Purple Bamboo Park

Last week there was a very clear afternoon without much pollution, so we decided to go to the zoo. One of the teachers wanted to stop by a park nearby to check out some geocaches, so we went there first, intending to go to the zoo later on. We were so enraptured by the park that we never actually made it to the zoo! The park is called the Purple Bamboo Park and is fairly small, and from the outside looks unimpressive, but once you step through the gates, the bustle of the entire city is left behind, and you are surrounded by bamboo forests as you make your way to the lotus filled lakes that take up the central portion of the park.

We had a wonderful time exploring, and went back this week with the rest of our group to visit. We spent the highly exorbitant fee of 10 yuan ($1.50) to go for a boat ride around the lake through the lotuses. After spending an afternoon there, it was almost a shock to reemerge to the traffic and noise of the city!

Cooking Tortillas

We made flour tortillas in class yesterday. It was a basic recipe that called for neither baking powder nor lard, as those are expensive and sort of hard to find in China. I’m attaching the Taste of Home recipe link. I measured and mixed, and stirred with a spoon until it got to the point where you should mix it by hands, and then plunged my hands in. There was an audible gasp from the students that I would do this. I then showed them how to roll out the dough, and managed to roll out a tortilla that was miraculously round.

Throughout the experience, students kept making suggestions:
Teacher, maybe next time you should add some chopped onions!
There are some chemicals you can add (I think he was talking about baking powder, but I'm not really sure) that will make it fluffier!
Are you sure we shouldn’t be cooking them in oil?
You shouldn’t use water that is so hot in the dough- it will cook the flour!
I ignored them as I cooked the tortillas in a frying pan balanced on a hot place balanced precariously on a rather unsteady chair at the front of the class. The students were also shocked when I just reached in and pulled out the tortilla to flip it. They thought we ought to use some kind of utensil. I told them that if the abuelitas in Mexico could do it with their fingers, so could they, and made them try it, which was hilarious.

I have one boy who is very strange and has some kind of mental something or other going on, and is very annoying, and after cooking his tortilla, he got so excited: "I've never cooked anything on a fire before!" If I were his mother, I would probably have kept him away from a hot stove at all costs, as the kid is an utter disaster. Fortunately, I am his heartless Spanish teacher and didn’t really care if he scorched his fingers. He was delighted! Then he made another tortilla so he could do it again. I’m not sure how many fingers he burned in the process…

If the boys in the class wanted to eat a tortilla, I told them they had to roll out and cook their own- I wasn’t rolling out 30 tortillas! Some of the guys really got into it, and participated, and when there was extra dough, made another one, they liked it so much. Some of the others were wimps. In this group of three boys, only one was brave enough to flip the tortillas, so the others made him do theirs as well.

It was agreed that the tortillas were good, but that they had something that was pretty much exactly the same in China. They showed me pictures of a food I’ve eaten here before. It is sort of like a tortilla except that it contains an entire fried egg cooked into the batter and is square. “But they roll things up in a tortilla to make a burrito,” I said, showing them pictures of burritos. “We do that with ours as well!” They said, showing me pictures of a common food we eat for lunch, that was pretty much exactly the same as a burrito, except it contains fried chicken, mayonnaise, seaweed, and cucumber. Along with the entire fried egg in the square wrap. So pretty much tortillas and burritos are typical Chinese cuisine.

My students love cooking, and have enjoyed the three times we’ve had food. When we do eat, I bring a bag with wheels to carry the foods to class, and now they know to look for it. Earlier this week, I showed up with the bag, and they excitedly said “Are we cooking!?” When I started getting things out, it involved two bags of rocks, and two girls came up looking in them hopefully and then looked up to say “So, are we cooking?” If anyone knows of a hispanic recipe for rocks, please pass it along!

I hope you have as much fun making these tortillas as I did!

Family Relationships

As I’ve been teaching here, there have been a few topics that are just standard cultural and linguistic knowledge that I can assume that my students at home know, and I’ve been surprised by the complete and total lack of understanding from my students. Like the difference between vowels and consonants. Christianity as a general entity. When I bring up these topics, I usually see a sea of blank faces followed by a hand raised by one brave student: “Teacher, what is a vowel?” “What is the difference between Catholicism and Christianity?” And then we have a discussion on the topic, and I feel a little bit smaller, but a little bit better at having expanded my world view, and having helped my students do the same.

