Teacher Day and a real home cooked meal

Posted on September 11, 2010 by susan

Friday was Chinese Teacher Day, it is a special day for teachers, when students call them, give them gifts, cards and flowers to express their appreciation. I arrived and found a large bouquet of violet tulip like flowers, cards and gifts on my desk from various art students! What a thrill. I have a new coffee cup and snow globe now. Students love telling you to have a nice teacher day, it is on TV and I think it is like a National Holiday. I like this day.

Alice showed me how to catch a bus, ok not so hard, just lots of people, will have to keep my purse and possessions very close to me. We took two buses to the University and it dropped us off in a nice shopping district I want to check out later today. Time for clothes and shoes. I like shoes, thanks to my mom! I brought ten pair from my collection of sixty and I am missing some favorites! Need red ones now!

I gave a call to Sarah, the mom of Filo, one of my art students. Sarah is the lovely lady that hooked me up with my apartment. She was cooking dinner and wanted my company. Yes, I will be right there. Hopped on a Taxi and off I went back to the other side of town. It’s dark now and the town comes alive with lights and it’s misty creating a surreal look about. Sarah is so excited to see me, off with my shoes and on with house slippers. I want to see what she is cooking, this is so much fun. She has a pot of Balsamic rice in the rice cooker, sautéd tomato and fried egg dish and pork meat ball soup with mushrooms, green chowder peas, and onions (oops forgot to tell her I was vegetarian!) I watched her cut up some skinny green peppers and sauté them with sugar, salt, soy and some other ingredients-this was a spicy dish and very delicious. She had fresh greens in a colander — they had red centers, never saw this plant before. She poured a wee bit of oil in the pan and tossed these in, adding some spices and then water. The water turned red from the plant and the plant turned dark green as it wilted.

Filo did not want to eat dinner with us, so she played on the computer in her locked room! Sarah and I feasted with our chopsticks and small rice bowl. Here you just pick a bit from any bowl you want and eat it. You don’t make a plate of food. I am getting quite good with the chopsticks and can pick up peas individually. The rice turned pink from my greens I put on top…. and that was glorious to see. Dinner was very good and it felt so comfortable to chat with another mom about husbands, children, our homes, our family, our life. She had TV that was connected to a Chinese station that was in English. ( I do not have this station at the motel, darn!) The main news was of Teachers Day and how exciting it is for the students to make things for their teachers. We had instant nescafe coffee and Swedish chocolates for dessert.

We admired her apartment, she has been here for over three weeks. She and her husband live out but the drive is con-jested even though it is not far. This is her place to stay for the week and then they travel back home during the weekends. Many parents do this, as the high school I work for is a desired place for their children. As we look out of her balcony the spectacular view makes me anxious to move. I get a lesson on how to wash clothes and hang them to dry on the balcony. Looks like I need to buy a clothes drying rack at Carrefour.

I get back to the motel, walk in and three young men students from Nigeria, France and Morocco ask me to sit and chat. Wow what a world talk we have about our Chinese speaking, our experiences and how long we have been here. The cute Moroccan is working on his PhD and has been in China six years. The other two just arrived this week and are in some culture shock but loving it. I enjoy meeting new faces.

Military Training and Rikisha ride

Posted on September 9, 2010 by susan

I walked onto campus greeted by a thousand students in uniform doing tai chi. Now that was overwhelming and very wonderful to watch. A nice start to the day. Had lunch in the canteen (school cafeteria) with my Chinese colleague lady teachers. There is a meat and vegetarian option. YEW HAW! So this is what I had: bamboos shoots steamed with chili peppers, sauteed julienne sliced celery, sauteed sliced potatoes, a Chinese steamed spinach, sauteed cucumber, rice and a bowl of water soup with a see through square vegetable-looked more like a Jello cube. Each item was it’s own dish. The soup was blah but everything else was pretty good. I just didn’t recognize the taste of the potatoes as a potato! I get free lunch with my school card. What a deal.

Class consisted of three delightful DP HL students working on individual art projects. Class was an hour and a half. Off to the bank to open a checking account. There is a 45 minute wait, and then much stamping of documents with the ever familiar red chop to open my account! I get my debit card and some other card with scratch off numbers on the back. Is it a lottery card? No it’s extra pin numbers when you login to your internet account. Ah ha, something we should do in the states — extra security. Walk back to school and everyone is out playing badminton when I return. I have to weave in and out of hundred plus kids swatting their rackets at the little birdie. What a sight.

