Kunming & Dali

Here are some photos from Kunming and Dali, both in China's Yunnan province (southwest).

^ welcome to Kunming!

^ the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hospital where I got acupuncture for the first time.

^ acupuncture and moxibustion

(they also placed needles down my legs and feet)

^ I love the style of the buildings here

^ at a park in Kunming

^ watching a few ducks swim by the lake

^ we found a Chinese-English church 

^ window art at the hostel

^ a delicious vegan meal at a temple

^ I thought it was fake, but NOPE- it was a real turtle

^ the Bamboo Temple outside the city of Kunming

^ beautiful doors (very Chinese looking!) 

^ my infatuation with flowers continues... :)

^ Josh taking pictures

^ noticing me, noticing you.

^ cramped quarters on the train from Kunming-->Dali

^ neck pain.

^ cool earrings in Dali

^ cute little boy in Dali

^ view of a pagoda from the Old City walls in Dali. What a beautiful place!

Saying Goodbye

This week I gave my last lesson to the Junior 1 students at my middle school here in China. I've also been saying to friends, teachers, and shop-keeper friends in the community. It has definitely been bittersweet... Here are some pictures. :)

^ saying goodbye at the school gate.

One of the girls started crying, and tears streaming down her face, looked at me and said, "Teacher Cait, I LOVE you!"

^ at the stationary shop beside my school... this is the owner and his wife.

They have been wonderful to me this year. 

^ My tea lady! This is her husband, who is so eager to practice his small amount of English.

She has given me so much free tea and has helped me practice Chinese since she speaks no English.

Many cups of tea have been enjoyed with this joyful woman.

^ Robert!!! This student comes to get me for class every Wednesday afternoon.

"Teacher Cait. Today is class 5. You will come?"

I love him. He is shy and sometimes gets frustrated with not being able to come up with correct sentences, but he is so sweet and genuine.

^ Robert with Josh at a basketball game at the school. Later, Robert pulled Josh aside and told him to be a good husband to me. lol. These kids...

^ These boys are like brothers.

^ Shadow puppets from the ancient capital of Xi'An.

A gift from Maggie.

^ Maggie and her mother, who cooked a delicious meal to say goodbye.

We ate dinner with about 7 other teachers that night.

^ Me with some other English teachers... at KTV to sing karaoke.

I was terrible, haha... but it was still a good time.

^ This guy owns the convenience store near my apartment.

He's such a jokester. He pokes fun at me all the time without speaking five words of English.

^ Class clown in C1115... but one of my favourites.

^ Students in class 9 drew me beautiful pictures.

After class each team gave me a parting gift.

^ Class 9, my favourite

^ Me and Wendy with the Christmas monkey.

I love this girl. Her English has improved so much.

She always asked to see pictures of my family and of my latest travels.

She is such a sweetheart. 

^ some of the boys at the outdoor book bar (library of sorts)

My Apartment

Here are some pictures of my apartment at No. 2 Middle School in Zhuzhou. I'm packing up to leave in the next few days. It's crazy how time flies!

^ Office

^ Foyer of sorts

^ Living room

^ Spare bedroom turned YOGA ROOM

^ Walking into the bedroom/bathroom and kitchen area

^ Eating area

^ View of tiny kitchen

^ Bathroom-Shower combo

We're in the NEWS!

Josh and I have a friend, Yang Hao, who is a Zhuzhou City Management official. Since he works for the local government we get to enjoy some of the perks associated with his job's rank.

For example, we get wined and dined like kings -- on the city's dime, of course. When leaving for a 5-week trip to Indonesia and the Philippines in April, Josh was driven to the airport in Changsha by Yang's assistant and driver, saving us lots of time and money. We've learned a lot about the city and how it's managed and we've gotten to meet some interesting people these past few months.

The most interesting thing that's come of this has been this week's series of interviews with news stations. It all began with Josh being invited (by Yang) to be part of a news stint reminding the locals to keep the city clean and safe. I was at school when all of this happened and had no idea until we all went out for dinner that night.

Donning full city management attire, Josh was interviewed by ZZTV (Zhuzhou TV) about his experience in Zhuzhou and his impression of its standard of cleanliness. (LOL!). They also shot some footage at a busy intersection, where Josh had to run out with a bilingual sign and "catch" jaywalkers and litterers. That evening our private dining room had a living room where we watched Josh featured on the evening news.

