So last night was the PingHe High School New Year's party.
I was involved with a few things. One, I can't remember if I already told you guys about it or not, but I was in a "Guess Who" game. Some upperclassmen students took a picture of the back of my head with my red pen sticking out of my ponytail. It's an old habit of mine to keep a pen in my ponytail and I've gotten some weird reactions here about it. A woman from my office said it was "romantic" and another teacher gave me a Christmas present of a hair pin because she said that she thought it would look nicer than a pen. Anyway, when the picture came up during the game, a student that I've never even taught before took one look at it and said "Stephanie!!" and won the prize. If you ask me it was too easy since I am the only person in the entire high school that has blondish/brown hair.
I was also in Class 10 (1)'s play. I had a few small things I had to do including be the voice over for a character, I was a farmer, and I also was a delivery person.
The strangest thing I did was sing "Duimiande nuhai kangoulai". It was the first time I had played guitar in front of more than 6 people or so. It was terrifying. I'm fine in front of crowds speaking or acting...but singing or playing guitar? SCARY! In the middle of the song I was shaking so bad I could barely get my fingers to hit the right chords.
Ahh well. It was fun. I cross-dressed a bit with my sweater vest, white shirt and tie. I also tucked all my hair up in my irish cap. The teachers that were dancing all dressed like high school girls. They had borrowed the student's skirts/shirts/sweatshirts from their uniforms. And Randy? Wow. He wore quite the outfit. I suppose I will let the video show that.
Anyway, here is the video. I love how when I start singing the crowd kind of goes a little crazy (I'm guessing because I sang in Chinese...). The crowd then goes nuts again when they see their teachers dressed like students. And then everyone loses it when they see Randy! :-)
Be kind when you watch the video though. My singing is rather off (remember I was terrified?).
Enjoy!
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Monday, 29 December 2008
Weekend in Suzhou
So this past weekend I went to Suzhou with Charlotte. I booked us a hostel and she got the train tickets.
We had a little trouble meeting up since she had taken line 1 and I had taken line 4 and I didn't realize they emptied out on separate sides of the street. Eventually we found each other and got to the train. After navigating the train station by myself at night to get to Nanjing, it was super easy to figure things out this time. The train ride to Suzhou was short (about a half hour) and uneventful other than a small boy across the aisle from us that was ADORABLE. His mother was trying to encourage him to call us either "auntie" or "older sister". For those who don't know, it's considered polite in China to call strangers by family terms.
The hostel's website said that there were a few different ways to get to there, but the only way to get dropped off at the front door was to take a pedicab. So we found a pedicab right outside the train station. I told the driver the name of the street. Then I told him the name of streets near the street. Slowly a crowd started to form. The driver started looking at a map. One person who could speak about 5 words of English thought he could help...which he couldn't. I was about the call the hostel when the driver exclaimed in triumph that he had found it on the map. Off we went.
I felt bad for the driver. If I had known how far away the street was I would have gotten us a motorized pedicab instead of push pedal bike cab. It's no secret that I'm a big person, plus we both had overnight bags. A couple of times the driver had to get off and push his bike up a hill. After a sort while we arrived at the right street and we discovered why a taxi couldn't have dropped us off at the door. The hostel was in the middle of a maze of alleyways that followed along a network of canals. Now I see why Suzhou is called the "Venice of the East".
This was my first time staying at a hostel and I loved it. It cost about $26 for one night. We had a private room with two beds and a private bathroom. The hostel was set up like an old fashioned Chinese house with open courtyards and such. Our doors opened right up into a rock garden. It was beautiful! When we arrived we dropped off our bags and then decided to rent bikes from the hostel (2kuai per hour! That's like...20 cents...)
Our first stop after we rented our bikes was a dumpling shop where we got lunch. I got beef dumplings and shrimp dumplings. Then we looked for an electronic store since Charlotte's camera was broken and she wanted to buy a new one. Then we couldn't decide where to go. We saw the top of a temple shaped building in the distance so we decided to bike towards it. Eventually we found them. We ended up at the "Twin Pagodas". We walked around and took pictures. Slightly further down the street was a beautiful Buddhist temple. We weren't allowed to take pictures there but it was beautiful and calm and smelled like incense. After that we wandered some more and found some signs leading to tourist locations. We decided to go to the "Master of the Nets Garden" since Charlotte's Lonely Planet book said it often had cultural performances of dance or theater.
