To the tune of "Silver Bells":
Spit stained sidewalks, frozen pee spot
garbage strewn here and there.
Those are the sights of my city.
Constant honking, non-stop hawking
people pushing past me
and on every street corner we hear,
White man there, stop and stare
Point as he walks on right by you.
Stand and gawk, point and talk,
and laugh as he passes you by!
Come to dinner
must come to dinner
'Cause it has been arranged
I did not bother to ask you before now
Hear the phone ring
what a bad thing
and we cringe at the sound
We unplug and pretend to be gone
Bu Zhongguo ren, ta shi Hanguo ren (not Chinese, she is Korean)
is what I hear when I go by
She should know, how to shuo (speak)
'cause she looks like Chinese.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Monday, December 26, 2005
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...
...that's what little BOYS are made of? Just kidding. Sort of. I just had my first experience with a "teacher crush" outing. But, more on that later.
I know that my posts have not been the most upbeat lately. The frustrating stuff usually inspires me to write more than the other. Also, right now we seem to have an over abundance of the blood boiling sort of material.
I just wanted to write about some of my students. I really love them. Honestly, I work with some really sweet kids. Over the holidays, they have been really sweet with holiday wishes and little gifts that magically appear on my desk or on the podium before class. I never know who they are from, but my older kids present the gift as a present from the class.
One of my students asked me what kind of present I liked the best. Thinking that they wanted to buy me something, I told him that I liked drawings the best (I don't want them to spend money on me). So, the next time I had class, I walked into the classroom to find the podium piled high with wonderful drawings, paintings, and cuttings that the kids made for me! I love them and they are more valuable to me than anything they could ever buy. I almost cried. Seriously, so sweet. My kids make me smile and laugh on a near daily basis. I am very thankful for that.
I have mentioned this before, but I am really surprised that my little boys are so enthusiastic about English class. I was expecting the girls to be more in to it. Many of the girls are very good and do everything well in class, but if I'm giving points for sheer enthusiasm, the boys definitely win the prize.
In many of my classes ALL of the boys want to speak at every group sharing opportunity. They are always the first to volunteer for anything. If I finish taking volunteers and don't wind up calling on some of the boys, they get very sad and protest with a very heartfelt, "Oh, laoshi! Why no me?" I correct them. Hands go back up with a corrected, "Oh teacher Molly, why not me?"
They are also just hams! They are pretty fearless about making mistakes. Usually when they flub up, they laugh, make me laugh and wind up hugging each other. After class, both the boys and girls all come up to the podium and we try to talk in Chinglish to the best of our abilities. Usually one of the kids will tell me that they like that I smile and laugh in class and that that makes them happy.
In November, one of my Junior 2 classes invited me to go to a soccer game - their class was playing against another class. Members of the soccer team prepared an invitation to present to me in front of the class - I couldn't say no. So everyone cheered.
On the day of the match, the class was waiting for me in the hallway for me to get out of my class and we all walked down to the field together. All 50 of them wanted to hold my hand on the way down, it was kinda of funny. I cheered for both sides, as they were both my classes. They even coordinated cheers in English just for me! At the double whistle blow, the class that I came with won! They were so excited!
Fast forward to last week. I had that class on Wednesday. We were doing a unit on what you wanted to be when you grew up. One of my SFS's said that he wanted to be a soccer player. So, I asked him (at the end of class) if he was on the soccer team. He very proudly said yes. Then I asked if he was #9 (I was very impressed with #9 at the soccer game) because he was about the same size. He beamed while turning a very bright red. As soon as he was a nice shade of scarlet, the taunts of, "Laoshi, he LOVES you!" started to pour out as well as similar sentiments in Chinese. I think that they managed embarrass him quite well. Hopefully, this won't make him shy in class as he is one of my best students.
Anyhow, this is not to say that I don't have some truly outstanding girls. I have a really sweet group of girls who I just want to hug whenever I see them. They give me little "love" notes or folded stars after class and really like to try to speak to me in English. They greet me in Korean (I taught them a little, as that I all I know) and we sometimes hang out together in the garden at their long mid-morning break. They are really interested in learning about me, the US and anything I want to share with them. We have a lot of fun trying to figure out what we are saying to each other. My girl groups are really thoughtful and are very helpful in the classroom when the boys are being naughty - they are the enforcers.
So, I know that this post is a little random. But hey, just recording thoughts as they come to me!
I know that my posts have not been the most upbeat lately. The frustrating stuff usually inspires me to write more than the other. Also, right now we seem to have an over abundance of the blood boiling sort of material.
I just wanted to write about some of my students. I really love them. Honestly, I work with some really sweet kids. Over the holidays, they have been really sweet with holiday wishes and little gifts that magically appear on my desk or on the podium before class. I never know who they are from, but my older kids present the gift as a present from the class.
One of my students asked me what kind of present I liked the best. Thinking that they wanted to buy me something, I told him that I liked drawings the best (I don't want them to spend money on me). So, the next time I had class, I walked into the classroom to find the podium piled high with wonderful drawings, paintings, and cuttings that the kids made for me! I love them and they are more valuable to me than anything they could ever buy. I almost cried. Seriously, so sweet. My kids make me smile and laugh on a near daily basis. I am very thankful for that.
I have mentioned this before, but I am really surprised that my little boys are so enthusiastic about English class. I was expecting the girls to be more in to it. Many of the girls are very good and do everything well in class, but if I'm giving points for sheer enthusiasm, the boys definitely win the prize.
In many of my classes ALL of the boys want to speak at every group sharing opportunity. They are always the first to volunteer for anything. If I finish taking volunteers and don't wind up calling on some of the boys, they get very sad and protest with a very heartfelt, "Oh, laoshi! Why no me?" I correct them. Hands go back up with a corrected, "Oh teacher Molly, why not me?"
They are also just hams! They are pretty fearless about making mistakes. Usually when they flub up, they laugh, make me laugh and wind up hugging each other. After class, both the boys and girls all come up to the podium and we try to talk in Chinglish to the best of our abilities. Usually one of the kids will tell me that they like that I smile and laugh in class and that that makes them happy.
In November, one of my Junior 2 classes invited me to go to a soccer game - their class was playing against another class. Members of the soccer team prepared an invitation to present to me in front of the class - I couldn't say no. So everyone cheered.
On the day of the match, the class was waiting for me in the hallway for me to get out of my class and we all walked down to the field together. All 50 of them wanted to hold my hand on the way down, it was kinda of funny. I cheered for both sides, as they were both my classes. They even coordinated cheers in English just for me! At the double whistle blow, the class that I came with won! They were so excited!
Fast forward to last week. I had that class on Wednesday. We were doing a unit on what you wanted to be when you grew up. One of my SFS's said that he wanted to be a soccer player. So, I asked him (at the end of class) if he was on the soccer team. He very proudly said yes. Then I asked if he was #9 (I was very impressed with #9 at the soccer game) because he was about the same size. He beamed while turning a very bright red. As soon as he was a nice shade of scarlet, the taunts of, "Laoshi, he LOVES you!" started to pour out as well as similar sentiments in Chinese. I think that they managed embarrass him quite well. Hopefully, this won't make him shy in class as he is one of my best students.
Anyhow, this is not to say that I don't have some truly outstanding girls. I have a really sweet group of girls who I just want to hug whenever I see them. They give me little "love" notes or folded stars after class and really like to try to speak to me in English. They greet me in Korean (I taught them a little, as that I all I know) and we sometimes hang out together in the garden at their long mid-morning break. They are really interested in learning about me, the US and anything I want to share with them. We have a lot of fun trying to figure out what we are saying to each other. My girl groups are really thoughtful and are very helpful in the classroom when the boys are being naughty - they are the enforcers.
So, I know that this post is a little random. But hey, just recording thoughts as they come to me!
How Guyuan Stole Christmas
Happy Holidays!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! Not much holiday celebration here, but Santa is quite the rock star in Guyuan. For our Christmas Eve feast Matt and I had ramen and for Christmas Day - yup, Dico's. I have a feeling that we will be quite busy for New Year's as the invitations are starting to pile up.
The school did have a party that we were "invited" to go to - meaning, we were told that we were required to go and prepare a performance. We were led to believe that it was a small get together with the English department, but, as with much here, that wasn't quite the entire truth. They told us that to get us to say "yes", but then we found out that really it was really in the auditorium in front of a crowd of about 600 teachers, students and administrators. Small get together is was not.
So, we were getting all sorts of pressure to perform a Christmas carol and make a speech about how much we adore the school. I really didn't want to, especially since I was still not feeling very well (and have not forgiven them for the sick visit episode). So, I decided that this is when I would make my stand and resist like nothing else. Stone wall. Yup. That's me. I said that I would say a few words after they fessed up that they wanted to give us Christmas gifts. But sing? Nope. Nada. No way. No how. I put my foot down in a bad way. I know that I was a little harsh, but they really do not give you a graceful way out of anything, so you just have to be blunt (rude). Long story short, I told them that I found it very humiliating to but put on display like they wanted me to be and that there was no way that I would do it. So, what happened after that? They turned to Matt and said, "so you will sing then". Ahhhhhh!!! Then told me that I would go up on stage and sway with them as they sing. How lame is that? Honestly. Sway? I said told them that I will get on the stage once to give my remarks, and that would be all. No swaying, no tricking me into singing. Period.
So, Matt agreed to sing a short song - We Wish You a Merry Christmas, with some of the teachers in his department. As the days to the dreaded event ticked down, both of our attitudes became more and more foul. If only you could hear some of the things we were saying to our light fixtures (I don't dare to have a written record of our comments). Then, poof! Matt got my cold. And, poof! His voice was gone.
That Friday, my English department had a dinner that I was told that I must attend because the head master wanted to present something to Matt and me. I told the head of my department that I was still not well and that Matt had just come down with my cold and is not well. She told us that "it doesn't matter" and that we are to meet them at 6:00 PM to go to dinner. I said that we really can't be out late as we are both sick. She told me that it should only take about an hour or so.
So, we go to the dinner (really not happy about it) and sit around and look at the food. No one is really speaking in English and Matt and I are too tired and sick to really even want to speak to each other, much less eat. We are hopeful to make our exit as the hour rounds, but, shit - the headmaster shows up and the dice shakers come out. We sit there for the next three hours coughing and sneezing - miserable. But, they really don't care about how we are feeling as long as they get their way. They wanted us to be there no matter how horrible we were feeling. There wasn't even any recognition that we may want to go home to rest. Three hours later we were permitted to go home.
