Thriller with students

Halloween Party 2013

Last night’s Halloween Party was a chaotic jumble where things didn’t always go as planned but everyone had a great time (and took a bazillion pictures).

            A group of students helped Kayla and I bring all the party materials to the English Library around 6, for the party which would start at 7.  They were a great help, even though most of them were new students and didn’t speak English well.  We laid out the food (bread bones, chocolate caramel apples, pumpkin bread, oranges with jack-o-lantern faces drawn on, and banana ghosts).  We had apples for bobbing and we put them in a bowl with water to show that they were off-limits.  We attached the photo props to chopsticks and set them by the Halloween decorations to serve as a backdrop.  Paper, glue sticks, pencils, and stencils were set out on the table for mask-making.  I had hoped to have the students carve pomelo skins for jack-o-lanterns like last year, but unfortunately after sitting in my apartment for a few days the skins were moldy and soggy.  Only one was still dry and almost mold-free.  I cut a face in it, intending to light a candle underneath and encourage students to try the idea at home. By 6:30 students were already arriving, and next thing you know I’m swept into a flurry of photo-taking with students that lasts for the next thirty minutes. 

            <I should tell the students not to eat the apples because they’re for a game…>

            Mira, come take a photo with me! 

            Now me!

            <Two steps forward, elbow is grabbed>

            Here wear this mask!  Take a photo, ok?

            <Students keep walking off with the photo props and not putting them back, I should collect them.>

            Mira, this is my friend! She wants to have a photo with you.

            I love you!

            <Ok we just met, but I love you too!>

            Kayla, Mira, come take a photo!

            <Ugh that girl is wearing the semi-moldy pomelo jack-o-lantern on her head, I should probably tell her not to.>

            Mira, look at our masks!

            <Oh those are great! Let me take some pictures.>

            The students must not have eaten in weeks, because they devoured EVERYthing edible on that table.  They must have wondered why the heck the apples were floating in water.  Well, so much for bobbing for apples.  Needless to say, my intentions weren’t completely fulfilled.  The apples were eaten, the photo props wandered off and a few were incorporated into students’ masks, and the pomelo skin bounced from head to head.  I guess I can’t be everywhere at once, especially when there are 50 students crowded into a small library!

            We had a contest for the students who’d made masks, but because I could never move more than two feet across the room, I wasn’t able to tell them how to make them more interesting.  Many students just cut out the mask shape and tied on a string, without decorating it all.  I had all the students who’d made masks stand on one side of the room, and then chose 10 students to each choose their favorites.  From there, we whittled it down to about 6 winners.

            Apart from vanished apples and plain masks, the other activities were a huge success.  I’d brought 4 toilet paper rolls and it was riot to watch the teams compete to wrap their friends as mummies.  Pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin was hilarious, although Chinese students really need to loosen up and have a little fun.  They were giving correct instructions to the blind-folded person! Where is the fun in that?!  It amuses me greatly to offer cheers when they’re about to place the nose in the wrong place, and see the surprise on their faces when they lift the scarf. 

            One of the highlights of the night was teaching students part of the Thriller dance.  Kayla and I had started learning it this past weekend.  I didn’t realize how many parts there were to the dance!  Videos on YouTube were only moderately helpful, but they went too fast and didn’t review enough.  To keep things simple, Kayla and I only taught 4 eight-counts.  The students loved it and it was really easy for them.

            We were surprised and rather overwhelmed at the number of students who came to the party.  We’d expected no more than 30, but about 50 came.  The noise and having to yell over everyone to get their attention left me with a headache by the end and I was happy when it was over, but the party went really well overall and I could see the excitement on my students’ faces and the gratitude when they said goodbye.  And in the end, that’s what always makes it worth all the headaches and frustrations.

The infamous pomelo skin jack-o-lantern

A busy morning

I turned to wash my hands in the sink when suddenly I saw a giant gray fur ball leap from behind the toilet and through the hole under the bathtub (don’t ask me why there’s a hole there- China seems to have an affinity for random, inexplicable holes in walls).

I let out a shriek and ran out, slamming the door behind me.

No, no, no. I can’t have rats.  Not in my apartment.

For the next hour, I sat on the couch, far away from the bathroom, debating what to do.  I briefly considered surrendering my bathroom to the vermin, but then a second later I realized I had to pee.  It would also be nice to brush my teeth and brush my hair before class!  Plus at some point I would need to shower again.  So that wasn’t an option. 

