The Longest Bridge in the World (Photos)

These are photos I took from the bus while we were crossing the longest bridge in the world, across a portion of the Yellow Sea.  Needless to say, it's a REALLY long bridge, and the photos do not do it justice.  The last shot shows some of the far side of Qingdao, which is a considerable distance from where I live and where the school is (Qingdao is quite big).

I wish I could post photos from Fall Camp, but for two reasons, I cannot:

1)  I was far too busy with the girls to even think about taking photos!

2)  Had I taken any, I still wouldn't be able to post them.  There are just too many sick, depraved people in this world for me to even THINK of sharing photos of our very beautiful teenage girls (particularly with most of them being Asian).  I prefer to keep my girls safe in this very disgusting age, so my blog readers will never get to see any of my students.  I wish the world were otherwise.

FIT

Oh, the sacrifices I make here.  Imagine . . . being forced to stay in a really nice hotel with all meals provided, a trip to a gorgeous beach with wonderful warm water, crossing the longest bridge in the world (with beautiful views of the Yellow Sea), and, in short, two incredibly fun days.  The girls loved everything that we did, so there were no issues with teenage attitudes or anything like that (honestly, we don't really have that issue under normal circumstances).

We left from the school at around 9:00 on Thursday, with a gaggle of extremely excited teenage girls.  Yes, teenagers actually showing excitement about spending quality time with their teachers and high school principal -- these things actually HAPPEN here!  We piled our 87 girls, ten teachers (a great cultural gumbo of three Chinese, one Korean, a South African, and five Americans), assorting luggage, and ten watermelons into two buses and a van, and the adventure was on!  We were headed to Huang Dou, a beautiful island off the coast of Qingdao.  To get there, we rode through an incredibly long tunnel under the Yellow Sea (which the girls - and me - all thought was pretty neat).

Our theme, which we teachers spent weeks putting together, was FIT: being fit spiritually, mentally, emotionally, relationally, academically, physically, and spiritually.  We explained to the girls that to be truly fit, they needed a holistic balance of all of these, a concept which they readily embraced.  For one of our first fit-themed activities, we had in advance told the girls that they were going to have a healthy lunch competition.  They were broken into eight teams, which were a mix of girls from each grade, with either one or two seniors in charge (we like giving the seniors opportunities for leadership, and the younger grades enjoy having an "older sister" relationship with their upperclassmen).  Each team had a budget of only 30 kuai (almost $4) per person, including the teacher in charge of their group (each group got at least one teacher).  The girls had to prepare a lunch that was healthy, delicious, and colorful.  My worst fear was that I would wind up with a group that did tuna in some capacity -- I regard tuna as a dish best reserved for cats.  I was overcome with relief and delight when I learned that my gang of girls had decided to do chicken fajitas (not a common dish here in China!).  For dessert, they had a traditional Korean rice punch that I love.  I told the girls that they were superstars for picking such a delicious lunch sans tuna -- and the judges of the lunch competition agreed, because my girls came in FIRST place!  Other groups did lunches like kimbap, bibimbap, and sandwiches.  One group made homemade banana milkshakes for their dessert.

After lunch, we sent the girls up to briefly get settled in their rooms.  Then it was off to the beach!  This being China, we naturally had to have a wee bit of drama with that:  we had forgotten the money for the beach (it was a pay-beach) back at the hotel (luckily, Shine, one of the Chinese teachers happened to have exactly enough money with her) and the guards there kept trying to insist that they needed identification from each of us in order to go.  After about ten minutes of playing the "No, you don't" "Yes, we do" game with a few of the teachers (I was busy amusing forty-odd impatient girls back on one of the buses), the guards finally relented and we were able to proceed.  That's one of the things I've found about China:  You often have to accomplish things in difficult, odd, or roundabout ways and they usually take seven times as long to happen (we call it the "Rule of Seven"), but eventually, things always somehow work out.

We had a blast at the beach.  We started with a game called "Butt Wars" where to people try to knock each other down using only their butts as weapons.  I joined in, partnered with one of my history students.  We had a stalemate: neither of us could knock the other down!  After that game, we played something even more violent:  "Kick the Bucket".  In that game, the seniors had to guard a bucket while ALL of the other girls tried to rush in and kick it over.  If a senior tagged any girl on the back with both hands (or if another girl got a senior), that person was out.  We played three times, each time involving a lot of grabbing and a lot of girls on the ground.  No injuries, though!  Well, no human injuries:  the bucket died.

The next (and probably most violent) game was "Steal the Bacon", in which we divided 86 girls (one had gotten sick shortly after we arrived, so a teacher stayed behind at the hotel with her) into two teams, which stood about thirty feet apart, facing one another.  In the middle were two black rubber tubes (the kind that go inside of tires).  Each girl had a number, and when we called out numbers, those girls had to run and fight to drag the tubes over to their line in order to score a point (one point per tube).  This game was hilarious to watch!  During one round, one girl decided to pull the legs of another out from under her; then, she and her teammate carried both the girl AND the tube over to their side!  In another round, a rather quiet, shy, and timid sophomore (who is also a new student this year) managed to steal a tube while the other girls were fighting over the other one.  She made it all the way to her side, unchallenged!  She was as shocked as anyone, and began jumping up and down shouting, "I did it!  I got it!"  I was so thrilled to see her accomplish that; I absolutely adore that girl (if I were allowed to have favorites, she would make the ever-growing list).

