When LIfe Isn't What You Expected, Do This...

Sometimes life isn't what you expected it to be. You end up with thorns when you expected roses. So, what to do when this happens? Successful people have two skills: 1. They learn how to make lemonade when life gives them lemons 2. They learn to grow where they're planted. How many times have you not liked a situation when you were experiencing it, yet in retrospect you can see the advantage to the situation and what you learned? Instead of waiting to be able toe see the advantage, be grateful for even the bleakest of experiences now. Thank you for this (put issue here) because I realize it's in my highest good even as I don't see how at the moment. Please enlighten me now so that I may get the lesson and see the silver lining that lays waiting for me. Thank you, thank you in holiness. Let me leave you with a statement from Phil Booth, "Problems can be gifts in disguise."

China culture

Teachers who have television have made comments that all of the channels were in color during the Olympics and immediately after the Olympics the one English station reverted to being only in black and white. Others have mentioned that on the Chinese channels, each show, and multiple times a day, reruns of parts of the Olympics are run with the constant repetition of didn't we do good? So many of the teachers here are bilingual having been here a long time and really studied the language. There is no time in my life at this point to do that. Can't take on one more obligation than what I now have.

Would like to share an interesting comment made during a conversation with a Chinese national. He asked if we were allowed to criticize our government. When the reply was yes, another American chimed in that it was our responsibility to criticize our government. The Chinese man answered, yes, you criticize your government and still love your country. You separate the two. But here, they are the same. So when someone criticizes our government, they are criticizing the Chinese people and saying we are not liked. There is no separation between the government and the people. I have also heard comments about the naivety of the Chinese people as they think their government just takes care of them and fixes all of the problems. There is no negativity in the news about China ever. There is about other countries, but nothing about China. Only how good China is; look what they are doing for the earthquake victims, look how the living conditions today are so much better than even ten years ago, constant reinforcement of the positive. Perhaps that is why the discussion of politics here is considered rude here.

Most people live in high rises that are quite tall. These high rises are in huge complexes with multiple buildings. The buildings have spaces between the rows of them that are parks and green areas. Periodically there will be what is called walking paths. These pathways are as wide as a 6-lane street and covered in varying heights of tiled cement. Most sidewalks are tiled cement, not solid like we would see at home, but tiles made out of cement and laid to form the sidewalk. There are different patterns on different streets.

There is a walking street near me. The walking streets are lined with shops. The massage place that I like is there. Last night, after the get together, five of us went there. We got spoiled with an hour foot massage (they do your back, neck and legs up to the knees) and then followed that by a body message for an hour. This time I added oil instead of a dry massage, which increased the price, so the whole two hour affair cost $$27. Nice! Now, just to be clear, their massages are good, but not nearly as good as the ones I've had at home. They are different and the ones at home are so much better. Here they focus on neck and back, limit work on the legs and ignore other areas of the body like the arms. If you want arms done, it is done at the beauty parlors when getting your hair washed. Think I already wrote that the beauty parlors also clean out your ears. This is just different here than elsewhere.

Last weekend we walked our second walking street; one a bit of a distance from here, where the birthday party was. Cool place. This one was lined with restaurants that had the best aromas coming from them. This walking path is geared towards foreigners and the restaurants represented many different national foods. I was excited as there were some things I was seeking, per different people's requests, and found some of the items on the streets leading up to this walking path. From there I was told where the other major walking path was for this area, so time permitting, I'll explore it too. At night, the walking paths have lights that are buried in the ground and shine outwards, so that the pathways are all lit. There are also lights in the main areas, so no one is walking in the dark and yet it is not bright. The end result is very pleasant.

Speaking of walking paths; each morning as I walk through the one near me on the way to work, I see a group doing tai chi and others on their roller blades, so many families are out tossing balls with their kids or teaching them to skate. The areas are alive with people and activities. At night people do line dancing in the parks. Mostly I've seen groups of people, but there are also individuals scattered through out the different areas doing their tai chi or exercising. I find it so healthy to see so many kids interacting with their parents in these walking paths and parks. It reminds me of the 50-60's at home, when us kids would play outside all day and get to go to parks with our parents on the weekends. Family is the focus.

