Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Years Party, round two.

During the new year, Chinese make dumplings together and eat them as a family.  Many classes have hosted 饺子 making parties recently to celebrate with their classmates and enjoy a yummy meal.  I was invited to my Class 14's dumpling making party today and it was a lot of fun!

There is a certain way to roll the dough out into squares and I was taught by my students.  It's a little different than what we know as rolling out dough, and you have to rotate the little circle as you roll towards the center.  You don't roll out, you roll in.

Then we filled the dumplings with various fillings and pinched them shut.  This is also the part I always find the hardest, but some of my students can make some really pretty ones!

Feasting on the dumplings was kind of a zoo and involved a lot of running and squealing.  We had plenty to eat though, and I was pretty stuffed afterward.


Later in the evening, they held a party in their classroom which was more of a talent show.  It was really well organized (this is my second highest level class) and every student got to perform something either by themselves or in a group.

There were students doing a fan dance, kungfu, and nunchuks.  Singing karaoke songs was a very popular option, as was making up a funny skit.  There were also several groups that created their own choreographed dances to songs like "Billie Jean" and many popular Chinese songs.  I even saw a student break dance, complete with the worm!


 
 
These New Years parties are really wearing me thin and I am really behind on grading the final exams (read almost all are ungraded).  Besides the fact that I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in sunflower seeds this evening, the healthy snacks are pretty awesome.  It is also fun to hang out with my students in a more fun and laid-back environment.  So here you go, my class 14!

I'm off to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon to celebrate New Years with Max.  I've never been to Shanghai before and am really excited!  See you in the new decade --
新年快乐!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"Safe and sound" apple

I mentioned this before, but Chinese students here give each other apples for Christmas.  This is a relatively new trend (as in the past three to four years) among young people, according to my old teacher Linda.  I think it is also because the younger, more Westernized Chinese also want to celebrate Christmas in their own way. 

I wish we gave out fruits in America!  Some other random presents I've received include a mug with a lid and a glow stick.  This is actually the coolest apple I've ever seen.
 
The character is from 恭喜, which means "congratulations" and is frequently said during the new year. I think that there was some sort of sticker put on the apple to prevent the yellow parts from turning red.  Pretty cool stuff!  I don't want to eat it and wish I could bring it back to America.

The student who gave this to me, Myron, also wrote me a pretty sweet note:
Dear Alison:

Hello!

Your lessons are very interesting and you are very funny.  In your class, I feel relax and happy.  Besides, I want to learn more.

Before, I can only say "Hello" to a foreigner.  After I meet you I dare to lots of words.  Although I can't express my meaning well.

I write this letter is to thank you.

In China, apple means "safe and sound".  Now I send this apple to you.  I wish you're always safe and sound in your life.

I also wish that you can still teach us the next year!

Yours,
Myron
I have yet to decide whether I will keep my same classes next year or not.  I do really love my students, but am also open to meeting new ones and having a different experience next semester.  I guess I'll just wait and see what happens.  All I know is that I want Fridays free and all my classes earlier in the day so I can have my afternoons to take my own Chinese classes and work out.

This is my second to last week of classes and my students are being subjected to exam part one: oral comprehension.  Mwahaha. 

Monday, December 28, 2009

We're having a party...

I got a call this evening from one of my student inviting me to a New Years party that Class D2 was having so I gladly headed over after dinner.

It was so much fun to see my kids in a non-academic environment and just having fun! First we watched a slideshow consisting of various class photos doing different activities. Apparently they have also had a lot of field days and even a dumpling making party! This class is a hard-working and cohesive one, so I'm not surprised by this at all.

I found it amusing that their snacks were mainly fruits, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and very few chips. There was also something about feeding each other bananas, which I dodged because of my fruit allergy. I guess my allergy comes in handy, finally.

Then it was karaoke hour...


 
Then I met their homeroom teacher, who turned out to be really cool. Then a food fight ensued and sunflower seeds, banana peels, orange peels, and various cookies were thrown across the room.

This food fight ended after they ran out of ammo and it was all on the floor. There was also a growing number of girls hiding behind me. Apparently they thought I was immune to the attacks, which was proven wrong later. Don't worry girls, Ms. Alison will protect you!

