Beanstalk Adventure

Day 3 Summer Palace

2009-05-24T05:08:00.001-07:00

Sibling Visit Day 2 Lama Temple

2009-05-24T04:13:00.000-07:00

From the Olympic Village we went to Lama Temple. Here are some pictures.

Lama Temple. Blogspot and Youtube are presently banned in China so I am writing stories to post later. I am lucky to get a few picutes up.

John Burning Incense

Someone took this forbidden picture.

I took this picture. I didn't think it was forbidden. It's another of the many gods.

It was hot and this bit of shade was pretty cool.

Sibling Visit Day 2

2009-05-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Day 2 Olympic Village

May Holiday

2009-05-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

The Sibling Visit April 24-May 7, 2009
Day 1 The Great Wall Mutianyu Beijing
Friday afternoon, April 24th, John arrived from LA. This marked the start of May Holiday. I'm not clear on the details, but at least part of it has to do with Labor Day. We had no school at Beanstalk the following week so it was a perfect time for the "Sibling Visit". Sandee and Melissa arrived Sunday night and by Monday afternoon, the 5 of us were off to The Great Wall Mutianyu. Here we are from left to right: Melissa, John, Sandee, Bill, and Me.

Me...I like this shot because it shows how steep the way is and has great depth. I also think the French guy in the cowby hat is interesting the way he is looking back.

Bill looks like its time to catch his breath.
Attacked by Huns...Looks like John has gone over to the other side.

American Shorthair

2009-05-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

Over by the 10 kwai DVD store, near Wendy's Shop where I often pick up a few groceries, including some pretty decent Chinese cheddar and excellent natural yogurt, is a cute little pet shop. Last night some of us went to Pete's Tex Mex for dinner, always a good choice, in honor of Sophia and my birthdays; I had a chocolate malt. Around 10:30, we decided to walk home to burn off some calories. That's when we noticed a crowd gathered around the brightly lit pet store window. On display for all to admire were mama and papa cat with their litter of what looked to be about 6 week old kittens. The large male was perched on the top tier of a fancy cat tower. His fur was marbed like that of the cat in the picture above, and he looked like he knew he was an extraordinarily striking animal. The mother was a tabby with strongly marked stripes. The kittens were beginning to show signs of developing distinct markings but otherwise looked pretty ordinary; most people at home would have had a hard time giving them away. "How much for one kitten?" we asked. 2,000 RMB ($300) came the answer. We left in shock, and I said in a not too loud voice, "Back in Minnesota some people would put those kittens in a gunny sack with a few big rocks and throw the bag in the river." Cathy pointed out that one of our students was standing close enough that she might have heard my remark. I don't think so.

Today I showed Jane the kittens on our way to Wendy's. She's from California, and needless to say, she was in complete disbelief when I told her what they were asking for one kitten. She had to confirm it herself. I decided to try to learn if the cats were some exotic breed that they should cost so much. Yes, the owner said...American Shorthair. Aha! That explains everything.

BTW...today is Mother's Day. Thanks, Celeste, for the hand-drawn, computer assisted card...complete with 2 beautiful American Shorthair cats...below.
Two famous American Shorthairs. On the left, Brita, renowned for her hunting ability; and Spencer, "the puppy cat" renowned for his lounging ability... he's a Garfield Wannabe. Celeste and Dave are on the lake...where many American Shorthairs have been known to disappear.

Dealing with IT

2009-05-07T05:54:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I put my debit card into an ATM at the Holiday Inn Lido and asked for 2,000 RMB. The machine acted like it wanted to give me the money. Three times it tried to spit it out. I heard the sound of bills being counted, followed by a grinding sound. But no bills came. Then a message flashed across the screen, "This machine is OUT OF ORDER." Sandee and Melissa were standing there with me, so they stood guard over the sick ATM while I went to the bank. They were just locking the door. I checked my balance on another machine, and my balance was 2,000 RMB less. I called the Customer Service Number. Come back tomorrow with your bank book, they said. We also found the assistant manager of the hotel and reported the problem, gave him my name and telephone number and asked for his help.

When I returned the next day a bank employee made a photocopy of my debit card and told me several times that maybe they would check the machine and maybe they would redeposit my money. I suggested that she should not use maybe. Maybe is not a good word in this situation. "Don't worry," she said. "If the story is true, maybe we will put the money back." They needed to check the machine. Come back tomorrow. I called Customer Service again. This tiime the person I spoke to assured me that if the money wasn't back in my account the next day I should call them and IT would get to work on IT. IT can check all the machine records. IT can look at the camera. (There WAS a camera...I hope IT was working.) Once IT takes over they are required to resolve the problem within 5 working days. This sounded good to me. I felt better.

I returned to the bank today. This time I learned that the person whose responsibility it is to check the machine was "resting". Maybe she would be able to check tomorrow. I asked if she was resting at work or at home. That wasn't a good question. I was told that there was no way to know how many days it would take to check the machine. But I shouldn't worry; if the story is true my money will be returned to my account. I said, "The story IS true, but how does the machine know it's true?" At that question the woman said something I didn't understand and walked out on me. She reappeared after a few minutes later but wouldn't look at me. I called Customer Service again. This time, I was asked several times if I had verified my transactions. Were they up to date. Several times I replied in the affirmative. I couldn't get past this question. Finally, I was told the machine would check itself and my money would be returned to my account after 3 working days...that is, IF the machine that was out of order in the first place works well enough to not be out of order when it is time for it to check itself. I will go back tomorrow. Who knows what will happen next.

Mr. Wu and the Air Conditioner

2009-04-12T15:23:00.001-07:00

Last month Mr. Wu replaced Miss Summer as the Chinese librarian at school. The HR director brought him to the library and introduced him as Mr. Wu. She added that as of this morning he will be using the English name, Edward. Edward is 37 years old, but if you told me he is 47 I would believe you. Many years ago he majored in English at Beijing University, but as he says with a modest chuckle, he hasn't had any reason to use it since then. At first Edward was very quiet. "The new librarian doesn't make any noise" I heard one of the students exclaim to his teacher. Over time he has become quite assertive. He watches over the books like a bank guard. And his mannerisms are a bit odd. When he walks, he shuffles and leans his body first to the left and then to the right as he half runs, half walks to his destination, while his arms and legs fly off in all directions like they are on springs. Mr. Wu is a good worker and I really appreciate his efforts.

We have had a string of exceptionally hot weather here lately. It was 96 degrees today, so I put the air conditioner on early in the day. When I came back to the library from teaching a class around 2 o'clock, it was scortching hot in there and I noticed immediately that Mr. Wu had opened all the windows. "Mr. Wu," I asked. "Is the air conditioner still on?" It took him awhile to understand my question, but finally he replied, "Oh yes. It's open. I think we need some air to move." Open is the Chinese word for everything that is currently running--lights, motors, classes, etc. That did it. I had lived through 6 months of winter with all the doors and windows in the school open. I had worn a coat, leggings, and scarf for the better part of 5 months, along with all the other teachers, just to keep from freezing to death. I had run around shutting windows in the bathrooms whenever I could sneak in to do it. I had complained about the waste of energy, renewable resources, money...all to no avail. I was fed up with this Chinese disregard for energy conservation, or was it ignorance? "No!" I said loudly, with more than a little exasperation in my voice.

Then I proceeded to deliver a lecture. I'm not sure Mr. Wu caught everything I said, but it did me a lot of good to get it off my chest. "It's 96 degrees out there. It WAS cool in the library when I left. Now it's extremely hot. Hot air expands into cooler spaces. All that hot air from outside has filled the library. Go ahead and fill the library with hot air if you must. BUT, we are NOT going to run the air conditioner at the same time. We are not going to waste money, energy, and non-renewable resources trying to cool the outside. The hot air is rushing in here at a rate many times faster than we could ever possibly cool it. Either you shut the windows and leave the air conditioner on or you turn off the air conditioner and leave the windows open. I don't care what you do! But, we're not going to do both!!!

Poor meek little Mr. Wu. I hope he isn't too traumatized. As soon as he was free to do so, he closed all the windows. He didn't say anything more about it. He's a good soul.

Clear Window Sticky Paper

2009-04-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

Scotch tape, that is. Tou ming jiao bu or zhi or tiao, depending on who is translating or what you want to say. Mr. Edward Wu Da something said it should be jiao zhi, which should mean sticky paper. When I told this to Didi and Ice, they laughed and asked, "jiao zhi, what is that?" So, I'm glad I didn't try jiao zhi out on anyone. They said it should be jiao bu or jaoi tiao. I don't remember what bu means, maybe cloth. Doris, the girl in the supply room (ku feng) at school, says it's tou ming jiao bu. As long as she knows what I mean when I really need it, that's the crucial thing.

But, if language defines the way a society thinks, how people interpret the world around them, it's worth paying attention to this word tape. The first two words, tou ming should be clear window, otherwise known as transparent. Next comes, jiao, which I guess means sticky. Then it's a matter of interpretation what noun to use (sticky what?). Mr. Wu called it sticky paper. I have no clue about bu, but my understanding of tiao is that it stand for long things, like string or wire, and can be used for lots of similar stuff. For example, when I bought 8 meters of cable so I could put one of the speakers for my shelf set in a different room, I asked for tiao. Wo mai la bah mi tiao. I'm pretty sure that means I bought 8 meters of cable. At least, I said that to a Chinese friend, and he appeared to understand just fine.

Point is, we English speakers tend to generalize and are prone to abstraction; we are also in a hurry. It's enough just to say tape. That's quick and easy. In China they ask for clear window sticky paper, or string, or something long. It takes a lot more time to digest that picture. There is a lot to visualize. Every word is a picture, just like their writing or drawing, however you define the characters. Every part of the word is very concrete except perhaps for the all-purpose word tiao; even that is concrete and pictorial once you understand that it represents long, stringy thingies. And every picture has to be processed by the mind's eye. The process is slow. I have many opportunities every day to watch the process evolve before my own frequently impatient eyes.

Thinking, reading, talking, imagining, and philosophing in pictures must profoundly influence a person's interpretation of the world, their world view, in ways that we cut-to-the-chase Westerners find difficult, if not impossible, to understand. I'm sure it has already been said by far more educated minds than mine. Check it out if you're still interested.

World View...that's the apartment complex where we live. Kandu...supposedly it means something like world view. It dawned on me one day that if kan means look, du must have something to do with world, but I don't know what. Bill says it's capital, this makes sense since Beijing is the capital of the middle kingdom, center of world civilization. Here's one I do understand though. Kan shu literally means look at book. But the translation is read a book. So, all those years we pretended to be reading in class but were really daydreaming? Hey, here in China, the kds really are reading, or kan shuing that is.

Outside My Window

2009-04-09T05:49:00.001-07:00

My apartment surrounds a courtyard and is on the 16th floor. Looking down at the ground, I see many trees and several shorter structures, so I was surprised the other day just before sunset to to see this kite flying outside my window. I grabbed my camera, opened my window, and got a couple shots before the kite went down; the string had become tangled in the branches of a tree.

April in Beijing

2009-04-09T04:57:00.000-07:00

April has arrived, and with it, summer, with the temperature hovering around near 80 every day. The forecast shows no signs of change until late next week. Much of March was cool, even cold, so this is pleasant and welcome surprise. Summer in April suits me just fine.

The school recently put up 4 basketball hoops, so last week-end I went to Walmart in Wangjing and bought a basketball for four dollars. It isn't exactly round, but it has plenty of air, and for 4 bucks it's pretty good ball. They did have some quality balls for about 25 dollars in case anyone wants to know. I have put in about 6 hours of practice shooting and ball handling in the past few days. After a couple hours I started to get my shot back. Tennis has started up again too. I've been out twice and we have the court for 2 hours again tomorrow.

The air is extremely dry here, and the wind often blows dirt into my eyes and pores. The dirt and pollution give me a sore throat and wreck my sinuses too, so I've been going to the gym at night to work out a bit, which I follow up with a long, hot shower. The steam helps clear the dirt out of my respiratory tract and lets me breath better.

The Chinese have long been famous for their many kinds of tea which they claim will keep a person healthy. Whether this is true or not, I have finally learned that it is necessary to drink lots of hot, steamy liquids in this part of China. Not only have I taken to drinking hot tea (I bought some strawberry, raspberry, cranberry tea that I call Triple Berry) but I also make a hot broth made from chicken bouillon with fresh squeezed lemon, garlic, parsley and dill.

Just want to say Happy Babies

2009-03-29T00:19:00.000-07:00

Maela Rose Brekke...too bad the Gophers got beat Maela...but with a smile like that your dad can't possibly keep his mind on sports for long, can he? I'm sure he has already forgotten about it.

Sophia Lynne El Amin...only 2 minutes old and already smarter than most of us. Rachel...send more pictures.

Madeline (Maddie)

This is just a note to congratulate John & Hollie, Rachel & Elliott, and Kim and Lloyd who have produced beautiful daughters while I've been away to China. I think of you and your new lives often and wish I could be there. I should be home for the next delivery (KJ and Ben).

Chaoyang Park

2009-03-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

Chaoyang Park , which means, Rising Sun, is a short walk from Beanstalk School and my apartment. It is also the site of the Olympic Volleyball venue and the future site of the Beijing Great Wheel which is in the process of being built right now. http://www.greatwheel.com/beijing_eng/home_english.htm Dave and I have enjoyed some lovely walks there now that it is spring. Here are a few more images.
Near the East Gate
The park is a great place for couples young or old to hang out.
Crouching Dragon on Water located in the center island. By now this area will be filled with water...must go back for a reflection shot.
This monument to PEACE is a gift to the people of Beijing from the citizens of Lima, Peru.
I searched for a plaque explaining this piece but couldn't find one. There are several interesting sculptures in the Art Park.

Non-Violence or The Knotted Gun Carl Fredrik Reutersward
Johann Stauss and Friend

Good-Bye Dave

2009-03-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

March 29, 2009
About an hour ago I left Dave at the Northwest terminal of Beijing International Airport. He should now be on the plane and on his way home to Aitkin. He was here for 4 months and it was wonderful to have him here. We had a great time. I know that am going to miss him more than I can imagine right now.

Olympic Beach Volleyball

2009-03-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

I live about a 10 minute walk from the Olympic Beach Volleyball site, just in case John is interested in knowing.
Above is a picture of the site. Looks like there is still plenty of sand

This sculpture still stands in the park.

Above is Kandu, or World View, where I live. The picture is taken from the Chaoyang Park, site of the beach volleyball.

Signs of Spring in Chaoyang Park

2009-03-27T06:47:00.001-07:00

Flying Kites

2009-03-27T05:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I took a look around the famous Friendship Store near Ritan Park where there is a large selection of intricately designed kites for sale for very reasonable prices. I made up my mind to start shopping around for one or two to take home with me. If you spend much time outdoors in Beijing you are bound to see people flying kites; this is not a passtime to be taken lightly. Often the kites are so high up and so far away from their owners, that it is impossible to know where they originate. Many times it is a job for two.

These 2 men, perhaps father and son, are flying one kite together in Chaoyang Park. In the top picture they have just reeled the kite in and are getting ready to send it up again in this photo.

This is one of the pictures I took of the kite as it was climbing back up into the air.

While I was watching the above kite, this guy arrived. I hurried over and was able to take several pictures while it was still in close range.
I was amazed by the color and clarity.

After a few minutes the first kite appear in the sky much higher but both visible in the view finder.

This guy is a real pro. He can make his kite do just about anything he asks it to do. I tried to catch a few shots that show off his skills...

For several minutes he had it hover over the ground.

Here it is flying around like it's looking for prey.
This is my favorite shot...wings lifted as if flapping.

Even the best flyers have accidental landings. The two guys who lost this one in a tree had pretty sheepish looks on their faces. These branches are very high up. I don't think they could ever get it out without special equipment.

Scene on the Street

2009-03-27T02:47:00.001-07:00

March 2009....Spring has arrived in Beijing

Society in Beijing, and I'm guessing the rest of China too, is very communal. If anything can be said about society here, that is it. People are always gathering together to play mazhan, cards, chess, etc. On the streets, women walk hand in hand or arm in arm, supporting each other both physically and emotionally. This is something I admire.
Free exercise parks are all around Beijing. No need for an expensive gym membership. This is the big park along NanxiLu...spelling remains to be checked.

Wash day is every day...these are the back doors. We don't see the front from the canal.
Shoe repair and keys made while you wait. Next to this vendor sits a woman with an very old Singer sewing machine. She does a brisk business during all seasons of the year.

Don't know what was for sale here, but the horse brought it. I always wonder where the horses go "home" to. Someplace on the outskirts of the city or just down the alley a little way. Not far from us is the only Drive-In Movie around (yes...as in the 1950's and 60's). Sometimes taxi drivers cut through the back streets near there. Then we get to see how fresh our eggs really are. Think about it.

