Crowds, Travel & Funny Stuff

NATIONAL HOLIDAY TRIP

National Day is celebrated every year in China on Oct 1st.  The PRC (People's Republic of China) was founded October 1, 1949.  The holiday lasts for one week and it is the top travel time for everyone living in China.  It is a CRAZY time and commonly referred to as "People Mountain People Sea" (Ren Shan Ren Hai 人山人海) because of the vast number of visitors to every nook and cranny in China. Huge crowds everywhere!!! 

So, doing our part to add to the huge crowds of travelers, at the beginning of October we took a trip to Guizhou, a province in the SW part of China.  You can see on the maps below where it is located in regards to Beijing.  It is a beautiful area of China with magnificent landscapes and interesting cultural diversity. 

I've probably mentioned this before but there are multiple ethnic groups that populate China…56 different minorities to be exact!  The Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group with about 91.5% of the population (1.2 billion).  The other 55 minority groups account for the remaining 112 million people.  China is the world’s most populous country, with approximately  1.35 billion people in total.  Crazy huh?  Our little city of Beijing only has 21 million!  

We flew into Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou.  For the next 3 days we traveled all around the province seeing the lifestyles of one of the largest minority groups in this area, the Miao people.  Within the Miao minority there are several different Miao groups, distinguished by their manner of dress, etc.  For example: short-skirt-Miao, long-skirt-Miao, red-skirt-Miao, blue-skirt-Miao, etc.  We visited their villages and observed their daily lifestyles.  It was amazing to see that they were still functioning without modern plumbing and basic electrical necessities.  The Miao people are well known for their jewelry making talents, mostly silver.  When a baby girl is born, parents start saving money to make and collect fancy silver ornaments that she will wear for her wedding.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of Miao people of all ages in their traditional dress—

 

Our welcome party playing bamboo instruments

 

            

 

Traditional Miao villages are built on the mountainside.  Corn hangs out to dry everywhere, letting the community know that the family has received a good harvest that year.  

 

 

A large number of the Miao people migrated to different parts of SE Asia (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam & Burma) and then after the Vietnam War they migrated to the United States.  They changed their name from Miao to Hmong and now the largest number of them in the US live in Minnesota, California and Wisconsin.  Our visit to Guizhou was wonderful!  Very interesting!!

SCARED SPEECHLESS

Halloween came and went with a few funny moments.  The best moment was when I played a joke on all my students by showing them a video on the pretense that they were watching the segment with a listening quiz at the end.  They were told to concentrate intently on the screen.  I told them the story that you will read before the video and embellished it slightly.  It was WAY fun!  The students literally flew out of their chairs screaming and one girl in the front row who was just getting ready to take a drink from her thermos ended up throwing it over her head, all over the students behind her.  Here is the link….a little late for Halloween but nonetheless funny!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1ZkgUA84hA

CHINGLISH 

Have I mentioned that there was a note posted near our elevators for a month and a half that read, “Phone is wrong.”  We laughed about it every time we passed it.  Our in-house phone system mysteriously stopped working one day and lasted until one of the teachers in our building told the administration that she would have to start charging them for phone calls that she couldn’t make from the house phone unless it was fixed.  The next day it mysteriously started working again.  So strange! 

SPECIAL TREATMENT

We had a unique experience in September that I forgot to report on.  We were invited to a reception in the Great Hall of the People.  This great hall was pretty GREAT!  The Great Hall is located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square, a very beautiful area in Beijing, with lots of official government buildings and the Forbidden City.  We love to ride our bikes around that area, which is about a 30 min ride from our apt.  The Great Hall functions as the meeting place of the Chinese parliament.  It is also used as a place to hold special events…very special events.  Like the reception that we were invited to! 

The reception was held on the eve of the 65^th anniversary of the founding of new China, the establishment of the PRC (People’s Republic of China).  Prior to this China was called the ROC (Republic of China).  This reception was held in honor of all foreign experts (foreigners working and living in Beijing).  The official welcome speech that we read in English while one of the highest members of the Communist Party Mr. Liu spoke to us, basically said, “China would like to attract more highly skilled workers from overseas and wants to learn from other nations.  China’s achievements in the past 65 years are the result of not only the hard work by the Chinese people, but also outstanding contributions made by foreign experts.”  Wow, who knew we were so important here in China!  He also mentioned that as foreign experts we should continue to serve as goodwill ambassadors for China and help enhance the world’s understanding and friendship toward China.

