Where in the world?

Vietnam & Cambodia

2008-02-01T12:17:00.001+08:00

Travel week 3ish... my winter holiday 2008 travels began in northern Vietnam with Clint and Dale. We made our way down the coast and then in Saigon they flew back and I crossed over to Cambodia to make my way to Thailand. Pics, in reverse order of my trip. Starting with Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia...

Bayon, near Angkor Wat...

Street vendor in Battambang, they were good carrying stuff on their heads like that...

My motorbike and driver for the day in Battambang. I'm now officially addicted to biking around the countryside on motorbikes...

A Cambodia cockfight which evidently takes place every Saturday and Sunday. We were the only females watching...

The boat ride from Battambang to Siem Reap...

Traffic in Phnom Penh, everyone rides bikes here...

Tuol Sleng Museum, what used to be a prison camp during the civil war in the late 70s...
Skulls of prisoners at Choeung Ek killing field outside Phnom Penh...

Waterfall in Dalat (Vietnam)...
Local children in a minority village in Dalat...

Nha Trang beach...

Dale, me and Clint by the lake in Dalat...

Dalat countryside, the mountains behind are supposed to look like a lady...

Local kids...

Scenes from our bike ride in Hoi An...

Me, the Buddhist statue, at some ruins in Vietnam...

Vietnam &

2008-02-01T12:17:00.000+08:00

Summer 2007 Travels Part I

2007-11-20T16:10:00.000+08:00

Travel pics from the summer. I started in Yantai and just made my way south and west. The best part of traveling in China is that you don't really have to make plans in advance. You can just wait till you get where you're going and then decide where to go next. The first place is Hangzhou. It's outside of Shanghai and the Chinese claim it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.

At a park called Lushan, a couple hours to the north of Nanchang.

Me with the group of Chinese students I met along the way. They volunteered to be my guide for the day.

A big temple in Nanchang. Nice from the outside although I have to admit I was templed out at this point so I didn't bother to go in.

In Yangshuo, a really nice area to the south of Guilin.

One of my biking days in Yangshuo. Beautiful area to just rent a bike for the day and go.

Dinner time. One of the many night markets across china. You simply sit at one of the "restaurants" and order something that they've got laying out. Then they cook it for you and there you go. And usually very tasty.

I took a wrong turn one day biking and ended up biking up the side of a mountain. Tiresome at the time but great views.

Some caves and natural mud baths. I don't know if it's really good for your skin or not but it's definitely hard to get off your skin and clothes.

Hiking back after the caves and mud baths.

Temple in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Some hand carved doors in Dali. They were everywhere so I'm assuming this is something Dali is famous for.

The lovely displays of vegetables available at each restaurant in order to entice you to come in and eat.

One of the gates surrounding the old town of Dali.

The famous three pagodas in Dali.

High-5s with the great buddhas in Dali.

And this means???... Stay off the grass?

The lake area in Dali. Louise and I took a detour biking and ended up in the area.

Local Bai minority person.

More street bbq. More or less you can get anything put on a stick and cooked for you.

Overlooking Lijiang.

Louise and I at a park in Lijiang.

Travel with Mom & Dad

2007-10-14T20:55:00.000+08:00

So only a few months late... here's pics from when mom and dad came to visit in late June. A whole year in China! It was refreshing to hear people talk with a North Carolina accent again. The first pic is in Beijing, in front of Mao's picture at the entrance to the Forbidden City.

Here's the three of us inside the Forbidden City.

Chinese lawn-mowers.

Inside of one of the buildings in the Forbidden City. The interior decorator who did this must have decorated every building in China because they all seem to have the same ornate furniture.

One of the many statues outside the buildings.

Notice it's all rows and columns of 9. Evidently this is a very imperial number.

Mom and I in Tiananmen Square. A very hot, hazy day!

The Summer Palace

Oh what cuties!

Dad's favorite toilet! He uses only the best in China.

Mom and Dad at the Summer Palace.

An acrobatics show in Beijing.

Us at the Great Wall.

Mom and Dad climbing the Great Wall... Come on! Just one more step! Haha

Our guide was kind enough to let us drive by the Olympic stadium and take a picture. However, at the time he asked I didn't realize drive by and take a picture actually meant stop while on the highway and lean out the window to take a picture!

