PHOTOS!

I know this is lame because we are so far removed from the time that this all took place that no one will be remotely interested anymore. However, if you are feeling really bored at work / school, feel free to check out some photos from our trip! They are posted on Facebook, and you can access the albums from these links: China / Tibet, Nepal, India.

Enjoy!

Coming to China?

Today in class we learned how to structure sentences that give advice and sentences that point out necessity. I could say, for example, "I need to shower." However, this wouldn't technically be correct, apparently, because there aren't any laws here in China that tell me I need to shower, it's not mandated by anyone or anything. It would be better for me to say, "I really ought to / should / had better shower."

(It's true. I really ought to shower. Some things just don't change ...)

Anyway, I told my students that my family is coming to visit me in China, and that they've never been here before. Their group work was to come up with six sentences - three suggestions and three necessities - of advice for the laowai (foreign visitors). Here are some of my favorites:

• They shouldn't go to Beijing or Shanghai. Because it's too big. You will get lost. [We wouldn't want that, now would we?]
• They should have a Chinese friend and the friend should know the price in lots of the country.
• They should eat local specialmes. [Mmm ... specialmes.]
• They'd better find a Chinese or someone who can speak Chinese.
• They should go to Beijing and eat Beijing Duck.
• If they get lost they should call 110. [My students were, apparently, very concerned that you would not get lost.]
• You have to take much money.
• You must follow Chinese laws.
• You'd better use chopsticks when you eat Chinese dishes. [Or else ...]
• They should order hotel. Because on vacation there are so many tourists on China.
• You need to buy tickets before going to the parks.
• You have to take the passport with you. [Ah yes, they must remember the passport.]
• They'd better go to visit Dong Fa Ming Zhu (the tallest building in Shanghai).
• They must notice thief, because they're too many people in Shanghai.
• They must be careful of the traffic safety.
• If you're a woman or a girl, you should go shopping. [No boys allowed.]
• You must care the weather. Because maybe the city you want to go is different from your city.
• You must taste as much as you can eat!
• They ought to care about transportation because there are so many cars in China, and the traffic system is important to everybody. [I didn't realize there was so much pride invested into the transport system, but there you have it.]

And, my personal favorite,

• You must believe your daughter is the most beautiful English teacher in our school. [Annnnd - YOU get an A!]

Now you're all ready to come to China, friends! See ya' in Shanghai -- if you don't get lost first.

::Shudder::

I really, really love my Chinese students. I do.

But here's the thing: Sometimes the gifts they give are really, really strange.

For instance, tonight we went out to dinner with a friend's student. Actually, he wasn't even her student. He just became somehow acquainted with her and some other foreign teachers last semester. He invited them out to dinner, and it became a group affair, as many things become here.

And he brought squid jerky all the way from his hometown for his new foreign friends!

Mmm. Squid jerky.

I have brushed my teeth twice and still cannot get the taste out of my mouth. Please, please make it stop!!

The Daily ... Grind?

Well, I have been teaching for four weeks! It's hard to believe, actually. Time has gone by really quickly! As I'm getting into a bit more of a routine, I thought I'd share with you a Day in the Life of Nikki Carow. What follows is what's average; it doesn't always happen, but it's what I strive for and it's what usually happens.

Monday to Thursday:

• 6:40 - Wake up, strech, stumble to put on my shoes, and clop down seven flights of stairs, yawning and asking myself why I get up this early
• 6:45 - 7:15 - Run. Though it's by no means a gorgeous campus, it's scenic enough to make me have nice places that I like to run. There are lots of willow trees, streams, garden-y paths. It's quite nice. And though it's getting cooler, esp. in the mornings, it's still nice enough by far that I can run out in shorts and a t-shirt and feel pretty comfortable. Don't get too jealous - I hear it won't last for toooo much longer. ; ) It's been really nice to try to make this a habit. It's not fully ingrained in me yet, but I hope that morning exercise can be something that I continue to do for the rest of my life.
• 7:15 - 9:00 - Shower, get ready for class, eat breakfast (usually oatmeal and yogurt or a veggie omlette - my choices are a bit limited, sadly), clean up the apartment, and make sure I have all my ducks in a row for the coming day
• 9:00 - 9:45 - Take the 7-ish minute bike ride to my teaching building, and plop myself in some deserted classroom or in the staff lounge to go over my lesson plan
  
• 9:45 - 9:55 - Go to the classroom and mingle with the students who come in early
• 9:55 - 11:30 - Teach my first class of the day. We will usually do about 5-6 activities per class. We will always do some kind of speaking and grammar activity. Along with that, there will also be a selection of listening, writing, and reading exercises. I try to make it fun and interactive, but sometimes teaching when to use simple past tense and when to use present progressive gets a little dry (especially when I myself hate grammar). However, their tests pretty much will test primarily grammar, so that is how their success is judged.
  
