Eye Exercises

My students do these exercises 2 times a day, and they seem to hate it. The first day of class I had no idea what they were and my class said they weren't important so I continued to yell over the loud speaker for 10 mins! The girl walking around is the class monitor, if you don't do the exercises she scolds you until you do them.

Quanzhou

Kristen is here! I am SO happy. We went to Quanzhou, about an 1.5 hour bus ride away. According to the tour book it is heavily influenced by the Muslim population. Somehow I interpreted this as vibrant painted doors with ornate decorations (I'm not sure how my imagination ran so wild) but instead got a smaller more chaotic Xiamen, except Xiamen is cooler.

Significant differences:
1. Cars are more than happy to honk their horns at just about anything, in Xiamen you could be fined.
2. Motor taxis are everywhere and even if you are 2 feet from them will lay on the horn. Motor taxis are not allowed to be in the area I live.
3. Shopping is not outrageously expensive.
4. Kids were smashed into tiny back carts of bikes, it reminded me of how I would think illegal immigrants get past the Mexican border.
5. The increased amount of homeless people.

Now a shortened version of the sites we saw throughout the day, with an added (but FREE) commentary.

1. The mosque reminded me of Roman ruins. It had a massive pillar and an area with smaller less impressive columns.
2. The temple. This place was huge and relatively uncrowded compared to the temple in Xiamen. I was partially disgusted by the extra flair that was added to the temple.
This included:
-the added flood lights to make the temple picture perfect for night.
-the hippie trippy looking buddah placard that had buddah on it and neon lights swirling behind
him.
- the fact that the chanting was mic-ed so that the entire temple could hear it.
- it cost 10 kuai to get in.

Besides that I rather liked the town, even though I wasn't so hot on it initially. Even the bus ride was an adventure. Especially since I couldn't remember how to get home exactly...

Weekend so far

On Friday I went to a classical music concert. It was surprising how many instruments I could identify in each piece, it really brings me back to Mr. Cerri (I think only 1 person would understand this reference). The conductor was going crazy, he was power tripping because he kept entering and exiting the stage, I think just to earn more applause. I don't really see the big deal in a coductor, I mean I NEVER looked at the conductor. Well maybe every so often, just so he could signal me when I was supposed to play. But besides that, NEVER.

Anyhow, the venue was tiny, I didn't even know it was an entrance. The room was packed with white lawn chairs, upholstered theater type seats, and those chairs pre-schoolers sit in. I thought they were for the little kids, but they were indeed for adults. Luckily, we had the upholstered seats. During the performance the kids would play with their toy dinosaurs on the floor, or somehow wedge themselves between people for a better view. AND people, don't dress up or turn off their cell phone ringer, even worse is they ANSWERED the phone!

Today I had conversation partner. I decided to invite her to my house this week because her house is so dark I can barely see anything. Once she got here she kept commenting how comfortably I lived, I was kinda embarrassed. It's like I'm this punk kid who doesn't really do much of anything but teach, yet I have an apartment 4 times the size of hers. I kinda regretted inviting her over. Plus she got off at the wrong bus stop so I had to search for her for an hour.

And I went to the fabric market. The fabric market is basically a Jo-Anns worse nightmare. It is a whole building of fabrics, and tailors. You can bring a picture or draw a picture of something and someone will make it. Quality not gauranteed, but still, it's pretty cool.

Then I went to a friends house to watch Music and Lyrics and she made BBQ chicken pizza! I haven't had cheese in a loooong time. It was delicious.

Celebrity

Today in class I asked all the kids if they could meet a famous person who would they meet. Then I put them into groups and made each group write down each group members pick for a famous person. I then told them all of the celebrities are in a hot air balloon, but it only has enough power to hold 3 people, so they must throw one person off (weight doesn't matter) to save the rest of the celebrities. Here are some answers I got.

The list:
Tom Cruise
Bill Gates
Tracy McGrady
Mickey Mouse
We would throw off Tom Cruise because he is a bad father to his children.

I can't remember the rest of the lists but here are the answers.

Bruce Lee because he knows kung fu and he won't be hurt.

Yao Ming because he is ugly and heavy.

