China Spare Time Activities

When my students aren’t dragging me on their great field trips with lots of walking and the ever present climbing I occupy my time with a variety of activities.

The most unusual one for this 57 yr. old female to be participating in is a Woo Shou (sp?) class. This is because Ricky, the Australian, had decided he wanted to get “buff” this year so he talked Nathan and I into joining a beginning type of martial art class. The teacher is great (we call him Gumby because he is so flexible). He is able to break all the fancy stuff down into small movements and steps so we can practice each one before putting it together. Even though I don’t understand a word the instructor is saying, his body language is so good that I can pick up most of the movements with a little extra coaching from the girls I hang out with. Since the girls are little bitty things after I get the hang of the steps and movements I make Nathan do the practice with me so I don’t hurt them and also Nathan will actually physically connect with me and toss me around and not just pretend to as the girls are prone to do. Plus that he is strong enough to pull me up after the fall. I guess the girls have visions of the ‘old lady’ breaking a hip on their watch. In just 3 classes I have gotten to the point where I actually can touch my toes, which I haven’t been able to for the last 20 years. Besides the class the foreign teachers have gotten permission to use the gym on Monday and Thursday afternoons so I play around with the equipment in there on those days. Most of the days following these rough and strenuous activities I am NOT sore – except for today……

The other activities are sort of mundane in comparison.
• I ride my NEW bike (pictured above) or walk to the local grocery store and vegetable/meat market. (approx. 4 miles total)
• Walk to the campus mini-marts of which there are many different types. You should see their snack store, it’s not like any ‘snack store’ I have seen before. Health Food Freaks, Nicole and Zac, will love it. I have fallen in love with the campus vegetable/fruit mini markets’ pineapple sticks. They are hard to describe but delicious and cheap (1 quai – 12cents).
• I put in my Learn Chinese CD’s and attempt to absorb a little more than the pittance that I can accurately use. I am still having a really hard time remembering it. Either my LD or OA (Old Age) is really slowing down my normal learning curve.
• Every couple of weeks I ride the bus for an hour and visit Ron in Hangzhou for lunch. (Every once in a while you just need a McDonalds fix)
• Computer, blogging, email, SKYPEing, lesson planning, shopping for and watching DVDs, reading, eating and other normal living chores fill up the rest of my time.

It's a Crap Shoot

I betcha I would get an ‘A’ on this Social Science Fair Project. The variables were almost exactly the same but results (rather COST$) were shockingly different. I feel like whipping out a science fair display board and MSWord (to type the giant 36 pt. headings), nces.ed.gov (to make my graph) and my digital camera to take the pictures. - NOT - Since I hated (as both a teacher and a parent) all of those science and social science fair projects, all you guys are getting is one picture, results and a short conclusion. No hypothesis, no research, no graph, and no board! I will give you a title though…..

What US Post Office Method of Delivery Provides Quicker Service to HangZhou China?

Results :
Arrived March 21st 6 pm
Mailed March 6th
Martha, my mother-in-law, mailed a 2.2 pound padded envelope from Florida.
Ingredients: movie ‘rag’ magazines and a couple of snacks.
Cost $10.60 GROUND (ETA 4-6 Weeks)

Arrived March 21th 6 pm
Mailed March 6th
Nicole, Zac’s GREAT girlfriend, mailed a 2.7 pound padded envelope from SSI Georgia.
Ingredients: magazines, Clinique Exfoliating Scrub and a couple of snacks.
Cost $20.10 AIR (ETA 7-10 days)

NOT Arrived YET
Mailed March 9th
Gail, my friend, mailed a 2.75 padded envelope from Brunswick Georgia.
Ingredients: panty hose and other stuff.
One large variable was that Gail ‘pointed out’ to the mail clerk that it didn’t matter which way was paid for because the cheap ‘ground’ ones sent previously had all gotten there in 10-14 days.
Cost $11.50 GROUND (ETA 4-6 Weeks)
We have concluded the Post Office guy made SURE it got on the slow boat to China and wasn’t quietly tossed in the Air Mail pile as the others seem to have been.

