Culture Week

Every year the school puts on an International Culture Week. Basically it's the foreign teachers' job to put on this event. The week is split up into five days and five nights. The first day is China day which the school does itself, because face it, who better to put on an authentic Chinese day than the Chinese themselves? So then the next day is the rest of Asia featuring the Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and some of the Middle East. The next day is Latin America Day... that was my day. I was in charge of the entire Amazon Rain forest. I dreamed really big on this one but I feel it went over fairly well. There was paper mache-ing, lots of paint, cutting leaves, making anacondas and so much more. So there is this really cool dolphin in the Amazon called the River Dolphin and its pink! So I thought that I would make one. Basically I gave a picture to the carpenter and he designed the frame out of steel wire and I paper mached it. I think it turned out pretty well, thanks to the amazing carpenters!

Next was the lovely and alluring canopy of the Amazon with informational fun facts spread through out... also the occasional anaconda...
We found this really cool fabric and sent it to the tailor to make us a couple of 25 foot snakes. they turned out to be like huge sock puppets but they served a good purpose. The students either really liked them or were really scared... the reactions were all in Chinese of course and they all seem to have the same type of expression... kind of happy yet embarrassed but also surprised. I also sent a picture of an 8 foot crocodile to carpenter and he made him pretty perfect too. I painted him dark green and added some teeth but he was camouflaged by the grass. The clean-up crew didn't even see him!

There were palm trees and information boards all around. It was a lot of hard work, yet enjoyable and it turned out to be a hit. So my thoughts on culture week... NEVER again but worth it!

Thanks!

Midterms and Raw milk....

So after our wonderful but busy trip to Xi'an we returned back to grind stone of teaching. This week we are preparing our students for the midterm. Basically the exam is done with partners and its all oral. The students have to designate who begins and ends the conversation and discuss a picture for at least 2 minutes. I saw a couple of overwhelmed looks on some faces this morning in my first class, but with practice I think they will do fine. They are a great class. Now for my others we will have to do some revamping. I basically have three different levels of students. So what made perfect sense to one class may not register with the other class. But I am hopeful and confident they will do as well as possible. Its all about practice... practice makes perfect... I tell them. :) I always hated when my teachers said that but its true.

I have really enjoyed this job. The aspect of teaching something I am fluent in is an amazing feeling. I never thought teaching English would be so satisfying. See, I knew I was a good teacher, I just needed to find the right avenue to express it. Actually, my favorite part is talking and explaining things. hehe. Some of you know that I enjoy talking, only a little right? :)

Now, on to the raw milk...some of you may be asking, "what does raw milk have to do with midterms?" NOTHING! I just got some today and thought I'd add it to my thoughts :D
So one of the local women married a foreign teacher from a couple of years ago. They are living and teaching here and the woman's family has a farm. After the milk scare they put up an article about raw milk offering bottles of whole or low fat milk. So I signed up for one bottle of each to be delivered to my door every Monday morning. I have never had raw or whole milk before, just cream in my coffee... wow is it thick! It has a good flavor too but I will be drinking it in tea, coffee and hot cocoa.

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were trying to find vanilla extract. We looked online for some recipes and found a rather interesting fact. First you have to buy Get three vanilla bean pods, cut them open longways and soak them in 16 oz of vodka...yes vodka. We were shocked! I have never heard that before. So the idea is to let is "brew" in a dark place for three weeks and then strain out the liquid. It has to be kept in glass bottle overtime. So after that discovery we decided to look on China's online market. I think its called Tao Bao... no idea on spelling or pronunciation, that's really a wild guess. So we were able to find two small bottles for about 6Y. So, continuing with my story about raw milk... Earlier last month I bought a milk tea mix and found it was very bitter and had a bad flavor so I put in a little sugar, vanilla and raw milk. MMMMMM is it GOOD! This is the best stuff ever! I am going to be hooked on milk tea forever!

So now that my crazy and unrelated story is done, I leave the floor open for comments.

Disclaimmer: don't try making vanilla at home, it might get the better of you!

Xi'an Trip 2008

So as you have all been anxiously awaiting....

The bus ride to Xi'an was about 8 hours. It wasn't too bad, we had lots of entertainment. Our first stop was a Jioazi banquet (dumplings) where we had dinner and a show. They performed the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. It wasn't much like what we know but it was cool.

The next stop was the hotel, after the long ride and three hour show it was time for bed. The hotels were pretty nice. The showers were warm and Chinese style, no shower curtain or stall. So showering was a wet ordeal for the whole bathroom.

The next morning it was time to go see Eighth Wonder of the World, the Terracotta Warriors. We first stopped at the factory where the replicas are made. Basic clay and molds but pretty cool in the least. We went on to see the real artifacts in the museum. For me the most fascinating part of the warriors is that they are continually working on digging them up out of the ground. There were several areas where their were covered tombs that the scientists had not yet uncovered. I guess they are working on a new form of preservation where they actually coat them with wax as they are being taken from the ground to prevent the paint shattering. They were so beautifully painted but once they hit the air it shatters and the original clay is left behind. We moved on to see the bronze chariots, they were pretty cool, I hadn't really studied up on the history that much. I had a friend of mine that is gung-ho about history and was my personal tour guide the whole way through!

