Shanghai Breather

Hung out at the hostel all day except for a quick stroll to get a bite to eat and a coffee. I asked about a place to get my hair done and was recommended to a professional-looking spot.

Before going back, I enjoyed a typically western Caesar salad wrap (my friend Jolene would have been totally thrilled~) with a mocha all eaten in this straight-out-of-downtown-America Somewhere called ‘Munchies’. Truly original. Great food. Super manager. Three thumbs up!

Went off to get my hair done. Chose a color. Relaxed. Really enjoyed watching ‘The Hulk’ on a flat screen TV in the saloon. (What a great idea!)

Maybe enjoyed it too much as I didn’t notice how the color was transforming on my head. Before long I looked like a Chinese person with purple highlights. That’s how dark my hair was. In the end I guess it looks okay, it was just a little shocking. I sort of wanted red..? And this was kind of …black?

Hahaha I look like Doris Day gone goth.

Next, I joined a couple of traveling graduates for a movie called ‘Ping Pong’. I couldn’t last it out but a Finnish girl had joined in so we had a nice chat. Later we tried the hostel’s banana/orange milkshakes at the rooftop bar. (bananas, marmalade, powdered milk) Quite nice.

When I asked my new Finnish friend what she had studied in school, I found out she speaks 7 languages! Swedish, Finnish, English, German, Italian, some Spanish, I think Latvian and now she is learning French. She wants to work at the embassy in Rome.

 I would like to work at the embassy in Rome! What a great idea. She would be perfect for it. She also mentioned that Finland is always looking for English teachers. (Don’t tempt me! I think and then imagine how that could possibly work out…)

Right now I am looking into things that could be done in and around Shanghai during the next two days. I am realizing what a boon it is to have found a hostel in this area (the French Concession) with all its tourist attractions and potential for biking outings.

PS Love the grass in Shanghai. I have taken every opportunity to walk on it.

My Finnish friend has a Chinese friend that's thinking of going on a river cruise.   Water.  Lights, Night,...no lines....  A river cruise sounds lovely…

Shanghai, Loves Me Not!

 I just read a sign at our hostel saying: “Ignore those who chase you for student arts or tea ceremony, etc. …especially at public places.”

ARGGGG!! Can you believe it!  I fell for two scams—in less than half a day!! No wonder I felt sick at the Pearl Tower. Those incidents happened right before I went up there. I knew it. I wondered if it was a scam!  It was not just one—but two!

The only few people that were friendly to me outside in Shanghai wanted something from me. What a horrible first impression to have of a city. I would expect it in Hong Kong, but in Shanghai? Which I thought was so cultured.  It just threw me. You don’t even know you’re in a scam until it turns that corner. Then you remember things they said that didn’t add up.

Two college students on an art showing trip here for 2 weeks and they’re just starting to see things? Then in the end it’s their ‘last day’?   Then the teachers (man and lady) who are traveling together from Xian but one has a fiancé and the other has a boyfriend? 

Weird right? And they wanted me to choose how many teas we sampled--each costing 60Y a piece. (They wanted to sample six apiece—but I couldn’t afford that. Here I thought I was being a nice foreigner by going along with them.)

They were the ones who wanted to go to the tea ceremony. But they wanted me to pick how many teas WE should sample. That should have told me right there. Clever, clever. (Hey, didn’t they say it was free in the beginning..?)

And what about the look the local girl gave me as I came in. Again, not a ‘festival in a mall’ as they had said, but a small shop. Was the look almost pity?  ..or disdain? I guess you know it’s a scam when the friendship involves money and the story keeps changing. Two people being friendly seem so less suspicious than one person.

I feel sick.

Shanghai and Away!

Day 4


Got up late again. This time because of a late-night phone conversation with my Mom. I have had some misgivings about coming home right away. I would love to have a little down-time in the US and catch up with friends and family, but I am in a rather good place right now with a community and job opportunities.

 I would hate to leave too quickly and enter into difficulties. Interestingly enough, one of my dorm mates is an American who met a lot of other Americans travelling through Thailand because they recently got laid off or were in-between jobs.

It’s not that I don’t have faith for a job in America. It’s more like I don’t want to go back and find out if that faith will or will not pan out. James would say it’s not faith if it’s untried. 

Day 4 and 5

It seems like getting up late is the mainstay of this vacation. Did that again, check. I took a little walk outside. The air was muggy and it looked like a storm was brewing. But I think that’s just Shanghai every 4 days. Otherwise, it’s been beautiful!

I went to my fave little western place to eat—it’s perfect if only because I like the décor.    Also, it won’t make me sick before I travel long distances. Today I was battling last-minute doubts about going back home.   I spent a good chunk of the day researching jobs here in Shanghai. I am worried that if I go back home, that’s it. I’m never going out again. That’s the reasoning behind the news--or the lack of it--for today.

I also watched Miss Congeniality II.    Sometimes a girl just has to watch something light.
It looks like I’ll be heading home. I’m relieved. (It was helpful to find that one-way tickets back to Hong Kong are only $297) :] in case I start to feeling land-locked.

I///

So, see you all State-side! :] (that’s me waving to you)

PS  (Reflecting later, I wish I had stayed in China but worked at the University level in another area.   If I could choose, I would have tried to find a position on Hanoi Island.   It would be in Southern China but with a better climate and better air quality than Guangzhou.   And well, I wasn't quite up to the speed of Shanghai.)



 

Shanghai Golden ~

In the Pearl Tower…


After making it to the first viewing section, I started to feel nauseous. At the top section, which I had waited an hour and a half to see--and way too much money, all I could think of was ‘how fast can I get out of here!’ That’s when I noticed the line circling around the elevator making it another 30-45 minutes of torture to get down from each level.

And that’s when I started making throwing up motions to the security guards.

They very quickly and graciously moved me to the front of the line. Truly, I could not have waited anymore in that line without losing my cookies. Once I lose my cookies I keep losing them until they are all gone.

After all that anticipation, how strange to be finished with the Tower and so grateful to be away it.  Only beautiful from afar. The Pearl TV Tower will always be a bittersweet memory for me. ‘Look but do not touch’.

God is so gracious. He is a God of second chances and make-up fors and comforting back-pats. Left desolate and still slightly nauseous with my flight from The Pearl, I went in search of the metro to go home and admit defeat.

 I started down a construction alley that looked familiar. I asked if it went to the metro and people said 'no'. I started to go back the other way, when a familiar feeling hit me. ‘You enjoy this'. (I was walking between tall buildings looking at the city lights.) 'You’re feeling okay now.  Just keep on walking.’

 I walked a little further.  I thought it might be The Peace.  It seemed to hang around. I waited for the thunderclap to sound. No thunder. Hmm. I kept walking.  Then I finished a subway sandwich  I bought on the road (thank goodness for Subway).  I had a feeling I was walking in the direction of the Jin Mao Tower.  It was the tallest tower in Shanghai.  You could see the whole city from there. 

Someone had recommended a ‘Cloud 9’ bar on the top. where I could sit and have a drink.  It had a great view of the city from there that was the same price as a trip to their observation deck. I decided to try for it.

