In the spirit of trying anything, and embracing the why not approach, Cay and I have become...
...line dancing performers and instructors! I know, I still can't get past the wonderfully arbitrary nature of this entire situation. ONLY IN CHINA. It is just too funny. My sister's friend, Clay, told us he he had a friend, Aaron, that was trying to get foreigners involved in this line dancing troupe. He told us that if we were interested, we could be paid 100 kuai an hour, and that we would teach lessons and perform around the city. So of course, we have absolutely no line dancing experience at all but we are game to try just about anything new, so we said, Okay, we'll try it! We learned five dances to perform in front of The Lady who owns the company that we would be dancing for... I believe we'll be doing everything from Olympic-type rallies to parties to performing for govt officials. Hilarious. Of course, I am THE WORST one by far. Cay very diplomatically informed me that I am not the worst performer, I am just not the best at picking up the moves the fastest. hahaha that's for sure. So after four days of practicing we huddled into a taxi to southwestern Beijing and performed the five dances for the company owner. Dances with names like "Bombshell Stomp" and "Zjosey Funk". LOL. Our friend Kate and I kept looking at each other in bewilderment and laughter, "How, oh how did we get here? Is this really happening? Are these really our lives?" Too funny. First performance is December 15th. Will keep you posted for sure! Hopefully the troupe wont be disbanded/I wont be kicked out for not having the moves and grooves:)
Great Wallin' It
Watch your step! (I would be the one to fall off The Great Wall)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The scorpion-seahorse-starfish-snake snack
In the spirit of adventure and making the most of Beijing, my friend Danny and I decided to go on a "crazy eats trek". There's a famous snack street in Wanfujing and at night the sidewalk is beautifully lite by strings of red lanterns. The street is almost as pretty as the wild and wonderful food that the vendors wave in front of you as they yell out their exotic names. Almost everything is speared on sticks, from fruit and dumplings to scorpions and snake. Danny and I decided we were only going to eat the most crazy ridiculous creatures we could find. Man oh man, mission accomplished! Here is the official breakdown :) :
Scorpions: These were not bad actually! I'd actually say that they might have been one of my favorites. Not as scary to eat as they look...we decided to go for Option A and eat the ones that were already cooked. Option B was to eat the ones that were still alive and would crawl into you so we decided to go for Option A and ate our full stick's worth.
Centipedes: As Danny says, they taste poisonous. Almost toxic....like we were really not supposed to be eating them. The meat was pitch black and it was really bitter.
Silkworms: Oh boy, these creatures....as some fellas we ran into on the street said, these creatures are THE WORST. They were the only creatures we sampled that we spit out. I felt bad, the only reason I got them was because they were the one kind of creature that Danny really did not want to eat so of course I bought them and made him eat them like a good old friend that I am. See, the thing with silk worm is that when you bit into it, there is this explosive situation inside your mouth. Danny calls it puss and I do believe he said its worm "that has yet to be fully formed...like worm fetus." sorry, that may have been too much information! hmmm. Well either way, I would have to say it wasn't my favorite.
Snake: I think snake actually tasted the best....I think that was the easiest one for me to eat because the meat was already skinned and sliced and this was the only creature we ate that didn't have it's head on the stick... no snake face stare downs!
Crickets: I think they are a delicacy in some places but for me, it wan not especially exciting. Although it was fried and anything fried tastes fun, right?
Seahorses: I was most excited to try this one, but maybe since it was a small one, I couldn't really taste anything. They are really expensive, they were selling them on the street for 50 kuai! (I think there were three or four on a stick) But we bargained on another side street and each got a stick with one seahorse for about 20 kuai.....savvy seahorse purchasers that we are :)
Star fish: This was bitter, crunchy and not surprisingly, challenging to eat. Much more fun to admire on the beach than to eat on the street. The meat inside is dark too, and like centipede, it just doesn't seem so edible. ...But still fun to give a try.
When I was eating starfish, it was funny because this man ran up to me and smiled and then he was standing there, a little bit awkwardly in front of me almost like he was waiting for something to happen. Then I turned to see his friend take our picture. Then he put his arm around me, his friend took another picture, and then with huge smiles they took off and ran away. It was a camera ambush :)
Our pictures were also taken the other day at the snack stand by our subway station, our snack selling friends asked to take a picture of my friend Carol and I...they are a very friendly bunch. They make delicious crepes for you on the spot called jian bing, ( you can buy these everywhere in Beijing, particularly popular for breakfast). They break an egg over it and as it thinly cooks they add fried crispy fun in the middle with chives, onions, and magic sauce, then they fold it up and OH it is so good. I eat one every day. I can't imagine life without them....without them or The Yam Man, The Steamed Corn Ladies, The Grilled Corn Men, The Baozi Ladies....oh where would I be without these fine food friends.
P.S.
Another crazy eat occurred a few weeks ago. I couldn't do it the first time I was here in 2001. I wanted to be strong enough but I just couldn't muster the courage. A few of Caitlin's bosses have taken us out to dinner and I politely declined the first time but the second time I decided to go for it... I ate dog! I ate it so quickly that I barely tasted it, but from what I can recall, it tastes a bit sweeter than the meat we are more familiar with back in the states. I saw a dog later and thought I was going to keel over, ohhh i am too weak, no more canine consumption for Mego.
Scorpions: These were not bad actually! I'd actually say that they might have been one of my favorites. Not as scary to eat as they look...we decided to go for Option A and eat the ones that were already cooked. Option B was to eat the ones that were still alive and would crawl into you so we decided to go for Option A and ate our full stick's worth.
Centipedes: As Danny says, they taste poisonous. Almost toxic....like we were really not supposed to be eating them. The meat was pitch black and it was really bitter.
