It has been a while since I have posted so here are some things I have been up to: Christmas shopping, getting my first massage, and assigning finals for my students.
This Friday will be the Secret Santa party in Cameron's room and my room for the foreign teachers. We have had about 3 or 4 weeks to shop for our Secret Santa and soon we will know who everyone has! Actually, I know who has me because one of the French teachers pulled my name and thought we were giving the presents on Thanksgiving. He hurried to the store and bought me snacks then I told him to keep them until this week haha. Maybe that gave him more time to think and shop.
Last Friday, Kim, Emily, Cameron, and I decided it was time to get massages. We were all in one room and had little dragon pajamas. For only 50yuan we received full body messages for 130 minutes. That's about $7 for a 2 hour massage. I LOVED IT! To make it a little more Chinese, we paid 20yuan more for the glass cups on our backs. They ignite a fire and heat up glass bowls then put them one at a time on our backs. I probably had about 10 on my back suctioning parts of my back. It actually felt good! Well...I liked it but Kim didn't haha. After they pulled the cup/bowls off our backs, we had circular bruises. The two on my shoulders were almost black but the rest were a light purple. On Saturday, they were darker but since then they have become more and more yellow (healing like a bruise!). After almost not going for a massage in the first place, I am glad I went and experienced a new China surprise.
Classes here usually last for 17 weeks. As all of my classes started on Week 1, I will be done after Week 17. Weeks 16 and 17 I am testing my Spoken sophomores by meeting with them one-on-one and having a conversation in English. Maybe I am too easy of a grader because they are all doing really well so far....ah, too bad. My Written juniors are peer reviewing their finals this week. Next week, they will hand in their typed final copies of their 3 paragraphs and then we will watch ELF! I should have a class from 4:20-6:00 on Chirstmas Eve and a class from 8:00-9:40 on Christmas morning but I moved those classes to Wednesday, December 23rd. Therefore, my last class will be from 10:10am-11:50am on Christmas Eve with my Art majors. We will just be watching Elf with Chinese subtitles though so it will be fun!
Christmas Eve will probably be spent with Kim, Emily, Charlie, and whoever else is at his bar. Christmas morning, Kim, Emily, and I will wake up to the small, fake Christmas tree we decorated this week with presents for each other to open. For Christmas dinner, we will have italian food at Sandy's Restaurant!
Until my next blog...good luck to all the students with your finals! As my mom would say, get enough sleep and have a big breakfast!
To all my friends, family, and students...HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
HAPPY HANUKKAH!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I love you all!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Obama in China!
Obama has been an hour away from me for a few days!!! During his "tour of Asia," Obama stopped at Shanghai and more recently, Beijing. It is quite interesting reading articles and seeing news in the paper about US/China relations being an American living in China. A cnn.com poll of Americans showed about 50% think China is a military threat and 50% think it is not. 68% of Americans think China violates human rights. Most Americans agree China is an economic threat (duh!). So...I was curious to hear more from the other side! I did not find any polls but I talked casually to about 10 of my students. In general, they: dislike Bush, dislike Condeleezza Rice, like Obama, and like Hilary Clinton (actually, two of my female students wanted Clinton to win over Obama!). I have also heard from one student that they neither like nor dislike Bush and Obama. I was glad to hear the overall happiness with Obama though haha.
Even though the president did not take me out to dinner, I hope he has a safe flight to Korea and finally back home!
Even though the president did not take me out to dinner, I hope he has a safe flight to Korea and finally back home!
Friday, November 6, 2009
A Chinese Halloween
No, China does not celebrate Halloween. However, I am in China so I celebrated Halloween in China. A few stores sold decorations and masks. I bought googly eyes and green fangs.
One of my junior students, Creasy, is the president of the Student Union. Two of my sophomore students, Hope and Monica, are the leaders of the New Campus' English Corner. Together, my students hosted a Halloween Party for the freshmen English majors. Anyone can go but it is mainly for the freshmen to learn about Halloween and have fun.
The seven American teachers were the distinguished guests. We were announced one by one (we ran down the stairs and said hi into the microphone). Then, a power point I had made that day was used to explain Halloween history, customs, and costumes. Kim was the fabulous host, donning a white afro wig and a statue of liberty foam hat. She hosted a game for everyone to guess the weight of pumpkins and the winner won a pumpkin hat. Finally, the teachers each grabbed a pumpkin and found a team of students. On our teams, we made our best possible jack-o-lantern. In the middle of this time, I left the room. The hosts told me when to get ready and when the lights turned off, I ran inside with a mask and flash light trying to scare everyone. It was scary to some of the girls and comical to me because I almost tripped a few times and bruised my leg on a radiator. I could not see well through the mask and had to run up the stairs on the left side of the room and down the right side stairs so that I could scare each group. My pumpkin did not end up winning any prizes but I made new friends on my team! For about 10 minutes, they played Thriller and everyone danced in front of the classroom. It was interesting to say the least. At the end, each student was told they had 30 minutes to talk to us in English. It ended up mainly being a photo shoot. My students each wanted a picture with me...and then so did random freshmen girls I have never seen before in my life. All in all, it was a very eventful time!
On Halloween night, I just wore random masks at Charlie's and hung out with a lot of people. During the week though, I talked about Halloween in each of my classes. I played "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, explained different monsters, talked about the history of the holiday, and read a scary story. The first Halloween I spent outside of America, I celebrated it the most!
One of my junior students, Creasy, is the president of the Student Union. Two of my sophomore students, Hope and Monica, are the leaders of the New Campus' English Corner. Together, my students hosted a Halloween Party for the freshmen English majors. Anyone can go but it is mainly for the freshmen to learn about Halloween and have fun.
The seven American teachers were the distinguished guests. We were announced one by one (we ran down the stairs and said hi into the microphone). Then, a power point I had made that day was used to explain Halloween history, customs, and costumes. Kim was the fabulous host, donning a white afro wig and a statue of liberty foam hat. She hosted a game for everyone to guess the weight of pumpkins and the winner won a pumpkin hat. Finally, the teachers each grabbed a pumpkin and found a team of students. On our teams, we made our best possible jack-o-lantern. In the middle of this time, I left the room. The hosts told me when to get ready and when the lights turned off, I ran inside with a mask and flash light trying to scare everyone. It was scary to some of the girls and comical to me because I almost tripped a few times and bruised my leg on a radiator. I could not see well through the mask and had to run up the stairs on the left side of the room and down the right side stairs so that I could scare each group. My pumpkin did not end up winning any prizes but I made new friends on my team! For about 10 minutes, they played Thriller and everyone danced in front of the classroom. It was interesting to say the least. At the end, each student was told they had 30 minutes to talk to us in English. It ended up mainly being a photo shoot. My students each wanted a picture with me...and then so did random freshmen girls I have never seen before in my life. All in all, it was a very eventful time!
On Halloween night, I just wore random masks at Charlie's and hung out with a lot of people. During the week though, I talked about Halloween in each of my classes. I played "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, explained different monsters, talked about the history of the holiday, and read a scary story. The first Halloween I spent outside of America, I celebrated it the most!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Beijing Belongs to Beyonce
I saw BEYONCE in concert on October 23rd in Beijing. Emily, Kim, Brittaney, Luna and I went. Beyonce was fierce and amazing, of course. She made several outfit changes and had weird videos and everything possible. The highlights were (in chronological order):
1. The curtains opening, revealing Beyonce's silhouette surrounded by billowing smoke.
2. "If I Were a Boy" breakdown into a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette.
3. "At Last" with video footage starting with slavery and ending with President Obama.
4. A video of fans and celebrities dancing to "Single Ladies."
5. Beyonce singing and dancing to "Single Ladies" as the crowd joined in.
Even though our seats were high, and Emily and I were clearly the loudest in our section, we lived it up and had a ton of fun with Beyonce!
The next day in Beijing was spent in the 798 District. It is the art district with a ton of modern art galleries. There are interesting statues outside and galleries full of striking paintings and Mass MoCA-esque artwork. I bought a poster of a painting of a barber shaving an old man's head under a large tree. Very Chinese!
Kim and Luna had things to do in Baoding, so they left Saturday night. Emily, Brittaney went on a night tour of the city! Our tour guide from the hostel, Fanny, was the same person that brought Emily and I to the Kung Fu show last time. The bus driver's name means Little River. Since my name means mountain, and his means river, he told me to call him big brother! They were half of the fun! As it was late, we did not go into the buildings but they were lit up beautifully! The stops on our tour were:
1. 2008 Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest
2. 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center
Fun to see these two after watching the Olympics!
3. Hou Hai Bar Area
A beautiful lake surrounded by noisy, unique bars with live singers.
4. National Grand Opera Theatre
Possibly most beautiful building I have seen in person? Pictures do not do it justice! It is surrounded by water and the reflection makes it appear as an egg. I will never be able to enter this building because tickets to any of the shows are VERY, VERY, VERY expensive.
5. Qian Men Da Jie
Small trains go up and down this busy street packed full of pricey, western stores within new buildings built in ancient styles.
The last crazy thing of the weekend was the whole trip back to Baoding. We ended up leaving on an early train with cheap tickets. The tickets were cheaper because it is a slower, not as nice train. A whole family (about 8 people) stood in the aisles until people got off at the first stop. The family reminded me of the traditional Ecuadorians in the Andes Mountains. Obviously, this family was Chinese. One of the kids laid under our seats. A worker on the train stood on the seat next to me (in his little toe socks) to try to sell some kind of lotion to everyone on the train. I do not think I can describe how crazy this train ride was! I paid for a ride and entertainment.
1. The curtains opening, revealing Beyonce's silhouette surrounded by billowing smoke.
2. "If I Were a Boy" breakdown into a cover of "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette.
3. "At Last" with video footage starting with slavery and ending with President Obama.
4. A video of fans and celebrities dancing to "Single Ladies."
5. Beyonce singing and dancing to "Single Ladies" as the crowd joined in.
Even though our seats were high, and Emily and I were clearly the loudest in our section, we lived it up and had a ton of fun with Beyonce!
The next day in Beijing was spent in the 798 District. It is the art district with a ton of modern art galleries. There are interesting statues outside and galleries full of striking paintings and Mass MoCA-esque artwork. I bought a poster of a painting of a barber shaving an old man's head under a large tree. Very Chinese!
Kim and Luna had things to do in Baoding, so they left Saturday night. Emily, Brittaney went on a night tour of the city! Our tour guide from the hostel, Fanny, was the same person that brought Emily and I to the Kung Fu show last time. The bus driver's name means Little River. Since my name means mountain, and his means river, he told me to call him big brother! They were half of the fun! As it was late, we did not go into the buildings but they were lit up beautifully! The stops on our tour were:
1. 2008 Beijing Olympics Bird's Nest
2. 2008 Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Center
Fun to see these two after watching the Olympics!
3. Hou Hai Bar Area
A beautiful lake surrounded by noisy, unique bars with live singers.
4. National Grand Opera Theatre
Possibly most beautiful building I have seen in person? Pictures do not do it justice! It is surrounded by water and the reflection makes it appear as an egg. I will never be able to enter this building because tickets to any of the shows are VERY, VERY, VERY expensive.
