Mandarin Juice: Latest On What's Happening In China

deception |diˈsep sh ən|- to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage, give a mistaken impression

I arrived for the 1st time to Shanghai in August 2009. I can remember looking out the window as the airplane approached the city. The sea was turning from blue to murky gray then finally just brown. As our driver raced into the city, the highway was  surrounded by decrepit stone houses where communities of people lived, socialized and worked. Upon entering the city I recall a conversation about Shanghai hosting the 2010 World Expo (World Fair). At the time I was clueless what this meant, but within a few months I couldn’t escape the preparation for this event. Till days before the Expo opened, May 1, 2010, the city was under massive repairs, construction, and landscaping. Roads were being tore up left and right, several new subway lines were being created, scenery walls were being put up to hide the poor neighborhoods, and all those stone houses along the highway and the Expo site, were being town down. In a city with the population of over 19 million, there is no shortage of workers, and within just a short time things drastically changed.

I watched this incredible transformation and just a few days prior to opening day of the World Expo, May 1st, the city switched. Pollution cleared up, ALL construction stopped, taxi and bus drivers were dressed in uniforms and suits, street vendors and beggars disappeared. I would occasionally pick up the Shanghai Daily, the English paper of Shanghai, and read about new laws being put in place about peeing on the public sidewalks and streets and wearing your pajamas outside of you home, which seems to be a style for the Shanghainese.

Most of my time here has been under these conditions, which have been quite a lovely experience. Now it’s winter in Shanghai. Oh the grueling wet, cold winter of Shanghai. The Expo is over and the factories are back to running on coal. With brown smog in the air and the almost unheard of consistent fall of snow, I have been thinking more about global warming at it’s worst. This country is growing so fast with little regard to the damage it is having on the world, let alone the people who live here. I find it rather unfortunate that China would spend billions of billions of dollars to put on a show for the rest of the world, but as soon as the show is over everyone goes back to it’s old ways, taking very little away from the environmental theme of the Expo. “Better City, Better Life (Expo 1010 motto)”?

No words or pictures can describe the wonders, history, people, poverty, misfortune, or simplicity of life, that I have experienced the past weeks. I had this idea I was going on vacation, but it turned out to be a busy, hot, humbling, life changing experience. Getting from one place to another was anything, but easy (which makes for much better stories).

With concurrence form my travel companion Justin, I had a vague layout of our trip. I knew the cities I wanted to visit and about how long to spend in each one, but nothing more. We booked only 2 plane tickets. 1 out of shanghai and a return ticket back.

And so the adventure began…

Traveling south through Vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam

It all began in Hanoi, North Vietnam. We spent a day in this city of hustle and bustle. We were continuously ripped off by taxi drivers, no one would bargain even if the prices were absurdly high. The exhaust fumes were intolerable from the thousands of motor bikes that crowded the roads. The locals said there is a population 8 million people and 7 million motor bikes. I believe it.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

I was relieved to escape Hanoi as we took a Junk, small cruise like boat to Halong Bay. It is nominated as one of the next wonders of the world. The waters of this bay/ river are divided with massive rocks jetting out of the water. It reminded me of a scene from pirates of the Caribbean. There were about 15 people and a crew of 5 vietnamese men. You could tell that they weren’t so thrilled about their jobs. Always dealing with unsatisfied foreigners on a small boat for 2 days. We were carted around through caves and islands, fed crappy food and drank overpriced wine, but it was quite and the air was fresh. At night myself and some others passed the time by drinking and playing cards. A little excitement aroused when one drunk man ran up to the deck to tell us that he opened the door to his cabin to find a man digging through his belongings. The man supposedly jumped out the window and climbed up the side of the boat. The drunk man accused the crew members, which i wouldn’t necessarily doubt, but no one is really sure exactly what happened. Either way it made the trip a little more exciting. Real pirates!

Hue, Vietnam

We lost a whole 24 hours on the infamous overnight bus, to Hoián. We were told it would take 12 hours and we could sleep on the bus. Little did i know, 20 hours later. The bus went no more than 55 miles/hour. I laid on a stinky, dirty bed looking out the widow and watching the train pass us (wishing i had chosen that option). Our bus got 2 flat tires, delaying us even more. When we arrived in Hue, to switch busses we had missed the earlier bus and had to wait 3 hours. Turned out not to be so bad and we had just enough time to visit some of the palace ruins of Hue.