As horrified and disgusted as I was to see the bugger, it did solve a mystery that had been bothering me for some time.  There was one day a few weeks ago when I returned from class to find that the toilet paper in my bathroom trashcan had sunk down, as if someone had pushed it down.  I was struck by that because I’d distinctly remembered noticing it was getting pretty full only a few hours earlier when I’d left that morning.  I was baffled, but it quickly left my mind, until two days ago something happened that was harder to ignore.  I was at my apartment Sunday morning, and a few hours after using the bathroom I went in again, only to find that the entire bag from the trashcan was gone, and the can was knocked over!  It really freaked me out to know that something was in my apartment.  I definitely hadn’t taken it out and forgotten because I’d hadn’t yet left my apartment, so if I’d tied up the bag it would still be inside.  After I saw Stupid McRat-Face, I knew he’d taken the paper for his nest and mostly had been snacking on used toilet paper. Ick.

So I had to do something but I didn’t want to do it alone.  I would get Kerry or Kayla to help me!  I didn’t want to use poison or traps because then I’d have to deal with the smell and the dead body. Ughh.  No thanks. Plus, I don’t think I could kill something like a rat.  Cockroaches and spiders, yes.  But a rat isn’t so far from a hamster or even a cat.  So I’d have to cover up the hole.  Cardboard and tape! That should work.

After about an hour, I really had to pee, so I suited up by putting on sneakers (no fool is going to bite my toes!) and armed myself with a broom.  I prepared a cardboard square, packing tape, and scissors.  I realized from having seen the rat leap so quickly into the hole that it was probably just as scared of me as I was of it.  So before entering, I turned on the light and banged on the door to announce my presence.  I opened the door slowly, peering left and right before coming in and closing it behind me.  I peered behind the toilet and under the plastic shelving to make sure he was actually in his sub-tub home.  The tape screeched as I made a border around the cardboard, then before I could chicken out I quickly slapped the square over the porcelain hole and flattened down the tape.  The hardest part was over!  I reinforced it all around with more and more tape, and shook the broom in the air in victory!

  To be honest, I’m still a little nervous that little mister fuzz will appear out of some other hole or drain, but I’m proud that I dealt with the problem on my own.

It turns out a full bladder is a very strong motivating force.

Sorry Ratigan, Splinter, and Templeton. You guys are cool, but I don't want you or your friends in my apartment!!

Leaving class

Chalk powder cakes my hands and clothes
As I leave the classroom
Skirt billows in a rare breeze
Heel to calf to scratch a bug bite
ToespressagainstleatherasIdescendthehill
P a c e  s l o w s  a s  I  r e a c h  f l a t  g r o u n d
Voices shout "good morning" from behind
Whispers...
"Good afternoon!!" they correct, followed by a burst of giggles
Sidelong glance as I briefly return the greeting
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th floor
Dig under chalk, phone, pen, and small papers for keys
Door opens, bag and keys fall to the table, and I drop into a blue leather chair.
Today's teaching is finished!

My 2nd China Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and in honor of the occasion, I chose birthdays to be the theme for my Listening and Video classes in the morning.  I had the students fill in the missing lyrics on a worksheet for “Birthday” by The Beatles, did a dictation about Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and played the game, had the students line up in order of their birthdays without talking, and a few other games.  After class, I did nothing, just watched Antz and an episode of Mad Men.  Kayla made a surprise treat for me: blondies with coconut, banana, and chocolate!  So delicious.

Later I met Kayla and a student Vimy for dinner.  Vimy’s roommates were supposed to come but Vimy told me they had other plans.  I was also expecting two other students but they were late. About 15 minutes later, they showed up with hamburgers from Dico’s (a fast food place here), and a cake shaped liked a bear face!  We ate some delicious Sichuan dishes before going up to the library for the party I’d scheduled.  Little did I expect that all my guests would be there waiting to jump out with balloons when I appeared!  I turned the corner and suddenly they all yelled happy birthday, and everyone was giving me hugs and handing me gifts.  It was so sweet, and I was really touched.  The great thing was that I’d just been thinking earlier in the day that I’d never had a surprise party, and now I have!!  I loved it.  And I realized that Vimy’s roommates’ “other plans” had been to prepare and wait for my surprise!  I had no idea.

At the party, we played freeze dance, Indian chief, charades, and Kayla and I taught them the electric slide.  Which was awesome because I’d been wanting to teach line dances for a while but never got to it.  I’d dreamed of it though, and it finally came true.  They learned it pretty quickly, and it was cool to look around and see my Chinese students dancing in time with us!  Some of them gave up after a short time, but a few kept up for the whole song. 

Our bookshelves weren’t brought down yet, but I still got my birthday wish of being able to use our new library.  I’m glad that was only a temporary setback.  Overall, it was a really great birthday.  Simple, but meaningful, which is all I ever ask for.

During Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey in class, I flipped the paper to mess with this student, but some fool in the class told her it was upside down!! Gah, China and your fear of losing face. It's just a game, people! It's supposed to be silly.