Silkworms: Oh boy, these creatures....as some fellas we ran into on the street said, these creatures are THE WORST. They were the only creatures we sampled that we spit out. I felt bad, the only reason I got them was because they were the one kind of creature that Danny really did not want to eat so of course I bought them and made him eat them like a good old friend that I am. See, the thing with silk worm is that when you bit into it, there is this explosive situation inside your mouth. Danny calls it puss and I do believe he said its worm "that has yet to be fully formed...like worm fetus." sorry, that may have been too much information! hmmm. Well either way, I would have to say it wasn't my favorite.
Snake: I think snake actually tasted the best....I think that was the easiest one for me to eat because the meat was already skinned and sliced and this was the only creature we ate that didn't have it's head on the stick... no snake face stare downs!
Crickets: I think they are a delicacy in some places but for me, it wan not especially exciting. Although it was fried and anything fried tastes fun, right?
Seahorses: I was most excited to try this one, but maybe since it was a small one, I couldn't really taste anything. They are really expensive, they were selling them on the street for 50 kuai! (I think there were three or four on a stick) But we bargained on another side street and each got a stick with one seahorse for about 20 kuai.....savvy seahorse purchasers that we are :)
Star fish: This was bitter, crunchy and not surprisingly, challenging to eat. Much more fun to admire on the beach than to eat on the street. The meat inside is dark too, and like centipede, it just doesn't seem so edible. ...But still fun to give a try.
When I was eating starfish, it was funny because this man ran up to me and smiled and then he was standing there, a little bit awkwardly in front of me almost like he was waiting for something to happen. Then I turned to see his friend take our picture. Then he put his arm around me, his friend took another picture, and then with huge smiles they took off and ran away. It was a camera ambush :)
Our pictures were also taken the other day at the snack stand by our subway station, our snack selling friends asked to take a picture of my friend Carol and I...they are a very friendly bunch. They make delicious crepes for you on the spot called jian bing, ( you can buy these everywhere in Beijing, particularly popular for breakfast). They break an egg over it and as it thinly cooks they add fried crispy fun in the middle with chives, onions, and magic sauce, then they fold it up and OH it is so good. I eat one every day. I can't imagine life without them....without them or The Yam Man, The Steamed Corn Ladies, The Grilled Corn Men, The Baozi Ladies....oh where would I be without these fine food friends.
P.S.
Another crazy eat occurred a few weeks ago. I couldn't do it the first time I was here in 2001. I wanted to be strong enough but I just couldn't muster the courage. A few of Caitlin's bosses have taken us out to dinner and I politely declined the first time but the second time I decided to go for it... I ate dog! I ate it so quickly that I barely tasted it, but from what I can recall, it tastes a bit sweeter than the meat we are more familiar with back in the states. I saw a dog later and thought I was going to keel over, ohhh i am too weak, no more canine consumption for Mego.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The Sick Sports Illustrated Sprint
Last Saturday, Caitlin and I competed in an athletic competition on behalf of her magazine, Sports Illustrated China .Leading up to this event, whenever I saw one of her colleagues, they would cheer my Chinese name accompanied by a round of enthusiastic fist pumps. My reaction in my head was always, "ohhh dear. we have some elevated expectations at hand here!" My nerves were further compounded for as Cay says, the last week plus I've been "sick as a dog." I have this dreadful cough where I actually spit stuff up and have difficulty breathing, sore throat, runny nose and my abs actually are sore from the coughing. I actually had a "spit cup" I was using before my first race, and it was challenging to accomplish successful breathing just sitting on the sidelines.....but hey, breathing schmeathing.
Now, just to provide a bit of context, this is an athletic event where twelve magazines are competing against each other. To kick off the festivities, they actually have a parade, just like in the beginning of the Olympics when all the countries march in, waving to the crowd. They also had all these pigeons boxed up (I felt so bad for the pigeons) and then they had their big release to commence the kick off of the competition. Caitlin and I were like, oh no, this is on a larger scale than we were anticipating...they are not messing around here!
Caitlin was up first. The shot put. Never had she seen or thrown one before. But I had no doubt she would win. And she did! In addition to the lovely gold medal, there were fun prizes to our delight and surprise. Caitlin won a set of nice sheets...extra exciting since one sheet can run you 100 kuai here, so we were pretty pumped.
Then it was my turn to run the 800m. tissues in my short pockets, spit cup in one hand and cough drops in my other, I lumbered to the track. "Are you actually going to run with your cough drops?" asked concerned sibling. That's right, I did, because my throat felt like it was locked up and there was no clearance for the airways. I did, however, part with my Spit cup. Then a bevy of race monitors, timers, and assorted officials descended upon me since I wasn't exactly sure what was going on because:
a. i was a little bit out of sorts
b. never have competed in a track competition before
c. can't read Chinese so much which can be problematic when you are trying to follow a schedule that tells you what time you are supposed to run. (I heard it was inaccurate anyway)
thankfully Caitlin's super nice office manager saved me and got me where i needed to be just in time.
I had a good, solid start but so did everyone else. We were all together for a bit before a few of us broke away. Then I was out in front for a bit before getting passed. I think there was about 250 meters left when I passed the lead runner and powered through to the end. It was so funny because at the finish line a sea of photographers swarmed around me, and all these flashes were going off and men with notepads kept asking my name. I thought for sure my lungs were on fire. But the fans were great. A few of them yelled out "You are so strong!" and " I love you" in English. Cay and I were the only foreigners in attendance and she said she kept hearing people say, "wow, look at the foreigner! that foreigner can run, that foreigner is fast!"