Hoi’an, Vietnam

Finally, we arrived in Hoi’an. Great little beach town on the river. I was truly happy to be out of the miserable, cold weather of Shanghai. It was warm, humid, and there was fresh air all around. Lots of custom clothing stores lined the streets of Hoi’an. I had a pair of shorts made there, ate dinner on the river, visited some temple ruins. We met up with some Argentineans and took part in a private cooking class. The family run restaurant was outside. The daughter was our instructor, 1st a little shy but quickly warmed up. With full beers in one hand and a knife in the other, we cooked up spring rolls, curry, fish in banana leaves, and stuffed squid. Mama and Papa would come over every now and again to check on us. I was pronounced the best spring roll roller. Go Lexy! Must be from the previous practice I have from china.

Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon, Vietnam

We decided on catching a plane this time from Hoi’an to Hochi Minh City, also known as Saigon. Saigon was a pleasant city. People were friendly and easy to bargain with. There we saw Vietnam War Museum. This is when the trip got a little difficult. So many women and children were massacred by American soldiers. Vllage after village was burnt down. It was all documented by reporters and photographers. America destroyed the natural resources with the use of chemicals, agent orange being the most potent. Still many people walk the streets and suffer from exposure to the chemicals. They have birth defects including enlarged heads, missing limbs, thin, weak legs restraining the person from walking. It was amazing to me how friendly and accepting of Americans they people were. I asked a man about the Vietnamese feelings towards Americans. He told me that the Vietnamese have put the war in the past and now have a good relationship with all the countries involved in  previous wars. I find it peculiar however, that the North Vietnamese and the South still hold a grudge against one another.

We spent our last day visiting the woods where the vietnamese gorillas had built 100’s of miles of underground tunnels. Hundreds of people lived in these man made tunnels. They are only large enough for the small Vietnamese villagers to crawl through. Our guide said if the enemies entered they could only identify each other by the clothing worn since it was pitch black you could only use you hands to feel around. The American soldiers would go in with out a shirt so if a gorilla felt a shirtless man he would kill him. Talk about suspense. The gorillas would set up traps and land mines at night. The next day the American soldiers would come and be attacked by the gorillas and fall into their hidden traps.

We spent  the last night in Vietnam drinking a beer in a bar while Forest Gump played on HBO. Justin, the Vietnamese bartenders, and myself laughed as Forest played ping pong and cried when Jenny died. In the back of my mind I could only think how real the story really was.

Tomb raiding…

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Just when we thought we could not endure any more murder, killing, and war, we entered Cambodia. A beautiful country filled with marvels of the world, Ankor Watt, and millions of other temple ruins. Movies like Indian Jones and Tomb Raider were filmed amongst Cambodia’s ruins and jungles. The people were warm and friendly, despite living in serve poverty. Families of 5-10 children would roam the ruins and streets selling books, bracelets, postcards, and begging for money. How do you deal with this? “Lady $1.00 postcards, buy a bracelet lady, only $1.00. Everywhere we went. Through the ruins, streets, into the restaurants, everywhere! Even if we had $1,000 we would had never been able to keep up with all the beggars. Many organizations that are helping believe it hinders the people to just hand out money. After a few days of this I bought some candy to give out instead of money. Like the majority of children, candy clouds the mind and they took the candy and would run away leaving us in peace for about 3 minutes until the next group came.

We opted to catch the boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. It was 6 hours of sunbathing on the roof of a water taxi. It was not very secure, as there was only a thin railing to grab onto while walking around. See picture. As I was applying sunscreen, that I borrowed from a fellow traveler, I saw my bag fly out into the air landing in the brown, dirty water (the locals bathe, wash clothes, and go to the bathroom in this water). I sat there for about 20 seconds watching my bag farther and farther away. My passport, money, camera, credit cards all gone. Suddenly I resized the boat was not that big and we should be able to turn it around. Within seconds we were on a rescue mission. Everyone pointed at the bag in the distance, a local man already had stripped down to his underwear ready to jump in. I quickly became a celebrity. I had a man shaking out the water of the camera, while the women told me how to dry the pants that were in the bag, and the children all huddled around to see what I had in the bag. It was all quite funny really (If I didn’t retrieve the bag I might not be laughing about it).

Phnom Penh, Cambodia Capital

In 1975-1975, under the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, 1.7 (20% of the population) million Cambodians were massacred. Any one who had an education or who had educated family members were tortured and killed. I visited a high school that had been turned into a prison/ torture camp in 1975. All the prisoners were photographed and documented before entering the camp. Just days before the Vietnamese Liberation Army entered Phnom Penh, all but 12 were murdered. I saw pictures of the bodies after the people had been tortured with tools, drowning, chemicals, and poisonous bugs. The blood stains were still on the walls. When inside the rooms a horrifying and sickening feeling took over my body. Since then I pray each night for these people and all the people who endure war each day.