FUNNY

We are still enjoying our time here in Beijing, even though we miss you all terribly!  Teaching the students are the best part of the experience.  They are kind, hardworking and dedicated to life.  We learn from them and hopefully they learn from us.  They crack us up a lot also.  To get the class more involved in openly discussing topics I give the presenter a soft rubber ball and they can throw it “to” anyone in the class to get their opinion.  Once in a while they get a little nervous and end up throwing the ball wildly, beaning someone in the face, forehead or nose.  It shouldn't be funny, but it is. ;)

Still happy in Beijing....but missing family...and friends!  

 

  

Pictures of Home Sweet Home...

Bikes!!  Wahoo!!

Living Rm w/drying rack (before new dryer)

Front door & Dining Room

Dining Room/Jordan's Office (he loves sitting at the food table!)

Small but functional bathroom

New washer & dryer!  Wahoooo!!

Kitchen necessities

Two Gas Burners!  I'm in heaven!!!!

My office/storage room

Proof of BLUE SKIES!!!!

We pass this IBM building on the way to/from school...kinda cool

School, So-di-So-di & Skies

Is it really the middle of October??  Here is an update of the last month.

A Little About our School

We are at CFAU – China Foreign Affairs University.  China Foreign Affairs University was founded in 1955, and is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is an executive agency responsible for foreign relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and other countries in the world. The agency is led by the Foreign Minister (the guy we shook hands with at the Opening Ceremonies at the beginning of the year).  The agency is responsible for formulating foreign policies, decisions, foreign affairs documents, and statements in regard to the PRC.

The courses of study offered include foreign languages (English, French and Japanese), foreign affairs, international politics and relations and diplomacy, international law and economics.  The university awards BA. MA and PhD degrees.  Jordan has all international law classes.  I have one international law class, two foreign affairs classes and the remainder are all international economics classes.  We definitely have a challenge in our teaching this year.  These students are some of the brightest in China.  As Jordan mentioned last month in his little blurb, these students are handpicked before any other universities get their choice.  Once the students are chosen by CFAU, they must accept and do not have the option to choose any of the other schools that accept them.  CFAU is serious about who they want running their government and train them from the ground up.  There is a large rock in the center of the campus that says, “The Cradle of Diplomats.”

The new campus where we teach is amazing and only a couple of years old.  The classrooms are very clean and quite high tech with everything at your fingertips.  We no longer have to haul our laptops, projectors and screens, etc.  We just put our little USB drive in our backpacks and off we go.  It is GREAT!  So all in all the facilities have improved 100%. 

It is also great exercise each morning because most of our classes are on the 5^th floor, exactly 170 steps up, up, up.   I've determined to never take the elevator and so far so good! It helps that the elevator is the size of a breadbox and tons of students and teachers wait in line to take it up.  I hate standing around so would rather be working off that Snickers we might have at night!  

Transportation

We can hardly believe the transportation situation here.  Apparently, taxis here don’t mind picking up foreigners.  In Xi’an, we practically had to lay down in front of an oncoming taxi to get it to stop and even then, they would swerve around and keep going.  Hailing taxis here is easy and fairly cheap.  We mostly use them to get to and from church, which is about 35 minutes away.  That trip only costs us around 40 yuan one-way ($7).  Additionally, there is a great subway system here in Beijing.  In Xi’an we only had 2 lines: N/S and E/W.  Here, we have 8 major lines running within the city and another 9 lines which connect and serve the outlying suburbs. Sweeeet!