Then Cay rocked her 400m--she came in fourth and I was so proud, strong to the end. She shaved off 14 seconds from her best training time, coming in at 1:26. (They didn't have my time yet when we went to check) Equally exciting is her prize, an egg cooker/boiler...and it's a cat. It was so funny, we were dumbfounded, wondering what is this cat for? Then Caitlin's colleague explained it to us and we were like Ohhhhhhhhhh. It's so random that it's wonderful. Go China.
Finally came our 400m 4 person relay. The order was one fellow, then Cay, then another fellow, then me. By the time Cay got the baton, we were behind by quite a bit. She managed to close some of the distance but we were still trailing significantly. then the third fellow went and we had fallen even more behind. We were the last by far and thought the race was pretty much done at the point he gave me the baton. Cay said later she and her colleagues were saying "its too bad, she doesn't even have a chance to catch the last runner because even the last runner is already half way done." And to be honest, I think I thought that too for a second. but then I figured, hey, here I am on the track, I might as well run the race as if it's within reach. So I went for it.
Since everyone was so far ahead I was basically running by myself for what seemed like a while . But then to my surprise, a clump of four runners started getting closer and closer until I realized I might just actually be able to catch up. At this point, the crowd was going crazy. The people in the stands were screaming and stomping and chanting, "JIA YOU, JIA YOU, JIA YOU! (pronoun ed yo) which literally translates to "Add oil!" which is a Chinese cheer. So I kept trying to find me some oil! The people on the sidelines were screaming and yelling and I heard Cay above them going ballistic. "YOU CAN PASS THEM, GOOOOOOOO!" So I passed the first four but then there was still one more person up ahead, really close to the finish line. I am not sure how but I managed to cacth up and JUST pass her at the finish line. It was so close I wasn't sure who had finished first but once all these people started hugging me and giving me thumbs up and high fives (I didn't know any of them) I heard the good news.
All this excitement made me wish I competed in track when I was younger. I bet these competitions are even more fun when you don't have a sinus and lung infection. Cay says she's always had infinite respect for me but that after that race she can never look at me the same. I'm just excited to actually have competed (everything inside my body was like no way, buster). but in the end, we have some new supportive pals, a few gold medals, a set of sheets, a cat egg cooker, a tent (which I initially thought was a yoga mat the way it was packed) and an actual family barbecue set! nothing quite like a random collection of fun prizes.
After it was all over, we went to the train station to pick up two of Caitlin's friends from Amherst that have also moved to Beijing. Now we usually get stared at but we were quite the spectacle now! I was still wearing my shorts and that would probably be enough to make people stare since they think it's cold now. But I was also carrying Caitlin's Cat Egg Cooker, my tent, and my family barbecue set around the train station. I walked by this one fellow and I heard him mutter under his breath, "foreigners, foreigners..." But then Caitlin heard some one say, "Look at those two girls, they are athletes." Whoo hoo!
Yeah, I am officially on a gym vacation now.
P.S.
I have also officially been diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection. Caitlin calls me Darth Vader, I agree, the way I breathe DOES sounds just like him, watch out James Earl Jones! Her friend also says it sounds like I am coughing up hairballs. I can see it now, the next Star Wars movie: Darth Vader Has Hairballs.
Now, just to provide a bit of context, this is an athletic event where twelve magazines are competing against each other. To kick off the festivities, they actually have a parade, just like in the beginning of the Olympics when all the countries march in, waving to the crowd. They also had all these pigeons boxed up (I felt so bad for the pigeons) and then they had their big release to commence the kick off of the competition. Caitlin and I were like, oh no, this is on a larger scale than we were anticipating...they are not messing around here!
Caitlin was up first. The shot put. Never had she seen or thrown one before. But I had no doubt she would win. And she did! In addition to the lovely gold medal, there were fun prizes to our delight and surprise. Caitlin won a set of nice sheets...extra exciting since one sheet can run you 100 kuai here, so we were pretty pumped.
Then it was my turn to run the 800m. tissues in my short pockets, spit cup in one hand and cough drops in my other, I lumbered to the track. "Are you actually going to run with your cough drops?" asked concerned sibling. That's right, I did, because my throat felt like it was locked up and there was no clearance for the airways. I did, however, part with my Spit cup. Then a bevy of race monitors, timers, and assorted officials descended upon me since I wasn't exactly sure what was going on because:
a. i was a little bit out of sorts
b. never have competed in a track competition before
c. can't read Chinese so much which can be problematic when you are trying to follow a schedule that tells you what time you are supposed to run. (I heard it was inaccurate anyway)
thankfully Caitlin's super nice office manager saved me and got me where i needed to be just in time.
I had a good, solid start but so did everyone else. We were all together for a bit before a few of us broke away. Then I was out in front for a bit before getting passed. I think there was about 250 meters left when I passed the lead runner and powered through to the end. It was so funny because at the finish line a sea of photographers swarmed around me, and all these flashes were going off and men with notepads kept asking my name. I thought for sure my lungs were on fire. But the fans were great. A few of them yelled out "You are so strong!" and " I love you" in English. Cay and I were the only foreigners in attendance and she said she kept hearing people say, "wow, look at the foreigner! that foreigner can run, that foreigner is fast!"
Then Cay rocked her 400m--she came in fourth and I was so proud, strong to the end. She shaved off 14 seconds from her best training time, coming in at 1:26. (They didn't have my time yet when we went to check) Equally exciting is her prize, an egg cooker/boiler...and it's a cat. It was so funny, we were dumbfounded, wondering what is this cat for? Then Caitlin's colleague explained it to us and we were like Ohhhhhhhhhh. It's so random that it's wonderful. Go China.