• 11:30 - 3:00 - Bike back to my apartment and make my own lunch. Again, I feel like I don't have too many options, mostly because I don't know how to cook the Chinese food that they sell at the stores. I'll usually have rice and beans with scrambled eggs and veggies, but I've also had soup or congee, couscous and broccoli, veggie burgers, dumplings, leftovers ... I usually end up consuming lots and lots of veggies, in an effort to get them before they go bad. Vegetables rot so ridicuously fast here, so you pretty much have to eat them within a day or two. It's a nice time to just unwind, enjoy my food, catch up on the news on BBC or the Times websites, check my email, or Skype with Matthew if he's still awake. After lunch I usually try to read a little or do a Sudoku. After that I end up falling asleep for about 20 minutes, and then have to run off to class again.
• 3:30 - 5:00 - Teach my second class of the day. Same exact lesson, which is nice because there's no extra planning. It's interesting to see the different energy levels in the different classrooms from day to day, though. I haven't quite noticed any patterns yet. But if they've just woken up from their post-lunch siestas (it's a big thing here), it's pretty hard to get them excited at first.
• 5:00-5:30 - Bike home, change out of my teacher clothes so fast, and get comfy.
  
• 6:00 - 8:00 - Usually people will meet up for dinner in the nearby village around this time. Dinners are often prolonged affairs, because you order dishes communally and eating with chopsticks is just freakin' pokey. But, it's always so nice to not have to worry about cooking anything when I get back: I will pretty much always have a hot meal waiting for me!
  
• 8:00 - 10:00 - Do whatever ... Lesson plan, chat with people back home, watch a movie with my friends ... it varies, and a lot of times I have no idea where these couple hours go!
  
• 10:00 - 10:30 - Get ready for the next day, get ready for bed, wind down, read, relax, whatever. I try to be asleep by 11:00, but depending on when I talk to Matthew or my family that doesn't happen with too much regularity.

Fridays are different because I have my two classes from back to back, from 8:00 - 11:30. I don't like not having my morning routine as much, but it is really nice to have the whole day afterwards. What we do on Friday afternoons tends to vary: Sometimes we'll go grocery shopping, other times we'll just hang out and catch up on stuff like emails or whatever. This last Friday I met up with a guy who we've arranged to tutor each other in English and Chinese, respectively. I can't say I learned much Chinese - I've been pretty much sucking at studying it since I've been here, because I haven't quite had the need to use it! - but it was nice to get to know him, and I hope something valuable will come out of it in the end. Then, Friday evenings are almost always spent on the town. There's a bar downtown where a lot of foreigners hang out, and so we usually start our night off there and then to a Chinese club afterwards. It's alright, but I'd rather just hang out and chill : ) However, it's how people hang out with each other, and so I usually go.

Saturdays and Sundays aren't really constant yet. Usually I will grab the chance to sleep in, run later in the day, do some laundry or cleaning, whatever. Sometimes we'll go shopping. However, we are trying to start a Sunday tradition of heading downtown for Subway, Dairy Queen, and killer massages. We found a really good place thats a bit more pricey, but it's worth the extra $10. That's where I'll be off to shortly, where they'll be a soccer game on a plasma TV to boot.

As you can see, my life here is very simple. Right now, I'll say that it hasn't been this amazing "cross cultural" experience. I feel really comfortable. However, I do hope that as I spend more time with my students (I have everyone signed up for smaller group lunch and conversation over the next month) that I'll gain more insight into China and "real life" here. At the same time, even though my Chinese isn't really improving and my old preconceptions about life in the US are not really being challenged, I'm really enjoying just having TIME to take life easy. The last four years were so go-go-go, it's a nice change of pace. I never feel stressed, and that's awesome! I also finally have the time to start instilling habits that I've wanted to get into for so long, and I'm able to spend time mulling over what I want from life post-China, what sort of things will keep me happy and contributing to society, and the like. So, I think there's still a lot of personal growth happening, and I'm thrilled about that.

Anyway, must run off to my massage now! Ohhhh, life's rough ; )

Concerning Mooncakes and Other Holiday Affairs

It's a Friday night in Wuxi -- Yeaahhhh!

And I'm alone in my apartment, and will be working on tomorrow's lesson plan once I finish this post (and enjoy one of my mother Tammy's WORLD FAMOUS PEANUT BUTTER BALLS ... I love the postal service ...).

Tomorrow's lesson plan?, you ask. But surely, tomorrow must be Saturday - even in China with all that confusing International Dateline stuff. Oh no, you've understood correctly. It's just that I'm living in Communist China, and what the Communist Party says, goes. So, when they decide that the week-long holiday you were just on was far too extravagant and that the country must make up for lost time / productivity, you work on Saturday, too. Oh, China. However, I really can't complain that I just had a week long vacation, and a little lesson planning never hurt anyone.

So how was this week-long break? Well, dare I say, a bit of a bust?

