China Grooves

A couple weeks ago, Tertius, my girlfriend, and I went to a heavy metal concert. We all had a great time, and Tertius wrote the article I posted a here. (He wrote it, but he insists that I was involved with it as well.)

We never received any reply from the magazine. We expected to get at least
a) Your  article is crap. We're not publishing it.
b) Thanks for sending the article, but we're not going to put it in our magazine.
c) We're publishing your article.

Tertius used to be a sub-editor for a newspaper back in South Africa, so he took a bit of pride in what he had written. Last Friday, he walked into a subway, and saw the December issue of China Grooves on a stand by the wall. He was slightly annoyed that we hadn't been contacted, so he looked through to find out what HAD been put into the magazine.

There was our article. It wasn't the main article. It was just tossed in there with a bunch of others, but there it was. We're still kind of annoyed that they didn't send us any emails, or phone calls, but knowing that a bunch of people are going to be reading that makes it all worth it.

We're going to an amusement park tomorrow to write up another one. hopefullt this time we'll get a message back.

Ducks Don't Fly in China

A month or so ago in class, in an attempt to help teach the word "duck" I started making flapping motions with my arms. The Chinese English teacher started chuckling.

They won't understand that. She said.

Why not? I asked.

Because ducks can't fly. She replied matter-of-factly.

After a brief discussion of weight ratios and air speed velocities, I decided to drop it for the time and continue with my lesson.

The idea stuck with me though. I used to go to the park back in America from time to time. Usually it was just to go swimming at the pool, or to take a walk with my mom, but I definitely remember ducks being at that park. Flying ducks. Why would they think that ducks can't fly? In my next lesson with another class of the same grade, I repeated the flapping motion, which was met with the same basic results. Again I was told that ducks can't fly.

Since then I have occasionally posed the question of the flight capabilities of ducks. The best I was able to get was that, maybe they could flap their wings and just kind of jump far. Not good enough for me.

The other day my girlfriend was at my apartment, and for some reason or another I asked her if ducks could fly. I can't remember her exact response, but it sounded something like the word "no."

Being in a feisty mood, I decided to prove her wrong. With a quick Google search, I found plenty of photos of flying ducks. Since we both enjoy pointless little debates like this, she decided to defend her side of the argument.

Those aren't ducks.

What do you mean? Those pictures clearly say duck underneath them.

Those aren't ducks. She insisted.

Not to be outdone by denial, and having regained access to websites normally blocked by the firewall, I loaded up Youtube and showed her some videos of ducks. Specifically flying ducks. She continued with her "Those aren't ducks" argument up until a video of a little girl feeding some ducks with her parents. Whether it was because the people in the video actually referred to the ducks as ducks, or more specifically, because the little girl called them ducks (She has a weakness for cute things.) she finally relented, and admitted that ducks could fly.

However, she insisted that the animal "duck" translates too in Chinese, the one I have enjoyed eating in restaurants many times, could not fly. I'm sure that I was eating duck all those times. A couple places even served it with the head still attached, and I'm darn sure that was a ducks head. What was going on?

I decided that this was something I needed to get to the bottom of. Luckily, with the aid of a couple more google searches, and some info from Wikipedia, I found this article. My best guess from it all is that the Chinese language is a bit more specific about ducks than English is, so what we see as a wild duck is possibly what in Chinese is called a "wild goose" or something like that. What they refer to as ducks is a breed of duck that's been bred for food so long, that it has mostly lost the ability to fly, either because it's gotten to fat, or simply has no need to.

I've now accepted that in China, "Ducks don't fly," but that's not going to stop me from flapping my arms in class.

I went to a concert recently with Tertius and my girlfriend. Since he used to be a journalist, Tertius decided to write an article about it and send it in to a local magazine. Here it is, unedited, for your reading pleasure.

SHREDDING ALL CYNACISM WITH NARAKAM

By TJ Lazer and the ED 209 Unit.

The night is cold and merciless as a group of us gather outside the BeforeSunset Bar to see Narakam, a band that has been boldly advertised as “Chinese Thrash/Death Metal Legends”.

Albeit that watching Narakam perform live will be a wonderfully refreshing change to the meat grinder, bunny-hopping club music I’ve been forced to get accustomed to on a Saturday night out, my associate and I traverse the pay point with a small degree of cynicism.

We are, after all, foreigners and therefore highly accustomed to the intricacies that define Metal culture.

Thus far, I haven’t encountered anything that remotely constitutes as a Metal band in China and other interpretations of Western genres such has Hip-Hop, have been unfortunately rather dismal.

Inside the small, but cozy bar the atmosphere is almost surreal.

No-one in the crowd actually looks like your stereotypical metal fan. There are no dopey-looking kids with long hair, teenage moustaches and body piercings.

In fact, everybody looks like their college students straight out of an economics lecture.

Even opening band Wu Zheng’s appearance does not resemble a typical group of hell-bent, heavy-metal maniacs, but rather like the guys next door who have decided to form a band in their garage.

However, all of this is some sort of illusion.

The minute Wu Zheng opens up with an intense high-powered riff, the condescending sneer on my face is transformed into a gaping maw wrapped in awe and mild confusion.

This band (for the want a better phrase) kicks ass.

The lead singer’s lanky physique and aloof posture is deceiving – he belts out raw lyrics like a man possessed sending the so-called mild college students into a frenzy of banging heads.

The music itself is intense and fuelled with energy, not at all put on.

Soon a small mosh-pit has formed at the centre of the small stage and the game’s afoot.

By the time the next act, Ling Jie, is underway the mood is set. I would have expected some of these people to make for the door the minute the vocalist for Lin Jie shrieked over his groups overlapping and complex guitar scales, but the crowd is rooted and so am I. The music is heavy and there’s electricity in the air.

Finally, Narakam graces the stage and the energy permeating through the crowd is at a peak.

It’s obvious that Narakam are well-seasoned veterans in this genre of music. They look and act the part. In short, they are living the dream. The mosh-pit has turned into a fierce (yet friendly) battleground, enough to leave me with a damaged knee that I know will plague me for days to come.

But there is no stopping Narakam.

Every song is a shred-fest with vocalist Kui, Tan toying with the crowd like a puppeteer.

