Squat Toilets

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get onto Blogger in English, so here is my first post actually posted by me, in China, instead of by my loving and ever-patient Tom. (Thanks for everything, love.)

And now, I am proud to present: Squat Toilets.
Sit down for a sec, and let me tell you about squat toilets. You know how they say that you won't find any toilet paper in Asia? Well, that's not exactly true. There's plenty of toilet paper and tissues... in the grocery store. What people are thinking of when they say that are squat toilets. In homes, you'll find familiar Western-style toilets, but in public buildings, you'll most likely find this:




Basically, you have a stall and in that stall is a little porcelain furrow with a deeper hole at the front end. You squat over the furrow, do what you need to do, and then pull the handle on the water tank to flush. There is never any toilet paper. You quickly learn to carry a little packet of tissues with you if you are going out for the day. Also, if you do bring tissues with you, you must throw it into the wastebin. The plumbing can't handle paper! It's one of those things that makes it hard to forget how very different it is here, but also something that I almost enjoy for that exact reason! Sometimes I start to feel complacent and begin to forget that I'm on the other side of the world, but then there are tons of little things that remind me--hey, you're not in Jersey anymore, kid!

And that's a good thing. =)

Wednesday, July 28 - Everyday in Shanghai

[Editor's Note: Blame me. I got backed up a couple days.]

I've said before that Shanghai is weird and wonderful, and that some things seem oddly familiar, whereas others are entirely foreign. I decided I wanted to share some of those things that I come across in Shanghai every day that make me say that.

Fashionable ladies wearing high heels

Women in China seem to be super fashion conscious. Even when they are just wearing shorts and a t-shirt, girls in Shanghai are certain to wear jewelry and match their shoes to their outfit. And so many people wear heels! Even simple sandals are frequently elaborately decorated and heeled affairs.

Crazy bicyclists and even crazier motor bike riders

A huge number of people ride bikes in Shanghai and all major roads have a bike lane and a traffic pattern that has a light sequence that allows bikes to turn separately at major intersections. However, this doesn't stop many bikers from turning whenever and wherever they please and woe betide the lowly pedestrian who has the gall to cross when our light turns green! Shanghai is very noisy from traffic horns. Cars, buses, taxis; all use their horns freely and most ignore the frequent no-horn blowing signs. But the bikers are certainly the worst offenders of this. If you hear a little beep-beep horn, you are going to want to DIVE out of the way, because that guy is not going to care if he runs you over!

Street vendors have what you need

There are street vendors everywhere on the side streets, like the street that I live on. Some of them have little carts that they wheel into place, others have tables that they set up, still others have nothing more than a blanket that they spread on the ground to set out whatever they have to sell. And they sell everything! From books to DVDs to watermelon to pajamas to shoes, and a hundred other things as well, you can find just about ANYTHING from a street vendor. It's fun to browse, but I've found that they'll try and sell stuff to me at a higher price because I am so clearly not from around here.

My favorite street vendors, though, are the people selling food. One woman in particular is set up every day in the same spot; I pass her on my way to school. She makes this delicious breakfast wrap. It is like a crepe with an egg cooked inside, wrapped around big crunchy wonton noodles with scallions and a delicious brown sauce. Yum!

Spontaneous musical exercise

I think actually it is not spontaneous, because it is every night and there are usually the same women there, but every night in front of the bank down the street, the women of the 'hood gather to do some kind of '80s-inspired dance exercise. I don't think it is officially sponsored by anything, and anyone can join in: One woman with a boom box plays a CD and performs jazzercise moves on the steps and everyone else gathers on the sidewalk behind her, following along. Some of them sing along with the music, but most just dance. It lasts for about a half an hour, and then everyone breaks up and goes home.

Ubiquitous Umbrellas

People in Shanghai love umbrellas, they seem to be a fashion accessory that is nearly as important as cute shoes. Women will carry umbrellas around rain or shine and will frequently have the umbrella open even if there isn't a single cloud in the sky. Here's the secret (that is not at all a secret): They are protecting their skin from the sun because they do not want their skin to get dark, because dark skin is an indication that you are outside a lot and city girls don't want to look like country girls. In a weird way, modern China sometimes reminds me of Victorian England.

Road sweepers with homemade brooms

On my way to school each morning, I pass a number of sites that are becoming familiar, but one strikes me as quaint and fascinating no matter how many times I see it. Shanghai has street sweepers; they are older men who walk around with a wheeled bin, a dust pan with a long handle and a broom that is made of some kind of long, tough grass bound together by the stems. I'm not sure what kind of plant it is, but it tickles me to watch them sweeping up plastic cups and sandwich papers with a broom that looks like it could have come from 200-years ago.

Public washing and drying of clothes

I have my own washing machine in my apartment, but it seems like many people either don't, or don't care to use it. It is not uncommon to see someone on the street with a wide shallow bucket full of clothes and soapy water. It is so common, in fact, that there are instructions on how much washing powder to use for this mode of washing printed on the bag! Most of the people I see washing their clothes like this seem to be killing two birds with one stone, because they wash in front of their shops so they can keep one eye on the merchandise.

Whichever way they decide to do it, once they are done washing, the clothes need to dry. No one has a dryer in Shanghai. Clothes are hung up on lines to dry in the sun, usually. This is not unusual, people in the mid-west US do it too, but the strange thing is that people tend to string the line between two trees on the side of the road and then leave it there. No one watching it, no one tending to it, just shirts and pants and underwear hanging out to dry. The underpants are the weirdest part for me. Chinese tend to be really conservative in their conversation about anything intimate (one of my students called underwear "daily things") and yet they will flash the neighborhood without qualm when drying their clothes after a wash.
Like I said, Shanghai is weird and wonderful and these are just a sample of the sights and sounds of the city.

