Getting into the Rhythm of Things

I know I haven't posted in awhile but nothing too exciting has happened since this weekend.  I am starting to get in teaching mode again which means going to bed early, getting up early, lesson planning and reflecting on lessons.  I am really enjoying working with the upper grades.  I never knew seventh and eighth graders could be so fun!

Frances and I were scheduled to lead three evening activities this week so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings were devoted to teaching grades 5, 6, and 3 My Home's in Montana.  It is fun to sing about home but I am starting to get really tired of that song!!!  The kids really enjoyed it and think Montana is such a cool place (which it is). 

I did a little shopping today but didn't find much.  I am just not in the shopping mood here.  I think there is so much it is just overwhelming to find things.  There are a few key things I want to get while I am here like a silk dress, jade bracelet, and gifts for my family back home, but other than that I just am not feeling it (which is really strange for me). 

Tomorrow is a busy day of teaching and on Friday we have home visits with a students.  We each go home with a different student to their home for the night.  Their parents show us around and take us to some touristy places in Hangzhou. 

Hopefully I will have some more excitement in my next post, but for now I am happy and healthy! 

What a Weekend

As my weekend comes to a close, I want to share a with you more of my great experiences from Hangzhou, China.

After a fun night on Thursday, I took it easy and slept in a little on Friday. I had two sixth grade classes that went very well then Frances and I went for a little walk to look around and do some shopping. The shopping here is just overwhelming. I have bought a few little things and added a beautiful floral dress to my wardrobe on Friday. I figure if I just buy a few pieces here and there I will be spread my shopping and get things I really like.

After a hot shower and getting ready, we headed to check out the night life of Hangzhou. After a light dinner of noodles and salad at our favorite Taiwanese place, went a few places but spent much of the evening at a local place with some live music. It was really tuna and the owner even gave us a plate of watermelon and dragon fruit to munch on. We were the only white people in the bar but every made us feel so welcome!

Finally Friday

TGIF in Hangzhou! Even though it has been a great week, who doesn't love the weekend!

I didn't post last night because we were out having some adult time at a local French restaurant named Provence. It is one of the top places to go in Hangzhou and every Thursday they do a small meal and beverage night. We met a few interesting people and learned a little more about what to do in Hangzhou. Tonight we are going out to listen to music at another local restaurant.

To get to and from Provence last night we took the public bike system. As it might be a new concept to some of you (and it was to me) here is how it works. Bike cards are purchased and loaded with a certain amount of money. Located around the city are banks of bikes attached to a kiosk. You simply swipe your card, take the bike, ride the bike, and return it to any bike kiosk when you are done. It is a great way to get around quickly. It seems like everyone bikes here.

I've enjoyed getting to know all my classes this week. I'm teaching one class a week to every fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade class. I am going to focus on parts of speech and incorporate a lot of poetry, literature, and pop culture to get the students engaged. They seem to be interested in American music so I am excited to bring that into my lessons.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with a local girl and visiting an everglade area. I am excited to get out of the city a little. Even though it will be raining I have a trusty umbrella and rain jacket to keep dry.

This should be a fun and relaxing weekend. I miss all of you back in the states and hope everyone is doing well!

Just an Ordinary Day

Today was quite uneventful compared to my last week and a half.  After a big thunderstorm kept me up most of the night (along with the caffeine from the milk tea I had last night), I was quite sleepy.  Wednesday is my day off of teaching but we had a meeting with all the English teachers of the school at eight.  After that joined my advisor Rhea and we met up with another professor from the University of Montana living in Hangzhou for two months during her sabbatical.  

We grabbed lunch at a great little noodle place and then I returned to the school.  I am reading a new book called Divergent that I am just addicted to.  I will finish it and start the second book tonight.  I love my Kindle that Travis got me and am making full use of it.  

Today I found out how to get my laundry done at the school.  These wonderful ladies did my laundry and folded it all for me in about three hours.  This school is so great and making me feel so comfortable.  

Tomorrow is a full day of teaching and after a restless night last night I am happily going to bed early. 

