Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the 饭店 (Fan Dian: restaurant)

One of my second-grade classes posing with their Egyptian inspired jewelry.

Hello fearless readers, I apologize it has taken me a breath to create my next posting. I assure you all is well in China!

Life is busy and I suppose most of the time I am finding the value in being in my present. Days are full with adaptation and acclimation of life, culture and the new job... all in one heaping helping. It is somewhat exhausting but rewarding no matter how homesick the heart may ever be. I remember now, as I have spent many a year driving away from my loved ones to know that really there is a very specific science to it. Keeping myself awestruck every day is enough to keep the Ohio blues away most of the time. And living in a place such as Asia, being awestruck most of the time is not too tall of an order as of yet...

Moments like the one above keep me smiling and I feel that my purpose here is often greater than I can imagine. It helps too that I was granted a leave to go home for Christmas, and I believe if you are going to do this in middle age (ugh) with an aging family and people you love back home, it is really essential to get yourself back there at least once every six months. This works for me, but each person is different, of course.

I am looking forward to returning home for the holiday because as I understand it, China is pretty much Christmas-less land. I shall report more on this matter when tis the season does arrive... but it will be nice to have a little holiday cheer for a quick turn around week repreive. The visit on the horizon has kept me focused and motivated to be making the most of the time I have here. So with out further adieu, let me tell you what has been happening around here!

First I had my second meeting with a VIPKID student. Her name is Joy and she was always one of my most capable and vivacious students. When I first started working for VIPKID, I showed my mom footage of a girl who jumped on the bed shouting English phrases, the whole class. "The (jump) cat (jump) is (jump) big!" (jump)It was hysterical and true to her name, this was Joy. She lives in Suzhou which is about an hour from me just north of Shanghai. I contacted her and then her mom and before you knew it, I was meeting them at the train station for my three day weekend in Suzhou.


Suzhou is known as the 'Venice of China' but that may have seemed like an overstatement for the area I saw. It was a modern city with some canals and bridges, however not much more than Jiaxing or some of the old water towns which surround Jiaxing. (I already spoke about Xitang and will be posting on Wuzhen soon.) But it was beautiful and wonderful to visit, especially with tour guides as lovely as Joy and her family.

View from our table in the restaurant.

Joy and I enjoying famous noodles in Suzhou


They took me first to lunch at this lovely restaurant with views of the canals below. It was delicious and a perfect introduction to Suzhou. After lunch, they took me to a famous Royal Garden Palace home. It was a historical site and jaw droppingly gorgeous enshrined with room after room of Chinese Master paintings, ornate wooden furniture, zen rock gardens and reflecting ponds. After the tour, we stopped and had tea in the tea shop garden. It was just delightful.

After the gardens, we went to the Japanese restaurant that Joy's Dad owns. It was a beautiful place and we ate and ate and ate so much delicious sushi, sashimi, and seafood, I felt well taken care of!

Exterior of Joy's Dad's restaurant

Joy's Dad making tableside wasabi!

The Map of the Palace Garden

The Map of the Palace Gardens

(The lake we headed toward near Suzchou for Hairy Crab)

Interior space of one of the many rooms in the palace






The next day they picked me up early and we took a ferry ride to an island where we were to eat a dish which was described to me as 'Hairy Crab". It is a delicacy of the lake and only available this time of year. I was of course excited and honored to be included on such an excursion!



Packed Ferry ride for Hairy Crab for Autumn Festival

It was a tiny island and for those of you from Northwestern Ohio, it reminded me very much of a Chinese version of Put in Bay, but more family-friendly of course.
It was explained to me that this small village opens its doors once a year to feast on the crabs which are fished right out of the lake nearby.



A canal on the island which is lined with tables which are makeshift eateries for this once a year enterprise.

Joy in the farm field near the restaurant. 

We walked along the canal for awhile and then ducked into a home which had a few rooms for seating. We sat in two different rooms, one was for the men and one was for the women. I did not inquire why this was so, but it was the seating arrangement.

Crab boats

Farm oxen near the restaurant. 

