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!
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
First Impression of China
Ni hao (hello)!
I hope this email reaches everyone in good spirits and enjoying the summer... China is rad!!! Travis and I have settled-in quite nicely here. We still can't believe we're in China, it's so weird. The flight pretty much sucked, although I did get some sleep. I'm not sure how. Twelve hours is a really long time. I was sitting in the middle and had no leg room, but it worked. I watched "Hitch" on the flight and was looking forward to seeing "Million Dollar Baby" but they accidentally showed the ending (I won't spoil it, but it definitely ruined it for me). When we got off the flight, there were several administrators waiting for us and helped us with our bags. We met some of the other new hires and have hit it off great. You can't help but bond through the whole transition, cheap alcohol helps too. ; ) They took us to our place that was air-conditioned. I'm convinced now that it's the best invention ever. It's SO HOT and humid here... Just like a sauna... We live in a place called, "Capital Paradise." Our apartment is HUGE. Twelve foot ceilings, three bedrooms, and 2 baths. The furniture is a little ghetto/early 80's, but whatever. It's really not that bad. The kitchen is tiny, but it's all furnished so I can't complain. The building is about four years old and there are beautiful hard wood floors everywhere except the bedrooms. It's located in a compound that includes a huge clubhouse with an indoor/outdoor pool, restaurant, bar, hair and nail salon, massage studio, bowling alley, tennis courts, squash courts, and work-out room. The work-out place I'm not too impressed with because the machines are a little old, but I think it'll be okay. I love the convenience. Anything we buy we just put on our "tab" and pay for it at the end of the month. It's great.
The school is HUGE!!!!!! I still get lost. It's only three years old and is so gorgeous... It's one big building that holds an elementary, middle, and high school. It's three stories and it has a modern/Asian feel to it. It's truly impressive. I've never seen a school so high tech. There are enormous flat-screen TV's all throughout the hallways, rooms, and the staff lounge. I guess they're going to do morning broadcasts on it and show off student work and what's going on around the school. They're even building a 2 million dollar playground for the little ones. The school is actually located a little outside of the city. It takes about a half an hour to get into downtown Beijing. The school staff have really taken care of us and have practically held our hands throughout the entire transitioning process. Every day and night there are meetings to attend and activities planned. We went on a boat ride on lake ( Umm, I forgot) and went to a night market that was super-touristy. We've gone o lots of dinners. Travis and I tried fried scorpions and squid. It wasn't hat bad. And yes, it tastes like chicken (the scorpion, that is). I've been meeting with parents and students for the past couple of days- just getting them registered and scheduling their classes. I'm learning a lot about the IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma. I won't bore you with details, but it's a very rigorous course of study and is considered "prestigious" amongst big name colleges and universities. At least that's what has been told to me... The clientele here are much different. Most of them work in the oil industry or work for IBM computers. Pretty much big wigs. I sat with a family for over two hours making a plan for what classes their child needs to take. They are so grateful, though, which makes it worthwhile. I do feel sorry for some of the students... There is a lot of pressure to perform well and get into a good college. I haven't met one student who doesn't want to attend college. This week I'll be helping out with orientation and meeting with more parents.
A made a little list of cool and interesting things so far:
1. 22 oz. of Tsing Tao (I'm not sure if I spelled it right) beer is 35 cents. Yah, I know.
2. Everything delivers! Even if you just want beer. You can walk ten minutes and there's a western style grocery store, Subway, Starbucks, Dominoes Pizza, dry cleaners, tailors, and a wine bar. The Dominoes here puts tuna on the pizza and it's really nasty.
3. It's considered rude to tip, so you can get your groceries delivered and everything else you can imagine and you're not expected to tip.
4. Food can be pretty cheap. Four of us went out to dinner and had a feast of Chinese food and beer and it only cost 10 bucks. The western style restaurants are a little more spendy, but cheaper than back home.
5. There's no drinking age here. I've been told this is an issue with some of the students. Surprise-surprise.
6. The world's worst drivers are in China. They're crazy, man. They stop in the middle of the road and drive backwards, they drive down the wrong way, and they never EVER signal. It's craziness.
