Hot Chocolate and a Good Book.

Damn. You know, it's so hard for me to sit down and make a decision and commit to something. I had a really good feeling about the one school I mentioned that I looked at for studying Chinese in next year. Now, I'm not so sure. They displayed a real lack of professionalism in our last conversation. I sent another email in order to find out if I would need to go abroad to extend my visa or if I could just switch to a student visa without any issues. The good news is that I don't have to go abroad (means more money I have available to me). The bad news is that a woman told me the price I was given in one of their offices was wrong and the actual price was almost 4,000 yuan more. You kidding me? How unprofessional. Right? Right? Right. I sent them an email expressing a similar attitude. They must have got the message because I haven't heard back yet. It basically stated that and also that I would now consider other schools due to their stupidity. I didn't use the word stupidity, but that's what it is. Let's be real.

Here are some dogs out wandering with their owner.
I mentioned how Chinese people love putting little outfits on their pups in a much earlier post. Here's a matching pair.

So now, what will I do? I have no idea. I heard back from them and the woman was very apologetic. I'm still considering their school. I just don't know, yet. I sent her another email questioning total prices and text books and all that jazz. I then sent another email before even receiving a response to that one about the website. Even the website lists a lower price than what this one gave me. Granted, it does say it's for the 2011 academic year, but if that's the whole price listed on the website what else are you supposed to go by as a prospective student? Again, very unprofessional of them. I don't know. We shall see. If I kept teaching, I could make almost double of what I'm making right now or exactly double (through my current company) if I get my own apartment, which I plan on doing regardless of what I end up doing next year. Decisions, decisions.

Had a really enjoyable weekend.

I went to this restaurant on Sunday that I've been to many times, just haven't been in a while. I had company and we tried a dish that was unfamiliar to me. First off, the dish was huge. In typical Chinese fashion, we over ordered. In our defense, the size of the dish we ordered was questioned prior to ordering. Besides the size, I normally wouldn't eat the red peppers in this dish. The dish was already super spicy. The dish contained these little ball things, almost like very small nuts or something. They come opened and non-opened. They're quite small, maybe a quarter of the size of a raisin. These things will make your lips tingly and numb. Seriously. They're crazy. I've had them many times. Well my company was eating these red peppers no problem. Well, I'm bold and don't mind some stupidity now and again. Probably more often than not. Anyways, I declared that I would eat one and then did so. Big mistake. My mouth was on fire. I can handle spice, but Chinese spice is a whole other thing, especially this food because the restaurant's meals are fashioned after a province's food that is known to be quite spicy. I chewed up the pepper real good. Bigger mistake. My tongue was the worst part. It was so unpleasant. I was crying from the spice for a good 10 or 15 minutes. Literally. Cold drinks offered no relief. Despite the tears, I was laughing at my own stupidity. It was quite amusing, even for me.

So as usual, I'm going back and forth with what to do for next year. Now, I'm fairly positive I will continue teaching here in the same school. It just makes more sense for a lot of reasons. For one, money won't be so tough. I already live comfortably and then some with my low teacher income as is. I can also still go to the school I was interested in and attend a few days after school every week. It's not a difficult job, and I have lots of free time. With extra income, I can attempt to get some more travelling under my belt, and lay a better financial foundation for my future. Money would be very tight if I just attended school. I would be scrounging for extra work all the time. It probably wouldn't be that hard to obtain, but still. Besides, even going to the school a couple days a week will help me tremendously. I'll move forward almost just as quickly as I would if I was going there 'full time' because that would only be 4 hours a day 4 days a week anyways. I'd have so much free time on my hands. I won't mock it too much though because nothing is decided yet. Sticking with teaching will allow me to maintain my gym membership too. Not a necessity, but it's a nice luxury. I can also stay in the area I'm in, which I really like. It's so convenient for a lot of things and it's just a good area in general. In my opinion. Anyways, nothing is set in stone. I'm weighing my options. Not 100% thrilled about teaching for another year, but it most definitely wouldn't be terrible. It's not a hard job by any means. I'm now starting to search for other schools because getting more money isn't really a problem, especially with a year's experience under my belt.

We were getting some snow last week (Week of 12/4) on and off for a couple of days. Amazingly, it was actually real snow as opposed to government created snow. Didn't amount to much, but check out these pictures of my backyard. So you have an idea what it looked like during the summer, I included one from then followed by the first snowfall we got.

I thought this was a cute photo. It's a grandfather (most likely - Chinese grandparents are kept around to watch their grandchildren). They're out battling the snowfall.

I've had a cold now going on two weeks or so. I just can't seem to shake it no matter what I do. I even stayed home a day last week. I needed the rest. I took a few days off from the gym as well, but now I'm done missing days so I'm back in there. I'm drinking tea, drinking orange juice, and eating pomelos like they're going out of style. That's impossible. I'm in China. I even napped a couple days during my break, which I never do. Pomelo is a citris fruit native to Southeast Asia. It's quite common here and it's delicious. Like the dragon fruit dwarfs the kiwi, the same goes for the pomelo compared to the grapefruit. It's like a grapefruit on steroids. I love them. They're so much easier to eat. I usually just drive a knife in fairly deep because the outer skin is really thick. From there, I can just use my thumb and then the rest of my fingers to take the whole outer shell off. Once inside, it's easy to just peel the membrane/skin right off from the sweet fruit within.

Pomelo - Southeast Asian Fruit

School has been going decently. Sometimes it drags on, but most of the time it's not bad. Come to think of it, the weeks have been just cruising by. I can't believe my birthday has past and it's already the 8^th of December. Christmas is right around the corner. It will be a lonely Christmas indeed. I scoped out some mini fake trees I can snag one of these days. Really small. At the very least, it will add some amusement to the holiday and give me a false sense of holiday cheer. I'm acquiring Christmas movies and I've got hot chocolate from Mama Bear, so I'm set.

There are some funny things that have occurred in school life that I'd like to share. Hilarious, actually. First off, I'm sure I've mentioned this before. When starting off class, I always call two children up to come and greet one another in one way or another. I teach more greetings and they get more difficult depending on the age. I just like to have some kind of child to child interaction. For example, in my baby classes, I have one child ask the other what their name is. The other one responds and then poses the same question. If they are better, they can progress to add nice to meet you and nice to meet you to. This particular class hasn't gotten there yet. I may start with them next week, but we'll see. Anyways, there's cute little girl in the class whom was already one of my favorites. She's quite bright, loud, and funny. She has recently solidified that last quality even more so. Before I continue, you need to know that 'na ge' means that one. Pronounced, it sounds like 'neiga' or 'negga'. Now, if you say that out loud, it's going to sound a lot like the "N" word (with an 'a' on the end, not 'er'). Well, little Bonnie comes up and ponders for a second with 'uh' followed by 'Negga, what's your name!?' and '…..Negga, my name is Bonnie.' Haha. I'm sure you can see where I'm going with that. It's so funny. I laugh everytime. When she heard me laughing on Friday, she continued to repeat it; "Negga, what's your name? Negga what's your name? Negga what's your name?" Bonnie, you are precious.

