Chinafabulous 2008-09-07T20:09:10Z http://blog.valeriedolby.com/atom.aspx Quick Blog another beginning... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-09-06:2121941f-e589-41ed-973d-52d128f85ee5 valerie dolby 2008-09-06T13:48:12Z 2008-09-06T13:37:00Z
It is so wonderful to be back again for another year. This is the leadership team for the year that I'll be working with. The amazing thing is that 2 of the other 6 team leaders for this year were with me at the same school my first year. It's been wonderful so far to be back with them again as we prepare to leave for another year in China. Our teams arrived this past Monday and have survived the first few days of training. We have had some really great times so far as a team and I'm so excited to see what happens in their lives and in our team as a whole this year. I don't have any pictures with teammates yet, so I'll work on that so you can see some faces and know who I'll be working with this year.
I really can't express how incredible it is to be right at the center of where you should be. This week has already begun to confirm for me again that this job with this group of people is such a great fit for me. I'm so excited to see where that will take me and what it will look like in the years to come.
Something you can be thinking about this week is my teams visa situations. They do not have their visas in hand yet and the process of getting them has been bumpy at times for various reasons. The organization we work with for our visas was closed during the olympics and our friends at the place has been on vacation since then so it's just hard to get everything processed. We are supposed to fly out on the 16th, so my six girls need to have everything cleared for them by that day! I'll keep you updated on that.

]]> Summertime tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-08-12:3ab2c4d6-ef59-48ed-b5f3-719a77a2194c valerie dolby 2008-08-12T14:44:12Z 2008-08-12T14:31:00Z I realize it's been forever since I've posted anything and I'm not sure where I've been since May. I guess there has been a mix of having nothing interesting to say and being busy or without internet.

BUT...this past week in Texas, I discovered one of the most amazing activities in the U.S.: Whirlyball.

 

This is played in Bumper Cars on a Basketball court. You have a "scoop" seen in the picture on the left and you have a whiffle ball. You play five on five like you would in basketball too. The backboard doesn't have a hole, it has a piece of plastic over the circle that you have to hit. It's way more challenging than you would think because you have to maneuver the "Whirlybug" you're driving and get to the ball and learn how to appropriately use the scoop to shoot or pass the ball. There are rules and different difficulties of points too.

You can do this in Dallas and somewhere in Chicago. Not sure yet if there are other places...but if you are in either of those cities anytime soon, I highly suggest you try out Whirlyball.

]]> Shaken Up tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-05-15:d7e03cf2-9662-4a7c-beee-edf41efd8526 valerie dolby 2008-05-15T23:35:03Z 2008-05-15T23:07:00Z  

Thanks for all your concern about me this week because of the earthquake that happened in Sichuan. I've heard that some people in Beijing felt the quake but I'm 1,000 miles away from the epicenter so I didn't feel anything. But I do have some updates on the situation over here as I've heard this week from friends. One of my good friends is from Chengdu which is about 50 miles from the center of the earthquake. The last news she had was that they are having major shortages with food and clean water down there. They are also short-handed when it comes to medical care since so many people have been injured.
One of the hardest things about the situation is where this quake hit. This area of the country has lots of mountains so it was difficult at first for rescue teams to get in and its been hard to get people out of the damaged areas. The other thing is, this is a lower class area of China. A few emergency rescue groups have set up refugee camps where people can sleep and get food but it isn't enough for all the people who have lost their homes. For these people, it will be difficult to rebuild their lives. They do not have the resources to deal with such a traumatic experience.
 
Another problem is that it's been wet in the area lately. There were several mudslides that killed people and have blocked off access to places. Early this week I heard from some teachers in the south and they said things were pretty intense at their school. They are in the neighboring province and they had felt the quake but it hadn't been as extreme. Yet, the students were sleeping outside because the leadership didn't know if they should trust the stability of the dorms. Another friend told me that some students she knew were sleeping in their school canteen because dorms had been damaged. Classes have been cancelled this week for most universities in that area and the students aren't sure what to do with themselves. They can't offer much help but they don't have their school routine to keep them busy and distracted from what is happening around them.
I heard today that they think the death toll may rise to 50,000 by the time they get through all the rubble and affected areas.
Two positive things have come from this so far though. China has been accepting aid and workers this week from Taiwan and Japan. Their relationships have been a little rocky but it's been awesome to see these two neighboring islands get over that and come to help the Chinese people. Also, there has been so much drama and hype about the olympics since it's now less than 100 days away. There has been a lot of negativity against China and a lot of anger from Chinese people against those who are boycotting the olympics. This was a wake up call that there are more important things in life....like the people of the country. Hopefully people from other countries can take a break from knocking China for certain policies and actions and start caring about the common people. ]]> 100 days until the olympics tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-04-29:6456028f-410e-410f-a4a8-0e9a8825f424 valerie dolby 2008-04-29T23:09:36Z 2008-04-29T22:48:00Z
This week marks the 100 day countdown until the Olympics. I'm certainly glad I won't be anywhere around Beijing during the olympics time. If there is a hype about the countdown...then there will certainly be too much excitement and action during the actual games.
In order to celebrate this, my school had a sports day and each class represented a different sport that will be in the summer olympics. They each did a little performance for that sport and it was pretty amazing how creative some of it was.