With the arrival of spring came fresh pineapple, already prepared, one dollar. The vendors usually have a big knife and a basin. They whack the outer covering off with the knife. Then they have a v-shape cutter, as used in linoleum printmakiing only larger with which they remove the pitted covering, following around the pineapple in a diagonal path. My plan was to by one every other day, but then I got sick.

The outdoor bicycle shop operates in all seasons and can be found everywhere even along the side of a busy expressway. This one is by the canal along Jiaojiangqiao.
The children wait while the parents shop or run the shop. I asked if I could take her picture. She was pleased with the result. Most children are "only child" and because of that they get special status treatment. This little girls didn't seem to be one of the little empresses. When we walk over to Jenny Lou's grocery in the LiDu area, we are always beseeched by beggars. All during the winter a little girl has been there with her mother who "sets her on" us. We always give her something, but if we don't give her enough she chases us a block or two, screaming in a terrible

voice until she gets more. Then she puts her two hands together, bows thankfully, and leaves.

I took several shots of this woman making the scarf/ribbon dance along the stinky canal. I like this one because I caught it in full loop with the wash in the background. The sun hit all just right.

We often buy our fruit from this woman who operates a stall along a side street off Jiaojianqiao Lu. When I first arrived she tried charging Cathy and me high prices, but once she realized we live here they came down. There is another stall that operates out of an alley on the other side of Ozone. They don't rent a stall, so overhead is low. Food is good and almost free.

This gentleman proudly shows off the new motor bike he just bought. He patted the back seat, offering to give me a ride, which I declined. A wise decision I decided when proceeded to careen down the sidewalk, narrowly escaping a number of close calls. A few more minutes and he was a pro.
The canal, only recently half-frozen and half-empty, is now filled with water. All of the fountains and ponds have been filled again too. Last Saturday or something was "Planting Day". Grounds crews are out digging, planting, watering, et., everywhere I look. Soon the trees will be in full bloom.

Shades of Blue Cervantes

2009-03-27T02:26:00.000-07:00

Tilting at Windmills

Public art in the park borders the Fourth Ring Road near
Traders in the Upper East Side of Beijing. The canal has a
name...I'll look it up. Not far from here I found Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, below. The Quixote turned and shook his sword at me when I took his picture. Tilting at Windmills?

Hutong Courtyard (Quadrangle) House

2009-03-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

When we took the rickshaw, or pedicab, tour of the Hutong area at Houhai, we had the opportunity to stop at one of the traditional courtyard, or quadrangle, houses that were chosen by the city of Beijing to be family stay homes during the Olympics. An English speaking guide explained the history of the house which is not far from Prince Gong's Palace. It was built around 1780 for a high-rankiing general and his family, and as the name implies, it is built around a quadrangular shaped central courtyard.

The south room is the reception area and the least desirable space because it has a northern exposure. The east rooms, the best rooms, are for boys; girls being held in less favor, get the west rooms. The family living area is in the north rooms. Around 1912, with the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the general's family lost the house, or one could say that it was confiscated, and the present family took up residence there.

During the Cultural Revolution they were allowed to remain in the north rooms while the government moved several other families in to occupy the rest of the house. Around 1997 the home was returned to private ownership and has undergone complete restoration. The bed and wardrobe seen in this picture are from 1780s and were part of the living quarters the family was allowed to live in. The family welcomes pyaing guests. Here is the address and telephone number if anyone is interested. #39 Nanguanfang Hutong, Shichahai, Xicheng District, Beijing 100009 Telephone: 010-66572057. Or Google Courtyard House Beijing; there are many others.

Shichahai Again...

2009-03-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Thurday, March 19, 2009

This is the 3rd time I've been to Shichahai and I highly recommend it. Dave and I went there with Lanny in 2007, and Patty and I went there with Lanny last October. This time Dave and I went by ourselves. It was a beautiful spring day and we had the place almost to ourselves. Shichahai is the northern end of the Grand Canal. The southern terminus is West Lake in Hangzhou, about 1800 kilometers to the south. We don't hear much about the Grand Canal in the USA, but to me it is equally impressive as the Great Wall. Constructed and maintained since the 5th century BC, it linked the cities along its route and was the major thoroughfare for commerce and travel for most of that time.

I have uploaded some videos from the day at Facebook. Check out Shichahai and the Grand Canal on the internet. Here are a couple websites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canal_of_China
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/shichahai.htm

The end of March isn't really tourist season yet, so business was pretty slow for the hundreds of rickshaw drivers. Dave and I decided to take the tour. I bargained down to 100 RMB for the two of us, but our driver was obviously a special guy, and we gave him a big tip at the end. I wonder if they get to keep the tips.

Looking Backwards...

2009-03-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 22, 2008
Anyone who has been paying any attention will have noticed by now that I haven't written in my blog since early February when we spent the 17 glorious days on Koh Samui. It feels like eons since then. Not only have I been swamped at work, but I've been fighting a low-grade infection for weeks which turned into a definite sinus infection 10 days ago. This past Tuesday I finally decided I need some antibiotic. One of the teachers who has lived here several years told me that I could buy some over the counter antibiotic at the pharmacy a couple blocks from my apartment. Hey, this is China. Whether or not the stuff is real or effective or harmful is not known, but since she swears by it, I figured it is worth a try. I've been on it for 5 days now and am not dead, I might even be a little better. One thing I did discover is that I also have an infected gum, maybe even an abscess. That, combined with the sinus infection have been enough to make me seek out real medical assistance starting tomorrow.

School has been another thing. After 6 months of trying hard, I still don't have a book order approved. Well, I did actually manage to purchase a small order from a local dealer. I did, however, place the big fiction order on condition that all goes well with the poor excuse of a business office they have here. I am beginning to understand that one obstacle is that no one knows how to set up shipping from the States, but tht is only a very small part of the problem.

Otherwise, we have started to implement the International Primary Curriculum ((IPC) at school and this has meant double duty for me putting together a huge book order in two weeks to support it and finding video resources as well. With the second term came new students needing ESL. Even though I didn't sign on for that responsibility, it was thrust upon me; so I now teach 2 full hours of ESL every day on top of my already too full schedule. Moreover, I am now being asked to sub almost every day. Needless to say, it is not possible to delivery a proper library curriculum to all the grade levels at this point. To top it all off, our Chinese librarian is fed up with the way things are at school and has quit. These are just the highlights...the details are even more discouraging.

So... Since I haven't had to to keep up with the blog, what you read from here on out will be looking backwards...starting with Shichahai, Thursday afternoon, personal leave with Dave.

Koh Samui Thailand

2009-02-05T06:40:00.000-08:00

We are in Thailand on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, which is an inlet of the South China Sea. That is a mouthful, but it gives you an idea anyway. We are on a 17 day vacation from Beijing for the time of the Chinese New Year holiday. It is tropical here, so hot and sunny with some rain, but this is not the rainy season. The town of Lamai is a small town with lots of little shops but bustling with tourists, mostly from Europe and Scandanavia. We hear many languages being spoken besides Thai and the people we visit with are often from Russia, Switzerland, Britain, Sweden and Norway.

Our villa is called Samui Panorama...it's the topmost, over 190 steps up the long winding stairways past where the last vehicle can drive. It has beautiful views of the water and is about a 10 minute walk to the beach.

Since it is Chinese New Year, there is a bit of celebrating going on here...lots of these little Buddhist temples set up in people's yards...tomorrow is Kai Buddha day. Last night included a noisy party for the police but the worst noise comes from a fair at the local temple with VERY BAD singing that goes on until 2 in the morning...I mean terrible!!! They say we will have to endure it until the 27th.

After we settled into our villa, our hostess, Palm (pronounced Bom) took us into Lamai and showed us around, presumably so we wouldn't get lost when we went by ourselves later. Coming back we caught one of the colorful pickup trucks with benches in the back that serve as an alternative form of taxi. We got off at the market, about a 10-15 minute walk from our villa. We found that the best spring rolls come from the market, and the first few times we were there, we could buy a Thai dessert that is similar in taste to creme brulee, but much better. It is like a baked meringue filled with custard. These are cooked over a low flame in aluminum half sphere molds. We saw many banana trees on our way back from the market and I took this picture.

We have a tuckee, a sort of lizard, that greeted us the first night. Usually he hangs his head over the roof and stares at us while we eat and read, etc., on the porch. I think he comes down eats insects after we go inside. Every so often he "talks". It's a pretty loud sound.

The second morning we picked up Bill and Angie from the airport. While waiting for them I made the acquaintance of a couple from Russia who will be here for 2 weeks. The husband is a businessman and has friends in Minnesota who he has spent time with. We've had quite a bit of rain today even though the rainy season is supposed to be over. After eating out tonight we took a taxi home...not very far but cost $6...so taxis are expensive. We had to walk to the top of the mountain which is where our villa is...in the rain...and the dark.

While waiting for Bill to get a haircut, Angie and I sipped tea, and I managed to get some good pix while she watched Dave cavorting around in the rain outside.

These huts are a few hundred feet down the road from us. Some are in the process of getting new roofs which is interesting to watch.

Hibiscus bloom everywhere. This one is along the steps at Seaview Paradise.

Dave

On day 3 the four of us toured the island. First stop was the famous Grandfather Rock. Can you tell which one is Grandfather?

Bang Kao is another beach area. Home of the tamed monkey below.

One of the many beautiful and still isolated beaches along the coast. This beach is isolated but a vendor was stationed there selling a variety of food and drinks; I remember hot sausages.

Angie, wisely deciding not to cross over to the other side of the waterfall. What did Bill say to her to help her make such a smart decision?

Portable produce market. I took this picture through the front window of a van. This guy obviously uses his vehicle for his store. My favorite is the eggs riding on top.

After walking the length of the beach for a few hours we stopped for refreshments. This was the first day I took my camera out after it spent a week in a bag of rice following the dunking at the waterfall. This day it narrowly escaped a big splash from a wave.

Coconuts are everywhere. On a walk, I saw a 3 foot tall coconut tree growing out of one similar to this. If allowed to grow, I imagine this will do the same.

The day we toured the island our first stop was Grandfather and Grandmother rocks. By the time we'd been here ten days we walked there. This picture is taken looking back toward Seaview Paradise.

A Storybook Evening

2009-02-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

On January 17th BIBS presented A Storybook Evening, the WINTER SHOW. For several weeks, all efforts had been devoted to making this perforamance as special, as impressive, as glitzy, as humanly possible. Lessons, as we know them, were suspended. From all appearances one could spseculate that no dollars, or RMB, had been spared either. "Evening" in the title is a bit misleading because it began at 1:30 in the afternoon, but not entirely so since it was almost evening by the time it finished.
5th Grade narrators reading stories whilewaiting for Santa on Christmas Eve
Sophia's Reception class performed Brown Bear by Eric Carle. They were a big hit. Soooooo cute.

First Grade acted out The Little Red Hen.
Third Grade: T'was the Night Before Christmas What a production!!

As GOPHER, I was up front, at stage level, which allowed me to take movies with my SONY Cybershot...the sound recording capability on that camera is amazing. Dave sat in the back of the auditiorium ( 21st Century Hotel) and he reports that everyone he could see thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 4+ hours.

The theme was based on children's books. I helped 2nd grade a bit with Sendak's Where theWild Things Are, but mostly I went a little off the deep end making my own video of the book using Window Movie Maker. I used the Battle Scene and Pine Forest for the music, partly because I had the audio with me, but mostly because it was perfect. I spent hours animating the clips, adding transitions and effects to the greatest advantage. After I did that I found and downloaded Peter Schickele's version of same, for which he had not only written music and narrated, but had it professionaly animated

Baby New Year

2009-01-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

January 3rd...Giant Baby New Year wishes visitors to the plaza at Sanlitun success in the new year. After we left 798, Bill joined us for some fun at The Saddle Cantina followed by a stop at Franks.

Dozens of smaller Baby New Years line the perimeter of the plaza, each offering a different wish for success, prosperity, good fortune, etc., in the coming year.

Even the trolls were there. Perhaps they knew a few Scandinavians would be passing their way.

798 Art Zone

2009-01-06T05:06:00.001-08:00

Saturday, January 3
Only 2 more days before we would head back to school, so we wanted find something to do Saturday. On the Beijing City Weekend website we found two exhibits at the Paris Beijing Photo Gallery at 798 Art Zone. It was a relatively warm day (relative to Minnesota that is), so we put on our leggings (in Dave's case that's longjohns), bundled up well, and started walking. Dave asked me to predict how long it would take to get there. I said half and hour, forgetting that was how long it took me to walk from 798 to Lido which is nearly a half hour walk from here. It took almost an hour. That was one very interesting hour as the streets were filled with people celebrating the New Year weekend too and enjoying the time off. I took this picture of the Chinese warrior with his red flag just as we were about to catch a cab to come back home.
Picture taken through store window. There were between 30-40 of these clay scultures seated in the window. I was able to avoid catching any reflections by stepping to the side and waiting for all the people to leave the scene. I think they are wonderful the way each child has his/her own personality. Last year I was able to photograph the Comrades' Choir at the same shop...probably not its name, but that's what I call it.

This is the 798 Cafe. I don't know anything about the food here, but I have eaten 3 times at the cafe next to it, and the food at that place is the best we've had in Beijing (that is if you don't count the dim sum at the Grand Hyatt Royale Court).

Paris Beijing Photo Gallery

2009-01-06T05:01:00.001-08:00

Edward Butynsky

The Vegetable Museum

2009-01-06T04:51:00.000-08:00

Liberty Leading the Legumes after Delacroix
Saturday, January 3, 2008 We walked to 798 Art Zone to see the exhibits at Paris Beijing Photo Gallery where we saw The Vegetable Museum, work by Lu Duoqi. I found it fascinating. Here is some of what she says about her work:
In the summer of ’06, I bought several kilograms of peas, and sat there quietly for two days peeling them, before stringing them on a wire and turning them into a skirt, a top, a headdress and a magic wand. I used a remote control to take a photo of myself in them, and named it Pea Beauty Pageant. That was my first work of vegetable art.
In the two years that followed, I often dressed up as a housewife, leisurely strolling to the market in a serious search for fun. I would often pace in front of the vegetable stalls, picking things up, thinking and putting them back, trying to figure out which positions made them more interesting. The different types, shapes and colors of the vegetables, with a bit of rearranging, can make for a rich source of imagery. Fresh, withered, rotting, dried, pickled, boiled, fried, they all come out different. I no longer needed a model, as they all became actors and even props. As a director, I directed them to restage La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, and called it La Liberté Guidant les Légumes. As a Chinese woman in this internet age, what I present to people is this kind of world famous painting. Against that fiery fried-egg backdrop, this woman who emanates onion smells from her breast and carries a spring onion spear in her left hand and a wood ear flag in her right, draped in a tofu skin robe, leads the vegetable people forward. The yam soldiers, with their bewildering little round eyes raise a cabbage banner. Having figured out what moving forward means, have they lost their momentum? Each of the potato-head soldiers has a different expression, not sure of their bearing, perhaps surprised, but that is definitely a completely unadorned potato. You wouldn’t know them any better if they were chopped into French fries and covered in ketchup, but when placed in the picture, they all appear unfamiliar and rich in facial expression. On the ground lies the body of a winter melon soldier, with rotting ketchup flowing out of his body like blood. The battleground is strewn with rotting vegetable leaves. This great story of history, this world-famous painting, here becomes completely absurd. How do you approach this famous painting, do you really know its historical background? Do you know what meaning the painter wished to convey? I believe that the world is the world as I understand it, and none other.
Napoleon on Potatoes
I am happy that I have found a way of life for women who love the home. I have found an environmental way of bringing work and life together. From imagination to reconstruction and postproduction, it burns through tons of boring hours. A housewife, who doesn’t have to get up in the morning, wakes up at two a.m. to fry up the carrot that just served as Napoleon’s head. As a medium that decodes time, photography is my favorite. Everything has a spirit, each vegetable, each person, and each second, under careful observation, has extraordinary meaning. What makes me happy is that when I see Napoleon on his Potato, I can think back to when I fried him up and ate him at two in the morning in the summer of ’08. Through photographs, memory becomes sentiment. I never leave the house, and when I do I rarely travel more than 15 kilometers. In a studio, with a knife, a box of toothpicks and some vegetables, I can make small sculptures and slap together big scenes, using a woman’s most effortless and thrifty method of fantasizing about the larger world.
The Birthday of the Eggplants after Marc Chagall
The Third of May2008 after Goya
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Pickled Cabbage after Rembrandt
http://parisbeijingphotogallery.com/main/juduoqiworks.asp
Ju Duoqi
The Vegetable Museum

Best Friends Band

2009-01-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

Odds and Ends

2009-01-02T21:09:00.001-08:00

When we were at the Saddle Cantina with Bill last weekend, a little old man came in and made the rounds from table to table. He had several dozen of these ornaments hanging from a stick. Most were very traditional Chinese style. I bought these two from him. Bill tried to teach me to say, "Buy 2, get one free." but it didn't work on him. Afterwards, I wished that I had bought more.

