Radio Interview June 26, 2008

Our school has a "radio station" run by some of the students. Every day at lunch and supper for a half hour, some students will be on the radio. They play some music and talk about a topic they choose. Thursdays at noon is the English radio slot. They talk about something in English, and play English songs. We heard lots of random songs, but we always enjoyed hearing Outkast "Hey Ya". That was a welcome sound of home!
Since June 26th was our last Thursday in China, some of our students requested that we come and do an interview with them. We didn't know that's what we were doing until 5 minutes before, but we had a really good time! They asked us about our travels in China, what we thought about the country, and what we thought about the school. The previous two weeks I had taught my students Leann Womack "I Hope You Dance", so they played that song. Afterwards we took pictures with the students that were there and they gave us gifts. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to all of our students.

Li Zhi (Litchi)

About two weeks before we left China we were introduced to a new fruit: litchi. The first time I had one I didn't like it very much. It wasn't very sweet, and was too difficult to eat to be worthwhile. But the second time, Sara asked Cathy how to eat them. She informed us that the ones that are pink are more ripe, and the smaller/less round ones have smaller seeds. You dig your fingernail into the spiky bark-like shell near the stem, and peel the shell off the fruit. The flesh is similar to a grape, but it has a sweeter flavor. I was addicted after a few! Cathy got each of us a large bag of dried litchi's to bring home, so if you want to try one, let me know! They're delicious!

I'm HOME!

Everything went as planned. Except that our flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai was delayed. We boarded the plane on time, but sat there for three hours. Good thing we weren't in a hurry to connect flights that day! Monday went smoothly and we arrived in Madison at 10:30pm as expected. I was exhausted and slept until 3:30pm on Tuesday! Needless to say, that screwed up my plans of getting right back into the right time zone. But now I'm fine. It only took three nights to get it right!
As for my first reactions to America: the sky is so blue, the grass and trees are beautiful, people talk fast, and "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free"!
Thank you everyone for keeping up with my blog and adventures. I hope to see all of you soon and share even more about what I did this past year.
Happy Fourth of July!

It's Time to Go HOME!

Wow, it's time to go home already?? I can't believe it. This year has been amazing. I've learned so much about Chinese culture and about myself. Thank you all for reading my blogs and keeping up with what I've been up to in China. There will be more since there are many stories I haven't shared yet, so keep checking back! This month has been a whirlwind of parties and preparations for our return home. We spent the last two weeks saying goodbye to all of our students. I brought a few things for them to look at, their favorite being MONEY! And then we spent the majority of the classes taking pictures. Some of the students prepared songs to sing for us, and we also received many different gifts. I noticed that Sara tends to get large gifts and I usually get small ones. Of course, they are all special to us. I will miss so many of my students. I hope they will continue to write to me. We've also had many parties to go to. Brandon and Caroline left last Sunday, so we had goodbye parties for them as well as our own. They have been a lot of fun, and I am so thankful to have such good friends here. We're leaving XinXing Sunday morning around 9am. We'll take a van to Guangzhou's airport, and then we fly to Shanghai at 3pm. We'll stay overnight there, and fly out at 4pm on Monday on our way to Chicago! Then, we will land at 4:45pm Monday (45 min flight?! Awesome!) in Chicago. We then have a 5 hour layover and will arrive in Madison at 10:30pm on Monday. It will be the longest day ever, but we'll be so glad to be home. Pray for safe travels for us! Next time I write, I'll be back in America!!!

Weather

Just thought you might be interested to know that the high these days is in the mid-90's and fairly sunny! The low is pretty close to 80, so it's as hot here (sometimes hotter) in the middle of the night as it is in MN and WI in the middle of the day... Our clothes are drying much faster! In just 4 hours the other day! Oh, the novelty of putting your clothes away the same day you wash them... :)

Another Festival Today

I don't remember the name of the holiday, but I just found out yesterday that our students have off today for another one. This one I will not be participating in though... it is the day they eat dog meat. Poor puppies!!!

Exams June 7-9

We had a four day weekend! Partly it was for Dragon Boat Festival, but mostly it was for Senior 3's Entrance Exam. You would not believe what goes into the preparation for the most important exam of a Chinese person's life. First of all, the Sr. 3 teachers are not allowed to watch the exams because of cheating, so many of our friends who teach Sr. 1 and 2 had to give up their long weekend to watch the exams. Also, two teachers watched each class of 30 students along with a video camera. The Internet was shut off for the entire weekend in order to send the video footage to Guangzhou where officials would watch them to ensure that no cheating took place. As you can imagine, our friends were very afraid of making a mistake and hurting the students chances of getting a good score. Stephen told us that a teacher had made a mistake about 10 years ago and they still mention his/her name during the preparation meetings as a warning. Each exam lasted 2-2.5 hours and the teachers could do nothing but watch the students. They were bored and exhausted.

Second of all, each classroom was cleaned out so there were no books or papers of any kind. The desks were lined up with pencils and note paper. Then the doors were sealed with a piece of tape that looked very official. Outside each classroom was a piece of paper with pictures of the 30 students who would be in that classroom. The walkways near the classrooms were blocked off so that no one who was not allowed could walk anywhere near them. This way there would be no distractions or cheating possibilities. We had to walk through the gymnasium to get to the front entrance of the school.

Third (yes, there's more!), the street outside the school's front entrance was blocked off to traffic. Only bikes and walkers were allowed there. They can't take the chance of any noise distractions. I'm pretty sure that any construction near the school was halted, too. It was incredibly quiet for three days. When we left for lunch on Saturday, there were mini buses lined up in our parking area and in front of the school gate. I am assuming that the buses were there to take the kids home or to lunch so they wouldn't have to travel so far and stress themselves out. I had read an article once that told of student's parents renting hotel rooms near the school so that they wouldn't have to travel and could go there to rest after their exams.

It was all pretty intense. Sara and I went to Zhao Qing on Sunday to get away since the Internet was off and our friends were busy. And on Monday after the exams were over, we had three Sr. 3 girls come over to our house for an American meal. Now they are all gone for the year. I'm not sure when their graduation ceremony is, but they will find out their scores on June 29^th. I hope they did well.

