3,000 Vendors at Panjiayuan

Panjiayuan is an extremely large market, featuring row after row after row of antique and other dealers peddling jewelry, clothing, Chairman Mao paraphernalia, musical instruments, statues, leather goods, art work, etc. etc. In addition to the vendors who set up a small display (1 square meter), there are those who are located in established shops. It was an incredible experience. We didn't buy anything except a wonderful Xun (ceramic flute-like instrument) that Chuck is slowly learning to play.

Typical antique shop at Panjiayuan

A view down the alley of shops at Panjiayuan

What are the Odds?

So our first week in Beijing, we were at a market and came across Randy Wright and his wife, Ling Wong. Randy lived in our Provo Utah ward before we left for Hong Kong a few years ago. He moved to Beijing and writes for the China Daily newspaper. We finally got together so Randy and Ling Wong could show us around a bit. We went to the Prince's Mansion near Ho Hai park, and also JingShan, overlooking the Forbidden City.

Chamberlains, Randy Wright and Ling Wong in front of the Prince's Mansion. It was an incredibly large set of buildings in multiple courtyards and gardens. Very beautiful.

Laraine was a "rock star" with her blond hair and blue eyes. These are tourists who asked to have their picture taken with her. 

Being a very "lucky" place, the Prince's mansion is where people can put up their petitions for good fortune. These little wooden red squares contain those petitions, and they're tied to everything around this small shrine. 

Trying to capture interesting faces from a distance with telephoto lense, I was discovered by a man and his daughter. He wanted me to capture him and his little girl. 

From the top of "JingShan" mountain or "Coal Hill," you can see the Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum. On the other side of the square, surrounded by a large mote, is Tiananmen Square. 

We weren't the only visitors to the top of "JingShan" mountain. Most tourists in Beijing are Chinese from other locations.

Typical shopping experience

Shopping is usually done with the help of Google Translate, as there are so many unfamiliar items and packaging. Chuck normally handles translation in two ways: 1) plugging in the English and learning how to say the item in Mandarin, then asking the store staff to point him in the right direction or 2)--using the scanning feature to view the item on his screen, which automatically translates to English.

This works adequately except that there are some very humorous translations. For instance, looking at a can of coconut milk, the translation said, "Plasma from virgin students." It is not unusual to see these kinds of translations.

 

Meeting Minister of Foreign Affairs

We were honored guests at the China Foreign Affairs University's opening ceremonies. It was a packed auditorium and we were treated to front row seats to hear the university president, party leaders, and student representatives speak. Students graduating from this university go into government and international business careers, including foreign service positions such as diplomats and ambassadors for China.

The minister was very personable and friendly. He and members of his delegation each spoke to us as they went by. He has served as China's ambassador to the U.S. and was interested in the fact that we had lived in the Washington DC area too. 

A Day in the Life . . .

So what's it like teaching in China? It all depends on where and what you're teaching. For Laraine and me, it's wracking our brains to complete syllabuses (syllabi?) and lesson plans for our classes. I teach "cross-cultural relations" to two classes of seniors, and oral English to two classes of sophomores. Laraine teaches three freshmen classes. Each of our classes has approximately 20 students and we teach them once/week for two hours each. Students here move through their courses together as a class--which means they have the same classmates for four years! They get to know each other very well, as they spend their entire college career with the same people.

This approach can come in handy. Because our late arrival prevented me from teaching my first two classes on September 4, I had to schedule make-up classes. Try doing that in the U.S.--finding a time when all students have the same availability. Here, it was easy. Their schedules are all the same!

We absolutely love it, but it can be a challenge to determine what to teach. We were given no curriculum, no text books, and no direction. We've had to determine what our students need the most, what they're interested in learning, and what we're capable of teaching. From there, we're creating our curriculum and rubrics for grading, etc. We know that our students are at China Foreign Affairs University to learn how to be diplomats for China. The nickname for this university is "The Cradle for Diplomats," and much is expected of those who graduate from this school.

In addition to these classes, we've started to take on some tutoring clients. So our schedule is filling up. Even still, however, we are only scheduled to teach classes two days each week. The rest of the time is "free" and allows us time to create our lesson plans, do some tutoring, and site seeing.

We've found our apartment to be quite comfortable and relatively "roomy." We have no complaints with that. We also enjoy interacting with the other BYU Kennedy Center couple--the Martins, who live two floors below us. They are extremely fun and give us an expanded cultural experience because they're from South Africa. In addition, we are getting to know other teachers from other countries who are also here teaching Japanese, French, etc.