Some young diver, because he is not old and not as famous as the rest of the people in the balloon.

So I know this game doesn't seem like it has to do with anything. But this weeks unit in the book was to talk about celebrities. This forced the kids to talk about who is famous, and what they are famous for (supposedly, haha). Last week was how to make a milkshake (and we did! but they weren't too tasty), makes me really wonder about these textbooks...

China me.

We had to take passport pictures for our health exam and foreign expert certificate. This was way back yonder when it was still amazingly hot (2 months ago). I guess I was sweating profusely, because the lady said she wanted to airbrush it a little. Apparently I sweated my face off, because I could barely recognize myself! I felt like I looked like a China Olympian, fortunately I am older than 16, so I wasn't involved in any controversies.

As part of being a foreign teacher, I have to attend after school English clubs. I guess it is big news for the city so they published a story and my picture was in it. I was actually kinda shocked they didn't opt for a more "Western" looking person.

Chinese Firedrill

You know that game you play as a kid, Chinese fire drill where the car is at a stop light and you get out and run around the car? I always thought it was a bit derogatory, only until I experienced a China fire drill. I was in the middle of class and all of a sudden sirens start blaring. The noise was so loud I wasn't quite sure if our school was under nuclear attack or something. Before I could make a decision 75% of my class bolted, and it wasn't like "oh I got to go" but a "I have to run for dear life NOW." One kid was going back and forth (physically) debating whether or not to tell me what was going on, but in the end made a run for it. When I got outside kids were running down the stairs, and through the hallways to line up in their class lines. Once they got there they were greeted by a loud speaker, and a speech that sounded reminiscent of a motivational speech, but of course I can only guess.

Tennis

I recently started playing tennis again. I bought a new racket after searching for the store for about an hour. There are 2 kinds of rackets, the cheap and the ridiculously expensive. I opted for the cheap and shelled out $30 instead of $300. When I finally found the courts I was supposed to meet people at (the week before I totally missed the courts and ended up getting there 5 mins before our allotted time was up) one of the guys lent me his racket indefinitely after I said I'm not too fond of my new purchase. I forgot how much I love tennis.

Ohhh Thursdays...

Thursdays are my tough days. I have to teach from 9-4pm, with a lunch in the middle, usually my cat-nap time to re-energize. The class after lunch is my worse class of the week, most of my classes are slightly chaotic, but the Thursday after lunch bunch is especially difficult. One week I was so frustrated I made them do every single exercise in the book, and if you saw the book you would know it is punishment. After this "punishment class" a particularly outspoken student approached me to complain. To sum it up he told me my lessons were boring and if I engaged the students I wouldn't have this problem. I responded that the class does not deserve to play games if they refuse to pay attention.

This week the other half of their class was acting up so badly that the other foreign teacher left class. A student from their class ran to find me to tell me, and I immediately told her to go back to class. I walked back into my classroom to find all of my students smashed up on the window trying to eavesdrop, all begging to tell me why the teacher left. Here is how the conversation played out:

Me: "Here's the deal kids, everyone hates teaching you because you are a bad class. You don't listen to anything I say, or do any of the activities. From here on out we can write papers and I will grade them." I looked at some of their faces and saw some looked a little sad. So I said "I don't mean to say you are bad people but you are a bad class."

Then to my surprise that outspoken kid chimed in and said "Don't be sorry, you are just honest. No Chinese teacher in math, or any other class would say anything about our behavior."

That one tiny statement redeemed that kid from my wrath. After class I was so stressed out the other teacher and I got our hair washed. Weird, I know, but they massage your head for 10 mins and then style it. Its pretty amazing.

And on a brighter note, this one girl loves me, so we took a picture. Her name is Christine and she sings me songs from "The Phantom of the Opera" after class. (The one next to me).

