Great Honor

I had the great honor to name a child today. In China, people have Chinese names that are given to them by family, but when asked what your name is by a foreign person, they will simply say that they do not have an English name. I had a new student in one of my classes, and was told that I would be able to name him, for the rest of his given life in the English language. I thought long and hard about it, and came up with a name that I believe speaks great deals about this young man. His name is Nitro. For the rest of his life, while spoken in the English language, this boy will be known as Nitro.

I also had the great honor of being this year's Santa Claus for the Bear American school's Christmas party. To make a long story short, I dressed as Santa Claus and had 80 young Chinese kids yelling and screaming at me for 2 hours as I passed out candy to them from a stocking. It was a Christmas celebration that I will absolutely not soon forget

Christmas in China

So Christmas time has finally come, and it's quite different from back home. Religion in China is not very prevalent, so there's not much care for it, but it is still definitely celebrated. Most places have decorations set up, and I've heard some pretty interesting techno remixes to Christmas music in certain stores

We had a Christmas miracle occur when Pat was trying to get his passport to go home just the other day. To make a long story short and not offend certain parties involved, Pat was told he wouldn't get his passport until about 2 hours before his flight, which just wouldn't work and an expensive ticket would be wasted. He was able to talk to a few people and go down to the police department where it was held, and somehow it was given back to him in time to take an expensive 3 hour taxi to Shanghai, not ideal but atleast he made it. I was feeling a bit worried myself, but was able to get mine yesterday as I was told, and am looking forward to a break at home. I think I'm going to weigh myself the day I get home and the day I leave, because I'm planning on eating as much Buff Joe's and Chipotle as possible. It's kind of sad how much I miss certain foods, and going to McDonald's to get something western out here is just not really cutting it for me. Anyways, can't wait for the break, but not exactly excited about having the same conversation about six hundred times about living in China.

Other remarks on China:
I was pulling up to my apartment the other day on my scooter, on the right side of the bike lane next to the sidewalk. A man came flying in from the sidewalk on a bike and clipped my right handlebar, sending him careening out of control and falling to the ground. I sat there a moment speechless, with a bag of McDonald's in one hand and my mouth wide open, not sure of what to do. It was one hundred percent his fault but I obviously felt bad, so I pushed forward to see if he was alright. He didn't really say anything as he got up, got back on his bike, and just rode away. It was weird

Chinese people place a great deal of emphasis on not spreading swine flu. I think the bird flu was a big scare for them, so there are many reminders of how to stay healthy and not spread disease. Lots of people wear masks, which I think look absolutely ridiculous and are completely impractical. One thing that I think might help, but is absolutely never acknowledged, is that people should stop coughing and sneezing on each other. Seriously, it's pretty amazing to see how much people just let loose on one another with no regard, in restaurants, in stores, on the streets; and the amount of times I've seen people retching their bodies to cough up snot and spit wherever whenever is pretty gross.

Thanksgiving

So going into it I really did not know what to expect out of a Thanksgiving in China. The few Americans that I know were all kind of split, and it looked like a few of us were planning on going to the Hyatt for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was ridiculously expensive, but we figured we'd all splurge just for the sake of us being in China and not wanting to eat rice and noodles on one of my favorite days of the year. Well at the last minute, a friend decided to have a dinner at his house, everyone threw in a nominal fee, and he prepared a feast, including a deep fried turkey that took forever to finally be served. After running around the city for hours looking for a pot big enough to deep fry a turkey, we nearly had a propane related disaster that seriously looked like it got out of hand. I've got to say it was the most unique Thanksgiving that I have ever had. There were about 10 different countries represented, a lot of people were excited and very pleased with their first Thanksgiving experiences. There were people from Africa, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, China, basically every continent, as well as a former and a future first round NBA draft pick. Rodney White, #9 overall pick out of UNC Asheville in the 2001 NBA draft, at 6'9 inches tall, and his friend JP, from Puerto Rico, who is 7'4 inches tall. Easily the two tallest people I've ever seen.