Conclusion:
Only mail using padded envelopes, dress really cute, smile a lot, keep your mouth shut, save your money and mail it ground but make sure you have your 4 leaf clover, your rabbit’s foot and keep your fingers crossed at the same time.

Saturday Field Trip with 1000 Stairs

Students in one of my English Major classes asked if I would like to join them on a Saturday field trip. It sounded way better than watching my laundry dry so I went. I was told to pack a lunch and bring water. I packed the typical American meal of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, and a couple of small peppermint patties. A couple of the kids expressed surprise not about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich but that I made my own lunch. It was a 90 minute bus ride to the mountain, caves and park but most of it was along the Qiantang River so it was very pleasant. Lots of high-rise apartments are being built around the city of Hangzhou and it would definitely be a place to invest if you willing to tangle with the Chinese Red Tape.

We arrived at the park and began our downward descent and tour of the cave. It was a normal kind of cave tour, colored lights, tour guide pointing out the animals that the drippings sort of resembled. The students translated some of the guides dialogue for me so I could visualize some of the animals. Granted, there were a couple of differences, you can actually touch the stalagmites and stalagmites in these caves and the steps and stairs were not very well lit. But don’t worry, with a month’s experience of dealing with the traffic, people, bikes, uneven sidewalks, non-level entrances and other hazards, I have learned very quickly to pay attention to my surroundings and steps. Since Paula’s and my first trip to China where the Chinese guides were constantly telling us to, “watch your step, watch your step”, we figured they must have concluded that Westerners are the biggest klutzes in the world. I have decided that Americans, coming from our ‘preventing litigation’, safety conscious world, are not as aware of their steps and environment because they don’t have to be. So if you come to China, pick up your feet and pay attention, cause nothing is predictable!

The cave descent was easy but the ascent with the 460 NARROW steps going up were really hard. The students took really good care of me telling me to ‘be careful’ and waiting for me while I huffed and puffed and rested. There always seemed to be a couple of kids that had the job of making sure the LaoWai (slang for foreigner) didn’t expire on their watch. A major disadvantage (besides being overweight and 57) was having size 10 feet because I had a really hard time getting a secure footing on the narrow stairs (some with no hand railings). After the many stairs we visited the local smiling Buddha statue for the obligatory tourist photo opportunity. Finally I got to rest and get my heart rate and breathing back to normal and have a little lunch. Then the group decided to go down into a hole, which ended up being another cave. They kindly gave me the option of staying behind and resting but I figured that since I was there and would probably never return, I needed to experience as much as possible. Also I assumed that it couldn’t be as difficult as the main attraction cave. There is that word ‘assume’ again. There was no guide this time to tell us how many steps up it was after we finally got down to the bottom but it had to be more than the previous 460. The descending stairs were so steep I had to go backwards - again my big feet just wouldn’t fit on the stairs. Stairs going up were better, but there were just sooooooo many of them.

There were lots of aging giant musical instruments sprinkled around the park. I am not sure of their significance but we stopped for a while by the giant flute in the middle of a large bamboo forest. The bamboo is about 12-15 inches in diameter and not at all like our wimpy Georgia Bamboo. It was really neat seeing the kids in a non-classroom situation. In some ways they are a lot like American students, mp3 players on the bus, sleeping on the bus, eating on the bus, singing on the bus (thank goodness it wasn’t the “99 bottles of beer on the wall” ditty), and cell phones. One of the big differences I noticed was that their snacks/lunches are a lot healthier than Americans students snacks/lunches. Lots of fruit, dried fruit, water, juice, crackers, dried fish (I sampled a lot of their snacks but I didn’t try that last one- cause I couldn’t get past the smell). I saw very few sodas, and sweets. During our free time we took lots of pictures (students took most of them with their phones) and the kids played cards and sang. As we were going to the bus another young Chinese tour group were cooking their food over a hibachi type of cooker positioned in the center of each table. I am not sure if the stall owners rented them the cookers or sold the meat and stuff to cook over them, but it sort of looked like a neat way to have lunch with your friends. Reminded me a little of Neptune park at the Pier but here everybody does their own cooking.