This is a jiaozi roller, that is, a dumpling roller. I used one when we made jiaozi at the Li's house (see This is the Way We Bao Jiazi). I am planning to make a lemon meringue pie, so I went to the kwai store today to buy a rolling pin. I was sure I had seen them there in the past, but after looking for several minutes I hadn't found one, so I went up to the young man who was minding the store and asked if he spoke any English. He gave me a blank stare and indicated that he didn't. So I said, "Wo yao jiaozi zhuan" and made rolling actions with my hands to show that I wanted to roll jiaozis (only it was really pie crust I wanted to roll). "Aha." he said and made a bee line for a small box in the back corner. There they were! I asked him what they are really called, and he said something like "gong de gong". I thanked him. I walked out of the store looking like the cat who had swallowed the cream. Another small victory in world of communicating in Mandarin.

Juzi...mandarin oranges. These little oranges are absolutely the most delicious oranges ever....in my opinion. These days I can buy a kilo at the little outdoor market by the kwai store for 10 rmb...about a $1.50. For the most part, they have no seeds, peel cleanly and easily and taste great...did I say that before? I took the picture to show that they are freshly picked as evidenced by the leaves. This plate sits on my washing machine which I use for a kitchen counter. That's tub through the transparent plastic lid.

Cathy's toaster oven she loaned me over Christmas vacation. On top is the apple crisp I made...the best I can remember. Also made brownies, bars, and chocolate chip cookies and heated up the quiche from Comptoirs de France...a toaster oven is perfect for that job.
When I first moved in 4.5 months ago I didn't have a waste basket so I improvised with this Comptoirs de France bag (no, not the one the quiche came in). I keep it under the sink and it has held up so far, so I guess I'll keep using it.

On the left, my "fancy" waste basket. I bought it at a flower shop at Pinnacle Plaza on sale for $3. I think maybe it's true purpose is to hold magazines or dried flower arrangements. It's painted wood.

Dry air...the winter air in Beijing is extremely dry. Humidifiers are expensive. But Dave has solved the problem. He washes clothes often while I'm at work. The moisture from the clothes combined with pleasant fragrance of Tide detergent go a long way toward improving the air quality in the apartment . It's a bit of a mixed blessing though, since I don't think the clothes are a particularly pretty sight and sometime prove to be an obstacle course. Still...I vote for the clothes.

Phrik Thai

2009-01-02T20:58:00.000-08:00

Holiday break is coming to an end too fast. We decided to try the Thai restaurant, Phrik Thai. The ambience was good. The service was excellent. The price of wine was astronomical. The food was passable.

The hostess took our picture. Dave looks thrilled to be here, doesn't he? Actually, she took two pictures. You should see how thrilled he looks on the other one.

Did I mention ambience? The dinnerware is beautiful cobalt blue and gold. That is a pure silver cup from which I drank ice water...bing shui. Usually, when I ask for ice water all I get is cold water. Drinking ice water from a pure silver cup is an sensational experience.

More ambience...although you can't see it...we are seated on cushioned benches in pits. Dave was quite concerned that he wouldn't be able to climb out. He ordered chicken and rice in a carved out pineapple. The chicken was difficult to find, but it tasted good.

Bowling on New Year's Day

2009-01-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

What to do New Year's Day in Beijing? First, we splept in. That was good. Then we just puttered around and enjoyed doing whatever. Finally, we bundled up and walked over to the Lido bowling alley....SMJ Bowling Club. We were a bit surprised at what we found...there were 20 lanes and the place was full. Best of all...there was no smoke! We hadn't intended to bowl, just look, but the bowling bug has a way of taking effect, so after about 20 minutes of watching we asked if there was an open lane. It turned out that one had just opened up, and within a few minutes we were out there with around 100 Chinese and a dozen other foreigners. We ended up having a really fun time. I couldn't find a light enough ball, but after we finished I found several really good ones so would like to try again with one of those.

Le Cool Skating Rink

2009-01-02T20:26:00.001-08:00

China World

2009-01-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

Beijing World Art Museum

2009-01-02T20:23:00.001-08:00

Market

2009-01-02T20:21:00.001-08:00

Xin nian kuai le

2008-12-31T06:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! What Else?

Quiz Night at Franks

2008-12-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

For a bit of excitement and entertainment you can get a team together a go to Quiz Night at Franks…if you can handle the smoke. Yikes! There sure is a lot of that. Beanstalk usually has a team thanks mostly to Ryan. I’ve gone 3 times. I’m trying to get Bill and a couple of his pals from the Embassy to come and be a team with Dave and me. The questions are usually too much on the macho side and heavily favor members of the Commonwealth…but then most of the participants are male and for all I know, most of them come from some Commonwealth country. I’m starting to get the hang of it though. After the quiz round there is a Picture Round. Ordinarily I’m not good at picture round, but last week was an exception. The pictures were of 10 famous works of art and you had to name the artist. Piece of cake…we won hands down. Anyone need a gym bag?
City Weekend says:
Frank's classic quiz night, led by Ray K and Graham continues. Attracting a more mature crowd than some of the other quiz nights in town, you'll need to put on your thinking caps if your team is to take home one of the several great prizes.

Tian Kai Temple

2008-12-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas

2008-12-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

The $10 Christmas tree we bought at WalMart, that is Wal er ma, with the 10 kwai lights that broke because (1) they were cheap; and (2) the outlets in the apartment are poorly made and wouldn't accept the plug without destroying it. I solved that one by using a power strip made for China, and bought a new set of lights. Note the Swedish straw ornaments from Ikea.

One day about a month ago Beanstalk started to prepare for Christmas. Since we are an international school I was only mildly surprised to see Christmas decorations going up everywhere…even tinsel garland wrapped around all the stair railings--how’d they expect those to last until vacation? But for the most part they did. We had a huge light covered tree in the main entry with lots of fake presents under it. Actually, it felt pretty good, a reminder of home. BUT…I wasn’t prepared to see the entire city turn into Christmas town…or at least the parts I could see…remember Beijing is bigger than Belgium. Everywhere I went, there was Santa Claus, Rudulph, Jingle Bells, songs, lights, decorations, even trees to be bought. Cheap ones at Walmart (we bought one there for $10 and lights for $1.50 at Nik’s market) or expensive environment friendly potted ones out at Bill’s in ShunYi. Down at Lady Street the Christmas was doing a brisk business. I had bought Swedish straw ornaments at Ikea in September so didn’t buy anything there.
Anyway, I’d gradually become accustomed to Beijing’s embrace of Christmas by the time Dave arrive and the celebration was just about at its heigh; the sight was pretty amazing to a newcomer. In this avowedly Communist country, all this Christmas seemed incongruous…even downright illegal…or what was up there? It turns out that it’s OK to embrace all the external trappings of Christmas…and I think the Chinese love an excuse to celebrate anything…but it’s not alright to talk about Jesus. At least that’s what we’ve heard. So, our building, has a huge decorated Christmas tree, and foreigners like Dave and I each received lovely Christmas cards from Brilliant Management (the name of the company that owns the complex…think it refers to light not intelligence), and every so often my cell phone rings and there is a message, “Merry Christmas” from someone I don’t know but assume it’s a contact I’ve made since last August.

Lanny and Bruce came one day, so Dave and Bruce got to meet. We had good old American hamburger which Bruce seemed to think were pretty good. I don’t know what it is about the Chinese idea of a hamburger, but they just aren’t as good as what I make at home. After we ate, we went to Walmart in Wangjing and bought our tree. We also bought a set of ping pong paddles and some balls because Dave had also noticed that there is a ping pong table outside the apartment and people play there all the time. I figure we’ll get around to playing someday soon too. So far we’ve been too busy…or it has been too cold…or too windy…but one of these days. That is one thing I have noticed…when it is windy, it is really windy. Last Sunday we had plans to go with Jenny and Summer, my 2 library assistants to Pan Jia Juan, the “dirt market”…or very famous flea/antique market. We were going on a Sunday because that’s supposed to be the most interesting day. BUT, Sunday morning blew in like a fierce gale which continued all day. Plans were put on hold. When it blows like that, it’s almost impossible to make progress when you walk.

Friday the 19th was the last day of school before vacation. We were finished at noon. Everyone received a gift of 2 bottles of fine Australian wine from the administration. I had planned a Christmas party for those who weren’t flying out that day. The Christmas tree was up and the lights were lit. The menu was Swedish meatballs with gravy, the authentic kind (with real cream and nutmeg), mashed potatoes (that was a challenge with no masher) corn, lingonberries, and cheesecake (with either cherry of fresh raspberry topping) all served smorgasbord style…how else? Ten of us squeezed into this little space, including a 4 month old and a 3 year old. It was warm, cozy, and festive, and I felt very lucky and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful and interesting people. There is no doubt in my mind that the best addition to the party was Dave.

Christmas Eve day Bill picked us up and took us to River Garden, so we left our little apartment in “China Town” to spend a couple nights at “The Castle”. That’s what I affectionately call Bill and Jeanny’s place since my entire apartment would fit in their living room with room to spare. I like it out at ShunYi. It’s on the edge of the country…at least for now…but they are rapidly being surrounded by malls, and new apartments, and big hotels, the new exhibition center is only 2 blocks away, and the airport is practically within view. It is a huge ex-pat community. The homey shopping center is called Pinnacle, but just around the bend is the new multi-story shopping mall, EuroPlaza. Pretty soon it won’t be the same place at all. ISB is out there too (The International School of Beijing) and WAB is not far away (The Western Academy of Beijing). All in all, it’s a good place to be.

We attended a Christmas Eve party at the home of Bill’s colleague, Rosemary Gallant and her husband, Jonathan. We enjoyed the assortment of guests at the party, which included the Gallant’s two charming daughters, a Catholic priest who Rosemary had known when they were in Taipei, some friends from the embassy who had recently arrived in Beijing, and a couple who are New York Times reporters assigned to Beijing since January and still trying to learn the language, plus their 3 children, the oldest “home” from Stanford. All interesting. But for me, a Norwegian girl from North Dakota, it is worth noting that Jon’s mother is a cousin to Myron Floren. Some of you reading this will now say, “REALLY? WOW!” But, most will probably say, “Who’s that?” So, for that group…Myron Floren was Lawrence Welk’s accordionist which he played forever on the TV show and later he toured the country and ended up at Host Fest in Minot every year. Some of you know that our Grandpa Art’s first cousin, Jules Herman, was Lawrence Welk’s first trumpet player, and his wife, Lois Best, was the first Champagne Lady. http://www.tpt.org/lostcity/ballrooms.html. With this in mind, you might catch on that some of us thought it interesting that Jon was related to Myron Floren. Jon’s mother also Norwegian and comes from Madison, the self-proclaimed “Most Norwegian Town” in Minnesota. We weren’t surprised anyway when Jon brought out his accordion and played a few Christmas tunes.

Mutianyu Again

2008-12-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

Delicate Blown Glass Flowers
The air was cold and crisp and the sky was a brilliant blue when Bill called to ask we wanted to go out to the Mutianyu with him, the mountainas, Great Wall Mutianyu, the School House and teahouse, where we had been twice before with him, last year. Of course we did. We were very grateful. Could Janice and Sophia come too? Yes, but they were at the market and would have to hurry to get back in time. I really like Mutianyu, for the same reason Bill does, I imagine. There is really good western food at the restaurant and the good noodles at the teahouse, and really interesting architectural work and restoration being done there, plus opportunities and possibilities for someone with some money…not me. But the immediate interest is the Schoolhouse which features the glass blowing studio where the beautiful glass is made. See: http://www.theschoolhouseatmutianyu.com/. There is also an art initiative and classrooms, so I imagine art classes as well. This is where we first saw the singing bowls…which are amazing. If you strike the rim of a bowl with a padded rod, in a fashion similar to the way you’d strike a tuning fork, and continue to run the rod around the rim of the bowl, the sound becomes progressively louder and louder until finally you must stop because it is too loud to endure. I had never seen or anything like it before. Last year we enjoyed the donkey in the moat; this year we were even more excited by thesight of a camel going by as we got out of the car. Mutianyu was an official Olympics tourist site. Here it isdecorated for Christmas. We drank hot cocoa in the café and decorated placemates with Craypas.

Sophia Kim and Janice Aulicino

Janice, Sophi, and Dave and Singing Bowls

Glass Blowing Artist gives demonstrations

Above: Examples of Beautiful Glass for sale

Ladies Street

2008-12-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

We have had numerous opportunities to participate in and celebrate Christmas in traditional back home ways, all of which have kept us very busy and helped us feel connected, starting with the annual Christmas Bazaar at River Garden, where Bill lives. It could have been anywhere at home, just a bit more exotic and upscale. Lots of Chinese vendors as well. I bought a necklace and earrings for myself, having neglected to bring much of that sort of thing with me. I also bought some little mince pies from a couple girls scout; they turned out to be delicious. Wouldn’t mind getting more of them. The following weekend, Patty and Jane, and Dave and I went to the Rotary Club Bazaar at the Beijing Hilton, just a stone’s through from the new US Embassy. There we met lots of Minnesotans, many from ISB (International School of Beijing) who were either selling things or singing Christmas music or just shopping. Among them was Joan Lueth who is from the Bemidji area and teaches art at ISB. She has published 3 photo books, which she sell, 2 feature Beijing and one features Rodeo belt buckles. I bought one of those for Roger.
As you might expect, many of the vendors at the Rotary Bazaar were engaged in philanthropic work. For example, we bought cards from an organization that helps migrant workers and their families. We also bought UNICEF cards. We met a woman who works with developmentally delayed kids who get very little public schooling. I bought a necklace made by them. We also met the wife and daughters of the UN ambassador to China who devotes all of her time to working with the Shangri La organization. I don’t know enough about that but need to learn. The most significant thing we did there was buy a large watercolor painting from an artist by the name of Song. The subject of the painting is 8 cormorants perched on a little fishing boat down in the Quinlin area. Mr. Song said the birds are happy because they have done a good day’s work and are now full of fish. The colors and the subject matter of the painting will bring peace and happiness into our home. We bought the picture because we both really liked it…maybe that’s it.

Sometime in the middle of all this activity, we attended the River Garden Christmas party with Bill. It was an extravaganza to say the least, put on by the family that developed River Garden. Highlights included a huge selection of delicious foods served all night long with a variety of drinks for those who wanted them, a really good music group that sang good songs from the US, socializing with worthy folks, and best of all for me…a fun dough artist/sculptor in the children’s area who I sat and watched for quite a long time. He made anything the kids asked for but the most outstanding was the toucan with multi-colored feathered wings; it perched on its own ring that hung from a stick. Second to that was a little colt curled up in a resting position.

Our wedding anniversary was December 12th, Friday. It had been a long week and I was beat. One of the teachers was having a Christmas party that I wanted to attend, but it was also our wedding anniversary and Dave had only been here for 2 weeks. We decided to walk to the Holiday Inn and try out a Thai restaurant. But on our way to the Thai place we stopped to look at the menu at the Texas Grill and while we stood there we heard the very talented Cruz family singing some familiar romantic tunes. Romance on your wedding anniversary is a good thing we agreed, so we didn’t make it any further. It turns out that the Cruz family takes requests and likes to get people to come up and sing with them which is how we ended up singing Annie’s Song with them; also it was in their book. Since John wrote the song for Ann and we were all at Gustavus together when they were courting and we were just getting to know each other, we thought it a very appropriate song to sing. It certainly brought back a flood of memories from those days. They say if you can remember the 60’s you weren’t there, but I can guarantee that’s not completely true. We’ve been back to enjoy the Cruz’ singing a few times since then and haven’t been disappointed.

Dave's Arrival...Finally!

2008-12-21T20:48:00.001-08:00

November 29, 2008

Dave arrived in Beijing around 9:30 Saturday night, November 29th. Today is December 29, 2008, and this is the first time I’ve written in my blog since then. WOW! I have had the best intentions and tried many times to get it done, but the best I could accomplish was picture-taking…they help me remember some of what we’ve been up to at least. Here is Dave coming out of immigration into the reception area at Beijing Capital Airport Terminal 2 where NWA is still located. He looks great after traveling for 24 hours, but I have to say, I was stunned by the short haircut, I called it a scalping, he received from one of the local Aitkin barbers. Never again, I vowed! After a month it still look short to me...even if he does refer to it as "clear".

