Ode to a Broken Leg

You may be wondering why I haven’t updated my blog since I got back from Laobodia. “You’re living in China,” you might think. “You interact with people from around the world on a daily basis. You teach high school. How are you not drowning in stories?”

The current response to this is “Well, I’ve been on goddamn crutches the past six weeks.” On February 9th I completely snapped my fibula, and the day after I went to the hospital, shuffling from station to station, doctor to doctor, for them to tell me that yes, I had a broken fibula, and then they stuck me on a cast from my toes up to my thigh. It wasn’t the being on crutches necessarily that got me down; once I got used to the upper-body workout, it really wasn’t that bad. The worst part was just the helplessness; I couldn’t carry things, I couldn’t open doors, it took me at least twice as long to get to places. Anyone who knows me can agree that I hate asking for favors, I hate being dependent on people, and I hate being taken care of. So having all of these traits thrust on me all of a sudden, with people that I love but I still feel like I shouldn’t be asking favors from in a country I’m still relatively unfamiliar with, was killer. I spent way too much time just hermitting in my office or my dorm.

I did learn a lot, though. I learned patience. You’d think that I’d have enough patience lessons, what with teaching low-level English students, but apparently I needed more. I got some great arms now, and I lost a little bit of weight, since I wasn’t eating as much. I learned a little bit of communication, but I’m still bad at asking for things that I need. And I had a couple of moments of breakdowns where I freaked out my coworkers by bursting into tears or sulked for a day over something seemingly silly, more apologies. I also learned to not get my hopes up too much; the doctor initially said I should get my cast off at four weeks, then told me then it would be another two weeks, so I need to remember to take things with a grain of caution.

With my free leg, I have to say that I appreciate things a lot more. When my doctor cut off my cast, I could hear angels singing in the background. His orders: “Go slow; if it hurts, stop.” So I’ve been slowly walking, I got on my bike and it actually hurts less than walking, and I can go up and down the stairs pretty quickly, though I still can’t bend my leg while putting weight on it. I’m not sure if that’s physical or psychological, since that’s how I finally snapped the thing. But I’m going to start on bike rides, yoga, etc. Simple things until I go back to the doctor next month for a follow-up x-ray. I don’t think I could run or do kick-boxing yet, though. I still get jabs of pain when I land the wrong way getting off a bus or get a bit of uneven pavement walking. It’s a slow recovery, but it’s a recovery.

In happier news, spring has arrived! With the sunlight, the flowers, and my new-found freedom, I feel like happiness has just vomited all over my life. As I write I look out the window and I see a tree full of beautiful white flowers, fresh green leaves gently falling into the lake, and sunlight filtering its way through the smog. I’m wearing a short-sleeve shirt today, appropriate for the weather in the seventies (lower twenties for you Celsius people). I keep my window in my dorm open during the day, letting in the first fresh air in months. It’s the perfect weather to find any excuse to go outside with my classes. Which is both a terrible tease and a savior, since this is our seven-day workweek before we have a vacation. Thanks, China.

So I’m going to “real China” on Sunday, visiting a friend’s hometown up north by Shenyang. I’m sure that’ll be an experience. Then at the end of April, a whole big group of us (something like eight people) are going to Chengdu, land of parties and PANDAS! I’m excited. It’ll be a good way to relax, explore a new city, cuddle a panda… No biggie. Then hopefully May will hold visitors and perhaps a weekend trip to Nanjing and/or Xi’an… then June will be here before we know it. Looking into a couple of possible trips after school is out, hopefully involving beaches. (Gentle workouts planned in preparation for these beaches.) Then home for a month! Not gonna lie, I’m pretty excited for life right now. I feel like my six weeks of inconvenience has gotten all my bad karma out of the way for a while, and I’m excited for a smooth ride from here on out.

Sitting on a Bus (And Other Stuff)

The word “home” is such an interesting word. I’ve met people who refuse to call anything other than the place they grew up “home.” I’ve seen others that say something along the lines of “home is where your rump rests.” After nearly three weeks trekking through jungles, forests, and oceans, however, I realized as I was speeding through a taxi at five in the morning that Shanghai has become “home” for me. The brightly lit skyscrapers, the loud arguments in a restaurant over who pays the bill, the gentle lanes of the French concession, and the roaring flow of all sorts of vehicles have become where I’m comfortable and relaxed.

Yet as I hear constant explosions from fireworks in a break from the rain, I’m sure that my reminiscence of a home aren’t really what people are expecting. I’ve been back in Shanghai for five days now, enough time to get back to work, go see a couple of favourite sights, and be thoroughly sick of people asking about why I’m limping. Eighteen days of vacation in Lao and Cambodia have taught me quite a lot about nature, war, and the nature of people. I loved every second of it, except maybe the moment I landed in the water after hurting my leg, yelling expletives at tropical fish. I’ll try and keep the summarization brief, but I make no promises.

We started off in Lao. We flew into the capital, Vientiane, which has been constantly described as a sleepy city. “City” is an extreme overstatement… I don’t recall seeing a street that was more than one lane in each direction, and it was more often than not that the streets weren’t paved (or if they were, very badly). We saw the Giant Golden Temple (AKA Pha That Luang), drove around the city a bit in our tuk-tuk, had the most delicious meal of my life, then moved on. We took a night-bus to Luang Prabang in the north, clocking in at about 14 hours due to a blown tire. The sun rose to show us a glimpse of the misty mountains covering that tiny town, one of the more majestic scenes I’ve ever seen.

