One of the day trips we went on while waiting for our visas and suits to be finished was to a town outside of Bangkok called Lopburi. Lopburi, however, is usually referred to as Monkey Town, and for good reason. This is what the guide book says about it, "Yet while the city is abundant in picturesque stone ruins and statues, Lopbury actually owes the majority of its tourism-generated income to a renegade gang of trouble-making monkeys who overrun the town and its ruins."


Sean and I got an early start and headed to the bus station to catch a bus to Lopburi. Unfortunately, instead of an express bus, we ended up getting on a local bus which stopped about every fifteen minutes for about 4 hours. At each stop the passengers were subjected to hoards of vendors who boarded the bus and shoved little sausages, kebabs, cold drinks, papers and fruit at you in hopes of making a few quick sales.


We weren't quite sure how we were going to know when our stop was, but as we pulled into a city four hours later, we began to see giant cardboard cutouts of monkeys placed along the highway and decided to get off at the next stop. Sure enough, we had arrived in Monkey Town.


The town held true to its name; there were literally monkeys everywhere. They seemed to hang out mainly in the center of town where there was kind of a playground set up for them. But they didn't stay put for long, they soon traipsed off in other directions and visited ruins, pestered store owners and sat on roofs, street signs and telephone wires. It was pretty surreal and felt like we were walking around in a never-ending zoo.

It was hot but any soda you wanted to drink on the go had to be done out of a bag since they wanted to keep the bottle

After about two hours we had had about enough of the constant chaos and headed to our next destination, Suphanaburi, a town on the way to a national park we wanted to visit the next day. We're hoping that this next town won't be overrun with any renegade gangs of wild primates.

Sometimes the danger of blogging is to only talk about the good stuff and all the smiling pictures might make it seem like living abroad is always fun, easy and exciting. It’s not. Obviously, life isn’t perfect anywhere but sometimes, especially if you are from Holland, MI, the temptation is to act like everything is fine all of the time. Even though I don’t write about the frustrating classes where my students don’t listen, the annoyances that can come when living in China, the bad cold that won't go away, and the disagreements I have with Sean, that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. This past weekend was kind of rotten so I thought I’d write a blog on the not-so-fun-and-happy experiences of my life in Changzhou.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to ride my bike downtown to work at a part-time job in a company called Lil’ Giants. I had been told the day before that I would be helping a Chinese English teacher with a class of 5-year-olds for an hour. However, when I got there I was informed that I would be the head teacher of the class. I was not thrilled or amused. Since they said I was just going to be helping, I had not prepared anything to keep an entire class of tots entertained for an hour. Needless to say, the class did not go well as I hastily tried to think of activities to do: ABC’s, numbers, colors, Ring Around The Rosie, Duck Duck Goose, Jack and the Beanstalk . . . It was the longest hour I had had in a while. My TA, a surly teenager who didn’t want to be there and could barely speak English herself, hardly helped at all and said that “maybe I should do better next time.” I biked home feeling very annoyed and discouraged about the lack of communication and honesty in some of the business here and the terror involved with attempting to control a group of energetic children who don’t speak your language.

The afternoon was ok. Sean and I went running and worked on some lesson plans for the next week. Then I taught a group of engineers English at their company. I walked back to my apartment and got a message from Sean that he, Peter, and Jordan had gone out to a bar in town for the night. I picked up some Chinese food and put in a movie and planned to have a relaxing night at home. Someone knocked at the door and it was Ken who came by with a beer in hand to chat. I was happy about that because anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big fan of living alone, especially when it is nighttime. It helps out that Sean, Ken and Steve live next door and are over all the time. We ended up chatting for a few hours but at around 1:30 am I thought I heard a noise at the door. When I heard another noise a few seconds later I told Ken to check it out. I heard a loud yell from the kitchen and I thought Ken was just trying to scare me, but it turns out that there was a man in my house. I had probably forgotten to lock the door and he had walked in, looked through my bag on the table and ran out of my house with my wallet and ipod just as Ken had walked into the kitchen and seen him.

