Halfway through the Semester Already

So, I (Amy) am conducting mid-term exams this week in all my classes. Most of the students are doing fairly well. I guess there will always be those who just don't care. My favorite was the kid who wrote his name on a blank piece of paper and turned it in to me instead of answering the 10 questions. In America, you would just fail this student. Oh, but China is different...

You see, no student EVER fails a test, or even a class. If the student fails an exam, you give a make-up exam, then another, then another. I really don't understand this; and even more than not understanding... I really hate it! This means that because a handful of students did not prepare for my exam, I have to spend at least one afternoon, probably more having them take make-up exams. Aarrgh...

Dinner with Friends

At first my suggestion of a cooking day at my apartment did not seem wise. The suggestion was posed to several of my male students, none of whom claimed any talent in the kitchen. One of them, Tom, an excellent soccer player, admitted that he had worked a total of one week in a restaurant. Still, we went ahead with the plan, though I was relieved when two girls decided to accompany the guys. Reinforcements, I thought. Then the cooking began, and while the girls helped, Tom was clearly the lead chef. He ended up creating an incredible eight course meal, which included dishes of chicken, fish, pork, and eggs (the four in combination are said to encapsulate happiness). While I remain dubious of those four foods as a recipe for lifelong happiness, I was feeling pretty good. It was the best meal that I have had since I arrived. I am just wondering how long I should wait before asking Tom over to cook again.

The pictures are of Amy and I, the group as a whole, the beautiful meal, and Tom at work in the kitchen.

We have also included a video of a pretty mean game of chopsticks (called spoons in the States) for your viewing pleasure. Several chopsticks did not survive, and Amy suffered a scratch or two from the experience.

Shanghai Revisited...

So, we had a little girls day in Shanghai yesterday. And I have to say that this time I saw an entirely different side of the city. I still hold to the fact that the touristy areas of Shanghai are a nightmare... But, there are also some really nice things. Like hanging baskets and beautiful landscaping in the Pudong area. Or the old parts of Shanghai like the French and Italian sections that still include beautiful old buildings. And the tons of parks that are in the midst of all this. (Apparently, the mayor of Shanghai about 15 years ago made a rule that there must be grass every 300 meters.)

We did much less walking this time and spent most of the day shopping for name-brand knock-offs :-) and browsing through IKEA. (Can you believe an IKEA in China? I've never even been to the IKEA in the states!)

Besides that, we had tons of fun with just the girls, and we definitely laughed a lot! How could we not? We got on the wrong subway... twice. We got kicked out of a shop at the market b/c of our indecisiveness. We nearly missed the train back to Hangzhou... even running the whole way! And after arriving back in the Hangzhou train station, we raced thousands of Chinese people to the taxi line so that we wouldn't have to wait 45 minutes like last time!

I'm not quite ready to say I actually love Shanghai, but I'm not detesting it anymore either.

Our Apartment

Some of our overachieving friends... not mentioning any names, though... posted a video of their apartment recently. Since then, people are asking us to do the same. I guess our pictures just weren't good enough. :-) Just joking... We'd love to show you our place!

More Chinglish...

There is Heaven above....

...and on earth there is Hangzhou and Suzhou. At least, that is what all of my students tell me. When I told my students that I was planning to visit Suzhou this weekend, this phrase repeatedly came up. Students who had never visited the city told me how beautiful Suzhou was (traveling around their home country is not as ingrained in the national psyche as it is for Americans). Suzhou is particularly famed for its gardens and canals.

Last night I left Hangzhou at 8:00 PM and arrived in Suzhou about 12:00. The hostel I stayed at was located next to the canal seen in the first picture. The second and third pictures are of the Humble Administrator's Garden, certainly the most famous garden in Suzhou, and perhaps in all of China. No sign of the Humble Administrator--and at the prices charged, it would be difficult to remain modest. The remaining time was spent wandering the city, and the final picture is of a pagoda located on the southern end of the old town. My final verdict is that while Suzhou is not heaven on earth, it does make for a pleasant day trip.