Luang Prabang was a wonderful little town, filled to the brim with monks, friendly locals, and backpackers. We spent two days here, which was nowhere near enough but sufficient to solidify my love for this lazy country. We wandered around to see all the magnificent temples, climbed hills, admired the river, and ate more delicious Lao food. The second day we went on an exciting tour to ride some elephants (no big deal), then see the breathtaking 50m Kuang Si Falls and swim in the turquoise pools (as well as swing in on a rope!). That night we tried Laolao, their national alcohol. I do not recommend it.

Our next stop was Vang Vieng, described beforehand as a backpacker’s haven. In arriving, the existence of this little town greatly puzzled me. In the middle of a heavily Buddhist country is this tiny street or two filled with bars showing Family Guy or Friends, hosting backpackers who are drunk or on some sort of mind-altering substance. They’re walking around in their bikinis or swim trunks, contrasting the few locals wearing clothes that completely cover their arms and legs, despite the heat. Despite all of this, it was a relaxing three-day stop to enjoy the views, go caving, and then do the famous tubing down the river, stopping at bars as we went. Though we all agreed that if we ever get rich, we’re going to donate some money to repave the streets, which are so filled with potholes that it would probably be worth it to just rip up the whole street and reconvert it to a dirt road.

A day of travelling landed us in the south of the country in the 4,000 Islands. We specifically lived on Don Det, which had one small street of life before losing itself to the jungle and plains. It was even more relaxing, yet in a more in-touch with nature sort of way. We kayaked, biked, and lounged in hammocks sipping mojitos for two wonderful days. The islands had only gotten electricity a couple of years ago, and our guesthouse was a small shack on stilts surrounded by pigs. It was an adventure. Up to this point, we had met some travelers here and there, but this was the first time we had found another group to properly hang out with, which was nice. The problem with traveling in a group of 4 is you typically get your own room in hostels or guesthouses, and you tend to stick to yourselves.

This was our last stop in Lao. We started hearing about Cambodia, but I doubted if it could top my wonderful Lao. I loved the healthy, crisp food, the beautiful mountains and nature, the relaxed nature, and the friendliness of the people as they shared their culture with you. Alas, though, we packed our backpacks and took a day to travel down to Siem Reap, Cambodia. (And when I say a day, I mean literally – we left at 8am and arrived about 1am.) We received a lovely surprise when we got to our hostel after getting a semi-shady vibe from the town; we had a reservation, but no room. Thankfully the people were very apologetic and they let us sleep in the lobby before getting us a room about 7:30. Our room ended up being free for four nights, so while it would’ve only been three dollars a night per person, it was still a nice gesture.

Siem Reap itself was wonderful. We spent two days at the temples of Angkor, marveling at the ruins of the Khmer Empire and exploring through the jungle-ravished buildings. They were incredibly majestic and they made me continuously wonder about what we have in our world right now. I highly doubt things like the Empire State Building or Yankee Stadium will still exist in a thousand years, and with the electronic age taking over, what physical remnants will people have of us? Other than the millions and millions of tons of rubbish and waste. It was an interesting thought. The third day we wandered around the town, going to the war museum to get our first taste of the depressing Cambodian history. Our tour guide was a war victim who had lost most of his family, started fighting when he was 13, and gotten injured twelve times, yet he was still smiling and telling jokes. After that we ate ice cream and headed out to a water-village, which was a Vietnamese tourist trap that I won’t get into.

Sihanoukville (or Snookiville, as we fondly called it) was a beach-lover’s paradise. Even though it supposedly doesn’t live up to the beaches of Thailand, I was in love with the clear blue waters, the white sandy beaches, eating dinner five feet from the waves as people set off fireworks, and the relaxed feeling of a beach town. My only complaints were the peddlers that continually harassed you as you tried to relax in a chair with your daiquiri, but you can’t have everything in life I suppose. It was still quite empty of tourists compared to other beaches. It was on day two of three that I hurt my leg. We were out on a tour to three islands; the first one we went out snorkeling, the second one we had a few hours to walk around, eat lunch (I ate barracuda!), and relax, and then the third was more snorkeling. I was jumping out of the side of the boat and my foot caught a plank on the bench; I slammed against the side of the boat, my whole leg twisted, and then I broke the wood and fell into the water, swearing loudly. I managed to get back in the boat, we iced my ankle and knee and pulled everyone back into the boat, and everyone was very helpful as we went back to shore. That night I couldn’t hold any weight at all on my leg, so I stayed home. The day after I managed to zombie walk (I literally limped while flailing my arms wildly) twenty-five feet to the tuktuk, then another twenty-five to sit on a beach chair all day. After that I could walk slowly but surely. Even now a week after, I still have a noticeable limp that makes me slower than everyone else, but it’s definitely improved. Thankfully I didn’t need to go see a doctor, since Cambodian medical services are less than ideal.

