Fruit Cake and Moon Cake...

As the national holiday winds down, I must first reflect on the striking similarities between moon cakes and fruit cakes. Moon cakes, for those who do not know, are the traditional cake eaten during the Autumn Moon Festival, which happened to be on Oct. 6th. They are usually given as gifts on this holiday, as fruit cakes are during Xmas. They are also given knowing full well that the recipient will most likley be using the moon/fruitcakes as door stoppers, coasters, and descent hurling objects rather than actually eating them. This was enhanced by the fact that when the moon cakes were offered at the meal, the other foreigner and I were the first to eat them, while the chinese didn't want to have anything to do with them. I also currently have an ample supply of coasters and doorstops in my room waiting for...consumption? We'll see. Moon cakes and apples... got a case of each. The apples have made successful baked apples though. However, we have been using other people's apples first. Must see if "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is really true...

Ok...so onto the trip. I must look at the pictures as a guide to writing this, but it was pretty good, minus the whole 12 hr bus ride in cramped seats. Sometimes being short does have its advantages. The trip started at 5am with a bus ride that lasted about 7 hours. Nothing too exciting in that. Atleast we stopped every two hours for desperatly needed stretching. Our first destination was Peng Lai, and we went to a temple/aquarium. It was pretty nice. I think the place had something to do with seeing the 8 immortal beauties or something. (Im a great describer, look at the pics for clarification). There was a boat ride, which we didnt do because there wasnt enough time. One bad thing about Chinese tours, is the only give you about an hour or so to see each place. And we got to wear funny read hats and follow tour guides with mega phones. Unfortunatly I dont think I understood to much of what was being said, other than when to get back and basic descriptions of where we were. If your late back to the bus, you get a loud round of applause. Back to Peng Lai... The best part were the inacurate signs, strangly shaped rocks, and the seals. One seal kept calling for food. I have a short video of it, its quite a funny site. He knows how to get what he wants...go right up to the people and bark until fed. Do seals bark or is it another term? Favorite sign " Make sight seeing trip the car station." The strangly formed rocks also had signs saying what you were supposed to see in them. I think some of the authors must have been on something when naming certain rocks for i certainly did not see a fish, horse, or anything else. My favorite was the simply titled rock wall...yes it was several rocks standing next to each other. Must have been a rock wall. There was also a pagoda and some temple figures. But I think I am getting a little tired of seeing temples at the moment. I need a temple break.

Ok...after Penglai the trip was better. From Peng Lai we went to Weihai. Wei hai is a city most famous for being the closest Chinese city to Korea. It is here you can buy many Korean goods. We went to an island off of Weihai. It was about a 30 min boat ride to get to. The island was originally disputed by the Chinese, Japanese, and British. At one point, the British were thinking of making it a second Hong Kong. Ok...now quitong from Lonley Planet " Weihai was the site of China's most humiliating naval defeat. In 1895, the entire Qing navy, despite being armed with advanced European warships, was slaughtered by a smaller, and weaker Japanese fleet. The British had a concession here until 1930, though today little remains to remind you of its colonial heritage." O...so thats why you could buy cheap souviners made out of bullets. So first it was Chinese, then Japanese, then Brisith, then back to China. The island is called Liu Gong Island and during the Brit control, it became a summer resort for British soldiers. The main attraction there is the Sino-Japanese Museum. But there are also some nice fountains and a cool zip line ride to the top of the mountain. Once ontop you can see some nice views, and large military guns (that appropriatly or not have "no striding" signs on them). Because this was a Chinese tour, we did not have too much time to see the island, so I probably missed a few things.

After the island we went to a big department store for some shopping. This was the place to buy Korean items. It was 5 stories big, and we only had an hour. I guess perhaps this is enough time for a guy who does not spend money. Not such the case for two girls who must bargain for their items. Me and my friend didnt even get through the first floor. But we came out with some nice bags and other small things. Im planning on using my bag tonight when I head out. The other highlight by the store, not for me though, was ample supply of squid on a stick. Everyone was eating it. I just took a picture of a guy cooking it. Perhaps one day i might try it.

The next day we headed to Qindgao. This was my favorite place of all of them. I hope I can go back and spend more than just one day there. It was a really nice city, known mainly for its beer. ( We also didnt go to the beer factory :-( That will have to be on a later trip.) It is also the 4th largest port in China, and home to the Olympic sailing events. It also seems that any Chinese with money is building a house there. While I didnt understand what she was saying, I could tell by the reactions of the other Chinese on the bus that the construction sites and houses we were passing were quite impressive. First stop in Qingdao was Lao Shan. It is a famous mountain there. The half way point was marked with a bridge with several locks. Thanks to Amazing Race, I knew what they were for. They were love locks. You and your lover first have your name carved on the back, then lock it to the bridge. Seeing as how I dont have a bf at the moment, I did not partake in thei ritual...hehe. We climbed a few stairs after then, turned around and shopped our way down the mountain. This time for more bags, but these were uniqu to the area, and cheap shell jewelry. We would have gone to the top of the mountain had we had more time. There was also a nice waterfall and an vast bridge there. I think this bridge would be the perfect setting for a Chinese movie fight dual scene full of swords, flying, and drumb music. Perhaps one has already been shot here, but if it hasnt I had the idea first...hehe.