After that game, we encouraged our absolutely filthy, sand-covered and sweaty girls to go swimming in the very welcoming ocean.  I meant to just go wading right then (I had my bathing suit on under my clothes, so I was planning to go swimming later), but then I overheard a few girls discussing the merits of throwing Ms. Thompson in the water, so I decided to just dive in and get thoroughly wet (Nitta, our awesome high school principal, made the same decision based on overhearing a similar discussion).  A few girls who decided to splash me were promptly dealt with, and then I went wave-jumping with the girls, which made them all very happy.  They really love doing things with teachers (I'm still in shock over this)!

After swimming with them for a while, I went to join some of my freshies for a walk on the beach.  I happened to find a sea urchin, which sparked a Teachable Moment.  I showed it to the girls, who had never seen one before.  Before I knew it, I was teaching about sea shells, sea creatures, and ocean ecology to a group of about ten fascinated freshmen!  We found some more urchins, several other types of shells in various pretty colors, and even a few jellyfish.  I explained how to properly clean the shells that they wanted to keep, so hopefully no parents have to suffer any nasty smells this weekend.

When we got back to join the group, it was time for devouring all those luscious watermelons, building sand castles, more swimming, more "Steal the Bacon", and lots of talking.  It was, in short, the perfect day at the beach.  Despite the large group of girls, we had only two injuries, both minor:  a skinned leg and a cut foot.  Neither of them were on me.

We did showers and then dinner once we got back to the hotel, followed by praise songs.  Nothing is quite as awesome as all those happy teenagers singing and dancing with enormous smiles.  Our guidance counselor Amy did a talk on emotional wellness followed by a journaling activity, and then we had a Casino Night-style game night for the girls.  Kathryn and I taught some of the girls how to play Spoons, which was a major hit (definitely the most popular game of the night).  At 10:30 pm, all girls, except seniors (they got to stay up as late as they wanted), were to be in their rooms, and we teachers did our rounds of room checks.  I had the whole tenth floor in my jurisdiction, which meant about 13 juniors.

The only dark spot of the weekend (well, I actually do find it amusing now) was the disappearance of all but three of the juniors from my floor.  One girl informed me that the seniors had collected them.  I immediately went downstairs to find help, where I learned from Kelly, one of our Chinese staff, that she also had missing junior.  Together, we split up to look for them.  About half an hour later, we located the reprobates, who had gone back to the proper floor while we were searching for them.  I then sternly sent them all to bed.

Today, we enjoyed a fantastic (and enormous) breakfast, followed by some more praise songs.  After that, I gave my little talk about relational fitness.  I had decided to talk about toxic friends.  Using student volunteers to act out the parts (which they were great at!), I described six types of toxic friends: leaches, ditchers, excluders, users, backstabbers, and teasers.  I then explained the harm that each can do, and how to handle them appropriately.  For my activity, I had a game that the girls really enjoyed.  Once I had finished, we awarded the prizes for the four winning groups and the two girls who were teacher-selected MVPs.  We then concluded with a wrap-up activity in which each team of girls had to find some way of presenting all that we had talked about regarding fitness.  The girls had about an hour, and then they wowed us.  We saw well-drawn posters, side-splitting skits, a super cute song, and obvious evidence that the girls had put thought into their work.  We were quite proud of our girls as we dismissed for lunch!

We left right after lunch.  Girls were divided according to where they lived, and I wound up being the only teacher on my bus!  I reminded the girls to pay close attention as we drove, because we were about to experience one of the neatest parts of our little retreat:  We crossed the longest bridge in the world!  The views of the Yellow Sea and the mountains were beautiful.  After we had crossed into Qingdao, it was apparently time for a new game called "Photograph Ms. Thompson".  I have no idea what sparked it, but most of the girls on the bus suddenly wanted me to repeatedly pose for them.  A gaggle of the girls also informed me that I have the nicest teeth (I'll have to thank my childhood dentist and orthodontist when I'm next in the States for a visit).  The things they compliment about!

Although it was the most fun two days in recent memory, I was nevertheless happy to arrive home to my spotless apartment (courtesy of Ayi, who came in to clean on Thursday), where I soon had an unpleasant migraine to deal with.  Fortunately, it was of short duration.  The day concluded with spaghetti and a movie with the roomie, who just returned from Middle School Fall Camp.

Gosh, I really do SUFFER living here in China!

Bump, Set, Spike!

Did I mention that I'm helping to coach the JV girls' volleyball team?  Yeah, go ahead and laugh.  I laughed, too, when I actually got taken up on my offer to help!

My initial thought was that this would be a good way to get to know some of the girls even better, as well as a chance to get more involved with the school.  It's all that and more.  It's also God's way of answering that New Year's resolution that I make each year about getting more active.

I had a slight problem initially -- I didn't pack any workout clothes when I came here to China!  And, being of much larger size than the typical Asian woman, I knew that finding workout pants or shorts here was a pipe-dream.  I did, however, finally work out a solution:  I bought a pair of men's pants, in a size that I don't care to mention!  They fit just fine, so today I was able to be at the practice.  Sadly, I forgot to bring my shoes with me (to school; I do have athletic shoes here in China), so I was stuck going barefoot rather than risking hurting myself in my sandals.

It was a lot of fun at the practice, but also very sweat-inducing, and not just for the girls!  We two coaches joined them for some activities.  Sam, the head coach, made the rather unfortunate rule that if no one on the side could hit the ball on the serve, that entire side had to do 10 push-ups on the spot.  After doing 20 push-ups in quick succession, we decided to alter the rule.  Shortly thereafter, we wisely abandoned it, our arms now having the strength and might of cooked spaghetti.

