Welcome to 2011!

New year, new blog post.

I've been waiting to write this blog for a while now. First, it was to write about Thanksgiving. Then, I figured, why not wait and combine it with Christmas? After that, it made sense to write about New Years. So here we are now, with 2 months to catch up on and of course I've forgotten everything I wanted to say.

So, Thanksgiving. As I mentioned in my last post, I hosted dinner for 17 people in my house. We ordered a turkey, and with the help of great friends and 2 1/2 days of cooking, I managed to create a pretty good Thanksgiving dinner for everyone using a small oven and two burners.

The month flew, and suddenly, it was Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve drinking mulled wine with friends, and walking around the big shopping street late at night. The Chinese have gotten into the Christmas spirit- the consumer part of it at least. But there is a bit of confusion on their parts: they seem to think the holiday is Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, so they use Christmas Eve as their big shopping day (New Year's Eve is the same- on both days the shops are open until 2am).

Work Christmas Day was optional, so being the good Jew I am, I worked in the morning, and took the afternoon off to have Christmas "dinner" at 2pm with all my friends, hosted by my friends Amanda and Chris. It was a lovely first Christmas meal for me, Danny, and many of the other Chinese guests. Secret Santa and Uno followed.

And of course, a week later Christmas was followed by New Year's Eve. It started by a trip to my new favorite place- the small-good market (more on it later) for me, Jenny, Cissy and Ruby to get our make-up done. I've never had my make-up done before, fake eyelashes and all. And for under $4.

After that, I prepared dinner for Danny's family. They had invited me over a few weeks before for a traditional Suzhounese dinner to celebrate the first day of winter, and I wanted to return the favor by creating a traditional American meal. The only specification was that it had to be soft enough for his grandmother to chew. So I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, cooked carrots, and chicken noodle soup.

However, the best laid plans.... Danny got stuck at work late, so dinner was postponed by an hour. And, unbeknown to me, he had wanted the dinner to be a surprise, so he didn't tell his family, who went ahead and ate at their normal time. So I showed up with a box of food and a family of full bellies. So Danny and I ate, and returned the next day for lunch, but his grandmother said she wasn't hungry. So he and I ate it alone again. We returned a third day for lunch, when his father had decided to doctor the food to make it more appealing to his grandmother by turning the meatloaf into soup. Yes, meatloaf soup. And yes, it was good. But the moral of the story is that they eventually ate everything, liked it, and have asked me to cook again.

But back to New Year's Eve. After dinner some friend's gathered at my house, and we headed out to a bar to see our friend Marcus and his band play. We stayed there for a while, and rang in the new year in a night club near my house.

Although New Year's Day is a Chinese holiday, Sunflower decided to hold it's Holiday Show for the children in the afternoon. Originally they had asked me to sing a song, but after 2 weeks of protesting and promising that if they made me sing, I would quit and/or show up drunk, they reduced my obligations to drawing raffle cards and passing out giant teddy bears.

And so here we are now, 2011. 2010 was a great year, and I have even higher expectations for 2011. My daily life has been pretty normal. I've taken on another group of business people to teach once a week, but this time they're all coworkers, and since one is a woman, they will actually use their texts books and discuss things other than sex and cigarettes. It's been a nice change. I'm still studying a lot of Chinese, and I will take my first Chinese exam in March.

I've also become addicted to the small-goods market, and I can't believe I've lived in Suzhou for 1 1/2 years and have only recently learned of this place. It's a big, multi-level place filled with tiny shops selling clothes, jewelry, handbags, makeup, etc. In the winter it has been my mecca for warm socks and cute scarves. It's also loaded with places to paint your nails or do your makeup. It keeps me busy and warm exploring.

I'm sure I have more stories, but it's better to save them for when I see you all in person very soon! I'll be home January 26, and I can't wait to see you all!

Some photos to tide you over until you can see my lovely face in person.

Holidays in China

A happy and healthy new year to all!

XOXO,
RDG

我是懒虫

So some interesting things have been happening recently. Part of the reason I write so rarely now is that I guess the small things don't seem so unusual anymore, after nearly 16 months here. But I have a few observations to share.

I've been to 3 Chinese weddings in the last 3 weeks. I'd never been to one before that. I guess Danny, at 27, has hit the age when his peers are getting married.

So a little bit about Chinese marriage, as far as I understand it. There is really no traditional wedding ceremony as we have it, where you say "I do" and "you may now kiss the bride" and all that. A couple goes to their provincial capital and registers to marry. Their wedding announcement is posted for a few months in a government building or something, so that if people object to the union, they can lodge a complaint. And then, like 3 months later, poof, they are married.

