Similarities and Differences between China and the US

Similarities:

Every party will have alcohol

• Education is Important (This is very important to the Chinese people, although I believe it is even more important for them than for us in the US as they take a final exam during their senior year which tells them which Universities they are allowed to apply to).
• Drinking and Smoking (These two things are the same everywhere I believe, but it brings people together here as it does in the US. The Chinese, especially the men, love to drink and to smoke while drinking.  Chain smoking is also very common here).
• Everyone's in a Hurry (Everyday it's a fight to get anywhere, like survival of the fittest).
• Dressing Up Pets (Little doggie sweaters and boots... Why?)
• Fashion (Even here you sense the need for both men and women to show off the amount of money they have by wearing some really cool and stylish outfits or carrying the latest designer purse, whereas I and wearing comfortable pants and worn sneakers that are very comfortable to teach in).
• Music (Most kids listen to western music because they think Chinese music is horrible).
• Fast Food (It's nice to have these familiar things available to me such as: McDonalds, KFC,Pizza Hut, Dunking Donuts, Papa Johns, Burger King and Starbucks).
• Driving on the Left (For some reason I thought China was going to be the opposite, but I guess that's only in Korea, Japan and Europe).

Differences: (from what I have observed, although not every Chinese person applies to this)

A good way to let off some stress!

• Cheaper (For all of China's differences listed below there is an upside, which is it is very cheap to live here.  Electronics, clothes, food, transportation, rent and even medication is all a lot less here.  Most Chinese live on 1500 RMB (650 USD) a month).

• KTV (Karaoke bars are very popular here, but in the US they don't seem to be very many.  These karaoke bars are cool because they are fancy, have their own little shopping mart inside and you get your own private room to sing in with friends).
• Spitting Everywhere (sidewalk, bus, store and even on the toilet floor; they don't seem to believe in tissue).
• Peeing/Pooping in Public (this can also occur anywhere, but usually pooping only happens outside by babies who aren't wearing diapers, so watch your step! Peeing sadly happens everywhere, especially by babies). 
• No Diapers! (Most babies here don't wear diapers or undies while they are small, so there is a big slit near the crotch so that when they squat, which all Chinese people are masters at, they can go about their business.  Seeing baby genitalia is an everyday occurrence whether you were expecting it or not. Although, I have always wondered if the babies get cold down there?).
• Littering (This is a good difference.  At night, everyone is on the street buying food from street vendors, so naturally people throw their trash everywhere; its very similar to a circus or amusement park.  The cool thing is that at night it's filthy, but by morning it's almost spotless.  China has people whose jobs are to clean up the streets and most stores want the front of their business clean so they mop and collect the trash, sometimes you can see them lighting the trash on fire).

A little girl gave me these Chinese cough drops for Xmas

• Hot Water Cures Everything (I don't particularly like hot drinks, but here they love anything hot, especially plain scorching hot water. They even believe that if you bump your head you should put a hot cloth on it to reduce the swelling, but I believe it would be better to put something cold).
• Kindness to Foreigners (Most of the Chinese I have encountered are rather friendly, excluding most transportation drivers and the Chinese when they are trying to get somewhere.  Most want to talk to you and try very hard to help you, even when there is an obvious language barrier.  It's nice to have that feeling of kindness).
• Staring (This one is good and bad.  Being noticed is kind of cool because you feel like a rock star or a celebrity at times.  You are noticed because you are different, most times because you are lighter skinned, have lighter hair and different colored eyes.  A lot of Chinese, especially in the smaller cities, have never seen a foreigner in person, so your immediately seen as intriguing.  Other times the staring is hard to deal with because it's not nice to be stared at for a long period of time or whispered about in a language you can't understand.  It's really hard to deal with when your shopping or eating).
• Electrical Plugs (Do not leave the US till you have a 2 pronged converter plug for your laptop, they have strange plugs here!)
• Toilets (It's a hole in the ground and it always smells horrible. Do some squatting exercises before you leave the US so you can properly use the toilet in China.  Always carry tissue/napkins with you, it's not given freely in China even at restaurants.  You cannot flush the toilet paper or else your toilet will clog.  When you have a western toilet in your apartment it's nice until you realize the big pipe next to you that's making all the waterfall sounds is actually someone else flushing their business down the pipes.  Just be aware).
• Showering/Water (It's usually an open shower, so that means you and the toilet are side by side, no door and the water just spills everywhere.  It works, although if you don't have an overhead heating light it tends to get cold quickly. Don't drink the water, it smells funky).
• Laundry Room (Every apartment has a side room that faces outside where you hang up your wet clothes to dry.  Usually you don't get decent dryers here).
• Escalators in Grocery Stores (This is one of my favorites! The grocery stores here are multiple levels first you can shop for electronics then you can get on the escalator with your cart, it's magnetized so it stays put, and then you can shop in the produce section.  It's genius and it saves space!).
• No Courtesy (Pushing is acceptable in China, especially when getting on a bus or waiting in line.  I think it's expected because no one gets angry at the person who cuts in front.  I get angry, I have even gotten used to pushing my way in front of people because if I don't they will never let me on.  But the funny thing is when an old person gets on the bus they give up their seat for them even though they cut them).

China believes what it's government tells them and they don't ask why!

