Been to Wuhan, Leaving Hangzhou, Bound for Shanghai...

December 23rd Matt, Shea, Gabe, Sarah, and I headed out of Peter Hall with nothing but a few train tickets and a backpack. Knowing that I would not see Xinzheng for 2 months was odd. This town has been my home for 4 months and here we are taking off for half of that time. Our first stop was Wuhan which we immediately nicknamed "BUhan" (bu in Chinese means "not") Needless to say the town wasn't very exciting. We spent Christmas there and thankfully the hostel we stayed at was awesome. They people were really friendly and the place was warm and eclectic. We had a mixed dorm (aka 3 sets of bunk beds in a room... there are 5 of us... so then we get one extra roommate) for this hostel our extra roommate was one of the Chinese guys that worked there named David. He was awesome and spoke very good English. On Christmas Eve he played "Silent Night" for us on his guitar and we all sang along before we fell asleep in our beds. Christmas came and went... but it never really felt like Christmas. On the night of the 26th we boarded an over night train to Hangzhou (where we currently are). This town has mountains and lots of trees. This town is definitely not like the China that I have known for the past 4 months. This evening we head on a train to Shanghai. We are having lots of fun so far and I am really enjoying seeing other parts of China. This country is awesome!

Beijing, Birthday, and Beyond...

Beijing was amazing. We (Gabe, Sarah, Shea, Matt & I) took an overnight train to get there on Wednesday and arrived promptly just before sunrise in Beijing on thanksgiving day. We took a sleeper train where there are 2 sets of bunk beds stacked 3 high in a tiny little room. Even though we purchased our tickets together we still managed to end up in different rooms. All of us on the 3rd top bunk of course. I think it's the ideal way to travel personally. Fall asleep and then next thing you know you're there. We spent the next 3 days in Beijing with the main focus of eating "western style food" (aka Mexican, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Coldstone, Starbucks, & Pizza). On Thanksgiving day we found the camera I wanted. If you only knew what kind of miracle that was to find something specific like that in China than you would be inspired. On Friday we went to see the Great Wall. Not without an adventure of course. We decided to do it the "cheap" way and not take a tour group. Thus we attempted to find the 919 bus to get there. But alas we were too late to take the bus that day and ended up paying this guy to drive us there in his car. But we made it... to the glorious great wall. It was so much more impressive in person, it really is quite incredible.

Last Saturday was my 24th birthday. My friends blindfolded me and took me to a "fast food" restaurant downtown on Friday night to celebrate my birthday. We split a chicken sandwich 5 ways and then they took me to the REAL place they had intended to take me to eat. Shea (the baker of Peter Hall) made me a chocolate cake with bright yellow frosting :) The next day on my actual birthday we took the bus to the closest big town. We hung out in the city all day and went dancing that night.

Finals are FINALLY over. My grades are also turned in. I am officially done with my first semester of teaching. For my twice a week classes Gabe and I combined (because she teaches the other half of that major) on the last day of class and had a party. It was fun to watch all of our students intermingle and play games. I gave all 150 of my students a card with a picture of our class on it and a personalized message on the back for each one. It took me many hours to write each one of them a personal encouragement, but I think it was totally worth it and emant a lot to them. I hope to get the same classes of students next semester, but some tachers will end up with a new group of students after break.

Monday we (once again... Matt, Shea, Gabe, & the other Sarah) are leaving on winter break. We will be gone for 2 months. All we are taking with us is a backpack. We are going to travel around China for 17 days and then meet up with some of Shea's friends from the States in Shanghai for the New Year. January 10th we will make our way to Macao and then fly to Thailand where we will stay for the next 3 weeks or so. This is the tentative schedule as of right now. But it seems like we are always changing our minds about things. I am excited to get away from the "usual" and explore some more of this amazing world we live in. I will try to update you as often as I can. I apologize for not updating in awhile. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Voted "best dressed baller"

China...

The place where you do and try things you never would in the States.

The picture to the left is of the "Foreign Faculty Women's Basketball Team". You will notice me on the left hand side in black and white. Yes, that's right... Sarah Suttles played on a basketball team. We won all 6 of our games, so our title was undefeated. No thanks to me of course because I have literally never played a game of basketball in my life until stepping out there on that court on the 13th of November. It was an experience for sure. We had a lot of fun though. Half of us had never played basketball before and the other had played on teams at one point in their life. It was an interesting mix of skill and effort.

Four days until Beijing... I can't wait! I am so ready to take a break and get out of town for a few days.

