Comfort-What's That?

Good news! The 7^th grade kid that swore at me last Wednesday was a perfect angel this week. We’re talking participation coming out the wazoo. He even offered to demonstrate a conversation for the class-umm hello! Someone put the fear of God in him, and I loved it.

 Anyway. This past week I’ve gone to the gym almost every day. Before, I would go to the university to run and maybe do abs with Boss or whoever was there, but now I’m making a conscious effort to actually lift as well as do cardio. Why? Because last week I had the fear of God put in ME.  My dad asked if I would want to do a mud run with him, and without even looking at the website I was all, “Yeah! Sounds fun! Let’s do it!” Then I looked at the website and almost peed my pants. No, really. I looked up the race, got scared, changed my clothes, and went for a run-at 10:30 at night. Talk about motivation. (Mom, Dad-before you get nervous about me running at night, it was at my school track, within school gates, which are guarded by security.)

 Now, I’m one of those people that actually enjoys working out, so going to the gym is no big deal for me. But here it’s a different story. Chinese girls don’t work out. If they do go to the gym, they walk or slowly jog (jog might even be stretching it a bit for most) with their hair down, cute clothes and platform shoes. And there I am in my cut-off “I Bust Mine To Kick Yours” t-shirt, with sweat running down my face (pshh air conditioning is for wimps), my hair a frizzy mess that used to be a ponytail, doing squat jumps next to a shirtless Rambo-wanna-be. I swear I can’t stick out anymore if I tried.

 I know going to the gym can be intimidating for girls, but try being the only foreigner AND the only girl, and having every guy in the gym watch your entire work out. It’s slightly uncomfortable. The other day, one guy was either taking pictures or video of me doing bicep curls. I wanted to be like, “15, 16, 98, 99, 100!” But I’m an introvert, so obviously I just ignored him. I’ve also had guys come up to me and tell me to stop because big muscles are “not beautiful.” Ok, ruuuude! But thank you for thinking I have big muscles! Thankfully, the trainers know me by now and just leave me alone, except this one trainer who talks to Scott and I every time we go. I think he asked if I liked beef the other day. Then he told me my arms are less fat. It was a weird conversation.

 So basically this is what my life in China is like. I’m almost always outside my comfort zone, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. But the cool thing is that my comfort “zone” has turned into more of a region, an expanding territory if you will. Because the more I’m outside of it, the more comfortable it gets. I might not ever get used to Mr. Sweaty-jeans watching me from the leg press, but that’s not going to stop me from sweating my butt off. Even if the other girl that happens to be there is walking daintily on the treadmill in her button-up shirt and dress pants. I’m excited to see how big my comfort zone, I mean region, really is when I get back home-the place I’m most comfortable of all. I guess we’ll see in 6 weeks. Yikes, I have banana chips older than that. I should get rid of those. 

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

Well, it finally happened. A kid called me a not very nice word to my face, in Chinese of course, thinking I wouldn’t understand. Boy, was he wrong. Here’s what happened. I teach once a week at a public middle school about 15 minutes away, or 45 minutes if you take a bus and happen to arrive at the bus stop just as bus 150 is pulling away. Yeah, that happened a couple weeks ago. Anyway, I teach two 7^th grade classes. Class 1 is amazing- they are well behaved, smart, they participate and they go above and beyond what I ask them to do. One time I asked them to change irregular verbs from present tense to past tense, that’s it. I just wanted them to say “have, had; take, took; go, went; etc.” and one kid raises his hand and goes, “I went to the park yesterday and had a picnic with my friends.” Whoa, dude. You’re kind of ruining my lesson plan. That part isn’t supposed to happen for another 10 minutes. Now I have to think of something to take up the 10-minute review time you just stole from me. Tic-Tac-Toe it is!

 Class 4 is like the evil stepsister to class 1. Most of the students don’t want to be there, they are behind in their book, they don’t participate and they are just plain old sucky sometimes. Well, this one kid in class 4 (of course) was causing a ruckus during my entire class. I told him to move to the back corner desk, away from his friend, and stand there. He tried sitting down but I told him to stand back up, he tried resting his arms on the desk, I told him to stand back up, he tried kneeling on the chair, you guessed it-I told him to stand back up. This went on the entire class. I would not let him get away with anything. This was not the first time he had caused problems, and this wasn’t my first rodeo. After class I was packing up my things and saying goodbye to the students when I hear, “Goodbye, ******!” My head snapped up and I looked at him and said, “Excuse me?” He got this surprised look on his face and ran out the door. He obviously didn’t think I would understand, he thought wrong.

 A couple minutes later I told the head English teacher what had happened. She promised to find out who it was (I didn’t know his name) and tell his head teacher so she could punish him, and maybe even remove him from my class. I guess we’ll see what happens when I teach there next week!

 So yeah, teaching is not always fun. But most of the time it is. Like the other day when I was almost late for my next class because my 1^st graders wouldn’t let go of me and kept asking me questions I didn’t understand. Or when I was reviewing “May I have a bottle of soda/a cup of coffee/a piece of cake” with my 2^nd graders and one little girl asks, “May I have a glass of beer?” Um, what? Why do you need to know that? Anyway, let’s just say I’m glad I teach twelve 1^st and 2^nd grade classes and only two 7^th grade classes. It makes my life a lot more enjoyable and a whole lot easier. I don’t even lesson plan for my 1^st and 2^nd grade classes! Before you call me lazy, let me just point out that my school hasn’t given me their books yet…and we’re over halfway through the semester. I’m 97% sure I won’t ever get their books. Such is China. Or just my school. Probably the latter. Oh well!

 

 

音乐会 : Jiujiang Music

 

Dear 朋友们，

                As someone who is very much into the current indie pop/rock music that is sweeping the Western world, the current Chinese music has all but excited my ears.  Popular music here is a concoction of Western Pop (J-Biebs, T-dawg Swifty Swifty, and Beyoncéééééé), K-Pop (Big Bang and Psy), and their own popstars who remind me of all the love ballads sung in the '90's.  All-in-all, not my scene per se...

