First Week of Classes are Finished

So it is Friday evening about 9:30 pm. The weekend is upon us and our first week of classes are over. I made it through the first week!

It has been a good week. There have been some hiccups, but overall it was a pretty good week. My classes were fun. I have most of the same students and classes I had last semester. They are a great bunch of people. We just started where we left off. They got involved. We laughed and joked and even spoke English. They were not as nervous to speak English which was good. This week we talked about traveling, vacations and the just ended Spring Festival Vacation. 

When you ask students who traveled over the vacation period, not many raise their hands. They have been taught that when they hear the world travel it means sightseeing. Many Americans think of traveling that way, but we also think of traveling as going from one place to another. I used to travel from Layton to Murray for work, as an example. We usually call it vacation when we go sightseeing. Anyway, I had to explain this to the students. I asked them if they went from Qingdao to their hometown on a plane, train, bus or in a car. Then they all raised their hands. I told them they all traveled to their hometown. They may not have traveled to go sightseeing. They thought that was pretty interesting. It was something new to them.

I showed them pictures of what Gary and I did over the vacation time. Of course, my friend who read my blog got to see more pictures than my students. Then I divided the students into groups which became their family. They had to decide where the family was going to go for the next Spring Festival time. It was very interesting. Each family had a mother (who wanted to go to the beach in Sanya), a father (who wanted to go to Harbin to ski where it is very, very cold), a 20-year-old child (who wanted to go shopping in Shanghai), a 15-year-old child (who wanted to stay home with her friends and not go with the family), and 70 or 75-year-old grandparents (who wanted to be with the family, but did not like the heat of the beach, cold of the snow or traffic in Shanghai). Each family had to discuss or argue and compromise to decide where they would go. It was interesting to see the choices they made, who had the final say, and how often they wanted to make the grandparents happy. Many families chose to stay home in Qingdao. The students were very creative in their ideas. It was fun!

There were a few hiccups though. One day Gary could not find his class because they had changed the room on him. His Chinese co-teachers did not even know. Finally he found the room in another building. 

Today was my day for hiccups. So I am supposed to have a class on Friday mornings at 8 am. I got up and got ready and went to the classroom, number 607. Well the door was not open, and there were a few students around the hallway. I went down to the first floor to get the key and came back up to open the door. By that time, there were no students in the hall. I opened the door and waited for a bit, but no students showed up. I called my co-teacher, Linda, to see if I was in the right place. They put a schedule next to the door of the room and my name and the class were on it. Well after checking the rooms on all the floors to see if there was a class without a teacher, and Linda calling the post-graduate department, we found out that I actually do not have a class on Friday mornings at 8 am. This particular group of students only has writing and reading English, but not listening and speaking. I was okay with that because it means I get to sleep in on Fridays. I was happy because that would mean I only have to teach 7 classes.

So I went back to my apartment to wait for my 10:10 class which turned out to be really fun. During my tutoring time (which I do everyday from 1:30-3:30) I walked over to the English office with my tutoring student (we needed to get out) to drop off my syllabus. On the way back, we happen to meet 5 of my undergraduate students from last term. We talked and one of them told me that they were supposed to be in English class, but the foreign teacher did not know he or she was supposed to teach them. They were able to get out of class today. I told them I thought that was very weird, but thought nothing of it.

Well, not 10 minutes after I got back to my apartment, I got a WeChat message from my co-teacher Linda. She said our boss, Mr Tang had gotten a message from the undergraduate department that said I was supposed to teach a Friday afternoon English speaking class. Yes, you guessed it. The teacher who did not know they were supposed to be teaching was me. I laughed. I thought how funny it was that I had just met the students from that class. What is even more funny is that I had asked Mr. Tang at a meeting in the middle of February whether I would be teaching the undergraduate class again. He said no because the undergraduate department had not contacted him. Well, I am going to continue to teach the undergraduate class, just not this week. So funny. I still laugh when I think about it. What a coincidence that I would meet those students. Actually I think it was the Lord preparing me. 

I am excited that I don't have to teach 3 classes on Fridays. I had to last term and I was always dead tired by the time 3:30 came on Fridays. 

Well those are my adventures for the first week of class. Now all I have to do is prepare for next week and the next week and the next week.

First Trip to Laoshan

Gary and I were invited by one of Gary's new friends to visit Laoshan or Mount Lao. This girls mother has a student who lives on Laoshan. This student and his parents have a home where they have rooms to rent to tourists. Kind of like a Chinese bed and breakfast. They took us last Sunday night and we stayed over until Monday afternoon. It was wonderful. 

The above picture is Melody and her mom. She met Gary at the East Campus and became friends. Now her and her mom are our friends. Below is the family we stayed with. There son is going to take us fishing and more hiking when we go back next time. He is 26. His name is Li Zhaokun. What do you think Sara? LOL.

We had fish for dinner on Sunday and lunch on Monday. A little bit for Monday breakfast. I ate porridge and a hard boiled egg for breakfast though.

Their stoves are cool. They are these big bowls heated over a wood fire pit.

