My Chinese Birthday!
Trip Start
Aug 24, 2008
1
4
13
Trip End
Jul 2009
Shijiazhuang,
China
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The dinner with the English teacher
. We went to a local restaurant where we had never been before. It looked like a hot pot but we were told that is was not spicy. The wait staff was bringing in dishes that looked like refried beans and tortilla chips. You should have seen the looks on our faces. We have only been talking for weeks about how much we miss Mexican food...beans, nachos, Chipolte, tacos, guacamole..... Let's just say that were were excited and hungry. THEN the bowl of boiling water comes in and is placed in the center of the table. We were to boil all of the food and eat it out of the boiling water. So we ask the teacher what the different dishes are because the whole Mexican food scenario is obviously too good to be true. She informs us that the tortilla chips are actually fried tofu and that the refried beans are minced mutton. So we are eating sheep and tofu now in boiling water. I am including some pictures of this and a video of how they take a plate of minced mutton and turn it into hundreds of little sheep meat balls cooking in boiling water. We have tried a lot of food and came to the conclusion that this was probably the worst meal so far. Jane, the final foreign teacher, from England arrived. She is 27 and will be teaching mostly Senior 2 classes and a few of my Junior 2 classes. So Jane, Alissa, Willie and I head to a university that is north of campus to see some friends who teach up there. Jason, a Drake grad, told us to come to his campus bar and kinda convinced us by telling us it was like Peggys
The daughter, Teacher, and friend
! Willie thinks that he only told him that because Willie is a football player! So stereotypical. (Peggys always has a lot of football players in it). Jason's campus bar is called the "Corona Bar" and has a large Corona beer sign out in the front. So it has to be fun. Inside is basically a foreign party...there are Americans, Sudanese, Brits, and Chinese. Jason is very good friends with the bar owner who let him play his i pod at the bar. So we spent the night listening to Nelly, Big and Rich (and actually showed off our new line dance to our friends!) and more American favorites. Later, we went into town to a club and were served watermelon and balloon animals. It was amazing. And then Alissa and i thought it would just be a good idea to walk around the entire place and cheers all of the Chinese people and take their pictures. So I am including these pictures just so you can see the random crazies for your self. I really don't know what most of these people are thinking!Saturday was my birthday! I called my family and went to lunch at a fast food place. As Willie, Alissa, and I were leaving, Willie points to a bike and says something like "do you like that bike?" I said yes and then he handed me my keys which he had secretly snuck the bike key on and said that it was mine. During my minute of smiling confusion all I could say was "It's green!" ( my favorite color) So Willie surprised me with a green bike...which is a huge deal in China
Angela, Alissa, and Sabel at the Corona bar
. You really need a bike to do just about anything. It was a great gift. Later that day, after a long bike ride, two of my students came over and gave me birthday presents. Wendy gave me a traditional Chinese bow that is made from one continuous piece of string that is more that 50 meters long. It is kind of like a Chinese knot but more elaborate. It is very beautiful. Pagy, the other student gave me Beijing Olympic commemorative stamps. One sheet of stamps was created to celebrate the opening ceremonies, and the other was to celebrate this year's olympics in Beijing and the next Olympics in London. This seemed a little full circle for me to be seeing pictures of the London Eye and the Tower of London, the place in which I had spent my last birthday! Wendy's mother bought me a birthday cake and they taught me how to sing happy birthday in Chinese. I had heard this song a few times from my friend Lindsey who taught here last year and would request to karaoke to it in Des Moines, Iowa!Furthermore, we had small dinner plans for Jane, Alissa, Willie and myself to just go to our local place to eat since "all of the other teachers had banquets that evening." Which was a lie that I believed. I came downstairs to about 10 of our friends holding Happy Birthday signs. Willie had tricked me again and had been spending time with his students making these signs and having them sign them. I have many Chinese names on my signs but i have a few English names too that include Fergie, Mariah, and Lucifer
Josh, Willie and I at the Corona Bar
. I got told to have a happy birthday from Lucifer... that is a first. We ate, we hung out at my apt, went to the bbq, and then to the club. It was a long and fun night! I really had a great birthday and everyone here really made it extra special. At least 3 people bought me chocolate and Megan got me peanut butter AND chocolate so I think I have the reputation of unhealthy eating down... but it is delicious! Alissa got me a card and instead of saying "For You" on the front it said "Ror You!" We saw a sign at a park that said "Wickets" instead of "Tickets!" But I'm sure we do that kind of thing all the time when we try to write Chinese symbols or even when we try to say something, we say the complete opposite due to the different tones and such. But is is still funny to see it done to English! Who doesn't love a mistake!You can't have too much of a good thing because Sunday both Willie and I became sick. Willie had a fever and I probably had a fever I just never took my temp, but i was shivering and sweating and my skin hurt to touch. We all have been feeling terrible for about 3 days now. Between the stomach pains when you don't know if you are hungry or going to explode, the endless trips to the bathroom, and the turning the air conditioner on and off 20 times a night... we were miserable. We went to buy train tickets for the upcoming holiday and I thought I was going to pass out
Jason's friend, Jason, and Angela
. It could have been the lack of food, lack of water, the heat or of the crowd... or the smell of 1,000s of Chinese people in one place. It has not been fun. And what I realized was that at these times is when I miss my family the most. I mean, I think about my family during the good times too... think about how much they would enjoy certain things or would laugh about funny situations... but it is when I realize how good it would feel to be with my family that I miss them the most. I just wanted to watch tv in our living room with Otis laying on the ground by the couch; or be at grandma's house and have her cover me up with that silly Jacksonville blanket; or have dad "take my temperature" by putting his lips on my forehead (does that really work?); or watch a Hallmark or girlie movie with my mom; or eat El Aguila with Liz (which cures everything) and watch MTV reality shows! I just went through a few days of being home sick, I guess. I really just want to take a second to tell you all that although I write on here about how much I am enjoying my life and experiences so far in China; I really do think about my family and my friends a lot and miss you all sooooo much. Drew, I miss you a ton too even though i just realized that I didn't include you in an example... maybe I have just never been sick around you! Maybe you would have gotten me a gas station fountain drink or coffee... that probably could have helped! Actually, just messaging you on skype the other day sent me into a crying state
Random people at the club
. But i do not want to depress you; I really only want you to know that I love you all and I really do think about you and miss you. I am feeling better and still trying to catch up on my sleep. We have a 7 day holiday coming up. Monday, Sept 29- October 5 is Chinese National Day. I actually think October 1st is National Day, but we get all 7 days off. We originally wanted to go to Kunming, which is a beautiful city in the south. But all of the train tickets were sold out. It would have taken 35 hours to get there and 35 hours back and a total of 1,100 RMB so maybe it was best that we didn't go yet. So we decided just to book train tickets to Beijing and spend some quality time there. We will leave on Monday and will return whenever we want since it is only a 2 hour train ride. So I wll tell you all about it next time. Have a great rest of the week! Love, Kara