Our final bus was to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This was the only real city we had seen the entire trip, but even then it was very much like Mexico seems; there was so much poverty you didn’t know what to do. We only had a day and a half there, but we saw enough. We drove by the major sights such as the Royal Palace, museums, and the riverside. Our one full day was dedicated to going out and seeing the Killing Fields, where you get an audio tour as you silently walk through the beautiful yard. It was a little disconcerting to have a disembodied voice telling you how many people were killed in the spot you were standing, and only thirty years ago, with the occasional stray piece of cloth or bone to back up the story. My imagination didn’t run as wild there as it did in the S-21 prison, which was filled with questionable stains on the floor, torture instruments, and wooden cells covered in scratch marks. Ice cream was needed after, but it definitely gives you some perspective. Then we went around town a little bit more before finally taking a red-eye home.

It definitely wasn’t a “vacation” in the traditional sense of the word. We did a lot of learning, and we were always on the move. Yet I think it was good to go to a place with so much fresh history, even if it is tragic. Even if my dad kept saying “You’re going where on vacation?!” I think it’s important to see all of the world, the good and the bad. Overall, I liked Lao a lot more; I felt like I learned a lot more about their culture and their lifestyle. Cambodia, while I still liked it, was much more tourist-y and industrialized. The people in each country were absolutely wonderful, very kind and open. I’m glad I was able to see them before they truly become mainstream backpacker fare like Thailand has.

And such concludes my travel for now. We’re looking into next semester, since it says bright and clear on my New Years Resolutions to travel more. The main places in China I want to go to are Xi’an, Chengdu, Nanjing, and back to Beijing. We have three long weekends coming up, so we’ll see if I make it happen. Until then, you’ll just have to deal with my musings on life and culture.

Moving Too Fast

Once in a while, I get someone from home saying to me, “we haven’t heard much from you – tell me every detail!” There is, however, a problem this idea. I’m not really doing much at all, and most people won’t happily accept “I’m working.” No other way to explain it, though. Monday through Friday I get up between 7 and 7:30 (7:50 on a late day) and I’m usually in the office by 8:05. I have three to five periods a day, I spend the rest of my time walking around or in my office grading papers. School’s over at 4. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays I tutor for an hour after. Then Tuesdays and Thursdays I have my new Chinese class with me and two other coworkers, which is a lot of fun. My goal is to be conversationally fluent by the time I leave China. Wednesday evenings I have Kung Fu. Friday afternoons we have a staff meeting. On the weekends, I usually have one night where I go out with my “girl crush” Lauren, we have dinner, we drink wine, we eat chocolate. I’ll usually have another night where I go out dancing or to a bar. My weekend mornings are typically spent online skyping with people; my afternoons, grading or exploring Shanghai. Teaching has good moments and bad; for the most part I really like my kids, even though they can be a handful. I had a week or so when I was really down and missing home, but I fully blame a crazy hormonal period for this, as well as 10 weeks with no break, stress from finals, and pressure from the administration. I’m happy here, I’ve hit four months away from home (now breaking records), and I’m going strong.

For Christmas, I got (lovingly) away from my students, my friends, and Shanghai and went to Tokyo to see my brother for Christmas. It was fantastic, to say the least. I loved the city, it had a certain life and sparkle that Shanghai lacks. On Thursday I got up bright and early (AKA 4am) to head to the airport and hop on a plane. My brother picked me up and we headed straight into the city, seeing palaces, gardens, and Akihabara, including a maid café. Even though I didn’t take pictures, that one was an experience I’ll remember. Friday we got wonderfully lost going to Tokyo Tower, but the Tower itself was cool. Not as cool as ma chère Tour Eiffel, but still pretty neat. After, my brother (who was on a night-shift schedule) passed out and I wandered Shinjuku, amazed by the lights and the spirit, finding temples and red light districts and really really confusing udon shops that have eyeballs staring at you. Saturday was the Day of Walking – we went from Shinjuku down to Harajuku to Shibuya, seeing parks, shrines, shopping, lights, and lots and lots of people. I bought my brother some scarves and a fancy hat. Then for Christmas Eve dinner we got (very expensive) Brazilian BBQ, which was all you can eat and drink, which I made the most of before my brother again passed out. Then Christmas we made breakfast, opened presents, hung out, then he slept while I hung out. It was an overall chill day as I played lots of video games, as Steve had work. Then Monday morning we grabbed breakfast, drove around, waved to Fuji-san, and played with Charley, an energetic choco-lab who chewed up my hands and scarves and anything else he could find. Finally, my brother kicked me out (lovingly) so he could sleep so I headed to the ancient temples in Asakusa, did some shopping, then walked over to Ueno and saw some more parks before heading to the airport. My trip back was long, but uninteresting. I went from metro to train to plane to bus to taxi. I got back to campus around 11:30 at night (not bad considering I landed at 10) and crashed. And now here I am!

