i've noticed some things are just a little off..

there is just something that gets me about this
lobster having cheese poured all over it -- not even
the weirdest flavor

Liesure Club? -- we think brothel

apparently the "chicken patty" tasted like
hot dog whereas the hot dog thing tasted
like something entirely different

my paycheck felt a little like a drug deal --
 but at least now i can go to the leisure club and
make it rain!

"chocolate chocolate-chip cookies" -- with neither chocolate
nor chocolate chips.

i remember when I turned elephant =]

Weekends tend to fly by

It's Sunday night, and I'm once again mourning the fact that I didn't get anything done this weekend. Back to the daily grind, and to a new schedule. Again.

Recap: There have been schedule changes galore with the holiday for the mid-autumn festival and the addition of International classes. Today, while out with friends in Baoding, I received notice that I've been assigned 3 more classes a week, starting tomorrow! These classes are kindergarten, and are only 20 min each. It shouldn't add much to the work load, but now I have to figure out which building to go to for the KG classes tomorrow (OK shouldn't be hard, there are only 6 buildings on campus).

Current total: 25 classes. about 900 students. and somehow this all only adds up to 16 class hours a week (which is what my contract stipulates, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't say anything). The petty, lazy, easy-way-out side of me is a little (ok a lot) jealous of the other CIEE-ers only teaching 40 or 50 students max, and working under 10 hours a week. But it's ok, I'll shut up about that.

Things are going well. I'm so lucky to be here. I'm so spoiled to have a very sweet staff willing to work with me, help me get things fixed as fast as possible (even though, lets be real, that isn't that fast), and help me figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be doing. The other teachers are so sweet, so helpful, and genuinely care about my well-being. Even though they have practically been baby sitting me, and I most likely get paid similarly to (or more than) them, have free accommodations, and am completely unqualified to be a teacher, they are much kinder to me than I would be in their shoes. So I can't complain.

But I will.

I have to admit how shocked and disappointed I am in myself to realize that I'm not as adaptable as I had thought. I'm not as flexible, I'm not as patient, and I'm certainly not as adventurous as I had convinced myself. I have this awful nagging voice in my head telling me how much easier, better, and simpler it is back in Texas. I'm not sure if it's homesickness or the-grass-is-always-greener syndrome, but I feel so small and useless here. Hopefully that, along with my debilitating feeling of inadequacy, fear of loneliness, and inability to digest Chinese food will pass.

To move past the thrilling self-analysis:

Today I went to see the Lotus Pond, which is one of the few well known (ish) sights in Baoding. It was nice, although I imagine it's pretty breathtaking when the lotus flowers are in bloom. Here are some pictures from that:

Also, my attempts at pawning off meat or red-bean filled Moon Cakes (Yue Bing 月餅) on unsuspecting taxi drivers has been moderately successful. Well actually highly successful seeing as even when these delicious treats (ha!) are turned down, I just leave them in the cab. Our Waiban gave us a box filled with them, and unfortunately they are not well suited to my discriminating American tastes.

working weekends, quick trip to beijing, and changping

Once again, I've let too much time sneak by, and things are piling up.

After being overwhelmed by the week of teaching I found out I had to work Friday and Saturday in order to make up for having the following Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off. Having such a big break for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Jesse and I decided to take the train into Beijing to see some CIEE friends we met at orientation.

Friday night after classes we decided to go to the train station and try to buy tickets for Sunday morning. We realized very quickly how stupid that was. Lining up Friday night only 2 hours before the ticket windows closed, the weekend of a big holiday... ha, look at us silly foreigners. We waited in line for about 45 minutes when suddenly our window closed. Oh good. We ran, elbows flying into our fellow desperate travelers, inside to more windows. We got in another line, only to realize that the reason it was going so slowly was that another equally long line was merging into ours, both lines for the same counter. Suddenly it was 8:40 and we had 20 minutes before closing time. We looked at each other, crossed our fingers and watched the counter get closer and closer. 8:53 and we were two people away. That is, until 3 Chinese individuals edged up from the side and pushed in front of the window, with barely a whisper from the crowd. Somehow we got up there, with me half expecting to see the window shutter fall in front of our faces. We handed him a paper on which I had poorly scrawled "Beijing South Station" "Sunday morning" "fastest train" "earliest train" in hanzi. Well there were no more tickets to Beijing South, but we were issued tickets to Beijing West at 7:30 am Sunday (perhaps I was a but overzealous with the "earliest" business) for about 5 or 6 USD a piece. So we were successful.

