Zai Jian

Right now, I am sitting in my apartment surrounded by suitcases. This is my last night in China.

I apologize if this post is more emotional Taylor Swift song (impossible for anything to be more emotional than a Taylor Swift song, except maybe the movie Beaches), but I am feeling a bit emotional tonight.

I can't believe how fast this past year has flown by. I came to China in September, extremely nervous about my new job and filled with thoughts along the line of what did I get myself into as soon as I stepped off the plane in Beijing. I hated the food, the weather, and the fact that I couldn't communicate with anyone. I was thrown into a six day-a-week schedule teaching 6 intense subjects at the second best high school (students are regularly accepted into the top 50 universities in America & Canada) in a city of 6-ish million . I pulled several all-nighters weekly to keep up with my workload. The customs were strange (umbrellas in the sun?) and the people were stranger. I constantly worried what I would do professionally after my year-long contract concluded. What would employers think of my choice to teach in China for a year?

Slowly, things started to get better. With the help of my boss, I bought an e-bike and started zipping around the city. I met friends and tapped into a foreigner circle that I didn't know existed. I found the most amazing apartment and moved in with a Chinese roommate. I finally learned the trick for how to avoid the hawkers at the supermarket.

In December, I was becoming accustomed to life in Fuzhou but was also eager to return to Australia. During the cold/sunless winter, the thought of seeing my family and returning to AUS kept me going. In January, I returned to Sydney for the first time in 2 years. After my trip, I arrived in China with a fresh perspective. Things became easier; I started to work five days a week, learned the tricks of lesson planning and started sleeping 8 hours a night, met an amazing Chinese girlfriend and received highest marks on teacher evaluations in my school. Although my course load was consolidated into something more manageable, my classes were so popular at my high school that another US History class was added to my schedule.

Bookclub with my Chinese bestie

Since adjusting, I have come to love living here; I find happiness in my job, relationships and lifestyle that I am able to live. I have traveled extensively, both in China and around Asia/Oceania. I have formed close bonds with my students, met amazing foreign & Chinese friends, learned a bit of Mandarin, taught myself Physics, and so much more. I do not regret my decision to come to China one bit. In fact, it was one of the better decisions that I have made. Looking back now, I cannot believe I even questioned coming here at all.

                                   
                         A response from a co-workers test; best end of the year 'bonus' ever

The hardest part so far about coming to China has been saying goodbye; saying goodbye to my students- who showered me with gifts and threw me two wonderful goodbye parties, saying goodbye to my friends, some of whom are staying in China and some of whom are leaving as well, saying goodbye to my routine and life that I have created for myself here. I am sad to say goodbye but I am excited to move forward and experience the next stage of the real world. 再见

Clip from farewell video made by my students

10 Things I Should Have Been Blogging About the Past Month (But I Wasn't)

I have been neglecting my blog

The last time I wrote was May 13, 2012. If my blog were a small child, it would have been taken away by now. Luckily Google is much more forgiving.  In the time that I haven’t wrote many things have happened:

1)   Senior Graduation (May 23)

 'Ingenuity' on the Senior US History Final 

I teach three grade levels: sophomores, juniors and seniors. By the time my Chinese pupils reached their last semester of high school, they have attended school six days-a-week, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., September through July for three years. Needless to say, most were experiencing major cases of "senioritis." Rather than keep them extra time, my school graduated them early.  I started to tear up in my last class a bit which caused one of my students to wonder if they would still see me for their final exams. I assured him that I wasn’t feeling that emotional and that he would still need to take his final exam to pass. On graduation day, I took pictures with several of my students and received a beautiful traditional comb set from a favorite student.

2)   Weekend in Shanghai 

                                                Chinese tourist in Shanghai

This was actually in late April/ early May, but I neglected to add a post. I headed up to Shanghai for the weekend for a job interview and stayed for the weekend. My couch-surfing host gave me a personal tour of the city.  I loved the beauty of Shanghai, especially the scenic French Concession which is where the city derives its moniker ‘Paris of the East.’ The city boasts a large "expat" population, which made hitting a western-style spa and devouring Mexican food a reality! I love Shanghai, and I can’t wait to return someday.

3)   Lost (& Found)

                                

                    Upcycled wallets made from the roofing fabric of the old 
                                           Indianapolis football stadium.


