Amy Meets the People in her Neighborhood, Travels to Xitang and Has Bumpy Yet Rewarding First Days of School

View from the second-floor canteen on the night of a Teacher's Day Banquet. 

Well, at this rate I am a month in and I feel some big paraphrasing is necessary to get me caught up to the here and now. For the record, everyday is chocked full of amazing moments and sights. I would prefer to be speaking in the present so I will do my best to summarize as much as I can about the month here so far.

Day 3:  I was fully inducted as a staff member by having the "ahem", pleasure of attending the three-hour annual school standing meeting. This was a heaping portion of 'the way things are now working in a school which speaks mostly Chinese.' We were given earpieces as we headed into a large auditorium. The meeting was in Chinese but translated by two women behind the stage who were whispering into our earpieces. At about minute eighty-five, both translators were running out of translation juice. Hour after hour different members of the chin-tilted staff got up and discussed the stern and serious status of the school. I was still groggy from my jet lag. (At best this process takes about three days) Did my best to stay awake. I tried to take in the phenomenon of it all. 

Happy memories filled my brain of earlier that day when Emma had taken me to the sand painting room and I got to try this method for the first time.

One of Emma's paintings. She paints her students. 

She promised we would do more later. She also showed me some of her oil paintings. She is a talented artist and gifted educator. I am honored to work with her and learn from her. She also has a very kind heart which is extremely helpful when navigating the rocky road of cultural assimilation.

My first sand painting! 

It was Friday, and on Friday the canteen is not open for dinner so the foreigner is left to their own devices as to how they are to feed themselves. Actually, most foreigners do not eat dinner in the canteen. There are even a few foreign teachers who proclaim to hate Chinese food. I don’t understand this. First of all, most of the food is delicious and secondly, why would you ever move to a culture where you hate the food?? (Just sayin...) anyway, I am in the minority, eating at least two meals a day in the school. I also do this because #1 my kitchen is not food prep friendly at this moment. (I think I was eating my cereal with a fork for the first three weeks) and #2 getting food when you cannot read or understand the language can be rather challenging. Even when I know what I am getting into, I still end up mixed up. For example, when I went to Shanghai a few weeks ago- ( I will talk about Shanghai, I promise..) I arrived at the train station very early and decided to go the route of a Western breakfast and get me some "Golden Arches". Now let me say, in the States, I am quite adverse to McDonald’s and the like but when in Asia this food becomes suddenly nostalgic and a great cure-all for homesickness and travel jitters. Anyway, I did my best to order a breakfast meal: Egg McMuffin, hash brown, and soda but I ended up with somehow two egg McMuffins, no hashbrown and a drink I had to order later on the side. Sigh.

Doing everything with this degree of difficulty takes a toll on you: everything is complicated and takes more time. Like a broken arm or stubbed toe, you just don’t realize how intrinsically we depend on symbiotic communication, that to go without it really makes clear how much we really rely on it. I encourage you to think about this as you go through your day today. How often do you speak to someone and need information, services, or sentiments? How would you do this if you could not speak English? Survival is a whole different ballgame without the capacity for understanding. Still, I think most expats will agree that indeed it makes everything more arduous but it also makes it more exciting. Ordering an Egg McMuffin is not that adventurous, that is unless you are in the Shanghai train station trying to negotiate all of these things...

But back to Friday night.. no dinner in the canteen so  I thought it best to hit up a neighbor foreign teacher of mine to see if he wouldn’t mind grabbing dinner and showing me around the neighborhood a little bit. I was starting to get my inner compass and it is still surprising how absolutely clueless I was as to my place in the world the first day I walked out of my apartment. He graciously agreed. His name is Kenneth and he is from the Philippines.
It is his second year and afterward, he will be moving to Texas to be with his other family that has moved there. Kenneth speaks a little Chinese and blends in a little more than the average foreigner. As this is the case, he is good company to have when acclimating to my new environment.  We walked a few blocks from our complex down a street that is lined with a few shops and food vendors. The street is bustling with people who are socializing, tinkering on bicycles, stirring steaming pots and eating at makeshift tables that have spilled out into the street. We walk to a bbq place that Kenneth likes. It is really, really a small place, like closet size. You enter through a narrow passageway and on the one side is a cooler which is chocked full of skewers of all different types of meats vegetables and seafood. You get a basket, fill said basket and then turn around and hand that basket to the vendor manning the bbq, physically six inches away.

(It should be said that one needs to be aware that your personal space bubble gets significantly smaller when you are in Asia. There simply is not enough room for everyone so you get closer and stay closer,  it’s just the way things are). So after handing off your selected raw meat, in a matter of moments it is fully grilled and brought to you, steaming hot fully cooked. If you finish your basket and are still hungry, you just simply go back to the cooler and pick out more meats. At the end, the BBQ man totals your bill by the number of skewers in your basket. (It’s kinda the way they do tapas in Spain) and you, of course, pay through QR code on the wall which connects your bank account to the proprietors' bank account and then you are on your way. After dinner, Kenneth and I took a tour of the local grocery store, it was small but had all of the essentials. I appreciate him taking the time to walk me around. 

