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Published: July 18th 2009
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Zhongshan
The eastern part of the city is really amazing come night fall. Hi America,
I have been in country for three weeks now. Life is going exceedingly well. My stomach can finally handle the mysterious street vendor dumplings I can't seem to keep away from. I'm finding teaching to be quite an adventure in itself. Finally just the other day I took a quick trip to Guangzhou and met a load of europeans (good luck Eddie).
I'm getting taken to less "show off the big white American" type dinners, so now I have to order my own food and pay for it too. Ordering food is a total crap shoot if you don't have a picture menu. I was trying a new place (no picture menu) on monday and wanted any type of chicken and rice dish. I did my best chicken impression and also said the chinese word for rice, Mi fan. I got smiles and nodding, food was on the way. Well they brought me a cold dead boiled chicken, head and all. Luckily they remembered my rice, on the side. This past week I have had spicy fish head soup (don't eat the eyes), pickled seaweed, and fried chicken feet among other things. By the end of this
Bridge in Zhongshan
Beautiful. The entire riverwalk lights up at night. trip I will be able to eat anything.
I really like teaching. The kids can be a lot of fun at times but often they are really shy and quiet. The public schools are very strict and put a lot of pressure on them to perform. I teach at a private langauge school so it's a little more laid back thankfully. It has been difficult getting them to open up but when they do it's wonderful. The students all choose an english name at the beginning of the term. Some of the students already have names, Yoyo, Angel, Ivy and others. The rest I help them pick a name. I was naming them after friends and family such as Becca, Peter, Jonathan, Michelle, Kevin, and others. Now I've gotten slightly more creative.. I have one class composed almost entirely of NBA players and female politicians. Kobe, Lebron, Yao complimented with Hillary, Madeleine, and Sarah. I love it. I am not very good with the entire dicipline bit yet. I brought with me a bunch of english stickers that I've been using as bribes. The stickers say things like "Number One!," "Super!" and "You're Great!". I am running out at
Tai Chi
Late night Tai Chi session at the Zhongshan light tower. I need to take lessons. a scary rate. Once the cookie jar is empty I may have my hands full (mom).
I had two days off so I decided to head to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a huge city of something on the order of 10 million plus. I found a bus ticket for 46 yuan and took off thursday morning. I got there around noon and spent the next four hours exploring/looking for the youth hostel. I could have gotten there quicker with a cabbie and my map but I wanted to wander around a bit. At the youth hostel I met a ton of great people. All told we had representatives from Ireland, England, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Canada, and the states. I made fast friends with two kids from Germany, and a beautiful blonde girl from Holland. They all spoke perfect english which I guess is normal? They had a festival that night on the river boardwalk. Music, food, and games, it was a great scene. Hopefully I can get back there when I have time again, but I think next stop is Shenzhen (another huge city right across the bay). The next day I grudgingly took a bus home to
Zhongshan. When we arrived I was convinced I was in the wrong city. I didn't recognize any of the ride back and when we stopped I was lost. I hailed a cab and asked him in Chinese, "what is this?" and pointed around in a circle. He said Zhongshan. Turns out it was just a part of the city I had never seen, although it was VERY nerve racking for a moment.
Well I'm beat and I have nothing else good to say... I've been making some mini movies and hope to get some footage up soon.. that should be fun. Until then thank you friends and family, Zai Jain!
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kkoffel
non-member comment
You said you wanted a life time adventure....It sounds and looks to me like you're living it. I'm jealous! We love the blog. Keep enjoying yourself