really though, isn’t it a beautiful day

Yesterday morning, I went for a run. Now, if you know me well, you know that this one act can instantly classify my day as a “good day.” And yes, yesterday certainly was a “good day,” but it was not for the sole reason of having the time to run in the morning. My run started around 6:45 in the morning with the sound of fireworks going off nearby. This was not strange and I didn’t think anything of it. Nich and I wake up to fireworks about three times a week. They are easy to access and they are involved with seemingly any event in China. I didn’t think anything of it. During my run, I decided to take a new route down the small village near our school and while running down this one lane street I was blocked by a wall of people wearing white jackets, white nurse hats with a red dot in the center, and a white piece of fabric tied around the left arm. A marching band of about 20 members followed them, each wearing a white marching band uniform. Two pick-up trucks fallowed them, their tuck beds were filled with four huge flower arrangements, made up of banana leaves, white carnations, and other small white flowers. A sea of people followed them; they were in their everyday clothing with a white piece of fabric tied to their left arms. My run was delayed a good three minutes for the entire processional to pass. What did I just witness? I had a hunch of what it was, but I had never seen one with so many people (it seemed like the entire neighborhood was involved), never had I seen one featuring fireworks, and never had I seen one take place so early in the morning.

Can you guess what I just witnessed?

I hope you’re stumped, because I was a bit stumped myself. It was a funeral. A man in the community had passed and that was his funeral. It was really an amazing sight. One man at the very end of the procession stopped to ask me if I knew what was going on and then he was very kind enough to explain the event to me.

 

The fireworks I heard at the beginning my run marked the beginning of the funeral and then when the marching band, the trucks, and the entire neighborhood make it to the other end of the street there will again be fireworks to mark the end. It’s amazing to think that one new running route can introduce to something more than a new path for feet to travel. There is always something new to see and learn about another culture. It’s something that you always have to open to and ready for when in China, or anywhere new.

Nich and I also decided that we would use this weekend to explore Yueqing more. We decided our first stop would be a visit to West Tower in the older part of the city. We biked into the city and once we got to the old part of town we found a pole to lock up our bikes. As we were locking up our bikes an old lady approached us and told us that the pole we were locking our bikes to was in a bad spot and a car would most likely hit them. She insisted that we leave our bikes at her house, which was just down the road from West Tower. She was extremely welcoming and told us that we could store them there for the rest of the day if we wanted. West Tower was really amazing. It is located on a small mountain that has a number of old cemeteries, farms, temples, houses, and paths. It was really a beautiful little hike.

 

The rest of our day was also just as nice. We found some new delicious restaurants. We found new shops with some much needed school supplies. We hadn’t a clue where we would go, what we would find, do, and learn, sometimes that means we end up very confused and lost, but then sometimes we end up having a great day! Yesterday was a great day.

 

 

it’s a beautiful fall day.

Fall has begun! Today is the first day it’s truly felt like fall. It’s cool out and every single one of my students is treating this moment like it’s midwinter. They are all in jackets, closing all the windows in the classroom; they rush to get inside between classes, and are asking for a number of ways to describe this weather, this very dramatic weather. I actually quite enjoy how wimpy they are, because I too was doing the same this morning, minus asking Nich how to describe the cold weather in English. This first day of fall reminds me so much of Arizona. With the first sign of weather, every Arizonan is bundling up or down, buying the resources they’ll need to survive the weather, preparing, freaking out, and complaining. I am an Arizonan so all these things comfort me when the seasons change.

 

Today also makes the halfway mark of the Olympics. Nich and I have about 250 students each, but we see 80 of them four to five times a week (our 1^st, 2^nd, 7^th, and 8^th graders). Our 7^th and 8^th graders get to compete in the Olympics tomorrow. The 7^th graders represent Libya and our 8^th graders are all from Jordan. I am actually really impressed by what these kids have to research and learn about their countries. Naturally the high school students have to go into more detail, but our 7^th and 8^th graders knew about the economies, history, political issues, the social structure of the country, the sports the country tends to dominant at, and other facts. These kids having been working on learning about their countries off and on for about a month, they had to make posters about the country (which are the signs we saw them holding up in the opening ceremony).  It’s quite impressive. So tomorrow Nich and I will go cheer on Libya, Jordan, Ecuador, America, and probably a slew of countries made up of little kids (which happened to be most of Europe, maybe it’s some sort of metaphor). The students get to pick a from the athletics section of the games, including running (100m, 200, 400m, 800m, 1500m), shot put, long jump, and high jump. Everyone seems pretty excited and if you win, you not only get fame, glory, and a possible contract with Wheaties, but there’s even awards.

