Shanghai Without Being Shanghaied

This past week of teaching went amazing! I was super worried about teaching my Monday class since the first time went so horribly but they were actually really good and one of my favorite classes to teach last week.
I taught about superstitions. Afterwards, I split them into girls and boys and had a debate. The girls were arguing that Big Foot was real and the boys were arguing that Big Foot was not real. At first it was really hard to get them to open up. I had to push them a lot. I found that if I threatened to make the losing team sing and dance they were more willing to talk. My favorite was when the girls lost one round and I made them sing Row Row Row Your Boat and made up some dance moves for them. I was laughing so hard, it was hilarious! At the merrily merrily merrily merrily part I had them go crazy and act...well you know...merry. I demonstrated it for them once and the whole class just went wild. All the girls were staring at me with expressions that said "You want me to do what?!" and the boys were dying of laughter.
My first class we had a lot of time left at the end so I decided to throw in the Loch Ness Monster. They did the same thing but I had them switch sides. This is where things got good. They understood better what was going on so they were able to participate better. In my first class the boys said they thought the Loch Ness Monster was a dinosaur. I thought that was really creative and gave them lots of points for it. But then in every single one of my classes the boys brought up Nessie being a dinosaur. I was kind of wondering if they coordinated that...Thursday night there was a huge election going on at my school so they moved my Thursday night class to Wednesday afternoon. That class was a hoot. One boy stood up and said "I know the Loch Ness Monster is real! I have seen him!" I gave him a funny look and said "Oh really? You've been to Scotland and seen Nessie?" He got this huge grin and said "Yes! He is right here!" He pointed at the boy sitting next to him and I started laughing. I started laughing even harder when the boy sitting next to him pulled his hood up and lunged at the other boy taking him down. Oh my goodness it was hilarious! I went up to the board and gave them 100 points. It wasn't exactly a logical reason and no one would believe that but it was funny! The girls started getting upset and yelling protests. Then one girl raised her hand and said "I had a dream. And in my dream I was told that Nessie is not real." Ah yes the prophetic dream! Well that one made me laugh too so I gave them 101 points! That class had a lot of fun with the lesson.
 In my first class I was only giving one point per reason (I learned that it was more fun to debate about how many points to pass out and they would get more into it). One of the girls gave a really good reason so I decided to give her two points. Well the boys did not like that. One of the boys stood up and started giving me what I thought was going to be a really good reason of why Big Foot was not real but he concluded by saying "And that is why the girls should not get two points." Needless to say I did not give the boys points for the reason. In one of my classes a boy stood up and started reading about the Loch Ness Monster out of one of his books. It was good so I gave him a couple points. Next time I came to the boy side he stood up looked around a little and showed me the book he had been reading out of. Turns out he wasn't reading out of his book but his smart phone. He'd looked up on the Internet about the Loch Ness Monster. He was showing me a picture he'd found online. One girl got up and said the picture might not be trustworthy because of photo shop and it wasn't a very good photo anyway. Then she proceeded to say that cell phones were not allowed in class and that if he pulled it out again she'd tell the teacher. Wasn't sure how to react to that so I decided to laugh and that got us through that awkward moment. :)
My last class would have been perfect had it not been for just one small tiny glitch. I use my computer during class (I make cute little power points). Normally the internet here you have to plug into. For some reason though I had one bar of internet. I noticed it before I started teaching but assumed it'd disappear and I'd be without internet again. We were debating about Big Foot when I heard that cute little ring that means someone is skyping you via video call. I turn around face the board to see that I'm getting a call from, Brian Austin. My whole class started laughing and going "Oooh! Who's Brian?!" I rejected the call quickly messaged him and said I was in class and told the class he's an English teacher in Nanjing. I was thinking later that I should have accepted the call and had Brian say hi. That would have been fun but I was so flustered and surprised about getting a call at all that it didn't occur to me.
 My last class did the best though. All my other classes I really had to pull answers out of them but this class did an actually debate! They would stand up without me coming to their side and saying "Why should I believe you and not them?" They got really indignant about it and actually had a good debate. I couldn't choose a winning side because they did so well! We ran out of time in that class and that hadn't happened before.
One of the American foods I miss the most is popcorn. Anyone who has ever lived with me or watched movies with me can tell you it's a staple of life for me. The other day I was at the store with Alyssa and we found popcorn that was labeled American style popcorn. We both got super excited and bought a bag. We popped it that night and ate it while watching Kung Fu Panda. I liked it but Alyssa thought it was disgusting (Still can' t decided why they thought it was American style). At first we thought that Alyssa had burned the popcorn because it was kind of that blackish brown burnt color. I tried a piece and discovered it wasn't burnt, it was chocolate. It was like kettle corn...kind of. I probably won't buy a ton of it but I enjoyed eating it (And I got to eat Alyssa's bag the next night because she hated it!!).
On Thursday morning a student at my school name Pine came into my office to give me a box of Dove chocolate. A really nice box of chocolate. Like the kind you would give your significant other on Valentines day (No, he is not suggesting anything that's just how the Chinese are). It had a bunch of different flavors. One was white chocolate with flecks of strawberry. Super good! Another boy gave Andy and I this green clove stuff that's a delicacy in China (When people say it's a delicacy that always makes me nervous). I haven't tried it yet but I'm planning on putting it in my porridge one of these mornings.
Friday I taught with Alyssa. Her last class was SO bad! We couldn't get anything done. That's the hard part about teaching younger kids. They dont' speak any English so when there isn't a Chinese teacher there things don't go so well. We always split them up into rows and give points to the quiet rows and take away points from the loud rows, they love competition here. One of the kids brought me up some paper snowflake thingys so I gave his row a point. Bad bad  bad idea. I was suddenly surrounded by little Chinese kids giving me little gifts. They brought all sorts of crazy stuff! Pencils, bookmarks, candy, a little cake it was ridiculous!

