Spring is coming!

Spring is rolling into Harbin, though it's taking it sweet time. On Monday we had some really heavy wet snow and today it was warm enough that I had to leave my coat unzipped as I went to Chinese class this morning. I thought I was in China? It seems like the weather is just the same now as it is back home. It's kind of nice, though, that little bit of 'normal'.

I'm glad winter is on the way out. I've never experienced such cold temperatures for such a long period of time in my life. I'm not cut out for dealing with such extremely cold weather. I will not be sticking around for another year to confirm my theory. My plan as of right now is to return home in December. I'm looking forward to seeing all my family and friends before I jet off again on another adventure to another country on my must visit list. 

My Chinese classes are getting progressively more difficult. My biggest hand up is that I can't really read the Chinese hanzi. The characters don't make a lot of sense in my mind and I've found it very difficult to memorize them all. It doesn't help that some of the characters are only different by a single line. It's difficult to distinguish between characters sometimes. I'm planning on taking a little break after I finish the book I'm on to take some time to study the hanzi on my own. If I don't I'll fall behind and I'd rather take a break to work on my own than pay for a class I'm not ready to take. That sounds like the responsible path to take, right?

Teaching has gotten, at the same time, easier and harder. It's easier in that I know what I'm doing a little more. I've got a few months experience under my belt now so I have games and ideas sitting ready to be used at a moments notice. What's getting harder is now that some of the students are more settled with me, they have decided to try and push to find out how far I'll let them go. Some of them are discovering quickly that it's not far. It's really hard to teach over kids who are shouting across the room, sometimes in Chinese (although, I am finding out that I am able to understand them a little bit. Go me!)

Well, I guess that's all for now! See you soon!

Back on Track

Sorry it's been so long since I've been here. I had a long vacation about a week ago and I lost all of my momentum. I think I've managed to snag it again.

Harbin winter has decided it no longer wants to freeze me to death. The temperatures are starting to rise - slowly. Within the next few weeks, we may even rise above freezing! I think I might do a happy dance when that happens. I really, really, really don't like the cold.

Over my nearly three week vacation there were times when I was really busy and there were days when I never left my apartment. I can't say which days I enjoyed more. They were both really great in their own ways. One of the neatest things that I did was go to Sun Island for the Ice and Snow Festival. Sun Island is one of several locations of the whole thing. It is dedicated to snow sculptures only. They were pretty impressive.

The snow dino is hungry.

This piece is hollow. I can't imagine how much time and effort it took to create.

These are just a few of the pieces at Sun Island and they aren't even the biggest ones. There was one that was at least as long as a football field, if not longer.

I had a chance to explore Harbin and managed to check a few boxes, but there is still so much to see! Until next time.

A day out

So today was my day off from teaching. Last week I had no day off so this week I had to take advantage of my free time and I spent the day out and about in the city. I started the day with Chinese class and then went out with two of my co-workers and we went bowling.

Bowling here in China is apparently a big thing. It's also very much the same as it is at home. I had to rent a pair of the same red white and blue bowling shoes that live in every bowling alley everywhere, it seems. There were the same kitschy animations on the electronic score machine. You know, the silly strike, spare, split and miss animations that we so cool when we were little? Another thing that is the same as in the good ol' USA...I still suck. I'll admit it, I'm no good at bowling. I only play because I think it's fun, not because I have any future in the sport.

The bowling alley at Swan Hotel in Harbin

 After we left the bowling alley, we hit up a Chinese barbeque restaurant. It was pretty good but all the food was so spicy. I wasn't able to eat much. Our server kept staring at me too. It was like seeing a Foreigner was rare or something (which it is in Harbin) and it was a little creepy. His staring also caused him to mess up our order. He brought us lamb instead of beef. The problem was easily fixed however, so I'll let it pass.

After our meal, we did a little shopping. We went to a little place called Wal*Mart. Maybe some of you have heard of it? It was pretty much like any Wal*Mart in America except things were labeled in Chinese instead of English. There was even Great Value and Mainstays products (which was nice for me. It made me feel a little at home). I managed to buy a jar of crunchy peanut butter and some cheese. It made my day.

