Zaijian China!

I’m back in the US! Woo!

Friday night we had a goodbye dinner for JR, and then he left. Saturday morning I woke up, expecting to be flying from Mianyang to Shanghai around 11pm that night and then back to the US on Sunday. However, a typhoon (like a hurricane) is passing through Shanghai so my flight to the US on Sunday was cancelled, and I was rebooked for another flight on Monday. While my flight to Shanghai wasn’t cancelled, I was worried it would get delayed or cancelled at the last minute, leaving me stuck in Mianyang until the storm blew over, which could be after my flight to the US on Monday. So I freaked out and tried to get out of Mianyang anyway I could so that I had more flexibility, as Mianyang only has one flight a day to major cities. Unfortunately because China hasn’t seemed to fully modernize yet, nothing can be looked up online and no one can be called for information. The only option is to go to a travel agency to find out travel information. Unfortunately all the teachers were in class and no one seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. Finally after storming out of several offices, Mrs. Zhang, the head of the English department with whom I made dumplings a few weeks ago, found some one to take me to a travel agency. I didn’t know that’s where we were going since no one would tell me anything so I didn’t have my passport with me, which led to some problems booking my tickets. After discovering there were no flights out of Mianyang to anywhere useful that I could get on in time (I hadn’t packed yet either as I thought I had all day to pack up), we started looking at flights out of Chengdu, the capital city 2 hours away through which I have passed almost everytime I have travelled this summer. Chengdu to Shanghai flights were booked so I finally got a seat on a plane to Beijing, with the intention that once I got there, I could take the fast train to Shanghai before my Monday flight out of Shanghai. Luckily, my amazing mother found a flight from Beijing to Atlanta leaving even earlier on Sunday than my original flight home! Mummy dearest also booked me a hotel in Beijing for the night so I wouldn’t have to sleep at the airport. The hotel was located right near Beijing’s famous food night market, complete with roasted silk worms and cockroaches although I stuck to noodles and dumplings. I also took a swim in the pool there, so nice. This morning I hooped on my plane to Seattle and am currently in flight home! (This won’t be posted until I land obviously- at home, in Atlanta!!!)

So my third journey to China is over. This trip has definitely taught me a lot about Chinese culture, particularly Sichuan culture, and the Chinese education system, with which I have many complaints. Overall this program turned out to be more of an opportunity to travel to more remote places in Sichuan I never would have seen otherwise, than a volunteer teaching program. They just honestly didn’t need us at the school. To any randos out there considering teaching English in China, make sure that your program is very well defined and that you will actually be teaching, not just playing games with kids on occasion.

So Goodbye China, Hello Senior year! Hopefully I will return to China next year after graduating, doing something more rewarding and challenging intellectually. See you next year China! 

Holiday Week in Xi'An

Last Friday, Ricki left to go back to the US L. That night we got two new volunteers, Ester and Koen- both from the Netherlands. Saturday night we all went out to KTV and celebrated Martha’s last night, which was super fun. Josh, who has now been adopted by a home stay family and doesn’t live at the palace anymore, said goodbye to us Saturday night since he was leaving for the week to go to Yunan province with his family for the holiday. Sunday evening Martha left, which was really sad too. I didn’t realize quite how much I would miss everyone until they left. Sunday night we also met 3 more new volunteers- Marine (from Belgium/France), Solene (France), and Anna (Germany). They arrived with Ester and Koen on Friday night but had been taken away to live with teachers from another school, even though they all signed up for the Children’s Palace. We told them to just leave and come to the Palace so that’s what they did. The Children’s Palace didn't know they were coming, but it's worked out fine so far. I also had to say goodbye to Margaux on Sunday night because she left for Chengdu this week while I was in Xi’An. So many goodbyes! L

Jean-Raphael and I left Sunday night, right after Martha left, for Xi’An, which is a 13-15 hr train ride away. I thought taking a “sleeper” train would be fun, but the “sleeper” seats were sold out. In order of best to last, the trains have soft sleeper, hard sleeper, soft seat, hard seat, and no seat (yes, they actually allow people to stand on the train for 13-15 hrs. Mostly they camp out in the empty space by the bathroom and between the cars, but they’re loud and annoying. I felt quite bad for them). So we got the hard sleeper seats. The “hard” seats don’t seem that bad at first but after awhile your butt goes numb and you can’t really move that much and you’re smooshed between other people. I slept ok on the way there and listened to music, read, and watched TV shows on my iPod. In typical capitalist style, there were people on the trains shouting every 5 minutes about something that we could buy, holding auctions, or simply betting on each other playing cards. Seriously, I think Chinese people are the loudest people ever. And whats worse, they don’t really understand proper use of public space. Example: Smoking in an elevator=NOT OK; spitting on the floor of the train= NOT OK; playing music or a movie on your iPad speakers= NOT OK. But of course all these things happen daily so you just get used to it.

So once we got there at about noon on Monday, JR and I checked into our hostel and showered, then off to sightseeing. We went to the Muslim quarter, which was really cool but quite touristy. For lunch we had some delicious liang pi, which are these special noodles covered in a peanut-like spicy sauce. We don’t have these kind of noodles in the US, but I guess they’re closest to glass noodles. We also had chaunr, which I’ve had before and don’t parituclarly like. It’s just meat or veggies on a stick with some brushed on spice, but the meat is mostly fatty and gross. These was a lot of shopping in the muslim quarter too. Then we went to the Great Mosque, which looked more like a Buddhist temple and garden then a mosque. It was cool to see though.

me at the Mosque

gardens and archway at the Mosque

Then we went to the old Drum Tower, where we got a nice view of the city.

old drums with ancient traditional characters on them

Me at the drum tower with a view of the city

view of the bell tower from the drum tower, plus a park

Then we walked to the old Bell Tower. Clearly Xi’An was into its towers.

Me at the Bell Tower

Something cool about Xi’An was the mix of modern and ancient architecture. Even the new skyscraper buildings had winged roofs. Plus the main part of the city is enclosed by a city wall that is completely preserved. On Monday night, the other new volunteers joined us in Xi’An.

