My first Christmas away from home...

I guess it had to happen sooner or later; I’m spending my first Christmas away from home. Up till this point it had only been either Christmas Eve or Day but never both. The week leading up Christmas was difficult because I had to teach something about Christmas. I had my students read the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” which turned out to be a bit too hard. So I summarized the poem and divided them into groups to act out their interpretation of the poem. In my office, I had found reindeer antlers, a Santa hat, and a Christmas stocking and allowed my students to use them as props. There were some definitely interesting interpretations and roles given to students. The commercialization of Christmas is evident, because when you don’t understand the holiday that’s all that may be left is a row of stores with disembodied Santa heads and garish lights wishing you a Merry X Mas. Several of my students had invited me out to KTV (karaoke) on Christmas Eve, but around 5pm I got a text message saying that one was sick so they decided not to go. This was fine with me because the thought of staying up until 6am was starting to wear very thin. I ended up meeting the Grimm’s for happy hour at the Marriott (my new favorite haunt) and then when they went to their reservation for dinner I went in search of the Christmas Eve staple, lasagna. There is a little Italian restaurant not far from where I was so I gave it my best shot. To no avail, though. They had an excellent selection of pastas but no lasagna so I settled and had a nice meal anyway.

When I got home, I went straight to bed as I had to get up at 4am so I could speak with the Shide side during their Christmas Eve celebration. It was very strange and made me realize how absurdly far away I am. It was very good to hear about the sledding and general merriment that was happening in my absence. They could have used more snow as it was pretty warm, but I don’t think too many people minded. Around 11am on Christmas Day I was able to talk and see the Gratton side. They were still celebrating Christmas Eve but my cousin Chad (The Professor) had brought out some video equipment so I could see everyone as we talked. It was a good thing the video equipment went only in one direction as I was taking an easy day and was not even out of my PJs yet. For lunch, the Grimm’s and I went to a Chinese restaurant close to campus. I have been eating there so long that I’m a regular and all the staff knows me. Sometimes I tend to order several of the same things and the staff is always asking if I want my standards. Sometimes they have suggested things that were quite interesting and turned to be quite good. After lunch, the three of us wandered around the neighborhood to see what kinds of things are around. I stopped to buy some DVDs and picked out 5, of which only 2 worked. This was disappointing because I would have liked to have them all. The problem was that I couldn’t exactly hear if the movie was in English or dubbed in Chinese and I wasn’t taking any chances. The day was warm and it was nice just to be outside. I imagined trudging through the snows of past years and that probably the only major improvement that I could see.

This Christmas was very different and very hard. I would be lying if I said anything else. Being so far away from home during this time of year can take an emotional toll. For the most part, I tried to keep things low-key and that was to my benefit. I will be able to celebrate when I get home as my mom has informed me that the tree and everything will still be up. I also was very sure that no matter where in the world I am, I have the support of my family and I can always have "Christmas in my heart."

A day in Hangzhou...

Do you wake up in the morning and realize that it's just not going to be your day? I wish I would have had that feeling yesterday. It would have prepared me. But I will preface this with I did actually have a good day overall.

Jim and Barb Grimm and myself started the day off at 615am waiting for Jim's student. She was supposed to be there at 615 but didn't show up until 630am. We sat and chatted as we waited for her, and scared the front desk lady. The doors to the building are locked from 12am-6am and when she woke up to unlock them, the last thing she expected was to see people milling around the lobby.

We were leaving from the south Shanghai rail station and we live in the north, so it was a taxi/metro/walk combo. The 4 of us met up with 2 more of Jim's students and we headed for the train to Hanzhou. It takes about 2 hours by train and we had first class seats, which were nice.

We arrived in Hangzhou and our first stop was a pedestrian shopping street. There were the typical traditional Chinese crafts, but they looked less kitchier than in Shanghai. I enjoyed walking down the street (out of the wind) and talking with the students. When the street ended we went to a restaurant and had a nice lazy susan meal. Think large round table with a large glass circle in the middle that you can spin. Very convenient and you don't have to pass dishes, just take a spin Wheel of Fortune style. At the end of lunch, I went to grab my bag and it was completely wet. Turns out I had forgotten to tighten the cap on my bottle of water and it spilled all over. Luckily it didn't get anything wet besides a book and my wallet and camera survived the flood.