And finally, we walked through the central district of Harbin. There were many lighted decorations out for Chinese New Year, which is in a week. As I write this, I can hear fireworks going off somewhere near by. A little while ago I could even see them from my apartment window.

A lighted New Year display in Harbin.

 Well, until next time! Live well.

This is a bus stop. On the left the green lights are encased in ice sculptures.

It's a New Year

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last update. The week of New Year was a little crazy. There was a really long night out with some of the Chinese teachers and some really cold temperatures and some pretty awesome ice sculptures.

On the 29th of December, I was fortunate enough to be given a ticket to the Harbin Ice and Snow world festival. If you know me, you know that I do not like the cold at all. But I went to the festival anyway. It was pretty amazing.

This is the view from the top of the ice castle.

On New Year's eve, some of the Chinese staff took me out for dinner and we had hot pot, which is really fun and I wish we had something like it back home.

This is a hot pot meal. The dish in the center boils and you add meat and veggies and all kinds of other stuff to cook. 

After We finished our meal, we went to KTV, (that's a karaoke place where you have a private room) and it was a total blast. We were there for about 6 hours or so. It was a very long night but so much fun. And not a single drop of alcohol was to be had.

And finally, the newest thing to add to my experience here in China is the fact that I am now taking Chinese language speaking classes. It's very exciting to be learning a new language in a way where I will actually be able to use it and practice in my everyday life. Right now I only have 5 classes under my belt, so I'm still not very good, but I will get better as time goes on. I'm taking the class with two of the Foreign teachers here. It's a great opportunity, not that I think I'll become fluent any time soon, but just knowing enough to make my life easier will be realy helpful.

Well, that's just about all the news I have for now. See you next time!

Christmas Time

Christmas is coming up - on Wednesday to be exact. But Christmas isn't a big deal here like it is at home. There are no tv commercials - well, I guess I can't say that for sure. I haven't even turned my tv on. People don't go out of their minds with Christmas shopping or gift giving. Most of the students I teach at school only celebrate Christmas because of the school. In fact, Christmas for me will be a regular work day. I have to teach three classes and go in early for more training.

And in a way, I think it will be better for my state of mind. I will be busy so I won't have as much time to dwell on the fact that I'm half-way around the world this year for the holidays. No presents, no tree, no family to get together with. Work will help to keep my mind off it all. No, what I'm really worried about is the day after Christmas which is my day off and it will be Christmas at home. To skype or not to skype - that is the question.

A few of the other foreign teachers and I went out tonight for something that I guess we can consider our Christmas dinner. We went to nice place and spent a little more on our meal than we normally do. It was difficult though as none of us really speak Chinese to any degree. We did manage to order some food eventually, but it was a struggle. It was fun to see how all the other people in the restaurant tried to jump in to help us foreigners figure out. They all had, what I believe were, helpful suggestions (again, the language barrier keeps me from knowing for sure) and we had a good meal in the end.

We spent an hour and a half sitting, eating and drinking and talking about our classes. It seems a little odd that we would relax that way, but for us, it seemed to be almost the only common point between all of us. It was also a way to vent a little about all are conceived slights against us. We can't really talk about the Chinese teachers where they could hear us, now could we? We had a very lively chat about teaching techniques and problem behavior and how to deal with said behavior. It was very enlightening to see how different we each are.

We even drew the attention of a few Chinese men who were sitting at a table behind us. They had a short conversation with the teacher who spoke the most Chinese. They managed to convey, through the translation and broken English, that they thought I was beautiful. I don't think strangers have ever made me blush like that before. I don't get compliments from random strangers like that very often, so you have to believe that made my day. 

Well, it's getting late and it seems like my work is never done, so until next time!

Sick overseas

Let me tell you something - getting sick while you are traveling over seas is one of the worst experiences of my life. Ever. It sucks.

