Teach Jinglish!

Proctor & Party Week

2008-11-17T01:49:00.000-08:00

Monday, November 10, 2008 to Sunday, November 16, 2008:
杭州 Day 49-55

中国 Day 60-66
Asia Day 63-69

• Student midterms (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday)

This past week was a bit stressful, due to the students having midterms. My midterms were structured as individual oral exams - I would ask one of my 20-30 questions related to the unit or things we have discussed in class. There are 90 minutes and 32-42 students per class, so each student had roughly 1-2 minutes to answer my question. It was really stressful to test each individual student in a constrained time frame. My first four classes went well, in that the students would usually know how to answer the questions (although I sometimes ran out of time). I did not have to select a different question for most students. However, I was shocked that some students did not know how to answer certain questions, as they did not study the vocabulary. In my last two classes, I had to select at least three questions to ask (until the student knew how to answer it) - it was frustrating because it was apparent that these students either did not study and/or their skill levels were too low to understand anything at this level. Below are some entertaining incidents that happened during this testing period.

1) There is a shy student in one of my classes. He thinks his spoken English is not that good, but he is one of the better English speakers. I asked him about his strengths and weaknesses for the career unit. He said his weakness is that he's a "shy boy," which is hilarious because he's not a boy, he's a 22-23 year old male. Then, he told me his strength is, "I am handsome." I laughed and asked how it helps and he said it helps him make friends.
2) There was another student who called himself a shy boy. I need to stress in class that they are NOT BOYS anymore! (Not a boy...not yet a man??)
3) One of my students did not understand what I was saying, even though I gave him the easiest question. It was apparent that his skill level was quite low. When he apologized for not knowing how to answer my question, I told him to go study with friends. I tested student #2 and then told student #2 he could leave. Both of these male students were standing together, when I told student #1 to study with a friend. Student #1, who allegedly failed, said to me, "I want to study with YOU!"
4) Two students tried to spy outside of the door to see what I would ask. In one instance, one was peeking and when I opened the door, he (accidentally?) rammed himself against the desk, stupefied and embarrassed. I was laughing so much that I did not think to punish him. On another day, a male student held his book rolled up like a telescope/spyglass. He aimed it outside the door and when I opened it, he yelled, "AIYO!" and said something along the lines of "oh shit" in Chinese. It was hilarious. I did not penalize them...it was just too funny to make them feel embarrassed, to discourage students to do such things in the future.

• 11.11 = Single's Day in China

Single's Day was November 11, or 11.11. The four 1's in the date signify four single people, while the period is just a dot. On that day, a student texted me to say, "I think you are easygoing and kind-hearted! By the way, today is 'ruffians' day :-)." I guess to be single is to be a ruffian? The night of ruffian-ship, I made no new man-friends.

• Lunches (Monday/Thursday)

I ate lunch with Romain in the cafeteria on Monday. Dare I tell him it was my first time there? No - I was embarrassed because I usually do not go out to eat alone. I would rather boil something simple at home and feast, even though it is a bit of work. It was a cheap, decent lunch, I suppose.

On Thursday, I ate with Michael and we recounted our fabulous Shanghai-wonder-filled weekends. He spoke of going to his classmate's wedding. I want to attend a Chinese wedding one day!

• Potluck (Tuesday)

Jamie, Zhang Yong (Aaron), Vanessa, Romain, Jason, Zicheng, and Jessica went to Tuesday's potluck. I brought steamed buns (that were actually crunchy because I put them into the oven to heat). It was a very carb-y meal - steamed buns, bread, and baozi were served. Jamie and Zicheng made some delicious dishes, as usual. After the potluck, Jason, Zicheng, Romain, and I went clubbin', which will be recounted below under the barhopping headline.

• Joy's House (Friday/Saturday)

Michael is awesome. On Tuesday, I emailed him with my problem - for my Master's program, I had to stay at a Chinese family's home for at least one night. I did not personally know anyone with a family well enough to ask them if I could stay over one night. It was an awkward thing to ask an acquaintance whether I could stay over to see what a Chinese household is like. I felt like I would burden my host and disrupt their daily activities. On Thursday afternoon, I found out Michael came through *cheers* and he presented me with two options. I was extremely thankful, of course. Michael does so much for me and the other foreign teachers. Additionally, I was so thankful that both of Michael's colleagues extended a warm welcome.

On Friday evening, Patricia and I headed to Joy's apartment in Xiasha. Joy works in the foreign affairs department - she is one of Michael's co-workers. She actually did Michael's job about a year ago. She lives in a comfortable apartment with her husband, baby boy, and mother-in-law. After she fetched us from downstairs, she presented us with some grapes to munch on, while she finished her last two dishes. I had brought a drink and some small gifts, including a stuffed toy, a CD, and a USA map. Not too long later, Joy's mother-in-law and Joy's son came back from their walk. Joy's son is Nicky - he looked at us confusedly for several minutes, trying to decipher who we were and what we were doing at the house.

Then, we feasted on five types of popular Chinese dishes. We ate stir-fried eggs with tomatoes, mixed green vegetables, eggplant, potato-like veggies, and a seaweed-egg soup. It was a delicious home-cooked meal, the first one I have had since I was in Guangzhou. After dinner, we took a stroll around the neighborhood.

We saw an "English Yard" at a student-run teashop and found it was a gathering place for English-learning students during the weekend. We also explored a student-run night market. They sold apparel, USB drives, small furniture, and other accessories. How did these students get the money or permission to open small vendor shops and was the profit for the students or something else, I wondered aloud. Joy told me that the students got capital from their part-time jobs or family, then invested it in the inventory. She thought the students did not have a lot of money invested, as prices were low and profit margins would probably be pretty low, as well. Joy also told me that the city or district gives permission for students to open such stores and students usually keep the profit. I thought back to the idea of vendors who ripped people off and an idea excited me. This might be the basis of my thesis, I thought.

We got back from the stroll and rested for a bit. I finally caught a Friday-night show I have been meaning to watch for weeks, but I was severely disappointed. The channel marketed the show as an interesting mystery. Because I did not understand some of the Chinese and the format of the show was different than what I expected, I did not enjoy it very much. Joy's husband was in the kitchen chopping away and preparing tomorrow's breakfast/lunch/brunch. I worked a bit on some homework until midnight, when I decided to join Patricia in bed :P...

We got up around 10:15am, after my alarm clock had gone off once at 8:30am. We overslept, which was a bit embarrassing as a guest. After getting ready for the day, Joy presented us with some dumplings. We asked her about her family life and marriage. It was great to learn about her life and her ancestors' histories. Around 11:45am, we left the house so that we would catch the bus back to Wenyi on time.

Patricia remarked that she loves that we're always rushing somewhere. It's true. We almost missed the train the last time we were in Shanghai and this time, we were rushing back from Xiasha.

• Rugby Tournament (Saturday)

After spending time at Joy's and coming back from Xiasha, Patricia and I rested for about an hour. I productively worked at my homework. Then, we headed out to watch Patricia's friend's rugby game. It was located on the Yuquan campus of Zhejiang University. We took a taxi there and walked to the stadium.

Rugby is the most manly sport I have ever seen (with the exception of some men who wore short shorts). There is so much sweatiness and tackling that I can only wince when I imagine the player's pain. Men push each other, pile up, and cause bruises. There was even one brave girl who played with the boys. Cool, a tough cookie. Most people did not wear helmets or any sort of "guard." Some guys did wear mouthpieces, though.

After the game, Patricia and I got some quick dinner (noodles with old duck for me). It was rush hour, the time when taxis had to switch drivers, so I decided to have an adventure alone and walk it. It took about 40 minutes to walk from the Jazz Bar (Yugu Road) to my apartment. I completed some homework and then went to a bar with Patricia and Min; the story will be told below.

• Barhopping: Tales of Smoky Wonder and Alcohol Avoidance (Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday)

- Tuesday night: Coco Club (11.11)

Neon and flashy, this is a true nightclub. Decor is hip and bright. The center of the club houses the square-shaped bar. The club has a mix of Chinese northerners (and weirdos/druggies, from an unnamed source) and some foreigners. Drinks are priced moderately low.

I went to the club with Zicheng, Romain, and Jason via taxi. We sat down and the masquerade-mask-donning waiter promptly took our order. At first, there was a man and woman singing popular requested songs. I recall that they sang "Jian Dan Ai" by Jay Chou. It was the only song I really knew. The man and woman would take a break and then random dance music would play.

That's when I noticed a crazy dancing king. He was really good at popping and locking. He was a crazy dancer who only danced when Asian music played. I wanted to get his number so I would have another dancing buddy, but I was not brave enough to approach him. He made new friends with some male breakdancers. Oh, and he was kind of cute, but he smoked. Danced with Zicheng and Jason. Slow-danced-8th-grade-style with Zicheng, hahaha.

Single's Day was quite festive, as people were given masquerade masks. The DJ called everyone to the bar and we saw the bartender skillfully juggle flaming bottles. Impressive! Later, he stacked cups of alcohol into a castle and lit the shot glass at the top. Then, he poured some alcohol on the top of the castle. The liquid cascaded down the shot glasses and formed a fiery waterfall. Then, the bartender put out the fire with some other liquid (water?) and distributed the drinks to some women. At the end of the festivities, two new couples were brought to the front of the stage and given alcoholic drinks with two straws and a large soft-looking stuffed animal. Love was in the air. The couples were pressured to kiss. One guy kissed his new girl on the lips (as far as I could see) and the other guy kissed his new lady on the hand.

After the couple initiations was when the real party began. The music got more western after the Chinese festivities were over. Danced wit' mah boys. It was funny. The DJ started to play classics like "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang and some rap songs ("Low" by Flo-Rida and "Yeah" by Usher). It turned into a westerner's club - laowais started coming in and freaking each other. Lots of Chinese people were still there.

Oh, I danced on stage (though I was scared at first). Throughout the night, some of the Chinese people allowed us to join their circle, so we just showed them our moves. One gal even grabbed me while I was on stage and pulled me down into her circle, so I could bust moves for the center. Fun. China is all about dancing with strangers ^_^...

We left the club around...1am or so. One of our friends got so drunk that we helped him go upstairs. Later, Zicheng and I took a walk in the quiet of the night, then I coerced (hah, not really, he was willing to do it) him into playing hotel626.com, the horrifying Doritos game with awesome graphics. It was scary (just a tad), but we beat it (he did most of the work, though). Slept around 3am.

- Thursday night: Fire Cicada Bar, 1999 Bar

Crazy night. After Patricia's teaching duties, she joined me on another quest to body roll with drunkards and make new inebriated friends. I actually put effort into my appearance that night. Around 9:30pm, we headed to Fire Cicada Bar.

As expected, our favorite live band was playing. We swooned for hours as the men played great songs like "北京一夜," "童话," a mellow version of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life," and some other Chinese and American classics. Of course, Miss Pat took pictures with the band members again :)

Once, a drunk man spoke to me to ask me something. I don't remember what he asked, but I responded in English. He looked confused and walked away. SCORE. Another man clinked his beer bottle with my can of Coca Cola and Pat's drink. He loitered at our table for awhile. The doofus put his beer down on the table near my bag...and then somehow managed to knock over his beer -_-. Because I hadn't been drinking and wasn't planning to, my reaction time was quick. I jumped up and grabbed my bag. As a result of this incident, a few drops of alcohol splashed onto my pants. Later, this guy left our table. Thankfully -_-.

The fun really started when we got into Advanced People-Watching 101. We noticed that there was a woman who was with a man. Let's call her "woman" and him "gyro." They looked snuggly enough together, but there was something bizarre about their relationship. Next, there was a man wearing a white blazer who was quite drunk. Let's call him "white blazer." He went up on stage to sing a song played by the band, while the lead singer (<3) looked a bit perplexed, but smiled nonetheless. *Girlish giggle.* Then, there was "black t-shirt"...a man who joined the aforementioned couple, "woman" and "gyro." Once, when "woman" was sitting down, "gyro" put his hand on her shoulder, and she brushed it off. She seemed to be flirting with "black t-shirt." "Woman" also came over to ask if Patricia could speak Chinese, and I told her she could speak a little bit.

Patricia encouraged me to dance with the drunks, so I did. While the band rested, I went next to the dancing group. They urged Patricia to join us, but Patty shyly declined. I just danced in a...shape (circle? oval? square?) with "woman," "gyro," "white blazer," and "black t-shirt." Later, "woman" said, "Let's dance"...so I danced with "woman." Once, "black t-shirt" came by and pushed her into me, causing much girl-on-girl action to be had. I suppose I just "caught" her like a foul ball...'twas it. I also somewhat danced with "black t-shirt" and "white blazer."

Let me outline each dancer's unique style. The drunk "white blazer" kept showing off his signature Michael Jackson crotch grab, but his rhythm was surprisingly excellent. There was another guy who accompanied "white blazer," but he was gone at the end of the night. "Woman" danced with slight gyrations of the hips, but she was madly grinding on "black t-shirt" (but wait, wasn't "woman" with "gyro"? Yeah...). She pushed him down onto the floor a few times (like a bully), while she and "gyro" laughed. "Gyro" said that she was so fun, i.e. "很好玩." "Gyro" himself should have been born a Latino man. His hips gyrated with the force of a sultry tornado. Any woman in heat would have jumped him, I'm sure. Thus, our study of Chinese drunkard dancing on the 13th of November concludes.

I holla'd at the band a few times, saying "whoo" to acknowledge them for their great job. Of course, I taught Patricia to say, "很好听！" (Sounds great!)

Near the end of the night, I asked both "gyro" and "woman" if the other was his or her significant other, for Patricia and I were so severely confused. It seemed as though "woman" had both men in her possession. I asked "woman" if "gyro" was her boyfriend and she nodded. I asked "gyro" if "woman" was his girlfriend, and he said, "No, she's my wife." WHOAAAA. "Gyro" allows his wife to grind on bar men. I learned bits about them throughout the night, but did not get to piece it together until the end. "Gyro" was lamenting his wife's behavior (I didn't pick up the word he used), but said that he allows her to do whatever she wants and said something about it being the same in Taizhou. I believe she was in her late 20's, while he was in his mid-30's, or possibly a bit older. This "husband controlled by his wife" and "husband allowing his wife to do whatever she wants" attitude is a relatively new, possibly liberal, concept I only stumbled on ONCE (this time) during my stay in China.

Now, what was "white blazer"'s story? While dancing with him, he told me that he was from Guangdong. I said in Chinese, "我也是！" (Me, too.) He didn't believe me ("不可能！")...even though I insisted. Later, he asked me where I lived in Guangzhou and I told him where my dad lives. Then, he said, "你的爸爸住在广州，你妈妈是外国人。" (Your dad lives in Guangzhou, your mom is a foreigner.) I told him, no, I was born there, and a glint of understanding flickered in his drunken pupils. "哦，你是在广州出生的，美国长大的。啊，我知道。" (Oh, so you were born in China and raised in America...I knew it.) He was here in Hangzhou on business, I believe.

Near the end of the night, Patricia and I bid the band goodnight. We also bid our new drunkard friends goodnight. I shook hands with those I danced with tonight. I shook hands with "white blazer" multiple times, so many times that I lost count. After I shook the hand of "black t-shirt," he kissed me on the back of my hand (*gasp*, like a real gentleman!). I guess I should be flattered; in fact, I was amused, as I always am. "White blazer" and I exchanged business cards. I wouldn't be surprised if he already forgot who I am. He added me on his phone and said he'd call me; he also asked me to call if I was in town (Guangzhou). It was a fond farewell. We left around 12:30am.

Oh, but before I left, I told Patricia I thought one of the waiters is cute. Like the true homie she is, she encouraged me to go take a picture with him. I asked him for a picture and before we took it, I told him, "你很帅"...and he told me, "You are beautiful" in a fobby accent. HAHAHA. Cute-ism! I was amazed and asked, "You speak English??" He said, "A little bit." Yet, my "white blazer" buddy spoiled the Kodak moment by being in the picture. I took out my business card and wrote my number on it. When I walked up to the waiter, he looked as though he were TRYING to look busy cleaning up. Then, I took another picture with the waiter. I gave him my card and ran away. Patricia told me about his reaction - he reportedly blushed (he looked embarrassed and looked down)...hahaha. HOW CUTE. Gutsy move, but I don't expect anything out of it. I don't even know his name, hahaha.

After this bar, Patricia and I attempted to find more open bars. However, the night was a bit dead. We tried to check out Bernini, a bar that Zicheng had played at, but it was closed. We walked down the road and found the 1999 Bar still open. The uniformed male waiters beckoned us ladies into the bar; the area by the main door contained a small waterfall for decor. We walked in and we were directed into a medium-sized bar with heat lamps. Outside of the bar was an open courtyard that was probably used for summer entertainment sessions.

We sat down in this tropical environment and looked at the drinks and snacks. They were somewhat overpriced. Drinks started from about 20 RMB (for juice, while alcohol was at least 35-40 RMB) and food started around 38 RMB.

Patricia and I split fried spring rolls, which were delicious. The entertainment consisted of a crooning, portly man, whose voice was so emotional that I could feel it right here *pats chest*. Next, a man whose shirt was halfway unbuttoned and a woman dressed like a Casablanca actress went onto stage and sang a few nice songs. During their set, I got a salute or some other type of gesture from the man, but I was pretty sure he was gesturing to Patty. *Shrug*. Later, he came over to talk to Patricia and ask where she is from. Here's where the invisibility cloak comes in. Being Asian in Asia means no one else knows you exist. I was fine, but I was like, eh?? LOL. Oh well, I'll make sure to hold back my greetings next time and wait for people to say hello to me. After the guy went back on stage, Patricia said to me, "I want to take a picture with that guy...he's sexy!" HAHAHA...couldn't agree more. Actually, employees in that bar were above average looking.

Then, another act came on stage. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was live music, but the keyboard player did most of the work. A talented woman came onto stage and sang some songs. In fact, all of the singers were excellent. I was confused as to whether everyone could sing songs in a live-karaoke fashion, or if all these singers were entertainers/employees who worked here?

We took a picture with the half-of-his-shirt-unbuttoned guy later. I told him I am also American; he asked if I am from Los Angeles and I said I am. He lamented that he had a chance to go there to visit a friend awhile ago, but he was so busy he couldn't make the trip. Later, he handed me his business card and told us to come back to "play" if we had time. After taking pictures with the waiters with the cute hats and outfits, Patricia and I hailed a cab and returned home.

- Saturday night: Traveller Bar, Homie (Bar?), Reggae Bar

On a nice Saturday evening, Patricia, her friend Min, and I went to Shuguang Road for some alcoholic action. This was my second time meeting Min. I re-discovered that he is a Harvard grad and majored in biology. He's also an adventurer who likes to travel alone. He is going to climb Mt. Himalaya and go to Tibet for about two months as a graduation gift to himself for finishing his doctorate! WOW. What a high-achiever. He's leaving soon...

Our first stop was Traveller Bar. It was a sailor's-pub styled bar, with many a leery foreign man casting a glance my way (okay, it was only one, but still...yuck! Talk about staring...I know I'm FOINE, but it doesn't mean you should stare o.O). We were seated upstairs, which had a great view of the overall building and decor. On the stage, a woman played her guitar and sang in English; she had a good voice, but I did not enjoy the music as much. The wall murals seemed to be an ode to dictatorship. Bush, Putin, and Hussein were on the same wall. From the other wall, Teresa Teng, Yao Ming, and Lei Feng smiled at the masses. The drinks were moderately priced, but the service was slow. We waited for 15 minutes before we decided to leave. Also, from when I first entered the bar to when I left the bar, my lungs and throat felt an uncomfortable itching. I coughed inside the bar, outside the bar, and even after I arrived home. This bar is not recommended on Saturday nights, if at all.

So Min said my picture looked cute. Noice. Also, as I left the bar, the leery man stared at me again *shudder*...please, let them be younger and more handsome.

We walked for a few minutes when something strange caught our eye - "Homie." It was lit up in the dark of night with orange letters. What could this be, we thought to ourselves. We approached the place and found a key phrase, "Let's get high," on one of the windows. Paired with this catchphrase was a picture of a black man smoking weed - this picture was repeated and layered over itself. Patricia and I could not believe the ridiculousness of it all. We just gave in to our picture-taking desires. We decided to go into this bar or whatever it was...

Inside, we found a DJ spinning techno/dance on a little platform. The DJ who was spinning wore a beanie and giant earmuff-like-headphones and a plaid shirt. Not your average DJ. This guy played lots of danceable music and some chart toppers (like Dido's "Thank You" and One Republic's "Apologize" remix). There was another DJ who played hard beats and some trance.

After we sat down, I ordered a cheap snack. The waiter told me they didn't have any. I chose another cheap snack. Again, the waiter told me they didn't have any. I thought third time was the charm, but my third selection was out, too. The waiter probably got tired of trying to take my order, so he brought another waiter to help me. He listed off everything that was available, so I finally chose 18 RMB 哈力克(popcorn - I don't know where the translation is from). After our orders were brought to us, we chilled and conversed a bit, taking in the sights of the bar.

Even though Halloween was long gone, there were still decorations hanging. Many Carlsberg beer promotional materials were hung up, including Carlloween signs, pictures of pumpkins filled with beers, and a spider hanging from a web. The bar itself...is hard to describe. It had the feel of a rebel's hideaway or emo child's hangout. There were posters of Spiderman 3 or The Dark Knight. On the other side of the wall was a poster with a man who looks like he is pointing at 'you.' On the top of the picture, it says, "I'm gonna kick your ass..." and on the bottom, it says, "...and get away with it." I did not waste the photo opportunity.

Later, a few more people started pouring in. I saw a tall, blonde, glasses-wearing, young man about my age; I deemed him to be Dusty's evil twin. Then, on our left side was a mini-birthday party. I caught one of the waiter guys (or was he just a friend of the birthday guy) doing a freaky dance move at his table and I "WOOO"'d at him; he got embarrassed, HAHA.

Min said he never learned how to dance, so I taught him basic steps and taught him how to feel the rhythm. I also asked him to loosen up. I was so proud of my student *tears*. He improved by a lot over a period of a few hours. I also taught him the Harlem Shake; this was hilarious because he didn't isolate his shoulders. The DJ watched us and laughed a bit. He was cute, too, but he smoked. -_-...