It’s sports week!

It’s the start of sports week here at Yueqing International and nothing starts off sports week like an Olympic opening ceremony. Yes, our school is having it’s own mini Olympics this week. From 2^nd grade to 12^th everyone is an athlete representing his or her “home country.” The 1^st graders get to be the patrons. Here are some pictures of the first Olympic Opening Ceremony Nich and I have ever attended! I’ll give you updates at the end of the week! Enjoy the pictures! :o)

happy one month anniversary!

We’ve been in China for a month! Really!?! Time has gone so unbelievably slow and somehow it has also flown by. Nich and I are certainly feeling settled in. We’ve both gotten sick and survived! :o)  We have found a collection of delicious restaurants and marked our “go to” items. We’ve discovered and figured out the bus near our school (we’re really not in the city, so transportation with wheels is a must). We’ve found a few chaoshi超市 (grocery stores) in walking distance. We’ve also purchased two lovely semi-road bikes. They were a great deal thanks to my haggling capabilities, only 500 yuan each ($80), but originally 780 yuan each. Now we can bike into town, which is only a 15-20 minute ride. We also found a basketball, so now we’ll be getting really fit and athletic. And that about sums up the gains in the last couple weeks. It’s all sounds pretty normal and not so exciting, but you have to always keep in mind that nothing is boring and simple in China. There is always something to make the process exciting, possibly frustrating, and always quite adventurous.

For example, Nich and I have figured out a number of “go to” items at a few restaurants, but this was after we accidently order “special chicken,” which happened to be a heaping pile of chicken gizzards with lajiao 辣椒(chilies). This was also after we ordered a dish that looked like a big bowl of soup filled with xiaobaicai 小白菜(bok choy), but in fact it was filled with sprouts (which were fantastic), cow liver, and cow intestines (which were not fantastic). Everything is an adventure. Even though, I can read and speak a fair amount of Chinese, ordering food is always an adventure because menus are not always so straightforward (nor are they in the U.S., because what is a “sloppy Joe” exactly). Menus here are the same way, we’ve order tebiejirou 特别鸡肉(special chicken), but what should be expect from that? Gizzards, apparently.  Anyway, life in China is exciting, which sometimes translates to hard and demanding of your time, patience, and sanity, but overall exciting.

We’ve been here just over a month and we knew we had to celebrate. We decided to go to Hangzhou over the October holiday (which is 7 days in the beginning of October that everyone gets off for travel, family time, relaxation, etc). It was insane; there were people everywhere, busier than New York, busier than Disneyland on a holiday! It was busy! We thought that would our little one month celebration in China, but no China planned another celebration to mark the actual day. Our one-month anniversary was marked by a typhoon headed right towards our provenience. Nich and I got back to our apartment in Yueqing with plenty of time to stalk up on food and water. We were certainly over prepared, but being that we’re from Arizona, a place without much extreme weather or rain, we over prepared. The storm seemed like it was going to be quite awful, since parents came to pick up their kids and take them home, teachers left their apartments to stay in the city with family, and our campus was empty. Most all of the storm happened in the middle of the night, featuring wind blowing at 70 mph or so and lots of rain. Our building howled as the wind past through the halls and through windows left open in empty apartment, which also meant water leaked out of their room because it was being mildly flooded. In the middle of the night we lost power, but it was back on by 10am. Although, our elevator remained off for the next two days, which is a small inconvenience since we are on the 10^th floor. The typhoon in all honestly was not too bad, but I also hope it’s not our 2^nd month anniversary present either.

Some views from West Lake during the October holiday

We went to Hangzhou for the October holiday. It’s three hours north of Yueqing and is considerably larger than Yueqing. They have a McDonalds and a PizzaHut and a Subways! They have it all!

We did indulge in some American food over the break, but we also got to see West Lake! Here is what we saw! : )

just a beautiful day in Yueqing

The other day we went on a small hike to East Tower Mountain, which is in the city. Once you get to the top (45 minutes or so), you can walk to all the temples that are on the top of the neighboring mountains. We didn’t do that, since we didn’t have the time, but we are planning on it in the future.

it’s beautiful in Yandang 雁荡 and filled with surprises

it’s beautiful in Yandang 雁荡 and filled with surprises

The water was beautiful!

Between these two mountains is a nine story temple.

We had a nice long break for the Mid-Autumn Festival so we decided to go explore Zhejiang providence a bit. We decided to go to Yandang Mountain 雁荡山 for a couple days for a little hiking and sight seeing. The day before we left for Yandang we arranged a taxi driver to take us to the bus station in the morning, but thirty minutes before the taxi was supposed to pick us up he called and told us that he wouldn’t be able to give us a ride.