We spent the first week in our little apartment learning how to maneuver around each other in the tight space. Dave learned the hard way, or I should say he continues to learn, where the hazards are. The worst one is the tempered-glass hood above the gas burners. At least I hope it's tempered. He has nicked his bald head on that many, many times. All in all though, we have adjusted well and the space seems to have expanded to fit us. We have added some touches, like pictures of Jesse and Celeste, a beautiful watercolor painting, and our favorite Linda Nelson Stocks Folkart Calendar, plus all the Christmas decorations, which go a long way to help make it seem like our home away from home. We have been buying the same calendar for nearly twenty years and were amazed to find it here at the huge bookstore/warehouse just outside of Beijing where I went one day to buy books for the school library. Dave and Celeste had already discussed how she would buy one back home but no need for that now.

It has been interesting for me to see our little corner of Beijing through Dave’s eyes. I really think he should either have his own blog or he should take a few turns here. Just this morning as we sat eating breakfast, which included the banana cake I made using Cathy's EasyBake oven (OK so it is a tiny convection oven she bought last month) he pointed to a fellow dragging a big load of something along behind him, and said to me, "I'm always reminded I'm in Chinas whenever I look out the window and and see someone moving a pulling or dragging a something down the street." We talked about some of the most memorable instances. For example, the man on a bicycle who was transporting a load of recyclables down the highway...the trailor box attached to his bike was the size of a large truck. We often see horses right here on our service road or the expressway, hauling heavy cement blocks on a platform, more than we would dare put in the back of our Jeep. The first week Dave was here we walked home from the grocery store along a back alleyway just as folks were coming home from work. It was already dark, and as we walked past a street vendor's stall, about 6' x 12', we noticed the owner had just finished closing the windows and was about to climb onto the 3-wheeled bicycle that supported the front and pedal away. Now that's really taking you work home with you.

Dave has spent most of his days in my apartment, so he has had time to observe the local scene during the day while I'm at work. The middle school below us, for example, where the kids have sports and other activities like the big parade formations I talked about in Septmenber. There’s no messing around once the teacher appears; everyone snaps into formation and attention. One morning he saw a student shooting free throws; when he finished, he jumped up in the air and pumped his fist like he had scored some sort of victory. The teacher got down and did a bunch of push-ups. Some things must be universal.

Then there are the morning instructions that workers at Kandu, our apartment complex receive from their supervisors, males and females in separate groups. Usually the supervisor reads from a piece of paper. Always the workers stand at attention on the mall, trying to ignore any distractions and probably pretending to listen. I often pass them on my way to school. One morning the girl who works our desk saw me and just about lost it. She waved, squeak a little “hi” and quickly caught herself, regaining her compose in time so as not to appear disrespectful to the boss. Last week Dave saw a male supervisor run over to one of the workers, grab him by the throat and give him a good whack. This was from 16 floors above, so Dave didn’t know if it was for real or not.

November 28

2008-12-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

Datong

2008-11-22T21:28:00.001-08:00

International Foods Day

2008-11-21T01:48:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 21st, was Interntional Foods Day at Beanstalk.

Super Spaghetti Sunday

2008-11-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

Next week is Thanksgiving. We're almost three months into the school year. We are family. My apartment is warm and cozy. It seemed like a cause for celebration, and I've been thinking about making spaghetti for several days, actually for weeks. I've been stocking up on the ingredients. When you have to carry your groceries home on your back, you think about how much heavy stuff you want to buy each trip. Saturday night I stayed up late and made the sauce which wouldn't have been as good without all the herbs I was able to buy that afternoon in Sanlitun.

Janice and Sophia brought a pound cake which we doctored up with Bailey's and cool whip. Then grated chocolate on the top. Delicious.

Cathy took this picture. From l to r it's Patty Barry, Jane Harris, me, Janice Aulicino, and Sophia Kim. I have 5 chairs, so we used the arm of the sofa for the sixth seat.

Jane and Cathy brought their knitting. They also brought wine. Who knew that wine and wool went together so well. I think the pictures tell the story. We had a great time eating, drinking, laughing, telling stories, and getting to know each other better. Before we ate, we stopped to express our gratitude for 2 things each. I think we all agreed with Janice when she said that she was most grateful for our China family. It would be a very different experience for all of us without the fun, friendship and support we share. Good Fortune...as they say here.

Yashao and Bargaining

2008-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning Cathy and Janice and I played tennis. It was cool and windy, but we had a good time. In the afternoon Patty, Jane and I went to Sanlitun again. Jane was in search of some of some warm clothes and Patty wanted to buy a hat to match the scarf she had already bought at UniClo. That's Jane and Patty here, and them again as they approach UniClo. Now Patty's from Florida and Jane is from northern California, where I know it can get pretty cold, but still the Beijing winter will be a challenge for them. Of course, it would go a lot better for all of us at school if we ever decide to stop heating the outdoors. I realize I"m in China, and they do things differently here, but I have seen and heard that China is making a very big deal about conserving energy. Perhaps they just don't know how to do it, so I think it would be a good idea to start at our school by educating the Chinese staff about the need to close doors and windows in cold weather, especially when we are consuming huge amounts of non-renewable resources to heat the inside and the outside of the building. We could start with a physics lesson focusing on the concept of hot air expanding into cool spaces. We could make it seem really patriotic as in, "Look what we are doing to help China achieve energy efficiency."etc. Starting today, no ai ee's will run around the building several times a day opening all the windows. And the playground doors will remain closed when the outdoor temperature is below 16 degrees Celsius. Yeah! I'll vote for that!!
This tree is in the plaza at Sanlitun. Hanging from the branches are hundreds of leaf-shaped pieces of white plastic with Chinese script on them. I don't what they say, but the tree does seem like a aChristmas tree.
Me, I just wanted to go shopping and see if I could find anything I really wanted or needed. I was mostly thinking of buying some fabric to make covers for the 3 pillows I bought for $1.30 at Carrefour. I figured I could probably buy enough fabric for a dollar or two. But Yashao is for wheeling and dealing, that is bargaining. They say you should never pay more than 50% of the original asking price. So I thought I should give it a try, and wouldn't you know, I came upon a stall with the absolute perfect pillow covers for me to bargain on. First I asked about a pair covers. The price was 185 RMB. OK, around 93 then, I thought. Then I asked about the red one. Suddenly the price for the 3 went up to 555! Crazy. I asked the sales girl if she spoke a little English. She said she spoke very good English. So I told her that it must be her math that was the problem. In the end I paid 210, which I think was far too much. I would have been happy with 150. My math maybe isn't that good either, but my decorating skills are still OK.
In the evening we ate dinner at the Saddle Cantina which makes pretty good Mexican food. Patty's tortilla soup was very good and so was Jan'es burrito. As for me, I had corn chips with quacamole...but the really hit was the beer which they brew right there, so I'm thinking these vats are doing their thing. If you come to Beijing and just want a touch of the good old USA Mexican style, it's a good place to go.

We also stopped at a place calle Henley's where I bought the first brandy I've come across since I got here, French brandy, maybe that's because we were in the French section. They also sold herbs and spices in small packet, so I stocked up. And there on the bottom shelf sat a package of Betty Crocker Pancake mix and some Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate frosting. This time I didn't hesitate, I snapped them right up, and here is what I had for breakfast the next morning.

Chinese Language Websites

2008-11-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Chinese Language Websites There are many--
The BBC is Great for Online language lessons.
BBC Real Chinese http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/
Start with Introductions or wherever you want. YOU WILL NEED SPEAKERS or HEADSET

Usborne First Thousand Words in Chinese
http://usborne-quicklinks.com/usa/usa_entity_pages/usa_select_page.asp?lvl=1&menu=s67&id=2231
First Thousand Words in Chinese has Pinyin and English spelling. Chinese pronunciation.
Type a page number and start listening. The first page is 4.

See also related links.
Discovering China http://library.thinkquest.org/26469/?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0510
Guide to China's recent history, modern cities, famous people, art, religion, medicine and food, with movie clips and quizzes.

China at a Glance http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_china.html
Pictures, maps and other information about China, including a taste of traditional Chinese music.

Virtual tour of China http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/hh/goplaces/main/0,28375,536982,00.html
Visit the main tourist destinations, learn some useful phrases, send an e-card and take a quiz.

YouTube: Google YouTube + Mandarin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNoOdNvdZlg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwyQK62tO_U

Active Chinese Lessons
Beginner Chinese Lesson Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEHVLuhQ9aU&NR=1
Active Chinese Lesson Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TtGbOg7R8A&feature=related
Lesson One Introductions Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctvv12hVQAg&feature=related
Lesson 2 Ordering Drinks Dialogue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-O7kfny5Bg&feature=related
Lesson 2 Ordering Drinks Language Points http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ubgu5DR3vE&NR=1

Language Bite
http://www.languagebite.com/ If you like this you can sign up for inexpensive lessons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gRa8nOwJBM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfbkC9bTTc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnY0tEjcljo&feature=related

If you are up for it--Learn Mandarin Characters http://www.zhongwen.com/

Heat...and COLD

2008-11-11T06:50:00.003-08:00

Holli's Rug
Last night, November 11th, they turned on the heat in our apartment building or at least it's warm in this apartment. That's 4 days ahead of schedule and none too soon. Actually, I'm one of the lucky ones because my landlord had installed an auxiliary combination air conditioner/heater (a Haier). I might be the only teacher in Cando who has one, and I'm very grateful for it. Bill has said many times over the years that they don't turn on the heat until November 15th, so I was mentally prepared to be cold, but mental preparation doesn't do a lot to combat the actual physical cold, and it turned cold the end of September. My apartment floor is cold charcoal gray tiles laid on cold cement with very little insulation anywhere and floor to ceiling windows. The first thing I did was buy a warm comforter at Ikea which keeps me toasty warm at night. The bathroom has big heat lamps, so sometimes I turn them on and go in there to warm up. Sometimes I turn on the gas burners to warm the kitchen.
A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to use the auxilliary heater, but since the remote control is all in Chinese I went across the hall to ask Paulina to help me. Paulina is Chinese but has lived in San Francisco for years. She and her husband are expecting their first baby in January and have a beautiful 2-story apartment that they just finished decorating. Both Paulina and her husband were bundled up in warm coats when she opened the door, patiently waiting for November 15th. It turned out that there wasn't much to know about the remote control as long as all I wanted was heat and fan, but I showed Pauline how she could get a little heat in her apartment by using the thermostat on the wall; it's not much but is better than nothing. She said I was going to have a really big electricity bill if I use the auxilliary heat and I said that was OK with me. Electricity is another one of those things that we have to buy at the bank then put into a meter. I bought 400 units for 27 dollars. That should last a long time, maybe until next spring.
With 400 units of electricity in my meter, I wasn't worrying about running the heater, but I still had freezing floors and icy cold windows. Then last weekend Bill took Patty and me to B&Q which is the British version of Home Depot, so much so that it was easy to forget that it wasn't. I bought several sheets of styrofoam insulation to put along lower part of the windows. This at least keeps the cold draft off my feet. I also bought a few rugs and a finished board that I paid 93 kwai for (about $13) which I turned into a kind of buffet, shown here. Then Holli gave me the big rug that has been standing in a corner of her apartment for the past few months. It turns out that it is the perfect size and color for this space, and I now walk across my living room floor without freezing my feet.

Obama Nation

2008-11-11T06:50:00.001-08:00

A few of us, a very small few, went to Quiz Night last Wednesday, a few Americans amid a sea of others...mostly Brits and Aussies as far as I could tell. Wednesday here was Tuesday back home. Election Tuesday; results were in. We called ourselves Obama Nation.

Wal er ma, Zai Nali?

2008-11-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 8th, Patty, Sophia, Janice and I took the 420 bus to Wangjing in search of Walmart and Carrefour. It was an expedition, a journey of exploration. Sometime during the week I'd heard that Walmart sounded something like "Wal Ma ka" so I tried to find out from the conductor where it was, but to no avail. Wal ma ka, zai nali? I asked, but all I got was a quizical look in response. She wanted to be helpful, but I obviously didn't have it quite right. No matter. Bill had taken me to Wangjing about a month ago and the landmarks started to look familiar. There it was....Wal ER ma...Wally World. The bus stopped at its front door which was just a block from the big Wangjing Mall. Since this is a Super Walmart, it had a large supermarket; so did the mall. In fact, it seems that large supermarkets can be found in the lower level of every mall, and that's where I saw the three little piggies in a basket that you see here. Aren't they cute?

Halloween at Beanstalk

2008-11-10T07:15:00.001-08:00

Friday, October 31, 2008
A memorable warm, sunny day in Beijing and a school Halloween Party like I've never experienced before. No, not a party, carnival is a better description. Every child in the school came dressed to the nines, most of them wore costumes that were probably hand tailored since the cost is so low. Teachers were also expected to dress up. I had planned to go shopping for something to wear Thursday night but I realized I was getting a sinus infection so decided not to go. Friday morning I still didn't know what to do for a costume when I noticed the kimono I had brought from home to use as a bathrobe and suddenly I knew what I would be...a Geisha girl. I had a bright orange floral fabric recently purchased at the kwai store that I could tie around my waist and fashion into a bundle. A little extra eye make-up, dangling pearl earrings and little fancy hair styling and I was set. The children were impressed and so sweet. I heard, "You are so beautiful, Miss Sue." over and over again throughout the day.

Mr. Ryan was the mastermind behind the big day. Here he is explaining all the venues to the children. The biggest one was Mr. Dave's scary stories. Mr. Dave looked about as scary as anyone could possibly look. This wouldn't have taken a lot of work to begin with, but his clown make-up finished the job. The Sixth Grade class had a Haunted House, there was a fish pond, mummy wrapping, Feed Frank (bean bag toss into Frankenstein's mouth) pumpkin decorating (not carving), t-shirt painting, face painting, mystery boxes, musical chairs, caramel apples, hot chocolate, worms in a pie, and Mr. Kreeps. Thechildren were told a story called Meet Mr. Kreeps. The guy died and left his body to science in hopes that someone could figure out what he had died from. Kids put their hands in bowls of things like cold noodles that represent veins, and cooked whole mushroom that represent eyeballs.

I volunteered to be in charge of Pin the Tail on the Cat. I knew how to do that and since the event was outside, I hoped it would be in a nice warm spot. As it turned out, the location was as warm and sheltered as it could possible be. I was plenty hot. To my amazement the children kept coming and coming to be spun around and around until they could barely stand up. Then I let them lose to try to find the cat. I sang a little song about spinning round and round, where you stop NOBODY knows...this in English. But, it wasn't long before I heard behind me zhuan, zhuan, zhuan "turn, turn, turn". After that I incorporated zhuan, zhuan, zhuan into my little ditty.

To the Top

2008-11-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

I had no idea when I was taking pictures at the small family style restaurant where we ate lunch and snapped this shot of a small building on top a very large hill that it was to be our destination the following day. If you look closely, you can see that little white spot against the blue sky at the top of the hill. Sunday morning arrived bright and sunny. After a breakfast of apples and mantou, steamed buns, we put on our sweatshirts and sun glasses and started to climb. It wasn't long before we had to remove the sweatshirts as the sun beat down on us.

The above picture is taken from about halfway up. The direction is essentially north. When we turned to look back down the hill we saw two hills, one to the southwest, the other to the southeast. Victor explained that we were standing on a line directly north of the Forbidden City. The hill to the east is called White Tiger and the hill to the west is called Green Dragon. Certainly the hill to the west did look like a dragon with its tail stretched out for miles behind it. At least that's how I remember it, but it could have been that Green Dragon was in the east and White Tiger was in the west. If I understand the rest of the story though, the dragon or snake mountain is Mangshan, and White Tiger mountain is Huyu Mountain. Significantly, the Ming Tombs are also located between the two mountains; therefore the White Tiger and Green Dragon guard the tombs. Somehow Feng Shui is also part of the story.

On our way up the mountain we saw dozens of large locusts along the way. Here Cathy has picked one up. There was a praying mantis with the locust below.

We made it to the top at exactly the time Cathy said we would. I'd say her many years living in the mountains have turned her into an excellent judge how much time it takes to move in an essentially verticl direction.

This little lizard had recently died. There was blood nearby. Was it's death caused by man or beast?

Xiang Tang Golf Course and Culture Village seen from the top looking east.

Li Jardins

2008-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

I call this Li Jardins but the estate is actually shared by two families. The Li's invited us for Karaoke and dinner, the jiaozi we helped make. The setting is very much like a French Chateau. Both houses open onto a large terrace and overlook a beautiful garden. The rooster is a symbol of Good Luck. I did learn how to say it but it's jumbled up with dozens of other partially learned words...some thing like yunji .