Then we lit the birthday cake, which had this really awesome flower on it. When you lit the top wick, the petals all came down slowly and there was a huge flower flame in the middle as it played the tune of "Happy Birthday." Oh these Chinese people. This cake was everyone's birthday cake and essentially was for the New Year too. There is an old Chinese belief that you should just celebrate everyone's birthday on that one date, or something like that.

And then this ensued...

 
 
 
I was involved in my first legitimate food fight, complete with icing smashed into my hair and thrown around the room. I eventually washed my face off in the sink, but when it's about 25 degrees F outside, this was not a fun thing to do! I told my kids "this is how much I love you!" and they laughed.

So thank you, class D2, for an eventful Monday night that I will never forget. Just another day in my life.

An Almost White Christmas


Yes, that is a groundskeeper sweeping the snow away.

Probably made by some couple cuddling or making out in the park.
 
And then I got attacked by Hong hong, the little gimp legged puppy that one of the groundskeepers owns.  He's really cute and loves to play.  He also enjoys eating my shoes.

So even though this was about three days late, this is kind of my white China-tastic Christmas, complete with a gimp legged puppy and snow sweepers.

Have a safe trip back from where ever you are and hope you had a Marry Christmas!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Have yourself a very China Christmas

The idea of Christmas exists in China and the Chinese are all very aware of the holiday.  However, it's like if you hyper-secularized what we have in America and called it a holiday but didn't give anyone any time off.  I know that in America it has become a secular holiday, but here it is even more so because there is no context or deeper meaning (even if you don't believe in God, you still know why we have Christmas).

There are random Christmas decorations in shops, restaurants, and even my gym, mainly consisting of "Merry Christmas" signs, Christmas trees, and cut-outs of Santa.  It's mainly because of the fascination with anything Western.

Here is an article from the People's Daily, everyone's favorite English propaganda paper, about the growing zeal for Christmas in China.

Alison, what did you do this fine Christmas Eve? 

Oh well, gee, I'm glad (maybe not) you asked!  I taught two classes, ate lunch at the cafeteria, then wrote my final exam for my students which starts tomorrow.  Then I ate Japanese food with another teacher and topped that off with a McDonalds hot fudge sundae.

Tomorrow I will be teaching one class and giving them part one of their final exam as a Christmas present.  This will be followed by Skyping family and friends and possibly going downtown for a little taste of home. 

Peace Apples

Another thing that I discovered last week is that Chinese people gift each other apples for Christmas.  They gift wrap them in cellophane and ribbon and present them to their friends, coworkers, and teachers as presents.  This is because the word for apple ( 苹果 ping2guo3) sounds like the word for peace (平安 ping2an1).

Misconceptions galore

This week I had to explain to my students that we don't give apples as presents and explain who Santa is because they see him all the time (圣诞老人, literally "Christmas old man").  They didn't really know the story of Santa except that he gives everyone presents on Christmas.

I also taught the kids several Christmas songs these past two weeks.  First I taught them "Jingle Bells" because all they knew was the "Jingle bells jingle bells" part and then they just kept repeating that throughout the song.  This week I've been teaching them "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Deck the Halls."  I knew they wouldn't do it, but no one sang "Fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra."

So that is my little Christmas from over here in the Middle Kingdom.  Merry Christmas to you and your family and may it be filled with love, good food, and a healthy new year.  Be thankful for your family and don't forget to think about those who cannot be home for Christmas -- not me, but the soldiers around the world.  And now from the city I miss desperately...

圣诞快乐!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Eating Diaries, Part II

Korean Food

Whenever I get talked into eating Korean food, I always order Bibimbap.  Basically it is a sizzling hot stone pot with rice, veggies, and a raw egg (and meat, for the carnivores out there) that you mix with a chili paste so that it sizzles and cooks in front of you.  The result is a steaming pile of mixed fried rice, that when mixed correctly has a really amazing texture and can be really crunchy.  I found this in the Korean alley in Nanjing and it was one of the better ones I'd had since being here.

This dish was also accompanied with a very entertaining Korean singing-dancing show that I couldn't stop watching.  The girls were just covered in all sorts of cutesey things (one group was wearing bear paws and ears) and doing some sort of 'sexy' dance.

And this is where I declare my war on Korean flat metal chopsticks.  Dear Korean people, a spoon does not justify your stupid chopsticks.  Use the Japanese or Chinese style.  Get over it.

Cheese! And Bread!