The dishes were served on a large lazy Susan and guests spun around the large glass table to bring the dishes closest to themselves that they would like to eat. Some of the younger guests could speak English pretty well and they helped me with how to eat some of the dishes I was rather confused about. The snails and crab were particularly complicated in procedure and it took great effort to get to the edible parts which were let's say 'not as delicious' as my Western palate had been used to.  As I have explained in previous posts, eating can be quite an adventure over here and for the most part a rewarding and delicious one. 

Lazy Susan ladies dinner

Evidence of my plight! 

This meal however was challenging even for my most open minded of positions of the matter. After completing what I can only describe as a scientific dissection of said hairy crab you essentially crack it open to find to 

Hairy crab, so called for their 'hairy' claws

my surprise what, unfortunately, reminded me most of fishy pizza vomit. I also was having an equally hard time with the slimy snails I was eating. Let me just say now. It. was. rough. Here I was, a thankful guest, invited along on the family function to be apart of this sacred event and they had given me some of their delectables and I HAD to eat it, out of respect and tradition. So I did what any gracious guest would do. I ate it.

Freshest pomegranate juice for so cheap!

..every. terrible. mouthful....eesh!

And there I was surrounded by a table of happy hungrily eating Chinese women and children munching away on this hairy crab and I was doing my best to keep it down. I finished the first crab and someone quickly said, "Here Amy, have more." I quickly retorted, "Oh, I am SOOOO full. I just could not eat one more thing!" 

Angry crab staring at me. 

Thankfully they heeded my request and I politely excused myself from the table to walk off my dinner trauma. Surrounding the restaurant were farms with small chicken coops and produce fields. The vegetables in our meal had been plucked not moments before from this very garden. 

A little after lunch, Joy's mom walked me around the island and we were able to see some of the other sites. Fishing boats, livestock, irrigation devices and we bought some refreshing pomegranate juice which pretty much cleansed me from all of my lunchtime woes. We stayed on the island for the afternoon.  Families played together and told stories. I listened and sat quietly as a bystander getting the gist of comradery and kinship being shared on the Autumn Festival Weekend. 

Later that night, we returned to Joy's Dad's restaurant and had "Alaskan" crab hot pot, which was much a relief to my taste buds, and even though he stared angrily at me from the pot simmering on the table, I was relieved to enjoy a more familiar form of crab! I returned to my hotel room late and quickly fell fast asleep in my cushy royal bed. What a trip!

Student work introduction poster 

Student work 

Student work

Student work

On another note: I wanted to share with you an art exhibition that is currently lining the hallways of the Primary School.

I cannot take ANY credit for the work that I am showing here, but I wanted to give an example of some of the stellar, creative and conceptually enriched products I see coming out of our National Division.

 I cannot tell you much about the work here as it is all exhibited in Chinese but, I can tell you all the students are between grade 1-5. The work is all framed and matted by the Chinese Teachers and displayed on wooden easels.

As it has been slow going in my art room. (I see each class once a week and there have been many interruptions in the teaching schedule. I have yet to complete six classes of any project, I am waiting to get a full set of artwork to display my students work, which I am VERY proud of! We have been doing amazing things with Klimt, and DaVinci, Eric Carle, Turner and the likes. It amazes me that even in

Student work

Western Art boards

Western Art boards

the short amount of time that we have together, students are able to produce some impressive and dedicated art projects. I will share them with you as I can..

But since I am waiting to display art, I do have some wonderful bulletin boards that I had mounted for display that were just hanging there empty and sad so I thought I must do something with them. Thankfully I had all of the lovely posters that were donated to me by Jason Sanderson of Bedford High school, the Toledo Museum of Art as well as Tina Arndt from Central Trail.

As my position at Peking University Experimental School is heralded as "Western Art Teacher",  I feel it is most appropriate that I am turning my room into a Western Arts Exhibition area. I also am working to make my room into an English Art room which will be engaging for the eyes as well as the mind. Keep in mind I am an ENGLISH art teacher so there is language as well as visual information infused into every corner of my art class.

