My trash truck plays "Jingle Bells" over and over...

Not sure why...Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was not, in fact, an ice cream truck.

It’s been quite the week- I’ve been to Lanzhou and back and liked it very much! All the Gansu folk left last Sunday for our train ride through the countryside. I tell you, Chinese sleeper trains are the way to go! We had “hard sleepers” which means bunks in an open sleeper car. The bunks were clean and well-padded and very comfortable. By day, you get a good opportunity to see the scenery and chat with the people around you, and the beds make for good sleeping at night. They lights go off at ten and come on again at seven, so everyone felt rested. As we approached Lanzhou, the scenery became more and more arid. There are lots of mountains that look a lot like the desert mountains in the American Southwest (link to my album at the bottom of the page). All in all, it was a most pleasant way to spend 20 hours.

When I got to Lanzhou, the assistant from the waiban (foreign affairs office) was waiting for me along with my counterpart teacher. They were both very friendly and had a car waiting to take me to my new apartment. We dropped off my stuff, and then headed to the train ticket office to buy my return ticket. There had been a miscommunication and it hadn’t been bought the week before, and by the time we got to the office, all the train tickets were sold out. After many phone calls to my new boss and my old boss and a break for lunch, we got it all settled, and I got a plane ticket for Friday. Much faster, but probably not as pretty.

After that was sorted, my ever helpful counterpart helped me negotiate the bus system home and then I took a nice nap in my new apartment (again, see pictures.) It’s a nice place with a living room, study, bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Furthermore, my new bed is the most comfortable one in China. Most Chinese beds are quite hard in a way that is supposed to be good for the back (and I’m sure it is), but my bed is just the right amount of soft. It’s not so much soft as it is deep, if that makes any sense. If you come visit, I’ll let you sit on it and see for yourself.

Also, the apartment is completely furnished. At least two volunteers have lived there before me, so it has accumulated a healthy amount of furnishings and knickknacks. I have nice blankets for the winter, cushions for the sofa, and a starter set of kitchen supplies. The last volunteer even left me a hutch full of books and teaching materials, so I’m looking forward to weeding through that.

On Tuesday, after I had rested up, my counterpart Ai took me around the two campuses where I’ll be teaching and showed me the noteworthy buildings. I live on the west campus but will likely teach all my classes at the Peili campus. Many teachers do commute every day, and there is a school shuttle that runs at intervals. There’s also a public bus that runs every ten minutes during term, and it’s very cheap. I’m looking forward to going back and exploring more in September (and in the next two years) because most of the shops and restaurants near my apartment were closed since it’s the school vacation. Most of their patrons are students, so the owners go on vacation when the students do.

After exploring my new stomping grounds, we went to a tourist attraction- White Pagoda Mountain. They have ramps and stairs built up the mountain to facilitate getting to the pagoda at the top. Apparently, during the expansion of Genghis Khan’s empire, the Tibetan Buddhist sent a priest to pay their respects. Unfortunately, the fellow died in Lanzhou, and the pagoda was built a century or so later in his memory. Now, it is a “cultural relic under the protection of the province.” It was a very nice tower. Also, they have a pond at the top of the mountain where they have giant plastic balls that you can climb in then have inflated. Once you’re all sealed up in your ball, they push you into the pond and you can scoot about on top of the water like a hamster. I watched a couple kids do it, and the final result is somewhere between bizarre and amazing.

During the rest of my time in Lanzhou, I was pretty much free to explore on my own. I expanded my knowledge of the bus system, explored nearby shopping options, and found an internet café. I also had a brief meeting with an official and learned I’ll likely be teaching freshman oral English and writing for students in their final year of a three year program. I’m lucky in that I’ll probably have a break for a couple weeks- freshmen have two weeks of military training at the beginning of the term, and my third-years begin with a month of field study. It’ll be nice to have a cushion between getting off the train and teaching.

It was also interesting to see the different ways shops work there. I went to a restaurant for dinner one night. I thought it was a normal restaurant where you sit down, they bring you a menu (hopefully with pictures!) and then you can order. I started to walk in, and a lady near the door started flapping at me and called me back to the entrance. I went back, and she said I had to place my order with her. Ok….so I told her what I wanted and paid, and then she gave me a ticket and turned to the next customer. A ticket?! What do I do with a ticket? Fortunately a waitress noticed me wandering aimlessly near the door and explained that I should get a plastic wrapped bowl from the stack and take it to the kitchen window in the back. So I passed over my ticket and bowl and got what I ordered in no time flat. THEN I sat down and ate it- very tasty. So, now I know how a ticketed restaurant works!