This week’s topic has been more subtle, but longer lasting. As is usual in a beginning Spanish conversation class, we got to the chapter on families. You know, Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, except wait, they don’t have brothers and sisters here, because of the one child laws. And that means that there are no Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, Brother or Sisters in law, Nieces, Nephews, or more than half of the words on the list. And while they are aware of the concept, and a few of them have a sibling, or an aunt and a cousin, none of these relationships exist for them not only in their personal lives but as part of their CULTURE.

I feel a profound sense of tragedy when I think that as a culture they won’t get to experience relationships that all mean so much to me. It means that my mother would only have one child. It means that she would only have one grandchild! I wouldn’t even be here, because only my older brother would have been born, but if it had been me instead, I wouldn’t have my nieces, or my nephew; I wouldn’t have my sisters in law who mean so much to me. It would just be me. I feel so lonely thinking about that existence.

One of my students said that one reason that Chinese girls develop such close friendships, and walk holding hands or arm in arm with their friends is that they like to pretend that they are the sisters they never had. I am particularly grateful this week to have my brothers and sister to walk arm in arm with, and to know that they can be part of my family forever.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu

Last Saturday all of the summer instructors went on a trip to see the great wall. We chose to go to Mutianyu rather than the more touristy Badaling, and had a wonderful time. It is possible to walk from the parking lot up to the wall, but it is an hour steep climb, so we opted to take the chair lift to the top. There were a few sketchy moments where my dangling feet brushed the tops of the weeds below, and my seat mate was the poor Chinese student who had been persuaded to go with us. He looked positively green when I turned around to wave at the people behind us. Apparently he’s not planning on skiing when he gets to Denver as a transfer student this fall!

I love that my guidebook said that Mutianyu was “relatively flat.” If Mutianyu was flat, I would be curious to see the climb at Badaling! We spent an hour or so climbing the steep stairs up to the top of this section of the wall, passing four guardhouses along the way. It was incredibly steep in places, and there were a few sections that almost required hands and feet to get up them. The view was beautiful, though, and it was fascinating to see a piece of history that was so old. Even though our section has been restored, it was easy to get the feel of the guards who lived atop the wall, looking out over the mountains for the Mongols to come. It must have been a lonely, but beautiful existence to spend so much time on the mountain peaks.

One of the other benefits of the Mutianyu site was the toboggan, or alpine slide that was an option for getting down from the wall. Like many alpine slides, it curves through the trees on the mountainside in a long slope to reach the bottom. Unlike many slides I’ve been on in the past, this slide was all slick metal. This made for a glorious descent, and you could get so much more speed than on any of the slides I’ve ever been on! It also made for a much more abrupt stop when I caught up with the people in front of me who weren’t going so fast, and due to the low quality Chinese brakes on my sled, I collided with Mike from our group in front of me. While he insists that his back has been fine, my toe turned a glorious shade of purple that is only now starting to fade. I am grateful that this post is NOT entitled “The great wall, and my first trip to a Chinese hospital,” but although it was very painful for a few days, it has recovered nicely.

Eating on Campus

Contrary to popular belief from previous blog posts, pig brain is not a common food here. We’ve only had it at that one restaurant. Other than that, food has been absolutely delicious! We mostly eat at the graduate student dorm right next to the guest house on campus. It is a very short walk, and they take cash on the second floor. It is more like a food court than a cafeteria, in that you shop at different food stands that have specific specialties like rice, stir fry, dumplings, soup, etc. Food mostly costs between 7 and 15 yuan, so $1 to $2.50 for a meal. I have yet to finish a meal, as there is SO much food. In the evenings, two of use will order one meal and split it, and still have more than enough! I’ve thought about bringing the leftovers home for another meal later on, but have ultimately decided that for $1, I would rather have it fresh and hot the next day rather than microwaved.

Noodles and dumplings are among the most common foods. Dumplings come in many different shapes and sizes- from gigantic dumplings where one of them makes a full meal, to tiny steamed dumplings. The ones you see here are my favorites. I think they are filled with pork, but I’m not really sure, and I don’t want to know if they are something that would make me stop eating them.

There are also many different noodle dishes, often including soup, or fried like lo mein. They can contain any number of things including meat, eggs, and vegetables, and depending on what you order, they are sometimes spicy, and sometimes less spicy.