I just make it in time to see the Military Training presentation put on by the Pre IB or foundation students. During the summer these students are required to attend one week of military training about two hours away in the countryside. They showed videos of their training, did skits, played music, sang and gave each other awards for a variety of good deeds. The program was in Chinese but the skit was about how to be a good military student, respect your officer and be disciplined. Maybe we should do this with American students!

I am told I can leave early, cause the program is in Chinese, so I head out for a taxi! By now there are none to be had so I walk a ways, stop get a iced latte (maybe a long walk and need to stay awake). Still can’t get a taxi, so one of the police men point down a smaller street, so I walk that way. I check out a pastry vendor, shoe store and a cosmetic shop. (found some fingernail polish and the clerk gave me free lotion!) Walking to the corner see a McDonald’s, ah good spot to get a taxi, no way! Now it is between 5 and 6 pm –shift change for taxi drivers, darn! Then out of the blue this swarthy guy with an electric powered rikisha pops up and motions he can take me, so off I go on an open aired three wheel bike for the price of two fingers. We make a couple of cut through turns and end up in a seedy area. At this point I am thinking this guy in his “Bobby Gang” shirt and pink Crocs might just turn down a dark alley and take my 3oo yuan. ($45) But we pop out onto a street I recognize. Then he stops and picks up a metal pipe he sees in the road and stores it for later under my seat. He lits up a cigarette and motions I should take a hit! Think not. Off we go again passing hundreds of people, bikes and cars. I see the familar McDonalds on the corner by the University. We made it. I hand him two yuan and he gets madder than a hornet. He pounds his fist and stubby fingers demanding more–so I think he says four, still not enough. I motion for the University guard to come over and so does a college student, now this is getting loud and lots of Chinese verbiage is flying. The college girls asks me what he said he charged? I remember the two fingers, well I guess I didn’t get the figure or fingers right. He wanted 40 yuan (almost three times a taxi ride!) I looked at her and said I had gotten taken, she agreed, and I gave him 37 and just walked off. Geez what a night. I need to learn more Chinese and how the bus system works!

Renting a high-rise apartment

Posted on September 8, 2010 by susan

It was raining cats and many dogs when I walked two long blocks to the apartment complex with Sophia, the school secretary our person that gets everything done. Isn’t it always the secretary’s and shouldn’t they make more money than all of us? She is pregnant and followed me down the street with her umbrella, commenting she loves the rain. Well I will admit it was an experience in wetness, not sweatness. We met the land lady on the 27th floor to view the space. Removed our shoes and put on slippers. I always wondered why they left their shoes at the door. I know now. After walking in the mud puddles, no one would want these dirty shoes in their homes. It is a wonderful custom, and I think everyone should do it. So if you come to visit me I will have slippers for you at the door.

My new apartment is a split level, making it both 27th and 28th floors. The master bedroom view is to the south, highly prized by the Chinese. (Good Fortune!) The kitchen is cute with a huge view of the three pagoda looking hotel and freeway. It is about 1000 square feet I am guessing, plenty large with a living room, extra bedroom and bath and a half. I asked for it to be cleaned and the lights to work in the bathrooms! Geez what is the deal, no lights? So the landlady agreed and will take two extra days to get it ready. She is a nurse and her husband a surgeon. How convenient in case I get ill! Afterwards back to school, I had night guard duty. Just watching the kids as they do homework.

This evening I watched Sawyer do Tai chi with his master. The master has a large stomach, the better to hold his chi, I am told! He gave Sawyer a little box with a baby on it. It is a gift as his wife just had a baby girl. They give gifts to all their friends to share in their joy and fortune of the birth of their new one. Lovely tradition! I came to school the other day and found a porcelain pig wrapped in pink sheer fabric, one of our teachers just had a baby girl and I got to share in their fortune! Goodie a gift for me! I like gifts. The pig has candy in its belly, yum. Alice was showing me her dance moves as she is learning Latin dance. Some one tell Yulia, she may have met her match. (Yulia was one of Andy’s best lady friends. They took us Salsa dancing once! Yulia is fast and furious on the dance floor, Andy and I admired her for that.) So I took pictures of Sawyer and Alice in their poses. They are just too cute. Alice told me today is her mom’s birthday, low and behold she and I are born in the same “birth year.” Alice didn’t know her new Texan friend was so old!

