Yangshuo

We arrived in Yangshuo and walked thru the gauntlet of trinket stalls from the boat to the main part of the little town. West St. is THE street. It caters to foreigners with lots of shopping and good foreign food such as cheesecake, Mexican food, and Italian food. We stayed at Yangshuo Paradise Resort, which was Conveniently located on West St., where many famous (including Presidents) people have stayed. It is 4 star according to Chinese standards but maybe a 3 star in America. The Nixons and Clintons had to rough it for a couple of nights. But the beautiful scenery makes it all worth while.

We walked down to the restaurant that advertised cheesecake and had dinner. I can't remember what the dinner was but I can remember how good the cheesecake tasted. Afterwards we did some shopping, Cynthia found some scarfs for her mom and sister and I found a great T-shirt. It had a picture of Mickey Mouse on the front in a Chairman Mao type of hat. The caption made the T-shirt - It said Mickey Mao’s . I just wish I had bought a BUNCH of them. We tried to go back the next morning before we left but he was closed. We may have to fight over that one….

Li River Scenery......

And it just goes on and on and on - I just wish I was better at photography or a better camera or better weather - photos just don't do it.

Li River Scenery......

Li River Scenery......

Li River Scenery......

What a Way to Shop!

Another unique floating shop were the souvenir bamboo rafts that would tie up to the boat to sell trinkets. The hawkers would balance precariously between the boats and yell up to the passengers hoping someone would purchase their jade cabbages and Pixiu. Pixiu (Pea-shoe) is sort of like a good luck lion/dragon. You generally tie a small one on your cell phone.

Li River Cruise

Next morning we caught a bus to a boat dock for our Li River Cruise. It was cold and rainy but after we got to the scenic area we forgot about the weather. It is a 5 hour cruise and they provided lunch. Their kitchen was located on the back end of the boat. It was interesting watching them cook on the boat in front of us especially since they got their live chickens and other supplies from a floating grocery boat.

Peak of Solitary Beauty

This park and hill were located on Guangxi Teachers College campus. There were some 300 steps to the top but it should have counted as more because the steps where much higher and steeper than normal steps. After a year of walking and stair climbing I can now do about 3 flights without wheezing but this climb put me squarely back in my place as the out of shape American. On another part of the campus there was a old section where the students used to take exams. Of course this was after they had prayed for a good score at the local Confucius temple. They were very small partitioned rooms. Impossible to cheat here!

That evening after a good rice noodle meal we walked around the shopping area and finished the night off with a great hour long foot massage for only 20 RMB ($2.25).

Guilin & Yangshuo

Cynthia, an English teacher & friend , and I traveled to Guilin and Yangshuo a couple of weeks ago. Our trip was shortened a little with the strange schedule that ZUFE imposed on us but we managed to cram in most of the sites and activities in our 2 day trip. Even though it was rainy and cold the majority of the time the scenery was so overpowering that you generally forgot about it. This is one place I would love to return to so if anyone needs a tour guide…… The mountains on the Li River cruise is one of those places you need to see for yourself because with the weather and my lack of photography skills, our photos cannot begin to show you the mystical beauty of the place. (And that was after culling out the best 60 photos out of 300+ that we took!)

This Is The Way To Do Dishes!

You can always find the good restaurants in Guilin by counting how many containers of dirty dishes they have piled on the sidewalk. In Guilin the restaurants put their dirty dishes outside their restaurant in plastic containers. A contracted company picks them up washes them and returns them the next day. Sort of reminded me of the “pre-Pampers” old diaper services.

On the way back to the hotel we had a street snack that was a Chinese version of a Sloppy Joe. It was made with chopped pork and tasted delicious! We tried a couple of other local snacks but this is the one that my taste buds will remember.

Why I Will Never Be Able To Read Chinese

This is why I will never learn to read any Chinese. The different fonts that Word and other computer applications provide are nothing like the different characters that Chinese have used over time. All of these characters and many more that I did not put on the blog page (but are in the photo section) that were on the park walkways represent the word Elephant.

This Chinese Character Stands for Elephant

This Chinese Character Stands for Elephant

Elephant Trunk Hill Park - Guilin

After dropping off our bags at our hotel, which was conveniently located within walking distance of everything we wanted to see, we walked to the Elephant Trunk Hill Park. We took the normal tourist pictures and walked around the park. What shocked me the most was not the neat elephant mountain (whose trunk dips into the water) but how parents put their kids in mortal danger when trying to take their picture. Don’t worry, no one fell in.

Last Days in China?

I was thinking about calling this blog “Dealing with the LASTS” like I did on my 3rd blog entry (out of the current number of 166) but I keep pondering on whether it will really be the “LASTS”. I really have enjoyed my year here and even though I am READY to come home, I still feel like I have so much more to learn and see over here. Do I want to do this again? There were lots of unforeseen problems that arose this time with the house/dog that would have to be handled. Zac and Nicole took care of the house for part of the year but after they left my neighbor Rosie got stuck with the job of taking care of the Marigold homestead. She WILL get a nice China gift but that doesn’t begin to pay her back for all the little things she did for me like mailing my magazines and Twizzlers and forging my checks. I am also eternally grateful to Cathy and Joel for picking up the dog sitting duty. Sadie has been spoiled and played with so much she will probably go thru doggie depression when I bring her home to her “single dog” house. I know I haven’t answered the question yet. Would I consider doing this again? It would be a lot easier if I had a friend to do this with because the loneliness does get to you and it really would be a lot more fun if I had someone to eat and travel with. (And it is a LOT easier being stared at if you have someone to talk to). And finally, I can’t answer the question until all the other “If’s” are OK like health, family, house, dog, and finances. So, this might NOT be the last time for some of the things (good and bad) listed below…….

