Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart. – Confucius

I think my heart has definitely been feeling a lot with Christmas and the holiday spirit around here. Although they don’t celebrate Christmas, the students know a lot about it and they made such a sweet effort to make us feel at home here. I received a few presents including an adorable stuffed panda, a fan for success, and a wooden Buddha for good fortune and happiness. Alethea got me a pair of cute music note earrings that I was eyeing the other day. But I also got a great deal of cards from the students. It is a big thing to talk about your feelings here, and many of them really wanted to share personal details with us and tell us how happy they are that we’re here. It really hit me what an impact I’m having on my students just by being here. They have had an idea of foreign people for their whole life and I have a chance to either make or break their image of how important English will be in their life. We talked about their goals and dreams in English Corner a couple weeks ago and a few of them have shared that they’re interested in managing companies with English connections, directing films with English actors, or being an interpreter. I generally see myself as a positive and happy person, but now I feel even more pressure to maintain this attitude so they won’t be turned away from English or western culture. I think of this as a good thing though, because I never want to let myself get too negative anyway and this is just more incentive to carry myself in an uplifting and optimistic way.

On Christmas Eve we met another English foreigner, Markus, who is living in Chenzhou at the moment. He taught in China in 2010 for about 5 months I believe, and is back again visiting his girlfriend here, Effy. Effy’s dad is a teacher at our school so her family thought it would be perfect for all of us to meet! We also went out for dinner with them the other night as well as a few of Effy’s friends. I love the students and teachers, but it really was great to have a chance to get to know some people our age who could speak English better. Markus is from Sweden, but also went to Australia for a while and had some Irish friends so his accent is pretty different. Effy is from Chenzhou, but worked in an area that has many foreigners that only speak English so her English is impeccable. They have a wealth of information about our city and are both very friendly and outgoing so I’m definitely glad to have met them.

The topic this past week in class was Senses and the one before that was Amazing People. It’s crazy to think that we’ve been here for 5 weeks already and we’re going on our 6^th soon. It was pretty good to see how excited they were about the people though. I like it when the topic is something that they enjoy and know a lot about because it gives them a chance to speak more. For senses, I let some students come to the front and smell, touch, see, or taste something out of my “senses bag” and describe it to the class. A few classes were shy, but for the most part, they really responded to this! They thought it was hilarious that I had someone secretly doing something in my bag and they were good at describing the different items. I had tea or coffee to smell, chopsticks or mittens to touch, toothbrush or newspaper to see, and candy or chocolate to taste. In English Corner, we talked about Christmas and Spring Festival and what the meanings of these holidays are. I had to stay away from religion as that is an unspeakable topic according to my company, but I focused more on the traditions and family time and the similarities and differences between the celebrations in Western countries and China. It was really interesting to hear about the Spring Festival (or Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year) and the reasons behind their celebration.

My lessons are going to be a little broken up next week as we have a 3-day holiday for New Years. The school puts on a concert every year on Jan 1^st called a “Dream Party”, and Alethea and I were invited to sing in it. I don’t know what mindset we were in when we decided this would be a good idea, but we signed up and we’ll be singing “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. We may go out with Markus and Effy after too. It will definitely be different—and quieter—than the usual New Year’s celebrations I’ve become accustomed to over the years, but I’m looking forward to a change in the norm. Anyway, I’ll get to Skype with my boyfriend the next day to join in the festivities at home and see all of my friends for when midnight hits in Ontario. Then our friend and roommate in university, Laura, will be heading our way for a couple days! She has been living in Dongguan, China for a few months now and we finally have found a time to meet up. Alethea and I are going to show her around (it will be interesting to see the students’ reactions to another foreign friend) and hopefully do some nice sightseeing around here. We are talking about the potential to head into Guangzhou again or maybe Dongjian Lake as Alethea wasn’t there when I went and I would love to go again!