Our plans were made oh so quickly. One day, as I was teaching, two other teachers came to my room and asked: "Do you want to go to Ningbo? It's a few hours away and there's this beach nearby. You have to decide like, right now. We're going to buy train tickets." Well, you said beach. And you're taking care of the details? I'm there! I pretty much knew nothing beyond this, and I was more than okay with letting someone else take the reigns of my travels. We left for Ningbo on Friday the 1st, which was National Day in China, which celebrates the birthday of "New China" - Communist China. What this really meant for the people was that pretty much the entire country was plopped in front of their televisions with their families watching the "Military Review," and ooohing and ahhhing at their large tanks and intimidating soliders (think Olympic Opening Ceremonies, except less glitz and more combat boots). When I asked my students about their thoughts on this all-morning-long specacle in Tiananmen Square, they said that they loved watching it, and that they were so proud of all the progress their country has made in the last 60 years. It's pretty amazing to see this kind of patriotism, actually. It's not something I find often back home, especially Madison : )

Anyway, we left on National Day. We took a bus to Ningbo, which was about 3 1/2 hrs away. Since there was NO room any any of the hostels in town, we ended up staying at a class-ay hotel. We settled in, had some dinner (Ningbo is near the coast and is known for its seafood), and then hit the town for the night. After spending the evening / wee morning hours drinking whiskey with tea (seemingly the choice beverage here), no one was quite prepared for an early morning wakeup call to head to PuTaoShan - the island with the beach that was advertised to me. Because it would have taken way too long to get there and it cost a pretty penny, we decided to spend our day seeing what Ningbo had to offer instead. We had lunch at an excellent Japanese chain restaurant, and then went our separate ways. Jones and I accompanied our friend Wilson (the new "Hao" of the group: Chinese-American, speaks perfect Chinese / English, the man who gets us out of every pickle in China) to buy our train tickets to Shanghai and his bus ticket to Wuxi for the next leg of our trip. This was, as things often are in China, more hassle than we had anticipated, because of having to go to a few different locations. When we returned a few hours later, we learned the rest of the group was at Starbucks. After three months without having any such coffee concoction, I thought it was high time to indulge in a bit of sugary, globalized goodness. Mmm. We followed with a highly competitive paddle boat race - see below - amongst the 12 of us (three teams of four. My team lost, but I'll have you know the other teams were dirty cheaters), and then a delicious dinner.


The highlight of the evening was certainly the celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival. From what I can gather, this holiday is celebrated at the first full moon after the turn of the season, and Chinese people celebrate by going to their hometowns, visiting with friends and relatives, and eating a gelatinous "dessert" called mooncakes while enjoying the beauty of the full moon. I enjoy mooncakes, though on the sly. Most Westerners find them absolutely repulsive, and I can absolutely understand why: they're often fairly gross. However, Chinese people eat them like it's going out of style. Another tradition of Mid-Autumn Festival is the lighting of lanterns into the sky. You have this paper lantern with a candle-y waxy thing beneath, and you light that, and it warms up like a hot air balloon. When the air within gets warm enough, it floats away into the sky and you make a wish! Doing just one is fun, but not all that impressive. However, when you have a whole skyline filled with thousands upon thousands of spots of fire, it is truly a beautiful and magical thing. I felt like I was in a fairy tale as I watched all the lanterns aglow with their wishes light up the night.




That evening was lowkey, in preparation for the big beach day to follow. We woke up early and were out of the hostel by 8am. First we had a quick taxi ride to the bus station, but our bus wasn't to leave for another hour or something. So, we had a light breakfast while we waited, and then took our 1 1/2 hr long bus ride to the city where we would take the ferry. We got there, hopped right on the ferry, and then took that for another 1 1/2 hr. (I was having flashbacks to the Aran Islands in Ireland - I had horrible nausea on that ferry, and this was probably exactly the same boat. However, I managed to fall asleep for the whole trip. Lucky, too, because Matthew wasn't there to distract me!) We get to the island around right around 1pm. We wait in line and buy our entrance fee tickets - a whopping 200 yuan!, which was just shy of 30 bucks and three times the price of going to the GREAT WALL of CHINA. Can you say holiday inflated prices?! Then, we go to buy our ferry tickets back.

Uh oh.

Wilson comes back from the ticket window and informs us thaaaat ... every ferry after 1:15 is booked. It's now about 1:07. Gah! Darn you, throngs of Chinese tourists! We book it to the ticket place, where we plead to get a refund on our minutes old entrance passes. At first it didn't look promising, but we all made sad faces. We did end up getting our money back, probably more in part to Wilson's Chinese than our poutiness. And then, there we were, about ten minutes later, waiting on the dock to take the ferry right back to where we had started from.

To make a long story short, we ended up back at our hostel around 5:30pm, and effectively traveled for 9 1/2 hrs so that we could eat at a Lebonese restaurant across the street from our hostel. Lovely. I will say, it was darn good falafel. : )

Jones and I capped off our holiday by heading to Shanghai to spend another large portion of our now dwindling paycheck, and then got back to Wuxi for a day or so to unwind before classes started. Now, however, it's getting later and I must start lesson planning before trying to Skype with Matthew. I am going to try and post pictures of my apartment and campus tomorrow! We'll see how that goes ; )