Meet My Team

Maybe this isn't the best way for you to meet my teammates, but on the other hand, maybe this is the best way for you to meet my teammates.

Here are the 5 amazing women I get to work and live with this year, from left to right in the video:
Audrey, Cathy, Lora, Melanie, and Adrienne.

Prepare yourself. This video kind of sums up our team dynamic.  Here's I Am a Hotdog. 
Music composed and directed by the lovely Audrey, our team's vegetarian.

Some Days

Some days in China it's fun being the foreigner. 
Some days it isn't.
Some days it takes 2 and a half hours to open up a bank account.
Some days all of the Chinese customers are shouting at the employees because they are only being helped at two lanes instead of 4 because the foreigners are taking up two.
Some days you get off at a bus stop to change buses only to discover that the bus you're looking for doesn't stop there.
Some days you ask 3 different people where the 218 bus is and follow their directions only to discover it doesn't exist.
Some days you take another bus and end up at a stop which isn't where you thought it would be.
Some days you finally give up on buses and take a taxi to your original destination, the Metro supermarket.
Some days you go in to Metro to get a card (think BJs) only to discover they only give out cards Monday through Friday.
Some days you laugh hysterically because otherwise you'd cry.
Some days the nice Chinese lady lets you shop anyways.
Some days none of the doors in the bathroom close.
Some days you pay way more than you wanted on a huge block of cheese because that was the whole reason you went to the store and you would probably cry if you left without it.
Some days you're so tired, and your taxi driver has an accent, so you can't even attempt a small conversation.
Some days you get to the copy shop only to discover you didn't put an important document on the flash drive to print.
Some days all of this happens in one day.

Plans

Have you ever had one of those days where you're frantically trying to get everything done and it's totally not possible so you are freaking out a little and maybe are a little bitter towards life?  Yeah, today was one of those days.  Actually, this weekend was one of those days. 

Friends, being a teacher is tiring.  If you're a teacher, you're nodding your head in agreement. 
Being a first-year teacher is even more exhausting. 
Teaching and living in a country where you barely speak the language calls for a daily nap (which, sadly, is not always possible).

Today after fellowship I took a much needed rest.  Upon awaking from my slumber, however, I was hit with all of the things that still needed to be done.  So I put on my proverbial working boots and rushed headlong into finishing up planning details for the week and preparing to go print things and then, my least favorite task, heading to the copy shop to explain in my poor Chinese how many of each paper I need (which since I teach 8 different classes of students and 3 different courses means a lot of different papers that need to be copied). 

As I trudged from the office I was mentally preparing myself for a lot of 'ma fan' (bother).  I crossed through the gardens between our building and the library and noticed a group of students.  Since I was on a mission I decided to circle around them to avoid as much as possible the awkward stares I get whenever I go anywhere in China.  As I skirted around and passed the group I heard "Hello!! Hello!  Hello teacher!!"  I figured I couldn't ignore an obvious greeting, so I said hello and struck up a conversation with a few of them.  One of these students was Thor.  (Please do your best to remove the image of the extremely strong, muscular Norse god from your mind and replace it with one of an average-looking young Chinese man.)  I discovered that these students gather in the gardens for a kind of club where they speak only English for that time. 

Students: "Teacher, please stay and talk with us and teach us a good English accent". 
Me: "I would love to, but I must go make many copies of these papers for my classes..."
Thor: "Would you like help?"
Me: "That would be great!!!!"

So, Thor and I journeyed to the copy shop together where he communicated all of the numbers of copies I needed and even counted as things were printed off to make sure they were right.  I thanked him multiple times for his help.  His response: "It is my pleasure.  This experience (to be able to talk in English with a native speaker) is very special for me."

On the way back from the copy shop, with him lugging my 480 copies, we exchanged phone numbers so he could reach me if he ever wanted to practice his English.

So today Thor got an affirming experience in practicing speaking English.  I got a ton of help and a reminder that I love Chinese students and I will gladly go through the occasional drudgery of planning to help them.  And I got a text message wishing me a "Happy Teacher's Day" 2 hours early.

I still have tons of work to do, but that's okay.

Welcome to 712

Here's a short video tour of my apartment so you have some idea of what it's like where I am living!  And, yes, 712 means I live on the 7th floor.  And, no, there is not an elevator.  I am, however, getting some pretty sweet calf muscles from the stairs!

Filmed by my lovely team leader, Adrienne. Enjoy!

VIDEO!!!


(FYI during that awkward pause between my living and bed rooms, I am attempting to get my ethernet cable out from under my door.)

The Little Things

“It's the little things in life that make us happy.” Though I don't think our life's Joy is built off of just little occurrences here and there, there is certainly truth to this statement when it comes to living in China. Doing the simplest tasks here are often the most rewarding and happiness-bringing experiences. For example:

~We didn't quite make it to the bus door the other night when we were trying to get off at our stop. In the heat of the moment as the doors were closing I yelled in Chinese that we wanted to get off. The bus driver stopped the bus and opened the doors. I still don't know how that happened because usually in the heat of the moment all Chinese leaves my brain.

