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. |
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 |
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 |
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!
|
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! |
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! |
No comments:
Post a Comment