Me & Ling Ling

Really, her name is Ling Ling.

Countdown

Five days of classes left and six until Dad sets foot in Beijing. I'm excited for a lot of things: for classes to be done and a six-week break to begin, to see Dad for the first time in 5 months, and to see China new again through his eyes. I've been thinking recently about how normal the city and culture around me feel and remembering how foreign they felt five months back. Sometimes I'm shocked back into remembering how strange it all really is, and I think taking Dad around will do that a lot for me. I'm curious to see Beijing through his eyes, to see what surprises him and remember what surprised me. I'm curious to see how he does with chopsticks and what it's like spending 6 days in China as opposed to 5 months. I know it'll be different. He probably will understand better why it's tough to explain exactly what this place is like, and it'll be cool to share that with him--though he won't see and experience everything I have, it'll be some at least. I've thought all year that the toughest part of being here in China and doing all these great things is that my friends and family can't share in it--and it's tough for me really to just explain it. I'm excited for Dad to see it.

Here's a quick rundown of our plans for the week: Saturday, Dad arrives, jet-lagged and probably ready for some sleep. I'll keep him up as late as I can (for the jet lag thing). Sunday we'll visit a Chinese church in the morning and the Forbidden City and Tian An Men in the afternoon. Monday we'll see my Kindergarten classes and the Summer Palace. Tuesday is our Great Wall day, Wednesday more sight-seeing and a show at the Loa Shi Tea House at night. Thursday we'll finish up any Beijing stuff, maybe do some shopping for folks at home, and then Friday he's off. Not long, but better than nothing. Mostly it'll just be good to catch up.

So (to explain my excitement), this is my first real break since October. I've had a few odd days off here and there, but the big holiday here in China is, of course, the Chinese New Year (based on the lunar calendar) which comes in late January. As a result, I have about six weeks off from January 14 to February 27. The first week I'll spend with Dad of course, and then I'll be leaving for the beaches of Phuket in sunny Thailand. I'll spend a week there and then move on to Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand, up in the mountains, for my company's annual retreat. We'll be there for classes, meetings, worship and relaxation. My plans are to ride an elephant or two, get a tan (the temperature oughta be in the 80s), catch up on my reading and cheer the Steelers to the Super Bowl from Southeast Asia. Super Bowl XL will be the first football I've seen all fall or winter. Then it's back to Beijing for another week off and then back to classes with Spring Training just a week away.

Hope you're all well, and here we go Steelers.

Chairskating and the W.C.

After the hutong tour, we walked to Bei Hai Gongyuan (Bei Hai Park) where we watched some ice skating. First, you can see the traditional skaters, and then the folks on chairs--hopefully you can make it out okay--it was a sight. They had these special little chairs for rent (or maybe they were just normal chairs) that the chairskaters pushed around on the ice using ski pole-like things. The coolest was when people would make a big chain of them and snake around the frozen lake. After watching for a while we went to Starbucks to warm up and then I found the W.C. using the famous internationally-recognized hand signal. Try it for yourself whenever you're abroad.

Hutong sights

Happy New Year, everyone! Guess I haven't said that yet... it's good to be in 2006, or as my kiddos keep telling me: "er ling ling liu" (2-0-0-6 in Chinese). On Tuesday of this week (we had two days off for the solar New Year), Dave, Ryan, myself and three American teachers living in South Korea visiting Beijing went on a "hutong tour" in the city. A hutong is a traditional Chinese house with the thatched roof and courtyards and all (sort of what you picture) and the tour is through one of these old neighborhoods. We rode in pedaled rickshaws through the streets, and though we didn't pay extra to see the inside of anything, it was an interesting trip nonetheless. These are some of the sites from riding and walking through the neighborhood (some of which obviously isn't so old anymore).

Does Mr. Face have a Winter Beard?

One of the most successful things I've done in the classroom this year is this thing I call "Mr. Face." It's a laminated head with removable face parts that the kids go ga-ga over anytime I pull it out of my bag. They love putting the eyes, for example, where the ears go and making it frown and stuff like that. I let them, of course, and play dumb. Then the other kids start laughing and saying "Mr. Jon!" and we get it all right eventually. It's fun, basically.

Well, today, we're reviewing body and face parts, and we get through the basics: eyes, ears, nose, mouth... when I realize the kids are pre-occupied with their chins, pointing and scratching and so on. They want to know the word for "beard," I realize, as Wendy does a dead-pan impression of the Peking Opera "lao ren" (old man) with the long, white beard... think the Pai Mei flick if you've seen Kill Bill 2.

I've taught you kids well, I think, and then I teach them the word. Just the basics: eyes, ears, nose, mouth... and Winter Beard.