Xi’An is most famous for the Terracotta soldiers. The first (and only) emperor of the Qin Dynasty had these clay soldiers built to be buried with him so that he would be the most powerful emperor in the afterlife as well. He reigned for 33 years, during which time he had the Terracotta Soldiers built (of which there are approxiametly 8,000 but they’re finding more every year), unified China for the first time (Qin was later recorded by foreign missonaries as Chin, and then an “A” was adding, creating the English name China), built the city walls of Xi’An, AND the Great Wall (built to hold together the empire he created). So basically he was a baller. Apparently he was also crazy because he frequently ate mercury, and later died of mercury poisoning. Each of the Terracotta soldiers were made to look like a real soldier, however their faces looked like the workers who made them. There were tens of thousands of slaves who worked to build the soldiers, and then the workers were killed so that no one would find the tomb. Of course, the next ruler of China found the warriors and stole all of the weapons they had, but they didn’t get to the Emperor’s tomb. Even today, the tomb hasn’t been opened because it is surrounded by 1000X the normal amount of mercury. A farmer looking for water rediscovered the soldiers in 1974, and he was paid 10 RMB for his discovery. Now he’s employed by the tourist site to just sit there and sign books for tourists, kind of sad. Seeing the soldiers was really cool though. There are 3 main pits, or excavation sites, that have each been worked on to different levels. The best pit has over 2,000 soldiers uncovered and put together (apparently only one soldier has been found that was completely whole. The rest were broken by raiders, or the roof that enclosed them collapsing over time).

2,000 soldiers they've put back together

There is still ongoing excavation as well. There are 3 different types of warriors that were built- the general, the horseman, and the archer. Originally they were all painted by over time and with exposure to oxygen, they’ve all faded.

what the soldiers look like in the pits before they're put back together

Officer

Jean-Raphael and I with the horsemen

standing archer

The tour guide also really liked me and even let me hold the flower that she used to gather all of us.

Zha Zha and I with her conducting flower

That night we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda and saw a fountain light show. We didn’t actually go into the Pagoda because we didn’t have time. The fountain light show was funny, very Chinese, and tons of pushy Chinese people trying to see. Then we went out with some people we had met on the tour to our hostel bar and a dance club. Even thought it was a Tuesday night, everything was fairly crowded because August 1-4 is a national holiday celebrating the communist party soldiers or something.

Wednesday we rented bikes and biked the entire city wall, which was really fun. It took us about 1 hr and 45 min. The bikes were really shitty and my chain kept coming off, but with lots of my expert European biker friends around, they helped me fix it each time. It was a really cool way to see the city, but we all got pretty tired by the end and were exposed to a lot of sun. Definetly a cool thing to do in Xi’An though. Then we went back to the muslim quarter for lunch since the new volunteers hadn’t been there yet and shopped around some more and ate more delicious noodles and other Xi’an delicacies. Wednesday night we hopped on our 15 hr train ride home and I seriously thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown from the cramped space, my numb butt, and the loud Chinese people everywhere. Luckily though we got some people to switch seats so that the 7 of us could all sit together. We arrived in Mianyang Thursday morning around 10:30am.

I leave tomorrow night for Shanghai, then Sunday morning for the US! WOW! So soon! JR leaves tonight so we’re having lots of goodbye celebrations. The new volunteers are really cool thought so its too bad they didn’t come earlier. It's funny, We started off with 4 American girls and 2 British guys; now we have only 2 native english speakers and I'm the only American. It's funny being around non-native english speakers while we're teaching english. Often people will start speaking dutch or french when we're all hanging out so that's interesting. It's been good practice for me to listen to the french!

I’m certainly ready to come home! 46 hours until I land in Atlanta!! 

I go to PADI University

Rando side note on teaching in China: In every class, you will have some of the same kids- There will be a fat one who's so chubby they have to waddle, can barely make facial expressions because their eyes and mouth get lost in the chub, and generally is angry about something. There's the smarty pants girl with thick glasses who raising her hand all the time and always knows the answer (aka the Chinese version of me as a little girl). There are the annoying boys who run around screaming an doing karate or kungfu, and are generally mean to the teacher and have no idea how to speak english. There are the quiet nerdy boys who are so thin they look like they're going to collapse, wear big nerdy glasses, and never ever talk. There are the curious, but kind of stupid girls who just wonder around a lot. hmmm I think that's it for the stereotypes of chinese students. But they're reliable, seriously.

Anyways, on to the real purpose of this post- Tuesday afternoon, a day after our return from Chengdu, we were just hanging out in our room when Lila, our fav teacher, came up and told us we should take the next 3 days off and go travel. On the one hand, it's great to have time off to travel and is amazing. But on the other, it's frustrating that they can dismiss us at random because they really don't need us. So we decided we'd take the last 3 days and travel as Lila told us to (and she said we needn't go to our 5pm class on Tuesday either...). And Tuesday night when we were supposed to get 3 new volunteers, they of course didn't come.

Wednesday morning Martha, Ricki, JR, and I hopped on a 4 hr bus to Leshan (Mt. Happiness) to see the biggest stone carved buddha in the world! The bus ride was fine and cheap, a little over $10 USD. We got there and didn't have a hotel booked so we just walked down the street until we came upon one, which was pretty nice.

Ricki and Martha enjoying the western bathroom

real beds!

Then we went and had a quick lunch down the street and went to nearby Emeishan, which is a really awesome mountain that JR and I explored more the next two days. But also at Emeishan are some cool hot springs, which in typical chinese fashion, are more like nice pools that you pay to get into. It was so nice to swim a pool and just relax for a bit. They had various "fruit" pools which basically were just colored pools, but supposedly "rejuvenated your skin" and "removed signs of aging". The coolest thing they had though was a fish pool where you could pay to let the fish eat dead skin off your body! So of course, JR, Ricki, and I did it. Martha "doesn't do fish" haha. It was so hard to get used to the little fish sucking or biting (whatever they do, I don't know) at your feet. I'm not even that tickelish and it was insanely tickling. After awhile though we got used to it and enjoyed it. And by the end, my feet felt kinda they way they do after a real pedicure (OMG I can't wait for a real pedicure- hint hint mom). Then we came back to our hotel in Leshan, ate dinner, played cards, and went to sleep early.

