China Experience

Sports Meet #2 and My Kids

2009-05-10T12:24:00.010+08:00

School Field Trip

2009-05-10T12:22:00.003+08:00

The school took a field trip to a new park in town. It was a damn spectacule. We marched through town with flags and signs. Absolutely hilarious.

Picture of the town from the park.

The kids hiking up to the park.

A statue at the park.

The park was still under construction so there wasn't much to do but stand around look at dirt. But it got us and the kids out of class for half a day so it was worth it.

Ou Jin's House

2009-05-10T12:07:00.005+08:00

A few weeks ago I was invited to my 7th grade teacher's house for the day. She lives in a suburb of Hanzhong. Here are the pictures of her parent's house.

Their dog laying in the sun. She was really scary and mean. We could go downstairs without her yelling at her. In China many dogs run free on the streets but they say you don't have to worry about them. They usually leave you alone, which is true. But you have to look out for the one's by houses because they will protect it at all costs.

Ou Jin and her mother washing vegetables for lunch.

The kitchen.

The food. Remember there are usually no refridgerators in the house.

Ou Jin's friend from college who picked us up. He got drunk with me because I am white and would drink baijiu.

Us and Ou Jin's mother. I was wasted at this point if you can't tell. My cow eye's shrunk to pea eye's

Us, Ou Jin and her mother.

Two other teachers that came with us. I can't help but laugh at the picture.

Us and the entire Ou family.

Overall another fun meal with one of the teachers.

The Puker!!

2009-05-10T11:59:00.001+08:00

As we were departing Xian the buses were in a holding pattern trying to get out of the station. I looked out the window to see this. A girl hanging out of the bus window puking all over the side of the bus. Thankfully she wasn't on our bus but I had to snap a picture anyways.

Jim Beam

2009-05-10T11:58:00.003+08:00

When I go to Xian I always stay at the same hostel. I have made friends with most of the staff and they recognize us as soon as we walk in. I recently met the manager of the hostel and come to find out his English name is "Jim Beam". Since that is my mother's drink of choice I got a picture with him on our last trip.

On the Road

2009-05-10T11:43:00.009+08:00

After the trip to Hanzhong we went to Xian to finish the long weekend. We finally got front seats in the bus so I was finally able to take some pictures of the road, the trucks and the signs which I have wanted to do.

First is the sign to show how far we go.

Speed sign in kilometers.

The following are the signs which have so nicely been translated into English. We find them quite funny.

This is my favorite!

Now the trucks in China are a little different. I have yet to see a semi-truck like those in America. They all have open tops and use sheets to hold the cargo in.

You see a lot of these pick-up type trucks hauling things.

This is the sign to our town. The red ibis is the only real thing of note in our town.

Signs to Yangxian's exit.

More road pictures

Pictures of the tunnels through the mountains on the way to Xian.

Shi Men Dam

2009-05-10T11:27:00.018+08:00

For the last long weekend vacation I spend the day at Shi Men Dam with a couple of other teachers. Shi Men is in Hanzhong. They use the dam for hydro-electricity. It was a very beautiful place.

If you can get this big enough it's always funny to read English written by the Chinese.

Before walking in we took some pictures at the gate.

This was a fountain that you were supposed to throw coins into. The point was to throw the coin into the fish's mouth and than all the fountains go off. I managed to throw my coin into the fish's mouth and set off all the fountains which was fun.

This is the rest of the fountain.

This is a picture of the dam.

Here is the other side.

Looking down from the dam.

Looking out from the dam.

My mother asked for a shot like this. Me standing in a crowd. Find the whitey!!

Officers at the dam. It's Michelle's thing to get pictures with police in other countries. She has some from Europe.

There was a walk way along the lake section which we walked and which has been there for many years.

Symbols carved into the stone.

This is my thing. I take pictures of fancy garbage cans and I found 2 at Shi Men.

This is looking back at the dam from the walkway.

In one of the towers there was a bell you could ring from 1 yuan so we did. We gathered a crowd as usual.

More pictures along the walkway.

Looking back at the dam as we were leaving the park.

Part of the walkway that was no longer in service.

On our way out there were these statues of the Chinese Zodiac. I am an Ox, so this is my picture with the Ox statue.

A man made waterfall.

More statues on the way out.

Another fountain.

When we entered the park area we saw a zip line with people going back and forth across the river in front of the dam. So of course I had to go. These are the videos I took while crossing back and forth. Hope they work.

Chinese Medicine

2009-04-08T12:42:00.004+08:00

Leave it to me to contract some weird rash on my chest during my time in China. I let it go a couple of months before deciding that it was time to go to a doctor because it wasn't going away on its own. So since it was on my chest, and by chest I mean right in the middle of my boobs, I asked one of the female English teachers to accompany me to the doctor and be my translator. So we got up early one morning to go the hospital to see a doctor.

The hospital was like everywhere else in China. Poorly lit, kinda dirty, and filled with people. Step one was to go up to the cashiers and pay to see the doctor. It only cost 2 yuan, roughly 30 cents. They give you a receipt and some prescriptions slips. Than we had to find a doctor. So we go upstairs and just walk into the first room we see with a "doctor".

The room looked like just that a room. There were two desks, some stools to sit on, a cabinet and some plants. No sink, no exam table, no "doctor" equipment. The doctor was standing by the window in a white coat looking out.

The examination. Rose, my translator, told the doctor what was wrong and I began to take off my jacket and lift up my shirt for him to see the rash. Mind you the door to the room was never shut, the windows had no curtains on them and looked across the courtyard to other rooms. Half of the hospital has now seen my boobs. I can't even describe what I was thinking. In the end I lifted my shirt, luckily got to leave my bra on, and gave them a show. T.I.C. = This Is China.

So he looked at my rash, asked how long I had had it and sat down and started writing prescriptions. Now just as he sat down and pulled my shirt back down a couple, one man and a pregnant women, just walked right in to the room and stood next to where I was sitting. They said nothing and just stood there until we were done. Apparently medical privacy is not an issue here, I don't know, but I would hate to see what a Gyno appointment is like.

The prescription took quite a long time to write and took up 3 prescription slips. After he was done writing we when down stairs to the "pharmacy". Gave them the prescriptions and they looked up the price on computer. Than we got a piece of paper and had to go to the cashiers again to pay. In total the prescriptions cost 65 yuan, roughly 10 dollars. Than we took the receipt back to the "pharmacy" and they got the medicine ready for us. They were chatting with us and everyone was staring at me of course. The head pharmacist took this time to practice his English and say "Good morning" to me. Now that I think of it, he was probably across the courtyard looking into my exam room and figured saying good morning was the proper thing to do after seeing my boobs.

After we got all of my medication we had to back up to the doctor to have him explain the process, and believe me it was a process. Than we left and went back to my apartment. Now my medication consisted of two creams, 5 different pills, and some powder as seen here.

Rose had asked me if I had anything to put on of the creams into because we had to mix it ourselves. Of course I had nothing so she got an old makeup jar. First we put in the cream, as seen, and then we had to break two glass viles with liquid medicine in them and pour that in. Nothing is ever simple.

This is what I had to do. I took five kinds of pills, so nine pills altogether twice a day for 4 days. The Chinese haven't mastered the art of putting all the medication you need into one pill yet. Each pill cures one symptom so if you have a cold with a runny nose, sore throat, fever, and a cough you have to take 4 pills.

I had to wash the area with a mixture of powder and water. The powder half dissolved so it was gritty when washing kinda like salt.

I had to put on the creams twice a day. First the cream we made which was like lotion. Than the second cream which was like vaseline 2 hours later.

The first day went fine. And by that night my rash looked like it was almost gone. The second day I took my pills and put on the first cream no problem. Than I went to put on the second cream, the one like vaseline, and it burned. My chest got red and it stung. So I left it on for like an hour but then I could bear it anymore so I washed it off. I am pretty sure the vaseline like cream had some kind of acid in it because it took off the top layers of my skin. It's been a couple of weeks and my skin still feels a little raw. Needless to say I won't be putting that back on ever again.

Besides that little incident my treatment went well. The rash was completely gone by the 4th day. So although it may be complicated Chinese medicine does work.

Spring Is Here!!

2009-04-01T10:52:00.005+08:00

Here are some pictures of the changing landscape from by bus ride to Xian a couple of weeks ago. There is finally some color in China again. The pictures of trees with flowers on them, either white or purple, are the peach and pear blossom trees. The field of yellow flowers are some plant which they will make into oil. There are also some pictures of the towns that are near the expressway. Some of the pictures may seem a bit blurry but I was travelling about 100 kilometers per hour so bear with me.