But that doesn't mean the Chinese don't want to celebrate. The wedding is a large dinner for all their family, friends and coworkers. There is a ceremony with an MC, where the groom waits on stage for his bride, in a traditional western white wedding dress. They show cheesy slideshows of their photos, toasts are made, and cake is cut. The whole thing lasts about as long as a Western wedding. Then you eat. And eat. And eat. Weddings are expensive, largely because of the food. The first two weddings we went to were both for high school classmates of Danny's, so the food was traditional Suzhou cuisine, including things like crab, duck and turtle. Yes, I can now say I have added turtle to the list of things I've eaten, although I didn't really care for it. It's no bullfrog.

The bride changes her gown no less then 3 times. She and the groom, along with the best man and maid of honor, go from table to table, toasting with everyone. The bride is also supposed to light a cigarette for each man, which means a lot of men stand up on their chairs and do anything to make it difficult for her to succeed. Friends can also force the groom to drink or eat anything they like, which is usually a disgusting combo of whatever sauces are in the dishes, soup, alcohol, juice and wedding cake. But the secret is that the couple only toast from a bottle of wine held by the best man, which is actually filled with juice. Toasting 200 people is enough to make anyone's wedding night unpleasant.

The first wedding was a bit overwhelming, because it was in a massive hotel ballroom with no less than 300 people, and we had to sneak in late. I wasn't expecting much, since the dress code was jeans and sneakers. But it was a proper wedding (actually, looked more like a Bar Mitzvah). I was the only foreigner, but Danny's classmates were lovely and tried to speak to me in English.

The second wedding was for a couple that I had met at the first wedding, Danny's high school deskmate. This wedding was a bit smaller, at a restaurant. Again, I was the only foreigner, but since I'd met most of the people at my table before, it was fine.

The third wedding was a smaller affair for a friend of Danny's from when he worked at a popular Western bar before college. The bride's brother is the owner, and very famous in Suzhou amongst Westerners, so there were a few there. The wedding was fancier than the others but smaller, because neither the bride nor groom is from Suzhou, so the party was really just to celebrate with their friends. I'm acquaintances with the bride's brother's American girlfriend and her mother, so I was a little more comfortable at this one.

I think this will be the last wedding for a little while. Since giving money in red envelopes is the traditional gift, it gets expensive for Danny to accept each and every invite. Which is fine with me- every once in a while is good.
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Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I'm getting in the holiday mood. Last year I was joined by two friends from home who coincidently stopped by Suzhou during Thanksgiving, and we ate at a hotel. But this year I wanted a nice home cooked meal. But being the only American in my group of friends, if I wanted a nice home cooked meal, I must do it myself.

So I am currently planning a Thanksgiving dinner for 16 people, made almost entirely in my toaster oven. But considering our dinner party will consist of 1 Canadian, 6 Chinese, 8 Brits and one lone American, who will care if I mess up? They won't know any better anyway :). Plus, I've ordered a cooked turkey to be delivered in the evening by one of the local restaurants, so how hard can it be? (Ask me again on Friday).

My Chinese lessons are going really well. Today, for example, I learned the very helpful phrase, "lan chong" which means "lazy worm". But in all honesty, both my speaking and reading/writing classes are going really well. I spend a lot of time studying and practicing, and I've grown to not be so incredibly frightened of the language. But of course, as soon as I think I've gotten a handle on the language, I find I know nothing at all!

My favorite thing is learning to read Chinese characters. I find that while it is very difficult for me to remember how to write, I can remember enough to read. I've learned to read quite a few, and sometimes when I'm feeling cocky I will try to read words in a newspaper article. But my skills are basically the equivalent to picking up an English newspaper and being able to pick out words like "the" "and" or "he". But if the article is about buying apples at the shop or exchanging money at the bank, I'm all over it :)

But as usual, help is where you least expect it. In addition to both of my lovely Chinese teachers and my very helpful boyfriend, my best teacher is my gym trainer, Xiong. He actually gets annoyed when I forget to bring my Chinese reading or flashcards to the gym. He quizzes me during our sessions, and for at least 30 minutes after. Nothing like doing sit-ups and being quizzed on Chinese characters at the same time to make your whole body hurt. It's good for him because he learns some new English words, but mostly, he just likes to help.


The rest of my life is normal and nothing special. I will leave you with a few other short things:


1. I have two new students in one class. A little boy called Sunny, and a little girl called...Mr. Black.

2. Danny's grandmother, as a traditional Chinese woman, has been asking us repeatedly when we're going to get married (she had been asking this long before we were actually dating). To satisfy her, Danny lied and told her "within the next 1 or 2 years". She took that to mean the upcoming weekend, and announced it to the entire extended family, which forced Danny and his mother to field angry phone calls from all his relatives asking why no one had told them about his wedding that weekend.

