"T" in China!

No A/C on a hot Beijing night? Unacceptable!

I arrived home at 9:00 pm from work tonight.  First things first...turn on both A/C's full blast.  Then I took a shower and sat down at the computer.  Huh?  The A/C had quit working!  Checked the one in the bedroom.  Also stopped working!  What?  I went out into the hallway to the little "electricity meter room" and searched for the button where you can reset.  Flipped the switch.  No change.  Knocked on a neighbor's door.  She was very nice and I convinced her "come with me, come with me" to come into my apartment and showed her that both my A/C's had mysteriously quit working at the same time.  Obviously a fuse problem.  She indicated that I should go with her downstairs and with the help of my dictionary she showed me the chinese word for "electrician."  Cool!  She was going to help me find an electrician.  We went two buildings over and she banged on his door.  Not home.  But walking back she spotted him in the courtyard with lots of other folks enjoying their nightly socializing.

She explained my problem and he returned to his apartment to get some tools and a flashlight.  He then followed us back to my building and up to the 24th floor, along with his cute dog, Lulu! ha  On the way up to my floor, Lulu would get out of the elevator every time the door opened and he'd have to call her back in. He checked everything out, first making sure that my plugs were okay.  I explained (this time by calling my colleague, William, to help translate) that both A/C's had quit working at the same time.  He showed me where the fuse switches were in the electricity meter room and eventually got both A/C's back on! :)  I whooped with joy and so did Lulu because she was completely terrified of me and wouldn't let me pet her. ha  Lulu was glad to get out of the strange American's apartment.

Electrician Man refused to take any money so I offered him a big cold beer (I have 3 big bottles in my fridge that remain left over from my Christmas Party. ha).  He also refused.  I put one in a bag and kept telling, "Please take it, please take it."  Let's just say I could tell he was a drinking man.  He finally took it and thanked me as I thanked him over and over before he got on the elevator.  My neighbor lady also stayed with me the whole time.  What wonderful folks and neighbors in my complex!  I'm so fortunate and now I know where Electrician Man lives in case I have any other problems.  It would have been an absolutely unbearable night if I had not had air tonight. 

My trip to Korea is now off for this Sunday.  The folks I would have been traveling with had to cancel so I'm putting off Seoul until September.  Unfortunately, my Korean friend and ex-student, Song, will be back in Knoxville at that time but he's promised to try and find a friend of his to show me around in September.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July....National Day in the U.S.!  If all goes well, I'll be heading to Nashville after work to celebrate!  It's on Lucky Street. :)  "Nashville" is a nightspot here and although they play very little "country" music it still promises to be an interesting evening.  I plan to wear my red, white & blue bobbing stars headband!

Loving Life in China and the Electrician Man, T.

Amazing Concert.....Fake and Real Tickets!

My colleague, Wendy Qiao, and I have been talking about going to an incredible concert in Beijing at the Bird's Nest for many weeks.  When the cheaper tickets quickly sold out we decided to take our chances (we've done this before with great success) and buy tickets from scalpers at the stadium.  So we met up on the subway and proceeded to walk to the Bird's Nest.  What a wonderful windy (translation: NOT unbearably hot) evening it was!  I was treating Wendy so I her the money and then she walked away to work her magic.  I can't be with her when she's negotiating or my foreign face will cause the price to go up tremendously!  Just as the concert was starting Wendy scored 2 very cheap tickets and off we sailed through the first gate.  When we got right up to the Bird's Nest (the big 2008 Olympic Stadium) we had to go through the final gate where they scan your ticket and then you go through metal detectors and have your bags checked, etc.  We were so excited, Wendy much more so than me as she LOVES Song Zuying (who was one of the performers).  We went to different turnstills and.....OOPS.....seems our tickets were FAKES! ha  This is not uncommon here in China and it's almost impossible to tell the difference between fake and real.  The folks showed the ticket to me and how to recognize a fake (still looked real to me) and I just laughed and backed away from the turnstill. Poor Wendy was DEVASTATED and put up a good and loud argument but of course, there was no way they were going to let her through.  She was nearly in tears when I told her, "It's okay, it's okay.  It's just money (thank you, Dad).  Let's try again!"  She still had half of the money I gave her so we tried again and we eventually bought 2 legit tickets.  This time I took one ticket and went through before Wendy was willing to give the guy the money! ha  When the ticket scanned and I saw the green light (literally) I gave the workers a double thumbs up and they all started laughing and told me, "Go, go, hurry!'  (You see, the concert had been going for 30 minutes by this time).  They waved me through the metal detector while laughing so I hurried through and waited for Wendy.  She was all smiles as she sailed through behind me and we didn't even bother finding our proper seats. We totally scammed great seats closer than where we should have been sitting! :)  And I still had money left over from what I originally gave Wendy so I figure I still came out okay!  A good lesson, though. :)