Rough Day

This has been the most difficult day since I arrived in China.  After a throbbing headache last night and restless sleep, I found out from my parents that our family dog, Sadie, passed away today.  We got Sadie when I was in second grade and has been the most wonderful dog I could ask for.  We've seen it coming for a long time but it doesn't making it easier.  I feel like I've lost a member of my family. 

If I was back in the states, I would have easily taken a day off to get my emotions together, but here I have no such luxury.  I still had to get out of bed, lesson prep, and go through the motions of teaching even if I wasn't completely into it.  Sometimes teaching becomes more of a performance than anything else.  It was my first official day of teaching so I brought as much enthusiasm into it as possible.  I am teaching over at the Zijin campus which is the middle school.  The kids were all so excited about a real English teacher which made my lesson really fun.  We read a book about Montana which made me really homesick.  

I feel really guilty not being home with my family right now.  I've never been more than a day trip away from them.  I can only imagine how hard it is on my Mom and Dad.  Thank goodness for Skype and my IPhone so we could be as close as possible even though we are 6,000 miles away. 

Frances and I were in charge of evening activity for the third grade tonight.  It is just 45 minutes of doing something fun with the whole grade.  We taught the whole grade "My Home's in Montana" and it was just wonderful.  

Because of my headache I didn't write yesterday, but it was full of new experiences (and new foods).  It was our official welcoming ceremony at the school and all the students assembled to present Rhea, Frances, and myself with lovely silk scarves.  We then had a banquet with the English teachers and Principal Mindy at a nearby hotel.  It was an amazing dining experience with so many dishes all put on a rotating circle at the center of the table.  As the circle rotates, people just grab what they like.  The foods included beef, noodles, a large omelet dish, shrimp and so many others topped off with fresh sugar cane.  I was so full. 

The evening meal was a more intimate dinner with Principal Mindy and her daughter, Mindy's friend and her daughter, Rhea, Frances, and myself.  We went to the most beautiful banquet room at a local hotel and once again had dishes on the rotating circle.  The food was more exotic with goose foot in gravy, snails, duck, crab with thick noodles, fruit, cucumber with caviar, creamed peas with bacon, beef cubes, and other I can't even remember.  We drank the most amazing orange juice.  

Before going back for the night we stopped at the night market to test our bartering skills.  I bough a small square silk in my favorite color of tiffany blue for 4 dollars (I talked her down from 5).  There was so much to look at but with my headache I called it an early night and returned to school.  

More details to come....

Today has been long and exhausting. We had two amazing meals with the principal of the school and after lesson prep all day I am not feeling too well. I have so much to share but it will have to come tomorrow as I am in desperate need of a rest. Sorry!

Chinese Takeout

Another busy day in Hangzhou. Being as though I haven't done much exercise and have a marathon to run in four months, I decided to go on a little run this morning. Close to the school, a nice path runs next to a canal that is off the street and usually pretty empty. My run felt so good but the humidity quickly made me too hot! There is no happy medium here between cold and hot and being from Montana, my tolerance of sticky weather is not so high, but the run did feel great.

We met up with her and a close friend of hers that came to the University of Montana from Hangzhou many years ago. It was fun to see Hangzhou from a local's perspective. We walked around a lot and then took the bus to have lunch on the other side of town. Driving here is just crazy and I got a little nauseous on the bus. We traveled to the higher end side of town that is very quiet compared to my neighborhood. For lunch I had rice wine soup and these wonderful pork dumplings. I am starting to become very fond of dumplings of all kinds!

With the impending threat of rain we bought an umbrella and decided to walk the mountain that looks down on the lake. By Montana standards, it is more of a hill, but still extremely lovely. It is covered with bamboo forests and tea bushes. The heavy rain and greenery reminded me so much of Glacier Park in spring. I became a little homesick but soon snapped out of it with some teenagers wanting to take my picture (being blonde here makes me a tourist attraction to the locals). I plan on returning to the area to explore.

Shop! Shop! Shop!

Our first Saturday in Hangzhou included a ton of shopping! I have been itching to get out and look around and spend a little of the money I saved up for the trip.