The dinner table. Many types of fish which were good except the flats ones at the back. They were too salty. They were more jerked fish. The abalone at the front left were not very good to me. Many people love them, but I don't. The dried octopus is in the front middle. I did not like it. Tough. I am not fond of any octopus, but this was not my favorite. Everything else was wonderful. I have even gotten to like broccoli. Funny. The shells below I could not eat. No way.

 This is the front entrance way to their house. Beautiful.

The next pictures are the view from the back of the house.

These are the steps down into where our room was. It was a really nice room actually.

Our room was the white window. We could look out at the sea. The next picture is of the bed we slep in. The pink thing that looks like vinyl is plugged in and it heats up. Once you put your blankets down, it heats up where the blankets are. It was warm. In fact, it was too warm. We were just too lazy to turn it down. The bed was a little hard, but not too bad. We had a blanket under us for a cushion and soft pillows.

Welcome to Laoshan is what part of it says.

This tree is 2150 years old. It is, in fact, three trees that have grown together.

 This is the back of their house. During the summer, guests eat outside here on the terrace.

We hiked a couple of different places. Hiking for many Chinese includes places that have stone stairs to get to the top. We did these, but look forward to hiking many different spots in Laoshan especially those without steps. These beautiful villages in the mountains would be a wonderful place to retire. I really liked exploring and getting back to nature. I love hiking and there is even a cave we are going to go visit. Malayna please come visit and we can go explore together!

Anniversary

So I know that I don't post very often and then I make like 8 posts in one day. That is because I am trying to catch up. Once I am caught up today, I will try and be more consistent in my posts. Well, Friday, February 27, 2015 was our anniversary. Which anniversary you ask? It is our 6 month anniversary of arriving in Qingdao. We arrived on Thursday, August 27, 2015. What a great 6 months. It has had its ups and downs. I have been high in spirits at times and low in spirits at times. I have enjoyed my time here and there have been times I wish I was home in Utah. Mostly I am very happy and glad that I came. 

Qingdao, China has become my home. Here are some things I have learned about myself and about China. I am a strong person. I have the ability to do many things. I am getting less and less frightened to try new things. I have learned to like some things that I didn't used to like: many types of greens, green peppers, other vegetables (for those who really know me this is a big change), seafood besides fish and shrimp. I still don't like octopus, abalone, and squid. I have tried these but don't like them. Can eat clams and oysters, but not all the time. I have not tried crab and lobster here because no one has served it yet. I don't like other types of shellfish though. I have tried seaweed, but don't like it very much. I still love meat! I am a carnivore. Jiaozi or dumplings are still my favorite, but I love noodles, roujiamuo (Pork or meat sandwiches), meat skewers and Chinese pancakes.

 roujiamuo

skewers

 I still don't like to cook, but I do it. I still make easy meals like fried rice, chicken soup, potatoes and sausage, and Chinese pancakes.

I have really learned that I have to stay close to the Lord and it is easy to get so busy in life that you don't pay attention to the direction you are going. My life always goes better when I rely on Him and allow Him to lead me in the direction He wants me to go. 

I have realized I still really love Gary. Yes, sometimes we drive each other crazy, but enjoy spending time together talking and laughing and just being together. We are a team. We help take care of each other and life each other up. 

I know the gospel is true! I love being able to attend our branch and feel of the Spirit. I love that I have access to my scriptures and prayer no matter where I am. I know the importance of temples. I will take every opportunity, no matter the cost, to go to the temple as often as I can. This may be only once or twice a year, but I am committed to going as often as possible. 

I am happy! I am loved! I am a good person despite my flaws. I have many friends! I miss my family (all of whom are friends) and friends at home. I am making many new friends here that I hope will last a lifetime. I have to make sure I put in the effort to keep in touch with them though.

I have learned that the Chinese people are so very loving and caring. They would do anything for you. They are so willing to help and to make you feel welcome. They are just like us. They have the same struggles in life, the same goals and dreams and the same heartaches and pains. Different language, same stories. I have learned that China is a wonderful place to live and work. I know I will eventually come back to the states to live, but for now my life is here.

Well enough about what I have learned. I did do something for our anniversary. We tutored in the morning, of course. Then Gary had to tutor again and the other business from 1:30-4:30 and then again from 6:30 -8:30. I took a walk up to find a store called Metro (it is a German store kind of like Costco). It was quite a ways from our home. I was trying to figure out how to take the bus, in case Gary and I want to shop there.

I took a bus from our university, which is on the right of the map, over to where I thought I could take another bus up the street to get to Metro. It turns out the road was only a one way street, so I walked about 3 miles up to the store. Was not really impressed with the store (probably won't go again) but immersed myself in real Qingdao, not the tourist areas. Did not feel scared at all. Knew I could just get on the bus the other way and get home. After walking around for a couple of hours, I took bus 12 back down to Xianggang or Hong Kong road. There I walked to the May 4th square because it was not time to meet Gary for dinner. I was going to surprise him. I found a wonderful bakery near there. Yummy donuts. Donuts that actually taste like donuts.

I walked along the beach for a while and then headed back towards Gary's work. I stumbled onto this lovely sculpture garden, we had not seen before. Look what I found. There are some with names and some without names.

 After visiting this wonderful park, I met up with Gary and we went to Mr. Lee. It is a Chinese KFC.

I had beef and noodles. So yummy on a cold day! Happy Anniversary to us!