Three elevator rides--quick ones--and many concierge smiles later, I was sitting in the most relaxing, dimly lit, view-entrancing restaurant I have ever seen. After so much stress, it was a warm blanket wrapped around my still-frazzled nerves. 

Calming travel fears and nursing back confidence in The Peace, I ordered a cup of Earl Grey tea and some frozen yogurt.   I was contented as a little girl in bed with the night-light on.  In that dark, vast, upstairs cave of a bar with the view of the lit-up city all around me, I could have been Wendy in Peter Pan—out for a lark, soaring through the night sky.

 I was also in the stream.  I wanted to follow The Peace more completely so I decided to see if I could get out of my ‘unpeaceful’ hostel decision. Unbelievably, I came back to a hostel that had ‘no room at the inn’.   A taxi ride later, and three wonderfully helpful Chinese boys were rolling my bag to the door of a beautiful French Quarter style building. 

When we arrived, I came into that feeling that you love to have when you travel to a new place and don't know what you'll run into next.  When the Peace meets you there and you know you’re home.  You're on-track and you're okay. It was there and it’s still here and…

 ...now it’s calling me to sleep.  :]  To forget about the awful Pearl and sink into the memory of sitting in the stars. 

Good-night.

Shanghai Pearl - Just Don't Do It!

I still am following the road that will lead me to that grand TV Tower of the Orient. I miss a metro stop that would take me right there. Instead I walk to what should be the famous ‘Bund’. On the way I hear from two other girls say, “Hi! Where are you from? We are having an art show, would you like to see some painting?”

 I tell them, “I’ve already met your friends, please say hello to them from me.” But it’s after the third person—this time a gentlemen—who mentions an art show that it hits me--have I been involved in some sort of scam?

 I couldn’t believe it! They were so friendly and seemed so genuine. Bummer! I also started to wonder if the tea ceremony had been a little ‘hoisted’. But that invitation seemed a little more legit—offered by teachers on holiday. ..or were they?


After two unplanned activities, unbudgeted purchases bought and subway opportunities missed, I finally saw The Pearl. In all its glory, there it was just a few meters away ready to be exhumed. I had heard about another building with a great view where you could sit and have a nice drink and watch the sunset.

But I wanted to experience The Pearl not just see it from afar. I wanted to walk on its steps, see through its glass, breath its space-age essence. “These things must be touched, felt and breathed to really experience,” I said to my conscience a little too strongly when thinking about the admission price. Only too vividly and for too long did I feel, touch and breath the essence of this tower.

If one word could sum up this experience it would be LINE. Only in a line could you experience these features so vividly and for so long. You have hours and hours to re-live every minute detail in your mind of what you see and especially what you hear.

The screaming children, the endless silver rails keeping you from the elevator that takes you up and down, the aching feet walking on the tower floors... You got to know your line-neighbors pretty well.

There was the Hong Kong couple living in Beijing with their little girl, the two aunties with their daughter and the obnoxious young couple with a little son who kept trying to butt ahead. The Hong Kong couple was very nice. They helped make sure I didn’t get lost in the shuffle.

So yes, line after line after line. A line to get to the line to get to the elevator that had a line after going up to get the next elevator line. There was also a line to go down the elevator followed by another line to go to the very bottom level.

 (PS this wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t already been walking for four hours in 95 degree heat without having had lunch yet? Silly of me, only there was no way to see the line from the ticket booth. You had to go in blind.)

Oh, if I had only stayed outside to see the Pearl in all its glory.


 

Shanghai Loves me?

Day 1 - Shanghai

Okay, I am burdened down—heavy ladened—if I can call it ‘pulling an ‘April’ (who tried to carry in as much as her weight restrictions would allow.) After passing inspection after inspection and security points that made me sweat bullets, I finally arrived in Shanghai at the Pudong airport. With a help of a few angels,(and I mean a few--most people just stared at my difficulty) I got to the key junctures that got me to the next key junctures.


       The Journey into Shanghai

It started with a high-speed train that took me to a station where I had to get a taxi--whose driver didn’t know where my hostel was.  I got to a hostel after not sleeping for two days only to find that it was a storefront in a busy area of town with a loud restaurant attached. Great for food/location, bad for well-being.

At this point, I had a really bad feeling about the hostel. It began earlier in my research.

And so the sinking feeling came with a great conviction.  I needed a good night’s rest in a quiet place without boys sleeping in the same room with me.  I especially did not want to share a bathroom with said boys.

 (Of course everyone is very nice and neutral and the place is so clean and rather quiet.) But it’s not peace that I have. After that day, I didn’t think I could leave right then and there in the middle of the night. The decision was made for me the next night when I came back and they had no rooms.

The only hostel that had a place was my second choice whose name was ‘Le Tour Traveler’s Rest.’ The name should have told me that it was the place I would be looking for all along. I am so blessed here.

I am so happy in the common room with its air con, cushy chairs and late night computer users. I have lots of common rooms to chose from to sit in and think or write. My things are safely stored in a locker near my top bunk with the provided clean sheets, in my bedroom filled with other traveling girls.  Happy am I.

But before I get to sleep a quick recap on the day:

Friday -- Toured a little park trying to think. Hit some awesome Shanghai malls before heading off to the ‘un-peace’ hostel to sleep. Woke up the next day, packed up everything again. Stored it there and went off to find The Pearl Tower. (It’s now 1:00 pm)

 I'm on my way, going through a park trying to get to a Starbucks that someone asked me something.  Could I take their picture? “Sure” and then they say, “Where are you from?” And before you know it, I am joining them for a tea ceremony and am spending a third of my Shanghai trip money. Ah! But some of that tea will make for cool presents.

Now, on to find that elusive Pearl Tower.

It’s not 5 minutes later when, “Hello! Where are you from?” finds me again.   It’s two art students visiting the city through their college art class displaying their paintings. Before I know it, we are gabbing like old friends and they are taking me to see their artwork (in a building nearby.)

It was very informative, their pictures were beautiful, but then came the, “We have some prints, would you like to buy some?” “Oh”, I say, “I would love to. How much are they?” They quote a price that is beyond ridiculous but I want to support their work and encourage them so I buy two.

Well, amid some bargaining and 160 yuan later (for three) we part.   Happy to be finished with what felt like a car buying experience.

But later I found out.....

Hong Kong and The Country Garden Bus Systems

Travel to Hong Kong-

It was pretty easy to get to Hong Kong. You could either go by bus or train--there are benefits to each.

The train goes straight from Guangzhou--nearest big city to Country Garden--to Shenzhen and then you can link onto the Hong Kong metro line (MTR). It takes like 3-5 hours to get there from CG but less if you are already in Guangzhou. (The train takes like an hour from Guangzhou to Hong Kong--great!)

The train station--I think in Shenzhen-- is crazy big!   This is the only point that isn't so pleasant. I'm not sure you always have to stop there though. When you get to China, you will get a chance to do this with other people. I would go every 5-6 weeks when I was there.
You are here. The train to Hong Kong.

