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

WT Goodbye Dinner in Changsha

^ we ate delicious XinJiang food!

^ the Hunan Dept of Education presented us with these

^ World Teachers :)

I can't believe how fast time is flying! I'm finished teaching on June 15th, so I only have 21 more days in Zhuzhou! I'm trying to pre-organise my schedule for what needs to be done: saying goodbye to friends, giving exams to all 1,100 students, packing and clearing out my apartment, and planning my 6-week trip around China. Crazy!

In other news, I just finished reading a few books.
1. Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova
2. The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
3. My Life (The Story of a Provincial), by Anton Chekhov

I'm currently reading Adventures in Mandarin: The Fox and the Goat, by Sam Song. It teaches me different Chinese characters along the way so I can eventually read the entire story in written Chinese characters. Quite a helpful tool in my language study!

I also want to end with some quotes from The Alchemist, which was a quick read but a very touching story. I'd recommend it to anyone who can borrow it from a library or a friend. Quotes below.

“The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”
~
“Why don’t people’s hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?” the boy asked the alchemist.
“Because that’s what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don’t like to suffer.”
From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him.
~
The alchemist said, “No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn’t know it.”

Around Town

Here are some photos from around Zhuzhou. :) Enjoy!

^ garden at my school

^ eating dinner with some teachers

^ an adorable, playful little puppy!

^ i waaaant to take him home!

^ Zhuzhou's train tracks

^ Josh came to see me! :)

^ hilarious Chinglish translation

^ a crowd gathers to watch a card game at the local pharmacy

^ hilarious picture...

^ adorable little child

Sore Back & 勇敢

What a week! I managed to hurt my lower back somehow -- the Chinese doctor at the hole-in-the-wall clinic thinks it's a strained muscle -- leaving me walking really slow and unable to sleep through the night. I'm taking medication to help with the pain, hoping that a little R&R will help things heal.

In other news, today's new Chinese vocab is: 勇敢
It means "courage in the face of fear". Not necessarily the spirit of courage but the ability to act courageously (if the two can actually be separated). It's pronounced Yǒng gǎn.

Student Responses

I gave a really small, short (and easy!) in-class assignment to check to see if students could remember different occupations. When asked "What do you want to be, and why?" my Junior 1 students (around 12-13 years old) answered with the following. (My personal favourite will be revealed later--> tomorrow's post).