Thursday morning we got up pretty early so as to beat the lines at the big buddha temple. Because it's a world heritage site and stuff, the tickets were expensive so I was glad I had my student ID with me for a discount. But my other friends didn't so I gave Martha my International Student ID Card, which worked fine even though we look nothing alike. And I gave Ricki my PADI open water diver card (for scuba diving), which 1) isn't a student ID at all and 2) has a picture of my from 8th grade with blonde hair (Ricki's a jewish brunette). The woman at the ticket counter was like, this isn't an ID. and Ricki was like, ya it is, I go to PADI university, and pointed to the PADI sign on the front of it. It was priceless. And she got the student ticket. :) Then we explored the temples around the buddha for awhile, and finally saw the buddha. It seriously was hugeeeee, 273 ft tall! The feet can seat 100 people they're so big. And apparently it was built in 700-800 AD. pretty sick.

the path we had to climb down to get to the bottom of the Buddha. The walls are all carved with little temples and stuff= really awesome

Martha, Me, Ricki, and JR in front of the Buddha! 

JR and I being old people with some awesome bamboo walking sticks given to us by an older Chinese couple

After seeing the buddha, we went back to Leshan and had lunch. Ricki and Martha decided to go back Thursday afternoon to Mianyang because they had to pack and get ready to leave :( so JR and I stayed on and went to Emeishan to hike and explore. Thursday afternoon we hiked around and saw lots of temples, monkeys, waterfalls, mountains, rivers. It was soooo beautiful! And not too hot but we were still sweating up a storm because of all the stair climbing. Hiking in China isn't actually hiking the way we think of it. It's more like walking along paved paths with stairs to various places, all crowded with slow, loud, littering chinese people. Not to hate but seriously Chinese people are so loud they make any tranquil serene place stressful. And they throw their trash everywhere. Some monkeys came over near us and some chinese people ran up and gave them food- a big no no, and then started giving them their trash- wtf?! why would you do that?! And when you look into any lake or anything, you see water bottles and other pieces of trash, it's so sad and gross. The idea of conversation hasn't happened here yet...Anyways, hiking was great.

the monkey and I before the chinese people scared them away

a waterfall we saw while hiking

the bridge to the monkey reserve, definitley not that safe. 

That night JR and I came back exhausted to our hotel, ate a quick dinner and went to sleep early.

The next morning we got up extra early so we could go to the top of the mountain. To get around this park though, it was super confusing. There were buses everywhere and various tickets we had to buy, etc. JR doesn't speak chinese so that was all on me. The buses ended up working fine but it was a bit frustrating at times. So it took about 2 hrs by bus to get to the cable car station. We wanted to hike up but realized we didn't have time, and that it was raining really hard and was kinda gross out. The cable car was sooo fast so that was cool. At the top we walked up to the temple and the scenic area, but since it was raining and we were so high, there was really bad fog and we couldn't see more than 20 ft in front of us. :(

the golden summit temple

the view behind me was supposed to be amazing

then we came back down and it actually took awhile so we were glad we left early. We quickly showered at the hotel and packed our bags to get the bus back to Mianyang. The hotel couldn't find a cab for us so instead the owner drove us himself, free of charge! so nice! That was the last nice part of the day...

We got to Emei bus station at 1:15 pm, thinking their was a bus to Mianyang at 1:50 because that's what they told us the day before. I didn't realize that that bus wasn't running every day, so when we went to buy our tickets, she told us there wasn't a bus until the next day. So we freaked out and bought tickets to Leshan, the town we were in the day before because they seemed to have two or three buses a day back to Mianyang, one of them at 2pm. We got there at about 2:10, so we missed the 2pm bus (if it even existed). So then we decided to take a bus to Chengdu (the city we were in the previous weekend) because they have a lot of buses and trains to Mianyang so we got on the 2:40 bus to Chengdu. That got in late and when I asked about going to Mianyang at the bus station, they said we had to go to another station in Chengdu to go to Mianyang. The worst part about all of this is that none of the schedules are online or easily accessible or something because no one can tell you what time these things run unless you go to the actual station, which makes booking return buses/trains/flights impossible until you get there. So we hopped in a taxi to the next bus station in Chengdu, which ended up being an hr to get there (and also very expensive). We got there around 6pm (when we should have arrived home on the original bus from Emeishan), not knowing if there was even another bus that day. But luckily there was one at 6:30pm, which got us in at 8pm- just in time to say goodbye to Ricki! So sad!

Since most of us are leaving soon, Lila and Candy, both teachers at the school, bought us some gifts! They're so nice! Then we had to say goodbye to Ricki, which is when it hit all of us that we've spent almost every second of the entire last 5 weeks together and now it's all ending! It also made me appreciate the fact that I'm still here for another week and 7 hours.

Lila and I with my new earrings and bracelet

the girls and Lila at Ricki's departure :(

After Ricki left, two new volunteers showed up. They are both from the Netherlands, one boy and one girl. They knew each other from home, speak great english and no chinese. Apparently they came to Mianyang with 3 other girls on the same flight last night, but the other girls were sent to another school in Mianyang! So we're all quite confused about where they are, but hopefully when Martha, Margaux, and I leave, they'll all come here and be together again.

I taught two classes this morning, and then helped the newbies settle in and get some stuff. Martha is leaving tomorrow :( so tonight we're celebrating her last night here and going KTV (karaoke). Margaux is staying in China, but leaving the Children's Palace some time this coming week. JR is leaving on Friday, and I leave Saturday (the 6th), then stay over in Shanghai one night, then off to Atlanta (via Detroit, ew)! So I get back to the US on the 7th.

This Monday-Thursday is a national holiday so JR and I are going to Xi'An, the ancient chinese city where the Terra-cotta soldiers are. Margaux spent a whole semester there so she's going to tell us lots of good things to do. The new volunteers are probably coming with us too, but they're waiting to buy their tickets until they know if their friends at the other school want to come. Josh is now permanently living with his host family and they're taking him away on other travels. Al doesn't really travel with us ever so he's not coming either.