Friday afternoon Josh and I left for Shanghai. We took a bus to Zhenjiang and then took the train to Shanghai from there. We got tickets for the 7:09 bus to be safe and got there around 4:30. We ran over to the SG (The supermarket that's everywhere here) and grabbed some snacks for the train ride. We also found something really amazing there. A chocolate donut. It actually tasted like a donut. And the chocolate like chocolate. And it was only 1.80 yuan. Best 1.80 spent. We ran over to KFC for dinner. Josh decided it was too expensive (It was like 8 yuan which is a little more than a US dollar) and ran to the SG again so I was sitting by myself. I was looking around at all the other people when I saw a white guy sitting down. I never see white people I don't know so naturally I started staring at him. We made eye contact and he did a double take. We both laughed at ourselves for our behavior and he came and sat by me. He was from France, spoke pretty good English and he was living in China. His company moved him here in October. He was very nice though and it was interesting to talk to him. He doesn't like snails by the way. I asked.
The train ride was about 3 hours long. We took a K train. The trains here have letters. No letter is the slowest, then K, then D, then G. K was a lot cheaper so that's why we took it. We made it to our hostel around 11:30. We stayed in an 8 bed room. There were two other Chinese people in the same room (I was really surprised by this. I thought we would have seen more white people there). They had hot tap water at the hostel! It was amazing! I was sad I didn't bring a towel so I could wash my face. It would have been a nice change. The beds were really soft too! I got in bed thinking this would be a great night and then the Chinese man fell asleep and I realized I would not be sleeping that night. I can't even describe properly the snoring that went on that night. I'm amazed that he didn't wake himself up! It just wasn't natural. Josh was in the bunk under mine and during the night I leaned down planning on making some comment about this man. I didn't even have to say anything, as soon as I popped down Josh and I burst out laughing. The quiet kind of course!
The next morning Josh and I took a subway to East Nanjing Road, a huge road filled with shops of every kind. We met up with Katie, Brian, Alicyn, and Aaron (There wasn't room for all of us at the same hostel) and wandered around Shanghai for the rest of the day. We went to the Bund and wandered around for a couple hours. We also took a ferry across the river that was pretty fun. Alicyn really had to use the toilet but there weren't any so it was kind of a miserable trip for her. Of course we didn't make it any easier with our water jokes. It obviously was an emergency for her because the first toilet we found not only was a squatter but a trench squatter (All the squatters I've used flush). We found some touristy things to do but none of us felt like spending the money to do them. One was really cool though. It's like the Space Needle in Seattle but it was super cloudy so we wanted to wait and come when it was clear. We're going back for a conference at the end of March and flying out of Shanghai so we'll have other opportunities to go up there.

We did find something really exciting in Shanghai though. A seven eleven. We had to stop there and check it out. I bought a stuffed bun called maundu (I think that's how you spell it. Don't quote me on that). It was really good. Not sure what it was stuffed with  but as long as it tastes good who cares right?

One of the weirdest things for me about Shanghai was all the foreigners there. We must have seen 50 at least! And we all got so excited everytime. Obviously the foreigners we passed either lived in Shanghai so it wasn't a big deal for them or they were just tourists. The best part is when we saw a black man at a restaurant. You never see black people here. Ever.
That night I had one of the best dinners of my life. Pizza Hut. It is quite different from Pizza Huts anywhere else in the world, having pizza on the menu was basically an after thought. They have steak, chicken, beef, pastas, onion rings and lots of other things you would never think of going to Pizza Hut for. We ordered a stuffed crust pizza and thought we were just getting green peppers, olives, cheese and ham but it had mushrooms and corn on it as well. That's another strange thing about China. They put corn on pizza. Really strange but it was alright. I hadn't realized how much I missed cheese until that second in time. Oh man it was so good. It was just Brian, Aaron and I so we got 2 1/3 pieces each. There was a couple with a son who was probably 3 or 4 sitting next to us. They ordered these funny chicken things and got a mini pizza. Like what we'd consider a personal pizza in the US. They didn't finish the chicken and took more than half the pizza home as leftovers. The three of us on the other hand got the largest size and basically licked the plate clean of cheese. The weirdest thing happened after that. The pizza did not agree with my stomach and I felt a little protest going on. It didn't understand why I wasn't eating rice!

We spent the rest of the night on East Nanjing road and did some shopping. Josh got an awesome sweater (And by awesome I mean something you'd probably wear to an ugly sweater party) and while he was trying it on a Chinese teenage boy came up and asked the sales lady helping us where he could find the sweater. He ended up buying it in a different color and wearing it out of the store. It was hilarious.
Shanghai is so beautiful at night! Everything lights up and it's just amazing. We wandered around for a while until we froze and decided to head back. On the way back we found a little shop and bought some souvenirs. Josh and I just barely made it to the subway in time to catch the last one back to the hostel. Our hostel was right by the subway station which was very convenient.
Josh and I slept much better that night because we were both so exhausted from not sleeping and being on our feet all day long. The Chinese man was still snoring unnaturally but I was able to doze off for longer amounts of time.

