It has been an eventful two and a half days since my last post Monday. Firstly, according to my mother I need to watch my spelling! Proofreading has value, but so does my limited time at the moment.
Let’s start with my students. They are pretty awesome. Their English is pretty bad, like Grade 5-6 level, despite being in grade 11, but they still accomplish more than any Canadian student I have taught. The summer course is highly condensed and we have the same kids in the same course all day. Thankfully, we have one prep block out of five. After teaching with no prep the last semester and the two hour lunch, I have a lot of time to stay on top of things. This has once again resulted in some minor irritation amongst my colleagues who do not understand how I have the first two weeks prepped and printed (muhahah). I share. It also helps that I have managed to scavenge a printer in my apartment. This has given me extreme power. Chinese people are extremely conscious of wasting ANYTHING. They put Canadians to shame. They leave no lights on. It is seen as horrible to do so. Most lights are automatic and turn off quickly. Lights are a new thing and are valued highly. In regards to paper this means they are highly controlling. Single sided paper usage is seen as an issue. Teachers are not allowed to photocopy. This is done by one photocopying professional (I beg to differ). It is highly tracked what you copy. It is amazing to note how most Canadians, because China does produce so much pollution. That is only due to their size. Per capita (person) Canadians are the worst polluters in the world. I really deviated from students. They are great. They all individually say bye. I definitely have a fan club. They work so hard. Monday they were given a presentation project for Tuesday. This included a PowerPoint, a written outline, and a web project. They were all done and the presentations went off without a hitch on Tuesday.
Their names are rather entertaining. Some of my personal favourites in the class. Icing, Desert, Jone, and Zero. Icing who was named off the phrase “icing on the cake” as a kid. Desert because it was the first word he saw in a dictionary. Jone, simply because he spelt John wrong. Zero, because his Chinese name is weird and he wanted to keep it going in English. Do not worry there is also a Jim, Jack, and Mary. But my favourite is Odin!! Genius kid as well. Even better that he was originally named Butter, but his parents changed it because it wasn’t bad-ass enough. That is paraphrasing what he said, but the meaning was the same. FYI, it was Butter not because of the spread, which is not used here, but because of Bat Te, A famous Chinese basketball player. Another interesting Chinese name fact it that Li is the surname for 7.6 percent of the Chinese population. Think about that. 76 million people.
They are great kids and they have continued to work hard the past two days. Thankfully, it has remained mild for the summer here, low 30’s, and the class has not been unbearable.
Now on to the other events of the past days. Monday, I was finally set to cook my own dinner. Lunch and breakfast I had been eating at home. I have and now have more delicious apples from the local market and other fruits and veggies. My Metro run and the local import stores has equipped me with German milk and Corn Flakes, which has allowed me to have fresh fruit in cereal for breakfast. I also found a really nice and light Chinese fibre bar and other seemingly healthy snack food. However, I decided to try and do the main meal at home! I had fresh chicken breast, a local special green pepper that is actually fairly spicy, and local potatoes, which are better tasting here. I made a spicy curry/ketchup stir fry in my wok pan and the hot plate. They do not have stoves in most places in China. Ovens are unheard of. This was done on a hot plate. It looked good, tasted better. Stoked. Bam Tuesday Lunch… can you say I poisoned myself haha. The worst part being I ate the leftovers for lunch meaning I extended my minor agony to this morning. It was not to bad. It did not come on until after lunch and I suffered through class. I did learn that most Chinese public bathrooms do not have Toilet paper. Do not use your imagination. Thank every God I encountered a peculiarity. Tums helped as did soda crackers. Finally, I went out for dinner. Seems like it might be a bad idea, but eating out, if done carefully, can be healthy here and cheaper than cooking at home. We tried a Muslim place we had heard good things about and I am sure that soup/stir fry/thingy I ate is why my foolishly eating the rest of my poison meal was not too bad. Definitely going back there. 15 Yuan (3 dollars). Huge, Delicious. Thin sliced beef, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onion, mushrooms, like naan ish bread in the soup, and rice noodles. Could you find a better upset stomach food?
