a sports meet. The students competed in events like the high jump and running. Some of these kids are super fast and it is quite impressive. There was also an event for us where we do a 4x100 meter relay. We came in dead last but it was still fun and all the students cheered for us and the school gave us a notebook for our efforts. All in all it was a great time and an excuse for the kids to have a little fun instead of studying all the time..which is basically what their lives are.

YES WE CAN! YES WE DID!

BARACK OBAMA IS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!! THE SEASON OF CHANGE IS HERE! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I know it has been awhile since I have written but things have been busy around here. The last time I wrote was coming back from my trip over National Holiday to Shanghai and Suzhou. Since then a few things have happened. For one I finally got some cheese. To those of you who dont think that is a big deal I'm here to tell you that you are very wrong. Cheese is incredibly hard to find here except in Beijing and then once you find it it is super expensive. My mother sent me a package that contained cheese and ranch!!! WOOHOO!!!
I have also been back to Beijing once again. This time I didn't do much sightseeing as I am trying to save a little money. I did end up meeting up with my friend Elle who used to work with me at Des Moines Golf. We had a great time. We went out for some dumplings and then spent a little time at San Li Tun. After that we went and smoked some hookah. It was absolutely delicious. Along with that we had some hummus which was also pretty darn good. Lauren and Erin were with me on the trip and they got up super early to go and see lots of things but I decided that this trip to Beijing would be more about having fun than getting up early, waiting in line to see a bunch of stuff (and spending a crapload of money to do so) and then being tired the rest of the day. While in Beijing I did meet some interesting people. While at San Li Tun at a bar called Shooters I met this Italian guy who I was playing a game with about who could dance with the most guys or girls. It wasnt just about dancing with then but getting them to dance back with you. Needless to say I won 8 to 3 LOL. Then once we went outside I spent 45 minutes discussing Chritianity vs. Islam with a guy from Lybia. It was pretty interesting. During this time a Chinese woman came up to me and told me I was beautiful. She was selling roses and instead of making me pay for one she just gave it to me because she said, "you are very beautiful." Ah China how great you are for my ego. I also met a guy who looked Chinese but also looked very American. I asked him where he was from and turns out he is French. Go figure. Between the partying and hanging out with friends we made another visit to the silk market where I picked up a pretty neat chess set and an Ipod shuffle for super cheap.
Since Beijing I have just been teaching classes, which I still absolutely love. My students are sometimes a little naughty but that is to be expected with high school students. For the most part they work pretty hard and pay attention to what I am trying to teach them. And as always they know who to make me laugh. As all of you know, recently was Halloween. Teaching the students about Halloween was really cool. And then on the actual day Lauren, Erin, Matt, and I all dressed up as the characters from the Wizard of Oz. I was the scarecrow, Lauren was Dorothy, Erin was the wicked witch, and Matt was the tin man. The school even took pictures of us it was awesome. The students went nuts for it.

This weekend the foreign teachers and I will go to the Great Wall to zip line which I think will be awesome. I will post pictures and stories once I get back. Until then....