Monday... I mean Sunday.

We had school today. Sunday. So it feels like Monday.

I moved on to vegetables with my six year olds. Then, sitting at dinner it hit me.. Veggietales! Why did I not think to sing that song with them... oi. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be my last day with the sixes. Another teacher arrived yesterday, visited school today, and will start after the week long holiday. So, I'll be doing just four year olds, which I think will be good.

I also wanted to tell my loyal readers (I have almost 700 page views... and readers in Russia, Germany, France and South Korea. Who knew!!) I will be gone traveling about this country for the next week or so. We (9 of us) are going to Qingdao (ching-dao) north of Shaoxing. We are taking a bus for the ten+ hour trip to get there....I'm not sure if it is a coach bus or a sleeper bus. We'll see!

I don't know what we'll do when we get there... You'll have to check back later to see. If I can manage it, I'll post while I'm gone (using my phone), otherwise I'll have lots to share when I get back.

Until next time.

My first friend!!

So, today was a good day. The five of us nubes (newbies) from the xing went to the train station by ourselves to pick up tickets for Monday. Then we figured out the bus back to the city and to our respective dwellings.

We went to dinner at the canteen, saw Emma on the way to the campus grocery store, got some snacks, and hiked it up the six flights. As I was unpacking from our two days at Zion I got a phone call.

It was Zero!! She came to study on Friday with another girl who had been before... I'm not sure if she had ever come. But we exchanged phone numbers. Anyhooooo, she called me and in her halting english told me that should couldn't come to the next study because her sister is getting married. I used by best simple english and I think we understood each other. We said bye, and I texted her right away to tell her the next study was on the 11th... I had thought she couldn't come this next week and we are not having one this week. But she knew that and it was the 11th that she couldn't come. I told her we'd have another on the week after, and I would text her again when it got closer. She texted back with many exclamation points about how she will be waiting for my text and thanks and can't wait.

Ahhhh. My first friend. I have met other people but this is the first one I've made a real connection with by myself. It gives me.... motivation? courage? contentment? I'm not sure any of these words can describe the feeling I'm having. It's like a sleepy smile.... When you're tired, and you don't have much left of your day but something happens that makes you put the effort into smiling as you drift off to unconsciousness. Maybe that's the metaphor I'm using because I'm currently tired. I dunno.

I have to go shower, wait for laundry to be done so I can hang it up, and color some flashcards for school tomorrow. Acclimation is slow, but steady. Also, I hung up the pictures I brought along today. There are six pictures hanging by my desk of some of my favorite Americans. (if you sent me/gave me a pic, its on the wall).

Much love.
Until next time.

Fri. Day.

Hellllloooooo again!!!!

Today we had our first English Corner (b.ble st.dy). I was a bit anxious but things rolled along well. I met a bunch of new people, remet people I had forgotten, and exchanged phone numbers/wechats with all of them.

It will be fun to get to know them better as the weeks go along.

The hardest part for me was listening. It was difficult for me to understand them sometimes. But I'll work on it. It's great to have my FoCers here to lean on.

Until next time.

Health Check

I totally forgot to tell you all about my health check!!

Sit down, this is a good one.

On Monday afternoon, Laura gets a visit from Kelly who is from the Foreign Affairs Department (FAD) that I have a health check scheduled the following day. I am to be at the FAD at 7:30 and we have to go to Hangzhou (hung-jo) for the check. Bonus: I don't have to go to school. Laura informs me that it won't be much... probably draw some blood and take an x-ray.

I get to the FAD in a timely fashion and wait a few minutes as three other foreigners arrive and we all climb into the van with our driver and Kelly. I don't mean driver as 'home, James', I mean driver as this man is Chinese and thus can get us from point A ta point B. ('stick it' reference...anyone?) Okay, so the van ride is about 1.5 hours with traffic and such. (The trip to Hangzhou on the train is like 20 min... but it takes 30 to get to train station, so....)

We arrive at the clinic, walk in and Kelly has us sit down while she checks us in. There are a few other foreigners here so it's mildly reassuring. Then we get called up, give our passports to be copied and get paperwork. Then kelly sends us upstairs... What is upstairs you ask? Be patient... I'm getting there. Luckily, I'm not the first one, so I can observe and follow. The signs, thankfully, are in Chinese and English. There're two ladies sitting behind glass windows that stop about a foot above the counter. There are stool sitting next to said counters. The glass reads 'blood deposit' ... I've given blood, no biggie. First lady can't find my vein.... second lady, does. Okay - practically painless. But I feel the need to mention that they didn't give me a little red ball to squeeze. Hmphf.