Overall, I really really enjoyed Tokyo. It was expensive as hell, especially contrasted with the cheapness of China, but it was worth every cent. It was also cold, but I think I’m finally starting to get used to it. You can drink the water! The biggest difference was the Japanese people, though; the soul of the city. In Shanghai, it’s really different but it’s also somewhat western, architecture-wise. The second you get on the train in Tokyo, though, you’re seeing all these adorable little Japanese houses plucked straight from a movie. The people were actually polite – on the metro if a seat opened up, people would spend five minutes trying to force other people to sit down, or it would just remain empty while ten people stood around it, each too polite to sit down. In Shanghai that seat would be gone in less than a second. People were courteous; if they bump into you, or if they’re squeezing through a crowd, there’s a nonstop flow of “gomen nasai – sumimasen – gomen nasai!” The Chinese just shove you and move on in their lives. There was one incident in particular that I remember; I was walking to Ueno on a fairly busy street, and an elderly woman on her bike fell over after swerving to avoid something. In China, maybe one person would stop, but most would move on; in Tokyo, about ten people, myself included, rushed over to help her up, gather her groceries, make sure she’s alright. It just really shocked me. That’s not to say that the Chinese are rude, necessarily. They just have different priorities. If they know you they will be some of the kindest people in the world. Strangers, however, are outside of their sphere of caring, so they push without even realizing they’re being impolite.

So what’s ahead right now? New Years, for one. Originally I wanted to go to Hong Kong, but then I figured I ought to stay in Shanghai with all my friends. So hopefully we’ll find something fun to do; maybe a fancy party on the Bund where we can watch the fireworks. This week in school is review week, working Tuesday-Saturday, then next week is finals, followed by a week of sitting around and twiddling our thumbs. Then, I get to go to Lao and Cambodia! Super, super excited. It’s going to be amazing. Something like seventeen days down in warm weather, traveling, seeing things unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, with a fun, yet interesting social dynamic. I just hope I don’t die, I’ve never travelled for such a long period before, especially backpacking. It’ll be fun.

So there’s my life. Miss home, miss friends, but as is life. I’ll keep you guys updated if anything interesting happens. Peace out.

Tell Me Again Why I'm Here?

Sometimes I start to really miss everything that was once familiar. I miss my friends in California, I miss family, I miss California itself, I miss France. I wonder what I’m doing here. And then I do something like plan a casual weekend trip to Nanjing, or take kung fu, or see how happy a student is seeing their improvement. And then I’m like, “oh yeah. That’s why.”

I haven’t had a complete “Screw China” day, as we fondly call them here (though we’re not as polite). A day where I just sit in my apartment the whole day, eat chocolate, and cry. …Well, I’ve done that minus the crying. That’s a different thing, though – sometimes I just enjoy having a me day. I’ve had moments, yes… the breakdown in Beijing where I walked back to the hostel sobbing, or Tuesday when I went to the bank and ended up spending half an hour sitting there because my pin number wasn’t working. My fellows can also laugh as they recall my snaps where I say a completely innocent thing with a vengeance – “I know what tamago means!” or when a waiter comes over to take our order, “Just give us five minutes!” (The latter has become a pet peeve – you sit down, they hand you a menu, and then stand there pen to paper staring at you.) But as a whole, I’m loving China.

Someone said to me after I came here – “why are you teaching in China? Why can’t you just stay here with people you know?” So I make sure to do plenty of things that I can’t just do in the US. For example, I’m taking kung fu. I just started, and I’ve still got the syndrome where my arms just kind of do what they want, but it’s pretty legit to do all our exercises with our teacher yelling at us in Mandarin. Plus… I’m learning kung fu. In China. The Mandarin is proceeding a little bit more slowly; I haven’t yet gotten a tutor, but it’s on my “To-do” list. As well as buy a bunch of stuff… But I’m still working on my online course sort of thing. I’ve improved, though – I can successfully guide a taxi driver or buy buns from the guy on the corner. Anything past that and I blink, smile cutely, and just say “wo bu dong” – I don’t understand. I’ll get there.

I’m still working on exploring Shanghai. I don’t go downtown very often, and there are quite a few parts of the city I haven’t seen yet. I know I need to expand from the French Concession, but it’s just so wonderful there. Lauren and I have our routine where on Saturdays we meet up, we get massages, we get dinner, we get chocolate. Even on the weekdays now, we’re starting to go out more… something my wallet really doesn’t appreciate. We always say that “ugh, we’ve spent so much money – this week will be a Baise week!” But then we still go out. Though I finally used my stove! For noodles and mac and cheese, but at least now I know. The mac and cheese was sent lovingly by my father, along with some amazing Halloween candy and my “USC” gift that received many giggles at the post office (on both sides of the ocean).

Teaching is going well. This past week was midterms week – which means that I just had to stand there and watch kids for a couple of days, then suddenly I have a hundred tests to grade. Joy. Though I’ve at least got the teaching routine down, which is nice. It’s definitely not my life passion, but I do love working with kids this age. I really enjoy walking down the hallway and giving high fives to my students. Even going into long rants describing small grammatical details is kinda fun.

The weather in Shanghai is still confusing me. It’ll be nice and warm, perfect weather; then for a couple of days it’ll be freezing, and I’ll be shivering in my cashmere coat; then the next few days (such as right now) it’ll be so hot and humid I just lie on my bed. It’s November, Shanghai. Can it not be 80 and humid, please? I mean, on Halloween it was all foggy and rainy.