Available, but not quite so ubiquitous, are dishes that come with rice, and while we also are not exactly sure what they are, many are delicious! One that is a favorite is similar to orange chicken, but may be pork instead of chicken, and might also not involve oranges… Again, I just don’t ask. Most dishes come with meat, and my biggest complaint is that everything is fried and there are not enough vegetables. This is part of what makes it delicious!

The teachers here have different strategies for ordering food. Some take pictures of menu items with their phone, and then show that to the shop owners. I mostly ask a student who is standing in line at the stand where I want to eat, and they help me order either whatever I want, or if I’m feeling adventurous, I ask them what they like the best, and they usually order me whatever they are having. Most of the students here speak enough English to help me out, and I have never had anyone get upset with me for asking for help. Many of them are anxious to practice English, so we have a chance to visit while the food is cooked. Today this strategy resulted in a delicious soup with “Huge noodles” and a small amount of beef. The only time this did not work out well was when I ended up with a soup with 5 different kinds of tofu in it. It wasn’t bad, but I just don’t really prefer tofu in any of its many forms.

I’ve also had some different kinds of fruit here, including lychees, and dragon fruit yesterday. Lychees are very sweet and juicy, and while the dragon fruit was dramatic in coloring, it was sort of bland and mildly sweet.

We’ve eaten at a few places off campus, including a Japanese place that some students took us to this week, and my Spanish students want to go to a Spanish restaurant next week for lunch, so we’ve had a bit of a chance to explore and try some different foods, and all have been more normal, and much tastier than the pig brains!

Becky on a Bike in Beijing!

I’ve been wanting a bike to get around with since I got here. This will give me some freedom to explore in the afternoons when I don’t have time for a big excursion, and to get around campus more easily. Sarah (again, I don’t know what I would do without her!) was needing a bike for her oldest daughter, and found someone at church who was trying to give theirs away, so she went to pick it up yesterday. The plan is for me to use it while I’m here, and then they will keep it after I leave.

We went on a bit of an excursion to the foreign area of town where there are lots of international restaurants and shopping, as well as a subway station. On the way, we stopped to get a bell for the bike, and got a brand new one for 10 Kwai (about $1.50). As they were installing it for us, Sarah said “I’m glad we got it here; if we’d gotten it somewhere else, they would have charged us something ridiculous, like 15 Kwai (about $2.50)!” with great disdain for those who would dare to overcharge so much for something so small! The bell is the only shiny part of my very rusty, one speed bike.

There are bike lanes here, and bikes, pedestrians and motorcycles all use them to go both directions at once. Crossing streets is exciting, because everything is a bit chaotic, even with crosswalks. Turning cars to not yield to pedestrians or bikes, and pretty much you just run all over the place ringing your bell for all you are worth and swerve to avoid as needed. I just followed Sarah and went wherever she went. Following other bikers is also a good strategy as they know how things work here, and you can tell when to safely cross the road. I’m excited to do a bit of exploring on my bike and see some of the sights here in this neighborhood.

While we were out shopping, we ran into one of my students as we were trying to buy an English map from a newsstand, and she was able to help us to get one, so I’m feeling pretty confident about my ability to get around, at least locally, for the next month. For longer trips, it still makes more sense and is fast to just take the bus or the subway, but for local shopping, exploration, and touring, the bike will be the perfect way to see the sights! Here’s a picture; mine is the one with the purple bike lock.

Maya Math

My Spanish class is primarily a culture class, and we are focusing one day on each country in the Spanish speaking world, with a bit of language thrown in. We usually start with presentations on different festivals and holidays that students have prepared, and then do some group work, then a lecture on culture from that country, and then some kind of interactive or fun activity related to the country in question before moving on to some basic conversational skills.

Today we were studying Guatemala, and based on some of the materials from the DMNS Maya exhibit, I decided to have an activity on Maya math. We used toothpicks and sunflower seeds to create numbers- some basic, and some more complicated, and then completed a maya math worksheet. Students had a great time creating math problems for their partners, and then trying to solve them!

Trying to explain that the Mayas used a base 20 system was complicated when students don’t speak English all that well, and I am not a math teacher. The basics are that bars are worth 5, and dots are worth 1, adding up to 20, and then they get more complicated. I finally gave enough examples that they seemed to understand a bit, and once I assured them that it was just an activity to try out in class, and would not be on the final exam, they relaxed enough to have fun, even when they didn’t quite get things right.

