"I like soft music"

I have previously posted about my students' lack of taste in good music and their affinity for boy bands, love ballads, and Michael Jackson.  The Chinese also love Elton John and various slow piano music like this one called "Kiss the Rain."

I hear it on the streets, in stores, in class... basically anywhere that music can be played.  I'm pretty sick of this song by now and have had just about enough of it. 

Enjoy.

Who the !#%(@ is Da Shan?

This guy.  

He's basically the most famous white-person in China but completely unknown outside of the country and despised by most, if not all, foreigners trying to learn Chinese in the country.  He even has a ridiculous name: 大山, Da Shan ("Big Mountain").  You have to be kidding me, Mark Henry Rowswell. 

He's really famous because he hosts a show on CCTV-9 (English channel) teaching foreigners how to speak Chinese.  Many Chinese even believe that he speaks more clearly/ better than most Chinese. I have to admit that this is true, but is quite remarkable for the Chinese people to say this too. 

His TV segments are kind of "The Wiggles" meets "Mr. Rogers" meets China CCTV.  He sits at a desk or on a stool wearing solid color shirts with the overlay boxes displaying the sentences he's teaching and repeats them slowly and articulately.  Then there are little role-plays that he introduces which are followed by another Da Shan teaching minute. 

Apparently he has all sorts of TV performances and skits, of which I've never seen because after all the "Learn Chinese" shows I've seen, he really makes me cringe. 

"The Chinese people immediately fell in love with his big eyes, sexy hair, expressive facial features and aura of cleverness."

He was even allowed to carry the Olympic Torch in 2008 in a city that granted him honorary citizenship and that he considers his hometown.

Da Shan is the ultimate symbol to China of a Westerner being fascinated by the Chinese culture and fully immersing themselves in the culture (which we are always reminded is the oldest civilization in existence) and pretty much giving up living in the Western world to live in China.  Not to mention speaking ridiculously good Chinese. 

So thanks, Da Shan, for making the rest of us Chinese students look like idiots.  But on a larger scale, fueling the Chinese desire to essentially take over the West and the belief that Chinese culture is unquestionably superior over the rest in the world. 

It's a trap!

Today I was going to get some dinner and I purchased this winner of a 帽子 (hat):

I also bought this one because it was just too good to pass up:

I purchased both for 31 kuai, or slightly over US $4.  I'm still a little miffed that she wouldn't lower it more, but I was cold and hungry.  And well, really wanted the hats. 

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.

I just want to say, "Pound it!"

 

I've been wanting gloves like this for a while now.  A lot of the girls in my classes have them and they come in a variety of cute animals.  I bought this pair on the street in LiCun for 15RMB and they are incredibly warm because they are wool and lined with fleece.

I'm going to start wearing these in public.  It should be more acceptable in America to be wearing things like this out!

Clarification on the Backstreet Boys

I need to clarify that the students really wanted to sing the Backstreet Boys.  I did not force or coerce them into singing the song.  Many of them requested it and have it on their phones.  The students were very excited to learn the song and finally know more than the refrain.  They just look so serious in the video, but I promise it is because they really wanted to learn it!  The boys are often more excited about singing the song than the girls and get totally into the song.  It's rather funny and I wish I could have captured more on video before my battery died.

Lesson Planning

This week’s lesson plan was the most fun I’ve had so far. Here are the basics of my lesson plan:

Week Four – Congratulations and Thanks

Attendance (10 minutes)
Reading Unit 2 Dialogue (10 minutes)
- When can you congratulate others?
o Graduation
o Engagement/ marriage/ having a baby
o New job
o Pasing a test
o Promotion at a job
Reading Unit 3 Dialogue (10 minutes)
- How do you tell someone that something bad has happened?
o I’m not sure how to put this but…
o I’m sorry, but…
o This is hard to explain, but…
Create a Dialogue (10 minutes prep + 25 minutes performing)
With your language partner, create a dialogue like the ones in the book. Please use congratulatory phrases and express your thanks. You may also apoligize or break the news to someone that something bad has happened. You can make up your own scenario, but be sure to act it all out!
Song
“As Long As You Love Me” – The Backstreet Boys

I got some really great dialogues from the students, including:
- “Oh no! I have H1N1!”
- “I lost my dog!”; “I think I ate your dog.”
- “I lost my son in the park.”