3. You may have noticed that I never comment on the clothing style of the Chinese anymore, which used to be a big source of interest and amusement for me. Had their style improved? Have I gotten used to it? But shopping recently I discovered that the problem is me: my taste has gotten significantly worse being here. Rhinestones? Yes please. Bows? The more the merrier. Cartoon pandas with rhinestones AND bows? Where do I sign up? I literally picked up a black velvet scrunchy with a rhinestone thing on it before my sense kicked in. My new favorite activity is getting my nails done. I don't do the fake ones, but I might as well. My current nail polish? Pink and white with lace pattern and polka-dots. Last week was alternating pink with stars and gold glitter. I might as well work at the gas station.

4. Something very bad has happened. I have rediscovered the awesomeness of internet shopping. The Chinese have a website called Taobao, and it's kind of like a mix between ebay and Amazon.com. I like it because while you can usually talk the seller down a bit on the price, it's more or less set, so I could buy the fake bags and all that other junk knowing I'd get it for the same price as a Chinese customer, which is never the case in the store. Plus, I can get shoes in my size! But because it's all in Chinese and requires banking info I don't have, Danny has to do it for me. The poor guy gets loads of emails from me requesting various items for him to find and buy for me. My list from just the last two weeks: Shoes (with sequins of course), baking chocolate, plastic utensils, a blender, Neutrogena shampoo, and a wooden turkey holding a sign that says "Give Thanks".

5. I feel like I need a 5th thing to round out my list, but it's nearly midnight and I need to get up early tomorrow to begin baking for Thanksgiving. So I will leave you with photos instead.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Miss and love you all!

RDG

I love China

Fall Arrives in the Middle Kingdom

Because the only person in the world I'm competitive with is my sister, and she has managed to do a good job keeping up with her blog while in Ghana, it's time for me to post one again.

It's been nearly 6 weeks since I've last posted, and it's been a good few weeks. I enjoyed some time off after summer classes ended- sleeping in, seeing friends. My mom and Holmes arrived in Suzhou, which was great. Their stay in Suzhou was short but sweet, they got to meet some of my friends and see the famous Suzhou gardens in their peak, opposed to the bitter winter, when my mom last came.

We also traveled down to southern China, to Guilin and Yangshou, beautiful areas with unique mountains. We took a boat ride down the Li River, went for a bike ride in the country side and took a Chinese cooking class. We spent a day up in the rice terraces, which were really cool. You have to hike way up into the mountains to get to the hotels. This also means you have to pay teeny-tiny old ladies to carry your luggage on their backs. Imagine my Chazie or Grandma carrying a 30lb suitcase in a basket on her back up to the top of a mountain.

We also headed to Hong Kong, which I love. Being in Hong Kong for a few days is almost like being home for me. There is Western food, but unlike the Western food in Suzhou, it is actually good! I fool myself into thinking the familiar food in Suzhou is decent, but in reality it's a step down from eating at a Friendly's or a Bob Evans but is twice as expensive. But the food in Hong Kong is first class. And shopping is better too :).

I sadly had to say goodbye to them in Hong Kong, and I headed back to Suzhou. I worked two days, and then headed into the National Day holiday, which is about 7 days for Chinese people, but nearly 2 full weeks for me. I spent part of my holiday sick in bed with a cold, and the other half just getting my life back together after all the time off- cleaning, organizing, and going to the gym.

Next week I will begin my Chinese lessons. I'm doing 3 days a week of oral Chinese lessons with 3 friends, and then 2 days a week on my own with a different teacher to learn reading and writing. I am really looking forward to getting into it.I've been studying a lot on my own the last few weeks, but nothing beats having a teacher.

So a bit of randomness for the end:

Danny and I took his 88 year old grandmother and his father out to dinner for the Chinese National Day. She is in a wheelchair, and since most of China is not handicap accessible, she rarely gets out. We'd planned to take her to a Chinese restaurant, but the wait was too long, so we went to the restaurant next door- Mexican. His grandma had never had Western food before. We got fajitas, pizza, soup and quesidillas in the hope she could find something she liked. She hated the food but loved the experience, so it was worth it.

When I returned home from Hong Kong, I traveled by bus from Hong Kong back across the border into the mainland of China, because it is much cheaper to fly home from there. When I walked through Immigration into China, I was stopped, and they wanted to inspect my backpack. The only thing they wanted to look at were the books I had- a book about learning to write Chinese characters and another about astronauts (shocking, I know). They carefully looked them over, and finally gave them back. Weird China.

My friend Yang took me, Danny, Sharrif and his wife Ivy to an area just outside of Suzhou called Dongshan to see his uncle's farm. Sharrif and Ivy brought their newborn son Charlie, and apparently it is tradition to give a son a live chicken as a gift. So Yang's uncle gave Sharrif the biggest free-range chicken I have ever seen in my life. We tied it up and stuck it in the trunk of Yang's car, where it sat and pooped for the next few hours. When we arrived back in Suzhou, we brought the chicken to a shop in Sharrif's apartment complex to kill and clean it. The man killed the chicken, but refused to clean it. So we carried that stupid, bloody chicken to another shop, where a little old man spent the better part of an hour plucking and cleaning it. Sharrif said it tasted good, but after spending the day with the chicken, it was a little hard to choke down.