Despite the poverty, Cambodia has come a long way considering what it has endured. This trip was a life altering experience and one I hope to remember for many years.

Christmas came and went and now onto the new year, 2010. Has anyone seen 2012? Maybe I should stay in China a few more years. According to the movie China will be the last country on Earth to disappear under water.

My Christmas party was great. Many people were missing (I am talking about you), but I still managed to have some fun! Since I have no oven, I cooked up some rice crispy treats in the shape of candy canes and wreaths. I made salsa and hummus. Since I have no blender, I used a wooden spoon and bowl to make hummus. Took some time, but everyone enjoyed the comfort foods. My Chinese friends loved the rice crispy treats, too!

This was the 1st year in my life I ever had to work or go to school on my birthday! I have always been spoiled by being on Christmas break. My mother was like “oh what a surprise, everyone always works on their birthdays!” I am so sorry for you all because it sucks!

Christmas fell on a Friday. I stayed up till 1:00 AM the night before preparing my last lesson because I had uninvited guest sitting in on my class. Some Expo people and a local news station. The probably broadcasted me singing to Backstreet Boys, I want it that way. My wonderful Christian students took me to a fancy Chinese lunch. The host of lunch, ordered from the one menu the restaurant provides for the table. Before we began eating they had me lead them in prayer. It was really special since I was missing Christmas dinner with my family. After lunch we went to one of my students homes. Her husband is a CEO and her 12 year old daughter studies in Canada. Her home was beautiful. 2 stories, french inspired, large rooms with an enormous patio. She apologized for the white lace covers on the yellow  couch. She said they are there to protect the couches from all the dust that the city blows in. I told her my mother does the same thing to protect the couches from the cat hair. Before I left, she unloaded her cabinets on me. She gave me unopened crackers, a box of chrysanthemum tea, and gogi berries to put in it. With my hands full I managed to leave my cell phone that I had recovered later that weekend.

Christmas night was the work party. You know how that goes.  Everyone gets a few drinks in them and loosens up a bit. Our Chinese boss dressed up as Santa and passed out gifts. We had a mini Christmas KTV (karaoke) session and then off we went by 9:30, since many of us worked the next day.

On new years eve I was invited by a student to learn how to make jao tza, dumplings. It was a wonderful treat. I brought Andrea along. We stuffed and folded 100 dumplings. There are several ways to fold. The one Chinese women stood over my shoulder and showed me her way to fold them. When I would finish one she’d say to me “it’s ok” and then we would try again. There is a method to cooking them. Let water boil, add dumplings. Let water boil, add cold water. Do that 3 times. My Chinese friend Sean was in disagreement that his mother only lets water boil twice. I guess everyone has their own recipe.

The following night, I shared my newly learned knowledge and taught a group of friends ,who were visiting for the weekend, how to make them. Andrea described making dumplings like decorating cookies at Christmas. Everyone sits around the tableand does it together. It’s really nice and something I can easily make for you when I come back.

My winter holiday will begin January 22. I is much needed. Tomorrow I will begin to plan a trip to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, where I will spend a few weeks traveling. More to come on that!

I have always been so blessed with such wonder friends and family. And know that this year will be a great one, as the ones before. Hope you enjoyed your holiday and happy new year!

The holiday season is approaching, as I am sure you are all surrounded by it. I went to my friend Raj’s yoga class this past week. My gym is located inside a popular mall in downtown Shanghai. Raj was asking me if I had seen the Christmas display in the front of the mall. He was shocked when I said no. “How could you not have seen it”! As I exited I payed special attention to the christmas display by the door. A nice tree surrounded by a gate with a million people taking pictures in front of it. The way Raj spoke of the entrance I was expecting Millennia mall.

I had thought Christmas would come and go and I wouldn’t even know, but the malls and foreign chains like Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and high end grocery stores are filled with decorations and Christmas music. I will be having a Christmas party next weekend at my place. It should be fun! Andrea and I will put up some lights, crack open some wine, and hang up a mistletoe here and there to spice things up!