My camera broke a few weeks ago. I took it to Zhengzhou last week and got it "fixed". It appeared to be fine, the problem that was originally was wrong was fixed, but now there is a different problem. I don't know weather to try and fix it again or just buy a new camera. I found a camera online that I really like, the Olympus Stylus 850sw. It has more mega pixels than my camera, a better zoom, is shock resistant, freeze proof, waterproof (you can actually take pictures underwater!!!), AND it comes in YELLOW! The camera is relatively affordable, only one problem... I can't find it! I found it today in Zhengzhou (an hour away from campus) but it wasn't yellow :( I am hoping I will be able to find it in Beijing next week.

Perspective

It never ceases to amaze me that every (and I do mean EVERY) time I get a little down about something or something frustrates me and I just want to be left alone... my students ask me to hang out. It seems like the last thing I want to do, but it always changes my perspective.

Example A: One night last week I was feeling really tired and a little sentimental. I barely said two words at the dinner table and had plans of locking myself in my room for the night and just reading or something. And then... one of my students texts me. She's waiting in the lobby. Her and her boyfriend (both two of my students) had invited me to go to this dance. I had told them I liked to dance and they had asked me to teach them. I thought they meant me teach them and then THEY go to the dance.... not me teach them AT the dance. So here I was on my way to a dance party on campus surrounded by hundreds of students. I taught my two students (and many others) how to Waltz, Swing, and any other random fun dance I knew how to do. It was amazing, and definitely an experience I will never forget. Instantly changed my mood from gloomy to happy.

Example B: a group of my students had said they were going to come meet with me one afternoon. I was really tired and didn't really feel like meeting with them that day but I wasn't about to cancel. The WHOLE class ended up showing up to my room, so we went to the park to hang out because there were too many of them. It was really fun. As we walked around different ones would come and talk to me individually. Outside of class you really get to know their personalities and characters. I fall in love with them enough as it is in class. That love just grows as I get to know them more outside of class.

Example C: On Sunday I agreed to meet with two groups of girls from different classes. One group at 2 and the other at 3:30. Sunday being my really only real day off I was tempted to say "no office hours on Sunday" but for some reason I just can't say no to spending that quality time with my students. The first group of girls I took to go get tea and we walked in the park. It was only three of us and we spent most of the time talking about relationships and boys and their hopes and dreams of the future. The second group of girls took me to see Huangdi (not sure if I spelled that right) the memorial for the first emperor of China. It was so cool to walk around with them and have them explain to me their countries history and traditions.

So in conclusion,

Time. It's the most important thing you can give. Our precious time that we prefer to spend sleeping, resting, or hiding out. I encourage you to give a little more of your time getting to know others. It's truly a precious gift that will give back to you ten fold.

Love and miss you all, and think of you always.

Baby it's cold outside!

It's really true what they say... "Know all the details and facts you could possibly know and hear tons of people talking about what it's like, and STILL China will be nothing like you expected."

Life here is... in one word... unexplainable.

The weather here has turned COLD... unbelievably cold. The heat gets turned on in our apartments on Saturday. The foreign teachers are counting down the days. November 15th the heat will be turned on, even if November 13th it's 20 degrees outside. I should be thankful we get heat though, Peter Hall is the only building that gets it. The classrooms and student dorms are all without heat in the winter.

After this week I only have 2 more units to cover before we prepare for Finals. In 5 weeks an entire semester will be over. It's hard to believe I have been here for over 3 months. More often than not it feels like I've been over here for years. The first month seemed like 6 and the past month as seemed like a few weeks.

Last weekend the school sponsored a trip to Kaifeng to see the "flower festival" better known to us as A LOT of mums EVERYWHERE! It was good to get away from Xinzheng for a day and see a different part of the Henan Province. (the above picture is from the trip to Kaifeng)

For Thanksgiving myself and three others are planning a trip to Beijing. We are in desperate need of an "American Food" fix as well as a warm winter coat. The three others that are going with me are the people who I spend most of my time with here, so it should be a lot of fun. They are all fun and chill people so it should be relaxing and enjoyable.

Unit 6- Male/Female Relationships

Last weeks unit in Oral English Class was Male/Female relationships. The following questions and answers are from an activity that I did with my students. Each group of students had to talk about the question on their paper and write their answers. My questions are in CAPS. Their answers are italicized.

CAN GUYS AND GIRLS REALLY JUST BE FRIENDS? HOW? WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?

Yes of course, there is real friendship between guys and girls. We communicate heart by heart. It looks like brothers and sisters.

No, it's impossible. Cause they may be friends at the very beginning, but no matter what and how till the end one of them will change his or her mind. Maybe they will fall in love or break down.

