Festival - Finally!

Ah, Festival is over. Whew. We made it.

Of course, the night before, I only got about 4 hours of sleep (I guess I was too excited for my directorial debut, haha) - so the intense, insane chaos that was Festival was made even more nutty by the invasion of about seven liters of caffiene in my bloodstream, haha.

But enough about me. The KIDS WERE AWESOME!!! They did such a good job with both the skit and the song, and looked amazingly adorable. I got to do a speech at the end about each of my kids, and couldn't say enough about how much my class rocks!
Prepare yourself for a tidal wave of cute:

Their first performance was with two other classes, ringing bells and beating drums to some song called "Entry of the Gladiators."

Waiting in the back like little almond Hershey's Kisses:


Doing their thing on stage:


After this, we had to get them changed for the Wizard of Oz skit - LCI was smart enough to have the parents dress them in white shirts and tights to facilitate the costume changes:


And here are my scarecrows, Andrew and Ryan:


My Tin Men...er, People, Jenny and Sun Q:


The Lions, Eileen and Andy (PS, Eileen has an absolute inability to have her eyes open and looking at the camera in any picture, ever):


And two Dorothys and a female Wizard, Laura, Evelyn, and Sally:


The whole gang, just before they went onstage:


After they did an incredible job on their skit, they had to quick-change for our song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. A note on these costumes: I intentionally picked the most ridiculous costumes I could find in the book, and was the only teacher who didn't have her costumes switched behind her back.

The directors apparently felt like some of the classes didn't have flashy enough outfits, and changed at least one class's darling costumes to what looked like a Pimps 'n' Hos party, complete with zebra fur hearts on the boys' bottoms and booty-shorts and fishnet hose for the girls. The teacher didn't know about the change until her kids were getting dressed before their song.

Anyways, I hope my boys can forgive me for this:




The final performance was just the kids in blue jeans singing a song in Korean about how much they love their parents (it's an adorable song that gets stuck in my head regularly, even though I don't know the words):


Sadly, I didn't get to stick around and meet my kids' parents, as I was ordered to return to school ASAP after the last song to cover afternoon classes... I have to say, I was disappointed to not have that opportunity. But I was still damn proud of my kids!

That night, Angie and I drug our exhausted butts to Gangnam to shop and eat Indian food and drink wine. We deserved it, after two months of chaos preparing for this one day. It's not the first time my job has stressed me out this much, and I'm sure it won't be the last, but my kiddies make it all seem worth it.

And in the Gangnam subway station, I found this shirt, and knew everything was going to be ok :)



Love you all!

I'm Awesome!

Today, I got back the weekly report from Andrew. His mom (the one who sent chocolate, so when I am "feeling distasteful, just eat chocolate and said 'Fine.'") has been asking me whether it's hard to teach children all day long, and has been making sure I'm ok. I've been trying to reassure her that the kids are good, and that her son seems to enjoy school as well.

Today she told me:

"I'm sure Andrew enjoys LCI. He says everyday that LCI is fun place to study, and lunch is very delicious at LCI. But whenever you tired of teaching children, just make punishment, and make children think you awesome!"

HA! I'm fairly certain I introduced the word "awesome" to her vocabulary (since I often use that adjective to describe her son and his progress), and I love the way she's incorporating it! Hooray for bonus English lessons!

Love you all!

Beijing - Day 3 P.M (Pearl Market, Forbidden City, Wang fu xing Street)

Sorry - I realize it's been way more than a day between Beijing blogs - but I had to have my weekend!

Day 3's lunch was a buffet - still more delicious Chinese food! After lunch we went to the pearl market (opened up just for our tour group) to learn about cultivating pearls. We learned that all of the pearls at the Government-sanctioned pearl markets come from oysters harvested from Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace! Pretty cool origins for a pearl! We also learned the secret tricks for testing the authenticity of a pearl - swindlers and phonies beware!

The woman who was teaching us about pearls then selected an oyster from a large tank. She showed us that it had 6 rings, meaning it was 6 years old (like a tree!), and said they generally harvest oysters that are around 15-20 years old. Before she cracked it open to show us the jewelry inside, she had us guess how many pearls were in there. Immediately I thought "One. That's the way the cartoons show it - one beautiful pearl on a pretty pillow of oyster." But obviously that wasn't the answer, seeing as how she was having us guess.