The girls on the team are nothing short of adorable, and are quite sweet.  A few are in my classes, which is nice, since it helps me to learn their names better (I'm still struggling to recall kids' names when they're not sitting in their assigned seats in my classroom).  I'll have more chances for getting girls' names mastered over the next two days, when we're all at Fall Camp together (all of the high school girls and female teachers will be together -- the boys and male teachers have a different trip planned at the same time).  Hopefully, I can manage to make it through both Fall Camp AND volleyball season without serious injury or mishap.

Hey, miracles can happen.

The Acquisition of Slime

It's quite entertaining to live in a country where you don't speak the language.  Take it from me -- I've done it twice!

There are, of course, the delightful and confusing escapades that happen in the grocery store.  These are made all the more possible here in China because over here (and, to a lesser extent, in some parts of Korea), grocery store layouts frequently defy reason, intuition, common sense . . . in fact, sometimes I think they plot out grocery stores with a deliberate intention of confusing foreigners!  Surely that must be why one finds baby food amongst the pasta, frozen chicken nuggets and frozen french fries in the fruit and vegetable section, and creepy eels swimming around their tank . . . right by the bakery.  

Occasionally, packaging has English on it, but the English is often less than helpful.  I've bought "pork lib soup", "hot love tea", and something that claimed to be strawberry cheese (but was actually yogurt).  With minimal command of language and rapidly-decreasing-but-still-stubbornly-present expectations of logic, one can have quite the jolly time getting thoroughly muddled.  For instance, during one shopping venture in Korea, I purchased what I thought was a package of wet wipes, only to discover later that it was white clay.  What clay was doing in amongst tissues and paper towels is a mystery that I shall likely never unravel.

Only a few weeks ago, I desperately wanted some hand lotion.  Since pretty much everything here in China is written in characters, reading the bottles was not an option.  And no, going by appearance doesn't really work either, when the brands are unfamiliar (and keep in mind that placement in the store is nothing more than a highly deceptive rabbit trail).  I found an employee who was eager to help me, but we lacked a common language.  I tried asking for the product first in English, then in Korean.  No luck.  I had hoped that the Chinese word might magically turn out to be similar.  I then pantomimed rubbing lotion on my hands.  The lady smiled widely and led me . . . to the soap aisle.  I shook my head and tried again.  

After a minute of failed charades, the woman finally said, "Bo-dy lo-shun?"  I nodded eagerly and told her yes in Chinese (that much I can say!).  She gave me a choice between two bottles, I picked one, and I went on my merry way.  A few minutes later, she chased me down.  "No, no -- no bo-dy lo-shun.  Bo-dy wa-shuh!"  I handed the bottle back, and she showed me one that was actually lotion.  This time, I disliked the high price.  I managed to recall the word for "cheaper," though I butchered the pronunciation.  She smiled again and left, then returned a few minutes later with two more bottles for me to choose from.  One was whitening lotion -- I quickly dismissed that one!  The other, in English, said on it "Grapefruit body contouring for quick penetration happy cuticle healthy."  It sounded safe enough.  When I got home, I discovered that it was an odd green slime.  To this day, I have no idea what it actually is.  It does, however, moisturize my hands very well!

Technology in the Classroom

GoAnimate.com: Renaissance Man by historychic

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

This is an animated video I made to test out the possibilities of a new program I found online.  I think it has real possibilities in the classroom.

The Rest of the Classroom Pictures

Along the wall under the "Sophomore Piracy" bulletin board is where I am in the process of creating my SAT word wall.  I'll post pictures of that once it starts looking impressive.  My plan is to eventually have SAT words going all over the classroom, on all four walls (possibly some on the ceiling, too).

Each TIme I Stop to Breathe, Another Day Has Gone

It astounds me when I pause to realize just how busy I am.  I'm given a degree of freedom in my classroom that would be utterly unheard of in the States, but with so much freedom comes a lot of work.  I'm creating one of my classes, College Prep, completely from the ground up (it's a brand new class at our school).  In my "spare" time, I'm reading, researching, studying, researching studying . . . anything that it takes to create a stellar course that will really make a difference in preparing our students.  Already I am seeing tangible results.  Today, my eight students in that class (a fun mixture of six Koreans, one American, and a Dane) successfully worked together to answer twelve SAT-level analogy problems, and got all of them right.  A week ago, they struggled with low-level ones and were utterly terrified of facing these questions on the SAT.  Seeing them grow in confidence as well as skill is all that I need by way of motivation.

It really helps that I have such an excellent working relationship with the high school principal.  She's fresh out of the classroom, so she completely understands teachers and does all that she can to support us effectively.  She's great about letting me try out any of the crazy schemes I come up with for improving student performance.  For example, she enthusiastically agreed when I asked today if I can throw an after-school SAT study party before each offering of the SAT at our school.  My idea is to allow any students preparing to take it at that time, as well as the eight in my prep class, to come for some fun study games and collaborative preparation.  Most of the students, particularly the English language learners, are terrified of the SAT.  My hope is to take away some of the terror, but leave the awe, and also help them to realize that studying with others is much more fun while still being effective.

