Friday, April 23, 2010

Open House Week . . .

So it is open house week, and I was (key word) planned to give 2 open house classes. This means that parents get to come watch my class. This isn't really too big a deal since I've already given many of these classes at a part time job. I obviously put more planning into this class since it is my primary job, but instead of being nervous like the other teachers I was full of confidence.

The day before the most important of the 2 classes I was told that instead of getting half of the oldest kids (11 kids) I would be getting the entire group put together. The principal told me that those kids didn't have open class with a foreign teacher last year, and that since this is the last year before graduating to elementary school I would do all the oldest kids together in one class. I took it in stride, and didn't even complain when she decided to the same thing with the other age groups (meaning the 2 classes I WAS planned turned into 3 classes). My attitude really caught her off guard, she expected I would try to get out of doing it or complain about the extra work. I think I bought myself some points without even realizing it.

I approached this class pretty seriously, I felt like if I did a good job of winning the parents over it could mean not only immediate bonuses but a good impression that can pay off later down the road. The admittance of kids into my kindergarten is, after all, based on the parents' notoriety in Hangzhou and ability to improve the reputation of our kindergarten. I suspect there is also a lot of behind the scenes money to make sure a child is admitted, but I didn't say that. In any case, knowing this means I am always looking for ways to build relationships with the parents.

The class was this morning, and I must say it went perfectly. It must have been the best class or one of the best I have ever given. Absolutely nailed it, and when I heard that the parents thought I was amazing I wasn't surprised. I even thought I was amazing, I never thought it would go so well. I feel so great right now, I only fear that this confidence will lead me to be too overconfident when I give the younger children's open house classes tomorrow and friday.

In other news, I think I'm part of some odd practical joke. Two weeks ago the cover a part of my motorbike went missing. It is a small 6 inch by 6 inch plastic covering that covers what I'm told by several repair places is an unimportant engine component. This particular cover is different from average models. I went to 5 different places that told me that the stock pieces they had wouldn't fit, and that I would need to order one. I ordered it, waited 3 days, then got it installed. It was fairly inexpensive, only about 2.50 American. Today the cover is missing again (after it being in place for 7 days). I am very confused as to why there seems to be a thief of inexpensive unimportant motorbike engine piece covers in our neighborhood.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Traveling with a chicken

I realized the other day I hadn't posted anything here in awhile. In
fact, I hadn't really let anyone know I as alive for a short time. I
got a bit busy.

Everything is still going smoothly. I go to work and I love it. I know
I need to eventually find another job, but I enjoy this so much I will
be sad when I have to leave.

I went to visit Zoey's family last weekend. I took a number of pictures
from our excursions there, and I have about 100 new stories from the
trip alone. The best involves me somehow ending up with a chicken that
I had to take with me back to Hangzhou for Zoey's brother. Chris Marco begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Chicken Delivery, that is what I was playing.

The chicken actually came in handy several times on the way home. And
by came in handy, I mean entertained me. At one point in the bus
station there was a Chinese Christian evangelical woman going from aisle
to aisle giving a rehearsed speech on Christianity and damning everyone
to hell if they didn't convert. She noticed me and got all excited. I
was teaching Zoey how to do the Rubik's Cube in Chinese, and she pointed
at me and said I was an example of how Jesus can help people, and that I
had been able to learn Chinese because of my faith. I was a bit
offended in general by being used as some type of prop to condemn
everyone around me, so I decided to have some fun. I spoke up that it
was indeed because of my faith that I was able to learn Chinese, but
that the chicken I had just bought was Buddhist. Despite my best
efforts, I was unable to convert my chicken and was very sad. I asked
her for her help in converting my chicken, but she instead got very
upset and stormed off.

After we arrived in Hangzhou, I had to take my chicken and my suitcase
to line up for a taxi cab. There were several beggars walking through
the line hassling people to give them money. Every time one approached
I told them in a very concerned voice to, "Please leave. My chicken is
very easily upset and having a stranger so close really makes him
nervous." The response from the 3 beggars that came up to me in the 10
minute waiting span was all the same: marvel at my Chinese, look at my
chicken, then realize they had met someone entirely insane and walk away.

To top it off, in line in front of us were 3 very American looking
tourists. Seeing a Chinese person with a chicken would be novelty, but
seeing a white guy with a chicken was something they weren't quite
prepared for. They kept staring at me, and obviously wanted to say
something, but I guess they couldn't quite figure out what.

All in all, I pretty much enjoyed the attention me and my chicken got.
I have to admit I was a bit sad to turn him over to Zoey's brother. He
in turn was not exactly happy to receive the chicken, I'm 99% certain he
has no idea how to kill and prepare it.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Push ups in the Park

Last weekend we had an outing to a park near the West Lake with my part
time kindergarten. The park itself was absolutely beautiful, it seemed
like everything had just started blossoming that day. While we were
there I spent a lot of time playing with kids, and near the end of our
day I saw one kid doing situps with his moms help. I noticed that his
form was a bit strange, so I started trying to help him correct it.
Afterwards, I started teaching him how to do pushups. He thought
pushups were great fun, and wanted to sit on my back while I did them.
This lead to kids lining up to sit on my back while I did pushups, and
ultimately ended up with them sitting 2 at a time then 3 and then 4. By
the time I got to 4 a large crowd had gathered to watch. We eventually
got up to 6 5 year olds sitting on my from ankle to shoulder. I
personally wasn't sure if I was able to lift the weight, but when I
noticed that there were literally over a hundred Chinese people with
cameras ready I found the adrenaline needed to get up off the ground. I
did three pushups while cameras clicked and onlookers gasped, then
collapsed and said I was done. It was a pretty intense feeling, and
also hilarious in retrospect.

