Bring it, 2012. Bring it.
So, here I am again. No, I didn't forget about this blog entirely, but it sure seems like I did due to the extremely long period of time since my last entry.
Anyway, here I am.
I've lived in Beijing for about three months, and during this time it's been a rocky road. I've though about quitting more times than I'd like to count, and I've thought that I didn't know what I was doing here, and I thought I wasn't a good teacher. Luckily, though, through this suffering I've been through has been a preparation for me to discover what I really want to do, and who I really am and what's really important to me.
"So, Kim, who are you, what do you like to do, and what's really important to you" You might ask? Well, here's my answer today:
I'm a young woman who likes acting, singing dancing and loves being the center of attention.
I like listening to people, I like sharing sobs and laughter.
I like knitting and making crafty things such as duct-tap wallets and collages.
I like reading self -help books because they remind me of what is important ( giving your services to the greater good, attaining the knowledge that we're really all the same and that people need each other.)
I like taking care of my friends when they are drunk.
I like not getting drunk.
I feel that it is important to stick to something, no matter how much you want to give up.
I love reading inspirational books and quotes.
I love singing, all forms of it.
I love the idea of kung fu training.
I love the idea of discipline.
I am so happy and grateful now that I am incorporating discipline into my life, everyday.
Everyday I want to exercise, do something that scares me, try something new, send an email to an old friend, and thank God and the people whom helped me along the way and the people who will help me along the way of my life path.
I am thankful for the strangers I've met on the street, and I'm thankful for people who have let me cry on their shoulders, who have embraced me glorious hugs and even the people who have glared at me or looked at me with terribly depressed eyes.
I am thankful for the Hot Cat Club, I am thankful for knowing myself and knowing that going to the Hot Cat Club would be beneficial for me, and that I'd be taking a risk and finding something good out of it.
I am thankful to myself for slowing down.
I am thankful that I just signed up for a hike.
I am thankful that I can just rest today.
I am thankful that I can watch clips of Oprah and read self help books.
I am thankful that I have a home to live in.
I am thankful that I can live with Chinese people and really accomplish this goal.
I am thankful with the knowledge that I need to make decisions for myself, and that no one else can make them for me except myself.
I am thankful that the sun is shining today.
I am thankful that I can feel God's glow everywhere, not just America.
I am thankful that I can realize that there is something bigger than me in this world.
I'm thankful in knowing that one needs to take action, and just has to look for things and look within themselves to find the answers.
THIS IS THE TRUTH.
I'm fine, I'm just as fine as I have been and I'll be just as fine.
Life isn't meant to be a big stress ball, it's meant to be shared.
Opinions are meant to be shared.
Fears are meant to be overcome.
Oprah is so right, if you're living in your ego you're living in fear.
I stand up to fear, I rise above.
Thank YOU, whatever label YOU are.
I need to thank the flowers, the birds, the precious stones.
I need to say "Thank You" to my heart. It knows what it wants.
My heart wants to be around people, and it wants to love itself enough to know that it is complete without any other person's love and approval.
God already loves me. There is nothing I can do or say or think to make Him love me any more or less. His love is unconditional.
Grad school IS in my future.
A lovely young man to share my heart with is around.
Jim Carrey had it right, thanks Jim.
The three 3 idiots are right.
able to see what's really important for me, and what I really want to do.
So,
All is well!
I've been doing lots of crazy things recently, but the biggest has been looking for a new job.
Some advice for anyone who's looking for a new job......BE EXCITED ABOUT IT.
Think and feel and believe that getting a new job is a good thing. It'll save you ALOT of stress.
So, as of right now, I have decided that I'd like to persue teaching as a career.
Since I'm without a Master's Degree, it would be very tricky to work in the States, plus, I'm not sure I want to be in the States these days.
A few weeks ago, I applied for a teaching position with a company called EF Education. This is a company which has offices ALL OVER THE WORLD, including Spain, Russia and China.
I applied on a whim, and after an hour-long interview, I heard back and I got an offer.
After a LONG time of debating whether this would be good for me or not, I have decided that I want to work in Beijing.
It's going to be awesome, fun, challenging, exciting, strengthening, and fabulous. I'm excited to be working in an international city soon. (!!!!!!!)
I'm going to give it a shot. Why not?
It's going to be awesome.
I'm thankful for all of the wonderful things that are happening to me . : )
I am excited to move up in my goal of being a professional teacher.
I believe that with this position, I can grow and gain ALOT of experience.
So, if you're reading, please send good vibes my way and hope that all of the documents/visa things are going well and smoothly! I need all of the good vibes I can get!
Thanks for reading.
Love,
-Kim
Update
So it's been an insane amount of time since I've looked at this page.
I'm still in China, still in Baoding ( actually, at the present moment I'm in the U.S. visting family and friends.)
Since my last update I've been to Korea, teaching Oral English for a church's summer program.
Baoding is the same as it ever was, and I'm in love with Baoding more than I ever imagined.
The List
VERY SOON, I'll write about the following in detial:
AUGUST
- going back to America
-Russia (8/20)
Russian wedding (8/28)
Emily
Dayne
Yusi's see ya later suaree (8/29)
resuming classes
chali bar 2
time for me!
SEPTEMBER
Miss Ma's Wedding (9/12)
Hot Pot and Dancing with the old Folks( 9/13)
Beijing with Dayne & Emily (9/26)
Beijing- Friendship Dinner with Ju Song, Mike, Wenjia and Mr. Liang(9/27)
Arrested Development
OCTOBER
National Holiday ( 10/1)
Mid Autum day/mookcakes (10/3&4)
Visiting Kathleen in Beijing (10/5 &6)
KTV with a BUNCH of foreigners (10/7)
Bank with Eden ( 10/12)
Circle and Charisse's B Day (10/16)
Man Cheng /Qi xin li with the kids (10/18)
Beyonce (10/23)
798 (10/24)
Lunch with Coffee and Ann (10/25)
Mid Term Exam and Haloween Party with my classes (10/27 & 10/28)
English Corner Halloween Party (10/28)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (10/29)
Paul and Dasha / Halloween at Chali's (10/31)
NOVEMBER
Dumplings with Joan, Jerrie, June, Ann, Tina and Audrey (11/6)
New TEAMWORK teacher: Ryudo ( 11/7)
Friday Crew and TEAM WORK competition (11/8)
Trip to Xian with MWAH ( My Wonderful Awesome Helen) (11/12-15)
( Train station - artist, 6:13AM - 2:13AM; arrived in Xi'an Muslim Quarter, Terra Cotta Warriors, hanging out at the hostel)
Xiao Bai Lo Party( 11/20)
Day with Ryudo, Life-Changing Conversation 11/22
Psychology Class Eden Chocolates and a card (11/25)
Thanksgiving (11/26)
KTV ALL NIGHT (11/27)
Thanksgiving Party on the New Campus, sang " Turkey in the Straw" ( 11/28 )
Amazing Dance Day (11/29)
DECEMBER
Donated Blood ( 12/1)
Mulan with MWAH ( 12/14)
Dumplings with Yusi's Rents Convo with Ryudo ( Push the stone off your heart) (12/6)
Secret Santa Party ( Haruka) (12/18)
Christmas Eve Chali's BEDFLOOR
Christmas Day Lina, Dayne, Emily Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch of Champions "It's a Wonderful Life"
Competition in Shijiazhuang ( 12/27 and 12/28) Chao Chao Nan Nan
Amy in Baoding ( 12/30 - 1/5) New Year's Bar Crawl
Hainan (1/10 - 1/23)
Beijing with Dayne and Emily (1/26) Planetarium
Dance Class (1/28)
Chali's - Met Chris G. (1/29)
Surprised Charisse in Beijing (1/31)
Sleep over at Luna's (2/4)
Annie ( Interview with Johns Hopkins) ( 2/5)
Lunch with Naoki Spoke in Chinese the whole time (2/6)
The Bodyguard ( I WAS STONED! ) (2/7)
Spring Festival
Yusi's Rents (2/13)
Gina's Family (2/14)
Visting Friends (2/16 - 2/25ish)
Preparing for Spring Semester
Spring Semester (3/1)
Applying for jobs in Korea ( late Feb/March)
Slava returning, crazy night with the Russians ( TEAMWORK at Bourbon St.) (3/18)
CCTV 3 Performance ( 3/19)
Veggie Place with Circle (3/26)
Korean Wedding Party ( 3/27)
Professor Zhang ( Total Surprise) (3/30)\
APRIL
April Fool's Day ( 4/1) Prank on students
Baoding Zoo with Molly (4/4)
Team Work Party (4/4)
Xiao Bai Lo Party ( 4/5)
Emily's Birthday Party (4/9)
Confucius Institute Offer ( 4/13 - 4/15)
Special Lecture WEEK 7
Finding a job teaching high school students in Korea
Hanging out with Samuel ( 4/15 & 4/17)
Applying through teachaway ( 4/23)
Dayne's Birthday Party (4/23)
MAY
Ugly Betty - Last episodes with Vicky (5/1)
Ate with Yusi's 'rent's with Charisse, Dayne and Emily ( 5/1)
Found Hope (5/3)
Class 2 Quotations (5/4)
Am I turning into a night person?
As I'm peering through my extremely, puffy tired eyes, staring at the extremely small font on the blurry screen in front of me, I think to myself, ' Man, I really ought to go to bed.' but before I drift into dream land, let me indulge you with this:
On the 15th, Emily taught me how to knit, and in about 26 hours time, I knitted ( knit? knitted?) myself an extremely beautiful scarf. I finished this scarf on the 16th at about 12:00 PM, so I decided to start making another one. Emily was so kind to give me yarn that I had previously given her, a purple-and orange swirl print bushel of yarn. I quickly began to cast on and start kitting, and as my excitement grew, so did the worry that if i was going at the pace I was going, I would quickly find myself with a teeny-tiny start to a scarf and a big ol'tangled mess of yarn. So, I tried to lay the yarn out as best I could, and my method worked well for about 30 mintues, but then I noticed that the pieces of yarn were stuck together, and no matter how carefully I pulled the yarn, knots were everywhere. So, I decided to untangle the whole thing beforeI knit another row.
It took me about 9 hours and one cut, but I managed to wrap all of my yarn into one, beautiful orange and purple ball. I began this meticulous process in Dayne's room, and I was very fortunate to have the company of Charisse, Emily and Dyane Dogg himself. In the evening, together we watched the Pairs Figure Skating section of the Olympic Games, cheering, "ooh-ing" and "ahhh-ing" as the pairs twirled up high and tumbled down low. As I was watching the performances, I was trying to untangle the giant mess of yarn, found the two end pices, began to make two small balls of yarn, and just let my mind wander.
Earlier on the 16th, I read a couple of journal entires I had written for a class I took in my senior year of high school called "Facing History and Ourselves." As I skimmed some entriees, I noticed the style of my writing, my ideas, my thoughts and I felt such joy that a) I wrote these entriees and b) that I brought this journal to China with me. I noticed that although the entriees looked like real chicken scratch, I had/have good ideas, opinions and thoughts. So, fast foreard to my untangling time, as I wove my fingers through the incredibly complicated pile of yarn, I recollected about my past, reviewed high school memories, reminisced about old lovers, and I felt such a moment of peace and control and pride because today I KNOW I'm better than before. I'm in a much happier and healthier state of mind, and to evalute my growth, and see how far I've come, well, it was very self-satisfying.
So, Charisse left to go back to her apartment around 10 pm, and Dayne, Emily and I continued to flake out to the boob tube. We watched an episode of a show called Dexter, and then finally around 2 am, Emily and I head up to our rooms. As I grabbed the now two -smalls-ball of yarn- half twisted pile of yarn, and walked up the stairs, I told myself, ' You have to finish untangling this tonight, don't go to bed just yet.' So I plopped down onto my bed, started at the hybrid of purple and orange, took a deep breath, and continued the job. As I continued unraveling, a little thought popped into my head. I suddenly saw this pile of yarn as a symbol of my life, more particularly as a symbol of my recent and what I think to be rapid maturation. The big pile of tangled yarn represents all of my current and past problems, my insecurites, my worries and I had to pull it apart, carefully look at which way the balls of yarn could go. " Is it supposed to go under or over? To the left or to the right." Personally, I think each knot represented one difficulty, and untangling the knots was like confronting each problem/fear/whatever and then deciding how I was going to deal with it. About 4 or 5 times, I thought, 'I'll just finish this in the morning, I can put it off," and I realized that that's the kind of attitude that made me a professional procrastinator, which is something I DO NOT want to be, so I just coached msyelf to finish. As the two small balls grew ( ha ha, it's so funny) sometimes I had to give some slack so I could untie the giant knots in between the balls. To me, the action of giving back to the pig pile of knots represents the idea of looking back and using ideas from my past to help me toward my future. Also, when I was wrapping the yarn around the ball I could control the yarn and put it where I want to put it, I made patterns, and created structure in that ball of yarn, which, to me, resembles the idea of controlling my thoughts and organizing them to help me understand my own thoughts better. I know I need to organize my mind, my actions, my life. I can't keep on saying I want one thing and then disregard the idea that I need to take steps and action to get what. I need to remind myself that I need to practice good things on a daily basis, not just everyonce in a while.
So, that's what I learned about myself today. I'm so happy I realized all of this and I'm so grateful that you' read it. Gracias.
Ok, it's now 4:31, so I do think it's time for bed.
Sleep tight,
-K
It's About Time
- "The Sunscreen Song"
Feb 8, 2010
Here it is Ladies and Gentlemen....drumroll please...... I'm FINALLY going to talk about my feelings! Earlier today I was reading some of my earlier posts and I kept reading the same message "I feel joy etc etc etc but I'll discuss why later." I realized that I haven't really shared too many "deep" things and there are many reasons why I didn't before. I was afraid people would see my weaknesses; I didn't always have nice things to say; and, the biggest one, I was too afraid to explore and share my feelings. Luckily, that time is over for me, because I'm finally beginning to explore the possibilites of the one, the only, Kimberly Rose Harris.
Many of you might be thinking, "Kim studied all this stuff in college, she should know how her mind works, she should know how to deal with stress, anxiety blah blah blah," but let me remind you, kind readers, even though I am a Psychology Major, I'm still human. For SO many years I let anxiety, worry, a poor self image, low self confidence, and terrible, poisionous negative thoughts cloud and pollute my mind and body. I don't know how or why I thought this, but for waaaayyyyyy too long, I thought I deserved to be unhappy. I thought I didn't deserve good things. It wasn't until very, very recently that I discovered that those awful, parasitic thoughts CAN BE CHANGED. The feelings of uselessness, THEY'RE NOT REAL. The worry and anxiety, THEY'RE FUTILE, AND I WILL NOT HAVE THEM IN MY LIFE ANYMORE.
During this realization I realized that there is one major thing I need to do: Train my brain. For too long, my brain has been working against me, reinforcing disatrous thoughts like, "You'll always be fat," "You can't dance" or "You can't reach that note." I've finally begun to replace these thoughts with much better ones like, "You are healthy, and over time you will be healthier," " You CAN dance, and you're a good dancer" and, "You CAN hit that note when you sing, just try again and with more power," and over time, my trained brain and I, well who knows what we'll think of next?!
I finally understand that I am here today, February 8, 2010 at 8:51 in the morning, to.....well, to just be me. I'm extremely grateful that I have the opportunity to be here today. I am so grateful that I have working arms and legs, working eyes and ears, the ability to communicate with other people, and I'm so lucky that I can communicate in at least 2 languages. I'm so utterly grateful that I have SO many wonderful friends. I don't have enough space on the internet to talk about each friend and how incredibly fantastic each one is. One event that I'm so grateful for is when I can walk/ride my bike down the streets of Baoding, smile and/or nod and see the other person smile back. It's an incredible gift.
Every single person I've met in my life has helped shape me into who I am today, and I am so grateful for that. I'm so grateful for my family. Although my family and I have had a shitty past, it doesn't mean we can't have a good present and future. I could spend years and years in therapy discussing my family problems, but if I did that, I wonder, where would it get me? Also, everyone else's family is damaged too, so I'm not that special. As Tyler Durden from the movie Fight Club reminds us, "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake." Furthermore, I have SO many other things I want to think about other than my past. I know I can't change the past, but I can certainly learn from my past to become a better person today and tomorrow.
Another big thing I realized is that sometimes I can be a big fool. One of my biggest weaknesses I must admit, sometimes I'm so quick to judge a person or situation, I don't see the whole picture. Let me give you an example. About a year ago, I learned about a celebrity named Lady Gaga. Initally, she was so bizarre to me, running around in scantily clad spandex and her platinum blonde hair, singing about her time in the club, forgetting her keys and her phone. I thought, "Who IS this lady?" ( Might I remind you that I, too have had a moment where I'm in a club thinking, 'Where is my phone?' but I of course couldn't think Lady Gaga and I are the same!)