I love China more and more each day I'm here. Of course, there are days I am beyond frustrated. But really, it's great. So you should all move here immediately.

I will leave you with some pictures from the last few weeks.

Fall in China

Miss and love you all.

XOXO,
RDG

我爱中国

The reason I never blog anymore is because I don’t feel like a lot happens that is blog-worthy.

And also, I’m pretty lazy. In July I was working 6-7 days a week, so I just didn’t have the energy. Then I was down to 4 days a week for most of August, so I really had no excuse. But to be fair, I’ve actually tried writing this thing a few time, but each time I leave it to finish later, and by the time I get back to it so much time has changed I must change all the tenses and add more. But here it is- my long overdue blog.

So I guess the biggest news to address is that the end of July marked my 1 year anniversary in China. I got the spend the actual anniversary with all my closest friends in China, and I can’t think of better ways to end what has been, by far, the most exciting year of my life. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve seen some of you, but rest assured, I miss you all terribly. And despite my mother’s concerns, I won’t be here forever.

And this year will bring some big changes as well. Last week I signed a new contract with my school. Rather than being a salaried employee, I will now be hourly, and I’ll only be obligated to work two days a week- Saturday and Sunday. This is exactly what I wanted, because it will allow me to do two very important things: travel and study Chinese. I’m currently looking into different Chinese schools and tutors to find the best way for me to pursue Chinese in a more intensive way. I’ve really enjoyed studying by myself and with the help of friends, but if I actually want to reach my goal of being fluent, I need to buckle down and get going. I’m not sure what I’ll be able to do in the future speaking Chinese, but I do know that China has had such a big impact on my life, I can’t imagine doing anything in the future that keeps me completely disconnected from it. So learning the language seems like the first step to getting a job back in the US with links to China. I’ll see where I am in a year and evaluate.

Life has been good- albeit, hot. After such a miserably cold winter I forgot about the humid, blazing Suzhou summer, and more importantly, how wonderful the dirty canals smell this time of year. There is a new high speed train that just began running, and it cuts about 30-40 minutes off of any given journey (while doubling the ticket cost). A few weeks I went to Nanjing for the day with my friend Amanda, just to get out of Suzhou. We went to a museum about the “Rape of Nanjing”, when the Japanese invaded China. The museum is actually built on top of a mass grave of civilians that was discovered, and their bones are still in the ground to look out. The museum was beautifully done and very haunting. We also did a bit of shopping, which is what Nanjing is known for. Mazes of underground shops, just one stall of jewelry, bags, shoes, etc., one after another. Overwhelming.

This month I did summer classes for Sunflower, which isn’t too bad. Normal full days on Saturday and Sunday, plus two 2-hour classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I have a long break in between but it’s close enough to come home, so it was fine. The kids in summer classes are in English school 5 days a week, from 9-4. I had the students Tuesday and Thursday, and Peter had them Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the morning I had the younger students, who I actually really enjoyed. 2 hours is a long time to teach them only 6 news words and a sentence or two, but it allowed for a lot of games, and I was pleased with the results- it’s further proof to me that the best way to learn a language is just complete immersion. My afternoon class was not such a pleasure- 10 year olds, whose favorite activities include throwing their shoes, hiding my teaching materials and slapping me on the butt. Plus, they had to learn the dumbest word. Cotton candy, Brazil, wombat. I don't even know what a wombat is.

July was a bit different. I was teaching 4 mornings a week at a kindergarten across town that I originally just taught at once a week. Aside from the distance from my home, I really liked teaching at that school- the kids were clever and well-behaved, and I have a lot of support from their teachers, which is rare at a private nursery. I wasn’t thrilled about going that far every day, especially during rainy season, and I really didn’t like the 4 hour breaks I had twice a week. But it wasn’t horrible.

So I walk into that school one Friday, and the first thing I hear is Chinese kids singing “Hey Jude”. Seriously, they were perfect, from the lyrics to the “na-na-na-naaa”. But that wasn’t my class, so I peeked in and moved upstairs to my classroom.

Where I found my student dressed to the nines. The little girls had on fluffy pink dresses that can best be described as “Barbie goes to the prom, 1987”. The boys had on preppy navy blue shorts, white short-sleeve button downs and green ribbon bow-ties. All the kids had silver garland wrapped around their wrists. Their teacher tells me it is a dress rehearsal for a show they are putting on for their parents the next week. I went downstairs to their multi-purpose room, and watched them do what I can only describe as a chair dance, complete with singing. I was really impressed. I hear kids shouting my name, and I turn around to see children from another class that I visit there 3 times a week have come downstairs for their turn, dressed in fuzzy animal costumes about 3 sizes too small. More classes came down, and each costume was crazier than the last- traditional Chinese pajamas, followed by girls in red pleather halter tops and booty shorts, with big teased up hair and makeup. And remember, none of these kids is older than 8.

