Settling In

Well its been one month since I arrived in Hefei, Anhui and so far so good.  Teaching is like second nature now, so a lot of the planning I do for my classes aren't needed as much as before.  I enjoy all my classes a lot and my schedule is perfect.  I love my job, I don't think I say that enough, even to myself. I haven't done much in the way of fun, but I've just now gotten my first holiday vacation. I was originally given 5 days off, but due to another teachers laziness and the schools lack of communication, I worked for one extra day (yay overtime pay!). 

I always set high goals for myself during holidays, meaning I plan every day out to a T.  I usually stray from the plan because I like sleeping and/or I found something else to do.  Tuesday I went to Swan Lake, which is very beautiful.  It even has a fake beach, but too bad the water is like toxic (yet I did see some swimmers!).  This trip took all day and I got a lot of exercise by walking through the whole park and around the lake.  



The next day I received a text saying it would be great if I could take out the new foreigners for dinner since they had just arrived yesterday.  My plan for that day was to visit the Hefei Botanical Garden, which is quite far, so I crossed that plan out.  I did some research and asked around to see where I could buy a kitten.  It's lonely here in Hefei, especially at night, so I really wanted a cat for myself.  I am a nurturer by nature and I have always had cats in my life, I mean for god's sake my nickname is Kat, so I wanted a cat.  

I found an open street market and looked around.  The open market had quite a variety of animals, cats, dogs, turtles, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, bunnies, birds and even a porcupine.  Many of them were so cute and I wanted to take them all home, but I couldn't.  I was a foreigner, so I knew most of the prices they offered me would be higher than normal, but I didn't care. There were some kittens, but they looked older and I wanted a baby.  

Then I found Tiffa, buried underneath some other cats, sleeping.  I told the man I wanted this one and he fished out a bag to put Tiffa into and I said to wait.  I know the animals here aren't treated with compassion or kindness, usually, but I refused to put my cat into a bag to carry home.  I bought a carrier two stalls down and put Tiffa in it.  I didn't try to bargain the price down for Tiffa, 50rmb ($8) because I knew she is worth so much more.  I believe Tiffa is Tortoiseshell cat, beautiful coloring.  She is sweet and such a baby.  She loves to sleep on my face and neck at night.  She hates cages, probably because she has always been in one.  She loves to play and she is a natural at using a litter box.

I went out to dinner with our new teachers who just arrived on Oct. 1st.  Late arrival teachers are difficult because everything has already begun and training has already been completed.  Of course, since the teachers are new not only to China, but to teaching as well they need training.  Usually a manger would train the teachers, but our manager is on vacation, so as Senior Teacher it falls to me.  I'm actually not upset I have to do this because I know I am good at this type of thing.  I'm a meticulous planner and I know how to show others how to do things.  The teachers are from South Africa, two girls and a boy.  One has experience teaching, whereas the others do not.  I met them for dinner and we had a blast.  So far I have never met a South African that I didn't like which is still true.  I train them this weekend for 5 hours at two different locations, in order to train them properly as each school has different teaching methods. Hopefully my training will show them the seriousness of teaching and that this isn't just a paid vacation (not saying they are this way just that a lot of people who come here believe it's just a joy ride and that teaching is a joke, which is disrespectful).


When traveling or even working in a new place there are processes to go through in order to become more comfortable.  So that's what I have been doing.  I always try to keep myself busy because if I'm not then I get stir crazy or just watch TV/sleep all day. Deciding to go to a new place/job is always difficult because no matter where you were before you always compare the two and you realize the stuff you took for granted before, but you also realize some other things that weren't great their as well.  In life we always compare and it drives me crazy when other people do it, but I find myself doing it quite often.

