I enjoy a late start to the day.  After spending some time googling “Chinese translation for the air-conditioner remote” (I’m still not sure what all the buttons mean), I head out to for the train and B4.  I’m meeting Amy Song, the assistant to the principal, and going to the Passport Office.  My “Foreign Expert Certificate” is completed, and I’m eligible to apply for the multiple entry “Z Visa”, good for a year.  (my current visa is only good for 30 days and a single entry).  There sure is a lot of paperwork for working in China.

Similar to the Texas DMV offices, we get a number and wait our turn.  An hour later we are walking out, application finished.  Now all I have to do is return in 3 weeks, pay 400y (around $65), and pick up the new visa.  Amy drives me back to the apartment.  I pick up a few groceries, and begin to get ready for a staff party at BISS.

The staff at BISS has a full-blown meal at the school, scheduled for 5:00.  I arrive on time, meet Judy in her room and head down to the cafeteria.  It is truly an international group.  I’m hearing so many accents as I walk through the room.  Everyone is talking about their summer travel.  I’m beginning to get “travel fever”.   Our first break is the first week of October.   I’ll start checking destinations next week.

An Indian restaurant is catering and it’s great!  It’s my first time and it won’t be my last.  It looks a little different, but tastes similar to good ol’ “rice and beans”, at a Mexican restaurant.  After dinner and lots of interesting conversation, we head back to Judy’s room.  We finish putting up some bulletin boards so she won’t have to come back to school this weekend.   Out the door around 9:30 and we grab a taxi for the ride home.

Today is my first “official” meeting with faculty and staff at Beijing High School Four International Campus (B4 from now on).  The new faculty met together at 8:30.  We mostly visit individually with each other while the HR department gets contracts signed, visa papers checked out, etc.  The “old” faculty arrives and we have speeches and introductions at 10:00.  It’s a small teaching faculty (23).  Right now there are more administrators and staff than teachers.

This is the second year of the school.  Last year, sixty-seven 10^th graders enrolled.  Eighty 10^th graders are enrolled this year.  It’s an AP curriculum.  The building was given to “B4” by the government.  It is next door to the Central Conservatory of Music.  The CCOM website states they are the leading music school in China.  Surely I can figure a way to use it as a resource.

We get a tour of the B4 main campus.  It was founded in 1907, and there is a ton of history.  There is even a large museum, six or seven rooms, with many carefully organized displays.  In Beijing, #1 HS was founded for the emperor’s family, #2 HS was founded for the children of nobles, #3 HS was founded for members of the People’s Congress, and #4 was founded for the citizens of Beijing.  The administration is quick to tell us their student body and school is the best in China.  The current head of the People’s Congress is an alumnus.  A member of the ruling committee (9 top politicians) is an alumnus.  There are many “perks” that fall to the school through these, and many other connections.

BHSF Campus Tour

Headmaster’s Home, built in 1907.

Our guide joked about the observatory’s lack of usefulness, due to Beijing pollution.

Wall in the Auditorium Foyer

Confucius

Thought provoking campus artwork

BHSF Museum

BHSF Museum

BHSF Museum

Tuned bells. I was prompted to improvise a quick performance. It sounded a little like “Variations on a Korean Folk Song”.

Olympic Torch, carried by the BHSF principal

I can’t believe my luck.  I’m going to be teaching at what may be the best HS in China, next door to the top music school.  I’m able to determine my own curriculum.  Actually, the decision what to teach is tough.  There are so many directions to go.  I’m still not sure.  Bill Huff, retired AISD Fine Arts Coordinator, introduced me to a great resource, online, “The Great Courses”.  I bought several series, and have been studying them for ideas.

I’ll be teaching two days a week, four-45 minute classes each day, with 15 to 20 students per class.  I don’t have to go back until Aug. 28^th when we get started with a 3-day orientation.  I’m also supposed to sponsor an after-school activity for instrumental music.  I’m anxious to see how that group evolves.

We ate lunch and the afternoon is spent with an introduction to teaching and living in China.  Several of the teachers don’t have apartments yet, and are spending every spare moment looking for a place.  BISS has a good plan for handling newbies, finding an apartment before you arrive.  The language barrier and lack of knowledge about location makes apartment searching really hard.  Proximity to a subway station is paramount for most.

After our afternoon session, Dr. Prettyman, the International Campus (IC) Academic Principal, guides a few of us over to the IC building.  It’s four subway stops away.  It’s still under renovation, so it’s hard to tell much about it, except its 5 floors.  At least I know how to find it from a subway station now.  It’s one block from a station, which will be great on those frigid winter days we keep hearing about.