The crazy delicious dessert the Kayla made for me! OM NOM NOM

Balloons, presents, and sweet people!

My goodies: thermos, lamp shaped like an ice cream with a face (my second favorite gift), nail polish, candy, earrings, and a stack of cards written by Vimy and each of her roommates (my favorite gift).

New library

Our new library, after I cleared out most of the trash.

After we had brought down all the books and posters

Two weeks after walking into the shock of our previous English library having lost its wall, I was handed the key to a new and slightly smaller room just one floor below.  I arrived to find a mess of books, crumpled papers, and bits of plastic and junk on the floor.  After pulling out unused notebooks and saving the clean pieces of paper for future art projects, I piled all the junk and moved it to the trash bins outside.  After dinner, a crew of about 9 loyal English Cornerians joined Kayla and I to clean the new room and also empty out the old room.  In an hour, we had swept and wiped the new room, and removed all the posters and wall decorations from the old.  We also removed all the books from the shelves, and brought them along with the games and DVDs down to the third floor.  All that remains is bringing down the bookshelves, which were too heavy for us girls to move.  It's such a relief to have so many willing and, for the most part, uncomplaining helpers for this otherwise frustrating situation!  To me, it's pretty dumb that our space was taken without our consultation, especially when the school keeps talking of moving to the nearby metropolis, Mianyang.  We now have to move with the possibility that in the not-too-distant future, someone will have to move the library again.  Then again, they've been saying for years that they're going to move and not much progress has been made.  It's too bad that our new room is smaller (about half the size).

But, consistent with my determination to see the positive aspects, I have noticed a few improvements.  The door to our new library is a lot easier to lock and unlock.  We have working light switches in the room, instead of inside another room with different key (remember how I said it had shared a wall with the art room? They also shared the lights, and unfortunately for us the switches were in the art room half).  Being on the 3rd floor instead of the 4th means one less flight of stairs to climb.  Plus, having bare walls and an empty room means a fresh start and a chance to go through the shelves and get rid of unnecessary things.  We can make this our space, however we want it to be!

I hope that soon the book shelves will be moved.  Tomorrow is my birthday and the only gift I want is to be able to celebrate in our new library.  And even if the shelves aren't yet relocated, we will still celebrate.  For as slow and frustrating things can be in China, it is great that after only two weeks we were able to at least partially settle in a new space.

Rice

The community is a-buzz tonight

Gather the rice! It’s time to harvest.

Driveways and sidewalks covered in grains,

Raked out into squares

A Zen garden of tiny gold pieces

Reed mats with frayed, curled edges

Hold thousands.

A long stretch of road,

A series of edible pyramids.

An old man bends to gather the last few handfuls.

Wide dust bins gulp up small mounds,

Then pour like rain into canvas bags

Bags of blue, green, red

Some with pictures of smiling pigs

Rows of bags standing like sentinels.

A woman cranks a machine

That separates the grain from its armor.

Reframing

Living in China is a very difficult thing to do.  I’m pretty certain that any foreigner who’s come to live in China would agree with that.  A lot of little things happen on an almost daily basis that can really drive you crazy!  Why are roads left full of pot holes?  Why does the repairman leave all kind of junk on my floor when he leaves?  Why are people at my school still staring at me after I’ve been here for a year?  Why do we have to teach on weekends to make up the days we have holidays??

I could go on and on.  If I let all these little things get to me, they would become huge things and I would always be angry.  However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about living in China, it’s how to reframe things so they are more positive. 

Just this morning I was glancing through the journal entries I last year, and I was struck by some pretty negative ideas from one day in December:

“I’m starting to get really bored here.”

“The honeymoon phase is definitely over.”

“I’m tired of all the stupid questions that students always ask me: ‘Can you use chopsticks?’ ‘Can you speak Chinese?’ ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

Of course there are still some days when I feel bored or lonely or that the days are all the same.  But last week I did an activity with some of my classes to break up the monotony of repeated questions.  Usually on the first day of class, I reserve some time for students to ask any question about me, and those three are just some examples of the inane questions I often receive.  So this year I decided to do something different.  I made posters with questions and they had to guess the answers about me.  I made it a competition by dividing the class into groups.  If they got a question right, their group would get one point, and if not I would go to the next group until someone gave the correct answer.  I included some of the most commonly asked questions (how many people are in your family, when did you come to China, how old are you, etc) as well as other questions that I think are interesting that they might not think to ask (what was your major, how many countries have you been to, where did you study abroad).  The result was a really fun competition.  I got some interesting answers: some thought I was 26; I was from Russia; I majored in Chemistry.  I have no siblings.  My trick question was, Does Mira have a boyfriend? How old is he?  Most groups would just jump to telling me the age, but I kept repeating the first part of the question until someone responded that I don’t have a boyfriend, which is the correct answer.