The next morning Josh and I took the subway to meet our friends at where church was. They called and told us they'd texted us the wrong stop two stops after we'd passed the stop we should have gotten off at. So we had to transfer subways and managed to get to the right spot. We beat the others there so Josh and I wandered around the shops right outside the subway station. We found a bakery and decided to go in and find something for breakfast. We found it. A chocolate donut covered with chocolate shavings and powdered sugar for 3.50 yuan. Needless to say we bought those. Best purchase I'd made all morning. We meet up with the others and attempted to find church. That didn't go well. We ended up stopping at a desereted park and having a short devotional before heading back. Brian was super jealous about the donuts Josh and I ate so we stopped by the bakery again so they could get some stuff. I bought a bun that looked like a hot dog bun (Didn't taste a thing like a hot dog bun) that had whipped cream stuffed in the middle and fresh strawberries on top of that. It was delicious as well. Alicyn, Aaron, Josh and I decided to go straight to the railway station and head back. Brian and Katie stayed for the acrobat show at 7:30 that night. The last bus from Zhenjiang to Yangzhong leaves a 7:45 so obviously that wasn't an option for Josh and I.

The train ride was pretty uneventful and we were able to get bus tickets without a problem. I was honestly waiting for something to happen because nothing ever works out like that in China. We said goodbye to Alicyn and Aaron and went downstairs to catch our bus. We randomly ran into two other boys from China Horizons that teach in Yangzhou. The only thing I don't like about Yangzhong is how much it sounds like Yangzhou (Yangzhong is Yaong Joan and Yangzhou is Yaong Joe), everyone gets them confused. So we had a moment of panic where each of us thought we were going to the wrong city and I was thinking "Ah yes. I knew things were going too well." But we both bought tickets to the right city so our panic was for nothing. Carlos and Chasen told Josh and I that the church we were trying to find in Shanghai wasn't a ten minute walk like the Internet said but a ten minute taxi ride so we felt better about not being able to find that.
Josh and I made it home without a hitch. It was really strange because Shanghai was so beautiful and a lot of fun but I felt homesick. Not homesick for Utah but for Yangzhong. I was so excited because I'm finally used to my life here! It was a great feeling. That night I made cup of soup, cream of chicken, ate a roll I bought at the bakery in Shanghai and had some leftover strawberry oreos (My new favorite flavor of oreo) while watching the Little Mermaid. It was almost a fairly normal meal except I ate my soup out of a mug that says lovely bear all over it. Basically each week in China tops the last week in China.

Another Weekend Has Come And Gone

The rest of my classes went fantastically! I had three classes on Thursday and they all really seemed to enjoy the dice game. I learned that instead of going in a row if I randomly picked my students they listened better and seemed to laugh more, especially when I picked the people that were hiding behind the large stack of books on their desk. I went to my second class of the day and one of the other Chinese English teachers, Tom, met me there. He said "There are some headmasters that want to come and listen to your lesson if that's okay." It was not okay in the slightest but I obviously couldn't say that! I told him that was fine but I was only doing introductions so it wasn't very exciting. So I had three head people sitting at the back of the class room during my lesson. They seemed to enjoy the dice game just as much as the students. When they left they said thank you and that was all. So I assume that it went okay... Then in one of my other classes a boy stood up and said "I don't like any of the girls in my class." I enjoy embarrassing my students so I said, "But why? They are all so beautiful!" He looked at me, looked around the room, looked and me again and whispered in my ear "I do not think so." I busted up laughing and said "Oh sit down!" and went to my next victim. The rest of the class started asking what he said to me, as far as I know he didn't tell them.
I went to Alyssa's school after my classes finished up and took a shower. It was so warm and better yet she let me use her straightener after. It was wonderful. One of the teachers at the school called me and told me to get in a taxi and meet her to go shopping. So the four of us, Alyssa, Andy, Josh and me got in a taxi and went shopping with Ling and Joan, the gym teacher. They took us all over and I bought a hair elastic that all the Chinese girls wear that looks like a telephone cord and a purple blingy clip. They treated us to some kind of soup thing. You got to pick what you wanted and then they boiled everything. It was pretty good. I'm pretty sure I ended up with a seafood dumpling though and that wasn't good.
Friday was a fantastic day. I went and taught one class with Alyssa and Andy taught in Josh's class. One of the students in Alyssa's class gave me one of the miniature oranges they eat here. I love them, they are delicious. There was a group of kids in Alyssa's class that were acting out so I went over and stood next to them. One of the boys was using his pencil as a gun. I took it away from him and boy did he get mad. He looked up at me and started speaking Chinese. I was thinking "Go ahead. Curse me out in Chinese. I don't know what you're saying so it's not like I'm going to care!" After we went to get Josh and he was being attacked by all of his students. I pulled out my camera and they all go so excited! One of the boys came up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was adorable!