Flexibility and patience is one thing you must have in China, otherwise little things like your taxi driver deciding not to pick you up in the morning might annoy you. Nich and I figured we would ask the security guard at the front gate to call to call a taxi for us, but as were waiting at the gate a high school teacher offered to give us a ride to the bus stop. He was already on his way into town so he said he didn’t mind giving us a ride. He asked where were headed and what we planned to do. We told him we were off to Yandang and this interested him very much because he was from Yandang.
He was concerned that we were going there without a tour guide, but I told him that we’d be fine. When we got to the bus stop he insisted on calling a student of his that lived in Yandang to help us out. The student offered us a room at her family’s hotel and a ride from the bus station. That offer was one of the kindest things I think anyone could think of from a stranger. Nich and I were really happy; this helped us out so much, now we didn’t have to find a hotel that would take in foreigners or a ride to the mountain.

An hour later we made it to Yandang. The city was a small and beautiful. The air was fresh and there was a light breeze that made one feel energized. When we got off the buss abruptly greeted by many hotel owners and drivers that wanted to take us around, we found our host very quickly, Bellamy. She pointed to her father sitting in a miniature minivan he eagerly waved at us.Bellamy told the other guides that we were here to see her and her family, as if they all knew each other (which I am pretty sure they did). Arriving there truly felt like we had made it to a place seemingly untouched by foreign tourists.

We were the foreign tourists.

Bellamy and her dad took us to their home to put our bags down and then off to see Yandang Mountain, but before we went there, we went to see Bellamy’s mother who works at the park. She too seemed excited to meet us and excited that Bellamy would get a couple days of English practice in with the two American teachers from school. Because Bellamy’s mom worked for the park Nich and I got into the parks for free.

The park was absolutely amazing. I think that Nich and I could have easily walked around for hours.

There were arrows pointing everywhere, to the right there was a cave, a hike to a temple, a hike to small lake, and so, but then to the left there were just as many options to explore. The mountains were made up of igneous rocks and they were amazing, it was almost as if they had been carved years ago and then left to weather. Bellamy was eager to point out all the shapes and pictures found in them. The park opens twice a day, once for the daytime to walk and hike and then once for a night showing, where people can see the shapes the mountains make (it’s much easier to see the shapes at night). I would very much like to offer some wonderfully-wordy description of what Yandang Mountain was like, but I am afraid that words really couldn’t describe the beauty and feel of the place. Nich and I did take pictures though, so that’ll have to do.

After walking around the park for a bit, Bellamy decided that she was hungry and it was time for lunch. One thing Nich and I have yet to adapt to is the time for eating and one thing I don’t think we will every get used to is the amount per meal. Bellamy and her family treated Nich and I to lunch, which consisted of taking us to a restaurant and asking what foods we like. “Do you like bok choy? Shrimp? Potatoes? Rice?

Noodles? Yams? Beef? Mushrooms?” They asked and whatever we said yes to was ordered and ended up arriving at our table, a dish per ingredient. Nich and I were literally stuffed and possibly being killed with kindness. We would be killed with truly delicious kindness. The cause of death was going to be overeating. When lunch was finished, Bellamy’s dad suggested that we take a rest and then he would take us to the other park (all part of Yandang Mountain). After that, he said he would make us dinner. Nich and I couldn’t even hear anything about food, because we were stuffed.

The second park was just as pretty, a bit smaller, but it featured something I think one will probably only see in China. Next to one of the tall mountains there was a cement box that stood beside it, cement beams came out from the sides and connected to the mountain along the way up. The structure was very peculiar looking and baffled Nich and I. Bellamy asked us, “Would you like to go up?” Yes, China built a massive elevator beside one of these beautiful mountains so that people can go to the top and then hike around. We had to try it out. There were two options Floor 1 or Floor 2. This made me giggle a bit. There were no other stops in between so it would be 2, but I found it too funny that the top of a mountain would be called Floor 2.

When we got to the top, Nich and I were a bit shocked to see that in order to get on the mountain you have to get off the elevator and on to the steel floor that sticks out from the side of the mountain. We weren’t quite ready for so much excitement, but we survived and I think it was pretty safe (I’d do it again). The view from the top was amazing. We didn’t have time to hike around the top, but being up there made me realize that coming back to Yandang mountain was something that Nich and I would be doing on a weekend trip or with family.

Again, the mountains and scenery were amazing and beautiful. The air was fresh. The people were all so kind and vibrant. Nich and I fell in love with the place immediately and perhaps you will fall into like with these pictures.

