Teaching Sex Ed in China!

That's right, I was the lucky person who got to teach a bunch of Chinese grade 10's sex-ed!  

Here's the deal:  this semester I'm teaching a Canadian course called "Planning 10".  This is the same course as "Guidance" or "CAPP" or "Personal Planning"... it varies in name from place to place, country to country.  The course covers lots of useful life stuff, such as healthy living, education & careers, finances, etc.  In the healthy living unit, sex ed was one of the things I was supposed to teach, but I wasn't sure if I should actually do it as it's a bit of a taboo subject in China.  I decided to go ahead with it b/c I think kids need to know about it.  I totally thought the kids would be really shy and nervous to talk about it, but from the time I walked into the classroom and wrote "SEX" on the board in big letters, they were hooked!!  They got kind of giggly but settled down well.  We did a lot of brainstorming as a class, which is normally a risky thing to do as these kids are so shy and afraid of giving wrong answers that class discussions usually don't fly.  However, on this topic almost everyone had things to contribute!!  

The height of excitement was at the end of the week when I pulled out "Mr. Banana" and did the condom demo.  The guys sitting at the back of the classroom put up their hands and asked if they could move their chairs up closer for a better view!  Never have I seen students SO interested in learning anything before!  Of course I was a little nervous doing this too, and really hoped nobody would be walking by the classroom and looking thru the windows in the hallway! 

Of course I told the kids that it's best to wait until you're married to have sex, but I think it's very naive to assume that ALL the kids would actually adhere to this advice, and given all the nasty STD's out there (which the students studied in detail), I thought it would be best that they know how to better protect themselves.  

Overall, a very successful set of lessons... don't think they'll ever forget it, nor will I!

Halloween '08

Yesterday we had a big Halloween party for our kids here.  It was funny b/c Halloween isn't really that big here in China, so this was the kids' first time dressing up for it... they were as excited as 5-year-olds, which was great to see!  We'd been prepping them and teaching them a little about Halloween for the past week, so they were clued in.  We decided we would skip the afternoon classes on Friday and a have a bunch of games for them.  

The 48 students were divided into 8 teams of 6 and were competing against each other in all the games, of which we kept a grand tally so that one team won the grand prize (ice cream) at the end.  As always, our students were totally into it!  We had pumpkin bowling, apple bobbing, the mummy wrap (with a mummy dance!), a string weave, and a candy-guessing-jar.  
Andrew and I went to Toys R Us here in Shanghai to get our costumes.  Sadly, they didn't have a very good selection, and the only adult costume they had was Dracula, so that's what Andrew was.  I opted for the fairy costume, but had to settle for the 2-6 year-old version of it... tiny wings, hairband, wand, and a tutu that looked more like a little ruffle on me!  
The best reaction of the day was when Andrew walked into the classroom dressed as Dracula.  As you can see from the picture above, it was like the Chinese Paparazzi... they all rushed up to him and started taking his picture and saying "Ohhhhhh Mista Nay-rayn..."  Very funny!

Even the Principal and Vice Principal of the big Chinese school we work in came up to be part of the party... various kids donated parts of their costumes for a bit so they could feel included in the dressing up... at one point the principal was wearing a big black witch's hat with long neon-green hair attached... he was lovin' it!  

I am so happy with our students... they really took the initiative to make this party even better.  Without being asked, they somehow came up with tons of decorations for the rooms, painted artwork for the walls, etc.  What a great memory!

Congratulations!

We would like to publicly congratulate Andrew's cousin Ange and her husband Ian on the birth of their twins, Ella Campbell and Riley Rowan Van Schoor (in South Africa).  The twins were born last week and weighed just over 2kg each... tiny little things and SO cute!  This has been a very long awaited birth, and we are incredibly thrilled for this new little family of four.  Congratulations Ange and Ian!  

A Quick Update

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all well.  Sorry I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks.  The reason is this: I'm on my computer SO much at work that by the time I get home in the evening I have absolutely NO interest in sitting down at the computer again.  And on the weekends... well, last weekend we spent about 4 hours talking to friends and family on the phone.  As nice as it was, after sitting for that long I again had no interest in sitting any longer in order to type type type.  So I hope you will understand the infrequency of these posts from time to time!  