                Also, for the previous five years, I have grown accustmed to live music, especially hipster indie music in Boulder and Flamenco in the streets of Seville along with their famous Territorios indiefestival.  So, I definitely missed not having that as a weekend option.  HOWEVER, my friend Sam found a place that did live music in Jiujiang, and it was not too shabby.  Apparently it has been on the floor above our frequented watering hole, and we just never new.  I guess we just didn't ask the right people.  Anyway, here's a little blip of the three bands we heard!

 

 

Also, my friend Alexandra filmed me durring calligraphy, and I was bored and made this very short video.  Teaching abroad can be pretty glamorous, but let me tell you, there is a LOT of downtime.   Thank goodness for the internet. 

 

 

                        好，

                              Mark

May Day Week

I had this whole week off to celebrate May Day, and it went by way too fast. Why does that always happen? Monday I went for a run and then chilled in my apartment until dinner when I met friends at Bit Burger. I had gone to Bit Burger once before, way back in September when my craving for an actual burger was laughable compared to what it is now. I was so naiive back then. Anyway, Bit Burger is a German restaurant with delicious western food, including the Texas Burger which comes with fried onions, BBQ sauce, bacon and cheese. I was sold. As soon as I took my first bite, I immediately questioned my sanity for not eating there more often. Plus we got a discount for being foreigners. Bazinga! 

Tuesday I read outside for a while because I refuse to conform to the Chinese idea that whiter is better. No. You will not see me with an umbrella on a gorgeous, sunny day. I've even seen girls use their purses or a book to shield themselves from the sun while they're walking. Meanwhile, I'm dancing down the sidewalk like Julie Andrews singing "The Hills Are Alive"  in the Sound of Music, not really, but in my head I am. Tuesday afternoon I headed to the coffee shop and met up with friends to work out at the nearby university. Eight guys and me. Story of my life. The best part was listening to the amount of complaining going on when I explained my ab excercises. Come on, guys. 

Wednesday I got a text from my friend asking if I wanted to play football, american football. I didn't even hesitate, I'm used to being the only girl and I figured I'd probably be better than our Chinese friends anyway. I was correct. At one point, one of my friends caught the ball, but instead of throwing it back to me, he ran up and handed me the ball.  It was like the Chinese version of The Sandlot. I'm going to call him Smalls from now on. But it was hilarious, and really fun. I even have a nasty turf burn and some scrapes to prove it. 

Thursday was uneventful so let's skip to Friday. I woke up Friday morning with the intention of going for a run, but ended up taking a bus to Wanda, a big mall twenty minutes away. I was literally putting my hair in a ponytail when I said to myself, 'I want to go shopping.' I never go shopping, other than for food, mostly because I don't like any of the stores near me and only buy clothes at H&M-which is in Wanda, twenty minutes away. So I went to H&M, looking for a bathing suit that I had seen online, but of course they don't have it. No one goes swimming here. However, my spontaneous trip wasn't in vain, I bought a badly needed belt and a couple shirts that were on sale. I am Dutch afterall, we love sales.

Then Friday night I saw Iron Man 3 with two other foreign teacher friends. It was my first 3D movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Obviously, we saw the original English version with Chinese subtitles. Subtitles don't really convey sarcasm very well, which is kind of a bumber since that's Tony Stark's main form of comunication. Needless to say, I was cracking up during the entire movie and the rest of the poor theater was virtually silent. Except when Iron Man...never mind, I won't give it away. 

All in all it was a good, relaxing week and now it's back to the grind. The grind of working 4 hours a day, at most, with a 3 hour nap break. Man, reality is going to hit hard when I get an actual full time job back in the States. 

 

Hangzhou! etc.

After a lengthy work week of 7 days of kindergarten in a row, we were rewarded with 3 days off for the International Labor Day holiday! Sunday felt like Friday, Monday felt like Saturday, Tuesday felt like Sunday, and Wednesday, well Wednesday was my birthday! Before I could celebrate though, I left on a fast train from Shanghai Monday morning to Hangzhou - a smaller city of about 6 million southwest of here. But there were definitely more than just the standard 6 million in the population taking over Hangzhou for the holiday...

After I arrived at my hostel after a little walk from the train station, I was immediately faced with a complication. Traveling in Asia I've found is never a breeze! I stupidly forgot my passport, which was necessary to check in to the hostel. I didn't even think to bring it since I was just getting on an hour long train ride, instead of going on a flight. The hostel staff wouldn't let me check in without some sort of passport proof, so after thinking for a moment, I called my boss Yvonne to ask if anyone was in the office that day and could e-mail a copy of my passport and visa. Thankfully, someone was there, and just within a few minutes I had a copy in my e-mail, clear as day, to show the hostel staff. I paid a huge thank you to technology that day. After that mild hiccup, I dropped my stuff in the dorm locker, and set out for my day.

It was about noontime by now, and I was starving for lunch. I quickly realized that Hangzhou had quite a selection of street food - something I don't really indulge in too much in Shanghai. But, the street food doesn't always smell delectable. There was an overbearing amount of stinky tofu, which is actually kryptonite to me. I immediately cover my nose and mouth and cower in fear that the smell will stick to my hair and clothing and never go away. It is actually the worst. Regardless though, I managed to find a noodle cart - always a good staple - and got some mildly spicy glutinous rice noodles with some cilantro and veggies. 

noodles in a cardboard bowl in a bag with wooden chopsticks. As good as it gets! 

I walked down Hefang Pedestrian Street on my way to the main attraction of Hangzhou - West Lake (西湖). The street was filled with silk shops, shops with the most random assortment of anything, Longjin tea shops (famous in Zhejiang Province - it's the green tea we pressed on my trip a few weekends ago!), and lots and lots of people. I didn't see many foreign tourists (that I could recognize were foreign like me), but there were many Asian tourists there for the holiday. Usually this causes some problems, such as people stopping exactly in my walking path to examine my light-skinned face and blonde hair or to take unsubtle photos of me, or stare and point yelling "foreigner, foreigner!" in Chinese. But, through the hoards of people, I managed some photos while walking down the pedestrian street!

view from the street. 