• No Why's? (A lot of Chinese never ask "Why?" it's a hard concept for them to understand as China itself is one large community that thinks together.  I ask my Chinese friends why they think the way they do, especially about Japan or medicine, but most don't have answers to my questions.  It seems that most don't think for themselves, particularly about other countries and their beliefs).
• No Fun for Children (School runs most of the kids lives, they go to school at 7am and don't get out till 5:30pm, sometimes even 6:30pm.  Then the kids take some classes on the weekends as well, they never have time to enjoy being young.  Summer is also full of work and classes. Some of my kids in class have gray hair and they are only 14 years old).
• Smoking (This is allowed almost everywhere, buses, schools, stores and even in restaurants).
• Uniforms (All school levels wear uniforms, they are like jumpers, but wind proof.  They look cool, but it makes every child look the same, instead of letting them be individuals).

My first lantern lighting! China does have some cool traditions!

There are many more differences and I'm sure many more similarities, but I am tired now, so I will say one last thing; China is very different from the US, but I don't believe being different is a bad thing, I believe it shows us the differences in which other people live and they ways in which people were raised. 
 I have an open mind, so most of these things don't bother me too strongly, but if you weren't open minded I think China would be hard for you to live in.  Having an open mind is good for everything because you may discover some things you never knew before. 

Thanksgiving, Midterm Exams and Planning Trips

The other day while I was writing my lesson plans for my classes I asked a fellow teacher what the date was, to my surprise, he said it was December 1st.  I couldn't believe that I had already been in China for 3 months! On the one hand, I felt as if I had just arrived here, but on the other I felt as though I'd been here for a lot longer. I've been out of the US for over 4 months now, its really hard to believe sometimes.  Cambodia seems so far away now in my mind, but I do miss it also.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have already flown by and now Christmas is just a few weeks away.  It's nice having other foreigners around because they like to celebrate the holidays together so you don't feel so alone or homesick.  We will be doing Secret Santa for Christmas and I will be baking more cake! 

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in China, is really only celebrated in the US, but since it is a Western holiday my school celebrates it.  As I am the only American in my school I was asked what Thanksgiving was all about and what to do for activities for the kids; I told them I would think about it. When I was in school the only things I could remember doing for Thanksgiving was making Indian hats and making turkeys out of our handprints.  So my school did a turkey decorating contest, which was sort of cool because you could tell for the younger kids when the parents did most of the work.

Midterm Exams were taken last week and this week.  I was so worried about my students ability to pass their exams and that it would be my fault that they failed.  It turned out that the majority of my students got very decent grades, even the ones who never did very well in class.  My school, as I am constantly reminded, is a business so most of the students will pass whether they deserve to or not.  It really sucks to hear this because you know that some of the students shouldn't be moving forward because they don't have the knowledge, yet.  Each student has a passport (grade book) which has about 11 categories in it, which the student is graded 2x before the midterm exam (each is out of 5 points), then you add those together and that is their overall assessment.  You add their overall assessment to their midterm exam grade and that is their grade for the 1st term.  You also have to write their strengths and areas to improve and exam comments on the next page.  These passports are very time consuming.

It's very easy to teach the younger kids, although you use up a lot more energy at times and if they are all in a bad mood then it makes the class a lot longer.  But it is becoming harder to teach the higher level classes, most of the time I learn the material a week before class, trying to remember that grammar point being taught to me back while I was in school, which wasn't always taught to me.  Some of the grammar I just know because I've used it before, but others I have to re-teach myself.  C8, one of my higher level classes, is very difficult to teach without a teacher to help me translate the grammar point, as it is hard to explain in English let alone explain it t kids who don't speak English very well.  It's challenging every week, but I believe it has helped me improve my English.

I plan to go to Beijing in February during the Spring Festival (we know it as the New Years festival).  What's cooler about China's New Year's is that they have 7 days off where they just drink, party and shoot fireworks (morning, afternoon, and night).  I will be staying with a friend, who is studying to become a doctor.  He is from Australia and he is very nice and willing to take me around Beijing for the week.  I will be traveling there by train for 14 hours I believe, which is a long train ride, so I will be getting a Soft Bed (which means it's a room where there are two bunk beds which you share with others but there is a door you can close so it's more private then the Hard Bed where there are no doors).  I will be traveling with a friend that I teach with so we will get beds in the same room, we will also be traveling back together.  While I am in Beijing I will also be doing some interviews to see if there are any jobs available for me in August.  I do love the city I am in now, but I think I want to experience a different part of China and see what it has to offer me.

Expect Anything to Happen While in China

Normally, each Aston English school will host a trip for all its teachers, CT's (Chinese Teachers) and FT's (Foreign Teachers); usually this trip is hiking up a mountain together, but my school wanted to be different so we hosted the 1st Annual Autumn Sports Day.  I was really excited for this get together because I remember when I first came to China and met everyone for the first time, I had been so nervous! Now, though, I knew all the CT's and wanted an opportunity to mix with them outside of school.  

China, in general, is usually very unorganized, so never expect anything to go smoothly and that goes for our sports day.  We all arrived thinking we would just play whatever games we wanted, but no we soon were divided into teams using colors and letters and numbers (how did this work? it really didn't there were teams of eight and teams of five and even a team of two).  I was the Blue team/H team with some of my fellow CT's and a guy who works in another office for Aston.We all thought we were going to play badminton first, but they changed their minds and shuffled us to the bowling lanes where we waited to get our clown shoes (luckily they had my size I'm a 43 in China).  