Mom being Chinese.

Xi'an

Don't litter!

McDonald's is everywhere in China. My theory is that McDonald's is America's way of slowly taking over the world. We're going to put McDonald's in every country and the people will become addicted to it. Then after 20 years or so when it starts to make everyone fat and sick, we'll just sit back and laugh cause then the rest of the world can't say anything about fat Americans.

Us at McDonald's... helping contribute to the success of McDonald's. However it is a very good strategy to have clean bathrooms and air-conditioning in McDonald's in China.

The famous Terracotta Warriors.

They do look fearsome. Arrggg!

The national bird - the crane.

I'm starting my own war! Whoever decided cannons are old-fashioned is completely wrong.

Someone's pet pig, just roaming the streets of China. Maybe he's the head pig - leader of the pack!

Three Gorges Dam

The water level when the project is complete in 2009.

Nothing like a little bit of exhaust to get your day started.

So was our cabin part of the civilized unit or were we in an uncivilized unit?

A special performance one evening.

We had to wear the most ridiculous amount of gear for this really simple little hike. I think the whole way was roped off and either paved or matted. I know it's better to be safe than sorry but...

The Three Gorges Dam

Evidently nobody is allowed to commit suicide at the Three Gorges Dam.

Tibet

2007-08-23T19:22:00.000+08:00

Starting from the end of my trip, here are some pictures of Tibet. This first is from a religious dance we saw some monks performing in Sakya...

Local women watching the dancing...

Mt. Everest... (Permits and red tape make getting here annoying but once it's all done, amazing!)

Me in front of Mt. Everest...

Mt. Everest Base Camp, 5200 meters high - makes just walking tiring...

The road to Mt. Everest was scenic but an off-road rough ride...

Sakya, a town on the way to Mt. Everest...
Local Tibetan children, they LOVED to have their photo taken then look at their image in the camera. Many Tibetans have sunburned cheeks - the sun here is extremely intense...

Brooke, showing one of the many pictures she took...

The drive from Tingri to Mt. Everest, everyone was in 4-wheel drives...

Sakya monastery...

A house in Sakya...

Day 1 of the 6 day cross country drive to Mt. Everest...

Monastery in Shigatse...

Employees in Lhasa performing their morning exercises/having a morning meeting before opening the store...

Jokhang Temple in Lhasa...

Me at Yamdrok-Tso Lake...

Tris and I at Nam-Tso Lake, evidently the highest lake in the world...

The highest point of the road right before Nam-Tso Lake (5190 meters)...

Locals at the lake...

A Yak at Nam-Tso lake. Nicely decorated so you could pay to have your picture taken on it...

Anybody want any Yak meat? The good news is you know it's fresh since it was just killed and hung to sell...

Monks are everywhere in Tibet...

Potala Palace...

The streets of Lhasa...

These little bike-taxis are everywhere...

The Philippines

2007-06-01T17:50:00.000+08:00

The last week in April and the first week in May I somehow ended up in the Philippines. It was originally going to be Thailand but that obviously didn't happen so... the Philippines. I ended up going by myself but was extremely lucky and met a guy on the same flight to and from China. After we figured out we'd be there the exact same amount of time it was an easy decision to travel together.

Many pictures of the Philippines follow. However they're in somewhat random order. This first picture should be on the cover of Lonely Planet. It's the jeepney, the common means of public transportation throughout the Philippines. It's a combination of a jeep and a bus, and always about to fall apart. Yet despite needing several parts replaced, it is always brightly decorated and extremely cheerful looking - much like the people themselves. Therefore (and I've discussed this with other Philippines travelers), the jeepney is somewhat of a metaphor for the Filipino people (who may not be rich but always seem happy) and should be on the cover of Lonely Planet...

Here we have a lovely beach in El Nido. And of course the tiny little boat that we hired for the day to take us to all the random beaches...

The beach in Sabang...

The hostel we stayed at in El Nido was really cool. Upstairs they had little pod areas that overlooked the water. There were cushions and a place for a cold drink. You could easily spend hours just lounging and watching the scenery...
Sunset in Port Barton...

Me after a very tiresome walk back from the underground river. It didn't help that it had to have been 100% humidity...
Pretty boats, although less pretty when you realize you'll be spending 6 hours on one in order to get to the next place. (Objects are smaller than appear in photo.)

