A Package From My Parents

So I had just left work when I got a call on my cell from June saying the front gate was asking for me, I had received another package. YAY! ANOTHER PACKAGE! SO MUCH LOVE!

This time it was from my dear ma and pa. Boy oh boy was I surprised when I lifted this thing up. Dang it was heavy. I found out that the reason why was because my mom had packed my yearbook! I think that's honestly what I was most excited to receive. As soon as I saw that in the package, everything else was forgotten until I went through the book page by page. At the very end, my mom had made up a nice personal page and had glued it onto the back cover. I thought it was sweet.
This is the majority of the package. Popcorn, reeses, candy corn/pumpkins, some halloween themed paper plates and napkins (my mom wants me to have a cocktail party!), some deodorant, pens, swiffers...basically my wish list and then some. :-)
For some reason I forgot to put these in the first picture. The latest issue of Drew Magazine! She also sent me a loaf of DELICIOUS pepperidge farm cinnamon swirl bread. I wish I had a toaster but I will make due.
After looking at everything in the package (and eating a peanut butter cup), I hung up my new decorations on the balcony window. Spooky, no?

This package arrived at the perfect time. I have been feeling crappy lately being all bored at work, bored in my apartment, sick, and feeling frustrated with my students. Talking with Mel (the CT person I met up with Tuesday) she said that someone told her that the second month usually marks the second stage of homesickness/culture shock. It usually involves boredom, frustration, and sometimes even psychosomatic responses like making yourself sick. Bah. I hate being a textbook case, but maybe it's true.

Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM AND DAD. Getting mail is one of the best feelings in the world. And this package was equal parts fun and useful.

Tonight I have plans with Laibond (hopefully!).

I want to run to Carrefour before he gets here and get that gel seat for my bike.

Much love,
Stephanie

Bored + Sick = Not Fun

So my students left for Xi'an on Tuesday afternoon. Work has been quite boring. The most interesting thing that happened at work yesterday was being the invigilator at the mock IB math exam. I had received an e-mail earlier from my group leader saying that a student cheated in one of the earlier exams and that the students were angry that s/he didn't get caught. So I turned on my paranoia and for the entire two hours of the exam I just scanned the students. If one of them cheated, they deserve a medal. Giving that test gave me horrible flashbacks of taking the IB exams myself.

Something non-worky that happened at work yesterday was the older woman in my office (whose name I don't know and who can't speak much English beyond 'hello' and 'thank you') came over and asked me to fix her necklace. Apparently it has become known now that I can make and fix jewelry. Since I don't have much to do at my desk and June had the jewelry thread we got at the handicraft market, I restrung the necklace first thing that morning. In the afternoon the woman came back to my desk and asked me if I could redo it. There are very slight differences in sizes of the beads that I hadn't noticed. She wanted the big ones in the middle. I cut the thread, she organized the beads the way they wanted them, and I strung it again. She stood over my shoulder and watched intently. We had a limited conversation, including her saying that I worked very quickly and that this was very troublesome. I told her I didn't think it was troublesome and I liked doing it. She and another teacher (a young Buddhist woman who sits by the window) said I should go into business making and fixing jewelry. :-)

June also bought me a teacup in old city. It is mostly plain with a lovely red flower on it. I left it on my desk since it was a present and my desk is still achingly empty and boring. I should bring some tea in to leave in my desk when the desire strikes.

I am still feeling like crap. Last night I think I slept better than I have the past few nights. I'm taking that as a good sign. June is sick too. Talking to people from home makes it sounds like everyone I know is sick! Oh cold season. How you can cross borders like no one else.

The most exciting thing that happened last night was I almost had dinner plans. Yep. You read that right. Turns out a guy I went to college with (Laibond, for those that know him) is randomly in Shanghai for an expo. I found that out through Facebook (Stalkerbook!) and IMed him. We made plans to get together, but his work went late so we rescheduled for tonight. Hopefully he can make it tonight cuz I think he is booked for the rest of his stay.

Well, as boring as things have been lately, I sure have been writing a lot. I am going to stop now until something interesting happens.

Love!
Stephernie

My New (Old) Bike!

So today I went out and did the thing that all cool kids in Shanghai should do. I bought a bike! When I first got here, I asked Pete what a good price was for a bike. He said if I wanted to get a bike, I could get one for as cheap as 300RMB, but if I wanted a half-way decent one, I needed to pay around 500RMB.

I found a guy on an expat website who was selling his 18-gear bike for 450 RMB($66) that he bought two months ago for 750RMB. Whoo! It also included a basket, tire lock, and bell that he bought and installed later. I met up with him at the Carrefour and after awkwardly riding the bike around for a bit (I haven't ridden a bike in years!), braking, feeling the tires, watching him demonstrate that it could indeed smoothly change gears, I handed over the dough. He said I was doing him a favor because he bought a new bike and what use would he have for two bikes? Now I just need to hope that he was being honest and this is a decent bike. He is trying to sell a bunch of other stuff on the website, so if this bike falls apart tomorrow, I can always spam his wall warning other people not to buy his stuff. Hehe!