MFC

I don't think I've mentioned our favorite fast food restaurant in XinXing much. It is a McDonald's/KFC knock-off restaurant called Mai Ken Ji -- the "mai" from Maidanglao (Chinese for McDonald's) and the "ken ji" from Kendeji (Chinese for KFC). It is also called MFC, which I have determined based on Mai Ken Ji, is short for Mc Fried Chicken. We have taken pictures (on Snapfish!) of the menus and food wrappers, also the pictures posted up around the restaurant. Look for the poor-quality photo shopping they did to fuzz out the original brand names and logos and replace them with "MFC." Note also the still-mostly-visible golden arches on some of the cups on the menu. In the family photo, they have done a poor job of photo shopping out the Colonel's picture on the cups. Also, there is a picture above the stairs as you walk out of a little boy making the "shh" sign -- as if to say: "It's our little secret. Don't tell anyone." Last time we were there, one of the employees was wearing a shirt with a tiny McDonald's M on it with a line thru it. She unknowingly posed for a photo with Adam while I zoomed in on her shirt. :) Another thing I think is funny, is that they have no qualms about leaving the Coca-Cola logo on the cups on the menu when they serve Pepsi...

Brandon once asked if he could have or buy a menu to take home with him, so he could learn the Chinese for the various menu items. A friend who works there said it was not allowed, against company policy. They're no dummies. We didn't ask about taking pictures though. ;)

Apparently, MFC is a chain restaurant. Our friend who works there was sent up to Guangzhou to another one for training for 3 months this winter. We haven't seen one there, but it is a large city. We've questioned how they can get away with their obvious copy write infringement. My guess is that it is extremely difficult for an American country to complain to the Chinese government. They have to either keep their mouths shut, or lose their place in China completely. I mean really, what hasn't China copy written?

Shari - May 18-31

As many of you know, my good friend, Shari, came to visit me last month. She came for two weeks and we had a really good time! I'll try to fill you in on the highlights.

The theme of our two weeks was: Shopping! We went walking and shopping almost every day for two weeks. I can't believe I still have any money left! But really, I already had most everything I need, and I don't know how much I'll be able to take home in a month, so I was able to control myself most of the time. I did buy two more pairs of shoes, several shirts, a couple purses, a pair of capris and a pair of shorts. Oh, and a pair of jeans that already stretched way out. :( Shari and I were pretty excited to find two MN Twins t-shirts here in small town XinXing! Except that it's Minhesota, and they were champions in 1887... Then I also found a shirt that said something about Milwaukee shoes! Also while in XinXing, we were able to go to the hot springs one evening. There were very few people there so it was nice and quiet.

We traveled to Zhao Qing for one night where Shari was able to find two pairs of shoes and a large suitcase to take my stuff home in. We also went to Guangzhou for a weekend. Instead of shopping the entire weekend, we went to Crocpark to show Shari what a 'zoo' is like in China. It had all the animals you would expect at a place called Crocpark: turtles, lizards, snakes, iguanas, hundreds of crocodiles. And also some you wouldn't expect: chipmunks, squirrels, mice, rats, hamsters, muskrats, porcupines, guinea pigs, goats, and pigs. The best part about the pigs was that they put on a show every day. It's called... Pig Diving!
So they have this obstacle course for the pigs to compete on. They go up an incline to the diving board where they get pushed off into the water (you would think they would be used to this, but pigs really aren't supposed to dive...), then they do a long jump into a sand pit, then run a ways until they come to the hurdles and back into the pen. We felt so bad for the pigs, but we had to admit it was pretty funny! I also have a video of one of them "diving". We also saw children feeding chicken heads to the crocodiles, and a crocodile wrestling show that was pretty boring.

We also traveled to Hong Kong for three days. The weather was rainy, so some of our plans got ruined, but we were able to find things to do anyway. We walked around HK Island around the bases of the skyscrapers, went shopping in the ritzy expensive malls (didn't buy anything, though), went up to see Victoria's Peak on the night of the tram's 120^th Anniversary, went dancing with our HK friends, and ate lots of good food. One of the most exciting moments, was went a car pulled up near us and some young guys got out while a swarm of paparazzi took their pictures. Unfortunately, they were Asian, and I didn't recognize them. They arrived for the grand opening of a new Diesel store. I still love Hong Kong!

Between travels and shopping, Shari watched my classes. I think it was a little boring for her, but some she was able to get into more than others. She could have taught my classes after a day, though. For my Oral English class, we had them write punchlines to strange questions. I'll have another post for some of the jokes. They had a hard time, but I think they did a pretty good job. How would you answer a question like: Why did you pour hot coffee into your coat pockets? Or Why did you put ice cream in the rice cooker?

Wushu Performance Video 4-28-08

I figured out how to show this video. I hope you can watch it even if you don't have access to facebook. Enjoy! 

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=16599460151

XinXing and Hong Kong Feb 12-17

Feb 12 After landing in Guangzhou, we got a ride with Jie, our school's driver. We barely all fit into the van. It had 7 seats, but we had 7 people and luggage! It was a pretty uncomfortable 2-hour ride to XinXing, but we made it.

The first thing we did was find some food. We ate at the coffee shop close to our school. It is western food and pretty good. That afternoon we spent taking a tour of my school campus and at home. I repacked and did some laundry, and we spent some time relaxing until Cathy took us out for supper. We had hot pot with Cathy, Mr. Cui and his son, Jimmy, the Hu's, and the Wu's. Then we went to the hot springs. The one we usually go to was closed so we went to a different one. I liked this one better. It was more like I would imagine hot springs to be. There were more private pools so I didn't feel stared at so much. The air was cold, but the water was soo warm! It was wonderful after being so cold all the time :)

Feb 13 This morning I took my family out to breakfast for my favorite: long rice noodle. They all liked it! Yay! Then we went on a tour of the town. First stop: the market. The sights and smells in a Chinese market are really interesting. I still don't like the smells, but the sights are still amazing to me. Every season brings some new kind of food or animal I haven't seen before. With my family, we walked around by the poultry and fish and saw them preparing the fresh meat and looked at all the strange fruits and vegetables. Then we headed into town. We stopped by the "lake" where a group of boys was throwing firecrackers into the water. Then we did a little shopping. My favorite street of shops was really dead, though. Many of the shops were closed for the holiday. We also explored the supermarket and ate lunch at MFC. We spent the evening at home again getting ready to go to Hong Kong.

Feb 14 We took the 7:30am bus to HK. It is a 5 hour bus ride with stops for customs and bathrooms. Then we had to find the YMCA where we would be staying. We got checked in, found some lunch and got cleaned up before going over to Mark and Susan's for a pizza dinner with some of our friends from around China. This weekend was set aside as a group get-together to share stories and encouragements for the second term. Almost all of our group was there and we had a really good time. Many of us had recently been to Thailand so we were able to trade stories of our adventures there.