He gets them to mosh harder, to cheer harder, to drink more beer – all of this with a smile on his face as the band belts out heavy distortion riffs to the background of a pounding heavy double-bass drum kit, mastered languidly by the drummer.

This band has talent and they pull the show off with ease until the end.

As we exit the bar I find it hard to hear my own voice, or even that of my associate and the passing traffic. My knee is aching and my stomach churning with warm beer, but I’m in a beautiful world of pain.

The bands tonight have far surpassed any of my expectations and all skepticism and cynicism has come crashing down like a badly constructed sand castle in the face of a typhoon.

Band’s like this need more support instead of being marginalized in the face of commercialism, because they posses something that very few of their Pop counterparts have – actual talent and sincerity.

This is what goes a long way and it is good to see that the Metal flag has found a home in Xi’an.

Stupid Quarantines

Back in September, a couple of my friends were stuck in their colleges because the entire place got quarantined. They released a lot of the quarantined colleges around the beginning of October for the national holiday, but now the lockdowns are back. She was outside of her college when the quarantine started, but she had to decide between being stuck at the campus for a month (or more) or missing classes and failing exams.

We've got Skype, and we can call/message each other, but it's still annoying. I've gotta go from spending a lot of time with her, to being bored at home with little to do. I'm sure I can find something to keep me occupied, but it still sucks.

Well now. Look what we have here!

It's been months since the firewall blocked Blogger and a couple other sites I enjoy, but I finally got around to downloading a program to get around it. I've got lots to talk about, so here it goes. I'll try to keep it in chronological order.

Saffron is no longer my roommate. We had an argument shortly after I stopped updating, and rather than work it out, she moved to a different apartment and has been doing an mazing job of pretending I don't exist. I'm not going to go into any more detail than that. Living on my own is great, and it's lots of fun. So far the only downside is that I have to pay the utilities by myself. Oh well.

Dane will be leaving soon. We're having a goodbye party tonight. Since Saffrons contract also ends soon, they will be doing a bit of traveling through Russia. She has renewed her contract, though, so she'll be coming back in a month or so. I've also renewed my contract, so I'll be working for Kid Castle until next Summer.

Big news! I have a girlfriend now! We were introduced by a mutual friend at the Park Qin bar/hostel. She's studying architecture at a a (relatively) nearby university. We've only been together about a month, but things are going smoothly so far. You'd think this was something I could write about endlessly, but I'm actually at a loss for words. She's smart and fun, and we're happy.

Sad news. My grandfather died. I'm going to miss him very much. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to talk to him more. I've just gotten to the age where I want to learn about what his life was like. When you're little, you go to your grandparents house and are happy just to be with them. What they did in the past was none of your concern. But now, I want to know. And it's too late. Someone once told me that every time a person dies, a library is destroyed. That's how I feel now. Except it's not just a library. It's my grandfather. Next time I see my grandmother, I'm going to spend as much of that time as possible talking to her. Really talking to her.

More big news! I'm planning on staying in China to study Chinese at a University once my contract with Kid Castle is finished. I'll still come back to America for a little bit this Summer, but I'll be leaving for China again to start studying. After thinking about it, this seems like the best way to get my degree. I enjoy teaching English here, and I want my degree. Now I can get both. Maybe once I have my degree, I'll be able to be a Chinese teacher in the US, or work at a college teaching English here in China. Lots of possibilities.

That's about it for news. Aside from that things are still mostly the same. I've been working, hanging out with Tertius and my friends. I'm still going to the radio station, although there are occasionally schedule conflicts. I've been here a year now, and things are going great.

Tripfriend: Radio Star - Part 2

I had a great time today. I met up with Little Fish and we went to the radio station. She showed me around and I got to meet some of the people she works with. I got to talk to some of the DJs and really had a blast.

And I got to be on the radio.

It was so much fun. Because I had met Little Fish at a party, she decided parties would be a good topic for conversation on the program. We spent the first half hour discussing holidays and how the parties differed for each holiday, random parties on the weekend, and reading form a dialogue book. The second half of the hour was spent taking calls. Parties, ironically, weren't mention as much as "How can I practice my English?" and "What sort of Foods are popular in America?"

Overall I had a great time. From talking with Little fish, I get the impression that I may end up on the radio once or twice a month now. I feel so special.

Tripfriend: Radio Star - Part 1

We often have a new person or two at our parties. Last week was Little Fish. One of our friends has recently started doing something at a local radio station. She is, I'm assuming, a manger type person, and is involved with an English language radio show there. She got my number and asked if I could come by some time to be on the show. I said sure, not really expecting a call back about it.

Yesterday I got that call. This Saturday (tomorrow), my voice will be broadcast all over Xi'an and quite possibly all of the Shaanxi Province.

Further details will follow tomorrow.

Eight Leg-ed Fear Mongers

There's a spider in my room. I'm not afraid of spiders. In fact, I used to have a pet tarrantula. But there's something you should know about this spider. It's the first one I've seen in Xi'an. I've been here close to half a year now, and this is the first spider I've seen in the entire city. I know I arrived in the fall, but I've barely seen any other bugs for that matter. Where are they all? Are all cities like this? I'm used to the bugs of wild West Virginia, swarms of ladybugs in particular. Here in Xi'an, the biggest bug I've seen wasn't even as big as my thumbnail.

I put the spider in my room to help fight off any other bugs that might wander in and bother my plants. He's been in here a couple days now and I jsut saw him again. I like to think that we've come to an unspoken agreement of, "he doesn't bite me in my sleep, and I don't squish him to a pulp."

Silverwear Scrutiny

Occasionally, when eating with Chinese friends, I will watch how they hold their chopsticks. I've never had problems handling my sticks, but I still like watching to try and immitate how they use them. I've noticed that some people hold theirs a bit differently, but they all work about the same.

I was at one of my Chinese lessons at Roast King (Pretend Mcdonalds and KFC had a baby) when I noticed that two people nearby were watching how I held the spoon for my ice cream. They were too busy looking at my hands to notice that I new they were watching, so I just kept eating. And watching. Sometimes they would try holding it differently, and then switch back to holding it like I was.