Keeping with the workout theme of this blog post, my gym has started
playing Iron Maiden nonstop. One of the trainers discovered them and
replaced all of the computers music with Iron Maiden, so no one at the
front desk has any alternative but to play the Iron Maiden collection
nonstop. It is pretty much a dream come true as far as gym music goes.
I'm certain Dan would be shocked and proud, and maybe even JJ would,
too. I'm not sure about JJ though... I mean after all he didn't even go
to their live concert with us.

In unrelated news, JJ will probably be mailing me a pipe bomb as a
result of bringing that back up. Mom, please don't give him my
address. Also, speaking of mail, I bought gifts and brought back/sent
back things for JJ, Glorias, Kate, Anitas. If you haven't received
anything in the mail from my mom leave a comment here. May have
forgotten to mail them out.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Job Fair

The high for today was predicted at 22, but when the sun came up it got
all the way to 31.4. That's a pretty big miss on the forecasting
front. It felt like an oven today in jeans and a t-shirt, but at least
the wind is still blowing cool air. The weather will soon devolve into
warm winds with hot weather, and then in the dead of summer become hot
weather with no wind at all. I'm not looking forward to that.

I hit the job fair on tuesday. It was a good overall experience. You
know how you sometimes when you're driving in the car singing along to a
song you get the feeling that everyone is staring at you even though you
know deep down that no one cares? Well I had that feeling at the job
fair, and it was because everyone was actually staring at me. I
wandered through a bunch of chemical companies and other companies that
were guaranteed to not have any opportunities, and out of nowhere heard
and English commercial being played. Turns out Best Buy China had
somehow been stuck in between two petroleum companies. They just
happened to be in the neighborhood for a translator, and I went ahead
and signed up. They were looking to recruit a Chinese person, so I
don't expect much feedback, but I'll be sure to follow up regardless.
You never know. The best part was that I had to decide what my salary
should be. I calculated how much I was making now, added a bit, and
then wrote that number down. The guy checking my application stopped at
the salary part, and asked me if the figure I had written was what I
wanted monthly or yearly. I said yearly, a bit shocked, and he shrugged
and kept looking. At that moment I felt very stupid - I felt definitely
should have written a bigger number down. I also got a few applications
in to other companies, though they were all applications and resumes
given to some recruiter with a promise to take it to the right
interested party. I was a 'special situation' (as each person reminded
me as I talked with them), and they would have to pass my resume along
to the right individual. All in all it was a good experience to go to
my first Chinese job fair, I'll definitely be better prepared for the
next one.

Next week: Easter preparation begins!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Spring Football

The weather has gotten warmer in the last few days, and I've started wearing shorts despite the outcries from coworkers. They are paranoid of the cold, and I am yelled at constantly for not wearing more. They are in down jackets and multiple layers, I am in only shorts and a t-shirt.

I took advantage of the good weather to bring my football to the kindergarten for some fun. The kids were insanely interested, and I gave an informal class in the afternoon where I started teaching the older kids how to play. I don't know if you have ever taught six year olds about football, but the result is that you catapult from being 'that amazingly cool teacher' into 'oh wow I wish I wasn't six and new enough curse words to express how amazingly cool this teacher is' status. I also learned that the girls at this age kick ass, and are totally dominating the boys in football. Girls, at least in China at my kindergarten, are much better at working as a team and thinking together at the age of six.

I have also been having fun recently with cooking. I've reasearched a bunch of recipes online, and I have been working with Zoey and a few other friends to make a few different meals a week. I discovered last night the trick to making the legendary green beans. I can now make some awesome dishes, but my pride is definitely the green beans. I don't have the taste quite right, but the texture (the hardest part) has been perfected.

I just got done with a big marathon of work. I didn't get a weekend last week, I was busy playing tour guide and translator for our visiting foreigners. As a result, by the time this is posted I will have long been asleep, and I plan to sleep for 16 hours. I am excited.

China

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

February entry . . .

Been really busy the last few weeks. We've had Ph. D professors come from Canada and it has been my job to keep them company the last week. I've translated so many speeches and round table discussions that my brain hurts.

The good news is today it snowed! Or rather, it is snowing heavily right now as I am going to sleep. I just played around outside in it, ate some, then immediately realized how terrible an idea eating falling snow in China was.

In any case, time for bed. I have many things I want to write, hopefully I can remember my password and start logging on here on my own to post, that way I don't have to send them all to the Kelly for posting.

