Hebei Grand Hotel 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.)

Mr. Fu who's giving us a ride from Beijing turns out to be a businessman driving to Shijiazhuang for a meeting. Once he got comfortable with us he agrees to take us all the way to Shijiazhuang. The visibility is about 50 feet with heavy down pour as he drives slowly south. Both Liu Chang and I can't believe we're finally on the road. We seriously considered spending the night at the motel at the gas station. That would have been downright depressing!
Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China whereskyle

... br>
*Taught them about playing card games in English- they learned
“Jack, Queen, King, Ace” they usually say”11,12,13,1.” Taught 'em different
card terminology and they learned a couple different games like BS-except I
called it “lie” and Egyptian Rat Screw. They taught me a game that’s a lot like
“P&A “or “*******.”

*Wrote short stories- students had to include 5 ...

... m either traveling or working a lot on the weekends, I usually never can but this Sunday I made a point not to schedule any lessons so could go. We took two cars out to Dragon Lake- about an hour outside the city. It was beautiful. We went on a speed boat, then went on a paddle boat, then caught some worm-fish things, had a nice picnic and relaxed by the water. It was great. Hoping to be able to go out with them again sometime before I leave. I really like both of their families.

... is often referred to as being lucky in recent Chinese history. Once a small village, it developed under modern railway construction. A century ago, when the Lu-Han Railway stretched to the former Shijiazhuang Village, it brought with it new opportunities, opening an industrial ...

... going to get our hair done on Friday- they want me to bring all my foreign friends. I've also been teaching at a Foreign Language Kindergarten. The kids range from 2-6. They normally have a full time foreign English teacher but they're next one isn't here until May so I'm filling in til then. The kids are adorable. The 4 classes I teach have Chinese teachers that speak to them in English a lot so they know basic things. We ...

... knowledge (since her major is english she has to know all about linguistics, cultures where english is spoken, and english literature). Couldn't believe how much studying is required in order to do decently well on these exams. After meeting with Young Young, Robert and I went to lunch. I was warned by Clare (who also tutored Robert) that Robert is a little different. Outside of tutoring he'll ask you to lunches and dinners, movies, he ...

Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival! Probably the single most exotic moment of my life. There is no celebration like this in the states that i can compare it to so I'm going to try to describe it so you can imagine it! The day started out by waiting to board a bus with about 80 others. We (Kara, Willie, Josh, Alissa and myself) had no idea where we were going nor what to expect. During out wait (a ...

... thought maybe it wasn't plugged into the wall all the way or something but it was- so i then thought maybe someone hit an electrical cord (they're doing a lot of construction by our apt). I unplugged my computer right away because i remember someone telling me that because the voltage is so much higher here that it can blow up your electronics. so that night before we went out i made sure nothing was plugged in. The next day, I was ...

... so we have been there twice already! Two days= two trips to the grocery store, and we are going back tomorrow because our purchases were too heavy today to take on the bus and then walk to our apt. The supermarket is a Walmart meets fresh fish market smell, meets a Hy-Vee, meets a dollar store. It has just about everything from tennis shoes to chocolate to soap and much more. Some of the titles in English are funny so I will take picture tomorrow and add them into this!