| Sunday was full of events for us. We had a dog show to view, temple in Baoding to see, and dinner plans with a university English teacher named Lex. We unpacked our purchases from the market and looked through pictures as we slowly got motivated for the day. Speaking about our purchases from the market, we learned early on that you have to be careful about the soap that you buy here. Many people like to bleach their skin and be as pale as possible. So many soaps have bleach in them to help the process. Also, we think that many people wear the masks to help from the smog. The truth of that matter is that most of them wear masks to keep the sun off their face. (I find this really interesting because we think tanner is better in our culture) We were ready for the dog show and ready for lunch. Now, when I say dog show, you might be thinking dogs that are fine tuned with pretty little bows in their hair. Instead, this dog show consists of mammoths and bears. Yes! They were huge dogs and huge dogs with cute puppies. But to be kind, I will just say that if you are an animal lover, it would be hard to see. The conditions were not the best and the cages were too small. Good news though, the dogs had water on this hot day. The reason why this show takes place is so that people that are interested in owning a dog can come to see the selection and pick one out for purchase. (Also, I did not take pictures because this is a very busy street during this time and I did not want to offend any of the people selling the dogs. I tried to be respectfully of the situation.) After lunch, we headed to the temple in Baoding. On the way there we passed this wonderful road called Little Gate Road. This road was full of stands and street food. The stands were selling fruit, vegetables, and a variety of different foods. Needless to say, it is a very colorful street. Once we were at the temple, we started snapping pictures. The architecture was beautiful and this was the most traditional Chinese thing I have experienced. We walked around the area before we entered the temple. We got tons of stares, and a little girl ran after us to get a picture with her. We finally met a man that was very interested in us, especially Caitlin with her blond hair. As we took pictures with the man, it did not take long to notice his drunken stupor and his mild case of craziness. It was also obvious that he was a very harmless guy. So after we took pictures with him, he motioned us to follow him. He got us in the temple for free and taught us how to do the prayers. We then walked down the street behind the temple that was full of beautiful little shops and restaurants. We were unsure where we were going, but I figured as long as we stayed on this street, next to the temple, in public, we would be considerably safe. Caitlin was more hesitant about the situation. He offered to buy us a drink at a vendor, and I gladly accepted the bottle of water since the bike ride to the temple was longer than expected. Caitlin gave in and got one too. We walked about a block more and then the man walked into a photo shop. Noticing that it was a photo shop, I was interested to see what they are like in China. The man proceeded to talk to one of the workers about printing a picture that he had taken of us. I found this hilarious that he had to get the picture printed right then, but I went with it. The shop was filled with old box computers that they used to upload images and wedding photos printed nicely and framed appropriately. The most interesting thing was what they put on top of the images once printed. They embellished the photos with glitter, jewels, and sequins. For example, if the wedding dress in the photo had lace, the flat image was decorated with physical lace. After we left the photo shop, we walked back to the temple. The man insisted on walking us all the way back. I told Caitlin the strategy for losing him. He gave us a hug, in which the alcohol smell was still as potent as it was before. Caitlin was lucky enough to almost get a kiss from the guy as well. That blonde hair comes in handy sometimes. Haha (Did I mention this man was defiantly in his 60s) Since we were leaving the temple anyways, we would simple tell him we are leaving and ride away into the crowd. He did sort of watch us for an extremely long time after we rode away though. On our ride back we decided to go a little bit passed the school and view the rock exhibit. Baoding is known for taking large rocks and cutting them down smaller and making them more visually appealing. (Yeaaaa in China, you might ask why about something but you never get an answer, it just is what it is. There are many times that I have to ask myself, why did that just happen, but then I realize no one else is wondering why, it is just a cultural thing I suppose.) We pass a few dumps on the way to the rock exhibit. People live in these dumps and collect things and will turn things in like cardboard and plastic bottles in exchange for Yuan. I noticed a little boy playing right inside of the gate of one of the dumps. He was very curious about us and waved and smiled. We stopped to try and talk to him. He ran into, what we believe, is his house, which is four brick walls and a tin roof. He came back out quickly with a little girl. The girl waved and smiled as well. We tried to get them to come closer to give them a US penny and high fives. Giggling, they ran back inside the house, and out came their mother. She was not as impressed with us. She looked at us with deep, distressed eyes, as I guess any concerned mother would. We waved and said hello, but she was did not wave or say hello back. The kids were still very excited to see us and laughed about it all. Noticing the mother’s uneasiness about us, we decided to let them be. We got back on bikes and headed to the school. At that point, I realized so much about life and about people. How similar we are and how different we are at the same time. The worries of a mother or the carelessness of child, we are all human with similar thoughts and feelings, yet, they are struggling to put food on their table and we are concerned about the next IPhone coming out. I am not saying to not take pride in our success but I often wonder how different the world would be if we cared more about those giggling children than the brand of clothes