Andy and Alyssa were going to Zhenjiang that weekend so it would be just Josh and I. We went back to my school, said good bye to Andy and Alyssa and Josh and I were just starting to cycle back to his school so he could shower when I got a phone call from my friend Spring asking where I was. She said her and Apple were going to meet me at my dormitory in 10 minutes. Josh said he could hold off on the shower and we went back. They started playing exercise music and Josh and I went to watch. We were accosted by a bunch of Chinese girls all wanting to talk to us. The gym teacher, Joan, came over and said "You will run with them." I was super excited  because I haven't been able to run since I got to China (Except those times in Hong Kong when I was really late). We did two laps around the track across from the school. I have never heard so much laughing while I was running before. I wanted to laugh too though, it was funny seeing all these Chinese people running in their boots and heavy coats. I loved watching everyone smack their friends to get their attention as I ran past (The Chinese turned out to be not very good runners so I passed them a lot). Afterwards Josh and I were talking to our new friend Lily. I commented on her hair clip and she asked if I really liked it. When I told her yes I loved it she took it out of her hair and gave it to me. That was a shock. I protested of course but you also have to be conscious of the culture so I ended up taking it. We met Spring and Apple and headed back to my dormitory to find three other Chinese girls hanging out outside the door. The girls here love Josh, especially when they find out that he's only 18. Really they just go wild!
Everyone left for class and Josh and I headed back to his place so he could finally shower. Except we didn't make it that far because we ran into a group of Chinese boys who yelled at Josh to come play in broken English. They played for about 10 minutes and then told Josh to come play with them tomorrow at 3. I took a picture of the group and said, "Say cheese!" A Chinese man on the side told me after that everyone thinks I'm saying eggplant because the two words are very similiar.
We finally made it back to the school and Josh got his shower. The plan was to head back to my place and find a restaurant Andy and I had found that had waffles, we've all been craving waffles very badly, and then finish the night with a movie. The first part of that plan went through. We made it back to my place and headed out looking for the waffle joint. It had disappeared. Josh and I wandered the street and we were never able to find it. We finally decided to go into the restaurant that had some other people in it. It's easier to order when other people are there because you can just point at their dishes. The doors were closed and there weren't any handles so Josh kind of pried the doors apart. The table of people already there stopped eating and stared at us for a good 30 seconds before they started going off in Chinese. They proceeded to stare some more before leading us over to a buffet thingy and I used some broken Chinese to ask what the food was (Really I was pretty proud of myself for that moment). They put it in the microwave and then went back to their meal. After some talking Josh and I decided we interrupted a family meal and the doors were closed not to keep the warmth in but to keep people out. Yeah, that was great. We made it back to my place and ended the evening with "Meet the Robinsons".
The next day was seminormal. I did some cleaning, had breakfast, visited Josh etc. The real excitement came that night when I was hanging out with Spring and Apple. They came to my dormitory and took me to Apple's house (Spring lives at the school and Apple's family rents a house nearby the school). That was such a humbling experience. Her house was smaller than my dormitory. It had a very small kitchen, a tiny bathroom, Apple's room, her parents' room, and a tiny hallway with a sewing machine. They told me it was only so small because they are renting, they don't really live there. After eating dinner we went to a park and took tons of pictures and ate treats we bought at the supermarket. We went back to my dormitory and they taught me origami. At 11:30 I kicked them out and went to bed.

The next morning Spring came over and we went to get Josh (Apple has extra classes on Sunday) so he could come to Apple's house and learn how to make this food (It sounds like honda and I would probably spell it hunda but I'm not sure). It was filled with meat and green stuff and we wrapped it in rice paper. Then Apple's mom boiled it. It was so much fun and actually pretty easy to make. While we were there Apple's neighbors came over and took pictures of us making the food. That was exciting. Apple had another class and Spring was going home to shower so Josh and I crashed at my place and attempted to watch "Tangled" but I think we slept through most of it.

Later in the afternoon lots more Chinese girls (The boys are more shy so we  mostly see girls) came to visit. One girl talked to Josh about finding her a husband in the US. She is quite determined to marry an American, that's why she studies English so hard. It was pretty funny watching Josh try to tell her in a round about way that he couldn't really do that.
Dinner that night was at another English teacher's house, Cassy. Cassy is such an amazing woman! Spring, Apple, Summer, Josh, Andy and I all went to eat there. Cassy's husband was there for a little bit but he had a business dinner to go to. In China you only drink when you toast people. I kept forgetting and drank my drink whenever I was thirsty. So poor Cassy's husband kept toasting us. I'm sure he thought I was really dumb. :) I was brave enough to ask what one of the unidentified meats on the table was (After I'd eaten it naturally). Turned out to be pig foot. It was actually surprising good so I had another piece. The rest of the food was fairly normal, well by Chinese standards of course. Cassy sent us home with lots of treats and boiled eggs for breakfast. All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

Second Time's The Charm?

So, Monday was a bit of a bummer. I was feeling completely unqualified to teach and thinking it was going to be a long semester if I could never get the kids to listen to me! Tuesday was exactly what the doctor ordered. I didn't have any classes at the high school so I went to the primary school that my friend Alyssa teaches at. I went at around eight so I could use her shower. My hot water officially does not work. This means that I want to shower even less than I already am (That's on the verge of nasty by the way). Her hot water not only works but it is lovely. I almost cried when I got in it was just that hot. The bathroom was steamy and I could feel myself thaw. Oh it was so wonderful. I could go on all day but I'm sure no one else really cares. :)
Alyssa's first class was ages 5-6. I didn't count them but there were quite a few. It was bigger than a class in America. I'm sure there were around 50 kids. In China they learn English through cheesy dialogues. Yesterday we taught the dialogue "Hello! What is your name?" "Hi! My name is David." We went to each kid and said "Hello! What is your name?" They would then respond "Hi! My name is (insert their name here)." Some of the kids I went to I had to help pronounce the words. When it got to the part where they were supposed to say their name they would stare at me and wait for me to tell them what to say next. I tried saying mingzi (Chinese word for name) hoping they would get it but they just continued to stare at me with their big eyes. Then we sang a song. A really cheesy song. When class was over we said "Good bye!" and they all said "Good bye!" They came running up to the front of the class and each and every student wanted a hug. It was kind of like two marshmallows hugging each other, everyone had so many layers on! We taught one more class the same information and finished the day with a class of 5th graders. They were all 12. The Chinese have a different system of calculating age so they were probably closer to 11 than 12.
The school fed me lunch and it was very good. One of the dishes they brought out looked really questionable. I've adopted the habit of not asking what it is and make myself try everything so I ate it. It was delicious! It's called ear of tree and it's some sort of fungus. They love their fungus here!
We made Valentines for some of our friends too. We made one for Josh who teaches at the same school as Alyssa. It was super fun to put it in front of his door, knock and book it back to Alyssa's room. He made Valentines for Alyssa and me as well. I made Valentines for two of the teachers I share an office with and my friends Spring and Apple.