After I ate the noodles, I entered the area toward the lake. So many people - again! It was honestly sort of difficult to maneuver because I wanted to look around and take photos, but I also didn't want to accidentally bump into several people because I wasn't looking exactly where I was going. Struggle! But I did manage. I walked a decent portion of the lake, photographing seriously how beautiful it was. It was hot outside, but cloudy enough where there was some relief and the mountains were shrouded in mist. 

entrance to the main lake area. beautiful!

Leifeng Pagoda in the distance.

After walking some distance around the lake, I decided to walk back in the direction I came in to avoid getting lost. I wanted to go to the Leifeng Pagoda, so I either could have kept walking around the insanely crowded lake area, or on the lesser crowded streets. I opted for the street, and managed to get there eventually after some mild confusion since the streets twisted and turned. Thank goodness for signage! 

escalator up to the entrance!

amazing wood carvings inside.

views from the top!

don't look down! view of the escalator.

The views were well worth the stairs to the top. Occasionally I had to push a bit to get to a spot where I could actually see and photograph the view, but I saw and appreciated what I needed to.

When I came out of the pagoda area, I still had some time, and even though my feet were killing (about 5 hours on foot at this point), I decided to check out the Jingci Temple that was across the street. Boy, was I glad that I did. It was hardly infested with people, completely peaceful, and totally awe-inspiring.

incense.

After walking through the temple for a while, I decided to walk back towards the hostel to give my phone some juice as it was severely on the verge of death. But, as I was walking, I passed by a massage place that is a chain throughout Shanghai as well. My little feets were struggling after many hours of walking and standing, so I decided on a whim to see if I could get just a foot massage. Best decision I ever made. The room was dark, only lit by candlelight, my body practically sunk into the chair, and I may have even fallen asleep just for a second. 60 minutes later, and with less soreness, I got back to the hostel to charge my phone, update my Instagram, and try to figure out somewhere not too far to have dinner. Many places in my Lonely Planet guide were either too far, or I was concerned they wouldn't have vegetarian options, so I decided to ask the front desk. The guy suggested a restaurant to me literaly called "Vegetarian," so I figured that would be a safe bet. 

I walked back down the pedestrian street to Wushan Square, where I soon found the restaurant. Indeed, the sign literally said, "Vegetarian." 

Hefang St. at night.

When I got to the restaurant, hardly anyone was there, and as I started to look through the menu, the first item I saw was something with fish, and then beef, and then chicken. Wait a minute...then I realized their meat is the fake stuff, which freaks me out, even in America. So I ordered a plate of vermicelli noodles with stirfry vegetables, thinking if there was no meat in the title, that it would be "meat"less. Well, wrong. As usual. I asked in Chinese what it was, and he replied that it was vegetarian pork. Ohhhhhh, no. I picked it out as much as I possibly could, and just ate the noodles and veggies, leaving a plate of fake pork. Sometimes I just have to laugh...

It was getting late actually, so I went back to the hostel, and brought my Kindle down to the lobby area to use the wifi to read and talk to my family simultaneously. Eventually it was lights out! 

The next morning, I FaceTimed with Allie for her birthday (miss you!) and eventually made my way out for the day after packing up my bag and checking out. My train was at 3 PM, but checkout was at Noon, so I decided to just leave my bag at the front desk and come get it before I was going to leave for the train station. I managed a muffin for breakfast from the Costa Coffee next door, and decided to just take a walk around the hostel area and back at the lake. 

Around Noon, I decided I was going to find a Muslim noodle place listed in the Lonely Planet that was on the main street that I had been walking on basically the entire time I was in Hangzhou. I walked, and walked, and walked, and FINALLY found the beautiful gem of a noodle shop. Chinese Muslim noodles are hands down my favorite Chinese food in China - they are always so delicious. I walked in to the busy joint, put in my order, and sat down at a table that cleared up shortly after I arrived. I was presented with a delicious plate of noodles, mixed with stirfried egg and tomato with green peppers. Just vegetarian, seasoned perfectly, and gone in minutes. 

I walked a different way back toward Wushan Square and the pedestrian street because before I knew it, it was time to head back to the train. I grabbed my bag from the hostel, and walked the 25 minutes to the station. I was there early, but I didn't want to risk not being able to navigate the station. At least that worked out easily for me! 

And that was all the time I had in Hangzhou! I really underestimated how much there is to do there, but with my limited time, and the millions of extra people in the city, I decided I wanted it to be a relaxed time. I didn't rush to see every single beautiful thing Hangzhou had to offer, but that just means that maybe if I have time, I will have to return! 

Tuesday evening I had a nice dinner with the Germans to celebrate my birthday a few hours early, and Wednesday, my actual birthday, was just the relaxed, enjoyable day off I wanted. Kayden, Phoebe and I went to Century Park for a picnic of nutella banana sandwiches, goldfish, cookies, and strawberries, basking in the sun (a little too much, oops), and watching the cute families set up in tents playing frisbee on the green. After a couple of hours and realizing our pale skin was turning a shade of pink, we packed up our stuff and took the subway over to Forever 21. What birthday isn't complete without a little shopping? We literally spent a few hours in there - easy to do considering it's massive and there were tons of people - but we made our purchases eventually. It was nearing dinner time, so we got back on the subway to go to the Cool Docks area for some food! I wanted to try the Greek restaurant there that has a sweet rooftop patio with a great view of the Huangpu River, but once we sat down and started to look at the menu, we quickly realized that this food was overpriced, and minimally vegetarian. Awkward. 