Yes, but it is difficult if one of them has a boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife.

Yes, I believe even though I don't have.

WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF A GOOD MARRIAGE?

They have a happiness family, have a lovely child, and have a stable income. They also give presents to their parents.

A good marriage is that the couple will be always happy, and can understand and support each other, and have a healthy baby.

1. Love each other. 2. Good sexual life. 3. Enough amount of money.

Titanic- No wedding But Romantic and Forever. (they LOVE the movie Titanic over here and quote it often... haha)

Equal. Responsibility. Respect. Love. Children. Money. If he will be good to me all the time I will be very happy. Also, he should comply with me.

WHAT THINGS ABOUT THE OPOSITE SEX BOTHER YOU?

The way the opposite sex's thinking is different, sometimes you can't understand.

GIRLS SAID:
They make life full of pressure.

Bad Habits like smoking and drinking.

I don't understand why a boy can have more than two girlfriends at the same time.

BOYS SAID:
Give telephone messages and texts saying "I miss you"

Talk about you every place and every time. Call you frequently even when you don't want to talk they want to talk about everything!

Maybe not give us enough space.

SHOULD PEOPLE WAIT TO HAVE SEX UNTIL THEY ARE MARRIED? WHY OR WHY NOT? WHAT ABOUT YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE... DO YOU WANT THEM TO HAVE WAITED UNTIL THEY ARE MARRIED TO HAVE SEX?

We agree with this point. Because we are Chinese, it adjust to our principle.

We disagree, because we are modern people, should adopt some new opinions.

People are better to wait to have sex until they are married, because we want our future spouse to wait until they are married.

Absolutely no. If they love each other they won't care about this thing. Of course yes, that's human nature.

We should try it, because we should have all kinds of skills. It's good for us.

Yes, because it is a traditional principles. Of course, I want my spouse to only love me.

Love is not only sex. If its the true feeling then they should wait. May be a challenge for them to love each other.

Yes you should wait because it's an important thing for girls.

People should wait until they are married. It's the responsibility of themselves and their spouses.

Of course we should! In fact, everyone want to wait to have sex until they are married, but maybe they cannot control themselves.

Yes they should because it is a moral standard question. It's not a responsible behavior. In case they separate before married and they have sex... that's unfair!

I live in a world where...

I live in a world where... people don't laugh when other people trip or fall down or even acknowledge that it happens.

I live in a world where... there are more umbrella's out when it's sunny than when it's raining, and I own the only black umbrella on campus.

I live in a world where... going to go play KTV (Karaoke) for 7 hours strait every weekend is a normal and fun activity to do.

I live in a world where... I have to play charades and pictionary daily in order to order dinner or even a cup of tea.

I live in a world where... no matter what I do (dance, sing, play basketball, teach) they think I am amazing at it.

I live in a world where... people are fascinated by every minuet detail of my life and where I come from.

I live in a world where... people feel bad if they can't speak MY language to me.

I live in a world where... everything is described as "beautiful" (and I do mean EVERYTHING).

I live in a world where... guys and girls avoid each other like the other one has cooties.

I live in a world where... guys carry a girls purse if they are her boyfriend.

I live in a world where... Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Michael Jackson, & Celine Dion are the "cool" artists to listen to.

I live in a world where... party streamer is regularly used as "napkins" in restaurants.

I live in a world where... you buy your drink before dinner and bring it with you to the restaurant.

I live in a world where... I can use every gift, skill, and talent I posses on a daily basis.

I live in a world where... people need love and are desperately searching for something.

I live in a world so different than my own, yet so close to my heart.

Phillipino Princess

Tonight was the performance for Asia Night during Culture Week. I was a Phillipino princess attempting to win the heart of the prince by dancing a dance from my native country. You can watch the rehearsal version of my dance by going to my Vimeo site... http://www.vimeo.com/2088587 to see the actual performance version you can go to my friend Matt's Vimeo site... http://vimeo.com/2091167

I was not chosen to be his wife, but the audience loved my dance and most of my students (all 150) came to see me perform. The entire Asia Night performance was a complete sucess. If I can find a way to post the entire performance online I will do so. Culture Week contines through Friday, but I was only a part of Asia day, so I am already done for the week. It is such a relief to be finished. We have been preparing and practicing for this performance for about a month now.