Saturday afternoon we get a call from our waiban - she's coming over in 10 minutes (at least she called first so we have time to get out of our pajamas). She comes over and tells us that there is a lunch on Sunday that we must go to. Why? Because some teacher in the history department, who we have never met, just published a book in English, that we have never read. She told us that we were on the itinerary to make a speech about how good the book is. Great. There goes our weekend, consumed by school events. No consideration for our schedule or that it is our holiday (this is another example of why I feel that they think they own us). If we were homesick, this would be just horrible to go through. Anyhow, we stressed that this is a major holiday time in the US when people get together with family and since we were not at home this year, our families would be calling on Sunday. This didn't really phase her - she continued as if we hadn't even said anything and told us that it should take about 1 hour (which means 3 hours at minimum). We pressed on with our protest. She left with us not at all pleased, but, hey, she was getting her way - we were going to their event for an hour. We did make a very blunt point to her about telling us about things ahead of time. Otherwise we cannot guarantee that we would be able to accommodate them.
So, back to Matt's voice, or lack thereof. When he brought this problem to our waiban she said that "it doesn't matter". Which has come to mean, it doesn't matter that you are sick, you will do it any way. So, Matt, with a fever and no voice, was forced up onto the stage and was told to lip sync the words. Good idea in theory. The chorus was made up of Chinese women, all with very high singing voices. So, Matt lip syncing to their voices...? So, my waiban got a program to show us when we will need to be on stage. She noticed that my name was "accidentally" printed on the program to sing. Whoops! I did the good ol' Chinese, "it doesn't matter, I will just stay here and watch."
So, how did the performance go? Let's just say that it was a thoroughly humiliating experience for my poor husband. They all pointed and laughed as if they has never seen anything so funny. I think that I am pretty safe in saying that there will be NO more performances from their monkeys - errr - foreign teachers.
Later that night, after the performance, we got a call. Our waiban. She told us that they cancelled the lunch on Sunday. So, just because we didn't want to go, they cancelled it. They planned an entire event that depended on us being there to endorse something that we have never read without even asking us if we could come. Whew! Sometimes it feels to me that they think that they own us. I don't like it. They are very friendly, but their hospitality is just overwhelming! I have told the light fixtures my thoughts on that many times.
Quite a therapeutic hobby, actually. Y'know, talking to the light fixtures. Because if someone is listening, well, shame, shame, you shouldn't be spying in the first place and if there are no monitoring devices, I am just venting to an inanimate object - no harm, no foul.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! Not much holiday celebration here, but Santa is quite the rock star in Guyuan. For our Christmas Eve feast Matt and I had ramen and for Christmas Day - yup, Dico's. I have a feeling that we will be quite busy for New Year's as the invitations are starting to pile up.
The school did have a party that we were "invited" to go to - meaning, we were told that we were required to go and prepare a performance. We were led to believe that it was a small get together with the English department, but, as with much here, that wasn't quite the entire truth. They told us that to get us to say "yes", but then we found out that really it was really in the auditorium in front of a crowd of about 600 teachers, students and administrators. Small get together is was not.
So, we were getting all sorts of pressure to perform a Christmas carol and make a speech about how much we adore the school. I really didn't want to, especially since I was still not feeling very well (and have not forgiven them for the sick visit episode). So, I decided that this is when I would make my stand and resist like nothing else. Stone wall. Yup. That's me. I said that I would say a few words after they fessed up that they wanted to give us Christmas gifts. But sing? Nope. Nada. No way. No how. I put my foot down in a bad way. I know that I was a little harsh, but they really do not give you a graceful way out of anything, so you just have to be blunt (rude). Long story short, I told them that I found it very humiliating to but put on display like they wanted me to be and that there was no way that I would do it. So, what happened after that? They turned to Matt and said, "so you will sing then". Ahhhhhh!!! Then told me that I would go up on stage and sway with them as they sing. How lame is that? Honestly. Sway? I said told them that I will get on the stage once to give my remarks, and that would be all. No swaying, no tricking me into singing. Period.
So, Matt agreed to sing a short song - We Wish You a Merry Christmas, with some of the teachers in his department. As the days to the dreaded event ticked down, both of our attitudes became more and more foul. If only you could hear some of the things we were saying to our light fixtures (I don't dare to have a written record of our comments). Then, poof! Matt got my cold. And, poof! His voice was gone.
That Friday, my English department had a dinner that I was told that I must attend because the head master wanted to present something to Matt and me. I told the head of my department that I was still not well and that Matt had just come down with my cold and is not well. She told us that "it doesn't matter" and that we are to meet them at 6:00 PM to go to dinner. I said that we really can't be out late as we are both sick. She told me that it should only take about an hour or so.
So, we go to the dinner (really not happy about it) and sit around and look at the food. No one is really speaking in English and Matt and I are too tired and sick to really even want to speak to each other, much less eat. We are hopeful to make our exit as the hour rounds, but, shit - the headmaster shows up and the dice shakers come out. We sit there for the next three hours coughing and sneezing - miserable. But, they really don't care about how we are feeling as long as they get their way. They wanted us to be there no matter how horrible we were feeling. There wasn't even any recognition that we may want to go home to rest. Three hours later we were permitted to go home.
Saturday afternoon we get a call from our waiban - she's coming over in 10 minutes (at least she called first so we have time to get out of our pajamas). She comes over and tells us that there is a lunch on Sunday that we must go to. Why? Because some teacher in the history department, who we have never met, just published a book in English, that we have never read. She told us that we were on the itinerary to make a speech about how good the book is. Great. There goes our weekend, consumed by school events. No consideration for our schedule or that it is our holiday (this is another example of why I feel that they think they own us). If we were homesick, this would be just horrible to go through. Anyhow, we stressed that this is a major holiday time in the US when people get together with family and since we were not at home this year, our families would be calling on Sunday. This didn't really phase her - she continued as if we hadn't even said anything and told us that it should take about 1 hour (which means 3 hours at minimum). We pressed on with our protest. She left with us not at all pleased, but, hey, she was getting her way - we were going to their event for an hour. We did make a very blunt point to her about telling us about things ahead of time. Otherwise we cannot guarantee that we would be able to accommodate them.
So, back to Matt's voice, or lack thereof. When he brought this problem to our waiban she said that "it doesn't matter". Which has come to mean, it doesn't matter that you are sick, you will do it any way. So, Matt, with a fever and no voice, was forced up onto the stage and was told to lip sync the words. Good idea in theory. The chorus was made up of Chinese women, all with very high singing voices. So, Matt lip syncing to their voices...? So, my waiban got a program to show us when we will need to be on stage. She noticed that my name was "accidentally" printed on the program to sing. Whoops! I did the good ol' Chinese, "it doesn't matter, I will just stay here and watch."
So, how did the performance go? Let's just say that it was a thoroughly humiliating experience for my poor husband. They all pointed and laughed as if they has never seen anything so funny. I think that I am pretty safe in saying that there will be NO more performances from their monkeys - errr - foreign teachers.
Later that night, after the performance, we got a call. Our waiban. She told us that they cancelled the lunch on Sunday. So, just because we didn't want to go, they cancelled it. They planned an entire event that depended on us being there to endorse something that we have never read without even asking us if we could come. Whew! Sometimes it feels to me that they think that they own us. I don't like it. They are very friendly, but their hospitality is just overwhelming! I have told the light fixtures my thoughts on that many times.
Quite a therapeutic hobby, actually. Y'know, talking to the light fixtures. Because if someone is listening, well, shame, shame, you shouldn't be spying in the first place and if there are no monitoring devices, I am just venting to an inanimate object - no harm, no foul.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
I Need 100 cc's of Tolerance, Stat!
So, I have a cold. Nothing too bad, but enough to keep me out of classes for a couple of days as it is very difficult to direct a group of 11 years olds without a loud voice and when one is coughing every 3 seconds. I called my waiban and told her that I had a cold and that I should probably stay home the next day to recover. Easy right? No problem, right? WRONG!
The response I got was definitely not expected or wanted - they kind of freaked out about it. Normally, when I was feeling under the weather in the States I could just call in to my employer and let them know not to expect me that day and my boss would say something like, "Thanks for letting me know, hope you feel better soon." Not at all like what I just experienced here.
I want to interject here that there is no good way to flat out say "no" in Chinese. You can negate a positive like: correct/not correct, want/don't want, etc. But no word that simply means "NO". Anyhow, back to the story.
So, you're sick - nothing too extreme, coughing, sneezing, congestion, general discomfort - you all know what you would be doing to treat this kind of cold. Rest, liquids, maybe some cold medicine, solitary confinement, etc. So, you get into your pajamas - the ultra comfortable lounging pair (the pair that only ever sees the interior of your home), your favorite blanket and pillow, something to drink, box of tissues and remote. Voila! You're set to tackle this thing! When you are in this state the last thing that you want is visitors, much less the entire English department knocking on your door!
Matt went to our tutoring session that afternoon and our tutor was late so he sat in the office and was reviewing his Chinese. Our waiban came in and said hello and told him that she was going to go and see how I was doing. Not thinking too much of that Matt suggested that she call first because I was probably sleeping. Then our waiban went into the other room of the office and was talking to all of the other teachers in there - they all get ready to go out with her. Seeing this, Matt told her that she definitely should call to tell me that they were coming over. He tried to run interference - "she is sick, I don't think that she is up for visitors" and "it is not necessary for all of you to go" and variations of those statements. One of the teachers caught on and said to all of them that since I was not feeling well, that visitors may not be such a good idea. That idea was so quickly ignored that it was as if no one had even suggested something.
Nope, they were determined to come and see me, sick. Matt did stress the importance of calling me, seeing what was taking form in front of him. So she called. She called what would be one pissed off sick person.
The call:
Waiban: Hello Molly! We are coming over now to see you.
Me: Oh, (pause) I just have a cold. It is not necessary.
Waiban: Is necessary, we will be over soon.
Me: No, it really isn't necessary, I am sick, I do not want...
Waiban: 10 minutes, we will be there in 10 minutes.
Me: No, I just have a cold, it is not necessary…
Waiban: Is very necessary, is necessary, is necessary. 10 minutes, goodbye!
Insert - loud ranting, swearing and coughing here.
So, I am madly trying to find something to wear that isn’t my pajamas and pick up a little bit. Matt comes home and tells me that “they” are on their way over. He also fills me in on the “they” part of the mix. We try to pick up a little bit (we weren’t expecting company) and I go back upstairs.
