"You haven't blogged about that yet???"

Recently I was chatting with Depreena, my team mate and fellow teacher here in China about crazy things that have happened either in class or just general life. I am not quite sure how we got on to the subject of pet, but if you know me, it is not to hard to imagine. I love animals. I offhandedly mentioned that my Friday class has a pet turtle...in their class room. Depreena stopped what she was doing to give me a look of utter shock.
Depreena :"A turtle?"
Me: "Yeah, he is really cute. Alice owns him, but she keeps him in the class."
Depreena: "A turtle? And the school is okay with it?"
Me: *shrugs shoulders* "I dont know, but I am not gonna rain on their parade."
Depreena: "A turtle....Have you blogged about this yet?"
Me: "Ummmm, no not yet...I call him little turtle in Chinese and they all laugh at me."
Depreena: "You haven't blogged about that yet????" *face palm*


Another strange animal story has to do with another class of mine. (I have 6 remember.lol) My one student Water had this huge plastic bottle with him in class. Not unusual because a lot of kids bring drinks to class. I got suspicious when I noticed he wasn't drinking it and the girls sitting by him were poking the bottle. Wait a minute...poking the bottle??? So I wandered over to them and picked up the bottle and promptle gasped in shock. There were about 50 tiny fishies in his bottle!!!!!!
"Water! Why do you have fish in your water bottle? Are you going to eat them?" Hey, you NEVER know.
He gives me a look and laughs and says "No teacher, they are for bigger fish."

Face palm moment for me.
I found out later that Water is the head of some pet fish and gardening club and the little fishies were to feed the big fish in their club. But seriously, did he have to bring those nasty things to class??


Well folks, I hope you enjoyed that interesting tidbit of random adventures with me. Reminder, I leave January 10th for Winter vacation and I will not have computer access for a while. But be assured, I will blog all about my travels when I return in late February.

My artsy shot of my chipped mug

 

My Friday Class! I love these kids!!!

Broken Eggs and Bruised Elbows

Living in China brings many adventures.
Here are three stories from this week's adventures.

Oh Tuesday...
On Tuesdays I teach three classes. My last class is my favorite of the three. I like all of them, but this class is the best. Thank goodness I have such a good relationship with them, because oh do I have a story for you.


I was very excited on Tuesday because I was going to share the story of Christmas with my class during the second half. I read them the Christmas story and then split them up into groups to talk about it. While they were re-arranging themselves into groups I glanced down and saw the most horrific thing ever. MY FLY WAS DOWN! Just play it cool girl...just play it cool...

Thankfully they were all distracted, so I turned away and zipped my pants up and began patrolling the room to make sure they were on task. I made it to my first group, which thankfully was all girls.
I walked up and they were giggling a little. Uh oh...I gave them a curious look and said, "Did you know my pants...." They looked at eachother and burst out laughing.
"It is ok teacher, no one but us saw"
"We wanted to say something but did no how"
"Oh teacher, your face is so red!"
"It is okay teacher, really"

So embarrassing, but I moved on. Not even 5 minutes later, I am explaining some Christmas customs and traditions my family observe. My throat is dry so I begin to open my canteen to get some water. Before I do that, I mention that every Christmas we get an Apple and an Orange in our stocking that we hang up. I then take a drink of water. While I am taking a drink of water, Cris, on of my boys innocently looks at Tom, his desk mate, and quietly asks "Why do they put  apples and oranges in their socks?"
If you know me at all, you wont be surprised to hear that water came gushing out of my nose as I tried to not laugh.
And the award for most unprofessional teacher goes to.....
Now completly mortified, my face is bright red. Tom races up to me and gives me a tissue and I clean up. My students are a mix of entertained and distressed. Some think it is terribly funny, and others are worried for my healthy/safety. After all are assured that I am perfectly alright, they laugh with me. It really is a good thing I have a good relationship with these students or else I would have lost any respect they might have for me.

Saturday I  went ice skating with some friends. I did alright till I decided to try skating backwards. Rollerblading backwards is one thing, but ice skating backwards is something different. I don't know why, but it is more difficult for me. Needless to say, I wiped out a few times. And every time I did, I fell on my right side. I earned a nice bruise on my right elbow. I still had fun, but I am a bit sore today.
Fast forward to later that evening. Sydney and I were downtown and we got some eggs. Now, living in China, it is considered a great achievement to buy eggs and make it home without breaking any. I am not going to lie, there is this rush of accomplishment when you make it home with your bag of eggs perfectly intact. Sadly, neither of us girls achieved that feeling of accomplishment. We were buying a cup of hot chocolate before we made the long trek to the bus station to get out bus home. My poor numb fingers decided to dropped my bag of eggs...smashing all of them to bits. I was not happy. I was down right depressed. Granted eggs are cheap and I had only bought 6 of them, but still.
Sydney dropped her baggie eggs a few minutes later, but only broke 2 of them.
All in all, we were able to laugh at the experience and move on.

