Catching up!

Okay so I've been really bad at blogging lately. I don't know if it's the pressure of being able add pictures now, or that I've not felt creative enough to write about anything, or that we've been doing way too many exciting things too often that it just builds up!! Anyway, I'm just behind and it's stressing me out. But we have a vacation coming up on Friday and I feel like if I don't catch up before then I never will. So that's my goal! Before I go to Sanya this weekend I will:

1) Teach the children an Easter song

2) Endure a very intimidating "parent visit day"-- I want to run away and hide everytime I think about it

3) Buy a cute dress to go over my swimming suit for the beach

and

4) Find sunscreen-- I am going to need it :)

So I'm gonna start catching up now! Watch for the backdated posts. But first a funny story from today:
I was playing Red Rover with the kids, which, yes, sounds awful, but my first and second rotation of kids did pretty good. The rules weren't quite there but they went to the next rotation with no injuries. My third class though? Before I could even start playing the game, Fred (as in Fred and George, named after the Weasley twins so I'm sure you can guess how their behavior is) bumped into Dannis and Dannis hit his head on one of the beds. And these beds are not comfy--they are like a piece of plywood on a wooden box. Dannis started to cry. I groaned and bent down to help him up. I looked at his head and saw that where he hit it there was a very distinct red line and some swelling had started. Oh. Crap. A kid had just been injured in my class!!!! I mean there had been bumps and tattling that Peter had punched Lee but nothing like this! With Dannis still crying crumpled on the ground I picked him up (he's a lanky kid, it probably looked real funny) and took him to the Chinese teacher. Fred got chewed out majorly later, but we compared to that the rest of class was uneventful.

So later Vivi, one of our native coordinators (she's 22, majored in English and is living proof that Chinese people can indeed be blonde at heart) told me after class that she'd talked to the Chinese teacher who had told Vivi to tell us that when we line the kids up we "needed to separate the bad kids," and that "last semester the kids weren't this bad, no one ever got hurt like this," at which point Vivi told her that the kids last semester were better because they were actually afraid of their Chinese teacher last semester-- she had been a better teacher! And even before this it's been a power struggle with the Chinese teachers, with disciplining the children during class. The kids listen to them tons better than us (obviously...) but when the Chinese teachers are there to control the behavior the kids don't learn to respect us as their superiors or how to not treat us like playmates or someone they can get away misbehaving for.

So now we feel like she hates us. Great. Chinese enemy #1.

Poor Dannis, though! He didn't even get to play Red Rover :(

Two Enthusiastic Thumbs Up for Today :)

We pushed through a hard morning of teaching with the wonderful knowledge that we were going to go to our first day of kung fu lessons. Can you say awesome??? We went to the other ILP kindergarten downtown to join the other group of teachers for their lesson. The teacher's name was Spring -- like the water spring, not spring the season, he was really particular about that ;) No pictures to show from it but it was SO GREAT. A ton of fun and more intense than I EVER would have dreamed but I have two cool moves to practice and perfect so I'm on my way to greatness :) Kung Fu Panda, here I come...for reals!

From the school we walked to a monument that strangely reminds me of home-- because it looks like the Brigham Young statue on BYU campus! Expect it's a lot bigger. Sun Yat Sen (who must have done something great...founded the city, maybe?) was born here and there's a good sized park paying tribute to him. We've passed it every time we ride the bus to Walking Street but finally had time to explore.


We were a little enthused from our kung fu lesson--can you tell?

There happened to be a group of Chinese tourists there who were quite fascinated with us. We mingled around them innocently until one brave woman asked for a picture. We spent the next 15 minutes posing for pictures with each and every person in the tour group, in every combination of people possible, it seemed. My smile hurt after but I kind of enjoyed feeling famous ;) We couldn't help but sing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" the whole way down the stairs.



Where's Waldo? Hehe

We continued downtown to Walking Street--pretty much just a big outdoor mall where store employees clap to get your attention and there are sale signs everywhere but I can't ever buy anything because I don't understand what they say. We stopped for the best ice cream I've had in China-- choose three flavors from their selection of crazy unique flavors for 5 yuan and this time I chose almond, kiwi, and dark plum. Oh. My. Golly. Goodness. I wanted it to last forever. There had better be this ice cream in Heaven.

