Dear Boyfriend,
We need to talk. You and I have not been seeing eye to eye recently. We've been together a long time but, you've brought too much excess baggage into this relationship. You don't make me happy anymore, and I feel like you don't want whats best for me. Since we've been together for so long, I know that it will take some time to cut ties, so I will give you a little space to get your things together.
Don't worry about me. I won't miss you and I'll be much better without you.
-Shaila
*PS- "boyfriend" = the weight that I've gained since being in China
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Spring Fever
Okay. So, it happened.. This is Spring (like the water, not like the season). He is my fabulous kung fu instructor. I'm bringing him back home to America with me.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
(100) Days of China
Today is my one hundredth day in China! In honor of this wonderful day, I have decided to list 100 things that I love about China, have learned to love while here, or have become more grateful for BECAUSE I'm in China. Enjoy!
1. The beautiful children that I get to teach
2. Realizing (even more) just how awesome my Mom is
3. Pamelo
4. Asian pears
5. Simple questions at the super market turning into a show. Every time.
6. Asian babies
7. Riding around in charter buses
8. Tina (Chinese coordinator)
9. Cherry (Chinese coordinator)
10. Candy (Chinese coordinator)
11. Madeli bakeries
12. Skype
13. Getting mail
14. Prayer
15. Chopsticks
16. Western toilets!
17. The landscapers and all of their hard work
18. Rice
19. All of the girls in my group (Jaimie, Brianna, Sarah, Jillian, Abby, & Mikelle)
20. Kung Fu
21. Watermelon
22. SUNDAYS!
23. Walking Street
24. Frogs at night
25. Being hugged around my knees by the kids, even after putting them in the Chinese Chair
26. Rainy days (except when I have to do a lot of walking)
27. Xi'an
28. Yangshuo
29. Beijing
30. The Great Wall
31. The 2008 Olympic stadium
32. Being greeted by 45+ smiling faces every morning
33. Chinese music sites
34. Cooking class
35. Chinese class
36. Buying movies for about $1 or 1.25 each
37. The "ice cream and dessert" shop on Walking Street
38. Sparky (the school bus driver/handy man)
39. One dollar = 6.8 Yuan
40. Water filters
41. The "exercises" that we do with the kids. AKA dancing like theme park workers
42. Chinese New Year
43. Red envelopes
44. A new appreciation for crisp vegetables
45. Jao zi (dumplings)
46. Bao zi (steamed bread with meat and vegetables in the middle)
47. Mantu (sweet steamed bread)
48. Fried wan tons
49. The experience of 12+ hour journeys on sleeper buses and dirty trains
50. Bartering
51. MTR drink express (especially the peach juice!)
52. Walking back to my apartment at night and looking up and being able to see a couple stars mixed in with the purple sky (pollution/fog + millions of city lights = purple sky)
53. My kung fu instructor..
54. The fact that I hear "hello" about 25 times every day.. Depending on which part of the city I go to.
55. Dragon fruit
56. Popcorn parties
57. Women's Day
58. Chinese birthday cakes
59. Vanilla coke
60. Black rice
61. Teaching arts & crafts
62. My immunity to mosquito bites (I've gotten a couple, but not as bad as the other girls)
63. The cashier at the Kaiyin market
64. The Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
65. "Cultural experience" excursions..
66. Getting email
67. The immense growth in my appreciation to have been born into a country with religious freedom
68. Cucumber flavored Pringles
69. Coconut bread
70. Banana chips (it's getting close to dinner time.. Can't you tell?)
71. The giant 5x8 calendar in our apartment
72. Michael, Daniel, & Jenny - the cooks at the school
73. Misspelled English words everywhere
74. Muslim noodles!
75. Street vendors
76. Clapping salesmen
77. The "bird man"
78. Ice cream that costs about 10 cents
79. A hundred minute massage for about $7
80. Hair wash/massage for about $2
81. Getting packages with precious American treats inside
82. The water caves
83. Floral sidewalks
84. Dehumidifiers (so that your shoes and clothes don't grow mold)
85. Watching the kids' excitement when they're playing outside
86. The experience of being exploited because I'm American (Jaimie and I were bribed the other day to help a woman get into the complex across the street. She didn't know the code, but knew that we could get in because we're American. If the guards said anything to us, we wouldn't be able to respond in Chinese, and the same in reverse)
87. Jaimie feeding me at the bus stop
88. Jade
89. The experience of living near one of the most humid places in the world…
90. "Teacha! Teacha! I'm bean goo!"
