2 Years in China

2 years in China already? Time flies! I seriously can’t believe it’s been that long! When I first moved out here, I was only expecting to stay for 10 months and then travel back to the US. Well, 2 years later, I’m still out here in the PRC, and feel I have a lot to learn in this country!

The other night, while running with Mike, I told him I wasn’t sure how to re-cap my two year experience. He then asked me to name off some of the more memorable moments, which led to the list below.

IN SHANGHAI, LIVING AT SHSID

• First day of arrival – “What have I done?” I remember thinking this when I first stepped into the teacher dorms at SHSID 2 years ago. I had just arrived in Shanghai, was picked up by our international teacher coordinator, sat through a dizzying car ride from Pudong airport to the lovely school campus on Bai Se road and got dropped off in front of Building #4. The room wasn’t terrible, but it was certainly a step down from my previous living conditions. Anyway, this became my home in Shanghai in 10 months, where I survived with 1 plate, 1 spoon, 1 bowl and 2 pairs of chopsticks.

My kitchen at SHSID

The bedroom

Morning exercises for the local students

• Orientation – “OMG. I’m going to die.” I muttered these words when I first received my teaching schedule. The school administrators assigned 5 different courses to me – 4th grade Science, 5th grade Geography, 6th grade ESL English, 10th grade Economics and of course, the dreadful 12th IB Economics. No other teacher had this many different courses to teach, and no other teacher had to straddle between 3 different classroom buildings. I think I went home that day, wondering why did I quit my job to bust my ass off when I was suppose to be on a “career break”.

• First day of school – Kids, kids and kids. Frankly, the first day of school was quite a blur, but I do remember feeling a bit nervous. I organized and re-organized my lesson plans 20x trying to figure out how to fill 60 minutes of class time. I remember walking into class and seeing 15 students staring blankly at me, nervous and unsure whether they would like me. The first class I taught was 6th grade ESL English, and those students would later turn out to be some of the sweetest kids I taught. Anyway, from that day on, the rest of the school year was quite a blur – everyday I would see throngs and throngs of screaming children carrying backpacks twice their sizes, running around and making me dizzy.

• Dione - As a teacher, you’re not suppose to have any favorites, but honestly, if I were to think about all of my students, the one who sticks out the most is Dione. I think I wrote about her in my other posts, and I tell stories about her the most. She was loud, obnoxious, and bratty, but she was also super cute with her big glasses and 2 ft. tall frame. Some memorable moments with little Dione: taking care of her when she was feverish and sick, printing extra copies of homework and study sheets for her to study with, making her cry when I busted her in class for passing notes, ignoring her while she spoke to me in Cantonese, hahahah, this kid was so cute.

Dione, Nancy and Sophie

• IB Econ Days – Ugh, those IB Econ days were dreadful. I never knew what I was teaching and literally winged it for the entire school year. I remember staying up late on Wed and Thurs nights trying to study econ myself so I could teach the content to the class. I also remember holding multiple after school sessions prepping the students for the big IB exams, hoping I would not be held responsible if they didn’t score well. Luckily, all of them passed and 13 out of the 15 students got the highest scores.

TRAVELING – One of my favorite things to do in Asia is to travel. The trips listed below are my most memorable ones, but that doesn’t mean the other places that didn’t make it onto this list weren’t fun either. It’s just that the 5 listed below have impacted my life more than the others.

• Guilin/Yangshuo – This was my first trip in China since moving out here. It was the perfect holiday getting to know my fellow teacher friends and seeing the southern countryside. Yangshuo in my opinion is still one of the prettiest places I’ve seen.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (in Yangshuo)

• Cambodia – Of all of my trips abroad, Cambodia is probably one of the more memorable ones. Walking through Steung Meanchey was horrifying, yet eye opening, and I’m so happy I had a chance to see it. Seeing the Cambodian Children’s Fund sites reminds me that there is hope and goodwill in this world of suffering. Climbing the temples of Angkor was an amazing experience too. While I may not visit Cambodia for awhile, it’s definitely one of my favorite countries.

• Huangshan – What better place to have your first date than climbing the Yellow Mountain? :)

• Boracay, Philippines – I went there this February and tried scuba diving for the first time. Loved it so much I got my Open Water certification, and now I’m excited to dive in other places. I can still remember the first time I swam past a school of fish and seeing Mike wave his hand on the other side of it. It’s a totally different world under water!

