Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christmas in China : The Beginning
Been busy working two jobs lately and forgot that I need to blog every
now and then so people know I'm alive. Christmas is coming soon, and I
decided to decorate for the impending visit of the family.
Just finished putting up my first Christmas tree - in China, in the real
world, or otherwise - and I have some requests for any of you that would
like to participate. First, I would like more pictures for my wall of
friends and family pictures. Second, if you would like to send an
ornament to put on my tree you can mail and/or give them to my mom or
other family headed for the China. It'd be great to have ornaments to
throw on the tree come Christmas time.
And here, for your viewing pleasure, are the first pictures from China.
There are pictures of my Christmas team (Rita, Zoey, and Weiguang)
setting up our Christmas tree, along with pictures of the last time Bob
and I went KTV-ing. I sang so well that I didn't even need a mic at
times (evidenced by the pictures), and Bob for some reason decided that
Zhang Keke and him really really really needed to wrestle as soon as
they got outside into the rain. Really.
CHRISTMAS IS COMING TO CHINAAAAAAAAAA
Friday, November 13, 2009
Translator Extraordinaire
Let me start off by saying that riding a bike in the rain isn't as glorious as a Nike commercial makes it seem, especially not in 50 degree weather, but I must admit that it's still pretty fun. I slowly rode two blocks with an umbrella in my hand before the "I'M A STRONG AMERICAN MAN" side of me took over, causing me to put away my umbrella and ride at maximum danger speed. It was pretty great.
The last few days I've been playing interpreter for the visiting kindergarten teachers from Canada. They are also from a college sponsored school that does many research projects, so I've played translator at many meals and events so far.
The first event, before all the dignitaries that had met me knew I was capable, the biggest boss had brought a teacher from her branch to act as translator. I knew without being told to let her try and translate first, and fill in the gaps if there were any. It was cute watching the Chinese woman with decent English try and translate at first, and I was more than willing to let her to the greetings, but as the gloves came off and phrases like "meta cognitive development" and "sophisticated curriculum design" began to pop up I started taking over the translating. It ended with me being full time translator, and me being involved with every event so far this week. They've been cancelling classes, moving classes, doing whatever they need to in order to have me present. It's been pretty fun. I've also noted that my Chinese has gotten even better than it was before, and the fact that even the foreign professors are impressed reflects how good it must appear to be even to people who don't speak the language.
The culmination of the translator gig was today when the two professors gave lectures. I was, needless to say, a bit nervous to translate a one hour lecture given by two professors with Ph.D's into Chinese for an audience of 70 people. The whole ordeal was, unbeknownst to me, caught on tape as well as documented in pictures, so I'll be sure to get a hold of that media.
An interesting side note, there was a big flu outbreak in one of my classes overnight. There were 26 kids in class E yesterday, and today only 6 showed up. A seventh came late, then left an hour later with flu symptoms. As a result, they are doing a big disinfecting of the classroom and all the kids in the class have been given the week off, leaving me with only two classes to teach for the next week. We'll see what creative ideas they come up with for this newfound free time to keep me busy. Now that the heads of the other 5 branches now what a great translator they have on staff, they are all considering treating more and more foreign guests to come give lectures on education. What have I gotten myself into.
The last few days I've been playing interpreter for the visiting kindergarten teachers from Canada. They are also from a college sponsored school that does many research projects, so I've played translator at many meals and events so far.
The first event, before all the dignitaries that had met me knew I was capable, the biggest boss had brought a teacher from her branch to act as translator. I knew without being told to let her try and translate first, and fill in the gaps if there were any. It was cute watching the Chinese woman with decent English try and translate at first, and I was more than willing to let her to the greetings, but as the gloves came off and phrases like "meta cognitive development" and "sophisticated curriculum design" began to pop up I started taking over the translating. It ended with me being full time translator, and me being involved with every event so far this week. They've been cancelling classes, moving classes, doing whatever they need to in order to have me present. It's been pretty fun. I've also noted that my Chinese has gotten even better than it was before, and the fact that even the foreign professors are impressed reflects how good it must appear to be even to people who don't speak the language.
The culmination of the translator gig was today when the two professors gave lectures. I was, needless to say, a bit nervous to translate a one hour lecture given by two professors with Ph.D's into Chinese for an audience of 70 people. The whole ordeal was, unbeknownst to me, caught on tape as well as documented in pictures, so I'll be sure to get a hold of that media.
An interesting side note, there was a big flu outbreak in one of my classes overnight. There were 26 kids in class E yesterday, and today only 6 showed up. A seventh came late, then left an hour later with flu symptoms. As a result, they are doing a big disinfecting of the classroom and all the kids in the class have been given the week off, leaving me with only two classes to teach for the next week. We'll see what creative ideas they come up with for this newfound free time to keep me busy. Now that the heads of the other 5 branches now what a great translator they have on staff, they are all considering treating more and more foreign guests to come give lectures on education. What have I gotten myself into.
Monday, November 9, 2009
It Smells Like Fall
It's a great day outside today. Just enough wind blowing to throw red and orange leaves around, and there is that distinct smell in the air that winter is almost here. I am really craving some chili right now.
Today we had two teachers from a school in Canada come to visit, and my job was to play tour guide and interpreter. Apparently our kindergarten has a sister school in Canada, and every February we do a teacher exchange. It gives our teachers a chance to see other methods, and it gives the Canadian kindergarten (which is also sponsored by a college) a chance to send Graduate students and PhD candidates over to do research and help out our curriculum. It's a pretty good feeling when even the white people are blown away by how good my Chinese is. They are really excited knowing now that I will be here in February, and I am too since they want to include me in helping their research projects. I get to pretend I'm a graduate student for 2 weeks when they come at the end of February/March.
In addition to that, I've started spending a lot of time previewing restaurants and locations around me. I've been getting prices on hotels, parks, and setting up daily itineraries for when the five-some comes to visit for Christmas. Pretty excited. If anyone wants to try and stow away in their suitcase they are certainly welcomed.
That's my short update for today.
Today we had two teachers from a school in Canada come to visit, and my job was to play tour guide and interpreter. Apparently our kindergarten has a sister school in Canada, and every February we do a teacher exchange. It gives our teachers a chance to see other methods, and it gives the Canadian kindergarten (which is also sponsored by a college) a chance to send Graduate students and PhD candidates over to do research and help out our curriculum. It's a pretty good feeling when even the white people are blown away by how good my Chinese is. They are really excited knowing now that I will be here in February, and I am too since they want to include me in helping their research projects. I get to pretend I'm a graduate student for 2 weeks when they come at the end of February/March.
In addition to that, I've started spending a lot of time previewing restaurants and locations around me. I've been getting prices on hotels, parks, and setting up daily itineraries for when the five-some comes to visit for Christmas. Pretty excited. If anyone wants to try and stow away in their suitcase they are certainly welcomed.
That's my short update for today.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Much needed update
JJ has come and gone. He was here for only five days, but it was an awesome five days. Being back together with the big man was so fantastic, I got to really unwind and unleash my American culture for a good portion of time. Him being gone means that instead of asking off work I'm going to double up on it. Gotta make some money to get ready for treating other visitors! All are welcome!
Getting ready for the Halloween parties at the moment. The last two weeks of class have been really fun, giving out different types of candy and building up to the best this week. I've been put in charge of the Haunted House for our kindergarten, and I am also to be one of the MC's for the Halloween show, so I am excited for both jobs. I have to be a pirate, the costume I wore needed to match the other MC, and she wanted to be a pirate. Aside from that, Halloween should be fun. I am participating in the parties at both my kindergartens, so I've got a good amount of extra work and planning to do.
To reward myself, tonight I went and bought a special Nintendo DS card that allows for downloading and playing of games. No, it isn't quite legal, but it's the Chinese way of doing things. After looking for a long time for Pokemon in Chinese, I discovered that the only way to find any DS games in China is to do it this way. I bought the card, got a bunch of different Chinese language versions of Pokemon games, and am looking forward to practicing my reading speed as I play through them in my free time. If this works, I'm totally buying these as gifts for JJ and Patrick. I thought about getting one for Anita, but she would be so frustrated by the challenge of reading Chinese.