Later, as I heard more of her songs, I thought, 'Well, the beat isn't bad.' but soon I began to beg Emily and Dayne to "GET THIS FRIKKIN SONG OUT OF MY HEAD! I DON'T WANT TO SING ABOUT BLUFFIN MUFFINS!" Around November or December, I saw a video where a young college kid sang an acoustic version of four of her songs, and I fell in love with it. I played that video on repeat for about a week. Still I thought, 'Lady Gaga is just WEIRD, and people only like her because she is WEIRD.' I was SO quick to label her and judge her; what right did I have to do that? What makes me so special to label her and judge her? The answer is NOTHING.
About 4 or 5 days ago, I went over to Luna's place and, for fun, we watcher the Grammys. I saw Lady Gaga's Grammy performance and I was impressed with her performance with Elton John. I went home and hopped on youku to watch the video again and I found a link to another video. The title of the video said "Lady Gaga 2005" and I saw a picture of a girl sitting at a piano with long black hair. I thought, 'This is just a fake video, someone's just messing around on youku' but I saw the video and was BLOWN AWAY. This performer wrote/performed two incredible songs about positivity and love, and I sat at my computer with my mouth open from shock. The announcer reminded the audience including me that her name was Stefani Angelina Germanotta. Quickly I researched this name, and sure enough, Miss Germanotta is indeed the incredibly popular Lady Gaga.
For half of the day I was puzzled, perplexed, asking myself, 'Was that girl REALLY Lady Gaga?' and while I asked this question, that's when I realized I was so quick to judge her. I wanted to find out more about Lady Gaga, so I watched an interview she had with Barbara Walters. During the interview, the ever-inquisitive Barbara asked Miss Gaga, "Whatis the biggest misconception about you?" and Lady Gaga replied, "That I'm artificial,and attention seeking when the thruth is that every bit of me is devoted to love and art, and I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who felt just like I felt when I was younger... I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to liberate them, I wanna free them of their fears and make then feel like thay can create their own space in the world. "
What an amazing answer! I was so shockedby her answer that I quickly removed the "Weird" label I gave Lady Gaga, an I now see her as an amazing, talented performer.
Ok my little dumplings, another thing I've learned is that when you have to go live your life, go live it! Right now it's snowing, so I'm going to go enjoy the snowy day.
Most importantly, thanks to you! Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and feelings, and may you have a wonderful, peaceful day.
With more love than I can contain,
-Kim
Well, Well, Well...
"Where'd you go? I miss you so
It seems like forever since you've been gone. "
-Fort Minor
It feels like an eternity since I've updated this little blog of mine, but it's only been a month. January January January, what a whirlwind of a month. I was less busy than I was in December, but I was still a busy bee. I've been working on the Let It Out and Write It and It Will Come projects, pouring out my wishes, my complaints, my desires, my grief, my joy etc. Before I share this stuff, let me fill you in on the mjor events that have happened in the past month.
On January 11th, I began a two-week vacation going to/in/leaving Hainan. Hainan is an island located in the south of China, with 28 -30 degree weather ( about 75-80 degrees Fareinheit), palm trees, coconut trees, beautiful clouds and the BEST air I've inhaled in a year and a half. I traveled to Hainan by train with my friend Charisse, and we explored the wonders of Hainan together. We endured sitting for 36-hours on the train and finally stepped off the train at 6:30 AM on the 13th. I slept the whole day and then finally woke up at about 7PM. Charisse's family is absolutely fantastic, full of love, patience and acceptance. The moment they met me, they told me that I'm one of their own, and that I was welcome to their home anytime. I don't think I'll ever forget that extraordinary offer.
To make a long story short, I had a blast in Hainan. I spent my birthday in Hainan, and Charisse's family threw me a FABULOUS birthday bash. After my birthday, Charisse and I went to Sanya and explored many excellent spots including the Li Minority Park, The End of the World and her aunt's home. A very dear friend, my friend Ann ( aka Tao Zhu) came to visit me in Sanya, so myself, Charisse, and Ann enjoyed one another's company for two lovely days. Charisse and I then went to Haikou and I saw my friend, Vicky, and we had a WONDERFUL lunch and a nice bike ride in the Evergreen park. I found out she likes the TV show, "Ugly Betty" and so we gushed and gossiped about the show. I'm so happy that I met someone who is as enthusiastic about "Ugly Betty " as myself. While in Sanya, Charisse, Ann and I slept in tents on the beach. At about 6:30 am, I woke up to the sound of people shouting. Curious, I opened my tent and with the help of the KTV bar's lights, mildly saw people walking around, shouting at the top of their lungs. I didn't bother to try to go back to sleep but instead grabbed my camera and my flip-flops and prepared to watch the sunrise.
Boy, was it glorious. Initally, the sky was a mild pink, the pink soon divided into pink and purple and orange. After a few minutes, the colors wore off and the clouds turned a bright yellow. It was one of the best sunsets I've ever seen in my whole life. Words like"increidible," "unbelievable" and "breathtaking" are certainly cliche but they are appropriate.
After watching the incredible sunrise, I went back to the tents and Charisse, Ann and I returned the tents to the hosetl that rented them. Charisse and I decided to go to Haikou, so we said "Farewell" to Ann and began our journey to Haikou. We met Charisse's friend Irene in Haikou, and had some delicious Haikou food, including a delectabel corn soup. After two nights in Haikou, we retrurned to Chariss'es hometown, Dongfang, and I said "See ya later" to her family. Charisse's cousins, mother and father all sent me off very warmly, and as I sat in my seat, looking at Charisse's family on the other side of the glass, a strong desire to grab my bags and jump off the train overpowered me.
During my vacation, I was anxious to get back to Baoding to do my work, to go to dance class, and get my Baoding life in order. My mind was englufed with visualizations of me sitting in my room, sorting through paper work and planning lessons, and I didn't allow myself to fully enjoy the wonders of Hainan. I did enjoy it quite a bit, but I must admit I only let about 90% of myself enjoy my vacation.
The good thing about the whole vacation is that I learned more about myself. I know I'm sounding so cliche, but I found a new part of myself I didn't know about, and I dont' tink I could have foudn it if I didn't go to Hainan.
I'll explain all of the vague stuff later, but for now it's off the dance studio. That's right, I'm a dancer. WORD.
More later my little darlings....
LET IT OUT & WRITE IT AND IT WILL COME
10:35AM
This morning I received an email from my friend, Amy D. Amy spent 6 days and 5 nights in Baoding, from Jan 31st to the 5th. During this time, I told Amy about an idea that popped into my head while I was washing dishes. I want extract people's REAL feelings, not just the bubble-gum bullshit that's been engrained in their heads. (For example, ALMOST every student has said, says, or will say this phrase "Happy Everyday" and it basically means, "Have a good day." ) I've been in China long enough to know that most of the people who say such these overly optimistic phrases such as "Happy Everyday" "Fighting!" "We need to overcome the difficulties," try to believe in these words, and some days they fully believe them, but I have been lucky to know that these people do have some difficulties of their own, and sometimes these super-happy phrases just don't mean a thing.
Let me give you a little bit of background information before I ellaborate on the Let It Out and Write It And It Will Come Projects:
For over a year and a half, I have been studying China, which let me tell you, is an EXTREMELY fun/challenging/almost impossible/ rewarding/ inspriing/ tragic/ angering/ joyous endeavor. As I mentioned before, China's like a big puzzle to me, and JUST as I begin to fit a few pieces together to make an image, I notice one of the pieces doesn't fit just right. I need to go back to search for the piece that fits. Due to the fact that I work for a college and I live on the campus, it only seems appropriate that I take interest in the typical Chinese college student. Regarding my own students, since I lectured through most of each class, I studied my students' attitudes towards life through their homework. As I read my student's first compostions, I initially found them to be inspiring, but as the first semester continued, I began to read the same phrases OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. My students and I played a battle of wits, their 61 compositions full of "harmonious" phrases and flowery and poetic compositions vs. my very, very basic knowledge of College Writing I and II. My students wrote about puppies and kittens, and how their nephews and nieces were naughty, and after reading 61 compostions of the SAME EFFING THING, I quickly began to get frustrated.
During my first year here, I let my students write all of these froofy compositions and convinced myself that these compositions met the standards of college-level essays. I told myself, 'Well they're trying that's all that matters,' but today, I know that I needed to do more. I should have done more. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, because it's in the past, but this is one of those " I wish I knew then what I know now" kind of situations. On the other hand, I don't know if I would be as successful as I am today if I didn't make mistakes. All that matters to me is that I'm happy when I see my former students and they say, " HI KIM!" and I’m very lucky to have some students praise me about my class. One student told me that she wasn’t very interested in wiriting before my class, but during my class, she realized how important it is to write in English, and now she enjoys writing very much, and for Christmas she gave me one of her compostions, a short story called “The Sunshine in Winter.” When she told me this, I had to use every ounce of strength to keep my knees locked and not fall to the ground out of shock.. I think I'm FINALLY understanding that my actions DO have an affect on people, even if I don’t believe it.
During my time in China, my attitude towards the typical Chinese college student's attitudes on life has waxed and waned between genuine admiration and frustration like waves in a sea during a storm. When I first arrived in China, I was so shocked by people's optimism, and was quickly sucked right into the "Happy Everyday" theme. Luckily, I wasn’t completely brainwashed because, news flash Ladies and Gentlemen, sorry to dissapoint but I simply cannot be happy everyday. I’ve had my share of shitty days here, Tara and I used to call them “Bad China Days” days where you’re aggravated beyond belief and all you want to do is call your parents and beg for them to book a ticket from Beijing back to the U.S. the next day, or you just want to hop on a train at the Baoding Train Station and go whereever the T8625 takes you, or you just want to turn your cell phone off, lay in your bed with the covers and fall asleep to your sobs of frustration and angst. Most certainly, there have been days in Baoding where I just want to say, “PEACE OUT BAODING, IT’S BEEN FUN WHILE IT LASTED!” but I can’t because I love this place too much. I have had/ still have family and the best friends I could have ever asked for here in this dirty little city. The point is, I let myself feel each feeling I’m feeling. For a long period of time, I really kept things bottled inside, my wishes, my frustrations, my hopes, my angst, my sadness, but here in Baoding, I’m so emotional and easy to read that even I don’t fool myself anymore. I really think I’ve become more even more outgoing than when I was at MCLA because SO many people here are so reserved and calm. My friends and family can attest, when I’m upset, you’ll be able to see it, when I’m sad you’ll be able to see it. When I’m happy, you’ll definitely be able to see it. SO, I have a wish for every person in Baoding, in China, the entire world: LET IT OUT. I beg you, I beseech you, let your feelings and emotions out, whether it’s in a notebook, a sketchpad, a song, in any way shape or form, let all of your inhibitions go and just LET IT OUT.
So, since January 4, 2010, LET IT OUT began. Amy and I planted the seed for this marvelous idea and I can't wait to water this little plant and watch it grow. Amy and I left a notebook in a cafe in Baoding, a cafe called the Honey Pool. In the inside cover, we explained that we want people to let every feeling onto the paper, because life isn’t about being “Happy Everyday” it’s about living. Since we left this notebook on Jan 4th, we've received over 10 entries, AND someone else left another notebook at the Honey Pool.
I don’t know what the result of this project will be, I only know that it has been and will continue to be life-changing. Things have already started changing because I’ve received more good thigns in my life, incudling this email from Amy D:
Hi Kim,
I have a friend who is a copywriter on Martha's Vineyard and she has
recently started this new project/idea, it reminds me a lot of the let
it out project and I thought it might be something that you'd be into.
I know I'm going to give it a try.
Write it and it will come.
By Julie Roads
Rule #1: Always follow your instincts.
I knew when I added that p.s. the other day that I should have deleted
it and made it its own post. But did I listen? No. But now I am! And I’m
listening to the many of you that have responded favorably about my
write it and it will come project. In case you missed it, I’ve decided
to start every day at my computer by writing a short story about what I
want to happen next – that day, week, month, year, lifetime. And, YES!
I’d love for you to join me in this pursuit.
There are no rules – except that you may NOT under any circumstances
edit yourself. Because that would be shooting yourself in the foot (and
rather stupid). No one else will read this! So lay it all on the line
(page, screen, whatever). If I hear that you started to write: I want a
personal assistant that guesses exactly what I want from Starbucks each
morning and brings it to me or I want Random House to call me tomorrow
and beg to publish the manuscript that I’ve sent them 7 times in as many
years and then ERASED it mumbling to yourself, that will NEVER happen –
then you better believe I’m going to show up at your house and give you
what for.
This exercise is not the time to play small.
And, I thought of another rule – though it’s really more of a request.
Keep track of this – make a spreadsheet (if you’re so inclined) where
you can enter all of the wants that actually come to you. I’d love it if
you’d share them here. Unless they’re really private – in which case you
could just use code.
One more rule (yes, I know this is an awful lot of rulage for something
that has no rules): You can’t take too long with your story writing
every morning. Set a reasonable time and stick to it – like 10 minutes.
Some mornings you might only have a 30 second story. But, my point is:
don’t let it interfere with you work because then it’ll become a drag
and then you’ll be yelling at me for missing deadlines and…wait…unless
it takes on a life of its own and becomes the next New York Times
bestseller. (If that happens, please mention me and this blog on the
book dedication page and during all of your press events – especially if
you get to talk to Jon Stewart or Ellen. Thank you in advance.)
Okay…go. And have fun. This would be a good time to engage your suck, by
the way.
So, my dear faithful readers, the only requests I have of you today is LET IT OUT
and WRITE IT AND IT WILL COME.
With all the love and more,
-Kim
My Ah-hah Moment.
This morning, as I was drying my hair, I had an epiphany. I have realized why I've been having such a rough tie recently; it's because I I now fully understand I can break the rules, they don't apply to me. Quick example, each teacher signs a contract that says that no foreign teacher can have outside part-time jobs, but I am currently holdig two sides jobs, and about to acceptt a third. The kicker, MY OWN BOSS asked me about the third job.
I got smart after I read this email. I decided to ask for double what they offereed, an boy am I glad I did, becasue they said yes.
Ahhh I have so much more to say but now I ahve to go teach.
More later.
Back in the Baoding! ( For a few days, anyway.)
Anyway, I was in Baoding from August 15th to the 18th, and I hung out with people who were here, including Yusi and Misha. We had a nice time chomping on dumplings on either the 16th or 17th, I forget. Yusi gave me a special piece of paper which I’m using to practice calligraphy, a book about calligraphy, and a brush, and it was one the best/most thoughtful/coolest presents ever. On the 18th I packed my big backpack, hopped in a taxi to the train station, then headed to Beijing , spent a night in a hostel, then boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway to go to Irkustk, Russia!
Was Thomas Wolfe Right? (Part 2)
On August 4, my friend Cherry (her Chinese name is Cai Wei) came to Boston. Unfortunately, during most of her stay she wasn’t feeling so hot, but we still got to do three cool things, go to MCLA, see Alex W. and go to NYC. We went to NYC for a day and saw the Statue of Liberty. Also, right before out bus took off, we saw Justin and Jamal for about 10 minutes. I’m so proud of them, and it was awesome to see them, even if it was only for a few mintues. A few days later, Cherry and I headed to MCLA, but before we reached our destination, we saw Alex, and we all enjoyed smoothies/coffee in a cool cafe called Lala Java, a cute little place. I had some stuff to give to Alex, including some books, and ever better, her qilins. I also gave her some little trinkets like a tin and my old purple sheet that I tie-dyed. After our little coffee break, Cherry and I said farewell to Alex and went back on route to MCLA, and Cherry met Molly, and they quickly became friends which made me happy.
Before we knew it, August 14th arrived, and at 4 am, we packed the car, hopped inside, and my sister, Cherry and I headed to the airport. Since I was flying Air Canada Airlines, my stop was first, so I said farewell to Cherry and Jess, and then checked my bags. I had a very nice plane ride from Boston to Toronto, and the best part of the whole plane ride was that when I saw Niagra Falls, it was so beautiful. I just smiled the whole time it was in view. When I got on the next plane headed for Beijing, I was really tired, for I didn’t get that much sleep that night, so when I was on the plane, for about the first 2 hours of the flight, I was drowsing off to some movie, but finally succummbed to sleep. I woke up about 2 hours later, and kept myself awake until we landed in Beijing.
Was Thomas Wolfe Right? (Part 1)
Wow. 9 weeks and no update. Homegirl’s got a lot of catchin’ up to do.
