Hey bloggers~ Sorry I forgot to update you last week. I meant to do so on Monday but then I got asked to help out with three classes in the morning and two in the afternoon and in between the classes I spent my time getting actual work done. All week I kinda just lost track of time. I found out that we had a short week last week so I was able to go to the color run on Saturday :D But before I get too ahead of myself, let's review....
Last week Monday-Friday: I was asked to help out with grade 11 A-level classes. I go for two or three periods every morning and just help look over students' work. We've got a looooooooooong year ahead of us... to put it nicely >.< The kids are sweet and I'm enjoying getting to know them before we actually have to get down to business next semester. They just have a lot to work on between now and when they graduate.
Friday afternoon: I got off the bus two stops before my apartment stop and caught the city bus to the train station. I got my ticket and rushed off to the gate just as they were boarding.... PHEW made it! I was on my way to Beijing! I got in and went to my hotel. TRAFFIC WAS TERRIBLE!!!! It took forever to get to my hotel and that made me late for dinner >.< I went out to Haidilao with Russell, Nelson, and Richard (all Iolani). We had a blast eating and talking story. Then I met up with Jonathan and we watched the France v Switzerland world cup game. It was exciting because France scored three goals in the first half. Jonathan taught me a lot about soccer that I didn't know before.
Saturday: In the afternoon I had the color run but I wanted to go shopping :P I always wanna shop in Beijing haha! So eventually I met up with Maria and Alan (two of my former students) and then we waited for Tiffany and Renee (more of my former students) to meet us. Then all five of us started our run and along the way Jerry called Maria and asked where we were. So then we waited for him and attacked him with yellow powder. Then all six of us ran the rest of the 5k and had a blast with all the colors. We made some new friends by attacking them with powder as they attacked us.
Saturday night: I invited the students to a graduation dinner and told Jonathan to meet us there. I wanted him to meet them. He wanted to play a prank on them and I agreed that it'd be fun. So we pretended that Jonathan was a guy from Malaysia who didn't speak any English. Our story was that I met him on a hook up app called momo and I've been using Google Translate to talk to him. But I wanted to meet him in person and because I didn't speak any Chinese, I needed their help to translate. They all said yes and were incredibly supportive. Tiffany and Renee "calmed my nerves down" and Maria did a lot of the translations. Alan and Jerry spoke to him in Chinese. Five minutes into the conversation Jonathan played the super creepy, awkward guy and all five of my students started an under-the-table weixin group to figure out how they were gonna protect me from this weirdo. After 15 more minutes of us getting more and more uncomfortable Jonathan finally said, "Ok Sweetie, I think that's enough." And all my kids were SHOCKED! I burst out laughing high fived and hugged him. We explained what was going on and the kids were so mad but they laughed and enjoyed themselves. They all like him a lot :) Then we went out to get dessert and ended the night around midnight. I was so happy they liked him a lot and Jonathan even said that he was impressed with them, which is REALLY great news for my to hear! I'm proud of my students and I like showing them off :P
Sunday: I met up with Jonathan for lunch before he went off to Shanghai and then I met up with Russell to meet a really tapped in guy named Victor. He knows everyone in the entertainment industry in Beijing and Shanghai so I was really excited to get introduced to him. I started thinking about my future in China whether that's as a counselor or dancer. TBH I'm a bit overwhelmed but talking to him made me kick myself in the butt to study Chinese a little harder. I really wish I had formal classes >.< It would make understanding grammar rules so much easier! But whatever, I won't be complainy again. I refuse. This WILL make me stronger~
We got some news that this week is a short week AGAIN! We were all really excited by that news. We have Saturday and Sunday off, which means I have time to clean my apartment finally. I also will have time to study. Anyone up for a coffee and Chinese speaking date?! I REALLY need the practice! It's getting close to the time I'll be heading home and I'm really excited. I'll be going home on July 11th and I'll be traveling to Cali and Seattle so I'll have a lot to update you all on even when I'm not in China. So keep up with all my adventures as my first year in China comes to a close. The adventures aren't anywhere near done but as always, I'll keep updating you~ Until then... Laters!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Sunday, June 8, 2014
I am NOT a secretary
Happy Monday (in China) bloggers! As predicted, not much has happened this week but for those of you interested, let's catch you up.