The next day was Saturday and I decided that this would be my first big day on my own. Kenneth had pointed out a dumpling restaurant within the strip and I had it in my mind that I would make it my day's mission to go out and retrieve the aforementioned dumplings. (See above about how everything is harder when you don't speak the language.) Anyway, I went to what I thought was the dumpling stand and tried to talk to the man selling the dumplings. He said ‘mayo” which generally means 'no, not, do not have, absent, without...' this is similar to the Korean 'opsoyo'. I pointed to a couple dumpling-ish looking pastries and somehow managed to pay for them and moved on. I tried a couple more vendors without much luck. One shop sold buns: Pork buns! I ordered a few of those too through my handy dandy translation app. I snacked on one bun to actually find out what I had ordered which made me thirsty.  so I popped into a fruit market where I could see cold water coolers along the wall from the window. I walked in and was surprised

This is a dragonfruit. It is delicious and the type of fruit I buy at the market.
You cut it in half and eat it with a spoon. It tastes like a plum/pear, sort of. 

the underground market near my house. 

to hear” Hello, how are you today.” “You speak English?” I asked surprised. The woman said "a little." She said her name was Grace. I told her I am a new teacher and I am happy she speaks English and is just a few blocks from me. More on Grace later but she was just the motivation I needed to keep going down the street. I meandered further and wandered into the fruit and vegetable market on the first floor of the grocery store. I love to buy my produce from the authentic farmers market, but without the ability to communicate or be sure I do not get ripped off, for the moment the best I can do is window shop.
    I took the escalator upstairs into the shop and decided to try on some clothes for my first week of teaching. I was happy to discover that the clothes fit! Asians are much smaller than the average foreigner, so finding clothes can be troublesome. I selected a few items and paid for them at the counter. I started to walk toward the groceries when this woman began screaming at me about something. It took me a moment to figure out that she was asking me to put my bags in the lockers by the door and then pick them up after I had left the grocery area. I am getting faster at decoding things! (at least I think I am, right: )  I selected a few items of what I could discern and headed home with my clothes, pastries, and water. I was feeling sort of accomplished.

I munched on what was not a dumpling when I got home. They were however delicious. I ate four of them and was sooo full I skipped dinner. That night I went to bed early and prepared for my big day on Sunday. This was the day I was going to meet my first VIPKID!

For those that don’t know VIPKID is the company I started working with in Graduate School while obtaining my Teaching Certification. VIPKID is an online language forum that connects Chinese kids with Teachers in the US. It’s a great way to make some part-time income while you are between things. Anyway, it is great fun and surprisingly I was able to build up a few lasting relationships with my VIPKID students. In fact, there were a few of them that I informed that I was moving to China and most were interested in meeting up once I arrived. For those that are interested in learning more about VIPKID, you can find that here. But this job is really somewhat responsible for my decision to come here. It was through VIPKID that I remembered my love for teaching ESL and the cultural exchange. Students seem to respond well to my teaching and you couldn’t beat the commute. Downsides to VIPKID: you are an independent contractor, which means you are on your own for taxes. There are no benefits and they have a rather impossible cancellation policy for missed classes. But if you can hang in, the job is flexible and lucrative and perfect for the little extra income on the side kinda of a job, IMO. Some teachers do it full time, and I commend them. I always felt I was one terrible cold away from a firing...

But anyway I mention all this because my trip to Xitang is directly related to VIPKID, because it was on my trip to Xitang that I met my first VIPKID.

Her name was Angela and she is a smiley, bright eyed wonderful little lady who is as kind and polite as any of my students. When I contacted her family, about visiting them, they mentioned they would be vacationing in the area around the time of my arrival to Jiaxing. They literally swung by and picked me up on there way to Xitang in a taxi. WeChat does amazing things. As I could see their car coming up the road as she came to meet me. And like that, I was in the taxi with Angela's mom. her dad and Angela.

Angela my first VIPKID!

Angela and her mom.

We all took a close-knit slightly awkward one-hour taxi ride to the ancient city of Xitang. They would be vacationing in the town for a few days. Angela's mom spoke a little English and we depended a great deal on our translation devices to get us through our conversation. That being said, we were able to communicate quite a bit and you'd be surprised at the thoroughness of a conversation that can be had with little English ability. It's almost more refreshing as there is no need for elaborate discourse just essential

Gifts from Angela 

thought exchange. Xitang is well guarded and well

lunch on the river!

traveled as a high spot for tourists during the summer. When we arrived, they checked into their hotel and gave me some beautiful gifts which I will show here. Angela made me a drawing and they also gave me a beautiful fan and a notebook (not pictured). I was truly honored. Gift giving is extremely important in China. I owe Kim, my Chinese teacher, a read of her article so I may say more on the matter later... but I did have to arrive with gifts for all of my teachers and Principal and for Peter's Mom.

(Peter's Mom is one of my VIPKID's Moms and Peter was my most booked student. Peter's Mom gave me my Chinese name of 潘欣妍 -Pan Shin Yen-which means Happy Beautiful and Pan being the syllable for my last name. In Western terms, my name is  Shin Yen Pan. Pan for Poll-man) 

Boats on the River of Xitang

Fruit vendors with dry ice 

Dumpling making in Xitang

The weather was hot and sticky and the crowds were thick. It doesn't feel claustrophobic though, as I find the Chinese mostly move like schools of fish through crowded areas. For the most part, it is just your job to keep moving at the pace of everyone else. It really is quite remarkable. Also, you must be aware that your bubble of personal space gets extremely smaller in Asia. There just is room for it here. We all have to share the room. Once you can make these intuitive adjustments you will find traveling through any destination to be much more pleasant. Xitang (pronounced Shee-tang) is a river town and many there are still riverboats that travel up and down the river carrying tourists for a river view of the shops and food vendors that line the banks. The shops were chocked full of different gifts and goods from all over China. They had food vendors of all sorts and sizes. There

Vendors draw with liquid sugar and make candy.