After the lady is finished with the blood drawing, she hands me a cup. I've seen something like this before.... Next to the blood station is a bathroom. I've been in China for a week and a few days at this point, but I'd yet to experience the squatty-potty. Check-it off the list! This was the moment. Don't worry, it went well. Finished there, I wandered back the way I came (there was no other exit). I stood for a moment looking down the steps I'd come up, and down the hall.... Then a lady behind a counter near me made some noise and pointed... down the hall it is!

I go down here and there is a line (with one of the people I rode with) so I stand there too. Eye check, I can handle this. In china they don't use letters or characters (thank goodness) But rather its all the same symbol (it's a capital E) and the direction it points changes. Then I follow that same person to the next door. The sign outside says medical/surgury.... hmmm. I go in, lay on the table, get my arms and legs looked over, and my belly palpated. Check! Alright, doing good. Then I go across the hall.... This door says 'electrocardiogram' ... I've never had one of these before. Again, I go in and lay on the table. The lady puts a clip around my ankle and both wrists, then suction cups 6 little things to my chest. I lay still for a few moments and she removes them, staples a sheet to my paperwork and sends me out. Awesome. Then, I get real confused... the person who rode with me, that I had been following was gone. However, one other person who rode with me popped out, and he spoke Chinese I think. He pointed me to another room at the end of the hall. Weight and blood pressure... no biggie. Then he directs me to another room. This room is dark.... I go in, hand the man my paperwork, lay down and he says lift my shirt... then I get an ultrasound. Whatever for?? He checked my belly where my esophagus would be, and then around the right side of my ribs. Hmm... But he gave me check on my paperwork. Yes! Gotta be done right?? Nope. One more box to be checked. Do you remember what Laura said?? Yep, x-ray. Back down to the lobby for this, hand over my paperwork, stand on the mark...oh, take off my necklace, CLICK! and I'm all done. Back out to the car for the ride home.

I was told not to eat breakfast, but I brought a snack for the ride home. We left school at 7:30, arrived in Hangzhou around 9 and left around 10... back to school by 11:30 or so. Back in my apartment by noon. Where upon arrival I took a nap.

That's how we do it in China.

Until next time.

More observations...

Some more chinique things.. (china + unique... go with it)

- Lines on roads are there for decoration. Today, while sitting on the bus navigating a round-a-bout, I noticed that the bus was driving over the top of the painted triangle with lines across it. Ya know, the one that separates the circle from the incoming roads and the lane for right turns. Yeah.... Just drove right over it between two cars. And then I took notice of the rest of the round-a-bout traffic and everyone was meandering where they will. Driving here in china is definitely a 'everyman for himself' attitude.

- Parking. People park everywhere. Drive up on a sidewalk and throw it in park. I was standing at the bus stop yesterday waiting for the 188 to take me home, and this car just pulled up next to me on the sidewalk, waited for the minor-est of breaks in traffic and proceded to drive away. He must have been parked on the sidewalk behind me somewhere. Then it hit me.... Do all cars have the clearace for sidewalks?? Now, some sidewalks are a meer 3 or 4 inches high.. But there are quite a few 6inch ones, and the occasional 7,8, or 9 in high ones. The taller ones are usually nicer and newer so perhaps the height is by design to keep cars off. More surveillance is required.

- Umbrellas. Today, Laura and I fit in with the locals because we were carrying umbrella. It was raining- seemed the logical course to follow. However, last week when it was 90 and slightly overcast most of the women were carrying umbrellas. It's to keep them out of the sun lest they darken their skin. The eBikes even have attachments to hold umbrellas while scooting around town. As for mua, I have been out-n-bout for over a week and I don't think I've added any color... Ack!

- I may have mentioned this before.... But the staring! I've grown mostly accustomed to it but the locals stare at me. Or, us I should say because Laura gets her fair share of stares too. It happens on the bus (particularly by old people and young men), people riding by on their eBikes while we stand at the bus stop, when we're walking about. An older gentleman hollered hello at us as we rounded a corner today, Laura responded with 'hello!' and he broke into what can only be called a fit of giggles.

It's quite the experience here for a sassanach, an outsider.

Until next time... zi gen! (goodbye)

Oh... one more thing.

So, if you haven't seen all my pics. And are thinking 'she only took 10 pics in a week?'

