Well, I haven't really posted recently, but that's mostly because I haven't had anything particularly interesting to say (which may be obvious from my recent postings where I generally can think of nothing to talk about besides food). But, alas, I shall attempt to update anyone out there who may still be interested.
Mostly, I've just been working, working, working, but I'll attempt to give a short run-down of other "interesting" events that have occurred in the last month or so.
Thanksgiving: The other foreign teachers from ZZFLS and myself all got together for a somewhat makeshift Thanksgiving dinner. Considering we were working with a very limited supply of ingredients, and only a single toaster oven to use for cooking, it turned out remarkably well. We even had pumpkin pie and stuffing! (Which was made possible due to someone's kind parents shipping cans of pumpkin and StoveTop to China.) I was impressed, and the dinner went remarkably well. With the small exception that I may have accidentally set the table on fire when I knocked some tinsel into the candles. This is a note to all of you out there: tinsel is highly flammable. In the end, the table was fine and the only casualty was the bed sheet that was operating as the table cloth at the time. And my wine bottle which was quite charred.
Bus "accident": Just the other day I was heading back from downtown with a friend, and the bus we were in ran into car. The bus was fine of course but the car had a rather sizable dent. Don't worry, no one was hurt, with the exception of my foot, which was stepped on by a tiny Chinese lady as we were all tossed backwards when the bus slammed on the breaks. I've witnessed at least half a dozen of these types of accidents since I've been in China, but this was the first one I was involved in. It's not altogether suprising though. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but driving in China is nuts. Red lights are considered mere suggestions, it's not unusual to see someone blatantly driving down the wrong side of the street (no it doesn't matter one bit if there is oncoming traffic), four lane roads almost always have at least six lanes of traffic, and sidewalks can double as a seventh lane if the occasion arises. Bicyclists and mopeds add excitement to the whole affair as they weave in and out of rushing traffic. It's not unusual to see bicyclists or a donkey cart (not to mention the street sweepers, almost always old ladies armed with stick brooms and orange vests) meandering up a highway where the rest of traffic is rushing by at 50 or 60 miles per hour; or to see a broken down bus being pushed along by the bus inhabitants (which I have seen twice now and each time found it to be extremely amusing). At first this all frightened me. Now I don't even notice it. After my own "accident" we just got off the bus and walked the rest of the way home. I then promptly forgot about it until I noticed the bruise on my foot given to me by the 80 lb lady. Good times.
Yoga: I am quite pleased that the gym I signed up for offers yoga and pilates classes, and despite the fact I can't understand what the instructor is saying, I am still able to follow along just fine. Unfortunately though, there is one instructor that often seems to think I still need extra help, and will often come and physically put my body into a pose. I mean I guess she does it for everyone, but sometimes it feels like she's picking on me. Mostly I just don't like it because the Chinese do not have quite the sense of physical bounds that we Americans have, and she had no qualms just grabbing any portion of my body and shoving it the right way. So yeah..I've been manhandled by my yoga instructor...so what? I guess it makes sense, considering there are so many people living so close, that personal space is seen a bit differently here. In general, the Chinese are just more "touchy" people. It is not at all uncommon to seen grown women holding hands as they walk down the street. Whenever I go somewhere with any Chinese woman, she will inevitably grab my hand. Which is maybe a little awkward for me, because I generally don't do that sort of thing. Many of the boys (and of course all of the girls) in my classes will hold hands or hug as they are walking through the hallways. And they aren't that young, they are 12 and 13 years old. I think it's kind of sad that if we saw 13 year old boys holding hands at home, we'd make assumptions. But here it's totally normal and doesn't seem the least bit strange at all. I think it's nice. However, I do draw the line at strangers touching my hair on the bus. This has happened a couple of times, and this I don't find so charming.
Hmm, well I can't think of much more to say. Hopefully sometime soon I'll have something more interesting to write about. Starting in mid-January I will have a six week break from school! I am really excited. I already bought a ticket to Thailand (total cost = $100 = awesome!) and am planning on spending about three weeks to a month in SE Asia with some of the other teachers, and then heading back to China in time for the Chinese New Year and to meet up with a certain special visitor. I can't wait. Only one more month!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Until we meet again...
Monday, December 21, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Dear China,
Thank you for creating tofu. It is healthy and delicious, you can put it in nearly everything, and you do such delicious things with it here in your country. So why, oh why, have you felt the need to defile it in the most horrifying of ways? I am referring to the nearly unspeakable tragedy that is - stinky tofu. Stinky tofu, is just that- stinky. No other way to put it. Sold in restaurants, on street corners, nearly anywhere you go, from blocks away you can catch a whiff of its scent. Once explained to me as tofu somewhere along the fermentation process, the delicious smell is due to some form of bacteria that has recently taken up residence, producing a smell similar to that of roadkill, but worse. Yes, I have attempted to eat it, back when I was naive and silly and believed a kind-hearted Chinese man who attempted to convince me and and a friend that stinky tofu is not nearly as bad as it smells. This is a lie. It is just as bad as it smells. No matter how many friendly Chinese people attempt to convince you otherwise, do not be fooled.
Now, usually I choose to simply avoid this food product. But today, in and unfortunate incident, a restaurant I frequent decided to change its menu, so there is no longer a picture of my favorite tofu dish. How am I supposed to order it without the picture? So with hand gestures and saying the word "tofu, tofu" over and over again, I thought maybe the waitress understood what I was going for. Turns out she did not. I do not blame her for the events that transpired, she was patient and kind and did the very best she could with this ridiculous laowai (foreigner) who can't even say the name of the dish she wanted. However, instead of my delicious onion, pepper tofu dish, I was given- you guessed it- stinky tofu. While not nearly as stinky as some, it definitely still had the scent, strong enough to bring back flashbacks from the fateful day when a good intentioned young Chinese man convinced me to try some stinky tofu...
So in conclusion, I am sorry China. I try to be a kind person, I can forgive a lot, but I don't know if I will ever forgive you for creating the monstrosity that is stinky tofu.
Sincerely,
Anna
Thank you for creating tofu. It is healthy and delicious, you can put it in nearly everything, and you do such delicious things with it here in your country. So why, oh why, have you felt the need to defile it in the most horrifying of ways? I am referring to the nearly unspeakable tragedy that is - stinky tofu. Stinky tofu, is just that- stinky. No other way to put it. Sold in restaurants, on street corners, nearly anywhere you go, from blocks away you can catch a whiff of its scent. Once explained to me as tofu somewhere along the fermentation process, the delicious smell is due to some form of bacteria that has recently taken up residence, producing a smell similar to that of roadkill, but worse. Yes, I have attempted to eat it, back when I was naive and silly and believed a kind-hearted Chinese man who attempted to convince me and and a friend that stinky tofu is not nearly as bad as it smells. This is a lie. It is just as bad as it smells. No matter how many friendly Chinese people attempt to convince you otherwise, do not be fooled.
Now, usually I choose to simply avoid this food product. But today, in and unfortunate incident, a restaurant I frequent decided to change its menu, so there is no longer a picture of my favorite tofu dish. How am I supposed to order it without the picture? So with hand gestures and saying the word "tofu, tofu" over and over again, I thought maybe the waitress understood what I was going for. Turns out she did not. I do not blame her for the events that transpired, she was patient and kind and did the very best she could with this ridiculous laowai (foreigner) who can't even say the name of the dish she wanted. However, instead of my delicious onion, pepper tofu dish, I was given- you guessed it- stinky tofu. While not nearly as stinky as some, it definitely still had the scent, strong enough to bring back flashbacks from the fateful day when a good intentioned young Chinese man convinced me to try some stinky tofu...
So in conclusion, I am sorry China. I try to be a kind person, I can forgive a lot, but I don't know if I will ever forgive you for creating the monstrosity that is stinky tofu.
Sincerely,
Anna
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A day in the life of....