Knock, knock, knock - “Hello? We’re here!” I am still upstairs trying to bring my anger down to a simmer so I can at least pretend to appreciate their concern. Our waiban yells up the stairs - “Molly, it is not necessary for you to come down”. Okay, fine, but then WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE! I just want to be left alone. So they are all chatting downstairs - one of the teachers is telling Matt that he should bring me to the hospital. Matt is disagreeing and the conversation keeps going round and round and round, until finally Matt hollers up the stairs, “Hey Molly, do you want to go to the hospital?” Upstairs, I’m thinking, what??? I YELL back down a very resolute “NO!!!”
Soon, our waiban, announces that she is coming upstairs to see me. So, not able to stop her now, she is in my room, looking at me. The first thing that she says to me is how she is very sorry about me getting so gravely sick. Gravely sick? I have a head and chest cold that we wouldn’t even blink at in the States. I told her that it was not serious, that it was just a cold. She then continues to tell me that I should be warmer because of my very serious illness. Serious illness? I have a cold, just a cold. I try to impress on her that it was just a cold, I have had them before, it was bound to happen working with 800 children a week, etc. She then starts to tuck me in - with all of the blankets that we have! Yes, my waiban, my kind of “boss”, is tucking in a 29 year old adult! She then tells me all of the things that I can eat and cannot eat and inspects my medication - I just wanted them to go, so I started to make up treatments for the various things on my nightstand. She feels my head and tells me that I feel quite hot - well, why would that be? The 7 blankets on top of me? My blistering rage? Then she starts to force the idea of bringing the doctor to my home to give me a check-up. For the love of God! I just have a freaking cold! I adamantly refuse. Then she says as she is getting up to leave, if you are not better by tomorrow, we will have the doctor come over and give you an injection. An injection?! No way. So, losing all appreciative pretense, I respond with a resounding “No, I will refuse any type of injection.” Geez, I have been sick for a day and you want me to go to the hospital and get injections? No way.
Matt leaves with our waiban to go to the pharmacy. She again tries to push the idea of getting an injection. Matt tells her that he is certain that I would not want that. But, no matter, she keeps on with it. They get some medication and she starts interrogating him what he is going to feed me. Let’s just say that they agreed to disagree on much of the food, medication and treatment for me, with a simple cold. Finally, Matt heads home with the medication, with our waiban making me chicken soup because Matt is incapable, and with the parting comment that if I am not feeling better by tomorrow, she will call and set up for a doctor to come to give me an injection.
What happened to get a lot of rest and drink plenty of fluids?
She did mention to Matt that this is Chinese custom - to visit someone when they are sick. As it seems to me, it is really to ignore what the sick person wants, irritate her, and do what you want to do anyway. I know that the intention is to be thoughtful and concerned, but oh-wowie, this is just too much, especially for a cranky sicky.
So, all of this drama over a little cold. It made think, what would they do if there was an actual emergency? They kinda freaked out with my cold, so what if I got the paralysis again? What if I had an asthma attack? Well, I guess that we will never know as Matt and I will be working no matter how sick, no matter what the problem is from now on just to avoid this kind of attention. My goodness, it truly feels like they think that we are totally incapable of anything. We ask a question about food and the attitude is that the foreigners aren’t able to feed themselves. We want to go on vacation, but we have to call and “check-in” everyday. I get a cold and you would think, by the response, that I was on my death bed. I keep on telling myself that they are just concerned for our well-being and they have good intentions. But in this particular case, the road to my personal hell is certainly paved with their good intentions. I just want to sleep, drink plenty of fluids and be left alone to be sick.
I hope that an apple day will keep everyone away from here on out.
The response I got was definitely not expected or wanted - they kind of freaked out about it. Normally, when I was feeling under the weather in the States I could just call in to my employer and let them know not to expect me that day and my boss would say something like, "Thanks for letting me know, hope you feel better soon." Not at all like what I just experienced here.
I want to interject here that there is no good way to flat out say "no" in Chinese. You can negate a positive like: correct/not correct, want/don't want, etc. But no word that simply means "NO". Anyhow, back to the story.
So, you're sick - nothing too extreme, coughing, sneezing, congestion, general discomfort - you all know what you would be doing to treat this kind of cold. Rest, liquids, maybe some cold medicine, solitary confinement, etc. So, you get into your pajamas - the ultra comfortable lounging pair (the pair that only ever sees the interior of your home), your favorite blanket and pillow, something to drink, box of tissues and remote. Voila! You're set to tackle this thing! When you are in this state the last thing that you want is visitors, much less the entire English department knocking on your door!
Matt went to our tutoring session that afternoon and our tutor was late so he sat in the office and was reviewing his Chinese. Our waiban came in and said hello and told him that she was going to go and see how I was doing. Not thinking too much of that Matt suggested that she call first because I was probably sleeping. Then our waiban went into the other room of the office and was talking to all of the other teachers in there - they all get ready to go out with her. Seeing this, Matt told her that she definitely should call to tell me that they were coming over. He tried to run interference - "she is sick, I don't think that she is up for visitors" and "it is not necessary for all of you to go" and variations of those statements. One of the teachers caught on and said to all of them that since I was not feeling well, that visitors may not be such a good idea. That idea was so quickly ignored that it was as if no one had even suggested something.
Nope, they were determined to come and see me, sick. Matt did stress the importance of calling me, seeing what was taking form in front of him. So she called. She called what would be one pissed off sick person.
The call:
Waiban: Hello Molly! We are coming over now to see you.
Me: Oh, (pause) I just have a cold. It is not necessary.
Waiban: Is necessary, we will be over soon.
Me: No, it really isn't necessary, I am sick, I do not want...
Waiban: 10 minutes, we will be there in 10 minutes.
Me: No, I just have a cold, it is not necessary…
Waiban: Is very necessary, is necessary, is necessary. 10 minutes, goodbye!
Insert - loud ranting, swearing and coughing here.
So, I am madly trying to find something to wear that isn’t my pajamas and pick up a little bit. Matt comes home and tells me that “they” are on their way over. He also fills me in on the “they” part of the mix. We try to pick up a little bit (we weren’t expecting company) and I go back upstairs.
Knock, knock, knock - “Hello? We’re here!” I am still upstairs trying to bring my anger down to a simmer so I can at least pretend to appreciate their concern. Our waiban yells up the stairs - “Molly, it is not necessary for you to come down”. Okay, fine, but then WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE! I just want to be left alone. So they are all chatting downstairs - one of the teachers is telling Matt that he should bring me to the hospital. Matt is disagreeing and the conversation keeps going round and round and round, until finally Matt hollers up the stairs, “Hey Molly, do you want to go to the hospital?” Upstairs, I’m thinking, what??? I YELL back down a very resolute “NO!!!”
Soon, our waiban, announces that she is coming upstairs to see me. So, not able to stop her now, she is in my room, looking at me. The first thing that she says to me is how she is very sorry about me getting so gravely sick. Gravely sick? I have a head and chest cold that we wouldn’t even blink at in the States. I told her that it was not serious, that it was just a cold. She then continues to tell me that I should be warmer because of my very serious illness. Serious illness? I have a cold, just a cold. I try to impress on her that it was just a cold, I have had them before, it was bound to happen working with 800 children a week, etc. She then starts to tuck me in - with all of the blankets that we have! Yes, my waiban, my kind of “boss”, is tucking in a 29 year old adult! She then tells me all of the things that I can eat and cannot eat and inspects my medication - I just wanted them to go, so I started to make up treatments for the various things on my nightstand. She feels my head and tells me that I feel quite hot - well, why would that be? The 7 blankets on top of me? My blistering rage? Then she starts to force the idea of bringing the doctor to my home to give me a check-up. For the love of God! I just have a freaking cold! I adamantly refuse. Then she says as she is getting up to leave, if you are not better by tomorrow, we will have the doctor come over and give you an injection. An injection?! No way. So, losing all appreciative pretense, I respond with a resounding “No, I will refuse any type of injection.” Geez, I have been sick for a day and you want me to go to the hospital and get injections? No way.
Matt leaves with our waiban to go to the pharmacy. She again tries to push the idea of getting an injection. Matt tells her that he is certain that I would not want that. But, no matter, she keeps on with it. They get some medication and she starts interrogating him what he is going to feed me. Let’s just say that they agreed to disagree on much of the food, medication and treatment for me, with a simple cold. Finally, Matt heads home with the medication, with our waiban making me chicken soup because Matt is incapable, and with the parting comment that if I am not feeling better by tomorrow, she will call and set up for a doctor to come to give me an injection.
What happened to get a lot of rest and drink plenty of fluids?
She did mention to Matt that this is Chinese custom - to visit someone when they are sick. As it seems to me, it is really to ignore what the sick person wants, irritate her, and do what you want to do anyway. I know that the intention is to be thoughtful and concerned, but oh-wowie, this is just too much, especially for a cranky sicky.
So, all of this drama over a little cold. It made think, what would they do if there was an actual emergency? They kinda freaked out with my cold, so what if I got the paralysis again? What if I had an asthma attack? Well, I guess that we will never know as Matt and I will be working no matter how sick, no matter what the problem is from now on just to avoid this kind of attention. My goodness, it truly feels like they think that we are totally incapable of anything. We ask a question about food and the attitude is that the foreigners aren’t able to feed themselves. We want to go on vacation, but we have to call and “check-in” everyday. I get a cold and you would think, by the response, that I was on my death bed. I keep on telling myself that they are just concerned for our well-being and they have good intentions. But in this particular case, the road to my personal hell is certainly paved with their good intentions. I just want to sleep, drink plenty of fluids and be left alone to be sick.
I hope that an apple day will keep everyone away from here on out.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Bugs and Baijiu
Just got back from lunch. Today we were able to lock China out at 1:30 PM!
We went out to pay our phone bill today on the way we saw a sample table on the corner. They were handing out free samples of baijiu (hard rice liquor) out on the corner!
Anyhow, Matt and I are throwing down 50/50 odds that our apartment is bugged. So, we have been spending our free time talking to the light fixtures.
We went out to pay our phone bill today on the way we saw a sample table on the corner. They were handing out free samples of baijiu (hard rice liquor) out on the corner!
