April 9-20
Odds and Ends
I'm amazed at how clean Chinese people can be and yet how dirty. When I was cooking with Rachel, she cleaned every little leaf and every surface that we would be working on, some people take great care in not touching anything with their hands to keep them clean, food comes wrapped in like three layers of sealed packaging. All of this and the next instant you look up as you pass some apartment buildings you see some garbage flying down to the ground, a person throwing their trash in the street, or parents rushing their kids to the side of a building for a bathroom break. I see street cleaners sweeping up after everyone and removing garbage from outside the apartment buildings but it still amazes me that they can be so worried about the cleanliness of things and yet maintain the habits they've formed.
I certainly am enjoying myself; Meeting lots of new people, pampering myself as much as I can, I have a fairly slack job, and I'm even finding some clothes that fit me (I even found a long sleeve shirt that was a medium that fit me) I am trying to take full advantage of everything as much as I can. The hair washes and massages are my favorite. Anything that involves customer care is taken very seriously here. I’m sure it’s because if they treat their customers badly in any way then the customers just run off to another little shop half a block down. I’m going to miss being waited on hand and foot when I go home. The weather is the same old same old; rainy and cloudy but June I think the weather starts to become sunnier with less rains, however that’s also when the typhoons hit too. “typhoons” really. Wenzhou is too far from the cost to feel the full effects but we’ll get torrential downpours and quite a bit of wind. I’m actually excited to see my first one. I have learned a lesson about the weather: no matter how cold it looks outside, no matter how rainy and grey and windy the weather seems; don't wear a sweater. I thought it was going to be cold one day because looking out the window made me shiver but then when I stepped out and headed to class I soon learned I would be sweating buckets for the rest of the day. It was warm and humid and definitely no need for a sweater. ^_^ Ha ha, I forgot about the day lengths…here the days and nights are pretty consistent. It’s 5:30pm while I’m writing this and it’s just dusk. I woke up at 6:30am the other day and it was light out; not middle of the day light but not sunrise either. The humidity has done me one favor though; I haven't had any nose bleeds since coming to China.
I saw a frog hopping in front of me one day and couldn't help but wonder who's dinner was running away.
I walked into my school the other day and they were blaring Christmas music. We're now four months past Christmas and I'm still listening to deck the halls and winter wonderland.
When you're walking down the street and just people watching you will see some people relaxing waiting for the bus or a friend to show up or customers to come to the shop. The most common relaxing position I see is this awkward squat. It almost looks like their squatting for a pee; their feet are about shoulder width apart, butts touching their legs, their feet stay flat on the ground, and their arms sit comfortably between their legs. I have tried to sit in this "relaxing" position and it is anything but. I end up wobbling all over because I have no balance and my ass can't even touch my legs if my feet have to stay flat on the ground. I have no idea how they do this and find myself staring at them as I walk by trying to study how they stay so still. Ha ha, which reminds me of something else. If I meet someone on the street and they try to talk to me and they realize I don't understand what they're saying they get this confused look on their face, they pause for a minute, realize they have a genius plan, pull out a pen and a pad of paper and start writing what they were trying to say. Ha ha ha. I always laugh because what else can you do but look down at some scribbly Chinese writing and say "if I can't understand what you're saying, do you think I am going to understand what your're writing?".
The other common thing I see are wedding dress shops. They're like Starbucks; there's one on every corner. Apparently weddings a huge to do here. I have learned that boys will wear their wedding bands on their left ring finger, girls will wear their ring on the right ring finger to show they are engaged and then move it to the right middle finger when they get married. Also, the boy's family will buy the girl a present before they get married like a car or a house. :-O why do we not have this rule. Ha ha ha. The fireworks I keep hearing all year round are for weddings and funerals. They shoot them off when the couple shows up to the hotel they are celebrating at. I'm not sure why they shoot them off for funerals though, one suggestion was to protect the spirit on their journey to the next world.
Ok. I think that is all for this time. I think once May hits I'm going to be doing one post a month. I'll do one at the end of April and then after that it will be one post at the end of the month to sum everything up; Especially now that all the new stuff has become daily occurrences.
Until next time….
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
April 1-8, 2010
April 1-8
Holy have I been busy!
I really am enjoying my time here still. Classes are going well and the kids seem to like me. The scheduling sucks because it’s about 5 hours spread throughout an 11 hour day but I can’t complain too much because I have seen worse schedules than the way mine is set up. I’m still finding a few things unsettling like when the kids first start out in the school they cry for a couple weeks (EVERY DAY) because they miss their moms and dads. When the kids need to pee during class they don’t go to the washroom, they go into a bucket that sits in a corner of the room. The “aunty” will help them take their pants off and hold the bucket for them and they will go pee right there, in the middle of a lesson. I still turn my back when I see it because I feel so awkward. Oh and while I’m on this topic I’ll also add that when they DO use a washroom they will leave the door open. I went into the bathroom today and there was one of my students sitting on the can shouting TEACHER JU-JU! It’s weird… same with kids and their parents on the streets; there’s a type of pant that’s made for young kids with a giant slit in the crotch that stays open, this way when a kid needs to pee the parent can just pull them to the side of the sidewalk and squat them down to pee. WOW why didn’t we think of that! Ha ha ha. GROSS.