Now that I’m back in Chengdu, time is flying by until swearing in. This is my last week with my host family. We have our final language test this week and our host family appreciation dinner. Next Monday (a week from tomorrow), I’ll move back to the hotel for a little while. Swearing in is the 28th, and I’ll move to Lanzhou permanently soon after. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Train Station Photo

Not my photo, but a visual none the less!

News!

We got our site announcements yesterday! I will be spending the next two years at Lanzhou City University in Lanzhou, capital city of Gansu. You can read a little bit about Lanzhou here. I'm excited about my site. The school has 13,000 students and 1100 faculty on three campuses. I'll be living in faculty housing on one of those campuses. Frankly, it's still strange to me that I'm on faculty at a university at all!

On Sunday, I'll leave for a week-long visit to Lanzhou. Unless they're still renovating it, I will stay in my new apartment, so I'll take and post pictures. There are several other volunteers in my city and a couple only a five minute walk away at other schools, so we should be able to all travel together. It's a 20 hour train ride, but hopefully the company will make the time pass quicker.

In other news, we went on a field trip today to the train station. When we saw field trip on the schedule, we assumed field trip. You know, get on a provided bus, be herded around a location, listen to someone point out the important features, the get back on the bus. Easy as pie. Except that's not quite what they meant by field trip. Instead, we were given some questions to ask and info to find out while at the station. (How much for a ticket to Guizhou? etc) When it was time to go, we were loitering waiting for our teachers while they chatted, a most unusual occurrence. We finally said something to the effect of, "Let's get going," and they said, "Bye! See you tomorrow!"

Thus, today was rather sink or swim. Seems we can swim after all. The point of the exercise was to force us to ask for directions, find a new place, and negotiate it independently. Quite a few of us were given similar tasks, but it was the first time we'd really been turned loose on the buses. It was fun and heartening to know that we can do it. The train station itself is enormous, with a separate ticket hall, and a massive terminal with at least three "waiting halls." I was told they have 170 trains a day. The mass of humanity is incredible. Since Chengdu is the "gateway to the west," many of the people are travelers from non-Han parts of China, and the train station has a more diverse feel than most of the city. That aside, the number of people is overwhelming. There were thousands there today, and it wasn't a peak day or time. Travelling this weekend is going to be quite the experience.

End of an Era

Friday was the last day of model school. I'm a little glad to be finished with it, but I will miss the kids. It was hard to know we'd only have them for two weeks and thus not get too attached. For the last day of class, they presented their mini-plays they'd been working on and then we had a party. We brought Coke and Chips Ahoy! and played 20 Questions and Would You Rather...? They seemed to really enjoy it.

The funniest moment came when we were giving out certificates. One student wanted to get pictures in classic diploma pose (take with the left, shake with the right), so I did it for all the students while Ross photographed. One boy shook my hand, and then, right as Ross snapped the picture, threw his left arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. So basically there is this great picture of me being pulled sideways off-balance with a funny look on my face as he beams and clutches his certificate.

I also taught our primary school surprise class for two days this week. I co-taught with another trainee, which was definitely a good system. We had 22 kids from 4 or 5 to 13 or 14 with some speaking no English beyond "Hello! Hello!" and some being nearly fluent. It went shockingly well. They were extremely well behaved, and yes, sometimes it was controlled chaos, but we were able to move through a lesson plan. I don't think I could have done that with an analogous American class. We taught them parts of the body and emotions. Obviously, that necessitated multiple renditions of "Head and Shoulders," "Hokey Pokey," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." They were a little baffled, but they really got into it. Many Chinese love singing, and most children do anyhow.

Today, Saturday, we had a whole-group morning session which was nice in that we got to see other site folks and actually hang out with them. A group of us went to lunch and then to see Harry Potter. The movie was in Chinese, and I liked it pretty well. I'm sure I'd get more of the subtleties by watching it when it comes out on DVD (aka next week here!). Purchasing the tickets entailed a hilarious conversation which I will repeat here for your amusement.