The funniest were actually the sad ones and there was also an overwhelming number of “I passed my English exam” dialogues. Apparently they are all worried about some English exam, which is clearly not coming from Miss Alison. 






The class really enjoys singing the Backstreet Boys and I filmed a video of them singing. It is actually the boys that enjoy singing the Backstreet Boys the most! 


Here is a picture of my Wednesday class from 1:30 – 3:10pm. They are a riot!

Some of the funniest dialogues today went something like this:

(two girls)
A: I fell in love with a boy today.
B: Congratulations!
A: No, it is bad news. He has a girlfriend.
B: That is too bad. Maybe you can just be friends.
A: I hope so, he has a good heart!


(two boys)
A: My girlfriend broke up with me. I am broken hearted.
B: I’m sorry to hear that. Forget about it.
A: Thanks.
B: We will go and find you a more beautiful girlfriend now.


(two boys)
A: Why are you so happy?
B: The Lakers won a basketball game! [Student then launches into a play-by-play speech on how Kobe Bryant saved the game]

After all the crappy internet, lack of a real heater, and funk pockets, the students really make teaching here worthwhile and I am looking forward to many more fun days with them. Except that they really want to sing “You Are Not Alone” by Michael Jackson… that might be the end of me.

Eating Diaries, Part 1

I take photos of food.  Is this weird?  I've only come to realize recently that no one else outside my family takes photos of food.  Well, here goes my food tour of the weekend in Beijing.

Lush Cafe

I've dreamed about their fresh foccacia bread for two years now and finally got to enjoy a grilled vegetable sandwich with mozarella, tomato, and basil.  It tasted even better since I hadn't had Western food since being in China!  Lush is one of my favorite cafes of all time.

Wangfujing Snack Street

I had two 串 (chuan-r: kebabs), one was freshly made fishballs, I think.  I'm a big fan of eating anything from the sea and this fishball was really delicious.  They poured the mixture on a giant waffle-iron thing with 1" indentations and the person swiveled the balls every few seconds while they cooked in order to make the sphere of the fish ball.

Then I ate a octopus tentacle chuanr.  Roasted tentacles ranks pretty high on my list of favorite seafoods and while this one could have been cooked just a little longer, it wasn't too bad.

Then there are the things I did not eat at Wangfujing snack street:  starfish

seahorses and scorpions (still moving!)

Ganges Indian Food

This place has some of the best Indian food I've ever had.  This is a statement considering that I grew up in Dallas which has a huge Indian population.  Anywho, I made a mistake ordering my own curry but I did get a really yummy Vegetable Pakora for an appetizer.

TianChu MiaoXiang Vegan Restaurant

This may have been the best vegan restaurant I've ever been to!  It was so yummy and here are my favorite dishes from the dinner:

This was fried mushrooms in a salt/pepper chili batter.  It was really good and was a vegan version of a dish that is often  made with octopus tentacles (shocking that I like it either way, ha!).  Definitely the winner of the meal!

Sizzling beef was definitely my second favorite dish and was a textured veggie protein cut like beef (really weirded us out) and served on a sizzling iron platter.  An impressive display since vegetarian dishes usually lack this flair!

Airline Snack

I flew back to Qingdao and got a little surprise snack on my 1 hour 10 minute flight.  Dried dates!  Definitely one of my least favorite chinese "snacks" but only outranked by those dried plum things that my dad eats.

