Culture Week

There is a Sias tradition called Culture Week.  All of the foreign teachers do a presentation each day of the week on different regions. Except for Monday, which is China day and the whole school goes crazy and Chinese.

We split into groups based on regions and I chose the day Latin/South America and Africa.  There is also Asia Day, Europe Day, and North America and Austrailia Day. 

Culture week is awesome, but also infamous.  It is certainly a high stress week for everyone and for some more than others.  Each groups has many big tasks they have to accomplish, and no one really knows if it's going to all come together until five mintues before show time.  It actually reminds me of all the Girl Scout camps I did, only on some serious steroids and minus all the little girls running around.

Each group has two parts: day time booths and a night time performance.  Our booths look pretty awesome, there are a lot of informational boards about different countries and cultural traditions.  We are also going to hand out food samples and mini passports to get stamped with some different countries' stamps.  We have a huge grass hut that people last year made, as well as a huge velvet (don't ask me why) crocodile and anaconda.  Vernon and Ashley also repainted these huge murals of a hippo, zebra, giraffe and water buffalo.  Needless to say, Italian Square looks pretty bomb.

Jess dressed up as an African lady (hiding her blonde hair of course) and was outside for basically the entire afternoon.  She estimates that she has at least one thousand pictures of her now on Chinese cameras and phones.  I love the little girl frowning at me in the picture.

We served some sort of orange drink (I've forgotten the name already), which tasted pretty good. 

We also had a soccer shoot out, which was crazy difficult (for me, anyway).  You had to move the ball through the cones and then hit the smilie face.  I couldn't get enough lift to actually hit the smilie face, but they gave me a peice of candy anway.  (Holly and Danielle, you would have been pro).  Side note: I ironed and hung all of those latin American flags you see in the background hanging off of the balcony.

This was really cute, we had a huge sandbox and toys in front of our Carribean Islands poster board and all the little babies came to play in it.  They are SO adorable. 

I don't think I could find a better example or picture of split pants if I tried.  I feel like I talk about split pants and people can't really imagine what that would even look like, it's so far against our culture and sense of hygine.  However, every baby looks like this and all of them pee on the street.  And you thought that cats peeing in a sandbox was bad, it only gets worse with a baby.... (Note: this baby didn't actually pee in the sandbox but it could have and that is my point.)

Here is our velvet crocodile. There was also a pink dophin (apparently they are only found in the amazon) but it was in really rough shape so we decided not to use him this year.

Our grass hut was a big hit, and now I wonder how many Chinese people it can fit.  It always had a lot of people in it hanging out the sides for pictures.

I love this painting of the Mayan ruins, the bottom three steps are 3D so you can take a picture on them. 

We also had pinatas that we had students hit at every hour.  This one was decorated as Sponge Bob Square Pants (I have no idea why) but there were also traditional style ones too.  I watched this pinata get taken down by really enthusiastic Chinese students, after the first couple solid whacks one of the taller boys actually grabbed hold of it and tore it in half.  It was really effective.

Faith (in the plaid) and Jess decided to compete in soccer and it was really close.  Though, Jess did have the handicap of being in a dress and in cowboy boots but she did pretty awesome.

I don't have any pictures from the night performance (since I was in it) and I'll post some as soon as I get them.  In brief, there was a lot of latin style dancing, soccer, a fashion show, and boxing.

I will post another section about this, probably, but I want to get this one up.  Check out my facebook if you want to see me as Hermione Granger with Harry Potter.

Things you shouldn't do with chopsticks

The first time I ever went to China, we were coached in Chopstick edicit.  If you have a bowl of rice, don't stick your chopsticks in it, that's what Chinese people do when they leave rice for their ancestors.  Don't use them as drumsticks, especially at a banquet.  Don't let the tips touch the table, always keep them on your plate or your bowl.  Never stick them anywhere inappropriate, the like.

Wellllll....  sometimes it's too much fun to resist.

Aaron and Winston are culture partners and because Winston and Jessica (my culture partner) are dating, we go on double dates.  Or whatever it is when only two out of the four people are dating.  A four wheeled date?  Half a double date?