It was so fun to watch my kids compete in races and the tug-of-war. It's good to see them enjoying themselves rather than just seeing them in class.

A lot has been going on around here lately concerning the Olympics. Because of the drama concerning the torch relay in Paris, people are spreading word to boycott Carrefour here (a french supermarket). I often find myself frustrated at the news I read from around the world concerning the Olympics this year. People think they can change China by boycotting the summer games or by making statements about the country's policies. Yet, that isn't going to make a difference. I think the best way to see change in China right now seems to be through support. As China builds relationships with the west, some things may change because of those relationships. But bullying or criticizing them isn't going to lead to anything good. If things do not go well at the summer olympics this year, then it could be damaging for this country's economy and the spirit of its people. It's hard for me to understand things like the situation in Tibet and I've even lived here for two years. Life is complicated here. If people don't know what they're talking about, they shouldn't be saying anything. Thankfully, the people here are still excited for the olympics to come, despite the setbacks that have occured throughout the world in regards to the summer games. ]]> my birthday in china tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-04-11:3c0bbd69-086e-473f-b1d8-f90b71494936 valerie dolby 2008-04-11T03:59:13Z 2008-04-11T02:38:00Z
my teammate, george, is a balloon artist and made me this hat for my birthday. i had to wear this the entire evening. we went to pizza hut in our town and everyone everywhere stared in wonderment at the crazy foreigners. thankfully, my teammates all wore little party hats so i wasnt the only one like this.
 
i dont really eat cake, so joel made chocolate chip muffins which tasted more like really dense biscuits because his baking powder expired 2 years ago (which cant be useful). we only had three candles so thats what i used.. each one representing a 100  months i've been alive...so now i'm a whole quarter of a century old!
]]> acrobats tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-04-03:3d1678b4-db17-4027-b9b5-6b9a71e81113 valerie dolby 2008-04-03T02:19:59Z 2008-04-03T02:16:00Z http://photos.valeriedolby.com ]]> MLB in Beijing! tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-03-17:f1bb52dd-a4f9-44f1-ad35-38318442c64b valerie dolby 2008-03-17T03:13:47Z 2008-03-17T02:49:00Z  
This past weekend was a pre-olympic event in Beijing. The Padres and Dodgers played a two game series at one of the olympic venues. It was interesting. The field was pretty small compared to a standard MLB one. It felt more like a high school or college field. There were certain things that made if feel like home, but it felt pretty Chinese...

 Number One: dancers? How is this guy supposed to appropriately warm up for the next inning with those girls shakin' their barely clad selves in front of him? Cincinnati must have told someone in Beijing that cheerleaders at MLB games are a cool idea (even though no one else in the US agrees).
Number 2: Port-a-potty SQUATTIES??? I have no words.
Number 3: Duh.
 Number 4: In cincinnati, it's the skyline chili shuffle with the ball hiding underneath... in Beijing it was the "pagoda shuffle" ...nice.

Part of the idea for bringing these teams to town was to promote baseball in China. It hasn't been played here over the last few decades very much. There were a lot of groups of young boys at the game but I think they were more interested in the food and free souvenirs than the baseball game. It was strange to have so many ex-pats in one place. And I was surprised by how many Chinese people where there. When the 7th inning stretch came and we (americans) got up to sing the familiar song, the Chinese sitting around us just watched in amazement. They were probably wondering what Cracker Jacks are and why we were so excited to sing this song. Oh, they also had a few times where it was "educational" game time between innings. They taught people how to say "single, double, homerun" in English and explained what they meant. And the ridiculous dance team performed 3 times. Oh, and they RAN OUT OF FOOD in the third inning. But they made up for it buy getting tons of beer and selling that once the food ran out (that made it feel more American having some guys in front of me that had enjoyed a few too many).

It was a beautiful day and one of the first blue sky days we had in a while (its sandstorm season in Beijing so the weather has been weird). It was a little chilly but at least it was pretty. I think there are a few more pre-olympic things going on this spring so maybe I'll get to enjoy a few more!