5. Qian Men Da Jie
Small trains go up and down this busy street packed full of pricey, western stores within new buildings built in ancient styles.
The last crazy thing of the weekend was the whole trip back to Baoding. We ended up leaving on an early train with cheap tickets. The tickets were cheaper because it is a slower, not as nice train. A whole family (about 8 people) stood in the aisles until people got off at the first stop. The family reminded me of the traditional Ecuadorians in the Andes Mountains. Obviously, this family was Chinese. One of the kids laid under our seats. A worker on the train stood on the seat next to me (in his little toe socks) to try to sell some kind of lotion to everyone on the train. I do not think I can describe how crazy this train ride was! I paid for a ride and entertainment.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
What Did I Just Eat?!?!
Gao Chali, for my first two months here, has been like my Chinese Dad! Last year, he gave Kim her Chinese family name: Gao. This year, he named both Emily and I: Gao Li and Gao Shan. We are all related! This Wednesday night, Charlie invited the three of us out to dinner. As he drove to the restaurant, we turned down back dirt roads and I wondered where the hell we could possibly be going. We ended up at a pretty restaurant (even though there was a large cage of about 10 chickens and 1 duck outside). I also fell in love with a little puppy that I played with and brought to our table after we had finished eating. He even fell asleep next to me!
Inside, Charlie ordered a ton of dishes! One of the fruits we ate could be anything...I still don't know what it is called but its texture was almost a blend of cucumber and apple. A different plate had tofu cooked with light breading - delicious! Another dish had a pile of vegetables and shrimp. When I say shrimp I mean very miniscule shrimp with feelers and eyes still attached. I had to try them, of course, and surprisingly liked the taste! I ate several little guys as they stared down my throat.
Finally, we were given a large bowl of meat. I thought Charlie had told us we were going to have "wild pig" so I assumed it was pig or boar. Each piece still had all the bones attached so I ate carefully. He told us it was chicken then pulled out the head from the bowl as proof. It was sliced vertically, but the beak and little flappy "hat" could still be seen. I thought to myself, "Where else am I going to taste chicken head?" So, after Charlie said I could have it, I ate some of the skin, the comb (the top "hat"), and even parts of the BRAIN. The comb was very soft ... and yummy! All of it was actually. I am not sure how soon I will be eating another chicken head though. Soon after eating the chicken head, I made my way to the bathroom. To get to the bathroom, I had to leave our room, walk outside, and find my way to the bathroom. The only problem was I had to walk by that large cage on my way. Immediately after eating a chicken head, I stared at 10 live chickens in the eyes.
Inside, Charlie ordered a ton of dishes! One of the fruits we ate could be anything...I still don't know what it is called but its texture was almost a blend of cucumber and apple. A different plate had tofu cooked with light breading - delicious! Another dish had a pile of vegetables and shrimp. When I say shrimp I mean very miniscule shrimp with feelers and eyes still attached. I had to try them, of course, and surprisingly liked the taste! I ate several little guys as they stared down my throat.
Finally, we were given a large bowl of meat. I thought Charlie had told us we were going to have "wild pig" so I assumed it was pig or boar. Each piece still had all the bones attached so I ate carefully. He told us it was chicken then pulled out the head from the bowl as proof. It was sliced vertically, but the beak and little flappy "hat" could still be seen. I thought to myself, "Where else am I going to taste chicken head?" So, after Charlie said I could have it, I ate some of the skin, the comb (the top "hat"), and even parts of the BRAIN. The comb was very soft ... and yummy! All of it was actually. I am not sure how soon I will be eating another chicken head though. Soon after eating the chicken head, I made my way to the bathroom. To get to the bathroom, I had to leave our room, walk outside, and find my way to the bathroom. The only problem was I had to walk by that large cage on my way. Immediately after eating a chicken head, I stared at 10 live chickens in the eyes.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Qing Tombs
This past Sunday, I was lucky enough to join a trip to the Qing Tombs near Baoding. Kim made friends last year with four young children and their two mothers. This year, Kim, the children, their mothers, Emily, and I were driven by a man in a little van to the Qing Tombs. While there, we made several stops. Maybe about six stops in total.
The buildings were ancient and alluring. We saw replicas of the ancient garments worn by the emperors during the Qing Dynasty. Underground, we were able to see the tombs of one of the emperors and his wife. The wife's tomb had more damage. We learned that a long time ago tomb raiders broke her coffin and stole the treasure inside. The emperor's tomb was left untouched because there was no treasure inside. Instead, there is a secret well under his coffin that holds the treasure and it is still there to this day.
My favorite stop during this trip was the last one: a visit to the Buddhist temples. The statues of Buddha are gargantuas and perfectly painted. We knelt down in front of the first one while a monk watched. Two Chinese Buddhist monks then came over to talk to us. They were interested in where we were from and why we were living in China. As someone who is not slightly religous, this was a moving day for even me. The monks welcomed us to the China and said we would always be welcomed to return to visit or find a job. They gave each of us an apple that had been sitting in front the Buddha statue and told us they were blessed with good luck. I held onto mine for the rest of the day and ate it for breakfast on Monday. China Surprises keep occuring when I do not expect them!
The buildings were ancient and alluring. We saw replicas of the ancient garments worn by the emperors during the Qing Dynasty. Underground, we were able to see the tombs of one of the emperors and his wife. The wife's tomb had more damage. We learned that a long time ago tomb raiders broke her coffin and stole the treasure inside. The emperor's tomb was left untouched because there was no treasure inside. Instead, there is a secret well under his coffin that holds the treasure and it is still there to this day.
My favorite stop during this trip was the last one: a visit to the Buddhist temples. The statues of Buddha are gargantuas and perfectly painted. We knelt down in front of the first one while a monk watched. Two Chinese Buddhist monks then came over to talk to us. They were interested in where we were from and why we were living in China. As someone who is not slightly religous, this was a moving day for even me. The monks welcomed us to the China and said we would always be welcomed to return to visit or find a job. They gave each of us an apple that had been sitting in front the Buddha statue and told us they were blessed with good luck. I held onto mine for the rest of the day and ate it for breakfast on Monday. China Surprises keep occuring when I do not expect them!
National Holiday
After returning from Beijing, I had a short week at school. Due to the National Holiday on October 1st, we all had Thursday and Friday off that week and the following week off from classes. The Monday before the holiday, I showed movies in my classes and had an interesting lunch. Two of my students brought me to a resaurant to try to my first donkey burger. Yes, DONKEY MEAT! It sound weird to us Americans, but Donkey Burger is what Baoding in known for. The meat come out looking a little gross but tucked nicely into a cute panini type bread. I bit into it fearing the worst....and loved it! Okay, I tried donkey and loved it. Now what about dog?
Tuesday I showed a movie in one class and played games in another. I decided my holiday should be two weeks, not one and a half. On the actual National Holiday, I watched the parade/celebration on TV. It took over Beijing and was MASSIVE and very long. It was quite beautiful though. Emily, Kim, and I made a lazy day of it and had Korean food delivered to our building. A couple days during the week, Emily and I tested out the tennis courts with our new, super cheap tennis rackets. Overall, I think I did less than most people in China during the holiday because I did not travel outside the city. However, it is all worth it because I was able to relax, meet up with new friends, and save money for future trips.
On day, three of my students brought Emily and I to the Baoding Botanical Garden. It is humongous and beautiful. We did not even go to the Winter, Summer, Autumn, or Spring gardens. We walked through the middle and to the back with the massive buildings and the serene lake. A man sold us cotton candy that he made by using his bike's momentum. We then rented a paddle boat and stayed out in the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun! We even saw about 6 couples getting their wedding photos taken. In China, the bride and groom will dress up in their wedding outfits and go to a beautiful location to take pictures before the wedding. I had heard we would be lucky to see one couple but we saw six. It was such a lovely day and as a way to repay my students (who did not let us pay for the boat), we took them out to dinner the following day.
The National Holiday was a relaxing break from classes!
Tuesday I showed a movie in one class and played games in another. I decided my holiday should be two weeks, not one and a half. On the actual National Holiday, I watched the parade/celebration on TV. It took over Beijing and was MASSIVE and very long. It was quite beautiful though. Emily, Kim, and I made a lazy day of it and had Korean food delivered to our building. A couple days during the week, Emily and I tested out the tennis courts with our new, super cheap tennis rackets. Overall, I think I did less than most people in China during the holiday because I did not travel outside the city. However, it is all worth it because I was able to relax, meet up with new friends, and save money for future trips.
On day, three of my students brought Emily and I to the Baoding Botanical Garden. It is humongous and beautiful. We did not even go to the Winter, Summer, Autumn, or Spring gardens. We walked through the middle and to the back with the massive buildings and the serene lake. A man sold us cotton candy that he made by using his bike's momentum. We then rented a paddle boat and stayed out in the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun! We even saw about 6 couples getting their wedding photos taken. In China, the bride and groom will dress up in their wedding outfits and go to a beautiful location to take pictures before the wedding. I had heard we would be lucky to see one couple but we saw six. It was such a lovely day and as a way to repay my students (who did not let us pay for the boat), we took them out to dinner the following day.
The National Holiday was a relaxing break from classes!
Beijing
I took my first trip to Beijing during the last weekend in September. Emily, Kim, and I took the faster, more expensive train. It felt as if we were on an airplane. The seats were nice and I actually had a lot of leg room. For about $7 we made it to Beijing in an hour. Oddly, the first feeling that came over me as I stepped into the big city was "am I leaving?!" Beijing is definitely a Chinese city but has many modern buildings. This was my first time leaving Baoding since landing in China. For some reason, all I could think about was returning to a city in America and my brain kept saying, "I can't leave my students yet!" I really am attached to them!
Not to worry though, I had an amazing weekend in the big city. We met up with a former foreign student of Hebei, Kim's Russian friend Slava. He was hilarious and spent the night with us. We all had dinner together with a main course of BEIJING DUCK!!! Yes, the same thing as Peking Duck. I can honestly say it is in my Top 5 of Favorite Foods Around The World. That's how good the meat and sauce tasted. It certainly lives up to its name.
All three days, we stopped at Ya Show. It is a large, 6 floor shopping center. The "stores" are all open fronts with clothes, trinkets, shoes, belts, maps, and paintings. It can be overwhelming if not for all the products, then for the workers. Most of the workers are young women trying to make as much money as possible. It is normal to bargain (they might tell you shoes cost 400yuan and you can get them for 60yuan). The trouble is standing up to this little Chinese women who say, "I am going to be poor because of how much you want to pay me!" or "Please, friend, help me out here." I ended up with two new button down shirts (40yuan or $6 each) and two matching pairs of socks (15 yuan for both, about $2). I also bought a few DVDs at a store around the corner. The trip felt like a shopping success.
Kim had to leave Saturday afternoon but Emily and I stayed until Sunday. Saturday night, Emily and I paid 180yuan each to hostel and received transportation to and tickets for a Kung Fu show. Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu is a famous show seen around the world but mainly in Beijing, China. I loved it! The stage opened up several ways. The actors did crazy tricks. There were people from various nations in the audience. It was a great experience!