Although violent crime isn’t common in China (you can’t own a gun and punishment for crimes is most often death) petty crime and theft happens quite a bit. Many students have had their cell phone or wallet taken usually in crowded areas. Needless to say, this incident shook me up quite a bit. Since he took my keys too, I had to have my locks changed and Teddy had to take me to cancel my salary card and make a new one. I was pretty disappointed about the ipod; even though it was really old I used it all the time to listen to podcasts while working out and traveling. Ken called the police and they came over and he explained what happened. They were surprised that the thief would enter my house when there were obviously people there and all the lights were on. The experience really bummed me out and freaked me out. I have lived in a lot more dangerous cities and nothing has ever happened to me – this is the first time I have ever been robbed. I guess in the future I will be much more conscientious about locking my door and the gate around my door and never get too comfortable with my safety. Changzhou isn’t dangerous, but since there are so many people and many with very low wages, if an opportunity arises the high risk of the crime is probably well-worth the reward of an ipod, cell phone or wallet. I hope the thief, whoever he is, is enjoying his new tattered, hot pink ipod with lots of Jack Johnson and NPR along with a green Vera Bradley paisley printed wallet. Sigh.

Since we had been in Bangkok for quite awhile and hadn't seen any of the 'main attractions' we decided to dedicate Tuesday to being as touristy as we could be. The guidebook encouraged us to see the "spectacular sights" that the city had to offer urging that it was a "must for even the most unmotivated students of culture and history." The Ko Ratanakosin area of the city was where we headed since it was home to the Grand Palace with temples Wat Phra Kaew (temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Pho (temple of the reclining Buddha).


Once we reached the entrance of the temples and the Grand Palace, Sean had to borrow long pants to put on over his shorts. I had worn a long skirt and a long-sleeved shirt in preparation for the dress code even though it was stiflingly hot out. I didn't really know what to expect but I had heard from the other teachers that we would see a lot of glitz and gold. They were right and it was all a bit overwhelming.


We walked around the temples first and to look at them with the reflection of the bright sunlight was enough to burn out your retinas. Each building was impressively ornate and covered with gold, jewels, carvings and decorations. Everywhere you looked you could see gilded buildings, mosaic-covered pillars and orange and green roof tiles. All of this decoration was to honor the Emerald Buddha housed in the main chapel (they wouldn't let me take a picture of it). It was basically a small, dark green Buddha in the middle of an elaborately decorated shrine. People took off their shoes and knelt down in front of it to pray.


After investigating some of the other temples, we checked out the Grand Palace, the former royal residence. Today the king only uses it for ceremonial occasions. You can't really go inside, but just to walk around the grounds was pretty cool. The gardens were pretty and there were Thai guards in stiff military uniforms standing at attention all over the place.


Nearby the Grand Palace was the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho, where you can see the country's largest reclining Buddha. I was amazed at how big it was - 46m long and 15m high! The exhibit is supposed to show the passing of the Buddha into final nirvana. It was made out of plaster around bricks and then covered in gold. My favorite part was the feet which were enormous and decorated with designs made out of pearls.


After seeing a little too much gold and too many Buddhas for one day combined with the heat and the crowds, Sean and I decided to walk along the avenues bordering the palace grounds where vendors sold treats like homemade popsicles, shaved ice, some kind of Thai-style Arnie Palmer and corn on the cob. We quite happily slurped and munched our way through some of the smaller alleys looking at various wares and trinkets the enthusiastic vendors pointed to us while we walked on by.

We ended up staying a few more days in Bangkok than we had originally planned for a couple of reasons: we needed a few days for some visas to process and we decided to get suits made. We did some research on the internet about some recommended places for suits to be made and decided on a place near our hostel called Milan.


We went to meet the tailor, Kiet, and he helped us to decide the fabric and design of our suit. It was pretty fun! I chose a plain black suit with pants and a skirt along with three dress shirts and Sean chose a brown pinstripe. We had to go in for three separate fittings where we tried on the different parts of the suits that he had been working on. His shop was a small room with his sewing machine and tools on a table to the side with bolts of fabric all around. Sean and I were really happy with the finished product and had them sent home. Let's hope they make it . . .


Our other errand was securing visas for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Since they were all fairly near each other it wasn't a big deal. We got the Laos and Cambodia visas right away and just had to wait about an hour for each, but for the Vietnam visa we had to wait two days. To get all of these visas requires a picture, some paperwork and cash. The Vietnam visa cost about $50 whereas the others were about $30 each. On a backpacker's budget those visa fees add up quickly - and that's just to get in to the country!


One of the other highlights while hanging out in Bangkok was our hostel, Suk 11. I think it was one of my favorites because of the location, food, friendly staff and cool atmosphere. The rooms were shared bunks with shared bathrooms and they provided free breakfast in the morning. The place was huge and included rooftop gardens, several common rooms and a restaurant. Suk 11 has a total bohemian, easy-going feeling and the other travelers mirrored this vibe as well. All of the walls were covered with writing and signatures and there were random antiques all over. It definitely wasn't one of the crazy-party hostels you can find in Bangkok on Khao San road. The hostel definitely had a lot of character and history and I would recommend staying there if you get the chance.