Another long working day Saturday and then I was free for the weekend. We met up with Felice, Hannah and John from Hebei Agricultural University for drinks at a little bar. Then I stayed in Hannah's apartment (3 bedroom!) and was up at 6:30 to catch the train. Which we did, although it was way too early.

Then we were in Beijing before 9, hungry and tired and searching for the hostel (Kuai le Kuai zi or Happy Chopsticks). We had directions involving buses and walking and taxis, all of which we navigated like pros. Made it to the hostel in Houhai (really neat, touristy area with a big lake, tons of restaurants, shops and bars), met up with Steve and Mar, checked in and walked around the area for a bit. Then Kelly, Emma and Joel arrived (also from Mar and Steve's school -- Huijia in Changping just north of Beijing). I ended up not feeling well and went back to the hostel to nap for the afternoon while the 6 others went and did some of the touristy things like Tiananmen and Wangfujing.

Then, back at the hostel, we enjoyed some delicious Baozi and Jiaozi (dumplings -- bread and noodle covered) and played card games. We went out for a little, and found some neat bars. Shisha at the first one, a surprisingly talented Chinese singer covering lady gaga at another, and french fries at the last. Jesse found drunk Chinese men to be fascinated by him at every place, and was given free beers, kissed, and danced with. It was pretty hilarious. All in all a good night, hindered by the fact that I had a pretty unpleasant cold, and helped by the fact that the cold meant that I wasn't drinking, and spent almost no money (unheard of for a touristy area like Houhai).

Then back to the hostel where the 7 of us met our 3 other roommates (dorm style with 5 bunkbeds -- 10 beds). There was a little confrontation involving self righteous Europeans calling us obnoxious tourists who should be embarrassed of being American. Highlights included the comment "I know more about your country than you could dream of knowing" followed by very blatantly disproving this. (Steve was trying to explain where he was from -- Buffalo -- and the guy clearly had no idea where that was, or any of the major landmarks he was giving). It was entertaining.

The next morning we went for an American style breakfast, with pretty decent coffee (Americano -- espresso with water). Then it was on to YaShow -- a huge 5 floor shopping area with everything you could need. First on my list was a foot massage (oh yeah. it was amazing), then a little shopping. I got a backpack for about 15 USD and a cute little Gucci (haha Fucci?) watch for about 10 USD. Now I need to go back to stock up on gifts for everyone back home. Handbags, jade bracelets, pearls, watches, trinkets galore, they have everything. And bargaining is quite a lot of fun.

Shopping done, we got lunch in an area Steve used to go to school. (sidenote: turns out Steve was doing a study abroad in Beijing the same time as me. Not the same school, but I know there were times we were in the same place at the same time, such as St. Patty's we were at one of the only Irish bars.) He was disappointed his Kung Pao Chicken Place was gone but we had some great dumplings and noodles.

Then we spent some time on the metro (Beijing metro is sooo nice. Easy to navigate, fast, clean, and only 2 CNY to get anywhere!) and took a bus, and in less than 2 hrs were at their place in Changping. Their school is huge! There are about 70 foreign teachers there, compared with the 2 at my school. We showered at Mar and Steve's (nice apt, 3 bedrooms), felt about 100 times better and then met up with the crew for dinner. This time we did have our Kung Pow Chicken, and it was delicious.

The next day me and Jesse headed back into Beijing to get train tickets. We ended up getting them for Wednesday, so we'd be staying another night in Changping. It was quite a trek getting there and back, but we managed it. The stop at a Mcdonalds made it all worth it in my opinion. Then Jesse went and played soccer with Kelly and a bunch of the foreign teachers, while I waited for our hosts to finish class. We met up again for dinner in the village (a short walk away from campus with little local restaurants), had a couple beers, met some Chinese people that spoke decent English. Then it was back to the apartment to get some sleep for our 10am train.