Everything has to be complicated!

2009-04-01T10:41:00.003+08:00

So back in December I uploaded some photos and wrote somethings but never put it up on my blog before I left for vacation. I have now put it on the blog but it is under my December articles.

Please use the side menu to navigate to my December 2008 posts and look at the one entitled "Meng Ying's House". It is new to you but apparently old to my blog.

Everything has to be complicated!!

Random Events in No Particular Order

2009-03-15T16:42:00.015+08:00

I realized that I have a lot of random photos of little events that have taken place during my time here. So I lumped them all together to make one blog and here it is.

First, dumpling making. A few weekends ago the ninth grade teachers were stuck at school on a Saturday for some unknown reason and had to teach. So along with some of the teachers we made dumplings for lunch at my apartment. We made about 250 dumplings to serve 7 people. It was very fun but I didn't learn how to make the filling so we will have to do it again in order to make them when I get home.

For New Year's Eve each class had a party. These are pictures from that night. Students gave speeches, read poem, sang songs, played instruments and more. They had oranges, apples, peanuts, and sunflower seeds to eat. Each of the classrooms was decorated with balloons, streamers, and posters. I went to most of the classrooms and had to sing a song for most of them (this was not enjoyable or fun!). I hate singing!!

Our new cafeteria. We finally got to move out of the small, dirty old cafeteria into our brand new, but still dirty, cafeteria. It has two floors, only one of which we are using now. It was painted a lovely shade of orange/red which makes it the most colorful thing around for miles.

Inside the cafeteria.

This is were we line up to get served our food.

This is were we wash our dishes after we are done eating.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve. We had to teach that day so we wore our Santa hats which we bought in Hanzhong.

This is our FAO and his daughter

To celebrate our teachers took us out to dinner and KTV/Karaoke. These were the ladies working that night. They were wearing Santa hats too so we took a picture with them.

This is the travelling market which came to town for a couple of weeks. One part was shopping and the other was an amusement park of sorts. The shopping part was okay, mostly the same stuff over and over again. The amusement park on the other hand was quite a sight.

It had some of the usual carnival games: shoot the balloons, throw the ball into the bottles, etc.

The real entertainment of the park was a choice between a dance/music show or a motorcycle circle of doom thing. We choose the circle of doom thing. A couple of guys rode motorcycles and cars around this wooden circle. It was interesting.

I thought it was hilarious and the wobbly standing area about three stories up added to the fun. Michelle on the other hand did not enjoy this and promptly left the tent.

There was also a petting zoo of sorts. We found what we believe to be the only turkey in China. It was around Thanksgiving so we were very excited. They also had foxes, an ostrich, and lots of snakes.

This is the cute little monkey that was outside.

The shopping area did have one very interesting thing. I found the Chinese Dollar Store or in this case the Yuan Store. Similar to ours it was full of junk.

These are pictures from my birthday.This ridiculous hat came with my cake and so I had to wear it.

The cake we had was actually pretty good. Lots of frosting.

These are the flowers I got.

So there are my odds 'n' ends stories.

Chinese Weddings

2009-03-15T15:55:00.008+08:00

Since being in China I have had the fortunate opportunity to attend two weddings. First, the wedding of one of the 9th grade English teachers, who is also my Chinese teacher, to one of the P.E. teachers at my school. The second was of another teacher at the school. I have no pictures from the second wedding but it was very similar to the first.

The wedding took place on a Friday, the second was on a Monday, so there is no set or regular day on which weddings are held. The date of the wedding is more important than the day. Chinese couples usually go to some shaman/witch doctor/fortune teller who tells them what day will be lucky/good for them to get married on.

The school rented a bus so take all of the teachers to the wedding. So at 8 am we piled in and started on our way.

Our first stop was at the bride's parents house. They served a ton of food and liquor. People just kept walking in and sitting down to eat.

We left the house following the bride and groom. The first car in the line set off firecrackers out of the trunk which was followed by the bride and groom's car.

We arrived at a restaurant in the home town of the groom. Prior to bride and groom's entrance they set off 2 minutes worth of firecrackers. The bride and groom entered, walking down the center of the tables and were sprayed with silly string and covered with confetti.

I don't think the bride was very happy to be covered in shit as she walked to the front of the room but it's what they do. The officiator of the ceremony was a friend of the family. There is no religious part of the ceremony. The symbol on the wall behind them is of double happiness.

They do repeat some kind of vows, present rings, and the officiator asks them questions.

The give each other wine to drink.

This was the weirdest part. When you would normal just kiss the bride they always seem to hesitate. I don't know if it's some kind of power struggle thing or what. So to bait them into kissing they dangle something, maybe candy, on a string in between them until they kiss.

The parents of the groom come up and the bride offers them wine to drink so that them will welcome her into their family. The parents sometimes are dressed up to look very funny. This day they were only made to put thick blush on their cheeks and forehead. After giving them wine the parents present the bride with envelopes with money in them.

The bride is accepted into the groom's family.

After the ceremony is over they walk out, change their clothes, and everyone starts eating/drinking. I, of course, was asked to give a toast at the wedding. So I stood up in front of a room filled with people and gave a toast, in English, which was translated to the guest. Hilarious and very easy but very it is very impressive to have a foreigner at your wedding. After we ate and drank ourselves silly we piled back on the bus and returned to the school.

A very enlightening experience.

Chinese New Year's Vacation

2009-02-20T17:40:00.024+08:00

Chinese New Year's is a two week celebration of the new year based on the lunar cycle. It begins with the first new moon of the year. For my vacation I went to 5 cities. Starting in Wuhan, next to Guilin, then to Yangshuo, to Xi'an and finally to Beijing.

A request was made for me to put up more pictures of the trains I have taken, so here they are.

Since Beijing was the most exciting part of the trip I will talk about that first. While in Beijing I tried to hit most of the tourist spots. Great Wall, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, etc. I will start with the Great Wall. Absolutely amazing, breath taking, pictures can't do it justice. So we went on a tour to the Great Wall because the general consensus is that it's the best/easiest way. We went to the Badaling section of the wall which is more touristy which wasn't what we wanted but it was still good. Per the tour we were given two hours on the wall but in order to make it to the highest part of the wall (which is what this section is know for) we were told we would have to take a "motorized something" (which we had to of course pay extra for). So we paid our fee got in line and low and behold we were taking a "roller coaster" to get to the 4th of 8 towers.

Now the "roller coaster" was in constant motion. It did not stop for you to get on or off. To get on was easy. It was about knee high, so just plop your ass down and away you go. There was a "harness" which consisted of a bar that came over your shoulders but the only way to actually buckle yourself in you would have to reach down, on the side of the "car" and buckle yourself in. Now as scary as the "roller coaster" may seem there was no way in hell I was reaching my hand down by the rails to buckle myself in. I DON'T THINK SO!! The way up wasn't bad at all because it was exactly that, straight up. Now the tricky part was getting off at the top. Imagine sitting in a bucket chair with you legs straight out in front of you. Now while you are in motion and with the limited help of a Chinese man, hoist yourself up and out when the ground is 3 feet below you. Yeah, I scratched the shit out of the Chinese guy at the top trying to help me. But at last I was on the Wall.

Now there are stairs, extremely uneven stairs, but stairs nonetheless at some parts of the wall. Other parts are just ramps that follow the steepness of mountains the wall is on. This was a workout not an outing. I was sweating, taking off my coat and huffing all the way up. Well worth it!!

Before embarking on our journey up our tour guide said that if you make it to the top/8th tower you can call yourself a "Superwoman". Of course I am a "Superwoman"!!! And I think we were the only people on our tour that were. The pictures and my words can't do justice. Guess you'll have to go for yourself.

The Forbidden City or the Palace Museum was were the emperor, empress, and others lived. It is a maze of living quarter, temples, ceremonial buildings and artifacts. A lot of the same over and over again but very interesting. I probably saw about 1/3 of all the buildings. There is a wall all way around the city.

This is the entrance and main gate to the city.

The back side of the main gate.

The bridge you must cross to get to the first building. There were five bridges and only the emperor could use the center one.

At the back of the city there is a park which has this large rock formation with a temple at the top.

So I have been seeing these things all over, on every old style building in China and I finally figured out what they are for. The number of these "guardians" show the importance of the building. At a minimum there is the little one in front, the giant one in the back and one of other ones in the middle. You can see a building with the minimum right next to one like this with 7 "guardians".

These carvings were all over the city. Very cool looking.