While riding my electric bike, my People for Urban Progress wallet was snatched from me. A somewhat honest individual returned the cards and money (sans upcycled billfold) to the central police station. The police force keeps pretty close tabs on the foreign community and a close foreign friend of mine received a call from the police that night alerting her that my belongings had been turned in. After some confusion, an officer gave me a ride to the central police station where I claimed my cards- sans money & wallet. My wallet was a really cool, upcycled piece of Indianapolis history so I hope that whoever is using it now gets a lot of joy of out it!

4)   Toilet Woes

And I thought I had plumbing problems

Misery loves company, and I was delighted to return home from work one day to discover a neighbor who has more plumbing problems than I have. The offending porcelain fixture was disposed of in typical Chinese fashion of course.

5)   New Beginnings 

I'm a leaving on a jet plane

My academic year ends soon, and I have decided not to renew my contract with my school. I booked a plane ticket and will be heading back to the United States for a month this summer. I have mixed feelings about my departure; when you live in a place for almost a year, it becomes like home. It will be extremely hard to leave the life and relationships that I have created here but I am excited for new opportunities elsewhere. I will never forget my memories or time here.

6)   Toga! Toga! Toga!

Toga-clad partygoers

Several weekends ago, I hosted a toga party and the entire (it seemed like) foreign community of Fuzhou showed up to my apartment in bedsheets and linens. Our local friends joined in as well and a great time was had by all.  Jello shots & battle pong were enjoyed by everyone.

7)   Post-toga dinner party

Zong Zi aka sticky rice

Several days after the toga party, I invited more people over to my house for a pitch in dinner/booze patrol clean up party. A duck, green tea cake, sticky rice (just in time for Dragon Boat Festival) and four family buckets of KFC were consumed.  My apartment has been the perfect size for hosting get-togethers this year and it was great to have the opportunity to spend time with friends before I leave.

8)   Tooth Trauma

Dentist's office room

In the middle of June, my upper tooth started to hurt. It reached a point of pain where, despite my nervousness, I scheduled an appointment for a dentist here in town with Gentle Dentist. Another foreigner in town recommended me to Gentle Dentist. I was extremely impressed with the technology and professionalism of the facility. A business assistant stayed by my side throughout the x-rays and examination, explaining the procedures and translating for me. It was discovered that I needed a root canal and reconstructive work on the tooth. I would feel completely comfortable having the work done in Fuzhou but am waiting to return Stateside for the procedure since it will take several weeks to complete. In the meantime, I am taking antibiotics and feeling a-ok.

9) School Fair (May 28)

A student managing the Animal Club booth offers up a bunny for petting

My school put on an end-of-year fair to showcase the work that the student clubs had been doing throughout the year. Several of my students on the dance team performed on the main stage and two of my students free styled to hip-hop music. One of my girls created an English map of the event for me and I explored all the students and their booths, buying trinkets and treasures to support their clubs. 

10) Dragon Boat Festival Weekend

Japan vs. China 

Every year, Dragon Boat Festival falls on the 5th day of the 5th month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, it happened to be Saturday, June 23rd. We received three days off to watch the dragon boat races and eat zong zi (sticky rice) in honor of the famous poet Qu Yuan, a patriotic Chinese man, who drowned himself out of grief for the pain that he felt over his country. Not a pretty story but the weekend was fun. I received a gift of sticky rice from my friend's family and made a meal out of it. Later, two girlfriends and I headed down to the watch the AVC (Asian Volleyball Confederation) Continental Championships. The winning duo got a direct ticket to the the 2012 London Olympics. Among the teams represented included: Australia, Japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and more. It was a great time and we managed to wiggle into VIP to talk to some of the players and more serious fans. 

My time here in Fuzhou is wrapping up but I will try and be more diligent with the blog than I have as of late!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my moms!

Washing Machine Blues

So things around my apartment are always breaking. However, I love my bachelorette pad so I would rather pay to have things fixed than move out.

On one of these occasions my washing machine had broken. Scratch that. It wasn’t fixed properly the first time. So I had the school secretary/translator call the repair company and request that they fix the machine properly and for free.  They agreed.

When the worker finally arrived at my apartment (he got lost, as most people do), I showed him straight to the washing machine. I tried to explain via use of charades and Google translator what was wrong with the washer. I even hummed the annoying sound that the machine makes when it refuses to do work.

Through my limited Chinese, sound effects and secretary (well, mostly secretary), he managed to understand the problem. He then unceremoniously ripped the top off of the machine. As I watched him pull black electrical tape out of his fanny pack of tools, I realize that this is probably something I should watch him fix in case it ever breaks again. As a result of my tenure in China, I already know how to repair toilets so perhaps with these two new skills I can start a successful business as an English speaking repairwoman in a city where no one speaks English. You always need a plan B.