When I checked out of the hostel on Sunday, I had a couple hours to burn before I went to the airport so I went to a nearby cafe with wifi for lunch.  I had also heard from Ryan that there was an amazing bakery down the street so figured this was it.

That is a tuna sandwich with cheese on a ciabatta roll.  I was pumped to eat this and it was worth all 25RMB (~$4).  The cafe was actually supposed to be a German bakery complete with New Zealand butter, German cheese, and freshly baked bread.  And yes, I paid the extra 15RMB for a cappuchino too and it made my day infinitely better.

If the Chinese are lining up, it must be good

Let me set this straight -- the Chinese NEVER line up for anything.  A bus "queue" is actually a frenzied mob pushing towards the door of the bus like the apocalypse is coming, complete with squealing girls and a yelling bus driver.   So if they're lining up for anything, I take notice.
 
They were lining up for some sort of cake that I ended up not purchasing because you had to buy it by the jin (about a kilo) or at least a half jin.  They smelled really good and I watched the workers make the fried cakes covered in sesame seeds.


These people were actually waiting 10+ minutes for a fresh batch of these little cakes!  They must have been that amazing for the Chinese to actually wait patiently without freaking out at the workers. 

Airplane Snackies

Remember what it was like to get real service and actual food on flights in America?  I remember flying American Airlines and getting offered a choice between a cheese pizza or a southwest chicken salad on every single flight.  I was so sick of the two choices because it was like every time I was on a flight, they were trying to force feed me.

And now we get charged to check our bags and for food.  Thanks, Land of the Free.

Well at least in China they still give food and snacks on planes.  I've taken the 1-hour long flights to Qingdao from Nanjing and back from Beijing -- I always got some sort of snack.  On the way to Nanjing, I got a package of peanuts and a juice box (a throwback, woah!).  Returning to Qingdao, the flight attendants not only served us water like crazy when our take off was delayed, I also got crackers.  And not just a small package of crackers, I got this:

That is a full package of crackers.  Take that, America!

So there it is, my food post about my Nanjing trip.  Today I booked a ticket to Shanghai for New Years Eve and I am very excited about that little excursion, especially since I've never been to Shanghai before!

Next post: What the Chinese think about Christmas

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Nanjing Weekend

This past weekend I went to Nanjing with my friends Charlie and Max.  It was a blast and such a well-needed break from teaching and Qingdao.  I miss having the university-age expat populations that Nanjing and Beijing have to offer.  The guys are applying to the Johns Hopkins- Nanjing program and had to sit for their Chinese proficiency exam on Friday so I tagged along for weekendfuntimes.

Charlie and I got in on Thursday after much "air traffic" delays for both of us.  When I waited for him I also saw a real dog in the airport -- a golden retriever from Australia with his German daddy!  I miss real dogs and get very excited when I see a dog that is not a pekinese or some sort of small drop-kick dog.  Then we checked into our hostel and had a really yummy italian dinner, complete with salad, bread, and of course, Qingdao beer.  Max got in later that night and after a reunion drink, we turned in for an eventful Friday.

We went to eat some yummy Korean food and then grabbed a cup of coffee before I left them to study for the test.  Then I headed out with my new buddy, Ryan, who was staying in our dorm room in the hostel and had my bottom bunk.  He had done a semester studying Chinese at Nanjing University so was a great buddy to run around the city with for the weekend.

First we went to Jiming Temple in the northeast portion of the city.

It was really neat and the view from the top of the pagoda was really outstanding.  The thing that always amazes me about China is how you will see an ancient temple right next to a huge skyscraper and surrounded by cars, bikes, and people that forget how amazing it all is. 

Then we went to the Ming City Wall which was also amazing!  The wall has survived 600 years and many wars and invasions.  I love seeing city walls because they are just so massive and contain so much history and culture.  The wall is the longest city wall in China and is still intact, although does not join in all the places it used to.

The bricks that make up the wall are actually fired clay and are surprisingly light and can be picked up.  They also have characters etched into both sides -- one indicating the company that made the brick, the other side the name of the person who made the brick.  If the wall crumbled or fell, whoever/the company who made the brick would be held accountable and executed.  Now that's quality control!

The wall also has lots of roots and even grows grass at the top, something I hadn't seen at the Xian wall.  They apparently have to mow it every so often and the last time Ryan climbed the wall, he said it was past his knees.