Four of us are doing research on electric mini-bikes as we all want them and are hoping that if all go to the same place where we've found the lower prices, that we'll be able to negotiate even better as we want four bikes. Got to ride one for a short stretch yesterday as a teacher let me play with his. Getting it started and balancing is a challenge, but once it's taken off, it is easy. The battery, must be carried into your place to be charged, is incredibly heavy. I may be glad that I live on the ground floor so that it won't need to be carried far. I almost couldn't lift the battery. Between the walking, stairs and lifting batteries, it is becoming clearer and clearer why the people here are in such great shape. My understanding is that electric bikes run from $350 -$475. A bike is definitely worth it so that I’ll have better transportation.

Ah, last night's get-together was in a Mediterranean Greek Restaurant that is known for its flavorful dishes. Turns out it is only 2 blocks from me! However, the prices were outrageous compared to other places here serving Chinese food. For example, a plate of just spaghetti noodles with a small amount of tomato sauce on it was $15. On the other hand, they have the best French Fries I've tasted in a long time. As I said, I got there late, and there were baskets of French Fries to share on all of the tables. The owner came over and introduced himself to me. Guess he had done that earlier for the rest of the teachers and introduced me to his cook. Said I would have to know that he had a great cook because look at the size of him! The owner stated that the best cooks were always fat, as they liked their own food. Well, this cook was definitely larger than most small boned, tiny Chinese, but no way would I call him fat. Guess my standards are different having lived in the US.

The day after the typhoon

What a difference a day can make. Walking to school the day after the typhoon looked perfectly normal. One would have never guessed that just 24 hours earlier any of the streets had been under so much water. Just amazing. Except for the carpet in the teacher workroom that now stinks beyond tolerance levels, the school and city are clean. We did get a memo reminding us that the sewage was mixed in the flooded waters and to be sure our shots were up to date.

So today I was thinking of another math problem about how many flights of stairs are climbed in one day? There are two flights of stairs between each floor above the ground but only one flight of stairs to go to the basement. Today I got to work and went to my classroom on the third floor. But then we had a meeting on the 2nd floor. I had to escort my first class to the basement to get their books, and then went back to our room. After that class was my conference period and so I went to the basement to drop off the list of my students and which books they would need. Then I came up to the first floor for duty and then back to my classroom. This group also needed books so I went form my 3rd floor classroom to the basement and back. Then it was lunchtime, so down to the first floor and across to another building for lunch. Only the Faculty eats with the upper students two flights of stairs below the cafeteria. After lunch I left that area and then returned to my room. Another class needed their books, so down we went to the basement again and then back to class. After school I had bus duty whish is out on the playground, so down I went again. Then we had a faculty meeting on the second floor. Returned to the third floor to get belongings prior t leaving the building to go home. Now, my older sister will definitely get this math problem right, and for the rest of us? The answer to how many flights of stairs did I climb today? The answer is too darn many. Two of my classes will get their books tomorrow so I’ll do this over again.

The school’s electrician walked home with me today as my refrigerator hasn’t worked since the man came to fix the door. The door closes great but now the whole refrigerator won’t go on. I’d pushed every imaginable button, and checked d the plug prior to informing the secretary. Are you ready for this? There is a wall button across the room that looks like a light switch that one has to turn on prior to the refrigerator working! It is no different than the switches in the States that turn on a lamp in the living room. But do we need one of those for a refrigerator? . Other end result, it started the freezer but not the refrigerator. So, since Saturday, I’ve had no refrigerator! Isn’t there another saying, “If its not one thing, its another?”

My students are adorable. I see each class 3 times during the week for an 82-minute period. Sweet day. That means out of a 6.5-hour day I am only teaching 4 hours and 6 minutes of it. The rest is either lunch or preparation time. Nice going. Twice a week I have duty which takes up some of that time, but its not bad. Then each day after school I have bus duty for 15 or so minutes. Today, our second day, went so much smoother than our first. By the end of the week we'll be really smooth and I'll be a decorative, not really needed, as my kids will know what to do. Amazing, we have 87 buses and not a one of them leaves until each teacher says all students are accounted for on their bus! Talk about no child left behind.

