One Helluva Protest!

Howdy!

So the whole teaching thing has been going very well. I really like all of my students and they are all very friendly - even though there is quite a communication barrier. Matt and I have started our tutoring session and they have been going okay. I will need to get my butt in gear and start to study more on my own.

Hopefully, this coming week will be light for me. The National Day holiday is coming up and I should have the first week off in October for it. The teachers in my department say that I will only have classes on Monday and Tuesday of this week because the students have an exam on Wed - Friday. So, hopefully I will have a nice, long break! Of course, this is China and things could change without notice.

One of the English teachers that I work with has been really helpful and kind to Matt and me. She has been helping us with our trip to Xi'an. She has friends all over! Her friend at the bank got our train tickets for us and her sister in law will be booking our room at the student dorms at the Foreign Language Institute in Xi'an to help up save money. It sounds like her brother will be picking us up at the train station too!

We really haven't been up to too much. We have been keeping busy by watching movies and running around town. The weather here is starting to get pretty cold. I think that the faculty worry about our ability to adapt to the cold. Little do they know about the frozen mid-west winters!

Yesterday, Matt and I decided to check out the new mall that just opened last weekend. It is about four floors of everything anyone could possibly need - and a lot of stuff that no one in his or her right mind would ever want. We were witness to a very interesting protest.

Apparently, there was a bad accident before the mall opened where four people died (we ran into one of Matt's students who was able to explain to us what was going on). The families were very upset with the owner of the building and decided to have a demonstration/sit-in. We didn't really know what was going on or why there were so many people crowded around the entrance and not going into the building. We decided to take a look and were quickly pushed inside by the crowd. I still didn't know what was going on so we went upstairs to get a better view.

When I could see down below we were very surprised to see that the protest included family and friends of the deceased AND the bodies of the people who died (wrapped in cloth). So, to be clear, in the entrance way/rotunda area of the new mall, there was a mass of people and four dead bodies! At that time there were no police or anything around either.

We looked around the mall and bought a Ghostbusters DVD. Then the loudspeaker started to sound off about something. We thought that they were closing for the day. We left with a large crowd of people out of the side entrance. Later, we ran into the same student (his mom is a police officer) and he said that he was happy to see us and was worried about us because of the fight. So, of course, our first questions was , "what fight?" People were flooding out because a fight broke out in the mall and the police had to come. The announcement was to get people out.

Hmmm... I just couldn't help but think what would have happened in the US if some families decided to bring some dead bodies to the mall.

Math and Moon Cakes

So, hopefully the drama with the math teacher is over. The Friday before yesterday, we celebrated National Teacher's Day in which all of the teachers get a day off (their work week is Mon - Sat). So they had a dinner to recognize all of their hard work. Knowing that we would be expected to attend these dinners, Matt decided to speak to our waiban (foreign affairs contact) about the situation before the evening events. She said that she would speak to him about it and that it would be taken care of.

Later in the afternoon - around 2 PM, the math teacher decided to come to school, drunk, and confront me in the hall after my class got out. Actually, more like pull me out into the hallway after the bell rang. So, with students and other faculty members around he created quite a scene in the hallway and made the situation even worse. I was against the wall with students on both sides and he won't let me go. So, when the next bell rang I bolted into a classroom (luckily where my next class was) and he still wouldn't leave. I could see him pacing up and down the hall until I heard him fall down.

Later at the Junior department dinner (my school) I sat with the English Department (Matt was luckily able to come to my school's dinner) and everything was going fine until math teacher comes. He was completely shit-faced and just had to continue where he left off. One of the English teachers in my department was really trying to keep me engaged in conversation the whole entire time so he harassed Matt instead as I had a two person buffer zone between us. His behavior was making everyone very uncomfortable at the table and several people tried to get him to leave. The headmaster of the school also tried to get him to leave. When he got up to go to the bathroom，our waiban whisked us out of the room and brought us down to another private room（so he couldn't find us）with the Senior I (Matt's department) teachers were dining.