I got this other kid named Steven whom I've mentioned before. He's one of my geniuses. He's funny. It always takes a few minutes to get started in his class. Prior to, I'm usually messing around with some kid(s) or doing whatever and waiting for the class to settle down. When Steven senses I'm about to start, he likes to throw in 'Alright, good morning.' and maybe even 'What day is it today?' or 'How's the weather outside?' Haha. Funny guy. A little smartass. Literally. He says those because that's usually how I end up starting the class. I laugh every time.

Another kid I'll mention in this post is John. I taught him last semester as well. He's not always paying attention and listening, but he's a sweet kid and I love him. He's funny and has a great laugh. I've been moving on through topics normally every week now. Just about every week, John will cling to his knowledge of one card and wait for the opportunity to be the first one to shout that out and get some sort of praise. The amusing part about that is even when he's not first, he'll still wander up for that card and try to get a hand slap from me. He's just so proud that he managed to remember that one card. It's better than nothing I suppose, so I don't have too much of a problem with it. I'll continue to encourage him. He rocks this big blue jacket with a bear head on the hood. Yes, it has ears. (China has the coolest winter jackets for children. So many of them have something crazy on the top of the hoods – ears and faces, horns, and other cool things. One kids hood folded down to reveal built in goggles. Why didn't I have a winter jacket like that? I've stated before that I like to put the hoods on the kids. With cool things like that, it makes it even better and even more amusing.) Well one day, I put John's hood on him. It's got this extra padding in the front, so it's ideal for playing the drums on his skull. He thought it was hilarious and now asks me to do it if I fail to do so. I also like to pick him up and place him up on this high ledge in the school. Sometimes, I'll say bye bye and walk away for a time before returning. Afterwards, I stand back a bit with open arms and encourage the kids to jump into my arms. It's not that dangerous. I'm there and wouldn't drop them, so don't worry. Some are more reluctant to do than others. John was at first, I think. Now, no problem at all. He barely sits on there for half a second before he's jumping/falling to be caught by me. If I put him back up, he immediately jumps again. Oh, Johnny boy.

Then there's Daisy. Sweet, lovely, super cute Daisy. I miss her. If I'm lucky enough, I'll run into her when she's heading to the bathroom (her new classroom doesn't have one in it) or when she's in the hall for some other reason. I usually see her a couple days a week. She always screams my name, with the rest of her classmates because I taught most of them last semester. Daisy sticks out, though. She runs up with her arms up in the air, wanting to get picked up. Of course, I'm then forced to pick up most of the other kids nearby as well because they all want to, and I can't be showing too much favoritism. But the fact is Daisy and Julia will always be two of my favorites. I see Julia for tutoring still so I'm happy about that. I'm planning on getting her and her family something for Christmas if I can figure out something in time. I always pick Daisy up and tell her I miss her in Chinese. She always repeats it back to me. Today, I asked her if she really did. She confirmed that she did. I then told her how to say it in English. She either already knew it or she's just that quick. Love her.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Even in China. I walk in the mall's supermarket and hear Christmas songs. I was hearing them before Thanksgiving even came about. I think I forgot to mention my Thanksgiving. It's really not worth mentioning. I wanted some duck since it was the closest thing to Turkey other than chicken. The duck was cold and mostly bones. Jerry Seinfeld freaked me out in one episode of Seinfeld stating that he didn't like duck because the skin was almost too human. That didn't help. The rice dish I ordered was nasty. It was just an all-around terrible meal and terrible Thanksgiving. There's always next year!

Special thanks to Mom and Pops. Been reading the first book of the series (Game of Thrones – yes, I watched the TV series and loved it.) I was dying to read the books before seeing the show and they're proving to be just as excellent as I was told.

-Jeff

Goin' Solo

So I survived the weekend. And if you’re reading this, looks like you did too. Congratulations. The world had two chances to explode on 11/11/11 during 11:11 AM and 11:11 PM. Sorry to disappoint. That Friday just so happened to also be Single Day in China. I guess it’s kind of like the arch nemesis holiday of Valentine’s Day.

I woke up Saturday morning at around 10:30, I guess. I had been debating on whether or not I should go to Xiang Shan. (It’s a mountain.) Normally, I’d want to get an earlier start. I just wasn’t feeling the whole idea of getting up early, but I was still into the idea of taking a trip out to Xiang Shan. It’s west of Beijing. In order for me to get there, I have to go down my subway line all the way to the other end. I’m already at the last stop on the east, so it takes more than an hour just to get to that subway stop. From there, you need to take a bus or two to get to the mountain/park.  All in all, it’s quite a venture out there. If you remember correctly, I did it once back in the early spring months ago. I was with somebody then, so didn’t have to worry about directions or anything of that nature. That’s probably the way to go. Too late for such things. I decided I was going. I looked up which bus to take after arrival at the subway stop and packed a few things. I cut off a small portion of a piece of paper I had drawn on, originally intending to use it for a tutoring lesson. The crazy part about the back of that portion I took was that it was the part of this drawing that had a mountain on it. I drew this quick picture that I was planning on using for tutoring to ask questions about the picture. I’ve done it on the spot during lessons for fun because the girls that I tutor like to draw. One of the things on the back was a mountain with the word mountain written underneath and there was a sun in the top corner. The full word and sun was included in the part that I cut. How weird is that? Anyways, I meant to leave earlier, but didn’t even set out from my place until 12 or a little after.

While waiting for the bus near my apartment, I ran into little Tiger from one of my baby classes. He was funny, making noises and hiding behind a pole and his mother. I snapped a picture of him. He’s just so tiny, even his mother said so. I think Tiger was just learning about his abilities and the little high pitched noises soon emerged into something else. Later during the week, I hung around the class that he’s in for a bit. Had nothing to do for 30 minute since it was raining and the kids weren’t going outside to dance. Just before leaving, Tiger let out a ferocious roar, releasing the true nature of the beast. Now for a creature of his stature, his roar was not quite as fierce. From his lips he released a menacing shriek, deafening to the ears. I gazed down at him in awe of what I had heard, half laughing at the little guy. The teacher nearby was also shocked. It was hilarious. Immediately after, he resumed drinking water thinking nothing further of the matter. One day, Tiger. One day. 

 I got on the bus and after the first stop, an elder man got on. I attempted to get up and offered him my seat, but with a stern hand he pushed on my shoulder and forced me to sit saying that it was ok. I had to try another 2 times and force my way past his hand and insist that yes, it was ok. He finally sat down and thanked me. In Chinese, I asked him if he could speak English. He claimed that he could only speak a little. I soon learned that his English was quite good. We spoke for almost my entire subway trip to the end of the line. We exchanged phone numbers and he even invited me to a poetry reading. He told me that it was somewhat of an ancient form of poetry where the poetry is sung and that this art was being revived. He knew by my face that I was not going to attend this time and told me to proceed to Xiang Shan. It sounded interesting and I did think about joining him, but the mountain was on my mind so I had to continue to my destination. I text him shortly after and told him that perhaps I could join him the next day (Sunday) because he had said that he was going then as well. Unfortunately, he later told me that he could not make it. That’s ok, though. I met a friend and he was a very interesting and perceptive man. Somehow, we were discussing injuries and things of that nature. I think some of the best advice I got from him was when he told me to think of your body as a structure, like a building, and that you should carry yourself accordingly. I was already working on correcting my posture, so this advice helps in that regard even more. I hope to see him again someday.