This is Sarah, who is the teacher of the culture student program, who is now teaching sophmores that the culture program is done for the summer.  She's doing 'two fingers,' a ninja sign that the culture students made up when playing our favorite game called Ninjia Star.  It's like Big Booty only with ninjia signs.  It's pretty awesome.

This is Eileen doing wolverine, our shout out to Hugh Jackman in Ninjia Star.

Either a bumblebee or a new creature from the Star Trek universe.  (I had been watching some Star Trek movies before this dinner.)

I'm going to say this picture is the most attractive one of me, ever.  This also got the most laughs out of the culture students.  Erin is practicing her vampire fangs because she gets to play Bella in the upcoming Twilight skit for Culture Week.  And for those of you who know Erin (hi Erin's mom!), it's really ironic because we all hate Twilight with a fiery passion.  The fire of a thousand suns.  But they are doing a parody, so I guess that makes up for it.  A little bit.  Matt Hux is going to be Edward (hi Matt's mom!).  I can't wait to see it.

Faith jumped in on this action too, as a pretty convincing walrus.  An interesting note: that's Aaron in the yellow shirt before he shaved his head.  Good before and after of him in this blog.

There will more more, in the future, but I thought I would post these now.  I don't think they have been a major fau-paux (is that how you spell that word?) and I have been on my best behavior at the banquet I've been to. 

We just had our opening ceremony at Sias, and there was a banquet with the bigwigs of the university before hand.  Some of the foriegn teachers needed to go, so Jess and I volunteered.  It was a great idea, because there was a four course meal.  First was salmon and bacon with a quasi Ceasar Salad with REAL olive oil!!!  Next was a great tomato soup with cheesy garlic bread.  Then there was chicken and mashed potatoes and tiramisu for dessert!  And Jess and I got all dolled up to go, which was half of the fun part.

We have both volunteered to go to a banquet on Wednesday in Zhengzhou of university leaders and the govenor of Henan provience.  I have a feeling that will be more of a traditional chinese banquet (hello fish eyes and chicken feet) but it will still be pretty fun.  My parents (and Jess's (hi Jess's mom!)) taught me how to be polite and smooze, so why not practice and get some good food in the process?  I'll let you know how it goes.

Mid-Autumn Festival

So, we didn't have school on Wednesday because of the holdiay called Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a traditional Chinese holiday.  We ate a lot of these things called moon cakes, which are flaky pastry filled with different insides like peanuts, dates, red bean paste, egg, meat, etc.  I liked the peanut and red bean ones fine, but the other ones were kinda gross.

I'm not really sure exactly what the MidAutumn Festival is about, but I've heard two different legends so far.  Both have lovers that have been seperated and celebrating the moon reunites them.  I think.

We decided to go with the cultural students out to hot pot, which is my favorite type of Chinese food.  Its kind of like fondue, only with soup instead of cheese and everything gets cooked in the pot right in front of you.



There is the spicy side and the nonspicy side, and I have started embracing the spicy side.  They also provide you with some good dipping sauces, one being really spicy peppers and the other is a peanut and sesame sauce which is awesome.  There is a gas flame underneath the pot that keeps it bubbling and everything cooks pretty quickly. 

This is some of the stuff we put in the pot: sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, noodles, 3 kinds of tofu, meat, mushrooms, veggies, everything.  It's pretty awesome.

This is half our group, it was so big that we had to take up two tables.  From left to right:

Wayne, Neil, Faith, Jess, Sammi, Jacob, Jessica, Me, Eileen, Enoch's arms.

A couple of guys (Aaron and Neil) have now shaved their heads, which has been very surprising to some of the Chinese students.  I was thinking that maybe I could be next...  well, maybe not.  My hair has been pretty fantastic since I've been here so I'll keep my curls.

After toasting the moon, a group of us headed to one of the nearby amusement park to wander around.  I shot at baloons with a rifle bb gun and we rode a couple of really sketchy rides.  Again, most of those rides would be illegal in the states or condemned.  They are building a new one that looks pretty nice, maybe it will be done before the weather gets really bad.  I do have some good pictures, but that can be another post.

