Wanderlust

Beer-flavored Chicken

2012-01-25T19:29:00.003-05:00

During this last week we've been sharing the house with a couple from France - Sylvan and Isabelle. We've been having a lot of fun hanging out with them and they have been more than generous with their time, camping gear and help with buying a car. They took us around to different car markets (since they have a car) and since they are finishing their tour of New Zealand, they gave us a lot of their camping gear. We have especially enjoyed hearing their stories of travels and working in an avocado packing plant on the North Island.

Last night they treated us to a meal that they learned to make while in Australia - "Beer Chicken." Maybe you have tried this recipe before and Sean said that it was pretty common in the U.S., but I had never heard of it. You take a can of beer, drink a little bit of it, and then put it on a little metal stand (that's apparently made just for this purpose) and stick the chicken on top of it. Isabelle rubbed the chicken beforehand with mustard, salt and pepper. She also cut up onions, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini and put them around the chicken on the pan. Then you just bake it all for about one hour and a half and a lot of the beer gets absorbed into the chicken and keeps it from getting too dry.

The end result was terrific and we had a great dinner together topped off with chocolate Cadbury and caramel ice cream. Isabelle and Sylvan are staying and working Christchurch for another two months as there is a lot of work for them (because of all the earthquake damage) since he is a carpenter and she is a painter. We are going to miss them!

"Rosie" the big red whale

2012-01-24T18:02:00.006-05:00

"Rosie" is the name that came with the 1994 Toyota Scepter station wagon that Sean and I bought yesterday. It seems to be the tradition between backpackers that they pass down the name of the car between buyers and sellers. We bought the red beast from two Israeli girls who called her "Rosie the red rose" in Hebrew. We modified it to "whale" because as you can see, she's huge.

Sean and I weren't originally planning on buying a car while we were in New Zealand but we quickly realized that it's what everyone does and for good reason. Even travelers staying for only one or two months buy a car and the whole process of buying one is simple, fairly inexpensive and very commonplace. New Zealand is second only to the U.S. in the ratio of cars to people - they are everywhere. The public transportation is O.K. in the larger cities (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) but as soon as you leave the city it's very hard to get around without your own form of transportation. Most people who choose to travel in N.Z. want to camp and hike and the only way to reach the trail heads and back country campsites are with a private or rented vehicle.

Sean and I were extremely nervous about buying a car since a) we both know next to nothing about cars b) it seemed very risky and possibly expensive c) we knew we would have to try and re-sell it at the end of our year here. Fortunately, there are lots of different resources available to backpackers when buying or selling a car. The most famous in Auckland and in Christchurch is the Backpacker's Car Market. Since Sean and I weren't in a hurry and we knew we would be in Christchurch for two weeks we started going to the car market every weekday and to the Canterbury Car Fair on the weekend just to get an idea of prices, models and how to negotiate. We also talked to as many other backpackers as we could about how to buy a car and what to look for. If you are really good with cars you can find a good deal at one of the many auctions in town as well.

We had seen "Rosie" our first day that we visited the car market; she was listed at $2,800 USD and we liked her a lot but she was a bit over our price range. When you want to buy a car in N.Z. you have to look at total kilometers traveled, the WOF (warrant of fitness - a safety check required every six months on every car here), the REGO (yearly registration) and the year and brand of the car. Most garages won't fix cars over 20 years old here and some brands are hard to find parts for. We learned that Subarus and Toyotas are very popular and that Fords and Hondas can be hard to find parts for. The most popular cars are those in which you can sleep in the back and the hottest item selling right now are campervans. We decided we wanted a station wagon that we could sleep in the back of but would also function as a normal car when we find a city to stay and work in. We had talked to a few other backpackers who said they had had problems with people breaking into their vans since it's quite obvious that they contain all of the tourists' possessions while on the road.

Our friend's campervan that he bought and fixed up

We kept going back to the car market every day and learned that the Israeli girls were leaving for home on Tuesday and were willing to lower their price quite drastically in order to sell their car. We had a mechanical and legal check done and negotiated for the price of $1,900 USD - sweet! It will have to have a few things done to it over the course of the year to keep it up in order to sell it again, but that's ok. Interestingly, most backpacker cars are in really good condition - clean, well-repaired and maintained because everyone is aware that they will have to sell it again soon. Most people pass along all the original paperwork so you can see what has been done and when.

It was kind of a stressful and scary process but Sean and I are happy to have a car and we leave for Queenstown on Friday to start looking for work. While we are in Christchurch, however, we are still walking as much as we can because when it costs $100 USD to fill up your gas tank at $1/liter (ahh!) you start doing things differently. I may never complain about U.S. gas prices again.

Chinese Wedding Pictures

2012-01-22T18:27:00.006-05:00

This post has nothing to do with current life in New Zealand but I still thought it would be fun to share it with you. While Sean and I were in China, we noticed a certain obsession and fascination that the Chinese have with photography, posing for pictures and finding cool backdrops for taking pictures. We also became aware that one of the most popular topics at English Corner or in the classroom was weddings and getting married. When you combine both loves - wedding and photography - in China, things get out of hand quickly.

Whenever we went down town to the city center in Changzhou, there were always booths set up to lure prospective couples into using their company for their wedding photography. The sample pictures they showed were always extremely elaborate and more like doing photo shoots for models than for a wedding. Sean and I were always interested and entertained by the number of scenes, outfits and poses that the couples chose and joked about doing one ourselves before we got married just for fun.

Our friend and fellow colleague, Jordan, stayed in China to continue teaching English but also because he got engaged to his Chinese girlfriend, April. A few days ago Jordan sent me some of the wedding photographs from his and April's extensive photo shoot. He said that I could share a few on the blog and I couldn't resist because they are awesome! I think it will give you a good idea about how seriously a lot of Chinese take their wedding photography. Thanks for the pictures Jordan!

L&P - "World Famous in New Zealand"

2012-01-20T20:48:00.003-05:00

The Canterbury museum gave us a good introduction to genuine "kiwiana" (all things unique to New Zealand) and it also gave us the motivation to try something that's supposedly world famous here, a soft drink called "L&P" which stands for "Lemon and Paeroa." After walking around all day we stopped at a pop machine and bought a can to see what all the fuss was about.

Truth be told, it tasted like carbonated lemonade but it was refreshing nevertheless. I would compare it to Sprite or Seven-Up with a little extra lemon flavor. L&P is traditionally made by mixing lemon juice with carbonated mineral water from the northern town of Paeroa, thus giving the drink its name. Nowadays, it's manufactured by none other than Coca-Cola. L&P can only be found in NZ so we better take advantage and drink our fill while we're here.

Here's what it says on the back of the L&P can (there's lots of examples of Kiwi slang as well as the habit of attaching the word "as" on to words like in "Kiwi as" or "Sweet as.")

"World famous in New Zealand. There's nothing like L&P, a little Kiwi classic with loads of fresh taste. She's a legend our Lemon and Paeroa . . . and Kiwi as. There's heaps of stories to tell about this favourite fruity drop . . . but the important stuff is where it all started. Take a trip to sunny Paeroa, back in the good old days, where some local blokes found an awesome underground spring. Yup, right under their noses loads of super-fresh water. Fact is, water's water but it ain't L&P. It wasn't until some bright spark had the idea of putting something in it, L&P came to life. C-h-o-i-c-e! With a little bit of lemon and sprinkling of magic (our secret formula), the little kiwi beauty we know and love was born. And L&P today? It's still the original flavour, but now it's even better!"

Canterbury Museum and botanical gardens

2012-01-19T20:04:00.003-05:00

We spent most of yesterday at the Canterbury Museum and Botanic Gardens on the banks of the Avon River which zigs and zags itself through the city. The huge Canterbury Museum (free!) gave a great representation of New Zealand's history with a focus on the South island or the "Mainland" as everybody here calls it. Most of the displays are dedicated to the original Maori people but there was a lot of information on the colonists' early life after their long 3 month passage from England. Sean's favorite floor was the one about Antarctica which included actual artifacts from famously successful and unsuccessful expeditions to the South Pole (including Ernest Shackelton's Discovery, Nimrod and Endurance voyages).

The Botanic Garden (also free!) was basically a huge park with over 10,000 species of plants as well as fountains, cafes and loads of open green space where people were picnicking, napping and just hanging out. There were many paved and non-paved paths and trails through the park and we were constantly dodging joggers and cyclists during our exploration. One of the most interesting activities available at the Botanic Garden was "punting" on the Avon.

Christchurch city

2012-01-17T20:49:00.003-05:00

The largest city on the South Island is most definitely Christchurch, the city in which we are currently residing. The abbreviation for the city name that we see everywhere is "Chch". Since Sean and I have had a lot of free time, we have been able to walk around and explore a lot. Sadly, because of the huge earthquake last year in February, most of the city center is completely closed off to the public because it's too dangerous as there are still aftershocks daily.

Christchurch is located about halfway down on the east coast of the island with a population of about 345,000 people. The wider area around the city and including Christchurch is called Canterbury. It's considered to be the most English of New Zealand cities and its symbol is a huge cathedral in the center square. Walking around in the parts of town that are still open, it feels like you are walking around in a little version of Britain.

Because of the earthquakes many local residents have left the city completely. The paper estimated that about 5% have relocated permanently. Many people lost their homes and thus rental and apartment prices have skyrocketed over 50%. The daily tremors, soaring property prices and a less-than-fully-functional city does not bode well for working holidayers like Sean and me and we are thinking that after we get our tax numbers we will look for work in other cities.

The locals that we have talked to about the earthquakes are either in denial and don't like to think or talk about them or are in full support of rebuilding and earthquake relief. There is a new program downtown next to the "Red zone" called ReStart which has painted old shipping crates and used them to make hip new bars, coffee shops, banks and shops. Even with all of the energy and creative innovation in cleaning up this city, the local paper, The Press, estimates that it will take 15-20 years to rebuild.

Life in the Kiwihouse

2012-01-16T19:50:00.005-05:00

Our room - it's very romantic

Right now we are sharing a house of a Kiwi man and his wife and three other couples from Germany, Czech Republic and France. Some are just starting their adventures here and others are finishing up. It has been really fun to hear of their stories and experiences and everyone is very happy to share advice and tips about where to go to get jobs and how to travel on the cheap.

Mishka, the cat

It has been especially interesting to share a kitchen as at one time there are four different styles of food being cooked and four different languages being spoken simultaneously. Fortunately, like usual, English is the common language that everyone uses when we are all hanging out together. I have been told many times by Europeans that I am lucky to speak fluent English and that it's my greatest asset to getting a job here. Just like in China, it seems that this "skill" of speaking my native language and being lucky enough to be born in the states gives me a huge advantage over everyone else. It's not fair at all, but I'll take it.

New Zealand - Initial observations

2012-01-15T18:31:00.002-05:00

After a long day of traveling Sean and I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. The way the time and flights worked, we ended up skipping January 12 entirely - we left on the 11th and got here on the 13th. We are currently staying in the house of a Kiwi man who owns a hostel. His hostel, the "Kiwihouse", contains only single dorm beds but he has two rooms in his own house that he lets couples stay in. There is a communal kitchen, bathroom, common room and garden. An additional resident is an orange cat named Mishka who is (much to Sean's dismay) quite affectionate.

Since nothing official was open on the weekend, Sean and I took the opportunity to explore the city on foot. We also did a lot of sleeping to deal with the jet lag. I would have posted sooner, but one of the more frustrating things about NZ is that it's next to impossible to find free internet - using wifi anywhere is ridiculously expensive and requires you to purchase vouchers or online codes. Fortunately, we have found a public library and after applying for a library card we are happily enjoying the use of the wireless internet completely gratis.

Today is Monday, January 16 and we are checking as many things as we can off of our to-do list such as: getting NZ SIM cards for our Chinese phones, applying for a NZ tax IRD number (needed before you can get a job), opening a free bank account and going grocery shopping. It takes about 8-10 days for the IRD number to come in the mail so now all we do is hurry up and wait. Fortunately, there's lots to do and learn in the meantime.

Some initial observations:

Weather: 70's, sunny, breezy and dry. It feels like we are in San Diego as Christchurch is at the height of their summer.

People: Everybody seems to be popping chill pills and is overly relaxed, laid back and friendly. We have had literally hour-long conversations with librarians, bank workers and locals - everyone is helpful and happy to see visitors.

North vs. South: There is a certain loyalty to the island on which you live here. We've even had locals say things like "I don't like the North island" or "I'm so glad you chose to come to the South island - it's much better" etc.

No comparisons: People don't appreciate being compared to Australia - Kiwis consider themselves to be completely separate and different.

Accent: Wowza - although I speak English, Kiwi English (or "New Zildish" as I've heard it called) is another dialect entirely. There have been several times I haven't been understood and/or couldn't understand someone else. It's both entertaining and surprising.

Earthquakes: They are terrifying. Last night we were shaken from our beds in the strongest earthquake I have ever felt in my life - 5.0. This morning there was another 3.0. I've never experienced a feeling like that - they are noisy, long and very powerful. Nobody else pays any attention to them and the tremors or "shakes" as they are called here, are felt every day.

Sports: Rugby and Cricket are everywhere and everyone is all hyped up about some team called the All Blacks.

Lingo: There are two official languages: English and Maori (the indigenous culture here). Many signs are also written in Maori and a lot of words have been included in the local vernacular here such as "Kia ora" which is "Hello" in Maori. Another thing everybody says here is "Good on'ya mate" which means something like "great/sweet/thanks man/cool" etc.

Population: There's nobody here. Seriously. Apparently everyone lives on the North Island. We are in the biggest city on the South Island and my hometown of Holland, Michigan seems busier than this place. It's a HUGE switch from China.

Driving: It has been very very hard to get used to the traffic going the other way - and we haven't even started driving yet! Even just walking around it's hard to remember to look in a different way while crossing the street.

That's all for now. Next on the agenda? Employment.

Holiday fun

2012-01-02T15:02:00.004-05:00

Christmas and New Years were busy and fun and went by in a blur. Now that Sean's parents are gone on a cruise we are enjoying the peace and quiet of having the whole house to ourselves. We were able to spend time with our families, both nuclear and extended and also saw Marion's (Sean's dad's new wife) family along with my birth family. That's a lot of families to visit with! Some other memorable events were hosting a surprise birthday/welcome home party for John and his wife Beth who recently returned home from doing the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan. This weekend we had people over for New Years Eve and had fun playing games and watching the ball drop. My sister flew back to Pennsylvania today and we are planning on using our remaining days in Holland to get ready for our trip as well as to the enjoy all of the freshly fallen snow.

Here's some pictures from Christmas:

Sue got a "Forever Lazy" for Christmas

Something else that my sister and I did while she was home was re-create a silly old picture of us when we were three and four. We still had the glasses and dug around for some shirts that would work and hen practiced our poses. It turned out pretty funny and strangely accurate even 25 years later! Maybe we'll have to do it again in another 25.

In the original picture I think I was making my sister play "restaurant" in which I was the waitress and seemed quite pleased with myself. Unfortunately, Susie did not appear to share the same enthusiasm for the game (also, gotta love that bowl haircut!). Happy New Year and may 2012 bring many new adventures and joys!

Decorations at the Doyles

2011-12-24T16:08:00.001-05:00

The Doyles take the Christmas spirit very seriously. Currently, in addition to the many strands of lights draped on the house and trees outdoors, there are four fully decorated trees in different rooms of the house, animatronic presents that light up and open and close on the front steps, and an army of decently-sized wooden nutcrackers scattered around. Right now Jenny (Sean's sister) is home and we are all eagerly anticipating (and appreciating) the products of her baking skills.

For both couples in the house (Sean and I and his dad and Marion), this will be our first Christmas as married couples. It has been a little stressful and new for all of us as we try and figure out what traditions to start or keep and how time will be split up between families. One thing is for sure - this next week will be very busy and jam-packed with family plans and gatherings. Add that to the list of people we want to see before we leave and the time is going to fly by.

I am especially excited for my sister, Sue, to come home on Christmas Eve. We usually go to the Christmas Eve service at church and then make a really tasty and special smorgasbord of food. So far the menu includes: stuffed mushrooms, shrimp, cheese and crackers, meatballs, homemade salsa and chips, pickles and olives, and lots of Christmas cookies. I can't wait! Merry Christmas!

My sister, the graduate

2011-12-22T16:32:00.003-05:00

Last weekend my parents flew to eastern Pennsylvania to celebrate the graduation of my sister. After attending Hope College for two years she decided to go to a small Bible college called Mount Zion School of Ministry. She completed a certification there and then decided to finish her Bachelor's degree at East Stroudsburg University after that. Most of her credits transferred from Hope and she managed to complete a B.A. in communications in a just a few years while working full time as a church secretary.

I am so happy and excited for her that she finished! She is not sure what she wants to do next but having this degree will open the door to whatever she decides on. Congratulations Sue!

Off to New Zealand

2011-12-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

Naturally, as soon as I posted about heading out West while waiting for Sean's work visa, it came the next day. We were already scurrying to make contact with ski lodges and parks to see about any available jobs after the holidays and I was starting to look forward to learning more about skiing. As soon as the visa came, however, we bought tickets for January 11 and are excited to head out to New Zealand after spending Christmas and New Years with family and friends.