We found the alleyway which led to the garden so we pushed our bikes down and checked out street vendors. I bought a couple things that I will put up pictures of later. We arrived at the garden and walked around. It was beautiful and definitely worth visiting, but sadly there was no performance going on that day.
After that we went back to the hostel and returned the bikes. We rested in our room for a short while and then headed out to find a place to eat dinner. Charlotte is a vegetarian so it's hard sometimes to find places where she can find a good variety of choices...especially in China! After stopping at a few places to check the menus we decided on a strange Fusion restaurant that was shaped like a big square and resting over a shallow pool full of rocks. I'm describing it oddly and sadly I didn't get a picture. It was down a different alley close to our hostel. Before dinner we decided to go to a cafe across the street for a snack and a drink. We got some TsingDao beer and french fries.
My dinner was delicious...sadly Charlotte was not so lucky. I ordered fried noodles and roast duck. The roast duck was done Beijing style with pancakes to wrap the meat, duck sauce and onions. It was really good! The noodles were cooked Shanghai style and only once or twice did I eat an unnoticed pepper and get a mouthful of spicy. Charlotte got a salad and pasta. She specified to the waiter that she wanted her pasta without meat. I know he understood because she ordered first and then when I ordered the noodles he worriedly pointed out that the noodles had meat in them. Then we explained that SHE didn't eat meat but I did. Her pasta took 15 minutes longer than the rest of the food and when it finally came, it had meat in it. After we complained it took another 10 minutes or so. When she finally got to eat it...she didn't even like it. AHH!
After dinner we decided to try and find the night market mentioned in her book. We took a taxi to Shilu (Stone Road) and wandered around looking at stuff/shopping until it started to rain pretty badly. When we finally got a taxi in the rain we realized we didn't know what to say to the cab driver. He couldn't take us right to the hostel and I couldn't remember the name of the main street outside of the alleyways. Luckily Charlotte remembered the name of the big shopping street that was near the entrance of the alleyways. UNluckily, the cab driver dropped us off at the wrong end of the shopping street and we couldn't figure out how to explain to him to go around. We got out and walked down the shopping street, then across the street, then through the twisting alleyways all the way back to hostel. In the rain. Ah well.
The next morning we woke up to more rain. We checked out of the hostel around 10 and went to the cafe we had gone to on Saturday night. We got some breakfast. I had a latte that was pretty rancid (I don't know how but I think they burnt the steamed milk) and then I ordered the "American Breakfast" which was pretty good, if cold. I only miss a few small food things from home, since Shanghai is so diverse I can get most things I want here. One of the things I miss? GOOD BACON. Ahh well.
After breakfast the rain had nearly stopped. Charlotte said she wanted to go back to the street where the night market was. She saw some things she thought looked interesting. We went back and wandered and wandered and wandered. We took tons of pictures. We found a big sloping bridge and also a piece of the old city wall with a large gate. For those who don't know, many of China's major cities were walled in a long time ago. Xi'an's city wall is the most complete wall that has survived. Suzhou only had a little piece.
We found more alleyways with shops so we walked down and did some more shopping. We decided we would walk to the end and find a taxi and get to the train station. The problem? The alleyway wouldn't end! If we had turned around and walked back the way we came when we decided we were done, we probably would have been back to the road and in a taxi in about 10 minutes. Instead we walked for another 45 minutes or so. We kept telling ourselves "it has to end eventually" so we just kept walking...and walking...and walking. And then it started raining again. And harder. And we kept walking. We walked under a bridge. We kept hearing cars or seeing cards but not seeing a street. People peeked their heads out of doorways to stare at us. We walked past chickens in cages. There were guys gutting and cleaning fish. We heard voices talking and tvs and radios. We walked in the rain through mud and fruit peels and fish guts and feathers. Finally, just when we were starting to get really worried that there was no way we were going to get out in time and we were going to miss our train...we got out and back to a road. We grabbed the first taxi we saw and made it to the train station soggy, relieved and with about 15 minutes to spare. Ahh.
All in all, I really had a really good time. I know I talk a lot about the bad things in this entry but it's easy to go on and on about getting lost in an alleyway, but harder to describe how much I loved being there in the first place. I really do love China and I forget sometimes how much or even why.
Then I find myself in a quiet Buddhist temple with the scent of incense floating past, barely audible chanting in the air, and a monk walking past in silent cloth shoes with prayer beads around his wrist. And a calm settles on my shoulders and my mind.