Got to say it was interesting, and a Thanksgiving that I will not forget, and this is the PG version of the whole story, so there's that

Breaking News

So we've finally had a couple nice days after a miserable stretch in terms of weather. It's definitely nice change from freezing rain and 30 degrees. Just got back from playing basketball, had some decent competition actually which was nice. I will say that I am in the absolute worst shape of my life. I didn't think I could get much worse than my last year at Miami, but it's really a shame how hard it is for me to run and how quickly I am out of breath.

The other day I picked up a copy of Hangzhou Weekly, the English newspaper in the city and on the second page I found an article that made me laugh out loud. The headline being "Caught on camera: naked love rival flees furious husband." The story is about a 25 year old man who has been given "the cold shoulder" by his community after fleeing from the apartment of the women he was sleeping with, when her husband came home and found them. There is literally a picture in this newspaper that is taken from the street outside of the apartment of this guy standing, COMPLETELY NAKED, on an air conditioning unit, covering his junk, and from the window is a man yelling and flailing his arms wildly. The article goes on and explains how the guy feels bad about it but has been getting harassed by people in his neighborhood. He's very embarrassed about the whole thing, and there is even a quote from him saying, "People are even laughing at how I look naked - but I have to point out it was a very cold day." I am completely serious about this whole thing, and I'm saving this article to bring home because I think it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

I talked to my family the other day, heard from the younger sister who is home from school for Thanksgiving. It was nice to catch up, I'm definitely jealous for that though, I think I'm going to be celebrating my Thanksgiving at the Hyatt, I guess they have a really good holiday buffet. Something that stood out in the conversation with my sister though was when she asked me "If I have been to or seen any sweatshops," as if it was a common occurrence, like heading to the grocery store. Are you kidding me Glenna?

Playing basketball with Chinese people

So I've found the best way for me to make sure my heart still works is to play basketball. The Chinese love basketball, there are courts everywhere and pretty consistently there are games going on. Having a basketball court 200 yards from our apartment is great so I try to go out as often as I can. I also bought a very nice basketball from the athletic store across the street from my apartment for like $10. Immediately upon walking onto the court every person notices, and I really just have to stand there until there's a break in the game and they'll ask me to play with them. They'll tell me the teams by pointing and usually the next tallest person on the court will always guard me. What I've come to realize by growing up in the United States is that basketball is ingrained in our lives from the time we are young children. There is nothing like house league basketball, or even school teams at any age really. I've never considered myself very good at basketball, but it really does feel great to be the tallest person on the court and also be able to dribble with my left hand. Honestly for most of them it might as well be a club. Anyways, it's always a good time and the Chinese always love to let me join in with them.

So that's nice, but what isn't is that we've finally gotten some real fall weather and it's started raining a bit. It's actually pretty cold, and I definitely didn't pack well. There was a pretty incredible storm this past monday, in the middle of a bright day it suddenly turned pitch black and started pouring, then in the middle of that the sky turned bright yellow and it stopped for about 5 minutes. It then immediately blacked out again and rained for another hour, then it cleared up and was a bright day again. Very weird, and unfortunately I was viewing this from my bed as I became terribly sick that morning, my first time since being in Hangzhou. It was only for about half a day, and I'm doing just fine now, but it definitely was a very weird day, and I won't forget it for a while.

Almost halloween

So not a whole lot's changed here in the last few weeks. We have had consistent good weather, like nearly every single day has been mostly sunny and 75. When I say mostly sunny though it's hard to describe, it's more like a very bright overcast, because there is smog everywhere. One of my favorite things to do is take my bike out and drive around West Lake. It's pretty incredible looking, especially when the sun is setting. What's nice about the smog is that you can actually look directly at the sun when it gets low, which I've got to say, over a huge lake with mountains behind it is pretty beautiful. The lake is the biggest draw that this city has, and there are people visiting all the time. When I'm driving my bike around the Chinese stare and just think it's peculiar, but it's very funny when I see a big tour bus full of European or American tourist, who look at me like I'm out of my mind. The other day Pat and I and another friend of ours from Canada, Dean, took our bikes to this tourist spot about 25 minutes away. We had to drive through this huge tunnel that seemed to last forever and was absolutely terrifying, as I had only a few inches on either side of my bike to maneuver and clipped my mirrors several times. When we finally got there we were in deep woods, which I hadn't seen anywhere else in China. I kept saying how great it smelled, I remember it being very distinct and very refreshing. I guess I had gotten used to walking around the cities where there is a constant lingering of some funk. Anyways, after hopping some fences we were able to tour these caves and giant buddhas carved out of a mountain for free, so the trip out was definitely worth it.

