Shell in China

This weekend my host family took us on a little vacation. Boy was it interesting!
Where do I start? I'll just give you the brief overview.

We left here at 7 AM on Saturday and got back about 4 PM Sunday. We went to the mountains and visited several waterfalls and rivers. Mom would have loved it- to get to everything we kept having to cross these rickity suspension bridge things. The one picture is of me sneering at the bridge that I already crossed, but know I have to go back on again. I look excited, right? Some of them had an awful lot of sway room!!

The waterfalls were cool--nowhere near Iguazu, but cool nonetheless.

Our hotel was interesting. Our room was about half the size of our room here and all it was was a bed. The bathroom was down the hall (I accidentally used the mens' room! Since we all use squatty-potties, it doesn't really make a difference- you can't tell which is which, but still! That was a little embarrasing to start the weekend off! We don't study the characters at all, but I guess there are some I'd better learn! In town everything is in Roman letters, but not in the country!) The bed was basically a board with a sheet on it! Seriously, the time I slept on the floor (Shannon will remember the lady golfer blanket!) at Jeremy's house was softer than this bed was. I had to use my blanket to cushion my hips! I think they are bruised now!

The food was interesting. The first day the lunch table had a whole rabbit that looked like it had been Shake N Baked! Ack!! We ate constanly this weekend, lots of snacks, but then we ate regular meals too! We had a BBQ on the porch Saturday night and everyone sat around and started at the Americans. I did have this really tasty snack that was kind of like a Rice-crispy treat, but it had nuts in it and some other weird thing that I didn't ask about, becasue I figured if I liked it, I should just go with it! Once I know what is in it, I may never eat it again!

Oh, and we tried to learn to play Mah-jong. Thad played and I watched and together we tried to figure it out, but we weren't too successful. ON the other hand, Americans learning "their game" was quite entertaining and we had a whole circle of people around us watching the fun!

The one picture is me with a little girl we met at the river. She was talking to our host mom for a long time and then she brought me flowers and talked to me in English for just a second. She was really cute and loved to talk. She was like the Kels of China!!

The other picture is our host family!

I need to preface this by saying that the other set of pictures and explinations that I posted somehow ended up in a backward order! I guess it kept putting the pictures at the top of the page, so read the comments in the opposite order. I don't think it is too hard to figure out which picture goes with which comment. For instance, Thad and I are obviously not the Chinese dancers! hehe...

I just wanted to post two more quick pictures of stuff going on here so that everyone at home has a better idea of what our daily life is like. Remember, I spend four hours of my life each morning in Chinese class. One of the pictures is of the place where I spend that time. We have these little box-like rooms that we go to each morning. There are four students and one teacher, so there is more than enough room, but it is a small space for a long period of time each day.

The other picture is of our morning break. Peace Corps provides some snacks for our morning break, which usually consist of coffee, tea, crackers and Oreos! Yes, I said it, Oreos!! There are always a few rolls of them sitting around and rarely do they still exist at the end of break! The picture is of Ben with the daily Oreos! Ben is in my language group and since coming to China has discovered his English name means "stupid" in Chinese! All the Chinese people love to tell him this! :)

(So, the moral of the Oreo story is, if you are contemplating sending me a package of goodies {which I am sure everyone, family and students alike are doing!}, don't include Oreos. I have had more of them here than I ever did in the States. What I would really love is a bowl of FruitLoops or Capt'n Berry Crunch! Cereal is not easily found here!)

The last picture is my Chinese class. Phil and I are seated and then Ben, Justin and Li Laoshi are standing in the back. Don't we look thrilled after 4 hours of class?

As promised, here are some pictures of our latest outings in China.
The first one is of the dancers at the Sichuan Opera.



This second one is of the musician playing his Er-hu. (An instrument with two stings that is played with a bow. Maybe K-town could pick this up with her stringed instrument background!)




This picture is of the mask-changing dance. This doesn't do it justice. The dances wear these masks that they are able to change with the flick of their heads. Not only does the entire mask change color and pattern, but they even go from being full-masks to half-masks to nothing and then a new mask appears. It was an awesome peformance to watch and I really hope to get to see another one while I am here!! (I want to figure out exactly how it is done!)


This last picture is of Thad and I after the Sichuan Opera. We went on our anniversary, so this is us celebrating 8 years of wedded bliss!