Overall, a great first trip to Beijing with many more to come. As I write this, I am two days away from going again...
Not to worry though, I had an amazing weekend in the big city. We met up with a former foreign student of Hebei, Kim's Russian friend Slava. He was hilarious and spent the night with us. We all had dinner together with a main course of BEIJING DUCK!!! Yes, the same thing as Peking Duck. I can honestly say it is in my Top 5 of Favorite Foods Around The World. That's how good the meat and sauce tasted. It certainly lives up to its name.
All three days, we stopped at Ya Show. It is a large, 6 floor shopping center. The "stores" are all open fronts with clothes, trinkets, shoes, belts, maps, and paintings. It can be overwhelming if not for all the products, then for the workers. Most of the workers are young women trying to make as much money as possible. It is normal to bargain (they might tell you shoes cost 400yuan and you can get them for 60yuan). The trouble is standing up to this little Chinese women who say, "I am going to be poor because of how much you want to pay me!" or "Please, friend, help me out here." I ended up with two new button down shirts (40yuan or $6 each) and two matching pairs of socks (15 yuan for both, about $2). I also bought a few DVDs at a store around the corner. The trip felt like a shopping success.
Kim had to leave Saturday afternoon but Emily and I stayed until Sunday. Saturday night, Emily and I paid 180yuan each to hostel and received transportation to and tickets for a Kung Fu show. Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu is a famous show seen around the world but mainly in Beijing, China. I loved it! The stage opened up several ways. The actors did crazy tricks. There were people from various nations in the audience. It was a great experience!
Overall, a great first trip to Beijing with many more to come. As I write this, I am two days away from going again...
Friday, October 9, 2009
Chinese Zodiac
Ni hao!
I still have to write a few longer blogs about my last two weeks (they have been a lot of fun with only 2 days of classes!), but for now I thought I would talk about the Chinese Zodiac. One thing I did over this vacation was visit the Baoding Botanical Garden. Near the front of the HUGE garden is a sundial surrounded by carvings of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I took pictures of each one - you can see those on my photobucket!
If you want to know which animal you are, go to this website: http://www.orientaloutpost.com/chinese_zodiac.php
I like that website because even though it has a shorter description of each animal, it is easy to understand and figures out your animal by having you put in your birthday. This is good because even though my parents were born in the same year, they are different animals because my mother was born at the end of a Chinese year, shortly before the near year. Therefore she is technically the animal of the previous western year. Check it out!
Here is another website: http://www.qi-journal.com/Culture.asp?-token.SearchID=Astrology%20and%20Zodiac
This one provides more a description for each animal and includes what element you are depending on your year. You may be wood, metal, fire, earth, or water.
And finally check out the wikipedia page for Chinese astrology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
More information on the elements can be found here, as well as a chart of when the new year occurs each year. This year the Spring Festival is actually quite late and not until February 15th, 2010.
What sign are you? Do you think it describes you?
I just thought this was fun to look at even if you do not believe in astrology at all! Let me know what animal you are... ;-)
I still have to write a few longer blogs about my last two weeks (they have been a lot of fun with only 2 days of classes!), but for now I thought I would talk about the Chinese Zodiac. One thing I did over this vacation was visit the Baoding Botanical Garden. Near the front of the HUGE garden is a sundial surrounded by carvings of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I took pictures of each one - you can see those on my photobucket!
If you want to know which animal you are, go to this website: http://www.orientaloutpost.com/chinese_zodiac.php
I like that website because even though it has a shorter description of each animal, it is easy to understand and figures out your animal by having you put in your birthday. This is good because even though my parents were born in the same year, they are different animals because my mother was born at the end of a Chinese year, shortly before the near year. Therefore she is technically the animal of the previous western year. Check it out!
Here is another website: http://www.qi-journal.com/Culture.asp?-token.SearchID=Astrology%20and%20Zodiac
This one provides more a description for each animal and includes what element you are depending on your year. You may be wood, metal, fire, earth, or water.
And finally check out the wikipedia page for Chinese astrology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
More information on the elements can be found here, as well as a chart of when the new year occurs each year. This year the Spring Festival is actually quite late and not until February 15th, 2010.
What sign are you? Do you think it describes you?
I just thought this was fun to look at even if you do not believe in astrology at all! Let me know what animal you are... ;-)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
China's Best Dance Crew
I returned from possibly the best night of my life! Last week, one of my students, Winter, invited me to come see him dance any night. I waited until I was paid so I could make sure I had cab fare. Tonight, after my class ended at 6pm, Emily and I met up with Winter and two of Emily's students, Joy and Eric. The students made us sit down as they paid for and brought the food over! I was only happy when they agreed I would pay next time.
After dinner, Winter brought us to where his crew meets and showed us a few dance moves. I could do a few haha but not all. Slowly a crowd started to gather. All of sudden a ton of dancers showed up and I learned they are all part of the Friday Crew. They meet Monday through Friday and tonight they all sat in a large circle. Emily and I (later Kim came and joined in) were invited to sit in the circle too. A big speaker is brought out, hip-hop music is played, and a water bottle is spun in the middle of the group. Whoever the water bottle points at, has to get in the middle of the circle and dance. Winter danced a few times - he's a b-boy...meaning he can break dance! I am teaching the most amazing students ever. A few of the other dancers were poppers, which is sooo cool to watch. Yes, the bottle did land on Emily so the two of us did a little dance and ran back to our seats. Yes, Kim also danced with the two of us and we did a mini-wave between the three of us. Yes, I will have to dance next time I go but it's worth it!!!
I can not forget to mention Huajian. He deserves his own paragraph. While dancing with Winter, a man, probably in his 30s, showed up and came over to us. Huajian presented himself as a former breakdancer, current magician. He did a few magic tricks for us involving cigarettes disappearing from his hand and appearing on his ear. Later, he taught us a visual trick that makes it look like your thumb is poking through your ear. He then revealed that he had finished 10 large beers before showing up. So back to the circle of dancers. When Winter was not sitting next to me, Huajian made sure he could talk to me. He was not only a breakdancer but taught a lot of the current dancers (like he's the 4th generation teacher of Winter...if that makes sense). Eventually, Huajian even did some breakdancing himself!! In the process, he tossed us his shoes and jacket so he could breakdance in a button down shirt, pants, and long socks. I can not forget to mention his large glasses that I wanted to steal. He attempted to show me how to "pop" with my arm and told me to practice 3000 times a day. Yeah, okay.
The thing that may stick with me is once again everyone's kindness. Winter paid for my meal and bought 5 of us water. During the dance circle, one of the dancers we hadn't even met brought Emily, Kim, and I juice. The rest of the "crowd" (meaning not us or the dance crew) could not sit in the circle like we were but comprised a large audience around the dance circle. We were treated as respected guests and it felt amazing. I wish I could have told the whole crew how much it meant to me!
After dinner, Winter brought us to where his crew meets and showed us a few dance moves. I could do a few haha but not all. Slowly a crowd started to gather. All of sudden a ton of dancers showed up and I learned they are all part of the Friday Crew. They meet Monday through Friday and tonight they all sat in a large circle. Emily and I (later Kim came and joined in) were invited to sit in the circle too. A big speaker is brought out, hip-hop music is played, and a water bottle is spun in the middle of the group. Whoever the water bottle points at, has to get in the middle of the circle and dance. Winter danced a few times - he's a b-boy...meaning he can break dance! I am teaching the most amazing students ever. A few of the other dancers were poppers, which is sooo cool to watch. Yes, the bottle did land on Emily so the two of us did a little dance and ran back to our seats. Yes, Kim also danced with the two of us and we did a mini-wave between the three of us. Yes, I will have to dance next time I go but it's worth it!!!
I can not forget to mention Huajian. He deserves his own paragraph. While dancing with Winter, a man, probably in his 30s, showed up and came over to us. Huajian presented himself as a former breakdancer, current magician. He did a few magic tricks for us involving cigarettes disappearing from his hand and appearing on his ear. Later, he taught us a visual trick that makes it look like your thumb is poking through your ear. He then revealed that he had finished 10 large beers before showing up. So back to the circle of dancers. When Winter was not sitting next to me, Huajian made sure he could talk to me. He was not only a breakdancer but taught a lot of the current dancers (like he's the 4th generation teacher of Winter...if that makes sense). Eventually, Huajian even did some breakdancing himself!! In the process, he tossed us his shoes and jacket so he could breakdance in a button down shirt, pants, and long socks. I can not forget to mention his large glasses that I wanted to steal. He attempted to show me how to "pop" with my arm and told me to practice 3000 times a day. Yeah, okay.
The thing that may stick with me is once again everyone's kindness. Winter paid for my meal and bought 5 of us water. During the dance circle, one of the dancers we hadn't even met brought Emily, Kim, and I juice. The rest of the "crowd" (meaning not us or the dance crew) could not sit in the circle like we were but comprised a large audience around the dance circle. We were treated as respected guests and it felt amazing. I wish I could have told the whole crew how much it meant to me!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Garden of Eden
This week the MCLA Crew ventured into a Lotus Garden. For only 20 yuan, we were granted permission to enjoy the garden/park until 5:30pm. I did not know how big it was! The lotuses themselves are humongous; the many buildings are ancient and beautiful. We had fun taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. I actually saw a Chinese person doing Tai Chi in a Chinese park!!! (See Mom? I AM in China!) Kim pushed Emily and I to talk to three elderly men as a way to practice our Chinese. They were aaamazing! I wish I had taken a picture. However, Emily and I saw one of them the next day when we were right down the street! Who knew in a country of 604 bajillion people we would randomly see someone twice.
If you want to see pictures of this trip and of everything China, go to www.photobucket.com/daynewahl. The pictures are in the album called...China.
Yesterday marked the beginning of an amazing string of days...I can already tell. Us new teachers received our first pay yesterday. We then learned of Beyonce's concert in Beijing in late October (guess who will be the only tall, white American man dancing to Single Ladies live in Beijing?). Today, I am going shopping and hope to get a tennis racket! Tonight, I am having dinner with my student, Winter, and then he is going to teach me dance moves! He is a b-boy so maybe I will learn to pop (not breakdance...that would be breakbones for me). And tomorrow, Emily, Kim, and I are off to Beijing!!!
In other news, my Spoken English for Sophomore classes are doing Speed Dating this week. Thanks for the idea Mom! For real.
Also, I miss and love everyone! (including my cousin Amanda :-P)
If you want to see pictures of this trip and of everything China, go to www.photobucket.com/daynewahl. The pictures are in the album called...China.
Yesterday marked the beginning of an amazing string of days...I can already tell. Us new teachers received our first pay yesterday. We then learned of Beyonce's concert in Beijing in late October (guess who will be the only tall, white American man dancing to Single Ladies live in Beijing?). Today, I am going shopping and hope to get a tennis racket! Tonight, I am having dinner with my student, Winter, and then he is going to teach me dance moves! He is a b-boy so maybe I will learn to pop (not breakdance...that would be breakbones for me). And tomorrow, Emily, Kim, and I are off to Beijing!!!
