I'm on a 25 hour contract at this school (which is the highest hour contract that is offered) so I have a lot of free time. Here is my schedule for anyone interested:
Monday- Day off
Tuesday- Day off
Wednesday- 2pm-3pm: C3 (about 7-8 years old)
3:05-4:30: Free Talk (17-mid 20's)
Thursday- Day off
Friday- 1:30-3:00: Free Talk (24 year old)
Saturday- 8am-10: C6 (8-9 year olds)
10:15-12:15: C7 (8-9 year olds)
3:15-5:15: C7
Sunday- 8:00-8:30: C1 (5-6 year olds)
8:30-9:00: CP1 (3-4 year olds)
9:00-9:30: CP2 (4-5 year olds)
9:30-10:00: CP3 (5-6 year olds)
10:15-12:15: C9 (9-12 year olds)
1:00-3:00: C10 (11-14 year olds)
3:15-4:10: C2 (6-7 year olds)
4:15-5:15: 1-2-1 (18 year old who is practicing oral English to enter University)
I really dislike my Sundays because of all the small children. Wednesday's C3 is my worst class by far. They don't pay attention and are little monsters except for two or three students.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Chinese Medicine
I arrived at home after Chinese class to find a good sized bag sitting on my coffee table. In this bag were a bunch of liquid filled pouches. I naturally assumed it was my "high pressure boiled" medicine. I called Tommy to ask how to take this. I have to drink this stinky brown liquid 15-30 minutes after I eat in the morning and at night. I was not looking forward to drinking this since many Chinese people that I know said that they can't even drink it because it makes them sick.
I fixed my dinner consisting of ramen noodles with a poached egg and watched CNN for a while. After procrastinating I decided I'd better just get it over with. I grabbed one of the pouches out of the refrigerator and cut it open. I then poured it into a cup so it would be easier to drink. If the smell of the liquid had been a little stronger that alone would have made me vomit. I pinched my nose shut and lifted the cup to my lips. "Here we go", I thought. After gagging for a while I had to give up. I drank most of it but I have to admit some of it got washed down the drain. I'd say that was pretty good for the first time!
After swallowing as much as I could I spat as much of the flavor out of my mouth as I could. I then headed straight for the water cooler in the living room and drank about 4 glasses of water. But that didn't help much. I could still taste it. I then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. If I could have brushed out my throat I would have. Even brushing didn't help that much. I could still taste it. Eventually, either the taste just went away or I got used to it.
That didn't last long though. I burped a while later and the taste came right back. Ewww... At least it's only twice a day.
I fixed my dinner consisting of ramen noodles with a poached egg and watched CNN for a while. After procrastinating I decided I'd better just get it over with. I grabbed one of the pouches out of the refrigerator and cut it open. I then poured it into a cup so it would be easier to drink. If the smell of the liquid had been a little stronger that alone would have made me vomit. I pinched my nose shut and lifted the cup to my lips. "Here we go", I thought. After gagging for a while I had to give up. I drank most of it but I have to admit some of it got washed down the drain. I'd say that was pretty good for the first time!
After swallowing as much as I could I spat as much of the flavor out of my mouth as I could. I then headed straight for the water cooler in the living room and drank about 4 glasses of water. But that didn't help much. I could still taste it. I then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. If I could have brushed out my throat I would have. Even brushing didn't help that much. I could still taste it. Eventually, either the taste just went away or I got used to it.
That didn't last long though. I burped a while later and the taste came right back. Ewww... At least it's only twice a day.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Another trip to Dr. Li
As soon as Micheal heard that my test results still weren't quite right he decided that I had to go to the Chinese doctor again. This afternoon he picked me up in his fairly new BMW and drove me to the same doctor's office that we visited a few weeks ago.
We arrived after an awkward car ride (he doesn't speak a lot of English and I barely speak any Chinese at all). We walked into Dr. Li's cubical and I sat down. Dr. Li again checked my pulse on both my wrists. (I'm sure he isn't checking my pulse but that is what it looks like.) He talked to Michael a bit and began writing down a bunch of stuff on a prescription pad (it's actually a large notepad that he puts carbon paper under to make a copy for himself). There was a lady watching all of this and she began talking to Michael about me. All I understood from their conversation in Chinese was that I am American, I'm a teacher, I look good, and I'm fat.
After thanking Dr. Li and saying goodbye we walked back into the main hall which looks like a health food store. We went to the cashier then walked up to a counter in front of a wall with at least 150 drawers in it. Each one had different characters on it. Turns out this is where the herbs are stored. Michael gave the pharmacy workers the list of medicine and they began putting sheets of wax paper on the counter so they could put the herbs on the paper so Michael could examine them. At first I thought they would mix all these things together and I would have to boil this and drink it. I soon realized that would not be the case. There was way too much stuff for me to make tea out of. There were about 20 different herbs on the counter now. All put together it could fill a plastic grocery bag. Michael then said that we could get the medicine tomorrow. I thought this was a little weird since everything was sitting right there on the counter. It's not like they had to order it or anything.