Drawn liquid sugar treat!

were the ladies making dumplings in the window, the man churning giant mounds of nougat, the man drawing with liquid sugar. the fresh fruit which was smoked with dry ice, petrified Peking duck skewered in the windows, sugar cane juice, fresh fish swimming in the tanks, tea vendors, ukuleles,  and of course the spa were the fish eat the skin off your feet! It was a smorgasbord of
visual and delectable proportions. As we wound our way through the crowds we ducked into a restaurant that sat by the riverside. From the window of our table, we could see tourists climbing the many bridges from one street to another. The rain fell lightly as we watched gondolas float smiling tourists passed our window. Angela points to a picture on the wall. It's of Tom Cruise who apparently was in this restaurant a few years back. The picture underneath is of Meryl Streep. Apparently, we chose a very fine place for lunch. Which was delicious by the way! We ate boiled chicken and wonton soup, pork and what I believe was water chestnuts out of the river.

Lunch. Delicious! 

They were delicous. After lunch, we meandered more and took a boat ride. People were trying to catch small minnows at the river's edge and I got to see Xitang with a river view. After the boat, we headed to a tiny coffee shop and sipped on coffee tucked away from the crowd. There was a loud cat that kept meowing at the door and the barista told us she will have babies soon. When we walked to meet my taxi painting students lined the walkway. They were making impressive paintings for students as young as they were. Some of them shouted English phrases at me and giggled.

Students painting. 

Fish Pedicure anyone?

This happens a lot actually, but it doesn't bother me. The taxi takes me home and I again am mystified that I arrive back where I started in my home.

This is my view. I labeled all tables with color-coded pencil and marker cups that I made with the help of some students. Each table can be addressed by the color name. 

The next morning I try the walk to school. There is a school bus that takes us daily to school and that is always an option for me. I prefer to walk in most cases. I get to see the town I live in and get some exercise too. It takes me about 25 mins to walk it and is about one mile. The other teachers have inquired about my perceived bus boycott, and asked "so do you like to sleep in?". For those of you that know me well, you are laughing at this question. "No", I said, "I like the walk." And I do like the walk. It is a lovely meander along the river and a few canals that pass through Jiaxing. It's really a straight shot to school from the road where my apartment complex resides. And thankfully living on the outskirts of town, traffic is not too bad.
I say not too bad because compared to American streets, this would be a nightmare, but if you see yourself as a member of the school of fish swimming in the ocean you can pass through traffic that is moving around you with some grace. Whatever you do... Keep MOVING! ) The video I posted is actually much less traffic then I experience usually. I walk through the big main entrance of the school and the guards are there to say good morning to me. If I like, I can head to the canteen to get breakfast, but for the most part, I have fruit that I bring from home and start my day right away.

View of the Screen I was
hoping to work for my first day. 

My classroom is a bit of a shell of a classroom at this point and Emma and I worked together the first week to order any supplies I might need for myself as a teacher. How an art classroom gets stocked in China is very different from how it gets stocked in America. Instead of the schools offering the teacher a budget and the teacher buys the supplies for all the students to share, the teacher instead makes a list for all the students to purchase and the student then brings the supplies into the classroom. (It, unfortunately, did not turn out this way for me and I will explain that bump in the road later) We did, however, have to get through the supplies I needed as a teacher. This was challenging. Ordering websites were in Chinese. And I would have to tell Emma what I could imagine I would need, describe it to her and she would try to find the item on the website and then translate that item onto the form. This. took. a. very. long. time. It also tried both of our patients but we managed to not blame each other for difficulties in communication. Emma said her brain hurt from so much English and mind hurt from so little.

My first-day teaching and the projector screen went out 5 mins before class!
Plan B in effect! 

(left) my rewards board by class. (right)My 400 + library that many of you donated to!

My rewards board. Stars are awarded
for good behavior

I would like to state for the record that I am unfortunately currently one month in and have yet to see those supplies. For the most part, the job has been dreamy, but it is a new school and things are in some ways 'very in transition'. Someone told me a few weeks ago that it is said 'the Chinese like to build the plane while it is in the air' and it definitely feels this was in some aspects at the school. And although I was informed several times that getting my supplies before school started would not be ANY problem and I should not worry about it, here we are a month in and I have no supplies for myself nor my students to teach art. It has become an interesting exercise in minimalism: I have begged, stolen and borrowed a total of 9 boxes of markers, three boxes of pencils, two erasers, three pencil sharpeners, three boxes of black markers and a stack of unused paper from last year, which is going fast. I have 700 students so you can do the math on this. It has been comical. But the show must go on and I am keeping projects simple and short until the magic boat arrives with all of my supplies. At first, I thought that this would not be a problem for long, but when my school sent out the list of supplies to purchase for my class, the parents refused to buy the supplies and said they had already purchased their supplies for the other Chinese Art classes. This was just wonderful! (please tell me you can read the sarcasm) So my Principal took out an emergency purchase order so my students would have some tools to make art with. I have no idea when these items will arrive, it has been mentioned sometime early October but at this point, we are in a sink or swim situation and I just continue to the make the best of it. I figure hey, if the kids are learning, engaged, making art and speaking English then my mission is accomplished! I want to say that I still love my job and I see it as a work in progress. I have been given carte blanche to build this program and it can become whatever masterpiece I want. I am excited about this prospect and will keep you all informed as to how it develops. That open forum does come with challenges though, and that is to be expected. I think flexibility and open-mindedness are the essentials as you are going forward in this process.

This was my schedule in Chinese
I had to try and decode.
It took me about two hours!

Talking to my students about line, shape, color, and texture.