Finally came our 400m 4 person relay. The order was one fellow, then Cay, then another fellow, then me. By the time Cay got the baton, we were behind by quite a bit. She managed to close some of the distance but we were still trailing significantly. then the third fellow went and we had fallen even more behind. We were the last by far and thought the race was pretty much done at the point he gave me the baton. Cay said later she and her colleagues were saying "its too bad, she doesn't even have a chance to catch the last runner because even the last runner is already half way done." And to be honest, I think I thought that too for a second. but then I figured, hey, here I am on the track, I might as well run the race as if it's within reach. So I went for it.
Since everyone was so far ahead I was basically running by myself for what seemed like a while . But then to my surprise, a clump of four runners started getting closer and closer until I realized I might just actually be able to catch up. At this point, the crowd was going crazy. The people in the stands were screaming and stomping and chanting, "JIA YOU, JIA YOU, JIA YOU! (pronoun ed yo) which literally translates to "Add oil!" which is a Chinese cheer. So I kept trying to find me some oil! The people on the sidelines were screaming and yelling and I heard Cay above them going ballistic. "YOU CAN PASS THEM, GOOOOOOOO!" So I passed the first four but then there was still one more person up ahead, really close to the finish line. I am not sure how but I managed to cacth up and JUST pass her at the finish line. It was so close I wasn't sure who had finished first but once all these people started hugging me and giving me thumbs up and high fives (I didn't know any of them) I heard the good news.
All this excitement made me wish I competed in track when I was younger. I bet these competitions are even more fun when you don't have a sinus and lung infection. Cay says she's always had infinite respect for me but that after that race she can never look at me the same. I'm just excited to actually have competed (everything inside my body was like no way, buster). but in the end, we have some new supportive pals, a few gold medals, a set of sheets, a cat egg cooker, a tent (which I initially thought was a yoga mat the way it was packed) and an actual family barbecue set! nothing quite like a random collection of fun prizes.
After it was all over, we went to the train station to pick up two of Caitlin's friends from Amherst that have also moved to Beijing. Now we usually get stared at but we were quite the spectacle now! I was still wearing my shorts and that would probably be enough to make people stare since they think it's cold now. But I was also carrying Caitlin's Cat Egg Cooker, my tent, and my family barbecue set around the train station. I walked by this one fellow and I heard him mutter under his breath, "foreigners, foreigners..." But then Caitlin heard some one say, "Look at those two girls, they are athletes." Whoo hoo!
Yeah, I am officially on a gym vacation now.
P.S.
I have also officially been diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection. Caitlin calls me Darth Vader, I agree, the way I breathe DOES sounds just like him, watch out James Earl Jones! Her friend also says it sounds like I am coughing up hairballs. I can see it now, the next Star Wars movie: Darth Vader Has Hairballs.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
O is for....? Rainbow!
I really love these young ones. In fact, I was surprised by how quickly I really, truly fell for each of them! You know you are a kindergarten teacher when fifteen three year olds are on your mind all day every day, stickers make your world go round, your legs get hugged throughout the day, and you are incessantly singing "This Old Man", "Twinkle Twinkle", "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Music Man" (among others) to a point of driving all other non-three year old folk crazy.
Currently I am preparing them for their first test of the year (four in total). I'm constantly reviewing what we learn, like a kindergarten drill Sargent if you will. It's so funny, this morning I asked, "O is for...?" And they excitedly scream everything else we have learned this week: "Rainbow! Elephant! Blue! Five! Tuesday!" Then I tried again, "O is for...?" And then Tiger (Yes, his English name is Tiger!) jubilantly screams, "Octopus!" I was like, oh my goodness, you are BRILLIANT. Four year old geniuses, so proud, so proud....
Another funny story about Tiger, he is like a four year old line backer. We were running a relay race outside, where the kids run towards me, hit my hand, turn to run back, and hit another kid's hand. Tiger was tearing it up, he was so fast and he is such a strong, compact little fella that as he sprinted into me, he totally knocked me over. So I said, "Whoooooooooaaaa, Tiger!" And then I totally realized what I said and cracked myself up and was laughing on the ground and the kids were like, hmmm, what is up with our teacher? It was so funny. Maybe you had to be there:)
Think it is safe to say I am obsessed with the youngsters. When I am not with them, I wonder what they are doing and how they are doing and I miss them! I think one my biggest challenges is like any classroom, all of the students are at such different levels. Some can say entire sentences in English while others can barely say a word, but everyone has great potential.
Last week, we were working on raising hands when they have questions or comments, and I called on of the particularly gifted four year old, Michael, and with a big grin on his face, he sheepishly said, "Megan, you are a good teacher, Megan." I thought I was going to keel over. Officially in love with a four year old. It's nice they can be so affirming. If I slip out to go to the bathroom for a minute, when I come back, Peter runs and hurls hugs at me like we've been apart for....a bit longer than three minutes, hehe. They are such a hoot, yesterday Yuan Yuan told me she liked me too much in Chinese...it was very cute, she thought it was very funny and we had a good laughfest over it.
Also, kids are mighty fashionable these days! I have to say, their clothes are far cooler than mine-- I have a class of trendsetters! My clothes do have a mighty colorful display of recording every time we have ever used crayons. I do have a jacket that some of the girls like, and it is really cute because I help them button up their jackets for recess and now they try to button me up too.
Same with wiping noses. It's amazing how quickly illness topples through a classroom and the kids go down like dominoes. I am always on wiping noses patrol. Then when I inevitably get sick some of the kids try to wipe my nose. Or they just wipe their noses on my hands if we are holding hands! (We are working on not doing that so much).