After Micheal made sure all the herbs were there and that none of them were rotten we began to leave. Michael changed his mind and decided to show me what they were going to do with the herbs. From what I gathered, they take all the herbs and whatnot and put it in a high pressure boiler (Michael's words) then they make some sort of elixir from that. I'm sure it won't taste very good but at this point I'll do anything to make my WBC count go down so I can get residency in Dalian.
We arrived after an awkward car ride (he doesn't speak a lot of English and I barely speak any Chinese at all). We walked into Dr. Li's cubical and I sat down. Dr. Li again checked my pulse on both my wrists. (I'm sure he isn't checking my pulse but that is what it looks like.) He talked to Michael a bit and began writing down a bunch of stuff on a prescription pad (it's actually a large notepad that he puts carbon paper under to make a copy for himself). There was a lady watching all of this and she began talking to Michael about me. All I understood from their conversation in Chinese was that I am American, I'm a teacher, I look good, and I'm fat.
After thanking Dr. Li and saying goodbye we walked back into the main hall which looks like a health food store. We went to the cashier then walked up to a counter in front of a wall with at least 150 drawers in it. Each one had different characters on it. Turns out this is where the herbs are stored. Michael gave the pharmacy workers the list of medicine and they began putting sheets of wax paper on the counter so they could put the herbs on the paper so Michael could examine them. At first I thought they would mix all these things together and I would have to boil this and drink it. I soon realized that would not be the case. There was way too much stuff for me to make tea out of. There were about 20 different herbs on the counter now. All put together it could fill a plastic grocery bag. Michael then said that we could get the medicine tomorrow. I thought this was a little weird since everything was sitting right there on the counter. It's not like they had to order it or anything.
After Micheal made sure all the herbs were there and that none of them were rotten we began to leave. Michael changed his mind and decided to show me what they were going to do with the herbs. From what I gathered, they take all the herbs and whatnot and put it in a high pressure boiler (Michael's words) then they make some sort of elixir from that. I'm sure it won't taste very good but at this point I'll do anything to make my WBC count go down so I can get residency in Dalian.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Da Hei Shan
October 1st is National Day. It is sort of like Independence Day for us Americans. Everyone gets a few days off work and all schools and businesses are closed. It is actually illegal for most people to work that day from what I've heard. It is also a day for families to get together and celebrate.
Obviously, my family is not here to celebrate National Day with me, even though I didn't really care to. Michael, the owner of the school, felt that since everyone had some time off the school should go on a day trip and that way the foreigners and the Chinese Teachers who had nothing to do could have some fun together. He planned a trip to a large mountain about 45 minutes out of Dalian near the development zone called Kai Fa Qu.
The name of this mountain in English is "Big Black Mountain". I should have known this would be bad just from the name. "Black" always foreshadows something evil or difficult. I am not a fan of exercise or sweating. When our buses arrived at the mountain I immediately thought how I should have just stayed in bed. We hadn't even begun our trek but I was already sweating just from the sun! One of the other teachers pointed way up the mountain and said, "that's where we are going." I thought she was joking! It looked so far away and so high up. After a stop at the bathroom, the group started climbing.
Naturally, I was at the end of the pack of people. Even though I'm in China, I'm still one of the shortest people here and can't keep up that well with everyone else. The walk was quite leisurely as people were taking pictures of this and that. Somehow I ended up quite a ways in front of most of the others. The teachers who were walking with me decided to take a snack break and we sat down in a random pagoda to eat some oranges and rest a minute. We then began the trek again and caught up with the first group which included Patrick. I collapsed on a step and asked how much longer we had. Patrick said, "We are almost there. It's just up on that bluff." I thought, "Oh, thank God! 'Cause I'm about to die!" Some of the other teachers started catching up so we got up and began moving again.
Patrick was right, we were almost there. But as I turned what I thought was one of the last corners I saw one of the steepest staircases I've ever seen in my life! After forcing myself to go up this I was disappointed to see another staircase around the next corner. Eventually I got to the top and was greeted by a Buddhist temple. After a rest I entered the temple with everyone else and began wandering around looking at stuff. I just thought, "Great, we are at the end. Let's go back now so I can take a shower." But no, this wasn't the Big Easy Mountain or the Big Fun-time Mountain. This was the Big "Let's test every ones endurance" Black Mountain. We still had about another mile or so to go.