we wear. We then got ready for a dinner with Lex. Lex is an English teacher at the University and his family is from Kentucky and he went to UK for college. (Random fact about Lex, his parents love Kentucky so much that they named their children after cities in Kentucky. So Lex is named after Lexington, Kentucky and one of his brothers names in Leo named after Louisville, Kentucky.) Lex is pretty fluent in Chinese and is a very interesting guy to talk to. We decided to eat Korean tonight. I love Korean food and was really excited to see the Chinese take on it. Caitlin is pickier with her food and was really unsure about it all but willing to try something new. Over dinner we discussed our different interests and what all was going on in each other’s lives. The food was delicious and we all ate way more than what we needed! Thoughts about those children stayed in my head the entire night, I was trying to find peace in it all, but I just couldn’t figure out the world in which we live and the motives that we have. | Also, today is Easter so I got another card from my parents and a piece of candy that I ate before I got to take a picture. It was a piece of home away from home.  |
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 Beginning of the road that leads to the school I am staring at the ceiling trying to fall back to sleep. It is 3:00 AM and nightmares about the Teacher Work Sample woke me up. I decided to get up and hush my worry by completing the TWS. I slaved over my computer all night. It was around 8AM when Caitlin woke up. She was excited for the day that we had planned and I was panicked about the count down on my TWS. She got ready and I finished. I am very disappointed in the quality of it but I was also disappointed in not being able to enjoy the little time I have in China. So I put my efforts towards my experience in China. Caitlin and I were comfortable enough with Baoding to go out on our own. So we decided to stop and smell the roses of Baoding. (Sometimes you cannot help but smell the roses because your face gets harassed by awful odors) We wanted to take pictures of all the interesting things at the underground market, the park, the road leading up to our school, and everything else we have not got a chance to take a picture of. So after I got ready, we headed into town. We got food from the trash can vendor again and enjoyed our lunch at the faithful QLH.(We spend a lot of time at QLH because it is clean, has free wifi, and they are very nice to us "Laowai".) Now it was time to take pictures of the park and head down to the market. What is so interesting about this market is that it underneath the park and of course they display their foods a little bit differently than we do. The park is huge as well. It has several different sites that we took pictures of including the rainbow arches and relief sculpture arches that run along the middle of the park. Duncan explained the relief arches had just recently been torn down and rebuilt. The imagery on the previous arches what symbolic of government control and control of the masses. Now, the imagery is more geared towards depicting traditional Chinese things and about the people. This is actually something that is culturally really important but no one talks about the significance. Down to the market we went. It would be way too hard to explain everything that we saw. So just check out my pictures to get the idea. This market will be our supply of groceries and anything that we need for the next month. Exploring and discovering the way in which China works is really a never ending journey that seemed to really suck the energy out of us. So we decided to head back to our room for a nap before we tried supper. On the way back, we took pictures of the street leading up to the school just so people could get an idea about what this looked like. This road is off of a main road and the school it at the very end. When I first saw this road, I was a little shocked by it. But now I realize this is normal in China and maybe even decent for China. After our nap, we decided to try different street vendors and see if we could come up with anything. We went to the road where QLH is which is one of the most busy places because of the park and the surrounding restaurants. We walked the road to see all of our options. The first thing we tried was some sort of breaded ball with a really hard egg in the middle. They were covered in ketchup and not the most appetizing thing I have had. However, the next treat was far from being a treat. It looked like some sort of sausage on a stick that was cut into a spiral. By the end of my first bit I could tell that it was defiantly not going to be my favorite, by the end of the second bit, I could tell I was NEVER EVER going to get it again. (I always give something two chances, the first time might have just shocked my mouth, but by the second taste I can normally tell if I am going to like it or not) The weirdest part is that it made my mouth feel funny after I ate it. This snack is something that is very common in China because I see them EVERYWHERE and everyone seems to really enjoy them. At an attempt to figure out what they are, I took them back to room and put them in the freezer to have Duncan look at them and tell us what they were. He really did not know either but we have concluded that they are not meat like I thought they were and I was going to avoid them at all cost. Haha. So instead of trying a different street vendor, we went to the noodle place we had lunch at on Thursday. I was excited that we did things on our own and got around town fine and back to our rooms safe. I was finally starting to feel comfortable in my surroundings. The stares and comments around us is something I still have to get use to at this point. I figured I would learn to ignore them soon. So I would consider our first Saturday and day on our own successful. As we got ready for bed we talked about the days experiences and the days to come but I was so tired that I fell asleep in the middle of the conversation. Ohhhhhhhh by the way: My parents were sweet enough to give me cards and date them when I need to open them. I got one today. I am so thankful that my parents cared enough to do that and shocked that they were that creative! It really does add a cherry on today of these days. 