Or walking down those alleyways with the feeling of LIFE all around you. You can breath it and taste it and feel it in your bones. There's laughter and family and music and food and a thousand different smells. It's an orchestra of life and just being there makes me want to add my voice to the choir.
Or biking down the streets and alleyways. Making suicidal dashes across big streets. Squeezing between buses and the curb. Narrowly avoiding death at every turn from taxis and trucks and other bike riders, and laughing at the sheer joy of it. The cacophony of horns and beeps and bells and squealing brakes and yelling voices.
I don't know why this entry ended so...poetic? Ahh well. I had a great time in Suzhou and I hope I can go back. It was nice to have a reminder of how much I like China and why I'm here in the first place. I took a BUNCH of pictures and video so you should expect those soon.
Much love!
Stephie
We had a little trouble meeting up since she had taken line 1 and I had taken line 4 and I didn't realize they emptied out on separate sides of the street. Eventually we found each other and got to the train. After navigating the train station by myself at night to get to Nanjing, it was super easy to figure things out this time. The train ride to Suzhou was short (about a half hour) and uneventful other than a small boy across the aisle from us that was ADORABLE. His mother was trying to encourage him to call us either "auntie" or "older sister". For those who don't know, it's considered polite in China to call strangers by family terms.
The hostel's website said that there were a few different ways to get to there, but the only way to get dropped off at the front door was to take a pedicab. So we found a pedicab right outside the train station. I told the driver the name of the street. Then I told him the name of streets near the street. Slowly a crowd started to form. The driver started looking at a map. One person who could speak about 5 words of English thought he could help...which he couldn't. I was about the call the hostel when the driver exclaimed in triumph that he had found it on the map. Off we went.
I felt bad for the driver. If I had known how far away the street was I would have gotten us a motorized pedicab instead of push pedal bike cab. It's no secret that I'm a big person, plus we both had overnight bags. A couple of times the driver had to get off and push his bike up a hill. After a sort while we arrived at the right street and we discovered why a taxi couldn't have dropped us off at the door. The hostel was in the middle of a maze of alleyways that followed along a network of canals. Now I see why Suzhou is called the "Venice of the East".
This was my first time staying at a hostel and I loved it. It cost about $26 for one night. We had a private room with two beds and a private bathroom. The hostel was set up like an old fashioned Chinese house with open courtyards and such. Our doors opened right up into a rock garden. It was beautiful! When we arrived we dropped off our bags and then decided to rent bikes from the hostel (2kuai per hour! That's like...20 cents...)
Our first stop after we rented our bikes was a dumpling shop where we got lunch. I got beef dumplings and shrimp dumplings. Then we looked for an electronic store since Charlotte's camera was broken and she wanted to buy a new one. Then we couldn't decide where to go. We saw the top of a temple shaped building in the distance so we decided to bike towards it. Eventually we found them. We ended up at the "Twin Pagodas". We walked around and took pictures. Slightly further down the street was a beautiful Buddhist temple. We weren't allowed to take pictures there but it was beautiful and calm and smelled like incense. After that we wandered some more and found some signs leading to tourist locations. We decided to go to the "Master of the Nets Garden" since Charlotte's Lonely Planet book said it often had cultural performances of dance or theater.
We found the alleyway which led to the garden so we pushed our bikes down and checked out street vendors. I bought a couple things that I will put up pictures of later. We arrived at the garden and walked around. It was beautiful and definitely worth visiting, but sadly there was no performance going on that day.
After that we went back to the hostel and returned the bikes. We rested in our room for a short while and then headed out to find a place to eat dinner. Charlotte is a vegetarian so it's hard sometimes to find places where she can find a good variety of choices...especially in China! After stopping at a few places to check the menus we decided on a strange Fusion restaurant that was shaped like a big square and resting over a shallow pool full of rocks. I'm describing it oddly and sadly I didn't get a picture. It was down a different alley close to our hostel. Before dinner we decided to go to a cafe across the street for a snack and a drink. We got some TsingDao beer and french fries.
My dinner was delicious...sadly Charlotte was not so lucky. I ordered fried noodles and roast duck. The roast duck was done Beijing style with pancakes to wrap the meat, duck sauce and onions. It was really good! The noodles were cooked Shanghai style and only once or twice did I eat an unnoticed pepper and get a mouthful of spicy. Charlotte got a salad and pasta. She specified to the waiter that she wanted her pasta without meat. I know he understood because she ordered first and then when I ordered the noodles he worriedly pointed out that the noodles had meat in them. Then we explained that SHE didn't eat meat but I did. Her pasta took 15 minutes longer than the rest of the food and when it finally came, it had meat in it. After we complained it took another 10 minutes or so. When she finally got to eat it...she didn't even like it. AHH!