Yoga again and this time we did one of those flip over poses, toes over your head and on the floor. I remember Oprah speaking of muffin top on TV. Well my muffin top had flipped over drooping into my boobs and then smashed into my face. Last class when I did this I got stuck and the yoga teacher had to come flip me back. What a pretzel I am!

Are you ready for a good laugh? OK, your already laughing envisioning me as an inverted muffin, but I got hit on tonight, you know a guy tried to make a pass at me. I was waiting for Alice in front of the University and this white guy came barreling toward me, all excited to see the only white older lady in town. He is a Math teacher from Montreal, wanted my phone number, very persistent, luckily Alice came along and helped me escape his clutches. She said he was not my type! I think he was just excited to see a white face! HELP, just eat, pray teach……no LOVE.

Tiger Paw and Dragon Breath

Posted on September 7, 2010 by susan

September 7, 2101

In foundation class today we did the “upside down man” drawing. My past art students and teacher friends know this assignment where you take a Picasso drawing flip it upside down and draw it. It opens the right side of your brain. Chinese students think this is difficult, but they are much like American students when they draw. I had four students flip it over when I went to my desk and draw it right side up and one traced it. I told them “no, no this is not acceptable!” When the 20 minutes was up,some where not finished. They did not get the concept to stop as I was teaching a project in a time frame. Two wanted to take it home and finish it. They are serious students, too serious. I think they need to loosen up!

Alice and I talk about our trip to Mi Jing Temple and what a good time the three of us had. She makes a comment that I am laughing at everything I see, I do, I hear. It makes her happy to see me happy. Her husband has smile wrinkles when he laughs. I told him that the more wrinkles he has, the happier he must be. He liked that. I am happy. Alice even said that when many bad things have happened to you, it turns around, and happiness fills you equally. So the year of sadness, loss and unhappiness is over, I am in the year of happiness, smiles and many new things to laugh at. I like her philosophy. I smile, I laugh and I adore Alice.

Lunch with Peter at the corner mom and pop cafe, for a family size bowl of fresh tomato and egg drop soup, with two different rice dishes on the side. Our lunch was 17 yuan about $2.25. The reason is was so high Peter had a Coke! After school I walked to the bank and transferred my American bills into Yuan. Now that was an interesting process, they Xeroxed my passport twice and ran all my bills though a machine to see it they were real. 25$ keep spitting back out! (Much like Dragon Breath, will explain later) The teller called two other tellers over and they examined the bills, ran them though many times, held them to the light and chattered in Chinese for at least 10 minutes. Are they going to haul me off for counterfeit American dollars? Wasn’t this the money I had got at my bank in Texas? At last after I signed three official documents I was given my RMB! On to the coffee shop for a latte and 2 baguettes, one cheese and the other a cream filled and powered sugar on top. This will be dinner! Stopped in a little shop that had cute comfy tops, they are made of Bamboo fiber, this will be nice for my Yoga class, get one and off to a taxi and home to the hotel.

Yoga class with Yan, my IB coordinator colleague and the Norwegian Massage/Acupuncturist. I moved to the front of the class to see the instructor, I like her but can’t understand what she says, so I must watch her closely. She teaches us Tiger Paw where you make a claw with your fist and slap it on the mat, that was noisy and silly. Then we did a pose on our knees where you breath in, lunge forward, open your mouth, exert a loud breathy noise and stick your tongue out, I called this “Dragon Breath.” We repeated this many times and I would look up and see my Chinese yoga classmates with their tongues out at me, I started laughing. Looked over at the Norwegian and she was laughing so hard she had tumbled out of her pose and fell to the floor. Another good Yoga class. Hitched a ride with Yan. Her husband came to pick her up, nice to ride in a beautiful car with wood grain trim, like my Eos convertible. Alias the Eos has moved on to someone else and I some where else.

