Welcome! Here are some random pictures from when I was teaching at Beijng Huijia Private School in Changping, a city in Beijing province.
There's tons to see in the capital city of Beijing! This beautiful place is Bei Hai Park.
Bicycle light in the capital city of Beijing
This was a common sight in the city of Changping. The sign on the left means "Repairs bikes."
Here are four of my fellow English teachers, helping me celebrate my birthday!
Banners are popular. I remember one in Changping that said something like "Fewer people means a higher quality of life." This banner was on the campus of Beijing Huijia Private School. It says, "Eat well. Sleep well. Play well. Learn well." Behind it is a grassy field where students can play. Around that field are buildings. The building with the portico is the administration building. One of the buildings to the left is the middle school where I taught.
Teachers worked at cubicles. This is a shot of my office.
The Canteen at Beijing Huijia Private School included many cafeterias. The ones on the first and second floors were open to students and teachers. The principal dined on the top floor, probably because it had cleaner food and no rats. Teachers were invited to eat there once.
My camera was on the wrong setting when I took these blurry pictures inside the canteen. I'm very sorry about the blur, but I think you can still get the idea.
Some fellow teachers eating at the Canteen.
Short line to wait in.
Tub where you can get soup.
Behind the tree next to the canteen was a convenience store. During the SARS outbreak, we were quarantined on campus for NOT having the disease. Since we couldn't dine out anymore, we sometimes made a meal of the potato chips we bought at the convenience store.
You'll never mistake the music building for anything else with this decor!
Before the quarantine, we hiked a hill like this one behind the campus. There, we could pick dates to eat.
Dorms
There were no dryers. Clothes were dried on clotheslines outside.
Additional fences, like the one this security guard is sitting next to, were put up during the quarantine. The campus felt like a prison.
To get potable water, people brought thermoses to a building with faucets that supplied boiling water. During the quarantine, the way to that building got blocked by this stupid fence (you turn left after the fence to get there). Fortunately, the problem was remedied in a few days.
Here was another place (discovered very late during our stay), where we could get boiling, drinkable water.
People would leave their thermoses here before work. After work, they would fill them up and take them back to their apartments.
You can't see the pool, but it's between the closer fence and the blue-and-white building. The first few times during the quarantine when cabin fever got really bad, some of my fellow American teachers would hop the fence behind that building to get out. This luxury would soon be taken away.
Near the pool were the basketball courts. Mismatching gray boards were put up to stop teachers from hopping the fence near the pool.
Two fences were put up at the front entrance to create a dead zone. Perhaps it was the fault of us American teachers because it used to be one fence. Students and parents talked through plexiglass in an adjacent building. After some American teachers got food through the fence three times, the second fence went up to make passing food impossible. Yes, we Americans were a mischievous bunch, but at least students and parents no longer had to talk through the plexiglass.
Hey, you over there! Help me out of here!
This guy had to press a button to unlock the door, or you couldn't leave campus.
Jay has signed his early termination agreement. No more quarantine for him!
Yes, you can still find beauty while on campus.
A temple on the way to the Great Wall. Not sure what's up with the green stuff. What an eyesore!
Yes, these steps are really steep and uneven, but you really are meant to climb them.
What I didn't realize until I got there was that the Great Wall of China is also the Great Wall of Stairs. I should have gotten myself in better shape!
This one is steeper!
A view of the temple I passed to reach the Great Wall
Ready to head back? (It's amazing how the patrol could have done their job without rails.)