Church in China

Thanks to Chris and Sarah, I just went to church for the second time this week in China. The church situation is interesting here. There are 4 branches in Beijing, with one of them being only for Chinese nationals. The other 3 are only for foreign nationals, and we are not allowed to intermix, so the other branches have to be out of our building before any of the Chinese arrive. One branch meets in several different homes each week rather than coming to the church building, but meets all together on fast Sunday. In order to fit in each of the 4 branches, we only have Sacrament meeting and Relief Society/Priesthood on those weeks and skip Sunday School.

Our branch has about 80 adult members or so, with numbers decreasing each week that I’m there since many people are going home for the summer. There are relatively few children and youth, and we overlap with the branch after us so the primary and youth can meet together for greater numbers.

We meet on the 4th floor of a large office building, and have half that belongs to us and gets locked up, and half is shared meeting space that others use during the week. While we have a few things locked in cabinets in the shared half, the rooms are much sparser than the other half of the building.

We have a lot of diversity in the branch- it seems like about half of the members are from the US, and many others are from Australia and South Africa, but I’ve also met people from other Asian countries, France, and a few other scattered places. The meetings are held in English, and most people do pretty well with that, but a few struggle with their English skills. The hymn numbers are always posted for both the English and the Chinese hymn book for those that would rather sing in Chinese.

Every week in the program and read in our meetings they remind us that while we are allowed to meet freely in China, we have to follow strict rules from the government, which includes not meeting with Chinese nationals, not providing religious materials to Chinese nationals, not proselyting actively or passively, and respecting the laws of the land so we can continue to meet (our building is only allowed through specific permission from the Chinese government, and they can take that away at any time) and to develop a relationship of trust that will eventually allow for growth because they realize that we are willing to follow the laws of the land. It is an interesting reminder, and the members are really excited that some day there may be a possibility for sharing the gospel here. That day is not come, but they are trying to build a foundation so that it may eventually be possible.

Hot Pot

Today Rose, who is one of our coordinators, was in town from Denver and took us to eat Chinese Hot Pot. The concept is that they have a huge vat of boiling broth in the middle of the table, and bring you various raw things that you add to the broth to make soup, and then fish them back out again to eat. You might consider it the Chinese version of fondue. I couldn’t even begin to tell you everything we had, but it involved several kinds of noodles, beef and lamb strips, chicken, pig brain, tofu, mushrooms, lotus root, several kinds of greens, shrimp, fish, and Chinese yams. We had one spicy side, and one not spicy broth, and both were delicious! We wore aprons provided by the restaurant to keep our clothes clean!

First Day of Class

I’ve been nervous about actually teaching the class. Everything I have heard has made me think that my students would not participate or talk in class, and that it would be hard to get group work rolling. The computers in the classrooms are supposed to be old, and the internet sketchy. Seating is awkward, the chalkboard dirty, and mostly I had heard enough to make me apprehensive about my first day of teaching. Some of that was true abut the classroom, but other than that, I was happily surprised!

I have 40 students in my class, and I arrived early to get set up and to meet them. I love them already! Most of them came in about 2 minutes before the bell to our not particularly inspiring classroom. I have 4 different classrooms during the week, and it turns out I went to the wrong one today, since classes started on a Tuesday not a Monday, but when I got to class, there were students there for Spanish class, so I stayed. And the rest of them managed to show up for class, so I didn’t realize I was in the wrong place until halfway through the class period. Oops! We’ll try again tomorrow!

My students are delightful! There was a mass exodus from class during one of the breaks when students decided they'd rather take another course, and I’m left with only about 25 students, which is a perfect number. They are funny, and participate well in class, and I’m really excited to teach them! We started off by choosing Spanish names, which they thought was hilarious for some reason. They kept making me repeat names again and again so they could say them right.

We made mangoes with chili powder and lime juice, and they all pulled out their camaras to film me making them, and then a good 12 people wanted to try cutting up the mangoes. Some of them loved it, some of them hated it, but they were all willing to at least try it, and I must have made an impression because the work study student came to my office just after class and said that my students have already posted photos and videos to the Chinese facebook to share with their friends. She says that they are saying positive things about me. I think it will be a good semester!