Anyway, the birthday boy cut his cake as the DJ played some dancey version of Happy Birthday. Patricia pouted and said she wanted some cake. A few minutes later, a guy from that table brought over a large slice of delicious cake. All of us were pleasantly surprised. Wishes are granted everyday in China. We enjoyed the cake. Then, another guy from that table brought over a large cantaloupe slice. We asked if there was a knife, but the guy said that the main waiter guy left, although there was a knife in the back. Min consumed part of that melon. Not soon after, we left. I waved goodbye to the DJ.

By this time, poor Min was getting tired, but he was a good sport for staying out longer than he normally stays out (he was shocked that we wanted to go to three different bars and stay out until 2am). At last, we went to the Reggae Bar. The bar itself had a Reggae feel, with black-and-white pictures of Bob Marley plastered over walls. The food and drinks were comparatively cheap - food started at 15 RMB. This included hamburgers and cheeseburgers (28 RMB), pizzas (40 RMB), and various Chinese and Western snacks. Alcohol was moderately priced, but there was a great selection of mixed drinks. Earlier in this bar, they played some R&B and rap. Later, they finally played some reggae. It was relaxing - I liked the atmosphere very much.

A man sitting next to us offered to take a picture of us once and we found out he went to Zhejiang University and his name is Yuelai. He offered us a cigarette. His girl date was very drunk and barely cognizant. They left shortly after meeting us. Perhaps we'll see this man (and his friend?) again.

A black man walked into the bar and looked back, then instantly did a double-take when he saw Patricia. Then, he saluted at her, she saluted back, and the man shook hands with each of us. That was entertaining. We decided to head back home around 2am. It was a good night.

In fact, it was a great week...

Quzhou Weekend

2008-10-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Weekend of Friday, October 24, 2008 to Sunday, October 26, 2008:
衢州 Day 1-3

中国 Day 43-45
Asia Day 46-48

Friday: Tire attacked after Rabies shot. Went to Quzhou. Dinner.
Saturday: Breakfast, bus to Datou. Settled into guesthouse, ate lunch. Went out after lunch. Climbed 'shan qiu'...almost died. Came back down and ate sweet potatoes. Chilled awhile. Ate dinner. Walked outside with friends. Came back and played Tarot/question game.
Sunday: Yayyyyzer..nesses...ate breakfast, went back to Quzhou, ate lunch. Came back to Hangzhou. Studied.

Today's theme: Effin' ridiculous!! How can they un-cancel classes?

...Sorry, been so busy that I haven't updated in a long-ass time :( May finally get to that this weekend! Promise :) All I do is study all day, sigh...

Shanghai Experience

2008-10-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 17, 2008: 杭州 Day 33

中国 Day 36
Asia Day 39

• First time riding bike long-distance. Rabies shot.

• Visit to company! Strangeness.

• Stressory to train.

• First time on train alone.

• Picked up by Amy & Sina, food.

• Homework night with Amy.

...

Saturday, October 18, 2008: 上海 Day 1

中国 Day 37
Asia Day 40

• Shanghai Old Street. Ripped off and took many pictures. ABC Couple.

• Shanghai stadium, stole camera.

- Reference to Jingy's post.

• Haggling after concert. Ayu's fans. Coldstone. Girl trippin'. Windows Scoreboard with Daniella and Karol til 3am.

...

Sunday, October 19, 2008: 上海 Day 2

中国 Day 38
Asia Day 41

• Hot pot with Karol, Amy, Darleen. Music and picture transfers.

• Got home.

杭州 Day 28-30

2008-10-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 12, 2008:
杭州 Day 28 - West Lake Solo Photographic Tour

中国 Day 31
Asia Day 34

• Today, I woke up (as you may have guessed) LATE. I got up around 1:30pm after being half asleep when I should have gotten up. I did laundry, planned my lesson for the next two days, and hung my laundry once it was done washing. I boiled some dumplings (wtf, there's some sand in 1 out of 5 dumplings) and wontons (omg, delicious). They were store-bought, by the way o_O.

• Even though I was hours behind schedule, I was adamant about going to West Lake on a solo photographic tour. So, after all my errands were finished, I left the house with a backpack and my fanny pack. My face was covered in SPF 70 sunblock and I sprayed some DEET to avoid getting touched by mosquitoes. Also brought two bottles of water, an umbrella (which I decided not to use), and plenty of tissues.

• From where I live, all I have to do is turn right and walk 45 minutes to reach West Lake. I timed myself; between waiting for traffic lights to turn green and some of the distractions around me, it did only take 45 minutes. I left around 4:05pm and got to West Lake around 4:50pm.

• On the way, I saw some interesting things. I need to remember to take a picture of this, but near the daycare center (next to my school), there's a condom dispenser. I walked a few blocks and heard the siren of firetrucks. One after another, they kept passing me; I think I may have seen three total. I also saw this traffic sign with a man who looked like he was walking. It was a blue sign that I have never seen before - I should get a picture of it because it's quite odd - one of his legs are raised and there is an arrow under it. I think it is a sign dictating where a pedestrian should walk, but a CAR had parked under the sign o_O. After walking about 25-30 minutes, I saw a place where the firetrucks congregated. I saw no smoke nor flames, but there were groups of people watching and taking pictures with their camera phones and cameras. About 6 firetrucks were parked, along with a few police cars. I knew I was getting close to West Lake when I saw a pagoda nearby. I walked a bit more until I saw the lake.

• There's a dramatic change in scenery from the school to the lake. First, an observative walker will witness shops upon shops in an urban setting with few trees. Twenty minutes of walking brings the pedestrian to a more shaded area with many trees and more stores. After walking in this shaded area for another twenty minutes, the walker will finally see willow trees and other signs (i.e. water) that he or she is close to West Lake.

• I crossed the crosswalk and smiled with a sense of achievement as I made my way near the edge of the lake. I turned left and sauntered around the lake. On the way, I saw:
- People, lots and lots of PEOPLE.
- People that weren't couples sitting on the benches.
- Some historical statues.
- Lotus leaves in the lake, next to a Chinese-architectural building.
- A man with a Polaroid company jacket squatting over to take pictures of this lady and her kid. It must have been the father, but I thought it could have also been a random guy whose purported skill in photography is illustrated by his brand-name jacket.
- Statues of a couple.
- About 8 girls eating black corn. To be more specific, it was probably blue corn that was given a black eye. The corn is almost a dark indigo color and its color made me curious about its taste...
- Starbucks. There's one next to a lake. I saw a laowai sitting there, as well as a Caucasian lady with some foreigner friends.
- A West Lake sunset! It was beautiful!! What more can you ask for? Mountains, water, boats, and greenery - all were present at West Lake's splendid sunset. Ah, if only there were fewer people :P

• My feet were starting to hurt. To be more specific, my left foot was hurting (felt like it was starting to get blisters), while my right foot felt just fine. Around 5:10pm or so, after the sun had set, I decided to head back the way I came. I pondered two modes of transportation to get back to my school (via taxi, or via bus), but I thought it'd be really cool to just walk back all the way, for the experience.

• I gave in to my desire to try something new. I bought a black corn on the cob! I asked the man how much it was and he said, "五块" while using his hand to show me "five." I thought it was kind of expensive, but I bought it anyway. He told me I could choose which cob I preferred. When I bit into the corn, it tasted like Chinese corn - it's not crunchy or sweet, but it's quite chewy.
• After I walked away from the stand, I was puzzling over why he had made the hand motion in addition to telling me how much it was. I thought, maybe he thinks I'm a tourist so that he can overcharge. However, I also guessed that most of the Chinese there were tourists. Yet, did I somehow act in a way (by how I walked or asked the price) that told him I was a foreigner tourist, instead of a Chinese tourist? What a conundrum.

• On the way back, two women asked me for directions and I had to tell them I didn't know. -_-. I stopped by a store, whilst still chewing my corn. I bought some bread, when one of the cashiers said to her co-worker, "啊，她的玉米是黑的！" (Her corn is black.) Then, they talked to each other about corn. I was amused.

• I got a text asking if I wanted to join some of the foreign teachers for dinner. I texted back, "Yes."

• Around 6:30pm, I stopped by the local fruit/produce store and saw the chestnut man. This man roasts chestnuts and keeps them warm under a red blanket. I was craving chestnuts, so I bought a small bag for 7块. Thanks, Chestnut-man!

• I got back to my apartment and rested for a bit. Around 7pm, I joined Romaine, Vanessa, Thomas, Jason, and Zicheng for dinner. We saw a set of open-air stalls selling food at Jiaogong Lu awhile back, so we returned today to try some of this greasy street food. In Hong Kong/Guangzhou, they call the street food stall "dai pai dong" (大排档), while I think the Taiwanese call it the night market (though Taiwanese food is a whole different cuisine). So, the guys chose a place and I ate duck fried rice and rib soup (pai2 gu3 tang1 => 排骨汤) for 13块. Not bad, but it was a bit greasy.
• On the way back, I was conversing with Zicheng in Chinese. It was funny because we were talking about terms such as "吹牛皮"/"吹牛." I kept having to toss in some English (shows I'm not fluent yet -_-). It was funny because he brought up whether I knew the meaning of "拍马屁"...I said yes. I told him I thought the "屁" meant fart, as in 放屁, but he said something about pi4gu3 (屁股), or butt. This led to a hilarious conversation about fart.
• Z: *Sniffs*, as there is something stinky in the air (not love).
J: 这是什么味道？是不是你？
Z: 不是我。是他。 *Whispers* 老外放屁。
J: 啊，中国人放的屁是香的。
*Romain looks backwards and gives me a look.*
Z：不是，人放的屁都是臭的。
J：你怎么知道？。。。是不是有经验的？
Z：你从来有没有闻过香的屁？
*Jing cackles wildly, whilst Zicheng stares, bemused.*

• Came back to read for a bit.

• Today was such a great adventure!! Yes, I walked to West Lake and back...and explored alone!!! :D. 'Twas about approximately 45 minutes each way (I just had to reiterate that). Next time, I'm thinking of going by bike...

...

Monday, October 13, 2008: 杭州 Day 29, - Teaching Day 11

中国 Day 32
Asia Day 35

• I got my second rabies shot. I walked all the way from my apartment to Wulin (武林) Road because three taxis rejected me (and I did not feel like waiting around). The trip took approximately one hour (hehe, I navigated with my online 3D map before I made the trip)!!! I explored a lot of the city and felt accomplished when I made it to my destination. At the health clinic, a different healthcare worker injected me with the shot, so the stab of the needle was not as bad. I took a taxi home afterward...

...

Tuesday, October 14, 2008: 杭州 Day 30 - Teaching Day 12

中国 Day 33
Asia Day 36

• I bought a bright yellow shiny bike from the man on Wenyi Rd. It was 314块 with the accessories (basket and lock), 298块 without. I awkwardly rode it through the streets and back to my apartment. It was a scary adventure.

杭州 Day 22-27

2008-10-06T19:53:00.001-07:00

Monday, October 6, 2008: 杭州 Day 22 (Teaching Day 7)
中国 Day 25
Asia Day 28

• Went to sleep really late (3am!! UGH) and woke up really early (7:30am). Now, why would I do that? I was still worried about the monkey bite, I suppose. Oh, and yesterday, all of a sudden, it got cold. I carelessly used a thin blanket to cover up at night, when I should have used something thicker.

• Taught a class in the morning - did a lot of listening exercises today. The funniest thing to happen in the morning class happened during one of the listening exercises. I had three students draw pictures of things that happened in my story.
• It was an interesting story about a king named Tamerlane. Whilst he was away fighting battles, his youngest, most beautiful Chinese wife built him a mosque. However, the builder had fallen in love with the young wife. Since the builder did not finish the mosque and would not continue to build it unless the Chinese wife allowed him to kiss her, she let him kiss her. However, the kiss was so strong that it left a mark on her face. The builder was killed and king Tamerlane wanted all women to wear veils, lest they tempt men with their beauty.
• One student drew a building and a W.C. (restroom) next to it. I had the drawers select someone to interpret the drawing and retell the story. The student said something about how a man once had to use the W.C., but realized it was out of toilet paper. Then, he fell in love with a girl who gave him toilet paper to use. Then, she kissed him. The other two people who drew had wacky interpretations of their drawings, but not as crazy as this one.

• I went back to nap/rest for three hours. I put on long sleeves/pants and snuggled under the thick comforter. Sigh. I woke up and it was still chilly...

• Minor setback in second class. The key lady told me that the key was upstairs with the cleaning lady, so I went upstairs with the mic. I went upstairs to find that the room was still locked. So, some students went to find the janitor lady, while I whispered for my students to be quiet and to huddle in the corner near the door. Well, it was only minutes later that the janitor lady rushed over and said sorry as she hurriedly unlocked the door.
• The afternoon class was a little less attentive. I caught a student sleeping and another student was not paying attention (he was writing in his book). I asked him what he thought of the story and he said it was "interesting." One of his classmates sneered, "Interesting 你的屁！你根本没听。。。" (Interesting? Yeah right, you didn't listen to the story!) The non-attentive student said, "Shut up!" and then I told them to behave -_-. By this time, because I was reading to the class, my throat was getting quite dry. Kept reading to the class, as the speed on the audio tape seems a bit fast.

• Came back and felt like doing nothing. Honestly, I just went online, read a bunch of articles/news, checked email, and just sat on my ass. I didn't feel like eating or doing homework.

• Went to bed really, really early - 8:30pm.

...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008: 杭州 Day 23 (Teaching Day 8)
中国 Day 26
Asia Day 29

• Woke up several times during the night. Finally got up at 8am to blog. Finished in three hours. Also needing to journal...

• Went to class today and there was a minor technical difficulty. Well, there were several. I didn't know there was a switch for the mic, so I thought the mic was broken. I ended up reading the text again (lucky students, for me having to waste my breath). Well, the computer also wasn't working, so again, I read...
• I felt a bit annoyed today. My students usually converse in Chinese because they are not skilled in English. They would lose their main mode of expression for group-work, if it weren't for Chinese. I don't know quite what to do.
• Also, I went around to ask some students questions based on the listening exercise. Most of them had this nonchalant attitude as they said, "I don't know." I felt like I had to grill them for understanding. I asked why they didn't know and tried to decipher ways for them to actually KNOW or UNDERSTAND the exercises done in class. There's a lot of stuff that's just translated to them via friends, which hurts part of the cause and helps the other part. Anyway, some of them claimed they didn't know because they weren't listening. C'mon male students, do you think I WASTE my breath so you can whisper to your friends and pretend to listen? I'm a sick woman here...and I'm not getting paid to read you some fairy tales. Well, perhaps I am, but if it were up to me, I'd rather have you use your breath than have me waste mine. Others didn't really understand, due to my reading pace or their own lack of English knowledge. What are you in the class for, then? Why don't you go back to your lower levels so you can learn the basics? I tried to slow down my reading pace, so that the students could understand. Another factor that I can't control is the student's past experiences with other accents - because they got used to the fobby Chinese accent for beginning levels (most likely), they copied this and this bad English proliferated into an uncontrollable level that teachers like me are struggling with right now.
• However, not everyone is a terrible student. For the most part, the female students, while shy, are very, very attentive. Most understand what I'm saying. I'm less frustrated about this. Shyness can be overcome with encouragement.
• At times, though, I don't feel like a very encouraging person. Heh. I should encourage and compliment more in daily life.

• After my classes today, I went home and munched on peanuts and then went up to Jessica's for the potluck. I brought dragon eye and grape juice. It was a good time.
• Jamie is so hilarious. He said, "You know, the walls were so close that you could hear them change their minds." He also said (of Foster's Australian beer), "You know what the truth is? With native beers, they don't export it...they DEport it."

• Sigh...time to do homework, even though I don't want to...*whine*...make-up classes tomorrow, as well...

...

Wednesday, October 8, 2008: 杭州 Day 24 (Make-up Teaching Day 9)
中国 Day 27
Asia Day 30

• Got up so late because I slept 10 hours. Went to take the bus at 12:20pm. I was freaking out a bit because it was already bordering on 1:20pm and I saw some of the teachers who work on my campus getting off at the first stop. I hurriedly followed them and then called to ask Michael if he knew if there was more than one Xiasha East stop. Well, the minivan ended up going to the East campus. I was so relieved. The hardest part of the day (transportation) was taken care of...by the admin.

• For the makeup schedule, I had my second class first. Patricia was next door. I began to stress out. Why? The guys with their little girlfriends and some guys in the left corner...would not stop talking! It would not bother me as much if they talked in English, but it was all in Chinese. I had to shout a few times to get them (those talkers) to be quiet. To add to that, the microphone would not work in my room. There were also some students who didn't understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. Sigh. I don't know why...or HOW they got in that class. Some of them look at me with faces like, "DURRRH?" Sigh. I was extremely annoyed and my voice had wasted away.

• I went to wait for the bus around 4:50pm. When it didn't look like the bus was coming, I called Michael. Later, I found out that there were no buses running on Wednesdays because teachers usually didn't have classes. Well, Michael tried to hail a cab to bring me here (a supervisor of his would cover the fee up to 80块, but there were no taxis to hail). Thankfully, I got back to Xiasha via university car. Michael and I had dinner in the student cafeteria (not too bad, about 5块) - was just two sides and rice. At 6:30pm, I took the bus back to Wenyi.

• I did all the lesson planning whilst I was waiting around. When I got home, I did a lot of nothing. Ate some more food/fruit and then read for the rest of the night (whilst chattin'...heh).

...

Thursday, October 9, 2008: 杭州 Day 25 (Teaching Day 10)

中国 Day 28
Asia Day 31

• Wow, I've been in China for a month (really hasn't felt that long). This morn, I woke up at 7:30am so I could arrive on the Xiasha campus bright and early. I caught the 8:40am bus and arrived around 9:40am. Michael met me at the hospital, where I had a second opinion on my monkey bite wound. (Actually, the wound scabbed over a long time ago and it fell off today!!)

• The female doctor that examined me took a brief look at my wound, while Michael explained to her what happened to me. He asked her whether I should consider getting rabies shots and she replied, "It's best if you do." Later, we went upstairs to see the male doctor. Michael explained the same things and then the doc touched my green-tinted bruise as I exclaimed, "Eh? It's gone..." I think at his point was when I noticed my scab was gone. Thus, this male doctor thought there was nothing to worry about. He said something about drawing blood and seeing if there was anything in the blood, but Michael explained that they wouldn't find anything if the virus had not already spread. From this conversation, I could see that I was more well-versed in rabies than he was.

• Later, I was explaining to Michael that I did some obsessive research on rabies, that I knew if I got shots, they would have to be in different intervals. He was amazed I knew so much, since the first time he heard that was when he called the clinic recently. Indeed, there was a moment where I said, "Yeah...if I don't get the shot..." And Michael continued, "...you are dead." HAHAH. I also mentioned to him how males just shrug off stuff like this, while females seemed more concerned. My point was proven when Michael called his lady boss and told him the situation (that he wanted to go with me to the clinic to get the shot) and she sounded very concerned. Yes, I will get my first shot tomorrow (and I need to be prepared to get sick from the shot, sigh).

• After getting prescriptions, we went to the library for a bit and perused books. There's quite a few finance books. I also found the English classical novel section...I'm hoping to maybe read "Journey to the West" if I have any time available. After going to the library, we went to the teacher's cafeteria. Even though teachers are thought to be more civil, it was mayhem. Teachers didn't line up to get food - rather, they crowded and grabbed at what looked delicious. Lunch this time was 7.6 块. Of course, this is cheaper than eating out. I got rice, tofu and various veggies, fish (with smallish bones -_-) and white carrot dish, and three fried dumplings with a wrapping-covered sticky rice thing. I already forgot what it was called. Lunch was pretty good. Had a fun conversation.

• There was one point where I was complaining a bit about the student's attitudes and Michael reminded me, "Remember what I told you - if you can teach this group of students, you can teach ANY group..." Those are inspiring words. I really want to help the students...but guess what. Hah, none emailed me yet! WTF.

• Went to class and did a lot of listening exercises today. Honestly, I've been a bit sicker than usual since Monday, so I didn't want to talk more than I had to. Avoided straining my voice further by using a lot of listening exercises. In the first class, the students are more well-behaved. One of the students, though, said he wished there were films shown in class. I said I'd consider that, but I wanted those at the lowest levels to be able to understand it at first. Then, this student commented that one could turn on the subtitles. The phrase he used specifically was, "Chinese words on the bottom."

• In my second class, because of the fallout from yesterday, I felt like a dictator. The lights were off for most of the class because I had the projector on. I went over the vocabulary somewhat quickly. I tried to make sure people knew what was going on. Afterward, the students did some listening exercises. Two people fell asleep! Unacceptable! At the end of class, one of the better students passed me a note saying: "Can we have some interesting things like watching flims. pictures or listening musics next week. The class seems a little boring. Thank you." I received it and didn't know what to make of it. Of course, I want to make the class as student-centered as possible, but I also have to follow a syllabus. I have to admit, maybe I made it more listening-exercises-oriented this week due to fatigue/illness, but I will try to engage the students a bit better for next week. The class turned out to be a bit quieter because I threatened to move students. Plus, I patrolled the area that got loud. One audacious kid kept listening to his music from his phone. I walked over because he looked asleep, just to find him listening to his stuff...I walked away, and a few minutes later, he was doing the same thing. Then, he felt embarrassed and had this expression like, "Okay, okay, I give up." At that point, he put it away for good.

• I rode the bus back and got back in time for dinner with Jason, Romain, Vanessa, and Jason's friend and former HDU teacher Jackie. Pretty good dindin, though some dishes were quite spicy :/...

• Went on a random-reading spree. -_-. Wasted over 5 hours reading articles having nothing to do with my life. Mostly crime mysteries...

...

Friday, October 10, 2008: 杭州 Day 26

中国 Day 29
Asia Day 32

• In the morning, I woke up at 7:45am, when I went to sleep around 3:30am (because of my reading spree). I was super-tired.

• Michael met up with me around 8:30am so that we could go to the disease control center for my first time. Thus, we took a taxi to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (疾病预防控制中心 [ji2 bing4 yu4 fang2 kong4 zhi4 zhong1 xin1] or 疾控中心 for short). We went to the clinic for animal bites and scratches (动物咬伤门诊), where I registered via telling them my name. Then, the doctor recorded what happened to me, whilst Michael talked about all of it. The little girl before me got bitten by a dog.
• There were three types of shots - first two were made in China, whilst the last one was made in Germany. The first one was cheap (~200 Yuan), the second one was stable (~250 Yuan), whilst the last was manufactured out of the country and stable (~630 Yuan). I chose the second one...heh. Well, I had to pay 53 Yuan for each shot (a series of 5 shots) and 1.5 Yuan per needle (yes, clean). My school insurance MAY cover it...hooray?