That being said, we are doing really really well here in Shanghai.  We've been here for 2 months now and are definitely feeling a little more settled in than we were last month.  We're really enjoying our church and home group, as well as our jobs.  Our students continue to be excellent (most of them anyways!).  They are so hardworking, respectful, friendly, co-operative, etc.  I always look forward to teaching them, which is more than I can say for teaching in Canada!  Honestly, for the first time in years I am really enjoying my teaching job... I just hope this lasts!  I feel like we've hit the jackpot of jobs here: great job that pays well, nice apartment (which we don't have to pay for), lively city, the chance for Andrew and I to be together more than we were in Vancouver, cheap manicures and massages right across the street, good food, etc.  

October has been a really nice month in terms of weather here.  When we first arrived here at the end of August it was SO hot and humid... just standing outside would cause us to sweat in buckets, nevermind walking anywhere!  (We just got used changing our clothes all the time and doing TONS of laundry).  September was much the same as August.  Anyways, October has been mostly sunny (only 2 or 3 days of rain) with temperatures in the low-mid 20's (celcius).  Still warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt with maybe a light sweater in the evenings, but not sticky-sweaty-hot.  Today is November 1st and you can definitely notice that it's cooling off, but it's still no colder than 15 degrees ever so far.  Very comfortable.

We're also making friends here, slowly but surely.  It's funny b/c apparently there are thousands of ex-pats here in Shanghai, but they're all mixed in with the other 18 million Chinese people, so you have to hunt for the white people... kinda like doing a "where's Waldo?" picture.  We've met quite a few cool people thru our church and home group, and then last Sat we went to a volleyball night.  It's a group of expats that play v-ball every Sat night at a local high school gym.  We weren't quite sure what to expect but decided to give it a go.  It turned out to be a way higher level than we're used to with a lot of intense players, but everyone was really friendly and we had a great time.  Don't think we'll make it a regular thing, but def once in a while.

As for missing home, it's not too bad.  I know Andrew is wishing he could be in Whistler in a few weeks from now (when the mountains open), and I'm def missing playing soccer with my team in Vancouver.  I feel so sad for my poor little cleats, sitting there all alone in my cleat-bag in our shoe closet here.  I brought them along in hopes of finding a team to play with here, but so far I haven't been able to find anything suitable, despite having searched tons since we arrived.  O well, maybe something will still come up.  

Our church is great and we are continually challenged by the messages, and thus we are growing, which is great!  At our home group we are doing a multi-week study on serving others, which has spawned a lot of good discussions among the group.  Andrew and I usually continue these discussions afterwards as it's about a 30-min walk back home.  So we're learning and growing a lot together.  

Next weekend (Nov 7-9) Andrew and I are going to a marriage conference.  We heard it being advertised at our church so decided to sign up.  It's being held at the Ramada hotel across town and I'm SO excited to sleep in a big soft comfy hotel bed!!  I've heard that the conference part is also super  and will bring your marriage to a whole new level.  So we'll see how it goes... def looking forward to it.  

Alrighty, that's about it in terms of an update.  I really hope you're all doing well!

Congratulations!

We would like to publicly congratulate Andrew's cousin Ange and her husband Ian (in South Africa) on the birth of their twins, Ella Campbell and Riley Rowan Van Schoor. The twins were born last week and weighed just over 2 kg each... tiny! This has been a long-awaited birth and we are so incredibly thrilled for this new little family of four!

On Being Together 20/7

Some of you may be wondering if Andrew and I are driving each other crazy after being together SO much all the time.  It's true, we are together about 20 hours every day, more on the weekends.  Pretty much the only time we are ever apart is when we are teaching (but even then, our classrooms are right next to each other!).  Otherwise we eat, sleep, sing, pray, work out, shop, walk, clean, swim, and brush our teeth together, side by side.  I thought we might get on each others' nerves, but so far so good.  Of course I'd be lying if I said that we're always happy with each other 100% of the time... there are times when that's NOT the case.  But another benefit of being together so much is that we can't hide it or walk away from each other... nope, we've got to sort it out and work it thru on the spot.  We both agree that we've grown a bit in our marriage since arriving here, even though it's only been 7 weeks, which is great!  Thank you again to all of you who are praying for, keeping us in your thoughts, and encouraging us with phone calls, emails, etc.  You mean tons to us!!

Thanksgiving '08

Ammar with the 25 lb turkey!

The HUGE turkey!