What many people do is take a bus/train to the closest city outside of Hong Kong (Shenzhen) and stay at these 24-hour hotel/spas --amazing amenities for the same price as a regular hotel room.   You then cross over to Hong Kong the next day via bus or metro rail.  

Even though anything in a foreign country is a little daunting and harder with the language barrier, getting to Hong Kong was relatively easy.

Here's a link to my favorite spa:
Queen's Spa in Shenzhen (wish I could get some pictures for this...)

Best thing about working in Southern China were the cheap flights that you could take all over with Southeast Asia.     E-long Travel is also a good one.  There was one couple at CG who would take a mini-vacation every time we had a long weekend.

Sometimes they got two $25 tickets to Malaysia or something. www.airasia.com had some great specials!   For winter break, all my colleagues went to the tropical islands of Koh Samui off of Thailand. I went to Bangkok twice while I taught there. Loved it!      www.asiaexpat.com was also a good website. 

The CG Bus System

There is a bus system throughout the Country Garden country clubs. (There are two--one is the 'new' the other 'old' one) It gets you from apartment blocks to school to mini-marts or grocery stores and to the main gates.   From there, more of these Country Garden buses take you to nearby cities in surrounding the areas. I think it covers cities in a 2-hour away radius. These are free for you.

*important* When you are out and about in Guangzhou or other towns, you must only get on the Country Garden Shunde (shun-duh)  bus.   There are more than 13 different Country Gardens so saying the right Country Garden--and double-checking if it's the right one--is paramount to getting home.     Remember:  Shun-duh (Bi Guay Yuan)  Country Garden

Maybe this website has some pictures.

 Long-ride buses are like your average greyhound bus.   Some are newer than others.   It's better to sit in the middle or front because in the back you usually get alot of fumes.


They have the bus schedules at the bus ticket booth at the main gates of Country Garden.   They usually have a Chinese and an English version.  You do need to ask if it is up-to-date, because sometimes it has changed. 

In the past, I've accidentally gone off an old schedule.  Also, ask if any bus pick-up/drop-off places have changed, because that will really mess up an afternoon when trying to get back home!    Asking people around you from CG--especially the younger generation--has been really helpful in getting to the right place at the right time.

Good luck!

Working at Country Garden International School GCGIS

A Quick Overview

(A NOTE:  School change over sometimes from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of this post if you are considering applying to teach at Country Garden Shunde.  I was a teacher here in 2010, but it seems many changes have taken place since then.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information on the situation.   If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out.   I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.)

Country Garden Shunde (because now there are many Country Garden schools all over China) provides teachers with pretty good apartments with air-con, fridges, washers, plug-in space heaters, bedding.. etc. . The teaching program has become more and more international. I taught at GCGIS in 2009, but I am sure many more Western-style adjustments in the school and teacher living accommodations have been made since then.  (Now you get an apartment stipend.)

It is a private school, and a boarding school at that, so behavioral issues come up.   (In my experience it was the teachers' kids that were some of my most challenging--albeit most lovable--students and sources of frustration.)   It's good to come with a plan, a behavioral system with rewards and disciplines.   Use lots of media and activities if you can (with simple instructions) and come fired up.   They will love you if you love them.   But expect to have to deal with some behavioral stuff.

The kids are used to learning through a lot of media, (TV's connected to computer/Internet) so be ready to get technical.   It helps to learn to trouble-shoot computer/TV hook-ups before you are in front of a class and your computer disconnects from the tv or Internet so you can't give the lesson you spent 2 hours preparing for the night before.  Ug.   Have some kind of worksheet ready in case that happens.   Maybe now CG has enough crayons for everyone in the class to use.   (haha)

When I was there in '09, every teacher was given a computer to use for the year.   There is wireless internet in the teacher apartments.   (At the time, wireless internet was unreliable in the classrooms, but maybe that's been fixed by now.)   They have a technical department at the school to help you with your computer and any repairs it might need along the way.   I can't remember if we paid a small deposit for the computer at the beginning of the year, but that seems likely.  

The non-international side (the Chinese private school side) is a different experience.   Classes are taught in the more traditional Chinese way.    More rote lessons.   Less activities.  Less projects on the walls.    If you have to teach on that side, well, you might be treated as more of a 'token English teacher' than a serious professional who is going to forever influence young minds.    But, you are teaching at a good private school compared to others in China nonetheless.

[My friend came from teaching at a Korean language school in Northern China where they stopped paying their teachers mid-way through the first semester.   Three girls shared an apartment and there wasn't the foreign liaison help that CG has.   What else.  The school closed down around January and left teachers scattering for work at other schools, some with visa problems unresolved.   Indecent.] 

Working at Guangdong Country Garden International School~

Teaching/Classes:
Things to be ready for:

So many classes - students look similar (be ready to create a good class list with names--and even pictures, and write down what the personality of the class is.)   I had two sets of twins that forever got me mixing up my classes.

I found that although classes were divided by age-range (grades) they were then split up by ability.  I taught  3rd-5th Grade Reading and Writing.   A class would be called Grade 3 and then Class 1, 2, or 3. So, Gr 3-1 Gr 3-2 and Gr 3-3.

This leaves you with an idea of how classes could get confused and how some great classes would be great but then a class or two would have all the lower-ability students (and low self-esteem) who incidentally, had the most challenging behavioral problems--with no hope of splitting them up, that then became my 'Battle for Middle Earth' classes (what it felt like).

For all the wrestling of wills and fierce eyes and holding my breath praying, DEAR GOD! please let them listen to me today! and do what I say.

Having student monitors for each class helps. They can be the ones to make notes of  disruptive student behavior and then tell their home room teacher who has been out-of-line and needs some 'follow-up'.   The homeroom teacher should be a good support when students' take advantage' of their foreign teacher's kindness, lack of Chinese, etc,. ..

You will have some really bright, wonderful kids in your classes and then some more challenging ones. You get that anywhere you are in the world, but it was harder in China with students' limited English because you can't call on them by name to stop a certain behavior or know if they understand you in the first place.

 (Name tags at the beginning helped immensely!  Too bad their homeroom teacher didn't make them keep them on their desks all the time.  I would recommend insisting on this.   They might all be doing this by now though.)  Another problem I had was keeping track of the 'good' classes (and those with better English) and the more 'challenging' classes.

 I confused the two and was overly strict with the mellow kids (causing them to misbehave) and overly lax with the 'bad' classes (causing them to take advantage).    By the end of the year it got better. 

If I could do it again, and had the resources, I would have bought my own printer.   It was crazy at the time trying to print (an original) from the teacher's office.   1) It seems everyone got the software disk for the printer (to print wirelessly from our lap-tops) except the foreign teachers.

 Then the printer software disk disappeared,  2) so we all ended up having to use the printer computer, where we had to switch-up flash drives and unplug keyboards so we could find a USB port to print from.    I am sure they have this changed now though.  I would hope so.  