We made the train and were back at our school around noon. I showered, checked my email, laid down and was dead to the world. I did nothing productive all day and then went to bed.

Today I intended to make lesson plans and clean (the floors need to be scrubbed again) but all I've done is sit around. Now I can't put it off anymore and I have to face tomorrow. Then it's off to bed to rest up for 40 third graders at 8am.

So that was my week. Hopefully I can find some pictures to break up the monotony, but I haven't been great with that.

'Til next time!

temper tantrum

Well, it happened. I threw my first temper tantrum at China.

When I really had to use a bathroom, and the only public bathroom around had no stall doors, no toilets (squat pots only), plenty of stink and filth, but certainly no toilet paper, I handled it. I waved at the women staring me down, nutted up, and dropped trow. That I laughed off.

When my air conditioner broke, my other air conditioner broke, my water cooler started dumping water all over the power strip, my toilet wouldn't flush, my shower had no hot water, and I could barely communicate any of that to the waiban, I took it in stride. That I laughed off.

When I had to spend a day going from Baoding to Shijiazhuang, then to the hospital, back to the train station, to the hospital, to the train station, and back to Baoding, I dealt with it. The poking, prodding, ultra sound, EKG, blood drawing, urine samples, all the unpleasant mess that it was, I got over it. That I laughed off.

But today, when I finished my 3 morning classes, climbed the stairs to my room for lunch break only to receive a phone call telling me I was 10 minutes late for a class I was not aware I had -- I lost it. I was angry I was late for something I didn't know I was supposed to do, I was frustrated that the schedule is constantly changing, I was irritated that I had another class added to my schedule without letting me know, much less receiving my consent. And I'm embarrassed to say I had a little temper tantrum. I silently fumed all the way to my new class(18ish yo International students from Mongolia), and I loudly grumbled all the way back. But newsflash, Kelsey: You're in China.

daily workout routine: stairs and "head, shoulders, knees and toes"

Living on the 5th floor, I really hope the amount of stairs I climb daily will even out my fairly excessive caloric intake. Rice isn't healthy when it's loaded with oily fried food! And that's the only way I eat it. In addition to the stair climbing, rousing games of "head, shoulders, knees and toes" (yes game, not song, these kids are competetive) are really helping me get in my exercise.

In other news, my floors have all been mopped twice, although they still look filthy. Ill probably give it another go today. Half of the appliances are now working, only the bedroom AC and the leaky sink need to be repaired now. Repairs completed: main room AC, leaky water heater, leaky drinking water cooler, replaced power strip.

Tomorrow morning we leave early to take the train to Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province. In Shijiazhuang we get to re-do all of the medical examination crap and paper work! Hooray for more time and blood given to a hospital. At least the school is paying, although we have to shell out the massive fee of 5 dollars a piece for the train tickets.

It seems to be an issue that I didn't bring my diploma. The diploma that is beautifully dry-mounted, framed, and hanging on the wall in Houston. Nope. I looked into ordering a duplicate but I was told processing could take 12 weeks, and shipping another 6-8. So who knows, maybe I won't get my residence permit, and my trip will be cut short. I can't seem to get a straight answer.

Getting a straight answer isn't exactly easy though. Other things I can't seem to get a straight answer on: getting a bike, getting a calendar, getting a finalized schedule, curriculum, books, what I'm actually supposed to be teaching, how serious they are about the 10pm curfew (the previous CIEE teachers said very serious), and many many more subjects.

Also, I don't seem to be getting accustomed to the constant and pervasive urine odor. What method are we using in the US that counteracts this, and can we possibly suggest it to China?

All in all, things are going pretty well. Oh except for the fact that my plans to head to Beijing for what I thought was a long weekend have possibly been thwarted. My schedule is such (I thought) that I have every other Friday off. It perfectly lined up for a four day weekend (I thought) because Monday is a huge holiday here (Mid-Autumn Festival -- I had better go buy some Moon Cakes, and preferably the kind without red bean paste). Last night I was informed that yes, I do in fact have off Monday (and Tuesday!) buuuut, am working Friday and Saturday to make up. So we'll see how that turns out.