I like being a foreign teacher and I enjoy working hard, but there are always some foreigners who come to teach for the wrong reasons; cheap country, booze, partying, laziness, etc. It's hard talking to people who don't enjoy teaching or the place where they are working.  It's also hard trying to work with others who are so lazy and take advantage, not only of the school, but of their co-workers as well.  Everyone has those days where everything is going wrong and they lash out, even I have those days, but in the end I don't hate this country and I don't hate the people.  It's hard listening to others talk so badly about China when, in fact, they chose to come here. Again I love my job, so I get defensive when others talk badly about it.

I also love getting paid for my work, so I can't wait for pay day (7,300rmb/$1,192 + overtime pay! - electricity, water and internet ;-;). This will be my first time paid in Hefei and my largest pay in China.

Everything is Different: Sometimes Good/Sometimes Bad

 I have been in Hefei, Anhui, China for 4 days and so far I have liked what I've seen and eaten, which I guess is a really good thing.  I remember when I first got to Xianyang, I was scared and didn't know anything or anyone.  At least here I have a friend and I am a lot more tolerant towards Chinese society and cultural quirks.  This city is a lot larger than the one I was in before, so it's always busy (reminds me of LA when I see the crazy-ass traffic) and of course a lot more complicated.  Yet there are also definitely a lot more things to do here in the ways of food, shopping, movies, bars/KTV, sports, close traveling, sightseeing and meeting new people.

  
On arrival we had an apartment set up, but it was missing a few things; closet, sofa and

internet (also food but that's quite normal when you go to a new place).  The apartment is quite nice and new; we are on the 9th floor (elevator baby! Yes!). I got my own room, with a balcony view of the Anhui University soccer field and it even has a desk (its bigger than my last room) and I even got my own closet on the third day!  Our living room is nice, although it is usually hot there even with the ceiling fan turned on, and the couch adds a nice personal touch to it.  We have a kitchen table, water dispenser and a fridge.  Our laundry room is also attached to my balcony and it has a nice high-tech washer (high-tech for China to say the least).  Our bathroom is very clean and pretty!  Our kitchen (which I believe I will be the only one using) is also very beautiful and clean; I plan to keep it that way to!  We got internet by the third day, so after that we were happy.

The school, I should say schools because we have 4 in this city, are in a big mess.  The four schools are located in different parts of the city (the schools have expanded too quickly and don't seem to be making as much money as they should).  School 1 has 600 students enrolled (my school in Xianyang has over 1,000 and is approximately the same size area wise), School 2 has 300 students, School 3 has 100 students and is mainly an Electronic Whiteboard school (this is the one I mainly want to teach at), and School 4 has only 60 students.  So far there are eight teachers for the four schools: Me (with 25 hours), Eric (with 15 hours), Hope (an American guy who has worked here before), David (a regional fill-in teacher here for another 3-4 months), a part-time teacher (only works one day a week, can we say useless!) and 3 South Africans (Boyfriend/Girlfriend and mother who want to live/teach together and who have never been to China --> these are the ones we are worried about the most because if one doesn't like the school then they all don't)... So literally we have 6 full-time teachers (We're going to be busy!).  We were also supposed to have another teacher coming in from America, but because of lack of communication from the school he decided to go to another place in China.  


Problems like these are so silly, but very common in China if no one is told what to do and

how to do it (usually it is just the Chinese management telling us what they need and want, but not really addressing the real problems).  In America if someone did stuff like this they would be fired, but here it is quite different.  The schools themselves, at least 1 and 2 need redecorating and some remodeling done to attract new clients.  The schools have told us they wish to increase enrollment, but we realize we can't even focus on that because of all the other underlying issues and the fact that we don't have enough teachers to increase enrollment right now even if we tried!

It seems as though within the last couple months the schools relationships with its foreign teachers has completed dissipated.  No one knows the real reasons why because it seems everyone has a different side to their story, so it makes it very confusing to understand anything.  Yet there are a few things you can easily see that need to change in order to make new foreigners want to stay, such as: 

1) Communication - the lack of communication and timely/courteous communication is really bad here, if we can somehow fix it or improve it then a lot of minor and major problems would be solved. 