What I will miss
Weekly Foot massages
Noodle bowls in the winter
My favorite Oolong and Green Teas & the hot water dispensers on every floor of the school buildings
Shopping
Fresh cut Pineapple on a stick
Popcorn ‘old maid’ snack (sort of like semi popped pop corn with seasoning)
Pineapple popsicles
Fireworks almost every NIGHT
Shopping
Less salt on the potato chips
Playing pool with Ricky – and beating him – score is currently 14 to 6 – I am the 14 !
Shopping
The great students
The always helpful, Nathan and the delicious pancakes, soup and brownies by Elizabeth
Milk Peanuts (hard to explain but they have a really good strange flavor)
English Corner at West Lake
All the Chinese food I have learned to really like (it is not like American Chinese food)
The walking – yes I will actually miss “having” to walk everywhere – it sort of gave you time to ponder things a little. I am pretty sure I didn’t ponder any real solutions but it slowed life down a little.

What I won’t miss
The staring
The lint
The traffic
The car/bus/truck horns
The air
The cold classrooms and teaching with your coat, scarf, and gloves on
The hot classrooms and teaching while sweat is rolling off of you
Chalkboards and chalk dust
Bones in the meat
The noise
Trying to teach over the fireworks that are being shot off during the day
Not being able to plan any trips more than a week in advance
Not being able to tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner without a student translator
Not being able to mail anything without a student translator
Not knowing what I picked to eat for lunch or dinner
Never being able to buy clothes or womens’ shoes here – too big – somebody size 2-8 would love it!

Chinese TV

When was the last time you saw a test pattern? Pretty common here in the wee morning hours. They don’t even fill the dead hours with Infomercials. Infomercials are just starting to catch on here, I am sure that America invented that torture so I feel I should apologize to all my Chinese friends – Sorry! I keep seeing one on some contraption you wear like a kidney belt that is supposed to improve your posture and give you bigger looking boobs (if you are a girl of course). Anyway I figured I would inform you guys about what Chinese TV is like. In Hangzhou there seems to be about 35 channels. Different locations have different choices. The 4 star hotels MAY have BBC and/or CNN, which are still censored. A month ago in Nanjing, I was so excited about watching CNN that I had it on the entire time I was in my room. One morning during a newscast there was mention of a protest in one of the censored “T” words. The channel cut off immediately. During the hourly repeats you never even heard the lead in to the story, just a 45 second blank screen. Here at ZUFE they have one English channel – CCTV 9. It repeats A LOT. Generally the programming consists of short news shows, china travel shows, and business forums on the advantages of doing business in China, etc. Yesterday I saw a forum show that I had seen the first week I was in China when I was actually watching a TV and not watching a computer.

Side Note: Just in case you were not aware I watch American TV shows on the computer. Yes, I am totally caught up on Prison Break & Heroes (Both VERY popular with the kids here), Ugly Betty, Boston Legal, Studio 60, Gilmore Girls, Nip & Tuck, Numb3rs and a couple of others I am too embarrassed to mention. They all have Chinese subtitles. Most Chinese that have a computer and Internet watch American TV shows and movies this way. I wonder what they think of Americans after they watch “My Name is Earl” and “Two and a Half Men”. Last year I brought all my seasons of 3 or 4 TV shows that I thought the students would like - What a waste of suitcase space! They had seen them all and with the Chinese subtitles (which mine did not have)

Back to the topic of China TV. At ZUFE they have a music channel, a shopping channel, a sports channel, lots of those “American Idol” contest shows and lots of soap operas. Chinese Soap Operas are different from ours. Most of them are historical soap operas or mystical soap operas like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie. The last ones are sort of fun to watch and add your own subtitles. There is lots of spinning, punching, flying and slow-mo action. The American Idol type of shows are very popular. They always have beautifully dressed up male and female announcers and no negative comments. Mostly they are the singing contests, but they even have one where couples compete in a variety of tasks such as cooking a cheap meal, sports, dancing and of course singing. Last Spring the most popular contest type of show was "Super Girl", a show where lots of skinny girls sing, model and dance their way to glory. Sound familiar?

Chinese Christmas Elves

I gave all my classes Christmas stockings and their homework assignment was to fill them for the children at Sunday’s West Lake English Corner. They did great stuffing their stockings with little things the kids would like. Shockingly 25 or more of them actually got up at 8:30 AM on a Sunday and joined me for the hour long bus ride and 20 minute walk to the park. I think my elves enjoyed giving out the little items as much as the kids enjoyed getting them.

Chinese Christmas Elves

Out of Touch

Frustration! Visions of Dial-Up! Betcha the China Filter guys are happy! All these thoughts are running through my head this week. In case you were not aware of the global impact (at least to ME), there was an earthquake off of Taiwan and an underwater telecommunications cable broke. This means that all China sites are fine BUT I can’t get any international sites with any reliability or speed. If I get up earlier than usual (4:30am) I can usually get my email before the rest of China gets online. I was able to pick up all my email and answer 4 – it is now 6:15 (1 hour 45 minutes). Pitiful! Anyway, I am ok. I am going to Guilin on Monday, maybe when I get back it will be easier…….

Photo above is of a Christmas Eve Party that one of the classes had in their classroom. They (yes, the guys too) were all making Jaozi (dumplings) for dinner. I actually made two – they looked really bad but tasted like all the rest. The hard part for me was doing it all with a chopstick. I went to another party that night and they were making sort of the same thing but they were square and much smaller – I don’t know the name of that one.