Below I have included the wall which now houses all of my VIPKID language toys, the alphabet with corresponding English images (which I will eventually hold a contest for who can draw and write all the letters and words down correctly) and of course our beloved elements and principles of art. I am aware of course that most of my classes will not be able to read nor understand these posters in entirety for a while, but I believe it is repeated exposure and practice which yields resonated language development.

The portraits you see in the picture were painted by the students last year with the Chinese teacher. In this way, the wall becomes a collaboration between my contribution and theirs.




The Great English Art Wall



My THIRTY SIX students creating diligently!

School Art Exhibition

Outside of the classroom things are moving along too. I am getting more and more comfortable every day in my foreign settings and life is taking on some new routines. I am starting to build new communities with my neighborhood and colleagues. Traveling is not seeming like such a impossibly stressful task, and for that I am grateful. For the first few weeks, I would hop into a taxi and have a sneaking feeling of dread that I might get lost, or lose my phone, or passport, or my mind for that matter and never be found again! To lose one's phone is to lose one's life -truthfully so the phone must be guarded with great caution. 

But, for the most part now I feel INCREDIBLY safe here. People go out of their way to be kind and friendly to me. It has been so comforting as there are many times I am no more than a damsel in distress caught like a deer in headlights trying desperately to figure out well, " how the heck and am I gonna figure this one out." Generally, within moments someone will stop and help me. 

It should be said everything is trial by and error when you are in a foreign land. The understanding that you will do EVERYTHING the wrong way the first time is exactly the way you can survive and have a sense of humor about this experience. No matter how frustrating the task may be, it is ever so important to be laughing all the way at your seeming idiocracy. 

Things like how to lock your door can befuddle anyone when you have always locked doors one way your whole life. I even had the locksmith come as I swore my door would not lock properly. He came, only to show me 'HOW' to lock my door and then demanded I pay him 60RMB (about $10) for his time. lol. (I guess it's fair.) And the story that goes 'I once paid a guy in China ten bucks to show me how to lock my door' seems worth the investment alone : ) but in any case, most people are offering their help for free: There is the convenience store water man who brings me my water jug for my water cooler once every ten days. 

(Remember when I mentioned that you cannot drink the water here? So almost every apartment has a larger water 'cooler'. This is an overstatement because the Chinese do not drink cold water. They think it is bad for you. So my water cooler is a hot water tap and a lukewarm water tap. That's as good as it gets. I fill my water bottles nightly and bring them with me to school with ice every day. It takes time and feels a little like camping but it is worth it for the cold refreshing glass of ice water when needed. This is still shocking to the Chinese when they realize I have it. Their eyes get very big and they say 'It is ICE water??!!' (I like to be so un-scandalously scandalous in this manner, really). 

Anyway, I sent a Wechat message to the waterman and in fifteen mins later, he is knocking at my door with a new jug of water and I transfer him 22RMB ($3.25) via our WeChat app. God bless WeChat! 

Most Chinese would think it was strange to put their 

kitchen/art table on the veranda, but it is a perfect 

place for me! You can see the laundry drying racks 

above and the washing machine is just out of 

sight to the left. No dryers!

Then there is the screen man who came to measure my windows. Most windows in China do not have screens. This is not a good idea to me at all, as there is a huge mosquito problem in any tropical area. Also, my cat is sure to jump right out the window if I were to open it,  but I NEED fresh air so I asked to have screens made. Bonnie my HR and life helper said to me "I don't know who makes that or how to find him, but I will try." and she found him... He serendipitously came the day it seemed I could not get my sink to drain in the bathroom vanity. I tried everything! I even plunged it, which only seemed to make it worse. 

When a man came to my door, I assumed he was the plumber and walked him to the sink. He told me in body language that he was not here for the sink he was here for the screens. Whoops! He quickly and methodically measured all of them and then as he was heading out the door he stuck his hand into my clogged sink and pushed the little plug so it popped perpendicular to the drain. Low and behold the water drained immediately. "What?~~" I exclaimed, my sink was not clogged at all, it was plugged! Yep. this happened too. Needless to say, the man must have thought I was a real brain wizard but the stopper looks, open by all intents an purposes (to our western eye), not plugged. 

