So I feel a little guilty, mostly because my dear mother back home wants me to write more in my blog. She wishes I had more time to write; I wish I had more to say. Life here is still amazing, but the more I set myself into a routine and repeat the same actions daily, the less I feel I have to share. How many times can I talk about my rowdy yet adorable kids without boring people to death and eventually slipping in to an abysmal fate of an inconsequential blogger. So, here I am, trying to think of things to share that would be even remotely interesting.
On the other hand, things that I find mundane and boring may be very exciting to those back home. Just because it happens to me every day in China, doesn't mean the same thing could or would happen in the States.
To begin, curses are in order to be said to Mother Nature. I knew I would be jinxing myself when I said we have been having wonderful weather. So far this week, it has been pretty gloomy and cold every day. To make matters worse, I've been fighting off a cold since Sunday. Yet another China first...being sick. But, I'm happy to report that being sick here is exactly the same as being sick at home! Who would have thought?! But on the bright side of being sick, one of the teachers shared some delicious green tea with me, and it definitely did help soothe my awful sore throat. Little acts of kindness like that are exactly why I love China so much. People here have been so incredibly nice to me and the rest of the foreign teachers. I love it so much when people shout "hello!" to me from across the street. I love it even more when someone is a little too shy to say "hello" so they mumble it after I've already walked past them. I being able to turn around and smile at them while saying "hello" back. It just fills me with happiness for some reason.
We did have a nice adventure last night for dinner. None of us were particularly thrilled with what the school was serving and we were all craving dumplings, so we decided to stop somewhere on the way home for Dinner #2. Only the place we stumbled into unfortunately had no dumplings because it was a hotpot style restaurant. Though I've had a few bad experiences with hotpot thus far, we couldn't really leave. And I am so glad we didn't. For those of you not in the know, hotpot is basically when you choose a meat and it is brought to you in a big pot with various veggies and in a broth and it just sits and cooks on your table. This one was served with rice. We are pretty sure we ordered duck. This was one of my favorite meals since being in China. It was perfect for a cold night. The meat was tender and delicious. The broth was hearty and flavorful. There were super yummy bean sprouts and green leafy veggies and it was just overall wonderful. SO SO GOOD.
Today at breakfast, I saw egg rolls for the first time since being in China. That sorta made me laugh. Because yes, we have the stereotypical rice and noodles every. single. day. But the other foods like egg rolls, pot stickers, and such aren't as common, at least not where I am. If you ever come to China, don't expect your favorite Orange Chicken or Beef and Broccoli. You'll be sourly disappointed and less likely to send your taste buds on the culinary exploration of a lifetime.
One thing I really do miss is Mexican food. I've heard there is a restaurant in Beijing and one in Nanjing...so I guess I'll just have to go get my fix there.
My classes for the most part are getting better. Sure I have some bad days and some bad classes and some bad lessons on occasion. But whenever the bell rings, I try to leave that behind me and wipe the slate clean. And if I'm having a difficult time doing that, I just walk outside until I see a student, and when they come running up to me with pure love and happiness, all else is immediately forgotten. The dynamics of my classrooms are so different from what I would expect elementary schools in the US to be like and I was there so long ago I can't even remember what my personal experiences were like. My kids LOVE to rat each other out for doing bad things. "Teacher, he hit her!" "Teacher, she's crying" "Teacher, he has his book open" "Teacher, she is coloring" It's endless. And pretty much without fail, I get at least one crier in every single class every single day. I'm pretty sure I had a record today though. In once class alone I had 4 kids crying at various points. I also had to break up a fight between two boys in the same class. It was nuts; they went full on kung fu on each other and were kicking each other in the face and hitting and of course a few other boys tried to get involved.
The most exciting thing that has happened this week though happened yesterday (Wednesday). I opened a Bank of China account! I'm practically, officially Chinese now! All I need is a Chinese name (which is currently being thought over by some of my new and amazing Chinese friends). The bank was definitely an experience. Not too many foreigners come to the area that I live so it took quite awhile for them to figure out how to open an account for me. Then the account became active, but wasn't registering in their system. At one point, some people came in trying to scam the bank out of money or something like that (someone tried to explain it to me, but I didn't really understand them). I was at the bank for over an hour with all the mix ups and confusion. But, as I left, the bank manager came rushing out and thanked me for coming in. She also gave me a gift (two little hand towels) as an apology for having to wait so long. Talk about hospitality!
So China, its a land of mysteries. New things happen every day. But I'm adjusting so much that even when the new things happen, I'm expecting them and they just don't really phase me anymore.
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