Side Note: I have been here too long! While waiting for this blog to upload, I am eating my Cheesy-Mac (thanks to Ann G?) with Chopsticks and yes the bowl is inches from my mouth. BUT don’t worry I still chew with my mouth closed – you will just have to break me of the chopstick/close bowl habit. It really is easier with chopsticks……

The "Experts"

Photo above is the newly decorated fourth floor where the “Experts” stayed during their weeklong inspection. Last week Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics had the equivalent of Georgia’s 5 year SACs review. I am not sure how many teachers are still around and alive to remember Dean Barone, who was the principal at Glynn Middle School during the PLAN program. Well if you recall she was sort of over the top when it came to putting on a good “show”. Well ZUFE went waaaaayyyy beyond Barone’s stressful “sprucing up” jags. In the last month on the campus they have added rocks (BIG TRUCK-SIZE ROCKS), trees (including a bamboo forest), plants, and even more flowers to the grounds. Besides the normal deep cleaning, they washed the roads (yes ROADS) with brushes, they hand washed (as they hung off of ropes) the outside wall of windows on the large auditorium, and they pressure washed all the stairs to every building. The hotel got new carpet for the elevator, new tables and chairs for the lobby and 4th floor, computers and printers for each room (I had to buy my own printer), a free coffee dispenser, a luggage carrier, and I am sure lots of other things that we didn’t get to see. Last week during the actual visit, they added guards at the front door and on the 4th floor (I actually got saluted once), “party girls” by the elevator to push the buttons, extra staff to meet all the “experts” needs and to keep the us quiet on the 6th floor and extra heat in the rooms (which we benefited from too!). Students couldn’t get into the school gate unless they had their ZUFE white pin on and teachers had to wear their red ZUFE pin. Even though we couldn’t order noodles from the hotel restaurant, they actually opened and heated the pool for the week and let anybody swim for free. It re-closed the night the “Experts” left. I never got observed but I sort of hoped they would walk in when I was teaching my freshman students unusual body parts like Adam’s apple, knuckle, dimple, thigh, palm, calf, and belly button by using the game Simon Says. I have heard we “passed” inspection and will now be able to be classified as a University instead of a college, which means a lot more money from the government. Not sure when that happens but maybe the next batch of teachers will get a raise.

Weird side note – they got 18 out of 19 A’s and they were very happy because they didn’t WANT 19 A’s – This is due to the fact that if they received a perfect score they would have had to been observed a second time by the national committee.

This is Your Official Christmas Card

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

Have a great Holiday!

Love Katie

Gettin' Ready for Christmas

That's Ricky infront of one of the many wiggling and singing Santas that are infront of a lot of stores here in China. The biggest difference between Chinese Christmas decorations and American Decorations is that the Chinese decorations go up a lot later and you will see them far into the spring. I wonder how long our ZUFE Santa is going to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

I decided that there was no way I was going to fit all my stuff that needed to go home in my 2 suitcases and 1 backpack so I decided that I needed to send a couple of boxes home. I used a really nice sturdy box that had come (filled with goodies) from Barb’s packing department where she works. I very neatly filled it with lots of my summer clothes, shoes and a couple of large size souvenirs I had bought. I also decided I would try and mail Zac and Nicole a small box of Christmas presents. Those I was able to fit neatly into a Nike shoebox.

I conned Jerry, one of my students, to help me with the actually mailing (and he gallantly carried the big box for me). We got both of us and the boxes into a stuff-it bus which was very entertaining. The closest China Post already had about 15 students in a pack at the 2 windows. (Remember lines are a rarity here). Being a foreigner and old does have some advantages. Jerry was able to ‘butt in’ and get the papers I needed to fill out. Jerry also got the mail guy to look at the boxes and he told us we would have to buy 2 more boxes because mine were not good enough to mail in. So in this tiny student-filled room I had to unpack all my good packing and throw it into a new China approved SMALLER box. Thank goodness I had used the zip-lock bag trick on all my clothes so I didn’t have to refold. I managed to get it all in but the mail guy really had a hard time taping it shut. I hope it doesn’t burst open during its long journey home. The price was probably comparable to US Mail costs. The bigger box was about 45 dollars Ground and the smaller one I sent airmail and it was about 35 dollars. The forms were hard to fill out. The lights were off in the building and it was gloomy outside and of course the English translation print was really small so Jerry and his young eyes came to the rescue. I have to comment that the extremely busy clerks were very nice and friendly to everyone that I saw them deal with during that hour. All together it took us about an hour to do the actually mailing and a 30 minutes to get there and back. Not Bad for a China chore.

Side Note: I mailed another box home – don’t worry Jerry didn’t get stuck with this job again – this time I conned Andrew and George into helping. We ended up at a larger China Post because the closest one was packed. I had thrown all my stuff in a beat up box assuming they would make me buy a new one – but no, this time they proceeded to tape up this scruffy looking box but only after they took out my some of my DVD’s that I was trying to sneak home.