I had my first experience with a squatter on Tuesday, Alyssa's toilet is a squatter. It was super scary and a very strange sensation. I figured whenever we travel we'd be using a squatter most of the time so I ought to get some practice. I'm super glad I did, I feel much more prepared to travel now.

Alyssa's liaison, Orange, took us out to hot pot for Valentines Day. I've talked about hot pot before but I'm not sure that I called it hot pot when I did so I'll explain it again. They bring out a soup thing and you put lots of different foods in it, cook it and eat it. This time though, we had what Orange called a cold bowl first (It wasn't cold so I'm not sure I heard her right). It was filled with pork, shrimp (and not the cute shrimp you buy out of the freezer section at WalMart. I had no idea what shrimp actually looked like until I came to China), carrots, celery, cucumber (It didn't really taste like cucumber I think even my dad could have handled eating this cucumber), cauliflower, and these really really really delicious potatoes Orange called Chinese potatoes (Pretty sure they were sweet potatoes). Then we had noodles, beef, tofu meatballs, some sort of fungus, potatoes and tomatoes. During dinner a lady came into our room and passed out pink boxes of chocolate to all the girls in the room. Josh was the only guy that we came with so he was a little bummed that he was the only one that didn't get one. Orange brought her son Starlight (His Chinese name means starlight or something...) and he was super cute! He's 5 and he liked to talk a lot. Every sentence started with "Mama!" (I'm going to assume that no one needs me to translate that Chinese into English. It's fairly universal). At the end of the meal we had what Orange called a Pumpkin Cake but it was more like a small roll or a big puff. Those were delicious. Starlight came around the table and offered each of us one. Then he caught me starting to eat one of the chocolates that we had been given and he got really upset. Orange told us he was upset because it was too late to eat chocolate and it would be bad for my teeth. She whispered that he thought that because that's what she told him (Still not sure why she whispered. Starlight doesn't speak English). I ate it quickly why he wasn't looking but he saw his mom looking at the wrapper and got very mad at me. He asked his mom why we kept dropping things with our chopsticks and tried to show us how to use chopsticks properly. It was pretty sad that a 5 year old was trying to help us with our chopstick skills. :)
Later that night Spring and Apple met me at my office to give me my Valentine. Earlier I had mentioned that I really liked this awesome thing the Chinese have that you wear on your sleeves. You wear them when you cook, clean, or in my case teach so your sleeves don't get dirty. Both Spring and Apple bought me a pair of them. Apple bought me longer ones that are pink gingham and has a big blue bow on them. Spring's pair are the shorter ones and they are blue with purple hearts and sparkles. They also left me Milk Drink outside my door. It was the best drink ever! I also made plans to play with Spring and Apple on May 1st. I started laughing because that's so far in the future but it's one of the only days they off of school. Spring goes to school Monday through Saturday and Apple goes to school everyday of the week so there isn't much time to play. They start school at 6:50 and finish at 9:40. It's a little ridiculous.
Today I wore both pairs of sleeve protectors because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by picking just one pair. Spring and Apple laughed really hard when they saw them but the other teachers told me that I only need to wear one pair. I reassured them tomorrow I would only wear one pair.

I taught my second class today and it went SO much better than my first class. My favorite thing is when I walk into the class and they get so excited. I don't understand what they're saying but I can just imagine. "Ah! She's teaching our class!" "Look at white girl!" Really there is an audible gasp when I walk into the room. At the beginning they did the eye exercises again. During this time the class monitor walks around to make sure everyone is doing it correctly. I asked him what his name was, the class monitor has all the power in the class, and the whole class erupted in giggles. He couldn't answer me at first he was so excited. If I'd known just asking his name would be such a distraction I wouldn't have done it. I had made a power point and in my first class I couldn't get it working but today it worked. The class was so fascinated with the pictures I put on the power point. They loved the picture of my dog Horace (He's a Great Dane for those of you that don't know). I told them that when Horace stands up he is taller than me. They liked that. I also had a picture of my best friend on there. When they saw the picture I could hear all of them saying "She is so beautiful" and I told them "Yes, Whitney is very beautiful." That got the giggling again. Really this would be the best crowd for a white comedian. We played the same game as last time where they roll the dice and whatever number they get is how many things they have to tell me about themselves. That is always interesting. I brought my dad's nerdy Dungeon and Dragons dice so it has 12 sides. The whole class goes crazy when kids roll higher than an 8. One of the things a girl told me was she likes to make friends and she hopes that we can be friends. I said "I want to be friends with you too!" and she started blushing and hid her face in her hands. I left class today feeling like I could actually do this and that I wasn't a complete failure. Tomorrow I have 3 new classes to teach. I'm super excited and hope that they go like class today not Monday's class.
Four of the grade 3 students and one of the teachers I share an office with gave me a Chinese name today. In pinyin in is Ai Ling (Eye Ling). Ai is a beautiful flower that smells very good. It blooms in May. Ai also means love but the character in my name is the flower. Ling means woods. Trees are in woods and trees are green which is my family name, hence Ling. But the teacher added a character to it so instead of meaning wood Ling means Jade which is valued in Chinese culture. Many women have jade bracelets that they pass down from generation to generation. It is supposed to be very small for you so that you can't get it off until you are ready to pass it down to the next girl. Fun tradition right? :) Cassy, the teacher that was helping with my name, taught me how to write it in character. It's super hard because you have to do it in just the right order. But I drew one and she said it is very good and that I have a unique style. What I think she meant is it's obvious you're American and not Chinese.