In addition to making my calves and thighs ‘rock hard’, this trip was a great way to spend a Saturday in China. Many thanks (xie xie) to all the students that invited me and cared for me!

Side Note: I ordered my water in Chinese and it was delivered to the correct apartment! I can finally count to ten! (The students helped me practice on the trip)

WuMei Free Bus

Nathan and I had already figured out by experience that riding the free WuMae bus BACK from the store when you had lots of bags was a really stupid idea. The hard seats are so small I could not sit straight because my knees would not fit in front of me. We also figured out that you shouldn’t sit in the back of the bus (as we had) for two reasons. One, you can’t get out because more people are getting on for the next round of shopping and two, being bounced over the many speed bumps on the roads were kidney killers.

On this trip TO WuMae I talked Elizabeth into catching the WuMae free bus instead of waiting for a green “stuff it bus” incorrectly assuming that it might be less crowded than the one coming home. Well you know what they say about “assume”. I counted more than 100 people as they got off at WuMae – The bus had seats for about 50. Elizabeth who was on the front engine hump behind the driver said that after the last pickup the door would not close all the way. We splurged (10 Yuan or about $1.20) and took a real green taxi home (different prices for different colors- blue is more expensive). The “stuff it buses’ are looking better and better -- so what if it cost 2 Yuan (25 cents).

Side note: I am looking into buying a bike. The only problem is that the biggest selection is in Xiasha, about 10 miles away and I haven't figured out how ride a bike back to the college or ask for directions – let alone deal with the traffic…. I will have to ponder the problem for a while, but it sure would be nice to have a bike when going to the fruit/vegetable market.

Beijing Duck Flavored Potato Chips

I knew you wouldn’t believe me unless I took a picture, so above is a picture of the Beijing Duck flavored Potato Chip, and on the group pictures I have a crab and tea chips documented. I have also seen chips with meat flavor, shrimp flavor, bean flavor, and then some fairly normal ones like cucumber flavor, and tomato flavor. I had to buy the duck bag to make sure I got a clear shot – but I am not sure I have the guts to open it and taste it. I will save it for Zac---- Zac will eat anything.

Chinese Hand Warmers

Almost all the students have one, some of them are metal, some are plastic. They look like a small thermos for tea or coffee, but I have decided that these containers have a more often used secondary function as a “Chinese Hand Warmer”.

During the break between the classes students will go to a large hot water dispenser that is conveniently located in each hallway and fill up their tea containers. After 3 weeks of observation I have come to the conclusion that the kids do not do this for thirst or for the taste of tea, they do it to keep their hands warm. Since the classrooms are not heated their hands get cold when they are taking notes. The students will wrap their hands around the bullet shaped thermos to keep them warm. Smart idea, this afternoon I am going to buy up my first Chinese Hand Warmer at WuMae.

Walkin' the Dog.......

Walkin the Dog….

Let me start by typing that I am not putting myself down by identifying with a pet dog, but by being one of the only older, more mature, foreign teachers in our little group at the Xiasha campus, I definitely qualify as a fifth wheel. I sometimes identify with Sadie, my bouncing boxer, as she prances at the front gate waiting for me to put her leash on for a walk.

My trainers, pictured above, are all in their 20’s and they all have more than a years experience working in China. Also their previous assignments were not as ‘cushy’ as this one. Ricky is from Australia, Elizabeth and Nathan are from Arkansas, Florida and most recently the Katrina hit part of Louisiana. They are all very nice and are willing to let me follow them around on their WuMae trips, their vegetable market trips, dinners out, and Hangzhou trips. They help translate for me and make sure I don’t starve. I have decided that these guys have kindly appointed themselves as my ‘trainers’. (Or if my suspicions erupting from the paranoid part of my brain are correct, maybe Zac and Nicole have secretly been talking to them to make sure that I get enough exercise while I am here.)

