Category Archives: Beijing
Travel In China
Tonight I had my adult students. Now, I don’t really like teaching adults because they have all the idiosyncrasies of my middle school students (refusal to speak above a whisper, inability to separate “L” and “R” but an insistence that … Continue reading
First Person Plural
I went to Jackie’s the other night with Will and Jennifer. (haha I have to make up new names now because someone in Yantai reads my blog haha). Jackie’s, the proud home of Loud Food and Spicy Music, is has … Continue reading
Things that should be simple, but aren’t.
Part 1 of 10,000 What’s the first thing you learn in a new language? That’s right, numbers. Beijing-bound flights usually have at least one Westerner practicing yi, er, san, si, and so forth. We usually also working on the accompanying … Continue reading
Dragon Boat Day
(Written on 6/1 but Dragon Boat Day is 5/31 so I’m backdating this) Once there was a Chinese poet called Qu Yuan (??). Depending on who you ask, Qu Yuan either jumped or fell into a river and drowned, and … Continue reading
Mei you! Ming tien!
Although I only know a few Chinese words, I already have some I don’t like. My least favorite word is ??, which is pronounced “ma-yo” and basically means “have no. I can recognize it in short sentences, like “We have … Continue reading
Dear Bethie
Dear Bethie, Thank you for the scarf. It was very useful on my trip to Beijing. You can put it across your pillow if the night train to Beijing is a little dirty. You can wet it from the train’s … Continue reading
Airport Goodbyes
After our awesome Beijing adventures, we sent Jeff home. Did you catch that? I said we, because Fresca has extended her trip for another two weeks as she tries to decide whether and when to teach here! Jeff and I … Continue reading
The English Channel
CCTV 9, the English channel on the Chinese television, recently covered the Ukrainian election, in which two of the candidates are named Victor, without making a single joke. Come on, that’s just bad news reporting. It’s like not saying “into … Continue reading
Arriving in China
When I arrived in Yantai, after thirty-some hours in transit (and yes, wandering the Beijing airport wondering if I made a huge mistake DOES count as transit time), I was not met by Ji (my new boss) or the promised … Continue reading