Only one more week here! Oh my! I'm definitely glad to be going home, but will miss china as always! But I definitely can't wait to start my senior year at Vassar!!!

Panda by Day, Party by Night: A Weekend in Chengdu and a homestay

Friday afternoon, Martha, Margaux, Ricki, Jean-Raphael, and I went to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and about 2 hrs by bus from Mianyang where I'm teaching. We took the train, which was hot and crowded- not nearly as nice as the trains leaving from Shanghai that I took last year. And the train randomly stopped twice so I think the bus might have been better. I took the bus last week when I travelled to Hong Kong. Then we took a 1 hr bus ride through Chengdu to get to the hostel and then had to walk awhile (basically public transportation wasn't really the most efficient in this case).

The hostel was nice. The 5 of us got split up into three different rooms, which was kinda annoying but not really a big deal. They had western toilets and hot showers and coffee so we were happy. The first night, we went to a tex mex restaurant, which was exciting. They even had margaritas! And it was pretty delicious, despite being mexican food in China.

From left: JR, Martha, Ricki

Then we went to a bar with cheap drinks, where we met some people who Margaux knows. After talking with them for awhile, I realized one of them actually is best friends with two of my best friends from Shanghai! They all go to the same college in the US! small world!

Martha and I at the bar

The next morning we got up early and had a western breakfast at the hostel, muesli and fruit with coffee. So nice. Then we boarded a bus to go see the pandas!!! It took about an hr to get there and was organized through our hostel, which made things really nice and easy. We saw some pandas but it was dark and rainy so my pics aren't that good :(

panda in the dark, they aren't as scary as they look here

The pandas were quite active though and really really quite. We also got to see red pandas, they look more like foxes.

red panda

The rain started coming down really hard so we had to hide out for awhile, and then we saw more pandas.

Ricki, JR, Me, and Martha hanging out by the red panda observation area

pandas up close. Don't worry, they're not normally in cages

JR, Me, Ricki, and Martha being pandas while we waited for the rain to stop

We watched a funny video about pandas, and then returned to our hostel. We were famished so we immediately went to lunch on this cool, but touristy shopping street called JinLi. They had tons of stalls of food- noodles, buns, dumplings, meat on a stick, egg tarts, bubble tea, soup, etc. It was great. We tried and shared lots of different things and were pretty full afterwards. My fav were some spicy noodles I had, which Ricki got in the eye and thought she was going to be blind for life. But she's not, so no worries. Then we shopped around for a bit and I bought an amazing panda hat complete with arms and paws. I've been eyeing amazing panda gear now since my first trip to China two years ago so I figured it was time to finally make the investment. I'm very pleased with my purchase :)

Hello Halloween 2011

Then we went back to the hostel and took a nap, then had dinner at a Tibetan Restaurant. Chengdu is relatively close to Tibet so there's a large Tibetan community there. We had yak dumplings, yak yogurt, steamed bread, and some dumplings (Mo Mo) filled with buttery mashed potatoes, like actually. so good. That night we played cards at the hostel bar, and then went dancing. Mianyang has NO nightlife so this was a big treat for us. And the club had free drinks for ladies all night- yay! I know it's reverse discrimination, but it's nice. haha.

Ricki, Margaux, Martha, and I at the club

Ricki and I at the hostel 

The next morning we had more western breakfast and coffee, and then got on the train home. On this train, the seats were just benches stacked on top of each other and the seat numbers were all messed up. But in the end, it actually was more comfortable than the train there and it wasn't delayed at all. The chinese people sitting across from us were very nice and gave us homemade steamed buns they made and asked us lots of questions. They even tried to tell us jokes about Obama, which didn't translate very well, but were funny (all of this in chinese). That's why I love China, people are so unnecessarily friendly, it's great.

our seats on the train

Unfortunately after returning from Chengdu, we had to straight to our homestays. I loved my last homestay, but they switched us all up for some reason so we all had different families from last time. I was with a girl named Ruby, who was very nice, but terribly boring and didn't have anything to say. And when she did, it took her forever to say it, which I should be sympathetic about, but it's really quite annoying. We went to her house and read for awhile (I've been flying through books here), then we ate dinner, which was good. Then we watched TV, of course. The next morning she woke me up at 8:30am, then we watched TV for literally 4 hours. I was so bored. It's not like I can even understand it. And random people kept coming over, but were never introduced and then they'd leave. Breakfast was good though. We had milk, a hard-boiled egg, and some steamed buns, plus some crispy greasy bread. For lunch we had dried pig brains and heart, which I ate unknowingly, ewwww. Then we walked forever to a sports gym to play ping pong in the sweltering heat, only to find out that it was closed for the next 2 hrs for a lunch break. (Everyone in China takes long lunch breaks and naps for awhile in the afternoon) So we went to a tea house and I was so bored so I read some NYtimes on my iphone and then took a nap while Ruby and her friend Megan giggled and watched TV. And it was super gross at the tea house cuz there were lots of men smoking. We finally played ping pong, which was fun for awhile, but it was so hot in the gym so we went home after an hr, watched some TV, and then ate dinner.

I got home around 7:30pm to the palace, only to find out that our room had been broken into while Martha (the only girl not given a homestay for some reason) was gone the previous day. They came in through the window and stole Martha's iPod and camera. Nothing else was taken, despite computers and US dollars left out in plane sight. We think they were students here because otherwise they would have taken our money and computers too, but the kids probably didn't know what things were or got scared and left. The best part is that the children's palace doesn't even care. They're barely addressing the issue of ROBBERY and have no solution as to how to prevent this from happening again. This is truly the WORST program I have ever ever ever been on in China. I would not do this again and warn anyone out there from doing any program through Smaller Earth, GVI World, or XuBo (these are all the random organizations that are somehow affiliated with this program). So hopefully that gets worked out.

Anyways, 12 days left until I go home! We have a long break next week so hopefully that'll be fun. Martha and Ricki leave this weekend so that's sad, but apparently 3 new volunteers are arriving tonight!

Teaching!

Tuesday was a bit hectic after coming home from Hong Kong, but the rest of the week has been fun. Wednesday evening us girls we invited to an English Corner dinner through the school. We taught them western manners and food vocabulary. We made them sing songs(although this isn't really American, they seem to think it is because it's in all their text books) (videos will come later, it's taking too long)...

