Becca’s in China

I’ve been back in the states for a few days now and I have to say that I feel a little bit overwhelmed.  I’ve gotten to spend time with my family and my best friend.  It’s been rather interesting to tell you the truth and a little bit eye opening as well. 

The flight back into the states was amazing.  If you ever have to fly long distance I would highly suggest that you fly Continental Airlines.  It was a smooth flight and I had one of those personal TV’s in the back of the seat so I was able to just sit back and relax for 13 hours.  Don’t get me wrong…I did sleep alot, which made my flight much more enjoyable.  When I got into the airport I had to get through customs, pick up my luggage, transfer it - and then move to the next gate.  What I was a little irritated by is the fact that once I switched terminals I had to go back through security.  The things you have to do to get through security is very different between the two countries as well.  In China they just padded me down and pushed me through - in the states I had to take my shoes off, empty my bag, talk to them…ect, ect.  However once I got through I just had to sit there and then climb onto a tiny airplane and make my way down to North Carolina.  I grabbed my luggage and soon found myself hugging my little sister. 

It’s been an interesting adventure so far.  I finally got to drive my car again which has probably been one of the greatest feelings since coming home.  There is no greater joy than being able to get somewhere quickly and in a non-dangerous manner.  I’ve been around town, to doctor’s offices, and even to a hockey game.  I also hit my first big wall with my sensory overload/coming home panic.  I went to go see my sister dance at this hockey game - she’s a cheerleader for the local team and quickly realized that I was in a room full of straight up rednecks.  Now, in general I have no problem with redneck’s and in general they are nice people…but when you put alcohol in them and then let them watch hockey - oh goodness.  Also when I first sat down the mascot for the team got right in my face and started yelling at me…which was not ok.  Sarah danced and we cheered her on and then she sent me a text message saying that she could feel me judging her, so it was overall a pretty successful adventure. 

So until next time, let’s see what else this wacky country and offer me during my visit home.

The semester is finally over.  After spending this morning in a final meeting with my Chinese boss - I was able to walk away with a huge smile on my face.  It’s insane how quickly time passes here - I blinked and six months just flew by.  I thought about my first night here last night and we were sharing our first day stories and laughing.  So becuase it seems appropriate now I will share mine.

When I first got here my plane landed in the afternoon and I called Alex.  He was heading out of town to go work for the weekend and he said that he was happy that I made it to Shanghai.  Once getting past the visa check point and collecting my bags, I walked through this exit into a full crowd of people holding up signs.  I looked around and didn’t see my name, my ride was almost an hour late.  So standing in the corner I was sweaty and ridiculously tired.  Eventually Sissy showed up and gave me a ride in this shady van over to my school.  Once entering the school I was bombarded by tons of Chinese people and they were all speaking to me in Mandarin.  I was not having this, so I ran into the office and sat down on the couch.  Linda came in and made me sign my contract - dead tired and then shoved a bunch of little pieces of paper in my face.  I took one and on that paper was a set of characters, Linda then informed me that I was the lucky one and that I would be staying in a hotel off campus.  Once the next set of people arrived I was shoved back into the van and whisked away to the hotel.  A group of guys came out dragged my stuff upstairs made me sign some forms and then left.  So there I was sitting in a hotel room by myself having no idea what to do or where to go.  Also to make the story even better (and this is the scary part) I’m pretty sure that I showed up to China with only about 200 USD in my pocket….maybe.  I sat down on my bed and cried and told myself that I had made a huge mistake.

Now look at me!  It’s crazy to see what can happen to a person in just a few months. 

Last night the school held their annual Chinese New Years dinner.  It was actually quite short and the food wasn’t good at all.  We had been in parents meetings all day as well, so it was quite a difficult transition from one jam packed day to the other really boring event.  After running a quick errand with a co-worker we rode the subway over to the dinner and then went to find a taxi to the venue.  Once realizing that this was a silly time to find a taxi we convinced a motorcycle driver to take both of us over there for ten kuai.  So being the good friends that we are we squeezed onto this motorcycle and headed out to the resturant, the address was also in Chinese…but luckily we found the one motorcycle driver that can read in Shanghai. 

It turns out that the venue was maybe 150 meters away from where we got on the motorcycle….

