To start, I would just like to say that this is day 5 in Qingpu and I have yet to see another “foreigner”. Alyssa and Sara have not seen another one yet either. We are only known as foreigners here. On the flight over, Alyssa asked us all to note of the first English line someone said to us in China. For most of us, it was “foreigners here”. Telling of the rest of our time here….
Before I left Canada, I was told over and over again that I needed to bring warm clothes. I watched the forecasts and the lowest temperatures I was seeing were -5oC. As a Canadian, I had a hard time believing I would be as cold as I was told. I did know that there was no heat in the schools but the worst-case-scenario I was picturing was Whycocomagh Arena. Cold for sure, but if you move around it is manageable. Upon arrival, I discovered that for some God-Forsaken reason, the Chinese leave almost every single window open at all times. I have been told this is because there is no air exchange and they need to prevent things from molding. I think I’m going to mold soon if I don’t warm up! I sometimes go outside to warm up. To top it all off, it snowed! One of my cooperating teachers, who is 24, said it is the most snow he has ever seen! Luckily, the heaters in our apartment are all working and my office heater was finally turned on. The classrooms, though, are still frigid at times and I teach in my winter jacket. The students all wear winter jackets under their uniforms.
Yesterday a few note-worthy things happened in my office:
1. As mentioned, I share my office with two male Chinese teachers. One has no English. Yesterday he came in and handed me a bag of what looked like frozen eggs. He then went to a Chinese to English online translator and said “this is a school of hair”. Ummmm……nope! After much miming, online searching and recruiting another teacher, we discovered that hair and “hand out” is the same word ( I also find it extremely hilarious that rice dumpling comes out sometimes as “glue pudding”. My first impression of dumplings was how sticky they were). Apparently, because the Chinese Lantern Festival is on Sunday, the school gave all of the teachers a big bag of frozen rice dumplings. There are WAY more than Alyssa, Sara and I will eat, but at least they are frozen. That can be what we make for the others when they come visit Qingpu haha
2. I was given a cactus for my desk (in a beautiful pot, I may add). Before I was given one, I did notice that everyone else had one. Apparently, it is supposed to absorb some of the radio waves from my computer so I am not exposed to as much. I was so worried! haha
3. My office-mates had a neon orange feathery thing on their desks and asked me if I knew how to use it. Apparently, it’s their equivalent of a hacky sack. Unsurprisingly, they are very good at it. They then proceeded to ask me to skip (with a skipping rope) for them and I think they were disappointed that I couldn’t skip double time more than once. Of course, they showed me up a hundred fold.
4. They were SHOCKED I haven’t heard of “Mark from Canada” who is a superstar TV personality. They showed me videos online to confirm that I didn’t know who he was. Apparently he has excellent English….
5. Finally, I have been asked to give 4 people English names so far; the two teachers in my office and two students. I need to base these names on their appearance and their personalities. No pressure. Meanwhile, they are working on my Chinese name.
NOTE: I have added some pictures to the blog (this page) as well as on the pictures page. Also, I appologize for the long posts. They will get shorter and fewer as time goes ne
Before I left Canada, I was told over and over again that I needed to bring warm clothes. I watched the forecasts and the lowest temperatures I was seeing were -5oC. As a Canadian, I had a hard time believing I would be as cold as I was told. I did know that there was no heat in the schools but the worst-case-scenario I was picturing was Whycocomagh Arena. Cold for sure, but if you move around it is manageable. Upon arrival, I discovered that for some God-Forsaken reason, the Chinese leave almost every single window open at all times. I have been told this is because there is no air exchange and they need to prevent things from molding. I think I’m going to mold soon if I don’t warm up! I sometimes go outside to warm up. To top it all off, it snowed! One of my cooperating teachers, who is 24, said it is the most snow he has ever seen! Luckily, the heaters in our apartment are all working and my office heater was finally turned on. The classrooms, though, are still frigid at times and I teach in my winter jacket. The students all wear winter jackets under their uniforms.
Yesterday a few note-worthy things happened in my office:
1. As mentioned, I share my office with two male Chinese teachers. One has no English. Yesterday he came in and handed me a bag of what looked like frozen eggs. He then went to a Chinese to English online translator and said “this is a school of hair”. Ummmm……nope! After much miming, online searching and recruiting another teacher, we discovered that hair and “hand out” is the same word ( I also find it extremely hilarious that rice dumpling comes out sometimes as “glue pudding”. My first impression of dumplings was how sticky they were). Apparently, because the Chinese Lantern Festival is on Sunday, the school gave all of the teachers a big bag of frozen rice dumplings. There are WAY more than Alyssa, Sara and I will eat, but at least they are frozen. That can be what we make for the others when they come visit Qingpu haha
2. I was given a cactus for my desk (in a beautiful pot, I may add). Before I was given one, I did notice that everyone else had one. Apparently, it is supposed to absorb some of the radio waves from my computer so I am not exposed to as much. I was so worried! haha
3. My office-mates had a neon orange feathery thing on their desks and asked me if I knew how to use it. Apparently, it’s their equivalent of a hacky sack. Unsurprisingly, they are very good at it. They then proceeded to ask me to skip (with a skipping rope) for them and I think they were disappointed that I couldn’t skip double time more than once. Of course, they showed me up a hundred fold.
4. They were SHOCKED I haven’t heard of “Mark from Canada” who is a superstar TV personality. They showed me videos online to confirm that I didn’t know who he was. Apparently he has excellent English….
5. Finally, I have been asked to give 4 people English names so far; the two teachers in my office and two students. I need to base these names on their appearance and their personalities. No pressure. Meanwhile, they are working on my Chinese name.
NOTE: I have added some pictures to the blog (this page) as well as on the pictures page. Also, I appologize for the long posts. They will get shorter and fewer as time goes ne