2) Timeliness - Don't be late, especially an hour late and don't expect someone to be on time when you give them shitty directions in a city they have never been to or been given a map.

3) Maps - We can follow maps, it makes it easier for us to travel and find things with these.

4) Schedules - As foreigners and especially as teachers we need a schedule in order to understand what we are expected to do every week.

5) 24 Hour Notice - Unless it is an absolute emergency, give us some notice - at least a day notice.

6) Have a Plan of Action - Don't drag us everywhere all day because you didn't call ahead of time and make sure of everything!

7) Friendliness - Foreigners like to be treated with friendliness because we came to China to experience good things, not someone just telling me to "Go, Stay, Sit, Wait!" without saying please or sounding sincere. The nicer you are the nicer and happier we are.

Luckily I am not the manager, although my friend is, and thank god he is up for the challenge

this school will bring us in the next year.  I am the Senior Teacher, so demo-classes and open houses will be mostly me, but honestly I am comfortable with those things.  Hopefully we can fix a lot of these problems with meetings and team-building exercises, it will take time and I know this.  The school realizes it's not doing so well and that their relationships with foreigners aren't stable, so I believe they are willing to change or else their school will likely fail in the coming years as many Aston schools are already doing slowly but surely.  There is a lot of work to be done.

I believe having a challenge builds you up, keeps you on your toes and raises your ability to adapt and take on anything that is thrown at you --> Like Po in Kung Fu Panda 2 when he catches the fireworks cannon ball and throws it back at them (that is how I see myself).

SKADOOSH!!!!

End of My First Adventure in China

I can't believe it has been a year already! It's hard to believe it's coming to an end so quickly.  I haven't written a blog post in a long time, mainly due to the fact that I haven't had a single day off in 2 months (Summer Intensive, plus normal classes = no breaks for me).  I am writing one now knowing that I only have  6 hours left in Xianyang, Shaanxi, China, literally my first home in China.  I know I will miss this place, especially the people I have come to know as my friends.  

Sometimes I ask myself: Why are you leaving? You are comfortable here, you know everyone! Then I realize I didn't come to China to settle down, I came to China to explore and gain experiences during my travels that know one else can have except me.  Some people have worked in the same place for more than 5 years and never really went anywhere else to see what they had to offer, I won't allow myself to get stuck in one place.  China is so big, and I really do want to experience as much of it as I can.

My new city, Hefei, is about a 17 hour train ride from Xi'an.  I am also going to a whole new

province, Anhui, farther down south and more towards the east and the coast.  It will be a little warmer, sadly, but also much wetter and less cold during the winter.  It has a huge natural lake as well, so local seafood (from the lake) is caught.  Hefei is also the capitol city of Anhui, so it is a large city with a metro and lots of foreign stores and restaurants. I chose this city because I have tried out a smaller city in China and now I want to see what the bigger cities have to offer, whether it be more or less in some areas. I will be the Senior Teacher at the new school so I will be working 28 hours a week, unlike here where I worked 25 hours a week. I am excited because not only do I get paid more, but it also looks good on a resume!

One of the hardest things about leaving any place is deciding what to take and what to leave behind.  I hate packing because I hate choosing.  I had to get rid of many things that I would have liked to keep but knew I would never use anyway.  

Turns out I have too much stuff so I will have my friend ship me two things (some winter clothes and laptop case with documents in it) after I get to Hefei.  Sometimes I wish I could pack like a guy...









I have many friends here in Xianyang and I will miss them greatly, but I have learned a lot about

how the Chinese and Foreigners work. Chinese teachers usually come and go frequently and unexpectedly because of being mistreated or not being paid enough and sometimes because they are pregnant.  Foreigners have contracts which are either 6 months or a year, so after that time has passed most of them travel to someplace new like me.  No one makes decisions based off friends, they aren't going to stay for you. 