Feb 15 Today we met the group at the Seminary before going to have Dim Sum for lunch. It was so delicious, but Connie ordered too much food! It kept coming and coming! Then we took a ferry over to Lamma Island for a hike to talk and take pictures. At the end of the walk, we arrived at a seafood restaurant where we had another large meal. We were still not hungry from lunch and they ordered a lot of food again! I'm not complaining, though. We spent a lot of days on our trip not eating enough, so it was nice to have too much food. :)

After dinner we headed back across the water to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong (not HK Island). Every night there is a light show on the water. There is a large viewing deck and you can watch the lights of the buildings on the shore. It's pretty cool! After that, the excitement continued... we went across the water again to HK Island. And then took the tram up to Victoria's Peak. From the top you can see all of the skyscrapers and the harbor. It's an amazing view. The Number One thing to do in Hong Kong!

Feb 16 Stanley! There is a place on the south side of Hong Kong Island called Stanley. There is a big market to bargain and buy souvenirs, and many restaurants along the shore. Our big group split up into smaller groups and made our way through the maze of shops. I found some good things and I think everyone else did, too. We were given free reign to spend as long as we wanted shopping, as long as we got to the Seminary by 5pm for a service. After the service we all went out to Fat Angelo's for Italian food. It was sooo delicious! Then a group of us went out to a popular bar area to do some dancing and chatting on our last night together.

Feb 17 My family's last day together. :( We went to the south side of HK Island again to Ocean Park. We saw several shows and went to most of the animal exhibits there. I love seeing the animals! I think the jellyfish and pandas were the most popular! For supper we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and I ordered ribs. Mmmmm! I miss ribs, steak and beef so much!

Feb 18 We all went back home today. I was so sad to see everyone leave. I am anxious to see them again in July.

Three Gorges Cruise Feb 8-12

It's feeling warmer, we must be heading south!

We took a cruise on the Yangtze River between Chongqing and Yichang. It wasn't the ideal time of year to be on a Chinese cruise (No heat and no warm water for showers...), but it was an experience! We took a Chinese cruise boat and paid for an English speaking guide, Tracy, to come with us. Tracy was great! We really enjoyed her and were glad she came. It would have been really difficult and no fun without someone to tell us what was going on. We had two cabins: one for 4 women, and one for 2 men. We spent most of our time in the women's cabin cuz it's easier for 2 men to relocate than 4 women :) Also, we had gone to a supermarket in Chongqing to get food for 4 days. We mostly ate pb&j, chips, apples and pears the whole time.

The cruise was a nice transition in the middle of our hectic trip to be forced to relax for a couple days. My memory of what happened what day is fuzzy now, so I'll just tell you what we did as I think of it. We got off the boat a couple times each day, usually in the morning or evening. We stopped at Ghost City which was pretty cool, and a couple temples. Also, there were the gorges. We thought it was 3 gorges, but we were surprised to find out that it was 3 Gorges, Little 3 Gorges, and Mini 3 Gorges! They kept on coming! We all thought the Mini Gorges were the most beautiful. That day we transferred from our cruise boat to a smaller boat to go thru the Little 3 Gorges, and then transferred again to several mini boats which were wonderful. The ambiance was amazing.

The main reason we went on the cruise was because the Chinese are building a large dam on the Yangtze that will eventually fill up the gorges. There were signs everywhere showing how high the water level will be. So at the end of the cruise, we took a bus to view 'the whole dam site'. The best part about it was that we had to get off the bus and walk thru a metal detector. They are worried about people (Americans especially...) bringing bombs to destroy the dam. WHAT?! Why do Americans care about the dam? It's not going to flood my land! Anyway, the funniest part was that we left everything on the bus and walked thru a metal detector and got back on the bus. What about our luggage?? Hmm... at least they try... At the viewing point, the sun was setting so we got some really pretty pictures.

Then we got back on the bus and drove into Yichang where we stayed overnight before going to the airport very early in the morning. Sara and I are on our way home!

Xi'an Feb 6-8

Xi'an is an old capital of China so it is full of history. This was my favorite city. There were so many things to do and places to see that we couldn't fit it all in with only one full day and two half days. I would like to go back again. Our first night, we didn't have time to do much besides find our hotel and walk around a little before going to bed.

Feb 7 Happy New Year! We started off the celebrations with loads of firecrackers! At the mall across the street from our hotel, they covered the sidewalks and stairways with firecrackers and set them off. This was one of Greg's favorite parts of the trip :) Then we set off to see the Terracotta Warriors. We didn't get very clear directions on what bus to take out there and ended up finding a tour group that offered to take our family alone for a somewhat expensive rate. We decided that was ok. Well, it came with a catch – we had to stop at a store where the people were selling souvenirs for way more than they were worth and wouldn't bargain very much. We didn't buy much there. Then we went to the TW site.

One of the pits was closed, but the other two were pretty cool. It was so elaborate and detailed. I can't imagine how long it must have taken to make all of those warriors and horses. Wow. There was also a small museum which held two bronze chariots. They were really small and difficult to photograph in the strange lighting, but we got a couple decent pictures between the 6 of us :) Outside the park were some shops with the loudest, most aggressive hagglers I've ever heard. My sister was a little nervous. But we got a couple good deals anyway.

After that, our tour bus took us back to town. They wanted to stop at more places and tried to be very convincing, but I was not having it because we had such a short time in Xi'an. No time to waste! So they took us back begrudgingly and we headed to the Drum Tower. My Mom and Greg each took a turn hitting a very large drum, and we waited to see a performance, but it was rather disappointing. To end the evening, we went to a Muslim Market Street my sister wanted to explore. That was really cool! I've seen a lot of market streets all over China and Thailand, but this was a reasonably cool street. Most of the items were familiar, but they had a few unique things on display, too.

Feb 8 we had time to see the Bell Tower and have lunch before heading to the airport and on our way to Chongqing in the center of China. The Bell Tower wasn't as cool as the Drum Tower. There wasn't as many bells, but you could play one of them, too.

Like I said before, I wish we had more time in Xi'an. There were several more sights we wanted to see.

Beijing Feb 1-6

I finally finished writing my blog entries for my vacation around China with my family. Enjoy! :)

 

Our trip started off in Beijing. Sara and I went up there two days before my family arrived to do some extra sight-seeing. We stayed in a friend's apartment which was so wonderful! They gave us directions on how to get around and what places were nearby. So our first day in Beijing, we spent time at some Special Bookstores looking for gifts for our friends. One was really cool because we could make our own banners with verses printed on them in Chinese. I'm really excited about them! While at the banner store, some friends (Naomi and her brother Adam who was also visiting) we had planned to meet later arrived! We spent time with them picking out pictures and sizes and verses and then went out for supper.

