The whole gang at the great wall.
Me and nat kissin the buddah.
SO, THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO PICTURES I COULD UPLOAD...I'll do the others when i get back to the states and have a decent connection. Read away--ignore any typos.
I am now one hell of a bargainer. Seriously, you can drop the original price by like two-thirds sometimes. And everything is already so cheap! The exchange rate is 6.8 RMB to 1 dollar. The most expensive thing I bought was a jade necklace, but it was worth every single penny. It cost me 55 US dollars. But yeah, anyway we went to these markets and everyone just went crazy. There were some ADORABLE clothes there. I bought a pair of knock-off puma shoes for less than 5 US dollars.
Well, so far Dongguan is awesome! This is what we’ve been doing:
Thursday, July 10th: We got here super duper late on the first day…at like 2 or 3 am. Our housing is SOOO nice! Two people share a room, and I am staying with a girl named Brianna. Everyone signed up to room with someone, but apparently they paid no attention to it and just put us wherever. But, whatever, Brianna is adorable and we are both messy and super relaxed people so it’s perfect.
So in our like suite thing, we have one good sized bedroom with two double beds, a bathroom/shower combo (I’ll be sure to take a picture of it) a HUGE living room with a leather couch and chair, tv, desk, coffee table, and the normal things in a living room, and then some kitcheny thing—with only a sink and a bunch of shelves. But all in all, it’s good and about 30 times better than what I expected to be living in.
Friday, July 11th: I woke up around 7:30, unpacked my bags, and got at least a bit more organized. Then, by eleven we all met downstairs and went to this little meeting room and did introductions with the directors. Then we had breakfast (rice, fish things, and nothing that resembles breakfast in the slightest bit) at this hotel near us. We were in like a banquet hall place with a stage. The room was PACKED and we all had seats on the stage. They did it on purpose. We are treated like royalty here. Like celebrities. Then, we had a tour of Dongguan. We went to parks, gardens, and then some museum thing about China. This city is GORGEOUS! And the best part, I think, is the fact that there is no smog! In Beijing I couldn’t even see the sun.
That night, we ate dinner in the dining center. All I could eat was the rice. I think I’ll probably lose about a pound a day. …either that, or spend every bit of my money on KFC and Papa Johns. Afterwards, a few of us went to the bars. OMG, and the crazy thing is that taxi rides are literally ONE DOLLAR basically anywhere you want to go. It’s amazing. So…we went to this bar called Oasis, and once again we bargained with the bartenders. We got an extra hour of Happy Hour. Then, once that was over, we got 20 percent off of everything we bought.
Saturday, July 12th: We had a meeting bright and early the next morning (after only like 2 hours of sleep) and we met all of our teaching assistants. Mine are absolutely adorable. Their names are Ella and Wenny. They are about 20 years old, but look about 15. And guess what…they only get paid 300 RMB plus room and board. I get paid 2000 RMB, plus room and board, plus 1000 dollars of airfare (7000 RMB). And I feel like they do sooo much more work! They are with the kids 24/7. Literally. I think I’m going to buy them something extra special before I leave.
Saturday night we all went to this hole in the wall bar. And then Jack and I went to Oasis again to take advantage of Happy Hour.
Sunday, July 13th: We spent pretty much the entire day preparing for the opening ceremony. Then, at 2:30 in the afternoon we had the opening ceremony. Each of us had to introduce ourselves and then we did this skit/song thing. I was beyond nervous for it (I HATE being on stage), but I didn’t screw up a single bit!
Afterwards we had some Chinese lady come in and measure us so we could get suits (for the guys) and dresses. We all looked through magazines and each picked out our own outfit and fabric. I put in an order for an asian-inspired dress. It’s going to be adorable and I cannot wait to get it! Apparently, it will be done early next week. Guess how much I paid? Sorry if this makes your mouth drop, but it was only 30 dollars. To have a dress MADE FOR ME! How much would that cost in the states, a couple hundred maybe? I don’t know, but I am pretty freaking happy. The boys’ suits were a little bit more expensive, but I think that’s to be expected. They were 70 dollars—still so cheap!
Later, I went with Mike, Alisha, and Natalie to Wal-Mart. I got a bunch of different school supplies to help plan my lesson and then splurged on a snickers bar. Mike bought a bag of blueberry flavored Lays potato chips. Everyone that tried them either had a love or a hate reaction. I was on the hate side (as well as almost everyone else), and Natalie—the pickiest eater I know—was on the love side. Oh yeah, and this is not the most typical Wal-Mart I’ve ever been to…this one had entire fish hanging up, pig heads laying around, and a bunch of other random meat that I’d rather not know what it is.