I've been playing around with some different uses of technology in my history classes, with good results.  My kids are acing their quizzes, giving me high hopes for when I administer their first tests.  Of course, for me, the fun part is seeing how enthusiastic they all are about starting class each day.  None of the kids seem to dislike history -- in fact, most kids regularly comment on how much they like it!  The tenth graders are currently neck-deep in the Renaissance, which is not my favorite area of history in all honesty.  So, I spiced up all that history of art and such by throwing in extra emphasis on those ambitious, scandal-laden, just-plain-dirty Medicis and my old friend Machiavelli (I spent so much time studying him in Dr. Saxon's class that I feel as though I knew the man intimately).  The bigger class of sophomores whined a little over all of the notes they had to take during my Machiavelli lecture on Monday, but I told 'em, "Toughen up, cream-puffs!  Sore hands build character!"  The freshies, meanwhile, were quite excited today when I set them loose researching the worldviews of three major religions today.  They're a curious bunch, which makes them a joy to teach.  I'm finding that they really enjoy getting to track down answers for themselves.

Aside from the teaching load, there are a ton of other things going on lately.  Tomorrow a group of us are having a baked potato party.  I have my Chinese lessons to keep up with, and I'm trying to spend a bit of extra time in practice each day so that I can learn quicker.  I'm helping to coach the JV volleyball team.  Fall Camp is on Thursday this week, an event which we teachers have been diligently planning for weeks.  The high school girls are going to a gorgeous island, where they'll spend a night in a very nice hotel.  To get there, we get to cross the world's longest bridge, and then on the way back, we'll get to go through a tunnel that goes under the Yellow Sea.  Our theme for the week is holistic fitness:  fit spiritually, fit physically, fit relationally, fit dietarily, etc.  I'm going to be giving the girls a short talk about relational fitness.  I've settled on the topic "Don't Be a Mean Girl" -- I'll talk about building up each other rather than tearing down, along with accompanying activities afterward.  We've planned a "casino night" for the girls, complete with different games, from which they can win prizes.  Kathryn and I are going to teach them Spoons, one of my favorite card games.

On Saturday, the day after we return from Fall Camp (it's just two days and one night), our new Early Childhood Center (ECC) has its grand opening, at which I've agreed to help run a station where children will decorate cookies (I agreed to help in exchange for cookies).  On the 6th, we're having a College Night, at which I've been asked to give a presentation about my College Prep class (speaking to parents . . . yikes!).  Mid-quarter is fast approaching, with grades due.  About that time, I'll have a major paper to grade from the freshies and the sophs are getting their first test.  One of my college prep girls is taking the SAT in October, and I've offered to give her some private tutoring, should she need it.  And then there's the teachers' conference in Beijing during the first week of October.  Oh, and the Vision Trip I'm going on mid-October for a weekend.  Whew!  My poor calendar is looking exceedingly obese these days!

Classroom Pictures (Because My Camera Finally Cleared Customs!)

Here's a few, anyway.  The internet here loads photos at an irritatingly slow pace, so I'll have to load the rest tomorrow.

"Mā, Má, Mă, Mà"

Chinese lessons are going well.  I've had three lessons so far, and I really like my teacher.  Jackie is so sweet, and she's an excellent instructor.  She and the other teachers say that my pronunciation is excellent and that I'm a fast learner, which is not at all what I expected!  I was certain that I would be absolutely horrible, as Mandarin is such a difficult language to learn.  How nice to be surprised!

Despite my unexpected skill, Mandarin is definitely a lot of work.  I move my head up or down in order to get my tones right (remember, each vowel sound has four possible tones), with the result that I sometimes get a sore neck after a lesson!  My head usually feels tightly crammed as well, since the teachers teach us through immersion.  Jackie conducts most of my lesson in Chinese, which means I have to think fast to figure out what she's telling me to do!  Most of what we've done in my three lessons so far has been to go over pinyin pronunciations.  It feels a bit silly, since in English these are just meaningless syllables.  Some of them, like bīng and sān, I already recognize as words.  Others, I have yet to learn.

In today's lesson, I discovered a word that I am certain could lead to an amusing mishap.  Apparently, if I use the wrong tone when saying the word "soup", I could accidentally ask for sugar or candy!  (Tāng is soup; táng is sugar or candy.)  Beth reassures me that most Chinese people should be able to figure out from context what I actually mean.  Whew!

I had my first big Chinese breakthrough on August 17, when I managed to call the water company and order a new bottle of water for our apartment (tap water is not safe to drink in China), in Chinese.  You cannot possibly know the euphoria I felt when the water actually arrived!  That's one of the things I love about living overseas: minuscule achievements are worthy of celebration.  I treated myself to a fresh mango for my success!

Just Like America . . . Almost

Saturday was a busy, busy day.  Kathryn, one of the secondary English teachers (we met at PFO), and I went to Carrefour with some Filipino coworkers in the morning.  Kathryn hoped to find a new cell phone and I desperately needed a new SD card (my new digital camera FINALLY cleared customs after a three-week incarceration!).  Sadly, we found neither of those things.  So, I have a wonderful new camera that can only have twelve pictures at a time on it.  Sigh.  Can't catch a break with these camera issues, can I?

We did, however, take care of various little odds and ends that we've been desiring.  I, for one, was quite delighted to finally locate a toothbrush holder, something which I couldn't find the last time that I was there.   I also found a new hair straightener.  I had bought one in the States that can accept the correct voltage, but the plug will not fit, even in my plug adapter.  After our shopping, the Ymases treated us to Subway for lunch.  Yup, we have a Subway!  It was just like the ones in the US, except for the fun of trying to explain what we wanted on our subs.  I kept saying "bu yao" ("don't want") and pointing at the iceberg lettuce, but the fellow gave it to me anyway.  The real fun came when I was happily eating my sandwich . . . and bit into a piece of paper!  Ah, the fun surprises one occasionally finds in food here!