Well, nothing altogether interesting has happened lately, but I feel like I ought to post something. So I will tell you about a normal day in my life in China. Here goes:
Depending on the day, I generally wake up around 5:30 am (aka 5:55 am after snoozing for a good 20 minutes or so) in order to catch the school shuttle that leaves at 6:20 am to take teachers from the campus where I live over to the the campus where I teach. Then I eat breakfast. In any country, anywhere, I love breakfast. At first I was weary of Chinese cafeteria style breakfast and preferred to inhale some oatmeal before running out to the bus. This practice was quickly abandoned in favor of the few extra minutes of sleep it afforded me. Turns out the food isn't bad. It's delicious. I usually eat cooked bean sprouts or cabbage, "manto" (I don't know how to spell it, but it is steamed bread), yogurt (similar to yogurt at home but with a much waterier consistency and drank out of bag you rip open with your teeth),and fried dough balls covered with sesame seeds and filled with sweet paste stuff (can't remember the name). When I want the cooks to serve me some, I generally point and make my hand into a fist - universal sign language for "fried sweet dough ball things, please". Depending on my mood and the availability of fried dough ball things (they go fast), I will also occasionally eat a boiled egg (something I had found horrifying in my pre-China life, but now find rather tasty from time to time). So yeah, that's breakfast.
Then class. Which is always extremely educational and usually consists of a game of some sort. I mostly find myself quite entertained by the little rascals (except for when I want to break their necks). I don't really like small children - they sort of creep me out - but my students are funny and generally not creepy. Maybe it's just because I can actually remember being in 7th grade, so I'm amused by their awkwardness. My favorite is this tiny little boy who simultaneously jumps in the air, waves, shouts "Hello Teacher Anna!", then bows and runs away almost every time he sees me in the hall. I see him multiple times a day.
Then lunch. Not nearly as good as breakfast. Nothing exciting to say here. Usually I just eat the rice and maybe some vegetables, and some porridge. "Porridge" is a very watery type soup with a somewhat gilatenous texture that tastes basically like nothing. At first I found it gross, and determined that "porridge" was something that belonged only in Goldilocks. But now it's cold outside, and the porridge is hot and steams so friendly, so I find it quite delicious. I think it's mostly just corn starch in water, but it's hot, and sometimes there are vegetables floating in it. Best of all, we ONLY have chopsticks (i.e. not even a spoon), so we get to drink it right out the bowl, which brings out my inner child. Mmm, this porridge is just right.
Then more class. Then I wait around until 5:30 pm to take the shuttle back, or more often opt to take the public BRT bus. The public bus ride goes something like this: doors open - "oh my god get gotta get on the bus" as thousands of tiny, sharp Chinese elbows are thrown in all directions - doors close, usually almost crushing someone in the process.Then I try to ignore everyone while standing in my 1/4 inch of space on the bus as faces mere inches from mine stare me down the whole ride. I generally just stare out the window and try not to get lugied on. Actually, the bus is only bad if I happen to hit right at rush hour. Usually I am lucky enough to beat the crowd and can sometimes even snag a seat. Those are the good days.
Then home, more food (I've run out of steam for describing my meals),maybe the gym (needs a post of its own), waste time online, read, bed. Which is where I need to go now.
But first I will leave you with one final thought, and that is the lugie. People in China love them. They hack them up whenever possible. Walking down the street, standing in an elevator, standing on the bus, sitting in class, sitting in the teachers office, you name it,there's someone hocking a lugie. It's my favorite part of China, really. The sidewalks are like minefields and I've learned to just not look down. Though I suppose I do take a certain comfort in the fact that, at any given moment of any given day, I am sure someone, somewhere in China, is hacking up a lugie.
So on that thought, I shall go to bed. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Depending on the day, I generally wake up around 5:30 am (aka 5:55 am after snoozing for a good 20 minutes or so) in order to catch the school shuttle that leaves at 6:20 am to take teachers from the campus where I live over to the the campus where I teach. Then I eat breakfast. In any country, anywhere, I love breakfast. At first I was weary of Chinese cafeteria style breakfast and preferred to inhale some oatmeal before running out to the bus. This practice was quickly abandoned in favor of the few extra minutes of sleep it afforded me. Turns out the food isn't bad. It's delicious. I usually eat cooked bean sprouts or cabbage, "manto" (I don't know how to spell it, but it is steamed bread), yogurt (similar to yogurt at home but with a much waterier consistency and drank out of bag you rip open with your teeth),and fried dough balls covered with sesame seeds and filled with sweet paste stuff (can't remember the name). When I want the cooks to serve me some, I generally point and make my hand into a fist - universal sign language for "fried sweet dough ball things, please". Depending on my mood and the availability of fried dough ball things (they go fast), I will also occasionally eat a boiled egg (something I had found horrifying in my pre-China life, but now find rather tasty from time to time). So yeah, that's breakfast.
Then class. Which is always extremely educational and usually consists of a game of some sort. I mostly find myself quite entertained by the little rascals (except for when I want to break their necks). I don't really like small children - they sort of creep me out - but my students are funny and generally not creepy. Maybe it's just because I can actually remember being in 7th grade, so I'm amused by their awkwardness. My favorite is this tiny little boy who simultaneously jumps in the air, waves, shouts "Hello Teacher Anna!", then bows and runs away almost every time he sees me in the hall. I see him multiple times a day.
Then lunch. Not nearly as good as breakfast. Nothing exciting to say here. Usually I just eat the rice and maybe some vegetables, and some porridge. "Porridge" is a very watery type soup with a somewhat gilatenous texture that tastes basically like nothing. At first I found it gross, and determined that "porridge" was something that belonged only in Goldilocks. But now it's cold outside, and the porridge is hot and steams so friendly, so I find it quite delicious. I think it's mostly just corn starch in water, but it's hot, and sometimes there are vegetables floating in it. Best of all, we ONLY have chopsticks (i.e. not even a spoon), so we get to drink it right out the bowl, which brings out my inner child. Mmm, this porridge is just right.
Then more class. Then I wait around until 5:30 pm to take the shuttle back, or more often opt to take the public BRT bus. The public bus ride goes something like this: doors open - "oh my god get gotta get on the bus" as thousands of tiny, sharp Chinese elbows are thrown in all directions - doors close, usually almost crushing someone in the process.Then I try to ignore everyone while standing in my 1/4 inch of space on the bus as faces mere inches from mine stare me down the whole ride. I generally just stare out the window and try not to get lugied on. Actually, the bus is only bad if I happen to hit right at rush hour. Usually I am lucky enough to beat the crowd and can sometimes even snag a seat. Those are the good days.
Then home, more food (I've run out of steam for describing my meals),maybe the gym (needs a post of its own), waste time online, read, bed. Which is where I need to go now.
But first I will leave you with one final thought, and that is the lugie. People in China love them. They hack them up whenever possible. Walking down the street, standing in an elevator, standing on the bus, sitting in class, sitting in the teachers office, you name it,there's someone hocking a lugie. It's my favorite part of China, really. The sidewalks are like minefields and I've learned to just not look down. Though I suppose I do take a certain comfort in the fact that, at any given moment of any given day, I am sure someone, somewhere in China, is hacking up a lugie.
So on that thought, I shall go to bed. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Snow and pandas
Mmm...I am so happy. I just finished a delicious dinner of hotpot. This is definitely my favorite Chinese food, mostly because it is both an activity and a meal. At hotpot, a large steaming bowl of chili oil and broth (the hotpot) is put on a hot plate in the middle of the table and a wide variety of vegetables, tofu, meat etc. can be ordered. These are then brought out and dumped into the boiling bowl and then each participant gets to fish out the food with their chopsticks and then dump it in delicious bowls of peanut and garlic sauce. It's good fun, and very steamy and spicy. Perfect for a cold day.
The hottest hot pot I've had so far was one I had in Chengdu the week before last. Chengdu is in the Sichuan province (maybe you've heard of it?), and is known for its very spicy food. This is the province where gungbao (or we might say kungpao) chicken originated. I really liked the food there, but was not so much a fan of the rampant use of peppercorn. Peppercorns in China are small little black balls that you hardly ever notice, but when you happen to eat one, you will know, because your whole mouth will go numb. That's not an exaggeration either. They aren't really spicy but give your mouth and unpleasant tingly/numbing pain feeling that really is not desirable. At least not to me.
