It's the first week of my new semester and with that comes 150 brand new students and with that comes 150 new English names for my students. As I met them this week, I found that most of them already have English names - either they have chosen one for themselves or someone has given them one in the past. It is always interesting to see what they come up with and I seem to have some real doozies this semester! I thought I would share some of the most interesting ones with you...by category....
Nature Names:
Moon, Sky, Sunny, Summer
The "lovely bouquet of flower" Names:
Lily, Rose, Iris, Daisy
Animal Names:
Bunny, Rudolf (like the reindeer...that counts as an animal, right?)
Food Names:
Just one this semester - Cherry
Warning! Warning! Continue reading only if you can handle it...this is not for the faint of heart! They get worse from here on out!
"Reminds me of..." Names:
Hermione - Do you think she got the copyright from J.K. Rowling?
Foster - Isn't this the tag-line for some commercial? "Fosters: Australian for Beer."
Attila - the Hun?
Stella - That movie where they yell, "S T E L L A!!!" Oh, what is that??
Lola - Makes me think of Laura's (my sister) orange Volkswagen Beetle named Tony - Lola and Tony have a long history, ya know...at the Copa, Copacabana!
"I'm going to open a dictionary and point at a word" Names:
Bubble, Fairy, Journey, Brush
...and, oh you're going to love this one... KING... yep, I'm serious.
HUH? Names:
Eugenia, NONO, Beata, Najia, Aminta, Imogen, Freyar, and this last one has got to be one of my favorites...Clostrong...HUH??
Now that the initial shock of hearing these names is over, I should be able to keep a straight face when I use them...should being the key word. Hope you enjoyed the Name Game!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the gal who'll decide where to go.
~ Dr. Seuss
He says it well, doesn't he? Taking Dr. Seuss' advice I took my head full of brains and my shoes full of feet and headed off to Thailand for my organization's annual conference this past week. We were in the city of Chiang Mai for about 3 days and what did we do there? Shopping, shopping, shopping! As we traveled around the city we took a red bus called a Songthaew, which literally means "two rows." It looks like this...
And here's me riding in one...
For the second half of the trip we went up into the mountains to a resort called Belle Villa. This area was breathtaking...beautiful. The temps were in the upper 80's with the sun shining everyday. It was so peaceful, we could hear the sounds of running water from the streams and waterfalls during the day and, at night, the croaking of the toads.
We spent a good amount of time at this pool...it was huge and it curved around our living area.
Well, the main purpose of this trip was the conference and it was amazing. I feel so re-energized and rejuvenated after this very relaxing trip. It came at the perfect time - in the middle of some culture stress I had been feeling and right before I start teaching again. Unfortunately, I can't write too many details about the context of the conference here but I can say that my spirits have been lifted and I am reminded of how grateful I am to have this year-long experience of growth, maturity, independence, strength, and faith. It is so important.
Oh, how could I forget the elephant ride!! While at the resort 6 of us took an hour-long elephant ride! It was actually a bit scary at first because we sat on a long seat and anytime the elephant started moving downhill, we slid downhill with it! We had to brace ourselves each time from falling out of the seat and I came out with the bruises on my arms and back to prove it! That's the bad part but the rest of the ride was great! At one point our "professional elephant rider" got down and let us sit behind the ears of the elephant. It was really neat because I could feel the trunk swinging around. Do I look like a professional? :)
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
90 Degree Weather, Anyone?
Okay, really I am sorry to rub it in but I am leaving for Chiang Mai, Thailand tomorrow and for the week I will be there it is looking to be sunny with 89-93 temps during the day!The main purpose of the trip is for my organization, Jian Hua Foundation's, annual conference. A friend and I decided to go a few days early, though, so we are planning on spending time walking around the night market, sitting by the pool, eating lots of good Thai food, and basically enjoying our last week of freedom before classes start up again. I won't be posting this next week but I will try to get some pictures up as soon as I get back - before I am bogged down with grading again!