So I left the school trying hard to contain my laughter, thinking, “this is by far the highlight of my day”. Oh boy, was I wrong.

This kindergarten has two schools, down the street from one another. On Friday mornings, I’d go to both, twice. So after leaving the Barbies and baby hookers, I went down to the smaller school, which has the younger children. I could see that all of these children were having a dress rehearsal as well. I walk into my classroom, and I swear to god, I nearly choked.

They are wearing fuchsia leotards with little skirts. All of them. Boys included. Plus, they had silver garland wrapped around their ankles and wrists. Their teacher asked me if I’d prefer to teach the lesson or to watch the dance- DANCE, of course! Which I then watched 4 times. It was great, and the outfits made it just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I stayed about 20 minutes past the end of class just to watch again.

They told me I could have the day off on Monday because of the show, but I decided I’d give up a morning of sleeping in to go see this live. So Peter, who teaches at the same school in the afternoons, joined me, and we headed out to their show. And it lived up to my expectations. Peter took photos, which are at the end of the blog, and I took video, which I’m trying to figure out how to upload. But the kids and parents were happy to have us there- treated us like VIP, putting us in the front row, center. At the end, they asked up to come up and present the kids who are graduating to primary school with diplomas. As much as I needed a day to sleep in, it was worth giving up to see the show.

But now, I’ve officially began working only 2 days a week. Because of my mom’s visit in mid-September, I won’t officially begin Chinese lessons until the end of next month. So how am I spending my time now? Relaxing. I’ve been going to the gym every day, studying Chinese and cleaning my messy room. But a friend also stumbled upon a hidden gem- a beautiful outdoor pool not far from my home, where we lie our way in every afternoon. But in the next few weeks I plan to do a few more day trips around the province and enjoy my time before I buckle down and study.

Other random things:

• My roommate Mike and I rode our ebikes to Mudu, a township about an hour or so from our house, and rode around for ages. We happened upon a cemetery on a mountain side. The Chinese don’t bury their dead in the city because they think it is bad luck to live amongst the dead, so they bury them on mountains in the countryside. This place was beautiful. A clean-water river, beautiful trees and stone pathways. Because it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere, there is only one bus that goes out there. The route number? 666. You can’t make this stuff up.
• I taught at Green Garden, the school mentioned above, 4 mornings a week, plus 2 afternoons a week. So I’m there a lot. And since its summer, we were just reviewing the material they’ve already learned, so they know it well. Makes the class kind of boring. So I played games and sang a lot of songs. The teacher liked me teaching songs because it’s something they can show off to their parents. I have dozens and dozens in my head- all with hand motions I’ve either stolen or made up myself. The Ants Go Marching, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Hokey Pokey, Are You Sleeping, the list goes on and on. And the thing about Green Garden is that the kids are very clever, so they learn the songs super quickly, so I always need new ones. Strapped for ideas one week I picked the first song that came to my head: I Love You, You Love Me. Yes- the theme song from Barney. And let me tell you, they couldn’t get enough of this song. When we sang the line “with a great big hug…” I’d chase them around and try to hug them. It’s the most fun I’ve had teaching in a long time, and we usually sing it no less than 15 times a class.
• The other day I set my 25 year old student Leo up with my new friend Grace. This is my first attempt at Chinese match-making. And I followed the culture criteria. Leo is rich and from a good family, Grace is beautiful. Aside from thinking they are both very nice, I didn’t have much to go on. But my other student told me that if the match results in marriage, I will be given 8 “porks”. Whether that means 8 pieces of pork, or 8 pigs, I don’t know. Recently I had dinner with Grace, Leo, and his identical twin brother. Unfortunately, it seems Grace got on better with the twin, who goes to school in Australia. Oh well, no pork for me. (Update…I just heard from both of them, and while they like each other, the fact that Grace is 9 months older than Leo made the whole thing a no-go. Oh well, next time!)
• In the past few weeks, the weather has turned super, duper hot. Recently I went to the Starbucks by my house for iced coffee. All three times I went they said they were out. I’m not sure which they were out of, the coffee or the ice, but both seem to be pretty important for a Starbucks to stock.
• There is a man in his 50s who goes to the same gym as me everyday. Around 11:30 he comes in in his sandals, gets onto one of the ab-crunch benches, puts his feet up, and goes to sleep. Every single day. Xiong tells me that he does eventually get up and walk on the treadmill, but all I can tell is that he pays a lot of money for a very expensive nap. But I guess that's China- on a hot day, you can't walk under any bridge, hallway or tunnel without seeing dozens of Chinese men and women sleeping on bamboo mats, sleeping off the hottest part of the day.