So I’ll start where I left off. The last two weeks of my first year in China were definitely bittersweet. It was a blur of good-bye dinners, developing pictures, taking more pictures, sharing contact info, and moving. ( I moved from 303, Katie Lorenz’s old room to 401, Miss Alex Woolner’s old room.) During my last full day, July 14th, Yusi and I hung out whilst I did some VERY last minute things like try to get my teeth cleaned, buying last-minute gifts etc. We had a busy day going to the dentist, ( which was in vain becaue the doctor said my teeth were fine and I didn't need a cleaning, go figure) eating Korean food at the Korean place, visiting the lotus garden, sipping on smoothies at the Honey Pool, and of course, going to Chali's. It was really an unforgettable last day.
The next day, Yusi, 6 or 7 Korean students, Yves ( a french teacher) and I all piled onto a bus to go to the airport. During the bus ride, before I even knew it was happening, I began to cry. My quiet cry began to turn into a choke-y, dripping nose sob. Yusi asked me why I was crying, and I replied, "It's jut been the best year of my life," and I meant it. Last year was truly a life-changing year for me. Through living here in Baoding, my view of the world, people, life, strength, will power, well just everything changed for the better, and I am eternally grateful to Baoding and all of the people in Baoding for that. I'm also thankful to the people I've met outside of Baoding, whether they were in Datong, Taiyuan, Pingyao, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shiping, Shilin, Kunming, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, they've all had such a positive effect on my life.
Back to the subject, Yusi and I talked about the past year as well as the year to come. He reminded me that I would continue my rockstar like- life and have an even better year. I nodded in agreement. We arrived at the airport, and we had lunch, and then, it was time to say "See ya in a month."
I waited in the airport for a few hours because my flight wasn't departing until 6 pm. I went to a cafe and got an iced tea and listened to a Japanese CD. I snoozed for probably an hour, wrote in my journal, and hung out, and then looked at my watch and realized it was time to board. The flight from Beijing to Toronto was fantastic, I had a window seat, saw an incredible sunset, and enjoyed talking to a couple from Hainan ( the southern most part of China) and learned a teeny-tiny bit of the Hainan dialect. They must have been about 60 or 70, and they were going to California to see their daughter. We landed in Toronto and I went through customs and then went to go exchange some USD into Canadian Dollars. The woman who exchanged my money was so nice, and while she was exchanging the money, I gave her a brief summary of my time in China. She seemed really interested in what I had to say, and I was elated that she was so excited about what I had to say. I really hope that she’s doing well these days. After I exchanged my money, I called my sister from a pay phone, and shrieked in happiness when I heard her voice. I told her I'd be at Logan Airport in Boston at about 10:30.
While I was waiting to board the plane, I saw some Chinese people waiting for the same flight. I saw some people with Chinese passports I said, "Ni hao" and they looked a little startled/ not interested in speaking with me. It was at that moment I realized I wasn't in China anymore, I was wasn't in Baoding, in my opinion, one of the friendliest places in the world. It was truly bizzare test of strength keeping my mouth shut. For a whole year, I was talking to random strangers, striking up conversations left and right, and now, in this waiting room, I felt and saw that everyone was keeping to themselves. 'HOW BIZZARE?!' I thought. Luckily, a few moments later, we all boarded the plane and headed to U.S. soil. I talked with a FABULOUS flight attendant who had a feirce attitude and even better corn chips, and as much as I wanted to doze off, I couldn’t I was just so excited to see my sister. I FINALLY landed at Logan, and after grbbing my suitcases and borrowing a cellphone from a nice elderly couple, I saw my sister. I ran toward her and gave her the biggest hug of both of our lives. We quickly chit chatted and went to the car.
I had many thoughts of how life would be back in the U.S., the main thought was that everything/ everyone would be totally different, like everything would be new to me, but my hypothesis was wrong, for when I stepped outside, I felt like it was August 26, 2008, as if I just hadn't spent 10 months in China. For about an hour, I truly felt I never left at all. My mom's car was exactly the same, all of the dials in the car were the same, the Zakim Bridge was exactly the same, the highway was the same, the hill to my house was the same, it was all the same. Going back into my house was the weirdest part of all. Everything was exactly in its place, the couch, the TV, the computer, it was all the same. As I tried to explain China to my mom and sister, I realized that I would never be able to give the view of China that I saw, no matter if I described EVERY little detail and EVERY feeling associated with each detail, but I still tried for about an hour while I gave them their gifts and we chatted.
The next day felt like a total blur. My sister and I went to my aunt’s “doggie boutique” in Wellesley and since my aunt and my sister were busy working, I decided to walk around the neighborhood and get some sun. When I was walking down the sidewalk, I felt everything was so empty. There were maybe 3 or 4 people on the street, no one was biking, and there were very few cars. Compared to the extremely busy and crowed streets of China, I felt that these ‘normal’ streets had too much open space, so much extra space I was actually a little umcomfortable. Due to jetlag, when I was walking, the ground felt like it was bouncing up and down, so I just went around the block and then returned to the doggie boutique. It was a very bizzare experience. Luckily, I was exhausted by night time, and after taking some melatonin (just to be sure) I had a wonderful night’s sleep.
You Got It Jamie...
After years of expensive education,
a car full of books and anticipation,
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
but the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.
Maybe I'll go travelling for a year,
finding myself or start a career.
I could work for the poor though I’m hungry for fame
we all seem so different but we're just the same.
Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat,
aren't things more easy with a tight six pack?
Who knows the answers? Who do you trust?
I can't even separate love from lust.
Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans,
working nine to five answering phones.
Don't make me live for my friday nights,
drinking eight pints and getting in fights.
I don't want to get up, just let me lie in,
leave me alone, I'm a twenty something.
Maybe I'll just fall in love that could solve it all,
philosophers say that that’s enough,
there surely must be more. Ooooh
Love ain’t the answer nor is work,
the truth eludes me so much it hurts.
But I’m still having fun and I guess that's the key,
I'm a twenty something and I'll keep being me.
Wrappin' It Up...
It's been too long since I've updated this bad boy (Why do we always say 'bad boy?' Why don't we say, 'bad girl?') Anyway, so it's time for an update none the less. Ok, so I'll be on U.S. soil in less than two weeks, and I'm simultaneously feeling excited, worried and sad at the same time. Over the past year, I've slowly made Baoding my safe space, my place, my home, and now, I'm going back to the U.S. for a month, to a now foreign country.To say it will be an interesting experience is quite trite. I know I'll have a very different perception of the U.S. and its citizens. Other expats have told me their experiences of going back to the States, and I know everyone has their own experience, but I have an ootz in my stomach that I will have similar feelings once I step on U.S. soil, the feeling of disbelief that I will be able to understand EVERYTHING (every sign, what everyone is saying, every newpaper, EVERYTHING), and just certain feelings of 'coming home' after being abroad for a year.
I feel that during this past year, my adjustment to life in Baoding can be compared to working on a really, big, complicated puzzle (you know, the REALLY ticky ones with mini pictures inside of the grand design.) Throughout this whole year some pieces connected effortlessly, (like the connections with my friends), some pieces didn't initally fit, but after a few tries, I got it right (like with my Chinese) some pieces just haven't found their home yet, and these are the pieces I need to study a bit more. I need to study their shapes, and not just look at them with my eyes, but feel the pieces, smell the stinky cardboard, and really think hard to see where each piece will fit to complete the grand design. These pieces are the really tricky ones, for they all look the same, but they have one, teeny, tiny little difference; the angle on one corner is just a little pit more pointy than the others, etc. These pieces are the ones that keep you working on the puzzle for that extra hour or two, or even an extra day or two.
I'm excited to continue to work on this puzzle, and I know that the second year in Baoding will help me place these last few pieces into their proper spots. The best part of it all is I know that I can take this puzzle apart, and work on it again, whenever and whereever I choose.
Lately I've been saying, "See you later" to many people, including my students, foreign students and foreign teachers. My last week with my students was truly bitter sweet. I say it's bitter sweet because classes ended, but it's all good because I'll see them in the fall, because I'll be teaching at the same college. During each class, I gave each student a little notebook with the same message, "Dear ___________ If there is one more thing I want you to know, it's this: 'Be the change you wish to see in the world.' - Mahatma Gandhi. Have a great summer and I'll see you in the fall! <3 -Kim" and we all took some really nice pictures. One of my writing classes gave me a photo album with their picutres and sweet messages inside, another class gave me a scrapbook with pictures and messages inside, and then one class gave me a SUPER sweet gift, a scroll that says " Liang Shi Yi You" which means, 'great teacher, better friend' and I almost cried in class. That class also gave me an article written in the Tang Dynasty( not an original work, it's a copy) but I was/am so proud of my students. I really love them so, SO much, I don't know if they have any idea how much I cherish them. They are truly a special group of people to me because they were the first group of people I taught all by myself!
About my classes next year, I'll defintely be teaching Writing for Sophomores again ( I kind of secretly wish I could teach the same students as I taught this year, but I know when I meet new students, I'll have a great year with them, and I'll see my former students all around campus) and I hope I can teach Psychology again to the graduate students. I say I hope I can becasue my boss told me that they are thinking of hiring a teacher with a PhD, so he/she might teach them. Who knows? All I can do is keep my fingers crossed that I can teach them.
I've been saying scattered 'farewells' to foreign students and teachers. One really sweet teacher, Emily G., left on June 22nd, and she'll be moving to PA. A teacher from another school in Baoding named Anna is off to Shanghai again. My great neighbor, a Korean teacher, Young Suk, will be going back to Korea, and so I'll be saying farewell to her soon. My Japanese neighbor, Haruka, thankfully will be coming back, but he'll be here for only 6 months. I've already said "See you later" to some other English teachers, Tim, Jon, Ryan and Amelia, all of whom will be returning next year, and I'll shortly be saying "See ya later " to Tara, Megan, John, Alex and Yusi. All of the latter people will be going to the States ( actually, Alex might move to France if she can get housing) I'm particularly proud of Yusi, for he got into NYU, and he got his visa on June 15th 2009. As soon as I found out he got his visa, my heart melted, like literally. I'm SO effin' proud of him because I've watched him work so hard the whole year. I really felt like a proud mom when I called him and heard him say he got his visa. Now I think I'm beginning to understand my mom a LITTLE bit more when she says, "You'll understand when you're a parent." Anyway, Tara's moving back to GA, John and Megan are Milwaukee-bound, and Alex will be either in the Big Apple or France. Out of our little crew at HeDa, I'm the only one staying next year, so, that's that.
I'm excited for next year; I'm excited to teach with Dayne W. and Emily S. and Sarah H. and for any other people who come to HeDa. I have BIG, BIG plans for next year, including a trip to Russia 8/19 - 8/31, a trip to Korea during the first week of October, and throughout the year go to Xi'an, Dalian, Tibet, Hainan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. I also want to learn how to break dance and fan dance, and by July of 2010, coreograph a break/fan dance, I want to study Chinese even harder, so hard that I want to take the HSK ( a test of Chinese) and get a level 4 out of 8. I want to hang out with my future students, and hang out with the foreign students, and have tea nights and movie nights and book clubs. I want to play Mahjong, I want to cook, I want to spend a week with a Chinese family, and I want to hang out with old Chinese people because they are the COOLEST. I promise myself and y'all that I won't be bored next year, and the best part is, I'll still update this blog. I hope to update once every two weeks next year, but we'll see.
So, with that, I'll finally hop in the shower and then grab some lunch.
Take care!
XOXO,
-Kim
P.S. I still love Chinese food, but I CAN'T WAIT for Papa Gino's Cheese pizza and Pad Thai. That shit's gunna be TIGHT.
Let the rain fall...
So it's raining here in Baoding! I know this might not be extraordinary news to most, but it's been really dry and hot these past few weeks, so I'm basking in the rain, ( well, from indoors of course). So here's what's been going on in my life:
-MCLA Graduation
-Dinner/Lunch with my students
-Stupid/Wonderful Youku
-Final Examinations
-Reflections on the past year
-Hilarious Accident with Purple Thunder
Ok, so May 16th, I wished many of my new fellow MCLA alumni a "Merry Graduation!" It was nice looking through everyone's pictures, and I really wished I could have given everyone a hug, on that day, but alas, I could only send my happiest online wishes. I truly hope they sufficed. To my fellow alumni, when I see you this summer, I PROMISE you that you're going to get the BIGGEST hug! Congrats again!
Speaking of the summer, I think it's time to fill y'all in on my plans:
I will collect my final examinations from my students on June 18th and go into evalination ( that's a new word, part evaluating, part hibernation) and grade for about 4 or 5 days, and then I'm hoping to go to a few more places in China, Dalian and Xi'an. I'm also hoping to go to my very good friend Eena's home this summer as well.
I'll be back on U.S. soil on July 15th 2009, so clear your calendars, and get ready to meet with me to catch up over lunch, coffee, dinner, a meal at FYP, Taco Bell, who knows! I want to see YOU, (yes you) and I think the best way to get in touch with me will be through facebook, for I'm fairly certain I WON'T have a cell phone. ( Man, that's going to be SO nice.)
'Why won't you have a cell phone,' you ask? 'You're returning to the U.S., right Kim?' Well, my faithful readers, that is correct, BUT in August, probably around August 20, I'll be back in China. Yes, that's right, I'm coming back to China, back to Hebei University for a second year. I will be teaching the course entitles Writing for Sophomores again and I hopefully be teaching Psychology as well in the fall. I have decided to return to China for many reasons, including but not limited to: the culture, the language, the people, the food, the fact that I live like a rockstar, the fact I work only 8 scheduled hours a week, the fact that I've learned so much about myself more than I would have learned in the U.S., the fact I ahve no bills to pay except school loans, the fact that I'm just having a blast here. So, for those reasons, I'm coming back for another year.
So, I hope that we can meet this summer. Like I said, I'll be back in the U.S. of A on July 15th. I'll be coming to North Adams July 23rd ish, to see my sisters, my MCLA pals, and or course, IEP. I can't wait to see my old boss and the staff. I never realized how important IEP is/was to me. I'm really, really thankful to my former boss Wendy for giving me the opportunity to have such an amazing job three summers in a row.
Ok, so back to China, this past week my students and I cooked and ate together. Yes, that's right, my three writing classes and I cooked spaghetti and munched on bread and butter. We all had a blast, cooking, taking pictures, and enjoying each others' company. On Wednesday, June 3rd, my psychology students and I ate dinner together at a semi-vegetarian restaurant ( it didn't have meat but it had seafood) and we had a wonderful time talking about the year, guessing each other's blodd type, playing Telephone ( in English and Chinese) everyone's summer plans, and what we all wanted to be when we were 5 years old. ( By the way, for all Transformer geeks out there, one of my students said he wanted to be a Transformer when he was 5 :D ) I made a little speech to all of my students, thanking them, and before I knew it, I was tearing up, and I just really felt so happy. Later in the night, one of my students toasted me, saying, " If you didn't tell us, I wouldn't have known it was your first year teaching. We might not be your special students, but you are our special teacher." ( To which I replied, "OF COURSE you're my special students," and I tearned up again. )
We also took many pictures and gave lots of hugs. It was a really nice night, a really, really special night that reminded me that I may not know everything, and I may have previously had little moments while I was teaching where I felt like a complete screw-up, but while eating with my students, I was reminded that I'm an AWESOME teacher, an AWESOME person, and I've grown ALOT since May 2008. During my last class with my Writing students, I plan to play a little game ( characteristic Bingo) with them, and then take pictures with them and give a little speech thanking them for working so hard. All of my students are so talented and gifted, and they work their asses off, not only in my class but in other classes, and they really deserve praise for their efforts.
My students are currently working on their final examinations, the 5 paragraph essay. I borrowed Margaret's idea and gave them(my writing students) the option of writing about a life-changing event. They also have the option of writing a movie review about one of the following movies, Big Fish, Donnie Darko, The Secret, or The Muppet Christmas Carol. Many of my students are writing about the life-changing evet, but I know I have one student writing a review of The Muppet Christmas Carol, and I can't wait to read it. I think all of them will do very well writing their papers, but I wish I spent more time on explaining it. It's ok though, that's what next year is for.
This summer, before I leave China, I hope to have a new and improved year-long curicculuum (spelling?) in detail with exactly how many minutes I'll be spending on each topic, writing down examples instead of making them up on the spot. I need to review my notes and see which lessons were more successful, and keep those, and alter some lessons that need tweaking. I kinda/sorta had a little teacher's journal for a few weeks, but it sort of dissipated, so next year I'll be constantly writing down my own evaluations of my classes. I'm very excited to improve my lesson plans, but I'm also excited to look back at the whole year through my notebook. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing this task after I've graded my finals. ( Oi, finals) I've been giving my eyes some exercise, reading The Time Traveler's Wife ( which is REALLY good) and so by June 18th, I'll be ready to plug away at those final papers.
