HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone is enjoying all things spooky and sweet! 

I on the other hand have been battling a cold the last week and have been slacking on the blog. Sorry bout that. Aside from that my Halloween day has been pretty awful. Not every day is perfect in China. I am super worried about tomorrow because all of my student's parents will be coming to watch me teach and give criticism. I would be okay with this in America because I'm confident in my ability to speak English to English speaking children. However, speaking English to a group of 3-4 year old Chinese children, 16 of which are boys and 4 are girls, is not the easiest thing in the world to do. I struggle on a daily basis to teach them while they continue to scream and run around the room. And now their parents get to witness the chaos. I'm incredibly scared just thinking about it. My fellow English teacher's tell me not to worry but they have the pleasure of teaching much smaller classes of older children who can actually speak. We have two very different experiences. We will see what the day brings tomorrow! I will just keep trying to stay positive. It will be a great day. It will be a great day. It will be a great day.

Now on to the original reason for this post: Halloween! It is genuinely one of my favorite holidays most likely due to the fact that I have the biggest sweet tooth ever. Side note the prune candy and others of the Chinese variety are disgusting, all I really want is a pile of Reese's right about now but I am stuck with just looking at pictures of them. Eat a few for me!

We've been so busy preparing for "Parent's Day" that we aren't doing anything to celebrate today. I forgot it was Halloween until Andrew reminded me this afternoon. Believe it or not there aren't reminders of pumpkins and witches everywhere in China. We actually celebrated last Friday with our Pre-School. 

After trick or treating that night, we performed a play that Wayne wrote himself and ended with a bang as we danced off stage to our choreographed version of "Thriller". It was somewhat of a spin off of The Wizard of Oz. The plot was simple enough for the children to understand. The Mad Scientist (played by myself) demands that her lab helper Igor (Wayne) go into the village and find the remaining three parts she needs to complete her greatest creation: Frankenstein (Andrew). He goes into the woods and gets an arm from the wolf (Lucy-a teacher in Wayne's class). Next, he gets a heart from a bat (Bella- from Hannah's class). Lastly, he gets a brain from a mummy in the cemetery (Judy- from my class). They all return to the Mad Scientist who completes Frankenstein. After a few MUAHAHAHA's Frankenstein comes to life and walks toward the crowd to give them a good fright. It was probably the best part of the whole play because Andrew was hiding under a sheet on a table the whole time and I painted his face green with black circles around the eyes and some stitches. He probably looked terrifying to the children. And if you're wondering Hannah's role was as our devoted narrator. We all worked really hard to create the sets and props. We practiced everyday for a week. We could not have done a better job the night of the performance. It was a good feeling to be done.

After we ended with our dance we lowered the large white sphere aka the pinata moon. The idea of a pinata is completely foreign in China and if you can picture how viscous and excited a group of children get when a pile of candy drops from the sky then multiply that by 50. It was completely chaotic. I was trying to reach into the mass of people to grab candy and throw it to all the kids who had no chance of getting any candy. I successfully went down once and returned uninjured. After trying a second time I gave up because it was too scary for even me.

 

I think the children had a great Halloween and it was really cute to hear them say "trick or treat" as they got candy from the shops on our street. I saw a couple batman costumes, some princesses, but mostly pumpkins. I really couldn't take pictures because Hannah's camera died after one picture, my camera is broken, and my old iPhone 3GS takes some not so good pictures as witnessed above. #bloggerproblems

Although it doesn't feel like Halloween as I go to bed tonight it is definitely fall as the temperature has dropped here in Zhangjiagang. I miss my cinnamon candles, hot chocolate, and of course Halloween candy. With that in mind I am off to cuddle under my covers dream of fall comforts and watch the Addam's Family. Ohhhhh on second thought I think I would rather have an Almond Joy right now. Mmmmm.

Happy Halloween everyone! Have a Spooktacular Day!

Student Spotlight: YoYo

Name: YoYo

Teacher: Hannah

Age: 7

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

Two older brothers

What is your favorite food?

Meat

What is your favorite color?

Pink

What are your favorite things to do for fun?

Play on the seesaw and slide

What is your favorite thing about school?

The teachers

What is your favorite animal?

Cats and dogs

Describe your student's personality:

YoYo is pretty much the best student in my class, and also the oldest. She is very good at reading English and gets competitive when we play games in class. She likes to act like a little teacher and sometimes the other students will say she is “Little Teacher YoYo”

Share a memory:

YoYo knows the most English out of all of my students so when the other students don’t understand when I want them to get their markers or pencils, YoYo will translate and help me teach them what a marker, pencil, pen, or crayon is. She is a great helper.

Paris of the East

We hopped on a bus to Shanghai early Saturday morning for a weekend trip. It was a short hour and a half trip which was a nice contrast from the 24 hour trip to Xi'an. I feel really lucky to live so close to an amazing city and hope to go many more times to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. 