First Adventures in Beijing

1 June


I’ve spent my first night in Beijing. I arrived yesterday morning at 5:30 to a very quiet airport, which made customs and passport control very empty. All went smoothly until I was waiting at baggage claim and only one of my bags showed up. After 3 visits to the baggage people who said I should keep waiting, my bag finally arrived, and I went to meet the driver who brought me to the China Agricultural University Campus. As we drove through Beijing, I was surprised at how spread out everything is. I was anticipating something denser- more like New York, or even A Coruna, but that’s not how Beijing is set up- it is a big city, but not as dense as Hong Kong.


Yesterday I met some of the other teachers here, particularly Chris Willford, and his wife Sarah, who are members of the branch here. Sarah took us shopping at the grocery store, and I have the basics set up in my dorm room.
This morning we ventured out into the city to get to church, and after taking 1 bus and two subways, we arrived! The bus cost 1 yuan (about 6 to a dollar), and the subway 2 yuan, but once you are inside the subway system you don’t have to buy another ticket, so it will be about $1 round trip to church. I purchased a travel card, that I can scan and saves me a small amount on public transportation, so this amount will be just a bit lower.


Sarah and Chris have 4 kids between age 10 and 1.5, and all of them manage living in Beijing better than we do. Often the 5 year old will help us getting on and off the bus, tell us where our stop is, and direct us on getting where we are going. They are small and blonde, and cheerfully ignore all of the Chinese people who stop and point at them. They are pros at getting around, and I’m grateful to have the Willfords around to help me navigate!


I went to lunch with the singles at the Branch president's house, and had a nice time. They have very high turnover here, with lots of people out for a month or a few months for school and internships. The fun part of the afternoon was the way home! We took a bus and two different subway lines to get to church, so I had to navigate that backwards. The first subway line was easy as there were several other singles heading that way, so we all went together. They made sure I got my public transportation card, and I got onto the second subway line by myself. Things went well, and I got off at the correct stop (the subway is actually pretty standard, there are a lot of lines, but all the signs are also in English, so it is pretty easy to navigate.)
After getting off the subway, I headed outside to discover a downpour! There were also 4 exits to the subway station, and I didn't know which one to use. I then dashed from the exit of the subway that I first happened upon to the bus stop a block away. I stood there waiting for the bus, only to realize that I didn't know exactly which bus line went back to campus. There was no sign anywhere that indicated anything, and Sarah had just said that there were a lot of them. Finally I asked a young guy standing near me for help. He told me I should just give up and take a taxi. This was not in my plans, but in telling me that, he told me I would need to cross the street to get a taxi going the other direction, so I crossed the street in the pouring rain, and made my way to the bus stop there.


In an effort to get out of the rain, I just got on the first bus that came, knowing that they'd have a schedule with stop names inside, and discovered that it did not go to my stop. I got off, and walked back to the main road. Still in the pouring rain. The next bus I got on did go to the stop Sarah told me to get off at, and we went past the one landmark I knew about- a mall on the corner of campus, so I knew we were set, but when I got off at what I was supposed to be the correct stop, there were none of the landmarks I recognized. I walked around a bit in the rain, and finally decided to start walking back towards the mall, because I could find my way from there, even though it was a bit of a walk. I walked through huge puddles of water a good 6 inched deep, past construction zones, near motorcycles driven by people holding umbrellas, and finally got to the mall where I wrung out my hair and decided to go in and buy and umbrella before I went home.


I found a stand in the mall that sold them, and we agreed on a price 40% of what the sticker price was (someone near me haggled them down to that, so I just made them give me the same price). I got out money to pay, and they kept my umbrella, and waved me away after handing me a piece of paper. I just looked around and couldn't figure out what to do, so I walked in the general direction of their gesture, and whenever I passed another booth, I held up my paper and looked lost and they pointed. Finally I found someone taking money, gave them my paper and the money, and they gave me my change and some other papers. After making my way back among the booths to the umbrella booth, they took my papers, gave me the umbrella, and I left to walk home. All in all, it was a highly successful, if wet, outing. I am exaggerating neither the downpour nor the waves of water flooding the sidewalks when cars drove by. I was utterly drippin and utterly happy at several successful parts of my outing!

Becky in Beijing

The University of Colorado Denver has a campus in Beijing! Who Knew?! In December, I got an email from the department saying that they were looking for a language teacher to come out and teach a 5 week term in China, so I applied, but another of the teachers with more seniority also applied, so the director invited me to come this summer instead. I’m teaching for 5 weeks from 8-12 Monday through Friday. Classes start on the 4th, and end on the 4th of July.