Spring Concert

Well I made it through the Spring Concert at MRA & I am still alive to tell the tale. It was rough, and it was exhausting. I mean, I know that I have said things before about how much work it was and everything, but really it was horrible. For starters, I did not exactly agree with the whole thing anyway. Putting on a concert for families is one thing, but Morgan and the teachers and parents put so much pressure on the kids to sing and dance well that it takes the fun out of it. I, on the other hand, just didn’t care.  Sure I “practiced” with my kids, but to be honest, I didn’t even teach them a dance for one of my songs until a week before the concert. I just didn’t feel like it was that important…

For Morgan, the concert seems to be the most important thing in the world, and he uses it to kiss up to parents and “show” parents that their children are learning English. Each class does three songs (two in English and one in Chinese), in addition to a tae kwon do performance by the boys and a dance performance by the girls. Each performance has a different costume.

The dress rehearsals were so stressful to me. Picture this – all of the children cram into a small dance room, and each class takes a turn to perform their songs and dances. While the children perform, Morgan sits on a chair in front of them with a microphone and speaks into the microphone the entire time saying things like, good job Johann, you’re not singing Mary, so cute Sophia… He is really hard on the kids. Then he makes a list of all the kids that are not singing or dancing and makes comments after the performance. First he told me that “You Are My Sunshine” was too fast for my kids (even though it is a kid friendly Veggie Tales song and the kids all sing it and love it). He also told me that my kids’ Chinese performance was really great because it was fun for them because they were silly and got to touch their butts and stuff while dancing… really, that is what makes them cute?

Then on our last rehearsal, just a couple days before the concert, my kids performed “Somewhere Out There” for him. We had practiced singing so much and the dance and I thought they did a fabulous job! However, following the song, Morgan turned to me and said, “Do you think that song is too high for them? None of them were singing on key!” REALLY?? They are FOUR! You can pick any song in the world and they are not going to sing on key! I was sooooo pissed!

So anyway, the day before the concert was madness. We had a full dress rehearsal with the whole school on the stage set outside in front of the school. For starters, it was 85 degrees that day and super humid so it was pretty miserable. All I had that morning was a large coffee so by ten I felt like I was going to pass out. The Chinese teachers made it more stressful for me because they were running around like crazy, yelling at the kids and stuff, and all of the other teachers were cranky and whatnot (as was I). Our entire day was thrown off because we had rehearsal for more than half the day, started lunch super late, so then the kids ended up napping later and whatnot. By the end of that day, I was drained and dreading the actual concert day.

Tuesday night after school, I stayed late sorting through all of our costumes to have everything sorted and ready to go for the following morning. I had made a pile of clothing for each kid with their name on it. Then all of the costume changes were laid out into neat piles – separated into boys and girls, and I prepared the room with activities for in between performances (books, arts, crafts) because we were in an extra empty room. We were ready to go. That night, I barely slept in anticipation.

I was hoping that I wouldn’t wake up until Thursday, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to wake up and realize it was Wednesday, Concert Day! Well I got up, got ready and headed into school. Kids started arriving as usual, along with parents and such. Morgan wanted one last rehearsal of the finale song on stage with the kids before the parents arrived though. After that, the kids got a quick morning snack and then we began getting them dressed and ready to go.

The rest of the day just flew by. I did my own thing with my class. I made sure they were dressed and ready to go when needed and I kept them entertained in between. I was also running around taking pictures and videos when the other classes were performing. Apparently, Morgan yelled at the Courtney’s several times so they were really irritated and whatnot, plus, their kids are younger so they had more kids that were not cooperating or crying for their parents. Morgan never said anything to me, and like I said, I kept my kids out of the way and entertained.

The worst idea ever was to have an intermission with food for the families. For starters, most of the kids were hungry because they had only had a small snack. The table set up with the food was right outside the door from where the nursery and toddler classes were waiting so all of the kids were going crazy crying for their parents. Then parents were sneaking into the room and feeding the kids but when they left, the kids screamed and cried.

By the end of the concert, I was exhausted and so were my kids, but I survived. I could not have been happier that it was over. After all of the families left, it looked like a tornado went through our school and we spent the next hour or so cleaning it up. Less than an hour later, full on thunder storms broke out. Thank God that held off until after… that could have been a nightmare.

Learn Chinese

You may only find these funny if you live in China but here goes....

TOP TEN  CHINESE EXCUSES FOR MISSING WORK

10. I overslept. Wo shui guo tou le.我睡过头了

9.  I was ill from eating some bad turtle. Wo chi hua du zi le.我吃坏肚子了

8. I got lost.  Wo mi lu liao  我迷路了

7. The fireworks kept me up all night. Wo kan le yi wan shang de yan hua. 我看了一晚上的烟花

6. It’s Sunday, I didn’t know we had to come to work ; wo bu zhidao xing qi tian yao shang ban ;我不知道星期天要上班；

5. I locked myself out. wo bei suo zai jia wai le :我被锁在家外了：

4.  My ayi turned off my alarm;wo de ayi ba wo naozhong guan le;我的阿姨把我闹钟关了；

** 'ayi' is the term refering to a nanny or housekeeper - EVERYONE has an ayi

3. I had to wait for someone to come fix my heat.  wo bu de bu deng ren lai xiu kongtiao.我不得不等人来修空调：

2. I got in a scooter accident :wo bei  mo tou zhuang le :我被摩托撞了

1. I drank too much baijiu and was throwing up all morning. Wo he le tai duo baijiu ,tu le yi zao shang :我喝了太多白酒；吐了一早上；

**baijiu is the worst liquor I have ever had - it is absolutely disgusting but Chinese people love it!

Easter Sunday

Holidays in Shanghai are just not the same. For starters, Chinese people do not celebrate the majority of the Western Holidays so come holiday season, the stores are not filled with props and candy or whatever… just the normal Chinese rabbits and stuff. Easter wasn’t any different. Court L and I debated between going to church and going to the Softball games. Perhaps we should have gone to church, but the church that I go to out here is not my church – I am not comfortable in it and it is just not the same, so ultimately, Softball Sunday trumped.

I don’t remember if I have talked about Softball Sundays before or not, but there is a huge Softball league that plays every Sunday. There are two different divisions and probably about twenty different teams of mostly expats – guys and girls. Different bars sponsor the teams and they all have team names like the Barbeerians, the Blackouts and the Brew Crew. So all day Sunday, teams filter in and out of the fields from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm playing double-headers. I love going to watch the games. It is almost like being back in American, drinking beer, hanging out at the fields, and we know a couple different guys from several different teams so it is fun to socialize and meet people too.

Well Easter Sunday we had to wake up at like 5:00 am to leave at 6:00 to be to the Big Bamboo Club by 7:00 to catch the bus to the fields. Each team has a bus that takes them to the fields because the fields are really far in Southern Pu Dong. We made it to the fields by 7:45 and the first game started at 8:00. We went with our friends, the Barbeerians. They won the first game and lost the second game by only a run. Then we went to the other field and watched the Brew Crew play… my party bus boyfriend is on the Brew Crew. They lost because they were all shitfaced drunk before noon.