No, I only displayed that many.... Look over to the right of the screen and you'll see a camera. Click on that to go to my instagram profile and see all my pics. =)

Until next time.

China-stagrams!

Welcome back! You might have noticed a change to the blog... I added some pictures to the top... 

These pics are from Instagram. It's easiest for me to take pics on my phone or ipod while I'm out running around. I haven't even taken my camera out with me yet. So, then its easiest for me to collage, edit and post to instagram. A few of my loyal readers (aka my family) have instagram and can see my pics and their captions. Then it hit me that not all of you could see them (most importantly my Gram). 

So I added a widget that shows you the instagrams pics I put up. If you want to see the caption, you have to click on the pic. Most of them don't have much of a caption but it could help you decipher the pic. 

I take pics on my way to school, on the bus, around the apartment, and such. 

I don't want to seem conceited but... Enjoy my face!! and other china scenes. 

Until next time. 

150....

150. That's the number of kids I see in a day.

I realized I hadn't told you about my school experience!! Here goes...

I have six classes of 25 students. Four of them are 6y.o. and two are 4y.o.

My day goes like this.... Leave the apartment about 7:20... Get on the bus, and arrive near school bout 8. Walk the two blocks and sit by the river next to school until 8:30 when I go inside to greet the incoming students. Laura and I take turns greeting. Then we have morning exercises... I am going to try to get a video of this one of these days. It's quite a specatacle. There are shakers and pom poms involved. Yes, you read right. PomPoms.

The teaching starts at 9:05... I have two half hour sessions and then two twenty minute sessions with a five minutes break between each. Finishing at 11. That's my morning. Then for our lunch break Laura and I have been going to Jason's apartment. He's usually teaching but its alot closer than going back to our apartment. (and he lives on the 2nd floor opposed to the 6th). It takes about 45 minutes to get there with two busses and walking 10 minutes. So we chill from about noon till 1:20ish. Then its back walking and two busses to school. We have to be back at 2:30 and we usually are close. Then more chill at school until 2:55 where I finish my day with two more half hour sessions.

So in a nut shell, school is greet, exercise, 6's, 6's, 4's, 4's, lunch break, 6's, 6's. Oh, and then the school likes us to stay until 4:30 to plan.... Laura and I live together and plan kinda all the time. So we just sit and play on our iPods until we go home.

The school I teach at is a bilingual kindergarten. But my half hour classes are really the only english they get from what I understand... besides some songs that play to wake them up from their nap. And I think the teachers teach them the alphabet. The main problem I am having is that there is no way to discipline because they don't understand english. I want you to imagine talking to dog... no, talking to a fish. This is what it's like. They wiggle and make noise but don't understand you and basically ignore you. I know what you're thinking, "The teachers help right?" Not so much. My classes have a variety of discipline techniques employed, and some of the teachers disappear/ignore the kids when I walk in. So, clapping had become my attention getter... the current stats show a 62.3% success rate with 72% of the kids in 59% of my classes. (Note the sarcasm...)

Now, don't take the impression that school is awful. Because it is only partly bad. Some of my kids are rather inclined toward English. And there are quite a few that are cute. My four year olds are great because they don't really have to learn so I feel less pressure. My sixes are little terrors sometimes, but I have at least 3 in each class that participate and make the lessons move along. Oh! Story time: The other day I was waiting inside the door for my first class.  The kids were drinking their cups of water and getting their faces washed from exercise. One boy came up to me and this is how our interaction went.....
Boy: Hello
Me: Hello
Boy: What's your name?
Me: My name is Meghan.
Boy: Meggie... (thats how they pronouce it sometimes)
Me: What's your name?
Boy: My name is Tony.
Me: Hello Tony, how are you?
Tony: (long pause with a mildly perplexing look) I am well, thank you.

It basically made my day and renewed my hope in the terrors called children.

Until next time.

Some observations....

Just a quick note...

Everyone here drives like a maniac, bobbing and weaving and honking... but none of the cars have scratches.

E-bikes are everywhere (mopeds) ... but some of them have pedals.

It's hot. Real hot. But you know its hot in China when the bus windows are closed so the air conditioning can work. (chinese people don't get hot often)

Two new mottos:
   - Go for it : Used when crossing a crowded street. They stop. Usually. You just have to go for it. Also applicable when presented with a strange dish of food. You don't know unless you try. But with food a sub-motto is 'watch for bones'
  - It's China : Used whenever something is odd, or could be done better with logic but China doesn't seem to realize or care to change.