I included a few maps for those of you who are like me and are geographically challenged. The one on the top shows where Thailand is located in proximity to China - it is the puce green color that is south of China. Did I just use the color puce green as a description?!?! The map to the right shows Thailand and maybe you are able to see near the top where it says Chiang Mai. It is a very tourist-friendly city so we should be able to get around fairly well, despite the language barrier.A side note - I just passed the 6 month mark of being in China. Can you believe it? I've been here for 6 months already! It's one of those strange phenomena where I feel like the time is going quickly, yet I look back on all of the things I've done in the last 6 months and it feels like I've been here a lot longer than that! I am extremely thankful that I have so much support from all of you back home. :)
I'll write again in a week to tell you about my trip - Happy Valentine's Day!!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
What do rats, monsters and car alarms have in common?
Chinese New Year!!
This year was my first time to celebrate CNY and it was beyond expectation! I spent both CNY Eve and day with students and their families, which included mostly eating.
There are so many things to tell about CNY, I'm unsure where to start. Let's start with the monster...
Legend says that a monster named Nian (which means "year" in Chinese) will come down from his mountainside home on CNY Eve to feed on humans. Obviously, humans don't want to be fed upon so they discovered that loud, booming noises and the color red would scare Nian away. The story says that Nian especially likes to hunt people who are born in the zodiac year that is approaching - this being the year of the rat. So, people who are "rats" will deck themselves out in red to be sure that they are protected on CNY Eve - red shirts, pants, socks...even down to the red underwear or bra. Also, every home puts up red paper cuttings on their windows and doors to be sure that Nian won't enter their household. In the pictures below you can see my student/friend, Audrey, putting up paper cuttings on her window. The other picture shows a decorated door (although these people still have the pigs up from last year...hmmm...) A friend of mine pointed out that this particular way of arranging the 3 panels along the sides and top of the door bears a striking resemblance to Passover and how blood was smeared on the door frames to keep the Angel of Death away from the first-born sons of the Israelites.
The second part of keeping Nian away was with loud noises, today known as fireworks. I can tell you, and others can tell you the craziness of the fireworks here in China, but you will never know the true extent until you experience it yourself. Let me try to describe it... I got back to Tianjin on Sunday, the 3rd...CNY starts on the 6th. I left my apartment at one point that day and felt the need to duck for cover as I was sure I was being shot at! Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the firework frenzy that was still to come. Fireworks went off steadily until the evening of the 6th when they really started to pick up but the real fun came at midnight! I went out onto my porch and was utterly amazed by the display of fireworks happening around me. Some of my friends and I decided it was like being in a colorful war-zone in the middle of a thunderstorm. I wanted to see what was happening on the streets so I dragged a neighbor out with me and we walked around for a while. Throughout the streets there are large tables with fireworks being sold and the thing about these fireworks is that they are not just little firework snakes or sparklers like we would set-off in the U.S. They are full-blown 4th of July fireworks and everyone is setting them off wherever they please...in the middle of the street, in between buildings, I even saw some people on the roof of an apartment complex launching fireworks into the air. Not only is it thunderously loud because of fireworks going off in every direction but the fireworks are so loud that they set off car alarms. The owners of the cars are not always to be found so the alarms keep going and going and going, just adding to the noise chaos. It is truly a sight to be seen and every little pyro's dream come true...
I have heard that the fireworks will continue for the next few weeks...yep, I can hear them in the distance as I write this...the Chinese know how to celebrate!
Check out the video below...if you look closely towards the ground you can see that these are being shot off less than a block from where I'm standing. Also, in perfect timing the car alarm next to me started sounding almost as soon as I started taking the video - this was taken at about 12:45 in the morning.
Sorry this post was so long but I just had to share all of these things with you - it's so interesting! Check out these last two pictures - the first one is a table selling fireworks and the second is the aftermath of the midnight celebration.
