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| So I know it's a few days past New Year's, but this is the first I've blogged in about ten months, so a few days isn't so bad. I thought the experience of my first Chinese New Year actually spent in China is as good a reason as any to start blogging again. I and my teammate Vi spent about five days with a student in Jinan to celebrate the holiday with a real, live Chinese family. I had many first experiences: 1) My first time setting off fireworks 2) My first time to run screaming away from fireworks 3) My first red envelope 4) My first street performance The list could go on, but I thought maybe I should explain a few of these. Firstly: Fireworks. I don't mean those little sparklers, I mean big, shoots high up in the air, what is typically seen only at a fireworks show in the US fireworks. The streets were lined with vendors selling huge boxes of every type imaginable and on Chinese New Year's Eve, almost every single one was set off. I wouldn't be surprised if a satellite image above China just revealed a giant cloud obscuring the whole country. It was like a war zone. It was also lots of fun. The family I was staying with bought a bunch of giant sparklers, rapid fire firecrackers, and two big boxes of 26 each shoot up in the air fireworks. I learned a few new Chinese phrase: "Wo hen pa" which means, "I'm scared" and "weixian" which means "dangerous." The first big box wasn't too bad, except for the fear as they exploded over our heads. The second box, however, was a different story. After my student's uncle lit the box, it didn't go off immediately and then suddenly it did this strange kind of shoot off, and one exploded on the ground. Then they started going in all directions and we ran screaming for cover, well I did anyways. Vi seemed to think closing your eyes and ducking your head would give some protection. She eventually learned and we were all cowering in the stairwell (did I mention these are set off in the little alleys between apartment buildings?). After the madness, we slowly made our way out only to see that the box was on fire. Viola and I debated whether we had heard 26 explosions when all of a sudden the whole box exploded and everyone screamed. Water was brought out and the problem was dealt with. Luckily, there were no injuries, so it was fun. Turns out they had the box upside down, hence the fireworks did not explode in an upward direction.  Viola with a giant sparkler.
On a later day some other family members wanted to set fireworks off with us, so we drove out to the countryside and bought a whole bunch. I learned two new situations when you can use the phrase "Mei shi" which means "it doesn't matter." 1) "Is it safe to set off firecrackers right next to dead, dry grass?" "Mei shi, mei shi" 2) "The hill is on fire!!" "Mei shi, mei shi" Useful knowledge. All in all, fireworks are fun as long as no one loses a hand. The other excitement occurred at a local carnival of sorts. After the new year, in many of the public parks and squares they have vendors and performances. We went to one near my students house and first watched these men on giant stilts do a show. Then we went looking for more entertainment and found a group on a break. Vi, who is often trying to get me to do things for a good picture, suggested that I ask if I can try on the horse costume so she can take a picture. So I do, and because I'm a foreigner, they let me. Then the woman indicates I should dance a little, so I oblige. Then she wants me to follow her in this whole dance series. Next thing I know, the music has started, the 15 or so backup dancers are in position and I am following this woman's dance moves in a horse costume! Of course, this brings a crowd. So now I'm in a street performance, in a horse costume, with 100 Chinese people watching, a local news camera filming and Viola laughing on the side. But who am I to deprive people of a little viewing pleasure? So I danced for like fifteen minutes until my student came and rescued me. Definitely a first. My overall Chinese New Year's impression? Lots of fun and lots of love.  Performers on stilts
 Me in the horse costume.
 Vi and I making the midnight dumplings with our student's family.