I woke up today feeling funny and definitely feeling the after effects, but definitely on the road to recovery. Teaching was highlighted by showing the students the I AM Canadian commercial where the beaver is used to sick a pompous American. We are discussing identity. They do not know what beavers are, but who cannot laugh at that. They consider chop sticks, Spring festival, mooncakes, dumplings, and fireworks to be the biggest Chinese stereotypes. They also informed me that there are 56 different regionally ethnicities in China. They really do not understand the concept of organizing a binder, it is rather weird.
For lunch I discovered that it may be worth my while to at least occasionally eat lunch at the campus cafeteria. It is 6 Yuan, like 1.50 for an all you can eat lunch. Apparently, according to my new friend Tyler, it was gross last year causing me to avoid it. However, I investigated yesterday (wish I had instead of swallowing more home cooked poison) and then learned they changed caterers. It was delicious a nice mix of dishes and some quite healthy. Interesting food notes on China. You will not find bread as we see it hear. They do not bake things. What they can bread is usually steamed. What “bread” they do bake is almost always sweet. They use beans to sweeten and it is quite good, if you are not looking to make a hardy sandwich. I did managed to find a nice 6 Yuan loaf of bread that looked somewhat whole wheat. I sautéed up red peppers and used some local eggs I had hard boiled to make baked open faced sandwiches for dinner. I have purchased, from a departing staff member of five years a mini oven!! I was able to give her the last 50 dollars Canadian I had. I can now do some small baking in this thing. So happy. I discovered that the bread is nice because it required no sauce I just spread the hardboiled eggs on it and put the peppers on top before baking. The natural sweetness of the bread almost made it taste like there was butter on it. I did discover the likely source of my food poisoning. Expired Ketchup! Well I should have checked that label when it was 5 Yuan for two Hunt’s ketchup. I also should have just avoided making currywurst style stir fry.
One other interesting note on Chinese culture. Being super white or pale is a big deal. Most of their skin products have natural whitener in it. As someone who is already white and likes a tan, I have to avoid most skin products. Whitney Williams would be a goddess here with her lovely skin and complexion. They would also admire her hair. Granted, Whitney could be considered a goddess almost anywhere with that combination of looks and personality.
Finally, I will discuss the title of this entry. If you are reading this far please comment on here or Facebook. I am curious to see who sticks through the drivel. I will not stop, but always nice to know who is reading along.
I have yet to find a gym. I have been searching! I was told this elusive new facility was opening up next door “soon.” We would get free passes. One of my bosses today mentioned he went over there, there is a gym, you will get free passes, go! After my office hours Tyler and I slipped over to check it out and Aliki, another one who is staying long term, joined us shortly after. This new facility, due to a construction whole in the school complexes back wall is a 200 meter walk away. It is amazing. Like Chinese Disneyland. It is a mini mall complex, like super market and little shops. These are simply meant to be an entrance point for a giant apartment complex (all built in 8 months). Tyler and I walked in. We tried to ask about the gym. They somehow thought we meant the circus and were rushing us to catch the 5 pm show (It was 5:05). We finally through violent working out gestures showed them what we wanted. It was at this point Aliki joined us and we met one of the many tour guides for the place. Her name is Quanyuan. We proceeded to be given the VIP your and given the free tickets for everything. 40 passes to their small, but serviceable hotel style gym. There is a billiard room, ping pong, two pools in and out. All free for quite a while based on the passes. We will be going to the circus tomorrow. Tiger and Monkey! Why not? Aliki and Tyler were jazzed about the endless free coffee (hard to get here, Ikea is your only option). Quanyuan was nice and appeared to want to be our friends. She gave us her number and told us to call her if we come back. It was funny she laughed at Tyler when he said he was 24, but shock my hand because I am 25 and so is she. The other two immediately deemed her my Chinese wife. This thought was only reinforced later when she called my eyes beautiful and literally in broken English (I am not sure she realized how blunt it was) said she would marry me for that.
The tour went next to these new apartments! All told it would last 45 minutes. I want the smallest apartment. It is brand new and spectacular. It even has, a Chinese rarity, a real stove top and dishwasher. This spectacular 75 square meter, two bedroom place will definitely not cost more than 500 dollars a month furnished and is beyond anything I could afford in Canada. It would easily be 1500 in Victoria. I may have to try it!