This Is the Way We Bao Jiaozi

2008-11-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Bao: To wrap; as in Da Bao, Doggie Bag. pronounced "bow" as in Chairman Mao
Jiaozi: Dumplings as in picture below. prounced gee-ou-zuh...said fast

The Li's invited to have dinner with them. First we went to their home theater and spent an hour doing Karaoke. That was a blast. Then it was time to make the dumplings. Some dumplings were filled with meat and others with vegetables, including pumpkin. The grandmother, the woman in the dark green shirt, showed us how to stuff and pinch them. The trick to sealing them is to hold them with both hands and give them a good solid pinch. I was a very poor student in that area, but my many years of making lefse made me an ideal dough roller. That's one of the Li daughters with the rolling pin in the above picture.

One tray of jiaozi...we made many, many such trays. From this point they went into big kettles of boiling water. We ate them in bowls with chop sticks. Hah! Slippery little buggers. For flavor we added soy sauce or very strong vinegar What didn't get eaten that night went in the freezer.

This video may never play but is is Cathy thanking the Li's for a fabulous evening. She sang an Irish song for them. Then they brought her a guitar and we had a little sing-along before saying good-bye for the evening.

MaoLiu

2008-10-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

This is Cathy and me with Mr. MaoLiu, the architect. How you really spell his name, I don't .know, but it sounds like Mario only with an l instead of an r. Mr. Liu lived many years in Japan although he is Chinese and is blending elements from both Chinese and Japanese philosophy into the construction of his fabulous home in the hills on the northern edge of Beijing.

Settling In at Last

2008-10-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

The first thing I did after I realized the water problems in my apartment were over and I would be able to stay, was going over to Cathy's and get my wall hanging that I had bought at Yuanming Yuan, the Old Summer Palace. Here it is. It is a cut paper picture called "Going to Market". There are many of these for sale at inexpensive prices, but this one is much better quality than those. The paper is a high grade, almost velour and the quality of the fabric it is mounted on is also better. The walls here are made of extremely hard plaster but there already was a hanger in place over the TV that I never use, so there it hangs. You might ask why I never watch TV; there's only one English language station that broadcasts the same thing over and over again; eventually it's not worth it. Also, I never have time for TV. I do listen to MPR all the time which is a godsend. Since the doors on my closet kept falling off and hitting me on the head, the landlord installed the new ones seen here. They are pretty and make the apartment much nicerI've bought a few other things for t he apartment too, like the comforter for my bed, the large tea lights for Ikea, and the beautiful blown glass vase that I bought at the kwai store for 5 kwai because it has a hole in the side. I bought the ffake roses at

the Ikea. The Swedish Ivy I pinched off some plants one day and put them in a cut down plastic water bottle. One of these days they'll have roots.

We're Going to the Mountains!

2008-10-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 27, 2008
The view from the top. Last Friday afternoon I stayed late at school to put the final touches on the Dewey Decimal System. Yes! The library is finally organized. No, we have no card catalog, not the old fashioned kind or the new-fangled computerized database, although that's coming, but we can go to the 590's and find butterflies, and we can go to the fiction and find Cleary! I was feeling pretty good about all this, when my cell phone rang. It was Cathy. Did I want to go hiking in the mountains with Janet and Victor tomorrow? They'd pick us up at 10. Of course, I did. How could I turn down an opportunity to get out of the city and see a different side of China. I had several plans for Saturday, but I'd just have to put them off until Sunday.
At 10 o'clock Saturday morning I meet Cathy out front with my little backpack and water bottle. "Is that all you're bringing?" she asks. "We're staying overnight." WOW! So, I dashed back and grabbed a few overnight things, although not enough as it turned out.
Janet is one of the administrative staff at Beanstalk Academy and her husband, Victor, is with Sun Microsystems. They are originally from Taiwan but have lived in the states for many years as well as Shanghai.We stayed at their country place which is between Xiang Tang Culture Village and Changping. Changping means Prosperity and Peace...auspicious name for a village. But at first I had no idea that we were spending the night any place. I had assumed we were going to a rental, so I was surprised when we arrived at the Jieh's beautiful county home. On our way there we stopped at a housing unit for the elderly and visited with a delightful woman who is 104 years old. Her eyesight and hearing were very good, she said, but sometimes she didn't sleep as well at night as she'd like. We ate at a small country-style "All you can eat" restaurant. The food was very good, mostly vegetarian but also thinly sliced liver and a beef or pork dish. That's Janet and Victor's house to the left. The village is well-known for it's orchards, especially apples, and we bought a couple dozen especially delicious ones to bring home. I hope to make something delicious like apple crisp with them, but my microwave went on the fritz. I'm getting another one from Bill. I've never made apple crisp in a microwave but I've spent a lot of time studying recipes on the internet and am convinced it can be done.

LiGuanXing

2008-10-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

The rose at the mountains is PiaoLiang.

At least once a week I try to get a foot massage at Ozone and when I do I always ask for LiGuanXing. There are massage parlors all over the place here and most of them charge less, but my friends and I like it that we can do everything in one place. So I usually make an appointment for a foot massage when I arrive at Ozone, then I workout andshower. LiGuanXing is an excellent masseuse, as any one who who has been lucky enough to have him will tell you. His hands are large, the kind that are made for giving massages, and he loves his work. He doesn't just go through the motions; he finds the problem spots and gently but firmly works them out. But I really like him the best because we give each other language lessons. On a slow night last week I had a two hour foot massage/Chinese lesson while he got a 2 hour English lesson. His English has really improved and I've picked up quite a bit of Chinese that has come in handy. For example, "Where are you from?" Ni lai se nali? I really have no idea how to spell the lai se part, but I have the pronunciation down pat. I know most of the body parts and am getting pretty good at time of day, including greetings like Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening.

So far, though, the best use I have made of my Foot Massage/Chinese Lesson is the following story. The past couple times I have gone for a foot massage, the people who work there have stood around me saying, Ni shi hen piao liang. I had no idea what they were saying but one of the women is studying English and she explained it this way. She said, "We think you are very beautiful." I figured I could make good use of that phrase so I took extra care to tuck it away in my memory. Sure enough, when we were at the mountains this weekend, Cathy and I came across a man who seemed to be a guard of some kind, although he wasn't wearing the ubiquitous uniform. He was hands down the most handsome man I have seen in the two months I've been here. Since we were waiting for the rest of our group and had nothing better to do, I asked him if he could speak English. Wo bu dong, he responded. He didn't understand. Well, then, he was fair game. We agreed he was extremely handsome. Wondered if he was married. We asked him what he was doing that night, etc. He really couldn't understand us. Then I remembered the phrase I had been saving for a special occasion. I walked up to him and said, Ni shi hen piao liang. He sputtered a few words including thank you and something about me...I recognized Ni. Cathy and I left him standing there red as a beet. She had no idea what I had said, which I explained to her was something like, "You are extremely handsome". The rest of the day I noticed Cathy frequently pointing at things and exclaiming, Piao liang, Piao liang.

Ms. Sue, Librarian

2008-10-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

Last week Amanda Grady asked me to speak to her Grade 2 class about my job as a librarian. I was one of four guests. One of the student's father is an architect for a large firm here and brought large, beautiful computer generated pictures of building they have designed. That was interesting to me, of course. Students had brainstormed for days in advance and were armed with a list of questions worthy of the Today Show. They wanted to know what route I had taken to become a librarian. Did I have special training. Is my job mostly fun or not? What do I like best about my job, and so on. That one is easy...the kids are the best part. I think the kids are

Beanstalk are amazing. They make every day fun and exciting.

Big Grapefruit

2008-10-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

It seems everyone at school is getting sick now, so I'm not surprised that I have the start of a cold. Actually, I was doing quite well until a little girl in ESL put her mouth right up to mine and breathed straight into my nose and mouth Wednesday. Then she started to cough and told me she was sick. Thanks a lot, Jenny. Did you have to love me so much? The library is very cold these day too and so is my apartment which doesn't help.

That's why I headed straight to the little grocery store, Sun Market, to buy some citrus fruit on my way home, and that's where I found the BIG GRAPEFRUIT. I've seen these before. In fact, I remember having one last year at Bill and Jeanny's. But I hadn't thought of them again until last week while shopping at Nik's Market at the Lido where a woman was buying one; she told me that it was the last one, very delicious, she said, so I was happy to see one in our little market. I paid $1.70 for it, which is really quite a lot, but less expensive and possibly more effective than vitamin C tablets. I also bought a bunch of mandarin oranges for $1 which is a pretty good deal.

Parade Day I Guess

2008-10-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

There are three schools within a few minutes of my apartment. One is Beanstalk, where I teach. Right next to us is a new, very beautiful Montessori Kindergarten. The first day I was here, Bill and I stopped there and were invited in to see it. It was beyond anything I’ve ever seen and some day I want to go back a take a closer look at it. A couple days ago I ran into the young teacher who showed us around. She remembered me and was excited to see me again. Ditto.

The third school is what looks to me like a public Middle School, and it is the closest to Kandu, our apartment building. This morning I heard a sound that I’ve heard a few times before but couldn’t figure out. It sounded like hundreds of voices shouting in unison, and it seemed nearby but muffled by the apartment walls and windows. Then I realized that the sound was coming from the athletic field below me. It seemed to me that the entire school population had to be out there doing some kind of program...reminscent of the old regime...lots of slogan shouting, parading etc. This was around 7:15 in the morning. I grabbed my camera and took this picture. The red in the upper left is the Montessori school.

I Talk Pretty (Chinese) Somdeday

2008-10-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed to be saying this, but the truth is I'm beginning to be able to communicate in Chinese a little bit. Today, for example, I said, Wo jiao, Susan. Ni jiao shenme? “My name is Susan. What's your name?” And I can easily say “Good Morning,” Zaoshanghao, every day when I get to school. But after work today I was actually able to exchange thoughts, three times! There is a fellow who parks outside the school every couple weeks and sells big plants potted in beautiful planters. I asked him, Zheige duoshao qian. "How much does this one cost." It was 120 kwai, about $17, and I'm sure I could have bought it for much less, but I wasn't ready to buy a plant today. Before I knew it he was pointed to another plant. I heard him say liang ge and from somewhere in the recesses of my brain I realized he was telling me I should “buy two"--probably get a better price. Wo bu yao mai NOW. I told him. "I don't want to buy now." not knowing the word for now was frustrating. Zaijian, I said. “Good-bye”.
But right in front of me sat a red Jeep Cherokee Sport, exactly like my little jeep back home, minus all the rust and holding together much better. In the Jeep sat a man who was busily working figures on a calculator. I couldn't resist this opportunity, so I stepped up to the jeep and tapped on its side. Wo you RED Jeep IN Meiguo. “I have a red jeep in the United States.” I said. He looked up at me and asked, Ni Maiguoren,ma? “You are American? " Dwei, I responded. And then, using my new vocabulary from Wednesday night, I added, Wo xi huan Jeeps. “I like Jeeps,” beaming and feeling a lot like I wanted to hug the Jeep. This brought a similar response from my new friend, Wo xi huan Jeep blah blah blah. . . I don't know what else he said, but it was evident we both shared an afinity for Jeeps. The Jeep in this picture is not the same one I saw today; it's newer and shinier. I took the picture in the same general location a few weeks ago.

Walking In the Sun

2008-10-17T05:13:00.001-07:00

It was a beautiful week in Beijing; every day clear blue sky, mostly, as Garrison Keiller would say. I was amazed Tuesday night when I left Ozone by how warm the air temperature was. And even though I was walking in a city that is reported to be the size of the whole country of Belgium, it was quiet, and the air smelled like country air. It really felt more like a small town, and I suppose that it is in a way. Janice has a name for the Upper East Side, or maybe she doesn't, but she calls the area beyond our boundary China Town which pretty much says everything. We are in a little enclave surrounded by the real Beijing, especially when we go to Ozone, our home away from home. Sometimes it feels like walking in the sun.

But it's not just Ozone or Upper East Side that makes me feel that way. There are many good times, like tennis Wednesday night. Three of us from BIBS, Cathy and Xiao Hong from BBA, and You Qi, who is just plain addicted to tennis. The sun was shining too. After tennis we had a good time eating and talking at The Loaf here at Kandu.

Saturday Patty and I explored the bus routes some more, and I voted at the Bookworm at Sanlitun. Reuters Beijing was there taking pictures and they took a lot of pictures of me voting. I don't know what they did with them. This NBA sculpture is outside the new shopping mall at Sanlitun and is a popular photo op. Sunday was Jane's birthday. We bought a cake and had a party. We went back to the Kwai store, and I scored some more goodies, including a light socket that I plugged into an outlet in the kitchen, which easily makes the room twice as and bright. I had noticed a hardware store near the Kwai store and was hoping to buy a light bulb. The store is maybe 8 feet wide at the most, just enough room for two people to pass down the middle. I showed the owner my light socket, pointed at the empty socket and asked, Ni jou, mah? which I hoped was "Do you have?" He reached behind him an pulled out a box with a little bulb in it. I wondered how much light the bulb would give off, so I acted out "bright light" and he took the bulb out of the box, scewed it into the socket, plugged the socket into a power strip and turned it on. It was very bright. Duo shao jian ma? I asked which is something like how much. He held up 2 fingers--2 kwai. That's about a quarter. After Jane's party we went to Ozone where Jane and I each had a foot massage and Janice got cupped...yup, that's another story. I call it a combination foot massage/Chinese lesson with English tutoring thrown in too. It was a party in itself. It was definitely like walking in the sun.

I've seen enough bad times to know
when the good times have begun
O Lord - Even the blind man can tell
when he's walking in the sun.
I've been in Beijing nearly 8 weeks and have experienced highs and lows. Every day I've had to deal with water problems in my apartment; either I had no water or I had water where it shouldn't be. Every few days a new set of workers came and replaced my water meter, but nothing worked. Once a week my kitchen ceiling turned into a shower when the upstairs tenant washed clothes. Then the pipes under the kitchen sink started leaking all over the floor. One morning I sliced the tip of my thumb off while trying to stay out of the puddles. My closet doors either stuck or fell out on my head. The cupboard doors just fell off. I bought a screwdriver and pliers to fix them. My landlord started coming with his own work crew, trying to fix the problems. None of these people speak English and I don't speak Chinese. The people who do speak a little English don't speak it well enough to be much help/ Last Saturday the landloard came and "fixed" the leak, installed new closet doors, and plastered a wall which left plaster dust all over the place. The next morning the leak was worse than ever, in fact it was not longer a leak, it was a slow spray. That was the last straw. It was time to find a new apartment, and I did find several nice ones, but the landlord wanted one more chance to fix the leak, and this time he did it. I am thankfully enjoying trouble-free apartment dwelling for the first time since I arrived.
Things at school are looking up too. The new Chinese assistant started today, and Jenny is super. Jenny's first responsibility is to be the in-house substitute teacher so she won't always be available. Still, we will get the non-fiction cataloged this week and the Dewey in place. Next week I can start lessons. I'm still teaching ESL but I think that should be finished soon. Feels like I'm walking in the sun.

The Kwai Store

2008-10-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

I had a little free time this past week so I went with Patty to the Kwai Store. What's a Kwai Store, you ask? It's like a dollar store with these exceptions. A kwai is worth a little over dime. The mercahndise is mostly in boxes on the floor or on shelves along the wall...warehouse style. And most of it isn't priced so you don't know what it will cost until you get to the check-out, which at our store is a little old man. But as Patty said, "I don't know what it costs, but I buy a lot of stuff and end up paying only a few dollars." So, I took all my purchases to the man-- a mat for the floor, some hand towels, a good salt shaker, a screw driver and needle-nose pliers, pencil holder, a recorder, some Bang Pai (band aids sounds like bonpie), and two clever little hangers for drying clothes...see picture. After we left, Patty pulled out her calculator. Everything cost me a total of $5.80. Not bad. Now, about the picture. Before we went to the Kwai Store, we stopped at Jane's. She has no place to hang her clothes after she washes, so there were panties hanging from every doorknob. When I saw these hangers, I had to buy one for her and one for me too. Jane DOES have a bike, which she keeps in her apartment; so she calls this her "Bicycle Clothes Dryer".

Wo xi huan da wanqiu

2008-10-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

If I have it right Wo xi huan da wanqiu means I like to play tennis. It sounds something like, Whoa (as in Stop Horse !)...so, Whao she khwahn dah wonchway. But, of course, you have to know which tones to use while saying it. Flat, rising, dippy, or rising. That might not be possible. I learned how to say this and a few other new words, like jing maidan (check please) and da bao or dai zou (doggie bag) last night after tennis. Looks like our little group is solidifying, so I hope the weather holds up longer. Last night YouQi had the court before us and he stayed and played with us. We've decided he's addicted to tennis. Otherwise, the core group is Cathy, Janice, and XiaoHong. Michael showed up too. After tennis we had dinner at the little cafe here. The plan is to make Wednesday our regular tennis night and play for 2 hours. After that it seems there are several ideas what to do...eat for sure. YouQi said he'd teach us to play mah jong. Hmmm....mah jong.