The week before last my students had testing. Due to my inability to speak Chinese and do anything useful, I did not have to participate in this. Therefore, I got a week off and Lili and I took a trip to Chengdu, which was awesome. The city was beautiful and had a lot more culture and charm than Zhengzhou. It was also very interesting to see people other than Han Chinese, as that is who makes up 98% of the people in Zhengzhou. There is a large Muslim population in Zhengzhou, but that's about it as far as minority groups go. Zhengzhou is very industrial (yay, textile capital of China!) and there is little architecture that would strike you as "Chinese", but Chengdu was full of old buildings and temples. It is a city that has very strong ties to Buddhism, and is located in the province next to Tibet, so these two cultures have had a strong influence on the city. At least it appeared that way to to me. It is also one of, if not the only, province in China where pandas can still be found in the wild. The panda breeding and research center is located just outside the city of Chengdu. Lili and I visited the center, and you can see numerous panda photos on my photo website. I'm sorry, they are just so cute, I couldn't help myself. I also shelled out the dough to "hold" (sit next to) one. Totally worth it.
Lili and I also visited Emei Shan, which is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. It was really beautiful. The mountain is located about two hours outside of the city, and unfortunately we didn't end up getting there until a little later than we'd originally hoped. So we hiked maybe 15 km up the mountain, and spent the night in a monastery on the mountain. This was really interesting and my have been my favorite part of the trip (besides sitting next to my friend Ling Ling of course). I'm not so sure Lili was as excited about the idea as I was, and the hike up to the monastery ended up being a bit more than we'd anticipated. But at least we had the help of "Monkey Lady" who followed us part of the way with a big stick to scare away any monkeys. After the night in the monastery, it became clear we weren't going to make it hiking to the top, so we hiked back down and took a combination of buses and a cable car to the peak. I felt a little lame not actually hiking to the summit, but we just didn't have the time. I'm so glad we did decide to go to the top though. At the "golden summit" there was a giant multi-faced statue of Buddha riding on the back of elephants. I'd seen pictures of it, but had no idea how huge it was going to be. The view from the top was also amazing. We'd been warned by other travelers that going to the top might not be worth it, since the views at this time of year are often obscured by clouds. But we were lucky and had the most amazing view. We could see all the way to the first peaks of the Himalayas. Seeing the view, I could understand how Buddhist monks used to throw themselves from the summit in ecstasy. Though I was fine settling with just a bunch of pictures (again see my picasa album). My final word is that if you ever find yourself in China, I highly suggest Chengdu.
Hmm. I'm in a half coma from all my hot pot, and can't think of much more to say. Except that last week we had a "giant" snowstorm in Zhengzhou. We got about 8 inches or so of snow, which is pretty unusual for here. I think an inch or two is common, but they don't usually get much more than that. It was also super wet and heavy snow, so trees and power lines were down, as was internet and electricity. Anywhere else might just call it a loss, but not China. Thursday morning I showed up to school and ate my breakfast (which must have been cooked over a fire) by candle light in the cafeteria, and knew I was in for an interesting day. We had no lights or heat or running water, but we still had school. I had to wear a hat and gloves and could see my breath in the dark classrooms, and yet still I had to teach 6 classes to about 200 students. So I ditched most of my lesson plan and just played Simon Says, because at least it kept the students warm. I think that may have been one of the more difficult things I've had to do. I got home and was asleep shortly after 8:00 pm. At least by then the heat was back on.
Well, I guess that's about all I've got to say. I'm hoping that my English isn't getting too terrible. I spend most of my time speaking at half speed using the simplest words possible and repeating everything at least two or three times. I'm going to come back home and sound like English is my second language. It doesn't help I've ran out of books that I brought, and now have to read whatever romance novel or werewolf story I can snag off someone. This is not helping my feelings of mental decline. Thanks goodness for http://www.sporcle.com/. Thanks to which I can now name all of the countries in the world (well except Asia, that's the continent to tackle next). If you are bored you should check it out. Best way ever to waste time.
The hottest hot pot I've had so far was one I had in Chengdu the week before last. Chengdu is in the Sichuan province (maybe you've heard of it?), and is known for its very spicy food. This is the province where gungbao (or we might say kungpao) chicken originated. I really liked the food there, but was not so much a fan of the rampant use of peppercorn. Peppercorns in China are small little black balls that you hardly ever notice, but when you happen to eat one, you will know, because your whole mouth will go numb. That's not an exaggeration either. They aren't really spicy but give your mouth and unpleasant tingly/numbing pain feeling that really is not desirable. At least not to me.
The week before last my students had testing. Due to my inability to speak Chinese and do anything useful, I did not have to participate in this. Therefore, I got a week off and Lili and I took a trip to Chengdu, which was awesome. The city was beautiful and had a lot more culture and charm than Zhengzhou. It was also very interesting to see people other than Han Chinese, as that is who makes up 98% of the people in Zhengzhou. There is a large Muslim population in Zhengzhou, but that's about it as far as minority groups go. Zhengzhou is very industrial (yay, textile capital of China!) and there is little architecture that would strike you as "Chinese", but Chengdu was full of old buildings and temples. It is a city that has very strong ties to Buddhism, and is located in the province next to Tibet, so these two cultures have had a strong influence on the city. At least it appeared that way to to me. It is also one of, if not the only, province in China where pandas can still be found in the wild. The panda breeding and research center is located just outside the city of Chengdu. Lili and I visited the center, and you can see numerous panda photos on my photo website. I'm sorry, they are just so cute, I couldn't help myself. I also shelled out the dough to "hold" (sit next to) one. Totally worth it.
Lili and I also visited Emei Shan, which is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. It was really beautiful. The mountain is located about two hours outside of the city, and unfortunately we didn't end up getting there until a little later than we'd originally hoped. So we hiked maybe 15 km up the mountain, and spent the night in a monastery on the mountain. This was really interesting and my have been my favorite part of the trip (besides sitting next to my friend Ling Ling of course). I'm not so sure Lili was as excited about the idea as I was, and the hike up to the monastery ended up being a bit more than we'd anticipated. But at least we had the help of "Monkey Lady" who followed us part of the way with a big stick to scare away any monkeys. After the night in the monastery, it became clear we weren't going to make it hiking to the top, so we hiked back down and took a combination of buses and a cable car to the peak. I felt a little lame not actually hiking to the summit, but we just didn't have the time. I'm so glad we did decide to go to the top though. At the "golden summit" there was a giant multi-faced statue of Buddha riding on the back of elephants. I'd seen pictures of it, but had no idea how huge it was going to be. The view from the top was also amazing. We'd been warned by other travelers that going to the top might not be worth it, since the views at this time of year are often obscured by clouds. But we were lucky and had the most amazing view. We could see all the way to the first peaks of the Himalayas. Seeing the view, I could understand how Buddhist monks used to throw themselves from the summit in ecstasy. Though I was fine settling with just a bunch of pictures (again see my picasa album). My final word is that if you ever find yourself in China, I highly suggest Chengdu.
Hmm. I'm in a half coma from all my hot pot, and can't think of much more to say. Except that last week we had a "giant" snowstorm in Zhengzhou. We got about 8 inches or so of snow, which is pretty unusual for here. I think an inch or two is common, but they don't usually get much more than that. It was also super wet and heavy snow, so trees and power lines were down, as was internet and electricity. Anywhere else might just call it a loss, but not China. Thursday morning I showed up to school and ate my breakfast (which must have been cooked over a fire) by candle light in the cafeteria, and knew I was in for an interesting day. We had no lights or heat or running water, but we still had school. I had to wear a hat and gloves and could see my breath in the dark classrooms, and yet still I had to teach 6 classes to about 200 students. So I ditched most of my lesson plan and just played Simon Says, because at least it kept the students warm. I think that may have been one of the more difficult things I've had to do. I got home and was asleep shortly after 8:00 pm. At least by then the heat was back on.
Well, I guess that's about all I've got to say. I'm hoping that my English isn't getting too terrible. I spend most of my time speaking at half speed using the simplest words possible and repeating everything at least two or three times. I'm going to come back home and sound like English is my second language. It doesn't help I've ran out of books that I brought, and now have to read whatever romance novel or werewolf story I can snag off someone. This is not helping my feelings of mental decline. Thanks goodness for http://www.sporcle.com/. Thanks to which I can now name all of the countries in the world (well except Asia, that's the continent to tackle next). If you are bored you should check it out. Best way ever to waste time.