We ran up to the top floor of this resturant and into this room crammed with our work collegues and all the teachers from the Zhangjiang Local School (they share the same building with us) and we quickly found our seats.  There was a talent show going on because our big boss was there.  Ms. Dai had decided to send us all up the creek and had asked me to plan a ‘western’ performance.  After some careful consideration the group had decided on dancing to the Electric Slide….however there had been a miscommunication and no one had a copy of the music.  So with our quick thinking Liza came up with a solution - we went onto her computer and found the cheesiest song that we could find and that we would make up a dance to it.  Turns out it was “500 Miles” by the Proclaimers. 

We heard a comedy routine and then it was our turn.  Slowly but surely all 7 of us made our way up to the stage, Mr. Diaz was too cool to do this performance and stayed outside the room on his phone.  For some odd reason Michael had a microphone and started speaking to the crowd in Mandarin.  He said hello and that he was just a teacher but he hoped one day that he could be a boss.  He also said that he liked to dance, and if the group thought he was attractive.  After that he had the Chinese teachers and our bosses laughing hysterically.  Then he asked if Ms. Jing (our immediate boss) would come up and dance with us.  We looked over at Sissy she started to play the music and then I’m not quite sure what happened.  Michael started singing but he didn’t know the words and we all started marching.  Then something incredible happened…

Todd started walking off stage and we formed a line and then randomly started picking up random Chinese teachers to add into our line.  Once having almost everyone standing up they were all dancing and then we got into a circle.  Adam and I got into the center of the circle and started dancing with each other and Michael grabbed one of the Chinese teachers.  Everyone was clapping and they looked like they had a blast.  All of the foreign teachers meanwhile were not only dancing like fools - but laughing as well.  The music ended and we went back to our chairs. 

What is funny about this whole occurence is the fact that these people had no idea that what we had just done was completely ridiculous.  Only in China - only in China.

Michael, getting his serious face on.

This week has been filled with lots of free time and lots of frustration.  Somewhere I actually made time to pack a little early and get some paperwork done in preperation for next semester.  Also, I have slowly been making a collection of items that I am bringing back with me to the states to turn around and give away to people.  Note: if you are not on this list I am sorry…but when you think about it, I’m still just a teacher. 

Since I hardly have time to myself, I might as well sit down and recap my semi-exciting week.  Evan is now in Taiwan with his family visiting for the holiday so I’ve been able to just go and be free at 3:30 pm all week.  This has made me realize that maybe I shouldn’t tutor him so many days next semester…or if I do rearrange my time so that I actually have some free time, somewhere. 

Sunday I spent a lot of time wandering around.  I walked a lot actually maybe four or five miles.  It actually is quite easy in this city to walk that much and not even realize it.  Twenty minutes here, thirty minutes there - honestly sometimes I can surprise myself when I get back to my apartment and I wonder why I’m so tire.  I went down to YuYuan and went around looking for a few things to bring back home, and to practice my really poor Chinese.  It’s always funny to go down there because all of the shopkeeps want to speak to you in English, and even if you speak to them in Chinese they still respond to you in English.  I don’t get it - but I’ll keep on speaking Chinese regardless.  After that I ended up sitting in this really weird coffee house for a few hours and spent some time with a good friend.  Did some internet surfing, some people watching, and some sharing of stories. 

Monday was the last day we had kids, and to tell you the truth I was rather excited.  They had their Chinese exam, watched a movie, and then ran out the door at noon to their freedom.  Parker and I actually spent the morning kicking a soccer ball up and down the hallway and discussing what had happened to us over the weekend.  You’d be amazed how often we make plans but never actually see each other.  Shanghai is a little tricky as well because recently I have met so many new people that now I have different circles of friends - which I have to admit is a little odd.  It really makes me feel like I actually live here now.  After leaving school a few of my co-workers and I went and celebrated by getting buy one get one free burgers at Blue Frog.  They have the best burgers in Shanghai and a happy hour special on their beer.  Exchanging stories of our semester it sounded like everyone had a really good experience.  We decided not to end the party there though and Todd took us all out to the coolest bar…

The Bounty Bar is a pirate themed bar, and it was pretty amazing.  We walked into this dark little door and everything looked like old ship-wood and there were barrels serving as tables.  A few people sat at the actual bar and everyone was either speaking French or German…all expats.  They served a variety of drinks, but what they’re known for are these rum mixes.  They make all their own flavors and it’s actually kind of neat.  They drink the rum out to you in these small glass bottles and give you a bucket of ice.  We all went a few rounds until we had all had enough, and called it a night. 

