山姆老师 -- Teacher Sam

It's been a while since my last post, and I've been quite busy. I know you're all anxious to hear about my teaching, but let me first bring you up to date about what I've been up to since I left Wuhan on Friday night.

After an uncomfortable nine-hour overnight bus ride, I arrived in Nanjing, my new home, early on Saturday morning. Echo, the woman who had been discussing the teaching job with me, brought me to the hostel where I stayed for the weekend. On Saturday, some of her family friends took me around Nanjing, a mother, introduced to me as Miss Yang, and her daughter Gege. I liked them a lot: they were patient with me, carefully explaining any Chinese words I didn't understand, as well as very smart and knowledgeable about all sorts of Chinese culture.We went to the park surrounding Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum, where I was surprised to see wax models of Nationalist soldiers from World War II, as well as a burial ground that apparently contained the bodies of about 1000 of these soldiers. I guess this is a testament to the lingering respect that all Chinese people have for their countrymen who suffered under the Japanese. The park was quite nice, and we climbed a nine-story pagoda.
Monday morning I went in to the office, signed my contract, moved in to my apartment, and watched two classes taught by other teachers. Tuesday morning it was my turn to teach. So much for the week of training they said I would have. When offering me the teaching job, Echo also said that my classes would be based on a by all accounts very good Cambridge ESL textbook. That's true of a quarter of my classes, but the rest are what they call "oral English," meaning that there is no textbook or real curriculum. On Monday night I was left to prepare lessons I would present the next day with no real guidance.

Teaching on Tuesday was mixed. My first class was second grade, and I was pretty nervous despite the fact that the 50 (yes, fifty) faces staring at me were cute Chinese 8 year olds. Class was chaotic but not bad. They especially liked playing telephone, the last kid in the row running up to the front, trying to be the first one to whisper the original phrase to me. My fifth grade oral class went less well, since the material I had prepared was too easy for them and they quickly got bored.

I had Wednesday off to observe and receive advice from the other teachers, and my classes today went somewhat better. Teaching is certainly harder than I had expected. Little kids are a tough audience, getting bored quickly and requiring constant changes of activities. It's a nice challenge, though, and much different from anything I've done before. I just have one class tomorrow, and then the weekend off to prepare for a full week next week. Stay tuned for more on teaching, as well as Nanjing and my living situation...

From a momentarily working computer

I've arrived in Wuhan, the city that used to be three cities (and is consequently huge and sprawling). I arrived last night after a four hour bus ride from the place where the boat dropped me off.

The boat ride was certainly an experience, not so much for the scenery (though it wasn't bad), or the tourist attractions along the way, but for the interactions with vacationing Chinese families. I shared my third-class cabin with a retired Chinese couple, who acted like my surrogate grandparents for the duration of the journey. They would make sure I woke up for the sights (at which we often arrived at six in the morning), tell me not to walk around in my socks, and give me tea when I was feeling sick. They were full of all sorts of Chinese theories, telling me that the reason I didn't feel good was that I had eaten fruit before noodles in the morning.

I was initially hesitant to eat in the slightly overpriced restaurant on the boat, but during my first meal there, eating by myself, I was beckoned over to a table where a family of ten or so Beijing people were eating. They ordered me food, gave me baijiu (Chinese rice liquor) and complained when I didn't drink it all. The next afternoon, I was invited to have lunch with a family whose two kids -- an 11 year old boy and a 9 year old girl -- had taken a liking to me. The kids were very sweet, despite their endless questions about how much money I made and how much my things cost. I think they were about the same age as the kids I'll be teaching, which made me excited to start. By the end of the trip, I couldn't have a meal without being conflicted about which of my new friends I should sit with.

And now, photos. The first one is the family I just mentioned, minus son:


The boat:


Some cartoons at the monastery in Chengdu explaining basic principles of Buddhism. I really like these...

