成都 - Chendgu

The week after University finished I took my vacation time and went to a province south of 西 安(Xi'an) - 四川 (Sichuan).  四川 is known for it's hot weather, spicy foods, big cities, mountains, and pandas.

I went with my friend Simone.  She sat behind me at University. She's from Germany and definitely on my list of the top people I've met here.  I was glad to have a travel partner.  And no I didn't speak German with her.  When I started learning Chinese my German completely left me. 

We started our trip and ended our trip in 成都 (Chengdu) - the capital of 四川.  Embarrassingly, this was my first time traveling on the train.  I should have been doing this more because it's cheap and surprisingly comfortable.  We got on the train around 9pm and by 11am the next day we were there and rested.  We stayed on a hard bed.  There are 3 beds on each side. I think the top or middle is my favorite.  On the way back the bottom was pretty uncomfortable in the morning when everyone was waking up.

At first I liked 成都 more than 西安.   It's greener, less crowded (in the area of our hostel), the people seemed more friendly, easier to get around, cleaner, etc.  The traffic is REALLY bad.  There are some areas that for some reason are fairly quiet and then in other areas it's bumper to bumper and barely moving.  The buses are new and all air conditioned which was a huge change from 西安.  But there are a lot of people on the buses - just like 西安.  It's really humid in 四川.  We were lucky to get some cloudy days.

There are beautiful parks in 成都。

They feel less artificial then most Chinese parks.  At least they're not shy about their artificial lake.

There are many things to do in the parks.  Drink tea at a tea house, dance, watch people dance, watch the boats on the artificial lake, date, and get your ears cleaned.

All of these pieces of paper have information about a single person - male and female.  Their stats include hobbies, income, phone numbers, height, and the year they were born.

There are lots of men walking around ready to clean your years.  I was surprised by how many people had dirty ears.   I was not one of those people - I can clean them myself.

Hot pot originated in 四川 so we decided to try it on our first night.  I suppose it was a bit more spicy but otherwise it was the same as what we eat in 西安.  Hot pot is good but a lot of work digging around for your food - especially if you're hungry.  It's not my favorite.

We only found the Chinese bar street where beers were expensive and Chinese people wanted to drink with us - bad idea.  Luckily we turned down all requests for company except when the monkey man stopped by the table.  Actually, I did turn him down but he still put the monkey in my lap. 

Next stop in 四川 － 熊猫 (pandas)！

第一学期 = 完了！（1st semester = FINISHED!）

It wasn't always easy but I made it through my first semester of University.  It was a strange feeling to study for exams again and to get a nervous feeling on the day of exams.  But it was a great feeling to be finished! 

I got an 86% in the listening class, 88% in writing and reading, and 90% in speaking.  I feel like I made a lot of progress this semester but after having just a couple weeks break I want to dive back in and learn more. 

Soooooo now what?!

*I just started a speaking class 4 hours a week.   My University class was around 25 students so the speaking time was very limited.   I joined a class that only has 2-3 students.  I feel my fluency improving already.

*Study for the 汉语水平考试 （HSK - Chinese proficiency test).  There are 6 levels and I'm going to study for level 3 / 4. 

*Memorize tones.  There are so many elements to the Chinese language.  Everyone says something usually has to be neglected in order to keep up. We learned around 800 characters this semester and I mostly kept up with the pronunciation, meaning, and how to write them.  What I neglected were tones.  Tones are important because they change the meaning of the word.  So hours of flashcards here I come!

*I have small daily goals such as being more patient with Chinese people (ahhh!), working out, reading, writing in my Chinese journal, watching Chinese TV (snooze), catching up with True Blood, staying in better touch with family and friends, etc.

*Figure out my next move.  I'll be home for the holidays.  I'm sooooooo excited!  Then, I would like to come back to China to study for another year.  For the next couple months I'll be figuring out the best city for me to live, work, and study.

What's growing from your mop??

Yes, that's a mushroom, growing from my MOP.  In the morning I noticed there was something on the mop that I didn't think I had seen before.  Then I came home - about 10 hours later - and this is what I found.  I was soooooooo grossed out.  Instead of throwing the mop out my 21st floor window I carried it to the stairwell where I knew it would disappear eventually.  EWW!

I discussed my mop with a friend and a little while later he emailed me this picture from a Chinese website.

Is it a normal thing in China to have mushrooms growing out of mops??  I just thought it was my mop but apparently it happens.  YUCK.  I am never using regular mops again!

A foreign girl dating in China

Recently I got into a discussion on a Xi'an message board about why Chinese guys rarely have foreign girlfriends.  Foreign guys never have a problem getting a (or 10) Chinese girl.   Since the guys were just speculating because no foreign girls were responding I decided to give them my reasons for not dating Chinese guys.  I get many questions about my dating life in China so I thought now was a good time to start explaining why I haven't dated in China.  This is my response on the message board:

A guy doesn't need a 6 pack but someone that takes care of himself would be nice.  This is one reason why I prefer not to date Chinese guys.   I miss guys with muscles that work out, eat healthy, don't smoke and drink till they puke, etc.  I know this is a broad generalization but I haven't met many Chinese guys that care about health and hygiene.  This is definitely important when I'm dating back home.  I wouldn't date a foreign guy that didn't take care of himself either.