Getting ready for the Halloween parties at the moment. The last two weeks of class have been really fun, giving out different types of candy and building up to the best this week. I've been put in charge of the Haunted House for our kindergarten, and I am also to be one of the MC's for the Halloween show, so I am excited for both jobs. I have to be a pirate, the costume I wore needed to match the other MC, and she wanted to be a pirate. Aside from that, Halloween should be fun. I am participating in the parties at both my kindergartens, so I've got a good amount of extra work and planning to do.
To reward myself, tonight I went and bought a special Nintendo DS card that allows for downloading and playing of games. No, it isn't quite legal, but it's the Chinese way of doing things. After looking for a long time for Pokemon in Chinese, I discovered that the only way to find any DS games in China is to do it this way. I bought the card, got a bunch of different Chinese language versions of Pokemon games, and am looking forward to practicing my reading speed as I play through them in my free time. If this works, I'm totally buying these as gifts for JJ and Patrick. I thought about getting one for Anita, but she would be so frustrated by the challenge of reading Chinese.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Beijing Trip
The trip in Beijing has been epic fun. I've really enjoyed my time here with Gloria and Bob, it's been a refreshing infusion of American culture into my life. I didn't bring a computer, so I haven't been blogging regularly. I hope that after I get back I'll sit down and document some of the weirder stories.
As it is, I will try and write some stories now, though my focus is lacking. I am currently sitting in a cafe with Gloria and we are both painfully hung over. We had the option of having a quiet night at home last night or going out to exlore the Houhai bar district. We chose the bar district, and what a night we had.
We started out in a bar called "Sex In Da City", I'd seen it a few times before and always wanted to go. We took turns buying each other rounds and bar hopping. There was lots of live music and performances going on at each bar, so we made sure to walk around the lake and check all of them out. Gloria video documented our trip around the lake bar district along with many other parts of the trip, once she gets those online somewhere I'll link to them. We eventually had some other friends meet up with us, though when they got to us we were tipsy and "China Crazy".
China Crazy has been the ongoing theme of the trip, it's the word Bob and I have been using to describe the change of behavior that occurs when you get abroad and into a new culture. Gloria has been going China Crazy, and it's rubbing off on Bob and me. Much more on me, since I'm staying with her. We just do some strange, strange things with no fear of embarassment. She brought Metamucil with her, and both of us are now addicted to it. We discovered the preventative cure for unhappy stomaches and bowel movements caused by spicier than death food is Metamucil, and we are taking so much it's crazy. SO MUCH FIBER.
China Crazy is so intense. We stole the little decorative shams off our beds this morning. We aren't really sure why. It just needed to be done.
Back to the story, we ended up spending so much money in the bar district. We spent the equivalent of about 200 dollars American each, but that means we spent 4000 in Chinese money. Each. People thought we were rich, it would be like seeing someone in America spending 4000 bar hopping. It was the one-time-only type of drinking experience that can only be done with friends, and despite how terrible I feel now I definitely am happy that we did it last night.
Yesterday I went to buy a jacket at the mall. After buying the jacket at the mall, the people at the counter told me I needed to go upstairs to the customer service center. Apparently since I'd spent so much money on the nice jacket they wanted me to get a membership card, it was free so I said okay. After filling out the card, they gave me a complimentary gift. The choice was a pillow or a wine set complete with two nice bottles of wine and two wine glasses in a display case. I was like "What the HELL who chooses the pillow?" then watched in amazement as the other woman getting a card chose the pillow. That's like a 300 dollar value in wine and glasses and display case she is passing up. Also I have no idea why they give such nice gifts, but I took it.
As it is, I will try and write some stories now, though my focus is lacking. I am currently sitting in a cafe with Gloria and we are both painfully hung over. We had the option of having a quiet night at home last night or going out to exlore the Houhai bar district. We chose the bar district, and what a night we had.
We started out in a bar called "Sex In Da City", I'd seen it a few times before and always wanted to go. We took turns buying each other rounds and bar hopping. There was lots of live music and performances going on at each bar, so we made sure to walk around the lake and check all of them out. Gloria video documented our trip around the lake bar district along with many other parts of the trip, once she gets those online somewhere I'll link to them. We eventually had some other friends meet up with us, though when they got to us we were tipsy and "China Crazy".
China Crazy has been the ongoing theme of the trip, it's the word Bob and I have been using to describe the change of behavior that occurs when you get abroad and into a new culture. Gloria has been going China Crazy, and it's rubbing off on Bob and me. Much more on me, since I'm staying with her. We just do some strange, strange things with no fear of embarassment. She brought Metamucil with her, and both of us are now addicted to it. We discovered the preventative cure for unhappy stomaches and bowel movements caused by spicier than death food is Metamucil, and we are taking so much it's crazy. SO MUCH FIBER.
China Crazy is so intense. We stole the little decorative shams off our beds this morning. We aren't really sure why. It just needed to be done.
Back to the story, we ended up spending so much money in the bar district. We spent the equivalent of about 200 dollars American each, but that means we spent 4000 in Chinese money. Each. People thought we were rich, it would be like seeing someone in America spending 4000 bar hopping. It was the one-time-only type of drinking experience that can only be done with friends, and despite how terrible I feel now I definitely am happy that we did it last night.
Yesterday I went to buy a jacket at the mall. After buying the jacket at the mall, the people at the counter told me I needed to go upstairs to the customer service center. Apparently since I'd spent so much money on the nice jacket they wanted me to get a membership card, it was free so I said okay. After filling out the card, they gave me a complimentary gift. The choice was a pillow or a wine set complete with two nice bottles of wine and two wine glasses in a display case. I was like "What the HELL who chooses the pillow?" then watched in amazement as the other woman getting a card chose the pillow. That's like a 300 dollar value in wine and glasses and display case she is passing up. Also I have no idea why they give such nice gifts, but I took it.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
SNAKES
So busy lately. Because of the upcoming holiday we are working on
Sunday, and I forgot how important a rest on the weekend was. I've now
been working 7 straight days with a night of karaoke thrown in there on
Friday, and I'm starting to feel the pain.
I wanted to mention this but I kept forgetting. I had a moment in our
"English Meeting" last Thursday that caused me to laugh for 5 minutes
straight. No one else got it. There was an excellent typo on our
"Common Phrases to Use With Kids" handout one of the teachers had typed
up. The English teacher (Chinese girl) had typed it up, and then during
our English meeting (10 Chinese teachers trying to speak English with me
to practice their English) I was supposed to read it out loud for
pronunciation checking for mistakes as I went. The mistake I found, the
one that made me laugh, was: "Okay kids! Time for breakfast / lunch /
snakes / dinner!" I read them one by one. "Okay kids time for
breakfast!" "Time for lunch!" "Time for snakes!"
When I yelled "Okay kids, time for snakes!" I instantly lost it. I
realized it was meant to be snacks, but after yelling it I just lost
it. I'm giggling it typing it. I have a mental picture of me walking
into the classroom an hour after lunch with a basket of snakes and
yelling "TIME FOR SNAKES EVERYONE!"
I love my imagination. It's what keeps me going.
Sunday, and I forgot how important a rest on the weekend was. I've now
been working 7 straight days with a night of karaoke thrown in there on
Friday, and I'm starting to feel the pain.
I wanted to mention this but I kept forgetting. I had a moment in our
"English Meeting" last Thursday that caused me to laugh for 5 minutes
straight. No one else got it. There was an excellent typo on our
"Common Phrases to Use With Kids" handout one of the teachers had typed
up. The English teacher (Chinese girl) had typed it up, and then during
our English meeting (10 Chinese teachers trying to speak English with me
to practice their English) I was supposed to read it out loud for
pronunciation checking for mistakes as I went. The mistake I found, the
one that made me laugh, was: "Okay kids! Time for breakfast / lunch /
snakes / dinner!" I read them one by one. "Okay kids time for
breakfast!" "Time for lunch!" "Time for snakes!"
When I yelled "Okay kids, time for snakes!" I instantly lost it. I
realized it was meant to be snacks, but after yelling it I just lost
it. I'm giggling it typing it. I have a mental picture of me walking
into the classroom an hour after lunch with a basket of snakes and
yelling "TIME FOR SNAKES EVERYONE!"