So, last week went very well, no one was following me around and I was escorted to all of my classes by some one in my department or the headmaster. So, even if this starts to happen again at least people now know that there was a problem and it will be handled faster.

Anyhow, enough of that. Sorry about the rant last time, I was not in a very good mood with the math guy stuff, the snot and the party looming. I really don't think that the people here are trying to test me. Many do not recognize me as being a foreigner - which is nice. The snot incident was more of a wrong place, wrong time sort of thing. The laughing, well....

Yesterday was kind of fun - I got to go to the Guyuan Museum - a teacher that Matt works with knows someone who works there。So we got a nice tour of the place and I think I will start to volunteer there sometime next semester。Later that evening, one of my student's parents invited a bunch of us out to dinner so we had a nice time with them and some of the other Junior teachers even though we could not understand the vast, vast majority of the conversation.

This Sunday is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yesterday the school gave all of the teachers a big box of moon cakes. Apparently, it is kinda like the US equivalent of Thanksgiving。People get together with their families and have a big dinner，enjoy eating moon cakes and watch the full moon。One of the teachers in my office gave me some special cakes to try。

I think that most people here have been very nice and helpful，there have been times when we just want to stay in our apartment and lock China out for a little bit and not be stared at。I think next weekend we might try to explore the city a little more - maybe trek up the hill and check out the temple at the top。It is kinda pretty here - not at all what I had pictured。The city itself isn't the nicest thing to look at，but we are surrounded by foothills and some green。I guess that the spring can be a little rough with the sandstorms， but right now，the weather has been pretty nice and we have a break coming up in October for a week （I think we will try to go to Xi'an and see the Terra Cotta Soldiers and try to find some cheese and butter）.

I'll Take potpourri for $600, Alex...

The answer is ...

If you can't say anything nice...

Sorry that I have not been updating very frequently, I just have not been in the right state of mind to do so. Adjusting to life here has been very difficult for me especially the passive aggressive attitudes and the aggressive/persistent type too. It will only get easier, right?

One of the reasons why it has been so difficult is that I have a teacher constantly hounding me. He is a math teacher at my middle school. I dread going to school because of him. He goes to some of my classes, he waits for me outside of the building in the morning or waits for me at my desk in the English department, he waits for me in the halls for when my classes let out. He got a copy of my class schedule so now he knows when all of my open hours are. The other day I was working at my desk on my lessons for the day and he walks in and demands that "now we go to his office so I can teach him English". He is constantly on my back about this. My last class he attended, he was sitting in the back and giving answers to the students. I'm starting to get really angry about this. I hate feeling this way. I don't care if he loses "face", I want him to feel bad.

I was the recipient of another Chinese surprise today. I was walking back to class this afternoon when an older fruit vendor blew a huge snot rocket onto my arm. I just stood there stunned, looking at the multi-colored mucus running down my arm. I must say, I found it very nice of him to at least laugh at me, I want to say that it was just an embarrassed reaction, but then he found a couple of other people to come and look at it and point and laugh at me in chorus. I wound up wiping it on his sleeve and walked away to the sound of gathering laughter.

This Friday I can look forward to another forced party - this time they are separating us so we can both be miserable from separate locations! Oh, goody, goody!

So, right now I am of the "...don't say anything at all" mentality. That is, until I explode.

At least when youÂ’re feeling down，thereÂ’s someone there to blow snot on you。

Dance Monkey, Dance!

Matt and I are finally at our post in Guyuan and have finished our first week of teaching! We both have about 16 - 45 minute classes that we teach every week. I will be teaching Junior I (10-11 year olds), Junior II, Junior III and two sections of Senior I. Matt is teaching 14 sections of Senior I (the same lesson 14 times a week!) and some special sections of Senior II and Senior III. Right now I am not too keen about my teaching schedule, I think that I will just have to get used to it though. My classes are really spread out - I will have a first and second period (first period starts at 7: 50 AM) and then not have anything until 3:35 PM.

As expected, Matt gets a lot of stares - sometimes it is like a parade of one walking down the street. Many think that I am Chinese, but are curious how I am an American. Korean movies and television programs are very popular here so many want to learn some Korean too (unfortunately I can't help them out with that).