Here was the plan: Phoebe was going to fake a phone call that made it look like we were supposed to be meeting other people, but we ended up at the wrong restaurant. I wish I had a video of this because the conversation was way too legit. We awkwardly got up from the table, and escaped the restaurant with minimal eye contact with the staff. Instead, we decided on Tamarind Thai - which ended up being a fantastic choice. Lots of vegetarian options, and we ate on the 2nd floor of the restaurant at a table that was cut out into the floor, on cushions, with our shoes removed. No one else was in this area for a while, which was an extremely rare occurrence while dining in Shanghai! The food was yummy, the company enjoyable, and the day relaxed. A good birthday, indeed. 

I later headed home to FaceTime with my family to catch them up on my birthday day, and made sure they would enjoy my birthday day back in the States as I was going to sleep! 

Mostly though, I was thinking all day about how I couldn't believe it was May already. MAY. I never thought I would see May after September, October, and Novemeber really dragged. My contract ends next month? What? 

I vow to enjoy the short time I have left in Asia :) 

Final Countdown, and Other Things.

Today is a good day. It is currently sunny and 88, it is the beginning of a week long vacation (aww yeah), and today marks the final countdown (go ahead, sing the song) of my time left in China. Ok, that part is bitter sweet. Why is it the final countdown? Well, two months from today I will be leaving on a jet plane for home. That means that the number of weeks I have left is in single digits and in just a couple days, I’ll be saying “I’m going home next month.” Granted, I leave at the very end of June but still, it’s the next month. Having that in the back of my mind really makes me appreciate the weird and random aspects of my life here. Like helping host galas in traditional Chinese costume, dancing Gangnam Style on TV, getting interviewed for the newspaper at some calligraphy class, getting invited to that calligraphy class in the first place, modeling in fashion shows, the list goes on and on. Two days ago another event got added to the list.

Let me start from the beginning so you can get a full understanding of how communication works at my school. Last Monday night around 10:30pm I get a call from a fellow foreign teacher who proceeds to tell me that the international office had just told him that we are supposed to dress nice and wear make-up the next day. Their words, not his. All he knows is that we are taking a picture, but he doesn’t know when, where or why. So the next morning I get up early for my 8am class in order to paint the barn, if you know what I mean. I go to all my morning classes dressed up, which is not ideal when you teach Kindergarten, or if you're just lazy like me. Anyway, Tuesdays I’m done with classes at 11:00am so I really didn’t want a picture to ruin my afternoon off. So I was happy when I received a text saying that the picture would happen either Thursday or Friday, not Tuesday. At the same time I was a little miffed because a) I had gotten all dressed up for nothing and b) I was actually having a good hair day.

 Thursday rolls around and I haven’t heard anything from the office so I assume we’re taking the picture on Friday. For once I assumed right. Thursday afternoon I get a text saying, “hi, Bethany tomorrow morning shoot, pls light make up and nice ware, gather at our office on 8:15am.” Now, if that isn’t just bursting with details and information I don’t know what is (the sarcasm meter is off the charts right now). So I show up at our office Friday morning at 8:15. No one is there. Surprise, surprise. You’d think I would’ve learned by now that 8:15 really means 8:45 or 9:00, but nope. Slowly, people start showing up and I learn that the shoot (not just a picture, an actual photo shoot) is supposed to begin at 9am. 9 o’clock comes and goes. We’re all sitting around twiddling our thumbs. At this point I still have no idea what the photo shoot is for, what we will be doing or where we will be going. 

 Finally, around 10 o’clock we get the green light and are told to go to a classroom. There are lines of 1^st graders outside the door, all dressed in their school uniforms. One by one the cutest kids are chosen (I'm not lying), and given a desk to sit at in the classroom. They sit perfectly, with their arms folded on their desks, their English books placed in the upper left corner, their tiny feet barely reaching the floor. They never sit like this when I’m teaching. I was like, who are these kids?! My classes resemble rooms full of monkeys that just saw a crate of bananas go by-in other words, chaos. Ok, it's not that bad, but I do have to tell kids to stop standing on their desks on a daily basis. That started when I began giving stars to rows that held their English books up for me to see, so it's slightly my fault. At least they're enthusiastic, right? Anyway, turns out we were doing a photo shoot for school advertisements. One of our new Chinese-English teachers pretended to give a lesson while the photographers stopped every minute to instruct her on where to stand and how to pose. Quite frankly it was making me nervous. They were picky.

After her shoot they rearranged the entire classroom so that all the desks were in a circle and put a chair in the middle. Then they handed me an English book and told me to act like I was reading a story. So I did. At one point I felt so ridiculous that I started laughing really hard. The photographer caught that moment on camera and stopped shooting to show me the picture. He told me he wanted more expressions like that, so there I was pretending to laugh, and then laughing for real, and then trying to compose myself, and then laughing out of embarrassment again. It was a vicious cycle. After that we headed outside where we took more pictures on some sunny steps with the kids sitting around us, gazing at our faces while the photographer instructed “kàn lǎoshī! kàn lǎoshī!” (look at the teacher! look at the teacher!). I felt like I was in a Hallmark commercial. 

So do you see what I mean about the random and hilariously awkward parts of my life here? Maybe it’s my school, maybe it’s just my luck, but I’m going to miss these weird situations I’m constantly thrown into. Who knows what this next week will hold!

Guilin rice noodles.

No, this post isn't only about Guilin rice noodles, but I certainly want them at all times. Delicious doesn't even justify their buttery, decadent selves. But, I did go to Guilin for the weekend with Nicole and it was a much needed weekend away! With all of the trauma occurring back home in Boston, it was a nice distraction, especially when there was finally some good news and I could relax. School has also been a little bit stressful the past few weeks with lots of meetings, schedule changes, and just general kindergarten chaos. So a weekend with nature was just the cure. 