I love my imagination. It's what keeps me going.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Weekly Check In
This week has been a good level of busy. I spent a few hours waiting in line earlier in the week to buy train tickets to Beijing. Despite waiting pretty early they had nearly sold out when I got there, and only the expensive tickets were left. I found out afterwards that a plane ticket from Hangzhou to Beijing would have been about as expensive as my train ticket and 10 hours shorter.
In any case, I'm excited for the week holiday. Gloria will come to play with me in China, it is my first test run to see what type of host I am. Will I balance work and play well? Time will tell.
Today I did the monthly review of a selection of the children in my class. Tomorrow they give them out to parents, and I'm expecting to meet with the parents to discuss them should there be parts they don't understand. This whole week/weekend will be a battle until Thursday when we get off work. We have classes on Sunday to give the kids a four day week before the break, meaning I will have no day of rest. Let the gauntlet begin.
In any case, I'm excited for the week holiday. Gloria will come to play with me in China, it is my first test run to see what type of host I am. Will I balance work and play well? Time will tell.
Today I did the monthly review of a selection of the children in my class. Tomorrow they give them out to parents, and I'm expecting to meet with the parents to discuss them should there be parts they don't understand. This whole week/weekend will be a battle until Thursday when we get off work. We have classes on Sunday to give the kids a four day week before the break, meaning I will have no day of rest. Let the gauntlet begin.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Burning Down the House
Most entertaining story of the weekend comes first. Last night I went
to a particularly nice cafe with my friend, a pricier one that
specializes in a calm atmosphere and great ambiance music. After
sitting for about an hour, the table next to us started yelling for a
waiter. Most places in China you will call for a waiter, but at nicer
places like this cafe it is looked down upon. The waiters and patrons
looked disparagingly at the two gentlemen yelling for a waiter until
their cries of, "Waiter! Waiter!" turned into, "Waiter! Fire!". One of
the lights had burst and the ceiling was slowly catching on fire. Just
as the waitresses realized the ceiling was on fire big pieces started to
fall down and that section of the ceiling began caving in. Everyone
escaped without injury, and the waitresses were all yelling "Put it out!
Put it out!" but no one thought to grab the fire extinguisher or
actually do anything. It took a good minute for someone to come running
out of the kitchen to put the fire out. Those of us who hadn't already
fled were then given discount cards and free everythings. It was a
pretty exciting event, never been in the midst of a fire before.
This morning I went to partake in more part time teaching. The job is
nice, as the money it brings in makes me feel a lot less guilty about
spending money 'recklessly' treating friends to dinner and seeing
movies. When I went to the first class on Thursday I thought I stumbled
at a few places with the unfamiliar format of the class, the longer
time, and having to get new children to have the courage to talk to a
foreigner. I'd forgotten how hard it was to get children talking on the
first day. I didn't think I'd done well, but after the class the
children gushed to their parents about how much they liked me, the
teachers gushed about how well I did, and several parents redid their
children's learning schedules to be in class with me or be in private
sessions. Armed with that confidence, I went in for round 2 today and
just dominated my classes. I'm really starting to enjoy teaching,
especially because I feel I am finally getting really good at it.
I've been cooking lately after doing some studying of local restaurant
styles, and last night I made some of the best food I've ever made. I'm
not sure if it is cooking with gas or a fluke with lucky guessing on
cooking times, but it was so good. SO GOOD.
Time for afternoon classes, followed by a trip to the movie theater with
some friends to see the latest Chinese blockbuster.
to a particularly nice cafe with my friend, a pricier one that
specializes in a calm atmosphere and great ambiance music. After
sitting for about an hour, the table next to us started yelling for a
waiter. Most places in China you will call for a waiter, but at nicer
places like this cafe it is looked down upon. The waiters and patrons
looked disparagingly at the two gentlemen yelling for a waiter until
their cries of, "Waiter! Waiter!" turned into, "Waiter! Fire!". One of
the lights had burst and the ceiling was slowly catching on fire. Just
as the waitresses realized the ceiling was on fire big pieces started to
fall down and that section of the ceiling began caving in. Everyone
escaped without injury, and the waitresses were all yelling "Put it out!
Put it out!" but no one thought to grab the fire extinguisher or
actually do anything. It took a good minute for someone to come running
out of the kitchen to put the fire out. Those of us who hadn't already
fled were then given discount cards and free everythings. It was a
pretty exciting event, never been in the midst of a fire before.
This morning I went to partake in more part time teaching. The job is
nice, as the money it brings in makes me feel a lot less guilty about
spending money 'recklessly' treating friends to dinner and seeing
movies. When I went to the first class on Thursday I thought I stumbled
at a few places with the unfamiliar format of the class, the longer
time, and having to get new children to have the courage to talk to a
foreigner. I'd forgotten how hard it was to get children talking on the
first day. I didn't think I'd done well, but after the class the
children gushed to their parents about how much they liked me, the
teachers gushed about how well I did, and several parents redid their
children's learning schedules to be in class with me or be in private
sessions. Armed with that confidence, I went in for round 2 today and
just dominated my classes. I'm really starting to enjoy teaching,
especially because I feel I am finally getting really good at it.
I've been cooking lately after doing some studying of local restaurant
styles, and last night I made some of the best food I've ever made. I'm
not sure if it is cooking with gas or a fluke with lucky guessing on
cooking times, but it was so good. SO GOOD.
Time for afternoon classes, followed by a trip to the movie theater with
some friends to see the latest Chinese blockbuster.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Week in Progress
I discovered today while there are no other male teachers at our school. It isn't the reasons I heard before about salaries and social perceptions about appropriate jobs for men. No, it is something much simpler. Today one of the girls was excited to see me and came running up yelling, "Chris! Chris! Good morning Chris!" She was running at top speed to give me a hug, and hearing her yelling I turned around just in time to say, "Hell- OH" as she inadvertently punched me straight in the crotch. It was match point, game over, white man down level of pain. I hadn't been racked like that since football, and by damn I think I'm going to invest in a cup. I've had lots of close calls, but I'd managed to avoid the flailing limbs that are so dangerously aimed around crotch level up until today.
Aside from that, the week has been fairly good to me. I'm getting better and better at handling the kids both in terms of keeping them happy and in keeping them in line. I do know for sure, though, that as a result of my experience I don't want kids any time soon. So intense.
My first day at the part time job is Thursday, two days from now, and I'm not yet entirely sure what to expect.
Aside from that, the week has been fairly good to me. I'm getting better and better at handling the kids both in terms of keeping them happy and in keeping them in line. I do know for sure, though, that as a result of my experience I don't want kids any time soon. So intense.
My first day at the part time job is Thursday, two days from now, and I'm not yet entirely sure what to expect.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Part Time Job Interview
Had an exciting weekend. The Wine Bar we went to on Friday turned out
to be great, we had a lot of fun. We will definitely be making a return
visit, after 10:00 a DJ came in to set up and the music was fantastic.
The drinks were good, and the complimentary buffet that came with the
drinks was fantastic.
I had planned to go to a scenic site on Saturday with some friends, but
I accidentally turned off my phone after setting the alarm and didn't
wake up in time. I spent the afternoon instead going to meet with a
kindergarten about part time work. I was recommended by an impressed
teacher at my current school. Their classes and facilities were
amazing, with touch screen walls for interactive teaching and highly
motivated students. The pay is 150 an hour, far above the average 100
an hour other places had offered me, and the school simply on the
recommendation alone was certain I'd be a perfect fit. It really is all
about who you know in China. In any case, I will probably start some
time this week, and I'll be able to make a good amount of money from the
work. The money will be welcome, too, as I won't receive my first
paycheck until after the first month of work here and I'd like to
bolster my Chinese bank account without making more transfers to it from
my American account. The fees pile up fast!
I am excited about the part time work, it should be fun, and I made sure
that it would be easy to ask for time off should I desire it.
Last night I spent the night at a friends house. We had a sleepover
watching American and Chinese movies that I had bought and eating
copious amounts of fruit. The amount of fruit that people eat here is
just ridiculous. So much.
to be great, we had a lot of fun. We will definitely be making a return
visit, after 10:00 a DJ came in to set up and the music was fantastic.
The drinks were good, and the complimentary buffet that came with the
drinks was fantastic.
