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Published: July 26th 2007
Hello ALL!! It has been a long time since I have been able to add an entry. Its been alot harder than I thought it would be to update because, 1. I dont have the internet at the apartment 2. there are no internet cafes here 3. the internet at school is soo slow! Also, there is nowhere to put my disk for my pics, so I am using alot of Jessica's pics for this entry. Let‘s move on...
Here in China So， I am here in China. I have been here since July 6th and will be here through the end of August. I came with my friend Jessica. Originally Jessica and I were supposed to be in Changde， in the Hunan province. But the second we arrived in Shanghi airport， we find out that we are now going to Jiaxing in the Zhejiang province. We met one of our co-workers named Kelly at the airport. She’s one of the sweetest Chinese people we have met here. So within a few more minutes we were whisked away into a cab， on our way to Jiaxing. We actually lucked out by having to go to Jiaxing， because there has
Our room
Our room, with the one hard bed we share...been terrible flooding in Hunan! After about an hour and a half we arrive to our apartment complex, all disheveled, tired, dont know what time it is, its dark, have no idea where we are! Eventually our 2 directors meet us and then they show us to our apartment. We start lugging our heavy bags up the stairs and we find out we are on the 7th floor - that is 126 steps everyday! NO elevator! We have concluded we will never get used to the stairs. The apartment is nice for what it is， but its hot a heck! We only have a/c in our bedroom, in which we SHARE a bed. Luckily Jexa and I are friends so we dont mind about the bed sharing. The bed is HARD, we pretty much sleep on a wood boxspring. I have gotten used to it I guess, but man I cannot wait to sleep on a nice soft bed again. The apartment overall is nice, with a kitchen with a stove, microwave, and toaster oven (no real oven). We have 2 tv‘s with one english speaking channel (thank god), and a DVD player. We do have a computer, but its
Pedicab
We spoil ourselves and take one to school every day :) only 4 rmb of no use with out the internet for us 😞 We have a bathroom, with a regular toilet (no hole in the ground!!), shower, and a clothes washer inside the shower. Then we have a small balcony for drying our clothes. Its a nice place， would just be nicer with a little more a/c in it and not have to walk 7 flights of stairs everyday.
The School I am here in China volunteering to teach english for 6 weeks. I know many people think its crazy to volunteer. Why not make money? But, I was not ready to commit to a contract for a year and wanted to see what the experience was like before I decided to commit to anything for a long period of time. And let me tell you, I have worked plenty of hours here for just volunteering! The days are long 8:30am-5:30pm, six days a week! We work with 2-12 year olds, teaching them phonics. I have anywhere from 5-7 classes (by myself, no translator), The classes are 40 mins each - I teach for 40 mins and the Chinese teacher teaches for another 40 mins. We are basically here to help them
Dinner w/ friends
Jessica and I at dinner w/ some friends we met in China with pronounciation of the words and with the younger kids we teach them the ABC's. I have learned how to make every letter of the alphabet with my body. I sing silly songs with them to help them learn. You just have to put yourself out there. The kids are cute, but quite naughty! Some are very sweet and others are very mis-behaved. Some know alot of english and others no absolutely none. It can get frustrating when I cannot communicate to them in Chinese when they do not understand my english and I have had some problems with kids. But I have made alot of progress since the first day teaching, and I have learned alot. I basiclally try to make learning english fun with alot of word games. I have found quite alot of games on the internet and I change them to fit my classes.
The City of Jiaxing We are in quite a nice city here in Zhejiang Povince. Zhejiang is well know for its capital city of Hangzhou (aka 'The most beatiful city in China'). We really did luck out here because Jiaxing is a quick train ride to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. Its
GanBei!!!
"Bottoms up" not a small city, and its not huge. I heard there is about 500,000 people. Jiaxing does have alot of western places like Wal-Mart, Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's, DairyQueen, Papa John's and Pizza Hut. They are not close to us, but there are about a 10-12 RMB cab (thats a little over 1 USD). Its always fun trying to order anywhere, but usually they can just look at us "oh they are foreingers" and they have the picture menu's ready. Alot of the resturaunts have food on display and you just point to what you want. It's still hard because you may not know whats inside, and what exactly the meat is. You just hope it tastes good when you get it. It's amazing how far my money has gone here. I havent had to go to the ATM yet and have been able to get by the past 3 weeks with only the cash I brought. I also made a few hundred RMB by modeling for this advertising agency (I know - its totally NOT like me, but it was for the money). It was modeling this escalator! haha.... cracks me up thinking back about it, but it was an
Dice Game
they have it at every bar... gets u messed up! interesting experience.