The 28 guests packed into Ammar's living room

Many of you have been asking us if we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving over here last weekend, and yes we did!  We recently met a couple at church called Pam and Ammar.  Pam is from Manitoba and her boyfriend Ammar is from Oregon & Kuwait.  Anyways, we started hanging out with them and really enjoy their company... they are both really into working out, being outside, travelling, etc... much the same as us.  They invited us to their feast and we were thrilled... we actually looked forward to it ALL week long b/c we're getting a bit tired of just eating rice and noodles over here and were stoked for some proper Western food.  Ammar hosted it at his house as it's huge, and it was pot-luck style, so everyone brought a dish.  Team AC did it's typical mondo-salad!!  Loads of people from their schools, work, and church were invited and it was a great opportunity to meet more expats our age.  Ammar's apartment was also incredible... he is on the 18th floor with windows all over it, looking out over a man-made lake in his complex (where you can rent kayaks), the city, and farmland WAY off in the distance.  He is actually paying more rent there than we are renting our place out for in Vancouver... o ya, China can be expensive if you want it to be.  This place was like the Hilton!  We will be happy to go visit him again!

The only lousy thing that happened that night was that my mobile phone was stolen out of my purse on the subway trip on the way over to Ammar's house.  I was SO careful to keep my purse in front of me the whole time b/c it was super duper crowded in the subway, but then moved it behind me for only about one minute while walking over to the doors right before we got off.  I guess that's when it must have been stolen.  To be fair, it was kinda my fault b/c it wasn't zipped deep into my purse like it should have been to make it more secure.  But still, someone lifted the flap-pocket of my purse, found the phone, and took it.  Arggh!  The funny thing is that everyone I've told over here in Shanghai has had absolutely no sympathy for me... they all say stuff like "well you really should have been more careful" or "ya, that's happened to me 3 times on the subway already, be careful!".... so I guess I learned my lesson the hard way.  The good news is that I bought a way cooler phone yesterday that I like even better than the stolen one... so it's all good!

Anyways, that's last week's update... sorry for the delay!  Hope you're all well.

Our Gym

I think in one of my earlier posts I explained how hard it is to exercise outside around here... the streets are super crowded, the drivers are crazy, and the weather is way too hot and humid.  I did bring along my Hip Hop Abs DVDs, which is like aerobics, but hopping around my living room was just getting old after a while, so we decided to look for a good gym.  

We ended up finding a great gym called Wills.  It's a chain, just like Fitness World is at home, with about 7 locations around Shanghai.  (You can see their website at: www.willsgym.com/index_en.html or google it if that link doesn't work).   Unfortunately there were no locations super close to our place; the closest one is about 10-15 minutes by taxi, depending on traffic.  Anyways, that's the location we ended up going with.  It's really modern looking with tons of cardio machines, weights, and the best part.... it has a POOL!!  Swimming is my favorite thing in the entire world to do, so this was important.  Here's a pic of it:  

Now the crazy thing is that, as you'll notice, this pool is shaped kind of like 2 kidney beans and has no lanes.  You can swim in a straight line all the way across, but the Chinese people seem to enjoy swimming in much the same fashion as they drive.  This means swimming/thrashing in circles thru the 2 kidney beans makes perfect sense in their minds, and doesn't mesh well with Andrew and I trying to power thru from one end to the other in straight lines.  Arghh!  We've definitely had our share of collisions!  In addition, the pool is manned by a very sleepy lifeguard who is often found nodding off in the corner, while his boss sits in the lifeguard room smoking (a VERY high percentage of Chinese people smoke by the way... and everywhere, like in restaurants, offices, etc).  Now it's fine with me if this guy wants to ruin his own lungs, but the problem is he leaves the door open into the pool room, so whenever you come up for air you inhale a bunch of smokey goodness from Mr. Boss.  They kind of give me a funny look when I get out of the pool and go close the door, but that's they way I roll!  

Now let me tell you about the cardio machines.  They are great, but I HATE them!!  I have always been an outside-exercise kind of girl.  That means I prefer soccer over basketball, and running outside over running inside on a treadmill.  I somehow just have a really tough time, mentally, running in one spot.  5 minutes is terrible, 10 minutes is deadly, and 15 minutes is where I go shooting off the back of the treadmill.  Seriously!  Which is really strange since I can run happily for over an hour without problems when I'm outside.  All this to say that I can't stand being on a treadmill, but I've come to the conclusion that if I don't want to return to Canada next summer as a sack of lard, I'd better be movin' my but throughout the year, and if that means being on a stupid treadmill, then so be it!  