Once the game began I realized that most of the Chinese people here didn't know how to play, most ran so fast they fell onto their bums.  I began showing them how to bowl correctly and after a few tries my team was decent.  I hadn't bowled in about 10 years maybe more, but I remembered the gist of it.  I was pretty good, I scored an 86 overall, which was the highest score on my team.  

After bowling we moved on to playing badminton, which I had never played, but soon I too got the hang of it.  We were playing hard trying to win against other teams, when they announced this was just practice.  After I heard that I took a break and played some ping pong with a fellow FT, which I was horrible at because I always hit the ball to hard.  

Once practice was over they lined us up and had us do a relay race where we would get a balloon from one end then once at the finish line blow it up then pop them when everyone was finished running, we got 2nd place in that race.

Finally, the badminton competition! We picked two of our best players, which of course wasn't me, to go into the championship round.  We almost lost the last round, but we pulled through and managed to steal 1st place.  We were awarded with gold medals and plaques, which was totally awesome.  The next day I was so tired and sore I could barely move.

Yesterday, all the FT's were invited to go to a new restaurant opening downtown and since the person who owns Aston is the owner of the new restaurant some of us were expected to make an appearance.  The new restaurant was very big and the ceremony was super nice.  Many government officials came to bless the new restaurant and they even brought very extravagant gifts, like the jade dragon in the picture.  I was completely undressed, as none of us knew it was going to be such a big deal, so I looked like I was 6.  They even had a ribbon cutting and two rounds of fireworks.

It took us 2 hours to get food, because the restaurant was so busy and the owners wanted to stare at us.  We couldn't understand a lot of the things that were being said around the table, but most times someone would translate for us.  The restaurant serves hot pot, which I'm not very keen on because it never settles right in my stomach, but I ate it anyway.  Near the end of the meal we were given VIP discount cards for whenever we decide to return.  It was a cool day, but one where most of us nearly starved.

2 Months in China

It has been exactly 2 months since I have arrived in China.  It's hard to believe I haven't been here for longer than that as it feels that way, especially when working with the children every weekend.  China is becoming colder with each day that passes and I am learning I get sick quicker and easier here, than I did back home in the US.  You have to be extremely careful what you eat on the streets because you can get a bad batch of something and be best friends with the toilet for the next 24 hours.  This has happened twice to me in the last two weekends, one was some bad noodles I got off the street and the other was a Subway sandwich that had bad dressing on it.  You never know which will make you sick, Chinese food or American food or how long you will be sick.  Medicine in China is pretty easy to locate as there are pharmacies everywhere, but the difficult part is most of the medicine is only in Chinese, so for people who don't read Chinese we don't know what we are buying when they point us to something.  

Also Chinese medicine isn't that strong, as they believe drinking warm water cures everything that makes you sick.  I shouldn't say warm water, it's more like boiling hot water.  I don't know how Chinese people drink such hot water, even hot orange juice.   I've had a constant cold since I have been here because of the dry winter weather and no heating in the apartment (they are installing a heater soon, I believe).  The cold that I have is probably the worst sinus infection that I have ever had, I literally have neon yellow snot, but besides blowing my nose a lot I feel fine; my roommate on the other had to go to the hospital to get medicine for his sinus infection.

Halloween isn't celebrated in many countries besides America, so it's very rare to see Chinese people putting up decorations and wearing costumes.  But, since I teach at an English school they put up lots of decorations and everyone planned a Halloween night for the children to come enjoy.  I was in charge of a game which the children would try to eat a cookie or a piece of bread as fast as they could, whilst it was tied to a string and hung above their heads.  It was quite a cool experience, and most of the kids dressed up for the occasion.  Us foreign teachers decided on Halloween night we would have a scary movie night with lots of candy and good company, nine showed up and the other was sick, but we watched The Orphan and Paranormal Activity 1.  The movie night went to about 1:30am which in China means everything is closed, but even though everything was closed China's streets are always alive with lights from the buildings and taxi's looking for late-comers.  To my surprise when I got back to my apartment the gate was completely closed, so I had to climb it then jump over it.  Once over, without falling might I add, I felt like a kid who was coming home after curfew was up / a spy going to collect information / a burglar; it was a pretty cool experience.  I watched Kung Fu Panda 2 till I fell asleep.

My two new roommates have been doing great.  It gets quite cold, so I bought them a heating pad which also comes in handy when I am cold.  I have built them many homes, but since it is so cold most of the time they are sleeping.

My new kindergarden classes are so adorable, I wish I had pictures to show you how cute they are.  Most of the time the classes are very well behaved and they love when I step into the room, which makes teaching the best thing in the world.  But there are times when the class is too big and they children are too noisy, that teaching becomes difficult and frustrating.  Children are naturally noisy and energetic, but when there isn't a lot of space for the kids to move around or do activities its hard to control them.  Chinese classes in general are packed full of children, so much so that the children never have a real chance to know their teachers or even their fellow classmates, this goes for any grade level.  I believe the US is starting to become like China is this way because classes are becoming fuller and some children are being left behind (no pun intended for Bush's - "No Child Left Behind: campaign).  Sadly, with as many people as there are today children will be left behind as there isn't enough room for everyone anymore.

I did a promotion this week, to make up for the hours I missed last week whilst I was sick, but this was no ordinary promotion.  I went to this really nice school, dressed in my new uniform: angry bird sweater, with my flash cards, ball and hammers ready to use for teaching the kids some new things.  I didn't need any of those things.  They gave me a witch hat and told me I would be speaking to a large group of children about Halloween in America.  In my mind I was thinking like, "Okay, fifty students at the most." Oh, was I wrong.  There was a bout 1,000 students dressed up for their school's Halloween day and I was given a microphone to talk to them.  

