Being Thankful

Thanksgiving weekend started with me heading to the Chengde train station at 7 AM to get a sleeper ticket. Apparently they only sell hard seats 3 days prior to the traveling date and sleeper tickets the day of, and there was NO way I was taking a hard seat on the hell train to Shizzy for 13 hours again. After exiting my cab (where I had a lovely conversation in Chinese with my female cab driver that I was American, speak English, that it's cold outside and she even knew how to say "red" in English, which she enunciated beautifully as she pointed at the green light we were passing under) I found the area outside the station fairly gloomy and devoid of action as well as covered with frozen loogies. This is the part of the story where my life as a quadriplegic in China flashes before my eyes as I skate gingerly up to the ticket office. I brace myself for severe confusion and utter disappointment as I approach the ticket window because this woman is notorious in the foreign community for being less than helpful, however it was the easiest purchase I've made in China thus far. Perfecting my pronunciation of Shijiazhuang, jintian (today) and ruowo (soft sleeper) coupled with me pointing to the word in my dictionary and acting like I was sleeping on my hands proved to be exceptionally helpful.


Fast forward to my favorite class that day (I figure I somehow have said very little about my actual job here, so I'll throw this in). It's my Wednesday 4 o'clock English Nursing class with juniors. All girls, all really smart, all adorable. The previous class I had given them the assignment of bringing something for show and tell this week. Many of my students in other classes had forgotten, but these girls? Heck no, they've got their act together. There were only about 10 of them there that day (which happens sometimes, I've learned not to take offence. Oral English class is their easiest and the least of their worries so sometimes they take the time to study physics or anatomy instead.) so we just made a cozy little circle to present in. I went first by showing off my sweet sweet 12 inch Apple Power Book with a little photo montage of my friends and family back home. (The first class I showed the slideshow to got really excited when they saw a picture of my family from graduation...
them: "oh your mother is so beautiful, she looks so young!"
me: "thanks, I hope I look that good at 48"
them: "is she Chinese?"
me:"........ do I look Chinese?"
them: " no" (laughter)
me: "*sigh*, no, my mom's not Chinese, she's just extremely Italian")
After revealing such odd traditions as street painting, Drake Relays and my family's ability to contort their faces into unrecognizable, demon-like expressions my students showed off their "show and tell" items. First was Cindy. She brought in her copy of "Tuesdays with Morrie", which she described as being a book everyone should read because it has such a great attitude towards life. Another girl brought a necklace her older brother purchased for her in Beijing. Another, her long distance boyfriend's military watch complete with compass. My favorite was Selina (she named herself after her favorite singer of the girl band S.H.E. which incidentally, is also my favorite Chinese band). She brought in a scarf her father had given her mother, which her mom had now given to her. When I asked her if she'd give it to her daughter, if she has one in the future, she said before laughing, "no, I like it very much. Why would I give it to her?" Oh man, I love these girls. They're all really smart and pretty frequently their sense of humor comes out too.
My second class of the evening was my giant lecture hall full of about 80 freshman except this time there were more like 120 of them. Why you ask? Because my reputation as the most exciting teacher on campus has spread like wild fire throughout the freshman class? No. Because I was showing the movie "Shrek". I could only find a copy in Chinese though, so they were all laughing while I tried to remember what Donkey says at that particular moment. And don't worry, I'm not slacking on my English teaching, it's because we had just talked about fairy tales in the previous class. Anyway, who knew that you could do a Scottish accent in Chinese?
I got on my 10:58 PM train to Shijiazhuang just fine though after I told the men I was sharing my sleeper cabin with that I didn't understand much Chinese they proceeded to be really inconspicuous by staring at me as they talked for the next 5 minutes... but I'm sure they were just talking about Yao Ming. Got to the Shizzy on Thursday morning and navigated my way to Brandon's university all by myself (pat on the back) and of course, made a new boyfriend of my cab driver. He was really excited to point at the bus and say "bus" and the cars and say "taxi" and the creepy building to our right, across from the nuclear power plant and say "jail" with his wrists pinned together with imaginary hand cuffs. Walking into Brandon's morning class to get his keys to his apartment was fun. I was applauded. Apparently being the girlfriend or boyfriend of a student's foreign teacher makes you instantly famous too because they all knew my name.
Anyway the rest of our Thanksgiving in Shijiazhuang was pretty un-Thanksgiving like. Some of us met up at Catharine's apartment and had a few beers as we waited for Laura to finish highlighting her hair with some fancy dye shipped over from the States. We happily stumbled to a Chinese restaurant down the street and had the kind of meal we have every other day we're here but didn't mind that much because at least we could keep toasting what we were thankful for.


