Hebei Grand 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 ...

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!<br ...

... I&#8217;m never<br>going to get it and I just have to take this as a learning experience. Although<br>I&#8217;m upset about it, I&#8217;ve done everything I can so I&#8217;m just letting it go now. I<br>believe karma and that makes me feel a little bit better, ha. <br><br> I&#8217;ve continued to teach at Ai Hua, Ugly Duckling<br>Kindergarten and Jessi&#8217;s School and meet with Young Yang, Sunny &amp;Jassi, and<br>Peter- sad to say goodbye to ...

... house. The live in a storage unit where they sell children's books. We made dumplings and Willie got drunk with the grandpa. Kara and I bought some fun books- I want to give em to the kids I tutor as going away gifts because a lot of em are in Chinese and English. I think Young Young would really like one for her son too. Day of Fun in the Sun with Sunny and Jassi's families *I teach these two little girls and their moms always ask me do things with them but because ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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!