We have gone on two field trips thus far and I have to say, such trips make me want to send thank you notes to all of the teachers that have taken us on field trips. It is hilarious because once you make sure everyone has gone to the bathroom before boarding the bus, everyone has their bags, everyone is on the bus....then comes bathroom and car-sick monitoring, followed by deboarding the bus, another round of bathrooms and car sickness monitoring, then snack time. Insert field trip activity here (even though it seems like 5 minutes, I think it is a bit longer). Then another round of bathroom visits (which is tricky in public bathrooms trying to track all the young ones and make sure they don't fall in--literally, haha). Finally it's back on the bus, if you are lucky enough to still have all the children in tow. I had a slight panic attack and thought I lost Ge Ge (her grandfather came and picked her up early, I didn't know that at first) and oh my, a whole new fear sets in when you think you have potentially lost someones child! Oh my goodness. Tricky letting the young ones run wild outside of the safe, structured confines of classrooms!
In any event, I adore my kids, every one of them is my favorite in his or her own way. To know them is to love them!
Currently I am preparing them for their first test of the year (four in total). I'm constantly reviewing what we learn, like a kindergarten drill Sargent if you will. It's so funny, this morning I asked, "O is for...?" And they excitedly scream everything else we have learned this week: "Rainbow! Elephant! Blue! Five! Tuesday!" Then I tried again, "O is for...?" And then Tiger (Yes, his English name is Tiger!) jubilantly screams, "Octopus!" I was like, oh my goodness, you are BRILLIANT. Four year old geniuses, so proud, so proud....
Another funny story about Tiger, he is like a four year old line backer. We were running a relay race outside, where the kids run towards me, hit my hand, turn to run back, and hit another kid's hand. Tiger was tearing it up, he was so fast and he is such a strong, compact little fella that as he sprinted into me, he totally knocked me over. So I said, "Whoooooooooaaaa, Tiger!" And then I totally realized what I said and cracked myself up and was laughing on the ground and the kids were like, hmmm, what is up with our teacher? It was so funny. Maybe you had to be there:)
Think it is safe to say I am obsessed with the youngsters. When I am not with them, I wonder what they are doing and how they are doing and I miss them! I think one my biggest challenges is like any classroom, all of the students are at such different levels. Some can say entire sentences in English while others can barely say a word, but everyone has great potential.
Last week, we were working on raising hands when they have questions or comments, and I called on of the particularly gifted four year old, Michael, and with a big grin on his face, he sheepishly said, "Megan, you are a good teacher, Megan." I thought I was going to keel over. Officially in love with a four year old. It's nice they can be so affirming. If I slip out to go to the bathroom for a minute, when I come back, Peter runs and hurls hugs at me like we've been apart for....a bit longer than three minutes, hehe. They are such a hoot, yesterday Yuan Yuan told me she liked me too much in Chinese...it was very cute, she thought it was very funny and we had a good laughfest over it.
Also, kids are mighty fashionable these days! I have to say, their clothes are far cooler than mine-- I have a class of trendsetters! My clothes do have a mighty colorful display of recording every time we have ever used crayons. I do have a jacket that some of the girls like, and it is really cute because I help them button up their jackets for recess and now they try to button me up too.
Same with wiping noses. It's amazing how quickly illness topples through a classroom and the kids go down like dominoes. I am always on wiping noses patrol. Then when I inevitably get sick some of the kids try to wipe my nose. Or they just wipe their noses on my hands if we are holding hands! (We are working on not doing that so much).
We have gone on two field trips thus far and I have to say, such trips make me want to send thank you notes to all of the teachers that have taken us on field trips. It is hilarious because once you make sure everyone has gone to the bathroom before boarding the bus, everyone has their bags, everyone is on the bus....then comes bathroom and car-sick monitoring, followed by deboarding the bus, another round of bathrooms and car sickness monitoring, then snack time. Insert field trip activity here (even though it seems like 5 minutes, I think it is a bit longer). Then another round of bathroom visits (which is tricky in public bathrooms trying to track all the young ones and make sure they don't fall in--literally, haha). Finally it's back on the bus, if you are lucky enough to still have all the children in tow. I had a slight panic attack and thought I lost Ge Ge (her grandfather came and picked her up early, I didn't know that at first) and oh my, a whole new fear sets in when you think you have potentially lost someones child! Oh my goodness. Tricky letting the young ones run wild outside of the safe, structured confines of classrooms!
In any event, I adore my kids, every one of them is my favorite in his or her own way. To know them is to love them!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The 2 hour haircut-massage
Last week, I had almost a 2hr haircut for 3.73 American dollars (28 kuai here). This extravaganza included an hour long massage (head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and back). I remember haircutting included complimentary massages from my first hair cut here in 2001. But you know what was especially momentous about this haircut was when my hair was washed, I was actually lying down on the massage table and there is a sink just past where my head was placed. It was funny because she washed my hair first, but by the time my massage was complete, my hair had dried so she had to rinse my hair again for the haircut. My last hair cut was in May in Brasil under similar not sharing-the-same-language- circumstances. Leave it to me to show up at the salon not even knowing how to say "haircut"! But though the wonders of pantomiming and showing them pictures of what I liked, mission accomplished. The establishment was hoping! It was a Saturday night and their hours daily go until 10:30pm and I was there until 9:15pm, having arrived around 7:30pm or so. I think my massage went longer since they were backed up, she kept checking with the stylist and then the massage would continue to proceed. In addition to the stylists and masseuses, there are these Hair Holding Individuals. They sit in chairs behind the stylist and then when he blow dries hair, they spring into action and hold sections of hair in place while he wields and yields the blow drier. I couldn't help but be amused, thinking, hey, hair clips could be used here, but we can use this young little feller instead. Labor, oh labor, China style. They were a very friendly bunch and I think the next time I have a few hours and feel like getting a free massage and being fawned over by a fleet of Chinese haircutting crews, I am definitely going back!
