Blog for Jordan

On May 29 2013, our good friend Jordan came to visit John and I in chongqing. Since that date, I've been very busy showing Jordan around town and traveling to breathtaking Yunan Provence in southwestern China. It is for this reason that the blog updates have been slow. Nevertheless, I will provide you with a very brief timeline of events for Jordan's trip here prior to unveiling the most important part- the pictures. Please enjoy! Special thanks to Jordan for the first few photos, as well as taking time out of his busy work schedule to make a friendly reunion possible. Cheers, mate!

May 29 - June 5
CHONGQING
-Teaching John's English class wiffleball
-climb the famed jianyun mountain in beibei
-Hot Pot with many of my students
-Ordering custom-made suits
-Visiting Chongqing's beautiful "Jin-do-Xia" canyon
-Tutoring session with Donla
-Buying a drink at the Shark bar, where two 12' great white sharks swim back and forth in a giant aquarium

June 5 - June 14
YUNAN
Shangri-la
-visiting a temple modeled after the Lhasa temple in Tibet
-trying a yak burger
-bike ride on the Tibetan plateau

Lijiang
-Leaping tiger gorge
-breathless hikes, mountains

Dali
-Sitting on Emma's stumps in old town
-swimming in the lake
-the last nights Italian feast

Meet my Second Chinese family

Since my return last February, the Li family has enrolled their son Pong Pong into a special English class for their son, Pong Pong, and they no longer require my tutor sessions. I cannot say that I’m surprised; Pong Pong’s English was at a dismally low level when I first met him, and I’m no expert English tutor.

Aida recently set me up with a much better match. For the last month or so I’ve been tutoring Donla, a young, energetic girl of age 7. Donla lived with her mother (also Mrs. Li) in Boston, while Mrs. Li was taking a year of associate professorship in the United States. Donla’s spoken English is perhaps better than my own! I was so impressed by her ability to articulate situations in English at such a young age: certainly the offspring of a professor. She is an expert artist, loves princesses, and has recently been enthralled with her collection of silkworms. I meet with her every Tuesday at 5:30p.m. I am paid 100RMB ($16) for each session. The sessions are supposed to last only an hour, but after games, dinner, and assigning homework, I’m not out of the small campus apartment until at least 7:45p.m.

A few tutor sessions ago, I reviewed Donla’s homework. I had posed several questions concerning a reading that I had assigned her, and she had answered them all perfectly.

“I’m so glad you love learning English Donla!” I proclaimed after hastily crossing stars on her answers.

“I don’t love learning English, I love YOU!” She said with great enthusiasm.

Even after one full year, I still get those constant reminders of why people love teaching.

One Man's Army

I woke this morning to rain. The trip to the Terracotta Army was long (subway-bus-bus) but rewarding. I saved at least 100 Rmb from the boring follow-me-for-too-long tours organized through the hostel. I was inundated with dates, artifacts, timelines, and quick Chinese quips today. I could write a five paragraph essay about the army, but ill save you the pain.

I'm currently visiting Park Qin Bar, a quant basement pub underneath my hostel named after the famed Emperor Qin, whose grave is guarded by the Terracotta Army. The Tomb spans for around 60 sq.km, and took 40 years to construct. Emperor Qin, who is credited with uniting China, began his reign as a 13 year old. He conquered six kingdoms before his death at 37. Talk about leaving a legacy! I gotta admit... They serve good beer ;)

Exploring an Ancient City

The ease of my second semester schedule has gotten the best of me again. This weekend I find myself visiting one of the world's four ancient cities: Xi'an, home of Emperor Qin's famed Terracotta Army. One of Xi'an's biggest attractions is the Muslim Quarter, home to great, cheap food, beautiful craftsmanship and mosques, and loads of jihade, or fake, merchandise. I now have my 32nd pair of fancy fake Ray Ban sunglasses. Later on during the weekend I will return to purchase my cousins some "beats" headphones, and I will keep an eye out for Chinese beads for my sisters. Anything you want? Send me a message! Tomorrow, I will send pictures of the wondrous Terra Cotta soldiers.
Also... Check out my new shoes! (Last picture)

Coffee night

Enjoying some mocca and the company of my good friend John Murray. Wishing everyone the best from a small coffee shop in Beibei, China.