Physical Training

Not sure who has won the title of Toughest Trainer of the three. Nathan not only walks me, but also attempts to teach me survival Chinese such as numbers, and the hand signals for numbers (six is the same as the ‘surfs up’ sign the surfers send to each other) as we walk. I thought Nathan’s first ‘training session’ or walk to the vegetable market was tough on this old dog because we totaled 7 miles. (It should have been 3 miles but we got lost). Recent experiences have made me aware that Nathan’s sessions was just a ‘walk in the park’ compared to Ricky’s training session. Last week Ricky temporarily earned the title of Master Trainer (Elizabeth hasn’t taken her turn yet). I went with Ricky to Hangzhou where we clocked a record 14.11 miles on my pedometer. That was a total of 33,000 steps by the time I got in my apartment. Just in case you don’t believe that this old dog can walk that far I documented the total in a couple of photos when we finally stopped at 10pm to rest and eat at McDonalds. We didn’t get home until 12 midnight so add 2000 steps to that 31,000 total. As mentioned, Elizabeth hasn’t taken her ‘trainer’ turn in the competition yet, but she loves to shop so I am sure that I will clock many steps on her strolls thru the local Xiasha stalls.

Mental Training

Both Ricky and Nathan have given me material to watch, read and listen to – to improve my survival Chinese. I am surprised they haven’t given me up as hopeless. I watched a DVD that was teaching Pinyin to Chinese Children and I fell asleep twice. The DVD definitely could NOT compete with our mesmerizing Sesame Street. I will attempt it again after I finish watching DVDs of the addictive 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seasons of 24.

The Chinese DVD really will help this visual learner because I need to see the pinyin as well as hear what they are saying to have any chance of memorizing it. It is all a matter of substitutions, C sounds like ts, Q is pronounced ch, I sounds like eee and so on. After you get the substitutions memorized then you work on the tones (they are the tough part). I have to get my numbers learned quickly because I am almost out of my water in the water dispenser and I have to make a phone call in Chinese to have it delivered. This means I have to be able to say “ I want water” and my room number 6101 in Chinese. So if I don’t die of thirst it was because you CAN teach “an old dog new tricks” and remember to consider me lucky because in China it is the “year of the dog”.

What I Am Missing....

First item is a no-brainer. I miss my family, friends, and my dog. A trip like this sure does make you realize what’s really important. It’s not the things in my life but the people. My adventure would be really hard without my SKYPE, iChat, and email. I actually look forward to getting up at 5 AM in the morning so I can communicate with Nicole, Zac, Gail and whoever else is online at that time. Only drawback is my butt gets really sore sitting on this stool they provided for the desk.

The rest of the list – Not in order of importance but in order of when it popped into my head
• Willies Wee Nee Wagon (I am starting to miss Mrs. Chambers and her crew as much as my ‘Bulldog no pickle’ hotdog – That’s her picture I put in above)
• Fitted sheets
• Short telephone numbers – my phone number is xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
• Large bath towels
• Bath Towels that actually absorb water
• My mattress (Chinese mattresses are VERY hard)
• Non-lumpy grass (the grass grows in ‘clumps’ and is hard to walk on – sort of twists your ankles)
• Maple syrup (sorry Zac, my purist son from Vermont, NOT the real stuff – I miss the fake stuff like Log Cabin)
• Real Paper towels – theirs are like Kleenex you need 20 of them to absorb something and then you spend more time cleaning up all the little disintegrated pieces of soggy mess – it is almost easier to let the mess dry and scrape it off later)
• Toilet paper that lasts more than 3 days (very small rolls)
• My Clinique facial scrub
• Cheap Chocolate – all they have here is the really rich stuff like Dove – I know I am strange but I really like the half-paraffin-half-sugar kind that Palmer and Frankfort makes – ohhhh to have a cheap milk chocolate Hollow Easter Bunny……I know, I know, I have NO CLASS what so ever.
• America’s self absorbed TV news shows
• Big refrigerators and taller refrigerators
• Taller counters, and ironing boards (I am always bending over to do routine tasks)
• Soft chairs/sofas (they are as hard as the mattress)
• My Recliner with my 65 lb dog in my lap – I get teary thinking about how comfortable and warm that felt.
• Pickle Relish (for my tuna fish sandwiches)
• Drawers (There are no drawers for my underwear and foldable clothes or drawers in the bathroom to hide all my ‘trying to make myself presentable’ stuff)
• Affordable Ice cream
• Being able to eat a meal without getting it all over myself – especially the noodle bowls
• 300 thread-count sheets
• Gossipy magazines like People and I won’t degrade myself by mentioning any of the others I like and secretly read.
• Normal potato chips – not shrimp flavored
• Lint Free clothes (I will never take those wonderful lint filters in my dryer for granted ever again, honest!)
• Being able to buy more than 2 bags of groceries – remember you have to carry it home in a taxi, bus, bike or walk. So you definitely can’t buy for the month.