Monday, October 26, 2009
On naps and chicken feet.
I apologize if I seem a bit out of it in this post. I just woke up from a nap. I’ve never been very good at taking naps, I always wake up feeling a bit groggy, and never quite recover. This is something that my fellow teachers don’t seem to understand. China is a country that believes in the siesta. At our school two and a half hours are given for lunch, with the expectation that once the students are finished eating they will return to their rooms for a mandatory nap. The school provides a bed for each teacher to use during this “rest” time. I however, do not usually indulge, in fact I haven’t ever even seen my assigned bed. Though I did only find out about it a week ago. I just find if I lie down and take an hour nap, it’s virtually impossible for me to recover afterward and be perky enough to teach more classes. It is hard for me to explain this to my co-workers, who always inquire on my absence in my bed and offer to take me to it around nap time which I always refuse. So they just think I’m crazy. Oh well, at least now you know my official feelings on naps.
About two weeks ago, as I was informed that two teachers at the school had gotten married the day before. And since I am such a closer personal friend of the couple (i.e. had never met them and am still not quite sure who they are) I was invited. Actually, I think all of the teachers in the school were invited. They don’t mess around with their receptions here. The lunch was huge, 34 courses at least. Last time I went to a wedding reception I was sitting with a table of American teachers and only one Chinese teacher. This time I was not so lucky, and it was not quite so easy to avoid the less pleasant looking dishes. Each time they brought something out the teachers (all English teachers, and therefore actually capable of voicing their peer pressure) would say “try some, just a bite.” Luckily they were momentarily not interested in me as the spicy pig intestine went around. I was not so lucky with the chicken feet. And so, I ate chicken foot. Delicious. In case the opportunity arises, to eat a chicken foot, you must simply pull one out of the dish with your chop sticks, and eat the whole thing. Bones and all. It’s really quite a sight. I escaped with only taking one bite. Mostly, it didn’t taste like anything but spicy, as it was marinated in super pepper sauce, and crunchy, due to the fact I was eating bone. It wasn’t until after I finished crunching down my chicken foot that I remember hearing once how you aren’t supposed to give dogs chicken bones due to the splintery nature of the bones. Consequently, I was convinced for the rest of the day I had a spire of chicken bone lodged in my throat and would soon likely die, similar to an unfortunate hound. Turns out, I didn’t.
I suppose it’s easy to poke fun, because it seems so strange, but one of the teachers I was sitting with had a good point. As the dishes went around, she often asked me if we had anything like it in America, and usually I told her no. She asked why we didn’t eat the blood and the feet and the intestines etc., and asked if instead we just throw it all away. I guess I don’t really see how a foot or neck or head is any different than any other part of the chicken. But we are American, and we can afford to be wasteful and only eat 100% boneless chicken breast and send the rest to the trash. This is one of the reasons in American I just don’t eat meat at all. Though, this hasn’t really been an option in China. I’d probably starve to death. So I’ll just get up on my high horse instead. So now you know my official feelings on chicken feet.
I don’t have much more exciting news. A small bite of chicken foot is the most interesting thing I’ve got to talk about apparently. Mostly, I just go to work and come home, just like I would in the states. The only difference is I generally never have any idea about what is going on around me. Nothing takes me by surprise anymore. One morning loud booming sounds filled the city, it sounded a bit like we were being bombed. One of the more excitable American teachers freaked out and called to ask what it was about. I was with a group of other American teachers at the time, and we just shrugged and said “meh”. We weren't being bombed obviously, but who knows what it was. When you never know what’s going on, it’s hard to separate out the things that are actually out of the ordinary. It would certainly be helpful if I could only ask. But unfortunately, the only question I know is: how much does it cost? Which is a bit limited. Every evening I see groups of old men with scraggly beards three hairs thick walking through the park clutching a cane in one hand and a caged bird in the other. It’s really a sight to see four old men slowly weaving through the park while holding up small wooden cages on the ends of their frail fingers. I know they aren’t selling them so what are they doing? Somehow I don’t think “how much does it cost?” is going to get me any closer to the answer. This is why I’ve been living in China for two months, and so much of it still seems a mystery to me…
About two weeks ago, as I was informed that two teachers at the school had gotten married the day before. And since I am such a closer personal friend of the couple (i.e. had never met them and am still not quite sure who they are) I was invited. Actually, I think all of the teachers in the school were invited. They don’t mess around with their receptions here. The lunch was huge, 34 courses at least. Last time I went to a wedding reception I was sitting with a table of American teachers and only one Chinese teacher. This time I was not so lucky, and it was not quite so easy to avoid the less pleasant looking dishes. Each time they brought something out the teachers (all English teachers, and therefore actually capable of voicing their peer pressure) would say “try some, just a bite.” Luckily they were momentarily not interested in me as the spicy pig intestine went around. I was not so lucky with the chicken feet. And so, I ate chicken foot. Delicious. In case the opportunity arises, to eat a chicken foot, you must simply pull one out of the dish with your chop sticks, and eat the whole thing. Bones and all. It’s really quite a sight. I escaped with only taking one bite. Mostly, it didn’t taste like anything but spicy, as it was marinated in super pepper sauce, and crunchy, due to the fact I was eating bone. It wasn’t until after I finished crunching down my chicken foot that I remember hearing once how you aren’t supposed to give dogs chicken bones due to the splintery nature of the bones. Consequently, I was convinced for the rest of the day I had a spire of chicken bone lodged in my throat and would soon likely die, similar to an unfortunate hound. Turns out, I didn’t.
I suppose it’s easy to poke fun, because it seems so strange, but one of the teachers I was sitting with had a good point. As the dishes went around, she often asked me if we had anything like it in America, and usually I told her no. She asked why we didn’t eat the blood and the feet and the intestines etc., and asked if instead we just throw it all away. I guess I don’t really see how a foot or neck or head is any different than any other part of the chicken. But we are American, and we can afford to be wasteful and only eat 100% boneless chicken breast and send the rest to the trash. This is one of the reasons in American I just don’t eat meat at all. Though, this hasn’t really been an option in China. I’d probably starve to death. So I’ll just get up on my high horse instead. So now you know my official feelings on chicken feet.
I don’t have much more exciting news. A small bite of chicken foot is the most interesting thing I’ve got to talk about apparently. Mostly, I just go to work and come home, just like I would in the states. The only difference is I generally never have any idea about what is going on around me. Nothing takes me by surprise anymore. One morning loud booming sounds filled the city, it sounded a bit like we were being bombed. One of the more excitable American teachers freaked out and called to ask what it was about. I was with a group of other American teachers at the time, and we just shrugged and said “meh”. We weren't being bombed obviously, but who knows what it was. When you never know what’s going on, it’s hard to separate out the things that are actually out of the ordinary. It would certainly be helpful if I could only ask. But unfortunately, the only question I know is: how much does it cost? Which is a bit limited. Every evening I see groups of old men with scraggly beards three hairs thick walking through the park clutching a cane in one hand and a caged bird in the other. It’s really a sight to see four old men slowly weaving through the park while holding up small wooden cages on the ends of their frail fingers. I know they aren’t selling them so what are they doing? Somehow I don’t think “how much does it cost?” is going to get me any closer to the answer. This is why I’ve been living in China for two months, and so much of it still seems a mystery to me…
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
National Day
October 1st was National Day here in China, and this year was the celebration of the 60th anniversary since Chairman Mao established communism in China. For the holiday I got eight days off of work, but in normal Chinese fashion, didn’t find out the precise dates of this break until about three days before hand. Unfortunately, all billion of the other people living in China get a similar break, so traveling in the country during this time can be difficult, especially if you are trying to make plans just three days ahead of your planned departure date. We had to clear a few roadblocks, but seven of the other foreign teachers and I managed to get tickets to go to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain). There are three different types of train tickets a person can acquire: soft sleepers, hard sleepers, and the cheap seats: hard seats; which of course were the only seats still available. And this is no lie, those seats are hard. About four hours before leaving, it was brought to our attention that the train ride to Huang Shan was more like 17 hours each way, rather than the ten we’d been expecting. After hearing this news we had one person drop out, and the team was down to seven.
