The Adventure Continues...

 

Compared to my first China dorm room experience, we’re living in the Grand Hotel. Soren and I have a nice double bed with an actual mattress…I know, impressive.  The shower actually has hot water and there’s a toilet paper holder next to the toilet (this means that the toilet paper doesn’t get soaked every time we take a shower…kind of a problem last time).  Each room also has a flat screen tv, so we’re able to access Asian soap operas and Chinese Mickey Mouse 24/7.  We even have heaters!  Unfortunately, we froze for the first few nights because we weren’t able to figure out how they worked.

Our first morning here, we were introduced to the cafeteria food and Phoenix (our native coordinator for those of you with short term memory loss) gave us a tour of the campus.  It is a gorgeous school.  We have a bamboo forest right in the middle of it.  There are also ping pong tables and badminton nets set up all over the place.

When Phoenix showed us our classrooms, I was shocked.  We have our own bright yellow building for our classes.  It has a supply room with a printer, two drama rooms with stages, a gym room, several other classrooms, and two stocked kitchen rooms.  The only thing the building doesn’t have is a heater, which means we’re pretty cold by the end of the day.  I have to keep my gloves on the whole time. 

Our Yellow ILP Building

Soren behind the Bank of China desk for our students' store.

Typical Cafeteria food...don't ask what it is

Catfish Head...Soren's favorite

After Phoenix finished the tour, we decided to head back down to the ILP building to put some supplies away.  We basically dumped everything in there and then went out to explore Nanjing.  We found a fun area we can the smorgasbord where you can get all kinds of tasty Chinese treats like milk tea, meat on a stick, cane sugar juice, fruit, pretty much anything you could want.

Eating the amazing "burritos" China style

Squid, fish, veggies--all on a stick

 

 

 

The next morning was Saturday.  As the head teacher, I had scheduled a full day of meetings, classroom set-up, and supply room organization.  I had a bunch of copies to make, and the teachers had a bunch of lesson plans to write. Soren and I headed down to the ILP building early to unlock everything and get started. 

Let me just say, convenience is not China’s strong point.  The door to the ILP building turned out to be nothing more than a storage unit-type door.  To unlock it, you have to step on it with your foot and insert the screwdriver-like key into the inlaid lock.  We had not had great success with this the day before, but Soren approached the task undaunted.  He inserted the key into the lock as I held the door down with my foot.  He began to turn the key, but the lock didn’t turn with it.  The handle of the key popped right off, without much of a struggle.   Meanwhile, the blade of the key was stuck in the lock, and there was nothing we could do to get it out.

Soren and I stared at each other for a few moments before we burst out laughing.  We made the trek back up to our dorm rooms where I had to call Phoenix with the unhappy news.  She replied with an astonished, “Oh my Gosh,” and proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t do anything about it until Monday. 

I was not very happy.

I ended up conducting the training meetings outside in the warmth of the sun.  I got a killer sunburn on my nose, but at least we were warm.

I’m going to skip over Sunday for now…there will be a separate blog post about it (be excited).

On Monday morning, Phoenix had the repairman fix the door, but we still weren’t able to get into the classrooms until 1:30 pm.  Since the teachers had their first lessons with the kids at 2:30, there was a fair bit of scrambling going on.  All things considered, the first day actually went pretty darn well.

Now they have a whole week of teaching behind them, and I’m hoping this next week goes a lot smoother.

The broken key

The broken key and the sad Head Teacher

Training meetings outside

The Campus

The Journey to China

As Soren and I awaited our flight in the Salt Lake Airport, I was filled with hope: hope that everything would run smoothly, hope that the school would be ready for us, and hope that we’d get to the school early enough to do some training meetings.  I was hopeful…but I was also expecting the worst.

My expectations were met.

Surprisingly, all the flights went exceptionally well and everyone got their luggage when we reached Shanghai.  We met up with all of our teachers and they are great.  Their names are Maddie, Morgan, Krista, Heather, and Jenna.  I was feeling bad for Maddie because the day we flew out was her birthday, but Korean Air (which is a fantastic airline) ended up giving her a cake on the flight.  Not just a slice of cake…a whole cake. She shared it with us during the layover in Seoul.  We were all feeling pretty good about things as we landed in Shanghai.

