It's Not That I Don't Love You, I'm Just Really Lazy

I think the title says it all. I've been meaning to write another blog- honestly. But I just haven't had anything particularly interesting to write about. I mean, one or two things will pop up, and I think, 'By golly, I need to put that in the blog!'. But a one sentence blog isn't going to appease anybody. So I store up all these little things and finally, after a week (or two) have enough to say. Things have been going well- still teaching 6 days a week, still taking Chinese lessons, still going to the gym. Wow, that reads like a thesis statement and a decent M.O.D. Yay AP English!

Teaching- They've finally given me what appears to be my permanent schedule. The best thing about it is that my weekends have been reduced to 9-5:30 on Saturdays, and just 1-2:30 on Sundays, which allows for some semblance of a normal social life. However, I know new classes will start on Sundays, and they'll be given to me, so I'll enjoy this schedule while I have the chance. At this point I have classes I love, classes that annoy me, and one class I hate.

Oh, the class I hate. It's about 15 7-year olds. This was my second week teaching them, and they didn't get any better. They're all naughty- they like to poke at me when my back is turned and stick out their tongues rather than repeat vocab words. But we use a star system in Sunflower- good behavior earns stars, bad behavior makes them disappear. If they earn a certain number over the weeks, they get something stupid, like a Snoopy eraser. But they, especially the younger kids, go nuts for these stars. So with the naughty class, I just keep taking them away, which keeps them somewhat under control. But I have one kid- he just pushes me to the breaking point. Let's call him Billy-Bob, because he's fat and has the nastiest black teeth I've ever seen.

-A quick side note: In China, there doesn't really seem to be the same emphasis on 'Special Ed' or learning disabilities in schools. So every kids is placed in the classes, which means we occasionally get kids like Billy-Bob, who clearly need Ritalin or one of those leashes you strap your kids to.-

So Billy-Bob can't sit still. He's out of his seat every 5 seconds. Or under it. Or on top of it. Or chewing on it. He punches me in the stomach, he bugs the little girls, and on top of it all, he can't pronounce a word to save his life. He seems to have some ability to memorize the vocab, but can't say it. So on Saturday, we were playing a game that the kids love, called 'Wolf Wolf, What Time is It?', where I stand on one side of the classroom with my face to the wall and call out times, and they take steps forward, until I run around and chase them. Well, this was the first time this class has played this game, and they were loving it. But while I was standing with my back to the class, Billy-Bob runs up and pushes me into the wall. I had it with him. Both the TA and I grabbed him, and sat him down, and yelled "[Billy-Bob], no! Sit down!". And that was it. Not too bad, right? Well, during the break, Billy-Bob's mom comes in and tells the TA she and I are too mean to him. We need to exercise patience, and be his friend. I laughed. BB is a perfect example of the 'Little Emperor'. He's spoiled rotten. He probably weighs like 100lbs, and his mom still carries him. I just find it funny because I never thought I'd get complaints for being too strict! Generally, Chinese parents expect and encourage it!

It's not all bad though, as I said before, I have classes/ kids I just adore! I've also gotten to name some more. Dad- you'll be happy to know, I named one Jeff! I'll name them for all of you over time, I'm sure! Oh yeah, did I mention that no one here can pronounce my name? It's just so strange, coming from a country where it's super common. I notice it most often in the spelling- Richel or Rechal.

Chinese lessons are going well, although I need to devote more time for studying in between lessons. But I'm at the point where I ask everyone I know for help- the TAs at school, my trainer, Chinese friends, etc. Oh yes- I made some Chinese friends! The first night I went out with them, they took me for hot pot- which is where they bring a big ying-yang shaped bowl to the table filled with hot "soup"- one mild, one incredibly spicy. Then you mark down on a piece of paper what meats and veggies you want, and they bring them out to you. You put them in the pot, and eat up. It was very good, and Amy and Margaret were great company.

It was at that meal that I ate pig's brain. Yes. The brain of a pig. And yes, it looks like a brain. And has the texture of what you'd imagine a brain to taste like. I had a few bites and politely tried to hide it in my bowl. I went out with Margaret again tonight, and had a fantastic Chinese meal, free from all known strange animals.

Still going to the gym. Trainer is still adorable- except that this morning he made me climb up the stairs at the building next door. All 20 stories. On the upside, he did it with me- which I choose to believe is because he wanted to rather than didn't trust the lazy Mei Guo Ren (American) to not walk up like 6 stories, sit down and have a nice 20 minute nap. But I'm still motivated to go tomorrow, despite that, so all a good sign.

