Jiu Feng Hike

A quick blurp about our weekend day trip to Jiu Feng Mountain Park outside of Beilun on Saturday. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. We woke up after a week of bright sun and hot days to a morning of fog, a breeze and overcast skies...perfect for a long hike :) We visited a small hill in Beilun with some pagodas on top first, then headed to Jiu Feng. The word of the day was "stairs" here. We were in the middle of the forest, going up and down little valleys and peaks on hundreds and hundreds of stairs. It was a great workout for the calves and there were some beautiful overlooks. It reminded me of Colorado to be amidst all of the nature and peace and quiet. We hiked to the waterfall in the park, which is just a trickle right now but we're hoping to go back at the beginning or end of rainy season to see more of a show. On the way back out of the park, there was a local man who had beehives and fresh honey for sale, so we bought a jar. I can't believe I ever called anything else honey...soooo good. It was a great weekend, just what we needed...an escape from the hustle and bustle of crowds and cars/e-bikes in town. We'll definitely be back again...or on a mission to find similar places of refuge and nature.

A Week of Firsts

Many firsts for Erich and I to share...if we can remember them all. I have been meaning to carry my sketchbook with me more oftento write down all of the new things we're learning and experiencing, but typically we just pick up and go before Ican remember. So this week, you're getting what's on the top of my head and what I have photos of to jog my memory.

This is our apartment complex...we're on the 7th floor and just off the photo to the right is the school I work at. Our neighborhood is peaceful and quite...large magnolia trees everywhere and a little stream running through it with some koi looking fish. We walk everywhere and have the maturing leg muscles to prove it :) We're hoping to purchase bikes with our first paycheck this week to get further in shorter timeand explore more of the city.

Last weekend wasfullof art experiences, thanks to some great friends we've made. Brian (HS teacher at AIAN) and his wife Lauren (an amazing fabric artist) arranged a feast at a local restaurant Saturday night and invited many of the Chinese friends they've made over the past year in Beilun. The food was abundant and tasty...here everything is treated like family style eating in the states. We just order a bunch of plates, they goin the middle and there's a huge lazy susan most of the time that you just swing around to try it all. Brian and Lauren know all of the best plates too, so we're never disappointed when they order for everyone...tofu and hot peppers, battered pumpkin chips, steamed cabbage, a spinach/kale-like veggie...my mouth is watering just talking about it :) Anyway, after our bellies were full, they invited us back to their apt to share in a collaborative art experience Lauren was planning with a local Master Calligrapher, Robert. This photo is of Robert painting a Chinese passage onto a scroll of hand-dyed fabric that Lauren created and printed text from an old report from a ship that freed slaves in the Caribbean I believe. It was gorgeous. Lauren is an incredible artist and we're planning to take some calligraphy lessons from a local artist together!

As if that weren'tenough for one weekend, Rachel (AIAN's business manager who is a local from Ningbo) invited us on Sunday to visit and tour her/her husband's Art and English School called The Colorful School. This photo is of one of their painting studios. They have courses in oil and watercolor painting, calligraphy, drawing, and English for students of all ages. It is an amazing facility...I think there were about 10 art studios and 10 English classrooms in the building and the work I saw from students blew my mind. It made me want to take classes there! We were lucky to sit with Rachel and her husband Dave to talk about their school, future expansion and the possibility of Erich and I helping out there in different ways. We also got to hand out prizes to 3-6 year olds at the end of the day for English competitions they had been participating in while we were there. The incredible thing is that there are several other schools just like this (the English part, not the Art) all around Beilun that we've been introduced to. There is such a high demand from parents to have their children tutored in English and be ahead of their peers in this field. Yet, when walking around Beilun, not many people speak English. Maybe it is this up and coming generation that will be more comfortable and fluent...I guess Erich and I should be trying to talk with kids when we have questions we don't know how to ask in Mandarin.

Our first week of school was this past week and I had first day jitters like I was in kindergarten again. This is a photo of my elementary/middle school art room. The doorway in the middle opens up to a boys/girls bathroom just for art class (with 4 sinks...yay!) and you walk right through the bathrooms into my high school art studio. I am so excited about having 2 art rooms...we will be creating some fun art this year! I have to admit though that the middle and high school classes which I was most nervous about, are so far my favorite classes! They are so interested and engaged and I have some kids that are very talented and creative in whatthey've done just the first few days. I have 3 AP art students who I think will impress meas the year continues and I hope I can challenge them in ways they will find rewarding. Most of my classes are about 10-15 students, a very manageable size and hopefully that will lend to us doing some more interesting, messy and more intensive projects. Keep looking as I'm sure student work will be posted later in the year.