I am unbelievably ready for this long-term substitute job to be over. In the span of a week there have been two school-wide lock-downs for reasons varying from a nearby shooting to theft. I've had a couple of close calls regarding girl fights and today after telling a student he could not use the restroom (as last time he never came back) he got up, walked out, told me to go to hell and slammed the door. These last three weeks have been . . . an experience. As soon as I walk into that building my blood pressure skyrockets. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be relatively painless as my nutrition students are going to watch "Food Inc." and my parenting students have a test.

Here are some of the questions I get around Holland when people find out we're going to New Zealand?

Why New Zealand? I've heard it's pretty, there's less people than in China and because we've never been before.

What will you do there? Any job we can find to eek out an existence.

Where will you live? Anywhere we can find that we can afford.

Where are you going? Christchurch (I know, I know, they just had an earthquake).

Isn't that part of Australia? Nope, but it's out in that general direction.

When are you coming back? Our visas last a year, but who knows. If we can't make it financially then it will probably be sooner rather than later.

I want to go here

Substitute Teaching

2011-12-11T19:30:00.002-05:00

For the past few months since we got back from NOLS, Sean has been working for Creative Dining at Hope College and I have been substitute teaching in about ten different districts in and around Holland. I initially thought substitute teaching would be a great gig: no lesson plans, no grading, and no parents and politics. I went into the substitute orientation meeting thinking really, "How hard could it be?" Oh, goodness, was I ever wrong.

I learned very quickly that I was not made to be a substitute or "Guest Teacher" as they now call us. You need thick skin, a loud, authoritative voice, intense classroom management skills and a poised, cool demeanor even when chaos ensues. None of these things come naturally to me and unlike my teacher friends who have had classes and classroom experience on behavior management, I had no idea how to deal with the little monsters; it was like trying to reason with and herd cats.

I soon realized that substitute teaching is essentially like re-living the horrors of middle school and high school. In many classes I was ignored, disrespected, mocked, and even growled at by a student pretending to be a wolf. It was insane. Insert images of crumpled up paper-throwing and rubber band firing here (seriously). I sweated a lot and my hand got tired from writing up piles of ISS and ASS slips (who names a program After-School-Study by the way, that's just asking for trouble!) Substitute teaching, unfortunately, doesn't involve any teaching (which is the fun part) it is basically just babysitting for 30 or so hormonally-charged adolescents. God help me.

Two weeks ago on Monday I got a call in the wee hours of the morning to cover a class for a local high school for the entire week. I arrived at my post 20 min. ahead of time like we are supposed to and was informed by the secretary of the disheartening news. I had thought that maybe a teacher was out due to surgery or death in the family, but alas, this was not the case. This was the first day of a new trimester and the district still hadn't found a teacher for three nutrition classes and one parenting class. I was to be the fill-in for the week and was also informed that there were no lesson plans or even books as this was a new class offered. They gave me the rosters and wished me good luck. If you want a true nightmarish experience, try spending four 95 minute (95 minute!) class periods winging it with a bunch of 8th-12th graders regarding subjects you know next to nothing about. It was heinous.

But I rallied. I dug around in storage bins, talked to other teachers, researched on the internet and started lesson-planning like crazy (along with wishing that I hadn't accepted this job in the first place). Day by day things got a little better but the classes were by no means smooth which caused a lot of stress. Some other things that caused me anxiety were: a) I had no room of my own and had to "float" from other teachers' rooms using a rinky-dink cart, b) while I taught, the other teachers remained in their rooms as it was their planning hour, and c) I had many aides who stayed in the room to help with the plethora of kids with mental and physical impairments. Not only was I trying to pull a class together, I was doing it in front of an audience of certified teachers as well. It's safe to say that I was in way over my head.

Here's some of the things that I learned about secondary public school education:

1. The administration is not always behind you
2. How to use a Scantron machine
3. What EI means (emotionally impaired)
4. The basics of dealing with: Autism, Asbergers and physical disabilities
5. How to use an Elmo (gone are the days of the overhead projector)
6. The incredible amount of paperwork and phone calls that are required if you send a student to ISS (In school suspension)
7. That the morale of teachers is pretty low right now
8. That racial and socioeconomic tensions are high in the classroom even in 2011
9. How to lesson-plan at the middle and high school level
10. That we can't call it "Christmas Break" anymore but rather "Holiday Break"
11. I have learned a LOT about nutrition and parenting (if you have questions about your daily caloric intake, contraceptive options or the legalities of child support, just holler)

Currently, it's Sunday night before week 3 of this long-term sub. job. They still can't find a teacher who wants this position (not a huge surprise if you ask me). In fact, on Friday the principal called me into her office and offered me the full-time job on the spot until the end of the year (no matter that I am not certified nor have any background in these subjects). For $218/day I could continue this daily insane challenge. I thanked her for the opportunity but politely declined. I'm sticking it out until "Holiday Break" after which Sean and I are hoping to head out West and wait out a New Zealand visa working at a ski lodge. To all you other "Guest Teachers" out there, I applaud you and to the next person who has my job, I wish you the best of luck.

Email correspondence

2011-12-04T15:33:00.005-05:00

Just about every week I get a few emails from previous Chinese students. Some of them are just asking about how and what we are doing, others want to know more about the recent and upcoming holidays and still others have very specific reasons for emailing like this student:

Dear Sarah,

How are you going? I just noticed that we haven't see you for a long time. I really miss you so much.

Today one of my teacher gave us a task. She asked us to do some work on the life of common American people. You know, I have never been abroad. The only way for me to know the life of people like you is to surf the Internet, such as watching some movies. From the movies, I know that almost all Americans live in big and beautiful house with garden and grass. As you are American, I really want to know the life of common American people out of movies. I do want to know the daily life of your own so that I could learn more about American people and share with my classmates.

I would appreciate it very much if I could hear from you soon, for I need to finish this homework in three days.

Best wishes

Sincerely Yours,

Hmmm. That's kind of a loaded question. How would you respond? As for me, the reply makes for a fun little project on this rainy and dreary Sunday afternoon.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T14:32:00.005-05:00

For the first time in a couple of years, Sean and I were home to celebrate Thanksgiving and all of its deliciousness. We spent Thursday with Sean's family and Friday with mine.

The Doyles take food very seriously and there were menus for each meal tacked up on the fridge. Breakfast: sausage and egg casserole, pancakes, coffee, and mimosas. Appetizers: deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms and drinks. Lunch: turkey (cooked on a charcoal grill), honey-baked ham, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams, carrots, green bean casserole, cranberries, jello and stuffing. Dessert: apple pie, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, berry pie and ice cream. YUM!

There were about 16 of us in all for dinner and we had a good meal and a relaxing day catching up, napping and watching football.

The next day we took a hike to the lake with my parents and then after another nice dinner spent the evening playing games (Cribbage and Farkle) in front of the fire.

This past year has been full with returning from China, getting married and doing NOLS. As we try to figure out what is next for us, we are thankful to be happy, healthy and surrounded by family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Underwater photos developed

2011-11-16T20:57:00.004-05:00

Sean and I finally got around to developing the film from our disposable underwater cameras that we used on our vacation in Bali and the Philippines. As the weather turns colder here in Michigan and there is actually snow predicted for Friday, it's nice to think of the tropical weather we had about a year ago half a world away.

Some of the pictures are when Sean and Daniel went snorkeling in Bali. They were taken out in a boat and given lots of food to attract and feed the fish that swarmed around them.

The gray blob with spots are the best pictures we could get of snorkeling with whale sharks near Legaspi, in the Philippines. Trying to swim along with a huge fish who was moving pretty quickly while simultaneously trying to snap pictures didn't work out so well. Here's a picture of what the whale sharks really looked like.

The other pictures are of me and Sean snorkeling and swimming while we stayed on the island of Palawan. For most of the days we took boat tours around to hidden coves and lagoons and were able to snorkel in really clear water.

Sitting here in my sweats and wrapped in a blanket in the Doyle basement, it's hard to remember being that warm and carefree. Developing these pictures brought back some good memories - I hope we are able to make it to New Zealand while it's still summer.

Art and music in West Michigan

2011-11-13T19:27:00.005-05:00

Contrary to what some people might think, there actually is quite a few fun ways to experience art and music in Holland and Grand Rapids. One of the coolest way to check out some art is Art Prize. Art Prize is a relatively new way to experience art around Grand Rapids. It's rapidly growing in popularity not only because it's fun to traipse around the city and join in the festivities but also because there are so many different artists and types of art displayed. Anyone can enter and there are prizes for different categories.

This year, Sean and my parents and I went the day after we got back from our trip out West. It was gorgeous weather and we had fun walking around and looking at all of the art. Though we spent the whole day at the event, we didn't even see half of all of the entries. My favorites were some of the huge sculptures, paper cuttings and all of the creative art which involved things ranging from magnifying lenses to recycled materials. The winner was a huge mosaic with a Christian theme.

A month later in Holland, there is an event called Groove Walk which takes place down town. Groove Walk is when ten different bands play in various bars and restaurants off 8th street. With one wristband you can sample lots of different genres and groups for the whole night. This year, because of great weather, all the venues were packed and people were in high spirits. I went with my friends Becky, Emily and Misha - we had a great times!

Fall retreat

2011-11-02T19:52:00.006-04:00

A couple of weekends ago I got to go on a retreat with my friend Emily's accounting firm. It was a lot of fun and really cool to meet everyone that Emily works with and at the same time a really relaxing and delightful getaway!

The retreat was held at a really nice lodge a few hours north of here. The lodge was homey and cozy, sat overlooking a lake and was surrounded by miles of trails in the woods. The great room had a huge fireplace and lots of comfy places to hang out on. The rooms had their own little fireplace, kitchen and dining room - it was pretty deluxe!

The retreat started off with a group trail run followed by a cornhole tournament. After that, everyone moved inside for a really nice dinner cooked by the resident chef of the lodge. In the evening we made s'mores in the outdoor fire pit and then played games when we got too overloaded on sugar and cold.

Breakfast the next day was pretty fabulous and nobody seemed to want to leave after that. It was a weekend of luxury at the lodge and I was happy that I got to hang out with Emily. If anyone else wants a buddy for a weekend retreat just let me know - I'd be happy to oblige!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:55:00.003-04:00

The pumpkins are carved and out on the doorstep and the bags of candy are sitting on the table ready to be handed out as well as consumed. It's been really fun to be around for Halloween this year instead of teaching about it halfway around the world. This weekend I went to a Halloween party given by my college roommate and Sean played in a Halloween ultimate frisbee tournament. Sean has also been receiving cute 'Happy Halloween' emails from students back in China (they are all particularly excited about the Breaking Dawn vampire movie coming out - the vampire craze hit big in China). Happy Halloween everyone!

Hey, Sean:

I'm sorry. I almost forget to say 'Happy Halloween' to you. Oh, how I wish I were in your country, dressed like a blood-sucking vampire and do the whole trick or treat thing. Bummer! Anyways, Happy Halloween! Have a nice week!

Who's who on the trip

2011-10-17T15:03:00.006-04:00

As I have mentioned before in a previous post, the diversity of students on the course regarding life experience and personalities was pretty staggering. I believe it’s safe to say that for most people the most challenging part of the course was not the physical part but the relational aspect. From day one we were separated into cook/tent groups. This means that for one week you cooked, ate and slept with two other people. You also had to share the weight of your group gear and be responsible for the timeliness and behavior for your other group members. It was pretty stressful to keep everyone involved and satisfied and also doing equal amounts of work. To give you an idea of the type of people on the course let me give you a quick description of each person.

Ron (57) – Overall course leader and head instructor. Had worked for NOLS for 25 years and runs his own business in Colorado called Aspen Alpine Guides. Fit the cliche of wizened old mountain man and sage to a T. Quirky, sarcastic and very hard to figure out.

Ted (36) – Super intelligent outdoor pro. Sailor for the Coast Guard and also teaches the NOLS Baja Sailing course. Was a whiz at navigation and compass use. Clear and straight-to-the-point instructor. Extremely witty. An interesting side note of Ted is that he worked so hard in the course that he lost 13 lbs and he wasn’t that big to begin with.

Adam (27) – Relatively new NOLS instructor. Your quintessential late twenty-something hippie who knew how to do everything at an expert level: skiing, kayaking, mountaineering, orienteering and backpacking. Was in ridiculously good physical condition and would often go for jogs after a full day of hiking with a heavy pack, just to give him that extra edge. Was growing a handlebar moustache and mullet for a specific Halloween costume.

Ryan (39) – Super laid back accountant turned manager of a rock climbing gym from Kentucky. The only other married person on the entire course. For the middle section of the course Sean, Ryan and I formed a tent group and called ourselves “Team Married”. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the course without those boys; they let me sleep in the middle so I could keep warm and carried a lot of the extra group weight so I didn’t have to.

Tienlon (33) – Born in Ohio to Chinese immigrants and had hands-down the most impressive resume out of all of us. A lawyer educated at Stanford she is also a writer and food critic in New York City. She recently wrote a decent chunk of the Lonely Planet guidebook for China (no wonder she knew right where our little Chinese city was!)

Will (26) – Just finished the Peace Corps in Senegal and has completed two Iron man triathlons since he has been back (yeah, I know, insane, right!? - no wonder I couldn’t keep up). Found out during the course that he was accepted into medical school. He could rock climb like you wouldn’t believe.

Scott (25) – Math teacher from Jersey who had recently completed NOLS’ wilderness first responder course. He’s also signed up to take a NOLS winter course and the sailing course. He’s basically already a NOLS instructor. I was really happy to have him in my first tent group because he taught me a lot and was super patient.

Julie (25) – Your classic Boulder denizen who loves the outdoor but can’t eat gluten or dairy. Worked at a recycling operation for a few years after college and is all about saving the environment. Studied biology in college and studied abroad for a year in Chile and Ecuador.

Allycee (24) – Born and raised in Malibu with a similar love for biology and Spanish. Studied abroad in Argentina and has done biological research and volunteer work all over the world including rare fish counting in Figi. Worked for a medical marijuana grower in California. Had the fastest hiking speed of everyone in the group (expect maybe Adam). Even the boys couldn’t keep up with her.

Kat (23) – Currently a barista in Portland who loves yoga. Going to gradate school for conflict resolution and has hiked some of the Appalachian Trail. Spent time abroad in France learning the language and learning to cook. I was so grateful to have her as my first female tent mate as she is super grounded and supportive.

Joe (23) – The comedian from Arkansas. Heard about NOLS while at a bar and signed up for the course while intoxicated. Hilarious and didn't take crap from anyone. His southern accent and jokes kept us all in stitches the whole trip. Also was fond of singing country songs while hiking and blowing his duck call incessantly.

Eric (20) - Our youngest hails from UNC Chapel Hill and was super easygoing and fun to be around. Not eager to return to school anytime soon he plans to spend second semester off as a ski bum out West and hitch-hiked and sofa-bummed his way down to Denver after the course. I was always awed by the sheer quantity of food this young man could put down - after meals he would scavenge for leftovers and bargain hard for extra food.

Summit Day - Wind River Peak

2011-10-16T16:01:00.004-04:00

On the fourth day of the course we climbed to the top of Wind River Peak - the highest mountain in the southern Wind River Range of Wyoming. I was feeling more than a little apprehensive about this since it was supposed to be the most challenging day of the course yet and I was already feeling plenty challenged enough. To summit Wind River Peak we had to get in position and hike up to its base the day before. The base of the peak was very exposed, steep and windy - a camping position that was not very comfortable at all. We found some shelter for cooking and meetings nestled in the shrubby and wind-blown pines with a great view of the peak in the background. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and there was quite a storm that night; the wind howled and the tent flapped so much that we thought it would blow away.

We woke up to freezing rain in the pitch black at 4:30 am - an early start was required because the instructors were afraid of being on the top in the daily afternoon showers and storms. After packing everything up and eating some breakfast we were on our way of what was to be a very long day.

I knew that the summit was going to be hard but I didn't think it was going to be as difficult as it was. Climbing to the top of Wind River Peak was very challenging for most of us for a few specific reasons. 1) We had to hike with full packs as we had to make it up and over the pass and because of the danger of inclement weather. Normally when groups hike to the top of a peak they just use lighter day packs. 2) We were off trail. There was no path to the top and we navigated the best route as we went which was time-consuming and tricky as we had to back track a lot. 3) Almost the whole way up the route was entirely on huge boulders. It was hard to balance with a heavy pack crossing up, down and around really big rocks. 4) About two hours into the hike it started snowing which made traveling conditions cold, wet and slippery.

After five hours of steep uphill climbing with the last hour being on snow and ice, we made it to the top just long enough to sign the log book hidden in a Nalgene bottle in a crag before heading back down again. At that time the blizzard was in full swing, it was freezing, there was little or no visibility and the morale of the group was pretty low. I was wearing every layer I possibly had and just wanted to get down off that mountain. It took us even longer to get down since things were so slippery and because the instructors had to make sure the route ahead of us was safe.

Everyone was happy when we finally made it out of the snow and back down into the warmer rain. We made it into our campsite for the night around 5pm exhausted, soaking wet, cold and sore but we were all happy that we had made it. I am especially thankful to Sean who carried about 10 lbs of my weight for me for the day and for some of the bigger guys who helped us girls over a few of the more impossible boulders. Don't get me wrong, it was a cool and challenging experience, but one that I don't feel the itch to repeat anytime soon.