The train ride was everything I expected it to be. Long, hard, and a bit painful. The really great thing about the trains in China is that you are allowed to smoke on them. l mean, there are some rules, you are really only supposed to smoke between the cars, but this rule is apparently not well enforced, and even if it is, it only manages to put about 10 feet of distance between you and 15 chain smoking Chinese men. Not to mention all the sunflower seeds spit all about the train car…In all reality, the train ride wasn’t that bad. It was definitely an experience, and I was happy that I got to see more of the country. Plus about half-way through our trip most of the people got off and we were able to stretch out a bit. It also helped greatly that there were six other friends on the trip to help with entertainment. At one point we even found ourselves playing charades in the isle of a fairly full train car. Oh well, everyone is always staring at us anyway, might as well give them reason to look.
Due to our train issue, we got to the mountain a bit later than anticipated, and had to take the cable car to the top of the mountain rather than hiking. We got to the top right at sunset, checked into our sweet hotel room (a nine person bunk in the basement of the hotel) and then work up early the next morning for sunrise. The mountain was absolutely beautiful. The top of the mountain was packed with people, as we had been told it would be. But we decided (based on lonely planets excellent recommendation) to hike down the western steps of the mountain. It was a 15-18 kilometer descent (based on which sign you decided to trust), and the whole way was walking down, down, down carved stone stairs. I found the path to be utterly remarkable, unlike anything I’ve ever done before. There were times we were walking on shifty stone stairs carved right into the edge of the cliff without any sort of railing. Any second any one of us could have tumbled to our doom; and while there was one close incident involving a bee and a particularly steep section of stairways, luckily no one did. I loved the mountain. The day was beautiful, warm but not hot, and I saw clear blue sky with no signs of smog for my first time in China. The air smelled fresh and green, the water was clear, it was all quite lovely. Sigh, I want to go back already.
The next day we split into a few groups and Lili, Cary and I went to the hot springs at the base of the mountain. We had intended to only spend the morning there, but didn’t come home until after dinner. The springs were great, there was a coffee bath, a red wine bath, a milk bath (though that one was way too hot for us to go in) a weird sand bath, and tea baths etc. etc. Each separate bath had a little placard in front with its benefits listed. Thanks to that hot spring I think I shall live for all eternity with a cleansed soul and especially strong fingernails. My favorite part of that day was around lunch, we had decided to head back to our hostel and get some food, but instead we were ushered into the shower rooms where we were told to shower and given matching green canvas uniforms to change into, complete with disposable underwear. Newly dressed we were then sent to a room full of recliners where we were served platters of fruit with all the other guests who were similarly dressed in their awesome green outfits. Four hours later we peeled ourselves off the recliners and enjoyed the free dinner.
We stayed for two nights at a great hostel in Tangkou, which is a little village at the base of Huang Shan that I loved and would live in for the rest of my life, or at least a month or two. It was a touristy spot, so there were many foreign tourists along with tons of Chinese tourists. This was such a novelty to all of us from Zhengzhou. Since I have been living in Zhengzhou, I have only seen other non-Chinese people (besides the ones I work with) on two occasions, once I saw one from a bus window and once walking down the street near the train station. Then, all of a sudden, we were in Tangkou and we were seeing foreign people all over. It was a little ridiculous, because us Zhengzhouers were so taken by the novelty of it we invited every foreign person we saw to our hostel for dinner and drinks. Many of them came, and we had an awesome time. There were probably about 15 people or so, from all over, including Holland, Germany, Ireland, France, England, and one from the US, that came to hang out with us. Almost all of them were students or teachers or had a job of some sort in China, and many of them are living in Shanghai. So at least I know some people when I visit Shanghai. It was really a lot of fun.
Sadly, my first trip into the country had to come to an end. And now I’m back at work. Of course, the Chinese don’t really believe in taking breaks, so all the classes that were missed during our holiday have to be made up at some point. Consequently, I came back from my vacation to face an eight day work week. Yep, Saturday and Sunday classes for me. Awesome…
The train ride was everything I expected it to be. Long, hard, and a bit painful. The really great thing about the trains in China is that you are allowed to smoke on them. l mean, there are some rules, you are really only supposed to smoke between the cars, but this rule is apparently not well enforced, and even if it is, it only manages to put about 10 feet of distance between you and 15 chain smoking Chinese men. Not to mention all the sunflower seeds spit all about the train car…In all reality, the train ride wasn’t that bad. It was definitely an experience, and I was happy that I got to see more of the country. Plus about half-way through our trip most of the people got off and we were able to stretch out a bit. It also helped greatly that there were six other friends on the trip to help with entertainment. At one point we even found ourselves playing charades in the isle of a fairly full train car. Oh well, everyone is always staring at us anyway, might as well give them reason to look.
Due to our train issue, we got to the mountain a bit later than anticipated, and had to take the cable car to the top of the mountain rather than hiking. We got to the top right at sunset, checked into our sweet hotel room (a nine person bunk in the basement of the hotel) and then work up early the next morning for sunrise. The mountain was absolutely beautiful. The top of the mountain was packed with people, as we had been told it would be. But we decided (based on lonely planets excellent recommendation) to hike down the western steps of the mountain. It was a 15-18 kilometer descent (based on which sign you decided to trust), and the whole way was walking down, down, down carved stone stairs. I found the path to be utterly remarkable, unlike anything I’ve ever done before. There were times we were walking on shifty stone stairs carved right into the edge of the cliff without any sort of railing. Any second any one of us could have tumbled to our doom; and while there was one close incident involving a bee and a particularly steep section of stairways, luckily no one did. I loved the mountain. The day was beautiful, warm but not hot, and I saw clear blue sky with no signs of smog for my first time in China. The air smelled fresh and green, the water was clear, it was all quite lovely. Sigh, I want to go back already.
The next day we split into a few groups and Lili, Cary and I went to the hot springs at the base of the mountain. We had intended to only spend the morning there, but didn’t come home until after dinner. The springs were great, there was a coffee bath, a red wine bath, a milk bath (though that one was way too hot for us to go in) a weird sand bath, and tea baths etc. etc. Each separate bath had a little placard in front with its benefits listed. Thanks to that hot spring I think I shall live for all eternity with a cleansed soul and especially strong fingernails. My favorite part of that day was around lunch, we had decided to head back to our hostel and get some food, but instead we were ushered into the shower rooms where we were told to shower and given matching green canvas uniforms to change into, complete with disposable underwear. Newly dressed we were then sent to a room full of recliners where we were served platters of fruit with all the other guests who were similarly dressed in their awesome green outfits. Four hours later we peeled ourselves off the recliners and enjoyed the free dinner.
We stayed for two nights at a great hostel in Tangkou, which is a little village at the base of Huang Shan that I loved and would live in for the rest of my life, or at least a month or two. It was a touristy spot, so there were many foreign tourists along with tons of Chinese tourists. This was such a novelty to all of us from Zhengzhou. Since I have been living in Zhengzhou, I have only seen other non-Chinese people (besides the ones I work with) on two occasions, once I saw one from a bus window and once walking down the street near the train station. Then, all of a sudden, we were in Tangkou and we were seeing foreign people all over. It was a little ridiculous, because us Zhengzhouers were so taken by the novelty of it we invited every foreign person we saw to our hostel for dinner and drinks. Many of them came, and we had an awesome time. There were probably about 15 people or so, from all over, including Holland, Germany, Ireland, France, England, and one from the US, that came to hang out with us. Almost all of them were students or teachers or had a job of some sort in China, and many of them are living in Shanghai. So at least I know some people when I visit Shanghai. It was really a lot of fun.
Sadly, my first trip into the country had to come to an end. And now I’m back at work. Of course, the Chinese don’t really believe in taking breaks, so all the classes that were missed during our holiday have to be made up at some point. Consequently, I came back from my vacation to face an eight day work week. Yep, Saturday and Sunday classes for me. Awesome…
Monday, September 21, 2009
Hello again!