El Nido...

There were jellyfish everywhere on this one beach we went to and at first I was afraid to get into the water (notice all the dots of jellyfish on the left in the picture below). However, this tiny little Filipino boy kept just picking them up and throwing them out of the way. We tried to make the universal hand motion for "are these not jellyfish that sting you when you touch them?!?" but he kept picking up more and throwing them out of the way. He actually picked up the one below and gave it to me to hold. HOWEVER, what we later realized is that the top part doesn't sting you - the part I'm touching. Yet the part facing up will sting you. In this picture I was still blissfully unaware of the impending danger...
Waterfall in Batad that I spent what seemed like forever climbing up and down terrace steps to get to. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I'd get to take a dip in the water once I made it there...

Traditional houses in Batad...

A small village surrounded by rice terraces...

And jump back to Palawan (here's where you notice the pictures are out of order). I think this was on one of the tiny islands in El Nido, however one beautiful beach kinda starts to look like all the other beautiful beaches after a while...

Me and Hugo about to set off on our underground river tour. I can say the hard hats were unnecessary, although they do make the picture look more dangerously exciting...

Local women in Banaue. Despite the fact they just happened to be sitting around wearing this, I don't think this is what they wear everyday. It's probably because they were near the tourist shop...

A local parade that we stumbled upon...

Me in one of the many tricycles I had the joy of riding on. They're a tight squeeze and a guaranteed bumpy ride, but have a terrific breeze. You can't tell but to the left there's a little motorcycle attached to what I'm sitting in...

Walking on the rice terraces. At some points it got really steep and falling to my death entered my mind. It also made me laugh cause in the US there would be railing on all the steep parts, which would of course have taken away from the experience...

Guess who?

Back in Manila. This is Malate Street, which at night becomes a fabulous place to get dinner/beer, listen to some live music, relax, and watch the sunset...

Rice terraces again in Banaue...

Local Filipino children...

We arrived less than a month before elections so everywhere we went there were posters attached to all the buildings. Some of the posters made me laugh cause they looked more like wanted posters than campaign posters...

The bus from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. Let's just say the buses aren't luxury class. Despite the heat I was grateful the bus had no a/c because on the past two buses I took with a/c I nearly froze to death. What made it worse was being freezing cold inside the bus and knowing that right on the other side of the window (which didn't open) it was incredibly warm...

Sunset in El Nido...

One of the many beaches surrounding El Nido which we visited...

One of my favorite beaches. I think this one was called Secret Beach (for obvious reasons). You swim through that tiny little hole in the rocks and when you get to the other side there's an amazing hidden beach about the size of half a football field.

Me, doing a little snorkeling...

Part 2

2007-04-17T14:16:00.000+08:00

Yay! My internet's faster again for some reason. So I'm taking this opportunity to update my pictures. The first, and obviously the most important, here's Huanghuang (literally translated as Yellow Yellow). He's the family's dog, who liked to accompany me when I went to the outhouse...

The house...

One day Fei and I got a little bored and decided to go into town. To make a long story short, this is me in a traditional Chinese regal outfit (the hair's not all mine). Oh, and I'm definitely not denying I'm a naturally pale person, but special lights were also used to make us look paler...

The yard. Outhouse to the left, house to the right, entrance behind me...

While I was there one of the family members had a baby. I'm guessing this is the maternity ward at the hospital. I think that when we visited the baby was 6 days old. (It's the thing on the bed that everyone's gathered around)...

Me and several relatives. The girls to my left and right are both deaf sisters. The one standing on my left side was "lost" 8 years ago and this was the first time she'd been back. What I got from the translation was that she was tricked by someone 8 years ago, kidnapped, and then sold to her husband. Her husband's the short one on the back row. Behind his back, the general consensus was that he's ok for her (gave her a child), but he's too short. Guess which one's me...

Fei and her grandpa...

Entrance to the village...

A road in the village where I liked to take walks. On sunny days it felt super nice...

I have also recently discovered that my lunar birthday is March 1st - which in the year 2007 falls on April 17th. Therefore, I will be celebrating my birthday again today. Wish me a happy lunar birthday!