Typhoon the 1st day of school

Was going to write about my exploration yesterday out the back way from my apartment complex. Am not far from an exciting part of town. Except for the smog being so thick I couldn't see the sky, the day was perfect weather wise. Like Baby Bear says, "Not too hot, not too cold, it was just right." This was the first day the humidity didn't sap my energy as I walked outside. Anyway, yesterday's experiences of the Chinese restaurant and what I saw absolutely pales compared to today's new experience.

I woke up to a thunderstorm and thought, "this is the first day of school and I'm going to have to walk in this" and immediately wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. No one wants to go out in the weather during a thunderstorm, let alone take a 25-minute walk in one. Besides, I've already been caught in quite a few of these thunderstorms and ended up soaked each time. Those thought didn't stop me from getting up and getting ready for work, for that is what responsible teachers do on the student's first day of school. The least we can do is show up, regardless of the weather. Was thrilled to be able to take a hot shower. I did mention I now have hot water, right? Ah the joys of a spoiled life.

Right prior to leaving I checked e-mails, wanting to see if there were any messages from school. I've already learned that they send out stuff Sunday night expecting that you have checked mail prior to getting to work. Nope, nothing new had been sent since last night. And so I left my apartment and headed to the front door of the building a few steps away to be greeted by a wall of water flowing from the sky to the ground. Decided to take a taxi and asked someone nearby to call for one. She did, and then replied that there were none available. None! No taxis. So much for the idea of a $2 taxi ride to keep me from getting drenched as it just wasn’t going to happen.

Came back into the apartment and got my heavy LL Bean coat guaranteed to keep you warm to 20 degrees below zero; thick coat with a hood. Decided better to sweat than to be soaked. I was preparing to walk in the worst thunderstorm I'd seen here yet. Always have my umbrella on me. Left the building and stepped into 6" of water. It covered my Dansko shoes and touched the bottom of my slacks. It was 8" by the time I got off the complex grounds. The water was 10" by the time I cleared the walking path by the strip mall. I passed three taxi's that refused to take on a new passenger as they had pulled their vehicles off of the road and up on higher grounds. Cars failed to stop as I crossed the streams; normally called streets, as they were too afraid the water that was high enough to reach their doors would cause them to stall. Who cares if you splash the pedestrian? Better than a stalled car. There were no low water crossing signs to guide us, just roads becoming streams wanting to become rivers.

The water was 12" deep by the time I reached the halfway point to school. I'd been walking 12 minutes. You've got to excuse me, I'm a math teacher and all I could think of was what a great word problem this could be, how fast is the rain falling per minute? I kept looking at my watch as I felt wading through the water was slowing me down horribly and I needed to be at school on time. Don't want to be late on the first day of school!

As cars drove by, they caused the water in the streets to push towards the sidewalks. It looked like I was wading knee dip in the ocean and watching the waves come in and then recede keeping the height of the water in constant flux from mid -calf to knee high. By now the water had nowhere to run, the drains built into each street failed to make a difference. In fact, the sewage that moves below the paved streets was coming up and commingling with the water. The good part of this was that the cold, cold water was warming up where the sewage joined it, yet the sulfur smell was a bit much and the water was so dirty I couldn't see my feet. So you say, who cares about seeing one's feet? Well, if you can't see your feet, you can't see where the curbs are. You don't know where the bumps in the sidewalks are. You don't know what you are stepping on. So glad I've walked these streets, as when I'd get close to where I thought a curb might be, I'd test each step prior to putting my weight down. Of course, when you found the curb, changing from the sidewalk to the street added to the water height on your pants as streets were lower than the sidewalks which were already 12" deep with an ebb and flow from the cars.