One night they offered a dinner special for people staying there and we dined on spring rolls, papaya salad, stir fried veggies, grilled chicken, coconut mushroom soup and fruit all cut into the shape of hearts. We hung out on the rooftop lounge with some drinks talking to other travelers and trying to figure out where and how we were going to go next. When we walked down the stairs back to our bunks the graffiti scrawled above our heads read "Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans."

Life back at the university is settling into a routine again. Coming back to China after being in other countries on vacation for so long helps me to be able to look at where and how we live with new eyes. This is a post on random things in life lately that caught my attention.


1. You can buy apples in China that have a Chinese character branded on them. I can't figure out how they do it - the design is not carved or skinned but it seems to be chemically bleached off. Hmm. Qin Chen said that the characters mean things like "happiness", "fortune", and "wealth" etc. and that families buy the apples and arrange them in proper phrases for show in their house.

2. While on the BRT (Changzhou's rapid transit bus system) on the way with Daniel and Sean to a large supermarket, we saw a father pick his small child up out of his seat and take him to a corner of the bus so that he could relieve himself. The rest of the people did not seem that surprised but they did not seem particularly pleased either. Daniel, Sean and I looked at each other as if to say, 'welcome to China'. To his credit, afterward the father proceeded to the front of the bus where he got a mop and cleaned up the puddle.

3. Pizza Hut is a fancy restaurant here. The other Saturday, Sean and I wanted some pizza but the line outside the new restaurant was ridiculous. The server told us we would have to wait 40 minutes. We opted to come back later for dinner. You can get delicious (and very creatively topped) pizzas here but you can also get elaborate dishes, desserts, drinks, appetizers and wines. Last night we had the New Orleans pizza with an appetizer of waffle fries on a dinner date with Qin Chen. It was pretty classy - especially the waffle fries and the two pitchers of Pepsi that we consumed.


4. My favorite student names that I have this semester are: Clove, Yoyo, Imrahil, Loco, Faramir, Lotus, Kiko, Meshel, Kerena, Aflin, Vera, Hermany, Cello and Dream. Since I was so terrible at memorizing names last semester, this year I took a picture of each student holding a paper of what they want to be called so I can study and try and learn them. We'll see how effective this really is - at least they had a blast getting their pictures taken.


5. If you buy a pineapple at the store, they will offer to cut it for you in a special way that can be seen everywhere where pineapple is sold on the street. After cutting the skin off, they use a special grooved tool to cut the deeper spots out which creates a series of spiral rings. The effect is kind of stunning and saves that extra little bit of pineapple that I previously chose to carelessly lop off.


6. For St. Patrick's day, Sean cooked up an "Irish" breakfast lunch that included bacon, hash browns, eggs, baked beans, fruit salad and coffee. It was awesome. I did his dishes.


7. Sean doesn't have any classes on Mondays and he came over today because we were going to work on his lesson plan for tomorrow. It's too bad that the couches here aren't made for tall people. This is what he ended up doing instead:


8. Tonight we decided to make dinner together and whipped up some chicken salads with garlic toast and wine. Chinese people don't really like eating raw vegetables and because of that it can be hard to find salads readily available anywhere. This one tasted great! I didn't have any clean forks so I decided to eat mine with chopsticks. Everything was going fine until I got to the cherry tomatoes. . .

With the amount of free time that our schedules allow, many of us foreign teachers have been looking for part-time jobs outside of the university. Last semester it was easy to find extra jobs and I worked 8 hours per week at a company called Super. This semester, for some reason, it has been a little more effort trying to arrange some jobs on the side but with the help and recommendations from Peter and Ken I'm starting to get some extra hours.

Finding (and maintaining) part-time work in China can be a wee bit of an adventure because businesses aren't run the same as they are in the U.S. Just like trying to mesh in with a new business in any other culture, rule number one is never assume anything. For example, in some of the less-prestigious English centers here there are no contracts, schedules/hours can change literally minutes before you are supposed to be somewhere, classes can be taken over by a different teacher without you being informed, meetings are canceled without any advance notice and there is a seemingly general lack of organization, planning and confrontation. To stay sane you have to relax, be flexible, patient, and have a generous sense of humor.