However, we have found a MUCH better means of transportation!!  A few weeks ago, we decided to get bikes.  We finally found just the right ones.  They are mountain bike/city cruisers (a bit heavy but very sturdy) with 18 gears, disc brakes and good tires to navigate around the potholes, manholes and people!  We found some baskets at a different bike shop and zip-tied them to the back rack we had the bike shop install before we bought them.  The baskets are great and carry all our parcels and shopping perfectly!  You would be amazed at the things we have bungeed in, bungeed on and bungeed around those baskets.  Thank goodness for bungee cords!  Whenever we need food, we hop on our bikes and off we go.  Did I mention earlier that there are no stores very close by for shopping?  Not a problem anymore!  We LOVE our bikes!!!!!  Jordan's bike is Blue Lightening and mine is Green Hornet!

Every day we have off together (usually only Thursday unless there is a holiday), I plan a new route and area of the city to explore.  For example, today we did a 17 mile round trip to see the Olympic Green Area where the 2008 Beijing Olympics were held.  Here is a picture of the famous Beijing National Stadium also known as the “Bird’s Nest” where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and athletic events were held.  The stadium cost USD 428 million and will seat 91,000 people.  It is a pretty cool area and we loved riding all around and exploring the area.     

         

We will keep you updated on all of our biking adventures.  We are getting more adept at dodging traffic and dangerous situations, although once in a while we have some near misses.  Today was no exception.  As a scooter almost took me out, I could hear “so-di, so-di, so-di” ringing in my ear as I swerved to avoid a collision.  I guess he was at least close enough to recognize me as a foreigner and decided I might understand “sorry, sorry, sorry” said with great enthusiasm!  But, we ARE being careful, so no worries!!!!!!

AQI & Blue Skies

We have been pleasantly surprised with the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Beijing.  Seriously, we have had more blue sky days here than the entire time we lived in Xi’an.  Everyone told us that the Beijing air quality was so much worse than Xi’an.  Well, from our firsthand account, not so.  In the 53 days that we have been here we have only seen 4 really bad days that were in the 400’s.  Otherwise, we are either below 100 or definitely below 175.  Today as we were riding it was around 67.  We can even see the surrounding mountains quite frequently, especially when we head out to the new campus.  It’s great!

We continue to love our experience here in China and encourage anyone that is interested in having an incredible, lifetime experience to plan on doing this sometime in the future, no matter how distant!  You won't ever regret it!!!

We are Happy in Beijing!!!

Where in the World are we now??

Well, here we go again with another year long adventure in China!  We arrived in Beijing 3 weeks ago!  I can hardly believe it…time is passing rather quickly.  Our flight went very well, and since we didn’t have to transfer to another location in China this year, we arrived in Beijing and luckily had ALL of our luggage.  We arrived to a completely empty and fairly dirty apt, with no soap, shampoo, TP or regular necessities.  So our first evening was spent running to find the closest store and getting a few things to get us through the night and next day.  The other CTP (China Teacher’s Program) couple arrived later that night as well.  The next day was spent going through a storage room of BYU supplies left by the previous teachers that were here before us.  Unfortunately, the apts the prior teachers lived in were closed down and we were moved to a new location, supposedly a newly renovated location.  So when those 2 couples left in July, they pretty much put everything into bins and the University crammed it all into a storage room for us to unwrap when we arrived in August…a big task.  After a couple of hours of trying to divide everything up and carrying it back to our individual apts, we at least had a few things to work with.  We came up very short of several items like linens - sheets, towels, etc. and not many dishes, so it would soon mean a few trips to the nearest store, over and over again.  After a couple of weeks, we finally have pretty much everything we need.

The “newly” renovated apts did have some new “touches” to them including new paint and a new bathroom, albeit very small and airplane-esque.  It is impossible to have both of us in the bathroom at the same time if that paints a better picture.  Getting ready in the morning to leave for teaching creates a new dynamic for sure.  But an extra mirror hung with a suction hook on the wall just outside the bathroom door where my hair dryer can reach allows Jordan to shave at the same time.  We are learning to adjust!