Speaking of sightseeing—Alethea and I went to Guangzhou last weekend to check out Liurong Temple (or the Six Banyan Trees Temple) and to do some shopping around there. We were very excited to set out on our own to explore more and navigate on our own. We had help buying our train tickets, but other than that, it was just Alethea and I alone to discover China! The shops around the temple sold many beautiful trinkets; beaded necklaces and bracelets, figurines, incense (for prayers at the temple), and jade pendants. Alethea and I both got beaded bracelets and I am determined to find a cute jade elephant somewhere—keeping my eyes open! We also saw many people who looked like monks, but they were only out to get money from foreigners like us. One gave us a pretty gold card and walked away with a “God Bless You”, but proceeded to come back 5 minutes later and yell at us for money until we gave him the cards back. I’m going to post some pictures of the temple on Facebook soon, but I’ll also include some below. The pictures don’t do the temple justice though; it’s absolutely beautiful and so peaceful there. The architecture was so detailed and everywhere you look there is something to attract your eyes. It has been around for about 1400 years (though rebuilt a few times), and it was amazing to think of the history that has surrounded it throughout the centuries. As soon as you walk in, you are met with a statue of the Laughing Buddha and in the centre is the largest pagoda in Guangzhou, called the Flower Pagoda. Many people believe if you build a pagoda, it will keep away the bad spirits around and bring safety and good fortune to the people close by. All-in-all, it was a pretty successful day and we hope to go back to check out some of the other temples around Guangzhou as well.

Some of Alethea’s students took us out to see a movie the other night; it wasn’t Guangzhou, but it was still an adventure and an experience. It was a 3D Kung Fu movie with Jackie Chan, called CZ12. Don’t ask me how to say this in Chinese though, because I couldn’t tell you! It felt very much like the movies at home, but there were subtitles throughout the whole movie in Chinese and English. A lot of English was spoken though, so it wasn’t that bad. One of the students had points on her card (like Scene at home) and so she treated Alethea and I to the movie and we just had to buy ourselves popcorn. Boy, was I ever excited to get popcorn—I ate it all within the first half of the movie! The 3D glasses were pretty high-tech and they told us we weren’t allowed to touch the lenses. One of my students, Alex, wants to take me to see the Hobbit with her and her friend when it eventually comes out here and I am so excited for that! My boyfriend bought me the book for Christmas over iTunes in Canada so I’ve been reading it again to remember the story.

It’s been nice to be able to keep in touch with everyone from home so easily with Skype, Facebook, and emails. I like to think of it as being able to take my heart with me wherever I go because I have the love and support from so many people at home. Even though I am so far away, this experience has shown me a lot about what and who is important in my life. From China I kept up my Christmas traditions (watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve just like every year and ate lots of chocolate) and it felt like I was right there with my family. I got to Skype all of my family on my Christmas day and I heard my parents both got iPads so they can keep in touch better with FaceTime. As well, I got the wonderful news right away that two of my good friends got engaged on Christmas and I was ecstatic to be able to connect and hear that! Today, it snowed and it was magical to see how beautiful it all was and how happy the kids were to see it. I had been wishing for snow (although my heater in my bedroom is broken so that is rotten timing), and to see so many kids out laughing and having a giant snowball fight reminded me of home. Between the warmth from my students, the love from at home, and the peace at the temple, I have definitely been feeling the holiday spirit. I know that the memories, love and appreciation for my friends and family stay in my heart—whenever and wherever in the world I may go.

At the entrance to the Liurong Temple

The friendship house. This shows some of the beautiful oriental architecture.

In front of the main temple - Daxiong Baodian Hall.

Inside the hall are the 3 gods: Amitabha, Sakyamuni, and the Apothecary Buddha. They symbolize the past, present, and future and are some of the oldest and largest statues in Guangdong province.

One of the Banyan trees the temple was named after. There are not six anymore, but just a few.

You can see some of the architecture here and how detailed it all is.

The flower pagoda. It looks like it has 9 floors, but really it is 17 stories high.

Eat first, talk later - Chinese Proverb

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted, and I’m feeling a recurring theme here with that opening line. I promise I will do better! Last weekend we went shopping and then one of my students, Cruise, had us over for dinner. His mother, Na Na, couldn’t speak very much English, but Cruise worked as a translator for us and we had a fantastic night! She made so much food for us, it was unbelievable. As soon as we came in, a feast of appetizers was waiting for us with an assortment of fruits and nuts. Cruise’s sister, Peach, and his grandmother were sitting beside a table making dumplings and they gave me a chance to try too! Her practiced fingers made it look so easy, but mine definitely did not look as pretty. As Na Na made dinner, we looked at family pictures and Peach’s wedding video. Her husband, Chun Li, was there as well and to watch the love between them brought tears to my eyes. It’s nice to know that even without the same language, love can still be felt so strongly.