So speaking of my classroom, I wanted to talk a little bit about how I structured everything. implemented a few tricks of the trade that I learned from VIPKID and Central Trail as I mentioned before. Also, the day before I left for China, Renee O'brock, and her lovely parents Lynn and Paul Brand were over and Lynn had gifted for me an impressive stock of stickers and other classroom decorations. Little did I know at the time, but they would be the cornerstone of buzz in my classroom in the not to distant future. As I have mentioned, I have close to 700 students. 18 classes 6, second

Students working on their first project. 

grade, 6 third grade, 3 fourth and 3 fifths. My classes run for 35 mins and it must be a tight ship so we can get work done on time and in an organized fashion so I don't have a mess on my hands every time the kids walk out the door. Thanks also to the lessons I learned in 'The First Days of School.' by Harry Wong that talked at length about the importance of class rules and procedures. Procedures are different from class rules in the way that class rules are the contracts of behavior that students must adhere to in a classroom: Raise your hand, stay in your seat. Work quietly, Listen to the speaker. The procedure, however, is how you enter the classroom, when you get supplies, how you clean up the classroom, how you line

Students have name cards with their class number on them. 

up. All this takes training and with 36 in a room, all of which who do not speak English well... creates some pretty interesting challenges. Having rules and telling them to your second graders is one thing. Now imagine explaining the rules to a group of second graders who do not speak English. It's a whole new ball game. It has been a lot of trial and error too. I will run a class and see what was not working and immediately adjust and make changes to the language so it is more understandable. At first, I had rules like "I listen to the teacher." That's a lot of words for someone who doesn't speak English well. I have adjusted that rule to "Quiet" students learn to stop talking. I also have pictures on the board which coordinate to the rules to help them remember. My rules in total are Eyes, Quiet, Don't Touch, Sit Down, and Stand Up, it's really pretty basic but can cover a lot more ground in complexity. The students really help keep each other accountable as they want their stars. Oh, the stars. I have told them that they can earn three stars per class, which equals three stickers per class. They get twenty stars and they get an art party. (Thank you, Diane Gladieux, for your most excellent idea) They love the stars and the stickers. I brought my VIP KID stars from the states which is a platform to introduce a reward system. Stars can be given or taken away due to the behavior of the class. This has been wonderful for class management and holding everyone accountable for good behavior has been very effective to get other students to keep other students in line. In addition to the rules, I have procedures which are strictly adhered to so the students know exactly what is happening when in our class. It really has worked very nicely thus far. I shall keep you posted.

Name cards students have made with there English names. 

First content lesson on the vocabulary of Art. 

My first two weeks I had my students make name tags and then we worked on the vocabulary of art. I decided to focus on line, shape, color, and texture. We watched a short video on the terms and then went over them in PPT and then we made a project which implemented the new terms. This will be about the structure of all my lessons. Currently, I am teaching all classes the same way with varying levels of language complexity. Second grade we use target vocab pretty much only and for fifth, I will use complete sentences in context to direct the content. Next week we will divide the subject matter. Second grade will focus on early art history, third will discuss elements and principles, fourth will discuss art history of the modern age and fifth will discuss art and culture. This is my plan thus far.

Ugh, I still have so much more to tell you but this may be enough for now. I shall keep trucking along and one of these days I'll get caught up to current day and its only been a month! Please know upcoming is Shanghai, Amy Gets a Kitty Cat (Yes, its true), Shipping and receiving in China, Hotpot yum, Jumping in China, Amy gets rollerskates (yes its true too!) and takes her first bullet train!

Amy's Braves the New World, Settles-in and Tangents without Abandon.

View of marble nook from my bedroom window.
(Thanks to Andy for my sand art.) 

    So we pick up where I left off, post cell phone trauma. I needed a proper nap when I returned home as jet lag was the worst around 4pm. FYI, China is 12 hours ahead, so it is exactly halfway around the world and exactly the opposite time here than it is in the States (if you are EST) Jet lag naps are like falling into a state of uncontrollable unconsciousness. You simply do not have a choice in the matter, but it is best if you can stay awake for as long as you can, if not you are just prolonging your symptoms more if you 'nap your way through it.' In this case, however, sleep can offer a necessary reprieve from the overwhelming sensory overload that can occur in a foreign land. I slept in a strange hard bed, with a flat pillow on an unfitted sheet (more on that later ;) and looked out an unfamiliar window. I closed my eyes and imagined I was in my Ohio bed and fell fast asleep.

Typical night time affairs in city center Jiaxing.

    Later that night, I awoke to find my self-groggy yet vertically capable so I asked a few foreign teachers if they would join me for dinner. This required me attempting to hail my first taxi. Living on what seems to be the outskirts of town there were not many taxis passing by. I say outskirts, but compared to most American standards, this would be a bustling borough.  And for the most part, people don't hail taxis in China, they order them on the Didi APP. (This is like Uber for the Chinese.)

What Didi looks like. As you can see,
 it is in English which is super helpful.
  There is, of course, Chinese versions too. 

But since I did not have a Didi account yet nor a way to understand how it worked, I was left to the devices of good ole 'grab stranger and ask for help'. I decided my best bet was to approach the men in the security booth at the entrance of my building. Its a funny thing talking to the Chinese in my community. I clearly cannot understand most of what they are saying but they keep speaking to me as if I do understand. .... I DO however appreciate anyone attempting to communicate with me, and with a deep breath and a hope for success, I approached the guards. I used my handy dandy Google app to tell them I cannot get a taxi and can they help me order one. I tell them in my broken Chinese that I cannot speak Chinese. Which is always a funny thing, because when I say this in Chinese, it is then assumed that I do speak Chinese and then it becomes a bit of a language Bermuda Triangle...