Goodnight

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Vacation time in China, Making Dumplings







I have experienced zero jet lag since I got back, and have been using all my energy to thoroughly explore more of the city. I have found some absolutely awesome food places near me, and in my usual style have gotten a membership card at each one. They are (usually) free and give you a 12% discount whenever you eat there, why would I NOT get one. I know need a second card wallet just for the collection of membership cards I carry around with me.

Zoey brought home a bunch of dumpling fillers and wrappers, and though I didn’t document the process of wrapping I did document the cooking and eating. I put some Tabasco and some vinegar in with them to make them great, I think soup dumplings are normally a little bit boring if you don't add something.

Last night I used the seafood seasonings to do a 2 person seafood boil.
The green beans and mushrooms were just okay, but the potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp were all perfect. I am going to replicate this with bigger pots and more people when Weiguang and the Hangzhou Superteam returns in a few days.

Time to run, Zoey is teaching me a lot of Chinese dishes tonight. She made a list of what I liked most before she went home and had her parents teach her how to make them. Must go buy things.

Oh, I wrote this before attaching pictures. I discovered that I also have pictures that I need to share of: my motorbike, me making artichoke sauce, me cooking various American foods for my captive and helpless Chinese audience, and more! There's even movies.

Also, I've already started marking my calendar to go to some job conventions/expos this coming month. First one I know if is March 16, so I have to research some companies, there are only 600 attending.

Monday, January 18, 2010

CHINA

Man, I've fallen off the face of the earth. The domino effect of business that erupted with the family arrival for Christmas has kept me so busy. And yes, dominoes erupt. Dangerous. I'm bad at the procrastinating communication thing, my mother is not thrilled either with my inability to consistently write emails. It's a multi step process. First, I think that I've written recently so I should wait a few days for something interesting to happen, then I realize a long time has passed, but say that so much interesting has passed that I need more than 10 minutes of casual email timing to get it done, so I enter step three of waiting for the mystical free time that I never have.

I am now working a lot of muches, that part time job signed that huge contract to expand and is now hiring Chinese teachers and bringing in new students at Sonic the Hedgehog pace. The hitch, however, is that foreign teachers are much harder to find, and every new class is going to me. I am currently working 11 (sometimes 12) classes a week outside of my kindergarten duties, and on Sundays I do a frenzy of errand running and then pass out.

I bought The Office and Battlestar Galactica to watch with my crew, and though we haven't started yet two of my friends cheated and watched the first two seasons of BSG by themselves. ITS IN THE FRAKKIN SHIP

So skiing is something I hope to actually do in China. I think it will be frightening beyond all reason. One of Bob's pseudo girlfriends (and by that I mean insane women who chases him while he gets uncomfortable and unable to say no) has been attempting to rape-persuade him into going skiing. The idea got me all excited and now I want to go. It is probably one of my worst ideas ever.

Speaking of terrible ideas, I totally bought a motorbike. One of those electric propelled ones, the gas ones are illegal. I still go fast enough to kill anything I hit when at terminal velocity, and there are many times that it is scary as hell. I LOVE IT. I supplemented that with a new house that I moved into last weekend. The old place was already a shit heap, and then stuff started breaking, then a new foreigner wanted to come live when we found the replacement for English man, so I decided to just get my new place since I'm rolling around in Chinese money that I can't spend. Chinese money is abundant, but it doesn't transfer well into the American moneys.

The new place is so overwhelmingly nice and awesome. Just got redone and nowhere has lived here before, so this is on level with being as good as a good apartment in America.

After a conversation with a friend I'm thinking of buying Chinese stocks with my money instead of putting thousands and thousands in the bank.
Apparently the Chinese stock market has controls, and can only gain or lose 10% value in a day. I'm gonna take a page out of my friend's book and just put money into a corporation, wait for it to go up a bit, and then sell. He says he usually just puts money in a company for a few days to a week, and that time it usually goes up a few more times than it goes down, and he can sell for a profit of like 500+ RMB. I was like WHAT SWEET FREE MONEY FOR BEING AT A COMPUTER FOLLOWING THE MARKET.
Which is what I already do in between at work minus the market part, don't ask me why I don't use that time to email. I'm not that smart.

The new Australian foreign teacher arrived, and I thought he was going to cry with being overwhelmed by everything. He had never been out of the country before, never been on an airplane before the plane to China, and definitely doesn't speak Chinese. He had this look of, "What am I doing?" on his face the entire time, and has just had a string of events that rival JJ-level of insanity. He has already gotten locked into his house with the keys, an episode that involved him calling me while he freaked out from claustrophobia and had me talking to the crazy loud Hangzhou-hua speaking neighbors outside the door who were only increasing the fear by banging on the door and yelling incoherently. He has been the victim of repairs, as the repair guys show up at noon and don't leave until 8 pm. Add that to the normal difficulties of doing anything when you don't speak the language and don't really know anyone. I kept wanting to ask why he came to China, but I didn't want to make him cry. I've tried to be helpful, but he insists he'll be fine. Nice guy, but looks to be headed for an insanity China-overload meltdown. I'll videotape that part when he gets on top of a building and fist fights a grizzly bear.

Your life. Tell me about it.