Sunday, July 25 - Rest Day

I have designated today as a day of rest! Oh wait, someone already did that. Well, either way, I need a break so I am going to take it easy today and give my poor feet a rest. I have no idea how to get rid of a blister, so I'm hoping that it will just go away if I give it a chance.

I also attempted to do my laundry for the first time today, which was an experiment because the labels are all in Chinese. I was able to recognize some of the symbols, like the one for water and the one for wash, but I couldn't figure out the others, and there is a dial whose purpose is entirely a mystery. But I pushed some buttons, put in some wash powder and hoped for the best. The clothes came out smelling clean and unharmed so it seemed to work out okay. Hurray me! I have managed to complete a totally menial task without catastrophe!

Saturday, July 24 - World Expo 2010

Today, Allan and I made plans to go to the Expo for the day, but when I called him this morning, he said he felt sick and was going to lie low for the day. I decided, the hell with it, I'm just going to go by myself.

I took the subway to one of the station stops that let you off near the Expo and found myself coming out from below with a fabulous view of the China Pavilion. It really is very impressive, but they only issue 30,000 tickets a day to get in. With hundreds of thousands of people wanting to get in each day, I knew I had no shot of getting a ticket, as late as it was (around 1) so I took a picture and moved on.

Near the China Pavilion is the Theme Pavilion, which holds several exhibits. There was no line for the Urbanian Pavilion, so I headed in to see what it was about. It was actually pretty nifty inside. The theme of the pavilion was "The People are the City." It follows the stories of six families in six different cities on six different continents. The exhibit takes a winding route through the families' home lives, statistics for home-ownership and water and sewage availability in each of the cities. In one room, it was completely dark except for six screens that had a day in the life videos playing for each of the families over and over again. The videos were edited so that things they all do--brushing their teeth, eating breakfast, cleaning house--were synced up.

The exhibit was really cool, but there was one creepy bit- the very first room introduces you to the people. They have a video playing for each family that shows each member of the family for a few seconds performing an everyday task, and then it'll freeze and a heads-up display like in the Iron Man suit in the movie will pop up telling you facts about them like name, age, and profession. That's the cool part. The creepy bit is that below the TV screen, they have the whole family as Madame Toussads-style wax figures. Very life-like.

After the Urbanian Pavilion, I wandered around until the sounds of singing caught my attention. All around the Expo are stages set up in the various squares. In the Citizen's Square, there was a group of singers and dancers giving performances. I took videos of a few of the groups, but I didn't want to drain my battery too much so early in the day so I mostly just watched.

The various performances were my favorite part of the Expo. They list all the day's performances in the Daily Expo newspaper that is printed each day, which you can pick up at newsstands or at the info desks for free. I actually didn't figure that out right away, but I managed to wander upon a few exhibitions just by chance.

One of these was a performance called "Island Symphony" that took place outside of the Singapore Pavilion. Inside a fountain, an interpretive dance/drum group performed this really cool futuristic dance. The best part, though, was that the dancers would periodically use the streams of water from the fountain to spray the crowd. Very refreshing!

All of the pavilions had really long lines, but the outsides of the pavilions are, for the most part, fascinating all on their own. There was so much to see that I didn't want to spend two hours on line to see the inside of any of them! If I go back, there were a few that caught my eye that seemed fun and worth the wait, but this first time I spent the whole 8 hours I was there simply wandering up and down the streets, gawking at the pavilions. I walked so much that I managed to give myself a wicked blister on the bottom of my left foot.

Some of my favorites were the Latvian Pavilions, which has thousands of plastic and metal squares hanging on wires around its outer walls, so it ripples in the wind. I also loved the look of the Thailand and Malaysian Pavilions, both of which were crafted to look like houses or temples. But the most fun Pavilion, in my opinion anyway, was probably the Netherlands Pavilion, which was constructed like a fun house and had a big sign on top that said "Happy Street." It is definitely on my list of Pavilions to visit if I go back again. The outside of the Poland Pavilion was what looked like intricate carvings and the UK pavilion looks like a giant koosh ball. They call it the Seed Pavilion. The Danish Pavilion has the statue of the Little Mermaid on display. I got a picture of her; you can see her from the outside (which is very cool of Denmark), but only from behind. If you want to see her face, you need to wait in the queue. A nifty idea came from the German Pavilion, where they had three canvas screens that were printed to look like brick walls, where people could leave graffiti commemorating their attendance. I left my name. ^_^ Possibly the cutest pavilion comes from Macao; it looks like a giant bunny with a tail that actually waves back and forth. I bought myself a set of magnets as a souvenir.

I bought myself a water bottle at one point, but I realized around 5pm that I was quite likely dehydrated because I started to feel light-headed. There was no line for the Pacific Pavilion, so I went in there to take a break in the air conditioning. Inside the Pacific Pavilion, each of the little teeny nations in the Pacific Islands had their own pavilion with giant pictures, national relics, and mannequins wearing the national dress.

I was amused to see a typo on the information board for the Republic of Tuvalu. The date of independence written in Chinese was 9 years off, which was especially embarrassing because the correct date was in English immediately below it. Someone had tried to correct the date by scribbling out the printed mistake and writing it in correctly using blue marker.

Another highlight of the Pacific Pavilion was the mannequins for Papau New Guinea: one, they were patently white people and two, the national dress for the men involved a particularly amusing highlighting of the genitalia. There were a lot of sniggering people taking pictures of and beside it. I, of course, joined in with the completely immature giggling and picture-taking.

My favorite part of the Pavilion was the giant billboard-sized pictures on the walls, which had traditional tales from a number of the nations printed on them. I love folk tales, so I spent a good chunk of time craning my neck to read the stories. I got a few strange looks, but after I read some of them, I noticed a few people copying me. I'm a trendsetter, I am!

