Happy National Day!

Hello again. I'm not going to make excuses about not posting very often, because it's only been a week, and this is as good as it gets. It's currently Sunday night, and I'm very tired.



The last 7 days have been incredibly busy. I've added new classes to my schedule, so I now teach 6 days a week. I'm not thrilled about it, but it's just a few extra hours, and contractually I have to accept them, so when my bosses offer, it's in my best interest to say yes. But I like my new classes, so all is well. The Chinese National Holiday begins on Thursday, so starting then I'll have a week off. Not sure what I'll do with my time- it's too hectic to travel, because it's one of two times a year Chinese people can return to their families. I may take a day trip, but I'll probably just experience National Day in Suzhou. It's the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and the 15th anniversary of the SIP, where I live, so it should be a lot of fun. The decorations are already amazing, and I'll make sure to take lots of photos.



A Sunflower teacher left, so beginning after the holiday I'll have my own permanent weekend classes, which I like. Rather than subbing, I can get used to my kids. I started some of them this last weekend, and they're great- lots of young kids, which I enjoy.



Classes at Sunflower were cancelled today, as an extension of the holiday. Unfortunately, it wasn't a day off for me. In the morning I had "new teacher training" with a specialist from Shanghai. Unfortunately, because I'm the only foreign teacher who has been here less than a year, I was the only one who had to take it. Well, me and 15 Chinese TAs. Don't get me wrong- I like the TAs a lot. They're super nice, speak English well, and couldn't be more helpful. And the trainer was good- she began the class by speaking in English, which makes sense, because it was a training class for an English school. But I suppose it got a bit tiring to try to explain in English, because she quickly switched over to Chinese, and I sat through the entire 2 hour class that way. At one point she stopped and asked me if I spoke Chinese, and when I said no, she asked the guy next to me to translate. But she spoke too quickly for him to do so. Occasionally I guess I looked confused enough, because she would switch back to English, but it was only temporary. I had to leave early to teach, but I learned a few more games, so not too bad.



So yeah, no holiday for me today. Or the kids, for that matter. At home, when there is a national holiday, you just miss school. Not in China. You make it up on the weekends. So today, the kids at the nursery (3&3, or San Zhi San) had to go for a normal school day. On a Sunday. One of the other teachers left for vacation already, so I took her classes there this afternoon. Not bad, except that I get to go teach the exact same lesson there tomorrow to my own classes, so that's no fun.



Oh, I've heard some more good English names. In one of my classes last weekend I had a boy named Poseidon. As in Greek god of the sea. I also had a boy named Emily this afternoon. I found out why this happens- sometimes its the TA. I did a demo last week with a great TA named Robbie, who I like working with because he's smart and is good at controlling the class. One of the potential students didn't have a name, and rather than deferring to me, made one up himself. Wansen. I think he meant Watson, but the kid was already fond of it before I could correct it. So that's how it happens.



What else? My laziness has hit an apex, so I hired a maid, or an 'ayi', as it's known in Chinese. I found her through my landlord, and have to pay a whopping $1.50/hour for her. She came for the first time today, and my place looks amazing. So good, in fact, that I'll post pictures of it!



And that brings us on to the internet. So rather than grow frustrated with my inability to connect through this blog or Facebook, I caved and actually purchased a program to get around the firewall. So far, it works great, and I am officially the only person I know in China who can access blocked sites. So worth it! Haven't tested uploading pictures yet, but will do shortly.



So that's about it for me. It's only 7pm, but I'm beat. The other night I bought the entire 7 seasons of West Wing, the first season of True Blood, the third season of Skins and 2 movies for about $16, so I have a lot to watch as I settle in for the night. A few random things to leave you on:

• Matching t-shirts are all the rage here. Couples dress alike. Sometimes the exact same thing, but sometimes they are these t-shirts designed for couples- the man's is slightly different than the woman's, but they go together. They also make them for families, with ones for your kid. It's cute/disturbing.


• I am seriously thinking of investing in some fur-lined Crocs. If you want to launch your intervention, now is the time, because it will happen. Sooner than you think.