Chengdu, city of the color blind man's nightmare:


Also at the monastery in Chendu:


A red panda at the Chendu panda center (this one's for you, Adrian):




Understand panda, understand life -- the video:



That's all for now. Tomorrow I arrive in Nanjing and start my teaching job, so much of interest will certainly follow...

Death of a computer, birth of a panda

My computer got damaged when I plugged it into some questionable electricity in Chengdu, so I'm writing from an Internet Cafe (or wang ba) here in Chongqing.

I arrived in Chengdu on Thursday morning, where I tasted the notoriously spicy local food (it wasn't TOO bad), and relaxed in my hostel. The next day I headed off to the Buddhist monastery, where crowds of Chinese people flocked to buy incense and pray by the statues of dieties. Despite the crowds, the peaceful atmosphere of the monastery remained intact, especially in the tea garden, where I sipped a cup of flower-laden green tea. The Buddhism practiced to the visitors of the monastery was more superstition-based than what I'm used to; the visitors moved between statues and character inscriptions, rubbing first the relics and then themselves, presumably so that the good luck (or whatever it was) would stay with them. I didn't see too much meditating...

In the afternoon, I met up with Fei Fei, a friend of one of my friends from the hostel in Beiijing. She took me to another temple, where she explained to me some of the stories and legends that were depicted in the temple. The temple was very crowded, and served more as a tourist attraction than a holy place, as far as I could tell.

I also made it to the Chengdu Panda Base, home of 40 or so giant pandas. The brochure provided at the entrance said, "Understand panda, understand life." Seeing the pandas lounge around eating bamboo and falling asleep, I decided I was approaching life all wrong. How such a creature managed to evolve and stay extant for millions of years is beyond me. Maybe there's something in natural selection that favors cuteness. There was a hilarious video about panda breeding, the most striking part of which was seeing a panda give birth and then swat at its squealing pink baby lying helpless and tiny on the concrete floor. I have a bunch of cute pictures which I can't upload now. I'll try to get them in a few days.

After spending three days in Chengdu, I took the train to Chongqing yesterday. Chongqing was the nationalist capital of China during World War II, and I've heard rumors that it's the largest metropolitan area in China, with over 30 million people. It reminds me of San Francisco: hilly, with the main part crammed onto a little peninsula between two rivers. The two cities have similar weather, too: warm and rainy, with a heavy blanket of fog. I was planning to spend two days here and have some time for sightseeing, but complications with the river boat schedules mean that I'm leaving in a few short hours.

I'll be spending the next three days cruising down the Yangtze river, so there probably won't be any updates for at least that long. Be patient, photos of pandas await.

Février en chine, quelle joie, quelle chance (or, Happy New Year!)

Yesterday was Chinese New Year, and I wasn’t sure quite what to expect, except a climax of the constant explosions of fireworks that had been going on since I got to Beijing (but more on that later). I decided I had seen all I needed to see in Beijing and stayed around the hostel hanging out with the other guests and employees. I helped them prepare some of the ingredients for the dumplings they were making (picture below), and later had my dumpling-stuffing ability mocked by everyone who worked at the hostel. It turned out all right in the end, since all of the dumplings turned out uniformly stuck-together and delicious.

After our dumpling feast, the stash of fireworks was brought out. We set them off in the small outdoor hallway of the hostel, filling it with smoke and distracting the owner’s three-year-old daughter from her fear of foreigners. Once the fireworks allocated for before midnight were exhausted, we retired to the common room. We started playing a drinking game that involved counting in Chinese and multiplication tables, neither of which is quite my strong suit. After the game was over, I hung out with the other guests at the hostel, who were from all over the world. There were guys from Finland, Germany, and Wales (he even spoke Welsh and had a Welsh name!), as well as a group of Canadians and a family from Slovenia. I was surprised there were no other Americans around, and I’m not exactly sure what that indicates.