I've decided to make up an email for some of the unedited comments. If you want me to send you a copy either post a comment on the blog or send me an email and I'll forward it to you.

Chinese New Year Part 1

2007-03-16T11:32:00.000+08:00

I'm honestly not sure where to begin. Let's see, I guess there's the whole no heat during the freezing winter or how about no indoor plumbing? Maybe the fact that there were no private showers? I'm guessing now I have everyone's attention...
Overall my holiday was an awesome experience. I've been living in China for about half a year now but sometimes it still feels like I get a tourist's view of the life here. I teach English, so I'm constantly surrounded by English and fellow westerners. Also most of my friends are westerners and sometimes it's amazing how long I can go speaking to only them.
Yet that's not what I'm necessarily looking for. Sure, it's necessary to stay sane, but I'm in China and that's what I want to experience. With all that said, I got that experience during the month of February. I left Yantai on January 27th with no particular plan in mind. I knew I was going to be staying with a student who also became my friend, but I knew very little about where she was from.

Her house, and entire village for that matter, was not what I was expecting. People seemed to lead a very simple life, which at times was refreshing. Then there were the times I just wanted to eat anything that didn’t have msg, wanted to have heat so I didn’t have to wear two pairs of thermals at all times, wanted to hear a conversation in English, etc.

Her family was awesome. Despite the fact my Chinese is extremely limited and her family spoke no English, we got along really well. Many afternoons I’d go “visiting” with the mom. Here’s a typical day during the month… wake up about 7:30. Wash face, brush teeth, eat a meal (notice how I didn’t say breakfast), go for a walk (this was my necessary time with just me and my mp3 player), lounge until lunch, go visit one of the neighbors and talk at least 2 hours while constantly being offered tea and sunflower seeds, visit someone else, return for dinner, talk while drinking tea and eating sunflower seeds, wash face, brush teeth, bed.

I did learn an incredible amount of cultural information though. For example, fireworks continue throughout the night and day for about a week or two surrounding the actual New Year. (This is also much more dangerous than would be allowed in the US, or maybe my opinion is just biased due to the fact I came close to getting hit by one.) On the New Year morning, the family eats jiao zi (dumplings). Afterwards, the adults go from house to house wishing everyone a happy New Year. In the days after the New Year there are certain days one can’t wash clothes, hair, or shower. There’s a day to visit the graves of the family ancestors. Showers aren’t necessary but about once a week (this differs from my personal opinion), and everywhere you go people will give you something to eat – even if you’re not hungry. It’s very welcoming to have people pushing food on me but after a while, no means no.

There’s also a big difference in conversation. In China many conversations focus on money. People liked to ask how much I made, how much I paid for things, how much something would cost in the US, how much I think they paid for something. All of these questions made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Even if I were the poorest person in the world, in their eyes I would always be rich simply because I’m American. Usually I would deal with questions I didn’t want to answer by either saying I didn’t remember or pretending to not understand what they were asking.

At this point there are still a billion things I could tell about my break but I don’t feel like writing anymore. I’ll guess I’ll just sum up by saying I had a good break. Everyone was extremely nice, despite the cultural differences that sometimes made me want to pull my hair out and if I had to do it again, I would. Now some pictures to reward those who read the whole thing, or skimmed to the end...

Here's me with the family... (Me, Fei, Mom, Dad, Didi) (Laolao, Laoye)

Me and Laolao, Fei's grandmother. She was one of my favorites...

Didi (Hanhan), Mom, Fei...

*Due to the exceptionally slow upload time right now, more pictures to come later.

Goodbye Dinner

2007-01-18T21:10:00.000+08:00

This appears to be the time of the year when everyone leaves. There's the first semester group of volunteers that is heading out and I'm assuming next semester a new group will come in. Of course I will also be leaving soon (the over a month long Spring Holiday begins next friday - Chinese New Year!) However, I'm coming back.
This month we lose Ryan and Natalia (and my brother Ryan although he was only visiting me - aren't I special.) Anyways, a few pictures from a going away dinner...

Me and Ryan...
Kim and Harry Potter...

Barbara and Chrisbin...

New Years and Random Yantai

2007-01-18T20:28:00.000+08:00

So here are some random pictures from the past month. This is the beach across the street when it snowed...

Ryan being crazy on top of whatever this animal is...