I had planned to go to a scenic site on Saturday with some friends, but
I accidentally turned off my phone after setting the alarm and didn't
wake up in time. I spent the afternoon instead going to meet with a
kindergarten about part time work. I was recommended by an impressed
teacher at my current school. Their classes and facilities were
amazing, with touch screen walls for interactive teaching and highly
motivated students. The pay is 150 an hour, far above the average 100
an hour other places had offered me, and the school simply on the
recommendation alone was certain I'd be a perfect fit. It really is all
about who you know in China. In any case, I will probably start some
time this week, and I'll be able to make a good amount of money from the
work. The money will be welcome, too, as I won't receive my first
paycheck until after the first month of work here and I'd like to
bolster my Chinese bank account without making more transfers to it from
my American account. The fees pile up fast!
I am excited about the part time work, it should be fun, and I made sure
that it would be easy to ask for time off should I desire it.
Last night I spent the night at a friends house. We had a sleepover
watching American and Chinese movies that I had bought and eating
copious amounts of fruit. The amount of fruit that people eat here is
just ridiculous. So much.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
I am Donkey
The Chinese faculty agrees that I act like the Donkey from Shrek. What happens is, certain things just boil up inside of me and I end up breaking into song or dance at random parts of the day. For example,. today I did my 'donkey dance' and sang Billy Jean for 5 minutes in the office. The donkey dance is the dance I did when they first said I acted like Donkey, and it is really well received. They think the dance and I are hilarious. "I'm Donkey! I'm donkey! DONKEY DONKEY DONKEY!"
Internet Tomorrow
The internet providers will come to my house sometime tomorrow to open the internet for me, and after that things will be much more convenient. I am excited. Once I have my own internet I can experiment with proxies and find ways to get to facebook, blogspot, and upload pictures.
To confront Phillip's difficulties the kindergarten had our contact David invite Maggie to come observe and help him prepare for his classes. Maggie has 11 years of teaching ESL experience in various countries around the world, and she certainly is good, but I don't think anyone predicted the result that would come from having her visit. She stepped on pretty much every persons toes and did everything the way we are not supposed to. The office provides us with materials on request, and she decided to circumvent this and go purchase her own supplies. This is fine, though a bit impolite to the woman in charge of finding and maintaining supplies for us.
The next issue exploded into a giant fight. Phillip had previously asked for a list of names of the children in the class. The names are posted on the walls outside the class, but he requested that one of our coworkers get the list for him. Note: coworker, not assistant. She obliged, and while Maggie was reviewing the name noticed that 8 of the children did not have English names written down. She also made the comment that "Two character names are girl names, and 3 character names are tricky because they can be boys or girls". I'm not sure where she decided on this from, but it is so hilariously untrue and unfounded that I just didn't care to help her. She was already annoying me by reinforcing every negative American stereotype I try to work against, and the confidence with which she stated her insanely stupid comment caused me to simply stare at my paper to avoid the rush of various emotions that threatened to make me yell or laugh or both.
She first confronted her saying, "This name is two characters, yes? Well then why is her name Max? Max is a boys name." My coworker was confused and simply responded that yes he was a boy. Maggie then responded with, "You know Max is a boy's name? Well then why don't you have her change her name to a girl's name, you shouldn't call her Max." My coworker was more confused, and tried to explain that the child name Max was indeed a boy. Maggie finally decided to believe that this was the one exception to her made up "two character names are girls" rule and move on to her next grievance - the missing 8 names.
Our coworker informed her that the names had recently been decided upon after changes from the parents and not entered into the computers yet, and that if she would like the names Phillip should go ask the teachers in each class for them. Maggie began to berate my coworker and speak to her like a child, insisting that she was Phillip's assistant and needed to do her job by going and asking the teachers for her. She is not Phillip's assistant. She became angry, and when our other coworker turned to ask her in Chinese what was wrong, she responded in Chinese simply explaining and stating that Maggie was telling her to do things she didn't need to. This caused Maggie to yell, "Don't talk in Chinese because you know I can't understand, don't talk behind my back, speak English." Things simply elevated from there, with Maggie storming to the headmaster's office to seek justice and our coworker following behind to not let Maggie soil her name. The biggest loser in this is Phillip, who sat there embarassed and said nothing. Daisy, the coworker that was yelled at, is his partner teacher (not assistant) and shares the upper 3 classrooms with him. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays foreigners take the younger children and the two Chinese English teachers take the older children, then on Tuesday and Thursday it switches. Phillip needs to be able to work with her and coordinate curriculum, and now not only is she not excited to work with him but most of the teachers in his class witnessed Maggie's tirading through the halls yelling at Daisy and making a scene as she made her way to the headmaster's office.
All in all, the event really annoyed me. Maggie, seemingly not knowing the situation of the school and how things work (I hope) despite my impression that Phillip had explained it to her, came in and proceeded to offend and anger as many people as possible.
Aside from that, I can't stop losing weight. I was around 215 when I came to China, and I am now down to 198 with no signs of my weight stopping. I'm not sure what I'm losing since I feel like I look the exact same, so I'm rather confused at the moment. Oh well.
To confront Phillip's difficulties the kindergarten had our contact David invite Maggie to come observe and help him prepare for his classes. Maggie has 11 years of teaching ESL experience in various countries around the world, and she certainly is good, but I don't think anyone predicted the result that would come from having her visit. She stepped on pretty much every persons toes and did everything the way we are not supposed to. The office provides us with materials on request, and she decided to circumvent this and go purchase her own supplies. This is fine, though a bit impolite to the woman in charge of finding and maintaining supplies for us.
The next issue exploded into a giant fight. Phillip had previously asked for a list of names of the children in the class. The names are posted on the walls outside the class, but he requested that one of our coworkers get the list for him. Note: coworker, not assistant. She obliged, and while Maggie was reviewing the name noticed that 8 of the children did not have English names written down. She also made the comment that "Two character names are girl names, and 3 character names are tricky because they can be boys or girls". I'm not sure where she decided on this from, but it is so hilariously untrue and unfounded that I just didn't care to help her. She was already annoying me by reinforcing every negative American stereotype I try to work against, and the confidence with which she stated her insanely stupid comment caused me to simply stare at my paper to avoid the rush of various emotions that threatened to make me yell or laugh or both.
She first confronted her saying, "This name is two characters, yes? Well then why is her name Max? Max is a boys name." My coworker was confused and simply responded that yes he was a boy. Maggie then responded with, "You know Max is a boy's name? Well then why don't you have her change her name to a girl's name, you shouldn't call her Max." My coworker was more confused, and tried to explain that the child name Max was indeed a boy. Maggie finally decided to believe that this was the one exception to her made up "two character names are girls" rule and move on to her next grievance - the missing 8 names.
Our coworker informed her that the names had recently been decided upon after changes from the parents and not entered into the computers yet, and that if she would like the names Phillip should go ask the teachers in each class for them. Maggie began to berate my coworker and speak to her like a child, insisting that she was Phillip's assistant and needed to do her job by going and asking the teachers for her. She is not Phillip's assistant. She became angry, and when our other coworker turned to ask her in Chinese what was wrong, she responded in Chinese simply explaining and stating that Maggie was telling her to do things she didn't need to. This caused Maggie to yell, "Don't talk in Chinese because you know I can't understand, don't talk behind my back, speak English." Things simply elevated from there, with Maggie storming to the headmaster's office to seek justice and our coworker following behind to not let Maggie soil her name. The biggest loser in this is Phillip, who sat there embarassed and said nothing. Daisy, the coworker that was yelled at, is his partner teacher (not assistant) and shares the upper 3 classrooms with him. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays foreigners take the younger children and the two Chinese English teachers take the older children, then on Tuesday and Thursday it switches. Phillip needs to be able to work with her and coordinate curriculum, and now not only is she not excited to work with him but most of the teachers in his class witnessed Maggie's tirading through the halls yelling at Daisy and making a scene as she made her way to the headmaster's office.
All in all, the event really annoyed me. Maggie, seemingly not knowing the situation of the school and how things work (I hope) despite my impression that Phillip had explained it to her, came in and proceeded to offend and anger as many people as possible.