 

 A lot of times in the past I have made decisions because I wanted to be closer to my friends, but in the long run you have to do what is best for you.  After realizing stuff like that I made a decision to leave this city in order to do what I came to do, travel and explore.  Of course I want to stay, solely for my friends and my own comfortability, but I know it won't always be that way.  The Chinese teachers said that I should stay because I am a good teacher and I know they are also nervous about having new inexperienced teachers to deal with.  I will definitely come visit them, plus my friend JJ (from Arizona; we met last year when we were both applying to get certified to teach in a foreign country, so I have been helping him out by answering a lot of his questions) will be in Weinan, which is a city near Xi'an. I will go show him some good places to eat there.  





Hopefully in my new city I make some awesome friends again and meet some really nice

people.  I'm trying to keep my expectations low so I am not surprised or saddened by anything, but China always has a way of surprising you at the weirdest moments.

I will miss most of my students quite a lot and I hope I have made a difference in their lives and taught them to think outside the Chinese box and into their dreams.  Maybe when I return to this city for a visit I can see my students again and they will remember me (Chinese students have so many foreigners come in and out of their lives, that it is common for them to forget).

Being Wanted For Everything, But Being Overused Because Of It

You know being wanted is a great feeling.  At least, most days it is, but recently my school has been using me more and more and my schedule is so full it's about to burst in my face.  Before my schedule was fine; three days off, work two hours on Thursday, five on Friday, eight on Saturday and seven in half on Sunday.  Now though it's Summer Intensive so I work every day.  Sure it's not too bad because it's only 2 hours extra on Monday-Wednesday, those aren't the problem.  It's Thursday, that is the killer day.

On Thursday I usually got to teach Kindergarden at Kids Castle (a school that hired me through Aston), but the bad thing about this school is its quite far from everything.  I only teach for one hour (three classes: two classes full of 3 year olds and another class full of 4-5 year olds).  After I teach from 3-4pm I race to do promotions, which are quite far and require a taxi to get too.  The promotion is also only an hour, which usually is fine because I get to go home afterward.  But not anymore.  Now after promotions that end at 5:30pm I have to race back to school and teach a Topic Class from 6-8pm!  This means that I would have 30 minutes to get to school, print out everything, and rest.  That's just crazy (every other day is fine because I have time to breath, but my Topic Class is really popular sometimes I have 20 students, so making a lesson and being prepared takes a lot of work!) 

So I am going to ask my school if the Kindergarden classes can be given to another teacher (who isn't doing Summer Intensive and has three days off and already teaches at the school in the morning). But of course, because it's China, I have to go through six different people before I can speak to the Chinese Manager (drives me crazy sometimes).

I dislike when China overloads me with things just because I am white, the other foreign teachers are just as good as me and just as qualified.  Yes, I understand that a black man/woman going into a classroom full of Chinese babies is traumatic at first (the kids will scream and cry), but after some time the kids will realize he/she isn't going to eat them or kill them and eventually have fun with them.

Sometimes I don't think my school realizes that I am LEAVING in less than two months (42 days!) and the teachers that are here are going to be their only options for classes.  I say get them to practice now, so when the time comes they aren't making as many mistakes!

Summer Intensive: Topic Class

Summer Intensive has begun!  Summer Intensive is when the kids sign-up for the next level of classes (so if a student is in C7 they would sign-up for C8) which consists of going to class nearly every day of the week for the next 6 weeks.  So of course the Foreign Teachers must teach these classes.  As an "Experienced" teacher I was sort of asked to do Summer Intensive (because no one else wanted to come to school every day of the week, I don't blame them).  

Too many ideas, too little time and too little pay!