Coincidentally, while in China 3 years ago Andrew, Hannah, and Wayne made a friend down in the Hunan province who is now living in Shanghai for work. Cloud is an interesting guy...yes his English name is Cloud. He taught himself English and bless his heart sometimes he says things in ways we wouldn't normally. But props to him for teaching himself another language and he's currently teaching himself Japanese. It's a little awkward to be around him because half the time you can't understand what he's trying to say and there's a lot of dead air. You don't know if you should say something or keep waiting for him to possibly continue his story. Apparently, he's really successful and high up in the car company that he works for. He works really hard but I sort of feel bad for him because I know he's really lonely. So if any ladies out there want to marry a rich, nice Chinese guy just let me know. He made me a deal that if I can get him an American girlfriend then he would give me his really nice Nikon camera. Great deal!

When we got to Shanghai he took us to the really nice hotel rooms that we could never afford to stay at (about $500+ a night). His company pays for him and some of his colleagues to live there and a couple people were out of town and they let us stay in their rooms. After dropping off our things we walked around the city. He lives right in the heart of the financial district of Shanghai which is one of the most popular tourist locations in the city. The buildings were the highest I have ever seen in my life. I kept stopping to take photos but Cloud kept telling me that it would be much better at night. If it was this amazing during the day I couldn't wait for the night. 

This was the view from our hotel room.

I haven't slept on a bed this soft since being in America. It was heaven on earth. I will never take my bed for granted. Although it was an adjustment sleeping on cloth covered wood planks I've got used to it but don't particularly enjoy it. Our room came with one free breakfast and Andrew was gracious enough to allow me to go. It was so American I could hardly take it. I even got to eat with a fork and knife. Strangely enough my hands hurt a little after cutting and eating with them. I'm way too used to eating anything and everything with chopsticks. Don't tell anyone but I snuck some bacon into my person for Andrew because I'm pretty much the best wife ever.

We walked through the city to find the Yuyuan Garden. Another thing about Cloud is you never know where  he is leading you and if he actually knows where he is going. He'd occasionally pause, start talking to himself, look around and finally say, "Oh yes, this way." But none of us really believed he knew. No matter how much our feet hurt from the amount of walking, we always found our destination.

The park itself was really peaceful. I think I heard that it is translated to mean The Garden of Peace which is very fitting. I really enjoyed walking around and just taking in all the beauty that surrounded me. Although all the gardens are fairly similar in China they are my favorite places to visit. It's just a beautiful, tranquil place where you can sit and reflect. It's a nice break from the typical busy atmosphere of China.

We saw some really amazing sculptures on roofs...

...some huge, hungry coy fish...

...some people performing with typical Chinese instruments....

...but mostly it was just a stunning garden with beautiful views everywhere you looked.

Group Shot!

After taking a small break and grabbing some jaozi (dumplings) for dinner we were out to see the famous city lights Cloud kept talking about. We walked through a popular shopping district with many American brands, even a Forever 21! There were American brands everywhere that it just didn't feel like China all that much. Although, it was comforting to see I had no desire to go inside any of them. I have a Chinese mindset and know that there are underground markets with far better prices. I don't exactly know why he took us through this area but I suppose it was cool to see. I think it was just so he could keep up his reputation of taking us the longest route possible. Gotta love Cloud and his crazy way of thinking!

Once we arrived and I saw the cityscape, I had to agree that is was a much better view at night. All the different colored lights covering the massive buildings were a sight to behold. There were so many people crowding the sidewalk next to the river's edge to get the best possible shots. I think I was able to get some amazing pictures. I wish all of you were able to see it in all its glory.

Shanghai is an incredible city!

Once we were through fighting the crowd to take as many pictures as we could and we could feel nothing but pain in our feet from a day of walking we hurried back to our fancy hotel rooms for a luxury night's rest. Everything to Cloud was luxury not luxurious. :) That car is very luxury, that store is luxury, and so on and so forth. One of the funny quirks about our dear Chinese friend.

I could talk for paragraphs about how nice it was to sleep in such a comfortable, bouncy, and soft bed but I'm sure that would bore you seeing as you enjoy that every night. Suffice it to say I will be dreaming about that bed until hopefully we visit Cloud again in Shanghai.

There really was no plan for Sunday. Cloud took us around to some shopping places but we didn't really buy anything. I bought 2 cute long sleeve shirts for 20 yuan each ($3). Andrew was looking for a coat but there were mostly women's clothes. We were all really tired so we convinced Cloud that it was lunch time and then headed back to Zhangjiagang. Truth be told it was a little overwhelming being around Cloud so much because you never knew what was going on. 

We took the subway to the bus station. You get everywhere in Shanghai by subway. Walked around a bit and headed back to our sweet humble home in Zhangjiagang. 

We are already talking about places we want to see when we go to Shanghai next time. We couldn't really do what we had in mind because Cloud was entertaining us and we had to stick with his plans. There are so many things to see and do there. Plus, we live so close that it's a guarantee there will be many posts to come about the breathtaking Paris of the East.

                                  

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Hello my faithful blog followers! I was wondering if you would prefer my next post (aside from the weekly student spotlight) to be about the food we typically eat or an apartment tour? Both are sure to come but which would you like first? I will also gladly take any other suggestions for posts. What do you want to see or hear about? Thanks!