(But, this is China, so you prepare for the worst and then are pleasantly surprised when the best happens.   When they are technically ahead of us and their way of doing things is even more stream-lined than back home...) :] 


Living in China:

Surprisingly modern. It was the weather that was the hardest adjustment.   Summer/Fall is SO humid. Then, for winter, it just changes like the flip of a coin, going to SO cold/sticky wet. It's supposed to be 'mild' but do not under-estimate the cold or the heat.    

The best advice I could give is bring lots of warm fleece, down jackets/comforters and lots of cool cotton clothes for when it heats up again.  (You can, however, find clothing in China--the quality stuff is about the same price that we pay in the USA ($30-50 for a good fleece sweatshirt) but if you have the weight allowance and don't want to take any chances, bring some of that with you.

Country Garden:

Living in the 'Country Club'

If you live in the foreign teachers' apartments, you are 5 minutes away from work, there is a small corner store at the bottom of your apartments, a moderate sized everything/grocery store --5 minutes by bus, 15 to walk (has everything from dry goods to veggies, cleaning supplies and even household items) however, to really do some serious living/shopping/eating the closest bigger town is a 20-30 minute bus ride away.   I believe it's called Panyu (Pawn-yu).   They have malls, night markets, movie theaters, pizza hut, some parks and it's just a great close get-away.

To get there by bus. You will need to take a 5 or 10 minute mini-van bus ride to get to the CG main bus station at the entrance of the Country Club (though all buses are free for CG foreign teachers) and from there it's maybe a 10 minute wait and then at least a 25 minute bus ride to the nearest city.   So after a while, it feels like it takes extra energy to get anywhere.

The main big city nearby is Guangzhou.   Guangzhou has everything.   Malls, Starbucks, buses and trains to Hong Kong,...the airport.

In CG, things weren't as close as I hoped.    Maybe if I had a scooter, I wouldn't have felt so isolated at times.   But, if the whole overseas adventure/China thing is new, then everything will be pretty exciting. There are some Chinese eateries (cheap-and we all loved them!) within a 20-30 minute walking distance or 5-10 by motorbike.    

(I would so RECOMMEND getting a motorbike/scooter while you are in CG.  Unless you are really trying to save up to pay off debt or put a down payment on a house, it made everything easier for my friend when she got hers--and the weather (90% humidity times) was not such a downer because you had to walk everywhere.)

Apartments - Foreign Teacher Living
The apartments provided for the foreign teachers are nice--especially compared to the regular teacher apartments.  There was marble flooring and some nice 'teak' wood doors and chandelier lighting to spice things up.   I seem to remember even soft yellow walls.   


Bathroom - Western toilet, modest-sized running-water sink, a glassed-in shower, a mirror and a small set of matching shelves above the sink.  There is a smaller window above the shower with a very small plastic exhaust fan, more marble tile and a washing machine if you're isn't outside on a back-porch..

For other things that we needed, there is an IKEA in the city (Guangzhou) which we loved to go to.    (It's PACKED on Sunday though.    All the Chinese come out and try out the beds and curtains and stuff.   It's a mess!  :]  I love how they get into it.)  

There was no full-sized mirror in the apartment, so a few of us got 4 small mirrors and posted them together on the wall.   There might be a closer store where you can get a long mirror by this time. Also, some of the apartments will have stuff left behind from previous foreign tenants.

 If you take stuff back from GZ (Guangzhou) in a taxi all the better.   We were saving money at the time, so hauled things back on the Guangzhou metro and CG buses.   A little more awkward, but it worked.

The Kitchen- Small fridge (2-feet tall?) and microwave with gas-powered cooking stove-top and a kettle.   Yes, you had to turn open the gas-tap on the bottle of propane that you had in your house for hot showers and cooking.   It would have to be replaced by a maintenance man 2x during the year.  

We had to pay for the propane.  It wasn't too much. (50-150 yuan? for each bottle)  Also, although most of the place is well-lit, some kitchens don't have a window--depending on which way your apartment is facing.  It also had some cupboards a stainless steel sink and a long countertop.  In general, a very small area--like cooking in a hallway.

Living Room - floor-to-ceiling glass windows on one side.  These are also your balcony doors.   (There is a cement balcony off each apartment.)   A couch, a cabinet, a coffee table, a desk and a chair.  Furniture was mostly shellacked wood--very rustic.   It also came with a a tv and a dvd player.

Bedroom - A nice window, usually a full-size/queen bed, (The mattress would be equivalent to what we call a box spring) tall wooden shelf, bedside table/cabinet, curtains (very light and barely cover the window)

Bedding--a duvet coverlet with pillowcase, a thick comforter and a towel.

The place didn't come with any floor mats, hangers, kitchen utensils/towels, cleaning mops/buckets or other household-y things.    These you needed to buy yourself, but at least there were stores around that had them.

We had bottled water delivered.   Bless the man!  who only charged 5 yuan extra to carry the 5-gallon bottle of drinking water up to your apartment--whether you lived on the 1st floor or the 8th floor.  I usually needed another bottle every 2-3 weeks.  

[In China, after 9 floors, they have to put in an elevator.   So, the teacher apartments--and the kids' dorms as well--will go up 9 floors without an elevator.   The view is great!  But the stairs 4x-8x a day will make you very fit.) 

CG foreign teachers get a housing allowance.  You can chose to live outside of the teacher's apartments in other country garden apartments or homes (I don't know how much the allowance covers) or high rise apartments with elevators and some of the nicer features of the teacher apartments--teak doors, chandeliers...)


Foreign Liaison
Good and fair.   Mr. Lee, if he is still there, has been in the 'business' for many years and is great.    He will be your advocate. (Compared to other Chinese Foreign Advisors in stories I've heard.)
(The latest I have heard is that Mr. Lee is in a different position now-2016.)

Foreign Liaison ASSISTANT
She was awesome!! Awesome! It made our time in China so much easier. She was our go-to girl for visa needs airport pick-ups, practical apartment things/fix-ups and anything else out of the box that we foreigners could think of.   We were careful though, not to abuse the privilege of having such a wonderful helper on our side.   We tried not to overwhelm her with too many requests or questions at once.  

Requests:  If a few of us were wondering about the same thing, we would try to just send her one text instead of all of us e-mailing her at once, if we could help it.   But, if a light blew out in your apartment or your air-con stopped working, we let her know right away and that was fine.   She would schedule a maintenance man to come fix it and try to take care of as many apartment problems in one shot.  

[Now, this was if you were in the foreigner apartment block.   If you lived outside of the area, you probably had another apartment manager to send maintenance requests to.]


Getting Paid:
Always on-time. A big organization so that one is a constant.   They pay you in yuan and deposit it straight to your bank. The green Agricultural Bank of China is what they used.   They would take out 'electricity costs' and some apartment deposits from your paycheck, but that was in our contract. 

There is something with China, where you get paid 1-2 months after you first start working.   It's hard to wait that long if you need to set up your household, but I think CG gave a 1/2 amount for our first pay period and then we got the difference at the end of the year.  (As in, it works out that you get paid 2 paychecks for your last paycheck because your first one comes a little late.  It's something like that.   But it's all fair in the end.)