• So...I glanced over to my right and saw the nurse stab the needle into the little girl, who cried for about 30 seconds before she realized it didn't hurt anymore. That was a bit traumatic for me, since I didn't know whether she would stab me, too. Well, when it was my turn, she put iodine on my right arm and then stabbed the needle into it (>_<). It didn't hurt too much, but I could just feel the intense pressure of stabbery. Afterward, she talked of disinfecting the wound, but I told her it was in the arm that was just stabbed...and she looked like, ?_?, since I also told her...oh, heh, it's GONE.
• Nursey lady spoke to the next customer, as Michael told them I'm a foreign teacher. The nurse lady was talking to me like I was a kid! "Ni zai na ge xue xiao...XUEEEEE XIAOOOOO...jiao shu?"/"你在哪个学校。。。学校。。。教书？" I told her Hangzhou Dianzi Keji Daxue. She was impressed I could spit those words out that quickly. I fumbled my words a bit when she asked where I was born. She then said to the next customer, yeah, her Chinese isn't THAT great. T_T...grr!!

• Five Days of Rabies Shots:
1: Friday, 10/10
2: Monday, 10/13
3: Friday, 10/17
4: Friday, 10/24
5: Friday, 11/07

• After going to this clinic, I went to a drugstore with Michael. He told me, "I have to go to the drugstore to buy some medicine to kill crocodiles." I initially thought, hmm, didn't know there were crocodiles in Hangzhou. Then, he corrected himself and said, "Oh, I meant cockroach." We had a little laugh.
• Then, I saw a sign and asked Michael what the words were. It said fu4yin4 (复印), but I thought it said, xia4yin4 (夏印). As you can see, the words look the same. We had another little laugh.
• Michael was chuckling, and I was asking him if he was still laughing about the crocodiles...and he said, no, I'm still laughing at xia4yin4.

• After I came back, I went on the computer for awhile, then took a nap. When I woke up, I read some more random articles...and that was basically my day. No Friday night parties, nope.

...

Saturday, October 11, 2008: 杭州 Day 27

中国 Day 30
Asia Day 33

• I read so late into the night last night that I woke up really late today. It was about 2pm when I got up. I started doing my Ethnography homework (watching television and recording the types of ads that were shown on television). Honestly, some of this time was wasted. I watched a dumb teeny bopper show about some kids going to try on new fashions and going to karaoke. I could neither relate to this nor understand what was going on. I saw a news report featuring only four main stories. I turned off the television for a bit and then started to do more homework. Blahhh...I watched more television and this time, it was more interesting. I watched a television drama featuring a man who had divorced his wife and now he lives with her new husband and his ex-wife. Something like that. After that, I watched a talk show.
• The talk show was pretty colloquial and easy to understand; it featured the main characters from that drama I was just watching (omg, the middle-aged manly actor was hawt). The lady had asked her co-worker actor why he had gotten into film, since he was not good looking. She commented about his bravery, since he has small, not-film-worthy eyes. I thought it was hilarious. Only on Chinese television can one say this.
• Later, this lady talked about her son and how she raised him. Now, he's 18 and in college. She said, "I gave him life and wings to fly. I told him, 'from this day on, you will be able to take care of yourself. I will no longer be responsible for you, you can do whatever you want.'" It was really inspiring because she talked about the years she spent teaching him, raising him, letting him know what's good/bad and right/wrong. Basically, she gave him all the tools he needs to survive in the world and now he can spread his wings and fly. After this, I turned off the television.

• During my television watching, I noticed an ad that played two times. It was mysterious and interesting! I think it was a detective ad. The guy was using his magnifying glass to examine some details that were out of place. The show is on Friday evenings at 10pm or so...and I don't want to miss it!

• Also, I wrote down many vocabulary words that I want to learn. Some of them are used in common language, so I want to make sure I know what's going on the next time I hear such words.

• I briefly worked on a report and replied to two discussions. Went to bed around 3:30am. I was planning on going to West Lake early next morning...

More October Holiday: Kuala Lumpur, 广州 & 杭州

2008-10-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 1, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 1
Asia Day 23

• Woke up hecka late today. I went to bed around 4am in the morning and got up around 11am or so. Baba's business associate (another one) picked us up from the hotel and took us to his company. Baba and his business associates (2 of them) talked business for about 2-3 hours, whilst I was journaling.

• Condition of my stomach wasn't good. Last night, I found out that codeine had the unfortunate side effect of making one not able to poo (fact was from a friend, but I noticed this in my daily rituals, as well). I actually took codeine on an empty stomach last night (before I feasted on McDonald's). This morning, when I woke up, it felt as though my stomach had been bleeding and my breath smelled like the codeine pill. Not enjoyable. I didn't eat breakfast today, so my stomach was hurting.

• Baba's business associates treated us to lunch. It was quite yummy - standard Malaysian fare, with minimal veggies. We had green beans, pork ribs, fish curry, rice, and chicken. The fish curry tasted almost like Thai food - I could somewhat taste the coconut milk. Had pink milky-flavored jelly for dessert. Oh, I saw a random faucet outside of the open air restaurant (I mean, it's not THAT random in the context of being near the restaurant...but people usually place faucets indoors).

• After eating the splendid lunch, Baba's business associate drove us everywhere to go sightseeing. Well, not everywhere. During the drive, I saw so many different cuisines and languages plastered over ads. Arabic, Malaysian, Chinese, Korean...these were all prevalent. Also saw a few mosques.

• Baba's business associate asked us if we wanted to go to an Indian temple. I asked him if it was Hinduism and he concurred. Thus, we went to the Batu Cave ("to the Batcave!"). Immediately after I got out of my car, I started to snap pictures of the sacred limestone mountains and Hindu statues. There was this HUGE golden Hindu god that was almost as tall as the mountain; next to that was a set of 272 steps leading to an open cave. I eagerly ran up the steps and waited for the older men (Baba and his business associate) to follow me. Inside the cave, there were many displays with Hindu statues and scenes, as well as souvenir shops. Going further, I found a few steps leading down to another set of Hindu scenes. I found a monkey (long-tailed macaque) eating a bag of fruit that someone had tossed it; it was sitting on the stair banister. As it was super-busy feasting, I had the chance to take pictures, but it wouldn't look at me. I made some distracting noises (eek, psst, tsk) to see if I could get it to look at me, and when it finally did, the monkey's expression looked like, "WTF?"
• After I snapped some good pictures of the monkey, I walked further and saw a larger group of monkeys with pink buttcheeks running rampant. There were younger ones that screeched because they were hungry. The monkeys kept playing with each other and climbing poles. I snapped pictures, but those monkeys were too fast for my camera. When I was tired of looking at these semi-wild monkeys, Baba, his business associate, and I headed back.
• When I got to the place with 272 stairs, my fear of heights started to kick in again. Baba told me to hold the stair banister, but I wouldn't, since
fear of germs > fear of heights. I went down the stairs slowly, due to my fear of heights. Then, I paused for a moment and saw a few monkeys standing on a distant stair banister on my right side. By this time, I had already walked down to the halfway point.

• There was a monkey making some screeching noises, and since I wasn't thinking, I also made some noises back at it (no, I wasn't harassing it!!). That wasn't a good choice, because I think that monkey was pissed. All of a sudden, the monkey quickly jumped to the banister next to ME and grabbed/scratched/bit me on my upper arm, next to the place where one would usually find a fob mark (erm, to be politically correct - polio vaccination site). I freaked out and my fight-or-flight response instantly kicked in. In no time, my fear of heights/germs were overridden by my fear of monkey attacks.

fear of heights < fear of germs < fear of more monkey attacks

I held the banister and ran down the last half of the stairs. I was temporarily not afraid of germs. I got to the place where Baba and his associate were standing and Baba was chuckling about my predicament. I looked back and the monkey was glaring at me (it didn't chase, thank the Hindu gods - or, were the Hindu gods punishing me today for not being Hindu??). My heart wouldn't stop beating and my face was flushed. Baba seemed amused, and in my heart, I was amused, but fear told me not to be entertained and to take care of the situation.

• Baba and his business associate told me not to worry about the bite/scratch marks. Upon detailed inspection, I had three different wounded areas. There were two minor scratchy looking marks (though they could have easily been bite marks). There was a third mark with a deeper protrusion (but it wasn't very deep - perhaps less than a millimeter at most. Oh, and as time wore on...I found out I got this hip bruise from kinda falling down once the monkey grabbed moi.

• We went inside the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers, but we couldn't go up today, due to the new year's holiday. However, we did walk through the mall and get to the side with the small lake. It was quite nice.

• Baba and I returned to our hotel, where I obsessively researched diseases in monkeys (especially macaques); the more information I found, the more I became concerned for my well-being. Baba was sound asleep.

• Around 7pm, Baba's other business associate Sally and her husband invited us to dinner. We ate at this Chinese place. Had watermelon juice, Peking duck (modified Malaysian version), shark fin soup (pretty good - never had it before; 'tis full of shark fin, crab, and Chinese mushroom); pork-mushroom-lettuce wraps, rice, and some type of fish-tofu-mushroom curry. It was soo good. I became full quite fast and suffered profusely from food coma. I was falling asleep at the dinner table.

• After dinner, Sally promised to take me to get a shot (since I had whined a bit to Baba). We had to wait in the clinic area for maybe 1-2 hours. I got my heart rate measured. The doctor took a look at my wound and then recommended I get a tetanus shot (if I hadn't had one in 5 years, which I hadn't) and put some antibiotic cream on it. (Hrm, I was wondering whether he saw the mark very clearly, as he was sometimes cross-eyed.) I asked him about rabies and hepatitis B for monkeys and his general attitude was not worrisome at all, as my arm just had a simple scratch/wound that barely broke my skin. Well, I got a tetanus shot over there. Baba paid about 157 RM :/ and we spent a lot of time waiting >_< However, it brings me peace of mind to know that the matter is taken care of...but if you find out later I died, that means other people didn't do enough :P...I did everything I could personally do to make sure I was good and well ^^U...

• Sally's husband drove us a bit around Kuala Lumpur's tourism area, then dropped us off at the hotel. Baba waited another hour or so for the wife of one of his business associates to come pick up a package. Then, Baba and I went to walk in the streets for a bit.

• Baba wanted to buy some coconut milk, so I went off to a little flea-market-style vendor area and took a look around. Most of the vendors are Indian, with a few Chinese vendors. I looked at some of the wallets and they were made in Guangzhou, so I could probably get it supercheap there. Every time I passed an Indian vendor, they would greet me and say, "Hello Miss" or, for one of them, he asked me, "Where you do come?" I thought he asked me about the gum I was chewing. o.O

• I looked at another vendor's wallets and the vendor saw me and came around (after I had inspected two wallets and put one down). Er, I had NO money on me and I didn't really feel like buying anything, as I was really just LOOKING AROUND. The vendor started to talk to me (which reminded me of the Russell Peters sketch about haggling with the Chinese vendor, as well as the fact that Chinese and Indian people can't do business together - *chuckle*). Anyway, the vendor and I had the following convo:

Vendor: This usually costs 45.50, but I will give you the special price of 35.50.
Jingor: Oh, but I'm just looking...
Vendor: Yes, yes, I understand that you are just looking. How about 30?
Jingor: Er, I don't have money on me...my dad has it. Perhaps I can look around some more and get back to you.
Vendor: I know that you're just looking, but the other shops have already started to close down...
Jingor: Uhmmm...I can get this from where I'm from...
Vendor: Where are you from?
Jingor: China...
Vendor: This one is made in Korea - it's better quality.
Jingor: Err...
Vendor: 20. I'm giving you this good price because I am going to close shop.
Jingor: Err...I'll have to come back tomorrow. I have no money right now...sorry...
*Vendor gives Jingor a slightly dirty look*...

SIGH. LOL.

• Baba and I went home and then got ready for bed ^^.

...

Thursday, October 2, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 2
Asia Day 24

• Day of nyar-ness. I woke up after Baba got a call from his friend/business associate. We met up with them for lunch (ate tofu, yow-zah-gwai, and some other Malaysian food). I had little to no appetite, so I just ate a little bit...in actuality, I was a bit nauseous every time I put food into my mouth. I felt like if I ate much more, I would throw it all up...

• Afterwards, I was feeling a bit sickly, so I slept in their car whilst they drove to Genting, a casino up in the mountain. It was quite cloudy there. I was feeling dehydrated, so I asked for a bottle of water. My un-hungry symptoms did not go away. I was wondering why I felt nauseous...and I thought that either:
1) the monkey bite was causing this symptom
2) the pills I took for my cough hadn't been taken during the best time (i.e. before I ate my first meal and therefore disrupting the happiness of my stomach)
3) or it was all in my head.

Anyway, I drank some water and walked around, when I felt a sudden urge to faint. I was getting light-headed and panicking a bit, but then I asked to sit down. Immediately after finding a seat, I laid my head down for several minutes (on each side).

• Later, we (me, Baba, Baba's business associate and her husband) went up to the casino. They only allow access to kiddos 21 and up with VIP cards. It was interesting watching some of the games. Roulette. Blackjack. What the hell is baccarat?? Pai Gow was interesting to watch, but I didn't understand it. What was more interesting was how the dealers, after taking the chips, and spreading them for the patron to look at (making sure that the correct number of chips was given), the dealer would make a palms-up motion. It bothered me a little because it felt like there was an OCD-complex with these dealers...like they HAD to do it every time. However, I believe the practical reason for this is to show that the dealer didn't snip a few chips from the pile. Well, we left the casino and headed back to the hotel.

• I slept on the way back to the hotel. Baba and I went back to the room, rested up for a few minutes, then headed to a seafood restaurant. I wasn't feeling 'hungry' at this time, but I did feel a sharp mild pain in my stomach (are these hunger pangs??), though I didn't feel like I had an appetite. We went to this restaurant and ordered lots of peanuts as appetizers. Then, Baba also ordered one veggie dish (gai lan), pork ribs, and fish. The fish was really good - had really large bones and its flesh was supple and smooth. However, at this time, I was still not that hungry, so I tried to shove this food down my esophagus, knowing I might starve later...

• When we got out of the restaurant, it was raining. Baba and I waited under the roof for 10 or so minutes until the rain got less severe.

• Then, I did some more obsessive research on monkey bites. So...at this moment, I'm feeling a cloudy feeling in my head (is this what one calls "malaise"?). My bite area was red and it hurt today. There are no raised bumps or any severe signs. Later in the day, the red area around the "bite" mark (or scratch mark?) turned somewhat tan; perhaps what hurts is a bruise and not much else. I also had a feeling of numbness on my upper arm, but that went away temporarily...

• Well...only time will tell (whether a disease progresses or I go crazy). I stopped taking my codeine pill today because it hurt my stomach. I will probably not take any meds before I eat tomorrow...because it's annoying to have a hurting stomach.

...

Friday, October 3, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Day 3
Asia Day 25

• Breakfast with Baba and his two business associates (ah Dee and Sally) in the hotel. Then, we went back to the room temporarily. I went to the hotel and went online for a few minutes and then slept for two hours (lack of sleep and trying to cure my malaise-ia in Malaysia). Around 2pm, Baba called and had me come down.

• Delicious western-styled lunch in a bistro. I had fries, grilled chicken, salad, and two crepes with berries in them. Yummers.
• Went to Baba’s business associate’s company and chilled for awhile. I read some magazines and then went back to sleep…for an hour or two. I woke up for a few moments when I heard my dad talking about how "business stuff doesn't really interest me" (in the context of automobile business) and then I, in my half-asleep state, was like, "Yeah, you're right". Then, we headed out again…to eat more food -_-.

• Drove to another open-air establishment with delicious seafood specialties. Had oyster-omelet, authentic fried calamari (omgggg, YUM), fried and steamed crab, steamed fish, and a few other seafood dishes. Best meal in Malaysia, probably. However, my stomach felt full early on, so I ended up not eating so much. Tried a coconut juice & Guinness Beer concoction and drank some coconut juice. Even that was too much @_@.

• Afterwards, we went to take pictures in Kuala Lumpur’s Merdeka Square (Sally described it as the independence hall). Bright lights everywhere with a pretty fountain. Baba said his business associates knew how to “pauk lei geh mah pei” – hit your horse’s fart…kiss my ass?

• Went back to the hotel and rested. Went online and then slept around 12:30am…

• One insight: I now know what they mean by Moor architecture - the houses with such architecture have an arch-shaped window or doorway.

...

Saturday, October 4, 2008: Kuala Lumpur Morning & 广州
广州 Day 3
中国 Day 23
Asia Day 26

• Woke up around 5:30am to pack my stuff and prepare for trip back to Guangzhou. We got to the airport and checked in by 7:00. Made it to the gate once most people were on the plane. Slept on the plane for most of the time. Ate breakfast of chicken noodles, jelly dessert, and three pieces of fruit. Kept the pastry for later. I woke up a few times and saw this guy on my right who vaguely looked like Yishu, but much skinnier. I think there was once when someone smacked my face when it was oriented to the right side….they just walked by and whatever it was – their hand, shoulder, or big ass, somehow slapped me. One of the man-flight-attendants woke me up to tell me to put the sunshade up. I don’t really understand why they want to do that o_O…anyway, got to Guangzhou and Gu Jaung picked me and Baba up.
• Ate a hot-pot sort of lunch. Had noodles with beef and veggies, fish and beef meatballs, pieces of beef, corn, and some other veggies. It was good, but once again, I was full early on. I felt sick of eating meaty meatballs.
• Went to Baba’s company. Baba had lots of stuff to do. Internet connection wasn't working well at the company or at home :( I took another nap at Baba's company ^^U
• Lacking appetite again...sigh.

...

Sunday, October 5, 2008: 广州 Morning & 杭州
杭州 Day 21
中国 Day 24
Asia Day 27

• Got up at 8:30am and took care of some stuff, before I went back to sleep. Baba woke me up around 10am and I packed. We left for the airport. Baba bid me farewell, but didn't give me a hug (hmph!!) :'S. I had a can of Coke in my backpack, so I gave that back to Baba...haha.
• Waited for an hour, before the flight gates opened. Departed around 12:50 today. Ate lunch on airplane (crappiest airplane food I've had thus far). Airplane was really ghetto. Every 15-20 minutes, I would hear, "The airplane is experiencing some turbulence. Please go back to your seats and avoid using the lavatory until the seatbelt sign has been turned off." Hah, that's bull @_@. At least we landed safely :D

• This time, I was allll alone. I got back around 2pm and called Michael for guidance. Hah, some people were staring at me as I spoke in my perfect English o_o.
• Left with my luggage and went to the airport shuttle booking office. There, I bought a bus ticket for 20块; this would take me to the train station. Sat on the bus for about an hour, pondering about nothing. The guy next to me was reading some Chinese publication. La la laaa...
• Once I got to the train station, I took my luggage out and waited to hail a taxi. Why am I not pro at this? Well, it's my second time. It took about 8-10 minutes this time. I was rejected (*gasp*) a few times, since the place I asked to be taken to was probably really far away, or some cabbies were not very familiar with the street -_-. I should have said "文一路" instead of "保諔北路." When I finally got a cabbie, he asked me where that was, and then when I didn't reply right away, he was like, "Oh, you don't know either??" I then told him it was by 杭州电子科技大学 (that's a MOUTHFUL -_-) next to 文一路. I got to my destination and paid 25块. I was quite proud of myself for having traveled alone (well, I wasn't completely alone, thanks to Michael - he offered to talk to the bus lady, but I didn't need all this hand-holding :P).

• I unpacked a bit, when Baba called. I told him I took the bus to the train station, then got a taxi to go back home. Baba said, "Haha, gnaw geh gwai lwei sic haun cheen!" (My obedient girl knows how to save money.) Then, he chuckled some more. This is because (20+25)元 < 150元. (Prices for bus+taxi versus regular taxi, from the airport.)

• I went to do some housework. I admit it, I'm lazy :(...but I somewhat mopped the floors and scrubbed the sink...when I heard a knock on the door. My apartment complex mates invited me out to eat, so I went, even though I had no feeling of hunger in my stomach :/. I did not feel hungry, but I knew I had to eat -_-. We went to the restaurant in front of the school, where Patricia's 'bf' is. Ate with Jessica, Patricia, Jason, and Romain. Good meal.

• Around 7pm, I went up to Zicheng's with Patricia and Romain. We watched "Old Boy" (I heard about this film LONG, long ago...back in college); Zicheng said it was so satisfying, that it was like "eating a really good meal," that it has everything a movie should have. Agreed. It was amazing, but I kind of knew what to expect. Wish I didn't. Nonetheless, the plot was awesome and the cinematography (lighting, angles, shots, etc.) was soo good.

• Did homework, planned my lesson and then went to bed.

October Holiday: 杭州, 广州, Kuala Lumpur

2008-09-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 28, 2008: 杭州 Day 20 (Teaching Day 6)
中国 Day 20
Asia Day 20

• Today was the last day of class before the holiday. Since this class was ahead, I had a bunch of games arranged.
• When we played 2 Truths 1 Lie, some of the students said, "I am a boy" or "I like to dance" (copying me -_-). Another said, "I am handsome...I like a lot of girls...a lot of girls like me," where one girl was like, "ALL of these are lies!!"
• I had small groups form dialogues; the object was to present one in which a hero and a bad guy fight. Most just pretended their wallets/purses got stolen by a bad guy; later, they would be saved by the hero. Pretty generic, but some of the dialogues were GREAT. In one of the groups, one guy was the narrator, and the other three played the hero, victim, and villain. There was one group with three girls and one guy. The guy put on a pretty hairclip and played the victim. That was hilarious. However, the best 'group' (or lack thereof) was this ONE male student in my class that decided to do the dialogue alone. He asked me for my help (in acting out the motions). He just narrated the entire monologue and did a great job. It was also funny for the students to see their teacher portray many characters. Yes. Plus, he was the only one who did it in front of the class. Should give bonus points.
• A few kids worked alone for the dialogue (by 'working alone'...I meant they were loners who didn't end up working on ANYTHING, grr). Those individuals really didn't know what to do or say. I will make sure they get the benefit of the group experience in the future.
• I rushed some of the activities in class, so that we had lots of time left over -_-
• Some kids from the second class came to first class. The second class had about 24 people - I remembered EVERYONE's Name!! MUHAHA. Some kiddos left early for the holiday. Some kids decided to stay at school.