This is the longest stone carving like this in China. They usually depict the heavens; with mountains at the bottom, clouds at the top and a mixture of dragons, birds, and more in the middle.

So we had the bright idea to get up at o'dark early and see the raising of the flag at Tienanmen Square. Now Tienanmen Square was not what I was expecting. It is basically a giant square of cement with one building in the middle. The pictures you see are actually pictures shot while standing in Tienanmen Square and facing the Forbidden City.

The flag raising was packed, we were about 4 rows back but nonetheless I saw them raise the flag at Tienanmen Square.

This is the Ming Tombs which we went to on our tour to the Great Wall. Not very exciting, we didn't even see the tombs, just the buildings on the top.

Two weeks after the new moon to start the new year there is the latern festival which officially ends the new year's celebration. We went down to a temple/bridge which was all lit up.

Since I was in Beijing it was only fitting to go and see the Olympic Park. I saw the Cube and the Bird's Nest and I took a piss in the port-a-potties. Now the port-a-potties were not portable, they were there for good, they were squat toilets, and they did not flush but they filled with suds after you were done. I will never understand.

Behind the Forbidden City is Beihai Park which has the Temple of Heaven and the Nine Dragon's Screen.

This is the Temple of Heaven.

This is Wang Fu Jing street which was blocks from our hostel. Good shopping and weird eating. When I say weird I mean fried bugs on a stick. No I didn't not try. I signed up to teach not to be on Fear Factor.

We also took in an acrobatics show which was really fun.

Wrapping up Beijing: So there are a few randoms stories to go with Beijing. First, during our tour to the Great Wall we stopped off at a Chinese Traditional Medicine facility where they feel 3 points on you forearm and tell you everything that is wrong with you and prescribe herbal medicine at a "reasonable" price. The 6 points represent your heart, lungs, liver, blood, intestines, and ?. I thought it was a total crock but then I went up there and she told me I was going to be getting my period which I got 2 days later I changed my mind. So I believe now.

I didn't take many pictures in Xi'an becasue we visited most of the places I have already seen and photographed and you don't need to see anymore photos of me eating Western Fast Food. But I forgot to put these up the last time. These are from the Terra Cotta Warriors.

This picture is for the Mystic Lake Girls who can appreciate a good horse's ass!!

The next pictures are from Guilin. We went to Seven Star Park which is a park with seven karst/mountains in it. It was okay. The park itself was boring but the caves which were inside the park were cool. You had to go with a guide and each section was lit up as you arrived. Now some people may not consider the chinese artistically creative but believe me they are. They came up with names for these cave formations and I only understood two of them. There were "trees", "rabbits", "dragons", and many more. Overall very interesting place to see.

This one was called "The Great Wall". This is one of the one's I understood!

This would be the other one that I understood. The "Tree"!

These are pictures of two pagodas in Guilin. They were close to our hostel and part of a park.

Back to the beginning of my adventure, these pictures are from Yangshuo. This is Moon Hill. We took a bike ride in the country with a hysterical guide named Rosie. She meet us our first day there and squated outside our hostel until we agreed to take a tour with her. Too funny, but a very good tour guide. Now remember this was a countryside tour meaning dirt roads, uneven terrain, and lots of rocks on a one-speed, Dorothy Gale bicycle. We barely moved the next day.

While in Guilin we attend a performance which had been choreographed by they same guy that did the Olympic Opening Ceremony. It was all in Chinese so we didn't understand any of it but it was still an amazing sight to see. The ability of the Chinese people to move in complete unison is astounding.

The last part of the blog and the first part of my trip is about Wuhan. This was like a real vacation. We sat around, read books, ate alot and generally relaxed. Partly because there wasn't much to do in Wuhan but nevertheless it was well deserved and needed.

These we found on the street near a temple we went to. They are potatoes, spiral cut, put on a stick, and fried. Absolutely fabulous!!

These pictures are from Yellow Crane Tower. Interesting place with great views of the city.

This is a statue from a temple in Wuhan. It was huge.

So that is the end of my Spring Festival vacation. Now I am back to teaching and counting the days until I get to return home. There are only a few more spots in China which I would like to see, whether I will get the chance I don't know. But I can confidently say I have seen some of the vast number of things China has to show.

Viva La Chengdu!!

2009-01-10T20:56:00.016+08:00

So as usual things in China never go as planned. We were originally told that we would not be able to leave for vacation before the 8th of January. On January 30th we were told that as of 3:00 pm on January 1st we would be on vacation until the 10th when we were to return to teach classes for a few days. So we scrambled our stuff and got ready to go to Chengdu in Sichuan province. This is where we intended to start a vacation, so we moved our plans up and got out of town. We had plan to take the train (roughly 9 hours) to get to Chengdu.

We arrived at the train station at 7 am on the 1st of January after celebrating New Year's Eve, so we were still drunk and being our hungover stage. We waited in line for 30 minutes before convincing Brent, another teacher, to try and pull the "we are foreign and need to go to the front of the line" bit on a security guard. It worked and he got taken to the front of the line. We had our tickets and went to wait for the train which was leaving in 1 hour. Chinese trains have four different types of seats: hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper. Upon examining the tickets we realized they were much cheaper than we had thought they would be. We wanted hard sleepers and had wound up with hard seats. Hard seats are exactly what they sound like and people are packed into those cars like cattle. This was not going to happen and we were going to try to upgrade once on the train. The train arrived and we talked with one of the conductors on the platform who sent us to the dining car to adjust our seats.

20 minutes later we had upgraded our seats and now it was time to get to them. Let me set the scene: 10 am, slightly drunk/hungover, Michelle, Theresa and I carrying suitcases and Brent carrying a backpack, suitcase, and a guitar (he was leaving right from Chengdu to go home). Now we had to go through 10 train cars to get to our seats, stepping on/over/and through people the entire way. It was ridiculous, and we were laughing/kicking ourselves the whole way. Once we arrived at our section we threw our stuff in and settled into our hard sleepers. There were 6 hard sleepers to a "room" and we had the bottom 4. A sleeper is basically a cot with a pillow and a blanket. I, being weird/sanitary, brought along a pillow case to put over the pillow. These are the pictures.

This is the walkway through each car with fold down seats and little tables.

All I can say is "Yeah"

Me waking up from my nap!

So on the train this cart comes by with food in it. We ordered and proceeded to eat in our "bunks"

And spend the rest of our time goofing off and playing card games.

We arrived in Chengdu roughly 9 hours later. All in all it was fun and cheap to take the train. The first 4 days of the trip it was raining and cold and I got sick which was not fun. Luckily my bar going fellow traveller managed to meet a Chinese girl who took me to the pharmacy and got me some medication. The first stuff was Chinese and didn't really work, than we went back and got, drum roll please, Tylenol Cold. I about jumped through the roof and got two packets worth.

There were many things to see in Chengdu and we took in our fair share, despite the weather and my cold. First up we have the Mao Statue, which is in the center of the city. Story goes that when the earthquake hit back in August the statue was moving back and forth and the Chinese people thought that Mao was waving to them.

Being the true two years old that we are we stopped at an amusement park and got on these stupid monkey boats. It was hilarious until we got off and realized we had to pay 10 yuan for this stupid ride. Either way it was extremely funny.

In order to be a true tourist you must stop and see at least one Museum on your trips. We picked the Art Museum at the University. Really we wanted to check out the university. So we get to the university and are trying to find our way to the Museum. We asked person after person and they just kept pointing us in the same general direction. Each one said something in Chinese, after giving us directions, but we didn't understand what they were saying. So we walked through the university and finally stumbled across an old gentleman who we though could help us, seeing as the actual students didn't seem to know where the museum was. He laughed at us and pointed to a building which was under construction. We had just wasted 2 hours of our time looking for this building, everyone we had talked to had probably told us it was closed, and so we took pictures of the building and the campus.

Sometimes we really are stupid Americans!!

Moving on, there is a park in Chengdu called People's Park. History is that this is where people hid during the 1911 Japanese invasion (I think). The park was beautiful, much like Central park in New York, you can just see the city's building from inside the park.

There was this really neat waterfall setup at the edge of the park.

