It's the Magical Thanksgiving Dumpling, Charlie Brown!

Happy Thanksgiving! Despite missing my favorite holiday at home, I had a great week. Let's get to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

My last blog was Wednesday, so let's go from there. Thursday I was bad and told my trainer I had to work so that I could sleep in and skip working out. But karma has a way of working out, because I did go in later that evening, and when I saw Xiong, he told me he was sick, and because I cancelled, he got to sleep in a few extra hours. So everyone wins! Friday I went to a birthday party for Ivy, the wife of one of my coworkers, Sharriff. Ivy is Chinese, and it's always interesting going to one of their dinner parties, especially the food. I wasn't as daring as I've been before, and while I tried bull frog, I skipped the cold duck tongue. Saturday and Sunday were long days at school as usual, and went pretty well.

I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday when they told me that my classes for Monday and Friday were cancelled. I have no idea why, but I know better than to question. And Monday got even better, because when I woke up, the nasty, cold weather was gone! I hardly even needed a jacket. I spent the morning at the gym, and the afternoon cleaning my apartment.

In the early evening I went to the train station to pick up my friend Alex and his friend Les. Alex and I know each other from freshman year of college when we were in a study group together, but became friends when we studied abroad in London. He just spent the last year teaching English in Thailand, where he met his friend Les, who coincidently, is from Bethesda. He grew up just around the corner from me, and his sister and I were friends when we were younger. Small world! They've finished up in Thailand, and have been touring China the last few weeks before eventually heading back to the US in 2 weeks. I was very excited to see familiar faces!

Tuesday we woke up early and took the bus to Hangzhou, which is a large city about 2 1/2 hours away, in the neighboring province. I was hesitant about taking the bus, but let me tell you, it was almost luxurious. Big comfy seats, a bathroom, and clean. I sat next to a Chinese man who didn't speak a word of English, and we actually were able to chat for a good 15 minutes. I'm 99% sure he just wanted to try to sell me water-purification systems, but it was good practice for my Chinese. The strangest part was that he asked me for my cell phone number- but he doesn't speak English. I don't know why. Probably just to be able to show people he has Western friends.

Once in Hangzhou, we "climbed" up this beautiful pagoda, and took photos. Climbed isn't really true, because unlike the pagoda I went to my first month here, this one had escalators and elevators, so hardly strenuous. We then had some lunch and took a nice long walk around the West Lake, this gorgeous area. Hangzhou is really, truly, beautiful. A Chinese friend told me that there is an expression that roughly translates to "Under Heaven, there is Hangzhou and Suzhou", which I believe to be true. Getting home was a bit of a hassle- first trying to get a taxi, and then making it to the bus station. Our taxi driver actually got pulled over for driving in the bus lane or something, and had to get out to deal with it. I again impressed myself with my Chinese skills when I was able to explain to him that I wouldn't pay the price on his meter because he left it running while he was dealing with the cops. He understood and agreed. Turns out I know more than I thought I did :).

Wednesday we took it easy in the morning, and in the afternoon walked around some of the souvenir markets. The guys toured around some more while I went to work, where I taught 4 year olds the word "beer", and the phrase, "I would like some beer". It was in the lesson plan. In the evening we met some of my friends for dinner at one of my favorite Sichuan restaurants for a great meal.

Thursday, Thanksgiving, we were nice and lazy in the morning. In mid-October I spied pumpkin pie mix at the Western market, and overheard one women telling another that if you don't buy it early, it would be gone by Halloween. So I grabbed a can, and have been holding on to it for about a month. So on Thursday morning, I went out (after dealing with a stupid flat tire- my bike just won't let me be happy) and bought other things to bake my favorite- pumpkin bread. Cooking it was interesting, as I have yet to find a measuring cup in this country. The Chinese don't bake, so there is no need to measure. I had to use my gym water bottle, as it is the only thing with measurements on it. Despite it all, I made some semi-decent bread, and it made my apartment smell like Thanksgiving :)

I had to go to work, where I discovered my favorite class was cancelled again, this time due to H1N1. I sat around until my second class, and when I returned home, Alex and Les had cleaned my apartment, and even made little Thanksgiving decorations, which was very sweet. It was then time for dinner.