Finally I get to Hongqiao Rd, the road where my school is, one of the busiest roads in this area. Hongqiao Rd is pronounced houng-chow lou in Chinese, (Lu being their word for road) and am grateful that I only have one more block to wade through. Let me give you some background info about Hongqiao Rd. There are the six lanes, three going each direction. Now the two most middle lanes in each direction are separated by the third lane going in the same direction by an 18" high and almost 2' wide median filled with plants. So we have one lane for bicycles, motor-scooters, electric bikes, that is the lane closest to the curb, then the median, then four lanes for cars and buses, then another median, and the last lane for non-cars going the other direction. I step into Hongqiao Rd and it adds another 8" to my wet pants in height. The shock of it almost made me lose my balance. The road, which usually takes nearly five minutes to clear enough traffic to be safe to cross, was virtually empty. Amazing. My thoughts literally said that all of those other people usually on that road where just a whole lot smarter than I was as they probably stayed home. I was ten minutes late to work. Dry except my legs/feet that were submerged. (My coat had not dried out by the time I left school at 4:30. The Head of Schools instructed three buses to take all of the teachers home, so none of us had to walk. Taxis were still not running.

Found out when it rains there is a demand on taxis and it is best to leave by 6 am if you plan on finding one.) Arrived to find out that school was canceled! We didn't get the news in a timely manner, and neither did most students. As the 85 buses came to drop off kiddos, each one was sent back with students old enough to be home alone, but the elementary students were teacher air-lifted out of the buses and passed from one teacher to another until the child could be put on dry ground before entering the cafeteria. It was great to see the line of male teachers from the bus to the cafeteria passing kids from one teacher to another, the kids high in the air, with their feet dangling, until the ground was high enough that the child could be put down and not get their feet wet. Did I mention that our school is on higher ground than the street and that the water literally covered our first two steps to get into any building? Most of those male teachers doing the airlift were either wearing crocks (unbelievably popular here) or were barefoot and all had rolled up trousers.

In our new school, we now know where all of the leaks are! The top or fifth floors got to see where the leaking roofs were, while the basements got the benefit of receiving water that had no where else to go. The stairways leading to the basement had become exotic concrete waterfalls. If the landing hadn't been the basement, I'd say it was a gorgeous waterfall. In the basement are all of the teacher's supplies, the copy center with the Xerox machines, the books waiting to be assigned to students, and the brand new Mac computers waiting to be issued to students and teachers. They had given me mine early with the agreement I turn it back in last Thursday to be upgraded with additional software and returned today. All was flooded. The gyms are on the top floor of each building didn't fare well either. But we got great pictures for the yearbook!

By 10:30 I was in my classroom with time to plan more future lessons and to get my e-mail. We have to clock in at work by 7:30 a.m. and e-mail had been sent out at 7:36 a.m. that school had been canceled! The memo announcing the cancellation started with "due to the typhoon today"... so that is what this was! I learn something new every day. Am still clueless as to what the difference is between one treacherous thunderstorm and a typhoon. Anyway, tomorrow is a do-over day and we will have our first day of school again.

Just imagine, all this occurred while you were all tucked snugly in your warm beds! China has been anything but dull. Wow, here I thought I'd get to experience my first day of school and instead I got to experience my first typhoon!

Two week update

Can you believe I've only been here two weeks? Am feeling so much better having Internet, plus I got the best thing ever last Thursday. I now have hot water! Yup, the real deal. My bosses were 'working' on the problem and I got up Thursday and thought I just couldn't do one more none hot shower. I went to the secretary who found this apartment for me and said, 'Good morning, how are you? I realize how busy you are helping to get ready to start the school year, but I just cannot do one more cold shower. I need help." She asked questions and was applauded that I had gone this long and hadn't come to her sooner. Well, she asked what time I was going to leave for home and that she and the electrician would go with me. They did and a half hour later I had hot water! While they were there I showed them the freezer door that wouldn't close and the freezer drawers (the freezer consists of 4 drawers) that were frozen shut with a block of ice holding them all in place. Well, they pulled the refrigerator/freezer away from the wall, shut it off, and started pouring hot water over the ice. Most of the stuff had melted when they said the rest would melt into a drawer so I wouldn't have much to clean up. They wanted to make sure I was able to put the drawers in and out at the necessary angle to catch the sliders and then left me with a firm warning that this had occurred because the freezer door was not shut all the way and to be sure I closed it all the way after the rest of the ice had melted.

