This Is Halloween...

Halloween in China? Yes, at least at EF schools. Originally I was assisting with the party, but due to the organizer's back injury, at the last minute I was put in charge. I wouldn't say the party was a huge success, but the students appeared to have fun and that is what really matters. We had games, food(including some of Ruth Chrestman's VBS kool aid punch), a costume contest, scary stories (told by me, inspired by similar stories told by Ann King at the library in Bruce), fog machines (Arise Chicken, Chicken Arise!) and some music from a couple of different singers.

Here are some pictures:

EF Student Jeffrey, with some guy in a vampire costume.

EF Teacher Alana As Flava Flav- Without Her Last Minute Creativity The Party Would Have Been A Total Failure. Thanks A Million, Alana!

Winners of the costume contest- The Chinese Grim Reaper

A Couple Of Friendly Witches

Ghost Rider

We Ain't Got No Place To Go, Let's Go To The Punk Rawk Show

Entertainment Was Provided By The 2008 EF Idol Winner, A Citywide EF Sponsored American Idol Style Singing Competition.

Will this party ever end? This vampire needs to sleep.

A Trip To The Great Wall...

After meeting Gray Line's tour bus at the Crowne Plaza Hotel this morning, me and 5 other Americans who had booked the tour were off for a day of sightseeing in the mountains outside of Beijing.

The first stop was the Ming Tombs, burial places of the Ming era emperors and empresses. There are 13 tombs; we toured the largest one: Changling Tomb. After passing through the tomb's gate, you enter the largest wooden building in Beijing. This is a memorial to the emperor buried there, an emperor who seized power illegally by killing his nephew who was in power. Most tend to agree that after that act, he was a good emperor anyway. This hall contains his statue as well as artifacts that have been unearthed from the 13 tombs. Beyond this point is a tower just in front of the tomb itself (you don't actually enter the tomb). In the tomb are also buried 13 of his concubines who were ritually sacrificed (a high honor) to join him in the afterlife.

Largest wooden building

Statue of the Emperor

View from the tower in front of the burial chamber

A short stop at a Jade carving factory gave us an interesting look at how jewelery and other Jade pieces are fashioned. We also got to shop in the massive Jade store.

Now it was time for the real reason we came on the trip, the Great Wall. Instead of taking us to the more popular Badaling section, we went to Jingyonguan, a circular section with better views and less tourists.

The hike was steep and I admit I didn't make it very far. They say in China you aren't a real man until you have climbed the Great Wall; I guess I am just a piece of a man because that is how far I made it. I felt really bad when the old lady with the cane passed me.

I decided the view from the observation deck near the concession stand was just as good; how many more chances will I have to drink a coke and eat oreos on the Great Wall? Besides, that allowed me to have a souveneir picture made in Ming warrior getup:

It's a picture of a picture, sorry about the bad quality.

The Great Wall

Me on the wall

After an hour at the wall, we travelled to the local Friendship Store for lunch and some final shopping. Friendship Stores were opened many years ago when China first opened up to foreigners. At this time China had two money systems: one for locals and one for foreigners. Foreigners could only exchange their money for the foreigner money and it could only be spent in designated tourist stores like the Friendship Stores. Also, only foreigners could shop there. Lunch was a heavily westernized Chinese meal consisting of fish, beef with onions, kung pao chicken, vegetables, and rice.

I do want to go back to the Great Wall and actually make it to the top, maybe the one with the cable car though!

A Day In The Life...

Inspired by a similar article in Donald Trump's book, How to Get Rich, the following is a day in my life here in Beijing.

Wednesday, 10-15-2008

9:00 AM- Wake Up and check email- At about 9:15, Mom calls in on Skype. I am still a little groggy so I really don't remember what we talked about at all. Afterwards I get a shower and have breakfast, today it's a couple boiled eggs and some crackers.

11:00 AM- Leave for work- I walk out of my building and grab bus 307. The trip from the apartment to my work takes about 10 minutes this morning.

Atherton International Apartments

11:10 AM- Arrive in Zhongguancun- I stop off at a newsstand to buy a China Daily, the national English newspaper. It is full of good news only as it is government run. Now its time to head into the building. I work in The Gate: City Mall. This looks like any shopping mall in America. The first five floors are the mall; above the mall are offices, we are on the 12th floor.

Zhongguancun Street

11:20 AM- Say hello to the front desk ladies and all the smiling teachers. After this I sit down at a computer, check my work email, and begin planning my lessons for the day. Today I am teaching a class on learning styles. I am going to have four activities, one for each of the learning styles. Throughout the class the students will try out an activity in each learning style and at the end of class write feedback about which they liked best. If there is time we will go to the computer lab and take a learning styles inventory.