Instructor Ron's notes about the course

2011-10-12T19:50:00.003-04:00

On the public square in Jackson Hole, WY

Here's the official description of our course according to the head instructor, Ron Rash:

"Outdoor Educator Course September 2, 2011 traveled in the Southern Wind River Range of Wyoming for 23 days, four of which were at a backcountry rock camp. The expedition had eleven students and three instructors. The group had two re-rations and traveled about 65 miles. Everyone participated in two peak ascents, one of 13,192 foot Wind River Peak and the other of 12,378 foot Mount Geike. We had good fishing, with over 70 fish being caught and many eaten. During the middle of the expedition, we had a little rain and snow, nothing major. All students received a leadership progression which culminated with each student being a leader of the day on various hiking days. The last four days were at a rock climbing camp where all participants learned the fundamentals of climbing rock; belaying, knots, rappelling, natural anchor set up and risk management at a top rope climbing site. There were no evacuations or health problems of any type. All in all this was a classic NOLS Outdoor Educator Course!"

Our new ridiculously huge 6 person tent - it was like a house!

After our NOLS course, Sean and I took the scenic route home and visited many friends along the way. First we drove to Fort Collins to see my very good childhood friend Linde and her husband, Joe. We did some brewery hopping downtown which was a blast and got caught up on life. The next day we headed to Denver to check out the huge REI store and have lunch with my cousin April and her two kids. At night we hung out with some of Sean's childhood friends who also live in Denver.

Trying all the brews at Equinox Brewing Company in Fort Collins

The next day we drove back up to Wyoming and spent a day and a night in the Grand Tetons National Park and Jackson Hole. After that we spent some time in Yellowstone National Park before heading up to spend the weekend with my newly married friend, Christy, in Montana. From Montana we visited Mount Rushmore and then caught up with Ken (fellow teacher friend in China) in Iowa before he left for his Peace Corps duties in Costa Rica. Our last part of the trip was spent in Madison, Wisconsin with some buddies of Sean - I had never been to Madison before and we had a great time!

Sean and I are currently back in Holland and our blisters on our feet and callouses on our hands are rapidly disappearing as we acclimate back to city life - it's so nice to be comfortable and warm! The October weather has been unusually sunny, warm and beautiful and we have been enjoying spending time outside washing the car, picking apples and doing some bike riding. We have applied for working holiday visas to New Zealand and are just waiting for the paperwork to go through - here's hoping!

Daily Life in the mountains

2011-10-03T21:08:00.007-04:00

Every day during the course was a little different but some things always remained the same. For instance we usually went to bed when it got cold and dark which was normally around 8:30 or 9:00 pm and everyone got up at 6:00 or 6:30 am every morning (when it was still cold and dark). We would make a hot breakfast and dinner each day using whisperlite camp stoves but lunch was always food on the move – either some type of gorp or trail mix or leftovers from dinner the night before. After breakfast we would have a morning meeting usually with a reading and the schedule for the day and after dinner we would have a final meeting which included a debriefing of the day and a “spotlight.” A spotlight is a 3 minute time slot for each person to talk a little about their life and then there would be 5 minutes for questions from the group. Listening to each person talk about their life was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Other than that routine, each day varied quite a bit. Sometimes we would have one or two morning classes before we started hiking. Or we would get on the trail very early and have one or two classes in the evening. Some days the hikes were short and easy (4-5 miles) and other days they were long (8-10 miles). Certain days we gained thousands of feet of elevation which was pretty strenuous and other days we were off trail and bushwacking and navigating on our own for hours. We usually hiked in groups of three or four with an instructor for each group. One of the coolest parts of NOLS is the constant learning. While hiking, if the instructor saw something interesting (animals, plants, geologic formation etc.) we would always stop and have a little mini-class right there on the spot. Similarly, we were always practicing the skills we were learning like topographic map reading and navigation, using a compass to take and shoot a bearing and the principles of Leave No Trace.

The formal group classes during our course ran the gamut from backcountry cooking to leadership principles. Some other topics were: fly fishing, backcountry baking, giving and receiving feedback, wilderness emergency medicine and first aid, identifying trees and plant life zones, yoga, river crossing, positive impact camping, NOLS history, leadership and learning styles, hazards in the wilderness, risk management, a myriad of knot tying classes, Leave No Trace backpacking and all the different skills that go into rock climbing. We were very, very busy during the day and there was hardly ever any down time and no days off.

In addition to listening to many formal classes given by the instructors, each of us had to prepare and teach our own class. Since it was an outdoor educator course they wanted us to have some experience teaching to a group. I volunteered to go first and taught a class on “How to teach a class.” I went through some basic ideas on how to make a lesson pl an and how to get the students involved and active in a class. We played a few games which were a big hit and I was very happy to have my class over and done with.

NOLS is very into giving and getting feedback so each of us were assigned to one of the instructors who became our mentor. Each week I sat down with Adam and talked about how the course was going. He gave me some feedback on how I was doing and how I could improve (be more assertive, get in better shape, be more confident etc.) and I gave some opinions on what I liked about the course and how it could be improved (have more female instructors). At times NOLS felt a bit like boot camp; there were high expectations and it was physically and mentally stressful. But it never had an emotional or therapeutic intent or focus which was interesting. The running joke was that "we would not be doing any group hugs or things of that nature since we were not ‘Outward Bound’ (the main competitor of NOLS)”. I, for one, was actually very appreciative when some students were emotionally vulnerable in front of everyone because of the intensity of the situation, so we shared our hugs in private.

NOLS - Day 1

2011-09-29T12:26:00.002-04:00

Friday was a very busy day. It started with breakfast bright and early at 7:00 am in the cafeteria of the NOLS Noble Hotel. We were all in that awkward/nervous stage of trying to seem unfazed by the upcoming expedition while also trying to make pleasant and polite conversation with our future teammates. After breakfast we headed over to the "Branch” where we were going to be issued rations and gear.

The first area we visited was called the “Gulch” which was where NOLS handles all of the food. We were split up into tent groups/cook groups and taught how to measure and bag our rations for the entire three weeks. We would always be carrying quite a bit of food and fuel on our backs but not everything due to the two re-rations that were planned: the first one would be by packhorses and the second by truck. My cook mates and I spent the next hour finding all of the ingredients on our list and weighing/bagging the proper amount. The Gulch was impressive and had any type of back country cooking ingredient that you could think of: powdered sauces, dehydrated vegetables, a myriad of snack/trail foods, spices, teas and hearty meats and cheeses.

After the rations it was time for some classes on gear and packing. Adam, one of our instructors, gave us a class on what type of gear was required for the course and what was optional and recommended. Our equipment list seemed like a mile long but what was especially helpful about the class was when Adam took us through each and every thing that he was bringing in his pack. Then, after a brief class on how to pack a large backpack to maximize space and weight, he packed his bag back up to show us how to do it. When class was finished, all of us exploded all of our gear on the floor and the instructors met with us individually and went through each item on the required list to see if we could use something that we brought or if we needed to rent some equipment from NOLS. I had most things already but ended up renting a ground tarp, a puffy down jacket, a backpack, wind pants, rain pants, a wind shirt, mitten shells, a climbing harness, helmet and climbing shoes.

After packing our individual supplies we got back into our cook groups and divided up the group gear and food. Group gear consisted of: tent, cook set and stove, fuel, bear spray, trowel, bear rope to hang food, binoculars, first aid kit, foot kit, fly fishing equipment and maps and compasses. When everything was packed, the instructors weighed each of us and our packs to make sure nobody was carrying more than a certain percentage of their body weight. My pack weighed in at 46 lbs and Sean’s was 47 lbs. Fortunately/unfortunately they are all about equality at NOLS – everybody carried pretty much the same weight no matter what your size or sex. There were some girls much smaller than I was carrying the same weight I was.

Navigation class in the field

During lunch we made sack dinners and after stuffing ourselves with our final tastes of civilization, we loaded the bus and took about a two hour ride to the trail head of our hike into the Southern Wind River Range. Although our hike wasn’t that long the first day – only about two miles – I remember it because I was heaving and panting because of going uphill with a heavy pack in an altitude that I wasn’t used to and also because I was in a hiking group of all men who were trying to be macho and had set a grueling pace. I distinctly remember thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?” and “Am I going to make it through this?”

One of my instructors, Adam, who was my mentor for the course

We hiked to the edge of a meadow, met up with the other groups and then chose our campsite and kitchen/cooking area which was supposed to be a least 200 yards from the sleeping area (a precaution for bears). We learned how to set up our particular type of tent called a Pangora which is basically just a tarp that doesn’t even go all the way to the ground or have a bottom. We also learned how to dig “cat holes” in order to go #2 and how to purify water (we used a chemical treatment called Aquamira). We also learned how to set up the “bear fence” which was an electronic fence that kept our food safe from bears (I still find it difficult that a one ton grizzly is going to give up on 12 bags of food simply because of a few electric shocks, but whatever). It was a big day, to say the least, and my head was spinning from the altitude and all of the new information as I mummified myself in my sleeping bag for the night.

Out of my league

2011-09-01T23:35:00.003-04:00

We made it to Lander, Wyoming, the base camp of NOLS at about 5pm today. The drive west was beautiful though frequently punctuated with construction zones, semis and expensive stops for gas. Last night we stayed with the Garza family who were more than gracious and served up real Mexican food for dinner and a ridiculous spread for breakfast. It was hard to leave.

Driving to Lander my palms got increasingly sweaty and I had to keep singing louder and louder along with the radio to calm myself down. Sean was not a fan. I am more nervous to do this than I was to go to China whereas Sean is the complete opposite. For me, being in a group with my peers is terrifying but entering a new country/culture where I already know that I will stick out lets me relax a little bit. Needless to say I was a wreck when we got to the big Noble Hotel where all the NOLS students stay and meet before we take off. It felt like freshmen orientation at college all over again - and that is some scary stuff.

We had orientation at 6pm which lasted for about two hours and consisted of meeting everyone and explaining some "logistics" to use the term they did. There are fourteen of us: one master guide, two assistant guides, six male students and five female students. There are the usual cliches; our master guide is old and wise, the assistant guides are young outdoorsy studs and everyone else just tries to play it cool and act like they belong there, myself included.

It's fascinating to listen to everyone's stories about who they are and how they ended up at NOLS. Our group reminds me a lot of our orientation group in China; they are a mix of educated, young professionals who have been all over the place. The motivation and ambition as well as achievements slyly admitted were astounding. There is an ultramarathoner. There is a lawyer and accountant who quit their jobs to do this. We have a recent Peace Corps volunteer fresh off his stint in Africa and going to medical school after this. Two girls are back from spending years in South America. One or two of the guys are rock climbing instructors themselves. My ice-breaker partner is a bar-tender who was a comedian in NYC for a year.

My fellow group members are not novices to the practice of backpacking. They are confident, they are excited, and they are ready to dig their heels in. After orientation we took the obligatory trip to the local dive bar where alcohol helped to smooth things over nicely. One girl who I struck up a conversation with had ridden her bike all the way from Boulder, CO to Lander, WY in order to get here. It took her four days. Yes, these are the groupmates I am dealing with. Upon entering the bar she promptly ordered a shot of whiskey and told me she was planning on using a "She-wee" for the duration of the trip.

Wish me luck. Here we go.

The journey West begins

2011-08-30T22:37:00.002-04:00

Life these past few weeks has been a little nutso and I feel like I've been trying to juggle about eight different things with only two hands. Fortunately, one good thing about being married is that you get someone else to help you out with everything (in theory). Though we don't always prioritize to-do lists in the same way, Sean is pretty good at getting things done. He's also good at sleeping in late.

So what have we been up to? After the wedding shindig we moved into Sean's parents' basement and I started working at the Hope College Bookstore for the busy two weeks when all of the students and parents arrive. While I was at work, Sean worked on trying to figure out what was next in life, arranged routes and accommodation for our trip out West for our NOLS course, got my car fixed (I got rear-ended the week of my wedding - boo), wrote thank-you notes and played a lot of ultimate frisbee.

Currently, we are in central Iowa on our way to Lander, Wyoming to start our wilderness course on Friday. I am a mixture of nerves and excitement. I am hoping that the rest of the group members aren't too hardcore and tough because I am definitely not. I'm scared I won't be able to keep up with everyone with the altitude and the heavy pack (avg. pack weight is 55 lbs - that is crazy!) The recent bear attack in Yellowstone isn't really helping the anxiety either. Why are we doing this wilderness program again?

My Chilean host sister comes for a visit

2011-08-21T18:22:00.003-04:00

Months ago, when I sent my wedding invitations out, I sent one to my host family in Santiago, Chile never thinking that they would be able to make the trip to Michigan for the big day. I was wrong. My 22 year old host sister, María José Castillo Gómez (nickname Koté) planned a trip around the date of my wedding. After letters and phone calls with the American embassy assuring them that I would claim full responsibility and that she was not here to stay permanently, Koté received the visa after two tries and booked her flight. She spent a total of three weeks in the U.S. and visited New York City, Boston and Philadelphia before heading to Michigan. She was supposed to stay with a family in Detroit and just come to Holland for the day, but when that fell through she ended up staying with my friends and family for a full week. This was slightly complicated by the fact that she doesn't speak much English at all.

Koté was supposed to arrive on Tuesday but her flight was cancelled so she arrived early on Wednesday morning. It was so much fun to see her again after so many years and it was very special to have her here. She is very fun, outgoing and social so the language barrier wasn't that much of a problem as she and my family used any means possible to communicate. I found my Spanish incredibly rusty after not being used for two years - I especially noticed my lack of speed and the amount of vocabulary words I had forgotten.

We did as much as we could before the busyness of the wedding fell upon us. On Wednesday night we had a barbecue in the backyard and made S'mores which Koté found both amusing and delicious. Because so much was going on and Sean and I were going to stay at a hotel in Holland I asked several gracious Spanish-speaking friends to host Koté (thanks Tracey and Karl, Bethany, Tim, and Ross and Shelly!) She had a fantastic time with all of them and got to see some different aspects of Holland.

It was sad to see her go though I hope someday soon Sean and I can attend her wedding in Chile - that would be so fun!

Wedding ceremony

2011-08-19T21:31:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to use this post to share some pictures of the ceremony last week Thursday at Apple Blossom Chapel in Fennville. We had perfect weather and our photographer Nick DeVries took some really great shots. For this post, I only have some pictures from our little point and shoot, but if you want to see the professional ones you can check them out here.

There were 22 people invited to our little ceremony: our parents and grandmas and our brothers and sisters and their families. My brother Ben was the officiating minister, my sister Susie sang and played the guitar and Sean's sisters Jen and Katie did some scripture reading. The participants who stole the show, however, were the ring bearers and flower girls who were my nieces and two of Sean's small cousins.

We arrived at the chapel at about 4:00pm and Susie finished touching up my hair and makeup and helped me into my dress. I was in a little cabin about 100 yards from the chapel and it was fun to peek out and watch everyone arrive. My dad walked me down the very short aisle and after that my brother gave a very personal and touching message and directed the vows.

After the ceremony we stayed for another 45 minutes for some family pictures on the grounds and around the orchard - I don't think I have had to smile so much before in my whole life! When pictures were finished we all drove to the Sandpiper on the lake for dinner. After dinner, Sean and I drove to our suite at City Flatts hotel in downtown Holland. It was so much fun to have a deluxe room for probably the only time in our life. Out of all the wedding festivities, Thursday was my favorite day, hands down. It was so special and non-stressful to spend time with a small group of family for the evening and I'm grateful to all the people who helped it go smoothly.

Marriage - so far so good!

2011-08-15T13:42:00.003-04:00

Sean Doyle and I were married on Thursday, August 11 in a small family ceremony at Apple Blossom Chapel in Fennville, Michigan. On Saturday we had a reception at Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan. It was so much fun - I wish I could do it all over again (kind of)!

More pictures and stories to follow but now it's time to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate and many more thanks to all those who helped us through this process. It was a fantastic wedding and reception!

A long way to say goodbye

2011-08-05T23:39:00.005-04:00

One of the more memorable trips taken to wish Sean and I farewell was the long train ride up from Xiamen by Zhen Zhen and her boyfriend. They arrived late Friday night and had to leave early Sunday morning. It was a short visit but it meant a lot and I was so glad to be able to see her and hang out one last time before leaving.

On Saturday we spent the day hanging out in Changzhou. We visited a new café, checked out Qin Chen's new apartment, changed some Chinese RMB to dollars and then went out to dinner. After dinner we stayed up pretty late playing games and catching up.

Zhen Zhen is one of my favorite women that I met in China because she's spunky, outgoing and not afraid to go against the norm. She's refreshing in a climate of conformism and I'm going to miss her a lot. I hope she comes to the U.S. one of these days!

Emails and well wishes from students

2011-08-03T21:19:00.002-04:00

Every day or so I get an email from one of my students in China wondering how things are going - they are especially curious about the wedding (or maybe they just want to practice their English, I'm never really sure =). Many have asked if we plan to take a "honey trip" or when we plan on having children. Right before we left China students stopped by to say goodbye, give us things they had made or written during the year and congratulate us on getting married. We also received a barrage of emails and text messages while we were preparing to leave. Sean got a lot from freshmen girls who were very sorry to see him go. One of my favorites appears below:

Hello, Sean!
Long time no see! When you see this e-mail, you probably already
packed up your luggage and are ready to leave. Anyway, congratulate on
your coming reunion with your family and friends even if it's hard for
me to say goodbye to you.
Till now, i still remember clearly how excited and sleepless i
was the night before your first class. Maye you think I'm exaggerating
but it's the truth. For you,teaching in this school is just one of your
many experiences but for me it's a lot. I'm sure this semester will be
an unforgettable part of my life.
Then I want to thank you for writing down your beautiful
wishes for me in my journal [homework requirement]. I just want you to know that you and Sarah are both so fabulous that you guys also deserve every great thing in
this world. I'm so happy and lucky to meet you and as a student of
you. Wish you and Sarah live a long and happy life. I'm going to miss
you! May a favorable wind send you safely home! Remember to keep in
touch.

