Check out this video. It was made in Changsha, Hunan. This is where we spent our first month here in China as well as last weekend. This is where I shopped actually. Its called walking street. No cars, just kinda like a giant outdoor mall, Although when I was there this weekend there twenty times more people, This video must have been shot in the middle of the week. Really cute video espiecially since chinese people arent really into public displays of affection. Check it out its cute.
Oh by the way, when you click on the link a page will come up, scroll down and there will be a video with a statue of a man, press play and away you go.

http://www6.tianya.cn/new/TianyaCity/content.asp?idWriter=9025417&Key=956532432&idItem=293&idArticle=16351

In the city..... City of Changsha!

Decided at the last minute to take a day trip into the big city. We really are turning chinese now, Making last minute plans , eatting crazy food!! On a side note Joe tried Peacock this past week.
The county folk we are now, we were amazed at how different city life really can be.
We decided to take the train in. Wow what a scarey ride. We went with two other friends and as the train pulled into the station we were surprised at the pushing and shoving that then insued. I being that I like pushing got right in there and started pushing back. Kinda reminded me of being at one of those rock concerts where people are flying over your heads as you chant the lyrics of some song most likely talking about death.
We pushed and pushed, many old people were even doing it and for some reason everyone believed that this was a better alternative to just helping the old person on the train. Everyone just seemed to be ok with it. Our friend Amy and I pushed and we made progress to get to the front of the line, so we got on the train first. Joe and our other friend Mary Claire were stuck going to the next car where there might be some room.
Pushing ourselves to the front maybe wasnt such a good idea. We ended up the last people on the car and in doing so we stood by the door the whole time. Chinese trains are not a fun experience for the coustrophobic. There are people smoking, spitting and coughing everywhere. There are no seats unless your the lucky ones who arrived early and there is no way of moving anywhere. They over book the train, which leaves people feeling like sardines. One of course constent thing universal whether it be Chinese transportation or American is the available beverages and snacks you can buy for an overcharged price. The only difference here is the amount of space needed for a cart carrying these goodies. Even though there are millions of people standing in the aisles of the train the cart still comes. I was really shocked when it passed by Amy and I. We held our bags high over our heads and sucked in our guts. Praying it would pass through. Lucky for us somehow God took pity on us and the cart neither ran over any toes or grazed our stomachs. It was miracle work in action Im telling you! Point is here The train was scarey. Joe said his expierence was also not a fun one. He said people were spitting all over the place and it was hard to breathe with all the smoke. Defiently no fun.

We then arrived in Changsha where we visited our director, visited a few haunts and went shopping. Joe visited a friend of ours named Ben. We love him to death, he has the best english Ive ever heard! and he now has a girlfriend! Joe spent some time at his school and I went shopping with Mary Clare. It was so nice to just get out and do something I love with a girl. I Love Joe, but every wife knows shopping with the Hubbie is no fun!! So I had a great time. I even found a sweater and a winter coat! I am now the proud owner of a size xxxl coat from china! The sizes here are so crazy! The small sizes are like childrens smalls and the larges couldnt fit a small women. I was happy enough to find anything that would fit me. I was getting scared I would have to buy mens clothes for a second there.

Ps we just found out we will have Monday and Tuesday off for our schools birthday! Happy Birthday to us. I dont care if we dont teach on the 31st Im still going around on Nov 1st to all my classes for trick or treating. Those kids better have candy ready!!

It was a world series win of a week!

Just first off would like to say I am so proud to have been Born in St.Louis right now. Even in the Far East The Cards were cheered for.So exciting, I will be teaching my students all about baseball this week! Makes all my childhood adoreing ozzie smith flips worth every dream!! Awesome Job!!

