The Weekend of David and Honey

So David and Honey are our best friends. Literally. Since we've been in China, we spent one day without seeing them at all, and we almost went insane. (We made search parties, scoured the school, sent up flares, the whole bit.) Long story short, we owe them our lives. They help us take care of everything in China. They are our translators, warm friends, cultural aides, brother, sister, father and mother while we're here. Plus, they love to go out on the town. Which makes them cooler than we are, because we can only speak 1 language as of late, and they know two. (Three in david's case, he knows some Japanese). Anyhow. Some of our adventures thus far are worth mentioning. To kick things off, David decided that he wanted to cook for us the night after the sports meeting - so we all piled into David and Honey's quaint little apartment at around 7. We brought the Pi-Joe (beer), and he cooked up a storm. He LOVES potatoes, and that showed in the cooking, but he also made a dish with tomatoes and eggs that was unreal, and now Neha's favorite dish in china. She'll order it wherever we go. Literally. The night was great, we ate a ton, then played a few card games with beer until everyone got too tired to laugh, and hit the bed. The next day, we decided that since David and Honey wanted to cook us a nice Chinese dinner - we would cook them a nice AMERICAN dinner! So after some deliberation and blind luck at the supermarket - we managed to eek out some weird version of french fries (christina chopped the potatoes, boiled oil, and plopped 'em in) which came out damn good, and I tried to cook up hamburgers with some beef - which ended up becoming a new sort of sloppy joe (we had to improvise like crazy) served on potato bread. Not bad! To top it all off we chopped up a watermelon, made some of the easy mac I brought from the US of A, and washed it down with cold beer. They were estastic with the night, and so were we - because it gave us a chance to really give back and show David and Honey how appreciative we are of everything they do for us.

On another night, we went to this muslim restaurant out in Tongliao.. the name escapes me, but it was home to a form of dinner I've never experienced, but can't WAIT to do again. It's calling 'Hot Pot'. Here's how it works: You choose what flavor hot pot you want, which is like a bowl of soup that is heated up to boiling and sits next to your dinner plate. The soup's flavors go from tomato, to curry, and so on. Once heated up, you choose from a large array of raw foods on the round table in front of you.

By the way, the tables in China are awesome. They are round and fit at least 10 people around them, but the kicker is that there is a large glass plate in the middle that all of the food goes on. It works like a giant lazy susan, and rotates to give everyone a shot at each dish, allowing you to make up your own plate of whatever it is you like. I love it. America really needs to invest. But I digress.

You choose raw foods to put into the hot pot to cook for a few minutes, then you take it out, let it cool, and eat it! It's amazing! We had things from noodles, raw veggies, shrimp, chicken, pork, mushrooms, and beyond. It was truly a delectable experience. Plus, David and Honey made it all the more entertaining just by being themselves. They have a wonderful presence about them - very humble, very appreciative, and very welcoming. I wish I could stress more how integral they are to our China experience over the internet, but you really just need to meet them to understand. After our hot pots, we made it over to KTV. KTV is awesome. Period. It is a HUGE chain in China, and are found literally everywhere. KTV = Insane karaoke bar. You get your own room, a waitress to bring you drinks, and a billion songs at your finger tips. It's a riot. We started off singing Backstreet boys, and by the end found ourselves break dancing to Mongolian trance music. Perhaps some stories are to be left unsaid.

Aside from those specific instances, they have literally shown us Tongliao and how to get around the city to everywhere that is important (the malls, supermarkets, snack street and KFC to be specific). They brought us to see the school's South Campus, which is where Meg and Christina will be teaching for the next year. Also, they brought us to this food court across the street from KFC (aka, the center of town) where you charge a little card with money, then pick out whatever food you want from about 8 different little food booths, and they charge the card. The food was great too! Plus they have a wonderful bubble tea shop across from all these food shops which I gave a shot - and it is really quite tasty! Neha loves it too.

After all of these little adventures, David and Honey had to graces and (in my opinion) courage to ask us to join them on a little vacation they were planning! It was to a trip to Shenyang, and large city in China about 6 hours south of Tongliao by train. It is very big and quite Western styled, and has some things Tongliao lacks like McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and the Shenyang Imperial Palace: known as the Crown of the Manchu empire. Being absolutely thrilled with the fact that they weren't sick of us and actually wanted us to join them on such a trip, we fullheartedly agreed! The next post will be all about Shenyang!

'Sports Meeting' and Class Selection.