Attempting a Normal Weekend in China

On Thursday Evan took Andy and I out to lunch. It was very good! They put a broth/soup thingy on a burner in the middle of the table and then Evan put in meat, tofu, green things, fungus, quail eggs and things that looked like little pieces of bread. It all cooked in the soup and then we dipped it in a funny sauce Evan made for us. It was really good and lots of fun!
Friday morning I was sitting in my office sending emails when two students came in and asked to talk to me. Their names are Spring and Apple and we have become very good friends since. They text me and want to do things with me. That's the nice part about teaching older students vs. little ones. After they left Andy and I went to catch the bus to Zhenjiang. I rode my bicycle and made it there long before Andy did. So I bought the ticket all by myself and figured out which bus to get on all by myself. It was actually very easy. All you have to say is Zhenjiang and hope that they nod instead of replying in Chinese. The ticket lady took my ticket and ripped it so I assumed I was in the right place. The bus ride was about an hour long (Which by China standards is very close). My friend Aaron was the one that was coming to pick me up because his classes ended the earliest. I texted him and told him I was standing by the WalMart. Andy left to catch a bus that was by his friend's and I wandered around the square by WalMart to wait. Katie texted me and said I was farther away than they thought and Alicyn was going to come and get me instead. A few minutes later Alicyn called and asked where I was in WalMart. That was when I became worried about getting picked up. I had been walking around long enough to realize this WalMart was under construction and there was no way I could be inside. There was slight panic and then Alicyn told me to meet her at KFC instead which was right by WalMart. It was as we were both standing outside different KFCs that we realized something had gone terribly wrong. It turns out there are two WalMarts in Zhenjiang. One that I was at which was under construction and one were Alicyn was at which was not under construction. Once we got everything worked out Katie was able to come and get me and we took a bus to her house. Total I spent 2 hours waiting at the station, next time we will know how  everything works and will be able to cut down on the time. :)
The conversations that we have are funny now. Our conversations revolved around hot water, how many times we've showered since coming to our cities, the horrible experience we had while showering, heaters, how many layers we wear during the day and night, where we've purchased the best layers and the price of them, and the fun we've had trying to communicate with people who don't share the same language. It was so comforting to talk to people who have the same frustrations and share the same sort of experiences with you. Side note: The most anyone had showered since coming to their city was twice. I know that if I were in America and didn't have to heat up my water for hours before even considering showering and that the bathroom had a heater in it so it wasn't an ice box I would think that it's disgusting how little we shower. But trust me, your perspective on personal hygiene change severely when showering isn't as easy as just turning a faucet.
That night I spent the night at Alicyn's house. Getting there was an adventure all its own. We caught a bus from Katie's house and accidentally got off on the wrong stop. We decided just to walk because we weren't that far. That wouldn't have been so bad except Alicyn took a wrong turn and we had to push our way through some bushes. Even that wouldn't have been so bad except it was super dark and I tripped over a root. And I went all the way down. Even THAT wasn't as bad as what happened next. I attempted to roll onto my side to get up and realized I couldn't move. My backpack was so heavy that I couldn't get up. I was able to roll onto my side but after that I just had to lay there completely helpless, just like a turtle (Actually we compare that to Chinese kids here. Their parents' bundle them up so good that their arms stick straight out and when they fall they can't get up either). Alicyn didn't even notice and kept walking so I had to yell to get her attention. I was worried that she wouldn't be able to help because she is very little. After lots of laughing and squirming I was able to get up and the rest of the walk home was uneventful.
On Saturday Alicyn's liaison, Ling, picked us up and took us to see a grandma of one of the student's in Alicyn's class. I guess on Thursday the grandma came over to Alicyn and felt how many layers she was wearing (People in China do that all the time. They feel your sleeve and then tell you to put on more layers). The grandma was not satisfied and said that she was going to give Alicyn some clothes on Saturday. So that's where we thought we were going. To get clothes for Alicyn. Neither of us brought our cameras because that's not really something to take pictures of. I still don't know how everything changed. We met the grandma at Jinshan National Park. She works there and was able to get us in for free. Can I tell you how mad I was that I didn't bring my camera? Basically it was a giant temple and sacred grounds. It was BEAUTIFUL! After we wandered around for an hour or so the grandma bought us noodles for lunch. Ling then took us to the Zhenjiang Museum and to a street that is 300 years old. It was amazing! Again, the no camera thing? Such a bummer.
We met up with the rest of the group at WalMart. It was not like any WalMart in America. The meat section? Live fish and live frogs and eel looking things...Really weird. While we were looking at the fish a Chinese man came up to my friend and I and told us we were fat. Just out of no where. The Chinese are very honest about those things. He was quite right, with all the layers I wear I do look fat. You just have to take things with a grain of salt in China.
That night we met up with Brad, he taught in China before in Zhenjiang so he was introducing us to his friends there. We went to a Muslim Chinese restaurant and it was delicious. Then we went to KTV (a Chinese version of karaoke). That was SO much fun. I was a little worried because that's not always my thing, especially with random other Chinese people. But it was a lot of fun!
On Sunday we went to Nanjing for church. We took a G train which is the fastest. It was 20 minutes to Nanjing and then a 5 minute subway ride. Church was held in a hotel, on the very bottom floor. It was very small but it was nice to be somewhere that was familiar to me. All of the China Horizons people in Nanjing came running up to me saying they had been so worried about me because I was supposed to be in Zhenjiang. We all got a good laugh about my experience, glad it was good for something! After church we went to visit the apartments that the others were living in. They were super nice, these Nanjing people are spoiled. They even have a dryer!
Getting back to Zhenjiang was an adventure. We got on a bus but we were worried that we wouldn't be able to figure out which stop it was. Alicyn speaks the most Chinese so she asked someone on the bus. She was told that this bus didn't go where we wanted to go. Aaron called Brad who started laughing and told us we were on the right  bus just going in the wrong direction. We got off on the next stop and ran across the street to the bus station. We just barely missed the bus and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. The three of us that were going back to Yangzhong were a little worried because we already bought bus tickets back at 6. We finally made it to the train station and bought tickets for the next train...at 6:10. Obviously we didn't make the bus. Luckily we ran into a Chinese friend that told us he would help us exchange the tickets. That was such a relief! We only had to pay half price instead of the 17 yuan it would have been to get new tickets. We finally made it back to Yangzhong safe and sound.
I thought all the excitement was over after that but it just kept going! I got a text from my friend Spring saying she wanted to come over a see my dormitory. She oohed and aahed over it and I shared some chocolate with her. Then she took me to her dormitory. It was a small room that had bunk beds lining the walls. Spring and her friend were the only ones living there but there were six bunk beds total. They had a stone floor and the heater was broken. It was a very humbling experience. Spring shared her favorite treat with me and I think it is my new favorite treat as well. It was a cookie of sorts. Quarter after eleven I finally decided I needed to go home. Spring insisted on walking me home because I forgot my umbrella. I tried to tell her that I had a hood so I didn't need an umbrella but she insisted that an umbrella is better. They are all so nice here! It's really ironic that they are not a Christian nation because they are the most Christ like people I know. I love being here with them and hope that some of it will rub off on me! :)

