Dumplings, Horns and Banned Blogs, oh my!

Hello my friends,

I have, through many back channels, figured out a way to access my blog here in China. I have so many things to talk about, but as I don't want to go on and on, I'll try to limit myself as much as possible without making it sounds like a guide book.

The trip over was easy enough, although close to 16 hours in the air, and I only slept the length of one Renee Zelweiger movie. My peanut butter was confiscated at DCA, which was the worst thing to happen on the trip, so I suppose I should count my blessings.

Suzhou, the city I'm taking my TEFL classes in, is a pretty cool place. It's about 40 minutes outside of Shanghai, and has a fairly small but active expat population. My hotel is in the old city center, which is pretty cute, with canals and little shops and bars, but most foreigners live in the newer, more industrial areas. I haven't been able to venture out to those parts yet, but I will.

The hotel is cool as well. I'll post some pictures of my fancy little room. It has great internet and a good AC. Oh, and a toilet. It doesn't have any dressers, which makes it hard to keep clean, considering I have a year's worth of stuff just sitting around. It also has only one window, which is in the bathroom, so it is quite dark, but I like it. Chinese beds are about equivalent to sleeping on the floor, but I'm getting used to it. The hotel owner speaks English, so that's very helpful.

Today was my third day of school, and so far I'm enjoying it. There are 10 people in my class from a variety of ages and backgrounds. There is only one other girl- and she's the only Western woman I've seen who is not part of a tour group. Dropping everything and heading to China seems to be more of a male thing- but I'll represent the other half. I've become friends with the three other people in the class who are close to my age- we all happen to be staying in the same hotel, so that works out well. We almost always have all our meals together, and one of the guys speaks Chinese fairly well, so he does the ordering. I don't know how I'll survive on my own...

I am desperate to learn more Mandarin. Right now I'm really only comfortable saying "Hello", "Thank You" and "I don't want, thanks". Not quite enough to get by. But in addition to my TEFL course, I'm taking a Mandarin/Chinese culture class every day, so I'm hopeful it will help.

Ah yes, back to school. The classes are fairly straightforward, and they seem to practice what they preach, in that we're encouraged to have lots of different little games and activities rather than lecture our students, and so that is how they teach us. Makes a relatively short day (10:30-4:30 with 1-1.5 hours for lunch plus 1 hour of Chinese in the am or pm), go even quicker. I am one of the lucky few who has to begin student teaching on Friday, but I think they'll go easy on me because I'm going first. I've been working on my lesson plan.

The food here is excellent. The best breakfast is baozi, which are little doughballs filled with meat or veggies. I don't eat them often because they are too filling before school. Most meals are family style, which is nice because you get to try a lot of different things. The pork seems the be the best option, as well as noodles. I have tried EVERY SINGLE THING put in front of me. It's considered rude not to try, plus I'm curious. Food is incredibly cheap- ranging from 10-70 rmb a person (that's about $1.50-10.00), generally on the lower end. The most expensive thing by far is alcohol, although just by comparison. For example, yesterday was my friend's birthday, so we went to a bar that does all-you-can drink beer for 80 RMB, which is like $11.70. And it was good, expensive beer. By American standards, amazing, but that's several dinners just in beer. But aside from my hotel room, I've spent less than $75 in the 5 days I've been here. It's probably even much less than that.

Traffic is nuts here. Everyone is addicted to their horns. There are no rules of the road, except for drive as fast as you can where ever there is an opening on the road, honk at anything near you, and don't stop if you hit pedestrians. Crossing the street is such a challenge I refused my first two days here. I just kept turning left, until it was time to turn around and walk back. I take the bus to class, which is an experience, but costs like $0.14, so I can't complain. I met some Americans last night who have been in Suzhou for about 5 years, and they all advised us to buy electric bikes as soon as we make our decision as to where we are going to live. If I stay in Suzhou I might, because many of the roads are designed with special bike lanes, which makes driving a bit safer. I wouldn't risk it in Shanghai. But that's neither here nor there.

So as usual, my "short" blog post has gotten incredibly long. I'm going to spend the weekend going around Suzhou and taking pictures (I've been so overwhelmed I have only taken like 2), so I'll post some more this weekend. But I am happy and healthy and surviving the culture shock.

Miss you all!!

Your Chinese for the day:

Qing qudiao tou ma?- Please can you take the head off?