So that’s about it for me. I’ll use the post as one more advertisement to please vote today for Johnny (a.k.a. Prince Poppycock) on America’s Got Talent. Even I’ve managed to vote at least 10 times, and I’m on the other side of the world. He’s also gaining quite a fan-base over here. The Chinese can’t access Youtube, but some devoted fans have posted his videos on Youku, the Chinese copycat sight. He’s getting great comments on it, and I’ve spread the video around to all my friends here. One Chinese friend told me she emailed the video to her entire office, and that he has a whole building of fans anxiously waiting the next performance.

In fact, I’ve only been motivated to write this post because I need to do something while my proxy server takes ages to load his most recent performance on Youtube…

Pictures:

Summer in China

XOXO,

RDG

TIC (This is China)

OK, I will admit I wrote like nearly all of this blog a few weeks ago, but for some reason I can't remember, I delayed posting it. And forgot about it. But here it is, now up to date!

TIC is my new favorite phrase. I was at the Western market a few weeks ago at the check-out, when Christmas music came on the speakers. The English woman in front of me turns around, sighs, and says, "Christmas music in May. TIC." "TIC?" I asked. "This is China." And that basically sums up everything. Now every time I have a question about why people do things the way they do here, I just remind myself: TIC.

Summer has nearly arrived in Suzhou. Right now the weather is nearly perfect- sunny and warm. (Edited note: When I wrote this it was true. Now it is incredibly hot and humid). But I remember last summer- hazy, hot and humid (so much like DC), so I'm enjoying it while I can. I am missing my hotel from last summer- the one with no windows, where I could sleep through the whole day never knowing the time. But this past month, the sun has been waking me up at about 5:30am every morning and just beating down. So my friend Danny came to my rescue, buying me blackout curtains- basically the best thing ever invented. Now I can sleep.

Not a lot new to report- work and gym as usual. I've tried some new things over the past few weeks. The first was spinning- which I was nervous to do, but ended up loving. All the instructions were in Chinese, of course, but Mike and Sharrif came with me, so we coped together. But it was a good workout and I look forward to doing to more regularly. I can see why people say it's addictive.

I've also started playing badminton. Of course it's quite popular here, so I figured I might as well get in on the fun, although the last time I played it was during PE freshman year of high school. So far, I'm not to bad. And it's surprisingly physical, especially when you have to keep dodging the birdies your roommate keeps aiming for your nose, or when your friend decides that any shot less that 10 feet above your head is unacceptable. The first time I played, my arm ached for days. But I am really enjoying it- despite the fact that the hot weather makes playing in an un-air-conditioned gym really, really unpleasant.

Last month I noticed that the nursery schools that I teach at suddenly had a sharp increase in security. We're talking full-time cops, barbed wire, security cameras, security badges, 2-3 levels of gates to enter the property. It took me a while to discover the connection, but the increased security is a result of the multiple shootings recently at nursery schools across China. So the schools that can afford it are increasing security ten-fold. It's refreshing to see how quickly the Chinese react to a problem- I have to imagine that if this happened in the West, measures would be taken, but not so rapidly. However, I almost laughed at the sheer stupidity when the construction worker was out on the playground, putting together a tall security fence with sharp spears on the end, welding without any sort of eye protection on. With children no more than 10 feet around him, also not protecting their eyes. They'll be safe from intruders, but blind.

Classes are all going well, not much to report. I took my private student, Ting Ting, who is 14, out to dinner at a Western restaurant by her home, because I want to introduce her to the lifestyle (she hopes to study abroad). We were accompanied by her mother, who speaks only a little English, and Danny. The dinner went well, although Ting Ting was pretty overwhelmed being around all the foreigners, and was frustrated about the prospect of using a fork and knife (which she solved by just ordering pizza). When we ordered drinks, Ting Ting's mom told Danny she wanted to try a foreign beer, so she settled on Corona. Danny and I got them as well, and Ting Ting's mother asked her if she wanted one. She said no, but as she was eating she choked and grabbed her mother's beer and took a sip. She said she liked the taste, so her mother ordered her one. So I sat at the table with my 14 year old student while the two of us sipped Corona. A little surreal, but TIC.

My older students, the 4 wealthy men, are a little more trying. Since the only topic that can hold their interest is sex, I have resorted to planning my lessons around that. One week we did Yo Mama jokes, which they liked, but were overwhelmed by the vocabulary. Also did jokes- one they got two versions of the limerick "There once was a man from Nantucket..." both the clean and dirty versions. Didn't work so well, but it did encourage them to tell me dirty jokes that forced them to translate from Chinese to English, so not a total bust. In our last class I taught them to play Texas Hold'em Poker- they were very interested in the vocabulary. We also played "Bullshit", which I haven't played since summer camp, but they really liked lying to one another.