91. An even greater love for bubble baths (bath tubs don't really exist in China)
92. Hand sanitizer
93. Time to read and write
94. Ice trays! (ice is also an uncommon thing in China)
95. Complimenting each other before our Community Standards meetings on Mondays
96. The guards at the entrance to our complex
97. Bike rides to the pier with Sarah (even though we've only done it once so far)
98. Chinese yogurt, yoghurt, and youhurt
99. Taro pies from McDonald's
100. BECOMING CHINESE!
1. The beautiful children that I get to teach
2. Realizing (even more) just how awesome my Mom is
3. Pamelo
4. Asian pears
5. Simple questions at the super market turning into a show. Every time.
6. Asian babies
7. Riding around in charter buses
8. Tina (Chinese coordinator)
9. Cherry (Chinese coordinator)
10. Candy (Chinese coordinator)
11. Madeli bakeries
12. Skype
13. Getting mail
14. Prayer
15. Chopsticks
16. Western toilets!
17. The landscapers and all of their hard work
18. Rice
19. All of the girls in my group (Jaimie, Brianna, Sarah, Jillian, Abby, & Mikelle)
20. Kung Fu
21. Watermelon
22. SUNDAYS!
23. Walking Street
24. Frogs at night
25. Being hugged around my knees by the kids, even after putting them in the Chinese Chair
26. Rainy days (except when I have to do a lot of walking)
27. Xi'an
28. Yangshuo
29. Beijing
30. The Great Wall
31. The 2008 Olympic stadium
32. Being greeted by 45+ smiling faces every morning
33. Chinese music sites
34. Cooking class
35. Chinese class
36. Buying movies for about $1 or 1.25 each
37. The "ice cream and dessert" shop on Walking Street
38. Sparky (the school bus driver/handy man)
39. One dollar = 6.8 Yuan
40. Water filters
41. The "exercises" that we do with the kids. AKA dancing like theme park workers
42. Chinese New Year
43. Red envelopes
44. A new appreciation for crisp vegetables
45. Jao zi (dumplings)
46. Bao zi (steamed bread with meat and vegetables in the middle)
47. Mantu (sweet steamed bread)
48. Fried wan tons
49. The experience of 12+ hour journeys on sleeper buses and dirty trains
50. Bartering
51. MTR drink express (especially the peach juice!)
52. Walking back to my apartment at night and looking up and being able to see a couple stars mixed in with the purple sky (pollution/fog + millions of city lights = purple sky)
53. My kung fu instructor..
54. The fact that I hear "hello" about 25 times every day.. Depending on which part of the city I go to.
55. Dragon fruit
56. Popcorn parties
57. Women's Day
58. Chinese birthday cakes
59. Vanilla coke
60. Black rice
61. Teaching arts & crafts
62. My immunity to mosquito bites (I've gotten a couple, but not as bad as the other girls)
63. The cashier at the Kaiyin market
64. The Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park
65. "Cultural experience" excursions..
66. Getting email
67. The immense growth in my appreciation to have been born into a country with religious freedom
68. Cucumber flavored Pringles
69. Coconut bread
70. Banana chips (it's getting close to dinner time.. Can't you tell?)
71. The giant 5x8 calendar in our apartment
72. Michael, Daniel, & Jenny - the cooks at the school
73. Misspelled English words everywhere
74. Muslim noodles!
75. Street vendors
76. Clapping salesmen
77. The "bird man"
78. Ice cream that costs about 10 cents
79. A hundred minute massage for about $7
80. Hair wash/massage for about $2
81. Getting packages with precious American treats inside
82. The water caves
83. Floral sidewalks
84. Dehumidifiers (so that your shoes and clothes don't grow mold)
85. Watching the kids' excitement when they're playing outside
86. The experience of being exploited because I'm American (Jaimie and I were bribed the other day to help a woman get into the complex across the street. She didn't know the code, but knew that we could get in because we're American. If the guards said anything to us, we wouldn't be able to respond in Chinese, and the same in reverse)
87. Jaimie feeding me at the bus stop
88. Jade
89. The experience of living near one of the most humid places in the world…
90. "Teacha! Teacha! I'm bean goo!"