• After classes were over, I packed a bit more. Michael came by and asked if I was done. It was around 6:10...
• Had dinner with Michael at a nearby restaurant. Great food (tomato with eggies, taro with pork ribs, and fried tofu with veggies).

• Well...we got my luggage and were running a bit late - 6:19. We must have waited 20 minutes for an empty taxi, but we saw only one (some other group took it -_-). Saw Jamie walk by.
• Michael saw a biking man drop something, so he went to pick it up. He's a good man - he gave the newspaper object to the guy, who actually started to pedal away when he thought Michael would keep it for himself.

• We walked to the nearest bus stop and paid 1 yuan once we got on the bus.
• We got off at a stop close to the airport shuttle office. Saw Jamie walk by...err...again (thus, we'd been waiting as long as Jamie had been walking). We got to the bus depot and got tickets for $30 yuan...
• The bus took off at 8:30pm and I showed Michael my written journal and chatted about a buncn of random stuff. Ah, the entertainment of it all.

• Once we got to the airport, Michael helped me check in. I got into the security check and went to the gate. Not 5 minutes after sitting down, they (airport staff) called for departure. I boarded the plane.

• Plane tales. So, I got onto the plane and sat between two guys - one was younger, one was OLD(er). I saw him and asked if he was a college student (he looked really young!). He told me no...I asked him his age and he asked me to guess...I said 25, but he said 3 years older (!!!). I talked to him a bit more and found out that he works for market research. I said, wow, I'm interested in that as well. Also found out that he speaks Cantonese - he found out I'm Canto and wondered why my Mandarin was better than my Cantonese, hah. I told him my Canto was really bad - he said he'd help me practice my Canto so that when I landed, I'd be pro. Got to know him a bit during the plane ride. He's a Guangzhou native and he works in Hangzhou. We swapped contact info - his name is Sam. Hahah...it was a fun journey. Got food but didn't really eat it (ended up wasting most of it -_-).
• This fellow Sam offered to help carry my luggage or wait until my dad arrived before he left (since he lives pretty close). I told him it was alright, since my dad was already at the airport. He told me to call him sometime (for 'dai pai dong' or to get lunch)...lol.

• Baba picked up me up and we went to his new apartment. It's pretty huge, compared to other people's apartments I've gone to in the past. Of course, Baba gave me a tour of the house. We ate fruit (persimmons, yummy, dragon-eyes, sour, but juicy grapes). Baba also showed off his new camera.

...

Monday, September 29, 2008: 广州 Day 1
中国 Day 21
Asia Day 21

• Morning yummers. Baba definitely cooked some "good food"...three different types of vegetables, fish, and chicken. I picked my back teeth for awhile because the chicken was so fuggin' chewy/fibrous.

• We were in the car, when I asked Baba why people in China like to call people eggs or use the eggy phrases...笨蛋，完蛋. Didn't really receive a satisfying answer, hah.

• Went to Hong Wui to get a hospital check-up. My Kow Fu, or uncle, (my mom's elder brother) asked me about my symptoms, got me a chest x-ray (okay...second one in about 2 weeks) and then prescribed me a cocktail (more like an alcoholic's fair) of drugs - 5 different types, with 1 cough syrup and 4 pills. -_-. Went with Kow Fu to his house afterwards to chill, use the internet, and converse. I was showing my aunt (Kow Ma) and my cousin (Lam-Lam) some pictures as well. Apparently, my uncle watches LOST, but is behind a few seasons. They have a Wii! WTF. Hehe...they also have DDR for Wii.

• Took off around 5:45pm to get dinner. Kow Ma told everyone not to hurry because Baba is always late ("toh lai," among other synonyms).
• Lam-Lam started to learn to drive already - he's 20 - he was backing up the car. Kow Fu drove us to the restaurant and dropped us off. He went to go pick up my grandma.

• We were waiting at the restaurant and ordered stuff. Food was good. Baba came late, hahaha. I taught everyone at the table the terms "fashionably late"...as well as "food coma"...

• Went to visit Gu Jie (Baba's younger sister, or my aunt) and stayed awhile...I was falling asleep because it was so boring listening them talk about business in the country dialect (I can't understand maybe 30-40% of what they're talking about sometimes). Ate good chestnuts. Didn't see Peach cousin...

• I thought about an interesting, but unusual concept, as I was getting ready to embark to Malaysia for the next few days.
A trip within a trip within a trip:
U.S. => Hangzhou, China => Guangzhou, China => Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008: 广州 Day 2
中国 Day 22
Asia Day 22

•Woke up semi-early to the sound of my alarm. It was 8:35am. I reluctantly got up, knowing that I had to finish my business plan today (or else I’d be working my ass off in Malaysia). However, knowing that Baba is there to do business, I probably have no choice, but to stay in the room and get productive, while Baba is taking care of stuff. At 9:00am, I took some medicine for my cough (yes, the one that I have had since June/July) -_-. Almost immediately, I started to get sleepy or delirious (one of the meds I took had codeine in it). After that, my concentration was diminished. Nonetheless, I finished a few paragraphs. Baba got up around 10pm and then we tried to see if the internet was working. Nope, even after a few tries, nothing happened. I still had “limited” connectivity. During this time, I was in a drowsy, half-asleep state and I went back to bed for about 15 minutes. The minutes seemed so long…

• We got ready to go to Baba’s workplace. On the way there, we stopped by the housing office – they had kiddie game day or something, because there were boxes and boxes of kites in the office. Honestly, I wanted to jack one, but then I asked Baba to ask one of the workers if I could get one. Pfft, the lady gave me a somewhat broken, cheapy kite. Ah, I already fixed it, so it’s not a big deal.

• Baba introduced me (no, more like SHOWED ME OFF) as his “lwei lwei” to everyone he met. Once I got to his company, I set up my laptop in Baba’s office. Even though I was wearing ear plugs, I could still hear Baba conversing on the phone (and yelling for his employees to come forth). Yes, ear plugs are no match for the Cantonese voice; ear plugs cannot repress the loud, crude sounds of the Cantonese people. Not long after, I moved outside to the general office area. One of the young men who works for Baba was playing some techno. I could hear the alternating beats and his loud Cantonese dialect, even when I covered my ears sometimes. Pure misery for my concentration. Nonetheless, I typed up many a paragraph for my homework.

• I was working really hard, when Baba came over and asked if I wanted to eat (both of us hadn’t eaten all day). I told him a few more minutes, as I was still “in the zone.” Afterwards, Baba met up with some of his Malaysian Cantonese friends and we headed to a restaurant for lunch. Baba ordered many delicious dishes, but my personal favorite was a veggie dish called 豆苗 (dou4 miao2). It’s just a green, leafy vegetable with little pieces of garlic, partially cooked in oil. It’s probably my favorite Chinese vegetable. Baba also ordered chopped goose, chopped chicken, stomach of an animal (?), sugared sweet potato and taro with sesame seeds, and a fish soup. Fried fish was also ordered today – didn’t really like it, as it was way too salty. Baba also ordered some apple cider (they call it apple vinegar in China). After this delicious lunch (that left pieces of meat in my teeth), I left a bit early because I had to finish my homework.

• Oh, and it started again. Those friends of Baba who meet me always ask him:
“Does your daughter speak Chinese? If she didn’t, it’d be so sad, since she is Chinese after all.”

Nowadays, Baba offers a good reply, “Yes, she speaks a bit. You know, Jing is very brave – she came to China by herself. I didn’t make her come here. Her prime reason for being here is to learn to speak Chinese…”

They curiously ask other things, too.
“Does she know how to use chopsticks?”
“Of course…or else how would she eat…?”

Today, I demonstrated my mastery of the chopsticks via picking up some peanuts. One salty peanut jumped into my lap, though.

Baba’s friend asked, “Lwei lwei you mm you yum dee?” *Points to apple cider*. Baba refused for me, saying that the taste was really weird; he didn’t like it, and therefore, I mightn’t like it. I drank it and it was pretty decent. It’s actually sparkling apple cider, not just regular apple cider or apple vinegar cider.

Baba’s friend’s son was a little cutie. They said he knew how to speak English – all the kiddos do, don’t they? Well, it’s interesting, but a lot of people, when given the chance to practice their language skills, don’t do so with strangers, even if the stranger isn’t such a stranger. I know I don’t practice my Chinese with people who are strangers…for the most part.

• I returned to Baba’s office and then finished Chapter 1 of my business plan (*jumps for joy*). A few minutes before I finished, my uncle “gu jaung” was pestering me to hurry so that Baba and I would be able to get to the airport on time. Well…being that Baba is frequently late, after I finished my assignment (around 4:10pm), I found that Baba had his Malaysian Cantonese friends over in his office. They were all having different conversations on the phone. We probably left the office around 4:30 and got back to his house around 5:00pm. At that time, the internet man came over to fix our modem. He left around 5:30pm. Baba and I were picked up by uncle “gu jaung” and sent to the airport. We arrived around 6:00pm. Checked in (took a LONG time) within 10 minutes. X-rays were brutally thorough. I was patted down and my lip balm was questioned.

• Lady: *Sees bulge and pats pockets* “What’s in your pockets?”

Lip balm: *Is inundated with fear*…

Jing: *Takes out lip balm*

Lady: “What’s that?”

Lip balm: *Whispers, “Don’t let them take me away!!!”*

Jing: *Makes motion of putting lip balm on lip*

Lady: “…Hm, okay.”

Lip balm: *Sigh of relief…*

• Baba walked with me towards the gate. He was telling me how he had this VIP card that gave him special privileges.

• VIP, MY ASS!!

1) We got to the VIP room and Baba told the lady that I am his daughter and he’s accompanying me on a trip. The lady said that I couldn’t enter because I didn’t have a VIP card. Then, Baba said with disbelief, “So now what? What do I do? Just leave her alone outside?” The lady said that he could take some drinks with him. Baba went in and came out shortly with 2 Cokes, some crackers, a sandwich, and a dimsum pastry. Baba expressively said, “I got the dimsum just for you, ah!”
- From the looks and tastes of things, VIP treatment isn’t that awesome/exclusive. So, one gets access to entertainment on a medium-sized television screen (Detective Conan was playing), a comfy set of sofas, some drinks, and some snacks. The food wasn’t superb – it was just there to make sure patrons wouldn’t go hungry. I don’t see the point of not allowing me to sit on the chairs for a moment; the food and drink policy seems unnecessary, as one could take as many items as one could fit in his or her hands.

2) Baba had mentioned that he booked Business Class so he doesn’t have to wait to board the plane. Well, that was useless today, as we were running late. We had nary a minute to chill in the lounge, before we found out that people were already boarding our plane. We just went to the gate. There was no line for the Business Class line, so we walked in. Compared to the Business Class line, the Economy Class line was quite short, as well. In general, the plane wasn’t that full today.

3) For some reason, Baba was slightly lagging behind when he was dragging his luggage. I took both boarding passes and sat down at my window seat. When Baba didn’t appear a minute later, I went to take a gander. I saw Baba in a line to get his carry-on luggage checked AGAIN (scanned by some handheld machine). He was queue’d up. I then returned to my seat. Then, another 4 minutes later, I went to go check again. A man was scanning Baba’s bag. I looked on for 2 minutes and then returned to my seat, certain that he’d be on the plane soon enough. Well, the plane started its engine and I was getting worried. It had been 10 minutes since I boarded the plane. I had to keep bothering the gentleman next to me to get out of my seat. He is a nice Malaysian sir that works in the Guiyang tourism/hospitality industry; he is to his family what Baba is to his family. Yes, a breadwinner, but also a traveling father. The flight attendant asked me for Baba’s boarding pass and I gave it to her (she asked me again 10 minutes later, to which I replied, “我已经给了你!”). Anyway…another 5 minutes later, I went to check up on Baba. This time, Baba’s luggage was opened slightly and one of the officers was going through the stuff. I overheard something about “toothpaste” and returned to my seat. OH…I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gotten out of my seat, but when Baba still didn’t show up, I had the funny idea of, “What if the plane left Baba behind and I were to travel to Malaysia by myself…what the hell would I do there?” I went back outside and this time, Baba was shouting at the airplane staff, asking them, “Why the hell didn’t you check it when you first x-rayed? I ALWAYS take this luggage whenever I travel.” Then, he turned to me and then said, “They said that the luggage had some kind of heat coming from it and think there is a ‘bomb.’” “Bomb” was the only English word he used. I started to laugh, albeit nervously, since I’m paranoid a lot, i.e. what if we didn’t look for a moment and someone planted something there? I vowed to Baba that next time, I will walk with him, because the flight officers probably thought it strange that a middle-aged man with tanned skin would walk alone (because he was about 10 seconds behind me after we got past the boarding gate). Baba said with fervor, “I’m not a Middle-Eastern man!” Hahaha. He told me he was following some old ladies, which probably looked strange. The men had taken Baba’s luggage temporarily to inspect it and then they brought it back. With the return of the luggage came the return of about 10+ flight officers. As everyone peeked over everyone else’s shoulder, I had the chance to count the number of people “handling” this matter – there were about 15 attendants in attendance. Ha ha. I thought it was unnecessary to have that many people. Baba said with eagerness, “Go ahead and inspect it all!!” The inspection man unzipped the main pocket, sifted through underwear and socks, as well as shirts and pants. He unzipped more pockets and checked them. Once, he took out a can of Coke and placed it on the floor, when it rolled away toward a flight attendant. The flight attendant picked up the can and gave it to me. Then, the inspector finished inspecting that pocket and then turned around to look for the can, but it disappeared. Baba and I laughed heartily. Well, by this time, it was already 7:10pm, about 5 or more minutes after the supposed departure time. Better safe than sorry, but I blame the x-ray people who did not properly check the luggage before it passed the boarding gate. I partly blame myself for not escorting my angry-looking Baba who looks like a “zong dong lo” (Middle-Eastern guy). Hahaha. This is hardly the VIP treatment you or I envisioned.

VIP? VIP is most overrated. I’d take economy flights any day.

• I’m blogging on the plane right now. As I look outside of my window, I see sudden flashes of light. At the corner of my eye, I see these flashes, but when I turn to look, it stops. Yes, it’s lightning T_T…it’s actually amazing, but it worries me. I saw lightning a few times tonight on the airplane. It looks cool when there’s no thunder; with thunder, it’s just frightening. I had a seafood and rice dish for dinner aboard the plane – ehh, not stupendous food. There’s also this interesting view of the cityscape at nighttime, but from far away in the sky, it looks as though the city functions as stars in the sky and our position up in the sky is the earth. Thus, we can see star-like depictions of cities from above.

• When we got off the plane, one of the flight attendants (a guy) chased after a patron. Attendant said, "Hey, where'd you get that paper?" The patron said, "Oh, it's mine..." Then, the attendant said, "No...it's actually mine *snatches it away*..." Baba and I saw that and laughed. I thought it was pretty weird that a passenger would jack the attendant's paper...
• So, we went through the arrival gates and picked up our luggage. Baba bought some wine at the Duty-Free shop. I took in all the sights and breathed the Malaysian indoor air. The thing that struck me the most (culture shock, perhaps?) was seeing so many Muslims wearing the head scarf (hijab) with a long, conservative dress. Most of these people are Asian/Malaysian and they wear their conservative clothing to work, which I found interesting. There were also rules posted that said Muslims could not buy liquor from the Duty-Free store.

• Anyway, Baba got us a ticket for a taxicab. It was really funny when I first glanced upon the taxis. They may be specialty taxis or something, since they looked like nice cars (inside and out). Imagine this. There was a row of shiny black cars, ready to drive you quickly to your destination. They reminded me of the rice-rockets that boys used to obsess over (just the design of the car - there were no racing things on the car itself).

• The driver started to drive us to our 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur...
It rained several times during this trip. The setting was very tropical, with shacks and trees/plants, as well as a more urban feeling near the city. How do I describe this, except to say that the roads had railings similar to home and there were high-rise apartments likened to China's apartments. Overall, the setting was very nice (nicer than China, and a bit newer, as well).

• The taxis here have radios. A few minutes after the driver started to drive, I noticed that his radio kept going off (the intervals were so regular that it sounded like two men having a dialogue on the radio). The driver talked into it a few times and then we noticed he was a Cantonese chap! It was funny because he just looked like an average Malaysian guy. So, there were 2-3 guys who just kept talking on the radio. Apparently, one of them got lost in the city somewhere, and our driver said, "Hey, Lam-Lam, I think you took the wrong way..." It amused me, yes. However, I was thinking, "Why are these guys talking so much?? No wonder he got lost..." The cabbie also went to fill up "gas"...the gas that powers a car (not fuel/gasoline, but gas, the non-liquid, non-solid).

• We got to the hotel and Baba met up with his friends. They had been waiting for us (poor them) and we had kept them up (it was already 1am or so, by the time we got there). We checked into the hotel and found that the bathroom has glass walls. I said to Baba, "It's a hom-sup-lo's bathroom" (pervert's bathroom), since you can see through it. Luckily, I found two curtains that pull down. Now, modesty and civility are restored. In other bathroom related news, no one could find the blow dryer – our Indian concierge kept going in and out to find the blow dryer. Finally, he saw a bag that was camouflaged against a dark wooden cupboard.
• Baba told me to take a shower first, while he went to get us some food. Afterwards, I learned that there were curtains that one could pull down. When Baba returned, we feasted on McDonald's food. The fries were a bit dry, the sandwich was a bit too spicy (yeah, it was the spicy chicken sandwich).

• I was looking up information on Malaysia and they outlaw homosexuality. Well, for males, if they engage in sodomy, they will be subject to corporal punishment or imprisonment. For females, it’s just gross and punishable by law via imprisonment. That somewhat amuses me.

Adventuresome day, eh?

Guangzhou Truisms

2008-09-26T03:19:00.000-07:00

For my Ethnography class, I'm reading The Return of the God of Wealth: The Transition to a Market Economy in Urban China by Charlotte Ikels. The book is an ethnographical study on the culture of Guangzhou; it was written in 1996, but I'm sure much of the information is still relevant today. I've come across some funny/true/amusing facts, which I will list below (some facts are not verified):

• "The national perception of the quality of Cantonese cuisine is captured by the popular saying 'For eating it's Guangzhou'...What both locals and outsiders most appreciate is the freshness of the food, especially the seafood. Most Cantonese dislike purchasing fish or fowl that is not still breathing at the time of the sale. To enhance one's appreciation of this freshness, food tends to be lightly cooked and lightly spiced." (9) - See Exhibit A: Baba.

• "Cantonese are aware that outsiders, even within China, do not eagerly embrace every item of Cantonese food. They mock the more timid eating habits of other Chinese by asserting that while 'Shandong people do anything and Beijing people endure anything, Cantonese people eat anything!'" (9) - See Exhibit B: All Canto people say this.

• "When writing, a Cantonese uses what to a Cantonese are literary words - in many cases the spoken word is entirely different and not expressible in characters. Sometimes Cantonese cheat and make up characters for these Cantonese words, though this is more likely to happen in Hong Kong than in Guangzhou. The convention is to put a little mouth radical on the left side of a likely phonetic - this tactic conveys the meaning 'the word I'm trying to write sounds like this in Cantonese.'" (19)

• Boat People: known in Hong Kong as "Tanka" (literally "egg people" with the connotation that they are born of reptiles), "they lived on boats and made their living by fishing (and, depending on the times, by smuggling and piracy). Both the settled village population and government officials viewed these highly mobile people with suspicion." (22-23)

I'll have to ask my mom about that one...

• "Some workers, such as members of rural construction teams, come to Guangzhou with a job in hand, and it is the responsibility of their employers to provide them with accommodations (usually in temporary structures on or adjacent to the construction site). Others come with just the hope of obtaining a job and if unsuccessful soon move on to other parts of the delta region. At night these people sleep in crowded hotels (or, when their money runs out, under overpasses); during the day they squat beside busy roadways with little wooden signs advertising their skills and try to catch the attention of people seeking an extra hand. When their presence becomes a public nuisance, they are summarily sent back to their home districts...They are immediately distinguishable from ordinary residents of Guangzhou by their simple dress, unfashionable haircuts, slight stature (even by Guangdong standards), and suntanned appearance." (24-25)

• "During most of the day there are few trash barrels to be seen; they are hauled out of their hiding places only briefly, just in time for the daily refuse collection. If the barrels were left in the open for any length of time, they would attract many scavengers and probably create a danger to public health. Thus, anyone walking along the sidewalk (to say nothing of walking in the gutter) constantly risks tripping over damaged pavement, slipping on orange peels, or even stepping into a pile of discarded chewed sugarcane. Daily street sweeping and refuse collection keep the situation from getting out of control, but the walker must be ever vigilant." (28)

• "While Guangzhou residents are generally spared the indignity of stepping into dog excrement (dogs may not be kept as pets), in crowded neighborhoods lacking indoor toilets they face the real risk of stepping into human excrement. Rather than visit the public toilets, parents and grandparents in these neighborhoods allow and even induce their infants and small children to urinate and occasionally defecate on the sidewalks outside their entryways. Despite government efforts to eliminate spitting, the practice remains common, and people spit almost anywhere except on or directly at another person...But even among the urban born, noises issuing from the digestive tract, such as farting and belching (softly), are viewed as natural and inevitable and warrant neither embarrassment nor comment when they occur." (28)

...To be continued...

Notes to self:

• Qingping Road (Liwan district across the river from Shamian) - for buying creatures (to bargain, comment on its thinness) (10)
• Yuexiu Park - Five Rams Statue (11)
• Huaisheng Mosque (13), near junction of Zhongshan and Renmin Roads
• Shamian - near former European-esque town for trade

杭州 Day 15-19

2008-09-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 23, 2008: 杭州 Day 15 (Teaching Day 4)
中国 Day 15
Asia Day 15

• Woke up early (okay, 10:30am is NOT early, but still, early for me -_-). Went to class to teach for two 90-minute periods back-to-back. Nothing super-noteworthy today, but a few tidbits are to follow.

• One of my students fell asleep in class and then I was telling the other students to be quiet until the end of the class period. I also wanted the students to leave quietly...but sleeping beauty woke up during the second half of the class.

