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.

The last 3 weeks in pics (Part I)

This is my school during the daytime. Now imagine it with 2,000 kids running around.

My school all lit up at night.

Next to the "lake" I love sitting here and drinking milk tea. Bobas have grown a little on me, but I prefer not to eat them.

A crazy person who decided to smash too much stuff on their car! Crossing the street is a game, I am scared to walk and listen to my iPod because you never know where a car/bike will show up!

A cool float we saw on national holiday.

A China Story Begins...

I have been in China for around 3 weeks now, and I must say it is cooler than I could have ever expected. Granted, I was assuming the worse (the whole hope for the best, expect the worse mind set). I have my own apartment outfitted with 2 bedrooms, a cafeteria card that satisfies my appetite, and endless opportunities to explore and walk around because I live in the best area of Xiamen (for real!).

As for classes, it is amazing how many kids they manage to have filter past me. I teach 16 different classes a week J1 has 11-12 year olds and J2 has 13-15 year olds. Each week I teach 1/2 of those 16 different classes, and the next week I switch and teach the other 1/2 of students. So according to my calculations that is 27 kids/class * 16 classes/week * 2 (teaching both of the halves of the 16 classes)= 864 kids! Needless to say I am having trouble remembering students names. The ones that stuck out the most were: Tracy McGrady, Zero, Cancer, Dragon, Sky, Fly and Calensar (I have no idea how to pronounce it, one day she came up to me and said it super slowly and I still can't do it!). Surprisingly the most popular are: Bob, Bill, Mike, Sherry, Cherry, Nancy, and Shirley.

I actually really do like teaching. The past 2 weeks I have been playing games the whole class, which sometimes get out of hand. Finally one day I threatened the kids and said "if you don't stop fooling around we can write papers and I will grade them, because I control your grade," I felt like a crazy person forcing them to have fun, it seemed to work, but little do they know the last thing I really want to do is grade EVERYONE's paper. Other than that the students are pretty obedient, if I write things on the board I can have everyone stand up and read what I wrote, and no one will sit down until I tell them it is ok.

Fun/interesting things the students do:
1. Showing respect for teachers: Students will zoom by you in the halls running to and fro, but they are required to nod their heads at teachers and say "hi teacher" in Chinese.
2. Eye Exercises: A set time twice a day when calming music plays over the PA system with a woman saying commands in Chinese. The students rub their eyes, temples, etc. and every so often other students monitor the class to make sure everyone is doing the exercise.
3. Exercise Time: In the morning all students gather on the field and partake in a choreographed dance. I tried to hide in the bushes and watch, but I decided the kids might get freaked out, so I stopped.
4. The bell: In place of the obnoxious bell sound, class is over when classical music blasts for 5 seconds. The kind of classical music I think would have been played at old bourgeoisie parties.

Besides teaching I have been touring Xiamen and surrounding areas with my penpal Sam from Kansas. We met when we were both going through the craziness of trying to get a work permit. We have done a pretty good job of seeing the city. He lives 2 floors above me so it is pretty cool to have a friend to share experiences with. We went to Gulangyu island which is about 30 mins away, and frequently hang out at the "lake" (really a river) that is right next to our school.

Today was clear blue skies! It was amazing. So far China has been better than I could have ever imagined.