Weekend in Changsha

This weekend I attended a 2-day conference in Changsha, the capital city of the Hunan province. It's about one hour northwest of Zhuzhou, so I hopped on a train with Becky (an out-of-town teacher friend), Nora (my site-mate), and Aditi (another teacher here in Zhuzhou). For some reason the train was 20 minutes late, which seems to be a common thing here in China. After we pushed and shoved against the crowd -- a necessary skill one must have to survive here -- we finally got on the train with our "standing room only" tickets. Except I was in a different car than everyone else... so I made a new Chinese friend who spoke to me the whole way there.

This may be a bit off-topic, but I personally find it hilarious when I can tell that I'm the center of everyone's curiosity. For example, whenever I get on a public bus or train everyone starts looking at me and watching my every move. Yes, I admit that it gets annoying very quickly. But sometimes I get a kick out of looking up and seeing lots of Chinese eyes on me, waiting to see what I do or say next. Usually whoever is sitting within an arm's reach of me will try to strike up conversation to see if I can speak Chinese. And usually this is done in a non-intimidating, casual way. When the crowd discovers that yes, the lao-wai (foreigner) can speak "yi dian-dian Zhongwen" (a little bit of Chinese) it seems like every ear focuses in on our conversation. Which is kind of intimidating, but mostly fun. :)

Anyway, the conference was put on by CTC - the China Teaching Consortium - made up of several teaching organisations here in China. Harvard's WorldTeach (woot!!) and the Yale-China program organised the whole thing, and it was spectacularly well done! Not only did I get to see my roommate from Orientation again (Becky - i love her!), we got to stay in a hotel for two nights and have all meals prepared for us... without having to spend a dime! We also got to meet teachers from all over China and discuss common goals and challenges with them. The few panelists and speakers were great, too. I learned a lot of new methods to use in my classroom and was able to reflect on my purpose here as a foreign English teacher. Being among likeminded individuals who want to have a hand in positively impacting and shaping China's "next generation" was so refreshing. As was the unlimited hot water and comfy, clean-sheeted bed at the hotel.

After the conference closed on Sunday at 2pm, I headed to H&M with a few other girls. Sometimes a girl's just gotta shop!! After running around the city a bit -- and having fun conversations over a cafe americano or latte -- we hopped on a train at 9pm and returned to Zhuzhou (where I was accosted by a drunk man at the train station... story soon to come).

Overall, I had a great weekend. ✽

                                  ^ our table at dinner                                          ^ me and Becky eating sweet 

                                      this weekend                                                      potato chips for breakfast

^ at the WorldTeach library in Changsha

(stocking up on some English books to read)

Hello, Piano ♫

Today was a momentous day, simply because I finally found the piano at my school. It wasn't in some obscure, locked-up, secret room like I had imagined all along. Turns out it's in a huge, unlocked lecture hall on the first floor of a really accessible building. Yes, I said unlocked!! So today, on my lunch, I couldn't wait to check out the piano. It's an upright piano -- in tune and nice to the touch -- and I spent about half an hour playing whatever came to mind. There were about 5 students who snuck in to listen to me play, and they clapped after each song. Tomorrow I'm going to bring some music with me so I can rock out to some Elton John and a selection of classical music. YAAAAYYYYYYYYYY. :)

My Students' Morning Exercises

Mayang, Huaihua, and Chenxi

Stories soon to come!! 
(I just got home from a long train ride home...and I need to prepare my lessons for tomorrow's classes).
Here are a few pics from visiting Kirsten in Huaihua, and then our trip to see Dave for his birthday :)

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Fenghuang Pics

                                 ^ handicrafts and a touristy sign                  ^ a gift from my newfound friend

                                 ^ delicious chewy sesame-seed                   ^ looking down from an old bridge
                                    goodness. Quite a deal at 1元

                                  ^ dragons (LONG) at a temple                       ^ me inside the temple    

                                   ^ 3 adorable primary school                         ^ flower from my head wreath
                                   girls who saw me and decided                      that I put in a vase at the hostel
                                   I was their afternoon playdate.

Fenghuang ✲ River Phoenix

After a long overnight train ride, and two gruelling bus rides (super bumpy roads and I needed to use the bathroom for over 4 hours...enough said), I finally arrived in Fenghuang. It's a quaint little town -- and very picturesque! Near one of the town gates close to the river I met a really nice Chinese girl who spoke some English. She was about my age, and she and all of her friends wanted to take photos with me. In return, they kindly helped me find where I needed to go and they even ran and bought me a map! It was a nice change from the "HELLO!" yell I get from motorcycle-taxi drivers ("hello" is the only English word they know) and the stares I get from most other people.