 

We live in what is called the IEC – International Exchange Center.  It is an 11 story building with several apts on each floor, as well as many hotel rooms on some of the upper levels for visiting professors, etc.  Overall, the apt is smaller than our Xi’an apt, but probably overall newer.  The kitchen was not renovated at all but at least there is new paint throughout the apt which creates a cleaner atmosphere for sure.  We live on the 2^nd floor which allows us to hear pretty much everything going on outside.  Most of the time I feel like we are living in “Grand Central Station” because we can hear all the talking, yelling, laughing and whatever else is going on all around us.  The IEC sits in the middle of a very small “old campus.”  Traditionally, most universities in China built their campus’ in the city and over a short period of time became landlocked with no ability to expand.  So the only and logical choice was to build a “new campus” somewhere on the outskirts of the city.  Hence the reason we live on the old campus and travel daily to and from the new campus to teach.  All graduate students and seniors live and study on the old campus.  Jordan teaches 5 senior classes on the old campus and 3 junior classes on the new campus.  It takes about 3 minutes to get to the classroom from our apt on the old campus.  I have 6 freshmen classes and 2 junior classes, ALL of which are on the new campus.  I give Jordan a mean look every morning I walk out to get on the new campus bus for an hour+ commute, and he gets to stay here on the old campus with a 3 minute commute!  ;(  I try to make best use of my time on the bus, but unfortunately it is VERY crowded so there isn't much wiggle room.  I think I may try downloading some books and listening to them.  2+ hrs a day of listening and I can have a book “read” in no time!  

After being here for a few days we needed to wash some clothes so finally tried out the old, stale, dirty, little washing machine.  Within minutes we had a swimming pool in the apt.  It was leaking everywhere and fast.  Jordan started bailing water into a bucket and I took the bucket out to our tiny and dirty balconies and began washing them down (didn't want to waste the water).  We called maintenance and after 6 hrs they finally sent someone to look at it.  They played with it for a few minutes and said it was all fixed.  Once again we tried to wash and immediately had another large pool of water to start bailing and wash down yet more balconies.  Around 9 pm after Jordan had made a few phone calls letting them know this was not going to work and could they bring a different washing machine, a new washing machine was being put into place by 4 efficient Chinese workers.  They were in and out in 15 minutes!  I was shocked!  Happily shocked!  We started up another load of laundry and wow….it worked!  Not only does the washing machine work, but every time it hits the spin cycle it sounds like we are ready for take-off in some super-duper flying spaceship.  It literally spins the daylights out of the laundry, so much so that the drying time on the rack hasn't taken too long either.  I put the clothes out on the balcony for the first 3 weeks and because it has been so hot here, the clothes were dry in no time.  Unfortunately, they smell funny from drying outside and Jordan's clothes were getting droopier and droopier the more they were washed and dried without a dryer.  SO….I finally got another dryer!!!!  Wahoo!  Best purchase EVER!!!  Amazon China is AMAZING!!!  I got online and ordered it, and within 4 days we had a dryer!  I just did our first loads of laundry this weekend and I am happy, happy, happy in Beijing!  So is Jordan because now his clothes will fit again.

Here is some input from Jordan:

     "Our new school is a lot more intense than last year.  The Foreign Affairs controls this school.  A couple of weeks ago at our opening ceremonies the Chinese Foreign Minister showed up (unusual even for our school).  Afterwards he came and shook our hands.  They tell me that after the university entrance exam there is a pecking order for choosing the top applicants.  Our university CFAU, I have been told, is first.  The choosing starts for other universities after CFAU finishes taking who they want.  It has only 1500-2000 hand-picked students.  Pretty bright students here.

     We have many more days this year where our air is clean.  Not sure what to do with that - this is China after all.  Because of the many clean-air days we seem to be having we have seen the mountains around us quite a bit.  They aren't the rugged mountains that surround Xi'an, but look fun none the less so we are looking forward to lots of exploring.  Our new campus is near the Ming tombs.  20 years ago when we came as a family on a visit we drove for a long time with nothing around us before arriving at the Ming tombs.  Now the tombs are right next to our new campus."

Well, there is much more to say but I will close it up for now.  I will also try to get some pictures uploaded, internet willing!

Happy in Beijing

Bucket List, Poppies, HuaShan & Snakes

I can hardly believe it is time to wrap things up here in Xi'an!  It is crazy to think that we have been here for one year already!!  Time truly does fly by.  

As we came into May, I developed a “Bucket List” of places, things, food and experiences that I wanted to have before leaving Xi’an.  I’ve done my best to get us to almost everything on the list!  