In other news, my Spoken English for Sophomore classes are doing Speed Dating this week. Thanks for the idea Mom! For real.
Also, I miss and love everyone! (including my cousin Amanda :-P)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Nothing but Love
I have felt nothing but love from every Chinese person I have met during my wild experiences. One night, after dinner, Kim, Emily and I walked by a park with not only a jungle gym for children but workout equipment for adults. I enjoyed standing on these swinging metal rods that allowed me to swing forward and back or stretch my legs (one leg forward as the other went back). A woman was on another one of the same machines right across from me and smiled, asked where I was from and laughed when seemed to be enjoying swinging back and forth as much as a little kid would. Another woman, accompanied by her young daughter, said in perfect English to me, "Welcome to China!" Why haven't I seen parks like this in Delmar, NY?
We stumbled upon another great experience one night last week, again while walking back to the campus after eating dinner, when we saw a large group of elderly people dancing in a park. It looked as if one of them was leading the group but they all seemed to know what dance moves to do as the beats and rhythms of the music changed. Of course, we had to join in and attempt to keep up with the elderly Chinese men and women. What we didn't expect was the crowd watching us that slowly formed during each song. The crowed LOVED our props: when a new song started and all the old people suddenly were dancing with fans, we used folders I just bought at the store; when an even newer song started and all the old people were dancing with ribbons and scarves, I used Emily's new purchased long johns. One woman in the crowd had an infectious laugh...so obviously I had my picture taken with her before we left for the night!
Those two park experiences were slightly different than my first two times at English Corner. English Corner is a gathering of people speaking English in one area of the campus on Tuesday and Friday nights. A few of the veteran foreign teachers had warned us that they didn't plan on returning to English Corner this year. I kept thinking, "What's the harm in talking to people for a little bit?" Oh, I learned. Emily and I went to our first English Corner and were greeted by an English teacher. He said it was an honor to have foreigners at English Corner...then proceeded to ask me questions about Obama's health care plan and the financial crisis. This teacher, asking tough questions and not letting students get a word in, diverted the students away from me and towards Emily. She ended up talking to a few non-English majors who wanted to be her BEST FRIEND. Meanwhile, the teacher took a pause and I stole this opportunity to talk to a student standing next to me. This led to me talking to a few other students and all of them were amazing. Peter is a senior History major and spoke English pretty well. Alex is a senior Psychology major and knew a lot about American television. Last but not least, Liu Yang was shy to speak any English with me at first, attempting to tell me he didn't speak English (but he said that in English). After I asked him a few questions, the four of us had a good conversation going. I received their information and plan on meeting up with them again another time. But here's the thing I still can't really believe actually happened: I became friends with a Chinese soldier. Liu Yang told me he did not go to Hebei Unverisity but enjoyed coming to English Corner sometimes. He did not attend college because he was a soldier for many years and now works as a driver for his boss (not sure exactly what that entails still). I must not forget to mention one girl, originally talking with Emily, joined our conversation and scared me a little with how loud and forward she was. The few people who seemed a little too crazy to meet us Americans freaked us out a little but the fun students and new soldier friend (still can't believe that...) made it a worthwhile experience.
After attending English Corner on Tuesday, I was not sure if I would go again anytime soon. However, Emily and I went again Friday night! I am hoping to eventually find a tutor out of the awesome group of people I have met there. They could teach me Chinese for an hour and I could teach them English for an hour. Before English Corner, I really only knew my students and did not want to have my student be my tutor. My second time at English Corner, I met a potential tutor...but she does not need much help in English haha. Vicky, a new girl at English Corner on Friday night, speaks English very well and I just want to be best friends with her! Now I am going to stalk HER and not vice versa hahaha. When I buy a tennis racket, we are going to play together on the courts near my apartment because we are both bad! So English Corner was less intense the second time. The crazy girl from the first time even showed up in a calm disposition. I am still not sure how often I will continue to go but it has been a good place to meet friends.
It is a new experience to have a nation of over 1 billion people be so interested in me! Everyone is friendly, wants to practice English with me, and likes meeting me. I truly have felt nothing but love from the people of China!
We stumbled upon another great experience one night last week, again while walking back to the campus after eating dinner, when we saw a large group of elderly people dancing in a park. It looked as if one of them was leading the group but they all seemed to know what dance moves to do as the beats and rhythms of the music changed. Of course, we had to join in and attempt to keep up with the elderly Chinese men and women. What we didn't expect was the crowd watching us that slowly formed during each song. The crowed LOVED our props: when a new song started and all the old people suddenly were dancing with fans, we used folders I just bought at the store; when an even newer song started and all the old people were dancing with ribbons and scarves, I used Emily's new purchased long johns. One woman in the crowd had an infectious laugh...so obviously I had my picture taken with her before we left for the night!
Those two park experiences were slightly different than my first two times at English Corner. English Corner is a gathering of people speaking English in one area of the campus on Tuesday and Friday nights. A few of the veteran foreign teachers had warned us that they didn't plan on returning to English Corner this year. I kept thinking, "What's the harm in talking to people for a little bit?" Oh, I learned. Emily and I went to our first English Corner and were greeted by an English teacher. He said it was an honor to have foreigners at English Corner...then proceeded to ask me questions about Obama's health care plan and the financial crisis. This teacher, asking tough questions and not letting students get a word in, diverted the students away from me and towards Emily. She ended up talking to a few non-English majors who wanted to be her BEST FRIEND. Meanwhile, the teacher took a pause and I stole this opportunity to talk to a student standing next to me. This led to me talking to a few other students and all of them were amazing. Peter is a senior History major and spoke English pretty well. Alex is a senior Psychology major and knew a lot about American television. Last but not least, Liu Yang was shy to speak any English with me at first, attempting to tell me he didn't speak English (but he said that in English). After I asked him a few questions, the four of us had a good conversation going. I received their information and plan on meeting up with them again another time. But here's the thing I still can't really believe actually happened: I became friends with a Chinese soldier. Liu Yang told me he did not go to Hebei Unverisity but enjoyed coming to English Corner sometimes. He did not attend college because he was a soldier for many years and now works as a driver for his boss (not sure exactly what that entails still). I must not forget to mention one girl, originally talking with Emily, joined our conversation and scared me a little with how loud and forward she was. The few people who seemed a little too crazy to meet us Americans freaked us out a little but the fun students and new soldier friend (still can't believe that...) made it a worthwhile experience.
After attending English Corner on Tuesday, I was not sure if I would go again anytime soon. However, Emily and I went again Friday night! I am hoping to eventually find a tutor out of the awesome group of people I have met there. They could teach me Chinese for an hour and I could teach them English for an hour. Before English Corner, I really only knew my students and did not want to have my student be my tutor. My second time at English Corner, I met a potential tutor...but she does not need much help in English haha. Vicky, a new girl at English Corner on Friday night, speaks English very well and I just want to be best friends with her! Now I am going to stalk HER and not vice versa hahaha. When I buy a tennis racket, we are going to play together on the courts near my apartment because we are both bad! So English Corner was less intense the second time. The crazy girl from the first time even showed up in a calm disposition. I am still not sure how often I will continue to go but it has been a good place to meet friends.
It is a new experience to have a nation of over 1 billion people be so interested in me! Everyone is friendly, wants to practice English with me, and likes meeting me. I truly have felt nothing but love from the people of China!
Friday, September 11, 2009
The International Life
It is Saturday morning here in Baoding, China as I write this. For those of you on the American eastern shore, it is still Friday night. (It's like I'm in the future and can tell you how the next 12 hours will go!)
A week ago, I finished my first full week of teaching here in China. So, to celebrate, Kim, Emily and I went to a dance club last Friday night! Haha. Keep in mind I've been to some in Ecuador and Spain. Deep Club in Baoding, China was one of the weirdest experiences of my life! Being white is certainly an oddity around here and garners many stares...the way this translates to the dance floor is fantastically hilarious. When Kim, Emily, and I danced, there was sometimes a circle formed around us (with people yelling us on) while other times any random, corny dance move we did was copied by half of the Chinese people standing around us. At one point, we danced putting one hand in the air then the other and repeated - this was copied by other people! It's not a good dance move but I guess anything we did was cool that night hahaha. It was such a weird and hilarious experience.
I can not forget to mention that Kim's friend Henry brought us to the club (and I think he is well known there because he gave me a ticket in and I paid 0yuan). Henry is from Nigeria and a cool guy. Who knew I would meet someone from Nigeria while teaching in China? In fact, the title of this blog, "The International Life", is inspired by the fact I've met people from all over the world while living here.
While last Friday night was eventful, Saturday was another experience. A lot of the foreign teachers went out to eat dinner together. There ended up being so many of us we had the biggest table in the restaurant and didn't all fit. The food tasted delicious but the company was even greater! There were plenty of Americans, some I had known before and some I met that night. Also at the dinner were a funny, cute couple (she's from Baoding, he's from the UK), an older teacher from France, two teachers from Japan, and Mao and his cousin (their family is from Indonesia but Mao was born in Madagascar and raised in France). Who thought we would get this group together in China?
I met more people in class this week...
My second week of teaching was busier: I taught my 4 classes of Spoken English for Sophomores and 2 classes of Writing for Juniors while being given a 7th class to teach freshmen Art majors with poor English skills. I also joined in one of the Chinese classes on Wednesday, my day off from teaching. There are many foreign students here taking lessons in Chinese 2 classes a day, 5 days a week. As a foreign teacher, I am allowed to go to any class I can. I attended a listening class and we learned about tones in the Chinese language. The other students included: 1 American, 1 Russian, 1 Japanese, 1 Canadian, 2 Mongolians, and 2 Koreans. During the break and after class I learned some names: Dae Hee, Ju Mi, Ted, and Yu Ka. They all seem nice and I am a little jealous I can not attend as many Chinese classes as them! I am excited to at least get some classes under my belt and make friends from even more countries though.
This weekend may be a little quieter but I am hoping to have enough money to travel to Beijing next weekend. Now, time to be a teacher and get some lesson planning done.
A week ago, I finished my first full week of teaching here in China. So, to celebrate, Kim, Emily and I went to a dance club last Friday night! Haha. Keep in mind I've been to some in Ecuador and Spain. Deep Club in Baoding, China was one of the weirdest experiences of my life! Being white is certainly an oddity around here and garners many stares...the way this translates to the dance floor is fantastically hilarious. When Kim, Emily, and I danced, there was sometimes a circle formed around us (with people yelling us on) while other times any random, corny dance move we did was copied by half of the Chinese people standing around us. At one point, we danced putting one hand in the air then the other and repeated - this was copied by other people! It's not a good dance move but I guess anything we did was cool that night hahaha. It was such a weird and hilarious experience.
I can not forget to mention that Kim's friend Henry brought us to the club (and I think he is well known there because he gave me a ticket in and I paid 0yuan). Henry is from Nigeria and a cool guy. Who knew I would meet someone from Nigeria while teaching in China? In fact, the title of this blog, "The International Life", is inspired by the fact I've met people from all over the world while living here.
