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 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:41:55 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:41:55 UTC 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 nbspAsia raquonbspChina raquonbspBeijing raquonbspFeng 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 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 Sorry for the long delay. Because of an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan the Internet has been down. Only in China could the Internet collapse and the only people complaining are the foreigners. All of Beijing not having Internet did not even make headlines news here. While it is up and running its slower than dial up and sporadic. So....I made it through my open classes. The kids did not sing http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-115030.html This week has been really good. I met Allison and her family downtown. I really like her family a lot they are kind easygoing people just like Alison. It was so good to catch up on the Green Street news. I also love hearing what other peoples impression of China is. I wish them safe travels as they make their whirlwind tour of Hong Kong and then back to Shanghai and home. As go into my weekend an http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-113063.html Dear brother and sistersIf you could remember me this coming week. This week has been especially stressful because it is the last week to practice before next weeks performances. I have been thinking of it like the last day of vacation Bible school when the kids get to show off what they have learned all semester. I had in my head what I wanted it to look like. Now with no more time to practice a http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-112258.html I have been laughing all day or at least smiling. I looked up from my lesson plan to ask Jack to answer a question to find that I must have not looked at him in a while. Because He had stuck two pencils up his nose and two out his ears and was trying to answer me through the one stuck in his mouth. We made all the students name plates to put on their desks. I had to name a bunch of kids who had f http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-109074.html MondayWhat a sense of pride I have in knowing all thirty students names finally. The more I teach the more I love fourth graders. they are the perfect age. Not old enough to be rude and obnoxious and not young where they can't understand anything. They are so smart. The weather is getting colder and drier it seems that all the students are getting bloody noses. I am finally well. I am allergic t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-106970.html 1. You learn to get excited about the small things that are big things. I don't know why but my way of playing with one of the more serious boys is to wink at him. He is a great student amazing English but he is seven going on thirty. He is rock just answers the questions and moves on. So I started winking at this kid. Today I was standing in line at the grocery store and in walks Victor with h http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-103622.html Well I have learned a great deal about myself. 1. I don't like confrontation. As much as I like watching politics and debating people when it comes down to my own life I really hate confrontation. 2. I will be nice to people and let things boil and fester until it reaches a point that I cannot handle any more and then explode.Question Is it better to continually nag someone about something and l http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-101445.html My last couple of entries have been real downers I do not mean to give the impression that I am always unhappy. Actually I am happeir than I have ever been. Just sometimes like always life or work can make things hard. So on a happy note. I have decided to start a list of things that occur that I believe could only happen in China or maybe just to me in China. The idea for this came as result o http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-100623.html Ohhh you will never guess what I ordered and ate Pizza I had pizza delivered in Beijing You can order really wierd toppings like corn and fish but also ham and mushroom mmmm.Most people know I have always battled days when I hate everything about myself. I mean really just don't want to look in the mirror hard to make myself get out of the bed kind of days. I have learned for the most part http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-99688.html Okay so if you have a blog that I don't know about will you please email of post on here where it is. What I once really could not get into in the states has now become a very interesting source of entertainment and inspiration for me. I laughed today when i read about our camel clyde at the fair. Ah i miss fairs. It also means the beginning of football season and a very busy new room ahh i mis http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-98637.html Okay so I am not really a spontaneous writer but I have been reading everyonersquos xangas and realized that maybe I should try writing about small weird things that are a part of my day. If I can get great joy from Brittany Jo's coffee and cold lima beans Tararsquos definition of procrastination and Allie's tales of laundry and dirty dishes to be done I should at least attempt to write so http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-98107.html I brought my camera with me to work and took pictures of all my different students. I did not have my first graders this week because they went on a field trip so except for them this is basically all of my students. Each class has a different temperment. you can kind of see it in the pictures. Some classes are out of control while others are more subdued. You Can tell which students know enough http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-94506.html I succesfully completed another week of classes. I think I am getting better. Although I got a call last night at 9pm telling me my 10am and 2 pm class was canceled. No explanation just canceled. Determined not to let the very rowdy middle schoolers control my classroom today I laid it out for them that if they did not listen and speak up in class i was going to bring in the chinese teacher. That http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-90394.html I wrote this story about the bird a while ago but kept looking for the perfect picture to publish it. My food reportiore has grown considerably since i wrote this. I have decided that because it takes me so long to go grocery shopping I am going to stick to one store and learn it really well so I will know where the milk bread and diet pepsie are. Then as I learn the store I will slowly add to http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-87484.html I don't know how to express what Boss does but sometimes it takes the kitchen sink breaking to break you. I am still doing well but decided to take today and just walk around where I am living to make sure I know where I am before school starts that I won't be getting lost on the way to class that sort of thing. I now have a pretty good idea of how to get where I need to be and how to get back ho http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-85880.html I take great joy in the simple things. Every morning I take my camera journal and very preciouse book and head to the park. watching the people do Tai Chi I pour out my soul and hear a great many things. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-85573.html I have made it safely I am glad not to have to make the trip again for ten months. I knew I would not have to reset my watch because Beijing is exactly twelve hours ahead so the whole trip I could look at my watch and say hey its 10 orsquoclock at home and in China. I decided to just eat when my body was hungry which ended up being midnight sc time and 8 LA time. Once on the plane I was so tire http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/blog-85366.html Some ten miles from Beijing's city center stands the Lugou Qiao also known as the Marco Polo Bridge named after the famed traveller who enthusiastically described this enduring 11arched bridge in his famous book The Travels. The historic significance of this 820 year old bridge is close to the heart of every Chinese not only for its beauty of the marblestone construction dating to t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/China/Beijing/Feng-Tai-District/Marco-Polo-Bridge--Lugou-Qiao-/blog-80768.html