Dog Day

Today is December 22nd, the winter solstice, or Dog Day. This is when
people in China believe eating dog is lucky. Of course, this is
disturbing to many Westerners. Still, many people have dogs as pets
here that they dress up in little coats and shoes. It seems quite
strange.

Zunyi

Pictures to accompany this entry:
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7678tw5
Don't miss my ever witty captions at the bottom of each photo....

On Tuesday, one of our days off, a couple of our Chinese staff wanted
to take a day trip to Zunyi. Zunyi is a smaller city about 2 hours
away by bus, and it is where the other branch of our English school is
located. You may remember way back in September when the Zunyi staff
came to visit and we went to Huaxi Park, swimming in the river? Well,
it is the second biggest city in Guizhou after Guiyang (remember a
"small" city in China still has millions of people), and some Chinese
people know Zunyi and don't know Guiyang because Zunyi has a famous
Communist site- the meeting place where Mao Zedong was elected head of
the Communist party (um, I think that's what the meeting was- don't
quote me on that if I'm wrong). Anyways, it has historical
significance to Chinese people.

So Spring, Weiyi, Matt, Chris, Garry and I got on the bus on a cold
morning. Once we arrived, Weiyi's Aunt (who we were all told to call
Gugu, Chinese for Auntie) was our guide. When someone's Chinese
relative is hosting you in any form, you know they will insist on
paying for everything. Gugu took us to a restaurant since we were all
starving by the time we arrived. Really really good food. There was
lots of it too. Sweet and sour breaded fish, which was amazing. A hash
brown pie, pork and green peppers, green beans and pork, lamb soup and
soybeans, some kind of sweet rice cake. That definitely hit the spot.

Then we were off to see the famous Communist sites. The actual
building where the meeting took place was closed, which was kind of
lame. There were lots of buildings, a museum with photos, statues, and
"so and sos bedroom." Overall a bit boring. And not that old, since
this was in 1935. Next, we headed to see Zunyi Interlingua School.
Huang Min, our boss, was there, but none of the foreign staff were
working. We then toured the school. It's huge! Compared to our school.
It's 4 floors to themselves. Every teacher gets their own classroom
(here we all share and switch rooms depending on which age we teach).
They also run a "kindergarten," which is 2 and 3 year olds. Those kids
were there- they are so so cute! It's more like a daycare with half an
hour of English from a foreign teacher every day (can kids that young
learn English? dunno). Also, their teachers' office has couches. So
jealous.

Zunyi has a few streets built to look like the old style buildings,
with shopping. Of course, these buildings are rebuilt, but it's still
nice looking. On these streets you can buy a specialty- chicken cakes.
Yes, it's a small cake. That tastes like chicken. No actual chicken in
it. Why? I don't know. It's weird. We walked around a city square, fed
some koi fish in a pond, and then went to a Red Army memorial which
involved climbing a billion stairs. Of course, as always in China, I
was huffing and puffing while grandmas and small children ran past me.

After I almost died because apparently I'm in terrible shape, we
walked by the river. Then we saw a man down by the river. Stretching.
Then he took off his clothes. He was wearing a speedo. Then he put on
goggles. And jumped in the river. Did I mention it was freezing
outside? He proceeded to do laps while we gaped at the edge of the
river, along with other random passers by.

We ate a local specialty for dinner- lamb with rice noodles. At a
famous place- as with many famous restaurants in China, this was a
back alley with plastic stools. It's okay, I've had it before. Put
lots of chili and vinegar for flavor and you're good to go. After that
we headed back to the bus station, hugged Gugu goodbye, and went home.

I could have been placed at Zunyi. It's all American teachers and
mostly girls. Zunyi has some cute shopping areas and many of the same
stores and comforts of Guiyang. In the end I'm glad I'm at Guiyang. I
like it here, and I enjoy being friends with the guys- my crazy
British co-workers. Zunyi also looked a bit bleak, which to be fair
was probably due to the time of the year. Chris visited in summer and
said it seemed a lot nicer.

Speaking of bleak, it's freezing today. Literally. Cold, windy, and no
central heating. Luckily I can get my little room quite warm and cozy.
I have candles, Christmas music, and hot milk tea. and lesson planning
to do...

P.S. I will try to post some group pictures of this trip from a
friend's camera soon.

The Back of my New Moon DVD

English Competition

After my Thursday in Qing Yan Ancient Town (see last entry), that
weekend of work we had an English competition. It was on Saturday. We
choose our best 3 students from each class and they have to answer
some questions on stage. I still had to teach all day but it was so
exciting to see all my favorite students on Saturday! They all wanted
to say hi to me, and they were really cute. It was a bit unfair
though- like the categories were too broad. Some of my Starter class
(4 year olds) who just started English were in with Longman 2b level,
which could be up to 10 or 11 years old. Apparently this is just round
one, there is another competition with the winners in each category.

You might be surprised, or maybe not, but Twilight is very popular
with my students. Since I like it (the British guys aren't really into
the vampire trend), I talk to them about it lots. I bought a DVD copy
of New Moon, which I'm hoping is decent quality. It's so funny, they
all know Robert Pattinson and stuff.

Time seriously flies here. I can't believe I've been here for 4
months! It's ridiculous. I am trying to figure out some fun Christmas
activities for this month to do in my classes. They love Christmas
here. I will try to get some more pictures of my students. They are
really really cute. Of course, holiday time makes me miss my friends
and family lots. I'm hoping we can do something fun for Christmas here
(although I don't know if it can beat my Hong Kong Christmas- well,
you guys who were there know ;-). By now, I'm definitely close friends
with the guys and hopefully we can all find something cool to do
together.

Qing Yan Ancient Town

Last Thursday, my day off, Yang Haiyang (one of my Chinese teachers)
took me to Qing Yan ancient town. We went with one of her friends from
university, a girl named Jessica who is a Guiyang local. She is really
funny and speaks pretty good English.

Getting there was a bit of a trip. First we took a mini bus to Huaxi,
a park outside of the city. I haven't taken the minibus in Guiyang
before, so that was interesting. They try to cram as many people in as
possible. Also, whenever they pass a crossing with a cop they ask
everyone who's standing to duck. Oh man, one of those "only in China"
experiences. After that, we switched to a different minibus which
drove along slowly with a woman shouting "Qing Yan!" out the door,
trying to get people who want to go to the ancient town.

The ancient town itself has old style buildings and stairs, and nice
views of the mountains and a much more "countryside" feel. Check out
my pictures from the last entry! First them we did was try some
specialty foods. One is pig's feet. My Chinese friends were excited
for this treat. I'm, even now, not that used to eating things where
you have to pick off of the bone. The little bit of meat is good, and
there is some fatty skin. I also had something that's hard to
describe- it's rose flavored porridge with peanuts and other stuff.
That I really enjoyed, it was tasty and sweet and like eating a
flower.

The town is definitely touristy, although we didn't go on the weekend
so it wasn't so crowded and I was the only foreigner. The shopping was
quite fun, as there are a lot of Chinese crafts and especially crafts
of the minority people in Guiyang, and some Guizhou province
specialties, like the vats of chilies that you could sample. Also
cowboy hats- why? I don't know. I bought some earrings especially. The
shopping is a bit cheaper than in the city.

One specialty seems to be these rose flower flavored candies. I bought
some of those. There is also this candy they sell everywhere. They
flatten it with these giant mallets, and it is nutty- sort of an
inside-of-a-butterfingers texture. Kate, you know what I'm talking
about- I brought you some as a gift!