| | |
| So it may be silly, but all I've wanted this entire semester is one
pair of cute high heels. I know that some of you out there will
understand. After two years of wearing practical shoes, I wanted
a pair that will do lasting damage to my back, kill my feet while
teaching and look darn cute. I've spent a lot of time looking
here in China- which is basically pointless as I wear a size ten (42)
and the shoes for women here stop at 38 or 39. A few weeks back
my student and I spent five hours walking around bingjiang road -this
crazy shopping street where everyone in Tianjin shops- looking in every
store possible. All we found were ugly old lady shoes- you know
the kind. I was at the point of buying them though because the
search had been so fruitless and I had reached that point where if it
looks a
little good you buy it and then go home and say "What was I
thinking?" Luckily, I gave up and went home empty handed (well
not entirely so, I found some cute earrings). I did some deep
soul searching and reminded myself that high heels will not fill the
hole in my heart- only Jesus will. So after the situation had
been properly spiritualized but before my teammates killed me for
telling them yet again that I miss high heels- I found the perfect
shoes! We shop at this little hole in the wall market that has a
lot of foreign brands- don't ask me how they get them- for decent
prices. I think a lot of the stuff there has been mislabeled or
may have a small irregularity. Anyways, that was whre I found my
cute Liz
Claiborne shoes. Here's a picture so I don't have to explain them:
http://static.flickr.com/54/140189655_06f89bf8a7.jpg?v=0
I know you're jealous. And you should be- I'm tired of being
jealous of everyone else's shoes- it's not my fault my feet are as big
as boats! So now I practice walking around my room in my pjs with these shoes on
so I won't fall down in front of the class- that might be
embarrassing. Probably more embarrassing then having big black
smudges all over my face from the dry erase pens- last week we had to
stop class while a student pulled out a mirror and tissue for me to
clean up while everyone looked on. It's a hard life.
The second most important event right now is that it's labor day which
means a whole week off- none of this American one day off stuff for
us! Alas, my plans for staying in bed the whole week watching
movies have been thwarted by all the stuff that has to get done.
But I'm having fun too. Here's a picture of me eating dinner with
students:
We cooked spaghetti and chocolate banana bread with them. They
were so funny making the break, they were super careful to measure
perfectly- but it turned out great and we ate the entire batch in one
sitting. The spaghetti was a different story, it tasted good, but
nothing like spaghetti. It's hard to make from scratch, if anyone
has a good recipe, let me know- everything has to be from scratch- no
canned tomatoes here! (Well, they are at the foreign market, but I have
to save my money for shoes)
Lastly, I 'd like to end with a funny conversation I was told. A
visitor who will remain unnamed was expressing doubt over the living
conditions in our home. My teammate said "Well it's no
Motel 6." To which the visitor replied "More like Motel
Hell!" We got a kick out of this... and no it's not really that
bad, or more if you have to live here, you get used to it and are
thankful for the small things, like a personal water heater- even if
the hot water only lasts for ten minutes.
| | |
| “I think the hole in my butt is getting bigger” annonymous
TUFEer. It’s out of the blue comments
like this that keep life here in China
fun. By the way, my teammate was
discussing their pants. Some goings on
here in Tianjin…
The big deal of late for me is the chopping off of my hair. I finally decided that is was time to chop it
all off and return to my University days of short hair. The students we went with did careful research
and found a salon near us that had been in business for eleven whole years and
had a hair dresser that had won many awards.
He assured me that he knew what he was doing, pointed to all the
certificates he’s earned and the pictures of his hair models with all their
crazy Asian styles (and if you live here, that statement needs no
explanation). I was still a bit unsure,
but tried to convince myself it’s only hair and went for it. The explanation of why I wanted to cut off
ten inches and save it in a bundle was interesting, but easily accepted ( I now
have ten inches of hair in a pony tail drying on my window sill destined for
Locks of Love). He actually did a pretty
good cut. I brought in a picture of
Charlize Theron… and came out with more of a Meg Ryan cut… still better than a
mullet. The hair dresser blew dry it,
which for thick wavy hair makes a poof ball and I could see he was getting
desperate towards the end. What to do
with all this hair? He kept thinning and
thinning it, until I finally said enough and left to style my poof ball
myself. Here’s a picture:
http://static.flickr.com/54/140189654_baa350cbce.jpg?v=0
Overall I’m very happy with my experience and I have kind of
learned a new word in Chinese, it sounds like “jiao.” or at least I think that’s what all the hotel
and restaurant workers are saying. I
believe it means beautiful… however, that’s the only word they use never
“piaoliang” another word meaning
beautiful… so maybe it means something else… or maybe there’s certain words
that you use for certain situation. In
case anyone is wondering… learning Chinese is hard.
The second exciting happening of the week was the bag of
turnips soaking in brown vinegar that was spilled all over me on Wednesday.
What kind of store pickles things in plastic bags? The same kind that spills it all over their customers,
says sorry, and keeps on working. I was
speechless, my Chinese deserted me and I just walked away with my shoes and
pants soaked in the stuff. After I
checked out, Vi helped me complain. They
kind of looked at me concerned, but didn’t seem to know what to do. I kept saying my shoes are expensive. So finally they gave me a little bottle of
laundry detergent and sent me on my way.
I wanted free groceries! It’s
days like that where you say “I am in a foreign country.”