You also have to be able to think quick on your feet and be able to execute a fun and coherent lesson plan with the preparation of about 5 minutes. For example, on Thursday I had an interview with Newave, an English training company for kids ages 5-12. I was told that I would have to do an interview, but when I arrived, I found out that I had to do a 20 minute teaching demonstration in front of a group of Chinese teachers pretending to be 5 year olds. Even though I protested that I didn't really prepare anything, they put me in a room with some flashcards of parts of the body for about 10 minutes and told me to make a lesson plan. The more games, songs and fun activities the better, they said. I started to sweat. This was just like graduate student summer T.A. training at OSU all over again - it was terrifying! I was grateful that I had worked a little time at Small Talk for Kids so I had a few ideas that I could whip together quickly.


The teaching demo went ok and thus this morning I was up bright and early teaching English to a surly bunch of 12 year olds. I don't have a ton of experience teaching children and I have forgotten how exhausting it is. After an hour of using body language to the extreme, shouting, hopping around, singing and dancing the Hokey Pokey (twice), acting like a robot and belting out "head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes . . . " I am still deciding if getting up early, the commute and 120 yuan was worth it.

Tonight, I was supposed to teach a group of engineers but after waiting for them to pick me up, they never showed. I called them and they said that they were too busy and forgot to tell me. This is not unusual. Tomorrow I am teaching an "Interpretation" class at Super but am still not sure what the course is actually about or what I am supposed to do for 2 hours. Fortunately, I had an interview at one of the best English training institutes in China, a company called Web and might start working with them a few hours next week. If not, there are a plethora of other companies to try such as Global IELTS, LongBridge, Only, Linguaphone and World to name a few.

Though this kind of teaching is really different than what I am used to and carries with it some distinct disadvantages, the main one being pure chaos, it does have some advantages: (1) There is never much boredom in part-time work - students, classes and companies are always changing so it keeps things interesting. (2) Since you never really know what you are going to teach you don't have to spend a lot of time preparing outside of class. (3) You get to teach a variety of subjects to students who vary in age and ability. Finally , the bottom line is that we don't really need the extra work or money. Our salary at the university covers everything we need and then some. Working a part-time job that can be inconvenient and a little frustrating at times isn't so bad if in the back of your mind you know you are doing it "just for fun" and that you could quit anytime without any serious consequences.

P.S. Speaking of teaching, CIEE put out their first annual teaching magazine TAUGHT with stories and pictures of other people living and working abroad. Check it out!

Sunday was day two of the Bangkok Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tournament and everyone was involved in a single-elimination round robin. I decided to watch Sean play and chat with Ken rather than pretend I could actually play with the big dogs. It was a hot day and everyone was sweating like crazy. Sean's team did ok and ended up being in the top 8 out of about 25 teams. His team nixed the idea of a consolation game in the late afternoon, however, so we decided to get in some more sight-seeing with Ken since he was leaving the next day.



First we went to Wat Saket or The Golden Mount which was once the highest point in Bangkok. After climbing many stairs and navigating through crowds of Buddhists making merit with incense, flowers, prayers and money, we were rewarded with great views of the city. Most Thais are Buddhist and believe that making merit will aid their current situation as well as improve their future lives to come.


After climbing the hill it was getting late so we decided to take a tuk-tuk instead of walking to our next stop. In Bangkok, tuk-tuks (a three-wheeled motorized taxi) are ubiquitous and are also famous for scamming tourists. Supposedly, the locals are able to negotiate rates that are much cheaper than normal taxis but for tourists this is next to impossible if you don't want to get scammed. The scams are so well-known that any guide book warns you of several schemes with the logical moral of "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is."


The most famous tuk-tuk scam is fairly harmless if you have time to waste, a sense of humor and plenty of patience. In this scam a tuk-tuk driver offers to take you anywhere you want to go in the city for free! Then, instead of taking you to your destination, he makes several stops at gem stores, tailors, and souvenir shops. At each place you have to go inside and spend about 10 minutes (and hopefully buy something) in order for the driver to get his free kickback or gasoline voucher from the store. Eventually the driver will, in fact, take you to your destination for free, but not without you first spending hours walking through stores loaded with trinkets and fending off tailors trying to sell you a suit.