Then we taught them food vocabulary:

After that came the food demonstrate, which was a huge highlight for the kids I think. The restaurant cooked the steak out in the open so that the kids could watch. However as we later learned, they cooked all 50 steaks on these two little pans and didn't actually fully cook them either- problem, haha. 

steak demo

Then came the best part, watching the kids eat! I assumed that they had used a knife and fork before and it's just a silly rumor that Chinese people don't know how to use them, but it's totally true. There's a great scene in Anna and the King when they're preparing for dinner with the British and are learning how to use forks and knives- watch it. That's exactly what it was like. Most of them resorted to putting their face on the plates and slurping the food up. Some sandwiched the food between the fork and knife, like chopsticks. And other used the two to scoop things into their mouths. 

girl using the scooping method with her fork and knife

The food was not very western in fact. The food was served on a hot plate, like you would serve with fajitas, and on it was a steak, some overcooked noodles with ambiguous red sauce, and an egg that was being fried by the plate. Quite strange. Then there was "salad" on the table, which was fruit with some yogurty-mayonnaisey sauce and some french fries. Very interesting...

our steak dinner

the group at dinner

From Left: Orange, Margaux, Sophie, Me, Candy, Colleen, Martha, and Ricki (it should be obivous who's a teacher and who isn't)

Then after that english corner, we went to another english corner, the same one as last week and chatted with our friends. I got a call while I was there that I would be going to another school the next day, but no one seemed to have any details for me. 

So the next morning I woke up for my 7:15am pickup (I was not so happy about that). They were a half hr late to get me. I got in the car and met the teacher I was going with, Ma Yin. She's super awesome, we're bffls now. The other people in the car didn't talk to us and we proceeded to pick up and drop off randos for awhile on our way to YanQing, the town where I was going to teach about 1.5 hrs away. Ma Yin is a dance teacher at the Children's Palace here and apparently goes to this other school that the Palace has a partnership with to teach a few times a week. She's 23 so we're pretty close in age and talked about a lot of funny stuff, like how she thinks the boys on my trip are really cute and how she only likes talking to cute boys, very funny. Plus she has a boy friend. 

So we arrived at the school and I met Lucy, the english teacher I'd be working with for the day, and Tina, her assistant who's doing an internship at the school. Lucy's english was ok, but Tina's was really really good so we talked about women's roles in China, and politics, and more. It was great. With everyone else, I spoke chinese so it was a great day of practice for me. As long as they speak slowly and use Mandarin (not Sichuan dialect), I can usually understand what they're saying or the general idea even if I don't get every word. I taught the first class, which went quite poorly. The kids didn't even know how to say "My name is..." They had learned to say "I am..." instead so the sentence structure change totally threw them off. It was pretty rough. Then we went to the lobby downstairs for recess essentially but it was raining so they couldn't go outside. There were about 40 kids in the class. Lucy turned to me and said "Teach now!". I hate when they said that because you never know when they want you to teach, or what, or how, etc. So we played a few games and sang some songs. The kids were gathered in a huge circle and I was in the middle "teaching", while tons of rando chinese people (mostly parents I assume) watched me. It was very stressful and awkward. 

Then we breaked for lunch. They asked me if I liked Hot Pot and I said yes, so naturally that's where we went. I told them dumplings were my favorite food so they ordered some of those for me too (typically not served with hot pot). NOTE: When in China, if someone asked if you like something or you like to do something and you say yes, that means they will get it for you or you will do it for sure. So be careful. haha. Lunch was great though. The last few hot pots have been entirely too spicy but this one was good and we had broccoli, woo! my fav. so of course, they ordered another order of it because I liked it and made me eat tons of it. We had great conversation, almost all in chinese, and the people at lunch were very funny. 

Chinese people usually take long lunches and then nap. They always assume we're really tired and tell us to nap, but usually I just read or do email or something. So they napped and I read. Then I tried to teach a 4-6 yr old class but had literally no materials. no blackboard or anything so they were really really bored. But then they sang me some hilarious songs (videos to come) so that was great. Then I taught some more and it was hard. Then I went to my last class, kids who were about 9-11. We played a "game" where I wrote a letter on the board and they told me words that started with the letter. I taught them a few new words per letter. They have a really hard time pronouncing certain sounds, which became very apparent when they didn't even know what letter the words started with. Example: For S, a kid raised his hand and said "Thirteen", which sounds like sirteen. Another fav: For Z, there said "there", which sounds like z. For W, "vegetable"=wegitable. soooo funny. I couldn't help laughing. 

Then we took a long break to wait for Ma Yin to finish, and then got a car back to Mianyang. Ma Yin and I went out to dinner with her friend and her friend's daughter. At dinner, Ma Yin told me to stop being so polite and be real (essentially that's how I'd translate it), it was great. We had a this big pot of soup on the table on a heater that cooked a bunch of veggies (very similar to hot pot) and then some delicious noodles. Then I brought her back to our room to introduce her to my other foreign teacher friends. 

Today we taught in the morning and now we're off to Chengdu for the weekend! woo! Then homestay until Tuesday!

I leave Mianyang two weeks from tomorrow, and get home two weeks from Sunday- how time flies! 

Princess Jasmine escapes the Palace!

So this weekend I went to Hong Kong to visit one of my besties from Vassar, Natalie Nielsen, who is travelling with her family. I left on saturday morning about my 9am class. The travel was a bit much for only two days-ish but it was still fun! 

