Babysittin'

Yesterday, some of our friends had a birthday party at a KTV (karaoke place). Lots of fun, but not a place to take a little baby. We really wanted to go, so we decided to ask one of the young women in the branch to watch Jada for us. While we were in Canada, parents would sometimes take care of Jada while we ran short errands, and once to go to a movie, but this was when she was a lot younger and not as alert. Now, Jada is a lot more alert, she sometimes gets scared of strangers, and she has been with one of us (especially Chelsey) the whole time. So it was the first time that we got a sitter and did not take her along with us in China. We were kinda worried about it, as just as Whitney came to watch Jada, she started crying, and we needed to go. It was Jada's bedtime, so we told her just to let Jada cry for a bit, like she sometimes does. About 15 minutes after we left Whitney sent a text message to her mom saying "I'm so Good! She's sleeping." Jada continued to sleep the whole time while we were parting it up at the KTV. It was a lot of fun. Chelsey got up and danced and sang the whole night, while I sang a few songs (Take it Easy by the Eagles and Human by the Killers among a few.) Even President Johnson (branch President) sang a song or two, and danced on the way out to 'Livin the Vida Loca' :). Great fun was held by all, and we were happy to have had the chance to go. We were glad that Jada was good for Whitney, as Chelsey (and I) were a little worried about leaving Jada.

By the way, KTV is another China must... Unlike most places in the West, where it is in front of everybody, it is a private room for you and your friends in China. So who cares if you can sing or not?! Just sing, dance, laugh all with your friends.

Jada Moments

I had to use the bathroom so I put Jada on the bed with a toy and when I came back I found her like this. She had roled over from her back to her stomach. I watch her for the next little bit and cheered her on while she wrestled with the toy tiger rolling back and forth from her stomach to her back and back to stomach. Lately when we put her on her stomach and put a toy infront of her she sticks her bum up in the air and pulls one knee up to her waist as if she is making an effort to crawl. She is also babbling ALOT. We were wandering around a store today after supper because Mike had a little extra time and Jada and the store personnel where baby talking back and forth. She seems to be growing up in leaps and bounds. She reaches out for anything and everything and tries to gum it. Jada and I were making cookies together tonight and she was grabbing onto all the ingredients with me as I put them in the bowl and squeezed them for me. It is alot of fun being parents. Jada is a special little girl. She is about 5 1/2 months now.

What Does Chinese Food and Pizza Have in Common?

Wierd question, it totally surprises me but I have found that studying chinese cuisine is teaching me how to be a better western cuisine cook. Just like the title of this blog post implies, pizza is one of those foods that I have learned to make better. I have learn alot especially when studying muslim chinese cuisine because it have alot of influence from Persia area. Persia is where a ton of western food originated believe it or not. I guess most of the worlds food originated in Persia and China. Examples are: bread in Persia and Noodles in China. It is like going back to the roots of things we have forgotten and learning from the ground up. I am a food enthusist, you all probably knew that already...so nothing excites me like a personal culinary arts break through moment. I am not going to go into too much detail but if you are interested I explain how you can use chinese cooking principles in western food on my Chinese food blog. Http://www.chelseyschinacookingchallenge.blogspot.com

Social at the Innes's

Mike thought that it would be fun to have a social at our house for the young single adults in our branch. They are all around our age and so he thought it would be fun; make a large pot of curry and play some games. It was originally scheduled to be the same weekend that they were working on our bathroom and floor and so it was rescheduled for yesterday, sunday after church. I took off from church ahead of everyone eles to heat up the pot of Indian curry we had made the night before and cook some rice. Mike gathered up all the YSA, 11 in total and took them on the subway to our house. Easier that way then everyone trying to find there way in an unfamiliar city with , for some, an unfamiliar language. As soon as I got home I put the curry on low to reheat while I feed Jada. Not long into Jada's feeding I start to smell something burning. I run into the kitchen and dump the top part of the curry into a bowl, trying to salvage it, but it was too late, the whole thing had a terrible burnt taste. There was no way I was going to serve that so I switched to Chinese curry which is really quick; fry garlic, ginger, marinated chicken, onions and green peppers, then add curry paste, water, soy sauce and cornstarch slurry, your done. Luckily I had the chicken marinating in the fridge overnight and I hadn't added it to the curry yet. They had to wait probably half and hour for food but that's not the end of the world.
It turned out great, everyone had fun playing The great Dalmudy and Monopoly. Mike pad locked the door to the birds cage so that she wouldn't be flying around with everyone there. That little escape artist knows how to open her cage door.

Jada Moments

Jada Is already learning to share her toys.