I took a flight from Shanghai to Guilin Friday night, and went straight to the airport from school. I boarded the plane with no expectation that this flight would be terrible, but it possibly was the flight from hell. I was already pretty congested trying to get over an obnoxious cold I got on top of another cold, so the fact that the cabin pressure was completely out of whack really didn't help the situation. It actually felt like my brain was expanding inside my skull, and my eyes were going to pop out of my head. I was sure that if I looked in the mirror my eyes would be all red from popped blood vessels. I did my best to sleep, but the man eating seafood noodles next to me was making it extremely difficult. Then, during our descent, the plane started to rock and roll a bit with some turbulence, and the pilot made an announcement. Usually turbulence doesn't worry me, but this, this was something different. The plane was really moving in all directions, and when it dropped for the first time down a few feet, there were screams from other passengers. Screaming? Seriously? Like, do you know how to make other people have panic attacks? I stared angrily at many people behind me screaming, and did my best to hold in my own screams directed towards them specifically. The plane did a few more ups and downs, and eventually balanced after a few minutes. I could not have been happier to touch the ground. 

Nicole was on a different flight from me, so after enduring the scariest flight ever alone, I waited for her quietly in the arrivals hall, reading my Kindle. Her flight was delayed, but eventually we were reunited and managed a taxi to our hostel without getting overcharged - always a plus. 

We didn't arrive at the hostel though until nearly 2 AM, and the reception was closed, so a man sleeping in the lobby gave us our key and told us we could pay in the morning. Soon after settling, it was lights out for us, too! 

Our only full day was Saturday, so we took advantage by spending the day exploring the city. We first walked to the Solitary Beauty Peak, not far from our hostel, and what appeared to be a quite large attraction in Guilin. After only a few minutes of being in the park area, we realized that not only was the peak and temples a large tourist attraction, but so were we. Nearly everywhere we walked, someone would snap a cell phone or camera picture of us. 99% of photographers were not at all subtle - some even used flash! They would point at us and smile, or just straight up hold the phone to our faces. I sort of forgot how people in other cities reacted to foreigners, since Shanghai is so full of them, no one photographs me. I'm used to stares, but not really photos. Eventually it was pretty frustrating, so if I saw someone trying to take my picture I would just turn or move out of the way so they could take a hint! I should have just started taking pictures of them taking my picture........

Regardless of the stares and photos, we managed to cover lots of ground - and stairs - in the complex.

right at the entrance to the complex of the Solitary Beauty Peak.

the peak!

close up of the 1,000 year old face.

at this Temple, that used to be a school, they did some silly reenactment of what I think was a graduation ceremony...

climbing up!

I need this door-knocker.

don't look down...

view!

mountains.

slippery when wet!

green.

There were many temples, and a palace in the complex, but they all forbode pictures (exception of photography of foreigners I guess...). It was starting to rain, and the complex just turned a lush green. We exited through the main entrance (we entered and paid for a ticket through not the main entrance...), and managed on our map how to walk to a bus stop where we could catch a bus to the Reed Flute Caves, our next tourist destination of the day! 

always love a good street photo.

When we got to the bus stop the woman at the hostel marked on our map, the bus number we needed wasn't at this particular post. Of course. So we had to ask around several people on the street and inside a bakery to figure out where we could catch bus #3. We asked one of the bus drivers that stopped, and pointed on the map what we needed. He directed us with charades that it was on the other side of the street. We're geniuses. We hopped a crowded bus, and rode our way through the city to the caves. The coolest caves EVER!

So cool. The different formations had the most ridiculously translated names, for example: "centipede frightened by a magic mirror." Say, what? 

Even inside the caves where it was dark, the paparazzi was still following Nicole and I, but at least it was easy to hide in there! Afteward, we walked around taking some photos of the river and surroundings, indulged in a roasted sweet potato from a food cart (the best), and got on a bus back toward the city. 

When we got back to the city, we realized it was around 4 PM and we hadn't eaten a thing since breakfast besides the sweet potato. Oops. Our mission: rice noodles. Mission accomplished? You bet. We found a place on the city's pedestrian street, but first we were "interviewed" by university students about where we were from, why we were in Guilin, and about who knows what. One girl had a note pad with questions, but wasn't writing down any answers, so my initial thought was that someone else was coming to steal our stuff, so I held my purse in front of my body. But, since no one was stealing anything, I guess it was just a bunch of innocent university kids who just wanted to talk to some white girls!

I want them now. 

After we refueled, we walked over the Li River to Seven Star Park. Guilin just really knows how to have beautiful and photogenic sights.

I just love the Chinese sassy lions.

After exploring a bit, we walked back to the hostel to have a bit of a rest since we had been walking for.so.long. We tried to figure out an arrangement for a visit to the rice terraces for the next day (our last day) so that we could have enough time and still make it to the airport for our flights. We ended up just having some dinner at the hostel's cafe, then headed back out despite minor exhaustion to check out the night market on the pedestrian street. It was classic - filled with doo dads and nick nacks I don't know if people actually purchase...

walking over the Li River back to the hostel.

entrance to the market.

What an array!

After the market, we had to call it a night. We had exhausted ourselves to see as much as we could of the city, and the next morning, we had an early wake up call to give us enough time at the rice terraces.

When we got back to the hostel after the market, the woman working the desk was actually ridiculous. She was pregnant, and wrapped in a colorful fleece blanket. Her English was fine, but she got very emotional when speaking. Not necessarily emotional, like sad, but very passionate, standing on the edge of angry. We were discussing how we could get to the rice terraces on our own without a tour, and Nicole and I were willing to split the cost of a taxi to take us the 2 1/2 hour drive instead of going on a route of having to transfer public buses 3 times. She was confused as to why we wanted to pay for a taxi, and was under the impression we wouldn't have enough time because we needed to be at the airport by 5:30 PM. At one point, she got so heated she actually said "no, you listen to me" and began to explain about who knows what. Eventually, we all settled that a taxi would pick us up at the hostel at 7 AM, take us to the rice terraces, and then take us straight to the airport from there to make our flight and we could leave the luggage in the car. Finally, done and DONE. This lady really needed to get some sleep or something...

The next morning, we packed our bags, checked out, and had some breakfast before meeting our driver. Our lady driver! Who drove an actual car and not a taxi car! Much better. 