Monday I came back to Jinan and Tuesday I was back at work. I pretty much hit the ground running because I had a meeting at 10am and the deadline for the handbook I'm creating got pushed up a month... Oh did I mention that I'm creating a student handbook? Yea. My Oregon boss told Tony, the dean of students, that Tony was to create a handbook in English (keep in mind we're in China, our students speak Chinese as a first language, and Tony speaks English as a THIRD language). There's some drama among the administration because my boss doesn't think the dean of students counts as administration so they've been having a work war ever since the first day they met. Any way, so Tony comes to me and say, "Brian wants you to create a student handbook," then walks away! I was like oh wth?! But like a good employee I sucked it up and went to work on it. The task was assigned May 1st and I was told I had until July 10th. I was like sweet plenty of time to figure out what needs to go into the handbook. I spent the first two weeks of May getting translations of the school rules to put into the handbook. The last two weeks while I waited for more translations, I edited grammar, made sure the formatting was alright, and put everything that I thought we needed in there.
Then Tuesday comes around and my boss says, "so we're having a staff meeting next week Tuesday and we need this handbook by Monday." Well, I was told July 10th not June 10th. So I spent all week busting my butt getting as many translations as possible and working on this damn thing during working hours and when I went home.... I was so mad that I got caught in the middle of the admin war. But I got it done by Friday and gave drafts to people to look over. I only had minor edits to make. What really pissed me off and made me feel REALLY disrespected was that when I went to my boss and handed him the draft he said, "Just so you know, when secretaries are trained on making documents like this, they underline things that need to be edited so you should take out the underlining on the headings." HOLD UP! I'M NOT A SECRETARY! HOW DARE YOU JUST CALL ME THAT AND TREAT ME LIKE I'M ONE! I spent the rest of the day Friday out of my office because I was too mad to even think about what he just said.
Rewind back to Tuesday's 10am meeting.... BossMan also gave me a task that he assigned to someone else 5 months ago. I pulled it up in an email and sent it to him being like uhhhh you already have what you need for this. How is he this unorganized?! I don't get it. He also asked me to look for ways around students having to take the IELTS and TOEFL to get into universities.... Ummm it can't be done, it's required, task done.... CHECK! I swear... this man should not be an administrator!
Fast forward to Friday night after work. I wanted to go out to eat because I was still in my low mood from my Beijing trip and plus I was mad at my boss. So I set up a wechat group and asked if anyone wanted to go out. Then it started thunderstorming right as we were getting ready to go out. FML! The lightning and thunder happened at exactly the same time so basically we were right under it. I'm pretty sure I'm partially deaf from that clap of thunder that night. We still braved the storm to go get food and had a pretty decent time.
Saturday I had a performance so I spent all day stretching, prepping, and getting myself beautiful :) It was a nice relaxing day and the performance went well. A lot of the SDU students love watching me dance so they ask me back a lot :D Snaps for me! Haha.
Sunday I went shopping with Christine. We needed a girls day out even though it was hotter than hell. We got a bit cranky because we were searching for a tea market and couldn't find it after riding a bus in the heat and walking a lot in the sun for about 2 hours. That was pretty much the end of that day.
This morning we were on our way to work and about half way to school we got stuck in traffic. Our 45-minute commute turned into a 2 hour commute! Monday morning Jinan traffic FAIL! We were about an hour late for work. I don't have any classes so I don't care but for everyone who did, they felt a bit frazzled. This week is a long week and we're anticipating next week to be a long week as well :( SUPER LAME but on the 20th I'll be headed back to Beijing again. I can't wait. I might have to take some time off work but I have a lot of strong arguments as to why I deserve that time off aside from the fact that it's Saturday that I'm taking off. Oh China. These next two weeks (unless I get caught in another admin war) should be pretty chill so I'll update you if I have anything to update you on.... in the mean time, check out my friend's blog http://aiccomics.blogspot.com/ It's some pretty good stuff :P I'll post again next weekish! Until then... Laters!
Monday I came back to Jinan and Tuesday I was back at work. I pretty much hit the ground running because I had a meeting at 10am and the deadline for the handbook I'm creating got pushed up a month... Oh did I mention that I'm creating a student handbook? Yea. My Oregon boss told Tony, the dean of students, that Tony was to create a handbook in English (keep in mind we're in China, our students speak Chinese as a first language, and Tony speaks English as a THIRD language). There's some drama among the administration because my boss doesn't think the dean of students counts as administration so they've been having a work war ever since the first day they met. Any way, so Tony comes to me and say, "Brian wants you to create a student handbook," then walks away! I was like oh wth?! But like a good employee I sucked it up and went to work on it. The task was assigned May 1st and I was told I had until July 10th. I was like sweet plenty of time to figure out what needs to go into the handbook. I spent the first two weeks of May getting translations of the school rules to put into the handbook. The last two weeks while I waited for more translations, I edited grammar, made sure the formatting was alright, and put everything that I thought we needed in there.