Now it is time to dress and go to school, need to brush my teeth and remove the Dragon Breath!

Ji Ming Buddhist Temple and meeting a “Leader!”

Posted on September 5, 2010 by susan

September 5 2010

Today was a special day. I inquired about the Ji Ming Temple last week and Alice the Chinese economics teacher said she would take me. Today we meet up and walked first to her friends Ceramics Art Gallery. I was able to see all kinds of ceramic and porcelain tea pots, cups and jewelry made by local artisans. They had throwing ribs made of bamboo, that was very unique, and durable. What fun I had there. Ended up with some sweet gifts and earrings for me. Figuring how to ship small items may be interesting, will have to check into DHL. Alice’s friends have a bamboo caged little pet in the shop, named “Leader”, like leader of the government so Guli the owner calls him. The pet is a large grasshopper. It makes the funniest noises while you shop. I want one! so Guli said he will keep an eye for the woman vendor who sells grasshoppers on the street. He said he saw her with 200 caged grasshoppers. His is a month old and eats pumpkin and cabbage. I got to touch it’s foot. Alice bought a teapot and got a lotus pod. They said the word for seeds means children. So the lotus flower has many children, I can relate!

Alice’s husband met up with us after his Tai Chi class and we took a taxi to the temple. It was many flights of stairs. I threw coins in a giant tripod container — if your coin goes in you become wealthy. Took me many tries to get that darn coin in that hole. At the top of the temple you can eat Vegeterian food and it was very crowed today. We got a seat and I finally ate “mock meats” instead of just vegetables. We had a vegetarian beef meat and a bowl of noodles with mock shrimp. It was very good, similar to Sumi Veggie in Richardson. I tried Plum Juice, very tasty. We looked at all the Buddha sculptures, very large, colorful and quite impressive. I saw only four real monks, all bald, even the girl.

We then strolled Xuanwu Lake Park next to the temple. The temple has a huge pagoda and a great wall around it and continues down to the next pagoda and another temple probably a mile or so away. It is similar to the Great wall in Beijing. These walls were built to keep the enemy out, the Mongolians. It is quite old, but in good shape. The entrances have arches and are magnificent. On the lake was hundreds of small boats similar to paddle boats. It was a colorful site to see. In a park area, the senior citizens dressed in yellow Chinese old fashioned clothes were preparing for the fall festival, by practicing their music. Another group was singing Chinese opera.

As I am writing this I hear opera outside my hotel window. A student is practicing his singing too. Occasionally I hear piano coming from the music building. It’s all very soothing and delightful.

Another good day and tomorrow, school. Maybe I will figure out how to do laundry in the morning, since my class starts at 11:20.

I need a “Leader!” and I shall name mine “Obama!”

China is heaven!

Posted on September 4, 2010 by susan

September 4, 2010

Just got in from a night on the town, ok it is 10:15 pm and that is late for me, but I did have dinner and hit two bars with my colleagues. We met up at McDonalds, the Aussie Peter, Brit Michael and youngster Brit John (he has lived here six years and is the one married to a Chinese woman) plus my American friends Daniel, Paula and their little sweet daughter. We had a lovely Chinese dinner across the street from the University for 141 RMB, not quite $20 for seven of us! Dinner was served family style in a private room, red walls and gold chairs and a gold table cloth. Only chopsticks are allowed! Got a proper lesson on how to hold them from John, the bottom stick doesn’t move only the top one! Since John is Vegan, life if good for me, as he orders in Chinese and most all we have to eat is Vegetarian. Michael says that the Chinese will eat everything that has four legs except the table! E-gads…. Gad I am vegetarian. I see chicken feet, turkey necks and all sorts of meat products we would toss in American, that are scrumptious morsels here in China.

After dinner we head to the Youth Hostel for a beer. Just the guys and I go; Paula has to put the wee one to bed. A Snow beer 2.5 alcohol content, and tastes like a girl beer from Texas with bubbles! So this is really nice for me, the guys hate it. Then after one beer, John wants to move on to another bar. Off we go, this time to a college hang out, have a lager, and listen to the cute Chinese girl sing hits from the Carpenters! That was eerie! Played pool with the guys, felt like I was 19 and in college. Had a few lucky shots, but let the Aussie and Brit win! Yes I am good at pool, but guys need to win! Then about 10 pm decided it was my bed time and they all walked me back to the hotel. Someone tell me where I went wrong in America? These guys actually care about my warfare. How delightful is this?? I so love China, John told me I would never leave, I fit in so nicely. It is a really unusual feeling, like I belong here. Someone told me I must have lived a past life here, duh….. I think many past lives. I am so comfortable here, everything makes sense.