When I have to try to communicate with someone in my neighborhood, usually one of two phenomena happen. 1. We are successful in understanding each other via body language or 2. The person I am speaking with continues to speak to me in Chinese, only much louder and much more slowly. Although not necessarily helpful, it can make the encounter rather comical. I should always keep this in mind when speaking to people who clearly don't understand me. Note to self: Louder, slower not effective, ever. 

After some grumbling and uncertainty, the younger of the two guards agreed to help me. I had been given the Chinese directions of 嘉兴市  南湖区城南路汇才大厦6-1108 (which could have said "I like to wear a chicken suit on Tuesdays" for all I knew but it was apparently an address) from the foreign teachers I was to meet which was about a 15min drive from my location. Let me say here it was out of the kindness of this young man's heart that he was willing to help me as it was certainly outside of his job description as the other older security guard let me know with a series of brow furrowing and primal grunts. The other guy, however, found this to be entertaining and decided to take on the challenge! Not so long after he pushed some button on his phone he was pointing to the corner and waving me away.

So I went and stood and waited for a car to take me where I needed to go. Sure enough, within a few minutes, a car pulled up, and the Security guard came out from his booth to open the door so I could get in the Didi. The driver took me promptly to the location where the Foreign teachers were waiting and I was able to follow along on my map app on my phone to be sure we were not taking any scenic route. When we got to the location he turned and pointed out the fare due on his phone.

This is what WeChat looks like on your phone. 

This might be a good time here to explain how seamlessly technology operates in China. On your phone is an app, WeChat, (WeChat is the Facebook equivalent but it is also tied to your bank to your maps and to your life) or Alipay kind of like an easier Paypal. In many cases, it is as simple as scanning a QR code in order to complete transactions. You will pay for your taxi, your bills, your dinner, even the old lady selling fruit on the corner is harboring in her pocket technology that far surpasses the most streamlined cell phone 'square' in the states. In fact, no one swipes 'a card' or 'has cash'. They are archaic notions. I mean, why would you? You just need your phone to access  your WeChat, push a button and there you are.. on your way.... 

Meanwhile in the taxi.. Thankfully, cash still spends and while I hung in bank account-less limbo, I handed him cash for my fair. Out I slid from the taxi to magically find six other foreigner teachers waiting on the street for me. Astounding! They were all other teachers from the school. Most of whom work in the International Department. Most of the International teachers in the International Department are in fact from other nations...
Collectively, there were four Americans including myself, and two from England. (That being said, I work with English speaking people from all over the world: South Africa, Australia, Philippines, Canada... just to name a few. Truthfully, Americans are actually more of a minority in the population of foreigners at my school.)

The picture! 

I suppose my interest in being in international surroundings was peaked in my freshman year of college when I decided to join a few friends at Mackinac Island for the summer. While there, I worked with people from all over the world. It was fascinating to be surrounded by so many people from all over the planet on this tiny little fudge-filled island (really it was). But I guess even before that was my first encounter with an Asian speaking group of tourists.  I was with my youngest sister, Angie (she was oh so little then) and we were at some botanical gardens... I think Niagara Falls... Anyway, I remember out of nowhere being surrounded by a small herd of camera-toting Asian tourists. They spoke not a word of English and without warning, we were scooped up, corralled in, and propped in the middle of them all. I at first thought they wanted me to take a picture of all of them, but NO, they wanted us to be IN the picture.  We obliged and at this point, we had little choice... Serendipitously, my mom shot a picture of this event that I share here. I remember sitting there surrounded by this seeming sea of otherworldliness They spoke a different language that made different sounds, but they laughed the same, probably about the fact they had basically held us captive for this picture! They smelled different and looked different, but they smiled the same also. We couldn't understand words... but we could understand each other in feeling, in kindness, and in community. It was fascinating.

Typical Chinese Menu, what would you like for dinner?

Perhaps that is when the seed was planted for me to even consider moving to the other side of the planet, as I have found myself today. I remember hearing about teaching English in Japan in high school and I always thought 'I'd like to do that someday!" Since then I have had many conversations with people that go something like, "Well, of course, I am moving to China, I am so excited. Wouldn't you want to go?" Not all but many get this look of horror on their face and say something to the effect of, "Umm, hell no." and I am like "Really?" and they are all "Yes, really. No desire ever, to go to China."... I suppose I am just not built like everyone else and that is ok! For those that would prefer not to make the trip, you can do so hopefully vicariously through me!

Screenshot of somewhat helpful
Google Translate camera function. 

Meanwhile, on the streets of Jiaxing, we decide to attempt to have dinner. I say attempt because that is how you accomplish EVERYTHING in a foreign land. First, there is the communication barrier, then there is the make sure we are at a decent place that won't make us sick evaluation, then there is the can we tell what the heck we are ordering part of the process. A lot of restaurants come with big pictures on the wall which tell you which dishes they serve. When navigating an entirely Chinese menu. Which may look like this (see image)But again, (Thank you Google,) Google translate can help you with this too! Just simply shoot a picture of the menu in your translate app and voila! the app translates it for you. Unfortunately, most of the dishes are named things like 'Dragons Dream' or 'Happy Family' so understanding what is IN your dish is a whole other ball game. Which brings me to the last component of eating in China: open-mindedness. You just simply must resign yourself that there is a good chance you will have absolutely no idea what you are eating and there is no way around that until you put it in your mouth and find out! This had lead to mostly pleasant culinary experiences and if I don't care for something, I just don't eat it. It's that simple.