China has brought me so many adventures so far. All of them full of fun and laughter. I eagerly look forward to the next adventures this month will bring!

"Teacher, it is cold out. Wear your cute hat more!"

I know, I have been terribly negligent in blogging. In my defense, it has been PSYCO! What with Thanksgiving, birthdays and end of the semester things going on, I feel like I haven't had time to process all the crazy and fun things that have happened. Seriously, since the last time I posted, it has snowed soooo much. 

So, because there is WAY too much to cover, I am going to just bullet point the highlights...please excuse any bad grammar, rambling or anything else that an English major should know when she writes a blog post. She has most likely forgotten because it is late at night, she has a migraine (3rd day in a row) and it is at the end of the week when her brain is grey mush...

1.  Beginning of November, I had about 13 students over to my tiny apartment to make dumplings. In truth it really involved them kicking me out of my own kitchen so they could cook for me. They aren't allowed to cook in their dormitories so going to a teacher's apartment means they get free reign of the kitchen. I did get to help fold dumplings, but mine were very sad looking.... Best highlights of that night occurred when I was arguing with my students about me helping do the dishes. They kept telling me to go sit down and I asked them why I should let them do the dishes. They looked at each other exasperatedly and replied "Because...we are Chinese!" I have no idea why that made sense to them...but they literally had to drag me out of my kitchen. Another highlight was when Depreena was jokingly going to let my students try butter. I exclaimed, "Don't feed my kids butter!" Well, my one boy student, who's name is Water, popped his head around the corner thinking he heard his name and said, "yes? Water is here!"

2. China Adventures! I spent a whole day with a sweet Sister named Jo. She is not from Changchun, and is a freshman, so the two of us together trying to figure out where to go, on top of limited English, was an adventure all in itself. Perhaps I got us a little lost (we got off on the wrong bus stop and had to walk for a while....completely my fault..). But, we eventually got where we wanted to go and had fun the entire time! Another adventure was Winter coat shopping with Bridge and Grammar. Finding a coat to fit my very American broad shoulders was a chore, but I found a very warm and cheap one. So many funny things happened that day. Grammar picked on me for being absent minded and klutzy as usual. Both of them are traveling with me for Winter Holiday!!!

3. Loss of Pride: Where to even start, lets see...I have wiped out so much I stop remembering...I wiped out at a park because I slipped. My friend hauled me up by my backpack because I was laughing to hard to pick myself up. I fell down when I was walking to the dining hall because I did not see the ice in front of me. I also fell down when I was shopping with some students. Correction, I fell up stairs...that was really embarrassing. I also fell up the stairs while carrying my bag of eggs after making it all the way back from the market with no mishaps...I broke one..I was sad.

4. Students freaking out when I take off my sweater in class to reveal I am only wearing a t shirt. "Teacher, are you not cold?" they ask and then put their hands on my bare arms to see if my arms are cool. As usual, my arms are extremely warm, which I think assures them I will not die from cold in class. Reality, the classrooms are really hot (to me, and I walk around when I talk...so I get warm easier) in building 4 because its is newer.

5. Students saying really funny things to me that you would NEVER hear in America. Walking out of building 4, I hear four of my girl students behind me giggling and talking in Chinese, when suddenly I hear the English words "Fall in love!" I turn around and say "girls, what are you talking about?" They get this sheepish look on their faces and the leader of their pack says "teacher, you are thinner from when we first meet you, we think it is because you have fall in love!" Yeah, I laughed out loud at that one and then quickly assured them that was not the case.
The next one was just the other day. Emma, a student of mine sees me in the dining hall eating, comes up and starts talking to me. Suddenly, while we are talking, she pulls out a small jar, opens it and dips her fingers into the goop inside and smears it on the back of my hands. While she is doing this she says, "Here Teacher, it is cold out. This will help" Apparently it was some kind of coconut gel balm for your hands. I have the sweetest students ever!
When my students came over to make dumplings, they all brought me a small gift. They brought me a scarf (2 scarfs actually) a face mask, and mittens....do you see a pattern? All things to keep their silly foreign teacher warm. Why? see number 4. I tend to wear t shirts to class...