Ok, next topic: Youku. Youku is China's version of YouTube, which is a gift and a curse. With so much free time outside of the classroom, I've spent too much time in front of the computer, watching Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and The Office. I've been trying to limit my intake of television, but to be honest, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching these shows, especially Ugly Betty. It's nice because there are no commercials, and most of the episodes have Chinese subtitles, so I can kinda/sorta practice reading characters. I like Ugly Betty the most because I feel like I can relate to Betty a lot, and although most of the story lines are outrageous, I like it. I'm limiting myself to these three shows though, because I don't want to say I spent all of my time in China in front of the computer/television. One thing I know for certain, I DON'T want my MTV. I don't miss that channel at ALL.
So, yesterday my friend Megan and I were riding our bikes to a dumpling restaurant called Jin Jiaozi ( As we know, Jin, my Chinese name means "golden" and Jiaozi means "dumpling") and I was wearing a new skirt I bought for 25 kuai ( less than $4,) when all of a sudden I stopped very abruptly, and realized my skirt got caught in the bike chain, and before I knew it, my pink Victoria's Secret skivvies were available for everyone to see! I yelped for help, and Megan turned around, looking as panicked as I probably did. Suddenly, we both heard, "HEY!" and we both looked to our right and saw two girls throw something toward us. I was strattling the bike, so Megan picked up what we learned was a coat, and we covered my derrier. Suddenly, the two girls were by my side, inspecting the situtation. Not even ten seconds after that, three older women were around the bike, also assesing the problem. We quickly concluded that the skirt was very tightly wrapped around the chain, and so the young girls were about to get scissors when one of the older women took out her keys and flashed a nail clipper. We all knew what she had to do.
She began to snip at my skirt, and so I started to converse with the new comers to the group. I undoubtedly was asked, " Where are you from?" ( I swear, one day I'm going to say, 'Mars') but I laughed when I truly answered, " I'm American." We made small talk until I was freed from Purple Thunder's ( my bike's) claws. I quickly twisted my skirt around and tied the remaining fragments of my skirt into a sarong - like syle and thanked everyone for their help. Part of my skirt was still in my bike, and I tried to move my bike, but I couldn't move the back tire, so I lifted the back tire up, and awkardly steered my way to a part of the street where I could park my bike. As I was doing this, some people stopped me and helped me remove the ratty skirt from the bike. I'm pretty sure they were asking, (in Chinese) "Don't you know it's dangerous to wear a skirt?" to which I replied, "Xianzai wo zhi dao" ("Now I know")Miraculously, they removed the fabric from Purple Thunder, but there was a piece of metal sticking out of its proper place which was rubbing against each spoke, and so Megan and I parked Purple Thunder, took pictures as evidence and walked to Jin Jiaozi. It was a humilating yet hilarious experience.
So tonight I'm showing October Sky to students in the Foreign Language College (the College that my English students are from) I hope they'll like it. My Psychology students liked it when I showed it to them a few months ago.
Ok, I think it's time to get to the piles and piles of papers to grade.
Peace.
Wo de peng you zai na li? Zai Shanghai!
April 2009 (Updated May 19, 2009) So when I learned I had the opportunity to travel to Shanghai with my friends, I didn't think twice. I traveled with Anna and Megan, and we all took a 13-hour train to good ol' Shanghai. I was in Shanghai from 4/9 - 4/13, and it was a really nice break from Baoding. Don't get me wrong, Baoding is AMAZING, I just needed a little vacation, so to Shanghai I went.
In Shanghai, I :
-learned a little bit of the Shanghai dialect, ( Instead of the standard, "Ni hao" for hello, the Shanghai dialect is "Nong hao"; instead of the standard, good bye ! ("zaijian!") it's "zai wei!" and "thank you" is "xia xia noong" ( instead of the standard "xie xie"
-went to the Yu Yuan Garden,
So the Yu Yuan Garden was a little pricey, 40 kuai for a ticket, but after passing all of the sellers, it was really nice and calm and pretty. I wasn't able to spend much time there, but I met a really nice girl named Claire from New Orleans. It was nice making friends with a new comer to China. She was hanging around in Shanghai for a few days, and then she was planning to meet her friend. We met in the garden, and briefly chatted, she took pics for me, I took pics of her, (since we were both traveling alone) and then we went to get some lunch. Claire told me that she learned that the famous Anthony Bordain visited a pork bun joint at the Yu Yuan Garden, and so we decided to check it out. After waiting in line for about 50 mins, we FINALLY got to eat the scrumptious pork buns. They reminded me of pork dumplings, which I've definitely had my share of, but it was still cool to ate at a place where Anthony Bordain ate.
-went to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum,
SoAnna, Megan ( my Baoding buddies) Megan's boo John and John's colleague Kensie (my new bestie) went to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, which was SPECTACULAR. We saw an IMAX film, The Mystery of the Nile and during this time I definitely worked on my listening skills, since it was in Chinese and there were no subtitles. All in all it was still really cool to watch. We also enjoyed the Animals of the World exhibit, where we saw replicas of hundreds of animals. We also went to the reptile and bug exhibit, aaaannnndddd we went to the spider exhibit, where we saw FIVE tarantulas. It was narly.
-found not one, but TWO Dunkin' Donuts locations,
Ok, so I was walking with my two friends, Kensie and Sarah, and I noticed a sign and gasped so loudly that they seriously thought I was in danger, I gasped because I saw a sign for Dunkin' Donuts. I was in such a state of shock I was thinking that Dunkin' Donuts was coming to China, but to my WONDERFUL surprise, underneath the sign was a Dunkin' Donuts store, full of bright orange and floursecent pink furniture. I RAN through traffic, entered the store, and smiled the BIGGEST smile. It was about 8:00 or 8:30, ( I don't remember) but they didn't have any donuts left; they were fresh out, so I knew what I had to do, come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I got an iced coffee and really thought I had died and gone to heaven.
While Sarah, Kensie and I were chillin' in the DD, a guy came in with two bags. He took a jar out of the bag, and I quickly saw that he had a JELLYFISH! Yes, a jelly fish. I just stared and didn't mean to say it, but an "Oh my GOSH!" came out of my mouth. The young man introduced himself, ( his name was Tim) and after a little bit of small talk, he told me I could have one of this two jellyfish. I asked what he wanted in return, and he said nothing, so after about 20 minutes of debate, I decided to take his offer. I was able to choose which jelly fish I wanted so I picked the one with red tips, and named him Watson Timmy Harris. His first name was Watson for his jar was in a Watson's ( a store like CVS) bag. Timmy ( the jellyfish's middle name) was a combination of Tim and Amy ( Amy was Tim's g/f who met us in DD) and Harris because....well because!
*Editor's Note: I was able to safely bring Watson back to Baoding, but unfortunately, Watson passed away at the end of April. I miss ya buddy!
-ate a kick ass BBQ burger at Zapata's (it was SO good),
Ok, so back during the fall semester, I tried being a vegetarian for like, a day, but I have realized I like meat too much. ( I know, I know, 'That's what she said.' Yada yada yada.) but I'm serious. I had a great BBQ burger at a nice place called Zapata's, which was pricey, but it was alllll worth it. It was so good it made it to this blog, so you KNOW that shit was gooooooood.
-ate cheesy, mild, DEEEEELICIOUS curry,
ok, so more food that will be mentioned in this blog is the curry. My friends and I ate at this really great curry restaurant, and I wasn't a big fan of curry before, but this place had mild curry and it was deeeelish! I had the cheeseburger curry, so basically it was curry, cheese, rice and a hamburg patty, and it was AWESOME.
-bought The Time Traveler's Wife and The Little Prince
So I went to a HUGE, 7-floor bookstore and bought one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, and a book that was highly recommended to me, The Time Traveler's Wife which I'm currently reading and enjoying very much. I also bought Across the Universe with Chinese subtitles. I showed it to my Psychology students, and most of them liked it, which made me happy.
- bought a new shirt
Basically, I got a new Chinglish shirt. It's bright baby blue and says, "Actuality's World Trip" and then there is a print of a camera. I thought, 'Hey, why not?'
-made three more new friends, Kensie, Sarah and Steve
So while in Shanghai, I met John's co workers, Kensie, Sarah and Steve. Sarah and Steve are married, and Kensie's got a boo in America and we had a nice time shopping and hanging out together in Shanghai. On Easter Sunday, Sarah and Steve surprised us ( Kensie and I) with chocolate Peeps, which was nice. Kensie is awesome, I kinda wish she could transfer to Baoding, because we are the same person. We're both super corny, we love musicals, and we're both overly energetic, and we're big tourists. She's planning to come to Baoding in June, and I surely hope that still happens for she's really, really cool.
-and went to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.
Ok, so I don't care if you hate fish, the aquarium is a rad place for everyone. (Well, maybe not for people who have a phobia of the sea, but you get the jist of it) Once again, I had to pay a hefty entrance fee, but Megan, Kensie, John, Sarah Steve and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the aquarium. We went through the world's longest underwater tunnel, and we watched a shark feeding! It was pretty neat.
Shanghai was a lot of fun. It was nice to explore, learn the subway, and make new friends. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the Shanghai dialect and talking with the locals. ( I wandered around a little bit before I foudn the Yu Yuan Garden, so I saw some less-busy streets and said hello to the sellers/ asked for the prices of items, etc)
It was nice, and I might even go again some day.
Ok, I got class in the morning, so take care y'all. : )
-Kim
Back to the Future
So, today is April 6, 2009. I’ve been living in another country for a little while, and whileIhope I’ve entertained you all with descriptions of my adventures here in the Middle Kingdom, I realized I haven’t really shared my feelings in this blog, or at least not as much asIwanted to. So now, I think it’s time to start. So during my time here, I’ve felt probably every feeling imaginable but the ones I want to focus on are joy, love, happiness, excitement a sense of family, REALLY finding out what I want in my life, life-long lasting friendships, an experience that is changing my life and will help me shift my thinking to a broader perspective after my time here.
I think at every point in a traveler’s life, (or in any person’s life) they have moments, some have hours, some have weeks, some have months, maybe some even have years where they reflect on the past and see how to they got to where they are, who they were, who they are now, and most importantly, start to envision who they can become.
There is SO much more to the world than the worldIcreated for myself in Burlington MA. I’m not saying that it is a terrible place, but my old Social Studies teacher, Rachel Zucker described Burlington best when she described it as an average town: the population is average, the residents’ imcomes are average, it’s not a city but it’s not the countryside either, it’s just Massachusetts suburbia. Looking back on my time spent in Burlington, I see that my view of the world was so narrow and I didn’t even realize it until I left to go to MCLA. My time at MCLA was really the first of many stepping stones which helped me start to grow up, because I went through some really personal but much - needed life changes, and I realized I had to stop treating other people (and more importantly myself) like crap. A spoonful of initally soure- but sweet-after tasting reality was shoved into my mouth, but I swallowed it, along with my pride and learned that if I wanted to go anywhere in this world (literally and figuratively) I had to break down some walls I built up and trust people and more importantly, trust myself.
As I was preparing for my graduation, I was very uncertain of my future, and I really thought that if I wasn’t exactly sure that I knew what I wanted to do after May 17 2008, I’d be a failure, but sure enough I convinced myself that coming to China would do me some good, whatever it would be. So, back in March and April 2008 I told people that I was in fact going to China, hardly believing it myself. Back in March 2008, I didn’t have the money for a plane ticket, so I lit a fire under my ass and made it my number one priority to get the money I needed. I worked my ass off in the C-Store, the BT front desk, tutoring and being a Writing Associate, sold a lot of my stuff, and started to get some dough for the “Get Kim to China” fund. I missed Beta events and parties and many of opportunities to hang out with my friends, but the funny thing is thatIwas REALLY happy working toward a goal that I initially thought was impossible. I had a blast working in the C-Store, watching August Rush and making smoothie after smoothie for myself, my boss and my co workers. I couldn’t get enough of sitting in the smelly office of BT. I loved working hard, getting many small but valuable pay checks, and getting closer and closer to China.
After I graduated, I still had work to do, so instead of going home and celebrating with my family, I put on my McDonald’s hat and I started my 11pm – 4am shifts for about 3 weeks.That was fun too, and as much as I bitched about that job at the time, I look back and realized that it really wasn’t that bad. In the middle of June, IEP finally came along, so I quit Mc Donald’s and was Margaret Whitney’s TA for the 3rd summer in a row. Once again, I met the most amazing group of recent high school graduates, full of excitement, fears, homesickness but most importantly, potential to improve the MCLA campus.
While I was thrilled to assist the students with the transition from highschool graduate to college student, I was faced with the biggest enemy of the summer: getting my visa. This was the part where I learned that I needed to break down my walls, and let people know how I was truly feeling, scared and doubtful of myself, not sure if I could really live in a foreign country for a year, and still unsure of the future. I shared my concerns with the 5 MCLA alumni who were still in Baoding at the time, and they were beyond helpful and considerate. I don’t think they know how much they really helped me. I was truly blessed when I talked to Katie L. online, and she told me she would visit her former( my current) boss, Mr. Liang and get the important paper from the Chinese government, the one crucial paper I needed to process my visa. I remember standing in my room in Hoosac Hall, reading the facebook message from Kaite stating that she’d be getting the piece of paper for me, and bringing it to MCLA a few days later. My knees buckled and I collapsed on my floor, cried and shouted “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!” After all of the frustration and uncertainty of the visa form, knowing that the paper for my visa was coming restored faith in myself, and I KNEW that it was my destiny to go to China.
So, I began to work on my new game plan: took a deep breath, filled out all of the stupid paperwork, and I had a new ingredient in my life’s recipe: faith. I was certain that my visa would be processed and that I’d get to China. I had no idea how, but I knew it would happen.
And it did. On July 22,2008, Alex Kalim from the visa processing company personally called me and told me that he was looking at my F Visa in my passport, and that my passport would be on my door step the next day. It was the BEST feeling. After that, the celebration began. I had a wonderful graduation/ going away party with my family and friends, and it was a fantastic day, and I began to get uber-pumped for CHINA!
Then August 25th rolled around. At 6 am, after running to a RITE-AID and picking up feminine products and Goldfish, I was at Logan, ready to go. I checked my bags, said, “See ya” to my mom, went through security, then boarded my plane to go from Boston to Montreal. I had a blast in the airport, and then, at 1:50 pm, boarded the plane from Montreal to Beijing. I was SO lucky to have all 3 seats to myself, so I could lay down and sleep for the 13-hour ride. I watched Smart People, and Kung Fu Panda, slept, fumbled with my chopsticks when I ate my chicken, had green tea, and talked with the steward. I read a little of the National Post, and then, I heard the magical announcement: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be at Beijing Airport in approximately 2 and half hours.” I thought, ‘How did we get here so soon?’ and I’ll never know, but it felt like the ride was only 6 hours. My 6 hour-plane ride to England felt 3 times longer.
And then I stepped off the plane.
So, I think that’s enough for now. Looking back at my story, I’m glad I can remind myself how I got here, what I went through, and how happy and thankful I am that I did it; I accomplished a life-changing goal. I know in the bottom of my heart that I can do anything I set my mind to, and knowing that is a wonderful feeling.
Alright you faithful readers, stay tuned for more!
Peace, Love, and Faith,
-Kim
Free Association Typing
Written on March 26, 2008 So, here I am. Spring is riiiiight around the corner, and that means many things, but one thing in particular I'd like to focus on: change. The temperature is changing, the trees are changing, the bushes are changing, and, as stubborn as I am, I am changing too. I'm growing up here in China. I'm really starting to ask myself, "What do you REALLY want?" and the answers have been a little difficult to find, but the best part of it all is that I am trusting myself and trying my damndest to remind myself that I'm not perfect, and presently NOT knowing exactly what I want is ok, as long as I start to focus and zone in on things. I know that I LOVE to sing. I'm not going to be shy or humble about it anymore. I love to sing, and I think I have a damn good voice. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is sing along to musicals. There is an undescribable joy I get just belting out the last note of the hero or heroine's famous song, you know, the one where the lightbulb goes off in their head. I thought about it today, and I'm not ashamed to admit this: Although I'm in love with my current job, if I had the chance to play Elle Woods on Broadway for one night only, and that meant not being able to teach for the rest of my life, I'd do it, no second thoughts. (Ok, I think I'd think about it for maybe a minute or two, but I know I'd take the Broadway gig)
I also know that I love watching movies. I love analyzing them and discussing them and watching them multiple times to get a different perspective each time, too see little things I missed the time before. I also LOVE watching Grey's Anatomy and 24 with my friends, and Will & Grace. I love writing letters to people, and even though sometimes I get a little pissy about the fact that I spend a lot of money on postage, I still love sending letters. I LOVE when people know I care about them. I love making/sending Thank You cards. I love sentimental Hallmark cards. I love playing hostess, and I love keeping my room tidy, but also having the patience with myself to leave it a little messy once in a while. I love dancing to the Cha Cha slide, especially dancing the “Reverse." I love the computer that HeDa is letting me borrow; it's a hell of a lot better than my lap top. I love eating ice cream and chocolate, especially Ferrero Rocher. I love how although I occasionally get irritated when she does it, my mom sends me RICIDULOUSLY corny and most times silly emails. (Ireally hope she doesn't believe that she'll be cursed for 20 years if she only sends the email to two people.) I love living in a room that is FABULOUSLY decorated. I love all of the friends that I've made here in China and in Hong Kong, whether I met them in Baoding, Beijing, Datong, Taiyuan, Pingyao, Shijiazhuang, Kunming, Shilin, Shiping.