The big tower just outside the Bird's Nest and Water Cube (Olympic swimming events venue).

I love this building.  It's the big office building that housed all the Olympic offices and has a huge "TV" screen on the side of the building.  It's, as you can see, in the shape of a torch!  So cool as are most big office building in Beijing.  They all have such unique style.

The tower lights up when it starts to get dark with lots of colored light.  I captured the pink ones!

As it gets dark and the stadium is all lit up....it's time for us to get through the first gate with our first tickets, the fake ones! ha  (they merely show that you have a ticket to get through the first gates).

I should add at this point that this was an awesome concert.  It featured four greats:  Lang Lang (amazing Chinese pianist....which Wendy and I have seen in concert before), Song Zuying (Chinese soprano totally loved by Chinese folks...amazing voice), Placido Domingo (Spanish tenor also loved by Chinese and who can sing in Chinese to wild whoops from the audience), and Jay Chou (extremely popular pop singer from Taiwan who I really like and have one of his CD's that I bought when I visited Beijing in 2005).  There were many thousands of folks inside the stadium.  Touring the Bird's Nest (National Olympic Stadium) was on my list but now that I've attended a concert in said stadium....it's off my list. :)  I've never ever seen such an incredible stage built for a concert.  They had a full orchestra and chorus with beautiful staircases and hanging chandeliers and also some "magic" (such as some human flying birds let down from the top of the stadium at one point and also snow falling at another time) that reminded me of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics.

Amazing!  Song Zuying is currently singing on stage.

This is a close-up of Song Zuying on one of the two HUGE screens on each side of the stage.  She changed costumes several times and they were all amazing, including hundreds of incredible Chinese dancers accompanying her.

Lang Lang!  He's an incredible piano player..his fingers move like lightening over the keys!  As I mentioned before on my blog when Wendy and I went to see him in concert...his father moved with him to Beijing to continue his piano studies where he studied quite diligently.  He went on to move to America to continue his music studies.  He now resides in America, is only in his mid-20's and returns often to his beloved home country.  Folks in China just love him and his piano abilities are amazing!

 Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo!  What an amazing voice he has!  I was extremely impressed and he also sang in English and as there are emcees that handle concerts....he spoke to them in English so it was great to hear him tell how he was glad to be back in China to perform with Song Zuying and how he loved China.  It was the only part of the concert that was in English! ha

 Placido, Song and Jay....all singing together with LangLang playing the piano!

Concert over...lights are up.  I have some great videos which I hope to post soon (youtube, please be unblocked in China soon).

My concert partner, Wendy!

View of the Bird's Nest as we were leaving.

Thousands of folks leaving the stadium.  Wendy and I separated...she taking the subway and me taking a taxi as I just couldn't handle the thoughts of shuffled through the subway station and onto the train packed like sardines!  What a great evening!  Thank you, Wendy, for sharing this great experience with me!  LL in C, T.

Still About Birthdays......

A very dear friend of mine here in China, Jeanette, celebrated her birthday today.  Last night, Seven and I took Jeanette and her daughter, Nicole, out for dinner at LaBamba in Wudaokou! That's right.  Mexican food!  It would be J and N's first taste of Mexican dishes.  I ordered up chips and salsa and some chicken quesidillas for starters and then we launched right into wonderful chicken and steak fajitas, with Seven opting for some beef enchiladas!

"What the heck is THIS, Teresa!  And I can't eat it with chopsticks?"  Truth is....she enjoyed it very much and enjoyed sharing bites with J and N.