This was the view from Bellamy’s house/hotel. Also, that mountain looks like a pumpkin 南瓜 ！

The view from Bellamy’s house/hotel.

This is Bellamy

That is Bellamy and her “brother” really it’s her cousin, but they call each other brother and sister.

it’s a beautiful day for moon cake

 Not really, it is a beautiful day though. Moon cakes are interesting and I am pretty sure that there won’t be any days in the future where Nich and I seek them out. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is this week, Nich and I get the whole week off! We are pretty excited about that.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an agricultural festival that gives thanks to the moon for the harvest that year, hence the moon cakes.

Moon cakes are being sold everywhere. They are sold prepackaged in extremely elaborate boxes or fresh off the pan. Nich and I only wanted a taste of this treat so we found a small bakery and bought four small moon cakes.They come in a variety flavors, but Nich and I just chose the plain flavor.When we got home we decided to try one.The texture looked like the dessert should be bread-like, but weight suggested otherwise.Moon cakes are dense and when you bite into one the texture is like a gumdrop almost. It has a gelatin texture and taste. The flavor becomes bitter and a bit savory as you eat it. This was not appealing to either of us. We didn’t know if we had just bought the wrong moon cakes or if all moon cakes would have a promising look with an unpleasant taste. The next day our co-worker Wendy brought us a gift, moon cakes. Nich and I were eager to try the giant moon cake she gave us, because we figured as foreigners we don’t know which moon cakes are the tastiest and which aren’t. The moon cake she gifted us was the size of a birthday day, absolutely huge, and came in an elaborately decorated red box.That afternoon after classes we decided to try the moon cake. The picture inside the box showed a variety of nuts and dried fruits, it looked very promising. We opened the plastic wrapper to find that the bottom was coated in oil to preserve the cake. This made the moon cake instantly unappealing, but we were determined to try the moon cake that Wendy picked out. We cut the moon cake to find that the picture didn’t lie; there was an array of nuts and dried fruit. It looked like it could be good. I took the first bite and found that moon cakes just are not Danielle’s cup of tea. Nich then took a big bite and we both quickly decided that moon cakes must be the fruitcake of China. Everyone buys moon cakes, they make great gifts, they are visually appealing, but no one eats them. We can’t verify that statement to be true because when we ask our Chinese students if they like moon cake, they all immediately say yes. I don’t think Nich and I will be munching on moon cakes again anytime soon, but maybe we’ll give it another shot in the future.

We took some of the giant moon cake to offer to our neighbors across the hall. They always have their door open, so we figured we could be friendly neighbors and offer them moon cake. When we got to their door, they immediately noticed the waiguoren 外国人 (foreigners) standing at their door. A girl who spoke some English peeked out and when we offered the moon cake to her saying there is too much for the two of us to eat, she immediately said, “no, we have some.” I think Nich and I might have been right, no one really eats moon cake that is why she didn’t want anymore. They must have had the same plan as us get some, try it, and then quietly pitch it. Is that why Wendy gifted us the treat in the first place? Was she trying pawn off her moon cake to us? Hmmm….

we made it to our beautiful city!

Yueqing 乐清 is the city we’re in. We got in around 5 in the afternoon and we immediately amazed by how beautiful the city was. The city is surrounded by mountains and you can see them! There is not much smog as we’re in a small city. The first few days in Yueqing were not very easy. We got to our room later in the evening and were told that tomorrow we would start teaching. Nich and I were both flustered by this comment. We had just found out that we would six classes first second, seventh, and eighth graders earlier that day and now we had to actually lead a class of them. We were both confused and stressed, but distracted from those emotions because our living situation was equally shocking. The room was not an apartment, but more like a dorm room, which Nich and I can handle. The issue was that the room was not ready for people to live in, the floors had a layer of dust, as did the sheets, counters, and every other surface of the room. There was only one sheet, no towels, a broken kettle, a broken lamp, and an extremely dirty toilet, but the air conditioner worked and we were thankful for that. The first night was hard. The first day was hard too. 

Clean!

Nich cleaning…. He’s a bit taller than the local population so sweeping up is hard.

We’ve been in Yueqing for five days so far. This last Saturday we spent the day cleaning our place and getting basic supplies (towels, a working kettle, sheets, hangers, cleaning supplies, and so on). I think Nich and I are both happy with how our apartment turned out. It’s clean!

We also took those days to explore around the city a bit. Half of thecity is old and really picturesque, there are temples found here and there in the old part of the city. Then there is the “new city”which has high rises, modern looking buildings, and Starbucks that just opened in August. Still no McDonalds, so we know it is still a small city.  