Chun Jie Kuai Le or Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year) Everyone!!
This year was my first time to celebrate CNY and it was beyond expectation! I spent both CNY Eve and day with students and their families, which included mostly eating.
There are so many things to tell about CNY, I'm unsure where to start. Let's start with the monster...
Legend says that a monster named Nian (which means "year" in Chinese) will come down from his mountainside home on CNY Eve to feed on humans. Obviously, humans don't want to be fed upon so they discovered that loud, booming noises and the color red would scare Nian away. The story says that Nian especially likes to hunt people who are born in the zodiac year that is approaching - this being the year of the rat. So, people who are "rats" will deck themselves out in red to be sure that they are protected on CNY Eve - red shirts, pants, socks...even down to the red underwear or bra. Also, every home puts up red paper cuttings on their windows and doors to be sure that Nian won't enter their household. In the pictures below you can see my student/friend, Audrey, putting up paper cuttings on her window. The other picture shows a decorated door (although these people still have the pigs up from last year...hmmm...) A friend of mine pointed out that this particular way of arranging the 3 panels along the sides and top of the door bears a striking resemblance to Passover and how blood was smeared on the door frames to keep the Angel of Death away from the first-born sons of the Israelites.
The second part of keeping Nian away was with loud noises, today known as fireworks. I can tell you, and others can tell you the craziness of the fireworks here in China, but you will never know the true extent until you experience it yourself. Let me try to describe it... I got back to Tianjin on Sunday, the 3rd...CNY starts on the 6th. I left my apartment at one point that day and felt the need to duck for cover as I was sure I was being shot at! Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the firework frenzy that was still to come. Fireworks went off steadily until the evening of the 6th when they really started to pick up but the real fun came at midnight! I went out onto my porch and was utterly amazed by the display of fireworks happening around me. Some of my friends and I decided it was like being in a colorful war-zone in the middle of a thunderstorm. I wanted to see what was happening on the streets so I dragged a neighbor out with me and we walked around for a while. Throughout the streets there are large tables with fireworks being sold and the thing about these fireworks is that they are not just little firework snakes or sparklers like we would set-off in the U.S. They are full-blown 4th of July fireworks and everyone is setting them off wherever they please...in the middle of the street, in between buildings, I even saw some people on the roof of an apartment complex launching fireworks into the air. Not only is it thunderously loud because of fireworks going off in every direction but the fireworks are so loud that they set off car alarms. The owners of the cars are not always to be found so the alarms keep going and going and going, just adding to the noise chaos. It is truly a sight to be seen and every little pyro's dream come true...
I have heard that the fireworks will continue for the next few weeks...yep, I can hear them in the distance as I write this...the Chinese know how to celebrate!
Check out the video below...if you look closely towards the ground you can see that these are being shot off less than a block from where I'm standing. Also, in perfect timing the car alarm next to me started sounding almost as soon as I started taking the video - this was taken at about 12:45 in the morning.
Sorry this post was so long but I just had to share all of these things with you - it's so interesting! Check out these last two pictures - the first one is a table selling fireworks and the second is the aftermath of the midnight celebration.
Chun Jie Kuai Le or Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year) Everyone!!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Yunnan Province: Kunming
Okay, part two of my trip! We went to Kunming for 4 days and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather was comfortable, the scenery was amazing and there were a lot of places to visit and things to do. I kept thinking, "I wonder if I can put in a transfer and have everything arranged for next semester!?!" I had a hard time deciding which pictures to include in this blog because I had so many good ones and finally I just decided to include a whole lot of them! So, this blog will be primarily pictures with some explanations and stories along the way...
