Weekend Trip to 南岳 (Nányuè)

This weekend I headed to Nanyue with Nora and Bianca to visit Tina and Jooik at their school (and to celebrate Tina's birthday!). We met up with 8 other WorldTeachers and hiked all day Saturday up to Zhurong Peak on Mount Heng (衡山). It was a gorgeous hike with beautiful scenery -- and pretty steep most of the way up. Not including rest breaks, we hiked for 6 hours; it took us 3:40h to get up to the peak. Now I can say I've hiked one of China's "Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism". There was actually the world's largest international Taoism conference being held in Nanyue this weekend. Anyway, I had a blast hanging out with the other WTers.

Took a fast train home last night (got up to 306 km/h!!) and met two guys on the train who (ironically) live behind my school campus. They asked if I wanted a free cab ride home from the train station and kept saying "Wonderful day, beautiful girl". Haha. They didn't speak much English, but it was still fun. Here are a few pictures from this weekend's adventure!!

^ Nanyue Middle School (南岳中学)

 

^ amazing scenery

^ we survived the trek back down the mountain :)

My school: "Cait, we're having a celebration tonight. We want you to sing a song and do a dance for us. You have one hour to prepare something for us."
Me: sinking feeling inside. "Um, okay."

... Oh, those dreaded words. It's called NOTICE, people! LOL...

This is China!!
I love it, though. ;)

Some Photos from Yanling

Free Fruit and a Sweet Note

This morning, on my walk to the bus stop, I stopped to buy a banana from the local fruit stand. Now, to understand why I'm posting about fruit today, you must know that I was previously boycotting this fruit stand. Why? Because the owner was really rude, didn't let me cut or choose my own bananas, and never ever smiled or replied to my Xiexie. So I refused to shop there for several weeks.

But it's the only place to buy fruit near my apartment, and out of laziness (and a realization that I can't change everyone) I recently decided to start shopping there again. Twice a day - once on the way to school and again when I come home in the evenings.

And today, the owner's son decided to give me free fruit. Which absolutely made my morning.
It's the little things that make me smile.
Like the note from a student today that said: "Teacher Cait -- today you are very beautiful."

Field Trip?

Today I was invited, by a school administrator, on a 5-day school trip to Yanling county here in Zhuzhou. It's way out in the countryside so it should be beautiful! We leave next Monday morning... and I have no idea what to expect. Is it for team-building exercises, or is this some sort of cover-up for a communist disciplinary training camp? I don't know. But I'll soon find out (and post my observations).

The conversation in which I was asked to come was super funny, as the man didn't speak a lot of English. At one point I tried asking if we would come home during the 5 days, or if we'd be staying overnight.

"Are we sleeping there?" I ask.  I make a gesture to symbolize sleeping.

"Sleeping? Mmmm ..... you sleep, mmm, with just you."

Okay, I'm thinking, I didn't ask about sleeping with other people, LOL. Not wanting to make things awkward, I slowly say, "Every day - we come back?" while making the hand signal for "come here" or "return".

"No. All days there." He responds with a smile.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited! A week without lesson planning, at least, and hopefully a good opportunity to bond with the students and teachers. Fingers crossed for good weather. :)

In other news, I have a new pair of runners that I bought in Shanghai last week. Turns out women's sizes here in China only run to about 39. And I'm a 41. So they're men's, which I personally find hilarious. But hey, they're really comfy, which is important because I do a lot of walking here in 中国. Peace!

Music to my Ears

Today I had just finished two classes. Two down, one more to go.

I expected to walk into a classroom full of loud, boisterous students, but instead I found an almost-empty room. Perplexed, I look to a student, apparently amused at my confusion, for an explanation.

"Teacher Cait! Today no class because we sweep the school!"

Okay!! I'm totally okay with that! :)
Haha. I love the randomness of teaching in China.

In other news, if you want a proven recipe for a quiet class of 65 students, do the following: Tempt them with a fun slideshow full of Thanksgiving food and traditions, let them watch a video of autumn landscapes (with beautifully coloured trees), have each student tell the class one thing they're thankful for, and then give them a really challenging Thanksgiving-themed Word Search while letting them listen to American music.

Not a single peep out of the students.

And no one -- I repeat, NO ONE -- wanted to leave for recess when the bell rang. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Today was a good day.