After a very pleasant tour of the Pacific Islands in the blissfully air-conditioned Pacific Pavilion, I waited at the Pacific Stage outside to watch the drum and panpipe group that was going to be performing. I have no idea where they were from, because they were introduced in Chinese, but I took a picture of the drum leader standing next to the announcer for contrast. Chinese men are not very tall, and the drum leader was a whole head shorter than the announcer!

Around 6 pm, the sun was starting to go down and a breeze was kicking up, so the day became much more pleasant. I wandered my way back down to the other end of the park to wait for the musical fountain at 7:30.

The musical fountain is beside the Huangpu River, which runs through the Expo area, at the end of the Celebration Square. There are loudspeakers every 50 feet or so, that play orchestral music; the fountain goes off in time to the music. It's a very impressive display, considering the water jets extend for probably 150 feet along the water front. It felt very familiar to sit and watch the show. They have shallow stadium-style steps that were crowded with people. I felt a bit like I was at a fourth of July fireworks display back home. It was another one of those moments that made me feel both at home and very far away from home at the same time.

In the middle of Celebration Square is a very large, very shallow fountain. It has a neat design, there are no sides, it is simply a very gradual slope that only gets about 4 inches deep at the center. On all sides are drain slits so that if it rains, the over flow slips underground to be recycled. It acts as a huge reflecting pool, which creates a splendid photo-op at night. However, because it has no sides, people are constantly trying to walk into it. There are security guards that walk the edge, but even when they just watched a guard shoo someone else out of the water, they still step in! What is people's fascination with walking into the water?!

The Expo is completely lit up at night, and each of the Pavilions seems to try to outdo all the others for brilliance and cool factor. After the musical fountain show, I followed the elevated pedestrian walk back toward the west end of the Expo to see all the lights. My favorite by far was the Germany Pavilion, which basically turns into a giant discotech at night.

Right before I left for the night, a family noticed me trying to take a picture of myself with the China Pavilion and offered to take my picture. Then they wanted to take a picture with me, so now I also have a picture of me with a strange teenage girl in front of the Pavilion.

I left the Expo around 9 pm, exhausted but elated. It was a really good day and I barely saw a fraction of what is there. I didn't even see the whole of the outside of the Expo! I didn't get a chance to see anything on the east end in Zone A and I also didn't get over to the other side of the river to see Zones D or E. You could spend weeks at the Expo and not see everything. I've never been to an Expo before, but I am very satisfied with my first foray. Tickets are not that expensive, only 160 yuan (about $24) so it's likely that I may take another trip some afternoon after classes are done.

Friday, July 23 - Venturing into the city

Today after school, I made my first foray into the center of Shanghai. I bought myself a railway pass, which is very handy because it can also be used on the bus and in taxis, so I can make my way all around the city any way I please without needing to buy tickets constantly.

There is a railway station just around the corner from my residence, so I hoped on the 3 Line and rode it one stop. I think I might just ride the 3 Line for the hell of it at some point. The 3 Line is an elevated railway, so you get an amazing view of the city as you ride it. I changed trains to the 8 Line at Hongkou Stadium and went to the People's Square.

When I came out of the railway station, I felt a bit overwhelmed because of all the exits. Thankfully, there are English translations for the Chinese characters on the signs, but there were twenty different exits and I wasn't entirely sure where I wanted to go. I noticed an exit to take me to Nanjing Street, which is a major shopping street in Shanghai and my students had advised me to go there. So, I went out that exit and of course, immediately got lost. I had no idea how to find Nanjing road and the signs up on the street didn't have handy-dandy English translations. So, instead, I wandered down whatever street I was on and marveled at the buildings. Shanghai seems like a very modern city, but it has a lot of charm, too. Shanghai is one of those cities that has a nifty balance between ultra-sleek and old-fashioned. Eventually, in my wanderings, I found an entrance to the People's Park. The map said that there were gardens and waterfalls and ponds, so I figured this was as good a place as any to be lost. I headed in.

As I was walking, a man came up to me and asked "Excuse me, can I speak to you?" My first English Corner! The English Corner is a joke among the teachers at SISU. People wanting to practice their English will come up and "corner" foreigners and speak to them about anything and everything. His name is Chen En Ming and he followed me all around the park, asking me questions about where I am from, what America is like, and why I was in Shanghai. He seemed nice enough, but you always want to be cautious in a situation like that.

Mary warned me that most English Corners are simple enough--they really are just people wanting to practice their English with a native speaker. But sometimes, the person will be trying to scam you, so you should never go anyplace with them. Mary tells me that one of the most common scams is to invite a foreigner to tea, which sounds innocent enough, right? But by the time tea is done, the scammer will insist that you owe them X number of hundreds of yuan for the tea and they will badger you until you pay them.

Chen seems to have been one of the latter; we wound our way around the park and saw the lotus pond, which was pretty incredible. It had hundreds of lotus plants and Chen took my picture in front of the pond. In the middle of the park is the Museum of Contemporary Art. Right now, there is an exhibit from Singapore. I was interested in taking a look, but it was getting late and I had plans to meet Mary and Allan for dinner, so we made our way back toward the exit. We walked past the Children's Park, which had a bunch of carnival rides. Eventually, I found my way back to the exit by the rail station. I said good bye to Chen, and took the train back home.