I had to run into Carrefour and buy a wrench because the guy was roughly two feet shorter than me and the seat needed to be adjusted. After that I spent a while wheeling around the Carrefour parking lot looking like a moron.

I am too lazy to take a decent picture right now, but here is the picture he was using to sell the bike. It looks only a little more worn than that in real life. You can see my fancy basket and bell and stuffs. I bought one of those wrap around locks because I don't really feel safe using just a tire lock. They can still just pick up the bike and walk away. I think next I'll be buying a gel seat (saw 'em at Carrefour!) because even just the short ride back to the apartment was owwy. Charlotte said her bike broke and she bought it to one of the many side repair shops I've seen and the entire repair job cost 5RMB! So even if there is a few repairs I might need to do in the future, it shouldn't break the bank.

Isn't he cute? He needs a name. Any ideas?

Man, I haven't ridden a bike in forever. It was fun. I really hope this is a decent bike. I still feel rather crappy today. Once I feel better I'll probably go for a nice long ride and scope out my neighborhood on a wider scale. I can also time how long it takes me to get to the nearest subway stop so I can stop waiting forever for the bus. Currently the bike is in the bathroom by my kitchen. That bathroom has turned into my mud room. That's where I put my shoes, my umbrella (when it's wet) and now my bike.

I also finally met up with that CT personal I met on SHexpat (as she called it). We went to Blue Frog for dinner and drinks. We talked about EVERYTHING. She was a rambler, which I liked. It seems like most people I meet here are so tight lipped, it was nice to have a real back and forth conversation. We made tentative plans to go to an art museum or something to hang out again. She's only like 15 minutes away by bike. Finally someone that lives near me!

Anyway, I haven't been sleeping well lately so I am rather exhausted. I should sign off and get to bed.

Love from me and my yet unnamed semi-new bicycle!
Stephanie/Sproffee

The Coolest Pen!

So today this woman from the school comes by to drop a small box off at my desk. Hmm...intrigued I opened it to find this sincerely cool pen.
To start off with, it has the school name on it. Very nice!
Flip it over and guess what?! A laser pointer! So cool. But that's not all!!!
Screw it open and it has a USB! Maybe I am just easily amused but I really like this pen.

So I know the old saying goes that one should never shop when hungry, but I would like to add an addendum that when in China, one should never shop while hungry AND homesick. Or else this happens:
I am sufficiently ashamed of myself. I mean, yes, I did also buy some fresh fruit, chicken, rice, and more traditional Chinese foods, but for some reason as soon as I hit the imported goods section I couldn't help myself. *sigh* I gotta wean myself off this kind of stuff.

I commented on a classified ad on an expat site on a guy selling his bike. We should be meeting up tomorrow and if the bike looks ok, I'll probably buy it. Whoo.

I felt fine all day, but I started feeling very sick when I got home. My throat is sore, I have a headache and feel very tired and achy. I'm having some tea now. I hope I feel better by morning.

Lots O' Love,
Steph

What Kind of Test Do YOU Want?

So today I tried something new (even though ALL of this teaching stuff is new to me) and I think it went very well.

This morning I played a game with my students where they picked a category (Such as "Animals" or "Things That Start With 'R'") and they had to help one student on their team to guess the 5 words on the other side. It went pretty well, although we did get yelled out once by the administration because the seniors were taking their mock IB exams and we were being too loud. I take that as a sign that my students were having fun. ;-)

The new thing I tried happened by accident. The game finished up early and I still had time left in class. I decided to talk to the students about something I was trying to figure out: their monthly test.

I am required to give them a test, so I had already decided to do an oral test since I figured they would already have a lot of written ones and could use a break from that. Today I posed a questions to my students: What kind of test do YOU want.

Instead of a chorus of "NO TEST! NO TEST!" like I was afraid of, I got some very intelligent and good answers. One of my students suggested we do it in the style of the oral section of the English proficiency test they'll have to take to go to college in the US. It involves a self-introduction, choosing a random topic, then a short Q and A with the examiner. The rest of the class chimed in with suggestions for topics, how long each section should be, whether they wanted to do it in front of the class or individually, whether they wanted to do it alphabetically or randomly.

I feel really good right now because not only do I no longer have to worry about what kind of test to give, but I feel like I connected a bit with a class that I have had some trouble with in the past. Hopefully they think it was a positive experience too.

