We Live in a Communist Country

Hello Friends and Family!

I hope all is well and that this email finds everyone happy and healthy… Travis and I are doing great here in China! We pinch ourselves because we still can’t believe we live here. In the last email I was gearing-up for the first day of school, so now it’s in full swing. The kids are really good, but some of them remind me of robots. There are a lot of high-achievers here, and with that comes perfectionism and the inability to handle disappointment. Poor things, they’re so hard on themselves. There’s immense pressure from home to succeed. I literally had to tell a kid to not do any studying for one night and that he must have fun. He didn’t even know what he liked to do for fun. He ended up reading about the civil war! Needless to say, I got him into a hobby real quick. I’m trying to teach them balance. Most students have tutors and take extra classes after school because they have their eye on the prize… an Ivy League School. I literally had a lady come to my office yesterday and tell me that she wants her son to attend an Ivy League school and that I need to make this happen. The kid is in tenth grade. Give me a break, lady. The parents have nothing to do except worry themselves sick over what college their kid will get into. Of course, we have students who are the exact opposite- the party kids. Alcohol and drugs are super cheap and super easy to get here. There’s random drug testing too. According to some kids, if we tested the whole school we’d be out of business. Instead of weed (marijuana) the kiddos smoke hash- which is the main drug of choice besides alcohol. Cigarettes cost a $1.50 a pack, so there are a significant amount of smokers too. The big difference here is that kids can get kicked-out for being tested positive and for failing a class. Totally different from the States, eh? All in all, I’m diggin’ the kids and LOVE the diversity. I just wanted to share with you the extreme cases. The staff has been really easy to get along with too, which is nice. As for Travis, he hasn’t been happier in his teaching career. It’s his first time teaching middle school (7th grade) and he absolutely loves it! The kids and parents just adore him and he’s seriously been rejuvenated. It’s great to see… He rides his bike to school and swims in the morning. A lot of the staff swim in the morning, I’m not a big fan of getting up early but I may try it and see what it’s like. I know it’s a great form of exercise.

We’ve been doing some sight-seeing, but we haven’t gone crazy. We’re going to be here for awhile and know that when people visit, we’ll see it all. Of course, we did go see the Great Wall. Whoa… it is massive and is truly an incredible sight to see. I hiked to the top and most of us took the toboggan ride down to the bottom. It kind of looks like a huge bobsled, but you ride on these scooter things that have breaks. Its hard to explain but it was really fun! You could go pretty fast on that thing too. We go to the city a lot and explore different areas and markets. We went on a lake walk with a group of people and explored some of the parks. There’s so much to do here… A typical week… Tuesdays, Travis and I take Chinese lessons- Wednesdays, someone organizes a group dinner downtown-Thursdays, its ladies night. We usually go out to eat and get massages, or pedicures/manicures-Fridays, we go to our local pub (The Pomegranate). They have live bands on Friday night. On Saturday, we go downtown and go out to eat and usually hit-up a club. This Saturday we’re going to a swing dance club. On Mondays I usually have meetings after school. And of course on Sundays we rest and sleep in. “Work hard, play hard” is our motto here. We’ve met lots of great people too, so going–out is always a good time. It should be illegal to have this much fun.

Things I miss:
1. Cheesy reality TV. I’m talking about the ones on MTV and Vh1. I don’t think we’ll get Survivor here either. The cool thing is that I can buy the whole season for 10 bucks.
2. Oprah, Conan O’Brien, and the Jon Stewart show.
3. Mexican food. There’s Mexican food hear, but it’s expensive and just “ok,” a little on the bland side and not spicy enough. I miss real guacamole and spicy chicken burritos.
4. Spiro’s pizza and salad (Roquefort dressing)
5. Shopping malls. I hate clothes shopping here. You have to bargain for everything and it takes forever. It’s not great quality either. They put weird, random things on clothes- like buckles and bows. It’s just wrong. I guess acid washed jeans are coming back. Lots of girls and women wear them around here. There’s no way I’m going to find a decent pair of women’s shoes with my big ass feet. An alternative is to shop at the high-end stores but they are ridiculously expensive.
6. Driving my own car to places
7. Clean air. I seriously cannot explain to you how horrible the pollution can get. It sometimes feels like you can’t breathe.
8. Of course my friends and family!