We enjoy our little walks and bike rides (yes, bike rides) around the neighborhood. Our apartment is on campus, so it's actually in a little academic bubble. When we venture out of the gates, we're amazed by the stream of humanity walking or riding by. For some reason, it makes Laraine laugh. It's kind of like a parade where you don't have a clue what the next float will look like. There are entire families riding on a single scooter, little "tuk tuks" (small motorized enclosed tri-wheelers) carrying everything you can imagine, numerous bicyclists on private or "shared" bicycles, and of course plenty of cars. Unlike Hong Kong, the Lamborghini capital of the world, most vehicles here are modest Toyotas or Nissans.

We have our choice of eating for between $0.60 - $2.50 at the school canteens, cooking something in our kitchen, or venturing out to a restaurant, where lunch might be around $4.00 - $6.00. We usually do a combination of canteen eating and our own cooking.

We keep pinching ourselves. This is truly a dream. We're having so much fun!

View from our 4th Floor kitchen window. Everything shown is within the campus, so there are no public roads showing here. To the left of this picture is a clock tower in the middle of the park. Every morning at 7:00 AM it plays an anthem and then gongs seven times. Of course, there are also Tai Chi masters doing their Tai Chi every morning. Retired teachers continue to live on campus after retirement until they pass away, and their children and grandchildren can live here too. There are small children playing in this park every evening. It's quite a community.  

  

The Old Summer Palace

We met up with four other couples (three couples teaching at Peking University from the BYU China Teacher's Program, and the other couple teaching at CFAU with us) to visit the "old summer palace" in northwest Beijing. It is now merely the grounds and ruins of the palace, as it was destroyed during the Opium Wars. Judging by the debris, it would have rivaled any European Palace of its time. We enjoyed the culture and beauty.

At the entrance to the old summer palace

The palace included a large maze. Here we are at the start of the maze, trying to get to the small structure behind us. 

A view of the maze from a higher vantage point.

We got separated from the rest of the group. Here is (l to r) Ruth Ann Martin from South Africa. She and husband Mike teach with us at CFAU; Laraine--the cutest woman alive; and Janet Steele who teaches with husband Brigg at Peking University. It turns out Janet is the former Janet Allred who was a classmate of ours at Orem High School!!

Getting Settled in Beijing

We have now been in Beijing about 6 days. We can't believe what we've learned and how far we've come in adjusting to this unique life. Chuck started teaching his classes this week--two classes of sophomores. Each class has about 20 students. They are amazingly sweet and he is going to love teaching them. They are anxious to learn about how Americans think and act. They were blown away by pictures of his family--6 children and 14 grandchildren!

The language barrier is substantial when traveling out in the community. Chuck's Cantonese is pretty useless when everyone speaks Mandarin, so there is a lot of pointing and gesturing. He is trying desperately to re-engage with the written language he learned only minimally a few decades ago. Eating in the canteen is an adventure. The foods don't even look recognizable. Cantonese food is what you normally see at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. The foods in this part of the world are quite different and much more spicy. Eating her first foods in the canteen, Laraine turned quite red-faced and we quickly learned together how to say, "too hot!" We ate once at a restaurant down the street and Chuck used his smartphone translation app to decipher the menu. One item looked good in the pictures, but when translated, it came out, "dealer's hospital." So Chuck ordered the dealer's hospital and it was quite good. It was mostly stewed vegetables, with chopped corn on the cob (including the cob!) and some kind of meat still on the bones.

Our classes are on the "old campus" (Chuck teaches two classes there), and on the "new campus" located nearly an hour away via shuttle bus. Laraine teaches all her classes on the new campus, and Chuck teaches his remaining classes there also. Chuck teaches Mondays and Thursdays and Laraine teaches Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new campus is quite large and located on the outskirts of Beijing. The old campus (including our housing) is very small and "cozy" and located in the inner city.  

The apartment is in the International Exchange Center. All residents of the building are "foreigners" and teaching various subjects at the university.

This is the apartment building we live in--it is part of the China Foreign Affairs University compound located not far from the Forbidden City and Tianenman Square area in the center of Beijing 

Our apartment's dryer. This is how we dry our clothes.

Tiffany's family came to wish us luck at the airport. It was great to see them. 

At Salt Lake Airport. Getting ready for a long flight.

Heading to Beijing!

Hello everyone! We're now headed to Beijing! We will be at the China Foreign Affairs University! We're excited to get going. It has been a long process to get our documentation in order, an invitation from a Chinese university, and ourselves ready for this new adventure. Our flight leaves tomorrow morning.

We'll keep you posted. Below is a "map" showing the world's major cities as subway stops. It was in the hallway at the BYU Kennedy Center when we did our training.