So here is a little “catch you up” on what we have been doing for the last month. 

We visited a beautiful Botanical Garden here in Xi’an, very close to our home near the old campus.  I think I have mentioned before that we live on the old XISU campus and teach on the new XISU campus.  Anyway, the flowers were amazing and beautiful and best of all, I found POPPIES!  As you know, I love to hike in the mountains of Alpine, watching daily for signs of poppies blooming.  When I finally find them in bloom, I gather as many friends as possible and take a hike together to see the beautiful flowers.  I was beginning to think I would just have to pass this year when all of a sudden, we found them!!  They did not disappoint one bit!  Poppies are as beautiful in China as they are in Alpine!  Who knew!!??!!

                 

There is a famous and amazingly beautiful mountain, home to some of the World's most dangerous hiking trails, is about 2 hrs from Xi’an and is called HuaShan.  On one of our days off, we went with a group of young pups and they hiked us to death!  It was an awesome experience and one not soon forgotten.  The mountain is known for its steep and dangerous paths leading up, around and through.  There are four peaks.  The first time we hiked the north, east and south peaks.  Not easy and we were dead tired by the end of the day, but awesome.  We left at 6 am and returned at 9 pm.  A week and a half later, we went back to the mountain and this time started with the west peak, working our way around to the south peak and east peak.  We met with some 70 mph winds on the top that day as you will see from my lovely hairdo!  So in all, we hiked the mountain completely and then some!  Some of the paths are so steep, you must grasp the chains anchored into the rock and hold on for dear life.  Truly, some people do not escape the mountain alive so we were very careful.  Every year, people fall off the mountain…no kidding.  But we totally "fell" in love with this mountain for its breathtaking beauty and it will be a favorite adventure for years to come.

The journey of 100,000 steps!!!

Looks less scary than it actually was!

  



 

 

There are beautiful parks all around Xi’an.  Two of our favorites are the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the Small Wild Goose Pagoda.  We have been to visit these parks many, many times.  They were both built around 680 A.D.  Quite spectacular they are still being maintained in such good condition.  At the Big Wild Goose Pagoda there is a Musical/Fountain Water Show proclaimed by Xi’an to be the largest fountain show in Asia.  I have been trying to get us over to see it for an entire year.  Part of the problem is that the schedule changes without notice, so we stand around waiting for it to go off and then nothing happens.  Finally, this past Saturday evening we were able to get the timing right and go see the show.  It was great and I was so happy to get another thing checked off my bucket list.

 

My favorite pronunciation blunder from a student presentation for this month goes something like this:

Student: “When I was a little girl, I loved going with my grandfather to the store to get snakes.  He was always so kind and let me choose whichever snake I wanted.”

Me:  “Did you have lots of snakes?”

Student: “Yes, every day I got a new snake with my grandfather.”

Me: (Quietly thinking that maybe they ate the snakes and not wanting to ask something stupid…) “What did you do with all the snakes?”

Student: “I urually (usually) ate them on the way home.”

Me:  (Quietly, but a bit uncomfortably thinking…WHAT?  She ate the snakes raw? I timidly say...) “Is it common for children to eat snakes?”

Student: “Yes, we urually go to the snake shop right after school with all the kids.”

Me:  “Are there a lot of different snakes at the shop?”

Student:  “Yes, but I had some favorite ones.”

Me:  “Oh!  Which kind of snake was your favorite?”

Student: “I like all kinds of snakes like crackers, but urually I would just get some candy.”

Me:  (Quite relieved…) “Oh, those kinds of S-N-A-C-K-S!!  Crackers & Candy!  That sounds like a nice memory to have with your grandfather!"
Me:  (Erasing image of a raw snake being eaten by a small child on the way home from school.)

This has been a year filled with anticipation, learning, growth, new friends, unforgettable experiences and life changing moments.  We look forward to another year of new adventures, increased language abilities, new friends, and yet more memorable experiences to add to our love of all things China!!    

The next time I add to this blog will most likely be from Beijing in the Fall.  Thanks for joining us along the way!  Looking forward to touching base with many of you very soon!