Sorry I've been a bit lagging in my posting. Turns out I've actually gotten a bit busy, and now I have real things to do, like figuring out lesson plans and what not. Silly. I guess since the last time I posted, I have actually started teaching. I am teaching Junior 1, the equivalent of 7th grade. My students are 11, 12, and 13, and mostly adorable. The first week was a lot of fun. I mostly just talked about where I was from and showed them a lot of pictures from home. They were all totally enthralled, though I feel like they may have only understood about half of what I said. The level of English of my students is varied, but all around a bit lower than I originally had thought it might be. It's hard trying to figure out what they know and what they don't. I'll think something will be difficult, and then it turns out they get it in seconds. But then other things go straight over their head. I think it'll just take more time to really fine-tune my lessons. My first week of class we had teacher's day, which is a day in China where all the students honor their teachers. So either before or after class all the students in the class would stand and say "happy teacher's day" in unison. It was rather sweet. They also gave me gifts, like a flower and a pencil holder and a couple of cards. Which was nice considering some of the students hadn't even had me as a teacher yet at that point. It does get a bit exhausting though. At least I only teach one lesson plan a week- 22 different times. And I have over 600 students. So that part is a bit rough. At least the students are all different and help keep things interesting.
Okay, enough about that, time to talk about something else...A couple of weekends ago all us foreign teachers attended a huge mass wedding at one of the other campuses. Fourteen couples (all teachers in the Zhengzhou Foreign Language School complex) tied the knot in the most confetti filled wedding I have ever seen. I don't have too much to say about the ceremony. The dresses were white and huge, the hair was huge, glitter was quite liberally applied, and I believe an entire backstreet boys album was played at least twice during the course of the ceremony. It reminded me a lot of an 80's prom, but perhaps a little tackier and with more bowing. My opinion of the whole affair might also have been influenced by the fact that I understood about 0% of what was going on. Still, it was fun. The reception,though, is where things really got interesting. I had my first shots of "bijo" (this is how you pronounce it, I don't know how to spell it.) This is a rice alcohol of a similar potency as everclear, and tastes worse, and unfortunately there are many traditions that make you drink it against your will. Such as, if someone of authority toasts you, you must toast back, and you cannot stop drinking until he stops (if these rules are wrong, I apologize. There were a lot of them, and they were explained to me while drinking large quantities of the aforementioned liquor. Consequently, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.) We also were served fish, which we spun on the table, and whoever the head pointed to had to take four shots, and the two people the tail pointed to had to take six. Guess who was one of the lucky ones on the tail end. You guessed it. Consequently, this was also the first night I learned what bijo tastes like when it comes back up.
The dinner at the reception was similarly interesting. We were served (and I'm not making this up): chicken feet and heads, tripe (pig intestine stuffed with vegetables), congealed duck blood and duck intestine soup, and donkey meat. Also cucumbers, and some thing I was told was fruit. I didn't eat anything but the cucumbers and fruit, and also one piece of the duck blood (which was a similar texture as tofu, but a rather different flavor.)
Well, this is getting long, and I don't have many more interesting things to say. Mostly I've just been working and being lame. We haven't had the chance to do any other travelling yet, because we haven't really had time, and also our passports were taken so that they could obtain us our residence permits. We are finally supposed to be getting them back later this week. Then I'll finally be able to leave the city without fear of deportation. Which will be nice. Hope all is well at home, and that you all are enjoying the fall weather. It's been pretty cool and really rainy here. Though I haven't seen any evidence of any trees changing color. I'm not sure if that's something that happens here or not. It's likely with all the pollution the leaves just turn brown...I guess I'll find out!
Sorry I've been a bit lagging in my posting. Turns out I've actually gotten a bit busy, and now I have real things to do, like figuring out lesson plans and what not. Silly. I guess since the last time I posted, I have actually started teaching. I am teaching Junior 1, the equivalent of 7th grade. My students are 11, 12, and 13, and mostly adorable. The first week was a lot of fun. I mostly just talked about where I was from and showed them a lot of pictures from home. They were all totally enthralled, though I feel like they may have only understood about half of what I said. The level of English of my students is varied, but all around a bit lower than I originally had thought it might be. It's hard trying to figure out what they know and what they don't. I'll think something will be difficult, and then it turns out they get it in seconds. But then other things go straight over their head. I think it'll just take more time to really fine-tune my lessons. My first week of class we had teacher's day, which is a day in China where all the students honor their teachers. So either before or after class all the students in the class would stand and say "happy teacher's day" in unison. It was rather sweet. They also gave me gifts, like a flower and a pencil holder and a couple of cards. Which was nice considering some of the students hadn't even had me as a teacher yet at that point. It does get a bit exhausting though. At least I only teach one lesson plan a week- 22 different times. And I have over 600 students. So that part is a bit rough. At least the students are all different and help keep things interesting.
Okay, enough about that, time to talk about something else...A couple of weekends ago all us foreign teachers attended a huge mass wedding at one of the other campuses. Fourteen couples (all teachers in the Zhengzhou Foreign Language School complex) tied the knot in the most confetti filled wedding I have ever seen. I don't have too much to say about the ceremony. The dresses were white and huge, the hair was huge, glitter was quite liberally applied, and I believe an entire backstreet boys album was played at least twice during the course of the ceremony. It reminded me a lot of an 80's prom, but perhaps a little tackier and with more bowing. My opinion of the whole affair might also have been influenced by the fact that I understood about 0% of what was going on. Still, it was fun. The reception,though, is where things really got interesting. I had my first shots of "bijo" (this is how you pronounce it, I don't know how to spell it.) This is a rice alcohol of a similar potency as everclear, and tastes worse, and unfortunately there are many traditions that make you drink it against your will. Such as, if someone of authority toasts you, you must toast back, and you cannot stop drinking until he stops (if these rules are wrong, I apologize. There were a lot of them, and they were explained to me while drinking large quantities of the aforementioned liquor. Consequently, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.) We also were served fish, which we spun on the table, and whoever the head pointed to had to take four shots, and the two people the tail pointed to had to take six. Guess who was one of the lucky ones on the tail end. You guessed it. Consequently, this was also the first night I learned what bijo tastes like when it comes back up.
The dinner at the reception was similarly interesting. We were served (and I'm not making this up): chicken feet and heads, tripe (pig intestine stuffed with vegetables), congealed duck blood and duck intestine soup, and donkey meat. Also cucumbers, and some thing I was told was fruit. I didn't eat anything but the cucumbers and fruit, and also one piece of the duck blood (which was a similar texture as tofu, but a rather different flavor.)
Well, this is getting long, and I don't have many more interesting things to say. Mostly I've just been working and being lame. We haven't had the chance to do any other travelling yet, because we haven't really had time, and also our passports were taken so that they could obtain us our residence permits. We are finally supposed to be getting them back later this week. Then I'll finally be able to leave the city without fear of deportation. Which will be nice. Hope all is well at home, and that you all are enjoying the fall weather. It's been pretty cool and really rainy here. Though I haven't seen any evidence of any trees changing color. I'm not sure if that's something that happens here or not. It's likely with all the pollution the leaves just turn brown...I guess I'll find out!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Photo website
I'm too tired to write anything more right now but wanted to let you know that I finally got some pictures online. Here is the link to my photo website:
http://picasaweb.google.com/achpeterson
Enjoy.
http://picasaweb.google.com/achpeterson
Enjoy.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Fair Green City
I would love to include pictures in this post, or at the very least a link to a photo website, but I recently realized that I either forgot or lost my camera cord which would allow my to transfer my pictures to my computer. So, until I figure out how to rectify this situation, you will have to use your imagination.
I will help attempt to help a bit. Zhengzhou (more or less phonetically pronounced: jung-joe) is a city of about 7 million people. This is roughly the size of New York City. It is, umm, rather large, and there are a lot of people in it. Conesquently, I won't lie, it doesn't smell to great. I live in downtown Zhengzhou, about a 15 min walk away from the central square called The Green Square. "The Green City" is Zhengzhou's nickname, and while I would not exactly call it 'green' there are a fair number of trees and flowers in the medians and quite a few beautifully manicured parks, ringed with oh so picturesque skyscrapers (the parks really are pretty, the buildings, not so much.) As far as litter, the sidewalks and streets are pretty clean. The air, however, is not. I have been here for about two weeks now, and in those two weeks I have seen blue sky on just two occasions. One night I even saw roughly three stars, it was exhilarating. In this city, everything, everywhere, is under construction. Between every 20 story building there is a rubble heap of what once was a 15 story building in the process of being replaced by another even larger building. Everywhere, chunks of sidewalk and street are missing, in the process of being replaced by, I'm not sure...nicer sidewalk, I guess.