It was so interesting to see the different customs to do with Chinese weddings. Traditionally, the bride would wear a red dress, but it is becoming more westernized so many women choose to wear white. Peach wore a white dress, but had red shoes, red flowers, and a great deal of red decorations all done Chinese-style. It was beautiful! At the beginning of their day, it was Chun Li’s duty to get into her bedroom at her current house and give her red envelopes with money in them. Kind of like a dowry I guess, but he has to work to get it to her. He then needed to find her shoes, which were hidden around the room somewhere. If he is having trouble, he is allowed to ask her family for a clue in exchange for more red envelopes. Once he found her shoes, he had to put them on her—this reminded me of Cinderella! The couple then gave tea to her parents and many red envelopes were exchanged between all of them and later at their new apartment, they gave tea to his parents and exchanged red envelopes. I found it very interesting that the groom was allowed to see the bride before the wedding and they thought it strange that we think it is bad luck! As well, the bride and groom had their friends involved (Peach’s friends held the door as Chun Li tried to break in to find her shoes), but they do not have official bridesmaids or groomsmen.

After talking a little more (Cruise really got a lot of practice speaking English as almost everyone spoke only Chinese), it was time for dinner—and boy, were we in for a treat! There was enough food for an army and only 7 of us to eat it, but I’ve learned that they loooove their food here. It is conventional for people to tell you to keep eating more and seriously, if I don’t put on a few pounds while I’m here I’ll be shocked. It will be worth it though, and I keep telling myself that it’s ok, because I may never get to have the chance to eat food like this again.

The menu for the night:

·         Beef – We told Cruise this was our favourite so Na Na looked up a recipe online

·         Pork – apparently this was Mao’s favourite dish, and one of my favourites too

·         Potato noodles with duck egg – another favourite

·         Dumplings with pork and green onion

·         Cabbage

·         Cucumber, ham, and onion salad

·         Soup with carrots, corn and chicken

·         Date soup

·         Bamboo shoot with chicken and hot peppers – very spicy, but Chenzhou is known for their spicy food and we wanted to taste and experience authentic Chinese dishes

After stuffing our faces, we sat down to have a cup of tea, took some pictures, and Na Na gave us presents for Christmas. I was feeling so overwhelmed with appreciation by this point and admittedly, shed a few tears because of how nice this was. Na Na had knit us each scarves the colour of “China Red” and they really are charming. They match the Canadian mittens I got in the mail from my parents! She also included dates, longas (like a nut on the outside and fruit on the inside), and green tea. Tea is one of my favourite things about China and my collection is growing more every week! Peach and Chun Li then invited us to their apartment to sing karaoke and so we spent a little time there. We sang Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, and some Savage Garden. Even Na Na hummed along with some. It’s lovely to see how music can be so universal and help us to feel closer even when our languages are so different. All in all, the night was unforgettable and though talking was difficult, it was easy to feel so good when our stomachs, hearts, and souls were so full.

PS. I will write another blog in the next couple days about this past weekend and our Christmas celebrations.. Hoping everyone is having an amazing holiday season at home and you are all spreading extra love and joy for me and Alethea! xo

Be not afraid of mistakes and thus make them crimes. – Confucius

I want to start off by saying I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to post in a while! It is a busy time for me right now getting used to my new life; meeting new people every day, dinners, mountain-climbing, exploring, and somehow I’m finding time for lesson planning and some applications for when I eventually make my way back to Canada! However, I am enjoying every moment and loving it here, so those of you that may have been worried – no need at all! I have learned so much about the culture already and even about myself. I really like this Confucius quote because I feel that being on such a big adventure leaves a lot of opportunity for fear of mistakes to creep into my life. I am learning that I can’t do this to myself though because I am capable of so much more. It’s ok to make mistakes; if I live in constant fear of my faults I would never experience anything past my front door and that would be a sad life indeed.

