And these are the rest of the images :)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Jan 27, 2010 part 2
Picture 1- The Kids at the Poor Village
Picture 2- Me and some of the kids
Picture 3- Me and Eric
Picture 4- Eric and the girl who gave him a Happy New Years card
Picture 5- All the Kids and Volunteers
Jan 27, 2010
The first picture is The Hills Surrounding the School in the Village, Pic 2. is The Girl who Gave me a Happy New Years card, pic 3. isSchool Bus Driver, Frances, Eric. and Pic 4. is Me Holding a Plate Vegetable :)
January 20, 2010
I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet or not, but some of the differences if anyone is interested are:
- There are a few squatting toilets but most are the western style.
- They use toilet paper for everything; paper towel in the bathrooms, napkins in the teachers lounge, to wipe the white boards off, etc…
- For toilet paper they have packages that are a larger version of the to-go Kleenex's that we have.
- Pretty much no one has a dryer, everyone hangs their clothes to dry.
- The weather right now is really nice. It's not too hot or too cold; the summer is going to suck I think.
- There are very few traffic lights. To cross a road you just look for an opening and start walking, the cars will drive around you; it's like playing a real version of Frogger.
I got to go to story land today and will now be in a play called the Apple Princess. I am the apple princess. The only thing is they don't have an English script, so they told me the gist of the play and now I have to write a make shift script. We'll see how it turns out.
Today, Brandy has decided she will not stay in China. She is going to go home. :-(
January 21, 2010
The script was good and we will rehearse it tomorrow in front of the group. Other than that I just went to the school and watched the other groups perform their plays. We started a dance for the new years party…I look like an idiot compared to the rest of the girls. They all have some sort of dance experience, and I don't; it'll be funny.
January 22, 2010
Today was much of the same thing. Go to the school watch plays and practice mine. Go home hang out for a bit, check emails and go to bed.
January 23, 2010
I went to a poor village outside of Wenzhou today to meet some kids and give them some presents. All the kids were really nice and very excited to get presents. I took some pictures to add to the blog as well, just for clarification on who the people are: Eric is the guy who is training the teachers how to act in the plays, Frances is the principal of the school I'm at, and the rest of the pictures are mainly kids from the village. For lunch it was a lot of new foods and we were eating with the head of school board or something like that so I had to try most of it. The tamest I think was fish jello; Mmmmm :-P not! I didn't eat too much. That was my first experience with squatting toilets that weren't in stalls… they have a short fence designed to hide your butt, however I'm much taller than them, needless to say I was showing off for them a bit. Once everything was said and done it was a really nice day and I quite enjoyed myself.
January 24-27, 2010
Just working at the school and watching the rehearsals, doing a bit of Chinese lessons at night but nothing too major. The weather has been rainy and chilly, I can't seem to figure out the heater in my room and have yet to be home at the same time as Frances to get her to help me out.
I presented a "demo" of my play to an audience on the 26th, it was just a 15 minute preview but it was fun.
Brandy left on the morning of the 27th. :-( I miss her already.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Jan 19 2010
January 17, 2010
Today we went to James school to meet the rest of the teachers and saw the fencing room. We went back to the main school to judge a talent show sort of thing and then went for a nice dinner with Simon and Craig (a couple other foreign teachers.
January 18, 2010
Today I followed Simon in his classes and then joined the Story Forest group with their plays. It seems that I will be focusing on Story Forest and Brandy will be focusing on lessons. Story Forest is pretty much acting out fairy tales for the kids. I feel like I lucked out with that bit; although I haven't gotten a schedule yet so I don't really know if I'm teaching classes yet or not.
Once Story Forest ended Frances took myself, Eric, and Elaine out for dinner. There was the most delicious pork dish and dumplings. Ooo we had a tomato dish as well that was yummy and they were spitting out the skins. I thought this was hilarious because they will eat every part of a cow, but can't handle the skin of a tomato.