Guyuan is really nothing like I expected - we aren't as much in the boonies as I though we would be. We can get most things that we need but dairy products are difficult to come by (what a change from the artery clogging cheese central!) It also isn't as ugly as I thought it would be. There are some really neat hills that surround the city. The pollution here isn't bad either because there is no real industry around here.

We are trying to get used to the city and find our way around. The director of Foreign Affairs at our school has been really helpful - she introduced us to all of the market vendors and told them not to cheat us and that she would be checking up on them. We have also found the Guyuan version of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which will be nice for the very necessary french fry fixes. We have also found the pee nook - you just know it when you find it (y'know frothy and smells like pee) and also found excrement row (hopefully you realize it before you step in it).

Our apartment is pretty sweet! We are off of the street and have a metal outside door which leads to a nice little courtyard. On one side of the courtyard is our kitchen and a storage room, on the other is our living quarters. Our first floor has a nice living/dining room area (they gave us a huge TV and new furniture) and our bathroom with HOT water, western toilet and washing machine. Upstairs is a very large master bedroom and our study.

I don't think that either of us really expected to be so worn out after a 12 hour work week, but it's Friday night and we are both just beat! I think we are just going to try to hole up in our apartment this week and watch some movies. Except on Saturday, we have to attend a party for all of the new English teachers. We were told that we will need to perform - the "funnier the better". I know that we were warned that this would happen and we were expecting it, but when you are actually asked, you really do get that sinking pit feeling in your stomach and feel like you are there more as a form of entertainment. AND the list of requests for this "party" keeps on growing - "funny" performance, sing a duet, sing solos, play a game with them and then go out dancing. Right now, I just want to sleep.

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, MONKEY! Okay, we'll do their little "dance" this time....

Off to Guyuan!

Well, we're off to our new home in Guyuan! Tonight we're hoppin' on the midnight train to Ningxia (just substitute "Georgia" with "Ningxia" and we have a kicky travel song).

This will probably be the last post for a little bit as I don't know what our internet situation will be like out there.

Our trip should be about 24 hours from Nanjing so, Friday morning at about 1:30 AM we'll be rolling into town. Whoo hoo! It will be nice to finally unpack our bags and start to get to know our new home.

I think that we will start teaching on the first. If anyone has any good teaching ideas for middle school, please share!

So, goodbye (for now) Nanjing, dumpling man, beverage man, beer lady and potsticker people!

Wish us luck!

How Many Chinese Men Does it Take to Change a Light bulb?

Hello all!

We have been busy here in Nanjing and I have some catching up to do! Mandarin classes have been going okay. I'm not the biggest fan of them right now, but hopefully I won't get too discouraged. I do like to try to write the characters and will hopefully be able to take a calligraphy class while I am here.

I know that I have been promising you pictures... I have been having some difficulty with that because the instructions are in Chinese. So, if any of you are bored and want to see some pictures, send some suggestions/instructions my way!

Last weekend we went to Suzhou - the place to go to see Ming Gardens. It was fun, but to tell you the truth, I was pretty gardened out after two (too crowded to be a lot of fun). We also went to "The Silk Museum" which was nothing more than paying an admission fee to go look in their gift shop - i.e. the place done sucked! It was truly a horrible waste of money plus no climate control for the silk that they did have on display.

The massacre monument and museum was very interesting. I don't really see how some people can say that it never happened. They had an excavation pit open for viewing and there were just bodies stacked on top on bodies - lots of children. Very chilling. I will post some pictures when I can.

The Nanjing museum rocks! They actually had a mini exhibit on the folk crafts of China, and included a case with paper cuttings! Hopefully I will be able to refine my skills some more and work some more on design. But from a cutting standpoint, I have yet to be challenged! Bring it on!

Other than that it's all dumpling wishes and potsticker dreams!

Oh, about the light bulb - apparently four, one to hold the ladder, one to hold the light bulb and screw it in, one to hold the box and old light bulb and one to scream at all of them.