After wandering around on the top of the wall and walking near Xuanwu lake, I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Charlie and Max to have some celebratory drinks.   Then we met up with our friend Nate's girlfriend's friend and little sister for dinner at a traditional Nanjing-style restaurant in the heart of town.  It was really delicious and we had some great food, including an excellent fried fish, shrimp and my first real 臭豆腐, or stinky tofu.  We also consumed copious amounts of Qingdao beer and had a very, very funny night. 

After dinner we headed out to Castle bar to meet up with Ryan and his friends from Nanjing University who had just ended their final exams.  There were a ton of students, both from the Johns Hopkins program and from the main Nanjing programs.  It was fun to be with college and post-college kids that were doing the whole abroad thing again.

The next day we emerged from the hostel and went to the Nanjing Massacre Museum.  It is a huge complex and an interesting museum, albeit kind of boring just because of how the Chinese design their museums.  The Nanjing Massacre was when the Japanese invaded the city and killed approximately 300,000 Chinese men, women and children in six weeks in 1937.

 I just find it a shame that in America our World War II history is so Europe-centric that many are unaware of the atrocities that occurred in Asia.  There are even still problems as a result of the Japanese invasions as there are problems in Europe because of the Nazis.

So after this uplifting afternoon, we came back to eat dinner and hang out with some new friends we had met at the hostel for dinner and night out.  Overall, it was a great weekend with some good new friends and great old friends that definitely contribute to my happiness in China.
(post to be continued...)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

What's that song?

Today I heard Akon's "Smack That" blasting from the speakers of street vendor selling fried chicken strips.  Possibly the randomest song I've head on the streets, considering I hear some really weird ones every day, but this one had me bent over laughing. 

Oh China. 

Saturday, December 12, 2009

William

I caved and had dinner with my student last Tuesday because he was preparing for an oral English exam as part of a summer work program.  It sounds really sketchy and borderline illegal, but basically these students apply to a program where they pay a fee and then go to work in the US at a variety of different jobs including working at McDonalds, as is shown in the photo on the brochure.  I am against this on so many different levels and also want my students to get a better view of American than this warped cheap labor one.

It's marketed as some sort of "Work & Travel" program where they work for 3 months and then have money to travel around the US for a few weeks.  I question the legitimacy and legality of the whole thing.

So one of my students, William, is applying to this program and asked me to practice speaking English with him after class to prepare for the test.  I invited Jenna along so we could tag-team test him, but it was simultaneously the strangest, most hilarious and awkward dinner I've ever had with a Chinese person.

After we grilled him on some basic interview questions, the conversation took a turn to all sorts of weird topics.
  • William asked us what we thought about love, and apparently this meant homosexuality (quote, "What about boy and boy or girl and girl?).  We told him that it was perfectly fine for a man to love another man and a woman to love another woman and he said this was just wrong and not correct while making all sorts of faces at us.  Moving on...
  • Apparently the poor kid has an ex girlfriend that he is still in love with and still is his cell phone background.  They broke up at the start of the school year, but he says he is still in love with her.  He also said that she was "up here" and he was "down here" (then we couldn't really describe to him how to say 'out of your league').  
  • Then he declared that he "wants a wife!" and basically spends all his extra time out of school looking for a girlfriend.  This is actually pretty common with students and they are obsessed with finding a significant other. 
Then the conversation shifted and he decided that he was in love with Jenna.
  • William was perplexed that Jenna was single and had no desire to have a boyfriend.  He just didn't get it.  No matter how many times we said it, he would just be flabbergasted and say "I don't understand!" This is also a pretty common feeling in China.  We then tried to explain to him about the American desire to get to know yourself before you settle down and look for a wife/husband and he just didn't get it.  You'd think we were speaking a completely different language or that we were from a completely different planet. 
  • Jenna is probably going to teach in Taiwan after this semester is over.  When she told William, you would think someone killed his puppy because he yelled "NOOO!!" and the color drained out of his face.  I laughed hysterically and was pretty much tearing at this point. 
  • Then he decided that he wanted to be Jenna's boyfriend and kept asking her out to be his girlfriend.
When we walked back to our dorm, we got into this really awkward standoff when William wanted to give Jenna a hug but she wouldn't (teacher-student relationship... very dodgy here).  His logic was like this:
Americans : casual --> Jenna : American --> Jenna : casual
This ended in a standoff and a "joke" about whether he could hug her off campus.  On the whole, this was a very awkward dinner on many levels but shed light on many cultural differences between us as Americans and the Chinese.  I have a feeling I'll be mentally digesting this one for a while...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

We will become goodfriend

Whenever I have a crappy day and China really has me down, it's my students that get me through.  They're all so sweet and eager to learn (well there are a few exceptions...) that it makes me job easier and the days more exciting.  The weekdays fly by and weekends come faster than they ever have before.  Each class has a personality and I look forward to the days when I have a fantastic class.