The week also had other up moments as well....
On Wednesday and Thursday we attended a wedding ceremony for our good friend Amanda and the headmasters son. It was quite different from an American wedding. Still had the white puffy dress and singing and eatting, but it was the other customs that made us wonder if we were in the twilight zone of weddings. First of all the wedding was in the middle of the week, and at noon none the less. The date is chosen by the lucky day on the lunar calender. Its serious buisness I hear, If they pick a bad day it could mean bad luck for there whole married life. Nobody wants bad luck from the get go. Hmmm reminds me of another wedding we wont name names but the groom ***ah hem joe*** being in charge of calling the preist and finding what dates were available booked friday the 13th for our wedding. Which was quickly changed.
I had to teach the 4th class so Joe and I arrived at the wedding just in time for the start of the ceremony. The hall was huge, just like a reception would be in America. Tables layered with red tablecloths and more people then should be seated in the room. We walked in noticing there were no tables with any space. Our headmaster spotted us and grabbed us while telling two people who had already sat down and had drinks at there table to move. I felt really bad, but later I took back the guilt when I relized I was at this wedding because Amanda was my friend and I wanted to be there for her. I noticed as the ceremony started other people were attending this wedding because they had to or they just wanted a good meal.
This idea was later confirmed by a friend who said that since it was the headmasters son all the teachers felt it was there obligationto attend. Just different from American weddings I guess.
The ceremony started and the bride and groom were showered with gifts from the grooms boss, the parents and the brides students. Both fathers gave long deep voiced speechs and our headmaster seemed on the verge of tears when he finished.
The Bride and groom then bowed to their parents, and each other and at the end just like American wedding kissed. The only different thing was that halfway through this ceremony the waitress' started bringing out food. Then as if no one cared everyone just turned around and started eatting and talking. It was so strange because I felt like everyone was being so rude. This was someones wedding for gods sakes. But I then had to step back with my American opinons and remember this is how things are here, thats all part of the wedding. The bride then changed into a beautiful red suit and both her and the groom proceeded to make the rounds of the tables greeting guests and drinking toasts. The wedding was only but 1 hour and in the end everyone just started getting up and taking food home in bags. Yep, never saw anything like it in my life. Everyone just started making there way with doggie bags taking home the most delicous dishes. When someone says "Nothing goes to waste here" its true. It was truly an unforgettable expierence. To quote Unit 4 of our english book.
Thursday was also the same but even better. Wednesday was the grooms day and thursday is the brides day. All the brides family was there and I even had a chance to talk with a set of chinese twins. Both wednesday and thursday I saw twins, must mean something here!! The wish you give to someone on there wedding day is "double happiness". It must mean a sign sense I saw twins both days. On wednesday the girls told me their names were Lily and Lula.
Coming from a set of pig tailed, dressed exactly alike 8 year olds was the cutest thing!

Sorry we have not posted in weeks, both of us have been running around a lot.
The past week Joe was sick with a bronchitis type cold and that left me running around to get things done at school and to take care of him. A strange disease because the anti biotic he took left him feeling anxious and restless , two ailments not so good to cure a cold.
He would lay awake a lot of nights and then after completly exhausting himself he would fall asleep during the day. It also made him have a tingle in his left hand. All of these things sound awful, but the anitibiotic cured his cold symtoms within a few days.
We managed to call the pharmacy that we got the pills from in Minneapolis and they said to stop taking them. He would have done this on his own, but you see the anti biotic specifically says not to discontinue use before 5 days of taking it. If you do, then your cold will come back far worse.
Now Joe is fine, feeling good back to himself, he just needed to get off that medicine and have a serious weekend of sleep!

In other news......Last Thursday we were invited to a dinner. This time the invitation was from our friend Amanda. She is a new teacher this year at the school and in china it is a custom to have a dinner and invite all of the teachers in your department. I thought this was completly crazy, the girl is getting married next week, and she is having this party a week before? well thats china for ya!
We had an excellant time. See pictures on the picture website
We had pig stomach (as usual) and dont forget the three year aged sea horse wine ( its supposed to ward off cancer, hmmm who knew?) This is a photo from the dinner, here is the headmaster and two other english teachers, oh and thats me!