• I went to the most "Western" food store in Suzhou, and spent more than the average Chinese family spends on food in a month on the follow items: A jar of salsa, a bag of tortilla chips, two portions of boneless chicken, two microwavable containers of rice, a can of peas, two jars of olives, a box of Alphabits cereal, a jar of jelly and two cans of Cherry Coke. All worth it, I promise you.


• I'm getting really good at the electric bike.


• I'm not getting any better at Chinese.


• My two biggest expenditures out here, besides rent, are food and purses. Basically the same as home.

OK, that's about it for me. I teach tomorrow and Wednesday, then I'm on a nice little vacation. Tomorrow I am going to investigate joining a gym, since having the bike has eliminated all the walking I was doing before.

Pictures below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rgold300/China4?feat=directlink

Love always,

RDG

This blog is dedicated to my oldest friend Sarah, who I have been friends with since nursery school. She was hit by a car while running earlier this week and is still in critical condition. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts. - I wish you a speedy and strong recovery Sarah! http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/Atlanta_Nurse_Uses_iPod_to_ID_Patient_092509

Your Chinese for the day:

Wo qi yue lai Zhong guo de= I came to China in July (from memory- go Chinese lessons!)

From the Desk of R. Dori Goldman, Esq.

OK, I know I said I'd have more time to update once I stopped school, and while it's true that I've had more time, I clearly haven't kept my promise. In my defense, my internet stopped working like 5 days ago, and on top of everything, my firewall jumper isn't working well right now.

But enough excuses. I have lost absolutely all concept of time, so I don't even know how long its been since I've updated. Since my internet isn't working, I'm currently sitting in a bookstore/library/restaurant/bar I've been to a few times, and really enjoy. Plus, the free wifi is nice, too. It's Sunday night and I'm super exhausted- this was my first full teaching weekend. Last weekend I had a busy Saturday but an easy Sunday, so it doesn't count. This weekend I filled in for another teacher who had to go home for a few weeks. I don't know how he keeps this schedule: 9am-8pm on Saturday and 9am-6pm on Sunday. 1 hour off each for lunch. That ended up equaling 6 90minutes classes on Saturday, and 4 90minutes classes (plus 2 30 minute demo classes for potential students) on Sunday. I'm beat, not going to lie. But the beauty of it is that I only have 5 hours of teaching over the next five days, so plenty of rest.

While I don't have my own classes, that's pretty much what my schedule will look like : super busy weekends, and an easy week (my weekend is Tuesday and Wednesday). So how have I been filling the time? Well, I moved into my new apartment in Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), and I've been getting myself situation, buying very important things like a toaster oven. I've been doing a halfway decent job of keeping it clean, although I can obviously mess it up in like 1/200 of the time it takes me to clean it.

I've also enjoyed having a kitchen so I don't have to eat out all the time like I did when I lived in the hotel. I haven't cooked much, because, frankly, like 70% of what I cooked for myself at home was some sort of Asian stirfry, and the point of cooking is to escape Asian food. But I make pasta or steak, and it comes out fine. I've been invited to a potluck dinner by another teacher tomorrow night, and there is like absolutely nothing I know how to make that has ingredients available in China, so ...we'll see, I guess! But I was super excited to find that not only can I get normal tasting peanut butter in China, it's actually the brand I use from home! So I eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. Like every day or two. But it's a small reminder of home :)

So, what else? I'm getting more comfortable on the bike, although I've already managed to break one of the batteries (duct tapes works wonders!). One of the other teachers at Sunflower took me on an e-bike tour of SIP last week, and I saw a lot of places I'd never seen, so that was really cool. It was also on that ride, where I followed around a much more experience biker, that I really became comfortable on the bike.

I've also hired a young Chinese woman named Vivian to be my tutor. She comes to my house twice a week to teach me, and so far, so good. Oral Chinese is a fairly straightforward language grammatically (especially compared to English), but the pronunciation is a nightmare for me. Hopefully thee private lessons will give me the push I need to really focus and learn it: both for survival, and because I'm interested. But studying Chinese has given me a decent understanding of what my students are going through learning English.