We went out with several teachers to dinner at a "hot pot" restaurant this week too. This is a photo of just some of the spread...more came later...mmmm. Basically, think Asian style "melting pot". Each person gets their own pot and burner filled with whatever type of liquid/broth you want...everything from your basic chicken broth to pumpkin flavored and spicy (what I got...and they weren't kidding about being spicy). Then you get bowls and bowls of fresh veggies, meats, tofu, etc. You place whatever fixin's you want in your boiling broth and take it out whenever you're hungry to eat. Holy moly, it was fabulous. You can bet if anyone comes to see us in Beilun, we'll likely take you here. All of this and of course beer too (beer is as cheap as water most places) for about $6/person. My belly loved this place :)

The last "first" to talk about is our first trip to Ningbo yesterday. Ningbo is a city of about 6 million and we live in Beilun (a district of Ningbo). It was about an hour taxi drive with Erich, Dennis and Tim (fellow teachers) and cost $5/each to get there. In Ningbo, we started off by eating some delicious Indian food then headed to Moon Lake and the oldest standing library in China. This photo is from the grounds of the library...it wasn't just any library...it was an entire compound of gardens, buildings, sculptures, stone wall carvings, bamboo groves, rock formations, and history. We spend awhile there just walking around and taking in all of the beauty and history. It also housed a Mahjong (ancient Chinese game that includes domino looking cards and that I know little about) exhibit, because the man who invented the game was also from Ningbo.

After this, we went on a little boat cruise on Moon Lake, wandered through some shops, checked out the back room of a DVD store for bootlegs, and a wandered around a Western grocery store before finding a German restaurant/pub. Didn't take much convincing for any of us to stop there, sit on the patio by the river and have a tasty German beer while enjoying the sunset. From here, we ventured to "The Londoner"...a bar owned by a guy Erich met in Colorado who has lived in Ningbo for 8 years. We met up with Thane (the bar owner), a super intelligent and connected guy, who bought us some drinks while we got to know each other, played pool and wii. Overall, a great day/night in Ningbo...thanks to Tim and Dennis for showing us around and making the day that much better :)

More firsts to come I'm sure, looking forward to the next "first" this week..."first paychecks"... :)

Ni hao

Greetings from China! A week ago we were laying in bed, fighting off the butterflies in our stomachs as we spent our last night in the US for awhile...now we are wondering what there was to be anxious about. Granted it has only been a few days and the jet lag is just now wearing off from the 12 hour time difference, but life is good in Beilun :)

We moved into our apartment on Saturday and decided that we may never have a place with a better view. I will have to take photos and post soon, but we can see the mountains from our bedroom/living room and pretty sunsets over the city while in the bathroom. It's a beautiful community we live in and the school is literally a 2 minute walk from our place.

I experienced what Debra (Erich's Mom) must have gone through in Korea with Kim (his Dad) when we visted the "RT Mart" for the first time on Saturday (RT Mart is the local one stop shop down the street). As I was wheeling my cart in the sea of people and trying to smile back at the stares I was getting, I turned around and my heart was pounding...I could not find Erich! In the states his head of black hair and complexion sticks out in the crowd, but here he is just another Asian man in the midst of the locals. After tracking him down, I decided it might be a good idea to know what color shirt he's wearing when we go to the store from now on :)

We're loving the food and it's much easier to eat vegetarian than I had thought. Meat is more expensive here, so vegetables are a part of every meal and place to eat. For example, we've had these steamed, bread buns with vegetables (Erich gets pork too) in them from street vendors that are very tasty and very cheap (1 yuan...which is about 25 cents...for 2 buns). I think they're called something like "bao za. Today, we stopped in a little mom and pop restaurant, pointed to some photos that looked tasty and I ended up with a heaping plate of cooked potatoes and peppers. Erich's dish required noodles and we had the excitement of getting to watch a very talented local make the noodles from scratch right in front of us! Why don't they have this everywhere in the US?? It was pretty amazing entertainment and the food was good too :)

Anyway, must rest up for getting my classroom together tomorrow. More on that later, but for now, zai jian, good-bye, and see you soon...

Summer Lovin'

SORRY! for anyone who's actually been checking in on our summer tour across the country, we apologize for the lack of info along the way! erich and i have been having a TON of fun with so many of you...so much so that we have neglected our little blog. anyway, we promise to do better now that china is right around the corner and this may be the best way to share everything with you all :)

this summer has been nothing less than amazing! we are so fortunate to have so many friends and family that were willing to make time and share their lives with usover the past few months. there are so many memories to choose from and we thank you all for being a part of them.

we leave on aug. 4 and i think it still hasn't hit us completely how much our lives are about to change. bags are packed, visas are in place and our bellies are full of as much food from the U.S. as we can take with us :) but i don't think it will seem like more than just another stop on our "farewell tour" until we've unpacked in our apartment and ask one another "now what?"