Aside from that, I can't stop losing weight. I was around 215 when I came to China, and I am now down to 198 with no signs of my weight stopping. I'm not sure what I'm losing since I feel like I look the exact same, so I'm rather confused at the moment. Oh well.
Monday, September 7, 2009
A New Week Has Begun
A new week has begun, and I am continuing to dominate the kindergarten. Phillip is struggling and perhaps has given up, he didn't prepare anything for his classes today and there was a pretty big meeting about it followed by him getting a stern private talking to. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I think everyone on campus could hear the tone through the walls and knew what was going on. The only thing he did was hand out whistles to his first class, which if you know anything about kindergarten and preschool aged kids is a terrible idea. He said he realized this after it backfired and didn't give any out to his next classes, but needless to say he isn't on good terms with the whistle classes teachers now.
The kids and I have been getting along well. They are baffled by my body hair and think it is amazing. All the previously shy students are all opening up to me, and they are learning so fast it is amazing. The job takes so much preparation but is so rewarding.
I went and bought Dr. Suess after the insane success of reading Hop on Pop to my classes. I prefaced it by telling them Dr. Suess was what my mom used to read to me, and they were so mystified and excited that I was sharing it with them. I also think I'm going to keep my copies instead of trying to get reimbursed and giving them to the school. The books come with Chinese translations at the bottom along with a short Chinese bio about Dr. Suess, and I think these are definitely worth collecting. The books that the local big book store didn't have I have ordered to complete my collection. I am needless to say very excited.
More exciting and heartwarming was the local vendor who stopped me on the way back. He runs a cigarette store, but he is the place right outside our gate and I always drop by to buy water from him and do a bit of talking. He was a gruff guy at first, but he is really nice and I've enjoyed making him open up and be nice to me. He saw my books when I stopped to get water, and asked me if they were for my classes. He was intrigued about the Chinese written on the page to help with learning the English. He told me his daughter was only 3 and had just started school, and that her English was bad. Then he proceeded to ask if I had any good books for alphabet learning. I pulled out Dr. Suess's ABC book, one of my favorites, and he asked me how much it was. I told him they were all 18 RMB, and he without hesitation pulled a 20 out of his pocket and gave it to me. I told him not to worry about paying me, but he was too proud and wouldn't take the money back. He flipped through the new book so happy that he had a gift to give to his daughter, and he was so involved with being happy with his new acquisition that when I asked him if he had anyone to read it to her he didn't hear me at first. He responded that he did not, and I offered to stop by during my break in the afternoon and read it with her. I thought he was going to cry, he was so overwhelmed that a foreign English teacher from the best kindergarten in Hangzhou was offering to read to his daughter, the daughter of a cigarette store owner who doesn't look to make much money. I didn't think about it that way until after, so his reaction caught me a bit off guard, but I assured him that I would come and read it to her. The whole experience was really heart warming.
Work has been going well, and tomorrow I am scheduled to go get internet hooked up and get a bus card made. I am excited, this means more convenient internet and more frequent updates.
I also bought about 50 of the best English movies from a local movie store 3 days ago. My friend has just gotten out of the hospital with appendicitis, and his request during recovery was to watch my favorite English movies with me. We have already watched countless Chinese movies, so I decided to go overboard and stock up with my favorite from every genre. I have an exciting week of movies ahead of me, along with a trip on Friday to a wine tasting and dinner party. I have to find a date. Oh dear.
The kids and I have been getting along well. They are baffled by my body hair and think it is amazing. All the previously shy students are all opening up to me, and they are learning so fast it is amazing. The job takes so much preparation but is so rewarding.
I went and bought Dr. Suess after the insane success of reading Hop on Pop to my classes. I prefaced it by telling them Dr. Suess was what my mom used to read to me, and they were so mystified and excited that I was sharing it with them. I also think I'm going to keep my copies instead of trying to get reimbursed and giving them to the school. The books come with Chinese translations at the bottom along with a short Chinese bio about Dr. Suess, and I think these are definitely worth collecting. The books that the local big book store didn't have I have ordered to complete my collection. I am needless to say very excited.
More exciting and heartwarming was the local vendor who stopped me on the way back. He runs a cigarette store, but he is the place right outside our gate and I always drop by to buy water from him and do a bit of talking. He was a gruff guy at first, but he is really nice and I've enjoyed making him open up and be nice to me. He saw my books when I stopped to get water, and asked me if they were for my classes. He was intrigued about the Chinese written on the page to help with learning the English. He told me his daughter was only 3 and had just started school, and that her English was bad. Then he proceeded to ask if I had any good books for alphabet learning. I pulled out Dr. Suess's ABC book, one of my favorites, and he asked me how much it was. I told him they were all 18 RMB, and he without hesitation pulled a 20 out of his pocket and gave it to me. I told him not to worry about paying me, but he was too proud and wouldn't take the money back. He flipped through the new book so happy that he had a gift to give to his daughter, and he was so involved with being happy with his new acquisition that when I asked him if he had anyone to read it to her he didn't hear me at first. He responded that he did not, and I offered to stop by during my break in the afternoon and read it with her. I thought he was going to cry, he was so overwhelmed that a foreign English teacher from the best kindergarten in Hangzhou was offering to read to his daughter, the daughter of a cigarette store owner who doesn't look to make much money. I didn't think about it that way until after, so his reaction caught me a bit off guard, but I assured him that I would come and read it to her. The whole experience was really heart warming.
Work has been going well, and tomorrow I am scheduled to go get internet hooked up and get a bus card made. I am excited, this means more convenient internet and more frequent updates.
I also bought about 50 of the best English movies from a local movie store 3 days ago. My friend has just gotten out of the hospital with appendicitis, and his request during recovery was to watch my favorite English movies with me. We have already watched countless Chinese movies, so I decided to go overboard and stock up with my favorite from every genre. I have an exciting week of movies ahead of me, along with a trip on Friday to a wine tasting and dinner party. I have to find a date. Oh dear.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Fishing For Names
It seems my week will be rather uneventful from Monday to Friday with the exception of class. My friends have started school again or work, and we often only have time to eat after I get off work, then we all return to our respective residences to do what we need to do. In my case that means playing Hearts on my computer and setting a new record while listening to Chinese music, followed by reading one of the new Chinese novels I bought and falling asleep by ten. My life has become horrifyingly adult in the last few days. I find myself spending my free time cleaning the bathroom or scrubbing certain parts of the house. Things that years ago showed up on my chore list are now things I williningly do with no bribery or threat of punishment, and after I do my work I go to sleep at a reasonably early time to wake up early and plan for work. Horrifying.
Class was even more fun today. The class culminated with the students fishing for their English names, and after they fished them out we each took a picture together with their fish (name on the front). I am going to use these pictures to remember their names, and I also plan to print out copies and give them to the students. Apparently my first day made a great impact on the students but more so on the teachers, they never thought I would do so well starting out with no experience. This has been a rewarding week, I hope the kids are ready for more this afternoon.
Class was even more fun today. The class culminated with the students fishing for their English names, and after they fished them out we each took a picture together with their fish (name on the front). I am going to use these pictures to remember their names, and I also plan to print out copies and give them to the students. Apparently my first day made a great impact on the students but more so on the teachers, they never thought I would do so well starting out with no experience. This has been a rewarding week, I hope the kids are ready for more this afternoon.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The First Day
The first day has been absolutely amazing. The children love me, and I love them, everything seems to be going so well. I am so happy that everything is going so smoothly, I think this is really going to be a fun semester. The best moment of my day so far has been the kid sitting next to me in one of the classes rubbing my arm and marvelling at my arm hair. He asked me why I had so much, then wanted to rub my face to see if I had a beard. It was the most novel thing I've had happen to me in China in months. Top notch awesome.
I sang songs, did introductions, and it looks like it will be fun. I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that my TA taught me how to make a fishing pole out of paper. I am going to go fishing for children tomorrow to give them their English names. This fishing pole may be the coolest arts and crafts thing I've ever done, it is so strong and amazing. SO AMAZING.