✿ 国庆节 ✿

In the News

- The ever-popular China Construction Bank plans to open branches in Canada. (article)
- Walmart will soon have much more competition in Canada...as Target moves in. (article)
- A guy who spent the summer backpacking just found out he won the lottery...turns out the winning ticket was pinned on his fridge during his travels. (article)

And, in other news, I'm back from Shanghai and Hangzhou... I will be posting stories and photos ASAP!

Hangzhou!

I'm heading to Hangzhou for the National Day holiday. No class for an entire week - how glorious is that?? :) Although class today went extremely well, I had so many terrible classes yesterday. And since I am still recovering from a bad cold, my voice took a beating. I lost my voice in one class, and I almost cried. But, the good news is that a big group of students marched into my office during the lunch period and apologised. And one girl from that same class sent an apology via QQ, which is China's instant messenger. It's hard to stay mad at students when they're just so adorable.

Anyway, I'm taking a night train from Zhuzhou to Hangzhou, which is about an hour from Shanghai. I'm so excited. It's supposed to be a gorgeous place. I'll post pictures whenever I can. =)

Chinglish

Quick Update

Today is Wed. Sept 28... I am still sick -- yesterday I went to the doctor's office, which requires a separate post to describe what went on, lol. I walked out with four new medications for only Y35 (around $5 USD) , which is quite a deal. Being sick in a foreign country is definitely not fun, and being sick without my mother or any other family/friends around really sucks. But hopefully I'll be feeling better before heading to Hangzhou for the October holiday (October 1-5 for National Day). My apartment is slowly getting fixed -- yesterday the internet repair guys came over, and today I'm having someone come over to fix the toilet. When that's fixed I'll finally be able to have people over, which will be nice. I'll upload some pics of my apartment when the repairs are done. :)

Huge in Asia: 5 American Brands Reinventing Themselves in Asia (Foreign Policy Article)

This morning I went to a really cool exhibition hall with my student, Wendy. It was a huge, 3-story building dedicated to the past, present, and future of Zhuzhou. There was a room bigger than my entire apartment that had a 3D "to-scale" model of the entire city and its four districts. It was quite a cool place...and the best thing about it? It was free. :) She then took me to her family's home for a delicious lunch. Her parents didn't speak English, but it was still a fun time. They were super hospitable, making sure I took home bags of assorted dried fruits (I have no idea what some of these are...). Tomorrow is Jing Yan's Sports Day competition at ErZhong (senior school), the campus where I live, so I'll be a spectator cheering for all seventeen of my classes. :) Should be fun!

^ students prepping for Sports Day competitions

^ My student Wendy's family, from L to R:

Her biaomei (cousin), mama (mother), Wendy, and baba (father).

I am getting sick... i woke up with a sore throat, the chills, and a sore neck. I had a hard time during class because of a persistent headache, which only seemed to get worse as the day went on. My sweet friends Anlison and Aaron came over tonight to bring me a bag full of apples and pears and some Chinese medicine. Fingers are crossed for waking up feeling better in the morning.

Food Cravings

I've been craving hummus for the longest time... so if any of you feel like sending me a refrigerator full of Sabra hummus (and maybe some Stacy's Naked pita chips, too) I'd love you forever. ;)

^ Sept. 21

Jìngzhēng 竞争

"What is Jìngzhēng?" you may be asking. It means "contest" or "competition"... which is my latest and greatest strategy in classroom management. How do you control classes of 65 energetic, young, rambunctious students?
Why, by a competition of course!

The prize is watching a movie in class, although one could argue that bragging rights FAR outweigh the prospect of spending 40 mins watching a Pixar flick. The result -- for me at least -- is classes that are much better behaved. I should've thought of this earlier. :)

Instructions for hanging my new hooks...

"Corpus material: The stainless stellplsnk. The stainless steel pay. Process the type: Hurtle to press, connect the han and throw the light. Explain: This product uses the high quality import stainless steel plate, thestainless steel wire analyzes for the raw material, after Chinesegreat series ramming The advanced machinery, the high level weldingtechnology firmly becomes Along slides, glitters, polishes thegraceful fashion is suitable to is respectively big, center, thesmall guesthouse, the hotel, the family and so on the precious goodsare suitable."

Thanks. That helps so much. Now I definitely know how to hang these. Hahaha..... TIC (This is China).

