This probably needs an example to illustrate my point. My favorite word for today is the word for “restless”. It is [...]]]> I am constantly surprised by the Chinese language. What is most fascinating and amusing to me is when I come across words, which when broken down into their component parts, just make sense.

This probably needs an example to illustrate my point. My favorite word for today is the word for “restless”. It is composed of two characters, each character using the “heart” radical, the first character combines it with the radical for “up” and the second character combines this with the radical for “down”. So together it all means that the heart is going up and down. So simple, but so full of meaning!

Once you’ve tackled the some 250 radicals (the core symbols whose combinations form much of the 10,000+ words), the characters start to make a lot more sense and become significantly easier to remember. Still, with all the complexity and nuance of each character I think I’ll be studying this all my life. At least my brain won’t go turn to mush.

No, this year I decided to [...]]]> This New Year’s Eve was decidedly a bit more low key than last. While I did spend it again in Shanghai, I did not do so while moshing in an old German slaughterhouse turned artist lofts turned makeshift nightclub with 12 DJs and an immovable crowd until 5am.

No, this year I decided to go the more relaxed route. Rather I spent it at home with friends, gorging on delicious hot pot, and taking pictures of various poses with the largish squid we decided to try cooking at home.

So my new year’s resolution? Well, I’m not so good with those, but I’d like to start up my blog again, updating it with greater frequency, this time about my observations living in the heart of the gigantic megalopolis known as Shanghai.

Happy new year everyone!

It is strange and cool to see China again through the eyes of a newcomer. I’m surprised now how many things here I take for granted. Some good, some bad. I love it here [...]]]> My mom has arrived in China and we are busy touring around. Beijing then Xi’an and now finally in Yangshuo!

It is strange and cool to see China again through the eyes of a newcomer. I’m surprised now how many things here I take for granted. Some good, some bad. I love it here though and I am excited to return.

The weather has been pretty great so far, and I’ve been able to take some nice shots of the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, and more.  Hopefully when I get home I’ll have time to assemble some of these things into a photo book documenting my first year in China.  It’s been nice having my mom here these past few days, it is cool to show her around … and showing off my bargaining skills as she shops and shops.

In other news, I will be returning in a month! I’ve decided I have to stay the course and keep working towards my goal of Chinese fluency. But this time I’m going to live in Shanghai. It’s good to know where I’ll be for the next few years, but also a little bit scary to think I won’t be home to see my friends and family. I won’t be making much money here, so visiting once a year will have to do, but I am ready to make this change.  Now it is just up to finding a new job, and teaching English is basically the only option if I want to make any decent salary.  I’ll try to do website development on the side though, and hopefully build that up where I can make more money doing that than teaching.

Whatever scares you or excites you, go do it.

Something I try to live by, though not always [...]]]> Sometimes life presents choices that you know will have profound effect on your future. I am at one of those now, and I came across this article to remind me of what I should do. Enjoy.

Whatever scares you or excites you, go do it.

Something I try to live by, though not always succeeding. The gist of it being that personal growth cannot be achieved when you remain in the comfort zone.

Geek alert: or to quote a favorite line from Dune (movie or book? I can’t remember):
“Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens.”

How is it that I can watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom six times and still like it, [...]]]> Well, I don’t know really how much teaching will be done. I’ve got games planned for most of my lessons, and several classes are finishing up their end of the year movie I promised.

How is it that I can watch Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom six times and still like it, and still pay attention even when I’ve watched the same scene only an hour earlier? Hmm… It is funny watching the kids reaction when they eat monkey brains. Or even funnier to me is the lack of reaction to it.

Want to skip right to the photos for part 1? Click here.

The beginning of February was the mid-year break between semesters at my school and in schools across mainland China.  Oh being a teacher is nice [...]]]> One month of traveling and three thousand pictures later – still much left to explore.

Want to skip right to the photos for part 1? Click here.

The beginning of February was the mid-year break between semesters at my school and in schools across mainland China.  Oh being a teacher is nice during these holidays!  And because all of my students had exams for which they would be studying two weeks before the break, my spring holiday started on January 14th!

First stop – time to warm up my winter¹ chilled bones in China’s Hawaii – Hainan.  But instead of being filled with American and Japanese tourists like the former, the city of Sanya in southern Hainan is filled to the brim with Chinese and Russians.  I wasn’t quite expecting this and was much surprised when I arrived to see all the restaurant signs in Russian and Chinese, though there several were also in English.

