杰米

lessons learned

I finished classes this week and as I pack my things to go to Beijing and then home, I find that I truly have adapted to life here. In fact, it will be hard for me to leave. Plans of returning soon have already been brewing in my head, but I should take a moment to reflect. I should also take a moment to feel proud of myself. Im not sure of the exact moment I acquired the fearlessness that I see in myself now. Perhaps the mountains gave me strength, but actually I think it is my own shortcomings that gave me power. I look back on all of the daily struggles of not being able to communicate fluently. I will be forever thankful for all of the things that didn't go as I planned. I have found a lifetime of treasures during these short six months. Lesson one: Doufu (tofu). Soybeans are ground into powder and doufu is made. Its a staple food here, full of protein, and good for the body. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at huige's home and helped make doufu and cabbage jiaozi (dumplings). Huige is my older brother and he always loves to eat doufu. I like to think that huige's heart is even like doufu, soft and strong! Lesson two: "you cant eat noodles everyday!" It's true, Shandong people love noodles and Liangli has reason to fear for my health if I ate noodles everyday. Haha, but there is another good lesson here. Variety really does make our lives colorful! Lesson three: TEA. Its ancient tradition and contemporary life. Tea sort of stabilizes. Hot liquid doesn't go against your natural body temperature. It often reminds me of harmony. Its a part of society and relationship building. Variety is good, but tea is a part of the daily life. Lesson four: be good to your body. i went to the largest spa in the world on saturday with liangli, xutian, yange, and yanjie. it was amazing, it feels like after such a challenging year, my body was able to refresh. bagua massage, hot pools,steam room, fuit, seafood, laughter, all good for me. all made me feel that the simple things like taking care of your body make you feel the best. i love that china sees this is so important.

Qingdao

 a beautiful seaside city!  It was really interesting to be able to see the german and influence in the architecture! And its true that the Japanese rule at making shou si (sushi). Yum seafood and american company made it an enjoyable trip…thanks neil and brandon! We were really lucky that the hostel we stayed at didn't have bedbugs, it was cheap AND actually really clean and nice.  It was also fortunate  that it was still warm enough for me to be able to play in the sea…

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

we played games at an arcade and saw some guys dressed up for halloween! then we watched inception! FINALLY

UPDATE: My students, Russians, and Chinese concert

So, teaching is going better and better! Ive really connected with my students and its so rewarding to see them gain confidence speaking! They are adorable the way they are so concerned for me…"teacher, its cooler wear more clothes, " "my teacher, do you eat?" haha "teacher, welcome you to linyi," lol they are so hospitable!  I think those that want to learn are learning…and i know i have learned SO much from teaching them for sure.

 Im also thinking about joining a class myself. The chinese class they offer us is a big fail, BUT i know of an art class that Illia teaches. Illia is a Russian artist that teaches  at the university and if I can learn enough Russian to ask to join the class, Im going to go for it!  We were talking in a big group outside the other day and Illia made this little wire animal and gave it to me, it made me want to make something with my  hands again!  Its really cool that he made that wire thing for me too cause we cant really communicate otherwise and at first I was a little scared of the Russians.  I mean Kostya and Olga (the piano playing couple) are the sweetest, but the other Russians always seemed a little odd to me. Now i can see that its just because of the little language and cultural differences.  Kostya taught me how to say goodbye in Russian too lol, so yea, I really don't feel nervous about the Russians anymore yay!

 Ok ok ok.  I was walking around the other night eating a chinese sweet potato and these kids offered to sell me their concert tickets. I bought them for cheap and decided to surprise huige and go together. Little did I know…it was a big deal concert for Linyi. So many famous stars performed! Wang Leehom was there!! Hen shuai ge!  And another dude I really dig that sings that song, "one night in beijing"  … sigh, made me a bit nostalgic about karaoke times in Beijing.  But Im so glad I went! It proved to me yet again that I really never know what each day will bring :)

Big City, Small Love (Wang Leehom)

Its STUCK in my head!

Song:   Download 06 Da Cheng Xiao Ai

Video:   http://www.56.com/u11/v_NDA0OTE3MDQ.html

 

happy

There is such a festive feeling in the air lately...I have to stop and say that I love it! Fresh popcorn and sweet potato chips being sold on the streets. Pomegranates and APPLES taste so good. Its cooler out but sunny and the time of year everyones playing ping pong and  shooting hoops til dark. The absence of American Football is a little odd, but I won't cry about it.  I feel happy and thats more than enough for me. 