7. Trav and I bought some bikes and it's been so fun riding around. There are tons of bikes here! Almost everyone has one. It takes me about 10 minutes to ride to the school. I learned quickly that you need to be a defensive cyclist if you want to get anywhere and you can't be slow. I like to ride really fast and dodge all the people, it's like playing a video game. Everything here is flat, so it's easy to ride around. A lot of our friends have bikes too and they also live here in Capital Paradise, so we ride our bikes to their apartments. It reminds me of being a little kid and asking if you want to go ride bikes or something. I'm sure we're humorous to watch.
8. The shopping is great. However, electronics aren't as cheap as I thought. Travis is good at bargaining and has gotten some great deals. My friend bought the movie "Wedding Crashers" on DVD for $1.50. It was pirated and the sound was a little weird, but the picture was okay. You could actually see people walk across the movie screen. It was pretty funny. Hilarious movie, by the way. Trav bought seasons 1-5 of "South Park" for 20 bucks and I got the 6th season of "Sex in the City" for about 15 bucks.
9. My assistant principal (Lorraine) and her husband took Trav and I out and about today. She took me to this apartment where a lady sells handbags. I got a huge Luis Vuiton briefcase type thing and a Coach bag for $150. We probably could have gotten it lower, but Lorraine said we did great. I honestly think these bags are the real deal. They are NICE. The place was hand bag heaven. Every color and style you could imagine. I was loving it! I'm going back with some of my friends here.
10. Tiananmen Square (Sorry, I think I spelled that wrong) is amazing. We drove down the street where the student stood in front of the tank in 1989. It was at night and we were in a bus, but it was an amazing sight to see.
11. You can get a one hour massage for ten bucks at Capital Paradise and a ten dollar spa pedicure (remember, no tipping). I've been told that's expensive for around here.
I think that's about it for now. We haven't done a whole lot of touring the country, but we will soon enough. This place is amazing and we feel really lucky to be here for our first overseas job... All in all, everything is going well... We do miss our friends and family and think about you often. I'd love to here what's going on with you. I may not reply right away, but I promise to always write back...
Take care and keep in touch!
CT
I hope this email reaches everyone in good spirits and enjoying the summer... China is rad!!! Travis and I have settled-in quite nicely here. We still can't believe we're in China, it's so weird. The flight pretty much sucked, although I did get some sleep. I'm not sure how. Twelve hours is a really long time. I was sitting in the middle and had no leg room, but it worked. I watched "Hitch" on the flight and was looking forward to seeing "Million Dollar Baby" but they accidentally showed the ending (I won't spoil it, but it definitely ruined it for me). When we got off the flight, there were several administrators waiting for us and helped us with our bags. We met some of the other new hires and have hit it off great. You can't help but bond through the whole transition, cheap alcohol helps too. ; ) They took us to our place that was air-conditioned. I'm convinced now that it's the best invention ever. It's SO HOT and humid here... Just like a sauna... We live in a place called, "Capital Paradise." Our apartment is HUGE. Twelve foot ceilings, three bedrooms, and 2 baths. The furniture is a little ghetto/early 80's, but whatever. It's really not that bad. The kitchen is tiny, but it's all furnished so I can't complain. The building is about four years old and there are beautiful hard wood floors everywhere except the bedrooms. It's located in a compound that includes a huge clubhouse with an indoor/outdoor pool, restaurant, bar, hair and nail salon, massage studio, bowling alley, tennis courts, squash courts, and work-out room. The work-out place I'm not too impressed with because the machines are a little old, but I think it'll be okay. I love the convenience. Anything we buy we just put on our "tab" and pay for it at the end of the month. It's great.