After we got back, we all gathered in Natalie’s room and did some lesson planning. All of us were sooo nervous. But, the brainstorming was great and I felt like I had some pretty good ideas. At about 1 AM, I finally went to bed.
Monday, July 14th: I woke up late (typical) for the first day of class and only had 30 minutes to get ready. Every morning we have to report to our “meeting room” where we discuss the plan of events for the day, get teaching advice, and learn two or three different Chinese phrases or words. Then, at 8:30 AM, the bell rings and we head to our classrooms. Our kids are always there when we walk in because they have a “morning reading” with the TA’s (teaching assistants) from 8-8:30.
When I walked into the class, oh my god was I nervous! Some kids didn’t have English names, so that’s what I did right away. There is no way I’d be able to remember a class full of Chimaotas and Waodinghoos. So, a few of the names I gave were Sarah, Dylan, Brett, Aaron, Angela, etc. And one girl’s English name was already Suki!
Basically, I had no idea how much English they already knew, so I started with the simplest things. I talked about the days of the week, colors, numbers, etc. They actually knew a lot more than I thought they would (which makes things sooo much easier on me) and the TA gave me some suggestions about what I could teach.
My first 20 students are in the classroom from 8:30-11:30 with three ten minute breaks every hour. Then, we go to lunch (the teachers sit in their own AIR CONDITIONED room), have a break until 2:00, and then from 2:00-4:00 we have a new class of 20 students. My second class was much easier than the first one. I was a lot more confident, and the kids were so much more well behaved. That is until we went outside for a game at the end of class. The boys were incredibly wild, screaming things in Chinese, hitting each other, and running around like chickens with their freaking heads cut off. And it just happened to be that the director of the camp passed right by my group while the kids were going crazy.
Anyway, I survived my first lesson.
Tuesday, July 15th:
I forgot to write on Tuesday and don’t exactly remember what I did. Sorry!
Wednesday, July 16th: Well, I thought I should maybe give a little quiz just to see if they were learning anything at all. I have to give tests every Friday, so I thought a quiz was in need. And it was. “What day is today?”, “What day is tomorrow?”, “What day was yesterday?” are three questions I’d been repeating over and over and they had been writing over and over, but guess what? Have the class had no idea how to write any of them. So, basically we spent a lot of time practicing the days of the week. I also began sentence structure…for example, “I am,” You are,” “She is,” “He is,” “It is,” “We are,” and “They are.” Everyone actually caught on quite well to that. Then I taught them the difference between, “The marker is,” and “The markers are”. They caught onto that quite well too. Haha, then at the end of the day I taught them the Hoky Poky. OH MY GOSH! They were so cute! Wednesday was my best day of class this week for sure.
Wednesday night, we went to “English Karaoke Night.” A few of the 8, 9, and 10 year old kids got on stage BY THEMSELVES (I was impressed) and sang songs like “Bingo,” or “You Are My Sunshine,” or “Ten Little Indians” (which I heard about ten times in a row).
Then me, Alisha, Natalie, and Jack all went out and got pedicures and manicures. It was only ten U.S. dollars total! It was amazing. Afterwards we went shopping and then went home.
Thursday, July 17th:
Thursday didn’t go too well. I gave a worksheet to both classes (went okay) then I played bingo with my first class and they absolutely loved it. We used action words (jumping, running, playing, etc) and I would do the action instead of saying the word. THEN came the second class. They would not listen at all. I tried to explain what bingo was, but my TA couldn’t even understand. I mean, BINGO!?! It’s the simplest game in the world. Anyway, I left that class feeling absolutely frustrated and was so happy when Tim asked if I wanted to play soccer (what a stress reliever!). So, a few of us, and a bunch of Chinese kids went to the fields to play soccer, but after about 10 minutes, the event coordinator asked if we would stop so they could have the students run around the track. So, that left me even more frustrated. So, I went home, took a shower, ate dinner, and then relieved all my stress with a few beers from the bar down the street. It was Megan’s birthday so everyone went out to celebrate. Then, a bunch of people went out and got massages but I wanted to finish writing my test for the next day and go to bed…so I did.