Then Tuesday comes around and my boss says, "so we're having a staff meeting next week Tuesday and we need this handbook by Monday." Well, I was told July 10th not June 10th. So I spent all week busting my butt getting as many translations as possible and working on this damn thing during working hours and when I went home.... I was so mad that I got caught in the middle of the admin war. But I got it done by Friday and gave drafts to people to look over. I only had minor edits to make. What really pissed me off and made me feel REALLY disrespected was that when I went to my boss and handed him the draft he said, "Just so you know, when secretaries are trained on making documents like this, they underline things that need to be edited so you should take out the underlining on the headings." HOLD UP! I'M NOT A SECRETARY! HOW DARE YOU JUST CALL ME THAT AND TREAT ME LIKE I'M ONE! I spent the rest of the day Friday out of my office because I was too mad to even think about what he just said.
Rewind back to Tuesday's 10am meeting.... BossMan also gave me a task that he assigned to someone else 5 months ago. I pulled it up in an email and sent it to him being like uhhhh you already have what you need for this. How is he this unorganized?! I don't get it. He also asked me to look for ways around students having to take the IELTS and TOEFL to get into universities.... Ummm it can't be done, it's required, task done.... CHECK! I swear... this man should not be an administrator!
Fast forward to Friday night after work. I wanted to go out to eat because I was still in my low mood from my Beijing trip and plus I was mad at my boss. So I set up a wechat group and asked if anyone wanted to go out. Then it started thunderstorming right as we were getting ready to go out. FML! The lightning and thunder happened at exactly the same time so basically we were right under it. I'm pretty sure I'm partially deaf from that clap of thunder that night. We still braved the storm to go get food and had a pretty decent time.
Saturday I had a performance so I spent all day stretching, prepping, and getting myself beautiful :) It was a nice relaxing day and the performance went well. A lot of the SDU students love watching me dance so they ask me back a lot :D Snaps for me! Haha.
Sunday I went shopping with Christine. We needed a girls day out even though it was hotter than hell. We got a bit cranky because we were searching for a tea market and couldn't find it after riding a bus in the heat and walking a lot in the sun for about 2 hours. That was pretty much the end of that day.
This morning we were on our way to work and about half way to school we got stuck in traffic. Our 45-minute commute turned into a 2 hour commute! Monday morning Jinan traffic FAIL! We were about an hour late for work. I don't have any classes so I don't care but for everyone who did, they felt a bit frazzled. This week is a long week and we're anticipating next week to be a long week as well :( SUPER LAME but on the 20th I'll be headed back to Beijing again. I can't wait. I might have to take some time off work but I have a lot of strong arguments as to why I deserve that time off aside from the fact that it's Saturday that I'm taking off. Oh China. These next two weeks (unless I get caught in another admin war) should be pretty chill so I'll update you if I have anything to update you on.... in the mean time, check out my friend's blog http://aiccomics.blogspot.com/ It's some pretty good stuff :P I'll post again next weekish! Until then... Laters!
Monday, June 2, 2014
Words to describe this weekend... GO!
Exciting. Nerve-wrecking. Exhausting. Delicious. Fast-paced. Sleep-deprived.
Best. Weekend. EVER!