These first two pictures are from Dianchi Lake and during the winter this lake is filled with hungry birds! People sell bread to feed the birds and as soon as you throw a piece into the air, a bird swoops in for dinner its before it hits the ground. I began to realize that we were dooming ourselves and that there could be no happy ending to giving lots of food to lots of birds who were flying over our heads - one of us was sure to become a victim. I came out clean as a whistle but unfortunately Aroma wasn't so lucky! I had a good laugh at the white spot on her shirt as we were leaving. :)
Next, we went to a place called Yunnan Nationalities Village which I would compare to Epcot Center in Florida. There are about 25 different minorities in Yunnan Province and each minority has a section of the park where they show the typical housing, dress, dance or singing, and history of their minority.
I have a slight obsession with bridge pictures...
A dress that was worn by the Miao people.
A song and dance show by the Wa people.
The Stone Forest was next on the list for travel destinations. It is as it sounds - a forest with thousands of rocks that tower over you - most have been formed into points on the tips. They have built paths and walkways throughout the forest so we spent much of an afternoon hiking around and trying to locate the different places that are highlighted in the park. Some of the rock formations were named: elephant on a platform, two birds feeding each other, immortal tortoise, and a cat that we actually never found - I'm pretty sure they just made that one up!
This spot was on the path but you could only get through if you went head-first and slid your neck through a slightly tight spot! This would not be a good place for you claustrophobics!
Here is Aroma stuck between a rock and a hard place labeled "the narrowest path." Eventually we got her un-wedged but they are not joking when they say narrow! Again, if you're claustrophobic, consider yourself warned...
Also, while in Kunming we visited one of the largest university campuses in the province and went to the zoo. Some of you know that, along with bridges, I have an obsession with taking pictures of animals. I'll spare you this time and just include this final picture - flowers in bloom! It's been a while since I've seen any of those!!
These first two pictures are from Dianchi Lake and during the winter this lake is filled with hungry birds! People sell bread to feed the birds and as soon as you throw a piece into the air, a bird swoops in for dinner its before it hits the ground. I began to realize that we were dooming ourselves and that there could be no happy ending to giving lots of food to lots of birds who were flying over our heads - one of us was sure to become a victim. I came out clean as a whistle but unfortunately Aroma wasn't so lucky! I had a good laugh at the white spot on her shirt as we were leaving. :)
Next, we went to a place called Yunnan Nationalities Village which I would compare to Epcot Center in Florida. There are about 25 different minorities in Yunnan Province and each minority has a section of the park where they show the typical housing, dress, dance or singing, and history of their minority.
I have a slight obsession with bridge pictures...
A dress that was worn by the Miao people.
A song and dance show by the Wa people.
The Stone Forest was next on the list for travel destinations. It is as it sounds - a forest with thousands of rocks that tower over you - most have been formed into points on the tips. They have built paths and walkways throughout the forest so we spent much of an afternoon hiking around and trying to locate the different places that are highlighted in the park. Some of the rock formations were named: elephant on a platform, two birds feeding each other, immortal tortoise, and a cat that we actually never found - I'm pretty sure they just made that one up!
This spot was on the path but you could only get through if you went head-first and slid your neck through a slightly tight spot! This would not be a good place for you claustrophobics!
Here is Aroma stuck between a rock and a hard place labeled "the narrowest path." Eventually we got her un-wedged but they are not joking when they say narrow! Again, if you're claustrophobic, consider yourself warned...
Also, while in Kunming we visited one of the largest university campuses in the province and went to the zoo. Some of you know that, along with bridges, I have an obsession with taking pictures of animals. I'll spare you this time and just include this final picture - flowers in bloom! It's been a while since I've seen any of those!!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sichuan Province: Chengdu, Ya'an, Mianyang
This past week's travels took me to several parts of China that I had not seen before. The first destination was Sichuan Province. I flew into Chengdu and Aroma was there to greet me. The next day we traveled to Ya'an, a small city that is up in the mountains. It was so cold there!! For one of our outings we went even further up into the mountains to see panda bears. Aroma's student's father was driving us up and eventually he had to stop because the snow was too slick on the roads. He said that we would have to walk the rest of the way to see the pandas. After about 20 minutes Aroma said to me, "Oh, by the way, it's a 2 hour walk up there." What?!?! I guess that's the first time I've hiked for 2 hours up a mountain in the snow to see panda bears...and maybe the last! :) Apparently during the summer the panda cubs are free to roam the park and visitors are able to feed and even hug them. I didn't get to do this because there were no cubs at that time which was fine by me - hugging bears is not up there on my list of life goals!