Surprising things that I don’t miss - YET ……
• My car
• Dunker donuts
• Most TV shows

I will put a list of some of “The Things I am Having a Hard Time Getting Used To” in another blog. As I get ready to upload this blog, it is a cool, drizzly Saturday morning with the school’s weekly ‘wanna-be’ version of the Bellagio’s fountains. Loud classical music is filling the campus as they run the fountains in pleasing patterns. I can still hear fireworks in the background though.

Stamps and Banners

I bought a cheap cell phone this week for emergencies such as getting in touch with someone if (or when) I got on the wrong bus again or when I get lost without my trusty ‘dead-give-a-way that’s a tourist’ map or when I need to get into the hotel (where my apartment is) after 10:30 pm when they lock the doors. We bought the cell phone in Wu Mae with the price clearly printed as 300 RMB (approx 38 $) but we had to pay 400 RMB ( approx 50 $) because they could not install the phone number chip- (which we later bought and paid 100 RMB for) No we didn’t understand the logic either –but we paid the 400 RMB. We are not done yet -- we now begin our journey thru the Chinese purchasing system which is listed below whenever you buy something expensive such as jewelry, electronics, cosmetics, and even some produce.
• You pick the phone (or item)
• The girl behind the counter writes a ticket
• You take the ticket to a register (usually about 5 steps away)
• Pay for the item and they will stamp your ticket with an official stamp (usually round and red)
• Take the ticket back to the counter
• They give you the item after they fill out all the registration for you and get another red oval stamp
• Almost forgot – as you leave the store they stamp your sales receipt with a red triangle stamp (guess the ‘check the receipt at the door’ guy doesn’t rank a round stamp).

Side note – It took me 3 tries to finally be able to buy bananas because I hadn’t figured out what steps I had to go thru before I took them to the check out to pay for them. I have now mastered the Chinese produce purchasing system – no stamps but you do get a sticker.

Back to the Stamps and Banners. Now I still don’t have a working phone – it is missing a phone number chip inside the phone. This is where we include Roger the Foreign Affairs staff member, in our adventure. We go to the China Mobile store conveniently located on campus. There is a pretty long line because the students are picking up their ‘prizes’ for talking on the phone a lot. They have earned badminton rackets, cameras, mp3 players, and CDs. (But they don’t sell phones which explains the WuMae trip) We finally get to the counter and she says we need our Student ID to get a phone number. But of course we are not students and do not have a Student ID. Roger finally talks her into taking the Xerox copy of my passport (our real passports are going thru the many steps (alias stamps) to get residence status even though it has already gone thru many steps (i.e. – stamps) to get the “Z” working visa – heaven knows how many more stamps it will have in it.) So after we are allowed to use my passport we now get to pick out phone numbers. YES, we really do get to pick out own number – pretty cool, huh? Nathan was changing his number because his old one had a lot of 7’s and 8’s that are considered lucky numbers. He is hoping that if asks for unlucky numbers there would not be as many ‘wrong number’ calls which he was getting charged for. 3’s and 4’s are considered unlucky because 3 in Chinese sounds like pain and 4 sounds like death. I actually earned bonus minutes on my account because I picked one that had a 4 in it. The China Mobile lady starts filling out and we start signing at least 4 forms per 'phone number chip' each in triplicate. Then of course she applies the all important stamps to make it all official. 30 minutes later we need Roger again – he installs the chips into our phones, and then programs mine out of Chinese and into English so I can actually read my menu. I now have my working emergency cell phone!