Transitioning from one train to another

I head home on the subway, and arrive at the apartment about an hour later.  For the first time, Judy has beaten me home.  She’s unwinding, and working on lesson plans.  I can barely move.   Humidity was close to 100%, and I’ve walked several miles.  I’m sure I’ve sweated off ten pounds (not).  No early morning for me tomorrow.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013

Not much “excitement” today.  Judy heads out for her 2^nd day of school.  No problem with taxis today.  One of the Chinese language teachers at BISS taught her how to tell the taxi driver how to get to school & get home in Mandarin Chinese. (as opposed to giving the driver a piece of paper with the written directions).  It worked, and she is feeling pretty cocky about her language skills.

I spend the day working in “iPhoto”.  It’s been a while since I messed with it much.  Lots of re-labeling to do, and creating of new “albums”, etc.  Overall, a pretty boring day, by our past standards.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013

Our “Ayi” comes today.  Ayi is the word for maid.  Most all the teachers at BISS have someone.  We’ve decided we came to China to experience the culture and sights, not scrub the floors, so we’re going to enlist some help.

Lillie arrives around 9:15.  I show her around the apartment, describing what we need her to do, and then negotiate a price.  We settle on $50 a week (two days @ $25 per visit).  She tells me she’s ready to start, and heads for the kitchen.  After 3 hours in the kitchen, it’s beginning to sparkle.  I’m figuring she’s going to finish things up on her next visit.  I was wrong.  She’s going to hit everything today.  She doesn’t leave until 3:30.  She scrubbed walls, baseboards, and pretty much everything else.  The apartment looks great.  We’ve got everything she needs, except for a small upright vacuum.  I’ll have one before her next visit.

BISS FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!  After all the discussion, decisions, moves, and Beijing adventures, Judy is finally starting her first day of classes.  She heads out and immediately has some “fun”.  The first three taxi drivers look at her instructions, and shake her off.  The next one doesn’t even give her a chance to get in.  He just drives right by.  Finally, the 5^th taxi allows her in and she’s off to work.

Heading out for the first day of class at BISS.

She has a fun day, meeting students, and settling into the routine of a class day.  She forgot to take her water bottle.  There are water dispensers in the halls of the school, but no cups.  She gets really parched, and by lunch is exhausted.  After lunch, some water, and some rest, she finishes up the afternoon of classes.  Her observation of the day………she’s too old to teach Pre-K and Kindergarten.  Their 45 minute classes are a long time to entertain and direct all that energy.  Fortunately, it’s only two days a week.

Some of the BISS classes on the first day.

I get my first contact with teachers at BHSFIC.  The first email is an invite to a get-together at Sanlitun Village for the new teachers.  The 2^nd email is from Serene Hu, acting principal at the school.  It contains a detailed schedule for Thursday, our first official meeting.  After two weeks of dealing with setting up the household, I’m ready to begin thinking about my job, however part-time it might be.

I walk over to Metro for some groceries (about a mile).  Again, I overdo the purchases and have more than I can carry.  Sooner or later, I hope to learn how to avoid the overload.  I get it out to a taxi, and then unload at UHN.  A gate guards helps me get it to the gate.  I leave half at the gate, and carry the rest to the apartment.  Another trip to the gate, and I’m caught up my major shopping for the week.

Judy gets home and we talk over the first day of class.  Around 6:40, I grab a taxi and head for Sanlitun.  I find the meeting site, and soon a few of the teachers arrive.  We find a restaurant, order dinner, and get down to the serious business of finding out about each other.  The new Girls PE teacher is from El Paso.  She’s been the soccer coach at Santa Teresa, NM for 22 years (I think).  She’s has two sons, both living in Albuquerque.  She doesn’t sound like she’s from El Paso.  Sure enough, she grew up in London, and taught in England a few years before moving to El Paso.

The 2^nd teacher has been teaching in New York for 11 years.  Her accent doesn’t sound “New York”.  As it turns out, her family is from Barbados.  It’s English, but with a UK twist.

They’ve been having a lot more “fun” than we did.  When they arrived,in Beijing, they were put in transition dorm rooms on the BHSF main campus until they found an apartment.  After one week, they still haven’t found an apartment.  BISS has the right idea.  They put you in an apartment for a year.  After a year, if you want to move, you’re welcome to.  The BHSFIC teachers still have many Beijing adventures in front of them.  It should be fun comparing stories.