Lanny and Bruce

2008-10-16T02:30:00.000-07:00

October 16, 2008
What a beautiful day! Sunshine, no wind, and plenty of blue sky. I spent last Sunday with Lanny Jin and her son, Bruce. Lanny was our guide and interpreter last year, and we quickly learned to love her. She has degrees in English and International Business, and worked for China's Pollution Control Agency. The government sent her to Madison, WI, to study for a year. During that time she decided to get a nursing degree, and during that time she met and married Bruce's father. Lanny and Bruce returned to China when he was a baby and live with her mother and stepfather, and Bruce hasn't had much contact with his American family. Dave and I decided we could fill in as grandparents, and Bruce said he'd give us a try. If we passed the test, we were in, so I sent a picture of us, and we got the thumbs up right away.
So, Sunday I met my grandson. He threw his arms around me and held on tightly, calling, "Grandma, Grandma!" Just a little shock to me since I hadn't enough time to get used to the idea, but I recovered quickly.Bruce doesn't normally speak English, and at first he spoke mostly Chinese, but in a short while he became very intent on speaking only English. I was quite impressed. Of course, I got some Chinese lesson as well. We met at one of the two bus stops near my apartment, Dong Feng Qiao, which means East Wind Bridge, the we went to Ikea to eat and look around. It is only one bus stop from us. Lanny wanted Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes; Bruce wanted everything in sight, especially the desserts. I had a good salad. All the food was delicious.

After Ikea we went to an exhibit of artwork and letters produced by children who had survived the earthquake in Sichuan Province. Some of the pictures depicted life in the villages before the earthquake, but many showed their ideas for how to build structures that would survive earthquakes. One house was on flexible girders, an idea that is already in use. One house turned into a boat; other could lift off and hover above the ground.

The letters were the most touching. The children wrote about what they want to be when they grow up and their letters revealed how the experience had caused them to think more seriously about their future. Many letters described what happened to them. One child wrote that he was the only survivor from his entire class. He had painted a memorial to them. This picture shows the expression of gratitude; people all over the world heard of the earthquake and sent their help.What we can do together.

Chop Sue-eek!

2008-10-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

Thursday October 9, 2008 Beijing

I sliced off a good chunk of my thumb this morning slicing tomatoes for my English breakfast. Sort a spoils my thumb print. I suppose I was in a hurry because I had been chatting with Dave and wanted to get to school early, plus it's a little dark in my kitchen, and I was trying to avoid the puddle on my floor. The puddle is from the sink that leaks and is supposed to get fixed on Saturday. I don't use the sink but it still leaks.

It's pretty bad, but as the old Norwegian said, "It could be worse." After examining the bit of flesh to decide if it could be salvaged, I threw it in the garbage with the tomato bits I didn't want. I had 4 band-aids left, having used the others when I cut my other thumb opening a can with a lousy can opener I had bought. (I tried to buy a can opener at a department store when I first arrived. I had 6 clerks surrounding me; drew pictures, good ones, but couldn't get them to recognize either a can or a can opener. Later, I went to the Chinese grocery store in the same building--there were no cans.)

I put the bandaids on as tightly as I could, then wadded up a kleenex to soak up the blood and rigged up a pressure bandage with some "string" I had brought from the library. I finished my breakfast, chatted with Dave a bit more, mostly about the thumb, and headed off to school. I went straight to the nurse. When she removed the bandage and the pressure came off, the bleeding started in earnest. She sterilized it and put powder on to stop the bleeding, but it wouldn't stop. She wanted me to go to the hospital but when she stepped out of the room for a minute I rigged up another pressure bandage which slowed the blood flow again. I didn't think it would be good to undo all the good work that had been done, so I went back to my apartment, elevated it and called Dave. I asked him to check with the Aitkin ER to find out what else I should do. Fortunately the ER doctor was not busy and he said to add ice, but otherwise I had done everything right. He added that the powder would continue to work for a few hours, but if it didn't stop bleeding by then I should go to the hospital for epinephrine and/or cauterization. I took a pain pill and fell asleep; when I woke up the bleeding had stopped.

Golden Week End

2008-10-05T02:35:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Bill's was to buy some pottery at Enchantment. They were having a moving sale and everything was on sale at 50% off. It was inexpensive to begin with. I bought the 2 sets above, 21 pieces in all, for $32.

Saturday morning I started out for Bill's house in ShunYi, planning to take the 9:50 shuttle bus to River Gardens from the Holiday Inn Lido. I confirmed with the concierge that the bus would arrive at 9:50, but at 9:40 a different bus pulled in and both the concierge and the bus driver insisted I should take that bus. I didn't want to do it and even got off the bus, but the concierge brought out a schedule and showed me that there wouldn't be another bus until 3:20 that afternoon. I really didn't believe this, but I decided to make it into an excursion. This bus would follow the same route we took every day last fall and it would be interesting to see where I was in relation to those things.

One of the the things I saw was that the old, interesting facade of the Chaoyang Acrobats Theatre had been replaced by a lifeless, institutional sandstone. Too bad. After dropping passengers off at China World we sat for five minutes then headed back to the Lido. Along the way we passed a very long stretch limo trying to maneuver its way along the crowded Beijing streets. The bus driver was quite impressed. The limo was carrying a bridal party. The driver, in deference to his American passenger, I believe, switched the radio station to Bah Bah Qi (88.7). What a relief to hear programming that was enitirely in English. This was a discovery worth the price, which was mostly my time, because I rode into the CBD (Central Business District) and all the way out to Bill's which was up until not long ago considered the country for 10 kwai...less than a dollar fifty, and I was the only passenger all the way from China World to Bill's house.

The shuttlebus arrived back at the Holiday Inn, and there stood the concierge in his red uniform and cap, smiling and waving; he even saluted me. He looked as if he was feeling very happy to have helped me in such a big way. I bet he never realized that the bus that arrived 5 minutes after he sent me in the wrong direction was the bus I really wanted to take.

Golden Week Friday

2008-10-05T00:29:00.002-07:00

Today was a beautiful day and Patty is a good person to tour with. She is able to go and go and not tire. She knows that if you want to really see things you have to be walking and ready to experience what comes along. First we met Lanny, at Jingkelong, the supermarket/mall not far from here, and Lanny explained some of the Chinese labeling to us; next time we shop we'll be able to make informed decisions--like how hot and spicy those noodles are! I had asked Lanny to study the bus and subway routes to help us learn what we needed to know to be able to get to the subway and other places quickly and easily.

Then we took a bus to the Liangmaqiao subway station and took a train to a stop near Hohai. When we got there we learned that one of the buses that we can catch at our stop here goes all the way to Houhai, so we came home on the bus. Also when we arrived at the Houhai area we were able to purchase a bus/subway pass which will let us travel and travel and travel for just pennies. So, opposed to spending 10-25 rmb/taxi trip, we can spend a quarter or less. Yeah!

We enjoyed walking around Houhai Shichahai...we were there last year...followed some of the same routes but didn't get into the Prince Gong area. It was really interesting though and I continued to pick up language that I can use right away. We came upon a History of Porcelain in China exhibit where we saw many beautiful authentic pieces and hundreds of exact replicas which were for sale (not the originals). We saw work by a Chinese woman whose given name is Shu Zhen which sounds a lot like Susan...so we decided this was a better name for me. Shu means elegant, graceful, well behaved, and very nice (genial). Zhen means valuable, precious. So I guess I can be Bai Shu Zhen which is a lot easier to say than that other name.

Yesterday when we were at Yuanming Yuan I bought a cut paper scroll picture mounted on silk brocade. I paid $28 for it. Today I saw similar ones that I could have purchased for much less. These did not appear to be of the same high quality, but I may be wrong. We walked down the same street that we walked down last year where you saw the chairs and the laundry hanging, they call it Smoking Pipe Street. Last year it was in very bad repair. It has been restored to a much better state but retains the authentic appearance. To my surprise, I came across a real Belgian Chocolatier, so I bought a rum ball, a ganache and a truffle; they were small but excellent. See: http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/olympiccities/beijing/reconstruction/s214239667/n214256395.shtml

We came out at the Drum and Bell Tower. The Drum Tower has been closed since Mr. Bachman was killed, and there is no word on how long it will remain closed, but we went over and looked at them from the outside. Lanny left us alone for a few minutes and suddenly we were fair game for the vendors that work the area. A man tried to sell me some small satin bags, but I told him in Chinese that I already had one, he said, Ni yuo, ma? which means You have? Then he ran off and came back with something that maybe I didn't have. So, I learned that if you add ma to the end of a sentence, it becomes a question.
Next, we walked up to Beihai Park. Hai means sea...So Bei (north) Hai means North Sea. Shichahai is on the south side and means 10 Temples Sea. I guess Houhai means some sea too. It was a major port in old days. There was a waterway all the way from Beijing to Hongzhou which is quite a long distance to the south of here. Beihai park is where the White Dagoba is located and was a nearby summer retreat for the emperors for centuries. It is certainly one of the most beautiful spots in all of Beijing, which I guess really is a big as the entire country of Belgium (Beijing, that is). Here is a picture or the White Dagoba...apparently it was built upon the site where Kublai Kahn had a palace in the 12th century.

We decided to return to Houhai to rent a boat and eat dinner. It turned out that the wait for boats was a little longer than we wanted to endure, so we decided to come back when it isn't Golden Week. But we did go to a Vietnamese restaurant that one of the teachers had told me about, Nuage, which means cloud in French, and the Chinese characters mean heavenly cloud. The architecture and ambience were great and so was the food. I had spicy lemongrass chicken, but we all shared the food and brought home leftovers. This is where we ate...overlooking Shichahai.

Golden Week Wednesday

2008-10-05T00:29:00.001-07:00

Golden Week Thursday

2008-10-05T00:08:00.002-07:00

Thursday, October 2, 2008 Golden Week

Thursday of Golden Week, Cathy and I met Lanny at the Grand Continental Hotel in NW Beijing, near the Olympic Bird's Nest and took a taxi to Yuanming Yuan, the Old Summer Palace, not far from the New Summer Palace. Dave and I had visited Yuanming Yuan last October when we saw maybe 4 or 5 dozen people on the huge estate. This day the place was crowded and the crowds continued to grow as the morning progressed. The history here is very interesting. The two statues welcoming us at the front gate are holding replicas of ancient coins. The beautiful lotus is oneof thousands that fill the fountain where statues of the 12 animals representing the Chinese Zodiac. This is the Year of the Rat, and more specifically, the Water Rat, which I am; hence, the picture of the rat. The giant lily pads are called Victoria Amazonica; Cathy says the are found in Lake Victoria. Finally, the beautiful fish coming for bread crumbs thrown by a little boy.

The palace was used by the emperors from the 1700's onward until it was looted and destroyed by the British and the French in 1860. The ruins were further damaged in 1900. I recommend that you look at these websites to learn more about it--also Victor Hugo's response http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace#cite_note-11 http://www.kinabaloo.com/yuanmingyuan.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1310/is_1985_Nov/ai_4003606

These guys wanted their photo taken with the

white girl. I wanted mine taken with the lion.

798 Art Zone

In the afternoon Lanny and I went to 798 Art Zone where we ate at the same place we ate last year and enjoyed the art. The 2008 Beijing 798 Arts Festival had just opened a couple days earlier. I found the same cafe where we had such delicious pumpkins basil soup last year and ordered a bowl. The same waiter who was there last year waited on us. I said, "I have your picture." Lanny translated, and he said he remembered me. Here are a few pictures that I took. More at: http://en.ce.cn/National/culture/200810/01/t20081001_16966747.shtml and a video at http://en.artintern.net/index.php/video/main/html/3/49

That's Lanny posing. She had to do all the things like work in a factory and on a farm, etc.

I walked all the way home from 798...turned on Fang Yuan Xi Lu and walked to Jiang Tai Lu (there is a Jenny Lou's there). I wasn't sure how long a walk it would turn out to be because the taxi ride had taken quite a while during rush hour traffic, but actually wasn't bad. I bought a few groceries including Land O' Lakes sharp cheddar and my favorite block feta. Then stopped at the Lido and looked around. I found some good quality hamburger at the little deli there and a cool Thai restaurant where you take off your shoes and sit on cushions; the prices are good too. When I was leaving I ran into Alicia, her mom, and Bella, the baby who had her diaper changed on the Great Wall. They were on their way to some famous mountain near Hong Kong...Guilin...or something like that.

Water, Water

2008-10-05T00:08:00.001-07:00

The water story is no longer a story, it's a saga that has almost sent me packing more than once. Sometimes I thought I might pack and move to another apartment other times I was thinking more about going home. I'd like to say it's resolved but that would be premature and too optimistic. Here in Beijing, and I suppose in much of China, apartments have water meters. You have to go to the bank to buy water which is put on a water card. Then you bring it home and feed the meters-hot, cold, and recycled.
My landlord put water in my meters before I moved in, but by the end of the first week it was gone. There was water on my meter when I moved into this apartment, but I ran out of water within a week. So, the worker man came and I bought 17 tons from him. A couple days later all 17 tons were gone. So I bought 200 tons which I have since learned should be enough to last a year...certainly it is enough to fill a swimming pool. Not long afterward I had no water again even though I had been taking most of my showers at Ozone and washing my clothes at Bill's. So washing my face in the morning and washing a few dishes used up over 250 tons of water?

Shopping

2008-10-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

Tennis

2008-10-04T23:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday and Sunday we finally got to play tennis. Janice had borrowed a racket from school and we went with Cathy to Sunny Day Market to buy a cheap one. I had bought balls at Vangard. Cathy and Janice hadn't played much tennis, but they are both athletic and enthusiastic. It was a bit of a surprise when I took the balls out of the can to find that they were more like toys. I decide we'd give them to the dogs to play with when we finished. After about 20 minutes You Qi showed up. He and a friend had reserved the courts after us, but he had arrived early and offered to play so we'd have a foursome. That turned out to be great. He is really good, but he was very happy to play at our level. His skill and attitude made it much more fun for us, and since we had rented the court for Sunday morning we asked if he wanted to come. He had reserved the court right after us and was glad to come.

We didn't get to play tennis again until Wednesday, October 8th.

Product Safety

2008-10-04T23:34:00.001-07:00

Speaking of the safety of Chinese products, the other day when I was at Jenny Lu’s getting groceries, a TV van pulled up and a reporter and cameraman jumped out. They knew that many foreigners shopped at Jenny Lu’s and were there to interview customers about the impression back home of the safety of Chinese products. Right away they came over to me started asking questions. I said that people back in the States were quite concerned about anything made in China that might go in their mouths, and that my doctor, who is Chinese, had told me not to take pills made in China. I also said that I thought the government here was making an effort to regulate product manufacture in the future. I wonder if the baby formula problem is a sign of improved regulation or no regulation.

Jolly

2008-10-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jolly is my Personal Fitness Trainer...don't laugh...even if her name is Jolly. One of the great things about Ozone, compared to most other gyms, is that many of the staff are either native English speakers or can speak English well enough to make the experience seem a lot like home. If there is a problem, you can actually find someone who understands and can help. Jolly is one of those who speaks English well. She is a level one trainer; if I'm not level 0, then I guess I'd be level one.

Ozone provides 2 free fitness sessions with membership, so Jolly was right there to ask me when I wanted to start my sessions. But first she needed to take my personal fitness history and measure my body fat. Right! The history wasn't too painful, but the body fat was an exercise in psychological torture. I really needed a sense of humor, so it was a good thing Jolly was jolly. She took out her little calipher and grabbed some loose flesh on the back of my arm; I'm sure it has a name other than flab, but I don't recall what it is. The brain cells that handle that information have been dormant too long, just like the muscle cells that used to reside in the floppy blob she was holding in her hand. While she easily latched on to a good-sized handful, she said to me, "Most women don't have any fat back here." Thanks a lot, Jolly. After that she managed to remain quite detached until she got to my waist. Placing the measuring tape around my middle, she couldn't manage to stiffle a small gasp. "Is it that bad?" I asked. "No, no, not so bad", she lied, as she wrote the amazing number on her chart. When that ordeal was finished, I stepped on the scale, and to my pleasure and amazement I had lost 6 pounds. One small victory. Am I ever glad I didn't do this 3 weeks ago when I first arrived!

My first real training session with Jolly was last Monday, September 29. She took me through all the machines that should help firm up the jelly-like features of my body, which just about covered all the machines that exist. Most of them were easy, but the stair climber defintely needs work. She put it down to the easiest level and I could still barely manage it. Jolly promises that in 3 months I will notice a difference in the body tone...it's a goal I hope to reach.