I actually got my cell phone just in time. My ‘sweet heart’ (she hates to be called that- tee-hee-hee) of a sister sent me a memory foam mattress and of course FEDEX wanted to deliver it ‘immediately’ when we were an hour away in Hangzhou. I used my new emergency cell phone and was able to coordinated the pick up with the ever helpful Roger. I actually got to sleep on my side for the first time in 3 weeks! My sister has my undying gratitute - I will have to find her a really really expensive present to take back to her.

The other thing that is as abundant as the official red stamps are the red and yellow banners all around all the campuses. The banners are not just for special occasions they are permanent colorful fixtures in the educational environment. Of course we can’t read them but I am sure they are full of inspirational platitudes.

Teaching in China

A lot of you have emailed me asking about the teaching/classroom/student part of my China experience. There are two reasons why I haven’t mentioned my teaching schedule and classes. It’s my class load and the pay. This is my first full time job at a University (I did teach part time at Armstrong and the Brunswick campus but part-time really doesn’t count) so all I can compare this job to is my previous 32 year public school experience. So for all the Georgia public school teachers reading this ….. PLEASE DON’T get on the next plane with a baseball bat in your hand ready to kill me for my job. I have a son, sister, mother-in-law, friends and a dog that love me and want me alive.

According to my Chinese contract I have a FULL load, which is 16 class periods. I have a total of 8 different sets of students per week. They attend once a week for two back-to-back periods (90 minutes total). I teach 4 periods (or 2 classes) per day from 8 am till 11:30 am. I was one of the lucky foreign teachers in that I only work Monday thru Thursday and my schedule isn’t split up a bunch as with some of the other foreign teachers – 2 of the teachers have one night class thrown in for good measure. I haven’t been assigned the infamous “English Corner” that all the experienced foreign teachers dread (but I have been invited to attend next Monday by one of my students so I figure I will go just to have the experience). And just in case you missed it in all the statistics above – I have all afternoons off and my weekend starts Thursday afternoon. No, I am not trying to rub it in --- well--- maybe just a little. I do have to turn in lesson plans and grade assignments but I figure that will only take about 6 hours a week. (This is when 32 yrs experience helps.) Sometimes there might be small other duties such as helping with translation. Last week I spent a grand total of 10 minutes at the Foreign affairs office to help modify some of their translations such as “Teachers’ Relaxation Center” to our commonly used term “Teachers’ Lounge”. These extra duties don’t begin to pay them back for all the help they have been to me. Roger, a staff member of the Foreign Affairs office who is our Chinese translator and all around savior, spent an hour of his off time helping Nathan and I get set up with cell phones. (Cell phones will be another blog entry)

The kids are great, very respectful and friendly, I have to do some major teeth-pulling to get them to speak but I haven’t had to get spit wads off the back of my neck, break up any fights, pull pencils out of the ceiling tiles, and another big plus - I will never know if they are calling me bad names. I have 6 freshmen English major classes and 2 Post grad classes. The Post grad classes have a very slight case of senioritis whereas I actually have a harder time getting them to speak then the freshmen. There are 2 girls, Rachel and Elaine, in my second post grad class that let me join them for lunch every Monday. It is nice to experience eating in the student canteen and to talk to them out of the classroom. They are trying to teach me the names of the foods I like, but I am hopeless. Don’t worry I can still point so I won’t starve.

