May Day Holiday

I am going to Beijing for the May holiday.  The Chinese May holiday is the same as our Labor Day.  Due to the holiday we only have to teach on Friday night.  That means I have Saturday thru Thursday off!

My Friday night C5 class was obviously excited it was a holiday weekend.

I arrived in Xi'an 2 months ago and I haven't left the city since.  It'll be great to get out and explore a new city.  I was hoping to take a train to save money and experience the train but it was all sold out for the holiday.  So I will be flying by myself to Beijing.  In Beijing I will be meeting my friend Mariola from Spain who I met in Cambodia. 

I can't wait to see what I can cram into 5 days.  There's so much to do in Beijing!  (I'm also hoping for a shopping spree.  It sounds like there are H&M's everywhere!)

Xi'an City Wall

The city center of Xi'an is surrounded by a wall that was built in the 14th century.  One of the main tourist attractions is to go on the wall.  It is over 8.5 miles all the way around.  Luckily this is a city that gives directions in north, south, east, west  and the streets are pretty much a grid.  So I keep track of my directions based on where I am in relationship to which gate.   I live outside of the East Gate.

Me and four of my friends from work had a fun day at the wall.  Lorynn and Giselle rented bikes.  Heather, Ngeri, and I walked around all 8.5 miles.  It took us 5 hours (we were taking our time). It was a perfect day and we all got sunburned.

Wild Goose Pagoda at night

There are 2 Pagodas in Xi'an.  This is the big one.  There's a fountain that sits in front of it on the south side.  On the north side there is an area where people fly kites (and dance at night) and a 'western' mall with KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, and Papa Johns.  Yes, I ate at Papa Johns.  It was fine. Definitely weird to have it in China.

I haven't been inside the pagoda yet but I enjoy hanging out in the area.  There are a lot of parks to explore.  At night they have a water and light show at the fountain. If you look closely you can see people standing inside the fountain.  There are platforms within the fountain to stand on.  Wikipedia says it's the largest fountain in Asia!  I must say it was pretty awesome and I'm sure I'll be seeing it a few more times in the next year.

Learning Chinese

Before I arrived in China I said I wanted to learn the language but the truth is I doubted that I could - or WOULD.  When learning another language I (and probably everyone) have to put myself out there and put time into studying.  I didn't do that in Mexico and although I had every intention of learning Chinese I doubted myself.

No more doubting!  I'm learning Chinese.

I'm taking 4 hours of Chinese lessons per week at school.  I also have a private tutor 4 hours a week.  

Chinese is a tonal language.  English is not a tonal language.   There are 4 tones in Chinese and the tone changes the meaning of the word or the character.  Jiao shi means classroom and teacher depending on the tone on shi.  There are tons of examples of the same word meaning different things depending on the tone - that's another post on another day.

The written language is all characters.  The characters are foreign to us and without letters there's no starting point with pronunciations.    So Chinese is taught using Pinyin.  Pinyin is a way to represent the Chinese characters and express the sounds in the language.

The problem is, this is not written anywhere.  All the signs, maps, menus, boxes, labels, anything in Chinese - is written in characters.  That makes daily life very challenging.

I want to learn the characters but it would be like learning a completely different language.  Right now speaking is more important to me but I hope to slowly work the characters in.

Learning Chinese is also helping me teach.  I now know why past tense is tough for my students - they don't have tenses in Chinese.  They don't have plurals.  They don't have V, TH, ER sounds.  This helps me know what to focus on.

When I'm learning I need to repeat something a good 20 to (probably more realistically) 50 times before I remember it.    Once I use something in real life it usually sticks.  It's remembering to actually use it that's the problem.

I study a lot - mainly with flashcards or using Chinese in my day to day activities.  I find the hardest part is listening.  I might know the words in my head but when they're said to me they sound different and take a few seconds too long to translate in my head.

It's a beautiful language - especially written.  I'm learning more every day!

What could you live without?

Internet, water, or electricity???

That's something I've been contemplating a lot lately.  Our internet has been pretty good but there are occasional mornings we wake up with nothing. 

Luckily the electricity hasn't gone off at my apartment yet.  One night we were having dinner and a movie with a Xi'an Expat group when the electricity went out.  Roger Rabbit was not meant to be that night.  It turned out to be really fun having dinner by candelight.

The water has gone off a few times for about 3-5 hours.    Last night we lost water but assumed it would be back on this morning - it wasn't.  After making some phone calls we found out the water could be out for 3 days!  There are rolling water outages for the upcoming Horticultural Expo.  Seems they're trying to set a good example to the rest of China and the world while saving water for the millions of people that will be invading Xi'an in the next 6 months.  Having no water changes a lot of things about every day life.  Not only do you have to plan more for showers but you have to plan for going to the bathroom.  Since going to the bathroom is pretty much out of our control it makes having no water a real big inconvenience.   But just like with anything else you cope and figure out solutions.  AND say a seriously big prayer that you don't get sick.