I love that I finally admitted that pink ain't such a bad color, especially when around green. I LOVE my students. They are the kindest, most warm-hearted, most patient people I've ever met in my life. I'm so thankful to Alex W., Katie, Natty, Sarah and Chris, I contacted all of them a year ago, a scared, nervous, shy college senior uncertain about her future, and they were so kind to reassure me that "It'll be alright." I'm so thankful for Gao Yusi, the first friend I made here in China, and who first introduced me to the wonders of street food, gave me sage advice, and always makes me laugh. I'm thankful for Slava, my Russian husband, who(m?) I adore and I believe will change the world once he figures out what he wants. I'm thankful for Tara, my best gal pal here, we just get each other, and we are DEF in the same boat in so many aspects, teaching writing to sophomores, this being our first year in China, and many others. I'm so thankful for Megan, a wonderful young woman who's got a fantastic head on her shoulders, and is so empathetic and hilarious and stupendous in so many ways. I wish we could spend more time together. I'm so thankful for my homegirl, Cherry, my dining hall savior who helped me get food when I could barely utter a "Ni Hao." I'm so thankful for Dasha, she reminds me of how young and innocent a person can be. I'm thankful for Emily, Amelia, Tim, John, Ryan and Cameron, they're a cool bunch of people I want to get to know better.
I'm so thankful for all of the international students here at HeDa, they have opened up my idea/perception of the world and college students. I'm so thankful for every teacher I've had, inside and outside the classroom. I'm really thankful to three professors at MCLA, Michele Ethier, Deb Foss, and Ann Zepernick. All of them in their own way have really made a positive difference in my life. Thanks so Miss Mason, who I think is the kindest 3rd grade teacher ever, and who is so understanding and nice. I'm so glad I know how to behave in the classroom, and I'm glad I have the patience not to shout at my students to listen to one another, and to pay attention in class, and I'm thankful that my teachers never yelled like I sometimes want to yell. I'm thankful that I am able to have such a rich experience here, and do hands-on teaching, not just observing. I am thankful that I am learning how to teach while teaching. I'm thankful that I have realized that I really should evaulate every class I teach, not just have my students evaluate me at the end of the semester. I'm so thankful that I'm surrounded by such wonderful people here in Baoding, and that people back in the U.S. really do care about me, whether I fully realize that or not. I'm SO thankful to have such an amazing sister and mother. They're both such strong women, and although my younger sister is three years younger than me, she's alot wiser than most people my age,(I might even say including me!) I'm proud of my mom for finally relaxing for once in her life.
I'm so thankful I have a camera and I'm able to capture such amazing images. I love making collages, and cutting meaningful phrases out of newspapers and storing them in an envelope. I love listening to spoken word, even if I zone out in the middle of the poem.
I want my new hobbies to include stepping, going to art museums frequently, collecting money from all over the world, performing ( whether it be singing, dancing, reciting a poem or acting) reading, and just loving life.
Thanks for reading this everyone.
Wan an ( Good night)
Pics of Shiping ( Cont'd) and the Yi Village
Ok, so THESE pictures below are from Shiping, Ann's hometown, and the village where she spent the first 5 years of her life, the Yi Village ( Yi is pronounced "e"). The third picture is of me, Ann's aunt, uncle, her dad, Yusi and Alex. The large pagoda was in the park we went to. The pictures with MANY people sitting at small tables were from one of the weddings we attended. We also went to an orange grove, so we had a little photoshoot while the sun was setting. When we went to the Yi Village, Alex, myself, and our new friend Judy Rae had the honor of wearing traditional bridal outfits. ( I wore just the hat, but Judy Rae and Alex wore the full clothing) We danced with the Yi women, and it was FANTASTIC. The other photos are just random flicks. Enjoy!
Pics from the 39-Hour Train Ride and Shiping.
Written March 23, 2009. So the following pictures are from the train ride to Kunming, my friend Ann's hometown, Shiping. I traveled with my friends Alex& Yusi, and we met the most adorable 4-year old on the train. We took a train from Beijing to Kunming, and then, the same day we arrvived in Kunming, we went to our friend Ann's house in a city called Shiping. Our train left Beijing on January 28, 2009 and we arrived in Kunming the morning of January 30th. Onthe train, we also met an 11- year old who taught me an awesome Chinese card game called Qi, Wang, Wu, Er, San, which translates into 7, King, 5,2,3. The puppy was in Shiping, and he was just adorable! We went to two weddings while we were in Shiping, and so I took a few flicks with the bride and groom. At the ceremony, there must have been about 800 guests, it was INSANE. There was SOOOOO much food! Ann and her family took us to the famous lake in Shiping, and Alex and I got to try to steer the boat. The both of us made the boat go in circles. It was kind of awesome. After going to the lake, we went to a park-type location with a bell tower and a drum tower. It was a fun time. The first picture was taken when I went to the top of the stairs, and Alex, Yusi, Ann and her friends all posed at the bottom. I had a delightful time. Enjoy the pictures below!
Spring Festival in Shijiazhuang
Written March 23, 2009
Ok, so the pictures below were from my time in Shijiazhuang. Shijiazhuang is about 2 1/2 hours south of Beijing, 1 and 1/2 hours south of Baoding. I stayed with my friend Cai Wei, also known as Cherry. I stayed with her and her family from January 25 -27, 2009. I was very lucky to spend Spring Festival with a Chinese family, for many of the other foreign teachers didn't. I feel that I really had a rare experience, sharing the biggest Chinese holiday in a home, not at Hebei University. So these pictures are from Cherry's house, the park near Cherry's house, her grandmother's house, and the park near her grandmother's house, and the hospital. Cherry's cousin, who she calls her sister, had a baby on January 22nd, and so we went to visit, so the baby you see was 5 days old when the picture was taken. SO CUTE! So, enjoy the pictures below. : )
Hong Kong Part I
Written on March 15, 2009. Alright, so here we go again. Hong Kong. Well, in a word, Hong Kong was ( and is) FABULOUS! So it all started when I left from Kunming Airport to go to Hong Kong. I left on Fabruary 9, the Lantern Festival. I met a very lovely girl named Liliana, and we had a lovely conversation during the plane ride. She's a Chinese student, studying in Sydney, Australia. Before the plane ride, I met a woman named May, a Hong Kong native who was so helpful before and after the flight. When we landed, at about 6:30 PM, she helped me get an Octopus card, ( Hong Kong's version of a Charlie Card for you Bostonian readers out there) and gave me her telephone number and told me to call if I needed anything. She and I were took the bus where I met Charlotte, a French student on her way to Sydney to study English. On the bus, we quickly became acquainted, and we decided to split the cost of a hostel room and get a 2-person room instead of sleeping in the 12-person dorm room. It was a nice upgrade, I must say. We had our own bathroom, a TV, and I FLIPPED OUT when I saw ER, I really think I scared Charlotte. When I arrived in Hong Kong to The weather was nice and warm, around 70-75 degrees, even at night! Charlotte's stay in Hong Kong was shorter than mine, so, although I was tired and I wanted a night in, I was coerced into a night of shopping at the Temple St. Market. My super-awesome bargaining powers didn't create the results that I would usually get in Beijing or Baoding, for the sellers were pretty stubborn, but I got some good deals. I also bought a really tacky panda magnet for Megan, for she was in Russia and didn't have time to see the pandas she loves so dearly. After that, Charlotte and I returned to our room and finally rested.The next day, February 10, I went to the Chinese Consulate building, where I gave the officals my passport to get my new working visa! After I dropped my passport off, I met Charlotte in a section of Hong Kong called Central . We went to the Man Mo Temple, which I thought was absolutely beautiful, and then we decided to see the Peak, ( the highest point of Hong Kong) and then go to the beach after that. After looking at our maps for quite some time, we FINALLY made it to the Tram to take us to the Peak. We got there, but unfortuately it was a little bit cloudy, so we couldn't see as much of the skyline as we wanted, but we still had a good time. I bought a keychain for Tara that is very similar to mine, a pink and green- striped creature. So we made it to the beach, one bay in fact called Repulse Bay. Repulse Bay was B-E-AUTIFUL, although the name suggests otherwise. Charlotte and I met a wonderful woman named Jessy, a Chinese woman who was waiting for her husband to get out of his business meeting. While Charlotte and Jessy talked, I walked along the beach, and put my feet in the water. I found a rock shaped like a heart and truly felt lucky and happy. I wrote messages in the sand such as "WISH U WERE HERE" and "HI MOM" and took pictures. After that, Charlotte and I left, and went to go get ready to see Hong Kong's famous light show, which started promptly at 8:00. Jenny was the one who told us about it, and she told us that she was going, so we hoped we would see her at the show. Charlotte and I returned to our room, rested a bit, then went out to see the show. The Hong Kong light show is basically a laser show, but it's not just any laser show, the laser beams come from the buildings across the water! These are pretty powerful beams. After the show, we heard someone shout CHARLOTTE! and who was it? Jessy. It was quite a conincidence because there must have been at least 500 people. So after our Hellos once more, we said farewell to Jessy and her husband, and I went to the Temple Market again and I bought even MORE things. Charlotte didn't eat dinner, so she went and ate dinner. It was nice to have some me-time.
Ok, so I'm halfway through with my Hong Kong adventures, and I would really like to continue now, but I must prepare a lesson! Stay tuned !
Peace, Love, and Understanding,
-Kim
Yunnan in the Wintertime
February 27, 2009
Greetings! So there is much to tell! Ok, so my birthday was totally rad and I was so happy and thankful that I was surrounded by so much lovely people and got so many warm wishes! After my brithday, I chilled in Baoding until January 25, 2009. I went to my friend Cherry’s house where I celebrated the Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the Ox, and I was born in the year of the Ox, therefore it is my “lucky” year. (Imight have lots of bad luck or lots of good luck., let’s hope it’s good luck.) So I went to Cherry’s house and made dumplings and then ate 33 of them! They were big dumplings and so after my 33rd, I needed to lay down. I woke up before midnight and watched the TV special with Cherry’s family for a little while. Then, at midnight, we went outside and lit fire crackers and fireworks. People light fireworks and fire crackers during the New Year to scare away evil spirits. So, we went outside, lit up a storm, then went to bed. The next day, the 26th we (myself, Cherry and her family) ate the left over dumplings for breakfast, and boy were they deeeeelish! Cherry’s mom fried the dumplings and it was my first time having fried dumplings in China, usually I have boiled dumplings so the change was excellent!
So, I returned back to Baoding the night of the 27th, and then the next day, January 28, 2009 I began another adventure.. On this day, I went with Alex and Yusi on a 39 –hour train ride from Beijing to a city in Yunnan Province called Kunming. On the train, I met the most adorable 4 year-old. I almost had him fully in my packback before his family caught me. (Just kidding but I really did want to take him with us.) I also met an 11-year old who taught me a card game called Qi, Wang, Wu, Er, San, which translates to 7, King, 5, 2, 3. It was really neat. I had to have Yusi’s help translating at some points, but it was really fun learning a card game speaking a different language other than my native one. The train ride seemed so quick, I was so surprised. So the three of us (Alex, Yusi and I) arrived in Kunming. Shortly after our arrival, we bought tickets to our friend Ann’s hometown, ShiPing. Ann invited us to her home and so we gladly accepted her invitation. So, after a 39- hour train ride and a 4-hour bus ride, we finally made it to Shi Ping. We met Ann at the bus station, and she and her family warmly welcomed the three of us to Shi Ping.
We dropped our stuff off at Ann’s house and then went to her aunt’s house and had deeeeeeeelicious food, and when I say deeeeeeeelicious, I mean deeeeeeeelicious! We ate fish (well I did since I’m not a vegetarian) and spicy vegatables, and Yusi said it best when he said it was just so refreshing! We stayed with Ann and her family from January 30th to February 5, 2009 and during that time, we saw many things, including a beautiful lake, (where Alex and I steered the boat) a drum tower, a bell tower, a temple, two wedding celebrations, and we went shopping, and we met Ann’s friend Judy Rae and we also went to the village where Ann grew up. Going to the village, the Yi village, was so incredible. We got there on February 2nd, and stayed over for one night. The Yi women have the tradition of hand-embroidering their wedding outfits. They usually get married when they are 16, and so they begin making their wedding outfits when they are about 14 years old. All of us couldn’t believe that the outfits were hand embroidered, there is so much detail in each outfit. So we arrived at the village just in time for dinner, where we met even more of Ann’s family and got to see the women in their traditional dress. They were wearing their outfits because we were having a party. During dinner, we indeed ate like kings and queens. They also sang every time they made a toast, so after dinner, so all of us (Judy Rae, Ann, Yusi, Alex and I ) sang a round of “Row Row Row your boat” After dinner, Alex and I were able to try on the dress. Alex tried on the whole outfit, and I got to wear a hat. To say it was great doesn’t even begin to describe it. We all went to a school near the house and danced and sang. It was absolutely irreplaceable. No tour group or guide could ever show us this experience. I’m so thankful to Ann for inviting me to her home, for it really was an experience I will never forget. The Yi people are full of such love and life, it was great! They continued to dance even when Alex, Yusi and I were tired. We left the village the next day, but not before two absolutely delicious meals, breakfast and lunch. For breakfast, we ate a meal called er kuai, which is rice that is compressed into patties. When you grill this er kuai, it gets crispy on the outside but gooey on the inside and it was deeeelish! For lunch we ate a feast, too much food to describe! Ann and her family were beyond nice, paying for EVERYTHING (one time we had to fight Ann to pay for some French fries) and were just so patient and spoke slowly for me. It was so much fun!
We said farewell to Ann and her family on February 5th and returned to Kunming. We stayed in a hostel called The Hump, and rang in Mr. Gao’s birthday, which was on the 6th. On his birthday, we walked around Kunming and did a little shopping. Later that night, we met a very handsome British bloke named Will, and he joined us for dinner. We all decided that the next day we would go to the town called Shi Lin, other wsie known as Stone Forest. Basically, millions of years ago, the town was underwater. Over time, when the water evaporated, the GIANT stones were still there, and so it looks like a forest of stone. So on February 7th, went went and saw the giant stones. It was AWESOME. To spice things up, as we were heading toward the exit, we lost Will, and so we spent a good hour screaming his name in the Stone Forest. It was a fun time. After that, we grabbed dinner and hung out at the hostel. On the 8th, Alex and Yusi left for ChengDu, the capital of SiChuan province (SiChuan was the part of China that had the GIANT earthquake on May 12th 2008) and I stayed put because on the 9th,Iheaded to Hong Kong to change my visa.
So I gotta get going for now, but I’ll try to tell you all about my adventures in Hong Kong ASAP!
Peace.
Traveling: It does a body good.
Written on February 11th 2009 So I'm actually in Hong Kong right now, enjoying an Iced Vanilla Latte at a Pacific Coffe at the Peak of Hong Kong. I have more exploring to do, but Hong Kong is SUPER DUPER awesome. I've been traveling for over 2 weeks, and it's been the coolest vacation of my life. I promise I will give you faithful readers the details when I return back to Baoding.
Until next time....
Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year!)
Written on January 19, 2009
Hey y'all,
So I've been having a totally RAD vacation, full of lazy days and travel plans. On January 28th I'm going to Yunnan ( Southern China) with Alex and Yusi and it's going to be beyond fun. I'm also going to Hong Kong to get a new visa on February 10th, so that should be fun. Anyway, let me fill you in on stuff that's already happened, shall I? From December 20th-22nd 2008, I was in Shijiazhuang, for I performed in a competition for foreign students and teachers. I sang a duet with a Korean student named Da San. We sang the Olympic song, "Wo he Ni" ("You and Me"). Our performance wasn't the only performance from Hebei University, but I was the only teacher who participated, which inevitably made me feel special. Other students spoke/sang Chinese, some Mongolian students performed a traditional Mongolian dance, and one Japanese girl wrote a Chinese poem in Chinese calligraphy. Amazingly this girl was my roomate in the hotel. Ryoko (her name) and I had a really fun time practicing our acts, eating like queens, and just having fun. She was practicing her calligraphy, and I was just so flabbergasted I flat out asked her, "Can I have one of your practice sheets?" and she was suprised but flattered and gave me a practice sheet which is about 5 feet tall. It's truly a unique gift, one I'll keep for a long time. Anyway, the food at the hotel was delectable! I ate sushi for 3 days in a row, it was great. I have never had such fresh sushi! I hung out with Ryoko, my friends Henry (Nigerian), DaSan (Korean), RU ( as in "How are you?") (Korean) and Hyun Woo (Korean). I really enjoyed listening to the guys speak Korean. I plan to go to Korea either in May or after my classes end, which is July. We'll see. ^_^.