Tuesday was boring, we had no kids…and we also had nothing to do.  I’m pretty sure most of us spent our day playing on the internet and feeling like we had all been punished for something we hadn’t done.  I personally spent an hour and a half sitting upstairs drinking coffee with a colleague while my teaching partner took a nap at her desk.  Eventually I had to finish editing some comments for some of the other teachers - which is really just a big mistake.  It’s amazing how awful your grammar skills get when you live in a country where you battle the grammar fight everyday, also a really basic Chinese teacher comment is: “Blah Blah is a very cute student.”  Needless to say I ran out the door at 3;30 screaming for freedom.  I ended up spending the evening with a new Chinese friend that I just met and we had a really good time. 

We also discovered a new market place this week and needless to say it’s pretty awesome.  When you get off of a metro stop in town called the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum the whole bottom floor is one gigantic fake market.  So as a the group of first years we went down there and wandered (see photo of Michael above) and bought a bunch of probably pointless things…but still it was awesome.  I bought a copy of Rosetta Stone and am currently trying to get it to work on my computer…we’ll see how that one goes. 

Tomorrow we have parent meetings and then some awful dinner to go to.  These dinner’s are weird because they always have a talent show part that no one wants to watch really or be a part of…but someone thinks it’s a good idea so we all sit and smile and itch for it to end.  This time my boss came to me and informed me that I had to plan something Western for the show and it had to incorporate all of the foreign teachers.  So after some thoughtful collaboration we came up with a solution to get back at our Chinese friends: we are going to teach everyone how to dance the Electric Slide. 

They have no idea what they’re in for.

Mom, you would have been proud - being in 4H growing up finally came in handy.  This is a vest made out of bubble wrap, and a picture of my new haircut.

My kids are done with finals and all of my grades are in.  Lesson learned from this week: I’m really bad at math.

For your Tuesday entertainment, I now present a selection from my second grade non-native English class:

Dear Johnny Appleseed,

I am 2-1 William.

Do you like Apple tree?

Maybe your like a apple tree.

I like apple tree too.

Do you like aapple jus?

Maybe your like aapple jus.

Maybe aapple is very yummy.

And your house has on many apple tree.

And supermarket in buy many apple.

I went looking for you.

School student,

William

This weekend was absolutley amazing - in fact it was close to being perfect and was exactly what I needed.  Everyday something new and exciting happens that makes me fall in love with the city all over again, and the weekends just bring it all together. 

On Friday I got off of work and was just able to relax and spend some time with myself.  Which doesn’t necessarily sounds like an exciting time, but when you do as much running around as  I have been doing lately it was quite welcomed.  So I just did I guess what normal people do, I did laundry, cleaned my apartment, and read more of my book.  I was almost asleep when I recieved a phone call from my friend Di.  He had a play an early morning concert, so he asked if he could sleep at my place, to which I of course said yes to.  Once getting over to my place though to repay the favor of letting him sleep over, he decided to take me out to get a foot massage. 

Now - let me tell you, massages are crazy over here - and they’re cheap.  We went in to get a foot massage, but this thing came with loads of extras.  First, we walked into this weird little room that had these two sofa looking chairs in it and a television.  We put our stuff down, rolled our pants up, and had our feet placed in these huge barrels of hot water.  Then this guy and girl came in (opposite to your sex) and started working on both of us.  My guy was actually really funny and we tended to communicate well for not speaking each others language.  Di was also more than happy to translate anything for us.  While my feet were in this steaming hot water we were given a back, neck, arm, and hand massage.  By this point I almost wanted to fall asleep - but it wasn’t even close to being done yet.  After that we had these weird hot packs placed on our knees and were given foot and leg massages.  It all ended up having a different guy come in and cleaning up my feet.  Finally after two hours and being completely exhausted we made our ways back to my flat where we both passed out within minutes of hitting the pillows.  It was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.