Friday, July 18th:
Class was great today. I gave the test to my students right away. A lot of them did great, and a few of them did horrible. But, I guess I expected that. The ones who did horrible were the trouble makers that never pay attention or do what I ask them to do. It’s so hard to get the entire class to cooperate. There are always the drifters (and always the same ones). They stare at me with their mouths wide open, and their eyes always have this blank stare. It’s so frustrating. I have so much more respect for any teacher I have ever had now.
All the teachers decided not to teach their students after their test today. So, I taught my kids this girl scout song that goes, “crocodile, crocodile, croc, croc, croc. Dance to the beat of the hickory stock…” And it’s like this circle clap game. THEY LOVED IT! Then Mike and I took our two classes to the lake to feed the fish. Then when we got back, I taught my class the hand jive. They loved that too!
After class I tried to get on the internet…but it’s so slow and never works. So…that is why I haven’t been blogging or replying to any emails. And I apologize for that! As soon as I can, I will! Thank goodness I have my laptop here (no wireless though).
One thing I’d like to comment about…the UNI people that have been here for literally 2 weeks now, are already saying things like, “what I’d give for a slice of cheese” or “I just want some normal food.” Actually, they were saying this after three days. I’m reaching six months without a tad bit of normal food—imagine that. I just laugh to myself when I hear them say that…how freaking ridiculous.
Oh yeah…After class today, one of me and Mike’s students asked us if we would like to go on a home stay with him. Every kid has the option of doing this. They pick the teacher(s) that they want to have come home with them for a Sunday morning/afternoon. Then, their parents have to approve of it, and send an itinerary of what we’d be doing. So, both Mike and I agreed! We leave on Sunday at 11 am, get a tour of Dongguan, and then go bowling, eat dinner, and then come back. I can’t wait!
Friday night we all went to this mountain thing in Dongguan. The view was absolutely beautiful. And we made it to the top just as the sun was setting. It was absolutely amazing.
Saturday, July 19th:
Saturday was our little weekend getaway. Some of the campers, all of the teachers, and the TA’s all went to some city about 2 hours away. I actually thought it was quite boring. And lunch was disgusting. It was such a long day and I was so happy to get home. And, we got home late—around 9:30—so for dinner, the director ordered pizza hut pizza for us! Talk about heaven!
Afterwards all of the teachers and our TA’s went out to the bars. It was the best night I’ve had so far. First we went to this little hole in the wall place in a random alley. They sell three beers for ten RMB. That is less than 50 cents for a single beer. And they are BIG bottles—half liters. So, we all drank there for a while, and then took a taxi to a dance club. There was a band there, and a few of the teachers got on stage and starting singing with the band. It was soooo much fun! We got home around 3 AM, stayed up for an hour or so, and then went to bed.
Yup, i KISSED this panthon. Sunday, July 20th:
I woke up around 10 AM. Mike and I were going on our home stay together, so we were ready and downstairs by 11 AM. Wenny (our TA) also came to be our translator. Jim (one of our students) and his dad came and picked us up and we drove to this restaurant to eat lunch. One of Jim’s friends (and also one of my students), Oscar, and his parents met us at the restaurant.
It was the nicest restaurant I’ve ever been to. We went up stairs and had our own private room. There was a huge round glass table for all of us to eat at, and then a karaoke machine, three couches, and a huge tv. We all just hung out in there for a couple hours singing, and eating way too much delicious food. Afterwards we all went bowling. It was a pretty big deal too. Both kids’ entire families came. Like cousins, grandparents, aunts, etc. After bowling, we went shopping for a while, then went to Oscar’s house and hung out for a while. Then ate dinner at Jim’s house. They served us Indian curry food. …random, I know. Indian food in a Chinese house. But it was absolutely amazing! Afterwards we went home. We got back at like 9:30. All in all, a good day. But I was so happy that Mike came…it was nice to be able to speak English with someone.