The joys of indoor plumbing

As we had mentioned before, there was a leak with one of the pipes in our bathroom. Almost 2 weeks ago, they came in, tore up some of the floor and wall around the toilet (that was not leaking, just the pipes for the radiator Last Sunday (10th), they came back just as I was getting home from church (Chelsey had stayed home with Jada, as Jada had a bit of a cold) and told us that they were going to fix the floor and wall, that it would take about 4 days, and that we needed to go. It makes sense, as 4 days with out an available toilet would have been... interesting to say the least. We quickly called some friends, the Bensfields, who very kindly let us stay with them until it was fixed. We got back to our home Thursday morning. We love visiting people, just really like being in our own home more.

We had left Amber the bird with a big bowl of water and seeds and put her in our bedroom to keep her out of the way. This bird was quite happy when we came back, and all of a sudden decided that she likes us, especially Jada. If we are sitting on the couch, the bird will fly over and sit beside us. She still does not like our hands that much, but is getting better. Anytime Jada is playing with her toys, Amber wants to come over and play too. There have been a few times where Jada will be on her wiggle worm and Amber will fly right down beside her. Chelsey was telling me that earlier, Amber was trying to grab the toys when Jada was moving them around. Then the bird got hit by an errant baby hand and gave a squawk and flew back to her cage. This probably will not deter Amber very long from playing with Jada.

New Blog

I have created a new blog in addition to this one where I will share everything that I am learning about Chinese Cooking while we are here, recipes as well as cooking techniques. Check it out at:
http://chelseyschinacookingchallenge.blogspot.com/
P.S. I have just started and so there is not much so far but keep looking back because I will post as I learn.

Communist Countries

Our bathroom is being worked on because there was a leaky pipe and so we are spending a few days at the Benesfields house. I am really enjoying having some adult company during the day. The Bensfields are fairly new to the Branch, they were previously living in Russia. We had an interesting conversation over lunch and she shared some interesting insights. Both Russia and China have long harsh histories and have been ruled by communism yet there are some very starch differences between the moral and social climate of the two countries. I have never been to Russia of course but from some comments the Bensfields have made it sounds like a really scary place. The russian people budget about the equivalent of one months wage for Bribes to keep corrupt money-greedy police happy. Yikes. Sherry said that she had 32 co-workers and she had wanted to corrdinate a time that was convenient for everyone to meet. Only 2 people answered an so she was asking people why they didn't answer. They told her, you don't ask us what we want you just tell us what to do. One guy told her "Sherry, you are just too nice. When people are nice to us we get suspicious that they are going to hurt us. She said that the difference between Russia and China is night and Day. She is kind of doing her own physicological study to find out why? Why are Chinese people so kind, happy, peaceful, generous, compassionate and helpful and Russians so opposite. She said that they have a saying in Russia "Life is hard but at least it is short". The life expectancy of a man in Russia is 53 and a Chinese man 81. Almost 30 year difference. I don't have the answer but it is interesting to wonder about.

My life as an English teacher

So as you all know, I have been teaching oral English in Beijing. The age group that I teach is mostly collage age students and above, with a few that are a little younger. My day goes something like this:

12:15ish: leave home
about 12:45pm, arrive at work, grab the day's schedule, class list, and materials.
1-2: prepare for classes, read news, etc.
I am lucky and often don't have a class right at 1 pm, so from 1pm to 2pm I am preparing (going over) the materials. They have books that we teach out of, and we do a page or two per day. The receptionists photocopy it all, so we just have to look at it. Sometimes I am not so lucky and have class at 1pm, so then I just have about 10 minutes between classes to prepare for the next one.
2-2:50: Class
3-3:50: Class
4-4:50: Class
5-5:50: Either a break, or English corner (more on that later)
6-6:50: Break (most of the time). This is when I usually eat supper. Chelsey and Jada will come and join me, and it is great to see them during this time
7:50: Class
8:50: Class
9:00: Clock out
between 9:30-9:45pm, I get home.

So depending on the day, I will have up to six classes in one day. It can be very tiring, but it usually is not too hard. Some days are harder then others of course...
There are 4 different levels that I teach. B1, B2, B3 and I1. The goal in all of the classes is to help the students speak more.
B1 is fairly basic. These students can speak, just not very much. They do a fairly good job for the level that they are at. They are taught by 1 Chinese teacher and 1 Foreign teacher (1 hour each)
B2 is still basic, but not nearly as basic as B1. These students can carry on a good conversation, but might still struggle a bit here and there.
B3 is to a point where they are expected to have good conversational skills and are making few mistakes. At this point on they only have Foreign teachers
I1 is the intermediate level class. These students have better conversation skills then B3, make fewer mistakes, and are expected to be able to talk on a wide variety of topics. They have to talk on many different topics because this is the class that we the teachers have to decide on what to talk about. This can be a challenge, because sometimes they don't like the topic you choose, other times they could talk forever on it. Most of the time there are really good conversations, sometimes even on tangents that just form a life of their own.