Anyhow, Matt and I are throwing down 50/50 odds that our apartment is bugged. So, we have been spending our free time talking to the light fixtures.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
ATTENTION: Cootie Shot Shortage
The big medical talk around here is about the bird flu and whether or not one should get a flu shot and whether or not one should try to get some Tamiflu pills. I'm not saying that the concern is misplaced, but my question is what happened to all of the cootie shots? Seriously. The fear of possible "cootie" infection is the #1 concern of my students and, from what I have seen, young adults as well. What happened - Government seizure? Stockpiling?
Do you remember in elementary school giving/receiving "cootie shots"? Usually a pinch or punch before and/or after coming into contact with an icky boy or girl? The need for such an immunization usually wore off around Jr. High or Middle School - sometimes a little sooner. Not in China. There is a noticeable lack of proper "cootie" immunization and a very noticeable fear of said "cootie" infection.
In all of my classes it is nearly impossible to get girls and boys to talk to each other. When I make them pair up boy-girl, they HATE it - they just sit there looking surly trying their absolute hardest not to touch or look at each other. When I put them into groups of four the two girls will work together and the two boys will work together. But heaven forbid they interact with each other!
I had my class line up according to birthday - the boys and girls could not even handle standing next to each other - I saw the most disgusted expressions on faces that day. Usually, what winds up happening is a boy will "do" something to a girl and the girl will hit the boy, hard. Boy will then tattle on the girl or start crying. Then, I have to separate them and try to tell the girl not to hit and try to get the boy to stop crying.
At the senior school, Matt was invited to go to an English corner that the student union arranged for the kids in senior 1. He was trying to get the kids to just talk to each other (which can be very difficult), but noticed that the girls would not talk with the boys and vice versa. So he decided to play match maker and began to pair them up. Girls were pulling on friends shouting a desperate "Nooooooooo", boys were running away and hiding - mayhem, but funny.
However, when they do talk to each other it isn't always very successful either. Matt had an English corner for his students in senior 3 and was again having difficulty getting them to talk to each other (they address everything to the teacher, not to their classmates). They asked Matt what his favorite movie was and Teacher Perz said, "you should be asking each other! You, ask her what her favorite movie is..." etc. So, one of the boys asked a girl what her favorite movie is and she replied that it was Braveheart. The boy then said in a very interrogative manner "So, you love Mel Gibson, is he your perfect man?" The girl meekly replied, "No..." boy interrupts with a snide, "Mel Gibson is to rude? So, you prefer gentlemen?" That was when Matt intervened and told the girl to ask what the boy's favorite movie was - his favorite movie was Finding Nemo?! Favorite character? Nemo - nope. Sea Turtle - nope. It was Nemo's father! The girl seemed a little shell shocked at the end of the class.
Last Monday, we were invited to dinner and then to a new bar/night club with our waiban and one of her classmates. The tables were starting to fill up with couples and groups of friends. It took a while for the dance floor to warm up but soon, it was pumping with people all bumping and grinding. But something seemed a little "off". On closer inspection, it was only men on the dance floor dancing. When a woman would go out on the floor she was completely ignored. When the groups/couples went to dance they would enter as a group/couple but then quickly separate so only the men were together and the same with the women. Are they gay, you may ask? As far as we are able to tell, there really is no gay scene in small, po-dunk Guyuan. The man who invited us out did not ask me to dance or his friend (our female waiban) he held out his hand to Matt to came and shake with him on the dance floor. That was kind of funny to watch too. So, to describe the scene in front of us, it was like a MTV production with all of the colored lights and flashing strobe, people crowding the floor - all doing that very intimate, close dance. But only with members of the same sex.
So, from what I have observed here in Guyuan, the fear of possible cootie contamination lasts well into the 20s. Although I abhor the thought of hitting my students, maybe a good cootie shot here and there would do some good :-)
Do you remember in elementary school giving/receiving "cootie shots"? Usually a pinch or punch before and/or after coming into contact with an icky boy or girl? The need for such an immunization usually wore off around Jr. High or Middle School - sometimes a little sooner. Not in China. There is a noticeable lack of proper "cootie" immunization and a very noticeable fear of said "cootie" infection.
In all of my classes it is nearly impossible to get girls and boys to talk to each other. When I make them pair up boy-girl, they HATE it - they just sit there looking surly trying their absolute hardest not to touch or look at each other. When I put them into groups of four the two girls will work together and the two boys will work together. But heaven forbid they interact with each other!
I had my class line up according to birthday - the boys and girls could not even handle standing next to each other - I saw the most disgusted expressions on faces that day. Usually, what winds up happening is a boy will "do" something to a girl and the girl will hit the boy, hard. Boy will then tattle on the girl or start crying. Then, I have to separate them and try to tell the girl not to hit and try to get the boy to stop crying.
At the senior school, Matt was invited to go to an English corner that the student union arranged for the kids in senior 1. He was trying to get the kids to just talk to each other (which can be very difficult), but noticed that the girls would not talk with the boys and vice versa. So he decided to play match maker and began to pair them up. Girls were pulling on friends shouting a desperate "Nooooooooo", boys were running away and hiding - mayhem, but funny.
However, when they do talk to each other it isn't always very successful either. Matt had an English corner for his students in senior 3 and was again having difficulty getting them to talk to each other (they address everything to the teacher, not to their classmates). They asked Matt what his favorite movie was and Teacher Perz said, "you should be asking each other! You, ask her what her favorite movie is..." etc. So, one of the boys asked a girl what her favorite movie is and she replied that it was Braveheart. The boy then said in a very interrogative manner "So, you love Mel Gibson, is he your perfect man?" The girl meekly replied, "No..." boy interrupts with a snide, "Mel Gibson is to rude? So, you prefer gentlemen?" That was when Matt intervened and told the girl to ask what the boy's favorite movie was - his favorite movie was Finding Nemo?! Favorite character? Nemo - nope. Sea Turtle - nope. It was Nemo's father! The girl seemed a little shell shocked at the end of the class.
Last Monday, we were invited to dinner and then to a new bar/night club with our waiban and one of her classmates. The tables were starting to fill up with couples and groups of friends. It took a while for the dance floor to warm up but soon, it was pumping with people all bumping and grinding. But something seemed a little "off". On closer inspection, it was only men on the dance floor dancing. When a woman would go out on the floor she was completely ignored. When the groups/couples went to dance they would enter as a group/couple but then quickly separate so only the men were together and the same with the women. Are they gay, you may ask? As far as we are able to tell, there really is no gay scene in small, po-dunk Guyuan. The man who invited us out did not ask me to dance or his friend (our female waiban) he held out his hand to Matt to came and shake with him on the dance floor. That was kind of funny to watch too. So, to describe the scene in front of us, it was like a MTV production with all of the colored lights and flashing strobe, people crowding the floor - all doing that very intimate, close dance. But only with members of the same sex.
So, from what I have observed here in Guyuan, the fear of possible cootie contamination lasts well into the 20s. Although I abhor the thought of hitting my students, maybe a good cootie shot here and there would do some good :-)
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Daily Cravings - Food and Feelings
My food diary - definitely not that dieting kind of diary!
November 30, 2005 - Today I miss cheese. Ahhhh, cheese! I have to go 8 hours to get that delightful milk product. It's not that Chinese food is bad, in fact, it is quite good. But there is not the "food genre" variety here that I became used to in the States.
December 5, 2005 - Today we finished up a bag of Doritos that my dear friend, Deborah sent us. We delighted in the nacho cheeziness, but were sad when they were gone.
December 6, 2005 - Nothing like mac and cheese! mmm-mmm-mmm! We didn't feel like going out today so we made one of the precious boxes of mac and cheese from Matt's mom. Matt also polished off some frozen dumplings and a whole bag of pickled, sweet garlic (probably over 12 heads of garlic).
December 7, 2005 - This morning our room smelled like garlic.
December 29, 2005 - Thank you all for your generous cheese-food contributions! I just took an online survey about couscous, so, of course, that got me hungry for a big steaming plate of parmesan cheese couscous. Mmmmm... For the past couple of days I have really wanted baked beans and tomato soup. I am in the land of empty carbs, but no, I want different kinds of empty carbs. Geez, what a picky palette!
January 5, 2006! - Happy New Year! I just wanted to let you know that right now, I totally appreciate global corporations - well, at least some of them (still have problems with many - see "The Corporation" documentary). Our local underground market just started to carry the Lays Potato Chip "international" line. All kinds of funky flavors - green tea, lemon, beef curry, seafood grill, cucumber, etc. BUT the most important flavor (and the most unpopular here in Guyuan): swiss cheese! Don't get me wrong, the Pringles were doing the trick, but, yes, variety is the spice of life. I bought 8 bags. I guess that I can up my daily potato count to about 5 spuds a day.
January 8, 2006 - Yesterday Matt and I decided to treat ourselves, no, not to Dico's, we broke open two boxes of our Jambalaya. Cajun goodness! Today, I read an email from my mom. One of her friends gave her some Chex Mix. Yup, that's what I want. Chex Mix, pre-bagged or homemade - I'm not picky. We don't cook a lot at home (because we are lazy), but we have found that "hot pot at home" is pretty nice. So, about once a week we try to have that at home. Not any cheaper than going to a hot pot place, but at least we can eat in.
November 30, 2005 - Today I miss cheese. Ahhhh, cheese! I have to go 8 hours to get that delightful milk product. It's not that Chinese food is bad, in fact, it is quite good. But there is not the "food genre" variety here that I became used to in the States.
December 5, 2005 - Today we finished up a bag of Doritos that my dear friend, Deborah sent us. We delighted in the nacho cheeziness, but were sad when they were gone.
December 6, 2005 - Nothing like mac and cheese! mmm-mmm-mmm! We didn't feel like going out today so we made one of the precious boxes of mac and cheese from Matt's mom. Matt also polished off some frozen dumplings and a whole bag of pickled, sweet garlic (probably over 12 heads of garlic).
December 7, 2005 - This morning our room smelled like garlic.
December 29, 2005 - Thank you all for your generous cheese-food contributions! I just took an online survey about couscous, so, of course, that got me hungry for a big steaming plate of parmesan cheese couscous. Mmmmm... For the past couple of days I have really wanted baked beans and tomato soup. I am in the land of empty carbs, but no, I want different kinds of empty carbs. Geez, what a picky palette!