Until next time.

Mid Awesome Day

I have had my first day off! Thursday, September 19 is MidAutumn Festival here in the Middle Kingdom. And the Xing (shing) knows how to do it right.

Because we're so close together, the FoC-ers from Shanghai and Hangzhou (haang-jo) came here to spend a few days at Zion. Which is the three story apartment our city FoC-ers own. No one lives there usually but we use it on Fridays and Sundays for b.ble st.dies.

Anywhoooo, most of the xing arrived wednesday afternoon and evening, followed by some of Hangzhou, and then more on thursday morning. Then, Shanghai, and more Hangzhou. Our numbers were quite large, with the max one night at 26 (or so). Anyone wandering to the bathroom at night had to be careful, because people slept where they dropped. We have 5 bedrooms two couches and alot of floor. We even had some roof sleepers. (It rained saturday morning... but they came downstairs just damp and went back to bed).

We had some cooking. Making fried rice, hard boiled eggs, regular rice, seviche (french dish). We ate out a few times getting jiousta (meat/veggies inside a rice shell thingy.... its delicious) and Big Pizza the buffet chinglish restaurant. Its chinese take on american food. Good and odd.

We played Ultimate Frisbee one day. It was super hot and the field had rubber hoses sticking out of it in a few places. But we made three teams so there was rest/water breaks regularly. It was a blast. The best part coming when an old man was watering the flower beds.... and we asked him to water us.

Saturday morning after ch.rch we walked to lunch in the pouring rain... it didn't seem bad when we left, then we arrived to eat soaked to the underwear. But hey, it's china....

Good times, new friends, and a referesher in Him.

Until next time.

Adventures 1-3: Flight, Arrival and Day 1

Okay, here goes the story of my initiation into China.

Flight from Chicago to Seattle - uneventful
Transfer in Seattle to Beijing - went smoothly
Flight to Beijing - Long!! By this point I hadn't slept in over 24 hours and was feeling it. I thought it would be great to sleep  on the plane. This is not how it went. I may have snoozed for 45 min twice.
Transfer in Beijing - I get off the plane and take a bus to the terminal. Wind through the hallway that leads to customs. I get through customs and I have to get my luggage and recheck it on a domestic flight to my final destination. So, I grab a cart and make my way to the turnstile and wait patiently. The wait is over.... But I have no luggage. So, over to baggage inquires I go. I'm nervous about time because my next flight leaves sooner than I'd like. Well it turns out my luggage likes Seattle like I do, and decided to tour first before joining me. So I'm having it sent to school here and until then wearing my friend Laura's clothes. Thank goodness for best friends/roomates/same size clothes/etc. My stuff should be here tomorrow. Oh, but I'm not done. I finish with the guy in baggage inquires, and rush to the China Southern flight desk to get checked in. I now have less than a half hour until my flight leaves. And I have to go through security again... oi! Well, they have a fast track lane, and I was through pretty quick. Then, I run. Yes, run. I imagined running through an airport would involve some danger of losing the man I loved, or escape from authorities... but alas. I made the flight with 15 min or more to spare. Landed in Hangzhou and made my way to the exit... which cruelly included a walk past baggage claim....

I was picked up by a student and the foreign teacher director at the airport with another foreign teacher. We made the hour drive into Shaoxing and Laura met me at our building. Up six flights of stairs and I was officially arrived.

Today has included meeting my team and a few chinese friends. Lunch. Which was delicious and strange. Then I got a bank card, a bus pass, passport photos, and tried to get my phone up and active. The phone was a no go, but we're working on it.

Tomorrow I meet with a Chinese teacher and then go to school in the afternoon.
Thats all for now from the xing.

Until next time.

Tick. Tock.

These flip flops were made flying. However my visa is still in the mail. We're investigating today to see where it's at and hopefully my Friday departure will hold. 

Nearing the beginning...

The beginning is almost here!! And today my mission, that I have to accept and accomplish, is packing. It has been collecting and now needs organizing. I need to fold, squish, shove, and then a scale! Wish me luck. 

The balance.....

The flight is only a week away. And my biggest trial is packing. Who on earth decided that 50lbs is sufficient for baggage. I am now in the process of should I or shouldn't I. Will I need or won't I need. Ugh. The frustration, the turmoil, the utter lack of space and weight. Oh dear. I'll let you know how it goes. Peace.