喜喜

As soon as the guests were seated, a crew of waiters brought out steaming bowls of shark's-fin soup. Murmurs of approval swept through the room as the guests realized the lavishness of the feast about to be set before them. Like many brides, Sissee didn't have time to enjoy the banquet prepared in her honor. She circulated from table to table, pouring tea into little tea cups set on a tray. As she passed it around, each guest took a cup and replaced with lai see--the traditional good-luck paper money.

On Gold Mountain, Lisa See

Last week I had the honor of attending a Chinese wedding.

The rich hues of red and gold....the delectable aromas of Guangdong food....the warmth of wine and baijiu.....the celebration of a new marriage. It was magical--almost exactly as it is described in See's excerpt.

I don't want to delve into the differences between American and Chinese weddings (see Gary's blog for this info).....rather, I will allow the pictures to explain what I cannot:

Before the introduction of the bride and groom

The bride and Groom

Presentation of the bride and groom

The feast begins



Toasting each table

Susan in a traditional Chinese dress

我希望给你们高兴天

wo xiwang gei nimen gaoxing tian.
(Literally Translated: I wish to you happy day)
(What I want to say: I hope you both have a very happy day!)

I have no idea if I have the words are in the correct order...or if they really make sense (I did my best based on my tiny linguistic knowledge of Chinese)

Happy Birthday to two very special people: Tiffany and my Nana

I wish you loads of happiness on your special day.
I love you.
*laf

innocence.

Yesterday, Eleven (one of my students) approached me. He had quite a dilemma. Apparently my brother, Garreth--Eleven's pen-pal--posed some questions concerning his current "relationship". Eleven was perplexed: he desperately wanted to help Garreth...answer his questions....ease his mind. Although distraught, Eleven confided in me...told me his problem:

"I never have girlfriend. I know nothing about girls. I cannot help your brother. I just do not know what to say. Please keep this our secret."

Humored, I helped erase Eleven's doubts and concerns (after all, I hardly understand my own gender). I smiled, put my hand on his shoulder, and asked him if he would like to play a game outside. Half a millisecond--doubts gone--a smile emerges--"I love outside! I love the weather!"

Welcome back to the age of innocence....

where girls still giggle--they don't gossip, hold hands--not each other's purses, shop for pretty hair barrettes--not make-up, and cry because a girlfriend--not a boyfriend--hurt their feelings.

where boys trip one another between class to impress other boys--not girls, sit together at lunch and discuss soccer--instead of girls, and worry about their academics--not girls.

where all children are mischievous.....never malicious.

This is one of my favorite things about China: children are still children....even in high school.

These children bring warmth and happiness to my day...much like my AP students did.

They are beautiful and sweet and innocent...............

self improvement.

I woke up this morning and found large bleach spots all over one of my favorite dresses. Usually, this would send me into a quiet rage and I would cry for fifteen minutes and remain livid for the rest of the day. However, this morning I looked at the dress, shook my head, and repeated Tiffany's famous words: "Oh, China."

For some reason, I am slowly becoming like my mother: immune to life's trivial problems.......

I have China to thank for this phenomenon.

When I travelled to China last April, my train trip to Qufu landed me in one of the worst situations: sitting on a hard-seat for an eight hour train ride. Let me describe the situation with a picture:

Image was borrowed from: http://www.bartellonline.com/summer/1/train-hard_seat.jpg

Now, this doesn't look too bad. However, let me change the seating arrangement/capacity limit. Imagine every seat is packed (three or four people per bench), boxes, suitcases, bags, and oil canisters are slammed onto the overhead shelf and laying on the floor. The tiny slots of available floor space are occupied by passengers--because those who cannot afford a hard-seat (92 kuai=$11 USD), like me, have to purchase a "standing room" ticket. For eight hours, they will stand or sit in what little floor space is available. But, this isn't the worst part......imagine the filth on the floors....people spit, babies eliminate, oil canisters leak.....imagine the smells....eight suffocating hours of little ventilation....the lingering aromas of food and body odor. You can't rest your head anywhere; you can't change the position of your body; you can't move. It's 11:33pm.

It just eight hours......just eight hours.

Just as I wanted to start crying, I looked toward the floor: sitting in the filth was a man my father's age..... his knees were drawn into his chest; he looked tired, dirty, emaciated, and in pain.

This image struck me harder than any other. How shameful it was that I wanted to cry because I was sitting in a hard-seat instead of comfortably resting in a hard-sleeper.

China's taught me a lot. But, more importantly, it has constantly reinforced one timeless lesson: Life's not fair.

