Anchor Chains, Plane Motors and Train Whistles

A few weeks ago, Ben, Elizabeth and I took an overnight train to Xian.  It was my first time on a sleeper train, and I had my misgivings about being on a Chinese train for 12 hours.  My worries were unfounded, however, and it was comfortable and spacious and we all felt like we were Betty and Judy Haynes riding the train to Vermont.

After arriving in Chengdu on Saturday, we asked the hostel staff to help us plan our onward travel, and were informed that the best cheap way to get to Lijiang is by 24-hour sleeper bus.  In the spirit of adventure, we decided to take our chances with the bus.  So yesterday morning we packed our bags, said goodbye to Chengdu and boarded the bus to Lijiang.
A sleeper bus bears only the slightest resemblance to its cousin the sleeper train.  On the bus, the beds were too short to stretch out it, and the ceilings were too low to sit up.  There was a bathroom on the bus, but the toilet was just a hole in the floor of the bus, through which we could see the road rushing past.   So I spent the time in a kind of curled up fetal position, reading Middlemarch and looking at the scenery.  As it happens, the scenery between Chengdu and Lijiang is so incredibly stunning that I didn't even notice how uncomfortable everything was.  After a quick stop for dinner at a wayside stop, a short jaunt on a dirt road, and several hours on switchbacks through mountainous terrain, we arrived in Lijiang.  Tomorrow we are off on a two-day trek through the Tiger Leaping Gorge.  

The Journey Begins

A rough map of our trip

My school is closed for the holidays.  I have four weeks before classes start again, so I decided to travel to the south of China with my coworker and expat friends.  We started off the journey in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and home of the pandas. 
Pandas used to live all over Southeast Asia in the wild, but now they are concentrated in parts of Sichuan and two other provinces.  Chengdu is home to China's panda breeding research base, where we went to see them up close. 

Pandas seem very lazy, because they have to eat all day long just to get enough nutrients.

Chengdu seems refreshingly clean and warm to us after the smoggy, cold north, so we after seeing the pandas, we enjoyed a day of strolling the streets of the city and exploring an area around a monastery.  Our second and final day in Sichuan province, we decided to get on a bus to Leshan to see the world's tallest Buddha. 

 The Buddha was carved about 1200 years ago, with the goal of calming the dangerous waters of the river rushing past.  After 90 years of work on the Buddha, apparently the river did slow and calm.  Our first sight of the Buddhas was his head.  I think his ear is supposed to be about 7 meters long. 

The stairs down to the Buddha's feet

After climbing down a perilously steep path, we arrived at the Buddha's feet.  Later we took a boat in front of the statue so we could see it better. 

 Today we are getting on a 24-hour bus to Lijiang in Yunnan province.  I will hopefully write in more detail as our trip continues, but for now I'm off to the next adventure.

An American Brother and Sister in China

January 20, 2012-

When foreign teachers get together in China, we might talk about food we miss at home, or travel plans, or anything normal 20-something expats might talk about, but the conversation always includes a new anecdote about our exploits at school.  I've heard my fair share of college plagiarism stories, and my friends are probably tired of hearing about the second grader who keeps trying to kiss me.  But when the conversation turns to school schedules, we all just nod sympathetically and offer each other another drink.  We've all been there.  Foreign teachers are the last to hear about anything.  My friends Katie and Jess have been asking their students about their schedules for next semester, because even the students know more than they do.  Which is why I really shouldn't have been surprised when, the day before Ben and Elizabeth arrived in China, I got a text saying that I would be done teaching two weeks earlier than I thought and that I should give an exam the next week.  That meant that the fun song and game-filled lesson I had planned for when Ben and Elizabeth visited my classroom would be an exam instead.  It also meant that I had to plan my exam over the weekend. 

I was frustrated and annoyed that I hadn't gotten any advance notice about the exam, but I didn't have time to think about it.  I decided, as I often do, to wing it, and instead headed off to Beijing to pick up my brother and sister at the airport.  Even though we were in China, it felt surprisingly normal to collect Ben and Elizabeth at the airport.  It probably felt stranger to them.  But, even in Beijing, what could be more natural than spending the weekend with your siblings?  After checking into our hostel, we headed out for their first taste of authentic Chinese food.  The next day, I gave them a crash course in navigating the subway, introduced them to Hong Kong dessert, and we all explored the Bird's Nest and Olympic Park. 