As with everything I do there is always a story. While researching Chengdu in my Lonely Plant guidebook I discovered that there was some kind of shuttle thingy in the old, underground air raid tunnels under the park. So while we were there we decided to check it out. We bought our 8 yuan tickets and proceeded underground. We walked through a few tunnels before coming to a completely dark tunnel. 3 Chinese kids had bought tickets and followed us down. we all stopped at the dark tunnel and no one knew what we were supposed to do. After examine the dark tunnel for a few minutes by peering around the edges we noticed a Halloween decoration hanging from the ceiling. Michelle immediately chickened out and the Chinese girl was not going to have any part of this twisted haunted house thingy. After much debate and hand holding Theresa led us in, me being second, and two Chinese boys behind dragging the Chinese girl. We made it around the first turn and the motion activate "ghouls" started moving. We all screamed, the Chinese girl and one of the boys took off. I however was not going to be the last person in line so I dragged the other Chinese boys along. Once figuring out that things were motion activated the plan became that Theresa would swing her massive purse out in front of us to set off the "ghouls" and we would scurry by. We screamed and laughed our way through it. I may have complete traumatized the poor Chinese boy who I was practically carrying because he was holding on to my arm with both hands. We made it through and back up to the light of day and couldn't stop laughing. It was an extremely hilarious situation.

Along with museums you must also take in temples. We saw two temples in Chengdu. Both temples had amazing park areas with trees and statues.

This was an statue at one of the Tibetan temples.

These dog like statues were attached by chains to the statue in the center of the roof. I just thought it looked cool.

These trees were at both temples. They had been formed to take shapes. Gain I just thought they looked cool.

One of the temples was concerned with the Chinese Zodiac. My Chinese sign is the Ox and see that 2009 is the year of the Ox I had to take a picture of an Ox statue.

And now the part everyone has been waiting for: The Pandas. We arrived at the Panda research and breeding facility at 7:30 am. We had been told by many people and our guidebooks that the only time to see the pandas was in the morning before they were fed at 8:30-9:30. After eating the pandas go to sleep. Sounds strangely familiar! So we made our way through the facility to the pandas.

First we saw the sub-adults, one and a half to 5 years old. They were adorable. We were only 10-15 feet away from them with no glass, only a trench seperating us. They came out one at a time and sat down to eat. All they were concerned with was eating.

Next we saw the adult pandas. Again very cute and they came out one at a time and started eating. They kept grabbing for the bamboo the others were eating.

These are the red pandas that were also at the facility. They look more like a cross between a fox and a raccoon. They are much smaller and run around a lot more. The funny story with these guys is that when they poop they wiggle their butts. We had a hard time trying to figure out what they were doing at first but eventually we put two and two together.

Here are the pictures of me with the pandas in the background.

We were also able to see the cubs, which we assumed were roughly 6 months old. But we were not allowed to take pictures of them. During our walk around the facility we were "tracked" by security. Everywhere we stopped a security guard instantly popped up. So there was no chance to sneak a picture. The cubs looked more like balls of fur rather than the adult pandas. Same coloring just different body structure.

We watched a short video about the facility and found out that they were having a 50% success rate in breeding the pandas. They had delivered 14 cubs from 9 mothers. They DNA test all cubs to keep track of the parents and ensure that no imbreeding takes place. They seem to be having great success and the facility looks as good as those in the U.S.

Overall, the trip to Chengdu went very well. I enjoyed taking the train and would do so again. For now, it is back to teaching for a week or so than back to vacation for a month.

Christmas

2009-01-10T16:16:00.007+08:00

Let me start by saying Christmas away sucks! Not being at home and around family is a terrible thing. I know I am missed but I must just say how much I missed everyone. Christmas is not Christmas without the people you love and I feel I have missed Christmas being away from all of you. I miss you more than you can know but I am enjoying my experience and I know that you will be there when I get home and that is what keeps me going when I am sad and missing home. Thank you for your support and love. I would not be here without it.

On a happier note, I made myself a Christmas tree out of a coat rack, lights and some donated ornaments (Thank you Auntie Jan and Uncle Benny!). Here are some picture of it decorated and with the wrapped gifts my parents (Thank you!!) sent me.

All I can say is Thank You! It means more than you know.

So for Christmas Day and dinner I went to Hanzhong to be with some of the other teachers. Obviously we have been gone too long because we can no longer spell!

We had decorations!!

For Dinner we ate the only non-Chinese food we could find. KFC chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and home made gravy.

It was better than what I thought it would be. After dinner we sat around and got drunk.

After drinking for a bit we went to the bar which was having a little show for Christmas. This is a picture of two Chinese dancers and the two Russians that dance at the bar we always go to in Hanzhong. The Russians can't dance and don't speak English or Chinese but they are funny to watch.

Overall, it never felt like Christmas. We ate, we drank, we occupied our time, but it was not the same. It was enough to keep us sane but nothing is the same as being home. I love you all and look forward to celebrating with you again.

Meng Ying's House

2008-12-26T16:08:00.014+08:00

Here are some photos from the house of one of the teachers at my school. Her name is Meng Ying and this is her parents house where she lives because she is not yet married.

The first photos are of what surrounds the house. From the main road you travel down an alley with houses on either side. The house is at the very back, right before the planting fields begin.

This is a view of the walls that surround the open area of the house. Broken glass placed into grooves.

This is the third floor of the house used for storage of hay, tools, and more.

This is the courtyard right inside the front entrance to the house.

Here is a view into a neighbor's yard.

This is a patio/balcony area on the second floor.

Second floor living room.

First floor living room.

First floor hay/kindling storage.

Meng Ying's bedroom on the second floor.

The kitchen. Gas stove.

Hot plate, rice cooker, sink, and cooking utensils.

Hay/wood burning stove.

General view of the kitchen.

From the courtyard looking at the house.

I have been to Meng Ying's house twice for supper and exploring the fields and rivers behind her house. Her uncle lives two houses away from her and all the neighbors roam between each others house. It is a very tight-knit community. The little girl you see in the picture is the neighbor's granddaughter who sang for us. Every family as a piece of land which the farm/plant on. Mostly for their own consumption.

A rare glimpse into the everyday life of the Chinese.

Weekend in Hanzhong

2008-12-23T23:50:00.007+08:00

In order to buy American food, KFC and other treats we make trips to Hanzhong where some other Buckland teachers are. There also happens to be a decent bar there and these are pictures from a night at the bar.

Yes, they have a stripper pole on a platform in the middle of the dance floor. Yes, I am the only one NOT to have danced on it!

We arrived at roughly 10pm and were sitting down at our table when we noticed this guy passed out. Mind you that the music is blaring and strobe lights are flashing.

So we took pictures with him. He never moved a muscle.

This is what happens when you leave your camera on the table and go to the bathroom for 5 minutes.

Missing from that interesting slide show is the picture Theresa took of her boobs!

Free shots!!

This is Theresa's classy outfit she wore the next morning to take us to the cab. Rusty orange sweatshirt, Aqua blue scrub pants, multi-colored scarf and gold shoes with white socks!

Thanksgiving in Xian

2008-12-23T23:32:00.005+08:00

Again, for the holidays we ended up in Xian. This time the holiday was Thanksgiving. While in Xian we always end up shopping, usually in the Muslim Quarter. On our previous trip we had discovered "North Face" fleece jackets and were planning on buying them. This is where I stubbled upon this calculator which warranted a photo. "JUST FOR CHEAP PRICE"!! I couldn't resist taking a photo.

This is all three of us and the shop owner wearing the "North Face" jackets. We also bought fake Burberry scarfs to complete the "fake" outfit. Fake or not they are warm and what we needed.

Dinner a la Pizza Hut. We had heard mixed reviews about Pizza Hut but gave it a shot. It was very good but not worth the price in my opinion. I'd rather eat the 3 Big Mac's I could have gotten for what I paid.

Us being the outgoing, fabulous and crazy Foreigners that we are, we got invited to KTV by some "English speaking" Chinese people we met at our bar. This is what followed.

They had tamporines

This portion I like to call "the morning after!"

And so ended another holiday weekend in Xian.

Being shown off!!

2008-12-23T23:12:00.006+08:00

So since we are the coolest and only Foreign teachers in the area we were invited to teach a few classes at another school. By invited I mean told that we would be teaching at another school. Supposedly we are a hot commodity and there have been many requests for our attendance at other schools but this school was the best. The best meaning our Principal's son works as a government official in this schools district.

There was a map of the world so we took pictures pointing to Minnesota.

Pictures with kids.

Hanging out in the Principal's office

Our principal

Story time: So they took us out to lunch but we still had one class left to teach after lunch. Food was okay, some was weird like the 100 year old egg from Fear Factor that they served. I DON'T THINK SO!!!!! But some was really good. Of course, along with the food came the liquor. Since I am now know as the bijou drinking girl I got the distinct pleasure of doing shots of it with everyone. When I say everyone I mean everyone. The owner and the chef of the restaurant came and did shots with me. Needless to say the small amount of food I ate coupled with the massive quantity of bijou that I drank made me a drunk foreign teacher. Everyone loved it though. So after lunch we were walking back, to teach class, and we saw this bridge so what the hell lets go take pictures on it. Yeah, it was old, shaky, holes in the wood planks and went across the river. My drunk ass was way too excited about this. So they took pictures and Michelle, Mrs. Chen, Mr. Zheng, and myself made the long walk across the bridge.