6. Students being extremely thoughtful. When my students came over for dumplings, they brought food to compliment the meal. They actually went out and bought what we would call "sweet and sour pork" because they remembered how much I liked it.
Another thoughtful moment was yesterday. I was eating with students, but my food was taking forever to come, but I was fine with waiting. Unbeknownced to me they apparently were terrified I was going to faint away from hunger and one of them scampered off to go get some dumplings for me. When you get dumplings, you have 3 options for what to dip them in: Soy sauce, spicy stuff and vinegar. I only like vinegar with the spicy stuff added in, I cannot stand soy sauce. Mind you, I only mentioned that once in passing to my students several weeks ago when talking about food, but they remembered. How do I know they remembered? Because when they brought me the surprise dumplings, the dipping dish had only vinegar and spicy stuff in it. I was very touched. It also made me aware that they do listen when I talk and I do have a huge impact on them.

Those are the best highlights from my past month here. I am warning you, when I leave January 10th for winter holiday, I wont have my laptop with me, so you shall have to wait till the end of February to get updated on my travels, unless I find an internet cafe where I can access blogger.

To ends things, here are some PICTURES! because everyone loves pictures!!!

Kira and I at Thanksgiving

My student Michale and I. He brings me tea because he remembers I like it so much.

My crazy team and I love to dress up.

Me and my sweet students!

oh yeah, I made Crepes!!!!

I GOT TO PLAY FOOTBALL!!!

kiddos cooking in the kitchen!

"It looks like a Panda is eating your head..."

-Funny Quotes-

“Let’s Follow Them, but pretend we aren’t”-Me to Hannah

“Teacher, it is hot out, here wear this hat to keep the sun off your face”-Student to me

“Teacher is it cold out, where is your coat and hat?”-Another Student to me.

     Ah, the seasons are changing! Summer has completely slipped away into Fall here in Changchun, China. The weather here in Changchun is very similar to the weather back home in Indiana. This has been nice because almost every day I have someone, be it student or co- worker ask me “How is the weather in your hometown? Will you adjust?”

I am always happy to put their minds at rest that their Foreign Teacher will not freeze in her light jacket, t-shirt and jeans when it is only a mere 50 degrees out. Though, that was last week. This week, the temperatures are in the 30’s with a lot of wind. I purchased a hat recently because my poor ears were starting to ache on a constant basis from being subjected to the cruel wind. 

                    Is anyone surprised that I bought a Panda hat? I didn’t think so. 

 Two weeks ago, Hannah and I went to a Park. It was absolutely wonderful. It was like I was back at home! The trees were just starting to turn colors, it was warm enough for just a sweater and the sun was shining. There were huge fluffy white clouds in the sky, which added to the sight. The entire afternoon I had this huge goofy grin on my face. I was just so happy to be out in nature again. I truly thrive outside.

The colors today are brighter, but sadly are starting to fade.

Last week, was the last of the nice weather, or so we were told by our students. Thursday was the Sports Meet. I spent the whole day outside hanging out with my students. It was a wonderful time. They got to see my silly, crazy side. They laughed a lot at me, because I was cheering in both Chinese and English for my fellow teachers who were running races. I started to lose my voice in the last race because I was screaming so loud.

So, let’s take a total turn in conversation. I am in my office as I write this and my office mate Clara has stopped me to ask about the scarf I am wearing. I told her I crocheted it and she smiled and asked if I was a spider. I laughed and said “perhaps”. She then said I reminded her of a faerie from a Chinese Legend. Dear readers, you know how I love to hear stories, especially ones that are from a different culture. I asked Clara to tell me the legend and she did. Now before I continue, Chinese Faeries are not how one might think. They do not have wings, but instead wear long flowing dresses with shawls. 

This is how the story goes:

A long time ago, there was a faerie princess named Zhinu. Zhinu was very beautiful, kind-hearted, generous and very clever. She would weave the most beautiful cloth and crotchet garments. She was one of the daughters of Father god and of Mother goddess. Zhinu came to earth one day and met Nulang, or man with the bull, for he walked with his pet bull. She fell in love with him and they married in secret. They had two children together, a boy and a girl. When Mother Goddess found out that Zhinu had married a mortal, she had them separated by the Milky Way. She said that Zhinu did not belong on earth but in the heavens. As legend tells it, Zhinu and Nulang can meet once a year at The Bird’s (Magpie to be specific) Bridge and spend a day together on earth. That day is July 7^th on the lunar calendar. It is also a kind of Valentine’s day for them also. They celebrate February 14^th on the regular calendar as Valentine’s day and July 7^th on the lunar calendar.