That being said, I would qualify myself as a more adventurous eater than most. I have a philosophy that I will try ANYTHING once. Among other things, I have eaten dog, things I can only refer too as squirming baby sea monsters, dried squid (trust me, its rough), and as of late, I can say that China is most definitely putting my policy to the test.

School canteen. 

Why just the other day I was in the cafeteria, (My school feeds us breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. Nice, yes?) I give the food, however, a solid B+ and have been told after a few months will be over the mystery meat and hot oiled vegetables served daily. But for now it's mostly tasty, hot, accessible and FREE, so it suits me just fine.

A typical meal for me at school, chopsticks and all!

View from the third-floor canteen.

 The canteen is on the third floor and is for teachers only (hallelujah) it has some nice art on the walls, a nice view of the collide of agriculture and commerce skyline of Jiaxing and a rather big brother-esque collaged portrait of the forefathers of Peking Universtiy in Beijing.

  Sometimes I have an English speaking Chinese person with me to help me decode dishes and sometimes not, and the other day at lunch, I did not. So I was more baffled than usual as to what dishes were being served this noontime, but I grabbed the plate that seemed to be the most boneless. Also to be mentioned is the way the Chinese eat their animal/fish/fowl. One has to consider first of all, how they are coming from rather old world ways of doing things.

Awkward wonderful painting of Founding fathers of Peking University. 

As I understand it, poverty was very much the norm and for generations, they ate every part of any protein that graced their table. (Perhaps this has something to do with the concept of not wasting anything or making use of everything that is useful too.) Some of this trickled down into the food you eat today.

The whole animal is butchered and thrown in the pot. It is not rude or unusual to see people leaning over their tray to spit out bones, cartilage, or inedible fat. The simple fact is that chewing on bones in China is inevitable and with the right perspective, can be a bit of an art form! The tastiest meat is closest to the bones, so you must be mouthfully agile to extract it with grace. I am not so talented in this department yet, I usually chew on it for a while and once I got most of the meat off, I simply remove it with my hand and place it on my tray. I think to the Chinese this is quite gross, but I'm not ready to spit over my tray, yet. : )

Simply love this photograph hanging in the canteen.

So there I am in the food line. I picked one bowl with a huge hard chunk of mysteriousness in it. I think it is meat. It does not look boney and I think (foolishly), "I am getting better at selecting my portions!" I sat down next to an English Speaker teacher who was Chinese. After eating for a while, I realized my chunk was not indeed what I had thought at all. It was hard and intricate. I pointed to the ambiguous food substance. And said, "Umm, what is this?" She replied plainly "That is duck head.'  "DUCK HEAD?!!" I said with clear shock and amazement. I spun it around with my chopstick and sure enough, it was the bill of a duck roasted black in my bowl. I turned it over to see the underside. It looked almost like an obsidian seashell. "Um, how does one eat a duck head?" It was obviously too hard to chew... She replied plainly "Oh, you suck on it." "Suck on, it?" I said sheepishly. I ran through the several scenarios quickly in my mind as to how this could go and all of them ended in regret. I exhaled deeply and said, "I can't do it." " I just can't, I cannot suck on the duck head." She laughed. "Maybe later, but for now, I am simply not ready.' Well done China. You have foiled my policy!

But back to dinner (Told ya, tangent city) The restaurant they wanted to take us to was closed, so we meandered up and down the street until we found a place that seemed to cater to our limited resources of capabilities. We went in and were instructed to sit down. The woman came over and brought us tea. Tea is a given at any restaurant and should always be selected over the water, the water sadly can make you sick. I, so far, have not had any trouble, but I bathe and brush my teeth sparingly. 

The more seasoned teachers take the helm on ordering food and it is served family style in a large heated pot in the center. Quickly and as it is freshly made, the dishes began pouring out of the open kitchen. We had a large pot of seafood stew, chicken, vegetables, rice, oh it seemed as if the buffet just kept coming. Fortunately, in most cases, real Chinese food is not terribly filling this way you can eat A LOT. Everything is served family style and in generous quantities. Eating is a communal event and one must not be squeamish about delving chopsticks into bubbling pots for favored morsels! In fact, they have a belief that if you don't eat your rice you will not get full! 

But for not having many clues to what we were doing, it all worked out fine. 

Dinner at the Chinese cafe has a heat source in the middle of the table.
Food is bubbling hot throughout the meal and delicious! 

  Of course, the woman helping us was pretty much insisting on her specialties clearly, which was refreshing but can be off-putting to our bend over backward almost insincere hospitality you can experience while dining in the states. You never have any doubt what a Chinese person thinks. They will just tell you, niceties are inconveniences and a waste of time. I find it refreshing. The highlight of the evening was when the woman who was feeding us left the building only to return with a freshly slaughtered chicken; held it still fully feathered, hanging lifeless and limp by its feet. She walked it right past our table and put it directly in the fridge in the open cafe. This was rather shocking to us, but almost as a testament to just how fresh the chicken is! Part of the issue is a cultural one, We are so used to our cow looking like burgers, our pork like hot dogs, are chicken-like nuggets we forget there is a whole animal attached to it. The Chinese do not disguise their meat, they use every part of it, so I have had to get used to chicken toe claws in my bowl, hair still sticking out of the skin of the pig, and of course duck head! For those that are more conservative eaters, I can only assume you are quite revolted by now, but I must tell you that between the very edible other parts WE don't eat is deliciousness you might never know otherwise. Besides, the food is prepared well and is tasty to their culture. One could see our culture as foolishly wasteful. It's really just a matter of perspective. 

One of the impressive restaurant storefronts surrounding
the exterior of my apartment complex. 