After dinner we decided to try and find the night market mentioned in her book. We took a taxi to Shilu (Stone Road) and wandered around looking at stuff/shopping until it started to rain pretty badly. When we finally got a taxi in the rain we realized we didn't know what to say to the cab driver. He couldn't take us right to the hostel and I couldn't remember the name of the main street outside of the alleyways. Luckily Charlotte remembered the name of the big shopping street that was near the entrance of the alleyways. UNluckily, the cab driver dropped us off at the wrong end of the shopping street and we couldn't figure out how to explain to him to go around. We got out and walked down the shopping street, then across the street, then through the twisting alleyways all the way back to hostel. In the rain. Ah well.
The next morning we woke up to more rain. We checked out of the hostel around 10 and went to the cafe we had gone to on Saturday night. We got some breakfast. I had a latte that was pretty rancid (I don't know how but I think they burnt the steamed milk) and then I ordered the "American Breakfast" which was pretty good, if cold. I only miss a few small food things from home, since Shanghai is so diverse I can get most things I want here. One of the things I miss? GOOD BACON. Ahh well.
After breakfast the rain had nearly stopped. Charlotte said she wanted to go back to the street where the night market was. She saw some things she thought looked interesting. We went back and wandered and wandered and wandered. We took tons of pictures. We found a big sloping bridge and also a piece of the old city wall with a large gate. For those who don't know, many of China's major cities were walled in a long time ago. Xi'an's city wall is the most complete wall that has survived. Suzhou only had a little piece.
We found more alleyways with shops so we walked down and did some more shopping. We decided we would walk to the end and find a taxi and get to the train station. The problem? The alleyway wouldn't end! If we had turned around and walked back the way we came when we decided we were done, we probably would have been back to the road and in a taxi in about 10 minutes. Instead we walked for another 45 minutes or so. We kept telling ourselves "it has to end eventually" so we just kept walking...and walking...and walking. And then it started raining again. And harder. And we kept walking. We walked under a bridge. We kept hearing cars or seeing cards but not seeing a street. People peeked their heads out of doorways to stare at us. We walked past chickens in cages. There were guys gutting and cleaning fish. We heard voices talking and tvs and radios. We walked in the rain through mud and fruit peels and fish guts and feathers. Finally, just when we were starting to get really worried that there was no way we were going to get out in time and we were going to miss our train...we got out and back to a road. We grabbed the first taxi we saw and made it to the train station soggy, relieved and with about 15 minutes to spare. Ahh.
All in all, I really had a really good time. I know I talk a lot about the bad things in this entry but it's easy to go on and on about getting lost in an alleyway, but harder to describe how much I loved being there in the first place. I really do love China and I forget sometimes how much or even why.
Then I find myself in a quiet Buddhist temple with the scent of incense floating past, barely audible chanting in the air, and a monk walking past in silent cloth shoes with prayer beads around his wrist. And a calm settles on my shoulders and my mind.
Or walking down those alleyways with the feeling of LIFE all around you. You can breath it and taste it and feel it in your bones. There's laughter and family and music and food and a thousand different smells. It's an orchestra of life and just being there makes me want to add my voice to the choir.
Or biking down the streets and alleyways. Making suicidal dashes across big streets. Squeezing between buses and the curb. Narrowly avoiding death at every turn from taxis and trucks and other bike riders, and laughing at the sheer joy of it. The cacophony of horns and beeps and bells and squealing brakes and yelling voices.
I don't know why this entry ended so...poetic? Ahh well. I had a great time in Suzhou and I hope I can go back. It was nice to have a reminder of how much I like China and why I'm here in the first place. I took a BUNCH of pictures and video so you should expect those soon.
Much love!
Stephie
Friday, 26 December 2008
Christmas Pictures!
Me, Lucy and Audrey at Lucy's apartment on Christmas Eve. By a weird coincidence we all ended up wearing red and black.
This is a wood carving my parents sent me. My friend Liz's grandfather carved it and thought it was cool that it was coming all the way to Shanghai. So I took a picture of it with the Shanghai skyline in the background. Sorry it's not too clear...
My bamboo plant from my welcome bouquet is still alive. Here he is all dressed up for Christmas!