Okay, enough about that.  Moving on... when we signed up for the one-year gym membership, the guy threw in a "bonus" for us.  This was comprised of a tacky Wills gym bag each, and a 500RMB gift certificate each to the spa below the gym.  (Remember, divide 500RMB by about 6 to get the Canadian dollar value).  We were pretty stoked about the gift certificates and were hoping to get really nice massages or something with it.  So we went downstairs to the counter to schedule our luxury pampering date.  Here is another example of Chinese scamming: the only thing that these GCs were actually good for were facials, which all cost around 300RMB.  The GCs were for 500RMB, so there wasn't enough on them to get 2 facials, and we also weren't allowed to combine our remaining 200RMB each for one of us to get a second facial.  Anyways, all complaining aside, the facials were really really nice.  They had Andrew and I lie down side-by-side on these gurney-things (that's what you lay on at a spa), wrapped us all up in towels on our heads and shoulders, and went to work for 1.5 hours.  During that time we had all kinds of goops, scrubs, and masks spread on our faces.  Our skin felt really tight and relaxed after all that.  (I know tight and relaxed are kind of opposites, but if you've ever had a facial you'll know how your skin can be both these things at the same time).  Here's a couple pics of Andrew waiting for the process to start, after being "towelled":

Now here's the kicker: just 2 days after purchasing this big one-year gym membership we were walking around the corner from our house when we saw a big sign on the outside of a building in construction: "Wills Gym Opening Soon".... arghhhh!  We couldn't believe it!!  The timing was incredible (and not in a good way).  Of course we've stopped by the new location a couple times (where they're already trying to sell memberships) to try to change our membership over to this new location.  So far they've said no, but there's a saying here in China that "Everything is negotiable", so we're not giving up!  

Indoor Snowboarding Anyone?

Hey guys, it's Andrew.  On Sept. 29th, Corinna and I went indoor snowboarding!  Now, don't get me wrong, it wasn't Whistler, but we had a great time.  

In the morning, we hopped in a cab, then took the subway out to an area west of the city. From there, we took another cab to this huge building that had a word like "Snowland" or something on the outside.  "Here we go", I'm thinking.

After paying, we were given very "interesting" colored snowpants and jackets, along with these wimpy gloves.  I'm pretty sure half of China had used my outfit over the last few years!  Fortunately,

Corinna and I had brought our own touques.  I didn't even want to go there.  We proceeded downstairs to choose our boots and boards.  The boots were okay, the board screamed rental.  Then, we went past a turn style, where someone swipes your timecard to show what time you entered at.  

You go through the doors, and enter this HUGE room that resembles an ice rink slanted upwards on one side.  The slope was a total of about 200 m in all, with the bottom half being a flatter run (crowded), and the top half being what we would call an intermediate, or "blue" run at home (empty).  So we headed up the slope, first by a moving sidewalk escalator that was on one side of the run, then by a Poma lift, which is similar to a t-bar.  

The slope was okay, and the snow was a bit granular, almost "corny", if that makes sense.  It was a little bit loud in there too because they had the snow blowers on the whole time.  After about 2 hours, we had our fill, and headed back.  "Let's see here; Indoor snowboarding in China in September..........check".

Talk soon,

Andrew

Army Training Week

About 3 weeks ago we were suddenly and mysteriously told (like so many things in China!) that all our students would not be attending school the following week as they had to attend army training.  "What for," you ask?  Are they being trained in case China goes to war?  Nope.  It's just for "military education" so they have an idea of what it's like to be in the army.  Fine with us!  We had a week of work with no teaching, which was a great time to do some planning.  Monday was actually a statutory holiday, we worked Tues and Wed, took Friday off to go sightseeing, and on Thurs we drove out on a big bus to visit our kids at the army!

