5th and 6th week in Beijing

The last time  I wrote I talked about being late getting the 4th week in Beijing blog written.  You can see I am not getting any better. I completly missed the 5th week blog.  So let me think back about what has happened.

First let me say I definately think we have settled in because all the little things that were so new and interesting are becoming normal. Like the trash man peddling down the street on his bicycle. Or the man selling fruits and vegetables off the back of his bicycle with wagon or sometimes a wagon pulled by a horse while the black luxury car with full tinted windows trys to get around him without hitting all of us walking in the street. I don't know how the horses get around the city, but they are there. Sometimes I have to remind myself to keep appreciating the uniquiness of every day and not let it pass me by. Lois, who was the last retired person from the US to come here reminded us of this in her last email when she said how lucky we are to be here. That we are and the time is passing quickly.

Some of you have asked what things we miss.  That would include our own bed; grocery shoping in a store that I am used to and has the foods I am familiar with; my kitchen with the pots & pans and all the other things I know are there; having more than one TV channel of english speaking programs;  having a printer in our apartment for the computer; being able to go to the closest store that has whatever it is I need and just know if it is a good deal or isn't and be back home in 15 minutes (well at least it is an option). While we may sometimes miss these things, they are more than compensated for in learning and getting to know this city and its people.  And then there are also some things that I will both miss and not miss after we return: like walking - everywhere - for a reason, not just for the exercise; taking the bus and the subway almost everywhere; packed supermarkets (not grocery stores) that are exciting because of all the energy and activitiy surrounding you but exhausting because of all the energy and activity around you.

But what have we been doing these past 2 week? Well, we are kind of into a routine now. We work Tuesday through Saturday with Saturday being the busiest day for me and Tuesday through Friday the busy days for Glenn. Right now I do one on one tutoring 5 times a week. One of my tutoring students is Andrew a 4 1/2 year old who thinks I am another grandmother. I see him three times a week. We talk, play games, he plays the piano for me and reads me books. His mother keeps telling me that it's not important what I teach him, but that he have the experience of talking with and hearing an English speaking person from America. I understand that parents like English speaking teachers from America because their accent is easier to understand than a teacher with a British accent And the neat thing is he wants to learn how to speak English so he can tell me things or ask me questions.This week I went to watch him ice skate at the mall where he takes lessons twice a week. I have 4 classes I teach during the week. The children's classes are all going quite well as I have had some great suggestions from you all, found some good resources, and gained some confidence. They are still a challenge but I am enjoying them. Glenn and I have an English corner on Saturday evenings with adults. There is always interesting conversation at the English Corner.

Glenn is being challenged by his work with the Y staff. It takes some time to understand the cultural differences and how things work, especially when trying to do it through an interpretor.  He now has a desk at the Y and meets with individual staff members, hopefully making suggestions that are helpful.  He has completed the first training session with the staff.He has found the Y here at Nolita has challenges that the Y in the US would never have.  In addition to working with the Nolita staff, his "English expertise" has been called upon by the Beijing Y to do the english editing of a picture album that will be distributed at the Beijing Y's 100 year anniversary celebration next month.  .

Sunday's we go to church at 4pm. To get there we walk to the bus, take the bus to the subway, make one transfer to a different line and then walk about 3 blocks. We allow ourselves 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hrs to get there. Now it may only take 45 min or an hour but you never know. Distance wise it isn't as far as church at home which only takes 15 min. on a Sunday morning. It is much more interesting journey here. After church we meander back down Wangfujing St.which is a pedestrain shopping mall of about 3 blocks. The church is just the other side of the mall.  Each week we are amazed at the people on the streets. There are some "snack areas" that can be two or three deep with people buying "delicacies" like we would at a fair. They look so wonderful, but we are a bit leary of trying. We will try most anything in resturants, this week it was chicken feet (actually pretty good), but we are not adventuresome when it comes to trying things on the street. However this our night to try different resturants. We have dinner and head back to the subway usually about 7 or 7:30 pm. Crowds of  people are everywhere. They are out and about!!

Mondays are our days to go someplace new. One of our outings these last two weeks was to the Stationary store. Among other things I needed some supplies for teaching, things you normally have around the house like tape, scissors, paper, and we needed some his and hers paper trays to keep us straight.  Rachel said she would come along and did.  It was really a good thing.  It turns out that the stationary store was a series of stalls and bargaining was the rule.  Our stack of items came to about 120 Yuan.  Then Rachel started bargaining the gist of which was, “I know you need to make a profit, but I need a more reasonable price.  I only have 80 Yuan I can spend”.  We bought it all for 80. Could never have done it by ourselves!

Another outing was lunch at a Buddhist Vegitarian restaurant with Maisy. What a treat that was! The atmosphere and presentation was exceptional as was the food. They could make tofu look and taste like anything including Peking Duck. The picture is cold cuts served over a bed of misting ice. Maisy had brought us “real” moon cakes from Hong Kong. We learned that the Chinese tradition of moon cakes was preserved in Hong Kong.  Now the tradition has been reintroduced in mainland China but to get a good moon cake it must come from Hong Kong. She and her family were visiting family in Hong Kong over the holiday. She was right about the moon cakes. They were much better than what we had found here.

That's all for now. Not many pictures this time. Should have more to down load next week. 
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