Bench day

Today I bought myself a tennis racket. It took about an hour to find the store, I hope it doesn't break! After, I went to sit on the bench by the river to relax and read my book. As I was reading my book a guy stopped and kept staring at me, so I pretended like I didn't notice. About an hour later he came again and did the same thing! This time he actually came up to me and started speaking Chinese. Luckily I had perfected my "I don't speak Chinese" (in Chinese) so he got the point. Then a second later he whipped out English, I was pretty amazed. After a while he said he would teach me Chinese and I agreed (this brings my conversation partner count up to 4). I took out my books and we started practicing. Every time I would try to speak he would constantly giggle and say "Oh my God." But not in the mean way, like an "OMG" but instead in a super-border line gay accent, followed by a string of "teehehehe"s. It was very amusing, even though it was because he found my pronunciation so funny. Afterward, he asked for an English name, so I named him Leo. He is the first friend I have ever got to name!

At night I was supposed to play tennis but I got lost. On the way home, after walking for 2 hours I found the courts, and the people I was supposed to play with were just finishing up. Atleast I found them!

A day of mixed up communication

Today I went to a Chinese speaking church. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Although I didn't understand almost anything that was going on. Wait, I take that back, I did understand when they wanted me to scoot over to make more room for people, I was rather proud of myself for that one. I should have been able to catch on to the songs, because they sang the same one 3 times, but I didn't. I felt a bit obnoxious at first because I had to text my tutee (Esther) about what time to meet and where, except my phone was acting up (i.e. it kept turning off), so I had to continuously tap my phone back to life.

Afterward Sam and I were going to grab some dim sum (I was super excited about it because I have been missing Cantonese food) but I got a call from Esther and she wanted to meet earlier than we had planned, so we had to ditch the idea. She had volunteered to pick me up, but I thought that was too much hassle, so we opted to meet at Walmart...yes Walmart, I have been there 4 times in my short time in Xiamen. When I met her I thought to myself, she is a lot shorter than I remember. I thought about it more and decided this must be one of Esthers helpers that she sent to pick me up. Then when we were waiting in line at KFC (I was really Western today) she mentioned Marina. And then it all made sense. This was the conversation partner my tutor Marina wanted me to meet with to practice Chinese, but I had never contacted. I guess I accidentally saved her name under the person I was supposed to tutor, and had been sending her texts about tutoring which still made sense to her. After I discovered my mistake I excused myself and called the real Esther to tell her what happened, thankfully she was very understanding.

Ivy, the "fake" Esther, turned out to be really nice. She really wants to learn English to help pass a test, and she seems to be dedicated to teaching one another, I guess I will try to squeeze her in. After we ate at KFC she took me to her house and the markets and made dinner for me. It was cool to meet her, she showed me a different part of town and became the very first Chinese house I have ever been to, in China atleast.

So if you are keeping track:

Conversation partners: 3
People I am supposed to tutor: 2
Number of times I have missed tutoring because of bad communication: 2
Amount of money I have lost for myself: 300 kuai (around 45 dollars)

I guess I should do something about my stubborn cell phone...although this time it wasn't really its fault.

Monastery

Monastery Day. (I can't figure out how to get this so it won't be underlined...)

Today we went to the monastery. It was pretty cool. At first I was bummed that it was raining, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It is a huge tourist attraction in Xiamen, apparently it is the most touristed monastery in China. I had no idea! I can see why though, it was impeccably preserved. There were so many people there worshipping statues and giving money. At one point I saw the monks going around and stuffing all the money that was collected into sacks. I should have taken a picture but I was too shy. Another interesting non-captured moment was when people were throwing coins onto the rock for good luck. I tried my luck but it kept rolling off, then someone stole my coin, so I took it as a sign and gave up.

That is a swarm of catfish! They were the biggest catfish I have ever seen.

Tucked away in the cave were hundreds, maybe thousands of statues. I couldn't actually see them until the flash went off. Sam said he thinks they are from people who wanted to get a new idol, but didn't want to throw the old ones away, so they bring them here.

No need to use caution. These sticks/twigs are preventing the huge boulders from falling on you.

Another day in the park

I went to the park to draw again. I choose this really cool dragon statue I felt inspired by...apparently so did every tourist in Xiamen. Unlike the other statue I drew in the same park, this one had foot traffic, and a lot of it. At one point a street vendor hovered over my shoulder and commented about my drawing in Chinese. Next thing I knew a motorbike pulled up right next to me and 2 guys got off, I was worried at first but decided they were harmless. All three of them watched me draw for about 15 minutes and commenting. It was nerve racking! It makes me feel like I should practice at home before I go out in public to draw. On the bright side it did force me to actually focus on something, instead of being worried about what people were thinking.