Our kids (48 grade 10s) were taken about 2 hours west of Shanghai (inland) where they, along with another 2000 grade 10s from other schools, did drills, marching, obstacles courses, shooting practice (with fake guns apparently), and team-building stuff.  Their days went from 6am to 10pm for 5 days straight.  The whole week it was about 35 degree Celsius with no wind and the poor kids had to wear the full army fatigues: long camoflouge pants, shirts, jackets, and some chose to wear hats so they wouldn't get a tan (which is a bad thing for Asian girls b/c they all want to look pasty white, which I really don't understand).  Anyways, on with the story.  The army training was held at a place called "Oriental Land", which is a really hard place to describe.  Basically it's similar to a massive theme/amusement park that covers hundreds of acres and doesn't have rides, but instead is filled with parks, a giant lake, a hotel, and facilities to house and train national athletes for swimming, rowing, etc.  It wasn't the normal army grounds, but is often used for big groups such as this.  

Anyways, when we arrived there on Thurs morning we found our kids who were all lined up and ready to march off to their next activity.  We felt SO bad for them since it was so hot out, but it was also kind of funny to see them all dressed up like little soldiers.  

 It was actually almost lunch time by then, so we walked over to the giant hall where they ate all their meals, which was like a huge Chinese house/castle.  Quite nice actually.  Here's a picture from a distance:

The kids all had to line up outside in front of the hall and a real soldier yelled at them for a while (into the microphone no less), saying who-knows-what.  The kids just stood there at attention and didn't make a peep.  Then the principal of our school (who had also come along that day) made a little speech into the microphone.  The whole time us teachers were standing in the shade near the entrance to the building and all the kids in their full-on army-heat-suits were standing under the blazing sun.  Again, poor them.  Here's a picture:

Finally they got to go inside to eat, as did we.  Us teachers got the special dining room upstairs and apparently had better food than the kids did (although I thought the lunch was gross).  After lunch we walked around the grounds a bit and saw all sorts of interesting buildings, including one in the shape of a whale (again, for no apparent reason.... are you noticing a theme here in China??).  Here's a pic:

After a little while, an extended-cab golf cart drove up out of nowhere and we (teachers) were asked to board it.  This turned out to be a really cool tour of Oriental Land where we were shown the lake, the parks, etc.  The very very very best part of this whole ride was when we got to get out at "Fun Bridges".  Just as the name suggests, these were bridges that were fun!  As you can see from the following pictures, there were about 20 different kinds of bridges, all spanning a swampy man-made canal, about 15-20 feet in width.  The object was to cross these challenging bridges without falling in, which proved to be quite a feat with some of them.  

Like I said, this was by far my favorite part of the day.  I was SO sweaty after trying most of the bridges, but it was fully worth it.  I couldn't help but think of my brothers Steve and Austin the whole time and how much fun we'd all have on these together (and I'm SURE we'd ALL end up in the swampy canal after some tom-foolery!).

The last stop on our Oriental Land tour was a giant walk-way/open mall that had loads of statues of historically famous people to the left and right, along with little plaques of what they'd accomplished in life.  It would have been a very nice area to browse had it not been 35 degrees!  Here's a couple pictures of the best ones:

Andrew hanging out with Isaac Newton.

This one of Beethoven was taken soley for my dad... hope you enjoy it, Dad!

If you're wondering why I'm suddenly posting so many entries on this blog recently (after a few weeks of a dry spell), it's b/c we have the week off.  I'm not sure if I explained it in one of my previous posts, but it's National Holiday week here.  It's been really nice to have the time to go sight-seeing, get extra sleep, work out, etc.  And it's also been a good time to write some posts.  I'm sure you can expect a couple more in the next few days before we head back to work.

Our Church

A lot of you have been asking us whether we've found a church yet, and the answer is yes!  It wasn't hard to find, as there is only ONE Protestant Church in the city (on our side of the river anyways).  I had actually looked it up online before we even accepted our jobs here just to make sure we'd have a church to go to as it's important to both of us.  

The church we now go to is called Shanghai Community Fellowship (SCF for short).  It's all expats, so both of the services are in English.  There are a TON of people who attend, and it's so cool to be worshipping with people from around the world.  So far we have gone 4 times and really enjoyed it.  The feel of the whole thing is kind of American, including the worship team which has a resident sax player (we think we're in a Kenny G concert sometimes!)... but it's cool.  The preaching is solid, and the community feel of the whole thing is also really good.  One funny thing about it is that the services are on Sunday afternoons, not mornings (we can choose from the 2pm or 4pm service).  This gives Sundays a whole new feel as we can sleep in, relax, and then go to church feeling refreshed.  Then we usually go out for dinner with people we meet at church afterwards.  

