Random events in Baoding!

I have not written in a bit and a few interesting events have taken place.  First, a couple weeks ago my friends and I decided to check out the Baoding International Club which is a bathhouse (apparently one of the few that are legally allowed to serve foreigners).  We went on a Saturday night at about 9pm.  When you arrive they take your shoes and give you sandals and you then go into a locker room.  You take off all your clothes but it is ok because they give you a towel that covers about one of my thighs.  Next you take a shower and then sit in a wonderful sauna for as long as you like.  They freeze little towels that you can cover your mouth with in the sauna (suppose to help you breath).  Apparently they had an even hotter sauna which was closed but I'm pretty sure ours was hot enough!  Next they take you to a bed covered in plastic and they pour hot water over the bed and you lay down.  Then they pour hot water all over you and take this really rough towel and start scrubbing the you know what out of you.  It felt pretty good it was amazing how much dead skin you have!  So after they scrub you all over (really...all over which was a bit of a surprise) they give you a head massage and you can get other types of massages if you want to pay extra something about a milk massage...i dunno.  My friend Megan laid on the table before they put water on it and the ladies freaked....it was pretty hilarious.  So after that whole hullabaloo you take another shower and then go back to the locker room.  They give you these super comfy pjs and new slippers which are nice and warm!  Then they have an area with lotion and hair stuff you can use.  But the most random part is that if you go at night around 11pm there is a buffet on the upper level.  So everyone rushes upstairs to eat a bunch of yummy Chinese food.  (I could hardly get any the Chinese are not afraid to be pushy!)  They also have this room that is filled with cubbies that have two beds in each one so you can go in a sleep for an hour or so.  Each cubby also has tvs and dvds.  Basically you feel super clean and comfortable it took a lot of motivation to get back into our clothes and take a cab home!  The best part was that all of it cost 50RMB or around 7 dollars! 

I also got invited to a Chinese wedding this past Thursday.  One of the teachers that use to work at our school was getting married so a bunch of people from the school went.  We did not go to the actual ceremony which I would have liked to have seen but we went to the reception.  The bride was wearing a white wedding dress (western style) apparently most women want a western style dress these days which is kinda sad since I bet the Chinese style is really awesome!  Anyways, the Bride and groom walked into the room and they set fireworks off...yes inside...really smart.  Then the MC talks about the couple.  After the speech the parents go up on the stage and sit down.  The groom asks his mom and day to drink tea with him and then they give him money (pretty sweet deal) then the bride does the same thing.  After they all gan bei a glass of wine and then go to each table and drink with the guests.  They served a ton of food that looked really good but unfortunately all had meat in it.  It was still pretty fun.

Update on the new tread to bring animals to the bar.  Last week a woman brought a small puppy which was super cute.  Charlie who owns the bar made the worst/funniest joke by holding up the puppy and asking if anyone was hungry and then waving a paw and saying bye bye!  Good times...

The most random weekend!

I wanted to make a quick post about this weekend since it was really random and hilarious. First we all went to the local watering hole on Saturday night and a Chinese guy walked in with a falcon. Yes a falcon...cause that is normal. He proceeded to allow the entire bar hold his bird which surprisingly did not freak out. And no I did not hold the bird...I was the one farthest away in case shit hit the fan.

The next day I went out in the morning to run errands and I stumbled upon a fashion show...but not just any fashion show a drag fashion show! Not only was there drag but massively inappropriate acting by a Chinese man, who first pretended to be retarded and physically handicap and then made fun of the Japanese for a whole song....oh China! This was all a bit confusing at 11am in the morning on a Sunday. After this weekend I'm about ready for anything to happen at any point in time. Bring it!

Adventures on the Yangtze

Finally back in the old Baoding.  We just had our week break or National Week, go communism!  Lee, Emily (a different one) and I decided to go on a cruise on the Yangtze river and see the famous three gorges.  What an adventure!  Lee and I had to take a 32 hour....yes 32 hour train ride to Chong qing.  Lets just say the ride was painful.  Since billions of people travel on the same week you can imagine that it is not too easy to find a sleeper train ticket so we had to sit in regular seats for 32 hours!  Oh my how I did it I will never know.  Finally arriving in Chong qing we get to our hostel and no one is there.  I call up the girl that runs the place and she has lost her key to the hostel.  So after sleeping on a couch for a hour we are taken to a random hotel room to crash.  Then hours later they find a key to the hostel.  We meet up the other Emily and go eat and walk around.  We end up stumbling upon the Chinese version of Pirates of the Caribbean shopping center slash restaurant. It was really random but yielded awesome pictures.  We were all pretty tired from traveling so we went back and watched a movie.  