We put our stuff in the trunk and went on our way. This lady had literally the worst CD of music known to man playing the ENTIRE time we were driving - there and back. It was a horrible mixture of Russian pop songs, Chinese pop songs, and Ashlee Simpson. She was playing it loud enough where headphones just weren't even worth it. She also had the windows rolled down on the cool, rainy morning (to ventilate the car I suppose since she appeared to have a classic China cough), but eventually Nicole kindly asked her to close the windows - but she still left them open a crack. 

The ride ended up being much shorter than expected (not surprising), and after we got our tickets, we had to get back in the car to go up this narrow, extremely windy road to the actual Longji Rice Terraces. It was completely worth the atrocious musical accompianment and ticket confusion. It was difficult to choose which photos would actually justify to you how beautiful of a place it really was, but I hope this bombardment of photos gets the point across!

upon first glace!

the community was laying roof tiles altogether. It was so cool!

wet spiderweb.

IN the clouds.

there's a face!

We spent 4 hours walking up, down, and all around. It was truly beautiful. I have so many more photos...

After we were finished, we met up with our driver (on time, as we expected with no problem), and she started to drive us back toward Guilin to get to the airport. We tried to get the point across to her that we were starving, having not eaten since 7 AM and it was now 2 PM. But, as always, there were communication issues between two non-Chinese speakers and one Chinese speaker, so we gave up eventually on food, and quietly sat in the back seat while the horrible musical CD blared again. This time, I tried to block it out with my headphones!

When we were back in the Guilin city area, the driver finally said "lunch?" and we were like, YES. She took us down some side streets to this unbelievably random "restaurant" at the end of a block. There was no one eating inside, but I tried to just attribute that to the fact that it was a random hour to eat. We walked in, and the driver seemed to know the woman who allegedly owned the place, so we were hoping she arranged some food for us. I confided I was vegetarian (wo chi su), and after we paid 20 kuai, I was hoping I would get something vegetarian and delicious. 

Well, it was delicious, but I had to pick the meat out of it first. I guess I haven't exactly perfected how to say wo chi su yet. Luckily, they were in pretty large chunks, so I was able to manage pulling out the pork pieces with my chopsticks and giving them to the lady driver. She brought us gigantic steaming noodle soups, that also had vegetables in it, too. We were so hungry I didn't even think to take a picture - after I took the meat out, I shamelessly almost finished the huge bowl of delectable rice noodles. Well worth the 20 kuai.

We got back in the car, and were dropped off effortlessly at the airport, checked in for our flights, and had some time to spare so we sat with some tea at a cafe. Unfortunately, we were on separate flights again, but luckily this time, my flight was smooth, head bursting and scream free, and shorter than on the way to Guilin. 

I got in the most obnoxious taxi line at Pudong airport upon arrival, which while I was in the line for probably close to 40 minutes, I realized it would be the last time I would ever have to do that - thankfully! My only flight before going to Japan at the end of my contract is to and from Hong Kong in May, which both flights are at the Hongqiao Airport - much more convenient to the metro and the city! 

This coming Monday through Wednesday (my birthday!) we have a holiday for International Labour Day. Unfortunately first, we have to work 7 days in a row (5 down, 2 to go), but then we are free for an extra day. This set up is much better than having the days off first, and then working however many days in a row. I decided to take the fast train to Hangzhou - I'll get there Monday morning and come back Tuesday late afternoon. I've heard wonderful things, so I'm very excited to go! 

Today, April 26th marks 8 months in China. Wow.

I only have ten weeks left in China...

            I only have 10 weeks left in China. 10 weeks. Saying that really puts these last few months of my life in perspective. I have been living halfway around the world for over six months now. I have done something that most people would never dream of, and something that some people even have nightmares about!

            But if you are reading this blog you are most likely one of those people who dream about living and working in a foreign country. This post is especially for those of you who are thinking a coming to China. Before you continue reading, however, you should know that I am not going to sugarcoat this, and I am very cynical and judgmental, at times, so bare that in mind.

            Before my Thailand vacation I was really starting to dislike my choice to come to China. No, ‘dislike’ is not strong enough. I wanted to claw my own eyes out for the mistake of looking at the CIEE website and deciding that coming to this frozen wasteland was a good idea! I hated where I lived, I hated my job, I hated the kids, I hated the food, I hated the people, and I HATED THE WEATHER! I was miserable.

            Yeah, I was making good money, had a great apartment, and was seeing the world, yet I could not see any of this. Now I am not one who usually puts stock into our “diagnoses and medicines for everything” culture; not every kid who would rather play outside then pay attention in school has ADD, America. But I have heard about one ailment that may perfectly describe how one feels during a winter in Heilongjiang. S.A.D. Perfect acronym right?? SAD stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder. As you can guess, it means that during certain times of the year you may get depressed. Well when you are living in a place where it has been below zero during the afternoon for about three months, SAD seems like the perfect explanation for feeling a little bitter.

            But the world did not end due to a never-ending winter, nor did any white walkers show up (Game of Thrones reference, anyone?). And now, though it seems I only just arrived, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 10 weeks away! And not only do I see the light, but the tunnel (Heilongjiang province) is starting to warm up! It is now on average 60 degrees warmer then in was just three months ago. Think about that! 60 degrees warmer, and its still only in the mid 40’s. But damn are those 40-degree days beautiful!

            The point I am trying to get across with this little rant is that sometimes things suck, really suck. It does not matter if you are seeing the world, making great money, while just out of college (the dream right?). Do you really think that this is going to be some grand adventure after which you come back to be a cross between Anthony Bourdain and Indiana Jones?? Of course you do! Or maybe it was just me…regardless! This kind of fantasy is NOT teaching in China. You will have to deal with problems with your school, with your neighbors (very difficult when you don’t speak Chinese), at the store, and, oh God forbid, even with CIEE! But once that first bout of depression/anger/homicidal rage/blinding hatred of China and everything to do with it is over, you will start to realize that there are many things that you actually love about this place and will miss when you leave.