So, since I teach most of the upper-level classes and I am also okay with teaching in the evenings I was given the Topic Class.  Sure, Topic Class sounds fun because it has lots of freedom attached to it, no book and no exam... But sometimes freedom sucks. Now Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of every week I teach a class from 6-8pm, of which has to have a new topic for the class.  There is no syllabus or list of topics that you have to do, so you sort of just make it up.  Creating a lesson from scratch every week is hard enough (I do that with my C12 and C13), but for every day it's really really difficult.  Luckily since I do teach the upper level classes and have also taught the Airport classes I have left over material already created to use for the Topic Class.

I arrived early for my class, trying to shake off my nervousness through talking with some Chinese Teachers. Then I was told that I need to create some materials for the class and I was like WHAT? (Literally they tell me nothing!)

So, then I began freaking out more, although they told me that today was okay that I didn't have any materials since it was the first day, but most of the parents of the students need some physical proof that their children are learning something (damn, noisy Chinese parents! You're making my life so difficult!).  So I decided for every class I will have a print out of vocabulary words I would be using and perhaps some pictures to go alongside the words.  I also prepared two notebooks for each student, one book for Class which will consist of Writing Assignment in class and Notes they take in class (marked with a C) and their Homework books, which they only have once a week because I am awesome and don't want to grade it everyday (marked with an H).  I also explained that there would be no sleeping or texting in my class and that I would know when they are doing it because I was a student not long ago and I know all the tricks of the trade (I also scared them by saying I would answer their phones in class or throw their phone out the window and were in a skyscraper). I told them if they don't do their Homework they get to wear a dunce hat for two hours or dance to Gangnam Style in front of the class.

So my first Topic Class went alright.  I was super nervous in the beginning because I had nearly 20 kids in my class who are all different ages and at different English levels, so it makes it quite difficult to teach.  Plus I have some of my fellow Chinese Teachers joining in on the class who want to learn more English, so thats an extra reason to be nervous!  I spoke too fast in the beginning (haven't been that nervous since I first began teaching almost a year ago), but as the time went by I spoke slower and got into my comfort zone, which is making the students laugh.




The first thing I did was introduce myself with a lovely Powerpoint that I made (only one slide) to show them how funny and cool I am (I probably seemed so lame!).  

Then I went over the notebooks and learned the students name (so far I know almost everyone's names! I had a SpongeBob, Siva, and Yezi which were the weird names of the day).  The Writing Assignment for today was simple: Tell me about yourself.  Your likes and dislikes. The hard part for most of them was writing 10 sentences in 10 minutes (I make them write because I get to see their English ability in writing and it shows me how well their grammar transmits from their brain onto the page - usually they speak better than they can write, but as a teacher I think doing both is important!).  I also tell the students not to use the word INTERESTING! Why? Well because Chinese love to use this word to get out of saying why they like something.  I have the students introduce themselves to the class (most Chinese are also very quiet so I told them we would practice speaking louder as well).  Some of them still used interesting and the other students laughed when my eyes got all big as a reaction.

After break we began to speak about the Topic of the day which was Jobs.  The students were very clever and knew a lot of jobs.  Some that made me laugh were Fire Worker, so I imagined someone who works with fire and Air Lady (aka flight attendant).  Then we talked about which were the highest paying jobs in

China, which is quite similar to the ones in America.  Then we discussed the most dangerous jobs and the ones that made me laugh were Sports Player (this is where I mimicked a sports player getting injured and how it's not that bad) and Pilot (bad pronunciation made me hear Toilet so I mimicked someone falling into the toilet being dangerous).  I made the kids laugh a lot.
Then I showed the students my Dangerous Jobs Powerpoint.  This consists of the 10 most dangerous jobs, including videos from online.  Some of the best ones were Taxi Drivers because I get to explain to the kids my experience of taking crazy Chinese Taxi's and they love it! I also scare them because I scream during my stories.  The other funny one is Power Line Workers because of the video I show which is from Home Alone where the bad guy gets electrocuted by the sink knobs.  And then the Truck Drivers because I show a great video of truck accidents that make all the students go, "Woah!" "OMG" "So crazy!" and of course the boys say, "That's so cool!"