The next day we set out to see a bamboo forest that someone had suggest we go see, however no one else seemed aware of its existence so we ended up checking out a botanical garden which was pretty.  We did not understand why this garden had a massive golden eagle statue but its China so ok.  We had to get back to the hostel around three to take a bus to Wuhan were the cruise would begin!

After a 32 hour train ride the nice comfy bus seats for 3 hours was no problem at all!  We get to the boat and the rooms are pretty decent.  Western toilet *not a Chinese toilet which is basically a hole in the ground* and bunk beds.  There was this cool Chinese guy that roomed with us that taught us a bunch of Chinese thanks to me always carrying around my Chinese English dictionary.  The boat had a top deck that was open that everyone chilled out at, I met a whole gaggle of foreigners from Sweden, Scotland, Switzerland and New Zealand.  

The next day we got on a smaller boat (after a small ticket fiasco) to see the three little gorges.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We even passed a mountain that had a ton of monkeys roaming around on it!  Since the river was narrowing we all got on really small boats and went along the river which was my favorite part of the cruise.  Each boat had a tour guide that sang a traditional song which is really fun to hear.  I saw a small waterfall too!

After that we went back to out to the main part of the river and they took us to this tourist trap which was lame and then later back on the boat.  That night we stopped and saw a show, and when we got off the boat a big line of horn players and drummers were on the shore playing music.  We listened to this woman sing one song and lip sing another...weird..then these men played the traditional horn music but is we funny because they would pair up and put each others horns to the other persons mouth but still play the notes....it was pretty weird.  Then the ending was this wizard looking guy that I think was telling the story on how he made the mountains split to form the gorges...but my Chinese isn't that great so ya...

The next day we got off the boat and were in Maoping which we then had to take a bus to Yicheng and then another bus back to Wuhan...basically traveling all day.  I made a promise to myself not to broadcast my Chinese skills on the next vacation.  I ended up not only handling our entire vacation planning but then had to help all our new European friends find their bus and hotel and book the hotel and so on....not so relaxing...i guess it is good practice...

Anyways we spent the night in Wuhan at a pretty decent hostel got in around midnight so basically just went to bed.  The weather was horrible so we all just hung around the hostel reading and playing cards.  Our train back to Beijing was not until 11pm.  However, this time I made sure we had sleepers.  Oh how I love sleeper trains!  Yet similar to airplanes no matter where I go there is always a crying baby!  Surprisingly the next morning waking up I heard we were arriving in Beijing, I though we had another 18 hours but I guess we had booked an express train which was really awesome.  We were able to be back in baoding Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning which was much better!  

Although it was a lot of traveling, I had a great time eating my way through another area of China and seeing the great three gorges...one of the most beautiful areas of China!  

Now it is back to the daily ho hum...

Baoding nights....oh man

Alright so I have an update...not a big one but we had a few adventures the past weekend.  Alex found a totally vegetarian place which serves the best food ever.  We go at least once a week.  I think we are pretty much the only ones who eat there so our mission is to single handedly keep the restaurant alive!  They have all this vegetarian propaganda too which is awesome.  We also found a really good jiaozi or dumpling place that is really cheap...but what isn't cheap in china?? 

So Friday night we go out to a bar, Charlie Bar, which is a really chill hole in the wall that is owned by the coolest Chinese guy ever.  He doesn't speak English so we all talk in Chinese which is awesome practice and he teaches us stuff too!  

Saturday we all go out to eat and then hit up the KTV.  KTV is like one of the few things to do in Chinese towns.  They are everywhere and are huge karaoke bars.  You get your own room with mics and just sing the night away!  So we sang all the britney spears we could handle and then went back to Charlie Bar for a bit.  On the way out of the KTV I got an awesome picture of a drunk guy being carried by his two friends.  Oh and when we leave the KTV the elevator door opens and there is a barrage of cameras and lights along with a groom carrying his new wife.  We stand there really confused will all of them looking at us.  It was really random and awkward.  

GO TO MY PICTURE SITE: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boogeysmistakes/sets

Sunday I pretty much lazed around and did some work.  We went to the awesome vegetarian place again.  Next week is our October break and I hope to go see the three gorges!  So more update then!

Weekend in Beijing!

With the need to get out of Baoding and stretch our legs a bit, Lee and I made our way to Beijing after classes on Friday. We took the bullet train..a bit more expensive which only took an hour to get to Beijing. We made our way to the hostel by Sanlitun (a bar street). This being the first time staying at a hostel I was a bit apprehensive, but I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel had free internet and an awesome restaurant with delicious milkshakes and french toast! The bathrooms were really clean (western toilets) and the rooms were decent. So if anyone is in Beijing stay at the Sanlitun Youth Hostel!