When I finally arrived at the last subway stop on my line, I exited and purchased some street vendor food. Delicious. I’ve had this particular one many times. It comes on bread that resembles an English muffin. Stuffed inside is some kind of meat, most likely pork, a fried egg, and lettuce. Prior to those contents being added, a reddish brown sauce is applied and you have the option of adding spice or not. I always do. Come on. I’m a man. After acquiring that savory snack, I looked at the bus stops on my side of the street for the bus number(s) I had written down. I could not find either. A man had inquired about where I was going. After telling him, he instructed me to cross the street. Again I searched for the bus I needed, but to no avail. I asked a few people how to get there in Chinese while pointing to the bus signs. My meaning was understood and after a few tries, a younger guy wrote down the buses that I needed and which stop to get off at. He gave me directions for 2 buses and had looked them up on his phone. While traveling on the first bus, I saw a sign for the bus I had originally been looking for. 318. It was a gamble. I made the decision to get off at the next stop, which was nearby, and then take that bus to Xiang Shan. I asked an elder woman if I could take this bus, and she informed me that indeed I could. Afterwards, I noticed the last stop on the sign said Xiang Shan. I pointed to this and laughed with the older woman. So from there, it took about another 30 minutes or so to get to Xiang Shan. I wasted some time looking for the right bus and standing around, so I didn’t arrive until about 3:00 in the afternoon. Upon arrival, I didn’t know exactly how to get to the entrance, but I had a vague memory from my last visit months ago. I simply followed the general flow of people that were heading in an upward direction. It was a good plan. I soon made it to the entrance and began my ascent. Most people were coming down at this time, but there was still plenty of people going up and lots still at the peak. It is China, after all. I hiked at a rather fast pace and made it up in a mere 40-45 minutes.  Up until this point, I just had a light track jack on.  Once I reached the peak, it was a little colder. It was later in the day, so the temperature was dropping and at the top, you’re a little more vulnerable to wind. It only makes sense. I scoped out the area, and found the peak I was looking for. This is the same peak that I ventured out to

.

That’s where I was headed and proceeded to eat some snacks and sit down for a while when I reached that point. Luckily, I brought this ‘puffy’ vest I purchased. It’s really warm and light weight. It can be scrunched down to virtually take up no space at all and weighs practically nothing. Good choice by me. It was still cold, though. I thought about staying for the sunset because it was about 4:30 in the afternoon at this point, but the sun seemed to be hanging at a certain level and wasn’t dropping real fast. I guess it just gets to a certain time and then drops instantly from view. Anyways, the sky was grey, so I saw no reason to stick around. I thought about taking the cable car down if it fit the price I had in mind (I found out from someone later that it did), but there was just too many people for me to bother. The line was huge. No thanks. Besides, I made it down in 30-45 minutes. I’m a fast walker, so if there’s no one to slow me down, I tend to make good time.

I took a different route down, but somehow ended up on the same route I was on, and then managed to divert off that route onto another. I found myself in the same location I had been when I descended on my first visit here months ago. I headed in the direction I thought I should, and my instincts proved me right. I guess my directional sense has been increasing due to my situation. Either pay attention and learn or be forever lost. I bought some chuan(r)s (kebabs) and picked up these little snacks that looked like pancakes with red bean in them. Hao chi! (Delicious!) Besides, that’s the closest thing I’ve had to pancakes in over 9 months. Talking about them now really makes me miss pancakes. (Due to a lack of sugar in my family’s house on many occasions, there were times when I would just go grab a bottle of syrup and drink a little bit of that to get my fix.) I may have to go on a quest to find the ingredients to make some pancakes. I know just the place, so we’ll see. Pancakes aside, I found the bus I needed and asked an employee if it went all the way to the subway station I was trying to get to. She told me it could. (Remember, I transferred buses on the way there. This was the bus I was initially looking for, but just could not find the stop.) I rode the bus until an area that looked familiar and the stop contained the name of the subway station, but wasn’t in fact what I wanted. Luckily I just had to walk straight. In Chinese, I asked a couple people for directions, and they all said walk straight. Simple enough, but it was a bit of a hike and I was pretty tired at that point. Finally made it home and enjoyed myself a bottle of wine.

Sunday was a pretty low key day. I went and did some food shopping in the early afternoon. Here’s what I walked out of there with. Quite an array of different items, I know. There’s a ceral box of ‘Berry Bunch O’Krunch’ (ya, I know…thieves.), a bag of cookies (I decided to try some for the first time, they were delicious. Yes, I dipped them in milk.), a new bottle of wine (Relax, I’m saving it), a pack of juicy fruit and a little bag of sour skittles (I didn’t really want them, but I just had to purchase them since it’s not often I see Juicy Fruit and skittles are normally more expensive), and hamburger meat for the first time (I never actively looked for it, but it’s always been in my mind and is usually more expensive), and a decent sized duck leg. Almost forgot, there's a can of coconut milk too! I buy it from time to time.

I cooked the duck that night. It was probably one of the worse cooking experiences I’ve had. It’s definitely up there. The meal itself wasn’t actually terrible upon completion, but not worth my trouble. Without an oven, I was forced to cook the leg on the stove top. I had thought about making gravy, so that was part of the plan. I took a gander at some recipes on how to do so online, and I made a sauce of my own once before. It just wasn’t that great, so I haven’t done it since then. I thought about cutting the meat off the leg prior to cooking it in a pan, but after a few attempts I gave up. So, I started frying it. The idea of cutting the meat off for faster and easier cooking creeped back into my head, so I removed it from the pan after a few minutes and attempted to do that. What a joke. What a fricken joke. Half the thing seemed like it was just skin, and I had a hell of a time trying to cut it off. Fatty oil was everywhere. I got so annoyed at one point, I figured I had the majority and just tossed the rest. Then after the duck was finished cooking, I attempted to make a gravy or sauce. I wanted to use the natural sauces from the duck, so I threw in a starch and water mixture. Well if it wasn’t bad enough, this just took all the fat that was in the pan and solidified it into a big mass of orange blob. There was so much of it and it was disgusting. I’ll leave it at that. No, I did not try it. My potatoes were under boiled, so they were still crunchy, but I just didn’t care at that point. I tossed in my corn and peas, mixed everything up with some butter and salt, and that was that. It wasn’t terrible, just wasn’t at all what I imagined. I openly stated that I should not be allowed to cook.

Luckily, I made up for that meal on Monday night. I purchased a plain spaghetti sauce and common spaghetti noodles weeks ago. I’ve just been waiting for the right time to do it. The ground beef I purchased was specifically for this cause, so it was time. I looked up some directions real quick online just to make sure I was doing things right. I knew exactly what I was doing, but I needed this meal to be just what I wanted. I added minced garlic, onions, tomatoes, and even red peppers to the sauce. That spaghetti was amazing. I loaded on the parmesan cheese. Now, I know I said I was saving that wine for later, but I just had to have a glass with my Italian meal. It just didn’t’ seem right without. I even had spaghetti left over, so I cooked up a chicken breast the next night and just threw that in what was left. Delicious!