Next we decided to get our hair washed at a salon. It was 15 yuan, which is equal to $2.50 American dollars. Hindsight says it was the best $2.50 I've ever spent. Start off with a wash/ head and neck massage that was so incredible. There are no words to describe it so here's a picture that I won't pretend does it justice either:

Then....they dried it for us!!!!!! For the very first time in a whole month I HAD FLAT HAIR!!! Super funny to have an awkward Chinese man blow dry my hair, loved the experience immensely :)

We were so thrilled to look cute that we had to take pictures in places we had been putting off posing by-- seriously, you have no idea the hair struggles we've been having here with the humidity and a teeny tiny straightener! It felt good to look normal :)



We shopped some more and before we started getting too carried away with the over-whelming feeling of clothes, DVDs and accessories that are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP everywhere you look, we grabbed some dinner before heading home. Debbie and I once again got brave and ordered two dishes from a little restaurant where the man knew no English, by merely pointing at pictures and saying "noodles" and "fried rice" in Chinese (that can get you far :D ). We really get so lucky with good food, I don't know how we do it!



Top it off with a mango frio and the night is a smashing success :)

Mmm Fridays :) There's nothing quite like them here!

I really can't lie: I love these kids

Are you ready for this? You're about to finally see the demon children!

Here's couple kids in my homeroom group. Hocking on the far left, about to punch Martin next to him. That's Lee with the cheesy smile and Peter who is pretending to shoot Debbie behind the camera. Charming, no?

Hocking used to be my ultimate favorite but he started being too naughty that Lee took that spot (I have a little crush--shh! ;) ). Martin....oh Martin, where to even begin...he's enthusiastic about everything that happens in class BESIDES speaking English, and when I tell him to repeat what I saw it's just, "I wa la craw yalon" ("I want a crayon"). Cute little guy, though. And Peter is one of those weird Chinese people that reminds me of someone at home who is most definitely not Chinese...my nephew Ian! Don't be freaked out, Jen, this is a bad picture but I can promise you your child is cuter. And TONS better behaved!! Peter is a menace!

Isn't this picture just oozing with mischief??? This is what I have to deal with all day!

"Eva, stop talking to Martin! English only! Everyone line up! Who's being good?? Do you need a strike??"

But one look at a face like this...

...and I can't stay mad for too long, even at the naughtiest ones. I'm a pushover for those squinty eyes!

And recently we've started going over at bedtime and helping the kids who stay the night at the school get ready for bed. It is quite possible the cutest thing I have ever seen! So fun to see them more happy than naughty and hopefully the behavior will get better as we bond with the kids!

I also love it when they call me my Chinese name... they sure get a kick out of that :)



P.S. I didn't catch up before my vacation :( Drat!

Home Sweet Home

How do you make an American who is abroad feel a little bit closer to home?


You find them a Wal-Mart!!!

Seriously, you would have thought we were on a shuttle to Disneyland with how excited we all were about going! The free Walmart bus picked us up outside the school tonight and all the way there was talk of Twizzlers, Mac and Cheese, Doritos, etc etc etc and we were all practically drooling with hopes of what might be there.

This is the sight that greeted us:



Uh, WOW??? I guess when you go straight to the source, Walmarts are tons coolers! We ventured inside excitedly only to find that it was packed mostly with the same crazy yet wonderful local food we find at the regular supermarkets here. Rats. Hopes of familiar food dashed. Although I did manage to find bubble tape, Skittles and grape Fanta to indulge in. We try as much of the Chinese candy as possible but it's nice to have a comfort food occasionally.

Another proud find: I have reusable shopping bags at home, and although I usually forgot to take them with me when I shopped I had every intent of using them! Well here? They are what you do. You bring your own or you pay for a new plastic bag. I kinda love it, I'm super motivated more than ever to continue this in the states :) So of course I had to buy a Walmart one from China! That's practically a trophy! Hot pink, please :)




Overall an exciting experience. You're never too far from home if there's a Walmart nearby ;)

One of these things is not like the other...