At the baggage claim I tried to ignore the worries that plagued my mind: what if we don’t get all our bags? What if there’s no one to meet us? What if…what if…what if?  But once we had our bags, my mind eased a little bit.  We breezed our way through the customs line and found ourselves entering a cattle run surrounded by dozens of people with names on signs.  There were so many signs that I wasn’t sure where to look first.  We made it all the way through the cattle run without seeing a sign for the Nanjing ILP teachers and I was worried that I might have missed it.  I pulled our group over to the left and discovered, to my dismay, that all the other ILP groups were doing the same. 

There were four ILP groups that had traveled to Shanghai together: Nanjing, Changzhou, Nangbo, and Bungbo. None of us saw signs for our schools.  This was the exact kind of situation I had wanted to avoid.  The other Head Teachers and I spent the next hour and a half going back and forth between an information desk with a phone and our groups, trying to get a hold of someone.  I tried calling my school, but none of the numbers I had went through.  One of the groups was able to get in touch with their school and they told us that an email had been sent to them from ILP informing them that the teachers wouldn’t be arriving until Saturday.  It was Thursday. 

I kept trying to hook up to the Internet, but the airport connection required a password, and the instruction page was only in Chinese.  We convinced the lady at the information desk to let us use the Internet there for a small fee and we sent ILP an email.  Nothing seemed to be working and I was getting worried.

Finally, I resorted to borrowing Maddie and Morgan’s iphones to text the ILP directors. That established a direct line of communication.  They let us know that the schools were on their way.  In the end, my group spent about 7 hours in the Shanghai airport.  We took up a huge section with all our luggage. It must have been pretty funny to the airport staff.

We rode on a bus with the Changzhou group and I don’t think the school had anticipated how much luggage we would have.  The Changzhou group had 20 people and our group had 7.  Each of us had two big bags along with two carryon items.  When the bottom of the bus was full, they had to fill the back of the bus with the rest of the luggage.  The men in the groups formed an assembly line to get it all back there.

I was told that the Nanjing group would be dropped off on the highway somewhere until our own bus could come to pick us up.  Fortunately, this ended up not being the case.  The bus took us all the way to the Changzhou school and we met our bus there.  Once again, we had to form an assembly line to get all the luggage off the first bus, and then a new assembly line to get it on the second bus—or I should say van. 

We were finally on the last leg of our journey.  I sat next to our coordinator (her name is Phoenix), and began to sort things out for the semester.  Upon arriving in Nanjing, she took us to McDonalds and then took us to the school.  We arrived at about 11 p.m. and began to haul our luggage up the 5 flights of stairs to our dorm rooms. You could say we were exhausted, but that would be an understatement.

I’m grateful for the experience.  If we can get through that big of an ordeal, we can get through just about anything. Right?

Maddie and her birthday cake

Waiting in the Airport

Still Waiting in the Airport

The luggage in the back of the bus

 

Facelift

I’ve decided that the blog needed to undergo a facelift since I’m no longer just me, I’m part of a we.  The new title of this blog is “Two to Tango” for the following reasons: First of all, Soren and I love to dance and the Tango is one of the most difficult and complex.  Both partners have to work together in perfect synchronization to complete even the most basic steps. The second reason is that since getting married I’ve come to realize that married life works a lot like a Tango—you have to work together if you’re going to succeed. None of the moves work if only one partner is doing them.  We’ll still trip and fall and make mistakes, but we’ll be there for each other.

So, as Soren and I dance into a new world of adventure and excitement, we hope you’ll glide along with us, because even though it takes two to Tango, there’s plenty of room on the dance floor!

Step #43-- Perspective (or first world problems)

The other night I put up a big stink because we ended up going to Wendy's for dinner instead of Chuck o Rama.  Now in my defense, I was promised Chuck o Rama, and I'd been looking forward to it all evening...but it was still kind of a dumb thing to make a big deal about.  After all, I got a spicy chicken sandwich and a frosty.