Feb 3 we went to the Silk Market. It is a big building filled with people selling things. It was a great place to find souvenirs and bargain. If you go there, you MUST go way low. You think it's too low, but even when you think you got a deal, you still spent too much. Amazing. After that, we wanted to check out Olympic Stadium before going to get my family at the airport. We were on the subway and didn't know where to get off so I just said "Does anyone speak English?" One guy said he spoke a little. So he helped us figure out where to get off and then came with us! We weren't able to get inside any of the buildings. The aquatic center was being used for an event and the bird's nest wasn't open yet, but we were able to see them and take some photos. Then it was off to the airport for my family's arrival! I was soo excited to see them!

Feb 4 we went to the Great Wall (Chang Cheng). It took longer than expected to get there with the New Year coming. There were fewer buses running and we missed it so had to take a different way. We met a nice man who helped us get directions and found us a driver for a reasonable price. The driver took us to a less touristy part of the wall (JuYongGuan), so it wasn't too busy. At times we were able to take photos without a single person in them! The wall was really steep and we were pretty cold, so we didn't go too far, but if you wanted, there is always another tower that looks inviting!

After the Great Wall, we planned to get back to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe and then go to an acrobat show. The HRC was closed so we found a little Italian place around the corner which was excellent. Then decided to walk to the acrobat show – BIG mistake! It took much longer than expected but we arrived just as the show was about to begin. Yikes! The show was pretty cool, though. I think everyone enjoyed it.

Feb 5 we met up with our friends again and we planned to explore the big attractions in the middle of the city: Forbidden City, T-Square, and the Temple of Heaven. The FC was cool, but sooo big! It kept going and going and we took a long time stopping to take pictures so we didn't have as much time to see the other things later. We walked thru the Square and found a little restaurant across the street. The food wasn't great, but ok. There isn't anywhere close to eat there which is really inconvenient. By the time we arrived at the Temple, the attractions were closed and only the park area was open. It was really disappointing.

That evening my family had their first taste of real Chinese food. We had a hotpot dish where they bring the ingredients you want, you put them into the hot pot under which is a stove. Then when the food is cooked, reach in with your chopsticks and eat! It was really delicious, but a bit of a challenge for my family who are not very skilled with their chopsticks!

Feb 6 we went to the Summer Palace. The apartment we stayed at was very close to the palace, so we were able to take a bus there. We spent a few hours there seeing all the major sights and a couple other little ones that looked interesting. It was a beautiful day although still very cold, so we got some nice photos there. I really enjoyed the peaceful setting there.

That afternoon our flight to Xi'an left at 5:30, so we got our things and went on to city #2!

Earthquake Update

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for my friends. I found out that Colline's family is fine! His parents had already moved in with him and his wife here at school to care for the baby. His uncles lost their homes, but they are safe. Thank God!

Important News Update

I have in my hands (well not really cuz I'm typing), a plane ticket that says I will be arriving in Madison at

10:25pm on Monday, June 30, 2008!

Just six more weeks in China.

Earthquake

Hello Everyone,

I hear there was an earthquake in China recently... no, we didn't feel it. It occurred in Southwestern China and I live in Southeastern China. I am surprised there are reports that it was felt as far away as Beijing and Vietnam and we are not any further away than them and yet didn't feel anything. It probably has something to do with where the mountains are.

When my family was here, we were pretty close to that area at the start of our cruise in Chongqing. But the center of the earthquake was still more West than that near the capital of Sichuan: Chengdu.

Thank you for your concerns about Sara and I. We are fine. Nothing exciting happening these days :) Pray that none of my friend's families were affected by the earthquake. One of my friends, Colline, is from Chengdu and is awaiting his baby in June.

Olympic Torch - Guangzhou

Wow, this trip was crazy. It started off great! We got to Starbucks in Guangzhou with no problems and hung out there for a little while until Stefic arrived. Then we walked to the metro (subway) and went to the hotel her father owns. By this time it's almost 7pm and we're pretty hungry. They took us to dinner. The food was delicious but they didn't believe that we liked it. Also, her father kept asking why we chose XX over GZ and kept suggesting that we teach in GZ instead. It was really exhausting dealing with them. Finally we got back to the hotel and planned what time to leave in the morning, and we were alone. We stayed up watching a movie until 12 and then I couldn't sleep for a long time. It was too hot, we had coffee too late in the day, and the bed was uncomfortable. Eventually I could feel the AC after turning it WAY down and getting Sara cold, then I put my ipod on and drifted off to sleep.
Today we planned to leave at 9:30 but didn't get going till close to 10. We got to the place we planned to catch the torch at by 10:30 and it wasn't supposed to arrive until close to 12 but the place was PACKED with people already. We were the only foreigners and everyone was surprised to see us so they wanted to take pictures of us. At one time a reporter with a cameraman came over and I snubbed them, but we were suddenly surrounded by people. Sara talked to the reporter for a question or two while I covered my face from everyone. I do NOT like that at all. I'm so glad I'm not famous. We spent a while dodging people, but eventually we didn't have any more problems.
Since no one knew when the torch would arrive exactly, there were many surges of excitement and we got stuck in a crowd for a long time. We actually would have had a good sight of the torch from where we were, but it never came. We ducked out of that crowd and just stood outside of it for a while after that. We lost Stefic then until after the torch went by. I met a guy, Frank (university student studying public relations), who told me that the torch bearers had stopped to have lunch which caused the delay. Finally, at about 1:30, the torch came through. I was able to get fairly close to see the beginning of the parade of people, but I was soon shoved out of the way and I couldn't find anywhere to go, so I gave up and walked back out of the crowds. I was able to see the flame through the people and got a video to prove it, but that was all. :(
Then, after we found Stefic, we went out to lunch (on the way, I saw a group of guys with a bunch of t-shirts that say "I *heart* China", so we bought some). At lunch we had more annoying questions to deal with between her and her dad about GZ vs. XX, if we regretted coming/trying to see the torch, and if we liked the food or not. We finally got out of there alive, and went back to where we saw the torch (we had to in order to catch the metro). It looked very different since all of the people were gone... but across the street was a Subway restaurant so we got food for later (mmm!), and went down to the metro to go back to catch a bus home.
So here we are at home again. It was a whirlwind trip... I don't regret going. I have very few regrets in life because without experiences I wouldn't be who I am now. I'm disappointed about what happened and that we weren't able to see the torch after all that planning and anticipation, but it was a good trip over all. Just the excitement of being in the crowd was worth it.