I hope that helps and gives a basic idea of what it's like to work for Guangdong Country Garden International IB School. 

...Living in a Foodie's Paradise--and a Boarding School

On the way home, the bus was so packed, I was practically sitting on the bus driver's lap.  For all its social awkwardness, the front-row view was amazing!    The  panoramic vista of our four-story tiled school and the Mediterranean-inspired Country Garden villas just unfolded in front of us, twist upon turn as we toddled down the road.

I relished the thought of the delicious dinner we had at our favorite dive, 'The Dessert Restaurant'.  It was so named for all the sweet things on the menu and its cheap prices!  

We can order as many as 6 things without breaking a financial sweat.  (Might add up to like $6.50.)   Some of our favorite menu items are deep-fried peanut-butter filled french toast, fresh mango, dragonfruit and jellies in coconut milk and barbequed garlic eggplant.  

My restaurant outing was a welcome relief.   It’s been a tough week here at Guangdong Country Garden International School. I have had some difficult classes in the midst of some wonderful ones.   What a learning curve I should have expected—teaching through miscommunications and different management expectations.   

These last couple of days,  my teaching style has been affected by fear.  Which class will make me want to cry?  In which class will my lesson fail? Which class will rise up never to be brought back to order again? These thoughts haunt me some days.

This kind of thing can happen class after class.    Another problem is I forget which classes are good and which ones are bad.  I start coming down hard on good classes and going easy on bad classes.    This creates a weird mix of student behavior.  Arg.   I have persevered however, and with the help of class monitors, am feeling more like the authority figure I should be.

I have to say, my students are an eager bunch.  When they know what they are doing, they go for it.     Earlier today I gave them a worksheet, and they colored it so ferociously they looked like they had been let out of a cage and their first act of freedom was to color.   :]    For the next 20 minutes all you heard in the classroom was the strumming rhythm of crayon against paper.  

I teach in a boarding school. My students are in class from 7:20 am till 9:00 at night. They have breaks for lunch and dinner/PE and playtime but it’s a pretty much classroom, lunch room, dormitory, classroom, lunchroom, dormitory. They probably don’t get much time to color. That makes me sad.   

Students of privilege should be the very ones who have time to express themselves.   I think the staff depend on the foreign teachers to provide that kind of thing. One Chinese teacher even mildly rebuked me for not taking them to the library.   If he only knew how badly they behaved, he wouldn’t have made me feel bad.   (Since this posting, I have taken them to the library and they have behaved much better.)

In some of my classes--and these are students from very wealthy families--the students don’t even have crayons. The thought of not having crayons—or any coloring device--deeply saddens me. Maybe that will be on my class supplies request list.   Yeah, I asked before, and they referred me over to the supply room and signed me out for a few packs of art class crayons.   Great quality, but not enough to keep all the students occupied.

Before I ramble on to the place of no return...I should mention my surprise trip to Hong Kong.

In the next post...

A Horrendous Departure

I wanted to share with you my most recent adventures in Shanghai. I chose Shanghai to end my China travels because I’ve always wanted to go there.  More specifically, I wanted to see the iconic Pearl Tower.  (There are unfortunate events related to that topic but we won't dwell on that.)

I packed up my household, put it all in three suitcases, checked out with my Foreign Affairs lady and headed out to catch my flight--an international flight.  All in one day. Not recommended. This is especially not recommended if one must travel the day before to do errands and only start packing up after midnight.   Add to this the intensity of saying goodbye, spending time with friends and having an apartment inspection, and you have disaster!

It made me wonder if I should go.   I was literally emptying the contents of my desk drawers into trash bags that I could sort out on the bus.   I ran out of time to pack-up.   I had 3 taxi drivers mad at me in one day and I found antennae-waving cockroaches two inches from my head in an airbus that took me to the plane.  The only word to describe this whole experience was ‘horrendous’ with a capital HORROR.

That's just the general overview.   I started my journey by rolling two huge suitcases--one whose handle broke on the way down my apartment steps--a backpack weighing more than the rolling suitcases, a purse, a computer and three shopping bags to a waiting taxi.   This only is told to give an idea of my immense relief at the present moment as I am relaxing in the most lovely of Chinese hostels, hoping to find that Shanghai Golden you always hear about. 

Shanghai Nights!

Still reeling from the scam realization. I sleep in late but join the Finnish girl and her Chinese roomie for a night cruise. Actually it turns out to be a trip around ‘The Bund’ like Shanghai’s waterfront to some of the Chinese friend’s fave places.

We went to the glamorous area which looked like something out of Santa Barbara’s downtown State Street shopping area. Really classy. I took lots of pictures.

We passed a Starbucks and our Finnish friend mentioned she had never tried one.    What?!  The Chinese girl and I both looked at each other.  ?   That had to be remedied.    When 'Helen' pointed to a bottled frappaccino in the display case, my Chinese friend and I both exclaimed, "NOooooooo!" :O and helped her order something more memorable for her Starbucks initiation--like an iced grande hazelnut mocha frappuccino.

After that, we tried out the local frozen yogurt shop.    I ordered a green tea frozen yogurt with watermelon, papaya, gummy squares and mango on top.   It was very good to the taste but I was starting to realize, 'I can’t have any more sugar!  

In-between reaching another Cantonese desert place on The Bund we shared some sweet Chrysanthemum tea and a mango, sticky rice, coconut milk sundae. Very good, but too much sugar!   All this sampling, walking around in the heat, eating wild combinations of food started to take effect. In the cab Helen, who has just been here two days, said she was going to throw up.

The taxi drove us as fast as we could back to the hostel.   Oh, the poor girl. I can’t imagine.   In one afternoon/evening, Helen had sampled frozen green tea yogurt, Chrysanthemum tea, tofu and green bean street food, herb-filled wantons, fried spinach, lychee fruit--which tasted a bit ‘off’, a squash-like fruit, and then that first-ever mocha hazelnut frap.   A local Chinese person would have been sick with that combo.

Not that China’s food is bad, but all of that on a China-newbie stomach is too much. (As it turned out, she was okay and didn’t end up throwing up but it was pretty gruesome in the meantime.   Foreign travel trauma averted for the moment.)

I think we all slept way late the next day.    I got up in time to wander around the neighborhood but also decided--when thinking about bed time that next day--that I could not sleep another night on a hard dorm bed. 

It was now down to my last two days in China. The only softer option was a private room.  I went for it and am now happily typing, solomente.

Driving in Southeast Asia

Just a little fun!

Best! Commercial! Ever!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDLL_OHzzvY
Sometimes driving in southeast Asia was like this  :]

 

Country Garden website address

Some very handy websites if you are looking into teaching at GCGIS or teaching in international schools overseas.  

(A NOTE:  School change over sometimes from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of this post if you are considering applying to teach at Country Garden Shunde.  I was a teacher here in 2010, but it seems many changes have taken place since then.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information on the situation.   If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out.   I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.)

http://bgy.gd.cn/   Guangdong Country Garden School website
http://www.countrygarden.com.cn/ The Country Garden Estates website (The Country Club that the wchool is located in.)
http://www.tieonline.com/   A site for finding international school jobs.

http://bgy.gd.cn/ The Guangdong Country Garden International School (Bi Gui Yuan) school's website.