This is me talking to Matt via Skype! Yeah for the Internet!
Ni hao! It is time for another update from Chengdu, China. This have been crazy and busy here for the last week. We are doing Pre-Service Training. We’ve been split into three hub sites to study and prepare for the coming two years. Our site is Sichuan Normal University- Main Campus. I have really enjoyed everyone that is at this site. We all seem to get along really well and have a good time hanging out. (Or as the Chinese would say, “playing.” That seems to be the verb of choice for all recreational activities. It is something we will work on in Oral English.)
Our home-stay is going well. Thad and I are thrilled to have Internet access in our bedroom. It has been great to use Skype to talk with my family.
The food here tends to be really spicy, which just isn’t my thing, but I am dealing with it! I eat a lot of rice and some potatoes and other odds and ends. Also, I keep stocked up on cookies from the store on campus! Yeah healthy eating!!
We have started “Model School,” which is basically a crash course in teaching skills. We have each been given an Oral English class to teach for the next three weeks. Some people teach four days a week and some teach five. Of course, I got five! Also, I have forty-one students, while some people have fifteen! I am not sure how that works out, but it isn’t a big deal in the long run. Three weeks is such a short amount of time to do anything; I’ll survive.
We were talking about driving and bike-riding skills in Model School today and I asked my class if they purposely aimed for the “lao wai” (foreigners) when they were out and about! They said no, but it sure feels that way sometimes. There are always bikes and motor scooters and cars coming my direction. The kids thought it was funny that I asked.
Our next three weeks are pretty routine. We have language class for four hours in the morning, prep-time and then Model School. The only variation is Wednesdays are set aside for medical information. Last week we learned more than anyone would ever want to know about diarrhea (including WAY too personal of stories from some people!) and this week is Avian flu.

Chendgu is an interesting city, but I do look forward to finding out where our site placement will be. We were told that we would know sometime in the beginning of August.
Until then, zaijian from Chengdu!

China…where to start? We have been here just over a week and gone from home for almost two. In a way it seems like just yesterday that we left, but it also feels like forever since I’ve seen or spoken to my family. I am so grateful for Internet. We keep getting told that this is not our mom’s Peace Corps and they are not kidding! We have internet access and some people are even talking about buying cell phones here! I am not sure that a cell phone would be that great of a deal, but the idea is crazy! Peace Corps will phones and email? Where is the mud hut and murky water? Not that I am complaining though! Our city has millions of people in it, so we can find nearly anything once we figure out where to look. Okay, well, not anything. Deodorant and “feminine products” are hard to come by, but otherwise we’re good!

Today was a good day, but busy. It is 8 PM here, which means 6 AM in Idaho. We get up at 6:30 every morning and have to leave the house by 7:30. We do eat a full breakfast each morning, so that takes awhile! The walk to school is about 25 minutes, but it isn't a tough one. We meander and talk and usually meet up with other PCVs on the way and discuss our host families, breakfast, life in the States, etc. Class starts at 8 AM. Most days it is 4 hours of language, but it does deviate. For example, tomorrow is a big day because the region director for Europe, Asia and the Middle East is going to be here to visit. We have all been instructed to dress nicely and be good! IT means no language class, but meetings instead. Also, we have a medical meeting about diarrhea (fun!) and more shots. Lunch is always on our own. We usually just point to something on a menu and hope for the best. Everything is in the characters (hanzi), which none of us know! After lunch is teacher training, so that can get redundant, but a lot of people have no education background, so it is needed. On the walk home we often stop at this little pool house and play cards for half an hour before we all go to our houses for dinner. I am always trying to help with dinner, but my host mom isn’t a fan of that. She usually gives me some menial chore, like wash the salad greens and then boots me out of the kitchen and slides the door shut behind me. After dinner we hang out and try to talk or watch TV, of which we understand nothing! Soap operas and Chinese “American Idol” are popular here. Once we have hung out for a while, I usually head to our room to email, read, write in my journal and study.
So there is a glimpse into the typical day of a Peace Corps China trainee. While it appears to be redundant, the language classes are challenging and definitely provide new ideas each day!

Good morning from Chengdu, China! It is 6 AM Sunday morninghere, which means for the southern Idaho folk, it is 5 PM on Sunday night.

We have been in China for a little over a day now, but we're still as lost as ever! We've spent a lot of time in class and eating. Eating is a major part of life here and we have had three very large meals already. The food is spicy and everything is cooked in sauce-- two of my favorite things! (NOT!!) I have been able to pick through it and find enough to eat. I think the key is to put stuff on your plate, move it around a bit and wait out the rice! White rice comes at the end of the meal, so I just make it look like I am eating more than what I really am! I don't know how long this strategy will work, but for now it is the game plan.

We have our first language class today. It is going to be tough, but it will be nice to finally get going on that aspect of our training. So far a lot of what we have done is talk about what we will be doing, which after awhile can get frustrating. Let's do something! :)

I'm off to breakfast now. Keep in touch! (Oh- for MMS students- please keep emailing. I will probably send responses back bulk, so I will respond to several of your letters at a time. I do want to hear from all of you, but it takes forever to respond individually to your emails, and since I am telling most of you the same things, I'll just send a group one. Thanks for the emails so far!)