a view of the sides of Heibi Alley
 The Girls at QLH Today, I woke up early enough to get ready to observe more of Alyssa’s and Duncan’s classes. Every class was interested in the new teacher so much that they could not keep their eyes on Alyssa. Their little eyes would creep towards where I was sitting just to see me and what I was doing. When lunch came around, I was ready for a new adventure. Street food! We walked into town, glanced at what there was to offer. At first, I was a little taken back by the conditions around the street vendors and even more surprised when Alyssa and Duncan suggested a vender that was cooking on top of a trash can. Now let me define this situation for you. There was a metal trash can filled with hot coals, and a lid that has been made into a frying pan of some sort. A guy cooks the bread on top of the trash can lid and then puts it into the trash can with hot coals to keep it warm. A lady prepares the meat and the bread that is to be cooked and hands it off to him to fry up. As hesitant as I was, I figured when in Rome do as the Romans do. After getting our street food lunch, we headed to QLH (the best coffee shop with WIFI in town). At this point, I had already noticed the stares and second glances that we got from the public. Everyone looked at us with amazement and giggled when we stared back and waved. The term “Laowai”which means foreigner was shouted many times as we passed people. Of course, in the US if we shouted “FOREIGNER”every time someone passed us, it would not be accepted. But here in China, being politically correct does not seem to be on their agenda. So we are simply laowai. Being white is china is something that is sort of admired. They love the fact that we are pale and with blue eyes. They are really crazy and stare a lot more at Caitlin because she is gorgeous and has blonde hair. I blend in a little bit more but I often get a double take when I look at someone in their eyes. People wanted to take pictures of us in secret so we like to take pictures of them too. Some people are nice enough to ask, which we really appreciate and are happy to take a picture with them. As we sat down at QLH, we noticed two girls pointed and giggling. Even though they were trying not to be obvious about taking a picture of us, we noticed and then turned around and snapped a picture of them. They actually love the camera and everyone poses with a peace sign up. When we got back to campus, Li Laoshi was taking us to get our money exchanged to yuan. The driver picked us up, and took us to the bank. The little time spent in the bank, we had workers staring and telling Li Laoshi how beautiful and perfect we were. As I sat in the bank waiting for Caitlin to get her money exchanged, a worker sat beside me and stared at me with amazement. I pretended not to notice till she got in front of me and made me look at her. She pointed to her eyes and then pointed to mine. I was really unsure where she was going with that, but she looked at me as if I was some sort of strange creature out of a horror film. When we got back to the room, it was almost time to dinner. We organized, unpacked, and cleaned what we could. So impressed with the street food we had for lunch, we wanted to try some more. Heibi alley was another new adventure. This was more of distance but also had a lot more to offer. It is almost like a farmers market of food. It is a huge sheltered ally with small restaurants on the sides and vendors and booths running along the middle. This is where I fell in love with the Chinese street food. I am so thankful for Duncan and Alyssa showing us all these great things around Baoding and helping us order our meals. Even though, I know a little bit of Chinese, it was very difficult to understand people and learn how to order food. Thus, Duncan who had studied a lot of Chinese, was very willing to help us and teach us how to get a meal. We, again, went back to QLH, ate our dinner and we were ready to end the night. By the time we reached the school, my adrenaline had worn off from my excitement and exhaustion had set in. Looking up at the stairs that lead us to our room on the 4th floor, I felt like I was never going make it to bed. I still needed to complete my Teacher Work Sample before 11:00AM the next day. But instead at 7:00pm, I cuddled up between my ugly blue plaid sheets and fell asleep.  