This morning, Allan had read about a great seafood buffet in the Daily Expo newspaper. Mary, Allan and I took a taxi to the Four Points by Sheraton because it has a BOGO deal on Friday-Sunday nights. The taxi driver couldn't read the directions because they were in English, but he called the hotel, which was very good of him. The hotel was very nice, very Western. There were a LOT of young people there, strolling around in couples and dressed up. I guess Friday nights are date nights in China, too! The buffet was amazing. They had a whole spread of sushi and sashimi, and a whole other table of shrimp and crab and clams, mussels, and oysters. They also had hot soups and a made-to-order station where you could throw together whatever fish, meat, veggies, rice or noodles you wanted and the chef would cook it up for you.

My favorite part, though, was the dessert bar. Oh my god, sugar overload. I completely stuffed myself- probably ate more than I should have- but it was well worth the money. With the deal, the three of us only paid 100 yuan each. I checked my currency exchange app and it made me realize I made a math error in an earlier post. $1 is equal to about 7 yuan, not 14. I was thinking 100 yuan is equal to $14. Whoops! Still some really excellent prices here and $14 for a full spread buffet in a shnazzy hotel is a damn good deal.

When we had eaten so much we couldn't move anymore, we headed back out and flagged down a taxi for the drive home. This guy wasn't as nice as the last one though, we almost got cheated by the taxi driver. We looked like tourists, so he tried to take us way out of the way. Fortunately, we know the area and caught him at it. We made him turn off the meter and he turned around and took us straight back home once we called him on the bullshit. When he dropped us off in front of our residence, he said "Sorry, sorry". Mary quipped, "Yeah, sorry he got caught!" Lesson of the day: Make sure you watch the taxi meter!

Thursday, July 22 -- Story in the round

Today, I had my Level 2s practice by telling stories. Their homework assignment was to choose a favorite fairy tale and tell it in class today in English. Then, we made up our own story as a class by using the story in the round. (One person tells the first sentence of the story, the next person in the circle continues with the next sentence and so on). I copied down what my kids were saying as we went around the circle.
So, here is the story my Level 2 class and I came up with today in all its crazy, silly, wonderful glory:
Once upon a time, there was an old man. He lives in an old village. He has a lovely dog. He always sleep with his dog. He also has a son. He works on his farm every day. He plants some seeds, but they become frogs. His dog is very strong, he use his dog to catch animals. He wasn't worried about food, but the dog ate all his food! They have no choice so they kill the dog and eat it. Then he gets a cat. The cat help to catch mice. But the cat doesn't like to catch the frogs. He can't keep his house, it is bigger than it can be. He usually goes to town by horse. One day the old man's son takes him to town. They stay at a hotel. So they decide to buy a better dog. But they can't find a better one. Then a man found them and told them he could give them a dragon instead of a dog. The dragon is very terrible and it eats the old man and his son. They decide to try and escape the dragon. The old man's cat is very sad so it kills itself. A hunter saw it and decides to save the old man and his son. The old man and his son find the stomach and jump up and down in order to make pain and make him [bleh, gestures vomit]. The hunter uses his gun to kill the dragon. With his dying breath, the dragon vomits out the old man and his son. They are able to eat the dragon meat, but it is so much they can sell it to the village. The old man and his son get a lot of money. They buy another dragon. This dragon is the dead dragon's mother and she wants revenge. They keep her in a cage. But the dragon breaks out and eats the old man and his son. The dragon flies and lands on the sun, but it is too hot and the dragon dies. But the dragon makes cold air when it dies and the old man and his son are still alive. They decide to come back to the Earth. The old man and his son are sad to lose another dragon, so they bought a dinosaur. The old man's daughter appeared and told the old man and his son that the dinosaur is her friend. Actually, the dinosaur is very cute and the family rides on his back to travel the world. The dinosaur met another dinosaur. Meanwhile, back at his farm, the evil frogs are taking over the whole town! The dinosaurs fight the evil frogs. The dinosaurs are too big, he cannot watch the frogs so the frogs ran around the dinosaur's feet. The dinosaurs kill the frogs by stepping on them. They kill them all and there are no frogs left. The old man and his son are back home. They saw the dead cat and their farm. The old man's daughter was crying in the house. The old man saw his daughter turn into a cat and was very surprised. And the daughter felt very scared. Then, the old man's daughter finds a monster to catch the dinosaurs. The hunter appeared again and says the two dinosaurs are bad for people, he takes them and leaves the village. The two dinosaurs came to a forest and get married and have a baby dinosaur. The small dinosaur escapes from the forest. Because it is actually the old man's cat who has been reborn and remembers the old man's daughter and loves her. The small dinosaur wants to eat the old man. The old man says the small dinosaur can stay and be a pet. Many years later, the small dinosaur grew up to become a big dinosaur. The dinosaur flew away. After that, the old man was dead. The old man's daughter wanted to turn back to a person, she goes to see a witch and the witch says she must find the dinosaur and kill it. The old man's son became an old man. He is not common people and the world will be destroyed and only the old man's son can save it. The old man's son began to save the Earth and he things that it is very hard. But the old man's daughter isn't normal people either and she becomes a master; she plans the destruction of the world. The brother kills his sister and he was sad, but he is great. One day a plane crashes to earth and the brother dies. The end.
Great fun! (Bonus points if you can figure out which lines are mine. There are only 4, and one of them is "Once upon a time..." I have some very creative kids!)

Doing Tai Chi... while drinking Chai Tea.

[Editor's Note: I makes the posts, so I makes the titles!]