There was also archery everywhere. As you probably know, I taught
archery at summer camp for 3 summers so I was excited. I tried it out-
their equipment was sort of bad. But they could probably tell that I
knew what I was doing! After that, we went to the temple and the girls
showed me how to pray. Also, outside of the temple, random people took
pictures of me. This happens to me plenty, but my Chinese friends were
quite surprised (and maybe a little embarassed it).

There were a few wedding photos going on too, which was pretty. You'll
see in my photos the fields in the background around late afternoon.
Yang Haiyang and I ended our day back in the city eating Xinjiang
handmade noodles, which I always enjoy.

Qing Yan Ancient Town Photos

Here is the page with the photos:
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivpf5vvk7

blog entry to follow...

A Chinese Thanksgiving

I'll admit, I was a bit sad about the prospect of my first
Thanksgiving ever without turkey. Even in Hong Kong, we could get
Thanksgiving dinner- and introduce Thanksgiving to our foreign
friends. Which was definitely a great Thanksgiving.

Here, I had the day off except for a Chinese lesson. Yang Haiying
chose to take me to the Antiques Market, which was great. A random big
building with lots of little antique shops- mostly jade, or
calligraphy paintings. This one shop showed me a very long scroll- it
was the four seasons that they could only show me one season at a
time, due to it's huge size. It was a mountain scene, but all
connected together, and flowing from one season to the next. gorgeous!
Painted by an 80 year old man who has been painting since he was 8
years old, and who took 6 months to paint the scene. Another highlight
was finding a shop with violins hanging. I told them I played and
asked if I could try one. The old guy there played me some folk songs
he knew, by ear, and I played a bit (very rusty, haven't played in
months!) and even tried some music. He was really nice and very funny-
said the only English he knew was "please come in" and "very good." We
went around the market, which included a pet area with fish and
hamsters, tea shops, and stores I would classify as "random crap." One
store owner seemed excited to direct me toward batiks with Jesus and
other religious scenes- very weird. Because I am a foreigner I
suppose?

The market was quite cool and not something I can say I might have
found on my own. Maybe I'll head back there when I have some more
money saved up, because there's real jade and some good quality
paintings there.

I celebrated Thanksgiving in my own way by watching the Thanksgiving
episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and "Slapsgiving" of How I Met Your
Mother. I'm also doing some Thanksgiving activities in my classes.
Since my family and friends are quite fond of board games, I am trying
to play a version of "Imaginiff" in my older class. I think it will be
fun since we all know each other somewhat by now.

Then I asked all the teachers at the school to eat dinner with me.
After some discussion, we decided to move Dumpling Friday to Thursday
for a special Thanksgiving. This seemed appropriate to me since
Thanksgiving is all about bonding, and Fridays are our bonding time
over good food. We got our usual favorite dishes as well as a pumpkin
dish. It was this sort of crazy basket filled with pumpkin, corn,
meat, and pancakes. Somehow seemed very "Thanksgiving."

Certainly, I missed my friends and family on Thanksgiving. And having
a real T-day dinner. But, cheesily, I gotta say that I am thankful for
the guys at the school- they are good friends. And my Chinese
teachers. I also am employed in a job I like in a place I like. life
could be worse!

Still Exploring

These two days off after our long weekend of teaching always seem to
fly by much too fast. Luckily, it's been sunny and much warmer here-
even getting up into the 60s, which is quite nice considering the
highs barely in the 30s. I walked around quite a bit and did some
shopping. Of course, grocery shopping is never mundane in China- as I
was checking out, the old lady behind me looked through my entire
basket of stuff I was buying, even picking up and touching things. I
was buying cereal, a very foreign product, at Walmart, to be fair.
Then, I found the shelf of English books at the Foreign Languages
Bookstore, which a pretty random selection of books- mostly classics
and a few other things. I bought Freakonomics, which I've been wanting
to read for a while. It was certainly a better selection than I
thought it would be, although I'm pretty sure it's the only place to
buy English books in the city. After that, I went to a place I'd never
been- Momo Tea. I really should try to go more places, but when I'm by
myself I find myself reluctant to try and find somewhere new where I
can order/has an English or picture menu. But this is a great
discovery! It's a Taiwanese style tea place, and they also have lots
of snack and dinner foods- including sandwiches, Thai, and Korean
foods. Plus, the waiter was super excited to see me- he spoke some
English, so I could order really easily.

Otherwise, I've been attempting to start my lesson plans for
Thanksgiving weekend, and plan my big vacation in February. I will
probably be meeting up with Kate and Siggy from the 14-23, in Hong
Kong and the Philippines. If anyone will be in Hong Kong then let me
know! Or if anyone will be in Asia from Feb 1-14- I will probably be
traveling by myself during that time. It's hard to decide where to
go-so many possibilities! I am thinking about Malaysia/Thailand, or
maybe Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. I might join a tour to meet people,
still deciding. I love planning these vacations though- it's so nice
to have something exciting to look forward to!

I can't believe it's almost Wednesday- tomorrow morning I have Chinese
lessons and teach my starter class. sigh.

My Liveblog of "Samantha Brown in Beijing"

I am on The Travel Channel's mailing list. You may know that I am
obsessed with the Travel Channel- mostly for Anthony Bourdain's show.
Today they told me that I could get a free Travel Channel Episode,
which as it turns out is Samantha Brown in Beijing. Samantha Brown
hasn't done Asia before. Her show is more the cheery American goes to
see touristy stuff, while Bourdain's is more the digging deeper-eat
street food- get drunk with locals type. But it's turning out to be
totally entertaining.

First she visited the hutongs in Beijing. These are the old school
alley ways that you can only reach by pedicab. This brings me back to
my high school trip, when Zoe and I shared a pedicab and our entire
orchestra had a fleet of them. But man, Samantha Brown speaking
Chinese really boosts my self esteem. At least I somewhat try to do
tones! Her "duo shao qian" (how much?) made me laugh pretty hard. And
apparently, her pedicab cost 200, which seems like a ripoff. Not that
I know how much mine cost 8 years ago but it was probably like 200 for
all of us.

Also, she was explaining how the subway is easier to use post-Olympics
because there is so much English now. There's English everywhere in
Guiyang too! But I'd like to see her try to navigate the squeaky,
bumpy, crowded Guiyang bus system. Oh, wait, she just was trying to
buy a subway ticket- "yi ge" means one! Come on Samantha, that's what
you want!

I'm totally jealous that Sam is wearing tube tops and shorts.
Especially since I was just outside, where everyone has on ridiculous
coats, scarves, and cartoon character earmuffs. And we're still cold!

Now she's in the Forbidden City. She can't believe how large it is. As
high schoolers, we quickly got over our sense of wonder and felt like
we were in a never-ending land that kept repeating itself- it all kind
of looks the same. Oh guess what? I know the pipa song that is
playing- does that make me a Chinese music nerd?

Oh yes, she's in the Peking Duck restaurant! That is a good memory.
They just said "gambei," which they claimed is "cheers" but is really
more like "bottoms up!" As in, down your whole glass. Well, I have to
give Sam credit for eating duck's tongue- never had it. Although I've
had ox tongue, which is not a weird flavor but it's more the texture.
Because there's a tongue already in your mouth. Ooo, a behind the
scenes on the cooking of the duck, in fireplaces.

I'm starting to realize that the Great Wall was not so crowded when I
climbed it. Maybe because it was rainy? Although I do remember both
small children and old people practically running by me, which was
upsetting as I huffed and puffed. Although I gotta recommend the Great
Wall- seeing it is cool, but climbing it gives you such a sense of
accomplishment.

Samantha just tried fried starfish. It looked hilarious at the end of
a stick. All of my HK friends who went to Beijing had scorpion at that
night market, I think. Well, that's the end. I don't know how long
this is free on iTunes but I'll recommend it! A good intro to China!

Chinese Calligraphy (back into my life!)