A few things to discuss, here. The first of these things - the Tongliao # 1 Middle School Sports Meeting. It was one of the more impressive things I've ever been spectator of. I took a jog the day before it began, and happened upon Mr. Zheng by accident, and he invited me up to his office. I mentioned that I saw a huge amount of students out on the school track practicing something and he casually mentioned that they were practicing for the opening ceremony of the 'Sports Meeting' they have every year before National Day. I asked if we could attend. He whipped out his cell phone, talked to a couple people, and told us to meet him at 7:45 the next morning at the track. We did. And we were treated like dignitaries by the school, per usual. So this 'sports meeting' is essentially a school-wide Track Meet where anyone who can qualify for a certain track and field event will participate amongst their classmates in their grade. It was outrageously entertaining to watch all the students play so many sports, and actually be amazing at them. The opening ceremonies at the meeting were nothing short of breathtaking. It was a long procession of each grade and each class, followed by a short performance (a dance or concert) from each grade (primary school, high school, kindergarten - SO CUTE - and then the ROTC program). After this, the sports began immediately. They last for two full days, culminating in the teachers sports which were a blast to watch as well. While the competitions are taking place, the rest of the student body (all 3000 some odd kids) sit in the stands of the track and watch their peers in action. I took some time to sit down with a group of Grade 1 High school students (aka, they bombarded me with questions) and ended up singing Dispatch for them. They had no idea what it was, but clapped and cheered afterwards, which is how a lot of the things we do end up getting praised. It's a strange feeling. Alas, after the sports meeting had ended, Mr. Zheng hauled us into his office and told us our official placements for teaching at the school!! I was given.. drumroll:

HIGH SCHOOL GRADES 1 and 2 ON NORTH CAMPUS!

Which is precisely what I wanted. It means I'll be teaching nearly alongside David - and I love that man. I start teaching on Monday. I am all aglow with excitement to teach these kids, mostly for three reasons. David is the first. The second is that I've actually had the opportunity to meet about 3 of the classes I'll be teaching, and they seem like wonderful kids that are extremely eager to learn and be in class with. Third, and most important - is that the kids I will be teaching will have a general ability to speak some english. Of course, the ability level will vary from student to student and class to class - that is to be expected. However, at least some of my students are able to actually hold a conversation with me. I want to get to KNOW these kids in order to teach them. To learn from them is the second reason I'm in the country - the first is to teach. Hopefully I will be able to bear fruit from the relationships I create with the students I will be getting to know for this next year - and only time will tell. But I am extremely optimistic at the moment! Wish me luck. The next few posts will outline some of the things we've been doing up until we begin teaching! Enjoy and comment please!

Day 2 aka, Best day EVER.

Our first full day at Tongliao #1 Middle school was.. awesome. We woke up and played poker with M&M's (a treat we brought with us) until about 10:30am, which is when we all went to go meet David and his class. We were to sit in on class again and watch an actual lesson, then answer a few questions at the end of class. Again, the same enthusiasm, surprise and absolute happiness from the students at seeing us there was unbelieveable. I couldn't stop smiling at them. David is a VERY good teacher - I can't stress this enough. What an amazing person to have as a good friend over here in China. We all love the guy like a brother. Anyway, after his class we had lunch in the school cafeteria with David and his wife, Honey. They were kind enough to offer to take us into town to go shopping for a few necessary items if we wanted to. Having already made some lists up, we gladly agreed. We took a public bus into the city and got off at the Da Jin Qian Jia, or 'big supermarket'. They had all kinds of stuff for dirt cheap. We managed to pick up a kick ass pair of speakers for our room (ipods and such) for 35 yuan. That's.. about Five bucks. We then hit up the actual grocery store and picked up essentials. Toilet paper, juice, towels, shampoo, a soccer ball, some bread and juice.. and let's face it - Pei-joe and Bai-joe. When in China!
After lugging all of our purchases back to campus by taxi (courtesy of David and Honey - seriously, they rock) both of them had to take off to prepare lessons for their night classes, and left us to our own discretion. We decided to take the time to grab the new basketballs and soccer balls we bought at the store and use them on one of the many basketball courts and soccer fields littering the campus. There was a group of students (they had to be.. age 6-10 or so) that were idling around having recess outside where we went to play. Mike, being a tall guy, dunked a basketball to get us warmed up - and by God - you should have seen the kids. They all circled around us.. there were maybe 50 of them and 4 of us. They kept chanting "Hallooo Teachaa!!" And we kept tossing the ball at them, shooting with them, and playing around. Ultimately, I snagged the soccer ball and threw it across the field, and played a big game of keep away with all of them. It was maybe one of the most fun things I've ever done in my life. I was picking the kids up, they were teaching me chinese, I taught them english, they asked all kinds of little questions ("teachaa! can you do this?" Insert cartwheel,handstand, or leap frog here) and were essentially the most adoreable little kids I've ever met. We did this for probably about an hour (including a 4x4 footrace around a small track that one of the little girls orchestrated) until they had to go back to class. It was surreal. I am SO happy to be here and able to take advantage of what the world has to offer, geographically and people-wise.
After this we had dinner by ourselves in the cafeteria with some weird food we've never seen before. Check out the pictures. After dinner, we ran into David and Honey together by chance ( we thought they were going out on a date.. when actually they were going to teach their classes.. the teachers here all work extremely hard day-in and day-out.. it makes me feel guilty to see how hard they work, and to see them so excited for us even though we do half of what they do) and David invited us to go attend ANOTHER of his classes, this time an english class but a different section. We agreed of course, and this time were able to go throughout the class and meet the students individually. They are truly amazing young kids. They had so many questions to ask us that it made my head spin. I got to know a group of young men pretty well - they were all hilarious. We spent about 2 hours in his class (two full periods) talking to his students before we got kicked out. We then came home and played Beiruit. We still think we're college kids.
I love Tongliao #1 middle school so far, and I don't care who knows it.