As for the other reasons I don't date Chinese guys:

-The movie that was posted earlier made a point of saying Chinese guys aren't honest.  I have found the opposite.  In my experience they have been too honest.  A friend reminded me that maybe they are only this way with foreigners because they think that's what we want.  Maybe they aren't so open with Chinese girls. 

-A lot of Chinese guys don't speak very good English - or English at all.  I can only see frustrations coming from this.  How can you really get to know someone?  Obviously it happens but I don't see it happening for me in China.

-I want to get to know someone and not have the pressure of a relationship right away.  But with Chinese guys there is pressure from the moment you meet them. The last guy I met said (after 'knowing' me for an hour) he wanted to be my boyfriend and his dad was going to like me.

-The biggest reason: I haven't found anyone that could make me see past the cultural differences - of which there are countless.   The girls seem to be open to change but the guys seem to be more traditional.  I don't like the way I've been treated here as a woman and I don't like the way Chinese women are treated.

This was about as honest as I could get and everyone agreed with me.  When I've talked about these reasons with Chinese girls they understand.  Not many have said I should try dating a Chinese guy (except when they suggest ways to improve my Chinese). Of course I've met guys that break the stereotypes but that's rare and they still aren't guys I would date.  

As for foreign guys, there are actually quite a few of them compared to the number of foreign girls.  However, they either came here with their girlfriend or more often they have or want a Chinese girlfriend.  That doesn't leave a lot of options for foreign girls but it does happen.  There's not much pressure to date and that's actually, sometimes, been a nice change.

Aston+

Recently I started working in a new part of Aston called Aston PLUS.   It's more expensive, we use interactive whiteboards, the classes are smaller, there's a different curriculum, I make more money, and my schedule is much lighter.  I teach 6 regular classes, 4 demos, and 2 English corners. This is compared to the 25 classes I used to teach. There is 1 other foreign teacher and 3 Chinese teachers.  I used to have over 250 students now I have about 30.  I enjoy getting to know the students and having time to concentrate on their weaknesses.

I can be more creative in class with the white boards and arts and crafts projects.  One class made clay cell phones and talked about what their cell phone could do and how much it cost.  They made everything from poop phones to iPhones. 

This is the area for our Baby Club classes and demos.  I have one of these classes and it only has 2 students. 

The demo classes are a lot of singing and dancing and performing for the kids and parents that are interested in coming to our school.  I never know how many kids will show up or what their level of English will be.  The incentive is I get 100元 for every student that signs up. 

Though I don't wear panda's on my head every day, this is pretty much how I feel when I'm at work- especially during demos. 

The girl who belongs to these pandas looks much cuter than I do.  You can see behind her the sliding glass doors.  A+ is much fancier. 

How you know a Chinese summer has arrived.....

**Split pants. These never go away but when they wear the big snowsuits you don't see little butts and private parts as often.

**Short shorts / skirts.  Back home some of these outfits would be considered trashy - here it's the fashion.

**Ugly Chinese bellies. In the summer Chinese men think this will keep them cool. They come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.  I've heard the bigger the belly the better....shows they have money. I'd prefer if they kept their shirts down.

**Little girls with short hair. This one gets me every time if they're not wearing a dress. Luckily they don't seem to care if you call their girl a boy.

**冰峰 is back and it's cold.  This is a local Xi'an drink.  It's cheap and tastes just like orange soda.  Normally I hate orange soda but this isn't too sweet and when you come into a hot restaurant from the hot outside, nothing tastes better.

**Truckloads of watermelons.  I'm not exaggerating.  There are truckloads of watermelons everywhere.  There's a guy that sits out side my apartment and sells them.  They're sweet and cheap.

**Foreigners!  I miss people that don't look Chinese. There are lots of traveling foreigners around now and sometimes I catch myself staring at them and reaching for my camera. 

**Umbrellas - in the sun, in the shade, in the rain, on the bus (sun comes in the windows).  Is there ever a time NOT to use one??  Personally I hate carrying an umbrella, even in the rain, so you won't see me with one of these 'fashionable' accessories.

And finally I know it's summer because it's HOT....everywhere. This summer I will be fighting the heat with only a fan.  I have no air-conditioning in my new 21st floor apartment.  So far it's manageable.  However, I remember the summer being unbearable around the end of August, beginning of September of last year.   Something to look forward to!