You just never know what will happen in this country.  One thing's forsure - I'll never take anything for granted again.

Jiā tíng (Family)

We learned about family in Chinese class.  I can't imagine there is another language that is more confusing and complex when it comes to naming family members.

There are different words for uncles and aunts depending on if they are on your mom's side or your dad's side, and if they're younger or older than your dad and mom.

Nieces and nephews are called something different depending on if they're your sister's or brother's son or daughter.

I find cousins the most confusing of all.  They have different ways to call your cousins depending on if they are on your mom's side or dad's side, a male or a female, and if they're older or younger than you. I remember when I taught the word cousin in class and the Chinese teacher spent 3 minutes translating the one word.  I didn't know what she was saying, but now I do.  Since I have close to 30 cousins just  on my mom's side I decided not start figuring out what to call them in Chinese. I don't know if I'll ever be at that point in my Chinese lessons.

This is what the board looked like at the end of our lesson.  Molly is great at illustrating what she's teaching us.

My new gym membership!

I've been super anxious to join a gym.  I've seen signs at the park so I figured there must be one close by.  I finally took a picture of the sign so someone could translate it.

I had a few Chinese words prepared to say incase they didn't speak English.  They didn't speak English and they didn't understand my Chinese words.  Luckily there was a woman working out that spoke English.  Just as I started talking to her one of my students appeared at the front desk!  I think he's around 9 and he works out there.  His dad was with him and found it pretty entertaining that his son's English teacher was there causing a scene.  I wish I remembered this kids name.  But he was cute and stood there smiling and laughing.

The woman that spoke English told me the other foreign member comes sometimes with his Chinese wife.  I will not blend in at this gym.  This also goes along with how businesses like to have foreigners at their establishments.  I'm probably paying less than the Chinese members and I'm sure they'll tell potential members they have a foreign member.  Very strange.

The woman helped me bargain with the manager.  I wanted to think it over since I just booked a trip to Beijing but I got scared I would never get the courage to go in again, fearing that the woman wouldn't be there to translate.  The front desk girls mostly giggled at me and didn't try to speak Chinese or English.  We all suffered through and now I'm all set.  They said they're going to teach me Chinese and sent me on my way with a membership and some free gifts.

I'm pretty happy about the bag.  It's the perfect size for traveling.

The cost of the membership was 2,600 RMB or about $400.  Not bad for a year.  It looks like a nice clean place. Very much like the gyms I'm used to in the states. It has a pool, cardio machines, weight machines, free weights, ping pong tables, yoga classes, spin classes, and other classes but the rest of the schedule is in Chinese.  I cannot wait to work out!

Just when I need it

I went into a restaurant to get food for take away.  I was sitting at the table waiting for my food when this excited man came in and started talking to me - in Chinese.  I understood a few words.  First he was concerned that I wasn't drinking tea.  I explained in the most broken Chinese that I was taking my food with me and I didn't want to unwrap the dishes.  (Ok I said the word for take away and pointed to the wrapped dishes.  That's barely broken Chinese but he understood.) 

A lot of restaurants do this.  You unwrap your piles of dishes.

So he got someone to bring over a cup and he poured me some tea.  Then back to Chinese - I understood him asking if I was from America.  After that I had no idea what he was saying but the waitress knew the English word.  He said I was beautiful.  I have to admit that since arriving in China I feel anything but beautiful trying to adapt to this country, probably looking flustered all the time, not working out as much as I used to, adapting to completely new foods, needing a hair cut, and desperately needing new clothes.  However,  with my blue eyes and my obviously foreign look I get told I'm beautiful fairly often.   He asked if I was alone.  I said I was.  Usually that response can get you a look of pity wherever you are in the world but this man had anything but pity on his face when he smiled back at me. 

These kind of encounters happen quite often but they don't all have the same effect on me.  This man never laughed at me or got flustered about the language barrier.  Instead he was genuinely concerned and interested in me and never lost his heart warming smile.  These encounters seem to happen just when I need them.

Go Bulls!

I'm excited to hear that the Bulls are doing so well back home! I was surprised to see them recapping the game on the bus today. I don't see many TV's on the bus and when I looked up and saw the Bulls game I was super excited.  It was nice to see something from home in an unexpected place.  GO BULLS!!

7 weeks down!