]]> pizza hut tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-03-07:0df0a29f-fc6a-41b6-ba2c-eace9d284732 valerie dolby 2008-03-07T23:40:43Z 2008-03-07T23:33:00Z
seriously, 8 tiny little onion rings (which was an unfortunate number since there were 5 of us). now, these were good so i'm not arguing about the quality. but perhaps we were expecting a "little" bit of a larger portion. things are always a little different than you would expect here...

also, i would like to ask if you have THIS gem of an item on the menu at your local pizza hut:

a 'harem sweetie' ?????? what does that even mean?


we might have "western" places here but they are often not very similar to the ones back home. ]]> March already.... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-03-04:1add3911-406b-4288-a8dd-f40af19dd78f valerie dolby 2008-03-04T06:55:38Z 2008-03-04T18:37:00Z
it may be a little hard to read... but this is "MEATFLOSS CAKE BREAD" ... found at walmart last week. hmm.... what exactely is "meatfloss" ????????? it's less than a dollar though so at least its a good deal. but no i did not buy this and try it. in my opinion, this type of bread should not involve meat.

I was just saying how i was surprised that it was december.. and now its march! it's amazing how time flies when you're keeping busy. i'm so glad to be back from my travels. i love vacation and the places and people i saw made it a fantastic time. but it's just nice to be back in a routine. although, this week i'm feeling like i don't have much to do to keep myself occupied. that's actually a nice change from last semester though!

i have a new chinese coteacher this semester. i'm hoping she lasts. it's been very up and down so far with her classes. she's a good teacher, the students just have some attitude issues. the one class made her a card though to apologize so that lifted her spirits today. it's been so good getting to know her over the past week...she's SO OPEN which is so strange. she's quickly befriended nicole and i so we're asking for opportunities to encourage her and be a light to her.

the university friends i have are meeting in a new place this term. it's great because this has opened opportunities for them to get to know some older nationals who are very wise and strong in their faith. already they've both been mutually encouraged so we're lifting them up and hoping that it will be a growing experience for both sets of followers.

things with the team have been good so far this term and i'm excited about continuing to grow together in our community. i really want them to dig in deep with each other so hopefully i can encourage that even more this semester. i can imagine that my job is much easier the second year because it already feels easier the second semester. i had no idea what i was getting into last term and i feel like i sank pretty quickly when i tried it in my own strength. but now that we had a month away and some refreshment and rest i feel like i'm ready to thrive this semester. (which is great because last semester was a severe low point for all of us so its great to be on the other side of that storm)!


so today i went to the post office and it was all kinds of trouble. it used to be easy last semester. you walked in with your letters, handed them to the person and they gave you the stamps and you paid and off you went. but for some reason this semester they ask all these questions i've never been asked before and dont understand. today i handed the lady my four letters. she looked at them and then asked me something i didnt understand. after a few more tries she gave me an airmail envelope and told me i had to use those and not my envelopes (why? who knows...). so i had to rewrite all the addresses (not the first time this has happened. it seems to happen at random times though). then i gave the letters back and said i wanted stamps and she asked me several more questions i'd never been asked before. sometimes i feel like i know a lot of chinese and sometimes i feel like i dont speak a word of it. i guess i just know things i need to know.. and post office lingo is out of my realm of 'need to know' chinese. so anyway, she asked me tons of questions and i told her i didnt understand and she must've either given up or just made choices for me eventually i was able to pay and go on my way.

so next time you are at the post office... you should be friendly and interact with them just because YOU CAN. ]]> photos! tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-02-24:7d038fe3-5dfb-43d0-9423-d5b79388629a valerie dolby 2008-02-24T21:50:18Z 2008-02-24T21:49:00Z http://photos.valeriedolby.com ]]> a few more pictures... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-02-22:74dc9206-d27b-44a9-92ab-41a5f166506d valerie dolby 2008-02-22T09:45:48Z 2008-02-22T09:43:00Z
I'm back in Beijing ...vacation is sadly over. I have tons more pictures to post so i'll do that as soon as possible!]]> our trip to Harbin tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-02-10:1b1a1679-8510-4bb7-ba9f-2f1356268d84 valerie dolby 2008-02-10T05:04:06Z 2008-02-10T04:59:00Z
hopefully you just received or will soon receive my last newsletter from last semester. i have one half written about my midyear break and i'll finish it and send it out when i get back the last weekend of february.

