My Most Important Hours...

As mentioned in my last blog, I want to tell you a little bit about my recent volunteer experience at the Tianjin Orphanage. I have been there twice now and I plan on going at least once a week. One thing I can confidently say is, these hours will be some of my most important that I spend in China.
For any of you who have been to an orphanage before, you may have some idea of what it's like. For the most part, the facilities of this orphanage are satisfactory. They could be better but I have seen so so so much worse, especially in Jamaica. In Tianjin, each infant or toddler has their own crib - and there are anywhere from 3 - 14 children in one room. I spent a few hours last week with the infants. The heartbreaking part of this experience is seeing and knowing that the babies are laying in their cribs all day long. I don't believe that the workers are heartless or cruel, I just don't think they know how to love the babies. So, while I was there I went straight for the crying or fussing babies and picked them up. I rocked them, held them close, talked to them, and basically just loved them. It was amazing how within minutes of me holding them, they would fall asleep. As soon as they were asleep I would move onto the next baby who was crying. I was trying to show the workers, "Look! This works! They don't cry if you give them the affection that they need!" They need it so desperately.
With the exception of the newborns, most of the children at the orphanage are handicapped in some way. This can mean anything from very seriously handicapped (cerebral palsy, spina bifida, blindness) to things that can be fixed easily or things that are based on how the child looks (cleft palates, albinos, GIRLS). Most of them end up at the orphanage after they are abandoned in the hospital. Families are only allowed one child so if the parents are not happy with their child, they will leave them in the hospital after delivery. :( Some of the children are adopted and some are high functioning enough that they can go to school to get an education but the rest will likely live out there childhood/adolescence in the orphanage. I'm not sure where they go when they turn 18...
Anyways, if you want to find out more about the orphanage you can go to, www.tjicco.org and read about some of the things they offer there. Please remember these children in your prayers!

Bartering and Light Fun

On Friday, I went to Beijing for a little shopping with 6 other ladies from my organization. We started out at the Pearl Market - a market full of jewelry, shoes, purses, and clothes. At this market you barter for EVERYTHING, meaning you negotiate the prices. Usually, they can see a foreigner coming from a mile away and they will do anything they can to rip you off, for example, start the price at 385 RMB when it's actually worth less than 50 RMB. I wasn't planning on buying anything but then I got really into the bartering and bought a few things just because I was getting them for a ridiculously low price! I was named the "Barter Queen" for the day, and everyone decided that if they wanted to buy anything, they had to take me with them! It was really fun! I tend to use the "I'm walking away..." method, as well as just being really persistent and continuing to demand lower prices. It helped, too, when we spoke Chinese to them because then they knew that we had a clue about what was going on. Anyways, I plan on going back...either to shop for myself or to help someone else...so fun! We also hit IKEA while we were there...yep, I said IKEA - Swedish meatballs and all. :)

Last night I went with Cindy, her daughter Lizzy, and Natalie to Tianjin WaterPark where there is currently a Lantern Display. After this week the display moves to another city and apparently it is going to travel around the country during this next year before the Olympics. Tianjin was its first stop. It was really cool --- this huge park full of different displays and inflatables. Some of them played music and some were kind of like puppet stages with different Chinese activities or rituals being shown. Here are just a few of the pictures I took:

As you can see in the last one, they are gearing up for the 2008 Olympics!

I will be posting another blog within the next few days to share with you some of my experiences as I have begun volunteering at the local orphanage. Until then...
Shannon :)

Sports Day

About halfway through last week all of us teachers were told that there would be no class that Friday. We'll call this a 'cultural difference' - not being told until 3 days before that there is no class! Soon I found out that the reason for the cancellation was because of Sports Day, which is conducted at universities throughout China. The students sign up to compete in different events - much like a "field day" that we would have in the States. So, I went with some students that morning to check things out. First, they had a parade of sorts where they marched around the track according to their department (English, Chinese, foreign students, etc.) and then the competitions began! Some of the events were your average track and field type events - 100 meter dash, shot put, relays but the rest were what you might think of as playground activities. There was dribbling the ball around the cones, kicking a soccer ball into the net, hackey sac, jump rope, and my personal favorite - hula hoop. :) There was actually a faculty team for each event but I chose not to participate...call me a sore sport but I just didn't feel like getting beat in a jump rope contest that morning! :)
Pictures: At the top is part of the parade - I don't know what department that is. Pictured in the second photo are some of my sophomores...(from left) Daniel, Joy, Lucia and Laura.