The east gate of Yantai University...

Me and Barbara at Kim's place for New Years...

Just a really hilarious picture of Natalia and a random security guard...

Ryan being a celebrity after his soccer game...

Kim, the dancing machine...

Christmas

2007-01-18T20:09:00.000+08:00

Not too surprisingly, Christmas is not that big of a deal in China. Alibabas, the one western bar in Yantai, had a Christmas eve party. It was a fun night of wearing red and green but beyond that it just seemed like any other fun night. So here's Natalia and I in our Santa hats...

Natalia, Jack, Me, Kim, Chrisbin (almost), Barbara, Ryan...

What 's more fun on Christmas than a two hour massage?
Me and Ryan at Alibabas...
Hahaha, looks awesome Chrisbin...

Monastery (again) with Snow!

2007-01-18T19:44:00.000+08:00

The same buddhist monastery as earlier in the year, only this time there was Ryan and snow, so pretty...

From a cave on the side of the mountain...

I am so scary...

He looks so nice and innocent in this picture... what happened?!? (Love you Ryan)

Qingdao with Ryan

2006-12-22T21:45:00.000+08:00

Qingdao (3 hours south of Yantai) just happens to be where the water sports in the 2008 Olympics will be held. Ryan and I decided to take a few days and travel around the city. It's supposedly where Chinese vacation during the summer, so nice beaches. It also has a little German influence. Here's Ryan being sacrilegious in front of one of the temples...

The Buddha inside...

Ryan's favorite, the rock-on Buddha...

The 8-sided temple at the end of a long bridge/pier...

And the same temple is on the label of Qingdao beer...
Qingdao with random pagoda...

Entrance to temples...

Another temple...

It may be cold enough to snow but these guys don't care, to them it's still summer (notce the tiny bathing suits and people in the water)...

Ryan, actually in China or photo shopped in?...

Beijing with Ryan

2006-12-22T20:27:00.000+08:00

Last Friday I met Ryan in Beijing then Mandie (who lives in Beijing) showed us around the city. We were lucky that it was a clear day. Unfortunately it was SO cold! But we saw the main stuff anyways. The Forbidden City...

Tiananmen Square...

The Beijing Hutong (poor neighborhoods)...

Random street with shops...

Tiny Pictures

2006-12-07T20:38:00.000+08:00

This is one of the most awesome things about China... the tiny pictures. Girls go and have these made and then put them everywhere (they are about the size of a stamp and sticky). And it's not just two best friends that do this, couples have these done as well. It's another story how popular his and her stuff is here.
So of course Natalia and I decided we would have to get our own made.
The general theme is that the poses are serious. It was hard to refrain from laughing but we wanted to be authentic here. It's also common to gaze at the camera while putting your hand on your face or the very typical peace sign. Oh, and the pictures are overexposed to make you look whiter.
Here's a few of them...

It snowed!

2006-12-04T13:42:00.000+08:00

What in the world?!? Little did I know that when I woke up on December 2nd and calmly strolled over to the window I would see tons of snow outside. So of course I had to take a picture. I'd say all in all it snowed a few inches... enough to make everything white...

and enough to build snowmen...

Chinese Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T17:27:00.000+08:00

So obviously I didn't fly home for the day to celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead some of the other Americans and I got together. We enjoyed a nice meal that was somewhat similar to what you might get at home. Peking duck, pumpkin, beans, etc. Delicious even if not traditional.
And then what Thanksgiving in China is complete without karaoke?!? I had the pleasure of experiencing my first Thanksgiving day karaoke. All in all very awesome.

Did you know...? Part 2

2006-11-21T15:55:00.000+08:00

I am learning how to cook Chinese food and here’s what I’ve learned so far… everything is fried and everything contains msg.

I have been served duck head, ‘rubber tube’ – which has to be some sort of intestines, pig’s feet, chicken neck, chicken feet, chicken head, various internal organs, many animals with eyes (evidently they’re tasty), and so many other things I simply didn’t bother to ask the name of. Sometimes it’s best I don’t know because in China it’s rude to not try the dish. So… yum!

Double eyelids are considered beautiful. A small percentage of Chinese have double eyelids and they think it’s pretty, along with large eyes, a thin nose, and white skin.