As for this week, hasn’t been that bad. I was forced to take Wednesday off because the school was having an inspection. (My visa situation isn’t exactly legal.) I made use of the day and went to visit 2 out of the 3 schools I was looking at. The first one really had me mad prior to arrival, despite the fact that I was more interested in this school. Once I got there though, everything was fine. The receptionist was really nice and answered all my questions and I was able to think of more things to discuss.I got a good vibe from the place. They seem much more focused on the individual needs of students and try to match you with a group of students at the same level as you looking to accomplish the same thing you are. Much different from larger schools with set curriculums that are not too concerned about the individual. This was the case with the other school I visited that day. I figured it would be. Besides that, the price different between having accommodation and not having accommodation with the second school was absolutely ridiculous. That in itself turned me off. Easy enough to get my own place, but they’re crooks. For what they wanted as a monthly rent with accommodation, I could get my own fully furnished 3 bedroom apartment and live by myself with money left over. If I went with them, I’d have to deal with roommates and they’re crazy rates. Later gators! To them I say, NEXT. Also, when I was ‘interviewing’ them, it was a typical question and answer setting. Not a very comfortable situation. You feel like you’re on the spot and need questions, instead of them just being able to tell you lots of things. When you ask, they give you the straight forward answer without much breathing room, so it’s over and done with pretty quick. I hate that. I’ll look at a few more, but I’m fairly certain I’m going with that first school. I had a good feeling about it from the start, even prior to visiting. We’ll see.

It’s Friday night. After going to the gym, I came home and showered. Shortly after that, I started to do the preparation for cooking. It was another poor excuse for a meal. All in all, still not bad. But again, completely different from what I envisioned. I guess I need to start setting my standards lower.

On the bright side, since I stopped boiling the undrinkable sink water and using that in my oatmeal, my throat has been pretty solid. (Knock on wood. Hey, it can’t hurt.) Coincidence? I think not. When I was doing that, I was sucking down tea all the time because my throat was constantly bothering me. Since I made the switch, I haven’t had an issue for 2 weeks.

I also thought to myself earlier, that I kind of miss car rides home from working and things like that back in the states. Driving in a car was my music devotion time. It was time just for me where I could sing and devote the time to actually listening. Here, I’m always listening a little on the side and talking with people. More of a closet singer too, so I can’t sing either. ‘Double bugger.’ – Seinfeld reference. Kramer first decides to widen the lanes on his adopted highway, mile 114. He’s then afraid of losing it, so manages to acquire 40 gallons of paint thinner, which he spills on the highway. This causes the first bugger. After noticing that it was flammable, the double bugger came out.

I finally read a book on the computer despite objections. It was a short one. It’s called ‘Eaters of the Dead.’ You may know it as ‘The 13^th Warrior’, which is the movie based on the book. The book is alright. It’s based on true events as seen by the observer. Possibly slightly exaggerated, but there’s no real answer.

Oh, and they finally turned the heating on two weeks ago so I’m no longer an icicle in my home. I even get hot at times. That’s more like it. And the weather is so crazy. It was much warmer here today, and the sun was out. Most of the leaves are still on the trees. It’s just so odd. Explain it to me! EXPLAIN IT!

Bring on the weekend.

Live long and prosper. - Jeff

School's In Session

Oh, what a week. School is extra fun this week. I’m being sarcastic if you didn’t sense my tone through reading. I know, it’s easier said than done. Monday was ok, but today is Tuesday and that’s when the fun started. Monday was Halloween, which is normally a pretty fun affair as a kid in elementary school. There’s not really much class going on, everyone is dressed up, and there’s lots of candy from what I remember. Sounds like a great day to me. But wait a second. I’m not in America. I’m in China. The celebration out here is fairly mild for the young ones. The knowledge the Chinese have for the ‘holiday’ has just been gathered from Americans. They don’t really know what they’re doing, and they don’t really care too much about it. That’s not entirely true, but you’ll see my meaning. The school is decorated with fall and Halloween decorations. I’ve seen pictures of previous Halloween events at my school, and it looked fun. My roommate had been told prior to Monday that the school was going to give us some sort of costume and the word ‘makeup’ was thrown in there as well. Fortunately, the makeup part never occurred. We got to miss one of our classes in the morning because we were told to go meet in one part of the school. Within that room, a box lay on the floor. Random costume items were then passed about. I ended up with a cap, a half black, half gold Venetian mask, and a pirate hat. A large multi-colored fro was originally presented to me, but I snagged the pirate hat from one of the teachers later on. It’s more my style. From there, my roommate and I were instructed to venture out to the school yard after the raising of the Chinese flag and pass out candies. There wasn’t much of a selection. As a matter of fact, there was only one; lollipops. The kids still liked it, though. They had fun for the brief amount of time it lasted. I’m fairly certain that the school provided half of the costumes or more to the kids. There were some here and there that brought their own. Some just threw on a mask, home-made or bought or one select item like that. However, there must have been a good 30-40 kids wearing the same cape as me. So, I’m also fairly certain that China only has 2 or 3 costumes available for purchase. I’m kidding, but seriously. The candy went pretty fast, and the whole affair lasted maybe 10-15 minutes in total. From there, school continued as usual. The children didn’t’ even keep their costumes on. In my opinion? Boring/lame. I was told they had some kind of a party maybe during the past weekend. There’s no real hard evidence of its existence, but hopefully the kids got to do something. I think the younger people out drinking the weekend before got the better end of the whole Halloween experience.

Tuesday marked the first day of some extra classroom visitors. We had principles and top figures like that from other schools evaluating our school. That wasn’t bad for me. I just had to deal with some older woman sitting in the back keeping to herself most of the time. Some paid attention, some didn’t. It didn’t really make much of a difference to me. I’m comfortable enough now and dealt with parents in the classroom, so not really a big deal. Besides, I’m not one of those people that freak out and get all stressed and worried about trivial matters like that. You know the type. What’s the point? Does it really help? No. In fact, it only makes matters worse for yourself and those around you. Take a chill pill. I’ll write you a subscription. 3 pills, 3 times a day during a meal. Wednesday and today (Thursday) were a little worse because the parents showed up in many of my classes. Again, I’ve done it before so at this point, it just doesn’t matter that much. I pretty much just block the parents out and try to conduct class as usual. Maybe I try to be a little better or try to keep the kids, parents, and I a little more entertained during the lesson. I’ll admit I have a little less fun with the kids most of the time too. I think I really only had one bad class, but the teacher told me that class was very good. Fine with me. I sweat a bit more in that class because it wasn’t going smoothly and the kids forgot old material. When it got a little tense in the room, I switched over to a game. Everyone enjoyed that. I think as long as the parents see that their kids are learning, repeating me, and having a little fun; they’re happy. It’s not too demanding. I think I’m through it anyways. I don’t think there are parents coming on Friday, but I’m probably wrong. The only thing that I really struggle on with parents is going too quickly. You can take your time more and focus on things longer when there’s no parents present. Oh well.  I have no class this afternoon. I have to take a trip over to another part of the city to show up for a visa renewal interview. Sounds important, right? There’s nothing to it. The last time I went, I spent more time waiting for the assistant and other teachers to show up then I spent there. I was at the ‘interview’ for maybe 5 minutes. They looked at me and I handed them some papers and my passport. Done. What a waste of a time.