Whatelse???? hmmm, well last weekend a students father and little brother took us fishing. I love when when they ask us to go fishing. I swear we live in Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes, but we never catch a dang thing! Now that we live in china, we put our line in for maybe two minutes and right away we get a bite! I caught 7 fish and Joe caught 4 ( I think chinese fish love american chicks!)
The sad thing is we went with the students father and brother, but she could not go, she was in school. We also had lunch with her family a week previous, this is the same boy that goes to disney school, his name is Leo. In this picture he is trying to feed the worm to Joe. We love this kid. He is the funniest kid I have ever met! Not afraid of us at all and always wanting to crack a joke. We had a great afternoon and even got to play with a puppy ( hopefully its not for dinner!)
We then were invited for dinner to a restraunt where you bring your fish and they cook them for you. We also ate pig ear, Joe thinks it tasted fruity, Hmmm I think it tasted like a pig ear.
This week we are happy to inform you that we are the new proud parents of an apartment with window screens!! Ahhhh I am so happy to wake up in the morning without bug bites!
We gave our barber friend some money and he went to a market and bargained for them.
The morning he brought them to us Joe had slept in. So the barber had been banging on the door for a long time! Finally when Joe made it to the door the barber looked at him and noticed that Joe's hair was all messed up and his eyes were still squinty. The barber said something in Yue Yang Hua( the local dialect) and smacked Joe across the face!!! Ahah ha haha. The barber likes to treat us like we are his children.
He then brought the screens in and put them in for us. When I came home he rushed out of his house and dragged me into our apartment, pointing at the screens, he was sooo excited.

Teaching update:
Well we tried our hardest to get the kids to make a movie. Its really hard to get our students to think creativly. They just aren't used to thinking outside of memorization. We asked our english corner kids to write a movie script and we would tape it and help them edit it. They couldnt get as far as even making an idea. We decided it will just be easier to find a few kids and see if they want to do it for fun. Then it doesnt seem like an assignment.
Other then that Joe's classes are doing good.
His juniors are getting a little better, but theres always those days that you come home completly exhausted, babysitting 65 kids for 45 minutes is stuff, Take that Super Nanny!Joe's plan for next week is to show Pirates of the Carribean, He wants them to get excited about english. I think the kids will defiently be excited, but the language is fast, they will still enjoy it however, we are also on the hunt for movies that might have slower speech, so any ideas, please throw em our way!

Currently I am having my students write letters to penpals in the states. I found many teachers from my old high school and many that my brother teaches with to take part. The students have trouble believing its all true, they think its fake and americans really wont write back. I have to keep telling them I am really not playing tricks .
One class even made folded origami for there penpals. It was such a great day, I walked into my office thinking, man I hope this is fun for these kids, then I walk in and covering my desk are about 65 origami foldings, some hearts, boxes and butterflies. Just totally made my day.
I also had a student go to a photo booth and take a snap shot of himself with "cool shades" on and put it in his letter.

The only bad thing that happened this week was an incident with the bus lady.
As usual Joe and I went into Yueyang city , as we do everyweekend, .
We then went home on the bus, just a normal sunday for us.
Well the bus was really crowded so right when we got on there
was just one seat , well it wasnt really a seat just that bump in the
front on top of the motor.
Joe wasnt feeling well so I said sit there and I would stand. Before
we knew it even more people were dragged onto the bus and I ended up
being pushed back to the back. No problem, no big deal , Joe sat at
the front and actually talked with a student of his and I just watched
the tv, The lady you pay then went around asking
for money.
SHe first asked JOe and the student Joe was talking to told her that
he was paying for both himself and me. So she continued to the back
collecting money. She got to me, I had not known Joe had payed and I
tried to also give her money. She then looked at me and said no that
Joe had indeed payed so I tried again to give it to her, but she
wouldnt accept it. We went along the same way we always do and got
home safe etc.
We then were home about 3 hours and we get this call from our head
teacher, she says are you alright have you lost something? We then say
uh no what are you talking about??
1 hour later our headteacher calls again and says there is a person
waiting at the back gate for you saying you lost something and they
have it.
We then go there with our head teacher getting excited because Joe
lost his glasses about 3 weeks ago and we'd love to see them again.
Well what do we find there? The lady from the bus. Does she have
anything we lost.... no she insists that neither one of us payed!!!
So we argue for like 20 mins,. She tells her story to our headteacher
we explain ours, a crowd forms as usual, kids get out of class and
are watching. and she continues to accuse us of not paying. The women
tells the crowd she only makes 10rmb working on the bus per day.
(why she needed to report this I have no idea!)
So we finally decide you know if she needs money that bad fine, we
then pay her for both of us, again.
I am not so mad because I know life must be hard and to be honest, its
not that it was alot of money. I would have given her the money on the
bus, In fact I dont know why she didnt just screw us then and take my
money too, I never would have known that Joe had payed.
Its the fact that in front of all the students she made us look like
liars, like we didnt give our money to her. So now I lost the little
face I had in front of my students.