So I got this 'opportunity' to do a little modeling if thats what you want to call it. One of the students at the school, her father works at an advertising agency in the same building as our school. They wanted a 'western face' for an ad. So my director talks me into doing it. They would pay me 500 RMB for a few shots in buisness attire, on an escaltor. 500 RMB goes a long way here! So I decide to do it with Jessica's help (she was like my personal assistant and helped me communicate better with the Chinese guys). So, the guys who worked for the ad agency spoke NO english! It was an adventure trying to communicate with them. They had to buy me a dress, get me shoes, get my hair and make-up done. It was a 2 day ordeal, I am glad its done. The first day they took me to get a dress which they bought for me, too bad I don't really like it, but maybe I can fix it up when I get home. The whole time we are trying to get the dress and find the
Out with friends
when we actually have time! right dress, no one speaks english. They eventually call someone, who calls someone else, whose brother knows someone etc. etc. and they find some guy who speaks english and meets us at the mall. There are 3 Chinese men, trying to help me find a dress that is causual but buisness wear. It was quite funny, because they have no fashion sense and he did not like anything I chose. Thank god we came to some desion - of course its the first dress I had tried on! After we get the dress it was getting late, and they take us out to dinner. We were already tired, we had been at school all day, and hadn't been home yet. At dinner, they ordered plate after plate of food! It was so much food. They also ordered us beer after beer. Beer here, when served at the resturaunts, comes to the table in 22oz bottles! It's quite nice hehe... So back to dinner, they ordered so much food! Its very customary in Chinese culture to 'honor' the guests with lots a food and drinks and a good time. We felt very honored. Oh yea, one of the embarassing/funniest things happened
A typical dinner out
its customary to order alot of food when you go out with guests... its always too much!! (the V thing in front it duck tounge! tastes just how u think it would...) to me during dinner. First off, at the nice chinese restraunts they have the heavy nice chopsticks that I cannot use that well (I like the cheap wood ones!). So I am struggling to eat my dinner. We are trying to talk, but they don't know any english. Well I am eating, and then all the sudden my mouth feels like its on FIRE! My body turns hot, my face gets red, tears start swelling in my eyes, and my nose starts to run. I turn to Jessica who is laughing, but trying to help me get something - anything to cool off my mouth! I'm like 'Rice, water, something!!" and the chinese guys are just like...uhhh... I'm like freaking out, I never eat hot spicey things. Finally someone brings me water! And I got to the bathroom, dry my eyes, my nose. Man I felt so embarassed. Jess wanted to take a pic so bad, at the time I was like NO, but it would be funny to see what I had looked like.
The next day, we had to take the pictures on my break at school. They picked us up and took me to get my hair and makeup done. They cake on the makeup and foundation. As for my hair here, it sucks! I can't do anything with it because of the humidity. I thought by asking them to straighten it,it would be nice (Asian's have straight hair right!) , but yea it looked horrible since I didnt have MY products or MY straightener. Jessica helped me fix it up a bit. Then I have to get dressed, and I realize I never got shoes. The guys got me the shoes! The ugly gray lepord print heals with gawdy gold jewels on the top! Oh man....So then it's time to take the pics... I thought it would be in a nice studio. Oh no, we were definatly outside at 12 noon, the hottest time of day here. On an escaltor, in the sun! I couldn't stop sweating! Jessica is wiping my sweat between takes or fanning me. It was horrible. After 30 mins they were done. Doubt they will use the pics but its done!! And we got paid!! SO that was that....
Friends we have made and people we have met We have met alot of great people here in China! Both foreigners like us, and Chinese people as well 😊 It's hard to get by not speaking or understanding Chinese, but you can get by. But it helps to have friends that can speak it! We met a great Filipino teacher who teaches english here in Jiaxing. She introduced us to a very sweet Chinese girl Jolin. We had dinner with them one night and they took us to a club. There are no chill bars here, its all clubs with lights and techno music. Its fun, but it would be nice to have a chill place to drink. We make do. We also met 2 girls who are volunteering through the same program as Jessica and I. Megan and Maureen and they are from NY, Queens! holla... we've had some fun times here in Jiaxing and are going to Suzhou this weekend together!
So this entry is not my best, but I've had to make do with a slow computer and no time! I didnt get to edit so I will have to do that later, I just wanted to get it up 😊 I have about 3 more weeks here in Jiaxing befor I head off to tour more of China and then SE Asia. I am going to try and add a few more entries ASAP....I miss everyone! Hope all is well at home <3
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Ash-hole
non-member comment
My friend is an international model!
I miss you so much Cara, more than you could ever imagine! I am so happy that you are having such a great time. I can't wait to see all your pictures, because I know that you are taking a lot. Reading your blog is the best and I love reading about your adventures! Keep up the good work. I am sure that the kids are absolutely in love with you and look forward to all your lessons. I can't wait to see yours songs and dances in person. So will you have your modeling on your resume now? International Supermodel! Miss you and love you tons!