When I was in England in 2009, I came down with a cold. It wasn't fun and I was on vacation at the time. But let me say, at least in England, I could go to the store and look in the medicine aisle and I could read all the labels. That was good.

I've gotten sick here in China. I think it's a sinus infection or something. At home, I could take care of it, no problem. Here is much harder. All the packaging is in Chinese (go figure) so I'm not really sure what it is that I'm taking. On top of that, the woman who went with me to the pharmacy to get said medication did not have the best grasp of the English language. I think what I bought was something for the cough that won't stop and I think the other might be some sort of anti-biotic. It's very hard to tell.

The other thing that is strange is the sheer amount of the medicine that I have to take. The cough medicine is three pill three times a day with my meals. The anti-biotic is two pills once a day. I feel a bit like a druggie popping all the pills, but if it works, I'll try it.

I do realize that this post must sound very cynical and a lot like whining and I'm sorry. I'll try to avoid that as much as possible, but every now and then, a girl just needs to whine.

Thanks guys. Until next time

Full time

I finally started teaching full time on Saturday. Let me just say it was a crazy day. I had to teach, watch and judge more Thanksgiving drama contests, and meet the parents of the kids in the classes I will be taking over from one of the foreign teachers who is leaving tomorrow. Sunday was just as crazy, so I have decided that Sunday will no longer be my day to update. It will probably become Monday from now on.

I am glad to be teaching full time now. Some of my otherwise idle hours will no be spent planning lessons. I know, it doesn't sound that exciting and it really isn't. In fact, it can be really hard. Today I had to plan a 40 minute class around the phrases "You're early" and "I'm late." Let me tell you, I really had to stretch some creative muscles to get that one done. Thankfully, the Chinese teachers at Kid Castle are really great and they are willing to help take up some slack and help with classroom management. It's really hard to control kids who are yelling at you in another language. When its me against fourteen screaming 6 year old kids, guess who's going to win? It wasn't me, that's for sure.

I dreaded one of my classes today. I was told it was a class of 18 naughty 9-10 year olds. I think it went pretty well. I actually had to cut some of my activities short because I ran out of time. It's always better to plan more than to run out, but I'm sure until I really get the hang of this lesson planning thing, I'll be running out of material quite a bit. That's especially true when I have a double class (that's one forty minute class, a ten minute break and then another 40 minute class) and the material is the same as I'd have to cover for a regular class period. It takes a lot of creative thinking and a lot of different ways to review material with games.

The kids, the older one and the younger ones, all require massive amounts of energy to deal with. They can be loud and a constant blur of motion. This is even more true as the night go on and it gets closer and closer to the time to go home. I don't really blame them. Some of the kids I teach are very young. They start as young as 3. In China, kids start kindergarten around 2 1/2, according to one of the Chinese teachers. When I told her kindergarten doesn't start until age 5 in the US, she looked startled. It's the norm for kids to start school from a very young age. I don't think I agree. There is one little girl I teach who can't be any more than 3. She is so much tinier than all her class-mates. She can hardly grasp the concepts we are trying to teach her and she is one of the kids that has a behavior issue, but to me it's understandable. I would get bored if I couldn't understand my teacher too.

What do you think about it?

Until next time!

My Apartment

This is my bedroom. The mattress is very different than the one I use in American. It's very hard.

This is the entry way/ coat closet. This is right inside my door. You can't see it, but the door to the bathroom would be on the left hand side of the picture. 

Here's the kitchen. It's right across from the door. You can kinda see my little screened in porch through the kitchen. That's were I hang my laundry to dry.

Here is the other half of my living room. I have never turned the tv on because I would only be able to watch Chinese television.

Here is my living room.  I spend most of my free time on that sofa. It's a little beat up.

3 Weeks in!

I can hardly believe I've been in China for three weeks now. It seems like its been less time. Things have smooth out quite a bit. I have an app on my phone that lets me translate into Chinese. I just type what I mean to say and it changes it for me. That isn't to say that it has solved all my problems. The road is still a bit bumpy, but I'll manage.