The next day we again went out for dinner with Yang. This time he held the day's 株洲晚报 --a daily newspaper-- in his hand, complete with a story on Josh from the previous day's escapades. Over coffee that night, Yang mentioned, in passing, that three other TV stations had called him earlier that day, all wanting to schedule time with us. We said sure, sounds great, just let us know. What we meant was "let us know in advance". Clearly this had not been communicated clearly, which is very typical here in China, where scheduling is a NON-EXISTENT phenomenon.

Josh and I both couldn't sleep that night due to the copious amounts of caffeine we consumed. Finally, at 5:00a.m., with the dawn breaking and the birds chirping, we finally fell asleep.

At about 11:00am I awoke to a phone call. I didn't pick up in time, and when I glanced at the phone's screen I snapped wide awake. TWENTY-SEVEN MISSED CALLS.

Little did we know that Yang and a TV crew from Changsha came to ErZhong (my school) that morning, came all the way up to our apartment door, and knocked and knocked and knocked, waiting for us to appear.

... story to be continued!

Student Dialogues

Here are three hilarious dialogues from dialogues I made the students write in one misbehaved class. Since my class is Spoken English we usually don't do written work, but sometimes it's the only thing that keeps the students on task. lol! Below are a few interesting pieces of work.

* * *
(To understand this, you must know that "Luo Bo" means "carrot" in Chinese).

Huang Yixuan: Hey, Is this Luo Bo?
Luo Bo: Yes, this is Luo Bo.
Huang Yixuan: How's the weather in Tudi?
Luo Bo: Is cool! What are you doing?
Huang Yixuan: I'm eating Luo Bo.
Luo Bo: ho!...

* * *

Justin Bieber: Hey! Jiang. How's it going?
Jiang: Not bad. You?
Justin Bieber: Just so so. And, how's the weather in Zhuzhou?
Jiang: It's sunny and warm.
Justin Bieber: Sounds nice.
Jiang: What are you doing?
Justin Bieber: Em.... I'm talking on the phone.
Jiang: Ha. Ha.

* * *

Y: Cait, How is it going?
C: Terrible.
Y: What's the matter with you.
C: My dog is die.
Y: Oh, that sounds bad. Break your legs.
C: Thanks.

* * *

Yep-- you might be just as confused as me with that last one, but I'm hoping it's just a weird translation for a Chinese condolence message. Hahaha... stay tuned for some more assignments.

ZhangJiaJie 张家界

ℤhangℐiaℐie

This past weekend Josh and I went to Zhangjiajie, about 7 hours away by train. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (China's first one, actually) and the most popular tourist destination in the Hunan province (where I live). I thought it was time I visited the park, since I've lived around here for almost a year and still hadn't made the trip!

After spending last Friday afternoon listening to all my students sing in a class singing competition, I rushed home to pack some clothes and food. Josh and I boarded the train at about 9pm and played card games and chatted until we arrived at 4am. It was quite a long trip - especially since we bought the cheapest tickets (to save money for our upcoming 6-week travels), which were hard seats instead of beds. 

We found a darling man with a cheap room for rent, rested a bit, and then headed to the park for the afternoon. A bit pricey for Hunan, a 3-day park pass cost us each ¥250, which is around $40 USD. The first afternoon there was beautiful. We chose to hike a path (which was more like climbing an endless amount of stairs) that was not busy with tourists... We later found out that most people just paid an ungodly amount of money to just take a cable car up to the top. Not us. It was great exercise-- and we got to see monkeys up close! And the view at the top was *much* more beautiful after spending 2-3 hours looking forward to it.

It rained the next two days, which put a damper on our second day but definitely not our third. On the third day we waterproofed everything in my backpack (by putting everything in ziplock bags), armed ourselves with umbrellas, and decided to go without the colourful ponchos and plastic shoe covers donned by the already fashion-challenged Chinese. Needless to say, we got COMPLETELY SOAKED but saw some amazing sights. 

I have a *lot* more pictures to post, but here are a few for now:

^ me and Josh ♥

^ 森林公园

Forest Park, Zhangjiajie and Wulingyuan

^ After a few hours of stair-stepping to the top :)

^ Fear of heights?

^ Five Fingers Peak

^ lots of Chinese tourists at some areas

^ view from Day 3 (rained all day)

^ wild monkeys along the mountain paths :)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I'm currently preparing for a 6-week trip around China for when I'm done teaching in 2 weeks. I'm so excited for the stories and pictures I'll be sharing.

Much love, ℃₳ⓘ†

Weekend Trip!

 Josh and I are heading to Zhangjiajie, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Hunan -- about 6 hours from Zhuzhou by train. We'll be there for three days, so I'll be sure to post some pictures soon! :)

Much love! x