I was wrong. Naturally. There were more parents today. No matter. I got through them no problem, so I’m finished with the parents. And…..it’s Friday! Yay! Haha. Come on, even when I do nothing on the weekend, I’m looking forward to relaxing and having that option to do nothing. Not entirely sure what I’m going to do this weekend. Been so distracted, as usual. Too many things going on, too many things I want to do, so little time. Going out to dinner tonight, but that’s it for now.

As promised, I got back into the gym this week. Amazing. You know, my body just craves to be in the gym. I’ve stuck with it for years, almost 10 now, so it’s not just something to do, it’s a part of my life. When I’m not exercising and being active, I miss it. I was looking forward to that unfamiliar soreness from entering the gym after being gone for a while. I got it. I’ve been pretty sore overall this week. Bring it on. That’s how you know you’re doing a good job. I’m praying I can stay injury free for a while. If I can manage to not get sick, that would also be great.

My hunger is starting up again. With the exercise, I need more fuel so I’m craving foods. After I had tonsillitis, about 2 weeks later, I was eating all the time. I mean all the time. I just couldn’t stop thinking about food. I felt like I was 17 again. I just wanted to eat and eat. I guess that was my body getting back to normal. I’m not like that now, but hungrier than I’ve been. After my dinner last night, I had a big bowl of cereal. I haven’t had cereal for 9 months, so I bought a box the other day. I’ve just been snacking on it lightly, waiting for the right moment to have a bowl of it. Don’t worry, I made it count. It was Trix. They’re not just for kids, silly rabbit. I’ve been drinking hot water and honey and tea like it’s my job. It’s so hard to get my throat back on track. It’s pretty good, but I feel it slip again from time to time. I gargle plenty of salt water too. It’s not my fault! I’m a healthy boy. I’m just up against too many odds. It’s cold, the air quality is poor, and I’m using my voice all day. That’s 3 strikes. I’m out. But I’m hanging in there. “Sometimes a guy will give you a strong grip, late release, and pull you in for the too close conversation.
To him I say 'That's three strikes; you're out!” That’s a Seinfeld quote if you didn’t catch it.

Some things. My room is a bit disheveled. I don’t understand. It was perfect two weeks ago. So easy to fall into disrepair. I bought two plants a while back. Now, one is dying. Perhaps the leaves are just changing colors because it’s autumn? The other one seems ok. Time is moving fairly quickly now since I’ve got to figure out what I’m doing next year. That always happens, doesn’t it? If you’ve got nothing going on, then it slows down to the speed of a tortoise. But wait, the tortoise wins the race!? I think I’m on to something. I’m hooked on walnut milk. My roommate recommended it. It’s incredible. I’m still drinking coconut milk too.

I’ll tell you some more about school and the kids and how they are. I’ve been jotting little notes down to help me remember what I wanted to talk about during school hours. I guess I’ll start off with Maria. She’s a new girl, not Asian, in one of my classes. The class loves me. (All of my classes do, come on.) This is the same class that always tells me if another student has a hood or not so I can put it on their head. We laugh and can have fun, but still learn as well so it’s a good atmosphere. At this point, like most of my classes, I know the abilities of individual children and the class as a whole. I know who the clowns are, who pays attention, who get easily distracted, and so on and so forth. There always exceptions and kids can surprise you from time to time, though. In Maria’s case, for the first 2 days, she was quite shy. She wouldn’t come up and do the introduction greetings with the other kids. If I asked her to repeat something, she most likely wouldn’t and it was a chore trying to get her to do so. I’ve had kids last like this for months. Having dealt with my dog, Goober, I know how to handle that kind of situation. I know, I’m comparing kids to a dog. But there are similarities! You can’t force the child or push them too much. You just need to let them work at their pace and they’ll come around when they’re comfortable. Maria was comfortable within the 3^rd day of class surprisingly. She came up and did the introduction greeting with another student without any objections. She was so comfortable that she leaned up against me while doing so. I’ll put my arm around kids and things like that and kids will do the same to me. Some will lean, or put their arm around me, or sit on my lap. Within a week, she’s one of the top students in the class. She learns so quickly, has a great memory, and with my encouragement, she’s proud of doing well and shouting out the answers. I was really impressed.

There are some other kids were mentioning from this past week as well. This is now the week from the 6^th to the 12^th. I have this girl Eileen in one of my younger classes. When she yells out the answers with the rest of the kids, it’s hilarious. The teachers nearby and myself can’t help but laugh. It kind of has the tone like one of those horns going off from ship’s coming in or leaving the harbor. It’s so loud and blaring. She even drags it out. When I talk with her one on one, she’s quite shy and her voice is the complete opposite. That makes it even funnier.

I’m not sure what’s going on with my school and their extracurricular activities. Sometimes kids will be missing from my classes or I’ll see some kids wandering down the hall with a teacher. I have no idea if these kids have been recruited or their parents are paying for some kind of extra activity. Recently, I’ve seen both some kind of karate or some form of martial arts and basketball.  I’ve seen piano playing with a child or two from time to time since I’ve been in the school. These other two sessions involve a lot more kids and the gym is utilized. I had asked one of the teachers why these particular kids were involved, and she said perhaps because they were big. That answer seems unlikely seeing how basketball contains little Sherry from one of my young classes and plenty of other small kids. Sherry listens quite well, though. She follows the stretching instructions like it’s her job. Andy, whom I’ve mentioned occasionally, listens equally as well during the martial arts. He has what appears to be the determination of a cat trying to catch a mouse. They seem pretty determined from what I’ve witnessed? Maybe not. Regardless, he’s determined. He looks like a statue when he’s going through the different motions. I think he would hold one of those poses all day if he was instructed to do so. I was amused with this. It shows even more truth in my previous knowledge that Andy only listens when he’s interested.

I’ve had a couple chants going on this week in several classes of mine. One, maybe two of my baby classes started a ‘Hello Jeff!’ chant. They just continued in unison as I entered and I cheered them on with a fist pumping in synch.  They stayed strong longer than I thought they would. Another one of my classes will cheer me on with ‘Jia you Jeff!’ anytime I get into an ‘altercation’ with a student. It’s all in a joking manner before or after class, but I may pick a student up or just mess with him in some way or another. Kids ,man. They’re just as bad as adults, trying to stir up trouble. Haha. It works. It just makes the opposing kid even more resistant. I simply will pick him up and spin him or something like that. They used to cheer against me during these little brawls, but I guess they realized I will always be victorious. Take that you little punks. Me and Tom always face each other and pose like we’re about to spar. I beckon him over with the hand motion while my arm is extended. He always gives me the shaking of the head to signify no, so I’m forced to approach him and he usually attempts to run. When resistance becomes futile, he drops to his knees and screams through his laughing. One day he started giving me a massage too. I thanked him and he proceeded. He’s quite professional. There have been a few times where I’ve had several kids attempting to give me a massage or perhaps trying to just hit me. Tom usually heads that little force and directs them otherwise. Awesome.