We decided to go to the Howard Johnson's near my apartment. I know it sounds gross, but I swear, it was the classiest HoJo I've ever seen- 4 star. The buffett was quite impressive, although the only thing that made it Thanksgiving was a carving station with the turkey. But we feasted on all sorts of things- from meat to pasta to sushi. It was by far the most expensive meal I've had in China, but it was worth it for the holiday. Too stuffed to move, we spent the evening watching TV. If that's not Thanksgiving, I don't know what is.

So all in all, Thanksgiving in China was good. I got many sweet messages from both my expat and Chinese friends wishing me a good holiday, which I enjoyed. One Chinese friend even sent me a text that said "Thank you." I responded, "for what?", to which he replied, "isn't that what you say on Thanksgiving?". Very cute.

This morning I got up early to call family while they were enjoying their dinners, and then promptly fell back asleep. I bid farewell to Alex and Les, and then headed to the gym for my post-Thanksgiving workout with Xiong. He laughed at me when I described an American Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure whether it's because of the amount of food, or that fact that Chinese people seem to eat that much on a daily basis, and he didn't see why it was a special event. He did make me go up those 20 flights of stairs again, but this time we made it to the top without stopping, so either I'm getting healthier, or that last time I was hungover. Both possibilities. I had just come back home and was catching up on the week's American TV when I got a call from Alex, who told me they had nearly 4 hours until their train. So they came back to keep me company. I've bid farewell to them again, and am now cooking more pumpkin bread, as I don't want to waste it the leftover pumpkin mix. Tomorrow is another busy Saturday, and my schedule returns to normal. It's also becoming cold and rainy again, so I guess my friends really lucked out!

And because my father thinks this is the best part of my blogs, here are more random things:

• I accidentally bought scented toilet paper. Surprisingly nice.
• There is a gas ration in SIP right now. My place is so small, I don't think it will be an issue, but I know it's worrying some people. No heat, no hot water. I'm banking on the fact that I can always shower in the gym....
• The movie 2012 is like the biggest thing right now. I've had 3 Chinese friends tell me how amazing it is and how I need to watch it immediately. I've already gotten it on DVD.
• I decided to have a coat made for myself, as it is just so cold. I found a shop, and they only offer cashmere. So I decided to treat myself. She let me pick it out of a magazine, and it will be done in 10 days. The price she offered was, no joke, about 70% less than what I had expected to pay. I was so shocked I didn't even think to negotiate.
• I cleaned my apartment on Monday because my friends were coming. On Tuesday my maid was so shocked that I hadn't let her anything to do that she did my laundry. Despite the fact that it's not freezing cold outside, my clothes are still soaking wet. It's Friday.
• Turns out I had the wrong name for my apartment complex. Having the right on has made my life much simpler. Imagine that.
• My students, being Chinese, love to eat. They come to Sunflower for 2 hours on the weekends. They have 2 5 minute breaks, during which they eat like they haven't had food in 6 weeks. I don't mind, because they share with me. Generally, I get seaweed, chips, candy and cold french fries.

And that's all I've got. Except photos. Those I have!

China 6

Wo Ai Ni,

RDG

Happy Thanksgiving! = 感恩节快乐 - gǎn ēn jié kuài lè.

I'm Freezing....

OK, so I feel really terrible for the delay. To be honest, it's been so cold and lousy, I haven't had much motivation to sit down and write. But here I am, with details to report. And sorry from the start if it seems more disjointed or random than usual- I'm just in a stream-of-consciousness sort of mood.

So yeah, it's finally, officially winter here. The Chinese tell me it's unseasonably cold- this type of freezing weather doesn't normally hit until January. Lucky me. But on the advice of another Sunflower teacher, Chris, I went out and bought a big plaid furry hat with ear flaps. I like to think of it as Homeless Veteran Chic. But it keeps me warm enough on the bike, which is good, because riding around with the cold wind cutting through you is miserable.

Well, at least it should be, if my bike was working. Last week there were some crazy downpours, and I tipped my bike trying to go over a curb too slowly. In my haste to pick the bike and myself back up (don't worry, nothing worse than a bruise on my leg), I didn't realize the foot mat had fallen off. The mat covers the batteries, which is especially important because I cracked one of my battery cases trying to stomp it in last month. And 15 minutes later, when I realized the mat was missing, it had already been stolen. So not thinking, I rode around with the battery exposed, and now, no big surprise, it doesn't work. My tutor is kindly arranging for the bike to be picked up tomorrow, so I can get on with my life! Not having the bike is really annoying, and taking taxis gets expensive (not to mention difficult in the rain/cold).