No joke! 4 men and 25 minutes later - voila! Light!

*sigh* China!

Dirty Little Secret - Shhh

Okay - so, I'm not proud of myself for this, but it just had to be done.

I ate French fries.

Wait! That's not in itself such a bad thing, right? But...

We went to McDonald's.

I feel so ashamed.

The Dumpling Master

So, Matt and I found this absolutely awesome dumpling man right by the university we are staying at and the guru of the art of the potsticker happens to be right next to dumpling man. I think that we have eaten there at least twice a day for the past week - they now know us and laugh when they see Matt coming. Ahhh...porkish meat and spring onions wrapped in water dough - there's nothing like dumplings and potstickers in China! Also we both eat for under $2.00! Whoo hoo!

Things here have been warming up since the typhoon that hit Shanghai (right after we left!) has blown over. Not clothing soaking hot here - yet (nothing like getting up from a chair to find that you're stuck to it).

Today we went down to the International Bookstore to get some TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages - for those of you not in the biz) books and some Chinese language books to work from with our tutor in Guyuan. We met a strange fellow there. He latched on to us (errr...big, white Matt) and followed us - more like stalked us around the store. When we lost him and were trying to figure out what workbooks to get, he shows up with an arm full of Chinese workbooks. He was probably just trying to be nice and wanted to practice his English with us but he followed out of the store, we said goodbye and we watched him start to walk in the other direction. We hailed a cab and told our cabbie where to go and just as we were getting in - poof! here he is again. He told us that he wanted to share our cab with us and got in and told the cab driver where to go and where to drop us off. He finally left and we were dropped off where he told the cabbie to go - at the wrong university. So, Matt lugged ALL of our books back to Nanjing Normal and I had a nice little asthma episode after inhaling a cloud of cement dust.

So, that was our little adventure today - tomorrow will be the Nanjing (Nanking) Massacre Monument and Museum and Ming Garden.

At least we ended up with Dumpling Master to end the evening.

Toe the Line: The Tale of the Ultimate Crossing Guard

So, I am in Nanjing and it is currently cooler here than it normally is because they have been getting rain. I began my survival Chinese class today and I hope that it will be really good. I will need to really work hard at my language because people might expect me to speak more than Matt because of my slanty eyes (I can say that because I'm slanty eyed).

We did go to the Shanghai Museum in the staggering heat and thick humidity (the pollution traps the heat). It was a neato place, I thought that it would be bigger, but you can tell that they must have a really impressive collection. They still allow flash photography (tisk, tisk), but a lot of the other museum biggies were really well done.

So, we were trying to cross the street, which in China is no small undertaking (a girl in our group was hit by a motorbike our first night in China), and they have these crossing guards err... "Traffic Assistants" to help you across the street. This one guy was a total hard ass and whenever anyone put a toe over his line he would blow his whistle and pull you back behind the line. A couple of kids went to run across the street and he ran after them and pulled them back. It was hilarious!

Greetings from China!

We're finally in Shanghai! It seems like we have been traveling forever! The bus ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was long - about 11 hours and literally painful - Matt is not very Asian sized and I have no tail bone so we were in pretty rough shape by the time we got to the airport - Burger King Hash Browns have never tasted so good! The flight was nice and we were asked to fill out an evaluation on the in-flight service, so we were spoiled and had lots of leg room.

Today we have been just running around getting some errands done - changing money, post office, internet, etc. Hopefully when I am done here we can get to the Shanghai Museum which is supposed to be the best in China and one of the best in the world. Super nerdy excited about that (Whoo-hoo! Lets look at the mounts and humidity controls!)

Alas, tomorrow we are traveling again - just a 4 hour train ride this time and Matt and I will each have one fewer bags to lug around (thank you post office). I guess that Nanjing is hotter than Shanghai - which I am not really looking forward to as it is roasting here. There we will be going to Survival Mandarin Chinese classes for only about 3 hours a day for 3 weeks. Then we take another train for over a day to Ningxia (from there it is a little hazy how we are getting to Guyuan).