The static attack on Tianjin
continues. We all walk around carefully
and are afraid to touch anyone or anything.
One day in our fellowship time, it was especially bad. We’re all high tech and I hook my computer up
to the TV for the words of the songs.
For some reason, every time I went to change the slide, I would get a
nasty shock. I mean a painful, feel it
in your bones shock. After this happened
a few times, we looked around for a poking device so I didn’t have to touch the
computer. T handed me this scarecrow on
a stick. So I sit there through the rest
of worship clutching a scarecrow in my hand and changing the music with the
pointy end of the stick, avoiding all eye contact so we didn’t completely lose
composure while attempting to sing praises… talk about distractions. And if you aren’t cracking up right now… then
I guess maybe you had to be there.
My love hate relationship with KTV continues… actually it’s
mostly a hate thing. Vi and I have gone
quite often over the past two years and have certain songs we like to do. We’d been practicing “A Whole New World” for
the last week…. We decided it would be our song. However, this particular day she could not
sing on tune (which actually isn’t unusual for either one of us). Since she is the male part the whole song was
totally thrown off (note that I am refusing to take any responsibility for this
incident). This would be a typical KTV
experience for me if our students hadn’t had the entire three hours of KTV
recorded!!! In class today, one of the
students stood up and offered a copy of the cd for a small fee to anyone who
wants it. One of the selling points was
that there is a solo sung by yours truly in which I butcher a perfectly nice
Chinese song… though the sales person left out the butchering part. So, if you happen to see songs sung by me or
Vi on the web or at your local cd store, let me know, I’ll sue for defamation, or at least fail
them. 
| | |
| Note: If you can't see my pictures, you should be able to see them at the following link:
http://community.webshots.com/user/grnapple3
So last year while traveling I got two nasty colds the second of which
turned into a nasal infection. I suffered through a few weeks
until I realized that Thailand sells just about everything over the
counter, including antibiotics. After that experience I was ready
this year with my supply of antibiotics and sure enough the cold I had
at Christmas turned into a nasal infection and I got to use my
antibiotics. Which kind of made me happy because I hate not using
anything that I've hauled around in my backpack. And then what
happens not two days after returning to America? Another
cold. I blame all the trains, planes and buses from this last
month. Oh well, what are you going to do. At least I don't have
to work a normal 8-5 job like all my friends here at home. I can
always take comfort in what I told my team numerous times last year- I
really don't ever get sick :) If I keep telling myself that maybe
it will come true.
So I am home and had my first reverse culture shock moment not one hour
after leaving the airport. We were in a crowded restaurant and I
had to go put our name on the waiting list. I marched right up to
the hostess and asked what the wait is only to be interrupted by the
woman next to me saying that she was there first. I looked at her
blankly for a moment, all sorts of thoughts racing through my head...
what, Lines? Manners? How do you expect to get service just
standing there politely? And, oh my goodness, I actually
understand what you are saying- no hiding behind "ting bu dong"
anymore. However I quickly remembered my manners and graciously
allowed her to write her name down before mine. Must remember, I
am not in China anymore.
So you may be wondering, what happened to the rest of my trip? In
the interest of not boring you to death, I've decided to put in a few
choice pictures to tell the story. Right now I mostly remember
some horrendous train, bus and plane trips, especially the seven hour
delay on my flight that scared me as I just barely made the last bus
from the airport arriving home around two. Luckily the guard woke
up and threw me the keys. I wasn't so certain about jumping an
eight foot fence with a huge pack. Oh, and a tip- don't take
trains during Spring Festival- just don't do it, unless you hate
yourself.
Head massages in Nanchang... and Sarah's fish face
Drinking moonshine with the locals in the Jinoh (sp?) village in
Xishuangbana... the strongest stuff I've ever had... and probably not
the best way to start off a days hike :)
The cute little town of Lijiang, granted, it's all been rebuilt since
1997, but it's still cute. Don't look in all the touristy gift
shops too much, you're liable to become disillusioned with the whole
place.
Three minority people in front of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Which minority? No clue, but it was only 5 yuan to wear those
super cool hats. (And for those of you who don't know, that's T
and Christine, not minority people).
The Yak rip off. Riding the yak at Jade Dragon Snow mountain was
fun, the photographer kept saying put your hands up, pet the yak, do
the victory sign. Arguing with the yak owners when they raised
the price ten fold upon dismounting- not so much fun.