Something rather frustrating about my schedule this semester is that every day except Thursday, I have a split period: I teach a class 1.5 hours but it’s split up by the lunch break in between.  Monday and Tuesday I only have one class each day, but because it’s the split class, I can’t relax or feel done after lunch.  I think this is rather silly but I understand that they had to do that.  And the good thing is that if, like today, I realize the lesson I’d planned is too hard, I have time before the second half of the class to revise it!  I was teaching about syllables today, and I’d wanted to talk about stressed vs unstressed syllables, but I realized after the first half that they seemed a little lost.  So then I modified the lesson to focus on counting syllables.

Plus, I can’t really complain about my schedule this year because this year I have 250 students… last year I taught about 700.  Life is good!

The last example of my endeavors to reframe negative things as positive things is in regards to the English library.  Last year, we shared a space with an art classroom, but there was a wall in between so there were two clearly separated rooms.  We could be doing English Corner while an art class was in session and we’d each have privacy.  Imagine my surprise when I took the new foreign teacher, Kayla, up to see the English library, only to find that the wall had been taken out completely, leaving one giant room!  My jaw definitely dropped.  Our books and shelves were all still there, but what was to become of our precious library??  Apparently the school didn’t realize the effect that would have, but that space was so valuable to us foreign teachers.  We did a lot of activities there, including our weekly English Corner and holiday parties.  It was a big space with desks and chairs but also an open space for dancing and games.  I made a big fuss to the waiban (school official who helps the foreign teachers) and I think he realized how upset I was.  I’m usually pretty indirect when dealing with Chinese people because that is the cultural norm, but this time I was very honest with him.  I said, “I know it’s not your fault, but I want you to know that this makes me really mad.”  Since then, he has talked to the school president and they are currently clearing out a room for us.  I have no idea where it will be, so for now all I can hope is that it will be better in some way: bigger, on the ground floor instead of the 4^th where it had been, or it will have a monitor for showing movies.

Our library last year (enclosed, with walls all around!)

GASP!! Where's the wall???  (Can you see that column in the first picture?  And the WALL with windows on either side of it? GONE!!!)

What the heck is Mira up to??

            My apologies to all readers! I’ve definitely been slacking on posting to this blog.  I didn’t even finish posting about my Yunnan trip! But at this point it feels kind of silly to post on it. So I’ll just give you a brief summary.

         After Xishuangbanna, we went to Dali where we rented bikes.  That brought a whole day of adventure. Before lunch, 2 bikes got flat tires, so half our group returned, while 3 others and I kept going. We rode for about 2 hours… then MY tire popped. It took us three hours to walk our bikes back, in the hot sun, and we got a little lost. So when we finally met up with the others, we were pretty frustrated, not to mention hot and hungry.  Due to having to change our bus time in Xishuangbanna, we only had that one crazy day in Dali. 

A beautiful day for biking!!  ... and walking about 7 miles...

           Next we went to Lijiang as a starting point for getting to Tiger Leaping Gorge, which according to Chinese legend is where a tiger leapt across a canyon to escape hunters.  We hiked there two days and a night.  We went down to the gorge and climbed on the giant boulders, then hiked back up.  I wish I had that magical tiger there with me to get me back up!  We hiked on to a hostel and enjoyed a much-needed meal and a restful night.  The next day, we walked for maybe five hours and then waited at a guesthouse for a bus. Back in Lijiang, we shopped for souvenirs and enjoyed the delicious street food. My favorite was crepes with fruit, chocolate, and ice cream!

Down in the gorge

Wow best crepe ever!!

                 Since March I’ve been teaching again.  In April, I attended a Peace Corps training session called Project Design Management workshop, which was created to help us plan our secondary projects.  It was very helpful to sit with other volunteers interested in doing the same thing as me, which is starting a Women’s Group to bring girl students together to have discussions about important topics and train them to be leaders.  There were many different topics being brainstormed that weekend, including theater club, environmental projects, starting and improving English libraries, and a peer leadership group.  It was great to re-connect with volunteers and listen to all the great ideas. It’s been a little difficult to get my women’s group started because everyone has such different schedules, and there have been a few holidays recently.  Plus some of the students I had hoped would join my group will actually be away from campus doing their internships next fall (teaching practice at kindergartens or elementary schools in their home towns).  The school had said they would do it next spring, but then they changed it to the fall.  I created a flyer and had my tutor help me translate it, so I will get copies made and give them to all my first year classes, and also try to get some female Chinese teachers on board so they can tell their classes.  I hope that by the end of the semester I can at least have identified a group of committed girls and we can meet once or twice.  Then next year it will just be a matter of scheduling.