            Or you wont…but hey, it’s only a year, it looks good on a resume, and it’s better than living with your parents!

            Now that my little narrative is done I will provide some information about the bad and the good of China as I see it.

Starting with the bad:

1. If you get assigned to a private school, remove all thoughts of actually being a teacher. At these schools you are there as a novelty for parents to see, so they keep paying the school insane amounts of money, and as entertainment for the children so they tell their parents they have fun, so they keep paying insane amounts of money. Teaching takes a backseat to making sure the money keeps flowing.
2. You will never encounter a larger group of entitled, little &%*$! then you will meet at a private English school in China. These kids are commonly referred to as “little emperors” because they have been spoiled rotten their whole life by two sets of grandparents, their parents, and random extended family. Remember most people still only have one child so that child is spoon-fed their whole life; literally, I have nine year olds whose parents stand behind their desks and spoon-feed them will they play on the Ipad.
3. China’s complete lack infrastructure longevity or maintenance.  Besides the crumbling three-year old buildings, uneven sidewalks, and intersections where the lines do not come together properly, some of the biggest problems are “China holes”. These are like sinkholes, except, they are not sudden, everyone knows about the problem, and no one does anything to fix it! They range from six-inch squared holes that spew out noxious steam that is best to NEVER inhale, nor walk through. To ones that are half a city block. There is one on the way to my grocery store about this size that has been opening up for about three months now, and will most likely cause the collapse of the apartment building right next to it, possibly killing hundreds. China solution: fill the cracks in with trash and put a board over the real big holes. Needless to say I have changed my route.
4. The littering and pollution, and I live in one of China’s “green” cities. The majority of Chinese have no idea that what they do can affect the world around them, and therefore treat the world around them as their own personal trashcan, toxic waste dump, and/or toilet (see #5).
5. The public urination and defecation. That is as nice as I can put it. I have seen more grown men pissing in the streets on a Wednesday afternoon in China then I ever did in an alley outside a college bar on a Friday night. I have seen a kindergarten teacher hold up her baby’s legs so she could pee on the floor of the classroom that I was teaching in, and then laugh when I loudly proclaimed, “WHAT THE &*%$?!!?!?!”.

            Remember, I am only one person, in one city in China, writing about my experiences. These experiences and opinions should not be wholly generalized to the entire country. And anyways, there are many great things about China!

1. Chinese people are pretty awesome, most of the time. Most have never seen an American, a foreigner, or anyone who is not ethnically Han Chinese, for that matter. From most you will merely get some stares, maybe a double take, but there are some people that you will FREAK OUT. Like, stop in the middle of a store and start jumping up and down while yelling “American!” to all their friends and pointing at you. Some people really hate this but I think it is great because all you do is say, “hello” to these people and, just like that, you have made the rest of their month. Being the only American a person has ever seen can lead to other benefits, such as free taxi rides and cheaper food at the market!
2. The way that Chinese people treat foreigners in general is a great plus side of China. After being treated so well here, I am almost embarrassed to have people visit American because of the way that most Americans treat people from other countries, particularly if they cannot speak English. In China, people will try actively to become you friend regardless of if you speak Chinese or not. In America, a foreigner who does not speak English will most likely hear, “Go back to yer COUNTRY!” (ignorant redneck voice).
3. Cheap, CHEAP, CHEAP!! Thank you Chinese government for artificially controlling your money because it makes everything here super cheap. Just stick to the markets and you will be able to get the freshest food; I can buy about a weeks worth of food from the market for a little over 10 USD.
4. While I believe some of my students deserve a beating, 1800s style, many of them are the most adorable, loving kids ever. The kids are not really used to having teachers who are just there to play games with them, let alone that the teacher is an American, so once they get used to you they will begin to freak out whenever you walk into the classroom. Once they are comfortable with you they will use you as their own personal playground; climbing on you, hanging one you, expecting you to pick them up, throw balls for them, everything.
5. Another nice thing about China is you can actually hug your students without fear losing you job and being labeled a pedophile. There are many of my kids that I love and a lot more that love me, that I am glad I can pick up, hug and pat on the back, just as I would a family member. Would all that personal contact fly in the US, probably not.
6. Chinese food and restaurants are most likely like nothing you have experienced in the States. The vast majority of places are family style, so eating with groups in encouraged! The whole Chinese dining experience is a much more social activity then in the States. There are very few places where you can pick up an individual meal so you are almost forced to go out to eat with people and make friends. If the experience is great, the Chinese food is even better! Varied, colorful, and full of flavor, do not come here thinking you have had Chinese food because you have been to Panda Express a couple times, because you will be in for a shock.

            Well that is it for this blog. Hope it was informative, didn’t have too much asinine humor, and will help potential teachers to decide whether or not to come to China.

            Getting a cat who sleeps on its own foot is also really cool.

Want to Go "Strawberry Picking?"

I'm genuinely worried. For the first time since coming to China, I'm actually nervous. I'm terrified that there will still be snow on the ground when I come home. This is a legitimate fear of mine. Just had to get that off my chest. But I must admit, I'm getting excited to come home, especially in light of everything that happened in Boston. Why would something like that make me excited to come home? Good question, let me explain. 

Tuesday morning I decided to quickly check Facebook before class, something I never do because Tuesdays are my earliest days. But for some reason I did, and my stomach was in knots instantly. I kept reading status's about Boston, but had no idea what happened. A quick google search revealed the terrible tragedy, but before I could really understand what had occured I had to leave for class. Later that day, after finding out as much as I could, I headed to the coffee shop. As soon as I walked in the door, the cashier asked if I had heard. I nodded yes, and said that I even knew a couple people running in the marathon. Then a couple days later, I stayed up till the wee hours of the morning following the insane events leading up to the death of one suspect and capture of the second. That isn't what made me excited to come home though. 