A Strange and Modern YaYa Christmas Party

I have some close friends and we call ourselves the YaYas after the Rebecca Wells characters. We usually have our official meetings at Spanky’s on Friday afternoons so we can unwind and catch up with each other (translate that into have a few drinks and gossip). Not sure how it started but at Christmas we each buy 6 identical gifts to give to each other and simultaneously open them. For Christmas 2006, when we were in Shanghai, Paula bought some really cute pearl necklaces and I bought the matching earrings, which she took back and wrapped for us. I assumed I was going to miss this years YaYas Christmas exchange, but with the magic of iChat and a couple of web cams I actually got to go to the party and see my friends and presents. Wednesday morning at 5:30am China time (the YaYas Tuesday afternoon) I hooked up with Paula’s computer and web cam and “went to” the party. I missed eating the good snacks and drinking whatever the beverage was but I saw them all (they kept rotating their positions in front of the camera), caught up on most of the gossip, and had a great time. Thank you YaYas for a little bit of home! The only sad part was saying goodbye when they all sang “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” to me…… I had to repair all my makeup before I went to class.

Planning in China

Real simple rule…….Don’t Plan ……….. something will happen to mess it up.
We didn’t follow that rule and bought discount tickets for our New Years Holiday, which is nicely color-coded red on our school calendar. The color red means we have off. I assumed that those would really, actually, for sure, be the days off. NOPE, We just learned last night, one week before our nicely planned trip to Guilin that we really have Monday Tuesday and Wednesday off and have to work Saturday and Sunday instead. So instead of leaving Friday evening as we HAD PLANNED – we had to pay extra to change our tickets to Monday morning (no flights on Sunday afternoon). If I hadn’t experienced a years worth of this kind of stuff it would have really upset me. But I have realized it is a waste of energy to get mad – ya just gotta go with the flow. Maybe they do this sort of thing on purpose because it sort of erodes any feeling of control you have over your life.

Above picture is of a group of kids doing graffiti in China. They are using water.

Chinese Torture and the Blue Danube Waltz

I think ZUFE might have a little Las Vegas Bellagio fountain envy because they attempt to imitate Bellagio’s fountains dancing to music. Our fountain dances exclusively to the tune of Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz. I have to admit the lights, water and music are in sync and pretty impressive for a college campus, but that is because they have had lots of practice. For the entire year I have been here they have never varied the music or added additional songs. I actually enjoyed Stauss’s BD waltz for the first 2 or 3 months and on average they only run the fountains with its accompanying music 3 or 4 times a week for 30-60 minutes. After 4 months it became tedious but still tolerable. Last week the Blue Danube Waltz became torturous. The "Experts" were here last week and ZUFE wished to impress. They pulled out all the stops, which include running the fountains and the oft-repeated *&^% waltz every lunch and every night from 7:30 to about 9 or 10. It is Chinese torture! China is a noisy place and for mental sanity the Chinese must be used to blocking out extraneous noise. I thought with 32 years of teaching middle schoolers I could do the same, but obviously I can’t. Strauss and his Blue Danube Waltz are permanently scarred on my brain. I asked Ricky and Nathan who have been in China for 2 years if it bothered them – they were not even aware that the fountains had been on. Maybe it just takes longer or it is a female/mother thing… If anyone from ZUFE reads this blog, PLEASE ask the powers to be to change the tune every once in a while.

No Red Lights on My Marigold Ct House This Year BUT….

I decided that even though I wouldn’t be home for Christmas I was still going to decorate. So in my traditional fashion I decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. Martha had mailed me 2 cute door hangings and I bought some cheap Christmas decorations from Metro (China’s version of Sams). I invited one of my classes I had last year to come and help me and then watch a movie afterwards. There were only 2 elfs that showed up (Windy and Charity pictured above) but we got the job done in less than an hour probably because there was no crawling up in the attic to get the 3 big boxes of decorations and arguing with Zac about putting up the outside red lights.

After eeeuing and ahhhing about the small smattering of lights and snowflakes, we watched the movie Grease which is one of my all time favorites and usually really popular with kids. I ended up being glad it was 2 girls cause I never realized how much sexual slang was in the movie Grease. It sort of felt like I was back at Glynn Middle during the Sex Ed month in an 8th grade science class. I was asked to explain “knocked up & hickeys & protection” and I was lucky, cause there were a bunch more they didn’t ask about.

Side note – Hickeys- when we see a hickey on a neck our mind immediately goes in the gutter…. But in China a hickey doesn’t mean what you think it means. During the really hot months the kids will pinch their juggler vein real hard to cool down. This produces a mark that looks a lot like one you would get when you spent too much time in the back seat of a 59’ 3 cylinder Saab. There were lots of ‘heat hickeys’ during the Chinese Sophomore Soldier training. Some Chinese also do this to bring down a fever when you are sick. I think I would rather take aspirin and get hickeys for the other reason.

Thanksgiving in China

I have had a lot of emails asking what I did for Thanksgiving, so here is my answer to everyone interested. Yes, we had a meal that we CALLED Thanksgiving. I joined the 4 foreign teachers from ChuanMei (another college down the road). There were Sharon and David Mills, my age, and two younger teachers in their 20’s Heidi and Ashley.

Since we didn’t have an oven or smoker or deep fryer we substituted the normal Thanksgiving food items for what could locate. Here is our list.
Turkey - We couldn’t find any poultry that day so we substituted fried pork chops.
Stuffing & Gravy – we didn’t even attempt to imitate….
Green Bean casserole – just green beans
Real mashed potatoes – substituted instant mashed potatoes that Martha Allen sent me, which were surprisingly good. I hadn’t used instant potatoes in about 10 years and boy have they improved!
Rolls – substituted chewy not crusty Italian Bread from WuMei (remember no oven to make the bread crusty)
Pumpkin Pie – substituted Sweet potato pie
Extras – Sharon’s fabulous microwave chocolate cake (with no eggs) & frying pan cookies. Also my fantastic, generous and wonderful sister, Barb, sent me some York Peppermint patties which we shared. Don't worry she never reads my blogs so I don't have to worry about her getting a big head.