I stayed at Blue Sky Hostel there near the beach in Sanya, and I spent my first two days exploring the beach, sipping coconut milk from the shell, and eating my favorite of Chinese cuisine – an assortment of things from the nighttime food stalls lining the streets.  I am convinced that the less washed a wok is, the more flavorful and delicious the dish will be.

Not too far from Sanya, two hours via bus, half hour by a scammy-motorbike escort, and a fifteen-minute cable car ride, there is a little peninsula called Monkey Island.  (Sanya to Lingshui to Xincun to Monkey Island) And you guessed it, filled to the brim with rhesus monkeys.  There you can watch hundreds of little monkeys playing in fields, babies playing tag while jumping from vine to tail to vine, and heaps of wiser older monkeys trying to steal things from tourists.  It is sort of a monkey sanctuary, the monkeys having been raised originally for research though I am not sure if that is done anymore.  Now some of the monkeys are engaged in different shows: monkeys doing a flag raising ceremony as people pass by, monkeys on bicycles, monkeys going odd slapstick comedy acts, or a monkey doing a handstand on top of the horns of a mountain goat that is balancing on the top of a small can that is balancing on top of a rope suspended between two poles.  Yeah, it was strange – somehow totally wrong –but also kinda hilarious.

In the middle of Hainan is Wuzhishan² (五指山) – or Five Finger Mountain, and is surrounded by rainforest.  Though not quite teaming with life, the visit was interesting and I enjoyed a leisurely and picturesque hike through the forest.  I went with a fellow traveler that I met in the hostel, and we stayed overnight in the small town of Wuzhishan.  The day after exploring the forest we visited an area called the Seven Fairy Hot Springs, arriving just a bit too late to enjoy the actual hot springs.  Still it was pretty cool and along the way we were able to observe a few of the minority villages still in existence on Hainan, the local Li and Miao peoples.  In a bit of a cluster*&!# we barely made it back to Sanya that night, catching the last departing bus just in time.

The next day I decided to wander off to the beach myself and soak in some sun and sand and take more pictures of supposedly the only real swimmable beach in China.  Walking to a beach that was a bit further away, I passed by several small shops and got my fair share of strange looks from people.  Still on my way to the beach I was strolling pretty close to the road, lazily hanging onto my bag in left hand, when two men on a motorbike approached and the man on the back yanked my bag from my hand – but I yanked back much harder.  And then, filled with astonishment and rage, started shouting at them full volume.  Soo not cool.  They sped off quickly, with no prize for their efforts, and I tried to calm myself back down.  A young army guy who had observed this from afar rode up on his bicycle and I sensed by his look he was checking if I was okay.  This was confirmed when I started speaking with him in Chinese and he told me I should have punched them!  I agreed, and I thanked him for his concern, but at the same time somehow I knew that wasn’t how I wanted to start an international incident.

That night I relaxed at the hostel and found a few new people there to eat with and later taking a stroll on deserted nighttime beach.  Staying up all that night, it was dawn before I realized the time, and slept not a wink before heading off to the airport for the next leg of my trip.

… next up: Yunnan Province

¹ My first winter without snow, and hardly a day below zero.  So by Minnesota standards, it was pretty mild, but with enough moisture in the frozen windy air to chill you through and through.

² Evidently Wuzhishan is the smallest city in China, not that it was really that tiny, but only that it actually has the status of ‘city.’

Now renovated into artists lofts and space, the rooms were spacious and filled with posh and shabby party-goers alike [...]]]> This new year’s eve I went with a friend to a big party in Shanghai. Lots of DJs and many pretty people filled the scene, which took place in an old German Slaughterhouse in Shanghai.

Now renovated into artists lofts and space, the rooms were spacious and filled with posh and shabby party-goers alike (I fell into the latter group). There was plenty of eye candy to lessen the pain of the expensive drink, but thanks to my friend Kyle, I met quite a few cool people. I sat talking with one of the DJs for a while after she had finished her set, and so I was lucky to have much to drink ‘mian fei’ (免费) – for free.

Still for the biggest time since I’ve been in China, I really missed my friends and family back home during the holidays. I love all of my surrogate families in Minnesota, and especially during the holidays found myself thinking of the typical feasts and festivities they were enjoying. Heralding in the new year just isn’t the same without my all my pals from home.

New year’s eve at the 1934 Party was strange but exciting, and only ending sourly when I stupidly left my wallet in the taxi on the way home. (Note to self: never put your wallet, or anything of value, in the pocket of your hoodie!) In the future though, I think I’ll try to make it home for the holidays, at least until I can afford to bring ya’ll over here!