We are ok, just a little pissed at how people can take advantage of
you. Just beware that if peoples numbers dont add up at the end of
the day, they will look for the easiest target, and who else would
stand out like a couple of lao wai.
We told another teacher what had happened and he said he had many friends at the bus station and he would have her fired, I told him it wasnt neccesary.
Then just 3 days later we got an envelope in the mail addressed to the foreign teachers at county school number 1. This is how crazy easy it is to find where we live.
Inside there is a letter all in chinese and our money. After some translation help, we find out the letter is from the lady apologizing for what had happened. But it wasn't the kind of apology that you get when someone really means it, it was more of a my job is on the line so im saying im sorry.
Whatever what can you do, such is life!

I will try top write more so there isn't just one big blog, sorry its so much. Check out the picture website too!

Mooncakes



Some of you have been asking what the heck a mooncake is. So Here they are!!
They are these little circlular pastery type things that fit in your palm.
On the inside there is a filling alot like a gummie bear or fruit cake.
The chinese eat them only during the mid autumn festival. They come in really beautifully wrapped boxes. Some of them are larger then others. If they are old you can tell because like our friend lance said "they taste like china!" I have read that in some parts of China they actually have 4 egg yolks inside, Lucky us we never got those.

The story behind them: This told by my students, I have read other stories on the internet about the Han having secret messages written in the mooncakes and then they were secretly delivered to warn the Han of the mongols attack, but I have no idea what story is the real story.
The story my students told me is this .There was the most beautiful women in all of China, She was so beautiful that she flew to the moon, ( Which I then told my students, wow her arms must have been tired, they laughed) There also was a man that was very bad and the gods wanted to punish him, so they sent him to the moon to cut down a tree, but they cursed him because the tree will never be cut down all the way, so the man works and works forever. Now the two live on the moon.
I know there are more parts to the story, but the students couldnot translate it all into english, so You can google the midautumn festival for more details.
I think its so great that here in China during this time, it's almost like christmas. Everyone is getting together with there family and celebrating.

Mid Autumn Festival Days!!

1. We had lunch with one of our english teachers. We ate really delicious food and played with her baby, who previously was terrified of us, because we have big eyes. Now he loves us and wants to touch our big noses whenever he can.

2. We bought a video camera!!! Yeah!! So now we can make movies and send them home for all to see. Really being here just a picture couldn't do the place justice. Plus we plan on having our students make a movie about china and the differences from America.

3.We were invited to a students home for lunch on Sunday. Her Mom is the best cook in China. She prepared everything you could imagine. We even ate pig feet!! Ahhh I thought they were ok, until I smelled them, then I relized what pigs stand in all day, then I almost died!
Otherwise it was a great time. Her little brother entertained us with his introduction that he learned at school. I guess he attends a school here called the disney school. He is 6.
He started out by telling us his name, where he goes to school, what he likes to do and he wanted us to meet his friends named mickey, donald and goofey. Very cute!! Probubly the cuteset thing I've seen in China. The best part was his shirt that read I have a crush on you, I'm Shy. Which he wasnot shy at all!

4. Ate goat barbacue, Later we found a new flavor of lays chips called zinnen beef flavor. They tasted like the goat.
Oh and they dont have normal cheetos here. They have funny flavors too. I just tried Japenese steak flavor! mMm very..... japanese.

Lick that crab back clean!

These last couple of days have been amazing. This is what China should be like everyday. New and exciting things plopping right at your feet, your eyes opened wider then ever because of shock! and even though some students were evil, everything turns out ok when you hit the sack.

It all started off with yesturday during one of Joe's classes. His class would not be quiet, after the third, three strikes your out policy and even after reading and repeating as a punishment they still wouldn't be quiet. So Joe had it, He picked up a kids book of there desk and threw it across the room!! He then yelled as loud as he could at them and then there was silence!

