Burnt popcorn and rain ponchos

I have a few random pictures from this week, so I thought I'd post them tonight. School for the most part has been quite good this week. We have a meeting after school tomorrow which I really hope doesn't take too long or get too crazy. English is fun but I need to come up with some better activities because I don't think I'm being as effective as possible. Science was so much fun this week. We're working on classification of things (people, transportation, animals, etc.) and today I had them bring in ten things from home and fill out a chart (size, color, material, hard/soft, purpose of the object). It was great to see what they brought--everything from Shrek figurines to perfume and Korean money to photo albums. I never thought I would enjoy teaching science, but so far, it's been great. It is true that it's not really science, it's like pre-science since we're not doing any experiments or anything anytime in the near future. Social Studies is ok; we finished our maps of China and I must admit, since they were freehand, at least my map doesn't even really resemble China, but it was a nice shot. The class is still 100% in German which, of course, I love. They have both been absent this week, which is frustrating because one absence means half of the class is missing--it makes any sort of instruction impossible. Tomorrow means a spelling test and more capitalization work for English and comparing and contrasting the Chinese provinces for Social Studies.
After school on Monday, we went on the schoolbus with our students. It was fun to see where they all live and to experience the chaos that is riding the schoolbus. After dropping all the kids off, they took us downtown to officially register with the police.



Daniel 'controlling' some of the boys in the back of the bus. There are no normal schoolbusses here, just charter busses.



Lindsey and I enjoying our ride down to the station.



Karri and Megan were definitely taller than the bathroom stalls at the police station. It would certainly make for an awkward situation if the person in the next stall was a stranger!



Gotta love the squatty potty. Just a point of clarification: squatty potties are quite normal in the sense that they flush and are hooked up to modern plumbing, just like western toilets.



My favorite dish here which I probably eat at least three times a week: scrambled eggs and tomatoes or fan bie gi dan.





One of my favorite people ever: the security guard. He speaks little English but is the most smiley person I've ever met. He does so many odd jobs around our school--he delivers our water, plays kickball with us for gym class, and entertains the children during recess. Here he is sporting one of the little girls' purple backpacks.



On our way to school yesterday, Lindsey's peddle just fell off her bike (she's holding it in her hand in the picture). I was riding behind her and watched it happened. As always seems to be the case, some people stopped and helped us, even though the most we could communicate was just showing them the broken peddle. Somehow, despite the humbling and vast communication barrier, things always work out.



It's been raining off and on this week, but this morning was beautiful, so we rode into school. This afternoon was a bit different. The Chinese have these awesome rain ponchos especially for bikes--it even covers my front basket. The ride home today was one of the first times I've felt like I could truly blend in. With the poncho on, no one could notice my light hair or my white arms. It also helps we were all watching the wet road, trying not to crash into each other :)



This is my water cooler, although it's not really a cooler. If I had it plugged in, which I don't, it would make my water boiling hot or lukewarm. Since I don't have it plugged in, it stays at room temperature, which is fine by me.
I drink a lot of water. I always have and I probably always will. I went through this 19 liter bottle in less than two weeks!



So I didn't feel like making dinner tonight and thought I would make some popcorn instead. I was standing right next to the microwave and pulled the popcorn out at the right time even though it was still popping. This was the result. I have never seen such burnt popcorn before it my life. It was black! I'm convinced that my microwave stinks because the rest of the popcorn was fine. Check out the bag too...It says "Hotest Popcorn" on the top and then stuff on the bottom in three language, Chinese, English, and...Spanish?!? I'm not so sure about that one because I have yet to see any people who speak Spanish here, but what do I know?


Well, it's looking like Shanghai this weekend, which I'm super excited about. I just hope that the weather holds up. In anticipation of being gone the whole weekend, I'm going to try and work on my lesson plans for Monday.

'Night!
rpm

A Familiar Face!

