I found Christ!

So Chinese people come up with the strangest names for Children. The best I've ever heard have been some like  Bob, Monkey, Apple and Orange, Plus One, Barbie, Lucky, and....(drumroll please....) Christ, pronounced like Chris...with a T on the end. When I first realized there was a child named Christ in my class, I nearly lost it. So for the past week or so, I was wondering what happened to Christ. I didn't see his name card anymore so I didn't know where he was. There was a kid named Lucky that I usually called on to answer questions and without hesitation he would stand up and answer them

Yesterday I was explaining the concept of Thanksgiving and I asked Lucky to show me his turkey that he drew. He was about to stand up when my TA interrupted me and asked me "ahh, Gabi, Who is Lucky?" I told her, the kid I just called on. She then informed me that Lucky was actually Christ and I'd been calling Christ, Lucky for the past week or so. NOW I know what happened to Christ, he just had been misnamed for a while. Now the real question is.....Who is Lucky? I know there is someone in one of my four classes named Lucky.....

See you soon for another blog....

(Later that day....) Good news everybody, I found Lucky today, Class 7. For the record Lucky and Christ look very similar.

October onward!

So moving on from my amazing Great Wall experience I haven't done too much in Beijing, I will probably have to wait till the weekend to maybe go somewhere, probably not since it will be my birthday. 

Recap on the rest of October.

So I was working at Ke-Er International Kindergarten with the lovely Montessori Teacher Cynthia, pronounced Cyncia. She, the Chinese teacher Nina and I all worked together in the Montessori teaching environment. From my experience working there I believe the Montessori teaching style to not be such a free and relaxed atmosphere. In fact I found that the environment at times of instruction was the exact opposite. In times of instruction, (the initial stages of integration into the class) the children had specific ways to walk, talk, look, move, carry things, eat...etc. This bothered me a bit until I saw the effect of enforcing this behavior at the beginning. They then learned from it and later we did not have to worry about what that child was doing.

In the Montessori learning environment, children learn through TBL (Task Based Learning) meaning that everything that they are supposed to be learning in the classroom, they are learning through doing different activities.  So they would have activities that were used to teach them things about practical life, sensory education, math education etc. I think there were a couple of areas, but I never understood what Cynthia was talking about. 

 

My kids were adorable....crazy to hear me say right? I know, but anyway the children grew on me. During the strict regimented time of the children, I was provided time for a 30-40 minute lesson with them in English during my "English Circle Time". Usually I would choose a song or two and we'd sing those songs, and then possibly practice some vocabulary flash cards and lastly read a book. Without fail, the children always wanted to do these songs "Little Bunny Fufu, Body talk (the song ended in shaking your whole body), and Old MacDonald". Everyday I would introduce myself and we'd go through everybody's name and say hello. This is also how I introduced new classmates. 

 

These were my cutest kids, Ulsha (3 yrs) he couldn't really speak any English but he tried to understand and would talk right back to you in mandarin. Isabelle (3yrs) couldn't speak English and was pretty shy. Lastly was my little favorite Fan Qi, (2 1/2 yrs) could speak no English but was super cute! She would always call all of the teachers "ayi" which is a general term for a nanny/woman who does the cleaning.  We would always hagve to sit her down and say "Wo Laoshi bu ayi" and repeat laoshi (teacher) and she would repeat it back. I worked at Ke-Er for about 2 and 1/2 months before I quit.

Yes, I quit my job and I quit the company I came over here with. I realized that the school ways paying almost triple what I received from my company, meaning my company was pocketing a good 8-10,000 kuai each month. So essentially I quit because I worked around 45 hours a week and didn't get paid enough for it. There is plenty of work in Beijing so I wasn't worried about quitting.

Good-bye Ke-Er! I told my Montessori teacher Cynthia face-to-face, surprisingly she understood but she was sad to see me go! She is an amazing person!

 

What are the repercussions from quitting: I needed a place to live, a new job, a roommate, and a way to get my visa in the end. Soooo let's see how far I've gotten on those lists....

The weekend before I quit, I went apartment hunting with a good friend of mine, Erin, who had recently returned from teaching in Yijing, a city about 2 hours away from Beijing. When she returned to Beijing she did not like the job that the company had placed her in. So we quit together and looked for an apartment together. After a lot of searching we finally found a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment that we both liked. We moved in about two days later.

