My dedicated followers:
As you probably know I am back from China now. Now that I am back in a country with freedom of speech and more importantly freedom of uploading pictures and videos to my blog I will be uploading some awesome pictures and videos from my time in China. A few items to look forwards to: "Waka Waka video," Jumping photos, and TV interview.
Please enjoy!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
You are cool! Do you think we are cool?
My internship is in full swing now. Even though at first I didn’t want to teach English, now I am glad I did. I have only taught three classes, but each one has been amazing and it appears that the teachers are actually learning from me. Somewhere deep inside I have good teaching skills – who knew! (One teacher liked that I had the student make sample sentence of the vocabulary words instead of memorizing the definitions).
Anyway, along with teaching English comes a little devil they like to call English corner. English corner can be awful most of the time because you immediately become a caged guinea pig. First, you go into the auditorium or classroom where English corner is taking place. Second you are surrounded by over 50 Chinese students. Third, these 50 student all start to ask you questions about EVERYTHING, and I mean everything from you personal life, to politics, to why the sky is blue. Below are some examples of questions I have gotten:
Q: What is your opinion on U.S. gun control?
A: I’m not a politician and it can vary from state to state, but they are still talking about it. (At this point another student cuts me off and says, “Carols (it’s too hard to say Carlos in China so Carols is much easier) is our friend and I think we should talk about happy subjects.”) Moving on…
Q: Do you like music? What kinds? Do you know Michael Jackson?
A: Yes, and Yes, and Yes I like Michael Jackson. (After my reply their start to name off some other their favorite music such as: Linkin Park, Avril, Backstreet Boys, and other weird music we listened to in the 90’s.)
Q: Are you single? Do you like the Chinese girls? Do you think we are cool?
A: This question started off with a huge laugh from me, then I decided to answer while keeping a straight face. Yes, I am single (follow-up questions: Why don’t you have a girlfriend, do many college students have girlfriends?). Dang gurl, could you be more obvious that you are in love with me!
There were also other types of comments and questions that I thought were a little inappropriate, but I tried my best to answer then all. They students also love to comment on every article of clothing you are wearing, what you look like, and also like to make comparisons. For example, my students said that I look like Amaury Nolasco (Google it – bahahah!) from the show Prison Break because “he is Mexican.” One, I couldn’t believe they watched Prison Break and two he is from Puerto Rico.
Probably the best thing about English corner was that the second English corner of the school semester was TWILIGHT THEMED! Yes, they split us up into CLANS and we got to discuss different questions asked by a member of the Volturi who was sitting at the front reading under candlelight. We discussed questions like: Do you believe in vampires? Do vampires have humanity? Would you accept a vampire in your family? If you could choose to die tomorrow or become a blood-sucking vampire which would you choose? AH! They were all great questions, but most of the discussions were about how awesome the Twilight series is and what their favorite Twilight characters were. There doesn’t seem to be a separation between the Edwards-lovers and the Jacob-lovers here in China thought, they just all seem to love Bella (I don’t know why, but they think she is beautiful!). Of course I confessed my love for vampires the whole time and all of my answers were biased toward Eddie, but oh well!
Anyway, along with teaching English comes a little devil they like to call English corner. English corner can be awful most of the time because you immediately become a caged guinea pig. First, you go into the auditorium or classroom where English corner is taking place. Second you are surrounded by over 50 Chinese students. Third, these 50 student all start to ask you questions about EVERYTHING, and I mean everything from you personal life, to politics, to why the sky is blue. Below are some examples of questions I have gotten:
Q: What is your opinion on U.S. gun control?
A: I’m not a politician and it can vary from state to state, but they are still talking about it. (At this point another student cuts me off and says, “Carols (it’s too hard to say Carlos in China so Carols is much easier) is our friend and I think we should talk about happy subjects.”) Moving on…
Q: Do you like music? What kinds? Do you know Michael Jackson?
A: Yes, and Yes, and Yes I like Michael Jackson. (After my reply their start to name off some other their favorite music such as: Linkin Park, Avril, Backstreet Boys, and other weird music we listened to in the 90’s.)
Q: Are you single? Do you like the Chinese girls? Do you think we are cool?
