Huang Shan Christmas

About a week before Christmas our FOA emailed us to ask if anyone was interested in going on a trip to Huang Shan mountain on Christmas eve! Most of the foreign teachers don't have a family group like we do so most of them said yes! We thought Christmas in China was going to be different enough so why not add a trip to the mix!
THE TRIP
We left our apartment at 7:30 and climbed into an over sized minivan and were on our way! Two guys from Seattle, one from France, a woman from Brazil, an Aussie, four people from our foreign affairs office, a driver named Mr. Wong, and a tour guide that only spoke Chinese completed the group. This was my first road trip in China so I didn't know what to expect but I learned a lot! First off...apparently a trip is not a trip without a microphone. picture this: sitting right in front of a tour guide talking Chinese into a microphone, did I mention we were in a minivan?! The second thing I learned is that China has rest stops just like America! Except instead of westies (real toilets) there were stalls after stalls of squatties (holes in the ground) And the third thing I learned was not to ask what you're eating! Our first lunch I asked the brazillian woman sitting next to me "what's in the bowl of soup?" She responded with "Oh, I don't know, some dead animal" mmm dead animal, who doesn't want to hear that as they're scooping out their soup?!
After about four and a half hours of driving we came to the foot of the mountain! We saw a lot of China on the way there and I found myself glued to the window trying to see all that I could of this very interesting country!
At the foot of the mountain we started climbing stairs, our tour guide said the hotel was on top of the mountain so we started climbing! After a short while we arrived at the cable car barn and jumped on a gondola heading to the top (so I thought). The higher we glided the more our sight was consumed with clouds. When we got out of the cable car we were in the clouds and couldn't see a thing! I knew this was off season but it was disheartening being in such a beautiful place and seeing nothing of it. Our Waiban translated to us that the tour guide said "ok, only 6 KM to the hotel" SIX KILOMETERS?! UP STAIRS!? I thought...we started climbing and honestly it was probably one of the most strenuous things I've ever done...we climbed steps carrying our backpacks for five and a half hours! After a few hours of being in the cold clouds our hair got wet and started to freeze and by the time we got to the top we were frozen, wet, and exhausted. My legs wouldn't stop trembling all through dinner and we ate enormously because we were so hungry. After dinner Kyle and I said peace out to the group, came back to the hotel room and watched Christmas Vacation, a tradition his family practices every year.

A day in Tonglu

I went to my first-ever-real-life orphanage in China today! I went prepared with 20 bear hugs to give Christmas Cheer to all of the little kids! On the way there we rehearsed Christmas songs! But not your typical Jingle bells...we sang Feliz Navidad, Angels we have heard on high..., Super Duper Christmas (a song I'd never heard before!) and a few others! Imagine 10+ asian women trying to learn Feliz Navidad! It was hilarious! When we arrived we sang our songs we'd rehearsed and the kids loved it! Then it was prezzy time and we passed out bears and little candies and they loved it even more! I am so excited I was able to be a part of this wonderful trip! We weren't able to take pictures unfortunately but that's what memories are for right?!

Making Bear Hugs

Making bears for thursday's orphanage trip! I honestly could not have done this without the ladies from Buford helping me!

Kyle's No Good Very Bad Day

Yesterday was a tough day for Kyle and water. I taught all day and hung out with students after class so I was gone most of the day. Wanting to be productive kyle called for a water delivery, and had someone come and change the light bulbs in our apartment. When he went to put the water in the water dispenser he noticed that it was leaking, in his haste it fell off and hit the ground shattering into pieces and 18.5 liters of water went EVERYWHERE! He spent the next two hours moping up all of the water. :o( When he went to wash the towels he'd used to clean the floor he wanted to use hot water. Our washer only has cold water connected to it SO he took the hose and shower head from the shower and filled the washer with hot water. While doing this the hose burst and water went all over the floor! Unbelievable, I know! We then met juliane, stan, kris, and michael for dinner. When we got back home we started getting ready for bed. I was in the bedroom and I heard "you've gotta be kidding" along with the sound of water falling on the floor! He had looked under the sink and noticed a hose was leaking, he only touched it and it fell off spraying hot water everywhere! What a no good very bad day!