Lantern Festival

In China right now it is the Spring Festival (Although I don't really understand why they call it the Spring Festival because it doesn't feel like spring to me!). They set off fireworks all the time and many businesses  have been closed because of it. On Monday night Oliver took us to the Lantern Festival. One of the other teacher's, I think her name is Cathy, was telling us about it but I thought she was saying Latin instead of Lantern. I was much relieved to find out that they were not hanging Latins in the streets but Lanterns. We rushed over in Oliver's car (which I love by the way because the back seat has pillows and it looks just like a couch) and found out that it was cancelled because of the weather. We sent off some lanterns anyway and made a new friend named Janet. She wants to have Andy and I over for dinner one night!
The next day a boy named Evan met us at the school and took us to the Lantern Festival. Evan graduated from Yangzhong Senior High School 3 years ago. He is on break from school and wanted to practice his English. He was a very nice boy. When we got a taxi he made sure to open the door for me first. Of course when I slid in the taxi I slide right into another Chinese lady. That was an awkward moment. Good thing Evan was there because Andy and I don't speak very good Chinese. At the Lantern Festival the three of us sent off more lanterns. Let me tell, it is not as easy as it looks in Tangled. In fact it is very difficult. The first night I sent my lantern flying right into a group of people. The next night I had better luck and I even remembered to make a wish! Evan's lantern went off without a hitch but Andy's went flying into a bush.

After setting off lanterns we went to watch the dragon show. I was so excited to see a dragon! And they have so many! There was a huge row of them all dancing. There was a stage off on one side and we watched some Chinese Acrobats. That was amazing! There was a boy and a girl and sometimes it made my body hurt just watching them. At one point the girl had her hand rested on the boy's head and the rest of her body was in the air! We were too far to take any pictures.
It was so cold that night and we had a hard time finding a taxi back because everyone in Yangzhong wanted a taxi. I was so cold I couldn't really talk because my lips were frozen. We finally got a taxi and made it back home. Let me just tell you how many layers I wore to bed last night. I began with long john top and bottoms. Then I put on regular socks and tucked the long john bottoms into that. Then I put on fleece pajamas. Next I put on wool socks and tucked the fleece pajamas into those socks. I finished the bottom half of me by putting on my BYU sweats. For the top I put on a t-shirt I normally wear to bed and then a jacket. Then I quickly brushed my teeth while standing under the heater. I then proceeded to run to my bed wrap myself up in the quilt my mom made (The first night I didn't do that but every time I rolled over I had to reheat the bed and froze in the process. With the blanket on me it was always toasty) got in bed. I have two big quilts because there were two beds in my room so I stole the other one off the extra  bed. I pull those up under my chin, pull my mom's quilt over my head so that doesn't get cold and then try to get warm. After a few minutes it was so nice and toasty. I think that was the warmest I'd ever been since leaving Shenzhen. I plan on doing that again tonight.