So I think that does it for me. Fairly busy week ahead- going to do some more site seeing during my day off tomorrow, and then teaching the rest of the week. Thinking of you all!

XOXO,

RDG

Your Chinese for the day: 瑞吉儿- Rui Ji Er, My Chinese name :)

Sister Act 2- Back in the Habit

Well, hello there. Please sit down, and I will tell you a tale of intrigue and suspense. Ok, not really at all. I'm back in my normal routine of teaching. The holiday went through last Friday, when I returned in full force to the classroom. Friday and Saturday were fairly easy days, just 2 hours each, and then Sunday was another 9am-8pm day. As far as those go, it wasn't so bad.

See, this is why I don't post often- my life can be pretty boring! After sitting around the last few days of my time-off, I decided to get off my lazy butt and join a gym. The combination of the e-bike and access to Western food is not good for the gut. So I picked the only gym I know about, since I can see it from my apartment. It's called Powerhouse, which they tell me is an American brand, but I've never heard of it. But anyway, very nice facility, would be considered high-end even by American standards. My first two sessions I got to work with a personal trainer. His name is Xiong, and he speaks English fairly well. I mean, he has no problems with words like biceps, forearm, and nutrition, but we spent a good five minutes going over the pronunciation of the word "towel".. The first two sessions went so well I decided to hire him a couple times a week. I help him with his English, and he helps me with my Chinese, so it's kind of a win-win. But I've committed to going 5 days a week, since Mon-Fri I work so little. So fingers crossed I'll stick with it, but so far I actually look forward to going (and not entirely just because Xiong is so completely adorable).

What else? I finally got paid today! Which is important for several reasons, the first being the most obvious- I haven't been paid since I left the Embassy at the end of June. The less obvious reason is that I now how enough cash to open a Chinese bank account, which is important because I need to be able to pay my bills, since one of these days I am going to wake up to no electricity and/or water. It's also fun to be handed a wad of 100rmb bills rather than a paycheck. Makes me feel like a gangster.

Wow, I'm actually struggling to think of something to write, and as witnessed by my ramblings belows, that's not usual. So it's probably best to do what I sometimes do- just jot down little musings and thoughts on China. You people like bullet points, don't you?

• Today I saw an armored car picking up cash from a bank. With 8 soldiers holding guns in a ready-to-fire stance. No joke.
• The stores are filled with long-johns, and it's still like 70 degrees outside. But to be fair, it's already pretty chilly riding around on the bike. So I bought a pair when I was at Walmart. Just the first of many, I'm sure.
• One of my students got so excited in class the other day when we were jumping around shouting and acting out words that he punched me in the mouth while chanting "hope hope hope" over again.
• I can no longer wear dresses/skirts to school. Kids are perverts.
• I had some more pointless words to teach at the same school that force me to teach "mete" and "dene". This time we had "tun", which is an antiquated British measurement of liquid volume, especially wine casks. Essential to know, right?
• But on the positive side, one word I had this week was "cute", which was an excuse for me to poke each kid in the cheek while reciting the word. They are so freaking cute.
• I got to name my first student this week. I was caught off-guard and named him Simon, since he had glasses and spiky hair and looks like Simon from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

And that's really all I've got. But, as always, I am happy and safe, so I guess that's all that matters. Will be back soon, hopefully with more exciting things to pass along.

XOXO,

RDG

Your Chinese of the day:

Wo chang lai darao ni, hen gup yi bu qu: I am sorry to trouble you so often

(OK, I have Chinese tutor in like 10 minutes, so I just flipped through my book and picked this out. Should come in handy, though!)

Holiday Season in China

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! This is the week of holidays here in China. Thursday was National Day, which celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (60th). The streets are decorated with these incredible flower statues (see pictures below), and lots of red and gold lanterns and banners. Saturday was the Mid-Autumn Festival. I don't really know what it is, but it has something to do with the moon, which is full right now. The Chinese people freaking love the moon. And mooncakes. Which I don't care for.