Funny part of this story is that there are a ton of magpies here on campus. I jokingly told Clara that perhaps I was Zhinu and they were following me around which made her laugh. Well, I am off to go do teacher stuff.

Peace and Love

-Hil

"But you walk so Normal!"

 Laughing as I almost fell into the creek!

Hey ya'll
Thought I should update you on how life is going. For those who are on my list, I have a newsletter submitted and the communications department should have it printed and mailed hopefully by the end of the week..so be looking for one in the next week or three. For those who want to be on my newsletter list, shoot me an e-mail with your home address and I will put you on the list. It might not make it on this newsletter, but it will make it for my Christmastime Newsletter.

I just finished my October Holiday and it was glorious, restful, but not uneventful. Let's see, where to start?

Oh, so, I taught my first Saturday extra class before break. After class, I was walking down the stair and chatting with my students. Everything was perfectly ducky till I felt my feet go out from underneath me. It happened in a split second, but for me, it was slow motion of my hand desperately trying to grasp the hand rail to keep myself and my pride aloft. Alas, I failed. I ended up on my rear end on the stairs, my shoes at the bottom of the stairwell. Somehow, I missed two stairs and the impact of me hitting said stairs knocked my slip-on shoes off my feet. Needless to say, I was laughing like a hyena, barely able to reassure my very concerned students that I was fine. I was fine, but my pride...oh, my poor pride was shattered for good and ever I do believe. 

Fast forward to dinner on Tuesday night. I am eating with my team and a senior student named Grammar. He has become a good friend to all of us, is really funny and has excellent English.
Anyways, we were walking away from the dining hall, when lo and behold, the sidewalk decided to up and move on me and I....you guessed it, tripped. I kept upright, but it was still seriously embarrassing. After making sure I was okay, Grammar innocently asked me if I tripped often, to which my team mates replied for me saying I tripped over everything. I confirmed it by saying I was always pretty klutzy, even back in the States.
Then, he asked the funniest thing. Here is the conversation that occurred:

Grammar: "So, Hilary, what is your record for falling down?"
Me: "In like a day?"
Grammar: *snickers* "Yeah"
Me: "oh, 4. Down the stairs, out of a chair, up the stairs and out of a chair again." (that was back in high school, but I still remember it.)
Grammar: *looks me up and down as we are walking* "Wow. But, you walk so normal."
Thanks G. 


Life got better. Loads better.  Wednesday, I was down eating lunch with Hannah and I decided to return my dishes to my room. Hannah was kind enough to walk up 2 flights of stairs with me to return my dishes. In one hand I had my keys and the other hand I held my mug with my bowl on top of it. Wouldn't you know it, those stairs came up and tripped me, sending me sprawling across them. My bowl jumped off my mug and shattered, my knees slammed into the hard stairs, and my chin came within centimeters of also meeting the same fate as my poor knees.
 Naturally, I was laughing hard core, but this time, that fall actually hurt. I am fine, but I really liked that bowl. :(


Needless to say, I am keeping my team mates and friends here in China amused with my gracefulness....er, lack of gracefulness.

Here are some photos from my time at the Park in Changchun. I am so blessed to have a National Park so close to my home. Being a nature girl through and through, it brings so much joy to be able to spend time in His splendor and majesty!

-Love
Hil

Hannah and I at the Park!

Happy to be out in Nature again!

Such a beautiful place! My heart sang all day.

 

Beautiful Things in Small Packages

Is there anything more beautiful than hearing a baby laugh? This is Kira mid laugh, such a beautiful sound!

Beautiful things come in small packages. Like this precious baby girl I got to dote upon last Saturday. Or the children of my City director. Those four boys kept me and my teammates in stitches. Children really do brighten up your day.

Another beautiful thing that came in a small package was a letter from home. I got a family photo sent to me, and several hand written letters from my family members. Getting that small package was such a joy.