Then there is the guard at the North Gate where all my packages come that are too large to fit into the hive. I get a lot of packages as it really is the easiest way for me to get stuff to my home. It still requires a five-minute walk there and back to the North Gate of my building. I often take a rolling suitcase with me to bring them back. The guard has helped me unpack packages and load them into my suitcase as well as even borrowed a cart from the local convenience store to give me an easier time lugging my things across the courtyard. 

The taxi drivers will give me door to door service, even though they only need to drive to the outside of the barricades of the complex, and even the ladies at the grocery store on several occasions have given me free utensils with the purchase of some pots and pans 'just because'. All this makes me feel so welcome and not left to fend for myself. It also keeps me laughing in the most mundane of circumstances. 

Screen shot of correctly being delivered food

One of the more monumental debacles happened just a few weeks ago when I was trying to learn how to order food to be delivered to my home. China is a land of convenience and you can truly have whatever you want (legally- as far as I know) brought directly to your door. Unfortunately, it is all in Chinese, so one has to learn how to do this navigating in the very very very beginner Chinese I know. 

Whenever I am doing something new I must pull out my translation app and see if I can get it to read the information on my phone and sometimes the translations are not all that helpful. Fortunately, there are pictures of what you are ordering, so for the most part, I look for food I recognize and go from there. 

For my first time, I thought I would be daring and go sushi. Delivery sushi, I mean, why not. I spent some time agonizing over the plate of sushi I would like to eat for my first delivery meal. There are sooo many choices and I am going on looks alone, so finally I pick one. I push the buttons I think are for order and delivery and pay. 

Immediately I am taken to a window that shows a map. When one is doing this correctly you can even see the little guy on his moped speedily bringing you your dinner. But alas this was not the window I saw, instead, what I saw were directions to the restaurant, which by my excellent skills of deduction, I had realized that I had in fact ordered takeout instead of delivery.

THE HORROR! So immediately in my pajama pant minded evening of relaxing with netflix and raw fish brought fast and cheap to my face, was derailed into a spellbinding cluster flummox! I knew at that moment I would be spending probably the next two hours locating the dinner that I had just ordered.

Finding the restaurant you ordered to go
from is not as easy as it sounds! 

FIRST-  I had no idea where this restaurant was or how to tell a Didi to get there, then by the time I realized I had not done delivery 45 mins. had passed and I had yet to get in a cab that was to navigate me to a restaurant 25mins. away. Once I arrived at said location, I would have to match the Chinese characters of my order with the ones on the buildings in front of me. It is MUCH harder than it sounds. It felt a little needle in the haystack-ish to me but I had already bought my sushi and the thought of it sitting on some counter somewhere out in the universe all orphaned was too much to bare!

I got in the cab and hoped he was taking me to the right place, Didi is kind of reliable but sometimes can take you not so close to where you wanna go and I have yet to figure out how to tell the driver where to go, so I generally just get out in the wrong place and Apple Map my way to the right place. My skills have improved since then, there is a healthy learning curve for me! So as I am walking 25 mins in the right direction to the restaurant where I am supposed to go and I am starting to feel stressed and panicked. What if I get lost? What if I lose my phone? What if the restaurant is mad I did not come? I cannot tell them I'm coming... what if, what if, what if... ? The what ifs can be a real vortex if you let them, but suddenly I had a spike of reasoning in my brain and I said to myself "self, here is a great opportunity to see a new part of the town you live in, it is a great night full of people, places and things to see and explore.' You will find the restuarant when you find it and you will eat, eventually, you will eat!"


At that moment I stopped looking at the clock and wringing my hands. I looked around and the night was beautiful. The weather was cool and the breeze was warm, storefronts were bustling with people eating and walking street side with their kids on tiny bicycles, I passed by giant hotels, and parks with people dancing to music, water fountains, and bakeries. I passed by a market place with a replica of an Arch di Triomphe with magnificent detail that I would have never found otherwise and people working out in the top story of a tall reaching building to neon lights and pulsating music. It was a wonderful evening if I just let it be one!