Traffic light chaos

There are many intersections that look like this all the time so I don't think this is that bad, but this is what happens when a traffic light goes out.  It made me think of America and how organized we are when the lights aren't working. Everyone knows what to do and takes turns.  It's so calm!  In China everyone just goes and it causes a jam in the middle.  I realized as I was crossing this intersection when the traffic light was working that it's really not that much different.  This is one of the things I dislike about China - the lack of traffic rules.  Pedestrians have no right of way.  Motorbikes act like pedestrians, cars, buses, or whatever is most convenient for them.  All forms of transportation just do whatever they want and no one cares. When crossing the street there are buses, bikes, motorbikes, and cars going in all different directions so you always have to be careful.  To top it off they are unbelievably bad drivers. 

An IV drip for trees?

It doesn't matter what you're sick with the Chinese think all medicines should be administered through an IV.  Sometimes you go back every day for about 3 days to get it.    I was shocked when I went to the hospital and that wasn't the first thing they prescribed for me.  They did say if I wasn't better after I took the pills then I should come back for an IV. Despite still being sick, I didn't go back.

I've been here for 15 months and I still see things that surprise me on a daily basis.  Near my apartment there is a street with lots of newly planted trees.  They are being held up by branches and given an IV for nourishment! 

A Chinese teaching competition....

This week I was forced to participate in a teaching competition.  The Chinese love anything that has to do with competition.  To prepare for it I had to make a power point presentation.  I decided to talk about teaching body parts because it's an easy and fun lesson.  I thought my power point was cute so even if I was boring they'd have that to look at.  I wasn't happy about doing this and tried my hardest to get out of it.  I also had an exam that morning so I knew I couldn't get there at the beginning.   Of course I was supposed to be the 4th person......

Unfortunately they were able to get me a new number and I made it in plenty of time after my exam.

The 3 Chinese teachers I work with also participated and went 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  In their 8 minutes they talked about teaching a lesson - everyone after them actually taught the lesson and had their coworkers act as students.  When I arrived we put together a new plan for my presentation.  One of the judges (that works at our school) was texting my manager about what I needed to do inorder to get a high score.  The Chinese love their competitions but are not against cheating to win. 

As we were waiting this guy decided to clean the floor.  He moved the signs out of the way and started washing the floor.  All I could think about was walking through this 1/2 inch of dirty water to get to the room and then falling once I got in there.  That's all I needed. 

Once he was done with the dirty water he got out a really noisy vacuum.  A few people, including us, told him we were having a competition and could he come back in 10 minutes.  He said no!  He was cleaning the floor.  Of all the places he needed to clean in the entire hotel - it had to be right outside the door of the competition.  Typical Chinese. 

My presentation ended up being ok, I suppose.  The power point that I thought was so cute couldn't even be seen by the judges.  So it was all me and my Chinese teacher 'students'.

I don't think they've announced the winner yet.  I really don't care about winning since I didn't want to do this in the first place.  I think it would be hilarious if I did win though.  Supposedly there was another foreign teacher competing but when I was there I didn't see any other foreigners.

LoveLY Notebooks

The Chinese have some very sappy notebooks. They are all about love, beautiful things, and over the top inspirational sayings. This is how the Chinese seem to be at times but I find it ironic. Love doesn't seem to be an important part of their relationships. They are very practical when choosing a partner yet their songs, notebooks, clothes, etc. are very passionate. 

All English in China is full of grammatical / spelling errors - notebooks are no exception.

'Don't stop, never give up. LOVE STORY'

'Believe.  Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.'

'Whisper.  A heart that loves is always young.'

'Honey Honey.  I always be with you.'

'The more one learns, the more one wants to know.'

'Dreams come true.  Though it is sick and tiring for you to listen to studying everyday.  The hardship you are facing now will reward you as a precious present.  Why don't you enjoy the moment now?'

This is my current notebook.  I thought it was appropriate to use for some inspiration at 8am.

'Enjoy this morning'

University Midterm

This is my midterm exam.  I got a 91%!  For some reason she printed the exam on huge paper.  It was a bit overwhelming at first but I made it through each section with no big problems. 

In the first section we had to combine characters to make words.  There are a lot of characters that can mean different things or slightly different things when combined with a different character.
For example:  如 with 果 means 'if'.  苹 with 果 means 'apple'. 

 

The next few sections were constructing sentences using different grammar points.

The final section was writing a letter using 150 characters.  I wrote a letter to my mom and talked about a trip I had gone on the week before.

Lately I've gotten pretty frustrated with University actually.  My reading and writing is good but my speaking is really weak.  They don't have us speak enough in class.  When it is time to speak I feel like I'm in a class of the 8 year olds I teach on the weekends.  There's a certain group in class that has to be the first to answer every question and when we're reading they will jump in if anyone pauses to remember the character. It's incredibly annoying!  I've realized that whatever I can do I should feel good about though.  Some people in class are really good at speaking but can't read and write very well.  After University is over I'll probably enroll in a class that is mostly speaking and hopefully it will come.