The rest of it wasn't quite so bad. It was on a paved road with only a slight incline. We got to the top and took some pictures of the landscape and all that touristy stuff. All of a sudden there was a group forming to go even higher on the mountain. Apparently the rest of the people hadn't gotten enough yet. There was a small trail leading up even further to where some radio towers were. I opted out of this fun-filled adventure and decided to check out another pagoda with fake terra-cotta warriors around it. There was a Chinese teacher, Tommy (the manager), and Michael who accompanied me. After checking out all this we began the journey to the bottom of the mountain. We walked down a winding paved road to a small farming community at the bottom.
When we reached the bottom we headed into a house. The houses at the bottom of the hill prepare "countryside" food for tourists and Michael had arranged for us to have lunch there. The house was quite interesting. It had the normal bedrooms, living room, and kitchen but there was more. They had a small courtyard in the middle of the house and a strange room with a huge platform that filled 90% of the room. I was invited to go in that room which turned out to be a bedroom. This platform was the family bed. When I sat on the bed it was warm. I was told that this is a traditional Chinese bed. In the winter and during holidays families will eat together and sleep together on this bed. The stove in the kitchen is exhausted through a horizontal chimney that runs under the bed and keeps it warm.
After the other teachers arrived we ate. The food was delicious. It tasted just like American food. There was even something that was just like pot roast. After finishing dinner we boarded the buses and went back home.
My batteries died but here are some pictures that I got.
Obviously, my family is not here to celebrate National Day with me, even though I didn't really care to. Michael, the owner of the school, felt that since everyone had some time off the school should go on a day trip and that way the foreigners and the Chinese Teachers who had nothing to do could have some fun together. He planned a trip to a large mountain about 45 minutes out of Dalian near the development zone called Kai Fa Qu.
The name of this mountain in English is "Big Black Mountain". I should have known this would be bad just from the name. "Black" always foreshadows something evil or difficult. I am not a fan of exercise or sweating. When our buses arrived at the mountain I immediately thought how I should have just stayed in bed. We hadn't even begun our trek but I was already sweating just from the sun! One of the other teachers pointed way up the mountain and said, "that's where we are going." I thought she was joking! It looked so far away and so high up. After a stop at the bathroom, the group started climbing.
Naturally, I was at the end of the pack of people. Even though I'm in China, I'm still one of the shortest people here and can't keep up that well with everyone else. The walk was quite leisurely as people were taking pictures of this and that. Somehow I ended up quite a ways in front of most of the others. The teachers who were walking with me decided to take a snack break and we sat down in a random pagoda to eat some oranges and rest a minute. We then began the trek again and caught up with the first group which included Patrick. I collapsed on a step and asked how much longer we had. Patrick said, "We are almost there. It's just up on that bluff." I thought, "Oh, thank God! 'Cause I'm about to die!" Some of the other teachers started catching up so we got up and began moving again.
Patrick was right, we were almost there. But as I turned what I thought was one of the last corners I saw one of the steepest staircases I've ever seen in my life! After forcing myself to go up this I was disappointed to see another staircase around the next corner. Eventually I got to the top and was greeted by a Buddhist temple. After a rest I entered the temple with everyone else and began wandering around looking at stuff. I just thought, "Great, we are at the end. Let's go back now so I can take a shower." But no, this wasn't the Big Easy Mountain or the Big Fun-time Mountain. This was the Big "Let's test every ones endurance" Black Mountain. We still had about another mile or so to go.
The rest of it wasn't quite so bad. It was on a paved road with only a slight incline. We got to the top and took some pictures of the landscape and all that touristy stuff. All of a sudden there was a group forming to go even higher on the mountain. Apparently the rest of the people hadn't gotten enough yet. There was a small trail leading up even further to where some radio towers were. I opted out of this fun-filled adventure and decided to check out another pagoda with fake terra-cotta warriors around it. There was a Chinese teacher, Tommy (the manager), and Michael who accompanied me. After checking out all this we began the journey to the bottom of the mountain. We walked down a winding paved road to a small farming community at the bottom.
When we reached the bottom we headed into a house. The houses at the bottom of the hill prepare "countryside" food for tourists and Michael had arranged for us to have lunch there. The house was quite interesting. It had the normal bedrooms, living room, and kitchen but there was more. They had a small courtyard in the middle of the house and a strange room with a huge platform that filled 90% of the room. I was invited to go in that room which turned out to be a bedroom. This platform was the family bed. When I sat on the bed it was warm. I was told that this is a traditional Chinese bed. In the winter and during holidays families will eat together and sleep together on this bed. The stove in the kitchen is exhausted through a horizontal chimney that runs under the bed and keeps it warm.
After the other teachers arrived we ate. The food was delicious. It tasted just like American food. There was even something that was just like pot roast. After finishing dinner we boarded the buses and went back home.
My batteries died but here are some pictures that I got.
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