At the end of the lesson I released the students and felt really exhausted, but I knew the students had fun and when my CT friends came over and helped me clean up I knew I had done an okay job.  They were also telling me how I should become an Actress/Comedian because I am so funny. My best friend also said, "You should stay here in Xianyang, you are such a good teacher.  Management is so stupid not to ask you to stay. I will talk to the leader tomorrow."  She is so sweet and when I leave I will miss her like crazy!  She also gave me a ride home on her Motobike, which I almost made us crash two times because I was laughing in fright and making her laugh because she said, "Why is the bus stopped?" and I said, "Because there is the bus stop!"  (You don't need a license to drive Motobikes!)

Today's Crazy Adventures

So today is Monday, which usually means it's a relaxing day for the foreign teachers because we just got done teaching non-stop for two days (sadly Saturday and Sunday are our busy days, so when you guys say "Yay, its Friday!" We here say, "Oh no, it's Friday.") 
Some weeks I will head to Xi'an to meet up with friends and relax in a Youth Hostel or meet some of my friends family, which is quite exciting for me.  Hostels aren't bad at all, in fact they are quite clean and you meet the most interesting people.  Example? In this picture I am with Eric, my best friend who I met in Cambodia, his two twin cousins Erin and Rachel, an Australian traveler, a European traveller and two Norwegian's having a nice vacation in China.  Where else could you find such diversity if not a Youth Hostel?  

Anyway today I awoke with only one or two plans for the day, which were 1) Go exchange currency and send money back home 2) Get medicine from pharmacy.  Easy right?  Well, of course, a lot of the time China changes things for you (sometimes good and sometimes bad).

I get a phone call this morning from my best Chinese friend, Fiona (aka FiFi), who invited me to go to lunch

with some of the CT's at this Porridge HotPot restaurant.  I, of course, said sure.  Sure meant I had to get ready in and be at the school in less than 30 minutes (I had literally woken up 30 minutes prior to the phone call).  I love hanging out with the CT's because they make conversation, I can learn some Chinese and they make me laugh.  (Honestly, I don't even like hotpot all that much but they are my friends and I was the only foreigner who was invited).  I also wore my new sandals that I bought last week.  This is one of the first times in China I have worn sandals because I was warned that China is so dirty that you're feet turn black.  When I got to school everyone asked me why am I wearing slippers and I was like "These are sandals, not slippers."  They said to me, "No we wear those inside not outside." and I just rolled my eyes because this is the second time I have gotten shoes wrong (the first time was when I bought boy tennis shoes and now I bought slippers instead of sandals).  

We all headed to the restaurant where we got a really nice booth and even got to meet the owner (If you are a foreigner most times the owners or managers of that establishment will come over to greet you).  The owner of the restaurant served us through the meal and told me about how she went to Hawaii for vacation and her son is studying in Los Angeles.  The CT's were all surprised because of the special treatment, but I told them how normal it was for foreigners in China to get this type of treatment, although for me it makes me nervous and uncomfortable at times because everyone stares at you while you're eating.  

Once the meal was over me and FiFi headed to the Bank of China, where we discovered the bank had NO DOLLARS available till Thursday.  I was devastated because I was originally going to send money on Friday but realized that I had lost my bank card (the second time I have lost it, first it was stolen with my wallet and now I think I just misplaced it).  Luckily, there was this sketchy guy listening and he said he had American dollars to exchange.  FiFi and I were reluctant so he gave me the $250 and said I could send it first and then come back and give him the RMB amount.  Me and FiFi were shocked that a Chinese man would trust us that much.  It took us awhile to agree (as both of us were freaking out about being criminals and dealing under the table ---> hilarious to watch I am assuming), but in the end I was desperate, so I took the money to the Post Office.  When they were putting the money through the checking machine, both me and FiFi were holding our breath.  Once the money cleared we both jut started laughing in relief.  As we left and started to head back to the man, FiFi told me it is very rare for someone to just give the money and trust you to return.  We found the man and gave him the money. I asked him if he worked with other foreigners and he described a few of my friends (that is when I realized this guy was who my friends called the Dollar Man).  