January 5, 2006! - Happy New Year! I just wanted to let you know that right now, I totally appreciate global corporations - well, at least some of them (still have problems with many - see "The Corporation" documentary). Our local underground market just started to carry the Lays Potato Chip "international" line. All kinds of funky flavors - green tea, lemon, beef curry, seafood grill, cucumber, etc. BUT the most important flavor (and the most unpopular here in Guyuan): swiss cheese! Don't get me wrong, the Pringles were doing the trick, but, yes, variety is the spice of life. I bought 8 bags. I guess that I can up my daily potato count to about 5 spuds a day.
January 8, 2006 - Yesterday Matt and I decided to treat ourselves, no, not to Dico's, we broke open two boxes of our Jambalaya. Cajun goodness! Today, I read an email from my mom. One of her friends gave her some Chex Mix. Yup, that's what I want. Chex Mix, pre-bagged or homemade - I'm not picky. We don't cook a lot at home (because we are lazy), but we have found that "hot pot at home" is pretty nice. So, about once a week we try to have that at home. Not any cheaper than going to a hot pot place, but at least we can eat in.
Wood + Tape = Stunned
I was going to post this yesterday, but I was just to upset to write about it.
Okay, so the school discipline policy is really confusing me. I was told that I can't do anything that would physically, emotionally or mentally hurt a student. I guess that "physically" part means something more like permanent disability or something.
Tuesdays are really good days for me. ALL of the classes I have are very well behaved and, well, the kids are just really good and I enjoy being with them. Honestly, the two Jr. 1 sections and my Jr. 3 section are my SFCs (Secret Favorite Classes) with many of my SFSs (Secret Favorite Students).
Mid-morning, before the 4th period class, the entire school does these eye exercises (to promote healthy eyes). I usually go down to the classroom and wait in the hall a little bit and talk to some of the other teachers while the students do these exercises. On that particular morning I "met" the head teacher of the class that I had just taught.
The class that I had just taught has always been one of the best - best in English, participation, listening, comprehension and behavior. Maybe now I know why. I walked down the hall and started talking with another teacher, but was suddenly very distracted.
I stopped talking mid-sentence and gaped at what was happening in front of me.
The head teacher for that class had four of my sweet little boys in the hallway and was hitting them across the face and forehead with a wooden stick wrapped in tape. Not a little slap - he did a wind up and a full swing at their faces.
Four of the sweetest little boys that I have, had bright red marks all over their faces and were just standing there trying to be stoic while being hit; silent tears sneaking out and streaking down their cheeks.
I just about died.
10 minutes before, they - we were all laughing and smiling as we played an English game. One of the little boys (one of my SFSs) ran up after class and gave me a big smile and hug and said, "I love you teacher Molly!" Now he was being hit with a stick wrapped in tape (the tape makes it sting more) and crying while rubbing his bright red cheeks.
The teacher that I had been talking to looked over as if nothing was going on and very nonchalantly said, "they were very naughty".
It seems like this is fairly common at the school, as none of the other teachers are remotely phased by it, but I don't ever want to be desensitized to that sight.
I just don't get it - I can't put them in the corner or send them out into the hallway, but I can wield a stick. Never.
Okay, so the school discipline policy is really confusing me. I was told that I can't do anything that would physically, emotionally or mentally hurt a student. I guess that "physically" part means something more like permanent disability or something.
Tuesdays are really good days for me. ALL of the classes I have are very well behaved and, well, the kids are just really good and I enjoy being with them. Honestly, the two Jr. 1 sections and my Jr. 3 section are my SFCs (Secret Favorite Classes) with many of my SFSs (Secret Favorite Students).
Mid-morning, before the 4th period class, the entire school does these eye exercises (to promote healthy eyes). I usually go down to the classroom and wait in the hall a little bit and talk to some of the other teachers while the students do these exercises. On that particular morning I "met" the head teacher of the class that I had just taught.
The class that I had just taught has always been one of the best - best in English, participation, listening, comprehension and behavior. Maybe now I know why. I walked down the hall and started talking with another teacher, but was suddenly very distracted.
I stopped talking mid-sentence and gaped at what was happening in front of me.
The head teacher for that class had four of my sweet little boys in the hallway and was hitting them across the face and forehead with a wooden stick wrapped in tape. Not a little slap - he did a wind up and a full swing at their faces.
Four of the sweetest little boys that I have, had bright red marks all over their faces and were just standing there trying to be stoic while being hit; silent tears sneaking out and streaking down their cheeks.
I just about died.
10 minutes before, they - we were all laughing and smiling as we played an English game. One of the little boys (one of my SFSs) ran up after class and gave me a big smile and hug and said, "I love you teacher Molly!" Now he was being hit with a stick wrapped in tape (the tape makes it sting more) and crying while rubbing his bright red cheeks.
The teacher that I had been talking to looked over as if nothing was going on and very nonchalantly said, "they were very naughty".
It seems like this is fairly common at the school, as none of the other teachers are remotely phased by it, but I don't ever want to be desensitized to that sight.
I just don't get it - I can't put them in the corner or send them out into the hallway, but I can wield a stick. Never.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The Power of "0"
I appreciate all of the advice (and articles!) on disciplining my little demon children. I read ALL that was sent my way. So, thank you!
This is what I did last week - I did not grade them. On the attendance sheet there is a spot to grade the class. The teachers told me that I should never give a class anything lower than an "A". But, I just could not force myself to do that after another truly frustrating class.
Sooo...
I wrote comments instead on the class' performance on the front side AND the back side of the paper. All of the kids gathered around the podium and "oohed" and "ohhhed" with every new line I wrote. They knew they were in trouble. I wrote more than I needed to since I had the audience and I wanted to reinforce how disappointed I was with the class. Basically, I gave them a "0" for the day.
Fast forward to this Monday.
The kids were great! They were quiet when I told them to (and I only had to ask once) and participated very well - it was a great class. At the end when I had to grade them, they all crowded the podium and shouted their appeals - "We very good, teacher" and "We good, quiet today, teacher".
So, I think that I have found something that will work okay for the time being, but I am always interested in finding more ways to get the evil out.
This is what I did last week - I did not grade them. On the attendance sheet there is a spot to grade the class. The teachers told me that I should never give a class anything lower than an "A". But, I just could not force myself to do that after another truly frustrating class.
Sooo...
I wrote comments instead on the class' performance on the front side AND the back side of the paper. All of the kids gathered around the podium and "oohed" and "ohhhed" with every new line I wrote. They knew they were in trouble. I wrote more than I needed to since I had the audience and I wanted to reinforce how disappointed I was with the class. Basically, I gave them a "0" for the day.
Fast forward to this Monday.
The kids were great! They were quiet when I told them to (and I only had to ask once) and participated very well - it was a great class. At the end when I had to grade them, they all crowded the podium and shouted their appeals - "We very good, teacher" and "We good, quiet today, teacher".
So, I think that I have found something that will work okay for the time being, but I am always interested in finding more ways to get the evil out.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Peek-A-Boo!
Here is another bathroom post just for Jerry!
I know that there have been more than a couple of posts involving the bathroom or going to the bathroom, but hey, a lot seems to happen there and during those moments of emergency bathroom clarity!
The idea of privacy is a lot different here - like, there is no sense of it. A couple of weeks ago, when we were going to make the trip to Xumi Shan, I thought that I should probably go visit the W.C. before the car trip out there because, well, who knows what the facilities would be like out there (I have seen many disgusting squatters in my day)!
So, I went into the school where Matt's office is located to use the squatters because they are usually pretty clean. I had forgotten how, um, "open" it was in there. There are little stalls with half partitions, no doors, no curtain, not even a full partition. You back into one of the little stalls and squat - booty facing the flusher, face towards the aisle.
Well, I thought that, yes, this IS something that I can do! So I walked in, backed into a stall and dropped trow. The women next to me then peeked around the partition to chat and to check out what/how I was doing. Ohmygod! What ARE you doing lady? It is one thing to recognize that there is no privacy and just go on about one's business with great efficiency and not bother the other people. It is quite another thing to take advantage of the situation and check out other people at one of the more private of moments.
She finished up, and left. Whew! I can finally go (pee shy). Nope - Ohmygod! What ARE you doing lady (again)? She decided to come back, but this time she brought friends to check out what I was doing. So, not just peeking around the partition, but standing over me, in front of me and also staring over the partition all trying to witness me going to the bathroom.
I really didn't have much of a choice - I did have to go.
So....
They all clapped and one of the women handed me some tissues while laughing. I honestly have never held an audience captive quite like that before.
Thank God I didn't miss.
I know that there have been more than a couple of posts involving the bathroom or going to the bathroom, but hey, a lot seems to happen there and during those moments of emergency bathroom clarity!
The idea of privacy is a lot different here - like, there is no sense of it. A couple of weeks ago, when we were going to make the trip to Xumi Shan, I thought that I should probably go visit the W.C. before the car trip out there because, well, who knows what the facilities would be like out there (I have seen many disgusting squatters in my day)!
So, I went into the school where Matt's office is located to use the squatters because they are usually pretty clean. I had forgotten how, um, "open" it was in there. There are little stalls with half partitions, no doors, no curtain, not even a full partition. You back into one of the little stalls and squat - booty facing the flusher, face towards the aisle.
Well, I thought that, yes, this IS something that I can do! So I walked in, backed into a stall and dropped trow. The women next to me then peeked around the partition to chat and to check out what/how I was doing. Ohmygod! What ARE you doing lady? It is one thing to recognize that there is no privacy and just go on about one's business with great efficiency and not bother the other people. It is quite another thing to take advantage of the situation and check out other people at one of the more private of moments.
She finished up, and left. Whew! I can finally go (pee shy). Nope - Ohmygod! What ARE you doing lady (again)? She decided to come back, but this time she brought friends to check out what I was doing. So, not just peeking around the partition, but standing over me, in front of me and also staring over the partition all trying to witness me going to the bathroom.
I really didn't have much of a choice - I did have to go.
So....
They all clapped and one of the women handed me some tissues while laughing. I honestly have never held an audience captive quite like that before.
Thank God I didn't miss.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Monday Demons
Have you ever just not liked about 50 eleven year olds all at one time? No really, think about it - I'll give you time.
...
...
...
...
...
...
So, as you might have guessed, classes this morning did not go that well. The ratio of devil children to normal/good children in my Monday morning classes is about 10:1. So, out of the 100 kids I see in the morning about 10 of them are good. With the 90 (or so) other children, I feel like I should draw a pentagram on the floor and send them back to their maker.
Honestly.
The vast majority of my kids are very sweet, friendly and will work hard in my classes. But there is just something about my Monday morning classes (let's throw in half of Thursday too) that just makes me want to wear all black and conjure the evil beast that created them.