After their game, the Home Run Derby began. Basically, each team got to pick their best batter to compete in the Home Run Derby. Each player got ten pitches and whoever hit the most home runs won a trophy, a bunch of money and free drinks at the Big Bamboo Club. Now usually, all of the teams are never at the fields at the same time because the games are so spread out, but everyone was there for the derby, and everyone was drinking like crazy and smoking a ton of weed (I would say that weed is probably more popular here than in the US – but of course, I stayed far, far away – especially after girls were puking and passing out from weed brownies they had there). It was a madhouse but really fun at the same time. During the derby, I sat in the outfield with my Brew Crew friends and drank some beer. No worries, I had a beer in one hand and a mitt in the other so I was prepared to catch any balls that were hit in our direction.

Well in the end, our friend Matt, who we went with, won the Derby with 7 home runs! Afterwards, we went back to the Big Bamboo to celebrate. Now I had been drinking throughout the course of the day so I was buzzed leaving the fields, but Court was completely sober. On the other hand, when we got to Big Bamboo, I stopped drinking and Court started pounding them! Next thing I knew, she had 6 mixed drinks and 7 shots of Jager in about 2 hours, and she was plastered by 6:00. The rest of the night I spent trying to keep Courtney under control as she harassed every person she encountered walking down the street, the taxi driver and who ever she decided to call in her phone. Somehow we ended up at Andy’s house after leaving Matt’s, and we went out with him and his roommates for some pizza so Court could sober up! Then we caught another taxi and headed home. Court passed out pretty quickly after that, and had an interesting morning when she had to get up bright and early for work.

Anyway, it didn’t exactly feel like Easter, but we still had one heck of a fun Sunday afternoon!

Dilemma

I have been so busy and so stressed that I have barely had time to sleep… but I should update you on my current situation. As I am sure you are aware, I was furious after my last posting. I was so frustrated and upset at the whole situation that I was making myself sick just thinking about spending the next 16 months at a place that I absolutely hate. At the same time, I was also dreading Morgan coming back from the US. To be honest, the school is a completely different place when he is not around (in a good and bad way). On the down side, the Chinese teachers are even more inappropriate and lazy when Morgan is not around, however, the whole atmosphere is much happier and less stressful when he is not around.

Anyway, the night before Morgan came back I did not sleep a wink. I was really stressed about the dress rehearsal that we were going to have with him for the spring concert, and I was even more anxious about having to talk to him and sitting down to speak with him about the issues. When all of the American teachers met at the corner in the morning to catch a taxi, we all admitted the same terror. What does that tell you about a boss?

When we made it to school, Morgan was already there in his office. Per usual, I got my classroom ready and then headed down to the jump room to meet up with my children as they came in from the bus. Courtney L and I were waiting for our kids when Morgan came in. The first thing he said to us, “Yeah, just to let you know, you cannot have the spring festival next week, it needs to be this week.” Alright, so perhaps I should fill you in on this… Earlier this month, in passing, Morgan told me don’t forget to plan the Easter egg hunt for your class. So I coordinated with the Kindergarten teacher and we planned a two day spring festival on Thursday and Friday following the Spring Concert on Wednesday. Although Easter was the Sunday before, we thought it would be a nice break for the kids, and we did not want concert prep or rehearsals to interfere with the celebration. Additionally, since Chinese people do not celebrate “Easter” it did not really matter when we had the “Spring Festival”. Apparently Morgan was not ok with this…

He started ranting about the Easter egg hunt first thing saying stuff about why give Christmas presents after Christmas, so why have an Easter egg hunt after Easter… Later that afternoon, Shannon (the kindergarten teacher) and I went to speak with him. The problem was that it was Wednesday and he expected us to have the Easter egg hunt and egg dying the following day. However, since we did not plan for it until the following week, we did not have anything prepared for it. We did not have the candy for the eggs, the hardboiled eggs for dying or any of the dye, etc. The school provides us with these things, but we had not given them a shopping list of supplies yet. While we were trying to talk to him about it, he was absolutely unreasonable! He was getting furious talking about how we were not being professional because we did not consult with him before we planned it, and that we should have known that we needed to plan it before Easter and blah, blah, blah. (side note: since Chinese people do not celebrate western holidays, the rule has always been that any holidays are always optional for us to teach or celebrate – everyone except Easter apparently).

I was so frustrated during the meeting because I did not know that was the expectation and no matter what we said to defend why we had planned it that way, it did not matter because he is the boss and he wanted it to be before Easter and he was not going to budge. After ten minutes of round and round discussion (equivalent to banging my head against the wall), I just said, “Morgan, if you want us to do it tomorrow, we will do it tomorrow. Are we going to have all the supplies that we need tomorrow to execute the egg dying and egg hunt.” Then he starts flipping out again because it was ridiculous that we were expecting all of those materials in only one day, and that it was completely unprofessional that we did not plan ahead blah, blah, blah. REALLY?? I mean, REALLY?

Middle of the meeting, I stopped talking! I bit my tongue because if I didn’t I was going to burst, and word vomit all over his desk! I stared at a spot on the wall, and never said another word. To be honest, I did not really care that much about the egg hunt and everything – really, it would not have been trouble to go to the store and get all the materials myself that night, but it was principle. It was the way that he approached the situation and the way that he demands and disperses fault and it was the accumulation of all of my built up angry and aggravation.  

Side note: my kids worked sooooo hard to practice singing and dancing for the Stupid Spring concert and I spent hours making costumes for each of my kids! During our concert dress rehearsal, the only thing he said was that my kids were not singing on key and that he thought the song I chose was just a little too high for them to sing on key. WTF – they are FOUR YEARS OLD. I was sooo mad that was the only thing he had to say!

Anyway, when I walked out of his office, I lost it! I began to cry and I wanted nothing more than to walk out of his school, take all of the children far, far away and never return. I just kept thinking, I gave up everything and moved across the world for THIS? That night, I went home and cried to my parents, telling my mom that I wanted to come home because I was done! Now, in my life, I have had jobs that I didn’t like and bosses that I did not care for, but I have never been so upset by an entire work situation as a whole – and the cherry on top is that I am 10,400 miles away from everything important in my life.

So Thursday we did the Easter Egg Hunt and it was great. None of my kids knew anything about Easter and they hadn’t a clue why we were searching for plastic eggs, but they enjoyed it nonetheless. We did not dye eggs because Morgan couldn’t get the eggs hardboiled in enough time, so he said that we can dye them next week instead – interesting… why would we dye Easter Eggs after Easter? It would be like giving a gift after Christmas!

