Music at the mall

Chinese malls are enormous and every time I visit one I see something interesting. 

This video shows a small part of a mall near the Bell Tower.   There is always a DJ blaring some tunes for shopping.

I find it funny when I'm walking through and I hear the 'F**K You' song being played by the DJ.  It must be one of his favorites because I've heard this song played a handful of times.  The Chinese usually have no idea what the lyrics of a song mean. They think anything English is ku (cool). From someone that speaks English - I don't appreciate hearing 'F You' while shopping.

I'm still teaching.....

I have survived 3 weekends of my 2nd semester as an English teacher in China.   I've decided that this semester will be at least a bit better than last semester.  I still teach 21 classes in 2 1/4 days - over 300 students but I enjoy seeing kids from last semester in the hall. 

Highlights from the first weekend of semester #2:

-I have 1 class that is completely the same as last semester.  They are a clever bunch of kids and it was nice to walk in and see their faces.

-I have one kid that laughs at EVERYTHING.  He can't say a word, throw a ball, or hear someone else say a word without him thinking it is the funniest thing.   I wish I found everything that funny.

-I still laugh every time a student falls off their little stool.  They'll just be sitting there and all of a sudden they fall off.  It's hilarious!

-My new 4 year olds kept touching me.  The Chinese teacher was a little disappointed that when she was teaching them they were running all over and not touching her. 

-In one of my mid level classes the lesson was asking and answering questions.  After I asked them the questions in the book I had them ask me the questions.  Students always take this chance to ask personal questions that aren't in the book (usually how old are you).  But this class was more creative and asked me questions like - What's your dream?  Who is your mom?  What's your social security number?     We couldn't figure out how this kid even knew what a social security number was -  I'm keeping my eye on hm.  He's 9 years old!

-I have students with interesting English names- Optimus Prime, Excalibur, Vampire, Bunny (a boy), Happy, Baboo, Yuki.  Yes, I call on these students by their ridiculous name - usually with a straight face. There are FIVE Lilly's in one class.   I named a few kids.  I like naming them after my favorite people from home - Julie, Sara, Alison, Brian.  I had hoped a student in my higher level class would take Eleanor but I think it was too different and difficult. 

-One of my students said I look like Serena from Gossip Girl.  

-I have a lot of students from last semester.  One student has become obsessed with hearing me speak Chinese.  I try not to speak Chinese in class for 2 reasons.  1.  It's English class.  2.  My Chinese isn't great and the students laugh at me and correct my pronunciation.   Number 2 is the biggest reason.  If I ask them for a word in Chinese to make sure they understand the English word I can usually understand that and tell them if they're right or wrong but I am too self conscious of my Chinese to speak it infront of my students.  Crazy how a bunch of Chinese children can intimidate me.

-I asked my older students where they want to travel.  One said America because of the freedom.  I love that answer because it shows me the student realizes she doesn't have freedom here.  That is not a common realization.

I look back at my post after my very first weekend of teaching and it's nice to see how far I've come.  This semester I can just go with the flow, I'm not lost, I can remember names, I know the routine, I know how to give homework, I'm better at coming up with things on my feet, etc.   It's still hard to get past the fact that my job is playing London Bridges, jumping around like a rabbit, and teaching words like cat, kite, girl, boy, umbrella, table, chair, pencil, ball, book.  Luckily, sometimes I even enjoy it.

Overall, I really like the kids.  I could write a post every day for at least a year about China in general and what I've learned since arriving here 6.5 months ago. It's made me appreciate the kids. They are so innocent and too young to not realize how controlling their country is.

21 lessons to go!

Dorothy

I said in my Texting with Zhōng gúo rén post that I have a stalker.  I feel bad calling Dorothy a stalker because despite being a bit crazy, she has good intentions.

Dorothy was the nice woman who helped me join my gym.  I assumed she was about 40 and married with one child.  We didn't exchange phone numbers and I went months without seeing her at the gym.   My roommate ran into her outside of our school and she asked if she knew me.  Lorynn said she did.  That weekend Dorothy showed up at school.  She talked to Lorynn again for a bit but I never saw her.  A few weeks later I finally ran into her at the gym and we exchanged numbers.