Dinner Party

We had a really fun evening today.
I've been thinking about doing my other job lately but being scared of how to do it. So finally we did it. I invited friends over (there was 8 of us), shopped and made supper (everyone brought something). When our friends arrived, we ate supper, told the story of the spring holiday we like to celebrate, and played some games. I was really happy with how it all went.
So our friends seemed interested in the story. They knew some of it but not all of it, and were making comments and questions along the way. Then we just played some Uno and some other games. I think everyone had a really good time. I'm really happy we did it. I didn't want to go home regretting that I didn't take every opportunity I had to talk to my friends. And this is one step closer to that. It's never too late.
For supper we had spaghetti, mashed potatoes and gravy, dumplings, "bacon" (it looked more like a hot dog, but wasn't too bad), some green vegetable, apples and oranges. It was quite good. I made the first two myself. Our friends were so funny! They wouldn't go thru the line first cuz they didn't know how to eat the food. They needed to watch us to see how to do it :) I'm pretty sure they all liked the food. It was almost all finished.

Wushu Performance

Tonight was so much fun! I was a little embarrassed at first because I was wearing a costume that looked like purple silk pajamas for my wushu performance. But once I got over that, it was a lot of fun. As Stephen told me, “It doesn't matter. We are actors.” That's easy for him to say, he looked like he was wearing a suit!
Anyway, the Senior 2 classes had a performance back in December (Sara played her flute), so now it was time for Senior 1 to show what they could do. I loved it so much! The majority of the classes were mine, so I got to watch them in action. They were hilarious to watch even though I didn't know what they were saying.
Well finally it was my turn to perform. When I stepped out on the stage, the roar of cheers was amazing! It's hard to concentrate when you feel like a celebrity! My performance went really well. I had practiced and practiced so I wouldn't fall and I still did, but not as bad as other times.
After the show, I got to take pictures with some of my students who were still in costume, so that was really fun, too. I'm so proud of them!
ps. I don't have any photos of my performance, only a video which took a long time to load on facebook, so I'll have to load it when I get back to America. Until then, you'll just have to enjoy the other pictures.

Guilin-Yangshuo Trip

Our students had mid-terms 4/21-23 so we took the opportunity to take a short trip (our last new cities in China) to Guilin and Yangshuo in the neighboring province. It's only an our flight/8 hour bus ride from Guangzhou. We flew because it's just easier and the tickets were really cheap. We arrived in Guilin on Saturday early evening and decided to spend the night there. We checked into a hotel and headed downtown to the night market and to get some supper at McDonald's. We got some good deals on gifts and went back at 11pm. Guilin is known for it's landscape. They have what are called 'karst peaks'. They are like mountains made of rock that jut out of the ground. They look really strange.
Sunday morning we slept in a little before going out to Seven Star Park. The park was kinda cool. We went thru a cave, saw some pandas, and they have a zoo with lots of different animals. My favorite was the emus!!! I've never seen a real emu before! And a man hit one on its beak! We got corn on the cob and fresh pineapple (both in plastic baggies, naturally) for a snack, and then went to see Camel Hill (karsts) which was pretty cool.
After the park, we wanted to eat lunch, get our bags and find a bus to take us to Yangshuo which is about an hour and a half away. We took a taxi to our hotel and our driver (a woman) was really cool. I was talking to her in my broken Chinese. I think the Chinese people think I'm lying when I talk to them just fine for a while and then suddenly start saying 'I don't understand'... I guess I've perfected some of my conversation skills! Anyway, we got our bags and then told her we want to eat and requested American food but she refused! She took us to a Guilin food restaurant. I told her we can't read the menu, so she went inside and got one! It had English so we decided there were some things we could order and stayed there to eat. The food was really good! After lunch we walked to the bus station and off we went to Yangshuo.
In Yangshuo, we got a hostel for super cheap (5USD/night/person=awesome!) and declined any organized outings before going out to have supper and explore. The main street is called West Street (Xi Jie) and there is tons of shopping and restaurants. Our hostel was at one end and the river was at the other end. As promised, Yangshuo is foreign friendly (if you ignore the constant haggling) so we saw lots of foreigners which was wonderful! We definitely needed that now that we're in a little slump.
Monday we slept in and spent much of the day shopping on West Street. We got some good deals and great things. I got a t-shirt made that says 'Yesu ai ni' (Jesus loves you). Then we got ready for our cooking lesson! At 3:30 we met a girl named Sally (almost as cool as our friend Sally!)and two people from Holland (brother/sister) who took us to a market where we saw a dog hanging up like all the other animals we're used to seeing! Aaaahhh!! So sad! I didn't go close to it or take pictures, but I saw it.
Then we drove out to the country for our lesson. We were in a group of 9 foreigners with Sally as our instructor. One girl was from Malaysia, and everyone else was from Australia. (The two from Holland were in a second class.) It was sooo wonderful to spend time with foreigners and have intelligent conversation! So the food was really good, but it was difficult for me to absorb what to do while being quick. A Chinese person was always running over to help me. Oh well, it was a great experience. We made 5 dishes: cashew chicken, beer fish, stuffed veggies, green vegetable, and eggplant. The first two were my favorite, but all were delicious.
That evening as we were walking West Street enjoying the nightlife, two Chinese girls invited us to talk with them and two of their college teachers. They had traveled with 60 students to come talk with foreigners to practice their English. We were hesitant at first, but we had a great time!
Tuesday we wanted to rent bikes and go out to Moon Hill and Water Cave, but it was raining so we didn't. We went to a new restaurant for breakfast called "Drifters" where we ran into our Dutch friends from the night before. Turns out it's their hangout, and after that, we made it ours too! Their food is the best western food we found in Yangshuo. Also, after you meet about 10 foreigners, you keep running into them since the town is so small. Anyway, we planned to get our books to read and hang out drinking coffee, or whatever somewhere since it was raining, but we never really did. We spent a lot of time shopping and exploring again. Finally, around 5:30 we decided it wasn't raining anymore so we should just get a taxi and go to Moon Hill since I really wanted to do that and didn't know if there would be time on Wed. I'm glad we didn't bike cuz it was a half hour drive and then a steep hike to the top! We would have been exhausted since we're so out of shape. We got to the hill at 6:30 and it closed at 7:30 so we had an hour to climb up, enjoy the view, and come back down. The view was great but the best part was being the only people there! Not a single Chinese person in sight!
On Wednesday, we had a big brunch at 10 at Drifters, got our stuff, and took a bus back to Guilin. We arrived at 12:30 and our flight was to leave at 3:10. We decided to get a taxi to take us to the bear and tiger park and then to the airport (the park is on the way there). The driver assured us we had enough time. It cost a bit more, but it was sooo worth it! There were TONS of tigers! We got some awesome pictures! The bears weren't so cool so we spent most of our time playing with the tigers. There was only a chain-link fence separating us from them! We also had that place almost all to ourselves, too.
Then it was on to the airport and back home in time to teach on Thursday. I realized that the next time we fly we'll be going to Shanghai and then home! Amazing!

