Another day, Another dollar

The past two weeks have been relatively uneventful. I finally have a good routine going out here. I start the day with 4 hours in the classroom learning Chinese, head to lunch and finally go to the gym. From there I head into work to prepare my lesson and do some studying of my own, and then it’s time to go home to watch the Colbert report.  Oh ya I have a job teaching English. I love it. I’m still getting the hang of it, but it is really fun. It is a great chance to really get to know about china and to get to know some of the people too. The job itself is easy. I am provided a short lesson and as a class we go through it and I make up activities. It’s all in English.  The class is focused on teaching them how to carry out conversations in English.  It has very little writing, and I am sure all those who know well can agree that is a good thing. I am good at talking but not the writer ever.  Well that’s the update. I will be bungee jumping next week and also camping I think.  Until next time. Stay classy……..World.

Lama Temple

Another week in the history books.  It seemed like I was making friends from all over the world except from china until this week. I was able to meet with a girl to help with my Chinese and help her with her English and she shows up with two of her roommates. Then when I return home the rest of her roommates have sent me emails saying they would also like to help me learn Chinese or just go out and see the sites of Beijing. So we took advantage of this and visited the Lama Temple. It is the biggest Buddhist temple in Beijing. We go to burn Incenses  and mediate at all the shrines. It was very cool. I took a quick video of one of the court yards. I was not able to get pictures of the shrines because it is very disrespectful to do so.  It snowed here the other day and I think that is something rare. because the Other students were going crazy for it. Everyone was outside in the middle of the night screaming, taking pictures and shooting lasers. I was almost asleep when it began and I was awoken by all the people screaming on the streets. I thought some sort of riot or zombie outbreak had occurred. Well there isn’t much more to report this week.  I did also want to congratulate Nate and Tanner on getting engaged this past week.

Week 2

Week 2 of class is finally over!!!! I finally feel like I’m adjusted. My Chinese is starting to improve and I don’t feel completely lost all the time. Just some of the time. This past week I had a chance to go snowboarding.  It was interesting.  It was more like a hill with snow on it and all the snow was man made. The lodge was the nicest part of the place. It was pretty funny watching the people just slide down the hill with no control. They would even tip over just walking in the shoes. I also tried out the bowling alley this week.  I think they only oil the lanes once a month.  If you put a spin on the ball it would go straight into the gutter. It was still fun though. The Russians really make anything fun.  I’m becoming closer with some of the Saudi Arabians. It is a very different culture. Apparently it’s still a country that does arranged marriages. When you’re ready to get married just tell your mom what you want and she will find it for you, but you don’t get to see her till after your marriage. I guess that makes sure the kids always treat their mother’s well haha.  Well until next time…..

Jabs Birthday.

Last night had all the right ingredients for a great time. We went to a fancy part of town called solitude. I mean there was a freaking Lamborghini dealership there. That’s what I consider fancy status. We were celebrating a kid named Jab’s birthday. There were 3 Americans 9 Saudi Arabians 2 girls from Peru, a Brazilian, a Chinese native, a girl from Zimbabwe and my favorite part 2 Chinese Bankers. Everybody was very friendly. The Bankers were older men in their forty’s but were really nice. They bought everyone 3 rounds at the table and gave me Andy and regnata  a ride to the front of our apartments. Not an easy thing to with the security being strict at night about who come on to campus. They want to come hangout again in two weeks when they return from a business trip to Europe. I also learn Jab is a boxer and has a little group of people here who like to train. He is going to include me in this group next week. I’m looking forward to it very. Well its back to studying. Who would have ever thought Brady would be studying on a Saturday night.

Week 1

Well I’ve been here for a bit more than a week.  I’ve finally started to settle in. it’s been great. I sleep through the entire night and even got my gym membership started. The gym is pretty shady but it’s like everything else here. It is in a dark basement and separated in like 8 different rooms. It’s amazingly hot and nasty in there. People will smoke while working out and that smell mixes with sweat. It is a stank I wish no one would ever have to smell again, but oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers.  All the foreign kids have been very friendly here. I have made a lot of friends from different places. My class has about six other kids in it. Just depending on the day. They are mostly from Saudi Arabia and everyone is Muslim. It’s really cool getting to know them. Being in Utah we never see any Muslims, but here there very common. I think we’re going out with them tonight. Yesterday after the gym I and Andy had a great chance to get lost in the city. With most buses going to mall in the area, we figured we can just hop on one and it’ll take us there. We were wrong. We ended up by some Zoon in the height of rush hour. Which is a mad house here. It reminds me of the ending of a school day in high school. We did end up making it back after finding the subway. Apparently there are some rules about living in Beijing. This Chinese girl named Jackie was telling us. Rule 1 is to be rude. Rule 2 just take don’t ask Rule 3 Road lines and laws are more like guidelines not laws. And those are just the first 3 rules haha until next zai jin.

First day!!!

The trip was very long I must say. I couldn’t sleep much on the plane but at least it was a pretty empty plane. There was 40 open seats. We arrived really late. We didn’t get into rooms till about 12:30 in the morning. I got to meet my new roommate a little bit. His name is Chingise (I have no idea how to actually spell it). He is from Kazakhstan. He speaks English, Russian and mandarin. That night was rough. I laid in bed thinking what did I get myself into. The jet lag kicked my butt also.  I said a little prayer that night and things started coming together. I met with our adviser. Who is only 21 and I think she is hitting on me. That is besides the point. It is very cold here still, but I believe it’s on the cusp of spring. One of the biggest shockers is the amount of Americans here or should I say the lack of. I thought there would be a few but there is just the 4 of us from USU.  I did get my new Chinese name司徒和。Apparently it’s the surname is the same of famous KungFu masters and the given name is for peace/harmony.  The beds here are the worst. I might as well be sleeping on a table. I think once I overcome the jet lag I will be fine. Its going to be an interesting 4 months.  This is really a great growing opportunity. I plan on making the best of it.