I have to teach on Christmas. China does not give days off for any religious holidays. On Friday the 25th, I will have the last session with my adult students. At the end of class we can have a little Christmas party. I have really come to enjoy my adult class. It is a nice change of pace from the little ones. They really enjoy my class and bring me cookies and take me to lunch. It is nice for me because they treat me like family and teach me about the Chinese culture. I have been teaching them English songs. Last week we learned “You Are My Sunshine” and this week was the best! We sang and did hand motions to Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”. They were awesome! When I showed the music video, I had my 1 table of women dancing to the song.

Work has been crazy! I have been chosen to teach a Demo Class, which is basically me teaching a class of 40 2nd graders on a stage in front of 200 school board officials. I have been under pressure trying to prepare the lesson and practicing with the students each week. It will be video taped and maybe I can post it when it’s done.

Things in the apartment have been a little rocky. Andrea got locked out of her room a week ago. The door knob came off and wouldn’t go back on. We tried using knives, fingernail tools, even trying to break it down, but no luck. Thank goodness she wasn’t inside. This week the washer stopped working. Our landlord will come tonight, but who knows when it will actually get fixed. I have been doing laundry at my friends across the courtyard. This morning I woke up and came out the living room to get the heat going and found Andrea sleeping on the couch. I went and checked her door to make sure she wasn’t locked out again. Her remote for the heater in her room was out of battery. It was funny and reminded me of my longest roommate who used to crash quite frequently on the couch.

Oh christmas tree!

I hope and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope that is truly is a good one!

I have definitely been keeping busy here. I leave my house at 7:15 AM for work followed by mandarin lesson, yoga, dinners and parties with friends, and the occasional workshops. I usually find myself getting home around 9:00. At that time I scramble the last bit of my energy to plan lessons for the next day. Occasionally on the weekends, I will venture outside of Shanghai to escape the city.

In the past 2 weeks the temperature has been dropping. It is on average between 40 and 50 degrees, give or take depending on the day. The coldness here is more extreme since there so much moisture in the air and lack of direct sunlight (I think the sun is not able to penetrate through the thick layer of pollution that covers the city). It is a wet, bone chilling coldness. I find myself wearing long underwear underneath pants, 2 pairs of socks, boots, shirts layered with a sweater and a jacket on top of that. I wear scarfs and gloves, sometimes even a hat.

The Chinese mentality is much different than Americans. It is sometimes hard for me to understand why things are done certain ways or the lack of logic that goes into daily occurrences.

I am not sure if anyone has watched the YouTube video of Shanghai’s metro station during rush hour. The video is quite accurate of how many people are in Shanghai and depend on it to get around the city. At that time it is a mad house. There is no structure or order to entering and exiting the metro. I have been brought up in a society where people exit before the others enter. Even with the signs and markings on the ground, that is unheard of here. The second the metro door opens people push their way onto and off of the metro. I don’t think I will ever become accustomed to it, but regularly find myself doing the same to ensure I make it to work in the morning.

In my 4th grade class we were talking about different pets we have, had or animals would like to have. Of course I talk about my little bunny. They go on telling me how they had a dog, turtle, or a mouse. One girl shares the story of how her rabbit died, as she cuts her throat with her pointer finger, to emphasize the meaning of death. She said it was sick. As I sympathized with her, she continues and said that her family then cooked and ate the rabbit. All the kids laugh while I am just sitting there in absolute shock. Despite the fact that it was their pet, the rabbit was sick when it died!

Saturdays are my shortest teaching day, but sometimes my most interesting. On this particular saturday I was seated on the Metro. As my eyes wander I spot this man with a large thick bag, a rice or produce bag. This is not an uncommon sight on the metro, but his bag was turned on the side rather than standing straight up and it had a fist size hole on each side. I studied the bag closer and could see feathers through one of the holes. I convinced myself I was seeing this wrong until the bag began to jolt and move, almost ready to take flight. It the became clear that this man had about 5 chickens shoved in a rice bag. In America, animal planet would have Pet Cops all over this.

I usually just brush these cultural differences off and laugh about them. Although, some are easier to accept than others. I hope everyone is well. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

I have just recently begun teaching all the 1st graders at YangYuan Primary school. There is a total of 6 classes that I teach twice a week, with 40 students in each class. I am the 1st foreigner to attend this school. The teachers at this school treat me so well. They make sure I have a spoon to eat my soup at lunch, talk to me, and help me with anything I might need.

The students love to see me in the halls. They follow me saying “hello, hello”. I look up from my desk and see faces staring through the window of my office. I go to the bathroom and hear children laughing and yelling “teacher”. As I exit the stall they are all pointing and screaming at me. I just smile and say “yes, teacher has to pee too”.

