I've officially been in Beijing for 6 weeks now! It doesn't seem like I have been here this long. I am always planning my weeks so the time is counted by the weeks and not days when student teaching. Each day I wake up at 6 am and get ready for school and am out the door before 7 am to catch the bus at 7 am. The commute use to last 30 minutes but that is before I found a bus station closer to school. Now it only takes 15 minutes. My staple breakfast is a 'Bing' which is a savory pancake with an fried egg in the middle of it. Then a sauce favored with some spices is brushed on one side and then the pork slices are added on top of that with some lettuce. Heart attack waiting to happen, but they are so delicious and cheap ($0.70USD). Catching the bus is a normal occurrence now and know every bus in my immediate neighborhood. It makes me feel accomplished that I can travel around Beijing easily and cheaply now. The buses that I can catch are the 107, 413, 418, 688, 701.
With Mom and Cindy being here for a week, I really feel like a local. I have been showing them the local hot spots to eat, shop, and sight see. Every night we have had dinner together. The places we have eaten at are The Blue Frog, The Saddle, Luga's, Korean BBQ, and a local Chinese place across from 3.3. Beijing is interesting in the fact that they have a melting pot of delicious cuisine. The statement said is that you can eat your way around the world without leaving Beijing. Mom and Cindy seem to be enjoying there stay. We all went to the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, and the Zoo Market last weekend. It was an action packed weekend but was happy to be back at school on Monday.
This week was long at school. I am still not completely familiar with their lesson planning format. I feel the plans are very detailed and lengthy. Right now I am in the process of writing a Poetry unit and have found it to be a task. I taught every day this week and have really enjoyed it. Talking to Alex, we have agreed that there is such thing as teacher stamina. After the first 4 weeks I have found my teacher stamina and am able to make it through an entire day without feeling absolutely shattered as Dawn would say (Scottish word). I am teaching the majority of Numeracy and beginning to teach all of Literacy. The students are responding well to me and I feel as they see me as their teacher now. My advisor, David Johnson, is coming to visit and observe me in two weeks. It is going to be here fast and even faster because the week before is Holiday Break. So I only have one more week of school before he arrives.
At BSB, each teacher is assigned a lunch time duty to be on the playground. This Friday a couple teachers got into a little competition on the football pitch. Chris Thomas (Y5 teacher) and Grant Avery (Y6 TA) and I were on duty and Mr. Thomas was giving me grief because I was an American playing 'soccer.' We Americans don't know how to play soccer I guess. So he was smack talking while I let my actions speak for me. Oh and we are playing with at the Key Stage 2 students. I score the first goal of the game and Mr. Thomas was still relentless on the trash talk. Then after the second goal he was embarrassed the American was beating him so he started to 'try.' Unfortunately he was not successful in scoring a goal. Mr. Avery was too good to let anything by him in goal. Mr. Thomas has not heard the end of this one.
The teachers at the school all get along and we all get together outside of school. We some times get carried away with our competitiveness but in the end we are all good friends.
Note: On Thursday night after dinner with Mom and Cindy, Alex and I took the bus home. While on the bus we were in a bus accident. I am surprised it hasn't happened sooner because traffic here is crazy, mad. The story goes; The bus driver narrowly missed 2 on-coming bicyclers in the left turn lane of a busy intersection. He had to slam on his breaks, which sent everyone flying forward. None of the bicyclers were hurt, but there was a lady at the back of the bus that came flying forward from the back of the bus and fell on her back in the middle of the bus. She was unable to get up so an ambulance was called and we were left to find another bus home. Hopefully she was okay and no one will lose their life. The death penalty is stiff in China and the bus driver will have to pay any medical visits the woman may need.
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