*****
Sunday 7/18 - Luxun Park

Down the street from my residence is an enormous park called Luxun (loo-shoon), named after a famous man from the late 19th, early 20th century. I'm not sure who he is, exactly. I should probably look it up. Especially considering that I paid respects at his grave, which is in the park itself!
Anyway, I got up early on Sunday, because Mary told me that I should go to the park and check it out because people (lots of people!) like to go there and do various activities. She was pretty vague- I think she wanted me to see for myself. And boy, what a sight!
The park itself is very beautiful, with winding paths and lots of trees and plants and a big lake in the middle. It is a very large park and one of those very pleasurable things to find in the middle of a city. I came in through the north entrance and immediately found the exercise grounds. They have all this gymnastic-style or weight-lifting-type equipment. Bars that are bolted into the ground. People were using them all and there were even lines for some of them. It seemed incredible to me because I've seen similar structures in the States and yet I have also never seen anybody actually using them.
Nearby were a group of women doing Tai Chi and another group doing some kind of fan dance. I also found other small groups or individuals all around the park doing yoga or slow deliberate martial arts movies off in little secluded groves or beside the lake in little clearings that seem to have been placed there for just that purpose.
I also found a group of people singing. Now, this was not a singing group. Oh no. This was no choir. There was an old woman with a pointer stick and a giant pad of chart paper with the words to probably a couple dozen songs, and a middle-aged woman with a cd player and a knowledge of conducting. And then there was a group of people. Singing.
Isn't that amazing? These people weren't practicing or performing or anything. People would wander in and out of the group as they pleased, but there was a group of probably thirty people that had gathered together on a sunny Sunday morning at the park, just to sing. It was fantastic! I took a video, and tried to hum along (because of course, I didn't know any of the words).
After a song or two I moved along to see what else I would find in this wacky, wonderful park.
I climbed up a rock wall and found a man with some kind of instrument. It was like a croquet mallet with a string, and he played it like a cello. I have NO idea what it was, but it sounded pretty. With him were a man and a woman with a portable loudspeaker and a couple of microphones. They were also singing. Again, they weren't performing, they weren't asking for money. They were just singing because that's what they like to do!
They weren't the only people with a microphone, either. Dotted all around the park every 20 meters or so was another person (usually a woman) with her very own loudspeaker, singing away to a crowd of people. Others would sometimes ask to take a turn and whoever was singing would relinquish her microphone and join the crowd. It was pretty noisy.
There were also groups of old men playing instruments together. Whole mini-orchestras with brass and woodwind and percussion all covered, just a group of old friends who came to the park to play together on Sunday.
As I made my way around the lake front, I also saw young couples out for a paddle boat ride, as well as a bunch of people flying kites. At one point, I found a big gazebo-type building that protected a small area of the lake so that it was like a pond. It had lily pads growing and bright orange and white fish. They couldn't have been koi fish because they were far too small, but they looked kind of like that. There was a little girl feeding the fish, and I asked (with gestures, of course) if I could take her picture and she got very excited. It was adorable.
I made my way all the way around the lake, and stopped off to pay my respects to Luxun himself, then headed back out into the city to see if I could find my way to my office and attempt to get on the Internet.
Of course I never found my office, but I did wander around my neighborhood and find my way back to the Carrefour. I also found a coffee shop that has Wi-Fi, so I think I might try my luck there and see if anyone can help me get around the blocks that China puts on all the social networking sites. (Including this blog, annoyingly enough. For now, my very patient and loving fiancée is posting them for me. Thank you, love!)
I found my way back home again, footsore (6 miles altogether!) but satisfied with a morning full of sights and experiences. Shanghai is both weird and wonderful.

*****
Monday, 7/19/10- First day of school!
Gosh, it feels weird to be writing that. Especially since, I am going to be writing it again come September! But this first day was one that I was really very nervous about because I had no idea what to expect. Luckily, despite some oddities, the classroom is still a familiar space and I think I am going to feel right at home.

This is my schedule for the week:
M T W R F
8:30-10:00 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2
10:15-11:45 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1 Speaking 2 OAV 1
13:00-14:30 English Corner 1-3 Lecture 1-3
18:00-19:30 English Corner (adult)
I wish I could write Chinese characters because I know the days of the week now! Except Saturday and Sunday. Shoot, I should learn those!
Anyway, I have Level 2 Speaking class, and Level 1 OAV, which stands for Oral-Audio-Visual. OAV has a focus that is geared heavily towards video, whereas Speaking is much similar to the language programs in United States high schools. At least, in terms of what the book offers.
Oo, I wonder if they will let me take the books home with me? Hm. Probably not. But it'd be nice!
Off track again, sorry! My Level 2 kids are wonderful. When they first came in I played the "Hello, my name is..." game with them. When I told Mary and Allan they were very uncertain and suggested that I only require them to remember the names of two students just before them. (for those not in the know, "Hello, my name is..." involves putting all the students in a circle and having them go around and introduce themselves and give one detail about them in turn. The twist is that before they introduce themselves, they say the name of each person that came before them.)
Since my class was relatively small (only 16 students) I had them say everyone's name and they all did pretty well. They were helping each other remember, and it forced the shy ones to speak loud enough for everyone to hear their name. I noticed a couple of kids already that seem really outgoing and fun. Lucy, or Yu Han, is very friendly and outgoing and Angus seems to like me a lot, so he was very helpful.
One student, Zhang Bo Yang, did not have an English name at the start of class. But the next activity I gave them was to look at the Unit descriptions in the book and pick ones that they wanted to work on. Since we won't have time to get through the whole book, I wanted to choose things that were most interesting and most likely to engage a majority of them. I figured the best way to do that was to ask them what they wanted to do, right?
Anyway, Zhang Bo Yang was flipping through the book and came across a picture of the original movie of Dracula. He told me he had decided on an English name. He wants to be called Alucard. I laughed out loud, I couldn't help it! I told him it was a great name and he announced it to the class. The problem is that Alucard is already pretty proficient and they may move him up to Level 3. I will miss him if he goes.
All of my students in Level 2 seem very nice. Some of them probably should be bumped down to Level 1, but I can tell they are going to be a fun group to work with.
My Level 1 students are also very sweet, but they are not at all proficient. Most of them are very low-level English proficient, at least in terms of speaking and listening. They seem to be a little bit better with reading and writing, although they don't like it.
Level 1 is also strange because of the age range. In Level 2, my students were between 13-16 mostly, with a couple of outliers. In Level 1 I have a whole range from 9-24 years of age. That makes for a pretty strange classroom and also makes it difficult to come up with topics of conversation that will interest or suit everyone's needs. It will be a challenge, for sure.
One student, Jimmy, is 18 and proficient enough that he might be able to move up to Level 2. I kind of want to keep him in my OAV class, though, because he seems to know how to work the projector and computer and it was nice having him around today! He was very helpful.
One thing that helps a lot is that all the students are very polite, although some of them have just as much trouble keeping away from their cell phones as American students do.
All in all, I'd say first day was a success. I will need to work tonight on structuring my OAV class a lot more than I was expecting. Also, I must remember to talk much, much slower!
At the end of each class, I asked all my students to write down one thing they liked about the class that day, and one thing they did not like or were confused about. Although all of them were far too polite to refer to it as a "dislike," almost everyone said that they hoped the teacher would talk slower next time. Curse my speedy Jerseyan style of speech!