I probably witnessed one of the sweetest little child moments ever in another baby class. I actually have two sets of white boy twins, but this instance regards the younger ones. I picked up one of the twins because I’m always picking kids up and most love it. Not all, but most. I usually disregard the ones that don’t enjoy it and continue anyways and attempt to make them comfortable with a smile and some laughter. Usually works. Not always. Well, I picked up one of the twins and his already big eyes practically fell out of his head. His face was terror stricken.  One of the teachers noticed this and laughed over it. She picked him up and asked him if he liked it or not in Chinese. He spoke no words, but tears began to form in his eyes. She proceeded in asking him for a time, and then put him down. Tears then streamed down his face. He didn’t make a sound, though. His brother quite enjoyed being picked up. He tends to smile more, and I’m guessing he’s the older of the two, despite being twins. He proceeded to hug his brother and with both hands attempted to wipe the tears from his face. It was adorable.

Kids are also quite observant to the littlest things. Earlier in the week, I cut my finger. It wasn’t a terrible cut, but a mere band aid wasn’t good enough for the job. It just kept annoyingly bleeding, so I had to pick up some gauze for the job. How I cut myself? Ha. I was washing a glass, and my fricken hand can’t fit in the glass so I kind of force it in there to try and get the bottom when I’m washing it. This time I pushed a little too hard and broke the glass. You can take it from there. It was more bothersome than anything else. Just about all the kids in my classes noticed the gauze on my finger and inquired about what took place. I did my best to explain through hand motions. I don’t think it really got through.

I got a few hugs from some of my favorites this week that made the week a little better. I even got a big hug from an old favorite, Daisy. I see her sometimes in the halls and she begs to be picked up like the rest of the kids. I’ll admit, she gets picked up a little more than the rest of them. Sorry, I like her better! Besides, she’s so light. Dunny also gave me a few big hugs and so did his fellow classmate, John. There were a few others that I appreciated as well.

I’ll tell you about my weekend in the next post. It’ll be out shortly.

-Jeff

Fall Today, Winter Tomorrow

Well, it’s Thursday (10/20/11). Unfortunately, the hiking for tomorrow got moved to next week. Perhaps that’s fortunate, though. It was cloudy and rained last night. So, perhaps it’s for the better. It’s just so nice ending your week early like that. I was all prepared for a free day and starting my weekend a little sooner. Oh well, I’ve got something to look forward to next week. Besides, tomorrow is still Friday so it’s my last day of the week.  I’m on the home stretch.

Man, the last two days I’ve had some classes that were just a complete joke. I mean that literally. Even I was laughing. Some of the kids were just absolutely ridiculous – so much so that I couldn’t help but laugh at their stupidity sometimes. Whenever I end a class, I usually say to the kids, “Ok, say bye bye Jeff” and they all say it. Funny, sometimes I get better responses during the goodbye part of the class than I get for the rest of the class. Haha. Well in one of my classes today, I was laughing at the kids and was having a hard time teaching them because of it. I made a gun gesture with my hand, put it to my head, and repeated those words, “Say bye bye Jeff.” Even the teachers joined me in laughing at that. Afterwards, I couldn’t control my laughter. The kids were just being so dumb and I couldn’t resist laughing with them. I know, so inappropriate for the kids’ viewing. Come on. You kidding me? Kids love making guns with their hands and pretending to shoot people. Speaking of which, I have another class that loves just that. It’s died off a bit, which is cool because I was getting bored with it too. These kids used to shoot me all the time. I’m like a cat with all my lives. I suppose I should give credit to little Mark for starting that fun, little fad. He was the best, though. I love pretend shooting him because he always falls down and pretends to die. Always.  Maybe he’s got the acting bug. One day, I grabbed one of the kids like a hostage and pointed my hand (gun) towards his head saying, “Don’t make me! Don’t make me!” Well, after that, I got to hear ‘don’t make me’ for a good 2 weeks. I always got shot, though. Those kids are ruthless. Putting my hands up, playing defenseless, and trying to make peace was pointless.

And then it was Friday. I’m in a great mood too. For one, it’s the weekend. Secondly, I had some fun classes today. I played musical chairs in a lot of my classes. I even played with some baby classes that I had today (2 and 3 yr olds.). It took a few kids getting out before the rest got the hang of it, but once they did they were having a great time. I enjoyed watching them. I played in my older classes too, but most of the classes have so many kids now that I started playing with only 5 kids at a time. It keeps things under control a little better. You still have kids sitting on the side waiting to play, so they know they can’t be ridiculous if they want to play. When I first got back in school this semester, I continued to play with the whole class at once. It only took a couple times of doing that before realizing the kids couldn’t handle it. It’s just mass mayhem. Chaos. “Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler….You’ve heard of Chaos Theory?” – Jurassic Park. Besides being Friday, most of the kids were fairly good today so it was also in part a reward for them. The last class of the day really impressed me. I even think that most understood the concept of what they were saying. I’ve mentioned this in the past. During the first half or maybe 2/3’s of the first semester, I used to just teach the names and words of the flash cards we were learning at the time. That’s due to the fact that I was inexperienced and unaware of the children’s capabilities. As I became more familiar with the students and what they could handle, I gradually threw in more things about the flash cards. I’ll give you a few examples regarding this week’s lesson with some of my classes. At times, I might use the same flash cards for all of my classes (except the babies for now). The only difference is how much I teach them about the cards. This week, I was teaching a lot of my classes a few different actions – biking, swimming, surfing, hiking, etc. I started with just teaching them the basic part, so I just taught them those words. Then, I started to throw in the question, ‘So what is he/she doing?’ Of course, they didn’t understand at first so I provided the answer with, ‘He is swimming or she is hiking, etc..’ I took it further with the older classes once they could handle that. I then proceeded to ask them where they were doing that action. So after the first question, I would then ask them where he/she was doing that. For hiking, the kids would respond to the second question with ‘in the mountains’. Eventually, that turned into ‘she is hiking in the mountains’. There were other questions and sentences as well, so the kids did really well and I was especially impressed with them today. I played musical chairs with my last class as well, older kids (4-5 – maybe a few are 6). They were really funny. If I’m feeling goofy, sometimes I’ll go over and run around the chairs with them a few times or sit down really quick even if the music didn’t stop just to screw them up, stupid things like that. Anyways, it was a great way to end my week. Time for the weekend!