Dare I say I actually had moments this weekend when I ENJOYED teaching???  Crazy.  I planned some fun activities and games.  When I try a new game I do it with all the classes I can apply it to.  This gives me good practice for explaining / miming it and knowing what works and what doesn't.  Plus if I find out it's fun in the first class I can't wait to play it with all my classes.  This week I found a very simple game that I used in almost all my classes except for the older ones. It's called Magic Word.  Basically they stand in a circle I draw on the floor and when I say a certain word they have to run back to their seats before I catch them.  Words like ball, book, umbrella, banana, mom, dad, etc.  I change the words depending on the level.  It was lots of fun for all and good exercise for me.

It's weird that I have moments when I HATE it and moments when I LOVE it. I think teaching and I will always have a love hate relationship.  Maybe that's how all teachers feel.  My absolute worst class was the very last class I taught this weekend.  Those kids would not behave no matter what I threatened them with. I like changing words in a reading or dialogue to see if they're paying attention. I changed their dialogue a lot, drastically, with words they know, and read it through twice - they didn't even blink.  That is how much they were paying attention.  Next week the Chinese Teacher and I decided we are laying down the law because the way they are acting is unacceptable. 

Overall I really like the kids - most of them a lot.  They are so cute when they follow me back to the break room after class or see me in the hall and get excited.  Or try so hard to say something and it still comes out wrong.  As long as they're giving it a good try and enjoying themselves while they do it,  that's all I can ask for.

Another weekend down!   17 more in this term and 24 more to go in the next term!  Yikes, I don't like thinking of it in numbers. 

Pregnancy

I'm always learning something new about the Chinese culture.  Today in Chinese class we discussed pregnancy.

Babies are born in the hospital just like in the states.  After the hospital the mother must stay at home for one month.  Sounds nice.  Nothing wrong with staying inside for a month when you have a new baby at home.  Here's the part that's hard to understand.  The mother cannot bathe, shower, or wash her hair for ONE MONTH.    It has something to do with pain but I'm still trying to understand the reasons for this strange tradition. 

I'm officially a resident of China

Remember the Cambodian hospital I had to visit for medical tests for my Chinese visa?

In Xi'an I've gone through a lot more medical tests - blood, chest x-ray, heart monitor machine thing, weight, eye test, ultra sound, blood pressure.  The best part was the surgery room mixed in with all the other rooms.  Yikes.  Luckily I didn't have to find out what was going on in there. 

I also had to register at the police station in my neighborhood with my Visa.

Then I had to go to the PSB (Public Security Bureau) office.  They kept my passport for a couple weeks.  Now I have this:

RESIDENCE PERMIT FOR FOREIGNER IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

After that was finished it was back to the police station to register AGAIN  - this time as a resident.

Then I visited the bank for a Chinese bank account.

When I'm paid my money goes directly into this account and I can use most ATM's to withdrawl it.  It'll be so nice saving money on ATM fees. It will also be nice to get paid after 6 weeks of working!

The Chinese are very strict about who comes in the country and who stays in the country.  One of my fellow teachers actually had to go home because one of his tests came back abnormal.  Of course once he was back home and saw the doctor they said he was fine.   If we have visitors staying with us we need to register them with the police station.  Between my visa, the hospital here and in Cambodia, the PSB, and the police station I've needed at least 20 passport photos.  Now that I'm a resident I can leave and enter the country as many times as I want. 

Chinese public toilets

98%  of the time public toilets in China are the squatting kind.  The Chinese have western style toilets in their apartments so it's not that they don't use them at all.    The Chinese feel that it's cleaner to use the squatting kind in public.  On one hand I understand their point.  When I see a public toilet that's western (rare) it does seem dirty because the Chinese aren't used to using them in public.  I know some literally stand on the toilet so they don't have to sit.  Whatever the reason, they do seem dirty. 

This is what most of the public toilets look like:

Some are nicer than others.  I used one at a karaoke place that had mirrors all around it.  Who's bright idea was that??  There should be no mirrors anywhere near toilets - especially squatting toilets.  They do flush.  Usually there's no toilet paper in the bathroom - just like there are no napkins at restaurants I suppose.  There is definitely an odor which is not easy to ignore.  The smell at the school is pretty strong on the weekends after 1500 parents, students, and teachers have used them.  Gross.  You don't even have to be in the bathroom to smell it.

I find the dirty part of the hole style toilet is what you might be stepping in.  Sometimes it seems that not everything has made it in the hole.  That means we could be tracking whatever it is around on our shoes.  They're trying to be cleaner by not sitting where everyone sits while at the same time risking that whatever gets on their shoes follows them around.  I guess it's just another Chinese contradiction.

I'm surprising myself!

There are many things I'm doing here that in the past I said I could not do and would not do.