So we took a walk around the area, but I decided to go back and take a much needed nap. When I woke up Alex was in the lobby so I finally got to meet her, Kim and Tara. They are all teaching English at the University in Baoding. We all went to Kro's Nest for dinner and to meet up with Alex's other friend Charlotte. The bar was having an 80s music night with pizza. However, it really sucked cause they never brought Tara and I's pizza....I was hungry! So we ditched the place and went to the bar street. We had a couple beers and went back to the hostel. Some guys from Wales tried to talk to us at the hostel but they were pretty lame so I got some ice cream from the store across the street (Magnums the best ice cream bar in China) and went to bed.

Next day I woke up and we had breakfast at the hostel and decided to go check out the Olympic park. Took the subway up to the Olympic park. It was really cool to see the birds nest in person. I remember them building it when I was studying in Beijing. The only problem was that the para Olympics are going on so the security wouldn't let us get too close to the buildings. We got some pictures but we will probably go back later and get some better pictures! After we ate some lunch at a near by restaurant and headed back to the hostel. I took a much needed shower....

That night we ate at the hostel and headed out to Wudaokou to meet up with some of Alex's friends. Wudaokou is another nightlife area but a little more cool cause that is where most university students hang out. So we hit up La Bamaba and meet Alex's friend Richard who use to teach in Baoding. Later his friend Max came and hung out. Max actually knows a bunch of people I studied abroad with so that was really random. Richard wanted to check out this club opening in Chaoyang called White Rabbit. It was pretty dead and Tara and I wanted to leave but no one else did so we stayed for like forever but finally ditched the guys and went back to the hostel.

The next day I didn't feel like doing to much so I called up Cory who studied in Beijing with me and we hung out at Element Fresh (an awesome restaurant when Chinese food starts to get boring). Afterwards I took a nap then Lee and I went out to dinner. He got the famed Beijing duck while I had a new favorite (an eggplant potato green pepper dish). Our train left Beijing at 10:30pm so we did not get back to the campus until midnight....luckily we had the day off on Monday for the mid autumn festival so I slept for a loooong time!

Second Week in Baoding!

Well I have made it through the second week of teaching almost. Pretty much more of the same this week. In fact too much of the same since that little girl who is becoming less and less cute to me told me I was fat once again! This time I told her it was rude in English next time I'll yell at her in Chinese!!! Other than that not much else is going on. I am hoping to start Chinese lessons next week...I'm trying to get people to speak Chinese to me specially since most of the time I do not understand their English anyways. I got paid on Wednesday!!!! The teacher handed me a huge wad of Chinese cash! I love this country...no taxes! So with some money in my pocket Lee and I are heading to Beijing for the weekend. I even went and bought the train tickets all by myself! I hope we have a chance to take pictures of some of the Olympic buildings.

This weekend is the mid autumn festival so we get Monday off which is awesome. The school also put together a talent show Thursday night. I accidentally talked myself into preparing a dance with ten first year students.
I made a really simple dance to "Rock around the Clock" and no one can laugh cause I'm not a professional choreographer like some people in the family! I'm posting the video to my flickr site (along with all my pictures) at http://www.flickr.com/photos/boogeysmistakes/sets/ I think the dance went really well the only thing I did not understand was that the teachers made the kids wear really big t shirts and insisted the kids take their bottoms off for the dance so that they were all just wearing t shirts....don't ask me...

Anyways, I'm getting a little more settled in. I finally hooked up with some other foreign teachers in the city so at least I'll have people to hang out with on the weekends. That's it for now I hope to have more stories after this weekend!

First week in Baoding

With the first week of orientation over a bunch of us decided to hit the town! After getting home at about 3am, I was regretting my decision to go out the night before I leave for my school. Three hours later (maybe still a bit tipsy) I pack up my stuff and head to the airport. It was about a two hour flight to Beijing and another two hour drive to Baoding. We (Lee the other teacher at my school and I) arrive at the school Hebei Eastern Bilingual School or 河北东双语学校 at about 6pm....very very tired. We eat dinner at the school cafeteria and basically crash. However, when we got there we noticed there was a ridiculously large welcome banner that basically said "Welcome Emily Johns and Lee Chapman to our school!"