Chinglish Abounds

So, we see it everywhere... bus stations, advertisements, the supermarket. Chinglish, for those of you who are not familiar, is when the Chinese try to appeal to foreigners in our native language. The only thing is that they rarely get the translation quite right. We often end up just as confused as if there had been no English at all! But, you gotta love it... It always makes us laugh. Like the "Urinary Strength Hospital" or the text message from Matt's student that read, "The great hall mind leeps the aspiration; the mighty waves imposing manner strong culmination." Her question to Matt was the meaning of this sentence, as it was in a book she uses to study English. Matt's response? He has no idea.

Here is the wrapping on a package of kitchen sponges that I bought today. Again, I have no idea what it is supposed to mean!

Autumn's Coming!

This where we live on campus. It's not much to look at on the outside, but the apartments inside are actually not too bad.

We are enjoying a busy week of soccer, basketball, card games, lunches and English corners. The weather has been great with blue skies and white, fluffy clouds ever since the typhoon came through last week. There's a great autumn chill in the air, and I even saw a yellow leaf fall off a tree yesterday!

What a Lovely Creation!

There are some really beautiful flowers here that I've not seen much of at home. I usually don't have the camera with me, but here are pictures from a couple of instances when I did.



There is also a nice park that I discovered today very near our apartment. What a treat to walk through the trees and grass to escape the sounds of the city!

Typhoon Krosa

So, the typhoon didn't hit us directly, but the rain and floods did! Here is a video of our friend Andy as he makes his way to our apartment building through the campus gate. (Check out his snazzy rain boots!)

Unfortunately, some the areas around student dorms had even deeper water. We were very thankful to wake up this morning and find nothing more than small puddles remaining!

Mail from Home!

Special thanks to my cousin Katherine who sent us a beautiful picture that is now on our refrigerator with our other artwork from home! We love it, and we will think of her everyday when we see it!

Today Amy and I visited Shaoxing, a famous canal town approximately 30 miles from Hangzhou (Amy graciously commented that we arrived there sooner than it would have taken to commute to my campus, which is ostensibly in the city). Shaoxing is not a small city, with a population of 4 million, but has retained a number of old buildings and bridges along the canals of the old town. After waving off numerous locals trying to entice us to purchase a tour, Amy and I relented and hired the gentleman shown in the picture to pedal us around on a tricycle. The tour began with a ride around a busy roundabout, and we were grateful the tricycle had shades so that we did not have to see the buses screeching around us. The tour was fun, and the guide seemed eager to take our picture at every opportunity.

Upon finishing the tour, Amy and I took a bus back to the city. On the way back, I observed a pagoda under construction on a hillside. This brings me to an important point when traveling in China--just because something appears old and seems to be oozing with history (and entails an expensive entrance fee)--it may in fact be newer than the Starbucks Drive-Thru in your hometown. For all we know, Shaoxing may just be a recently built theme park. Consider yourself warned.

Hiking and West Lake

A Busy Holiday Week

We've had a great holiday week! We've enjoyed some time off, but we've also been having a great time hanging out some students around campus. We've enjoyed soccer games, played cards and have plans for hiking and a day of travel for the rest of the week.

So much for the veggie market...

So today, I went down to the area where our veggie market is located, and to my surprise, it was gone! The building (if you can call it that) that used to house the market was completely vacant and filled with rubble. It looked like it had been deserted for years! We've heard that it may just be getting a new roof, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's gone for good.

It's funny like that here. Three weeks ago, I was at a supermarket where they were tearing down all the walls and men carrying around steel beams through the crowds of people. The next week it was completely transformed with all new shops, walls, floors and businesses were open. It's amazing how quickly buildings go up and come down here! Hopefully my veggie market comes back as quickly and greatly improved as the supermarket shops!