During the afternoon I looked at an apartment near the school where I teach. It was perfect… 27^th floor about 2 blocks from campus and will be available in a couple weeks. It is more than the school allotment provides but it will be wonderful for me. All the appliances are so not typical American, very “old school” Chinese, but hell with a pent house view

who cares. It is something like 100 meters square, God what size is that? It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room and a bath and a half. Total cost 38000 RMB for one year… about $519 a month…. And the school will pay 2/3rds of that. I am so ok with a penthouse view. (It is really not a penthouse, I am just calling it that and it is split level) Too cool for this American Art girl.

What is a”Carrefour” store? Went to one of those today and found green olives, hot damn! I am in heaven, plus a jar of Pesto! (Patti, it is really good, almost as good as I make!) OK don’t laugh too hard, but I had McDonalds French fries too! Tasted just like the states! And they had ketchup, yew haw! Motor bicycles are 1299 up too 1899RMB which is about $200+. Someone tell me how cheap that is!!!! Peter is going to buy one and I will ride on the back. I don’t think I have the nerve to drive one with all the traffic!

Stopped in a tea shop and sat down at a tree truck table, with a Buddha carved in it. Ok that was the best Karma ever. The guy boiled up some Oolong tea, oh my god, best I ever drank. I sat there looking at his little Buddha clay trinkets for sale and found one with a frog on it. Yes I have this frog thing going now. He sold it to me for 30 RMB ($4) then he took it and soaked it in water and it somehow filled up! Next he poured boiling water on it and the frog magically spit water out its mouth. Omg, I started laughing so hard, I could hardly stand it. Then he had a water buffalo figurine and he poured boiling water on him and low and behold he turned red! I thought I was in magic heaven! I am so going back to this place and having tea during school lunch break.

China is heaven!

Frogville TV

Posted on September 3, 2010 by susan

September 3, 2010

Nice big thunderstorm, after I got home from my one class of three students. Turned the TV on and have about 25 channels, of course it is all in Chinese. There are no western programs or English. On occasion you might hear seconds of English on a news broadcast, but it is nothing important. I saw a water buffalo fight tonight; concept was like a cock fight in America. Water Buffalo 48 was doing really good, they run head on into each other and try to kill the other, till he met up with number 15. Water buffalo 15 knocked him to the ground and they hauled him off in a paddy wagon, poor 15. The owner of 48 got a red scarf which they put on the back of the buffalo. Everyone cheered. Then I flipped it to a show about frogs, looked like a place where they raised them, like a Frogville. The weather was too hot and the little guys were dying of heat exhaustion. So the owner was showing how he grew plants with large leafs to create shade for the little guys. He even had cabbage plants for them to crawl in. Then as it got hotter he made little wooden plank bridges so they could crawl under. The frogs had a mud moat to swim in and seemed to love the slime. Then the owner showed how he took raw meat and let it set out and catch flies and in turn created maggots. The maggot worms were gobbled up by the frogs, creating a very efficient business. What he did with the frogs I do not know. After thirty minutes I switched channels.

The channels are all called CCTV- Central China TV. CCTV 1, CCTV 2 and so on, no diversity like in the US. Although there is CCTV-MTV, now that’s a hoot. Saw a guy that looked like Wayne Newton, ok sort of, with glitter in his puffy hair singing a Chinese Celine Dion song. She would have been proud. His voice was higher than hers! Then a Michael Jackson rip-off was performing, and a Yanni piano guy. Yes, I liked the Yanni guy! Remember it is all in Chinese! There is a lot of Drama- with Ming Dynasty costumes, which is fun to look at for about five minutes. Lots of love stories, boring. Tonight I saw a Color Splash/Devine Design HGTV type of show. The designer redid a Chinese apartment. She had gone to IKEA and got some cheap shelves, which she arranged on the covered balcony, and then made a vase with popsicle like sticks. GEEZ. Not real impressed with the style. Hey I found “Family Feud” in Chinese, just can’t read the answers!