Jeanette, the birthday girl, enjoys the steak and chicken fajitas!  The red container holds the warm tortillas and the small bowls are full of rice, refried beans, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream!  Just delicious!  Chinese are accustomed to restaurant meals where one shares dishes.  So Jeanette and Nicole were surprised to see 3 separate sets of fajitas delivered to us to eat!  We had such a great time together!

Seven purchased a beautiful cake for J and although that daiquiri looks as big as J's head....it really was a normal-sized drink.

Delicious fruit adorning the top of the cake included apple, peach, dragonfruit, cherries, pineapple, and star fruit!  The celebration of birthdays in China isn't a huge deal to folks as it is in the States.  Jeanette must have thanked me for her "birthday" at least 30 times!   So heart-warming.  And when we put candles on the cake and sang Happy Birthday very loud (to overcome the bar music playing), the nice folks at LaBamba abruptly turned off the music and blared a wonderful birthday song for Jeanette!  Later, when I inquried about buying Jeanette a LaBamba T-shirt....they kindly gave her one for free!  Lovin' LaBamba!

Seven, Jeanette and Nicole!

Remember when I said that I had joked with my students to make birthday cards for me and....oh yeah...please insert 500 RMB in each one?  Well, this week I was gifted with many special things.  Two of my students in my most advanced class did indeed give me birthday cards with 500 RMB inside! ha

This one, from Landy, contained 5 cardboard discs that had 100 RMB on each one....500 RMB!  Yeah!  Landy is one of more shy students so for her to pull off something so funny was SO GREAT!  She received lots of laughs and encouragement from me.

 Landy's BF, Nina, one-upped her by included 5 fake 1000 notes in her homemade card!  Classic!  It's so nice to see that my humor is rubbing off on these kids! ha  Is that a good thing?  Hmmmmm.

One of my boys in this class gave me this beautiful pashmina!  He waited until everyone had left to give it to me and quickly told me, "my father picked this out for you!" ha  Lovin' Issac!

Angel, in another of my classes, gave me a card and this gift:  a snowglobe featuring a black and white rabbit.  It's also a musical globe and plays a classic Chinese song.  Thank you, Angel!

Nancy gave me this beautiful bookend.  I love it!  Nancy is one of those great students teachers get the pleasure of seeing great change.  She was SO very shy a year and a half ago.  Now, she is much more vocal and enjoys chatting in English with me and with her classmates.  She is also a very gifted 11-year old artist.  I have told her several times that I would love for her to draw a picture for me. She totally surprised me today when she gave me these two beautiful works of art:

A wonderful pencil drawing and this:

Oh my!  So talented, Nancy!  I feel sure that one day I will say proudly, "I KNOW that artist!"  You can only imagine how blessed I feel to have such wonderful kids to teach. 

Recently, I bought a packet of small colorful strips of paper.  These strips are used to make cute little puffy stars!  As hard as I tried, I simply couldn't follow the Korean pictures of how to fold these stars.  So after enlisting the help of my students....I'm now a puffy star-making fool! I've made about 30 of them on down time at work and I hope to fill a glass jar with them very soon!  I'll be bring home lots of these colorful strips to continue my star-making in the States!

I made these while watching the last episode of Survivor: Micronesia on youku.com!  Pavarti wins!  Now I'm progressing to Survivor: Gabon! :)  I'm currently listening to Micheal Jackson and the Jackson 5.  That's right....his early work.  So sad to know that he has died, along with Farrah Fawcett (I was a young watcher of Charlie's Angels but her greatest role was definitely in the TV movie, The Burning Bed).  MJ was just 50....FF just 62.  So sad.  Both touched many lives.  As regular citizens, of course we don't KNOW these folks....but their art (whether it be acting or music or other artistic forms) touches our lives and therefore the end of their lives means a great deal to many folks.  R.I.P. MJ and Farrah.  Right now....MJ is singing, "I never can say goodbye."  He won't have to.  His music will continue on.  T.

Birthday Treasures....