If you don't have me on skype, add me, I would love to hear from you! kels974
Also, round 1 of postcards should be leaving in a week or two, so email me (kelseykadams@gmail.com), fb me, or leave me your address here so I can send you one.

food food food

It seems like my China experience revolves around food.

So Friday after discovering I'm a terrible teacher, I had an uneventful night. Stayed in, convinced myself I would unpack, organize and clean, and then did none of the above.

Hannah, John and Felice in
front of their Uni

navigating the dirty street

Felice's apt building

some street food

Saturday afternoon Jesse and I met Felice, Hannah, and another foreign teacher from their school at their apartments. They teach at the Agricultural University of Hebei (i think?) and are in a much more central, busy location. We walked along their street, where clothing, shoes, street food and a variety of other junk was being hawked. We stopped at a Western style coffee shop and had ice cream (I had a hot fudge sundae just like mickey-D's. man was that good!). We checked out Felice's apartment (only about 3 times bigger than ours, and about 100 times less supervised.) Met another teacher from their school -- Maggie -- who it turns out taught at A&M the first year I was there! Small world, huh?

Felice and some Sichuan
food. Yum!

the walk way on the
street past my school

Then, we acted on Maggie's recommendation and the five of us (4 CIEE-ers and Maggie) went to eat at an amazing Sichuan place. We must have ordered well because there wasn't one dish we didn't all love. Of course, the oily, spicy, delicious dishes my taste buds love aren't the ones my digestive system loves, so I need to find a happy medium there. Then me and Jesse, worrying about our 10pm curfew (even though it was nowhere near 10 pm) grabbed a cab back to the EBS (eastern bilingual school).

so  many kinds of ramen

the park (DFM park i
think)

Sunday morning I really tried to sleep in, but was unsuccessful. Jesse and I had been planning to meet up with the other CIEE-ers at a big park a couple kilometers away a little after lunch. We decided we would walk, so we left a bit early to explore the area around us. It only took us about 20 min, not a bad walk at all, so we were there earlier than expected. It was a beautiful day, and the park was really lovely. Clean, well maintained, huge, and mostly empty.

cheesy lobster chips
anyone?

Underneath the park is a huge shopping center. Giant supermarket (which was an adventure in itself), clothing stores, and much more. We got a couple groceries and walked back to EBS.

I took a nap, worked a little on lesson planning, and then we left again at 5 to cab it over to the Agricultural University people's area. I need to figure out what part of town that's in exactly, and street names. We had decided to have donkey for dinner, since Baoding is known for it, so we headed to a popular local chain restaurant known specifically for its donkey meat. We all (all the foreign teachers incl. John, Maggie, Dennis, a Japanese teacher who's name I can't remember, Dennis' Chinese gf, another american guy, and the 4 CIEE-ers) braved the donkey burgers (kind of like a pulled pork sandwich on fresh hot bread). They were pretty delicious, not gonna lie I'll probably be eating that again. Then we treated ourselves to more ice cream (not a good habit...). Then it was back home where I was in bed by 10.

Back to Teaching

Today I'm half way through my classes. They are going a little bit better thanks to many tips from Felice, and so many other people (keep them rolling in, folks).  I need to get so many more materials -- speakers for playing songs, posters and pictures and other visuals, i need to find a place I can print handouts, and I need markers or crayons, etc.


One of the most difficult things for me is that I'm teaching 20 classes of about 40 students (not including kg which I haven't gotten a schedule for). That is 800 students! I see each class for only 40 minutes, once a week. How am I supposed to learn students names and assess their level when I have so little time and so many faces!

view from my window

Names is another interesting thing. Many have already been given English names by past teachers, but many have asked me to give them one. The ones that already have names can be called anything from Bacon, Yellow, Grease, Juicy, to Tom, Peter, Paul, and John. I've been taking inspiration from people I know in naming them, so my classes have many Jims, Tims, Toms, Mikes, Marks, Carsons, Kristens, Sarahs, etc.

view from my room

Small victories is the name of the game

I think the thing that helps me through uncertainty the most is winning those small victories every day. Successfully ordering a meal I enjoy and the drink of my choice. Being able to understand the answer to a question asked in mostly mangled Chinese. Learning a new word, using it, and having it understood. Not getting terribly lost on a short trip.