I had two major accomplishments on Saturday:  I managed to tell a taxi where to take me, in Chinese, twice!  And we actually got where we wanted to go!  Well, almost.  For going home, the driver didn't know exactly where my apartment complex was.  I forgot the word for "turn left," so I couldn't correct him when he headed for the yacht club instead of the complex.  I kept saying "no", but that did nothing.  Finally, realizing that there was no way I could correct him without the word "left", I just called out "Gou le!  Gou le!" (thinking that that meant "We've arrived.")  As I realized today, what I actually said to him was "Enough!  Enough!"  (I should have said "daole".)  Oh well; he stopped!

It's the Small Things in Life . . .

Sometimes, it surprises me to discover little things that are missing here in China that REALLY make life immeasurably better.  Dental floss is one such thing.  Oh, I'm sure it must be around here SOMEWHERE, but it is currently doing a splendid job at hiding.

On Sunday, following a night spent with a massive migraine and no meds for it (ran out last week and haven't had time to get to the international clinic), I decided to force myself to move forward in my transition between cultures.  For the past month, I've been sort of stuck in one phase.  I eat out and I eat when friends cook, but the only cooking I myself have done has been ramen or oatmeal, with the single exception of the night I made special dip for friends (which met with the most enthusiastic reception that delicious dish has ever received).  For some reason, I have felt afraid to cook -- I guess I'm just too bewildered still by all the differences and such.  On Friday, the day after payday, I forced myself to buy some raw meat.  On Sunday, I forced myself to cook it.  It was delicious and . . . bits of it and that night's popcorn got stuck uncomfortably between my teeth.

Have you ever desperately wanted one little thing and been completely without it?  You know, like in church when there's a really long-winded speaker and you have a sinus infection but no kleenexes?  Now imagine knowing that those wished-for kleenexes are thousands of miles away.  I was absolutely miserably, all for want of a little piece of dental floss.  Ridiculous, isn't it?!

I tried several alternatives.  I brushed my teeth, which didn't help.  I tried to force the toothbrush bristles between my teeth, which only marginally improved the situation.  I don't have a sewing kit, so thread was not an option.  I tried bending a paperclip and using that . . . and successfully got it stuck between two back teeth.  That would likely have lessened my authority in the classroom, but after a desperate struggle, I managed to wiggle it out.  That experiment should never be repeated.  I next tried using the bit of thin plastic from a price tag on my new bag, but it was too wide to fit between me teeth, and after the paperclip incident, I was unwilling to try too hard.  It looked like the bits of meat, the popcorn hulls, and I were just going to have to grow old with one another.

Tonight, after dinner at Canvas, a wonderful little slice of Americana here in China, Beth and I stopped by our local Carrefour (a huge store) to pick up a few things.  We needed a rice cooker for our new ayi to use and I needed playing cards, spoons, and stickers for the high school girls' fall camp later this week (I'll explain about that in another post).  While at Carrefour, I was overjoyed to discover packages of little tooth flossers (those plastic toothpick and dental floss hybrids that one occasionally gets from the dentist).  Few moments of life have held as much rapture as the moment when I got home, opened the package, and finally flossed that gunk out of my teeth.  As I remarked to Beth immediately after releasing a very happy sigh, "It's the small things in life."

Summary of a Typical Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday

5:00 am:  The cell phone alarm, a bouncy and annoying Chinese pop song, goes off for the first time.  Grumbling, I smack the snooze button.  For the next half hour, the phone and I play a game of "Wake up, you lazy human!"and "No, I won't, you irritating piece of technology!"

5:30 am:  The cell phone wins.  I drag my defeated self into the shower, grunting a good morning to Beth as I do so (she grunts back in reply).

6:00 am:  Showered and dressed, I now turn my attention to my hair, which tends to react with the Chinese humidity by turning into a splendid imitation of a brown bush.

6:30 am:  I rush about like a crazy bumblebee, collecting graded homework, laptop, keys, thermos of coffee, and other such essentials.  I then hustle down to the bus stop, joined by several coworkers.

6:40 am:  The bus departs.  Anyone who misses it has to take a taxi.

7:15-ish am:  The bus arrives at school, and a mass exodus of teachers climbs off and heads up the many, many steps into the secondary building (elementary teachers luck out:  hardly any stairs!).  Usually, there is a morning meeting of some sort.

8:00 am:  Students arrive in droves.  I retreat to the teacher's lounge to work on grading, powerpoints, or lesson plans.  A Chinese class is going on in my classroom at this time, so until the renovations complete on the new history-and-English office, the teacher's lounge is my workroom.

9:30 am:  Time for homeroom.  I go up to my classroom, on the third floor, where my chatty and energetic batch of 16 ninth-graders await.  I do something with them for fifteen minutes, then release them.  A few usually linger to chat with me for a minute or two.

9:45 am:  The entire secondary school pauses for our fifteen minute "Tea Break".

10:00 am:  If it's a Monday or Wednesday, I go upstairs for my Chinese lesson with Jackie, my private tutor.  My lessons last for fifty minutes each.  At the moment, we're working on correct pronunciation of pinyin (Jackie says my pronunciation is almost perfect).  After my lesson, I usually take care of copying or printing needs.  If it's a Tuesday or Thursday, it's time for the first class of the day, my college prep class.  There are just eight kids in the class, and they are a mixture of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.  Right now, we're busy studying for the SAT, which means lots of research and planning for me and a ton of work for them.  They're up to the challenge, though.  I am quite impressed with how willing they are to take on tremendous study loads.