After sweating up the mountain, we cooled down at the beach, for 20 minutes. Everyone was really careful not to get their pants wet, until they did and were all saying screw it ill wear wet clothes all day. Another advantage to being western over chinese...when we go on a 3 day trip we pack more than one pair of clothes. Me and my friend got to change outo f our wet pants on the bus before other poeple got back on. The beach was really nice. Even in October, the water was almost warm. I was expecting freezing Maine temp water, but this was quite nice. It is also still quite hot here. Well, hot for us Bostonians. Some people have been saying it has cooled down, but I havnt noticed. The most interesting stop in Qingdao must have been the fish supermarket. Since Qingdao is on the coast and know for fish etc, we mad a stop so people could by things to bring back to Wuxi. I think I bought the only things that werent fish related, but took some rather interesting pictures. I should have taken more, but was afraid Id be caught taking them. The most amusing item was the big plastic jar of Jellyfish, or you could purchase a small package of Instant Jellyfish. How is it instant? Just add water? There was also a large assortmend of dried snakes, lizards, and small dried animals that belong in a pet store, not a supermarket. But then again, this is China. If it crawls, swims, or has taken a breath at one point in its life, it will be eaten.

Well...next step is to upload pics. Talking about food, although of the unappetising variety, had made me hungry. Time to go into town. Ill take requests for wierd food to bring home later... Speaking of food, I watched The Banquet on DVD, Its the new Chinese movie out with Zhang Ziyi loosley based on Hamlet. It was alright, although I have seen better fight sequences. If it gets to the US might go have a look.

Ok...really time to go now. Ttyl :-)
-Leah-

The Chinese Way...

Ok...I finally get to write something. Sorry its been a while but due to the a: lack of consistent internet the past few days, b: staying out till 4am...hehe, or c: some combo of a and b I havnt written in a while and have much to say. I started on Word earlier, so let me continue by cutting and pasting that paragraph and adding from there. So without further ado...

The Chinese way is to wait until that last minute, on everything. In this particular case however, I am referring to schedules. I had three schedule changes in our 10 day Guang Hua week. Actually, it was four since this is National Day and all the kids have a week off. (I am also not writing this online since I am having internet issues again. I am writing on Word and will hopefully cut and paste in the near future.) So, I finally received my Junior 3 classes. Now I have 21 total in 10 days. I suppose this does not soind like a lot but when not given materials for class it takes extra time to prepare. Also, I have 2 diff age levels so it is harder to come up with lessons, even though all their English is the same level anyways. I think the 12 year olds in my Junior 1 classes know way more English than the 17 year olds in Junior 3. This is the future of China, the children of the neuvo rich Chinese who know they will simply just work for their parents so do not need to actually receive good grades and whose parents can afford to have them repeat grades several times. How else do you explain the 3 year age diff in the same grade? Then there are those Chinese who are actually quite smart and have received an education and job based on IQ and not mom and dads guan xi.

But another Chinese way is to invite you out. Thiw was quite fun. The teachers from my department all went out to a "restaurante" if you can call it that. It was more like an outdoor cooking place down the road, but the did have a menu and several dishes. The teachers, or male ones anyways, all quite enjoy drinking beer. The were also impressed that I drank with them, which has gotten me other invitations to go out and drink and play ma jiang. They were also impressed I knew how to play. The chinese phrase for toasting is "gan bei" or dry glass literally. ANd when they say gan bei, they mean it. I am not the best beer chugger though, so we mostly did a half "gan bei." There were about 6 of us in total. The food wasnt bad...or atleast i tried all of it. The things I would have wanted to eat though were quite spicy, and I oculd only eat a little. I managed to avoid the snails, but did try 2 things I normally wouldnt have. One reason for this is they were like...o...eat this then well say what it is. The first dish was chickens feet, which i knew what it was. I must admit, they didnt taste too bad, but there wasnt anything to eat on them besides skin, which I dont like eating even off a normal chicken. So then I put that on the table. Then mystery dish number 2 appeared. I wasnt going to eat it, but it looked like meat and they wouldnt tell me what it was until after its in my mouth. I wish it would have been after I swallowed to learn that the chewy brown thing was pig intestine. I somehow managed to swallow, but I guess I could have been Chinese and spit it onto the table.

Chinese dont exactly have the best table manners. I knew they spit onto the street to rid their stomach of worms, but they also spit anything they dont want to eat directly onto the table. I was invited to lunch at the teachers cafeteria after I mentioned how their food was better than mine. We had some veggies and a fish. I wouldnt normally eat the fish but since it was offered I had some. It also had many little bones in it. I was trying to be discreet about taking the bones out of my mouth and putting them on the side of the bowl. Apaprently I didnt have to worry. My two collegues simply spit all the bones directly onto the table as if it were no big deal to spit where other people will eat later. I guess its better out then in i suppose...