Hiking the mountain...
Sichuan Province is known for its spicy food so I had my share of spicy food while I was there. Aroma was good to me and just ordered foods that were mildly spicy but even after that my stomach was shouting its displeasure so I soon switched over to filling up on noodles!
A small village outside of Ya'an
While in Mianyang we went to visit Aroma's school. It is a boarding school so the students live there. Many of these 12-14 year olds only go home once or twice a year and while they are at school they are studying like crazy. They have classes from 7:40 a.m. until 9:10 p.m. everyday except for Sunday. Their meals are scheduled, their study time is scheduled, they are even required to take a nap at a certain time. Can you imagine? Think back to your middle school days...do you even remember having homework to do at night?? There is also a primary and high school attached and Aroma showed me where the primary school students live - she said the youngest kids that they have are 4 years-old! 4 years-old and living at a school - yikes! It sounds outlandish but it is considered a very good school even though it is rigorous - it has to be because of the high competition in China.
I will post again soon with pictures and stories from the second half of my trip - Kunming!
Hiking the mountain...
Sichuan Province is known for its spicy food so I had my share of spicy food while I was there. Aroma was good to me and just ordered foods that were mildly spicy but even after that my stomach was shouting its displeasure so I soon switched over to filling up on noodles!
A small village outside of Ya'an
While in Mianyang we went to visit Aroma's school. It is a boarding school so the students live there. Many of these 12-14 year olds only go home once or twice a year and while they are at school they are studying like crazy. They have classes from 7:40 a.m. until 9:10 p.m. everyday except for Sunday. Their meals are scheduled, their study time is scheduled, they are even required to take a nap at a certain time. Can you imagine? Think back to your middle school days...do you even remember having homework to do at night?? There is also a primary and high school attached and Aroma showed me where the primary school students live - she said the youngest kids that they have are 4 years-old! 4 years-old and living at a school - yikes! It sounds outlandish but it is considered a very good school even though it is rigorous - it has to be because of the high competition in China.
I will post again soon with pictures and stories from the second half of my trip - Kunming!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Guanxi: "It's not what you know...
...but who you know."
I'm not sure how much I've written about "guanxi" in past blogs but in light of my last 10 days of traveling, I just feel the need to fill you in a little on how things operate in China. I promise to add pictures from my travels in the next few days!
The Chinese word, guanxi, is basically translated to "connections" and it is very important in China. Aroma, the friend who I was visiting, even said..."You can't really do anything in China unless you know the right people." It's so true and I saw it more up-close than ever this past week. Aroma teaches at a private boarding school for junior high in Sichuan Province and parents pay over 15,000 RMB (about $2,000 USD) a year to send their kids to this school. Only wealthy families are able to afford this and so Aroma has a lot of guanxi with wealthy families throughout Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. Here are some examples of how we saw the power of guanxi at work this week:
1. While I was traveling with Aroma we stayed in hotels every night. Out of those 10 nights of hotels, we paid for only 2 nights.
2. Not only did we not pay for the hotels, but we got put into the nicest hotels in the cities we stayed in - one hotel room was 600 RMB a night (keep in mind this is only about $85 USD but if we were paying for our own rooms we would be staying in hotels that are less than 200 RMB a night). This particular hotel came with a jacuzzi-style bathtub that pumps hot spring water from 2500 ft. underground...or so they say...
