Pictures

Eating at Han's BBQ with some former students

About to go to KTV Karaoke















Singing at KTV!















Trying to stay warm!














Catherine and I staying warm!






So flickr is currently down in China so here are some pictures I have been talking about the last two posts! Check flickr in the next day or two though and hopefully it will be back!

Note-pictures are now up on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan)

50 degree temperature drop? No big deal

So last Sunday it was around 85+ degrees here. Beautiful weather-it was wonderful; all the flowers were blooming. Fast forward to Wednesday 35 degrees with huge snowflakes for 5 or so hours. I was so sad to bring back my wool coat and put the chaco sandals back in the closet. I am so ready for it to be warm and spring but I still have to wait. I guess we do need to keep those long underwear out.

I got interviewed for the Heilongjiang Daily (newspaper of Heilongjiang (my) province) on Thursday. Pretty exciting. They asked us about the changes we have seen taking place over the last 30 years. Since I have only lived in China for a year and a half, it was pretty difficult to articulate. So we just kind of talked about what foreigners know and think about China and why we came and all that. It was fun at least to hear my Chinese colleague, Leslie, do translation (they really only spoke Chinese and my Chinese is not that good). It is so helpful to hear something in both languages-really gives me a better understanding of grammar.

So you know that peg game they always have at like Cracker Barrel and places like that where you jump pegs until you only have one? Well I got sent an Easter one of those and got it out tonight while hanging out with my Chinese friends. I was always pretty bad at the game and never had patience to figure it out. The next thing I knew, 3 different people had mastered how to play it in just a few minutes. I tell you, these HIT students are smart! We had a fun time just hanging out tonight-they were all tired so we just relaxed. We cuddled under blankets (since our heat went off a few weeks ago and it's cold again our apts are pretty chilly), talked a lot, listened to Norah Jones, made chocolate chip cookies, watched a little "House" and even did a little yoga.

Last week I gave the written part of the midterm for Oral English Sophomores. This week I will be continuing their midterm with the oral part and giving my juniors the writing midterm. It is a fun filled week. They will also turn in their research paper. So, I have 40 oral midterms, 40 writing midterms, and 40 research papers to grade-fun! I always thought writing a bibliography was hard to learn growing up. I've decided it's also quite difficult to teach-so many rules and so picky! Hopefully they looked at their notes carefully when working otherwise I am going to be using a lot of red pens!

Our email is down right now-well, kind of. We can get emails but we can't send emails unless we go through webmail so if I am slow in responding to any of your emails, that is why! Also why I am writing on here. Hope you are all having a great week! Check out my flickr for pictures to come soon I hope!

Back again

So we now have access again here in China so we'll see how long it lasts again! Here is from my latest email and I'll try to update hopefully a few times a week here so check back. Make sure to check out my flickr site of pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan

So Friday night I met up with some of my students from last semester. They met me at my dorm around 5 pm and headed to the "famous" Han's BBQ in Harbin. Students really seem to love this place. We got our own special little room and first went through the buffet line. In the buffet you get cold dishes such as fresh vegetables and fruit, some fruit salads and Chinese cold dishes. Among these included a dish made from "fish skin" and another with cow stomach (at least that is what I am pretty sure it was. At least someone's stomach-when I got it my students said they thought it was tofu; it was not). I did not get the strange looking dish that was "fish skin," however my student did and then asked me to try it. It wasn't skin like you peel off when skinning a fish, but more like white gelatin like material with some grey. The texture was indescribable.

Then later the waiters bring around various meets off of skewers and put it on your plate. Some were quite tasty, others were quite interesting. These included various animals' legs, chicken hearts, squid (very tough), a lot of fat, and many other parts of meet that my students did not know how to translate, which was OK with me. I don't eat a ton of meat really and so this kind of restaurant is somewhat challenging for me. I just cover it in this barbecue/ketchup sauce and put it in without thinking about it-mostly tasted pretty good!! The restaurant is sort of Russian themed and so we used forks and knives, which was fun to use with Chinese students-we talked about the "proper" way of using them (mom-you should be so proud). My favorite was one student, who always kept both in his hands and while chewing put the ends to the table like a child; so funny.