My weekends so far have been as busy or busier than my school days and this weekend was no exception. Dan Kennedy (see my first few posts on this blog for a brief history of his family, Tianjin, and how instrumental they were in my ending up in China) was traveling "around Shanghai" this weekend and come to learn he was in Suzhou, the same city where I went the International Fellowship last Sunday. After finding out it would be possible to meet for dinner, I set out trying to figure out how I could navigate China's transportation system speaking no Chinese. It is possible and I did it!!
First, I caught a taxi and got to the train station. I was able to find out that the next train left too late, so I tried my luck at the bus station. At the bus station, I was able to secure a ticket for a bus leaving in 20 minutes. It was perfect timing! Upon my arrival, Dan and a national friend were able to meet me almost right away. Having someone who speaks Chinese is amazing; I don't often have it so easy. His friend was able to secure me a hotel room so that I could go to the International Fellowship this morning. From there we had a great Korean BBQ dinner with more meat than I have eaten in probably the last month combined. While it was a short time together, it was great to see a familiar face again! Suzhou is a beautiful city and I was able to spend the rest of the evening walking around by the river.
Navigating transportation this morning was a bit more hairy. I found the right bus line and got on right away and got there ok, no problem. Getting back though...I have never seen a bus more full (see my post from 9/6 with pictures of last week's crowded bus.) I was standing on the steps leading up into the main part of the bus, it was that full. I had to move my backpack out of the way every time the driver wanted to get the door open. It was CRAZY!! The best part was that they kept ADDING people. At one point, the driver did have to refuse a family because it was so crowded. Keep in mind, this is China-crowded; a bus would never, ever be this full in the States. It was so amazing! And, of course, I was the only white face for many miles (well, at least on that very full bus). Thankfully, most everyone got off around the same area where we had dinner last night, so it was at least breathable again for the last few stops. I was able to catch a train within the hour and even finished my book.

Summary: I traveled to another city in China and back again in less than 24 hours ALONE! I must say that I'm quite proud of myself.



The wonderful downtown district where we went for dinner.



Dan's friend, me, and Dan after dinner.



Suzhou is called "The Venice of the East." It's a bit difficult to see and I do apologize, but this is one of the many canals in Suzhou that was all lit up at night.



The view from my hotel room. I spent a while walking down by the river last night; it was so beautiful.



...and now from the back of the hotel. What juxtaposition! Note the traditional pagoda and the city in the background.

Now, I have got to buckle down and do some lesson planning.
rpm

A Different Type of Bike Adventure: Motorcycle Taxi

This posting has two parts; the title is for part II so I hope you are intrigued enough to read through part I.

Part I: China's Teacher's Day. Sunday (today) is Teacher's Day. Woohoo, I'm a teacher, please think of me :) Just kidding...anyway, to celebrate, our school took us out on Friday to a very nice dinner. They also gave us a very kind card as well. The Chinese teachers and even the Chairman of the Education Bureau joined us for this celebration. Our last formal dinner was full of interesting dishes that we had to try because of the politeness factor. Our first day in Wuxi will always hold a special place in my heart a result of that banquet. Thankfully, Friday's dinner was a bit more tame. Our principal gave a nice opening speech and then we proceeded to have 17 different dishes. I'm not sure what the tradition was, but people went around in groups toasting everyone for Teacher's Day during the meal. The count on toasts was at least 9; it was really fun and our table even did a big one together.



On the way to dinner was the first time we'd cramped four people in the backseat of a taxi.



Our table toasting the camera.



Our principal, on the right, and many of school administration at dinner.



Most of the Chinese teachers. The man with the peace sign on the right is the TA for my classroom, but he does a lot of other things for the school as well.



A whole fish! I must say that it was good as far as whole fish are concerned. My excuse for staying away from seafood here is that I grew up in Colorado, which is very far from water; I've had a few people so far take it as an excuse, which I count as a success.



Just a few of the many dishes we had for dinner; it was super fancy and pretty good, all things considered.