January 19, 2010
Today I had to go into the school for a rehearsal…as usual it was all Chinese. I'm still unsure as to where I'm supposed to fit into the plays…I don't think they do either. Craig (another foreign teacher) came by to see if I wanted to go to the stores for some shopping with him and Brandy, I got permission from Eric to go and made sure they didn't need me. We went to a paint/artist shop that I plan on taking Nea to, a music shop that I plan on taking Caleb to, went for dinner and came home. We are planning on playing cards later and hopefully have an early night.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Jan 16, 2010
Well Hello Everyone!
I apologize for the length of this blog. We haven't started classes yet and so are being shown around the town. Also, our internet gave the IT guy some problems and it took some time for him to get it up and running. The next ones will be shorter.
January 13, 2010
I've made it to China safe and sound. In just my trip here I have had the luxury of using one of the squatting toilettes, carrying my luggage up flights of stairs (thank goodness it was only the third floor), and eating a "sausage" which was like little bits of corn surrounded by a corn paste (it wasn't terrible but I don't think I will be hunting it down to have another).
The cab ride to the apartment was good; there was barely any traffic so we didn't need to worry about too many cars. When we arrived though, there was an interesting line up of parked cars. There were three rows of them all the way down the street with just barely enough apace for our van to drive between them.
The apartment is much bigger than I was expecting. I think my room is bigger than Caleb and Linnea's at the house, the living room has enough space for two couches and a chair; they are all smushed together though, the kitchen is tiny; it's probably the size of our bathroom and there is no stove :-(, and the bathroom has the washing machine, a shower that's just on the side of the wall, and a normal toilet. All in all I think I've lucked out with this place because it is very nice. The walls are all clean and the floor is a sparkling granite (or maybe marble); I'm not really sure either way it seems to be holding the cold very well. I'm comfortable with it, Brandy's a bit cold though.
January 14, 2010
Effie and Romanty took us to get bank accounts, cell phones and do some shopping in the markets. We stopped at a tea shop where they would make any kind of tea for you to try; Brandy and I bought some delicious milk tea. As we strolled along we stopped at a stand to try some mountain sheep on a stick; it was ok but I don't think I need to do it again. Maybe the beef next time. For the rest of the day we pretty much just browsed around markets. Effie took us to Europe City which has a bunch of European items and shops I might need to go there later when I am homesick.
January 15, 2010
We went for our first Chinese lessons today and I bombed! They're introducing us to the sounds of pingying (the phonetic version of Chinese).
Romanty took us out to dinner tonight, I think as a welcome to China thing. That was my first experience with strange foods. There was a giant bowl of snails; you were supposed to suck them out of their shell. I ended up using a toothpick. There was also a beef pot that had every part of the cow in it…I could only eat the green peppers from it. There was a delicious dish that had a bunch of cubed things with a kind of firm tofu texture; it's made from some kind of veggie that doesn't translate. The rest of the dishes were fairly normal.
Afterwards a few of us went to a pool hall. Wow…they are fancy! Not at all like Canada's; these ones have guys in suites waiting and watching for the moment you've finished the game so they can re-rack it for you. It was a lot of fun.
January 16, 2010
Today we got to go to the branch school and sit in on some lessons. The first one had 5 kids in the class and the second one had 7. :-)
Frances (the principal of the school) took us for dinner with the other foreign teachers and a couple of the Chinese teachers, I think that was the best dinner we've had yet. All the food was delicious and fairly normal. The craziest was a fish head which wasn't so bad.
I apologize for the length of this blog. We haven't started classes yet and so are being shown around the town. Also, our internet gave the IT guy some problems and it took some time for him to get it up and running. The next ones will be shorter.
January 13, 2010
I've made it to China safe and sound. In just my trip here I have had the luxury of using one of the squatting toilettes, carrying my luggage up flights of stairs (thank goodness it was only the third floor), and eating a "sausage" which was like little bits of corn surrounded by a corn paste (it wasn't terrible but I don't think I will be hunting it down to have another).
The cab ride to the apartment was good; there was barely any traffic so we didn't need to worry about too many cars. When we arrived though, there was an interesting line up of parked cars. There were three rows of them all the way down the street with just barely enough apace for our van to drive between them.