Second reason I haven’t revealed work information is the pay. I want all the Georgia teachers to think back to the very first year you began teaching. Remember eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for 2 months because you started work in August but did NOT get the first paycheck until the end of September! Here at ZUFE they pay at the end of the month. Since I only started teaching last week, I figured I would get paid at the end of March or if I was really lucky they would give me a one week paycheck at the end of February. Neither- I got a full month’s paycheck the 27th of February. All cash too which is weird, but it saves time trying to find a bank to cash it. Wu Mae here I come……

The classrooms are unheated and un-air-conditioned but in the winter you dress warmly and keep your gloves on. And in the summer I plan to sweat with the best of them. Chalk, chalk dust and blackboards bring back memories don’t they – I will now again have to worry about leaning on the board and getting white stripes on my back and pants. And I thought I was sooooo smart to bring lots of black and dark colored clothes. My two post grad classes are located in one of the few multimedia classrooms but the computer is in Chinese so that provides an interesting Monday morning challenge. I am really glad I am so familiar with the menu bar locations of MSWord & Explorer commands because I sure can’t read them. It does have Internet access so I can show them English language sites if I want. All the classrooms have a 4 inch high ‘stage’ and podium. Student desks and chairs are the only other furniture in the room. Classrooms are all spotlessly clean with beautiful loud echoing marble floors.

When I arrive at 7:45 am for my 8:05 am classes, the students are already in their seats and reciting English out loud – HONEST I am not lying. It shocked me too – I thought I was in the wrong classroom, but this is actually NORMAL CHINESE student behavior. I almost forgot to mention that the students all pick English names so that non-Chinese speaking teachers can pronounce them. Sometimes they choose some strange ones such as Ring, Fly, Bony, Windy, King, Rain, Clean, Clever, Eleven (there are 2 of these), Vivid, Echo, Cicada, Careless, River, Elephant, Dream and City but they are all eager to learn and they all try hard. I think I got really lucky with my first experience teaching overseas.

Side Note: Someone is setting fireworks off as I type this entry and its only 3:45pm. Fireworks seem to be a daily occurrence. They seem to like the noisy ones and not the pretty ones. Also the size of the firecrackers look like they would blow a lot more than a finger off if handled improperly. If you have perused the side pictures you probably noticed that they even put fireworks on cakes.

Truth in Advertising

While researching this overseas teaching position I read many, many descriptions of China cities where the schools were located. Invariably the ‘ads’ claimed their city was the most beautiful, most historical, most …. you get the idea. I was truly surprised, when on a cold, rainy and gray day, the West Lake area of Hangzhou lived up to their advertising.

I started out my Saturday by getting on the wrong bus. Now I must defend myself – the bus WAS in the X1 line but was obviously not the X1 express. I am not sure what bus it was but it eventually got me to where I needed to get off. To allay my fears I had the girl next to me read my destination address which was written in Chinese for me. She kindly pawned me off on to two students going to the same stop. Maggie and Frieda, my 2 Chinese volunteer tour guides for the day, were thankfully waiting at the bus stop for me.

We took a couple more buses to get to the West Lake area and rode around part of the lake. We continued our tour of the park on foot and boat. We rode different painted boats to the different islands in the middle of the lake. I have decided that it was good that my first visit to West Lake was during a cold rainy winter day. The crowds were less and you could focus on the design of the park and not just the colors of the soon to be attention grabbing flowers (I recognized tons of potential scene stealing azalea bushes). The details of the park were what struck me. The sidewalks were not just cement sidewalks they were mosaic pebble patterns or brick patterns. There were lots of bridges that were not just functional but also pleasing to look at There were lots of gazebos (not sure what they call them in China) sprinkled in photogenic spots. We saw 3 Chinese wedding parties use these backdrops for what will be some great photos. All the bushes and trees were pruned to appealing shapes. There were so many “Kodak moments” that I was worried I would go thru both camera batteries I had with me.