And finally, finally I reached the street where my Sushi restaurant was to be located on but I could not for the life of me match the signs with my phone. I finally got the nerve to ask some passerby to help me as I was standing there for a good ten mins or so completely befuddled. The first person I asked told me in Chinese she could not read my phone because she did not have her glasses. The second couple I found really took me under their wing. They walked me up and down the street, they called the restaurant for me, and even tried to speak a little English to me.

Eventually, I walked into a restaurant that did not look like a sushi place but in fact had sushi. I saw a receipt with a bag and pointed to it and apologized. The woman smiled and asked me to sit. The chef prepared some things as I waited, so relieved and feeling accomplished I had arrived at the location only a mere two hours after I had ordered it! Quickly the order was ready, I thanked them and walked out the door. I called my self a taxi and was whisked away promptly and in a matter of twenty mins, was back home with my TV tray ready to dive into my sushi. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package to find it was NOT my order at ALL! I had some sort of spicy beef soup and what appeared to be a California roll.

In all my gloating success, I forgot to check if it was what I had ordered. I laughed and laughed. I just had spent two hours and twenty bucks on a $7 meal. OH, well! I ate it and it was still good. In fact, it was delicious and the night was so much better than if I had done it the right way in the first place. Funny how life turns out like that. China has a way of making you make the best of the unexpected and seeing that the way it turned out was the best thing all along.

Interior of Hot Pot restaurant near my apartment complete with smoking reflecting pond! 

Lost and Found in Translation

View from the second floor of Shanghai train station. 

Interior of Hot Pot restaurant

During the next week, Emma asks if I would like to try Hot Pot with her. I have tried dishes like this in the states but never to the decadent level of the average Chinese Hot Pot place. You choose your meats, veggies, and broths and a cart is wheeled out to your table and then your burner is turned on so the magic can begin! You also go to a buffet of sauces where you can mix and make your own dipping sauce. The whole thing is quite an extravaganza and delight. Emma insisted on me trying a few different internal organs. I tried stomach, throat, and a few bites were quite enough for me. To the Chinese, this is a delicacy and they promote and advertise the dishes with fervor. Remember, just because we don’t do it doesn’t make it wrong! Hot Pot is to be eaten with friends over hours of time. In both cases I have eaten Hot Pot, it has offered two different broths for cooking so one may try a spicy and not spicy, a creamy or broth based. The possibilities are endless.

Hotpot tools 

Stomach anyone?

Emma, her friend and I!

People Street

The weekend before my first week of actual teaching, I decided rather impulsively to take on the challenge of getting myself to Shanghai. Looking back at it now, it does not seem that complicated, but the first time navigating anything in a foreign land has its challenges. I purchased my ticket online with my passport number, your passport is your only valid form of ID when traveling in China. The trip would take me about 36 mins and cost about the equivalent of $10. I went to visit a friend I met via WeChat in Shanghai and she was gracious enough to show me around. We had a little trouble finding each other in the train station but thanks to our handy-dandy Wechat location tools we were able to get each other's icons to collide on the map in no time. She is a teacher too and we spent the afternoon doing a quick tour of the city, checking out the English bookstore. (No photos, sorry)  We munched on soup dumplings and avoided the rain which fell like buckets intermittently throughout the day. The city was packed full of people. Sooo many people. It was a little unnerving at times and claustrophobic, but the fact the pack just keeps moving is helpful. At a certain point it started raining rather dramatically and silently and in unison, the droves of Chinese passersby simply lined up along the buildings and under awnings crowded together like a tightly packed tin of sardines. It was a little body-snatchers-esque, quite frankly but utterly and totally fascinating. My friend took me to the Bund, which is the riverfront that looks over the city's financial district. Shanghai reminds me of San Francisco in some ways, old meets new, West meets East. It really is quite phenomenal. After a long quiet damp walk, we hobbled into an Italian restaurant and I had ravioli and a Caprese salad for dinner. It was pretty darn good and frankly, it was nice to have cheese!

Bullet Train! 

Bustling City 

Neoclassical fusion in the architecture

Boarding the train

View from the bullet train

Inside the train station

Shopping Mall

Old meets new everywhere!