Taking a break with my instructor Alvin

• Xinjiang – Seeing Mike, Jason and Kevin cross the Gobi Desert finish line was really cool (even though everybody stank and smelled like hot and sour soup, haha). Seeing the rest of Kashgar and learning more about the Uighur culture was also incredible. Luckily, we were in Xinjiang before the riots broke out.

BEIJING – I can’t post this without writing anything about Beijing. First, all of my buddies in the Jing will probably kill me, and second, I do enjoy living in Beijing a lot. Some foreigners say that the people who live in Beijing choose to stay in China for the long-run. I may have to second that opinion :)

• First day in Beijing – Just like the first day when I moved to Shanghai, I was also a little nervous when I first moved to Beijing. I showed up with the same two suitcases I brought with me to Shanghai, and was picked up by my buddy Rob, who to this day I am extremely grateful for his hospitality. He brought me to my apartment, took me out for lunch, and told me to call him if I ever need anything. Thanks Rob, you’re an awesome friend, and I need to take you out for steak dinners more.

The Bird's Nest

• 2008 Olympics – Very cool. Enough said.

• North Face Challenge – My first long distance race, and definitely, not going to be the last.
  

• Meeting all of my buddies in the Jing – I don’t think living in the Jing would be as fun without all of the wonderful people I met. It’s nice to have a comfortable network of friends who look out for each other. We’re all living out here on our own, taking charge of our careers and pioneering unchartered territories. As Joyce says, we're sort of like a pseudo-family to each other.

So there you have it – memorable moments in China. There’s a lot more, but like I said before, these are the ones that stick out the most. I have no idea how long I’ll stick around for, but until that day comes, I’m not going to worry about it and try to maximize my experience here.

Tokyo

It's been a week since I've been back in the Jing, but I have to finish off my Japan trip with one final post: Tokyo! Sorry for the delay, but work has been non-stop since I came back, and with Blogger and Picasa being blocked and all, you really do lose your motivation to post things on the blog every now and then.

Anyway, so after we left Hakone, we spent the last two days of our trip in Tokyo (東京), Japan's capital and one of the greatest cities of the world. I have to say, after spending much of our time in the quieter areas of Japan, it felt nice to be "back in civilization". Not to say that the other places aren't civilized, but a city girl will always crave the fast paced, dynamic lifestyle I guess :).

We woke up early on Friday morning and visited the Tsujiki Fish Market, where approximately 2 billion yen worth of seafood are transacted everyday. If you're looking for fresh seafood, this is definitely the place to visit. If you're looking for some of the best sushi in the world, there's really no other place better than Tsujiki.

The Tsujiki Fish Market - it's another world out there!

Anybody want fish?

Look how big the tuna is!

Sadly, whale is still considered a delicacy in Japan

Octopus for sale

Tuna fish cheeks...ewwww

I have no idea what these fishes are called, but they look like blocks of wood!

From the large fish to the tiny ones!

Here's a pic of Sherman and I on Friday night. We had sushi at Tsujiki! YUM!


We walked around the city a bit after the fish market - here's the HQ building of the Japanese beer company, Asahi!

Our last dinner in Japan was at a spider crab restaurant. This was our poor little victim.

We cooked it a la shabu shabu style

Pretty fresh right?

So that concludes my trip to Japan! I spent the rest of my time in Tokyo shopping on Ginza street. Came back with a new handbag and four new fabulous pairs of shoes, but all of my um, needs certainly placed a dent on my wallet! Oh well. It was a great family trip and hope you enjoyed all of the pictures! I certainly did :)

R&R in Hakone

After feeling rather exhausted from walking & sightseeing in Kyoto and Nara, we made a stop in Hakone before we headed back to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Located less than 100 kilometers from Tokyo, Hakone was famous for its hot springs, outdoor activities, and natural beauty. It was also the perfect stop for some rest and relaxation!

We got in on Wednesday, and our first stop was at Owakudani Crater, an area of bubbling hot springs that still exists 3,000 years after Mount Hakone, now an extinct volcano, erupted. It's nicknamed "The Valley of Hell" and if you look at the picture below, you can probably figure out why.