A lot of people have asked me if I miss China which is hard to answer considering I think living in the U.S. is fabulous and coming home is one of the best feelings ever. I don't really miss living there but I do miss my friends and students and I also miss experiencing life a different way and thinking about things from a new perspective. For example, have any of my OSU students in the past lost sleep from excitement the night before their Spanish class? Most assuredly not. It's fun remembering my time in China because I'm getting to see little glimpses of how it's changed me and how day to day life and attitudes in each place are so fascinatingly different.

Sanderson wedding #2

2011-08-02T22:37:00.005-04:00

This is my Chilean sister, María José (but everyone calls her Koté). As you can see she is absolutely gorgeous and a ton of fun - I can't believe she will be here in a week!

It's been a relatively crazy week in the Sanderson family - we've had lots of last minute wedding meetings and plans but with some twists thrown in just for extra fun. Twist #1 - My Chilean sister's host family in Detroit fell through so now she will be staying with me for a week during probably the busiest week of my life. This is her first time out of the country, she is coming alone, she's only 22 and she doesn't speak English. Fortunately, Sean and I have, cumulatively, about 2 local friends who can speak Spanish and who happen to be very kind and generous people who are going to host her for a couple nights when we will be, um, busy.

Twist #2 My little sister got engaged on Saturday! Her fiance, Lucas, called me Thursday of last week after he saw that I was going to be in Columbus the upcoming weekend. We made a plan to meet up (he lives 2 hrs west of Columbus) after he proposed to Susie while she was visiting him from Pennsylvania. Thus, my parents who are already doing a lot for my wedding are already having to start to think about the next one coming up in May or June 2012. It's busy over here!

My weekend in Columbus was a lot of fun. Sean and I drove down on Friday and met up with some of my OSU graduate student friends at Mad Mex on campus. We caught up over drinks and talked about their upcoming trips to Holland for my wedding - I am so excited! There will be a pretty decent showing of Buckeyes making the commute. Then on Saturday, I watched Sean play in a frisbee tournament with the Holland team "Midnight Meat Train". In the afternoon I headed over to Lucas' house to meet his family, to see my sister and her new ring and to hear all about the proposal.

It was fun meeting Lucas' very large Italian family and even more fun eating all of the incredible food that they made to celebrate. We went to see his cousins' band perform outside and then saw a drama outside about the local history called "Trumpet in the Land". I left on Sunday back to Columbus to be able to spend time with my friend Kristin and her family. She has a little boy who I have slowly watched grow up and it is amazing to see how much he has changed in a year. We hung out and went out to eat and then I caught up with Catherine, Greg and Caitlin when we went to see the movie "Bridesmaids" and had drinks afterwards.

After sleeping in on Monday and hanging out at the pool in Kristin's neighborhood we spent happy hour with some of her husbands friends and then got dinner at the Columbus Brewing Company (great food and drinks - why did I never go there before when I lived in Cbus?) The only thing that was sad about the whole weekend was the long drive home by myself (Sean had driven home with the frisbee team on Sunday night). In about a week and a half though I will be able to see all of my Columbus friends again for the reception - can't wait!

The beach

2011-07-29T09:36:00.004-04:00

Unable to resist the perfect beach weather earlier this week, Sean, Misha and I headed out to the State Park to nap in the sun and play in the big waves. It was clear and hot out and the water was the warmest it's been all summer.

After a few hours my parents showed up with pizzas for dinner so we met over at the picnic tables by the channel to watch the boats go in and out while we munched in Little Ceasar's Hot and Ready slices.

After dinner, Sean went with his friends to see the demolition derby that the fair was putting on in town and Misha, my parents and I climbed nearby by Mount Pisgah for some awesome views of Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa. The night wasn't complete without a trip to Captain Sundae before heading home. It was a "Pure Michigan" kind of day - love it!

Blueberry picking

2011-07-27T10:49:00.004-04:00

Michigan in the winter can be tough, but Michigan in summer is paradise with loads of different things to do. One of many popular summer activities is picking blueberries and currently it is definitely blueberry season.

So far this week the heat and humidity have melted away and we have been blessed with cool breezes and clear, blue skies - perfect weather to be out picking berries. On Monday morning, Mom, Dad and I headed out to Fennville, a town near Holland, to pick at Earl's, a farm in the country. Once we got there, we tied buckets around our waists and got right to work. The berries were huge and the picking was great - it was a challenge to drop them in the bucket instead of eating them.

Between the three of us we had three full buckets which amounted to about fifteen pounds. We plan to eat some, freeze some and make cobbler out of the rest. At Earls you can also pick other kinds of berries as well as shop at their farm market and bakery and get ice cream. We also picked up some blueberry donuts, homemade peanut butter chunk cookies and some tomatoes.

We finished the morning off right with lunch at one of my favorite places - Crane's orchard. It's also in Fennville and happens to be the place where the dessert for the reception is coming from. At Cranes you can also pick all kinds of fruit, go through the corn maze and enjoy homemade cidersicles outside. If orchards and fruit picking aren't really your thing, you can check out the many wineries in Fennville also known as Fenn Valley. There is some fantastic wine tasting to be had. If you are coming up for the wedding and have a little extra time to spend in the country, Fennville could be a fun choice!

Bridal fun

2011-07-24T12:11:00.004-04:00

I've been taking a little vacation from blogging not because there isn't anything going on but rather there's too much and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these days. During the two weeks so far that we have been home we have been seeing a lot of family and friends, working on the wedding, starting premarital counseling, attempting to get in shape for the wilderness leadership program in September and trying to figure out what we will do next in life. I'm looking forward to blogging more about China just to stay sane and have something to think and write about besides the upcoming big event and the stress of having to figure out a future way to earn income.

For the most part, being a bride is really fun. I don't like all of the decision-making, but I do like spending time with my family and Sean's family while we figure out how things are going to go. Another thing I am realizing is that being remembered, loved and supported feels pretty good. One way my college rommates, Carrie and Mary showed this to me was to hold a beautiful and fun bridal shower for me this past Saturday.

Since most of my family lives far away and many of my Holland friends are always busy or out of town, I wasn't sure that anybody would be able to come but I was happy when high school friends Emily and Becky came along with another friend, Misha. We were also joined by my birth grandma and aunt who drove from Grand Rapids.

Carrie and Mary provided an awesome brunch with coffee and punch and later served homemade strawberry shortcake. Everything tasted so good - it was food I had been looking forward to for a long time. After brunch we played some games; one involved a video of Sean talking about our relationship and how well we know each other and other one required feeling "essential objects for the honeymoon" with our feet that were hidden in socks - pretty entertaining!

It was such a nice morning of fun and fellowship and I'm grateful to my college buds who planned and prepared the event for me and for my friends and family who gave up their Saturday morning to encourage me - Thanks!

Yum

2011-07-14T16:01:00.003-04:00

One of the nicest things about coming home (besides seeing family and friends of course) is eating all the tasty food that I'd been missing for a year. Some of these foods include but are not limited to:

donuts
cottage cheese
pickles
salad
steak on the grill
hot dogs and brats
sheet cake
pie
frosted animal crackers
fruit roll-ups
cheese sticks

This morning I met a friend for donuts and coffee. Holland has a few local donut shops where the delicious rings of friend dough are made fresh every morning. If you ever visit I suggest Donutville (my personal favorite - try the glazed blueberry only made on Friday mornings) and Goodtime Donuts. If you want to try homemade apple cider donuts head to Cranes in the City right on 8th Street.

When I lived in Columbus I thought the donuts at Tim Hortons, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme were great, don't get me wrong. But it's always special to come home and head to the local doughnut haunts of my childhood. Unfortunately, with a wedding coming up shortly here and the imminent and pressing realization that I have a certain dress to fit into, doughnut sampling is currently not recommended. Returning home salivating for American foods while attempting to maintain a certain weight is a spectacularly dangerous situation. Wish me luck and eat a doughnut for me.

Shang-ri-la Old town

2011-07-13T10:56:00.004-04:00

After visiting the monastery for much of the day, Sean and I took a bus back to Shang-ri-la and decided to explore the Old Town. Although it's pretty touristy I thought it was a lot of fun. The cobble stoned streets are narrow and maze like and each corner turned can surprise you with a view of different temples and prayer flags. Seeing locals in brightly-colored traditional costumes and signs written in Tibetan made it feel like we weren't in China anymore.

Every night there is dancing in the square from 7-8pm. This is not a tourist show but rather a nightly common tradition in many Chinese towns. Older locals gather in a pre-determined spot and dance to music with steps and movements that everybody knows. This kind of thing happened in Changzhou as well especially on beautiful spring and summer nights. When I asked students why the older generation loved to get together and dance answers ranged from saying that they weren't allowed to do it before so now they wanted to enjoy it to saying that they just wanted to do it to have fun, be social and get some exercise. In Old Town, however, it has become a popular hangout and everyone gathers around to watch or the more daring simply join in.

Sean and I watched for a few minutes but preferred to walk around and check out some of the local yak products. We sampled spicy yak jerky and aged yak cheese and tried some of the local wines - everything was delicious and fun to try. It felt really good to just walk around in the chilly mountain air and take in the Tibetan-influenced sites. Sleeping that evening in the hostel was the quietest I had experienced for months and was, much to my deep satisfaction, unaccompanied by mosquitoes.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

2011-07-08T18:09:00.005-04:00

In the midst of continuing to blog about the rest of our trip in southern China, I'm going to pause today and write about Uno. Uno has been our family dog for the past 16 years and today we had to say goodbye. Lately, Uno hasn't been able to get up on his own well and seemed to be in a lot of pain. This morning, Dad and I loaded him up in the jeep for one last car ride. Standing in the parking lot of the vet's office underneath a shady tree Dad held on to our old friend as he peacefully slipped away. I couldn't really keep it together and had to stand to the side trying not to think about anything. I knew this would be hard, but I didn't think it would affect me to the extent that it did. But, after all, Uno was a part of our family for more than half of my life and he is going to be dearly missed.

Last summer, Uno was still pretty spry and Dad and I took him to one of his favorite places - the Saugatuck Dunes State Park for the last time. He had a blast trotting on the trails, sniffing everything and wading in the lake. Every day, if Dad and Uno weren't walking in the woods behind the house they would take their daily walk around the neighborhood in the late afternoon. Around here, everyone knows Uno and people regularly came out to say hi and give him treats.

Uno was a pound puppy - we got him when he was only six months old and he turned out to be a very special dog. Other than the usual dog problems of digging up my mom's bulbs or gnawing on things he shouldn't, Uno was pretty much the perfect dog. He didn't bark, he stayed at home all day without being tied up, he walked next to Dad without a leash, and he was friendly with everyone.

One of my friends asked me this morning if there's going to be a "Dos" and I said probably not. My parents have started to travel more and it's hard to leave a dog at home. But truthfully, the real reason is that in our minds, no dog will ever be able to come close to compare to Uno and for now we're content to live with the happy memories. We'll miss you Uno!

Leaving Changzhou

2011-07-07T10:12:00.003-04:00

During the last rush of packing, cleaning and preparing to leave China, blogging kind of fell to the wayside. The days were filled with several impromptu goodbye parties and many people stopped over spontaneously to wish us well. The teachers who will come back next year were very eager to check out our loot that we were giving away and leaving behind. Hot items included the bike, the potato masher, the toaster oven and baking supplies, DVDs and the fan. It was ridiculously hard to pack up two years of my life in two bags less than 50 lbs each. I ended up leaving a lot of clothes and books behind.

On Tuesday morning the school's driver picked us up at 10 and we made the drive to Shanghai and arrived at the airport at 1:30 for our 4pm flight to Chicago. Everything went fine and I was so excited to come home that I didn't sleep a wink on the plane. It feels great to be back in Holland and compared to the extreme heat and humidity of Changzhou the weather here feels downright chilly - it's perfect! It seems like there are no people here; the roads appear empty and peaceful and I am loving the quiet that my parents' house provides. Getting back on track time-wise has proven elusive and my first night home I woke up wide awake at 5:30 am ravenous with hunger as it felt like 5:30 pm. I tiptoed downstairs and had a feast of cold hamburgers, peas, coleslaw and banana cake. It's good to be home.

Tibetan monastery in the mountains

2011-06-28T09:15:00.001-04:00

Shang-ri-la felt like the Chinese version of Vail or Breckenridge minus the ski lifts and snow bunnies. There weren't many people and the view of the mountains was incredible. The change in altitude was definitely noticeable, however and for the duration of our stay there Sean and I always had small headaches. The heavy Chinese smokers simply sucked on bottled oxygen sold in all the small shops to stay comfortable. The coolest thing about Shang-ri-la was that most of the people living there were not Han Chinese but rather Tibetan tribes. We saw many groups of older women walking around in their traditional clothing with baskets on their backs. We also saw a lot of monks around town in their maroon robes. Instead of goats, cows or sheep, the most prevalent hoofed creature out and about was the yak. Influence of the yak was everywhere from yak meat and jerky, yak yogurt, cheese, leather and fur.

The biggest thing to see in Shang-ri-la besides the mountains was the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa – a 300-year-old Tibetan monastery that still houses about 600 monks. It's pretty easy to find and get to since there are only about two local buses in the whole town. After breakfast and a nap Sean and I headed south of town to check it out.

The monastery itself was huge and beautiful with lots of gold glinting sunlight from all sorts of angles. There were prayer flags everywhere and it seemed that around each corner was another temple. We toured around it for a bit and then had a late lunch behind it further up in the mountains at a hotel. It was a really nice day and the sunshine, dry and clean air and blue skies were a welcome change from urban Changzhou.

Shang-ri-la

2011-06-22T08:51:00.001-04:00

After spending some time in Kunming we booked an overnight bus to Shang-ri-la – a twelve hour trip northwest. We had budgeted plenty of time to try and take local buses to the train station but, like as is common for us, we ended up getting completely lost and after wasting time fighting about it we had to take a taxi. The local bus would have only cost about 15 cents each and we had thought that the taxi was going to be super expensive, but fortunately it was only about three bucks. I know that blog posts can sometimes make it seem like everything is perfect and hunky-dory all the time when traveling or between Sean and I, but we have our moments. When we do fight it's almost always about directions/getting lost, money or how early to get up in the morning.

Though overnight buses have advantages like being incredibly cheap and allowing you to save money by not paying for a night's accommodation, they have some distinct disadvantages such as being a little dangerous because of driving at night, people can steal your stuff easier and you never really know how comfortable you are going to be. This bus was decent with three rows of bunks stacked two high. Unfortunately, each bunk was only about 5 feet long – perfect for the average Chinese person but really short for us. Add the fact that smoking is allowed on the bus, it smelled like stinky feet and spicy chicken claws, there were a lot of babies crying and loud talking on cell phones and the whole 12 hours can make your nerves a little raw.

But it was fine. We read and listened to music and slept a little bit while our bus bumped and jangled over crazy roads. By the time we reached Shang-ri-la, we had increased in altitude significantly and our guidebook warned us to be careful of altitude sickness. The scenery was amazing up in the mountains – there were views unlike I had ever seen in China before. Once we reached the bus station we walked the two or so miles into town and checked into "Kevin's Trekking Hostel". After a huge breakfast and a hot shower we collapsed into our bunks and napped for the remainder of the morning. I know that the town of Shang-ri-la is just China's claim to the mythical paradise, but so far this tiny mountain village with the smallest number of people I have seen in months certainly feels like heaven to me.

Yunnan noodles

2011-06-21T10:12:00.001-04:00

Obviously, one of the most enjoyable things about traveling is trying all the new and different foods. Noodles are probably the most famous type of food in Yunnan and before we came many people in Changzhou told us to make sure we ate a lot of noodles. I assured them that this wouldn't be a problem; I love noodles and they are a much welcome change from rice. Here they are usually served in a broth with chunks of meat on top. Another specialty of Yunnan is mushrooms – there are loads of them here and they are all cheap and delicious.

The most well-known and interesting dish, however is a specific type of noodles called "Across-the-bridge-noodles". When you order this, you get a bowl of really hot soup that has a thin layer of oil floating on top. On the side you get lots of small plates filled with thin slivers of pork, beef and chicken. We also got vegetables, a raw egg and a bowl of noodles. We didn't know what we were doing at all when we ordered this dish and the waiters quickly instructed us to dump the meat and egg in the soup followed by the veggies and the noodles. Then you can add some different spices and seasonings, wait a few minutes for everything to cook and eat your soup.

Sean was a little apprehensive about the safety of this dish since we put everything raw into the soup and then ate it soon after but we didn't get sick and the soup was pretty good. The restaurant was packed with locals so apparently the Chinese enjoy it as well without getting sick.

