Finally.

Well this is going to be short because I'm exhausted and want to get to bed, but a few quick things need to be said. First, I am actually writing and posting this from my bedroom in China. Yes, ladies and gents, we have internet at the apartment. Not just internet, but wireless. And approximately 8 hours per day's worth of internet. Also, tomorrow is the last day of my first round of classes. 40 down, 240 to go....ew. I promise not to say that again. But with the end of the first round comes National Day, Moon Festival, and the fall holiday. Which basically means there are a few massive sighs of relief occurring over here in China, not to mention 8 very warranted days off. It's the only real holiday we know of during fall semester, but we'll find out own way to break up the rest of it. Laura and I already booked our hostel in Nanjing over Halloween and have been brainstorming a few other ideas for what we would like to do during the winter months. Things are progressing rather well, considering. I just might survive my time here after all...

"Holidays"

So, as I've mentioned before, National Day is coming up and we get a week off from school. Laura and I have made plans to visit a friend in a nearby city, and then the 3 of us are heading up to Beijing for some sweet touring and shopping and whatnot. Only thing is, apparently in China a holiday really isn't a holiday. It's Saturday morning and I'm currently in my office getting ready to teach today. Not just a class or two, but 4 classes today. And another 3 tomorrow, starting at 7:35am. That's right, even if it's the law that you get days off for a holiday (and in the case of National Day, it is required by law to have days off) we still have to make them up. So I'll be teaching this weekend, and then most likely the weekend after the holiday is complete, to make up for the time we missed. So much for a break, huh?

I believe the celebrations have already began for National Day though, there have been many official looking things on TV, granted since I don't know any Chinese it could be absolutely nothing. But there is also a small festival type set-up going on in the square of our town. Last night after dinner we passes what seemed to be a talent show of sorts and there were games and small rides for children. It's essentially like China's 4th of July, and the Chinese are a very proud people so you can guess how big they are doing this up!

We did get one piece of good news from Laura's friend who is from Beijing... apparently she feels that the government might lift the ban on youtube and facebook after National Day. Since the riots and such from the summer are far in the past, and if all the celebrations go off successfully, they just might give those things back to the people. But I guess that is just another thing added to the list of what we want to happen in the near future. Here's to hoping...

Teaching...

So, as much as I have been whining (which I'm sorry about), I also have some good stories to share from school. Teaching 2500 students give me many opportunities for interesting interactions. Because I am teaching freshman, and most of them have never spoken to a native english speaker before, I'm taking it slow. The first day with each class is simply spent doing introductions. I have each student stand and tell me their name, age, and something about them. After that, I let them ask me questions. Both of these activities lead to some hilarious situations. I let each student choose their English name and didn't correct anyone if they chose something that wasn't really a name. I figure if they want that to be their name, who am I to say it's not okay. This can lead to some VERY interesting choices.

I think my favorite was a young girl who stood up and, in rather good english, told me her name is Howard. It took all of me not to laugh...but the students didn't laugh either. They really don't know what is right or wrong. I've also had many boys choose names such as Susan, Katie, Sarah, Summer, Grace and Joy. The seasons and positive words make sense, but the other names are just funny. Also, the NBA is super popular here, so I have a lot of boys who pick some form of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Tracy McGrady. I've even had a few Michael Jacksons, and Obamas. Usually the kids laugh at those, because they actually recognize them. It doesn't bother me though, I just have to get used to referring to students as James Bond, or Car, or Winter.

When I open the floor so they can ask me questions, I'm usually asked where I'm from (no one has heard of Madison, Wisconsin), how old I am, and if I have a boyfriend. Talk about a constant reminder of being single! When I say I don't have a boyfriend the students usually ask why, and tell me that I'm beautiful. It's flattering at first, but it's kind of weird to have kids stand up everyday and tell you that they think you are the most beautiful person in the world. I try to brush past it, but I'm not sure what I'll do when I come home and don't hear it everyday! Only kidding!

Because I'm teaching every single freshman class on a 3-week rotation, I have the opportunity to be flexible with my lessons. I'm excited to teach American music, and slang. I really just want my kids to be more comfortable speaking, even if the conversation is limited. They just need to build up the confidence. Laura and I are heading to Beijing in a week with another teacher we met in Nanjing. I'm so excited to see the Great Wall and I'm sure there will be many pictures to post after that! I'm trying to get all of my pictures up now but we're STILL waiting on internet, so it's been a struggle...I still have hope we'll get it soon, and Laura and I even sent an email to our agency asking to speed up the process. Let's see if we can work the Chinese system a little bit to our benefit!!! Wish us luck!!!

Officially insane.

***There is a slight disclaimer to this post: I'm super cranky, and there's a lot of venting, and my language isn't the most eloquent, so proceed with caution. ***

So I still do no have internet at my apartment. It's now Tuesday of the second week here, and it was supposed to "take a couple days". When we asked about it yesterday no one had even called. I'm really sort of pissed off about it. But I feel like I have the right to be. We've been so ridiculously flexible about everything else that has changed with our situation, and I don't want to have to sit in my office with 20 other teachers who are all watching what I do, and attempt to talk to anyone from home. I'm in my office right now, and about 4 teachers are napping so I won't call home. I think my typing is loud enough, but hey, they keep telling me to just use the office to catch up. It sucks a lot though too because my free time is mostly during the afternoon and I don't really catch too many people awake at the wee hours of the morning in the states, and usually when I do, they don't really remember talking to me anyways. I would like the chance to have some privacy and be able to talk to my parents and friends when I want to. I also would just like to go online and maybe look up some recipes because Laura and I are trying to cook for ourselves, but we don't really know easy chinese dishes, and we don't know where there is a restaurant we could go to instead. Plus, we can't order food anyways, so I guess we'll just keep experimenting so we don't starve. I know I'm going to extremes here, I just can't get my frustrations out any other way. And I don't want to complain to Laura all the time because she is the only other English speaker and she has her own trouble and frustrations, and we need to stay in each others' good graces! I'm so grateful she's with me here in Siyang. I wouldn't be surviving at all if I was alone. A few things that keep me sane are listening to music, and reading, and trying to learn more guitar. I'm running out of books though, so that sucks, but maybe that means my guitar skills will be amazing by the time I come home.