So what else to add? Two weeks ago Sunflower held a team-building day in the botanical gardens on the outskirts of SIP. We played laser tag modeled after the video game Counter Strike, where I was killed within about 5 minutes by my boss George. It was a long day, filled with various team building exercising, like building a catapult to launch water balloons or bouncing a ball on a drum held up by ropes. It was fun but incredibly hot- I had a nice farmer's tan by the end. The biggest benefit? The company that hosted spoke no English, so we missed the lectures on communication and team work, and didn't bother having our Chinese coworkers translate :).

Last week several of my friends and I went to an indoor ski slope in Shanghai. I've never skied in June before, so it was pretty cool. For about $30 you get to ski for the entire day, plus they give you a snow suit and all the ski equipment. The slope was a bit short to be exciting, but the experience was great, and next time I go I think I'll try snowboarding.

So that's really about it for me. Summer classes begin next month, and rumor has it we'll be working 7 days a week, but I'm not certain yet. I'm not thrilled but to be honest, Suzhou summers are so miserably hot that it's not like I'd be outside much anyway. I'm for sure staying for the foreseeable future, but I'm in the process of evaluating exactly what I want to do after my contract ends in August. I will keep you all updated.

Oh yeah, and my Kindle broke :(. In the middle of a book, no less! But I can get a fake one here, so that's the plan. The Kindle that was saved in Hong Kong couldn't survive having a wood stand dropped on it.

Hope all is well with everyone, and as always, I miss you all so much!

A few pictures I stole from my friends:

Spring in China

XOXO,

RDG

Your Chinese of the Day: ta ma de - (the Chinese version the the insult "your mom...", but it translates to "his mom's...")

Surprise!

See, it didn't take me another 4 months to give you an update. It doesn't hurt that I actually had a break from my normal routine and was able to travel a bit because we had a Monday holiday.

For the holiday, I was invited to Zhenjiang, the hometown of one of the Chinese teachers at my school, Cissy. I went, along with my coworkers Marcus and Tamara, plus Tamara's boyfriend and her mother, who was visiting from Canada. Zhenjiang is about an hour away from Suzhou by train. They all went there on Thursday, and I joined after work on Friday. Cissy and her uncle picked me up, and took me to his house, where I had the most amazing home-cooked Chinese meal ever. I kid you not, I counted at least 20 different dishes on the table, each more amazing than the last. After that Cissy took us to a nightclub, where we had fun being the only Westerners and making lots of Chinese friends.

Saturday morning I slept in for the first time in ages. Cissy took us to an underground shopping center where she convinced me, Tamara and her mother to get these crazy fake fingernails. I chose white with cherries, and they lasted exactly 2 days, when one broke off and I ripped the rest off within minutes. Then we all piled on to a super busy bus and headed to the countryside, where there are hot springs.

The hot springs were amazing. The water looks gross- murky and brown, and there is so many minerals in it it turns your skin yellow. But it's bath-water warm and makes your skin feel soft. There were both indoor and outdoor pools of various temperatures, and several different types of super hot tubs that fix various ailments. But the best by far was the fish pool. It's a giant pool filled with probably thousands and thousands of tiny little fish. The fish eat skin, so as soon as you get in they swarm you. I can't even describe the feeling- it's ticklish and weird. You can certainly feel them biting. But they eat your dead skin so you come out smooth as a baby's bottom. One of the coolest things I've ever done.

That night we had another amazing dinner with more of Cissy's family. We then went to karaoke, which, I'll admit, is not my favorite thing. Sunday we said goodbye to Tamara, her boyfriend and mother, and Marcus, Cissy and I headed to Nanjing, the capital of our province. The place was a complete zoo, because it was a holiday weekend. We shopped and shopped and shopped and ate and then shopped some more. I will proudly say I spent a whopping 3rmb the whole time I was shopping, on a small gift for a friend in Suzhou. We visited the Confuscious temple, and saw a lot of really cool things. See pictures. We took a boat ride along the river, where we saw a tour boat hit a tiny little row boat occupied by a civil servant who was cleaning the river. The hit knocked him down, and he promptly got up and beat on the big boat with his scoop. Very funny.

After running for our train, which was caught with seconds to spare, we headed back to Zhenjiang. Despite being tired, we found a bar for a few drinks, and ended up spending many hours playing drinking games with a group of Chinese people sitting near us. It's amazing how friendly people can be, especially when they are not used to seeing foreigners all the time.

Monday we traveled back to Suzhou. The weather the whole weekend was amazingly warm (spring, or maybe summer, is finally here!) and Sunday was especially warm and beautiful. I ended an amazing weekend by walking around Jinji Lake with my friend Danny and having a great Indian dinner.

So yes, the warm weather is back. With the warm weather comes things I've missed: riding my bike without gloves, couples in matching t-shirts, men exposing their stomachs. Suzhou summer, how I've missed you!