After dinner, we discussed life in China and how abstract and surreal a career as a "Foreigner Teacher really is." We were all so different but cut from the same cloth that brought us here together now. I walked slowly with the other foreigners back to their apartment complex. They used Didi to get me a taxi and had paid for it by the time I had closed my passenger door. I magically again was brought back home. As I strolled through my apartment complex, I passed the vibrant restaurant storefronts, mothers carrying their babies for a walk and the old women synchronized dancing in the square. There was a cool, comforting breeze, and the apartments rose like giants, surrounding me safely in the darkness.

Textures and shapes are starting to become more focused. The reality of my surroundings is setting in. I think about the fact that even though I tote myself as a largely open-minded person, I realize that there are naturally occurring cultural biases in us all, even in me. And I must be extra vigilant to reserve judgment and to think about things, not the way that I do them but rather the fact that just because they don't do it the way I do it doesn't make it wrong. This is a mantra I say to myself almost daily. After all, this is why I came here, to see different, to understand different and to let different make me different too. 

Amy gets her health.. checked?, meets the school and gets lost in space...

The Zen Garden in the center of my Apartment complex

Shopping centers circle my apartment complex. 

Ok, there is so much happening on a daily basis and really, I am doing my best to keep up with noting it all, so I can mention it here. I realize there are some teachers and student teachers reading my blog now so I will try to document a fair amount of what is going on inside my classroom too. I just want to start with a BIG thank you to Tina Arndt at Central Trail Elementary. Although it felt like a gauntlet at that time, I am quite convinced that every moment of my student teaching assignment has prepared me as much as I can be for the 680 students awaiting me on Monday. I will surely be going into this later, but for now, let us rewind to Day 2: the Health Check.

The marble royal statues that greet visitors at the east gate. 

So it should be known that when you immigrate into any country they want to be sure you are not bringing in any communicable diseases or you know, you are healthy... so they do this, uh, check. So I was asked to not eat or drink anything after 10pm the night before my appointment...this was difficult as I was parched and famished after my journey and it is humid and hot here in Jiaxing, but I pulled through with the promise of free breakfast after our appointment which I was quite certain would not include pancakes, eggs, and bacon but hey, free grub is free grub!

So, I met a very anxious Janey (one of the Chinese HR reps) and the driver at the entrance to my apartment complex and we were off to pick up another new foreigner teacher -calling someone a foreigner teacher is not a negative thing in Asia. It is what you are. And bringing the west-east is greatly respected, so really a 'foreigner teacher' is something one can be proud of. Anyway, we picked up Chris who is a new teacher in the English Department. He is from Illinois but spent the last eight years in South Korea, so we have a few things in common, which is nice. He has been in the country less than I so we can commensurate with our jetlag lugged-ness as we anticipate the procedures we might be enduring soon.

East Gate of Peking University Experimental School Jiaxing (PKUES)

I had been through a couple health checks in South Korea. It is what I would imagine one feels like if they were, let's say, abducted by aliens. (Not so much the torture or anal probing, umm, maybe this is not a good analogy after all.., but  having people perform procedures for reasons unbeknownst to you can be a little disconcerting, also the staff talks to each other and to you in a language you can not understand in the slightest.. (yes, in that way it is the same : ) We had a rather stabby blood sample, urine sample (a whole other ball game that I will not go into here, but let's just say it involved a cup the size of a jello shot and a test tube, no I'm not kidding..) eye checks (which seemed to only confirm I really, really need my glasses), an ultrasound of our innards (of which the lady told Chris in English "I cannot find your gallbladder." to which he replied frankly "I assure you it is where I left it." There was also a peculiar check involving me squatting and standing a few times while raising my arms up and down. Still, have no clue as to why. I was hooked to a machine with electrodes attached to it, and in most cases, I was in each station of the health check building for approximately 45 seconds.

Recreational fields at PKUES

The medical person would say 'Ok, finish. 'and I was like 'but I just got here!' My X-ray was anecdotally entertaining as the radiologist told me to put my necklace pendant in my mouth while he took the x-ray. Well, he didn't really tell me, he showed me with charades. You get good at communicating in action when language is a failed form of exchange. He kept opening his mouth and pointing, I tried to guess: 'eat something? take a picture in my mouth? I have teeth? Don't eat while you take the picture? swallow when I take the picture? put something in my mouth? Put my necklace in my mouth? Wait, put my necklace in my mouth, well ok! This whole thing has to be equally entertaining to the staff as they are constantly seeing a parade of dummies come through their door. After we finished the assembly line of mysterious procedures we were given a couple loaves of sweet bread and lukewarm soy milk to enjoy for breakfast in the lobby of the medical center. It did the job!

The auditorium and student exhibition hall. 

Next, we were on to the school, which I was able to see for the first time in the light. I have to say, it is a breathtaking property. I have learned since this day that it is a smaller version of the actual Peking University in Beijing. Btw: did you know that Peking is actually a mispronunciation of Beijing? This was surprising news to me a few months back as I learned that during the English occupation of China in the 19th century there was a gross mispronunciation occurring in the translation of sounds and words. Beijing sounded much like Peking in the old ways of transferring English sounds to Chinese words. Although most of the capital city has respectfully returned their name to Beijing, Peking University remains vigilant in keeping their namesake as is.

Hallway of PKUES

School's pagoda with watch tower. 