Michelle was sober and therefore terrified while I was drunk and seeing how much I could shake the bridge. Dumb-ass!!

So after our adventure, we (and by we I mean Michelle) taught class while I erased things off the board and dropped the eraser about 20 times. Whether they noticed or not I have no idea and the incident was never mentioned again.

Halloween in Xian

2008-12-23T23:06:00.003+08:00

So these are a little old. I forgot that I had these pictures on my camera. For Halloween we all went to Xian. We were amazed to see carved Jack-O-Lanterns. They were outside of a club, all with candles in them.

This is the bar we always go to in Xian. They know us and seems to like us or at least we spend enough there. They were all decorated for Halloween.

And yes, the scream mask has made it all the way to China. Ridiculous!!

Bus Ride from Yangxian to Xian

2008-12-18T18:34:00.007+08:00

Here are some pictures from the 4 hour bus ride I have to take to get to Xian on the Expressway. I finally managed to stay awake and take some pictures. I like to sleep on the bus!!

We travel across this river that wiggles through the mountains. You can actually tell when you get to the highest part of the mountains cause the direction of the current changes.

We go through many tunnels cut throught the mountains. Some are 1000km and longer.

Dinner Invitations

2008-11-25T21:45:00.000+08:00

Since being at our new school we have been taken out to dinner and lunch several times by the principals and the teachers here so we decided to make an American dinner for the principals and our FAO. We were able to find Spaghetti sauce and noodles in Hanzhong so that was to be our American meal. The two vice principals and our FAO were the only ones able to attend. The principal was in Beijing for the week on business. We schedule the dinner for a Friday night knowing that they would only have an hour or so to spend with us before having to get back class (yes, the do teach class on Friday night).

Our FAO seemed extremely excited to hear that we were inviting them over for dinner. We bought wine and buns to go with our spaghetti and were ready to serve a proper spaghetti dinner. They arrived and we poured the wine and served the food. They all complained about the large portion they received being sure that they wouldn't be able to eat it all. The two vice principals ate their bowls clean and our FAO finished most of his. They seemed to like the spaghetti but they didn't touch the buns and I had a feeling they weren't enjoying the wine. I offered something else but being Chinese they would not take it. I caught the two vice principals chatting in Chinese and looking at the wine so I called them on the fact that they didn't like it. My FAO almost spit out his food and relayed what I had said to the vice principals. They gave a nervous laugh and just kept eating.

I may not know Chinese but I can read faces and body language quite well. My FAO was very surprised at the fact that I could pick that up. I told them that it is not offensive to say that you don't like something. I didn't make the wine and I don't care if they don't like it. As for the spaghetti, I can only assume they liked it.

The most enjoyable part of the night was watching them eat spaghetti with a fork. We had a little tutorial on how to stab and spin the spaghetti with the fork which they didn't really follow but they managed none the less. As a parting gift we gave them the forks to take home and told them they must bring them back the next time they are over for dinner. It was a fun dinner and Michelle and I got to finish the bottle of wine to ourselves once they had left.

Dinner Invitations: Part 2

Since I have been here I have been invited to 3 of the teachers homes for dinner. The first is the middle school history teacher, Miss Meng. She just graduated from school and can speak a little English. She invited me to eat at her parents house. Unmarried Chinese women live at home with their parents. Her parents live on the outside of town so we made the 20 minute bike ride to get there after school on a Friday. The house was two stories but only the top floor was livable. The bottom floor was used for storage. Cement floors, white walls, a TV and wooden furniture. Surrounding the house were fields belonging to her family and the families around them. They grow vegetables to eat. Her parents did not speak English but were very nice. Her mother cooked dinner, several different dishes, and I liked them all.

Next thing, her uncle and aunt show up to of course "see the American". Her uncle was a little creepy and kept asking questions about America, politics, human rights, and other shit that there was no way in hell I was going to talk about with him. I played the "ting boo dong" (I hear you but don't understand) card and just avoided all talk with him. It is a funny thing with Chinese people, they can ask you anything they want but you can not ask them the same questions they ask you. Minus the Chinese inquisition, it was a wonderful evening.

I was also invited to my FAO's home for dinner the day our spaghetti dinner. The Chinese can't let you have one up on them for long. Michelle had left for Hanzhong early in the morning so it was just me attending this dinner. The Senior 1 English teacher, Addison, was also coming along. We arrived at what looked like a giant, run down, apartment building. His apartment was on the fourth floor, that was a fun walk. But the second you walked inside it looked beautiful, nothing like the outside. Light colored woodwork, blue walls, wood floor, nice furniture. It was a total 180 for the outside. I met his wife and his daughter. We (FAO, Addison, and I) sat and talked while his wife and daughter made dinner. We ate cold dishes first. One was fried tofu strips which was good, some cold sweet potato cakes which were okay, some kind of root that was not good, and some mushroom dish that was disgusting. It was slimy and it got stuck in your throat, I almost threw up. Then it was on to the hot dish, DUMPLINGS!! You can't go wrong with dumplings. They were very good, one of the best boiled dumplings I have had yet. After dinner we listened to American and Chinese music and I got to see my FAO's knife collections. He enjoys collecting pocket, folding, and hunting knives. I also got the inside scoop and the gossip about the school and the staff. Very insightful evening. I was also made aware that Michelle and I would be invited to one of the teachers weddings if and when her parents accept her boyfriend. I think that will be very interesting. Hopefully it be official soon.

My third and final dinner was with one of the middle school teachers, Lao Han. Lao meaning old and Han being his surname. He is the only teacher that calls me by my Chinese name. He speaks no English and I was hanging out in the office one day and everyone was talking about eating and he asked me to dinner. Then he asked what I would like to eat and of course being the smart ass that I am I said I would like hamburgers. This resulted in a roar of laughter from the other teachers and he just hung his head and smiled. I figure it never hurts to ask. So I said dumplings instead. So the next night I went to his "apartment" which he lives in at the school (most teachers have one at the school cause most live outside the town and since they are here from ding to dong they need somewhere to stay). This is a one room, cement floor, shit hole. He had a bed, a TV, all of his stuff was everywhere. His wife had come to school to cook for us (Michelle, FAO, and I). She cooked on a burner attached to a gas can in the "apartment". We sat on the bed and used a desk for the table. We were quite a clusterfuck. Again the food was amazing but way too much. They cook for an army and expect that you will eat it all. The conversation was a little lacking but Lao Han is a funny guy and his wife seemed very sweet. Overall a good dinner.

I am sure there will be more invitations and more interesting dinners to come and I look forward to them and the free, home cooked food!!

Chinese Lessons and My New Name

2008-11-06T21:19:00.000+08:00

I started my Chinese lessons this week. Twice a week for 40 minutes. We have almost made it through the pronunciation of the letters. I am not kidding. I think it is harder to pronounce the letters than to figure out the tones. Some are very similar to English and other make no sense at all. It basically consists of us entertaining the Chinese teachers with our horrible pronunciation. Of course it's not as bad as I make it seem. I am progressing and the teachers think I can say things very well. Hopefully by the end of this I will speak proficient Chinese. I keep telling them that the teachers will be speaking English and I will be speaking Chinese and then we can talk "Chinglish" with each other.

I also received a Chinese name from my FAO. Xiao Mei = Sho May. Xiao means young and Mei is a flower that blooms in the winter and is one for the four very prized flowers in China. So I am official Chinese now, I have been inducted. It is and isn't a big deal at the same time. They do not call me by it yet but maybe they will start, I don't know.

Bike Ride from Hell!!

2008-11-06T20:37:00.000+08:00

As you may or may not know our schools are supposed to provide us with a bike to get around town on. Let me say again, these bikes are for us to use around town, they are one-speed, Dorothy Gale of Oz bikes, not mountain bikes, there are no shocks, no changing gears, 1/2 inch tires, and they have baskets on the front, bikes. So our FAO has the brilliant idea of asking us to go for a bike ride in the country side. GREAT!!! So we go at 10am on our unexpected day off. It was very interesting, it was beautiful, but it was biking in the country on a city bike!!

We were in the farming area. Lots of field which were interesting to look at and to see the irrigation system. They farm in tiers with ditches cut through and around the fields.

This is black rice which is apparent popular here but I haven't had or seen any.