HAHA I have to make a silly little note though...I ran out of deodorant a couple weeks ago.  I don't know if it just me, but I am finding I don't really need it. Maybe China has gotten to me, but it seems a little silly to be constantly rubbing antiperspirant on your arms. I smell alright and yes I still shave daily if anybody wondered. :p 

 

Download 04 月光

 

 

 

 

Kickin it on holiday in Linyi

After Liang Li arrived to Linyi the games began!

Huige, Chen, Huage and Liang let me play bball with them and it was so much fun. These guys are true athletes. Chen is 6 foot five and a monster on the court. Huige is tall and thin and a team player. Huage is also real tall and has a sweet shot. Liang is tall and all around athletic, shooting and driving the ball in to score.  I even managed to score the last day we played! I was real excited and my teammates made sure to give me plenty of credit, thanks guys :)

We also went to the internet bar and Huige and Liang played LOTS of warcraft, but Liang thoughtfully loaned me his psp so that i could practice the little games on there that I like to play. hehe im addicted now...

I also learned something new eating with the guys this time. In China there are two types of food tai and fan. Tai is like your vegetable, meat, and tofu dishes and fan is rice, noodles or bread. You eat tai first and everyone shares and then they bring in a fan to each person. You can continue eating the tai but the fan is your own. One of my fave tai is lotus root.

We also played games after dinners that included dice games, guessing the number of toothpicks, who's the killer, and piao piao ahh. I am blogging all of this because I want to remember it. Good times!!! 

All of us also went to ktv a couple times...I still cant sing and especially not when the lyrics are in Chinese, but I did manage to spit out a couple lines of Doujiang Youtiao this time around. Ha! but the other guys can seriously SING and it was another good time just watching them. 

Download 09 就让这首歌

 

 

 

Climbing Meng Shan!

The most breathtaking experience of my life was climbing this mountain! Breathtakingly beautiful and also a killer workout.  

 

Meng Shan is just one of many mountain peaks in Shandong province. Its theme is longevity. It is said that if you climb mount meng, you will live a long life...

Meng Shan peaks at 1156 m.  and it took us all day to reach the top, but there was so much to see along the way.  I forgot I had my camera in my backpack for a majority of the time, but when we first entered there was this amazing wall with water cascading down. There were spouts with dragon heads and the water sprayed over the side making a double rainbow. I was pumped after that. And There were also places to stop and sit and eat things like hardboiled egg and fruits and even scorpions. I was happy to stop and rest when we could because it was so  beautiful!

I went with Huige and his friend Chen and Chen's girlfriend Lili.

Huige next to the chinese word for long life...

Lili brought bubbles and we stopped to play right before making it to the top...

Now I understand why so many Chinese poets wrote about the mountains and water. I feel revived :)

Download 03 Qing Hua Ci

 

Lun Yu- The Analects of Confucius

1. The Master said, "Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application?
2. "Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?
3. "Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?"

 

Huige showed me this today and I found it very interesting. Confucius was from Qufu and we might visit this city if we get the chance. Also, Liang Li is coming back to Linyi on Monday to visit. I think it would be great if we could all go climbing together and go to Qufu. We will see.

wisdom teeth

On Wednesday I met a Chinese English teacher named Jenny. She's crazy but nice. She does things that dont make sense and drive me nuts but Im still glad I made friends with her. She's really funny actually. She loves Seinfeld. We went to a dvd store together and I bought a bunch of movies, which was a really good idea BECAUSE I had 2 of my wisdom teeth pulled the next day. Even though the volume didn't work on all of the episodes, I watched the first two seasons of Heros. 

First though, Jenny helped me talk to the teachers at the school across from campus. There is a preschool there and I often visit, but can't communicate with the teachers. I brought Jenny with me on Wednesday to the school to make a card with the kids to send to the preschool back home. It was fun.

 

Ok, next...Jenny told me about a dentist in Linyi. I have been wanting to get my wisdom teeth pulled and thought, why not do it in China? Its cheaper here and I don't have insurance back home. So, on Thursday Jenny took me to her dentist office. It was very different from a dentist office back home, but pulling teeth didn't seem that complicated to me so I went for it. They would only pull two teeth at once, which I don't really understand but I'll go back next week to have the other two out. 

It cost about fifty dollars total and it didn't take long. They didn't knock me out or anything though, they just numbed my mouth. It was kinda cool but a little scary. I could hear the tooth rip out of my my gums. They also just pulled the entire thing out without breaking it up first. Lets just say it took some major elbow grease. The dentist was old but strong. And when they finally had both teeth out they showed me. I couldn't help but laugh, the teeth are monstrous! And then they gave me medicine for the bleeding and inflammation. I asked for pain killer, but they didn't think I would need it.......??? When the anesthesia wore off I def needed pain medicine...