3 main things come to mind:

Speaking another language
I never thought I'd want to embrace a language like I have embraced Chinese. Chinese of all languages.  I haven't had the best experiences with learning languages in the past.  Learning German in school was sometimes worse than the dentist.  I lived in Mexico for 6 months and never applied myself enough to learn the language.  I have big regrets about that.  I've always wanted to learn another language but never thought I could do it.

Singing in front of kids and parents
I don't actually sing much in class but I've surprised myself by doing it at all.  I hate introducing a new song infront of a class of little kids and parents.  Since it takes a while for them to learn the song it's basically me singing it over and over and over.  It can be mortifying and uncomfortable.  But I'll do it! (This also includes animals and jumping around like a rabbit, cat, dog, etc)

Drawing pictures on the board in front of a critical class of Chinese students
Drawing is something I've always been embarrassed to even try because I'm sooooo bad at it.  Like REALLY bad.  The first time I drew a picture on the board was to introduce the words apartment block, elevator, and balcony.   I found out those words are actually very easy to draw and my students totally got it.  This past weekend I had to draw kiosk, stadium, market, and train station.  Wow did I get roaring laughter out of those kids.  They were the worst drawings EVER.  It actually turned out to be sort of fun because it engaged the students by getting them to figure out my horrible drawings.  I don't care how bad my drawings are - I'm doing it!

 I thought about posting a picture of my bad drawings but decided to post amazing neighborhood artwork / inspiration.

Life is more interesting when you surprise yourself! 

Who needs diapers?

I was finally able to take some pictures for this post.  It's something I found shocking at first but now I'm barely fazed by it.

That's right - most kids don't wear diapers. They wear pants with a slit.  Not just any pants - what we call snow pants.  And if they have to go to the bathroom......

They don't need a bathroom, they will go anywhere, anytime.  I've heard even on the bus, though I haven't witnessed that.  If they go more than pee it does usually get cleaned up.  Their parents carry the child around with their butt exposed and don't seem nervous that they could have quite a mess to clean up at any moment.

Obviously this works for them so I'm not judging.  There don't seem to be messes all over parent's clothes so they must know when the child needs to be put down to assume the squatting position. (This is also getting them ready for public toilets.)  Seems like a great money saver.  From what I've heard diapers are really expensive in the States and they probably are in China as well.

There are so many differences between our culture and Chinese culture.  That's what I'm here to learn and be fascinated by!

German Chinese buffet

This appears to be a German restaurant. But the only things I saw that were German was the beer and the outfits.

It was a huge buffet for 42RMB ($6USD-which is actually expensive for a meal). There were lots of Chinese dishes, pizza, soups, and a dessert bar. They also came around with lots of different meats - beef, tongue, intestines, lamb, shrimp, pork, ham, chicken, and squid.

It was delicious. 2 complaints - the food wasn't very hot and there was no chocolate at the dessert bar. Otherwise very nice and I would say we ate our 42RMB worth.

I think it's getting easier-ish

This is the course descriptions on the website for my classes. Got it??

I'm hesitant to say teaching has gotten easier because it can go downhill just as quickly as it can go uphill.  This week there is a holiday so the kids go to regular school on Saturday.  Yep, it's strange.  So we aren't teaching our Saturday classes till Monday.  We still teach Sunday as normal.

My Friday classes went very well.  They are some of my favorite classes.  My first class is called English Corner.  It's for 2 levels (C2 &C3) who would like a review of what they learned the week before.  It's completely voluntary.  I get about 8-14 students each week - some of the mothers sit in the class.  Some of the students are from my classes and some aren't.  I've found that the kids who come are not the ones that need the extra practice / review.  They know this stuff.  But it is nice to have students that want to be there and are actually at that level.  The mom's seem to enjoy sitting in on the class.  We play a lot of review games and try to mix it up between the 2 levels.  This week we practiced putting a snake in a box, beside a box, on top of a box, in a box, under a box, infront of a box, and behind a box.  We played BINGO with adjectives and we played Connect 4 in teams where they had to form their own sentences using sometimes, often, always, never.  They were really into calling BINGO and figuring out where to go next for Connect 4 (we don't have the actual game I drew it on the board).

Then I teach a C3 class and a C5 class.  The C5 class is from 7:15pm - 9:15pm. It's late!  It's an especially long day for the students - they've already had an entire day of school.  They are some of my best students though.  They are at the level where they can joke around a bit in English, really listen to what I say, and follow my directions for the most part.  This helps a lot and I wish all my students were like that.  I guess it eases me into my crazy weekend.   AND I know most of their names!   I am proud of myself for that.  The kids respond so much better when you call them by name and I think are much more attentive when they know you know their name.