Today I had one of my favorite classes and received a letter from a student via his friend (Stone, formerly known as David).  Actually the story how they changed their names is quite funny too.  This happened last week:
David: We want to change our names.
Me: Why? I like your names.
Brandon: We don't like our names.  I want to be "Pine."
David: I want to be "Stone."
Me: Boys, those aren't real names.  Foreigners don't think those are real names.
Brandon/David:  Well, our Hotel English teacher's name is "Apple."
Me: Touche.  You are now Stone and Pine.
Here's the letter from Brandon, the student formerly known as Pine.
Miss Alison:

I'm Brandon that have changed name to Pine.

At first, I'm sorry that I can't go class with you, because I have something must to do on this Friday in my hometown.  And I think when you see this paper, I have gotten home.  I beg your pardon

Every time, when I saw you, I'd like to speak with you.  But I was too nervous to say a word.  For example, the last time we met in Walking Street of LiCun.  I was about to tell you that there are a lot of stealer.  if you don't care of your sththings, it will be stolen.  But Since I was much nervous that I can't say a word.

In future days, I think we will became goodfriend, and you will become our best teacher.

My English and handwriting are poor, if there are somethings wrong please figer finger out.  And I'll change.

At the end, I wish you have a delight lessons with my classmates.

Yours student
Pine (Brandon)
12.9.2009.
Then there is this little illustration with the chinese chacters for "ha... ha..." written.

Cutest teaching moment to date.  I was also in charge of English corner today with another teacher, Craig.  I basically had to speak to a swarm of Chinese students eager to practice their English and we had some really interesting talks.  Hopefully I'll get around to posting that later.  I am exhausted right now.

Currently craving: Cheese or pizza

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I'm China-trendy

Many Chinese people wear face masks to shield themselves from dust, sickness, and pollution.  They are very rarely plain face masks and attempt to be fashionable, with rhinestones, cartoons, and patterns on them.

I felt it was necessary to finally embrace this trend and sport my own look!

I actually wore it to LiCun yesterday and found it quite nice that I didn't have to hold my breath and dust my face off when crossing the street!  However, it does make my glasses fog up and I ended up taking it off once I was back on campus.

Yes, the mask is a little cartoon covering his mouth and saying "NO!" -- isn't it adorable?

During the night market on Monday, I also finally caved and got some people to put what is basically a giant sticker on the back of my phone.  They come in many different designs, but because my phone is so small, I picked one that wasn't a cartoon (as much as I am in love with Xi Yang Yang right now) but was equally as obnoxious.

Basically, they take the giant sticker and use a lighter very quickly to make it soft and mold exactly to the shape of your phone.  Then they use a scalpel to cut it exactly to the edges and make an opening for the battery cover, cell phone charm hole (I want to get a Mei Yang Yang one but I have yet to find the perfect charm), and the bottom part where it charges.  It was all so precise and I actually sat there with my jaw open watching the man do it with a lighter and a blade.  Weird.

So yes, I have had a China-tastic week so far and have gone on a mission to get as much cute stuff as possible.

The "Twilight" marathon begins again tomorrow.  I told one of my classes today that they will finish it next week and they actually squealed and then applauded.  This week I had them do an actual lesson, I promise!  I'll post about that later, because it was a very good one and their dialogues were very interesting.

New Moon sucks.  Sorry if you paid money to see that.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Chinese Internet: FTW or FAIL?

I tried to google "freedom toast" this morning and was stopped by the Great Firewall.  Apparently they have no tolerance for quasi-politically correct breakfast foods.  I decided that this is a good time to address the limitations of my internet connection in China.

Proxy servers

There are many proxy servers that work here, the main one being HotSpot Shield.  Unfortunately this does not work for Macs and will probably be the only moment that I wish I had a PC.  It's only a fleeting thought though and I immediately go back to being a Mac fanatic.