Today, for my Chinese lesson, Yang Haiying and her friend from
university taught me Chinese calligraphy. We only did the numbers, for
about an hour, but believe me, doing the strokes properly is much,
much harder than it looks. Back in the day, when I was maybe ages
8-12? I had a Chinese calligraphy kit with an instructional book and
brushes and stuff. It was a pretty decent set and a pretty quality
book, I realize now. I mostly did bamboo and flowers and stuff. But it
did teach my some basics about strokes. Like the number 1 (yi) may
just look like one line. It's so much more than that though. You have
to get used to holding the brush straight up, rather than slanted. and
applying the right amount of pressure at the right angle. Plus, it's
all really quite mathematical- the placement of the strokes within a
box. So I definitely appreciate the beauty in good calligraphy.
Especially the script-ish version that Haiying's friend was able to
do. Who knew though, when I was a weird kid who taught herself Chinese
calligraphy when she was 8, that I would be doing it in China now?
It's really fun though. I have to admit, I enjoy it a lot more than
speaking. Plus practicing speaking takes a lot of guts, where
calligraphy just takes lots of concentration. So hopefully I will do
some more next week.

Otherwise, it's my last full day off before the work weekend. And it's
still freezing. It makes it difficult not to stay in bed all day,
curled up with my space heater and a book/laptop. Alas, I must do all
my lesson plans.

Ice Cold!

It is freezing cold here in Guiyang. Like, even I know what 0 degrees
Celsius is. There is no central heating either. So the school gets
pretty cold- we have heaters in all the rooms. And space heaters. But
it's still cold. I have the coolest Guiyang fashion though- Hello
Kitty quilted pajamas. They are ridiculous, I love it.

Due to the cold, I don't have much to report because I can't say I've
been up to much. Now we're into another work week- those days off sure
fly by. Since I am the only American at my school, I'm the only one
who really cares about Thanksgiving, and probably the most I'll get to
do for it is have my students make hand turkeys. I do love the food
here, mostly, but I will miss having a Thanksgiving dinner.

Otherwise, I am just starting to brainstorm ideas and plans for my big
Chinese New Year vacation. Especially at the moment, tropical beaches
are sounding nice...

A Few More Taiwan Photos

Here are some more Taiwan photos, courtesy of Kate:
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivgm9zmf0

This Past Week

I can't believe we're already into November! I was thinking about how
Thanksgiving is so soon, and then it's Christmas season after that.
Wow. Time flies and whatever. Speaking of, we just found out when our
vacation for Chinese New Year (which is also called Spring Festival,
for future reference). It's 22 days long, which is great. February
1-23. To get such a long vacation, we do have to make up some classes
in January. But that gives me lots of travel time. I'm going to see if
I can meet up with Kate and Siggy for at least part of it. And also,
if any of my adventurous friends are going to be around Asia in
February or want to meet up, let me know. I'm also thinking that this
would be enough time to go to Australia. Though I'll probably still
wait until after my year contract to do an Indonesia/Australia trip.
But I do miss my Aussie friends. So maybe. Otherwise I'm thinking a
tropical vacation-
Malaysia/Philippines/Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos- one of those. Or
maybe even some travel within China- I do want Kate and Siggy to be
able to see Guiyang. We'll see.

Last week, I had my usual Chinese lessons. My 3 teachers have split up
my lessons- Yang Haiying does more cultural lessons. Last lesson she
taught me about minority cultures in China, of which there are 55, by
the way. Miao and Dong people live in Guizhou province. She brought
her dance teacher to the lesson, who taught me a few simple dances
from of the Miao and Dong, Tibetan minority, and Xinjiang people. It
was great, and very interesting. She also played some songs of each
minority, which I loved. As you all know I'm pretty into world music.

Otherwise it was a standard weekend- very busy and long days. I taught
my reading and writing class about American colleges and universities,
which was fun because I showed them some Bryn Mawr pictures. I found
out that I will have an additional lesson- I will be doing 2 hours a
week one on one with Philip's student. Philip has been teaching this
girl 12 hours a week, private lessons. She started with no English
(she's about 20), and is now up to grammar and reading and writing.
Very impressive work ethic, you have to admit. Obviously you have to
be quite wealthy to afford that kind of tutoring too. We definitely
get some of the richest families in Guiyang. Which is weird, I have to
remind myself that this is the poorest province in China, yet we see
the richest people.

By the way I still can't access facebook so I'm sorry if I haven't
responded to messages on there! You can email me: meganobrien86 at
gmail.com if you want to talk to me. Keep in touch!

Halloween and More

This past weekend was Halloween weekend. Actual Halloween was on the
Saturday that is one of our marathon days. I made a jack-o-lantern
basket out of paper and filled it with candy. We made masks and played
games in all of my classes. I made a Halloween playlist which included
such classics as Thriller and the Ghostbusters theme song. My starter
class was very cute; four-year-olds get super into Halloween. My
favorite class is LM2b on Sunday, which is the second book after
beginner, so the kids are around 8-10 years old. They are amazing- I
don't know who named them but we have a Ramon, Montana, Gabe, Dale,
Zusie, and Chalie (that's right, no 'r'). They get excited by even the
most ridiculously boring English book exercises so they loved
Halloween, and even shouted "Michael Jackson!" when Thriller came on,
which I thought was impressive. They also said "Michael Jackson is
'game over'" which I thought was accurate (lots of weird phrases the
kids know in English come from video games- game over, K.O., and fire
in the hull!). In my older reading and writing class, the ever crazy
and ever brilliant Mike promised to dress up. Mike is a 12-year-old
with excellent English and knowledge of Western pop culture, and well,
everything. When we discussed poetry he started reciting Shakespearian
sonnets, I kid you not. He wore some kind of mummy attire, which
you'll see in my photos. It's been a Halloween themed month so we
listened to Halloween tunes, read about horror movies, and played a
version of the game "Mafia," which they apparently play in China too
(weird?).

Anyways, it was a fun weekend with candy and games in my classes. So
that was cool. My days off have been pretty uneventful. On Tuesday my
electricity went out (the whole building- again), so I got a smoothie
at Highlands Coffee and used their internet. Plus the weather has been
nice so I've been walking around lots. After that I sort of
accidentally ended up along the river, below the street level. It was
amazingly quiet compared to the endless city noise, and very peaceful.
I walked to a sight I've been wanting to see, the "symbol of Guiyang."
It's called Jiaxiu Tower. And as I walked toward it, suddenly it was
ablaze with white lights. Check out the pictures- it looks almost
magical. Plus I didn't feel like a freak taking photos there- it's a
scenic spot so there were lots of cameras out. There's also a garden
of some kind, which used to be an abbey according to Lonely Planet.
I'll probably head back some time and check out the inside. Anyways,
it's a great spot. Peaceful in a very loud city and beautiful at
night.

Here are all the photos I mentioned:
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv5k776i2

More Photos

These photos are emailed from Xiang Juan's phone:
From my birthday: http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv8yy8br3
From my day in Guiyang: http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivfmdhvex
Trying out instruments: http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv4h1u7m2

My Photos!

My Birthday: http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivi7skq81
Taiwan trip: http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv4atlhfp
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv73lxpup
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivl81gv81
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv1oiqwlw
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv4n7e53f
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivly6y9mo
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3

Newly posted photos are first.

Parents Come Watch My Classes (also, I find Frosted Flakes in Guiyang!)