Being a smartass, I said "Ooh! Maybe 22, then each of us on the tour can have one!" Well, lo and behold, when she opened it up, there were over 20 pearls inside.



And not nearly as pretty as the cartoons - but, for being such a good guesser, the woman popped two of the pearls right out of the oyster and gave them to me as a prize!!! I now own pearls taken straight out of an oyster that grew at the Summer Palace in Beijing!!

After the excitement of the pearl market, we were off to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the home of all Chinese emperors from the early 1400's to around the 1920's... Which means it's only been open to the public for a little over 80 years.

We started at the North Gate:


The buildings inside were pretty incredible:










I'm really irritated with myself, because I can't remember the name of this Hall - but it was burned, and a rebuild was attempted, but it burned one more time, so they just left it as-is, and I thought it was a pretty amazing picture:


This is the main Throne Hall - I think it's called the Hall of Supreme Harmony...


Eventually (and feeling like you'd need two full days to see everything in the Forbidden City), we made it to the South Gate:


Outside of the South Gate you can see the dizzyingly high walls surrounding the City:


At the South Gate, we met David who was going to show us to Wang Fu Xing Street (a fairly famous snack and shopping street). After a bit of a walk, we saw what seemed like an endless line of red lanterns hanging above dozens of snack booths. I got pretty excited, because I've been pleasantly surprised with the street food here in Korea - then David warned us not to eat anything...

I couldn't figure out why, till we got closer:


Yep, those are starfish in the foreground. And I actually saw someone eating one.

Some delicious crab:


And they have all kinds of "food" on a stick -

Millipede:


Scorpion:


Cricket?


Seahorse:


Apparently, the only thing palatable was the cake:

And unfortunately, it was on the same menu as the Dog Meat Pot :)

After spending most of the evening on Wang Fu Xing, and trying some less exotic street food (candied hawthornes on a stick, eggy squid balls, sprout wraps, and kebab-esque sandwiches), we cabbed it back to the hotel and prepared for our massages. David had made the necessary phone calls to set up massages in our hotel room! I was looking forward to it...

Unfortunately, it was more of a shiatsu-style massage (which means a lot of hitting) and they didn't even have us strip down or anything. It was the kind of massage that I'm pretty sure I could have gotten from my little brother... but it was only about $40 for an hour and a half, plus foot massage. Afterwards, we were ready to call it a night and pass out.

Day 4 was basically a get-out-of-town day, and a get-home-and-rest-before-teaching-tomorrow day :) And it was much needed, after such a busy weekend!

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my awesome vacation - especially because I won't be getting another one until July :( (except maybe a Tuesday in May.) I'll be doing a whole post of just random photos for the fun of it tomorrow - so you have one last thing to look forward to!

Love you all!

Beijing - Day 3 A.M. (Tian'anmen Square, Hutong Tour, and Summer Palace)

I was just going through photos and realized that day 3 was pretty huge, so I'm breaking it up a bit... First, the morning:

We went to Tian'anmen Square at 8:30 in the morning. Our guide, David, told us that he'd never been there when it was so peaceful and empty. He attributed it to the fact that it was New Year's day. It was kind of incredible to see such a vast expanse of empty concrete:



My brain kept flashing back to the image of the young man stopping the line of tanks in 1989. David also touched on that incident, and let us know about the differing accounts of how many died - depending on who you ask (foreigners who were there at the time, the Chinese government, the Chinese Red Cross, etc) the number fluctuates between 200 soldiers killed and thousands of civilians killed. It was unnerving to imagine bodies and blood filling that empty square.

The only major interruption in the flatness was a 10-story monument in the middle:

This has an inscription of Mao's handwriting which says "Eternal Glory to the People's Heroes," referring to those who fought for Mao's New China.

There is also the Chinese flag on an enormous flagpole, guarded sunup to sundown by three guards - two at the base, one pacing all around.


And here is the Man himself, Chairman Mao, whose huge picture graces the front of one of the initial gates between Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City.


His body is still on display at a mausoleum at the square, but it wasn't open that day. He had requested to be cremated, but the people wanted to believe in his eternal life, so they have his body displayed in a crystal coffin.