Jess and me in front of the Bird's Nest with some genuine Olympic medals that we won for our excellent bargaining skills.

Many of you know of my Olympics obsession.  During the Olympics, Winter, Summer or Trials, I live in front of the TV.  More than a few of you have seriously threatened our friendship by telling me the results of a race that I hadn't seen yet.  Anyway, I had already seen the Bird's Nest and Water Cube back in November with my friend Jess, and it was one of the most magical days of my time in China so far.  I knew I wanted to see it again with Ben and Elizabeth, and that this time we needed to go inside.  Olympic obsession runs in the family, after all.  The inside of the Bird's Nest was actually a little disappointing.  It had been converted to a Disney Princess-themed winter wonderland.  Still, we explored for a while, and it was definitely magical, even though we were watching kids sledding instead of Kara Goucher and Usain Bolt.  Unfortunately, after the Bird's Nest, I had to head back to Baoding for a week of exams, and I had to leave Ben and Elizabeth to navigate Beijing and the Great Wall on their own. 

On Wednesday, Ben and Elizabeth came to Baoding.  We spent a few days going to all of my favorite restaurants, and they came to my classes.  My exam became a mixture of songs and askng/answering questions from Ben and Elizabeth.  My students were shocked and surprised and in love with my siblings.  They followed us down hallways, touched Elizabeth's hair, laughed at Ben.  We rounded out the time in Baoding with a few donkey burgers, for which Baoding is famous. 

Baoding is known as the Home of the Donkey Burger- doesn't that make you want to come here?!

I had given Ben and Elizabeth the choice of another city in China, where we could spend a long weekend.  They decided to go to Xian, one of China's most historic cities, and home to  the 6000 life-size terracotta warriors that were made in 210 BC to protect the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.  Ben knows much more about this than I do, and he would probably like to tell you about it. 

All of the faces are unique, and there are also horses and chariots

After an overnight train back to Beijing and another visit to the Hong Kong dessert place, we had to go back to the airport.  In case any of you are planning a similar trip, ten days is not enough to visit China, and it certainly is not enough to visit your expat sister.  Let's just say that a tall blonde foreigner crying alone in the airport/subway/bullet train attracts even more stares than usual.

I was so happy and proud to show off my life here to my visitors, and hey, now I know how to get to the airport, so if anyone else wants to come visit, you are more than welcome!  But, for the next four weeks, you would have to "visit" me in southern China/Hong Kong, because I'm leaving behind the smoggy, wintery North for a backpacking trip through Chengdu, Yunnan, the Li River, and Hong Kong.  I'll be keeping up the blog as always, and hopefully they won't all be quite as long as this one. 

Making Chinese Friends

January 2, 2013-

This may come as a shock to some of you.  I am cripplingly shy.  It takes me years sometimes to befriend people.  So, imagine me transplanted to a strange country, not knowing anyone, and with the added barriers of language and culture.  I have already told you a bit about the American friends that I have made here in Baoding, and about my friend Marios that I ran into in Beijing.  And while their company has been wonderful, I have felt like my social life here was incomplete without any real Chinese friends. 

Over the past month, this has begun to change.  The other teachers I work with have always been friendly and curious, but we only talked during school, and often only about the students.  I have mentioned one of the teachers before.  I found out that her English name is Ada (Side note: most English students and people who work with foreigners have English names, just like most Spanish students in the US have Spanish names- mine was Natalia), but only after several very awkward instances when I had to introduce her as just "my friend" or to the head of my department "the second grade teacher with short hair." 

At the beginning of December, I was sidelined with a monster sinus infection.  At the time, I cursed myself for ever coming to China, and spent many hours huddled in my bed watching Overboard and wishing I were at home.  However, as often happens when traveling, a bad situation created a new opportunity and several new friendships.  The teachers I work with, anxious about me during my illness, came to visit me in my apartment and brought me food.  I think they had been shy about visiting me before, but that shyness went away as they tried help me.  I was already close with Ada before this, but I started to get to know some of the other teachers a little better.   Ada and Milly brought me fruit.  Miss Ta bought me lunch and took me to buy a new coat. Miss Li took me to a pharmacy. 