(A NOTE:  Schools can change from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of these posts if you are considering teaching at Country Garden Shunde.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information.   I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.   

If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out. :] )

http://bgy.gd.cn/   Guangdong Country Garden International School (Bi Gui Yuan) school's website.

It took me forever to find again when I was looking into going back to China. 

Some great kiddos from grade 3 class 3.  :]

GCGIS Guangdong Country Garden International School

(The inside courtyard of GCGIS elementary school)

(A NOTE:  Schools change sometimes from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of these posts if you are considering teaching at Country Garden Shunde.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information.  I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.  If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out. :] )

This is the inside of our school.  Notice all 4 stories.    This might be why I have been so tired every day since I got here.   It has been like this even after adjusting to the time change.   I just want to go to bed at 7:30 every night.   I think it's a combination of the heat and the stairs.   Even my co-workers have been like this.

~Speaking of stairs, let’s find out a little more about GCCIS Guangdong Country Garden International School and what it’s like to live here in Southwest China!

The Stairs~

There are 7 flights to get to my apartment 3 times a day. I climb 4 flights to get to my classrooms and 3 flights up and down for lunch and dinner. I do all this while carrying a computer and teaching notebooks in 100+ weather with 85% humidity.  One day I ate a whole bag of gummy worms just to get motivated to go back to school. That's not such a big deal, mind you, except that bag of gummy worms was supposed to last for the next six months.

Fun fact:  In China, apartments have to put in an elevator if the building is 9 floors or higher.    You can guess how many floors we have.   (Answer at end of post.)

School stuff~

Right now am just trying to get my curriculum in order.   This means planning for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade English reading and writing.

 It is hard to teach students that don't understand what you are saying to them. (:] said in mock earnest). I have started adjusting my talking speed and have judged comprehension by the calm vs. blank expressions on students' faces. Also, the less they understand, the more they act up.

I really need to follow non-verbal feedback indicators to know where they are at.   My questions in English don't tell me.    It's decpetive when they are answered.    That means that 'they' understand me, but  who are 'they'?  'They' are probably a handful of students in the class who know English and don't represent the class like 'they' in an English-speaking classroom.  

School Liason~

I have met an awesome Chinese teacher named Josie who has helped me so much in preparing for this subject-jump. She is so petite but has a passion for education that makes her larger than life when she tells stories. She has gone to the UK and other places abroad.

(The Chinese teachers seem to travel a lot. What rich experiences they must gain! The UK, Australia, America... All in a summer and then about every other year. I believe they get a traveling allowance from the school and then can even go with exchange programs.)

Offices~

Josie is also in my office.  (There are 4 floors of classrooms corresponding to the 1st-6th grades, with an office of teachers on each floor.)  She has given me all these flash animation stories to use for my lessons. In doing lessons, you just hook up your laptop to the large flat screen TV in the classroom and you are set to PowerPoint or video-illustrate the day away.

You would think this is just a great way to advertise technology in the school, but I also have a feeling it is used to save money on making copies.  It could even be a substitute for buying books. (I was encouraged to take pictures of the pages of a storybook so that they could be shown on the large screen.) It can be done.

School Cafeteria~

We eat in what is called 'The Canteen'. I wonder if the Chinese know that that name gives it a very 'western' feel, and therefore should come come equipped with wooden saloon doors, bar fights and the occasional tumbleweed.) 

Otherwise, it is large and semi air-conditioned with table-clothed tables and napkins  provided in the usual form of tissue.  Each table also has soy sauce and some come with a welcoming view of the school.

In the Canteen they serve five + different Chinese side dishes that make up each meal.  There are about 13 different 'meals' you can sign up for.   The three unvarying sides for lunch and dinner are rice, soup-o-the-day and one of many types of fried lettuce.

Then you could have a really amazing garlic/ginger chicken, or oyster-sauce zucchini/mushroom mixture alongside some not-so-tasty spicy eel or eggplant that was very good on Thursday but now seems to keep appearing in every dish that comes through the partition window. It appears day after day until you're very sure that there couldn't possibly be that much eggplant in all of China for it to have fed 3000 students and 500+ teachers over the course of 4-6 days.  

(What I learned later is that they cook food by the season or buy in bulk. That is why you have eggs and tomatoes, fresh shrimp or garlic eggplant for so many meals in a row.

I also found out that after a terrible cooking administration last year, the school used its own Bi Gui Yuan [Country Garden] ‘farm’ to produce the food that we eat at The Canteen now. The teachers are very happy with this arrangement and talk about how much better the food is this year!)

The Western Buffet~

On the other side of The Canteen, they have created a great Western Buffet. It is mainly used as a food option for the international kids at the school. The Koreans really requested it.    It serves things like curry and rice, potatoes and bacon, french fries, chicken nuggets (all homemade!) and sweet and sour ribs. It really is worth the 20 Y--or was it 40Y, that we pay for it.

(You get 300Y at the beginning of each month you your cafeteria food allowance money and you decide how you want to spend it.)   With our food allowance, we can afford 15 trips to the western buffet in a month. I have designated my arduous first-week Mondays (we're on a two-week school schedule) and fun-day Fridays to go there. It’s cute! We all sit in orange McDonald’s style booths and can drink cold water from a provided soup bowl. (They don’t provide drinking water on The Canteen side.)

Bi Gui Yuan (Guangdong Country Garden International School) is really two schools that are separate but share the same courtyard and eating/playing facilities. One is the Chinese private school. All of its classes are taught in Chinese except an for Oral English.

Here it seems that there is no set curriculum to follow. I have heard that the students are more difficult to teach which may be because there is less support from the Chinese administration or that the students take foreign language learning less seriously.

The GCGIS International School has a few more international students, more classes are taught in English and the ideal to follow is a western-style/discovery-learning educational format. This equals research-based activities, group projects and using different materials to create unconventional output, ei: displays, posters, storybooks and, most important of all—The Portfolio work sample.

(Activities were then designed done to be fit enough to put in The Portfolio work sample. It is a brilliant idea. I actually did that as a 1st grade teacher back in the States but didn’t think of my reading or writing class’ contributions until the end of the year when it was mentioned.) They are currently working towards IB International Baccalaureate School certification.

(The classroom westernized--see bulletin board)

You should have seen how they transformed the school during this year. In the beginning of the year it looked like a typical Chinese classroom with few adornments on the walls but always with a nicely decorated bulletin board in the back of the classroom.

In a matter of days, the classrooms had student work displayed in the windows, motivational English says broadcast on every wall and art projects hanging from the ceiling. I finally realized what made each culture’s classrooms so different. It was the amount of material on display.

The International office had just a few desks a bench and a printer. When you walked in the next day there was a full-size copier connected to a scanner, a large-scale paper-cutter and---a laminator! They just needed a die cutter and then the illusion of an office straight out of a western country would have been complete.