An after thought...The best thing about my first workout session was the 2 hour massage that followed it...one hour foot, one hour body. The foot massage was exquisite. The masseuse found the scar tissue from planters fasciitis in my left foot and really did a great job on it. He could have gone a little easier on my neck and shoulders which really hurt for the next few days.

Ozone

2008-10-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

Ozone Fitness located in the HG Andersen complex in the Upper East Side , the angled windows in the center, second story. One of the first things I did once I got settled was find the nearest fitness center. It turns out that Ozone Fitness is a world class gym run by Peter Gonzales, an American who has gone out of his way to make it a super environment for ex-pats in the area. Through him, I was able to arrange a corporate membership for the teachers at Beanstalk. We joined Friday, September 26, the day we got paid. Saturday Peter had arranged Mexican Night, and several of us enjoyed the special food and music. I learned that I can get authentic locally made corn tortillas at Garibaldi's in the Mexican Embassy http://www.garibaldibj.com/. Apparently this fiesta was just a preview of what is to come October 18th which should be even bigger and better.

Ozone is only a few minutes walk from the school and our apartment and has been a life saver for me; it keeps me sane as well as helps me get fit. Before I got internet and MPR, Ozone was my source for news, primarily CNN which broadcasts from London.I usually hop on the treadmill, put on my ear nubs, find CNN and go for 30-40 minutes.

As it turns out, Ozone provides not only hot showers after work outs and swimming, but also a sense of normalcy and dependability. Taking a shower at the apartment means a lot of extra work because the shower area is also the bathroom; there is no enclosure so the water runs all over the floor. This makes cleaning the bathroom after the shower a time-consuming process and a fair amount of work, and since the water situation at my apartment is basically a disaster, I take most of my showers at Ozone where I can really relax and appreciate both the physical and psychlogocical benefit of a good hot shower.

Little Things...Like Computers

2008-10-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

Little things can be big things here...like computers; everything is in Chinese. I have to go by instinct (where was Format Columns on the English version of WORD, for example?) And who would ever have thought there would be no such thing as ALIGN TEXT LEFT in China? Hey, it looks pretty funny aligned right. The best alternative is justified, like newspaper text...spread evenly across the line so left and right borders are even. Then there's the big surprise when everything you have just typed turns mysteriously into Chinese characters. It took me a few days to solve that one. There is a little CH in the task bar at the bottom of the screen; click it and change it to EN. These might not seem like a big deal, but when it takes 3 days to figure out how to type a short note, and then multiply that by dozens of similar challenges, you can imagine that even the most patient person could start to have a meltdown.

Yesterday I was chatting with Dave on Messenger when I suddenly couldn't type any more. I mean, I could type, but all that showed up were a few Chinese characters; then everything froze. I had to call him and tell him that I hadn't just left him in mid-sentence. It was wierd and we both started to wonder if the censors had spotted us. Just then, Jane came over, and she knew the keyboard command to force the computer to go back to English. How fortunate.

Ever try to login to a website in Chinese? Which one of those little pictures says LOGIN? Or English, for that matter? That's a picture I need to memorize if I ever learn it. The database we use is all in Chinese too, of course. I've memorized check-in and check-out. The other day I learned the message for This book is already checked out. Most of the time though I don't need to read Chinese to use the circulation database. Since no further information was entered when the books were barcoded, there is no further information to access. Actually, ISBN numbers are there, but cannot be searched.

TV too, is all in Chinese, and radio programs. The one English language TV station offers very little and rebroadcasts the same program day after day. It could really do us a service by spending 15 minutes a half dozens or so times a day giving the weather report. There can't be anything politically offensive about that. You can get satellite TV that brings in a few more stations, like CNN from London, HBO, Discovery and National Geographic. Some people point their satellite toward the Phillipines and get a lot more. There is one bilingual radio station that I can now listen to since I got a used stereo radio, DC/tape player. I connected that to the internet that I just got...so now I listen to MPR. Just like at home! It's all I need. Although sometimes I listen to P4.no from Oslo or Radio France from Paris. C'est la vie!

Worker Man Coming

2008-09-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

I am learning that later and tomorrow are common by-words here. So is Worker Man Coming.
I have also learned not to expect anything good to happen when Worker Man comes, whether it's sooner or later. Bill thinks that most workers don't know how to fix anything. They just wear the uniform. I'm thinking he's probably right.

There are many workers. Workers everywhere who get paid very little. You see them in the morning and in the evening, dressed in their uniforms, most of them very young, lined up for the daily pep talk given to them by their superior worker. Usually that person is reading from a little book or piece of paper...something inspirational, I hope. Once I saw them singing. They look very serious, but yesterday, the girl who works at our front desk saw me and got so excited she broke out into smiles and waves. I've never seen that before.

I had a short list of items that needed to be taken care of in my apartment--a broken light bulb, the water cooler boils the water, and the kitchen sink doesn't have cold water. I asked the person in charge of communicating with the building management to have them fixed and she told me that a worker would be at my apartment after school to meet me, so I hurried home. He was there--Worker Man. He no speak English. Me no speak Chinese. It was quite a comedy. Finally Agent Girl came. She managed enough English to be useful. She says the water meter is broken (which one?). It turns out that there are three water meters: hot, cold, and recycled which is used for the bathroom. None of it is drinkable. We buy that. That's what is boiling in the water cooler. Agent girl says they will bring new water meters tomorrow. She will also buy a new water cooler and a new light bulb. That's good. As for the broken light bulb, the worker leaves and comes back with a ladder. Then he takes a good light bulb out of one lamp and replaces the broken one. It's now fixed! How about that? What next?

This was my first experience with Worker Man, as they are called. Jane's air conditioner didn't work, so she contacted management about it. They told her they would send a Worker Man right over. He came, looked at it, and said (in Chinese, I think she was making a deduction) "It's broken." Right! Apparently he is just the Advance Man. He doesn't even pretend to fix things. A half hour later Worker Man #2 arrives. He fiddles with something and it starts to work. That was good, because usually they don't know what's wrong so they tell you they'll replace it. They must fix toilets though because Jane says she has often seen worker men running around with little plungers in there hands.

Wednesday，September 17, 2008
No water again today…also no working water meter. Also, no shower this morning again. Actually, the “agent girl” says that if I buy more water, everything will be fine, but I can't get a new meter until later. She is trying her best to do a good job for me, and she is, bless her heart. She wrote an almost indecipherable note to explain the situation. I think I caught her drift. Unfortunately for me though, it was too late to buy water last night and they don't open until 9 or so in the morning. Josie, who has lived here a few years, says that if you bang hard on the door, someone will come because they live in the building. Maybe so. I only hope that it gets fixed and that I finally bought enough water.

On the bright side, I finally got to the fitness center after school and used my trial membership. Turns out the trial does not include, guess what? Water—as in swimming pool, which is one of the main things I wanted. So I paid 200 kwai to use the pool every time I go, swimming caps required. I haven't worn a cap since who knows when. I understand they are easy to find. Aside from the guaranteed hot water shower (twice—once before entering the pool and once after), another benefit of the fitness club is I can watch English language TV, mostly all news like CNN from England I guess. Most of the news right now is about the AIG bankruptcy and other financial woes. The other big news today was a bombing at the American Embassy in Yemen and the catastrophic poisoning of mostly Chinese babies by the formula makers. Thousand of babies are seriously ill and 3 have died.

Simaitai

2008-09-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

Around 13 of us went to Simitai Saturday, the 13th. Our Beanstalk school bus didn't drop off a mountainside or anything like that, but numerous gasps were to be heard as we narrowly missed one accident after another. It's stunning the way some drivers enter the road (slowly) without any regard for the presence and speed of other vehicles that are already occupying the same space. Yikes. Don't know how they do it.

It was another hot, steamy day, and it seemed to me that we climbed up and up and then up some more. First, though, we took a chair lift that Cathy said would never pass inspection in Canada...she didn't have to convince me. Next came a wild little train ride;the train resembled a crazy ride at Valley Fair. Then we started the climb up and up into the hot, hot sun. We were accompanied all the way by helpful little farm women who contributed tidbits of information and waited for just the right moment to open their bag of goodies to sell. My helper pointed to farmland in the distance and told me that was where she lived. I finally bought my I Climbed the Great Wall t-shirt. Paid a little extra for the services.

Alicia brought Bella, her little baby, who got packed all over the Great Wall; she even had her diaper changed there. She needs a little T-shirt that says, I My Diaper Changed on the Great WallI. She's amazing, Alicia, that is. Bella is too, actually.

When it was time to get down the mountain, we had two options: go back the way we came (No way!) or take the Zip Line. Most of us chose the Zip Line; it was actually short and sweet. The Zip Line is run mostly by gravity and a little by pulley when necessary. You climb into a harness and hope the thing doesn't break as you zip across the river below. See pictures.

We ate dinner back in Beijing at Mt. Hannashan, a Korean Bar-B-Q restaurant where they bring hot coals to your table and you grill your own meat. Yes, the food was delicious! And we had a great time.

Paralympics, Parent's Night, Water

2008-09-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Are the networks broadcasting the Paralympics in the States? The venues here are all filled; the average citizen can afford a ticket. The Paralympics have become the people's Olympics. CCTV has one station that is doing a very thorough job of showing us as much as possible. Often I see a story about the athletes on the Chinese language station and later they same story is broadcast in English on the English language station. I have been watching swimming just now. The competitors are amazing, some of them in particular. The Chinese swimmer has no arms and his abdomen is badly mangled. He won the bronze medal. As the announcer said, he had to swim faster than the other swimmers; since he has no arms he had to touch the wall with his head. The race was won by Roy Perkins of the USA who has no hands or feet.

The women's 100 meter was won by Heather Fredricksen of Great Britain. Long of the USA took second, and Marian Vestbostad of Norway took 3rd. When they raised the three flags during the medal ceremony, I thought, “Wow! That's my heritage up there.” Heather was so excited to win gold, I could feel her emotions surging through me over the air waves.

Thursday September 11, 2008
The 7th anniversary of 9-11. Tonight is Parent's Night Open House at school. I sit near Aaron Kupchella, related to Rick Kupchella. Aaron is around 6’4” and looks a lot like Super Man. I think maybe he really is Super Man. Just once I want to get a good look under his shirt. Aaron is married to a Chinese woman and speaks unbelievable Chinese.

LuLu the Chinese music teacher is teaching the kids to sing Beijing Huan ying Ni, Beijing Welcomes You, one of the Olympics songs. She gave me a copy of the words in pinyin and characters. I can't stop singing it. The other Olympic song is One World, One Dream, both are very good songs.

It's really hot here. We have a 3 day weekend coming up for Mid-Autumn Festival. A bunch of us are going to Simaitai, a section of the Great Wall on Saturday; it should be an fun time and a chance to get to know each other. The library is desperately in need of organization and upper level books. Hope I can find time to tackle that in the middle of ESL and day-to-day running the library. I worked here until quite late last night and when I went back to my apartment I was really thirsty, so I stopped at the little store and bought a Coke…WOW…I haven't had caffeine in a lo-o-o-n-g time. Only drank half of it but was awake most of the night.

Friday, September 12, 2008
I'm in my apartment with no water again, no gas for cooking, and I have a splitting headache. It's hot and I'm really tired. Most of the teachers went out together after school, but I'm stuck here waiting for the "repair" and destroy man. Yesterday I had to rush home to meet the worker and show him what was broken. Today I have to be here so they can fix it. I had a burned out light bulb that was supposed to be replaced. So, Worker Man takes a good light bulb out of a different fixture, replaces the burned out light bulb with that, and voila, it's fixed! Meanwhile, I have no light in the entry. Fortunately, Agent Girl has her head screwed on right so she took the broken light to the store the today to buy a replacement which she brought tonight. Or, that is, I thought she knew what she was doing, but no, while I'm not looking she has the new worker man take the good bulb out and put the new bulb in its place. Now I have 2 good bulbs but only one working light, so as the worker is about to leave I grab him and point to the empty light socket. Surprise! Now, these are halogen lights in canisters and it actually takes some thought to put them together properly. After several unsuccessful attempts, he gently pushes the parts together, smiles and waves, and leaves. So, I get a chair and a few pillows, take it apart and do it right. My first experience with the way things get fixed here.

Oh, and the water? They say the meter is broken. They'll bring a new one tomorrow.

My Box

2008-09-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 9. 2008 My box came today. Fifty pounds of stuff, mostly warm clothes, that I'll need to make it through the year. One of the US Embassy drivers brought it to me after school. It arrived last week but was held up in customs. Since I sent it to Bill at the Embassy, it shouldn't have gone to Chinese customs at all. I finally have my curling iron!

Cathy and I had dinner together tonight at the little café/bakery in our complex. It was fun to get to know each other. It's Cathy's birthday on the 19th, so I think we need to have a party. Since she is from Canada she speaks French fairly well, we decided that sometimes when we're together we just need to talk French so we don't forget how. Jane and Patty both studied French for several years but they say it has been too long ago. I could teach French after school but I am going to need the time for myself I think. While we were at the café, Janice came in. Ryan and Michael have been taking Janice and Holli all around the area so Janice told us about all these places we should see. The one that interests me above all is the two hour foot and body massage for only $15. I still haven't had a foot massage yet! Darn.

School

2008-09-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 7
I teach 2 ESL classes--Mr. Dave’s way. Dave is the full-time ESL teacher, and he does a super job. I am sticking close to his side to pick up as much as I can from him. We zip through 4 books in 2 months basically. I can't be Mr. Dave, but I'll develop my own style in time. Basically, though, ESL just gets in the way of what really needs to be done here, and that is, first and foremost, to organize the library so that it serves the educational needs of the teachers, students, and curriculum. A realistic description of the library at this point could be: finding a book is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Other descriptions could include: no long-range plan; no thought put into collection development; no understanding of the purpose of school library; no concept of information media, etc. Some other concrete descriptions would include: no call numbers on books, no card catalog, limited database capability-- all in Chinese. For any librarians out there, imagine not being able to read any of the data about a book--but hey, in this case it hardly matters because THERE IS NO DATA! I have learned, however, how to check-in and check-out a book, which is about all the system is capable of. The Follett rep is coming today. I hope to get funds for a real management system. In the meantime, I am sorting the fiction into reading levels and putting call numbers on the books. Then I can at least teach how to find fiction titles and authors.

At today's staff meeting we learned about all the fun stuff that is planned for the year—several field trips, some of which are a really big deal, like Qingdao, Xian (home of the terracotta warriors), and Hongzhou. (So,that's where the money goes. ) The Christmas program is a big deal; International Week; Chinese New Year; Science Fair; Book Week/Fair; etc, etc. Next Monday is Mid-Autumn Festival when everyone buys/eats Moon Cakes. At the end of the month is a week off for Harvest Festival. What to do with that, I wonder. I'm still hoping/waiting to play tennis. It costs $3/hour at our court, not bad, but I need someone to play with. I have Cathy, Janice, and Xiaohong, the beautiful assistant principal at the middle school, but getting it arranged seems to be not so easy.

Day 2

2008-09-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Second day in my apartment. The day is overcast and a bit stormy. It's a struggle to figure out how to make the gas burners work on the cooker. I only get hot water in the pipes. Bought a jug of drinkable water for the dispenser that is supposed to dispense hot and cold water, but its specialty is boiling water, so the hot is boiling and the cold is warm. Still cleaning “yuk” from surfaces, some not very nice. A jackhammer sound wakes me around four each morning; actually it is someone's water pipes. Don't know how or where to pay for water or electricity which goes on a credit card that I put in a meter, or meters, someplace. Who is supposed to help with these things? I don't know. It's not because I missed the first days, because those were here on time don't know either.

By afternoon the weather cleared and I went out in search of groceries and supplies. I found my way to the Upper East Side through an apartment complex that makes me envious. Located Paris Baguette, so I knew that Vanguard, the grocery store, had to be near. Didn't bring enough money with me, so I had to put a couple things back in the end. Just as I was about to leave, Jane Harris showed up. She was out exploring too. Great to see someone I recognize. Jane is close to my age and teaches 2nd grade. She is is from northern California, has a daughter, is divorced, and left her boyfriend behind to give the Beanstalk experiment a try. She's pretty cool. We had a snack at Paris Baguette, and I discovered they have free internet, or so it seems.

Exploring

2008-09-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

Monday, Septermber 15, 2008-9-16
Today is a national holiday—Mid-Autumn Festival. Most people don't have to work. We don't have school either. I got up early and washed clothes by hand. Then hung them out to dry. It was a scorcher so they dried quickly. Then I took out my maps and tried to figure out where we had walked yesterday. Also, tried to learn the names of streets. Speaking of which, “lu” means street; “qiao” means bridge. That's helpful. I'm picking up a little language here and there. These are pictures of the canal that runs through the Upper East Side. I can see my apartment building if I turn 45 degrees to the right of this shot.