These are Christmas decorations my parents sent me.
This is an example of the Christmas presents I gave to the teachers in my office. Isn't the cup pretty?
This is my Christmas tree on Christmas morning with my package from my parents under it.
This is a Christmas tree from a huge mall in Puxi. It's from the Swarovski crystal people.
That's all for now. Love!
This is a wood carving my parents sent me. My friend Liz's grandfather carved it and thought it was cool that it was coming all the way to Shanghai. So I took a picture of it with the Shanghai skyline in the background. Sorry it's not too clear...
My bamboo plant from my welcome bouquet is still alive. Here he is all dressed up for Christmas!
These are Christmas decorations my parents sent me.
This is an example of the Christmas presents I gave to the teachers in my office. Isn't the cup pretty?
This is my Christmas tree on Christmas morning with my package from my parents under it.
This is a Christmas tree from a huge mall in Puxi. It's from the Swarovski crystal people.
That's all for now. Love!
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Some Christmas Themed Stuff
I started this post a few days ago and I have a bunch of stuff to cover so I'm sorry if the tenses sound weird and it'll probably be long...
~~~~~~~~
Monday night was the Christmas dinner with the foreign teachers. We ate at a place called the Tang Dynasty restaurant. It was a super fancy kind of place. We had our own huge room with a TV for karaoke, big couches and even a baby grand piano. On a higher platform was the usual round dinner table. We also had our own bathrooms (male and female) and a coat room!
The dinner was amazing. There was beer and red wine to drink. There were a few starter dishes and then tons of dinner dishes. One strange one that was a first for me was snake. I felt a little guilty eating snake since I've had a pet snake before, but it was REALLY REALLY good. It was cooked very crispy with this kind of seasoning mixture you could sprinkle on top. It tasted like a chicken-fish hybrid and was very tasty. It was interesting to eat because snakes are basically nothing but tons of rib bones and a spine. The fun part was after I ate all the meat off of a piece, I could make the spine wiggle just the way a live snake moves. (Is that too much information? Does that weird people out? I am a bad judge of what is too weird or gross...)
There was so much food I can't remember it all. There was this lobster and noodle dish which was a hit. There was this glutinous crab rice, lobster congee, salmon, a delicious fish (I have no idea what kinda it was), goose wing, duck, this crispy fried thing with a kind of pork filling ... There were also some desserts including this mango pudding thing served in a shot glass.
All in all it was a nice evening and I also got my first ever Christmas bonus. Whee! I decided to treat myself to a trip to Harbin in January. I already bought the plane tickets and now I just need to find a good hotel. I've wanted to go to the ice festival since I first heard about it in college. Now I get my chance! I'm a littler nervous about how cold it will be and also about traveling in China by myself for the first time (well...on a plane). Ah well...I'm sure it will be awesome.
~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve I was at Lucy's apartment for the first time. It was so sweet of her to have a get together on Christmas Eve. It was also the first time I ever had home cooked Chinese food made by a real Chinese person. Haha! She made a bunch of different dishes like mushroom and beef and potatoes with peppers and pork and shrimp...it was all delicious. K.C. and Audrey (two friends of her's) were also there. We made some home made sangria that turned out pretty yummy. We also had a dessert of rice ball congee and then some ice cream. And then there was dancing! It was a lot of fun.
~~~~~~~~~
On Christmas day I sneaked into the office extra early and left Christmas presents for everyone in my office. I bought a bunch of really pretty coffee mugs and filled them with a bunch of candy, tea, a candy cane and a red pen (cuz they're teachers!). My students told me that cups are good presents because it means you are full of love for that person.
After that (and a short nap) I had a webchat with my parents. I opened up the present they sent me while talking to them. I miss them a bunch but it was good to talk to them on Christmas.
~~~~~~~~~
On Christmas night, Ned, another foreign teacher, and I organized a party. I bought some cheese and meats and crackers and nuts for snacks and he brought wine, beer and pizza. Annnnd...one person showed up. Wow. Well, some of the other foreign teachers were on vacation and to be fair we did only let people know on TUESDAY that it was on THURSDAY so people already had plans. Oh well. It was a good excuse to completely clean my apartment. And I got some pizza and beer out of the deal. :-) It was a little weird spending Christmas with two coworkers, with me being the youngest person there by 26 years...but at least I wasn't alone and I did have a pretty good time.