Monday, July 21st:
Today was the worst day of class I’ve had so far. The kids would not listen. My afternoon class was by far the worst. So bad, that I actually cried when I got home! I feel like such a baby saying that…but I just couldn’t handle it. And it was all because of one student…this is what happened: We had two hours of class. For the first hour, I taught them how to use the words want/wants, need/needs, have/has, am/is/are, like/likes, and know/knows. I had a bunch of stuff written on the white board for the kids to write down. Everyone except for two boys were cooperating. So, I told them if they didn’t write this down, they couldn’t play the game after break time. That didn’t seem to bother them, so they didn’t write anything down, and they didn’t play the game. Then, after the game we were doing something new—questions and answers. I had a list of about 8 different Q’s an A’s on the board, and for the last twenty minutes of class we worked on learning them. All the kids wrote everything down like I asked—except for this one boy. He was sitting in the back of the class, not writing, not paying any attention to me, and bothering the kid next to him. So, I moved him to a desk at the front of the class and told him to write everything down. He wouldn’t. Every two minutes I would walk over to his desk, see that he didn’t write down anything, tap my pen on his paper and tell him to write everything down. I even had my TA translate, so I knew he understood. Right before the bell rang I put one more question and answer on the board and told everyone they could leave once they wrote it down. This kid still didn’t have a single word on his paper. So, both myself and the TA told him he couldn’t leave until he wrote everything down. He wouldn’t do it! By this point I was getting incredibly frustrated and started to get more stern with him. But, still nothing. After he sat there for a good 2 minutes staring off into space I just gave up and let him go. I felt bad for being so stern with him, but I don’t think there is anything at all I can do to make him listen to me or put any ounce of effort into learning. So, yeah, when I got home I was telling Natalie about it and couldn’t help but start crying. Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I just don’t know what to do to make him work. Even if I moved him to a lower class, he’d still do the same thing—nothing. It’s not that he doesn’t understand, or that he can’t write (copy what’s on the board), it’s that he doesn’t TRY. And I don’t want to focus ALL of my attention on him because that is not fair at all to the other students. But basically, he just ruins my entire mood and wears out my patience, and then I have a hard time putting on a fun façade for the rest of the class. I think I’ll talk to Mike—his other teacher—tonight and see what he thinks we should do.
At night, me, Mike, Alisha, and Ali (our professor from UNI) all went to do some shopping. First stop—the cheap DVD store. First, let me tell you all the DVD’s that I bought, and then I’ll tell you how much I paid! Mr. Brooks, The Guardian, Knocked Up, Little Miss Sunshine, P.S. I love you, Georgia Rule, Zodiac, Brokeback Mountain, Cloverfield, and Friday Night Lights. All for a grand total of 98 RMB—less than 15 dollars. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? It’s like a dollar and a half each! And their selection is HUGE. Dad I just got off the phone with you and forgot to ask…but what DVDs do you want that you haven’t bought yet? Name anything and I can get it for you. I saw a bunch that I knew you liked, but I couldn’t remember if we had it or not. But, I bought Friday Night Lights cuz I remember that was one that somehow disappeared from our house. Oh yeah, and I bought the first 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls for a grant total of 80 RMB.
Afterwards we went to Wal-Mart and I bought a few prizes that I could bribe my kids with. Then we came home, and I stayed up till at least 4:00 AM trying to get my lesson plan all done.
Tuesday, July 22nd:
Today went much better than yesterday. The kids loved what I had planned for them. And the kid that I had problems with yesterday, well I just completely ignored him. He sat in the back of the class and did nothing but disturb his neighbor. So, I’m not really sure what to do about him, but not fighting with him seems to work out much better.
After class I went to a camp event about the Olympics, then to Wal-Mart with Jack, and then home. Someone found the new batman—The Dark Night—on DVD for 5 RMB, so we watched it for a while (but I got too tired and came up to get ready for bed). Now I am currently sitting in bed and trying to figure out what to do for my class in the morning!
Wednesday, July 23rd:
Class was basic standard. Me and Mike attempted to take our two classes to the track to play tag during last hour. Bad idea. Nothing was accomplished…they don’t know how to play tag in China!
It was Alisha’s birthday, so we all went out to this Brazilian restaurant to celebrate. OH MY GOD WAS IT GOOD! First of all, it was a buffet. But, they also had waiters come around with all sorts of different chunks of meat, and they sliced it right in front of you, and slapped it on your plate. It was amazing. I tried goat, chicken heart, and octopus for the first time. They were all quite good actually. The heart just tasted like super juicy dark chicken meat, but the fact that it was heart bothered me, so I only ate one. The octopus was my absolute favorite. Oh, and I also had duck—which is AMAZING! Do they serve that anywhere in America, cuz I have to have that again someday. I’ll kill the duck myself if I have to.
Don’t worry, I haven’t eaten any dog or cat. I haven’t even seen it anywhere yet.