11:30 am:  If it's a Monday or Wednesday, it's time for the first class of the day:  my big batch (20) of tenth grade modern world history students.  They are the noisiest class, but are still angelic by American school standards.  There are some very neat personalities in this bunch.  If it's a Tuesday or Thursday, I teach my ninth grade ancient world history class at this time.  They are my quietest class; I question whether they are actually teenagers or not.  Personally, I think that they are too respectful and studious to be teenagers!  Classes with them are enjoyable and smooth, and I am convinced that a few of them are already capable of college-level work.  I usually feel sorry to have to let these kids go to their next class!

1:00 pm:  Lunch time, at last!  I eat in the cafeteria with the kids just about every day, since I like being with them.  We have four choices of lunch menu each day: Chinese, Korean, Western, or salad bar.  Generally, the meal is quite good, especially considering it is school food!

1:40 pm:  On Mondays and Wednesdays, I teach my second batch of tenth grade modern world history students.  This class of fourteen is much quieter than the other tenth grade class.  This is probably the most fun group of kids that I teach, mostly because of the personalities amongst them.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my teaching day ends at lunch time, so this last period is used for getting ready for the next day or for doing grading.

3:00 pm:  The school-day is over, and the students leave for home.  A bunch of them stop to say goodbye to me.  I occasionally amuse myself by teasing them with threats of an upcoming test (aw, don't feel sorry for them -- they like it!).

3:45 pm:  The first staff bus leaves school, almost always with me on it.  The other one doesn't leave until 5:00, and I generally prefer to do my grading and such either at home on the couch, or during my prep periods.

4:15-ish pm:  We arrive at my apartment complex.  The bunch of us teachers who live here walk in together, chatting about our days.  I always pause to admire the ocean for a minute or so before going through the gate.

5:00-ish pm:  If I'm not going out to dinner with other people (which is common -- most of us love eating out), I fix myself something spicy and eat in front of a movie or with a good book on Kindle.  Lately, I've been on an Indiana Jones kick.  After dinner, there is usually plenty of work to do to prepare for the next day.

10:00-ish pm:  Sufficiently exhausted, I flop into bed with my Kindle and read until sleep overwhelms me.

Ten Years from Now . . . with Commentary

In one of my high school classes, I was given the assignment of writing about what I expected my life to be like in ten years.  At that time, at age 16, I made a scrapbook about my future.  The assignment intrigued me, however, so a year later, I wrote a short essay on the topic, just for fun.  I came across this essay recently, while sorting through some old files that had somehow wound up on one of my thumb drives.  It was rather an appropriate discovery, since the essay, dated May 27, 2001, is discussing me at age 27, my current age.  When I stumbled upon this little “blast from the past” the other day, I decided to add a bit of commentary from “future Stephanie.”  The new commentary is in purple and is italicized, so as to keep from getting confused with the original essay.

Ten Years from Now

Ten years from now, in the year 2011, I will be twenty-seven years old.  I’ll be older and hopefully wiser, and I will probably look even more like my dad than I already do, but at heart I’ll still be in many ways the same person that I am right now.  I think I’m going to be a much better version of myself by then, so long as I don’t mess it up.  Let’s step forward ten years and meet the Stephanie Thompson of 2011:

2011 Stephanie is seated at a very large desk in her office.  She is currently working on her 3rd novel, a historical fiction story that takes place in Hollywood during the 1940s.  She looks up from her work when she hears someone approach.

Dear Teenage Stephanie, have you any idea just how difficult it is to start and finish ONE novel?  At 27, book one is still being completed!  Interestingly, I did actually start that story about 1940s Hollywood (when I was a freshman in college), but at about eight pages in, I came down with a mixture of writers’ block and disgust at my plot, and subsequently deleted the whole story from my hard drive.

“Hi, younger me!  I haven’t seen you around in ages . . . gosh, it’s been ten years!  You won’t believe all that I’ve been up to!  This is my new office that they gave me just last month.  The library has been really excited about all the educational programs I’m starting.  I’ve only been working here for about two years, but I plan to be here much, much longer.”

“Oh, you want to know about the photographs on my desk?  Well, this is my husband and me on our honeymoon to Australia, where we went to the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park and got to meet Steve and Terri Irwin.  And this is us on our first anniversary, when we were living in Oregon.  I was expecting our daughter Kathryn at the time.  This picture here is her latest school picture.  She’s finishing up kindergarten right now.  That picture over there on the wall is of our twins, Julie and Megan, who just turned three.  The baby, Michael, is almost eight months old.  That big picture by the potted rubber tree is our most recent family portrait.  We had that done just a month ago.  Those pictures on the bookcase are of some of the classic actors and actresses that I got to meet when I wrote my nonfiction book about film history.  It was a big success.  And this picture here is from our vacation to France last year.”

Ah, so this was in the latter stages of the “Crocodile Hunter” obsession.  Frankly, that no longer sounds like an appealing honeymoon trip.  Somehow, I just don’t find crocodiles and snakes romantic, now that I’m 27.  And I never made it to France at 26 — I did go to Atlanta and South Carolina, though.  You’ll be happy to know that the classic film obsession is still going strong.  Boy, you sure have enough kids planned for us!  I’m sorry to say, none of those four dear children have been born.  I actually have 54 kids now, but I didn’t have to go through labor with any of them, and I get to send them home at the end of the school-day.  Still, I have to admit to a bit of sadness that those four vivid little ones that you imagined never got to exist.