My voice had already been shitty, but with a microphone I'm sure I sounded like a man.  There was so many children staring at me while I told them about Halloween and asked select students to say something in English about Halloween.  When the children began running to get some candy from me, that's when I knew I was in trouble, the kids were like groups of piranha's or vultures when they saw that candy.  

They began a huge parade around their outside courtyard, where I would great children with high-fives and or candy.  I was so nervous I even danced to some of the Lady Gaga songs with the children.  When i tried to give out candy it never worked and I would nearly be pulled down by the children for a piece.  I then sat down to watch the teachers put on a performance using their swords and music from Mario Party and Gangman Style.  I said goodbye to the children and took some pictures with the teachers.  The school principal gave me 100 RMB and the teacher's class gave me a plant as a thank you.  It was a hell of an adventure, probably something I never would have volunteered to do back home, but here I didn't have time to think I just reacted which made it a pretty awesome day overall.

Worries and Frustrations - A Rant

So, it's been exactly one month since I arrived in China (plus a couple of days) and everything is still very new and slightly confusing.  I'm still not used to the staring that I get every time I go somewhere, but now I just smile and laugh about it because it makes you feel like a celebrity.  I'm definitely not used to the Chinese language as I have just realized that I tune it out most times, which isn't good when I'm trying to learn it.  I'm not used to the spitting, smoking, peeing and pooping everywhere, nor do I think I ever will be.  I'm also not used to crossing the busy streets, as I still imagine I look like Frogger trying to avoid cars.  I'm not used to shopping, although I am getting better at understanding how to ask for what I want using my hands.  And lastly, I am not used to the vagueness in answers, meaning when I ask someone what should I do I get passed along a train of people that usually go full circle back to the original person and it goes around again; I'm not a confrontational person but it gets very frustrating when something doesn't get done.  A lot of things are hard to get used to but I believe that I am adapting well, as I have not had any panic attacks since arriving here.  I'm having fun learning about China and its culture, but I was also planning on having bumps in the road where adapting would be difficult.  Although, the things above are nothing I can't handle.

It's been almost 5 months since I've been paid and well my bank account is dwindling to its last bits of money.  Not having money in a foreign country is scary, but having friends and co-workers willing to help out is always a nice reassurance.  I get paid on Monday, Oct. 15th so I only have to last a couple more days which should be easy since I went grocery shopping just in case I ran out of money to spend.  I was warned before I came to China that I should bring over $2000 but I had to a good supply of medicine that would last me a couple of months just in case.  I brought about $1000 to Cambodia and that turned into about $500, which after paying for my bags turned into $300.  It's true that when you first move someplace saving money is very difficult and damn near impossible.  I even bought some medicine here, which was great because that's the one I was the most worried about finding ( the other I haven't found yet, so that also worries me, but I two vials of that one left).  Some things I didn't need to buy, of course, but we all have those days where we regret the things we bought and wished we could have saved better; although I try not to dwell on it too much.  

On pay day, they usually transfer your money to your Chinese bank account, which I tried to get today, but since I don't have my passport (it's being processed by the Residence Permit Department) I couldn't get one.  So, hopefully, I will get paid in cash and when I get my passport back I can go apply for my Chinese bank account.  I should get paid around $5,000 RMB, which equals to about $796 USD (usually it would be around $900 USD/$6000 RMB but I took out $1000 RMB for an advance, so I wouldn't be broke mid-month).  Thankfully my fiance has been helping me out financially as well (and my grandma who puts the money my fiance sends, into my account), so it makes the burden less difficult I believe.  I don't like to rely on others for things, so it is very hard for me to ask people to do favors for me, even when they say it's okay to ask.

School loan payments are also right around the corner (one payment is $300 something a month, which I might have to make into a smaller payment >.<), so it is also a scary thought of how will I send some Chinese money to the US and then have some exchange it then put it into my bank account there... It is very confusing and frustrating, that the world has not figured out a way to make international money exchange between banks easier or at least possible.  I will probably send money to my fiance and have him just keep putting money into my account through my grandmother.  

Life is complicated, it always has been and it always will be.  We can't ignore life and what it delivers to our doorsteps or to our mailboxes, we have to keep moving forward and pushing though all the frustrating moments and worries that we have in order to see all the awesome moments that will pass us by if we don't let those worries and frustrations go for just a little while.  

That is my rant!

The Moon Festival

In China there are many holidays, perhaps even more days off than back in the states, which is totally awesome for me because that means I get lots of breaks from teaching and a chance to explore the area of China I live in.  Right now is one of those holidays where people get 8 days off to visit their families in order to celebrate the Moon Festival.  From what I have come to understand it is kind of like Thanksgiving, but with lots of Moon Cakes, instead of turkey dinners.  They also sing to the moon at some point.  There are two big days during this break the Mid-Autumn Day Festival and right after that is National Day.  Since we had some days off my roommate and I made some plans to go into Xi'an (a larger city near us about a $45 minute bus ride) with two other foreign teachers from South Africa who teach in a smaller city near us called Xingping.  The original plan was we were going to relax maybe do some sight-seeing near the hotel and then do some clubbing at night (I don't drink, so clubbing was only marginally exciting for me, but I was happy to go and stay out for as long as my eyes would let me).  I knew I had to go back to Xianyang on Sunday morning as I had agreed to do some promotions for the school (I get $100 RMB for every extra hour I work ).  The plan seemed great, but we know how plans usually go: nothing like they were supposed to.  So it went like this.