One of the schedules we were given... yeaaaa... I do not know I did not expect my head to come off of my pillow for 16 hours after we arrived to the school. But at 6:00AM I was wide awake. Caitlin and I talked about our plans for the day and made our first attempt at turning on the hot water heater to have a shower. (By the way, if you did not notice in the picture, the shower is on the wall, so when you take a shower, the entire bathroom becomes the shower.) At 9:00am we had to meet with Duncan, Alyssa, and Li Laoshi (she is head of international affairs and makes the big decisions about us). At this meeting, I was still exhausted and in awe about being in China, we discussed the schedule for the time that we were here and determined if we would be in primary (k-4th) or junior (5th-8th).Even though Li Laoshi has pretty good English, during the meeting I was completely confused by the schedule and when classes would be. (Later found out, last minute stuff and confusion is a Chinese thing) I got assigned to junior grades with Alyssa and Caitlin with Duncan for primary. After the meeting, all that had been concluded was who I was teaching with. Li Laoshi also offered to show me around and view some of the art classes later that afternoon. (of course, I was thrilled about that) Caitlin went to view Duncan’s class, and I had to be up in the room to help set up the internet. Around 11:30AM, it was time for lunch. Alyssa and Duncan suggested trying some noodles for our first outing. Even though to school is close to town and the walk is not bad, we were loaned some bikes for the day. These bikes were far from fresh out of the store, but they got us from point A to point B and that is all we cared about. When we actually got to riding about the outskirts of Baoding, we realized that traffic was far from the same in the states. Traffic rules include: 1. Do not look behind you, you will scare yourself to death 2. Try to follow street signs, but know that others will not follow them 3. The bigger the transportation is, the more of a right away they have 4. When they honk, they are trying to tell you that love you (they do it just for fun many times it seems) 5. It is ok if the bus is within centimeters of hitting you, as long as they do not hit you, you will be fine 6. Do not plan on taking your hands off your bike (the handle bars on your bike are probably crooked) 7. And good luck with your life no matter how you are getting transported on these streets It is defiantly organized chaos; I have not seen any car accidents yet though. (This was very nerve wrecking at first. I got use to it very quickly and learned to pay attention to everything coming my way) We had our first authentic Chinese meal and headed back to the school. When we got back, I was observing Alyssa teach her English class. I was already warned that the organization of the class is nothing compared to a classroom in the US. As we stood outside the door of the classroom waiting for class to start, student rushed to the door to see the new foreign teacher, all saying hello and waving very eagerly. I honestly have never seen a group of students so happy to see a teacher in my entire life. As I walked into the room, I heard more hellos and seen more beautiful smiling faces. It seemed like these 7th graders were ready to meet me, so hopefully the rest of the classes would feel the same. As class started, mumbles from the students never ended. As much as Alyssa tried to quiet them down, she constantly had to talk over them. It was all making sense now, Duncan and Alyssa gave us some background information about why their English classroom is the way it is. In china, students are required to take tests that determine their entire life. In middle school, they take a test to determine what high school they will go to, in high school, they take a test to determine what college they can go to, and in college they take a test to determine their occupations. In elementary and middle school, students are focusing on studying and memorizing to take a test that determines their life and English is not part of that test. The English classes that Duncan and Alyssa teach do not even count for grades. So these students have some sort of class from 6:00am to 9:30pm with lights out at 10:00pm and since the English class does not count for anything, students look at this time as a “break” from their Chinese classes. So for elementary students, they are simply entertained through learning English, but 6th, 7th, and 8th grade lack in motivation and engagement within these English classes. As I watched for the rest of the day, I was learning so much about teaching, teaching English, and classroom management skills. Now, it was time to meet with Li Laoshi and view the art classes. We viewed 6 out 49 different related arts classes available. All of these classes were traditional Chinese art that included music with traditional instruments, paper cutting (which I just taught about at Lost River and Rockfield Elementary), calligraphy, signature blocks, ink washes, and some sort of martial arts. I was truly amazed by the talent, engagement, consistency, and overall performance of these students within the arts. Caitlin and I were still