K...back to dinner and Ma Jiang. After dinner the male teachers went off to play. I wanted to see them play so the other teacher showed me where. I was more impressed with watching the high tech table. As you may or may not know, Ma Jiang is played with tiles and to start the game they are all face down and built into a "wall" with one side for each of the 4 players. I normally would think this all had to be done by hand, but not anymore. After one of the teachers won, they all pushed the tiles into a hole that magically appeared in the center of the table. Then as soon as the old tiles dissapeared, new ones popped up all shuffled and in wall formation. The dice also rolled themselves. Even though I know how to play, I play quite slowly and they play very fast. It is hard to keep up and watch. I did not play with them that time, but I think I was supposed to sometime during this vacation, but never recieved a call. O well, I was hanging out with other poeple. It was quite fun. We closed the bar 2 nights in a row...and thats all I have to say about that.

So, yesterday I finally did some touring of Wuxi. We went to go see the giant Buddah. It was quite impressive and as soon as the internet is working, I can post the pics online. Btw...dont use cheap Chinese batteries in your digital camera. I did and they were dead halfway through seeing Buddah, so I had to buy more. (The internet is not on now, so hopefully I can save all this successfully and post at a later time...errr. Maybe b/c of Chinese hoilday everything is funky. Or im being spied on by the CIA/KGB/whoever chinese spies are too...I live china :-) ) Ok...buddah was nice, and big. I bought some little Buddahs, a bell, and a hand. Why a hand? They placed a hand near the entreance that is the same size as the one on the real Buddha to give you an idea of the scale. So now I can really say "talk the the hand." There was also a cool fountain at the enterence. It was lucky we arrived when we did, since it does not run often. We thought it was a large lotus statue, but its really a fountain and the lotus opens up and theres a Buddah inside it. We met a Chinese student visiting from Tianjin and he said that after the fountain is over, you can go drink the water and have happiness forever. We were a little leary about drinking chinese water, even if it was filtered, we dont know. So I washed my hands in it and put some on my head. So maybe Ill have temporary happiness...hehe. People were actually filling water bottles with the stuff though. Then we walked up to the buddahs feet and I rubbed all 10 toes...hopefully to get more luck and peace and whatever else comes from rubbing a buddahs feet. More enjoyable of a site though were the english signs "No Spaning," "No Chisel & Draw," and my favorite "No Clambing." (And I really wanted to eat some fried clambs up there too.) I wonder what the chinese think when they see us taking pics of the signs. I think I have filled my Buddah quota for the next few months.

Anyways, up next is our trip to Shandong (I think) Province to see Qingdao and some other places. I wanna see the beer factory...hehe, and get a Tshirt of Qingdao beer to add to the Bintang Beer shirt from Bali.

Ok...time to go now. Enjoy reading, if this ever gets posted...
Zai Jian
-Leah-

Eggs and Bananas

For those friends of mine reading this, you already know what eggs and bananas refers too. Eggs are people like me, white on the outside and yellow on the inside...hehe. So you can guess what bananas are. No matter the country of the lifestyle, people always want what they can't have. I want to be 6 feet tall, tan and 110 lbs...hehe. (Actually 6 is a little tall...id be happy with 5'6...or 5'4 even...) Anyways, why I bring this up starts with our "girls day" out as I like to call it. Me and another teacher took out our head of the FAO to a revolving restaurant ontop of a nice hotel. It was on the 28th floor and you can see all of Wuxi...pics to be posted in yahoo at a later time. The brunch was nice...only 68 kuai for all you can eat and it was clean environment etc. After that we went for a foot message. In china, (as well as thailand and singapore...ahh the memories...) it is very different than in the states. We were placed in a private room into "granny launcher style" recliners. First we soaked our feet in some sort of tea, I think. It was a brown hot water. While we soaked our feet they gave us back messages. Being tickleish is not a good thing while getting messaged...I laughed the whole time. I didnt mean to, just happened...hehe. The lady kept telling me not to, and that I am just not used to message but if i get more then I will not laugh...I dont think she is correct, but perhaps we shall try an experiment. We also learned something new...make sure the controler to your chair does not fall in the bucket of water...your chair will break and move uncontrollably and in the wrong direction. This wasnt my chair, but it was funny to watch. After soaking, the foot message starts and laughing continues. Thats all I have to say about that...

Light on our feet after the message, we got out nails done. This is in hopes of if I have my nails done, I wont bite them. It seems to be working so far, but it has only been 2 days as well. I got both finger and feet for 50 kuai. Now I have green nails in a shade that reminded me of dark jade. I thought it was nice, then one of the male chinese teachers said he didnt like it. Or that's what I think he said. Also bought a fw more bracelets and a necklace and a belt to finish up the day. O...and more dvd's of course. It is very entertaining to see all the street vendors selling jewelry pack up rather quickly when word of a cop comming down the street approaches their ears. One minute the street is full of vendors, and the next it is deserted. Im sure they all opened shop again a few minutes later. Also bought what I like to call mini pancakes. I was going to buy a sweet potato, but these looked really cool. The vendor would pour a batter into a mold full of little holes. Then he closes the mold almost like a waffle iron and cooks them for a few minutes on a pile of hot coals. They taste like little pancakes. So I had them for dinenr with my maple syrup.