I could not have been packaged off to Baoding, China, and kept my mental state (mostly) intact without taking pride in every tiny little completed accomplishment, without recognizing every minute blessing (and the huge ones), and without trying to enjoy enjoy every small step.

I am no where near the end of this journey. I am nowhere near reaching my goals. But I am where I am because of everything that's happened along the way, and I'm going to do my best to enjoy it.

Acclimating or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the calm

After my first night alone in Baoding with only my frayed wits, things got better quickly. The next morning (thursday) Jesse and I met our waiban at 9am and had a school driver take us into the city. Li (our waiban) told us we were in an area where the foreigners lived, a more affluent area with big hotels. We didn't see any foreigners. We went to the Bank of China and opened up new accounts for depositing our salaries. It didn't take as long as I expected, and with Li's help, all I really had to do was sign on the dotted lines and let them photocopy my passport.

Before long we were shopping for a shouji (cell phone). The cheapest available was a pretty basic no frills LG phone for ¥268 ($42). Then ¥50 for the sim card and minutes. Next was cleaning essentials, bath towels, and some other miscellaneous goodies. We found ourselves in a huge store similar to a carrefourre or a walmart. Prices reflected that, but we knew it was probably the only place we would be able to find some of the stuff we needed. We spent about 300 cny each, and then stopped to grab some delicious beef noodles on the way out. Then it was taxi time back to our new homes.

Jesse was a busy bee that afternoon while i slacked off, which is why his floors are now mopped, his clothing hanging nicely in the wardrobe, and his bathroom door is pleasantly free of bird shit (yeah, that was actually an issue he faced). Tonight I will finish all that. 

We had been acting under the assumption we were going to do all the medical crap fri (today), but it turns out the trains were booked. Instead we were told we would be having class. Despite the fact that we have received neither books nor curriculum, and didn't even get a class schedule until this morning.

Then there was today.

Yeah, teaching. ha. haha. I don't want to dwell on how bad a teacher I am, so I won't. And fingers crossed I will improve soon.

I had five classes varying from 1st to 4th grade, and only the 4th graders knew any English at all (and it wasn't much). They were all very enthusiastic about saying hello though. I felt like a celebrity in the hall, and I'm quite sure every student has said hello to me about 15 times. I may have mentioned that Jesse and I are the only foreigners at this school (it's a boarding school), and one of very few in Baoding. The kids are very sweet. I haven't had kindergarten yet because the schedule hasn't been made, but it should be interesting when I do.

The name of the school is Baoding Eastern Bilingual School (if you're interested in hunting it down on the map, you'll have to copy paste: 中国河北省保定东二环166 号). Here is a map showing Baoding in relation to the rest of the country a little.

View Larger Map
It's been only a short time, and I'm by no means settled in but I am getting there. I feel more comfortable with my surrounding, with the people I'm working with, and hopefully soon also with the students. Things have been hectic, but I've started to have downtime, and I've had a chance to retreat to my own space (what a luxury!) and process everything that's happened, and that will happen. I know I'm going to have curve balls thrown at me from now until the day I leave, but I know I can deal with it, and I know there are people here to help me. 

Anyway, to my family and friends back home, I miss you all, and wish you were here to experience this with me. 

Onwards to Baoding, Hebei

Ok wrapping up orientation:

The last day consisted of our usual survival language lessons. Then met with our lesson planning classes, and went to a debriefing by Kelvin, our ever cheerful and wonderful program coordinator. I wish I had gotten a picture with him. We went over departure times for the next morning, and some other info.

Lunch rolled around about 12:30 and there was an optional walking tour of the city. I believe it went to the art street area, and I'm a little ashamed to say I opted for a nap instead of seeing the city. I hate to waste an opportunity like that, but jetlag was still getting the best of me, and the busy week was taking its toll. The nap was wonderful if it counts for anything.