It feels very safe here. I never feel nervous walking around, and I really enjoy how many people are out on the streets at all hours of the day. If you go for a walk in the morning, you are bound to see the parks full of people doing tai chi, in the afternoons, it's old men squatting in circles on every street corner playing cards or a type of Chinese dominoes. Underneath the cover of an elevated roadway, lines of pool tables and card tables can be found. It's not unusual to see some fancy glossy looking car parked next to a bicycles vendor selling live chickens from crates. In the evening, dancing classes occur in every large plaza or park. It's really quite odd, as often times you'll happen upon 15 couples practicing ballroom dancing in the open space in front of the super market. It was at one such similar class that one of the other foreign teachers from the U.S. met a very friendly police woman, who, along with her 15 year old nephew and translator, took us to the local museum and then the Chinese Youth Palace for a rousing game of ping pong. They love their ping pong here, this is no lie.
I was quit amused by "Homeland" our 15 year old translator. I especially liked his name. I'm guessing it was probably a translation of his actual Chinese name, but any way, it was at least unique. Many people here will adopt an English name, and will introduce themselves with only their English name to foreigners. The names they choose are sometimes pretty funny. I've met a number of young girls name Avril (she's huge in China) as well as Avril Two ("because my best friend is named Avril") along with Little Bear and Tiger and a number of Harry Potters. Homeland had about a million questions for us, mostly about New York. He watches a lot of Friends to improve his English, and is consequently bound and determined to move to, and live in, New York City for the rest of his life. I think he thought I was pretty lame because I'd never been there, and because he'd never heard of Colorado before.
I am also very amused by Chinglish. Many park signs, clothing and food packaging has English labeling on them, which usually makes no sense, but are often entertaining. Some of my favorite examples include a package of drinking straws I saw at a grocery store that were labeled as "hygienic drink suckers", or a park sign asking us to "plead treasure the flowers and the plants and safeguard environmental sanitation" (misspellings and all). I guess I just find it so funny because it's rare for me to actually be capable of reading anything in this country, and when I do happen across English, I'm amused that it also makes no sense.
I'm tired now and can't think of many more interesting things to say. I didn't teach again this week (reason=unknown) but have been told I will be actually working next week. We'll see I guess. I've learned not to worry about it, that's just the way things work in China.
I will help attempt to help a bit. Zhengzhou (more or less phonetically pronounced: jung-joe) is a city of about 7 million people. This is roughly the size of New York City. It is, umm, rather large, and there are a lot of people in it. Conesquently, I won't lie, it doesn't smell to great. I live in downtown Zhengzhou, about a 15 min walk away from the central square called The Green Square. "The Green City" is Zhengzhou's nickname, and while I would not exactly call it 'green' there are a fair number of trees and flowers in the medians and quite a few beautifully manicured parks, ringed with oh so picturesque skyscrapers (the parks really are pretty, the buildings, not so much.) As far as litter, the sidewalks and streets are pretty clean. The air, however, is not. I have been here for about two weeks now, and in those two weeks I have seen blue sky on just two occasions. One night I even saw roughly three stars, it was exhilarating. In this city, everything, everywhere, is under construction. Between every 20 story building there is a rubble heap of what once was a 15 story building in the process of being replaced by another even larger building. Everywhere, chunks of sidewalk and street are missing, in the process of being replaced by, I'm not sure...nicer sidewalk, I guess.
It feels very safe here. I never feel nervous walking around, and I really enjoy how many people are out on the streets at all hours of the day. If you go for a walk in the morning, you are bound to see the parks full of people doing tai chi, in the afternoons, it's old men squatting in circles on every street corner playing cards or a type of Chinese dominoes. Underneath the cover of an elevated roadway, lines of pool tables and card tables can be found. It's not unusual to see some fancy glossy looking car parked next to a bicycles vendor selling live chickens from crates. In the evening, dancing classes occur in every large plaza or park. It's really quite odd, as often times you'll happen upon 15 couples practicing ballroom dancing in the open space in front of the super market. It was at one such similar class that one of the other foreign teachers from the U.S. met a very friendly police woman, who, along with her 15 year old nephew and translator, took us to the local museum and then the Chinese Youth Palace for a rousing game of ping pong. They love their ping pong here, this is no lie.
I was quit amused by "Homeland" our 15 year old translator. I especially liked his name. I'm guessing it was probably a translation of his actual Chinese name, but any way, it was at least unique. Many people here will adopt an English name, and will introduce themselves with only their English name to foreigners. The names they choose are sometimes pretty funny. I've met a number of young girls name Avril (she's huge in China) as well as Avril Two ("because my best friend is named Avril") along with Little Bear and Tiger and a number of Harry Potters. Homeland had about a million questions for us, mostly about New York. He watches a lot of Friends to improve his English, and is consequently bound and determined to move to, and live in, New York City for the rest of his life. I think he thought I was pretty lame because I'd never been there, and because he'd never heard of Colorado before.
I am also very amused by Chinglish. Many park signs, clothing and food packaging has English labeling on them, which usually makes no sense, but are often entertaining. Some of my favorite examples include a package of drinking straws I saw at a grocery store that were labeled as "hygienic drink suckers", or a park sign asking us to "plead treasure the flowers and the plants and safeguard environmental sanitation" (misspellings and all). I guess I just find it so funny because it's rare for me to actually be capable of reading anything in this country, and when I do happen across English, I'm amused that it also makes no sense.
I'm tired now and can't think of many more interesting things to say. I didn't teach again this week (reason=unknown) but have been told I will be actually working next week. We'll see I guess. I've learned not to worry about it, that's just the way things work in China.
Friday, August 28, 2009
I am alive!
I would like to apologize to all of my awaiting fans. I just finally got internet in my room on Thursday, and therefore was not able to post any updates before now. I don’t know if anyone is actually reading this, but I’ll go ahead and update anyway. At least I’ll read it... maybe.
So, as you have probably guessed by now, I arrived in China safe and sound. The flight wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I mean, it was still 25 hours of travel, but somewhere around the time when I was eating in- flight meals at 2 am and realizing that my entire 15 hour flight from LA to Beijing took place completely in the dark, time stopped making sense. We got into Beijing at 4am, lost everyone who’d been on our flight, and walked the entire length of the giant (and really quite beautiful) Beijing airport without seeing a single soul. This was quite odd. Really, the only miserable part of the trip was the 7 hour layover waiting for our flight to Zhengzhou. But I made it!
And now a bit about my accommodations. The school that I am working for has multiple campuses throughout the city. I am living and working at the Zhengzhou Foreign Language Middle School, which is located in downtown Zhengzhou. Three other foreign (i.e. American) teachers that live at this campus with me, while there are six foreign teachers located at the campus in the High Tech Development Zone. We each have our own apartments, which are nice, but feel a lot like dorms. The high tech campus has a much nicer campus. Though it's a trade off, as my apartment was equipped with a brand new computer and flat screen tv, so I can’t really complain. Unfortunately all the channels are in Chinese (shocking) and the internet has such heavy censorship that I can’t even actually access this blog without a little help. I also have a brand new washing machine, which I have yet to figure out how to work. My life would really be much easier if I could only speak and read Mandarin.
China is amusing in its dichotomy. My apartment has a brand new flat screen TV, but the plumbing in my kitchen is nothing but a plastic tube that stretches from underneath my sink to a hole the wall. It constantly falls out and dumps the kitchen waste water onto my floor. This is not my favorite thing. At least things are cheap. Dinner for 8-9 people generally runs around 115 RMB or so. This comes out to roughly $2 a person. These are not small meals either, usually we order about 5-6 dishes along with rice and noodles. Also, the food is awesome. My favorite is a delicious eggplant dish. I eat it a lot because so far it's the only food I know how to say. That and tofu. The food is nothing like Chinese food in the states, though you do get unexpected surprises like chicken heads or cake sprinkles on the top of your dish (though I’m pretty sure the sprinkles were a special add on because we were American).