The school is HUGE!!!!!! I still get lost. It's only three years old and is so gorgeous... It's one big building that holds an elementary, middle, and high school. It's three stories and it has a modern/Asian feel to it. It's truly impressive. I've never seen a school so high tech. There are enormous flat-screen TV's all throughout the hallways, rooms, and the staff lounge. I guess they're going to do morning broadcasts on it and show off student work and what's going on around the school. They're even building a 2 million dollar playground for the little ones. The school is actually located a little outside of the city. It takes about a half an hour to get into downtown Beijing. The school staff have really taken care of us and have practically held our hands throughout the entire transitioning process. Every day and night there are meetings to attend and activities planned. We went on a boat ride on lake ( Umm, I forgot) and went to a night market that was super-touristy. We've gone o lots of dinners. Travis and I tried fried scorpions and squid. It wasn't hat bad. And yes, it tastes like chicken (the scorpion, that is). I've been meeting with parents and students for the past couple of days- just getting them registered and scheduling their classes. I'm learning a lot about the IB (International Baccalaureate) diploma. I won't bore you with details, but it's a very rigorous course of study and is considered "prestigious" amongst big name colleges and universities. At least that's what has been told to me... The clientele here are much different. Most of them work in the oil industry or work for IBM computers. Pretty much big wigs. I sat with a family for over two hours making a plan for what classes their child needs to take. They are so grateful, though, which makes it worthwhile. I do feel sorry for some of the students... There is a lot of pressure to perform well and get into a good college. I haven't met one student who doesn't want to attend college. This week I'll be helping out with orientation and meeting with more parents.
A made a little list of cool and interesting things so far:
1. 22 oz. of Tsing Tao (I'm not sure if I spelled it right) beer is 35 cents. Yah, I know.
2. Everything delivers! Even if you just want beer. You can walk ten minutes and there's a western style grocery store, Subway, Starbucks, Dominoes Pizza, dry cleaners, tailors, and a wine bar. The Dominoes here puts tuna on the pizza and it's really nasty.
3. It's considered rude to tip, so you can get your groceries delivered and everything else you can imagine and you're not expected to tip.
4. Food can be pretty cheap. Four of us went out to dinner and had a feast of Chinese food and beer and it only cost 10 bucks. The western style restaurants are a little more spendy, but cheaper than back home.
5. There's no drinking age here. I've been told this is an issue with some of the students. Surprise-surprise.
6. The world's worst drivers are in China. They're crazy, man. They stop in the middle of the road and drive backwards, they drive down the wrong way, and they never EVER signal. It's craziness.
7. Trav and I bought some bikes and it's been so fun riding around. There are tons of bikes here! Almost everyone has one. It takes me about 10 minutes to ride to the school. I learned quickly that you need to be a defensive cyclist if you want to get anywhere and you can't be slow. I like to ride really fast and dodge all the people, it's like playing a video game. Everything here is flat, so it's easy to ride around. A lot of our friends have bikes too and they also live here in Capital Paradise, so we ride our bikes to their apartments. It reminds me of being a little kid and asking if you want to go ride bikes or something. I'm sure we're humorous to watch.
8. The shopping is great. However, electronics aren't as cheap as I thought. Travis is good at bargaining and has gotten some great deals. My friend bought the movie "Wedding Crashers" on DVD for $1.50. It was pirated and the sound was a little weird, but the picture was okay. You could actually see people walk across the movie screen. It was pretty funny. Hilarious movie, by the way. Trav bought seasons 1-5 of "South Park" for 20 bucks and I got the 6th season of "Sex in the City" for about 15 bucks.
9. My assistant principal (Lorraine) and her husband took Trav and I out and about today. She took me to this apartment where a lady sells handbags. I got a huge Luis Vuiton briefcase type thing and a Coach bag for $150. We probably could have gotten it lower, but Lorraine said we did great. I honestly think these bags are the real deal. They are NICE. The place was hand bag heaven. Every color and style you could imagine. I was loving it! I'm going back with some of my friends here.
10. Tiananmen Square (Sorry, I think I spelled that wrong) is amazing. We drove down the street where the student stood in front of the tank in 1989. It was at night and we were in a bus, but it was an amazing sight to see.
11. You can get a one hour massage for ten bucks at Capital Paradise and a ten dollar spa pedicure (remember, no tipping). I've been told that's expensive for around here.
I think that's about it for now. We haven't done a whole lot of touring the country, but we will soon enough. This place is amazing and we feel really lucky to be here for our first overseas job... All in all, everything is going well... We do miss our friends and family and think about you often. I'd love to here what's going on with you. I may not reply right away, but I promise to always write back...
Take care and keep in touch!
CT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)