The adventure continues.
On the 19th, Carl finished working at IVY, got his letter and money. They also done a inspection, and we had to pay allot of fines for things that had not worked since we had been there. We had just made things work, and not complained about everything.
On the 20th, We had a guy that we had found at the airport, with Chinese help, that came and got Spot to get him to Beijing for us, costing 900 Yuan. We had to have two taxi’s, to get all our things to the airport. We flew to Beijing. When we got to the airport, we met our helper Grace(her English is okay, and she tries). We learned that our apartment was not ready yet, and we were going to be going to a hotel, near the school, for a few days. We went out that night and walked around some, and found a Mcdonald’s.
On the 21st, We went to see the school, Beijing Experimental Foreign Language School. We gave Grace the Visa’s. We also had a chance to meet Mrs. Dee, the vice principal(she speaks no English). Later, we all walked some and found a pizza buffet place and ate lunch, and then Susan went home, and we took DJ downstairs to a place she could play. It was 30 Yuan for her to play for a hour, but she loved it. Her favorite toy there was the car that she can sit in and push around.
On the 22nd, We heard about the apartment that we are supposed to be in, on the 24th floor. We found out that we would each be teaching a class on Friday.
On the 23rd, Today we met TJ downstairs at our hotel and went for lunch at Burger King in a mall close to their home, Joy City. We went and got phone cards, so that we would have Beijing numbers. We got our teacher books that we can use if we wanted to. Spot was also delivered to the school today. He will stay there until we are in our apartment. He had a big cage, soft bed, and 2 food bowls. Then when he got here, he was in a small wire cage. The man said that when he got to the airport, that the crate was too big and Spot weighed too much, so he had to keep the cage. We also got to go see our new apartment. It was near where TJ lives. It was very filthy, and unsafe for DJ.
On the 24th, Today we both taught our classes. I had the first one with about 26 kids in it. It was awful. They would not hardly talk or anything. Carl’s class was great though.
On the 25th, We went out and walked around. We moved out of the hotel and into our new apartment, on the 5th floor. This apartment has nothing in it.
On the 26th, Today we went to church with TJ and Jennie. We all went to Peter’s, to eat lunch cause they had root beer etc. Susan went to TJ’s house and watched DJ, and their 2 kids. TJ and Carl went to Carrefour and went shopping for household supplies. I went with Jennie to go find me some clothes better for teaching.
On the 27th, We were teaching again, and then went shopping for food at a local store.
On the 28th, We were having to go to a immigration office, because our Visa’s expired on the 25th. I went shopping with Susan at a local mall.
On the 29th, We had to go the police station. We went to the immigration office again for a hearing, and penalties. Tomorrow starts a new month, and it will be better, (that was a nice thought).
On March 1st, I got up this morning and had cereal, with real milk. I had arranged to meet Jennie at the mall close to her, and then go shopping with her for the afternoon. Getting to that point from our school, meant me having to take some subways and a bus. I did that with no problems. When I started back though, I got on the right bus just going the wrong direction. It turned into a very long bus ride, and finally having to get a Taxi and go home. We found out that Burger King has a number you can call and they will deliver it to you. Mcdonald’s also has one.
On the 2nd, Carl had to go back to the immigration office with Grace, to get some things finished for the kids. After everything, we found out that we would just get a warning, and then if this ever happens again, then we would be told to leave China, and never come back. After Carl had his classes today, then he went and ordered a washer/dryer to be delivered tomorrow. We also found out that this next week, the first few days would be normal. Wednesday, then Carl will probably have classes in the public school, and I will stay here at this school. DJ and Susan are both sick now with fevers.
On the 3rd, DJ got up today and her fever was gone. We got our washer/dryer combo delivered. Later we are going to meet some other people from Canada, that are coming to the school to look around.
On the 4th, We had an interesting time meeting a guy named Jim Karygiannis from Canada. He works in the house of common, as a member of the Parliament in Ontario, Canada. This school is trying to arrange a deal with Canada for this summer where kids can go there for 2 months and learn culture and English.
There are allot of things that this school doesn’t know exactly how to do, so it is very hard to figure out. I think we are the first teachers with families here though. They are trying their best to help us. For the most part, I have had about 6 classes, and Carl has had about 13 classes. There is one class that has all the kids in it. Other than that, there have been five kids that I keep seeing(Aggie,Lina,Dante,Emem,and Jack). Some of the classes cost extra, to learn about culture in America. This school is mainly for kids that had failed the Gow-Cow(not sure about spelling) test. That test is the one that they take and score good on, to be able to go to a university in China. So, now that they failed that, then they have to go take the TEOFL to go overseas and go to a university. They didn’t want to study enough to pass the test in Chinese, so we will have our hands full teaching them in English.
This time up until now, has been interesting. Can’t wait to see what the next month holds. Included with the pictures from these things, is a picture of a traffic jam that Jennie and I were in, she thought it was picture worthy, so it must have been a bad one for Beijing.
This is a picture at the airport.
This is the cage that Spot came in.
This is our classroom.
Dj was trying to figure out why that boy was in her car.
DJ was having fun with Nate and Noah.
This was the hotel we had stayed at.
This was Jim from Canda that we met.
This is Joy City mall, near TJ and Jennie's.
This is our bags for leaving Jiamusi.
This is our office.
DJ again at playland.
This is the program that Jim was here for.
This is our school in the background.
This is a traffice jam that Jennie thought was picture worthy.
