Day 3- China

Day 3

I was up early after a fairly late night figuring out what was happening. It turns out that all but 2 campers went home for various reasons. So we started by planning our punt which turned out not to be a punt but sticking to the plan for the most part. We had breakfast. I felt like Po from Kung Fu Panda because we had pork and vegetable dumplings with some sort of bread and soy milk that I was told to put sugar into.

Then we got to work with our 2 campers who were boys around 8 years old. One could speak English pretty well and the other a little bit. He was also shy in the beginning. We also had our 4 camp teacher assistants. It was a 7:2 ratio. We started with an ice breaker game. Then we went into human knot. They were having fun with that one. We then were making towers with cups and paper. The TAs wanted in on it as well. It was fun to watch them. The boys were calculating and trying to be careful and the teenagers tried to do it as quick as possible.

In between activities the boys and I made up a game on the Mahjong table. We tried to build the toughest, tallest structure that could withstand sliding Mahjong tiles at each others. I did not win because they ganged up on me. We then blew up balloons to make balloon towers with. I forgot to take a picture of lunch but they ordered in a plethora food from a local restaurant. I tried a little bit of everything but the soup and tofu. They had a fish that was real good, pork dumplings, flat bread, a chicken dish, a spicy beef dish, and egg plant something or other.

During lunch things were up in the air in terms of what was going to happen with things since we have 2 campers and 3 teachers. I hit a mental wall at lunch and I was told to go take a nap. I laid down and had a brief cry. It's hard to leave my family. I know it has been 2 days but the traveling, time change, and camp snafu caught up to me.
The good news is when I woke up we went to Walmart. By far the most educational experience of the day. The store is on multiple levels which was weird since it's usual one giant site back home. The produce section was amazing. The fruit, veggies, and spices looked amazing. I was told not to try the spiky yellow fruit. The fish section was crazy. They had sharks and turtles among all kinds of things. I found Doritos and had to get some. There was a pretty cool meat section. There was a guy with a microphone pimping out duck. Couldn't tell if it was Peking Duck or not. It was fun poking around trying to find things. I also had a chuckle when we went to check out. Every lane had a capstone of condoms and KY. It turns out that it's not a big deal here. I also bought a bag because my daughter Indi has been trying to make us not use plastic. The woman ahead of me did bring her own bags.

Dinner was good again. We had a bunch of dishes and I tried all but the tofu and scary smelling veggie dish. My chop stick skills are improving. They do feed us well. I think the kids laugh at us sometimes because we do weird stuff with our chopsticks and the way we taste everything.

We also learned that we are in Xiangtang. Someone said it means in the shadow of the wall. Near the place we are staying is close to the hills. It turns out just up the block is a bike path on a nature trail. I wish I had more sunlight but it was lush and beautiful. It renewed my soul.

Day 2- China Adventure

Day 2

So the day started off really well. I stayed at the Jin Long Tan Hotel somewhere in Beijing. They had a breakfast buffet that was real nice. It was a mix of Western and Chinese. I tried some dragon fruit, saw duck eggs, which we hope to have on out own farm when out duck starts laying, some fried/cooked eggs with a delicious fried roll thing. Not sure what that is called but it was good, and some baked bacon. Everything is better with bacon. I used chop sticks but I was glad to have the option of a fork.

Once I got my fill I then took a walk around the block to see some of the city in day light. One observation was their power design. I was probably a half block back when I took the shot of the power lines. They have 220V here so they have some heft to them.

On the main roads, you can tell they make an effort to not see any wires. There were also many people out sweeping with long willow brooms. Some were very long around 2-3 feet and some had been worn down to what we think of as a broom. They have lots of willow trees so brooms are easy to renew. I also noticed lots of bikes. It looks like they are like ride share bikes or they are all registered somehow. At one point I came to a couple piles of bikes. Another pic has a sunflower in it. There was a patch of them among the huge buildings.

 Next door was a gas station. I stopped to get a drink and grab a ice cold coke for my friend Coach Leek. He works for Coke so I was interested to see their logo in Chinese. It was rather humid out so I had no problem downing the bottle. Interestingly, the gas station had about a dozen attendants waiting to pump gas. I miss having someone gas you up. I believe in my hometown there is a gas station that still has people pump it. I like that touch.

Next it was off to camp which is located in the North of the city. We went past the Olympic section of town and saw the IBM building which is shaped like a torch with a huge screen on it. We also say the Birds nest and some towers. The Birds Nest was huge and I understand it has been sitting empty. We joked the Biebs needs to come and fill it up. Beautiful building though. The area is mainly empty now which seems to be a theme after the Olympics leave town.

We also noticed the city was organized into different sections. We went by the car dealer section which had every make /i have ever heard of. Then we passed what we dubbed the Home Depot section. It was all vendors for building materials including Pagodas. n a side note, I have taken two rides around town and I amazed at the driving here. Our drivers were in and out of traffic without turn signals, passing in the breakdown lane. Not once did I fear for my life nor did our drivers ever slam on the brakes. There are a couple of times I feared for other peoples lives while we were waiting at lights. Any how, we then got into a agricultural area and then we hit the Camford Royal School. It's a nice campus that looks like it was once a park/pool area.

I had my first squatty potty sighting. I had heard about them but not until I went to the bathroom at the school did I see one.