Just being here makes me feel brave. If you ever need a confidence-booster, come teach in China. Seriously, my students and colleagues are so full of compliments for me and Alethea it’s overwhelming! Everyone constantly tells us how beautiful we are, stare at my eyes (this is a bit uncomfortable sometimes), and touch our arms or Alethea’s nose. They ask to take pictures, have dinner with us, and a few of my classes even asked for my autograph! I told them I now know how Justin Bieber feels and they thought that was so funny. I never know if they actually think I’m funny or if they laugh at my jokes because they’re excited they understand them and I’m the teacher so they have to. The students really do make me feel more fearless and I think this comes out in my lessons. I told them that I like to sing and so many of the classes asked me to sing a song. In Canada, I sing mostly in choirs and the idea of singing alone in front so many people terrifies me; but here, I just go for it and they have encouraged me to sing for our New Year’s concert. Sometimes the staring and attention can be a bit much though. When we go shopping the employees are often too excited to help us much, or people at the bank stare and get close. The worst was when I went to go to the bathroom at the school. They don’t have stalls with doors, but just half-walls and squatters. They students stared at me and I was shocked by the lack of privacy so I decided to wait until I got home. Some things are very different here!

I think the students are enjoying my lessons so far and I’ve heard a lot of good feedback from teachers, parents and students! It has been 2 weeks so I have seen most of my classes twice now. At first, I thought it would be really overwhelming to get to know 1200+ students, but then I realized that I am going to be here for a long time so I will have more opportunities in the next 7 months to talk to everyone – and not everyone wants to/is able to talk to me. They split up the grades into lower, middle and upper levels and there is a definite difference in their abilities to understand and speak to me. I have to consider this in my lesson planning and the upper classes will probably be doing an extra activity every week as it takes much longer to get things accomplished in my lower classes. I’m very glad we don’t have to write or mark tests though because I think that would make this even harder for me. We are just here for the students to practice their oral and auditory English skills. We were given a few books to follow their curriculum as well so they can practice what they are learning in their other classes. For Senior 1, this past week’s topic was “Tales of the Unexplained” so we talked about Yetis, Aliens, and the Loch Ness Monster. We need them to practice their English in an engaging way so Alethea and I need to be creative with our lesson planning to get them involved. I had them act out how they would greet a yeti – one student was a human and one was Yeti. It was hilarious to hear what they came up with and I have been laughing all week with them. We also do extra lessons called “English Corner” where 1 student from every class is allowed to come to a more relaxed discussion time. It is up to me and Alethea to come up with our own topics that will facilitate more of a student discussion, so last week we talked about friendship and what it means to be a good friend. This week in class, the topic is “Wish You Were Here” and focusing on where in the world they might want to go and what they would need to bring with them, and English Corner will be “Follow Your Dreams”. I am really excited to hear about what they want in life – both with traveling, but also career-wise, family, or really anything that they want to share with me.

The food here is delicious! Most meals we eat at the canteen as we have a pre-paid card and it’s cheapest on campus. We scan our card and get a block of rice and we can pick 2-3 dishes of vegetables, meat, tofu, or different kinds of food. Most of it is really spicy, but it is so full of flavour and I hope I can learn some new recipes to bring back with me. No matter where we go for dinner there is always a foundation of noodles or rice so it kind of neutralizes the spiciness and makes it easier to eat. We have a few favourite places around here to go already – especially a noodle place right across from the school. They have a few things to choose from and it’s easy to point at what we like. The woman there is so sweet and always smiling, and she knows what we like already. We asked her name and I think it is Ni Hong Ni, but the students said they just call her Big Sister.

The students have exams every month so I had this past Friday off and Alethea has next Friday off. Since the Senior 1 teachers didn’t have lessons, they decided to go to Dongjian Lake on Thursday afternoon. So we bumped my afternoon lessons up to the morning and I went along with them. It was absolutely beautiful there and really nice to spend some time bonding with my fellow teachers. They are so funny and caring and they make me feel very welcome with them. We drove there (oh boy, driving is an adventure all in its own here) and it took about 40 minutes to get to a house by a part of the lake. It was a rare sunny day and I got some amazing pictures, and overall it was just a gorgeous day. We ate lunch here and then went to a sight-seeing area of the lake where we could climb one of the mountains near there. The water is so clear and almost has a blue-green colour to it and the mountains are covered in trees. It is breathtaking to see even from ground level and I think the teachers loved my excitement and enthusiasm for everything. We walked around for about 2-3 hours and had a chance to talk a lot. I especially talked with one teacher, Linda Liu, whose desk is beside mine in the office. I teach her daughter and she has many friends in Canada and the US so I could tell she has wanted a chance to really talk to me for a while. She convinced me to try some fish at the market near the lake and I am so glad! It is pretty unappealing to look at because it was literally just a fish on a stick and they eat every part of it, even the bones and the head! In Canada, I don’t like fish, but this was very tasty – I am here to experience everything and if that includes cow stomach and fish, I will try it!

