Our Sunday visit to Mutianyu was great. :) Mike & I went with the three ESLA interviewers, Paul, Loretta & Jon, plus one Canadian teacher, Monique, who tagged along for the ride. She's been here for almost a year and had yet to go to the Great Wall.



Monique was a downer! She took the cable-car up with us, took 3 pictures, then said "I'm going to the van, see you later, maybe I'll see you at the restaurant for lunch". Even the three visitors thought she was antisocial...but I'm glad she went back, because she gets like that a lot and she's really no fun to be around when she's that way.



But the rest of us had so much fun. It was quite the hike all along the wall and it was a crazy hot day. A lot of hard work to get around when the temperature is so high. And the five of us got along so well, it was like we'd been friends forever. :)



Back to work Monday...somehow Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday just vanished! So busy & so exhausting. Everyone knows how much I hate to complain, but this even pushed my limits, lol! I feel like I've lost 10 pounds in the last week. No time to even eat, just juice on the go or watermelon.

Thursday was "the" day. ESLA! It's a huge exam that the Grade 11 students have been working so hard towards this year. Mike & I had to be in the office by 7:15, pick up our ESLA kits and be in our assigned classes for 7:30. Cynthia & I supervised together.

ESLA is torture...for students & teachers, lol! The exam is 90 minutes of reading, 30 minutes of listening & 120 minutes for the writing section. Four hours of the most intense work, pressure, etc. for those students. Being a supervisor isn't very easy either. Four hours on your feet, pacing around the room on the look out for cheating, and I had to write the time down on the board every ten minutes. Every ten minutes for four hours! I thought I was going crazy :S We need to start printing "I wrote ESLA & survived!" t-shirts or something, lol

It is now the end of the work day on Friday, and most of the students are gone. Many of the Canadian teachers went in to BJ on the bus, but Mike & I are going to have a quiet night home. Tomorrow is going to be busy! We've got a lot of running around to do, picking up items we need to take home (gifts, etc.). I'd like to squeeze in a visit to a Buddhist temple if I can...hmmmm

8 days until we arrive in Canada :) Can you tell I'm anxious?

Two weeks from today we'll be on a plane for the long trip home. Right now, Mike & I are finishing up everything we can school-wise (projects, final marks, etc.) and we're working on packing up our things. We're going to move to a different apartment for next year. Not far though, just the apartment directly above us on the 3rd floor, lol. We'll be living next door to Dick & Bryant. :) It will mean taking our bikes up an extra flight of stairs, but oh well...more exercise!

Tomorrow, Mike & I will be taking some visitors to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall...This will be my 3rd time going to that section & Mike's 2nd, lol! I'm trying to keep an open mind, but the group of people we're taking aren't really an adventurous bunch. They're just the "cable-car to the top & back again" kind of group. :( But Dad asked us to go as a favour to him, and also because he knows I never forget the fapiaos (reimbursement slips). Maybe once we're up on the wall we can split up and meet later, so Mike & I can take off and do our own thing for a bit. :)

I'm not exactly sure about my schedule yet for next year...but I'm going to be the only TA in the school, plus I'll have duties in the International Department & probably creating a weekend program for the Korean students. This summer while I'm home for the two weeks, I have to spend one day in Moncton giving an inservice on teaching Chinese & Korean students, tackling the issue of cheating & all the cheating methods I've seen, plus I have to show my collection of photos from Tuanli, Tongzhou & Beijing. Not my idea of a fun way to spend my time home, but Dad asked me, so how can I say no?

My Korean students leave on July 2nd, then it's moving time in the Canadian Office. We have to squeeze 5-6 more workspaces in for next year, so Dad's putting all the lazy teachers to work moving furniture (so I don't get stuck with all of it when I return on July 27th, lol!) Wheeeee!

The latest with Mike & I is a mosquito problem! They absolutely love us! Arrggghhhh! Every day I wake up with new bites all over. We have a mosquito coil that we sleep with at night, but they're super kamikaze mosquitoes that will not die, grrrr. We're going to get a mosquito net for over our bed this weekend. Not interested in contracting malaria at the moment, lol! And I still need a haircut...this is getting ridiculous!

Check out me as a Zwinky! :)

 

 

Hiya Everybody :)

Time has gone so fast! Just three weeks left until I return to Canada. I've got a bit of my two weeks planned already, but the rest I'll just play it by ear. I will take as many pictures as I can though, so I can have more backgrounds for my laptops & pictures for my little photo albums. When I get homesick (when I have time, lol!) I browse through them and they make me smile.

I'll arrive in Saint John and stay there a few days, see Mom, Mike's parents, and Cindy & Daniel. Wish I could see the kids from school, but it will be summer vacation by then, so :( , hope to see Rose, Adrian & the gang from SJBKE! Then I'm going to spend four days in Fredericton with Cathy :), and some time in Perth-Andover with my grammy, aunties and cousins. In between, I need to get a haircut! My hair is almost to my rear, lol!

I'm desperate to see NB...living out in the countryside of China is very nice, but there's just something about home. It will always be the most beautiful & friendly place in the world to me.