It has been a busy, and stressful, week. I had to write progress
reports about all my students, and since I teach 11 classes now it was
quite a lot. That part wasn't too bad though, I just got on a roll and
did them all in a row. I was more stressed out about the parents
coming to observe my classes, especially since it's my first demo
class for them as a new teacher. I've been teaching for 2 months but
it feels like I'm still really new. I tried to think of good things to
do and some creative ideas and games. Overall, I think it went pretty
well. Some of my classes, the parents didn't smile or laugh at all
like they did in others, which made me a bit nervous. A couple of moms
spoke good English and made suggestions for my class. It definitely
kept me anxious for my long Saturday and Sunday work days. But now I'm
definitely relieved that it's over. The other teachers will have their
mid term demo classes the next couple of weeks. And the rest of them
will be easier after this initial one. Plus, this next week is
Halloween, which I'm excited about. I've bought candy and I am
planning Halloween themed classes.

We had a really laid back Sunday night at the Xinjiang (Uyghur)
restaurant. I have been watching the TV show Bones, which I'm totally
obsessed with right now. And it seems appropriately Halloween themed.
Today, I slept in late and when I woke up at 1 pm, was slightly
disoriented when I tried to turn on the light. Soon I discovered the
electricity was out not just in my room, but in our entire 25 floor
building. So I headed out to get some food. As I passed the lobby, the
workers had candles out for light. After I ate too much, though it was
a perfect misty day food- bao zi, fried dumplings, and congee, I
headed to Highlands Coffee. I heard someone mention it, and it's in my
Lonely Planet guide to Guiyang. It's owned by an American. I used my
map to find it easily, and there I got a mocha and met Chris, the
owner. It was sort of nice, after walking down the streets to the
constant "hello's," and even people shouting "lao wai!" (foreigner!),
to be able to order a mocha and talk to someone in English. It was
also a convenient place to hang while I lacked electricity, because I
could access their wireless internet on my iPod and sit and read.
Chris also told me they do various events for Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and so on. So maybe I'll be able to get to know some other foreigners
in the city. Not that I don't enjoy hanging with the guys from my
school- but it is all guys, and maybe surprisingly, I miss hanging out
with girls. My world is basically the people I know through the
school, which is great. But it would be nice to meet some other people
too. I know there are lots of Americans in Guiyang through Peace
Corps.

Highland Coffee is near the giant underground Wal-Mart, so I headed
there to do some shopping. They have cereal, which I can't find at my
close by grocery store, and peanut butter. They even had Land o Lakes
American cheese, so I bought some. All these things are sort of
expensive for China, but not any pricier than they'd cost in the US.
A few Western comforts are nice- as much as I like Chinese food, it's
good to have these snacks. I got milk, which is weirdly not
refrigerated. I don't understand this, so someone must explain to me
sometime how this works. At least I know my way around the city now,
at least somewhat.

One of observations about living in China is that I am always reminded
that if I ever complain about my job, someone has a job that sucks
worse. Actually when anyone I know complains about their job, I just
think how I see people every day who have a way worse job. Like when
some guy is carrying, on his back, a huge pile of boxes that are
clearly very heavy and at least 5 times his size (I'm not
exaggerating, I swear). Or today, I saw a woman whose job is to sell
tissues at the public toilets. A bus driver here- that's absolutely
crazy. You tell me your job, I'll tell you a job in China that sucks
more.

Well at anyways, gotta say time flies here, it's ridiculous. I can't
believe October is almost over. I've been here for more than 2 months,
but it still feels like I've barely lived in China for any time at
all.

Just a Note

I have a busy week of progress reports and demo classes for parents,
but I just wanted to say: thanks for all the birthday wishes on
Facebook! You know I would reply, but I still haven't figured out a
way to access it. And I miss you all! Feel free to email me whenever.

When I get the chance I will put more photos online- including the
rest of Taiwan and my birthday.

Taiwan Photos: Albums 1-4

http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivly6y9mo
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivly6y9mo
http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqivly6y9mo

At the minute I'm having some trouble (obviously), but I will get the
other photos up as soon as I get the chance.

Shopping, My Birthday, More Shopping, and Chinese music

My plan to upload pictures to the blog seems to be failing so I am
currently working on a photo album where you can view all of my Taiwan
photos. After I got back to Guiyang and got my first full paycheck, it
was starting to finally turn cold for fall. So Spring, one of the
Chinese staff, and I went shopping last Monday. We began the day by
grabbing a very Guiyang lunch of what I would call in English,
"noodles with a bunch of crazy stuff." It's apparently a specialty of
Guiyang, and you can choose a type of meat to get, but there are some
vegetables, other stuff, and congealed blood. The blood is sort of a
weird gel-ish texture, doesn't really have a strong flavor, and is
grey. Then we went to look for some coats. I was very glad to have
Spring with me because she told them the next day would be my
birthday, and I got a 60% discount on one of my coats. We attempted to
look for boots, but they didn't even have close to my giant size- a 39
or 40 (I usually wear 9 or 10 in the US). Usually the biggest one was
a 38. If even. I've seen some taller, bigger women who must have large
feet. I guess they have to get their shoes specially made or
something. I am having my mom send me some boots since I've now
realized my shoes aren't totally adequate for the colder weather. At
least, my flats are getting very worn down in dirty Guiyang city.

Tuesday was October 13, my 23rd birthday. I had a relatively
uneventful day, cleaning my room and went to Jazzy pizza for a mango
smoothie, garlic bread, and cheesy pizza. That evening, I invited
everyone out to a restaurant the guys had told me about that I had
never been to. It is a hot pot restaurant where the food comes down a
river on little boats, and you choose what you want to eat. It's a
buffet, all the food you can eat, and also unlimited drinks, including
beer. Which is good when you want to please your 5 British guy
co-workers. Also only about $7 US. I had some of my hot pot favorites,
thin sliced beef, golden needle mushrooms, and fried meat. It's also
pretty cool, since we're in spicy Guiyang they give you a divided pot
with half spicy and half not. I had a pretty good group of both all
the foreign teachers from my school and Chinese friends; Chris's and
Garry's girlfriends, my three Chinese teachers, and Leo, the new
Chinese staff who is assigned to help me.

I had Chinese lessons and work on Wednesday, and for our Chinese
lesson time on Thursday, my three teachers and I decided to go out
into the city. First, we took the bus to their university, Guizhou
Normal University. I don't take the bus much- not just because I don't
really know the routes well, but because there are maybe a dozen
actual seats and otherwise you have to stand, which is a very jerky
ride in the wild Guiyang traffic. Their university has a small campus
but some nice areas to sit outside. Their dorm rooms, though, have 8
people to a room. That's right. 8. And a curfew of 11 pm every night.
It makes my friends' small quad freshman year seem roomy. After that,
we ate lunch- those Guiyang style noodles with blood again. Not my
favorite, but good enough and cheap. And I got a fried egg on top,
which was delicious.

After that we headed to the post office at my request. I sent my mom a
birthday present and a few postcard from Taiwan. I'm sorry to say that
the whole thing was sort of a pain, so I don't know that I'll be
sending much mail while I'm here. Maybe send my postcards from Hong
Kong. They didn't even have sticky stamps- you had to use this gooey
glue. Next on our list was some shopping. I bought a scarf. They sell
a lot of scarves on the street here. Many of the same designs. I have
a feeling I might collect them all because they're cheap and cute.