After I recovered, I knew that I had to make more of an effort to be friends with these women.  There are several very noticeable barriers between us.  Language is an obvious one.  Most of the English teachers at our school actually have trouble speaking English.  The Chinese education system is based entirely on tests (more on this in a future post), so written English, grammar and spelling is drilled into students while speaking takes a backseat.  The result is that communicating with the Chinese teachers of English at my school is not always easy.  Their English is still better than my Chinese of course, and after being here for 4 months, I am much better at listening to English spoken with a Chinese accent and at speaking clearly and simply. 

Another barrier is time.  The Chinese teachers at my school work very hard.  They teach for 10 days in a row, and then have a 3 1/2 day weekend.  They have to grade homework and prepare their students for exams.  They have to supervise the students during breaks and at night, while I have free time.   On the weekend they often need to go home to their parents or their husbands and children (yes, even the teachers who are married and have kids of their own have to live at school during the week).  It is sometimes difficult to spend time together, especially if we want to leave campus for lunch or to go shopping. 

The language and time barriers are significant, but really the biggest barrier between me and my Chinese friends is cultural.  In many ways, these teachers are like me.  They're mostly in their early twenties, and worrying and wondering about the same things that I worry and wonder about.  They are thinking about the future, about where they will live and who they will marry.  They are thinking about their job and whether they like teaching and how they can become better teachers.  The difference is that my Chinese friends have much less choice in the matter.  Young adults in China often marry the first person they date, and they often meet this person through a blind date set up by their parents or friends.  Ada met her boyfriend through a mutual friend.  They went on one date, and then they discussed whether or not they liked each other, and now they are on the path to marriage.  Chinese parents also often have veto power over their child's love life.  Ada told me she is lucky because even though her boyfriend is from a poor family with few connections, her parents will not stop her from being with him.  Chinese parents and test scores also determine what students can major in at university, so some of the teachers I work with are teachers just because someone told them to be. 

Sometimes the cultural barrier between us is caused by opportunities that I have that my friends will never have.  My friend Ada has never left Hebei province (where Baoding is).  The thought of going to another country to visit or live is just a dream for the teachers I work with.  When I tell them about my plans for traveling around China, they sigh enviously, because they have neither the time or money to travel around their own country.     

At home, it is very common for people to invite their friends over to their home or dorm room.  In China, it is much more common to entertain friends at a restaurant.  After I recovered from my sinus infection, I started to invite some of the teachers out to lunch with me, and we had a chance to talk more about things other than school.  On Tuesday, Ada, Miss Ta and Miss Wu (the first and second grade teachers) came to my apartment to teach me how to make dumplings.  Even though my "kitchen" consists of a hot plate, a wok, one plate, two knives and two bowls, we managed to make some pretty good dumplings. 

Making the filling for the dumplings

My coworkers Miss Wu, Ada and Miss Ta

I'm not very good at making dumplings...

Miss Wu's 13-year-old sister came to help, and one of the students got back to school a day early.  Dumpling success!

There is only so much I can learn about China as a foreigner on the outside looking in.  I finally feel like my budding friendships with my Chinese coworkers are giving me an inside perspective. 

A Chinese Christmas

December 24, 2012-

Merry Christmas!

While I'm sure you all know that I would give anything to spend Christmas at home with you, my Christmas here has actually been quite wonderful.  Christmas has made it's way over to China, but most of the traditions that we are used to have been lost in translation.  For instance, there are Christmas lights everywhere and pictures of Santa, but there are also masquerade masks and fairy wands. It's a little like a mixture of Christmas, Mardi Gras and Halloween. 

Last week the head of our department, Miss Li, took Lex and I out to dinner to celebrate Christmas.  She also invited two of the other English teachers, Jade and Milly.  Jade is probably my best friend in China, and we all had a very good conversation over a meal of dumplings and other Chinese dishes.  They ordered so much food for us that we couldn't fit everything on the table and had to put some dishes on chairs. 