I promised to post photos of some of the wonderful gifts I was given for my birthday.  So here goes.  First of all, I love all the folks I work with.  There's a couple, however, that I can't communicate with without a translator.  Ling is one of those folks but we have our own way of communicating and it works out well for us.  She's one of the Ayi's at our workplace.  She and another wonderful woman have the job of keeping our restrooms in tip-top shape, sweeping and vacuuming classrooms after a class, moving chairs from one class to another, mopping, cleaning up spills, etc.  Trust me...it's not an easy job and I have HIGH respect for them.  I had the pleasure of visiting Ling in her home once and admired a large framed cross-stitched hanging that she had made.  Little did I know that she would soon embark on making one for me.  I can't tell you how surprised and overwhelmed I was when she presented me with this handmade gift:

The center cross-stitched character, as well as the four on the very outside four corners means "happiness."  The interior Chinese characters are also signs representing good fortune. 

Ling wanted to have it framed for me but I convinced her that it'd be easier for me to transport to the States unframed.  I'll have it beautifully framed and it will be a true showpiece in my future living room.  I promised to send her a photo of it hanging in my home in the States.  As a fellow cross-stitcher I know how much time she invested in making this for me.  Do I feel fortunate to work with such wonderful people?  You can't even imagine.  She also paid me a compliment when she told me that when she comes to classrooms where I've just finished teaching....they are the cleanest of all! ha  That's because I MAKE all my students pick up pieces of paper, throw away empty water bottles, etc.  I've more than once told them that their "mother" doesn't work here so they must pick up after themselves.  I also make them straighten their chairs, etc.  It's so nice to know that my efforts haven't gone unnoticed and are appreciated by the Ayi's.

This is the incredible beaded peacock scarf that my student, Linda, and her mother, Melody, gave me.  What a beautiful scarf and I can't imagine actually wearing it because it seems like something that should be displayed.  The edges are beautifully beaded and there's beads woven all over the peacocks.  You might remember that it was with Melody and Linda that I traveled to Tianjin with to have a great visit and meal wth their family members.  Linda was also my roommate on my trip to Guilin, along with another student, Nicole, and her mother and friend, Jeanette.

Absolutely beautiful!

Is this cool or what?  This is the funky little pencil cup that student and friend, Nicole, gave me!

This is the beautiful etched jewelry box that the mother of another of my students gave to me for my birthday!  So very special to me!

 So cool!  Her name is Jane and although Lynn, my student/her daughter, is no longer attending classes where I work, I remain in close contact with them.  She prepared a wonderful "long noodle" birthday dinner for me in her home.  Lynn will be traveling to the States in early August to do her 11th grade school year in Bradenton, Florida.  You can be sure that Lynn and I will meet up in America in the near future!  Here's a couple of pics of the homemade long noodle dinner....oh, and you should know that on your birthday, eating long unbroken noodles is a special thing as it represents long life and happiness for years to come.

For homemade noodles, the noodle dough is prepared and oiled and with a pot of boiling water at the ready....one stretches the noodles out into thinner noodles as it's dropped into the boiling water.

Jane, of course, is an expert at stretching/thinning out the noodles.  She invited me to have a go at it! ha  I did....and almost immediately BROKE the noodle strand!  Oh oh oh...death to me, death to me!  She and Lynn just laughed and deftly squished the broken dough strand back together.  I decided not to tempt fate any further and let them continue with the preparation of the unbroken long noodle!

Once the noodles are prepared, you add soy sauce (or vinegar...I prefer soy sauce), small bits of onions, and many other delicious ingredients (I added the great pork, carrot, onion dish that Jane had prepared).  VERY delicious!  And yes....you just slurp the noodle (remember, it's all one long noodle to represent long life) into your mouth and break it off with your teeth when your mouth is full  I told Lynn that in America we don't "slurp" at the table but in China, it's perfectly acceptable.  So if you see/hear me slurping my soup at the table in America with my bowl raised up to my mouth......just ignore me.  It's a practice I've become accustomed to here in China...and one that I really enjoy!

This is the wonderful array of Korean stationary that my sister-in-paper-passion, Simone, gave to me for my birthday!  Love, love, love Korean stationary!  So cute!  I've been scoping out the best stationary stores in Seoul, South Korea.  Why?  Because on the evening of July 5th I am flying to South Korea (Seoul) and enjoy 3 days there!  I'm really looking forward to this adventure.  Roundtrip flight?  Just $300 USD.  When I was working for the University of Tennesee in Knoxville (before moving to Beijing) I volunteered as an English conversation tutor to many int'l students.  One of my students, Song, is Korean.  He is currently spending time in with family in Seoul and is going to show me around.  It''ll be my first country to visit outside of China while living here (other than my trip home last November).  I still hope to visit Japan before returning home (and reconnect with my college roommate, Yoko) but Yoko says she'll probably be in America at the time I hoped to visit.  Japan might have to wait.  But Seoul, Korea....here I come!  LL, T.,

Hospital, Cupping, Tragic Fire...and More!