*Be prepared... This is a long post :D
So as most of you already read I went to Beijing this past weekend from Friday night to Monday afternoon. I spent most of the morning Friday anxious to leave Jinan. I went into work, talked with my friends, and tried to focus on the here and now. Then I caught a taxi to the train station. As I sat in the air conditioned taxi I prayed that it wouldn't break down like the last one did. I made it to the station with minimal problems and the entire time my excitement for leaving Jinan grew. I tried to keep it in check because I didn't wanna be let down if not everything turned out the way I had hoped. But I couldn't help it! I arrived in Beijing around 7:30pm and by the time I got to my hotel and checked in, it was already 8:30. I was supposed to meet Jonathan (from Punahou) at 8 so I felt terrible for being late and got even more worried that my weekend would end up a disaster. Fortunately, once I got into a taxi and met up with him, everything worked out in the best possible way. I met him at a restaurant that served American BBQ and it was AMAZING! I met some of his friends and enjoyed their company. They were all eating dinner together for someone's birthday (it was kinda awkward that I was there for her bday but I didn't know her but whatever). After dinner Jonathan and I tried to find a club or bar to go to but there really wasn't much going on so we just hung out and talked. It was an awesome evening to start my weekend... This is when I knew it was only going to get better so I let myself be excited :)
Saturday I met up with Richard (from Iolani) and a couple of his friends and we went shopping for a few hours. Before the day ended I had to go get cigars for Michael at a place I had no idea where it was. So after lunch I had Richard call the hotel (I had their business card, which had NO ADDRESS) and they sent him the address via text to my phone. I was still really nervous because a) I can't read or speak Chinese very well so asking for directions was not exactly in my game plan, b) I wasn't exactly sure where I was in relation to the location, and c) What if this place doesn't speak English?! How was I supposed to get these things that I know nothing about in a language I don't speak?! Fortunately, it was Jonathan to the rescue! I was originally supposed to meet up with him after I got the cigars but with timing and the situation, he decided to meet me at the location of the cigar shop. He knew exactly where this place was and gave me directions. It was honestly the nicest thing I could've asked for. Super special shout out to Jonathan for being AWESOME! The errand got done with some difficulty and then we went back to my hotel to sit in the A/C for a while. I was kinda burned out from doing things so we decided to go get massages. It was definitely what I needed. Then we went to dinner at a pseudo Japanese restaurant and planned to go out to a bar or club after but when we got out of the restaurant it was thunder storming! Absolutely ridiculous.... So we ran through the rain to his apartment since it was closer than my hotel and waited out the storm. It didn't stop so we ended up not going out again. Second fail for going out in Beijing... oh well.
Sunday was the Great Wall Music Festival. Yes. A music festival ON the GREAT WALL! It started out a great day. Regina cooked Hawaiian food for me and I loved it. Then around 3 we left for the festival. We were on a bus with foreigners from Europe and North America so I made a lot of new friends. When we got there it was hot. As soon as we stepped off the bus, it started to rain. Not just rain.... Thunderstorm AGAIN! We were all like oh wth?! But we toughed it out and danced in the rain. TOTALLY WORTH IT! It stopped raining when Armin Van Buuren came on so people came back out from under the tents and it ended up being the most fun I could've imagined. The rain made the lasers in the air look super pretty and the lights on the Great Wall were just flat out breath taking. We got back to our drop off location around 1am.
Monday around 3pm I was leaving behind the greatest weekend ever and heading back to sad Jinan. I always get a little bummed when I have go back to real life after a vacation. But this time, I was boarder line crying. I can always tell how great of a weekend it is by the immediate crash of the high I get from traveling. If I'm happy to be going home, I didn't have a very good time on my trip so it was nice to know that being THIS sad meant my weekend was THAT awesome. Anyway, I woke up and checked out of the hotel. I went to Jonathan's apartment to drop off my bags and we went out to lunch. We had burgers.... like REAL burgers. He took me to an international supermarket and it was nice to see all the things I had been living without for the last 8 months or so. Then Jonathan put me in a cab with some directions and I was on my way. I sat on the train exhausted but happy. I replayed all the events from the weekend in my head and smiled and cried at the same time. A little too quickly, I was back in Jinan staring out the taxi window trying to figure out which direction I was heading. I usually check my directions with the mountains that surround the city but it was so foggy that I couldn't see past 3 buildings in front of me! I had to work really hard to avoid crashing from an incredible high to the darkest of depressions. I managed to get home and do everything I needed to do before crashing into a coma.
Now I'm back at work with dead mosquitoes on my desk and a large number of emails to work through. This week is a short week (thankfully), which means we have both Saturday AND Sunday off. I agreed to perform for a graduation party on Saturday so at least I won't be totally lame this weekend. I don't anticipate anything exciting happening this week but if anything does happen, you'll be in the know :) Until then... Laters!
Best. Weekend. EVER!