Saturday also looked like it was going to be a lazy day at first.  I took my time around my place and made my way out to buy a few new movies and music albums.  Note to everyone - Fantastic Mr. Fox is interesting and while not following the book very well is still a good time and is worth seeing.  I’m not sure if I would personally want to spend more than what I did on it (which was an American dollar).  Also I finally got a chance to book my plane ticket home for the Winter Holiday.  Unfourtantley, I waited a little too long and now am stuck with a really early morning return flight…which at the end of the day is much worse for whoever has to drive me out to the airport on the 17th.  While I was booking a ticket I got a phone call from a friend and he was looking for the address to a cigar shop and asked if I was interested in going out for a while.  This outing turned into an extreme adventure, which is why I love spending time with this person. 

Not really knowing how to get to the shop we called the owners several times, and they gave us several different subway stations that could possibly lead us to their store.  Taking our chances I first took us down to the cigar shop that I had discovered earlier in the semester…because afterall I did have to find a corncob pipe for our Frosty skit at the New Years Show.  Getting back on the subway and going in the wrong direction (thanks to me) we ended up spending about forty-five minutes on the metro, and then took a ten to fifteen minute walk in some really local areas to find this shop.  Did the person I go with buy a cigar…no. 

Moving onwards with our adventure we decided that we should probably grab some food.  We got off at People’s Square and just started walking and ended up in Jing’an.  We walked passed a building that had these crazy lights and sounds going off on the second floor and ended up going in to see what all of the fuss was about.  Turns out that we walked in on a private party of some famous Chinese singer - who knew!  Walking further Nanjing Dong (East) Lu turned into Nanjing Xi (West) Lu and soon we had already made our way down three metro stops.  At this point that was it, and it was pretty late as it stood.  Getting some food we got a chance to warm ourselves up and talk.  However, once the food was gone we continued on our way, now walking down even futher we made our way down a few more metro stations and stopped at a small local coffee house to get a warm drink.  Needless to say, late at night the coffee in Shanghai get’s rather strong and tastes rather burnt.  

Unfourtantley because I am so used to waking up early sleeping in just never occurs anymore.  However today was going to be exciting because I finally was going to get my hair cut.  A good friend of mine had made appointments for Liza and I - and I had another friend come along to serve as a translator.  Being a reasonable price the cut is awesome, and the hair designer did a really good job.  However it was a little scary at first.  I told him that I wanted sidebangs - and he didn’t even bother to wet my hair, he just grabbed it and sliced his scissors downward taking off inches of my hair.  After seeing the look on my face everyone started laughing at me.  So from that point I just closed my eyes and let him do his job…and it worked out, because my haircut is awesome and I’m quite happy with it.  They had to laugh though because apparently the salon doesn’t get a lot of people with my hairtype; and even less people come in with Liza’s hairtype. 

So there you have it: a massage, an adventure, and a haircut…..it’s just another weekend in Shanghai.  

Days until I return to the states: 14

My world is thankfully no longer silent again, and it makes my morning commute much easier to handle.  As of recently the weather in Shanghai has turned for the worst and today it actually started snowing.  This was a bit of a pain mainly because the Science class activity was to make windsocks and then go outside and test them.  So after wanting to scream from having fifteen children around me not being able to make a windsock by themselves I then had to haul them outside into the snow and rain to test them. 

In other news my weekend was rocking and overall was quite exciting.  I went to this really weird party on Saturday nigth at this new-ish nightclub in town with my friend Di, and needless to say I can now admit that he’s not only fun to go out with - but is a great friend as well.  We nursed our hangovers the next morning with some Japanese curry. Sunday night was also quite interesting. 

Recently I have made an interesting collection of new friends, but one I have grown very fond of.  Meeting in quite spur of the moment activities we went out for coffee last night and then took a walk in the rain.  There was almost no one outside and it almost made Shanghai seem peaceful.  We also talked about my recent discovery was I think is almost too good to be true.  After searching for six months, I finally found a store that sells Dr. Pepper.  The other day when I looked over and saw it I was almost in disbelief. 

How is it that a country that has a Krispy Kreme doesn’t sell Dr. Pepper? 

Unfourtantley this said Dr. Pepper is not cheap and cost 18 kuai for a can (10 oz.) which is almost three dollars.  So, as much as I want that Dr. Pepper - I’m not quite sure if I want it that bad.  Three dollars I think is just way too much for a soda.  It’s just another thing to look forward to when I come home to visit, and probably just another thing on the endless list of possible foods that will make me sick.