This was my first Christmas away from home and outside of my home country.  Here I expected the holiday to go by without much fanfare, but to my surprise, Christmas decorations seemed to be hung up in every little store front from my town to Shanghai, and the shops were [...]]]>

This was my first Christmas away from home and outside of my home country.  Here I expected the holiday to go by without much fanfare, but to my surprise, Christmas decorations seemed to be hung up in every little store front from my town to Shanghai, and the shops were filled with the same familiar Christmas tunes!

Christmas decorations gone wild in Shanghai

I had Christmas and the day after off, but on Christmas eve my middle school students put on a little celebration.  They had a Christmas tree, and sang and performed for two hours, while I and a few other English teachers judged.  At the end of the performances everyone was handed a little piece of paper upon which they wrote their Christmas wishes, after which they hung all these wishes on the tree.  Yes, it was pretty cute.

[pictures forthcoming]

On Christmas Day, Siobhan, Stuart, Kyle (a friend of mine from Shanghai), and I went into Suzhou to have a five course Christmas lunch at an English bookstore and restaurant that we frequently visit.

The dinner wasn’t quite the classic Christmas fare, but the main course was pretty good: turkey, apple chutney, mashed potatoes, and peas.  We three westerners gobbled everything up right quick, but Kyle (native of Chengdu, which is home of the panda sanctuary & located in Sichuan and it’s super spicy food) was not as impressed (the food was ‘not too bad’).

This Christmas did make me realize how much I appreciate seeing my family during the holidays.  It is usually the only time of year that I get to see them all, and I am thankful that we are all friends.  I know many people who can’t stand to be around their siblings, but lucked out in that regard, all of them are pretty great to hang out and spend time with.  Another thing I really miss about the holidays, the food.  I do love me some Chinese food, don’t get me wrong, but I also like bread and cheese and savory things, and the two loves seem to be mutually exclusive.

I hope everyone I know had a great holiday and a happy new year!  I miss you guys!  Only eight more months before I see you again!

On the 30th we went to the kindergarten Halloween party, and I finally got to meet all the little ones that [...]]]> In the run up to all hallows eve, Siobhan, Stuart and I were busy trying to come up with decorations for the students’ parties and designing our own costumes.

On the 30th we went to the kindergarten Halloween party, and I finally got to meet all the little ones that Siobhan teaches.  Quite a few of Stuart’s primary school children were there too, so it was great to meet all the little devils I’ve heard so many stories about.

There are many days that I would like to swap my middle school & high school students to teach the littler ones; but each group of kids has their own unique set of challenges to be sure, and after a night of high pitched shrieking and waist level karate punches, leaving my ears and … well, other parts sore, I am fairly certain I made the right choice.

We started the night rather strangely, the three of us sitting down in the Halloween-decor saturated kinder-classroom and reviewing vocabulary with group after group of kids – showing them flashcard after flashcard and rewarding them with candy.

After that they had a little dance party …

during which I snuck up behind some kids and gave them a good scare.  While most of them shrieked and then laughed, one little girl just instantly broke into tears!  I felt pretty bad, but the parents were all just rolling with laughter.  Ahh, good impressions …

The night ended with all the dressed up teachers (the three of us foreigners and one of the natives) taking pictures with the students … and about fifty photos later we called it a night and headed back to our dorms.

Our October “holiday” didn’t turn out to be as eventful as I had hoped.  There was some odd problem with our bank, and lo-and-behold, nobody at the school was paid … until the day before school started back up again.  Needless to say, I was a little miffed, but …

Siobhan, Stu and I made the best of it though and got in some good exploring of Suzhou.  We took a long stroll around the city, following the main canal that borders the city center, and visiting many gardens along the way.  Its a bustling city with a long history and I’ve still got much to see there, and many museums to visit.

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Did you check those out?  You back?  Okay, here is something real pretty.

One of my favorite places was the Northern Buddhist Tower.  A little temple area located and preserved nicely within the city, it was a nice place to relax and take in a little beauty.

It was well maintained, and naturally, a bit of a tourist trap.  But, you could go all the way up the giant pagoda you see here, giving you a wonderful view of the city and surrounding landscape, err, more city.

Happy Buddha.

Climbing, a nice view of the temple grounds below and city behind.

Higher.

Watch out!

Higher still.

Made it to the top! I don’t know what this look is about.

Views of the endless cityscape.

“Nuclear pagoda.”

Twilight visions.  (… or, a polarized view through my sunglasses.)

After making our descent, we checked out the rest of the temple grounds.

Giant black frog.

Serious Mama Coy. Two feet long.