The Front Desk Ladies Keep The School Running

Melissa, Nadine, Summer, and Lloyd Hard At Work

12:40 PM- My first class of the day- This is the learning styles class. After some opening discussion of the concept of learning styles, the students rotate through four stations and experience the three learning styles in the discussion as well as a traditional classroom pen and paper vocabulary activity.

Tactile Learners Build A Model Of A Famous Chinese Landmark

Aural Learners Tell Stories To Each Other And Summarize

Before class ends, I give the students some instructions and tips for incorporating their learning style into personal study habits.

1:40 PM- Office Hour- Basically I use this time to prep for classes, visit with students, and take care of business. If there is not much to do, I will work on this blog or check out some stuff on the internet.

2:40 PM- CPD, Center Professional Development- This is our weekly staff meeting. Sometimes we have a guest speaker, other times it is more of a business type meeting. Today three teachers: Ed, Jean, and Nancy, are presenting short presentations on topics they have been researching. My time to do this will come soon.

3:40 PM- LUNCH- I head downstairs to Mr. G's Kitchen, a Yunnan style Chinese fast food place.

Today it will be beef with mushrooms and peppers over rice.

4:40 PM- Placement Testing Duty- During this hour, I have to make myself available to the sales and admission staff should a new student come in desiring placement in an English program. It requires me to interview them and gauge their English level based on EF's placement scale. After this I communicate with the sales staff so they can give feedback. I am on the party planning committee and we meet briefly to discuss plans for a Halloween event. It must be slow day in sales because no new students come by.

5:40 PM- The Evening Rush- After offices close, the bulk of our students arrive. I have three classes tonight. I will teach the learning styles lesson again; I am looking forward to it as it went well this morning. I think it is one of the best lessons I have EVER taught. Its amazing how far a little creativity can go. After that I have two face to face classes; these are small classes of 2-4 students. Our topic today is Dimensions and Specifications, ugh, I have to teach a geometry lesson! We will primarily be discussing whatever the students want to talk about though. Face To Face is sometimes a lesson, mostly a discussion and conversation practice, and sometimes a counseling session.

The first face to face was really good. These were high level students that I usually meet with every Wednesday night so we have a good rapport going.

My second face to face was good, although the students were not very talkative. This can be very difficult in a class where conversation is the main goal.

As I walk to the subway I frequently pass by this guy performing his songs for spare change. I try to toss him a yuan or two because I really do enjoy hearing him even if I can't understand a word.

After work, I will take the subway home, stop off to pick up my laundry at the dry cleaners (it is so nice having someone do that for me for so little money!), and then retire at home for the night. After a bowl of Chef Boyardee and the latest episode of The Daily Show with John Stewart from Itunes, it is time to go to bed so I can get up and do it all over again!

Good Night!

Youtube Link For Slideshow...

For those having trouble getting the video slideshow to play in my blog, click on the following link to watch it on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnf2mi8FstU

A Four Month Slideshow...

Some you've seen, some you haven't, enjoy!

Note: If you have a dial up or slow connection, it may take awhile to load. It is about 6 minutes long and has music. Why did I pick those songs? Because.

Beijing International Christian Fellowship, 21st Century Campus...

This morning I took a break from COGS, my regular church, and visited one that my work schedule doesn't normally allow, Beijing International Christian Fellowship's main campus at the 21st Century Theater.

In the style of The Mystery Worshipper from http://www.ship-of-fools.com/:

The Church: Beijing International Christian Fellowship (BICF) is the larges tof the expat(someone living outside his country of citizenship) churches in Beijing. This is its main campus. I previously visited the Zhonguancun location, a much smaller BICF campus. At this campus, besides hosting a multitude of small groups and children/youth ministries throughout the week, services are held each Sunday in the following languages: English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Filipino, an English service for people from Africa, French, Indonesian, Japanese, and Russian. Foreign passport holders only are allowed per Chinese law and they do check at the door. However, quite a few Chinese people hold dual citizenship in either the US or Canada and China or are living in Beijing temporarily from Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau, portions of China that are politically independent of the Chinese government, so a lot of Chinese people do get to attend the services. The church meets in the 21st Century Theater, a large performing arts center. Across the street at the 21st Century Hotel, the church rents space for offices, Sunday School, and a chapel. This church could be called Beijing's Saddleback or Willow Creek. The church also hosts Christian celebrities when in town for performances or sermons having hosted Steven Curtis Chapman, Max Lucado, and Andy Stanley, one of my favorite young preachers.