I hung out with my students on of their basketball games! We had so much fun!

living with purpose

During my last class today I noticed a few people outside the classroom window peeking in, trying not to be noticed. This is not a rarity here. Being a foreign teacher we get a lot of people peeking in from time to time. In this class I have a great group of precious girls that wanted to talk so I stayed for a chat instead of running to the bus. While I talked to my girls a group of about five guys came in the back of the classroom and waited until the girls finished their chatter. As the last girl disappeared through the door one of the guys started my way. He asked if I played for the same team he did. I said that I loved that team and I did play for hIs team. He had his rule book with him and got very excited to show me it. I asked him how he knew I played this sport. He said that he had wandered in my classroom a few weeks ago to study and he noticed I had some rules from the rule book on the board! He told his friends about it and they waited until my class was over to talk to me! A few weeks ago I taught about relationships and college life, I shared with all of my classes the great love poem and left it on the board, this is what he read. I am excited to talk about our game plan with them!

i got a package!

Today Kyle got a call from our post office on campus saying we had a package! When I came home from teaching I went straight to the post office and picked it up. Inside were 22 little bears to be filled for my little kids at the Orphanage! I am so thankful to the wonderful ladies at Buford that helped with this cause! When I first shared this idea with my mom I thought I might be able to make about five or six bears by our next visit because I do not have sewing machine etc. But with the help I have received every child will have a bear! They are going to be so happy to have a cuddly friend to comfort them through scary surgeries and lonely nights! Since I received the package I have been stuffing and sewing up the bears and they are perfect! In about three weeks we will go to the Orphanage again and we'll be able to give the kids the "bear hugs"! I am so excited and cannot say enough about how thankful I am to the ladies in Buford! You saw a need and are really helping! Stay tuned for pictures to come!

A Shout out to the fams

I woke up this morning at 8ish to skype my whole family on Thanksgiving Day at my BigDad and Nana's house. I must admit I was dreading it because I thought when I pushed the hangup button I would hate China and want to go home. Just thinking about them being all together playing rook, eating 'til absolutely stuffed and chatting with everyone made me sad.

When I accepted their call I was overwhelmed with happiness at the sight of them all! They crammed into my BigDad's study and I got to talk to everyone! My little cousin Alex blew me kisses and said "I love you"! Loralei didn't want to say it but I know she does all the same! :o) I caught up with my cuz Ari, she's not doing ballet anymore if you were wondering, she's just doing basketball and soccer! I got to meet Uncle Brent and Bonnie's dog ~ Baxter...HE's a Shih Tzu, easy Brent!

I hope my family knows how cool they are and how much I miss them! And instead of making my day in China a sad one, they made it really happy!

chicken wings!

Today I set out to the store by myself to get some groceries while kyle was at work ~ after eating toast for breakfast and toast for lunch I decided we needed more in the house than just bread. After three-ish months of living life in China I'm actually getting quite used to going grocery shopping - picking up the usual and getting out before anxiety sets in. Today I felt a little brave and thought I would see what the meat department had to offer. Anytime before this I've tried to avoid it as much as possible because there are scary things like: turtles in tight nets trying to escape, crabs tied up tightly by string, naked meat lying on beds of ice...not something a newbie needs to experience. I wanted to cook something for my hard working husband and what's a meal without meat? I found chicken wings...not in a bag, but sporadically laid on a bed of ice, I stood and observed the process before I jumped in. I watched as a man held the plastic bag in one hand and picked over the wings with the other. He didn't seem to notice or care that he was touching raw chicken meat with his bare hands or that the sleeve of his coat was being dragged through the ice and raw meat...once he had gathered all he wanted he went to the meat counter where a woman took his bag from him, weighed it, and gave it back to him. I felt like i could do this too...SO with a sudden boast of courage I got a bag, turned it inside out and used it as a glove so I didn't have to touch anything with my hands, I was also careful to watch my sleeves or anything else from touching the meat. Once I'd gathered my lot I fought the crowd to the meat counter and shoved my bag out there with the rest of them. No one seemed to be bothered by the man behind the counter beating and chopping the mess out of a huge table of meat, or the woman investigating the ribs infront of me with her BARE HANDS. With a smile I took my bag of chicken wings from the lady behind the counter. I felt quite accomplished and ventured to the not as scary but still quite odd vegetable department where I picked up some potatoes and garlic...mmm I took a packed bus home just in time to cook wings and mashed potatoes and spend time with Kyle before we needed to start another day.