Other interesting things: there’s a fake DVD store next to campus and I buy stuff there waaaay too much. A big group of us watched Game 7 of the World Series in a pub last weekend; a different group of us had huddled around a couple of laptops with Gameday and the radio stream, listening to Game 6 the day before. I’m unsure on if I’m going to run the Wall Marathon in May, leaning towards not. It’s a lot more money than I thought it would be, and since it’s on a regular weekend we’d only be up there for a day. In addition, I looked at the course and it’s only about three km on the actual wall… so, we’ll see.

Travel news – I’m going to Nanjing next weekend! Lauren and I had wanted to go to Chengdu to see the Panda Breeding Center and hold a panda in our laps, but prices have gone up since we procrastinated and the panda’s too big to sit in your lap now. So we’re going to Nanjing instead, which is only a couple hours away by train. It’ll be nice to get away from Shanghai for a couple of days, as well as meet people I don’t work with. Then next month for Christmas, I’m going to JAPAN! I’m super excited to see my brother, see Tokyo, have a good time.

That’s all that’s really happening. At some point I’m sure I’ll do a deep, insightful post on Chinese culture… but that’s for another day. Peace out, miss y’all.

The Northern Capital

Traveling with people, especially people that you don’t know very well, is always an experience. You’re getting to know each other as you’re forced through the stresses of catching planes, language barriers, and sharing new experiences and trying to get all that you want to get out of it. It’s rather like that first terrifying day freshman year of university, when you make your tentative claims of a bed and a desk, making awkward conversation with the person you’re going to be forced to live with for a year. You can come out with a best Bro or someone who threw a picture frame at your head; one way or another, though, you’ll have stories and memories.

Despite all this, Beijing was absolutely FANTASTIC. We had October 1st until October 7th free; we spent the weekend resting, then took off Monday. It takes about two hours overall to get to the airport; not a particularly difficult journey, but it is certainly a hassle to take two metros and then a bullet train (that reaches 431 km/h! Fastest commercial train in the world!). We got to Pudong Int’l and ate a nice dinner, then hopped on our plane. Luck had it that I got to sit all alone, and while I didn’t have anyone right next to me, two Chinese ladies were laughing at me as I had my normal panic during take-off. Yet we arrived in Beijing with no trouble, other than the fact that we got there at midnight and would have to take a taxi into town. We had a super-exciting time trying to explain to our taxi driver where our hostel was, since the website didn’t have the address in Chinese, but the wonderful man got us there (with lots of complaining).

Tuesday was an “omg we’re in Beijing!” sort of day. We saw the very, very crowded Forbidden City, we got smooshed in crowds, stood in line for an hour, then wandered the City itself. It was definitely cool, but as we had forsaken breakfast, I was a little cranky. We met two fellow travelers, a Turkish guy and a Ukranian broad who walked in front of cars while holding out her hand like a superhero. You try and pull that in Shanghai, you’re dead. I don’t think she understood that we as pedestrians don’t have the right of way… Anyway. After the City we went to the park across the street and climbed the giant hill in order to get a lovely view of (a very smoggy) Beijing. After, Lauren and I had to demand lunch, so we got our own little whitey room in a small restaurant and had a delicious meal. Rested up, we went and found Starbucks, a lake, a bar street, and Beihai Park. That is where I bought the most ridiculous hat ever. It is glorious. All tuckered out from the day, we went back to the hostel, rested up, had dinner, then went back to the Bar Street next to the lake. I became a very grumpy drunk, resented everyone, and left early as I was having a bit of a missing-California breakdown. This was not helped by the fact that Beijing taxi drivers are a bit retarded – I had three where I showed them the address, I showed them nearby metro stations on a map, I told them intersections, but they just stared at me and/or the map blankly. So I ended up walking a couple of kilometres home after walking a dozen earlier. The nice thing about Beijing, though, is that people are actually courteous. If you’re walking around confused with a map they’ll offer help, and if you’re sobbing as you stagger home in heels they’ll leave you alone.

Wednesday was better. We got up, grabbed breakfast at McDonalds (not my favourite choice, but I was outvoted, and a crap breakfast is better than none at all), then headed off to Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was probably my highlight of the trip; I loved the more quiet forests, the steep hills, the bright halls around the lake, and the tranquility of being out of the city. Yet the other two, after a couple of hours, were eager to move on to see more things, despite that we had only seen part of the Palace grounds, so Lauren and I conceded. We stopped by the Olympics facilities, waved, then went to the Heavenly Temple park. (We did get a bit lost on the way – I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t listen to the person holding the map.) We saw some live music, wandered around, then Lauren and I people watched as the other two went into the temple. (Temples are sort of like churches – yes, they’re very nifty, but after you see a few they all start to look the same.) After that we meandered out of the park, grabbed a snack, and then hailed a cab back to the hostel. The snack (a crepe with an egg and sauce) didn’t agree with my stomach so dinner didn’t sound too appealing, but everyone else was dying for duck, so we got directions from the hostel to a good place and headed out. These directions were not up to par. We walked around, trying to figure it out, got cranky, then somehow ended up escorted personally to a duck restaurant and given a four-course meal with a discount and free-flowing beer. This. Was. Amazing. All grumpiness gone, we had veggies, the most delicious duck ever, yak meat, and soup. Just… yum. And lots of beer. So much beer, in fact, that we all waddled back to our hostel pleasantly drunk and collapsed.