I'm now completely over my cold and back in action for most things.

All of the freshman teachers are now coming back from summer vacation and so I have a whole new host of people that I need to meet and remember the names of.  Many of them are returning teachers but a couple of them are new.  New people mean new personalities and so it will take another month before things really settle.  I'm always excited about new people, so hopefully some of them are fun to hang out with.

Vroom Vroom

One of my favorite things about living here are the electric bikes.  They are EVERYWHERE.  Instead of having a car, most people have electric bike and can fit all three or four members of their family on one.

This is a great example, even if its on a regular bicycle.  Chinese kids can sleep ANYWHERE.

So, I've been out on an electric bike twice now, once to go shopping downtown and once to ride through the country side.  Jess went with me both times, and the ride out to the country also included my Culture partner Jessica, some other culture students: Winston, Lisa, Faith and Aaron who is Winston's American culture partner.  We spent maybe an hour riding bikes and it was awesome!

Going through the countryside was really fun, even if it was pretty dusty.  Xin Zheng is a country town, so there was a lot of corn and something that is related to lotus root but not quite (Jessica didn't have an english translation for it but it grows everywhere).  Its super flat here too, so people have done this with regular bikes and its a nice ride.  Not like biking in Seattle.  Definately reminds me of Pennsylvania.

And always, the local livestock chowing down by the side of the road.  Maybe this is the cow that I get my raw milk from!

All in all, the whole thing is pretty awesome.  The rules of the road are pretty simple: 

1. Get out of the bigger trucks' way. 

2. Learn to love your horn. 

3. Sticking to the side of the road is optional. 

4. Driving the right way on the road is optional. 

5. Have a will ready.

6. What's a helmet?

7. Be fearless and it will be more fun.

Before my mother has a heart attack, its not too dangerous.  I never once thought I would actually die.  If you come and visit me (anyone), we will do this.  I would go riding every day if I could.  And the total cost to rent one of these puppies for an hour or two: 3 RMB.  $0.40  Yes, please!

Have Aviators, Will Travel

So, when I was in Zheng Zhou I wanted to buy a new pair of sunglasses and we found these aviators on in the open air "walking street" market.  I tried on a whole bunch of pairs and the Chinese students I was with (and Sarah, who has been in China for a while) talked me into buying these white aviators.  I usually like darker brown frames, but they said these 'popped' against my dark hair and earrings.  I decided that hey, I was in China and China fashion is different and I'm a foreigner so basically anything I do goes or is written off as a silly foreigner fashion, so I bought them.

Turns out, this is the best purchase I've made, leading to endless hours of entertainment.  This post is a result of these glasses.

We went to the resturant called Water Under the Bridge (I don't know if that's the Chinese name translated or if that's just what the American teachers call it) and we put these classes on the lazy susan in the middle with my camera facing opposite.  Then we set the 10 second timer on the camera and started spinning and hunched down to see if we could time it right.  This is Erin who was the first to get it lined up.

We decided these pictures would make great profile pictures.

This is my friend Jess who I drink coffee with in the mornings.  She is a TA for a business management class and super smart.  And super gangsta.  She just bought an air soft gun to join the rest of us in our BB adventures.

Boo-ya.

This is Erin and Seth.  Erin taught here a long time ago (before they required teachers had their degrees) and she and Seth were students two years ago for a semester.  So they know all the cool things to do, like bumper cars in the park that would be totally illegal in the States, and where to buy things like air soft guns.  They are also movie buffs, so we have watched a lot of movies in their room.

Nick is the other member of our group, and this is his first time to China.  He and Seth have planned out a whole Zombie movie starring us, defending Peter Hall against a zombie invasion.  Its pretty sweet.  Hopefully we start filiming soon.  I will be one of the few survivors.

This is David and Aaron.  They are also new teachers this year, David is a TA for one the buiness classes with Matt and Aaron is teaching history (his MA beat out my BA in history for the job).  We are working on swapping classes after the midterm so I can maybe teach a brief section on Mayflower history....!