China by Proxy

[Editor's Note: China blocks access to Blogger for some reason. Cathy has to e-mail her posts to her fiancee who will be posting them here as he receives them. There is a bit of a backlog, so they'll be posted here now. More to come.]

It took me a while to find Wi-Fi in Shanghai. There is none in my apartment building, which is kind of annoying. Also, China blocks every social networking site and because I am not computer savvy, I have yet to figure out how to get around it, but whatever, here we go!
After I posted my last blog, I waited for my plane from Incheon in Seoul to board and watched a couple of American children be obnoxious. It's really no wonder that people from other countries think Americans are rude. As travelers, we can be annoying.
The plane flight to Shanghai seemed to be no time at all compared to my flight to Korea. They fed us and cleared our dinner and by the time they came by with after dinner drinks and the duty free purchase cart, we had 20 minutes until we were to land.
I am kicking myself because I completely forgot to take a picture of my dinner. This was a good one too! I got pretty lucky with food options on the plane ride. Even though there was the standard chicken or beef options, there was always an option that was veg-friendly or could be converted into a veg-friendly option.
Dinner was rice with vegetable, shiitake mushroom and shrimp stir-fry. The side was bean curd with oriental dressing. Yes, you heard me. My side dish was a tub of tofu with a little packet of oriental dressing to pour over the top. It's probably a good thing Tom didn't come with me- for this plane ride, this was the only option. He would have to starve. ;) Although, I guess he would have been able to eat the little bread roll that came with it.
Dessert was flavored sticky rice. I think it was honey and nuts. I followed the lead of the Korean woman sitting next to me and ate it like a candy bar. Weird and fun!
When I arrived at Pu Dong Airport in Shanghai, I made it through immigration with no problem and went to pick up my bags. I was hoping to see a sign with my name on it, but there was none in evidence. I started to feel a little worried, but I shrugged it off and focused on getting my bags.
Once I had them, I looked around for Mr. Wang, who was supposed to be picking me up. I didn't see anyone. I stood around looking bemused for a few minutes. I had a cell phone number, but no phone. I had no idea how to use the Chinese pay phones and I was not at all certain what Wang looked like.
Luckily, I must have stood in one place long enough to get noticed and the man at the information desk called me over. He let me borrow his cell phone to call Wang. Turns out he was only about 10 minutes away, so I grabbed my bags and headed outside to wait for him. A police officer came over and stood near me. He didn't say anything, and he barely even looked at me, but I'm pretty sure he was making sure I didn't get kidnapped or something. I wish I had thought to thank him, but I was so zoned out at that point that I'm not sure I was even thinking at all.
Anyway, thanks Mr. Chinese Policeman!

Wang found me and got us both into a taxi to head over to the residence building. I feel asleep for most of the car ride, despite my best efforts, so I'm not sure how far it is to the airport from my building.
The cab dropped us off at the residence, Wang checked me in and then took me to my room. My room, by the way, is HUGE. But I think I'll save that for another post. Wang bid me good night and I unpacked my bags, took a shower, and then crashed out on my bed.
I have arrived in Shanghai!
*****
Friday, 7/16 - My room
When I first arrived on Thursday night, I explored my room a little and took some pictures of it.I am in room 1401. There is no elevator, but I guess that's good- lots of cardio!

When you come in the front door, there is a main hallway. Immediately to the left is my living room. Fully furnished- I've got a couch, a TV, a desk, coffee table, bookcase, and eating table.

Off to the right of the hallway is the kitchen and the bathroom. In my bathroom, I have my very own little washing machine. No dryer- everyone hangs their clothes out to dry.

Straight down the hallway is a small second bedroom that is not being used and off to the left and next to the living room is my bedroom. I have a twin bed that came with a sheet, blanket and pillow, a little dresser, bedside table drawers, and a closet.

On Thursday night when I arrived, the curtains were closed. Imagine my surprise when I opened the living room curtains to look outside and found my very own balcony!

Here is the view from my balcony. Not super stimulating, but it is my view and I like it just for that.

This place is enormous! Enough to fit four people, really and I have it all to myself. It is so much more than I was expecting. Tom could certainly have come to live with me if we had been able to afford the plane ticket.