~~~~~~~~~~
Next week there is a Christmas/Winter/New Year show and I am going to be in two performances. One is done by the students from Class 1 and I am being the voice over for one of the characters. I have 4 lines, two of which are in Chinese. Should be interesting. Also, I am doing a performance with a bunch of teachers from my department. I told them I could play guitar and somehow that turned into me playing "Dui mian de nu hai kan gou lai", a song I sang in high school. It's about a guy who is upset because this girl won't pay attention to him. I am going to play guitar and sing it while all of the teachers from my office and the IB director walk past me and ignore me or diss me. I'm rather amused by this idea. Hopefully I will be able to get it on video so that those of you from home can laugh at me. I keep practicing and practicing because I don't want to make a fool of myself. I want it to be funny because of the acting, not because my Chinese singing sucks. Oh well. Wish me luck.
I think that's all for now. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. It's rather unreal. Today I've been cleaning up from the "party" and trying to catch up on stuff. Tomorrow I am going to Suzhou with Charlotte. Hopefully that will be fun.
Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely holiday season.
Hugs and misses!
Stephanie
~~~~~~~~
Monday night was the Christmas dinner with the foreign teachers. We ate at a place called the Tang Dynasty restaurant. It was a super fancy kind of place. We had our own huge room with a TV for karaoke, big couches and even a baby grand piano. On a higher platform was the usual round dinner table. We also had our own bathrooms (male and female) and a coat room!
The dinner was amazing. There was beer and red wine to drink. There were a few starter dishes and then tons of dinner dishes. One strange one that was a first for me was snake. I felt a little guilty eating snake since I've had a pet snake before, but it was REALLY REALLY good. It was cooked very crispy with this kind of seasoning mixture you could sprinkle on top. It tasted like a chicken-fish hybrid and was very tasty. It was interesting to eat because snakes are basically nothing but tons of rib bones and a spine. The fun part was after I ate all the meat off of a piece, I could make the spine wiggle just the way a live snake moves. (Is that too much information? Does that weird people out? I am a bad judge of what is too weird or gross...)
There was so much food I can't remember it all. There was this lobster and noodle dish which was a hit. There was this glutinous crab rice, lobster congee, salmon, a delicious fish (I have no idea what kinda it was), goose wing, duck, this crispy fried thing with a kind of pork filling ... There were also some desserts including this mango pudding thing served in a shot glass.
All in all it was a nice evening and I also got my first ever Christmas bonus. Whee! I decided to treat myself to a trip to Harbin in January. I already bought the plane tickets and now I just need to find a good hotel. I've wanted to go to the ice festival since I first heard about it in college. Now I get my chance! I'm a littler nervous about how cold it will be and also about traveling in China by myself for the first time (well...on a plane). Ah well...I'm sure it will be awesome.
~~~~~~~~~
Christmas Eve I was at Lucy's apartment for the first time. It was so sweet of her to have a get together on Christmas Eve. It was also the first time I ever had home cooked Chinese food made by a real Chinese person. Haha! She made a bunch of different dishes like mushroom and beef and potatoes with peppers and pork and shrimp...it was all delicious. K.C. and Audrey (two friends of her's) were also there. We made some home made sangria that turned out pretty yummy. We also had a dessert of rice ball congee and then some ice cream. And then there was dancing! It was a lot of fun.
~~~~~~~~~
On Christmas day I sneaked into the office extra early and left Christmas presents for everyone in my office. I bought a bunch of really pretty coffee mugs and filled them with a bunch of candy, tea, a candy cane and a red pen (cuz they're teachers!). My students told me that cups are good presents because it means you are full of love for that person.
After that (and a short nap) I had a webchat with my parents. I opened up the present they sent me while talking to them. I miss them a bunch but it was good to talk to them on Christmas.
~~~~~~~~~
On Christmas night, Ned, another foreign teacher, and I organized a party. I bought some cheese and meats and crackers and nuts for snacks and he brought wine, beer and pizza. Annnnd...one person showed up. Wow. Well, some of the other foreign teachers were on vacation and to be fair we did only let people know on TUESDAY that it was on THURSDAY so people already had plans. Oh well. It was a good excuse to completely clean my apartment. And I got some pizza and beer out of the deal. :-) It was a little weird spending Christmas with two coworkers, with me being the youngest person there by 26 years...but at least I wasn't alone and I did have a pretty good time.