On Friday, all the American teachers had a short meeting with Morgan following school – just the usual business. However, after the meeting, he pulled me aside to ask me some questions about my curriculum and such. Well that short discussion turned into a HUGE discussion. He started ranting about all kinds of stuff, but what it boiled down to was that he thought all EMU graduates had bad attitudes and that all we wanted to do was come into his school trash his curriculum and screw him over (in the way that Drew did). It really sucks about Drew because now that Morgan has been screwed over, he no longer trusts ANYONE and he thinks that we are all going to do the same thing to him. He also started saying some stuff about specific things that I was doing or not doing – that was when I freaked! For starters, when I arrived, Morgan did not give me ANY directions, guidance or expectations. I arrived on Monday, he threw me into a classroom on Tuesday and that was it. He expected that the other American teachers would just tell me everything that I needed to know. Well that was not the case at all. So really, I have been kind of wondering through this picking up things along the way and trying to figure it all out.

When he started saying stuff about how I am supposed to be doing this or that, I nearly screamed I DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM DOING! For God sakes, I am a first year teacher in a foreign country! I am doing what I know and what I think I should be doing, but if there is something specific that he expects out of me, I need to be told the clear expectation. I mean, this is teaching 101 – state concise expectations up front. I cannot be held accountable for something that I did not know. After all of that he says, “Well didn’t I give you the teacher’s handbook and expectation guide?” Of course not!

During the meeting he told me that he could tell I was unhappy. I admitted that I was extremely unhappy, but that was a discussion for another day because it was already so late and I was frustrated enough with the issues at hand… which brings me to day. He called me into his office to discuss the concerns that I had. So I walked into his office and sat in front of his desk and he folds his hands and says condescendingly, “So tell me how you think I should change my school!” Not exactly the best start to the meeting. That was not at all what I was trying to do. I had legitimate concerns and questions and I wanted clarifications in regards to rules, standards and expectations in addition to my concern about the behavior management/discipline styles.

I am impressed that I was able to remain so calm during the meeting, but I was very honest with him about everything. I told him that even though I was enjoying my experience and loving my class, I was extremely unhappy – mostly with the interactions between the Chinese Teachers and students. Just as I suspected, he was appalled and claimed that the behavior is completely unacceptable and not tolerated. Although I agree that it is complete ridiculous, he is not stupid and he knows exactly what goes on at that school. He said that he will be having a meeting with all of the teachers and that things are going to change. I will believe that when I see it and I am sure that all of the Chinese teachers are going to the pissed at me because I am sure they will be fined for the next year after everything I told him, but I just don’t care. I just kept telling him that I am a teacher and it is my job to protect my children. He said that he agreed with everything and he said that I had his full support.

Here is the kicker - the interesting part of our conversation was when he told me that I have the option of ending my contract early if I so desired – early as in July. He is willing to release me from my contract a year early without any fines or penalties, with a reference. Now have I mentioned that he is putting Courtney through hell and back because she is trying to get out of her contract a month early because she got another job… I was completely shocked! He said that he feels that his staff this year was poisoned by the old staff. There was one American teacher that stayed from last year, Shannon, and several Chinese teachers, not to mention that we have met several former teachers out at bars and such. He said that if I am unhappy here now, he would rather start over with a clean slate next year instead of have me stay with resentment and poison his staff for next year.

Here I thought that I had the next 18 months of my life figured out… I thought that I had at least another year before I started looking for other jobs, but now that I know I have the option to leave if I want, I am considering exploring other opportunities. Part of me is dying to go home. Of course I am homesick and I miss my friends and family and I am curious about what may be waiting for me back at home. At the same time, I am not done living abroad. I have not even seen the Great Wall yet! I can’t possibly go home yet! So now on top of my stress about the concert and Parent-Teacher Conferences and everything I have to accomplish for the end of the year, I am also stressed about my life. I need to do some soul searching.

Please pray for me that I can make the right decision

Uncertainty

I recently came across a graph which plotted the emotional rollercoaster that one goes through during big life events such as a new relationship, a new job, or moving across the world to China. In the first couple weeks, one goes through stages of extreme excitement and enthusiasm – everything is fresh and exhilarating. Then the honeymoon phase begins as one adjusts to the interesting new life. Sure, there are bumps in this stage, but not enough to drag down the mood. Then, after about three months, uncertainty sets in. The honeymoon is over and it is no longer a vacation – it is real life. In this stage, one begins to question decisions and everything surrounding the decision, and soon doubt, fear and confusion set in. I am uncertain.

Today, I reached a breaking point. I have been in China for 80 days, and in those 80 days I have seen things that most people can only imagine. I have experienced life in a way that most people will never have the chance and I have been blessed with an incredible group of children to educate. I do not regret my decision to come to China for a second, however, I am beginning to question how far my boundaries, ethics and morals can be stretched before I snap.

Today, I saw a teacher abuse a child. By all standards of American law, this child was abused physically and emotional. You may think I am being dramatic, perhaps I am being overprotective of my children, but what I witnessed today (and most other days) was completely inappropriate. I have written before about the strange things that teachers do to children that I do not necessarily agree with, but they are written off as “cultural difference” such as force feeding the children. I have come to realize there is a very fine line between a cultural difference and just plain wrong. Let me tell you the four events that ruined my day…

Thursdays are my prep day so the Chinese teachers teach nearly the entire day (aside from one lesson). I am in the classroom usually, but preoccupied with work. Event One: First thing in the morning, Ms. Huang was leading morning meeting. Taka began to talk to his neighbor next to him, so she yelled at him and made him stand in a corner facing the wall for the rest of the group time. Following the 30 minute lesson, children go into work time (choice time), but Taka remained in the corner for an additional 15 minutes into work time. Call me crazy, but putting a 4 year old in a corner for 45 minutes is completely inappropriate.

Event Two: During work time, Mary threw a toy that bounced off the white board and accidentally hit Yushi in the head. Although Yushi was not injured, he began to cry. Ms. Qian screamed at Mary (in Chinese) so Mary ran across the room, so Ms. Qian chased her and grabbed her off the ground by one arm and carried her across the classroom, out the door and into the empty dance room down the hall. Mary began to cry and she left her alone in the dance room to come back to the room. Now before Mary had even made it into the dance room, Yushi was already finished crying. Eventually, Ms. Qian went back to get Mary and made her come in and apologize to Yushi.

Event Three: Following lunch, Evan (a kindergartener next door) was having trouble keeping his hands to himself while standing in line. Now the kindergarteners do not nap, but Ms. Yuan told Evan that if “he was going to act like a baby then he was going to take a nap like a baby” and she grabbed his arm to take him to the nap room. Evan dropped to his knees in the hallway and began to cry. Ms. Yuan yelled at him for several seconds, then eventually grabbed him by the arm again and dragged him across the floor and into the nap room. Evan was so hysterical that he couldn’t even breathe.