And of course, Neil, who is in his element with all things Chinese.  He helped me download Rosetta Stone on my computer so I can work on my Chinese too (which I haven't touched for a week.  Maybe I should get on that...)

This is Jessica (not to be confused with Jess) who is now my Chinese culture partner.  We are going to spend 12 hours a week together until the October Holiday and I am going to visit her family in her town which is 3 hours drive away.  We've already spend quite a bit of time together so I'm excited that we were paired together.  Next is Amanda, who I've also spent a lot of time with, she helped my buy my cell phone and get my internet banking set up (which is a process, like anything in China).

This is Winston and Michael.  Winston has been hanging around a lot, he wants me to help out with the English choir that he is a part of, rehersals start next week.  Michael is Nick's Chinese culture partner and Nick is working on talking him into matching Dragon playing double necked guitars while surfing tatoos.  I don't think Michal will spring for it...

Last but not least is our friend Ole, (rhymes with holy moley not the spanish Ole!) (is is playing the guitar) who has been here for 4 years.  He was friends with Seth and Erin when they were students and knows all the best card games and has a wii.  Needless to say, he plays Guitar Hero on expert.  It's sick to watch.  I'm still on easy.

So, that's pretty much everyone.  There are some returning teachers that we are also friends with (like Matt and Mel and Vernon and Ashleigh and Jon and Lee) but I don't have pictures with them yet and I thought this would be a good start.

Zheng Zhou Shopping Trip

On Saturday we were able to head into the capital city of Henan Province, Zheng Zhou for a shopping trip.  They have a few western things there, like Wal-Mart, Metro (a foreign goods import store in bulk, kind of like Costco), and Dairy Queen (real ice cream!).  They also have a huge technology market, outdoor fashion market, and fabric market.  So many things to do, and so little time.

The bus ride took 1.5 hours and I got to sit with one of the Chinese culture students named Jessica.  We've been hanging out quite a bit during the cultural activities, and I like her a lot.  So, we talked and folded cranes, and she volunteers at an orphanage on fridays and I want to go with her.  One of the other foreign teachers leads the program and I'm excited to start volunteering there.

We made it to Zheng Zhou and went en masse to the technology market.  Since I will be teaching an academic class, I need a USB flash drive to take my power point files to class.  I also wanted to get a wireless router so I can use my iPad and computer anywhere in my appartment.  I was able to find both, the first costing me 50 RMB ($7) for a 4 GB drive and 120 RMB ($18) for the wireless router.  Sure, the instructions are all in Chinese, but we figured it out and now its up and running. 

Note: RMB is the shorthand for the offical Chinese term for their currency, which is yuan.  On the street, yuan are called kuai.  RMB = yuan = kuai.  Just in case I use all three terms, I don't want you to be confused.

We took the bus in the city, which only cost 1 RMB ($0.14) and it was cramped.  Top row left to right: Winston, Seth, Nick.  Bottom three: Erin, Michael, Jessica (who I sat next to on the bus).

Then we headed back to the shopping mall for Indian food for lunch.  Most of the Chinese students had never had Indian food before, so I ordered some things that I liked (paneer naan and chicken tikka masala) and found out that our Chinese students really just like Chinese food the best.  There were mixed reactions to the curry (more for me!) and we had a discussion about American food and international food.  They were surprised that I ate Indian food so often (once a week with Mom in the U District during school) and we tried to hash out what was really American food and what was food brought in by other countries.  I decided that pie was really a truly American food (thanks to pioneer women) as well as hamburgers.  We have a lot of American style foods, but few that didn't originate from somewhere else.

Anyway, we did see some interesting street food (I will do a whole post of street food later) but I had never seen this before, and certainly not near Sias.  I think its a pretty cool way of serving melon, it almost makes me wish I like eating it.