Later that evening we came home to our good friend the barber. After receiving the crabs and not knowing how to cook them, we gave them to him and said tommorow we want to share these with you. Can you cook them? SInce the barber only knows the local dialect this was very hard to do, but eventually he understood.
We arrived home to a feast of crabs. The same creepy crawlys that were walking around the apartment the day before were now cooked up and tasted delicious.
The barbers whole family was there too. The nephew, who I sometimes tease outside is a primary school student. He was so cute, he kept picking up the crabs back and eating all the meat out. Then he would lick it clean! It reminded me of when I was little my grandpa and I would like the chef boyrdee plates after lunch. We tried our best at communication by using our hands and trying our best chinese, but the barber only knows the dialect so our chinese would not have helped.
We then drank our bai jo, of course! and at the end of the meal had arm wrestling championship showdowns in which I beat Joe, then Joe and the barber tied. I was unsuccessful at beating the barber. The barber however was very happy that he could stand up next to a 25 year old. He is 40.
We ended the night running around the track , three miles. The barber ran 4 laps and during the last lap he lit a cigarette. Afterwards we swapped shoes and I learned that the barber has the same size foot as me. He tried Joe's shoes on and just laughed at how much room they had inside.


"While eatting I have a world discovery" ~ our new friend shawn

Today we were treated by our new friend shawn to lunch. Shawn is the son of a teacher at our school. During the mid autumn festival all the families come back together. Shawn is a univeristy student that studies in Beijing. He is on vacation and has decided to spend most of it with us.
We walked all the way to this little restraunt where the sign outside the front door has two dogs on it, one is a golden retriever. Hmm The other dog blankly stares at the writing in chinese. Like the dog is reading it or something. Really funny!
We sit and are given a soup that has white carrot, leeks, small eggs and dog head meat in it. Just for an extra they bring out a plate with frozen dog blood on it. It looks a little like red tofu. Its cut into slices and you are supposed to throw it in the soup.
We also had a huge plate of spicy dog. Which actually wasn't bad. Dog is an interesting taste. I don't know if because it is dog it gives me the willys or if it is because I just don't like it, but when you eat it, dog tastes good. Even better then chicken. Then after about an hour you start to have this bad taste in your mouth and you start to feel a bit sick. I think our american stomachs don't know what to do with it. My stomach screamed "no its mans best friend, you cannable!"
Well during our lunch our friend shawn had his revelation. We were talking about english bad words and he said the word shit. He then relized that the shanghai institute of technology is nicknamed S.H.I.T. So he says oh yeah you wanna go to school in shit? He just cracks himself up. The boys then just keep repeating it because they think its the funniest thing they have ever heard of. "I go to shit school" etc. Then shawn says " I think I just had a world discovery, It's so great!"
We then left the restraunt ready for our walk home when down the street from the restraunt lays a dead dog on the sidewalk!!! A women hovers over it with a club looking thing and there is blood all over the place. There are a couple kids helping her with these medal things to hang it up for sale. I thought I nearly died. I really right then and there almost lost it. It being everything, my brain , my sanity, and most importantly my lunch!
Joe and I looked at each other in amazement and said, damn where is our camera!! I am glad we didnt have it though. It is something I would love to forget.
We have nicknamed this area of the county "Dog Town".

Guess who are the terrorists?

I was teaching a class today on Unforgettable experences again. I wanted the students to give me a story of there own. First I gave them an example of my unforgettable expierence. I tell them that September 11 is unforgettable for me. I drew the twin towers,the plane and as I was finished drawing the two towers coming down a boy says as loud as ever and in a really mean voice. "Ohhhh the Japanese!!!" I turned around and said "No they werent Japanese, they were terrorists from the middle east" The students kind of looked at me blankly.
So guess who caused 9.11?? The japanese, didnt you know?

 

 

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to let you all know I got bribed with a box of crabs and mooncakes!!
Just this evening a student's parent took Joe and I out to a banquet with all the other teachers that teach the class and the head master. We had Dog, ( they said it was the kind of dog you eat, not the best friend kind, tastes better then beef for real!) Pigeon,( which was described to us as not a chicken but another bird that flies in the sky), did I also mention the 600 rmb bottle of bai jio. His father is an official.
At the end of the meal we were driven home by a less than sober driver and given a box of moon cakes and a box of crabs. I didnt know it was a box of crabs until I opened it and they all started moving and making a click click sound. ThenI freaked out, Anybody know how to cook crabs? or anybody wanna pet crab?? I got 20 of them!
The crazy thing is that now I think i'm supposed to pick on his kid or something, I think his dad is crazy.

now I can tell everyone "I got crabs in china bit*&*es!!!"
ha ha

only in china!!
check out the photos!
emily

new photos on our photo site, check em out!