One of the most impressive features of the school is the east gate which is a replica of the Buddhist gate which serves as the gateway to Peking University in Beijing. It is grandiose and painted with precision and detail. As you enter the school grounds you are met with an impressive facade of the auditorium and student showcase hall. In the center of the school grounds, is a reflective pond, small pitched roof buildings flank each side which are traditional music rooms for playing drums and house different art performances. You can find a short animated video of the school grounds here. I very much hope to witness these and perhaps this may be a brimming location for a student collaborated installation (here's hoping!)

Traditional music houses which flank reflective pond. 

There is also a stunning pagoda and the school circles around this center. There are two divisions at my school: the International School and the National Division. This was confusing to me at first but, basically translates into respectively taught completely in English and Chinese Government regulated.

I teach in the National Division, which seems to offer an opportunity to be more surrounded by Chinese teachers instead of amongst a team of other foreigners. So, I am happy to be where I am. However, I am sure it will offer its challenges too. More to come later as the year

My classroom before my Western Additions. 

progresses. The International School has its own wing of the School and the National Division has its own wing too. My school is K-12 and I teach 1st-3rd grade. This is nice for planning as I develop three curriculums as opposed to the states where I may be doing 4-6 depending on the assignment. My classes last 35mins a piece (which is SHORT for an art class) but I plan on breaking up the

My classroom after Western Art Additions. 

class into intervals with short projects and basic outcomes to make this a rewarding and engaging class for all. There are 36 students in the average Chinese classroom. That's right. 36! I have been promised an aid to help me 'herd the kittens' (Thanks Mrs. Arndt). I have placed some hopefully persuasive reward systems in the class to help motivate good behavior. Most of this is robbed unapologetically from Tina Arndt's program which she has been ingeniously crafting for over two decades and from my experience while working at VIPKID (the online teaching company based in Beijing that I worked for before moving here.) I also read 'The First Days of School" by Harry K. Wong. (This book was very helpful and I recommend it to any new teacher regardless of the subject they teach) Anyhow, I believe I have prepared myself as much as I can for the oncoming 680 or so students I will have. (18 classes, 36 in each class) My classroom is well, just dreamy. Big picture windows, two giant sinks, plenty of storage, and the teacher prior to me had the kids paint the walls in a big colorful mural.

The Western Art Bulletin Board.

I had brought with me a large sum of posters and children's books. Most of the library I made was donated from members of the Toledo Community and if you were one of the individuals/institutions which donated, I thank you and offer you documentation of your contribution. The library is getting quite a response from teachers and students. It was my intention to turn the classroom into as much of an American classroom as possible. This is not because I do not want to assimilate, but rather it is because I want them to experience as much of another culture experience as possible.

Anyway, I thought it best to show the transformation of my classroom here, but there are many more posters and resources I have yet to display. I am delighted to represent my Western culture appropriately. I will post more about my classroom later, as I am sort of getting ahead of myself. I have yet to even tell you about the cell phone store!

So after a quick informational meeting post poking, we went for a meal in the canteen. The canteen, for those that don't know (I didn't), is the cafeteria. There are four dining halls on campus and two are reserved just for teachers. (Which is delightful to have our 'adult swim') I shall post about that later too. Sorry, I know I am saying that a lot, but there really is so much to share! And after the lunch, we all hopped in a cab and went to the cell phone store. We went with our HR representative, Bonnie. She is sort of our life manager when you are abroad and connects many dots for me when I am need of understanding how to navigate this very foreign landscape. I will message Bonnie anything from 'my hot water is not working' to 'where is the post office' my last message to her reads 'I understand you are not magical.' - I am serious. ( I will also explain that LATER- sorry!) 

Anyhow, bring a passport, a working phone and 500RMB and you get your phone set up. I was under the impression I would need to get a separate phone for China and one for the US, but come to find out, this is not the case. And just like that my connection to the states was eliminated.

Main Shopping complex in Jiaxing

(temporarily I will admit, but for a moment I felt like my tether to the spaceship had just been cut, as if I was just set adrift into the eternal cosmic Asian void. They told me I could just pop the other sim card back in any time I wanted but to return to my previous services but, emotionally this offered little comfort. This was an unfamiliar feeling to me because the last time I was in Asia we were not living in such a connected smartphone world. It has now changed me and to feel disconnected is to indeed feel disconnected.

Now I know you are all saying, "but Amy, what's the big deal, you can just Facebook everyone." well, no you can't, the Great Fire Wall of China keeps internet staples such as Facebook and Google out of its information wells. That being said, there are ways around it. I do have a VPN, which allows me to get to the blog I am writing right now. With a private VPN, one can pretty much get all of the reasonable uses out of the internet you like without consequence. Of course, the Chinese devices cannot run with a VPN, so my cell phone no longer is able to access those things. Honestly, I haven't missed it that much. I pop on when I can from my computer at home and hop off again for most of the day. So far, the sky has not fallen, or maybe it did but I missed it in

I walk passed many canals on my way to school.

the Timeline : )

I digress...back to the feeling of being set adrift.. one has to be prepared for occasional feelings of complete overwhelmedness. It is bound to happen every now and then. You are, in a very real way, very far away from everything you know and understand. It takes courage and vigilance to participate in this altered-reality for any committed amount of time, but whenever I am feeling like the floor is dropping out I simply talk myself back from the edge. There is the panicked thought: "Oh my God! I will never talk to anyone I love again!" and then there is a reasonable thought: "I will get home and get on my computer and notify all my friends and family that they can contact me through different means." It is always best to choose from column B, but that cannot always be avoided. Sometimes I just let myself be a little lonely, and like a storm in the night, it passes and the sun shines again in the morning.

I suppose I should stop there. There is oh, so much more to tell you... Until next time. thanks for reading and know that  "no matter how far away we are, we are still under the same moon."