Yandi Square, Zhuzhou

My apartment is right across the street from this awesome public area. There's always lots going on here, especially at night. Typical sights include hundreds of ladies gathering for synchronised night dancing, kids rollerblading, street vendors, water/light show observers, couples sitting on the grass, etc. This pic was taken last night on an after-dinner walk with Nora. 

So, I woke up with a spider bite for the third time. I am officially freaked out. Especially after yesterday's spider escapade in the classroom. There was a humungous black spider in my 4th period class, and several boys were trying to whack it down with a broom. It fell from the ceiling and everyone was screaming and running (including me!!!) while a boy managed to jump on it and kill it with his shoe. Ugh. So disgusting. I found a google image that looks exactly like yesterday's spider. So the thought of something like that sinking its fangs into me as I sleep isn't exactly the most soothing thought.

I don't think I'll ever sleep again.

In other news, today I spent the morning at the park with two of my students. :)

We fed pigeons, danced with swords and drums, walked through a small amusement park, and then had a delicious lunch of noodles with various vegetables. Oh, and duck. For those of you who know me well, I am a vegetarian. So I do not eat any meat except the occasional fish. But today, I really had no choice. My student asked if I wanted a piece of pig ear. I kindly declined and she looked puzzled. She then passed me a piece of duck, smiled, and said, "Today is very happy weekend!" I knew any attempt at explaining vegetarianism would cause confusion and a potential misunderstanding. So I took the piece of duck from my smiling student and pretended to enjoy it.

The Chinese people don't easily understand vegetarianism. If you have enough money to buy meat then there's no reason why you wouldn't eat meat, in their eyes. So sometimes you just have to do whatever is expected of you in order to avoid causing offense. I've managed to pass up meat up til this point, and I will continue to insist on avoiding it. Especially since refrigeration is uncommon and the variety of animals considered edible is a bit disturbing.

Anyway, I had a great morning. I'm continuously surprised by the kindness and generosity of the Chinese people. They love showing me around and getting me to try different things. I'm well taken care of here. Every day is a new adventure.

Now it's time for a long-overdue afternoon nap. :)

^ every city in China seems to have a small amusement park

^ very aggressive pigeons

^ my student Linda and her grandmother

^ adorable dog

^ the drum ladies!

^ electrical box artwork

^ duck meat. it was, ugh, good. ahem.

So, while I was trying to rearrange my bedroom, which had been bothering me due its lack of fung shui, my bed totally broke. And I mean BROKE. collapsed. wooden boards everywhere.

It was a disaster. This kind of random shit just happens to me for some reason -- I've learned to just laugh it off and try to think of practical ways to fix stuff. Not the most convenient thing at one o'clock in the morning, but hey. This is China. Of course I didn't expect the screws on my bed to pull apart from the frame, but it happened. lol. And I'm pretty sure my neighbours below absolutely hate me. This hasn't been my first moving-furniture-in-the-middle-of-the-night infraction. Except this time a lot more stuff fell. I bet they couldn't sleep a wink last night.

Here are a few pictures from my night-time adventure. Thank God for Swiss army knives... I was able to reassemble the bed and shove it against the wall so hopefully it won't collapse again any time soon.

 ^ it felt like putting something together from Ikea. except less fun.

Success. finally got to sleep...at 3:00AM ^

Some Pics from Moon Festival 中秋節

^ Aaron and Anlison at dessert

^ Gang bei'ing (toasting) for a happy Moon Festival

At a beautiful lunch banquet with Anlison's parents and extended family

^ with a high-ranking military official, who is also the mayor of Zhuzhou I think.

^ Cheers!!!

^ walking around the park after luch

^ little tiger is stuck in the tree

^ fishing on a hot afternoon

^ pagoda... a landmark near the Xiang River

^ we won prizes for our incredible aim

^ at a delicious home-cooked dinner with Aaron's parents and grandmothers.

They were so sweet!

^ example of festival decorations found all over the city

^ with Anlison's family

^ delicious dessert at Aaron's place... fruit and moon cakes.

The moon cake on the left is traditional, whereas the one on the right is modern.

^ at the park's main gate

School begins at 6:50am and goes til 10:10pm here... crazy. I'm still in my office working on lesson plans and it's 8:20pm. The bell still goes off periodically to signal the beginning and ending of periods.
What a long day for the students!