After the West Lake visit we stopped at KFC for lunch. The menu was augmented with a couple of Chinese items but my chicken sandwich tasted the same as it would have from the KFC on Frederica Road. Qian Lui temple was the next stop of our cultural tour. He was a hero of China. This is where the really pretty pink flowers were blooming. Sorry I do not know the name of the tree but it definitely rivals Washington’s Cherry Blossoms.

I was advised by Ron, my email ZUFE teacher buddy, to get a D ticket for the buses. It would cost less in the long run and save me from carrying 4 coins around all the time. So the next item on our agenda was to go to the packed bus station and fill out a form and stand in a ’line’. Lines are not really lines here sort of like ‘group crowds’. You sort of have to be aggressive to move forward. My size and uniqueness helped in this respect. After this adventure we did what all good girls do in the city---- SHOP. I bought a silk comforter so I could sleep ON the one the school supplied. I now have an extra 3 mm padding on top of their VERY HARD mattress. Chinese mattresses are passable if you are a back sleeper but they are really hard on the hip and shoulder if you are a side sleeper like I am.

To end up the day Maggie and I ate dinner at a Chinese Noodle fast food place. Pretty good. Afterwards Maggie literally walked me on and setttled my large comforter and I in a seat on a correct bus (K401 this time) for the hour long ride back to the Xiasha campus. Great day! Thanks Maggie and Frieda!

Holding Hands

In America we do it as children and we do it as lovers, but holding hands of another adult female always felt awkward to me. In China the majority of females hold hands or link arms with their friends. After I let go of the perceived stigma of it I have to admit to the few of you reading my blog that it was very comforting. I felt less isolated, warmer (physically and emotionally) and a hell of lot safer walking across Hangzhou's crazy, unpredictable, traffic filled streets. Of course I would rather have been holding hands with Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford (sorry Maggie and Frieda) but we aught to really do more holding hands as adults or at least touch more!

Still Curious About The Campus and Local Area?

Recipe for a college in the Xiasha Higher Educational Zone

Main Ingredients:
– Lg. quantity of very clean cement buildings (4-7 stories) with loud echoing marble floors.
– 12-15 more nearby large college campuses that also strongly resemble military bases 15,000-20,000 students in each campus
– 1 large fence around each campus
– 2-3 guards at every gate and entrance
– sprinkle heavily with flowers, lakes, trees, and beautiful mosaic walkways
– garnish with lots of really nice and respectful students walking and biking.

This recipe makes the college campus feel very safe but a very isolated. There is very little local culture here in the Xiasha area besides the small businesses that cater to the students from the different colleges such as mini marts and quick types of Chinese meals. A variety of transportation is available. There are 4 types of buses that will transport you to the culture.
– the X1 bus – sort of like an express in that it doesn’t have many stops but goes all the way into the city of Hangzhou. It is 4 quai (about 50 cents). Quai is slang for RMB or Ywan which is their form of money. 8 RMB equals 1 dollar. The X1 runs every 15 minutes. They even have a TV on the bus.
– The K401 bus – same route more stops – don’t know the cost – Runs every 20 mins.
– The free bus from Xiasha campus to the Hangzhou campus – every 2 hours – not much on weekends
– The free Wu Mae Bus – to take you to the Chinese version of WalMart

There are a couple of different types of taxis available: the normal type of taxi (meter and they go where you tell them – if they don’t get lost) and the student favorite: the MIMI green ‘stuff you in‘ van. It has a set price of 2 to 4 quai per person. I have decided that they should let me go free because I provide so much entertainment to the others when I try to get in and out. I hear them laughing after they pull away.

A 2 mile walk will get you to an outdoor local vegetable and fruit market. They do have meat but I’ll pass on that menu item. When you are shopping on foot like this you have to remember not to buy too much. Nathan’s left arm was about 2 inches longer after he carried his rice, vegetables, fruit and spices the 2 miles home. I had no such problem with my 3 apples and 2 bananas.

Side Note: Nathan, Elizabeth and I went to WuMae on the stuff-it bus and I got a really loud alarm clock and other small items including a candy bar!