Life in China is some ways very similar to my life at home and in many ways it is completely different. For instance, at home, if I wanted to order a pizza, I could just pick up the phone and order it. I can't so much in China. For one, I don't speak Chinese worth a damn. And for two, I don't know how to tell them where to deliver it. I do, however, find myself doing many of the same things here that I did at home. I still spend probably too much time on the internet and I still like to spend time working on my cross stitch. That much hasn't changed and it is those small things that remain the same that help to keep me just a little bit sane.

The biggest thing to change (and hold on, this is about to get personal) is trying to find birth control. I take birth control to regulate my periods so I don't become a pimple faced rage monster once a month. The thing about China is most people only use birth control after the fact - the morning after pill. And trying to get the pharmacist to understand the difference is nearly impossible when you speak no Chinese. I know that it is possible to get the same type of pill that I take now, it's just difficult to do. I will have to ask for help. Thankfully, all the Chinese teachers here are women so I don't have to embarrass myself too badly. I'll let you know how the search goes soon.

As a little note about my previous post with the pictures of my apartment. I live on the sixth floor of the building. There is no elevator. Those stairs are not fun. Also, when you look at the pictures, imagine that each room comes off the entry way - the kitchen directly in front, the bedroom and bathroom are on the right and the living room is on the left. It's nice having separate living spaces.

In my apartment, I've had people in to fix the heat twice. Once was yesterday. And again today, the radiators have gone cold. I don't know what I'm going to do if they can't get it fixed and keep the heat on. Maybe I won't be in this apartment for the whole year. If I keep having heating issues, I'm not going to be a very happy popsicle! (Yes, it is really that cold.)

All the complaining aside, I'm having a really good time here. Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and even though it isn't celebrated in China, the students at my school had a drama contest to celebrate and show off their language skills. Some of the younger students sang songs for their parents and some of the older students did little plays. There were several versions on Cinderella, Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood performed over the past two days. The kids were so cute. They even had costumes and props to help tell the stories. I was giving the honor of judging four such contests this weekend. Not that judging meant much. The category winners were pre-selected. There was a best performance award, a best team work award, a best behavior award, and a most improved award. It's was really neat to watch the kids put on the shows and speak in English as best as they could.

Well, until next time!

In China

I've been in China for two and a half weeks now and I'm sorry I haven't been able to update this until now. I know I said I'd update weekly. Things here have been a bit crazy. There were a few problems with my apartment (including the internet connection) I have literally not been able to even see my beautiful blog until this very moment. 

I've settled in a little bit. I'm still figuring out this whole new language thing. My Chinese is still very much non-existent but I have started to recognize some of the characters. I know which ones to avoid on restaurant menus (like  辣 which means spicy) and I know that character for meat (肉) which is usually pork. Beef is 牛肉 and translates literally as cow meat. I tend to look for these characters near rice (饭) or noodles (面). I've had some pretty good food just looking for the few characters I know. I've also had some food that was way to spicy for me even without the indication of spicy on the menu. So far my favorite food has been a Chinese hamburger. It's slow roasted meat chopped with green peppers and put inside a homemade pita pocket type bun. It's very cheap too - only 4 元. That's the character for the Chinese currency, called yuan. That's about $0.66. It's very yummy. I eat them a lot.

I really enjoy wandering around my neighborhood a little bit. There are some really neat little shops and convenient stores all over the place. And at the end of my street, every night there are a bunch of food carts and vendors selling pretty much everything imaginable.  I've seen everything from kids pajamas to used Chinese textbooks for the university near by to personal hygiene products (those aren't used). I walked along that road the other night and I'm pretty sure I looked like some starry-eyed foreigner. Which, let's face it. That's what I am for now. I hope to be able to fit in a little better and communicate eventually. 

The school where I'm teaching, Kid Castle, is a private English school with children form ages 3 to about 15. During the week, the kids come to us after they've finished there normal day of school. We normally teach from about 5pm to about 7:30 pm during the week. The weekends are when we have a whole bunch of classes to teach. The kids don't have to go to school first, so we can teach for more hours. It makes for a strange work week, to be sure. Most of the foreign teachers (there's  only six or seven of us) don't even start work until 3 or 4 in the afternoon during the week. 