Because there are no flights directly from Mianyang to Hong Kong, I first had to get to Chengdu. I went to the bus station in Mianyang, but I didn't really know what was going on so I walked up to a counter where I said "to Chengdu" and then the lady started yelling at me. When I tried to walk away though she told me how much it cost and gave me a ticket, weird, haha. Then I wondered around the bus station some more and ended up on a bus to Chengdu (although no one would really confirm that's where we were going). I slept most of the way, which was nice, although a bit difficult because the bus kept swerving into head on traffic to pass cars, haha. I arrived at the  bus station and got a taxi to the Chengdu airport. I had been waiting patiently until it was my turn to get the next taxi when a taxi pulled over. I walked up to it and waited for the guy to get out so I could come in. Then a chinese woman and her boyfriend push me out of the way to get into the taxi! I was pissed, but got the next taxi so it was ok. I ended up getting to the airport too early to check-in so I hung out in the lobby area and read. About an hr in, I noticed that people next to me kept sitting down and then getting up again really fast, about every 10 seconds so I looked up and realized a tour group of old chinese ladies were all trying to take pictures with me. Once they saw me look at them, we started speaking chinese, which was even more amazing to them. So we chatted and took photos for awhile, then it was time to board my plane. There wasn't anyone next to me on the plane so I got to spread out a bit which was nice. The plane was 45 min late, so that was annoying. I didn't realize I could take the airport train/shuttle so I took a taxi, which was quite expensive (like everything in HK). 

Then I arrived at the hotel, which was amazinggggg. Maybe the best part of the weekend was enjoying the luxury of the hotel. The beds were soft (compared to my plank bed at the palace) and Natalie and I shared because her brothers were sleeping in our room too. It was snuggly and great. :) The showers were hot from the very beginning and it wasn't just a single concentrated stream of water. The toilet were normal and western. Seriously, you don't know what its like after 2 weeks of squat toilets to then be able to pee in relaxation and peace. It was amazing. 

The first night we went to dinner in the mall that the hotel was in (Note: Everything in Hong Kong is in a mall, that connects to another mall, that connects to another mall). It was nice/expensive chinese food, but not particularly delicious. I ordered for the nielsen family, haha. Natalie and I then went to a bar to have a drink and catch up about our summers, so nice. :)

Sunday morning we had an awesome breakfast buffet. They had bagels, fruit, breads, chinese food, eggs, pancakes, and more. I was in total heaven. They even had fresh squeezes orange juice and lattes. :) At school here we get each get two kinds of assorted breads that they bake here. None of them are particularly good, but we don't have much choice so we eat them. But because of the lack of real bfast, I very much enjoyed the breakfast buffet. Then we walked around a park near out hotel that was really pretty. 

Natalie and I at the park!

we were supposed to go out on boat owned by Erik (Natalie's dad)'s friend, but it was cloudy so instead we went to their house, which was beautiful. The guy is an expat who works for Goldman Sachs so he's living the high life in Hong Kong. 

View from the expat apt

I sometimes forget that Hong Kong is on a beautiful island, and isn't just a huge gross city. It almost looks like the caribbean, although the water's not as clean. Anyways, then we went to this Australian place for lunch, which was exciting because I hadn't had western food since I left France 3 weeks ago. (I know, not that long in the scheme of things...) Then we walked around a marketplace for awhile and then went swimming at the beach! So nice to be in the water!

(we went swimming too) Then we returned to our hotel and swam in the pool there and soaked in their hot tub. so amazing. For dinner, I met up with my roommate from Shanghai, Katie. She's doing a Ralph Lauren internship here in Hong Kong for the summer. We went to a typical Hong Kong restaurant where we ate some delicious noodles and beef, as well as these rolls with condensed milk on top (very Hong Kong-ese), yum! And we drank some delicious lemon tea. Afterwards, we went to an Ice Bar (literally in a freezing cold room of ice). They gave us coats to go in. We took a quick shot of vodka, then left. 

Me at the ice bar in my baller coat

Then we met up with Natalie at another bar that had drink specials. It was a Sunday so almost everywhere had drink specials. HK has a pretty great nightlife so I wish I had gone out on Saturday night but oh well. It's nice because all the bars and clubs are in the same neighborhood and you can walk between all of them. It was really nice to see Katie and to catch up with her. It's funny that she goes to school less than an hr from me (Manhattanville College) but I see her in HK. Anyways, then Natalie and I went back on the subway around 1am. The subway is HK very similar to in Shanghai and is really nice. Then we stayed up talking for almost 4 hours, it was so nice. :) 

Monday morning we had more amazing breakfast buffet, then went to an antique shopping area. Erik had a business meeting so we just walked around that area for several hours, which got to be really really tiring and hot and sweaty. Then we had a quick lunch at the hotel before I left. I took the airport train, which was super convenient and nice. There wasn't anyone next to me on the flight home so I got to spread out. 

Upon arriving at the airport though, there wasn't a single airport employee around for me to ask about anything. I eventually deduced that there weren't any more trains or buses back from Chengdu that night so then I tried to find a hotel close by for me to stay at. I walked to where the taxis were supposed to be, but it was only one chinese lady, who started talking to me and told me a hotel I could go to. I was pretty sketched out though and thought I might get kidnapped and die (I didn't, no worries). I got in a cab that took me to a random hotel, which was nice enough for the night. They kept telling me the first bus wasn't until 9:30am, but I knew that wasn't true so I decided to just be up and ready by 6:30am and figure out in the morning. So I got up and checked out. They put me in a cab with another guy going to a similar place and I did eventually make it to the bus station by 7:30am, when I got on a bus home. I got here back to the palace around 9:45am this morning. It was a long journey. Apparently the program people are pissed that we all travelled this weekend because "They're responsible for us", but so what? I'm 21, speak chinese, and I know how to travel. They're so annoying. I think we're having a "meeting" this week where they're going to yell at us about it, but they barely speak english anyways so whatever. 

Tomorrow night we're helping host a western dinner and teaching the kids manners, should be funny. This weekend I think we're going to Chengdu to stay and see the Pandas and go shopping, woo! 

Two and half more weeks in China! I feel pretty ready to go home as I'm totally over/was never really into the teaching thing here, and mianyang is boring. But I'm sure we'll have fun here anyways. 

Making new friends!

After the homestay, we all just hung out Tuesday and got caught up on stuff.

Wednesday morning we taught the screaming children. They're really into "chanting" because that's their text book says to do. My favorite one goes like this: "Hungry me, Hungry you. Eat the jam, 1 2 3. Hungry Me, Hungry You. Eat the peach, 1 2 3..." (If you want to see the coordinating dance and hear the rhythm of the chant, call me, it's priceless). In the afternoon we went to Sheng Shui Si, a buddhist temple in Mianyang. It was really cool. We saw chanting monks (a legit form of chanting), and beautiful statues, and people praying. Always cool.