After lunch we went to the famous West Lake. This is where the hairy crabs come from, the ones that people pay hundreds of US dollars per pound for. The lake is beautiful, surrounded by small mountains and boardwalks. I think it would be fun in the summer but there was a cold wind going that day and we quickly walked along until we could get a cab and venture to the next spot.

Because I just can't get enough out of temples and such, we went to the most famous one. It was pretty standard as far as Buddhist temples go, but went up the side of a large hill. Being the graceful person that I am, I began running up the stairs to see the monks chanting. About halfway up, I tripped over my own feet. This wouldn't have been so bad if I had not had my hands shoved into my jacket pockets. I went down like a ton of bricks and the Chinese girls came to my rescue. They tried to clean the dust off of me with tissues, a gesture that I thought was sweet but not even close to effective. We milled around for a time and then headed back into the city to catch our train.

We needed a place to warm up, as it was very windy and cold. Where do you go when that is the case? Starbucks of course. I had a coupon for a free drink and after a little convincing, the counter lady realized that a hot chocolate was an ok substitute for a coffee. I splurged on a piece of chocolate cake to reward myself for surviving the day. Perhaps too soon. The cake was a bit on the hard side so when I went to dig my plastic fork into it, a large chunk landed right in my lap. Not to be defeated by food, I picked it up and ate it with my hands. Luckily no one saw me make another faux pax and what's left of my pride was still in tact.

We got on the train, made it back to the city and I was never so happy to be back in my own bed under the covers. I don't think I'm going to go outside tomorrow at all.

Students make the job what it is...

After a little bout of food poisoning, I’m back on my feet. My students were very kind and I got a ton of advice on how I should take care of myself. Throughout my whole time here, the students have been the most enjoyable part. They are very caring, but somewhat young in maturity. I’ve enjoyed challenging them to think outside the box. Some things were more controversial than others (Japan will be a world power similar to the US) but they were able to hear a differing opinion. Not that I wasn’t quick to play devil’s advocate, but even a few of the classes got to discussing things as a few students may have different ideas on how to solve a problem. One of my students expressed the opinion that you can solve poverty by rounding up all the poor people and dropping an A-bomb on them. This was not met with much support and luckily other students quickly changed the topic. There were times when my questions or challenges are met with silence, but not as often as at the beginning of the semester. I hope that in the end they have gained a bit of American culture along with improving their language skills.

It has been a strange transition to being a teacher, but I did enjoy it. I went from asking what would be on the midterm to writing it, not something I ever thought I would have been doing. Grades work a bit differently here, obviously as they do not have an A/B/C/D/F lettering system. They use straight numbers and 90 and above is considered a good mark; below 60 means you retake the class.

Just walking around campus, going to the local grocery story, or even walking down Nanjing Lu I have seen my students or we stop to talk. It will be interesting to see how their college careers turn out as I got to see how it began. There is a good chance that they will have the same teachers that I have had, which is both cool and strange at the same time.

I caved...

So Tuesday I went downtown and grabbed my usual "on my way to the bus" breakfast of two meat baozi (steamed buns with meat inside). I've been eating these for about 3 months so I didn't even give it a second thought. I ate them and then started reading my book as the bus ride takes 45 minutes. Not too long after I had finished my stomach began to feel like a cement mixer. This can't be good. I finished my errands downtown and came back. Well I pretty much didn't leave my building until Thursday and am feeling better now. This has taught me that I can be knocked by food. I'll get back at it I'm sure.