A: This question started off with a huge laugh from me, then I decided to answer while keeping a straight face. Yes, I am single (follow-up questions: Why don’t you have a girlfriend, do many college students have girlfriends?). Dang gurl, could you be more obvious that you are in love with me!
There were also other types of comments and questions that I thought were a little inappropriate, but I tried my best to answer then all. They students also love to comment on every article of clothing you are wearing, what you look like, and also like to make comparisons. For example, my students said that I look like Amaury Nolasco (Google it – bahahah!) from the show Prison Break because “he is Mexican.” One, I couldn’t believe they watched Prison Break and two he is from Puerto Rico.
Probably the best thing about English corner was that the second English corner of the school semester was TWILIGHT THEMED! Yes, they split us up into CLANS and we got to discuss different questions asked by a member of the Volturi who was sitting at the front reading under candlelight. We discussed questions like: Do you believe in vampires? Do vampires have humanity? Would you accept a vampire in your family? If you could choose to die tomorrow or become a blood-sucking vampire which would you choose? AH! They were all great questions, but most of the discussions were about how awesome the Twilight series is and what their favorite Twilight characters were. There doesn’t seem to be a separation between the Edwards-lovers and the Jacob-lovers here in China thought, they just all seem to love Bella (I don’t know why, but they think she is beautiful!). Of course I confessed my love for vampires the whole time and all of my answers were biased toward Eddie, but oh well!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Taking Candy From Strangers.
Halloween is by far one of the most amazing and coolest American holidays. What is there not to like about eating candy, dressing up in costumes, bobbing for apples, and bumping in the night? At first, I was rather sad because I would be missing Halloween, but instead of being sad I decided to bring Halloween to China.
… And boy was that a good idea! Lucy (Kiwi Girl) or Luc (pronounced ‘Luce’) was my partner in crime for the Halloween planning. We have actually started to refer to each other as Luc and Los cause we make a really good team. We can even have conversations in Chinese! Anyway, the first challenge was finding a legitimate pumpkin to carve. Our search started at the supermarket, but they only had some really long, off brown pumpkins, which they called ‘south melons.’ You can image my panic when I couldn’t find jack-o-lantern quality pumpkins for my Halloween party. I was devastated and decided to substitute watermelons for pumpkins – as soon as I made this decision the Halloween goblins were watching over me cause Luc and Los went to another supermarket and found the most amazing ORANGE, REAL pumpkins! Although, they were a little too small, they would satisfy my pumpkin dreams.
The pumpkins were done and the invitations had been sent. After an early morning panic call to Whitney (party-planner extraordinaire from America), I decided that we would also bob for apples, play ‘pin the wart on the witch,” have a costume contest, and dance all night. All the invitations were beautiful and indicated that COSTUMES WERE REQUIRED! I was actually quite surprise by the effort and the awesome costumes the delegates put together. We had pirates, vampires, fairies, pandas, women (yes, at least two boys decided that they would be girls for Halloween – typical!), trolls, skeletons, and many other scary creatures. There was a tiny Halloween shop we found at one of the market with over priced Halloween items. I negotiated with the lady and told her that they face paint she was trying to see me for 30 Yuan (about 5 dollars) was worth about 1 dollar in the USA and that she was ridiculous. After some haggling and more conversation I got the face paint for about 15 Yuan (2 dollars). Yes, I know that five dollars doesn’t seem like much, but you can always get things cheaper in China – you just have to be really good at the art of negotiations (Which I am!).
Originally the party was going to be hosted in my dorm room (Highly illegal), but then Julia (Foreign Affairs Office) got involved and a room at the International Legend Hotel was booked for the party. Luc and Los arrived at the party to find Julia with her daughter and niece running wild and yelling in the microphones. We decorated the room with pumpkins, flags, balloons, and candy (I found some Snickers!). The guest started to arrive and everyone brought food, drinks, candy, and more drinks. The party was off to a great start with the pumpkin carving and the Chinese guest really enjoyed it. After the music started playing everyone forgot about all the other activities that I had planned and ‘cut the rug’ (There has been some debate about what the proper idiom is for this, but I don’t really know). After some Waka Waka, Party in the USA, and Dynamite the party ended and we were off to GAYA (Refer to my previous post for information on Gaya). Got home around 2 am and it was one of the best nights in L.Jo by far!