Denomination: Interdenominational, most anyone from the evangelical tradition would be at home here.

The Cast: A husband and wife team (who reminded me a lot of Rick and Dina Pike) led worship with a backup band, pastor Jon Davis conducted the service. The preacher was Jerry Parsley, a career missionary who has served all over the world.

Date And Time: Sunday October 5, 2008, 11:30 AM

Name of Service: Celebration Service

How many in attendance: Several thousand

Did anyone welcome you? An usher at the door handed me a bulletin, checked my passport, and told me where to find the auditorium.

What about the pew? Theater style seating, very close together, but since attendance was down I had an empty chair on both sides of me which made it more comfortable.

Pre Service Atmosphere- The worship band rehearsed as people filed in and tried to find seats.

Exact opening words: Good Morning BICF!

Books? Everything was projected. The bulletin contained space for sermon notes.

Musical Instruments? Acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums

Any distractions? Not really

Worship Style? This was very well done blended/contemporary worship with hymns and choruses. In the middle of the two song sets, we observed the Lord's Supper. Here is a link to a youtube video showing this church in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILlv1D1eWM

Sermon Length: 38 minutes

Sermon Topic: The church at mission. Pastor Parsley (no relation to Pastor Parsley from TBN, at least I don't think so!) used text from Acts chapter 2 to explain what the church should be about: sound doctrine, fellowship, prayer. This was a simple exposition of the text, nothing new or groundbreaking here, but a message all Christians should be reminded of.

Anything you didn't like? Not really

Anyone speak afterwards? They had a visitor's welcome corner where first timers could get a free cup of coffee and refreshments and Jeroen, a college student from Holland welcomed me and we talked for about 10 minutes.

Would you make this your church home? Provided my work schedule permitted, probably. The service starts too late for me to regularly attend.

Did this service make you glad to be a Christian? Yes, I am not normally a megachurch person, but this one serves a great purpose (and serves it very well.)

What will you remember most? The Lord's Supper with 2000 other Christians from all over the world.

Beijing South Cathedral...

Tonight I headed over to a Chinese language mass at Beijing South Cathedral, the oldest Catholic church in Beijing and the seat of the Beijing Diocese. The following is a church visit report in the style of The Mystery Worshipper from http://www.ship-of-fools.com/

The Church: Beijing South Cathedral, properly known as The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception or more commonly as The South Church and Nantang Cathedral. This church is most familiar to foreigners as it is the only one to have an English language mass on Sunday mornings.

Denomination: Patriotic Catholic Church of China (So named as per law they are not allowed any outside religious leadership, so the Catholic churches in China are officially independent of Rome)

Building: This is a massive cathedral in a bustling city area of Beijing. Just minutes from Tianenman Square and is Beijing's oldest church. I wish I had pictures to show you of the beauty of this church. The above picture is from the internet but you really should see it lit up at night.

The Cast: A priest, some acolytes, a choir

Date And Time: Saturday October 4, 2008, 6:30 PM

Name of Service: Saturday Night Mass

How many in attendance: Several thousand, every seat was taken.

Did anyone welcome you? An usher at the door handed me a bulletin and said Nei Hao.

What about the pew? Wooden pew with attached kneeler, very uncomfortable, but most of the service was done standing.

Pre Service Atmosphere- Reverent but busy with people praying, parishoners awaiting confession outside confession booths, and the choir and band rehearsing

Exact opening words: A man said something in Chinese. Then I think he welcomed visitors, some people stood and were clapped for, so I stood too. Each person standing was handed a postcard with an icon of the Virgin Mary on it.

Books? None, however a very thorough service booklet was provided (all in Chinese)

Musical Instruments? Acoustic guitar, piano, and drums

Any distractions? The beauty of the cathedral and a little girl wearing Satan horns. Why Satan horns in church?

Worship Style? Fairly high/formal novus ordo mass in Chinese with contemporary music. There were some low elements as well such as the congregation joining hands on a fellowship song and swaying back and forth to the music. One word to describe the service though: joy. I have NEVER seen Christians worship with such joy.

Sermon Length: 15 minutes

Sermon Topic: No Idea, I think it had something to do with Jesus. I think I heard the word ditie in the sermon, but I don't know why he was preaching about the subway. You could tell he was quite a capitvating speaker and quite a funny guy from the crowd's reaction.