And so the saga continues.....I see all types of suffering on a daily basis. But this time, I don't shame myself; I try to change myself. When something bad happens to me, I try to remind myself of the triviality of the situation.

I can't change the world, or end the poverty that plagues so many. But, I can make small changes in my own life. Perhaps that is why my mother has done so much good for her family, friends, and community....a long time ago she stopped focusing on insignificant problems, and poured her energy into things of importance.

when you get bored on a sunday afternoon in china.....

you can do what tiffany does: create your own marketing campaign.

Tagline--"She is STYLISH, MODERN BUT CLASSIC AND FRESH AS A DAISY"......

The Newvo Ruby the Riveter takes on the bathroom..........armed with pink rubber gloves, silk scarf and pearls. Oh yeah and some bathroom cleaner and a scrub brush. She thought about cleaning while listening to the Les Mis soundtrack.....but only gets as far as pouring the bleach on the floor-----then lets the foaming bubbles take care of the rest.

Feel free to submit this to Arm and Hammer as an idea for a marketing campaign.

"Road trippin' with my two favorite allies"*

This week marked the celebrations of both NationalDay and the Mid-Autumn festival in China. It is a week of mooncakes, bright festivities, and vacationing. Thus, I took advantage of this special week by venturing to a geologic jewel in the northern part of Guangdong Province: Danxia Shan.

At the entrance of Nanhua

With meager research, a few hundred kuai, and our backpacks and phrasebooks, Gary, Tiffany, and I set out early Tuesday morning to catch a bus to Shaoguan (a middle sized city--3 million--in northern Guangdong). Once in Shaoguan, we bought maps and headed to Nanhua monastery...a temple with more than 1,500 years of history. It was founded in 502 by the Indian monk Zhiyao Sanzang. However, the temple became renowned when Huineng, the sixth patriarch, reached enlightenment. It was Huineng's doctrine of Nanzong Chanfo (Chan Buddhism) that spread throughout China and eventually bled into Japan as Zen.

A monk explaining something to a child.

After enjoying the monastery, we caught a bus back to the city center and began the "accommodation search." Many people would consider this a daunting task...especially when you are on a budget, don't speak the language very well, and happen to be traveling during one of the busiest seasons in China. However, God blessed me with pragmatism, Gary with tremendous linguistic skills, and Tiffany with empirical reasoning.....thus, we found a hostel in the city center. Fortunately, God also graced all three of us with endurance, patience, and understanding......because for 20 kuai ($2.53 per person) a night, you can't expect air conditioning, a personal bathroom, or your door to close all the way. However, you can expect a fan that doesn't work well, a mosquito net above your bed, a community bathroom (a floor below you) that contains two squatters, and mysterious noises that occur at 3 am.

Looking out the backdoor of our room.

We rose early the next morning due to a combination of necessity and a deep desire to leave the hostel and caught a bus to Danxia Shan. According to Chinese legend, this is the place where Lady Nuwa molded man and woman from the red clay and gave birth to civilization. Strangely enough, the topography and geologic wonders of this park reinforce this legend, or as my friend Tiffany writes: "We didn't realize until we got to Mount Danxia geological park that it was known for its sexually explicit rock formations. We were shocked to see these types of formations and erotic artwork in puritanical China." Yes. It is true; there are rock formations in the shape of genitalia. Despite these symbolic rocks and interesting sociological discoveries, the mountain provided us a much-needed escape......an escape from Shenzhen's noise and pollution. There is nothing like cool, crisp mountain air, a difficult climb, and the exquisite view on top of Danxia's highest peak.

Climbing to the top.

A view from the edge of the Buddhist monastery in the mountain.

Trekking through narrow passages in the mountain.

Yes, money can buy an easy ride to the top.

After our day on the mountain, we returned to Shaoguan, found a new hostel, and enjoyed dinner and a beer on Shaoguan's famous pedestrian street. Although we planned to go white water rafting the next day, the bus schedule did not accommodate our vacation plans....thus, we were forced to forgo the river and hop on the bus at 9am.

On the pedestrian street, enjoying our favorite candied fruit.

This was a particularly interesting encounter. A wedding party was having its reception at this restaurant. Upon arriving at the entrance, we were given cigarettes (which we were required to light and smoke) and a warm welcome. I hope they understood that the Meiguo ren were not part of the celebrations.

Three kids, three backpacks, and a mandarin phrasebook......we had the time of our lives.

Due to the large quantity of pictures we took during our short stint, I cannot show them all on this blog. However, you can visit both Gary's and Tiffany's picture sites and view some fabulous photographs:

1) Gary's Pictures
2) Tiffany's Pictures

*One must give credit where it is due: This is a song lyric from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

it's not all candy canes and kisses.