Office Week/ Culture Hours

Office Hours...
I have been preparing my students for their mid-term next week. Because of this I have had a flooding of students who want to come visit me. We are required to have 2 office hours a week, this week I will of had 8. Up until today only my boy students had come to see me. Today I had a group of girls come. It was completely different, but in a good way. They are so curious about everything. I created a photo album on my desktop and show all of my students my pictures of the places I've been, and my family and friends. I always get asked questions about politics and the "G" word. They think it's so cool we have the right to choose who will be our leader. Today I got asked why I came to be their teacher. I am always exhausted when they leave, but in a good way. I am completely spent, but completely satisfied and happy that they love knowing so much about me. I have another group of students coming tonight to see me, and then another one tomorrow morning.

Culture Week...
Next week is culture week. Here at SIAS they dedicate an entire week to other cultures. Each day a different culture is represented. During the day in Italian Square on campus there are activities and displays from that country, and then at night there is a huge performance in the Roman Amphitheater. This goes on all week. I am a part of the night performance on Asia day. I am playing a Filipino princess who wants to woo the prince into marrying me by performing a traditional Filipino dance. The dance consists of me dancing in and out of bamboo rods which are being beaten together by 4 guys sitting on the floor. To give you an example of what I am talking about watch this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R_EWyqu_ck&feature=related I will be the one with the fans and there will be just one girl following me around with the umbrella. It's a very complicated dance, but hopefully I will be able to master it in 2 weeks. Or rather hopefully the guys will learn to do the beats at the right time so I don't get my ankles crushed.

All of you is more than enough for all of me

The "party" ended up being this big performance in the amphitheater on campus. It was a party to welcome the Freshman to SIAS. It was sponsored by some bottled green tea that they sell everywhere around here. The performance began with some students singing Green Day and Blink 182 songs. If you know who those artists are than you can image how amusing it was to hear the songs sung in a Chinese accent. Following the band one of my students sang a Chinese pop song. Wow, she had an amazing voice! Also, to my surprise a few of my other students were involved in the performance as well.

Yesterday a group of us had to go to Zhengzhou to be checked out by the bureau. They wanted to ask us a few questions as to why we were in China and where we were from and all of that jazz.

Yesterday I was talking to one of my fellow teachers on the bus to Zhenzhou and she started sharing with me her heart with how she wanted to lead W at the 3 self building on Sundays. I felt lead to offer my gift of piano skills and 6 hours later we had an entire band who has the heart, the talent, and felt lead when we mentioned it to them. So this Sunday we'll be playing at the service. Here in this place I might not be free to share my heart as fully as I would like to. But I can make an impact by just being there and living my life in front of them.

5 of my boys came to my office hours on Thursday. We had so much fun talking about music, and the differences between our cultures. They are a little more advanced than my other classes so we could actually talk without it being awkward. They were so curious and so full of energy. I got to know their personalities so much better and can't wait to see them in class on Monday. One of them brought traditional Chinese tea with him because he remembered me saying on the first day of class that I was looking forward to trying all the kinds of tea they have here. They showed me how to make tea "the right way" and all the do's and don't of making the best cup of tea. They love to see pictures of my family and know how things operate in America.

Yesterday to celebrate one of the teachers birthdays we did the "Amazing Birthday Race". Different teams went on a huge scavenger hunt race around campus. It took us an hour to complete and my shins were killing me by the end from all the running. The picture above is the picture of our team "The Green Team" and the scavenger hunt rules.

Welcome to my blog...

Hello everyone! I decided to start a blog so that you can more easily keep up with my life. It's easier for me to type something on here when it happens instead of saving up information to include in my e-mails. Also, I am more likely to write general everyday thoughts and feelings in here than I am to in an e-mail. I usually just write the really important and big things in an e-mail.

So yes... here I am. It's about mid-day on Wednesday. I only have one class to teach on Wednesdays so it is my day to chill and relax. Perhaps I will actually put away those clothes that have been sitting on the corner of my bed for about a week now. I give my students their mid-term exam next week. I am nervous for them. I don't make up the exam (the higher ups do), so it is hard to prepare them for a test I have never seen and won't see until they are taking it.

Tonight I am going to a "party". One of my class monitors gave me an invitation to something at Roman Theater. He is meeting me here tonight and will walk with me over to where it is. He said he would be my "translator". The fact that I need a translator tells me that the word "party" is not being used in the same mannor as I would use the word. So who really knows what it is I am going to attend tonight. This happens all the time. I am constantly amused when I hear English words said by my students that I don't even use or halfway understand.

** The picture above is from a photobooth in Zhengzou taken a few weeks ago. My fellow American teacher friends and I had 3 hours to kill before the bus left to go back to Xinzheng so we had a little fun... perhaps too much fun**