• Something went terribly wrong with lesson plans. It was strange because I wanted them to do a listening section, but apparently, it wasn't working out because the dialogue was 1) too fast and 2) students could not pick up the specific words. I asked for input from both classes (although many students were reluctant to say anything). In the first class, I played three listening exercises. Very few people fully completed the exercises. In the second class, as a test-run, I ran through one dialogue three times. It was strange because when the bell rang, there were about 10 people in class. Then, in clusters of 5-8 people, the students kept trailing in. So, some students heard the dialogue once, some of them heard it three times. However, there was a similar result. They could not fill in the blanks because the talking speed was too quick!
• In the first class, I only had time to call on students once (during my discussion activity). My first class was almost perfectly timed (2 minutes left). My second class was a disaster in terms of time. Because I cut off the listening exercises, there was an extra twenty minutes left in class. I spent 40 minutes in a discussion with students - it was actually a chance for me to learn everyone's name. We discussed two different things - favorite Chinese hero and a superpower the students would like to have. I called on almost everyone twice in the second class.
• Favorite (Chinese) Heroes: When I asked one girl her favorite Chinese hero, she said, "Wu Zetian," one of the female "emperors" of China. Everyone in class cracked up. Lots of other people said random people I didn't even know. Some mentioned Yao Ming, some mentioned Jacky Chan (Cheng Long). Quite a few said Mao Zedong. Once, one student said, "Deng Xiaoping," and I didn't really hear what he said, so I said, "Who's that?" People laughed. OH MAN.
• Namely, Names: I saw a lot of my students' English names for the first time on paper today. Let me name some interesting ones: Rainman, Sky, Cloud, King, Hamber, Zero, Shine, Zeus, Abobo, Tank, Carrot, Apple, Mutombo, Peace, Ice, Dinnes (supposed to be Dennis, but different), and Moon. I saw "Mutombo" on my sheet of paper and asked to know who that was - apparently, that student knew that it was an African name. Haha.
• There was also a student who didn't have an interest in anything. I would ask him questions and he would have no opinion. It was like, "Hey, what is your favorite Chinese Hero?" "I don't have one." "Hmm, how about your superpower?" "I don't know." C'mon man, step up to the creative plate! Stop hitting strikes.

• After class, I was so tired that my brain just wanted to shut down. I'm not sure why. Even then, I decided to go to Vanguard to buy some buns that I could steam for the upcoming potluck. (At Vanguard, I was also buying some pre-made buns; it was curious because I would always see bakers bake a huge wad of brown, round bread...and I wouldn't see it packaged. No idea how one consumes the large bread.) I returned around 6:45pm and started to prepare for the meal. I placed a tray of water into the baking oven and placed buns on the grill above it. Then, I waited for it to steam. Also brought up a package of mochi upstairs to Jessica's room.
• Everyone except one person eventually showed up to the potluck. Jamie's friends also joined us (Estelle, Frank, and Aaron). We had Winter Melon Soup, buns, cucumber bits, a special Zicheng dish, yummy mini-chicken drumsticks, and the mochi and brownies for dessert. Jamie mentioned going to a special Guangzhou trade fair that was crowded one year and sparse during the year of SARS. He and the others concurred that it was the perfect place to go shopping, since you could ask for free samples. Funnery.
• Quoteable: Jamie - "Shoes? They're like feet prison."

• Came back and chatted/journaled/blogged ^^.

...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008: 杭州 Day 16
中国 Day 16
Asia Day 16

• Nothing exciting happened today. I woke up early (9am-ish) because the phone in the living room was ringing off of the hook. The first time it rang, it rang perhaps 8 times. Then, five minutes passed and it started to ring again. I reluctantly got out of bed to pick it up. It was the mailman, who said he got my package. This was all in Chinese. He asked if I could understand Chinese, to which I said, a little bit. Then, he used English to tell me I got a package and asked for my cell number (but I couldn't understand what number he was asking for). I asked him to say it in Chinese...which was when I finally understood. Har har. I had a slight headache, so I went back to sleep and woke up three hours later...at noon.

• Later, I was planning to go out to buy a bike, as well as run some errands. I get lazy sometimes...such as today. Well, at the moment when I was going to go out, it started to storm and rain...lightning flooded the sky and thunder ravaged my ears. I decided to stay in after all. Webcammed and chatted. Did some homework. Read some texts. Cooked some ramen with sausage and pork wonton. Planned my lesson.

• The following incident happened in Chinese. Baba called several times today to check in with me about my flight. It was quite funny because he told me to hold on after I asked if he booked the flight for Sunday or Monday. Well, he called the agency back and found out they booked the wrong date. I was on the other line listening to him hassle the agent because of her poor customer service. I heard him shouting loud and clear on the other line. He was cracking up, saying to the agent, "dude, I booked it today and they told me September 28, but when I called back, you changed it to September 29. I never said September 29." Then, after the flight was resolved, he hung up from that phone and went back to his cell phone. I asked him if I should have hung up and he said, "Nah."
• Baba asked, "Did you eat dinner yet?" I replied, "No." He asked me when I was going to eat, to which I replied, "Oh, I'm just going to cook ramen..." Then, Baba said, "EHHH?? You can't just eat ramen, my obedient girl [乖女儿]...Don't worry, when you come here, I will cook some 'good food.' Yeah, I ate a chicken today, but I couldn't finish it. If you were here, we'd finish a whole chicken." When I quoted "good food," all I meant was...those were the only English words he used, lol.

• OH, great news! I have a week off. This is strange. I'm teaching Thursday and I have Friday off. Then, next Monday's and next Tuesday's classes are canceled, but they're moved to Saturday and Sunday. Thus, I have to work Saturday and Sunday! WEIRD. I have vacation Monday, September 29 to Sunday, October 3.

...

Thursday, September 25, 2008: 杭州 Day 17 (Non-Teaching Day...)
中国 Day 17
Asia Day 17

• Woke up to the sound of my alarm. During this time, the phone in the living room rang about 6 times (but again, I was too lazy to pick it up and get it). After I came out of the bathroom, my door buzzer rang. I picked it up and let whoever it was inside. It was the libraryman/mailman (since the mail can be picked up at the library's first floor). He gave me my package of "fruit juice."

• Hangzhou, China - A package from the U.S. ends up in Asia, though not all in one piece (well, their respective pieces).

Late last week, an Asian woman from California sent her lovely daughter a package containing acai fruit juice/gel. The package arrived Monday and the daughter was called to pick it up from her school's library. When the daughter did not pick up the package, the package was delivered to her apartment.

This daughter opened the package and was surprised to find that some of the juice packs had exploded in transit. She looked at the package with angst. Gel was everywhere. She sighed and washed each gel pack. She imagined a headline, "Juice Gel Flight Leads to 7 Dead." Within a package of about 40 juice packs, 7 had leaked entirely onto the other packs. Remains were splattered all over the bag. Now, this daughter's sink is full of acai seed (or whatever those little bits are called).

• Something terribly embarrassing happened. It was a learning experience. Today, I was supposed to teach in the afternoon. I got on the correct bus to the main campus. However, I took the wrong minibus, on the way to the East campus. I didn’t notice this until awhile later. I felt that this bus ride seemed abnormally long, when Michael called me and asked if I had gotten on the bus, since it just arrived. I realized I was on the wrong bus and Michael asked me to hand the phone over to another bus patron. Everyone (including the driver) was alarmed that I had gotten on the wrong bus. The bus driver dropped me off on the corner of North Huancheng Road [环城北路] (midway between the campus I live on and the main campus) so that I could take a bus back to the campus. I was looking for the B-1 bus stop, when Michael called to ask if he should have the classes canceled for the afternoon; I wanted to teach at least one class, but I told him that I would call him back when I found the correct bus stop. Once I got to the correct bus stop, I spoke to him on the phone again, only to find that both of the classes in the afternoon had been canceled. Despondent and disappointed in myself, I waited another 10 minutes to hail a taxicab toward my campus.
• Yes, this is the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me this year. The administration considers it a trivial accident; after the National Holiday, the administration wants me to make up these two classes, so that’s not so bad.
• I learned a valuable lesson: Do not assume you are going to a certain location via public transportation – please make sure you ask (lest you end up in a similar situation as me).

• The embarrassing incident above caused me to feel a bit lost and speechless. I didn't know what to say to the bus patron when I wanted to hand her my phone. While looking for the bus stop, I looked for any discernible signs that would lead me to my destination (I found a map, which was great).

• First Time Alone in Taxicab: Even hailing a taxi was a bit of a challenge. I had never hailed one on my own before (let alone sit in one ALONE), and I was in this busy intersection with nary an idea which place was the safest to hail. I kept changing locations and made some observations. Taxis that are not full may drive on the lane closest to the potential customer. That would be best because they could stop at some upcoming entrance or even at the roadside. I waited for a taxi near a turn, but that yielded nothing. I didn't want to get into a gold or red taxicab; I'm not sure whether they charge more. I saw some opportunistic Chinese people run after some taxis that were dropping people off. Finally, two taxis pulled up into the side lane near where I was waiting and I got into one of the cars. I told him where to go (twice). I found that I had to enunciate my words because I couldn't speak it flowingly (I guess in other words, fluently). I don't feel comfortable slurring my words. Hah. Well, the driver was so random. He said a few things aloud (maybe he was trying to start a conversation with me?), but I didn't really respond (or know what the heck he was talking about). Then, he saw a set of keys on the floor and picked them up, chuckled to himself, and said, "万担啊！" Of course, I wasn't familiar with that phrase, but I thought about it later, in relation to the context, and I think he meant something to the effect of "This person is screwed without their keys." I looked it up a bit later and found the phrase to mean "doomed/out of luck." Before I paid for the cab, the cabbie asked me where I'm from, as my Chinese sounds different from other people. I told him I'm American and Cantonese...hahhh. I guess he was kind of amused. Eh, I guess I was on survival mode (and still have been ever since)...

• I read 70+ pages for "The World is Flat"...I'm somewhat caught up for this week's reading for that specific book.

• This is strange, but I think a mosquito bit my fob mark. Now, that bump on my arm has gotten a bit more swollen.

• Mom called and dug up the silly incident and I felt a bit worse. She yelled at me and advised me to tell my students why I couldn't have class. I retorted, "Why should I tell them? Won't that make ME lose face?" Then, she said, "Ohh, like not showing up to class hasn't already made you lose face. Just tell them and you can laugh it off and have a good time." After consulting with more people, I felt a bit better about the whole incident.

• Crapload of homework this weekend. Must be done ASAP.

...

Friday, September 26, 2008: 杭州 Day 18
中国 Day 18
Asia Day 18

Another day of plain NADA-ism. What'd I do today? Nothing. I read articles and wrote a discussion post, read chapter one from one of my textbooks while taking notes, and read a bunch of other random stuff (mostly financial and political news). Oy, I have work tomorrow in the morning. Lesson plans will be done soon (as well as more homework, yuck)...

...

Saturday, September 27, 2008: 杭州 Day 19 (Teaching Day 5)
中国 Day 19
Asia Day 19

• This is a little weird. I'm working on a weekend (well, that wasn't so weird when I worked at a nonprofit and did extra hours for weekend events)...but this is school on a weekend...for the university crowd. Haha...ha. Sigh?

• Again, today's classes are the classes that aren't caught up (my Monday classes). Because my software wasn't working at first, I read the script for one of the videos we were to see...but then I found out students did not understand what it was about (maybe I read too fast, or my strange intonations did not make sense to them). I finally got the equipment to work and I had the students watch it again. However, some students still did not know what was going on. Oy. I went around the room for my morning class and subdivided based on region. Memorized (or tried to memorize) names in two different rows, followed by other rows. I was looking at my attendance sheet from Monday, which had some freaking funny stuff on it. Students' names were normal enough, but there's a student named Pedro. I also asked some of the students to describe themselves using two adjectives; there were seven students that wrote "warmhearted" and "understanding" in a row; the one after the last student wrote "hot-hearted" and "understanding"...well, points for creativity, at least. However, I should probably watch these students closer during tests.

• I tried to tell a joke in my classes today. OH...and it failed miserably! People just stared. No one giggled. I guess American humor is different from Chinese humor (or they just don't get it). Eh, not a fan of English puns, are they?? However, the joke worked a bit better in my second class (they nodded their heads).

• The gist of the joke is: a foreigner goes to the restaurant because he is hungry; he looks at the menu and orders “Chicken surprise.” However, when the waiter brings the food over and leaves it on the table, something strange happens. The pot’s lid opens a bit, revealing some beady little eyes. Then, the lid closes. The foreigner cannot believe what he’s seeing, so he asks the waiter for help. The waiter asks what he ordered, to which he says, “Chicken surprise.” Then, the waiter apologizes profusely for giving the patron “Peking Duck” (Beijing Ya), i.e. peeking duck. The great thing about this joke was that I integrated some of the vocabulary words into the joke.

• Entertaining tidbits: I told my afternoon class a few funny remarks from the morning class.

1) I asked the students if the nameless Hero who did not kill Qin Shihuang did the right thing by not killing him; one student said, “he did the wrong thing because he didn't have enough skill” (and therefore should have killed him, but he sucked at throwing the sword).

2) I asked the students about their favorite Chinese heroes, and one girl replied, “Liu Xiang is my hero because he was the first man in China to run fast.”

• Another thing – my plan to play a game somewhat failed. Because one of the other discussions had to do with heroes and superpowers, I had the kids play the “stupid ninja game.” I never thought explaining that game would be so hard! Honestly, I had to explain it 4-5 times for groups to get it – first, I explained two times in front of the class, then I explained another 3 times to individual groups. First, everyone chooses a “word” to associate to an “action” – in this case, one chooses a superhero action and pairs that action with a word describing it, such as “punch” and punching with both arms. Then, after everyone chooses an action, they call their own action and call someone else’s, and this continues until someone messes up. It’s actually really fun, but the students were slow at it. Maybe we’ll play next time, or I can streamline details of the game…

• At times, I can understand the students' remarks to each other, so they hassle each other (about why the student doesn't know anything, or the answers that are given). Sometimes, I will reply in English to a question that was asked in Chinese…and the student will say, “?_? 哦，会听中文？”

• When I asked the students to name their Chinese hero, this one student named three heroes (can you say...overachiever?); he also mentioned "everybody" as a hero and implied I was one, too. Thankee, sire.

• The student who said his English is poor didn’t show up today. That made me a bit sad – he’s missing out on this English-speaking opportunity!!

• Some students are well-spoken in Chinese, but don't know very much English. Sometimes, they start talking, but ask their friends how to say a certain word. Then, they ask me, "可以用中文来说吗？" (they want to use Chinese to speak), but I tell them, no. Heh. I evil :/

• In between classes, I was extremely tired, so I napped for most of the time. May have dabbled in some political news, as well.

• During class, Michael called and texted me, but I didn’t look at it until classes were over.
The text from Michael said: "Hi, when your majesty will come home? I got passport back to you" (LMAO…ZEDONG! >;D)

•I told Jessica about the above and she said, “HE TOTALLY LIKES YOU.” -_-

• I did homework until 6:30pm, when I met up with the others for dinner. Walked to “Grandmother’s Kitchen” (外婆家) with Zicheng, Jessica, Romain, Vanessa, Jamie, and his friend Zhang Yong/Aaron. Zicheng ordered a lot of good dishes (tofu, fatty pork with fish, veggies, bamboo shoots with peppers, and a bunch of other good stuff. I tried Wahaha Brand’s Iced Tea (娃哈哈凉茶). Dinner was 30块. Another instance of “HE TOTALLY LIKES YOU” happened again at dinnertime.

• While walking home, Zicheng helped me practice Chinese. It was most hilarious. I giggled incessantly because speaking Chinese makes me nervous, at the same time that Zicheng said the most ridiculous things. I was like, “Hey!” or “So…” and he replied, “’Hey’是什么？’So’不是中文字。” I thought it was hilarious and tried to think of ways to express myself in Chinese. Then, we had this discussion about milk tea and I asked him if, because of the milk crisis, I could still drink milk tea. He said, “那，我也不知道。。。研究一下。” I asked, “研究是什么意思？” Then, he walked after Jessica and said, “我研究她怎么走路。。。mo2fang2。” I asked him the meaning of mo2fang2, so he showed me that he was copying her moves. Later, we had a discussion about the meaning of “哎哟” (aiyo). Zicheng said, “你如果吃很好吃的东西，就掉在地上，就是哎哟的意思。” I said “哎哟” has a similar connotation as ”可惜” (sad, in a pathetic way). Was so amused by the content of the conversation.

• Later, I briefly spoke to Aaron, or Zhangyong. His English is good and he only started in middle or high school. He isn’t a native (Zicheng also taught me “本地人” = native).

• At night, I did some homework and went to bed.

杭州 Day 11-14

2008-09-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 19, 2008: 杭州 Day 11
中国 Day 11
Asia Day 11

• Not much happened today; I woke up late and stayed in most of the day.

• Today, the handyman came by to fix the minor water leak. I was talking to Michael on the phone and he mentioned something about the tone of my voice being very humorous. I was asking how so and he was chuckling nonstop, talking about how my tone is in between a male and female pitch. He then mentioned the way that Jessica's voice was high-pitched and mine was in between that of a guy and a girl. I was like, "Oh...is that so -_-"...although that fact was also kind of interesting, in a slightly disappointing way.

• At night, I got together with Romain, Patricia, Thomas, and Vanessa. Thomas was walking ahead of everyone, so I jested, "Extreme walking" (since he's an extreme-sports-enthusiast). That cracked my buddies up, so of course I have to blog it. We walked to a restaurant about 15 minutes away from our apartments. We just ordered a bunch of dishes (tofu, what I coined "fungi mix," turkey and veggie soup, more veggies, big bowl of rice, and a few other dishes). Thomas left a bit early, but we had a fun chat (that I have no recall of). Dinner was 32 kuai a person. Afterwards, Romain ditched us (had to meet up with a friend) and we gals walked home. Did naught afterwards...

...

Saturday, September 20, 2008: 杭州 Day 12
中国 Day 12
Asia Day 12

• I tried to do homework early in the day, but I didn't really get anything done. I woke up around noon (my usual get-up time) and found a text message from Jason on my cell about Chinese-Mexican salsa tasting at 4pm.

• Around 4:10pm, I brought juice upstairs to share with buddies. Jason made some homemade salsa - it was delicious! Just about everyone, less Jamie and Thomas, was there. Lots of fun conversation was had. Thomas stopped by. The lightning and thunder rumbled, causing paranoia within the small apartment (exaggeration). 'Twas a bit hot as well (air was stagnant - no exaggeration).

• At 5:30pm, the entire group (minus Thomas) met up to get dinner - this was eight people! Because the majority of people had bikes, almost everyone took their bike. Jamie, the Aussie, and I walked and chatted. Dinner was at a hot pot restaurant on Baochu Lu (保琡路). We ordered a two hotpots for the entire huge table, but these pots were split in halves - one half was the spicy soup, while the other was not spicy. We ordered a variety of raw dishes, including lamb, beef, tofu, veggies, mushrooms, and some rice on the side. Dinner was delicious. Some of the guys sitting at the end had tried the spicy soup and from the color of their faces, they couldn't quite handle it. It also started to rain a bit outside; actually, no, it was POURING for perhaps 30+ minutes.

• After we finished dinner, Jamie, Jason, and Vanessa had to leave, so I walked with the remaining few toward another destination. After walking about half a block, the bikers decided I should probably sit on someone's bike's backseat. Zicheng invited me to "hop on"...oy. Both Zicheng and Mom told me a bit later about how people in China mount these dangerous two-wheeled machines - they just hop onto the back while the bike is in motion. I was a bit scared (of mis-aiming and falling on my ass), so I always mounted the bike before it moved.

• Oh, and what a ride it was. (It was scary because my dad told me about how I was sitting on a bike as a young'un and somehow fell off.) I had to grab onto Zicheng's shoulders, but I didn't really manage to death-grip those shoulder blades. I didn't want to constrain his movements. After awhile, it was a bit easier to bum a ride, er, sit on the bike. There was once when I almost fell over backwards (I was supposed to hop off, apparently). However, there were two main problems - if my butt wasn't on the seat correctly, I felt like I would fall off. Otherwise, I also had to twist my body into a stable position and that used some ab muscles and some leg muscles - tiring! Overall, I was amused and scared.

• We five (me, Zicheng, Jessica, Patricia, and Romain) went into a bar. Inside, it was smoky and loud. What struck me most was that...they played Backstreet Boys music (the more popular hits). I was laughing in my head. There was also a live band that played - they were actually pretty good. They played "Creep" by Radiohead, as well as some other songs I didn't really know. Everyone drank a little bit of alcohol that night - I only got a Carlsberg on draft - I guess I could taste the watery-ness of it. (Yes, friends in China were talking about how beer in China is watery, like flavored water - "you can't get drunk off of this stuff.")
• So...one of the guys got a lot of game that night. Well, why not say both of the guys and one of the girls? It's true. By the way, that girl wasn't me, or else I would mention it. However, I started to talk to the smoker gal next to me. Turns out she went to Hangzhou Dianzi University and graduated in January. We clinked glasses and exchanged numbers. She wanted an English buddy and offered to teach me Chinese. Hah, I made a "friend." My first "Chinese friend" in China, lol, named Michelle. We'll see how that goes.

• Finally, to end a fun night, we went to West Lake. It was my second time going. We got there around midnight. We took a nice, moonlit stroll on a peninsula part of West Lake (or was it a concrete pier?). Some of my friends were a little bit hyper that night - quite funny. We left West Lake after walking around for maybe 30-40 minutes. Oh, and Baba called to say that he made it back to China safely.

• Rode back on Zicheng's bike's backseat. Poor guy was so tired from taxi-ing me everywhere. Or, should I say rickshawing me? In any case...I need to hop on the bandwagon (more like rickshaw, in the context of China) and get a freakin' bike.

• At home, I realized two not-so-great-things (that didn't mean the end of the world was near):
1) My nostrils did not work, since I breathed in too much smoke.
2) My homework was due on Saturday...so I was behind on homework/had to turn it in late.

...

Sunday, September 21, 2008: 杭州 Day 13
中国 Day 13
Asia Day 13

What'd I do today? NADA. Did homework all day and ate a bunch of junk :(. However, the highlight of my day was that I had a really delicious, juicy peach. The only thing that saddened me today was the fact that I had so much homework I had to do (which I turned in late) and the fact that 1 of my 3 peaches got moldy :(...sigh.

...