There are oxen/cows that do all the plowing. They are all over.

There is just field after field. All divided by different plants.

Can I eat that for dinner instead of rice or noodles please!!!!!!!

This was the hill from hell! It rivals St.Paul! These are the 3 students that came with us. The FAO's daughter, her friend and one of the 9th grade boys who never goes home because his parents work in Shanghai. Very sad story, but a super sweet kid.

But the view was awesome

Story time: We biked for 4 hours. It was exhausting. Up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill. I don't claim to have the patients of a saint but the two little girls had been screwing around the entire trip. So we were going up a hill and I was trying to keep my momentum up when my FAO's daughter decides to stop pedalling, right in front of me. I had two choices: Nail her and knock her on her ass or ditch and lay down my bike along with myself. Being the noble and self-sacrificing person I am, I laid down my bike which resulted in me crashing down. I scraped up my elbow and my knee. My elbow was bleeding and my knee instantly bruised. I wanted to punch her in the head. Now this was half way through the trip so I got to go 2 hours with my knee throbbing and my elbow bleeding.

Needless to say, I will not being going to the countryside anytime soon and my ass hurt so bad from sitting on that seat that I didn't get on my bike for a few days. ONLY IN CHINA!!

Sports Day!!

2008-11-06T19:42:00.000+08:00

Apparently every school has a Sports Day, which is actually a day and a half of track and field events. The students compete against each other. There is no other schools that come to compete. So I had the pleasure of attending this event which began on a Friday at 8am (I didn't get there til 10am!). It was a cold, cloudy day but it wasn't raining so the competition was going to happen.

This was the announcers booth. The only spoke in Chinese so I really paid no attention to them.

These are pictures of the kids. These are my 8th grade boys.

These are 5th and 6th graders. I don't teach them.

These are Senior 2 boys (11th graders).

9th grade boys.

7th grade boys

This picture was taken purely for the cuteness factor. And yes they all always wear their little red jumpsuits. Too cute!

9th grade boys and girls

7th grade girls.

Senior 2.

This was hysterical. The Senior 2 boys had these drums, tambourines, and gongs that they would beat as the runners were coming by. It was funny!!

So they had the javelin toss.

The running long jump.

The standing long jump.

And they ran the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, and the 3000m.

Now for the funny story of the day. So there was all this talk about me running in the Teachers VS. Students relay but it turned out I was going to miss it because we were planning a trip to Hanzhong the next day. I made the mistake of opening my big (Tscherne) mouth about running to the Senior 2 English teacher. The next thing I know she was talking to one of our vice principals, who smiled and pointed at me. She then proceeded to flag down one of the P.E. teachers (the one I have a crush on) and tell him that I wanted to run. So, I am now being hauled down the track toward the starting line to run the 100m dash with the 7th grade girls. All the girls were moaning that they would have to race me, thinking that I might win. I took my mark, they shot the gun and we all started running. At this point I would like to remind you that I was running in khakis, loosely tied tennis shoes, it was 11am, it was cold, I had not stretched and I had NOT had my Wheaties. So I got my ass kicked my a bunch of 7th graders in a 100m dash!! It was soooooo embarrassing but everyone cheered and everyone laughed and I think I scored some brownie points with the principals so it was worth my short term embarrassment.

My School and the Staff

2008-10-29T20:19:00.001+08:00

So this is the outside of my apartment. I am on the first floor, Michelle is on the second floor.

Here are the ping pong tables whic are directly outside the apartment. Can be a little annoying when I am trying to nap on the couch.

This is the school gate.

This is the school name in Chinese with the admin. building on the left, student cafeteria on the right and primary school in the background.

This is the Admin. Building where the prinicpal, vice principal and office staff work.
This is the Primary school building.

This is the Junior and Senior building.

Here is the teachers cafeteria. We get served our food through these windows and use a prepaid card to pay for it.

This is where the students and the teachers wash their dishes after every meal. It's a trouf with water.

This is the Principal, Mr. Jin

This is the Vice Principal, Mrs. Chen. She is our mom away from home. Always concerned about us and making sure we are warm when we wear our t-shirts while everyone else is in jackets.

Here is the Senior 1 and Senior 2 teachers office.

This is our FAO (Foreign Affairs Officer), Mr. Zheng.

This is the Senior 2 English teacher, Mrs. Zheng. Not married to the FAO just has the same last name. It kind like Mr. Johnson or Mrs. Smith.

This is the Senior 1 English teacher, Mr. Jon but we call him Addison. He picks us up for lunch and goes around the town with us to help us find things we need. Very helpful!

Seventh Grade English teacher on the left (Can't remember her name) and Eight Grade English teacher, Mrs. Jo on the right.

These are just some of the other teachers I see everyday. Do not know their names or what they teach.
This is the Gym teacher I have a small crush on. But he doesn't speak English and as you can see from the picture, doesn't like to have his picture taken.

This guys is always trying to teach me Chinese. It usually ends up with me making a fool of myself and everyone in the office laughing at me. But he is very nice and always says "Hi" and always uses my name.

This guy is hilarious. Everytime I walk into the office he always says, in Chinese, that I am beautiful. It's a nice pick me up some days and other days it's a little creepy.

So that is my school and the teachers I see everyday.

My New Place

2008-10-19T13:01:00.000+08:00

Where to begin? Start from where I left off I guess. So we went out to eat with our friends in Yongzhou on Friday night after we had finished packing our bags. It was great, and I was really sad to have to leave all of them but I was still grinning on the inside. Went back to the school to go to bed, which didn't happen easily. Woke up the next morning at 6:30 to gather my stuff and headed out the door at 7:00. Locked everything up took the keys and the cell phones and dropped them on the Weasels desk. No one had said a word to us yet.

Got stopped by one of my students and she wanted to know where we were going. The Weasel had apparently told the kids we were leaving but no one else. That was hard to say goodbye to her. Rose was the one who had taken us out and around the city and I felt terrible bad about leaving her but we had to go.

Grabbed our bags and proceeded toward the gate and down the driveway. As we approached the gate and tried to walk through the security guard was waving his hands and speaking in Chinese at us but we kept walking. It was pretty obvious we weren't coming back considering we had our suitcases, backpacks, and purses. We made it through the first gate and were headed down the driveway when another man, I assume a teacher or someone from the school, tried to stop us again. Waving his hands, speaking in Chinese and looking like he was going to make a swipe for one of my bags. He was calling someone on the phone, I can only assume the Weasel. We put our heads down and kept walking down the driveway till we reached the end where there just happened to be an open taxi. We put our shit in the trunk and drove off to the bus station.

We got on our bus to Guilin. Funny side story, when you ride buses here there is always a driver and an attendant. So the driver and the attendant on our bus to Yongzhou happened to be the same for our bus out of Yongzhou. And they remembered us and we remembered them. They just smiled and smirked as we got on the bus and they put us in the front seat directly behind the driver. Too funny!!

So we arrived in Guilin, caught a bus to Yangshuo and finally made it back to Buckland at about 2pm. Long ass day! Everyone was confused as to why we were back but Betts met us and was very happy to see us. We had a little debriefing with her and got the full story as to why we were pulled. So besides the fact that the apartment was still not fixed and we had given them 2 weeks instead of 1 week it turns out the school had been disrespectful to the Buckland organization.

Prior to National Day Betts, Pippi, and Leo (employees of Buckland) had come to visit Yongzhou and see all the teachers and apartments. When they came to our school no one greeted them at the gate and they had to sit around and wait for us to get out of class. This is highly disrespectful and not the Chinese way. Needless to say Betts, Pippi, and Leo were furious and after seeing the apartment it only got worse. Later that day Owen Buckland, the head guy, came to our school to speak with us, The Weasel, and the principal. He checked out our apartment, agreed with what we were saying and gave them a week. After meeting with us he said he was going to see the principal. We watched him walk over to the Admin. building and then about 5 minutes later we watched him walk back to his car and leave. We had no idea at the time that the principal wouldn't meet with Owen. So that was the straw that broke the camels back. Two weeks later he asked Betts to call us and talk to us about leaving. Since she had already done that during her visit she simply called and told us to pack.

After hearing this story we were informed that the school had already sent a fax to Buckland saying that we had broken our contract and I am sure a bunch of other nasty things. So we wrote down our accounts of what had happened and why we had left. We were not breaking our contract, we were pulled by Buckland and they were not going to pay back the school. ASSES OFFICIAL CHAPPED!!!!