Last weekend Laura and I already bailed out and went back to Nanjing to visit our friends, and go out (our town doesn't even have one bar). It was super fun, but a bit expensive. And the bus ride was 4 hours both ways. The way there was alright, I sat with Laura. But on the way back some Chinese man sat with me and was totally all up in my personal bubble. And everything I did he full out turned and watched me. Watched me put my iPod headphones in, text people, and when I was reading he leaned over and tried to read my book! He also took my cell phone and called his with it. His ringtone was "Yeah" by Usher. Hilarious...but creepy because he called me twice yesterday. Mind you he didn't speak one word of english. So I put him on my blocked calls list. Weirdo. Just one of the many things I will never get used to, nor do I want to.

We ventured out to the giant Suguo (supermarket) yesterday, and while the trip was a success, we were followed around the store. People here just stare at us. We don't even do weird things. Laura said she wants to walk around naked. At least then there would be a reason for people to look at her like she was a circus freak. I'm starting to agree. The students at school are all really great. They seem excited to learn from native english speakers, but beyond that, nothing about the attention we receive is endearing. It really just pushes my buttons, and adding that to not being able to talk to home and such, and I'm just losing my mind. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, all will be resolved very soon, and my posts will be less of my emotional turmoil and more of my actual experiences and life here in China...until then, I'll try and keep my head above water, and I'll try to want to keep it above water too.

I suck at blogging..

So, I really want to blog, and often. But as we stand I still don't have internet in my apartment, and I don't feel like I have the time or am in the right mental state to keep up with it while I'm at school using the wireless... So my promise is that I will go back and catch up with all of the important things as soon as I feel like I can give the proper amount of time to my sharing. Hopefully the internet will be installed this weekend...or I just might lose my mind :) But stay tuned, because there is a lot that needs to be documented about how my life is changing and the way things go down in small-town China!!!

Kinda pissed...

So things aren't exactly going as we had hoped over here in China. We were told that we'd be moving to Wuxi and teaching kindergarten. Laura and I were excited about that. Wuxi is a developed city with night life and foreigners and whatnot. But today we found out that the schools there have canceled the English programs and we are now going to a very small city north of Nanjing to teach high school. Laura and I are luckily staying together, but we don't really know much about what is coming next.

What we do know is that the city we're going to is called Su qian (pronounced Soo chee-en). The metro part of the town is only a half million people, and by China standards that is teeeeeeny. We will also be teaching high school. Not exactly 5 year olds, but hopefully it will work out. All our classes will be oral focused, because the students have been learning English for years, but have very little practice speaking it. Having native speakers should help them gain confidence in their oral skills to match their higher level writing and reading skills. We leave tomorrow at noon, so I will have a lot more to say by then. But I can say I'm excited to have my own room where I can unpack my suitcase, and put up my posters and actually make something of a home. Wish me luck...

2 weeks in...

Well I've officially been in China for just over 2 weeks. Not too much has changed since my last post thought. I'm still living in a hotel with my new friend, Laura, but we will be moving this week. We were placed in the city of Wuxi, and will head there on Wednesday to look at apartments and hopefully sign and move in before the weekend. Then we start school! Laura and I will be living together and both be teaching kindergarten, probably even at the same school! This past week was a bit more flexible that the first week of training. The new teachers were able to go to a school here in Nanjing and watch a few different people teach English classes. It's interesting to see how everyone's teaching styles differ, but it's good to know that you can put your own spin on things to work for both you and your students' benefits.

We also had our "medical exams" last week. I put it in quotes because it was one of the more interesting things that we've been through thus far. Basically everyone had their file with empty boxes on the front and you had to go to each room for a different type of exam and they gave you a stamp in their particular box. Once your chart was full, you were done. Some of the exams were simple eye tests, or looking at your throat or something but others were weird. I had an ultrasound to look at my organs, and a less than private ECG (whatever that is) exam with other people in the room. Granted, everything was more private for women. Usually the doctors closed the door for anything if a female was being examined, but that didn't mean you were alone. There was usually 2 or 3 other women in the room waiting too. Anyways, it wasn't horrible, and I checked out in good health.

A group of Westerners made it out to the clubs a few times, and it was a blast. If we knew the right people and our group wasn't too big, the clubs treated us like rockstars. Free drinks and VIP tables, it was so much fun. I think they are trying to expand the popularity among Westerners, so they like to make sure those that do go have fun. Laura and I are usually the only two white girls in the whole place, and we are both blonde, so we tend to get attention. People are really nice though and we just dance all night! The one thing I did notice though is that I should have brought more clothes. I have good stuff for in the classroom, because dress is a bit more conservative, but when we're just out on the street, or especially in the clubs, things are much more relaxed and I miss my wardrobe!

I did manage to run into my first trouble with food here this weekend. I've been hanging in the hotel for the last two days just waiting for my body and stomach to re-balance. You really have to be careful here, and while I'm not sure what exactly it was that got me sick, I'm going to be even more particular, just to stay healthy. It's not fun being sick in foreign countries, and I'm going to be here a while so I need to learn fast!!! I posted a few pictures too so you can see a little bit about my life, but there will for sure be a whole bunch of photos once we move into our apartment, and get to our school!!!!