Part II: Motorcycle Taxis. In my last posting, I wrote about our adventures on our bicycles in the city. Today I am pleased to report another type of bike adventure: the thrill of a motorcycle taxi. Whenever we take a normal taxi to school, four of us girls usually ride together and take turns paying. It's around 11-16 RMB (between $1-$2) one way. A motorcycle taxi for a similar distance probably would only cost 5-8 RMB, which is certainly the way to go when riding solo. The place that we had dinner was maybe a 20 minute walk from our apartments so we decided to find some motorcycle taxis to get back. It was such a fun ride that we decided to put our stuff up and go downtown via the same mode of transportation. KFC's ice cream isn't very good, so whenever we go downtown, we hit up McDonald's for one of their sundaes. Never has McDonald's been the solo object of our want/need to go downtown, but our first motorcycle ride was so much fun we just used McDonald's as an excuse to do it again. The second time on a motorcycle taxi proved a bit more challenging because there were five of us. After securing three motorcycles, we told them we wanted to go to the big shopping center. Things were going ok for a bit until we turn off the beaten trail, AWAY from downtown. Now, we've only been here three weeks, but we know in what direction downtown is (just follow the lights and big buildings). After convincing the drivers to stop, we manage to persuade them to go back the opposite direction. Finally, we arrived at our precious Golden Arches. Absolute chaos and much laughter just for ice cream! What a great night!



Megan and I on our motorcycle taxi.



Lindsey and Jamie as their driver peels out.



Lindsey and Jamie demonstrating our "lostness" in the gas station where we stopped. It seems that no matter where we go, we inevitably draw a crowd. This gas station was pretty much in the middle of nowhere (haha, like there is actually a middle of nowhere in our part of China...) but somehow, but the time we left, there were like 6 guys just checking the situation out!



The soft porn ads in McDonald's; it's crazy to note the advertisement here sometimes. There's another one where these are right above the Ronald McDonald statue that children play on. Gotta love subliminal messages!



I guess I didn't realize that cows had chests like that...I don't even really know what to say to that, other than "Welcome to China!"

rpm

Mid-week outings (AKA bike adventures!)

In the midst of lesson planning, we do get time every once in a while to explore the city. Yesterday was one of those days. After waiting at school for an hour filling out forms for residency visas, we rode back in this amazing weather. It had been stinkin' HOT pretty much since we arrived, which had put a damper on the whole biking fun. For the past few weeks we'd been taking taxis to school because showing up all hot and sweaty just isn't fun for anyone. So we were totally rejoicing when cooler weather arrived and we could bike the half hour to downtown without even really being warm. It is really just the perfect weather now; it reminds me of the many evenings in the spring and summer that I've spent outside in Michigan. Going out at night is probably the most pleasant thing ever, minus the mosquitoes. Downtown is fun because we know a few landmarks, so we just wander until we find something interesting. Last night we were in search of some good food and we sure found it. It was "(Something in Chinese) Noodle Inn" and we got to sit on the second floor with a private room overlooking the street. Ordering food here is always a process because our food vocab is very limited, but we usually can make ourselves understood. This time was especially challenging for some unknown reason and it was definitely a ten minute process. But our labor was not in vain, as the food that came was delicious. Multiple bowls of noodles, great eggs and tomatoes, and tasty chicken. We did save room for dessert as it was just across the street from McDonald's and their soft-serve is a welcomed treat. That was our good biking experience from last night.
This morning was a different story. The morning commuters here are brutal; the pace is different in the morning and evening commute time, similar to the States' craziness with cars and highways during rushhour. I am learning not to be phased when huge charter busses honk their horn right next to me and I have gotten quite good at squeezing through small spaces and maneuvering around pedestrians. This morning was just like any other until we get to our crazy intersection. There is this particularly hairy intersection where people wait for their busses and today there was a motorcycle/bus accident there. The bus was almost completely blocking the road and the two drivers decided to duke it out on the street instead of moving the vehicles out of everyone's way. The chaos that ensued was worthing capturing.
School was great today and I hope that we have all the minor details worked out. For our sake, I hope they expedite our residency applications because that will be just one less thing to worry about. Tomorrow we have a staff meeting and then dinner out with the Principal and a variety of other people. Our last school sponsored dinner was our welcoming banquet, which included duck feet and chicken knuckles. Needless to say, we are hoping that this dinner is a little less formal and more moderate on the adventure food level. I think this weekend will be one of getting grounded for school. I know I need to plan better for the longer-range and I hope I can accomplish that this weekend. Finishing my current book will allow me to be less distracted.
Here's my ever-growing list of things I'm thankful for:

• Cooler weather
• Growing friendships
• Great books
• Skype!
• Some much-needed encouragement from friends and family
• China's wonderful and warm personalities (our guard at school makes my day every day, also the bike repairman was pretty awesome)
• Continued safety when bike riding
• A growing sense of familiarity with my immediate surroundings
• Teaching English and science has been great so far
• Comfort music (Over the Rhine, U2, Sigur Ros, The Postal Service and Nickel Creek...these are a few of my favorite things right now and probably forever)
• My students

The scene we created at the bike stall on the side of the road. Some of the girls needed their bikes tuned up and their nifty back tire locks installed. Check out the crowd we drew on the right; it is not uncommon for people to just watch us as we go through everyday transactions.



The bike guy who was loving life when we came. He had such a fun spirit and tried so hard to talk to us, which consisted of saying, "okay" and "bye", but we became friends with him on small level.



The girls at dinner last night.



The drivers totally going off on each other while bringing traffic to a halt (those busses are trying to get around.) Mind you, this is a fairly busy road (CO people=Smoky Hill Road, MI people=Burton Street) and they're just chillin', TOTALLY blocking the way.



So we had to squeeze in between the blue bus and the red bus to get through the traffic jam.



This is a bag of cashews that I bought at the store today. Apparently cashews are now savage and "Cool fashion need cool taste." Hmm, I am the new man?!?


Well, on that note...that's all I really have to say. Goodness, I need to get better at writing shorter postings. Again, I apologize for the length!
rpm

A Week(end) of Celebration and Frustration

My long-awaited first FIRST day of school has passed, successfully I might add, and I am alive to tell about it. I think the easiest way to go about explaining the last few days is to just take them one at a time. I apologize now for the longer length of this post, but there are pictures towards the bottom, so enjoy.

Last Monday: Assessment day. We gave a short assessment to all 10 of our middle school students. It was fun to meet them and talk to them and certainly helped us be more realistic about what we will accomplish this school year. In the afternoon, we had "orientation," which consisted of local officials telling us to lock our doors and windows, all the time being poorly, and quietly, translated by one of the teachers here. There's nothing like being lectured at in another language!

Tuesday: More orientation. This one was made complete by our Dean of Students who insisted on making her speeches in both languages, even though she was the only one in the room who spoke Chinese. That situation set our group off into multiple rounds of laughter many times that morning. In the afternoon, our MS/HS team set upon the crazy task of making a new schedule since our first one was too crazy. We combined into 6/7 grade, 8/9 grade, and 10-12 grades and are really grouping the students by ability, irregardless of their true grade. I now teach 10 credits of English (Oral and General) every week to the lowest level (6/7), 1 credit of English composition to the same group, 3 credits of Social Studies to our lone German students in 11th grade, and 2 credits of what we're calling "General Science" to a combined class of 6-9 graders. My core group for English is only 4 students, 3 from Korea and one from Taiwan.

Wednesday: Our first real staff meeting with everyone (foreign and national teachers combined). This meeting was held in a conference room that I never knew existed in our school and it even had wireless microphones! At that meeting we found out that the students were coming in the next morning to get their textbooks and pay their tuition fees. Wednesday was stressful because we didn't get the textbooks that we needed until 4.30. Frustrations mounted on all levels as 4.30 turned into almost 6. Needless to say, there was a "let some steam off" gathering at the local KFC for dinner that evening. Laughter is quickly becoming a necessary stress reliever.