In other news, my fantasy football team in the Hangzhou expats league is in last place, out of ten. I am behind 3 Australians who have never watched an American football game before.

If there is someone out there who can explain to me why Chinese cab drivers change their shift during rush hour, I would appreciate it. It is impossible to get a cab between 4:00 and 5:30, not because they are full, but because they refuse to pick people up, and also continue to have their lights on. It drives me insane, just completely illogical.

Chinese Team Building

So we were told by our boss that we would have to go on a team building retreat for school. 2 days and 1 night about an hour and a half south of us. There were only 8 western teachers that went, the others having legit excuses not to, and then 40 Chinese teachers. Having absolutely no idea what to expect, I was fairly skeptical heading into it. Waking up to thunder and heavy rain did nothing to help quell my feelings. After the bus ride, we approach a compound and walk into the main area. We are told this is boot camp, and we will come out of this as a great team, and glory for the school and some other ridiculous mantra that always sounds that way when translated to us. This was translated to us by our boss, who was laughing along the way at how ridiculous it sounded, so we knew it wasn't going to be like this. We get broken up into teams and handed cammo outfits to put over our clothes, then go off and do a few standard team building games. The highlight of which being we had to climb straight up this rickety pole, 8 meters high, and stand on the top of a pedestal at the very top of, then jump off onto a trapeze pole. We were strapped in and everything to be safe, but I couldn't help but keep thinking to myself, I'm still in China. That night, we had a big barbecue with everyone, and a big fire where we played these ridiculous games that would never fly back home. It was pretty hilarious actually, much help coming because the western teachers were able to find the beer reserves. Very fun night

Having spent the previous night wrapped in two sleeping bags on a couch because Pat and I couldn't put together our tent, we were beginning to feel a little cabin fever. The next day we did some more team building games that were much less engaging, but was capped off by the best lazer tag game of all time. This came out of nowhere, these soldier looking guys laid out all of these huge guns and told us the rules and the boundaries and the teams. We had helmets and vests that violently vibrated when hit, and played in this area with cabins and ravines and hills. The scene was straight out of a war movie, accept replaced with a few random white people and 40 Chinese girls. I got to have the sniper rifle for my team also, which was awesome. Anyways, when it was finally said and done, the Chinese team building was a very good time, and definitely worth doing

Another thing:
Young Chinese couples can be seen everywhere in Hangzhou, which isn't unlike any city really. What I find strange is that they often wear matching t-shirts, like literally his and hers, and hold hands when out. It's as if you can go to a store and buy them together. One t-shirt that I noticed just had matching colors, but for the guy's, in big letters over the front of it, it read "This is my Bitch." What's funny is that I'm positive he had no idea what it meant

Been a while

So the government found a way to block how we were getting around them blocking many websites. Anyways, Pat just came back from work and told me another way of getting around it, so I'm back after a long hiatus. Things are going well here still, work is good and we actually just got off of a break for the Chinese new year. It's the 60th year anniversary of the revolution, and 60 is some huge number in Chinese culture so I guess it's a pretty big deal around here. Fireworks are pretty huge in China, obviously, and there are hooligans that run around late at night and early in the morning blowing off black cat rolls that last several minutes. It got old about 10 seconds into the first one that I heard, and it's woken me up repeatedly over the last couple weeks. I did wake up the other night and walked out onto my balcony to see a pretty legit display happening right across the street from our apartment which was pretty cool actually.