Well, it’s Sunday evening. I am so tired. I feel a little burnt out just from doing some running around this weekend. I think I’ll be going to bed early tonight, but I’ve said that many times and it rarely happens. On Saturday, I wanted to do some shopping at a few places. I guess I just wanted to spend a little bit of money on myself after all the money I put towards medical. I don’t know. I need a few more winter wears. I ended up wandering over to the good ol’ Silk Market. Always an adventure. I walked out of there with just an ‘Adidas’ track jacket that I paid 75 yuan for. The girl told me the lowest she sold it for was 80, so I was pleased. She did argue that 5 rmb with me, though. She protested, “Only 5 yuan!” Well, that was my response right back to her. I forgot all my track jackets at home, so why not? I probably would have bought this ‘North Face’ puffy vest, but there was a bit of a situation in that shop. I stood for a few minutes on the outskirts watching this poor bastard get worked in the same shop. He was a young kid, probably 17 or 18, maybe younger. I don’t know what his mom was doing. She stood on the side and watched without stepping in to help him out. I’m observant, so even when I was looking at the vest, I was paying attention to his situation. The sales people just wouldn’t let him go. He kept stating that he wasn’t sure, didn’t have enough money, wanted to check his money upstairs, etc. Ha! They were trying to get 800 yuan out of him for this shoddy little jacket that he should have paid between 80-130 max. They persisted. “Are you sure you don’t have enough? You can buy it right now.” Poor guy. I could watch no more. I said to the kid, “Let me help you out.” I took the jacket from his hands, and while setting it on the side, I pushed him out of the shop. He looked at me and with a nod said “Thank you.” I know he wanted to leave, and I know he appreciated it. He just needed that little push. But let me tell you, the short little Asian boy/man was not happy. He immediately questioned me. “What are you doing? What are you doing?” I replied that I was helping the boy out. Then he started to accuse me of pushing him, which had me a little confused. He then queried, “Who are you!? Who are you!?” I retorted back posing the same question to him. We argued back and forth for a bit. Maybe my arm brushed him when I pulled the jacket out of the kid’s hand, but I did not push him. Had I wanted to, my pinky finger would have sufficed. He then told me to leave. That’s fine, he just lost more money and I told him so. In all honesty, I probably would have bought the vest. I didn’t go without some words of my own, though. First, I told him to leave. Haha. It was his shop, so he had me there. I told him that perhaps I would go speak with his manager or the owner about his behavior. Come on. Let’s be real. He wasn’t mad about getting ‘pushed’. He was mad because that kid didn’t buy the jacket. Not my fault. That kid was never going to buy it, he just wanted out. I simply helped him. That salesman should have thanked me because I would have loved to tell the kid how much he should pay, but decided it would be best not to. I told that to the salesman as well. After my exit, the Chinese guy continued to yell after me. “You are stupid! You are so stupid!” Yada, yada, yada.  My response? “Ok! Thanks!” Nope, didn’t look back. Get ready, Seinfeld reference approaching. Marcy: Are you close with your parents? George: Well, they gave birth to me and…….. yada, yada, yada. Marcy: Yada what? George: …Yada, yada, yada. As I previously stated, always an adventure.

Saturday night, I ended up going to one of my favorite restaurants here, at least for dumplings. It’s amazing. I forget the name, and don’t really care to look it up. But trust me, amazing. They have a huge variety. Any kind of dumpling you can think of, it’s there. I’m exaggerating a bit, but not much as long as you don’t want something crazy like pineapple and pepperoni. There’s a huge menu with lots and lots of varieties. My opinion? They all sound pretty good. I have yet to be disappointed, and I’ve been there maybe 5 times now. I think my favorite is still the one that has purple cabbage in it along with beef (might be pork) and a few other things. The rest is pretty much irrelevant. The purple cabbage is what makes it so amazing. It adds this nice unfamiliar crunch to the dumpling that few others possess. It’s the only dumpling there that contains purple cabbage, so it’s easy enough to locate. During a previous trip there, I didn’t know where the place was or how to get there obviously, so I searched on the beijinger website. I found a post, and just like me, the guy was raving about the purple cabbage dumplings.  Still not convinced? Wellllll, you can also get them in four or five different colors. Awesome! The only other thing you can do to make amazing tasting dumplings even better is make them with different colors. They come in purple, red, green, orange, and your basic white.  So, I guess five would be the correct answer if you count that last one. I might be wrong about red being available, though. In case you’re wondering, I think purple is the only way to go with the dumplings that have the purple cabbage in them. It only makes sense. Right? Right?

Saturday night actually wasn’t too cold. I was outside and didn’t mind a whole lot. Sunday, however, was a different story. I noticed that the wind was blowing, so I put on a thicker jacket. Man! Freezing! So cold. It’s been slightly warmer without that added wind chill and the sun has been out for the last two days, but still cold. I have pants and a t-shirt on in bed, and I wake up freezing no matter how tightly I’m wrapped in my blankets. I keep it like a cocoon, but it makes no difference. I’ll be heading out tonight (Tuesday) to purchase another blanket to throw on top. My building should be turning on the heat soon as well, which I must say I’m looking forward to.

I’m so happy I’ll be hiking tomorrow. 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on. Not the most ideal, but I’ll take it. I’ll be dressing warmly for sure, but it looks like the sun will be shining again so that will give me some added comfort. There are still plenty of leaves on the trees here in the city. I’m hoping I’ll get to see some great foliage when roaming on the mountains. Perhaps I can snag some great photos along with it. If you remember, with spring here, it was almost as if the leaves popped up on all the trees overnight. One day, they were bare and the next they were covered in green. I know it’s going to be the same here with the autumn weather. I’m going to look out my window one morning, and all of the leaves will have fallen.

So far so good with the frequency. I’ll keep working on it and write things as they happen instead of weeks later. Hope you’ve enjoyed my adventure so far because it’s not over yet. 

Back to the gym on Monday. Finally. I'm looking thin.

-Jeff

It's Easy to Forget Where You Are.

It’s October 13^th. No, it’s a Thursday, not Friday. Close, though. It rained last night, and I think my body knew it. I woke up, barely hearing my alarm because I was laying on my side I think, face partially pressed in my pillow. I hit the button on my watch’s alarm, and smothered my face in the pillow. I didn’t want to move, just wanted to go back to sleep. That’s virtually the case every morning I wake up prior to 9:00 AM, but I guess you just feel it some mornings more so than others. I used to wake up at 7:45 am, and then moved it earlier to 7:40, then 7:30, and now 7:22. Yeah, those 2 minutes make a difference to me. I like to think so, anyways. Why earlier? For one, I can take my time even more so now during my mornings. That’s important when I’m moving a little slower. I have some time to myself, I can go on my computer and do some browsing, and just relax a bit before work starts. It’s nice. Oh, and the one good thing that came from being sick with tonsillitis? The oatmeal stuck. I believe I mentioned it in the last post, but I’m feeling so good about it, I feel the need to mention it again. I now look forward to my breakfast. It’s no bacon and eggs with buttered toast or pancakes, but it’s a nice healthy and enjoyable alternative. A big bowl of oatmeal with an entire apple cut up into small, bit size portions. I even threw in raisins as well today. Legitimate, wholesome raisins are expensive here so I tend to purchase these green, sometimes brown, raisins. They’re not that great looking, but they do the job. I then drizzle a generous amount of honey on it, add a little bit of sugar or brown sugar, and shave some cinnamon to adorn on top. Breakfast of champions. Beats the hell out of peanut butter and jelly.

