Obama has been an hour away from me for a few days!!! During his "tour of Asia," Obama stopped at Shanghai and more recently, Beijing. It is quite interesting reading articles and seeing news in the paper about US/China relations being an American living in China. A cnn.com poll of Americans showed about 50% think China is a military threat and 50% think it is not. 68% of Americans think China violates human rights. Most Americans agree China is an economic threat (duh!). So...I was curious to hear more from the other side! I did not find any polls but I talked casually to about 10 of my students. In general, they: dislike Bush, dislike Condeleezza Rice, like Obama, and like Hilary Clinton (actually, two of my female students wanted Clinton to win over Obama!). I have also heard from one student that they neither like nor dislike Bush and Obama. I was glad to hear the overall happiness with Obama though haha.
Even though the president did not take me out to dinner, I hope he has a safe flight to Korea and finally back home!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
A Chinese Halloween
No, China does not celebrate Halloween. However, I am in China so I celebrated Halloween in China. A few stores sold decorations and masks. I bought googly eyes and green fangs.
One of my junior students, Creasy, is the president of the Student Union. Two of my sophomore students, Hope and Monica, are the leaders of the New Campus' English Corner. Together, my students hosted a Halloween Party for the freshmen English majors. Anyone can go but it is mainly for the freshmen to learn about Halloween and have fun.
The seven American teachers were the distinguished guests. We were announced one by one (we ran down the stairs and said hi into the microphone). Then, a power point I had made that day was used to explain Halloween history, customs, and costumes. Kim was the fabulous host, donning a white afro wig and a statue of liberty foam hat. She hosted a game for everyone to guess the weight of pumpkins and the winner won a pumpkin hat. Finally, the teachers each grabbed a pumpkin and found a team of students. On our teams, we made our best possible jack-o-lantern. In the middle of this time, I left the room. The hosts told me when to get ready and when the lights turned off, I ran inside with a mask and flash light trying to scare everyone. It was scary to some of the girls and comical to me because I almost tripped a few times and bruised my leg on a radiator. I could not see well through the mask and had to run up the stairs on the left side of the room and down the right side stairs so that I could scare each group. My pumpkin did not end up winning any prizes but I made new friends on my team! For about 10 minutes, they played Thriller and everyone danced in front of the classroom. It was interesting to say the least. At the end, each student was told they had 30 minutes to talk to us in English. It ended up mainly being a photo shoot. My students each wanted a picture with me...and then so did random freshmen girls I have never seen before in my life. All in all, it was a very eventful time!
On Halloween night, I just wore random masks at Charlie's and hung out with a lot of people. During the week though, I talked about Halloween in each of my classes. I played "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, explained different monsters, talked about the history of the holiday, and read a scary story. The first Halloween I spent outside of America, I celebrated it the most!
One of my junior students, Creasy, is the president of the Student Union. Two of my sophomore students, Hope and Monica, are the leaders of the New Campus' English Corner. Together, my students hosted a Halloween Party for the freshmen English majors. Anyone can go but it is mainly for the freshmen to learn about Halloween and have fun.
The seven American teachers were the distinguished guests. We were announced one by one (we ran down the stairs and said hi into the microphone). Then, a power point I had made that day was used to explain Halloween history, customs, and costumes. Kim was the fabulous host, donning a white afro wig and a statue of liberty foam hat. She hosted a game for everyone to guess the weight of pumpkins and the winner won a pumpkin hat. Finally, the teachers each grabbed a pumpkin and found a team of students. On our teams, we made our best possible jack-o-lantern. In the middle of this time, I left the room. The hosts told me when to get ready and when the lights turned off, I ran inside with a mask and flash light trying to scare everyone. It was scary to some of the girls and comical to me because I almost tripped a few times and bruised my leg on a radiator. I could not see well through the mask and had to run up the stairs on the left side of the room and down the right side stairs so that I could scare each group. My pumpkin did not end up winning any prizes but I made new friends on my team! For about 10 minutes, they played Thriller and everyone danced in front of the classroom. It was interesting to say the least. At the end, each student was told they had 30 minutes to talk to us in English. It ended up mainly being a photo shoot. My students each wanted a picture with me...and then so did random freshmen girls I have never seen before in my life. All in all, it was a very eventful time!
On Halloween night, I just wore random masks at Charlie's and hung out with a lot of people. During the week though, I talked about Halloween in each of my classes. I played "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, explained different monsters, talked about the history of the holiday, and read a scary story. The first Halloween I spent outside of America, I celebrated it the most!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Beijing Belongs to Beyonce
I saw BEYONCE in concert on October 23rd in Beijing. Emily, Kim, Brittaney, Luna and I went. Beyonce was fierce and amazing, of course. She made several outfit changes and had weird videos and everything possible. The highlights were (in chronological order):
1. The curtains opening, revealing Beyonce's silhouette surrounded by billowing smoke.
2. "If I Were a Boy" breakdown into a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette.