I bought an electric scooter a couple weeks ago. It is the coolest thing that I have ever owned, looks like an old vespa, but its brand new and is probably the biggest bike on the road. Not that I didn't stand out a bit already, but it brings even more attention. Pat and I have had to two man it on several occasions which I've thought the image of us cruising through the streets of Hangzhou during rush hour would make people laugh. Anyways, things are going well, China is legit though I do miss things from home. We did find a pretty good Mexican restaurant that will be frequented for the remainder of my stay.

A few more observations I've made:
Walking to lunch the other day, crossing the bridge, me and several co workers watched as a young boy was propped up on the bridge wall by his father so that he could take a large dump on the sidewalk

The Chinese word for the English phrase "Uhh" is a very vulgar racial slur, and it is heard all the time when around Chinese people, especially by my young students when asked a question that they don't know the answer to.

If anyone can tell me what "Shooting down airplanes" translates from english into chinese, I will give you a sly wink

Getting my medical

So we had to go in to get medically cleared in order to get our visas extended. It's something that everybody has to do, and people talked it up to being a real annoying experience. Anyways, we finally find this place and stand in line for a long time, then are told to go upstairs for several tests. One of them was a blood and urine test, and as we're standing in line for the walk up blood test, there's another American guy we see turning in his small cup at the other end of the counter, while holding a cotton ball against his skin with blood dripping down his arm. He's laughing his ass off while Pat and I are standing there laughing with him at the absurdity of this situation. Anyways, we basically just laugh our way through this whole ridiculous process, which included getting an ultrasound for whatever reason, and got medically cleared.

Observation:
Pat and I were stuck in traffic trying to get to work today at around 3:30 in the afternoon. In the taxi in front of us, a man sticks his head out and starts violently puking out of the window, then takes a look back at our cab, and settles back in as the taxi pulls away

Moved in

So we finally moved into our apartment, which is awesome. It's in a brand new complex so there's lots of construction going on in the buildings around us, but we're excited to have finally gotten settled. We also got the internet set up this morning, which took forever because the guy didn't speak a word of english and couldn't understand our computers. Whatever though, the place is great and in an awesome location, across the street from several of our favorite restaurants that we've found here, as well as walking distance from a great bar and a 24 hour mcdonalds. It feels great to have finally moved in, no longer living out of our bags.

Work is going well, we are just getting our new schedule with all of the classes we'll be starting. Yesterday after a staff meeting we all went out to dinner and then went bowling, which was pretty hilarious and a great time. The people we work with are from all over the world and are very fun people, all very interesting.

Observation:
Chinese couple sitting on a bench with a fresh bag of grapes. Man holds up grapes next to face and poses for a close up picture. Then switches hands for another closeup with the grapes. Then puts the grapes back into the bag on the bench, and women snaps a few more shots. They were having the time of their lives

settling in

So I haven't written a post in over a week now. The Chinese government really puts in a lot of effort in blocking blog websites, probably because they are very dangerous, right? Anyways, we've started actually teaching, as well as still observing some classes. So far they have all been good, none of the kids have really acted out, they find absolutely anything we do to be hilarious, and they go crazy for the games we play. Overall it's not that difficult and it's fun. Everyone we work with is pretty cool also which makes it much easier. Our biggest work days are on Saturdays and Sundays though which is kind of miserable, but then again that's pretty much everyone here's biggest workdays so it works out just fine.

On another note, Pat and I found an apartment in a pretty great location. Brand new building in a nice complex, with a garden and streams running through it. The landlord had to furnish the place so we can't move in until sunday or maybe monday, we'll see. There is also a McDonalds open 24 hours that's about 2 blocks away, which I find to be absolutely incredible, adding priceless value to our apartment.