We are recovering from the stair climbing and walking we did yesterday on our “hutong and tower” sightseeing trip.  The weather outside is dreary.  It rains off and on all day.  We get the opportunity to “Facetime” with family back home and get caught up with Texas.

Now it’s time to organize work on the website.  I’ve been writing for several days, but haven’t posted anything.  We wanted to start adding pictures, but I wasn’t sure how.  We figure out some tricks for entering pictures, and enter over a week’s worth of website posts.  Like most things, the more you work on something, the quicker you get.  It finally is beginning to come together.

I finish posting the website entries I’ve written.  Judy does quite a bit of computer work, writing lesson plans and prepping for the first day of classes at BISS.  The evening ends with a few episdoes of “Touch” on Hulu.

Sightseeing is the order of the day.  We are going back to the Hutong Judy enjoyed so much on Wednesday.  We’re up and getting ready, listening to the Rangers play the Astros.  We head out and board the subway.  This is Judy’s first day on the train.   We arrive at the Hutong.  Wow!  Very narrow streets with tons of shops.  We browse the ½ mile length, and then decide to visit the Drum Tower and Bell Tower.

The subway station for the hurong.

Churros in Beijing?

A Blood Bank? “Twilight” is everywhere.

One of the many shops along the road.

Starbucks are everywhere.

Its’ a pretty good hike to the sites, with many more interesting shops and people on the way.  These two towers were the center of Beijing as it developed.  The drums and the bell were the time-keeping devices for the city.  The stairs to get to the top of the Drum Tower are REALLY steep, and it’s a long way up.  We make the climb and view the huge drums, and a performance.  The drummers seem young.  Musically it’s a little rough (many tics), but the whole atmosphere is really cool.  We head down and over to the Bell Tower.   More steep stairs almost discourage us, but we’re going to see Beijing if it kills us.   Cool views from the top and the sense of history sorta envelopes you.

Drum exhibition in the Drum Tower.

The Drum Tower as viewed from the Bell Tower

Stairs descending out of the Bell Tower

It takes a BIG mallet to get this bell sounding!

Views looking down from the Bell Tower into the nearby neighborhoods.

We head back to the Hutong to buy a few things.  Judy gets a small fan and an umbrella.  I’m looking for a fan for myself, but the can’t find the shop I had discovered earlier.  We eat lunch and head back to the train.  Trains are more crowded this afternoon.

The ceiling in an umbrella shop.

This is the backside of UHN Apartments, as viewed from Taoyongang Train Station, our nearest subway stop.

When we get back to the apartment.  We both crash.  We both do computer catch-up for the rest of the evening.

Big day for Judy and BISS.  New students and parents get to visit this afternoon.  The morning will be spent completing planning for next week, and the visits begin after lunch.

I spend the day listening to the Rangers beat the Angels, and ordering groceries online.  The delivery is free.  The groceries seem to be priced about the same as in Texas.  They’re cheaper in the store, but that involves two taxi rides and lots of time and carrying some heavy loads into the apartment.  The online ordering goes well.  Delivery is confusing.  The driver calls before arriving.  Since I have no Chinese skills, I’m not sure what was said or asked.  About an hour later, the delivery arrives.  SUCCESS!  I’m baad!

Judy gets home, excited about the day.  She had several opportunities to interact with new students.  Even had a few singing sessions with some of the classes that came through.  Kids started off timid, but after they warmed up, they had a blast, and so did Judy.

Judy and some of her students on “Meet The Teacher Day”.

Some of the BISS teachers are getting together for dinner, and we join them at Bluche.  Have a really good hamburger, and discussion breaks out about the best burgers in Beijing.  This reminds me of DFW before we left.  Several of the teachers are bragging on how great Judy handled the kids when they came through. They each also mentioned they had never seen the room look so good.  Blah, blah, blah!  It’s the same old thing!

The group of teachers are mostly from Australia, two from the US, and a Brit.  Spouses are here also, “trailing spouse” husbands, like me.  It’s really interesting hearing their stories about international teaching, and how they arrived at the decision to teach overseas.  A couple of the group play golf, so maybe I’ve made a connection.  Life is looking up!

Finally, a day when life seems to get “regular”, whatever that is.  Judy gets off to school, forgetting only her lunch.  I clean the floors, and do a few loads of laundry.  The Rangers are on my MLB app, playing the Angels.  I can get the radio broadcast.  The West Coast start times are great for me here.  It’s 10:00 am, so I sit down to catch up on website entries, experiment with Hulu a little more, and check out Facebook for the first time.  What happened to the Rangers?  When we left DFW, it looked like Wash might be getting fired, and the team was way behind Oakland.  Now they’re tied?