Two hours later I finished cleaning up the water, and re-plugged in the refrigerator only to hear a horrible beeping noise. I did my best to close the freezer door; it simply would not close completely. So, I unplugged the refrigerator simply to stop the noise and on Friday I went back to the same secretary and told her what happened. Long story short, I had to wait in my apartment today until the electrician came to fix the problem. I was grateful he didn't come in the morning when I had my readings, however, I had wanted to explore today and couldn't leave, as he didn't show until 5 p.m. But, I have a freezer whose door now closes.

Friday after work we were treated by the administration to Champions bar at the local Marriott hotel with a buffet dinner of the Chinese version of hamburgers, hot dogs and all the trimmings. The hamburgers were 1.5 inches in diameter and the hot dogs the length of my middle finger. The best part though were the six large television screens showing different Olympic events. Wow, my first glimpse. Have heard many stories from teachers who have gone to some of the events, but I got to watch some. Shanghai is gearing up to be the host to the 2010 World's Fair and has such, the Olympic competitions that this city is hosting are considered warm ups for a larger crowd in the future. One of the teachers who went to a recent game and has lived here for 7 years mentioned that they took the subway to the games and were the only foreigners on the subway car. People got up to offer their seats to them. They laughed as she said, that never really happens and the people were asked to be extra polite to all foreigners at this time.

The taxi driver got lost taking me home from the Marriott, which was to my advantage as he accidentally showed me a really cool area that isn't that far from me. Am excited to go exploring in that direction tomorrow. Other great news is that my daughter is coming to see me for Winter break and we can go exploring together. Yahoo. : )
Students start Monday. Yesterday was Open House for all new students. I saw so many families! Think each and every new student showed up with siblings and parents. All wanted answers on how challenging I was going to make the class. Was I going to give enough homework? Was the classroom set up in a way that their child could succeed? Forgot what it was like to have truly interested parents in the classroom. Back to School night on Sept. 9th ought to be really interesting. Am nervous about my IB class, but I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

Oh, four years ago when I was at the Shanghai zoo I was amazed that people just dropped their trash everywhere and we were walking on nasty stuff. There were people hired to just sweep continually a small section of the sidewalk and put the trash in containers. Was amazed that no one used the trashcans even though they were right there. Not the case anymore... neat as a pin. Just amazing and no one is hired to sweep up after others.

Did you know that if you are one in a million in China there are 1300 people just like you? Will leave you with that though. Have a great weekend.

Chinese Massages, DVD's

The rest of the staff appeared this past Tuesday. As a treat, the Board of Directors had a gathering from 4-6 pm at a popular hotel, the Ruijin Hotel that is apparently a favorite among tourists even though it is also one of the older hotels. The hotel waiters came around with treats on trays the entire two hours, each time bringing around different hor'dourves. The food was superb, my favorite being the 1/2-size pita bread sandwiches with turkey and avocado in them. I think I was just thrilled to get avocado. The other great thing was that each new teacher was presented with a 'chop' or signature block of our last name written in Chinese and a red pad. Also, each teacher was presented with his or her first name painted on paper. For only $5 we could have this framed. So, I now have my first picture. Amazingly, the painters looked at us and then picked the background border for our name. The majority of people around me had either green or blue. However, when he went to do my name, he switched to gold. I thought, perfect, it'll match my gold couch and indeed it does. There is no way for me to hang this picture on my cement walls, so it is leaning within a gaudy light fixture on the wall. What can I say? It just adds so much class.

The evening was really nice. My very favorite part was getting to share a taxi ride home with returning teachers who decided to get a foot massage. They picked the same place that I had visited for my massage last Saturday night. However, this visit was great as we were put in a room with all four of us and I got to watch what the routine was as the others were familiar with it. Best yet, they all spoke Mandarin fluently and translated for me. Great experience.

