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.