We had some great conversations and afterwards went to KTV, the Chinese oh-so-popular karaoke. We got our room and had some great times signing, using the tambourine and laughing together (I even sang Thriller for them and did the dance-it was great!). Around 10.30 I went ahead home because I was tired from classes all morning. It was a great evening.

I'm back...

Today is an exciting morning as I just realized that Blogspot is back in China!!! I don't know how long I will be able to write on here but while I have it I will try to write frequently to take full advantage!

It is about 6.30 AM right now as I sit at my computer. Outside is all hazy and cold-about 34 but I see blue starting to poke through the clouds. I just finished my morning Japanese stretching exercises (one of the Japanese teachers here and another American and I do Japanese morning exercises every morning at 6.10 together. It is pretty fun and a good way to get the mornings going.) I don't teach today so it is very tempting to go back to bed and sleep sleep sleep. However, I am determined today to get stuff done. I am feeling very overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to do and I am wanting to go with my teammate, Bethany, and a Chinese friend to the Harbin Provincial museum this afternoon.

Things have been going well lately. I definitely am feeling at home and used to life here. I have been getting into a more regular schedule of life lately and am feeling pretty good about that. I have been trying to go to bed between 10 and 10.30 each night so that I can get close to 8 hours of sleep. It has been a hard adjustment because it definitely cuts out time I could be doing other things at night so that's why I think I feel like I always have stuff to do. I am just having to learn to manage my time better-something I always struggle with. I have also been cooking a lot lately. At first, it just seemed to take so much time but now I am really starting to enjoy it. I have mostly just been experimenting with different things so I just grab lots of vegetables out of the fridge and start chopping. I feel like a chef or something!

Chinese study has been going well. For a while this year I was at this point in language learning where I was stuck at this wall and to move past it would require a lot of individual work and motivation and I feel like I am starting to get past that point now which is good. I meet 2-4 hours with my tutor from last year and then now 2-3 hours on Sunday with a new friend who is teaching me who doesn't really speak English. It has been hard as it is so tiring to be listening in Chinese only for 2-3 hours but so good for me. She is real funny to so that helps! I have been studying little flash cards learning characters like crazy and probably know a little more that 400 characters, which may sound like a lot but really isn't that much considering how many there are. I really enjoy learning the characters though and they give a lot of insight into the culture. It has been fun to see my improvement in listening this semester especially in the study I am in on Saturday nights. It is about 95 percent in Chinese now, which is great, and I am starting to understand more and more and able to follow what is happening and what they are talking about. It is so great that it is in Chinese as well because they are really taking ownership of the study and are teaching each other-a great thing.

I am thinking of taking a walk now to the morning market before heading to the gym. I have never been (usually am asleep) but hear they have everything imaginable for sale so I figure it would be something fun to check out. Make sure to check out my flickr regularly as I am putting different pictures up on it. (www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan).

Going on year two...

I am sitting at home right now with laundry in the washing machine and dryer, clothes and other supplies spread all over my sister's bed and so much more to do before leaving. I head out tomorrow morning around 6 or so am to drive to little rock, fly to chicago and then from chicago straight to beijing. I'll arrive around 3 pm China time into the Beijing airport on Friday.

I'm really excited about heading back to China and am really ready. I have had a great time this summer seeing friends and catching up on everyone's lives. It was so good to see friends yet it is still very hard to say the goodbyes again for another year, knowing how I will miss my friends. Everyone has been great this summer. I am excited to see my friends in China though. I will be in Beijing for about 4 days with my organization doing some training and team building and that will be good to see some of my friends in the organization who live in other parts of China. I will then fly out to Harbin on the 28th to return to my home there. I am so excited to see all of my Chinese friends there and spend time with them again. I am also so excited to get back into the regular flow of life. I feel like I have been living out of a suitcase for the last 2 months and it will be great to feel like I am back in my home again.