Of our group of six, four stopped at a store and two of us went ahead to buy the movie tickets. At the counter:

[in Chinese]
Me: Hello, I'd like six tickets for Harry Potter, please.
Clerk: [very slowly] There...are...two...of...you. You...need...two...tickets.
Me: Yes, but my friends are coming to see the movie too. Six tickets.
Clerk: You have six friends?
Me: No, five other people and me. Six tickets altogether.
Clerk: What movie do you want?
Me: Harry Potter
Clerk: The one at 3:30? [Considering the next showing isn't for four hours, yes!]
Me: Yes, 3:30, six tickets.
Clerk: You know the movie is in Chinese, right?
Me: Yes, I know.
Clerk: And you still want six tickets.
Me: Yes, please.
Clerk: Well, ok. I guess I can sell you six.
Me:...thanks.

:-)

Leshan

We went to see the big Buddha in Leshan today. It was a two hour drive followed by observing current PCV’s teaching at a teacher training institute. They were mostly doing student-centered activities, which is good, but not particularly useful to observe. After that, we had a tasty lunch.

The actual Big Buddha was slightly disappointing. It’s a…really big Buddha statue. I’m sure if you are a Buddha aficionado, it is a more meaningful experience, but it wasn’t a big (ahah) deal to me. The trip was salvaged by going to a teahouse after our boat ride and playing cards and majiang for a couple hours. That was great.

Finally, I leave you with some food funnies:
-I came home the other day to find a turtle swimming in a plastic aquarium in the living room, complete with fake trees. The family was cooing how cute it was and had named him WuWu. I thought we got a pet turtle to get go with the pet cats. Turns out he was dinner, and a very tasty one at that!
-Roasted or boiled eggs here are served in halves with the shell still on. Take note.
-Sichuan is famous for ma peppers which have roughly the same effect as novacaine. They're amazing at making your mouth all numb, but oh so tasty with green beans!

Hot Pot and Eclipse

I got to see a total solar eclipse! Well, I didn’t actually see it because it was quite cloudy, but we did get to go outside. It was three hours of sunset collapsed into two minutes, three minutes of cool darkness, and three minutes back to a sunny Wednesday morning. It was a creepy feeling to be standing in the dark at nine in the morning, and we talked about how terrifying it would have been for ancient peoples who didn’t know an eclipse was coming.

More classes and model school today- mostly same old, same old, but I’m having SO much fun with my students. They’re really great and especially enjoyed the (prepositions practice) game where they got to tell me what to do :0)

For dinner, my host family took me to a restaurant where we sat around a boiling pot of broth and chili oil. Sounds crazy, I know, but amazingly good. They bring out raw meat and veggies and you dip it in and cook it. Then , you plunk it in your personal bowl of sauce to cool it and eat it. We were all drenched with sweat but full when we left. It was the good, sauna feeling sweat that makes you feel purified and not the icky humid kind of sweat. So, now that I’m full and relaxed with clean pores, I’m off to finish planning tomorrow’s lesson (Friends and Roommates)!

First Day of Model School

I named someone today. What a bizarre feeling…

It was the first day of model school. Everything went off perfectly, almost too perfectly. It was glorious. The activities took an appropriate amount of time, the students moved around and participated well, and they laughed at all my jokes. I am so pleased it went well. The only bad thing was the heat it was 95 F with 85% humidity! Whew! Our classroom had neither air conditioner nor fan, though we are promised one for tomorrow. So, after teaching for ninety minutes in a shirt, skirt, and hose (what was I thinking?!), I looked like I had been swimming. However, as that’s a common look around here, it wasn’t so bad, and the students were just as hot.

The students themselves are great. They are generally 18-24 and intermediate level, with some exceptions to both items on each end. The activities for today worked out well, and now I have an idea of what to plan for tomorrow. I’m only teaching half the day so Rosstin gets a turn, too.

There’s been some swapping of the schedule since we found out today that one class is twenty-two 5-12 year olds. That’s quite the news item when were told to prepare for 15 university students. The people who got that class were troopers, but we’ve arranged a system where they will join another team of teachers to teach a normal class and we will all take turns teaching the kiddos on our days off. I mean, how hard can it be to teach 22 small and not so small children for 90 minutes? Famous last words.

Tomorrow will be great! We’re doing an apartment hunting game and then a lesson on prepositions in the context of household objects (the bed is next to the table, etc.)