I have come to the conclusion that people that have ever lived on a farm would thrive here. This is because they are the best at figuring out how to cook fresh food, which is all they have here. Farm people are also the best at improvising how to do something when you don’t have the right equipment or ingredients. To support my hypothesis, Sharon, our farm girl, came up with the way to make the pseudo pumpkin pie and crust in a microwave, but her microwave masterpiece is the deliciously moist chocolate cake.

Yes, I really missed Larry’s fried turkey and smoked ham and Rosie’s oatmeal rolls, but most of all I missed the Zac and Nicole and my friends. Another disappointment was missing the after dinner bonfire in the Wilson’s backyard with Josie and Lee going thru their comedy routine. Now don’t assume I regret coming to China for this year. It has been a great experience and I am definitely thankful for all I have learned and seen. It has changed how I perceive the world and my life. I had stepped out of my comfort zone and learned I can adjust and be happy. So even though I was a little homesick, I really was thankful on Thanksgiving.

Remember Candy Apples

Well I haven’t found Candied Apples but they do “Candy” a lot of other fruit. Those things on the sticks above are all different types of fruit that have been dipped in some hot sugary stuff. I haven’t tried one yet – but I will - the pineapple one looks good. Plus they make a pretty picture.

Update - I did try the pineapple one and it was good along with the kiwi and cantalope piece!

Haircuts in China

Above is a photo of Sharon with our favorite ‘hairstylist’ after her $1.20 wash, cut and dry. Sharon is my friend from ChaunMei a college down the street. She had already gotten one China haircut from a randomly chosen shop, which she did not like. And there are many shops to choose from. Just on this campus we have at least 20 shops. Last term a shop and stylist was recommended to me by one of my students. This summer when I got home to Georgia and my preferred hairstylist Nicole, I was pleasantly surprised when she told me to go back to the same guy that he really gave me a good cut. I told Sharon about him and she was also satisfied with her end product. One reason she got such a good cut was because she showed our stylist close-up photos her husband had taken of all sides of her head after a good US haircut. (Great Idea!) We ended up the visit with lots of phone photos being taken of her and her white hair by all the workers.

Side Note: I actually found an advantage to not being able to have Nicole cover up my gray hair. A couple of days ago somebody gave their seat to me on the crowded B1 bus on the way back from Metro. That saved me 40 minutes of standing (really balancing) with a very heavy bag. So maybe I should keep and enjoy my gray –at least while I am here.

ZUFE Afternoon Activities

Ricky, the Australian teacher, and I have taken up pool (are you now humming “Ya Got Trouble in River City” from the Music Man?). Even though I haven’t played pool in many, many years and I was never very good- it still sounded like fun. For the last month we have been periodically going to the pool hall that is located under one of the dorms. Ricky and I seemed to be pretty well matched. We both bounce the balls over the side, we miss the cue ball every so often, we don’t call any of our shots and if there are a bunch of balls together we aim for the bunch and hope one of ours goes in somewhere. We are even so predictably bad on the break that if one of us wins a game the other has to break.

Pool halls in China are not like pool halls in the US. There are no quarters on the table or playing the winner. If there is an open table you play at that table until you are tired. You pay by the hour not by the number of games. Also they are really not ‘halls’ it is sort of like playing in a garage with the door open. Notice the gloves and scarfs. All the tables we have tried are lopsided and all of the cue sticks are warped, which is actually nice cause you can blame some of your bad shots on the table and the cue stick. So far the score is Katie 6 WINS and Ricky 2 wins. I have to admit to all of you that most of it is dumb luck – but I will never tell Ricky that.

Cynthia & her Sister - WuZhen

WuZhen

Cynthia, her sister Lily, and Lily’s friend Susan from Germany and I went to WuZhen a couple of weekends ago. My day didn’t start out great – I was supposed to meet them at 7am at the WuMei Bus stop but I went into the “Spacey Katie” mode and rode right past the stop. (I know all my friends will easily be able to recall one of my spacey Katie moments). By the time I got off, got back on, and got off again (but THIS time at the RIGHT stop) I was 20 minutes late. We rode to the other bus station and caught another bus for the hour ride to WuZhen. WuZhen is an ancient preserved water town. There are 5 more similar towns in the 2 nearby provinces. (Remember this area is at the end of the Yangtze River). Most of these towns sort of resemble a Chinese version of Venice. There were lots of bridges, canals and cute houses on the edges of the canals. This town is famous for its rice wine (VERY strong), a taffy-like candy (that tastes like bit-o-honey), blue dyed fabric and their woodcarvings. We walked around the town, ate a noodle bowl lunch, took a boat ride and went thru most of their informative displays. Definitely a good day trip!

We walked back to the WuZhen bus station and got our tickets to go back to Hangzhou. Their dilapidated bus station looked like the roof was being supported by bamboo poles tied together. I stayed close to the door so if I saw some of the bamboo poles break I could run outside.

Side Note: One of the most humbling things on the trip was the fact that Cynthia and her sister were constantly switching between speaking in Chinese to German to English, along with a Chinese hometown dialect (sort of like twin speak) thrown in for good measure. Even Native German Susan could speak English, Chinese and French. I was the lone person that could only speak one language. We gotta start teaching our kids to learn an extra language earlier in their life. It is too hard when you are OLD.

