http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Beijing , Feng Tai District en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 21:12:36 +0000 Wed, 22 May 2013 21:12:36 +0000 A quick recap of our final two days and travels homeSaturday morning was the closing ceremony. It was a wonderful celebration of the students39 hard work and progress as well as the Feng TaiJenison partnership. Seeing the parents beaming with pride as their children read recited and sang in English was incredibly gratifying. There were also performances by both a young Beijing Opera perfor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-735920.html It is hard to believe that tomorrow morning will bring the closing ceremony and bittersweet end to our journey here in China.The last few days have flown by They have included a great deal of teaching as well as some unforgettable outings with our students. Monday we visited the Great Wall which was both a breathtaking and surreal experience. We even ate lunch sitting atop one of the many lookou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-734735.html We have been teaching our wonderful students for seven days and the word that continues to come to mind is impact. This experience is having a tremendous impact on all those involved students and the teachers of both Jenison and Feng Tai.I would not have guessed a week ago how much our students would improve in their written and oral English in this short time. We39ve been teaching them for o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-734003.html With introductions complete we are now ready to dive in to what we came here to do teach A major component of this trip is to bring western teaching methodology to Feng Tai First. While this school is very successful the strongest in its district they are very transparent about wanting to learn our teaching methods. In particular those related to active student engagement which is a focus in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-732849.html We arrived Tuesday morning at Feng Tai First where we greeted the children who were to be our students for the next two weeks. The students were surprised when all five of us immediately approached them and began talking and interacting with them. This is not a common teacherstudent dynamic in China. The students were very eager to try and communicate with us but in no time at all we became acut http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-732834.html Our first full day in Beijing has been amazing We started our morning visiting Feng Tai First school. After months of planning and Skype meetings it was wonderful to at last see the school in person and meet the teachers and Principal Yin. We had a great team meeting working through final preparations. Opening ceremonies are tomorrow morning and will commence the two week Fine Arts Camp.After a t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-732463.html Beijing Tea Market. After a month of searching for tea it was only fitting that we found ourselves wandering the labyrinth of shops composing the Beijing Tea market. Over 1000 tea shops. Which to choose We have already explored so many shops in so many places that Kit has begun producing an imaginary movie called Kunming. The first line is Of all the tea shops on all the streets http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-660393.html I'm looking at an ESL teaching job in Feng Tai. They are offering 5000 Yuanmonth free accommodation visa provided if you can finish one year contract provide 1000USD as airfare. How far does 5000 Yuanmonth go Since they are providing accomadations is this plenty for me to buy food and have some social life at leastThanksBill http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-504534.html Hey guys...just putting up a test entry to make sure everyone can get this...and it works all good. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-466714.html hahai'm writing this from beijing but i'm going to save that story for the next entry because i want to get in a quick one with the photos from our farewell barbecue yes that's right very aussie of us on sunday arvo we had a farewell barbecue at the sai kung flat which doubled as a housewarming for mickey and jess as well. despite the category one typhoon which made it rain intermittentl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-205446.html I am about to go to bed and spend my last night in China. What a crazy fun year this has been. There were days when I just wanted to go home and days when I could think of now place I would rather be. I have seen so many things and met so many people. I have discovered a lot of things about myself some good some bad. I have learned to have patience and endurance and independence. The things you l http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-172890.html Countdown Asia China Beijing Feng Tai District By photobugJune 14th 2007Trisha Shadwell I am finished at the primary school Now all I have is the middle school. My open classes went okay. Every one seemed to enjoy them. I am not sure why but I always feel like I could have done better. But I am really sad to be leaving them. They are sooo cute. On the last day they all had me sign t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-168972.html We celebrated Liba's birthday which was a lot of fun. We had cake and ice cream with Steven and then a party at nanjie. Saturday we went to Zeta bar which is a very highclass bar in the Hilton because a friend of hers reserved us a table. It was the weirdest bar. Not people friendly. Everyone seemed stuck on themselves and I was wearing really uncomfortable shoes and the table was one of thos http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-167700.html This is my shout out update. Shout out to Alden who turned 18 Shout out to Rebecca who turned 21 Shout out to Mom who turned Moms don't age Shout out to Tyler who turned 25 Shout out to Liba who turned 28 Shout out to Cece who turned 25 shout out to mom on mothers day shout out to Catherine who is now engaged Shout out to Chris and Tyler who called me and made my day Sorry for the delay http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-163305.html I finished reading a very famous Chinese Novel I Dream of Red Chamber so this past weekend I went to the park that is modeled after the book. The park was very pretty. There were very few people in the park which made it especially nice. It was like walking through the book. I have started a new habit. Every morning I go to the park and study Chinese for one hour. I love it. I go and all the ol http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-159092.html So my favorite painter has always been Monet. Why because he captures that majical our of light that photographers so covet in a way that is so perfect. And because I have always loved seeing the same subject in different seasons. For me art should always come in fours. So in honor of Monet I have now taken pictures of my favorite pagoda in all seasons. And what more fitting than for it to have wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-158191.html So here goes my first attempt at a blog. please ignore all glaring spelling errors.After hours and hours and hours of planes and airports we arrived in Beijing yesterday afternoon. Beijing is not a pretty city. It's clean and doesn't seem as crowded as it should be but it still isn't pretty. We spent yesterday exploring our neighbourhood. We went for dinner at some random food court place and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-156328.html Welcome Uncle Dan and Aunt Linda I can't wait to see you Its official after much agonizing I have decided that I can't leave China. I am just not finished here. I kept thinking about coming home and going back to school and I realized I really didn't want to. Why was I putting all this pressure on myself to leave when all I really wanted to do was stay I miss my family and friends but I am http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-151977.html Some things are so funny. I woke today stumbled to the bathroom and could not figure out why the lights would not come and the tried to wash my hands and the water would not come on. Cursing myself for not paying the bills and its Saturday which means I cant pay until Monday I went back to sleep. I woke up frustrated without power or water decided to go to the grocery store for coffee. I was amaz http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-150868.html This past weekend was spent riding buses. I am now reminded how much I miss my car and how traveling around Beijing by bus is really a pain. Saturday I left at 8 to catch a bus to catch the subway to change subway lines to walk for 30 minutes just get to the other side of Beijing and it only took me 2 hours. Sunday was spent riding one bus to the subway taking the subway and then another bus to b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-143100.html