Bei Fang Hotel Shijiazhuang

After meeting up with the other english teachers arriving at the beijing International Airport. We took a 6 hour busride to Shijiazhuang. This city is the sister city to Des Moines, IA and although it is nearly unheard of in the US it has a population greater than US cities like Chicago. <br>We arrived around 11:00 at night and checked into the university. Luke and I went outside looking around as opposed to ...

... he looks much older than me he's only 31. I ask him how much he makes for each 1,200 km trip, he says about 500 yuan. He says he can make the trip 20 times a month. He's got two sons, a wife, a nephew, both of his parents to support. Where he comes from he has to save money for his sons' wedding and the construction of their new home when they get married. It cost 60,000 yuan to find a wife and 100,000 to 150,000 to build a new house. He admits he'll ...

... obsessed with the Beijing Olympics, it was fun to<br>pretend like we were having our own Olympic games. <br><br>*Who Wants to be a Millionaire-made up questions about things<br>we&#8217;ve gone over throughout the year, things I&#8217;ve said about myself and my<br>family, and then had a bunch of random questions too like &#8220;How many spiders<br>does the average person eat in their life?&#8221; and &#8220;Donald Duck can&#8217;t be on tv in<br>which ...

... biggie, we were almost out anyway. Birthday and Marriage *Went to a nice restaurant and had sushi for Sam's bday. It was soo good- I've missed sushi. Our Chinese friend Eileen surprised me with a text message that said she got married and she wanted us to meet her husband. So we went to "the boat restaurant" to celebrate Grandma &amp; Grandpa *Our new friend John (lives in our apt building and is helping the new Korean students get adjusted) invited us to have dinner at his ...

... which lies to the west, provide charming natural scenery. Mt. Cangyan Scenic Area and Zhangshiyan Scenic Area also attract visitors from all over China and the world. As the economic, political, cultural and scientific center of Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang is becoming more and more ...

... interviewing a girl named Kate who was friends with Maria (another girl I mock-interviewed) every day a week before her college entrance exam. I just found out this weekend she got in :) So happy for her. I knew she was really nervous. I've continued to meet with Tina (9 yrs old) once a week. She's a really fast learner. Also started meeting with a 9 yr old boy, Peter once a week. His parents are a little much for me to ...

... these types of things, she brought it up and i felt comfortable discussing these topics with her. I'm pretty sure she felt comfortable with me right off the bat cuz on the way to the restaurant she kept trying to hold me hand- really awkward for me- thought girls here only did that with their best friends- i had just met this lady 5 min prior! tried keeping an open mind to some of the things she said/did- though i think its gonna take more ...

... Jake. He has been our knight in shining armor here. He has shown us around, taken us to restaurants, helped us talk to cab drivers, and has given us an insight on this city that I would have never known. He was born in this city and know it very well. Let's see...what have we done? We have gone to a karaoke bar, eaten at a hot pot restaurant (kinda like a spicy fondu place), eaten at an out door chinese bbq place, gone to an amusement park/ botanical garden, walked around a ...

... so many people hung out outside the station- it was apparently the place to be. after we found him we went to dinner- pointed to things because we forgot to bring our phrasebooks. thats when i discovered the smell that makes me want to hurl- it's the liquid they put with the noodles. smells terrible. felt bad wasting all that food but i was gonna make myself sick if i ate it. it was nice catching up with josh and hearing about his experience so far ...

... Oracle bones? Divination from ox intestines? It also made me wonder about all those critics of educational research (especially in the current administration) who hold up the medical research model as the paragon of scientific methods. Do they know that there is a lively debate within the medical community about research methodology and - god forbid - some medical researchers are using (gasp!) qualitative methods? Naw - why sully your ...