*Be prepared... This is a long post :D
So as most of you already read I went to Beijing this past weekend from Friday night to Monday afternoon. I spent most of the morning Friday anxious to leave Jinan. I went into work, talked with my friends, and tried to focus on the here and now. Then I caught a taxi to the train station. As I sat in the air conditioned taxi I prayed that it wouldn't break down like the last one did. I made it to the station with minimal problems and the entire time my excitement for leaving Jinan grew. I tried to keep it in check because I didn't wanna be let down if not everything turned out the way I had hoped. But I couldn't help it! I arrived in Beijing around 7:30pm and by the time I got to my hotel and checked in, it was already 8:30. I was supposed to meet Jonathan (from Punahou) at 8 so I felt terrible for being late and got even more worried that my weekend would end up a disaster. Fortunately, once I got into a taxi and met up with him, everything worked out in the best possible way. I met him at a restaurant that served American BBQ and it was AMAZING! I met some of his friends and enjoyed their company. They were all eating dinner together for someone's birthday (it was kinda awkward that I was there for her bday but I didn't know her but whatever). After dinner Jonathan and I tried to find a club or bar to go to but there really wasn't much going on so we just hung out and talked. It was an awesome evening to start my weekend... This is when I knew it was only going to get better so I let myself be excited :)
Saturday I met up with Richard (from Iolani) and a couple of his friends and we went shopping for a few hours. Before the day ended I had to go get cigars for Michael at a place I had no idea where it was. So after lunch I had Richard call the hotel (I had their business card, which had NO ADDRESS) and they sent him the address via text to my phone. I was still really nervous because a) I can't read or speak Chinese very well so asking for directions was not exactly in my game plan, b) I wasn't exactly sure where I was in relation to the location, and c) What if this place doesn't speak English?! How was I supposed to get these things that I know nothing about in a language I don't speak?! Fortunately, it was Jonathan to the rescue! I was originally supposed to meet up with him after I got the cigars but with timing and the situation, he decided to meet me at the location of the cigar shop. He knew exactly where this place was and gave me directions. It was honestly the nicest thing I could've asked for. Super special shout out to Jonathan for being AWESOME! The errand got done with some difficulty and then we went back to my hotel to sit in the A/C for a while. I was kinda burned out from doing things so we decided to go get massages. It was definitely what I needed. Then we went to dinner at a pseudo Japanese restaurant and planned to go out to a bar or club after but when we got out of the restaurant it was thunder storming! Absolutely ridiculous.... So we ran through the rain to his apartment since it was closer than my hotel and waited out the storm. It didn't stop so we ended up not going out again. Second fail for going out in Beijing... oh well.
Sunday was the Great Wall Music Festival. Yes. A music festival ON the GREAT WALL! It started out a great day. Regina cooked Hawaiian food for me and I loved it. Then around 3 we left for the festival. We were on a bus with foreigners from Europe and North America so I made a lot of new friends. When we got there it was hot. As soon as we stepped off the bus, it started to rain. Not just rain.... Thunderstorm AGAIN! We were all like oh wth?! But we toughed it out and danced in the rain. TOTALLY WORTH IT! It stopped raining when Armin Van Buuren came on so people came back out from under the tents and it ended up being the most fun I could've imagined. The rain made the lasers in the air look super pretty and the lights on the Great Wall were just flat out breath taking. We got back to our drop off location around 1am.
Monday around 3pm I was leaving behind the greatest weekend ever and heading back to sad Jinan. I always get a little bummed when I have go back to real life after a vacation. But this time, I was boarder line crying. I can always tell how great of a weekend it is by the immediate crash of the high I get from traveling. If I'm happy to be going home, I didn't have a very good time on my trip so it was nice to know that being THIS sad meant my weekend was THAT awesome. Anyway, I woke up and checked out of the hotel. I went to Jonathan's apartment to drop off my bags and we went out to lunch. We had burgers.... like REAL burgers. He took me to an international supermarket and it was nice to see all the things I had been living without for the last 8 months or so. Then Jonathan put me in a cab with some directions and I was on my way. I sat on the train exhausted but happy. I replayed all the events from the weekend in my head and smiled and cried at the same time. A little too quickly, I was back in Jinan staring out the taxi window trying to figure out which direction I was heading. I usually check my directions with the mountains that surround the city but it was so foggy that I couldn't see past 3 buildings in front of me! I had to work really hard to avoid crashing from an incredible high to the darkest of depressions. I managed to get home and do everything I needed to do before crashing into a coma.
Now I'm back at work with dead mosquitoes on my desk and a large number of emails to work through. This week is a short week (thankfully), which means we have both Saturday AND Sunday off. I agreed to perform for a graduation party on Saturday so at least I won't be totally lame this weekend. I don't anticipate anything exciting happening this week but if anything does happen, you'll be in the know :) Until then... Laters!
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