But here, as we say, is where the rest of the story comes in. By Thursday I hadn't eaten much except a few cookies and some yoghurt, so I was starting to feel better and that means eating again. Now anyone who was with me in China this summer knew that I took a strict "No US Fast Food" policy. I was in fact belligerent about it. But Kelly, from the group, said that when you're sick in China nothing tastes better than good old McDonald's. Well I saw the Golden Arches on the horizon and it was a foregone conclusion. That's right Pal. I ordered myself a Big Mac and I can tell you that it tasted fantastic. I'm officially on the wax and will be back up in time. I may hit up old MacDo's again, but now that I can eat Chinese food again it's farther in the background.

I've been told the official score is now: Shanna 1 China 1
Can't stand to lose, so I guess we'll have to go another round.

Left behind...

I woke up a bit earlier than I usually do this morning to see Justin off to the air port. He and Dan will leave this morning around 9am. This means that I am now on my own, but not entirely because I have made many friends and met many students on campus. However I don't have that little piece of home that has made this trip much easier. I hope the guys have a nice flight and get that first class upgrade that they've been hoping for. They will be getting in Wednesday around 4pm and I hope the storm doesn't leave them stranded.

We've been doing some "it's their last week so let's do..." kind of stuff. Saturday we went to Nanjing Road and did some shopping and things and ended with a foot massage. This was very nice and we got a little language lesson while we were there. Dan had to leave after that, but Justin and I had a blind man massage. This was nice and works like this: You lay down on a typical massage table and they put a sheet over you and then do the typical massage. It was a dark room and relaxing. I did notice that I had a lady who had her sight. Don't know exactly how that works, but she did a fine job.

It's been an interesting week of seeing Shanghai get really cold. That's cold for Shanghai at least. In the end it's the same reason that ND is cold, loads of wind. My students don't have heaters in their rooms and one student proudly told me that they have 6 people in their room and when they keep their windows closed their room is 10C. To put this in perspective my room with a heater stays at about 19C-20C. They make due the best they can. Many students have plug in hand heaters and hot water bottles. The classrooms do not have heat either, so during my class I teach with my jacket on. My students always ask if I feel cold and I tell them that where I'm from is much colder and is about the same latitude as the city of Harbin in China. They always seem pretty impressed by this and especially Monday when it was a bit warmer so I wore a skirt. It was the topic of discussion for quite a while.

I've realized that I have about 5 weeks left. I will be putting the finishing touches on my final exam and making plans for traveling with my mom. Seeing the guys leave has made me wish that I was going home, but there's still a lot of exploring yet to do in this city and I'm up for the task.

Random notes...

So it’s been awhile but I’ve gotten back to updating the old blog. Today’s installment will cover some of the following:

1. My socks have found religion
1.5 My computer learned Chinese
2. Getting Lost and close to the end.
3. Other things that are not long enough to warrent their own post

My computer knows more Chinese than I do…

Thanks to some help on Dan’s part, I have been able to type in Chinese. This definitely helps with my lists of vocabulary that I have learned. Now I don’t have to write them all out by hand. I have also added Russian, but it’s much harder to type in Russian because the keys do not correspond with Roman letters at all.

My socks have found religion…

I knew that it was about time and today I bought new socks. This has never happened before in my travels and I think it’s that the washing has been especially hard. If you haven’t guessed, several pairs of my socks have holes in them. Lame joke I know…get over it. ;)

Getting lost…

So the major item that has dominated the last week is the first season of Lost. Now I know Becky and Keith (aunt and uncle) watch it, so we can sit down and you can fill me in on what has happened thus far in the season. I can’t believe how addictive watching the whole season is. The fact that the whole thing cost a fraction of what it costs in the states, well let’s just say that when I look at a wall covered with West Wing, Seinfeld, The original Adventures of Lois and Clark, and many other series it’s becoming harder to walk away.

Shove off…

The boys are getting ready to go back to ND and it’s sad to see them go. I feel the same as I did this summer when I was the last of the group to leave Shanghai. We’ve been all over and explored the city together and separately. I am lucky that I have such good people that I can share this experience with. But now I will have to start some more stories to let them know how much they missed by leaving early. Hope that Dan and Justin have a good Christmas with family and friends.

Moving at the speed of construction...