Later, Yang Haiying asked me if I was interested in seeing the place
where she takes guqin lessons. Guqin, or qin, is an ancient Chinese
instrument. It is best described as a zither with 21 strings that you
play flat on a table (I recommend googling a picture). Anyways, I took
Music of China while I was in HK, and we did a whole unit of studying
the qin. So I knew about it and the music, which is very soft and
peaceful. It is a solo instrument because it is so quiet. I watched
Yang Haiying, who is a beginner, play what she's learned. No songs
yet, just some exercises. And then she taught me some! I taped the
fingernail looking picks to my right hand. Qin is something that looks
easy but is very difficult. There is a lot of position and technique.
Maybe it's easy to play some songs, but hard to do it well. I played
some, which was great fun! The girls thought I was good at it, but
it's more because I've played an instrument before rather than actual
talent. Then, one of the guys taught me some guitar. The man and woman
there are music majors who teach lessons. He played a Chinese pop
song, very well, before he taught me some chords. I've played a bit of
guitar so I knew how to read the chords, but I still think guitar is
difficult- changing chords is tricky. I would love to teach myself,
but having someone, even who didn't speak English, teaching me
reminded me of why it is great to have a teacher. He pointed out
things I didn't even realize I was doing wrong, which made playing
much easier. At any rate, I do miss music. I am considering getting a
cheap (or renting) a violin so I can play something with Philip.
Philip plays piano, and for hours at a time. So it would be nice if we
could play some concertos or something.

A fun day, and obviously I loved the music. I'm so glad I took that
Chinese music class and now I got a chance to play a qin! It's great.

Taiwan Photos! Really!

Here is the page I am constructing (slowly, the uploading of my photos is taking forever) for my 100 Taiwan photos.

http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3

 

There are only 10 Taipei photos at the moment, but I will get the rest up ASAP!

Megan O shared 10 photos with you!

Megan O shared 10 photos Taiwan Vacation! http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3 Taiwan photos If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the link above into your browser. Hey you! Do you use Yahoo! Mail? Use My Photos to easily find and share photos within your email! » Learn more here

Megan O shared 10 photos with you!

Megan O shared 10 photos Taiwan Vacation! http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3 Taiwan photos If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the link above into your browser. Hey you! Do you use Yahoo! Mail? Use My Photos to easily find and share photos within your email! » Learn more here

Megan O shared 10 photos with you!

Megan O shared 10 photos Taiwan Vacation! http://www.xoopit.com/s/2142bx0urqqiv7hh3hy3 Taiwan photos If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the link above into your browser. Hey you! Do you use Yahoo! Mail? Use My Photos to easily find and share photos within your email! » Learn more here

Fw: Views from the Tallest Building in the World

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Megan O <lilpinkteacup@yahoo.com>
To: theamazingo.china@blogger.com; theamazingo.china@blogspot.com
Sent: Mon, October 19, 2009 5:03:16 AM
Subject: Views from the Tallest Building in the World

Once I got back from Taiwan, I had to teach two quite full days and then work for a few hours on Friday, Saturday, and a full day Sunday. So that's why it took me so long to blog and get pictures up. Anyways, here are my pictures from the first day in Taipei at the Taipei 101, currently the largest building in the world. I have first a view from the bottom looking up, me waiting in line to go to the 88th floor, and views from the top as it turned dark.

Taiwan Saturday and Sunday: Oct 3-4, HK Oct 5 and 6

On Saturday we headed to Tainan, a city about an hour's train ride away from Chia-yi. Tainan is the old capital, so there are a lot of old buildings that are very beautiful. Many old Banyan trees are everywhere. We went to some sites that I will definitely post pictures of, including a Confucian temple- these are very simple with lots of writing, as opposed to a Buddhist temple, which might be more colorful and decorative. There was a high school band playing a concert in the park by the temple, sounding like a school orchestra. Then we ate a specialty of Tainan, beef noodles- with that chunky sort of beef that is tender and delicious. It was great. And a pretty restaurant too. After that we went to a garden at nighttime, and then walked around a bit before heading home. It was a nice day trip. We ended up doing some shopping at the night market, which was lots of fun. I bought some clothes. I believe this was also the night we finished the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, which Kate has. It was great to watch with people who appreciate it. Also, if I recall correctly, this was the night that I went to sleep and dreamt someone was shaking my bed. And woke up to an earthquake! It was pretty short but definitely jarring. I guess they are somewhat common in Taiwan.

We planned to head to Taipei on Sunday and spend the night. We drove on the scooters all the way to the High Speed Rail station, which is outside of the city, unlike the train station. Unfortunately, we got there and discovered that all tickets were sold out for the day. We went all the way back to the regular train station and same- all tickets sold out. Of course, me, having lived in China before, should have known that trying to get a ticket after a big holiday like Mid-Autumn festival might be difficult. We had lost hope but in the end decided to take a bus. I felt bad for Siggy and Kate though, because I had to fly out of Taipei no matter what but they had to work on Monday, and the bus took over 4 hours to get to Taipei. So we got there in the evening and ate at the train station food court, at the suggestion of Lonely Planet. We had Indian food. It was nice to have something that we don't get in Guiyang. Then we tried to go to see the Botanical Garden, but it was ridiculously windy and rainy outside. Of course, this was because a typhoon was coming up from the south. So we decided to try to find a hotel.

We took the subway and got to a hotel. It seemed really nice, or maybe I just haven't stayed anywhere nice in a while- very clean, fluffy beds and nice pillows, a flat screen TV with lots of English movies and TV on, a nice shower, a toilet with buttons, free water. We decided to go to a coffee shop, to at least do something in Taipei. I had a lovely lavender herbal tea and we got dessert. Then we holed up in our cozy hotel for the night.

I was beginning to worry about the typhoon, though. After trying to call the airport the next morning, I tried to decide whether I should attempt to go to Hong Kong a day early and stay there instead of Taipei. We had breakfast at the hotel. The weather was absolutely awful so we ended up at the train station and I decided Taipei would be no fun anyways in such weather. I said a sad good-bye to Kate and Siggy and showed up at the airport. My ticket was easy to change and I was on a 12:30 flight to HK. I was afraid Hong Kong might get some typhoon type of weather as well, but it was sunny and absolutely gorgeous out there. I got myself a hotel in North Point, near the water (a ferry landing). But of course nothing could go perfectly. I arrived at the hotel and couldn't find my passport. I was freaking out, and called the airport lost and found. "No, no passports found- oh, wait" and as I held my breath, I got lucky. "Megan Melissa?" Someone had found it! I don't know, I thought it had been stolen but maybe I stupidly dropped it. So I took the airport express train back and forth to the airport and rescued my passport. Luckily, if you go to the airport twice in the same day it's the same as a one way ticket. For idiots who have to pick up their passports.

I decided I really wanted to go to Repulse Bay, the beach. So I hopped on a bus and rode the winding road to Repulse. I suddenly remembered I hadn't eaten so I had some lasagna at Pizza Hut. Next to me I noticed a familiar style of notes, from PowerPoint, in English, and discovered that some University of Hong Kong students were studying next to me. I sat on the beach, which was lovely and peaceful. I wish I'd had time to go swimming because the water was so warm. Maybe it was more to reminisce about my fun HKU days. I grabbed a bus back to the city and realized I could just make a show of Taking Woodstock, the movie that was playing at IFC. It might seem like a random movie to play in HK but it was directed by Ang Lee. I like his movies, and this one was beautiful to look at. It was definitely weird but I liked it. I enjoyed the bizarre characters.

THE END OF MY VACATION
Sadly, my vacation had come to an end so I took the ferry to TST, ate mango with rice balls and mango mochi at Hui Lau Shan

Taiwan Saturday and Sunday: Oct 3-4, HK Oct 5 and 6

On Saturday we headed to Tainan, a city about an hour's train ride away from Chia-yi. Tainan is the old capital, so there are a lot of old buildings that are very beautiful. Many old Banyan trees are everywhere. We went to some sites that I will definitely post pictures of, including a Confucian temple- these are very simple with lots of writing, as opposed to a Buddhist temple, which might be more colorful and decorative. There was a high school band playing a concert in the park by the temple, sounding like a school orchestra. Then we ate a specialty of Tainan, beef noodles- with that chunky sort of beef that is tender and delicious. It was great. And a pretty restaurant too. After that we went to a garden at nighttime, and then walked around a bit before heading home. It was a nice day trip. We ended up doing some shopping at the night market, which was lots of fun. I bought some clothes. I believe this was also the night we finished the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice, which Kate has. It was great to watch with people who appreciate it. Also, if I recall correctly, this was the night that I went to sleep and dreamt someone was shaking my bed. And woke up to an earthquake! It was pretty short but definitely jarring. I guess they are somewhat common in Taiwan.