Friday I sat around all day and slept/watched movies while Brandon had class. Ha ha, I don't have Friday classes! For dinner we went to a hotel where "they" (I don't know who they are) threw a little foreigner's banquette. I got to see the rest of the foreigners teaching in Shijiazhuang I know that I haven't gotten to see yet since I've been here. We also played a really fun game called "pass around the flower until the music stops and then stand up and show us something" (was the exact name the hostess gave). We then went off to the McPonald's Bar right next to McDonalds... it's a pretty nice place. I enjoyed myself.


Saturday was the real Thanksgiving. Brandon and I met the girls at the train station. Andrea went with Laura, Cathy Lee came with us, which, I might add, was the better choice seeing as how we immediately went and got McDonald's breakfast. Not quite the same as in the States but still quite satisfying. Went back to Brandon's to cook our food and get ready to go to Matt and Julie's which is where the festivities would be held. Boiling potatoes and showering soon finished becoming waiting for the Canooks from the school next to Brandon's and taking pulls off our hosts new bottle of Bailey's... mmm... So apparently it takes Canadian men longer to shower and get ready than it does me. I don't know if it's because the general cooler climate slows down their body's metabolism like a sloth or what, but I suppose I got a taste of my own medicine. Blah blah blah, we got to Matt and Julie's, finished cooking our dishes and ate. It should be mentioned that because supplies were limited for cooking "Western style" food we ended up eating a lot of potatoes. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato soup, potatoes with veggies, two kinds of stuffing, a tiny can of turkey, canned cranberry sauce someones loving family mailed them and fruit salad. I also bought a single 8 kuai bottle of Corona for myself to celebrate. I met some new foreigners, some lovely, some odd. Eloise et Pierre are French teachers so I got to practice my French (aka tell them my name in French, also that I like cheese). Pierre's actually from Lyon where Katie's studying right now so that was pretty cool. After dinning and chatting a bit, we all picked up and went to the Joy Fun Bar in the People's Park downtown. This place was awesome. I guess they have a live band almost every night, but on this particular night they had a Filipino cover band. For serious they looked like the Black Eyes Peas dressed in traditional Filipino costumes and the girl singing definitely gave Fergie a run for her money. They played everything from Don't Phunk With My Heart to Jump Up by House of Pain. Aubrey got on stage and helped sing and Andrea and Cathy Lee joined in later. Good times.


The next day was met with mixed emotions. First I was on cloud nine as I ate Pizza Hut surrounded by Christmas music and decorations. Even the wait staff wore stupid little red vests and hats complete with white fur trim. The good times kept rolling as we bought tickets to see Harry Potter at the theater across the street, however, tragedy stuck when we walked into the cinema and saw Hermione speaking in a horrible, disgusting, foul tongue... not cute and British, but ghastly and Chinese. I almost cried. Surely we will be able to see the true Goblet of Fire clean and unfettered in Beijing, however my heart aches at the time it must wait to beat lively once more at the sight of an international Quiddich game.


ps - after three months I decided it was about time I cleaned myself up with a bit of a trim. I am now the proud owner of a true Chinese shag hair cut. You see, they don't use real scissors to cut hair. They use thinning shears. So not a single strand of my hair is the same length as the other. My barber asked if I wanted the back of my hair to be cut in the shape of a "v" as it is so very popular with the young ladies now a days. I declined and handed him the real pair of scissors he had and after cutting into my hair for a moment or two, he simply gave up and went back to the only thing he knows... making my hair as flat and straight as possible. Chinese women, and men for that matter, have very thick wiry hair that they cut to try to look like what mine looks like on a regular basis. He had no idea what to do with me... so I look like my hair was cut with a weed whacker. Mom, Aunt Donna, Aunt Connie... feel free to tell Lisa she's got quite a job when I return.