(me and my history buff friend, Becca) (the actual Terra Cotta Warriors)

We ate lunch at a place by the museum and had the best noodles ever. They were really thick and very chewy. We also got to see a man making noodles, i had seen this on the travel channel before but this was too cool to see in person.

Later on that afternoon we went to a silk factory where cocoons are spun into thread. They start as a cocoon and are soaked in water and then put into a spinning machine which makes about 20 spools of thread. Then they stretch the silk and put it together to make quilt stuffing and or the inside of a duvet cover. They were around 900 kuai for a queen size, I decided to save my money!

On our way to the hotel the tour guide decided she would take us to the Muslim market where they sell goods and food. This is the place to barter and get really good deals. I bartered for the first time and it was a rush! Some of you know how excited I get when I find clearance in stores, well you can imagine my reaction when I was able to get the price down right then and there. I didn't get everything for very good prices, some things that I bought first were a little on the steep side, but altogether i got some good deals. I found a Terracotta warrior chess set, which is sitting next to my Chinese chess set on my table. That will be a good conversation piece for students! I found a wall hanging scroll of the Great Wall in black and white and another one with purple grapes. They make the place look a little more homey. Oh yeah, they had a bunch of dried fruit carts, they had dates, pineapple, papaya, guava (which was like biting into honey!) and kiwi. The kiwi was the best so I got one bag of them and one bag of mixed fruits. They are a nice snack!

Saturday, we visited the Gray Goose Pagoda and the Buddhist Temple. They were both very cool. My camera had died by that time and I was a bit bummed. But I will steal some pictures from peoples facebook! We all like the share. I was able to get it working for a short time when we visited the city wall. I thought the wall was so cool because it's actually where the warriors fought. I don't know the exact measurements (plus it's all in Meters) but it was huge. People could rent bikes and ride around it in an hour and a half. We walked and enjoyed some sunshine.
We started back for home at about 3pm which got us back on campus at midnight. So it was a packed weekend but it was really neat to see the city.

(not the pagoda, but a cool shot of the Ancient City Wall)

Thanks for reading, again if you want to see pictures go to my snapfish account.
:)

Prestigious music to fireworks

Wow, so I had a fun experience this week. I went to the Candlelight Opening Ceremonies for the Freshman the other night and it was so neat to see how they do events here. So I am convinced that the Chinese have had parties done right for ages... they know how to throw a good one! The ceremony began with speeches from foreign partners and the leaders of the school and as each person was announced there was this "presidential - type" music played which made them look very important, which of course they are. There was everything from the red carpet to the blaring voice of the translator! After the ceremony was over there were several performances, including the opera department, the art school and low and behold, the infamous, foreign teachers. They did a song by Daft Punk called Harder, Faster, Stronger... (I think that's what it's called) It was really cool! All the students loved it! No wonder we are so popular here, because they always do performances. I on the other hand always try to avoid dancing or performing at all costs so I so graciously took the video! Some of the students, staff and teachers sang the song (in Chinese) that was written for the Olympics, "we welcome you" (something about Beijing) I really need to pay more attention to what goes on around here!
After it was all said and done (so we thought) there was a fireworks show! They were some of the coolest fireworks I had ever seen! I'm tellin' ya, the Chinese have it right! :)

So as I was debriefing my thoughts about this ceremony I said that this was cooler than any of our graduations, and this was just an opening ceremony! To welcome the freshman! They really make a huge deal out of things which is cool! I enjoyed it and if I were still having doubts if I were truly in China, then this would have certainly cleared them away. There were several authentic dances performed. One, which I had always dreamed of seeing was a dragon dance, (you know, the one where they are all making the dragon move around the stage?) Very cool! The music was beautiful! Some of the boys from the opera dept. did a Mongolian dance. There was a part where five of them became a horse, (four crouched down and one rider) which looked hard as it was but then they began to bounce as if they truly were a horse! There were several of them in the front doing toe touches (about 4 feet off the ground it seemed) about 5 or 6 in a row! Wow!

So needless to say I enjoyed this ceremony. My next adventure will take place in Xi'an, the home of the Terracotta Soldiers... so be waiting for a post sometime in the next two weeks!

Thanks for reading!

Lots to do, lots to see...

Hi everyone! Wow, I haven't written anything in a while. Well to update you all on my life...

We began teaching this week and I have a wide range of students. I have found that there are many different levels of English speakers. I have to plan a couple different lessons to cater to each classes needs. So it's a little more work than I expected with classes that meet once a week. But it will be fun. So I really like my schedule! I don't think I'll ever have another schedule like it... its very part time and I have one class three days a week and three classes two days a week.