Event Four – the breaking point: Following nap time, Ms Huang and I were in the nap room walking our children up. Now everyone knows that Mary is not an “after nap” kind of girl. She tends to wake up pretty cranky, but usually she just needs a couple extra minutes to wake up and get her stuff together. I woke her up and got her out of her bed and gave her all of her clothing to change back into, then I left the room to help with another child. Minutes later, I could hear Mary scream/crying down the hallway. When I walked back into the nap room, Ms. Huang was yelling at Mary and forcefully putting her clothes on her while Mary resisted. I know that Mary is a very strong willed child, and like I said, she tends to wake up cranky, but apparently Mary was not getting dressed fast enough for Ms. Huang so she started yelling at her, which only made Mary upset and shut down. Ms. Huang started yelling “I am very angry” and then yelling other things to Mary in Chinese. When I saw Ms. Huang swat and hit Mary, I tried to step in, but she grabbed her off the floor and drug Mary down the hallway to the empty dance room, yet again. I ran after Ms. Huang as she ran down the hall. To be honest, I try not to intervene when other teachers are “disciplining” but I did not trust that she was not going to hurt Mary. She was so angry that she opened the door to the dance room and literally threw Mary. She landed on her back and stopped crying. I completely panicked. I shoved passed Ms. Huang as she was storming away still yelling in Chinese. Fortunately Mary was not hurt. She was more frightened than anything of Ms. Huang.

At that moment as I sat in the empty room with Mary while she cried, I thought to myself I CANNOT DO THIS ANYMORE! This was only one day, but it happens everyday, over and over again. I am not the kind of person that can sit back and watch a child be abused by anyone – a teacher, nonetheless. My values and beliefs have been tested over and again. It has been challenging adjusting to the cultural differences but I consider myself to be respectful and understanding when it comes to the diversity of culture. To be honest, I have no idea what is being said between teachers and students, and I don’t exactly know the expectations of the Chinese families in regards to discipline, but I would bet my life that parents don’t leave their children in our care day after day to be mistreated, physically harmed or emotionally torn apart.

Once the teachers took the rest of the students outside, I took Mary back into the classroom to drink water and calm down. I sat down at my computer and typed an email to Morgan. Currently he is in the US trying to hire teachers for next year, otherwise I would have marched straight to his office. I typed a lot of the same things to him that I wrote in this blog, explaining the whole situation. I ended the email saying;

I enjoy teaching in China and I absolutely love my children and my class, but I can promise that if things do not change drastically, there will be continuous disputes between myself and the Chinese teachers as I protect the integrity of teaching and the wellbeing of my students. I would rather break my contract to teach at a preschool that aligns with my values than to sit by and continue to observe the ludicrous behavior you call teaching.

I read, and reread the email, but I decided to not send it. First and foremost because I wrote it when I was really upset so it is a bit extreme. I was so upset, frustrated and angry that I couldn’t even speak to Ms. Huang because I thought I might scream and throw her across the room. Now that I have calmed down, I realized that I just really need to sit down and speak with Morgan directly about everything. I am an educator and an advocate for the protection of children. When I came out here, I knew it was going to be drastically different, but I promised myself that no matter what, I was going to fight for what I believe in and I refuse to sit by and accept the excuse that it is a “cultural difference.”

"Team Teaching" Eddison

Well yet again I am frustrated. First and foremost, I am frustrated with a particular student named Eddison. He joined our class only about 2 months ago, he speaks only Chinese and I believe that he may have a developmental delay (maybe, or it could just be his behavior as a result of his parents enabling him to be helpless). Needless to say, he is a handful and I haven’t a clue what to do with him. To give you just a brief background, he is the only child in his family and he can do no wrong. I don’t really know much about the family, but based on Eddison’s behavior and what the Chinese teachers have told me, he is waited on hand and foot at home and is treated like the baby prince by his parents. He is 5 years old, but he is double the size of all the other children. He does not listen to any of the teachers, he does not play with any of the other children, nor will he sit at lessons, eat lunch or change his shoes by himself. When you try and make him do something that he must do, he will either run, fall limp to the ground, kick, hit or scratch.

At first, I was really patient with Eddison – he was young, new and he did not understand a word of anything that I said. I have had several discussions with his parents about his adjustment to the class, his resistance and his overall behavior, and they always have some kind of excuse… he is too young to brush his own teeth or put on his own coat (the 2 year olds in the nursery do these skills independently); he is just always hungry during English lessons so he can have a snack instead of the lesson; or he just doesn’t understand English. Unfortunately, the Chinese teachers only make it that much worse because they are feeding into his behavior because they do EVERYTHING for him – they have to hold his hand to walk down the hallway, they have to pull down his pants for him so he can use the bathroom, and they have to sit with him and hand feed him his lunch.

I am to a point where I am fighting with my assistant teachers telling them that they are not allowed to do anything for him and that they have to make him try to do things for himself. Don’t get me wrong, I am not some mean teacher who refuses to help children – I help children when they need help, but I do refuse to enable a child to become helpless. I have been extremely adamant about him gaining independence and I am finally at a point where he will change his own shoes with a teacher sitting next to him telling him to do it but not doing it for him (it is progress).

But the thing about the Chinese teachers is that I feel like I am fighting a losing battle by myself up against a wall because no matter how much effort I put into Eddison, he turns around and the Chinese teachers do the exact opposite. They let him do whatever he wants, and they do everything for him, and he cries and throws a tantrum and they give him anything. They would rather give in to him and baby him than put forth any effort to actually deal with his behavior. I consider myself a pretty decent teacher and pretty good at multitasking, but there is no way that I can manage a class of 17 four year olds and Eddison without the assistance of other teachers. That is why I have assistance teachers and that is why the teacher to child ratio is 1 to 5.

Like I said, at first I was patient and understanding, but now it is to a point where his behavior is unacceptable and it frustrates me to no end. Let me give you an example of an event that occurred yesterday. Every day following lunch, kids brush their teeth then get ready for nap. Ms. Qian stays in the class with the children to finish up lunch and clean up and Ms. Huang takes the children who finish lunch into the bathroom to brush their teeth. I float between the two and entertain the children who finish lunch and teeth with time to spare before nap time. Then when it is time for nap, I gather up all the children who nap and taken them into the nap room to get ready for bed. Same routine every day.

Yesterday, I called for all the nappers and they got into a line and walked into the nap room. Eddison, on the other hand, ran and hid behind a pillar in the classroom. I told him twice, “Eddison it is time for nap.” Then Ms. Qian told him in Chinese. When he wouldn’t come, I grabbed hold of his hand to walk him to the nap room and he proceeded to scratch and claw at my hand holding his. Then when we were in the hallway between the two rooms, he took off running into the bathroom where Ms. Huang was brushing teeth with other children. Again, in the bathroom I told Eddison twice, “It is time to get ready for nap.” When he said, “No” I grabbed his hand again and he fell limp to the ground. I tried to pick him up to stand up, but he is a large child and he was like dead weight and he would just fall to the ground again. Ms. Huang started laughing...

I WAS SOOOO MAD! Here I am struggling with a resistance and defiant child, and my assistant teacher, the one who is supposed to be my right hand man, who is supposed to help with children especially those who speak Chinese and she starts laughing as he is misbehaving. In return, Eddison starts laughing and it all becomes a game to him, reassured by his teacher giggling along with his behavior. I feel really bad about it now, but I was so mad that I yelled at Ms. Huang and told her to stop laughing because it was not a game. Then I picked Eddison up under the arms and carried him into the nap room. I could not even say anything to him after that. I sat him in front of his bed and walked away.

