Less teaching, more randomness

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HELLO 2010! Can't believe it. Just a year ago we were at a friend's house in Seattle ringing in 2009 and reflecting on everything that had happened in 2008. I'm sure we'll get to a point in our lives where things seem a little more routine, but every year we've spent together thus far has been filled with lots of changes. 2007: moved to Corvallis, got engaged. 2008: moved to Seattle, got married. 2009: went to Paris & Dublin, quit our jobs, moved to CHINA! 2010: adjust back to life in the states eventually. Weird.

What has happened since last time we wrote? Hmm. Less teaching, more 'nowism' moments as usual. Tuesday was spent watching crazy-over-the-top performances done by various staff, students and alumni to celebrate Bao Gao's 10th birthday. All the student performers had on really fancy formal wear and the girls wore TONS of makeup. It was weird, and had some moments that left us trying not to crack up, but all in all we were glad to be invited to it and get to share in the moment. Tuesday evening, we watched the finals of a choral competition that our classes have been preparing for for months, so that was cool. We took videos and pictures of everything, just need to find the time and patience to upload them. 😊

Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the front gate at 8am, as Harry had instructed us to do. There we found a small black car and a man who spoke a little English waiting to pick us up. All we knew was that we were headed to judge some English competition- we didn't know where or anything else. I contemplated this as we sped through crazy China traffic to our unknown destination- how many times during this year in China have we gone with someone who we didn't know, completely trusting? Ohh, China.

We ended up pulling up to the China UK College in Bao'an, a pretty well-known private school that focuses a bit more on English. We found out we were the sole foreign judges for a primary English speech contest of kids all over Bao'an District. It was ADORABLE. The kids were all in 5th or 6th grade, which made for a fun and different interaction than we are used to getting every day with our high schoolers. There were 27 kids in total, and each one made a 3 minute speech on the question "I wonder why?" We got copies of the speeches to read along with, and you could tell many of their parents had written them, or some tutor- what 11 year old kid uses the word 'psychological'? We again had to ask a question after each speech, related to the speech somehow, which is always hard for us. You don't want to embarrass the poor kids! My favorite moment came when I asked one girl what her favorite subject to learn in school was, a direct connect to her speech. She bowed, smiled very big and said "Thank you for your question. One day, I hope to become friends with an alien!' and skipped off the stage. It was incredible. The kids were all super smiley and excited to see us- most of the parents were in the audience, as well as some of the primary students that go to the UK College. While they were tallying up the results, the kids took turns asking us questions about our lives and complimenting us on our English. Well, thanks, I guess your Chinese is pretty good too! 😊 We took many many pictures with various students and parents and left with a whopping 1600 kuai total (~234 USD) in our pockets for the 2.5 hours of our time. Not bad, yeah? AND we got to skip teaching our regular classes that day!

Earlier in the week, we'd asked Harry if we could have Thursday afternoon off so that we could leave early for Hong Kong. It worked out great- Martin taught one class in the morning and I taught 2, leaving us free after 12:15pm. We took off in our bus to the airport and then down to Ke Xue Guan, the area near Chinese class, to meet up with Pete and Elyse so that the four of us could cross the border together. We checked into the YesInn hostel in Fortress Hill, a neighborhood on Hong Kong Island that none of us had been to yet. The hostel was AMAZING. So much cleaner than anything we'd ever stayed in with cute decorations. It was definitely more expensive than usual, but worth it for New Years Eve. We had a pretty nice room with a double bed bunk bed and attached bathroom for the 4 of us. Cali and Jimmy met us at the hostel around 6pm, and the six of us got Indian food at a restaurant in the downstairs part of our hostel. We then hung out for a couple hours in our hostel room, enjoying mixed drinks with alcohol we'd bought duty free at the border. Around 10pm, we headed out to Central on the metro and met up with two other couples in the program (one of them being Kris and Kelly). We spent the remainder of the evening laughing and being ridiculous near the waterfront, and of course joining in the countdown and firework watching with a million other people at midnight. It was fantastic, and pretty amazing to be in such a crazy world city for the New Year celebration.