Day 1

We get into Tongliao, and it is much colder than Beijing (which was basically sweltering), however, we get off the train and IMMEDIATELY something is very obvious. We are definitely foreigners. EVERYONE in the city stares at you. It's not rude or mean - but these people do NOT get foreigners around here for much of anything. What's nice is that they all seem to be (for the most part) happy to have us around. A lot of smiles and "Hallo!"'s come from all over. But mostly, I think they are simply curious. We are the first foreigners many of these locals have ever seen in their lives. It's pretty crazy to consider.
So we get into a bus and get shipped down through downtown Tongliao (which is actually a pretty nice city! It's not entirely clean, but it's definitely developing, and has a decent amount of anything you could need.) Driving in Tongliao is INSANE. There aren't really any rules to it - you just drive as fast as you can, don't break, and beep hard if you're getting close to anyone else. The street is filled with bikes, mopeds, cars and buses. However, I have noticed one thing. The drivers in China are extremely skilled behind the wheel. It seems like absolute craziness, but there is definitely a method to the madness. More on that later.
We pulled into the school (at the west gate, which is near where we live) and checked into our digs. Had some lunch at our school's cafeteria, and was greeted by Mr. Huon (a wicked nice guy) and a few other teachers. After lunch we had some time to get our affairs in order, unpack, get our rooms together, and see where we were living for the next year. David came with us and gave us a big tour of the school, and even introduced us to a few classrooms. The kindergarteners are ABSURDLY cute. The school is actually rather large - bigger than PC, but very very nice. We also met a few teachers along the way. Cindy, Sue, and Honey (David's wife!!) to name a few. They are all so eager to meet us and so welcoming, even though we have literally done nothing to deserve it. It is an extremely humbling experience, to be sure.
After our tour, we relaxed, then had dinner with the dignitaries and administrators of the school. I wore a tie. Mr. Won is the president of the school, and LOVES making toasts. Everyone we had met so far was at dinner with us, and there was TONS of food to go around. Now about those toasts. The chinese have a very particular way of doing these. Everyone is served either a full cup or half cup of Bai-joe, the lethal grain alcohol I was talking about earlier. You are expected to drink AS MUCH or MORE than the person toasting the group. We didn't quite understand this, so were just slugging back our drinks. Mr. Zheng told me 'that it was a good thing. Make Mr. Won very happy'. So I guess getting blitzed at a formal dinner meeting is okay around here? Anywho, each of the school officials made a toast, then Mr. Zheng egged me on to make my own, using David as a translator. I did, and the rest of our American group followed suit. Needless to say, everyone was laughing and slapping backs by the end of the dinner.
Things got interesting after we were home for an hour, ready for bed. David calls us at around 8pm and asks myself and Mike if we would like to come to his night English class. Half in the bag, of course we agreed. I honestly can't explain how excited his high school students were to meet us and have us in their class. David took the class to have his students ask us questions about EVERYTHING. Some of them were very good with English, others had a bit of a difficult time. They asked us to sing american songs - so we sang Backstreet boys. Then one boy asked me to arm wrestle him - we did - I lost. It was a wonderful experience meeting all of the kids - they are fantastic people. I love 'em all already.

Beijing!