I use a proxy server and a web-based proxy server to access Blogger and Facebook, although I cannot post anything or interact with Facebook in any way.  It's pretty annoying, but has forced me to email people a lot more often than just doing the random 1-3 sentence post on walls.  This is a big plus, I guess, because email is much more thoughtful and personal than a Facebook message.

Blocked Sites

So how do I know if something is being blocked from me because of the Firewall?  Basically, when I try to load a website, my browser gives me the error message that says "Page has taken too long to load" even though it had only taken one or two seconds to get to that page.  Alternately, the website just never fully loads and the browser stays in the thinking position for a while.

Google images is interesting because sometimes the thumbnails show up, and other times they don't.  Then there's also the possibility of when you click on a thumbnail that you want to see, you'll get the browser error message.  This used to happen to Flickr two years ago, but that issue seems to have been resolved. 

The list of blocked sites

- Facebook
- Youtube
- Blogger (anything .blogspot.com)
- Google's Picasa
- Google image search
- sometimes Gmail goes out for a few hours, but is usually restored within the day.  This has only happened once this time.
- and growing...

Thursday, December 3, 2009

My Christmas Tree


I bought my little tree and all the decorations at Carrefour.  It was really exciting to buy all the Christmas stuff and peruse the season aisle.  I also bought some lights and decorations for my doorway.  It actually feels like December now!  It's amazing how little I notice about the months when I'm here because I'm not constantly inundated by seasonal commercials.

My Christmas tree still isn't without Chinese characteristics and is topped with a pretty scary looking Santa that was included in one of the decoration packets. 

I'm playing some Christmas music and drinking hot soy milk, wishing it was hot chocolate or a seasonal latte from Starbucks, but I gotta make do!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Creating more Twilighters

I am declaring a war on dust bunnies in my apartment.  I don't even know where they come from, really.  It's not that dusty here, I take my shoes off when I come into the room, and wear my ugly slippers inside.  If I sweep, there will be more dust bunnies like a day later.  So I mop the entire apartment, only to see them start collecting in piles a few days later.   It's not even that I don't clean this place.  I end up cleaning twice a week because these dust bunnies drive me crazy!  Grrr...

This past week I gave my students a test.  It would be pretty easy if they were paying attention during class, but if they weren't, it really showed.  I also didn't care about spelling, so also got some really funny misspellings.  I even got a test where the student meant to write 'good' but flipped the character and wrote 'dood.'  Apparently, I am also teaching Liz Lemon because someone wrote "I want to go to there."

After the test I showed them the first hour of Twilight and they really enjoyed it.  Turning the movie off after an hour was like taking candy from a baby and the students would yell 'Nooooo!!!' when I stopped it after the bell rang.  They are also big on making dramatic noises such as "ayoh!" (when Edward stops the van), "wah!" (when he speeds away in the car), and "ayah!" (when he speeds up the mountain.  They're also not quite sure if Edward is handsome or not and seem to be more creeped out by the fact that he is a vampire and is disturbingly pale.  If only I -- and other American women and girls -- had the same logic.

The word for vampire 吸血鬼 (xi1 xue4 gui3) literally means "suck blood spirit" and the students seem to enjoy the vampire-in-love-with-human thing.  They really like love stories here.  Even the boys were calling out "kiss her! kiss her!" in the meadow.

I wanted to show them the other half of the movie this upcoming week but am having problems moving my classes to rooms with computers and projectors, so I will feed the addition in a few weeks.  I now have a 1.2 GB copy of Twilight on my flash drive, any takers?

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Apparently I moved to the Bay Area

This morning I woke up and thought my windows were fogged up for whatever reason, but really it was the insane fog that has descended upon Qingdao.

 This is seriously thick fog!  I feel like I'm walking around in the Bay Area, or into an elven forest looking for the lost members of the Fellowship.

It was really eerie - as though when I blinked my vision would clear, but it wouldn't.  I walked at my normal pace to my first classroom building until I had to walk through this:

Craziest feeling ever.  Please insert metaphor here.

That is all.  Today I had my morning class sing "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts.  It was just me making stuff up because they had already seen "Twilight" with another English teacher.  And man it was funny.  Some of these guys really get into singing karaoke!

Happy December!