(leave a comment by clicking the pencil)

Student Spotlight: Leo

Name: Leo

Teacher: Bonny

Age: 3

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

One Sister

What is your favorite food?

Chocolate

What is your favorite color?

Pink

What are your favorite things to do for fun?

Play with cars and guns

What is your favorite thing about school?

Playing with guns (he makes them from large Lego blocks) and singing songs. My favorite song is a Chinese song about feeding a donkey.

What is your favorite animal?

Giraffe

Describe your student's personality:

Leo is the smallest in size in my entire class of 20 students. What he lacks in size he makes up for in brains. This kid is seriously smart and does an amazing job remembering English words. The first couple weeks of teaching I overlooked him a bit because he would never speak while I taught but I think he’s the type of person that observes for awhile and then it just clicks for him. He is a very active boy who will make anything into a gun. He doesn’t let the other kids push him around and always fights for what he wants, especially if they take his gun. At the end of the day when he sees his grandpa he immediately runs and out the door to hurry home. It’s really cute.

Share a memory:

In the mornings when I am teaching Leo is still really tired from just waking up. I've often looked over to see him sitting up in his chair, head tilted to the side, and mouth wide open passed out asleep. We shake him to try and wake him up but he’s always out cold. I guess he finds me boring. But it’s hilarious to look over and see so I just ignore it. Amazingly enough at the end of the day when I review the words with him from the days lesson he knows them all. The boy is a genius. I don’t know how he does it. 

Clip, Snip, Trim

Andrew's super model before shot.

Getting your hair done in China is a sport. We're all familiar with gas stations being found on every corner in America but here in China you can find multiple hair salons on just one small street. They are everywhere. You might think that it's impossible for so many of them to stay in business and compete with each other. The combination of having a massive population and everyone feeling the need to constantly change their hair or simply get it blow dried by a professional allows for them to all stay in business.

You can even spot the fancy salons performing dance numbers on the sidewalks on occasion. I don't know if it's to attract business or merely to take a break and exercise but it's highly entertaining.

Aside from the fact that I just got my hair done a couple days before leaving America, I haven't been brave enough to take a seat and let them go to work on my luscious locks. Andrew on the other hand is not apprehensive at all and decided it was time for a trim. I was excited to actually step foot inside one of the many salons I'm always peeking into.

There's a salon right down the street from the school we work out that has a crowd of stylist always hanging out outside on the sidewalk during the slow times. There's one guy that had green hair for a while but now it looks like he's trying to get it to a shade of blonde. It's a pretty big deal for any Chinese person to get their hair to be a much lighter shade. Those guys are always staring at us and they seemed nice enough so we went there.

Andrew sat down to get his hair washed for what felt like 15 minutes. She was really scrubbing and going to town on scalp. His hair was pretty clean when he got there but I guess she just wanted to do a really thorough job. It was strange for him not to be over a sink but it still worked. 

A very stylish young man brought Andrew to his hair cutting station and just started cutting away. There was no attempt to ask him what length or how he wanted it cut. This man knew what he was doing and just got to work. He moved those scissors so fast. I was impressed.

After a little bit of hacking away with the scissors it was time for a little buzz around the edges. It was a simple hair cut and I'm sure he could have done it with his eyes closed but he did it with such finesse like he was born to cut hair. Although it's not a quintessential Chinese haircut. Andrew looked great afterward and we got to experience the salon from the inside instead of merely observing along the sidewalk. 

Payday Pizza

We have been telling ourselves for weeks that as soon as we get paid we will make the trip to Pizza Hut to have some much needed American food. Believe it or not Pizza Hut is a pricey place and we just wouldn't have the money until then.

We were expecting to get paid on Monday the 15th because that's the day we were paid on in September for our three work days in August (even though our contract says the 10th). To our surprise on the afternoon of the 10th we were handed a huge stack of Mao's. After the initial shock wore off we realized this meant we could indulge ourselves in some payday pizza! 

We hurried home, changed our clothes, dropped off the majority of the cash, and headed for the bus stop. We took bus #5 all the way to "Walking Street" (the popular outdoor mall) and made a bee line for Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut in China is far from the typical pizzeria in America. You walk in to find a hostess guiding you to your table and handing you giant menus with an array of pizzas, pasta, salads, and fancy desserts. The lighting, decor, and music had a very romantic ambiance to it seeing as it is a popular date night hot spot. 

We steered clear of the tilapia, salmon, and other unique pizza toppings to get something more familiar: supreme. You really can't describe the feeling one has the first time you bite into a Italian seasoned, cheesy slice of heaven after eating traditional Chinese food for two months. If you've been to a foreign country then I'm sure you can relate. It is divine. We made a toast to celebrate and devoured as much as we could. 

There were even leftovers to enjoy a couple cold slices for breakfast which made the experience even more amazing. I know not everyone does but I love cold pizza. China is a wonderful place with such great people and really delicious food. However, we seem to relish in the moments where for just a couple of minutes we can forget we are in China and feel at home. I think we've started a tradition and now I have two reasons to look forward to payday.