The view from our building of the school. Yueqing International Foreign Language School 乐清国际国语学校

Four Peaks and the view from our terrace!

Starting tomorrow both of us have off until Monday for the Lunar Festival. We are planning on going to Yandang mountain 雁荡山 for some hiking and sightseeing.

welcome to China and you are cordially invited to the wedding of…

Welcome to China and you are cordially invited to the wedding of Sebastian and Vivian.

  

Our first day in China and Nich and I have found ourselves sitting on a couch at nine in the morning with the wedding party of a wedding we were invited to only 10 hours earlier. Getting invited to a wedding is not a common first day experience, so if you’re planning on coming to China do not expect to arrive and then to be immediately invited to a wedding. There were only three other Americans at the wedding, a couple and their seven-month-old baby. We had already met them the night before at the airport when they picked us up. They work for the same company as us and are finishing their second year in China. Sebastian, the groom, also works for our company as a handler of sorts for the teachers coming to China.

 

We were picked up at our hotel at 8:30 in the morning to get to the wedding. We both found the time quite odd, but we were told that it’s actually a very normal time and that in the Northern part of China this would be considered quite late since weddings there start at 3 in the morning. When we heard that I am pretty sure both us were really thankful that we were not in the Northern part of China. Before going to the wedding we were also given the advice to have a light breakfast because there would be lots to eat. That was not a lie. Right as we sat on the couch in the room they reserved to get ready, visit with family, and do some of the traditional wedding ceremonies, we were offered fruit, tea, nuts, and other snacks. The room was the most adorable thing I have seen and while I might say that about a lot of things in China in realty I am lying about all other things that are adorable this beats all adorable things.

The room was decorated with red everywhere, the families come and decorate the room with flowers red stickers, pictures of the couple, and the character 囍. It’s the character xi, which means happiness, but when you look at it you can see it’s two of the same representing a couple. This character was everywhere, stickers were found on the light switches, plant leaves, picture frames, on pillows, as wall hangers, on the windows, literally everywhere. The room was not quite overly decorated either, it looked really nice.

One part of the wedding consisted of the bride going to her “home” which was another hotel room for timing purposes. The groom comes to pick her up to go to the wedding, but is not allowed in until he answers questions that the bridesmaids ask. The girls ask; what is the bride’s favorite color, her favorite thing to eat, favorite song and then tells him to sing it, and other questions to gauge his knowledge of the bride.

Then the groom offers gifts to the girls so that they will let him into see his bride. This ceremony traditionally will last a half hour or so. Then the wedding officially started at 11:08am for the ceremony and lunch. Eight is a lucky number in China, hence the 11:08. The ceremony was somewhat traditional, but the wedding as a whole was more of a show. There were story-telling moments, the couple shared words and moments, but this was all done with the knowledge that there was a huge room of people there to watch.

Then there was lunch, which left me afraid I would never be hungry again. There was so much good food to eat, but what I didn’t realize was that was just the beginning. Nich and still had dinner too.

After lunch there is a two-hour break and then the wedding continues with a dinner. We ended up leaving the wedding early because we were feeling the strong effects of jet lag.

The wedding day lasted about 10 hours and every moment was entertaining and filled with delicious foods.

what we call the beginning is often the end.

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. -T.S. Eliot

We leave Friday. This has been something Nich and I have been planning for this week since April when we signed our contracts and made the final decision that we would be in China for a year. It feels like we have been “going to China” for such a long time now that I am really quite ready to say it and actually feel it. It’s exciting and I am looking forward to all the new adventures that Nich and I will have. I am even exciting for some of the things that will be hard. It’s hard to really understand the excitement I have to be in China for a year, but at the same time I will miss my family and friends quite a lot. I am sad that there are so many lasts (for awhile, not forever). For example, I just said goodbye to my sister and her boyfriend for the last time until February. There have been a number of other lasts, like the last time I went to Tempe, last time I see my grandmas, last family event, last you name it. I am pretty sad for all the goodbyes and lasts, but this is the end of my time in Tucson, which marks the beginning of my adventures in China. T.S. Eliot must have gone through the same thing, although I am fairly certain he never lived in Tucson, so he probably doesn’t understand leaving such a beautiful place with great weather for a new adventure!

 

Anyway, the point is Nich and I leave on Friday! So real blogging starts Friday!

 

On a side note, I saw this little video the other day and realized to be an amazing person, which is something I strive for, I must travel more and see the rest of the world (or most of it)! Watch it and then come visit us in China!