But yes, vacation. It started Thursday, and continues until next Friday, when classes begin again in full force. So far, I've been making good use of my time off. Wednesday and Saturday I ventured into another Chinese nightclub, which I've written about before. It is just such a strange environment. The music is loud and the ambiance decadent, like in a Western night club. But there is no dance floor, just dozens of little tables people claim and stand next to. People just kind of dance where they are or climb up on a speaker. But in general, it's a place to be seen ordering an expensive bottle of whiskey rather than showing off your dance moves. Thursday I was feeling a bit under the weather, so aside from Chinese tutor, I took it easy. Friday I was feeling a lot better, so I joined my friend Christina and two other Irish women, Mary and Grainne, and Mary's two young children to take a tour of the Suzhou silk factory. Suzhou is famous for its silk, and unlike most of the tourist attractions in Suzhou, this one is free. Well, relatively. They give you a tour, showing you how silk is made, and then take you to the very big store, where you drop your money. Some of the stuff was gorgeous, but having very little need for a handmade silk duvet cover, I went the cheap road and bought a scarf, because I'm already getting a bit chilly riding around on the bike, and it's still like 70 degrees out.

Walking around with Mary's two adorable blond hair, blue eyed children was a very different experience. I get occasional stares, but, as my Chinese tutor pointed out, aside from the fact that my eyes are pretty deep-set and light in color, I have a lot of similar features to a Chinese person (skin, hair color, and height, for example). This, of course, is debatable, but beside the point. Everyone came up to stare at these poor kids. They poke at them and follow Mary around. The 1 year old doesn't seem to notice, but the 2 year old hates it, and I feel for her. How Mary maintains her composure with people constantly poking and prodding her kids, I don't know. But I sure do admire her for keeping her cool.

After the factory we met up with Grainne's husband and a new friend of hers, a lovely Israeli woman who just moved from Beijing with her husband. We had a delicious Chinese meal by my apartment. I've been eating a lot of Western food recently, and I forget how good Chinese food can be. It is especially good when you go with a big group, since the food is meant to be ordered together and shared. That way, there are lots of good things to try.

Saturday I treated myself to a manicure at a Singaporean spa. I also found the best/most dangerous place ever next door to it. It is the mecca of imported food. I walked in, and it looked tiny, and pretty unassuming. When I noticed a sign for the deli, I headed downstairs (deli meat is a rarity here). And bam- it was like I was in an American supermarket. OK, not huge, but the stuff they had was like being at home. Way better than the place I wrote about last week. Also far more expensive. So I won't be shopping there normally, but it was nice to know if I am ever craving Doritos or Spaghetti Os, they are just up the street.

Sunday I spent some time riding my bike around the area, just enjoying the incredibly beautiful weather. I went out to Times Square, the big outdoor mall, just to walk around.

Today (Monday), I ventured out to the new shopping center near the Walmart. This place was massive- like if you took 2 Mongtomery malls and stacked them on top of each other. Many of the stores have yet to open, but they had a wide-variety of familiar stores- Sephora, Lenscrafters and H&M, for example. I went into H&M, and was happy to see they stocked some Western sizes. I bought a couple of turtlenecks and some gloves, in preparation for the winter.

I've also been watching a lot of movies and TV shows on DVD. And as I've already whined to some of you, I have occasionally picked up English movies only to come home and find that they've been dubbed in Japanese. With Chinese subtitles. It's annoying, but it's what I get for paying $1.50 for DVDs of movies that aren't out yet at home.

Movie recommendation time! I watched a movie called "The Boat that Rocked", a British movie that is being released soon in the US under the name "Pirate Radio". Excellent music, at least in the version I watched, which was, of course, dubbed in Japanese with English subtitles. But I thought it was hilarious, and the best movie I've watched out here.

What else? Oh, I got my bike fixed! It appears that the steering column had been broken. We're not sure how it happened, but theories include poor craftsmanship, a bad pothole, or that someone had attempted to steal it. Whatever the case, I kept putting off getting it fixed because it is still under warranty, and I was having trouble dealing with the shop I was supposed to take it to- they were rude to my tutor, who was my translator. So I decided to go for convienence over money, and it ended up being a wise move. I took it to a shop about 500 feet from my apartment, shook the bike to show him the problem, he pointed to his watch to indicate I should come back in a hour, I did, it was done, and he charged me 25rmb. That's like $5. Good as new.

And that is that, my friends. Below are some pictures I took while cruising around SIP. I may head to a garden this week, so I'm sure I will have more photos to add shortly.

China 5

XOXO,

RDG

Your Chinese for the Day:

Wo yao liang ga de shi er ga= I want two of the 12th one (How I ordered my lunch off the picture menu today. Shut up, this was a big deal for me!)

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 :) )