The Accidental Hike.

After having such a pleasant park experience I decided to discover another amazing park on my day off. So I set out on bus 87, my "church bus" because I have seen some cool areas during my bus trips, as each one passed by I felt like none of them were able to stand up to the high standards that were set by the other park. So I settled on exploring XiaDa (Xiamen University).Almost half of the students there were walking with umbrellas. It was the biggest sun-shielding group I have yet to come across. Forget the sun! I was shielding my eyes from getting poked out!

In the middle of the school there is a big lake that students and tourist alike sit and enjoy.

After successfully conquering the campus I was unsatisfied with my lack of a pure park experience, so I set out to hunt for yet another park I had "seen" on the bus. After walking for about 20 mins I was convinced I was on the absolute right trail to my destination.

A cool building and gate I passed that only further validated that I was onto something big...
After 20 minutes of more walking, and winding up on this gigantic street, I started to doubt my usual keen navigational skills.

But then I saw a crowd of people flocking to this mysterious staircase down a tiny alley, so I decided that the mob mentality hasn't failed me yet, so I tried my luck.
When I got to the top there was a map that I was unable to decipher so I picked a staircase and went.

The park was awesome. It wasn't really a park in the whole huge lawn and water fountain sense, but more of an exploring park. There were rock formations, man made water areas and staircases that led to nowhere. It was pretty cool. Times like these I am really glad that I adopted the shoes and socks concept, because I don't think I would have wanted to hike in sandals. On my way up there was a creepy old man that kept staring at me, that kinda freaked me out for a while and made me remember sometimes I shouldn't wander off by myself, at least not too often...


Even though this wasn't the kind of park I had in mind I think it was well worth the hike and adventure!

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's grapefruit on steroids!

Everyone in China raves about this fruit, I can't remember what it is called, but I like to think of it as a beefed up grapefruit (I think it might be using some illegal steroids...). It took me about 15 minutes to peel the thing, and it took some serious muscle power. When I finally got the initial skin off I discovered it is more like an orange, except you are supposed to peel out the pulp from the wrapping. It is pretty good, I can't quite put my finger on the taste, a sweeter grapefruit but a more sour orange. I think I like it. It shall now be known as the groange, a confused grapefruit/orange.

I can do it!

The peel filled up the whole bag! Look how thick that sucker is!

A day in the park.

One day I was running and came across a really cool park. There was an all women band playing drums dressed in traditional looking outfits, a camera crew recording the statue in the lake, and a man suspiciously sitting, upon closer inspection I found out that he was flying the highest kite I have ever seen! I didn't know they were meant to go that high! This park was cool to say the least.

Since I basically have 5 day weekends I decided to go and draw something in the park. It was amazing! It was so much fun being able to stare at the statue for a few hours and just draw. I think the ants were biting me though. I think I will buy a lawn chair or some sort of portable chair to sit on next time. And I hope to one day improve my Chinese and muster up the courage to ask the kite man if I can draw him. That would be amazing! I think I found my new Xiamen hangout, I will try to take pics. AND I solved the mystery of how the water is so clean! People go around in motorboats and fish out the litter, I would have never guessed...

Quite possibly one of the worse days of luck or is it good luck?

I forgot to write about my horrific cell phone story, which only adds to my hate of cell phones!

My phone is a temperamental brat. After 30 seconds of being on, or conveniently right when I am about to finish entering a long text message my phone decides it is tired, so it takes a nap, no scratch that, more of a hibernation because it refuses to wake up for a few hours. Usually this can be solved by recharging the battery, to re-energize and renew my phone. So I tried this method, only to find one of my prongs on the charger will not stay in place, so when I try to plug it into the wall it will go inside of the charger. I tried multiple angles and plugs to no avail. In frustration I looked over to my coffee table and saw my straight electricity power strip from America. I put two and two together and decided, if my laptop can plug into the wall, then cell phones might run on the same electrical currency as China. So I plugged my China charger into my American powerstrip and stuck my America -> China power converter on and gave it a try. But my highly logical plan fell through and ended up shorting my entire apartment. Rewind quickly, I was in such a rush because I was late for dinner with some friends.