Soup Dumplings! Yum!

Pollution was very much more visable in Shanghai

The Bund

Nighttime Skyline view

More People, more people, more people! 

Train Station

I have seen many versions of the Wall Street Bull in China

Rainy walk to the Bund

=

View from my walk to the train station in Shanghai

Lotus leaf lunch! 

When I returned from Shanghai, Emma took me out to dinner and shopping. We ate at a restuarant that serves a dish traditional to this area. It is pork wrapped in rice and cooked in lotus leaves. They are delicious and flavorful. The leaves actually give the rice and meat an amazing amount of robust flavor. As we left the restaurant there was a chorus of matronlly women synchronized dancing in the parking lot outside of the restaurant. It was as if we walked out into a flash mob! The music was blaring loudly on a small jukebox and the ladies swayed and stepped gracefully in the warm inky air. "What is this?" I asked Emma, looking at her in amazement. She explained that older women from different apartment complexes all get together and form dance troupes. These dance troupes compete for awards and they take it very seriously. I got a video of a group of women dancing on the street corner later that night so you can see what this looks like. Afterward we went to the super market where I delighted in buying some tea. All the different flavors and colors were before me like a rainbow of delishiness! I selected some dried fruit tea and went home a very happy camper! 

This is the rice cake wrapped in lotus leaves  and rice porridge 

Buying tea makes me so happy! 

Image I put into my PPTS for example

My first week of teaching was discussed in a previous blog, but I think things are going well under the circumstances. Students are responding well to my teaching and I feel I am arranging an effective class for art making and language learning. It is something that could only be provided to me as an instructor in this sort of environment and gives me a lot to think about in terms of further research.

My Teaching boards on a good day! 

How my classroom is looking these days!

Some of the things I have added: I have posted a picture of the classroom tables, so when we go through the clean up procedure they can look at an example as opposed to listen to me tell them what to do. Remember language is a barrier. I also Tell them too, but the visual reinforces the instructions. 

This is Piearo! I miss him so! 