              In the meantime, I’m also trying to improve our English library. I have a three-pronged strategy: 1) improve the physical space, 2) get students aware of and excited about the resources we have, and 3) get other teachers involved.  To improve the space, I have made some posters and some coloring pages that students can color and that promote reading.  I’ve also asked my parents to bring some posters this summer when they come to visit.  I want posters about books and reading, as well as travel posters and maps.  We have a lot of wonderful books but I would like to get more children’s books.  To get my students excited, I will bring my classes there more often to do activities, role plays, and a scavenger hunt.  To get teachers involved, I will get more keys made, invite teachers to activities there, and hopefully visit their classes to make a pitch about how awesome our library is!  There’s a small group of volunteers that already go there pretty often on their own to read and study, and they’re there if other students want to come and check out books.  I believe that the library has so much more potential and I really want to get more students to go there and use the books!

A poster I made for the English Library

Xishuangbanna (2/6-9/13)

We survived our first overnight bus in China! It was cool because there weren’t many other people beside the eight of us. Plus there was space in a compartment under our heads to store stuff. I thought I’d slept alright but today I’ve been so tired. The bus kept zig-zagging which made us rock back and forth in our beds. I even thought I might get sick so at one point I took a motion sickness pill.  I was fine, but I still don’t understand why the bus rocked so much.

Our first sleeper bus. You can see there are three rows of bunk beds- very narrow beds, but hey, we got our own space!

So cozy! Well, I'm not super tall so I was cozy.

We got to the Mekong International Hostel around 9:30 and we’re hoping to take a nap.  Unfortunately the rooms weren’t ready because check-out wasn’t until 12.  So we left our luggage in the stairwell and walked around to kill time and orient ourselves.  We were able to buy our bus tickets to Dali, but instead of leaving Saturday night as I’d planned, we have to leave Sunday morning because the only bus to Dali is at 10 AM every morning.  It’s too bad that wasn’t more clear online, but things often change so maybe that’s a new thing.  We got the tickets for Sunday morning and luckily we were able to extend our stay at the Mekong another night.

 I use the term “luckily” lightly because it was a pretty lame hostel.  When we came back at 12, the rooms still hadn’t been cleaned, the beds weren’t made, and actually some other girl’s stuff was still on my bed.  So much for that nap! While we’d been walking, I bought an avocado for 5 RMB (less than $1) which for China is super cheap (other volunteers have mentioned spending 30-50 RMB (that’s $5-8 for ONE avocado!).  It wasn’t super ripe but I ate the whole thing on a piece of bread- yum!  My first time having avocado since coming to China, and boy, had I missed that taste!  I also got 4 little mangoes for 10 RMB.

Arriving in Paradise

The worst thing about the hostel was that in the whole place, there were a grand total of two bathrooms.  That’s right. I questioned the lady at the front desk if that was really true, and she yes, because there were only three floors with dorms!  Yeah, and each floor had how many guests?  The hostel wasn’t super crowded but even so there must have been 40 or 50 people staying there.  The shower is just a hose attached to the wall and the floor is filthy.  Also, after washing my laundry in the sink I drained the water and it all came rushing out from the base of the sink and on to the floor. 

I guess we were a little spoiled with the Upland in Kunming because now this hostel seems really horrible. 

But regardless of the conditions of our living quarters for the next four nights, Xishuangbanna is incredibly beautiful.  We the farthest south in Yunnan and are super close to Thailand and Laos, and you can really see the influence here.  There’s Thai writing everywhere and we had delicious Thai food twice on the first day. As I write this, I’m chilling on the patio in shorts, a T-shirt, and flip flops.  When I left Jiangyou back in January, the weather had been in the low 30s F, and maybe even dipping into the 20s.  The weather in Xishuangbanna feels great!

How could you feel unhappy in a place like this??

Thursday

This morning was a little bit disappointing.  Kelly, Jason, Ben, and I had gotten up early to go see the elephant reserve, but when we got to the bus station, they said there were no buses- apparently, the one bus that goes everyday leaves at 7:30 AM.  The hostel receptionist had said we could get there by 10.  I guess I should’ve known better not to trust them.  They just seem really indifferent to their guests’ needs.  It’s not traveler friendly- there are no posters about events or places to go, or maps.  I just don’t get it.  They must get questions like that all the time.  You’d think they’d have more information available for their guests.

After that, we were kind of at a loss as to what to do. We went back to the hostel, and then Kelly and I went to a café, and were joined later by Aaron and Isai.  I got a pineapple stuffed with rice, which was pretty good.

I’ve been spending a lot of money on food on our trip so far, or at least, a lot more than I could be spending.  There are just so many types of food that I don’t have access to at my site, and as much as I love Chinese food, there are certainly some things I’d been missing.  Like I said, we had Thai food twice yesterday, and I’ve been buying dried mango, dried coconut, banana chips, fresh mango, and fresh coconut.  I decided that I would enjoy my vacation, and I even took out some money from my American account to indulge my expensive eating.