All of my Chinese friends have western forks and spoons and whatnot, but I guess there are still some people here who see them the same way most foreigners view chopsticks.

Climbing Wu Tai shan

I'm tired, sore, and a little bit bloody in some places. That's how I know I had a good weekend.

I just got back from climbing Wu Tai Shan. Wu Tai is a mountain about an hour south of Xi'an. It's a popular travel spot, and it has about five Buddhist temples on its peaks. Last week one of my friends suggested that we go and climb it. the thought of being back in some mountains had me ready for anything.

Saturday night we went out and bought some stuff for the trip. Snacks mostly, but I also bought a small two person tent for 200 kuai. Normally I wouldn't drop 200 kuai very quickly, but I was thinking too much of how much fun I would have in the mountains. I still don't regret it because it packs up small, and I plan on getting some more use out of it.

On Sunday, Jean, my Chinese friend, and I set out in the morning and, after a couple long and bumpy bus rides, arrived at the bottom of the mountain just before noon. I was bouncing off the walls (or trees since we were outside) with excitement.  These mountains were MOUNTAINS! I still think that the hills of West Virginia might be taller, but these just had a mountainous aura about them. They were very steep, and had lots of rocky areas.

There were three ways to get up the mountain. You can take a small van up a twisty road, you can walk up the twisty road, or you can walk along some through the valley where the path disappears about half way up.

Guess which way we went.

That's right! Trekking through the middle of the woods!

We started up at about noon, just me and Jean. After a bit, we were joined by three other people. A married couple with their niece. A while later we were joined by two other girls. The aunt and uncle and the two girls were all in the military, though I fear for the Chinese army if the two girls have anything other than desk assignments.

The first part of out journey lasted about three hours, usually with a break every hour of the way. After that we rejoined the end of the car road, and had lunch at a small, conveniently placed noodle restaurant. From there we said out goodbyes and started the second part of our hike. he stairs.

We've all seen movies with the temples at the top of a mountain and a long straight flight of big stairs leading to the top. These weren't like this. These stairs we large stair shaped rocks that had been placed along the mountain. There wasn't a straight line any where. Everything was switchbacks and curves around the side. From the noodle place, it took us another two hours of stair climbing to reach the first temple. From there it was fairly easy to get to the other two we went to. The going was still slow since the paths were narrow and high up. We got to the last two just as they were closing, and so we got to look around without any other tourists.

The view from the temples is amazing. Even with the pollution surrounding Xi'an (happily absent in the mountains) we could still see the city lights. The small towns looked beautiful from so high up. It was breathtaking. I really can't describe what it looks like. It's something that really has to be seen.

After we left the third temple we started wandering down the road looking for a flat, rock free, place to set up our tent. We found one just a little bit farther down the mountain than the noodle place. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.

Also right next to a a bears tree.

Yup. We had apparently decided to pick a spot next to a tree that a local bear likes to sleep in. Barely 30 minutes after we set up our tent, one of the guys who works on the mountain came by and told us that we'd have to move so we didn't bother/get bothered by the bear. He took us to a place a bit farther down the road. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.

Also right next to a path used by wild pigs.

Don't worry. He gave us a couple rocks and told us to just chuck them at the pigs if they bothered us. Ha ha! You gotta love China. In the end it was a cold, but uneventful night, with nothing more than a chicken coming by our tent.

We packed up around 10:00 this morning and took a van down the road to the base. We were both too tired to walk. From there we took two buses back to town. Neither Jean nor I can decide what mountain we want to go to next. Next month. After we've recovered.

On a side note, my Chinese skills seem to have gotten another boost. I was (in horribly broken Chinese) able to convey to the taxi driver on the way back, that I had come from Wu Tai Shan, had climbed for 5 hours, had lots of fun, and was very tired. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was still a little bonus to my great weekend.

See that small building in front of the cloud? That's what we walked too.

This isn't the top. This is the noodle restaurant where the road ends and the stairs begin. The people on the road are the group we were hiking with.

We finally made it. I got this piture of two of the temples from atop the highest temple.

Happy Day! Happy Day!

I just got off the phone with Chris, one of the other teachers. He told me something that could be considered the best news I've heard in months.

We're getting a new teacher this weekend.

A new KINDERGARDEN teacher.

What does this mean, you ask?

1. I get to show the new person around and train him/her in how the classes work. I like showing people how to do things because it makes me feel smart. :)

2. I get to go back to working at the Jin Du school.

3. I won't have to sit in the computer room of Greenland for 4 hours with nothing to do but surf the internet.

4. I won't be the only one on a Monday through Friday schedule, so I can finally have someone to regularly hang out with on the weekends.

5. A new friend for our parties.

I can't wait. I'll probably get a chance to meet this person over the weekend, but I really can't wait for Monday.

I say I'll probably get a chance to meet them this weekend, because I might not be around for all of it. Either Saturday evening, or Sunday morning, I'll be heading out with a Chinese friend, and possibly some of her friends to go hiking in the mountains south of the city. I can't wait to go. I'm not feeling homesick, but it'll be nice to be out in the hills again.

Hard Hat not Required

The part of the city that I live in is called the Gaoxin Zone, the High-Tech Zone. It's a newer part of the city, so there are lots of buildings that are still under construction. It's by one of those buildings that this takes place.

I was walking down the sidewalk on the way to the supermarket, when barely two steps in front of me, a large brightspark of yellow flashed on the ground in front of me. It was gone in an instant and I had no idea what direction it came from. When I look up, I see a construction worker with a welding torch, four or five stories up, almost directly above me. Sparks are flying as he works on something, completely unaware of the people walking below him.

I ran out from under him quickly, thankful that I hadn't been a second faster with my walking. I'd hate to get hit in the head by one of the bigger sparks. That's also when I realized that there are little to no safety precautions taken for some very dangerous jobs here.

I've seen street cleaners walking down the middle of the road picking up trash in between moving cars. People will open up manholes to send wires somewehere without putting up a single warnign sign. Even small things like wet paint signs are completely forgotten. 

I don't get it, but I've gotten used to looking for these things when I walk places, so I don't care us much as I used too.

The Chinese Firewall

Every once in a while when I'm on the internet I come across a site that I can't get to. This is the famous Chinese Firewall. What's funny though is that I'll try again at a later time, and I'm able to access it jsut fine.