On Friday, we headed off to Xi'an by bus, I still don't have my bus balance so I fling around a lot and Chinese people feel sorry for me and give me their seats, even old men and women (either you take the seat or someone else will, so I usually just sit and it makes that person happy).  Since it was the holiday buses were quite full and it gets really hot inside, unless the bus has windows you can open ($3 RMB) or an operating aircon ($5 RMB = about $0.75 USD).  I was lucky to get a seat as the bus ride is about a good 45 minute drive.  Once you get into the city you have to change buses and this time I didn't get a seat, but I was happy to stand it's kind of like being on a roller coaster. Our hostel was very nice, but also very expensive $100 RMB a night (so for two nights I paid $200 plus a $100 RMB deposit... Next time I will just find a cheaper hostel as I only use the room for sleeping).  The staff were very friendly and most of them spoke English, so it was easy to ask questions.  A lot of foreigners stay at this hostel because it is easy to communicate with the staff, other westerners stay here, western food and the rooms are clean, internet and aricon in all the rooms.  Even though there is western food, the food is quite expensive (a burger, which was delicious, was $54 RMB).  

After we ate we decided to walk around Xi'an for a bit.  We looked at all the decorations on the buildings celebrating the Moon Festival.  We also bought some China flags (mine was only $5RMB for a small flag like you buy during the 4th of July) to show how much we love it here.  We got back to the hostel and I tried to take a nap and I think I succeeded until a man started cutting through metal outside and so sleeping was no longer possible.  I relaxed with my friends from Xingping hearing their stories of their travels into Thailand.  I love hearing other people talk about what they have experienced, it is so cool.  We decided we would go to the zoo the next day with two of their chinese teachers from Xingping, but we would have to get up at 7am in order to meet them by 8am.  We were sad about the early time, but excited to see the panda at the zoo. It was getting late in the day, so we got all dressed up and went to Burger King for dinner.  

After our bellies were full we went to a club called Muse.  Inside this place was super nice looking, but also very busy.  We wanted to get a table, but all the nice round cushiony tables had been rented out for the night and all the other tables were occupied.  We had a chinese friend with us, his name was Felix and he helped us out a lot with translating.  We ended up getting a tiny nightstand thing between two nice tables were we put our drinks down.  We literally stood and drank for 3 hours (since I don't drink Felix ordered me some water, such a sweetie, too bad chinese people drink scalding hot water instead of cold water, so my water was literally too hot to drink... Felix ordered me some ice).  The music was nice, but there was just so many people I felt uncomfortable and everyone was looking at me because of my blonde hair, so if I even started to dance people would all look.  There was no windows in the club and smoking is permitted and everyone smokes, so my eyes began to burn a lot.  I made it to about 1:30am (really late for me) before I had to call it quits (I also knew I had to get up early).  I told my friends goodbye and Felix walked me out and told my Taxi driver where to take me.  I passed out and woke up to hearing my friends coming up the hostel stairs.  I glanced at my watch, it was 5:30am.  I let my roommate in and she passed out on the bed almost immediately.  

At 7am my alarm woke me and I realized my roommate was not going to go to the zoo, but luckily her cousin, Damian, had stayed awake and was ready to go (I wouldn't have been able to go by myself as I have no cellphone and have no idea what the CT's look like).  So it was just us two with a tiny map, trying to find these two women.  We called them up and they told us we have to take the metro to get to them, whereas we thought we were meeting them at the metro.  So we figured out where we had to go and we paid $2 RMB for the metro train and loaded ourselves in and we were off.  During the ride everyone again was staring at us, while we were finally realizing how freaking big Xi'an actually was (it is bigger than LA I believe). We found the CT's and I was introduced to Coco and Ana, such funny friendly girls.  

We took a bus to the rural part of Xi'an and got off at this random stop and we were herded into a minivan type car, apparently we were going to visit Coco's old kindergarten where she used to work.  This place was in the middle of nowhere and it was awesome.  The kindergarten itself was super colorful and the kids were adorable. Again everyone stared at me and Damian because they have never seen foreigners before.  They fed us Chinese bread and some potato slices.  We waved goodbye and got a free ride to the zoo from one of the teachers.  As we were driving Coco told us we can get into the zoo for free, but we have to hop a gate first.  We just said okay. When we got there we couldn't find the gate, so we paid $100 RMB to get in and we were told the panda had died.  We were bummed but we still wanted to go inside, so me Damien and Ana (Ana had never been to a zoo before as she is deathly terrified of snakes; don't ask me how that translates to why she has never been to the zoo it was just her reasoning lol) continued on while Coco waited outside (she thought we were only going to be inside for two hours lol we were inside for 4.5 hours).  

The zoo's in other countries are much different, as they have different regulations and less strict policies towards the treatment of the animals.  This zoo wasn't the best zoo ever, but it was still cool to see all the different animals they had here in China.  The zoo it huge, which meant most of the animals have lots of space to roam.  We went on the safari ($30 RMB per person) which meant we had to get onto these trucks with cages in the back, but we had to get  into the cages and we rode around in it taking pictures of all the animals (reminded me of Jurassic Park the entire time).  We saw almost every animal, even went to the circus, although I couldn't watch everything as they began to hit the tigers when they didn't listen.  We saw an equestrian show as well and even contemplated going into the amusement park for one or two rides.  