Later, Ms. Huang came storming into the room yelling to Ms. Qian in Chinese, and then yelling at me about how I made Eddison cry and that he is only just a baby and that he doesn’t have to  go to nap right away because he will have enough time to get ready. To be honest, I didn’t exactly follow most of what she said because it didn’t make any sense to me, but she really had no idea why I was so upset and why I yelled at her. I apologized for yelling at her and tried to explain that it was the principle that he never listens and he never does what he is supposed to do. His parents say that he has to nap, so he has to at least rest in the nap room. There were no excuses for his behavior – he knows the routine by now, he understood both Ms. Qian and myself when he was told to do something, and he was deliberately disobeying, and this behavior occurs all day, every day!

By the end of our conversation, I still believe that she had no idea what I was talking about. She speaks very little English and I am not sure how much she actually understood even though she was responding with yes and no. Like I said though, I have no idea what to do with Eddison. I have tried so many different things, but I am fighting alone. I honestly believe that absolutely nothing will change until there is a change at home and I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon, but I am just so frustrated. I am not some mean teacher, and I hate being the bad guy, but I feel like I am constantly put into the role because I am the only one willing to put forth any effort to give him stable rules and routines and consistently follow through, but if I am the only one following through, there is still no consistency! When I was frustrated today with him, I told the Chinese teachers that if they are going to continue to let Eddison do whatever he wants, then they are the ones that are going to need to deal with the Repercussions and that I am not going to even try anymore. Even though I did not mean it, sometimes that is what I feel like and I absolutely HATE feeling that way about a child!

HEEEEELLPPP

Chinese BBQ

One of my Chinese families invited Courtney L and me to a BBQ at their home. To be honest, I was intrigued. The weather was beautiful and I was curious as to how a traditional Chinese BBQ would work out… they don’t exactly eat burgers and hot dogs. We ended up going even though Court and I went out the night before and were extremely hung over. In addition to Courtney and myself, there were three other families from our school and three other teachers that we worked with.

To my surprise, I could have been sitting at a BBQ in the US. I am not really sure what I expected – grilled dog on sticks, squid legs and rice cakes – but they have several different kinds of grilled meat (non of which w as dog) and veggies, chicken wings, lamb ribs, egg plant, mushrooms, onions, BBQ sauce and other spices. They also had some fresh fruits and veggies on the table and a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Sure, there were chopsticks instead of utensils, but all in all, it was [almost] just like home. While the host and hostess grilled up all of the food, the rest of us sat around the table on the deck and chatted. Like I said, the weather was really beautiful that day – hot even – and we enjoyed the great homemade food and hospitality.

European Dining

Not only am I learning a lot about the Chinese culture, but I am also learning about many other cultures through the interactions with my children and families. Like I have said before, I have children that are German, French, Hispanic, American, and Japanese in addition to Chinese. I absolutely love the diversity and the contrast between children in my classroom and their families. I have become close with several of my families in the last couple of months, mostly expat families (we have more of a connection and the communication is easier), but I have become exceptionally close with the Ferrere’s. Both parents are from Venezuela, but their three children were raised in Belgium, France – the youngest is my student.

I had kind of a rocky start with this family because they were exceptionally fond of the former teacher. They also had many issues with Morgan, and eventually they began to trust me and the plans that I had for their daughter. It wasn’t too long before the mother, Yuri, was calling me often to have discussions regarding her daughter and just to chat. Then they invited me to their daughter’s birthday party and I attended. The birthday party was rather interesting because I spent the day with a lot of my families, meeting many of them for the first time.

One day, Yuri called me to ask me about her daughter’s Chinese homework, and even though I couldn’t answer her questions, we ended up just chatting and she asked me when I was free to go out with her for a ladies night. Now normally in America, I would have politely declined to keep the appropriate boundaries between parent and teacher, but what the heck, I thought, they were European. In the European culture, it is just about an insult to deny an invitation to a family’s home or out for food and drinks. In fact, it is rather customary for professionals.

One night, Yuri called and invited me and Courtney L out for dinner with her. She said that her husband was out of town and she had been having a rough day so she needed to get out of the house and have a drink. Yuri and her driver came and picked us up and took us to a Mexican restaurant not far from our apartment (side note: the Mexican restaurant was actually the rival of our beloved Pistolera’s but was not nearly as good). While we were still in the van, Yuri began telling us a story of how she had recently gotten a massage and that the guy tried to “finger” her. Then when she went home and told her husband, Miguel, he asked, “Well did you at least cum?” (direct quote) And that set the tone for the rest of the night… That conversation was PG compared to the rest of the evening. The whole time, I kept thinking to myself, I cannot imagine having this conversation with a parent back in America, but for some reason it was acceptable with a European. At first, I must admit that I was a bit uncomfortable, but I warmed up as the night wore on.

At dinner, she insisted that we have a margarita with her. Ok, one drink wouldn’t hurt anything. Well after the first, she ordered me a second. Then once we were finished with our meals, she insisted that he have just one Corona to end the night. Well once that Corona was finished, we had just one more… Every time she would order me another drink, I kept reminding her, “You know I have to teach your daughter in the morning?” and she would say, “She is a bright girl.” Well anyways, we laughed and we drank and we talked a lot about Belgium and the girls. Yuri has asked me to go with her to Belgium in October so I am really excited! Courtney was pretty drunk by the end of the night, and I must admit that even I was tipsy.

When we left the restaurant, her driver picked us up and took us back to our apartments. The next morning, we went into work pretty tired (but not hung over), but to our surprise, Yuri’s daughter showed up with a box of Belgian ‘Marc De Champagne Chocolatier Truffles’ and a note from Yuri that said, “Dear Melissa and Courtney, I hope the mix margarita and beer has not become a big headache today. Here some Belgian chocolates to make your morning better.” Yummm : ] Got to love Europeans!

Nanputuo Temple & Night Life

The third day was awesome! I wish I could tell you the whole story but… well wait, I am getting ahead of myself. I will start at the beginning. We woke up in the morning and planned a touristy day – Xiamen University, Nanputuo Buddhist Temple, hiking up the mountain for the scenic views of Xiamen and Haiwan Park in the evening for street music and dancing. It was another warm sunny day, but not as hot as the day before.

The University was neat and we walked around a little bit, but we didn’t spend a whole lot of time there. The Nanputuo Buddist Temple was really great though. I went to visit the Confucius Buddhist Temple when we were in Nanjing, and although I found the experience interesting, I felt like I missed out on a lot because everything was in only Chinese. Fortunately the Nanputuo is one of the biggest tourist Temples so just about everything was translated into English.

It was huge – and not just one big temple, but several big temples and hundreds of smaller temples and statuettes that climbed up into the mountains. It was not only a tourist location, but it was an actually working temple were hundreds of Monks lived so there were some parts that we were allowed to visit and other parts that we were not. On the day that we went it was packed! I guess we should have assumed that it was going to be packed because it was a holiday weekend. We only saw maybe two other expats the whole time we were there.