Once I had a pretty good idea of the geography I set out to explore. I began by re-tracing the route we took yesterday, having heard there is great little place where I can get a 2 hour foot and body massage for $15 in that area; finding it becane one of my goals. But before I could do that I stopped in at Ozone Fitness Center in the heart of the Upper East Side and only a few minutes from the school. It is excellent. Has just about everything one could ask for: treadmill with satellite TV so I catch the news from around the world, etc; big rooms full of all kinds of weight machines, elliptical machines, bikes, etc.; swimming pool; aerobics room; personal trainer; classes, massage. The price is pretty spendy, but I think we will be able to get a corporate discount. Either way, though, I think I'm going to have get a membership for both my mental and physical health.

Finding the foot and body massage place was not as easy as I'd expected. Not only did I find one in that location, there were three and they all appeared to be closed. I guessed that everyone was taking the holiday off. I'll have to go back next week. The fresh fruit vendors were not on vacation though, so I bought a backpack full of apples, tangerines, kiwi, and grapes. I have learned enough Chinese to understand the woman who sold me the tangerines and kiwi when she told me that they had gone to the US before being shipped to China. I could tell from her gestures and facial expressions th at she thought that was ironic.

No good walk through unchartered territory would be complete without getting lost at least once, so I made sure I did that too. Actually, when we were exploring yesterday, Patty pointed down a street and said, “If you follow that street, it takes you to Jingkelong.” Jingkelong is a supermarket where you can also buy all kinds of stuff including food. It's in the basement of a small mall. The other levels are department stores and a Super 8. I needed to go to Jingkelong and I knew how to get home from there, so I set out in that direction with 5-6 pounds of fruit on my back.

The route took me along a residentiral street, maybe 6 blocks long, pretty much like the hutongs we saw in Hohai--all one-story brick dwellings, most of which had a little shop of one kind or another fronting the street. As it was a holiday, the streets were full of people having a good time. I was the only foreigner in the bunch, and I suppose people wondered what that was all about, but they were very friendly, and I enjoyed being a part of their day for a few minutes.

I came out on Liangmaqiao Lu, or something like that, but Jingkelong was nowhere in sight. Straight ahead was a MacDonald's and a big local market called Sunny Something. I took this to be the famous (in my mind) MacDonald's market that I'd heard so much about from other teachers. I was going to explore it, but first I walked a few blocks to my left and found a street that I recognized as leading back to where I had started. That was good to know, so I turned around and went back to "MacDonald's Market".

I was looking for a squeegee. (How the heck to you spell that?) My shower and bathroom are the same room. That is, there is no shower stall, just the four walls. Fortunately, the walls and floor are made of nice clean, bright white tiles, but it sure would be nice to have a squeegee to make short order of cleaning up after a shower, and did I find one! This is not just any ordinary squeegee, by the way. It is two-headed—one side rubber, the other cloth with buttons on it that allow it to be turned and bent every which way for getting into really weird spaces. The handle is adjustable; it can be long for washing window and floors, medium length for smaller spaces, or very short-handled for the shower.

I had been assured by the sales girl at MacDonald's Market that I'd find Jingkelong 3 hundred meters down the road, so I started out in that direction. A long time later, when I was just about to give up, I spied it. When I got there, the "guard" wouldn't let me take my fancy squeegee past the turnstile. He pointed to Customer Service where they gave me a tag, like a hat check, which I put around my wrist in case I should forget to pick it up when I left.

I had been searching unsuccessfully all over Chao Yang Distsrict for a small kitchen knife; apparently many stores had pulled them off the shelves during the Olympics and Paralympics--maybe this was due to the death of Mr. Bachman. I don't know. I didn't expect to find a knife at Jingkelong because there weren't any there last week, but this time I had a choice of three. I picked the multi-purpose one. It also is two-side, one serrated, the other not, and it is the best cheese slicer I've ever owned. To top it all off, the blade end nearest the handle is bottle opener. I'll add a picture when I get a chance.

I'd been out for over nearly four hours and was ready to rest when I finished at Jingkelong. I was hot, tired when I got home a pretty happy camper with a bulging backpack .

My Apartment

2008-09-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my apartment. I was supposed to have a bigger, nicer apartment, but I really like this one. I like the clean white kitchen and bathroom and the hide-a-bed. Maybe people will come to visit. Here's and advantage to being on the 13th floor that I hadn't thought about is that I am further away from the noise of the street. I like that.

DIRT

2008-09-11T06:36:00.001-07:00

Saturday, September 5, 2008
The sun woke me early today and the first thing I thought of was the dirt. Me in an apartment full of dirt and no cleaning supplies! Not even a rag. There is a small outdoor area that is exposed to the outside but somewhat protected by louvers. The air conditioner is out there and there is a rod that stretches between the two walls that is meant to be used for drying clothes on hangers. BTW--there is a clever little pole that looks a bit like a cane that you use to lift the clothes hangers on and off the rod. Former tenants had used this area to dump junk, and that stuff was there, caked in dirt. No way was I going to hang clean clothes out there!

What to do? I started by climbing out the narrow little strip of a window, testing the strength of the strongest part of the small air-conditioner, and gauging whether or not I could get back in again. I decided to go for it, so I climbed down and started throwing junk back into my apartment. It was a filthy job. As luck with have it, I found not only a rag in the process, but a really good collapsible luggage/grocery dolly, also caked in dirt. I grabbed the rag and started cleaning. I cleaned until 1:30 that afternoon. Then I took a shower. Hey, the shower is great! What a pleasant surprise.

World View

2008-09-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 4, 2008
Finally moved into my apartment. Many of the teachers went to a Mexican restaurant in Sanlitun for dinner tonight. I would have got too but I got a late start leaving school and it took awhile for me to get into my apartment. There are 5 or 6 towers in the apartment complex. It's called World View, apparently Beijing is the world. Alternatively the complex is called Cando or Kandu. Here is a picture taken from the school.

I guess I was disoriented at first because I went to the tower next to mine by mistake. I didn't know it, of course, until my apartment wasn't in the place it was supposed to be. Hey, Beijing's a big city. Bill tells me that his European friends say it's as big as the entire country of Belgium!

DIRT. I might say dust, but it's all dirt. My apartment floors and most surfaces are covered with dirt. There are 6 windows that were left open for long enough to let a lot of dirt filter through the screens. I'll have to clean tomorrow but am too tired to think about it. The effects of jet lag, getting up early every morning to ride with Bill or catch a cab, and getting used to new job finally caught up with me. I'm just going to throw some sheets on the bed and got some sleep.

Moving In

2008-09-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 4, 2008-9-11
Tonight is my last night at Bills. After school tomorrow I move into my apartment. Most of the time I can't believe I am here! Jeanny set out some dishes (Sandee's old ones), pots and pans, cooking utensils, and a set of sheets; so I'm all set to go thanks to her. Bill's colleague, Teresa, loaned me pillows, a blanket, and a change of sheets too. Don't have towels and wash clothes yet but am looking forward to exploring shops around here for them. The first day I was here, Bill took me to a shopping mall with Jingkelong market in the basement where I can buy things like that as well as food. Now I just need walking directions!

I brought a carry-on and a book bag with me from home; the rest I shipped to Bill in a box that weighs 50 lbs. There was a note in his PO today saying that it had arrived, but it is at Chinese customs. Since it wasn't supposed to go through customs, he is concerned--so I am too. Guess I won't be seeing my stuff until sometime next week now. I hope everything is OK.

2008-09-10T05:49:00.001-07:00

Monday，September 1, 2008 Beanstsalk School
All teachers are called by their first name, so I am Ms. Sue, although some say Ms. Susan. This sounds much more friendly than “Mrs. Benson”. Classes are identified by the first letter of the teacher’s name, so Mr. Michael’s fourth grade class if 4M; Laurie is 3M. For some reason, though, Ms. Amanda’s class is 2M. Some think it was a typo, others say it’s because one of the clerical personnel thinks she is “a Manda”...like a panda. Who knows?

I met with the principal for over an hour today. He filled me in on the history and organization of the school. The director is a parent who began the school in the mid-90s. They moved into this building midway through last year. There is a fiduciary relationship between it and the Chinese government, and there are several public school classrooms in a separate wing. The library is not what we would think of as a public school library. Although there are many books and children can check them out, there is no card catalog and a very minimal organization. Most of the teachers this year are new to the school. At first they came to the library asking questions like, “Do we have any books on….” Now, they , like me, know that it’s not only a crap shoot, by it’s a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack…only easier because there aren’t that many books.

We do, however, have several hundred Chinese books, all not cataloged, some still in their wrappings…OK hundreds still in their wrappings. Another thing we have is Oxford Learning Tree leveled readers…plus some Scott Forsman leveled readers. I don’t see much in the way of the great children’s books we are accustomed to providing back home though. On Monday the Follett Asia representative came. He tells me this is typical. If Beanstalk wants to set itself apart in Beijing, a state-of-the profession library is the ticket. I hope that we, as a team, can contribute to that goal.

After school today we had a staff meeting. Looks like a very good group of teachers. There is a field trip to Simitai, a relatively unrestored portion of the Great Wall, planned for Saturday, the 13th. I can teach French or some other subject after school if I want to. No school the 15th…it’s Mid-Autumn Festival. The vice principal took me to get a SIM card for my cell phone…on his Vespa. So, on my first day I found myself buzzing around the streets of Beijing, clinging to the back of a little motor scooter (Sorry Ryan, maybe you think it’s big.); down back streets (Where I’d like to hold my nose if I only dared free up a hand.); against the traffic, with the traffic, busses, taxis, cars, bicycles and pedestrians flying past me, all a blur. It was fun, of course!

I bought the cheapest telephone card. Ones with 8’s and 9’s are very expensive (lucky numbers in China.) Ones with 4’s are not. Apparently, 4 is like the kiss of death here. For example, my apartment is on the 13th floor, but I push 16 on the elevator because there is no 4th floor, or 14th, floor, and because they honor our superstitions about unlucky 13…no 13th floor either.

Good Fortune

2008-09-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

At Badachu we came upon an spot where people were tying or throwing these little lanterns on huge trees. We purchased the lanterns and wrote the names of people to whom we wished good fortune. You can see all or part of Jesse, Dave, Celeste, and Sue on the lantern to the right. I threw mine up and in stuck on the second toss. If you look hard you can see it there.

Bill and Jeanny put one on the tree for

them and one for Angie. Angie's lantern

to the right.

When you rub your hands just right on

this brass bowl, tiny little droplets of

water spray up. It is possible to make 12
separate little fountains spray up, which

is supposed to be significant.

Jeanny could do it pretty well, a sign

that she should be prosperous. Bill

made the thing spray huge spurts all over the place... a sign of much financial prosperity.I don't think I succeeded to

any extent.

Badachu (Fragrant Mountains)

2008-09-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

When we got home, Jeanny suggested

we all go to Badachu (Fragrant Mountain) to hike up and up and, as

it turned out, up and up. The day was

fantastic, warm but not too hot, crystal

clear. I heard a person who has lived

here for 7 years say that it was the most

beautiful day she had every seen in

Beijing.

From the mountain we could easily make out Bill’s office building. When we were at his office last fall, Bill told me that he usually can’t see the buildings across the street…pretty good indication of improved air quality as a result of the Olympics. Bill's office is near the tall building far left. The tower in the middle is the CCTV building.

The name Badachu means Eight Great Sites, and refers to the eight Buddhist temples and monasteries scattered across Cuiwei, Pingpo and Lushi hills at the foot of Beijing's Western Hills Scenic Area. Located along the outskirts of Beijing, it was restored during the 1980's and has since become a famous tourist destination. There are a total of eight former Buddhist temples and monasteries in Badachu Park. From Travel China's website.

Angie and Jeanny

Shun Yi

2008-09-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

The area Bill lives in is called Shun Yi. It's in the NE beyond the 5th Ring Road on the way to the airport. Sunday morning Bill and I went for a long bike ride to explore a bit. We went to Lake View Shopping Center next to Dragon Bay Villas. It is really a little shopping area with several restaurants and is aesthetically laid out along the banks of a pond. The sound of traditional Chinese music surrounded us. We explored a beautiful new Spa where a person can experience just about any type of massage or bath imaginable.

On our way back we made a stop at New Talent Academy which is just opening and appears to be the size of a small university. It was festively decorated and parents were bringing children for registration, etc. It’s a residential academy. Bill told the officials that I was an English teacher and we were immediately whisked away to the personnel office. Since we were curious, this was OK with us. They have an English language program with about 130 students enrolled and they still need 3 foreign teachers. The pay isn’t that great, but the apartments are quite nice and teachers eat in the cafeteria.

Beijing Again

2008-09-02T05:51:00.000-07:00

We flew 12 hours from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Narita (Tokyo) and the flight arrived exactly on time, but a thunderstorm delayed our departure for Beijing by nearly an hour. Bill was there to meet me at the airport and it was good to be in Beijing again. The city has been busy during the 10 months since we were here, dressing up for the Olympics.

Everywhere beautiful landscaping, banners every hundred feet along the highways, toll booth attendants dressed in costumes, etc., etc. The millionaire mansions that were under construction last fall are now occupied, and the grimy local neighborhoods have been spiffed up. It’s all very impressive…lots of change in short time. And every so often a military style vehicle with guards in camouflage (do they think they can hide on the freeway) and machine guns. Bill says it’s the radical Muslims they are most concerned about.

On the road from the airport two huge new hotels (Crowne Plaza and Marriott) have sprung up, surrounded by several other buildings that weren’t here before. The airport used by Northwest is the "Old Airport" that we used last fall. It is only a side terminal to the new, much larger, Capital Airport.

Saturday morning we drove down to the Upper East Side where the Beanstalk School in Chaoyang District. We managed to connect with Charlotte, the HR director, and so got to tour the school and see my apartment. By some mix-up, which everyone says is normal, so I suppose it’s not really a mix-up, I ended up with the apartment I had rejected. It’s one redeeming feature is the hide-a-bed, so I’m hoping for company to make good on that. The apartment building is called World View or Cando…take you pick. It’s right next to the 4th Ring Road, but my apartment looks to the inner court. There is a tennis court for residents and I hear tell there is a swimming pool. More later on that.

Getting There

2008-09-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

Getting there (here) was quite an experience. First, I had all the paperwork to deal with. You can’t apply for a work visa without a letter of invitation and a work permit from the Chinese government. That has to be sent to you, or at least that’s how I got mine. It took a week longer than expected. Then, you have to have a flight itinerary. This is a real Catch-22 if you don’t know how much time it will take to get your application processed and back to you…especially if you are already running on a tight schedule.

I ended up having to change my flight reservation because I didn't get my visa in time. Here’s what happened, and it was all my fault. I used Travisa.com to get my visa. They were great, by the way. I had used them last year and had saved the visa application form on my computer. The form was mostly in Chinese of course. I just printed that form and sent it in (2 copies) not realizing that there was a new version. The next day Travisa called to say they couldn’t take my application to the Chinese
Embassy for processing because I’d used the wrong forms. I would have to overnight the correct forms immediately, and by the way, I needed a new flight itinerary too.

Filling out the new forms was easy, but it turned out that Northwest wasn’t going to let me change my flight because I had used their new Cash + Miles program. No changes. No refund. I spent 2 hours on the phone with them until finally someone agreed to let me change my flight.

By the time I had all the new documents in hand, it was nearly 2 PM. I rushed to the post office and arrived just as the overnight express truck was pulling away. I was told that maybe if I hurried, I could catch it before it left Deerwood (the next town). So, I jumped in my car and sped away. No luck. I missed it there. I finally chased it down at the next town and my application was in Chicago the following day. I had it back in my hands in time for me to fly out on Thursday, August 28th. Don’t think, however, that FedEx didn’t receive an anxious call from me when it hadn't arrived by 1 PM Wednesday!

How It Started

2008-09-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

The Beanstalk Adventure (or as Dave calls it “Sue’s Big Adventure”) started sometime around the middle of July when I came across an announcement for a librarian at Beanstalk International Bilingual School in Beijing. I posted my resume, clicked “Apply Now” and waited. It wasn’t long before I received an email asking for a telephone interview, and before I knew it, I had a job offer.
What to do? I had been thinking about teaching in Beijing for a few years, ever since Bill moved back there, but that was mostly just building castles in the air. I didn’t really expect it to happen. Suddenly, I was faced with the opportunity and had to decide to go for it or not. When I was thinking practically, which was most of the time, I couldn’t imagine going. I couldn’t leave Dave for that long. I was in the middle of too many projects, especially Dad’s biography. My garden needed me! But in the end I realized that an adventure I didn’t want to miss and now it now has begun.