~~~~~~~~~~
Next week there is a Christmas/Winter/New Year show and I am going to be in two performances. One is done by the students from Class 1 and I am being the voice over for one of the characters. I have 4 lines, two of which are in Chinese. Should be interesting. Also, I am doing a performance with a bunch of teachers from my department. I told them I could play guitar and somehow that turned into me playing "Dui mian de nu hai kan gou lai", a song I sang in high school. It's about a guy who is upset because this girl won't pay attention to him. I am going to play guitar and sing it while all of the teachers from my office and the IB director walk past me and ignore me or diss me. I'm rather amused by this idea. Hopefully I will be able to get it on video so that those of you from home can laugh at me. I keep practicing and practicing because I don't want to make a fool of myself. I want it to be funny because of the acting, not because my Chinese singing sucks. Oh well. Wish me luck.
I think that's all for now. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. It's rather unreal. Today I've been cleaning up from the "party" and trying to catch up on stuff. Tomorrow I am going to Suzhou with Charlotte. Hopefully that will be fun.
Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely holiday season.
Hugs and misses!
Stephanie
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Today is Special
Today is a very special date.
Today marks my four month anniversary. I have been in Shanghai for exactly four months.
Today also marks exactly one month before I come home to visit.
:-)
Today marks my four month anniversary. I have been in Shanghai for exactly four months.
Today also marks exactly one month before I come home to visit.
:-)
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Hey Look! A Non-Video Post..
So nothing big has happened recently, but some small things have.
On Tuesday I went with Zeno to the primary school since they were having an English performance. The students did a bunch of different stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, the Emperor's New Clothes, and the Boy Who Cried Wolf. I thought we were just going to watch, but we were given sheets of paper and sent to the front row where we were "judges". At the beginning of the performance the student announcers thanked the judges for coming and introduced them all to the audience. All the other teachers were introduced with their names...I was introduced as "the foreign teacher". Haha. I don't know what's weirder, the fact that I was the only non-asian in the whole auditorium or the fact that it didn't feel strange.
My favorite story was probably either The Emperor's New Clothes which was hilariously acted by the students and included both intentional and unintentional slapstick. I also liked the Little Red Riding Hood because the students included a bunch of other stories and fairy tales just for fun. It also included Harry Potter. Red met a wizard in the forest who said he was Harry Potter. She said he couldn't be since he wasn't wearing glasses. He said, "Glasses? Please! Glasses are SO out of fashion...I'm wearing contacts!"
On Thursday, one of my students came up to me while I was getting ready for class to start. He asked me if I liked Chinese tea and I told him that I did. He said that he wanted to get me tea for Christmas but that he wanted to make sure I liked it first. I thought it was very sweet. :-)
I played a version of Jeopardy with my students this week which they seemed to enjoy. I also had a discussion with Class C about dreams that went pretty well. Students talk SO MUCH MORE when I ask them stuff about themselves. I try to start every class out with them being able to tell me stories. Some had some pretty interesting dreams. One student had a recurring dream when he was younger that he was with a girl on a beach. She asked if he believed in ghosts and he said no. Then they walked away from each other. Then a man appeared and shot the girl. My student said that often he would realize he was dreaming and change his actions but the dream always ended with the girl getting shot and screaming.
Yesterday I felt this wave of contentment. I think it might be because things are feeling familiar and routine. I was walking back from Family Mart with my usual items (a loaf of bread, soda, apple juice, sushi, shrimp pocket bread and chips) and just thinking about the weekend and feeling good it was a Friday and all that. I also understood a whole Chinese conversation as some students were passing me. It was nothing big. One student was asking whose milk he was holding since he couldn't remember who gave it to him, and another student was asking for help carrying a box because it was heavy. But still...small victories. I was also happy because there was sunshine. I feel guilty for enjoying the relatively nice weather when Christmas is 5 days away. The New Englander in me wants a white Christmas.
Friday night I met up with Ron at Enoteca (the wine bar) for dinner. Dinner was SO GOOD. We shared a bottle of the Van Lovern Pinotage (one of the wines at the last wine tasting). We got a bunch of different things to share. We had mushroom risotto cakes, salmon spring rolls, whipped goat cheese tarts with marinated tomatoes, we even got oysters. It was the first time I had oysters, I think, and they were delicious. We also shared a creme brulee for dessert. It was a pricey dinner but since I knew it was coming the whole week before I had sandwiches or baozi for dinner. I think that made friday's dinner taste even better.