We planned to head to Taipei on Sunday and spend the night. We drove on the scooters all the way to the High Speed Rail station, which is outside of the city, unlike the train station. Unfortunately, we got there and discovered that all tickets were sold out for the day. We went all the way back to the regular train station and same- all tickets sold out. Of course, me, having lived in China before, should have known that trying to get a ticket after a big holiday like Mid-Autumn festival might be difficult. We had lost hope but in the end decided to take a bus. I felt bad for Siggy and Kate though, because I had to fly out of Taipei no matter what but they had to work on Monday, and the bus took over 4 hours to get to Taipei. So we got there in the evening and ate at the train station food court, at the suggestion of Lonely Planet. We had Indian food. It was nice to have something that we don't get in Guiyang. Then we tried to go to see the Botanical Garden, but it was ridiculously windy and rainy outside. Of course, this was because a typhoon was coming up from the south. So we decided to try to find a hotel.

We took the subway and got to a hotel. It seemed really nice, or maybe I just haven't stayed anywhere nice in a while- very clean, fluffy beds and nice pillows, a flat screen TV with lots of English movies and TV on, a nice shower, a toilet with buttons, free water. We decided to go to a coffee shop, to at least do something in Taipei. I had a lovely lavender herbal tea and we got dessert. Then we holed up in our cozy hotel for the night.

I was beginning to worry about the typhoon, though. After trying to call the airport the next morning, I tried to decide whether I should attempt to go to Hong Kong a day early and stay there instead of Taipei. We had breakfast at the hotel. The weather was absolutely awful so we ended up at the train station and I decided Taipei would be no fun anyways in such weather. I said a sad good-bye to Kate and Siggy and showed up at the airport. My ticket was easy to change and I was on a 12:30 flight to HK. I was afraid Hong Kong might get some typhoon type of weather as well, but it was sunny and absolutely gorgeous out there. I got myself a hotel in North Point, near the water (a ferry landing). But of course nothing could go perfectly. I arrived at the hotel and couldn't find my passport. I was freaking out, and called the airport lost and found. "No, no passports found- oh, wait" and as I held my breath, I got lucky. "Megan Melissa?" Someone had found it! I don't know, I thought it had been stolen but maybe I stupidly dropped it. So I took the airport express train back and forth to the airport and rescued my passport. Luckily, if you go to the airport twice in the same day it's the same as a one way ticket. For idiots who have to pick up their passports.

I decided I really wanted to go to Repulse Bay, the beach. So I hopped on a bus and rode the winding road to Repulse. I suddenly remembered I hadn't eaten so I had some lasagna at Pizza Hut. Next to me I noticed a familiar style of notes, from PowerPoint, in English, and discovered that some University of Hong Kong students were studying next to me. I sat on the beach, which was lovely and peaceful. I wish I'd had time to go swimming because the water was so warm. Maybe it was more to reminisce about my fun HKU days. I grabbed a bus back to the city and realized I could just make a show of Taking Woodstock, the movie that was playing at IFC. It might seem like a random movie to play in HK but it was directed by Ang Lee. I like his movies, and this one was beautiful to look at. It was definitely weird but I liked it. I enjoyed the bizarre characters.

THE END OF MY VACATION
Sadly, my vacation had come to an end so I took the ferry to TST, ate mango with rice balls and mango mochi at Hui Lau Shan for breakfast, and took the train to Shenzhen. Interesting fun fact for those who know HK- the West Rail line is new, now opened- it was just about to open when I was there about a month or so ago. Now it's ready and to take the East Rail to Shenzhen, you have to take West Rail to Hung Hom and then switch to East Rail. Crazy eh? I hate going to Shenzhen, though- especially by myself. At the border everyone is trying to rip you off and pickpocket. But I made it to the airport in one piece and just on time for my flight back to home sweet home Guiyang.

Taiwan Friday Oct 2

On Friday, Siggy, Kate and I rode scooters over to the reservoir. It was very beautiful, lots of greenery. We ate waffles at a restaurant there- waffles and ice cream! Well Siggy's waffle had tuna? and some other strange things. And no maple syrup, just honey and a bit of chocolate sauce. But it was great (and nai cha of course- milk tea). We went to a 2-28 memorial park. On February 28, 1947, there was a huge massacre after an uprising (by the way, Taiwanese history is very interesting- the Lonely Planet has a nice overview of it). After that, Siggy and Kate had to work from about 2-9. So I went to see a movie. I ended up seeing The Proposal again because I really wasn't interested in any of the action or horror movies. It was great, and the 3 Chinese people in the theater thought so too, haha. I picked up some post cards at the train station. Due to the typhoon, we could not visit Alishan, a famous beautiful park near Chia-Yi city. Usually, you take a special railroad there. So there are a few souvenirs there. After that, I headed back to Kate and Siggy's school to join up with Kate's class. I dramatically acted out a going to the movies dialogue (perfect timing), and all the kids imitated my angry man standing in line for the movie voice. It was great. I ate curry dumplings with Siggy for dinner, which were delicious. You don't even need to dip them in anything they are so good.

I walked around by myself. I saw a few temples and some Mid-Autumn festival family parties. When I was in Hong Kong, people likened Mid-Autumn festival to Thanksgiving in that people have big family parties. Although in Taiwan it was more like barbecues on the street and everyone setting off fireworks.

That night we headed to the big night market with another teacher from the school. This was a really fun market. Not only the usual food, and lots and lots of excellent shopping, but it's like a carnival as well. There were arcade games and carnival games and huge cartoon stuffed animals as prizes. We ate Mongolian barbecue for dinner, which was great- you choose what you want to pile onto a plate and they cook it for you. And it's where I bought a lovely leather purse and a wrist wallet. Having girls to shop with was fun! (Poor Siggy...)

By the way, pictures will eventually follow these Taiwan entries. I have lots to sort through and post...

You Know You Are an English Teacher in China When....

Your students start snacking during class.
"What's that?" I say. "Chicken feet?"
"No, duck feet!" says Linda. Duh...

Taiwan blogs, pictures (of which there are many), and birthday update coming soon.

More Taiwan Adventures

Last night, we went to a hot pot place with a few of the other teachers. The restaurant was mostly taken over by a family that was barbecuing for mid autumn festival. It was a really good hot pot place though, everyone got their own individual pot. I got my favorite thin sliced beef which was great. I did not try blood cake (rice and dried blood). After that, Kate and siggy took me to a Belgian beer bar, which had all kinds of Belgian bottles. I tried a honey beer- it was a nice change not to have pale beer, all we have in guiyang- they prize budweiser there, which is depressing.

Today Kate and I headed to a pharmacy- I'm not convinced my worms are completely gone. Drawing pictures and all too graphic hand motions got me a medicine, which was less than $2 us. Then she went to work and siggy and I checked out the small cultural center, which had a pottery exhibit and a couple of small art galleries. We ate at the freen for lunch, where I got a banana milk and a delicious burger on whole wheat bread with pineapple. I went to a couple of kates classes, and then shopped in a night market untl now.