When we met for lunch I was surprised to learn she is 33 years old, was divorced a year ago, and has no children.  During lunch she came off as very desperate for a friend and a bit depressed.   She asked me personal questions about my past relationships and how I made them work.  My answers were too complicated for her level of English and there was something about her that just rubbed me the wrong way.  I knew she wasn't someone I could be good friends with.  I definitely didn't want to go to Tibet with her like she suggested.

I received a couple texts from her during the weeks that followed.  One said 'I miss you so much'.  One weekend I was in the middle of teaching a class when Dorothy opened the door.  Luckily my Chinese teacher was standing right by the door.  She spoke with her and got rid of her.  Apparently she wasn't asking anything about me she was asking her questions about how she teaches - in the middle of our class!  She also stopped Lorynn in the hall and asked questions about how she teaches.  Our manager pulled Lorynn away from Dorothy and said she was a spy from another school.  She's told me before that she has come to the school looking for me so I'm pretty sure she's not a spy.

About a month later I got this text from her:
Dear Joy:  There will be a night club for people from America to dance and relax.  Would you like to join.  
A night club for Americans to dance and relax?  That wasn't very appealing and I thought it was best to continue to cut ties with her.  I wrote her back and said I was too busy.
She responded:  I do hope you are happy healthy :-) Take care. 

I still get a call from her every other week (which I don't answer) but I'm hoping this is the end of the Dorothy story.

Bike riding in Dali

I rode along the Erhai Lake and passed through a few small villages.  The people were very friendly.   There were lots of farmers working hard in the fields. I noticed many of them were women. I actually noticed most people doing physical labor in Yunnan were female. 

Corn drying in the sun.  They removed the kernels from the cobs and left the cob and the kernels in the sun.

I came to this missing bridge and decided to turn back

The three pagodas in Dali

There was much more than just three pagodas.  Look at this map:

I walked a lot of it.  I heard it was massive but this was more than I was expecting.  The grounds are filled with temples and lots of Buddhas inside the temples.

The pagodas are made of brick and covered in white mud.  The big one was built during 823-840 AD.  The smaller ones were built 100 years later.  The designer was said to come from Xi'an.  There is a pagoda here that was built 100 years before these and is of a similar design. 

Dali

From Lijiang I took a 4 hour bus ride to Dali.  It felt like we were driving in the clouds - we were so high. It was a beautiful ride.  I sat next to a tour guide.  She found it funny that she is always talking to foreigners and of course ended up next to the only foreigner on the bus.

Dali has a population of around 590,000 people.  It's a very laid back city located near mountains and a lake.

There is an Old Town with many cafes and shops.  It's quite different than Lijiang's Old Town.  There aren't as many tourists, the streets are much easier to navigate, and there seems to be more foreigners.

I found some of the shops to be confusing.

 (This one sells duck heads and mens clothing)

(Ice cream and shoes)

The restaurants display their food outside.

I'm not going to post the picture of the cow skin I found in the street.  It was just laying there outside a shop with a little bit of blood.

(A typical butcher)

One night I met up with a coworker from Xi'an.  After playing beer pong at his hostel we went and found a Dali 'rave'. It was not what I would call a rave but it was a great time - outside, music, dancing, sparklers, and a few people.

(Beer Pong)

 (The rave)

I decided to try hostel dorm life in Dali.  It is a much cheap way to travel than getting my own room and something I've never done (which is unheard of in the hostel world).  I didn't meet many people in Lijiang so I thought staying in a dorm would be a good way to meet people in Dali.

The room would have had 3 other people but it remained empty the entire time I was there.  Luckily I did meet a couple of older Australian women that were staying in my hostel.    There was also a Chinese cooking show chef building a pizza oven at the hostel for his TV show.    What are the odds??  He's from Canada and is shooting the 3rd season of his show that airs on the Chinese Travel Channel.  It was interesting to talk to him about the differences between shooting a reality show in China and in the US.