Well, my morning went well. I was feeling a little better after lying in bed for a few extra minutes. That’s a dangerous game to play. So easy to fall back asleep. You tell yourself 2 more minutes, and then you’re out. It’s happened to me a few times, but luckily I’ve had enough time to get ready in a rush. I’m a little more careful about that now. Well the rain stopped shortly after getting into school. My mornings start at 8:30am in case you forgot. The sky cleared for the first time in a little while. The day was filled with sun and blue skies. You appreciate it a little more after days filled with clouds and smog. My morning was great. I mentioned that I had been working on changing my attitude towards school. I believe it to be making a difference, but I also think my kids were just being better today. Who knows. Anyways, I had fun with them and it was one of the better days I’ve had in a long time. I would say that it was the best day I’ve had since I’ve been back from the month off. The kids in my one class were asking me to join them in dancing today. I have the options of going with whatever class I want, but I normally just tag along with the class I end with. Today, I figured what the hell. I danced with them yesterday, but they asked so ask and you shall receive. I originally told them maybe. My Chinese is continuously getting better, so keep in mind that is in Chinese.  The teacher also told me that they loved me. I stated that I also loved them, and I meant it. I was touched. I remembered that I’m getting an awesome experience right now. I’m teaching children. And I’m in China. Something I haven’t really acknowledged for a while.  It’s so easy to forget. This is the experience of a lifetime, something I’ll be able to look back on for the rest of my life. Anyways, most of my classes went well. Kids are perceptive. I believe them to be able to sense your mood. If you’re playful and cheerful, you’re going to get an equally present response from them. Most of the time.  The class I dealt with following dancing was fun too. I had 15 minutes to kill before class because dancing hardly ever fills the allotted time slot. Kids crowded me and kept asking me all kinds of questions. In the past, with this particular class, I had put my hands on this one girl’s head and forced her to nod in succession while saying ‘hello, hello, hello’. The kids think it’s hilarious, and now they ask me to do all kinds of different things while repeating those same words. Most of them involve the face. They’ll pull their eyes down and push them up, play with their cheeks, and other things like that. It’s pretty funny. After that, kids starting asking me all kinds of questions about what different things were. Basically, anything they could find and point out they would ask what it was in English. Amusing. Kids are funny. Most of my classes today were enjoyable, aside from one or two. Happens.

My evening was also most enjoyable. I purchased a can of baked beans the other day in hopes for a little variation in my meals. A wise decision. I had been thinking about how to use them and since I was out of rice, today was the perfect day. I decided to throw in finely cut pieces of beef and onion accompanied with corn. I cooked the beef first and boiled the corn on the side. I then threw the beans in with the onions, sprinkled on some salt and pepper and wah lah! What a delicious meal. I had also purchased a yam or sweet potato. Based on the differences I read about the two, I’m assuming it was a sweet potato.(See http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookvegetables/a/sweetpotatodiff.htm . Haha, should you happen to be interested. You never know when you’ll find yourself in debate over the two.) I’ve often passed by and seen vendors cooking them outside in some kind of a portable oven type thing. Well, I needed a side and decided to give it a try. Amazing! Two great choices = yummy food. My cooking and culinary creativity are coming along.

My Chinese is coming along too. I try to study during my lunch break most days, but it doesn’t always happen. Even so, I’m usually able to learn something most days. I watched a movie the other day called House of Flying Daggers. It’s similar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which I love. Been out for a while, I just never had a chance to watch it. During the movie, I picked up on a lot of words I knew, and wrote more than a page down of new words and phrases and sentence structures for different words. Subtitles help narrow down searching for the word I hear when I’m looking up the meaning. You need to understand that one word can have many different meanings. That’s why there are tones, and that’s why Chinese is traditionally written with Chinese characters. Many words will have the same tone, but are different in meaning so context also plays a role. I’m pretty good at spelling what I hear, though. I usually get it in 1 or 2 tries. Remember, I’m studying mostly pin yin (the Romanization of Chinese characters). It’s easier for me to see the word and store that in my memory. Chinese characters aren’t nearly as important to me, but I’m trying to study some here and there. Primary goal = speaking. I was also informed that one of the teachers at the school had mentioned my Chinese was getting better. That’s always encouraging.

I had an excellent weekend. It was one of the better weekends I’ve had in a long time. Saturday was a little busy. I had a doctor’s appointment for my muscle injury at 10:30 AM. Painful as always. Acupuncture never gets easier. He starts off with various massages, cracking my neck and spine, and things like that. Some are painful, but most aren’t too bad. He’s constantly telling me to lie face down, or lie on my right side/left side, etc. Then there comes a point. There’s a pause in the procedure and again, he tells me to lie face down. I already know what’s about to happen, and then I hear the familiar rustling of objects in a cabinet just to confirm suspicions. Time for acupuncture. It’s never a pleasant experience. I’ll try to paint a picture for you. Imagine a long, thin needle being placed into your skin. The doctor says, ‘Breathe in….Now breathe out.’ During that breathing out, the needle is placed in your skin. Some spots are more difficult to penetrate than others. And that’s the easy part. From there, the needle is moved all around probing for the pain. Yeah, that’s right. The doctor wants to find where the pain is. Once you let him know, he then focuses on that area because the needle in the muscle releases the muscle tension. It loosens it up. You’ll be sore later in the day, but much better the following day. It’s hard to describe the pain. It can be sharp or even feel like a strong soreness. At times, you might feel it radiating down your arm or just in any outward direction from the point of insertion. The very worse ones that I experienced were the ones on the top of my neck, practically in my skull. So painful. The spine is a close second. With all that being said, I’m pleased with the results. It’s quite effective.

Following the doctor’s appointment, I returned to the location of the part time job I had taken on during my break. I was picking up a lot of books and a recording device. Yeah, I’m going to get paid to just record the books. Pretty awesome. I did this once at another job. I think I mentioned it. Anyways, I’ve got a lot of books so it will take a while and it’s a nice easy way to earn some extra cash. There are also more books to pick up upon completion of these. I can record whenever I want to. It’s all on my time. There’s no rush, and I don’t have to go anywhere. Great, great, and great.

I came home for maybe 40 minutes after that, then I ventured over to Hou Hai and that hutong where I fell in the pothole. I had some company, so it was an enjoyable evening. Oh, and as promised, I ate those churros with chocolate sauce and ice cream. As expected, amazing! And so healthy!

Sunday turned out to be pretty decent as well. I really wanted to go hiking, but I was pretty tired from all the running around on Saturday, and just needed a day to sleep in a little bit. I pretty much knew the night before that the hiking wasn’t going to happen. Hoping I don’t miss all the colors that the fall offers. It would be quite nice to get a great mountainous view of all the trees below and the various colors. Despite the lack of hiking, I was in a photo mode. I did some casual cleaning in my room during the morning. After some thought, I decided that I would go to Chao Yang Park to catch the late afternoon sun and sunset. It’s a big park, a little more open, and you can find areas with less people to prevent any disturbances so it seemed like a good idea. I made the right move. I got there around 4. The sun starts to fall pretty rapidly around 5, so it was good timing. It was the perfect ending and the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon in my opinion. Besides, I’m pretty certain I’ll get to accompany the school during their hiking adventure this Friday. Yes please! They never tell us until the day before, so we don’t for sure. 

As for the weather? Getting up in the morning is hard enough. Add cold and darkness and I don’t want to move. I just want to continue to lay in my bed for as long as possible. What a terrible way to start the day. Miserable. You know what would be nice? Waking up to a nice warm room with a little bit of sun shining in. A maid could bring me a big fruit smoothie and a huge breakfast with various foods for my choosing. Hey, can’t a guy dream?

-Jeff

I’ll do my best to keep the blogs coming like this. A little shorter, but a faster read, and I’ll produce them sooner. That’s the goal anyways. Enjoy.