Judy gets home around 5:00, ready to check out the nearby Capitol Mall..  There’s a “nail” place she’s heard about.  We find the nail place and she goes in.  I start wandering!  The mall contains 7 levels.  Top floor seems to be restaurants only.  Korean, Malaysian, Chinese, Mongolian, Japanese, etc.  I check out all the menus.  One of them listed “Sliced Donkey”, yum!  It looked good in the menu picture, but I didn’t try it.  After nails and menu browsing we eat pizza in the Pizza Hut (living life on the wild side).  Pizza is only about 1/10^th what this restaurant has.  It’s a huge menu with dishes ranging from seafood to steaks.

After dinner, it’s back to the apartment to prepare for Friday.  We’ve almost been in Beijing for two weeks.  Unbelievable!

Judy takes off for school on time, not too excited about the day.  There’s a  “Treasure Hunt” scheduled for the afternoon with all the staff, split into teams, looking for artifacts in a Chinese neighborhood.  It’s supposed to be hot, and rainy.  She would be much happier if she could get some more classroom work completed.

She texts me around noon that the day has been great, and she’s accomplished a lot in her room.  When I talk to her around 4:00, she’s had a blast!  They visited a traditional Hutong (neighborhood).  She’s seen one of her group members eat a deep-fried insect, visited some unique shops, and had some great food.  Now I’m jealous!  We’re definitely going back to this spot soon.

Lanterns hanging in the hutong.

Rickshaw tour guide

Scorpion snacks

Daiju, AP from India, sampling the scorpion.

I’ve spent most of the day writing the entries for the website.  We’ve been so busy trying to get life normal, there hasn’t been time to sit down and write.  I’ve had time today, so I’m catching up.  I hope to get some pictures posted also.

I have also figured out how to get HULU going on our computers.  Hulu doesn’t stream outside the US.  I managed to set-up a VPN (virtual private network) which makes it seem like we’re getting our internet in Los Angeles.  Now we can get almost any television show we want.  By using our Apple TV we can watch it on the flat-screen in the living room.  China also doesn’t allow Facebook or Skype and the VPN has allowed us begin to check in on those sites.  If we could just get a faster internet signal, we’d be in great shape.  We finish up the evening catching up on 2 episodes of “Touch”, before crashing into the pillows.

I know I’ve been beating everyone up with details, but as soon as we both get into school, we’ll get a routine established and life will become normal.  Right now, the language barrier makes trying to set-up everyday life a challenge.  I haven’t ended a day without laughing at myself, and the situations I find myself in.

We’re both up early and eager to start the day.  Judy leaves around 7:00, and as I’m showering…..THE HOT WATER STOPS!  This has the makings of a “TIC” day.  I finish getting ready and leave around 7:40, heading to the train.

Today is “Beijing Subway” at it’s best.  Every car is crammed full.  Officers are on the loading platforms barking orders and helping stuff the doors as they close.  Overall the train ride is very quiet.  Everyone is referencing their phones, some playing games, some email, some video.  I get the passport swap completed and head home.  It has taken 2½ hrs for the ride and walk to BHSF campus and back.

Hot water is now my goal.  I type up comments I might need for UHN management on my translator app, and head to the office.  In the office, I show the clerk the app stating that my hot water has stopped and I need help.  I show her my receipt from the previous week.  After many gestures and a few more translator app references, the clerk tells me she’ll send someone.

I get a call a little later – in Chinese.  I’m not sure what they want, but I’m sure it has something to do with hot water.  20 minutes later, a tech shows up.  I show him what I think is the hot water meter under a bathroom sink.  He takes my two water cards, reads them and slides one of them into a slot.  Something starts whirring and I guess it’s fixed.  I show him where the other meters are, and he gives me the “get lost” signal.  He doesn’t want me to see the secret, I guess.  I just want to know which meter is cold water so I can load the other meter.  A few minutes later, he steps in, waves goodbye, and “that’s it”, we’re fixed.

Judy calls, frustrated with all the meetings and lack of time in her room.  I travel to BISS at the end of the day to help with the bulletin boards.  I think this is the first time I’ve ever covered a bulletin board with paper.  It takes some practice.  I’m glad no one was watching.  We taxi home and enjoy an evening of sandwiches and movies off our computer.