This week, Youtube was added to the lsit of unaccessible sites.

For two days.

I noticed on Wednesday that I couldn't get to it. At first I just thought it was a crappy connection because Youtube has always been slow over here. Then I heard that it had actually been blocked. Today I was reading some things online and the website had an embeded Youtube video that loaded successfully (though slowly.) At first I just thought the other site was working like a proxy to get around the firewall, but then I checked Youtube and it was back.

This has happened before to a lot of places I go to including:

1. Cracked.com

2. Facebook

3. A couple webcomics I read.

I'm not sure who's in charge of the firewall, but they seem to be fairly whimsicle at their task. Personally I've never had any trouble with it. Most sites I go to either a) Liked by this mysterious firewall guy, b) have nothing to do with China or politics (though that hasn't stopped him before), or c) simply aren't well known here.

This has given me an idea for my next post though. "Things Banned in China."

Hopefully I can ge a decent list together for Monday.

Status Update

A Cople things to do here. I haven't updated in forever which is really bugging me. I need to get on a consistant schedule of two or three updates a week. I'm thinking I'll try and do a Monday/Wednesday/Friday Schedule.

Work- We haven't gotten any new teachers lately, so I'm still doing the Greenland school. It'/s a great school, but I hate not being able to do things during the break in between classes. I've started bringing my laptop with me so that I don't have to deal with the crappy ones here. I'm about ready to start searching for more teachers myself.

I've also started teaching two classes every Friday at the evening school that Saffron and Chris work at. I used to have Friday afternoons off, but I never did much on them, and the extra 150 kuai a week will be a nice addition to my paycheck.

Learning Chinese- I wouldn't call it a breakthrough, but the other day I could tell that I had actually made a big improvement with my Chinese. I was able to ask the people at the fast food place if they had a burger that wasn't spicy! This is very different from the "Bu yao la - Don't want spicy" that I use when I order food at the lotus. I already know that it's spicy and they cant make some food for me without it. Usually my lessons are at a Roast King fast food place in Xiao Zhai. Last sunday during my lesson we took a break and I went downstairs to get some food. Most of the time when I order the food it's pretty spicy, but on one rare occasion it wasn't. I wanted to get the non spicy kind again. When it was my turn at the counter I pointed at the burger I wanted and said "Ni you mei you zhe ge bu la? - Do you have this but not spicy?" Technically what I said was slightly grammatically incorrect, but we hadn't covered that too much. I got the non spicy chicken burger, and I've been on cloud nine ever since. I've also noticed that, while I don't know what they're saying, I've gotten better at hearing Chinese, and breaking it into separate words. It's no longer just noise most of the time. It's actual sounds! I'm so happy!

The Gang- Everyone is doing so much stuff it's hard to keep track.
Dane's first contract was set to end in a month or so, but he's decided to stay for another 6 months. There were a bit of complications in gettign his contract renewed, mostly because his boss has been travelign around China since the Spring Festival.

Chris got married. I may have misheard something, but I think this is the second weddign that him and Jennifer have had.

Our South African friend Tertius got a new roommate, and English guy named Paul. He's a nice guy, but his accent is a lot stronger than Saffron's so sometimes I miss a word or two of what he says.

Our Chinese friend Nate has been accepted by two different colleges in America so far. He's still waiting for some more info to come in before he decides what he'll be doing, but he'll be moving to the US probably in mid Summer.

Xi'an- The spring came fast, and it came hard. We've had a week of great weather, and relatively bright skys. I've always been amazed at the number of trees and bushes in he city, and now that they're all blooming it's even more noticeable. In the Gaoxin area that I live in we've got a whole army of groundskeepers running around planting more bushes and putting more trees in the parks. The water trucks have also been more active lately driving around and spraying everythign down. I guess it's needed, since it barely ever rains here.

What Did YOU do today?

I just won a bottle of hair conditioner in a tug of war contest at a Chinese elementaery school.

Think about that. If you told that to someone they'd think you were really weird. But it just happened, not even an hour ago.

March 8th is International Womens Day. I had never really heard about it back in the US, but here it seems to be a big holiday. I'm still not quite sure how it works, but it seems to be like Mother's Day for all women. 

A couple days ago, Lucky, a teacher at Jin Yuan came and asked if I could come by the school today to take place in a tug of war contest for International womens day. Normally I have Friday aternoons off, and I love my time off, but the idea of being in a tug of war contest seemed like a lot of fun. Also, I like the people I work with so I would have come anyway.

I came back to the school at 5:00, around when the kids go home. It was a lot of fun because I got to interact with the kids outside of the classroom. Some of them were a bit more nervous and were pretty quite with me, but most were all trying to get my attention. One of the kids from the baby class even tried to take me home with him. At about 5:30 most of the kids were gone, or with their parents, so we began the contest.

The men were divided up into teams first, to help keep it even. After that, the women drew and we seperated into four teams. It took a bit to get going. Getting everyone in the propper places took a bit of time. At one point I had the rope around my waist, and some of the kids were on the other end of me puling, and it left quite a red mark where it strangled my stomach. Tug of war is tug of war, but I think we did pretty well. We beat both teams we went against, and won the game. Out prize was bottles of hair conditioner. Everyone on the winning team got one. Even me. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it. I might use it, but I've still got a bottle in the bathroom, and another one that came with some shampoo I bought the other day.

But yeah. That's how I won a bottle of hair conditioner in a tug of war contest at a Chinese elementaery school.

Took It Long Enough

After four months of being here, I've seen it rain about five or six times, and it hasn't snowed properly at all. I've been told that this is the driest it's been in over a decade.

I woke up at about 7:30, and was about to sleep in another 30 minutes or so when I got an sms from one of my Chinese friends.

Hi. Get up. Look out the window. It's snowing!

I'm fairly certain she spammed the message to everyone in her contact list, because a couple minutes later I got a similar message from one of the other teachers who probably wouldn't be awake for another hour or so under normal conditions.

I glanced out my bedroom/balcony window and caught a glimpse of snow. I rushed out of my room and looked out the living room window to get a better look. It was beautiful. It's changed to sleet by now, but it was a wonderful morning. Large wet flakes were falling from the sky, and although they melted when they hit solid ground, there was a thick white covering on all the plants and cars. Perfect snowball snow too.