So, now I'm here and I am EXHAUSTED.
*****
Friday, 7/16- Out and about in Shanghai
I woke up Friday morning around 6: 30. After I found my balcony, I had a candy bar for breakfast and watched some Chinese TV. Then I figured I ought to see if I could find some real food and ventured out onto the street.
I walked only a few hundred feet down my road when I was deterred by a rain that was to continue to vex me throughout the day. People seemed interested in me and I had a few call out hello in English and look excited when I answered back.
Back in my room, I watched some more TV and around 9:30, I got a call from Vicky, who is the young woman who works in the office at the University. She said we were meeting for lunch at 11 and that I should find Alan, the third teacher in his room because he would show me the way there.
I met Alan, who is a master manipulator. He's very nice, but he is always looking for the way that a situation can best benefit him. So far I've been lucky enough that the things that benefit him are also a benefit to me! Either way, we chatted for a bit and then headed out into the drizzly weather.
The walk to the University is only about 15 minutes, but on our way over the drizzle turned into a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR. We stopped and Alan brought an umbrella. We considered staying where we were until the rain let up, but we were already late so I decided we should just go.
When we finally got to the school, we were drenched, despite our umbrella. The rain had been blowing into our faces, so the front of my pants were a different color than the back. My shoes were squelching and I was sodden. They offered me tea and tissues and Alan delved into the boxes he had left behind last year and came up with a towel. One thing I've noticed is that everyone, without fail, is really very nice if you need some kind of assistance.
I was starving (the candy bar was hours ago, and the banana Alan gave me was wearing off too) but we couldn't find Mary, the other teacher! I had met her for dinner once in the States at the Ni's restaurant. She had come much earlier, but went on vacation for a week in another province. She was supposed to have arrived at the same time I did, but her plane did not come and she had not checked into the residence.
We finally discovered that he plane had in fact landed, but very late so, with no way to find out where she went after that, we went to lunch. It was still raining.
The restaurant was so cool! We got our own private room with a lazy susan in the middle. Wang ordered for all of us, and ordered a bunch of vegetarian things so that I could eat as well as everyone else. I even managed to say "I am vegetarian" in Mandarin! "Wo chi su." I know what the pinying looks like, but Mandarin has 5 different tones that I still have yet to get a handle on.
One thing that really amused me was that, when we sat down, Vicky sat in the chair next to me. Then she immediately got up and ushered one of the men into that seat instead, so that we would be boy-girl-boy. Ah, China.
Lunch was delicious and I tried my best not to break any rules of etiquette. Mary called during the appetizers and she got a taxi over to the restaurant. Turns out he plane had landed at 3:30 am, which meant that no one was on duty at the residence to check her in, so she went to the SISU hotel instead and spent the night there.
After lunch, we went back to the office. Again, still raining. They gave us our materials and schedule and office key. I have my very own desk in a little office I share with Mary and Alan!
Frankly, I feel a little overwhelmed by how not prepared I am. I wasn't sure what to bring, so I brought barely anything. Mary and Alan both have reams of material- all I've got is the books. I think I will have to download some music or TV episodes. I hope I can get my hands on enough stuff to make it worthwhile for my students.
They're not being graded, so the only thing that is motivating them to come is their own obligation to their selves and the money their parents paid for the course. Which isn't much motivation at all, frankly. From what I've heard, Chinese teenagers nowadays are awfully Westernized. So, hopefully, I can engage them enough that they will WANT to come to my classes.

*****
Friday, 7/16 - My day, part 2
After the meeting, Alan the Amazing Manipulator convinced Chen, another teacher, to load a bunch of his and Mary's stuff into his car and drive us back to the residence because, once again it was still raining. Alan called a taxi for the other half.
After we unloaded, Alan unpacked and loaned me a glass, a mug, a bowl, and some plastic utensils.
Then, since it was only drizzling and not a monsoon, Mary and I ventured out to do some grocery shopping. Food is so cheap here! 6-7 yuan is equal to 1 American dollar, so do the math on these and be amazed:
package of 10 eggs: 7 yuan
7 bananas: 4.55 yuan
package of noodle soup: 3.40 yuan
four pack of yogurt: 5 yuan
1.6 liter bottle of orange juice: 6 yuan
4 liter bottle of water: 4.60 yuan
It is no wonder they only gave us 100 yuan a day to live on. That is more than enough, even if you go out to eat. I saw a commercial for McDonald's breakfast on the TV and a sandwich+coffee combo is 6 yuan. That is less than 50 cents, people. I seriously feel like Ivana Trump here, folks. I am rich!
After putting my groceries away, I almost feel asleep, but I didn't want to give in to jet lag, so I went back down to Mary's room and we went out again. It is still drizzling, so the first thing we did was buy umbrellas from the guy outside the train station.
Then we stopped in at this DVD shop, which is exactly what is sounds like. It is a tiny shop that just has mounds and mounds of really cheap DVDs. And when I say cheap, I mean cheap. I bought the complete Season 2 and Season 3 of House for a total of 60 yuan. Once again, for you at home that is a grand total of about $4. For two seasons of House. OHMYGODSOCHEAP.
When we walked back past the train station, Mary went in and bought a refillable metro card. I'm thinking I should probably get myself one of those. It seems really handy and the metro, from what I have heard, is quick and can get me most anywhere I want to go. And even though taxis are also super cheap here, there are metro stations everywhere. If I get lost, I can just hop on and ride it back to my street.
After that we stopped at a bakery and I bought myself a pastry for dessert. They seem to be remarkably good at baking in China, everything looked and smelled delicious. When we left the pastry shop it was... you guessed it, still raining!
I have a feeling I am going to get a lot of use out of that 10 yuan umbrella I bought.
It was dark by the time we wended our way back to the residence, and I watched episodes of House until I fell asleep.