Most of the students are quite cute, but like in any class there are a few terrors. I made 1 boy cry last week (it actually felt pretty good) when I took away all his school supplies after poking his neighbors repeatedly with a handful of sharp pencils. He just assumed after class he could collect his supplies off my desk, but that wasn’t the case at all. I would not give them to him, as I was determined to find his Chinese teacher and let her discipline him. I haven’t quite figured out what a punishment consist of, but the children don’t fool around with the Chinese teachers. He cried and screamed to me and the teacher assistant in my class, who did nothing while this poking was going on. She felt so bad for him. I told her he will not get them back because that behavior is unacceptable in my English class. I will find out this week if that whole ordeal even makes a difference.

Despite the few terrors, I do a pretty good job entertaining myself and the students in class. I have to since I am teaching the same lesson 6 times and singing and running around with a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds. The students have been given English names by their Chinese/ English teachers (who speak very broken English). They never used their names, so I try to say them often so they can get familiar with the pronunciation. “Hello Dick. How are you Dick? Nice to meet you DIck. Come on up Dick. Good job Dick!” Poor child. Then I have Mary and Jane sitting right next to each other. In other classes girls, named Joe and Dave, are confused why I switch their names with boys who are named Anne and Lucy.

My 4th graders in the more private classes are just adorable, sweet, and speak very good English. I have 16 of them in the afternoons, 3 times a week. I had them right my students from last year letters and hope to send those off to America soon. They will be so excited to get letters back. They are very competitive and love to do word searches, crosswords, and games like jeopardy.

Chinese children are very crazy outside of class. During breaks teachers disappear and the students run wild. Screaming, yelling, wrestling, sliding across floors. This is all new to me as I break up fights in the hallways and remove chairs from students hands as they are about to release them onto another child, but when class begins most of them are ready to learn.

October 10, 2009

Sometimes vacations can set you back (still well worth it). I worked an 8 day work week (including Sunday) to get 8 days off for the holiday. The day after I arrived home I was back at work and beginning my new schedule which is packed with classes. For instance on Friday I had to make up classes that were missed Thursday because of the holiday. I had 4 1st grade classes with 40 students in each class. Followed by two classes with my 4th graders. Then on Saturday I had to make up for other classes missed as well. My apartment is in shambles. I have a stack of clean laundry that needs ironed before putting away and am very tired. Fortunately, I will have Sunday and Monday off to catch up.

Over the holiday I went with my roommate, Andrea, to Huang Shan, which literally translates to Yellow Mountain. It was a 5.5 hour bus ride from Shanghai. We spent our 1st day hiking up the Western Steps. Everyone thought it was a little strange we wanted to hike up that trail as most people go up on shorter trails and then take the cable car. Not us, thousands of stone steps, 9 miles, 2,000 hellos from Chinese hikers, and 6.5 hours later, in the dark, we reached our destination on the summit. I thought it would be charming to hike up with an 8 pound bottle of wine to savor at the top. Not so pleasant, but it was definitely earned after the hike. That night we stayed in a dorm style room with about 8 Chinese women who woke up at about 4:00 AM to watch the sun rise. We did not have much of an option since lodging is expensive and limited on the summit.

The decision to take the cable car back down to the base was simple. From there we went to a Best Western. It was so wonderful to climb in the bed. The softest mattress I have experienced since in China (beside my visit to Ikea). After a quick nap we headed to the hot springs where we spent the whole day. Many of the pools were infused with medicinal oils such as milk, alcohol, wine, and flowers. Once our skin couldn’t prune anymore we went inside for a foot and leg massage. We finished the night off at a little restaurant where we sat alone outside in the silence of the mountains.

We had arranged a driver to pick us up at the hotel the next morning and take us around to two villages. The villages were very beautiful and authentic. They date back hundreds of years. People still live in the villages, but they are not as prosperous as they once were. The 1st village provided us with an English tour guide which was nice to actually learn how Feng Shui works and what some pictures represent as well as symbols. The whole village was built around this mentality. The layout of the village represents a Yin Yang with the river dividing the two halves. Everything was built in balance. Water represents money. Through the use of dams, water enters the city but does not exit. The water is directed to flow along side each building. It represents money coming into the city and staying. It also prevents the spread of fires. Dragons, fish, and flowers were carved into wood panels, displayed on roofs, and painted above doors. These are all said to bring good luck.

This was truly an experience like none other I have had before. It is good to be back in Shanghai now, as it is my new home.

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