Like my dad, I'm not a fan of the snow, but I was beginning to fear that for the first time in 21 years I'd go a Winter without a sheet of white on the ground.

Little Villages

I wandered around a new part of the city with a Chinese friend today. We spent bit of the time wandering through one of the "little villages". I'm still not sure if that's a Chinese term for them or a foreign one that got picked up by the English speakers around here, but the description really fits. Little villages are these mazes of back-alley markets. They're filled with everything that makes a stereotypical Chinese market street a stereotypical Chinese market street.

On one side of the street is a China Mobile next to a sock shop and a noodle place, and on the other side is a net bar a cheap restaurant, and a fresh fruit stand. You can't see it, but somewhere down the street someone is selling stinky tofu and none of the Chinese people seem to pay attention to the smell. At one corner, a guy is shaving the outer layer off a piece of sugar cane that's as tall as he is. He's talking to his friend who's pealing a pineapple with a special knife so it gets a nice spiral pattern. A woman on the other side is making caramel candy popsicles in the shape of the zodiac animals. Some people walk by you eating some dumplings, but you don't know where they got them. There are probably at least three places in the area that sell them. You have to dodge out of the way of people riding bikes or electric scooters. A car might drive by on one of the bigger parts, how they have room to push through is a miracle to say the least. The roads are dirty, and there's a small pile of garbage on fire in the corner, but the smell of food is stronger so it's not that noticeable. Every once in a while you pass some guys playing cards or a group of people crowded around two old men playing a kind of Chinese chess. The rest of the street is filled with people shopping or just heading home. Girls in high heeled boots and skirts (and stockings since it's cold out.) will walk past men wearing suits and nobody seems feel out of place at all.

I love the little villages. They're easy to find. In some areas, you can't go more than three or four blocks without going past one. I live in the Gaoxin, high tech, part of Xi'an, so I'm mostly surrounded by tall buildings and offices, but even here is a little village.  And I love it.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday I turned 21! Hooray, huzzah, and jubilation!

My birthday is on the 15th. the day after Valentines day. Because of the way the scheduling worked out, this whole weekend has been one big off and on party for me.

Saturday, most everyone came over and we had a big dinner at the Hunan restaurant down the street. For Chinese birthdays, typically person takes his friends out and treats them, where in America it's (not quite, but mostly) the other way around. I expected to pay more for dinner, but we were able to feed nine people for 120 kuai. That's less than 20 USD. I love China.

After dinner we came back to the apartment to party for most of the night. More friends showed up as the night progressed. I was gifted with such things as scented lanterns, wine, and balloons. Then there was the cake. Saffron bought me a wonderful cake, which so eloquently reads: Happy Birthday Minge. (I guess it's more of an English English word.) She's such a good friend. :P

Sunday night most people were either tired from the previous day, or busy, but Saffron and I managed to get a couple friends over and out to a club. Then we fed Saffrons addiction and went to KTV. Great weekend, and a great way to have a birthday.

Then came Monday morning. For most of this weekend I was under the impression that I did not have work on Monday. So when we got back from KTV, it was about 6:30~ in the morning. Somehow I was still wide awake and got to checking things on my computer. This was probably a good thing, because it meant I was awake when I got a phone call at about 6:50. They needed me to come in to work today.

I have no idea how I managed to do it, but I did the full day with nothing but a nap during the big gap in between my classes. It was a great day at work, actually. One of the teachers there had a birthday too, so we each gave each other a piece of chocolate. All of the classes sang Happy Birthday to me, and I got to teach them some of the silly alternative verses to the song.

I can only hope that next year goes half this well.

Chinese People and American Candy

My birthday is next weekend, so my mom sent me a Valentines Day/Birthday package. In it were some shirts my Aunt sent me for Christmas and some snacks. Specifically, a bag of root beer flavored hard candies. For those of you not from America, root beer is a type of  soda that origionally got it's flavor from the root of the sassafras tree. It is quite possibly the best soda ever created by man. And my mom sent me a whole bag of root beer flavored candy.

I had to spread the love.

I've given away about three times more than I've eaten myself. This is usually what happens when I get a snack food that people here haven't had. The same thing happened with Pop Tarts. Everyone seems to like them though, so I'm happy. 

The funny thing though is how special the candy is to them. Because it's made in America it's automatically ten times better than the candy they can buy in a store. If you give a Chinese person anything that isn't food, they'll often check to see if it was made in China. If it is, it's not as special. They don't seem to put to much importance on their own goods. But if it's made in ANY non-Asian country, it becomes the coolest thing since sliced bread. Especially if it's a food or candy.

It's Picture Time!

I got loads of pictures from the trip to Chengdu. Here are a few choice ones.

Chengdu is a very different city than Xi'an. Much less structured in the layout. This is partially because of the rivers, and Xi'an having been the home of an emperor at one time.

A big statue of Mao overlooking a large city square. It's probably about three stories tall.

The inside of the Mao Museum. It really was just a small shack with a lot of stuff crammed inside. I had a lot of fun in there, though. Worth seeing if you can find it.

The old man who owns the museum and his weird friend. They were quite nice.

The People's Park was very quiet. You couldn't tell you were in the middle of a city with a population of 11+ million people.

Saffron and our new friend Robert. Like her, he is also English. He's doing a journey around the world and is meeting up with his girlfriend once he gets about half way through. 

We rented a boat and rowed around for a while. The people on the bridge were watching us because they didn't think we could make it under such a low bridge.

We proved them wrong.

There were lots of nice flower and bush arrangements throughout the park.

The next day we went and saw some actual pandas.

They're incredibly lazy. Most of them couldn't even be bothered to sit up to grab the food, and would just reach around until they found something edible.

The baby pandas were cute and incredibly funny. They were always climbing around their cage, and falling onto each other.

For 1000 kuai (about $150 US) you could hold one and get your picture taken with it. I was satisfied with what I got, though most of my pictures are fairly blurry. I took some short videos and they turned out alright.

There were also some red pandas. They look cool, but they're vicious little bastards. They couldn't go for more than five minutes without biting each other.

