China: At the Movies

A few weeks ago, I was treated to my first China Movie experience. I went and saw the Hobbit in 3D with some fellow American friends. It was in English with Chinese subtitles, and I had a blast! 
In America, I love going to the movies. So naturally, when my Chinese friend Kate, invited me to the movies to celebrate our friend Doris' birthday, I was excited. Movie time with friends is something I always did in high school and college.
The movie we were going to go see was Jack the Giant Killer! It was a movie that has been on my "to watch list" for quite some time. I had to teach two classes and an English corner today, so movie night with my friends was a great motivation to keep up the cheerful spirit. Our little movie-going party consisted of Kate and Doris (Chinese students) Andrew, Sydney and myself (American teachers.). We were all really excited about getting to go see a movie with friends. We got to the theater and grabbed our tickets. 

Cool thing about Chinese theaters: they assign you seats, kind of. When you purchase your tickets, you get to choose what seat number you want. American theaters really should do this! No more jockeying to get the first spot in line for midnight showings or showings of any kind. 

Anyways, we got our tickets and sat down. Though, right away Doris, Kate and I scurried off to use the ladies room before the film started. Another cool thing about Chinese movie theaters is that there is no promo film reel. It just starts the movie at the time it says on your ticket! This is slightly bad though, because I am used to America where I can run and use the bathroom during the promo reels and not worry about missing anything. 
Us girls actually ran to the restroom and ran back to the theater, much to the amusement of the workers there. We entered the theater, donned our 3D glasses and sat down. We had only missed maybe two minutes of the film. It took me a few seconds, maybe only one and then it hit me. What the people's mouths were saying was not matching up with what I was hearing. The movie Jack the Giant Killer, an American movie, was not in English. It was dubbed over in Chinese!
Sydney, who had not gone to the restroom and had figured this out already, looked at my face and laughed! Kate, the poor dear, looked horrified. She had swore that it was going to be in English because, when she bought the tickets online, it said so. Some seat re-arranging was done so that Kate and Doris were positioned to translate for us. 
Now, I had two options in front of me. Get upset that I couldn't understand what was being said, or have fun. We all chose to have fun. At first, Sydney and I made up what they were saying, dubbing it ourselves. But then, Kate and Doris after switching seats, began giving us the basics of what was being said which helped a lot. What also helped a lot was a little known skill that I have.
Some of you may know, I took American Sign Language for two years in high school and four semesters in college. (Mrs. Swank and Professr Donah, thank you so much!) When you sign, a lot of times you lip what you are signing, and I got pretty good at lip reading. So when the shots were showing the actor's mouths, I could 90% of the time correctly surmise or quote what they were saying. This was much to the amusement of Kate and Doris. What also was funny was being able to recognize the handful of Chinese words that I knew. Andrew knows more Chinese than Sydney and I do, so he was able to play the "recognize the Chinese word" game better than us.
The movie was great! I don't ever remember having that much fun at the movies. Was was really nice is that the Chinese people around us did not mind us talking, because a lot of them were talking also. 
I really enjoyed the movie. It was funny, clean and left a good feeling in our hearts. I would love to see it again! Though, perhaps next time in English.
I am praising the Father for giving us all a spirit of joy and love and for friendship in these crazy adventures.
Oh China, thank you for these wonderful adventures!
<3 Hilary

Crazy Laughter

The first week of classes is almost at an end. I had quite forgotten how much teaching takes out of me. Tuesday night, I actually went to bed at 9pm. That is shockingly early for me. Again this semester, I have a day off! Which this means I can stay up late the night before and sleep in the next day. Whoo!
My schedule this semester is pretty nice. I teach Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. I teach an 8am class, a 1pm class and a 3pm class on Mondays and Tuesdays and then the same for Friday, but no 3pm class. Wednesdays are meetings and office hours and Thursdays, my glorious Thursdays are my clean house, grocery shopping and writing days.
Enough about my schedule, for I have some pretty funny tales to tell about my first week of school.
I love my students so much. It was pretty funny, looking back on my first day of teaching in August and comparing it to my first day of teaching this week. In August I was a bundle of nerves, worrying about what if I forgot something, what if I ran out of things to say, yadda yadda yadda. This semester, I was blessed with confidence because I knew these kids, they were mine and they knew me already. I was also blessed that I get to start my week off with my favorite class! I know, I know, I am not supposed to have favorites, but, I do. I actually have 2 favorite classes. They are the same major, just two different sections because there are so many of them. It was in this class, the second section on Tuesday, that our story takes place.
So, because I have not seen my kiddos for over 2 months and vica verca, we played a game where we shared our stories from our holiday. But, since this is an oral class, I wanted them to do more of the talking. So what I did was, I wrote on the board the names of the cities I visited, split them into groups, and had them make up stories about what they thought I did during my holiday. They were allowed to ask me questions to get ideas, but for the most part, they had to make it up. The best story came from the third group and it went like this:

So one day, our teacher, Miss Hilary went to Xi'an and visited the Terracotta Warriors. When she was there, she met the dead Emperor and he came to life. She took him with her to Chengdu and they ate hotpot together. But, the Emperor was allergic to spicy food, so he died. And Hilary was very sad. So she took a panda from a zoo with her to Kunming because she was lonely. But, in Kunming it rained every day and the panda caught a fever, and died. And Hilary was very sad. So she borrowed an elephant and rode it across a river into Thailand where she met many pretty people and had fun. The End.

As you all know, I love to laugh, and this story had me in stitches. I always try to keep my composure in class and be professional; but with certain classes, I just cannot help it. I do think though, by me laughing with them, they become more comfortable around me. So, laughter has definitely brought me closer to my students and I cannot wait to continue speaking into their lives.