According to my Lonely Planet guide book, this dish got its name because a woman married to an imperial scholar always had to bring him dinner. Legend has it that the scholar liked to study on an isolated island only accessible by a bridge. The wife had to get creative with the hot meals she brought her husband and apparently the noodle-soup dish was his favorite. Thus it was named "Across the bridge noodles" in honor of her daily commute.

Kunming city

2011-06-20T05:40:00.001-04:00

Yunnan used to be a province for banished Chinese officials but now it's considered to be one of China's gems because of the natural beauty and history here. It's also home to more than half of the country's ethnic minority groups and is one of the places closest to Tibet that you can get to without actually entering the region. While Sean and I really wanted to go to Tibet it can be tricky for foreigners to get in, it requires a lot of paperwork, you have to go with a group and it can be quite expensive. Yunnan is a popular alternative. While we have been here we have seen a lot of Chinese travelers and many Western ones as well who have simply continued on up on the 'banana pancake' trail from Vietnam.

We flew into Kunming, a very laid-back city of about one million, where the climate is about perfect all year round. We've enjoyed hanging out here as there are a lot of parks, trees and plenty of places to walk without motorbikes or cars. One of the places we walked to was the Tang-Dynasty Pagodas which were both in quiet parks filled with Chinese grandmas and grandpas looking after chubby babies, drinking tea and practicing Tai Chi.

After that we headed to Green Lake Park which was a huge area filled with ponds, walking paths, cafes, tea houses and street performers. The weather was cool and dry and it was a great evening for walking around. When we got back to the hostel we booked an overnight bus to Shang-Ri-La for the next night and spent the rest of the night playing cards (Cribbage and Rummy) and relaxing over some Beer Laos and spring rolls. Sean specifically said that this trip he didn't want to stress out and try to see too much so we are trying to slow things down a bit and take it easy. So far so good!

Heading to Yunnan

2011-06-19T10:03:00.001-04:00

The wedding party was a blast but many people couldn't attend because of the crazy amounts of rain in Changzhou lately as well as in other parts of China. Campus was flooded in many areas and I heard storms and heavy drops pounding on the roof of my house for days. I'm going to write about my birthday party and the Chinese wedding bonanza when I am back in Changzhou, however, as it involves quite a few pictures. Right now Sean and I are in Yunnan and I am using the Gmail à Blogger function which is limited in what you can post. We'll see how it works.

Daniel flew in from Xinjiang on Thursday night and it was so great to see him and catch up. Saturday afternoon we three traveled together to Shanghai where Daniel got a hotel room in preparation to fly back to the U.S. in a day or two and Sean and I got a late-night flight to Kunming. The trip from the apartments to the main gate to catch a cab was not at all fun as it involved wading through shin high water filled with who-knows-what. We covered ourselves in rain ponchos or in Daniel's case, a garbage bag.

When we arrived at the airport we were sad to see a board full of red "delayed" or "cancelled" signs because of the heavy rains – it was out of control. Fortunately our flight was only delayed about a half an hour and we reached Kunming at around 1 in the morning very tired and ready to sleep. We took a cab to a hostel in the center of town called the "Hump Hostel". It was recommended to Sean by many Frisbee players and had a great central location. The only downfall to the place is that it's super noisy at night – at least they give you free earplugs when you check in. Other than that we have enjoyed this place immensely; there's great food, a fun atmosphere (every room is booked) and the staff is very helpful in giving you directions to places in and around Kunming. The weather is dry and clear and we are already feeling relaxed and ready to enjoy a couple of weeks of exploring Southwest China.

Saying goodbyes

2011-06-18T03:39:00.002-04:00

Blogging has taken a backseat lately to goodbye parties, wedding celebrations, final grades, birthday parties, trip planning and packing. We leave today for Yunnan province in Southwest China for two weeks and will be back in our city on July 1 or 2. I found this new Google application that lets me post to my blog from my Gmail account (which is helpful since Blogger is blocked here) so I will be trying that out on my trip.

Check out what one of my students made for me!

Ultimate Frisbee in Shanghai

2011-06-14T21:08:00.005-04:00

On Saturday morning I caught an early train out of Changzhou to Shanghai to catch the last of Sean's morning ultimate frisbee games in the Shanghai tournament. The tournament was held at a beautiful rugby football club on the outskirts of the city and it took me longer on the subway to get there than on the actual train.

Now, I'm an average fan of frisbee but I think it's safe to say that most participants of the sport are full-fledged fanatics. The interesting thing about the game is that it's become its own sub-culture with a serious language of uniquely frisbee jargon, strange and entertaining dress codes and a never-ending pursuit of a good time. Ultimate frisbee is also known for its great parties which I think has a lot to do with the rapid growth in popularity of the sport. . .

Don't get me wrong, the guys and gals that play seriously are super intense and lots of fun, but it's hard not to feel like a bit of an outsider on the sidelines with the other girlfriends and wives when we listen to odd shouts of advice and encouragement from the sidelines such as: Force home! Nice bid! Chilly chilly! No break! Tighten the cup! etc. I've also encountered quite a few downright crazy freaks; for some reason the sport seems to consistently attract some weirdos (one team name at the tourney was "Freak Show") but one thing every player has in common is an undying love for the game along with a beer in one hand.

The first rule of frisbee that I learned the hard way is that you don't call it a "frisbee", you call it a "disc." And it's not just any disc; the official one should be 175 g. What I learned as a fun game in gym class or on the beach is now an ultra-competitive league sport with its own strategy, uniforms and rules.

Sean played really well at the tournament; the only problem that he experienced was when his duck-taped cleats broke again - looks like it's time for some new ones. There were teams from all over Asia including several teams from China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. The final game was between the Philippines and Beijing with Beijing being the tournament winner. This game was especially interesting to watch as the handsome and popular soap opera star Derek Ramsey was a star player on the Philippine team. Every time he stood on the line ready to play you could hear shouts of "take it off!" or "we love you Derek!" etc. I got a few shots of him myself - pretty exciting.

Life Lately

2011-06-10T02:23:00.004-04:00

These days have been going by in a blur and it seems that every space on my calendar is chock full of activities along with to-do lists a mile long. Here's some free advice: don't ever try and plan a wedding a half a world away but if you do make sure you have an amazing mom to help you. Fortunately, I do. Thanks for all of the endless help Mom! Let's be honest, I could have never done all of this without you.

Tomorrow morning, Qin Chen and I leave bright and early for the Shanghai International Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Sean has already been there since Thursday afternoon practicing and partying with the team - all in the spirit of team bonding of course. We got our passports back in the nick of time, literally. While on his way out of the school's gate, Sean passed by our supervisor who handed him his freshly stamped right out of the police station.

Next weekend, Daniel, a good friend and former JSTU teaching colleague returns from the far West of China to join in our Chinese wedding celebration on Friday the 17th. So far there are about 36 people coming, but as you are not required to RSVP to weddings in China, who really knows for sure.

On the 18th, the day after the celebration, Sean and I fly to Kunming to travel for two weeks in Yunnan, a beautiful province in southern China. We had originally wanted to go to Hong Kong but since we couldn't with our new visa, Yunnan is a highly-recommended second choice. We are hoping to see Shang-ri-la, Tiger Leaping Gorge and lots of mountains and rice terraces. On the way back we might spend a few days in Hangzhou, a famous and historic Chinese city that we haven't made it to yet. Then on July 5 we fly back to the states!

These days on campus the students are feverishly studying for exams of all kinds. An acquaintance from my hometown is also in China and her blog is fantastic! For a great post on the Chinese college entrance exam check out this post and to read about the methods Chinese students use to dominate the American GRE test check out this post. I found her well-written commentary insightful and highly entertaining. In addition, a former JSTU English teacher turned Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan describes a really cool teaching idea to motivate students in his latest post - check it out!

Not-so-secret crushes

2011-06-09T01:30:00.003-04:00

The experience of a foreign male teacher is very different from a foreign female teacher in China, in my opinion. But I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Take Sean for example, the number of female freshmen students that have pretty obvious crushes on him is getting out of hand. They send him emails, they follow him around after class, they watch him run on the track, they wave, giggle and call hello whenever they seem him, they request frequent photo shoots and they bring him gifts. Don't ever let a guy try and tell you that it's tough being an English teacher in China. It's actually like being a rock star.

This phenomenon is not a new thing; many other previous male teachers had similar experiences at our school and the other guys that I work with at Web are also enjoying the benefits of being both male and American. Being a female foreign teacher, however, you do not get nearly as much attention, unless of course you count the numerous times a day that Chinese people point, whisper and stare at your chest if you are even a hair over a B-cup.

Students at English Corner love to talk about Sean and about love/relationships in general. It's like an obsession or current fascination right now and somehow our conversation always finds its way back. Just the other week I had a student of Sean tell me a quick story from her life. She said she had always wanted to marry a foreign man but her parents didn't want her to and refused to even consider such a crazy idea. Sean's student secretly took a picture of him during class and brought the picture home to show her mother. Her mother said that she could marry a foreign man but only if it was this specific man in the picture because he was so handsome. The student was literally grinning with delight in front of me as she told this story. I hear these stories a lot and it's getting a little old and then I have to remind Sean that if we ever work in South America, the tables might turn.

However, since the students often bring Sean gifts, I do benefit from these not-so-secret crushes in some ways. Consider the following email from one of Sean's devoted fans:

Hello! Sean:
How are you doing these days? I just came back to
school from home. As you know, today is Chinese traditional
Dragon Boat Festival and I brought some rice dumplings to
share with my roommates. I also brought some for you to try
. I know they are easy to come by in supermarkets
recently but I really hope you can try some home-made rice
dumplings. And I want to give them to you ASAP because the
earlier you eat them,the yummier they are tasted. Plus, I
have a new clue about a healthy dieting recipe, which is
different from what you've learnt, what you guys are told.
In a word, please respond to me as soon as you see
the e-mail. I don't know where your department is, what your
phone number is so it's hard for me to give them to you
now.
PS: please don't refuse my kindness because I'm not
gonna take NO for an answer and in return, I promise you
that they're really really delicious. Good Night!

A big thank you to Sean's student - they were delicious and we enjoyed them immensely!

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

2011-06-06T11:39:00.004-04:00

Today (Monday) is a national holiday in China and as I write this, fireworks are going off and everyone is happy (including me) that we don't have to go to work or school today. The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday during which people race dragon boats or watch dragon boat races and eat rice dumplings. I asked many students if they were going to see some races but nobody I talked to was actually going to watch. It seems most everyone prefers to stay at home, gorge themselves on rice dumplings and alcohol and watch some of the races on TV.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen a dragon boat race either but I've been watching them all day on TV. It's kind of like crew/rowing except that two rows of people sit in a boat that looks like a dragon and each person only has one paddle to use on one side. There is a person in the front of the boat who bangs a loud drum to signal the rhythm of the paddlers. Some of the races require the boats to make turns which requires some skillful maneuvering - it's actually quite an interesting spectacle to watch even if it's just on a television screen. Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

Hot Pot

2011-06-04T22:32:00.003-04:00

One of the things that my Chinese students really like to do is go out for hot pot. Hot pot is basically the Chinese version of fondue except you boil vegetables and meat in soup that you can actually drink. While the pot boils right in the center of your table you can drop cabbage, mushrooms, slices of meat, dumplings, tofu, potatoes and squid into it and then dip them into special sauces like garlic and peanut after they are done cooking. It's delicious!

At first, like many foods in China, I didn't like hot pot and avoided participating whenever a group was going. I thought it was annoying to have to do everything myself and then wait for my food to cook. I was also a little afraid that I didn't know how long to cook things for them to be safe to eat. In addition, cooking hot pot makes you really warm and sweaty not only because the food is spicy but also because there's a big vat of hot soup steaming and simmering at your table for hours. When you leave, your clothes and hair smell like hot pot so much that other people can sniff you and know exactly where you'd been.

However, this semester for some reason I've been craving hot pot. I like to choose my own foods, I love the taste of the soup after everything has been boiled in it and it's fun going with a big group and just hanging out while taking a long time to eat. In addition, I've finally gotten the hang of what's best to order and how long everything should cook.

Last week Thursday night I really wanted some hot pot so Qin Chen and the German teachers Annika and Cornelia and I decided to head out to eat some. When we arrived at a favorite place near campus, we were surprised (but not really) to see that it was being gutted and remodeled to be a shoe store. This is one of the annoying things about China - it's changing so fast that you can literally see your favorite hot pot place from the bus on your way home from the bus and then later that evening it's become a shoe store.

We simply went to a different hot pot place and got a pot that had a spicy side and a non-spicy side (thank goodness!). We ordered: mushrooms, beef, cabbage, pumpkin balls, shrimp balls, lots of tofu, potatoes, quail eggs, rice noodles and squid along with four icy beers. We had a blast and the food was incredible! It's a little tricky grabbing slippery things from the pot with chopsticks but nobody cared if we were clumsy or not. I really wish we had hot pot in the states because I know I'm going to be craving some in a month or two.

Frustrating news lately

2011-06-02T04:10:00.002-04:00

Goodness, I've forgotten what it's like to work full-time. It's exhausting. Now that my classes are finished I've been teaching at Web, a private English training institute, for 5 teaching hours 5 days a week. The frustrating thing is that they need help at a center that is far away from campus which requires an hour commute by bus each way. My lack of free time has nosedived and suddenly I'm having trouble finding available hours to correct finals and calculate grades, wedding and trip plan, study Chinese and hang out with Sean. It's been a rude awakening back into the working world.

Another frustrating thing is that we have to have our Chinese work visa renewed because ours is set to expire June 10 and we don't leave China until July 5. Normally that isn't a big deal but apparently our school is having some "problems with the government" according to my supervisor and I won't get my passport back until mid-June (I gave it to him a week ago). Unfortunately, to do a lot of things in China as a foreigner you need your passport. For example, Sean, Qin Chen and I have booked a hotel room in Shanghai so we can watch Sean play in the Shanghai ultimate frisbee tournament June 11 and 12. However, every single hotel in China requires foreigners to present their passports for inspection upon check-in. They don't accept copies - we've tried and failed before. We are not sure what we are going to do about this and after a rather tense meeting with our supervisor during which we complained and explained our problem, he didn't seem to think that there's anything he could do (even though all three of us are well-aware that there's no problem a little guanxi or bribe couldn't solve here).

Building on this, when we do eventually get our passports with new visas back, the visa extension doesn't allow re-entry into China. Again, normally this is not a big deal but Sean and I were planning on visiting Hong Kong before heading home. Although Hong Kong is considered part of China Chinese people need a special visa and passport to go there and if we enter Hong Kong we are considered to be leaving China. Our new visa extension does not allow for this which is a huge bummer. China is a huge country and there are plenty of other places to visit but we were kind of looking forward to checking out Hong Kong.

In other frustrating news, I got an email with a newsletter from the U.S. embassy in Shanghai that read "News: Foreigners may face rail ticket delay." The email went on to explain that due to new rules, foreigners will now be required to show their passport when buying train tickets and that they will not be allowed to buy tickets from automated machines anymore (an easy, convenient and fast system). The rule, which also requires Chinese people to scan their ID card upon ticket purchase, was put into effect June 1 and is supposed to cut down on the number of scalpers while improving railway station security. This is going to be a pain for expats as lines to buy tickets are already long and most tellers don't speak English. In addition, the new rule makes it risky for people to get tickets for you (as we often do) as one person will have to go with all of the ID cards and passports. As you can see, we are kind of in a bind here as well because we won't get our passports until mid-June. Sean is on his way to Shanghai now to play frisbee since he bought his ticket in May, but he's wondering how he's going to get a ticket back to Changzhou tomorrow morning. . .

Alas, it's not always fairy tales, rainbows and sunshine living and working abroad.

Plagarism in China

2011-05-31T00:42:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was Cornelia's birthday (a German teacher here) and we celebrated with lots of tasty Chinese dishes at her favorite restaurant along with plenty of cupcakes. One of the topics of conversation over cake was our students' habits of plagiarism, copying and cheating. All of the English and German teachers here have had plenty of trouble with this issue and were eager to talk about it.

During my first semester here, it was very common to receive two homework assignments that were exactly alike along with other assignments that were obviously copied from the internet. During exams, it was common to see students trying to cheat either by sneaking peeks at notes or by "working together" with other students. Coming from attending and teaching at colleges in the U.S.A. where this kind of behavior can get you a failing grade or even expulsion, I was initially shocked, surprised and appalled. Quickly, however, I realized that like just about everything, things are quite different in China.

I've talked with lots of Chinese teachers, students and working professionals about this issue and nobody seems very concerned - plagiarism is pretty much considered the norm and a lot of people do it. My students never considered that it was a big deal to copy from each other or from the internet as long as they turned in the assignment and that it was done "well." Other students lamented that because they are assigned so many papers, it's impossible to do everything in your own words and that the teachers don't read them anyway so it doesn't matter.

Consider also the students' role models. The professors at the university level are pressed to publish constantly. To solve this problem, most just take a paper from the internet or buy an article that is already written and then pay a journal to publish it. Many Chinese teachers have complained to me that the only way to get published in China is to know someone or to pay a lot of money to the publisher. As long as their name appears under the title of a published article, they are in the clear for the next year - it doesn't really matter if it's original research or not. Of course all of the Chinese teachers desperately want to be published in an American or European journal. "They are the best and most difficult to be published in" they tell me and then ask if I have any connections to help them get published in the U.S.