China is wonderful......the people, the culture, my school.

But there are those days.........the down days--days when I am utterly frustrated, sad, and homesick.

Unfortunately, I have always been a victim of idealism. Yes.....that is right.....I am an "everyone is good--money doesn't matter--rainbows and ponies--candy canes and kisses" thinker. It's a shame that I am a part of reality......because money does matter, and not all people are good, and rainbows and ponies usually only exist in JCrew ads....where the girls, in chic and expensive dresses, are pretty and perfect.

Before I came to China, I believed that I was venturing to the mystical far-east of pleasantry.....a land of mooncakes, pretty girls in traditional dresses, elaborate tea ceremonies, and a people who were quiet, reserved, and polite. Well, China is truly culturally outstanding......but my initial perception was simply wrong. The people here are, well, people. They don't live mysterious lives as portrayed in The Lonely Planet.

As a matter of fact, there are some things I have not become accustomed to:

1) The spitting, snot rockets, and nose-picking.
2) The face that babies don't wear diapers....they eliminate on the sidewalks, gutters, and streets.
3) Always being intensely stared at.
4) Always being asked to sing for large groups of people at gatherings. (Yes, once again: after judging an oral English competition, Gary and I were asked to sing and entertain the crowd for 20 minutes while the scores were being processed.)
5) Although a fan of honesty, sometimes I am taken back by the brutal honesty of this culture. For example, the Chinese will tell you if you are fat...ugly...stupid...or if your Chinese pronunciation is poor...or if you don't use chopsticks well..etc.
6) The deafening sounds of car and bus horns....for example, if a bus stops to pick up people, the cars and buses behind it will start honking....like the stopped bus is going to start magically moving because of the sound of another bus' air horn.
7) The lack of cell phone decorum (this is infuriating). Here is the rule: if it rings, answer it. It doesn't matter if you are in a meeting, or a judge in an oral English competition, or at the dinner table...the urgency of a call trumps all things and situations.

Now, please do not assume that all Chinese people do all of these things. And please don't assume that the Chinese are rude and thoughtless people....this is far from the truth. But the clash between American and Chinese culture sometimes creates an unusual tension in me. Although I have been blessed to travel many places, I have never endured culture shock quite like this.....

I have to remind myself...I am in China...this is the culture...get over yourself. There are the days when I can do this....and there are the days when I can't.

However, for all the good and bad...I wouldn't have it any differently. All I have to do is write or talk to one of my Chinese friends (Ingrid, Dan, Diana, Harry), or step into a classroom (well...this has its infuriating aspects too....but this is a topic in and of itself), or talk to one of my students, and I can still return to my ideal world....where life is a happy party of candy canes and kisses.

sheng ri kuai le.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to my best friend: my mom.

Everyone (students and teachers) at my school wishes you a very happy birthday! Much love from the far east............

Robert (the creator of "the happy birthday" sign)

Our dear friend, Harry.

Our lovely friend, Maria.

Our dear friend, Jerry.

want to come to china and teach?

If you or a friend are considering coming to China to teach, please read this article. It is very important that you go through some type of western organization that will work with the Chinese government in order to ensure your safety, salary, and well-being. Please do not be naive....although China needs English teachers, it can can be quite dangerous to seek a job by yourself. Read this article for a better understanding:

English Teachers Warm of Bad Treatment in China

On a lighter note:

A couple people have asked if they can share my blog with others. Please feel free to do so; I am quite honored by these requests.

peace, love, and mooncakes, leslie-ann.

The name game.

As you read in my previous post, I have to come up with lots of English names for my students. So far, I have been kind when assigning students a name: Sam, Madison, Elle, Madeline. Heck, I have even given some a special tribute by naming them after my favorite authors, friends, and music groups: "Ezra" (Ezra Pound), "Dylan" (Dylan Boren), "Judy" (my mom), "Marilyn" (my Nana), "Tegan" and "Sara" (one of my favorite music groups), Oscar (my favorite designer: Oscar de la Renta), etc.

However, I am finding that the Chinese classroom is not always a haven of well behaved children.....as a matter of fact, some of the kids drive me nuts. So Gary and I have compiled another list of names....fitting names that will secretly make us laugh when we call on these "special" students: Gaylord, Lancelot , Hannibal, Clarice, Malaria (pronounced Mal-uh-ree-ah), Hyman (after the Greek Goddess). Of course, it would be terrible if Hannibal grew up to be a business man, or Hyman a doctor, or if Malaria worked for the CDC in America.