“When did we move to Switzerland?  Oh, we came here a couple of years ago.  We love it here in Bern.  We have a beautiful chalet that sits on a hill.  The kids love rolling down that hill!  And there’s a nearby lake where we go boating.  There’s a bakery close to us where we get croissants and delicious pastries on Saturday mornings.  We take short train trips around Europe whenever we get the chance.  And whenever Mom and Dad come to visit, we usually travel down to Italy or Spain so that they can have their beaches.  Mom and Dad still don’t care enough about history!”

Well, Teenage Me, you were right about living overseas at age 27, but you picked the wrong continent!  My “chalet on a green hill” is actually an apartment by the ocean.  And instead of Bern, it’s in Qingdao.  We don’t see much in the way of croissants and pastries here (actually, I’m not nearly as fond of either of  those as I used to be), but we do live close to a very good kimbap place.  It amuses me to think about how you would CRINGE if you saw some of the things that I eat now . . . only last week, I ate raw fish!  That’s right, RAW FISH!  You were right about one thing, though — Mom and Dad still don’t care enough about history!

“Oh, you want to know more about the past?  Okay, well, I graduated with my degree in English from Evangel University, which is where my husband and I met.  Then I got my masters in library science from the University of Michigan.  My husband is an officer in the Navy.  We have traveled a lot because of his job, but now we’re staying put for a while, which is great because I love working as a librarian here.”

Ah, yes, I do still admire a man in uniform . . . but Switzerland??  You did realize that Switzerland is landlocked, didn’t you?  What on earth made you think the US Navy would station someone in Bern?  You’ll be happy to know, though, that I did get my BA and MA:  both in history, both from LU.  I’m not sure why you wanted to go back to Michigan for an MA, but be very glad that you didn’t.  You were right about getting to travel a lot.

“Well, that’s pretty much our life in a nutshell.  I love my family and my career, I get to travel a lot, and I go to a really nice little church.  So stay positive, younger me, because the future is going to be fantastic, even if the present isn’t!”

Yes, Teenage Stephanie, the future really is fantastic.  You didn’t get very many of the things that you thought you wanted most — no husband, no kids — but you do grow up to be a very happy and fulfilled person.  And someday, you really will finish that novel.  Someday.

In Which Stephanie Addresses Reader Questions

Some friends have emailed, skyped, or used other means to message me with questions in the past few weeks, so I thought I'd go ahead and do an entire blog post of answers, since other readers may have similar or identical questions.

Whatever became of that typhoon?
After getting us all hyped up and ready for mega waves, heavy rain, and insane winds, Muifa slowed down, turned, and beat the tar out of Korea instead.  We did get that one day of enormous waves, followed by a storm that night, but then we heard nothing further from Muifa.  Not even so much as a postcard!

What classes are you teaching?  How many students do you have?  What are the kids like?
I teach just four classes, as we have block scheduling.  Our high school classes are an hour and a half on MTWT, and then just half an hour on Fridays.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, I teach both of our sections of Modern World History (10th graders).  I get planning periods from 8:00 am until 11:30, except for the fifteen minutes of homeroom (we have that MTWT; my homeroom kids are ninth graders).  I then have class from 11:30 until 1:00, which is lunchtime (I eat in the cafeteria with the kids every day), and then again from 1:40 until 3:00, when we dismiss.  For Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get planning period from 8:00 until 9:30, then homeroom and tea break, then classes all the way until lunch, at which point I am done teaching for the day.  On those days, my classes are College Prep and one section of Ancient World History (9th graders).  On Fridays, all of my classes meet.

For my fifteen minute homeroom on MTWT, I've themed each day.  On Compassion Mondays, I discuss either a person or organization who is making a positive difference somewhere in the world.  The kids were very interested in it this week: I talked about an anti-human trafficking organization (Justice ACTs) and how they rescued an Albino African girl from witch doctors who wanted to kill her.  On Tough Question Tuesdays, I'll be focusing on a difficult moral question or situation each week.  On Wacky Wednesdays, I show funny (and clean) YouTube videos.  Today's videos were a huge hit:  I introduced the kids to Julian Smith and Monty Python.  Thursdays are Worldwide Thursdays, in which I'll talk about a recent significant news story somewhere in the world, and we'll have a little discussion about it.

I am amazed and astounded by just how good my students are.  Most of them are Korean; I only have one or two "Western" kids per class.  All of my students are quite attentive, respectful, and engaged in whatever we're doing.  One of my tenth grade classes informed me today that they find my classes very fun and interesting, which I was delighted to hear.  My biggest class is the first section of tenth graders:  there are 20 kids in that class.  My College Prep class is my smallest, which only 7 students.  The other two classes have 14 and 16 kids, respectively.  The kids are quite sweet.  In each class, there are at least a few students eager to become "pets".  They like to linger after class or come early just to talk to me.  I really don't have any "bad" kids, though I do have a couple who will require a little extra encouragement and direction on my part.  I can honestly say that I really like every single kid in each of my classes.