Reality Check

As many of you know, I have done my fair share of complaining about my accommodations since I have been in Tianjin. "It's dirty, it's uncomfortable, there's no furniture, the lights are too fluorescent, the bed is hard, I don't have a nice view from my window..." The list goes on and on. As much as I hate to tell you about me being such a complainer, it is necessary as I tell you about my recent reality check. The students on my campus live 6 to a room - they each have a lofted bed with a small desk, closet, and stool underneath their bed. That's it... I had 9 students over on Saturday night to watch a movie and as soon as they walked in there were "Oohs" and "Aahs" like you've never heard! They quickly ran around my apartment, checking everything out and they were totally amazed. One girl, Angie (pictured to the right), said to me, "So, how many people live in this unit?" My reply, "Just me." She became a bit more persistent..."Okay, so you live in this room (the living room) but how many people live in the other rooms?" Again, my reply, "Just me...this is all mine." They were blown away...they could not believe that someone on their campus lived in such luxury. Soon after, Angie plopped down on the couch and got comfortable, then she looked at me and said, "I have a new goal for my life...someday I want to live in a place like this." I felt like a total jerk! How could I complain about where I'm living and then sit and listen to a student tell me that it was a goal for them to live somewhere like this?? Wow...reality check! During the movie, all 9 girls piled onto my couch and rug in total comfort and happiness. At one point, one of them even started to fall asleep and I was so glad that they felt safe and comfortable enough here that they could do that. University students in China have so much pressure and stress...I was happy that they could take a few hours to forget about that - and in the meantime they taught me a great lesson.


To end this blog on a light note, I have to include this story from today's class! I was walking around the classroom as my students were working in pairs and I stopped to help one girl, Emily (pictured to the right). When she was done asking me a question she said, "By the way, today you are dressed to kill!" I was so surprised to hear her say that, I just burst out laughing! She must have thought that I was laughing because of an incorrect use of the phrase and she asked, "Did I use that correctly?" I quickly reassured her that she had, in fact, used the expression correctly but that I just was not expecting her to say that. How cute is that?!?!? :)

Chick(en) Flicks, The Giving Tree, and a Cold November

Lately, I have been getting the chance to spend some time with my students outside of class and it has been so much fun! Since I have 150 students I have not been sure how to get to know some of them without showing favoritism. Fortunately, those students who want to work on their spoken English or who want to become better friends with me have started to step forward. I had a movie night for one of my classes last weekend and this weekend I am again having students from another class over. Since the majority of my students are girls, there were no boys at my last movie night so we watched "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," the classic Chick Flick. I taught them the phrase, Chick Flick, as they had never heard it before and at the end of the movie one of my students said, "So, please tell me again...Why do you call this a 'Chicken Flick?'" Hehehehe....
My university does not monitor or even wonder what I teach and has provided me very little curriculum so I come up with my own lesson plans each week. Last week I taught my students about Narrative Essays and I read "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein to them as an example of a narrative. They loved this story - some of them nearly cried, some of them thought that "the tree was stupid," one of them referred to JC and how He says it's better to give than to receive, and one went very philosophical spouting about how the tree and the boy represent different cultures, races, governments, religions, etc. They are so bright and have great thoughts if encouraged to express them. Overall - a good lesson!
And my last interesting fact for this blog...I found out recently that in Tianjin, and possibly all of Northern China, the heat during winter time is regulated. This means that they turn on the heat (for the whole city) on November 15th and it goes off again on March 15th. Depending on which floor you live on in your building, you may be quite hot or freezing because the heat gets set at one temp - one temp that is not determined by the person who lives there. So...my task for this week is to get some good, warm blankets because it is already in the 50's during the day in Tianjin so I'm anticipating that it could be a cold month until Nov. 15th rolls around. Enjoy your heat!