After the Square, we were off to a traditional Hutong. Hutongs are neigborhoods of small alleys built around a courtyard. There used to be about 6,000 in Beijing, but the government has torn them down to the point where there are only about 1,000 left. We got a chance to visit one in the coolest possible way - via rickshaw!



Here is our driver, Artie (R.D.... Rickshaw Driver...)


After we saw a bit of the Hutong,


Artie let me drive the rickshaw! This is the picture he snapped just before I ran right into him:


He decided it was time to take over again, so I let him drive and filmed a bit of the Hutong to share with you!


After our rickshaw tour, we went down an especially narrow alley to visit a family in their Hutong home.


This woman and her husband have lived in the Hutong for over 50 years. They were incredibly generous to share their home with us, and the woman never stopped smiling the whole time. She got a kick out of us trying to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese:


We learned that most of these homes are now basically "welfare housing" for low-income families... and most don't have a private toilet - they use the public toilets located around the Hutong.

Robin (our guide for this mini-tour) also taught us about a popular pastime in the Hutong neighborhoods: Cricket Fighting. Apparently they take their cricket fighting seriously... they have all the tools for catching, feeding, poop-scooping, and aggravating their crickets! The family was kind enough to let Robin show off their tools:



I think I'm going to start Cricket Fighting League in Korea... Maybe someone can get something going back home, too :)

After the Hutong we traveled to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was originally built for a woman affectionately referred to as the Dragon Lady. This woman was a Concubine of an emperor who sucessfully arranged for both her son and her nephew to become emperors of China (their "rule" was really just a face - she was always the "power behind the throne," as the Chinese say). She also killed her own three-month-old daughter, who was beloved by the Emperor, and framed the Empress, leading to the Empress's being cast out of the Forbidden City. Quite an ambitious gal!

A prime example of her hunger for power is in the statues in front of one of the throne buildings at the Palace:

Dragon (representing the Emperor):


Phoenix (representing the Empress):


Now ordinarily, the Dragon is on the inside, closest to the doors (because the Emperor is the most important), and the Phoenix on the outside. She had the statues switched around at the Summer Palace, to show HER influence over the throne. Quite a rise to power for a former Concubine!

The Palace grounds also hold the Longest Corridor in the World - which is covered with over 14,000 paintings. Pretty amazing:


The Palace itself is really beautiful - it sits on a 2.2 square kilometer manmade lake (Kunming Lake), which was mostly frozen over when we were there (and some CRAZY people were actually out walking on it!)



Ok, that's enough for today. I'm extremely tired, and I think you have enough pictures to look at :) But remember Kunming Lake - it comes back in our story in Day 3, Part Two!

Bonus pics for today:

Our tour guide, David (an awesome guy!) and me finally gaining a little control over the rickshaw (with Artie's help):





Love you all!

Beijing - Day 2

Did you love Day 1? Were you unable to sleep last night, fantasizing about Day 2?? Well, friends - that's a lot of pressure :)

Day 2 began with a fairly delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel - It was a combo of Chinese and Western food, so I had an omelette and fried rice (which, PS, is delicious!).

After breakfast, we went to a Jade factory. We learned about different grades of jade (based on hardness, color, etc) and how to properly point a jade cabbage to ensure money would be flowing into your home (and how to sabotage your neighbors by pointing THEIR cabbage at YOUR house, mwahaha). We also got to see a man carving jade and a woman polishing a piece (these are the assigned gender roles for jade manufacture - our guide said it's because the polishing is the most important, and women are more patient and detail-oriented...)

We left the jade factory and headed to the pinnacle of the entire tour - the GREAT WALL OF CHINA!

Here, you can see the Wall, far in the distance, winding over the mountain (from the bus):


From the base:


All dressed up, and a LONG way to go:


The Chinese say that once you climb the Great Wall, you become a Hero. Every Chinese person we mentioned the Wall to said, "Oh, you are hero now!" After climbing to the "Hero Point," I can TOTALLY understand why. Holy cow. The steps vary from a 4" rise to a 12" rise... Some of the shorter people on our tour were climbing steps that came up to their knees! And it's STEEP! I remain in awe of the Chinese soldiers hundreds of years ago who had to climb these steps every day...