Yesterday, Simone and I headed out to visit a colleague and friend, Jason, who teaches at another of our Kid's Schools here in Beijing.  He's doing very well after a surgery and being well-cared for at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in the Western Wing. :)  We took a small bag of only the MOST essential items....a monkey sitting on a chair to hold his cell phone, Mickey Mouse eye shades for when he doesn't want to see what the doctors are doing to him (ha) and a funky little personal fan!  He was most appreciative.  Jason is also a published author and loaned me a copy of one of his books which I'm now reading.  It's my first "zombie, but not really zombie" novel to read.  It's titled, Every Sigh, The End.  It was great to see what good care Jason is receiving and hopefully he'll be out of the hospital in a couple of days.

Interesting.....and just outside the hospital in their courtyard.

Jason throws down.....well, something! ha  And I'm sure that's coca-cola in that green bottle! ha

That's Jason's girlfriend, Jin Lu, sitting and Simone standing.  The room was huge and the TV included HBO!  Jin Lu showed us an even bigger hospital room just 3 doors down that was empty and it had a separate living room and a separate kitchen!  The Western Wing rocks! 

We started talking about the cupping procedure that Simone received the day before and she allowed me to take and post these photos!  Looks mighty painful to me but still something I want to try!  The procedure is designed to remove toxins from the body via small glass cups being put on your back and shoulder area (after the oxygen is sucked out with a match)....and it truly sucks the skin, folks!  Take a look!

There was no pleasure involved in this bruise!

 Wow!  Did I say I wanted to try this?  Maybe I should reconsider....

After spending a couple of hours with Jason and Jin Lu, Simone and I headed to our next destination, SoHo, for a late lunch at The Pizza Company and some shopping.

A couple of months ago I blogged about a huge building next to the new CCTV Tower going up in flames (it was still under construction).  Tragically, a firefighter lost his life.  The building was still being constructed so no people were inside.  We passed by it on our way by taxi to Guomao (Soho).  This is the first time I've seen it up close and took these photos from inside the taxi.

It seems to be a total loss and needs to come down but who knows. 

An interesting view of the new CCTV Tower.  Going to the top is on my list....

We had a great meal at The Pizza Company where we both satisfied a craving for pasta and cheesy garlic bread!  Delicious!  Then we headed to a small bookshop that has many, many varieties of journals and pens and all kinds of cool things.  Simone shares my passion for paper so we both bought identical blank journals and blank bookmarks that we intend to decorate ourselves and give as gifts.  I just love journals and have several that haven't been written in yet! ha All in good time....

After spending a few RMB in Jenny Lou's (supermarket that carries lots of imported western foods) we headed to the subway where we boarded separate lines to our homes.  It was a great day even though it seemed to be the hottest day in Beijing so far this year!  Until today...that is.  Today it was 39 Celsius!!!!  That's about 103 degrees for you Americans!  A co-worker told me it was an orange alert day....that is, stay inside during the hottest hours if at all possible.

Another of my "enhanced" views from my window.  Continuing to L my L in China, T.

Dinner Celebration at Ukrainian Restaurant!

This past Saturday night I was invited by some friends (Jeanette, and her daughter, Nicole) to go to dinner for my birthday.  Seven was also invited and we went to a wonderful Ukrainian restaurant where Jeanette and I had eaten once before.  She knew how much I enjoyed the meal and atmosphere.  This restaurant is amazing.  Ukrainian singers walk around and sing opera and traditional songs in their native language, accompanied by an accordian player.  It's great!  They can also sing songs in Chinese and the crowd just goes wild with clapping when they do that!

The singers changed into traditional military dress and were so amazing as they sang!

This is the DELICIOUS chocolate cake that Jeanette had delivered to the restaurant for me!  I am SO blessed to have such wonderful friends here in Beijing!  Honestly.....my heart is just filled with love for this country and its wonderful people!  Maybe I'm not such an unlucky individual after all....because how can someone have bad luck in life when they know and have such great friends!