I realized as he affixed a new washing machine sensor to the machine’s wires in the most haphazard manner that, although the agreed-upon labor was free, I would have to pay for this part. Something that I did not plan on and did not have the extra cash to cover the costs. 

Sure enough, he called my Secretary and handed the phone to me. “He wants you to pay 75 ¥ for the part,” she said. Laowai price, I thought in my head.

“Uh, ok. I didn’t take out any cash today so I will look around the apartment to see what I have.” What I had was 50-some RMB (¥) in notes and a bag of coins from around the world. As I took out the coins, I realized that throughout my time in China I had never used coins to pay for anything due to their miniscule value.  And even though each coin had only one numeral on it, I knew that there was surely a coin equivalent to .50 ¥.

I called my secretary back. “Hi again. This is kinda embarrassing but I don’t know how to count Chinese coins.”

She walked me through the process and confirmed my suspicions- evidently the coins bearing a ‘5’ are actually worth 50 percent of 1 ¥ and those emblazoned with a ‘1’ are 10 percent.  Even as a liberal arts major, I know that 1+5 does not make 60 parts of 100. The Chinese repairman looked incredulously at me as I painstakingly counted out the money, coming up 4 ¥ short despite sneaking in a gold coin from Chuck-E-Cheese.

Another call to the secretary. “Ask him if I can pay the rest in Australian coins. They are worth more than RMB anyways.”

After a brief conversation with my secretary, the man agreed and swept his payment into my former plastic change bag as I tried to keep a straight face. This is definitely going on the blog, I thought.

I handed him the bag and offered him some Easter candy. He politely refused, opting to exit my apartment as quickly as possible. My washer has only broke once since.

English Speech Imitation Show

Tomorrow is Easter but to the average Chinese citizen, the first half of this week was the celebration of Tomb Sweeping Festival. Kinda ironic timing since Easter celebrates Christ rising from the tomb. From what I could gather, the purpose of the Tomb Sweeping Festival is for the Chinese to visit the burial sites of their ancestors and tidy the graves. As all of my relatives are buried back in the US of A with graves in fairly good condition, I kicked off the holiday on Sunday afternoon by watching my first year's English Speech Imitation Show.

The kids had been hard at work all week, perfecting their imitations of famous speakers such as Abraham Lincoln and Oprah Winfrey. Despite the holiday, I knew I had to attend when I heard a hilarious impression of Obama's acceptance speech from the mouth of one of my first years.

Days before the speech, a girl whom I know from English Corner approached me for pointers on her speech. I scanned her handwritten paper and immediately recognized the words as those from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign resignation speech. We worked on her speech and I promised her that I would attend the competition on Sunday.

When I arrived at the competition, I saw several of my students’ names also on the list of those to speak. The girl who I tutored, dressed in a Hillary Rodham signature pantsuit, rushed over with a small gift for me and thanked me for coming. I think the speeches ‘speak’ for themselves and I have included one of them below (because that is all my internet will allow it seems).

MLK Jr- I Have a Dream

The next day, I smiled when I received the following email from the girl whom I coached:

Dear Molly I'm Anna.finally I got the third price.Thank you very much!I never thought i can get a price!.Do you like my present?it's a small bag.youcan put coins on it.I think you may like pink so i bought it.

Hong Kong Rugby Sevens

The Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is unlike any sporting event on the planet. If the Rugby Sevens were a drink (good luck keeping anything down during this three-day event, though), it would call for 1 part sport, 2 parts party with a garnish of business.

Try as I may to describe this event, there is really no way to do it justice. For one weekend, the entire city of Hong Kong is filled with 20,000 revelers and rugby fans from all over the world. I met costumed South Africans, Fijians, Kiwis, Brits, Americans (a small minority) and Australians. I had left with the impression from my January HK visit that the city housed a healthy amount of Aussie expats. That number seemed to multiple during this particular weekend.

I arrived in Hong Kong on Friday evening, just in time to make it to the night games. As the games played out, I swiveled around in my seat, chatting and making friends with those around me while the boys watched the rugby. One of the most enjoyable parts of the rugby sevens was the sense of community and camaraderie of the event.

View of field at Day 1 (Friday) night games

After the Day 1 night games concluded, we followed the flow of the crowd to Lan Kwai Fong, a popular street teeming with Hong Kong transplants and rugby fans alike, celebrating the early wins of the weekend at local watering holes. The entire area buzzed and pulsated to a unifying beat.