I sang songs, did introductions, and it looks like it will be fun. I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that my TA taught me how to make a fishing pole out of paper. I am going to go fishing for children tomorrow to give them their English names. This fishing pole may be the coolest arts and crafts thing I've ever done, it is so strong and amazing. SO AMAZING.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Lots of Days In Summary
I am going to write in short blurbs. I wrote this entry last night, then the internet in the web cafe went down. It was actually somewhat entertaining, because though I lost this entry I did get to see an amazing show when all of the World of Warcraft addicts got angry at being disconnected. I thought a riot was about to erupt, there was so much yelling and waving of fists and brandishing of empty water bottles at computer screens. I just sat there and played solitaire waiting for the internet to come back while they endlessly typed passwords and hit reconnect every 10 seconds, all the while screaming into microphones "Can you hear me now? The internet is down! I don't think I'm connected to the voice server... can you hear me NOW... how about NOW?" After half an hour I went home and resolved to write a concise version today.
First and perhaps most important was Bob's departure from Hangzhou. I felt a pit of sadness erupt when I finally saw Kate and JJ off after my going away party, and it only deepened when Anita left. When I saw my mom, dad, and brother for the last time for months I felt like the pit in my stomach couldn't get any worse. When Bob left, I realized that I was truly alone. I kept telling myself it was like the other times in China, but in reality it isn't. I had the option of readily available American culture in immediate interactions with Americans should I need it, but this time around I only have the comfort of Chinese friends. I have noticed that I miss small things that I didn't know I was so addicted to before. I miss sarcasm, inside jokes from youtube videos, talking about which football team was favored to when what, and dozens of other small pop culture points that just can't be understood by foreigners. I am happy over here, there is no doubt about that, but I am also very aware of a certain emptiness. Something is missing. I am not sure who or what it is, but something is missing.
I went to Beijing last week, but most of the trip was spent eating and sleeping. I started getting sick before getting on the train to Beijing, and it only worsened once there. I ate a lot of great food (yes, I have pictures and videos), and in between meals I basically slept. I think in retrospect that I got hit by the flu, and I hope that was the case, because then I am immune for later this year. If I am not immune, working with 60 kindergarteners will definitely give it to me.
I have been busy the last few days finalizing preparations for beginning work. I went through the health check, registering at the police station, and the preparing of lesson plans for classes this week. There are so many stories I am neglecting, but after a few days have passed they don't seem as amusing as when they first occurred. I can't wait until I get internet in my apartment so I can update frequently and truly share my experience in China.
Students arrive tomorrow, and I am very nervous. Apparently Bob crashed and burned in one of his three college classes, and instead of focusing on his success in the other two I am worried about his failure in the one. I have discovered, after much preparation, that kindergarten is going to be much harder than teaching college ever would be. Especially since I am working for the foreign branch of the most exclusive and famous Kindergarten in Hangzhou. I didn't realize how well known it was until I started telling people the name, and after many of the same responses I am starting to feel the pressure.
Thankfully, the faculty has all fallen in love with me. They are all just amazed by my Chinese, and think I am just the best thing since sliced bread. The first day I met all the teachers we were supposed to meet at the school at 8:30, but my coworker decided not to come. He had many excuses including back pain, headache, our contract not saying we start until the first, and being tired, so I just let him stay at home and sleep and rolled in by myself. After 4 hours of the Chris Marco show, I called him to wake him up and meet us for a big lunch in our honor. At the lunch (which I got LOTS of videos of) we ate at an epic Chinese version of Benihanas. I am stating now that anyone who visits me in Hangzhou must go with me to this restaurant. It is pricey in Chinese terms, but it was so nice and so amazing. All the main teachers were at the lunch, and I basically did all the talking and impressing since my cooworker does not speak Chinese. I was his translator for the meal.
The headmaster has told me that the faculty likes me, which came right after dinner and was said in a very direct way as if to criticize my coworker Phillip. In addition to what had already occurred, it turns out that the Chinese people have a lot of trouble understanding his English. He was hit by a car 15 years ago, and after a 10 year recovery when he speaks he sounds very much like Ozzy Osbourne. I must admit I have trouble understanding him at times, too. I am not sure English teaching was the best career choice for him, but I'm committed to helping him as much as I can. Our headmaster is already attempting to get him to work at the branch below us instead of our branch, so we'll see how things work out in a few weeks.
Aside from that, I've been frequenting karaoke places with friends in the last few days. I have learned many new Chinese songs since I came to China, and I've been totally dominating the karaoke scene. I'm pretty much awesome.
First and perhaps most important was Bob's departure from Hangzhou. I felt a pit of sadness erupt when I finally saw Kate and JJ off after my going away party, and it only deepened when Anita left. When I saw my mom, dad, and brother for the last time for months I felt like the pit in my stomach couldn't get any worse. When Bob left, I realized that I was truly alone. I kept telling myself it was like the other times in China, but in reality it isn't. I had the option of readily available American culture in immediate interactions with Americans should I need it, but this time around I only have the comfort of Chinese friends. I have noticed that I miss small things that I didn't know I was so addicted to before. I miss sarcasm, inside jokes from youtube videos, talking about which football team was favored to when what, and dozens of other small pop culture points that just can't be understood by foreigners. I am happy over here, there is no doubt about that, but I am also very aware of a certain emptiness. Something is missing. I am not sure who or what it is, but something is missing.
I went to Beijing last week, but most of the trip was spent eating and sleeping. I started getting sick before getting on the train to Beijing, and it only worsened once there. I ate a lot of great food (yes, I have pictures and videos), and in between meals I basically slept. I think in retrospect that I got hit by the flu, and I hope that was the case, because then I am immune for later this year. If I am not immune, working with 60 kindergarteners will definitely give it to me.
I have been busy the last few days finalizing preparations for beginning work. I went through the health check, registering at the police station, and the preparing of lesson plans for classes this week. There are so many stories I am neglecting, but after a few days have passed they don't seem as amusing as when they first occurred. I can't wait until I get internet in my apartment so I can update frequently and truly share my experience in China.
Students arrive tomorrow, and I am very nervous. Apparently Bob crashed and burned in one of his three college classes, and instead of focusing on his success in the other two I am worried about his failure in the one. I have discovered, after much preparation, that kindergarten is going to be much harder than teaching college ever would be. Especially since I am working for the foreign branch of the most exclusive and famous Kindergarten in Hangzhou. I didn't realize how well known it was until I started telling people the name, and after many of the same responses I am starting to feel the pressure.
Thankfully, the faculty has all fallen in love with me. They are all just amazed by my Chinese, and think I am just the best thing since sliced bread. The first day I met all the teachers we were supposed to meet at the school at 8:30, but my coworker decided not to come. He had many excuses including back pain, headache, our contract not saying we start until the first, and being tired, so I just let him stay at home and sleep and rolled in by myself. After 4 hours of the Chris Marco show, I called him to wake him up and meet us for a big lunch in our honor. At the lunch (which I got LOTS of videos of) we ate at an epic Chinese version of Benihanas. I am stating now that anyone who visits me in Hangzhou must go with me to this restaurant. It is pricey in Chinese terms, but it was so nice and so amazing. All the main teachers were at the lunch, and I basically did all the talking and impressing since my cooworker does not speak Chinese. I was his translator for the meal.
The headmaster has told me that the faculty likes me, which came right after dinner and was said in a very direct way as if to criticize my coworker Phillip. In addition to what had already occurred, it turns out that the Chinese people have a lot of trouble understanding his English. He was hit by a car 15 years ago, and after a 10 year recovery when he speaks he sounds very much like Ozzy Osbourne. I must admit I have trouble understanding him at times, too. I am not sure English teaching was the best career choice for him, but I'm committed to helping him as much as I can. Our headmaster is already attempting to get him to work at the branch below us instead of our branch, so we'll see how things work out in a few weeks.
Aside from that, I've been frequenting karaoke places with friends in the last few days. I have learned many new Chinese songs since I came to China, and I've been totally dominating the karaoke scene. I'm pretty much awesome.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Return to Crazy Fat Uncle Joe's House of Noodles and Fixin's Featuring Lil Wayne and Lil Jon
We finally made our return trip to my favorite restaurant in all of Hangzhou. The name started out simply as Fat Uncle Joe's noodle house, but it has since evolved to being so much more. After ordering he yells the orders back at the kitchen, yells any modifications to the kitchen, yells at the kitchen to hurry up, and in general just yells at the kitchen. It is so entertaining, and that in conjunction to the full view of the kitchen through the big windows means dinner and a show!