At the restaurant, trying to make room on the table for more food.

The students don't get any time off for Christmas, but Lex and I have a holiday today and tomorrow.  I gave a Christmas lesson yesterday, and my students went crazy.  I showed a picture of Santa to one of my classes and they started to clap and cheer.  Apparently many Chinese children do know about Santa (they call him "The Old Person of Christmas"), but some believe that he only gives presents to American children. I had one of my classes decorate a paper Christmas tree (much like the one my family had when we lived in the little white house and didn't have room for a real tree).  They all made ornaments with pictures of what they wished for.  Most asked for money or candy; they asked their Chinese teacher if their wishes would really come true, and I guess the ones who wished for candy will get their wish sometime, but one kid drew an elephant...

Decorating the Christmas tree

All of my third grade classes gave me an apple wrapped in tissue paper.  The Chinese word for apple is "ping guo" and "ping" also means "peace" or "safe," so people often give each other apples on Christmas Eve. 

An apple from my third graders

A card from one of my fifth grade classes

My Christmas tree and gifts from home and my American friends

I spent Christmas Eve at Pizza Hut with my American friends.  We exchanged gifts and indulged in pizza and mashed potatoes.  Pizza Hut is on a large shopping street in Baoding and the street was closed to cars last night.  The street was lined with venders selling masks, apples, and anything sparkly or flashing.  People were walking in the street, setting off fireworks, forming roller blade chains and lighting paper lanterns.  My friends and I decided to sing Christmas carols, which we did with considerable gusto and plenty of stares.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the festivities on Yuhua Street.

With the magic of Skype, many gifts from home and my students, a marathon of my favorite movies and the prospect of mac and cheese for lunch, my Christmas has turned out much better than I could have hoped.

Home

December 16, 2012-A year is a very long time to be adventurous.  I have tried to be unflinchingly honest about my travels and about how I see China.  So, in keeping with that philosophy, I must tell you all that I want to come home.  I'm not actually considering leaving China before my year is up, but lately all I can think about is home.

I think about Christmas cookies and lefse and our Christmas day tournament and $10 gifts and spending winter break watching reruns of Project Runway and Christmas movies and trying to start the fire at the Ski Hill.

I think about homemade soup and annoying the cousins by opening our presents very slowly.

I think about watching the new James Bond movie and The Hobbit, and buttery movie theater popcorn.

I think about shots of espresso.

I think about playing True American and eating bison burgers and listening to Casey's Pandora station while "working" at the rock wall.

I think about all my boxes of books in the garage and knowing I want a certain one and going out to look for it and coming back with about 15 others instead. 

I think about dark beer and Grandpa's apple pie.

I think about July and the big homecoming party that we'll have. 

I don't mean to be depressing.  There are many, many good things about my life here in China, and normally I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity.  I like teaching, and I love my students.  I have made some good friends here, both Chinese and American.  I have had the chance to see some amazing places so far, and there are many more such adventures to come.  I have the chance to really learn about another culture, and to understand our own culture from another perspective.  Most of the time, I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am to be here.  It's just something about winter and cold and Christmas time and being 14 weeks into a semester (Carleton's 10 week term is even more appealing from a distance) that makes everything seem a little hopeless.

Luckily, I have a few exciting things on the horizon to raise my spirits and reignite my sense of adventure.  In a few weeks Ben and Elizabeth will be here to visit.  I am so excited for them to see China and to see my life here, but mostly I'm impatient to see them.  And shortly after their visit, my semester will be over and I'll have a month off to travel around southwestern China and Hong Kong.  So for now I'll just have to get through Christmas (never imagined I'd say that!) and New Years. 

Stay warm, and drink some coffee for me!