Shanghai and Hangzhou Part 3: The People

One of the neatest things about my trip was that I got to spend a lot of time with a Chinese family, who now refers to me as their "extended family." :) I learned so much from them about Chinese culture, their traditions, their beliefs, and even about some of the struggles that they've been through. (Of course this was all through my interpreter, Echo). They made me feel like a part of the family, though, and that was really nice...

This first picture is of Sarah, a girl that I met while in Hangzhou in 2003. She now lives in Shanghai and we met her for dinner one night.


This next picture is of Echo and her family! Echo is sitting in the back between her grandparents and her mother is seated on the far right. Her grandma has the beginning stages of Alzheimer's and so we had to make sure she didn't wander away - she was soooo cute, though...I just wanted to hug her! :)


This is the Bamboo Forest in Hangzhou and pictured below is Echo (on the right), myself, and Echo's 16 year-old cousin, Ally. Ally is learning English and was so excited to be able to practice with me. I taught her a bunch of new words, one of them being 'weeping willow' and I told her that if she uses that in her English class her foreign teacher would be blown away! She also sang me songs from "The Sound of Music." :) Ally's parents were so happy that I was talking with her...they even sent me back to Tianjin with some beautiful silk scarves.


Echo, sitting in Starbucks.


Thus concludes my adventures in Shanghai and Hangzhou...I have already thought of two more blogs I want to write so check back soon as I will be posting. Also, I finally got internet in my apartment and am soooooo excited!! If any of you use Skype, my user name is shannon.ingleby so you should add me! If you don't use Skype, you should download it...I talked to my sister, Laura, last night from computer to computer for FREE and since we both have web cams we could see each other...it was so cool!
Bye for now! :)

Shanghai and Hangzhou Part 2: The Sights

Part 2! During our time in Shanghai and Hangzhou, Echo and I visited quite a few places but managed to avoid the millions of people who were traveling during the week! Fun fact...apparently the number of people who travel in China during the October holiday is the same number of people as the entire population on the U.S! Can you imagine?? Anyways, Echo's family has a car so we used that most of the time and were able to avoid the masses who were using public transportation. We spent a decent amount of time at West Lake in Hangzhou, which the Chinese would describe as, "Heaven on earth." I don't know if I'd go that far but it is very beautiful! Check out the sights below...

West Lake in Hangzhou - view from a local Starbucks.


West Lake again...different view from Starbucks!


West Lake....


Not sure...but it's in Hangzhou!


Echo's family owns a 4-story Villa outside of Hangzhou...this is very rare! Anyways, these next two pictures are the view from the top floor of their Villa.



The view of Shanghai from Echo's 25th floor apartment...

Shanghai and Hangzhou Part 1: The Food

Hey all!  As I mentioned in my last blog, I headed to Shanghai and Hangzhou this past week to see my friend, Echo.  Some of you know her or have heard of her --- she is my good friend from when I studied abroad during college.  We had an awesome week.  It is very customary of the Chinese that when they have a visitor to their hometown, they pay for EVERYTHING.  So, out of an entire week I managed to get my money out before her for one meal and one taxi ride.  I was really spoiled!  She took me to a ton of really nice restaurants and we even had some meals at home with her family.  Another customary thing of Chinese culture (or maybe all cultures??) is that they practically hand-feed you while you are in their home.  So, that being said...I ate some interesting foods throughout the week!  Echo's family loves seafood so that is a staple at each meal - I ate eel, shrimp with the head still attached (don't worry...I bit the head off and spit it out!), tons of fish...bones included, which I also spit out :), oysters, clams, squid, crab legs, crab soup, crab dumplings, crab and potatoes - just call me Bubba Gump!  I told Echo that I would try almost anything once and, looking back, I'm glad I inserted the "almost" because I had to draw the line when they brought out the turtle...still looking very much like a turtle, just flipped up on its shell with its little legs sprawled.  :( 

Echo did give me a real treat one night when we went to Papa Johns for dinner...oh, the cheese was soooo good!  

All in all - the food that we had was pretty tasty and I learned that I can eat much more exotic foods than I thought I could - and I think I came out a little bit more open-minded, too.  ;)

Stay tuned for Shanghai and Hangzhou Parts 2 & 3 - The Sights and The People!!