Yet another beautiful thing that comes in a small package is Hot Chocolate. The weather is turning cooler here and hot chocolate in the evening makes things all cozy and just right. It is very cold in the morning, warm to almost hot in the day and then cool in the evening. I was kindly told by an office mate to make sure I wear layers, because people get sick a lot during this time of the year due to the major shifts in temperatures. It is so sweet how much my students and co-workers care about my health. I have had students tell me to wear a sweater in the afternoons because of how cool it gets. It is so precious.
I love how my students light up when they see me walking. Their precious cries of "Hello Miss Hilary! Hello teacher!" make my day! 
Beautiful things come in small packages, and half the fun is looking for them.
<3

Lessons in Culture

I am halfway through my week and I have had several cultural life lessons already. I love my job and this life!

Culture Lesson number 1:
Today started out like any other. I got up, showered, ate a small breakfast and got ready for a day of teaching. I had on heeled shoes, pants and a white t shirt with the blue scarf my dear friend from Nebraska got me for my birthday. I stepped outside and realized it was gloomy and a bit cool. Not so cool that I needed a jacket, but the pants was a much better choice than a skirt. I debated for about 5 seconds with myself whether or not I should go and get my umbrella just in case the heavens decided to open up and pour down rain. The idea of having to go back up 5 flights of stairs, in heels, for an umbrella  helped me decide to risk it. I then headed off to my office to plug in some office hours.
Chinese culture is extremely interesting to me. They never say sorry if you bump in to somone, or bless you if someone sneezes or coughs, but they will ask the most peculiar questions and not think it strange or forward. Example:
I get to my office and one of my office mates is in there. We greet each other and as I sit down to work on some stuff, she casually asks me "Hilary, did you eat breakfast?"
I internally paused at such a personal if not intimate question, or so it would be in the West.
I replied that I had a yogurt in my apartment with coffee and that I rarely ate breakfast anymore and that was the end of that conversation.

Culture lesson number 2:
Fast forward to after class. Class is over and I step outside, only to discover it is now raining. UUGH!
I take my scarf and wrap it like someone from India would to protect my hair. Half way to the dining hall I hear, "Teacher Teacher!" I turn to see one of my students running up to me with her friends. They crowd around me and one of them holds an umbrella over me. This is the custom here, they take care of their foreign teachers. When I told them I was going to a different dining hall, my student called out to a friend that was walking past and had him walk me to the dining hall I wanted because he had an umbrella. This boy did not know me, but did as his friend said all because I was her teacher. I was very touched by the gesture.

Culture lesson number 3:
My last class of the day was an English Corner which ended at 5pm. As I stepped outside, I realized the temperature had dropped quite a bit. It was now about 50 F with a nice cool breeze making it feel like 45 to my t shirt clad self. As I was walking to my apartment I passed two older ladies. The older of the two, while approaching me, looked me up and down and slightly shook her head and said something to her friend in Chinese. As they passed me, the older lady stopped in front of me, said several sentences to me in Chinese while pinching my bare arms and looking at me expectantly. I quickly gathered from her tone and the light pinching on my arm that she was asking where my coat was. I motioned to the apartment complex and she shook her head and said some more things in Chinese to me while shaking her finger at me. Then she walked away. In reality, this exchange took mere seconds, but the meaning was heard loud and clear. Despite the language barrier, I understood I just got scolded by a granny for not having enough clothes on. I am almost 90% sure the first thing she said was "Why are you not wearing a coat you crazy foreigner? We don't want you to get sick and die!" This is very common actually. The older folk here will come up to you and see if you are wearing enough clothing in the winter. And if they feel that you do not have enough to keep you warm, they will kindly scold you like I was today.

Cultural Lesson number 4:
I was at lunch with B and Hannah. I had hot noodles and a iced tea. As I was eating my noodles, I reach and go to take a sip of my iced tea. B take the tea out of my hand and says "No, you can't drink that! It is cold, your food is hot. Here I brought you clear broth, drink that." (At lunch they serve clear broth for free to go with your meals. I learn why in a few seconds.) I give Hannah a strange look and then ask B why I cannot drink my cold drink with my hot soup. She patiently tells me, the stupid foreigner "Because if you do your stomach will explode." Apparently Chinese have this thing about hot and cold things, you have to balance the hot and cold in your body but you shouldn't drink hot and eat something cold or visa versa. Internally I am laughing, but because B is a dear friend and I know she has my best interest at heart, I listen to her and eat my noodles and drink the broth she had gotten for me. After I finished my noodles she gave me my tea back.

All of these instances were very important cultural lessons. It is nothing in China to ask questions like so, scold someone you don't know for not wearing a coat, walk with a complete stranger and share an umbrella or take a cold drink away from a friend who is eating hot food. All of these are ways they show they care about someone and very good lessons for me. I seriously love it here.
Peace,
Hil