Needless to say, I needed a break halfway up... here's the view from my sitting-on-the-stairs position:


And once at the "top" (they are sweet to call it the top - it's not, but it's still incredibly high) the view of the stairs I just cried and panted my way up :)


And the view of what I could have continued on, if I didn't love being able to stand without falling down :)


But at least I made it this far:


And now have proof that, at least in China, I am a HERO:


The descent was only slightly easier (I'd like to give a shout-out to my friend, Gravity!), and on the way down I passed an Indian man, using the handrail to pull himself up each of the crazy stairs, and with every step nearly-shouting "Oh God Mercy! Oh God Mercy!" My sentiments exactly.

Still, I wouldn't change a thing. I have climbed the Great Wall of China. And it was amazing.

After the Great Wall we went to a Cloisonne factory and learned how they make incredibly intricate copper pots and vases, and ate lunch upstairs from the factory. Chinese food again... and again, delicious. We also got to try a traditional Chinese liquor... Once I was finished coughing I decided it wasn't that bad :)

The Ming Tombs were the next stop on our tour. These are the burial sites of the 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors and their 23-some-odd Empresses and Concubines. Chinese history is full of scandals and intrigue related to Concubines (I capitalize because I believe in their importance) - I was totally enthralled by how much sway they held over Emperors and matters of state.

Anyways, we visited the Changling tomb, the largest of the Ming Tombs. They had a map of all the 13 tombs and their names - this was my favorite (Fantasy Island, anyone?)

Also - at the bottom you can see the "Feizi Tomb" - Feizi means Concubine... they're all lumped in there together, I guess.

This is a giant statue of Yong Le (the man who is buried here) in the Hall of Emminent Favour at the tomb - This guy is the brains behind the Forbidden City and the move of the Capital to Beijing... Very deserving of a giant statue!


This is a view of the Soul Tower - from here, the souls of the Emporer and Empress ascended into Heaven:


Inside the Soul Tower, there is a large monument on which is inscribed something about the "great acheivements of Yong Le." Behind the monument, you can sort of see the man-made mountain under which the bodies are buried:


And here is Jordan, trying desperately to warm her toes in the sun (it stayed about 30 degrees the whole time we were in Beijing):


And me being friendly with one of the Tomb guards:

All the officers of the law wore those awesome hats - I wanted one so bad!

To continue our FULL day, we went to a silk shop to learn how exactly that fabulous fabric is made. We got to see just how they extract the silkworms from their cocoons and strech the fibers out:


Then we got to help strech a little bundle of silk fibers out to make part of a silk quilt!


We learned about the durability and hypoallergenic properties of silk, and browsed a giant silk fabric warehouse... it was pretty interesting! (PS - they also showed us what 5-year-old silkworms look like - Google it, it's disgusting!)

On our way to dinner, we were lucky enough to pass by the two amazing buildings Beijing built for the Olympics (and which were the subject of a pretty interesting Discovery Channel show!)

Here's the Bird's Nest (which is also the largest steel building in the world):


And the Water Cube (the bubbles change color at night!):


Dinner was... er... interesting... this was our menu:

Just kidding! That was our room service menu in the hotel!

Dinner was more Chinese food (still amazing!) and afterwards, Jordan and I were totally pooped and ready to hit the sack. We relaxed in our hotel room, watched Rush Hour 1 and 3, and were out by 10:30.

Until the sound of a million gunshots shook us awake.

Fortunately, I realized what night it was and checked the clock. Sure enough, it was midnight. Lunar New Year. AKA Chinese New Year. In the birthplace of Fireworks.

Jordan and I clamored out of bed and stood freezing in the window, watching our 360 degree fireworks show (thanks to the perfect reflections on the building across the street)... It was pretty incredible to be in China, watching how the locals celebrate Chinese New Year... Happy 2009, China!

The fireworks went on and on for days - we were still hearing them when we caught our taxi to the airport - but that night, we were only able to watch about 20 minutes before exhaustion overtook us and we climbed back into our beds, visions of sparklers dancing in our heads :)

Bonus Pics for today: Jordan and I doing some light renovations to the Changling Tomb grounds, and the view from the Soul Tower:







Hope you're loving reading about this adventure as much as I loved living it (and am loving sharing it)!!

Love you all!