Well this is very long and we are now up to date!
Let’s start with my students. They are pretty awesome. Their English is pretty bad, like Grade 5-6 level, despite being in grade 11, but they still accomplish more than any Canadian student I have taught. The summer course is highly condensed and we have the same kids in the same course all day. Thankfully, we have one prep block out of five. After teaching with no prep the last semester and the two hour lunch, I have a lot of time to stay on top of things. This has once again resulted in some minor irritation amongst my colleagues who do not understand how I have the first two weeks prepped and printed (muhahah). I share. It also helps that I have managed to scavenge a printer in my apartment. This has given me extreme power. Chinese people are extremely conscious of wasting ANYTHING. They put Canadians to shame. They leave no lights on. It is seen as horrible to do so. Most lights are automatic and turn off quickly. Lights are a new thing and are valued highly. In regards to paper this means they are highly controlling. Single sided paper usage is seen as an issue. Teachers are not allowed to photocopy. This is done by one photocopying professional (I beg to differ). It is highly tracked what you copy. It is amazing to note how most Canadians, because China does produce so much pollution. That is only due to their size. Per capita (person) Canadians are the worst polluters in the world. I really deviated from students. They are great. They all individually say bye. I definitely have a fan club. They work so hard. Monday they were given a presentation project for Tuesday. This included a PowerPoint, a written outline, and a web project. They were all done and the presentations went off without a hitch on Tuesday.
Their names are rather entertaining. Some of my personal favourites in the class. Icing, Desert, Jone, and Zero. Icing who was named off the phrase “icing on the cake” as a kid. Desert because it was the first word he saw in a dictionary. Jone, simply because he spelt John wrong. Zero, because his Chinese name is weird and he wanted to keep it going in English. Do not worry there is also a Jim, Jack, and Mary. But my favourite is Odin!! Genius kid as well. Even better that he was originally named Butter, but his parents changed it because it wasn’t bad-ass enough. That is paraphrasing what he said, but the meaning was the same. FYI, it was Butter not because of the spread, which is not used here, but because of Bat Te, A famous Chinese basketball player. Another interesting Chinese name fact it that Li is the surname for 7.6 percent of the Chinese population. Think about that. 76 million people.
They are great kids and they have continued to work hard the past two days. Thankfully, it has remained mild for the summer here, low 30’s, and the class has not been unbearable.
Now on to the other events of the past days. Monday, I was finally set to cook my own dinner. Lunch and breakfast I had been eating at home. I have and now have more delicious apples from the local market and other fruits and veggies. My Metro run and the local import stores has equipped me with German milk and Corn Flakes, which has allowed me to have fresh fruit in cereal for breakfast. I also found a really nice and light Chinese fibre bar and other seemingly healthy snack food. However, I decided to try and do the main meal at home! I had fresh chicken breast, a local special green pepper that is actually fairly spicy, and local potatoes, which are better tasting here. I made a spicy curry/ketchup stir fry in my wok pan and the hot plate. They do not have stoves in most places in China. Ovens are unheard of. This was done on a hot plate. It looked good, tasted better. Stoked. Bam Tuesday Lunch… can you say I poisoned myself haha. The worst part being I ate the leftovers for lunch meaning I extended my minor agony to this morning. It was not to bad. It did not come on until after lunch and I suffered through class. I did learn that most Chinese public bathrooms do not have Toilet paper. Do not use your imagination. Thank every God I encountered a peculiarity. Tums helped as did soda crackers. Finally, I went out for dinner. Seems like it might be a bad idea, but eating out, if done carefully, can be healthy here and cheaper than cooking at home. We tried a Muslim place we had heard good things about and I am sure that soup/stir fry/thingy I ate is why my foolishly eating the rest of my poison meal was not too bad. Definitely going back there. 15 Yuan (3 dollars). Huge, Delicious. Thin sliced beef, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onion, mushrooms, like naan ish bread in the soup, and rice noodles. Could you find a better upset stomach food?