*******
Saturday, 7/17- A new day!
This morning was very cloudy, but no rain! It is very hot and muggy though, I am grateful for the air conditioner.Mary came around 11 and invited me out. She took me to Carrefour, which is the Western-style grocery store. It is enormous and is very much like a department store. Upstairs is everything from clothes and luggage to pots and pans to soap and detergent and everything in between. Downstairs is the food area. We bought some more necessities like laundry powder, dish towels and soap, and tissues for public toilets. (Wait till I tell you about the squat toilets
I also bought some more noodles and coffee and peanut butter.
Mary, Alan and I had a meeting today to discuss what we're going to be teaching. Yesterday they informed us that we are going to be teaching an additional class on Wednesday nights. It is for adults going abroad to work in English-speaking countries and it is optional for them. Because it wasn't in the original agreement, we are each getting an extra 200 yuan per session, which means an extra 800 yuan. Which, remember, is like a fortune around here!
I'm still nervous about teaching come Monday, but I am beginning to feel a bit more settled. I think. I hope.

First leg!

Well, it is 4:45 AM back home in the States, but I am in Seoul, Korea so it is 5:45 local time. Right now I am sitting at the gate, getting free Wi-Fi from a cafe upstairs. Thank goodness for free Wi-Fi!

The plane flight over here was one of the longest and most tedious experiences of my admittedly short life. I will say, though, that Korea Air gets two gigantic thumbs up from me. In a time where many airlines are starting to charge you for previously complimentary tiny cans of soda, Korea Air went out of their way to make the FOURTEEN HOUR plane flight as comfortable as possible.

Anyway, back to the beginning. I packed up most of my stuff on Tuesday night and woke up on Wednesday morning with my stomach starting to tie into knots. I called my mom to say goodbye, packed the rest of my things, had a cup of coffee and then Tom and I were off to the airport. I was worried about that, but JFK was surprisingly easy to navigate to.

I made Tom park the car and come in with me because I wasn't willing to let him go yet. I checked in and got my boarding pass. Tom and I had our tearful goodbye, and then the woman at the start of the security line informed me I needed to go check my bags first. So we checked my bags, had another teary good bye and then I headed through the gate.

I wandered my way through the airport until I found my gate and then I bought some lunch and listened to Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There, his travelogue about the time he backpacked around Europe. There was an older gentleman sitting across from me who looked over disapprovingly every time I ate a potato chip. I tried to crunch quietly.

Boarding was very orderly and efficient and we took off exactly on time, amazingly enough. There were two infants on board and when I saw them I gave a little internal groan. But apparently, Asian infants come with manners installed and the little things stayed nearly silent the whole trip!

The airplane was one of the mondo huge ones with three rows of three seats. My seat was 44D, in the center, but on the aisle, which was nice. I shared my row with a Japanese girl about my age and a friendly older woman who is from Thailand. The Thai woman was really nice and sparked up a conversation. Unfortunately, the Japanese girl sitting between us was less so--she wore one of those surgical masks the whole flight and huffily turned up the volume on her movie when we tried having a conversation across her.

Interestingly, everyone got their own little TV screen that had OH MAN so many options! They had literally dozens of movies to chose from to watch. Granted, half of them were weird things that they labeled as "Classics," that were entirely unfamiliar to me and Asian films that seemed like fun and I kind of wish I had watched instead of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Oh my god, you guys. That movie. So bad.... sooooooo bad. I think I will have to write a separate post to fully express just how bad that movie was. I did get to watch Date Night, though, which was expectedly hilarious and wonderful.

And oh man. The food! They started us off with the standard peanuts and soda-- and it was classic honey-roasted peanuts too! None of that wussy allergin-conscious cracker substitute crap. Delicious peanuts, mmmm. We also got a complimentary water bottle, which I appreciated.

Then came dinner. I had to take a picture of it, because I could barely believe it.

[I'll insert a photo later, when I have a chance to upload them from my camera]

Dinner was vegetables and rice that you were supposed to mix. I segregated out the meat that was in with the vegetables as best as I could. There was also miso soup that I don't think you were supposed to mix with the vegetables and rice. I sneaked a peak at the trays of the elderly Asian couple across the aisle every once in a while, to try and get an idea of the etiquette. I mixed the soup in anyway, and it was delicious, so whatever. It also came with this awesome Korean spicy red paste. Need to get me some of that for food at home. This side dish was pickles with some kind of red spice sprinkled on them and dessert was melon and pineapple.
AND they give you wine. For free! With dinner! Korea Air is bitchin', yo!

At some point over the Arctic, they gave us pork buns, which I accidentally started eating. First unintentional meat of the trip! I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of that. Oh well. I should probably look up how to say "no meat." *makes a mental note*

At noontime in Seoul, they fed us lunch, which was pasta with veggies in a cream sauce, some kind of delicious red cabbage-carrot-vinegar salad, bread, and carrot cake for dessert. Yum.

They also frequently came around with drinks and things like hot towels and the like. The flight attendants were all super-smiley, super-skinny women in green and white and tan. It was actually quite pleasant for a 14-hour stretch of time trapped in an airplane.

I would frequently switch back to the map that shows you where you are when movies were over or I got tired of my audio book. The map on this plane was weird, though- it not only showed you the names of major cities in the area, it also showed the location in the ocean of major sunken ships like the Titanic, or a ship called the Empress of Ireland which apparently sank in some bay in Canada in 1914.

All in all, not a bad start to the trip. Just one more short plane flight and I will be in Shanghai!

Testing, testing

Hello there, everyone! Or, at the moment at least, no one! This is my blog for travel things. I leave for China on the 14th (four days, omg!) and will be spending a whole month teaching conversational English to jr. and sr. high school students in Shanghai. I will also be attempting to cram as much traveling into that time as possible. Alright. Now that I finally have this baby all set up and pretty-ful, let's post my first entry!
Woo!