As we were leaving I noticed some men taking pictures of something, so I walk over to investigate and there sat a teenage panda.  I called my friends over and we were so happy to see a panda.  He was eating his bamboo and we realized that the panda had just been brought in a few minutes ago (they had literally just delivered it to the zoo).  Hopefully that panda will survive a lot longer than the others, only 1,500 panda's are left in the wild.

We finally leave the zoo and we are ordered some lunch, even though we said we weren't hungry, but once we began to eat we realized we were hungry.  All the women touched my hair and complimented my eyes while I ate.  We got a taxi to take us to the bus stop and we took the bus to the metro and the metro back to the hostel (we of course got lost quite a few times, but we made it back).  We ate dinner at the hostel (another $54 RMB) and decided we weren't going out, as I had to travel back to Xianyang in the morning and the others were going to go see the Terracotta Army (it was a bummer I couldn't go, as I had already agreed to do promotions, they got to do a lot of stuff for free because this Chinese man who was friends with my roommate from Xianyang paid for everything like; lunch, the tour, a mini-van with aircon, a mountain tour, mini terracotta statue's, an English speaking tour guide, a palace tour and a ride back home. Super jealous lol).  I will just have to go another time.  

The next morning we check out of the hostel and we go our separate ways.  I find my first bus and then get off to find my second bus back to Xianyang.  That is when I see the monstrosity that holiday's reek upon traveling in China.  There was so many people waiting for the same bus, which happened to be my bus.  It looked like the city has just received a bomb threat and everyone was trying to flee the city.  I waited an hour and a half, but every time I tried to get to a bus they would run and push in front and I hate being squished.  So as I was trying to figure out how much a taxi would cost me a bus pull right in front of me and opens its door, just as I was about to get in I was squashed from all directions.  I was so squished, that I could move my arms and every direction mob went I went.  It felt like my arms were breaking.  Somehow I was squeezed into the bus and I managed to get a seat, thank god.  My arms were burning from being crushed by all the people and their damn moon cake boxes, I can literally see the bruises forming on my body.  So the bus ride was kind of hot and about an hour long back to my city, so it was decent.  When the bus dropped us off at this random place, I was like well shit, I have no idea where I am (I had an inkling of an idea) and I have no phone, so I just followed the giant mass of people.  I saw some familiar things, but that doesn't mean anything in China because there are a lot of duplicate things.  I got thirsty so I stopped to get a drink and asked the lady if she knew which direction my place was (I literally just said the hotel's name that I live by in chinese, they all know it since it is next to a park) she pointed in the direction I had already thought it was in so I had been correct in where I was, the lady even told me what bus number to take.

I finally arrived home, but I went straight to my school and waited for the CT to arrive.  They told me what I was going to do and gave me a bright pink shirt to wear (ugh!).  We went into a mall and to the kids play area where I took off my shoes and hopped in with them and played London Bridges and Duck Duck Goose while singing the ABC's.  Then I was herded to a toy store where no kids were (one it is the holiday, so most people are with their families and two what parent with any sense would willingly bring their child into a toy store and think that the child will not want anything, just saying). So since their was nothing to do I headed back to school and then back home.  As I was riding the bus (sitting in a seat because a woman gave me her seat) back I realized that I hadn't eaten at all yet (was almost 5pm), so I decided to go to a small restaurant where they know me.  

All the staff waved at me when I walked in and I ordered sweet & sour chicken with rice and shrimp with cashew nuts.  As I was eating the shrimp with cashews, it brought on a memory of me and my mom sitting down at our secret Chinese Restaurant in Concord, California.  We would order kung pao chicken and a shrimp dish like the one I was eating.  It was funny because I got teary-eyed while eating dinner and I remembered that while I had stayed at the hostel I had been trying to find something in my backpack and I pulled out a set of keys my mom had given to me for my PT Cruiser because I was going to take my drivers license test in July before we realized she was dying.  It is funny how moments like these drag you back into the past and make you miss so much, but as you once again become aware of your surroundings, that memory floats away.

Tomorrow I do two more promotions and hopefully they pay me right after, so I can have some spending money while everything is on sale for the holiday.  I start work on Thursday where it's 7:30am 7:30pm (same for Friday - Sunday), so it is going to be a long weekend lol.

Flattered

 My second week of being a foreign teacher is complete and although it did get a little easier other factors made me struggle.  My C1 class went a thousand times better this week because I was prepared for that specific class and I knew what they wanted to do: play games.  I literally only played one game but that kept them entertained for my 30 minute class.  My Parent/Child class was sadly worse this week because the children were very naughty and rowdy, so even if I tried to play games with them they were too rough with one another, so I stopped the games and sat these six little 5 year olds down.  

My upper level classes went almost the same as the first week, but I think the students themselves are becoming more comfortable around me so they are asking more questions.  My C11 class, which is my highest level, is probably my favorite now because it is just me in the classroom teaching eighteen 14-16 year olds about English.  I like making them do role-plays and get into groups because it makes the class go faster and improves their English skills.  They have to read their homework out loud, which of course they don't like, but I think it not only helps their pronunciation but also their ability to see and hear where they made mistakes in their writing.  I also get to hear what they enjoy about English and what they think of me.  A lot of the girls said nice stuff about me (5 male students and 12 female students) like my teacher is very pretty, I love her blue eyes, she is very nice and smart.  I was very flattered to hear these things, but then the boys got up and they said I speak to fast and one even admitted to not liking listening.  Boys are always so critical.  I liked that they said I speak too fast because I actually don't, half the time I repeat myself anyway, but they have to understand they need to be able to listen to a foreigner and start picking up the gist of what I say even if it is too fast, they are higher level so that is one of the things they must begin to learn to do.