That night we had a fancy group dinner at the hotel. I couldn't tell you what my favorite dish was, but there was a lot of deliciousness. After dinner we had the good fortune to experience a magic show by Felice (who was placed in Baoding with me, actually, at a different school). It was awesome, as I've come to expect from her.

By this time in the week, my clothing and other bag contents had basically taken over my hotel room (still no roommate). So i had a fun time gathering them, refolding everything, and squeezing it all back in to my bags to head to the airport at 9 the next morning.

The Airport

We flew into PVD (Pudong) at the beginning of this adventure, but now we were leaving from Hongqiao. We left our lovely assistant (CIEE staff member Tom) to check in, and met our first obstacle. We were quite a sight, the 8 of us foreigners (4 for Baoding, 4 for Beijing on the same flight to Beijing) with our luggage stacked high on our carts, and the confusion clear on our faces. We get to the counter together, and are told that 1 bag is permitted, and under 20kg at that. Ha. With some fabulous leader-ing by Mar, and about $100 (US) per person, we were past the obstacle and heading for our gate. Everything else went smoothly.

Hello Beijing, Goodbye Beijing!

A quick flight later (2-3 hrs maybe) we arrived, collected our bags without incident (i know! amazing!), and were off. Jesse (the other CIEE student assigned to my school) and I met our contact (who spoke no English but had our names on a sign) and became separated from the group without a good bye (there were a few sniffles when i suddenly had to come to terms with the real world, rather than the Shanghai fantasy land). Luckily, they are close enough in Beijing that we will visit, so I won't worry about that too much. Then we got into a van and started the 3 hour drive to Baoding.

 first view of Baoding: somewhat underhwelming

It was hot (no AC in the car), it was humid, it was smoggy, and man was I exhausted. But we got there.

Baoding!

It was around 6 when we arrived in our new home and met our Waiban (foreign affairs office contact) Li Yanhong, and were shown to our rooms. I think they were a little stunned by the amount of crap we (ok... I) had brought.

We dumped our stuff, and were led to the dining hall. I was told (at least from what I understood through my delirium and the language barrier) that I needed to eat because the next morning I was leaving for the capital of Hebei province to redo all of my medical examinations, and I had to fast from that night until the blood was drawn. I was less than excited. We grabbed food (they had the cook keep some food warm in the dining hall from us, even though dinner was over.)

the water cooler was
really unexpected and
awesome =]

Left to my own devices that night, I freaked out. I wrote out a lot of what I was feeling:

"the word of the day is overwhelming. so beyond overwhelming. i didn't even realize how strongly i am attached to my routines. how bizarre it feels to step into a situation where i cannot communicate effectively, have no transportation, no freedom, no idea of the rules. no familiarity. i have everything i need, and much more. i have a roof, a bed, air conditioning, a water cooler, a small fridge. perhaps most comforting, i have a fellow american who can share my complete sense of helplessness, and i have the internet. i'm not cut off, i just feel like i am.

bedroom -- sorry it's
so messy

i wish i could take a picture and show you what my glasses looked like at the end of the day. i haven't touched them, but they are grimy and dirty, as is the rest of me. i need a shower, but im just not ready to delve into the world of chinese showers. not to say there's anything wrong with them, i just need the time to process a few other glaring oddities and curveballs first. plus i just used my only towel to mop up the water that keeps inexplicably pooling under the fridge. note: chinese showers involve a bathroom with a drain in the floor, and a shower hose. there is no separate area for showering and using the toilet, in fact they can now be done simultaneously. and with the help of the bathroom mirror, i hear the typical male chinese shower occupant can shave as well, completing the trifecta of 's's (shit, shave and shower). every man's dream?" For the record: the shower was totally fine. The water was delightfully hot, and the water pressure was surprisingly good. It's still a little strange though, and i haven't mastered the art of not getting everything on the bathroom counter soaked. and no cabinets or anything. Ok back to what i wrote the other day:

"i discovered a brand of chinese snack crackers that taste exactly like ritz bits.

i have a curfew of 10pm.

the bathroom!

i'm not used to the noises (the toilet -- unfamiliar in itself -- is constantly running, the water heater is gurgling, the water cooler bubbling, the building creaks and footsteps put me on edge), the smells, the sights, the feel of being constantly dirty, or the interactions. i have it so much better than any local in my position (teaching); higher salary, better accomodations (and free), but i still am craving the comforts of home.