The city of Harbin is huge and diverse. It can take only walking one block until you feel like you're in a completely different place. The neighborhood where I live and teach is small and inexpensive, yet only a few blocks away there are big fancy apartment buildings and a seven-floor mall. I really think I'm going to like it here. 

Well, I promise to not take so long to update next time. Good-bye!

Leaving

I finally have a date to leave - Friday November 8th. I will be leaving for China this coming Friday. That's super close. I've been packing and sorting and deciding what to take and what to leave all morning.

It's a relief to finally have a date and my plane ticket and a deadline. It's also makes me panic a little. I have so much to do yet. I have to finish packing (duh!) and I still haven't sold my car and it seems like I always need to get just one more thing. And I believe after I have everything packed, I'll have to unpack and repack everything to make it all fit and make sure I haven't forgotten everything. It's exhausting just thinking about.

I know this week will go by way to fast. There is so much to do and so many things I want to do that I feel like there will be very little time to stop and breath. It'll be worth it once I get to China and can start exploring and challenging myself.

I still don't speak very much Chinese.  My vocabulary is about 10 words or so. Not enough to hardly count as knowing the language. That will be something I'll have to learn in China; something that will be easiest to do once I'm immersed in the country and culture and am forced to learn to manage. I'm looking forward to learning and broadening my horizons.

I gotta go now. Next time you hear from me, I'll probably be in China.

Until next time!

Closer....

I still don't have a definitive leave date, but I am another step closer. My visa application is at the Chinese embassy right now. I should have it in my hands early next week and then it's time to take to the skies. The thought of the trip itself and how many hours it will take makes me nervous. It's going to be a long flight.

This past Sunday, I had a going away party. I got see see family that I might not have had a chance to see other wise. It really hit me then how much I'm going to be leaving here. I'm still eager to go and be challenged and experience everything I can. I just wish I could shrink some people down and take them with me in my pocket.

There is still so much to do. My list keeps getting longer the more I think about it. I still have a little bit of shopping left to do and a lot of packing and sorting. I'm glad this Friday is my last day at work here so that I can have time to get everything done. I know I'll probably still be scrambling just before I leave for all those last minute things that I won't be able to live without. I'll probably forget something. I always do.

Anyway, Check back again soon! I might have my visa next time.

Getting close

I am going to be leaving for China soon to teach English. I'll be teaching in Harbin, China at Kid Castle. I leave soon - two weeks or so from now. The HR director of my school sent my work permit and letter of invitation out yesterday and I should get in a few more days. Then I have to sent the permit and invitation to the Chinese Embassy to get my work visa. That will take about a week, according to the teacher Kid Castle hired just a few days before me. After that, there is nothing keeping me from leaving.

It's been crazy trying to get ready. I'm overwhelmed. I don't what to take right away and what I should have shipped - if anything at all. I've begun packing - a little at least. I've packed all the new things I've been buying over the past couple of weeks. It's not everything - not by a long shot. But it's a start.

I'm also really excited. I've never been so far from home. I am looking forward to being on my own with the added challenge of a new culture and a foreign language. I'm looking forward to passing my knowledge of English and my love of learning to other people.

And, still, I'm a little bit terrified. I've never taught before and I'm going to be going a very long way away. Even though the thought of learning  a new language it exciting, the fact that I know very little Chinese is also scary. I don't know how I'm going to function outside of my school until I pick up the language. I may be buying a lot of mystery food until I can figure out the Chinese characters enough to go grocery shopping.

Harbin has a very cold climate in the winter. It averages about 1 degree Fahrenheit in January. I've been stocking up on long underwear and heavy socks. I'm not looking forward to freezing, but I still can't wait to go. I'll be able to handle the cold for one year. It'll be part of my grand adventure.

Well, that's it for now. Keep checking back. I'll try to update once a week or so. Bye!