But back to the important stuff: teaching. I guess it's easiest to break it up by school. Monday and Friday afternoons I teach 4 30minute classes at a nursery school about 20 minutes away. I do these without a Chinese TA. The first three classes have about 30 students, around 5 years old. They're really cute and very well behaved. Because the class is so short, we don't have time to do much besides learn a few words that they yell back at me. I run around a lot and get all red in the face. I feel like a clown, falling on the floor and doing funny things, but I actually like it a lot. But I had my first real embarrassing moment: I was given 6 words to teach the students, and I didn't know 2 of them. These kids haven't even progressed to vocabularly yet- the words they work on are chosen just for sound and pronunciation. But I kid you not- 2 words. Mete and Dene. Google them. I had to.


My last class at the nursery is the itty, bitty babies. They can't be more than 2 years old, and they don't speak Chinese yet, let alone English. While I just meet with the older kids once a week (3 on Monday, 3 on Friday), I meet with the babies both days. The first two times half just burst into tears and the rest just stared at me. Since then, though, the think of me as a bean bag chair. They literally just jump on me- in my lap, on my arms, and on my back. I've found that stickers have worked well to keep them under control, and that singing Itsy, Bitsy Spider 5 or 6 times puts them in a hypnotic state. And now, only like 3 or 4 cry when I walk in the room. Progress!

Thursdays I have one 40 minute class at a public school. The kids are about 7, and there are at least 40 or 50 of them in the class. But, oh my goodness, I'm like a celebrity there. The kids at my other schools come from wealthy families, and are used to seeing western people. But not these kids. When I arrive it's usually the end of recess, so they're all out in the yard, and they all run up and stare. They follow me around and gather at the windows of the office to peak in at me. It sounds crazy, but I swear it's true. The kids in the class are just so excited to have a western teacher that they're very well behaved and eager to participate.

And then that leaves the weekends at Sunflower. Kids comes for 2 hours classes- 90 of which is with the Western teacher and Chinese TA, and the other 30 with just the TA. Teachers pretty much just jump from class to class, and are handed a lesson plan, and GO. Ages range from from 3-15, and I've found I already strongly prefer to teach the younger kids, like ages 5-7. The smallest kids are fine, but are exhausting, and the older kids are can be really poorly behaved. Plus, working with the younger kids requires more creativity and fun, while the older kids just read from a book. But it's also nice to have a mix to break up the really long days.

OK, I'm beat, and I still have to ride my stupid bike home. I'll do what I can to keep in touch, although I hear it may be bad for the next few weeks.

EDIT: So when I went to post this blog, of course the firewall thing wasn't working. There has apparently been a big crackdown on these things. I found an alternative. Although it is in Dutch, it seems to be working well enough to get the blog up. Unfortunately, it won't allow me on Facebook, so to those of you have left me messages on that, I'm sorry I can't respond right now.

Love you all!

RDG

Photos!

I was finally able to add photos. Click on the albums below to take a glimpse about everything I blab on about. More to come!

China 2

China 3

The Importance of Totem Poles

So I know I've been terrible at updating, but I have an excuse. It's been an incredibly busy week (or 2). Busy, but successful. I finished up my TEFL course- and passed!

My exam was in two parts- Last Friday and Monday. That Saturday and Sunday I observed classes at my new place of employment. All day long. But it was a lot of fun- the kids have a lot of energy and there is a good mix of ages so it doesn't get boring. I taught my first 4 classes at the nursery my company outsources to on Friday, and it was a lot of fun. The classes there are short- only 30 minutes, so there isn't much time to do anything other than give them kids a few vocab words and have them shout the words at you. But seriously- Chinese kids are so beyond adorable, there isn't even a word to describe them. I spent this weekend observing again. Although I'm itching to get out and teach, I was happy they decided to give me a little more time to get comfortable. This company really seems to have their act together, and they're all as nice as can be.