The following week we looked for jobs together. We signed contracts with a bunch of different companies trying to get part time work. This we realized is just a gradual process because with private tutoring companies, the hire you initially, put you in a demo, and if the student likes you from there, then you begin a regular basis job. The other jobs we have found easily is part time primary school work. I currently work part time at a primary school called Shi You, teaching English to 1st graders. I generally like my job and I don't mind the hours so it's a good set up.

So job, roommate and housing (check, check and check). Now all I needed was my visa. This was a bit stressful. I had no of where to get my visa extended until my friends found a company that extended your visa for you and took you to the immigration office to get it processed with just minor agency fees. So currently my visa is being processed. Add another check.

I'm feeling good, I'm loving China. I don't want to leave, I just want it to warm up! ahaha!

(This is to remind me to talk about Chinese english names and chinese life for my next blog)
Toodles, Adios, Ahlan, Zaijian!

Mooncakes and the Great Wall

Moving on to the last recap about the Moon Festival. So here's the deal, evidently there is some widely celebrated Moon Festival in China. It celebrates some story about a Chinese woman from the Moon who brought rabbits for good luck back to earth.... Something of the sort. Every chinese person you ask to tell you the story, tells you a different one.

What is the Moon Festival known for? MOON CAKES!!! WOOO! (in all actuality I would have to be forced in order to eat a moon cake.) They can be made with many different designs and shapes but essentially they are a little 'cake' that has some sort of filling on the inside, whether it be meat floss, berries, ice cream, etc. (Don't ask me what meat floss is... I do not know)

 

My school put on a Moon Festival Celebration whereupon I was prompted to be the coordinator for the moon cake making room. The children would come in and take some pre-made dough and filling and put them together into the mold. I was on oversight patrol. If you ever need to know how to make a moon cake... Come see me. Aahaha!

OK THE BIG KAHUNA!!!

OF course I visited the Great Wall of China. However, I did not just visit this wondrous structure, I camped for a night on this structure! Technically not what you were supposed to do, but we found plenty of neighbors in nearby guard towers doing the same thing.

Yes, that is a real picture, no I didn't photo-shopped anything. Moving on, so this section of the Great Wall was called Jinshangling. My friends and I were supposed to go to Si Ma Tai, but evidently there was some kind of road block so we went here instead. The route to take: from Beijing City, take the Express bus 980 from Dongzhimen Bus Station to the City of Minyuan (should be a bit over an hour or so). Get off at the LAST STOP! ahah Do not let the Chinese taxi drivers take you off the bus before you need to! They will shout hello and see if they get a response. Ahah that is how they got us. Anywho, if you go during the day, there are plenty of minibuses that will bring you to the Great Wall from Minyuan. If you arrive during the evening/late afternoon, you will have to find a taxi and they will try to rip you off. Don't go over 200-250 kuai for the entire cab (50 kuai per person)

If you camp on the Great Wall, I would advise going during the summer months because it gets freezing up there! or bring some kind of foam mat to put your sleeping bag on because of how cold the stone gets at night.

So I went with a  bunch of friends, mostly English (how unusual) Cady (English girl), James (English), Owen (English & the Best House-mate EVAR!), Brendan (the Irishman), Simon (Canadian), Andrew (American), and Alex (American).

Here's a picture of the best house-mate ever, and everyone else ahah. Well not everyone, some people went off to explore Si Ma Tai, but they're playing cards at around 9am on the wall.

So we got to the top (the wall) around 4 or 5 and we picked a spot to sit by 6or 7 and set up camp! There was a steady supply of baozi available as well as sweet bread, animal crackers, chips and ahhhhh Baijiu (Traditional Chinese alcohol made from rice, really gross and smells like paint-thinner, also very cheap) We met a French couple, some Germans who were camped out in the next tower, some Irish folk (I could not understand a word of what they said), some Canadians and some Spaniards! 

             The Night was absolutely freezing, I think I remember shivering every minute I was laying down. But all in all the experience was a good one! 

p.s. I've come to terms with my fear of ancient steps (realized in Machu Picchu, and exaggerated and accepted on the Great Wall) Shout out to Ali and Marta for holding my hand down Machu Picchu and Cady for holding my hand down the Great Wall! ahaha!