One of the things that have been hard to deal with is the street animal problem here in China. I try to keep in mind the differences in culture. In our culture, we very much see our pets as members of the family. They have the same priveledges as we do: sleep in our beds, get walks on leashes, sit on the furtniture, we talk to them like people and rehome them if so needed. We contact local shelters or try to find a new good home for our pet. This is not the case in Asia. In Asia, animals are animals. When animals are considered unwanted, for reasons which may span from can't afford to feed, is more work then they thought or anything that might cause an owner to want to get rid of their pet... It seems, for the most part, they put the animal to the street. In their minds, I believe they think they are doing the animals a favor, letting it 'back' into the wild. But in many cases, these animals are not fixed and now there are throngs of homeless dogs and cats everywhere. I would not say it is 'herds' of them, but it is not often I do not see a stray dog or cat on my walk around town. For those of you that know me well, you know I have already adopted (or rather he adopted me) a dog when I lived in South Korea about ten years ago. His name is Piearo and I love him and miss him dearly. It was a hard call deciding not to bring Mr. Peeps (as he is often called) with me but after many heartwrenching considerations, I decided it was not in his best interest. First, China has a quarantine for dogs that are coming into the country. This can be avoided for like $3000.00. Otherwise, it is a ten-day quarantine of which you are at the mercy of whoever may be in charge of the kennels. Food and water are promised but may not be delivered and I have heard stories of dogs being returned to their owners in shambles, never the same or worse.. not at all. Second, I was very aware that my schedule was going to require me to be out of the house for at least nine hours every day. Peeps is a people person (if you know him, you know what I mean) and it would make him very sad to be alone all day every day. So with a heavy heart, after I accepted the position, I decided to leave Mr. Peeps with my parents to which he is a very happy pup. He probably is sleeping happlily on the lap of my father as you read these lines! Anyway, seeing this many homeless dogs and cats, most of which seem rather happy with their plight, forces a break in my personal creed: I shall help any animals anywhere anytime that needs my help. If you were to ask Andy, he could vouch for this as he has had to stop everything a few times to help me aid in animals in need. There have been some gruesome and harrowing tales that I will not go into here, but let me just say it was hard. But being in China, I am in a new country and I don't speak the language nor know where to take an animal if I were to capture one. I also read that many of the animals have rabies and other diseases. This would not help if I got sick while trying to help animals who may or may not need my help. So it was also a difficult decision to walk by the animals I see on my way to school. I do bring treats in my backpack and feed the creatures I happen to encounter. For now, it is the best I can do. That being said, I know I do not have a life suited for a dog, but I do however have a giant apartment (By Chinese standards) all to myself and know this would be a perfect home for a kitty cat. I decided the Friday I booked my ticket to Shanghai that I would put my radar out for a cat that needed a home and wouldn't you know, later that night someone posted on a WeChat Expat Jiaxing group that she had a kitty that needed a home. His name was White Boy. Yes, WhiteBoy. Lillian is Chinese and rescues cats in the area. White Boy has had a rough life so far at age 1 being bounced from a few homes and possibly at least one where he was unfortunately mistreated. And knowing what I knew of WhiteBoy, we seemed to be a perfect fit. Lillian has opened an English Training School here in Jiaxing and she has turned out to be a good friend of mine. She brought WB in a carrying case which she had to take to work that day. I met her in the courtyard of my apartment complex. She brought his litterbox, food, treats, and a carrying case. She also brought heartworm meds and his vaccination records. I felt it was as good as adopting a new family member from the humane society. White boy, whose name still makes me laugh, is not without his quirks. He is loving, affectionate, and smart too. So smart, he can actually open doors with his bare paws! I learned quickly that I must be extra vigilant to bolt my door to my apartment inside and out otherwise I shall come home to a door wide open, no cat and no belongings! So far we have only had one incident the first day I got him. (Door open+ cat + all belongings..thankfully) I have renamed him 'Ming' after the white poreclain vases of the Ming Dynasty. I will say he has become a little less of a punk since the rebranding! We work well together and I am happy to give to an animal in need of a home. But ask me at 4am and I may feel differently as he likes to do his best impersonation of the Bejing Opera at that time. Lillian mentioned she was bringing me 'dead bird treats' she said "he loves them" and in my mind, I was like "oh, she must mean like chicken, like cat treats." But imaginee my surprise when they actually WERE dead birds. Dehydrated dead birds to be exact. They smelled like nothing I have ever encountered before and it was not long before I abandoned this treat and replaced them with a more stomach friendly food for Ming. (again, going back to our food doesn't look like the animal thing we have in Western culture that makes us all feel more civilized)

Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644), Vases. Many of them have blue floral motifs. 

The dead baby bird 'treats' mentioned above. 

The adoption posting for White Boy

One of the photos Lillian sent me of Ming. 

Ming on my bedroom nook, quite at home!

Korean Food! OMG, I moved to a place that has Korean restauarnts! This delights me too! And it is owned by North Koreans. I was asking how this is possible? "How did the owner escape?" "No, said the Chinese teachers, North Koreans can come to China no problem." "Oh, that's right!" I said in my mind as I thought, I am so not in Kansas anymore. It was soooo good to go to an authentic Korean restauarnt. I had been to a few but nothing compared to the mulitsensory experience of dining in a Korean BBQ place. We ordered all our food through an APP and it came magically to our table in throngs. I was with three other Chinese Teachers who spoke Chinese almost the whole dinner but I didn't care. I was in my happy place! And it was sooo authentic. I really surprised the waiters as I said, "the food was delicious, thank you very much!" in Korean as I exited the restaurant. 

View from the building across from the restaurant. 

Black sausage, Ramen, Kimchi

Bibimbop!

Many side dishes and a seafood noodle dish

Tofu Chigae

The Hive: how shipping gets done in China! Let me introduce you to one more wonder of China: The Hive. The Hive is how you recieve all reasonably sized packages. They are installed in just about every large business and apartment complex around. They are communal, which means whatever door you may pick up your package one day will be someone else's compartment the next. How this works is that you approach the screen in the middle of the pod and scan the QR code on the screen. If you have any packages, then the computer will indicate which compartment your parcel is located in and then the door will magically pop open and you collect your item and close the door. It is all quite extrordinary! 

