Monday, September 6-Thursday, September 26
I know...I've been horrible! I've been super busy in Beijing doing my training classes. I have been getting a ton of idea of different things I can do with the kids in my classes. Everybody here is really nice and I've made a lot of new friends but they are all teaching in different parts of China! It stinks! I'm definitely going to have to make some weekend trips to go see people which fits well with my plan to travel. There's a girl here who is originally from China, moved to England when she was a teenager, and then now lives back here but her hometown in China is Shenyang...my city! I've been really hard at work doing many things and having to do a lot of homework. We have gone out a few of the nights and seen some really cool parts of Beijing. I don't have my camera now so I won't be putting up pictures right now...but I will at the end of the week when I have some more time! I did a presentation in class today which went really well and it's awesome to see everybody else present ideas! We may go out to celebrate tonight but maybe not. Well...it's a short entry since I am in class, but I will make a longer one tomorrow maybe. See you later!
Friday, September 27-Sunday, September 29
Hello! Class is finally over! That's the hardest I've had to work in quite awhile! The intensive TEFL training course had a lot of information that I had to learn that I surprisingly didn't cover in school. I met some really great people though and some friends that I'm definitely going to travel and visit with in the future. I am putting up pictures that I took throughout the week, so prepared to be amazed! Most of the people who I met and did the course with have left already to go back to their cities. This upcoming week is a big holiday and pretty much everybody has it off but some people had to work Sunday or Monday and then had the rest of the week off. The two people who I met and hung out with the most were Torey and Matt. Torey is from Oregon and lived in Cambodia teaching 5th grade all last year and now is teaching younger kids in Jinan. She is super friendly and outgoing and I definitely plan to do some traveling around China with her. Matt is from the UK and is also really friendly and super sarcastic...just like me! They both work at the same school but we've made plans to meet up again soon.
There are a few apps that everybody uses here. One is called whatsapp....which is actually what I use mostly to communicate with people back home, and then there is wechat, which is used by a lot of my Chinese and foreigner friends. If anybody wants my information for those, just let me know! I'm much more accustomed to be next to my phone than my computer so it's a lot easier to get in touch with me! Hmm...what else can I say...this week I plan to travel around Beijing some more and possibly even do some shopping. One of the girls from class is named Rose who is from Toronto and actually is teaching at a university here in Beijing and has this next week off. She has some friends coming to visit her so I'm going to hang out with them for a lot of the time. We plan to at least go to the Summer Palace and a shopping district...Wanfuxian district I think it's called. I find myself picking up on the language a little bit easier now so I hope it continues to improve! I may ask Hannah if she will teach me some basic words and phrases a few nights of the week so that I become more familiar.
Today was actually a pretty crappy day out. The pollution and smog was sooo horrible, I could hardly see a mile down the street. I definitely can start to feel it in my head, kind of like sinus pressure. It'll be nice to get back to Shenyang and have a bit more fresh air to breathe in. However, I still won't be there for over a week, so I guess I'll have to deal with the smog for now! I pretty much just stayed inside all day and watched some movies and shows. It was nice to not have anything to do or anywhere to go. The only thing was that I had to move rooms since my room had been booked for the holiday, so now, instead of being on the 8th floor, I am on the 13th floor. The workers here are really nice and don't bother me much. My internet in my new room wasn't working and so somebody came up right away and fixed it. I went out and got some snacks and drinks from Carrefour and then some dumplings for lunch, which were really good.
As far as the pictures go, the first ones are from the room that I was originally in. It was pretty big so several nights I had people over and we just hung out. Last night we actually had about 8 people in my room just hanging out and talking. It's going to be so strange to not hear people speak English around me all the time anymore! The next part of the pictures is from when Matt, Torey, their contact person Don, and I went to the Olympic Center and walked around. It was a little chilly that night but actually really nice. We saw the Birds Nest and...whatever else is around there. I'm not sure what they're called but it was all lit up and was really cool to walk around. The next set of pictures is from when a bunch of us went out to like a bar/shopping/restaurant part of town and just kind of walked around and hung out. That was also really fun! It was great to meet so many different kinds of people. Matt and I made a joke that we all started out the week liking each other and then by the end of the week, we ended up all hating one another...which isn't really true but it was still funny. The last set of pictures is of my new room and how gross out it was today. I didn't get a group picture of our class but our teacher took one and is going to put it up on a website so I'll just get it from there and then put it on here. Well....I think that is some pretty good catching up! I'll be better this week with my updates since I will have a lot more down time. TTYL!