Another great thing about this church is that it has a lot of cell groups.  For those of you reading this blog who are not familiar with this concept, a cell group (aka: home group, growth group, care group, etc) is a smaller gathering than a Sunday service... sort of like a small Bible study.  One of its purposes is to get to know other people in the church better.  Often with churches that are really big, it's easy to get "lost in the shuffle" and not really get to know anyone that well, which is discouraging.  With cell groups you meet once a week, study the Bible, talk about how it applies to our life, maybe have some worship (singing), some dessert, chat a bit, etc.  Andrew and I led one of these for the past 2 years at our house, through our church in Vancouver (PGCC) and were really encouraged by it.  It's nice to take a break from leading one this year, but still great to be involved in one.  Our group meets Friday nights and has about 10 people in it from all over the world.  

One little note to all of you reading this blog who go to church regularly: make an effort every Sunday to look around, figure out who's new, and go talk to that person... show a little interest!  I know this sounds obvious, but too often it's so easy just to talk to the people you're familiar and comfortable with.  I say all this b/c Andrew and I are both really comfortable with being in church and meeting new people, yet we found it really hard the first few Sundays at the SCF church not knowing ANYONE there... (not knowing anyone in the whole country for that matter!).  Not that the people at this church are mean or anything, but I felt they could have done a bit better of a job of saying hi and making conversation with us.  It seems that as soon as church is over here, there is a massive stampede for the exit, which makes it a wee bit awkward to strike up a conversation with people as they go sprinting by!  I'm happy to say that we've met a few cool people over the weeks and have gone out with them (more on that in another post), so we're content now... but just remember to make new people feel comfortable and welcomed, be that in church or any other place!  

I've been SWINDLED!

Tonight was the first time that I was "taken" or swindled here in China.  

Here's what happened: I noticed that across the street from our place there was this make-shift kind of tent set up and stuff being sold underneath.  Curious as always, I walked over to have a look.  To my delight, it was all cosmetic-type stuff.  Not that I'm a big make-up person or anything, but there is this one kind of moisturizer that I really like to use, made by Clinique.  At home it costs about $40 for a bottle, which lasts about 6 months.  (For any guys reading this who think I'm crazy for spending that much on face cream, let me just say that it's completely justified!  Any girl will tell you that when you find a product that works well for you and makes your skin feel great- stick with it!).  

  Anyways, so under this tent was all kinds of stuff made by Lancome, Olay, Clinique, etc.  I noticed that they had ONE bottle of the kind of Clinique moisturizer I use and it looked totally real.  I even ran back up to our place to get my half-empty bottle of the same stuff to make sure it was the right size and labeling, which it was, but the box was wrapped in celophane-wrap, so I couldn't take the bottle out to look.  I asked the guy how much, and he said RMB 150 (divide by 6.2 to get it into Can. $).  I thought it was too much so I walked away, and he yelled out 100 after me.  I said 50, and we settled on 70.  Pretty good, right?  A $40 bottle of cream for just over $10.  I ran back home with my purchase to proudly display my find (and boast about my bargaining abilities) to Andrew.  That's also when I was able to remove the celophane wrap and take the bottle out of the box.  Uh-oh!  The font of the writing was off, which was my first clue that something was amiss.  Next, I tried some of the moisturizer on my face.  Hmmm, it felt kind of oily, didn't absorb well, and smelled of granny perfume.  Woops!  Not that same stuff.  Rats!  

  O well, at least it was only around $10 and I learned my lesson.  A bit disappointing though as I thought I'd found a deal.  I'll know for next time. 

Some Canada/China Differences (there's more than a few!)

  It's hard to believe that we've been in China for just over a month now... in some ways it seems like way longer, and in some, way shorter.  No matter where in the world you travel, there will always be differences to what you're used to at home, but I believe that in some countries this is much more apparent than in others (namely China!).  Over the past week I've compiled a list of the biggest differences we've noticed here... some are funny, and others are just different... you'll see:

Communication:

The Chinese language (Mandarin) consists of four tones, ie- each word is more sung than it is spoken.  I found this out the hard way when we first got here, as I cleverly pulled out my Mandarin phrase book whenever I needed something in a shop, etc.  But whatever Chinese person I was trying to talk to would just look confused.  It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I found out this book is useless unless you know the correct tones in addition to the words.  But how to remember them all?  Well, I've started drawing musical notes into my book above the words, so I know the tones in relation to each other for each word.  So far so good, but very hard to remember.  Mandarin is the hardest language by far that I've ever tried to learn.  I will keep trying, but will definitely NOT be learning how to read or write it as the alphabet is WAY different from ours and super complicated.  One thing at a time...