Then the celebration really started. Imagine 15 million people all lighting fireworks at once, mostly kinds that are outlawed in most of the world. We went up on the roof of the hostel to watch, and in every direction there were displays to match the best Fourth of July celebration you’ve ever seen. We walked around the streets, where firecrackers were setting off car alarms, and strangers offered to let us light up their fireworks. The streets were shrouded in smoke and covered with firecracker wrappers. Cars foolish enough to be on the road had to swerve around mortars that were about to explode. This morning, I even found bits of debris in my hair. No picture I took quite captured the moment, but hopefully you can get a feel from the expressions on people’s faces below (well not really, but they’re a nice bunch).

In the true fashion of a country with a labor surplus, the streets were completely clean by the time I headed off to the airport at six this morning. I’m in Chengdu now, which is in southwestern China. It’s warm but drizzly here, a nice change from the freezing cold of Beijing. I’ll be here for a couple of days before heading to Chongqing and (hopefully) a boat down the Yangzi.

Temple of Heaven, etc.

It's been a reasonably busy couple of days here, but that's not to say I haven't found time for at least ten hours of sleep at night, plus a nap during the day. Yesterday I went to the 798 art district to try and find my favorite Chinese band's new CD (see this post from last summer), but the music store was closed. The area was pretty interesting, though, consisting of a bunch of old industrial buildings turned into art galleries and other stores.

Today I went to the Temple of Heaven, which I missed last summer. It's the temple where the emperors used to pray for things like good harvests and pay respect to their ancestors. Like the Forbidden City, thankfully, it managed to escape the rebuilt touristy feel of the majority of Chinese historical landmarks.
Pretty nice, huh? There were some pretty interesting birds wandering around, too. Below is an example, but as you can see, I have neither the patience nor the camera of a nature photographer, so it's a little blurry.



Lest you think there is still even a pretense of Communism around here, check out the picture below. Even the plaque for the sacred Animal-Killing Pavilion has a corporate sponsor. The highlighted text says something like "Presented by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Company."


But that's not the only interesting signage from today. Far from it! The next one was in front of the urinal in the bathroom. It could be more accurately translated as "One small step forward, one giant leap for culture." Who knew the Chinese had such knowledge of Neil Armstrong (or didn't know how to use urinals)?


The last picture was on a storefront, and appears to be advertising some sort of computer, maybe one to help you think about your thoughts. Whoa.


That's it for today. Thanks for all the great feedback so far!

Why it is a good idea to stay at youth hostels

What does one do on one's first day back in Beijing? Revisit the majestic Forbidden city? Buy boatloads of fake clothing and DVDs? Hit up some of the tourist sites I missed last time around? More importantly, what does one do as a disgruntled former employee of a youth hostel who is back for a visit? The answer to both of these questions is not what you might expect: wash some cats!

That's right. This morning, right when I was about to set off for the Temple of Heaven, my one of my roommates in the hostel where I'm staying invited me to go ice skating. I figured there would be more time to see temples, so I set off with her. She had worked at the hostel last summer (and left on not such great terms), and wanted to stop by their other building and say hi. She decided their three white cats were in danger of turning black, so we gave them a bath in the sink. An hour with the hairdryer later, and we had three still-shivering cats, marginally whiter than before, considered the job finished, and set off for ice skating. It's really unfortunate I can't enhance this with a picture.

Which is to say, I'm here.

More travels means more blogging

I never thought this blog would be back so soon, but here it is. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm taking the semester off and heading back to China. I'll be teaching elementary school English in or around Nanjing, which is in southeastern China, just a few hours inland from Shanghai. I'm leaving Toledo (featured in the background of the photo at right) on January 31 and spending a couple weeks traveling before starting my teaching job.

If you missed my blog last summer, all the posts are still here, in case you, for whatever reason, feel like reading them. I've added a "Subscribe by email" feature so you can receive new posts as emails when they're put up. It should be pretty self-explanatory, but let me know if it's not working right and I'll try to fix it.

That's it for now!