We had a long weekend... it was the mid-autumn festivals. Basically you eat lots of moon cakes. I had one that was like a large, round fig newton. That is the best way I can describe them. However, I heard that there are strawberry, peach and fish... yes I said fish. I have never experienced them and I don't plan to! It was a nice weekend to relax and get some lesson planning done.

I went to get a full body massage at this place that others said was brutal. Its was really nice for me and another foreign teacher. They massaged all my tense muscles and then worked on my neck and adjusted my back just minor, nothing like a chiropractor). Very pleasant experience. Later I found this new store on campus where students can rent a display box and sell different items they have collected or made. A lot of it is jewelry. I found a cute ring and a pair of earrings.

It's been fun to get to know some of the other teachers here. I have had a lot of good conversations with others who have returned from previous years and we are all getting along great. Ahh, so I remember now why I began writing this blog.. to tell you all about KTV or karaoke. Some of you know that I did karaoke in the states in the past. Well this beats them all! We rented a room for 2 hours and sat on couches and sang the craziest songs. It was the highlight of the week. So hats off to Chinese Karaoke! It's roots are in fact from Asia. One of our local friends did a really good job singing some Michael Jackson songs... Oh and some of you remember the song "Thriller"... this was my first time seeing that video...very funny.

So all in all, there has been lots to do as far as lessons and other school events and there is so much more to see!

Thanks for reading
Amy

Chinese Carnival

So yesterday was a really fun day. A couple of us went to the nearby park where one side is filled with beautiful pathways and trees and the other side is a carnival with go carts, kiddie roller coasters and more. So I was feeling adventurous and I tried out the zip line. I "zip lined" across a swampy pond - ish area of lotus which was really pretty! It was a lot of fun, especially trying to guess what they were trying to tell me to help me land and take off properly. Its a guessing game every time I leave the school gates. We have our own little America within the hall and I love it but its also really fun and amusing to attempt to get around on what little knowledge I have! So I drove a go cart, a bumper car that shot foam balls. The men working the ride were so funny, as we were driving around they were running around picking up our ammo and handing them to us as we refilled our guns! It was histerical! The roller coaster was interesting, I didn't try it but others did and I got some pretty good footage of them enjoying it. Some one said it was a pedal coaster? I don't know for sure but I may try it again sometime. I did not get a chance to go insided the hamster ball, that is still on my to do list of fun things. We've had a couple of fun days with not a lot to do. Other teachers are getting training that we have already had so I've had two days off. So today I am off to the pool with another teacher, hopefully I can keep this up for some kind of good excersize!
Thanks for reading!

Amy

The foreign import store

Today we went into the big city to go to a store where you can find a lot of American foods. I was so happy to find cheese! They have the Land O Lakes brand and its pretty decent. I was also able to find Philadelphia cream cheese and Ritz crackers. So needless to say there is quite a bit more available than anticipated. There I also found the illy brand of coffee, (Mom will remember me raving about it this summer). I have only found it brewed at the little coffee shop in St Joe Mich by Silver Beach. I think the shop is call Tosi. I discovered it last summer when we frequented Silver beach and I had again this year after our D-Gen trip. I decided I liked it better than Starbucks. However, an 18 oz tin of this coffee was 100 kuai, which is about 15-16 dollars, which is not too bad for coffee in the US if you are really picky like me. Sadly I didn't have enough on me at the time to take it home:( The cheese per 8 oz bar was 36 kuai, and the cream cheese was 29 kuai. I spent 214 kuai on crackers, cheeses and canisters. Ouch... but it was really only 25 or 30 bucks. Not too bad...
So Mom, when you look at cheese prices compared to Kroger, be happy for the cheap deals! I thought of you when I was shopping today!

Later we went to fabric market. Its basically on big auning that could be a building but there are no doors that seal it off. There are tons of merchants, its kind of like a farmers market but with all fabric, buttons, zippers and threads. I bought 2 meters of a pretty patterned material and its lining for around 58 kuai which I will send to a taylor to have a dress or skirt made. I also found a lot scrap bins where I found purple and green eyelet knit material which will cover my couch and chair in my living room. So that should be fun once its all made. :)

Oh and have I mentioned they have KFC in china? I was shocked, it was really good too. You know how we have a choice of buffalo or ranch with the chicken? Well their choices were a sweet soy sauce wrap and a mexican wrap. I had the soy sauce one, it was really good.

Last night a bunch of us went to local restaraunt and had some real authentic chinese food. I had mutton, dragon eggplant(sweet and sour), some type of fried potatoes with some really good gravy and a really spicy chicken dish. Oh my goodness, the mutton! That was fantastic! They pretty much have everything here, but its all a little different. No Applelbees, Fridays or Hacienda but lots of fairly decent places to eat. And for all of you bubble tea lovers, we have three places close by... they call it pearl milk tea. I had coconut the other night, mmmm its better here!

So thats all for now!
Amy