I’ve only been here a week and I feel like I’ve got so much to say. I guess I’ll just touch on the major points. Point one, being a white person here is like being a celebrity. Maybe not in the best of ways. People openly stare, they point, they grab their children and shout, they try to touch you, they take your picture, but they do call you beautiful all of the time (and this is not creepy men but small children and women), which is really an esteem booster. But they are also quite blunt. Some of the other foreign teachers have told me that their students often ask them in class why they are fat, or if they have any plans to lose weight. Not so subtle, these Chinese.
Point two. The kids here work like crazy. Part of this is because my school is the top school in the province. It’s the school that all of the party members send their children to (hence, why they can afford to hire 10 foreign teachers from the United States). Anywho, the students start school at about 7 am, and generally have classes until about 7 at night. Though they do get a three hour lunch and mandatory siesta, which is nice. I was expecting to have class this week, but it turns out that my grade was sent off to military training this week, so I didn’t have to teach. Apparently this is common, and the children attend a boot-camp like training for a week at the beginning of the year to prepare them for the rigors of the school year ahead. Whatever, I got the week off.
Hmm, I have so much more to say, but I’ll spare you. Instead, I’ll leave you with this one last thought: ass-less chaps. People here do not use diapers for their young children. Instead, they put them in "split-pants" (pants that are split at the crotch, in case you didn't catch that) which, sorry to be crude, are nothing more than baby ass-less chaps. This way, when a baby or young child needs to potty, they will just go spread eagle in the middle of the sidewalk, and their attentive parent will lay some newspaper beneath them. They do this even for tiny infants, though I don’t understand how that could be effective. Needless to say, I’ve seen much more baby-butt than I’d ever imagined I’d see in just a week in China.
I hope everything is well at home. I am doing well. We’ve got some big plans for the weekend including my first KTV experience (karaoke) followed by a trip to a club called Baby Body (where I hear there are fire-breathers). Should be interesting...
So, as you have probably guessed by now, I arrived in China safe and sound. The flight wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. I mean, it was still 25 hours of travel, but somewhere around the time when I was eating in- flight meals at 2 am and realizing that my entire 15 hour flight from LA to Beijing took place completely in the dark, time stopped making sense. We got into Beijing at 4am, lost everyone who’d been on our flight, and walked the entire length of the giant (and really quite beautiful) Beijing airport without seeing a single soul. This was quite odd. Really, the only miserable part of the trip was the 7 hour layover waiting for our flight to Zhengzhou. But I made it!
And now a bit about my accommodations. The school that I am working for has multiple campuses throughout the city. I am living and working at the Zhengzhou Foreign Language Middle School, which is located in downtown Zhengzhou. Three other foreign (i.e. American) teachers that live at this campus with me, while there are six foreign teachers located at the campus in the High Tech Development Zone. We each have our own apartments, which are nice, but feel a lot like dorms. The high tech campus has a much nicer campus. Though it's a trade off, as my apartment was equipped with a brand new computer and flat screen tv, so I can’t really complain. Unfortunately all the channels are in Chinese (shocking) and the internet has such heavy censorship that I can’t even actually access this blog without a little help. I also have a brand new washing machine, which I have yet to figure out how to work. My life would really be much easier if I could only speak and read Mandarin.
China is amusing in its dichotomy. My apartment has a brand new flat screen TV, but the plumbing in my kitchen is nothing but a plastic tube that stretches from underneath my sink to a hole the wall. It constantly falls out and dumps the kitchen waste water onto my floor. This is not my favorite thing. At least things are cheap. Dinner for 8-9 people generally runs around 115 RMB or so. This comes out to roughly $2 a person. These are not small meals either, usually we order about 5-6 dishes along with rice and noodles. Also, the food is awesome. My favorite is a delicious eggplant dish. I eat it a lot because so far it's the only food I know how to say. That and tofu. The food is nothing like Chinese food in the states, though you do get unexpected surprises like chicken heads or cake sprinkles on the top of your dish (though I’m pretty sure the sprinkles were a special add on because we were American).
I’ve only been here a week and I feel like I’ve got so much to say. I guess I’ll just touch on the major points. Point one, being a white person here is like being a celebrity. Maybe not in the best of ways. People openly stare, they point, they grab their children and shout, they try to touch you, they take your picture, but they do call you beautiful all of the time (and this is not creepy men but small children and women), which is really an esteem booster. But they are also quite blunt. Some of the other foreign teachers have told me that their students often ask them in class why they are fat, or if they have any plans to lose weight. Not so subtle, these Chinese.
Point two. The kids here work like crazy. Part of this is because my school is the top school in the province. It’s the school that all of the party members send their children to (hence, why they can afford to hire 10 foreign teachers from the United States). Anywho, the students start school at about 7 am, and generally have classes until about 7 at night. Though they do get a three hour lunch and mandatory siesta, which is nice. I was expecting to have class this week, but it turns out that my grade was sent off to military training this week, so I didn’t have to teach. Apparently this is common, and the children attend a boot-camp like training for a week at the beginning of the year to prepare them for the rigors of the school year ahead. Whatever, I got the week off.
Hmm, I have so much more to say, but I’ll spare you. Instead, I’ll leave you with this one last thought: ass-less chaps. People here do not use diapers for their young children. Instead, they put them in "split-pants" (pants that are split at the crotch, in case you didn't catch that) which, sorry to be crude, are nothing more than baby ass-less chaps. This way, when a baby or young child needs to potty, they will just go spread eagle in the middle of the sidewalk, and their attentive parent will lay some newspaper beneath them. They do this even for tiny infants, though I don’t understand how that could be effective. Needless to say, I’ve seen much more baby-butt than I’d ever imagined I’d see in just a week in China.
I hope everything is well at home. I am doing well. We’ve got some big plans for the weekend including my first KTV experience (karaoke) followed by a trip to a club called Baby Body (where I hear there are fire-breathers). Should be interesting...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Hello all, and welcome!
As you may have guessed from my most creative title, I am moving to China! Tomorrow.
For those of you who don't know, I'm going there to teach conversational English to 6-7th graders (I think) for ten months. And, in answer to the most common questions that arise when people first hear this information: no, I have never been to China before; no, I don't speak Mandarin Chinese or any Chinese dialect for that matter; no, I have no formal training as a teacher, no, I have no idea what I am doing, and yes, I realize that I just broke a number of rules of punctuation in that sentence, but I don't care.
I don't have much to say yet, but wanted to let you know it is here that I'll be posting updates of my trials and tribulations. I think this is better than attempting to send out mass emails to people who might not give a damn. So check back regularly, and hopefully I'll have something interesting to say to make it worth your while.
However, I hope to still hear from all of you, so be sure to email, write, call (once I figure out how to make that work) or whatever you prefer. I don't intend for this to be a substitute for that, I just figured this was the easiest way to keep people who are interested informed.
I guess that's about all I have to say. Tomorrow I start the 25 hour treck across the globe. Wish me luck.
As you may have guessed from my most creative title, I am moving to China! Tomorrow.
For those of you who don't know, I'm going there to teach conversational English to 6-7th graders (I think) for ten months. And, in answer to the most common questions that arise when people first hear this information: no, I have never been to China before; no, I don't speak Mandarin Chinese or any Chinese dialect for that matter; no, I have no formal training as a teacher, no, I have no idea what I am doing, and yes, I realize that I just broke a number of rules of punctuation in that sentence, but I don't care.
I don't have much to say yet, but wanted to let you know it is here that I'll be posting updates of my trials and tribulations. I think this is better than attempting to send out mass emails to people who might not give a damn. So check back regularly, and hopefully I'll have something interesting to say to make it worth your while.
However, I hope to still hear from all of you, so be sure to email, write, call (once I figure out how to make that work) or whatever you prefer. I don't intend for this to be a substitute for that, I just figured this was the easiest way to keep people who are interested informed.
I guess that's about all I have to say. Tomorrow I start the 25 hour treck across the globe. Wish me luck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)