I looked for the breaker box and proceeded to switch every single one off and on, I don't know if that was smart, but it didn't work anyways. So now that my apartment had no electricity I tried to reason with myself that it was no big deal, I didn't really need electricity, and I secretly hoped the entire building was shorted so I wouldn't have to call. But the more logical side came out and I sought out my self proclaimed "nanny" (she took care of all my apt problems). I ran around campus for a while looking for her and eventually found her. Luckily she was able to contact the electrician and he promptly took care of the problem. She asked why I didn't call and I told her about my cell phone so she took me to the store to switch it in. Amazingly when we got to the store my phone worked. I honestly think it needed an electrical jolt, like when people go into cardiac arrest. So yet again "nanny" came through and saved the day.

And to top it off everyone waited for me to order more food, but by the time I got there the service was so bad we left. I guess it was a good thing anyways, I didn't feel like paying 100 kuai for sushi! Oh what a day!

Weekend fun!

Friday- I met up with my conversation partner but was 30 mins late because I got on the wrong bus and had to walk all the way back to the original stop I got on. I did all this only to figure out that it was a 25 min walk away.

Saturday- I met one of my teachers friends, Maisie. She is really nice. I really like her haircut, I am thinking of either copying her haircut or getting a perm. I might get the perm first, and let it grow out for a while and right before I go home get her haircut. Who knows though, that would be lots of money dedicated to my hair. And by perm I mean a body wave, not the super tight curls.

In the afternoon I took a walk around Xiamen downtown. I got sucked into the mob mentality and decided to check out the building everyone was coming out of. It turned out to be the grocery store, with 4 stories, the 1st being clothing. After I walked around the 1st floor I decided I didn't want to buy anything so I tried to turn back, but the lady started to yell at me. I searched for the exit for a while and finally decided to go through all 4 floors to leave. On my way I started seeing all these things that I "need", so I actually ended up spending 5o kuai ($5), what a scam (that works!).

Later that night, I was a judge for all the English teachers in the school. It was no Miss. America judging, but instead a copied sound bite on a thumb drive with 10 pairs of teachers competing for the title of the "Best English Speaker," I made up the title, but I think it is an accurate portrayal of what the competition encompassed. Sam and I decided to grade on Pronunciation, Intonation and Pacing, I turned out to be a much harsher grader. :/

Sunday- I have been meaning to go to Church for the last 4 years on a normal basis, since I have been in China I have gone every week! This week the message was very interesting, it was about God's wisdom. After lunch I met up with Allison, a local teacher at my school. We walked around ZhongShan Road and shopped around for a while. I tried on a lot of clothes but decided not to buy any. The style is so different I feel like once I buy a skirt I will need to buy a shirt, and if I have both of those I need shoes to match it. It is very reminiscent of "If you gave a mouse a cookie." I think I will buy some clothes though, I am getting tired of wearing the same 7 shirts. Back on track though, Allison took me to a really local/cheap restaurant. I really like the food but I don't think I could ever go there on my own because it assumes you can speak/understand Chinese and match what food goes to what price. I hope by the end of the year I am able to order.

All in all the weekend was pretty good, yet very unproductive.

But the real reason I wrote this blog is to share the fact that I brought candy for my students from USA. I haven't given the kids the candy yet because I don't have enough for everyone and I need to think of a fair way to distribute the candy. Tonight I was bad and had a chocolate candy. When I opened it I discovered that despite my best efforts to keep them cool, they simply melted and remolded into funny non-appetizing shapes. So it leaves me with the question, should I give the kids these deformed candy or should I save the children from the strange looking candy and eat it all myself? The last choice is really for the benefit of the children.

Punishment?! This week in recap.