At the crater, our guide bought us a couple of eggs and cooked them in the hot springs! Apparently, this is the thing to do at Owakudani, and the Japanese believe it's lucky to eat the egg (adds 7 extra years to your life). The iron sulfite in the water changed the color of the egg shells from white to black! We each had one, and now I'm wondering if the egg really did add seven years to my life.

Our next stop was at Lake Ashi, where we admired the picturesque scenery (and somewhat kitschy boats).

We rode a pirate's ship to cross the lake. AARRRGGHH!!!!

When we got to the other side of the lake, we walked around and admired the scenery

Then we stopped for a pose with a couple of Japanese boys

Finally, we reached our ryokan! For those of you who don't know, a ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn that's also a spa resort. You sleep on a tatami-matted floor and enjoy soaking in the hot springs, which are suppose to relieve muscle fatigue (which was much needed after all the walking we did!) and purify your system. Our ryokan also served spa-like meals in the rooms, so it was nice to have a little bit of rest and relaxation mid-way through our trip! Here's a view of our ryokan from the distance:

Here's a view of our room (with my mom donning a yukuta robe & pretending to be Japanese)! Anybody want tea?

Uncle Vincent pretending to be Japanese

and me pretending to be Japanese!

We ate a rather lavish meal that consisted of fish and tofu

After dinner, well, since there wasn't any internet access or anything else to do besides soaking in the hot springs, we got a little bored...now what?

So we laid around and took some silly pictures...like me being FOBBY...

and my mom pretending to be a fish

We also played around with the self-timer on the camera (after I saw Lauren's family photo in Paris :) thanks for the idea!)...but basically we went to bed at 9 pm because we didn't know what to do! In fact, I felt like we had a slumber party a la Japanois style...

But when we woke up the morning we saw a really pretty view outside the window...and enjoyed one more soak in the hotsprings

Then we packed up, hopped on the train and went to Tokyo! Stay tuned for the next post!

Nara

Took an excursion to Nara, a nearby city yesterday. Here's a slideshow of the pictures!

Kyoto

We're finally finished with exploring Kyoto. The past three days have been filled with endless walking, sightseeing and of course, eating!

Kyoto is an old city that was founded in year 794 and was home to Japan's imperial families for almost 1,000 years. The city today is a quaint mixture of old and new, and contains approximately 2,000 shrines and temples. 2,000 shrines and temples!! With this many temples, you can only imagine how peaceful this city is.

We spent the first day walking around Gion, the old district. This is also where we caught a glimpse of two geishas walking around!

Uncle Vincent having a good time in Gion

One of the many Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto. Unlike the Chinese Buddhist temples which are covered with many colors and decorative drawings, the Japanese ones are much simpler in design, reflecting a purer perspective. I like the Japanese ones better :)

A Zen garden

This temple had rows and rows of lanterns hanging to welcome the ancestors back to Kyoto

Jojakko-ji Temple, which means "everlasting pure land". The little stones are nameless gravestones of the thousands of people who died during the Adashino area from the Heian to the Edo periods.

Beautiful bamboo groves


We had a Zen vegetarian meal for lunch. There wasn't any meat in it, but lunch was really delicious and filling! Who knew you could make so many varieties of food with tofu?

Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion, one of the most visited temples in Kyoto. The entire top part of the pavilion is covered in gold foil!

A kimono fashion show. The long sleeves mean she's single. Shorter sleeves are for married women.

We also went to a traditional tea ceremony. Our tea master kicked off the ceremony by first pouring hot boiling water into the bowl. She then mixed in two teaspoons of green tea powder.

Then she used a bamboo whisk to make the green tea frothy

Here's the green tea with a piece of a sweet rice cake. You have to first eat the rice cake before drinking the tea. Also, see the red part of the bowl? That's considered the prettiest part. During a tea ceremony, the Japanese will place the prettiest part of the bowl facing the drinker. You have to pick up the bowl with both hands, turn the red part clockwise and then drink the tea.

Here's a family photo with our tea master & her grand daughter!

These are just a preview of my many photos. You can click on the slideshow below to see more! I would post more photos of the temples we saw, but frankly, I'm pretty temple'd out! Tomorrow we're heading off to Hakone, where we'll stay in a ryokkan and enjoy the hot springs! Time for rest and relaxation!