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Published: July 11th 2009
Outdoor Stand
This lady was super excited when I asked her if I could take a picture of her stand. I ended up emailing the picture to one of her friends.Hello friends!
Life continues in China. A new week has gone past and I am settling into my new enviroment even more than before. I have been running around like crazy from place to place, maybe even more so than the first week. Also I've been trying to dig a little deeper into the culture trying new foods, attempting to speak chinese, and exploring Zhongshan.
I have learned that being a new American resident in a city of 2 million Chinese and about a dozen at most Americans means getting shown off A LOT. I have had a 'showing' at dinner events, welcoming parties, and class parties almost everyday. I really kinda like it, you get to eat and drink seriously GREAT (but sometimes seriously scary) food and hang out at some nice resturant while someone else foots the bill. You also get to be the center of attention but they know I don't speak Chinese so there is really no pressure to put on a show.
Well... One particular story needs to be told about these "welcoming dinners." My school TPR was taking me out for a VERY nice and VERY traditional dinner with all of the
Money
Mao Tse Tung is on almost every bill so I showed the reverse side of most of the bills. The different sizes are a pain in your wallet. important people from my school. I was with directors of the different schools from all over the area. This was THE dinner where I TRUELY wanted to impress and be a great guest for my new employers. The dinner is moving along nicely although some of the food is... questionable. They keep bringing out plate after plate of new things for everyone to try. I have NO idea what I am eating half the time but I'm trying to be polite and dig down deep and finish off the last of my pig knuckle, seriously, when they bring out these dough balls. They are these pastry balls filled with this delicious yellow sweet substance. I tried my first one and it was unquestionably delicious, especially after fighting through some other less pleasant items earlier. I am paying little attention to the rest of the table while I mindlessly munch away at these delicious dough balls. I can vividly remember having eaten three dough balls already and looking up at the table and noticing that everyone else at the table was doing something to their dough balls.. Something was terribly wrong. EVERYONE was politely peeling off a paper wrapper that was
Lunch
a typical meal I've been eating. Soup at the top right and a deadly but tasty peppery concoction at the bottom right. stuck to the bottom of EVERY dough ball. I honestly had NOT noticed at ALL! Here I was their new hire happily eating a lot of paper like it was chocolate cake on my birthday! I can not IMAGINE what all of the big whigs were thinking while they watched me, the big goofy foreigner, devour all those paper treats. I just... I just can't believe I did that. No one ever said a word about it and I started teaching today, so I guess I still have the job. Oh boy.
New and different food and stores are everywhere. I am attracted to the cheap local spicy foods, but I often end up paying for it later. I can't speak Chinese so I have memorized the local resturants with picture menus around my apartment. You can get a decent full meal for around $1.25 USD. Despite being unable to speak Chinese I can shop and navigate around the city with relative ease thanks to some "cheat sheets". The school has written down for me in Chinese some important things. I have a paper that has my apartment address, the southern school address, and the northern school address in
My apartment?
I was taken to this steak house across town by a motorcycle taxi one night when I was TRYING to go home. Oh well, new sights to see. Chinese. I also have an english street map of the city with important locations like malls, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, clubs and even hospitals (they didn't forget you mom!). I jump in any taxi and point at the address I want and off we go. A cab ride from one end of the city to the other will cost around $1.50 USD, awesome.
I finished my first class today. I had 4, 5, and 6 year olds! Rest assured 4, 5, and 6 year olds act their age regardless of where they are from. I am not really sure how I am going to teach English to these kids who are still trying to master Chinese but I get a TA for help and I'll manage. They are all adorable and its hard to not just roll around on the floor and play like the goofy kid I am.
Next week I'll have a full teaching week under my belt and I'll have some pictures of the school and other stuff then. Some of the pictures this week are missing text unless you view them on the text page not sure why. A huge THANK YOU for all
Electric Bike
Anyone who is anyone has an electric bike in this town. People will ride these 3 deep in rush hour traffic too. the comments! It feels good knowing there are people back in the states listening. Zài jiàn!
P.S. and FYI facebook is currently DOWN. Email me at nathankoffel@yahoo.com if you need to reach me.
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Chris
non-member comment
Well rounded diet
So glad to see that you have added roughage to your diet, try hard not to use the directions for the hospital. Love Mom.