China is beautiful, but it also has a lot of pollution you don't realize is there until you start coughing.  That's what happened to me, my body is trying to adapt to the pollution my body is sucking into my lungs, so coughing is what I have been doing since last week.  Now normally, coughing is okay but constant coughing keeps you awake, especially when you're hacking up stuff, so I got very little sleep.  Even with cough medicine, it only soothes it for a bit until the coughing begins.  The coughing makes it very hard to teach, especially with pronunciation and with being loud for the younger children.  Each day on the weekend is a twelve hour day teaching, standing on my feet, so naturally you get very tired, but when your sick it makes it worse.  Thank god my cold didn't come until after classes were over, so now I am spending my days off grading hw, watching series, coughing shit up and blowing my nose.

My roommate went off to Xi'an while I stayed home because of my sickness and also because of the news of violence spreading like wildfire in the cities (which makes me happy I don't teach in a big city).  I needed to go shopping so I waited to around 6:30pm to leave the flat and go to Vanguard (a chinese grocery store).  The store has 3 or 4 levels, but once you pass once you cannot go back down (they have carts, so you can just bring them upstairs by taking the flat escalator, which is magnetized to hold the carts in place).  It's not very hard shopping in China, yes everything is mainly in Chinese, but there are a lot of things that look like the stuff back home and if not you can usually tell what it is just by looking at it.  Something a little disturbing is that babies are allowed to pee on the floors here, so watch out for puddles.  I mainly went to get some drinks (as the only place that sells diet coke is Vanguard) and fruit (pomegranate season is coming!).  While I was buying drinks this young man approached me, I was already nervous about being out alone but this guy made me very tense.  He started speaking to me in broken English while his friends stood by and watched.  I said hello and he asked me my name.  He told me his name was Amos and that he was 23 (a year older than me lol), he knew I taught at Aston (most foreigners in city teach at Aston so it's common for everyone to know where I work) but he wanted to ask me if there was any classes for 23 year olds and I said I didn't know and that he would have to ask the school.  He followed me around for a bit saying if I ever wanted to go out I could call him and that if I ever needed help that he could help me.  I said goodbye to him as he was nice, although also weird.  I realized that many people had been watching him talk to me and I began to understand why.  

Most people don't talk to me because I cannot speak Chinese, but this boy got up the courage to talk to me in my native language.  I had been nervous because I was alone (no one to walk me home) and I didn't know what he had wanted from me, so I was also scared.  He was just being nice and yes, in a way flirting with me, you could tell by his erratic heart beat in his throat and the sweat coating his forehead.  Although I was not interested in this boy, it was flattering.  Here in China many people still have not seen many foreigners, even my children like touching my hair or talking about my eyes.  Boys are the same, they often try to catch my attention by using English words and smiling.  Again it's flattering to be noticed, but I'm honestly not used to it.  In the US there are a lot of blonde blue-eyed girls who are much prettier than I, but here I'm seen as beautiful.  It's definitely a first for me to be admired by women and men wherever I go.

Due to the tension between Japan and China, there has been numerous riots and demonstrations in the larger cities against Japanese citizens and any products that were made by Japan.  Many people have been beaten, even Chinese, because they had been driving a Toyota (Japanese made car).  Tensions have been growing for months in the dispute over ownership of a string of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Those came to a head last week when the Japanese government said it was purchasing some of the islands from their private owner to thwart a Japanese politician's plans to buy and develop them.  China reacted angrily, sending marine patrol ships inside Japanese-claimed waters around the islands, which Tokyo has administered since 1972. Some state media urged Chinese to show their patriotism by boycotting Japanese goods and canceling travel to Japan.  The tension continues to thicken as China moves closer to the anniversary of a 1931 incident that Japan used as a pretext to invade Manchuria before World War II.  It is a scary time to be a foreigner here because if China an Japan do not settle this issue, they could definitely go to war within the next year or so.

My schedule has gotten longer as the English Corner classes start up this week on Thursday.  So I will teach two EC classes on Thursday night and one on Friday night.  Also our Mandarin Lessons begin this week so Thursday at 2pm I go for my first hour lesson with my roommate.  I really want to learn Chinese.

Me? A Foreign Teacher?

My first weekend as a real teacher came so quickly I hardly even believe it happened, and I lived it.  My schedule is not bad as I have Monday through Wednesday off every week.  Thursday's I will either be doing promotional gigs for the school in the afternoon or teaching English Corner which is a review day for kids who wish to review material before going to their regular English classes on the weekend.  Friday's I have my Office Hours starting at 2pm going to about 5pm then I have a class at 5:30 or 6:30 for about an hour.  Saturday's are my longest days as I have eight classes and only an hour break to get lunch; Sunday's are a lot easier as I have two 2 hour breaks, but the downfall to Sunday is I have two upper-level classes back to back which means two hours for both classes.