Turns out the Shanghai people don't want to do the massages, so people come in from the countryside to learn how to do it. They make "good" money so that they can send some home to their families. The workers all have numbers. If you are ignorant, like I was last Saturday, you get someone with a high number and my guy was #25. They all use numbers not names. Anyway, the people who are the best have the lowest numbers. The teachers requested people by their number and I had #6 for the foot massage. Quite a difference, between the two massages I received there, the first one and now this one, and the second was so much better.

One of our teachers said something in Mandarin and all of the Chinese people just cracked up. Guess what he said was something that he thought was a complement on how the man massaging his feet was performing, but was told that they said it another way, as the words he used are only said to a lover. That worker said something in Japanese to our teacher, and then continued to use different greetings from different languages to see when the teacher would react. Eventually the female teacher stated that that teacher was from Thailand and let the rest of us know what was happening. The Chinese had a bet on what country this teacher originated.

The lady called #6 told us that she thought it was great that I had "Chinese hair". The other three teachers all had dyed hair so I thought it must mean having non-dyed hair, but really they were referring to the thickness of my hair. Thought it interesting what they thought was important, like me having Chinese hair. However, since mine is neither thin nor straight nor solid black, I wondered how she came to that conclusion. Oh, our foot massage here was similar to the one that Courtney treated me to in Bangladesh last summer. While your feet are initially soaking, you get a shoulder and back rub. Then one foot comes out of the soaking solution to get bundle rapped in a towel while the other foot is getting massaged. The foot, ankle and calf get massaged. Oh, forgot to mention that prior to starting the whole procedure we were served fresh cut up cantaloupe and 'flat water'. Flat water is bottle water that is not carbonated.

After the foot massage they wanted to visit a new DVD shop. Are you ready for this? You can buy DVD's here of American movies like "Sex in the City", "Ironman" and the latest "Hellboy" movie for 8 rmb ($1.35 each)! That is cheaper than renting them. However, that is the cheaper quality movie which may stop in places, or have subtitles shown the entire movie like “preview copy and not for sale”. You can purchase what they call DVD-9 quality, for the HQ television sets for 18 rmb. They don't rent here, so no blockbusters. At those prices, no one needs to rent. Imagine your choice, a DVD movie that you can repeatedly watch or one avocado? Fascinates me what is expensive in each culture versus what is inexpensive. Oh, an entire season of a television series was more expensive at $60; don't know how that relates to home, as I don't buy those.


The couple that invited me to join them for a foot massage told me about some of their adventures looking for the "Ark of the Covenant" while in Ethiopia. Was funny as she proclaimed that they were the only white people in the whole country that they saw and that following leads given in different books ended up being a wild goose chase. They also mentioned that they study different religions as they find them fascinating. Just thought it was funny that here I'd end up sharing a 20-minute taxi ride with other people interested in this stuff. Just wondered about the odds of that happening out of this large staff or that the conversation would even go there in the first place as they brought it up! Amazing.

Am learning new words or ways of saying things. Asked the copy lady at work to please collate my papers that I want to hand out on the first day, and she was clueless. So, after much questioning, I found out that collating here is called putting the papers in a set. Here I thought I needed to learn Mandarin, little did I realize that I also need to learn English. : )