The other type of classes that I teach are English Corner and VIP classes
English Corner is basically an open forum where any student at any level can join. We have to have some kind of topic, or sometimes we play games. This is probably one of the hardest (and most hated) classes as the level of the students range from VERY basic to advanced, and you have to try to get everyone to talk, as well as prevent a few people from talking too much.
VIP classes are one on one classes. The students level might range from poor to good, and what they want to talk about are all over the wall as well. Sometimes a student will try a couple different teachers to find one they like.

The students that I teach range from really good to not so good. There are some that are memorable because of their skills/conversations, and then there are others that you remember because they are more "special".

Here is a little bit about some of the students, both good and bad. (Try to guess which one is which) ;)

Merlin: This kid is like a walking dictionary. He knows a lot of things about a lot of different topics, with philosophy being one of his favorites. He is very smart, and usually has really good comments.

Audrey: She is a dentist and is always smiling. One of the students that I have been teaching from when I got to Beijing.

Andy: He tries. He really does. Sometimes just a little too much. Favorite thing to do is ask random questions when ever he sees you.

Phoebe: No, not a girl. Yes, he knows he has a girls name. Class clown, can be a distraction, but fun to talk to.

Yellow: Likes turtles, sometimes would accidentally kill them. Other topics? Can you say thousand yard stare and shake of the head?

Alice #1: Girl who went to Vancouver in September. Always had something interesting to say.

Alice #2: Studying in London, here over Christmas break and Likes a Turkish boy, but is confused as to why he thinks she is just playing with him when she says she likes him, yet not meet him after class (even if he asks) and will sometimes keep walking when she sees him. Other topics? Like wading through molasses in -50C weather.

Ocean: Huge into fortune telling. (Phoebe would sometimes call her a witch.) Quick to smile, and laugh, I'm sad that she is no longer there.

There are many other students that I could mention, but that would talk too long. For the most part, I like my job, and I enjoy seeing people improve on the skills that they have.

Jada Does Yoga on Chinese T.V.

It was a friend of a friend of a friend thing. Jada and I were invited to free sessions of a baby and mama Yoga class because Jada is in the age group of babies she was looking for to appear with her teaching Yoga on Chinese T.V. I thought, what the heck, sounds like fun. I went with another woman from the Branch who has a baby just two months older than Jada. Jada had a great time interacting with all the other babies. Babies just love other babies. There were two chinese woman with babies of 4.5 months and 7 months, both boys. And the two of us foreigners with babies 7 months and 5 months. I would have loved to get a picture of Jada interacting with all the other babies because it was so cute but I was in a hurry getting out the door and I forgot my camera. She gave me a coupon for 2 more free sessions. We will see. The only downside is the class is starting about the same time as Jada's morning nap....she feel asleep 3/4's of the way through while the camera man was tapping. At least he got lots of shots before class and up to that points. He even took one of her sleeping.

Jada the Cute

So For a kid not liking her belly, she lifts her head really well, and will also roll over

Look Mom! I can stand!

Smile!

So some things that Jada does (been doing for a bit, but just had not gotten photos of them... Yes, I know, we are so new parents ;)

Bird Drunk on Grapes

About a week ago I decided that it would be a good idea to hang a string of raisins in the birds cage for her to chew on as a treat.....never again!!! Don't get me wrong, she LOVED them but once she had chewed on them for a couple of days they had turned into a very sticky trap. A couple of days ago I noticed that the bird was missing. I looked inside her cage and almost had a heart attack when I saw her tangled up in the string of raisins behind the mirror. She did not look good, barely alive. I cut the string and she just fell to the bottom of the cage and then got up very clumsily and was tripping all over her feet. Every time she tried to get up on the perch she just fell off of it. It was quite the job trying to get the raisins that were matted into her feathers out. She now has a patch of missing feathers. Jada must of sensed my distress at finding the bird like that because she was screaming at the top of her lungs the whole time I was trying to rescue the bird, needless to say when Mike got home, not long after, he found me practically in tears, I could barely speak, thinking I had almost killed the bird and having a baby scream at the same time. We can now laugh about it, how our bird got drunk on grapes. She is doing just fine now.