While last Friday night was eventful, Saturday was another experience. A lot of the foreign teachers went out to eat dinner together. There ended up being so many of us we had the biggest table in the restaurant and didn't all fit. The food tasted delicious but the company was even greater! There were plenty of Americans, some I had known before and some I met that night. Also at the dinner were a funny, cute couple (she's from Baoding, he's from the UK), an older teacher from France, two teachers from Japan, and Mao and his cousin (their family is from Indonesia but Mao was born in Madagascar and raised in France). Who thought we would get this group together in China?
I met more people in class this week...
My second week of teaching was busier: I taught my 4 classes of Spoken English for Sophomores and 2 classes of Writing for Juniors while being given a 7th class to teach freshmen Art majors with poor English skills. I also joined in one of the Chinese classes on Wednesday, my day off from teaching. There are many foreign students here taking lessons in Chinese 2 classes a day, 5 days a week. As a foreign teacher, I am allowed to go to any class I can. I attended a listening class and we learned about tones in the Chinese language. The other students included: 1 American, 1 Russian, 1 Japanese, 1 Canadian, 2 Mongolians, and 2 Koreans. During the break and after class I learned some names: Dae Hee, Ju Mi, Ted, and Yu Ka. They all seem nice and I am a little jealous I can not attend as many Chinese classes as them! I am excited to at least get some classes under my belt and make friends from even more countries though.
This weekend may be a little quieter but I am hoping to have enough money to travel to Beijing next weekend. Now, time to be a teacher and get some lesson planning done.
I'm a teacher?! in China?!
I thought my first few days in China before Kim came were exciting but these past few days have been even more eventful! Kim showed up Saturday afternoon and the rest of the day felt a hurricane of meeting people and seeing things. I met two students from Russia, a few students from Korea, a teacher from Japan, and a teacher from France. Crazy! We had a going away dinner for Yusi (her friend that helped us out the first few days) then went to Charlie's Bar after. Actually, Charlie and his wife came to dinner too and Charlie gave Emily and I our Chinese names! He gave us his family name Gao (which also happens to be Kim's and Yusi's family names). Emily is Gao Li which means Beautiful, and I am Gao Shan which means Tall Mountain. I felt special to be given a Chinese name so quickly! That night we also went to a karaoke bar with Yusi's friends - we had our own room and sang and danced to English and Chinese music until I literally fell asleep.
We were also given our class schedules. I have 6 classes - 4 are Spoken English for Sophomores and 2 are Written English for Juniors. To be honest I can't remember right now what I did on Sunday because my classes were so eventful! Classes here are 45 minutes/10 minute break/45 minutes and only once a week. Monday I have Spoken 8:00-9:40 and 10:10-11:50. Tuesday I have Spoken 8:00-9:40. Wednesday I have Written 8:00-9:40. Thursday I have Spoken 4:20-6:00. Friday I have Written 8:00-9:40.
Emily's classes start next week because the freshmen are in military training until then. So, I will be teaching from weeks 1 until 17 and she has classes weeks 2 until 18. Kim and Emily teach at the Foreign College, and I teach at the Industrial and Commercial College. They are both on the New Campus near each other. The differences are Foreign College has classes with about 20 students and are in Buildings B; I&C College has classes with about 40 students and are in Buildings A. Kim does not have classes Monday but both Kim and Emily came on the bus with me to the new campus to check out their college and check up on me during my breaks.
My first class at 8:00 started off on a good note when I walked in and said GOOD MORNING! and everyone in the class shouted GOOD MORNING! back to me. My first class has 38 students and only 3 are boys. Apparently, here in China, most English are girls and my classes sure reflect that so far! My lesson plan for the first week is the same for each class. I introduce myself then give them a notecard. I have them put what section class they are in, their Chinese & English names, what city they are from, their birthday, and e-mail addresses. (btw, I am very proud of my new teacher e-mail address: YoTeachWahl@yahoo.com...like YO! Teach from Funny People hahaha) Then I split the class into pairs where they interview each other and use that information to present each other to the rest of the class. This is where my first class got interesting. I asked everyone to stand up and everyone looked around or confused. I asked again and one girl started to stand up but sat back down when no one else stood up. I asked again and again and finally everyone stood up. Also...asking them to find a partner with the same color shirt was a bad idea so I just gave them a number and they found the person with the same number and sat down with them. I had to ask pairs to present each other but about half way through, they would start getting up on their own. They were all hilarious too! One girl showed off her new hair cut and said she thought it suited her well. One girl presented a boy as "one of the few boys and very handsome!" The students new to the major even said they hoped everyone could be friendly and help them!
By the way, Katie Dubendorf (from MCLA Admissions) told me students would pick normal English names or very funky ones like Cloud. I am proud to say I will be teaching Susan, Anita, Hector, Shimmer, Season, Ice, Winter, Spring, Autumn, Summer, Zelda, Rainbow, Shaka, and Apple.
After interviews, they wrote on a piece of paper what they have learned in their English classes and what they want to learn this year. The first class has that for homework but so far the other two did that in class. Every class for homework has to bring in an American slang word or phrase! I can't wait to see what they find.
My second class was similar to the first but this morning (Tuesday morning for me right now!) was very interesting. My sheet says the class is in 308 and I went in and didn't see many people but said GOOD MORNING! They all looked confused and one girl said, "sorry sir, this is not a class." (when classrooms aren't being used, people study in them). I then had to call Tim, the teacher from Virginia, to guide me to where our bosses office is. I found my boss, Nick, and he realized the room is actually 408 so we ran over and I arrived 25 minutes late! However, they clapped when I entered!!! I love them! Haha. I went on with the lesson plan and we got through everything except for the second half of the presentations. This class has 34 people and FIVE boys. That's a lot! Haha. Their English names are: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Season. One of them even asked to take a picture with me after class! Aren't my students the best?!
I haven't really relaxed since I ran around then taught so maybe I should do that now...
We were also given our class schedules. I have 6 classes - 4 are Spoken English for Sophomores and 2 are Written English for Juniors. To be honest I can't remember right now what I did on Sunday because my classes were so eventful! Classes here are 45 minutes/10 minute break/45 minutes and only once a week. Monday I have Spoken 8:00-9:40 and 10:10-11:50. Tuesday I have Spoken 8:00-9:40. Wednesday I have Written 8:00-9:40. Thursday I have Spoken 4:20-6:00. Friday I have Written 8:00-9:40.
Emily's classes start next week because the freshmen are in military training until then. So, I will be teaching from weeks 1 until 17 and she has classes weeks 2 until 18. Kim and Emily teach at the Foreign College, and I teach at the Industrial and Commercial College. They are both on the New Campus near each other. The differences are Foreign College has classes with about 20 students and are in Buildings B; I&C College has classes with about 40 students and are in Buildings A. Kim does not have classes Monday but both Kim and Emily came on the bus with me to the new campus to check out their college and check up on me during my breaks.
My first class at 8:00 started off on a good note when I walked in and said GOOD MORNING! and everyone in the class shouted GOOD MORNING! back to me. My first class has 38 students and only 3 are boys. Apparently, here in China, most English are girls and my classes sure reflect that so far! My lesson plan for the first week is the same for each class. I introduce myself then give them a notecard. I have them put what section class they are in, their Chinese & English names, what city they are from, their birthday, and e-mail addresses. (btw, I am very proud of my new teacher e-mail address: YoTeachWahl@yahoo.com...like YO! Teach from Funny People hahaha) Then I split the class into pairs where they interview each other and use that information to present each other to the rest of the class. This is where my first class got interesting. I asked everyone to stand up and everyone looked around or confused. I asked again and one girl started to stand up but sat back down when no one else stood up. I asked again and again and finally everyone stood up. Also...asking them to find a partner with the same color shirt was a bad idea so I just gave them a number and they found the person with the same number and sat down with them. I had to ask pairs to present each other but about half way through, they would start getting up on their own. They were all hilarious too! One girl showed off her new hair cut and said she thought it suited her well. One girl presented a boy as "one of the few boys and very handsome!" The students new to the major even said they hoped everyone could be friendly and help them!
By the way, Katie Dubendorf (from MCLA Admissions) told me students would pick normal English names or very funky ones like Cloud. I am proud to say I will be teaching Susan, Anita, Hector, Shimmer, Season, Ice, Winter, Spring, Autumn, Summer, Zelda, Rainbow, Shaka, and Apple.
After interviews, they wrote on a piece of paper what they have learned in their English classes and what they want to learn this year. The first class has that for homework but so far the other two did that in class. Every class for homework has to bring in an American slang word or phrase! I can't wait to see what they find.
My second class was similar to the first but this morning (Tuesday morning for me right now!) was very interesting. My sheet says the class is in 308 and I went in and didn't see many people but said GOOD MORNING! They all looked confused and one girl said, "sorry sir, this is not a class." (when classrooms aren't being used, people study in them). I then had to call Tim, the teacher from Virginia, to guide me to where our bosses office is. I found my boss, Nick, and he realized the room is actually 408 so we ran over and I arrived 25 minutes late! However, they clapped when I entered!!! I love them! Haha. I went on with the lesson plan and we got through everything except for the second half of the presentations. This class has 34 people and FIVE boys. That's a lot! Haha. Their English names are: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Season. One of them even asked to take a picture with me after class! Aren't my students the best?!
I haven't really relaxed since I ran around then taught so maybe I should do that now...
First few days in China
Tuesday (our first full day in China):
We woke up around 9am - called my parents and checked e-mail (and figured out multiple websites are banned). Emily and I attempted to go to the cafetaria in the building across from us but it looked like they were in a meeting so instead we took a short walk. We got back to my room around 12:30 and needed a nap (jet lagged kicked our butts...) and we would be awake by 4pm to meet up with Kim's Yusi...however we napped for 4 hours and had to call him up to tell him what happened.
Emily and I ended up hanging out with Yusi for about 6 hours. We helped me purchase my Chinese cellphone, brought us to a grocery store, brought us to a restaurant, and showed us Kim's favorite bar. Together, Emily and I spent $20 at the grocery and we bought jam, bread, blueberry flavored Lay's chips, Bimbo bread, milk flavored Cheetos balls, apples ($2 for 4), bananas ($0.25 for 4), water, and other things I can't think of right now. Chips here have the weirdest flavors - blueberry, prawn, roasted chicken. For dinner we ate at the Golden Dumpling and ate...you guessed it...dumplings!! Three types: beef/onion, carrot/egg, egg. They were all REALLY GOOD!!!
Talking to Yusi was almost more excited than going out and seeing the city of Baoding. He had some insightful things to say like, "the Chinese government tries to turn smart people into fools and sometimes succeeds." We learned that every student goes through military training (I can sometimes hear them practicing and yelling from my window). Popular American music here includes The Beatles, and other happy sounding tunes about pain and love. Asian Idol actually could not be shown during primetime on TV because it promotes democracy so in China they only show it later at night.
Wednesday (China's Valentine's Day):
Jet lag still had an upper hand on us so we woke up late and then skyped people. Today was not smoggy or foggy and was actually beautiful. We were worried it would always be smoggy (like you see on TV) but it was just the weather for one day. Another good note is there is a large park right near our apartment complex. It's beautiful and I think I might have to go there to read sometimes.