Sorry I got a little carried away…
So back to the school stuff. I have kind of learned that Jordan’s school doesn’t really care if the kids learn English or not; they are more of a daycare that offers to teach kids English under their care. The school doesn’t really want me to teach them English, they want me to play with the kids so that the kids will go home and tell their parents how much fun they had at the school and that they can’t wait to go back. That’s when the school starts to see $$ signs. Either way, it’s not a terrible gig for me because then all I really have to do is play, dance, and sing with the kids just to get paid.
I thought I would be able to save up some money while I’m here but I’m not so sure about that anymore. I have almost burned through my entire paycheck this month; granted a bunch of it has gone towards stuff for my home and things that I need for spring and summer, but still... I’m hoping I will be able to find a nice little balance soon, especially once I start to get private lessons going.
I guess aside from that nothing else has really changed. The weather is still rainy and cold split up every few days with a warm one. The traffic is still as crazy as ever. I have finished my first CD of Rosetta Stone though and have started my second one. As for speaking the language, it's still slow, but have found a proper teacher….we'll see how it goes. The food is the same old same old….oh except I did find a great breakfast place that sells baozi (steamed buns with stuff inside them). I buy a drink and two buns for three RMB. It's GREAT!
I guess I should mention that I learned too late in the day that they do celebrate April Fools Day. :-( I didn't get to play any tricks on anyone! And they don't celebrate Easter, however the school did get the kids to paint Easter eggs. I was in charge of explaining to two of my classes what Easter is all about. The kids thought it was funny that we hide chocolates and candies etc. for the kids to find. :-) I thought that was pretty cute.
Well, that is all for now. Until next time…
Holy have I been busy!
I really am enjoying my time here still. Classes are going well and the kids seem to like me. The scheduling sucks because it’s about 5 hours spread throughout an 11 hour day but I can’t complain too much because I have seen worse schedules than the way mine is set up. I’m still finding a few things unsettling like when the kids first start out in the school they cry for a couple weeks (EVERY DAY) because they miss their moms and dads. When the kids need to pee during class they don’t go to the washroom, they go into a bucket that sits in a corner of the room. The “aunty” will help them take their pants off and hold the bucket for them and they will go pee right there, in the middle of a lesson. I still turn my back when I see it because I feel so awkward. Oh and while I’m on this topic I’ll also add that when they DO use a washroom they will leave the door open. I went into the bathroom today and there was one of my students sitting on the can shouting TEACHER JU-JU! It’s weird… same with kids and their parents on the streets; there’s a type of pant that’s made for young kids with a giant slit in the crotch that stays open, this way when a kid needs to pee the parent can just pull them to the side of the sidewalk and squat them down to pee. WOW why didn’t we think of that! Ha ha ha. GROSS.
Sorry I got a little carried away…
So back to the school stuff. I have kind of learned that Jordan’s school doesn’t really care if the kids learn English or not; they are more of a daycare that offers to teach kids English under their care. The school doesn’t really want me to teach them English, they want me to play with the kids so that the kids will go home and tell their parents how much fun they had at the school and that they can’t wait to go back. That’s when the school starts to see $$ signs. Either way, it’s not a terrible gig for me because then all I really have to do is play, dance, and sing with the kids just to get paid.
I thought I would be able to save up some money while I’m here but I’m not so sure about that anymore. I have almost burned through my entire paycheck this month; granted a bunch of it has gone towards stuff for my home and things that I need for spring and summer, but still... I’m hoping I will be able to find a nice little balance soon, especially once I start to get private lessons going.
I guess aside from that nothing else has really changed. The weather is still rainy and cold split up every few days with a warm one. The traffic is still as crazy as ever. I have finished my first CD of Rosetta Stone though and have started my second one. As for speaking the language, it's still slow, but have found a proper teacher….we'll see how it goes. The food is the same old same old….oh except I did find a great breakfast place that sells baozi (steamed buns with stuff inside them). I buy a drink and two buns for three RMB. It's GREAT!
I guess I should mention that I learned too late in the day that they do celebrate April Fools Day. :-( I didn't get to play any tricks on anyone! And they don't celebrate Easter, however the school did get the kids to paint Easter eggs. I was in charge of explaining to two of my classes what Easter is all about. The kids thought it was funny that we hide chocolates and candies etc. for the kids to find. :-) I thought that was pretty cute.