But onto other things. I've decided to take on some private students to supplement my income. The first is a 14 year old girl named Ting Ting. She's been a student of my Boland instructor Bill for several years, and they decided it was time for a change. We had a demo 2 weeks ago, and then I had my first lesson with her last weekend. Her grammar is great, so I'm mainly focusing on her vocabulary, and more importantly, her conversational skills, as she wants study in the US or UK at some point. She's very sweet, and so far I enjoy it a lot.

The other new students come courtesy of Michael, the head teacher at Sunflower. They are three professional men, probably in their late 20s/early 30s. One is a lawyer, one is a private investor, and the other is a factory manager. So in other words, rich. They're primarily focused on business English, and they're a nice break from teaching kids. Plus, teaching adults is what I learned my first month here at Boland, so it's nice to be able to put some of that into practice. They meet pretty far away, but one has already agreed to pick me up and take me home. I had a demo with them, but I won't officially begin for a few more weeks.

Still going to the gym, although I usually only make it 4 days a week now. I thought it would be difficult to motivate myself to get up and going in the cold weather, but it's actually made it better, because the gym is far warmer than my apartment. So it's a nice break from the cold.

Chinese lessons are going well- Vivian noticed tonight that my pronunciation and tone-reading ability is getting much better, so that's good. She's also started supplementing the book with things I really need to know to survive, which is nice. So like today, for example, she had made up a little vocab sheet for me on ordering food in a restaurant. I knew a lot of the words already, but she taught me how to construct sentences, so that's good.

And to answer my Chazie's question- my Chinese haircut turned out just fine. He spoke English and since I just went for a trim, he did no damage to the curls, although he was a big fan of them. Chinese hairdressers crack me up- they're mainly men, and at home they would be seen as the most over-the-top group of gay men ever, with their eyeliner and 3 foot-high red hair. But then you see them walking down the street holding the hands of their girlfriends. As John Quale would say, they're definitely 'metro-sexual'.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and my friend Alex, from my study-abroad semester in London, is stopping by with his friend as they tour around China. The three of us, plus the one other American friend I have, will most likely be having dinner at a hotel that is hosting what they claim to be a Thanksgiving dinner. T-giving is my favorite holiday at home, and I'm feeling the little pangs of homesickness, especially after how great it was last year. But I'm also looking forward to experiencing a Chinese take on the holiday! And as my Grandma said, it will be an experience I won't forget!

Part II: Wednesday

OK, so I wrote that first part last night (Tuesday), but I didn't get a chance to finish because I went out with my friend. So here we are, Wednesday night, and I'm getting ready to go meet two of the other Sunflower teachers for our weekly Wednesday night bar session. I took my bike to get fixed today, which seemingly went really well- took no time and was completely free. But I got home, and my batteries still won't charge. So tomorrow I'll have to go back, and probably pay to replace them :(. It's very annoying, to say the least.

The rest of my week is pretty good and pretty busy. I'm going to do some serious organizing in my apartment to prepare for Alex's arrival on Monday. I'm also on the constant hunt for warmer clothes- sweaters and such, so hopefully I'll get some more stuff soon.

So that's about it for me. I also want to apologize for not responding to everyone's emails- I do really, really appreciate them, and I'll try to make more of an effort.

XOXO,

RDG

P.S. Chazie- I don't know if Aunt Sylvia reads my blog, but please tell her that I named a lovely Chinese woman after her!

Your Chinese for the Day:

Yi Er San Si Wu Liu Qi Ba Jiu Shi = 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

And so we meet again...

See, it didn't take me so long to write again! Truth is, it's been a pretty busy week, so I have more to talk about this time.

I posted a blog last Monday, so I suppose I should start on Tuesday- my day off! My friend Mike planned a bit of a surprise outing for me, since there are plenty of important places I haven't seen yet in Suzhou. The plan was to walk from the area they call "Old City" to Tiger Hill, the biggest tourist destination in the city. The walk is about 3.5km. It was nice, because you walk through tiny streets along the canal to get to Tiger Hill. Once there, we decided to forgo the expensive admission fee and just keep walking straight. Which we did, for hours. We left the tourist areas, and went from tourist area to "real China" to farm land to abandoned highway to complete desolation and poverty. And then we turned around and walked back. The walk took us about 5 hours, but I saw some really amazing things. Living where I do, surrounded by Westerners, sometimes makes me forget what this country can really be like.

