Halloween Asian Stlye

I can't remember the last time that I celebrated Halloween. I take that back, it was in college. I guess I am getting old for it to be such a distant memory. I picked a good time to start the festivities over. I have never seen anything so big for Halloween at school. In international schools it is a big deal. I think because the parents still want their children to have those fond memories that all kids have from getting dressed up and trick-or-treating. DAIS did not disappoint. We had a grand celebration full of games, crafts, parades, and a party (with healthy snack, no really they were). It brought back memories of when I was little. Here are some pictures from the day


My teaching partner and me


Korean sushi at a party...high class


Some of my cuties


The whole 5th grade dressed up

OIC

We have a saying we say is "OIC", short for Only in China. We use it when there are little nuances that would only happen in China. On Friday night we had an OIC moment...

I joined a bowling league that a bunch of the teachers are in with other teachers from the Canadian school. My team is the Bowling Stones and is made up of Bob(Jon), Mabel (Eli), Xanahu(Janelle), Spike(Bob), Gertrude(Janet), and myself as "Dorris". We all picked old people bowling names. Anyways, we all went out to dinner with another team before our games. We started around 8:00, the alley closed at 10:00. We were having a blast bowling, I think the Wii helped me in practicing, and I was on my last frame. I literally turned around to bowl when all the lanes shut down. We were wondering what was going on when they told us it was 9:50 and they closed at 10:00. Needless to say we were a little annoyed, but when we thought about it it was only $2.00USD to play a game so we started taking our shoes off and getting ready to go.

The Canadians didn't feel the same way. They were really mad and saying they aren't going to leave until they finished their games or got their money back. The people running the alley weren't budging, they said "We close at 10...sorry". We ended up leaving because it was getting a little out of control and we didn't want to be associated with the other "whites".

We were all laughing how that would never happen in America. You would either finish your game or get your money back. Oh well, I learned Friday night that in China when it says closing at 10:00, they mean it. No ifs, ands, buts about it.

I Heart Thailand

WARNING THIS POST HAS LOTS OF PICTURES AND IS LONG!!! I couldn't help it!
In China they have a Moon Festival in the fall. We had off school from October 1st-12th and some friends and I took full advantage of it. We took an amazing trip to Thailand. Our main destination was Koh Phangan, a tropical paradise. It was a long trip to get there with stops in Ganzhou, Bangkok, and Sur Thani in order to get there.

One of the flights...almost there


Taking off on the ferry

The weather on the ferry...it just missed us.

Getting ready to get off the ferry...we met some cool people from Scotland

Our first night we went to Cabbages and Condoms, funny name I know, but great food. If you ever get the chance to go I recommend the papaya salad and tarrot balls in coconut milk for dessert. It was amazing! I doubted it at first, but Jess ordered it and it was the best thing we had. The other restaurant we went to on our way back through Bangkok was a great Indian restaurant. I cannot remember the name of the restaurant, but I will never forget how great the food was. Unfortunately my camera ate some sand and didn't work for the last bit of the trip.


Our musician for the night at Cabbages and Condoms


Jess eating the yummy dessert he picked out


Corny tourist poses with the statues


Cheers


I had to pose with this little boy that was dancing in the dragon dance we saw walking around in Bangkok, the way he danced was so cute!

After a night in Bangkok and a long day of travels we finally arrived to our island. We were like little kids so excited to be there and quickly unpacked, showered, and got ready for our first night. We ate an amazing dinner at Paulita's Lodge. The food in Thailand is amazing, I would go back just for the food. The people that worked and owned Paulita's Lodge were amazing. The woman's name was Su, and she was the sweetest lady in the world. All the workers there were her family or really close family friends. We made fast friends with the servers and her family.


Our shower, reminded me of home


Dinner the first night on the island

Our week was filled with relaxing days on the beach and at the pool, stuffing ourselves with delicious food, meeting new friends from all over the world, celebrating the full moon at the Full Moon party, taking in the God's amazing creation, elephant riding, snake holding, dancing, and more eating.

The first day we were all so excited to be there we sort of forgot to reapply lotion and ended up getting fried. See picture below :)

A little burned after the first day...look at the moon!


I'm not scared of fire...lol

We learned our lesson and were very careful the rest of the week. My favorite day of the trip was when we rode elephants and went to a snake boxing show. The elephants were so chill and riding on them was so cool. It was a workout to hold on and make sure I didn't fall off when we went down the hills. In Thailand they snake box, which is basically when a man gets into a ring with a King Cobra and boxes it continually. He also holds it and does tricks with it, like kissing it and putting it down the leg of his pants. It was crazy to watch this guy! At the end they let us all hold different snakes. I didn't think I was scared, but when they put it on me I kind of freaked out, but I did hold it long enough to pose for a picture!