*Please note that this is a joke.....my sense of humour in not cruel; Gary and I are not naming our students any of the names located in the second paragraph. We simply like to entertain ourselves when planning our lessons.

do you want a chinese child named after you?

If so, please let me know. Many of my students do not have English names. I need to come up with about 50 female names and 50 male names.

P.S. Dylan Boren, you definitely have a spot....as a matter of fact, I know exactly who will be bestowed with your fine name.

stop complaining.

For those of you who are currently teaching or will be teaching soon, I want to share something with you. I remember, quite vividly, the complaints I received from students every day about about the hardships of American public education.....classes are too long...there is too much homework..."school sucks".....your class is boring.....there are too many tests....8:30 is too early for classes...etc, etc.

Let me share our Chinese school's schedule:

6:20-6:35: Morning Call (students go to class)
6:40-7:00: Morning Exercise
7:00-7:25: Breakfast
7:30-8:00: Reading Period
8:05 8:50: First Period
9:00-9:45: Second Period
9:45-10:10: Morning Exercise
10:10-10:55: Third Period
11:05-11:50: Fourth Period
11:55-12:25: Lunch
12:30-2:10: Afternoon Break
2:10-2:25: Afternoon Call (students go back to class)
2:30-3:15: 5th Period
3:20-3:30: Eyes Exercise
3:30-4:14: Sixth Period
4:25-5:10: Seventh Period
5:10-5:50: Break/Activities
5:50-6:20: Dinner
6:50: Evening Call (students go back to class)
7:00-8:40: Night Lesson 1/Study Hall
8:55-10:00: Night Lesson 2/Study Hall
10:20: Bedtime

Next time you hear students complain about their measly seven hours in school, show them this schedule. Moreover, if they think school is too hard, or long, or it simply "sucks", tell them it is okay. There will always be a smart and hard working Chinese student who will replace them in a University or job.

Also note that this is only a small part of the stress these students endure....testing, class placement, and filial duties are omnipresent stressful factors in their lives. Only the TOP students ever make it to a University....the rest are resigned to driving a bus, waiting tables, or working in retail. It saddens me that many students in America don't realize and seize the opportunities that are so readily available to them....if only everyone had our opportunities.

the first day.

First day of class

Yesterday marked the first day of my teaching career in China. There were the normal jitters....however, I was unprepared for the warm welcome I received in the classroom and the side-splitting laughter that occurred.

My first day of student teaching in the states was terrifying--my seniors displayed vicious and crude attitudes the moment I met them, and I had no professional help whatsoever. Walking into the Chinese classrooms was a wonderful experience. Every student displayed a smile, applauded my entrance, and fully participated in my lesson. Moreover, every teacher offered assistance, help, and advice. It is an experience that would make individuals want to become a teacher or stay in the profession longer.

I had the students introduce themselves during the first lesson. I had to bite my lip to conceal my laughter. Chinese students pick English names based on how they sound.....many times you will meet a "Winter," "Snoopy," "Angel," or "Rocket." If a student likes the way a word sounds...or a particular movie....or a specific adjective, he/she will usually use it as his/her English name.

Perhaps this short snippets will help you understand the humor I am trying to convey:

* Hello, my name is Mosquito.
*Hello, I'm Potato. I love potatoes because they are very cheap and delicious.
*Hello, I am Handsome.
*Hello, my name is Obi 1 Kenobi, but you can call me Obi.

I am quite sure my laughter will not cease this year.

p.c. free.

A clothing shop in Dong Men

teacher's day.

Every year in China, one day is dedicated to the teachers...they are celebrated and praised for their hard work and accomplishments (trust me; this is nothing like the U.S.'s lame "teacher's appreciation day"). This "day" is actually a weekend of elaborate celebrations, food, and traveling. Gary and I were invited to take part in all of the festivities.

On Friday evening, we enjoyed dinner, karaoke, and festivities with all of the Senior I teachers. Gary and I were asked to perform a song.....we chose "I can tell we are going to be friends" by the White Stripes (most of you will recognize this as the opening song in Napoleon Dynamite). This was interesting....and for some reason, heavily applauded.

On Saturday, Gary and I traveled with the teachers to Huizhou where we went white water rafting during the day, enjoyed a traditional Hakka dinner, and ended the evening with a two-hour-long massage before crashing at a five star golf resort.

After enjoying a large, traditional Chinese breakfast on Sunday, we set out to see the seashore. All of the teacher's piled onto a fishing boat and enjoyed a short ride in the gulf waters.


It was an unforgettable weekend.......