Hair washing experience and other facts about China

Went out to spoil myself tonight and did so rightly. Had my hair washed tonight as it needed to be washed and I just couldn't bring myself to do it in cold water. Had an hour massage 70 rmb, a really nice meal, 45 rmb and also my hair washed and finger dried for 40 rmb. All total 155 rmb, and China doesn't do tipping even though I still did, so add 15 rmb in tips and the grand total for a wonderful evening was 170 rmb or right under $30 as the exchange rate is 6 rmb to $1. Now, this part of China I can do. Just think, this whole evening experience cost the same as 4 avocados! Oh, talk about being a stranger in a strange land. I enter the beauty parlor for a hair wash. We all understand the word 'shampoo' and so I think I've communicated. But the lady leads me to a chair nowhere near a sink. She then proceeds to wrap two towels around me, one in front and one in back. Next she goes to put some creamy lotion looking stuff on my hair. By now I am sure we've miss communicated and I ask what that stuff is. She looks surprised and says 'shampoo'. She then proceeds to put the shampoo on the crown of my head and adds a little water from a bottle with a pouring spout. This procedure continues until my entire head of hair is totally covered in shampoo. She then gathers up the extra shampoo from my head as if she was going to wring my hair out, takes the extra form to a trash can and deposits it. She comes back to me and starts the whole procedure over again. I'm wondering how she is going to get the shampoo out since no sink is in sight. However, once she gets done massaging my scalp while shampooing, she leads me to a sink in a totally different area. Comfy lounge chairs for sure, and quite different than at home, for the rinsing of the hair in the sink. Felt great to feel warm water on my head. Sounds weird, but ever so nice. Then she wraps my head in a towel like an Arab sheik and leads me back to the original chair. There she massages the area around my ears, uses Q-tips to clean the outer ears and hunt for wax in the inner ear. Next comes a full shoulder massage before she calls over the man who will blow dry my hair. I shake my head when I see a tiny brush and he immediately catches on and runs his fingers through the hair while blow drying it. Great experience. Next-door was the massage parlor. Here you stay fully dressed while being massaged. You are invited to change into loose clothing first, which they provide or stay in your own. The majority of the massage was on my neck, then my backside. Only my head was done once I rolled over onto my back. So relaxing. And one can't argue with the price.

Have had 3 short Chinese lessons. The 3rd one was a wash as the room was so loud and the teacher so soft spoken that I literally couldn't hear some of the sounds she was making. They have an up sound, a down sound, a flat sound and a down and up sound. Those are the intonations one makes when speaking a world. The written Chinese has those symbols for you so that you know what intonations to make. But, when I am struggling with what things look like on the page, versus these extra clues, I'm still clueless. Eventually am sure it'll help. I have learned how to say some things phonetically and am putting everything into my own spellings so that I can remember how to say them. I can share some Chinese with you already; at least so you can say it right. Their word for hello sounds like knee-how, thank you is xiéxie, one of the few that I can spell and sounds like say-a-shay. The number one sounds like our E and number two sounds just like R. So 1, 2 is E, R. Now the tricky part comes. When counting something they use different sounds for the numbers 1 and 2, so you have to think am I counting how many of something I have or just saying a number as in an address? I have learned how to say my address so that I can talk to taxi drivers. Also, it is important to know how to ask for a bill at a restaurant as without asking for one, none arrives. Chinese are too polite to rush you, so they wait for you to ask. Am clueless how it is written, but it sounds like 'my dan'.


August 18, 2008
Hi Everyone,

We were greeted with a cultural lesson on China today to help us all adjust. Here are the highlights of what we heard.

We live Shanghai which is like adding NYC and LA together culturally plus doubling that population and you have us. We live in a safe city as far as muggings and things like that go. If a crime is committed against a foreigner, the penalty is five times that if committed against a Chinese national. So all jail sentences would be five times longer. Last year a teacher was caught jaywalking and the policeman pulled him over and fined him. It was a small fine, but the policeman spoke some English and scared the teacher when he stated that he had been caught breaking the law and now he was going to be punished. So, be aware that punished means you pay a fine and not to jay walk as they take that seriously. You must use a crosswalk. The ticket was 5 rmb, or just under a dollar!

The Bund, which is a really modern upscale area of town, name translates to mean swampy soil, as that is what it was built on. This is an Indian word as all guards at banks were initially Sheik Indians. The tallest building in the world is currently under construction in The Bund.

The underlying drive in China is to resume the stature the country once held. Until this last century China always held the distinction of having the largest GNP. They want to resume their place of being the center of world culture. The name for them translates as Middle Country. (I immediately thought of Tolkien’s Middle Earth people) Their name for the US translates as 'beautiful country'. Now in slang that same word that is used for the US translates as 'dork' as in bookish, nerdy, dorks.

Beijing is set up with Tiananmen Square being the center of the city and concentric roads go out from there. Shanghai is not set up in circles with their roads as it was built to be the business center of China. China wants to hold onto their traditions as they move forward. They feel as though they are the underdogs right now and have to work harder. The US is the top dog right now, but the goal is to resume that position once again.