Security Guard Triangualtion, German Cereal Triumphs, and "Frenzied, Desperate" spinning
Earlier this week I found myself triangulated by three security guards in the park by my school. I was lying down resting when I thought I heard something. I didn't see anything, but then I heard something again. I sat up to see three security guards watching me from three different angles about five feet away from me. Yikes, how long were they there for I couldn't say. They asked me questions, one of the only ones I could understand was "are you American or Canadian?" I wondered if I replied that I was Canadian they would let me stay in the park. But in flirting with the risks of park deportation, I told them I was American. Long story short, I came to understand they were worried I was sick, and wanted me to sit on my book (people don't tend to sit on the ground here. IES buds, remember squatters? People squat on streets and sidewalks everywhere all the time). Now when I go to the park, one of the security guards comes and sits next to me and we have little chats. Then the other day another one of the three came up to me and asked me questions while feeling the grass with his hands around me. He left and returned with two large, poster-sized maps of the park and lay them on the grass for me to lie on. I am very grateful and fortunate to now have park friends! I no longer necessitate guards radioing in for back up like they did the first time! hahahhahaha
Speaking of back up, Caitlin and I have learned to be resourceful in finding back up breakfast plans. We are the female versions of Jerry Seinfield, we are cereal addicts. So much so, that back home, if on those rare occasions we don't eat cereal for breakfast, we find our bodies calling for it and find a way to eat it later on in the day. But American cereal is really expensive here, some kinds can cost as much as 82 kuai, which is the equivalent to buying a box of cereal for twelve dollars in the states! We go to an expat grocery store to treat ourselves to cereal from other lands, which is comparatively less expensive. Now our shelves are lined with Australian "Wheet-bix" (sort of like a frosted mini-wheets but without the frosting and more flaky) and German cornflakes, hands down the best price we have seen thus far at 17.20 kuai per box. Our new plan is if we go home, we are returning to China with suitcases lined exclusively with cereal and paper towels.
It may be less important for me to have the breakfast of champions as I will no longer be running the Beijing marathon--still aching over missing this one! Registration is full and closed, I totally missed the boat. I tried emailing several people about still trying to register. Then someone emailed me back and told me if I could get to their office by 5pm that day, I could register as it was the last day to register in person. But I had to work so I sadly missed the boat again. But I have my eyes on another marathon in Dalian in June, and that way I have enough time to train.
Caitlin and I have both been sick for a while and I have only run outside once here! We were 45 miles north of Beijing visiting Auntie Sue and Uncle Paul's new country house. (Auntie Sue is my mom's cousin). Its absolutely gorgeous there. Their house is in a farm village of 350 people, the same number of people that live in my hometown in NH--actually, last I heard we are up to 351. In any event, Mutianyu is tucked just underneath a jagged portion of The Great Wall, and you can see The Great Wall from every room of their house, including the pantry and their shower outside. It never got old for me. Caitlin and I would be brushing our teeth and I'd go, "Hey Cay, it's The Great Wall!' Or we'd in the kitchen getting a glass of water and I'd point excitedly, "Hey, there it is again, it's still there!" We climbed it while we were there for the weekend. Too many steps and too many people to run on it, but I did run in the village and as I was on my way back, I was running with The Great Wall in plain sight, I couldn't believe it--I still can't.
So in lieu of running outside, Caitlin and I are taking spinning classes at our gym, and it's really funny because she looked up the characters for one of the classes and it translates as "Intense, Frenzied, Desperate." hahaha, no intimidation there! I don't think I have never sweat so much before, but its fun because our instructor is this incredibly merry, constantly smiling, massively muscular Chinese trainer and he cheerily sings along to all the songs and makes us happy. We are buds, Cay calls hims the Jolly Chinese Giant. The CD he plays has one American song on it, and he gives us a shout out each time he plays it. Are you ready to guess which song? Of all the songs it could be, I am sure "Who Let The Dogs Out?" was not your first guess:) Yesterday after he played the song in class he pressed the pause button and and goes, "Megan, what does this song mean in Chinese?" And the whole class, dripping in sweat, turns to me for an explanation. So I stammered out my best Chinese explanation: "Ummmm, okay. So there are dogs. And people let the dogs go outside to run. To ummm, run....run and play. But the people want to know, who is the person that lets the dogs go outside?" Oh wow. hahaha, I think you had to be there.
They also use a disco ball for each of the classes with a strobe light! YES! It really does give the class an extra special something:) We took a class from another trainer but it just wasn't the same. He didn't speak but he would occasionally hang from the pipe on the ceiling above his bike--I was jealous because it looked like fun but we didn't have pipes. It was also amusing because he was shirtless, which is fine and perfectly commonplace, but I couldn't help but think hey, if you are really hot, maybe you don't want to wear long denim shorts with a belt next time:)
Speaking of back up, Caitlin and I have learned to be resourceful in finding back up breakfast plans. We are the female versions of Jerry Seinfield, we are cereal addicts. So much so, that back home, if on those rare occasions we don't eat cereal for breakfast, we find our bodies calling for it and find a way to eat it later on in the day. But American cereal is really expensive here, some kinds can cost as much as 82 kuai, which is the equivalent to buying a box of cereal for twelve dollars in the states! We go to an expat grocery store to treat ourselves to cereal from other lands, which is comparatively less expensive. Now our shelves are lined with Australian "Wheet-bix" (sort of like a frosted mini-wheets but without the frosting and more flaky) and German cornflakes, hands down the best price we have seen thus far at 17.20 kuai per box. Our new plan is if we go home, we are returning to China with suitcases lined exclusively with cereal and paper towels.