A Text Exchange

December 7,2012- China is a very safe country to travel in, even for a woman traveling alone. Young women are often trained to roam in packs, especially in foreign countries and/or after dark.  My co-workers at school were all surprised to hear that I have been traveling on my own, and I remember several conversations before I left home in which Mom and I discussed befriending and traveling with guys.  While I came to China intimidated by the thought of traveling alone, and even a little frightened at the prospect, over the past few months I have fallen in love with it.  Everything seems so much more intense and immediate when I have to figure out everything myself, when I have to stumble along with my barely adequate Mandarin.  Of course, I have had some truly wonderful travel partners in the past, and I love sharing those experiences with good friends and family.  Last weekend I decided to head off to Taishan on my own, and for the first time in China, I wished that I was with a friend for an extra sense of security.  I thought about not even writing about this incident (don't worry Mom, Dad, Grandma, whoever else has a tendency to worry about me!), but a journalistic desire for honesty came over me, so here we are.

Getting ready to climb Mount Tai

 First of all, you have to know that I am an uncommon sight in China.  Living in the US, even a place like Iola that is 99.9% Norwegian, it is hard for us to imagine such a homogenous culture.  Foreigners stand out.  Always.  I get stared at.  People ask to have their picture taken with me.  People call me beautiful (this is almost always young Chinese women).  People are curious and like to practice the English that they know, even if it's only "Hello." I'm used to most of this by now, and when someone asks to take a picture with me I usually smile and nod, snap a quick picture and go on my way.

Taishan is in the province to the southwest of Hebei, where I live.  "Shan" means mountain, and the biggest (only) attraction in the city of Taian is Mount Tai.  Mount Tai is one of China's five holiest mountains.
 I left on Friday after class and two fast trains and 5 hours later I arrived in Taishan.

One of the many temples on holy Taishan

 After checking into the hostel, I found a night market with cheap hotpot stalls.  I was walking up and down the street, checking out the other venders and trying to decide where to eat.  A young Chinese guy (in his 20's maybe?) came up to me and started to speak to me in very poor English. He asked if he could borrow my camera.  I just repeated, "borrow my camera?" while clutching said camera and looking for exit strategies.  Then he said he wanted to take a picture with me.  Now, this is the first time anyone has wanted to take a picture with me using my camera.  I was a little baffled.  He wouldn't even have a copy of the picture.  I agreed anyway and then because he asked for it and because I didn't know how to politely say no, I gave him my phone number. We parted ways, and this text exchange is what happened next:
 
  7:15pm  Li: i don't good at English.  But i want to make friend with you.  do you have dinner?

  7:29pm  Li: you are my first friends from English.  hoho. I have classmate in your country now.

  8:02pm Me: I'm sorry I have to return to Hebei.  It was nice to meet you!

  8:14pm Li: I feel sorry for hear it.  we can have friendship in after days. my english is very bad. I thank will be well. nice to meet your.

  8:28pm Li: I have just come back from the army demobilized.

  8:33pm Li: I am a person who likes to make friend, Hope our friendship forever!

  10:15pm Li: I wish you a happy voyage

  10:41pm Li:  I drank some wine. i think if you have hard, tell me, i will help you.

Halfway up Mount Tai

  And then the next day, while I was climbing Mount Tai (all 6000+ stairs to the top):

  3pm Li: Friend, I see you

  3:10pm Li: Coincidentally I in Mount Taishan

The stairs leading up the mountain

  And then on Sunday night:

  10:52pm Li: do you have a man you love?

So, I sent this guy one text, and I don't think it was particularly encouraging.  I can't even really describe how much I wished that I had a friend with me on this trip after this happened, especially after I got the "Friend I see you" text.   Everything turned out fine, and if I had had a friend to laugh it off with it wouldn't have been so creepy and upsetting.  In fact, when I got back to Baoding and recounted the whole thing to my friends here, we were all laughing so hard that I could barely finish the story.  I still enjoyed the scenery, had some great and really cheap street food, practiced my budding Mandarin skills and had an overall good trip to Taishan, but this incident definitely tainted it.  I guess it reminds me that even though I'm feeling so comfortable and at home in China these days, I still need to be aware of the situations I'm getting myself into. I mean, in a strange country or not (and, young woman or not), it's not a good idea to give out your phone number to strange men that you've just met.

In other news, my school is having an English match tomorrow.  My students have been practicing for weeks, and tomorrow they will compete.  The winners will go on to compete against other students in Baoding.  I'm still a little hazy on the details of this competition, but I'll let you know how it goes!