Lucy Liu (the actress in Charlie’s Angels) is not considered beautiful here. I asked several people and they all say she’s not pretty.

It’s a little weird when people come up to you and say ‘you’re so beautiful, such white skin’. My first instinct may be to defend myself and tell them I’m not sickly. But then of course here’s it’s good to be white so there’s just the awkward moment of denial then a polite thank you. It’s China – so you can’t just accept the compliment without denying it first.

I’ve heard Chinese girls compare themselves to bananas – yellow on the outside but white on the inside.

In Chinese ‘fried squid’ means you’re fired.

Instead of night owl the Chinese say night cat.

The Chinese word for careful is literally 'small heart - xiao xin'.

Did you know...? Part 1

2006-11-20T21:25:00.000+08:00

Red is a very lucky color. It’s used in weddings, during labor, infancy, and basically any other time you need luck.

The number 4 is unlucky. The pronunciation of 4 is the same as the pronunciation for death. However, other numbers such as 6, 8 and I think 9 are considered lucky.

Everyone is your ‘sister’ or ‘brother’. This can become quite confusing. For example: I thought I went to visit a Chinese friend’s sister. She kept calling her jiejie, which means older sister in Chinese. Later I come to find out she’s actually her cousin. She just uses sister because it implies a greater familiarity. It’s the same with friends. An older friend is your jiejie or a younger female friend is your meimei. And then you have the same with guys.

The Chinese character for good fortune, fu, is everywhere. However a lot of times you’ll find it’s upside down. At first I thought someone was being mean and put it upside down but there’s actually a reason. Evidently the character for ‘to arrive’ and ‘turn upside down’ have the same pronunciation. So by turning the character for good fortune upside down it means good fortune will arrive.

Don’t wear a green hat or dye your hair green! This means your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse is cheating on you. And everyone will laugh at you.

There are constantly fireworks going off everywhere, although usually the kind that just makes noise but doesn’t light up. These are done at ceremonies, particularly weddings. Since I live in a hotel, I have the “pleasure” of constant fireworks. Luckily people don’t usually get married early in the morning.

My students told me that it is common for parents to forbid their children to date while in the university. However, some said they did it anyways and just didn’t tell their parents. Dating is forbidden because dating takes away from your studies and competition for jobs is very competitive.

Boys and girls aren’t friends in China like they are in the US. My students told me they thought at first I was dating some of the other foreign teachers because I would be seen walking and talking with just them. As it was explained to me, you can be friends with the opposite sex but you usually don’t hang out one on one or people will wonder.

And dating… the majority of Chinese people date with the intention of marriage. They don’t do casual dating. Evidently if you’re dating someone it’s fairly serious.

Halloween

2006-11-04T11:20:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time all the foreigners gathered in one bar to celebrate the weird Halloween festival. Luckily they all took taxis so everyone on the bus would not be too shocked.
Costumes... what to do? Then it just hit us, what better costume for Halloween than Yao Ming. And not only Yao Ming but half of Yao Ming. Which is why I spent the evening walking around in a huge pair of pants and Barbara spent the evening walking around in a huge jersey. Here's Yao Ming as one person...

The bottom half of Yao Ming and Marcos (aka a Chinese girl for the night)...

Daniel and Mickey...

Ryan...
The girl's toilet at Alibaba is evidently a hang out place...

Me and Andy, the pirate...

Nick and Dale, watch out Dale...

Mark...

Robin Night and Simon, aka Beetlejuice...

The girls...

Mickey...

Sandy and Natalia...
Me and Sophie...

Dani...
Both halves of Yao Ming...

Red hair

2006-10-22T14:24:00.000+08:00

It began with just a hair cut. Barbara and I decided we were in desperate need of hair cuts. She asked Maggie (a Chinese student that has a cute haircut) where we should go to get hair cuts. There are many places around the university but evidently those aren't good. So Maggie took us into town to this guy who ended up being awesome.
We get there and somehow I'm convinced to get my hair colored as well. If figure why not - I'm in China.
So the stylist comes up and points to a color that I should color my hair. I figure he knows more than I do and what's the worst that could happen?
After I have my color I sit down in the chair (I've told him nothing about how I want it cut) and he starts to walk around me. He takes about 5 minutes just looking at my hair. He would touch it, then step back and look. It was kinda funny actually. He then turns to Maggie and tells her to tell me that I need a new hair style and is it ok if he cuts it shorter. Sure, why not.
Then come the scissors and he starts chopping away. In the end I really like it, especially the way he styled it with a little gel. It gave the style a little more body and edge. Now I just need to learn how to style it that way myself.
So overall a good haircut experience - despite the fact he spoke no English and I spoke no Chinese.