HALLOWEEN

Stan and Juliane had a Halloween Party at their school and invited us to come! We dressed up ~ Kyle like a Vampire, me like a cat ~ because it was a costume party after all. :) I had cat ears and a tail and he had white face paint on his face and hands. We had to catch a bus to get to their campus! We were stared at A LOT! Especially the older generation. People just didn't know what to think of us! It was hilarious! Once we got to their campus we were informed they had had an H1N1 break out and all parties were to be canceled! Vincent, their waiban, got the party OKed - so it was still on. When we walked in we realized that Juliane, Stan, Kyle and I were the only ones that had dressed up! The chinese people all had some masquerade looking masks, so not only were we Americans ~ we were the only ones dressed up haha! we really stood out! It was a lot of fun though. We played games and got to know a few of their students so it was really cool! After the party we went and hung out with Stan and J @ their apartment and then went home via taxi.

WALMART

Today on my day off I went exploring! I heard there was a WALMART close to us but hadn't seen it yet! I looked up the address and headed there on the search for a halloween costume ~ I thrive on last minute dashes to the store. Kyle wanted to be a Vampire and I really wasn't sure what I wanted to be. Knowing that I was in a country that doesn't celebrate halloween meant that I'd need to be creative in finding a costume. I walked along a street looking at each number for 550, turned the corner and found this beautiful sign! I figured if any store would have Halloween stuff it would be Walmart. I went in and it was a beautiful sight! With Smiley faces smiling at me and finding great value brand and equate I was excited! Walmart didn't have a really big imported aisle but they did have some good selections on things. The best and greatest difference was that in any other supermarket here I find myself feeling anxious to get out and claustrophobic with the smaller aisles and huge banners hanging from the ceilings but in Walmart it was nicely spread out and I felt like I could breath! :) It was a great experience! They had some Halloween things but not a huge selection. I called Juliane wondering if she wanted to meet me at the next store because it was close to her apartment. I found out the bus I needed to take, went to the bus stop but the bus didn't stop there. I was puzzled and asked a Chinese woman if she knew where the bus stop was. She couldn't speak much english and was really struggling. A car pulled up to pick her up and she asked her husband and his friend where it was. They came to my rescue! They couldn't tell me where the bus stop was but offered to take me where I wanted to go! They were very nice business men so I jumped in with the other woman in the back seat! They said they were headed to the airport to go to Xian for the weekend. The man in the passenger seat had great english and was named Kenny. We had a lovely chat on the way to Auchan ~ a store where I was to meet Juliane. They dropped me off and went on to the airport. I wish I had their email to thank them. What great hospitality!

Job Satisfaction

My students are so appreciative it's unbelievable. It's hard not to compare them to the kids I've taught in America. This week I'm teaching about Halloween. Many of them hadn't even heard of it before! I was astonished. They thought some things we do were really funny: Trick or Treat, Hayrides, haunted trails, carving pumpkins...now that I think about it some things ARE a little strange but it's all so much fun! China doesn't have a holiday where they dress up and act like something else, now that they know about Halloween I think so of them wish they did. It is satisfying being able to share my culture with another people group. I think in doing this we can both have a little bit deeper understanding of each other. I'm thankful for my time with my students in China.