These incredible singers just finished singing Happy Birthday to ME in Ukrainian and also Chinese! :)  I was so thrilled!  This is a birthday I will NEVER forget!

Oh my.....delicious mashed potatoes with gravy and succulent steak kebabs with onions and peppers!  Who loves Ukrainian food?  ME!

This incredible dining experience with wonderful singing, wonderful folksto share dinner with, a beautiful cake was made EVEN more special by being given a beautiful jade bracelet by Jeanette, who wore an identical bracelet!  So beautiful and I love it.  It's Hetian jade from Xinjian Province which is where Jeanette was born.  The beautiful carved jade beads are so beautiful and I just LOVE this bracelet and love the fact that Jeanette has an identical one.  I told her that this definitely makes us BFF's!  She's was like, "What?  BFF's?" ha  Seven translated and she was so happy.  Jeanette is a very special friend to me!

What an incredible evening this was for me!  Loving my life and all my friends, both young and older in China?  You bet!

As we left the restaurant to go our separate ways.....I snapped this pic of the CCTV Tower (ex-tower, as there's now a new CCTV tower) all lit up at night!  I left the restaurant with such feelings of love and gratitude and the realization that this is TRULY my home now!  You must know that moving back to the States in about 4 months will truly feel like leaving HOME for good!  I would have never thought that living and working in Beijing would end up with my feelings that this is truly a HOME to me!  I know I say it often, folks.....but I REALLY love living and working here.  Many folks have asked, "Well, why are you leaving?"  And the answer is this:  my mother is nearly 75 now and she has been a wonderful mother to me and my son and she is truly looking forward to me returning to Nashville to be near her and help her out with daily living.  Honestly?  I really look forward to being able to give back to her as she most certainly deserves.  So my leaving Beijing will be bittersweet.....I will miss my life here very much but I look forward to a new life in Nashville and being able to give back to Mom for all the help she has given me!  And you can be sure that there are many trips to Beijing in my future where I will reconnect with so many wonderful friends!  Now....if I can just find a JOB in Nashville! ha

Currently listening to a 70's CD.....can you say "Hooked on a Feeling?" ha ha....and looking forward to my next post where you will see pics of a friend in the hospital (sounds weird, but all is good), cupping photos of my friend, Simone, and pics of a badly burned HUGE building in Beijing!  LL in China, T.

Early Morning View From My Window!

One must only stay up until around 3:45 am to see the incredible views of sunlight that starts the day here in Beijing.  Here's a recent one:

I used saturation, color, and tint controls to bring out the green you see.  I'm very pleased with the results.  Living on the 24th floor is something I'm going to miss when I return to the States and most likely only live about a foot off the ground, if that! ha  "Where's the mountains, where's the views?"  There's always pros and cons to everything in life.  Living a foot off the ground means I won't have to worry about having to walk up 24 flights of stairs when the power goes out! :)  LL, T.

Birthday Celebrating Galore!

On my birthday, June 19th, I taught a couple of classes and then headed out with Seven to meet up with her mother at a restaurant near our apartment to eat long noodles!  The last time I ate at this restaurant we were celebrating Seven's mother's birthday!  You know....I don't even know her Chinese name.  I just call her "Mama" though she's not that much older than me.  They ordered up a wonderful array of dishes!

Wow!  The big bowl with the two egg patties on top is mine!  We also had roasted pork (though, as you can see, there's only one stick left! ha) and shrimp with cashews, cucumbers and carrots.  I am DEFINITELY going to cook dishes with cucumbers when I return.  I told Seven's mother how we never eat cucumbers hot and cooked in dishes in the States (not normally, at least) and that usually they are just included in cold salads.  Here in China, there are all kinds of hot dishes that include cut-up cucumbers.  I quickly got over my "Huh?" attitude and now I LOVE warm cucumbers cooked in delicious dishes!