PS: My costume was a panda! I had bought an awesome Panda hat in Beijing so I just added to the already awesome accessory. I wore a black sweater and then cut a shirt to make it look like a panda belly. I stuffed the shirt and looked extra GIANT, but I still didn’t have black pants. I was going to buy some, but then Theres said she had a pair I could borrow. Yes, Theres is a woman and I borrowed her black Nike sweatpants. Let’s just say that my booty looked extra juicy at the party, but still panda like!
PSS: I had so much candy left that I started to and it out to strangers. I just went down the halls of our dorm building and many people took the candy. Some how in China they were not told to not take candy from strangers. Although, who wouldn’t except candy from me?
… And boy was that a good idea! Lucy (Kiwi Girl) or Luc (pronounced ‘Luce’) was my partner in crime for the Halloween planning. We have actually started to refer to each other as Luc and Los cause we make a really good team. We can even have conversations in Chinese! Anyway, the first challenge was finding a legitimate pumpkin to carve. Our search started at the supermarket, but they only had some really long, off brown pumpkins, which they called ‘south melons.’ You can image my panic when I couldn’t find jack-o-lantern quality pumpkins for my Halloween party. I was devastated and decided to substitute watermelons for pumpkins – as soon as I made this decision the Halloween goblins were watching over me cause Luc and Los went to another supermarket and found the most amazing ORANGE, REAL pumpkins! Although, they were a little too small, they would satisfy my pumpkin dreams.
The pumpkins were done and the invitations had been sent. After an early morning panic call to Whitney (party-planner extraordinaire from America), I decided that we would also bob for apples, play ‘pin the wart on the witch,” have a costume contest, and dance all night. All the invitations were beautiful and indicated that COSTUMES WERE REQUIRED! I was actually quite surprise by the effort and the awesome costumes the delegates put together. We had pirates, vampires, fairies, pandas, women (yes, at least two boys decided that they would be girls for Halloween – typical!), trolls, skeletons, and many other scary creatures. There was a tiny Halloween shop we found at one of the market with over priced Halloween items. I negotiated with the lady and told her that they face paint she was trying to see me for 30 Yuan (about 5 dollars) was worth about 1 dollar in the USA and that she was ridiculous. After some haggling and more conversation I got the face paint for about 15 Yuan (2 dollars). Yes, I know that five dollars doesn’t seem like much, but you can always get things cheaper in China – you just have to be really good at the art of negotiations (Which I am!).
Originally the party was going to be hosted in my dorm room (Highly illegal), but then Julia (Foreign Affairs Office) got involved and a room at the International Legend Hotel was booked for the party. Luc and Los arrived at the party to find Julia with her daughter and niece running wild and yelling in the microphones. We decorated the room with pumpkins, flags, balloons, and candy (I found some Snickers!). The guest started to arrive and everyone brought food, drinks, candy, and more drinks. The party was off to a great start with the pumpkin carving and the Chinese guest really enjoyed it. After the music started playing everyone forgot about all the other activities that I had planned and ‘cut the rug’ (There has been some debate about what the proper idiom is for this, but I don’t really know). After some Waka Waka, Party in the USA, and Dynamite the party ended and we were off to GAYA (Refer to my previous post for information on Gaya). Got home around 2 am and it was one of the best nights in L.Jo by far!
PS: My costume was a panda! I had bought an awesome Panda hat in Beijing so I just added to the already awesome accessory. I wore a black sweater and then cut a shirt to make it look like a panda belly. I stuffed the shirt and looked extra GIANT, but I still didn’t have black pants. I was going to buy some, but then Theres said she had a pair I could borrow. Yes, Theres is a woman and I borrowed her black Nike sweatpants. Let’s just say that my booty looked extra juicy at the party, but still panda like!
PSS: I had so much candy left that I started to and it out to strangers. I just went down the halls of our dorm building and many people took the candy. Some how in China they were not told to not take candy from strangers. Although, who wouldn’t except candy from me?
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