Happiness Inn Shijiazhuang

... tv's, an audi, and a BMW. This is not in any way typical, but I wasnt complaining.

One night we made dumplings together and another night we went out for beijing duck. It's very very good.

It must have been pretty comical to watch a 6'5'' white kid get led around the city by a little chinese girl, but Becky was a grade guide. (She recently graduated highschool and will attend university in Beijing.)

... 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 ...

... words
I chose- none of which went together very easily so I received some pretty
creative stories.

*Field Day/Relays outside- We met in the classroom- I drew
pictures on the board and explained “Run backwards race, 3-legged race,
piggyback ride race, and wheel barrel race” –Gave away the medals my mom sent
from home (mine and my brother’s soccer, cheerleading, basketball, golf awards)
Since all the students ...

Peanut Butter and Jelly Day :) *We decided to bring a little taste of the West to our Middle School by making over a thousand peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and distributing them during the students lunch time. It was crazy! We had Willie and our friend John controlling the crowd and Kara and I handed out sandwiches. It was a lot of fun until we got in trouble by the school because theres a rule against it.. even though we told them all about what we were going to do.. ehh ...

... 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 ...

... are amazed. I ask if the students have ever spoken out in class and they say NO! I ask them if they have ever had a professor say information that was incorrect that they knew of - they said yes- I asked if the students ever spoke up in class about it- they said NO! I asked if they ever said anything and a few of the students said that they would go up after class and speak with the professor but that was it. It amazes me how these ...

... of minced mutton and turn it into hundreds of little sheep meat balls cooking in boiling water.  We have tried a lot of food and came to the conclusion that this was probably the worst meal so far.   Jane, the final foreign teacher, from England arrived.  She is 27 and will be teaching mostly Senior 2 classes and a few of my Junior 2 classes.  So Jane, Alissa, Willie and I head to a university that is north of campus to see some friends who teach up there.  Jason, a Drake grad ...

... the Chinese that the monk was speaking! And James had too short of an attention span to translate everything. I guess people like going to the temples on Holidays and making wishes for their futures. They light incense and kneel before some of the statues. The different statues are for the different gods in charge of different departments. God of money...god of health and so on. We then went to the party. It was an outdoor event that ...

... a tea bag into some hot water. The first girl would gather the tea leaves in a cute little ceramic cup and give them to the second girl who had just gotten water from a third girl. The leaves are put in a glass and sit while the second girl was decanting the water from two small glass pitchers to cool it. Green tea is supposed to be made a ...

... most of you want to read but boasts the modest virtue of representing actual census data rather than my impressions, gut-feelings, and biases (which, like those of our president, are generally infallible and sure-fire guides to good public policy). Enough on social policy (I could rattle on about the impact this will have in the future on the education system, etc. - but will spare you). A concomitant observation (moving away from actual data ...