The majority of people there were praying and making offerings to the Gods for their late ancestors (hence the holiday). There were specific prayer areas with incense, there were fountains and ponds that people threw paper money into, there were statues that people tried to throw coins into, and there were prayer tables with statues of Gods that people put “offerings” on. The offerings were interesting for sure. Some people put money, flowers, food or drinks. And some people were just sitting on a bench in the temple reading Sutras and praying alone.

So anyway, I had read about the vegetarian restaurants at the temple that were completely vegan friendly and I was dying to try them out. We had not eaten anything yet, so it was going to be one of our first stops at the temple, but we had a hard time finding the restaurant (apparently it was on the other side). So after we wandered in and out of the temples looking for food, we began to make our way up the path into the mountains, hoping that we could find something along the way. Unfortunately, all we could find were little snack shops, so we picked up a bag of chips and sweet egg rolls for lunch.

The walk up into the mountains was irritating and beautiful at the same time. The mountain was just as crowded and the tiny walk ways and steep cement steps are not conducive to large crowds. The day got warmer and we had to take several breaks to step out of the crowd, take a rest and enjoy the view. The views on the other hand were really beautiful the whole way up. There were numerous look outs along the way, but really, it was pretty incredible at the top. We could see the whole mountain side, as well as all of Xiamen and the surrounding islands. But remember what I said before about the hazy sky? Unfortunately, it was no different. Yes, the view was pretty incredible, but it could have been so much better on a clear blue sky day.

Side Note: before I forget, let me tell you about the dress code for hiking. When I was getting ready for the day, I put on yoga pants, a tank top, and tennis shoes (as did Court) because I knew that we would be doing a lot of walking, climbing and hiking and it was warm. While we were hiking, however, you would not believe how many girls we saw wearing nylons, skirts and high heeled stilettos. I mean, really? What would make anyone think it was a good idea to wear stilettos while climbing into a mountain? Yet again, we were the ones getting weird looks because of the way we were dressed.

So anyway, we sat at the top feeling pretty successful that we had made it without any injuries to ourselves or others, but starving because we still had only had a small snack. I dreaded the trip back down – you would think it would be easier, but it was just as difficult. We had to take the same path heading down as we did heading up so it was just as crowded, and my legs were shaking from the long hike without food, but it did not take nearly as long. On the way back down, there were two young Chinese guys walking in front of us who spoke English, and when a Chinese person speaks English, they want to speak it as much as possible, so they started talking to us. They were kind and we chatted the whole way down and when we finally made it, they wanted to take us to a Chinese restaurant near the University (we had mentioned how starving we were and asked for a suggestion).

Well that was when the weirdness started… The guys were really cordial and they showed us a good Chinese restaurant and ordered a bunch of food for us (it is always much easier to have someone who speaks and reads Chinese at a Chinese restaurant) and they sat with us but they did not eat. They said that they were too full from lunch, but they wanted to make sure we got food. Well the food was delicious and our conversations were really entertaining. They were both studying navigation at another University just outside of Xiamen and they were both studying English language and culture intensely and we were one of the only interactions they had had with Americans. Their English was actually pretty impressive and they were very curious, asking a lot of questions. Courtney and I nearly died laughing when one confessed that he knew all the English swear words and began spewing a list of inappropriate words that would make a sailor blush. Then at the end of lunch, one of the guys refused to let us pay because he said it was the American and Chinese culture to “treat new friends.” When we parted, Courtney exchanged numbers with one of the guys because they wanted to show us around Xiamen.

While we were back at the hostel resting, the guy would not stop texting Courtney about meeting up with them and going out with them… then when he said something about wanting to bring beer to our hostel and needing a place to stay for the night, we stopped responding! Of course we were smart and did not tell them where we were staying and we never saw them again (thankfully).

After a nap to recover from the long morning and afternoon, we put on our party pants and headed to a park that was supposed to have live street music, dancing, food and bars, but that ended up being a bust! Can you imagine our surprise when the taxi driver tried to drop us off in the middle of an empty park? I guess we did not really think about it being a Sunday night. We told the taxi driver that we wanted to eat and drink and he told us that he knew just the spot and took us to the other side of the island – which ended up being a success! He dropped us off near a boardwalk along the bay lined with bars, dance clubs and even a mini carnival.

We settled into a bar called Me & You 2. It was pretty cool, right on the beach, all open with a round bar in the center and a big stage with a live Philippeno band. They were known for having the best pizza in Xiamen, so naturally we had to test that theory. In fact the pizza was fantastic, the drinks were delicious, the band was entertaining and the staff was really friendly. We ended up meeting a group of German people whom invited us to sit at their table with them to watch the band, so we did. Next thing I knew, we were doing shots and drinking tequila disguised as a margarita and dancing along to the band. When Courtney went to the bathroom, she met three guys from Holland whom were about to go to a dance club down the street and they wanted us to go with them. So we were off and our calm night of dinner and drinks on the beach suddenly turned into a drunken dance party at a very Chinese Dance club with strangers.

Ok, so the rest of the story is not my finest! It is actually rather embarrassing and completely irresponsible looking back on it, but I made it through to tell the tale (barely). Long story short, we were drunk and went to a dance club called The Key with the Holland guys, we met some random Chinese girl named Coco who tried to hook me up with her random Chinese friend (no thank you), I drank the most disgusting Chinese liquor ever, then we got in a taxi, went home, got locked out of our hostel but eventually got in and passed out… or at least that is what I believe happened.

The next morning, Courtney and I both woke up feeling like we had been hit by a bus! We are not as young as we used to be. While Courtney and I were piecing the night back together, she informed me  that we not only went to The Key, but we got into another taxi and went to yet another Disco dance club call 1818 on the other side of town before we ended the night back at our hostel. I hear we had a good time, but unfortunately I have zero recollection of the third bar, but I distinctly remember the end of the night and being ready to leave the bar and go home. Now it probably sounds really terrible – two young American girls, out with three strange Holland guys, drunk on vacation in a foreign country – OK, OK you’re right, it was TERRIBLE and I am glad that we made it through the tell the story, but nonetheless, Courtney and I ended the vacation with a bang.

We did nothing but sleep and eat the next day because we felt terrible. Then we prepared to leave the next morning bright and early. One last thing – I know this blog is terribly long and you are probably extremely bored by now, but what the heck it is your choice to be reading it – on that last day, we were woken up by the Inn Keeper because we had to change rooms, for reasons we are still not sure about. Our room for that last night was awful! The room was fine, two twin beds and a small TV, but we no longer had a private bathroom but it was a shared bathroom down the hallway. And worst of all, it was a squatty bathroom. I dread squatties and I was pissed when I found out that it was a squatty bathroom! I mean, really? It was awful! Thank goodness we only had to stay in that room for one night!