Thursday was nice and relaxing and lovely. Rosie and Sam went to the Great Wall; Lauren and I, feeling like we’d see enough of the Wall during our marathon in May, decided to pass. Instead, we slept in, went to Tian’anmen Square, made appropriate jokes, then saw that our next destination, the National Museum, had a ridiculously long line. So instead, we hopped on the metro, intending to go to the Bell and Gate tower. We ended up going the wrong way on the metro (which thankfully was the loop line), but we had seats, so we just rode it out and people-watched. On the way, our itinerary changed, as Lauren had looked through my Beijing guide and decided that the Lama temple looked cool. So the Lama Temple it was; it was definitely the most authentic-seeming temple that we had been to. The highlight was a 26-metre wooden statue of Buddha, about four or five stories tall, all made from one single bit of wood. It was really cool. I did, however, lose my little Chinese flag. I am quite heartbroken about this. After that, we wandered around the hutong, little alleyways that seem to be the veins of Beijing, and looked at shops, temples, and general Chinese life until we got hungry and found lunch. We wandered a bit more and then headed off for a lovely, lovely foot massage. Yet more wandering, ending with us at the hostel to rest a bit before dinner. (This is where I interject that our hostel’s showers were amazing and I loved taking long showers.) For dinner we picked up a fellow traveler from Belgium and we had hotpot, which was super spicy, yet delicious. After we had the lovely experience of getting lost, partially because China is confusing, partially because the people who “knew where we were going” had no clue where this street was. As is life. The journey was much more interesting than the eventual destination of Bar Street – we ate silkworm! It was disgusting, but at least I manned up and swallowed it. Nearly puked it up, though. Just… ugh. Oh, and we had shark. So that was that night.

Friday was heading-home day. We had an early-afternoon flight, which didn’t really give us enough time to do anything in the morning. I was content enough talking with other travelers until we needed to leave, but the others wanted to go walking, so I told them to be back at a certain point so we could leave with enough time to get to the airport. It was the last day of the Golden Week, which meant it would be sort of like traveling on Thanksgiving. Naturally, they came back about twenty minutes after I asked, then took forever to get ready… We still made our flight, but we arrived just before they started boarding, which is way out of my comfort zone. I think instead of doing the normal thing and taking a chill pill about it, I’ll leave them next time instead. Lovingly, of course. The trip overall was great – I really enjoyed the history and the kindness of Beijing (though not necessarily all the spitting), I got a lot of walking done, the food was great, I read about a hundred pages in Orgueil et Préjugés (c’est une langue donc je ne comprends rien, clairement), and overall had a really good time. Now I’m back in the daily drill of teaching, and while I need to catch up on my rest, I’m eager to jump back out into Asia. Casually planned is a trip to Chengdu with Lauren to see some pandas, Tokyo for Christmas to see my brother, maybe Hong Kong solo for western New Years, and then southeast Asia with Lauren – so far, only Thailand seems to be confirmed. We’ll see how it goes.

On a quick non-trip note: I got paid! It’s really, really, really exciting. Especially since I’m realizing just how much money I can set aside so I can make all these trips a reality. Coworkers are all still great. I still need to get my rhythm so I can stay out past midnight drinking before falling asleep; I have yet to have a great night out. Teaching is fine, my kids are fun and/or challenging. I’m hoping to find a Mandarin tutor in the next couple of weeks so I can add it to my list of languages (though I suppose one could say that one or two years living in a country is nowhere near what one needs for learning…). The food is still amazing; I’ve discovered that there is no such thing as too many dumplings, buns, or noodles.

I’ll leave off at that note. The next update will probably be on some boring, yet fascinating aspect of Chinese life. Peace out, miss you all.

“If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.”

This is How We Do It

“We could’ve had it all, rollin’ in the deep…” Adele has been my absolute muse the past twenty-four hours.

As of Friday, I have been in Shanghai exactly one month. What a month it’s been. Things have changed for the good or the bad; there have been gains and losses. I feel like I’ve hardly had any time to myself… I’ve been too busy experiencing Shanghai culture, learning how to say important things like “I’m a teacher” (“wo shi laoshi”) and “to go” (“da bao”). I’ve gotten lost and ended up walking a mile in the wrong direction (Sam doesn’t believe I have a good sense of direction because of this…). I’ve gotten McDonalds delivered to the campus at 10 in the morning.

I still need to have a day before fall comes where I walk around and take pictures of the campus, it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s definitely a bubble; we’re walled in with guarded gates, our green forest is a stark contrast to the urban setting outside, and our well-kept buildings clash against the stained, aged buildings right outside. Yet it’s also very easy to leave that bubble. All you need to do is step onto Baise Lu and you’re assaulted with mild stares, children running all over the place, little kids peeing on buildings, a trash bag full of live frogs crawling over each other, and exhaust everywhere. Hop in a taxi and for only a couple of dollars you’re taken to the French Concession, filled with bars, clubs, and western restaurants. Grab a metro and you can go into downtown, though we only go every other weekend or so, and you’re thrown right into the middle of city life. It’s still a little overwhelming how huge the city is.

There are also moments where you go “god, I’m not in Kansas anymore.” Like the previously mentioned giant bag of frogs. Or hour-long body massages where you have to keep them from sticking their hands in places strangers shouldn’t go. Or when a bus starts just randomly driving on the sidewalks. Or when you can get McDonalds delivered to your door at four in the morning.