3. "At Last" with video footage starting with slavery and ending with President Obama.
4. A video of fans and celebrities dancing to "Single Ladies."
5. Beyonce singing and dancing to "Single Ladies" as the crowd joined in.
Even though our seats were high, and Emily and I were clearly the loudest in our section, we lived it up and had a ton of fun with Beyonce!
The next day in Beijing was spent in the 798 District. It is the art district with a ton of modern art galleries. There are interesting statues outside and galleries full of striking paintings and Mass MoCA-esque artwork. I bought a poster of a painting of a barber shaving an old man's head under a large tree. Very Chinese!
Kim and Luna had things to do in Baoding, so they left Saturday night. Emily, Brittaney went on a night tour of the city! Our tour guide from the hostel, Fanny, was the same person that brought Emily and I to the Kung Fu show last time. The bus driver's name means Little River. Since my name means mountain, and his means river, he told me to call him big brother! They were half of the fun! As it was late, we did not go into the buildings but they were lit up beautifully! The stops on our tour were:
1. 2008 Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest
2. 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center
Fun to see these two after watching the Olympics!
3. Hou Hai Bar Area
A beautiful lake surrounded by noisy, unique bars with live singers.
4. National Grand Opera Theatre
Possibly most beautiful building I have seen in person? Pictures do not do it justice! It is surrounded by water and the reflection makes it appear as an egg. I will never be able to enter this building because tickets to any of the shows are VERY, VERY, VERY expensive.
5. Qian Men Da Jie
Small trains go up and down this busy street packed full of pricey, western stores within new buildings built in ancient styles.
The last crazy thing of the weekend was the whole trip back to Baoding. We ended up leaving on an early train with cheap tickets. The tickets were cheaper because it is a slower, not as nice train. A whole family (about 8 people) stood in the aisles until people got off at the first stop. The family reminded me of the traditional Ecuadorians in the Andes Mountains. Obviously, this family was Chinese. One of the kids laid under our seats. A worker on the train stood on the seat next to me (in his little toe socks) to try to sell some kind of lotion to everyone on the train. I do not think I can describe how crazy this train ride was! I paid for a ride and entertainment.
1. The curtains opening, revealing Beyonce's silhouette surrounded by billowing smoke.
2. "If I Were a Boy" breakdown into a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette.
3. "At Last" with video footage starting with slavery and ending with President Obama.
4. A video of fans and celebrities dancing to "Single Ladies."
5. Beyonce singing and dancing to "Single Ladies" as the crowd joined in.
Even though our seats were high, and Emily and I were clearly the loudest in our section, we lived it up and had a ton of fun with Beyonce!
The next day in Beijing was spent in the 798 District. It is the art district with a ton of modern art galleries. There are interesting statues outside and galleries full of striking paintings and Mass MoCA-esque artwork. I bought a poster of a painting of a barber shaving an old man's head under a large tree. Very Chinese!
Kim and Luna had things to do in Baoding, so they left Saturday night. Emily, Brittaney went on a night tour of the city! Our tour guide from the hostel, Fanny, was the same person that brought Emily and I to the Kung Fu show last time. The bus driver's name means Little River. Since my name means mountain, and his means river, he told me to call him big brother! They were half of the fun! As it was late, we did not go into the buildings but they were lit up beautifully! The stops on our tour were:
1. 2008 Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest
2. 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center
Fun to see these two after watching the Olympics!
3. Hou Hai Bar Area
A beautiful lake surrounded by noisy, unique bars with live singers.
4. National Grand Opera Theatre
Possibly most beautiful building I have seen in person? Pictures do not do it justice! It is surrounded by water and the reflection makes it appear as an egg. I will never be able to enter this building because tickets to any of the shows are VERY, VERY, VERY expensive.
5. Qian Men Da Jie
Small trains go up and down this busy street packed full of pricey, western stores within new buildings built in ancient styles.
The last crazy thing of the weekend was the whole trip back to Baoding. We ended up leaving on an early train with cheap tickets. The tickets were cheaper because it is a slower, not as nice train. A whole family (about 8 people) stood in the aisles until people got off at the first stop. The family reminded me of the traditional Ecuadorians in the Andes Mountains. Obviously, this family was Chinese. One of the kids laid under our seats. A worker on the train stood on the seat next to me (in his little toe socks) to try to sell some kind of lotion to everyone on the train. I do not think I can describe how crazy this train ride was! I paid for a ride and entertainment.
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