The apartment is much bigger than I was expecting. I think my room is bigger than Caleb and Linnea's at the house, the living room has enough space for two couches and a chair; they are all smushed together though, the kitchen is tiny; it's probably the size of our bathroom and there is no stove :-(, and the bathroom has the washing machine, a shower that's just on the side of the wall, and a normal toilet. All in all I think I've lucked out with this place because it is very nice. The walls are all clean and the floor is a sparkling granite (or maybe marble); I'm not really sure either way it seems to be holding the cold very well. I'm comfortable with it, Brandy's a bit cold though.
January 14, 2010
Effie and Romanty took us to get bank accounts, cell phones and do some shopping in the markets. We stopped at a tea shop where they would make any kind of tea for you to try; Brandy and I bought some delicious milk tea. As we strolled along we stopped at a stand to try some mountain sheep on a stick; it was ok but I don't think I need to do it again. Maybe the beef next time. For the rest of the day we pretty much just browsed around markets. Effie took us to Europe City which has a bunch of European items and shops I might need to go there later when I am homesick.
January 15, 2010
We went for our first Chinese lessons today and I bombed! They're introducing us to the sounds of pingying (the phonetic version of Chinese).
Romanty took us out to dinner tonight, I think as a welcome to China thing. That was my first experience with strange foods. There was a giant bowl of snails; you were supposed to suck them out of their shell. I ended up using a toothpick. There was also a beef pot that had every part of the cow in it…I could only eat the green peppers from it. There was a delicious dish that had a bunch of cubed things with a kind of firm tofu texture; it's made from some kind of veggie that doesn't translate. The rest of the dishes were fairly normal.
Afterwards a few of us went to a pool hall. Wow…they are fancy! Not at all like Canada's; these ones have guys in suites waiting and watching for the moment you've finished the game so they can re-rack it for you. It was a lot of fun.
January 16, 2010
Today we got to go to the branch school and sit in on some lessons. The first one had 5 kids in the class and the second one had 7. :-)
Frances (the principal of the school) took us for dinner with the other foreign teachers and a couple of the Chinese teachers, I think that was the best dinner we've had yet. All the food was delicious and fairly normal. The craziest was a fish head which wasn't so bad.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Landed
Jan 15, 2010
Linnea writing for Julia-
Quick update.
Julia has landed and made it to her new home. Her internet is not up at her place yet but is getting there. She has a phone now and decided to text me ridiculously early this morning (2:09 am) so it is working lol. She has informed me that once her internet is going at their place she will post the next update :)
Cheers everyone!
Linnea writing for Julia-
Quick update.
Julia has landed and made it to her new home. Her internet is not up at her place yet but is getting there. She has a phone now and decided to text me ridiculously early this morning (2:09 am) so it is working lol. She has informed me that once her internet is going at their place she will post the next update :)
Cheers everyone!
Monday, January 11, 2010
The Night Before
January 11, 2010
T'was the night before China and all through the house, everyone was stirring, because I was making a ruckus.
Hello everybody! So I'm off to China tomorrow morning and am nervous and excited! As usual, I'm doing all my packing last minute.
So current update for what's happening.
-Tomorrow morning, I will be going for my last Canadian meal for a whole year.
-Then I will head to the airport for 8am where I will check in and find a book for the flight.
-My flight takes off at 11:15am and I will arrive in Wenzhou at 10:45pm the following day.
-The Jordan school of Wenzhou will be picking us (Brandy and myself) up from the airport to take us to our new home.
Well this concludes my first entry.
P.S. This entry is to inform you all about tomorrow as well as creating the link to my blog for you, the reader.
Julia :-)
T'was the night before China and all through the house, everyone was stirring, because I was making a ruckus.
Hello everybody! So I'm off to China tomorrow morning and am nervous and excited! As usual, I'm doing all my packing last minute.
So current update for what's happening.
-Tomorrow morning, I will be going for my last Canadian meal for a whole year.
-Then I will head to the airport for 8am where I will check in and find a book for the flight.
-My flight takes off at 11:15am and I will arrive in Wenzhou at 10:45pm the following day.
-The Jordan school of Wenzhou will be picking us (Brandy and myself) up from the airport to take us to our new home.
Well this concludes my first entry.
P.S. This entry is to inform you all about tomorrow as well as creating the link to my blog for you, the reader.
Julia :-)
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