The classes are created by level of English you can speak, so Jungle Gym 1-4 are for little children basically learning their English names (all the kids get English names; I got to name a kid and I named him Coal, it was super exciting, but some of the English names are weird, like Dragon/Tiger/Whisteria/ Kiki (for a boy) and a lot of them names are repetitive so I will have like David 1-3 or Katie 1 & 2).  Then there are classes called PC1-3 (where the parents come in with their children and monitor them, I have a PC1 class and it's very nerve-racking to have the parents watching your every move), these classes are only 30 minutes long for the FT (FT = Foreign Teacher = ME and CT = Chinese Teacher) but the poor CT's have an entire hour with them.  Then the levels move into C1-C6, which all vary in ages and skill level, obviously the higher the level the more English skills you have, usually these classes are an hour long for the FT I have a C1 class, two C2 classes, one C3A, two C3B's, two C4A's, one C4B, two C5's,(sometimes the classes are placed into half sections so C3A/C3B and C4A/C4B because the books material proved to challenging for some students so they split the book in half) .  C7-C10, I believe, is where the FT teaches for two hours, but the CT is there to provide help/ translation as a last resort if needed (I have one C7, and one C8).  Now the C11-C15 classes is where the FT is all alone, no CT, so its two hours of just you and the kids, ranging from 12-18 (I have one C11 class, and I have 18 students).

Now, there are some perks to being a Western Teacher in a foreign country, which include: you get a nicely sized apartment, you get paid a nice amount every month, get to feel like a rock-star wherever you go (everyone stares at you), everyone wants their children to say hi to you, everyone wants to take pictures of you, everyone watches the things you buy (and they look at that thing afterward as well), usually, but not always, people respect you and don't push you, and when being a teacher people automatically respect you.  It's weird how I was sitting in my class, watching my students in C11 write in their notebooks about what they really wanted to learn from this English class, the thought struck me that I used to be just like them only a short period of time ago; writing frantically, filling in the questionnaire as quick as possible.  I used to be a student, but now I am a real teacher.  I smiled to myself, remembering all my many teachers I have had and what I liked about them because that is what I want to be.  I want my students to like me, but also respect me, I want them to learn things from me that will help them succeed, I want to enable them to be comfortable in a classroom where they can ask me any question.  For some teachers this comes naturally for me, I'm still so young that I have no idea what works and what doesn't work.  As an example: my C8 class right before my C11 class had just begun and I was watching the kids write away, one girl go finished and asked me: "Why are you smiling so much?" This question threw me off as I was smiling because one I was trying to figure out how to make a game out of grammar points and two because I am finally a teacher, so when asked this question I said "Because I enjoy teaching." She repeated her question so I became stubborn and playfully frowned at her whenever I looked her way.  After ten minutes she asks me another question, as she finished before the others, she said, "I like your pretty ass." Again I was taken aback and I asked her to repeat and then she said, "I like your pretty blue ass." That's when I realized she was pronouncing eyes like ass.  I said thank you to her and continued to teach.  It's moment's like those where you think of teacher to student boundaries.  Being careful about your words and phrasing is important as a teacher, and making the kids repeat their questions can save you a lot of confusion later on.

Other perks to working at an English school with other foreigner's is that you get to experience many different personalities and cultures besides your own.  As the only American and the youngest FT out of the two schools in our city, I'm treated very nicely and sort of like a little sister.  So far I have met, British, Scottish, Canadian, European, and South African people, which is a delight.  Every couple of days we go out to eat/drink together as a group, chillax at someone's flat and/or do some Karaoke TV (KTV).  Everyone is super friendly, especially the Chinese Teachers who also sometimes join us for an afternoon (I swear everyone of them has at least 10 pictures of me, I was nearly rendered blind that night).

Food is everywhere and it's cheap so most of the time we just go out to eat, the street vendors aren't the cleanest, but $7 yuan for two noodles bowls with meat and a fruit beer is amazingly cheap (equals to about $1 USD).  Fruit is also cheap here, but if you don't speak Chinese it can prove difficult, not the getting what you want across, just the simple fact that everyone stops to watch you buy something or stops to help translate (it makes you feel under pressure).  They sell huge walnuts here, which are delicious and pomegranate season is coming soon so I'm super stoked about that.  Bakeries are hard to find in smaller cities, but luckily we have three within walking distance (not a big sweets fan, but I even bought something because most food is either salty or sour or spicy here so it's a nice change for the taste buds).

Night markets are the best thing ever, one because you can bargain prices and two because they literally have everything you could ever want to posses.  Not joking: You need a turtle? It's across the street.  You need a snake, hamster, scorpion, tarantula, desert lizard or a water snake? It's down the road.  My roommie is allergic to furry pets so I told him when I have enough money I want to get a turtle or a lizard for the apartment.

China is awesome, but it also has its bad points.  Smelly bathrooms (as they don't have a good sewer system here most of the toilets are squat toilets which people, especially females have trouble aiming correctly), all the meat smells the same (a spicy musty smell on the street, which you can never escape), access to facebook and most reports on the internet are blocked (China is very restrictive to what it's people can and cannot access, although with VPN's and other free codes I don't see why China still insists on it), Wifi is illegal in places of non-business (I still haven't figured out why but we got wifi in our apartment), people stare at you all the time (sometimes it's nice to be looked at, but to be stared at for long periods of time while you're eating is unpleasant) and lastly it takes a long time for anything to get done unless you get mad and in someone's face (also unpleasant as it isn't very professional, but sometimes it needs to be done in order to get the urgency of the matter across).


I'm enjoying my experience here, as is my roommate.  I still can't believe that I am a teacher living in China!!!