(A workroom)

The GCGIS international side pays more to their teachers, so there should be noticeable benefits for the students’ education, right?  In that, I mean, they have the chance to play intra-mural sports that the foreign teachers initiated.

By the way, I am now assisting with the middle school boys soccer team. At our official foreign teacher's meeting, these two volunteer sports program directors got everyone to talk about what sport they had played in the past.

Before we knew it, we were signed up to coach or help coach that given sport. It was very sneaky of them though. (There was still some agreement on our part before we were signed up lock, stock and barrel.) They took this on all per gratis so it is a good thing to help out in.

The initiator of this is from the Philippines and has lived and taught in China for 7 years. He has the coolest apartment due to all the stuff he has been given from past teachers who left.

Speaking of cool apartments, our floor—the 7th--is the coolest. We are just like ‘Seinfeld’ or ‘Friends’. Whenever we hear someone at their door, we all poke our heads out like little mice to see what's going on. Someone's always got something to say about this or that to add to the day’s stories or a comment that gets us wondering whether we should stand, open-doored, out in the landing or take the conversation to someone’s room and save our hard-earned air-conditioning because we hate to leave our happy little group. It's so comforting. We all joke around and try to figure out who is who. So, I'll give you our little cast of characters...in real life..

(The names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

First there's my little Canadian friend, Sunny. She just finished her college teaching courses and is doing 1st and 2nd grade here after she student-taught high schoolers just before. She fits her name and is the most cheerful, sunny person around.

She also loves to travel and has been to Africa, backpacking through Europe and in and out of the pubs of Ireland. She is probably the closest in age to me even though she is in her 20’s.

That being said there are not very many girls here my age and even fewer unmarried young people. The majority of foreign teachers here are older/retired men that have taught all around China and are here because of the reputation of our school.

Then there are 4 younger couples and a few odd balls like me and the cool people on the 7th floor. :] (we are kidding!  Everyone in our building--they put all the foreigners together--unless we get an apartment somewhere else, is very cool.  :])

Also on our floor, there's Mamando, our black brother from Chicago who has an African name and speaks Chinese. He's planning to marry his Chinese girlfriend and settle down in China.

Next door to him is our very cute little Pakistani brother that likes to dance. He is just a button. We all want to take him home with us. :] (Like a puppy). He just taught at an International School in China and also has a potential reason to stay in China for the long-haul.

Mamando has a DJ station in his room and a bottom shelf just full of records that he mixes. He moved all his unwanted furniture up two flights of stairs so he could move in $500 worth of black and white furniture from IKEA. (Yes! They have one here in Guangzhou!)

By the way, they have a metro (subway) here going to the important places in the city--shopping, the embassies, a waffle shop, Starbucks, Pizza Hut…It's just a quick ride away. Also, the city is so much cleaner than I remember!!

Maybe that is because the subway took the place of many of those diesel-spouting buses...or maybe it's because I'm here in August when it's summer and you can see the sky.

That's a quick low-down on some of the school and some of the city things around here.

(* 8 floors)
P.S.  Since I wrote this article, the school now gives the teachers an apartment stipend for them to chose wherever they would like to live.   There are some great high rises in the newer Bi Gui Yuan Country Garden Estate areas and some beautiful villas with yards and gazebos.   

June: Wonderland Time!

June 21, 2009

(A NOTE:  Schools change sometimes from year to year.   Please read all the reviews at the end of these posts if you are considering teaching at Country Garden Shunde.  ESL reader boards would be a good place to get updated information.  I wrote this blog so others would have some idea of what teaching at Country Garden in Shunde, China, was like and that no one would be as unprepared as I was the first time I taught here in 1994.  If you are looking into other international schools in that area, CLIFFORD is also a good school/country club/resort to check out. :] )

It’s June! And I’m having a great time. 
 It took 8 months of hard work and trudging-on forward, but I am in Wonderland!

 I have students who are quiet during class time, follow my directions and are able to understand English enough to participate creatively in the lessons!   I've won a victory.

 It had been 'always winter and never Christmas' in my teaching experience here.    It seems this year has been represented by Narnia movies.   ..all that perseverance.  Strange obstacles in a strange land. The Sound of Music has been inspiring too. 

It has helped to learn all their names--all 250 of them. 

In the beginning there were multiple sets of twins and look-alike siblings. (That is why it was so hard to keep my classes straight!  I was sure I had already gone through chapter 5 with class 4.1 because that’s the class ‘Neville’ is in.

 Little did I know that Neville has an identical twin brother named ‘Omar’--names have been changed to protect the innocent--in class 4.2. Neville always seemed to be either very good or very bad. His behavior pattern was finally explained by the discovery of his twin. 

So, now looking forward… I see green hills, I see school, I see more work to be done. But good work. The kind that brings the cows home and the harvest in. Fulfilling work. We'll see what happens with that.

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy~

School's Almost OUT!: Starbucks and Country Garden Buses

Have Bus Will Travel

 

 
 

 

June 12, 2009

A month has passed and now we are only two weeks away from the end of school!  If I ever thought I would make it to the end of this year, still breathing and thinking coherently, I would have strongly refuted you.   In celebration of this fact, I think I will hop on a bus to Guangzhou and get myself a 'designer coffee', as my Mom calls it, at Starbucks.

Here I am in GZ.  I am reveling in the fact that I can e-mail my friends, drink a commercially-made mocha, listen to Harry Conick Jr. singing in English while I'm at a Starbucks in China.

 

(A Chinese Starbucks bulletin board)

This week, each class will finish their respective reading book and then have fun worksheets till the end of the year. This lesson plan leaves just enough time for movies on the last couple days of school. 

If my grade school teachers ever did this (and I know they did!) it was to give themselves a break. I remember one of my teacher showing us a movie on chinchillas--out of the blue, and another on behavioral statistics, for no reason at all. Anyhow, I digress...

(These are some of my dear students from Grade 3 class 3 ~some making silly faces.)

 

 

I finished up at Starbucks in Guangzhou and made my way across sidewalks, down escalators and subway tunnels to reach the other mall where our Country Garden bus picks us up at.

 

 

(A view from my favorite Starbucks in Guangzhou)

It's always daunting catching a bus in China--even in a 'gated community' like Country Garden because when you are given bus schedule information, there can sometimes be changes that have not been updated to you.  

It isn't always easy being on the outside.   If I was able to read some more Chinese characters that would help. 

 I will usually ask about 2-3 people for confirmation that I am standing in the correct line for the right bus. 

 You can imagine the relief at not only finding--yet again--that I am in the right pick-up spot but am also in the right line at the right time.   If you want to feel like Conan the Barbarian, successfully navigate a bus system in China. 

Ah, here it is (now imagine my relief), it's a Country Garden bus and I'm in the right line at the right time.   (There are at least three different Country Garden resorts in the Guangzhou area and outer limits and I need the bus for Shunde [Shoon - duh!] Country Garden.)