And that was my food tour of the weekend.  I should actually blog about what my apartment and campus looks like soon.  Oh, and the kids.  Right.  They're singing "As long as you love me" by the Backstreet Boys this week in my classes because they LOVE them.  Chinese kids also love Westlife.  It's really odd.  I had them singing "Umbrella" by Rihanna this week and it didn't go over so well with some of them, because it's not the type of music they listen to, but it was really amusing to  me to see them get into the 'ella ella eh eh eh' part of the song.  Until the next post...

Why is there always a line?!

Saturday evening I tutored Helen, a 14-year old girl who is the daughter of my program director's friend.  I'm still not sure if private tutoring is allowed, but I'll take it since they pay me and it came from the director herself.  More about this story later, it's actually quite funny.

Wan Sheng Jie (万圣节）

Halloween in China is when the Americans all get dressed up and go to expat bars to pay for overpriced alcohol and/or cover charges.  This being said, it is a lot of fun.  When I was in Beijing, we forked over 100RMB for tickets to a sold-out warehouse rave party downtown.  It was a blast and I don't know if I'll eve be able to have a better Halloween.

This being said, my expectations were pretty high and I just had to get over myself and realize that I wouldn't be able to replicate the Beijing experience at all.  Costume shopping proved to be difficult but I managed to throw together the Chinglish version of an 80's costume, complete with bright purple tights, a horrible purple scrunchie, and my own Chucks.

It was a fun night overall and the other teachers and I had a good time dancing and drinking those overpriced Tsingtaos.  I actually said "真的吗？！" ("Really?!?!") to the bartender when he said my small bottle of Tsingtao was 30RMB.

Sunday Adventures

The other teachers and I stay at a hostel when we go out in the city over the weekend because it is only 25RMB for a bed there and it is about 45RMB to take a cab back to our school.  Plus, this way we can wake up on Sunday and do more adventuring downtown before taking a bus back to our school.

Sunday morning I got up and walked down the alley from the hostel to get a yummy 包子 for breakfast and the lady let me take a picture of her.

I like her veggie and egg baozi's a lot and she also does a pretty great youtiao (fried dough).  I enjoy walking around alley markets because there is always so many things to look at, like live seafood, fresh vegetables, and made-to-order food.

I also walked over to the Old German Cathedral, that was built in the early 20th century by the Germans (Qingdao was a German colony until the Sino-Japanese war), destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and rebuilt in the 80's.  I also attended Catholic Mass in Korean, complete with drum performance right after communion.  It was an interesting experience!

I also went to TaiDong, a shopping center in Qingdao and bought some things, mainly at Wal-Mart, funnily enough.  Jenna was with me and we had a conversation like this:

Jenna: You know what shopping in China is like?  Black Friday.
Me: Or preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
Jenna: Yeah, you know, there's people pushing and shoving... terrible lines... and even worse service.
Me: Yeah, it is pretty much Black Friday every day.  Why are we here again?

This is a picture of Tai Dong street from the escalator (yeah, not kidding) bridge that connects it to the other side of the street.   There are just so many people in China it never fails to amaze me.  I forget that there are 1.3 billion people in this country and they have to be somewhere.  This means more of everything: hair cutters (at least 2 on each block), mini-marts (probably 3 on each block), cell phone stores (5 on each block), restaurants (oh man...), and shoe repair men/ ladies who etch sparkles on your cell phone (everywhere).  I don't think I will ever get used to the sheer numbers of people here. 

As you can see, I have a proxy server that allows me to post to my blog, finally.  I no longer have to pay Matt in Chinese jiao (10 cents) and day old rice to post for me.  

Best Sweatshirt Ever?

I bought this sweatshirt at a store in Li Cun, a nearby town. I bargained it down to 25 RMB and then was told I was very “li hi” (talented) at bargaining. I would have paid a lot more kuai for this shirt because it is just that great. Oh and then we got into a discussion about how I look Chinese but not Chinese. Again.