Getting away from the city...

The Chinese teachers at my school organized a trip to the mountains this week.  There aren't very many mountains foreigners can go to (due to military stuff happening in and around them) but they found a great one to spend the day 'climbing'.

To get there we took 3 buses, and a tuk tuk.

At lunch the bowl of chicken soup contained the entire chicken.  In this picture Crystal is eating the head (including the little brain) and Will is eating the foot.  The neck was quickly snatched up by Smilie (sitting next to Will).

There were lots of signs with English spelling mistakes.  This one says 'Sky Poo'. 

After lunch we rented paddle boats and took them out around the Sky Poo.  This is me and the other Joy.  We're enjoying while the guys paddle....  

These are the guys paddling -  Andy (from Scotland) and Brian (from Ireland).

It was a fun day and so nice to be outside of the city getting some exercise and hanging out with some of my favorite people!

Annoying elevator rides

Lately I've been feeling annoyed with Chinese people.  I'm trying to get past it because it's really hard to live in a land of all Chinese people if I don't like Chinese people. 

One thing that bothers me is riding in the elevators with them. Now that I have an elevator in my building I ride it at least a couple times a day. 

Annoyance #1:  Smoking in the elevator.  Yuck.  There's not much more to say about it - it's just gross.

Annoyance #2:  Pushing the open and close button.  Maybe I've been away for too long but I think in most elevators back home we don't know where these buttons are unless someone is running for it as the doors are going to close.  Even then we can't seem to find the right button and often push close instead of open. Am I right or have I been away for too long??  I think I'm right - I lived in a high rise in downtown Chicago before coming here and I would have remembered this.  The Chinese press the close button over and over.  MAYBE this makes the doors close 1/2 a second sooner.  They do this so much that the button is already broken in my brand new building....

Finally what annoys me with elevators is that they're in such a ruch to open and close the doors and then they exit the elevator and walk slowly down the dark narrow hallway. 

I guess the reason for this goes back to them not wanting to feel left behind.  Though, they have no problem leaving other people behind. 

Unfortunately I'VE started doing it even when I'm in the elevator alone and I know no one is going to knock me out of the way to press the button. Ahh!!

Come on! Come on!

When I'm 'teaching' (ie playing games) the kids always yell 'COME ON! COME ON!' to their team members.  If they forget they're in English class they say '加油！加油！(jia you, jia you)'.

Today I wanted to Skype a message of encouragement to my friend studying for a Chinese exam.  I found the characters and read the definition of 加油 － 1: oil; lubricate.  2: refuel  3: make an extra effort.  If you look at the characters separately 加 means to add something, 油 means oil, fat, grease; to apply oil, fat, or grease; oily, greasy, stained or smeared with oil or grease.    Basically you're saying 'add some oil!  add some oil!'.  In a way it sort of makes sense.  I hear it so often I think I will forever say '加油 加油‘ to myself when I need some extra encouragement. 

Chinese home #2

For the past year I've been living in an apartment provided by the school I work for.  I've had 2 great roommates but I didn't want to play roommate roulette for a third time.  I decided to look for my own place.

One of the Chinese teachers at my school knew of a great place for me.  It's one of her uncle's apartments and she lives 4 floors above me.  It's brand new - which has one draw back - I've had no heat for the last month of winter.  When buildings are first built they usually don't turn on the heat right away because there aren't enough people living in the building. I survived.

There are 32 floors in this building (it's 1 of 4 buildings in the complex) with about 12 apartments on each floor.  I have 2 bedrooms.  One is small and now houses the refrigerator.  
The other is a good size with a rack to hang my wet clothes on by the window.  It is close to work and close to school.  I'm near a park, a cafe, a Walmart, and lots of buses.

In China you have to pay 6 months upfront.  The apartment costs 1300RMB / month ($216).   My work pays me 1,000RMB/month for living expenses. Hopefully when summer hits I won't want to jump out my 21st floor window because there's no AC.