So far we have had some very good hand pulled noodles and some kick ass dumplings, but I think I have another request for those looking to come to China, in addition to salsa, if you could sneak a bottle of Dr. Pepper, I would be most appreciative!

...But is it Art?

Yesterday Matt and I went to the elephant conservation park. I was really excited about going because I have been reading about and studying the painting elephants of Thailand for about 2 years now. But once we got there it was kinda weird.

The camp was supposed to provide "room and board" for former timber elephants now out of work, and the painting and other stuff was to help pay for the expense of keeping them. I dunno if this was really the case or if they were just exploiting the animals for the tourist dollars. We also went on a jungle ride on an elephant. The rider was a bit of a sadist and seemed to enjoy beating the elephant with this wooden/metal tool or stabbing his ear with the metal hook. By the time the ride was done our elephant had a bloody ear :-(

The painting was interesting to watch, but what I had been reading about was more like the elephants get to paint however they wanted and use whatever colors they wanted. This was more like they taught the elephant a form and then he just performed it. Not as exciting as I was hoping.

It was a bit of a disappointing experience, but overall I am glad that I went.

We also joined a group of other volunteers going to the Chiang Mai Zoo. There's not much to report there - we walked uphill most of the time, in the rain, and never really saw any animals. I think they lure people into this animal-less park, the people inevitably get lost with all of the windy uphill paths and they have to pay a zoo truck 20 baht to bring them to the exit. I wanted to go to see how they house the penguins (penguins in Thailand?) - we found out. They no longer have any.

I probably won't have a chance to post until Shanghai (I leave on Sunday)!

Famous Noodles

Chiang Mai has been great!

I have found a new addiction - Chiang Mai noodles.

They are a little bit of spicy heaven. I just got back from lunch and was able to enjoy my new favorite dish.

Today we started our TESOL training so I won't be too offensive when I teach. Yesterday we went to the Sunday market - very large and neat (a lot of Thai crafts). I thought that I would have better luck with street vendors for food, but we have not had any success yet.

We are already making plans for this weekend - hopefully I will be able to see the painting elephants.

Anyhow, I will be sending out a mass pretty soon about some taboo topics that we shouldn't discuss over email and that will hopefully help keep me out of Chinese prison.

The Moment of Truth

After 16 hours on a plane and 12 hours on a train we are finally in Chiang Mai, Thailand! It is absolutely beautiful here, hot, but beautiful!

I wasn't quite ready for it but I had my first encounter with a squatter on the train. I haven't had the best of luck with such commodes in the past especially on moving vehicles. So far I have fallen in - head first (Korea), slipped in tail in first (with tadpoles - Indonesia), and slipped into one (where's the toil... squish - Japan) and those are just the highlights. So really what was the expectation for success on this particular occasion on a very bumpy train?

After I committed to the thought of using the squatter and psyching myself up to the duty, I had to choose the "method" since I chose to wear pants and then step up to the little platform. Everything was going well until the moment of truth - where's the toilet paper?

There's that moment of panic when you have to carefully consider your options - finding some sort of paper inside your pocket (will I really use the 20 baht note?), wallet, or whatever just not, unless there are no other options - good ol' righty or lefty will have to do the trick.

I chose lefty. But right before the um, deed, I noticed that hidden under a teapot was a nice, clean roll of paper for me to use instead - Whew! So, not entirely a bad experience and everything in the end went where it was supposed to go.

Today I spent my first full day in Chiang Mai - we went to a really cool temple (wat), I got a blessing from a monk, walked around the city (they have a huge square moat around the old city) and fed an elephant. This is a seriously cool place, very hot and sticky, but awesome! I will be here for about 2 weeks and then off to China. I will post some pictures once I figure out how to do it (and if they will let me tinker around on a public computer).

Send in the National Guard!

My apartment is a disaster zone! We are getting ready to leave for our two year adventure to China. It is Sunday, July 3rd, the movers come Friday and we leave on the 11th. Geez, I have so much to do before we go!

I'm posting this now so I can go live with this blog page before I go. I probably won't have time to post anything else until I get to Thailand - ahhh, Thailand....