Commercials are interesting; saw one today that was made of smoke that changed from a mountain, to a butterfly into a man, to a dragon, to the Great Wall of China and back to the mountain. That was actually artistically cool and got my attention. Don’t have the foggiest what it meant. Cartoons are about the same, just Chinese-esque.

Speaking of smoke, the Chinese can smoke in motel rooms, cafes, taxis and at school. My motel room occasionally will smell from next door smokers’ waking me up causing breathing problems. Pollution is bad, yesterday morning was one of the first times I actually saw a blue sky. It is humid, so mixed with the pollution seems smoggy most of the time. I imagine in the country side it is cleaner.

1st day of school

Posted on September 1, 2010 by susan

September 1,2010

Today I taught in China! It was wonderful, but hot and sweaty. Air conditioning is not something the Chinese use much! We have units in some rooms and our office. The westerners come in and flip it on, the minute we walk out, off it goes by the Chinese teachers! So my hair is in a pony tail today. I am drinking water and carrying lots of toilet paper with me. (No TP anywhere, carry your own!)

My classes start at 10:30 for an hour and a half then a nice long lunch for an hour and a half. I come back to class at 1:30 and finish at 2:55. It is wonderful. One class today had 25 pre IB students all 10th graders the other was 3 fantastic HL students. It is a great way to teach. One of my HL’s asked me to sponsor the Ice Skating Club, and I accepted! Can you see me on ice skates? Zip, zip –boom!

I have a Chinese phone now, so if you need the number just email me. I wanted a number I could remember, therefore I picked an easy one and was told it was a lucky number! Yeah a lucky number, but it took longer to process because it was this lucky number, yes an extra hour. Can you believe that was my luck?

School started with an IB faculty breakfast. We had fried bread, hot soy milk, meatball bread dumpling, a loaf of sliced western bread all of which was yucky! They did have instant Starbucks with real milk and a pastry with sesame seeds on top. That was ok! Found a little mom and pop cafe outside of the school campus that serves vegetarian food and the menu is in English. Had sautéed broccoli then beans and mushrooms with fried egg rice and white rice. Really great. Learning to use those chopsticks, but picking up a mushroom is not so easy. Very cheap, three of us ate for 44 RMB or $6. Plus we had green tea. I will be eating there again.

Off to yoga class…… It is fixing my back. The bed I am sleeping on is just about to eat my lunch. I have my down comforter on top of the mattress then a sheet on top of it. Some better.

Namaste!

Medical Check up and Yoga!

Posted on August 30, 2010 by susan

August 30, 2010
I had a med check for my China Visa, which included a dental check, eye check, full body X-ray, ultrasound of my liver, kidneys and spleen, an EKG, blood test and blood pressure test all done in less than one hour. Can you imagine America doing this for all our immigrants? And efficiently? It was a hoot running from one medical room to another and seeing so many doctors. I passed!

Afterwards, checked out the “Aqua mall.” Great grocery store, actually had everything anyone would need in an open air mall with a water fountain show in the middle, hence the name. Most name brand stores were there. I meet a cute couple from San Francisco, here for a week adopting a baby girl. They were so excited. My friend Sophia, the Chinese IB secretary is pregnant due in a couple months. I was curious to see is she was having a boy or girl. She told me the doctors won’t tell the moms what they are having, as some would abort the girls. They are only allowed one child, and when I say I have four — they flip!

Another short Inservice today, and I went to organize my desk and broke it! That was a moment when I was the subject of talk amongst the Chinese IB faculty! A bit too industrious!

This evening I met up with the IB coordinator at the Life Fitness Facility for a Chinese Yoga class. Oh my gosh– the floors are heated, the class was in Chinese and nothing like the “Sun salutation” classes I have had in America! This was very slow, pretzel-y upside-down, and twisty turny. It was just wonderful, I was so in my element. Even Yan said I was good, or maybe she was being nice. I signed up for three months and guess what they have spinning classes too! Yee Haw….. Maybe I can learn Tai Chi as well! Next door is the massage place, open till 10pm and no appointment! Hello China fitness!