Another quick funny story has to do with Hilary being a klutz. I was walking to my office the other day, minding my own business, slowly picking my way across the ice, when one minute I was standing and the next I was on the ground. Yep, major wipe out on my right side of my body. My poor right elbow, this is the third time I have landed on it and I now have a nice little bump on it and a small bruise. Needless to say, yes I was laughing my head off because it honestly was funny. My main concern was not for my body, but for my huge Tervis Owl cup my parents had sent me for Christmas. I had been holding it in my right hand and it had hit the ground pretty hard. Once I saw that it was perfectly fine, I began to laugh and whimper a little about the pain I was in. I promise, I am fine, just a little sore today from the whiplash of falling so suddenly. 

So while my internet is still behaving I am going to post this and run. 
Keep on laughing!
Hil

Pride comes before a Fail...

I knew I was in trouble when bus 120 turned left instead of going straight.

 Today, I decided that instead of taking bus 160, my tried and true bus that takes me to the downtown area, I would take bus 120. I knew bus 120 would take me to the fabric market, and I was like 90% sure it would take me to downtown also and be quicker about it too.
When we made the left hand turn I kept thinking "short cut...it has to be a short cut..." 
Sure enough, it was sort of a short cut and we went past the stop for the fabric market. It was then we made ANOTHER left hand turn instead of going straight. Uh oh! I was confused. Just the other day I had taken a bus from the fabric market to downtown and I could have sworn it was the 120....and then it hit me...I did take a bus, but it had been the 227, not the 120. I was now going down roads I had never seen before. I thought to myself  "maybe I will just ride it out and see where it takes me..." because that is always a smart idea when you know almost NO Chinese and all your friends who do, are miles and miles away. 
Seven stops later, I decide to get off. We had just crossed a bridge over the big river and I knew that because we crossed it, I was at least much closer to downtown that I would have been. I hopped off and headed towards the nearest stop light. Left, right or straight? I looked around and opted for right. It made sense. I mean, I turned left earlier, so to head back in the correct direction I should turn right, right?
Let me put things into perspective. It was 2pm in the afternoon, the temperature says it is 5 F out, but really it feels like -10. I had very few layers on because...well...because I am stupid. To top it all off, I am slightly sick. More like I just have a nasty cough that is enhanced by the freezing cold wind. 
So here I am, coughing and very cold, walking down a street that the name of looks slightly familiar but I can't be too sure. I think "this is stupid. I could wander for hours and possibly be going in the wrong direction...I am getting a taxi." For me to get a taxi, you know I am not feeling good or in a good mood. I hate getting taxis by myself for various reasons. I catch a taxi and say in my best Chinese "Guiling Lu." The driver nods his head slowly and looks at me funny, but begins driving. Then he looks at me again and asks "Guiling Lu?" while pointing straight ahead. oh crap. don't tell me.... yep. the road I wanted was literally 3 blocks ahead. Totally within walking distance. Apparently, I had a better sense of direction than I thought. Blushing, I nodded my head and got out of the cab not even 3 minutes later. Pretty sure the cab driver was thinking "silly American".
 It was withing walking distance, but my pride reasoned that I was not feeling good and it was really cold out, so the taxi was necessary....right keep telling your pride that one.
So, I get my errands done and then I am off in search for a bus to take me home. I stated that it was cold out right? Well it was now 4pm, and the sun was going down, so it was growing even colder. I didn't feel like walking the 3 blocks that it would take me to get to the 160 bus stop. Remember, the 160 is the tried and true bus that always takes me right back home. No, instead, I decided that I want to find that darn 120 bus stop. And sure enough I do. So it does go down town I thought bitterly. I would have found that out if I had been patient but what was done is done. I cross the street in search for the 120 heading back home...but I can't find it. Do I buck it up and walk the now 4 blocks to the 160 bus stop? Nope, why here is the 227. I know that will take me to the fabric market and then I can catch the 120 from there. What is a little bus change? Pleased with myself, I hop on the 227, but this time I ask the driver for sure if he goes to the fabric market. He says yes. We get to the market and I switch buses. All should be good right? Heck no. I get on the 120 and we make our way to the street I live on. I am happily daydreaming when an older Chinese man across from me asks me a question. Great...I have no clue what he just asked me...maybe he asked where I am getting off? It was the best I could come up with...So I said my school's name even though I was gonna get off at the stop after because it would be quicker to my apartment. I say my school's name and the Chinese man says something while shaking his head... uh oh....crap. I wasn't smart and didn't write down the name of the actual stop I wanted, so I had no way of telling him that the stop I really wanted was the second one from the school, not my school. The driver must have heard me say my school's name, because he dropped me off in front of my school where there is no stop. This probably means he felt bad for the poor stupid foreigner. The thing is, where he dropped me off is smack dab in the middle from either possible entrance. You can't really enter from the real front of the school, you have to use the side or back entrance....and I was in the middle of both of those. So, while grumbling under my breath at my stupid pride, I hoofed it to the back entrance. 

My lesson? Write down the darn pinyin of the stops you want so you don't end up walking a bunch in the freezing cold weather. My pride was in the fact that I had the characters copied down and obviously I would never get lost with those....but I can't read/pronounce characters.
The Father was gracious in providing me with a decent sense of direction and the ability to catch transportation that would take me where I needed. But from now on, I will just take bus 160, the bus that actually goes to where I need. The Father was also gracious in providing me a lesson in humility and patience.

Well, that was my China adventure for the day. I am grateful I can look back and giggle at my sillyness. Now I am off to go make dinner and a nice big mug of hot chocolate. I definitely earned it.

"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