Penglai

2006-10-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

A while back Dale, Barbara and I went to Penglai. It's a little over an hour from Yantai so we did it in a day trip. Penglai is known for the Penglai pavilion with the 8 immortals and for a mirage that appears every few years - unfortunately it did not appear the day we were visiting. The pavilion is a place of worship, hence the multitude of temples. There is also a mirage that has appeared in the past. It usually only appears for a few minutes but several years ago it was visible for a few hours so they now have a film of it that we saw. The mirage is on the sea horizon and in it there appears a town and stuff.

A pretty view of Penglai Pavilion...

A section of the Pavilion had tons of artwork, such as these jade statues...
Penglai Pavilion is known for the 8 immortals. I guess these are some of the 8...

Dale fits in well with the Chinese since he's so superstitious. Evidently if your coin lands on the turtle's head you'll have good luck...

I'm not exactly sure what this guy is but he looks awesome...

More impressive looking statues. They're everywhere...

That section far away and up high is where we walked to see all the temples...

This kid is SO cute in his little blue outfit...

Me and Dale. You might wonder why I have the piece of cloth tied around my skirt. That's because it was so incredibly windy. Barbara and I had bought new dresses and wanted to wear them. We didn't realize we'd be entering hurricane force winds. Consequently, my skirt wanted to fly up all day. Hence why it's tied down...

The town of Penglai...

Even the trash cans look cool here...

Barbara and I on the beach, after walking ALL the way down. Of course that was easy compared to walking up...

Walking back up the stairs...
Dale's afraid of heights...

Hahaha, Barbara has the windblown look down pat...

The ceiling in my room isn't quite this fancy...

The signs are a constant amusement...

A pretty decorative screen...

My room

2006-10-17T17:02:00.000+08:00

Here's a few pictures of my room at Yuweihong that I took right after I arrived. It's not the Ritz but it's enough. Ignore the lack of decorations.

Here's my bedroom, conveniently located right beside the kitchen...

My bedroom/den/living area. There's a tiny baloncy outside but unfortunantly it only overlooks the back of another building...

My kitchen. Notice the lack of an oven. Everything is cooked on the stovetop here, very few ovens. That yellow and white thing is my washing machine - interesting to use...

Here's my bathroom. You might not be able to tell from this picture but there's no distinction between the shower area and the rest of the bathroom. You just pull the shower curtain across half the room, unplug the hot water heater (don't want to die), then shower. There's a nice little drain for the water to escape. At first it was weird but I've definitely gotten use to it...

Another few things I've noticed:

-Chinese people love to sing out loud. On the way to class this morning there was a group of guys behind me that sang an entire song while walking to class. I think by the end of the year I'll be randomly singing in public because I've already felt the impulse.

-Unlike back home where students barely go to the classes they are required to go to, I have extra students in all of my classes. I think they attend class simply because I'm foreign and they want to hear me talk. That's fine but I was completely bewildered when I handed out the sign-up sheet for oral test times and a girl (not in my class) asked if she could come take the test. When I explained to her that she could sit in the class but she didn't need to take the test because she wouldn't get a grade she still wanted to take it anyways. Anybody from back at UNC want to take extra exams?

Buddhist Monastery

2006-10-17T16:29:00.000+08:00

About a month ago I visited a local Buddhist monastery. I went with two other foreign teachers and a Chinese student who acted as a tour guide for us.

This is the monastery from the road that we hiked up to see it...

Me and Barbara (good job Dale keeping the camera level)...

One of the many Buddha's in the monastery...

Another...
Jason putting the incense up. When I asked if there was any significance behind this he said it's food for Buddha. However the incense used in houses is for bad smells. Hahaha - funny at the time.

Inside the temple...

Barbara praying to Buddha...

Pretty view of the monastery. I especially like the roof...

Dale and I praying at the temple...