Transportation: 

In Canada most people drive cars, but here I'd say the percentage of people who own and drive a car is WAY lower.  Instead they take transit or taxis, but MOST ride scooters or bikes.  And when I say bikes I mean either rusted out 1950's style bikes, or electric bikes that go really fast.  NO ONE wears helmets, and they don't seem to get into crashes either, for some weird WEIRD reason given their manic driving styles.  Anyways, the biggest annoyance is the noise... NO ONE here has ever heard of greasing their brakes, so whenever we walk somewhere there are tons of bikes going by squeaking SO loudly.  Imagine 1000 high-pitched dog whistles all going at once and you'll have an idea as to what we go thru every day.  Andrew got smart and has been wearing ear plugs on the way to school.  He gave me his spare set which I managed to drop into the gutter one rainy day.... they floated off to who-knows-where.  Sad.  

  Also, we take taxis everywhere we need to go.  We're lucky that our work is close enough to walk to, but for big grocery trips, getting to church, cell group, the gym, etc we need a car.  There's NO WAY we're driving in this crazy-ness, so taxis are our best bet.  They are super cheap too- usually no more than $2-4 per trip.  However, going anywhere here require a lot more preparation than it does at home.  I have to find the address (usually online) and write it down in English, and then have it translated into Chinese characters by a bilingual co-worker so I can show it to the taxi driver later on.  I definitely have to plan ahead, especially for our weekends.

Our Students:

Having taught in places where there is increasingly little respect for teachers, being in China is a welcome change.  I think I have mentioned it before in one of my previous posts, but the kids here are so respectful, friendly, and eager to learn.  Every day when we come into the classroom they are all seated quietly, ready to go.  When I say good morning to them, they ALL respond with a hearty "Good morning Teacha!"  It's SO nice!  Whenever they pass us in the hallways they greet us and wave- very different than home.  Also, they take care of their classrooms- erasing the boards, sweeping and mopping the floors, wiping the desks, doors handles, etc.  If they make a mess they clean up after themselves (imagine that!).  Every morning when we pass thru the school gates, there are 6 students standing there, 3 abreast on each side.  They smile at us, and as we pass thru their "gauntlet" they slightly bow their heads and say good morning.  Also, there are students everywhere sweeping the school grounds with big brooms (there are trees all around the campus so lots of leaves and stuff need to swept up to keep it tidy-looking).  We are amazed!

Prices:

We are used to having to spend quite a bit to live in Vancouver, so it was another nice surprise to find out how cheap things are here in China.  Some examples:

-you can get a great pedicure or pedicure here for about $5 (Can)

-Andrew got his hair cut and dyed for under $7

-you can get an awesome body massage (1 hour) for under $10

-DVDs are sold on many street corners for under $1.50 each... we are very well entertained with all this selection!

-we can go out for a rockin' dinner where we both get a massive plate of food and a big bottle of beer to share for $3.  Of course this is not in very nice restaurants, but still, it's good food.

-a big bottle of beer in the grocery store costs about 50 cents.

Of course you can spend just as much in China as you would in Canada if you want to.  We have definitely gone out for a couple of nice meals that cost the same amount as in Vancouver, but we keep this down to a minimum.  You can also buy really expensive imported groceries ($10 for a box of Life cereal- Andrew's favorite), and other imported goods and clothes.  You just have to be smart about how you shop here.  

On the other hand, electronics are pretty expensive here... at least as much as they are in Canada.  We found this really surprising as we figured they'd be WAY cheaper here as they're made here,  but nope.  Not sure why this is.  We got matching cel phones when we first got here, and they cost about the same as home, but WAY cheaper to use.  Some of you might remember me boasting that I was gonna get a really cool and cheap iPhone when I got to China... well, that didn't happen considering the price and the fact I didn't really NEED one. 

   

Weather:

The temperature here has been around 30 degrees Celsius ever since we arrived (plus humidity).  Super gross when you've just had a shower and then go out to walk somewhere... I was a constant bag of sweat.  However, a couple days ago the weather changed to about 8 degrees cooler literally overnight.  It's way more comfortable now and we can still go out in shorts and t-shirts without being too hot or cold.  I think the change may be due to a typhoon which is coming thru south of China (don't worry Mom, it's not gonna hit here!).  