Subtropical Summer

Today was such a beautiful day! It's the kind of day you want to spend outside in a park or on the beach. I thought it would be perfect for camping or grilling out. The sun was shining, the sky was blue (very rare in China because of the polution), the temp was around 85 degrees, not very humid, with a nice warm wind. Absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately, I spent much of the day indoors dreaming about barbecuing steaks and burgers on the grill.

The weather in southern China has warmed up significantly in the past few weeks. It was quite beautiful for about a week and then it began to rain a lot for another week or two. The temp got cool around the 60's. But this weekend it took a turn for the better! It was pretty hot and humid the last two or three days, and then BAM! Today it's amazing! The weather will probably be hot and humid from here on until we head home in three months. I'm searching the stores for summer shirts that won't show off pit stains too much :)

Tomorrow I have only one class at 4:15 so I am praying for more of the same weather! (Partly because I want my clothes to dry before it gets humid again...)

Brandon's Birthday

Brandon celebrated his Birthday China style today. Sara and I went to his place for supper. We arrived just after their Chinese friends left. They had brought him a HUGE cake and thankfully ate most of it, but left some for us. We had tacos for supper! We miss Mexican food sooo much! Thanks to Caroline's Mom and Adam in Hong Kong, we were able to get tortilla shells, black beans, taco seasoning, and cheese. Also, thanks to Caroline for her amazing cooking skills! I made sure to tell her I am glad she came to China :) and maybe Brandon too... After supper we had chocolate brownies and cake and played Catch Phrase for a couple hours. Brandon was in rare comedic form. Some days he just keeps going, and today was one of those days. Hilarious! My stomach got quite a workout.

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Tomb Sweeping

Friday was Tomb Sweeping day. The Chinese people take the day to tend to their ancestors graves. It seems to be similar to the Mexican holiday 'Day of the Dead' (without the costumes), and is quite a big deal. Usually, the first Saturday in April is called Tomb Sweeping, but when Saturday is an odd numbered day, they move it to Friday. So we had a three day weekend! Sally and Ale invited us to go to Zhao Qing with them so we did. We also met up with Shirley and Mr. Ge whom we met back in September during Mid-Autumn Festival. We spent the afternoon and early evening shopping (We saw a man with 5 puppies - two in his pockets, and three in his arms! Soo cute!), and when the others left, Sara and I stayed in a hotel.

Saturday, we had waffles for breakfast!!! They were the best waffles I've ever had! (Maybe not, but it's been 7 months since I've eaten much of anything that tastes like real American food.) Then we took a bus to Guangzhou for the day. We wanted to find a Mexican restaurant we'd heard of, but didn't know where it was. I had Ale write the name and address for me in Chinese so I could ask someone how to get there. It took a while, but we took the subway to the stop we were told to get off at, then found a taxi to take us the rest of the way. When we got there, it was about 1pm and the restaurant didn't open until 3! So we didn't know what to do. We had planned to spend the afternoon in another part of town shopping, but didn't want to pay for more taxi rides. So we walked around the street and found a Starbucks! It was in a very small mall, but aimed towards foreigners.

While enjoying our coffees, and watching the foreigners, a girl sitting nearby asked to make friends with us. Stefic (Steph + ick) is 16 and speaks very very good English. She told us all the places to go in Guangzhou and was very willing to help us if we ever return to the city. We really enjoyed her company and I plan to contact her for help when we go back in May when my friend, Shari, comes to visit. Stefic is also going to find out where the Olympic torch will go thru on May 7th so we can go to see it!

The rest of the day was spent looking thru the stores in the mall, staring at the foreigners, and eating a wonderful Mexican dinner before going back to the bus station to go home. I'm really excited to go back and explore another part of the city next time!

Disabled Performance

Today our school hosted a group of disabled people for a performance. There were an assortment of disabilities: blind, deaf, amputees, and a couple of others. My favorite was the group of deaf dancers. It was really cool to watch them. There was a woman on the side of the stage helping them to keep the beat, but otherwise you never would have known they couldn't hear the music! I took many pictures and some videos. The students were so excited. I love when they get to do/see things like this because their lives are so dull and boring just studying all the time.

I had one class between the performance and the start of the holiday weekend, and I could not get them to be quiet for more than a minute at a time. I even asked them to 'please listen when I speak' in Chinese (qing ting wo shuo). They were very agreeable. 'OK!', but it didn't last long... oh well, they need a little fun in their lives. Unfortunately, I was trying to tell them the Easter story.

After Vacation Slump

I've been told that the time after Spring Festival break is one of the most difficult in living in China for a year. I fully agree. The fall term was filled with new experiences, planning and taking trips, settling into a new culture and generally being quite busy. After arriving back home for the spring term, there was time spent recovering from travel and getting back into teaching, but then things began to change.
While on vacation, I started thinking about the possibility of returning to China for a second year. I began talking with friends around China and making lists of pros and cons. This was such a difficult decision for me I began withdrawing and finding ways to forget about it. I've spent many hours reading and catching up on TV shows online to escape.
Now that my decision has been made: I will not be returning to China next year, I have found myself in a new state of mind. I'm bored, restless, and anxious to go home. I miss my friends terribly. I'm also very sick of the food here. I spend many days feeling hungry and looking for something to eat. (If I knew how to cook or had any sort of motivation to learn, this wouldn't be such an issue.) I've finally started noticing how much weight I've lost and sometimes it really scares me. I'm not sure if it is caused by a lack of food or not, but I've noticed my normally positive attitude becoming harder and harder to find.
The worst part is that I have only three months left and it will go quickly, but I need to use it to the best of my ability and not isolate myself so much. Sara and I are trying to plan things to look forward to in the next two months to make the days pass more quickly, so that should help a lot.
On a positive note, Sara's sister was here to visit this week. We had a wonderful time with her though the time was too short. I hope she enjoyed her temporary celebrity status!
If you're wondering what else I've been up to, we've done a few things, but nothing is very different than things we've done before. We went to Guangzhou one day and Zhao Qing another day. We went to a village for Lantern Festival back in Feb which was pretty cool. We saw fireworks, dragon dances, and a play put on by a theater from Guangzhou. We've also spent some time with friends. This week we've talked with Brandon and Caroline (the teachers at the middle school) quite a bit since Brenda and Adam came to visit, and also because it is Easter tomorrow. We'll see them 5 times in a week! I've also had some opportunities to shop and I've added to my shoe collection. I now have a pair of red heels and brown boots! :) Next up: tennis shoes.
Please keep me in your prayers these next few weeks. My friend, Shari, will come to visit in May for two weeks, but until then I need to find ways to be a blessing to this small town in Southern China.