~I did laundry in a washing machine yesterday. Though that may not seem very exciting it was huge to me. I spent all of this past month washing my clothes in a sink or the shower. They took days to dry, and I'm not actually sure if I got them clean or not. Yesterday I discovered the drain cover in my bathroom floor is removable and the drain hose from the washer can be put inside the drain (this would have been great to discover before I ran a bleach load to clean out the machine so my whole bathroom didn't flood...You win some, you lose some!). I then navigated the Chinese character-covered buttons, put in laundry soap, and washed some of my clothes. I got to hang them from a makeshift line in my bedroom where they merrily danced in front of my air conditioner.  They were dry by morning.  Success!!

~I ordered a new dish for myself last night. I had major struggles in eating it. It was taking me forever to eat even though I ate pretty much nonstop, and because of that my teammate and I got to meet, talk to, and eat with two Chinese students.

~There was a typhoon today.  I'm not joking.  My teammates and I walked across campus laughing hysterically as our umbrellas were turned sideways to stop the rain.  We got to our destination only to discover that our plans to get our residence permits were postponed.  So we watched a movie at 9 in the morning instead.

~We met a student today who was close to last year's team.  We ate dinner with him, and heard his story and some amazing jokes.  We then got to sing him happy birthday! 

As I am still adjusting (and will be all year) to living in China these little bubbles of happiness are a huge blessing!  

Also, obviously, my internet is now finally working.  Hooray!  Expect an apartment tour soon! 

Love from Harbin,

Erin

I hear don't understand

You may have read my title and thought “what terrible grammar she has! She's going to be teaching English!?!” Don't worry, my English is not that terrible! However, my Chinese is. That at which you are gasping in horror (okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration) is the direct translation of the Chinese phrase “wo ting bu dong”. I cannot even tell you how often I've uttered that phrase and I've only been here 12 days.

This morning I used the phrase several times. I was sitting by myself in a corner of a gorgeous park in Beijing. I had come to this spot to have some alone time with the Father, enjoy the scenery (some of the most beautiful water lilies I have ever seen), and listen to the huge choir that was rehearsing and singing. During my time of reading and writing a middle-aged Chinese man came and sat next to me. He started asking me questions in Chinese, some of which I feebly answered, some which I “wo ting bu dong”ed, and some for which I just stared at him blankly.

During our short conversation we pretty much established that I am an American, not a student, and that I teach English at a school somewhere in Harbin. He then asked me a question which I told him I couldn't answer in Chinese, and so he said “zai jian” and offered me his hand. In my mind I thought “Yay! A handshake! I can do these!”, but then he said something like chinesechinese 'qin', chinesechinesechinese 'qin'. So I started racking my brain. “'Qin', I know I know this word!”, and in the midst of my confusion, right as I was about to utter my fallback phrase I realized what he meant. He kissed me on the cheek. I think he wanted me to kiss him on the cheek, but that totally wasn't happening.

I'm not sure if he had this confused idea that all Westerners do the European “kiss on each cheek” thing or if he just wanted to go home to his family and say “I kissed some American girl in the park today”, but I do know that I heard, experienced, and I still don't understand. Oh, and I also will be much more prepared to back away should the word 'qin' ever pop up again.  

8 Things to Know About China

So, I've been in China for about 4 days now. It feels like at least 4 weeks. The days have been super long, but super rewarding. I am loving my team, my roommate, and everybody else in our program. Here is a short list of a few things I have learned about life in China thus far. (The first three are in mantra form, as I often repeat them to myself that way when necessary. I'll provide explanation where needed!)

1. Don't flop on the bed, don't flop on the bed, don't flop on the bed....

(they are rock-solid, people. Flopping = pain)

2. Don't flush the toilet paper, don't flush the toilet paper.....

(Toilets don't handle that well here...there's a trash can for that. Not as gross as I thought it would be.)

3. Don't swallow the water, don't swallow the water, don't swallow the water....

(To be said when brushing teeth or taking a shower. If you drink unboiled water here, not so good...)

4. Chinese food is delicious.

5. Muslim food is delicious. Fried nan bread with lamb and cumin? Yes, please!

6. Chinese traffic is insane. Not enough lanes for you? Just make your own! And you'd better honk a bunch while you're at it!

7. Crossing the street is kind of like the game Frogger. I think it's super fun. Much better than waiting for a crossing signal.

8. We're crazy foreigners. It's totally okay for us to join a group of Chinese salon workers in their pre-work aerobics. It's also totally okay for them to have us then dance to the same song two more times. It's also insanely fun!