The Great Depression was short in the US compared to the famine in China that lasted 340 years. That famine is when Chinese started eating dogs, lizards, and anything else that moved, and has carried that forward today. BTW I went out to lunch with colleagues today and we order by pointing to pictures. One of them was very surprised today when the meat he had ordered from the picture ended up being dog. In 1960 another year of starvation occurred, but this time it was due to political decisions.

In China there are certain topics that polite people don't initiate. However, if others do, then it is okay to discuss. Politics is one of these topics as it is considered to not be an open topic. Another one is not to ever ask a pregnant lady if she is having a boy or a girl as that is forbidden by law to know ahead of time due to the attached stigma. They have a national holiday here in the spring called Tomb Sweeping Day, when the son goes and sweeps the tombs of all of his ancestors. If you have a daughter than all of those tombs no longer get swept which is bad. Some Chinese will go to Hong Kong to have the sex of the baby determined, as there they will tell, but not Mainland China. One of the things Chinese people do ask soon after asking how a person is doing is how much money they make. This is considered standard and not rude. Outside of the big cities in China, the average person makes the equivalent of $125 a month. The most expensive city to live in is Beijing with Shanghai a close second. However, the wealthiest people in China are attracted to Shanghai as it is the business center of China. At New Year's time, it is customary to give your employee's an extra month's salary. So, if we have an I-E, then be prepared to give no more than and no less than one month's salary to them in a red envelope.

Oh, they teach Tibet has always been a part of China and it was never separate. There was an uprising last year, but it was squelched quickly. The students did the uprising. The Chinese leaders stated that if anyone's students were found protesting that the teacher would lose their job. So the teachers went to the site of the demonstration and told all of their students to stop. It was immediately stopped, as students did not want their teachers to lose their jobs.

In the small stalls where one can bargain for everything, typically offer 20% of the initial price that you are given, and then negotiate for no more than 40% of the initial price you were quoted. In stores, even Best Buy, you can barter for up to 10% off or getting some 'extra treats' with your purchase.

It used to be that as a foreigner you didn't have to follow the Chinese laws but the last legislature put a stop to that and stated that everyone needed to follow all of the laws. Get used to being starred at, even though they will attempt to be discreet about it. We look different than they do and are a curiosity item, so they are going to look. BTW: I've noticed people glancing, but it doesn't seem to be much of a problem really, especially after being really stared at in Bangladesh this summer. Great preparation there for here, not only for being stared at, but all those stairs we climbed. : ) Yeah Courtney.

If you are in a taxi and it gets in an accident, you must stay until the police arrive and then bare witness before the police will dismiss you.
If you need a hospital go to Huashan Hospital (said wah-shawn hospital) as it is attached to a University as a teaching college and is also the number one hospital in the country. They have an ex-pat wing where doctors speak English! Now we'd pay ex-pat prices for our services, but many of the doctors there come from the States, so it'd be like going to a hospital at home. Huashan Hospital is the most famous hospital in all of China, and our school insurance works there (added bonus).

Avoid street vendors selling meat on a skewer, as that meat is old and left over from restaurants. It is also typically dog or lizard. Other items sold by street vendors are great. The food item that looks like a huge Hersey's Kiss made out of dough has liquid inside and it is hot. When you know how to take a small bite from the side of the kiss shape, and drink the liquid, then the Chinese are impressed. Guess they get a laugh out of watching the rest of us react.

That is it for our lecture today. Oh, today my I-E worked for the first time. She basically ironed all of my clothes that were still wrinkled from the suitcase. She is going to do my shopping too, so I don't have to make a special trip to the store now for toilet paper. She also indicated that she needed money for cleaning supplies as my place looked too empty. She asked for $35 to purchase supplies. The other teachers at school talked me into getting her 2 times a week instead of just one. That way she can do laundry one day, and leave it to dry and then come back and iron it another day. I watched her use the machine and now know which buttons to push to get a good wash, yeah for small favors.