We woke up Friday morning and again met up with Cali and Jimmy- the six of us ventured off to get breakfast, 1/3 of us being truly successful. Cali and Jimmy opted for the Flying Pan, a 24 hour breakfast place, while the 4 of us were lured in by a brunch special at the Mexican place next door. A mexican wrap and your choice of sangria, a margarita, bloody mary or fruit juice, all for 98 kuai? Now you're talking! Unfortunately, the place was incredibly slow on service, even running out of eggs while we were there. We waited 40 minutes, and then left to go find an alternative. The plus side? We got our drinks for free! We ended up eating at a really cute sandwich place, not exactly the same, but still delicious. After eating, Elyse and I opted to stay on HK Island and hit up H&M while the rest of the group ventured over to Kowloon to go see "Avatar" in 3D IMAX at a brand new cinema (they'd reserved seats the day before). Elyse and I got to watch a protest happening in the streets when we came out of H&M- something you definitely don't see in mainland China! I fully support you, Democracy Now in HK! Shh, I didn't say that.

Elyse and I then took the metro up to what is known as the 'Ladies Market'- just an outdoor setup of TONS of vendors selling anything you could possibly want. Elyse got cute shoes and I got wallets for myself and Martin, and then we headed to meet our movie-goers. We all ended the night eating at a different and amazing Mexican restaurant. Hands down, Mexican and Indian food are my absolute favorite. I can't wait to get them both more regularly when we return to the states!

Saturday morning all of us went our separate ways to get different errands done before heading back to Shenzhen. Martin and I got brunch in Soho, a nice part of Hong Kong Island, rode the ferry across Victoria Harbor, drank coffee at my favorite place (Pacific Coffee Company) and exchanged some RMB into USD...WEIRD. Cambodia apparently prefers USD to their own currency, so we needed to be prepared for our upcoming trip. It feels pretty strange having US bills in our hands after so many months!

Upon returning to Shenzhen, we realized we had forgotten Martin's power cord to his laptop in our hostel room. HUGE bummer. We jumped the gun and ordered a new one at an Apple reseller store in downtown Shenzhen...and now know our old one is sitting in Lost and Found at the hostel. So, we'll probably make a trip back soon to get it, as it would be nice to still have. Perhaps we can sell the new one on the street? 😊 Maybe?

Yesterday, Sunday, was spent just lounging around our place. Our students had class but we didn't have to teach. A Senior 3 student had left us a note over the weekend asking if she could come by 3 times a week for 30 minutes to practice her oral English-- they have exams coming up in March, I guess. We had the first chance to chat with her yesterday, and I'm sure it'll be fun and interesting to learn about her life. She has 4 siblings and divorced parents- something that isn't too common here! Today, we woke up knowing that I had 3 afternoon periods and Martin had the day off. However, at lunch Harry informed us that the head of English for Bao'an School District needed a favor from us and my classes would be rearranged (read: most likely skipped for the week). Another strange man in a random van picked us up outside our school's gates at 2:30 and we were driven to the district offices to do some voice recording work for upcoming exams. We recorded material for grade 3 through Senior 2 and were there for about 2 hours, leaving with 1200 kuai (~175 USD) in our pockets this time! Not too shabby. We don't have tutoring gigs like the majority of the people in our program (we live too far away from anything), so these little things here and there kind of help make up for it.

The other big news of the week, if you're still reading is that we booked our return flight home! We paid upfront with the travel agency the program uses for a roundtrip flight from-to Seattle but had to firm up a return date come January. We're officially flying from Hong Kong-Seattle on Tuesday, July 6th. Of course the first few days will be spent laying around jetlagged with family, but we hope to see a lot of you fairly soon afterwards. We don't know yet what life will bring as far as jobs for when we get back or even what city we'll be in, but we'll let you know as soon as some decisions are made! 😊 Our teaching contract ends June 15th, so we hope to leave our stuff here at school and travel to Singapore & Indonesia before finally coming home. It'll be weird to come back to the states, that's for sure...China is feeling like home.

Hope 2010 has started out happy and healthy for all of you!

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