"Squatting is a surprisingly natural position." -Anna Neilson

Just in case you weren't aware: the above picture is a man squatting. As you look at him you are probably wondering why the cartoonist drew him looking so at ease. If you are one of those wonder-ers, I would like to assure you that this is a very natural position. One that Chinese people are quite accustomed to. For whatever reason, we in America aren't so good at the squatting position.

Do me a favor. Try to achieve this position. I give you major points if you can stay in it for 5 minutes or more. I give you extra major points if your heels touch the ground when you do this. Since the Chinese practice this position so often, their heels always touch the ground, a fact which I have been supremely jealous of since I first showed up in this country.

Therefore: Today when I squatted down, and for the first time felt my heels actually connect with the back of my shoes, it was a monumentally exciting occasion. As in, I felt the need to exclaim and point it out to Megan, who was squatting next to me.

I felt so Chinese :) Boo yah.

Somebody call 119!

Cause that's the number you call in China when there is a fire. Want to know how I know that?

I know that because we had a fire drill today. Actually, we thought it was going to be a fire drill, turned out to be a little bit more elaborate than that.

First off... they passed out wet rags for us to put over our noses as we ran out of the building with the children. When we got down the stairs and into the courtyard we proceeded to squat in the courtyard, and watch a little fire demo. This particular fire demo included a real fire (in a fire pit of course), fire extinguishers, a skit where a family vacated their apartment after the fire started, and (drum roll please) a  real fire truck. A real fire truck that rolled into the courtyard. Parked. Pulled their hoses out. AND sprayed the side of the building with water.

Ok. How come we don't have fire drills like this in America? Cause they are S.W.E.E.T. Entertaining. And informational. I was again reminded that in America we do all things backwards. (I used to think it was China that was backwards, and then I realized that it's really America that does things oddly.) But backwards or no, I now know the number for the Chinese fire department.

PS: Sorry for the lack of pictures. But I didn't have a camera with me :(

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the very most Chinesey-ish way possible.

My Thanksgiving day started off with a lovely field trip. We all headed out to the aquarium. Want to see?

Yo-Yo

Linda

Aunt Mary and Megan 

Isn't Megan a babe?

They got really excited about the cactus

Chase and Blaze

Andrew and Xander

Me and Linda

Linda was my buddy. She held my hand most of the time.

Jump shot! Hooray for ILP!

Lucy

Mason

Random flowers that the girls picked and gave to us :)

Hooray ILP teachers!

Lucy and Chase

Aren't they cute?

Blaze, Noah, and Xander

Emma and Liam

James and Jackie

Snack time!

Free for all... but it actually worked. 

So yes. Hopefully you enjoyed those pictures. We had a fun time. Too bad we can't go on field-trips every week....

But now on to dinner!

Me, Megan, Apple, Hannah, Vivian, Sandy and Emma

The feast!

Mashed taters, KFC chicken, wontons, oranges, chicken feet, scone-like things, carrots, apples, cucumbers, watermelon, and way too much of all of it. We didn't even make it half way though the feast. But we had some good laughs, and we all got to say things we were thankful for, which is the point of the day anyways :)

I SURVIVED!

And what, you ask, did I survive?

My trip to the Chinese hospital. That is what I survived. And oh man... it was an experience. FYI: Socialized medicine SUCKS. Going to a doctor whose language you can't speak with a coordinator who is a pathological liar SUCKS.

Ok. Want to know the whole story? Here goes...

A few weeks ago I developed a little cough. About a week ago a couple of my roommates started throwing up. Luckily I escaped the flu bug, but I think it lowered my immune system just enough that my cough was really able to take over. Thursday Megan tried to talk me into going to the hospital. I would have none of it. But on Saturday night when my roommates barged inside after a trip to Xiaolan and announced that 'like it or not they were taking me to the hospital on Monday" I conceded that a trip to the doctor was probably in order. My body is exhausted, despite the fact that I've done nothing but sleep. My cough has moved nicely into my chest, making it difficult to breathe... so yeah. I consented to go to the hospital.

This afternoon our coordinator showed up, and we walked the two blocks to the hospital. (Side note: they don't have clinics here, so the hospital is where everyone goes --- so when I say hospital, think of a clinic for everything.) When you walk into the hospital you pay 1 yuan (about 20 cents) for a little booklet. You fill out your name, date of birth, and nationality, and any allergies you have. Then they send you to wait in a line.

When it got to be my turn the doctor asked a few questions, looked in my throat, listened to my chest, and then mumbled something to my coordinator as he wrote out a prescription. According to Megan, I got more attention that about all my roommates who have been to the hospital have gotten, almost put together. So I guess that's a good thing... anyways. When we asked our coordinator what he said she responded with "It's nothing serious. He's just giving you some medicine to take."

Nothing serious my foot. I can't breathe at night lady! But our troubles with our coordinator are beside the point...

After you get your slip from the doctor you proceed over to a little counter where you pay for your medicine. Then you walk to the neighboring counter and actually pick up your prescription. One thing I will say about Chinese: They like to do things efficiently. (Most of the time anyways.)

But then we headed back to the doctors cubicle to bully our coordinator into asking him to translate the names of my medicines into English. Because I paid for three different boxes of meds, that I'm supposed to take multiple times a day, for this condition that I was told is simply "nothing serious."

I will not miss the socialized Chinese medicine system when I come back to America. Not one tiny bit.

So now I'm home typing the names of these various things into google to try to work backwards to figure out what it is the doctor thinks I have.

Wish me luck :)

OH OH OH! And PS: When I got home from the hospital I received the best post-hospital-present EVER. Megan said, "Oh wait! I forgot! I have a letter for you." And then she procured a note from my family. Thanks for the letter family! I love and miss you all too!"