I watched a video of 17,000 people singing an emotional rendition of the national anthem at a Boston Bruins hockey game. I saw picture after picture of people bravely running towards danger to help. I saw pictures of spontaneous celebrating in the streets after the chase was over. I saw posts of support from around the world. My favorite read, "I have never been prouder to be an American than now. And I'm British." Now, I know we're not perfect, by any means, but I'm honestly proud of where I come from. And that's what makes me excited to go back. That, and the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. And my whole family will be in town. And friends will be there. I've got a lot to look forward to. But enough about this, I've have funny story to tell. 

So Wednesday I got asked if I wanted to go strawberry picking with our international office. Um, yeah! Normally, I wouldn't be so excited. I mean, my Mom made us pick strawberries as part of our summer chores. But, in this case, I would get to see part of the Anhui countryside, and would get all my classes cancelled for the day. Boo. Yah. They told us to meet at the office at 8:30 in the morning and that we wouldn't be back till late afternoon. We all wondered how picking strawberries would take that much time, but we didn't dwell on it too much. Cancelled classes-need I say more?

We left and drove for about an hour, actually it could've been like four hours, I really have no idea. I was asleep. Suddenly we pulled onto a tiny road that should've been a one-way street, but since it's China it was a two-way street (plus parking on the side), and pulled up to a gate. A school gate. No strawberries anywhere. We got out of the van and were led to a conference room of sorts where important looking people were waiting for us with tea. The principle, I presume, warmly welcomes us and explains that we will be visiting classes in the middle school. I just nodded my head, stuff like this doesn't even phase me anymore. The fact that ten minutes prior I had been sound asleep, dreaming of strawberries with not even the faintest idea that we were about to visit a school, isn't even surprising. Our office never tells us anything. So the principle takes me to one 8th grade class while the others go to a different class. He introduces me by saying, "This is teacher from America," and then motions for me to begin. Obviously, I hadn't prepared anything, (duh-I thought I was on my way to picking strawberries) so I just tell a little about myself and ask if they have any questions. This is the funny part. 

One boy raises his hand in the back. He stands up and says, and I quote, "I think you are very thin. I think maybe you should eat more meat. Thank you." and sits down. Understandably, I start laughing. Then I realize he's being sincere, so I stifle my laugh and nod my head earnestly, and reply that I most definitely will eat more meat in the future. Then a girl stands up and asks if I can sing a song for the class. Totally caught of guard, I think for a moment and launch into a terrible version of "If You're Happy and You Know It." They loved it though and clapped and stomped along. Their English teacher then suggests asking me for my autograph and I get rushed by the entire class. I spend the next fifteen minutes signing my name with little smiley faces. Then the principle says it's time for lunch so I say goodbye and meet up with the others. After lunch we went back to the school (still no strawberries) and visited another class.  This time I was prepared when they asked for a song, and Scott and I sang the theme from "Fresh Prince." Apparently my rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It" was a hit because the principle asked me to sing it again. One kid asked if we have boyfriends or girlfriends and Scott replied that he has a girlfriend back in America. I told them I had ten boyfriends. Their eyes widened and gasps were heard around the room. Best reaction ever. 

Around one in the afternoon we finally said goodbye and headed out. Half an hour later we reached the strawberry place and picked to our hearts content. I'm not a big strawberry person, but these strawberries were (in the words of the Fresh Prince), "pieces of good God, wrapped up with some have mercy, with a side of mhmm!" In other words, pretty tasty. After that, we drove back to school. On the way back, I mentioned that if our office asks us to go "apple picking" we'll know that's code for "visit a random school." All in all, it was a fun and interesting day. 

I really have no segue for this, so I'll just say it. I had a strange realization the other day as I was buying toilet paper. I realized that unless some unfortunate, unforseen circumstances arise, I have boughten toilet paper for the last time. That's how little time I have left in China. Really puts it into perspective, know what I mean? So on that note-*big gulps, huh? Cool. Welp, see ya later! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*If you don't get this reference, you need to watch Dumb and Dumber. 

Calligraphy 书法

Dear 朋友们，

            I hope you are all doing well!  I’m at about the halfway mark for my second semester at 江西财经学院.  Classes have been pretty standard, and the city continues to be its normal self.  Some fun new things include a cool English Corner that just started in the city where I met some fun people who are excited to practice their English and build friendships with us, I am official going to Guatemala for a week with my church about 6 days after I get back, and I bought my plane ticket from Nanchang to Shanghai for my flight home that leaves June 30^th.  I am enjoying all the things I am learning here about China and Chinese culture, but I will admit that I’m really excited to go home soon!   I just have a few travel goals left; going to Longhu and Sanqing Shan (mountains). Speaking of goals, I have been fulfilling my goal of learning calligraphy!

            Since the beginning of the semester, my friends Ella, Nicole, Alexandra, and I have been attending classes with 雷老师 (Lei Laoshi Teacher Lei).  In each class, he instructs us on how to write basic strokes and then gives us a character to practice writing.  For example, first we learned 一and 丨and then we put those strokes together to learn 上 (up).  Currently, I have learned上，下，品，日，大，and九.  Interestingly, Chinese calligraphy also follows the Golden Ratio: 1/3 and 2/3 that can be found in Western art as well.  During the class, we also take breaks where he gives us tea, and has taught us how to pour it properly and the order in which we should serve it, most seniority to least.  I really enjoy his class, because he is not a very strict teacher, and believes that calligraphy should be fun and relaxing.  He really emphasizes the feelings behind calligraphy.  “Calligraphy is about feeling, not beauty.” –Lei Laoshi

            Lei Laoshi also emphasizes friendship, and enjoys his job because he makes a lot of friends.  One time, he canceled our class and took us to his friend’s tea house where we were able to learn a bit more about Chinese tea and the serving ceremony, see other calligraphers at work, see a live tea auction (some teas went for a few thousand RMB), and at the end we got a free 300RMB tea set! The whole experience was very enlightening and we got to practice our numbers.  祝

 

                        好，

                           Mark