91. An even greater love for bubble baths (bath tubs don't really exist in China)
92. Hand sanitizer
93. Time to read and write
94. Ice trays! (ice is also an uncommon thing in China)
95. Complimenting each other before our Community Standards meetings on Mondays
96. The guards at the entrance to our complex
97. Bike rides to the pier with Sarah (even though we've only done it once so far)
98. Chinese yogurt, yoghurt, and youhurt
99. Taro pies from McDonald's
100. BECOMING CHINESE!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Easter Weekend in Yangshuo
*Sorry if the details are a little vague. I've already written/told these stories several times, so you guys get the shortened (possibly less exciting) version.
On Easter weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. They were unlike anything that I've ever seen. Even in movies. If I come to China again, I will absolutely revisit Yangshuo. Although, I'd skip the sleeper-bus part. On Friday night we boarded a damp, smelly, crowded bus of FUN! Not really. It was almost comparable to the grossness that we experienced on our way home from Xi'an over the new year. But at least we didn't have to listen to a blaring Chinese opera when we were in Xi'an. It was ridiculous. We arrived to Yangshuo at approximately 5:30am. We basically got kicked off the bus, out onto the street where we were promptly greeted with rain and a man who gladly ripped us off to get a bike taxi for us. We got to our hostel and they tried to put us in one of the nicer rooms until we could check in at 8am. We didn't want to pay for the extra "night" so we just went to our "safe haven" for about two hours. Safe haven = McDonald's. While there, we enjoyed PANCAKES for the first time upon arrival in China. They were quite delicious. When we went back to our hostel, we wasted no time in arranging our tour to the Water Caves. The bus/van ride out was pretty... interesting. The "mud" portion of the cave was more like a dirty water puddle. But, it was still fun to splash around in the "mud" and even go down the mud slide. Afterwards we went to a different part of the cave where there were hot springs. While sitting there I had the realization that "hey.. I'm sitting in a hot puddle.. in a cave.. in China." Maybe no one else finds that funny, but I thought it was pretty humorous. The ride back into town was probably one of the most dangerous and definitely the most funny experience I've ever had in a van. It was so bouncy! And I mean EXTREMELY bouncy. I'm pretty sure that my head hit the ceiling. And, I even cut my hand on the window. Abby also cut her leg on the broken seat in front of her. Maybe I'll get the video posted at some point. Probably not til I'm home. But, someday. Anyway, when we got back to town we just did a little shopping and discovered all of the delicacies that were available to us. Snake, dog, octopus, eel, horse, snails. You know, just the basics. We spent the Sabbath on a 3 hour tour of the Li River on a bamboo raft. Again, the scenery in Yangshuo was unbelievable. My pictures (or writing, for that matter) will not do the experience justice. Check out Sarah's blog for better pictures. (www.sarahkwestover.blogspot.com) Later that night we went out on a Cormorant Fishing show. We were in a small boat, following alongside a raft with an old man and several birds aboard. The birds were trained to catch the fish. I thought that this meant that the birds would catch the fish in their mouths and bring them back up to the man to put them in a basket. Not the case. After about fifteen minutes of watching the birds doing what I thought was only swimming to the bottom of the river without any luck, we pulled up to the shore. At that point, we watched the man grab each bird by the neck and force them to regurgitate the fish that they had, indeed, caught. After that lovely display of entertainment, we met up with another ILP group for dessert. We were hoping to go to Chez Kelly, a place where we found delicious Oreo and Snicker's milkshakes, BUT they were for some sad reason closed. So, we went to McDonald's instead. And, WOW. American desserts are going to be so sweet when I get home. That strawberry milkshake tasted like straight sugar. Although... I don't think it will take me too long to get used to again. But, maybe it will be a good thing if I don't? We spent the rest of the night becoming best friends with the receptionist at the hostel. Peter. The girls tried to get him to find horses for us to ride. No luck. But, he did find some water buffalo that they could ride. Why they wanted to ride a water buffalo is beyond me. But, to each his/her own. So, Peter was playing some game online that resembled Farmville from Facebook and we asked him if he had a real garden. Of course, he did. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew we were planning on biking out to Peter's house the next day to see his garden. Monday was an exciting, beautiful, confusing, and frustrating adventure. Abby and I split a scooter. That was the exciting part, because I drove. The scenery was of course the beautiful part. The confusing part was that Abby, Lina(other ILP group), and I got lost.. twice. And the frustrating part was that I still had to push the scooter for about a mile and a half after I wrecked it in a mud hole. Do you know how hard it is to drive a scooter in mud?! Extremely. Just in case you were wondering. When we returned the bikes and scooters, the ladies who owned the rental stand were horrified at how muddy everything was. A few of us got our shoes cleaned. The lady must've liked the first group better because when my group went, she brought our shoes back only slightly cleaner and completely soaked. I had to use the hair dryer at the hostel to dry them. We visited our favorite crepe stand one last time and also enjoyed fried bananas. A couple of us grabbed small bags of kumquats and then headed back to the hostel to wait until it was time to board the next wonderful sleeper bus. Thankfully, it was not as wet, loud, or crowded as the first bus. We made it back to the Zhongshan bus station at 6:30am, caught the Kaiyin bus, and made it back to our complex just in time to catch breakfast at the Kaiyin school. Fabulous.
Again, I'm sorry for the vague details. But, the trip was definitely worth it. When in China, visit Yangshuo.
On Easter weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. They were unlike anything that I've ever seen. Even in movies. If I come to China again, I will absolutely revisit Yangshuo. Although, I'd skip the sleeper-bus part. On Friday night we boarded a damp, smelly, crowded bus of FUN! Not really. It was almost comparable to the grossness that we experienced on our way home from Xi'an over the new year. But at least we didn't have to listen to a blaring Chinese opera when we were in Xi'an. It was ridiculous. We arrived to Yangshuo at approximately 5:30am. We basically got kicked off the bus, out onto the street where we were promptly greeted with rain and a man who gladly ripped us off to get a bike taxi for us. We got to our hostel and they tried to put us in one of the nicer rooms until we could check in at 8am. We didn't want to pay for the extra "night" so we just went to our "safe haven" for about two hours. Safe haven = McDonald's. While there, we enjoyed PANCAKES for the first time upon arrival in China. They were quite delicious. When we went back to our hostel, we wasted no time in arranging our tour to the Water Caves. The bus/van ride out was pretty... interesting. The "mud" portion of the cave was more like a dirty water puddle. But, it was still fun to splash around in the "mud" and even go down the mud slide. Afterwards we went to a different part of the cave where there were hot springs. While sitting there I had the realization that "hey.. I'm sitting in a hot puddle.. in a cave.. in China." Maybe no one else finds that funny, but I thought it was pretty humorous. The ride back into town was probably one of the most dangerous and definitely the most funny experience I've ever had in a van. It was so bouncy! And I mean EXTREMELY bouncy. I'm pretty sure that my head hit the ceiling. And, I even cut my hand on the window. Abby also cut her leg on the broken seat in front of her. Maybe I'll get the video posted at some point. Probably not til I'm home. But, someday. Anyway, when we got back to town we just did a little shopping and discovered all of the delicacies that were available to us. Snake, dog, octopus, eel, horse, snails. You know, just the basics. We spent the Sabbath on a 3 hour tour of the Li River on a bamboo raft. Again, the scenery in Yangshuo was unbelievable. My pictures (or writing, for that matter) will not do the experience justice. Check out Sarah's blog for better pictures. (www.sarahkwestover.blogspot.com) Later that night we went out on a Cormorant Fishing show. We were in a small boat, following alongside a raft with an old man and several birds aboard. The birds were trained to catch the fish. I thought that this meant that the birds would catch the fish in their mouths and bring them back up to the man to put them in a basket. Not the case. After about fifteen minutes of watching the birds doing what I thought was only swimming to the bottom of the river without any luck, we pulled up to the shore. At that point, we watched the man grab each bird by the neck and force them to regurgitate the fish that they had, indeed, caught. After