Interesting/Cool Things:
1. Most people here have drivers. It’s actually pretty cheap. You can rent a car and driver to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. I think that costs $100 a month- and yes, that includes gas. Another thing I really don’t miss dealing with- gas prices. Most of the kids have drivers that take them and pick them up from school. There are tons of them parked in a row when school is just about to be dismissed. It’s interesting because they can just tell their driver to take them to a bar or dance club, or to their dealer’s house (in one instance). I wouldn’t recommend raising a teenager here. There are a lot of things to get you into trouble.
2. When we went on a walk around the city, I was stopped by a woman who wanted a picture. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her, but she actually wanted to take a picture with me. I was a little taken aback, but I was like sure. The next thing I knew, all of the other family members wanted pictures of me with them. Pretty weird, huh? I guess that’s common. A lot of people who live in the country don’t visit the capitol city very much and have never seen a “westerner.”
3. Travis and I have an ayi, which is pronounced “eye-ee.” It’s basically a maid. I know, I know that sounds… weird or something… but that’s looked upon differently here. In the states, only rich people have maids and it seems like you’re stuck-up or something if you have someone clean for you. In China, it’s a much needed job for another person. Even some of the ayis, have ayis. It’s not a big deal. Everyone has one. Ours is really sweet, although I can’t remember her Chinese name. Oops. Her Western name is, Mae (coincidentally my middle name). She’s in her early forties, married, and has a son. She works half-time for us, which is four hours a day, five days a week. She cooks us awesome food on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We told her we like spicy food and she just went with it. It’s been great coming home to a cooked meal. She does all our laundry, cleans, runs errands, and organizes things. When I was sick, she brought me water and made me lunch. It was really sweet. She can’t read and doesn’t speak any English, so we do a lot of charades. I usually end-up calling the font desk and having them translate for me. One of these days I’ll be able to speak Chinese. It still sounds like noise.
4. I totally forgot to tell you about the toilets here. They are “squatting” toilets. They’re like regular toilet bowls, but flush to the ground. You stand over it, squat down, and go. There’s definitely a technique to it- squat as low as you can (less splashing back). Toilet paper is rarely provided, so bringing tissues and hand-sanitizer is a must in every purse or backpack. You may think this is weird and unsanitary, but the Chinese think Western toilets are because we (at least some people) put our butts on the seat without cleaning in-between turns. A lot of places have western toilets, but authentic places don’t. FYI- if you come and visit.
5. You have to bargain for most things here, especially at the markets. It can be rather fun at times, but very exhausting. It took us a half an hour to buy a fake North Face fleece. I don’t really have a technique. I just smile a lot and say cheaper, or “bu hao.” Which means “no good.” I did talk down a vendor for some mascara. It cost me less then a dollar, but the mascara sucks. It was fake Lancome. Oh well, it was fun.
6. The accents here are great: Scottish, British, Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Albanian, Welsh, Australian, Norwegian, Spanish, Indian, Canadian, and of course American and all that encompasses. Did you know there’s a difference between a New Zealand accent and an Australian one? I can figure out the difference now. I have to say that the Irish accent is my favorite.
7. There are TONS of Aussies working here, so we watch a lot of rugby and Aussie rules football or “footie.” I actually don’t mind watching, it’s pretty entertaining. As for cricket? I won’t even waste the energy… that sport is weird. Did you know that games can last weeks? Crazy.
8. I have never been so aware of being American. People point it out to me ALL THE TIME. I tapped someone on the shoulder and my friend was like, “That’s so American!” I guess? As you know, we say ‘a’s very differently. The lady (Aussie) I work with always laughs when I say “candy.” I guess we stress the ‘a’ hard or something and foreigners think that’s weird. I was reading a student’s essay that was about his culture. He wrote something like, “Chinese people are very friendly, Americans are very selfish…” He’s only fourteen. There is definitely a stereotype that Americans are selfish and materialistic. I hear that a lot. I’m sure we all know someone like that, but it’s interesting to hear that from a fourteen year-old British kid who lived in the states for a short time.
9. I think I emailed most of you about meeting Bill Clinton, Ian Ziering, and Jason Priestley? That was pretty cool. If I didn’t email you the pics, then let me know and I’ll re-send it.

The ex-patriots living in China have a holiday the first week in October, so we’re taking off to Rome, Italy. We’re going to visit Toby (Trav’s brother) and his wife Debbie because they’re teaching in the American-Overseas-School of Rome. We’re totally excited! We haven’t seen them in awhile and Debbie is pregnant! We’re looking forward to being an aunt and uncle to the new addition!

Take care and keep in touch. I love getting all your emails and promise to write back!