It may be less important for me to have the breakfast of champions as I will no longer be running the Beijing marathon--still aching over missing this one! Registration is full and closed, I totally missed the boat. I tried emailing several people about still trying to register. Then someone emailed me back and told me if I could get to their office by 5pm that day, I could register as it was the last day to register in person. But I had to work so I sadly missed the boat again. But I have my eyes on another marathon in Dalian in June, and that way I have enough time to train.
Caitlin and I have both been sick for a while and I have only run outside once here! We were 45 miles north of Beijing visiting Auntie Sue and Uncle Paul's new country house. (Auntie Sue is my mom's cousin). Its absolutely gorgeous there. Their house is in a farm village of 350 people, the same number of people that live in my hometown in NH--actually, last I heard we are up to 351. In any event, Mutianyu is tucked just underneath a jagged portion of The Great Wall, and you can see The Great Wall from every room of their house, including the pantry and their shower outside. It never got old for me. Caitlin and I would be brushing our teeth and I'd go, "Hey Cay, it's The Great Wall!' Or we'd in the kitchen getting a glass of water and I'd point excitedly, "Hey, there it is again, it's still there!" We climbed it while we were there for the weekend. Too many steps and too many people to run on it, but I did run in the village and as I was on my way back, I was running with The Great Wall in plain sight, I couldn't believe it--I still can't.
So in lieu of running outside, Caitlin and I are taking spinning classes at our gym, and it's really funny because she looked up the characters for one of the classes and it translates as "Intense, Frenzied, Desperate." hahaha, no intimidation there! I don't think I have never sweat so much before, but its fun because our instructor is this incredibly merry, constantly smiling, massively muscular Chinese trainer and he cheerily sings along to all the songs and makes us happy. We are buds, Cay calls hims the Jolly Chinese Giant. The CD he plays has one American song on it, and he gives us a shout out each time he plays it. Are you ready to guess which song? Of all the songs it could be, I am sure "Who Let The Dogs Out?" was not your first guess:) Yesterday after he played the song in class he pressed the pause button and and goes, "Megan, what does this song mean in Chinese?" And the whole class, dripping in sweat, turns to me for an explanation. So I stammered out my best Chinese explanation: "Ummmm, okay. So there are dogs. And people let the dogs go outside to run. To ummm, run....run and play. But the people want to know, who is the person that lets the dogs go outside?" Oh wow. hahaha, I think you had to be there.
They also use a disco ball for each of the classes with a strobe light! YES! It really does give the class an extra special something:) We took a class from another trainer but it just wasn't the same. He didn't speak but he would occasionally hang from the pipe on the ceiling above his bike--I was jealous because it looked like fun but we didn't have pipes. It was also amusing because he was shirtless, which is fine and perfectly commonplace, but I couldn't help but think hey, if you are really hot, maybe you don't want to wear long denim shorts with a belt next time:)
Go, Caitlin! Go, Fernando!
Since my last email to everyone, Caitlin was hired as a staff writer at Sports Illustrated China! I couldn't be a prouder older sibling. Last night, I was brushing my teeth while she interviewed the agent for the first Chinese basketball player to play in the NBA! This morning, she went to a press conference and we LOVE that she gets to shake hands and introduce herself, "Caitlin Rhodes, Sports Illustrated China." (!)
In another fun development, Sports Illustrated annually participates in athletic competitions with other magazines. They excitedly approached Caitlin about what athletic events she'd like to compete in, and when they mentioned running, she said, "Oh my sister runs marathons, too bad she can't race for us." Well, they actually really liked that plan, and now on October 20th, I am also a staff member at Sports Illustrated. Here is Caitlin's email to me:
i signed you up for the 800m. it was really funny/sketchy because the office manager came over and asked me to sign up for the 800 and the shot putt...so i was like okay, and i did it, and then he looked around furtively and said..."your sister..." and I was like ohhh, you want me to.... and he nodded. so I was like uhhh and he was like ok she'll run the 800, you run the 400. DEAL! lol um...on october 20th, if we are still in Beijing, you are officially an SI employee for a day. and he said that if you run the 800 and i run the 400, we'll definitely win the competition. no pressure. love you! miss you already! ps i was like someone give me a shot put to practice with, i have never thrown one before...
Good old sibling, as she says, "I don't even know how to spell it, let alone throw it...is it put or putt?" She asked if they could give her one and they said, "Oh you want to practice with one?" And Caitlin goes, "Yeah. Also I have not even seen one before." But my money is still on sibling without a doubt.
Just when I though my little sibling could not be more of a rock star, we scored VIP tickets to The China Open. We watched Fernando Gonzales beat Tommy Rebredo 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. It was so funny to hear the collective, "Ai yaaaaaaas" and "Ai yoooooooooos" from the crowd when one of the player's hit the ball out or into the net. We were so close to the court that we realized if we cheered for Fernando, he could actually hear us! So we planned out and geared up for partnered cheers. People around us were amused and would turn and look at us every time. But we didn't hold a candle to the fiery force that was the Chilean crew behind us! People in our box took pictures of them, they were vocally gifted projectors and seriously spitted--- loved their energy! Fernando appreciated it too, he gave them a shout out during his victory speech at the awards ceremony.