i feel as though i have so many obstacles to deal with tomorrow. getting a calendar. asking what age i'm teaching. getting text books and creating a lesson plan. finding somewhere (with the help of my FAO/ Waiban) to print passport pictures. finding meals. navigating campus. putting money on my meal card. figuring out where the bugs that keep falling on me are coming from. buying trashbags, cleaning supplies, dishes, a pillowcase without blood stains (at least they provided the one set), and so much more. groceries -- a whole other obstacle. i dont know what most produce sold here is, much less how to prepare it. i dont know what the kitchen situation is. i have to go to the capital of the province by train to go to a major hospital to redo all the medical evaluations i enjoyed doing so much a couple months ago. bloodwork, x rays, ekg, chest xray. all of which i already provided and paid for, now i get to pay for it again. our waiban is also resistant to sending someone with us. i dont know how she expects us to successfully get to the city (a place i don't even know the name of right now) alone. she asked us if we would prefer an escort, to which we pretty emphatically confirmed. she hemmed and hawed, and said we'll discuss it later, which is the closest to a straight no i've ever received from the chinese. note: saving face is so important in this culture. they will not come out and say no to anything. protip: never ask for directions. it is completely useless. even if the individual has no idea what you're talking about, or where said place is, they will enthusiastically tell you exactly which direction to head in to save face.

so far we've met nobody that speaks english fluently. our waiban has very good english, but there are still major communication gaps at times. it will be impossible for me not to improve my chinese.

it is so hot and muggy and the smog was terrible. i think it will begin cooling down soon. i suppose i was mislead about Baoding being a "health city". maybe tomorrow will be more clear. drove through a lot of agriculture to get here. didn't see much if any of the city. so many questions still. a lot of anxiety, and lot of emotion.

arrived and immediately met the waiban, took our bags to our rooms (fifth floor of the foreign experts building.) we are next to each  other which is nice. then were told about needing to redo medical crap, but we couldnt do it tomorrow because we didnt bring 8 passport photos (waiban was frustrated) but we were never told to. we had no previous contact with the school. then she collected our passports, took us to the dining hall to grab some food which i still haven't touched but didn't look too bad. rice and a dish with green beans and maybe tofu, and a couple other options. they kept it open for us which was nice, and said that we needed to load our meal cards with money for next time, but this one was free. then brough the food back (overflowing little plastic to go container which has already made a mess that i have nothing to use to clean up. i need trash bags. brought the food to the rooms but then had to go put a deposit and buy a bottle of water for the water cooler. enjoyed carrying that sucker up 5 flights of stairs (ok i only carried it 3 floors then jesse took it).

the computer teacher (another asian woman. everyone we've met or seen so far has been an asian woman mid 20s ish except the waiban who is closer to 40 i'd say) came to hook up our internet. maybe she had never encountered linux because she was a bit baffled. that took a little work but it got sorted thankfully, and yay internet.

so so much. sensory overload. emotional overload. "

Anyway wow I have a lot to say, and I have to head to classes now, so I will finish and be up to date (!) hopefully by tonight.

Shanghai, Baoding and the in between

Well, I've done what I told myself I wouldn't. I've let too much time and so many events pile up to the point where it becomes difficult to write about. I've been in China only a week, but I have experienced such a blur, it's already mixed up in my head. But I'm going to try to document it so here I go:

Orientation:

Day 1:

As I mentioned, Day 1 consisted of mainly lectures. Night 1 consisted of taking 2 large buses to a Sichuan (in the US sometimes Szechuan) restaurant where we watched the aforementioned "face changing performance." The meal, and all of our group dinners during orientation, were Chinese banquet style where a group of 10 or 12 sits at a large round table. Dishes are brought out in a seemingly endless procession with (to me) no rhyme or reason to the order or timing. They are placed on a large glass lazy susan almost the size of the table. This is very typical for a Chinese restaurant. As was also the case with the group dinners, this night there were many dishes I liked, and many more I didn't. Nonetheless I still left feeling as though I had eaten my bodyweight, which was a marvel since I thought i had only eaten a few bites (followed by a few more and a few more and oh yeah, a few more).