One of the problems is that there is no way for me to discipline the bad students. Why? Well, we were told that none of the teachers discipline their students. There is no "D.R." that I can send them to and I can't send them in the hall or anything like that. Nose again the blackboard - nope, corner - nada, anything that would embarrass them - bu hao.
We were told that we can't do anything that would physically, mental or emotionally make the child feel bad about his or her self. If the child does the teacher is held responsible. If the child kills his or her self then the headmaster is fired. So, others are held responsible for how the child acts. Kind of feels like blackmail to me.
The only tools I have are to tell the class to "be quiet" (how often did you pay attention to that in school?) and make a symbol with my hands that looks like "T" which means stop. Yeah right.
So, I am appealing to all of you out there, any ideas to help exorcise my Monday demons?
...
...
...
...
...
...
So, as you might have guessed, classes this morning did not go that well. The ratio of devil children to normal/good children in my Monday morning classes is about 10:1. So, out of the 100 kids I see in the morning about 10 of them are good. With the 90 (or so) other children, I feel like I should draw a pentagram on the floor and send them back to their maker.
Honestly.
The vast majority of my kids are very sweet, friendly and will work hard in my classes. But there is just something about my Monday morning classes (let's throw in half of Thursday too) that just makes me want to wear all black and conjure the evil beast that created them.
One of the problems is that there is no way for me to discipline the bad students. Why? Well, we were told that none of the teachers discipline their students. There is no "D.R." that I can send them to and I can't send them in the hall or anything like that. Nose again the blackboard - nope, corner - nada, anything that would embarrass them - bu hao.
We were told that we can't do anything that would physically, mental or emotionally make the child feel bad about his or her self. If the child does the teacher is held responsible. If the child kills his or her self then the headmaster is fired. So, others are held responsible for how the child acts. Kind of feels like blackmail to me.
The only tools I have are to tell the class to "be quiet" (how often did you pay attention to that in school?) and make a symbol with my hands that looks like "T" which means stop. Yeah right.
So, I am appealing to all of you out there, any ideas to help exorcise my Monday demons?
Hope
So, I just bought a belt at the local grocery store. It's pretty ugly. As of this week, "hope" will no longer be the only thing holding my pants up (especially since it was starting to wear a little thin).
I got it for the English - it cracked me up in the store. Here is what my belt says:
The first line:
let's spend thenight together ruby tcesday play with fiee satisfaction COME ON i wannabe your man TELL ME Bill Wynans in anothreb lanoitsall over now Let's
The next line:
paint it! black THE TOUGOGUYS get off of hy colud iustwannamakelovetoyou the TOUGO Guys no expectations Pain
The last line:
beartof stone andhew loog old ham the lanternby the tougo guys eave you seen tournd ther! Bady! Standing in the seadgwi no mabk away bear
Ahhh...what sweet poetry! "Standing in the seagwi no mabk away bear" - simply beautiful! It just brings a tear to my eye.
Anyhow, I will post more later, but until then, "Beartof stone and hew loog old ham".
I got it for the English - it cracked me up in the store. Here is what my belt says:
The first line:
let's spend thenight together ruby tcesday play with fiee satisfaction COME ON i wannabe your man TELL ME Bill Wynans in anothreb lanoitsall over now Let's
The next line:
paint it! black THE TOUGOGUYS get off of hy colud iustwannamakelovetoyou the TOUGO Guys no expectations Pain
The last line:
beartof stone andhew loog old ham the lanternby the tougo guys eave you seen tournd ther! Bady! Standing in the seadgwi no mabk away bear
Ahhh...what sweet poetry! "Standing in the seagwi no mabk away bear" - simply beautiful! It just brings a tear to my eye.
Anyhow, I will post more later, but until then, "Beartof stone and hew loog old ham".
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Where have all the Chinese Gone?
Remember that "cowboy" song in the '90s by Paula Cole?ANYway....
Last week we got a pleasant surprise - both of our schools have exams at the end of the month. Why is this a good thing, you may ask? Because Matt and I don't give exams! So, we get the three testing days off (yes, they have tests all day for three days)! Unexpected five day weekend - Whoo Hoo!
We first thought that we were going to try to go to Lanzhou. But when we went to buy train tickets, they did not have any more available. Since it was an overnight train we didn't want to risk it by just buying a ticket that will get us on the train but no seat/bed AND we didn't want to lose a day by waiting until the next day SOOO...
Hello Yinchuan!
The last time we were in Yinchuan, it was more of a hectic visit and we were not able to really see anything or enjoy the city. So, we wanted to give the good ol' provincial capitol another shot. We boarded the bus in the afternoon and began the bumpy trip up to the city.
The bus let us off at the same hotel that we had stayed at before - The Gulou Hotel. It's a pretty comfortable place, clean and has most excellent showers! The first night there we had a quest - to find the pizza restaurant that we saw when we were hoofing it around the city last time. The problem was that we just couldn't remember what direction it was from the pedestrian mall. So we started to walk - past the chicken burgers at Dico's, past the mashed potatoes at KFC - we got to the corner and Matt looked right, I left and whaaa (that angel appearing sound effect) - the glowing neon sign of Napoli's was shining bright in the night sky.
We entered the restaurant and were quickly greeted by the super friendly staff. We paid for the meal up front and were a little confused as to what we were supposed to do next. We wanted pizza. We were seated at a table and we were trying to figure out how to order when we saw what we were supposed to do. Help ourselves! There was a buffet of pizza and other food that we could indulge in.
Now, I don't know if you in the States can fully appreciate this, but at the fast food restaurants that we have been to here, they clear your tray for you as soon as you finish eating. They will sometimes bring you your food. The wait staff does everything for the customer - even pour your soda from the bottle and wait to refill it when your glass is only a quarter full. So, to finally get to heap whatever you want on our plate was kind of a treat for us.
Load 'em up!
I ate like a true pig.
No, really. I kid you not.
I piled up my plate, sat down, face down close to the food and inhaled. Pizza - more importantly cheese! Breaded onion rings! french fries with real ketchup! salad (I haven't had a real salad since I left the states)! soda! pasta! minestrone soup! AND real, freshly ground espresso!
Ahhh...after 3 plates of food (I'm sure that we disgusted the wait staff with our gluttony). We were finished and needed to beach ourselves on our beds at the hotel. So, we waddled back and shut ourselves in for the rest of the evening (we watched a truly terrible movie about Korean marathon runners in LA).
The next day we went out to see some of the sights in Yinchuan. The drum tower was right across the street from our hotel (so we saw that), we walked down to the Yuhuang Ge (Yuhuang Pavilion) but it is currently under renovation, so we couldn't go in or really see it as it was covered up by scaffolding. We found the foreign language book store and picked up some teaching materials and other books there. Then we headed toward the Regional Museum and Xi Ta (Xi Pagoda).
On the way to the museum and pagoda, we decided to stop so Matt could get his hair cut. He didn't want to get it done in Guyuan because of the attention it would attract so Yinchuan was his opportunity. They took Matt up to wash his hair, while he was upstairs, the head stylist made his entrance. He whisked off his jacket and his assistant caught it. She then ran over to a silver box and unlocked it and presented him with his tools. He dramatically unrolled the bundle and whipped out his scissors.
Matt's hair cutting team all stood around the stylist and watched as he went to work on Matt's noggin. After an HOUR, he was finished and they washed Matt's hair again and then he styled it - soon to be covered by a baseball cap.
So, finally, on to the museum and pagoda. Luckily the grounds were really close from the salon (just about across the street). We paid our admission and entered the park. Eerie. We were the only ones there. No one but Matt and I (and the workers). They would unlock all of the halls just for us. We climbed up to the top of the pagoda alone. No crowds, no pushing. Strange.
When we were finished we caught a cab to the Hai Bao Ta (North Pagoda). Same thing happened. We paid our admission, went inside and we were once again alone. Alone in China?! We really, truly had the whole place to ourselves. We walked up the stairs to the top of the pagoda - no crowds. Unobstructed pictures, weird.
Mid-afternoon we decided to try to arrange a tour out to see Xixia Wangling (Mausoleums of the Western Xia). The agency we found had no English tours, so they offered to help us rent a car and driver. So, off we went! After a little bit our driver pointed out a sign for a tour we could go to sometime - to see the areas and sets that Zhang Yi Mou (Johnny Mo - for you film buffs) uses in his movies. Then he pointed at the fields - dotted across the landscape were these mudbrick piles. Beautiful!
We got to the site and were put on a golf cart that would take us out there. First, they stopped at the museum. The museum was okay and had signs in English so Matt and I were able to get something out of the exhibits, but the tour was all in Chinese. So, we finished up early and ditched the tour group. We then went to the "art exhibit". When we entered we both groaned, more bad dioramas - we just want to see the mounds! We asked around and were eventually pointed in the right direction.
We dashed out of the "art exhibit", past the stele garden and focused on getting to the mounds while the light was still good. They built a walk way up to the biggest of the mounds. Gigantic. As we walked up to the mound, Chinese fighter planes were flying in formation right above us. The contrast between the earth-colored mound and the cloudless blue sky was quite striking. We walked...ran up to the mound and stood in it's shadow, mouths open in awe and excitement. The landscape was beautiful! The Helan Shan mountain range was the backdrop to these amazing tumuli. The sun was beginning to set and we had to hurry back to meet our driver. So we said a quick goodbye and walked back to the cart.
That evening we decided to try to find a dumpling place for dinner. In the front window of the restaurant they had a bunch of people sitting at a table making dumplings as fast as possible. We stopped to watch for a little bit and, whoops, production stopped. All of the dumpling makers were watching Matt. We went inside and ordered our jin (weight measurement) of dumplings. On the way out, Matt caused another slow down in production, because, well, he's white after all.
The next morning was a bit of a kicker - etiquette is quite different here - we woke up to people yelling in the hall right in front of our door. Seriously, yelling just for the sake of yelling - there were no discernible words in what we heard. After the yelling, someone just decided to try to barge into our room and sell us water. Hey, why not? After all it's my fault because I forgot to put out the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door knob - by all means just unlock the door and come on in!
We decided to take it easy - we went DVD shopping, grocery shopping (found peanut butter), and had lunch at...Napoli's! So, nice and overly full, we boarded our bus and headed back to Guyuan.
Lovin' till it Hurts
Just a quickie -
I was thinking about an incident with my kids from the other day that was pretty funny.