I'm amazed by the kind of mindset I get into living here in the states.  It's sort of a "I can, so I should."  But shouldn't it be a "just because I can, doesn't mean I should"? I have so many things at my fingertips here and I should just be grateful for whatever I get.  After all, in a few weeks I'll be back in China where I may or may not have hot water to shower with.

Sometimes I catch myself complaining about "first world problems."  Things like: running out of room on my ipod, the phone charger being out of arm's reach, or thinking there's nothing to eat in the house (when really there's a fully stocked fridge and food storage in the basement).  As I prepare to go back to China soon, I'm trying to change my perspective on these things.  In China I won't have a fridge, or food storage.  I won't even have a mattress.  So I think it's time to be grateful that I have an ipod, a phone, and wonderful parents who are willing to take me out to eat.

So thanks, Dad, for taking us out to Wendy's.  One of these days Soren and I will take you and mom to Chuck o Rama--our treat.

Student Teaching

It's about time I finally got around to this blog post.

This past semester has been a crazy ride.  Not two days after getting home from my honeymoon, I embarked on my student teaching journey.  The course of all courses, the true test, the fate decider.  From the moment I truly became an education major, I couldn't wait for student teaching.  Talking about teaching only does so much good.  Only through teaching do you know whether or not you can really be a teacher. With that in mind, my first day I walked with baited breath through the doors of Brockbank Jr. High.  Would I be successful?  Would I fail? Would I be mauled by ninth graders? I had no idea.

The first week was all preparation and it flew by.  Before I knew it I was standing in front of a group of students, lecturing them on classroom procedures.  As it turns out, Jr. High kids aren't so scary, not when they know who's in charge (and that was me).  I grew to love my classes.  I taught English, Theatre, and Improv.  I was also privileged to assistant direct Brockbank's production of High School Musical Jr.  That, in and of itself, was a rewarding experience.  I never thought in a million years that I'd be choreographing an entire musical...but I didn't do half bad.  In fact, I think the kids looked pretty darn good up there.

I loved my student teaching and I passed all evaluations with flying colors.  The worst thing about the whole situation is how much I miss my students.

Not only was I blessed to have amazing students, I also had amazing cooperating teachers.  I worked with Diana Parker (yes, Parker and Barker--it got very confusing) on Theatre, Improv, and the musical and I worked with Traci England (who I'm actually related to) on English.  The picture below is of me and Diana after the musical.

The next step:  get a real teaching job (Eek!)

Ah-hem....

Well...ah-hem...there are a few things that have happened since I last posted.  A few little things like, I don't know... graduating from college, starting student teaching, and maybe getting married.  Yeah...life's a roller coaster.

On August 3, 2012, I married Soren Joseph Barker for time and all eternity in the Bountiful, Utah temple.  It was a beautiful day full of tears, laughter, and a little bit of upset stomach (I spent about 45 minutes at the end of the reception with an unhappy tummy).  The reception was beautiful and I loved seeing all the wonderful people who came to support our union.  Here are some pictures:

Step #42-- Reach for the Stars

About a year ago, I began working on a ten-minute play project for a class. In that class, my professor told me that if I wanted to write a full-length play, now was the time to do it. Feeling somewhat ambitious, I decided to go for it, and began adapting my ten-minute play into a full-length version. Four revisions and seven months later, I assembled a group of actors and an audience for a staged reading of the script. To my delight, the work was well received and I was encouraged to push for production. I handed my fifth revision to my good friend Katie Ludlow, and wrote up a proposal for the chair of the theatre department. With the theatre department's approval, Katie took on the director's role and we began to assemble a team of designers. Now, with many talented people involved (both cast and crew), my dream is becoming a reality and we're producing my play. Many times in my life I've reached for the stars and fallen flat on my back, but this time I actually succeed. I got a star; plucked it right out of the heavens and put it in my pocket.

The play is called "A Half Stick of Gum," and it is to be performed on June 21, 22, and 23. For those of you who may be interested, here is a brief synopsis:

Samantha and Jack are two workers at Gregors, a small town grocery store. While Sam has just come out of a dysfunctional relationship, Jack has just started one. As the two of them struggle with the store's manager, Steve, to save the failing grocery store, they also struggle with the feelings they may have for each other. Could pursuing a relationship save their friendship, or ruin it?