I woke up today feeling funny and definitely feeling the after effects, but definitely on the road to recovery. Teaching was highlighted by showing the students the I AM Canadian commercial where the beaver is used to sick a pompous American. We are discussing identity. They do not know what beavers are, but who cannot laugh at that. They consider chop sticks, Spring festival, mooncakes, dumplings, and fireworks to be the biggest Chinese stereotypes. They also informed me that there are 56 different regionally ethnicities in China. They really do not understand the concept of organizing a binder, it is rather weird.
For lunch I discovered that it may be worth my while to at least occasionally eat lunch at the campus cafeteria. It is 6 Yuan, like 1.50 for an all you can eat lunch. Apparently, according to my new friend Tyler, it was gross last year causing me to avoid it. However, I investigated yesterday (wish I had instead of swallowing more home cooked poison) and then learned they changed caterers. It was delicious a nice mix of dishes and some quite healthy. Interesting food notes on China. You will not find bread as we see it hear. They do not bake things. What they can bread is usually steamed. What “bread” they do bake is almost always sweet. They use beans to sweeten and it is quite good, if you are not looking to make a hardy sandwich. I did managed to find a nice 6 Yuan loaf of bread that looked somewhat whole wheat. I sautéed up red peppers and used some local eggs I had hard boiled to make baked open faced sandwiches for dinner. I have purchased, from a departing staff member of five years a mini oven!! I was able to give her the last 50 dollars Canadian I had. I can now do some small baking in this thing. So happy. I discovered that the bread is nice because it required no sauce I just spread the hardboiled eggs on it and put the peppers on top before baking. The natural sweetness of the bread almost made it taste like there was butter on it. I did discover the likely source of my food poisoning. Expired Ketchup! Well I should have checked that label when it was 5 Yuan for two Hunt’s ketchup. I also should have just avoided making currywurst style stir fry.
One other interesting note on Chinese culture. Being super white or pale is a big deal. Most of their skin products have natural whitener in it. As someone who is already white and likes a tan, I have to avoid most skin products. Whitney Williams would be a goddess here with her lovely skin and complexion. They would also admire her hair. Granted, Whitney could be considered a goddess almost anywhere with that combination of looks and personality.
Finally, I will discuss the title of this entry. If you are reading this far please comment on here or Facebook. I am curious to see who sticks through the drivel. I will not stop, but always nice to know who is reading along.
I have yet to find a gym. I have been searching! I was told this elusive new facility was opening up next door “soon.” We would get free passes. One of my bosses today mentioned he went over there, there is a gym, you will get free passes, go! After my office hours Tyler and I slipped over to check it out and Aliki, another one who is staying long term, joined us shortly after. This new facility, due to a construction whole in the school complexes back wall is a 200 meter walk away. It is amazing. Like Chinese Disneyland. It is a mini mall complex, like super market and little shops. These are simply meant to be an entrance point for a giant apartment complex (all built in 8 months). Tyler and I walked in. We tried to ask about the gym. They somehow thought we meant the circus and were rushing us to catch the 5 pm show (It was 5:05). We finally through violent working out gestures showed them what we wanted. It was at this point Aliki joined us and we met one of the many tour guides for the place. Her name is Quanyuan. We proceeded to be given the VIP your and given the free tickets for everything. 40 passes to their small, but serviceable hotel style gym. There is a billiard room, ping pong, two pools in and out. All free for quite a while based on the passes. We will be going to the circus tomorrow. Tiger and Monkey! Why not? Aliki and Tyler were jazzed about the endless free coffee (hard to get here, Ikea is your only option). Quanyuan was nice and appeared to want to be our friends. She gave us her number and told us to call her if we come back. It was funny she laughed at Tyler when he said he was 24, but shock my hand because I am 25 and so is she. The other two immediately deemed her my Chinese wife. This thought was only reinforced later when she called my eyes beautiful and literally in broken English (I am not sure she realized how blunt it was) said she would marry me for that.
The tour went next to these new apartments! All told it would last 45 minutes. I want the smallest apartment. It is brand new and spectacular. It even has, a Chinese rarity, a real stove top and dishwasher. This spectacular 75 square meter, two bedroom place will definitely not cost more than 500 dollars a month furnished and is beyond anything I could afford in Canada. It would easily be 1500 in Victoria. I may have to try it!
Well this is very long and we are now up to date!