The day started with a stop at our favorite breakfast food cart, Starbucks, and watching the older ladies do Tai Chi. The city was very quiet this morning which was a nice break from the constant honking. We then took a walk over to Century Mart (the four story grocery store, but has pretty much everything you could ever need from Northface jackets to chicken feet). We grabbed some necessities like a big bath towel and some oatmeal, and some luxuries like a can of Bear Beer we just could't resist (the taste testing will come soon). We realized this week that our diet is missing some fiber so we grabbed prunes, apples, and nuts to get things going.

Just to show the diversity of Century Mart… here is one of the ordinary events that occur throughout the day… net your own fish for dinner!

They Have No Idea What I'm Saying

This is the latest I've done a blog post and the first time I've been awake past 9:00 pm since I got here.  But it is Friday night, after all, so staying up to 9:30 just seems like the thing to do. 

Today was my first official lessons with the class.  After something came up yesterday, I was asked to fill in second grade while Frances taught first grade.  We did a Brown Bear, Brown Bear lesson with colors and animals.  My first class went well (and thank goodness because I was being observed by the English teacher), but after that the classes got a little out of hand.  In all my teaching experience, a few redirection and students would be back not track.  This is not the case, however, when the students have no idea what I am saying!!! I tried the counting down trick from 5, but when I reached 1 a little boy shouted out "BLASTOFF!!" This was extremely clever but by the end of my four classes I was a little exhausted.  

After a short nap Frances and I ventured out for the afternoon.  I was in need of a curling iron as mine stopped working the moment I got here, so we headed to a "girl's store" which was actually a whole market of make-up, nail polish, hair accessories, and clothes.  I was so tempted to get some "chanel" earrings but maybe another day. 

We heard of a Hong Kong Cuisine restaurant a few blocks away that we wanted to try.  We looked and looked but could not find it.  In dismay, I looked up to the sky to search for guidance and there it was… on the fourth floor of the building!  It was a happening place and the wait was a little long but we happily endured.  Once again we had no idea how to order but our waitress was very helpful and we ended up getting steamed mussels and clams, leek dumplings, fish balls in curry, and some noodles.  All the food was delicious (aside from the fish balls) and we wanted dessert.  Ordering dessert is evidently done at the beginning of meals in China so it was a big event trying to tell our waitress what we wanted.  Finally, we got our amazing bread topped with mango and ice-cream.  It was so good and filled us up for the walk home.  

Just a Walk in the Park

Good evening from Hangzhou. Today was a less exciting day but successful day none the less.

After school lunch and some early morning lesson planning and observing, we decided to warm up with a walk to West Lake. West Lake is what makes this city such a tourist destination. It is surrounded by flowering trees and old pagodas and tea houses. It is only a 10 minute walk so we ventured out for the afternoon.

We stopped at our favorite street food vendors including this lady that sells what seems like to flatted fish burritos put together with some sauce and onions in the middle. At only 80 cents they are a wonderful little snack. We arrived at West Lake and were just stunned by the beauty. The trees are just about to bloom and the air is so much fresher than in the city. We grabbed some more street food of leaf wrapped rice and tofu on a stick and started our jaunt.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Unfortunately our plans to walk to West Lake are put on hold for the moment as it decided to rain all night and all day!  With only one observation before lunch we decided to make it a work day and start working on lesson planning for our teaching time.  Before we got to work we went out to get some street food from a vendor we saw the day before.  He made us an amazing breakfast of a crepe with a scrambled egg, onions, spices, all wrapped around a churro looking pastry.  It was pretty amazing and got us going for our cold day of work. 

Stinky Tofu and Other Adventures

What another fulfilling day in Hangzhou filled with new experiences and adventures.  After a long, hot shower and going to bed early last night, I woke up at about 5 this morning with no intention of going back to sleep.  I read a little and got moving for the day.  I only had one observation at 10 so Frances and I decided to go on a little walk before class.  I had a breakfast of a banana and some skippy peanut butter I picked up at the supermarket yesterday.  As much as I love all the different food here, I needed a little break.  Our morning jaunt started with some Starbucks.  We just walked around the neighborhood as we are still getting acclimated to the city.  