The statues and I 

A giant sleeping buddha, and more statues. 

The right side of the temple

Last week my friend Josh was practicing kungfu in the park with some chinese people. Side note- if/when you ever come to China, you MUST go to a Chinese park at night or in the morning. It's teaming with people dancing, singing, playing games or sports, etc. It's a great way to experience Chinese culture, make new friends, and get your picture taken because you're foreign. And people will yell  "HELLO!" at you and when you respond, they will laugh at you because they're so funny. We're kinda like monkeys at the zoo, but I like it. haha

Anyways, We were all there watching and made friends with a girl named Moria. She invited us to go to dinner and English Corner with her on wednesday night. English corner is a bunch of chinese people who get together to practice their english at a tea house. I think every chinese city does this. It was really awesome. I got to practice my chinese a little bit. We talked about politics, ear wax, sex, tampons, and more. Very interesting conversation! haha. My friend Moria has offered to take us around to various places around Mianyang, I can't wait! We're definitely going back next week to talk some more, it's a great way to share ideas and culture and such. Then we went to McDonalds for McFlurries, and surprise- at McDonalds we met another foreigner! It's pretty embarrassing that we met at McDonalds, but seriously, there aren't many of us here so it's a very rare sighting. He was cool and we chatted in line so that was fun.

Then today I was invited by Mrs. Zhang, the head of the english department or something, to her house for lunch to practice Chinese with her son who is in an english competition tomorrow. He was too shy to actually speak english though, or say anything to me really. But the parents were nice and lunch was great! She made hot carrot juice (a great accompaniment to spicy food), steamed pumpkin (delicious!), spicy corn, vinegar mushrooms, duck soup, fish soup, and mushrooms with peppers and pork. A typical chinese meal, aka WAY too much food. And then we ate some dragon fruit and lychee. I mentioned that I liked dumplings, which led to me coming over again tonight to make dumplings (for the second time this week) and eat them. I have never eaten so many dumplings in my life. They kept saying, oh you don't like it do you? So I'd have to eat more. and more. and more. And then, just when I thought we were done, out comes the soup! I didn't have any. But of course then I had to eat lychee and watermelon, which was yellow. weird. I didn't like it very much. Then we walked through the park at night and it was super crowded and awesome. Kids were playing in fountains, people dancing, etc.

Tomorrow night we're going out with the english office for dinner. This weekend I'm escaping to Hong Kong! I say escape because 1) the Children's palace is like a prison; 2) We joke about how I'm Jasmine stuck in the palace; and 3) they don't actually know I'm going away....yikes. haha, hope they don't find out/care! Also hope I don't have any trouble getting in and out of china. (I know Hong Kong is "part of china" but the immigration rules are different) so ya, talk to you after Hong Kong! woo!

A Week in Mianyang

So not much has really happened in the last week...

We went to hot pot as a group last monday night...

From left: Martha, Al, Ricki, Josh, Margaux, Liya (english teacher), and Jason (english teacher)

Wednesday night we went out for karaoke, which is always fun.

Thursday we had to go to the police station to register as foreigners, which took forever and was so disorganized, of course. Then in the afternoon I had to help interview host families for us to stay with. My job was to assess the student's english (all the families had students who are studying here at the palace). Some of them were really shy and awkward and some of them could barely speak english. But also some of them were great.

We recently discovered some new restaurants on street nearby so we've been eating pretty well, lots of dumplings, noodles (not what you think of chinese noodles though, they're all made from different kinds), etc.

Thursday after dinner we went on a hunt for this british bar we had heard about just to check it out. After some time wandering, we found it. We ended up having a beer with the owner, who was totally weird. He's married to a chinese woman and has lived in China for 8 years, but doesn't speak chinese or eat chinese food. He has a driver to avoid interacting with people at all costs. but seems to be doing pretty well here in china of course. When I asked him what his favorite place in china was, he couldn't give me answer, not because of how great china is, but because he doesn't particularly like anywhere. typical foreign snob. but we'll still probably go back for drinks on our own at some point, haha.

Friday our internet was down so of course we all freaked out. I finished a great book called the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. You should all read it. I loved it. Friday night a new foreigner came, Jean-Raphael. He's french and very nice. So now there are 4 girls and 3 boys; 4 americans, 2 british, and 1 french. It's a nice mix, haha.

Saturday I spent the afternoon taking a practice GRE. I’m planning on taking it in August so I have to study while I’m here. L There’s a graduate program through John Hopkins in Nanjing, China that I want to apply for, in case you were wondering. But anyways, I improved a lot on that already so that was encouraging. Saturday night we bought some wine and played cards in our room. And of course watched some sex and the city, which we do everyday, at least twice a day, haha.

Initially when we arrived, we were upset because we only have Mondays off, but we had been promised “weekends” off. So after a lot of drama, we have been granted a “second” day off whenever we want, which we’ve basically decided will be Sundays. So we had Sunday off and wanted to go to Li Bai’s home in Jiangyou. Li Bai is an ancient Tang dynasty poet. He’s basically the Shakespeare of China. And we studied him in class a lot so I actually get him. My favorite expression I learned relating to Li Bai is 只要功夫神，铁杵摸成针, which means “If you persist, you can grind an iron rod into a needle”. So it’s about sticking with it and persisting until something is accomplished. Apparently it’s also slang for masturbation. But anyways, we had to back by 4pm because that’s when were being picked up by our homestay families. We needed to get a train to Jiangyou so we hopped on a bus to the train station. Once we got there, we were confronted by a huge confusing board with lots of characters and numbers, from which I deduced that there were only 2 trains and we couldn’t go on Sunday. So instead we walked around the train station area and go some lunch. We’ve been looking for a good fake DVD shop for awhile but still haven’t found one. We did find a shop with a few things so everyone was happy about that. Then we came back to the palace.

At 4 pm our families came to get us. I knew all the kids already because I had interviewed them. I ended up with my favorite girl Eva.