As a COMPLETELY RANDOM side-note, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed that China had a secret government program to help preserve the panda population. That secret program involved turning foreigners into pandas. Friends that had some to visit me were slowly turning in pandas. Weird.

Anyway, I need to go check the AV room to make sure the movie I am showing my next class works.

Talk to y'all later!
Stephanie

A Milestone

This week is a milestone. I have now been in China longer than I ever have before. Before, the longest I had been in China was 5 weeks. This is my 6th week here.

Last night Paul/Benno and Kyle came over to hang out. I made a fine dinner of dumplings, steamed rice, and sauteed shrimp with garlic. We did much chatting, laughing, drinking of rum, and watching of "Kung Fu Panda" (a rather enjoyable movie). We also sat out on my balcony for a long time having a good talk.

I took them to my DVD lady, then they went back to the hostel. We didn't end up getting together again today and they are already on their way back to Nanjing. I can't wait for the chance to go visit Nanjing and see them again. It really made me feel more like myself to see people from home, and it was nice to have people I could relax around.

Today I had tons of dishes to do (just finished). I'm going to try and finish correcting the last of my reports and do grading and a lesson plan today so I can relax tomorrow before work again on Monday. Tomorrow I am supposed to get paid (automated deposit). If I do, I have grand plans to buy fancy frivolous things. Like a dish drying rack and a new set of sheets. Craziness! Next...a bike!

It took a while, but I now have a picture of me in front of a Shanghai landmark. Charlotte took this picture of me in front of the Jinmao tower and the World Financial Building on Tuesday.

And for bonus points, here is a picture of Iris, Andrew and myself at the Windows bar on Thursday night.
Well, that's all for now. On to grading!

Love,
Stephanie

The Shanghai Aquarium

So, some people from Drew are studying in Nanjing University. For the national holiday, they decided to visit Suzhou and...Shanghai! YAY!

It's been over a month since I've seen anyone from home, so to see two of my favorite people from college made me very happy. There was much hugs and reminiscing. We got together briefly on Wednesday. We ate at a Sichuan restaurant on Nanjing Road and then went to the other side of the river and looked out on the Bund. That last part happened by accident because for some reason the subway stop we wanted was shut down and we skipped right over. Instead of ending up AT the Bund, we got the first stop on the other side of the river. Huh.

Yesterday they decided to go to the aquarium and were happy to let me tag along.
The aquarium was ok. It was packed, as I should have expected. Getting close enough to the displays to actually see anything was a chore. Once when I was relatively close to the front, a young girl in her mother's arms yanked on my shoulder with surprising strength. When I turned around to see what the heck had grabbed me, the mother pushed in front of me. Grrr.

Otherwise the aquarium was good. And being able to enjoy with friends made it even better. There were many tanks with tons of tiny bright colored fish that Paul/Benno and I kept referring to as "Sprinkle Fish".The aquarium really liked the "go through a clear tunnel with fish all around you" idea. This is a picture from the first one that you walked through. Or rather, were pushed through roughly by the people behind you. You can tell I am not kidding about how many people were there.

There was a second tunnel that was very long and you stood on a moving walkway or "Travellator" as the sign named it. It went roughly .0001 miles an hour. I don't know if that is the normal speed or if having 400 people on it makes it go that slow.

It was in the second tunnel that I saw my favorite fish:
After we finished the aquarium, we waited outside for some other Drew people to come out (who got there later than us). Then the five of us sharing a mutual desire for sushi (and no the irony does not escape us) went to the mall nearby for some delicious Japanese cuisine. Then we had DQ for dessert. Yum!

I went back with them to their hostel to hang out for a bit. First time I was ever in a hostel. Even though the entrance looked skeev-tastic, the inside was actually very nice! This brand of hostel is actually in a lot of places, so I might look into it if I travel. We left there and met up with Charlotte, Andrew and their friend Iris. I liked Iris immediately and we shared phone numbers so hopefully later there will be hanging out.

We went to a yummy bar/restaurant called "The Spot" and then later went to a bar called "Windows". I quite liked the "Windows" bar. The drinks were ridiculously cheap but tasty. There was a table for pool, the music was good, and the bathrooms were decent. I will definitely be going back. We made friends with some other people at the bar and bought each other shots and played pool. Well...other people played pool and I cheered them on. Sadly, the bar was in Puxi and no one else was from Pudong, so I had to take the 20+ minute taxi ride back by myself at nearly 2am. Possibly with the help of a little "liquid courage", I struck up a conversation with the cab driver in Chinese. Notice to Chinese language learnings: cab drivers make excellent practice partners.

Here is an equally terrible and adorable picture of me with Paul/Benno (on the left) and Kyle (on the right) waiting outside the aquarium for the others to come out. Ahh...it's good to see familiar faces.

Much love!
Stephanie/Sproffee