Wednesday was a slower day in general. For most of our meals, we had dumplings that were left over. Actually, we put them in paper cups and heated them up in a microwave. Emily and I feel like a newly married couple struggling to survive in their new apartment in a big city. We did take a walk and purchased water, iced tea, ice cream, and magazines on our own. Emily bought Cosmo but it has an Asian model and its in Chinese - it's interesting to see the ads though. In the US, people buy tanning lotion and try to be as tan as possible. In China, people buy whitening lotion and try to be as white as possible. I guess what's beautiful is all cultural... I bought an "Overseas English" magazine that is in both English and Chinese. I love it! It has some English phrases and how to use them in conversation but it just sounds funny when you read them outloud. I may have to bring it into my classes and buy every new issue.
Thursday:
Web cam chatting on skype worked! (seems my webcam has worked almost every other time I've attempted to use it though). Video chatted with Marcelle and my Dad this morning. Then we got a skype call from Kim - she is in Russia for a wedding and will be in China Saturday night. She is super excited and so are we - she's like our big sister who helped us get ready to come!
We found where the two bikes that Kim gave us the keys for were located and rode around a little. When I buy my own, it's going to have to fit me better haha. This time when we went into the cafetaria there was not a meeting going. Trying to get food was interesting as the workers do not speak English and Emily and I do not speak Chinese. We pointed at food and pictures and they served us. They were friendly and one worker tried to show us how to properly hold the chopsticks. While there, we saw the school worker who picked us up at the airport show up with another American girl. Her name is Brittaney, she's from California, and she's actually studying abroad at Hebei University.
After, we met up with Yusi again. This time to take pictures of old people in this "park" where old people play cards and some hackey sack type game (looked like hackey sack but they were using a weight with feathers attached - there were some sprightly old people!). Next, we were introduced to The Honey Pool - a cute place with ice shakes and cheesecakes. I LOVE IT THERE! For dinner, we actually ate Korean food...the sauce was spicy but the beef and veggies were very delicious. On the way back to the apartments we met Cameron - a Chinese-American teacher from California who taught here last year and is returning just like Kim is.
Friday:
Emily and I were pooped from a busy day so we called family and friends in the morning and had leftovers for lunch. We found a store on campus called Yesbuy - it has a lot of random stuff kind of like Wal-Mart so we purchased more groceries and washclothes. Next, Emily brought her bike to get a wheel fixed. Then...we went back to Yesbuy later on. However, we also took a lot of pictures in the park right next door to us. The lizard my mom put in my suitcase was featured in many photos haha.
For dinner we ate in the cafe again but this time attempted to read the chinese words for the food. The workers were nice and helped correct our pronounciation. We took a lot of food for leftovers and on the way into our apartment met three more American teachers: Tim (from Virginia), Amelia (from North Carolina), and Carrie (from Virginia).
That's what I've been up to this first few days in China!
We woke up around 9am - called my parents and checked e-mail (and figured out multiple websites are banned). Emily and I attempted to go to the cafetaria in the building across from us but it looked like they were in a meeting so instead we took a short walk. We got back to my room around 12:30 and needed a nap (jet lagged kicked our butts...) and we would be awake by 4pm to meet up with Kim's Yusi...however we napped for 4 hours and had to call him up to tell him what happened.
Emily and I ended up hanging out with Yusi for about 6 hours. We helped me purchase my Chinese cellphone, brought us to a grocery store, brought us to a restaurant, and showed us Kim's favorite bar. Together, Emily and I spent $20 at the grocery and we bought jam, bread, blueberry flavored Lay's chips, Bimbo bread, milk flavored Cheetos balls, apples ($2 for 4), bananas ($0.25 for 4), water, and other things I can't think of right now. Chips here have the weirdest flavors - blueberry, prawn, roasted chicken. For dinner we ate at the Golden Dumpling and ate...you guessed it...dumplings!! Three types: beef/onion, carrot/egg, egg. They were all REALLY GOOD!!!
Talking to Yusi was almost more excited than going out and seeing the city of Baoding. He had some insightful things to say like, "the Chinese government tries to turn smart people into fools and sometimes succeeds." We learned that every student goes through military training (I can sometimes hear them practicing and yelling from my window). Popular American music here includes The Beatles, and other happy sounding tunes about pain and love. Asian Idol actually could not be shown during primetime on TV because it promotes democracy so in China they only show it later at night.
Wednesday (China's Valentine's Day):
Jet lag still had an upper hand on us so we woke up late and then skyped people. Today was not smoggy or foggy and was actually beautiful. We were worried it would always be smoggy (like you see on TV) but it was just the weather for one day. Another good note is there is a large park right near our apartment complex. It's beautiful and I think I might have to go there to read sometimes.
Wednesday was a slower day in general. For most of our meals, we had dumplings that were left over. Actually, we put them in paper cups and heated them up in a microwave. Emily and I feel like a newly married couple struggling to survive in their new apartment in a big city. We did take a walk and purchased water, iced tea, ice cream, and magazines on our own. Emily bought Cosmo but it has an Asian model and its in Chinese - it's interesting to see the ads though. In the US, people buy tanning lotion and try to be as tan as possible. In China, people buy whitening lotion and try to be as white as possible. I guess what's beautiful is all cultural... I bought an "Overseas English" magazine that is in both English and Chinese. I love it! It has some English phrases and how to use them in conversation but it just sounds funny when you read them outloud. I may have to bring it into my classes and buy every new issue.
Thursday:
Web cam chatting on skype worked! (seems my webcam has worked almost every other time I've attempted to use it though). Video chatted with Marcelle and my Dad this morning. Then we got a skype call from Kim - she is in Russia for a wedding and will be in China Saturday night. She is super excited and so are we - she's like our big sister who helped us get ready to come!
We found where the two bikes that Kim gave us the keys for were located and rode around a little. When I buy my own, it's going to have to fit me better haha. This time when we went into the cafetaria there was not a meeting going. Trying to get food was interesting as the workers do not speak English and Emily and I do not speak Chinese. We pointed at food and pictures and they served us. They were friendly and one worker tried to show us how to properly hold the chopsticks. While there, we saw the school worker who picked us up at the airport show up with another American girl. Her name is Brittaney, she's from California, and she's actually studying abroad at Hebei University.
After, we met up with Yusi again. This time to take pictures of old people in this "park" where old people play cards and some hackey sack type game (looked like hackey sack but they were using a weight with feathers attached - there were some sprightly old people!). Next, we were introduced to The Honey Pool - a cute place with ice shakes and cheesecakes. I LOVE IT THERE! For dinner, we actually ate Korean food...the sauce was spicy but the beef and veggies were very delicious. On the way back to the apartments we met Cameron - a Chinese-American teacher from California who taught here last year and is returning just like Kim is.
Friday:
Emily and I were pooped from a busy day so we called family and friends in the morning and had leftovers for lunch. We found a store on campus called Yesbuy - it has a lot of random stuff kind of like Wal-Mart so we purchased more groceries and washclothes. Next, Emily brought her bike to get a wheel fixed. Then...we went back to Yesbuy later on. However, we also took a lot of pictures in the park right next door to us. The lizard my mom put in my suitcase was featured in many photos haha.
For dinner we ate in the cafe again but this time attempted to read the chinese words for the food. The workers were nice and helped correct our pronounciation. We took a lot of food for leftovers and on the way into our apartment met three more American teachers: Tim (from Virginia), Amelia (from North Carolina), and Carrie (from Virginia).
That's what I've been up to this first few days in China!
In China!
I could not access Blogger here in China so that last post was a "test" through the blog e-mailing system...but that failed too. So, thank you brother for posting it! However, I just found a way to get my posts up here ;-)
I am going to post a couple of large e-mails I had sent out in the meantime...
I made it to China with ease. Emily and I were told we were "having too much fun" by the TSA guy so we went through those weird air detector things in Albany before the metal detectors. I went through it last time too. In Toronto, the customs asked Emily a few questions but nothing exciting. The customs in China was actually much easier to get through than I expected - there were just a few stops: one took a form, one stamped the passport, one took another form. The first two flights were fast and the long one was fun because we each had a video screen on the seat in front of us to play with. It had TV show episodes and movies to watch. Emily and I watched Adventureland together, then I watched Anvil!: The Story of Anvil, and we started 17 Again but didn't finish before we landed. We were given many meals and drinks as well!! We were picked up by a driver and a worker from the school in a normal sized car so Emily and I ended up squeezing in the backseat with a few of our bags. The ride was about 2.5 hours.
We are in our apartments now - each has a bathroom (a toilet and a "shower"...you can kind of just stand next to the toilet and get water on you hahaha), a walkway from the bathroom with a table & small washer & sink, and the kitchen has a minifridge microwave & cabinets. The big rooms come equipped with a TV (some weird drinking game then karaoke were both on earlier), two phones (i think one might work for international and one for the school but not sure yet), a PC (that's what I am using right now!), a bed, a nightstand and two chairs.
I already knew twitter and facebook were blocked but sadly it looks like blogger is as well. This means I will not be able to write in my blog for now. I may keep trying or look for an alternative but as of now e-mailing me is the best way to contact me. I do not know how to get the internet on my laptop to work and the computer in my room is in Chinese (but the internet can be used in English!). Surprisingly I am not THAT tired right now (it is a 12 hour difference so I am writing this at around 9:40pm my time, 9:40am your time) because I slept in the car from the airport and on the planes. I AM a little hungry but my parents made sure I had plenty of snacks in my backpack!
Tomorrow Emily and I should be meeting up with one of Kim's friends who will show us the cellphone store. Kim's room is 401 and diagonal from Emily's. Kim will be back from Russia on the 29th. Emily is in room 405 and I am in 305 - so directly one floor apart.
That's all for now. I haven't even started to unpack but I will probably have a snack, shower, watch a DVD and sleep.
I am going to post a couple of large e-mails I had sent out in the meantime...
I made it to China with ease. Emily and I were told we were "having too much fun" by the TSA guy so we went through those weird air detector things in Albany before the metal detectors. I went through it last time too. In Toronto, the customs asked Emily a few questions but nothing exciting. The customs in China was actually much easier to get through than I expected - there were just a few stops: one took a form, one stamped the passport, one took another form. The first two flights were fast and the long one was fun because we each had a video screen on the seat in front of us to play with. It had TV show episodes and movies to watch. Emily and I watched Adventureland together, then I watched Anvil!: The Story of Anvil, and we started 17 Again but didn't finish before we landed. We were given many meals and drinks as well!! We were picked up by a driver and a worker from the school in a normal sized car so Emily and I ended up squeezing in the backseat with a few of our bags. The ride was about 2.5 hours.
We are in our apartments now - each has a bathroom (a toilet and a "shower"...you can kind of just stand next to the toilet and get water on you hahaha), a walkway from the bathroom with a table & small washer & sink, and the kitchen has a minifridge microwave & cabinets. The big rooms come equipped with a TV (some weird drinking game then karaoke were both on earlier), two phones (i think one might work for international and one for the school but not sure yet), a PC (that's what I am using right now!), a bed, a nightstand and two chairs.