Edge of the Earth

End of the Earth

China’s little-known holiday “May Day” came quickly and timely. Just as I finished the last of essay composing, college applications and class agendas, our employment blessed us teachers with a few days off. During the past week, I’ve been watching the surf come in at the beaches of Sanya in Hainan province (China’s “Hawaiian island” of the South China Sea). The island was all but little, and although it didn’t look at all like Maui, it was pleasant.

Sanya, a pure tourist experience, was nearly all-Russian. Greetings, signs, and taxi drivers all spoke Russian, which can give the native English speaker a quick culture jolt. About 70% of Sanya 2012 tourists were Russians. Sanya was an interesting yet cliché environment; (not so terribly) expensive food and clothing, beaches, bars and shops. After a weekend in Sanya, I convinced my travel partners, Matt and Diana, to head further west to a small fishing village, Tianyahaijiao.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianya_Haijiao

This is where the trip took a swift change in mood. After taking a 30 minute cab ride from Sanya, we were thrust into a serene cultural experience. Unlike our hotel in Sanya, our new hotel had a deck overlooking the ocean. From it, we could watch the local fisherman turn tour guide as dozens of Chinese tourist couples paid exorbitant prices for boat taxis to Nanshan and Tianyahaijiao (overpriced tourist traps; we did not visit). At night, the men would return home, bring whatever catch of fish to their wives. The wives sold the fish as barbeque venders on the street while the shirtless, raisined men gambled another form of mah-jonng on the street.

Everyone moved slow and wore sandals. My kind of place for a little vacation…

College Craziness and the Hessler Hustle

February seems like forever ago.

Streets of Macau

The Giant Buddha in Hong Kong

After returning briefly to Bangkok for a few days after the islands, we headed up north to Hong Kong to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The trip ended up being bittersweet. Hong Kong was awesome; John’s health was not. Somewhere during our tour, John was bitten by a particularly bitter mosquito. After several international phone calls, a few two-hundred dollar withdraws from the bank, and a dozen trips between the hostel and hospital, we were relieved to know that John was likely infected by Dengue Fever, a non-contagious, usually non-life-threatening severe tropical virus. Athough the parades, fireworks, and shopping was fun, the best part of the trip was making it through Chinese customs without purple-n-red-chili-pepper John tipping off the thermal temperature sensors.  Our return to Beibei was timely and rejuvenating. During the rest of February I spent countless hours preparing for the GMAT exam.

The month of March was completely dedicated to my MBA candidate profile. March 7 marked the date of the GMAT exam, which I took in Chengdu, China. While visiting, I befriended local Chengdu people Dan and Justin (wife and husband, respectively), friends of Maggie Zhou, a friend from Rongchang (Sean and Cassie’s teaching campus). I was able to see the famed Chengdu Pandas, visit the beautiful People’s Park, and beat the locals (Dan and Justin) in Chengdu-style Mah-Jongg. For those of you unfamiliar with Mah-Jongg, this is quite a feat.

After returning from Chengdu, I spent my non-teaching hours as a busy hermit: writing/editing college essays, researching schools, filling out applications, etc. After the whole process was over, I was able to take two weeks for The "Peter Hessler" Experience: visit the famed Three Gorges Yangtze River Cruise and a tour around Fuling and the White Crane Ridge Museum. These sites were all mentioned in Peter Hessler’s River Town. the book I read this summer, previous to my China experience. I am reminded of his stories everyday. It seemed poetic to get to visit these spots during my teaching experience here, living in a town down by a river..

Cribbage n' beer on the boat. I lost in cribbage many times. 

*China owns the only underwater museum in the world, The White Crane Ridge Museum. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than a glorified submarine ride. The impressive, ancient carved rocks that are now completely submerged due to the Three Gorges Project are barely made visible through the murky river water, and the visitor only has six 3’ diameter glass window from which to gaze upon them.

*China has the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (Yangtze Three Gorges Project), generating 22,500 MW. It’s a great feat that benefits countless people, yet it also displaced 1.3 million people and damaged many archaeological sites (like the one above) in the process. Was this right to do? The answer surely can’t be black or white.

*Chinese rarely shake hands, and surface level talk is minimal if not nonexistent. After all, surface level talk can be costly when living in the suburbs of a city with 34 million people. A typical conversation with a passing student in Beibei goes like this…

ME: “Helllooo! How’s it going?” (often forgetting one of my over 800 student’s names)
Student: “Going to eat! You know.. chi fan!” (After several nervous, failed attempts to greet with a more intricate English phrase)
ME: “Okay sounds good. See you!” (No handshake or hug, just the standard yet slightly awkward wave)

Three Gorges River Cruise