Monday, September 22, 2008: 杭州 Day 14 (Teaching Day 3)
中国 Day 14
Asia Day 14

• My first class was at 8:05am. I got to the building around 7:59am, only to find that another student had already checked in and opened the door/gotten the mic. I used the same lesson plan from last week, but unbeknownst to me, I was supposed to be catching up the Monday classes because we had a holiday last week. I did change a few activities to make it more speaking-centered.

• There were some decent speakers in the morning class, though there were also some smart-asses. When I asked students to use two words to describe their personality/themselves, one male student said, "I am Chinese." In reply, while the other students were giggling, I retorted, "Aren't we all?" (However, I'm pretty sure the students don't understand sarcasm, as it is an advanced cultural/language technique, stemming from hundreds of years of history/literacy.) Anyway, I found it strange that the morning class was divided by GENDER. Literally the left half of the class comprised of females, while the right half of the class comprised of males.
• In every class, I noticed that there's a group of four males who are best friends and are somewhat smart-alecky. They have long-winded, smarty-pants answers that entertain the entire class. The teacher part of me wants to put a stop to the ostentatiousness of these fellows, but the Jingy part of me wants the class to enjoy what they want to say. *Shrug.*

• One of the female students came up to me after class and said she wants to study abroad. She then asked if I had taken any exams, but I wasn't really clear on what she wanted to ask, so I mentioned "TOEFL," which is an English test for foreigners. She nodded her head and explained that she'd like if I could help her with her TOEFLs and I said I could, if she emailed me.
• Up to this point, no one has satisfied my desire for power and called me professor, except for Michael (see Thursday, September 18, 2008 entry)!

• After classes, I met up with Romain and Jason to take a taxi to a foreign center; we three met up with Michael, signed contracts, and ran some errands. I took a look at my medical check - everything looked good. I also got the foreign expert license and applied for a one-year residency. After these errands, I headed home to rest for a bit before my next class.

• My second class was at 1:45pm. In general, there were smart kids in the class, but this class also had a huge concentration of shy ones.
• Minor note: when individually called, the students stand up to talk. It's the "Chinese way."
• We were playing a personality game - people had to define a word without using the word or its dictionary definition in their personal definition. Then, students had to guess the word that was described. Students were amused that I sat in their seats as I waited to hear their answers.
• One student said, "Oh...I'm going to tell a story." I replied, "Oooh, I love stories." The students laughed. The student told a story about where a guy like a girl in class and his face turned red. The students guessed, "Shy," whilst I replied, "Ay?? This isn't in the vocabulary...use the vocabulary words."
• A male student got the ball in his hand, when his friends told him to "sing, sing," and I said, "Yes, sing!"
• One student whom I asked about the personality/traits of Chinese culture had GREAT command of the English language. He said, "Chinese culture is ancient as it is profound..." WOW.
• There was a guy who was easily-startled by the ball. When a student threw a ball at him, he screeched, jumped a few feet, and hit the desk. He was wincing and just moving around in pain after that. He picked up the mic and started to giggle. I thought he needed time to relax, so I had others go before him. OMG...I've never seen anyone this embarrassed before. This is really bad to think as a teacher, but IT. WAS. HILARIOUS. He got the ball a bit later, so he was just laughing (nervously, I presume) and said something quickly before he handed the mic to the next person.
• There was also a student who stood up and said, "My English is very poor." He didn't say much else, but I said I'd come back to him later. However, after class, he came up to me, greeted me ("hi teacher" -_-...not "hi professor"), and asked if I could speak Chinese. I said maybe. Then, he said, "actually, in fact, my English is good. However, my oral English is poor." I replied, "yeah, my oral Chinese is poor, too..." Isn't that endearing?

• I came home from class and chilled for a bit. Finished laundry and lesson plans.

• Later, Patricia called to say that she and others were going bowling. I joined in. This time, I rode on Thomas' bike's backseat. I was pretty scared because the bike went somewhat fast (and was quite wobbly). Again, I worried that my big ass would fall off of the seat. I held onto his shoulders, but his backpack was in the way, so again, I didn't grip hard. He must have biked like 6+ blocks from the campus. Haha, I felt kind of bad, but I knew he could handle it.

• Zicheng rode next to us and asked, "Who gives better rides?" LMAO.

• Whilst we stopped at a traffic light, there was a guy next to us who warned us to the effect of, "Hey, get off the bike, those traffic police will punish you." I heeded this good warning, because all of us saw a huge throng, not thong, of policemen patrolling the area. There was also a video camera recording something, probably for public works. The policeman stopped me when I tried to cross the street by walking; he told me to take the 'sky bridge' or whatever it's called in English. I walked over the sky bridge and I thought everyone else would wonder where I was. Thomas actually came back for me!! LOL.

• Well, we was rough ridin' it for awhiles.
• We finally found the approximate location and parked. We walked around the area until we found the bowling place. It was kind of in a hideaway type of area. 'Twasn't that great, but it was functional. We bowled for about an hour (got two games in, whee). My game wasn't really on tonight - bowled maybe 2-3 spares. Also, everyone's hands got super-dirty from touching those dirty balls. Those heavy, dirty balls.

• We went outside and everyone unlocked their bikes. Patricia was getting her bike. It was lined up with other people's bikes and motorbikes. She suddenly pushed over her bike and there was a domino effect. She knocked over her bike and five others. That was the highlight of my evening :D. I told her that she made my day, to which she replied, "If you hung out with me everyday, I'd make your day everyday." The audience that watched us included a few older folk who were doing some tai chi and a policeman who was just standing around. He said with a stern face, "Any of those your bikes? You're not supposed to park here..."

• So then I got on Thomas' bike's backseat again and we stopped at a noodle shop. We all ordered different yumminesses. Rice or noodles. Mine was good, but it wasn't stupendous. It was a tomato-soup with noodles and pieces of beef with fat -_-. Lol. More like a Chinese pho. Thomas had to go early, so we just finished our meals without him.

• Zicheng, the connoisseur of everything, said (about the meat in his soup), "Yeah, I usually like tongue, but this isn't good tongue." I replied, "You're into tongue, huh." He retorted, "Yeah, you didn't know I was into that type of thing, did you?" LMAO.

• When we headed back, I rode on Zicheng's bike again. I think I got better at hopping off. Whilst he was riding, we passed by a guy wearing a helmet. Then, Zicheng said, "Once, I saw a guy wearing a helmet, but the straps weren't even fastened. It was like he was making some sort of fashion statement or something." Yes, we all got home safely.

杭州 Day 10

2008-09-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 18, 2008: 杭州 Day 10； Teaching, Day 2
中国 Day 10
Asia Day 10

• I slept around 1am the night before and then woke up around 6:30am. It was freakin' early. I don't think I got any sleep.
• We got to the health physical place early so we could avoid the morning traffic (the lines inside the building for the tests). We had to wait outside (because we got there before it opened) and saw a playground for adults! AMAZING. The Chinese government wanted the older folks to get exercise, so they built some equipment for the old'uns in a public place!
• I joked to my group about teaching my students "dis type of Engrish," to which my buddies said I was terrible ^^U.

• I had my first thorough physical. This meant a great deal of blood-stealing, urine-cupping, gel-smearing, and a nurse lady telling me to lose weight.
• Blood test: I wasn't that scared, actually. I thought it would hurt when the needle poked into my arm, but it didn't feel so bad. I still winced for effect.
• Urine samples: I was afraid because I hadn't drank anything the entire day and I peed in the morning. I didn't have any urine left in my body!! I was just sitting and waiting...but it didn't come out. I stole Jason's water and tried again. I guess I was really paranoid that I would miss the cup or some other catastrophe would happen.
• EKT (Vision): my weight was measured and my eyesight was tested. The lady told me that her son was about her age.
• ECG (Heartbeat): I laid down on a bed thing and they put measuring 'clamps' on my arms and legs. They also put some heart rate monitors on my chest.
• Blood pressure / heart check: I used the blood pressure measurer and got a pretty low one. The lady told me to lie down as she checked my heart with a stethoscope.
• Ultrasound: they rubbed some gel on me and checked my internal organs. No, I'm not pregnant. However, one of the nurses told me to lose weight. She patted my stomach and said, "减肥."
• X-ray: it was over within a matter of seconds.

• Oh, and while I was waiting in line to finish some of the physical tests, I taught Michael a new vocabulary word. I flexed my arm muscles and said, "guns" (points to muscles). He was laughing, as always.

• In the taxi, someone talked about his/her sister and problems concerning her, in that she seemed to be controlled by her boyfriend. I said to them, "I would NEVER let him control me...I'd control him...j/k." People said, "Hahahahha....SUUUURRRE."
• Got back around 11am. Girls from my apartment invited me to lunch, but I was busy prepping for lessons.
• I took the 12:20pm bus to Xiasha campus. Jason and Michael accompanied me. I told Michael some Chinese jokes (Madonna/McDonald's and 一晚睡觉/一碗水饺) and talked about some Chinese cultural things. I could feel my mouth getting dry >_<. I taught Michael some Cantonese phrases and he thanked "the professor" and shook my hand...whilst I cluelessly asked who was the professor. OF COURSE he was just talking about me. Yay, someone (who isn't a student -_-) called me professor!
• Got to the campus and then switched buses to get to the other campus. I commuted a total of 1 hour, 15 minutes. Went to get the keys and the microphone.

• Both classes had a higher proficiency of English, when compared to the classes on the other campus. I taught them colloquial phrases, not straight-up vocab. I marveled at how young my students look! They look around the age range of 13 - 18...but they're sophomores/juniors in the university. Mostly sophomores.

• There were some guys with their little girlfriends in my second class...and the guys just wouldn't shut up! I purposely called on one of the guys who seemed to be chatting up his sweetie. I told him to explain what I just told the class to do. He looked at me and pointed to himself.
o_o <"Me?")
O_o <"ME?")
O_OO <"MEE!?")
He made one exaggerated face after another, with each one more twisted than the last. Everyone was laughing at him. Maybe he was used to it, because it didn't really deter him from chatting up his girly afterwards.

• After I finished the classes, I left in a hurry and realized I had forgotten to erase the board. I called Michael to tell him to tell the janitor sorry that I forgot to erase the board.

• I was half-asleep on the way back. Then, I went online to waste time. Talked to Patricia about grading exams. Jessica came by with a yummilicious brownie that she made from a brownie mix from Carrefour (she told me she went far away to find it o_o).

• I was tired, since I overstayed my consciousness' welcome!

杭州 Day 9

2008-09-17T03:52:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, September 17, 2008: 杭州 Day 9 - Proctoring an Exam
中国 Day 9
Asia Day 9

Today, I woke up relatively LATE - 11am. I got up and planned my lesson, which only took 2 hours this time, thanks to the guided exercises in the textbook. I did some laundry and ate some food, then headed out to the classroom 3 minutes away.

• Call me Doctor Proctor. I had to proctor an exam for students who failed their finals. The administration told me to take it easy on them, so I tried to be as merciful as possible; most of them did really well on the dialogue parts, but as for the dictation, I guess it's hard for them to write down the English terms. However, for the dialogue section, I allowed them to write down some key phrases that they thought they would need to use (the best of the best just talked on cue, and some were really expressive - this led me to think that they should have passed the class, except maybe what happened was other classes got in the way, similar to how some people take languages for general education requirements and just want to get it out of the way). There were a few students that wrote almost nothing for dictation. I repeated the dictations twice (and I was even saying it slowly anyway). I asked if any of them wanted me to repeat the dictations once more, but they were adamantly against it, saying it was too hard.

• Dialogue highlights:
1) One of the students was alone in creating a dialogue, so he made a monologue. I think he did fairly well. However, there was this pleading prelude, with the student saying that he thought his failing was a mistake in grading, that he wasn't one of the best students and not one of the worst. Then he went on to talk about how he only learned some English in middle school. After that, he answered the question somewhat fluently.
2) Another group of students were quite funny because they were presenting on why English is important to learn (advantages/disadvantages). One of them said that they needed to know English to pass this final exam, eliciting laughs from me and the entire group. Haha. Was it not-very-teacherly to laugh? 'Twas funnay!!

• Oh, the challenge of grading. There's this feeling one has as a teacher - teachers don't want to pass someone who doesn't deserve it, but wants all students to pass. I am already facing such a challenge, BUT there are some students that don't deserve it because they didn't study.

• On the way back from proctoring, I saw homogeneous groups of students (separated by gender) dressed in military uniforms. They were doing their "military exercises" - I guess it's a form of physical education and discipline. Michael had done it back in his undergraduate freshman year; Baba did it back when he was in college (that was a LONG-ASS time ago). It's an old tradition, I suppose. Anyway, I saw this attractive older (25 years of age?) man in uniform; he was probably in the military. Actually, from this practice and watching other students around campus, I noticed that students didn't hang out in heterogeneous groups of guys and girls. It was usually all girls or all guys. Otherwise, a girl and guy would hang out one-on-one if they were dating. It's interesting because it shows that students in America are a bit more liberal, since there's groups of guys and girls that hang out.

• I went home to rest and to indulge myself in Moon-Cake-ness. Afterward, I decided to go back out and explore the campus. I walked around campus until I thought I knew every nook and cranny, granny. On one side, there's the main gate; on another, there's the East Gate (near the foreign teacher apartments). Then, there's a fenced boundary separating the university from the outside, non-sheltered world. There's some really nice archaic architecture on campus, so of course, I took many pictures. After this exploration, I went back to my apartment for a few minutes and then left to explore the streets. By this time, it was already 5:00pm.

• I turned right after exiting the gate. Walked to a fresh produce store and bought some heavy fuzzy peaches and some persimmons. Those persimmons were medium-sized and a bit squishy. Honestly, if I were to apply a little more pressure, I'm sure it would have exploded. Then, an angry Chinese woman would shout, "AHHH!!!! YOU BREAK YOU BUY AH!"
• Next, I went to the boba shop nearby. There were only two girls working, but they...were...s-l-o-w. I waited for about 10 minutes for them to make the boba of some schoolgirls. Then, another girl who was BEHIND ME in line chimed in her desires, erm, order before I did. Well, we got both of our orders done at the same time, though. I ordered a "珍珠奶绿" (probably a boba milk tea with green tea?). It was only 3 块. You could ask them to poke the straw through it (开 = open it). Hooray. However, it wasn't as good as I thought it might be. It was quite milky, yes. The balls were smaller than those balls they have in the U.S.

• After having lugged around those heavy peaches and squishy persimmons for 10 minutes while waiting to order and then waiting another 5 minutes for my order to be completed, I decided I wanted to drop the kiddies off at home. By kiddies, I meant my fuzzy, obese peaches and the about-to-explode persimmons I loved unconditionally. Well, I can't say that just yet, since I haven't tried them. But even then...no, I only loved them on three conditions - that they be fresh, soft, and juicy. After I got home, I didn't feel like budging.

• I read some information sheets from the police department and university, which said a multitude of things in Engrish:
1) "A foreigner shall not keep to the bottle and be sot, and is not allowed to fight or tussle with others." I think that means the foreigner should not get drunk in China o_o.
2) "Foreigners who are religion holders may go to the church in Hangzhou for cult, but are not allowed to preach, to spread religion booklet or to develop members in any occasion."
3) "Foreigners shall abide by the Road Traffic Laws of China, and obey the management of traffic police." (HAHAHA...WHAT traffic laws?! HAHAHAHA!!!!)
4) "It is prohibited to log onto pornographic and reactionary websites. If viruses invade the computer system because of inappropriate browsing, the school authorities are not responsible for the paralysis of computer system and look into responsibilities."
5) "The marking method can be either hundred mark system or five-level system, namely, excellent, good, ordinary, passed, and failed."
6) For the campus catalog, there's a section detailing student participation in events, such as competitions. For one of them, it said, "Mathematical modeling." That conjures images of nerdy mathematics majors posing and lavishing attention on flashing cameras. Of course I know what mathematical model isn't - it's not a pageant - yet, just those words create amusing imagery for me.

• I called Patricia to see if she had eaten yet, and it turns out she was still on the bus. When she got back, we decided to go upstairs and knock on people's doors to see if they'd eaten. All had, or they were too tired to go. Patricia and I went outside of campus and walked around until we found a new place to eat. It was really close to the front entrance of the university.
• When we went into the restaurant, this cute lil' boy took our order. They told me they didn't have any green beans, so I had to choose another dish, so I got noodles with chicken pieces and mixed (spicy) veggies. Patricia got fried rice. I taught Patricia some Chinese, too. Haha. We were talking about how she wanted to put the little boy in her purse or how she wanted to adopt him, and I was like, "Did you see 'Tropic Thunder'?" Then I made a stabbing motion, rofl.
• Anyway, they thought Patricia was Malaysian!! HAHA. I also made some conversation with the people. Turns out the little boy was 14 years old. His dad was from 青海, in the northwest part of China. Their whole family kept smiling at me and Patricia (mostly at her, though) NONSTOP. I asked the father if the little kid was his son and he replied yes. Then, I asked if the other kid was his son, and he said yes. I asked the older son how old he was and he said seventeen. Rawr? LOL. Patricia was asking about age differences in China...
• As I was finishing my dinner, some creeper stood outside of the shop, staring at our table. Patricia claimed that he was looking at ME and/or checking me out. I was reacting adversely, such that I screeched like an unsexy beast. I also said, "Yeah, he wants some of this Chinese-American goodness." I looked back a few times and yes, indeed, he was looking at me T_T. He was about 50-55 years of age. Ewww...I suggested we walk fast after we finished our dindin.

• As we were walking back, we saw this guy who was moderately attractive and Patricia said, "OOoooh I saw you checkin' him out!" I said, "Yeah...and he was aight..." She busted up laughin' at my ghettoness.

• We got back to the front of our apartment and saw Jessica. We had this conversation (paraphrased):
Patricia: Hey, she got a new boyfriend (indicating me).
Jing: Ahhh, but she did, too!
Patricia: Yeah, mine is 14.
Jessica: Oooh.
Patricia: Yeah, hers was outside of the window, checking her out.
Jing: Ohhhh! I thought you were talking about the other one.
Jessica: What? Other one? You have so many that you lost track?

Got bitten by bugs at least 5 times whilst standing out there. Then, I came back inside to do some unfinished bloggery.

杭州 Day 8

2008-09-16T10:21:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, September 16, 2008: 杭州 Day 8 - First Day of Teaching!
中国 Day 8
Asia Day 8

• Woke up hecka early, but went back to sleep several times. It was strange because I first woke up around 7:45am, but I was in a half-awake mental state until around 10am, when I finally got out of bed. At this time, I had a slight headache and stomachache and did not know the cause. I chatted and laid down a bit before I felt better. Also polished up the lesson plans.

• At 1:20pm, I left for work. Little did I remember, the walk from my apartment to the classroom is about 3 minutes away (from when I step outside my door to when I reach the classroom). I also had to get the key to the room, as well as the microphone. The lady in charge of those items just had me write the room number and sign my name on a sheet of paper. I went upstairs and I was already starting to sweat. No, this is not a result of being out of shape. It's the weather!

• I unlocked the door of the classroom and then went inside to set up the computer, audiovisual equipment, and projector. This is sad, but there was no internet on the computer, so next time, I will have to bring a USB drive. I also turned on all the fans...to the highest dials. ARGH. By this time, I was already drowning in a pool of sweat inside my own clothes! GROSS HUH. TMI INFO HUH! Well, too bad ;)

• By the time I was almost set up, some students walked in 10 minutes early. A few were like, "Eh? So early..." (哦？这么早。。？) I started by introducing myself briefly and then we launched ourselves into the lesson. (Class times were 1:45-2:30, 2:35-3:20, 3:25-4:10, 4:15-5:00. There were two main classes, with two periods each. My classes averaged 37 students.)
• Last night, I created a new email JUST FOR this purpose (of teaching Jinglish). However, I decided I wanted them to call me Professor F, so I made a gmail account with TeachJinglish (except that I used my last name in place). I was trying to explain the joke to my students, who didn't really laugh (either they didn't get it, or they did get it and didn't think it was funny). How dare they not laugh in my presence!

• I had everyone go around to introduce themselves and talk about their own personality. I also passed around this globe stress ball, which would indicate that someone was to speak. There were some inaudible responses from the gals, so I started just walking and stopping next to the student that was speaking. It seemed to me that the second class I had was more knowledgeable in English (but the period I had before that actually had lunch, so that could explain why some people weren't as alert). Next, I had everyone go around to read the vocabulary words. I made sure to repeat words that caused people trouble. After that, I usually had 3 minutes to spare, so I just made up a mini-game out of thin air. I said I would toss the ball to someone and they would have to pronounce a word. However, when I had barely even gone through 2 words, the bell would ring. I would tell the students it's break time and some would stay in the classroom. After break, I would continue the lesson with listening exercises from the book. Okay, boring, yes; it wasn't that effective, though, because as I've seen in both classes, the "fill-in-the-blank" exercises were primarily blank, except that the best of the best students did take a stab at it...and made it BLOODY. So the true/false and multiple choice exercises were easiest for students to understand. After this, I had students discuss a question with a partner; it was about what personalities were considered to be "Chinese" and because of this, whether that student thought of himself or herself as Chinese. Then, after we went through everything, the bell would ring. Wow, I feel like everything was well-timed; implementation was good, but I need to have more students feel a bit more confident.

• General worries:
- Today, I think I may have embarrassed a few students; nothing big, of course. There was a student that had passed on the ball because he didn't want to go, but I kind of made him go after two others went. I should have just asked whether he wanted me to come back later. I think I saw the beginnings of a scowl. (However, there's this other student who wasn't ready and I came back to him later...and it all worked out.)
- I also worry that I was "all up in the grill" of the students, invading their personal space. This is a bit unavoidable, though, if I want to be able to hear what the students are saying, since they speak so softly.
- I'd like the students to speak with more confidence and to talk louder. For the second class, I decided to pass around the microphone. It worked fine for the introductions, but when I told people to use it for the group discussion questions, at least half did not want to.
- I'm thankful that there are no huge misbehaving behaviors within the students. There are, of course, some smarty-pants, though they make the class more interesting. However, I will of course try to call on the quieter ones and try to encourage them.
- I was talking to another foreign teacher and he suggested I build the competitive spirit with games. Good point. This will foster intrinsic motivation and cause people to speak up, I hope.
- Erm, there was a mishap with the ball. For the first class, I warned them three times that I was going to throw the ball. One of them was supposed to catch it and s/he would have to pronounce the word. The first time, I threw it very far back, but it worked (until the bell rang). The second time, I warned them about two times, and then I said I wasn't even going to look and then toss the ball. I tossed it...and I think...apparently, it hit one of the students (was he not paying attention)? LOLOL...I apologized profusely, as the gal students giggled. Oh god...