3. The 4 days that we were in Kunming we paid for NOTHING...we were taken to all of the scenic spots with the entrance fees paid, dinners were covered, everything. This may not seem too odd, just some hospitality, but the person who was taking us everywhere and paying for everything was a complete stranger...to both of us! He was Aroma's student's father's brother (or friend) - are you following? So, he really had no connection to either one of us except for the fact that his brother/friend asked him to take care of us...he gave up 4 days from his own schedule at the drop of a hat, literally since we decided to go there one day in advance, to become Mr. Tour Guide to two complete strangers.
4. The father of the student, whom we did not see even once while in Kunming, sent us each home with a box of red tea that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-1200 RMB...I've never met/talked to/seen or will ever meet/talk to/see this person.
5. At one point on the trip we needed bus tickets to another city and when we called there was only one ticket left. After a quick phone call from another student's father we suddenly had two tickets...I feel very sorry for the person whose guanxi didn't "measure up" to ours because he was out a seat on the bus.
These are just a few of the examples from the last 10 days - I often found myself wondering, "Why would these people want to do all of this for us?" Guanxi... I guess I've experienced a bit of my own guanxi on a much smaller scale - it's how I got the magazine article gig, the speech competitions, the high school conversation recordings. My friends here in Tianjin are quick to point out, "But, Shannon, you don't know anyone; you have no guanxi!" :) Actually, they're right - but I do know some people who know some people...
I'm not sure how much I've written about "guanxi" in past blogs but in light of my last 10 days of traveling, I just feel the need to fill you in a little on how things operate in China. I promise to add pictures from my travels in the next few days!
The Chinese word, guanxi, is basically translated to "connections" and it is very important in China. Aroma, the friend who I was visiting, even said..."You can't really do anything in China unless you know the right people." It's so true and I saw it more up-close than ever this past week. Aroma teaches at a private boarding school for junior high in Sichuan Province and parents pay over 15,000 RMB (about $2,000 USD) a year to send their kids to this school. Only wealthy families are able to afford this and so Aroma has a lot of guanxi with wealthy families throughout Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. Here are some examples of how we saw the power of guanxi at work this week:
1. While I was traveling with Aroma we stayed in hotels every night. Out of those 10 nights of hotels, we paid for only 2 nights.
2. Not only did we not pay for the hotels, but we got put into the nicest hotels in the cities we stayed in - one hotel room was 600 RMB a night (keep in mind this is only about $85 USD but if we were paying for our own rooms we would be staying in hotels that are less than 200 RMB a night). This particular hotel came with a jacuzzi-style bathtub that pumps hot spring water from 2500 ft. underground...or so they say...
3. The 4 days that we were in Kunming we paid for NOTHING...we were taken to all of the scenic spots with the entrance fees paid, dinners were covered, everything. This may not seem too odd, just some hospitality, but the person who was taking us everywhere and paying for everything was a complete stranger...to both of us! He was Aroma's student's father's brother (or friend) - are you following? So, he really had no connection to either one of us except for the fact that his brother/friend asked him to take care of us...he gave up 4 days from his own schedule at the drop of a hat, literally since we decided to go there one day in advance, to become Mr. Tour Guide to two complete strangers.
4. The father of the student, whom we did not see even once while in Kunming, sent us each home with a box of red tea that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-1200 RMB...I've never met/talked to/seen or will ever meet/talk to/see this person.
5. At one point on the trip we needed bus tickets to another city and when we called there was only one ticket left. After a quick phone call from another student's father we suddenly had two tickets...I feel very sorry for the person whose guanxi didn't "measure up" to ours because he was out a seat on the bus.
These are just a few of the examples from the last 10 days - I often found myself wondering, "Why would these people want to do all of this for us?" Guanxi... I guess I've experienced a bit of my own guanxi on a much smaller scale - it's how I got the magazine article gig, the speech competitions, the high school conversation recordings. My friends here in Tianjin are quick to point out, "But, Shannon, you don't know anyone; you have no guanxi!" :) Actually, they're right - but I do know some people who know some people...
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