During our break we headed to our favorite meeting room on the fourth floor of the school.  It is a beautiful room with a balcony that looks out over the neighborhood.  Some packaged snacks were set out on the table such as seeds and nuts and a unusual package with an object inside.  At first I though it was a fish and thug, "why not try a fish!" But to my dismay, upon opening the package I realized it was a chicken foot.  Now my rule is to try everything once, and since I had yet to try chicken foot, I gave it a taste….. and yuck!!! I think it might be better in a soup but it was so tough and just not my cup of tea. 

First Day at New Century

Good News!! I found a way around actually having to get on Blogger to post blogs so Now I don't have to go through Travis to post updates!

Morning

I am just taking a break between my morning observations. I am feeling very rested after going to bed at 6pm last night and waking up at 6:15 this morning. To be honest, last night I was a little bit of an emotional mess. I knew this experience would be different, but driving into Hangzhou for the first time was mind blowing. It is huge. It was completely overwhelming. For a brief moment I didn't think I would be able to do this.

We were shown to our rooms by Alice, a first grade teacher here at New Century and a few other English speaking teachers. I unpacked am made my room a little cozier. It felt good to be situated. My room is small but my bed is very comfortable. I went to bed without dinner as I had no appetite at all. We weren't given the internet password so I went to bed worried my family would be worried about me. I wrote e-mails that I would send in the morning.

And so it begins

Just a note: after realizing I could not access my blog in China, I will be sending updates to Travis who will post them for me. 

After the longest day I've ever experienced (being awake for 26 hours and traveling over 6000 miles), I am safely in our hotel in Shanghai waiting for a driver from the school to come pick us up.  I am fairly exhausted but excited to get settled in. 

I had a really difficult time sleeping last night.  The time difference is ridiculous.  I was able to talk to Travis when I woke up at 6 this morning and he was still at work on Saturday.  It was impossible to stay asleep last night with my body still on Montana time.  I also had ridiculous vertigo as well as nausea.  Oh the joys of traveling. 

This morning Frances and I woke up and took the shuttle over to the airport to get some food.  I quickly realized the language barrier is going to be hard to get over.  I had a strange oatmeal with chicken and some steam buns with pork inside.  It was pretty good but I still don't have much of an appetite.  We returned to our hotel for a little relaxation before our two hour car trip down to New Century Foreign Language School.  

I am feeling a little overwhelmed with the difference in culture.  I am ready to settle into my room and get on a set schedule.  Zai Jian for now!

Just a Short Stop in South Korea

Well.... I lasted through the longest flight I've ever been on... 12 hours of sitting and I am out of North America. There are a ton of great details but I lost my mind somewhere over the Pacific so I will just have to fill everyone in tomorrow.... One more two hour flight tonight and I will be in Shanghai!

P.S.  While it is only 3:30 am on Saturday in Montana, it is 7:30 pm on Saturday night here. Still can't comprehend the massive time change.

Downtime at SeaTac

The first leg of the flight is complete and we are in Seattle waiting for our international flight to Seoul.  The process this morning was less than perfect... after being over on my baggage by about 13 pounds (luckily I packed an extra bag to consolidate to save myself a $50 fee), and a little pat down in security, I was able to get on the plane and settle in for the short flight over to Seattle.  I was able to collect myself and relax a little on the flight and read a little about Chinese customs.

After a nice cup of Starbucks, I am looking starting to get nervous about my first flight over the ocean.  Up to this point, I have taken everything one step at a time, but reality is hitting me hard.  In 21 hours, I will be in Shanghai.

But for now, it is goodbye America!!!

A Little Down-Time

Writing from my parents' house in Zortman, Montana this morning, where it is a lovely 16 degrees and snowing.  Today's high in Hangzhou is 65.  Well, not actually today's high, more like tomorrow's because it is already midnight there.  The time difference is still crazy to me.

But back to Zortman.  I am spending a few days here with my parents to have a little mental break before I fly out.  Contrary to my family (especially my dad), I still am not very nervous about the trip.  It is hard to see my family so worried over something I am doing, but this trip is something I need to do for me.  I want to be able to tell my future students that it is ok to go out and try new things even if it is scary at first.  And that is what this trip is going to be to me: a learning experience that will push my out of my comfort zone.  It can be scary, but what is life staying comfortable all the time?  I found an Anthony Bourdain quote that sums up why I am going on this adventure:

I am 21.... so I am getting a head start.  Four days until departure.