until then, hope everything is okay and check back in a week or so for more pics!]]> the semester is over! tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-01-19:d6d24579-5ee0-42a4-99ad-e1d32892c985 valerie dolby 2008-01-19T06:56:18Z 2008-01-19T06:48:00Z
i put a few pics in my album from our dinner last night at the dinner theater in town. it was fun to go out and not have any cares! no classes to plan for or schedules to arrange or whatever else. this semester has been full of many joys but its been trying as well. i'm very excited to begin our vacation soon, even though the first leg of it is in frigid northeast china!

i'll have lots of pictures to post from my journey's around the world over the next month and you'll soon get another newsletter that sums up my semester!]]> no idea .... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-01-11:1437b511-340c-4904-b26e-5ddba53d1396 valerie dolby 2008-01-11T10:04:29Z 2008-01-11T09:57:00Z
they were selling these Lollipops at the grocery store. who does this look like to you?? someone that is a little inappropriate to put on a lollipop perhaps?!]]> free drinks... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-01-07:dfe46ef4-ca23-46e7-b002-df6f69194c5d valerie dolby 2008-01-07T20:43:15Z 2008-01-07T20:38:00Z
on sunday night, nicole, meghan and i went to a local cafe for dinner and a change of scenery from our apartments. it was great. we had pizza and milkshakes and got some work done. there were some russian and chinese students there in the next room over and about midway thru their time there they came over to our table and asked to take pictures with us. this is pretty typical here... if you're an american girl at a tourist site you will almost always have your picture taken with a random chinese person. they see nicole's blonde hair and meghan's red hair and immediately need to capture the moment so they can tell all their friends about the foreigners they know. anyway, these guys left the cafe eventually and about 5 minutes later the waitress comes to our table with three cups of strawberry milk. we were confused and told her we hadn't ordered that and she said the russian student had bought them for us before they left.

nice. free strawberry milk from a stranger. ]]> it's january already? tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2008-01-02:15529ece-78bd-4702-9614-20eefac3bdf9 valerie dolby 2008-01-02T02:38:09Z 2008-01-02T02:29:00Z
a little while ago, nicole said that she had never been injured and she'd always wanted to break something. well, she didn't quite get her wish this week but it was close. she fell on monday and sprained her ankle. because we didnt want to leave her behind on new years eve, we decided to stay in and play games and wait for the new year to arrive. it was fun and actually turned out better than going out might have.

it's crazy to me that its 2008 already. wasn't it just 2000? it's also hard to believe that it's already january and my 1st semester here is winding down already. we have 2 1/2 weeks of classes left and i cant believe it's almost over already! i'm kind of thankful because my one class is just so terrible and i'm definitely ready to take a break from it! still, it's amazing that a new year has already begun again. i have no idea what will happen in my life this next year and that fills me with tons of excitement and a little bit of nervousness. last year certainly turned out differently than i thought it would, so who knows what'll happen this year.

]]> celebrations... tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2007-12-29:f8594ecc-a55c-4dcf-a088-155bce4f6a3b valerie dolby 2008-01-08T03:26:15Z 2007-12-29T02:02:00Z
 

my team spent christmas weekend in beijing at our company headquarters. it was nice to get away from our school campus for a few days and be in a "foreign" place that was decorated for christmas. christmas morning we had breakfast together by the chrismtas tree then they went caroling while i went to the international post office to pick up a package that had gotten stuck there. i'm so thankful for the internet and phones because i was able to talk to some of my family and a good friend on christmas!
 

our primary school had a program for the new year this past week. there were a lot of different traditional type dances. the kids here are pretty talented. they practice a lot too so i guess that helps. kids have randomly been missing from classes lately because they were working on the performance. mostly they do dances but there were a few songs too. a 2nd grade boy sang.. that was pretty great!





]]> foreigners = free entertainment; a tale about dogs tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2007-12-12:4a836e36-44fc-4cad-81de-5cdf75f18d8a valerie dolby 2007-12-12T03:27:44Z 2007-12-12T02:58:00Z as a foreigner, i am already watched by most people. (i really cant say anything against this because i watch chinese people as much as they watch me!). now, as a foreigner in a restaurant--i am even more on display. they love to see if we can really use chopsticks...they love watching us order in chinese...they love to see what we choose to eat.