In other news... Classes are still up and down. So far I dont have the Junior 3 classes, which is a good thing. I think the Junior 2 teacher wrote a letter to someone and another teacher was complaining about how he has 29 classes in 10 days (I only have 14 and other Jr 2 teacher 16). But we were trying to say that this is way too many kids, upwards of 300 for us and its hard to build relationships etc. Also since we dont have text books to follow we need more time to prepare. If we have too many classes, it leaves no prep time. I havnt asked what heppened about Jr. 3 but I think it is better to not ask if you dont want to know the answer. So my junior 1 classes have been alright. But the level of undertsanding not just within a class, but within the whole grade ranges so much it is almost like teaching two different cirriculums to the same grade level. I think my Jr. 1 class 1 is the best, and class 2 is ok but wayyy to quiet which is just as bad as too noisy. The boys can be good one day and bad the next, but sometimes you find one kid who actually wants to learn and it makes you feel better. He is my new favorite student in class 3. I finally played his class the song If I had a million dollars, gave them the lyrics then thay had to tell me what they would do. Most (well...out of 40 kids I only got 6 papers) said theyd want a sports car and travel abroad. Here's my two favorites: "I buy a big house and a car. I buy many food too. but my open the restaurant. There are different people come on my restaurant eat my restaurant foot have a good time. Welcome to my restaurant." (spelling is not typos) I thought atleast he though about what hed do instead of copying the lyrics. My other favorite is "If I had a million dollars, travel I around the world. If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a plane and a ship. If I had a million dollars I will give to poor students." He is now my favorite student, the one characterised by dark skin.

O...did i forget my whole point about dark vs light skin? Thats what I was originally writing about oops... SO foot message lady wants my skin b/c its soooo white. And I was saying that us foreigners want skin like theirs, tan...or yellow as she said. Everyone today, (or any day) liked how white my skin is, but I think I look like a ghost. Maybe on the trip to Qingdao Ill get some sun.

K...back to being somewhat ontrack... Went to a few bars the other night too. 2 were Australian owned, then 2 nightclubs. Those were alright but I dont like techno music and they are mostly chinese (duh). But I think clubs in china and clubs in US are very different...but it was still fun. Its a good way to meet people, and other foreigners. Tonight I will go out with the Chinese teachers in my dept. First we will go to dinner, then to dancing. Im not too sure what kind of dancing though, but I dont think in a club. I think it is outdoors line dancing type thing. It should be fun. I asked if I could bring another foreign teacher, but they said should just be us. My teachers like me alot. When I went to the office this morning, (no class today, was just trying to study) they all said the miss me yesterday. I try to study chinese in the office when I dont have class, but they all just want to talk to me and tell me jokes in chinese which I will understand about half of. They also give me comic books and text books and other things to read in chinese. I try to read and ask them the words I dont know. I think I will get a basketball at some point so i can practice on my own. Today I also helped a teacher make an oral exam. We went to the schools tv station, (yes they have a tv station) and recorded some dialogues in English. I asked if it was for our classes and he said no, it was for Jr. 3. Maybe this is how they will get a foreign teache rin the class, by not telling them who's work they are doing. It took about an hour, and he seemed very appreciative afterwards. All about the Guanxi...hehe.

Well...I must go improve my guanxi, and hopefully my chinese and go back to my office for a few hours. I think my next classes I will teach them Zodiac and New Years animals etc, sinc ethey wont understand what I wanted to do with them...the Old lady who swallowed a fly song. I can prepare tomorrow morning. No classes until 2. Or tonight...well see...

Ok...until next time...Zai Jian
-Leah-

Things I learned today...

1) Dont use teachers daughter as a model in class.
2) When explaining what model is in class, dont ask if she is beautiful. The end result is kid crying when they joke and say no.
2a) Dont teach 12-15 year old boys the word for chest or butt, even though other teachers do. Male teachers. Boys that age are stupid and have dirty minds.
3) Dont try to travel anywhere during Chinese holidays.
4) Chinese like giving you no warning when they change your schedual 3 times in 2 days.
5) Aparently American blonds in China are a hot commodity, especially to mosquitos.
6) It is possible to fit 2 westerners and a chinese on one motorbike.

Ok...so today started out fine. Had breakfast the night before of pancakes with maple syrup, (not the ones i brought) and pineapple juice, (which happened to be mixed with Malibu Rum) but it was quite a tasty breakfast/dinner. Better than the "would you like some mean with your bones" we get serverd for meals." We were done eating by 9 which feels a lot later than 9 as everything does here...maybe it has something to do with the lack of daylight savings. I wonder if the more west you go would kids start school at 5am when it is light out or wait till later? The kids here have to be up at 6 and dont finish until 8ish with about 2 hours for lunch and another 2 for dinner. Ahh...to have a 2 hour lunch. I remember the good ole times of having 20 min to get to the cafeteria, buy ur food, eat it and run back to class.