Currently I'm sitting on my bed in the hostel with the windows open because the weather is so nice today! There is a small orange kitten meowing on the windowsill and a chicken clucking down in the alleyway below. The small cobblestone streets are lined with locals selling anything from flower wreaths to wear on your head, handmade souvenirs, walnut cakes, an assortment of fruits and freshly-made sweets... to caged ducks (ready to prepare for a meal), flattened and dried pig-faces, and stinky fermented tofu. Here are a few pictures from my first two hours here.

 

 ^ flattened, dried pig faces                    ^ fresh crabs, anyone?

          

^ hand-washing clothes                            ^ riverside view

       

          ^ umm, no idea what this is               ^ chuan (boat) and pagoda

    

  ^ my new friend :)                 ^ selling food

In other news, on the second bus-ride getting here there was a HUGE commotion on the side of the street. Our bus slowed down and everyone crowded the windows to see what was going on. There was a man beating another man with a metal shovel -- beating him SO hard it was scary. A few other men tried to take the shovel from him and succeeded. There were at least 70 people gathered to watch the scene. The crazy man then started running away with another man chasing after him. Then, all of a suden the psycho grabs another shovel, turns to the guy chasing him, and starts swinging at him! Our bus was pulling away at that point... but I can't help but think where are the police when you need them? Seriously, there is no shortage of Gong An (公安) police officers here in China, but I constantly wonder what they actually do. Some things I just don't understand.

Heading Out on Another Adventure :)

I'm heading to Fenghuang tonight... taking the night train to Jishou! Fenghuang is an ancient river town, sometimes called River Phoenix, in the western part of Hunan province. I board the train at 11:20PM tonight and arrive in Jishou around 7:30AM. I have a "hard sleeper" ticket, so hopefully I can get some rest on the train. I'll proceed to take a bus from Jishou to Fenghuang and spend some time exploring the town and reading in a tea shoppe. I've heard it's not an exciting place, but very picturesque. I'll post an update with pictures soon!! :)

xoxo.

HEINZZZZZ!

My Chinese friends brought me to an awesome Fujian restaurant last night (kind of a "hole in the wall" type place, but with delicious food...photos to come soon!) and then brought me to a Hong Kong supermarket - with some international/imported foods! I passed on the Bacardi coolers (for now) but did manage to purchase a bottle of Heinz ketchup. :) So, after I came back from being the "special guest" in a university English class this morning, I picked up some cooked potato slices to take home. Aaaand now I'm enjoying potatoes and ketchup. SO GOOD.

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Some other interesting foods I've fallen in love with recently include:

         - Lotus root (Ou in Chinese...first picture below - L)

         - Some sort of bamboo or tofu noodle (second picture - R)

         - Dosha baozi, a breakfast bun filled with red-bean paste 

         - Black sesame seed paste (third/bottom picture)

A Chinese Facial Experiment

I was at the supermarket a few days ago and saw a stand full of on-sale skincare products. Thinking that my face is much too dry these days, I excitedly picked up a "home facial" packet, slightly comforted by the Nivea-esque logo on the front. "Sivia France", it boasted. France! And it's only 2.9元 (less than 50 cents), on sale from the regular 10元. I turn the package around and find Chinese instructions, but with pictures. Plus, most home facials are self-explanatory. Haha. Anyway, I buy the packet.

This morning I decided to try the facial. "Ocean Deeply Moisturizing Mask", it's called. Now, the thing to understand about Chinese face and skin-care products is this: they often contain bleaching/whitening agents because Chinese people are obsessed with having fair skin. So this is actually the first time I've attempted putting anything Chinese on my face, since I don't want to make my already tan-less face even whiter. And since translations (if there are any on the packaging) are always Chinglish, it's impossible to tell what you're getting when you buy a Chinese product. (Which, by the way, makes for pretty interesting grocery shopping experiences. It's a constant experiment!).

As I sit here with this ridiculous-looking mask on my face, I wonder if in 15 minutes I'll be the next Michael Jackson... with a frighteningly white complexion. Maybe I'll buy a white glove while I'm at it. Ahhhhh. Fingers crossed for my face looking normal once I remove the mask!! LOL!!!

^ scary, I know. but hilarious, right?