Weird things I have eaten update:
Tofu cooked to taste exactly like duck
Duck guts
Bull frog

All of it, especially bull frog, is really yummy. Next up? Dog.

On that note, I'll leave you with some photos from my trip.

XOXO,
RDG

Zhenjiang/Nanjing May 2010

Chinese lesson of the day:

You get 2:

金瑞秋 jin rui qui: my new Chinese name

人山人海 ren shan ren hai: mountain of people, sea of people (means a ton of people)

If you couldn't tell, I've been studying Chinese characters :)

Long time, no see (now with photos!)

OK, I know, it's been like 4 months since I've posted a blog. And I do feel bad about that. I have a whole list of excuses- moving, no internet for nearly a month, annoying colds that won't go away, visitors, etc. But the number one reason is probably because I'm lazy, and the same things that I found interesting enough to report 6 months ago no longer seem so fascinating.

But I'm alive and well and happy. I had a fun time at home despite the blizzard. It was great seeing everyone and eating Mexican food. At the same time, I was looking forward to getting back to China.

Since being back, things have changed a bit. The biggest would be that I moved into a new apartment with my friend, Mike. I was tired of living alone in my small, expensive apartment, and Mike was looking for a new place as well. Our new apartment is great- it's big and in a great location.

One thing that makes the new place so great is that it's next to my new gym. A few months ago my trainer Xiong decided to switch gyms when the old one cut his salary. And I can see this new gym from my bedroom. It's in the shopping mall that is literally next door. So I joined this new gym, Impulse, along with Mike, and two of my other friends. I still see Xiong twice a week, and Mike and I go to the gym together 5 days a week. Mike has been kicking my butt- getting me to do things I never thought I would do, like running. It's where I should be at the moment, but I'm not feeling good. I tried to go, but after about 6 minutes on the treadmill, I gave up and went home. Need to conserve my energy for work this week I think.

Work is going well. I now have two days a week off- Mondays and Thursdays, which I like. I haven't been keeping up with the Chinese as much as I'd like, but Xiong and some of my other Chinese friends have been teaching me, so I'm still learning. And while learning curse words and slang probably isn't exactly what I should be doing right now, I do find I'm learning words that are more practical to my everyday life, rather than learning things from a textbook. I'm looking into options to study the language more intensely in the upcoming months.

My dad came to visit, which was nice. While he was here we had a big housewarming party, which was a success. My dad grilled burgers and chicken wings, and many of the Chinese guests were fascinated by watching him cook. Our party, which was a standard house party, complete with music, laser lights and beer, was an exciting experience for many of our Chinese guests, who are accustomed to dinner parties only. I know I had fun.

It's funny that after 4 months I'm struggling with things to write! My days are pretty routine right now- gym in the morning, work in the afternoon, out with friends or relaxing in the evening. The Shanghai Expo begins in a week or so, and I think that will cause a bit of excitement (and traffic) in Suzhou.

I want to take a nap before I got into work, so I'll just leave you with a few random stories:

• Before I left for my vacation home, I asked Xiong what he wanted as a gift from America. He told me a Playboy magazine. He was joking, but I got it for him anyway, along with the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. I have never seen him so excited/embarrassed when I gave it to him.
• The internet company made Mike and I wait 12 days before someone could come out and install our internet. Once he did it, the technician told us that, for some reason, he couldn't get both our laptops online at the same time. If I was on, Mike couldn't be, vice versa. We had two computer experts come look at the problem, and neither could fix it. We had friends call the company multiple times to no avail. We were told that it was a new policy from the internet company- only one laptop at a time. Finally, my friend Danny looked at the contract and called the company to have someone come sort it out. The morning the technician was meant to come, it suddenly started working. Just like that. All they had to do was remotely adjust the modem. But this whole thing took weeks to sort out.
• I started teaching twice a week at a nursery that is all the way across Suzhou. I get frustrated riding 40 minutes each way to just teach for an hour (recently, always in the rain), but the kids and teachers at the place are so great I don't mind. They do have the absolute worst English names, though. Like a chubby little girl named "Fatty", or a boy named "Vivien".
• I was hanging out with my Chinese friend Margaret the other day, and she was bugging me about the fact that I've been here like 9 months, and according to her, my Chinese isn't up to snuff. I told her I had recently learned the different parts of the body (eyes, ears, head, etc). I showed off to her, and she said, "Congratulations, you're now as smart as a 1 year old." Did a lot to boost my confidence.

So that's about it for me. I will blog more often, I promise. I may even be able to post pictures in the next day or two. Or even video!

Edit: I've added a ton of photos of life over the last few months. Take a look:

Winter/Spring China

XOXO,

RDG

Chinese lesson of the day: Wo bu zai hu = "I don't care"

p.s. this might be the first time I've ever written a Chinese lesson of the day entirely from memory. See, my Chinese IS improving!