Xiamen Beach & Zhongshan Lu

Xiamen (Sh ya men)

 Day two was just as eventful! We woke up bright and early again, showered quickly and grabbed some McDonald’s breakfast before we had to pack up our stuff. For the remainder of our trip we were going to be staying at another hostel on the big island of Xiamen (although we wanted to stay at Bayveiw, they were booked for the rest of the trip). We found our way to the ferry and headed back to Xiamen, got in a taxi and found ourselves in the middle of nowhere… literally. The taxi driver swore that he was dropping us off at the address we gave him, but there was not a hostel in sight, just a big lot under construction. You see the problem with the language barrier is that it is difficult for us to exchange important information. Taxi drivers don’t know the English names for locations and we don’t know the Chinese names, so we have to rely on an address or cross street to get us to where we want to go. And when a taxi driver tells us “here” we have to trust that we are in the right place, but it is not always correct – kind of really frustrating sometimes, especially in an unfamiliar place.

Anyway, we called the hostel and we eventually found our way. The second hostel was called the Blue House Inn – it was not as nice as the first, but still nice. The Inn Keeper did not speak a word of English. Luckily there was another young couple from Shanghai that helped us get through check in and into our room. Thankfully, we had a private room at this hostel. It was small; just two twin beds and a TV but a pretty large bathroom. The floor was made of two by fours that were just laid down with large gaps that we could see the dirt ground below (luckily it was warm weather). The bathroom was interesting. One wall was made of bamboo and the shower was just a head hanging off the wall (no stall/curtain), so showering soaked everything in the bathroom.

Enough about the hostel… that day was pretty sunny and warm, so we were finally able to put on swim suits and walk across the street to the beach. There was a little boardwalk that we walked down to the main beach area. Oddly enough, there were several other people on the beach, but we were the only people in less than jeans and long sleeves. Even more strangely, we say at least 100 bride and grooms taking pictures along the beach.

Side Note: let me tell you about the wedding picture shoots. We saw them everywhere we went - all over Gulangyu Island and then all over the beach on Xiamen. For a traditional Chinese wedding, the bride and groom rent very elaborate outfits and have a huge photo session before the wedding. Some of their outfits are similar to traditional bride and groom outfits – white dress and tux – and other outfits look more like a prom fashion photo shoot (but the weird prom dresses that no one really wears). Apparently Xiamen is a huge hot spot for the photo shoots.

Back to the vacation… once we were on the beach, we lay out and got some sun but people were staring at us like we were insane. I mean, seriously, it was like 75 and sunny and we weren’t on the beach in wedding gowns and heels, but we were the crazy ones. People would stop and stare as they walked by and took pictures of us. The funny part was that we were taking pictures of all of the wedding shots and fully clothed people on the beach.

After a couple hours, we decided it was time for a bike ride! You see, we had done our research and the island was awesome for renting a bike and riding around in the mountains and along the ocean. There were bike rentals every ten feet and the best part was that we could rent a two person bike (I know, I know, fabulous)! We planned to get a bike for a couple hours and ride around the see more of the island and the sights. As it turned out, it wasn’t the best of ideas…

I sat in the front of our two-man bike. Sure, it was my first time on a bike since middle school, but how hard could it be? WRONG! It took us a while to really get comfortable on it, but we started riding anyway. It was really hard for us to gain our balance and something must have been wrong with the wheel or something because the steering was off. We were riding down the sidewalk and I would freak out every time another bike would ride toward us (the sidewalks were really narrow) and heaven forbid that a person walk nearby. One time while we were riding, a little old China man walked in front of me and I screamed because I thought I was going to hit him and he screamed and jumped in the bushes because he probably also thought I was going to hit him – that or he was just freaked out that some weird white girl just screamed at him. Courtney and I had to stop the bike because we were laughing so hard there were tears. In fact, I am even laughing out loud sitting in my apartment alone right now remembering the look on that man’s face as he dove into the bushes.

Well the bike ride did not last much longer after that… turns out the island was a little bit bigger than we had anticipated, and even though we rode a couple miles, we never found food or any of the touristy spots we wanted to see. Our hostel was located on one side of the island while everything else was on the other. When we stopped to ask a local person for directions to a park, he laughed at us when we told him that we were going to ride our bike there. By that point our butts were in pain from the bike seats so we gave up and rode the bike back to the beach area to watch the sunset.

Now I am a sucker for a good sunset. I mean, I could sit on the beach and watch the sky change vibrant colors for hours as the sun sets in the horizon, and there is really nothing better than an amazing sunset on the beach of a tropical paradise. The thing about China is that the sun sets are always disappointing. The air is always just so thick and hazy – even when it is a “sunny day”, it is not a clear blue sky, white fluffy clouds kind of sunny day, it is more of a dull blue hazy with a little sunshine. Now I don’t exactly know the science behind the colors of a sunset, but I know that pollution is supposed to make the colors of a sunset more vivid, so I don’t know why China lacks any color, but it is sort of depressing. Sure, the sun did look pretty as it was reflected over the water on the beach, but the sky was still the same dull blue color that it always is. Even at the climax of a sunset, when the sun is about halfway hidden by the horizon (typically when the sky looks the prettiest), that was when the China sun nearly disappeared. It was no longer reflecting light off of the water, but a mere shadow behind a grey haze.

We watched the first half of the sunset from the beach boardwalk, then the last half from a restaurant booth that over looked the beach for our first dinner of the night. Following dinner, we got ready for the evening and headed downtown to the Zhongshan Pedestrian Walk. The interesting thing about China is that many places have a hot spot that they turn into a pedestrian walk in the evening, this way, street food vendors and market shops line the road without worrying about all the traffic. Well Zhongshan turned out to be a huge success and we spent most of the evening walking around, eating, shopping, eating and looked at all of the street food – most of which I am just not brave enough to even try, but it is still interesting, nonetheless.

First, I believe Courtney got a corn dog (I tried a bite of the corn part but it was nothing compared to the corn dogs at Red Robin – they are still the best), then we got some deep friend broccoli and rice cakes with spicy sauce. This may not sound delicious to a carnivore, but in fact it was! Then we found some gelato ice cream (which ended up being a total disappointment). Then I got a Ramen Noodle veggie thing from a street cart. Those carts are my favorite because it is like the Mongolian BBQ of China. All kinds of meats and veggies are laid out on a cart and the chef gives you a little basket and you put whatever you want in the basket. Then they cook it up right there in front of you in the most unsanitary environment (I am sure). Then you choose your sauce, they put it in a to-go container with some chop sticks and done – dinner for only 5 ¥! Can’t beat that! It was delicious though. Then Courtney got some noodle soup with egg and cabbage. Then we ended the evening with sticky fruit and Coco green tea.

After all that, we got back in a taxi and headed back to the hostel, exhausted yet again. Courtney was burnt and miserable. I on the other hand, barely had a tan line. We did spend nearly the entire day in the sun, but Courtney fries and peels, so that was our last day in the sun, unfortunately.

Gulangyu Island

We woke up the next morning bright and early and pumped to start vacation and starving because we still hadn't eaten dinner the night before. The other girls were still sleeping in the room so we snuck out to grab some breakfast and find a corner store to buy some toothpaste. It was bright and sunny and warm outside and we had breakfast and tea out on the patio of the Bayview Inn. The people at the Inn gave us a map and told us where we could find a store. Turns out it was a little bit more complicated than we thought to find the “corner store”. Although main streets were labeled on the map, the streets themselves were not labeled, and “streets” crossed with sidewalks and it was really a jumbled mess to find our way using a map, but eventually we stumbled into a market shop that sold some toiletries.