Last Monday I got a bit of bad news. The owner of the awesome apartment I was going to rent got an offer to sell her place, and because we had no contract, went for it. I can't blame her- it was an awesome place. But with the help of Michael and Xian, I found a place I like ALMOST as much. The location is actually much better, but the place just isn't quite as nice. But I know I'll be happy here. I'll make sure to post pictures. I found the place at 6pm on Tuesday, and moved in at 9am on Wednesday, with the help of my friends Jonathan, Michael and Xian. They also helped me set up Internet and took me to buy the most important thing I'll ever buy in my life: An e-bike.

Yes, I am now the proud owner of an electric bike. It's basically a scooter or a moped. The batteries weigh a ton, take ages to charge, and it only works for like an hour at a time. But it's the best way to get around Suzhou. Although I bought it on Wednesday, today was the first time I took it out on the road. OK, actually, Jonathan did like 90% of the driving, but it was good to practice, and we drove around the lake and discovered some fantastic and beautiful spots. Having the bike will allow me all sorts of freedoms- it's hard to just get out an explore the area if you can only walk, and unless you speak Chinese, a taxi is only going to get you to the address you request. Because my weekends are so full at work, I less than 6 hours total between Monday and Friday, so I'll have plenty of time to do some more exploring. Plus, it's bound to be stolen soon, so I should enjoy it while I can.

So more about the classes. As I said, the kids are really cute. At the language center, where I'll work on the weekends, the kids range in age between 3-15. They spend a lot of time reviewing previously learned material, and I'm constantly wowed by their ability to retain information. Chinese children learn from a young age in school to memorize, memorize, memorize. So when they're given, say, a list of 25 foods in English, they'll come in to class with the list memorized in order. No questions asked, it's just how they work. But some of the vocabulary the book gives them is kind of strange. One class I observed was learning vocab from a unit on Alaska- and one of the vocab words was "totem pole". Think about it. Is this a word you'd really need to know to have a working knowledge of the English language? I couldn't get over it, and I wasn't the only one- the teacher cut it from the lesson. But who knows, maybe 20 years from now, one of these kids will be hired by an American company and be sent to work in Alaska, and they'll be humiliated when they have to ask their guide what the tall carved poles are.

Because yet again I just have a list of random things to talk about, I'll give you some more things I've learned:

1. Buying $2 Chinese wine is not the same as buying 2 Buck Chuck.

2. It's probably a good idea to check and see if your neighbor has an incredibly strong unprotected wireless network BEFORE you drop 1000 yuan on a year's worth of Internet service.

3. It's quite a bummer to discover your brand new bike is too big to fit in the elevator, so every day you have to lug two incredibly heavy batteries to your apartment to charge.

4. I've watched two full seasons of How I Met Your Mother in like 4 days. Just wanted to brag.

5. Best English name encountered in a Chinese class so far: Mysnoopy. Runners Up: Bobo and Kslow.

6. Chinese people love Crocs. Love them. Everyone wears them- young, old, dress up, dress down. If I had, hypothetically speaking, given in and bought a pair of orange ones, would you still be my friend?

7. Side note: Crocs are the only shoes in my size that I've found so far.

8. A Walmart the size of an airport hanger, complete with H&M, Zara and Next is opening up down the street at the end of the month. It's all the Chinese people can talk about. Or me, for the matter. Walmart!!

9. A box of cereal cost me more than a train ticket to Shanghai.

10. I decided not to pay for TV in my new apartment, because I'd rather buy DVDs pay for satellite TV, and the basic Chinese TV only has one channel. I watched it a few times in my hotel, and it was always the same. News followed by a tourism "documentary". My favorite? The story of the world's biggest jade Buddha statue, located somewhere in Northern China. Check it out. It's in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not under "World's Largest Jade Sculpture". Just "World's Largest Jade Buddha Sculpture." If someone knows where the largest is, please let me know. I'm dying to find out.

OK, pretty lame list, I know. But it's late and I'm tired, and I'm not stopping to take a nap in the middle of this entry (although, truthfully, I did stop to go out to dinner for a friend's birthday). But now that I'm settled and have a more regular schedule, I will have more time to update. And pictures this week, I PROMISE.

Zai Jian,
Rachel

Your Chinese for the Day: Sui Hui Lu (It's the name of my new street :) )