Chia-yi

It was quite rainy yesterday but siggy, kate and I headed to a night market. It was fun, there are a different street foods here than in guiyang. There are a lot of tropical fruits and lots of tea places. We had great crispy crepes filled with banana, chocoate and ice cream.
This morning, we ate some Chinese omelettes- egg wrapped around peppery pork-then headed to chia-yi park which has some nice greenery, a Confucian temple, and a tower overlooking the city. After that, kate and siggy had to go to work so I set off with a map of the city. I got trapped in the rain but luckily I was in a bookstore. I'm jealous because it has a floor of a nice selection of English speaking books (apparently in guiyang we only have a shelf of mostly classics in one bookstore). So I hung out and read there, and bought dead until dark for my collection. Now I'm in a large cafe next to the school, waiting for the teachers to finish so we can hang out tonight!

Taiwan!

Yesterday, I woke up earlier than I meant to and took a last ferry ride just because I love the HK ferry. And ate breakfast at my favorite Starbucks with a harbor view. On the ferry I met some nice Canadians who were on their first trip to HK, so I told them a bit about HK and helped them find their way around. I headed to the airport and flew to Taipei. Taiwan has this high speed rail system that can go from Taipei to the southernmost city in Taiwan, Kaoshiung, in about 2 hours. I took the rail from the airport to Taipei city, and a very nice French pilot helped me find my way to buy the ticket, though Taiwan does have a lot of English signs and a fair amount of people that speak some English. At the train station I met another lost looking American named Rick. He is an engineer from Shanghai, and since I had a few hours to kill in Taipei, we decided to go to Taipei 101, which is currently the tallest building in the world. It also has the fastest elevator in the world which is crazy, it zooms up to floor 88 in less than a minute. By the time we got up there it was dark, so we saw the city by night. It was pretty cool, and there was also an outdoor deck. After that Rick helped me get a taxi to the rail station (he speaks Chinese which was handy).

This is when I had some trouble, mostly my own fault. I accidentally bought a regular rail ticket instead of high-speed to Chia-yi, and didn't realize it until I was about to board. It was supposed to get in at 12:30! So I ran to the HSR (high speed rail) ticketing area, bought another ticket, and got on the train to Chia-yi. It only took a little over an hour to get there, but by that time it was about 10 pm. I was supposed to meet Kate and Siggy at their school at around 9 pm, when they got off work. So I took a taxi to their school and no one was there. They did leave me a note with a phone number on it. I attempted to buy a SIM card for my phone, which has been very easy in every country I've been to. But here they wanted an Alien Residence Card and a passport and to do all this paperwork. Kate and Siggy don't have ARC's yet, so they have no cell phone numbers or internet at their apartment, which is inconvenient. At any rate, they found me and we met up and headed back to their apartment.

Taipei has a lot of the same chains as Hong Kong. Taipei seems more spread out as a city than Hong Kong and less frenetic. For some reason, I was thinking Chia-yi, a small city in Taiwan, would be similar to Guiyang, a small city in Mainland. However, Chia-yi has a population of 270,000 while Guiyang is about 4 million. So Chia-yi, to me, seems very quiet and has a very relaxed vibe. It's more spread out and more rural feeling than Guiyang as well, and everyone gets around on scooters, including Kate and Siggy. So I've been riding around on the back of their scooters (don't worry, we all have helmets), which has been a fun way to see the city. I am sleeping on Kate and Siggy's couch. Their apartment isn't much larger than mine, and they actually have a kitchen as well. It's a bit outside of the main city. Extremely quiet compared to the constant noise of Guiyang.

Kate made an itinerary of things for us to do here, including a trip to Tainan, an apparently beautiful smaller city, and Taipei (since I'm flying out of there). Kate and Siggy actually haven't been to Taipei, since they came straight to Chia-yi from the airport. Today, I slept in while Kate and Siggy had Chinese lessons. Some nice relaxing time. Then we went to drop Siggy of to teach class at their school and Kate and I went to get haircuts. A haircut here includes a 20-minute head massage and shampoo, and a 15-minute neck and back massage, which was great after carrying around my backpack everywhere yesterday. Then it started to rain pretty hard. We tried to wait it out but Kate had to get to school to teach. Back at school, Siggy was done for the day so we went out for dumplings. We got curry dumplings, which were really delicious. Now we are at a smoothie cafe, where I just had a delicious pineapple-banana smoothie, to use the free wireless internet.

I think this is a pretty nice vacation. It's a good change from loud and busy until late-night Guiyang.

My home HK

I am back in hong kong and it's wonderful. It's like coming home. The weird culture shock for me was feeling like I blend in really well! After guiyang, where everyone stares and says hello, it seems like there's so many foreigners here. It's strange. So far, I went to a bookstore to buy English books, the one thing that's hard to find in guiyang.I went to central where there was a bookstore that I went to quite often- but it's gone! I was shocked but it shouldn't really come as a surprise considering that was two yeArs ago. So I headed to the huge harbor city mall in tst, which I now realize I'd never fully explored. It's absolutely huge and it has a great bookstore. I bought the 4th twilight book, eat pray love, and the girl with the dragon tattoo. Some fun reads. Then I headed to the indie movie theater, and bought one of the last tickets to kj, a local documentary about a piano prodigy. I'm very excited to see it- it starts in about an hour. Taipei tomorrow!

Sick

I haven't been blogging for a while....because I've been sick. On Wednesday morning I went to the hospital- I figured out that I had intestinal worms. I won't go into the gross details but I am on medicines and I am feeling better, though maybe not fully recovered yet. I'm sure they are very easy to get in China, even if you try your best to watch the foods you eat. And although I was taken to the cleaner Chinese hospital, and the experience was pretty decent, Chinese hospitals are still crowded and not up to a Western standard (or even a Hong Kong standard- those hospitals were spotless and efficient). So I had to cancel my Chinese lessons this week and my Wednesday class. I am still planning on teaching my one class tonight and my full day tomorrow, and then the day after I leave for Taiwan! It's very soon. I'm basically all packed and ready to go. I'm not sure if I will be blogging while I'm there or do it all when I get back so I might not be on the internet much for the next 10 days, we'll see. And after that I'll be very busy- the Wednesday and Thursday I get back are very full days of classes.

Blame Sunday

It's been a very busy weekend, or "work week" as I would call it. Saturday, yesterday, I had classes straight from 8:20 am to 8:50 pm. The good thing was today I ended somewhat "early" at 6:20 pm. My new classes, which I have taken over from Caitlin, are all pretty well-behaved so that made things a bit easier. It was still a LOT of classes plan. But now I have a much better idea of what the classes are like so I can hopefully do better plans next time. And I have an older class! Reading and Writing. They are ages 12-16 and pretty funny. I had them read an article about facial expressions, and then write about each other's facial expressions. Mike wrote "Tom moves his eyebrows up and down when he sees a beauty." And then Tom did it, and it was hilarious. They also said things like "the eyes are the window to the heart." I asked what kind of things they want to read in future classes (they all said they wanted to watch American movies of course- Sean loves Will Smith) but one guy said "I want to read love stories." Hahaha.

I also had English Corner, completely by myself with maybe 40 people who came. It was crazy. Everyone wanted to talk to me as always. I was amazed to learn that they all knew the Phoenix Suns, my basketball team. They love basketball in China. They all knew Steve Nash too. I didn't realize he was so famous! We also talked about Obama. Most of the people expressed that they liked Obama a lot, but now that he has enacted that tariff on tires they are pretty upset. I think Obama may have really killed the enthusiasm for him over here in China with that act.

By the way, if this blog doesn't make sense or seems strangely worded, remember: It's Sunday. That's our excuse for everything. At the end of a Sunday, we are all brain dead. If someone makes a terrible joke, we excuse him and blame Sunday.