This is "Mama."  She's great.  With Seven's translating help, we enjoy conversing.  On this night, she said, "Oh, Teresa, I don't want you to leave."  Awww...  She's a true "mother" who feels free to impart her motherly wisdom and it's always good advice.  She and Seven are very close as they lost their husband and father many years ago.  I have a LOT of respect for Mama.  She encourages me to take the bus instead of taxi's.  This is good advice. :)

After dinner, we walked down the street together to the bus stop (yep....the bus, not a taxi) where I would take the 851 for the 15 minute ride to my apartment.  Two young Chinese guys were walking towards us and as they passed one of them said, under his breath, "Oh my god!" ha  You see...I'm very big and tall and that always attracts lots of attention. :)  I quickly turned around and much to the amusement of Seven and Mama,  yelled (in English, of course), "I heard that!  I can always lose weight!  What are you going to do about your face!" ha ha  Okay...it was only very funny to me!

So fast forward to this past Saturday when I'd be teaching 3 long classes of wonderful Chinese teenagers.....all of whom (except for a couple) forgot about my birthday even though I reminded them at last week's class and told them I wanted them to each make me a card (and, oh yeah, include 500 RMB in each card...which they thought was very funny as that's about $75).

However, the wonderful things they wrote on the whiteboard during a break was just as special to me as cards filled with 500 RMB! ha  I must add, however, that it was the girls who wrote these messages, not the boys!

L to R, Cissy, Helen and Ealian....my Happy Birthday whiteboard creators.

L to R, Chris, Vincent and Ray....my slacker boys! ha  Teenagers across the world...same, same same! ha  Gotta LOVE Chris' face!  Love them all!

This is Gogoanne (sometimes we just call her Anne), our newest local teacher!  She was so surprised that we had arranged a birthday cake for her (June 20th)!  She started crying so it took a few minutes before I could get this photo without tears.  This incredible "cheesecake cake" was made by Wendy, who made my incredible birthday cake with M&M flowers!  Wendy now realizes that she's becoming the "birthday cake baking teacher!"  It was so sweet to see such genuine appreciation from Gogoanne!

L to R, Simone, Gogoanne and Ngachi (pronounced Na-Chi).  Ngachi is our newest foreign teacher.  She's American and from Maine!  Her parents are Chinese and I have no doubt she's going to make a wonderful addition to our teaching family.  She's also a newlywed as she recently married the love of her life, a Beijinger!  We now have American teachers from Tennessee, Florida, California and Maine!  What a diverse slice of Americana!

My last class of the day on Saturdays is my most advanced English speakers.  They're a handful! ha  Two of them presented me with wonderful birthday gifts (a beautiful beaded scarf and a funky little pencil holder that I will just have to post photos of later, both of which I adore).  So on the break I challenged them to draw "birthday" pictures on the whiteboard.  They weren't as creative as my morning class but it was appreciated just as much! ha

I should probably add that on the previous photo of the whiteboard creation....the girls thought I was 47.....I am, in fact, now 48!  Sigh.....  So on this day, I had promised the class that I'd provide pizza and drinks for them because I had lost a bet.  I bet one of my students, Linda, that I'd lose a LOT of weight by June of this year and if I did, she would have to eat a raw onion (she HATES onions!).  She was very wise to take that bet because if I lost...I was to buy them ALL something (hence, the pizza).  I definitely lost the bet! ha  So pizza and drinks it was! ha  I gotta quit making bets with my students!

George!

Nicole!  (after this class, I would be going with Nicole and her mother, my friend, Jeanette, to a great dinner at a Ukranian restaurant....but that's another post!)

L to R, Nina and Landy!  BFF's?  You bet.  Check out their identical arm positions! ha

Beautiful Cathy!

We moved to the "Activity Room" (no carpet, hardwood floors) for pizza eating while viewing a movie Nicole had brought starring Zach Efron!

They were very "into" the movie, even though they were only able to see a third of the movie!  I can guarantee you they'll beg me to see the rest next week.  And....I might give in. If I do....then they know they'll have to engage in a discussion in English about the movie.  These kids have learned SO MUCH by having to "discuss" different topics.  Their oral English has improved greatly through discussion.  Doing boring (did I say boring?) grammar exercises is something they HATE! ha  So I've taken a unique approach with this particular advanced class.  I believe I could write a great plan for teaching Chinese teenagers good English by watching movies and such in English and then having them voice their opinions and answer questions about what they've seen.  For more advanced students, it's a great tool to use that keeps them interested and creates a wonderful environment for speaking English on a very "real" level.  It's a great experience for me to see this....when they discuss issues in English.  Sometimes I don't think they even realize how very adequately they are using their English skills.