I already knew twitter and facebook were blocked but sadly it looks like blogger is as well. This means I will not be able to write in my blog for now. I may keep trying or look for an alternative but as of now e-mailing me is the best way to contact me. I do not know how to get the internet on my laptop to work and the computer in my room is in Chinese (but the internet can be used in English!). Surprisingly I am not THAT tired right now (it is a 12 hour difference so I am writing this at around 9:40pm my time, 9:40am your time) because I slept in the car from the airport and on the planes. I AM a little hungry but my parents made sure I had plenty of snacks in my backpack!
Tomorrow Emily and I should be meeting up with one of Kim's friends who will show us the cellphone store. Kim's room is 401 and diagonal from Emily's. Kim will be back from Russia on the 29th. Emily is in room 405 and I am in 305 - so directly one floor apart.
That's all for now. I haven't even started to unpack but I will probably have a snack, shower, watch a DVD and sleep.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Hello All
Hello all...
I thought my blog would not work as I can not access blogger. However!, my brother set up my account so I can e-mail my posts and they should show up on my blog. This will take a little getting used to because I can not edit my posts (like I did about 3 times per post before I left...well not the final one when I was half asleep and not really making sense).
Wanted to let you all know that I made it safely to China with Emily and we are glad to have each other. We pretty much just figured out how the PCs in our rooms work so we could e-mail then watched Family Guy and went to bed. She slept over so we weren't lonely going to bed or waking up! (her AC started leaking and peeing on her bed too though haha).
As I write this it is 9:23pm Monday night in New York & Massachusetts but it is 9:23am Tuesday morning here. Isn't that weird?!?! Today at 4pm our time, we are meeting up with one of Kim's friends who said he will show us the cellphone store and help us purchase Chinese cellphones! Exciting!
I am kind of missing my cellphone for texting right now but having Emily hear makes it easier. The only thing I really want is something to drink! I have snacks galore (thanks mom and dad!).
My parents put a little fake lizard in my DVD case which surprised me and almost made me cry because it was a touch of home. We have passed it around to my Aunt Peggy in East Berne and my Aunt Shirley in Atlanta - now it's in China! It also reminds me of that spider my Aunt Mary Jo left at our house once and we sent to Michael another time. Maybe my lizard will get a name and get to travel to the Great Wall?!
Hope you all sleep well as I enjoy my first full day... testing testing..
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I Would Dig a Hole All the Way to China
I should be sleeping. The first flight leaves in less than 7 hours. Can you believe it?! Because I certainly can't! As I should be sleeping right now, I will explain what I am doing up and "blogging." I thought I would share with you all (Hi, Mom and Dad) what kind of tough research of China I have been conducting. I've been reading, watching movies, and listening to music!!!
I have read and skimmed books like Culture & Etiquette in China and Culture Guide & Phrase Book. Of course, a novel caught my attention as well. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is an interesting book about two sisters living a wealthy, carefree life in 1930s Shanghai. You can feel the tension within the family in every line. May is the beloved, beautiful daughter; Pearl is the narrator you feel for. And that's all in the first chapter! I don't want to give anything else away because a lot of crazy stuff happens. Not to mention I actually didn't finish it.
Films provide a great source of entertainment and history too! Here is a list of Chinese movies I viewed this summer: Farewell, My Concubine (theatre, history, war!); Blind Shift (indie film about economic hardships); Raise the Red Lantern (don't be a Chinese woman in the 1920s!); Eat Drink Man Woman (the original Tortilla Soup, family/food story); Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (cultural revolution and romance); and The Last Emperor (Puyi!). If I wasn't exhausted and going to wake up in several hours for my flights, I would go more in depth on each of these movies. However, let me say they were all enjoyable, especially being able to listen to Mandarin and learn some Chinese culture and history.
Hold on a second here. Read this article about historical movies. I know a lot of films take liberties with facts so it really is a tragedy "students remember Hollywood fiction versus historical fact!" Personally, I just had fun with Chinese movies and got more of a feel for the landscape, food, traditions, and general history. I am sure I will learn much more in the upcoming months.
Personally, I love immersing myself in other cultures through books and films...and music! This is where I failed though. I do not know any great Chinese pop singers or groups! Katie Bodnar DID play a fun Chinese pop song for Marcelle, Emily and I in the car this week (during our epic ride home from Sarah Holman's graduation party! I loved being insane with my closest friends one more time!). Music will DEFINITELY be something I want to learn about from my students. Upon returning from my month in Ecuador, I blasted Juanes and Belanova in the car. A year from now I will add Chinese music to my playlists.
What I did look up was what American songs are about China. My search yielded very little but I found some great lyrics from the Dave Matthews Band. The first few lines of their song "Dreamgirl" are:
I would dig a hole all the way to China
unless of course I was there
and I'd dig my way home.
The song isn't really about China....but those few lines resonated with me! Hahaha. Everytime I am homesick in China those lyrics will pop in my head. I have attached the video to this song right here if you want to watch it (Julia Roberts is in it! weird!).
I really need to get a few hours of sleep...
I have read and skimmed books like Culture & Etiquette in China and Culture Guide & Phrase Book. Of course, a novel caught my attention as well. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See is an interesting book about two sisters living a wealthy, carefree life in 1930s Shanghai. You can feel the tension within the family in every line. May is the beloved, beautiful daughter; Pearl is the narrator you feel for. And that's all in the first chapter! I don't want to give anything else away because a lot of crazy stuff happens. Not to mention I actually didn't finish it.
Films provide a great source of entertainment and history too! Here is a list of Chinese movies I viewed this summer: Farewell, My Concubine (theatre, history, war!); Blind Shift (indie film about economic hardships); Raise the Red Lantern (don't be a Chinese woman in the 1920s!); Eat Drink Man Woman (the original Tortilla Soup, family/food story); Balzac & The Little Chinese Seamstress (cultural revolution and romance); and The Last Emperor (Puyi!). If I wasn't exhausted and going to wake up in several hours for my flights, I would go more in depth on each of these movies. However, let me say they were all enjoyable, especially being able to listen to Mandarin and learn some Chinese culture and history.
Hold on a second here. Read this article about historical movies. I know a lot of films take liberties with facts so it really is a tragedy "students remember Hollywood fiction versus historical fact!" Personally, I just had fun with Chinese movies and got more of a feel for the landscape, food, traditions, and general history. I am sure I will learn much more in the upcoming months.
Personally, I love immersing myself in other cultures through books and films...and music! This is where I failed though. I do not know any great Chinese pop singers or groups! Katie Bodnar DID play a fun Chinese pop song for Marcelle, Emily and I in the car this week (during our epic ride home from Sarah Holman's graduation party! I loved being insane with my closest friends one more time!). Music will DEFINITELY be something I want to learn about from my students. Upon returning from my month in Ecuador, I blasted Juanes and Belanova in the car. A year from now I will add Chinese music to my playlists.
What I did look up was what American songs are about China. My search yielded very little but I found some great lyrics from the Dave Matthews Band. The first few lines of their song "Dreamgirl" are:
I would dig a hole all the way to China
unless of course I was there
and I'd dig my way home.
The song isn't really about China....but those few lines resonated with me! Hahaha. Everytime I am homesick in China those lyrics will pop in my head. I have attached the video to this song right here if you want to watch it (Julia Roberts is in it! weird!).
I really need to get a few hours of sleep...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Bad Body Double
Okay, today it feels real. Like really real. A week from now, I will be in my own apartment in Baoding, China. A week later, I will begin teaching college classes (who knew it was this easy to graduate from college then turn around and teach people your age?). Of course I am nervous about all of this; however, I see it more as an 'adventive adventure' than something to be afraid of.
Now let me tell you the silliest reason I had the tiniest inkling to leave for China three or so days later than I am. Imogen Heap, my favorite musician, releases her third solo album Tuesday, August 25th. Ellipse, my most anticipated album EVER!, already sounds fantastic because Immi has made two of the songs available for download (First Train Home and Canvas). Ok...I'll come back to Ellipse later. Back to my last Monday in the USA...
Admittedly, what started out as a boring day turned into an emotionally eventful one for me. I tried on clothes, tossing aside pants I have not worn in ages, and stored my hammock, SAC chair, and didgeridoo in my closet. Finally, I found enough energy to dress for the day and had lunch with my mom and Aunt Peggy at Chili's. After, we shopped at Wal-mart for all the last minute things I need to pack for China. I started getting grumpy and exhausted (okay...I went to bed at 2am after finding 30 second clips of Imogen's new songs. My slight headache right now as I write is probably a direct result of this lack of sleep too). My emotional rollercoaster of the day continued as I had to say goodbye to my Aunt Peggy (knowing I won't be able to be with my family for almost a year is a tought idea to wrap my head around). Umm, so, the other thing that happened to me today was the fact that I fell down the stairs...while eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (covered in the last of our reese's shell, mind you!). I gracefully missed two steps and walked away unscathed except for a hurt toe and butt cheek. Wait...why am I sharing this again?
I actually did have a good day spending time with my mom and going out to eat with my aunt. It's just that saying bye to a close family member and buying everything left on my list made the idea of me leaving the country sink in. Two things definitely picked up my spirits though. My parents and I watched Hotel for Dogs this afternoon. It surprised me with how much I actually enjoyed it but I would have been just fine watching all the little puppies run around for 100 minutes! (okay, they are not 'puppies' per se, but I call dogs of all sizes and ages 'puppies'). The second pick-me-up is the fact Imogen Heap is streaming her full album online right now!
See, I knew what I was doing when I mentioned Imogen Heap's upcoming album earlier, hahaha. Does it sound like I am obsessed at this point? I am listening to the album as I write this blog. The song 'Bad Body Double' just finished playing and it is currently my favorite. Even though I haven't even listened to every song. The whole idea of the song is how we each have a 'bad body double' aka a negative self image of our bodies and he/she shows up every once in a while. My favorite lyric is "We look very similar, except she's got some greys, and a little extra weight on the sides, and dimply thighs."
We all go through phases of being body concious but I thought maybe each of our 'bad body doubles' could even go as far as to summarize all of our negative thoughts, fears, and anxieties. Sure, I have a "bad body double" full of nerves about everything attached to teaching for a year in China. I think I analyzed some of those pretty well in my first blog. However, the best moments in our lives are when we have plenty of fears yet still follow the path we know we are meant to follow. This often brings us to our grandest memories. I hope you keep this in mind the next time you are on the verge of taking a plunge into an exciting and 'adventive adventure.'
Personally, I can already see my "bad body double" (full of negative thoughts and anxieties) disappearing as I walk off the plane in Beijing.
This time, I leave you with Imogen Heap's third solo album, Ellipse, streaming in full online.
Now let me tell you the silliest reason I had the tiniest inkling to leave for China three or so days later than I am. Imogen Heap, my favorite musician, releases her third solo album Tuesday, August 25th. Ellipse, my most anticipated album EVER!, already sounds fantastic because Immi has made two of the songs available for download (First Train Home and Canvas). Ok...I'll come back to Ellipse later. Back to my last Monday in the USA...
