Day 544 Beijing Explorer's Club

Only one week back from the Chinese New Year holiday break, and I was on the move once again. This time, it was setting out to see new (old) sights in Beijing.  I have mentioned before that two other teachers and myself host a student group called Beijing Explorer's Club.  Some of our students come from far reaching provinces in China.  However, even those that live here know very little about their own city.  They are so engrossed in studying, that there is little time for recreation- or exploration.  It was Mr. Carlson's idea to form the group, and I inserted myself in along with Lin Yan. Both she and Mr. Carlson teach Human Geography, so for them heading out in to the city with a group of students is like a learning lab. However, as with many subjects, there is crossover in psychology, so it is appropriate for my students to join in on the fun.  

While the geography students have been studying the layout of cities historically, and the cultural influences of various neighborhoods, in social psychology we study group behavior.  Our trip today was to Koreantown, a very large ethnic neighborhood in Beijing.  We planned to walk about the neighborhood, looking for signs of cultural preservation. The students were tasked with photographing cultural 'signs' while I posed a different task to my students. In social psychology I introduced the phrase "Birds of a feather flock together."  Being the literal Chinese babies that they are, when posed with the phrases' meaning they responded with, "Blackbirds fly with blackbirds."

I explained that no matter where you go in the United States, you are free to buy a home or rent an apartment where ever you choose.  Yet, most generally, people choose to self-segregate.  Spend a day in Chicago and it is plainly evident as you leave one neighborhood and enter another- from Pilsen to South Chicago, to Little Italy, to Chinatown, to Ukrainian Village and more.  I went on to say that while they are excited at the prospect of going to university in the United States, in the hopes of making American friends, they will quickly fall to what is familiar and seek out 'their own kind.' They seem to think that won't happen, but I know better ;-)

 So, in this city of 23+ million people, there is a strong concentration of Korean immigrants. The kids were asked to interview a Korean, to ask what brought them to China, and why they chose to live in this neighborhood. As for me, personally, I was just looking forward to eating delicious Korean food!

We began our morning with the kids favorite thing to do- shopping!
We took them to a Korean market in Wang Jing where they
were busy snapping photos and buying Korean snacks :)

Like squid 'chips'.  Ewwwww.

Or Korean Oreos.  Yummmmm.

Or Jinro, a popular South Korean beer.  I'll pass, thank you.

Some of the students were very brave
to ask shopkeepers some questions
about being a Korean living in Beijing.
I was very proud of them, as this clearly
took them out of their comfort zone :-)

We wandered around a narrow alley
way and stumbled in to this Saturday
morning Taekwondo class.

What a cutie patootie!

Next stop was Zi Xia Men, a Korean restaurant.

Next to shopping, the kids love eating!

My Korean pork bbq with potatoes and carrots was
ah-mazing!!!

Lin Yan offered me some of her peanuts, and I
happily obliged, until they hit my mouth!  I was
shocked to discover dried minnows in my nuts :-(
That just ain't right, y'all. 

WeChat is a popular app in China (I can video call
home to y'all if you got wechat on your phones-
no charge!) There's all kinds of cool features on the
we chat app. Lin Yan paid for the bill with WeChat,
by simply taking a photo of the bill. Sometimes,
China does have it going on.

After our delicious meal, the manager
of the restaurant came and gave a talk
about how he came to China from South
Korea six years ago.  The kids asked
lots of questions, and he clearly enjoyed
sharing his story. I don't have a clue what
he said, but he was very animated and
entertaining, if you ask me!

Our next stop was to a Muslim
neighborhood, where the kids again
took photos of the Muslim culture-
just another language of twirlygigs
I do not understand. 

I did pick up on the fact that while Chinese
characters are straight lines, Korean characters
are loopy with circles. Yep, that's all I got.

Lin Yan arranged for us to have a guide take us through Niu Jie
Qinshensi- which from the outside looks like a typical temple
you would find in Beijing.  However, the English name is
The Ox Street Mosque.  How she was able to arrange a school
visit to a religious site is beyond me.  We had to be sure to
arrive after the 1:30pm prayers had finished, and the fact
that we had to pay for a tour guide made it seem more like a
museum admission, which is acceptable 'for learning'. 

We had to wait a few minutes for our
guide as the prayers were just finishing up,
and people were leaving the mosque.

Lin Yan was very excited watching the men
leave the mosque wearing their taqiyah prayer
caps...she leaned over and whispered to me,
"They all look so happy and peaceful."

We were happy, too!  These are some of my seniors,
Michael, Seraph, and Lisa- I love these kids :-)

While the kids listened intently to their guide, 

I got a little bored not understanding what was being
said, so I wandered about the mosque snapping photos.

First built in 996, it is the largest mosque in
Beijing.  It contains some tablets and artifacts
from the 1600's and the Qing Dynasty. 

This was called the Moon Tower.

It was built to look like a temple to fit in with
the Chinese architecture- until you look closely
and see the Arabic calligraphy. Very cool.

More of my Chinese babies; these are two
of my grade 10s, Ester and Antonia :-)

All in all, a day out in the 'jing, on a good air day, and with milder 50 degree 

temperatures, was a vast improvement over sitting in my apartment staring

at a useless computer screen with no VPN!  

I am really trying to be the happiest girl in China.  

Some days, though, China really tries me.

G'nite, y'all!