Anyways, back to today... I had 2 classes in the morning and 2 classes in the afternoon that didnt start till 3:40, (keep this in mind for later) In the morning I had my 2 girl classes, which I quite enjoy. THey are good and participate and understand what I am doing. I was teaching body parts and thought it would be fun to pick a kid from the class and point to different parts and have the class say what it is. I started by picking one girl, who happened to be another english teachers daughter, and brought her to the front. I said she is my model, and then proceeded to explain model. Seeing as how I thought all models were supposed to be pretty, I said in chinese "ta shi piao liang ma?" expecting the answer to be yes...mistake 1 for the day. Never ask teens, even girls, about appearences. They have no problems asking us about our height, weight, salaries, looks etc, but as soon as you turn the tables they get upset. Ive had teachers poke me and say how white I am and how they wish they were as white as me. I try to explain, well, you like being white but we all want to be as dark as you. (Some chinese are quite dark.) So i tried to rectify the situation by saying, no, she is very pretty...you are all very pretty. It didnt work. After I finished using her she went to her desk and started to cry. I felt really bad and gave her a sticker and some other kids tried to make her feel better. Then I didnt want the teacher to hear from his daughter I made her cry, so I told him and said I was sorry. He didnt seem to concerned.

Ok...class two was good too. But we all know it is bad when the class is too noisy and they dont pay attention, the same can be true of being too quiet. It was eerie to not ever hear some kids in their own conversations. I also could not get them to answer the quesitons which is why it was a little strange. However all classes enjoy playing hangman, simon says and spelling bee. I think i might just play games every class. Im actually concered I try to teach too much in one class. I talked to another teacher and he does way less per class than what I try to do. Perhaps thats a good way to make more lessons...which Ill need since Im getting more classes...errr...keep reading...

#3, dont travel in chinese holidays: I kinda knew this already, since I had been in china for new years before, but never actually experienced it. When you have 1.3 billion poeple all trying to get to their hometowns by train there are sure to be ticket shortages. In China you cant buy a ticket for the train more than 10 days in advance. 10 days before the "Golden Week" as it is called, I dont know why, was yesterday. 1.3 billion poele all buying tickets in one day, they sell out fast. So today me and an Australian co-worker went to go get train tickets to Beijign for a few days. The were out of hard sleepers, but had soft sleepers, which was almost the same price as a plane ticket. Ultimatly we were gonna fly on the 29th and back on the 3rd in time to go to qingdao on the 4th with the chinese teachers. Our school is arranging a trip for teachers to shandong province, and we wanted to go. But what we thought was a midnight flight on the 29th was really midnight of the 28th and we cant do that. The next flight would have been too expensive, in chinese terms anyways, so we just bagged it. The tix would have cost 1330 round trip which is only about 150 US, but still expensive by chinese standards. And I havnt been paid yet...errr. So well go during one of our 4 day weekends, and I really have 5 day one since I dont work the first day, or I hope not after tomorrow.

So we took the bus back to school. (and I forgot to buy a map of Wuxi...oops) We decided to take a motorbike back and it was 5 kuai for the both of us. I thought we were taking 2 seperate bikes, but we fit onto one. She kept telling me to get nice and close to the driver b/c the like being felt up by the foreigners. While we didnt cause any accidents on the short trip home, we did have many onlookers who should have been looking at the road. The motorbiker though was pretty good with us on the bike, didnt go too fast. So on the way back my phone rings in my bag, which of course I dont answer since im holding on for dear life on the back of the bike. (It was fun though, not scary...I wanna do it agian, cheaper than taxi.) The one thing I dont like about chinese phones is lack of voice mail, so it rang for a while. Then it stopped, and then rang again...errr. When we got off the bike a minute later I looked to see who called. It was teacher Fish. Now, this was around 2 and according to the schedual I had recieved yesterday I didnt have class till 3:40, so I hadp lenty of time to get my things, study some chinese, then go to class. Teacher Fish said I have class now and have to hurry back. I told her I didnt have class, but she said I did. So I was in the FAO (foreign affairs office) when this happened. (Finally got my passport back with a visa in it...im an official resident of china now.) So I had to run across campus to my dorm, grab my things for class and run to the school. I first headed for our office, only to find the hear of the Jr. school and someone else I dont know there with all the teachers. The first thing he said was, "O, you dont have class now. Well, you realld do, but not today. Next week youll have class at this time, but keep you class where it is for today." Great, I say out of breath. He then gives my my newer schedual which is basically the same except some classes were moved to earlier times. So now that I had another hour before I was teaching I headed back to the FAO, where they proceeded to tell me that this newer schedual was also wrong. Me and the Junior 2 teacher will be getting 6 more classes each from Jr 3 since they dont have a foreign teacher. One of the Jr 3 teachers did come up to me on the way to lunch and asked when we were going to teach his classes. I had no idea what he was talking about at the time and told him Jr 3 didnt get a foreign teacher only 1 and 2. I should be getting this newest schedual tonight or tomorrow morning, which Im sure will have taken effect before I recieve it. So going back to the office, I see the english teacher who gave me the first schedual. He said you have class now, no i dont etc... I showed him the schdual he gave me and the new one. He was mixed up too because after taking both of them to another office, he came back saying we were both wrong about new sched #1. They didnt know that newer schedual would soon also become invalid, although none of the Jr 1 classes are changing, theyre just flling in the blanks with Jr 3. I still get 3 days off in the 10 day week, and now Im gonna need them to prep. I think me and the other teacher getting this bad deal will colaborate on Jr 3 classes so we can teach the same things.