What creative things have you come up with in your classes?
Yes, my friends know me well!  I love to come up with odd/creative/weird teaching techniques.  In the tenth grade, I'm quite proud of what I've set up.  Each month, the kids will play a month-long themed competition game with differing rules.  This month, my Sophomores are pirates.  I have split both classes into two teams, who will all play against each other, and each team has their own ship on my bulletin board, which I have set up to look like an ocean with lots of islands.  Participation, good grades, and winning review games will earn the pirates treasure in their ships.  They trade in treasure in order to move their ships around the board.  They can land on islands, some of which are inhabited (though there is no way to tell until they've landed).  Through excellent classroom participation and such, they can earn the rights to steal treasure from each other, fire at other ships, and also bury treasure on an island in order to keep from losing it (they just email me to let me know, so that it is secret from other pirate teams).  And of course, they can earn the right to dig for treasure, too!  At the end of the month, the pirate team with the most treasure will earn a special "No Homework" coupon that each team member will be able to use to skip one standard daily assignment or bellwork.

I am also doing another fun teaching idea with the Sophomores, as we study the Renaissance, our first unit.  I have split them into small teams, and told them that they are traders in 1400.  Today, they had to look at a map of Europe from that time period, and select where they will put their trade route (they had to explain their decision).  They can make it as long or short as they want, but I explained to them some considerations and practicalities to keep in mind.  Throughout the remainder of our Renaissance unit, they'll do research on the areas their trade routes are going through and will watch how those regions change over time.  They'll also be sharing all this info with the class.  We'll have small assignments to go along with this, like making postcards from some of the cities their routes stop at.  One group wanted to know if they could engage in piracy, since their route involves the Mediterranean Sea; I told them that they can do a little bit at the moment, and more once we get into the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

My freshmen are currently being trained as historians.  They learned to evaluate sources the other day, and tomorrow they'll be learning map skills and even practicing a bit of cartography.  We won't get into the really fun and super creative stuff until we actually get into history, but they seem to be enjoying themselves.  I've got fun projects and games up my sleeve for later.

How is China similar or different from Korea?
In some ways, it is super similar; in other ways, it is night and day.  The general appearance of where I live (landscape, buildings, etc.) reminds me a great deal of Korea, which often confuses me.  My brain thinks it is back in Korea and starts assuming it knows how to get somewhere, then gets quite turned around!  The food is similar in that it is spicy usually and involves many similar ingredients; as much as I like the food, however, I have to say that Korean food is even better.  Living-wise, I found Korea less bewildering and generally easier, which I kind of expected would be the case.  Shopping and cooking are both a lot harder here.  The humidity is also much worse.  Overall, it is not unpleasant here -- I really do love it, and Qingdao is a beautiful city -- but I have definitely met with my fair share of "Yuck Duck" moments.  For example, my brand new camera is STILL holed up in customs, with no sign of movement toward me.  I just keep taking a deep breath whenever I get frustrated, and I try to focus on the "Yay Duck" stuff.  The Chinese people that I've met are mostly friendly and hospitable, much like I found in Korea.  I particularly like Lotus, the dear woman that I buy all of my fruits and vegetables from (she runs a little stand right in my apartment complex).  She is very friendly and speaks good English, plus she has discerned my deep love of mangoes and always finds the very best ones for me!

What weird or unusual things have you been eating?
Let's see, here are the ones that spring to mind:

• Green tea ice cream flavored Oreos (and they really are made by Oreo)
• Vanilla ice cream flavored Oreos
• Sea kelp and beef noodle soup with odd floating mini-hotdogs in it
• Stewed tomatoes with eggs
• Banana-flavored microwave popcorn 
• Apple-flavored soda
• Coconut and palm juice
• Aloe vera yogurt
• An exceedingly odd type of ramen noodle soup that thoroughly defies description, which I still can't decide if I actually liked
• A delicious type of Muslim noodles with beef and onions
• Two different types of curries
• Something unidentifiable that I sincerely hope was beef
• Dragonfruit
• Dragonfruit, vegetable, and crabmeat sushi
• Kiwi and lime popcycles
• Pea ice cream (yes, normal green peas)
• Strawberry juice
• Blueberry juice
• Pea juice
• Spicy pork rib ramen noodle soup

Living in Community

I realized today that in just eight more days, it will be my first monthiversary in China.  The thought made me rather reflective.  As I was observing earlier today to a coworker, although she and I have been here for a pretty short time, we've gotten closer to most people than we would have gotten in a year's time in the States.  Living over here today is a very special, unique experience.  Coworkers are not just the people that I see at work:  they're the people that I ride to school with, walk home from the bus with, go to dinner with, have movie nights with, do Sunday gatherings with, and, in a very real sense, live with.  They're family.  And, what's more, their children are becoming my family, too.

I see a lot of the kids when I'm walking back from the bus after school.  They have a great life here!  On several occasions lately, I've met up with a group of them in mixed ages, genders, and even races, having fantastic water fights.  A few weeks ago, one of the girls had an "Amazing Race"-themed birthday party, and my apartment was one of the stops.  Just last weekend, I was musing to myself that something sweet would really be nice to go with my lunch of extremely spicy noodles.  Just then, I heard a knock at my door.  It was a group of about six of the international kids, wanting to know if I'd like to buy any of the cookies they had baked together (the kids do that frequently here, I'm told, in order to earn some spending money or sometimes to raise money for charity).  I was happy to purchase two particularly promising-looking peanut butter cookies.

The relationships with coworkers are by far the most special and important to me.  My roommate and I, as well as my friend Kathryn (the other new single girl, whom I met during PFO), had dinner with a very sweet married couple from work last night.  It was a wonderful evening.  We talked with an openness and candor that is usually missing with people you've only known a short while; it felt as if we'd been friends for years!  And the fact that their ayi, who prepared the dinner, is an excellent cook certainly increased how splendid of an evening it was!