Being here has created a different sense of appreciation of Saint John & New Brunswick for me. I miss getting my hands dirty in my mother's garden soil and digging out the weeds. Biking out to Rothesay to see Mike while he worked at Jordan Miller Beach. Matt (from Mr.D's class) saying my name..."Keeeursten!" The drive to my grammy's house, the smell of her kitchen and the shy smile on her face when I get there. :)



I catch myself doing this so often now. Just appreciating everything around me. Watching Chinese children as they play (or get into trouble)...enjoying the splashing water in a fountain and the flowers in bloom...listening to subtle sound of the leaves as the willow branches swing in the breeze. Watching couples argue or sneak little moments of tenderness on the subway.

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park? - Ralph Marston

The students at BCCSC are just about finished. My Korean students have their English exam on Monday at 8am, then Chinese exams the rest of the week. Mike & I are organizing a little celebration for them. Shish kabobs, veggies & ice cream. A little goodbye gift to them, since many of them will not be back next year. They're heading to BCCSC's new school, Capital International School, in Beijing.

This week we had a torrential downpour on Wednesday and a few of my Korean students went out to play football in it. Their own mini (and flooded) version of the World Cup, lol!



You can see more pictures at my Flickr site :)

Our first birthdays in China :)

Thursday, June 1st was a work day for me, and it started off just like any other. But of course, I was determined to have fun in all my classes, lol! Everyone back at SJBKE knows what I’m like on my birthday…

Mike & I got some pop, chocolate & ice cream for my morning class students, and I showed them a slideshow of my pictures from the prom (they’d been asking me about them since the dance…”How did everyone look?” "Were any of the girls hot?”…lol!)
They also gave me some gifts from Korea: coasters, handmade soap, pens, and a bottle with little clay Korean figures inside. :)



As soon as classes were finished at 4pm, Mike took off to get some bread in Tongzhou, and I worked in the Homework Help room for an hour. After that, I couldn’t really go anywhere since I had to teach that night at 7:40.

Mike was going to get some treats from the store across the street for my night group, but he still hadn’t returned from Tongzhou. I was starting to worry that he wouldn’t be back in time…then he arrived…with cake! A huge cake to share with the kids! :)



I quickly put on my crown (it came with the cake), tied the ribbon around my neck, and Mike & I headed to the store for party supplies. All the guards and people in the street smiled and talked about me as we went to the store. Probably saying something about the silly Canadian teacher, lol!

My night class was a lot of fun! We shared the cake and had chips and pop. The kids were hysterical, they collected all the extra icing in a cup, added crushed chips & some pop, then had a game like rock, paper, scissors to see who had to drink it! Poor Antony lost and had to chug it. Yuk! When the food was all finished, I let the students have the last few minutes to themselves chatting online with their families back in Korea, while Mike & I cleaned up. Some of them were so sweet though; six of them took the tissues from my hands and insisted on helping with the mess. The kids also gave me bookmarks, Korean ginseng tea, keychains & a picture frame…so very kind to me :)

Friday afternoon, as soon as school was finished, Mike, Dick, Cynthia, Martha, Bryant, Dad & I headed in on the teacher bus to Beijing. We all split up to run errands, with a plan to meet up later at the Yashow market and then head for Brazilian BBQ for supper.

It turned out to be pretty funny…Martha & Bryant went to Guomao to the grocery store and so did we, then Mike & I grabbed a taxi to wander around Yashow and they were in the taxi in front of us. All around Yashow we kept running into each other, lol!

Later, we all ended up at the Brazilian BBQ, which is like an every-kind-of-meat-all-you-can-eat buffet. But they also had veggies, so I was happy. Everyone else ate beef, chicken hearts, mutton, pork, ox tongue…Martha describes it as getting drunk on meat, lol!

Saturday! Mike’s birthday! We decided this year to give each other bicycles for our birthdays. Cynthia, Dick, Dad, Mike & I headed to Tongzhou for a day in search of the perfect bikes. Dick was looking to buy one too.

Along the way, we got a little sidetracked, ending up in the computer market, where Mike & I bought MP4 players for each other, lol! But, hey, they’re so cool! We did eventually make it to a bike shop and found some we liked, but we kept walking down the street to see if there were any other options. The first shop had been the best, so we went back.



Cynthia did the bargaining for us, and the three of us got some really nice bikes. Mine is white & blue with a little red, Dick’s is metallic blue & Mike’s is metallic yellow. I love the color of Mike’s bike! :)



So the three of us biked our way back to Tuanli. I chose the route, but I didn’t know it was under construction, so we had to dodge trucks, dirt & dust. Then I was told “you’re not allowed to choose the route next time”…lol!

We dropped off the bikes at the school, then went for jiaozi…yum! Vegetarian dumplings are my favourite. We had cabbage, pepper & egg, tomato & egg, and pork jiaozi. When we were so full of dumplings that we were a bit uncomfortable, we grabbed a pedicab to head home. A pedicab is a motorcycle with a box attached to the back that has seating for four inside. It was Mike’s first ride in one, so of course I took a picture.



Our birthdays were nice…but we’re missing everyone back home :) Just over a month until we head back to Canada, weird. We'll be arriving in Toronto on July 9th, but Mike's going on to Ottawa to meet his parents & sister Leah, while I continue on to Saint John. Getting excited to see everyone!