Dui Buqi (I'm Sorry)

The subject of this blog is also the subject of my lesson for these two weeks. Americans have four meanings for "I'm sorry". I'm sorry that happened, I'm sorry (but not really), I'm sorry, I didn't know that bothers you, and I'm sorry, I made a mistake and I regret it.

 

I guess this blog refers to the last one. I regret the fact that I have not blogged about my trip around China yet. I know many of you are anxious to know how it went. The longer I wait, the more I will forget to include. The reason I haven't blogged about it is that I don't really know what to say! It will be impossible to sum up two weeks into a short blog. When I get through the pictures, it will help to tell the stories, but there are so many pictures!

 

I did have a good time on the trip. We saw so many amazing things that I never imagined I would have the opportunity to see. It was wonderful to see my family and Greg for two weeks. I wish I had had more time to spend with each of them, but it was great just to be near them too.

 

I intend to begin sorting through my pictures soon, but bear with me because it could take a while. Thanks for your patience!

Important Announcement

I just received a phone call stating that our last day of teaching will be

JUNE 27, 2008

I don't know how soon after that I will be returning home, but I can start planning now :)

I can't wait to see everyone again!

Interview Questions

On Sunday, Sara and I participated in an interview with a gathering of friends in the States. I thought some of the questions were very interesting and thought you might enjoy reading my thoughts on these questions. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to ask and maybe I'll make another blog on questions.

 

1. What kind of culture shock did you go through when you arrived in China?

I was very angry when we arrived in XinXing because we spent a week in nice hotels in very beautiful cities and then we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I knew it would be dirty and small, but I didn't expect it to be as bad as it is. Also it was hard for me to get used to not being able to go anywhere on my own for a while. I didn't speak Chinese and I didn't know where to go, so I felt confined to my apartment. We also get stared at a lot because we look so different, which doesn't bother me on most days, but some days it gets annoying.

 

2. What do you miss the most?

Family and friends, obviously. Food - especially having choices. Even if we have choices we don't know what they are because we can't read the menus, or what is in the menus isn't necessarily available. I also miss having heat. Even though the temp didn't get close to freezing outside, it's still just as cold inside. Finally, I miss being able to drive myself places. Here I walk everywhere or depend on someone else's schedule. Taxis have to be called, they aren't just driving around looking for a passenger. There are men on motorcycles that are more readily available and quite cheap, but also somewhat more dangerous.

 

3. What's enjoyable about where you live now?

The people are so amazing and interesting. I love talking to them because I always learn something new. I love the school events - performances and sports meets, etc. It is fun to see our students doing something creative because they aren't usually encouraged to do that. I also like shopping here because things are incredibly inexpensive and yet stylish... although there is still a lot I look at and think "really?".

 

4. Assuming you did some touring, what's your favorite place in China?

This is so hard to choose. Every place we have been to is so different and interesting in it's own way. Sara and I narrowed it down to three cities, but I could keep going.

Hangzhou - most photogenic. It's not called the most beautiful city in China for nothing!

Hong Kong - most things to do. HK is so easy to get around and many people speak English. Also, there are so many things to do and see there.

Zhao Qing - close to home, but more to do. This city is only an hour away and there is so much shopping. Also, western food! Pizza Hut, McDonalds and KFC! They're even getting a Walmart soon.

 

5. Since neither of you were teachers before, how do you feel about teaching now?

I love teaching! I missed my students so much when we were on vacation for five weeks. I don't know how much they will remember of what we teach them, but I'm hoping they will learn something from me that will stick with them. At the end of the year I plan to make them write a letter to me telling me what they learned from me, so stay tuned!

 

6. In what ways are your lives changed for the better by your experience?

I feel like I've found my calling. I'm planning to go back to school to get a teaching degree to teach English as a Second Language in America. I've learned so much about the Chinese people, and I'm also enjoying learning Mandarin. But the thing that has changed me the most is that I have a greater appreciation of my many blessings. I have so much less here than I ever have in America and yet I'm richer than all of the Chinese people at our school and many of them in our town. It's very humbling.

 

That's all! I hope you enjoyed my interview questions. Keep the questions coming! It's interesting for me to think about the answers to these questions, too.

My Heart is Breaking

I am very emotional today. Most of that emotion comes from two long days of traveling and catching bus, boat, and plane within narrow time windows. But I also think it was a good thing, because it caused me to think very deeply as I viewed the world around me. People in America can only give feeble attempts at imagining just what life is like in a third world country. Commercials on TV try to compel people to help the little starving children all over the world, but Americans just flip right by and ignore the fact that something in their heart says, "Why can't I do something to help when I have so much?" I have been able to witness these starving children, animals, and older people as well.

It broke my heart today as I rode in my comfortable leather chair on a heated (and air-conditioned in the summer) bus through the tiny villages. The villages are made of tiny brick one-room "houses" (we in America would call them garages) that the owners usually use for their businesses and so share their living room with stacks of goods for sale. They have a hard chair or two, a small table and maybe a little TV to make the days pass more quickly. The children with dirty faces, hands, and clothes, have sandals or no shoes at all in 45 degree weather. There is a pile of garbage on the side of the road where one or more people are crouched, digging through other people's trash looking for the smallest piece of food, or scrap of material. The dogs are also there looking for food. Then there's a farm where a little old hunched-over lady is carrying two buckets tied to either end of a pole across her back. She could be 50 or 90, it's hard to tell. These people work their entire lives in the fields day after day bent over picking fruits and vegetables and grains to sell at the market. A day off is probably not in their vocabulary because they couldn't afford it. They have probably never traveled outside of their county.

It was all I could do not to cry as I watched them going about their lives. I've seen these kinds of villages many times in the last five months, but it never hit me this hard. I have so much wealth at home in America and even here in China. The students and teachers who come to visit are fascinated by how nice our apartment is. Sometimes I wonder if that makes it harder for them to feel comfortable around us. We know we are very blessed to have such nice things in a poor community. It is amazing to me to think that I have so much less here than I ever had in America and I'm still far richer than the Chinese people I talk to every day. I am ashamed to admit that I have a bike here that I don't ride because it's not big enough when so many people would be happy to have a bike at all. Also I get bored with the same foods every day because I am used to having many many choices, while the Chinese people, when they have a choice, choose the same thing they usually have because they are used to having that every day.