So my "birthday weekend" is just getting started so stay tuned.  Also, know that (with apologies to all my past employers) this is probably the first job I've had that I can say I LOVE!  It goes without saying how hard it's going to be for me to leave these kids.  As arrogant as it may sound.....my wish for them is that they find an equally crazy American to continue their English lessons!  Then again.....that might be a little hard! ha  LL in China, T.

Blog Stats!

Tonight, I checked my site reader and noticed that I have had exactly 9,999 visits to my "tinchina" site since it's inception when I first moved to Beijing.  Many of these visits are, of course, many, many repeat visits by family and friends.  But I'll let you know from which country comes my 10,000 site visitor soon! )  If  possible....I'll send along a little gift from China to that visitor! :) I've had visitors to my blog from over 27 countries.  That makes me happy! :)  Stay tuned.....

An Early Birthday Surprise!

Today at work, after our weekly teachers' meeting....I received a wonderful birthday surprise a day early (since we'll all be busy teaching tomorrow).

It's a beautiful and VERY delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing!  And Wendy, a dear colleague, made it in her small portable oven which makes it even more special. :)  All those sticks aren't candles, but edible chocolate Pocky sticks! :)  YUM!  I'm a lucky birthday girl!

ha ha!

Who loves Wendy?  I do, I do! :)

Nothing like a birthday celebration to bring out the smile! :)

ha ha!  James pretends to SMASH the watermelon....because, ya know, we had to have some healthy additions to all that decadent chocolate! :)

This is my birthday pizza which I gave to myself! ha  I ordered from a Chinese restaurant so the pepperoni isn't quite like American pepperoni but still quite delicious! :)  And a bit cheaper than Papa John's or Pizza Hut.

This is my new favorite toy!  A cute little personal fan.  And you'd be surprised at how well it works!

Testing out my camera's "macro" photo abilities...this is the wonderful phone charm that hangs from my phone!  My friend, Jeanette, gave it to me and I just love it.  I love the Chinese knot and especially the laughing Buddha!

This is my trusy Nokia cell phone!  My friend, Hua (who lives in the States), has a cousin who lives in Beijing and Hua arranged for his cousin to purchase my phone for me before I even arrived.  The night I arrived in Beijing, September 3, 2007, Hua's cousin met me and my CM for dinner and gave me the phone already tuned to English and it was such a blessing!  I only paid 550 RMB (less than $60) for this phone and though it's just a basic phone (no camera or fancy stuff), it has served me well here in China!  Folks pay upwards of 1,000 to 2,000 for cell phones here ($150-$300) but I've found I need nothing more than the ability to talk and text.  Texting is HUGE here; much more so than in the States!  In China, you pay for and own your phone and then just pay for your "minutes" each month.  No one or two year contracts! ha  It's so much better, if you ask me, than having to deal with long contracts before you can switch carriers.  My current American cell phone doesn't even have an outlet for a phone charm!  What's up with THAT?

So my macro feature on my camera is still a little shady! ha  I was trying to capture the great "center of the cake" piece of birthday cake that I enjoyed (the one with the orange and blue M&M's!).  Still, you get the idea.

And before I forget....last night I returned home from work and ordered some food from a restaurant in front of my apartment.  GREAT herb-encrusted butterfly shrimp!  Yum!  So I headed back to my apartment in anticipation of enjoying a bit of DVD-watching time in front of the boob tube with my great shrimp.....only to find that the electricity for my building's elevators had been knocked out by a downed electrical line!  We had electricity in individual apartments because I could see lights on in apartments in my building....but no lights in the foyer and NO working elevators.  Remember....I live on the top floor (24).  So I had a personal dilemma....sit on the sidewalk and enjoy my great shrimp or trudge up 24 floors to my apartment where I could turn on the A/C and be comfortable.  Suffice it to say that I have learned that I CAN walk up 24 flights of very dark stairways aided only by the light of my cell phone!  You had NO idea how much I was panting by the time I reached my door! ha  I met some neighbors on the way up and they laughed when I told them, "pant pant....I live on the 24th floor!" ha ha I went straight to my bathroom and partook of a cold washrag on the face! :)  LL, T.