Since it's kind of hard to change the system, we have had to get creative in our assignments and exam design. Now my assignments require personal, creative responses (there's still the problem with students using internet translator programs however) and my exams are all short answer and essay. Doing oral exams or some kind of performance is another option though it takes a lot of time. These ideas help a little bit, but you still get some responses like what one of Sean's students wrote the other day.

For a class assignment one week the student had to describe his or her dream in life and for the next week they wrote about the types of food they usually eat and if their lifestyle was healthy or not. Both of the excerpts are from the same student and make for an interesting comparison. As a teacher, what would you do?

My dream of life is like this: every day I will practice kungfu wearing a white T-shirt at the bottom of a hill with a lot of pine trees. There is a little river nearby the hill. I will build a garden with a lot of strange things. It is very interesting to plant flowers and feed lots of rabbits. I will also plant all kinds of vegetables and medical plants in my garden and I can get to know what plants cure illness. Now I know a little about this. I like medical knowledges very much. I wonder more and more about them. Learning new things is my whole life and I feel rich. I am eager to learn more so I hope someone would like to help me. You are never too young to study things and you are never old to learn things that you like to do. Life is rich in looking for knowledge.
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A typical teenage Chinese play

2011-05-29T06:00:00.002-04:00

This past week I was a judge for a drama competition in English put on by our university students. Watching plays was more interesting than judging speeches (usually wordy monologues extolling the virtues of China) or singing (usually cheesy romantic songs - for example: Can You Feel the Love Tonight, My Heart Will Go On, You Raise Me Up, Take Me To Your Heart etc.).

In my experience, Chinese university students have always enjoyed participating in plays. Most of them have a flair for being dramatic, emotional and intense. It's a strange phenomenon being that in class they appear as shy and quiet lambs. Put them on the stage or in front of the class, however and the tiger comes out. The plays that they come up with are extremely entertaining to observe not only because of the smattering of Chinglish and mistranslations but mainly because of the theme and plot. It always almost involves a love story. Without fail there is an enormous amount of giggling and exaggerated actions. It's kind of like watching a middle school or high school production. Since it's hard to understand the students at times, we were given copies of the scripts. Here's the script of the winning play, just so you can see what we're dealing with here. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

"Brown Eyes"

Band: This music is played in honor of the girl of today - Miss Kirra. Let's wish her a happy birthday!
Kirra: Welcome to my birthday party! Let's enjoy the charm of youth in the beautiful music at this beautiful night. Let's enjoy the happy moments with all our heart!
(people begin to dance)

Hero: Are you a friend of Kirra?
Heroine: Yeah. We often see each other at library.
Hero: You look very familiar to me. I think we must have met each other somewhere before.
Heroine: Really? Probably it's because we live on so small a campus.
Hero: You look so very different!
Heroine: Thanks. But, can you tell me something more?
Hero: Oh, it's only a feeling. Something more? Hope I will have the chance. (Silent for a moment then continues) Can I have the chance? (Looks at the heroine firmly. They begin to dance).

Heroine: Kirra, who is the boy that danced with me just now?
Kirra: Oh, he is a senior in grade four. An excellent boy. He is going to study abroad.
Heroine: Oh, really?

Heroine's monologue: What an excellent boy! How great it feels to dance with him! But he is to study abroad and I am to graduate next year. I am still not sure where to go then. Buddha says, you look back at him for five hundred times in a previous life, so you win a chance of rubbing shoulders with him in the present one. It is such a rare chance to meet him. Must I give it up? (paces to and fro, hesitates, finally looking at the starry night she comes to a decision) Besides love, we have more important things in our life. We are still young, we have the whole world to wander and to conquer. We shouldn't stop our steps of pursuit for romantic feelings. Let me just pray for his happiness and keep it in my heart that I once loved such a man when I was a young and innocent girl.

Hero: Will you take these flowers from me? I want to confess that you are the special person for me.
Heroine: Thanks for these flowers! Now you are going to study abroad, and between us will be vast waters of the Pacific Ocean. I have to strive hard to come across that distance. But we can be friends now. And if Destiny allows we will see each other again. Place of meeting? Probably at the university you are going to study!
Hero: I can only hope. My heart will look for your brown eyes forever.

Visit to a Chinese hospital

2011-05-26T04:11:00.003-04:00

After fighting an infection for a bit and needing some extra health paperwork filled out for NOLS I decided to bite the bullet and pay a visit to Changzhou's biggest hospital for a full physical exam figuring that I could probably do it cheaper here than at home in the states. This turned out to be true, my morning at the hospital cost me in total about $30 but it was quite the experience. I wish I would have brought my camera.

Yesterday, when I stopped in to see "Candy" (the assistant appointed to help us with all things Chinese) I dropped off my passport for a visa extension and also asked if she would go with me to the hospital to get a physical. She wasn't excited. But she said she would meet me the next day at 8 a.m. to go to the biggest and best hospital in Changzhou.

After a short cab ride, we walked in to the gigantic building that was a hospital. It was huge, noisy, loud and absolutely swollen with people. There were so many things going on and so many different lines, counters and windows that it felt like a mixture between a circus and a bank. We got in one of the lines which Candy explained to me was to get a number to see a doctor. I was given a personal patient ID swipe card, a little notebook and then had to pay $1. Among the many differences between a Chinese and American hospital, the ones I noticed the most was how many times money changes hands and how you pay for each step of the medical process separately. For example, the fee for me to actually sit down and talk with a doctor was only $1.

After this we went to another place to wait to see the doctor. Candy had told me to bring plenty of things to do as we might have to wait a long time. Luckily (or unluckily) I have 80 final exams to grade which are mostly short answer and essays which kept me busy during the wait. People were smoking in the waiting room and it was very crowded. Everyone was watching a big digital screen at the front of the room which showed you your name and number and how far you were in line. It was easy to watch for my name as it was all Chinese gibberish and then my name in big block letters "SARAH".

When I entered the "consultation room" there was absolutely no privacy. All of the other patients who were also waiting crowded in to see what was going on and to listen to what we were talking about. It was very strange, funny and incredibly intrusive but I guess in a country of a billion people it's hard to have privacy. The doctor spoke incredible English and was delighted to practice with me and asked me all sorts of questions, most of which seemed very unrelated to physical health but whatever. Then he had me step to the side in an adjacent but still highly visible room where I had to take everything off (no gowns or robes here) so he could do the physical. After he drew blood, took saliva samples and had me pee in a cup, he gave all of my "specimens" in little jars to me, open to the air, for me to take down to the lab by myself. I felt like I was in micro. lab all over again.

While navigating through crowds of people and 3 escalators, I managed not to spill anything and we made it to the third counter of the day where I paid $11 to have all of my samples analyzed. I literally handed all of them to one of the many technicians working on microscopes. After thirty minutes I received a printout of the results at which point we had to go back up to the 5th floor to see the doctor again for the interpretation. He claimed me to be pretty healthy, gave me some antibiotics and filled out some forms.

We went to the last counter where I handed over the prescription, paid $18 and received my medicine in less than 5 seconds. The whole system in this hospital works like a well-oiled machine. Without an appointment and just by showing up at 9 in the morning, I was out of there at 11:30. If you can handle: no privacy, extremely curious Chinese onlookers who will watch and listen to everything, smoke, questionable cleanliness, humoring doctors who want to practice their English and say things like "This is called a 'speculum', right?", carrying your own samples everywhere and medicine that can only be interpreted by your Chinese friends, then visiting a Chinese hospital is definitely the choice for you.

Forbidden City

2011-05-25T05:40:00.004-04:00

On Thursday night, the night of our overnight train trip to Beijing, Qin Chen arrived home from work with a huge bag of food for the road - it looked like she had bought enough food for a week. In the bag were bowls of instant noodles (or "convenient noodles" as my students call them), three cucumbers, strange pastries for the morning, bottles of water and lots of snacks. Alas, there were no spicy chicken feet. Seeing giant food bags are a very common sight in Chinese train stations because the food served on board is expensive (and not very good) and also because many people will genuinely be on the train for more than 30 hours straight. Fortunately, our trip was only 12 hours long.

Once we got to the hard sleeper section of our train we enjoyed many games of Chinese poker (which I have come to love and Qin Chen is really good at) before turning in for the night. It's a fun feeling to fall asleep in one city and wake up entirely in another. We reached Beijing at around 11:30 in the morning and immediately headed off in the direction of Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Once we checked our bags at the handy (and free) luggage storage area at the gate and paid our 60 RMB entrance fee, we set out to explore the impossibly huge and very touristy historic Chinese attraction. The Forbidden City is called as such because it was off limits for over 500 years. It's famous because it's one of the largest and well-preserved group of ancient Chinese buildings. The Forbidden City was where two dynasties of emperors lived - the Ming and the Qing. There are loads of halls, gates, rooms and gardens to explore which could potentially take all day. We opted to walk around on our own and check out areas that looked interesting. Don't get me wrong, it was really cool, but after about 3 hours all the temples and gates start to look the same.

My favorite place was the Imperial garden which was very picturesque with small pagodas, lots of flowers and trees and bridges over streams. It was a nice change from the "Hall of Mental Cultivation", "Divine Military Genius Gate", "Gate of Supreme Harmony", Hall of Middle Harmony", "Hall of Preserving Harmony", "Palace of Heavenly Purity", "Hall of Joyful Longevity", "Hall of Character Cultivation" etc., etc. You get my drift.

In typical Chinese fashion we took many, many pictures. Qin Chen was worried the whole trip about being the "third wheel". But we told her that if anyone asked, we would just tell them that she was our adopted Chinese child. This did not seem to appease her worries.

After touring around, we headed for a nearby mall for some food and shopping before taking the subway to meet Daniel's dad, Bob Davis. I was super excited to meet Bob for three reasons: 1) it's always fun to meet friends' parents and see how they are alike or different 2) Bob has been a journalist for the Wall Street Journal for over 30 years and I was curious what it was like to be a writer living abroad and 3) We didn't know a whole lot about Beijing and were eager to learn tips and information from a local living there.

Hanging out with Bob turned out to be a blast. After meeting up near his office we got dinner and then walked to his place which was amazing. Sean, Qin Chen and I all agreed that he was like Daniel in so many ways - his way of speaking, eyes, gestures . . . everything. Bob was particularly busy that day as he was covering the big IMF story. He actually had to do an interview online and on camera as soon as we got home from dinner. I was impressed, to say the least. The life of a journalist living abroad, though filled with a lot of hard work, seems to be also a little glamorous.

We all turned in early that night as we had to be up at an insanely early hour to catch the bus to run the Great Wall Marathon the next day. It was a fun but tiring Friday!

The Great Wall Marathon

2011-05-23T10:11:00.006-04:00

What a fantastic but exhausting weekend! Our overnight train pulled into Changzhou at about 6am this morning after an action-packed weekend of sight-seeing and running.

The biggest event of the weekend was the Great Wall Marathon - a ridiculously tough, steep and brutal race. I didn't do the whole thing (thank goodness) but the half marathon was still plenty challenging enough for me. Sean, however, did complete the entire race in 5 hours and 34 minutes. His first words out of his mouth after crossing the finish line were, "I'm never, ever doing that again."

During the weekend we stayed with Daniel's (teacher from last year) dad who works for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing. He had also decided to join in the race and ran the 10k. To get to the race on Saturday morning we were up at 2:45am to get to the bus pick-up point for a 3 hour ride to the wall. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - I don't think I have ever seen a bluer sky in China. Though the day started out a bit chilly, it eventually transformed into a breezy, dry, 70-degree paradise for running.

There were only about 2000 runners in total for all of the events - but most of them looked like serious runners and had come from all over the world to participate in this "adventure" marathon. I was immediately intimidated. While we slurped our breakfast noodles and chugged coffee in a restaurant near the wall we listened to conversations of other runners' conquests of past triathlons and ultra-marathons while watching them get in their zone and do some elaborate pre-race preparations. Hard-core runners are kind of a freaky bunch, to be honest.

While Sean had trained a lot harder than I had and was ready to push himself to the limit, my goal was to have fun, take some pictures and to finish. Qin Chen, my roommate, had also come along as our official "spectator" (even spectators had to buy a separate ticket to participate). Sean and I started in the "slow" corral which meant that we began our race 10 minutes after the professionals.

The race itself was probably one of the hardest races I have ever tried. The first 3 miles were steep uphill on a road leading up to the wall and after that it was 2 miles of stairs up and down dips in the mountains. This was insane. Not only were the steps uneven and hard to manage but the sheer number of stairs and the steepness of the grade was unlike anything I could have prepared for. Needless to say, I walked a lot. Actually, everyone did. You had to. At times, the wall got so thin that bottlenecks formed and we had to wait for 10-20 minutes for everyone to pass through tricky and dangerous sections. It was more of an adventure "hike" with occasional jogging instead of a marathon.

I was very happy to be off the wall and after that we ran through a nearby town. This was a uniquely Chinese experience as I was passed by trucks filled with pigs, had to run through manure, farmland, kick chickens out of my way and negotiate the course through tiny alleys. It was hilarious. All of the other runners were friendly and excited and we frequently stopped to take pictures of each other - it was a great atmosphere and experience to be a part of. Many people wore outfits to represent their countries. There were Canadians in hockey jerseys, Brazilians in soccer paraphernalia, South Africans who blew on vuvuzelas the entire way and Frenchmen with flags painted on their faces.

During the whole route, Chinese children shouted "Jiāyóu!" (add gas!) while clapping their hands, yelling "Ni hao" and "Hello" and handing us flowers (not very useful but a nice gesture nonetheless). Other children and their parents gathered up the empty plastic bottles that the runners tossed on the ground to be turned in for cash. My favorite groups of bystanders were the old Chinese men who sat on tiny stools, smoked cigarettes and shook their heads and muttered while watching the crazy, scantily clad runners dash in front of them.

It was a great day without any injuries, complications or bad weather and I feel lucky that I was able to be a part of it. That being said, I have no desire ever to run on the great wall again. Once is enough.

Happy birthday Sean!

2011-05-19T09:37:00.004-04:00

The highlight of the birthday party was the fireworks that Ariana brought - this picture is of Sean taking off after lighting a big one. Fireworks are definitely not illegal in China - they actually seemed to be encouraged.

This is going to be a short post as we are leaving on the 11:40pm overnight train to Beijing to run the Great Wall Marathon on Saturday (and right now it's 10pm). Well, I'm running the 1/2 marathon and Sean is going to run the full one. We are staying with Daniel's (previous teacher) dad who is going to be running the 10k.

I'm feeling a little scatterbrained as these last few days have been a little hectic. Lots of friends have left this week so there were goodbye parties aplenty and last night we all celebrated Sean's birthday. In the meantime I've been trying to write a final exam which I will give to my students hours after arriving back in Changzhou on Monday.

Anyway, I'm off to the train station - I'll keep you posted on how the race went!

Busy and breezy spring days

2011-05-17T10:47:00.007-04:00

These past few days the weather has been perfect - 70s, warm, breezy and sunny and everyone has wanted to be outside all day. We've been busy and there's been lots of fun things going on.

This week has been especially fun for me as my students have "practical training" which means I have the week off. This worked out well as this week we have the faculty/staff co-ed volleyball tournament, Sean's birthday party, the Germans' goodbye party (they called it the German Sausage Fest), an ultimate frisbee game or two on campus and our departure for Beijing on Thursday night.

Putting together the grill

Playing volleyball has been hilarious. Our Foreign Language Department team makes up in spirit for what we lack in skill (which is a lot). We have lost each game by at least 12 points but have had a blast playing together.

A couple of afternoons Sean has gotten 10 people together to play ultimate frisbee. Most of these people had never played before but everyone that played for the first time walked away happy and eager to play again (and not to mention out of breath and sweaty).

By far, the most interesting event of the week was the "German Sausage Fest" which was the goodbye party the German interns held for their friends and students. They had been wanting to do a real outside barbecue with authentic German hot dogs, bread and beer. They bought a grill, charcoal and all of the supplies and after coaxing the charcoal for awhile we had a delicious feast. The students were absolutely curious and delighted by the whole ordeal. My favorite part of the night was watching one of the Chinese students man the grill with chopsticks.

Tomorrow night is Sean's birthday party which is doubling as the Germans' goodbye party as they leave the next day for Shanghai for their flight home. While all of the events and parties are lots of fun, they are bittersweet as they bring us one step closer to bidding farewell to the Middle Kingdom and all of our friends we've met here. It's going to be ridiculously hard to leave.

The guys - seems like there are always foreign men aplenty in China

Blepharoplasty

2011-05-15T10:29:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, when I was teaching at my part-time job, a girl walked in to my class wearing sunglasses even though it was 8:00 in the evening. She apologized for being late and then sat down as if nothing were odd about her sporting shades indoors during class and at night.

When I asked her what was going on, she said that she had just had "double eyelid surgery" the day before. I have heard about this popular phenomenon here in China as most of my female students (and my roommate) want to get this done. Since the other students (all female) in the class also wanted to have this surgery and I was extremely curious about the whole process, we spent the rest of the class talking about the procedure and cosmetic surgery in general.

Double eyelid surgery is also called "blepharoplasty" and is the process in which the skin around the eye is reshaped in order to create an upper eyelid with a crease. Many Chinese women want to not only have this second crease but they also want to have "bigger-looking eyes." At least once a day, a Chinese student or friend comments to me on the shape of my eyes saying things like, "I want your eyes", "your eyes are so big", "how do you grow your long eyelashes" etc. It's pretty out of control.