last week, four of us went out to a local restaurant for dinner. we ordered one of our favorites: caramelized sweet potatoes. now...that sounds a little weird but really its SO good! when this dish comes to the table it is piping hot and the carmel hasnt solidified yet. they bring a little bowl of water with it so that you can dip the sweet potatoes in the water. now, for a chinese person- i have no idea what purpose the bowl of water is supposed to serve as because for the most part they dont use it. as foreigners, we immediately dip all of the sweet potatoes into the water because it prevents them from sticking to each other (because of the carmel). if you don't do this, you end up not eating it all because some is stuck to the plate and you also have a hard time pulling pieces off of each other because the carmel really hardens them together. you will not, however, see a chinese person do what we foreigners do. i'm not sure if they havent figured out yet that its a good idea to dip them all in water first or if they just dont mind spending lots of energy scraping the food off the plate. regardless, last week we ordered this dish with our meal. the waiter brought it out and sat it on the table then walked away as meghan began frantically dipping all of the pieces in the water. the waiter saw this and went and gathered all his other waiter friends and they stared at us in awe-- i'm sure they were wondering why the crazy foreigners do this-- but then again, we are wondering why the chinese don't. i'm glad though that we can offer free entertainment to the locals here.


change of topic:  thoughts on dog meat

my team has been talking about trying dog meat all semester. we have a korean friend that claimed it is delicious and said he'd take us. well, the day finally came on monday. we went to a nearby korean restaurant with three university students so we could all try dog. the meat was brought to us in two different forms -both cooked- and we let it simmer a little in the pot of soup/spices/vegetables that was already cooking. bite #1 was okay but i wasnt impressed much because the type i had chosen was a little fatty. but then we put in the other plate of meat....and OH MY GOODNESS.... it was delicious!!!! seriously. it looked and tasted like my mother's roast beef after it sits in her crockpot overnight. it was really tender and soooo good. i ate so much of it!! i didnt really think about the fact that i was eating dog. well, the rude awakening came later as we were standing outside of the restaurant saying goodbye. two cooks came from around the back of the restaurant carrying a gutted dog by its haunches the way they bring in the pig after its been roasted. first of all, i'd like to point out that they then carried the said dog in through the FRONT DOOR past all the people who were eating (how is there not a code against that????). really though, it made me think twice about what i had just eaten once i saw another slaughtered animal being brought in to cook. just so you know--- it wasnt a golden retriever or anything recognizable
]]> snow! tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2007-12-11:1ec826aa-dd1f-44c8-aac1-5df95217cfd6 valerie dolby 2007-12-11T03:13:45Z 2007-12-11T02:57:00Z monday morning it snowed here! such a rarity for beijing-- its usually a very dry winter. it was beautiful! it was also meghan's birthday and she was super excited to have snow (shes from florida!). some pictures....
 
the snow around campus...

meghan and i... we've got our layers to keep us warm...

nighttime at school....they put up the metal christmas tree in the main field this week. it has a crazy glow at night. it was also great with the snow on the ground last night. so beautiful. ]]> i'm ready to rejoice... it's december finally! tag:blog.valeriedolby.com,2007-12-03:5605dd14-6bfa-47f7-8f4c-2405ff9c3baa valerie dolby 2007-12-03T23:01:19Z 2007-12-03T22:40:00Z
the team (minus joel) spent the weekend at our company headquarters in beijing last weekend. i don't know how we had managed to make it to december without having stayed there. i think my team is finally convinced that it is well worth the money to have a weekend away! the girls and i shacked up on "futons" which are really glorified foam mats. it was really great to have a weekend to relax and enjoy beijing because we havent been able to experience the city much this semester because of how busy things have been. we went to Peter's Tex-Mex on saturday for dinner...this place is beyond delicious. it's definitely one of my favorite places in beijing. i enjoyed amazing enchiladas and a chocolate peanut butter shake. (i know... that doesn't sound very "china" ... but one has to experience their own culture at times!)

i actually had a breakthrough today. since early november, i've been teaching a class of low-level english speakers in grade 6. some of the students are new and most of the rest of the students have bad behavior which inhibits their learning. the class has been quite the challenge. as a foreign teacher, i dont have a lot of tangible ways to discipline the students. i don't have communication with their parents and my communication with their homeroom teachers is limited. since i dont have much discipline, i have to focus on motivating through rewards. this has been difficult too because some of these kids are "too cool for school" and they havent been motivated by anything. but today, class was finally good. almost all of my students finished the work i had given them in class. i only had one dramatic moment between my feisty student Lisa and some boy she was yelling at (this usually happens several times in class). Angel refrained from staring at herself in her little mirror she brings to class. Daniel actually brought his own pen to class so he didnt have to borrow mine. Brian decided to be helpful and work with a lower student instead of his usual activity of wasting time looking at yu-gi-oh cards. i didn't have to take any books or electronic games. my list could go on. it was amazing to finally see kids motivated and working on the project i gave them. i had been feeling really discouraged about this class and just thinking that i couldnt ever get through to these kids. so i'm so thankful that after lots of planning and interceding the class is finally coming around!!

december is going to be crazy and a little overwhelming i'm sure...but i'm glad it's finally here. i'm ready for the semester to wind down!]]>