One day in class a student refused to participate, so as punishment I made him go up in front of the whole class and sing an English song, embarrassing right??? Not so much, apparently the class loved to sing! After the student was finished students started to volunteer to sing songs! They loved it, they begged me to let them sing a song so I finally typed up "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", but I didn't know the second line, thankfully the students were able to help. Then after class a little girl came up to me and sang a beautiful song, it sounded very opera-y, I couldn't quite catch the title. After another class, 2 kids sang a duet and rehearsed a small skit they were practicing for a talent show. Later that night I went home and listened to all my iTunes songs to see what is suitable for kids to sing, it took me an hour because I was being so picky. I finally decided on 4 different songs: Bright Eyes "First Day of My Life", John Mayer "Waiting on the World to Change", Dave Matthews "Everyday" and Backstreet Boys "I Want it that Way" (I included this because a lot of students said it was their favorite band, and I wouldn't mind listening to them...). But to my surprise the next day, the kids had rather played games! I guess it all depends on the student.

In the other class we were playing charades, where you had to act out the city you wanted to go to and write a story about it. One group decided they wanted to go to Thailand to see the ladymen, but they chickened out in the last minute. Sometimes I really like teaching.

On another note, Sam and I explored the city last night and stumbled on a really cool open air market type place. Yet again I left my camera at home so there are no pictures, I think I would have felt awkward taking pictures anyway, it wasn't very touristy. We actually saw a student there and he recognized us, and said hi, he seemed shocked we were in that part of town.

I just realized I don't have any pictures of the city, so may I present my city...

Conversation Partner

Today I met my conversation partner. She is really cool, we agreed to meet a few times a week and practice Chinese together. She took me to her friends coffee shop and we looked at jewelry and old wooden pieces that were left over from the building. Her friend was so cute, she moved a bookshelf and there was a hidden area that had all of these antiques, and she proudly displayed each one. I think she is going to be a great partner.

Yesterday I saw them cutting the lawn with a weed cutter, today I saw them sweeping all of the cut grass off the lawn! I didn't have my camera so I missed the picture.

Today in class we played charades. The kids had to make up where they were going on vacation, what they were going to do and when they were going. They were so confused. But when they actually understood, it was really funny to watch. I kept giggling, but the Chinese giggle (there is a distinct difference between Chinese giggle and American giggle, Chinese giggle is not necessarily mean hearted, whereas the American giggle is sometimes done in a mocking way). Don't judge me! haha jk.

...and one more thing.

This sprinkler was broken, so a clever person decided to save the water and catch it with a huge jug and bowl. Cooky things like that really make my day. One of my favorites is that all the street cleaners shoot water on the road as others are driving and play the Happy Birthday song, I think I hear it atleast 2 times a day, they must clean the street atleast once/hour.

The last 3 weeks in pics (Part IV)

The waterfront next to our school. Some fisherman weren't wearing pants, but that wasn't why I took the picture...

At a cafe with Eva, another foreign teacher from Germany. The cafe is located right on the waterfront so you can admire all the lights at night. It is very reminiscent of Europe, except it is actually affordable!
A Hawaii vacation in a 15-20 minute walk! This place was one of the cooler places we have been. it has benches next to the water and lots of palm trees.

We were early to church so we took a stroll on the beach. Who says there is no blue sky in China?! (did I mention I am extremely lucky)

The last 3 weeks in pics (Part III)- Gulangyu

Sam and I arriving on the island. Xiamen is the city in the background.

A sculpture garden made for taking pictures with. Some were more popular than others, resulting in broken limbs etc.

Sam on a street that I thought would be typical of China, boy was I wrong!

A clothed beach! No swimsuits in sight, yet I STILL loved going to the beach.

The last 3 weeks in pics (Part II)

A man cutting the lawn with a weed cutter! He has been doing it for a few hours now.

Views from my balcony.

My bedroom/office: I accidentally cut off my desk.

My TV room. It took me a long time to decide how to arrange the furniture, I am pretty happy with the set up. Seat cushions is currently on my list of things to buy when I get my first pay check.

My dining room. Before there were only curtains on the windows to the left, but after some mis-comunication with multiple repairmen, I finally got curtains for the door leading to my balcony.

My kitchen, it is so nice that I finally cleaned it!

My bathroom, it is hard to adjust to the fact my shower has no curtain. Sometimes I get obsessive and try not to get anything wet, which is pretty hard.

My empty second bedroom, the emptiness scares me so I close the door. I am currently using it as a storage room. I was thinking about buying some exercising equipment and converting the room, but who knows.