I leave in exactly one week for Taiwan! Crazy. I feel like there's a lot I want to do. Study Chinese, clean my room, learn more about Taiwan, and make some stellar lesson plans. I got my schedule for the next two work weeks. I only work Saturday next week and then leave for Taiwan Sunday! I get back Tuesday, though, and have to work a very full day Wednesday. Also a pretty busy Thursday, but Friday and Saturday are pretty light.

Okay, I'm so done with this. It's Sunday night after all.

Nimen yao dian cai ma?

Okay, I wanted to prove that I am learning SOME Chinese by now. This is what the waiter (fuwuyuan) might ask you at the restaurant- What food do you want to order?

I had two hours of Chinese lessons yesterday (xing qi san = Wednesday) and 4 hours today. It's a lot of information packed in to a short period and I'm not a natural at languages. But the three girls who team teach only me, now that Caitlin has left, are very nice. They ask me what I want to learn- like a restaurant lesson. I also told them I am going to Taiwan for break, so they taught me some Taiwan sights and foods (oh- and how to say Taiwan with the proper tones). They also want to do some lessons out places, instead of just in the classroom, so I can actually get practice. Basically, I also have 3 built-in Chinese friends- they asked me if I wanted to go shopping yesterday but sadly I couldn't, since I had to teach a class.

Speaking of vacation, I booked my plans. I have to fly through Shenzhen since it is about a million times cheaper. So I leave on Sunday the 27th for Shenzhen. I will spend one night in Hong Kong and fly to Taipei the next day. I return to Guiyang on October 6th, since I have to work on the 7th. By the way, if anyone is interested, I discovered a new (well, new to me) discount flight site for China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong): travelzen.com. They even called my Chinese cell phone to confirm my order, which was pretty legit, and there is no service charge for overseas credit cards. Ctrip and elong are the other main sites for discount travel in China. A lot of times they all have the same prices but travelzen definitely had the best deal for HK-Taipei.

Oh, by the way, I've learned that I can't read the comments on the blog. I thought I set it up to email me the comments, but apparently not. I will be able to access my blog in HK and Taiwan, so I will change it then and catch up on reading comments. Sorry I haven't replied!

A Month Living in China

Well, I arrived on August 15th so I've been here about a month now, which seems strange. It's gone by really fast, that's for sure. And it really doesn't seem like a month. I am more used to finding my way around and I've been to a few places in Guiyang but I've really barely been anywhere- there is a lot more to the city. I can see what the guys mean- Chris and Garry have been here 6 months but they say it has gone by very fast, and I see how that can happen. But still, a lot has happened in a short amount of time so it's very weird. I've learned to teach, gotten new classes, started Chinese lessons, had 4 dumpling Friday dinners, spent a day at the park with Zunyi staff, and been to Qianling Park. I'm now getting adjusted to my schedule of a couple of afternoon and evening classes on Wednesday and Friday and full, long days on Saturday and Sunday.

Caitlin, the one girl teacher and one American, had to go home suddenly for a family emergency yesterday. I don't know if she'll come back eventually but she'll probably not come back for a while, at the least. Anyways, I'm a bit sad because it was nice to have a girl friend who was new like me and we explored the city a lot together. And now we also have to rearrange the teaching schedule, so I'm sure my 26 teaching hours will be completely full.

I'm sure this month will go by very fast as I have a vacation to look forward to. From September 27-October 6 we have days off for National Day. I was going to travel with Caitlin, but now I am making plans to go to Taiwan to visit my friend Kate, who is a Bryn Mawr friend teaching in Chia-yi, a small Taiwanese city. I will stop in Hong Kong, probably for a night on my way, since I have to fly through Hong Kong anyways to get the cheapest flights to Taipei. I am very excited to see Kate and to see Taiwan. I've heard that it's very scenic with lots of great food. I can also buy some English speaking books in both cities. At least in Hong Kong, I know where a lot of bookstores are.

So I am busy making lesson plans, planning my vacation, and studying Chinese. I'm hoping to really study hard and practice a lot of Chinese this month, because it will also come in handy when I'm traveling in Taiwan.

The weather seems to be getting permanently cooler here- it has been what locals and British people call "hot" but would I would call "nice." The cooler weather is good for walking around the city, though. Although today is one of the first really rainy days I've experienced here.

Chinese Lessons

It's been a pretty busy week. Caitlin and I are getting 6 hours of Chinese lessons a week. Maosi, one of the bosses, teaches at a teaching college. So his students are our teachers- they want to be Chinese teachers to foreigners. Chinese is very hard- there are four tones and several sounds that aren't found in English. We are doing an immersion type of method which is good, because it is like what we do to teach the kids English. But it can be a bit overwhelming. I also think Caitlin is better than me. It feels a bit like school, which is sort of tough for me. I'm really sick of school of any kind at the moment. Yeah, but I know I'm also lucky to get free Chinese lessons from native speakers. Hopefully we will do writing eventually. I have never really learned to write Chinese so I think that would be cool. I need to actually study to learn something. The best way to learn would be to apply what I've learned. So hopefully I can start doing that when I go shopping (we've learned some clothes) and play dice games (the numbers are still hard for me!).

I have the same schedule as last week for my classes. I am starting to get better at this teaching thing. Putting kids on teams and taking away points when they speak Chinese works wonders- they start to only speak English and they also stop misbehaving. Today in my older beginner class I played number bingo, with numbers 1-10. It was really good, especially since that is a class of 16 crazy kids (13 are boys, only 3 girls!). Plus they even learned something- most of them could name the numbers by the end of class.

Pictures

Pictures! One is me, Summer, and another girl from the Wondergirls bar. These girls are really nice. There is also a picture of my room and the view from my window. As you can see, I've already made a mess in there...

On Sunday night, after work, Garry, Matt and I went to what they call the "hamburger restaurant." It's just this very random restaurant that serves these little steaks on skewers, as well as potato skewers. The hamburgers are steaks on a toasted bun. But the guys were right, it's very good. And I got mine more Guiyang style, which meant they were covered in chili. It's a good way to satisfy your craving for a hamburger the Chinese way.

 

Then Matt and I went to a bar that only played music videos from the Korean pop girl group The Wondergirls. They played this one song especially over and over and over. We met some very cool people there. I mostly hung out with this one girl Summer, who speaks a little English but hopefully we can hang out some more.

 

Monday I slept in and went to lunch at Ajisen Ramen, which is a chain Japanese restaurant they also have in Hong Kong. It has a nice big window on the second floor so I thought it would be a nice place to eat by myself. They also have an English menu with pictures and tons of food. I like the restuarants here that have big windows so you can watch the action on the street below, which is always busy. Later I went to the apartments where Garry, Chris, Philip and now Caitlin live in Jongtian. It's on the outskirts of the city so it's a lot quieter with more space and parks and such out there. I was walking around with Caitlin and I heard "Megan!" It was a few of my students! They were playing on the playground out there. I was pretty excited that they remembered my name after just one class. Jongtian is about 20 minutes taxi ride away from the school but it has everything you could need there and it is very quiet and nice.

 

For dinner we went to a Brazilian buffet. I'm not exactly sure what Brazilian food is but I don't think it was this. They had people going around with lots of different types of meat on a stick that you could eat- and I mean all types, like pure fat (mmm?) and mutton and beef and sausage. Then there was the buffet- which had everything from Guiyang spring rolls to seafood to spaghetti to ice cold hard French fries served with a red sauce that was definitely NOT ketchup. And lots of little cakes and fruit for dessert. It was a very strange combination of food.

 

Today, Tuesday, my last day off. I went to the police station to drop off my passport to get my visa. Everyone at the office was very friendly and spoke some English, which was nice. I think I'm going to have a relaxing day of laundry, room cleaning, and lesson planning today.