I have to be careful about a lot of the things I talk about with the teachers and students though because I have rules that my company enforces. I am not allowed to tell them how long I am here because they think that if I am only here for a short period of time, I don’t care and I am just here to travel Asia. I do want to travel around Asia, but my main goal of coming here is to teach and to gain a new perspective in experiencing a new culture. I can understand that the company must have had some issues in the past, so when people ask I follow directions and tell them I don’t know yet, maybe 6 months or a year or until my company places me somewhere else. I am not allowed to talk about religion, politics, or money either, which makes sense. I just change the subject or ask for their opinion when they talk about these things. They ask me a lot of questions, but I am able to learn more about them when they do because they tell me a lot. Linda, Allen, and Kimmie (our Worlda visa rep) all told me about children in China and I was so curious about how they enforce the “one-child” law. Kimmie said they are stronger about enforcing this law in the big cities and will even make women get a hysterectomy or abortion if they have had one child already. In the country, they are more relaxed with this law, but it is harder for the 2^nd or 3^rd born children. Everyone in China has an ID card and it is either difficult or impossible for the other children to get one and be able to go anywhere. Coming from a family where I am 3 of 4 children, this really hit me hard. I am so unbelievably thankful for what I have and the fact that I am able to do so much as a Canadian.

The laws here are a bit hit or miss to be honest. They have laws, but often don’t enforce it in most places or only sometimes, and most people don’t listen to the laws. I’m not sure if this is because there are so many people and that makes it hard to carry out the punishments, or if I have just witnessed this with less significant laws. As I said before, driving here is an experience. They rarely wear seatbelts unless they are going by a checkpoint with cameras and fines, and their lane-changing is really creative. Basically, either they drive ridiculously slowly or they are trying to get around the cars in front of them by all means possible. Driving the wrong way is common, and they love honking. Every night, we hear a chorus of car horns from the streets outside the school. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and when they do have traffic lights it’s more of an option to stop rather than an obligation. The same applies to smoking; they have laws, but they are not punished if they smoke inside. However, I have seen some pretty angry policemen yelling at people, so I’m sure they do have certain things they are very strong about.

I wish I could explain better what everything is like around here. The smells, the sights, the tastes; everything is different and exciting and new. I am starting to get used to it here a little more and it is feeling more like a home. Alethea and I went out yesterday to explore our area more and found a few great places to shop and eat! A few students also took us out to walk around and see Beihu Park and then we got to go to their talent show at night. Even though we didn’t know much of what they were saying, it was great to see the students acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments, and performing poems; you don’t need a common language to appreciate the arts and there were some very talented people.

I am realizing more that even though I am afraid to make mistakes, there are people here that care about me and want to help me in any way that they can. I had to go to Guangzhou for the day on Friday all by myself to finish up my visa paperwork – train there and back, navigating the GZ metro, and taking a taxi once I was back in Chenzhou and I was so proud that I figured it all out without any mistakes at all! Seriously, I was glowing when we pulled up to the school at the end of the day. But I wasn’t so afraid when I knew I could call Linda, Miss Li (my Senior 1 English rep), the headmaster, Alethea, or anyone from Worlda. None of them would view my mistakes as a terrible offence, but would want to ensure my safety and well-being. Obviously I’m still going to be smart about my decisions, but I feel braver just knowing I have a support group here and at home in Canada. As well, the students are not afraid to try – in classes, on stage, and in all aspects of their life – so why should I be afraid? It is not a crime to make mistakes and I know I will learn from them, so I will not let that fear hold me back. Here’s to more accomplishments and fearless adventures!

 In front of our school - Hunan, Chenzhou Number 1 Middle School

At the house where we ate lunch at Dongjian Lake. Linda is the one beside me!

Before climbing the mountains.. had to throw a peace sign in there :)

Eating fish on a stick with Miss Li and A-Lua. Delicious!

So many fish to buy at the market!

Looks a little scary, but I promise they taste very good haha

High-speed train to Guangzhou

It shows how fast we are going the whole way there!