Delicious Thai food! Pad thai and Thai milk tea, YUM.

Pineapple rice!

I’m a little worried, though, because some people are getting low on cash and have expressed money or schedule concerns.  I was a little surprised to hear that because I made pretty detailed estimates in the itinerary I’d made before our trip, and I thought people knew what they were getting into.  Then again, I planned it all without anyone with me to consult, and the information online isn’t always reliable (as I mentioned).  I think some people were also surprised that I didn’t have a daily plan.  But I did that on purpose so that we could have freedom to choose our activities based on our moods and interests. 

That being said, the complaints or concerns are really minimal, and in all I’m just grateful at how smoothly this trip is going.  I’d been worried that traveling in a group of eight would just be a major headache, because I thought people would be arguing about where to eat or what to do, but this group has a very good balance of people who are willing to lead and the rest who are easy going and willing to do whatever.  Anyway I’m just trying not to worry much and instead just enjoy being here as much as possible.  I mean, I’m in the tropics surrounded by beauty and delicious food and I didn’t have to pay for a flight to get here!

Friday

Today we went on a jungle trek! We hired a man who works at a café across from the hostel to take us through the jungle.  It was very beautiful- there were banana trees and rubber trees all over and the sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky.  Actually we couldn’t see much of the sky for the first half because we were in the thick of the jungle.  The trail was super narrow and we had to push past branches and bushes.  Some points were really steep, going both up and down.  At one point pretty early in to the day, Mike twisted his ankle stepping on a log and I felt bad that he had the whole rest of the day to go.  But he seemed to manage alright with a walking stick.  After lunch, we emerged from the jungle on to a dirt road, which was nice because it wasn’t steep like in the jungle but it also meant we were walking in hot sun with only a little shade.  We walked for several hours, and stopped to wait for our van at someone’s house. I don’t know if it’s common for them to have exhausted hikers slouching and napping in their living room, but they didn’t seem to mind at all.  That was very nice because I was so exhausted and I was definitely one of those people snoozing, head lolling back on the couch and drool most likely dripping out of my mouth.

After the trek, I took my first shower at the hostel since coming there three days ago (because it was hard to find a time when there weren’t many people waiting in line, and also because I figured I’d just delay dealing with the weird shower situation as long as possible).  It felt good to be clean again.  Jeff and I cooked a delicious late night meal in the hostel kitchen. He made tomato sauce and stir fried mushrooms, cauliflower, and zucchini.  I made stuffed bell peppers for the first time, at his directions, which turned out to be delicious.

Night market

Saturday

Delicious Dai minority food

Banana trees

Excited for a delicious meal

Chinese New Year!  By sheer chance, Isai had run into one of his students the other day while walking around, and she invited us to her home to eat dinner with her family.  That was wonderful serendipity.  I had thought it would be too bad that we couldn’t see our Chinese host families for the holiday because we‘d be traveling, but it turns that we were able to have both (vacation and also New Year’s with a family). The live in an eco-tourism village which I’m guessing means they often have foreigners come and visit, because her family didn’t seem that surprised when the eight of us big Americans came into their wooden house.  They had so much food prepared for us, which was all delicious and special because they are part of the Dai minority so they served food that was very different than other Chinese food we’re used to.  There was shredded pork, fried pork skins, and even some sauces that tasted like salsa- it almost could have been Mexican food!  The meat was especially great because it wasn’t a mouth trap of tiny bones like most cooked meat in China- in fact, there weren’t bones at all.  It was also nice because I wasn’t the only foreigner so I didn’t have to struggle with awkward conversation in Chinese. I let the more competent speakers in our group do the talking with the family.  I can understand most things but speaking is still a challenge for me, and I really don’t know a whole lot of words.

Kunming (2/3-5/13)

We are now officially in Yunnan!  We had a 6-hour train ride from Panzhihua, during which I read, wrote in my journal, napped a little, and ended up playing with two little Chinese girls for over an hour.  Which was fun because they were really cute, but also kind of unpleasant because it was already dirty and stuffy in the train so having them crawl all over me made me feel even more gross.  Once they were distracted by their snack, I snuck away and watched four of the guys play cards.  Then the crawled over Kelly and Jeff instead.  Just sharing the fun with my friends, mwahaha!

The little monkey-girl was a bundle of energy.  I played with her and her cousin for a while, and then she crawled over the chairs where Jeff and Kelly were sitting.