that lovely display of entertainment, we met up with another ILP group for dessert. We were hoping to go to Chez Kelly, a place where we found delicious Oreo and Snicker's milkshakes, BUT they were for some sad reason closed. So, we went to McDonald's instead. And, WOW. American desserts are going to be so sweet when I get home. That strawberry milkshake tasted like straight sugar. Although... I don't think it will take me too long to get used to again. But, maybe it will be a good thing if I don't? We spent the rest of the night becoming best friends with the receptionist at the hostel. Peter. The girls tried to get him to find horses for us to ride. No luck. But, he did find some water buffalo that they could ride. Why they wanted to ride a water buffalo is beyond me. But, to each his/her own. So, Peter was playing some game online that resembled Farmville from Facebook and we asked him if he had a real garden. Of course, he did. One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew we were planning on biking out to Peter's house the next day to see his garden. Monday was an exciting, beautiful, confusing, and frustrating adventure. Abby and I split a scooter. That was the exciting part, because I drove. The scenery was of course the beautiful part. The confusing part was that Abby, Lina(other ILP group), and I got lost.. twice. And the frustrating part was that I still had to push the scooter for about a mile and a half after I wrecked it in a mud hole. Do you know how hard it is to drive a scooter in mud?! Extremely. Just in case you were wondering. When we returned the bikes and scooters, the ladies who owned the rental stand were horrified at how muddy everything was. A few of us got our shoes cleaned. The lady must've liked the first group better because when my group went, she brought our shoes back only slightly cleaner and completely soaked. I had to use the hair dryer at the hostel to dry them. We visited our favorite crepe stand one last time and also enjoyed fried bananas. A couple of us grabbed small bags of kumquats and then headed back to the hostel to wait until it was time to board the next wonderful sleeper bus. Thankfully, it was not as wet, loud, or crowded as the first bus. We made it back to the Zhongshan bus station at 6:30am, caught the Kaiyin bus, and made it back to our complex just in time to catch breakfast at the Kaiyin school. Fabulous.
Again, I'm sorry for the vague details. But, the trip was definitely worth it. When in China, visit Yangshuo.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Trees, USA, Picnic, Cake, and Bunny Ears
Here is a bit of whats happened over the past month:
-The school set up another "cultural experience" for us. This time we went to the opening ceremony of a Friendship Garden. We were able to plant trees side by side with other foreigners in the area as well as natives of Zhongshan. The park is already really pretty, but it's going to be gorgeous once everything is finished. We also went to a foramanifera park. I doubt that I spelled that correctly, but it's supposedly the first organism found on the Earth. Why they felt that this would be a cultural experience, I'm not really sure. Our last stop was at an antique furniture store.. also confused about that one.
-The american flag is a fashion influence here. Not only in children's apparel, but also in footwear, purses, and adult clothing. It always makes me laugh.
-Last week was my last time working with the "baby" classes. We all went on a picnic to the park across the street. I already miss them a ton. The age difference is only about a year, but working with the "older" kids is completely different.
-Abby's birthday was also last week. We celebrated with a picnic and the always interesting Chinese cake, watermelon, pamelo, and other randomly flavored chips and candies.
-The last picture is of one of the Easter games that we played with the kids. Bunny Tail Pickup. The kids all wore their bunny ears. We placed cotton balls on one side of the playground and had the kids line up on the other side. The kids were in teams and had to see which team could get the most "tails". They had fun with it.. until it started raining.
I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this blog as much as I used to. I think that it might be because Zhongshan is feeling more like home to me instead of just an adventure. So, I feel like maybe the things that I'm doing aren't that interesting anymore. Then I have to remind myself that I'm NOT Chinese, and that my friends and family who are keeping up with this, are also not Chinese and so you might find these things interesting. I'll try to do better.
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