Thursday, July 24th:
Class was fine. But I wasn’t in the greatest mood. I gave my class a worksheet that took pretty much the whole time. It was the review for tomorrows test, which actually the review IS the test. I wanted to make sure they knew how to prepare and knew what to study for. I want my kids to do well tomorrow…the smart ones AND the other ones!
We played tug of war and the winners (the teachers!) won pizza! Some of the TA’s ate some too, but they all insisted on wearing plastic gloves when they eat it. I don’t understand. It bothered me A LOT.
Tonight a bunch of us are going out for happy hour at Oasis. In fact, I need to hurry and get in the shower. Tchuss.
Friday, July 25th:
Well, Thursday night didn’t go quite as planned. I was feeling kinda homesick while I was at the bar with everyone and not in the greatest of moods. I ended up catching a cab by myself and going home. Then, I woke up on Friday and realized my wallet wasn’t in my purse. Either I left it in the cab, or at the bar. So, of course I panicked. I called my mom right away and had her call and cancel my credit and debit cards. Luckily I didn’t have much money at all in there. But still, some random person in China has all of my information. And of course, I was so proud that I hadn’t lost anything the entire 6 months I was away…then 10 days before I leave…my wallet’s gone. Ugh. Anyway, I went back to the bar last night to see if it was there, but it wasn’t (or so they say). And as far as money goes…the camp gives us 1000 RMB on Monday, so that’ll be more than enough to get me through the next week. Gosh, I’m still soooo mad about that. As everyone knows, I am the biggest worry wart there is. So, you could imagine how much I’ve been worrying about this. It’s seriously ALL I think about.
I gave my class their test on Friday morning. I haven’t graded them yet…but I think they went okay. My afternoon class was getting into soooo much trouble, so I did some old fashioned punishments. First, I made the entire class put their head down on their desk for ten minutes, and for every word I heard I added a minute. At least that’s what I said I was going to do. After three minutes of them being quiet I gave in and let them put their heads up. But, of course, the naughty ones continued to be naughty. So, I had to think of a different punishment. I made them stand at the back of the classroom and put their nose on the wall for a minute. That’s horrible isn’t it?!?! I felt bad for doing it, but it was either that or send them to Mr. Mao’s office. And well, my punishment worked fine. The two kids that I made do it were angels the rest of the period.
Friday night I didn’t go out. I was too upset that my wallet was gone. Instead, Natalie and I thought that I needed a massage—my stress level was through the roof. So, we went and got one hour, five dollar massages. They were absolutely amazing.
Right afterwards we went to bed.
Saturday, July 26th:
Woke up around 6:30. We had a day trip to some random city somewhere in China. I HATED it. We were just dropped off at this park at like 9:00, and told to meet back at the bus at 4:30. First of all…all there was to do was bargain with the street sellers (which I am so sick of doing) or walk around in the more than 100 degree heat while getting eaten alive by thousands of mosquitoes. Not my idea of a fun day. Anyway, after a long miserable day, we got home and had more pizza hut pizza waiting for us!
Saturday night we went out to the hole in the wall alley bar. Afterwards, Jack, Cody, Mike, Nat, and I all went and got massages (this one was only 4 dollars). It was amazing. Then I went home and went to bed.
Sunday, July 27th:
Woke up at 9, put a load of laundry in, an hour later took it out. TWO OF MY SHIRTS WERE IN SHREDS! I am so mad. And they are two of my newest shirts. I’ve worn both of them twice. One of them is the one I was wearing at the great wall, and the other is the one I was wearing the last night in Klagenfurt. Ugh. Anyway…hopefully H&M still has them and I can order them online.
I am currently at Starbucks, and SO EXCITED. I am on my own computer and on the amazingly fast internet. It’s absolutely amazing. And lucky for you, now you all can actually catch up on my blogs. haha. Tchuss!
My first day of school picture :) Dorky, i know :) ...but it's tradition!
Me and two of my roomies--Nat and Katie. Toni was already at class and couldnt take a pic with us :(
It was Chandler's birthday and he went to the game too, so I made him this adorable birthday cake!
Friday night with the girls at our house. Mir, Me, Toni (idk whats going on with her :)), and Amber.
My two favorites in the whole wide world! aka, my bro and sis!
And now we're all a bit more ready.
Me and Abby. ...it was a late night, we aren't looking our best.
This is Gavin, me, and Marcus. 