I'll be Home for for Christmas

'You can plan on me. Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents on the tree. Christmas eve will find me where the love light gleams. I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams..."

I KNOW I KNOW... It's Thanksgiving this week. And I'm excited for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, and I'm not trying to skip it or pass it over.

BUT. This year I'm extra especially excited for Christmas. And I was listening to this song just now, and can I just tell you that it's never sounded so sweet? Especially when it got to the end, and I was able to think: 'I'll really be home for Christmas, not just in my dreams.'

I love China. Adore China. But for the record: I'm very glad that I'll be home for a white Christmas with my family this year.

Only 34 days till Christmas :D

Wide Eyes

Chinese children are incapable of opening their eyes truly wide.

However, they can pull of some good creeped out looks :)

Also, they are easily fascinated by the workings of a tongue --- and I've only found one capable of rolling theirs.

Teaching English is great :)

Mud Caves

 Mud.

Doesn't the word inspire the child within you to jump up and down with glee?

I got to play in the mud. And it was so epic, I'm dedicating a whole post to it.

 During our time in Yangshuo we decided to go to some mud caves. Our guide through the caves was great. I think her name was Tao.

 First we started touring Paradise cave ---

 which was basically a wonderland of colorful stalagmites.

 Yes. I crawled into the tiny cave. It was only... uh... maybe 2 point something meters wide.... I think.

 We descended a mighty staircase.

Told you it was mighty.

And then.... oh... then we came upon the mud. And we changed into out bathing suits... and oh.... oh... what a time we had.

The mud was watery... but definitely still mud. And you could float in it with absolutely no effort at all. Which was awesome. Excuse the lack of fun pictures... if you'd like to see more you'll have to check out facebook. But rest assured, a mud fight is now checked off my 101 list. And we did go down the slides. And basically we acted like we were 6 again. So great. So so so great.

Next to the mud there is a less muddy pool where you go to get as much mud off you as you can manage. And then after that you head over to a little underground waterfall to get more mud off.

And then once you are pronounced sufficiently de-muddy-i-fied.... then you can jump in the hot springs. Which are right next to the waterfall.

Something I want to go back and do again?

Holy crap the answer is YES.

I love mud!

So....

As evidenced by my last post, courtesy of my beautiful Mother, I have been stuck behind the firewall of China for a while --- so long in fact, that I quit even trying to get around it. And then tonight I walked past my roommate, and noticed that she was surfing facebook. In case you weren't aware -- facebook is a no-no in China. And so I asked her, wait a second! our shield is working?! And she responded in a tone that indicated doubt about my intelligence level.... but yeah. Point being: I'm sorry I've been absent for so long, but it's hard to find the motivation to write blog posts when you can't even push the publish button by yourself. I mean... there is something so satisfying about pushing that button --- if ya know what I mean.

But yes. For now I am back. Until my shield that tricks the firewall dies again. Sorry for my sporadic behavior.

Now. I'll be pushing that awesome publish button so that I can go organize photos to upload from my fabulous weekend.

Be excited :D

Firewall finally caught up with me

Stupid Internet

Actually.  Stupid great firewall of China. That is the reason that I haven't been active in the blogging community recently. I would love to have posted pictures of our amazing Halloween decor. I would also love to have taken you on a tour to the pagoda in Xiaolan. In fact, there are many details that you may never hear thanks to the fact that I cannot access blogger at the moment. So here I sit, typing in this word document which I will later paste into an e-mail and beg my Mother to post on my blog. 

So yes. I guess I have a bit to catch up on. 

Let's start with Halloween. I know it was a bit ago, but Halloween here was kind of a big deal.

I spent a LONG time pinning up various decorations. And making the place cute. As in, we spent a few days prior to the party just decorating for it. And then for the actual day of I dressed up as a princess, and I had my boys in knight costumes, and my girls dressed up as fairies. Did I make all these costumes you ask? Why yes, I did. And they turned out pretty cute if I do say so, especially since they were made mainly from fabric samples. 

During the actual party I got to perform a dance with the other teachers. In front of the whole school. And parents who decided to show up for the party. Kind of awkward, but kinda fun at the same time. Then later I got to run the face painting booth. Adding whiskers to cute little Chinese cheeks and painting stars and hearts and flowers and moustaches and goatees and whatever else you can think of. Talk about fun. Yes. You should be jealous. Needless to say, Halloween was a fun time. Prolly more work than it was worth, but that's ok.

Now let's move on to mid semester visits, and my new found love: pumpkin and taro soup. Oh my heck. I wish we had taro in America. In fact, I wish we had soup from Guangdong in America, because soup here in China is mucho better than soup in the states. But anyways. Mid semester visits --- that's when a director shows up and checks on us, the school, and makes sure that everything is going pretty well. I can't believe that they're now over. But at the same time, I am realizing that I've been in China for a while. Lots of things that used to shock me, no longer do. The traffic system with no rules --- I don't even bat an eye when I spot someone going down the street the wrong way in a car. I've pretty much forgotten what real chocolate tastes like, and I'm a bit worried that candy in general will be much too sweet when I come back. My box spring with blankets on top --- yes I find it extremely comfortable. Will I be able to sleep on a soft bed when I get back? Your guess is as good as mine.   Also. The idea of drinking out of the tap now freaks me out; whereas a couple months ago the idea of not drinking out of the tap was odd. 

Point being: I've been here for almost 3 months, I'm very much used to things, and that thought is kinda crazy.

Tonight I head off for Yangshuo. (I'm fairly certain that's how it's spelled; at least I hope so.) You should Google it, because it's going to be awesome..... I'll have to tell you more about it when I get back.