I feel some days that one year is not nearly enough time for me to make a difference here. Some days I really want to stay, but I have so many excuses not to. I miss the people I love and the comforts of home. I am considering going back to school to study ESL teaching and don't know if I should put it off. But I will miss the people I love here, too. If I don't talk to them, who will? It isn't about me anymore...

Thailand

I LOVE Thailand! The weather is warm and wonderful (probably not in the summer, though), the tropics are beautiful, the people are friendly, the crafts are amazing, I could keep going. We met Kristy and Mary in Hong Kong on the 17th before traveling to Thailand. We spent one day in Bangkok since we flew in there and figured we should see some of it. We spent a few hours at the Emperors Palace which is amazingly beautiful, but sadly there for the wrong reasons.

Then it was off to Chiang Mai to visit the church and friends there. We spent Sunday catching up with friends and trying different foods. In the evening we went to the walking market. Pretty much the entire center of town was closed off and there were tables set up along all of the streets on both sides, and blankets down the middle. There were amazingly very few repeats of items within close distance of each other, so it was a place where you actually had to buy things when you saw them because you didn't know if you'd see them again. I got some really great things, my favorite being a hand made quilt. I really bargained hard, but even though they wouldn't come down as much as I wanted them to, I gave in because it was so beautiful. I decided that I wouldn't be able to find anything like it anywhere else and ultimately, it was actually quite cheap.

On Monday, we booked a day long trek to ride elephants. We had a very small group: 8 people. Later two more joined us. We stopped at an orchid and butterfly farm which was amazing, then went up the the elephant camp. We found a more private tour group which was a really good idea. We payed a little more, but it was worth it. The elephant camp had only three elephants: mama, papa, and baby (7 years old). The mama was also pregnant. We got to ride them for an hour and then give them some snacks afterward. While Kristy tried to take a photo with the baby, he headbutted her! What's even better is that Mary got it on camera! So funny! Then we went to visit a hilltribe which was not very exciting, but we didn't stay long. The next stop was the waterfall! We went swimming under the waterfall. It was super cold, but nice once you got in. After that, we went bamboo rafting. That was pretty cool too, but too short. We were really happy with our experience and the people with us were really great, too.

Tuesday we said goodbye to Katie and Eric and left for the island. We arrived on Wednesday evening and had three full days to lay on the beach and tan which we took full advantage of. We slept in every day and spent all afternoon and evening at the beach. We did some snorkeling which I still struggled with, but I'm getting better. At least it wasn't a miserable experience this time. I do have a couple cuts on my feet from kicking stones though. Friday we went up to the next beach up the coast where there is a sandbar you can walk to the next island. It is really hard to walk it with the waves crashing around you and the sand moving under your feet, but still pretty cool. We wrapped up or time on the beach with massages on Saturday night and then headed back home on Sunday.

I recommend going to Thailand to anyone who has a chance. It is really beautiful and we found some great places to stay and things to do. Ask me if you need suggestions!

What time is it?? Vacation Time!!

That's right! We are officially done teaching our first term! The students still have classes up until their Finals next week, but we are done because they need time to study. Fine with me! So we are off until February 20th. Five weeks!
We are leaving on Thursday for Thailand which we are super excited about. Our friend KristyG (check out her blog... she hasn't updated in a while...), who is in Beijing, is going with us. We plan to visit a couple friends in Chiang Mai, KateR and KatieL (check out her blog... she is a great writer!). We'll spend a day in Bangkok, then go up to Chiang Mai for a couple days, ride an elephant, and see our friends. Then we'll head down to an island to lay on the beach and do some snorkeling for a couple days. Then we'll be back here on the 28th.
Our next trip starts Feb. 1 when Sara and I fly up to Beijing. My parents, sister, and boyfriend will join us on the 3rd and then we'll travel all over the country until the 18th when we all head back to our respective homes. We plan to stop in Xi'an, then take a cruise on the Yangzte River to see the Three Gorges, then head down here to XinXing for a couple nights, and finally over to Hong Kong for the weekend. It will be a busy two weeks, but I am so excited to see my family and travel.
I have been trying to find out when we will have vacation time this term, but the schools here don't plan the terms in advance. They will have meetings around Feb 17th to decide the schedule for this term. It is not that big of a deal most of the time, but it is frustrating because we don't know when we might be able to go somewhere, or especially, when we will be able to go home. The Chinese gov changed the country's holiday schedule for this year to promote nationality, so we won't have a week off in the beginning of May this year. As you can imagine, the Chinese people are not happy about this either.
Anyway, I'd better work on packing and getting some other things done. I'll try to update between vacations.

Morning Exercises

Now that our school changed the schedule so that morning exercises are at 9am instead of 6, I was able to watch it. It was quite amazing to see 3000 students in one place. They filled up the football field and all did the exercises together. It seemed more like a performance than exercise, but who am I to say anything? Anyway, they play a man counting with some music over the loud speakers and they do their exercises to “yi er san si wu liu qi ba, er er san si wu liu qi ba, etc.” (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, etc.) I took some videos, but there are pictures on snapfish also.

Flute and Piano Recital

Last night, Miss Chen's piano students had a recital and Sara was a guest player with her flute. She did many duets with different students. It was a bit boring for me, but I went to support her and take photos. During the performances, Cathy was sitting behind me with her friends' little girl. The girl was four years old and quite hilarious! I tried to speak Chinese with her and asked her very basic questions. She either didn't hear me and gave me very random responses, or she thought I was crazy. She kept calling me “waiguoren” (foreigner). So I told her, “Wo shi Meiguoren, wo bu shi waiguoren” (I am American, I am not a foreigner). Then I tried to convince her that I was a “Zhongguoren” (Chinese person). That didn't go over too well... but it was funny! She once told me she wants to be a boy.... and she argued with her mom about how old she was. I'm pretty sure she was confused about “four and five”. Talking to her definitely made the time go faster. I practiced my Chinese, listened to some pretty music, had some cake, and got some gifts to take home. I can't complain!

Teachers Run 1/4/08

There isn't much to say... There were 6 groups of teachers that ran based on age and gender. The older you were, the fewer times around the track you had to run. Many of our friends ran, and we enjoyed cheering them on with the students. It was a very warm day and yet some of them were wearing sweaters while running! Crazy Chinese people!