We made lots of new friends at the hostel. We made them come to KTV with us.

Saffron and Millie.

Mark and Thi

Thi wasn't a very good singer. Luckily that's not an important factor in KTV

By the last night we were practically walking up to people at random and telling them that they had to join us for KTV. I didn't even get these two's names the entire night. I don't think anyone regretted their decision to come.

One of the performers for the Sichuan Opera. The face changing was amazing.

The secret of the masks is very closely guarded, but at the same time they let people take pictures and recordings of the act.

Part of the monastery we went to. I thought it was overly touristy.

On one side, peace and tranquility. On the other, a busy tea house. All in a monastery.

They even had a vegetarian restaurant. Saffron got some sort of  pineapple drink that was pretty much a glass of extra thick bubbles. It was pretty good though.

Most hostels have a pet that wanders around. Mix's Hostel had two cats that like to lurk near the fireplaces in case a backpacker dropped some toast for them.

The "Lantern Festival" wasn't at all what anyone expected. Everyone at the hostel thought it would be a quite event in a park where people light candles and lanterns. We were wrong. This thing was full on carnival.

They were very creative with the "lanterns."

Other times... Not so much. Chengdu is really trying to cash in on the Kung Fu Panda movie. It seems to be a big hit here. I liked it too.

There was a big tower in the middle of the park. Some people took an elevator up. (Lazy) We took the stairs. We took the elevator down because the stairs were very narrow.

Saffron and our other new Brit friend, Helen.

The view from the top of the tower was amazing.

I'm going to miss all the friends we made at the hostel. Robert and Helen from England. Mark, our crazy Dutch comrade. Millie and Thi from Australia are coming to Xi'an in a coupel days, so we'll get to see them again.

Saffron and I are going to spend most of the weekend relaxing and recovering from our trip. Happy New Year everyone.

I think I've Overdosed on Music

I've gone to KTV four nights in a row now. I can't remember the last time I got a full night of sleep.

For those of you who have never been to KTV, it's karaoke. You go with some friends, and rent a private room to sing in. They have nice big screens, tambourines, and plenty of snacks. It's a blast.

But going four nights in a row is too much. Especially when you don't get back till 6 AM.

It's really taken time out of our plans for visiting things around the city.

Since I'm flying back to Xi'an tomorrow, here's another quick update before I can put some pictures on here.

Day Three and a Half: CNY Eve

The Chinese New Year is simply spectacular. In America we set off lots of little fireworks, and go see some bigger ones at shows done by professionals. It doesn't work that way here. As soon midnight hit, the streets lit up with people setting off firecrackers, sparklers, and anything else that went boom. At times I saw people place big red boxes the size of a computer case in the road and proceed to blast large rockets into the sky. For almost an hour there was a constant din of explosions and bangs. There's no way half the things we lit on fire would have been legal to blow up in the US. 

After that we went to the first KTV with a couple Chinese backpackers. That was a lot of fun. Little did I know it was the first night of many.

Day Four: Mexican Food

We spent most of the New Years day recovering from the night before, This would become a common practice for the next couple days. The only interesting event today was that we went to a nice Mexican Restaurant. More KTV followed that night. We went with a Dutch guy we met at the Hostel along with two girls from Australia. Saffron got very drunk.

Day Five: The Sichuan Opera

Once again, we spent most of the morning recovering from the previous night. That evening Saffron and I went to see the Sichuan Opera with Robert. It was more like a variety show than an opera. It started off with some instrumental music, then went to singing, comedic acting, acrobatics, and finally the famous face changing. The face changing was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen on stage. The performers come out wearing bright outfits and a mask. What's amazing though is that with a simple wave of the hand, their masks change faster than the eye can see. Sometimes they don't even move. You can see any motion at all. The mask is just different. Or gone all together. They let people take photos and videos, so I'll be sure to put small video of it up. It really has to be seen.

More KTV that night. This time Robert came as well as our friends form the previous night. Saffron got very drunk again and tried to drag us to ANOTHER KTV after the one we were at closed for the night. (Or morning since it was 5 AM.)

Day Six: Rest and Net Bars

Slept in. Got to tell Saffron about the previous night. (It's always fun being the most sober.) She promised we wouldn't go to KTV again that night and that we would just rest at the hostel. I went to the Net Bar down the street to have a bit better Internet access. When I came back to the hostel, Saffron introduced me to two Dutch girls and informed me that her earlier statement had been a complete and utter lie.

We went to KTV again that night. We decided to go to a new KTV this time, to give the people at the first one a break from us, and because this one was open 24/7. I left at about 6AM with the Dutch girls because I needed to sleep, and they had to go to see the pandas later.

Day Seven: Today

Saffron woke me up at about noon. Apparently she hadn't slept and had made a new friend when she got back to the hostel. Saffron and Helen (Our new friend for the day) were getting ready to go to a local temple, and decided that I had had enough sleep.

The temple was pretty, but was very touristy. Nothing like what I expected from a Buddhist temple. They had a vegetarian restaurant and tea house, along with a little souvenir stand by the entrance. Oh well. I guess they have to get their funding somehow. For as many people were in their walking around, it was fairly quite and peaceful. I'd like to see one of the temples in Xi'an to see how they differ.

Once I'm done writing this post, I'll be going with Saffron and Helen to see a lantern festival at a nearby park. I hear some of the lanterns are as big as a car.

We'll see how this goes.

Chengdu: Three Days In

Saffron are in Chengdu. Right now we're just chilling out at a net bar. Heaven forbid we spend more than a day without Internet access. I don't have a card reader to post pictures, so that will have to wait till Friday.

Friday, Day One:

We left the apartment at about 1:30 and took a taxi to the airport bus stop, hoping to make it there before the bus left at 2:00. We didn't. It worked out though. We found a very enthusiastic taxi driver who took us and a Chinese man to the airport for 30 kuai each. It was only 4 kuai more than the bus, and we probably got there faster. We ate some snacks at the airport and went to the flight gate. This is the first time I've gotten on a plane that wasn't loading from the actual terminal. We had to get on a little shuttle buss and drive all of 100 feet to the plane. Safety issues, I know, but it was still funny that we needed to drive that far to the plane.