“Famours” For a Day

Before I came to China people told me, “They treat you like you’re some kind of celebrity because you are so different from them.” Living here this past month, I’ve noticed an occasional double take or nervous glance our way but I never experienced anything like this!
It all started with an email from our Waiban, Joy, asking us if we wanted to participate in a traditional Chinese wedding. We jumped at the idea and volunteered Stan and Juliane as well! We had NO idea what we’d gotten ourselves into! We thought it would be a little celebration, some sort of parade, and a ferry ride across West Lake...Today I learned that China does nothing small! When we arrived we were overwhelmed with cameras and interviews from news casters wanting to know, “Why did you come to Hangzhou to get Married?” Everyone wanted our picture, even the Chinese wedding couples! There were 100 couples to be wed, and since we were the foreigners we were put in front of all the other couples! (Which didn’t make it easy when we couldn’t understand our chinese instructions and had to look behind us to see what we were supposed to be doing) haha. There were thousands of people lining every street or walkway we went down...amazing. Next time I sign up to participate in something here I will find out how big it will be first!

Orphan Babies

I was blessed with an opportunity to visit a hospital today! The facility specializes in bringing children with disabilities from orphanages all over the province and giving them the care they need. Most of the children need surgeries and therapy. They do all kinds of surgeries but mostly cleft palette or heart surgeries. They told us that the child stays in the hospital for a long time after the surgery for therapy - physical, speech, etc. So the lay out reminded me more of a day care or kindergarten than a hospital.
It was my first time to visit and I didn’t think I could leave! The children craved so much attention! After spending a few minutes with the little orphans they wanted to show us another part of the hospital but I couldn’t leave them! They were too precious! I’m very excited about this new work and looking forward to my next visit!

Holiday in Shanghai

Stan, Juliane, Kyle and I decided to go to Shanghai over the national holiday break! We bought train tickets a few days before and booked a room in a hostel when we arrived! I couldn’t believe how blessed our trip was. Not knowing the language has made me expect difficulties while traveling but we experienced none on this trip! At every could-be-obstacle someone came to our aid! It was fantastic! During our stay we caught up with one of Kyle’s old students and team mates, who now works in Shanghai! He invited us into his home where he lives with his brother, sister and mother we called “Ma”. They cooked an incredible lunch and dinner for us and Ma taught us how to make jiaozi/chinese dumplings. In exchange Juliane and I taught them how to bake peanut butter cookies! We had SO much fun with them. I really enjoyed being able to experience China in someone’s home, it was a cool experience.

Ponchos, Umbrellas and Wet Feet

Before I came to China people would say “I’m glad you’re going for one year because you get to see China in all the seasons!” I didn’t quite understand what that meant until I experienced a rainy day in Hangzhou. It is so incredibly different here when it rains. People who seem normal riding E-bikes on a sunny day turn into very colorful ghosts of purple, red, yellow, green or pink! Often they carry one or more passengers so you might see four or six legs hanging out of their poncho. The Chinese people just make things work. They seem to live in a necessity based culture. You don’t have what you don’t need - that’s just a waste. If they do not drive an E-bike (scooter) they use a regular bike - one hand holding an Umbrella, the other steering - what a talent! And if they do not ride a bike they simply share an umbrella with a friend. I took this picture today out of my school’s cafeteria window! I was amazed at how many umbrellas I saw! My last class this afternoon I asked each student if they were happy - this gave me an opportunity to get to know them a little better and for them to practice english with simple conversation. Most said “I’m happy because there is nothing to be sad about”. I couldn’t complain about this answer. I came to one student and he said “to be honest I am not so happy”. He said that he had wet feet and this made him sad. :( I might bring an extra pair of dry socks with me to school next time it rains :)

First Week Of Classes

I met all of my students this week in eight classes. They are all very interesting to me as I am to them! At the beginning of each class I asked them if they’d ever had a foreign teacher before. There were two students that had out of 180! I thought this was pretty obvious the way they reacted to me - for example: One class as I walked in gave me a standing ovation! These kids are precious! They are all in grad school so many of them are my age or older which is funny. To introduce myself I showed them some pictures of my life in america, my dog, my husband and my family. When they saw a picture of Kyle the boys thought he looked like Rooney who plays soccer for Manchester and the girls just said “Oh, SO handsome!” (I agree with the girls more than the boys on this one!) I am very excited to get to know them, this is going to be a great year!