Hong Kong to Shenzhen to Nanjing to Zhenjiang to Yangzhong

Hong Kong is beautiful! It was so warm there! I was starting to wonder why I brought all my winter gear because I did not use any of it in Hong Kong or Shenzhen. The first full day we went to the Hong Kong temple which was right across the street from where we were staying. That was a lot of fun. They did the ordinance in English but they were Chinese names. That was the first place I learned that the Chinese are very open about themselves. I was in the bathroom changing (They don't have stalls or anything) and when I walked out there was a completely naked Chinese lady right in front of me. I think I was able to wipe the shock off my face pretty quick. It was pretty scary at first. After the temple we rode the Victoria Peak Tram. The view at the top was beautiful! It looked out over Hong Kong. It was very smoggy but pretty too.
 The next day we went to a Chinese LDS Ward. It was in Chinese naturally so we got funny headphone things and one of the sisters in the ward translated for us. After that we went to see a giant Big Buddha. It was foggy there so none of my pictures really turned out. The fog cleared as we were leaving naturally. There was a monastery there. I was standing next to a funny looking statue making fun of it's face and getting my picture taken when a Chinese lady came up and starting worshipping the statue. That was awkward. After that we had a group dinner. We were supposed to have dumplings but the place was closed down. So we ended up at this place that served noodles. All of agreed that it didn't taste super good. That was my first encounter with hot water. The Chinese think that if  you feel cold you will get a cold so they serve water hot. It was nasty.
We were staying at temple housing so there were other LDS Chinese people staying there with us. One night they were all out talking. I came out because I knew some people were playing games but I opened my door stepped out and there was a semi circle of Chinese people staring at me. Carlos (He is in our group and speaks Chinese) introduced me and they all told me how beautiful I was (China is such a self esteem boost!). One of the Chinese women braided my hair for me. She was running her fingers through it and said something in Chinese. All of a sudden all the Chinese people came over and started rubbing my hair. I have no idea what she said about my hair but I hope it was good!
On Monday we went to see 13,000 Buddhas. And there really were 13,000 Buddhas there. They were very funny looking and none of them were the same. They had little temple like thingies that we went into. And then got kicked out of because Jacob (The director of the program I went to China with) decided to open the cases that contained the ashes of their ancestors. It was great. Then we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. It was fascinating. I learned so much that they don't teach in history classes. After that we went on a Star Ferry Ride. I had just eaten pizza (the first really greasy thing I've eaten since leaving the states) and had to run back to the meeting place because we were late (I ran into a Chinese man's bag and he started cursing at me in Chinese. Good thing I don't speak that!) so bouncing around on a boat did nothing to help my poor stomach. We finished that night's activities with the Star Symphony Laser Show. The buildings across the river all lit up in time to music. It was actually pretty awesome.
We took the Subway to Shenzhen. That was fun. Almost 30 people with all their luggage on an already packed subway? Talk about crowded. Shenzhen did nothing to help me realize why we brought winter clothes. But it's still very south and close to Hong Kong. Our hotel was super nice. Super nice even for US standards. I shared a room with my really good friend Alicyn. We were best friends within 5 minutes of meeting each other. We practiced language on the streets of Shenzhen for the rest of the afternoon and caught up with the whole group for dinner later. That was an experience. So far my food had been normal. Mostly noodles (I swear they eat more noodles than rice here crazy right?) But that night was not normal. They brought out a chicken dish. It looked like they plucked, cooked, chopped, chilled, and served. It had all the inner parts of a chicken still in it. And it was cold to top it off. That scared me at first. I didn't really like that one. Then they brought out another dish. I put some on my plate but then Alicyn began shrieking that it had a sucker and must be an octopus so I put it on Aaron's plate. But then we found out it was eggplant so I ate it. Found out I like eggplant. Never liked it in the States. Then they served duck the same way as chicken except hot. I liked that much better. Alicyn got the spine and she didn't like looking at it so she decided the next best place to put it was my plate. So I looked like a pig that night.
The next two days was filled with training and eating lots of noodles. I also discovered my celebrity status. I love being a celebrity! I have so many people that point and stare and take my picture. One time I was buying a Coke at the grocery store (Coke is so good here. When ever my tummy feels icky I drink some and feel much better) and some girls started taking our picture. After we checked out she got a picture with us. My favorite though was when we were at a street market. We were sitting down in the middle of the market because they found out my friend speaks Chinese. All of a sudden this random girl came up and started pantomiming picture. She dragged us over to where there was good light and began taking fifty million pictures of us. Aaron and Alicyn were able to piece together charades and actual Chinese and had her come be in the picture with us. Her friend then took fifty million pictures of us.
We flew from Shenzhen to Nanjing the next morning. Chinese flights are much better than American flights. It was only two hours but they served us lunch and gave us drinks that had more liquid than ice. Our liaison Becky (Her English name) picked all of us going to Zhenjiang and Yangzhong up at the airport. At the time I thought I was going to Zhenjiang but Jacob told me that that morning he had found out the high school in Yangzhong decided they wanted a female teacher instead of a male teacher and switched me and the male they had. That was exciting. Jacob fought as hard as he could but they would not give in. I was so scared. I didn't know anyone there and the only other English teacher at my school was a Scottish man name Andy who almost had a heart attack when he found out there are no bars in Yangzhong (Talk about living up to Scottish standards). He is actually very nice and we get along very well. As I was typing this he told me to throw in that he is awesome. They also have big heads in Scotland I guess. The school wasn't ready for us so I spent three nights in a hotel that would be considered shabby in the US but was a good hotel by Chinese standards.
The good thing that has come out of this switch is the bargaining that Jacob was able to do for me. Because I was willing to stay the school bought me a bicycle. It is so much better than my bicycle in the states. The seat is big, it has a basket in the front, and it has a bell. In China they use their car horns and bike bells to tell you that they are there. So people honk a lot here. The other thing is I have four day work weeks so I can go stay with Alicyn in Zhenjiang every weekend. And I am getting 250 yuan extra a week for travelling money. Awesome right? So now I basically get two cities. I was so scared when I found out I wasn't going to be with my friend Alicyn but I know there is a reason for me to be in Yangzhong.