Thursday: I don't really know how the handing out of the textbooks went today because I was meeting with one of the German students and her parents. I never, ever, would have thought that my German studies would be so useful in this vast Mandarin speaking country. The rest of day was spent feverishly getting things together. A principal from the International School in Tianjin was visiting our group for this week and so our group went out to a local Western-style restaurant for dinner. We hope he will be able to get us the needed textbooks for MS/HS (similar to student teaching, I have no textbook to work with for the upper-level social studies) and some more school supplies.

Friday: School starts at 8.00, but almost just after I arrived at 7.25, some of my homeroom students decided to camp out in my classroom. It was an interesting [read: stressful] way to start the first day of school. First hour was our Opening Ceremony, made complete with our whole group introducing ourselves to the students. My English students are fun but quiet. I taught them "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and also did some tongue twisters to open the classes. Overall, I was pleased with how the actual classes went, it was just everything else that made it frustrating. I think my favorite part of Friday was watching our cook feed the left over rice from lunch to the fish in our courtyard pond and then proceed to wash out the pan in the yucky pond scum water. Accomplishing the task of school was cause for celebration, girls night style. A very late night, but one of building and growing relationships.

Our Opening Day Ceremony with our whole school.



Lunch in the cafeteria on the first day with some of the younger students.


Saturday: Yoohoo for sleeping in and cleaning. I think there is no better way to spend a weekend. We went out as a group for dinner at TGI Friday's which was also glorious because of the Western menu (although a bit pricey for our newly adjusted Chinese salaries). The whole purpose of our outing to downtown was to visit a bookstore that had English books because I only have one, yes one!, English book for my whole classroom. But no trip to downtown would be complete without getting trapped in a department store. They were doing construction and somehow we got up on escalators but when we were trying to get out every staircase was closed off and the down escalators were all being worked on. A good ten or fifteen minutes later we escaped and found our beloved bookstore only to realize that they were closing. All fifty employees proceeded to watch this crazy group of Americans frantically hunt for English language books and dictionaries. I must report that I have a basic dictionary and also now a total of five English books! That's what I call a Chinese-style success.


Our group at Friday's for some much appreciated American food.



A funny sign in the bathroom at Friday's.


Sunday: Another adventure, only no dark stairwells and closing bookstores. Our loftier goal was to attend the International Fellowship in Suzhou, a city of around 10 million about 45 minutes from here. We took all forms of transportation to get there. First a taxi from our apartment to downtown Wuxi, then a bus to Suzhou, then another taxi. Finally, we arrived just in time to hear the sermon and introduce ourselves. It was a good time for networking but it made me miss my church in GR. Some nice people helped us figure out a way to get back cheaply and so we hopped on a crowded city bus to get to the train station. But instead of taking a train, we figured it was easier to hire a driver. That was an adventure, but we made it back safely. The school bought us a couch because we all needed more furniture and we even got to choose what color we wanted. However, they did not take our color choices into consideration because we all have the same retro couch, either in orange or red. Mine is orange. I don't hate it as much as you would think and it's actually growing on me. It's just the kind of thing I would never choose for myself. It actually makes my living room look nice and I shouldn't complain, but I must state again that it is ORANGE!


A very crowded bus ride on our way back from church.



So many people!



Daniel, Karri and I enjoying some real Chinese takeout. For a very funny outlook on the whole couch incident, read Karri's second blog posting for Monday at www.xanga.com/karri



The delivery truck with all of our couches on it, taken from my stairwell.



The super strong porters carrying the couch into my apartment.



My very ORANGE couch.



My rearranged living room.


Monday: Today I got my bathroom light replaced by three people, it was really like those blonde jokes about how many people its takes to change a light bulb...well, in China, it's at least 3 people, sometimes 5, because it's definitely a spectator sport here. The principal of our school was even here to investigate and I got the stamp of approval from him as to the state of my apartment, which was great. Well, that's all I got for today...


How they water plants in China--yes, with a fire hose.



My beautiful bulletin board!

Good night from Wuxi,
rpm