It wasn't the most comfortable experience but I'll go back to get the other teeth out. Ha, you never know what each day will bring. I'm glad I ran into Jenny, but to be honest she wasn't really helpful in the dentist office. No paperwork...she only asked if I had allergies or HIV?  And she drives sooooo slow, which is annoying when you are on the back of the bike with a swollen face wishing you could get back to campus as fast as possible. I guess since there aren't really speed limits people just drive at whatever speed they want and Jenny drives dangerously slow. Worse than taxis...and then she wasn't paying attention and actually drove past the campus gate. I was so tempted to just jump off the bike because she was going slow anyways. It was nice of her to go with me though. She even held my hand which really helped when I heard all of the crunching of my teeth being pulled. What a bizarre day.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Ok, so my whole internet situation is still really bad. Yes, I have a mac and the cable internet will not work with that here in Linyi. It took me FOREVER to communicate this to people so that I could buy an aircard that was compatible with macs. I bought the aircard and payed for 4 months though. Then it didn’t work for some reason. Then finally it worked until I ran out of internet prematurely...I tried going back to unicom to see if I could add more to my plan, but that isn’t an option for some reason. And they told me that since I ran out I cant go to the next month, which still doesn’t really make sense to me. And why do they only tell me this after I already ran out? The girl that works there is also always sending me to a different unicom location except by then I am usually too frustrated to handle the 5 girls that work at that location because they just laugh at me the entire time. I don’t think I have ever straight up laughed at someone back in the states that couldn’t really speak english. So naturally all of this gets on my nerves. So now whenever I have problems I ask the nice girl to go with me to the mean girl location. She also always gives me a ride on her motorbike. Twice though she has had to leave all of a sudden and I get stuck with the laughing girls and then have to take one of those little bumpy vehicles back. Also, I always ask her if my internet can be fixed and she says no, yet we ride to all of these other unicom locations anyway. I don’t really understand the point in that because I always just end up having to buy these prepaid cards that give me a little more internet. I guess I will just have to watch what I download next month and try very hard not to run out of internet though that too is hard to measure. What a pain...or maybe I am the problem, Im too concerned about having internet hehe. 

But I am getting used to finding humor wherever I can, for example, riding on the back of the nice unicom girl’s motorbike people would look over at me like wheres that American going with that girl on that bike...but I was also wearing basketball shorts and rain boots when it wasn’t even raining and too cold for shorts, but i kept getting compliments on the boots like they were a nice pair of shoes or something. I think in the states people wouldn’t wonder where I was going just why I was wearing the boots and shorts considering the weather. Different things matter to Chinese people I guess and its good to be able to laugh at. I never make it obvious that Im laughing at a specific person though. Pointing and laughing should be a crime! ha.

Anyways, I had my first regular class today. But it wasn’t regular at all actually. First of all, its Sunday and today was just a makeup class for a class I’ll miss next week on national holiday. To make it even more confusing, it was in a different classroom than normal and the bus schedule was also off. The only thing about it that will be consistent are my students. The Total Immersion Program is over so now I am teaching the students I will be teaching for the entire semester. It went well considering all that was off but still. The rest of my day was pretty much spent reading a book called Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. I started and finished it today which tells you that I found it interesting enough. After reading though, I needed to burn some energy and so I went for a walk around the world. 

When I say I went for a walk around the world, I mean I walked on and around this fountain on campus. Its a big fountain of a world map and they only turn the water on when something special is going on. The rest of the time is just a circular space with platforms where the continents are. The thing thats different about it for me though is that East Asia is in the upper center. I am used to a map where North America is to the West and Europe and Africa are in the center-ish with China to the East. This map begins with Africa and Europe and then Asia, and then the Americas in the East. Different, but probably good for me to see for a change. So the fountain wasn’t on and I was hopping across the countries listening to my music. I think it was one of those nights where you feel ready to make some sort of little discovery about life but you feel like you have to be moving around for that to happen. I was walking across Antarctica when it came to me. Im in China! How cool is that? It sounds silly, but sometimes I sorta forget. I think the thought came from the book I read, though in the book he was talking about Jamaica instead of China. But what was said is that you often get used to other cultures quickly. And also, sometimes what Americans are very vague about things that other cultures might be specific about. Also, we might expect details on things like internet/phone where China is very vague about such issues. You get used to it though and forget it might be different back home.