Ok...now that schedual crises is over, until tomorrow anyways, back to adolescent boys. I had 2 boy classes today, but number 7 is the worst. This is the class the teacher sits in the back and hits the kids with books. This time she pinched the backs of their necks. I also made 2 kids stand and face the wall for arm wrestling. O...so one of the teachers wanted me to arm wrestle him, but I declined. Then the all say Im beautiful, and more beautiful than when they first saw me. This all comming from old married men kinda freaks me out, and I cant tell if they mean it or are joking since having extra women is not uncommen in chinese mens lives. In Foreign Babes in Beijing, there was a term mentioned for "the other women," but I forgot what it was. And we all know there is a history of concubines in China. I also think many of the peole who are married here dont live with their significant others since theu have to stay at the school. Protsitution is also big here, especially when foreign men go out by themselves. They say its alot dofferent then going out with a group with girls.

Ok...enough of the prostitution tangent... I tried teaching the boys classes the word for back and chest. When I pointed to my back, or my models, I would hear the word for butt in chinese, "Pi gu," and say, no, not Pigu...back. Then said what Pigu was. Same thing happened for chest. Some classes got it, but i swear I tried to hear a kid pronounce breasts. He couldnt even say it right. They would also call an arm a leg a toe a finger, a head a hand etc...not the brightest bunch. And they all got elbow and ankel mixed up. I gave them papers to do an excersize on with filling in blanks I made on a body. I havnt corrected all of them yet, but seems the girls are smarter than the boys. In this class 7, I tried to split them into groups and do spelling bee. They like competition, but only one kid on team 2 did any work for his whole team. And they won, because he was right. So I guess there are a few good apples left.

So that is what i learned today. Then I noticed I had 3 bug bites on my face...errr. They dont itch, but kinda hurt like bruises when I touch them. Then dont touch them...duh...hehe. Ok...I feel better now after writing all this down. I must go think up some lessons, or go read some chinese. I thinkI am good with lessons for a few days anyways. Might have to go make more copies of them though...Im sure ill become close friends with the xerox lady since Im there almost every day. I would feel bad saying can you make me 300 copies of this, so I go more often and ask for less, usually 120 is good for 3 classes. So far it hasnt been a problem though.

Ok...keep reading for further adventures of stupid foreigner.
Zai Jian
-Leah-

You want watch and bag?

OK...so yesterday we went to Shanghai. And Im sorry to all the people who are big fans of Shanghai, but I am not one of them. I have always prefered Beijing as a tourist city, and now I think perhaps as a metropolitan city too, if that makes sense. Unless you have something specific to shop for or need an imported foreign brand of something, dont go to Shanghai. I must almost compare it to Bangkok, a big sprawling city with little organization and not much to see as a tourist. Although, even Bangkok had more temples and palaces to go and visit which were quite enjoyable but the city itself was not so pleseant. Granted, in Shanghai we did not go to any museums or pay to go to the garden which I have already been to twice. We had tickets to Shanghai from Wuxi about 8am and it takes about an hour and a half to get there. I think we were on the slow train, which is also less expensive. We had hard seats, but they werent that bad. On the way back however we paid 31 kuai and didnt even get seats. We had to stand until the stop in Suzhou when poeple got off. That was a fast, nicer train. OK...so we arrived in Shanghai and did first what most tourists do...visit the Bund. The weather in Shanghai also felt alot hotter than Wuxi. Perhaps they have more pollution so it feels hotter, or it was just a hot day. Did I mention it also rains alot here? I wouldnt think that, but it has rained almost every day. Ok...back to Shanghai...Now I have already done the bund the other two times I was in Shanghai, but its basically all to do that you dont have to pay for. We didnt feel like going on a boat trip for 50 kuai and the other side of the river is mostly a buisness district anyways.
So after that we walked over to the Old City, (i think) near the Yu Ming gardens, which we also didnt pay to go into. On the way, all you hear is "watch and bag?" And they people will show you pictures of what they sell, and invite you down some ally to go see. While I was tempted for some bags, can never have enough fake chinese bags, I am also here for a year and didnt want to spend any money. But after about passing ten "watch and bag" people it gets tiring. I dont recall being that harassed in Beijing, unless you were on a street actually intending to buy things and not on a regular street. I did in fact buy one thing though and was quite proud of myself on my bargaing skills. I bought a little Ma Jiang set so we cna play and I can teach the other foreign teachers. I pretty much remember the rules, I hope. So it started at 45 kuai, and I got it for 20. I was quite happy that I actually got it for that since I am very bad at bargaining. I also had another teacher with me though who was a little better. He said to walk away at 25, then they said ok to twenty. Some notes about the watch sellers...We all thought it was funny that none of the watches actually worked. When one person would come up to sell a watch, some of the teachers would say "ji dian le?" or what time is it. Now, the logical thing you think a watch seller would be able to look at the watch they are trying to sell you and say the time. But things are not logical in China. They would pull out their cell phones or personal watches to tell us the time.