Since Ken, Sean and I had some time and were entertained by the thought of willfully participating in the tuk-tuk scam, we flagged down the nearest driver and sure enough, he offered to take us anywhere for free. However, after being dragged around to gem stores, souvenir shops and several tailors, the attraction we wanted to see had closed and we were anxious to get out of the tuk-tuk. Ken had to lay into the driver a bit and threaten to call his company if he didn't stop taking us around the city instead of where we wanted to go. We finally made it there after about an hour and a half total ride time and didn't have to pay. I don't think I would do it again, but it was a pretty unique experience regardless. Just cruising around Bangkok in a loud, and crazily-driven tuk-tuk was worth it in itself.


We spent the evening at a fancy rooftop lounge sipping iced coffees and looking at the gorgeous view of Wat Arun at sunset across the river. Later that night we all got Thai massages which cost about $8 and felt fantastic after a weekend of playing frisbee and walking around. We said goodbye to Ken who was leaving early in the morning to head back to China and then a few days later to India.

After checking out Khao Sok National Park in Thailand for two days Sean and I took an overnight bus back to Bangkok so we could arrive in time to register and participate in the Bangkok Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tournament. On Friday we spent the day just hanging out, sleeping and catching up on the internet. Later that night we met up with Ken and Daniel for dinner and drinks at the bar where the frisbee registration was happening.


Saturday morning we had to be at the fields really early to meet with our teams, grab our jerseys, and find our playing field. I have played my share of ultimate frisbee in high school and college but I have never been what you would call a fanatic. Sean, on the other hand, is obsessed with ultimate frisbee and plays it whenever he gets the chance. A hat tournament in ultimate frisbee is where you sign up to play with people you don't know in teams arranged so as to balance ability. It is supposed to be a fun and social way to play the game. The Bangkok hat tournament was a little too competitive for me but it was still a fun time. I was the only person on my team who wasn't really into ultimate frisbee and I constantly had to ask for help with some new plays and ultimate terminology. Ultimate frisbee has its own specific jargon like "chilly", "stack", "force" and "zone" among many others. The other thing that put a slight damper on competitive play was the fact that I was playing in my hiking boots whereas others were playing in cleats.



The tourney was very well-organized and was also very conscientious about being green. We were served breakfast, lunch and dinner with bowls made out of banana leaves and were instructed to use our frisbees as plates. One of the biggest parts of ultimate frisbee is the beer culture. Usually while players compete during the day there are constantly drinking beer and this tournament was no different. The Bangkok hat tourney hosted free kegs of cold beer right on the field and required you to use your own water bottle as a container.


The other neat thing about the tourney was that you could meet people from all over. I was the only person on my team of 15 who was from the U.S. The other players were from Germany, Thailand, China, Singapore, Canada, S. Korea and the Philippines. At night, the tournament hosted an impressive party in a bar in the city which included an open bar, an ice luge and free food. Needless to say, Sean was in his element and dominated playing time on his team while I kind of took a backseat and just played whenever a female player was needed on the field. Still, it was nice to be doing something different, meeting new people and exercising outside.

Except for the health physical we had to have at the beginning of the year in order to get our visas, Sean and I haven't had to go to the doctor. But last week we decided we should go after a few symptoms from traveling were being a little too persistent. Not surprisingly, the occasional squalid conditions of backpacking around southeast Asia on a shoestring probably caused some of our minor physical problems. Fortunately, we didn't experience anything serious and most of our discomfort was caused by bugs/bites, small jellyfish stings, ringworm, bad food and occasional colds. Last week Sean's stomach was still not back to normal and my ringworm (it's not a worm but another term for athlete's foot) wasn't going away so we called up Teddy and he made an appointment for us with the campus doctor for the following morning.


During the appointment the doctors spent about 45 seconds examining us, asked Teddy some questions and then prescribed an elaborate regimen of Chinese traditional medicine for Sean and some antifungal cream for me. The appointments and the prescriptions cost a total of about $7 which the school paid for.

Sean is supposed to continue taking his medicine until he feels better. His daily routine consists of three pills three times a day, a powdered hot beverage two times a day and a vial of liquid two times a day. I was pretty suspicious of all this and asked Teddy to ask the doctors what was in all of it. The doctor assured Teddy and I that everything was completely safe, plant material and that all of the medicines had been used for years and were quite common and effective.


So far Sean has been taking his traditional meds for about 4 days now and feels just about back to normal. He says the flavor of the medicines is pretty bad and that it tastes like a mix of strong, sweetened perfume and herbs. So far his thoughts on using Chinese traditional medicine are that it is worth a try but he remains skeptical if the medicine was what did the trick or if it was simply that his body needed a little more time. I hope you all have enjoyed this little intimate glimpse into the current ailments of Sean and I - I know I had fun writing it =)