We met our helpers for the camp the they showed us around and that's when things went a bit sideways. They showed the dorms for the kids which were ok. It is camp after all. Then they showed us the classroom. It was a 10 x 12 room with 30 mini desks and carpet that smelled like must. It had plumbing on the outside of the walls that I was unsure what it was to. It might have been heat. We also saw a classroom in the dorm for dance. We asked if we could use that and they laughed. Then it was time for lunch. The cafeteria was nice. The food was good. I ate Tofu. I also used chopsticks. The rice here is perfect for picking up. Not sure how they do it but I could handle it with my chopsticks.

Then the afternoon was spent waiting in the conference room for our materials to show up so we could organize. Some parents and kids started to show up and that's when things turned into what we call Bian yanshu. So the drama was some parents were unhappy about the dorms and some left. We then switched venues to a bed and breakfast type place where we stayed the night. It's near the foothills where part of the wall is. We saw a turret tower at the top of one of them. Pretty cool, despite the fact we are in the middle of no where. The person who sent us here came in late last night to sort things out and get things straight so after I finish up writing this I need to go organize materials and figure out what we are going to do with the 2 remaining campers out of 16.

I have learned that the parents here are ferociously helicoptery. I watched one dad take out a wet wipe and wipe down a camper before he let him inside. We used a lot of humor and went with the flow in a weird day. I don't think that it's anyone's fault things are weird but we will work together and figure it out. I am in China after all. My take on the first full day is things are definitely different here both culturally and environment. It's good to outside of the normal to appreciate the normal and definitely bian yanshu.  

Day 1- My Adventures in Beijing

So I stumbled upon an opportunity to teach STEM stuff at camp in Beijing for 3 weeks this summer. Somehow I am managing to not only get a trip out of this deal I am also getting paid. I have decided to fire up the old blog again.

Day 1
Let me say that I did not travel with the other 2 teachers that I am here with. My visa was not ready so I had to go it alone. The day started well enough. My wife, 2 daughters and my mom, who was out visiting my oldest daughter for her birthday, saw me off at the airport. One of the toughest things I have done. I have never left my family for more than 5 days ever. Everything was smooth sailing until I walked up to the gate to fly to San Francisco. The gate keeper made announcement saying we were delayed for fog or some sort of air traffic control issue. He also said that if you had an international connection to go to customer service down a few gates. So I took off and headed there. I was good and there were only 4 people ahead of me. It turns out that was the  biggest patience test ever. When I was 2nd in line, it took almost an hour to chat with a customer service person. In the airline industry if you pay big bucks you get your own line and can skip ahead of the economy people. The poor woman in front of me was having a tougher time with it than me. So with the delay I was going to miss my flight to Beijing so they put me on an Air China flight that would put me in a couple of hours after the first one. I did have a whole row to myself picked out on my original flight to Beijing. No big deal, the flight to San Francisco was uneventful, the middle seat was empty so I could lean and not get crushed by the carts.
So I arrive in San Francisco and I am looking at the departure board and I do not see any flights to Beijing. So I go to customer service and ask them about my Beijing flight, which my ticket had very little about. They tell me it's on time and will be down in the international terminal. I arrived in San Fran about 11:30 and the Air China flight was 2:50. So I go down to the gate listed and I do not see a plane at that gate matching an Air China description. I download their app. It turns out that flight was late and was going off at 6:50pm. So it turns out I had around 5-6 hours to kill. Having been in San Fran before for NSTA, I knew it was easy to get downtown from the airport so I decided to go to Union Square and ride the cable ca over to Fisherman's wharf and grab some In N Out. Well, the line for the cable car was long so I jumped back on the BART to go to Embacadero and walk down to the Wharf from there. It's a longer walk than I remember but it was nice and I had a long flight so exercise was not the worse idea ever. In N Out was hopping and the double double with fries and shake hit the spot. Back up to the BART and Back to the airport to board a plane.

So I am about 15 minutes away from boarding the flight to Beijing and My wife, Kara, calls me and it like: "Oh my god, oh my god" in a frantic voice. I am thinking they killed my mom or an animal died. After a moment to get my heart started it turns our female llama, Luda, who we thought was not pregnant after a visit to the vet a few months back, gave birth. So no one can say that good things don't happen when I leave. We are still figuring out name and sex but every one is doing great. Here is a pic:

I then get on a very full flight to Beijing, aisle seat so getting crushed by the carts is an issue. I learned that using devices on the flight is prohibited so I cannot read on my iPad, listen to music on my phone, or play games on my phone. I did have seat back entertainment with some choice headphones. I watched the new CHIPs the new King Kong, the Disney China movie and a couple of more. I managed to sleep in some small chunks. The flight was tough on me. The time changes mess with your head a bit. They feed you, then turn the lights off until about 4 hours to go then feed you again and land. So I got into to Beijing around 10 pm local time. I made it through immigration and customs. To my surprise my bag and my ride Zoe found me. Zoe is a saint and took me from the airport to a hotel about 40 minutes to the west of the airport, as far as I can tell. The taxi driver was fun. I am not sure if passing on the shoulder is legal in China but he did it 13 times. He was in and out in traffic but I never feared my life until a dump truck was doing 2 km/hr on an exit ramp. I then WeChatted Kara and the girls and saw the new llama. Cute as heck. I showered and slept on the couch. The beds here feel like a thin layer of cushion over some plywood. The adventure begins tomorrow when we head up to camp.