So we spent the night in Yangshuo, had some amazing Western food and celebrated Betts' and her husbands anniversary. And found a new bar with an amazing drink, a Chocolate Russian. Same as a Black Russian only you add Chocolate Ice Cream. OH MY GOD GOOD!! The next day we boarded a plane and came back to Xi'an. We met up with Frank, the "Owen" of Shaanxi province, went to dinner and then spent the night in Xi'an. The next day we got on a bus and travelled to Yangxian.

Most amazing bus ride every. We went through the mountains and when I say through I mean through. So beautiful!!! We arrived and of course couldn't find the people who were supposed to pick us up. So we got our shit and I went off to find a phone to call the school. I am getting a little to comfortable with this happening. I found a phone and as I was about to call our FAO came and found me. Him and the principal of the school had been sitting in the car at the bus station talking and missed us getting off the bus. So we got in the car and headed to the school which was not far from the bus station (Quick escape route!). We settled in and then headed out to dinner. We had dinner with the principal, two vice principals, our FAO and two teachers. Very fun and chatty people. I guess they really liked us and the fact that we were chatty as well, or at least that is what our FAO kept saying.

The next day we checked in at the police station, got our phones, went to the supermarket, got shown the vegetable market, and got all of transportation fees paid back to us. This was before dinner time at the old school it would have taken them a month. We met more teachers and ate dinner in the teachers cafeteria. Which is actually really good and very cheap, we got a card with money on it to spend there.

Everyone here is super nice and very friendly and more than willing to help us if we have questions or problems. The kids are great, a little more curious since we are the first foreign teachers here but that will pass with time. We have seen, spoken to, and eaten with the people here more in one week than we did in a month and 1/2 in Yongzhou. We had two of the Senior high teachers take us to get our haircut a couple days ago and then out to dinner. It has been a complete 180 degrees from our first school.

I just finished my first week of teaching which went really well. The kids got really excited during the activity and were yelling and screaming and the Chinese teachers didn't know what was going on. After the first day I had other teachers sitting in on my classes to see what was going on. They just sat in the back and laughed at how loud the students were getting. Again, everyone seems very happy to have us here.

Now on to the important stuff, pictures of my apartment. I haven't got any pictures of the school or the outside of the apartment because it has been raining. Another side story, the weather here is amazing. Cool, perfect fall weather. I am loving it. So Michelle and I have completely separate apartments, we are only sharing the building, she has one floor and I have the other.

This is my bedroom. Bed, chair, computer desk, actually closets and an AC/Heater.

This is my bathroom sink that isn't in the bathroom but it works for me. Bedrooms on the right, bathroom on the left.

Here is the bathroom with toilet, shower, washer, and mop bucket.

This is the washer from hell. It is the only annoyance in the apartment.

Allow me to explain. You wash the clothes in the left which you must fill with water by yourself. Then you rinse and spin in the right which you must fill with water by yourself. And all the water is then emptied on to the floor through a drainage hose and down the drain in the corner of the room. It is a process believe me. There is no pushing a button and checking it in an hour.

This is my living room. With TV, DVD, Cable box (only one English channel), water dispenser, AC/Heater and two couches. Very nice, very comfortable, and very new.

This is my kitchen. Complete with a fridge, electric hot plate, gas burner, microwave, ample counter space, rice cooker, and kitchen utensils.

This is my office. Which has a desktop computer and a cabinet that I store all my extra stuff in.

This is my Chinese laundry.We can hang our clothes outside on a line but my socks and underwear I will be drying in the apartment on my coat racks.

That's my new place. Much better than the old. The apartment is good, the kids are good, the staff is amazing, the town is a little small but only an hour away from a bigger city where some of our friends are and only 4 hours from Xi'an where everything is. I think I will enjoy my time here. This is real China, where street suddenly end and the countryside begins which I really like. And I can actually ride my bike without fear of being run over by buses and cars. So far so good!

Good Bye Weasel

2008-10-09T15:37:00.000+08:00

So we just got the call and we are leaving. The Buckland Group is sick and tired of this school and is pulling us out. We will more than likely end up in Yangxian in Shaanxi Province, up north. So I just packed my bags (what a pain in the ass!!) and we leave tomorrow morning back to Yangshuo to talk with Owen and Betts. Than we are leaving on Saturday to our new school.

I love it!! I think I am a little too happy. I am more happy about saying "F U" to this school than actually leaving but I am not going to fight Buckland to stay here. They are ending their contract with this school after we leave. It sucks to leave our students and our friends here but I can't wait to see the look on the weasels face. I sent a text message to him saying we wouldn't be teaching classes this afternoon and he immediately promised us everything would be fixed. Such a weasel!! I just told him to call Owen, which he won't do because he knows he is in the wrong.

I don't know how to contain my excitement! That might make me a bad person, slightly, but I don't care anymore. The bitch is back!! And she is not going away til I leave this school.

So hopefully the next time I write it will be from a new school, with a better situation and new pictures of my very own, totally seperate from Michelle, apartment with all the furnishing I am supposed to have and a much nicer and more appreciative staff that actually cares that we are there.

I ALWAYS WIN!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahahaha!

Strange noises in the wall

2008-10-06T22:35:00.000+08:00

After returning from our trip and eating some food we tried to settle in for the night. As I said before "This is China!" and nothing is ever that simple. While playing on my computer I heard loud banging coming from Michelle's room and a few moments later I heard Michelle coming down the hall saying "there is something screaming and moving in my wall". Sure enough there was something moving in her wall. We could hear it, making little screeching noises and moving in front of a small hole in the wall. We watched and listened for a moment trying to figure out what it was. Michelle is afraid of rats and I am afraid of spiders so we compliment each other in that we can kill each others fears.

Michelle was sure it was a rat and I wasn't questioning that until I say whatever it was poke out of the hole. I didn't get a good look but from what I saw I believed it to be a very large spider. It looked like a leg popped out of the hole. At this point we both fled the room, closed the door, and stuffed a towel under the door. I was going to have no part in dealing with a giant spider in the wall. I was scared shit-less.

We attempted to call our FAO, it was only 11:00, but he did not answer. We decided to go down to the security guard by the gate and try to explain what was going on. This of course had no effect because we don't speak Chinese and he laughed at us.

We walked back into the apartment and called Cobra, the only other person we know who speaks Chinese, and walked back down to the security gate. This time we found a different, and much nicer, security guard who talked to Cobra and understood the situation. He walked back to our apartment with us to check it out.

As usual, now that he had come all the way up the noise in the wall had stopped and nothing was moving. So typical! We found some packing tape and the security guard was nice enough to cover the holes with it. Regardless of this Michelle slept in my room that night.

The next morning "the weasel" called. "You called 8 times last night" he said. Yeah asshole we did, maybe if your drunk ass hadn't been passed out you would have picked up. Of course we were much nicer than that but I'm pretty sure Michelle want to reach through the phone and strangle him. He came over to see the holes in the wall and said someone would come by to patch them up.

Fast forward 6 hours, no one has come and we call "the weasel" again. "Oh no workmen are here so I will come and patch the wall". Okay fine, as long as it gets done tonight or we were going to leave.

He comes over with two girl students and a bag of mixed cement, which he proceeds to drip all over our floor. Then he has the two girls patch up the wall while he stands and watches. These girls can bearly speak English and now they are patching up walls. Worst patch job ever, they made a mess. Totally jerry-rigged operation. I am so happy that I grew up with my dad who has taught me how to do jobs like this.

So they finish the patch job and as they are leaving "the weasel" has the balls to tell us that we should probably wipe up the floor. I wanted to jump down his throat so badly. But Michelle and I kept our mouths shut and just cleaned up the mess. 3 hours later the noises started again but there was no way what was in the wall was coming out. Michelle got to sleep in her room and all was well again.

The following morning, Michelle heard something hitting the window outside her room. She investigated and found a bird in the apartment trying to fly out a closed window. She opened the windows but the bird wouldn't fly out. Instead it flew toward the ceiling and into a vent and disappeared. We can only assume that there is a family of birds living in Michelle's wall and that was what was making all the noise and poked out of the hole. There is no way we are going to get those birds out. All I can do is shake my head and remember "This is China!"

National Day Vacation to Xi'an in Shaanxi Province

2008-10-05T12:04:00.001+08:00

Finally a vacation!!! For the National Day holiday I went to Xi'an in the north of China. National Day is like our 4th of July. I spent 5 days seeing the sights in Xi'an. Meet up with a few other teachers from Buckland who are teaching up in Shaanxi.

The first pictures are of our hostel that we stayed in. It was awesome, I was a little hesitant, thinking that it would be dirty and not a nice place but I was totally wrong. This is outside the hostel.