What was like being in heaven? JOY

Anything you didn't like? The plasma screens placed throughout the cathedral really don't enhance the decor although they do make the service easier to see when you are far back.

Anyone speak afterwards? No, but during the peace people were very cordial.

After service coffee? None, so I headed over to Wangfujing and tucked in to a New York Steak at Outback Steakhouse

Would you make this your church home? I am not Catholic, so no. I would like to visit their English service one day just for the experience of worshipping in this beautiful church in my own language.

Did this service make you glad to be a Christian? Yes, knowing I can worship God even though I can't understand a word of Chinese was a great feeling.

What will you remember most? The joy of this church at worship, and the devil horns.

In A Market Dimly Lit...

I made my first trip to a Chinese marketplace today, the Yashow Market. This is a building filled with stalls of people selling clothing, toys, electronics, shoes, belts, watches, jewlery, etc. It is like a big flea market of sorts. The number one rule is to haggle! They know that it is going to be visited my mostly foreigners with lots of money to spend so they set the price really high, but with bargaining and a little persistence, you can get a great deal. Also, keep in mind that most of the goods are fake, as in knock offs. That may look like a Ralph Lauren suit, but it's not! The vendors for the most part speak English and they know how to deal with foreigners.

Here is a rundown of the day and my purchases:

The Entrance To Yashow Market

My First Purchase: A Polo (More Like Fauxlo) Sweater

The Conversation With The Saleslady Went Something Like This:

Please Sir, Come To Look At Sweater. (I walk over.)

Sir do you like this sweater.

Yes, how much is it.

I give you price after we see if it fit for you. You need 2xl, that good for person with belly.

(She holds it up to me) Sir, you will look great in this.

How much is it?

Here is what I pay for it (She shows me 1298 yuan on a calculator, about 200 dollars), but since you make friend with me today I give you special price, just for you. (She shows me 650 yuan)

I didn't bring that much with me, how about 200.

Sir, you try to rip me off. I don't believe you not bring much money with you. I give to you for 600.

How about 250?

Ohh sir, you rip me off. Okay, final price, 550.

I think I will look around somemore.

Oh sir, we make friend today and I want to make deal with you, how about 500.

How about 300?

I can give you 350, final price.

Okay, I will take it.

A little persistence and haggling got me the price of 350, about 50 dollars. I probably could have even gotten it for less but it was my first time and I wasn't sure exactly how to do it. She still made a good profit (she wouldn't have sold it if she wasn't and I got a nice sweater to wear at a fair price.)

Next up, the first 2 seasons of Kyle XY on DVD. Starting price 140, final price 110. (About 20 dollars.) Are they bootlegs? Probably but you really can't tell.

Next, a pair of comfortable "Vans" shoes. Perfect for a night out in Wudaokou or Sanlitun. I think I paid 220 (About 28 dollars) for these, down from a price of about 600.

I did a little Christmas shopping for family members and got some great gifts at great prices. By this time I was an old pro at haggling and the shop owners were in awe at my ability to get such good prices!

I also couldn't help thinking how much my Mamaw Margaret Parker would have enjoyed this experience. She had been known to haggle in Wal Mart!

After shopping, it was time to go upstairs to the food court for a little lunch. They have various stalls selling all kinds of Chinese food, very westernized Chinese food for the multitude of foreign tourists that shop here. My lunch was 75 yuan, about 10 bucks:

Pepper Steak, Broccoli, Fried Rice

Some things I learned at the market:

1. Take plenty of money with you. Things are relatively cheap by Western standards, but expensive by Chinese standards.

2. Have fun. I saw one guy get all mad and storm away when he didn't get the price he wanted. You have to remember at the end of the day, these people have to make a profit. You have to be willing to meet them halfway. Most of them are from small towns and communities and are away from their families trying to make a living.

3. Everyone there will claim to be your friend.

4. If you can't get the price you want, try walking away. One of two things will happen: the stall owner will call you back and offer you a better price or you will find the same thing 2 stalls down and can try again.

5. You may think you have gotten the best of the seller when you get the price you want, but be warned, they got the best of you. They will always profit no matter what the final agreed upon price. Start your price really low. Once you've named a price, you can't go down, you can only go up!

Here are a couple pics I shot on the cab ride home:

Hooters in Beijing? Not to be crass, but I haven't met many Chinese women who seem to fit their hiring standard. I wonder if there is a funky little Baptist church next to it? Nah, probably only in Jackson.

Definitely an only in China moment: A man riding his bike across town with his dog in the back basket!