Ron leaves for California on Tuesday. I really am going to miss him. He's the first and only real friend I made here in Shanghai outside of work. He was really sweet last night saying that I helped make his semester here in Shanghai even more special. We had a lot of fun hanging out and who knows if and when we'll see each other again. We made tentative plans for dinner again on Sunday but I told him I would completely understand if he was busy packing or wanted to spend time with other people before he leaves.
Bah...now I need to go through the effort to make another friend here! Ron is going home and Isabelle is in Vietnam for a month. I'm glad Lucy is here. We have plans for Christmas Eve dinner.
I'm pretty hungry and I don't really have any food in the house so I should really head out for some dinner. Guess this is all for now.
Love!
Stephanie
On Tuesday I went with Zeno to the primary school since they were having an English performance. The students did a bunch of different stories including Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, the Emperor's New Clothes, and the Boy Who Cried Wolf. I thought we were just going to watch, but we were given sheets of paper and sent to the front row where we were "judges". At the beginning of the performance the student announcers thanked the judges for coming and introduced them all to the audience. All the other teachers were introduced with their names...I was introduced as "the foreign teacher". Haha. I don't know what's weirder, the fact that I was the only non-asian in the whole auditorium or the fact that it didn't feel strange.
My favorite story was probably either The Emperor's New Clothes which was hilariously acted by the students and included both intentional and unintentional slapstick. I also liked the Little Red Riding Hood because the students included a bunch of other stories and fairy tales just for fun. It also included Harry Potter. Red met a wizard in the forest who said he was Harry Potter. She said he couldn't be since he wasn't wearing glasses. He said, "Glasses? Please! Glasses are SO out of fashion...I'm wearing contacts!"
On Thursday, one of my students came up to me while I was getting ready for class to start. He asked me if I liked Chinese tea and I told him that I did. He said that he wanted to get me tea for Christmas but that he wanted to make sure I liked it first. I thought it was very sweet. :-)
I played a version of Jeopardy with my students this week which they seemed to enjoy. I also had a discussion with Class C about dreams that went pretty well. Students talk SO MUCH MORE when I ask them stuff about themselves. I try to start every class out with them being able to tell me stories. Some had some pretty interesting dreams. One student had a recurring dream when he was younger that he was with a girl on a beach. She asked if he believed in ghosts and he said no. Then they walked away from each other. Then a man appeared and shot the girl. My student said that often he would realize he was dreaming and change his actions but the dream always ended with the girl getting shot and screaming.
Yesterday I felt this wave of contentment. I think it might be because things are feeling familiar and routine. I was walking back from Family Mart with my usual items (a loaf of bread, soda, apple juice, sushi, shrimp pocket bread and chips) and just thinking about the weekend and feeling good it was a Friday and all that. I also understood a whole Chinese conversation as some students were passing me. It was nothing big. One student was asking whose milk he was holding since he couldn't remember who gave it to him, and another student was asking for help carrying a box because it was heavy. But still...small victories. I was also happy because there was sunshine. I feel guilty for enjoying the relatively nice weather when Christmas is 5 days away. The New Englander in me wants a white Christmas.
Friday night I met up with Ron at Enoteca (the wine bar) for dinner. Dinner was SO GOOD. We shared a bottle of the Van Lovern Pinotage (one of the wines at the last wine tasting). We got a bunch of different things to share. We had mushroom risotto cakes, salmon spring rolls, whipped goat cheese tarts with marinated tomatoes, we even got oysters. It was the first time I had oysters, I think, and they were delicious. We also shared a creme brulee for dessert. It was a pricey dinner but since I knew it was coming the whole week before I had sandwiches or baozi for dinner. I think that made friday's dinner taste even better.
Ron leaves for California on Tuesday. I really am going to miss him. He's the first and only real friend I made here in Shanghai outside of work. He was really sweet last night saying that I helped make his semester here in Shanghai even more special. We had a lot of fun hanging out and who knows if and when we'll see each other again. We made tentative plans for dinner again on Sunday but I told him I would completely understand if he was busy packing or wanted to spend time with other people before he leaves.
Bah...now I need to go through the effort to make another friend here! Ron is going home and Isabelle is in Vietnam for a month. I'm glad Lucy is here. We have plans for Christmas Eve dinner.
I'm pretty hungry and I don't really have any food in the house so I should really head out for some dinner. Guess this is all for now.
Love!
Stephanie
Friday, 19 December 2008
My Sped up Shanghai Day
WHAT!? Three video posts in a row!?!
Yep.
This is just something I did for fun....let me know what you think.
Yep.
This is just something I did for fun....let me know what you think.
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