Before the singles match we saw the doubles final as well. In between the two matches there were a few hours to walk around and we came upon a practice court with a good crowd. At first I could only see one woman playing on one side of the court. But then I heard Caitlin exclaim, "Amelie Mauresmo!" She was the player on the other side of the court, we couldn't believe it! I jumped up on a bench and watched her consistently nail backhands at her coach, she was drilling them with so much power, like Fernando powers his forehand. She was on a roll! Again, we couldn't believe how close she was--we could see all her muscles, she is one strong lady! Ironically, I had wanted to take a picture of her life-size poster board cut out at the entrance to the stadium but I didn't take it because I was a little embarrassed to do so in front of Caitlin's boss (even though he's the nicest guy) and now we have actual pictures of Mauresmo herself in action--captured all her muscles and everything:)
Next to Maureso, I am convinced Cay truly is the strongest and buffest gal in China. We have never seem other girls lift weights at our gym, and Caitlin outlifts some of the fellas! The other day she was lifting and one of the trainers came over and took weight off of hers to add to the person he was working with, and even after he had done so, Caitlin was still out lifting him by 22lbs! It's amazing how incredibly small the women are here. When I go shopping, I ask for the largest size they have. My skirt I purchased yesterday is an XXL, which is funny to me because in '01 I got pants here that were XXXL! A Ladies "small" in China would fit the children in our kindergarten....I wish I was kidding! Since I have been here, I would say I have seen a handful of women who are above a size 2. Negative 2 seems to be base line! And with all due respect to the fellas as well, there doesn't tend to be a whole lot to them either, especially the security guards. It's almost like a rule that to be one you have to be really thin.
Interestingly, China has security guards stationed everywhere all the time. They are at the entrance of every building you enter, sometimes you see them standing in the street. Some of them are so little, I think some are about 15 years old. I think even I could take one! My conservative estimate is that Caitlin could took take down about seven at once in about three and half seconds. It's empowering to feel so strong and big walking the streets here, oh the powers of relativity....
In another fun development, Sports Illustrated annually participates in athletic competitions with other magazines. They excitedly approached Caitlin about what athletic events she'd like to compete in, and when they mentioned running, she said, "Oh my sister runs marathons, too bad she can't race for us." Well, they actually really liked that plan, and now on October 20th, I am also a staff member at Sports Illustrated. Here is Caitlin's email to me:
i signed you up for the 800m. it was really funny/sketchy because the office manager came over and asked me to sign up for the 800 and the shot putt...so i was like okay, and i did it, and then he looked around furtively and said..."your sister..." and I was like ohhh, you want me to.... and he nodded. so I was like uhhh and he was like ok she'll run the 800, you run the 400. DEAL! lol um...on october 20th, if we are still in Beijing, you are officially an SI employee for a day. and he said that if you run the 800 and i run the 400, we'll definitely win the competition. no pressure. love you! miss you already! ps i was like someone give me a shot put to practice with, i have never thrown one before...
Good old sibling, as she says, "I don't even know how to spell it, let alone throw it...is it put or putt?" She asked if they could give her one and they said, "Oh you want to practice with one?" And Caitlin goes, "Yeah. Also I have not even seen one before." But my money is still on sibling without a doubt.
Just when I though my little sibling could not be more of a rock star, we scored VIP tickets to The China Open. We watched Fernando Gonzales beat Tommy Rebredo 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. It was so funny to hear the collective, "Ai yaaaaaaas" and "Ai yoooooooooos" from the crowd when one of the player's hit the ball out or into the net. We were so close to the court that we realized if we cheered for Fernando, he could actually hear us! So we planned out and geared up for partnered cheers. People around us were amused and would turn and look at us every time. But we didn't hold a candle to the fiery force that was the Chilean crew behind us! People in our box took pictures of them, they were vocally gifted projectors and seriously spitted--- loved their energy! Fernando appreciated it too, he gave them a shout out during his victory speech at the awards ceremony.
Before the singles match we saw the doubles final as well. In between the two matches there were a few hours to walk around and we came upon a practice court with a good crowd. At first I could only see one woman playing on one side of the court. But then I heard Caitlin exclaim, "Amelie Mauresmo!" She was the player on the other side of the court, we couldn't believe it! I jumped up on a bench and watched her consistently nail backhands at her coach, she was drilling them with so much power, like Fernando powers his forehand. She was on a roll! Again, we couldn't believe how close she was--we could see all her muscles, she is one strong lady! Ironically, I had wanted to take a picture of her life-size poster board cut out at the entrance to the stadium but I didn't take it because I was a little embarrassed to do so in front of Caitlin's boss (even though he's the nicest guy) and now we have actual pictures of Mauresmo herself in action--captured all her muscles and everything:)
Next to Maureso, I am convinced Cay truly is the strongest and buffest gal in China. We have never seem other girls lift weights at our gym, and Caitlin outlifts some of the fellas! The other day she was lifting and one of the trainers came over and took weight off of hers to add to the person he was working with, and even after he had done so, Caitlin was still out lifting him by 22lbs! It's amazing how incredibly small the women are here. When I go shopping, I ask for the largest size they have. My skirt I purchased yesterday is an XXL, which is funny to me because in '01 I got pants here that were XXXL! A Ladies "small" in China would fit the children in our kindergarten....I wish I was kidding! Since I have been here, I would say I have seen a handful of women who are above a size 2. Negative 2 seems to be base line! And with all due respect to the fellas as well, there doesn't tend to be a whole lot to them either, especially the security guards. It's almost like a rule that to be one you have to be really thin.
Interestingly, China has security guards stationed everywhere all the time. They are at the entrance of every building you enter, sometimes you see them standing in the street. Some of them are so little, I think some are about 15 years old. I think even I could take one! My conservative estimate is that Caitlin could took take down about seven at once in about three and half seconds. It's empowering to feel so strong and big walking the streets here, oh the powers of relativity....
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