Hiking in Tiger Leaping Gorge. Not for the faint of heart.
There was an unfortunate incidence the next day and T, Christine and I
tried to get around a waterfall with no trail, desperately clinging to
sides of cliffs... Though all the other travelers seemed to
manage just fine...
Me with the three famous pagodas in Dali... though I'm still confused
as to the actual function of a pagoda. What's that funny heart
thing round my neck, you ask? Why that's the necklace to mark me
as a part of a Chinese Tour Group, and I think that says enough as to
how that day went.
So then I went back to Tianjin, had a crazy time trying to get my next
set of tickets which were pre-booked and eventually ended up in
Harbin. Harbin is in the northeast part of China, temps range
from 3 degrees F to -28, at least while I was there. I'm the big
black blob standing next to my student. I was wearing three pairs
of long underwear plus jeans, about five layers under my thick sweater
plus that huge jacket and a scarf, a fleece lined knit hat that covers
my ears plus ear muffs, Thinsulate lined gloves, face mask and two
pairs of wool socks. After two hours looking at the Ice Lantern
festival, I could no longer feel my feet, the rest of me was okay
though, so overall, I'd say I was well prepared.
And lastly I visited my student's hometown, Jilin. We did all
sorts of fun things that my student had never done before, like ski and
visit this remote island in the countryside to see the wusong or water
rising from the river and clinging to the surrounding trees- all
beautiful. Skiing was fun, they kept asking me if I wanted a
lesson and I kept telling them I'd skied many times before. My
student however, hadn't. So I gave her some pointers... but I
don't think she knew the word wedge- so she got to build her English
words as well :)
| | |
| So almost two weeks into traveling is a good time to start logging, right? T and I took an overnight train- that we barely made- to Nanchang to visit our friends down there. Once again we experienced the lie of southern China being warmer. Plus, since Nanchang is south of the Yangtze, there's no central heat. If you can see your breath inside your house, it's cold... We had a good time with everyone- we had head massages and went to Walmart and learned a new came- canasta (sp?)
After a few days in Nanchang, we flew to Kunming and met up with Christine. We spent a day wandering around Kunming, watching all the people, fighting off aggressive child beggars and mostly enjoying all the warmth and sunshine- and parks. Then it was an overnight bus trip to Xishuangbana. I thought i had left those trips in Thailand last year. This was infinitely better than buses in Thailand, but still a pretty rough night. We arrived in Jionghong and were promptly ripped off and thoroughly confused by a taxi driver who said every hotel we wanted was closed (some actually were). We found our way to a hotel, rested and set out to explore. It's so beautiful down there- tropical and warm but not hot. We went to the botanical gardens and were in awe at all the green... you can tell we live in a big industrial dirty city by our reaction to all the green and nature down here. On the way back we stopped at a facial place and got hour long facials, for 15 yuan each (that's less than two dollars) which were great.
The next day we rented bikes and explored the country side... it was a bit treacherous, very muddy. But it was cool to see all the crops growing and the people working the land. There are so many different minorities down there... it's cool to see so much diversity. We eventually took a side road and biked up this crazy steep mountain forever. The view at the top was beautiful... but it was killer getting up there, I don't think I've ever biked that much. The bike ride down was fast of course and we managed to not get attacked by any crazy dogs.
The next day we set off on a trek through the countryside to see minority villages. Our guide was great and very knowledgeable about China and the local people. He also wasn't afraid to talk about the dark sides... so we got to discuss many things that nobody has talked to us about before. The hike was beautiful but challenging... our guide set a fast pace and we were feeling it pretty soon into the trip. We was three different minorities as we hiked, almost lost Christine off the side of the cliffs many times and thoroughly caked our shoes in mud. The locals cooked for us in their homes and we got to sleep in a Jinouh village home. The floor was hard and it was cold... but the experience was still good. They gave us some home brewed alcohol- super strong stuff. One small glass and you can feel it. I don't think I'll ever forget T's expression at her first sip. In the morning, the village was gearing up for a party to celebrate the completion of someone's house. They were preparing a huge amount of food and the old men and women were already inside drinking. They invited us up to join them, so we drank with the old men for a bit and were off. By the end of the two day trek we were thoroughly beat. We spent our last day in Jinghong lazing around, and getting massages and facials again. Then we flew to Lijiang... a much better trip then a 24 hour bus! | | |
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