exhausted from our trip so instead of going toward the town, we figured we would be brave and try the cafeteria food. (We were highly disappointed and still really unsure about what we consumed) By 7:30pm, I could not stay awake another minute. I got myself together, and headed to bed. (Might I add, any down time that I had, I was working on my Teacher Work Sample for Western. Our professor made the last part of our Teacher Work Sample due on that 18th and because my crazy schedule the week before included work, getting ready for my trip, and finishing at my last placement, I was not able to complete it. I felt like I was so worried about getting that done, that I was really missing out on my experience here. Obviously, I learned a lot despite the fact.)  The schoool is gated and guarded. This is the view from the entrance. The day of the trip I was very nervous and anxious. I knew I would miss my family and friends but I was ready for this opportunity of a life time. As I waited at the airport in Nashville for our flight to Detroit, I was thinking about how thankful I am to have friends and family that support me and love me. As the other three students showed up at the airport, we discussed our excitement and expressed all of our curiosities, which we had plenty of time to do because our flight was delayed an hour. This meant that we could not waste any time getting to our gate for our flight that went from Detroit to Beijing. When we did arrive in Detroit, we had just enough time to get to our gate and wait about 10 minutes for our section to be called to board. As much as I was dreading the 14 hour flight, I was so thankful that I would be in China at the end of those 14 hours. Catlin and I were lucky enough to have an extra seat next to us so that we could spread out. The plane was very big and had nice little screens in front of us so that we could watch complimentary movies. Because of that, I got to catch up on movies like Frozen that I have apparently been missing out on. (I will not lie though, I thought it was beautiful little movie) Another thing about these long flights, they defiantly make sure that you were fed enough. I felt like every other hour they had a new meal to pass out and were asking me if I wanted another drink. I didn’t even finish half of what they offered. However, since I was on my way to China, I figured the best way to kick the experience off right was to try a Chinese drink. As I struggled to find a comfortable way to sleep, I really could not stop thinking about how soon I was going to be in China and how fortunate I truly am. Finally, the lights came back on, which meant we were soon to arrive. Entering the airport in Beijing, it was great to see everything written in the Chinese characters. It finally felt real. We picked up on luggage and found out school contact. This is when Catlin and I met Wang Laoshi. We went with Wang Laoshi, and the boys went with their contact. It was about 3:30 pm in Beijing which meant that it was 2:30am in Bowling Green. As exhausted as we were, we had a 2 hour drive from Beijing to Baoding. That 2 hour drive, turned into a 4 hour drive because of the traffic in Beijing. The car ride was silent and awkward so I figured it was a good time to get some sleep. Of course, I breathe heavier when I sleep and due to my stuffy nose, I snored relatively loud. At one point, I woke myself up from snoring and realized the driver and Wang Laoshi were laughing at me. HAHA. We finally got to the school and walked up to the fourth floor to our room. At this point, our feet were dragging and our eyes were barely open. Wang Laoshi gave us a phone, explained some things in our room, and introduced us to Duncan and Alyssa. (Who, I might add, have been the most helpful and most welcoming) They are Americans from North Carolina and teach English at the school. They are mentoring us and guiding us through our student teaching experience. They reminded us of some quick things and then rushed us to bed because they recognized our exhaustion. Once we closed our door, we both expressed our disappointment in the room we were given. Not that it was a bad room or bad accommodations; we were just told that we would have basically all the same amenities that we have in the US, including WIFI, when in fact we have to have Ethernet cord to have internet, and well I guess cleaning is not something they considered before we moved into the room. Between the four hour drive, a long introduction, and discussion of our room, around 8:30, I decided to have my first meal in China that consisted of Chinese ramen that Duncan and Alyssa so kindly provided us with. After I ate my meal, I slipped into bed, set my alarm, and thought about the month ahead of me. | Archives |
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