Every time I leave campus, it seems like the landscape has changed. Since I arrived here in September, they have laid new pipes all over campus and are nearly complete with that phase. An entire city block has been leveled and by next September a new library will be in its place. Outside the gate to campus opens onto the new elevated ring road. It is getting increasingly harder to motivate and get out of campus because the construction has caused an enormously confusing situation. There is a lot of dust and in an effort to lessen the amount, a truck comes and sprays water. Great idea, but now the roadway is constantly muddy. This is not the best news for a mud magnet like myself. From what I have been told this project will be completed in the next year or so. I have never seen construction move so fast in my life. It’s not common to walk down the street one day and the next day say “Wasn’t there 2 buildings there yesterday?” I’ve said that on numerous occasions.

Being wined and dined. It’s good!

And the following birthdays:
Nov. 30 – Ryan J. Thanks for the chats, I love hearing about what’s happening at home
Dec 2 – In memoriam for Jerry Lempe

I don’t know why birthdays are important for me to announce, but they make me feel a bit more connected to the people at home. Onward…

This past weekend definitely made me feel like I was someone important. Starting Thursday, Hagel and I took the Grimms to the Marriott for martinis. Thursday martinis are a tradition that I’ve been doing for a while and it was nice to finally get to go in Shanghai. I love the view from the bar, as it is on the 40^th floor and you get an amazing view of People’s Square or人民广场. The night was very fun and after the Marriott we went to a one year anniversary party for a bar named Judy’s Too. Funny if you went to UND. It’s a bit classier than the Judy’s you may know.

Friday was a great night too. Dan had mentioned to me last weekend that he wanted to get the people at USST who had helped us together for supper. I tried to get everyone lined up as best I could, but in true Chinese fashion I did not know how many people would be there until a few hours before we were to meet. This was fine, as I am getting used to it, but I can tell that this style would drive Type A people crazy. We went to a restaurant called Shanghai Memory. It has a Shanghai in the 20’s feel and features Chinese food, Western food, and Brazilian BBQ. People at the dinner were Dan, Hagel, myself, Hou Yong (who has helped many people at UND), Dean Wang (Dean of USST College of Management), his assistant Jessica, and the Grimms. We had a very good time with dishes ranging from sashimi to a mutton dish from the Xinjiang region but was missing was the chicken. Hagel tried to order his favorite dish, spicy diced chicken, but they didn’t have any because of bird flu. It’s not that you could get the BF from eating the chicken, but people are scared and a bit irrational. We all had a good laugh about it.

Saturday brought a different kind of experience. Hou Yong invited Justin and me to his house for supper. Our campus is located in the NE of Shanghai and his flat is in the SW. Hou Yong was on campus so he picked me up. He drives a cobalt blue VW Passat and the ride was enough to solidify the fact that I want one. VW is a big force in the automobile production in China and example is that most common taxi is the VW Santana. This is a model that was made only for China. So we set off and on the way picked up his wife Jean (her English name). It took us about 2 hours to get there, but we had stopped for a bit while waiting for Jean. We arrived at Hou Yong’s flat and he showed me around. It is the top floor of the building and has two floors. It is a very nice apartment for Shanghai, I was very impressed. For dinner, I was told that we were having…Chinese Dumplings! But the twist that I was going to help make them. (Hagel came separately and had not yet arrived) Now this may seem simple but and it was a bit more so after I got the hang of it. First take a small circle of dough (think pie crust texture, it’s made with flour salt and water) about the size of your palm. Then add the mixture of pork and vegetables, fold over the dough and then pinch circle closed into a half moon shape. It’s important to not let any of the filling out, which was stressed to me several times. Joining me in making the dumplings were Hou Yong’s wife, sister, daughter, and housekeeper. I definitely appreciate how much work goes into making them. We had some very delicious dishes and our host brought out the Chinese white wine, or baijiu. To give you an idea what this is like, it’s 52% alcohol. Hagel, Hou Yong and I finished the bottle with the typical over abundance of Chinese toasts. Luckily this was going on as supper was, so the effects were mitigated somewhat.