This is the legendary place that serves the best green been dish in the south, along with a whole assortment of great spicy foods and noodle dishes. We introduced some of our friends to this place, and the result was eating 5 meals in the last 3 days there. They liked it just a little bit.
We also went out to karaoke and to a tea bar, but those pale in comparison to the glory of food (obviously). The karaoke itself was quite fun, but was mainly me singing Chinese songs. Every now and then the Chinese friends would sing with me, but they all seemed so uncharacteristically shy. Bob and I noted the price of imported liquor, and decided we have to go back since it's the only place you can get a bottle of American alcohol at a reasonable price without going well out of your way. That means better karaoke stories hopefully coming soon.
The tea bar was a bit of a let down, when we got there they were near closing so the selection was limited. We decided on cold iced Chinese teas, and drank them with whatever food products we could force them to bring us. The Chinese were excited about the tea, Bob and I just needed to eat something.
A small side note, as I was on my way to the webcafe to compose this I got to witness a sting on local cart vendors. They are not legal when selling fruit and other food, and when the police showed up they flying in every direction. It was pretty crazy, I'd never seen the police actually crack down on the street vendors before. This means no more salmonella pears. Damn.
This is the legendary place that serves the best green been dish in the south, along with a whole assortment of great spicy foods and noodle dishes. We introduced some of our friends to this place, and the result was eating 5 meals in the last 3 days there. They liked it just a little bit.
We also went out to karaoke and to a tea bar, but those pale in comparison to the glory of food (obviously). The karaoke itself was quite fun, but was mainly me singing Chinese songs. Every now and then the Chinese friends would sing with me, but they all seemed so uncharacteristically shy. Bob and I noted the price of imported liquor, and decided we have to go back since it's the only place you can get a bottle of American alcohol at a reasonable price without going well out of your way. That means better karaoke stories hopefully coming soon.
The tea bar was a bit of a let down, when we got there they were near closing so the selection was limited. We decided on cold iced Chinese teas, and drank them with whatever food products we could force them to bring us. The Chinese were excited about the tea, Bob and I just needed to eat something.
A small side note, as I was on my way to the webcafe to compose this I got to witness a sting on local cart vendors. They are not legal when selling fruit and other food, and when the police showed up they flying in every direction. It was pretty crazy, I'd never seen the police actually crack down on the street vendors before. This means no more salmonella pears. Damn.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Karaoke Ambush
With Bob now in China, it seemed the time was right for our first big night out in China. The plan was originally dinner and a movie, but that changed to dinner and a bar after dinner took a very long (though enjoyable) amount of time.
We ended up at a seafood restaurant for dinner, though when it came time to order we discovered that none of us Chinese or American much cared for seafood or knew how to order it. Undeterred, I was elected captain of ordering food as usual and proceeded about the business of selecting my culinary desires.
This restaurant, however, was different from normal restaurants in that it had no conventional menu. Instead, Culinary Captain Chris had to go to the front of the restaurant to look at the displays of fresh ingredients and already made dishes to make selections. Luckily the waitress had suggestions, as I didn't know which of the 15 fish options displayed before me were good and didn't know how any was prepared. I have pictures to document the entire trip, and perhaps the best part was her convincing me that ordering a duck would be a great idea. The whole thing came to the table, and we got some good pictures of our Chinese friends and us trying to figure out how to eat the duck head.
After dinner, we decided to head to a bar to see a concert. One of the friends we were with had sat next to a musician on a train a month prior, and he had told her his band would be playing at a concert downtown on the very night we were out, so we decided it was worth the trip to go check his band out. Bob was conquered by time difference tiredness and didn't make it, and thus I was the only white person on this adventure. In fact, I was the only white person I saw in the entire bar despite it being very nice and seeming to cater both in higher price and decoration to western tastes. I should have immediately known that being the only white person would have implications for what would happen later in the evening.
The music was great. We arrived in time for the second set, which was mainly them singing covers of American songs. When we entered they were singing Sweet Child of Mine as their closing song for the second set, and I must admit they sang it quite well. After a short break they returned, and the third set was them taking requests written on napkins from the audience. My friends of course asked me what some of my favorite songs were, and we started writing them down to turn in. The first we requested was played, so we requested another. This one was turned down, and my friend didn't understand and really wanted them to play it. The last requested song they played was "Hotel California", the only English song that was requested. It is worth noting that Hotel California (加州旅馆) is insanely popular in China, the entire audience sang along while they played it. After Hotel California, they proceeded to take requests only on the condition that you come up and sing instead of them. The people who came up to sing were, surprisingly, quite good. Meanwhile, my friend still wanted them to play my song, so while a guest singer is singing she goes up to the lead singer (the guy she knows from the train) and asks him to play the song for me. He sees that I am a foreigner, and laughs and decides it will be the next song.
This is where things took a turn.
The being the only white person came back to bite me at this stage. He prefaced the next song with, "This is for our foreign friend here tonight, we are glad he came out to hear us. This is 月亮代表我的心, and he is going to come sing it with me." I did a double and triple take and decided I could not handle this. Backing out was not, however, an option. I went up and told him I only knew the chorus, not the verses in between. He told me no problem, we'd just do the chorus, he'd sing a verse, then I'd do the closing chorus. The 'quick' version felt anything but quick though. I started the chorus with him, and then he dropped out leaving me singing alone in front of shocked Chinese people. They didn't think I actually knew the song apparently, and didn't know how to react. After I finished the chorus there was insane applause as he started the verse, and then as the applause calmed down he urged me to finish the verse with him. I proceeded then to kinda make noises to go along with the tune, but I really had no idea what the words were. This part, for me, was extremely embarrassing. The crowd didn't seem to mind though, because as soon as I got to the chorus they erupted again. After I finished singing there was a good amount of applause, and I apologized into the microphone for only knowing the chorus and not the verses. Hearing me SPEAK Chinese and not just sing a memorized song made them even more crazy. The song after was the last song, and so I got to leave before too many people came up to swarm me with attention.
And that was my night in China.
We ended up at a seafood restaurant for dinner, though when it came time to order we discovered that none of us Chinese or American much cared for seafood or knew how to order it. Undeterred, I was elected captain of ordering food as usual and proceeded about the business of selecting my culinary desires.
This restaurant, however, was different from normal restaurants in that it had no conventional menu. Instead, Culinary Captain Chris had to go to the front of the restaurant to look at the displays of fresh ingredients and already made dishes to make selections. Luckily the waitress had suggestions, as I didn't know which of the 15 fish options displayed before me were good and didn't know how any was prepared. I have pictures to document the entire trip, and perhaps the best part was her convincing me that ordering a duck would be a great idea. The whole thing came to the table, and we got some good pictures of our Chinese friends and us trying to figure out how to eat the duck head.
After dinner, we decided to head to a bar to see a concert. One of the friends we were with had sat next to a musician on a train a month prior, and he had told her his band would be playing at a concert downtown on the very night we were out, so we decided it was worth the trip to go check his band out. Bob was conquered by time difference tiredness and didn't make it, and thus I was the only white person on this adventure. In fact, I was the only white person I saw in the entire bar despite it being very nice and seeming to cater both in higher price and decoration to western tastes. I should have immediately known that being the only white person would have implications for what would happen later in the evening.
The music was great. We arrived in time for the second set, which was mainly them singing covers of American songs. When we entered they were singing Sweet Child of Mine as their closing song for the second set, and I must admit they sang it quite well. After a short break they returned, and the third set was them taking requests written on napkins from the audience. My friends of course asked me what some of my favorite songs were, and we started writing them down to turn in. The first we requested was played, so we requested another. This one was turned down, and my friend didn't understand and really wanted them to play it. The last requested song they played was "Hotel California", the only English song that was requested. It is worth noting that Hotel California (加州旅馆) is insanely popular in China, the entire audience sang along while they played it. After Hotel California, they proceeded to take requests only on the condition that you come up and sing instead of them. The people who came up to sing were, surprisingly, quite good. Meanwhile, my friend still wanted them to play my song, so while a guest singer is singing she goes up to the lead singer (the guy she knows from the train) and asks him to play the song for me. He sees that I am a foreigner, and laughs and decides it will be the next song.