This is inside the hostel. There were 3 open areas with rooms around them.

This is the city wall which was right outside our hostel.

This is the bar in the basement of the hostel.

On Friday night we got to make and eat dumplings for free. It was very interesting. All that keifli (? I can't spell) making really paid off.

This is the bell tower in the center of the city. The four main roads branch off from here.

Huge shopping mall.

Since we couldn't catch a cab, very sour note about the city, we travelled around in these tut-tuts aka mopeds/motorcycles with carriages in back.

So I had a small breakdown aka Xi'an has a McDonalds and a Subway. I couldn't help myself. We only went to McDonalds twice and Subway twice in the 5 days. What can I say, I'm weak!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we went to the Terra Cotta Warrior site. It was okay, a little overrated. You go into a building with the warriors and there are tons of people to fight through to get a picture and we only had an 30 minutes to see it before catching the bus back. It was interesting and a sight to see but nothing I would plan a trip around.

This is the coolest thing and I have wanted on since I got here. They make these stamps with your name in English and Chinese. You pick out the stamp, make of stone/marble or something and then they carve in your name by hand.

This is the wall around the city. You can go up and walk all the way around the city on it.

Random photo but this has to be the most elaborate trash can ever.

These guys appeared out of nowhere and put on a little show.

This is looking from the South Gate down toward the Bell Tower in the center of the city. Pay no attention to the random guy who would not move.

Up on the wall.

This is the Muslim Quarter in the Northwest part of the city. There is apparently a number of Chinese Muslims. They have a mosque and everything. By everything I mean they were selling liver on the side of the roads with no refridgeration. YUCK!!! It was the most colorful part of the city.

This is the Drum Tower which in near the Bell Tower. We never went in because everyone says it's a waste of money which I can believe.

We went to the Temple of the Eight Immortals. I think this was my favorite part of the trip. It was a pain in the ass getting out there but it was worth it. In China buses apparently don't travel in a circle, so when you hit the end of the route they just stop and sit for an undetermined amount of time. Needless to say we got on going the wrong way had to get off and then back on another bus. As we always say "This is China!"

We went on the last full day we had in Xi'an and it made the trip for me. There is such a sense of peace and tranquility inside the temple. I don't know if it was just that it was quiet in there, no noise from the city, or what but I felt so good when I left. I was very calming and centering.

It was a Daoist temple and the story goes that you are supposed to throw a coin at the bell in the center of the circle thing under the bridge and if you hit the bell you are predestined to be a Daoist. I throw a coin but only hit the circle thing so I guess Daoism is not for me!

I didn't take any pictures in side any of the temple buildings. There was nothing that said you couldn't but I didn't know and I felt it would be rude. But in this one you can see the statue in the back. There was probably 5-7 building with these statues in them, each one for a different person.

All in all a very good trip and it was really nice to see the other teachers and bitch about all of our problems.

Xi'an is a very polluted city. Smog was the reason we couldn't take off. You could not see the plane through the windows when we were sitting in the terminal. You know it's bad when you can rub your nose and the snot that comes out is black. No wonder the Chinese shut down all the factories before the Olympics.

And of course the issues with catching a cab and our two hour flight delay on the way back didn't help. We have really bad juju when it comes to flight delays. To make the story better we missed the bus back to Yongzhou that we wanted to take so we took a later one. Big Mistake. The later bus doesn't go to the county we live in so we had a freak out moment of not know what to do and of course we can't communicate with any one. Called our FAO, who was drunk at the time, he got the bus driver to get us on another bus but we still didn't know where it went. Luckily there was a girl who is a student at No. 4 school, Juliet from room 317, who told us that the bus would take us right to our school, which it did. I don't know how we always luck out and find someone who speaks English but as long as it keeps happening I don't mind the flight delays.

We were very happy to see our school again, even though nothing has been fixed yet. We will see how the week goes and take it from there. But a good trip nonetheless!

Our pet lizard

2008-10-05T12:01:00.000+08:00

This is our lizard that visits our kitchen at midnight. Scared the shit out of us the first time we saw it. It appeared one night and came back twice but we haven't seen it in awhile. It's probably on a stick somewhere.

KTV

2008-10-05T11:54:00.001+08:00

So I had my first KTV experience, that is Chinese Kareoke. It's very different from American kareoke. You rent your own private room for just your party (which could be a good thing if you can't really sing!). It was fun, not a wide variety of American/English music but enough to keep us entertained. There was beer and bayjo so we were happy. I still don't understand why if you have a microphone you still shout into it. We were so loud and my voice was a little sore the next day.

This is the gang that went.

Becky from England. Teaches at No.4

Kate from England and Paul from America. They are married and teach at No.8

My School, Pay Day, and Mid Autumn Festival

2008-10-05T11:24:00.000+08:00

Here are some pictures of our school. First is the student dorms which are tiny rooms with 10 to 12 students in each. That is there laundry hanging on the balcony. Next is the Technology building, the only nice building on campus. It looks fancy from the outside but it's filthy on the inside, like everything in China. Last it the boys playing basketball.

Pay Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing more be explained

This is down by the River where we spend the Mid Autumn Festival. These are lights in the sidewalk that flicker. Not the best picture but you get the idea.

This is the park. There are these big light poles and a big screen TV in the middle.

These are the people who dance in the park. There are circles around light poles and someone brings the music and everyone dances.

This is the moon during Mid Autumn Festival. All of the Chinese holidays are based on the phases of the moon so I figured it was an appropriate picture.

Trying the writing thing while I have internet

2008-09-28T19:05:00.000+08:00

I am writing this super fast cause I finally got a little Internet service in the apartment so bear with me. I will write more later but this is the quick update. So our "Agent" Owen Buckland came up to our school to bitch out our FAO (foreign affairs officer) for the piece of shit job he is doing and the horrible condition of our apartment this week. It was hilarious. We used to call our FAO "dipshit" now we call him "smarmy weasel". We are such nice Americans. So they have a week to fix our place or we are out of here. We really don't want to leave cause we like the city, the students, and the other foreign teachers here but at the same time I really want to chap their asses and walk out on them. I am my mother's daughter, Sorry Mom.

Other than that we have been having a really good time. Eating and drink tons, getting together with the other foreign teachers and my "Chinese boyfriend" Cobra. He worked for Buckland and is from this city so he has taken us out since he has been back in town. Had my first KTV experience which is karaoke. It's way different though cause you rent/get a private room for just your party and sing to each other. It was fun. Not a wide selection of American music but it was entertaining.

I am having my first bout of sickness. My stomach has been cramping for two days and I have been to the bathroom frequently. Hopefully it will settle itself out in a day or two. Otherwise I get to go the 1940's style hospital where the doctors will blow cigarette smoke in my face and give me shots of who knows what.

We are leaving to go back to Yangshuo tomorrow to get our passports back. Then we are travelling to Xian to meet up with other teachers for our first vacation. Hopefully all goes well. We really procrastinated on getting our plans together but whatever we are leaving here which is all that matters.

I will put up more pictures and tell more stories when we get back and hopefully have Internet. There are some interesting one like I ate a deep fried baby bird and some pigs throat. Yum yum who wants to come to China.

Love and miss you all like crazy. Talk to you soon.

Final Days in Yangshuo, Moon Hill, My apartment

2008-09-13T12:15:00.000+08:00

West Street where all the tourist go.

KFC baby

West Street

Love this resturant. It's decorated with Jack Daniels bottles. And they have good food!

Buckland Group building in Yangshuo

Our mascot named English Only

Temple on top of a hill in Yangshuo. Haven't walked up there yet.

Travel to Moon Hill in our tut tut.

This is the tut tut. No seat belts. No doors. Lots of prayer!!!

Moon Hill Restaurant

Loove Bar in Yangshuo for our last night

This is the beer we have been drinking

Becky, Christina, and I

Everyone

View from Minnie Mao's restaurant on West Street

My Apartment. We were finally able to make food our 3rd night here. Yum, rice and veggies!

My Bedroom

Kitchen

Washing machine and bathroom sink which are in the kitchen

Western style toilet (Thank God!) and the shower

Door to the second floor where we are living

Hallway on second floor. The setup of this is really weird.

Living room

Clothes lines inside the building?!?!?!

The school

Classroom which are ten feet from the apartment and can see into apartment if the blinds aren't closed

Track behind the apartment

These are the windows into the room and I'm standing in the hallway. I don't understand.

This is from in the living room looking into the hallway

More pictures of the school

Office area on 1st floor of the apartment

Track behind building

Waiting area?????

Stairs

1st floor hallway

Door to outside