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!