Sharon In China - - 2005

Xining

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy and Sandy Beaty are my friends who have lived in Xining for seven years.  They are actually the ones who told me about Bridging the World.  I visited them in Xining in 1998 right after they moved there.  Chris Woodward sets up and organizes the English camps along with her husband Woody.

 

This is a view along the road in Xining.  It is quite mountainous in the area and the elevation is 7000 feet.

 

Welcome Banner for our camp at Qinghai Normal University.

 

From the Great Wall to City Walls to community walls,

China likes walls.

We had to walk a very long way around to get from our Guest House to the school.  It was slightly shorter if we could go through this gate...but it was locked.  We got a key and then they changed the lock: classic Chinese. 

Many people climb the walls.

 

  

About half of my class.....at our closing program

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We had three hours of instruction in the morning and in the afternoon classes rotated through different activities including music, games, sports and English Corner. I was one of the English corner teachers....which was just another opportunity for activities that gave the students more practice with conversation.

My two teaching assistants Amanda and Steven at the internet cafe.

 

The Beaty's and their team members were great at showing us around time on our weekend off.  We also had 'church' in their apartment on the two Sunday's we were there and that was really special.  Here is Vonnie Beaty in front one of the booths in the Tibetan Market.

More than 30,000 men come to prayer on Fridays at the mosque in Xining.  Besides Moslems the city has a huge population of Tibetan Buddhists, as well as non-religious Chinese and those practicing various other forms of Buddhism and ancestor worship traditions.

These are cricket cages.  They like to have crickets singing in their homes for good luck.

Here's another man selling cages.  He made these himself and sells them for about 25 cents.  I bought one but I'm not going to put a cricket in it.

 

My roommate, Nancy (from Vermont) in her Chinese jacket she had made for a total of $10.

Gene Scheel playing ping pong with Tom.  That's our cafeteria building in the background.

Xining is a city of about 1.5 million.  Very small by Chinese standards.  It is on the ancient silk road and in one of the poorest and more remote provinces of China (Qinghai).  The weather is great.  Very cool all summer and winters that are mostly dry. 

Their life is hard.  School is much more difficult than here and the pressure is terrific to succeed, get into a good high school and into a good college so you can get a good job and get more stuff.  Teenagers have little free time as they are pushed to study incessantly.  English is a very important part of their high school college entrance exams so they are anxious to learn as much as they can.  Even though many consumer goods are available now in China, the ability to purchase many things is limited by a low monthly income.  Usually around $1,000 month for a family is considered a good income.  While food and housing is cheap, things like clothes, appliances, electronics and the extras in life are expensive.

 

See my pictures in Xian and some video here.