Some of these buses are nice, but tonight it’s a ghetto bus and its parts are starting to show some wear. The seats have itchy upholstery, the window curtains are hither and yon, some people have arm rests...some don’t.   But it's not too bad on the whole.    It is cleaned out after every trip which I think is great for China. 

Some advice: sometimes it is better to get a seat in the front of the bus as you breathe in more exhaust in the back.   It took me a while to figure that one out.   Why I was coming home from Guangzhou with such headaches.   Fumes.

 We're off and now I'm listening to African music on my way home. It came with my computer, but it feels like I'm hiking right outside some Kenyan tribe and can hear their drums in the distance.   Awesome stuff.   As I type, my fingers are literally dancing over the keyboard trying to keep up with the bumps on the road.

 

Passing beautiful southern China foliage on my left,  I listen to two Chinese ladies gab on my right.   Now the playlist is on Indian techno--and I'm by a river in New Delhi.      

 AN hour long bus ride into Guangzhou is not too bad this way. 

Why I was tempted to buy a cow in China...

I was so elated! I had found real creamer (for coffee) and real mozzarella cheese (for whatever!) in Guangzhou, China. I quickly bought them!   Overcome by joy!   I didn't think about the long trip back and the 90 degree weather outside.

They would have been safe from damage except I felt the compelling urge to buy a digital camera for my lessons at school.   I then I tried to buy an MP3 player.   But it was so pretty.

After two hours in my backpack in the humid Guangzhou night air, my packages had begun to...fade. Hoping to lengthen their life span, I took a quick detour to Starbucks.    I asked them for two cups of ice.

I packed the items in them as if they were my own children.  You would have thought I was transporting a live heart for an organ donation. I smiled to everyone and thanked them for their compassionate looks. 

Maybe I saw compassion but they saw a wide-eyed, crazy, American redhead who had lost her marbles in the insane SE Asian heat.  Balancing a backpack, a shopping bag, a map, a purse and a bus schedule--that kept coming in and out of her purse--along with now two cups of venti ice, she looked like this was normal.   All she needed now was an ice cream cone and then 8 flutes to juggle.

I had had a stellar day otherwise in the city--finding things, buying things, getting places, seeing sights, all breezily.  I was feeling very confident with my bags and cups. However, when I saw that my ice had melted just by walking to the bus station, I gave up.

 I let go of my dear purchases.   Without a decent burial, I placed my treasures in a nearby trash can hoping a local beggar might discover them.

But what local beggar is going to be excited over mozzarella? Would he even recognize the luxury value of real cream if he tasted it? It would have given me joy if that could have been arranged.  But it could not.

I made my way home not too disheartened.    If I had found them once, I would find them again.   They would appear when I least expected it.  And I would be ready.

All was not a total loss, however.   For there in my backpack, where my dairy creamer should have been, was a pink Cannon Powershot camera,  next to a jewel-green MP3 player.   
 

Bangkok Dental

Last month, I went to Bangkok to get some dental work done. (Well, to vacation too of course, but the dental came first.) It was a great experience. Stayed at the same hostel I went to last time~Sukhumvit On Nut.

A GREAT place! by the way. I feel like I have family in Bangkok!  I can't wait to see them again.  Super people, super help, super food!  

Also, on the way, just happened to meet with a friend from Guangzhou who had booked the same flight and same hostel as me.  That is pretty rare given all the choices in Bangkok. We had a good time pal-ing around the city until I had to take care of tooth business.   :[


So, my dental work... Turned out pretty well.   Yay!   I wanted to go to a recommended one called Dentist 51.   I had research it on-line, seen all the pictures, read all the reviews, etc. .    But with time restraints, went to one down the street from the hostel recommended by the front desk personnel.  Their name is in Thai or I would pass it on.    It was on the corner of 89 Sukumvit.  

They spoke English, had real dental equipment and were very gentle. It didn't hurt at all. I was so surprised.   They took x-rays, re-created part of a tooth that needed some attention and even touched-up the one next to it for I think $50.   Amazing.    So affordable. 

Hong Kong and the Queen's Spa, Shenzhen in 2008

I am going back in time because so many of my travel experiences didn't get to be uploaded.  So here they are, in random fashion. 

Hong Kong Sometime in April 2008

Hello all! I have had a productive weekend in Hong Kong (April 2008) and just wanted to share it with you all. :] I went to HK to buy a new computer. I have been using our school-issued laptop and was afraid that I wouldn’t get myself a personal one unless I did so soon. I settled for an HP CQ60. For all of you enlightened on the latest computer products, I hope I bought a good one. I bought one at 17” in case my next year finds me without a tv. The size has been a little regretful since it’s so heavy. I have a hard time lugging it around unless I stay put in a coffee shop, but its screen is so beautiful.

Hong Kong was wonderful. On the way there and back, I crashed at a beauty salon called Queen’s Spa. You can’t beat their amenities (free food, movie channels, pools, hot tub, massages) and 24-hour rate (168 Yuan=$25). It’s like a hotel that way but your cover charge is dismissed if you order a certain amount of massages or food. The main lounging room is just filled with lazy-boy recliners with tv’s attached and small trays to put your drinks and snacks on.

Many people end up sleeping in their lounge chairs but they do have separate ‘sleeping commons’ for men and for women. At one time, the areas were just made up of massage tables but then the sleeping common was finished and it turned out to be an enormous sleigh bed with dividers. It’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds but there are 65 other women sleeping in the room with you. We are all in our pink striped spa pajamas. It’s very interesting. I can’t take pictures of it though. On a side note, I usually sleep pretty well in that environment, but this time there was a chorus of snorers making it difficult. The sound was so syncopated it could have been broadcast on OPB as a supernatural phenomenon.

I survived the Queen’s Spa (sometimes it can be kind of loud and raucous) and went to Hong Kong again for Sun gathering. I was really looking forward to it. Life Community is a much larger fellowship and there’s more freedom to worship here than in China. When I walked up the hill to their rented facility, I was disappointed to find that they had moved. I didn’t know where to start looking. I ambled over to a HK landmark St. Andrews and discovered that they were still holding services. It was a beautiful red brick and white mortar Anglican church. It looked like it had stood there since the founding fathers of HK disembarked.


It was the most refreshing time. It was Anglican in service (I expected tradition and liturgy) but everything about it felt alive and modern. The woman guiding the service spoke with conviction--even when she was just giving the announcements. They used modern worship songs, and the pastor spoke on forgiveness. The gathering felt really mission-oriented even though nothing was verbalized. I had the conviction that those attending lived their lives through their faith and believed that their time and place here on the planet really mattered.


That kind of attitude is nothing if but contagious! I left feeling like a part of the believing community at large. I also wished I could be ordained as an Anglican minister just to help relieve them of their need for lay pastors. It would be so neat if things would come to that--if pastors of any Bible-believing denomination could swap leaders with other Bible-believing denominations in order to fill positions.


These longings surface and I wonder what in the world I am doing teaching. I wonder if I should serve full-time in an area of need instead of working for what feels like a black hole of daily living expenses. I hate to put so much energy into making lucre at the expense of fulfilling my heart’s desire. I know there is a balance in here somewhere.