Today at the fruit market downtown, we had to run to catch the bus as it headed back to our apartments. Yes we felt silly but as we ride public transportation more and more it becomes less weird and more just what you do. Not having to wait half an hour for the next bus is more of an accomplishment than anything else! The bus was crowded in the afternoon so we walked all the way to the back row of seats on the bus, which is raised a couple steps because it's over the engine. I sat there, situating myself and my stuff, congratulating Debbie and Amanda that we had successfully made the bus, and settled into my chair. I kinda let my mind wander and all of the sudden I looked at the scene before me and had to laugh.

I couldn't help but wonder out of amusement, "When did this become normal to me??"

I had to get a picture in the scene I was witnessing:



Too perfect. The white-headed people kind of ruin the effect but you get the idea. I've been waiting to get a really good picture of me in a crowd of Chinese people but this moment had to be documented-- It was just so funny that all of the sudden I realized there was a sea of black haired heads spanning out in front of me and it wasn't weird anymore! Like the days I teach I'll realize I've just been staring at half-visible brown eyes all day and that makes me smile too :)

And just in case you are wondering, I do get stared at. A lot.

Hooray for Photobucket!

It's much more amazing than I had ever imagined. Now I can do awesome things like this:



Ta-da!! Incredible! Never thought I'd see the day where I'd be posting stories and pictures from China after I learned about the Great Firewall. Thanks to Angie for helping me along the way :)

I wanted to post a picture (just because I can :D) but how do you choose just ONE??? So I decided on the picture I have set as my background! The mountains of Yangshuo on our bamboo raft tour. I decided that when I grow up there is going to be a wall in my house dedicated to landscape pictures I have taken of places I've been. This is officially the first one :)

It's all Chinese to me!

The title of the previous post is in Chinese. Not the neat symbolly kind, the kind you read. If it is spelled right or not, I don't actually know. Why? Because Mandarin is SO HARD. I've had two Chinese classes so far and I have left both with headaches. Not only is there a lot to memorize as far as vocab goes, but there are also tones. Yes, tones. Let me give you a brief tour.

Tone one: Straight tone, does not fluctuate up or down. Hum a G or an F or an Eb and you got it.

Tone two: The "Up" tone. Sounds like a question. Think," Huh?" and you pretty much nailed it.

Tone three: The tone that I hate. It starts at a certain pitch, goes lower and starts back where you started. I think. I swear every time it is demonstrated for me I hear something different.

Tone four: The "down" tone. When you say, "Yeah!" when you're really happy so it's a little pointy, that's what it sounds like.

(and I guess tone five: soft tone. You get to just say this one, no special tricks or anything Novel idea, I know!)

So if you get the tones wrong it's over. Words using different tones have completely different meanings. For example, " shi" in the title of last post (pronounced like "sure") means "am" when spoken in fourth tone (I think it is) but when you say it with tone 2 it means the number 10. Help? And you have to stay in the same "key", so to speak, if you hope to have anyone understand what the heck you are talking about. And the letter x sounds like 'sh' and 'zh' sounds like j and that's not even bring the the tens of thousands of symbols that represent all this!!! Gah! If this is how my kindergartners feel when I try to teach them English, no wonder they are ignoring me completely, more content with eating their fists, poking their neighbor, cutting up their paper into little pieces and pulling the fur off the next kid's furry coat....

I'm going to keep trying but wow this is hard!

Today as we left Chinese class we told the guard at the school "Wan an" which supposedly means 'goodnight'. We met our foreign coordinator outside and excitedly told her how happy we were to be able to say something new to the guard ('hello' and 'goodbye' get old). She asked what we said and we told her. She informed us that that can also be used for 'I love you very very much'.......um.....okay??? No idea how we messed that one up but you can bet we found a way. This language is nuts. Now we have a guard to avoid. Lovely.



And yet my knee-jerk reaction to people speaking to me in Mandarin and expecting me to understand is STILL 'no comprendo.'