The performance was set to very boisterous music, and involved the performer rapidly changing the silk mask he wore. So rapidly, that even when we watched the video later and knew when to expect the change, it still appeared flawless. Very fun.

After our return to the hotel most of our group was interested in going out for a drink. Unfortunately organizing a group of close to 25 or 30 is basically impossible. After talking, decision making, decision changing, and then more talking we all headed out of the lobby. We ended up walking in circles, the group slowly spreading out as stragglers fell behind, and speed walkers jumped ahead. The group began shrinking as different units gave up on the parade of Americans and began to split. I ended up sticking with a group of about 6 or 7 who ducked into a little restaurant/bar we had passed a few times (it had not been the intended destination. but apparently the intended destination was not to be found that night). We ordered a couple reasonably priced pitchers of beer and enjoyed the conversation (and the card tricks by Felice -- I'm in awe of this girl). Back home a couple hours later, I was tucked in bed comfortably well before midnight.

Day 2:

Stunning shot by Josh Mansker

More of the same. Lesson planning, survival Chinese, lectures and then after a lunch an excursion. We went to Shanghai museum, which was very neat. Some really stunning exhibits, but at times very odd and not very informative captioning. Such as "stone square" or "Jade carving of a monkey" with very little background or explanation. I probably should have picked up an audio tour thing. It was fun, but we ended up having a lot of spare time after wandering around all the exhibits. We decided to sit at the tea room and have a snack, but soon discovered the tea room was more of a cafeteria, and the tea or coffee was 30 kuai (rmb/yuan) a cup. Instead we decided to leave

neat shot of the museum lobby - Andrew Capone

the museum and wander around outside a bit. We didn't get far before having to meet back up at the buses.

Next was a vegetarian restaurant (Jujube tree). Great reviews, very popular with Westerners, but unfortunately not my thing. I am a little opposed to a food (debatable in my opinion) that masquerades as other foods, so the tofu was out. And the tofu was everything. It was really a beautiful meal though, very intricate dishes, and I did my best to try nearly everything.

4 motorcyclists zooming around -by Leslie

Then it was back to the buses and on to the Acrobatic Show. I had seen a similar Acrobatic Show in Beijing, but it was still absolutely marvelous. We were in the front row, and literally had performers swing from large ribbons of silk directly over our heads.  By this time I was exhausted from the long day, and jetlag was hitting me hard, so I was glad to be led back to the buses and return to the hotel, where my exhaustion won.

Day 3:

perfect example -- fabulous shot by Josh

Standard breakfast, lectures, lesson planning practice and Chinese classes, and then another excursion after lunch. This time we went to the old shanghai quarter, which was very neat, but also very manufactured. Reminded me of the Old - New Souq in Doha, with the "renovated to look like traditional" architecture, and the commercial, Westernized reality. Still very awesome. We ate at a restaurant specializing in seafood. I really liked this food. The stand out dishes to me were the Gong Bao Ji Ding (kung pow chicken with cashews) and the sweet and sour fish (which is served whole, staring at you. So cool!).

taken by leslie

another beautiful view by Leslie

Then it was onwards, to cruise the river. We all piled onto the second deck of the boat and grabbed seats. The buildings had been lit up; on one side of the river the French Concession area with stately, European, elegant buildings, and on the other, futuristic, giant LCD screen sporting, anything-but-uniform feats of engineering. It rained a little, but all in all a lovely evening.
It was then decided, that since we were in the area, why not go out somewhere nice. Many ideas were thrown around, but I ended up joining a group that made its way up 87 floors to the tallest bar in the world: Cloud 9. We were prepared for the rather brutal prices, recognizing that such a rare experience comes at a high price. We went for the view (which unfortunately was largely obscured, but allowed us the very unusual experience of being entirely surrounded by clouds). As well as the novelty of being so far above the city, we also had front row seats to our own private magic show done by a Chinese man who claimed to be a student of David Blaine. (Don't worry, its back to reality now that I'm in Baoding about to start teaching tomorrow.)

CIEE group!