Now...where was I...just had lunch, which was basically just rice, then watched a movie...ok...so back to writing...And I think I have forgotten what I want to write. K...some more workers in Shanghai. We were in a park sitting and having a beer and saw some people welding a fence. It wasn't with a welding torch but some other kind that is also a neccesity to wear glasses for. But of couse, the worker had no protection. And his supervising worker was hammering something. Then they walked around the fence and inspected what needed more work. More about Shanghai...nothing really except for the walking around the whole day. Ok...well Im off to the RT Mart, a CHinese department store to buy a few things I keep forgetting. What do I need...Note cards, folders, toilet paper, food, hand soap...I hope I remember when I get there. Thisll be the first time I take the bus on my own...ooooo...hehe. But the bus stops right at the store, so i think I hsould be able to find it ok...or I can just take a taxi if i get lost or buy too much. The taxis here are pretty good about knowing where the school is.

O...I remember...Aparently I have a Beijing accent. When we learned in school, including high school/college, we were taught to add "r" to the end of some words. Aparently this is the Beijing way, because no one does that here. So sometimes when I talk they do not understand me and I dont know if its because 1. Im a foreigner and 2. its a strange accent of American/Beijing. When we are taking taxis, the best way to learn chinese is to start a conversation with the taxi driver. My co-workers were impressed that me and a cab driver had a conversation about Bush and Iraq. Unfortunatly I didnt understand all the answers, but I knew how to ask things and give basi responses. I avoided when he asked me about Israel. The other taxi driver conversation we had was with a man who was from Wuxi. He said that the cab driver makes 50 kuai a day, which is pretty good in China. He said the average wage in China is about 1700 kuai a month, or a little more than 200 US. Hmmm...maybe thats not right, since 50 kuai a day is pretty good...my math is off. Anyways, as you can see, compairing that to anything in the US is way below our normal living standard. He was also 50 yrs old and had a daughter who was 28 and just got married. She works in a salon somewhere in wuxi. People also seem to get married alot younger here than in the US...or consider people who are above 30 old. A common question you will here in introdoctory conversations is "do you have a husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend?" Other common questions, that we consider personal... How much do you make? How much do you weigh? How old are you? I didnt know if I should answer poeple when they ask me how much I make or if i have a bf since we dont come outright and ask in the US. My next mission...learn the words for Hit and Jail and associated words so when we get into a taxi and nearly run someone over, which is not uncommon I can ask what is the punishment for hitting someone? Do you go to jail? pay a fine? Im sure they know. But crazy cab/bus drivers is for another time.

Ok...thats enough for now...Tune in for Crazy Cabbies and their conversations at a later date...
Until then, Zai Jian
-Leah-

The Worker and the Stupid Foreigner

"The worker" is a strange phenomon in China. A child, when asked what his father does will say "he is a worker." A teacher asked what her son does replies "he is a worker." Who exactly is the worker? They are everywhere, yet do not seem to do anything. And if they are doing anything, they must be surrounded by other workers who will either approve or criticize the work, but never help. If a worker is acting alone, problem solving can be a several day process. First, he will not listen to the "Stupid Foreigner" tell him what is broken, he first must determine the degree of brokenness for himself. In doing so, he usually makes the situation worse that it originally was. (i.e broken water heater in teachers dorm.) Day two he will call his supervisor and they will determine that yes indeed the water heater is broken and that no it cant be fixed, it must be replaced. Ok...when will this happen the stupid foreigner asks the office. They will come on Monday...maybe. Maybe being the key word of this sentence strategically placed at the end as an after thought. In China, maybe usually means no. The worker will also maybe come tomorrow and fix my water heater, which is aparently broken as well, and maybe fix my fridge and dvd player. The worker however has sucessfully moved the fridge from my room first to the hallway, then to the ground floor where it will be eventually transported somewhere to eventually get fixed. Moving it from my room to downstairs had taken a week.
In a former life, The Worker must have been an acrobat. For instead of a ladder, the worker will balance three chairs ontop of each other in order to reach said broken water heater. The worker is also a very entertaining creature to fellow chinese and stupid foreigners alike. In some cases a crowd will form around a worker because the peole know he is an accident is waiting to happen, and this will be a good laugh. Venturing out of the school, some Stupid Foreigners have come across some even stupider workers. One aforementioned stupid worker was welding in the city. Instead of a normal welding mask, used by normal people to protect the eyes so you dont go blind by the torch, this worker used a piece of paper with holes cut out at the eyes so he could see. Upon seeing Stupid Foreigner, stupider worker posed for a picture, lit torch in hand. (Said picture and video of worker acrobatics will hopefullt be acquired and sent out for future enjoyment.) The worker will unfortunatly not be able to see this picture for he will be blind by then. A favorite tool of the worker is a hammer. Like the worker, hammers are also in abundence, but never used. If they are used, they are not used properly, giving further entertainment to Stupid Foreigner and fellow chinese. The shovel is another favorite tool among workers.
The Workers favorite activity is sitting. A worker will rarely sit alone. He will sit with other workers and discuss the amount of work needed to me done. After several hours of discussion, maybe they work will get done...maybe. Another favorite activity of the worker is Stupid Foreigner watching. When a Stupid Foreigner is spotted, they must be stared at intently and for a great length of time. Ocasionally this will make The Worker morph into Stupid Worker, which also reverses the subject of the enterntainment. After a few minutes when Stupid Foreigner has left, Stupid Worker will continue working...maybe.
Tomorrow is Monday, the day The Worker will maybe come and fix everything. It has been several days since one of the Stupid Foreigners has had a hot shower or a full nights sleep since he is up listening to the drips of broken water heater. Hopefully The Worker will show up and everyone will be happy. Well...this Stupid Foreigner is off to a cold shower of her own. Tune in next time for the continuing adventures of Stupid Foreigner... or visit photos.yahoo.com/dizazu20 to see Stupid Foreigner in action.