I Feel Violated

What a day this has been! We met Frank at 7:00 AM to take a bus to the international health check place! We got lost along the way - an hour later we arrived to our destination. We hurriedly filled out our paperwork to get into a very long line of foreigners from all over the world! I had no idea what to expect! The health examinations were set up in different pods. The first one we came to was called “blood and urine”! You guessed it - You stuck your arm through a hole in the window and a woman took your blood, handed you a cup and pointed to the restrooms. Kyle told them he might faint - they did not shrug off this warning! They took him around to their side of the counter, pulled out a lawn chair recliner and had him lay down. I held his hand and made him talk to me the whole time :) NEXT was the urine. it was SO embarrassing! In the states you would go into a private restroom and place the cup in a discrete cabinet and go on. Here you bring it out in front of everyone - no lid included. I peed in a cup, set it down and realized it had a hole in it! I ran out of the bathroom and frantically tried to get another cup! The language barrier took hold of the situation and I didn’t get my new cup in time to save it all. I gave the woman what was left and she yelled at me and threw it in the trash as if to say “that’s not good enough try again”! I asked what I should do and she said (by this time I had a translator) “get some water, drink it, and pee again” like it’s that easy! Waiban Frank asked her where the water was and she yelled again - she didn’t like me much. He found some water for me and I drank it while I went through the other pods. They did an ultrasound of my liver, an EKG, an ENG...the works! I felt like a herd animal driven through the shoots. It was so weird! Once out I felt glad it was over.

I Feel Violated

What a day this has been! We met Frank at 7:00 AM to take a bus to the international health check place! We got lost along the way - an hour later we arrived to our destination. We hurriedly filled out our paperwork to get into a very long line of foreigners from all over the world! I had no idea what to expect! The health examinations were set up in different pods. The first one we came to was called “blood and urine”! You guessed it - You stuck your arm through a hole in the window and a woman took your blood, handed you a cup and pointed to the restrooms. Kyle told them he might faint - they did not shrug off this warning! They took him around to their side of the counter, pulled out a lawn chair recliner and had him lay down. I held his hand and made him talk to me the whole time :) NEXT was the urine. it was SO embarrassing! In the states you would go into a private restroom and place the cup in a discrete cabinet and go on. Here you bring it out in front of everyone - no lid included. I peed in a cup, set it down and realized it had a hole in it! I ran out of the bathroom and frantically tried to get another cup! The language barrier took hold of the situation and I didn’t get my new cup in time to save it all. I gave the woman what was left and she yelled at me and threw it in the trash as if to say “that’s not good enough try again”! I asked what I should do and she said (by this time I had a translator) “get some water, drink it, and pee again” like it’s that easy! Waiban Frank asked her where the water was and she yelled again - she didn’t like me much. He found some water for me and I drank it while I went through the other pods. They did an ultrasound of my liver, an EKG, an ENG...the works! I felt like a herd animal driven through the shoots. It was so weird! Once out I felt glad it was over.

Day One

After a long flight we arrived in Shanghai. I felt very nervous going through the quarantine inspections because so many people had made a big deal about it but we made it through without a second glance. We were met by a precious person named Joy! She was holding a sign that said “Kyle and Rebecca Hooper”. When she saw us she immediately knew who we were and excitedly welcomed us to China. The car came around to pick us up and we me “the driver” (I never caught her name but this is what Joy called her.) She was about my size and insisted on taking care of putting our heavy bags into the small Jetta she drove. Joy explained that we had two hour drive to Hangzhou from Shanghai and along the way she shared a lot of information. We found out that we will be living downtown - instead of outside the city in Xiasha. We will commute to teach in Xiasha. We will be living on the old campus with the other foreign teachers. When we arrived at the apartment building we found out we were the first foreign teachers to arrive so we got to pick our apartment. They planned for us to live on the fifth floor in 502 because we are younger. So we took that apartment. I feel really safe in our new apartment - there’s an iron gate on the entrance of our building that stays locked at all times and our apartment door locks. We met Frank, the’s the waiban that lives on the first floor of our building. He has been very helpful. By the time we got our bags up 5 flights of stairs we were beat and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Joy, the driver, and Frank all wanted to take us out to eat. We tried to decline but they really wanted to take us out for our “welcome meal”. We went to eat at a noodle restaurant and I felt pretty big culture shock! Noodle-less to say I was glad to get back to the apartment!