I know...I've been horrible! I've been super busy in Beijing doing my training classes. I have been getting a ton of idea of different things I can do with the kids in my classes. Everybody here is really nice and I've made a lot of new friends but they are all teaching in different parts of China! It stinks! I'm definitely going to have to make some weekend trips to go see people which fits well with my plan to travel. There's a girl here who is originally from China, moved to England when she was a teenager, and then now lives back here but her hometown in China is Shenyang...my city! I've been really hard at work doing many things and having to do a lot of homework. We have gone out a few of the nights and seen some really cool parts of Beijing. I don't have my camera now so I won't be putting up pictures right now...but I will at the end of the week when I have some more time! I did a presentation in class today which went really well and it's awesome to see everybody else present ideas! We may go out to celebrate tonight but maybe not. Well...it's a short entry since I am in class, but I will make a longer one tomorrow maybe. See you later!
Friday, September 27-Sunday, September 29
Hello! Class is finally over! That's the hardest I've had to work in quite awhile! The intensive TEFL training course had a lot of information that I had to learn that I surprisingly didn't cover in school. I met some really great people though and some friends that I'm definitely going to travel and visit with in the future. I am putting up pictures that I took throughout the week, so prepared to be amazed! Most of the people who I met and did the course with have left already to go back to their cities. This upcoming week is a big holiday and pretty much everybody has it off but some people had to work Sunday or Monday and then had the rest of the week off. The two people who I met and hung out with the most were Torey and Matt. Torey is from Oregon and lived in Cambodia teaching 5th grade all last year and now is teaching younger kids in Jinan. She is super friendly and outgoing and I definitely plan to do some traveling around China with her. Matt is from the UK and is also really friendly and super sarcastic...just like me! They both work at the same school but we've made plans to meet up again soon.
There are a few apps that everybody uses here. One is called whatsapp....which is actually what I use mostly to communicate with people back home, and then there is wechat, which is used by a lot of my Chinese and foreigner friends. If anybody wants my information for those, just let me know! I'm much more accustomed to be next to my phone than my computer so it's a lot easier to get in touch with me! Hmm...what else can I say...this week I plan to travel around Beijing some more and possibly even do some shopping. One of the girls from class is named Rose who is from Toronto and actually is teaching at a university here in Beijing and has this next week off. She has some friends coming to visit her so I'm going to hang out with them for a lot of the time. We plan to at least go to the Summer Palace and a shopping district...Wanfuxian district I think it's called. I find myself picking up on the language a little bit easier now so I hope it continues to improve! I may ask Hannah if she will teach me some basic words and phrases a few nights of the week so that I become more familiar.
Today was actually a pretty crappy day out. The pollution and smog was sooo horrible, I could hardly see a mile down the street. I definitely can start to feel it in my head, kind of like sinus pressure. It'll be nice to get back to Shenyang and have a bit more fresh air to breathe in. However, I still won't be there for over a week, so I guess I'll have to deal with the smog for now! I pretty much just stayed inside all day and watched some movies and shows. It was nice to not have anything to do or anywhere to go. The only thing was that I had to move rooms since my room had been booked for the holiday, so now, instead of being on the 8th floor, I am on the 13th floor. The workers here are really nice and don't bother me much. My internet in my new room wasn't working and so somebody came up right away and fixed it. I went out and got some snacks and drinks from Carrefour and then some dumplings for lunch, which were really good.
As far as the pictures go, the first ones are from the room that I was originally in. It was pretty big so several nights I had people over and we just hung out. Last night we actually had about 8 people in my room just hanging out and talking. It's going to be so strange to not hear people speak English around me all the time anymore! The next part of the pictures is from when Matt, Torey, their contact person Don, and I went to the Olympic Center and walked around. It was a little chilly that night but actually really nice. We saw the Birds Nest and...whatever else is around there. I'm not sure what they're called but it was all lit up and was really cool to walk around. The next set of pictures is from when a bunch of us went out to like a bar/shopping/restaurant part of town and just kind of walked around and hung out. That was also really fun! It was great to meet so many different kinds of people. Matt and I made a joke that we all started out the week liking each other and then by the end of the week, we ended up all hating one another...which isn't really true but it was still funny. The last set of pictures is of my new room and how gross out it was today. I didn't get a group picture of our class but our teacher took one and is going to put it up on a website so I'll just get it from there and then put it on here. Well....I think that is some pretty good catching up! I'll be better this week with my updates since I will have a lot more down time. TTYL!