The issue of eye size is hard to understand for me as I grew up in a place where we don't really talk about eyes. But here, talking about eyes is extremely common. For example, when describing other people in China, it's common for a Chinese to say something like "she has really small eyes" or "he has big eyes." My roommate, Qin Chen, is convinced that she has particularly small eyes and is very disappointed and self-conscious about them. To insult her, her other Chinese friends say things like, "Qin Chen, where are your eyes? I can't see them!"
Because of this, the eye surgery business is booming and while "Nancy", my student with the sunglasses and new eyelids, explained the process my other students leaned in eagerly to hear what she had to say. Nancy said that the procedure took about 30 minutes and didn't involve full anaesthesia - they just numbed her eyes. It cost about 1000 RMB (about $155) which is a lot when most twenty-something females in China make about 2000-3000 RMB/month. Nancy said that it didn't really hurt that much and that she will be able to go sans sunglasses in just two days. She did take them off to let us see her new eyelids and there was much oohing and aahing around the table. She was very happy with the result and recommended the surgery to the others with full confidence.

We went around the table talking about what kinds of surgery each student wanted. Some examples that they wanted were to change the shape of their face from round to oval, getting a "higher" nose and getting breast implants. When I asked Nancy if she could see better with her new eyes she said that she didn't notice any difference; she said she just wanted to do the surgery for the way it looks. At the end of class my students kept exclaiming how lucky I was that I was born with natural double eyelids. While I assured them that I thought the Asian look was gorgeous, sleek and beautiful and that they shouldn't change a thing, they just waved me away and said I didn't understand. They're right, I don't.

Biblical Skits in class

2011-05-12T00:23:00.000-04:00

This week is my last week of classes at the university. Next week my students have a week of "practical training" where they go back to their home towns and work with teachers or businesses in the fields of education, translation and international trade. The week after that they take the final exam for the course.

This week in class they presented their skits that they have been working on. Each semester I try to have a lesson in which they do the talking and presenting but it has been really difficult for me to find something that works well in China. In the past, when I have asked them do to a presentation, the students just copy information from the internet and the presentations are boring and useless. When I have had them try and actually teach or lead a class the results were equally unimpressive. When I have tried skits in the past they were just O.K. so I tried to set them up and prepare them better this time.

In the students' textbook for the European History course there were a lot of famous Bible stories. For a change, I thought that they could act them out instead of having me explain them in the form of a lecture. I let them work in groups of 2-5 and told them to prepare a short skit 5-10 minutes long in informal English. The passages in the book were written in very old and formal English. I encouraged the students to have fun, be creative, improvise and make the skits relative to today's life. Some of them were able to do this very well and others tanked horribly.

Here are the stories that were chosen by the students:

The resurrection
The nativity story
The woman at the well
Lazarus
The prodigal son
David and Goliath
Creation/Adam and Eve
Noah and the ark
Cain and Abel

Some moments that I particularly enjoyed while viewing the skits:

-A line from the "Resurrection" skit: "What? Jesus is not in the tomb? You're pulling my leg!"
-Many students made bilingual name tags for their characters and had different signs for acts and scenes
-During the "Prodigal son" skit, the younger son went and spent all his money on Chinese Mahjong gambling and going to sing karaoke at various KTVs.
-The use of props was pretty funny and creative. One of my favorites was wearing a backpack on backwards to represent pregnancy.
-While we watched one version of "David and Goliath" the actors had all of us in the audience sing a song that I remember from childhood
-Many plays included music to go along with actions that the students provided from their cell phones. Others had videos/pictures on the power point for scenery or natural disasters (earthquakes, floods etc.)

When they are in class, my students are usually quiet and shy as mice but when they get up in front of class to perform or sing they completely transform into giggling, emotional, dramatic and hilarious comics. It's a surprising change for me and I wish I would have gotten some of the skits on video. I hope they learned some of the stories or at least the morals they were trying to teach but if all else failed at least we got to do something different and they had some fun.

Jordan's birthday

2011-05-11T01:15:00.008-04:00

Last weekend we celebrated Jordan's birthday by going out to dinner and then to the Europe bar. All of the other foreign teachers came out to celebrate along with the German interns. We all had a lot of fun as Jordan definitely knows how to celebrate a birthday.

First we went to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant and then we had cake and champagne at the Europe club. We played some pool and darts and after a lot of chatting and mingling, Qin Chen and I went home while the rest of the group went to a club for some late-night dancing and who knows what other shenanigans.

It was a really fun night hanging out with everyone and it just reminds me of how much we are going to miss everyone. The Germans leave next week as they were only here for a three month internship. Then in late June some of the other foreign teachers head back to the U.S. or Germany and on July 5 Sean and I go home.

What's everyone doing next year? Ariana is going to get a job in some area of law and hopefully go to law school, David is returning to JSTU for another year of teaching in Changzhou, Jordan is moving north near Beijing with his Chinese girlfriend, April, Annika and Cornelia are also coming back to teach German here for another year. Meanwhile, Qin Chen is looking for a new job and is also looking for a new place to live when I leave . . . sad.

To conclude the semester, Sean and I are going to have a wedding party/good-bye party in late June. We are meeting with "Candy" our supervisor's assistant to talk about banquet options, number of guests etc. Qin Chen and I are going downtown on Sunday to talk to some different tailors who can make me a traditional Chinese wedding dress (qipao). As if planning our Holland wedding and reception isn't enough excitement and work for one year . . .

Chinese Wedding Invitations

2011-05-08T12:04:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I got invited to a wedding of one of my Chinese co-workers at Web. She gave me the invitation along with a cute little box stuffed with Hershey's kisses, preserved eggs and some Ferrero Rocher truffles. YUM!

As I am currently working on how to organize and write my own wedding invitation, receiving a Chinese one was particularly interesting. There are a few obvious differences. The invitation was pretty cutesy and casual and they simply filled in my name with a pen - it kind of reminds me of a Valentine card that I would send in elementary school. The invitation itself is semi-bilingual - selected parts are in Chinese while other words are in English. The wedding is in one month which isn't a lot of notice for me, but seems to be fine for the rest of the Chinese co-workers (apparently the Save The Date phenomenon hasn't hit China yet). The main difference, of course, is that the adorable invitation came with a box loaded with goodies - everyone got one! My colleagues told me that Chinese brides and grooms are starting to do this to try and encourage the guests to give them more hongbao (red envelopes filled with money - the traditional present) at the wedding. I should point out that chocolate is expensive here - particularly foreign brands. Needless to say, everyone was impressed (including me) by the whole invitation ensemble.

According to the other staff members, an appropriate amount of money for me to give the newlyweds is 300 RMB or about $50 - a significant chunk of change in Changzhou. In China, the tradition is that the money from the guests pays for the wedding with some left over for the new couple. Actually, the more people I talk to people about this the more complicated scheme it becomes. More and more of my adult students say that the wedding is kind of like a giant lending institution. Many couples write down exactly what they receive from each family and when it comes time for that family to have a wedding they give back the same amount. Money isn't a sensitive topic here and it doesn't seem to make anybody uncomfortable (i.e. when the students ask me how much I make or about the price of anything I'm using or wearing the only person who feels strange is me).

In any case, I can't wait to go to the actual wedding- it should be fun and super interesting! Now back to writing my own invitation . . . I'm sad to say that it probably isn't going to come with a cute box full of candy though!

It's mosquito season

2011-05-07T11:29:00.006-04:00

The temperature sky-rocketed to the nineties this week and the humidity is rising. Unfortunately, this makes the mosquitoes extremely happy and they are getting a little out of control. The bats, however, are in heaven and there are swarms of them swooping around at night snacking on mosquitoes left and right.

Sean has taken extra measures against the biting pests this year and put up netting on his and my entryways. He gets annoyed with me if I take too long coming or going as it lets a lot of mosquitoes in.

I have an electric mosquito racket on each level of my house and use it excessively. Having a fan blowing on me while I'm working on the computer or watching a movie also helps. I'm also very grateful that I sleep in a high-quality mosquito net at night - last year I splurged for a canopy version and it was totally worth it.

In other news, while you're out and about in Changzhou, be careful not to fall off the second level of the outdoor mall. Perhaps a more accurate sign should warn, "Caution, droppings" as there are quite a few piles of those around the mall due to the little tykes with split pants . . . (Thanks for the photo Jorg!)

My speech

2011-05-05T09:50:00.005-04:00

Every year all of the foreign teachers have to give a speech during the Foreign Language Festival which lasts for a few weeks. One of us gives a talk each week about any topic we want relating to Western Culture. So far, Ariana has talked about "The Evolution of Freaks and Geeks" and last night I spoke about "East meets West: Cultural Differences." Click the link if you want to see how my speech was advertised on the school's website.

Since I had taught a Western culture class last semester, this speech was pretty fun and easy. I just went over some pictures that represented some key differences and added in a few more of my own. I've shown these pictures before in a previous blog post.

The students seemed to like the discussion and were particularly intrigued by the pictures of Western food, tanning salons/beds, and the type and cost of Chinese food in America. To be honest, I think they were more interested in the introduction of my hometown and family than anything else because I showed a lot of pictures.

Next week David is talking about Kung Fu in America, then Sean will talk on Baseball and American football and Jordan will finish the lecture series up with the view of men and women in the U.S.A. Should be interesting!

Tonight we had English Corner and many students that attended had also gone to my speech the night before. When I asked if they liked it these were the responses I got (not surprisingly):

"You could have shown a lot more pictures of you and Sean together. We are interested in this."
"We want to hear about your wedding."
"You should have sang a song. We all want to hear you sing."
"Maybe you could have talked more about why Americans don't have to study a second language like we Chinese do."

I'll keep these in mind for next time . . .

Cultural differences speech

Packages in the mail

2011-05-04T05:48:00.004-04:00

If you ever went to summer camp as a child (even for just one week) then you know how cool/important/special it was to get mail from home (even when it was just a few miles away). Well, multiply that feeling by a lot and you will understand how AWESOME it is to get mail and packages while in China. During our stay we have received many goodies from very generous and thoughtful friends and family back home - thank you!

Normally, the packages arrive pretty battered and look like they have been shipped through a war zone. This is pretty normal and as long as everything makes it in one piece we don't really care. I immediately became suspicious yesterday, however, when my supervisor texted me and said that a package had arrived "with a bit of damage." I couldn't even begin to imagine what a "bit of damage" was if all of the other destroyed packages that had arrived in the past were considered "undamaged." I soon got my answer.

Sean and I headed eagerly out to the post office as I had been expecting a package from my college roommate, Mary. It had been a little delayed and I was worried that it had become lost in the mail. When we arrived at the post office, the lady employee who knows me pointed sadly at the plastic sack in the corner. In the bag were the remains of my package from my roommate. It looked as if the package had been dropped from a plane and then run over by several trucks. As soon as we opened the bag we discovered the problem, the box was soaking wet - it must have been rained on (heavily) or fallen off of a boat or something.

Fortunately, the only thing that was really ruined were the whopper candies. Everything else survived the horrors pretty well. It felt like Christmas as we pawed through the mound of goodies such as: magazines, jelly beans, Reese's peanut butter eggs, Hershey's chocolate, Butterfinger eggs, peeps, Cadbury cream eggs, sour patch kids, slim jim beef jerky, crystal light drink mix, 2 cake mixes, brownie mix, cookie mix, 2 containers of frosting and piles of fruit roll-ups - YUM. Thanks Mary, Jay and Stephen! They managed to squeeze a TON of stuff in the flat rate box - we are loving it.

So many friends from Holland have been especially kind lately. I've received a message from a friend saying they could help out with airport pick-ups and hosting people coming in for the wedding from out of town and another email from a friend who forwarded some job opening she noticed at her work. Thanks Shelly and Kate!

Packing up some boxes to ship home reminds me that we will be headed that way soon! It just makes me nervous to think about what kind of condition the boxes will arrive in after seeing our last mail delivery . . .

Some curious habits of the Chinese

2011-05-03T01:48:00.003-04:00

Lately, every time something about Chinese culture catches my eye or makes me wonder I write it down. Here are a few of my random notes from the past two weeks:

Many Chinese use a straw to eat/drink yogurt. In fact, in the Chinese language, the word "drink" is used to talk about consuming yogurt. For example, "Did you drink some yogurt today?" When you buy little cups of yogurt at the supermarket they all come with individual straws. This makes sense because Chinese yogurt is very runny and is pretty much like flavored milk.

It's common to use an umbrella when it's raining as well as when it is sunny out. This is because white skin is highly sought after and the market for whitening lotions and bleaching creams is booming. On sunny days sometimes it seems like there are more umbrellas out than if it were raining.

Even if it is sunny and kind of warm out, many Chinese people are shocked if I am in short sleeves or shorts. The difference in our opinion of the weather/temperature is pretty big. A warm day for me is not a warm day for a lot of Chinese people. Just the other day I was in a tank top and a skirt and I met a friend in the office who was wearing long pants and a sweater. She was surprised to see me in summer clothes and concerned until I showed her that I was already sweating. What often happens is that they want to feel my hands or arms to make sure that I am really warm. It's hilarious. When I walked in to work the other day in summer clothes eating an ice cream cone the employees were extremely alarmed and told me that if I dress like this and eat too many cold things I will get sick (I didn't).

On a related note, babies and small children are often bundled up in clothes to the point of heatstroke. It is not uncommon to see little kids toddling around in winter clothes when it is seventy degrees out. They look like little marshmallows roasting in the sun. Maybe it's just extra cushion if they fall? In any case, their little cheeks are always red and their little faces sweaty.

An interesting but common question that Chinese people ask each other is "How much can you drink?" I have been asked this quite a lot and I think it means how many bottles of beer you can hold until you are drunk. Sean gets asked this all of the time and it's funny because everybody has a specific and personal answer ready when you fire the same question back at them, i.e. "I can drink 5 bottles."

It's pineapple season which means that there are loads of street vendors selling fresh pineapple on sticks to passing students. Qin Chen bought some the other day and served me some at home. I was shocked to discover that she had cleaned and rinsed it off with salt water. Thus we snacked on salty pineapple which really wasn't that tasty in my opinion. Qin Chen said that eating pineapple with salt is very common and helps to combat the strong sweet/sour taste. She said, "What, don't you eat pineapple this way?"

I noticed something else kind of interesting about my Chinese roommate. Whenever she uses the microwave in our kitchen she presses the Start button and then dashes out of the room. When I asked her what was going on she said that being near the microwave while it is on is very unhealthy. While she is probably right that standing next to the microwave isn't great for you, I never knew it required such drastic and evasive action.

Since the weather has been very hot out lately, I have been walking around in bare feet in side my house. Every time she sees do this my roommate scolds me. Apparently, bare feet is a recipe for disaster and is extremely unhealthy. According to a lot of my students, it disrupts your bodily energy or chi. Similarly, women who wear flats or heels will always wear some kind of stocking with them. It's very common to see women in skirts or shorts wearing flats with an ankle-length nylon stocking in the summer.

There's not really a recycling program per se here in Changzhou. But if you want to get rid of your cardboard, glass, plastic or aluminum, all you have to do is wait for the noise of a stick banging on a metal pan which announces the arrival of a man driving a small motorized cart who will buy your materials and haul it away. This metal banging can be heard a long ways off and there are many independent collectors who drive around all day and pick up stuff.

Similarly, the noise of firecrackers is always heard. It is not uncommon to hear firecrackers going off in the wee hours of the morning on a normal day. Perhaps the family wanted to celebrate a new job or the birth of a new baby. You can buy firecrackers cheaply and easily in any store.

The Chinese are pretty superstitious about a lot of things, one of them being numbers. The numbers 6 and 8 are lucky while 4 and 7 are not. This is because the sound of the numbers in Chinese is similar to good or bad things. For example, when my students asked me when I was getting married, I told them that I was getting married on August 11 (8/11). They immediately wanted to know why I didn't choose August 8 (8/8) - a much more auspicious date on which to be married (duh).

That's all I have on my list so far. It's hard to believe that we will be going home in about two months. I'm trying to soak up all the peculiarities and hilarities of China before I run out of time.

Another Chinese wedding gift

2011-05-01T21:23:00.003-04:00

Everywhere Sean and I go on campus people are very curious about us and our lives. The employees always want to know where we are from, what we do, how much we make, etc. Most of them have become casual acquaintances that we chat with when we are in their restaurant, buying drinks or snacks in their store or getting our hair cut, but others have definitely stepped the relationship up a notch.

Take the copy ladies for example. There are two places that I go to make copies - the exacting and precise copy guy who refuses to speak Chinese with me (he wants to practice his English) and makes copies for me if I need less than 100, or the copy ladies who do the high-volume copying for the foreign language department. We have started hanging out and now if I want to make copies I have to budget at least an hour when I head to their office.

They want to chat about everything: what shampoo I use, my family, Sean, my wedding . . . We converse in rough Chinese and English and we have to use the dictionary a lot. It's fun though and I've really enjoyed getting to know them. Last week they surprised me with a pillow as a wedding gift. Apparently they have all been working on it during their downtime at work. I was totally surprised! They also said that if I ever need/want anything from China they would be glad to send it to me.