• Funny responses:
1) I asked students to describe the personality of Chinese people, and one student said, "Chinese people are very in-going." I was like, "Hrm?" He said, "Opposite of outgoing."
2) There was a group of smarty-pants in my second class. When I asked them to introduce themselves and say their name, one of them said something to the effect of, "Hello, good afternoon, my name is __ and I am from Ningbo, the manufacturing center of China. You can buy lots of clothing when you visit there." It was so touristy-toned that I was amused.
3) Another smarty-pants student was answering my question about Chinese people's personalities, and said, "We all share the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, so all Chinese people are the same." That cracked up the class.
4) When I asked one student to talk about Chinese people's personalities, he said, "Chinese people like to build cute things with..." and then asked his friend, "How do you say dirt?/怎么说泥土？" and then I told him, "dirt," and then he continued. I repeated it, "Hmm...so Chinese people like to build cute things with dirt? Interesting, I didn't know that." LOL. And then I went to the next person.

• Some students had some good responses about Chinese people's personalities. One said something to the effect of, "People of the world are all the same. So, there should not be much difference between Chinese people and others."
• Another student (in the smarty-pants group) said that, "Chinese people are very shy, so in an English class, it is hard for them to talk." I then asked that group how they thought I, as a teacher, could get my Chinese students who are shy to speak up. They just wrinkled their foreheads in deep rumination and I said I would come back later to ask.
• Some answers were just super-detailed, especially in the second class.

• Ahh, so I returned the microphone and keys to the janitor room and happily walked home, having achieved a first in my life. My shirt was GROSS. It was black and I had been sweating madly...so there was a white stain of salt on the outside of where I had sweat. Please don't think I'm overly gross - I'm sure the same would have happened to you - this is, after all, China.

• I chilled on my computer for a moment and then went to grab dindin with Jessica, Romain, and Vanessa. Dinner was select-what-you-want-to-eat-then-throw-the contents-into-a-soup, similar to a hot pot. I ate dumplings, veggies, mushrooms, noodles, and red mystery meat; it was red before he put it in the pot and it was red afterward (I'm pretty sure it was due to some type of treatment, like marinade, or at worst, harassment). I asked the cook what the red meat was; he replied so fast, it was as if he hadn't answered. I told the guy it was okay if he made it a LITTLE spicy...but I guess he didn't know what 'little spicy' meant...and made it terribly spicy. All of us were crying. After dinner, Jessica said, "Quick! What's 33 divided by 4?" I said, "Hmmm....33 divided by 4 is pretty close to 32/4 = 8, so a little over eight." Romain and others laughed at my mode of approximation...

• Then, we walked a bit. Explored a bakery and then a mini-supermarket. Afterward, Romain and I looked at a small fresh produce store. We didn't know how to choose a watermelon, but I later Googled it. You smack it upside its head - if you hear a hollow sound, that means it's ripe. I had one of the shopboys choose a watermelon for me and then I left for home. Patricia came over a bit to deliver me some notes from today's meeting (that I had to miss because of classes). Now, here I am...blogging my life away. Going to journal in a bit.

杭州 Day 6-7

2008-09-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 14, 2008: 杭州 Day 6
中国 Day 6
Asia Day 6

• Woke up at 10:30am to the sound of Baba blowdrying his hair. Got up and got ready for the day, as Baba watched television. It was starting to rain pretty hard around then. Both of us ate a breakfast of bao (buns). He also gave me a cake (that I presume came from his flight last night).

• Around 11:30am, we headed outside of campus to get me a simcard. We walked all the way to the front gate of the university and across the street. Baba did all the talking and asked for an easy-to-remember-number. He also made smalltalk with the shopkeeper/people chillin' in the shop and told them that I'm teaching English and that I'm an American ^^U. Heh. They had the general reaction of, "Oh, can she speak Chinese?" and Baba answered, "Yeah, she knows some - she took 10+ years of Chinese school"...lol.

• We waited at least 15 minutes for a taxi! The street we were on wasn't very busy, so we walked a bit farther. It was quite funny, as taxis full of customers kept passing us by. We finally walked farther and saw a taxi that said "空车" (empty car) on the dashboard. I saw that the guy was smoking, and I thought, "Uhhhh...ohh great." Again, Baba made smalltalk with the taxi driver and asked about Hangzhou and the humid weather. We finally arrived at the restaurant.

• Baba paid for the cab and then found his friend, who was in his car. The friend motioned for us to get in, and he told us that the wait was really long for the restaurant he wanted. Thus, we went to another restaurant in a hotel. We were immediately seated (and all the extra plates were taken away).

• Whilst Baba's friend, or Mr. Sun, as I shall now call him, left the table momentarily, the waitress told me to sit "over there," almost across from where I sat, so that we three would be more spread out, as the table was big enough for about 8 people.

      __8_
1 /            \ 7
2 |              | 6 <===Approximate
3 \____/ 5       diagram
          4

Let's say Mr. Sun sat at 1, Baba sat at 3, and I sat at 4. The lady asked me to sit at seat 7. I didn't want to move so far from my Dad, so I asked why they didn't just move Mr. Sun to another seat. Then, the waitress said that the "主人" (master/main man) sat in that seat, so I understood. Then, the lady proceeded to move all of my silverware and plates to seat 7. I was kind of like..."Uhhh...wtf." It was also a mark of bad customer service, as I saw it. Anyway, I thought I'd move later if they wanted me to move, but for the time being, I sat next to Baba. He first talked about the family, then talked about some business, then spoke again about family/me. Again, he talked about how I know some Chinese and how I've taken Chinese school for a bit. Mr. Sun asked me a few questions and whenever I paused, I was feeling a bit indecisive - hope he knows that! I.e. when he asked my dad what I wanted to drink, I didn't really know what to say...and then the waitress just named off all of the drinks in a superfast order. I ordered apple juice, but when the waitress presented it, it was HUGE...and I didn't feel like opening and wasting it, so I just had tea. Before the meal started, Mr. Sun saw my silverware at that other space, and he said irritatedly to the waitstaff, "Hey! Move that back over there." I was giggling in my head. I WON...yeah, bad customer service, whatchu gonna do when the master says, "You gotta move it, move it?"...Yeah, you move it. That's right.

• Ate crab claws, si1gua1, 丝瓜, (almost like xi qua), little fish with tiny bones (okay, today's wasn't as great as yesterday's), beef steak pieces (delish!), a plate with a sea cucumber *giggle* with a scoop of rice and three pieces of broccoli, mystery fish, and watermelon/tomatoes on a plate for dessert.
• Okay...I've got to say, the sea cucumber didn't taste like anything! It was squishy and tasted very neutral, but the thought of eating a sea cucumber almost made me a little queasy. I thought it had the consistency of jellyfish.
• As for the "mystery fish," I have no idea what it is. However, Baba said that he used to capture them when he was little, and they would go into the mud to hide. I didn't see any fins on it and the structure of the mystery fish was a bit different than normal fish. I wonder what it's called. Mm, it was actually pretty good - a bit spicy and it had the consistency of sardines.

• Mr. Sun asked if I'm used to eating this type of meal, and I said I wasn't, and he seemed kind of disappointed...lol. Anyway, he drove Baba to his office and Baba and I went to an office next door so Baba could do business. I noticed that he started by making smalltalk, then talked about the business. I was zoned out because I was playing with my phone. Hehe...I don't think it's as cool as my iPhone, due to the weird scrolling non-user-friendly function, but it has a touchscreen and a better camera (but not as good as my actual Sony cameras). Otherwise, it's cool :D
• Afterwards, Mr. Sun drove Baba back to my apartment; Baba picked up his luggage and left for the airport. Mr. Sun also gave his number to Baba who gave it to me (he lives in Hangzhou and does business here). Cool.

• After Baba left, I cried for like 5 minutes, then felt better when I chatted with people. I must have wasted a bit of time before I started my homework. Ehhh...well, time to journal, do homework, and then sleep ^^

...

Monday, September 15, 2008: 杭州 Day 7
中国 Day 7
Asia Day 7

Woke up at 11am and went online. I was working on my Mercantilism post for my class, when I started to chat (once again). I didn't finish the post until about 8pm. Had some interesting convos with some drunk and sober friends.

Two amusing things (otherwise, there's not really much to today, except for sitting on my cushioned chair, chatting, and typing out a response for homework):
1) One of my expat friends was talking about how her ego was growing, due to the unsuppressed flattery of a Chinese guy, who kept telling her she was pretty (because she joked that girls like to hear it).
2) I was talking to an expat friend online and she said she needed to ring up one of the other teachers. I said he was a "saxy guy" and she said, "oooh, I'm telling." Then she's like, "Don't worry, I'm a good friend, I'll hook you up." I protested, and she said, "He can be your bf until you get good enough at Chinese." LOLOLOL...

Still have lesson plans to do.

Bringing Sexyback - 8/25/06

2008-09-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite. I've decided to post one of my favorite (most hilarious) posts from the Summer of 2006. I've omitted some parts about my relatives and the part detailing visual grandeur. To see the original post, look up the Friday, August 25, 2006, post on my xanga. Caution: these stories may not be typical of other Chinese people.

Hello, readers. I've been to China and returned with stories for those who are curious about Chinese families and Chinese culture.

Index:
Part I: Dinner Table Talk and Linguistics
Part II: The Story of the Free Massage
Part III: Mastercard-Commercial-Like List of Numbers
Part IV: The Humor of Dad's Temper

Part I: Dinner Table Talk and Linguistics

Having a Chinese family means that whenever a crapload of family members come over for dinner, everyone usually gossips and brags. In my family, my dad always talks about the same things:

1) During the first 5 minutes of meeting the people we know, bro and I usually speak English with each other, which prompts my dad's friends to ask:

"Do they know how to speak Chinese?"
In the past, dad said we couldn't, though during this whole month, dad told our guests that we can understand, but not speak.

One time, my family went to dinner with 2 other families (one family friend and his friend's family). The family friend had a mother who looked like a Chinese Oprah and a daughter who brought over her boyfriend [>:(!].

Anyway, the usual convo about my bro and I lacking competency in Chinese was starting to piss me off. (During the tour to Yunnan, many tourists thought we couldn't speak Chinese...as does some family...)

The convo went like this:
Family friend's friend: "Do your kids speak Chinese?"
Dad: "They can speak a little and understand some."
Moi: "YES, I CAN SPEAK CHINESE AND UNDERSTAND IT, TOO."
FFF: "Hmm, maybe they can understand when I speak slowly, but maybe if I spoke faster, they wouldn't understand..."
Bro and Moi: "PSH, he wouldn't understand us whether we spoke quickly or slowly in English."

On the tour, a little girl 2 seats in front of us on the tour bus said to the girls behind her:
Little girl: "Ley gawk duck kuey dey gah ying mun hai mm hai ho duck yee ah?"
[Translation: "Do you think their English is cute/funny?"]
Moi: Hai ah!
[Translation: "Yes, it is!"]
That shut the little girl up.

2) Whenever we order fish, I usually eat the fish head. (Yes, it's full of gooey goodness.) This prompts dad to boast about my fishhead-eating abilities.
Dad: "My daughter is so good at eating fishheads. She puts the whole thing in her mouth and spits out only the bones. Even I'm not as good as she is. She is cleverer than any of those American girls, eating the fish with a 'zut zut' sound."

3) When family members or friends comment about my brother's large stature, Dad replies:
Dad: "Yes, my son is big for his age. Whenever you see him from the back, he looks like a man, but when you look at his face, you say, 'OH! He's a boy.'"

Dad usually peppers his discussions with colorful onomatopoeia or hyperboles...
[Sang = sound.]
"Zut zut sang" = The sound of sucking the goodness out of fish bones

"Feh feh sang" = The sound of flying

"...doh fey hay!" = "...that I levitate!"
Usually used to express how good or bad something is, this phrase is comparable to "[good/bad] as hell/heck."
i.e. "Yee/Li tew yu ho sic doh fey hay!"
[This fish is so good that I levitated (as delicious as hell).]

"...doh song sai!" = "...until one is comfortable/full."
Usually expresses a person doing something until a certain point, i.e. eating until one is satisfied.

"...doh bao zah." = "...until one explodes."
Usually expresses a person doing something until full.

Dad also uses a range of curse words that puts the common American to shame. (Even I can't name them all; these words are common knowledge to the average Chinese speaker.)

"Hum gah tsan" = I hope your whole family dies [Literal translation: 全家死(?)]

"Hum gah ling" = I hope your whole family dies, v2

"Pok gai" = Bastard/Hope you die on the street [温蛋]

"Chee seen" = Crazy [神经病]

"Diu!!" = Short for "Diu ley lo mo!"

"Diu ley lo mo!" = F*** your mom!

Learned one from mom/tour guide:
"干你妈!"[Gan ni ma] = F*** your mom!

Just for fun, I'd like to say that I like the phrase,
"Hum bah laung" = Everything

There are several other phrases worth understanding:

"Gow mm aww see gah dey fong" = A place that even a dog would not poop on, meaning it's so dirty a dog would not even take a dump there

"Gnok gwai sic dow fu" = To trick a ghost to eat tofu. Ghosts can't eat solids, so if you trick them to eat solids, it means you are quite persuasive

My peach cousin, age 13, is a funny little guy. I call him Peach because his name sounds like peach. His mom always tells me he's the most troublesome kid in class, though he's quite entertaining whenever he isn't playing computer games. Here are some noteworthy phrases he's taught moi:

"找死" [Zhao si] = Go find a place to die.

"打灯去找屎" [Da deng qu zhao shi] = Go find a bathroom to die.
Literal translation: Turn on the bathroom light to find poop (poop almost sounds like die in Chinese).

Peach had this riddle:
"What's another word for 'Fei zou woh shaung' (African Priest)?"
"Hauk yun zung." (Means, "Annoying.")

"Diu!" = Damn!

My cousin in HK, whose American name is Keith, said goodbye in a novel way.
K: 86
Moi: 86? What's 86?
K: Bye lo [Lo means 'guy']
Moi: HAH. Gwai6. Saw6.
[Gwai lo = American guy
Saw lo = Crazy guy]

Part II: The Story of the Free Massage
[Best viewed in Chinese.]

免费按摩的故事

我们在云南旅游的时候，妈妈，弟弟，和我去酒店拿了免费“狗皮膏药”，脚泡，和脚按摩(18岁以上)。弟弟坐在我的右边，妈妈坐在弟弟的右边。

我还没放脚进去脚泡水的时候，按摩的人已经来了。按摩的人比较年轻，但是他的样子比较老。

他问我： “你从哪里来的？”
我答: “广州。”

我们谈了一下。

他指了弟弟，问： “他是不是你的男朋友？”
我觉他有一点眼睛的毛病。

我惊奇[Jing Qi]地问：“什么？！他是我的弟弟！我们不像吗？”

按摩的人说：“没关系，没关系。”

他问我：“你跟谁来？”
我说：“我跟妈妈和弟弟来的。”
他指妈妈右边的男人, 问: “他是不是你的爸爸？”
我说，“不是，爸爸在广州。”
那位家伙又问我妈妈旁边的人是不是我的爸爸。我台了眉毛，又跟他说那个人不是我的爸爸。我觉得这位按摩的人神经病。

我们又谈了一下。我跟按摩的人说我是个美国公民。他说他知道我不是“这里”的人。

他问：“美金最小的纸钱是什么？”
我对他说：“＄1元美金。”
他说：“我从来没见过，你可以给我看看好吗？”

我从钱包拿了＄1美金给他看。

他求我：“可不可以给我和我朋友作纪念？”

我从钱包拿了一分钱。
我说：“我给你这个，好吧？”

妈妈大笑。按摩的人摇摇手，说他不要。

The Story of the Free Massage

While on the Yunnan tour, my mom, bro, and I went to get a free herbal remedy at a hotel, which included free patches for headaches/backaches, a foot soaking, and a foot massage (for those 18 years and older). Sitting to the right of me was my brother and then next to him was my mom.

After I had barely put my feet into the foot soak solution, a man in his mid-twenties came to massage my feet. He asked me where I was from and I told him, "Guangzhou."

After a few more words were exchanged, he asked me, "Is he [points to bro] your boyfriend?" I looked at him with shocking amazement and asked him, "What?! He is my BROTHER! Do we NOT look alike?" The guy tried to calm me down by saying, "It's okay, it's okay..."

He asked me about my family and I told him I was with my mom and brother. He then pointed to the far end of the chairs next to my mom and asked if that was my father. I told him, no, my father is at home. He asked me again and I raised my eyebrow as I relayed the same information to him.

We started to chat a little more and then I told him I was an American citizen. He then looked at me with knowingness and said,"Oh, I thought you weren't from around here." After that, he asked what was the smallest denomination for a U.S. Bill. I told him it was $1. He told me that he hadn't seen it before and wanted to know what it looked like. I looked in my wallet and took out the $1 and showed it to him.

He then asked, "Can me and my friend have one for a souvenir?"

I looked into my wallet and took out a penny. "Why don't I give you one of these," I said with a smirk. Mom laughed. The man said no and waved his hand wildly.

Babelfish translator says:
We travel in Yunnan, mother, the younger brother, went to the hotel with me to take "the quack remedy" free, the foot soaked, with foot massage (above 18 years old). The younger brother sits in mine right side, mother sits in younger brother's right side. I have not put the foot to go in the foot soaks in water, the massage person already comes. Massage person quite young, but his appearance quite is old. He asks me: "Do you come from where?" I answer: "Guangzhou." We discussed. He has referred to the younger brother, asked: "Is he your boyfriend?" My sense he has an eye the problem. I am surprised [ Jing Qi ] to ask that, "What? ! He is my younger brother! We do not like?" The massage person said that, "Has not related, has not related." He asks me: "Do you come with who?" I said that, "I come with mother and the younger brother." He refers to right side mother the man, asked: "Is he your daddy?" I said that, "is not, daddy in Guangzhou." That fellow also asked nearby my mother the person is my daddy. My eyebrow, also with him said that person is not my daddy. I think this massage person mental illness. We also discussed. I with the massage person said I am the American citizens. He said he knew I am not "here" person. He asked that, "What is a Dollar smallest paper money?" I said to him that, "＄ 1 Yuan Dollar." He said that, "I have not always seen, you may have a look to me?" I took ＄ 1 Dollar from the wallet to look to him. He asks me: "May give me and my friend makes the commemoration?" I have taken a cent money from the wallet. I said that, "I give you this, is good?" Mother laughs. The massage person shaky hand, said he does not want.

Part III: Mastercard-Commercial-Like List of Numbers

(Note that I estimate costs in US$.)

Getting followed by aggressive employees everytime I browsed a store: My Patience (Not able to be estimated in US$.)

Sighting 57 black people (Chinese-Africans??) on the streets: $1

Spending 25 Days in China: $3,000+

Spending 6 Days and 5 Nights in Yunnan: $625

Viewing 7.5 Chinese DVDs: $5+
- Dragon Tiger Gate
- Mah Jong Kung Fu
- Mah Jong Kung Fu 2
- Dragon Loaded
- Dragon Reloaded
- Random Stephen Chow movie (on tourbus)
- "Duk haan yum cha" - with that crazy cussing lady (Qiu Yuen) as a mild motha
- Initial D Live Action (with Jay Chou) - only paid attention to half of it

Walking around 4 Malls: $50+
- Beijing Road (北京路)
- Shang Xia Jiu (上下九）
- Rows of shops selling anime/movie/show dvds, music, toys, cosplaying materials
- Mall in Zhuhai with an underground bookstore

Spending 3 nights at Peach's House: Free for me, expensive for them

Playing Badminton 3 times: $5+

Going out for 2 Parents' birthday dinners: $375+

Singing 2 rounds of karaoke: $87.5

Taking 2 trips to cities around Guangzhou: $15
- Shenzhen
- Zhuhai (Dad climbed over a fence to get to Macau to renew his visa.)

Watching 1 Movie ("Superman Returns" with Chinese Subs): $3

The Trip Back: (Could've cost me) My Life (if there was no delay)

Going to the Supermarket and noticing an old guy looking at porn dvds: Priceless

Part IV: The Humor of Dad's Temper

Dad has bursts of temper, from time to time, but all his outbursts are justified.

Exhibit A: The Restaurant
When my family and my dad's employee, "Ah Ping," went to a fresh seafood restaurant one day, my dad discovered that the employees had cooked a random dead fish instead of the fresh one that he chose. When the fish got to our table, Dad busted out his chopsticks and attempted to tear the flesh off of the fish bones. He became annoyed that the fish's flesh did not melt off of the bones like in a fresh fish, so he knew the fish was dead. He called the waiter and complained about the fish. After complaining to the waiter, he told the waiter to bring his supervisor. She came and dad became angrier about the situation, citing that it was the second time that this happened to him at this restaurant. Finally, he told the supervisor to bring her manager to the table.

The manager arrived.

(The following dialogue is approximately what happened.)

Dad: Why did you give us a dead fish to eat?
("Wai, lei deen guy bay gnaw day sei yu sic?!")

Manager: Sir ("Ah saung"), this fish was cooked alive. This is the way it is.

Dad: Well, I came here last time with friends and the fish's flesh didn't stick to the bones, but this flesh does. ("Li gaw yu mm let gwut"). You froze a dead fish and then cooked it. Look, even the fish's skin is a different color - the one I chose was gray.

Manager: The fish turns colors when cooked.

Dad: Here, try it yourself. Hey waiter, get me some chopsticks ("Lang zuy, law dee fiy zee gaw lai)!

After arguing for 10 minutes, Dad's voice became louder.

Manager: Sir, please calm down. ("Ah Saung, lei laung zing dee.")

The manager was frustrated that he could not convince my dad of the fish's freshness. Dad didn't want the fish and told the waiter to take it away. Finally, the manager offered to give my dad another fish that was cooked the way he liked it. My dad had the chance to watch the cook prepare the fish, but he didn't watch. The manager came back with the fish and dad was a little more satisfied. So, we dined on the fish, the fish that lives on the sea floor and has two eyes on one side.