She’s 13 and speaks English extremely well. Her cousin also hung out with us the whole time because she’s studying English too. She’s 15. First we took a taxi to Eva’s family’s curtains shop, which turned out to be right next to the train station. The shop was nice. Then the uncle drove us to their apartment, which was on the outskirts of town. It was much more calm and peaceful and not as polluted where they lived. Their apartment overlooked the river, which was pretty despite the fact that the river is brown and has trash floating in it. Then we walked to a nearby market where farmers from the countryside come to sell their food. We got some delicious noodles called “Liang Pi”. The noodles are served cold with some veggies in them, a bit of soy sauce and spicy sauce. I don’t think the noodles are made from wheat (or whatever noodles are usually made from), maybe they’re from rice, if that exists? Anyways, delicious. Then I walked around a park with Eva and her cousin. Then I met her parents, aunts and uncles, and a grandmother for hot pot, which seems to be the thing to do with guests, as this is my 3^rd hot pot meal in 2 weeks since arriving in China. They ordered some gross stuff, like cow liver. And they kept serving it to me so I had to eat it. And it was sooooo spicy. I thought I was going to throw up from the amount of food and the spice. But I didn’t, thank god. Then we went home, watched some TV, and played cards. My host family gave me a nightgown to sleep in, which was actually pretty cute. Then they gave me water so I could wash my feet, which was actually really nice. I think we should do this in the US too. No one likes going to bed with dirty feet.

Then next morning they wanted me to get up at 6:30am! That’s normal for them because Eva usually has school, and if it’s summertime, she has to study. (In response to the following questions, she said “she’s not allowed because she has to study”- Do you have a boyfriend? Do you drink beer? (I know she’s 13, I forgot, haha) Do you like karaoke? (which EVERYONE likes)). I had a hot shower, which was amazing, but maybe strange because half way through, Eva asked me if I was using the hot water. If you have hot water, why wouldn’t you use it? Oh well, they didn’t say anything else about it. Then we had breakfast which was hard-boiled eggs, baozi (stuffed steamed buns), bread, shredded potatoes stir-fried in a spicy sauce, and some eggs soaked in something, but were actually pretty good. Then we went to Eva’s mother’s hometown, which was a really small farming village. It was great to get to see the countryside, which I’ve never really experienced. We picked watermelons and lots of other vegetables to bring back to our house and had them for lunch. J and the family in the village that we were at cut up watermelon for us to eat (a big deal in china). And then we picked pears off a tree, peeled them, and ate them on the spot. Pretty awesome. 

Cow and I in the countryside

Our chosen watermelon. And my host cousin.

fields after fields, so beautiful

My host Great Aunt. She's like 70, and carrying corn on her back in a basket. 

the biggest home in the village, aka they're rich. I think they have electricity and running water, but I wasn't sure. This is my host mom's house when she was a child. 

random people in the village. I'm probably the first white person they're ever seen. 

Then we went home and made dumplings, which I've been wanting to do foreverrrrrr. 

Then we ate lunch, which were not the dumplings (we had those for dinner- yummmm!). Instead, we had chicken soup (so the whole chicken- feet, bones, etc. all in the soup), rabbit (mostly bones) with some potatoes (which I ate), some shredded pork dish with these nasty bitter veggies, and eggplant (which was ok but then it got cold and was gross). After a short nap, we set out for Beichuan, which was a small village hit particularly hard by the earthquake in 2008. 

Information about the Earthquake

Beichuan was a poor village and not built particularly well, which is partly while it suffered so much during the earthquake. It is also surrounded by beautiful and tall mountains (up to 22,000 ft), which further isolated it. During the earthquake, there were numerous rock and mud slides, which killed people who managed to escape the crashing buildings. And by rocks, I mean boulders the size of a small house rolled down into the village. And an entire river was rerouted by the Earthquake, which flooded part of the town and contributed to the mud slides. The original town of Beichuan was too damaged to rebuild, so it was relocated about 15 km away out of the valley (During the earthquake, many supplies and rescue workers couldn't get to the village because they were in the valley. There also weren't able to communicate with the outside world for about 72 hrs after). The old town of Beichuan has been preserved as a memorial for the 70,000 people who died (total, not just in Beichuan), making it the 21st most deadly earthquake in history. So we walked around the town and looked at the damage. It was really sad, but also morbidly interesting. 

a flooded office building

apartments

the river on the other side of a mountain got diverted by the earthquake and now runs through a tunnel that used to be for cars. This bridge broke during the earthquake so now it's just a waterfall. 

A school. The earthquake hit at 2:28pm. All the kids were napping when it happened. 107 people died here. 

The info about the school above

rock slide

This is a mass grave where people were buried. It's also a memorial. 

Then we left the town because it was raining so hard. We got lost on the way back and it took 2.5 hrs. But we got to drive through the mountains, which are amazingly beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice, especially with the fog. At some point in my life, I want to come back and hike here (Lucas?!). They're extremely rugged and sharp. 

This is the China you see in the movies. 

When we finally got home, we ate our delicious dumplings. By saying how much I liked them, I was then fed another 6 after already eating 8! So I was EXTREMELY full after that. Then I came back here to the palace. 

This morning I had class, during which I showed a powerpoint I made about my life. I have pictures of my family and friends, and my school. The highlight was of course my dogs. But they said everyone was beautiful and very cute and that we are all rich. haha. So congrats if you were in that ppt. 

Classes have been better because now we're seeing the same students again. But still not that rewarding or challenging. Still getting along great with my friends here. Last week I met a girl in the park who invited me to join her for a dinner with her friends where they practice english, so maybe we'll go to that. 

I'm planning on going to Hong Kong this weekend, but it's been so complicated. They're afraid I'll get hurt or something and they'll be held responsible. So basically I gave up asking permission and I'm just going to go. They won't notice. But I also still haven't been able to buy my ticket. I'm going this afternoon so hopefully that works out. In Hong Kong, I'm staying with my best friend Natalie and her family (LOVE THE NIELSENSSSSS!!!!!) and hopefully seeing my roommate from Shanghai, Katie. 

No other plans for the week! Congratulations if you made it to the bottom of this! :)

My host mom and I 

My host cousin and I 

Eva and I