Anyway, we got dressed and headed out for the day. The weather was perfect – around 70 degrees and sunny, but still breezy and not too hot. Prior to coming, we had done some research on line in regards to the fun and interesting things to do on the Island so we had somewhat of an idea, but we really did not have a game plan, so we just started walking. We say a ton of cool markets and a lot of street food. There were a ton of tours going on everywhere and although we wanted to see the touristy things, we figured we would not get a whole lot out of a Chinese directed tour. Instead, we bought a day pass to see the five major scenic spots and spent the day wondering around at our own pace. I am actually pretty happy that we did it this way because it worked out perfectly. For the first half of the day we literally just wondered around looking at all of the European influenced architecture, weaving in and out of streets and allies and enjoying the people of the island. The people in Xiamen were much friendlier than the people in Shanghai, and since foreigners are not very common on the island, everyone wanted to talk to us and wanted to know where we were from and what we were doing in China. The Chinese word to America literally means “beautiful country” and the word for American literally means “beautiful people” and they always talk about how beautiful Americans are and they LOVE the color of our skin (how pale we are). Of course, usually they are just trying to get us to buy something, but really there were so many kind people.

The island itself was rather peaceful. It had a tropical feel to it, but very Chinese, and the downtown city of Xiamen was visible across the bay which made for a beautiful view. Gulangyu was pretty similar to Mackinaw Island – small, crowded and very touristy, there were no motorized vehicles or bikes allowed on the island which made it quiet and enjoyable.

So anyway, by the time we made our way to the gardens and museums for the touristy stuff, it was already mid to late afternoon so the majority of the tours were gone and it worked out that it was not very crowded anywhere we went. In fact, there was hardly anyone. First we went to the Haoyue Park that overlooked the beach and home of the huge Zheng Chengong statue that protected intruders to the island. We walked up to the statue which sat on a lookout and admired the view. Then we climbed down to the bay and climbed on the rocks. The water was freezing but it was nice to get my feet wet and look for some neat sea shells.

After that, we had lunch at a local café before making our way to Sunlight Rock. They say that “if you don’t climb up Sunlight Rock, you may not have been to Xiamen.” Sunlight Rock is the highest peak in the near center and offers a spectacular view of Gulangyu and Xiamen. Not only was the view from the top amazing, but there was a lot to see along the way. There were several statues and memorials, and there were different paths, steps and look outs that winded through the mountain as we climbed higher. Thankfully, it was not crowded at all and we did not have any trouble climbing the narrow paths to the top. I really cannot even describe how breathtaking the view from the top was. We could see everything on the entire island – although, the downside was the hazy China air. It is always hazy in China, even when it is sunny, it is still hazy. I have yet to see a clear blue sky day in China since I have been here, so even though the view was incredible, it could have been absolutely amazing if the sky were clear. The climb back down was not nearly as fun, but we did find some new statues and looks out that were neat.

After Sunlight Rock we headed to one of the famous Gardens and Piano Museums – Shuzhuang Garden, although following Sunlight rock, the garden was pretty disappointing. Since it is still early spring, there was hardly anything in bloom, so really the walk through the garden was just a walk along a bridge through an empty garden. However, we did get to enjoy the sunset from the garden bridge which was pretty over the beach. The Piano Museum was interesting. Gulangyu is called the piano island, so the museum was a huge attraction. There were a ton of really historical and interesting pianos. The majority of the museum was translated in the English as well so I was able to read about the pianos and everything (which is always helpful).

Following the Museum, it was dark and getting late, we were exhausted from the long day but STARVING for some street food, so we ended up in a market area near our hostel lined with street vendors and cooks. We found some cotton candy (that was bigger than our heads for only 1 RMB), grilled squid on a stick for Courtney (which she threw away because she said it was gross), and eventually to a street dive where we ate some deliciously greasy food. The really great thing about Court and I sharing food is that we can order several dishes and she eats all of the meat out of everything and I eat all of the veggies so it works out perfectly. After dinner we also did a little bit of shopping at the market and enjoyed some street music and entertainment. That night we both passed out by 11:00 pm because we were so worn out!

Getting there is half the battle

You cannot imagine how excited Courtney and I were to head out on our vacation! Thursday inched by at school as we impatiently anticipated our flight out of Shanghai that evening after school. Usually Thursdays are a laid back day at school because the Chinese teachers teach the majority of the lessons; however, all lessons were canceled so that we could have a dress rehearsal for the spring concert. Following the rehearsal, we each had a meeting with Morgan to talk about the concert. Needless to say, we were all frustrated and a little bit on edge, so the day could not have ended early enough.

Anyway, I had packed the night before, so very shortly after school we were catching a taxi headed for the airport. We booked our flight through a company called Spring Airlines, eminent for having the cheapest deals on flights. In fact we did get a really good deal on plane tickets but we quickly discovered why they were so cheap. First, while we were checking in, we had to pay extra for our baggage because we were only allotted a combined total of 13 kilograms for our checked and carry-on bags and at security check they took my tube of toothpaste because it was too big (and unfortunately Court had relied on me to bring toothpaste so she did not bring any) – not a great way to start. Then once we got through the security check, we literally sat in a small waiting room that looked like a janky bus station instead of an airport. We were both starving and there was no food, and our flight was delayed about 2 hours. When it was finally time to board the plane, we all went outside and got onto a people mover that took us to the middle of nowhere to board our plane (really weird). The plane was the smallest plane that I have ever been on. My knees were nearly touching the seat in front of me and I have really short legs!

Luckily it was a pretty short flight, and in about an hour we were landing in Xiamen (She-a-men). From there we got our bags, and loaded on to a bus that took us to the ferry on the other side of the island. For the first two nights we were staying in a hostel on Gulangyu Island (Goo-lan-u) – a small island off the coast of Xiamen (which was also an island). We did not get to see much that night because it was already after midnight when our plane landed, so we went straight to the ferry to cross the bay to Gulangyu. When we finally made it to the island, it was like a ghost town. We did not see a single other person and everything was closed down and dark. We were afraid that we were not going to be able to find our hostel, but luckily it was very close to the ferry dock, and we eventually stumbled upon it.

We felt terrible because the Inn Keeper was a little old man who slept on a pull out couch in front of the door and we had to wake him up so he could let us in, but he gave us the keys to our room and showed us where to go. We had booked a “dorm style” hostel room because it was extremely cheap compared to having a single room and we thought it could be an interesting experience. Turns out it was not such a fabulous idea. When we arrived at the hostel after 1:00am, there were three other girls sleeping in the rather small room and we had to tip toe around to get settled in and ready for bed. Two of the girls had gotten cold and had taken the blankets off of our beds to use, then tried to return them to us. There were three sets of bunk beds and a locker for each bed, so we locked up as much stuff as we could (at least the important stuff) and went straight to bed on the hardest bed I have ever slept in.