If you are able to make it to Day 2 of the Rugby Sevens, the south stands are where you want to be. This is the area of the stadium where a crowd of alligators, cheerleaders and convicts (a group of Australians) cheer on their teams and boo the French. Flanked by a group of five ‘Where’s Waldos’, I made my way into the south stands around 10 am, managing to grab several of the last available seats.

Cheerleaders enjoying the sun and game

At around noon, I was glad that I had brought the Australian flag and used it as a canopy as the sun baked the rest of the crowd. Pimm’s, a gin based drink with an assortment of fruit in the bottom of the glass, served as a refreshing respite to the harsh sun. Despite this, several Waldos started to pull the sleeves of their costumes and I set to un-sewing the hems with a makeshift needle.

That night, the crowd descended again on Lan Kwai Fong. The spirits of the crowd hadn’t dampened and various brands were out out providing exposure for their products. I stopped my all-male entourage for a quick duck into a shop that sold teacher dresses. Several minutes later, I walked out holding my new purchase. The night carried on and I was able to find some American-style cheese fries and chilidogs, a feat that I am never able to accomplish on the mainland.

Lan Kwai Fong after Day 2 games

The next day, I rode around downtown Hong Kong on a tram before catching my train to the airport.

Outside view of a Hong Kong tram

My flight time prevented me witnessing a Fijian win, a country that, through my travels, is dear to my heart. However, I had an incredible time with friends that I will not soon forget. As a man was quoted in the newspaper the next day saying, “In your life, there are certain things to do before you die. [Hong Kong Sevens] is one of those things.” Rugby Sevens, check.

March Madness

(Note: Due to the work schedule/ too much time spent having fun on part of the author, blog posts about January/ February travels will be posted later)

So the month of March got off to a somewhat rocky start with the theft of my cell phone. However, things have improved significantly: last weekend I visited Xiamen and this weekend I am flying to Hong Kong for the Rugby Sevens. And yes, I do work full-time.

The real world means growing up and penning new chapters of life. My best friend from college started a new chapter of her life last week with the birth of her son. My younger sister started a new chapter when she scored her first job in the hospitality industry, thereby achieving a long-term goal of hers. I love experiencing the real world as an expat, but it means that I often miss out on life-changing events of loved ones.

The real world also means getting to spend your hard earned money on fun things, like bills (not) and weekend trips. A girlfriend and I hopped on a fast train this weekend and watched the countryside flash by in-between marking physics papers and glasses of wine. Our destination: Xiamen, an island city with about 5,000 foreigners.

Xiamen is bit more international than where I live and houses corporate giants like Boeing, Dell, Coca-Cola and GE. The city has been given the unofficial title of being the most attractive city in the Fujian province; it is filled with delightful colonial architecture and a pleasant vibe that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Also unique to Xiamen is a strong western pub presence- the main draw for our visit during St. Patrick’s Day.

We occupied ourselves during St. Patty’s day with a trip to Gulang Yu, a smaller island off the coast of Xiamen reachable by ferry. Xiamen was forced to become a port city during China’s loss in the first Opium War and the Gulang Yu also reflects the British influence through beautiful Victorian architecture. My friend and I enjoyed lunch on the porch of a beautiful courtyard restaurant and spent the day exploring the island by foot. I received the distinction of being the only person to swim in the ocean among a beach full of people clad head to toe in clothes on 80-degree day.

My friend and I crammed ourselves back onto the ferry and, to our dismay, discovered a huge wreck back on the main island of Xiamen. We were told that there were no cabs going anywhere. Refusing to give up our corned beef and cabbage dinner plans at a local Mexican restaurant, we headed towards a back street in search of a taxi.

This side trip resulted in one of the most interesting and disgusting scenes I have witnessed during my time in China. I have seen a lot of things in my time in the Orient, including fish heads splayed on blocks off ice at the local Sam’s. The moment I turned the corner to see a row full of dead chickens dripping on live fowl while a woman covered in innards plucked the feathers and sliced open a squawking, live bird takes the cake.

That night, I enjoyed margaritas and the best corned beef and cabbage I have had in my life, which is saying something as I come from an Irish-American family. The next day as I boarded the fast train, I couldn’t help but think about how much I loved Xiamen. It has a very international feel and a plethora of expats, all of whom were very interesting and have a unique story to tell. I can’t wait to go back and explore more. Well, maybe no more meat markets. 再见