After lunch we went to Wal-Mart so I could buy butter to bake some stuff (which I won't do for a while, but its more of a security blanket than anything because I feel better just knowing that it's in the freezer section of my mini-fridge.)  However, I was shocked how much butter was compared to other Chinese things.  To give you a comparison:  a bottle of water costs 1 RMB ($0.14) and a bag of chips is 3 RMB ($0.42) and 20 pork dumplings are 6 RMB ($0.85) and a really nice meal cost 20 RMB ($2.85) and one block of butter costs 25 RMB ($3.50).  That is the normal American price for butter, but in China it's shockingly expensive.  I bought coffee too, which was also expensive (50 RMB) and GUINESS!!!! which was 10 RMB a bottle compared to the Chinese brand Tsing Tao which was 3.5 RMB a bottle.  So for the most part I'm sticking to Chinese things, but I'll splurge every once in a while on coffee, real stout, and butter.

After Wal-Mart and a quick stop at Dairy Queen for real ice cream (Chinese ice cream has a weird taste and texture, its not made with real dairy and doesn't taste as good) we came to this open market to look for things like sunglasses and earrings and fake purses, etc.  I got a pretty swanky pair of white aviators for 15 RMB ($2.14) and resolved to come back for a purse that I really liked. 

The only thing that I haven't really found is a foam pad for my almost rock-hard bed.  Maybe I'll buy a whole bunch of pillows and sew them together (puts a whole new meaning on the term "pillow top").  We'll see.

More to come!

No Place to Rest my Head

I hate traveling. I mean, the getting from point A to point B part of traveling, not the visiting new places and people. I have had my fill of dirty airport floors and the smell of airlines: recycled air, germs and BO. Gross. I am also envious of people who can sleep on airplanes. I can't. The first time I went to China, I took two NyQuill liquid gels and slept for seven hours which turned out to be a record for me. My friend Neil has a great picture of my with my face planted in Fluffy (my pillow shaped like a polar bear) and drooling.

There was blackmail involved. But he took pity on me and only resurrects it once every two years.

Needless to say, I have Tylenol PM handy. Sleeping is preferable, even if Neil will be waiting with a camera, again.

I finally found Neil (fellow Sias teacher and friend from my first trip to China) in LAX and he was already equipped with his camera.  He had been in the airport already for six hours.  Needless to say we were happy to see each other.

Neil and I met up with most of the other Sias teachers traveling on our flight in the check-in line. With my bags checked with no overweight fees (which are $220 to $300 per bag!!!!! I nearly had a heart attack when I found out), we made it to the plane with no problems and had a rather uneventful flight.

I took Tylenol PM like a good girl and managed to sleep some. More than I expected, on and off for 8 hours. Not restful, but not too bad. I haven’t seen any more blackmail photos from Neil yet, but I’m sure he has at least one new one. He slept only 3 hours.

Stepping off the airplane in Guangzhou reminded me how different China is from the USA (and especially Seattle). The air was thick with moisture and I could feel my hair curling as I walked to Customs. The smell is different: part earth, part pollution and part Chinese person. Not a bad smell, but distinctive.

We only had two hours until our next plane took off and we didn’t have our connecting boarding passes yet. After some misdirection and our group splitting because Whitney has a misplaced bag, we arrived in line too late to make the 8:00 am flight. Talk about having to trust the Father right off the bat, we had only been in China for less than a half hour before I was turning over control. After much waiting in line, we finally all got on the 11:00 am flight, which gave us plenty of time to check in, drop off our bags and make it through security. After another (shorter) uneventful flight, we arrived in Zhengzhou.

After collecting our bags, ten cheerful Chinese 'Culture Students' came to meet us and load all our luggage in a little bright yellow van.  These students are juniors at Sias, English majors, and part of the new teacher reception team that will help all the forgein teachers settle in.  They lugged all my luggage up four floors to my apartment and will take me shopping to help get all the supplies I need.

Seeing them reminded me the reason why I came back to China.  There are a lot of things in China that make me uncomfortable.  But teaching these students who are so eager to learn and excited to interact with Americans is why I love coming here.  My students in Tai'an were the same way. 

I am super jetlagged (woke up at 3.30 am) and a little overwhelmed, but optomistic. 
I will post about my apartment tomorrow, it needs its own post, for sure.  Pictures will be included.