Yantai Pictures

2006-10-14T22:19:00.000+08:00

I have been negligent with my online postings but that’s just cause I’ve been so busy lately. I spent a week traveling for the October holiday and it's been busy since then.

I finally have some pictures to share. These are all taken in Yantai...

A picture of the campus where I teach, Yantai University.

The lake in the middle of campus.

The clock tower by the lake.

One of the student dorms. Either 6 or 8 people in a room and the showers are located in a different building. I'll never complain about my dorm life again!

The market outside of campus.

Yantai - A picture of the town from a lookout area that Barbara and I walked to.

All the boats waiting to go fishing.

Some of the many bright lights and billboards around town.

Zoom in and appreciate the saying on the little wooden sign. I see signs like this all the time that constantly crack me up.

This was one of the first places someone took me in Yantai. Everyone's very proud that they have one here. Evidently it only opened a few months ago.

Class and so on

2006-09-27T17:44:00.000+08:00

I simply had to label this post “class and so on”. Every Chinese person uses so on. In my writing class their papers will always say, “I like basketball, soccer, bicycling and so on.”

My Monday classes were annoying. I have two listening classes in the morning and I have quickly come to find out that the students find listening classes incredibly boring. This is probably because they are incredibly boring. All I do is play this tape for them and they have to listen and answer questions. Sometimes I’ll play music for a few minutes to spice it up, but it doesn’t make the tapes less boring.

The reason Monday frustrated me is that my students decided to come up after both classes and complain about how boring it was and tell me how they think the class should be taught. “Play movies during class, play more music…” Basically they just don’t like the tapes. I’ve decided I will ignore them all and just continue with the tapes – hooray!

So I was feeling a little down about classes until I had my speaking classes. These guys are great. Obviously it’s easier to make these classes more exciting because I can do whatever I want. In my class yesterday and the one this morning I did this game that they seemed to love. And the best part – they were all participating and talking in English! I even had one girl say she thought I was a really good teacher. This could be because students love to give compliments, but I’m just going to assume it means I’m awesome. I deserve it after the complaints from listening on Monday.

Now that everyone has stopped reading what I’ve written, or knows more than they ever wanted to know about teaching in China, I’ll share a few more interesting things I’ve discovered….

--It’s common to not take the bones out of meat when it’s served. Example: Last night Barbara and I ordered a chicken dish and a duck dish. Both arrived with bones. So there were little chunks of meat on the plate, they just all had bones. This is common and it’s not rude to spit them out – I however still prefer no bones.

--I have noticed several times in class a student will randomly hold up a phone. This is not to get better reception or ask a question. This is to take my picture with their camera phone. I am a foreigner and therefore weird. I am hoping this will stop soon once everyone has gotten it out of their system.

--Freshmen classes don’t begin until the third week of school. This is because the first two weeks are spent doing military training. I’m not sure exactly what they do but they all wear camo and walk in lines. One person told me it’s to instill discipline.

Next week is a national holiday here - therefore I will be traveling. Location to be determined. I will hopefully put some pictures of my travels online once I'm back.

One month and counting

2006-09-24T16:12:00.000+08:00

I have now been living in Yantai a little over one month and the time has come to do something about this blog. On my to-do list: buy a cell phone and buy a camera. So photos will be coming soon.

So far my travels have included Penglai and Weihai, each an hour from Yantai. I also visited a Buddhist monastery not far from where I live.

The first week of October is a holiday here so I will be traveling! Woohoo! Now I'll just have to decide where I want to visit.

Interesting observations:

Chinese students choose weird English names. Some of my students are Echo, Hike, Jolly, Cinderella, CCS, Rocky (a girl), Joy (a boy), Asia... well you get the idea.

It's common to eat seafood as is. A shrimp is eaten with the shell, eyes, little legs and all.

My shower area and bathroom are one and the same.

Women walk around with umbrellas when it's sunny in order to stay as white as possible.

Good thing I brought deodorant from home, I think it's impossible to find here.

Chinese is hard.

DVDs cost less than a dollar, and you buy them in secret door shops - all very exciting.

Everything is fried - ovens are not common.

A medical exam is required to be a teacher. Complete with X-ray, ultrasound, blood tests and more.

Classes are once a week for 2 hours at a time.

On the whole, Chinese people are very friendly.