Ni Hao!
Sorry that I hadn't posted yet - but we haven't really had any downtime until now! Right now it is noontime in Tongliao, and I am sitting at my new desk in my new room which is part of our new apartment building right on campus here at the Tongliao Number 1 Middle school!! More to come about that. I'll start at the beginning of China, when we got off the plane and go from there.

So, we got off the plane, went through customs (rather smoothly) grabbed our luggage and went out to find a large crowd waiting for everyone getting off the plane, of different walks of life. We searched the crowd and found this skinny, goofy, excited man with a big happy smile plastered across his face waving at us with a big sign that had all of our names on it, and "Tongliao No. 1 Middle School!". This is David (aka Gaowei) who quickly has become our best friend here at school. He introduced us to Mr. Zheng (our boss, and David's boss) who is also one of the most interesting and hilarious people I've ever met. David's english is superb, whereas Mr. Zheng's is a little choppy at times. Both of them are extremely kind hearted and great people to work with.
Anywho, we took a private bus out of the airport and into Beijing until we arrived at a hotel that we were at for aprox. 5 minutes before being brought to the train station in order to send our luggage to Tongliao via train the day before we left. Mind you, EVERYTHING that happens in China is last minute, and you aren't really told what is happening. It's just something you get used to. It was also raining when we were doing this whole luggage fiasco, and trust me, the story is ridiculous. But I digress - we bus'd it back to our hotel, got a chance to shower (after our 14 hour plane ride. Ugh.) and we all walked over to a small traditional chinese restaurant for dinner. Dinner in China is UNREAL. The food is usually wonderful (or extremely weird - you have to pick and choose) and it was at this dinner we discovered Pei-Joe (Chinese beer) and Bai-Joe (Chinese liquor). Pei-Joe is actually pretty good - it's a light beer, and pretty tasty. Bai-Joe is ALL Mr. Zheng drinks. The stuff is LETHAL. Literally hell in a bottle. God bless the man for drinking that stuff. Anywho, dinner was grand (more on Chinese eating habits later), we went home and hit the hay.
The next morning we woke up in Beijing and were ready for a big day with David and Mr. Zheng. We went to the olympic stadiums, The Water cube and the Bird's nest and checked that out. Next we took a bus to Tiananmen square and gate, and got a quick peek inside the Forbidden City. I guess the city is HUGE, so we didn't really have enough time to check it all out. But it looked beautiful. After that, we took a 20 minute walk to Wangfujing street - a very famous street in Beijing for it's shopping, etc. We exchanged money there, had lunch (noodles) and did a little shopping. There were a lot of small street shops everywhere - and a small snack street. I bought a little book of Mao quotations, and that was basically it. From this street, we went to the train station (huge) to wait for our night train to Tongliao. The train ride was relatively easy.. the accomodations were small but comfortable, and we were exhausted. We all slept through the night and woke up about a half hour before the train stopped. And there we were!! TBC in the next post.

BIG NEWS!

On the advent of the official beginning of Fall, we finally have our set leave date. September 20th at 6am out of Logan Airport, Boston. The journey is now VERY real. Oh dear.

Things done recently:
-Said goodbye to friends and family everywhere, NYC, Providence, and home respectively.
-Had a lunch date with two of the ladies that recently returned home to the States that were enlisted in the teaching positions that our group will be replacing. Three of the girls that I will be traveling over to China with also jumped into the lunch. Extremely informative, nerve releasing, and exciting conversation!
-Visited the Hall of Asian History in the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Research!

With any hope, the next post I pile into this journal will concern living in the Orient! 'Til then!

Developmentals

So it's August 6th.. T-MINUS 1 DAY AND A FEW HOURS TIL THE OLYMPICS BEGIN! But that's besides the point. The big news is that our departure date for China has been pushed back by a couple of weeks. Rather than August 20th, we have been set back to leave for September 15th - due to security issues, etc. with the Olympics in Beijing. This is from the directors of our program... Check it out:

Dear 08 China Group:

Due to the Olympics, the government of China has been very strict - and somewhat secretive until the last minute - about visas, including work visas. Even top businesses people are not getting visas until September

The entire PC Group has been approved for the visas, but no one is getting them unti September, including business executives. Many other teaching applicants have not been approved because they did not follow the strict - and somewhat confusing - application process.

There was a delay last year in following the new application process. We followed it this year and are approved, but the ban on all but Olympics Visas until Sept is a blanket ban.

Everything should proceed smoothly in September, as it did last year.

Love, China.

So basically what this means is thus: I'l be at work for an extra two weeks, then spending September at home before shooting off to the other side of the world.

How about THAT!?