I share my office with the other junior English teachers. Between classes the kids have about 10 minutes to unwind from the previous lesson. Usually, they go to the offices to ask questions or get additional help. The English teachers are all very good, but are really strict with the kids - many a time I have seen a little kid reduced to tears by one of them. They speak really quite briskly and sternly with the little ones.
So, yesterday, one of the teachers was kinda "Chinese" yelling at one of the kids and whipping her paper with a metal pointer. The girl was getting really upset. Meanwhile the line of students at that teacher's desk was getting really long. Suddenly, the teacher bellowed out for all of the kids to wait in the hall and she would call them in when she was ready. So all of the kids moved.
The children I teach are all very sweet and friendly. From the doorway there was a group of 6 boys that were waving to me (I had just seen them I little earlier in the day), smiling and mouthing "Hello, Ms. Molly/Brown". Whenever one of the Chinese teachers would look over they would duck out of sight. Then they would slowly creep back and do it again.
This went on for a couple of minutes and I was getting a kick out of them. The next time I looked over at them all six of the boys started to hug each other and were giggling. The longer I looked, the more intense the hugging and giggling became. Then the coordination problem - they attempted a big group hug while trying to wave to me at the same time and they all fell down!
The English teachers yelled a little at them for creating such a ruckus and they all scampered off to class. As soon as they left and the office door was closed, all of the teachers just cracked up and couldn't stop laughing.
I was thinking about an incident with my kids from the other day that was pretty funny.
I share my office with the other junior English teachers. Between classes the kids have about 10 minutes to unwind from the previous lesson. Usually, they go to the offices to ask questions or get additional help. The English teachers are all very good, but are really strict with the kids - many a time I have seen a little kid reduced to tears by one of them. They speak really quite briskly and sternly with the little ones.
So, yesterday, one of the teachers was kinda "Chinese" yelling at one of the kids and whipping her paper with a metal pointer. The girl was getting really upset. Meanwhile the line of students at that teacher's desk was getting really long. Suddenly, the teacher bellowed out for all of the kids to wait in the hall and she would call them in when she was ready. So all of the kids moved.
The children I teach are all very sweet and friendly. From the doorway there was a group of 6 boys that were waving to me (I had just seen them I little earlier in the day), smiling and mouthing "Hello, Ms. Molly/Brown". Whenever one of the Chinese teachers would look over they would duck out of sight. Then they would slowly creep back and do it again.
This went on for a couple of minutes and I was getting a kick out of them. The next time I looked over at them all six of the boys started to hug each other and were giggling. The longer I looked, the more intense the hugging and giggling became. Then the coordination problem - they attempted a big group hug while trying to wave to me at the same time and they all fell down!
The English teachers yelled a little at them for creating such a ruckus and they all scampered off to class. As soon as they left and the office door was closed, all of the teachers just cracked up and couldn't stop laughing.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Perspective: Coping with Chinese Hospitality
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change....
So, things have been going pretty well here in Guyuan. Matt and I are getting familiar with the city and have found our favorite eating places and have even picked up a few friends (even if we really can't talk to them).
Life here is generally pretty pleasant. We have a great apartment and the weather isn't too bad yet. I have not been the victim of stray mucus since that one sticky incident. Things are going rather well.
EXCEPT for the whole coping with Chinese hospitality thing.
Courage to change the things I can...
Case 1: Molly's 29th Birthday -
I know that they were trying to make it a really special event (and I can recognize the thoughtfulness) but really, a five and a half hour dinner? AND drinking games for the majority of that time when the guest of honor is a non-drinker. But I have already ranted about this so I won't go into it again.
Case 2: Come Meet My Friend -
So, things have been going pretty well here in Guyuan. Matt and I are getting familiar with the city and have found our favorite eating places and have even picked up a few friends (even if we really can't talk to them).
Life here is generally pretty pleasant. We have a great apartment and the weather isn't too bad yet. I have not been the victim of stray mucus since that one sticky incident. Things are going rather well.
EXCEPT for the whole coping with Chinese hospitality thing.
Courage to change the things I can...
Case 1: Molly's 29th Birthday -
I know that they were trying to make it a really special event (and I can recognize the thoughtfulness) but really, a five and a half hour dinner? AND drinking games for the majority of that time when the guest of honor is a non-drinker. But I have already ranted about this so I won't go into it again.
Case 2: Come Meet My Friend -
Matt and I have decided that he is just not allowed out by himself anymore because something always happens.
Matt went to go pay our phone bill so it wouldn't get shut off (in hindsight that might not have been such a bad thing). On his way back he ran into one of the senior English teachers that he works with. The English teacher said that his friend really wanted to meet Matt and if he would be willing to go to his office. Matt agreed and they went to the traffic bureau.
There, he met with the #2 guy in charge of traffic - yes, the #2 guy in charge of traffic (hmmm...there are like 400 cars in the city)! So, they sat around there for a bit (Matt truly just sitting as they were not really speaking to him and just speaking to each other in Chinese). Finally, the moment of awe, in walks the #1 guy in charge of traffic (herein called #1TG)!
What winds up happening is I get a call (phone = trouble), it's Matt saying that the #1 guy in charge of traffic has invited us to dinner. I think it's a joke - I mean, #1TG, come on! Nope, serious, they will pick me up at the apartment. I wait. wait. wait. wait. still waiting. Phone rings - I am to meet them at the restaurant now - the English teacher says I can just hop in a cab - yeah, sure - me no speaky Chinese. So I walk to the traffic guy's dinner.
So, we're at the restaurant, I don't want beer. I want a soda. Ahhh, nice refreshing soda. I tell the English teacher that is what I want. He orders and tells me that I will be drinking fruit beer. I don't want nasty fruit beer (tastes like carbonated funk - stained band-aids), I want a Coke. No luck.
One hour...
The dice come out for drinking games.
Two hours...
Three hours...
We try to leave and were told that we can't and that it should only take us 5 minutes to prepare our lessons (we tried to use our classes as the out).
Four hours...
We really want to leave and are told to wait 20 more minutes.
Four and a half hours and we were finally permitted to go home.
The best part of the dinner was that the host, the #1TG wasn't even there for the majority of the time for his dinner!
Case 3: I want to INVITE you to dinner - Our 1st wedding anniversary -
This year we decided that we were going to celebrate our wedding anniversary early - as we were planning on being gone to Liupan Shan on the day of. So, we planned on making our precious boxes of jambalaya and red beans and rice (because we got engaged in New Orleans). But we had discovered that our phone line was not working. So we went down to China Telcom to get it worked out.
As soon as the phone was fixed and I was finishing up the anniversary feast, we get a call. Guess who? Yup, English teacher. He was calling to invite us to a dinner for one of his students. Matt told him, very nicely, that we could not because it was our anniversary and we had plans. Then English teach said, but you must, it has already been arranged. I will call you at 5:00 PM and will meet you at the gate of your apartment. Great.
So, we wait. wait. wait.
At 6:00 PM he decides to call us and say that he will be waiting for us at the gate in 5 minutes. So, we get there and wait. wait. wait. Finally, he shows up. We go to the restaurant (the same one we had just been to for the other marathon dinner). We find out that neither of us actually have this student, and really, it was more of a, "Look how important I am, I can get the foreigners to come" type of thing.
One hour...
Dice come out, drinking games commence. I get fruit beer.
Two hours...
I wave down a waitress and order a Coke directly from her. English teacher gives me a look. The children of the hosts come to say hello to their teachers. I find out that I have their son in my junior 3 special class.
Three hours...
We speak English with their kids. Matt begins the exit strategy (it is our anniversary, we must get home so I can surprise my wife).
Three and a half hours...
The dinner is far from over, but we are able to leave because, well, IT IS our wedding anniversary.
There is just something about being invited to something and being told that we have to do it.
Case 4: The Kidnapping -
Matt had been talking to the English teacher (before the traffic cop dinner) about going to Liupan Shan sometime over the weekend. We left the Saturday night dinner with the English teacher saying that he would call us about the mountain any time he felt like it.
So, around 9:50 AM he calls. Wakes us up. Tells us that we will meet him at our gate in 5 minutes. Matt says that we will need at least 15 min. English teachers says 5 min, Matt says 15 min., English teacher says okay 5 min. and hangs up.
We get ready as fast as we can and go out to the gate where we wait. wait. wait. wait. Finally, a police car pulls up to the curb and he tells us to hop in. So, off we go to the mountain, or so we think.
We pull into a driveway - perhaps picking up some other people. Nope! We get out of the car and walk into #1TG's home. There was some food out for us. We thought, okay, so a little quick nosh and then off to the mountain. Wrong! Just when I was about to pull off a piece of bread a group of about 12 kids file in. They are here to practice their English - for the next FOUR hours!
I mean, really, how much can the average adult really find to talk about with a 12-14 year old? Much less for FOUR hours and in a language that the kid is learning? I honestly wanted to poke my eyes out.
Lunch.
Finally, at 2:00 PM we leave for the mountain. Liupan Shan was really beautiful and everything, but I just am not sure that it was worth enduring the four hours of tween (y'know, not quite teen, but in-between) and teen chat at #1TG's house. We spent about 2 hours getting there and coming back.
Sensing a dinner, Matt and I decided to try to get an exit plan started in the car. So we chat about a phone call that I am expecting from my parents in the US (trying the family angle). We ask how long it will take to get back and say to them that "that will work out really well because my parents will be calling at 7 PM". Then, right after English teacher has that morsel of information I heard him talking with #1TG about going to dinner. What is wrong with this guy!
We notice that we didn't take the turn that we would need to get home. Instead, we pull into a restaurant. We say that we don't think that we will have time because I have to get home for the phone call. Blank stares. They do rush through dinner, but we don't get home until after 7 PM - too late for my fake phone call. English teacher knew this and was noticeably absent from the car that took us home (as he lives just down the alley from us).
If they would just ask us, things would generally be okay and we would be willing to spend 4 hours with kids, etc. But the demanding, the disregard for our personal plans and the bamboozling just doesn't put us in the most cooperative mood (to put it nicely).
...and the wisdom to know the difference.
So the phone can ring...there will just be no answer.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Tall, Dark and Terracotta...?
Just thought that I would do a separate terracotta army post as it was nothing short of let's see - AMAZING!
Ever since I checked out a copy of that National Geographic, I have wanted to see this site. I had built it up in my mind over the years so I thought that I would most likely be disappointed when I actually got to see it. WRONG. It was fabulous!