Group shot...


Feeding the elephant...he drooled!


The snake boxer


Monkeys!!!



The ride back after our animal fun
The trip was awesome because we all become really close in a short time. We had some really good conversations and has so much fun joking around. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was gorgeous everyday, except our last day in Bangkok when in rained for a little. But it still let up in time for us to go to the famous night market and buy some cool stuff.


Playin in the sun



Me and the guys



Catching a game of World Cup, I mean beach soccer

I think being overseas made me appreciate the United States, but has also shown me how people view Americans as well. There is the whole American dream that everyone has...go to college, get a good job, get married, have kids, etc. It was so interesting to meet people from all over the world that were just enjoying life. We met people that were traveling for 6 months, a year, or even up to 3 years. It seemed normal for them to just take off their jobs or go on leave to travel. I think that would be so cool, but it is hard for me to get out of the "American" mindset. I am not saying either way is right, just different, but it sure would be cool to just travel the world and not worry about finances.

The Thai people and culture is great. The people are so genuine and caring. They all show so much respect and love for everyone. The food is amazing and flavorful. The way of life is so vibrant and simple at the same time. The people from the town where we stayed were so content with life as it was for them. They weren't stressing over the little things I tend to get caught up in my mind (granted they do live on a tropical island, what is there to stress over). It was a good lesson to just enjoy life and the relationships I have.



Playing with fire?!


A Thai kid
I don't think I have done justice to my experience with my words words, but hope I filled you in enough. It was a great trip with great people and many great times and memories.




Some great quotes from the trip.
I'm on my island ~Brandon
Phenomenal...~Jess
I'm powerful...~me
I'm like the tide, I ebb and flow~ Brandon
Dwey, dwey, dwey...~Everyone
I'm making the trek...~Veronica
Freaking Jellyfish!!! ~Veronica
Same same...but different
PUMBA
and oh so many more...Can't wait for my next trip. :)

A preview of my Thailand trip

more to come later...

Things I Do in China...

A friend and I were talking about the little things that have changed in our life now that we are in China.

Things I do in China but didn't in the states...
1.Walk everywhere
2. Risk my life getting in a taxi (but I'm used to it now)
3. Plug my nose a lot, you wouldn't believe the smells in China
4. Walk to school, it's nice only taking 5 minutes to get to school
5. Go to students' houses for dinner
6. Carry cash and never my credit card
7. Say hi to any and everyone in Mandarin
8. Get my mail from a guard
9. Read more
10. Eat out a lot more, food is so cheap here
11. Eat a lot more fruits and vegetables
12. Squat to use the public potty, as in there is no toilet, it's just in the ground
13. Have my classroom cleaned twice a day
14. Sit inside and do work while my class is at recess
15. Get my laundry done by the maids
16. Get DVDs for 2 USD
17. Talk on skype
18. Wake up each morning hoping to have a good email from a friend of family member
19. Run the the beach each day
20. Don't pump gas, or drive a car for that matter
21. Push for a coveted spot on the ChingWay
22. Get tailored clothes made for me for about $10 an article
23. Speak a different language to people everyday
24. Get full body massages weekly for about $12
25. Have parents volunteers three days a week!
26. I use sign language and gestures to get by.


I'm sure I will think of more...until then

Skype + Founder of Wikipedia = Hen Hao

Two Fridays ago my class (and the upper school) had the privilege of webcasting with the founder of Wikipedia, Mr. Jimmy Wales. Mr. Wales was in Dalian for some big global business conference and found the time to talk with us via Skype. It was an incredible experience for my students, as well as for me. It was very interesting to listen to him talk and share how he came up with the idea of creating a constantly changing encyclopedia.


Some of my students watching Mr. Wales

Before we went to the webcast we brainstormed questions we could ask Mr. Wales. My students thought of some pretty thought provoking questions ranging anywhere from how did you come up with the idea to start Wikipedia to what are your other interests? During the video session three of my students got to speak with him live! They were so excited to ask their questions and did a great job.


Mr. Wales throwing up deuces

Some of the cool facts I learned about Wikipedia are:
~It's the research website with the highest hits, about 5 million per week.
~It is in over 100 languages
~There are over 3 million articles on the site, an average encyclopedia only has around 64,000!
~There are only 25 employees that work for Wikipedia.


The students were loving it!