So I taught a class today on Unforgettable experiences. I had the class tell me about there stories. One student stood up and said. One day i was near a river, I fell in and a man saved me. Joe also got this answer in his class so we found out that this passage was in the book, little sneaks..
The best one however came from a student that told me his unforgettable experience was that last february he and his dad went to america and he met his favorite nba star Koby Bryant. Hmmmm yeah and Im the easter bunny. I think he thought in his dreams was the same thing as unforgettable experience.
I also had my students write a message in a bottle as a review of last unit. They did a whole unit on being on a deserted island. They even had to read a passage from Castaway with Tom Hanks.
Some of my answers are pretty amazing.

This is what I had them do.

Fill in the blanks with your own answers

Dear __1__,
I am on an island in the Pacific Ocean. There are ____, ___2__, and _____ around me.
The island is shaped like a ___3___. I am ___4__ here, but could you please send me some ____5__.
Sincerely,
_____6___


These are a list of the best answers I received: (?)= me pondering, or laughing.

1Dear: Teacher Emily, The police, God, friends, superman, cindy,
2 there are: trees, followers, apeman, dinosaurs,
3.island is shaped like a: bear, mooncake, the face of an ugly women( I laughed so hard at this one! Cause i'm sure he had to look it up in the dictionary),some kitchens (??), foots (??), died mans(?), a new word(?),
4.I am:( these all consisted of happy or sad)
5. Send me some: money, knife, gun, cookbooks (???), 11 football stars (??), Jay chou's latest cd, my bed, my toothbrush, a pet dog, KFC, my computer, a labratory(?)
6.Tray Mcgrady, Student Emily, my english name is enya I like her music, chuck noland ( he was the charector tom hanks played in castaway)

Add ins: "can you ask the police to resque me, Ill give you money!", "ok please quick now"" Im danger here, but danger makes me strong!"

Eye Chart

Just got back from class today, In the classroom was an eye chart. So after class I took a shot at it. Eye charts in china are different, its just the letter e and its put in all different directions. You have to tell the person if the e is pointing up down right or left. Confused? me too, the kids had to explainit to me like 5 times. Anyways I only made it to the 3rd line. Guess I will be getting some new glasses here. We have heard they are very cheap. We read an article in the paper that actually said a guy from New Yord flew all the way to china and bought a new pair of glasses, then flew home and it was cheaper then buying his glasses in newyork! hmm.
Not too much else,
My homesickness is getting better. Its like one morning you wake up and say oh crap I'm in another country. No just kidding, I have just been missing people and events missed, But today was great my class went great, and the school gave us money for national day!!! Sweet! Happy communist independance day, or whatever you want to call it.

Go Twins!! Go Joe Mauer! We are following you all the way, found this photo online! Chairman Mauer, take my Twins to victory!

News...

Mr Gao's quote of last week "I would kill 2 chinese people right now for lasagna!"
1..Oh did I tell you Joe and I have chinese names.
Joe is Gao jian which means strong and I am Gao Xing which means happy. We share the same family name because we are married. In china the family name is the first name. Anyways everyone thinks its funny to call us these names instead of our real names, but for the last couple of weeks we havent heard them used. I actually kinda forgot that was my name and then at English corner I had a student come up to me and asked if he could call me Miss Gao. I was like uh, What? and he said it again, then I figured it out and I told him of course he could! So now my name is Miss Gao.

2. I love the days when I come from a very bad class and the next class I go to is singing to me when I walk in the front door. It is so nice and always makes my day. This week however I was alittle surprised to find when I walked in one class had Madonna's rendition of Don't Cray for me Argentina playing on the computer. Hmmm That was strange considering the context of Eva Peron and the whole story.

3. If you use powder detergent and a medal scrubber the floor comes clean!