The next day one of our two waiban (basically a teacher that helps us do stuff like go to the grocery store and whatnot..) took us into the downtown. We ate breakfast and then went to the old ZhiLi Govenor's Office. Baoding use to be the capital of the Hebei province so it still had its old city office from the Qing dynasty (1700s-1900s). We looked around there a bit and then around the main drag. Went to the grocery store and bought a few things.

By far the funnest thing was waking up at 4 the next morning and catching the early train to ShiJiaZhuang (the now capital city of Hebei). We had to take our medical exams to some office and make sure everything was ok. Of course this being China, the forms we had filled out were not exactly like the form they wanted so what did we get to do? We got to do the whole physical over again and pay for it....LAME! I'm so glad I spent so much time and effort in the U.S. getting all my tests and physical done! So after that we ate a bunch of good dumplings at this restaurant and took the train home. On the ride home our taxi drive literally hit a dog and the dog just kept running!! I screamed and then yelled at the taxi driver. Good advice to avoid having a heart attack in China...do not pay attention to how people drive and pray everytime you cross the street. You know how people say asian drivers are the worst drivers....you have no idea! I basically slept from like 4pm to 7am the next day....

To my surprise I found out I was teaching that morning....would have been nice to know earlier. I teach the primary school kids from grade k to 6th. They are really cute. And teaching basically involves singing and games and simple words like apple and red. For the most part the kids are well behaved and are really excited to have a non chinese person around (did I mention Lee and I are the only non chinse on campus??). I have a few text books that I use to make lesson plans and the rest I wing it. The students English level is really low, so I am just suppose to teach them simple words and phrases. No one writes anything down that I teach so that kind of explains why after 5 years of English the 6th graders still don't really understand anything. Either way it is pretty fun, specially the long break from 11 to 3 everyday where I usually eat and take a nap! My fellow Chinese teachers are really nice and helpful. I have one sit in each of my class and they pretty much are a translator (VERY HELPFUL!) They completely freaked when I understood what they were saying in Chinese too!

The highlight of the week was when a small 4th grade girl came up to me after class and said "teacher you are fat!" I was like...thanks girl for making my day! Then I considered since no chinese person is over 100 lbs that just meant I wasn't entirely skin and bones. Although with the food being the way it is on campus I won't be surprised if I am 100 lbs soon!

This past weekend we went into the city and looked around again...not too exciting. I'm trying to get in touch with another foreign teacher in Baoding cause life is getting a bit boring here. The other teacher at my school keeps to himself a lot so for now I'm a bit lonely....

The mid autumn festival is coming up next weekend and we get monday off so I'm planning on visiting Beijing since there is not much to do here. I also accidently signed myself up to teach a dance for the party the school is throwing...so let's see how that goes....where is dance squad deanna when I need her! Anyway hopefully my life will get more interesting and I'll post next week....

First Week in ShangHai

Ok so after my 4 hour layover in Toronto and my wonderfully exciting 14 hour flight to Shanghai I was finally in CHINA!  The next day was monday so we had our lectures and such.  After we went to Jinmao tower (3rd tallest in the world) and the Shanghai art museum.  I had been to the museum before but I didn't mind going back since they have an awesome collection of calligraphy and paintings.  We also went to a Uyghuar restaurant for dinner.  Lot of goat meat....ick!  They also got up and danced for us and then started to pull people up to dance....of course I had to dance.  Then I ran away and later was pulled up to dance again!  

My roomie for the week (Rachel) was really cool.  The rest of the week we had crash courses in Chinese and teaching.  Rachel, Andrea and I went to the Jade Buddha Temple.  By now I've been to so many temples they start to seem the same....  The temple is know for the two jade buddha statues *one sitting* *on laying down*  A laying Buddha is one who has reached enlightenment.  While at the temple I met this ridiculously flaming Chinese guy that would write your name in Chinese characters.  He said he loved American women because they were just "so cute!"  He then asked what Rachel's name was and we just couldn't get over how he said it....something like RAWCHILL!!  He yelled after her to come over and talk to him...so of course the rest of the week I yelled her name in his voice...guess you had to be there!  

I basically became a translator that week since no one else really spoke any Chinese.  So I took people to places and helped them buy things and such.  Another night Rachel, Emily (another emily!), Stephanie and I went to Nanjing Road (a huge pedestrian shopping and eating avenue) and after found ourselves a bar with an awesome live band...here we realized Rachel's true dancing abilities!  The whole group went out on a boat on the Huangpu river (cuts Shanghai in half) and cruised around eating papa johns pizza!!! MMMM!  Then a bunch of us went to the XinTianDi district (uppity expat area with bars and restaurants).  All in all it was a fun week.  I wish we all did not have to split up to different schools....oh well!