I already am aware that I am a visual learner. Are most Chinese audio learners? Is the type of learner you are hereditary? Is that why every morning I hear a guy repeat English sentences over and over while pacing back and forth on the rooftop of the building across the street? And why when I go to class early the kids are reading their English text out loud. No, they are not reading together. They are all repeating different stuff, which makes for a very strange cacophony. I am hopeless – I have to write everything down or read along with any Chinese podcast I attempt. But I do seem to remember the Chinese food names the best. Maybe I have to get my taste sense in there too.

Halloween - Chinese Style

If I could wiggle my nose like Samantha Stevens I would be home for at least 2 American holidays – Halloween and Christmas. They are my FAVORITE! A couple of weeks ago I decided that being in China was not going to stop me from having Trick or Treat. I got a couple of decorations from Metro (China’s version of Sams with lots of international foods) and started to advertise it to my classes. I explained that if you go out Trick or Treating you need a costume and a bag. Maybe about half of the 40 kids that showed up understood that part. I was really pleased that out of the 20 costumed kids some actually made their own. Did you know that Chinese ghosts are not like our American ghosts? Chinese ghosts have pointy hats and really long tongues and hop instead of walk – spooky huh! Besides the authentic Chinese ghosts we also had a cowboy straight from a Village People performance, a mummy, a cat, a soldier, a bunch of Mardi Gras party masks, a Santa Claus, and a baby (easiest costume ever – all he had was a pacifier in his mouth) Another part they didn’t quite ‘get’ was that it wasn’t a party. Trick or Treat to me always meant stopping by a likely ‘good candy house’ grabbing your candy and heading to the next spot to get more candy. But since I was the only house in town they stayed and took lots and lots and lots of pictures. Nathan and Elizabeth came down and helped with the ‘party’. Nathan was a vampire and Elizabeth was a witch with pink hair and funniest striped socks like in the Wizard Of Oz. Australian Ricky put in an appearance dressed as an Australian. The night ended up being a pretty good substitute for an American Halloween and all the kids left with a sugar high.


Side note: I’ve been here for eight (insert cuss word here) months and I still can’t order anything but dan chou fan (fried rice) without help. I just went down stairs to the restaurant to get a take out order of a really good noodle dish made from sweet potatoes. It is called “ro mo fen tiao”. I practiced the correct tones a bunch of times - my students said I was saying it right – but the restaurant help still didn’t or wouldn’t understand me. It must be the post Halloween let downs but this really upset me more than it should have or maybe it’s that time in my emotional cycle. I guess I have to watch the DVD City of Angels again. (insert another cuss word here)

Mischief Night In China

Remember Mischief Night where you would walk around the neighborhood ringing everybody’s doorbell and running away and if you were really bad you might even soap a window or toilet paper a bush? Well Nathan and I decided to do a Xiasha version of Mischief night. We took our shoes off and tip-toed down to Ricky’s door (which is really hard to do in these echo-y halls). Then we very quietly taped toilet paper all over his door figuring that when he got up the next morning to leave he would have to break out. Did you know that tearing masking tape is really noisy when you are trying to be silent? Well it ended up being sort of a bust. Ricky wasn’t even home that night. He knocked on my door at 11 asking what we had done…. (wonder how he figured it was me?) So pictured above is the finished product before Ricky had to tear it down.

Day 11- The Parting Party

Nathan had to help us with this next leg of our sideline tour. I hadn’t been able to buy tickets from Hangzhou to Shanghai prior to my meeting the girls in Beijing (remember the blog about the 3 hour standing in line fiasco) and we needed a place to store our luggage so we could do our little day tour of Hangzhou, so Nathan was kind enough to get up at 7:30 in the morning to help us. Not many friends would ride a bus for 1 hour (really 2 hours back & forth) that early in the morning, to help someone older than his parents (I swear if I ever win the Lotto Jackpot I will pay off their student loans – can you make a contract on a Blog? Well considerate it a binding contract, Nathan and Elisabeth).

With Nathan’s guidance we got our Shanghai soft seat train tickets and stored our luggage. We parted and caught a taxi to West Lake to starte our tour. At West Lake we snacked on green pea ice cream, watched a fountain show, took pictures of cute kids and enjoyed the scenery. Next stop was the LingYin temple, which is one of my favorite spots. It has hundreds of Buddha carved into the side of the mountain and a really old temple with lots of stairs, more Buddha, monks, and incense.

Last stop of the tour was WuShan Square for last minute souvenirs and a noodle bowl. We did ok with the souvenirs but lousy with the meal. I had bragged to Margie who likes noodle bowls (really a noodle soup) about this great mushroom and bamboo shoot noodle bowl I had eaten at this one noodle restaurant. Well it was a bust because I could NOT say mushrooms/bamboo shoots noodle bowl and I hadn’t had enough sense to get someone to write it down for me beforehand. It was very disappointing that no one in the “famous tourist spot” restaurant was willing to come over and help us. I KNOW I said “no meat” (bu rou) in Chinese CORRECTLY but I think they were pissed because we only wanted the cheap noodle bowl and not a variety of more expensive dishes so we got a bunch of noodles with lots of ground meat and gravy on top and no broth. This is also the same area where I got ripped off when buying a rip-off watch- go figure.

We made it to the train on time and caught a taxi to the Hotel to drop our bags off and then back to Lisa Pearls to meet the rest of the GA girls for round two of pearl shopping. After they had spent almost all of their yuan we decided to celebrate our last night with a Sundae from McDonalds. We went back to the hotel and the girls packed all the rest of their bags. It was great that they had overstuffed bags cause they gave me lots of stuff they didn’t need anymore that are hard to get or recognize over here –Tylenol, hairspray, face wipes etc.