Side note:  seeing Man of Steel tomorrow in 3D!!! (2nd movie in China)

After the bank I walked to the pharmacy where I usually get my insulin medicine.  The lady who works there

recognizes me and always knows what I want, so it's quite easy for me.  Today, however, they told me they didn't have any (my brain was like: "What is China out of everything I need?")  Before I moved to my second apartment I went to another pharmacy where I used to live so I took a TukTuk to the other pharmacy and they still recognized me and they had what I needed (this pharmacy was the one that filmed me for a news clip, they were like "Oh! Get the foreigner in the video.  Even foreigners shop here, we are that awesome!")

All in all today was a crazy day and it's not even finished.  Every day is an adventure and that's what I love most about being in China!  2 months before I start my new adventure in Anhui Province/Hefei City, China.

Sunset in China
For more Sky pictures go to: China Sky

Chengdu - China's New Spot To Go

My Chengdu vacation has been a blast.  I travelled alone by train, which was about a 12 hour ride.  Most

people really like to take the plane because yes sometimes its cheaper and it's a lot quicker, but I like the train.  I love the experience that a train ride provides, plus I can take lots of pictures and lie down.  For my train ride I like to travel in style, I buy the soft sleeper ticket, which is 4 beds to a room (quite like bunk beds) and it has a TV, your own lights, aircon, plugs, music (optional) and a door which you can lock.  It's quite nice and overall not too expensive, especially if you don't travel during the busy holiday seasons here.  Bathrooms aren't great and smoking rules aren't always followed, but besides that I would recommend the train for a real Chinese experience (usually the people you room with are quite considerate and nice).

I had 7 days to spend doing whatever I liked in Chengdu and I have to say I got to do the majority of what I wanted to get done (at quite and affordable price which is a bonus for me).  I arrived in the morning, sadly it took me 2 hours to find my hostel (thanks to ignorant Chinese people and their lack of understanding Pinying).  

Once I arrived at my hostel (The Mix Hostel) I checked in for my 6 nights in my personal room (you can room with other people, but I wanted a private room).  The hostel has shared bathrooms, but they are quite clean and shared showering area (used by both men and women but the doors lock and they have nice shower heads).  They also have fish and a cat named Shoa Mi (which I think translates to Panda kitten). The hostel is full of travelers from around the world, so it makes it a great place to meet all types of people.  I prefer meeting Chinese because I find that most times the Chinese are nicer to foreigners than foreigners are to other foreigners.  When I checked in I signed up for a lot of trips because you don't go on vacation just to sleep, you go to actually do something.  

First thing I did was go to Mt. Emei where the Giant Buddha is located.  It was a good day to go because it

wasn't too hot, but of course it was really humid.  The Buddha mountain prepared me for the amount of stairs I would face later in the week.  I hate stairs, especially when you throw in Texas humidity.  Going to the Buddha was about a 2 hour drive where I learned my patience for China has passed all my expectations. Our driver decided he was hungry so on the way he stopped for a quick bite to eat, the other foreigners (from France I believe or somewhere over there) complained like no tomorrow.  I got out with the guy and got a pork bun.  As I was watching the others, I was chuckling inside remembering I probably would've been the same way 9 months ago, but with experience comes patience.  The mountain was beautiful and I had a blast seeing the Buddha I had seen in a previous blog that I read previously when I was still looking at coming to China.  It's nice, those moments when you realize everything you had planned a year before had come true (yay me!).  I got done with the mountain and ate some lunch and then played with a puppy and a street cat (yes everywhere I go cats are... I have been called the cat lady).  When coming back the driver made another pit stop at a restaurant, which I was like, "Damn, I already ate."  The driver disappeared into the back and the other people on the tour refused to go inside, so this time I stayed with them (I mean they brought us to a place where the menu was all in Chinese and no pictures, so that was his bad).  Again, patience is needed when you are in a foreign country where things are done quite differently.