Exhibit B: The Airport
The day before I left China, we were at the airport, unaware that the flight had been canceled due to a bomb threat on a previous flight from the same company. Dad discovered that the flight was canceled and demanded a refund. He caused a big commotion. The passengers from our flight were coming to the table to ask where the check-in booth was for LAX. An American college grad girl eyed dad with curious annoyance. Dad yelled and yelled. He told the employees to book another flight and the manager asked him why, and Dad said we want to go home faster. We three settled for a free night's stay at a hotel. Had I known that our flight would take off during the next day, I would have told my dad to calm down.

We three passengers got on the bus with a bunch of Americans, who sat in front of us. I eavesdropped because, heh heh heh...little did they know that I could speak and understand English. The college grad talked about teaching English in China since July and the two business partners on her left spoke of being in the furniture business. They both agreed that China was safer than Europe.

An approximate dialogue follows.

Grad Girl: Some of these people really get mad in China, especially over the flight being canceled.

Business Amigos: Yeah, did you see that guy in the purple shirt [my dad]? He was LOSING IT!

Upon hearing this, bro and I giggled. When mom got onto the bus, we told her this. As the bus crept forward toward the hotel, we eavesdropped as a family (nosy Asian people - Chinese people say that other Chinese people are so nosy that they'd peek at a piece of poop on the sidewalk).

We arrived at the hotel and found dad waving at us. The Americans exclaimed, "Hey! He's already here! Traffic lights probably turned green as he drove through with a Rolls-Royce."

Dad went to the counter of the hotel to ask about rooms. We had three people, but the hotel would not give us another room (or even one room per person), so dad yelled a little louder. He even stated that we need another room for my bro ("Yee/Li gaw hai dai gaw zuy!!") We decided to get a third bed moved into the room (it was a kiddy Hello Kitty bed and mom slept on it). The Americans were staring and whispering to themselves again. The Americans were next in line and discovered that they had to pay $150 Yuan per extra room. Then, Dad spoke in English and said $150 Yuan is about $15 dollars and that the hotel service isn't good. Mom added that the Chinese hotels try to save money (by charging people extra to get a more than one room per party).

Dad sent us up to our room and my Peach aunt and uncle visited for awhile.

Mini-Exhibits of Cussing:

1) There are many crazy drivers in China (no one follows the laws of right-of-way or traffic laws), and many times, Dad cusses at those drivers. However, I must add that he himself is a crazy driver (going the wrong way on one-way streets, driving on the sidewalk, cutting people off because they won't let him through, etc.).

Once, dad cursed, "Diu lei gah sing!" Bro asked, "What's...'sing'?" To this day, I still don't know what "sing" means...but it sounds like the Cantonese version of "string."

2) Recently, mom was talking about her family members and then mentioned this "Ah Hua" lady, her cousin. Mom told me the lady is arrogant and always boasts about her wealth.

Dad cussed, "Ah Hua yow cheen meh? Gnaw yut tchui dum sei kuy, tai kuy zong yow mo cheen!" (She has money, huh. I'll see if she still has money when I smack her upside her head/deal her a deathblow).

杭州 Day 4-5

2008-09-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 12, 2008: 杭州 Day 4 - Errands Galore
中国 Day 4
Asia Day 4

• Dreamed that all of my family's valuable electronics got jacked. We devised a plan with the police to catch them jackers. We set up a nice, empty house full of televisions and such. Then, we caught the culprits when they busted into the house. Also had another dream that I hung out with Eduardo, who was drunk.

• Got up around 10. Chatted with friends and family.

• Lunch with Romain, Thomas, and Zicheng at a really close restaurant. Ate tofu, two types of veggies, and yummy orange-chicken-style meat, with rice.

• Met with Patricia, Michael, and Alice. Went over some make-up test procedures and looked over the textbooks. Toured Wenyi campus and the facilities.
• We were finding out where to get the microphones and keys to the classroom, and then Michael was asking the lady to help me a bit because I don't speak that much Chinese. The lady said that she deals with a lot of foreign teachers and they don't have to say a word, just sign their names. I thought it was funny so I chuckled and then explained to Patricia what that meant. Michael marveled, "Wah, that was pretty accurate!" I then asked, "How do you say 'Microphone' in Chinese?" "Mai Ke Feng," said Michael. "LOL." Then he said, "You can also say hua tong."

• Came back, chilled for a bit. Handyman came to fix the water heater. Michael came by to deliver an electric oven (cool!). I gave him a map of the U.S. and I talked about U.S. holidays, entertaining him. Then, I mopped the floor, even though he offered to help ^^. I told him, "Hard work builds character."
• After this handyman left, another one was called to fix my somewhat clogged toilet. Well, Michael came back to report the handyman's findings. He said, "He found a lot of toilet paper inside the toilet...next time, don't throw toilet paper into the toilet, throw it into the wastebasket." I was blushing from embarrassment. RAHHH!

• Went shopping with Patricia at Vanguard, bought about 90元 worth of snacks/cleaning supplies. When we came back, I heard a loud watery sound coming from my bathroom. The bathroom was raining...from the hot water heater.

• Called Michael, who got the handyman to come back to turn off the water heater. He shall return tomorrow. I was on the phone with Michael, who taught me a Chinese phrase about patience: "三人行必有我师。" This means that when three people are walking, there's one of them that can become your teacher (you can learn from anything if you have enough patience); this phrase is attributed to Confucius.

• Then, a cleaning lady came by and we had a Chinese convo. She said my Chinese is good, but I was like, "No!! It's not!" LOL. So we had a little chat...and she remarked how young I am and I was like, "Nah, you're young as well."

• At night, I was on the computer for a long-ass time. I finished some homework and chatted. Slept around midnight.

...

Saturday, September 13, 2008: 杭州 Day 5 - Baba Arrives!
中国 Day 5
Asia Day 5

• Dreamed about hanging out at baseball stadiums and seeing the stars and the milky way. It was so beautiful because the sky was lit up with the natural lights of the spectacular galaxy.

• I did some laundry. It was hilarious because the washing machine plays "Jingle Bells" when it starts to wash and just as the washing stops. Later, the handyman came by to fix the hot water heater. Now, 'tis in full working order :D :D.

• I was conversing with Michael about the hot water heater business and he spoke of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and how the typhoon is coming. He said, "You can add that to your resume: I survived a typhoon." Haha, I even survived a leaky bathroom and water heater leaking madness. Nothing really surprises me anymore, hah.

• Awesome Jazzy ambiance. Zicheng was playing some jazz on his saxophone, as I heard the sound of cars driving on rainy roads. I look outside my window and see the rain on the ground and a dreary, cloudy gray sky (now it's dark blue). I felt like I'm living downtown in an urban city (which I am), but it doesn't really feel like I'm in China. Really cool effect.

• Baba came today!!! Around 7pm, I heard his loud, notable voice outside of my window and I opened the window to shout, "Hey Baba, come to this building, I'm on the second floor!" Hahaha...and then he came forth and brought some gifts. New hair dryer, new phone, some medicine, and some mooncake. We played with the phone for a bit, and then went to the very front gate to find a cab.
• Inside the cab, he asked the driver where was the best place to eat. The driver said something to the effect of, "hell if I know"...well, it just seemed like he didn't know where anything good was.
• Whilst the cab stopped for a bit, I saw some guy just chillin' on the sidewalk. He was sitting in a straw chair, which was tilted; his feet were planted on a fire hydrant. He was just sitting there, wtf!
• So, we settled on a restaurant not too far from where I live. It was quite nice - nice decorations and colored washing towels (for wiping your hand, in place of napkins). After the waiter directed us to our seats, he set the table, when Baba complained it was too hot. We moved up a few seats, where there was a vent/air conditioning, when Baba said, "Eh?? There's water dripping from that vent." The waitress was like, "Er...there's no way that water can drip down..." when Baba said, "No, see, it dripped on my shirt. Oh, come look, there's water drops on the chair next to me. Sit on it and see..." Baba walked around the restaurant and the waiter subsequently directed us to another seat. It was near a vent, but not underneath one. Baba ordered a bunch of dishes: edamame, small fried/slightly sweet fish, vegetable soup (mushrooms, bok choy, bamboo shoots), a spicy/delicious fish with small bones, beef fiber (I don't know how to say it in English, but in Canto, "gnow gun") soup with white carrots, some bao with meat inside, two bowls of rice, and two 王老吉. I have to say...it was the best meal I've had yet! LOL. I ate a lot...wow. And...the best part was picking out the small bones from the delicious fish meat (okay, the meat itself was the best part, not the bones). Midway through our meal, Baba asked the waitress, "Er...why's it feel so hot? It's as if the vent wasn't working..." and the waitress was like, "Oh, one of our other guests thought it was too cold." So the waitress turned on the vent again. I thought this whole episode was hilarious. Baba is just hilarious.
• After this, we went to Vanguard (my third trip in a row). In the taxi, Baba was pointing out some strange restaurant names and he's like, "Hmm, this sound curious, doesn't it...do you know what they serve?" The cabbie was just like, "Eh, dunno." We also saw some workers taking down some canvas things in preparation for the typhoon, which is coming tonight/tomorrow. Bought pots, dish detergent, and other kitchen stuff. Came back to the apartment...and Baba is washing/cleaning the stuff (scrubbed the sink, wok; washed the floor) for me :/...ahhhhh, I feel like such a lazy arse :'(

杭州欢迎你 Day 0-3

2008-09-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 8, 2008 to Tuesday, September 9, 2008:
Flying from LAX to Beijing to Hangzhou

Monday, September 8, 2008: 杭州 Day 0

It’s 12:35am, less than one hour away from my flight time. Bored as hell, sitting in a seat at LAX.

• Before this boredom, I was reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” – would be great to finish this text before I landed. Even before this, I had an adrenaline rush that I could do naught about. I had a headache and kept drinking water…I suppose this is flight anxiety, although I’m really not that worried about anything – I had the “fight or flight” response for no reason. Basically, my family came to send me off to LAX; we checked my luggage in to Air China, to find that one large luggage was overweight – had to pay an extra $25 for that. Oh, the pain. Then, said luggage was x-rayed and I left the family. I teared up. Sadness. Got my carry-on stuff x-rayed and went to the gate.

• I boarded this flight and placed my largest carry-on in the overhead compartment about five seats behind me. I was a bit afraid because I was paranoid I couldn’t get the luggage into the carry-on space above, and once I got it in, I was afraid I had to abandon my other stuff in order to get this luggage again. It was somewhat irrational, but of course, I was flying alone. I was lucky, though, in that I sat in the exit row (I wanted to request an aisle seat, but forgot, so it was great that I didn’t have to bug people to get out). I tried to keep myself hydrated. Also, this is really bad, but the plane was taking off and I had to go REALLY BAD…but I waited it out a bit until they turned the “seatbelt” sign off.

• During the flight, I didn’t feel that tired (it was already about 1am and beyond), so I read some more. I was quite bored. The attendants served dinner (I chose chicken & noodles with chicken salad, fruit, and bread) and breakfast (I chose fish & rice with mixed veggies, salad, and coffee cake). The food was aight at best. The in-flight entertainment did not meet my expectations – ‘twas a movie projected onto a little television set or a larger screen (that I couldn’t see because I was sitting a bit far). Besides, I wasn’t really interested in the programming so I really just did two things – read and sleep. I slept maybe three hours at most.
Just before landing, I had this strange headache. I can’t quite describe it, except to say that the pain was concentrated at the front of my head, from the hairline down to the area near my temples. It was a burning pain that I couldn’t get rid of…no matter how hard I tried to go back to sleep. However, once I landed, I felt a bit better. Yet…I don’t think it was altitude-based pain.

…

Tuesday, September 9, 2008: 杭州 Day 1
中国 Day 1
Asia Day 1

• At Beijing's airport, I picked up my luggage (I am too damn polite – never asking for help, though I don’t really think I needed it) and waited in line for the transfers to start. I guess the airline officials were a bit lazy, because we got to the Beijing airport around 4:50am and the airline staff did not start arriving/checking us in until at least 6:00am. I was restless, yet tired, so I was pacing around like a madwoman for much of the time. After they checked us in, I went to the waiting area. I was still quite restless, but I lay my head down on the seat. I attempted to plug my laptop into the ground, in order to have power to play some games. I was so bored and tired. The plane delayed for about an hour; I was supposed to be flying by 8:00am at Beijing, but I ended up taking off around 9:00am. I slept for most of the trip (around 2 hours). Got to the Hangzhou airport and I was greeted by Michael. We left the airport and he took me to the new apartment. Quaint place. He introduced me to one of the fellow foreign teachers, Zicheng, and we three had lunch at this place that’s about a 15 minute walk from my apartment. Aww, Michael treated me to my first meal in China. Lol.

• It was really fun, I’m glad to say. I encouraged those two to speak Mandarin, so that I could gain more exposure, but they also talked about postmodernism and philosophical things in English. Even though my brain was slowly shutting down, I had fun listening. We got back and I met some more teachers – Vanessa, Jamie, Thomas, and even Jessica came over. It was fun to listen to them chat…I couldn’t offer much in conversation, since my brain continued to shut down. Later, Michael was running around fixing apartment problems; DANG, what a hard worker! Awesome. Should thank him later.

• Around 4pm or so, I left Vanessa’s apartment and returned to mine to somewhat unpack (as well as rearrange some furniture). I made my bed and organized stuff, but I’m not going to continue to unpack until I get some hangers. Oh, and internet wasn’t working, so I kept a Word-based document.

• ARGH, when I was trying to rearrange furniture, I ran into a problem. I was trying to take a set of four chairs and a table out of one of the bedrooms, but the table would not fit through the door. It boggles my mind how the movers of the furniture got the table inside the room in the first place.

• Around 7:00pm, I went with my co-workers to the urban area near Xihu, or West Lake. I couldn’t see much of the view there at first, as it was quite dark. We ate at a nice restaurant, family-style with the Lazy Susan. I saw the skill of some of the other foreign teachers. "Wo yao bing XueBi"..."Mei you bing de? WO BU YAO." LOL pfft.

• It was a great meal, 25 RMB a person. Afterwards, I walked around the area with Zicheng and Romain; Zicheng wanted to look at the tea shops, so we stopped at a few. Later, we walked around the lake and noted its tranquility. Spoke of Miyazaki movies, as well. Anyway…went back around 10pm. Ugh, I couldn’t get the water heater to work…so I took a cold shower. It was pretty refreshing, but it didn’t start out that way…since I was afraid of the cold. Well…here I go. Sleeptime for real (12 hour flight + 4 hour waiting + 2 hour flight + another 12 hours of hanging out with new co-workers = 30 hours of being awake – 3 hours of sleep on flight to Beijing - 2 hours of sleep on flight to Hangzhou = 25 hours of delirium?)

...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008: 杭州 Day 2: Uneventful
中国 Day 2
Asia Day 2

• I was a bit of a chicken today. I wanted to go out to explore the area near my apartment, but I ended up doing nothing.

• In the morning (7:30am or so), I was awoken by the sound of Bro's cell phone. After I checked Bro's phone, I determined that Bro's friend had called this phone. TWICE. UGH. Well, the roaming (more like international) fees were huge, so I didn't want to pick it up. I believe mom called once around the same timeframe. HRM. I went back to sleep about 30 minutes later and got up around noon.

• I browsed the Hangzhou Expat magazine that Romain got for us last night. It was informative and directed towards the expat customers (there was an ad for a massage, hah!). I also ate random stuff from the fridge (two apples, crackers, baked banana chips, bread) for lunch. My apple-peeling technique got a lot better, but the knife I used didn't really help me improve. As one can see, not much was done today. I even tried to read some more "7 Habits," but I only finished 10 pages. Same with "The World is Flat." Couldn't really concentrate because a talented, saxy man was practicing upstairs.

• A lady named Joy came by to drop off mooncake. MoooOoooOooncake. She works with Michael and became his proxy for today. She had a worker fix up the internet (yay, I can now go online and waste my time). She was also supposed to have him fix my heater, but that wasn't done yet. Thus...I had to take another brrrrr...cold shower. Those make me waste more water.

• I was waiting today for the stuff (fixings) to be done, but I could have gone out to see the town and shop around for stuff I needed. Haha...maybe another time.

• Around 7pm, I went to eat at a noodle restaurant with Romain and Jessica. Fun times, ah.

• Came back and showered. Brrr...I am so not used to cold showers, but it needs to be fixed soon, lol.

• I went online to chat with my cousins and got to webcam with my cousin in HK. I feel so awkward speaking Cantonese with relatives! The fact is, my Canto isn't that great and I really need to improve it. LOL, even my cousin was like, "the Canto you speak is really weird" in Cantonese. Anyway, I somehow communicated in written Chinese that I need my dad to call a certain number because I wouldn't be able to hang out tomorrow. Yes, Dad called my apartment and we chatted for a bit. He'll probably visit on Friday and we'll buy some stuff I need (if I don't buy it first). He even wants to bring me some mooncake or invite some of the head staff at this university to eat dinner. He even told me that one of the guys who work at the foreign office talked to him on the phone and told him that his "gwai lwei" (obedient gal, not weird gal) is safe and sound.

• Also learned a new term today: wai4 jiao1: 外教: gnoy gao. Not really a NEW term, but I guess I'll know how to say the other "foreign teachers" the next time I need to mention it.

...

Thursday, September 11, 2008: 杭州 Day 3 - Errands!
中国 Day 3
Asia Day 3

• I woke up around 7:45am to get ready for errands! YEAH.

• Well, we went to the police station first because one of our foreign teachers got in trouble with the law. HAH...kidding. We went there to let the po-po know of our existence. I had applied my 70 SPF sunscreen and I was SWEATIN' a TYPHOON. EW.

• Next, we each opened a bank account. It was 25元 total. Next, we stopped by a photo store so that we could print out photos. I didn't have my USB stick...so what I should have done was to just take the photos there on the spot (36元). However...I just decided to print my 2x2inch photos later.

• We came back for awhile to chill and then both me and Patricia went out again to take care of errands. Me, being that I have very little directional sense, went one direction and ended up just wandering around for an hour. I went into the deeper city area (it was a bit like Downtown San Diego) and more metropolitan. It was quite a cool place, but I was getting scared that I would get lost...deep, deep in the heart of Hangzhou (without a working phone, hahaha). Besides, I had to be back by 12:15pm to take the bus to the main campus of the university. I gave up looking for the photo store and came back to the East Gate of the campus.

• The bus came to pick up me, Michael, and Patricia, as well as a whole slew of teachers. Patricia and I had a wonderful conversation on the way, whilst Michael slept, ha ha. We went onto the main campus, which was huge, then transferred to the east campus. THEY HAD SO MANY AWESOME CLASSROOMS. Well, the classrooms were medium-sized, but they had so much audiovisual equipment. I'm excited, hahhh. Also, we had a teacher meeting with a few teachers and learned about expectations and such. Should be quite exciting. Whilst I was gone, one of the other tenants who lived above moi made sure my water heater got fixed. We left Xiasha East campus and waited for a taxi (for about 5 minutes), then Michael suggested we walk to a main intersection to find more taxis.

• We got to the main campus and went to see Michael's office. Very breezy! We chilled there for a bit, then Patricia and I went back to our campus. After this, I took a walk around the Hangzhou area (around the block) and I still couldn't find that photo store!!! BOOO.

• Not that long after, I went to the photo shop with Jessica and brought Vanessa along, but we split up soon after. I had to ask for help (because I couldn't read all of the Chinese there). Had dindin with Jessica.

• We chose a restaurant and then the waitress handed us menus. I couldn't read a LOT of the stuff on there, so I asked the gal what was really good. She turned over the menu and then pointed to this part that said "specialty dishes" (I thinky). Well, such dishes were a bit more expensive. Jessica pointed to one of the dishes at random and then kept saying, "对，对" (right, right) when the girl asked questions (even though she didn't know what the waitress was saying). I didn't know what the word next to "tofu" meant, so I asked her to describe the dish. She couldn't really say, so she had her boss come to take our order. Jessica's was easy, but the one I chose (the one with veggies and meat) looked appetizing, but then the guy just listed three types of vegetables that one could eat the dish with. I had never known of such a dish and didn't even know what the veggies were...so I just chose something else at random. LOL...I felt so bad for not knowing what to order. Later, Jessica ordered two bowls of rice. Dannng...her Chinese is pretty damn good!

• Anyway...funny incident. Some random Chinese lady called Jessica. The first time, Jessica picked up and made a funny look. After she put the phone down, I told her to tell the lady that she was an American and blahblahblah. About 3 minutes later, the lady called again. All I heard was, "喂？。。。什么？。。。什么？。。。我是外国人。。。我不会说汉语。" Translation: "Hello?...What?...What?...I'm a foreigner...I don't know how to speak Chinese (written form)." THAT WAS HILARIOUS. I was busting up laughing in the restaurant, which probably was a bit rude, wah. Oh, and I was recounting to Jessica how one of the teachers at the university called me a "laowai" (i.e. foreigner). It amused me so. Dinner was 12元.

• Afterwards, we went to Vanguard, which is a supermarket of sorts. It can be likened to Carrefour or Wal-Mart. ^^. Bought some essential things and then walked home with them in hand. Ooooh...during the checkout process, what happened? Some lil' old lady swiped a card for the both of us (needed a membership card or something). She was soo nice! Even the checkout lady was freakin' nice. (She asked if Jessica spoke Chinese...and I said, "She does...a little bit...and I do...a little bit." She was like, "How's your Chinese so accurate?" I told her I took some Chinese school ^^). AHhh...I spent ~126元 at Vanguard.

• After that, I mopped the mess on the floor and put a bucket under the dripping water (after I discovered it). Not soon after, I took a shower. Dad just called.

• ARGH...I'm soo annoyed about the leaking water. It reminds me of that LOST episode where the people had to keep pressing the button (every 115 minutes or so), or some unthinkable thing would happen. I already know what would happen if I didn't empty the water....splish splash! But it annoys me that if I don't do it...bad things will happen...grrr. Oooh...mom just called! Well, nighters!

Teach Jinglish!

2008-09-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this candid, informative, and hopefully amusing site.

As part of the Concordia University Irvine Master's of Arts, International Studies (MAIS) program, each of us are required to live and work in China for a multifaceted experience.

Back in August, I was hired as an English teacher for Hangzhou Dianzi University, which is located in the Zhejiang Province of China.

Here, in this journal, I chronicle the adventure of living in China to work, teach, and learn, from beginning to end.