What time is it?

PS- this sporting goods store is really great....



Hey, just wanted to update everyone on a fun little thing that happened to me the other day. As, I hope, most of you realized, daylight savings time started a few days ago. On this day I talked to one Mrs. Laura Cosgrove who asked me if we have daylight savings time here in China. To this I replied.... uhhh... I don't know.... As it happened, Brandon had to catch a train back to Beijing later that day so it was, well, more than slightly important that we knew what the time of day was. The only thing I could think of to do was call Laura, my waiban. The conversation went a little something like this:

Me - "hey Laura, it's Stephanie, how are you?"
Laura - "hello Stepherny, I am good."
Me - "well, I have a question for you. This might be kind of a silly question but, do you have daylight savings time in China?"
Laura - "what?"
Me - "um, well... in America we change the time in the winter because it gets dark earlier... so do you change the time here?"
Laura - "change what time?"
Me - "um... the time of day..."
Laura - "....."
Me - "......"
Laura - "no?"
Me - "ok, so what time is it right now?"
Laura - "11:20"
Me - "ok good, thanks"

I hung up and felt like the weirdest person ever... maybe I'll call Laura again later today just to ask her what time it is. "Hey Laura, my watch broke, what time is it?"

Mexican Food!

Cathy Lee's birthday is the best time of year (so far) in China. It's mostly because it includes going to Beijing for the best time of my life!!!

The girls and I took a train Saturday afternoon to Beijing. We also took two bottles of wine with us to make the trip more enjoyable. Before we got on the train we also met Jabba the Hut in our waiting room. Swear to you, he sounded like Jabba. I was afraid he'd kidnap me and put me in a gold bikini. Upon arrival at our hostel we called Brandon who was having Dairy Queen with Aubrey across the street. We got dressed, clapped excitedly (but not too excitedly for fear of utter disappointment) and got into a cab headed for a restaurant called the Mexican Wave. (side note, the Mexican Wave is also called heaven in some parts of the world)

We come to find the place filled to the brim with foreigners. It is owned by an American woman who, God bless her, had decorated for Halloween. Mexican decor AND Halloween! AH! First we order a pitcher of margaritas. We continue to hold our breaths as the last time margaritas were ordered in China they were the size of a tea cup. Huge gasp, as tears came to my eyes upon seeing a huge pitcher filled with enough margarita to give each of us at least 1 and a half, if not two, full, American sized margaritas. I then ordered a chicken taco. Other orders around the table included burritos, nachos and more tacos. More tears were shed as I unrolled my fork and knife from a napkin and took a bite of Aubrey's rice. It was not white. It was not sticky. It did not need soy sauce. Then I almost needed to excuse myself when I bit into my taco. This was real chicken. Not weirdo grisly bits dipped in plum sauce, but shredded strips from parts of the chicken I could probably name... like breast, or thigh, or leg... AND I GOT FRESH SALSA! It was almost too much...

After another pitcher of margaritas and getting the live musician to sing Cathy Lee happy birthday, we moved on to the strip of bars down the street. The good times rolled as we played cards and listened to Nelly and Snoop Dogg. The second bar we visited was a winner because they were giving out free kamikazi shots outside, promising free drinks inside. A promise they surely kept. No one was on the dance floor, so we fixed that with a little "Call on Me" request to the DJ (that was for you Sinnott, I pretended you were there... Drew too, it was like we were in Boys Town).