Green Pea Popsicle

Margie was brave enough to try the Green Pea Popsicles - but the Red Bean Popsicles are sweeter (red bean paste is put into a lot of pastries here).

Day 10 – West Lake & The Lingyin Temple

Nathan had to help us with this next leg of our sideline tour. I hadn’t been able to buy tickets from Hangzhou to Shanghai prior to my meeting the girls in Beijing (remember the blog about the 3 hour standing in line fiasco) and we needed a place to store our luggage so we could do our little day tour of Hangzhou, so Nathan was kind enough to get up at 7:30 in the morning to help us. Not many friends would ride a bus for 1 hour (really 2 hours back & forth) that early in the morning, to help someone older than his parents (I swear if I ever win the Lotto Jackpot I will pay off their student loans – can you make a contract on a Blog? Well considerate it a binding contract, Nathan and Elisabeth).

With Nathan’s guidance we got our Shanghai soft seat train tickets and stored our luggage. We parted and caught a taxi to West Lake to starte our tour. At West Lake we snacked on green pea ice cream, watched a fountain show, took pictures of cute kids and enjoyed the scenery. Next stop was the LingYin temple, which is one of my favorite spots. It has hundreds of Buddha carved into the side of the mountain and a really old temple with lots of stairs, more Buddha, monks, and incense.

Last stop of the tour was WuShan Square for last minute souvenirs and a noodle bowl. We did ok with the souvenirs but lousy with the meal. I had bragged to Margie who likes noodle bowls (really a noodle soup) about this great mushroom and bamboo shoot noodle bowl I had eaten at this one noodle restaurant. Well it was a bust because I could NOT say mushrooms/bamboo shoots noodle bowl and I hadn’t had enough sense to get someone to write it down for me beforehand. It was very disappointing that no one in the “famous tourist spot” restaurant was willing to come over and help us. I KNOW I said “no meat” (bu rou) in Chinese CORRECTLY but I think they were pissed because we only wanted the cheap noodle bowl and not a variety of more expensive dishes so we got a bunch of noodles with lots of ground meat and gravy on top and no broth. This is also the same area where I got ripped off when buying a rip-off watch- go figure.

We made it to the train on time and caught a taxi to the Hotel to drop our bags off and then back to Lisa Pearls to meet the rest of the GA girls for round two of pearl shopping. After they had spent almost all of their yuan we decided to celebrate our last night with a Sundae from McDonalds. We went back to the hotel and the girls packed all the rest of their bags. It was great that they had overstuffed bags cause they gave me lots of stuff they didn’t need anymore that are hard to get or recognize over here –Tylenol, hairspray, face wipes etc.

Day 9 – Margie - My Show and Tell Item

Boy, talk about an easy lesson! After a Chinese style breakfast, I took Margie to class as my “show and tell”. And it wasn’t like taking in a doll, pet or a toy to show off- this “show and tell” item actually did the showing and telling all for me! These Chinese students seem always interested in meeting new foreigners. Margie did a short “about me” talk and then had the kids ask her questions. They asked some really good questions such as - What was your most memorable experience? What goals do you have for the rest of your life? At the end of the period we spent many minutes doing the predictable picture taking.

Following classes, I gave her a break from Chinese food and fixed her the same lunch I usually eat most days, grilled cheese sandwich, carrots sticks, and Pringles. After a short rest I gave Margie the ‘standard super economy’ Xiasha tour. A ride on the stuff-it bus to buy DVD’s, then to WuMei to see the weird looking food items, then a foot massage and a ride back on the B1 bus.

That evening Margie and I hosted a dinner in our Hotel’s restaurant for all the local foreign teachers. The grand total for the 8 people came to less than 20 US dollars and that included beer and wine.

Day 8 – Shanghai – Silk Rug factory, Museum & YuYuan Garden & the Rip Off Ride

Busy day today…. Jan was feeling better so she rejoined us for travels. First stop was the silk rug factory tour (sound familiar?) Linda would have had to pay for the taxi this time if we weren’t in the van. She bought a beautiful round one that I have heard that her cat loves! Next stop was the Shanghai Museum which is a great museum that should not be missed. Guess what the jug pictured above is for? Betcha you guys didn’t know the Chinese invented this too! We went thru the Jade, Porcelain, furniture, calligraphy rooms and then the museum store.

Lunch was a Mongolian barbeque. You fill your bowl with lots of raw goodies and they cook it all together on a round slab. It was great! The restaurant was conveniently located under a cashmere factory store (are you noticing the pattern yet?). After lunch we went to the YuYuan Garden (another NOT to be missed spots). Supposedly a son built it for his parents about 400 years ago during the Ming Dynasty. Located in downtown Shanghai, it occupies about 5 acres and contains a lot of the traditional Chinese garden components – the zig-zag bridges, water, rock shapes, window framing, and some really cool dragons that are draped across the tops of roofs.

After the garden the most of the GA girls got to shop in the conveniently located souvenir district while Margie and I walked back to our van, got our suitcase and backpacks and dragged them back to where the 900 Yuan Rip-Off Van was going to pick us up for our 2 hour ride to Xiasha. Jan, Linda, and Laura stayed in Shanghai so they could go on the next day’s tour of Suzhou while Margie was willing to come back with me so I could fulfill my one day teaching responsibilities. I was just sitting here trying to type in how ZUFE worked the vacation schedule but it wouldn’t make any sense and it is really boring. Just believe me that I had to teach 2 classes on Sunday (then I had Monday and Tuesday off)

Side Note: When the Rip Off Van got us to my apartment/hotel the driver locked the doors and wouldn’t let us out until he counted our money – we did not tip (which is not expected in China but I usually do anyway)

Empress Linda

And I thought that Laura's and Margie's Chinese Farmer Hats were embarassing........