Looks like today's project is going to be boxing up pillows and sending them on the slow boat to Michigan - should take about 2 months and is hopefully pretty cheap!

Intramuros in Manila

2011-05-01T07:17:00.006-04:00

The last place we visited in Manila before heading back to China was a place called Intramuros. This was the main tourist attraction of the city and is exactly what the Spanish name implies - an area "within walls." Intramuros is the old walled city which was the heart of Manila during the Spanish colonial period in the 16th century. Although a lot of the original buildings were destroyed during WWII there are still quite a few left to tour.

The whole area of Intramuros is beautiful and once you step inside you are walking on wide, cobblestone streets with plenty of plazas and old colonial houses with gardens. To add to the atmosphere there are plenty of horse-drawn carriages who will take you on a tour of the little city and show you all the interesting parts of the wall.

The coolest place to tour is Fort Santiago which was also used as a prisoner-of-war camp by the Japanese. Inside there is some gruesome evidence of torture and imprisonment along with the cells next to the river which had pipes to direct water in if a mass drowning of prisoners was called for. There is also the Rizal Shrine which houses the original cell where the national hero José Rizal was incarcerated.

Another interesting building to tour is the church and the monastery of San Agustin as well as the huge Romanesque Manila Cathedral. We also toured Casa Manila which is a restored Spanish colonial mansion filled with a lot of antiques.

You can easily spend an entire day just walking around Intramuros and checking out the fort. After we had seen all of the sights I really wanted to take a carriage tour but Sean wasn't so sure. After some convincing (he is really allergic to horses - big bummer) he finally relented and we I really enjoyed a scenic little tour along the wall around the whole city.

After sending out some post cards at the national post office right outside of Intramuros it was time to head back to the hostel and pack for the long trip home. All in all we had a great time traveling around Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines and we feel very blessed that we had a safe trip with no major problems. Unfortunately, as with any trip, it only serves to whet the appetite for more backpacking and brings more impossible decisions like, where should we go next?

Ultimate frisbee in Nanjing

2011-04-29T09:56:00.000-04:00

Recently, Sean has been really active and into sports which can be difficult to find in a country obsessed with ping pong and badminton. Not only is he training for the Great Wall Marathon in Beijing on May 21 but he has been playing ultimate frisbee with the team in Shanghai. This means that every Saturday morning he leaves Changzhou really early to make it to the train station on time to take a train and then the subway to the fields. The trip in total takes about 3-4 hours. I think it's crazy but Sean loves frisbee and makes the commute without complaining.

Last weekend the Shanghai team invited Sean (he's wearing the blue shirt in the pics) to play in a tournament with them in Nanjing. The tournament was Saturday and Sunday and the other foreign teachers (Jorg, Marcus, Felix - Germans, and Jordan - American) decided to go and along to watch and enjoy the parties. I stayed behind to enjoy the girl time and work some extra hours. Saturday night I had all the ladies over for card games, wine, and the movie "Up" (Thanks Susie for sending it!).

From what I hear, the weekend was a ton of fun. Sean said that the guys on the team are a blast and he appreciated his personal crowd of spectators (they had never seen a game of ultimate frisbee in their lives and wanted to see what it was like). There were seven teams in all and Sean's Shanghai team got 3rd in the tournament. He was surprised that even though he was the newest member he won the "spirit" award, the only award given on the team. Good job Sean! The team also invited him to play on their competitive league which is Thursday nights in Shanghai. He is still considering whether it is worth the time and money to commit to this. In any case, the other foreigners are eager to learn about frisbee on campus and we are planning on playing some less competitive games of ultimate together one of these days - should be fun!

Rizal Park

2011-04-28T02:14:00.004-04:00

One of our days in Manila we spent walking around the city. One of the only greenish areas we saw was Rizal Park which was a huge area in the heart of Manila.

When we visited the park it was a beautiful day and many people were practicing dance routines, stick-fighting and martial arts. There was definitely a lot to see and do including a lot of memorials, gardens, museums and a gigantic 3-D map of the Philippines that you could climb around in.

The park is named after the national hero, José Rizal, who was executed there in 1896 for going against the Spanish colonizers. There are many memorials to Rizal scattered around and you could tour the actual execution site.

We wanted to go in the National Museum but it happened to be closed that day which was kind of disappointing. Like Manila in general, the park was kind of run-down and all of the greenery seemed to be dying. But that didn't appear to bother the Filipinos in the least and they hung out on benches, walked the perimeter or took pictures in the garden and after getting some Slurpees we did the same.

An Egg-citing class

2011-04-27T01:02:00.005-04:00

My European history students have worked really hard so far this term and had just finished their first exam so I decided to do something a little different this week - an Easter lesson and party.

An explanation of Easter actually fit in well with the current unit of the rise of Christianity in Europe and for the first class period I talked about the religious reasons behind the celebration. Then I explained how Easter is also a secular holiday for many and showed some slides about Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs, Easter baskets and of course, the Easter Bunny. They were most interested in the kind of food that many families would eat for an Easter brunch/dinner and the popular types of candy found in Easter baskets. They were fascinated by the marshmallow "Peeps" candy and by the fact that Americans actually eat giant chocolate rabbits. In China, chocolate is ridiculously expensive and eating a chocolate bunny the size of your head could set you back a day's wages, at least.

After playing a few games it was time for the break between periods and we moved to a new classroom without technology/media - one that I could get a little dirty and not feel to bad about it. The second half of class we dyed eggs and frosted and decorated sugar cookies.

Oh my goodness, my students were so excited and were literally hopping around in their seats when I told them what we were going to do. I showed them how to prepare the cups of dye, some different options of egg decoration and some suggestions for things not to get too out of control. I had visions of falling and cracking eggs and spilled cups of dye on everyone's clothes.

Then I explained what a sugar cookie was and how to frost and decorate a cookie. Some questions asked were: a) Can we eat the frosting and the sprinkles? b) Can we eat the eggs or is the dye bad for you? c) Where did you get the dye and the sprinkles?

The Easter class was a total success. The students had so much fun and behaved great. They were creative, worked together well and followed all directions carefully. It was hilarious to see how they decorated their cookies and then ate them immediately. Most of them would have taken 20 minutes working on their eggs if I had let them but I had to cut them short as we had to share the dye cups with many students. After making their cookies and eggs, elaborate photo sessions were held in which students posed with their creations to the delight of all the rest ready and waiting with their camera phones.

When they weren't working on their eggs or cookies they were filling out an Easter crossword puzzle and word game in partners. I had told them at the beginning of the class that I had a present for them if they finished the game by the end of class. When the bell rang, a few groups were frantic and almost in tears and I couldn't figure out why until they told me that they hadn't finished and wouldn't be able to get the prize. At this point I felt horrible, I didn't really think they would take me seriously. I said that everybody had worked hard and handed out the prize - a plastic egg filled with jellybeans for everyone (thanks mom!). They were ECSTATIC which is a bit silly because although all the supplies were from America, everything was made in China, of course.

Though the preparation was intensely time-consuming, it was totally worth it and all in all it was an egg-cellent class. Hehehe =)

Chinese truck strike

2011-04-24T00:41:00.004-04:00

Last Wednesday Qin Chen, my roomie, came home complaining of a bad day at work. I asked her what happened and she said that some kind of strike with workers at a busy port of entry in Shanghai prevented one of her company's shipping containers to make it through, thus delaying orders to other international clients. She and other employees at the company had followed what was going on at the harbor using news updates and micro-blogs until all of the sites suddenly were blocked on the Chinese internet. She came home curious as to what was happening so she used my uncensored internet to check it out.

The headlines didn't make it to my inbox until today, Sunday, when I saw the article "Chinese Truck Drivers Block Port Over Gas Prices." Turns out the drivers are angry at the rising cost of fuel in China as well as the extra fees warehouses have started to charge them during their shipping routes. Because of all of these added costs they aren't able to make enough money to afford the expenses in their own lives.

There's a lot of chatter about inflation and rising prices of goods here in China. I don't hear about if from my students at the university, but for the adults and young professionals at my second job it's a hot topic. Everyone is complaining about how things are becoming really expensive while salaries and wages aren't being increased. Another issue is the housing bubble; prices of houses and apartments are outlandishly expensive and people are speculating if and when this bubble will "pop." One of my students this week actually works as a censor for the Changzhou forums. Her job is to remove anything inappropriate about the Party or the government from the websites open to chatting and networking specifically related to our city. She says the number of complaints that she has to remove are rising every day.

While everybody is up in arms about rising costs my older students don't seem particularly concerned with anything related to politics or human rights. Take the recent example of man named Ai Weiwei. Ken (previous teacher here) mentioned this story to me the other day and since then I keep seeing his name pop up in news articles. Ai Weiwei is well-known because he was one of the architects behind the building known as the "Bird's Nest." In China, he uncovered some government corruption related to inferior school buildings which led to the death of thousands of children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The Chinese government recently arrested Ai Weiwei and is not saying where he is or what's going on.

But it's not people like Ai Weiwei that the Chinese government really has to worry about right now - it's keeping the 1.3 billion or so Chinese people happy and unable to network about their complaints. If more and more Chinese turn to the un-blocked blogs and social-networking sites to vent about rising prices or unsustainable living conditions, protests like the latest truck drivers strike will become more and more common and the PRC is going to have to deal with a huge number of unhappy citizens with the ability and the potential to organize - kind of a frightening thought, to say the least.

As for my roommate, she just hopes that the strikes blow over soon so that her shipping container can get through and she can stop having angry phone conversations with business owners from the U.S. and U.K. who just want their golf trolleys delivered on time.

Manila

2011-04-20T23:38:00.005-04:00

After enjoying island paradise for a few days, it was time to travel the 6 hrs back to Puerto Princesa and fly to Manila, the capital city of the Philippines and our last destination before heading back to China.

It was common to see many stuffed animals lined up on the dash or back windows of cars

Manila was a little dodgy and it was initially tough to find a safe place to stay that wasn't out of our price range. We checked out a few different hostels before finally settling on Hostel 1632 which I would totally recommend. The rooms are very small, but it's clean, safe and affordable.

Our first day we just walked around and checked out the sights near our hotel. Everything was pretty run down except for the giant new and modern shopping mall that was just down the street. The other thing that caught my eye was the crazy form of public transportation - the Jeepney.

Jeepneys are colorful, creative and artsy jeeps that have small routes all over the city. There are no official stops, you just flag them down. Each one is individually decorated and have a lot of character, to say the least. The Jeepneys are the heart of the public transportation system - there are a few buses and one or two elevated rails, but it's the Jeepneys that you see everywhere. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them because to me they looked like entertaining clown cars.

After walking for hours, we grabbed dinner at a Middle Eastern snack shop that was cheap and delicious and then went back to the hostel to enjoy the movie channel and crash after a long day of traveling.

Second day on the island

2011-04-19T21:24:00.005-04:00

We woke up to a breakfast of pancakes, fruit, eggs and coffee, all made over a fire. Then Sean and I spent the morning walking as far as we could around the island while the tide was out. We also did some shell collecting. The amount and variety of coral on the beach was amazing.

After that we packed up camp and got back in the boat for some more island-hopping and snorkeling. We stopped a many different places along the way like caves, coves, hidden lagoons and my favorite island - Snake Island.

Snake Island included on high lockout point that you could hike up to and also a long, thin strip of sand that you could walk on out to another island filled with mangroves. The view was amazing and it was fun to walk on a small bit of sand out in the middle of the ocean.

In the evening we headed back to El Nido and crashed hard after being out all day in the sun, swimming, hiking and boating. For dinner we ate at the most popular restaurant for travelers - the Art Cafe which is Swiss run and had some incredible food, with a great 2nd story view of the harbor and live music. It's easy to see why some travelers opt to rent their cottages for a month or simply never leave this place.

Rent your own island for a day

2011-04-16T01:22:00.004-04:00

Since visiting the town of El Nido on Palawan Island was pretty much the last thing we were going to have time for on our trip, we wanted to do something special. While we were walking around checking out the possibilities for the next day, we saw an agency that offered a two-day and one-night island-hopping expedition in which you got to stay on a tiny island all by yourself. They provided the boat, the boat captain, a cook plus all the meals and a guide.

The area around El Nido is beautiful and popular for snorkeling and diving. There are tons of tiny islands that make up the Bacuit Archipelago. We were also recommended to check out the Bit Lagoon and Small Lagoon for some hidden views.

The next day we had to be at the dock early and after breakfast and trying on snorkeling equipment, we got on the boat and spent the morning touring the bay. The views were stunning, the water clear and the weather was perfect - really hot and breezy. The sun was so strong that for the entire two days I wore long sleeves and pants so as not to get burned.

For lunch we stopped on a deserted bit of island and had grilled fish, mangoes, bananas and pineapples and grilled veggies. The guide, cook and captain were a lot of fun and after lunch we all took a nap on the beach.

We spent the afternoon snorkeling in different places and used some leftovers from lunch to attract huge schools of fish. The whole day we didn't see anyone else and it felt like we had the bay all to ourselves.

Our captain chose a small, nameless island on which to spend the night. We spent the evening walking around and exploring our own private island, eating fresh coconut that our guide climbed up and got for us, swimming and shell collecting. Our cook was always making us snacks and we had some homemade french fries before our dinner of fish, shrimp and rice.

They provided everything for us: sleeping bags, pillows, mats and a mosquito net and set everything up on the beach when it was time to go to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep much because I was too freaked out by the giant crabs that kept crawling up my net. There were loads of them skittering all over the beach and the light from the lantern made their beady eyes look bright green in the dark. Every time I would drift off, I would feel the net sag and see a huge crab climbing up with its huge pincher claws. A few times I woke Sean up and he would smack the crabs off the net and they would go flying. After that, Sean slept like a baby and was out cold, while I fulfilled the duty of crab patrol. Not every moment on a private island can be paradise-filled I guess.

El NIdo

2011-04-14T09:47:00.004-04:00

The public bus option

After hanging out in Puerto Princesa for a few days we decided to head to the northern tip of the island to a small, hidden town called El Nido. The town's name, El Nido, means "the nest" in Spanish. It was named after the tiny nests all over the limestone cliffs made by swiftlets. The nests are actually edible and has made the town famous. But backpackers don't come to El Nido to eat nests, they come for the amazing scenery, the laid-back and peaceful feel, fantastic diving and snorkeling and limitless island-hopping. Here, you can get your own beach front cottage along with the necessary hammock for cheap. The only challenge is actually getting to El Nido.

From Puerto Princesa you can fly, take a boat, take the public bus or take a private van. Flying and taking a boat is pretty expensive compared to taking the bus or van. We considered taking the public bus but after finding out that we might have to sit on the roof for the bumpy six hour ride, we opted for the van ride.

Early in the morning we crammed in a tiny van with several other tourists and began the teeth-jarring ride 6 hour haul across Palawan. We only stopped once for gas and food but other than that we tried to stay comfortable and relatively cool in the overly cramped van. Fortunately, everyone was in very high spirits which rose even higher when we finally reached El Nido.

For the rest of the afternoon we explored the tiny town surrounded by ocean and towering limestone cliffs. We found a decent place to stay, got some dinner on the beach and arranged for some snorkeling and touring the next day. Everyone was very friendly and helpful in El Nido and like Puerto Princesa the town was very conscious about being environmentally friendly. Every day the power was turned off from 6am until 2pm all over the city. Many other foreign teachers had recommended visiting El Nido and now I can see why. Even though we had allocated three days to stay in El Nido we knew that our time in paradise was going to fly by.

Palawan Island

2011-04-12T20:35:00.004-04:00

After visiting Bohol and Cebu, we flew to the island of Palawan. Palawan was highly recommended to me by many of my co-workers who are lifers in China and head to the Philippines a lot for vacation. They said that it's the best place to go for uncrowded island paradise so the next day we flew from Cebu to Puerto Princesa, the largest city and right in the middle of the long, thin Palawan Island.

It was nice to be in a small city again and you could get around easily by walking or taking a motorcycle taxi. Frustratingly, every hotel, hostel and guesthouse that we checked was full. The taxi driver said that it was because it was Valentine's Day weekend and that many domestic tourists come to the island for vacation too. One neat thing about the city was that it was really into being clean and environmentally-friendly - you couldn't see any trash anywhere! It was also a big hub for eco-and adventure-tourism and there were many different outfitters around town who would help you do any kind of activity you wanted along with renting you the equipment.

We finally found a newer, less-well known hostel on the outside of town that served breakfast and had wireless internet to boot. We spent the rest of the day exploring the town, going to the visitor's center and making plans for the next day. The biggest tourist draw of Palawan is definitely not the city of Puerto Princesa; most tourists come to Palawan for the amazing beaches, diving and snorkeling. But to do that you have to travel a bit by air or bus in order to get to the remote island towns.

There was one recommended stop near Puerto Princesa, however, and that was the Subterranean River National Park in the nearby tiny city of Sabang. Once you get in the park, you get on a boat that takes you through a winding underground river in the pitch-blackness of an immense cave. Our guides had lights and would point out some of the more famous formations while we paddled along in our snazzy life jackets and helmets.

After that, we had to brave the big waves of the ocean in a tiny little boat to make it back around the rocky coast to the main beach of Sabang. We had signed up for a half day trip so our group was treated to a buffet right on the beach (where large monitor lizards begged for food like dogs). After that we enjoyed a swim and a nap before our van headed back again to Puerto Princesa.