Teaching has been fine so far. We’re hitting the end of the first month, so we’re getting our “monthly” exams in. I’m already grading them and going “what, how did you miss that, I said it five times in class?!” or being really proud of some students. My ninth graders have gotten better, we’ve become more comfortable with each other, and they understand I don’t take shit. My tenth graders are still plenty of fun. And now I have sixth graders! Apparently I wasn’t teaching enough, so they added an oral English class that I get to be driven to, since it’s at a local Chinese middle school. I’m definitely the only white chick in a kilometer-range, so I got lots of stares. But the kids are absolutely adorable in their little uniforms.

I also greatly enjoy my coworkers. The office is a fun environment, where we play Friday every Friday and have intense political conversations (as we all range from far left to far right, but are smart enough to enjoy a good debate and not get ridiculous – though I’m pretty sure we all thing Bachmann is a joke) as well as weird conversations about whatever comes to mind. The “new” teachers usually go out every weekend, and we sing and dance in the back of taxis to get the Chinese to stare at us. They’re all great, and if you have a particularly bad drunken night they all text you in the morning to make sure you’re okay. (There were unlimited refills of the sangrias! Don’t judge!) Though we all agree that teaching is how one becomes a fat alcohol – you get out of class at 11 and need a drink and some chocolate, pronto.

On that note, the food continues to be excellent. I know how to work my stove, but to be honest it’s easier (and about the same price) to just go out and eat every night. There’s a plethora of restaurants, street food, and anything else you can imagine in the immediate area, and the French Concession a cab ride away if you really are killing for American. I have cereal (with no milk), peanut butter, jelly (no bread), and I keep trying to remember to buy fruit for the mornings. Surprisingly, though, I’m not a big fan of Chinese instant noodles. They just taste a little bit funky. I think I’m going to have to invest in some frozen dumplings or something… Once I get paid. I have no money right now. (Hence the lack of milk and bread.)

With all this eating and drinking, you must be concerned about my weight. But you forget that I live on the fifth floor. Lots of stair climbing, and lots of walking all over campus/Shanghai. At the same time, though, I’ve started running! We’ve done a mile and then a mile and a half, but our goal is the Great Wall Marathon in May. Hell yes that is as badass as it sounds. Also badass is that we’re looking into taking a once-a-week kung fu class. And this is why I’m living in China as opposed to staying in the States.

That’s really all that’s been going on. One last note is that Kevin and I broke up yesterday, but I’m trying not to linger on it and stay positive. If he wasn’t going to listen to what I was saying or try and understand my point of view, we probably weren’t going to work in the long-run anyway.

On a happier note! I’m addicted to Chinese TV. There’s this one soap opera that I watched for a day; apparently these two people got drunk and married, and now they’re figuring out their social life. And then there’s Dragon Ball Z in Chinese. We also have ESPN, CNN, and BBC, so I get American news as well as Chinese.

Alrighty. Next update will be Beijing. Four of us are going from the 3rd to the 7th. I’m excited. Peace out, miss you guys.

“Regrets and mistakes, they’re memories made…”

Leaving the Shire

Starting an adventure is often the hardest part of the entire thing. That first step out the door, the glance back towards a home, are often the most painful parts. Accompanying this, the first few words of an adventure blog are often the most difficult ones to write. So, a reason to explain why this has taken three weeks to write, as opposed to explaining what was happening the second I got off the plane.

Nevertheless, I’m here writing. Where’s “here,” you might ask? Jiu-bai-ba-shi-jiu BAI SE LU! You see, people are very good at pretending they don’t understand you when you stutter their language. So we’ve made the joke that if you’re trying to ask something in Mandarin, just say it incredibly fast and angry-sounding. It typically works. And I try not to think that I live on “Baise” road… My French brain still giggles at that.

Yet I digress. Shanghai, China has become for my home for at least the next year. Two years? Three years? Who knows. The topic of “how long will you stay?” is definitely a popular one, but I keep reminding myself that I haven’t even been here a month. It’s a huge decision and I still haven’t properly settled into this culture.

Again, I digress. China. It’s a fascinating culture, and while I haven’t fallen madly in love like I did with France, it’s definitely caught something of me. The downtown area at night is as if Las Vegas and New York had a baby, and then that baby decided to be rebellious and move to an eastern culture. It’s bright, it’s neon, yet it’s still quite distinctly Chinese. There are parts around the city that are filled with foreigners, but there’s nothing that brings the familiarity of home. I had that thought the other day… that while in Europe I had England to make me feel more at home, there’s nothing within fifteen thousand kilometres that feels anything like familiarity.