Manners:

It seems that in China anything goes.  People have NO PROBLEM peeing on the sidewalk, fully picking their noses and pulling out massive boogers in full sight of anyone around them, and letting out loud farts in the office.  They don't seem embarrassed about it, and no one bats an eye (except for us!).  Totally crazy.  And while the kids are really respectful at school (leading us to believe that the whole Chinese society is like this), it somehow doesn't transfer to the outside world.  We have noticed this most blatantly in how people try to cheat you.  For example, sometimes we'll be waiting for a taxi during a really really busy time.  When one finally stops for us and we go to get in, someone will sprint up out of no where, jump into the taxi, and be off.  Or we'll be waiting on the street for a taxi, and someone will come stand themselves 5 feet in front of us so whatever empty taxi might drive by would stop for them first.  And they think this is totally normal.  I just don't get it!!  Needless to say, we've become a LOT more aggressive!  

The Mystery of it All:

There are some things here that we just don't get and that there seem to be no explanations for.  For example, there have been a couple of important statutory holidays here, for which the school has given all of its 200 teachers gifts.  The mystery is that these gifts are SO random.  For example, for teacher's day, we are all given a big box of figs.  They weren't that tasty, so I pawned them off (re-gifted) them to my students (it fit perfectly with my healthy living unit I was teaching as I discovered none of them were eating enough fruits & veggies, so I told them this was the perfect solution and they all better eat them!).  On the most recent holiday, the school gave us each a massive box of pear-apples, and a box of 2 bottles of cooking oil.  So between Andrew and I, we have about 50 pear-apples and 4 big bottles of oil in our house.  We have cleverly started giving away the pear-apples to the security guards in our building.  There are 4 of them on duty at any given time.  They shall each receive 2 pear-apples at a time over the next few days.  We just delivered the first "load" and they seemed pleased... we'll see how long this lasts!  (The pear-apples are good by the way, but they're just massive and I don't think we can eat that many before they go bad).  

Another mystery has to do with our visas.  When we first came to China we were only able to get single-entry visas, which means we can only come into the country once, which would be a problem since we plan to travel in and out of the country on our vacations.  So once we arrived here we  had to apply for multiple-entry visas.  This sounds like it might be a simple procedure, but no, it's NOT!  There is a girl called Joyce who works with our company.  She is Chinese, speaks some English as well, and is in charge of all our affairs, so she's handling this visa application thing.  She'll call or text us at the strangest time and tell us to "be ready on Thurs at 12:40- I will be there".  So she comes to the school, tells us to come downstairs, and we get into a car with some random driver.  There are no introductions made and we drive for quite a ways to who-knows-where.  The first time it was to get a medical check-up, which apparently all foreigners have to get.  We gave a blood sample, and then each had a chest x-ray, eye exam, ENT exam, ultrasound, blood pressure check, had our internal organs pressed around on, and were weighed.  Weird!  We asked Joyce why we had to have this done and she had NO idea!!  So funny.  The next time she picked us up we drove to this visa center where you have to line up for ages.  Out of no where, this man came up (whom she was in kahoots with apparently), took our papers, and got us to sign something in Chinese.  Then we lined up somewhere else, got our pictures taken, and we were done.  Again, I have NO idea why, where, when, what, etc, but I guess it's all necessary.  Don't worry anyone, it doesn't seem shady, just weird to be so outta the loop about your own affairs!  

Other stuff:

We have a week off right now for National Holiday Week (I guess it's similar to Canada Day, but more time off).  It's actually only Wed-Fri off, but our school made us work the previous Sat-Sun, and then gave us Mon-Tues off instead.  So in other words, we worked for 7 days in a row and now have 7 days off.  We were thinking of going somewhere cool, but then didn't end up having our passports as they're working on the visa thing with them.  Also, we're trying to save our money so we can do a really cool trip when we have 3 weeks off this coming January.  We are thinking Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.  Hopefully we'll be able to see 2-3 different countries, and are trying to get some planning done on that this week.  

Hopefully I'll be able to write a few more posts to get you all updated on our happenings here.  Hope you're all well!

The Differences Between China and Canada