The plane ride was was. I love short rides, because I can sleep most of the way. I think I only woke up long enough to groggily eat the in-flight peanuts and take a sip of water.

Although the directions to the hostel from the airport were very good, we managed to get lost about three times. The people at the hostel were very patient with us whenever we called and asked for help getting there. When we got there at about 9:00 we checked in, put our stuff in our room, and had our dinner around some cozy fires and chatted with some of the other travelers.

Saturday, Day Two:

We met a cool guy from England around the "campfires" the night before. Robert, said guy, came with us to wander around Chengdu. We started off with a nice walk to see the statue of Chairman Mao. It was quite impressive. I wish This computer had a card reader, because I would love to post pictures now. They'll have to wait till Friday night when I get home.

After we saw the Mao Statue, it was off to the Mao Museum. It was hardly a museum, but in it's own way that made it even more impressive. It was located down a back alley street, and we actually walked past it once thinking it was just some guys house. Which it was. The Mao Museum is what you get if you take all the old nicknacks and junk out of your grandmothers house and put them into a small shack the size of my living room. (Not you Grandmom. Your house is very clean.) The Mao Museum is run by an old man who simply likes to show off his collection of old Mao badges and communist paraphernalia. He was quite friendly, and was more than happy to let us wander around while he sat in his little wooden chair by the door. It cost us 5 kuai to get in, and another 5 to take pictures, though I think he made up the price on the spot. Just when we left his weird friend showed up, sporting no less than 5 Mao badges himself. They were quite nice, and were very happy to get their pictures taken as well. The whole place had a very cozy feel to it, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to go to Chengdu.

We didn't have any specific destination in mind when we wandered around and ended up at The People's Park. I'm always amazed when people can put a park in the middle of the city, and design it so well, you forget you're actually IN a city. The Peoples park does a great job of this. It's mostly a lot of stone paths and tea houses, but there's a nice lake in the middle and we were able to rent a boat for only 20 kuai. We spent about an hour rowing around the central area and the smaller canals on the edge.

After the People's Park, we were dead tired, and went back to the hostel for a nap and some more food. We tried to find a club later that night, but because of the Spring Festival coming up, it closed early, and we weren't able to find it.

Sunday, Day Three:

PANDAS ARE SO CUTE! We had to wake up early to take the tour, and it was colder than a freezer outside, but it was worth it. We went with Robert, and a couple other people from the hostel to the Chengdu Panda Base. I had heard complaints from some people that the pandas were quite lazy, and were often sleeping when they went to see them, but we must have been lucky today, because almost all of them were up and about. Well, up and eating at least. They're still quite lazy. We saw some of the young pandas. Four of them were sitting on a large wooden platform munching away at bamboo. They moved as little as possible, but unlike a sloth, they were simply lazy and didn't feel like putting the effort into getting more food.

We only got a glimpse of the giant pandas, but what really made the day worth it was the baby pandas. The tour guide said they were about five months old, and they were adorable. There were two wooden cages for the baby pandas to climb around and play in, and the made the most of it. There were four in each cage and one off in a pen by himself. Words can hardly describe how great they were so I'll leave that for the pictures later.

Now that we've returned from the pandas, we've showered, napped, and gone to this net bar. In a minute, we will return to the hostel for a dumpling party. Good Times. Good Times.

Away I Go!

For the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) Saffron and I will be going down to Chengdu. We'll be there a week, staying at a hostel, doing tourist things, and having fun.

I'm not taking my computer, but there should be one at the hostel, so I'll keep you updated. I promise to take lots of pictures.

Not Sure How This Happened

Nobody drinks the tap water here. Everyone has one of these little water coolers (that heats the water instead). Whenever you run out, you just call the number on the jug, and a guy will come and deliver a new bottle. When he comes, he puts these little plastic wraps over his feet, comes inside, wipes off the nozzle of the new bottle, wipes off the hole it goes into, and just generally wipes down the entire thing. He puts the new jug in, and you pay him. Normally it costs about 6 or 7 kuai for a bottle, you can buy cheaper tickets in bulk, and just use them instead of the kuai.

Normally, when you call for more water, they just use your phone number to tell where you live, but it doesn't work that well for us. Saffron ordered water today, and left me to make sure someone was home when it arrived. Normally, it will arrive here after a couple hours, depending on when you order.

For some reason, however, our water always ends up going to Dane's place. Twice now that we've ordered more it has been delivered to him. I was actually on the phone with him when it got there.

Me: I'll take you to the package place later. It's easy to give directions there, but hard to find.

Dane: Ok. Hold on, there's someone coming up the stairs. I just buzzed them in.

Me: It's probably my water. Saffron ordered some today. I bet it got delivered to your place by accident.

Dane: Yeah. It's a guy with water. I'll try and direct him to your place. *Inaudible Chinese* There. Hopefully he'll be at your place in a bit.

He got here about 15 minutes later, looking somewhat annoyed. Probably from climbing up and down the six flights of stairs to Danes place. That's twice now that this has happened. I think I'll start keeping count until it stops.

Not Such a Superstar

I didn't get to sing yesterday. But I did get some free food.

Eric came to pick up Saffron and myself at about nine in the morning. From there we went to the Jin Du School to pick up Maya, a Chinese teacher for Jin Yuan and Sara's school. After that it was about a 30 minute car ride to get to the north part of inside the walls.

On the way, we were finally told that we would be singing for the awards ceremony to some "Oral English" contest. When we arrived it was freezing cold out, so we ran inside the auditorium... Where the heating was turned off... We stood around for a couple minutes and were then told that we would only be singing Tian Mi Mi, because they weren't able to find something they needed for us to sing Country Roads. I know it wasn't the music they couldn't get because we were practicing it on the car ride over.

In the middle of my pacing to keep warm, Maya got Saffron and I and took us on stage so we could practice Tian Mi Mi. It didn't go that well. At the time I still needed to look at the lyrics every other line. which I still do for the most part.) Saffron sang this song at the Christmas production for Sara's school so she already knew the words. The sound system kept giving us bad feedback, and they ended up cutting us off half way through. I guess they knew what they needed and didn't want to listen to the noise anymore. As far as the singing went, I'd say it was decent.