Anyway, Sunday, the 21st was the day of the competion, and it was a blast watching other acts/performing. Hebei University definitely represented, shouting, "Hebei Daxue! (Hebei University) Yeah!" and cheering before and after Hebei University students' performances, somethign that none of the other universities did. One thing that really struck me is that when a beautiful girl or handsome boy went on stage, the WHOLE audience gasped. As I was sitting in the audience, it made me laugh. Then I performed. I'll admit, I did hear some gasps as I took my first steps onto the stage, and it felt AWESOME! I really did feel beautiful. :::Takes a break to go gag herself with a spoon::: Honestly though, it was really fun performing and hanging out with the students. We got to goof around for a weekend and I got to know more about the students. I never learned my score, but I never really wanted to know it, I just wanted to have fun, and that I did.
Christmas was a blast. During the day on Christmas Eve, I showed The Muppet Christmas Carol to two classes, and then that night, I attended the Christmas party for foreign students/teachers and Chinese teachers. There, I sang "Wo he Ni" once again and then proceeded to get silly and then went on a mini bar-crawl with Yusi, Alex, Megan and Lee. We went to Chali's, Nung Fu, Times, and then I went back to Chali's. It was great. On Christmas Day I showed The Muppet Christmas Carol to the last class, and then I bought last minute gifts and then met everyone at Sandy's. When I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE: Tara, Misha, Vulva, Helen, Young Suk, Eun Sup,Charlotte, Yusi, Alex, Megan, Lee, Luna Slava and Cameron, we all had pizza, pasta and wine. I left with Yusi and Alex to help them set up, becasue the unveiling of Secret Santa was going down at Yusi's. I had a really nice time with them before the whole crew came, we bopped out heads on paper jingle bells. ( Well actually, Alex and I failed, Yusi was the only one who could do it.) So everyone eventually came over, and we exchanged presents. I had Alex for Secret Santa, so I gave her kitty socks, a notebook with the Eiffel Tower on it, keys I had found over the months, and purple nail polish, little but meaningful gifts. Emily Johns had me for Secret Santa, but she unfortunately left China before Christmas, but she gave me stickers, ( Halloween and Beijing Hu Yuan Ying Ni stickers) and removable sleeves, all of which made me smile. I also shared my chocolate orange that was kindly sent to me by my family. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and it seemed to be the perfect touch to the evening.
Just when I thought China couldn't get any better, New Year's came. I had a wonderful night at Chali's, then my friends and I went to Deep Club, and then I went back to Chali's by midnight. The girls in the picture are my friends Tara and Cherry. At 11:50, I told some employees at Chali's and fellow regular customers that in America, many people shout, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" then kiss each other, and so one man asked, "Will you kiss me at midnight?" I replied, "I'll kiss you on the cheek" but at 12:00 I didn't kiss him, I kissed everyone at the bar on the cheek. I then sang "Aud Lang Syne"( forgive the spelling) but the only lyrics I knew were " Should all aquantance be forgot ( blah blah blah ) Aud Lang Syne" and so I just kind of hummed the rest. It was fun.
On January 15th 2009, I celebrated my birthday. It truly was a fantastic day. I slept over my pal Slava's house, and so we got up at he made me Russian porridge, which was deeeelicious! It was really sweet but not too sweet, and I even liked the bananas in it! For those of you who know my eating patterns, you know that I never eat fruit-ever-so for me to have eaten some was quite an accomplishment. After that, we went back to my place and then we went to get some noodles. It's a tradition in China to eat of noodles on your birthday, so I ate a whole bowlful. After that, Alex treated me to a slice of cake at the Honey Pool, and I was getting really stuffed. Slava was there with us, and we had a nice time chatting/hanging out. After THAT, I got ready to eat even MORE. At 6 I ate dumplings with Alex, Yusi, Slava, Lee, Megan, John, two bartenders from Chali's, Yang Shuai and Wang Zhen, and Wang Zhen's girlfriend, Hong Hong. We ate deeeeelicious dumplings, and I ate MORE noodles because at the dinner table, I learned that when you eat noodles on your birthday, before you eat the first noodle, you need to see how long the noodle is. If you pull a long noodle, it's said you'll have a long life. My first try indicated my life wasn't going to be too much longer, so I tried again, and the noodle was pretty long. After the main course, we had cake, when at this time Alex ALMOST had me and almost put frosting on my face, but my cat-like reflexes allowed me to miss her hand. I then had a mini frosting fight with Slava, whose 6'4" body I could not escape. After we wiped the frosting off of our faces, we took ourselves and the remaining cake to Chali's. Shortly after we went in a room, Chali knocked on the door. What we saw next was absolutely unforgettable: Chali and Chali's wife were each holding GIANT teddy bears, ( from my feet to my hips) each beautifully dressed in an American flag sweater, one for me and one for Alex. After much laughter and hugs to Chali and his wife, we surely made our bears do some not-so nice -things, and we might have moved their stuffing around if you know what I mean. Oh! I almost forgot, I played a drinking game called Ride the Bus. If you know this game, you know how hard it is to ride the bus, but if you don't know the game, you can just imagine. So, after FINALLY winning the game, I went out of the room so I could eat the remaining cake with Chali ( he couldn't go to the restaurant because he was running the bar) so I got the cake and put it on the bar, but I didn't eat any, instead I creamed EVERY worker ( including Chali) instead, and it was sweeter than any cake. It was a really awesome night, and I was/am beyond thankful and happy that I have so many friends here to celebrate the day with me. It was also very wonderful to get a call from my family and getting so many warm wishes on facebook and by email. It truly was of the BEST birthdays I've ever had.
Ok guys, I gotta get going! Today I'm going over to Cherry's place to eat some home cooked food! Woop! Woop!
Until next time... you stay classy, faithful readers.
Purple Thunder, Wo Ai Ni.
Written on December 30, 2008 Soooo, here we go. Ok, so for those of you who don't know, when I first arrived, I bought a purple bike and named it Purple Thunder, and about two weeks after I had it, it "went missing." I was very distraught for a while and had to buy a new bike to get around, and it did the job, but it wasn't the same as Purple Thunder. On November 17th, I taught one of my Psychology classes and decided to end class early. As I was grabbing my bike to go home, I noticed a purple bike. After a few moments of inspection, I realized that the bike was indeed Purple Thunder! I used my other bike and RACED back to my room and grabbed the keys to the lock on Purple Thunder and raced right back to the bike. VERY luckily, the key fit in the lock, and so I rode Purple Thunder home while I held the other bike with one hand. It truly was an amazing feeling. It was exactly what I needed that day. On November 21st, I went with my friend Slava to the hair salon and got four little blonde highlights. He wanted a hair cut, a perm and highlights, but the perm solution did not cooperate with his hair, so he got it cut and colored. For Thanksgiving, November 27th, I went to Yusi's place and celebrated with Yusi, Jack, Alex, Tara, her boo Misha, Vulva, Lee and Emily. It was great; we ate a tofu duck but it tasted like turkey. I brought yams over, and Tara really dug them so it was all good. Alex made some killer mashed potatoes. One of the best things at the table was Alex's homemade cider, it was deeeeeeelicious. November 28th, I went to talk with some of my students at the English Corner on the New Campus. It was nice hanging out with them outside of class. December 3rd, I went out to eat with Chali, the owner of Chali Bar/my Chinese dad. I went with Alex, Yusi, Emily, Lee, Megan and Tara. I ate rabbit, yes rabbit, and got silly. It was fun.On December 4th, I had dinner with two of my students, Jenny and Zoe. It was so nice to talk about such deep things and not about the sugar-coated, " I wish you a happy day every day" stuff, like their boyfriend troubles, their family troubles and so on. I felt really good to give them advice, and I hope my advice was sound. On December 6th, I went to my co-worker's house and met her mother -in-law, her brother-in-law and her daughter. She, her husband and her daughter are going to America on January 15th. She's going to be a visiting professor at Yale. FRIKKIN YALE. She's kind of awesome. We had a wonderful night, and it was really, REALLY nice eating a home cooked meal. December 7th I had a delightful afternoon when I hung out with a reeeeeally cute young man named Du Yuan Zhi. I met him through a friend. I took him to the Honey Pool and we talked for 3 and a half hours. I showed him my duct-tape wallet, and he said he really liked it, so I made him one out of clear tape and gave it to him for Christmas. December 13th I was a judge at a speech competiton. I judged the students who spoke in English but I heard students speak in English, Japanese, Korean, Russian and French. It was REALLY neat. I got a realy cute photo album too, which holds 4X6's which is realy rare because the standard picture size here in China is 3X5. After the competition, Haruka and I went to Chali Bar, and had a nice time. December 16th I had dumplings with my friend Annie, and sat in this really cool swing seat. It was nice. On December 19th I went to one of my Chinese teacher's house, Zhang Laoshi. I had deeelicious food. There was a meat dish which tasted exactly like my mom's beef stew, which was really nice. I went to her house with 4 Mongolian students and a Korean teacher. We took lots of pictures and had a really fun time talking in Chinese.
Ok y'all, that's all for now. I made a promise to go to the Honey Pool today, and I can't break my promise.
Next time I'll tell you all about the competition in Shijiazhuang!
LOVE LOVE LOVE! ^_^
-Kim
Thanks Dayne!
The following is a facebook message I sent to Dayne W., a good MCLA friend, who's thinking about coming here next year.
Written November 29, 2008
Dear Dayne,
I'm glad you're enjoying my blog. : ) I plan to update it this weekend, so stay tuned. About teaching, it's AWESOME. I mean I teach English and Psychology. I will be really honest with you, I had no idea I was teaching Psychology until I got here, so teaching Psychology has been a little tricky. Luckily, many of my students are interesting in counseling, so I'm teaching them about social work.
About teaching English, I do use a textbook they give me, but I don't use it too often becasue it's not that great. I teach Writing to Sophomores and basically, I give them vocabulary words, I've been telling them about American culture by showing them American movies ( I showed Donnie Darko and I'm showing A Muppet Chirstmas Carol closer to Christmas, can you believe they've never heard of the Muppets?) talking about American holidays ( I gave a whole lecture on Thanksgiving) and other things. We read Obama's victory speech in class. I have covered figures of speech, ( metaphor, simile, things like that,) and now I'm focusing on sentence structure and summarizing. For their final grade, I'll have them write two strong paragraphs, one summarizing the story "A Rose for Emily" and one discussing metaphors.
Next semester I plan to teach them about American slang ( and show them the commerical where the girl is like " idk, my BFF, Jill?" ) poetry and spoken word, really famous websites like facebook, postsecret, weebly and myspace ( even though I don't have a myspace) maybe have them read a passage from "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Hamlet" and "The Things They Carried" I want them to read more articles, and they want to read more papers written by American college students ( so I asked Martha G. if I could use her papers in my class as an example) I also want to download a copy of the MCLA class schedule sheet and the requirements, like core class requirements and maybe English since they're English majors, jsut to give them a taste of what the requirements are in an American college.
See, I'm able to teach pretty much what I want which is a gift and a curse. I'll explain why. I'm really thankful for the ability to teach so many things, but sometimes I want to teach SOOOOOO much, that I don't spend enough time and get in depth on one subject. That's one thing I want to improve about my teaching style next semester. I want to plan my whole semester during the break I get. ( I get a break from 12/27/08- 2/22/09) My students are totally rad and they're so understanding. Everyone is totally rad here. People are sooo friendly and helpful, it's great.
In terms of you being able to handle it, I am absolutely 110% positive that you can do this job. It's such a blast, and when you're not working you can learn Chinese by going to the FREE classes, hang out with others, eat AMAZING food, knit ( right now I'm in a knitting circle) travel, take photos, ( today, a student I met through an organization called English Corner let Alex W. and I take photos and develop them in the photolab) I mean this whole experience is awesome. Since my arrival here, I've never encountered so many different cultures and I've been introduced to soooo many different things. I went to my friend's house for Thanksgiving, and I never ever imagined that I would be hearing English, Chinese and Russian at the same time at the table. Two days ago I realized I can say "Hello" in 10 languages: Ni Hao ( Chinese); Anyonhasayo, (Korean); Priviet ( Russian) Hello (English); Kenichiwa (Japanese); Sanloong ( Mongolian) Hola (Spanish); Bonjour/Salut (French); Ciao (Italian); and Shalom (Hebrew) and I realized I probably wouldn't know all of this if I wasn't here in China. It's really been a wonderful three months so far, and I can't wait to find out what the rest of my time here will bring me.
No pressure on Danye or anything, but I hope he comes next year. It would be a great experience for him.
I'm off to go plan an English lesson, peace out y'all!
-Gao Jin
Pictures of the Potluck Party, (11/14) Students' Art/Advertisements for Upcoming Events and the Really Sweet Band (11/15)
Let's Play Catch-Up 2.0
(Written on November 30, 2008) Ok, so on November 14, 2008, my neighbor Young Suk, ( the wonderful Korean teacher who was the first person I met) and I had a party in both of our rooms. Our rooms are across the hall from each other, so we opened up our doors and our hearts and had a kick ass Pot Luck Party. We invited all of the foreign teachers in our building, as well as a few close friends. Young Suk and I were pretty AMAZING hostesses. I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time. I know I did. It was a great way for all fo the teahcers to hang out and get to know one another a little bit better. The party started at 7:00, and by 11:30, we were all saying our goodnights. It was great.
On November 15, 2008, I had a girly afternoon with my friend Cherry. She works at the dining hall, and she's REALLY interested in American culture, so we spent the afternoon shopping and chatting and drinking coffee at the Honey Pool. She's such a sweet girl. That evening, I went to a show with Yusi, Alex, Emily Johns, Megan and Tara. We saw three bands in total, and Yusi's friend was in the second band ( I think he was in the first band too, but I think he was just stepping in for someone.) The last band was really cool.(Unfortunately I forgot the band's name) The singer was very intense the whole time, but he was also really, really chill. I had a good time at the show. Once again I got to experience that special feeling of witnessing live music. I took some pictures, and of course had a photoshoot with Miss Tara. After we saw the band, we went to Chali's. Slava met up with us, and eventually Tara, Slava and I went to a club called ShengDu ( Deep Club). Tara had been eyeing a Russian student named Misha for weeks, and coincidentally he was there too. They finally hit it off on the dance floor, and I had a good time dancing and hanging out. After the club closed, Slava, Misha, Tara and I wanted to go find a place that had beer, so we got in a cab and eventually found some more beer. Misha was pretty drunk, but he was pretty persistent in finding more beer. After we found beer, Slava Tara and I wanted to head back to campus, but Misha told the taxi driver to go in many sketchy and dark alleys. FINALLY, we all made it back to campus, and went to Slava's room. We all hung out and had a good time. Misha doesn't speak much English, so it was fun trying to act out certain words.
Ok, I'm falling asleep at the computer, so I think I'll write more tomorrow. Peace.
-Gao Jin
Let's Play Catch-Up...
Written on November 30, 2008. Ok, here we go. So there any many, many things I want to talk about / tell you about. I'll make a small list for two reasons: to remind myself as well as keep you enticed. : )
-Halloween Weekend (10/31-11/2)
-The Election (11/5 here in China it was the next day)
-DJ Shadow (11/7)
-Potluck Party(11/14)
-Girl's Day with Cherry(11/15)
- Live show(11/15)
-Purple Thunder (11/18)
- Day at the Salon (11/21)
-English Corner ( spending time with my students 11/28)
-Spring Festival Plans
Ok, so Halloween was on a Friday this year, so many people (including myself,) wanted to do great things. Boy, did I do great things. On Friday, October 31st, I went to Yusi's Halloween party at his place. Yusi, Alex, Slava, Dasha Cameron and I were there. It was great. It was really fun to have a nice and chill Halloween, playing games and chatting. (Most of my other friends spent Halloween in Beijing in bars) The next day, November 1st, I met my friends, Luna, Emily, Tara Lee and Megan in Beijing. As I was walking to the hostel, I noticed Kanye West's face on a big sign. ( The sign is the first picture in another entry) To my absolute suprise, I read that Kanye West was going to be performing THAT NIGHT in a venue called Worker's Stadium which was about, oh I don't know, 2 MINUTES away from my hostel! ( I really knew, I just wanted to keep you in suspense.) I literally screamed in happiness and immediately called Tara. She must have thought I was being robbed, I was so hysteric. It was about 2pm when I finally met up with my friends. We ate lunch and then Luna helped me buy a ticket from a scalper for 300 kuai, and I went to the show alone becasue other people didn't want to go/ didn't have the cash.