I had printed directions from the train station to the hostel but we found out when we tried to follow them that they were kind of vague.  We had to switch buses at one point, and it was confusing as to where the next bus stop was.  I think everyone was a little tired, hot, and hungry, so there was some mild crankiness going on.  I even felt pretty light-headed from it all.  We felt better after we ate lunch and showered.  Plus, the Upland Hostel is amazing.  There’s a bar area that’s really chill and is a nice place to hang.

The next day, everyone but Mike and I got up really early to go to an Irish pub to watch the Super Bowl.  We joined them around 10:30 in the morning.  I really could care less about the Super Bowl but I wanted to hang out with my friends.  I actually left the pub for a few hours and just walked around and bought some things, like a cup of tea and randomly, a donut (which I was pleasantly surprised to find tasted like an American donut). When I came back, we experienced our eventful thing for Kunming.  So, Jason was trying to put a plate down on the table but he had to navigate his hand between several glasses and when he pulled his hand back, he did it a little too sharply and accidently smacked a beer glass over.  The glass snapped in half, cutting his hand in corner between the thumb and forefinger.  Suddenly there was so much blood, and I swear I could see bone.  We were all kind of struck dumb at the suddenness of everything and weren’t immediately sure what to do.  Jason ran to get some napkins to stop the blood. Then out of nowhere this guy appeared with a backpack and a first aid kit.  Apparently he was heading to Thailand or Vietnam right after the game so he had all his stuff with him.  It was really lucky that he was there- he was like a guardian angel. He helped Jason wrap up the wound with some gauze.  It was also lucky that the bartenders spoke English so they were able to direct us to the nearest hospital.  It actually wasn’t too bad so we waited until after the game before heading there.  We decide it didn’t make sense for all eight of us to go, so I went back to the hostel with three others.  Three or four hours later, they returned and Jason had five new stitches to share.  Definitely didn’t expect to have to take one of us to get stitches during our trip, but I’m grateful to say that was the worst thing that happened on our trip.

That guy on the right was Jason's guardian angel

Keep it elevated!

While the group that had gone to the hospital rested, Mike, Kelly, and I went to walk around Green Lake Park.  It was very beautiful, with many colorful flowers and red lanterns for Spring Festival.  When we were walking past a restaurant, some Americans came out, and one of them asked who were.  When Mike said we’re with Peace Corps, he said his brother was also a volunteer, up in Gansu. Turns out his brother is a China 18, like us. Small world!

Beautiful sunny day at Green Lake Park

The next day, we decided we should buy our bus tickets to Xishuangbanna because it was going to be a 14 hour ride and we didn’t want to show up at the station when we wanted to leave without having tickets.  So Mike, Jeff, Ben and I went on an adventure to find the bus station, which for whatever reason is really far (like an hour) outside of the city.  When we got off the city bus, we were surprised that it didn’t drop us off right in front of the station like we’d been told it was.  We had to walk for like fifteen minutes to get there, after asking for directions from several different people (I’m so glad the other three speak better Chinese than me).  It wasn’t that big of a deal except that it was really hot and I really really had to pee.  Of course the ticket station didn’t have a bathroom, and by the time I finally found one I was pretty cranky.  I even snapped at Ben for answering my rhetorical question (something like, Why does China not have conveniently located bathrooms?) which is one of the worst things someone could do for me when I’m about to pee my pants.  To my credit, though, that was the one time in the two weeks that I actually snapped at someone.  Nothing like a bursting bladder to test your patience.  I still can’t believe how far the station was: we’d originally left the station at 12:30 and didn’t get back to the hostel until 5:30.  I mean it was good that we went because then we knew how to get there and to plan for the ridiculous amount of time it takes.  But I couldn’t help feeling that it was something of a waste of a day, not to mention a waste of a beautiful sunny day in Kunming!

Isai getting a shoe shine at the bus station before our ride to Xishuangbanna

Panzhihua (2/2/13)

After IST (the day it ended), I left on a train with the group of volunteers I’d be traveling with for the next two weeks: Jason, Ben, Jeff, Kelly, Aaron, Mike, and Isai, as well as Sydni because we were passing through her site, Panzhihua, and we spent a night there before the rest of us went on to Yunnan (the province directly south of Sichuan province).

Chilling on the beds in our first night train

We took a night train from Chengdu to Panzhihua, which was my first night train in China. It was pretty loud and rickety, so I didn’t sleep super great.  It was funny in the morning when we were starting to slow down, and Ben said “This isn’t Panzhihua, it’s some other town.”  And then right as he finished saying that a stewardess walked by and said, “Panzhihua dao le,” which means arriving in Panzhihua.  Once we got off the train, we rode a bus for about 40 minutes then walked for a little while before getting to Sydni’s apartment. After our long train ride, we were content to chill there for a while.  Then we walked to her school and a park on a hill above it.  We even stumbled upon a zoo and weren’t charged to walk through.  There weren’t too many animals but it was cool to see red pandas (one of my favorite animals).  We went on bumper cars and this ride that’s like a wheel that spins you around.  Nothing beats going on amusement park rides of questionable security and safety in a developing country.