Once we were done, Eric had disappeared and Maya told us that he had given her money  for us to go out to eat lunch. For the reason that it was close by, and that Eric had given her plenty of money, we went to Pizza Hut. 

Pizza Hut here is nothing like in the US. It's actually considered a fancy restaurant. And in  weird way it is. It's nothing like the ones back home. In the US Pizza Hut is considered to be fast food. Higher quality fast food, but fast food all the same. Here, it's a full blown restaurant. Nice jazz music playing, menus with more than just pizza, real cheese on the pizza, and a large bill. Did I mention that I didn't have to pay for any of it?

We ate our lunch and sat around at the table for a while because we didn't want to go back out in the cold. When we were all finished with all the food we could pretend to finish eating, we decided to go for a walk around the Parkson. This could just be my country folk upbringing, but I've never seen a Parkson before, much less heard of it. Whether it's an expensive Chinese store with an English name, or a foreign store that has high prices in China, it's a fancy place that normally requires a membership card to enter. (Which Maya had.) We walked around and stared at the clothes with the expensive price tags. I'll never understand why you buy a more expensive brand when you can get the same quality for less than half the price somewhere else.

That was when Maya got a call from Eric. It turned out that the actual awards presentation would take to long, that we wouldn't have time to sing. Oh well. I didn't know the words that well anyway. Maya had to go back to the auditorium to return some things, so Saffron went home, and I went to walk around the Muslim Quarter before I returned home.

It was a nice day.  I didn't have to teach any classes, and I got free pizza. Always nice.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

When I was called to Eric's office today during break I thought it was to discuss how I have a short CNY vacation than the other teachers.

It wasn't.

Somehow I was asked to (and agreed to) sing two songs for some regional government education people on Friday with Saffron. (Who hasn't been asked yet.) One of them is in Chinese! I can barely order apple juice at a fast food restaurant, and they want me to learn an entire sing in Chinese. In less than three days!

Saffron and Chris had to learn this song for their Christmas play last month, but they had a lot more time to practice. I'm on my break right now, and one of the receptionists put Tian Mi Mi, the song, on the computer next o me to help me learn it.

If you can't tell by my rambling text here, I'm kinda nervous.

For the English song, I'm thinking of singing Country Roads. Mostly because it's a song that seems to be known world-round. And it's easy.

One of my Greatest Fears

It almost happened yesterday, and I'm even more nervous about it because of that.

It's a common occurrence. At the beginning or end of a class, a bunch of the kids will occasionally rush up and start grabbing/hugging/punching me. When this happens I have to be very careful not to fall on them. With that many five-year-olds latched on to you, it's very easy to lose your balance.

That's what happened yesterday. At beginning of class, practically as soon as I walk in the room, I'm swarmed by half the kids in the room. They quickly formed a little circular mob around me, and almost every one had a vice grip hold on me. Two or three kids is normally no problem, but this many caused a bit of trouble With that many kids all moving around and jostling me, I lost my balance and fell.

I was lucky that I saw it coming. Having all the kids holding on to me helped slow the fall enough that I was able to catch myself in a sort of push-up position, keeping me up enough that I didn't land on any of the kids. I'm a pretty tall person, so landing on a kid is probably a good way of sending someone to the nurses office at the very least.

I did catch myself though, and it ended up with all of us in a pile on the floor by the door. They all thought it was funny, but the teacher was a bit nervous. (Probably more for me than for the kids.) I was paranoid the rest of the class, and would crouch down to brace myself if any of the  kids even looked like they want to so much as touch me.

I've been afraid of falling on the kids since Day One. Hopefully if this happens again, which I'm sure it will, I'll be able to prevent any injuries.

Different Schools

One of the other teachers has been away getting married over the holidays, so I've been covering his classes at Sara's school to pick up a bit of extra spending money. This has been my irst time teachign at one of the evening schools, and it's very different from what I'm used to.

1. The classes are longer. Instead of the 20-25~ minute race of a class at the kindergartens, the evening schools have nice 45 minute classes, so I actually have time to teach a bit more than just a couple flash cards. Sometimes it's a bit difficult trying to make a 45 minute class for three words and a little poem, but once it get's going it's a lot of fun. I really have time to interact with the kids too.

2. The kids are older. The age of the kindergaten students is anywhere from 2-7. At the evening school, it's more of 6-11. I can actually comunicate with the kids on a regular level. I love it.  I got to talk to one of the smarter kids for about 10 minutes about a cartoon we had both seen. While we couldn't go into great detail, we were able to gether enough of what the other was talking about from both having a good knowledge of the show.

3. There are less classes, and less kids per class. The Greenland school has about nine classes with anywhere from 10 kids in the baby class, to 30 in the senior class. At last count, there's around 170 kids in that school, and I teach all of them. At Keji, there are usually only 8 to 14 kids, and much less classes. And with the extra time, I can actually remember a lot of their names.

It's a large difference between the two types of schools. I've still got till November before my contract ends, and I'll probably stay longer, so I wonder how many more times I'll end up teaching there.

Happy New Year

My New Years Resolutions (In no particular order):

1. Grow back my goatee. I gave into peer pressure last night and shaved it at midnight. The only reason I agreed is so that once it grows back I can say exactly to the minute, how long I've had it.

2. Become better at Chinese. Saffron's Chinese is getting better at an amazing rate. I'm jealous. She is able to practice a lot more than me, but I'm still not putting enough effort into it. I resolve to change this.

3. Be more proactive. I need to go out and meet more people. I want to make some Chinese friends on my own instead of just waiting for Saffron or Dane to introduce me to one of theirs. (Although this HAS worked out fine so far.)

4. Clean more. I do my share of the cleaning, but every once in a while Saffron just goes on a cleaning binge and I feel like I don't do enough to help. I'm going to clean more and make sure that I don't cause all the mess in the first place.

5. Study. I'm saving up for some online college classes so that I can finally get my degree. Buckling down and studying is something that I've always had trouble doing, so I resolve to study more. I love China, but I do intend to go to another country eventually, so I'll need a BA degree. I need to study more.

People always make resolutions that they know they'll never keep, but I think that these are both possible, and accomplishable. I hope everyone has a good new year and makes some resolutions that they can follow through with.