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