Since I have three weeks to smush into one blog post, I’ll paraphrase. My fourteen-hour plane ride was lots of fun: I watched Toy Story 3, I played the Sims. Very productive. But I had no one next to me! Yay. My flight was a bit early, so I ended up waiting at the airport for a while before my pickup, but once they got there it was quite easy. We picked up three other teachers, two girls from North Carolina, and a guy from Detroit. I got my first taste of Chinese traffic (makes Italy look tame!) and then we arrived at our hotel in downtown. I appreciated the plushness and a lack of roommate before collapsing. The next day, we voyaged out and got phones, metro cards, went to Pudong, saw the Anal Bead/Pearl Tower, and I made friends with my new coworkers. The first thing I noticed was the staring – especially in groups, us “whiteys” gain lots and lots of attention. We had people taking pictures with us, for god’s sake. The native Shanghainese don’t really mind us, but if you go to the tourist-y places you get all the Chinese who are visiting the big city from all over China… And those are the ones who are amazed by you. We walked all around, then shared a big hot pot after.

The day after, orientation started. The five days of orientation just kind of blur together… There was so much information that I barely got anything into my brain. More importantly, though, I was getting settled into my Chinese life. Two days after I arrived, we moved into our apartments at Shanghai Zhong Xue, AKA Shanghai high school. My apartment is quite lovely, it’s roomy enough for me… Of course, there’s the whole bit of being on the fifth floor. Moving my two heavy-ass suitcases up was really exciting. And of course, because I’m all the way up here, I have absolutely NO water pressure. So showering is super fun. But I can be nice and loud, since I’m all the way up here, and I don’t really hear anyone else either. So it’s nice. The most awkward part is that some of the high schoolers are housed in the building next to ours. They’re gone during the weekends, but in the week I have to be aware that they’re there… Though mind you, they’re quite loud enough that you know.

So the area I’m in is called Xu’hui, a few miles out of downtown and quite suburban. There’s a definite change of upkeep as you step off campus, and things get more crowded and livelier. The street we live on, Baise (heehee), is filled to the brim with shops, restaurants, “salons,” and everything else you could imagine. And things are ridiculously cheap here. As long as you don’t go for western food (where you’ll pay western prices), you can easily go out and eat for an American dollar. The language is also super fun. I know how to say a few food words and how to count, and how to ask a few questions, but that’s it for now. I’ll get there, but most people take it in good humour. The ones who grumble or yell at you in Chinese, well, it’s an experience. There’s also the French Concession nearby, which is filled with all sorts of lovely western things and foreigners, so it’s good if you want to grab a burger or anything that you don’t eat with chopsticks.

Let’s see… I still haven’t worked out my stove, but once I do I’m definitely busting out the cooking. That’ll be exciting. For now, it’s been cereal and PBJ. Sounds like my French diet… Though I get noodles or dumplings a lot out on Baise. Ooh, and there’s an amazing smoothie place which makes me super happy. I keep getting eaten alive by bugs. And the cicadas are suuuuper loud here, it’s very strange for me. The water is completely undrinkable, so we have to buy clean water to drink and cook with. Though back on the subject of food, the food is… interesting. Lots of seafood, which I keep trying and I continue to not like. Occasionally I’ll find strange body parts, like chicken heads, in my food. I ate duck brains and jelly fish and octopus. And I’m working really hard on liking beer, since the wine here is terrible.

The traffic here is insane. People drive in the opposite lanes, in two lanes at once, they run reds, they cut people off, they come inches within each other, the scooters and bikes all run lights and get all over the place… I am terrified of getting a bike. I would die. The weather has been really toasty, in the eighties and humid and rainy, but it seems to be cooling down. I think it’s supposed to give us one final heat wave before cooling off at the end of the week.

Teaching! Teaching is… interesting. It’s a lot of work. All of my teachers ever, I’m so sorry I never appreciated you as much as you deserve it. Really. It’s hard. It’s a lot of work outside of the classroom. I’m slowly getting the hang of it, though… It’s weird to always be dressing professionally, but I don’t think I’d want to dress smart casual or anything. I’d be mistaken for a student a lot. My tenth graders are amazing, they’re very fun. My ninth graders are exciting. They’re a challenge. I’m teaching them twice, once for history and once for English. I got to drop a book on two sleepers in the front row on the first day. And then I finally started getting respect when I failed a few tests for talking. (Okay, I exaggerate, but I did take away points!)

Let’s see… Shanghai in general is really great, I’m loving it. I’ve spent this weekend just wandering around. During orientation we took a river cruise, and I must say I loooooove the Bund. It’s like being back in France, so I pretend to be a French tourist. And Pudong is absolutely gorgeous. The night scene is really nice… It’s mostly foreigners, so it’s a little expensive, but it’s still really fun. This weekend we went to a brewery after a banquet (big fancy dinner with weird food to show off how rich the school is) and we met lots of cool people. And then today I hung out at Chairman Mao’s old house. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to work for the government because of that. We also went to a temple, stood in the wrong line for ten minutes, and got sufficiently lost two days in a row. My friends don’t believe in my sense of direction, but it’s rather difficult when everything’s in Chinese.

Okay. Coming up on two pages, so I’ll wrap up. I’m having a really good time, miss everyone back home. We’ve got a trip to Beijing planned for our week-long National Holiday. (Flying, not taking the deadly bullet train.) Going to Japan for Christmas to visit my wonderful brother. Then we have three weeks of lovely, lovely vacation, in which some of us are planning to do southeast Asia. We’ll figure out details later. Oh, and Hong Kong during the western New Year’s sounds really fun as well. We’ll make it happen.

Peace out, friends/family/etc. Holding up the Californian awesomeness in China. Miss you all.

PS – go Angels!