I know this year is going to be a very different year. I wont be having to do as much adjusting as I did last year and will really be able to pour time into my friendships there and teaching. I know there will be different things to adjust to about living in China-coming from a different culture, I am always learning and needing to learn more. It will also be a different year having a totally different team. My team will consist of 3 girls this year: myself, my returning team leader, and a new teacher to China. Please be thinking about this and asking the father that we will be able to work together well. I am also planning on spending a lot of time studying Chinese this year. I think it is so important to learn the language of the culture one lives in so I am going to be making language a top priority (other than teaching, of course!)

That's about all for now. Be sure to check out my flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinamegan) to see pictures-I updated them the other day of pictures from the spring and will have some more up soon as well as pictures from this summer. Let me know if you have a change in address/email or would like to receive my newsletters and do not. Thanks for remembering me as I am traveling tomorrow.

Back in America!

Hey friends!
I am back! (also meaning I can access this site!) I returned back to Arkansas on June 25 after about 30+ hours of traveling. It was a long trip home, but of course ending well. I had some college friends come and meet me at the airport and then also drop in throughout the week last week and visit so it reall made the time special. It's so nice to be around friends who I am so comfortable with!

I then made the 9 hour drive over to Cleveland, TN on Sunday to take my graduate classes at Lee University. I am taking two courses for the next month: School Law and Research Methods, working on my MA in Teaching. We are in class 3 hours per class, so 6 hours a day plus homework each night. Needless to say, we are staying busy! All of us teachers from China are living in the same area of a dorm and so have been hanging out together during free time and eating our meals together. Last night we all went over to the main teacher in the Graduate Educational Department's house for hamburgers for the 4th of July. It was really nice to be able to go to a home to celebrate this American holiday.

I am excited to hopefully be able to see people in August when I return to Arkansas. I will return the last weekend of July to Russellville. Tentative plans are to go to Kansas for first weekend in Aug to see some friends, go to Siloam Springs second weekend in August and then home the third weekend. I will fly back to China on August 23. I will have my same email account over the summer of course and if you would like to give me a call, I have my sister's cell phone for this month at least. To get that number you can email me or talk to my parents! Hope to hear from you all soon!

The Family has come and gone...

My family (mom, dad, sister) came to visit the last week and a half. It was really exciting for me to have them here and have a chance to show them my life here. I surprised them at the Beijing airport and it was so great to see their surprised faces, and just see them! We stayed about 4 days in Beijing doing all the Beijing things-Tian'anmen, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Wangfujing, Silk Market, Pearl Market, etc. It was fun to see their reactions to things. After living in China for a while, things start becoming so normal and you forget that it is so different than in America. Things like the taxi drivers, crossing streets, and other everyday living things. It was also fun to revisit some of these places and be able to just walk around and enjoy and not worry about taking pictures as much. There is so much history in many of these places and they are so important to the Chinese people.

We took the night train (soft sleepers) from Beijing to Harbin last Wed. That was fun with the family-our own little sleeper room, watching Chinese tv, trying to fit all our bags in! It was nice to be back in Harbin where things are much more familiar to me than Beijing (and the weather is much cooler!) We did a few of the Harbin things too-Tiger Park, Center St., St. Sophia, Pizza Hut, shopping. They also were able to come with me to my classes and watch their dramas. I had some amazing dramas perform last week-they performed about the "Future in China." It was great to hear their ideas (See next post). They also came with me to the English center where i teach children and met all the kiddos. The kids loved my family and being able to meet new foreigners-as did the TAs. One of the most fun things we did was go to dinner with some of my Chinese friends. We ate and ate and then did karyoke (there was a machine in the room we ate in). It was so fun and my Chinese friends really loved my family. I have been so blessed to make such great Chinese friends and to be able to really invest in them and them teach us so much as well!

I was so happy my parents came and sad they had to go home. It was crazy sometimes having people always around and organizing things, but I loved it. I was able to really use my CHinese a lot as well, especially in Beijing so that was rewarding. I dont always get to use it a lot here because I am on campus a lot and I should be speaking English to my students so I love any chance to use it. I still have so far to go in it, but I am loving the journey! It is crazy to think that I will be home in about 3 weeks. I arrive back in AR on June 25. I have a lot to do before then so please be remembering me in that. I hope to see many people this summer, so keep your schedules open!!!