Wednesday and Thursday I taught, and spent time with friends. Thursday I was a bit disappointed, because I was supposed to teach my favorite class, Da Ru Primary. These kids are seriously so excited to see me and learn English for 40 minutes that it makes up for all the crap that some of the spoiled rich kids at Sunflower put me through. Since the Chinese don't celebrate Halloween, I bought some light-up devil horns and a bag of lollipops to teach the children about trick-or-treating. But as the Chinese TAs and I approached the school, we nearly walked past it because it was dead silent. The kids had all gone on a field trip, and no one bothered telling us! Major bummer.

Friday, another teacher at Sunflower, Shariff, took me to buy a bicycle. I've been thinking about getting one, as I mentioned before, so I just went ahead and did it. Mike and Shariff invited me to join them on a bike trip today out to Lake Tai, where I've been before. I was all excited to go until I found out its about 100km round trip. Having not been on a bike in many years, I politely declined. I'm looking forward to hearing about it tomorrow, though! I also got my first haircut in China on Friday, at a very fancy salon. Haircut with amazing head massage? $11.70.

And then came Saturday- Halloween! I taught all day, pretty much ignoring the holiday. Except for my last class, which is 14 year olds. Last week they had the word "imported", which is a difficult concept to display considering everything is actually made in China. So I found an empty packet of Trident gum in my purse and showed them. I felt bad because they thought it was so cool but I had none to give them. So this week I explained Halloween to them, and then made them say "Trick-or-treat", and gave them each a packet of Trident (the remains of my stash from home!). They were very excited, and it made me happy.

That evening I had dinner with a large group of people (mainly Irish), and then we ventured out to Bar Street. As I mentioned before, Halloween is not a Chinese holiday. One of the Australian bars was hosting a large party, complete with free beer, so it seemed like every foreigner in Suzhou was there, including us. I've never seen anything like it- Westerners partying on the inside and right on the sidewalk, and the Chinese standing in mass on the opposite side of the bike lane, staring and taking photos. The party itself was like a standard American college Halloween party, so nothing exciting to say about it, other than I didn't drink because I had to work on Sunday, so I called it an "early" night at 2am.

Sunday I taught 2 classes, and then was assigned to host an optional Halloween party for students and their parents. It was pretty lame, for the most part. Best activity was carving jack-o-lanterns, since most of them had never done it before. I was impressed by their skills! It was also funny watching them do the Limbo- they did not get the concept at all.

Monday was back to the normal routine, and I enjoyed a lazy night in. The weather has suddenly turned extremely cold, and on the bike it's even worse. So I bundled up on my couch and began the John Adams HBO mini-series, which I've been enjoying a lot.

And that bring us to today, my day off. I read, went to the supermarket and the gym. Then I met my friends Mary and Michelle for an after dinner Starbucks and massage. First time I've ventured into Starbucks in China, and it's basically the same as home. The massage was wonderful, although painful at times. Right now I'm incredibly relaxed and warm in my little apartment, and as soon as I post this, I'm heading up to bed.

And because I like lists, here are a list of minor things that have been annoying me recently:

• The Chinese don't use fitted sheets. I'm tired of waking up on my bare mattress every single morning!
• If I buy one more stupid DVD in French or Japanese, I'm going to go nuts.
• Hard to believe, but the Chinese are far more addicted to their cell phones than we are. They refuse to ignore calls, no matter what they're doing. At the gym, on their bikes, getting their haircut, anywhere.
• No one accepts credit cards.
• China doesn't do daylights savings, so I'm now 13 hours from home, which is not as easy to calculate. China doesn't do timezones, either. The whole giant country is on the same time.
• I'm annoyed at myself for not studying Chinese as much as I should.

OK, now that I got all of that off my chest, I feel much better :)

Miss and love you all!

XOXO,

RDG

Your Chinese for the Day:

不识庐山真面目 只缘身在此山中- You don't know the true face of Mt. Lu because you're in Mt. Lu (I know, I don't really get it either. Something about how being involved in something makes it difficult to see the big picture. But it's by a famous Chinese philosopher, Su Shi. This is what happens when you tell a Chinese person you want a Chinese proverb to put on your blog....)