No more free drinks meant we had to move on to another bar, but before we walked down the street I expertly got us another round of free shots. Then to Bar Blu. Awesome place. Good music. Good people. Good drinks. Some Chinese girls tried to have a dance off with me but they lost, pitifully. Then they tried to take over our space on the dance floor and Cathy Lee and I shooed them away with our awesome American booties. Andrea and Aubrey went mingling around the bar and found some businessmen who bought us tequila shots... we danced, we drank, we partied ourselves silly and went home around 4am.

Sunday we were all pooped but Starbucks was just around the corner (also a lovely treat because we don't have Starbucks in our little mountain village of Chengde). We went to WanFuJing Street to do some shopping but our hearts weren't in it so we went back home early. Now, after my little description of the "death bus" we took to Beijing the first time, you'd think that traveling in China couldn't get any worse... but it can. You see, our only train option was to get a standing "seat", meaning we'd stand on the train for 5 hours... hahaha ohhhhh... so we took the death bus home. It wasn't as bad this time because the tv worked and they played two Chinese movies (Kung Fu Hustle and something else) and I slept. It only took us 3 and a half hours to get home. I was happy.

Good weekend.

Scorpions, Duck Heads and Jingle Bells

Ok ok, sorry this one took a long time too...

A few weeks ago the three of us girls met up with Ginger (the awesome ex-hippy-esque woman who's retired, living in Mexico, but doing a short teaching stint in Chengde after the tour of China she took last year left her wanting more) and her 12 year old boyfriend, Ie Guong. Ie Guong (pronounced ee-gwong) hates the English name Cathy Lee tried to give him, Igby, and barters with people as if he's a 60 year old man. He's great. But getting to the meat of the story...

First we went to a coat place down the street. By coat place I mean tiny sweat shop looking room with down floating wildly through the air. This was where we were to get out winter coats made. And let me tell you, I was in heaven. They specialize in water resistant, poofy jackets, which is just fine with me, so after much careful deliberation I requested a kelly green, mid-thigh length coat with white racing stripes down the sleeves and white on the inside. This coat is also the best coat ever because it has stretchy fabric around the neck, cuffs and bottom. If it's hard for you to imagine the glory that is my new, custom made to fit my body like a glove, coat then I'm sorry, you'll just have to see it next year.

Moving on, Ie Guong was getting cranky (and more and more like a 70 year old man...) so he took us to a new place in town that specializes in Peking Duck. I was excited because my only experience with Peking Duck so far has been with eating it out of a vacuum sealed bag on the way to Xi'an. It's a beautiful place- kind of outside, but kind of not... anyway Ginger took one look at the menu and decided that we should get scorpions. I was in. So before our duck is ready, out comes a pretty big platter of fried scorpions resting in little rice cups (that look and taste more like styrofoam than rice). After taking sufficient pictures, a claw gets popped into my mouth, and then another, and then the whole body. It really wasn't bad after you get over the fact that you're chewing up a scorpion. It tasted kind of like popcorn. I'd eat 'em again, what can I say. THEN to make this restaurant visit even better... after we eat the duck (which was awesome, but very very greasy) we get the head, split in two, right down the middle. Ie Guong was pumped and reached for one half, while I gingerly picked up the other with my chop sticks. I know what you're thinking... HECK YES! I ate that duck brain! and an eyeball for good measure...

As if this post couldn't get any better I have one more bit of information you'd probably like to know...
Andrea and I are Chinese super stars.
Last week was "performance week" at our school. All the classes sang and danced and played guitars, etc etc. Before knowing what we were getting into, we were asked to teach a few girls Jingle Bells. We found out that "a few" meant 70. So, not only did we become awesome choir directors BUT after practice they asked us to perform with them the following night. Uhh... sure... THEN on top of that we find out that we have solos. This is too good to miss so Cathy Lee, Tricia and Keir come too (don't worry, Cathy Lee took video). Long story short; Andrea and I sang Jingle Bells in front of 200 plus med students, her mic didn't work so you could only hear me during our "solo" aaaaaaaaand we took first place! We've got an encore performance today at 2 o'clock. I hear it's can't miss....

The end