Overall it was very enlightening to hear Mr. Wales goals for the future. He has a passion to get educational resources to all parts of the world. For example, he wants remote villages in Africa and women in the Middle East to be able to have access to educational resources. As you can imagine it is not an easy job, but that is what makes Wikipedia so cool. People that know the language can update it and pass the learning on. It is also a very difficult job since some regions don't have a written language. I was just amazed at how much this man knew and how humble he was. One important fact he said and that answered a question I had was that Wikipedia is not completely a valid source for a research paper. He said it is a good place to find background information, but not your in depth research. Just what a teacher wants to hear! I am loving my job and all the opportunities it provides.

PanJin

Warning this is rather long...and just part one of my trip. Last weekend some friends and I decided to take part in a trip to PanJin. A lady, Fairy, organized it and we went along on the ride. PanJin is in the Liaoning Province and about a 4 hour drive. It is known for its reeds and the mysterious red beach. We started out bright and early on Saturday morning; we left at 7:15. We boarded the bus excited to be on our trip. There were 11 teachers from DAIS and 1 from the Canadian school in JinShiTan (like 10 minutes from our school). Two couples brought their adorable children, our total was 15 people. Driving there was fun as we hadn’t seen some of the surrounding area. The leader of our trip was Carol, a very sweet girl that works for Fairy. She asked if we wanted to stop to use the bathroom and we all said yes, but hesitated because let’s just say Chinese public bathrooms aren’t the best. We got to the stop and Carol asked us on the mic, “Does anyone need shitpaper?” (sorry mom and dad there is no better way to say it) Kara and I were the only ones that heard this and were dying laughing. I guess they only use toilet paper when they go #2…yuck. Anyways we are all pros at public bathrooms now so we had our own “shitpaper”. Let me just say I wouldn’t wish going in the public bathrooms in China on anyone…well maybe some people, but that’s a whole other story. We all went potty and found some yummy Chinese treats(sarcasm, although I did find some chocolate filled koala bears!), Kara even found Red Bull! Back to the bus we went.

Some of the scenery on our way to PanJin

We got there about 4 hours later. All the kids, Matthew, Isaac, and Sarah, were fabulous on the trip. I don’t think I would have been so well behaved when I was their age. Our hotel was very elaborate. We waited while Carol checked us in and then went up to our rooms. Walking up to our rooms I almost hit my head in the doorway, it was so short! The rooms were nice, comparable to a Holiday Inn in the States. The bonuses in the room were nice little “presents” available, such as oils, pretzels, robes, etc. We were all excited when a maid came in and took them from us, I guess they figured since we weren’t business men we wouldn’t use them. We put our stuff down in our room and headed to eat lunch. Lunch was so good; we ate traditional style (think Italian Family style in the States). They put all the food on a huge lazy susan and then you spin it around and get what you want. They had some pretty interesting food; I wasn’t as daring as some were. They served us so much food it was crazy!


Our Hotel...


Kara checking out the presents


Lunch on the first day...

After lunch we went reed picking to make our zongzis. A zongzi is like a Chinese tamale. We drove to the reeds area and got out of the bus to see the crabs and reeds. We were all thinking they were going to be real crabs, no they were just huge statues of crabs. For some reason the Chinese have this fascination with statues of large animals. Crabs, geese, seals, you name it I have seen it somewhere in China. We had to wait for a boat to take us to the reed picking area. All 15 of us fit on this little boat, let me tell you it was low riding! We went along the river slowly and were like tourist taking pictures of everything.



On the way, I love this picture!


KILLER CRAB!!!


Pretty stream surrounded by reeds

Once we arrived at the reeds area and were let loose to pick. It was pretty funny because we really didn’t know what we were looking for to pick. We spent about 2 hours lost in the abyss of reeds. At one point we were walking through them, no path or boardwalk just following the person in front of us. Thank goodness it wasn’t like that one the stilted boardwalk! We were all joking how this is another example of OIC (only in China). OIC would you find a place to pick reeds that doesn’t have any ropes or railings up to protect you from falling off the boardwalk you are walking on 7 feet above the ground. It would be shut down in a second in the States because of safety issues. We finished picking and headed back for more food.


Kara and I after climbing to the top of a lookout

Dinner was just as good as lunch, except more food. They made us crabs, fish, and duck. The duck was delicious, crabs were hard to eat because there really wasn’t much meat in them. They showed us the live crabs before we ate so we knew they were fresh. That is also why they keep the bones and beak on the other animals. After we were all gorged with dinner it was time for the hot springs. That is for another post…

Fish anyone?


Guess it was good :)


How about some duck?

Zai Jian,

Mei mei (this is my new name when playing basketball, because Megan is too hard to say? I just hope it doesn’t mean stupid American!!)