Use your WeChat APP to scan the code here. 

And then the compartment magically pops open and you get your box! 

There is a slew of fruits I have never seen before like these dragon eyes. They are a little like a lynchee but with more citrus. 

Fruit wich looks leathery on the outside

But peel away the skin and a fleshy berry in inside! 

It looks almost like a Lychee.

It has a dense black pit which gives it its namesake "Dragon Eye" 

All that is left after eating is the pit! 

Bonnidee Cafe is a strange and wonderful western friendly joint complete with fake deer drinking peacefully in the fountain. When we headed here one Saturday morning, we were told, they weren't closed but you could order your food now and it would be ready in two hours when the cooks arrive.   

At Bonnidee: its like a picnic indoors! 

Poshy and cozy interior of Bonnidee 

I also got me some rollerblades, but have been hesistant to use them for obvious reasons. I figure when the courage strikes me right I will go. For now I am happy getting around on two feet. 

Hanging out with the Skating Club at school

Tooling around Jiaxing. Saturday morning traditional breakfast: which I did not know what it would entail but would definitely not be bacon, eggs, and pancakes! 

Moon River in the day time. The historic area of Jiaxing

Traditional Chinese Breakfast: Shrimp dumplins, braised greens, geleatian
neopolitan made from flowers, and puffed bread. 

Bikes are everywhere! 

Moon River is of course surrounded by a river! 

Vendor grilling delectables at the Snack Street Market 

Snack Street and fruit market near Jiaxing College 

Indoor/Outdoor market

Snack Street! 

Mid-September, I was invited to a surprise sushi dinner for Alina's (one of our English Chinese Teachers) birthday. This was an amazingly delicious event. Sorry, there is so much food (or am I ?: ) in this post, there is a lot of eating going on! And eating I believe is directly related to culture so game on! It was a scattered shower afternoon as I made my way via DiDi to the restaurant that was indicated in the WeChat invitation. The restaurant is owned by the same person that runs the Western Cafe at our school. He was trained in Australia and seems to know what he is doing! The place is immaculate on beautiful grounds surrounded by water and a park. It was a gorgeous and delicious afternoon! 

Our walk around the restauarnt grounds. 

Sashimi sushi boat

A cake for a queen!

Lastly, I think I would be misrepresenting myself if I did not speak candidly about my experience. With all these amazing and delicious adventures, plus the really rewarding job I have, there is much to be thankful for. Still, I have very difficult bouts of homesicknesses these days. I miss the people I love and the connections to my own culture. All of this is very normal for any expat to experience. A wise person told me 'Missing the people you love only proves that you truly love them.' That being said, it can be lonely here. I try to keep in mind this is temporary and I will be home for the summer, but sometimes the summer seems so far away. I remind myself, no one moves to China because it is easy. I find this simple code keeps me in check on a daily basis.
1. Take care of yourself: eat well, sleep enough, exercise, moisturize, bathe, meditate/reflect to connect with a greater purpose.
2. Do something new each day. explore, learn, create, connect, eat (yes, eat twice!)
3. Be gentle with yourself: when I am sad, its ok to be a little sad. Time takes time but know vigilantly the difference between healthy sad and wallowing sad. Have no tolerance for wallowing sad.
4. Remember that you will spend most of your life NOT in China: live every moment with child-like wonder for the world around you. Let me never squander the gift that this precious experience is offering.
Things like WeChat and Skype Video Chat makes friends and family not so far away from home. I can't imagine not too long ago what it was like for those far away travelers to only correspond in the way of letters on a monthly basis or even only a voice on the other end of the line. Having my family available to me live in video form makes the distance far more tolerable. I will say at times, Asia in not for the faint of heart, but worth it. And until I return home, I have moments like these to keep me company. I try to remember I am making my family proud by being here each and every day. There is work to do and things to see...  So, I take the pangs with the zings and trudge forward through this crazy adventure that is.. being an Art Teacher in China.