How many panda's do you see?

Day 3 was the Giant Panda's!!! I decided to be responsible and not hold the panda because it was about 2,000RMB to do it, which was a little out of my price range.  Our tour guide was very energetic and funny, he made sure we saw the panda's while they were still eating and awake (after 10am they pretty much sleep all day).  I took a lot of pictures of the panda's, especially the babies.  I also got to see the Red Panda's, which was surprising because these little guys actually get to walk around with people.  When I first saw one go through the hole in the fence, I froze, I didn't even take a photo.  Then I was super excited and I took lots of pictures of the red raccoon looking things.  They would make great pets I believe.  I was determined to get some souvenirs, so I bought a panda key chain and two panda shirts.

"Hey what's up?"

Day 4 was a very long day.  I woke up at 5am to be ready by 5:45am, which got changed to 6:30am

(bastards!) to get on a tour bus to Qingcheng Mt., which the bus was full of Chinese (not even one foreigner), but luckily I made some friends.  Tian, was a 16 year old senior in high school who helped me all day long.  Let's just say we became quick friends. I wanted to go to the mountain but in reality, I went to three places that day.  The first place we went  was the Irrigation site, which was pretty cool because I got to cross a lot of bridges and get to know my group a little better.  I was definitely like the adopted child of the group.  Before anyone moved on they made sure of where the foreigner was (me).  Only 3 of them spoke decent English, but they discovered my listening skills were pretty good and that I could answer in basic words, so they applauded me for that skill.  Many of them thought Tian was my classmate, student or her my tour guide (we had some laughs about that).  I got to see a cool performance of how the Chengdu Irrigation system was first created.





Then we went to lunch, which was the first time I had lunch with all Chinese people, where they all stared at me.  They made sure I got enough food and watched me use my chopsticks, which they also said I was

good at.  The lunch was classic Sichuan food, luckily not as spicy as I had been warned about.






After lunch we went to the mountain, let me just first say, "SO MANY STAIRS!"  I took the cable care up

the mountain but just to get there you have to walk A LOT and then take a boat across a small lake.  The tour guide couldn't go up with us, but she left me in the care of the small group who took the cable car with me.  They looked at me like I was a piece of glass going to break.  I thought the cable car would take us up to the main attraction, but NO! more freaking STAIRS... If you are handicapped don't come to China.  They're people who will carry you up the rest of the way, but how embarrassing would that be? No, thanks! I made it to the damn top and got some pictures while I was nearly dying.  

It was getting late, so a few of us decided to head back down and that is where I met my two adopted Chinese Uncles; Purple Shirt and Blue Shirt.  They made sure I made it back down in one piece, although I did trip on stairs a lot.  They got me to where the bus was meeting us.

The next place we went was the Ancient Town, this place was my least favorite because by this time my camera was dying and my legs were near death.  I got to see some ancient golf, bowling, play ground and archery.  After our tour we were all dropped off near the People's Park, which is a really nice street with a lot of expensive restaurants. 

I was invited to dinner by this young Chinese couple with Tian.  They took us to a HotPot restaurant, where they ordered a lot of good food and a tomato hotpot soup for me (I was the only one who didn't want spicy, I kind of felt bad).  I learned they live in Shanghai and the man's English name is Michael, he is a pilot and his girlfriend she is a flight attendant (yes like a movie romance) her name is Yuka.  He is 32 and she is 21, but he looks quite young.  They paid for the entire dinner, which was quite expensive.  I love meeting new people and now I have a connection in Shanghai.

So this post is getting long, so I will write the rest in another post.