Anyways, I'll try to update this more frequently, it is kind of annoying to do so because it takes forever to load, but we'll see how the internet at our new place will be which should help. Oh and I've also found a website that streams live sports, which is huge because missing the football season is one of the hardest parts of being here. We were able to catch the end of the Steelers-Titans game which was awesome, in case you missed it

Alright so since there have been issues taking out enough money in a single day, we had to hold out on moving into our apartment because they ask for like 5 months rent in advance, which makes a lot of sense. On the day we finally had this, we were told that they had given our apartment to someone else, so here we are again, still stuck squatting at Ross and Greg's place. Today I think we're going to be shown a few apartments, so hopefully we'll be moved out, I'm starting to feel bad about holing up here. We've gone out two nights here in Hangzhou, and for the most part the bars that the expats and teachers hang out in are pretty legit, and the beer is usually around 2 or 3 dollars. Last night we went into a Chinese rock and roll bar, and this foursome was bellowing out John Bon Jovi's "It's my Life" to great cheers from the crowd, which I found to be absolutely hilarious. One downside is the fact that a very large mouse ran over my foot at the first bar we went into, which made me want to cut my foot off or dip it in bleach. We start teaching today which should be very interesting because we kind of have no idea what we're going to be doing. A couple of the other teachers at our school had visa issues and have to go home to fix them, so they're throwing us right in to substitute. For those that remember my job as a camp counselor at Happiness Is... for the Winnetka park district, I think my skills with children speak for themself, so I'm not that worried about it

My First Post

Alright so here's the blog that I promised I would write when I got to China. I know it's been a week but things have been pretty hectic since we got here, and we're only now kind of settling in. Pat and I got to Shanghai on the same flight and made it to our buddy's apartment with no hassle. James, who has basically set us up with everything here, was more than welcome and showed us around the city for a few days. Shanghai is pretty ridiculous, like unbelievably large and smoggy, with stuff going on 24 hours a day. The first thing we did was treat ourselves to some foot massages, which felt incredible after the long commute. James showed us more of the city and some of the bars and clubs over the next couple days, which were all great. The food is really good also, there are tons of little vendors on the streets where you can get skewers with chicken, beef, vegetables and spices, all of which are good. One thing I have noticed is that almost no one speaks English, and the people that do speak English don't speak Chinese. Luckily James had somewhat of a grasp on it, so that definitely helped. The buildings in Shanghai seem to go on forever, a lot of the sky scrapers are really impressive. The TV tower, which has become an easily recognizable symbol of the Shanghai skyline, is right in the heart of the business district which is very cool. It kind of looks like a spaceship.

Anyways, after a few days in Shanghai we were ready to move on and head to Hangzhou, which was about an hour and twenty minute train ride south. A friend of James, a very good looking Chinese girl names Julia, picked us up in her huge BMW at the train station, and took us to the apartment complex we plan on living at. We're still working out some of the details on that, and currently we're staying at another friend of James. Hopefully we'll have the apartment worked out soon. The place is really nice, like very modern looking and in a great location in the city.

We went into BEAR, the school we'll be working at, yesterday, to meet some of the staff and get a little tour. Dace, who runs the foreign teachers department, showed us around and gave us our contracts. There is still a bunch of little things we need to do before we're completely settled in, but hopefully that won't take much longer. Getting anything done is very difficult, like getting passport pictures. We finally found the place to get those done and went in and took our pictures, and tried to tell them we needed 16 each. We tried to show with our hands what a headshot would look like, outlining our heads with our hands Dace told us it would be the equivalent of about 4 dollars, so when they told us we needed to pay about 100 dollars, we knew something was lost in translation. What we realized was that they were about to make 16 huge prints of pictures of our faces, which would obviously not work for us.

Anyways, we're working out the kinks and settling in. This city is awesome so far, and we really haven't seen much of it at all. We've got a lot of things we need to do, and its nice that we finally met up with our buddy Ned, who we went to Miami with and has been living here for the past year. Hopefully he'll be able to show us around today and get it done.

Sorry this is a long one, but figured I'd try to get a bunch down because I don't know how often I'm going to be able to update this thing. I hope everyone at home is doing well, wish me luck out here. This place really is like another planet