Admittedly, what started out as a boring day turned into an emotionally eventful one for me. I tried on clothes, tossing aside pants I have not worn in ages, and stored my hammock, SAC chair, and didgeridoo in my closet. Finally, I found enough energy to dress for the day and had lunch with my mom and Aunt Peggy at Chili's. After, we shopped at Wal-mart for all the last minute things I need to pack for China. I started getting grumpy and exhausted (okay...I went to bed at 2am after finding 30 second clips of Imogen's new songs. My slight headache right now as I write is probably a direct result of this lack of sleep too). My emotional rollercoaster of the day continued as I had to say goodbye to my Aunt Peggy (knowing I won't be able to be with my family for almost a year is a tought idea to wrap my head around). Umm, so, the other thing that happened to me today was the fact that I fell down the stairs...while eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (covered in the last of our reese's shell, mind you!). I gracefully missed two steps and walked away unscathed except for a hurt toe and butt cheek. Wait...why am I sharing this again?
I actually did have a good day spending time with my mom and going out to eat with my aunt. It's just that saying bye to a close family member and buying everything left on my list made the idea of me leaving the country sink in. Two things definitely picked up my spirits though. My parents and I watched Hotel for Dogs this afternoon. It surprised me with how much I actually enjoyed it but I would have been just fine watching all the little puppies run around for 100 minutes! (okay, they are not 'puppies' per se, but I call dogs of all sizes and ages 'puppies'). The second pick-me-up is the fact Imogen Heap is streaming her full album online right now!
See, I knew what I was doing when I mentioned Imogen Heap's upcoming album earlier, hahaha. Does it sound like I am obsessed at this point? I am listening to the album as I write this blog. The song 'Bad Body Double' just finished playing and it is currently my favorite. Even though I haven't even listened to every song. The whole idea of the song is how we each have a 'bad body double' aka a negative self image of our bodies and he/she shows up every once in a while. My favorite lyric is "We look very similar, except she's got some greys, and a little extra weight on the sides, and dimply thighs."
We all go through phases of being body concious but I thought maybe each of our 'bad body doubles' could even go as far as to summarize all of our negative thoughts, fears, and anxieties. Sure, I have a "bad body double" full of nerves about everything attached to teaching for a year in China. I think I analyzed some of those pretty well in my first blog. However, the best moments in our lives are when we have plenty of fears yet still follow the path we know we are meant to follow. This often brings us to our grandest memories. I hope you keep this in mind the next time you are on the verge of taking a plunge into an exciting and 'adventive adventure.'
Personally, I can already see my "bad body double" (full of negative thoughts and anxieties) disappearing as I walk off the plane in Beijing.
This time, I leave you with Imogen Heap's third solo album, Ellipse, streaming in full online.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
It's a Small World
My parents took my brother and I to Disney World in Florida when he was 9 years old and I was 4 years old. The two rides they always reminisce about around me are the Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World. Why, you ask? I cried the whole time I was on the Haunted Mansion ride; I clapped and giggled the whole time I was on the 'Small World' ride. See! I loved the world and every culture even when I was 4.
Everything I've learned from traveling so far tells me it really IS a small world. A large street market looks the same in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Barcelona, Spain. Mountain ranges provide beautiful views, whether it's the Adirondacks or the Andes. So far, my journeys have taught me first hand each country has something special but all are more similar than I could have imagined. At the core, at least, people are people. It doesn't matter where they live. Hey, my "Ecuadorian mother" that housed me for a month reminded me of my very own Nana!
Speaking of Disney...did you know there is a Hong Kong Disneyland?! The description of the street entertainment in Main Street USA boasts, "Enjoy the simple pleasure of pure, sweet American feel-good nostalgia." If you check out the interactive map you will soon realize "American feel-good nostalgia" translates to a marching band in Hong Kong.
By the way, if I do end up going to Hong Kong Disneyland, I am definitely taking a ride on "It's a Small World."
Oh, and do not worry, you mainland Chinese! China and Disney came to agreements this year which will lead to a Shanghai Disneyland in 2014. Yay!
I will post at least once more before I leave for China. I have plenty of movies, music, and books I've been "preparing" with that I will discuss! (Ooops...I forgot to watch Disney's Mulan).
For now, I leave you with a young Singaporean girl singing "It's a Small World." Click here to watch the adorable video.
Everything I've learned from traveling so far tells me it really IS a small world. A large street market looks the same in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Barcelona, Spain. Mountain ranges provide beautiful views, whether it's the Adirondacks or the Andes. So far, my journeys have taught me first hand each country has something special but all are more similar than I could have imagined. At the core, at least, people are people. It doesn't matter where they live. Hey, my "Ecuadorian mother" that housed me for a month reminded me of my very own Nana!
Speaking of Disney...did you know there is a Hong Kong Disneyland?! The description of the street entertainment in Main Street USA boasts, "Enjoy the simple pleasure of pure, sweet American feel-good nostalgia." If you check out the interactive map you will soon realize "American feel-good nostalgia" translates to a marching band in Hong Kong.
By the way, if I do end up going to Hong Kong Disneyland, I am definitely taking a ride on "It's a Small World."
Oh, and do not worry, you mainland Chinese! China and Disney came to agreements this year which will lead to a Shanghai Disneyland in 2014. Yay!
I will post at least once more before I leave for China. I have plenty of movies, music, and books I've been "preparing" with that I will discuss! (Ooops...I forgot to watch Disney's Mulan).
For now, I leave you with a young Singaporean girl singing "It's a Small World." Click here to watch the adorable video.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Not Now But Soon
This is my first ever blog entry! I hope to keep up with it as a way for friends and family in the USA to keep up with my silly activities in China throughout the year. I am also imagining myself looking back a year from now reading stories and laughing, reliving each day over again. So, blogs are pretty selfish, huh? I am going to write about "me, me, me" for a whole year, hoping you read it and if not I will still read it myself. Because it's all about me. Haha, no I really hope this is a good way to keep in contact with everyone back home.
Anyways, let me explain the title of my blog. According to the Free Online Dictionary (already being frugal for my upcoming trip), adventive is defined as, "not native to and not fully established in a new habitat or environment." The thesaurus on the website provides the synonyms "foreign" and "strange." Oh and...is adventive even a word? A few online dictionaries included the word in their database but spellcheck does not seem to agree, haha. Well...these coming months will be my own 'Adventive Adventure.'
This blog itself is adventive to me. Hopefully, I will become more accustomed to writing out my thoughts to no one in particular. Oh and please leave comments! Now, onto this entry...
Not Now But Soon
I am not leaving for Hebei University today...but it sure is soon. I leave in 11 days. Can you believe it? I can't. I am in that mindset of knowing I am leaving very soon but my head has not really wrapped around the fact that, in less than two weeks, I will be in CHINA. That huge country beloved by Senator McCarthy. Wait...I'm going to CHINA?! Look at this picture of a random street in China:
Those aren't even letters on those signs! I have no idea what that says! What am I going to do?! I graduated from college with a minor in SPANISH. Also...never took any education classes. I am hoping my blood has a love for teaching in it - I mean approximately 50.5% of my relatives are teachers. I DID say this was going to be an adventure....
Really though, I am more excited and eager than anything else. These worries are real but I knew what I was signing up for. If I graduated college and signed up for anything other than a crazy experience, I would be disappointed in myself. In fact, the process of preparing to leave for China has had its share of trials. Multiple trips to multiple doctors to fill out one health form, stressful research for the 'perfect' airline ticket, and obtaining that damn visa. But I somehow already know it will all be worth it.
Engulfing myself in other cultures, cities, foods, music....this is what I want. As a kid (because I'm so old now), I thought of visiting each continent by the end of my lifetime. At the age of 22, I will have reached my 6th country, 4th continent. When asked what my goals are or "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" I always struggled but know if I am a jolly, old man with memories of foreign nations, hilarious friends and family, I will have succeeded.
As I have stated, writing a blog is new and 'adventive' to me. I am not sure what I am 'supposed' to say. Don't fret, my blog entries after landing in China will include wild and crazy stories. PG-13 rated, of course.
Anyone have any fun suggestions for my blog? Comment and let me know! For example, I thought I would choose a song as the title for this entry. Look below.
song of the moment:
Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap.
sample lyrics:
"Not now but soon
the most beautiful light
will wake us to pillow fighting excitement
Not now but soon
right into every corner
satellites maneuvering beams of change
Standing by the best days of our lives
Magnificent, the best days of our lives."
I thought I'd add a video clip of this song in case you have never heard it: Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap
Anyways, let me explain the title of my blog. According to the Free Online Dictionary (already being frugal for my upcoming trip), adventive is defined as, "not native to and not fully established in a new habitat or environment." The thesaurus on the website provides the synonyms "foreign" and "strange." Oh and...is adventive even a word? A few online dictionaries included the word in their database but spellcheck does not seem to agree, haha. Well...these coming months will be my own 'Adventive Adventure.'
This blog itself is adventive to me. Hopefully, I will become more accustomed to writing out my thoughts to no one in particular. Oh and please leave comments! Now, onto this entry...
Not Now But Soon
I am not leaving for Hebei University today...but it sure is soon. I leave in 11 days. Can you believe it? I can't. I am in that mindset of knowing I am leaving very soon but my head has not really wrapped around the fact that, in less than two weeks, I will be in CHINA. That huge country beloved by Senator McCarthy. Wait...I'm going to CHINA?! Look at this picture of a random street in China:
Those aren't even letters on those signs! I have no idea what that says! What am I going to do?! I graduated from college with a minor in SPANISH. Also...never took any education classes. I am hoping my blood has a love for teaching in it - I mean approximately 50.5% of my relatives are teachers. I DID say this was going to be an adventure....Really though, I am more excited and eager than anything else. These worries are real but I knew what I was signing up for. If I graduated college and signed up for anything other than a crazy experience, I would be disappointed in myself. In fact, the process of preparing to leave for China has had its share of trials. Multiple trips to multiple doctors to fill out one health form, stressful research for the 'perfect' airline ticket, and obtaining that damn visa. But I somehow already know it will all be worth it.
Engulfing myself in other cultures, cities, foods, music....this is what I want. As a kid (because I'm so old now), I thought of visiting each continent by the end of my lifetime. At the age of 22, I will have reached my 6th country, 4th continent. When asked what my goals are or "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" I always struggled but know if I am a jolly, old man with memories of foreign nations, hilarious friends and family, I will have succeeded.
As I have stated, writing a blog is new and 'adventive' to me. I am not sure what I am 'supposed' to say. Don't fret, my blog entries after landing in China will include wild and crazy stories. PG-13 rated, of course.
Anyone have any fun suggestions for my blog? Comment and let me know! For example, I thought I would choose a song as the title for this entry. Look below.
song of the moment:
Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap.
sample lyrics:
"Not now but soon
the most beautiful light
will wake us to pillow fighting excitement
Not now but soon
right into every corner
satellites maneuvering beams of change
Standing by the best days of our lives
Magnificent, the best days of our lives."
I thought I'd add a video clip of this song in case you have never heard it: Not Now but Soon by Imogen Heap
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