The show was great, and I had a fun time, but my only qualm about the whole concert was that I was expecting more visual entertainment. Don't get me wrong, Kanye effin knocked it out of the park, spilling his whole heart and soul into every song. He performed the following songs, "Gold Digger," "Track 1 of Graduation," "Wonder," the song that begins with "Flashy, Lights..." "Get 'em High" "Touch the Sky" and a few more that I unfortunately can't recall right now. I do remember that he and his backup singer killed a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" Even though I went alone, it was great. There's something special about going to a concert alone and REALLY feeling the music.
So I acutally just learned that Kanye just released an album. I'm going to try and find it on the Internet. I honestly had no idea,. I've kind of almost cut myself off from American pop culture. (Ok, that's not completely true, I have been watching one series that's REALLY stocked with American culture, (ugh, I hate to admit this, but it's Gossip Girl) but that show is getting boring) I honestly don't give a hoot about Angelina Jolie and her bajlillions of babies anymore. I have so much more time and energy connecting with people I can actually talk with and relate to, and looking back at how concerned I was with celebrities' lives, I laugh. Not watching MTV or VH1, or dare I say it, even BRAVO helps you realize that there is NO good quality in them...at all. I mean, of course there are the few good shows on TV, and there might be some guilty pleasures, but all of those stupid "reality" shows are just... well honestly they're jsut a waste of time.
ANYWAY, moving on. After Kanye's concert, I went to bed. I had to get up early the next day, because I went to see the Great Wall. On November 2nd, I saw the Great Wall with Lee, Tara and Megan. We had a tour guide named Linda, and we shared the tour with 4 people from Spain, Thomas, Marcus, Stella and Berlin. We had a great time although our tour guide was a little sneaky. Basically, she wasn't clear about our intinerary, and she wanted us to spend only 40 mintues on the Great Wall. We of course compromised with her and got an hour, and then we still were late, but we were paying for the tour, so it was our choice. So with all of the tourguides' sketchy-ness and dishonesty put aside, the Great Wall was UNBELIEVABLE. Actually, unbelievable doesn't even describe it. I was in a state of disbelief from the time I stepped on the chair lift to the top, to the time the car left the parking lot. My picutres hardly capture the absolute magnificence of the Wall. It was absolutely incredible. I wish I could describe my feelings in better detail, but all I can say for now is that I was simultaneously in states of total disbelief, wonder, and joy.
Ok, so after the incredible weekend I had, I wondered, what could make this week even BETTER? Then I got my answer: The Election. Let me be very honest and tell you that I don't know a great deal about politics, but I do know that I am a new optimist, and when I got a text message from my friend Tara that said " Yo son, Obama won," I once again SCREAMED. I jumped up and down in happiness. I found out at about 12:30 pm on November 5th ( that would be 11:30pm on November 4th in the U.S.) and I taught at 2:30 that day, so we talked about the results in class. It was amazing, I was so happy I almost cried in happiness in front of my students. The next week, we read Obama's Victory Speech in class. I know Obama's going to lead America in the right direction. I'm just thankful and happy that I was able to witness it as much as possible ( through the BBC World News) and I can only imagine the energy that was emitted in the U.S. when people learned Obama won.
The Friday after the election, November 7th 2008, I went back to Beijing and saw DJ Shadow perform in a night club called Angel Club. I have seen DJ Shadow before, but not solo as he did this night. He effin KILLED it. Yet once again, I wasextremely impressed with his set. I was so close to him that I could count the number of creases on his knuckles ( btw, he has 7 creases on his right ring finger). I saw DJ Shadow with Alex, Emily and Tara, but unfortunately they lost their spots on the dance floor when they went to go get drinks, so they eventually left, which was fine, I just wish they were able to see the whole concert. DJ Shadow played songs from all of his albums, and for a little while he played some funk music. It was great. One of the BEST parts of the concert was when people made some room on the dance floor and some break dancers did their thing for about 5 mintues. It was my first time hearing live music and watching break dancers, well it was just effin awesome. I really appreciate live music, it just gives you such a good feeling.
Ok y'all, I have to go meet with a friend. My goal is to finish this entry by tonight. Here's hoping!
XOXO,
-Gao Jin ( my Chinese name)
Kanye and the Great Wall (11/1 and 11/2 /08)
Halloween at Heda BenBooooooo!
Written on 11/1/08
So yesterday I went to a Halloween party at my pal Yusi's place. I'll give you guys many more details later, but the biggest thing was that I had a blast at the party. Today ( right now actually) I'm headed to the train station to meet my friends in Beijing! Tomorrow (November 2nd) we will see the Great Wall! I'm so stoked!
Oh, I also cut my hair. Really short. I dig it a bunch.
Big Things
So I climbed the Fragrant Mountain in Beijing on Saturday, October 18th, and then I took a cable car down. It was awesome. The Fragrant Mountain is famous for its red leaves, but they weren’t red yet, more orange and yellow, but it was still absolutely beautiful. Two nights ago, October 23, 2008, the sky was very clear, and I could see the stars! (Most nights I can’t see a single star,) and so after coming home from the joba (bar) with my friend Alex, we laid down in the park and looked at the stars. It was great. Indeed, it was a perfect China moment.
So this week I became an assistant professor to the head of the Educational College ( the college where I teach my Psychology classes!) On Monday, October 20th 2008, I met with a man named Zhang Risheng. (His name means Rising Sun) He invited me for coffee, so I accepted. I learned that he teaches at Beijing Normal University and Waseda University in Japan, and he comes to my college, Hebei University, about twice a semester. My friend Eena translated what Dr. Zhang was saying to me; she’s an excellent translator. During our conversation over coffee, I told him my Chinese name ( Gao Jin which means tall and golden) but he didn't like it so he gave me another one JinBoiLin ( pronouned JinBoylin) and he told me that it means Golden Tree. It's kind of an amazing name. It's also the Chinese translation of my name. He wrote a book on a type of therapy called Sand Play Therapy, and gave me a copy. He also wrote an inscription in the book, with my new Chinese name, and a very beautiful phrase, “few clouds, a gentle breeze.” Eena told me that when you read that phrase, you can really feel yourself in a place with a few clouds and a gentle breeze, and I agreed. Dr. Zhang is very interested in ancient characters, and he mentioned many aspects of Buddhism during our conversation. At the end of our discussion, he invited me to dinner later that night with his students.
During dinner, Dr. Zhang asked me if I had free time. Usually, I would say that I don’t have much free time (many students will come up to me and say, “If you have free time, maybe we can speak in English”) but since this was a different situation, I of course said yes. Eena then told me that he wanted me to become his assistant professor. I was shocked. I gladly accepted. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do, but I know that I’m very excited to do it. He teaches at Hebei University only a few times a semester, so I won’t be swamped, but I’ll be busy and it’s such an honor.
So, Tuesday, October 21, 2008, I went to his meeting, and presented a certificate to me, stating that I am his assistant professor. He talked with all of the Psychology majors at this meeting, so I saw all of my Psychology students, and Eena told me what he was saying during this meeting. He talked about his work with Sand Play, and the trip he took with some students to the Sichuan Province to help the students there. He also talked about how people can help people who have crises. He also talked about the 6 Noble Paths in Buddhism. Then he talked about how students should behave, and how they have to respect the teacher. It was such an excellent meeting.
On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, around 6 pm,I went to his actual class, where he reviewed many of his points, but he also added a new part about thinking about the bigger picture, and he used a visual aid. Basically, He showed a red bumpy shape on the screen, then zoomed out, and we saw that it was a rooster, then he zoomed out again, and we saw the rooster and two kids looking at the rooster, then he zoomed out again, and we saw a farm, then he zoomed out again, and we saw that the farm was just a model, and so he kept zooming out. I wish I could explain it more clearly but it’s something that you have to see. Anyway, during the break, I had to leave because I needed to plan more for my lesson. I kind of regret leaving, the class, even though Dr. Zhang said it was ok, but I learned the lesson to plan a little bit more ahead so I can stay for his whole class.
On Thursday,October 23, 2008, I went to a pumpkin carving on the new campus. There is a program called English Corner where students come to practice their oral English. I teach on two campuses the old campus, and the new campus, and each campus has its own English Corner. So on Thursday, I was on the new campus when I carved pumpkins at English Corner. There were 7 Americans who came to this event, but there must have been at least 150 people ready to watch us. It was insane! I was actually the first American to arrive, so when I stepped in the room, I had 150 pairs of eyes staring at me, and every one started a huge round of applause. It was intense. Luckily, a few minutes later, the other Americans arrived, Cameron, Emily Green, Amelia, John, Tim, and Ryan. So we each told the audience a little bit about Halloween and then we each took a pumpkin to one section of the room and started to make a Jack o' Lantern. The pumpkins were very small, but they still did their jobs. So as I was carving, I wanted the crowd around me to experience the actual carving and scooping out the insides, so I had the crowd around me help. It was fun. Then, it suddenly turned into a contest, who could make the best pumpkin? We judged by applause, and although many people cheered, we couldn’t decide who was the winner, so we all won. We each won a Chinese Knot, a symbol which brings happiness and harmony. (Some more details about the Chinese Knot: Red Chinese Knot (Zhonguo Jie)Chinese knot is actually an ancient art of weaving and Chinese people have used knots as decorations since the Han Dynasty. Now people in China are still intrigued by the secrets and complicated beauty of traditional red knots. "Knot" In Chinese has the meanings of reunion, friendliness, warm, marriage etc, so the red Chinese knot has come to be the symbol of reunion, luck, harmony, and love. Traditionally, a Chinese knot must be bent, tied and crafted from a single red rope, to express the endless circle of happy life. That is the most important characteristic of Chinese Knot. By combining different knots or other auspicious adornments skillfully, a unique auspicious ornament, especially the red-colored which represents beauty, happiness and wishes, is formed. ) It was really rad. Oh! At the end of the pumpkin carving, we sang the song “Have You Seen the Ghost of John?” and we turned out the lights. It was great. After that, all of the Americans were given a fistful of candy, and we threw our candy into the crowd. The students went wild! It was a very fun night.
Yesterday, Friday, October 24, 2008, I went to an Italian restaurant called Sandy's. It's in Baoding, just a few minutes by cab from HeDa ( Hebei University) . The atmosphere felt like the atmosphere in a restaurant back at home, only it was even better because for most of the meal, we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. The drink selection was great beers, red wines, hard stuff, ( I had a coke) and the food selection was even better. They have pizzas, spaghetti, lasagna, gnocchi, bruschetta, salads, and they all sounded so good. The tablecloth was checkered with white and red, like in a Papa Gino’s only it was better. I had a margerhita pizza and two big mozzarella cheese blocks (kind of like mozzarella sticks but in a circular form.) and everything was DEEEEELICIOUS! I went with Alex, Emily Johns, Cameron, Tara, Megan, Daniel, Amelia, Emily Green, who are all American, Lina, a very lovely Russian student and Ramses, a young man from Holland in Baoding for business. The food and atmosphere was so great that I forgot I was in China. They even had a Western toilet! (By the way, the Eastern Toilets aren't that bad) It was an absolutely wonderful dining experience.
Oh! I got a fish! And a plant! It’s actually combined! The fish’s name is Hao Hao ( which means good good) . He lives in his bowl with the roots of the plant. The plant above the water looks like a spider plant. It's really cool. The greatest thing is that Hao Hao eats the algae from the roots, so I never have to feed him! I don’t even have to change his water!
I'm still trying to balance out teaching and learning Chinese. Learning Chinese has taken the back seat recently, because I need to focus on lesson planning. I'm showing all of my classes Donnie Darko this upcoming week, since it’s the closest thing to a Halloween movie I brought with me.
That’s what’s been going on. I hope all of you have been having a great time, wherever you are. : )
Peace, Love and Soul,
-Jin
Shang Ke ( Classes) and Street Food
I teach Writing to undergraduates ( sophomores) and I also teach Psychology to students in the Master's Program, one class of First Year students, and one class of Second Year students. So in total, I plan three different lesson plans every week. ( I only see each class once a week, and the class is one hour and forty mins) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I go to Chinese classes from 8-12, and on Wednesdays I go from 10-12. Learning Chinese is a LOT of fun. My characters are in need of some improvement, but I can recognize some characters ( about 20) and my listening is my best skill. My pronunciation isn't too good, but I'm trying and that's all that matters. I live in a wonderful apartment in the foreign teacher's building, and I have literally everything but the kitchen sink. I have a kitchen ( with no sink) a bathroom and a bedroom. It's great. I've decorated my pad, and with every day I'm feeling more and more comfortable here in China.
I have not yet tried dog, but Baoding is world-famous for donkey burgers ( I finally had one two days ago.) It was good, but it was a little gamey. I really enjoy the street food, including wraps.One of my favorite wraps includes fresh dough, an egg, famous Baoding sauce, and lettuce. So the wrap guy ( my friends and I call him the wrap guy) throws a slab of dough onto a big hot metal plate, where the dough begains to cook. Once the dough forms one big bubble, the wrap guy splits the bubble in half and places an egg in the bubble. Then, once the dough is fully cooked, he puts the famous sauce on the dough, and then puts lettuce on the dough and wraps it up. It's delicious, and at 1.5 yuan, I can't go wrong.
Anyway, the food is awesome, the people are awesome, teaching is awesome, learning Chinese is awesome, traveling is awesome, I'm having a blast. I recently made a flickr account, if you search GaoJinInBaoding under the people tab on fickr.com, you should be able to find me.
I'm having such a great time, and it's going by so fast! It's a lot of fun though. Being a teacher requires much more preparation than I coud have ever imagined! I'm learning fast, and I have a great set of wonderful, supportive friends, from all over the world!
GAH! China ROCKS!
Bing Kafe & Kittens: What's not to love?
Written on Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sometime around September 5th or 6th or 7th, Alex introduced me to a place in Baoding that surely made my life a little brighter: The Honey Pool. Also known as Mi ZhiTang ( I know tang means sugar) this little two story café is the perfect place to get away from the sometimes hectic atmosphere of Baoding without leaving Baoding. The Honey Pool specializes in its cakes, especially its cheesecakes, and let me tell you, these little cakes are not only deeeelicious, but they are pretty low priced too. The Honey Pool’s cake/cheesecake pieces range anywhere from 8 kuai ( like saying buck in America) to 12 kuai. ::::Time out for a mini Chinese lesson: Ok, so in America the term dollars refers to money; but in China, the equivalent to dollars is yuan. Like the Yanks say buck, the Chinese say kuai ( pronounced, quai). In terms of change, the only type of change you can receive is called jiao also known as mao. You can receive this change in one of two ways, by coin or by bill. Some of the coins are made out of aluminum, so they are super light and feel like pay money back in the U.S. I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with pennies, just mao. :::::: Ok, back to the Honey Pool. One of the great features of the Honey Pool is its bing kafé ( iced coffee) with the cutest little straws. You guys all know about those bendy straws back in the U.S.? Well, here in China, they have them, but the bendy section is larger, so one could possibly make a knot in the straw but you can still drink though it. (Think of those little twisty straws you had as a kid) This iced coffee is deeeeelicious as well, and priced at 4 kuai, you just can’t go wrong. Now, we saved the best feature for last, the atmosphere. Here you can see banners saying Merry Christmas, and as you walk up the stairs, you can see a wall, covered in a painting of clouds, and on the second floor, a whole wall is dedicated to magazines, comics and little books that people can write messages in. On the opposite wall, one can see many great advertisements and sketches. One advertisement is for Scoresby Scotch. The people in the ad remind me of the characters in Dick Tracy, you know, were it’s all little spots, and the main colors are red and blue and yellow? Anyway, the woman in the picture says, " Why don't we stay home and..." and the man replies, " ...mmm, sounds like time for a Scoresby Scotch" I think it's a hilarous ad. There is another piece of wall décor, a cartoon dinosaur with his eyes bugging out of his head, coughing with a cigarette in his claw, and the line underneath him says, “DON’T BE A SMOKE-A-SAURUS.” Moving on from the visual aspect of the atmosphere to the audio, I can now tell you guys about the COOLEST thing at the Honey Pool, the CD player. The CD player is located in the corner, but hardly anyone ever uses it. Alex brings many CDs to the Honey Pool, and Katie left some behind, and it’s great that I can listen to some sweet Mei Guo ren (American) tunes with my buddies. I like to grade at the Honey Pool, I loved it so much that one week I think I went 3 or 4 times. I actually haven’t been in a couple of weeks, and I have many, many papers to grade, so I just might go today, but before I go, I’ll tell you all a little bit more…
Ok, so on Wednesday, September 10, 2008, I was walking with my friend Slava ( a Russian student, learning Chinese) on campus, heading to the Yes Buy ( the on-campus convenience store, like the C-Store at MCLA but with a much bigger selection) when our journey was interrupted by two little kittens. I saw them out of the corner of my eye, and instantly went over to them and started ooogling at them. There are many stray cats on the Hebei campus, but kittens, especially in such a crowded area, are a little bit rarer. They kept meowing and meowing, and I knew that I had to take them home. At Heda, there is a person at the front desk of the building 24/7. The foreign teachers are not allowed to have puppies or kittens, so I knew I had to sneak them in, but how? Then a light bulb went off in my head; I would buy a bucket and carry them home. I ran to the Yes Buy and bought the biggest bucket I could find, plopped them in and then ran into a road block, how could I cover them so they could not be seen? Re enter stage left, my wonderful friend, Slava. The night was pretty warm, so I begged Slava to take off his shirt so I could use it to cover the bucket. Very luckily, he agreed. So I brought the kittens up to my room where they stayed for 2 nights and 1 day. I didn’t name them because I didn’t want to get too attached. I kept them in my kitchen because they were covered in fleas. It was fun providing them with a safe place and food for two nights, but they constantly meowed and I was too scared to pet them, so on Friday morning, I let them go. Like I said, it was fun to have them for a little while.