Well, that is all for now. Until next time…
March 22-31, 2010
March 22-31
So Frances has officially moved out and taken everything with her. I need to buy a whole apartment of stuff now. I’ve already rearranged the whole apartment and have almost finished buying most of what I need for daily living. It’s nice and more comfortable to be home at nights, I didn’t realize how trapped I felt.
My language learning is still slow but that's mostly my fault for not being diligent about using Chinese whenever I can, also, as is usual when learning a new language I have learned a couple swears before the important phrases. I have made a few more Chinese friends that are a little more strict about me using Chinese around them than some of my other friends so hopefully that helps. Really I just have to suck it up and become more strict with myself, it’s fairly easy to just get by with English.
As for the rest of my daily events, mostly I’ve just been working. The days are split shifts pretty much; I have a few lessons in the morning then a couple hours of break, then a few more in the afternoon, another couple hour’s break and then a last couple lessons in the evening. My day will start at 9:30 am usually and end at about 8pm which isn’t too bad but really annoying that it’s spread out over such a long period of time.
I think my lessons are good, the kids seem to enjoy them and they're slowly learning my routine for the class.
The food still tastes good which is a huge reassurance since I’ve been eating it for so long now, oh and I have even learned how to make dumplings and a tomato & fried egg dish.
The weather warmed up for a bit and is now back to rainy and cold. I guess this is a typical spring. I’m not complaining though because I’m quite enjoying these temperatures. I think it’s been around 15-20 degrees Celsius usually. I’m becoming accustomed to the warmer weather finally, and since that's the case I’m hoping summer won’t be as bad as I have been dreading.
I have started doing a bit of Tai Chi but it’s funny because every time one off my Chinese friends finds out they laugh because “it’s something old people do”. I quite enjoy it though, it’s relaxing and teaches you how to breathe properly.
The dresses I got made didn’t turn out quite the way I hoped, but Anna said the tailor will make the alterations to them that I want and not to worry. Now I just have to find time to go back.
I got my hair cut just above shoulder length with bangs; a very typical Chinese hair style. One of the girls in the school got her hair cut the same way shortly after. Ha ha ha. At that point I thought it would be funny to shave my head to see who follows; not that I really could…I’d be too chicken, but it would be funny.
Massages have been a wonderful past time for me since they are fairly cheap and oh so nice. The last one I got was an oil massage and the girl liked me enough by the end that she gave me 4 free massage oils that I had to hide when leaving the place. She was cute though, very shy.
Wow, what a month March has been.
So Frances has officially moved out and taken everything with her. I need to buy a whole apartment of stuff now. I’ve already rearranged the whole apartment and have almost finished buying most of what I need for daily living. It’s nice and more comfortable to be home at nights, I didn’t realize how trapped I felt.
My language learning is still slow but that's mostly my fault for not being diligent about using Chinese whenever I can, also, as is usual when learning a new language I have learned a couple swears before the important phrases. I have made a few more Chinese friends that are a little more strict about me using Chinese around them than some of my other friends so hopefully that helps. Really I just have to suck it up and become more strict with myself, it’s fairly easy to just get by with English.
As for the rest of my daily events, mostly I’ve just been working. The days are split shifts pretty much; I have a few lessons in the morning then a couple hours of break, then a few more in the afternoon, another couple hour’s break and then a last couple lessons in the evening. My day will start at 9:30 am usually and end at about 8pm which isn’t too bad but really annoying that it’s spread out over such a long period of time.
I think my lessons are good, the kids seem to enjoy them and they're slowly learning my routine for the class.
The food still tastes good which is a huge reassurance since I’ve been eating it for so long now, oh and I have even learned how to make dumplings and a tomato & fried egg dish.
The weather warmed up for a bit and is now back to rainy and cold. I guess this is a typical spring. I’m not complaining though because I’m quite enjoying these temperatures. I think it’s been around 15-20 degrees Celsius usually. I’m becoming accustomed to the warmer weather finally, and since that's the case I’m hoping summer won’t be as bad as I have been dreading.
I have started doing a bit of Tai Chi but it’s funny because every time one off my Chinese friends finds out they laugh because “it’s something old people do”. I quite enjoy it though, it’s relaxing and teaches you how to breathe properly.
The dresses I got made didn’t turn out quite the way I hoped, but Anna said the tailor will make the alterations to them that I want and not to worry. Now I just have to find time to go back.
I got my hair cut just above shoulder length with bangs; a very typical Chinese hair style. One of the girls in the school got her hair cut the same way shortly after. Ha ha ha. At that point I thought it would be funny to shave my head to see who follows; not that I really could…I’d be too chicken, but it would be funny.
Massages have been a wonderful past time for me since they are fairly cheap and oh so nice. The last one I got was an oil massage and the girl liked me enough by the end that she gave me 4 free massage oils that I had to hide when leaving the place. She was cute though, very shy.
Wow, what a month March has been.
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