When you get to the site area, you are immediately accosted by vendors selling terracotta men in all shapes, qualities and sizes. They will follow you around with arms full of things to try to sell you. When you actually enter the site, there is a nice landscaped walk up to the hangars where all of the excavated sites are. The path was lined with lovely persimmon trees and more vendors hawking postcards and other highly portable items (easier to run after you with).
We went into Vault 1 first - the biggest vault. The mass of people in the front was unbelievable! I had to fight my way up to the front so I could get a glimpse of the money shot - all of the soldiers standing in rank, facing me, ready to get their orders. I actually did have to throw a few elbows to get up there - the little old ladies were the most vicious though! I'm not proud of it, but I did kinda "accidentally" trip a 70ish year old lady (not entirely on purpose - hey, she would have done the same to me) because she elbowed me really hard in the gut and hit me.
Once I was up at the front the only thing standing between me and the men was a metal rail that I was sandwiched up against and, very unfortunately, the railing was at bladder level. So what you say? Did I mention that there were hundreds of people trying to get into the building and many of them wanted to be standing right where I was. I was in a position where I couldn't move, there were so many people pushing on me that I couldn't back up or move to either side. So, the result - a massive amount of pressure on a very full bladder, pain, worry, a brief moment of relief (like I can hold it), then panic! I managed to get out (I honestly don't remember how, I just remember the focus) and eventually I was able to get some sweet relief. So, if you have seen my photos on my site many of them from Vault 1 are blurry - I fully blame the pushing and the bladder situation (definitely not my mad camera skills - hmmm...)!
Vault 2 and 3 were also very interesting, not as crowded though. It was really interesting to see the excavation going on in Vault 2. The museum was really crowded (note blurry pictures again) and it was difficult to enjoy the chariots. But the attention to detail is quite remarkable - the drivers have fingerprints.
After a little bit, we decided to leave the museum and go back to Vault 2 to be nerds. They have a photo room where you can get you picture taken as a soldier, with the soldier, etc. That is when this happened: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theunsinkablemb/51516139/in/set-1117303/. Yup, we are that stupid. We needed to meet the tour group back at a certain time, so we decided to take one more look at Vault 1 - and this time we were able to go down the other side of the vault to get a different view of the guys.
What a day - it was made even better because we were able to end it with pizza! What a great day!
Friday, October 28, 2005
Whoo-hoo! Birthday Guyuan Style!
Hello! Well, many of you know that I just celebrated my birthday and many of you have already seen my birthday can on my photo page. Turing 29 was pretty painless here, but also pretty uneventful as there really isn't too much to the city.
Matt and I went to the beloved Dico's for my birthday dinner (I have a feeling that many special occasions will be marked there - with french fries)! I had my usual - which the staff now knows very well and we had a good time. We also went to the mall (no dead bodies this time) where I picked up my birthday can of sour cream & onion Pringles and a bonus Dove chocolate bar. We also found a place at the mall that sells DVDs (all of the places around here seem to only sell VCDs), so I picked up a couple of movies too.
The school gave me a nice surprise - our waiban (foreign affairs person) said that she wanted to come over in the afternoon to check our heat to make sure that it was working properly. We said sure, come on over, but were thinking (geez, you need to check our heat? Why?) So, around one o'clock there was a knock on the door and a man came in with a huge cake and flowers from the school! How thoughtful!
I called our waiban to thank her for the gifts and then I was told that she went and cancelled our dinner plans that we had that evening with another teacher so they could take me out to dinner (kinda thoughtful in a kind of inconsiderate way, huh?). So, dinner was at a really good hot pot place. Hot pot - a pot with broth in it on a burner. You add meat, vegetables, noodles to the broth and nosh on the contents for hours (at least in this case).
The dinner was nice, but kinda strange. I didn't really know any of the teachers who were there. They were all from Matt's school. None of the teachers that I work with were invited. So, I only really knew Matt and our waiban (and Mr. Yan - the master negotiator who helped us out with the medical forms). The dinner seemed to just go on and on and on.... After about 1 hour they started to play drinking games, which, isn't really my thing as a non-drinker. This continued to be the main theme for the next 4.5 hours. Yes, four and one - half hours! So, after my long, 5.5 hour dinner we were finally allowed to leave. I was being held captive at my own dinner. I just couldn't leave as I was the guest of honor at a birthday party thrown for me by room full of strangers.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Never Trust a Monkey Tryin' to Sell you Food
Hello!Sorry that it has been a little while since I last posted - I have been busy! Matt and I are back at school after a very eventful National Day holiday (October 1-7). Here's the story...
So, you all know that we are both teaching here in China and will be for the next couple of years. One of the things we need to obtain within 30 days of arrival in the country is a residence permit so we can stay here. So, we thought that everything was going well because our waiban would ask for some documents, passports, pictures, etc. every now and then and we would give them to her. We told her that we wanted to go to Xi'an over the National Day holiday and that was when the hassle started. Now, it really isn't anyone's fault, because the school has never had any foreign visitor before, but it was quite...an experience.
First, some of my classes were cancelled because the junior school was having exams and the senior classes were supposed to be cancelled because they were having a sports meet. So Matt and I thought, "Sweet! We have some bonus days off!" No dice. Not knowing about the ways things work about having or not having class, we thought that it was certain that we would not have classes so we stayed up really, really, really late. A couple of hours after we went to bed, we get a phone call, our waiban said that it was raining so the sports meet was cancelled for the day. Shit. Matt went out and looked, no rain, but the ground was a little moist.
Fortunately, my classes were still cancelled (I don't think that anything would cancel exams) so I just rolled over to get some shut eye. Matt took off for class. Soon after he left I get another call - our waiban - she tells me that I have to go to Yinchuan a little later that day to get some tests done (ALL of the very expensive tests that we had done in the US were not usable). So, later that afternoon, Matt, one of the English teachers at the senior school (to help us translate) and me caught a bus to Yinchuan (the provincial capital). Five hours later we rolled into town, all of us grumpy and tired.
The next day we went to the hospital to have all of the test re-done so we could get the health certification to get our residency permit. So, after the short physical exam, LONG x-ray (I think that Matt is still worried about that), the ultrasound (Matt not so worried about that because, "if it's safe enough for a baby, then it's safe enough for me!") and the icky bloodwork we were done? NO! We were told that it would take a week for us to get the results back and they could not issue a certificate. Thank goodness for our English teacher friend! He told us to wait and he said that he was going to see what he could do to speed up the process. About 10 minutes later, he came back and said that it would be done tomorrow and that "there is the law about doing things, but sometimes you need to rely on your relations." Or something like that. For a little extra dinero he was able to get the certificates processed quickly.
So Friday, the day of our non-refundable train tickets. Everyone is rushing around to get the certificate processed - at 6:00 PM or so, our waiban comes to the English office with all of our paperwork so we could take off that evening. WHEW! We were both exhausted before we even left for Xi'an.
The train was overnight, so we arrived in Xi'an at about 7 AM. After a little running around and waiting in the wrong lines, we got our return tickets to Guyuan. One of the English teachers that I work with (who was extremely helpful with this trip) gave me the phone number of her brother-in-law at the Foreign Language University (who just happened to be an English teacher too) and he helped us arrange our room once we arrived. Everyone was very helpful and we are very thankful.
Xi'an rocks! I really liked the city! The first day we went to the Dayan Ta (Big Goose Pagoda) and Shaanxi History Museum. We got soaked! My purple shoes got so wet, both my socks and feet were dyed a weird fuschia color. We bought an umbrella outside of the pagoda and the woman who sold it to us got in trouble with the police, but it looked like she put up quite a fight. That evening we had a very important task - to locate western food. We decided to stay around the university area rather than cabbing it downtown. We hunted and hunted and didn't find anything besides KFC (which we didn't need because China has a better version of the fried chicken eatery - Dico's). So we settled for a place that was westernish - with a big smiling monkey to boot! It was called "Best Food", another chicken place. Bleck! Even the cola was just not right. Let's just call the food "uninspired" - it was one of those meals that you know will come back to haunt you in a couple of hours (and haunt it did). Damn monkey and it's sub-par food! So, our first attempt was a bust. Pizza was the goal for the next day and we would not be disappointed.
The next day we saw a lot! We went to the Shaanxi Beilin Museum (cool carved stone steles), Great Mosque, the arts district, the Muslim district and explored the city. For dinner, Pizza Hut! We had to wait for about an hour before we could get a table. But I have never been treated so well by a Pizza Hut employee! When we were seated, I stuffed my face with the American special, baby! That's right a whole 9" of pepperoni and cheese heaven! I traded with Matt for a piece of his pizza and kinda dropped it. I almost cried. Sad, huh? We washed it all down with a pitcher (a large American sized pitcher) of 7UP - we were told that a pitcher would be too much for just two people, we proved them wrong. Ah, gluttony at its finest! I love it!
Our third day - Terracotta Army tour - whoo hoo! I will write a special post about that experience, but check out the pictures - www.flickr.com/photos/theunsinkablemb. We also got to go back to see Dayan Ta (a little drier this time) and the Huaqing Pool (most recently famous for the Xi'an incident). Pizza for dinner - we also got to see all of the kites flying at night in front of the Bell Tower - really cool with the lights from the tower.
Our last day we went out to see Famen Si - where the fingerbone of the Buddha is housed. It was an interesting day. The only tour that went out there was an all Chinese tour. So, we went to many tombs - Mao Ling earthen tombs, Qian Ling (Imperial Way), tomb of Prince Yi De and a really bad Chinese Folk Village. Honestly, the place sucked. It was like a really bad "It's a Small World ride" that lasts about 20 minutes and you want to poke your eyes out at the end. When we got back to the city, Pizza Hut again with a little McDonald's appetizer and a trip to the grocery store to buy as much butter and cheese we could carry (okay, slight exaggeration, but we bought a lot).
In the morning we took the train home and was able to look out at all of the beautiful scenery that we missed on the way down. Excellent trip, tiring, but totally worth it!
Monday, September 26, 2005
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.
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.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
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）.
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）.
Friday, September 09, 2005
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。
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。
Saturday, September 03, 2005
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....
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....
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
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!
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!
Saturday, August 20, 2005
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!
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!
Thursday, August 11, 2005
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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!
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!
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
...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)!
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)!
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
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.
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.
Friday, July 15, 2005
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).
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).
Monday, July 04, 2005
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....
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....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