Lisa Pearls

We caught a taxi from the Jin Mao building and went to Lisa Pearls for our first round of pearl purchasing. Last time I had been there I had informed the shop girls that I was bringing some friends to see them in October and boy were they glad to see us ride up the escalator! We had decided that the one that spent the most at LP that night had to pay for the cab back to our hotel – it was Laura. Laura must have been saving her shopping dollars till the end, because she hadn’t bought much before this part of the trip. The shop girls were even more thrilled when I told them we would have to come back in two nights to bring Jan. They knew that ALL of us would buy more when we got back there and we did!

Shanghai at Night

Better Than the Empire State Building

We went to the observation floor of the Jin Mao Building which has 88 floors and is the 4th tallest in the world. 88 floors because 8 is a lucky number in China. Boy did my ears hurt going up and down the elevators. We took lots of night pictures of Shanghai that sort of look liked we are in Las Vegas with all the lights.

Day 7 – Shanghai & the Jade Buddha Temple

We flew China Air from Xian to Shanghai. Jan was not feeling well so we dropped her and our luggage off at our hotel. This hotel was ok but its location was inconvenient especially to our Lisa Pearls desired destination. Beds were the typical Chinese hard beds and Margie volunteered for the roll-away which was even worse. BUT she only had to sleep on it two of the 4 nights because she spent two nights with me at the Xiasha ZUFE campus hotel. Our Apartment/hotel beds are hard but not as hard as the rollaway.

Back to Shanghai - First tourist spot to visit was the Jade Buddha temple, which has 2 famous jade statues of Buddha in their temple – unfortunately you couldn’t take pictures. Our guide told us that during the Cultural Revolution a lot of religious places and religious artifacts were destroyed, so the monks put the statues in a box and labeled it “Statue of Mao” which helped them survive that anti-religious period. Clever!

Xian & The Terra Cotta Warriors

Pictures just don’t ‘cut it’. Overwhelming. There are 4 pits but only 3 of them with figures. Pit 4 is empty because Emperor Qin died before it was filled. All the pits are huge (think multiple football fields) but Pit 1 is the biggest and the one that makes you just stand there and just go “Wow”. I took a movie of the Pit Number 1 but it still doesn’t help with the description. I still want to go back and see it again –anyone else wanna come to China before I leave? I guess it would be like trying to describe the ocean to someone who has never seen it before – You just gotta be there.

Just in case you can’t get to the Terra Cotta Warriors in your lifetime here are some of Margie’s history notes. We are so lucky that Margie took such good notes cause I had a hard time paying attention when there was so much to see.

Margie’s Notes –
As we approach the Terracotta Warriors our guide, Jeff, fills us in on some history. The Terracotta warriors were made during the Qin Dynasty. He became the emperor at 13 years of age and took over the throne at the age of 22. He ruled for 38 years and was credited for unifying China into one central government. He standardized: measures, weights and writing across the county. Emperor Qin also started the Great Wall and built roads and standardized axle sizes. This emperor was known as a very cruel man. He was famous for killing and persecuting intellectuals and burning books. He had anyone who he thought was smarter than he was executed!

His mausoleum was begun when he was 13 years old and contains over 8,000 life size terracotta warriors. It took over 700,000 laborers to complete the project. In 1974 there was an extreme drought in the area and 5 farmers attempted to dig a new well for water. It was these gentlemen that discovered this 8th wonder of the world. At first this was no big deal – actually the warrior heads were taken and used as scarecrows!

Prior to seeing Pit 1 (the finale of the day) we saw a ‘theater in the round’ movie that depicted the mass production of the warriors. There was one area that made just the feet, another area for the head, hands etc. Looks like Henry Ford was not the first to use idea of an assembly line.

On the way back to Xian we stopped for a tea museum/ tea ceremony and then had a 16 course dumpling dinner. We had planned on going inside the city walls to see the Drum and Bell tower at night but we were too stuffed and sleepy so our bus driver gave us a ride past those sites. At the hotel we packed and attemplted to cram some more stuff into our suitcases for the next leg of our trip. Shanghai!

Weird Trees

There were some weird looking trees on the walkway to the Terra Cotta Warriors’ park. They graft a pomegranate to the top of a Chinese fig tree to make the pomegranate fruit much sweeter. There were many people selling pomegranates all along the sides of the roads and on the way to the TC Warrior park. And naturally all the little roadside stands had their fruit displayed very artistically.

Day 6 Xian

Xian is one of the few cities that still have their city wall intact. It runs 8 miles around the whole Inner city. The early walls were built before cement, so they used sticky rice and lime to hold the bricks together. The Drum and Bell Towers are inside the walls. Here we had opportunities to climb some more steps and to take more photos in the smog/smoke filled city. After the City Wall we had to fulfill the ‘factory tour’ quota of the day so we had a Pottery Factory Tour. The factory tour part wasn’t very informative it was just to lead you to their store.

We passed farmland on our way to the Terra Cotta Warriors which had lots of hand cultivated field corn. They dry the corn by spreading the kernel across the cement sidewalks or by hanging the cobs off the roofs of their houses. I hope Richard the professional photographer in our group took pictures of these scenes they really were very unusual looking but we were going too fast to take a picture