C is for class, Carrafour and China

Hi again. I think it has been a while since i wrote anything substantial...so here is my random thoughts. Ok...so aparently my fridge has been moved out of my room and is sitting in the hall. I guess that is one step closer to getting it fixed or getting a new one, but they still don't know when that will happen. Basically it is the worker who does everything. I do not believe this worker actually does any work, but whenever something is broken, its "the worker will come ifx it"

What's in a name: Dont let Chinese people pick their own English names. Many chinese names have an actual meaning, unlike English names...or atleast I dont know the meaning of enlgish names. SO the other day I met a life insurance salesperson/tourguide named Cloudy and one English teacher has the name Fish because her last name is Yu(fish). When I was in college, one kid decided to call himself Leopard Smith...and come to think of it we had another kid called Fish too, and we actually called him Fish. Some of my students have English names, but I dont know any of their names anyways...too many to learn. One kid sits in the front of class, I will now call Superman because he said he was Superman and posed for a pic...ill put it up later.

Class: So far I have had only one class today, but it was my best one yet. Finishing up my "Introductions" lessons was really bad. The boys did not listen and would not talk and I had to talk over them the whole time. For example, I was trying to have them write their Chinese/English names on paper and put it on the desk so I could see it. But many came up to me to ask for paper. This is a school, they should all have paper. I also tried to make the kids who were not paying attention stand and answer the quesitons. One kid, who was drawing on his shoes, aparently does not know English. (Duh, thats what this class if for). He was 17 (in a 12-15 year old class). I later found out his family moved back from Brazil and that is why he doesnt know english. This time I am doing shopping, and using the poem "Smart" by Shel Silverstein. I made a sheet for all of them too with the vocab and the poem. I had to write it by hand, but o well. Maybe I will get a printer at some point....which brings me to my next thing.

Dont plug in Chinese electronics to US computer...i blew the USB port. Luckily my computer realized this and fixed itself. I thought external speakers would be an ok thing to plug in, but apparently not, even if i can plug my computer directly into the wall with out a problem.

Wuxi: Went into town last night to some sort of outdoor market that is in a Pagoda. Aparently there is more to do in the morning thoguh than at night. So I bought a pair of speakers for my Ipod for only 40 kuai. Now I can play music in my classes. I am sort of figuring out how to get around. I dont have a map yet though...i should get one. But they all say get at the train station, and that is very far away. I havnt gone out by myself yet though so it doesnt matter yet..hehe. And I can always just get in a cab and go home. The busses here are not nearly as crowded as they are in Beijing. You can actually sit down and not have 5 people surrounding you. I think a kid might have peed on the bus we were on. There was a kid with typical split pants and then the mom took him up and i saw some wet spots on the ground...maybe I am just assuming here. Its fun to see kids walk down the street w/their butts hanging out of their pants. I just hope I havnt been stepping in anything I shouldnt have. Also started my dvd colleciton. I bought 8 but am only going to keep 4...the other 4 were no good. Munich was dubbed in Russian and SUperman was dubbed in Chinese. But maybe ill keep superman if I can get a working remote to see if there are english subtitles. But at 7 kuai/dollar a piece, I cant complain too much.

Doctor: Ok...finally went to the doctor. However, we left at 8 and didnt get back till 1...and I had a 2pm class. I was a little annoyed that it took so long on the bus, and finding the bus and waiting for the bus...and I was with a chinese guy. He didnt know where the busses were. OK...what kind of traing do chinese doctors get? Some things were a little strange. First I had an Xray...I think to see if I have TB...cough cough...or maybe I have SARS or Bird Flu. Then I had an EKG and I was wondering when they were strapping a thing to my ankle and writs if I was in some sort of torture electricution. Very old looking equipment. Then I had an ultra sound. I guess they found both of my kidneys since they didnt mention anything. Then the surgeon, or whoever it was that worked in surgury dept felt my neck and told me to swallow. Then felt under my arms and my back and asked me to squat and show him my knees. Yes I have two knees and yes they bend. The guy was kinda cute though...maybe Ill suddenly have a sharp pain in my stomach...hehe...j/k.

Well...I have written enough for now I think. So I will leave you with some pictures...hmmm..it said they uploaded...where are they??? Ok...ill make a new blog w/pics...maybe I have to do pics then write...has anyone else used this before?

To be continued... Ok...my pics dont seem to want to upload even in a new blog. I duno how they appeared last time, but wont this time even thought it says theyve been uploaded 3 times already. Maybe my pics are floating around blogger.com somewhere. I can always use yahoo for my pics later.
88
-Leah-