China continues to amaze me and impress me everyday. I know that sounds really cliche, but it's true. There's so much to talk/blog about that sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to take it all in, but I'll try my best to tell my experiences in a reasonably timely manner.
Tune in next time y'all....
Random Update
Written 10/17/08
I have one English channel here, BBC World News. They've been covering this global crisis, and it sounds REALLY bad in Iceland and the U.S. It's weird, it felt like as soon as I got here the economy went to shit, which is really hard to try and understand since a) I'm not there and b) I am trying to learn so much about China. No offense to the good old US of A, but I'm trying to put it on the back burner, and be as Chinese as much as possible. The girls here have the BEST hair and fashion, they're all so cute! Many of them have bangs that go across their whole forehead, and two days ago, I cut my bangs the same way. : )
The University lets me sit in on Chinese classes, so from 8-12 M,T,TH,& F I attend Chinese lessons. On Wednesdays, I teach from 8-10 and then I go to Chinese class from 10-12.
When I first got here, I thought Chinese people would be so different, but during the first week I was here, it really sank in that we're all the same. During the next few weeks, I had dreams about leaving China to to home for either a week or a weekend ( the first dream I had I was going home for a weekend, and the second dream I had, I was going home for a week) and along with the dreams I just felt really homesick. I bought Skype minutes and used almost $10.00 worth in about 4 days ( at 0.02 cents a minute, $10.00 was alot) and I was calling many people, and thinking about things I wish I had packed and American things and so on. I was happy that I was in China, but I was sad at the same time, like for abut a week I was jsut really angry. On October 7th though, I was talking with another foreign teacher, Megan, and I shared that I read the book the Secret. She told me she did too, and she reminded me of a very important thing about the Secret, positive thiking is much more powerful than negative thinking, and at that moment, it felt like a click, like I FINALLY felt truly comfortable. I told Megan about my struggle to get my visa, and I was telling her about my success of getting my visa, I began to cry in happiness, because it finally sank in that I am having the opportunity of a lifetime, and I just became go grateful that I made it, and I worked really hard to get here, and I did. So since then, I've felt even better than before!
I teach 5 classes a week; I teach one class of Psychology material to Frist Year Masters' students, one class to second year Masters' students, and three classes of Writing to sophomores. The material for the 2nd year is different than the first year. The first year master's students are learning the basic terms, and in my second year, I am teaching them about social casework.
In my English classes, for the first four weeks, I was adjusting to teaching, and so I just kind of reviewed the book, which was really boring. As I was teaching a boring class, I realized I needed to spice it up, so I now I act when I teach, and so I began to be much more aminated (imagine how I got when I was REALLY excited about those Idina Menzel ( the singer) concert) and they began to participate much more. They LOVE to hear stories about the U.S.A. so I tell them stories about my childhood and stuff. Like for instance, I wrote the sentence " I want you to be a good writer" and asked them go give me a more desrcriptive word than "good" they gave me so many words, but one in particular was the word great, and so I said, "Grrrreat, like Tony the Tiger" and they all were like,"What?" and so I explained how he was a cartoon, and he was describing the taste of Frosted Flakes. It was really cool. I'm really bummed becasue they've never heard of the Muppets. It's a good thing I brought The Muppet Christmas Carol. : )
This past week, we reviewed similies and personification and discussed the poem "Insomniac" by Maya Angelou, and they LOVED it and really got into it. It is easier to teach English than Psychology becasue I have a book for English, but I like teaching all three classes very much.
Speaking of classes, I know I want to go to graduate school at some point, but even I still do not know what I want to go for, but I know I'll figure it out. I remember last year I was SO anxious and worried about the future, and now I look back and sort of smile because I know that if I didn't go through that hard time of trying to decide, I wouldn't be where I am today.
On September 23, 2008, I was watchig a talent show in a basketball court, and as I was watching with my friends, I said, " It would be cool to go up and sing" and so the next thing I know, my friend is talking to the emcee, and he said I could sing a song. I couldn't think of any other song aside form the National Anthem, and I did NOT wnat to sing that here and be the obnoxious foreigner, so I finally decided on, "My Heart Will Go On" so I changed, and then came back and sang in front of about 200 Chinese students. At the end of my short performnace ( I did not sing the whole song) I said, "Wo ai Zhong Guo!"meaning ( I LOVE CHINA!) and then they all replied " Wo ai Mei Guo!" ( I LOVE AMERICA!) it was awesome. Also, on October 11, 2008, there was a dance party in the basketball courts, and so myself and this other American teacher, Tara, taught them the Cha Cha slide. It was AMAZING.
I can't stop loving China. I'm having such a good time. More laterrrrr....
Booze and Books
Written October 8th 2008
On August 30th, I went with my friends Dasha, Slava ( both Russian) and Henry ( Nigerian) to a bar called Zucar bar. In China, instead of everyone having his/her own beer like in the U.S., people share beer by pouring it into small glasses ( each glass can probably hold 4-5 oz.) I noticed something very quickly: you can pretty drunk pretty fast this way. When I drank out of this little glass, I thought, “I’ll be cool with a few glasses,” but no - it’s all an illusion. There is a phrase used in China when people drink: Ganbei. This little word has more power than it knows. This one little word literally means “Cheers!” or “Bottoms Up!” When someone says, “Ganbei!” you drink what’s in your glass until there is nothing left. The bar tender said ganbei to me quite a few times, and I did not want to be disrespectful, so I went bottoms up each time. If you ganbei a few times in a half an hour, you start to feel it all at once. Or at least I did. At the bar, I met some of Henry’s friends, Paul (Chinese) and a girl from Uzbekistan ( I unfortunately forgot her name.) Paul then introduced me to HIS friends, Paul and Chris (brothers from the U.K.) We all had a wonderful time at the Zucar, and then someone suggested we go to a night club in Baoding, the Deep Club. At that point I was all for it, so I agreed.
I ran to the bathroom first, and had quite a challenge using the Eastern toilet. (The Eastern toilet is literally a hole in the floor, but there is a ceramic cover around the hole to make it look nicer.) So, after I won the battle in the bathroom, I noticed that everyone except Paul had already left to go to the bar. As Paul and I left the bar and headed to the street, he asked me, “Are you hammerfaced?” I laughed for about 2 minutes and then replied, “Yes. Yes Paul, I am.” It was quite a hilarious exchange. So we arrived at Deep Club and I followed Paul because otherwise I would have been totally lost. I followed Paul into a room with lots of other men, they were all standing and not really looked at each other. Then it hit me: I followed Paul into the men’s room. I quickly escaped and luckily found Henry and Slava. Slava took me to the dance floor, and I was SO excited that everyone was dancing the same way I usually dance ( just moving back and forth, with hardly any skills) So I just kind of bopped around to the very loud, bass-filled music. As I was dancing, two young girls noticed me and each gave me a hug. Since I was so hammerfaced, it was nice to have a welcome to Deep Club and China in general. After boppin’ on the dance floor, I went to the bar and found Henry. Henry, Slava and I then left, because I was getting very tired. All I all it was a very, very fun night, but since then I have certainly limited the number of ganbei’s I participate in.
September 2, 2008. I taught my first class all on my own on this very special day. Before classes began I met with my boss, and he informed me where I would be teaching my English classes ( at the New Campus in the Foreign Language College) and THEN he told me I would be teaching Psychology to First Year Master’s students and Second Year Master’s students. My jaw almost dropped. I instantly thought, ‘WHAT!? I JUST received my Bachelor’s, how am I going to teach GRADUATE students?’ but I remembered some very good advice from my friend Natty: Come to China with no expectations, and go with the flow. So I decided to do just that. So on September 2, 2008, I introduced myself to my Second Year Graduate students. I then asked them to introduce themselves, and when each person introduced themselves, he/she stood up, and after the introduction, he/she said, “Thank you, that is all.” Each student told me about his/her hometown, and after describing it, they all welcomed me. I was so surprised and shocked; these strangers knew me for only 7 mins and they were inviting me to their homes. After everyone introduced themselves to me, we discussed the class rules, including lateness, the cell phone policy and other things. Then I asked them to write down what they would like to learn in my class, what their goals are for the class, what their goals are for the future, and what they have already learned. After that, it was time for the class to end. It was such a great feeling. I can’t wait to teach more.
My First Few Days
29. August. 2008 3:52 am.
So, I’ve been in China for about 4 days ( well 3 1/2 because I landed Tuesday night.) So much has happened:
Tuesday night – I dropped my bags off in room 203, and then at 8 pm, went out to eat with Young Suk and Ju Sung, and then after that, we bought fruit and water. I bought two apples and a bunch of grapes, and they were pretty good.
Wednesday- I woke up at 3:30 am and met Yusi at 10:30, and I bought conditioner and razors ( Yusi thought that the head and shoulders was shampoo, but it was actually conditioner, so I bought two things of conditioner) The total was 157 yuan, or about $23.00. We met up with a man named JoMo, and we ate pork dumplings and onion dumplings. When Yusi and I arrived back to campus, my room that I requested, 303, was ready. I moved my stuff, and I saw that Katie left little cute wall hooks and magnets on her fridge. After I unpacked, I went to sleep from 1 pm to 7 pm, and then I talked with Young, and I was upset because I didn’t have the Internet. I got some melatonin from a man named Jack, so I slept from 10:30 to like 5 am. As I was trying to get used to the new room, I listened to a song from the Spring Awakening called “Mama Who Bore Me” ( which is not the most chipper song) and I got really homesick and just wanted to use the internet so badly because I felt so disconnected.
Thursday- At like 8 am, I woke up Young, and cried to her that I wanted to move back down to 203. I really wanted to use the Internet, so I went downstairs by myself, and I tired to ask for room 203. Luckily, Ju Sung was downstairs and helped me ask the ladt at the front desk. So I moved my stuff from 303 to 203 and then used the internet and waited to go to lunch with Young. Young and I took a taxi to a famous street that had lots of high fashion clothing stores and hair salons. After that, we went to a rice noodle place, and I placed raw chicken in a hot bowl of broth to cook and ate the noodles with chopsticks and a spoon. I also ate something that was fried and really good, but I don’t know what it was. As I was talking with Yun, two girls behind me welcomed me to China. It was very nice. After the noodles, we went shopping at the RT Mart, and I bought shampoo, an alarm clock, cucumbers, peanut butter, toilet paper, tissues, orange juice, bread, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, hand soap for my bathroom and batteries for 144 yuan. We took a taxi back to campus, and we ran into Jack. When we arrived back on campus, I took a nap, because I was SOOOOO tired. I took a nap from 3-6. After that, I asked Yun to help me talk to the woman to move me back up to room 303, because I didn’t like the windows, and I felt lonely in room 203. She did help me, and I moved stuff from 203 to 303, and I’m glad I made that decision. I like being Yun’s neighbor, and I can wait for the Internet. I know room 303 is a good choice for me. So after I moved stuff, I met Yusi at campus, and we went to Charlie’s bar. We started talking, and playing Jenga and then I met a guy named Frankie. He’s the manager of a hair salon, and his English was very good, ( by they way, Yusi’s is perfect) Frankie had to leave for a little while, and during that time, a girl named Dasha arrived at Charlie’s. She’s from Russia, and she’s only 17! She was very nice, and we talked for a while. Frankie came back and ordered sunflower seeds and popcorn, both of which taste different here in China. They’re both sweeter than American sunflower seeds and popcorn. Frankie said he had to leave, and then shortly after, Yusi, Dasha and I left too to go to back to campus. Frankie picked up the whole tab, so it was pretty sweet. I felt very proud when I told the taxi driver to go to Hebei University all on my own, ( I mean with Yusi’s help) and I sat in the front seat next to the driver! I paid 5 quai, and Yusi, Dasha and I went to the building. Yusi left, and Dasha invited me to her room. She lives on the 6th floor in the building right across from mine. I knew that the water was out in my building, so I used her bathroom. It was pretty nice! I went into her room, and she gave me a whole bar of chocolate and gave me a shot of Chinese wine ( which is VERY strong and tastes like vodka) and a souvenir from her hometown. It was SO nice of her! She told me that she wanted to give Russian gifts to people to spark their interest in Russia. She asked me what I thought of Russians, and I told her the stereotypes that I heard, men with big beards, very patriotic people, and people always bundled up. She then told me that men don’t have big beards anymore. She then told me that she heard that some Americans don’t value education, and I told her that for some people that was true but for toehrs it was not. She then showed me a great instruction book that helped her learn English; she called it her Bible, and then she showed me two books that focused on philosophy, one was by Nitsche, and the other was by a man who used to believe that women were just good for being housewives, YIKES! After that, she mentioned that she needed some water, and so we went to get water in my room. Unfortunately, my building was locked, so I couldn’t share my water, but a man from Dasha’s building called someone form my building, so I could get in. Today ( Friday) Dasha and I are going to the market at 11. Right now I’m going to shower, and then go back to bed.
Here We Go....
So here it is. My brand - new blog. I hope to fill this lovely little blog with tons of stories about my adventures here in Baoding, Hebei, China. I guess I'll start at the beginning. ( A very good place to start.)
So I arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 3:55pm. I had a whole row of seats to myself during the ride from Toronto to Beijing. It was fabulous. I watched Smart People and Kung Fu Panda and slept. A lot. I must have slept 6 or 7 hours, because when I woke up, I thought we had at least 5 or 6 hours to go, but the flight attendant told me that we would be landing in about an hour and 40 mins. So, I started to watch the movie 21, but I only got into it for about 30 minutes before the plane stopped showing it.
I landed and made friends with a young woman, Jessica as we waited for our baggage. As we were chatting, I noticed a little beagle with cute green vest upon him. I noticed that he was a "detective" dog ( a security dog) and he was just the most precious thing. He sniffed my bag once and then went to anoehr person, but when he sniffed my bag again, he looked at his owner, and sat. Th next thign I knew , I was surrounded my 5 Chinese officers, whio wasked me to open my bag. Bfore I did though, one officer asked me " D oyu ahve anythign with cheese in it?" I didn't recall pakcing some sharp cheddar in my abag , so I thogutht it was the weridest question, then I remembered I did inn fact have a cheese sandwhich from the plane in my bag. It was so werid that the dog recogized cheese out of all things, but he was a clever little pooch.
After I finally got my bags ( I wasted about 45 mins) I went throught customs, which took about 2 mins total, and then walked trhough some sliding doors. I saw at least 50 poele staring at me, but then I saw a man holding a sign with my name on it, and so I flashed a smile bigger than my boobs. After I met him, he mpotioned for me to follow him. As I dragged my suitcase and duffle bag, I began to get really excited. I met up with two Korean teachers, Young Suk and Ju Song. They teach at Hebei University as well, and VERY thankfully, they spoke English. We all hopped in the shuttle and headed to Baoding.
I learned that Young Suk is starting her 3rd year at Hebei, Daxue ( Hebei University) and Ju Song is starting his second year. They were both awesome van buddies.
More will be diiscussed later, right now I am going to grab some coffee with Tara, my fellow Meiguoren. ( American)