Walking up to Sydni's school

Red cutie pie!

Never too old for bumper cars

Later we met up with some of Sydni’s friends, Richard (a teacher from Hawaii) and some students.  Then we had our first semi-major mishap of our trip.  Sydni kind of has two apartments because the first one she lived in had bad plumbing problems so she moved to another place one complex over, but she stills has the key to the first one.  We realized some time that afternoon that the one key had been locked inside the old apartment.  About half of our group had left bags in there, and we had to leave for our train really early the next morning.  So it was pretty important that we get that door opened ASAP.  Since it was basically the holidays, Sydni’s waiban and school leaders were out of town so she couldn’t just ask them for the spare.  So she went off with Jeff to hunt down a key.

In the meantime the rest of us went to dinner, and then another place to drink and eat snacks.  As with any occasion where there’s drinking and foreigners, the Chinese hosts went around and toasted everyone.  Which usually for me is kind of tedious because it interrupts when you’re trying to eat, but with so many of us there together it wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was pretty fun.  It was also interesting to see how other volunteers interact with Chinese people. At some point, Sydni and Jeff returned with the key (I think she found a friend who had a copy).

Sydni's friend Richard gave us some very good massages!

I’m really glad we got to stop in Panzhihua, even if it was for only a short time.  Although it’s part of Sichuan, it’s so far south that it might as well be in Yunnan.  The weather was so warm which was a pleasant change from the chilly overcast weather in the Chengdu basin.  Several times I felt like I was in SoCal.  I’d been looking forward to blue skies and sunshine again for a long time, and it was great to experience that again! 

In-Service Training 2013

For two weeks at the end of January, all China 18 volunteers had to go to Chengdu for mandatory training sessions, about TEFL, Secondary Projects, Safety and Security, Chinese language, and so on, plus sessions on Chinese culture and history.  It was the first time in about 4.5 months that all of us were together again: the last time we all saw each other was when we had our Commencement of Service back in August.  I had thought it might awkward to see everyone again but I felt that our relationships easily picked up where they'd been left off, and in some cases were even stronger for the time apart and the growth we'd all experienced living at our sites.  We all have had very different times but many of our struggles have been similar (getting sick, being stared at, adjusting to teaching in China, etc.).  It was great to share stories and laughs and catch up with people's lives.

I was nervous for my first Chinese class because I hadn't really studied much since PST.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a tutor at site and thus had to rely on myself.  I found some different websites but wasn't super thrilled with their methods.  I did finally find some CDs with audio lessons that had been left in my apartment, which was a good review.  Despite my worries, when I was in my Chinese classes I felt like I was back in PST.  Yes, I had forgotten some things and the other volunteers in my class had learned more words than me, but I was just proud of how much I remembered and how well I was able to understand and speak despite my lack of practice.  I was lucky to have Guo Laoshi who had been at our summer training site and who’s hands-down the best Chinese instructor we’d had, of the four.  She challenges us but still speaks clearly enough for us to understand.  The Chinese classes at IST were a confidence boost and a reminder that I can speak Chinese, but the obstacle at my site is the strong use of regional dialect, Sichuanese.

And of course, no Peace Corps get-together would be complete without several late nights clubbing and dancing.  If you know me you know I love dancing so it was very exciting to be able to dance with friends again after all these months.  We hit up all our favorite spots from the summer.  Actually our hotel this time was right next to one of our favorite areas, which has Jellyfish club and some restaurants with (expensive but delicious) western food.  I live pretty frugally at my site and just eat Chinese food (that’s actually my only option) and I think this is true for many volunteers, so we definitely splurged and got western food several times.  I love Chinese food, but having a burger or tacos or pizza again after so many months is quite an enjoyable experience.

Another highlight of IST was the talent show because it was fun to see my peers’ talents, and Peace Corps treated us to pizza.

Enough pizza to feed an army of hungry volunteers

Jason, Izzy, and I used our one day off to go see the People's Park

Dan and I were able to re-connect with two of our students from model school last summer.  We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, and then they took us to one of their favorite bars.

We went back to that bar later for Dan's birthday, and many volunteers showed up

One of our sessions was about Chinese music, and willing volunteers could try playing this instrument, the Gǔzhēng

Gangnam Style is very popular in China, and it's even influenced WoWo, our favorite convenience store

During the final session at IST, we had to brainstorm in groups how to reach out to our students and communities.  This group decided to have a little fun and produced this humorous list of "emboldened" ideas

I was very excited to re-connect with all my friends, especially my girls Lindsay and Sydni!