This is where things took a turn.
The being the only white person came back to bite me at this stage. He prefaced the next song with, "This is for our foreign friend here tonight, we are glad he came out to hear us. This is 月亮代表我的心, and he is going to come sing it with me." I did a double and triple take and decided I could not handle this. Backing out was not, however, an option. I went up and told him I only knew the chorus, not the verses in between. He told me no problem, we'd just do the chorus, he'd sing a verse, then I'd do the closing chorus. The 'quick' version felt anything but quick though. I started the chorus with him, and then he dropped out leaving me singing alone in front of shocked Chinese people. They didn't think I actually knew the song apparently, and didn't know how to react. After I finished the chorus there was insane applause as he started the verse, and then as the applause calmed down he urged me to finish the verse with him. I proceeded then to kinda make noises to go along with the tune, but I really had no idea what the words were. This part, for me, was extremely embarrassing. The crowd didn't seem to mind though, because as soon as I got to the chorus they erupted again. After I finished singing there was a good amount of applause, and I apologized into the microphone for only knowing the chorus and not the verses. Hearing me SPEAK Chinese and not just sing a memorized song made them even more crazy. The song after was the last song, and so I got to leave before too many people came up to swarm me with attention.
And that was my night in China.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Return
Blogspot, I have discovered, is blocked in China for the moment. As a result my mother will be posting my bloggings for me. I have taken pictures to document my journey so far, but I will not be able to post them until later. The room I'm staying in does not have internet access, so I am using a computer at the local web cafe. Once I get internet I will be able to email pictures from my own computer, and then my mother will have to figure out how to use technology to upload pictures for me.
The plane ride was glorious. I had no waiting time in Newark, as soon as I got to the gate I saw that the plane was already boarding for Shanghai. There was no one to either side of me on the plane, and I got to lay down and sleep for most of the ride over.
Once I got off the plane, however, an epic fiasco began. I had thought my preparations were thorough, and that by giving ATT extra money for international service they would provide said service. I was wrong to assume that things worked the way they should. I discovered that my phone did not have service. I didn't panic yet, as I figured my contact would be waiting to pick me up with a "Chris Marco " sign just outside the gate. I was wrong about that, too. I began to panic, and went to figure out the public phones. I bought an IC Card required to use the phones, but that didn't seem to work either. On closer inspection of the back of the card, the card told you (after you paid for it) that it could only dial other local Shanghai numbers. My contact's numbers were all Hangzhou cell phones. I went to the information desk and bought a SIM Card (expensive) to put in my cell phone. I called my contact, but I couldn't hear what he was saying and he couldn't hear me. I called a friend, and asked her to find my contact and let him know that I was here.
After her playing middle man for a bit and doing some research, she tracked down my contact and he called me. He told me not to move, and 20 minutes later found me at the information desk. He apparently had gotten lost in the airport, and for some reason went to the gate where the flight from Los Angeles was coming in. We took the bus back to Hangzhou, and the troubles only deepened.
I had asked David, my contact, many times if he would get me a reservation or if I should reserve a place for myself. He assured me not to worry, and that he would get a place for me. As it turns out, he hadn't made a reservation, just gotten the prices of several places. Every place we went to, as a result, had of course filled all the cheap rooms, and only the expensive ones were left. We went to the dorms I had stayed before, and after 30 minutes of David yelling in the local dialect and walking back in forth between 2 administrative buildings to talk with different people we finally got me a dorm room. It turned out to be pretty inexpensive, and it is pretty fun being back in the place I stayed last summer, but the process of getting there was quite a headache.
The other problems I've run into involve Wells Fargo conspiring to try and keep me from getting money. I advise anyone thinking of coming to China to not use Wells Fargo. They are dumb.
Problems aside, it has been pretty awesome being back. I've kept a positive attitude, and the difficult experiences are nothing compared to the awesome ones.
I opened my first Chinese bank account, got swarmed by people in Auchan who were impressed by my Chinese and wanted to tell me all about the house appliances I was looking at, and learned that a Papa John's had been put in next to my gym. I found my old roommate and celebrated his birthday with him, met up with my old best friend, and had countless reunions with people I don't remember in the cafeteria. It seems like every other time I walk around campus people I don't know come up to me knowing my name, it is a rather interesting phenomenon.
I got my gym card and went to my first workout, and the people at the gym are all excited to have me back. The entire trip so far has felt like some sort of an odd homecoming. The food has been great as well. I have already experienced a lot of my old favorites, but I will spare you the food stories until I can upload pictures.
There have been changes as well, but nothing too drastic. The Papa John's was a nice change, on the other hand the random guy sitting outside this internet cafe with cages full of frogs for sale is not quite as welcome. I'm already falling into the rhythm of "this is China" and not even thinking twice about weird things I see on the street. The insanity has begun.
I think today, right now in fact, I am going to explore B and Q. If I recall correctly it is an Ikea competitor, and I am going to go jump around on the beds until someone yells at me to stop.
CHINA
The plane ride was glorious. I had no waiting time in Newark, as soon as I got to the gate I saw that the plane was already boarding for Shanghai. There was no one to either side of me on the plane, and I got to lay down and sleep for most of the ride over.
Once I got off the plane, however, an epic fiasco began. I had thought my preparations were thorough, and that by giving ATT extra money for international service they would provide said service. I was wrong to assume that things worked the way they should. I discovered that my phone did not have service. I didn't panic yet, as I figured my contact would be waiting to pick me up with a "Chris Marco " sign just outside the gate. I was wrong about that, too. I began to panic, and went to figure out the public phones. I bought an IC Card required to use the phones, but that didn't seem to work either. On closer inspection of the back of the card, the card told you (after you paid for it) that it could only dial other local Shanghai numbers. My contact's numbers were all Hangzhou cell phones. I went to the information desk and bought a SIM Card (expensive) to put in my cell phone. I called my contact, but I couldn't hear what he was saying and he couldn't hear me. I called a friend, and asked her to find my contact and let him know that I was here.
After her playing middle man for a bit and doing some research, she tracked down my contact and he called me. He told me not to move, and 20 minutes later found me at the information desk. He apparently had gotten lost in the airport, and for some reason went to the gate where the flight from Los Angeles was coming in. We took the bus back to Hangzhou, and the troubles only deepened.
I had asked David, my contact, many times if he would get me a reservation or if I should reserve a place for myself. He assured me not to worry, and that he would get a place for me. As it turns out, he hadn't made a reservation, just gotten the prices of several places. Every place we went to, as a result, had of course filled all the cheap rooms, and only the expensive ones were left. We went to the dorms I had stayed before, and after 30 minutes of David yelling in the local dialect and walking back in forth between 2 administrative buildings to talk with different people we finally got me a dorm room. It turned out to be pretty inexpensive, and it is pretty fun being back in the place I stayed last summer, but the process of getting there was quite a headache.
The other problems I've run into involve Wells Fargo conspiring to try and keep me from getting money. I advise anyone thinking of coming to China to not use Wells Fargo. They are dumb.
Problems aside, it has been pretty awesome being back. I've kept a positive attitude, and the difficult experiences are nothing compared to the awesome ones.
I opened my first Chinese bank account, got swarmed by people in Auchan who were impressed by my Chinese and wanted to tell me all about the house appliances I was looking at, and learned that a Papa John's had been put in next to my gym. I found my old roommate and celebrated his birthday with him, met up with my old best friend, and had countless reunions with people I don't remember in the cafeteria. It seems like every other time I walk around campus people I don't know come up to me knowing my name, it is a rather interesting phenomenon.
I got my gym card and went to my first workout, and the people at the gym are all excited to have me back. The entire trip so far has felt like some sort of an odd homecoming. The food has been great as well. I have already experienced a lot of my old favorites, but I will spare you the food stories until I can upload pictures.
There have been changes as well, but nothing too drastic. The Papa John's was a nice change, on the other hand the random guy sitting outside this internet cafe with cages full of frogs for sale is not quite as welcome. I'm already falling into the rhythm of "this is China" and not even thinking twice about weird things I see on the street. The insanity has begun.
I think today, right now in fact, I am going to explore B and Q. If I recall correctly it is an Ikea competitor, and I am going to go jump around on the beds until someone yells at me to stop.
CHINA
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