不要

“不要。。。不要。。。不要。。。不要”

We said it over and over and over (It is said Bu yao (boo yow) for those that don't read Chinese haha) - it means "don't want".

So here is how it started, we were hungry. We had walked through 2 malls and looked for something to eat somewhere, with no luck. Places that we eat at have to have a picture menu (really rather common in China) and so we happened upon this restaurant on a side street as we were walking back towards KFC and Subway, our fallbacks. We went inside, they immediately realize we can't speak any Chinese so they just led us to a table and sat us down - next to two drunk guys who thought it was hilarious that the waitress couldn't understand us at all. We just politely smiled and ignored them, for the most part. We ordered. The food came. As we are eating I hear one of the guys asking the waitress for 3 of something (there are only 2 of them, and 3 of us), she leaves and comes back with 3 small cups. They fill them with whatever it is they are drinking, and then sit there for a while. As we are finishing up, one of the guys brings over all 3 full glasses to our table - I can smell the alcohol off of it from quite a way away. He sets them in front of us and stands there, he is wanting to toast or clink glasses - so we finally realize this and let him do that. Then he tells us to drink them, and we again go into our 不要 不要 不要, they laugh at us and keep pushing, we continue 不要 不要 不要. So they just leave us alone, we finish and pay and leave. We then realized that the first drink that any of us had ever had bought for us was this - some strong and unknown Chinese liquor, by two very drunk businessmen who only did it cause we are the 外国人 （waiguoren - waygworen) - the foreigners. It was really funny the whole time, and we were trying really hard not to laugh because that would have only gotten more attention.

Here is a picture of our drinks: (the little glass goblets)

Pictures!!!!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!!!
Mostly because I want to share them with you, also because I don't feel like writing much right now. :)
And they are not all in order....

Knife Shaved noodles - Taiyuan is known for them, and they are soo good. [Photo credit: Anna Haffner]

Anna and I made apple desserts! Pie and Crisp.

At the train station, getting ready to go to Beijing for Mid-Autumn festival break [PC: Anna]

Look! We made it to Beijing all by ourselves!! [PC:Anna]

Jumping at the bird's nest

Me at the Bird's Nest - It was so cool to get to see Olympic Park. And the sky was even blue that day!

Lunch/Dinner with Cyndie Junk - we are favorite team!

Tiananmen at night

4 ladies in the back of a cab [PC: Cyndie Junk]

The Water Cube in Olympic Park

A lake in an Amusement park here in Taiyuan - the start to our October Holiday Break

A door handle at the Twin Pagoda temple

I climbed that!! (There are 2 of them, but you can only go in 1)

Circle Door!

They wanted their picture with us

Then they took our picture for us

Seriously out of order... This was at coldstone creamery in Beijing with Joy and Katie on Mid-Autumn Break

A whole lot of randomness

(I am going to go ahead and apologize up front about the length and ADD-ness of this blog post... this is just going to be a collection of a bunch of things I have written that didn't get put into any other updates... enjoy :) )

"Yi, Er, Yi" (1,2,1) I hear this all around me on campus as classes of precious children march in lines to class, or to wherever they are going at the time. Our campus is the primary campus, which means that we have grades K-5. SMBS (Shanxi Modern Bilingual School) has 2 campuses, the other goes from 6th grade to 12th grade. There are 3 sections on our campus, each section has grades 1-5. I teach Grade 1 in section 2... confused yet? I know I was for the first couple of days. The campus itself is beautiful, full of trees and flowers and gardens. There is a track and a playground, basketball courts and a gym. There are about 4000 students - just on this campus alone! - so it's to be expected that there is never really a quiet moment.. and when you get home and think that it will be quiet, you are wrong - because that is when the car alarms, the car horns, the fireworks, and the construction noises start.

We arrived at the school on the Friday before classes began. Mr. Gerry, our FAO (Foreign Affairs Officer), came to Beijing to pick us up after our whirlwind trip back to the US to get our Visas fixed - which thankfully went very smoothly. Being back in the States was such a strange experience. Even after just a month in Beijing, America felt so different. We enjoyed the quiet, the wide open spaces, and the CLEAN air - but we all missed China a lot. While there, we were FINALLY able to meet the rest of our team - Allysa and the kids had stayed in TN while Dale had gone on to Chine with us, it was so great to finally be with them.

The first week of classes flew by, I have realized that not only are schools here quite different in the way that the students learn, but that I also have a lot to learn about teaching. But I know that through Him all things are possible, so I hold to that promise and I know that I will make it and I will be ok - no matter what!

Chinese culture and way of life are so different from what I am used to. Regardless, I feel so at home here that I know I am where I need to be. Life here takes more energy than it does in the West - simple things like asking directions or finding food (and then eating eat) are enough to make anyone want to take a nap. And in China, there is lots of time to take naps -- every school day from 12-2:45 is lunch/ nap time - it is amazing!

It's strange to talk about what I've always been used to, because my life is so used to the "normalness" here - as much as you really ever can be. I fall asleep every night to the sounds of a construction site that is right next door (they work 24/7 it seems), to the constant noise of car horns, and the occasional burst of fireworks - which are actually really common. I've gotten used to the fact that there are SO many people and you really get no personal space when you are in public. It's become normal (though also rather frustrating) to not be able to understand anything around me. If you can imagine this, you wake up and go about your day - but you can't speak to anyone or read anything around you. You can't ask where the bathroom is or buy food. You can't get directions or tell your students to be quiet. As frustrating as it is, I know that I will learn some Chinese - and that I will be able to communicate more in the near future.
---
"Barbarians," she says and shakes her head. This comment (translated) was made, not because we were eating the fish's eyeballs (kinda chewy, not much taste), but because we were splitting the bill up at the table. This normal American custom doesn't go over well here, it is actually considered rude. You are more than welcome to pass money and split the bill outside on the sidewalk, but don't do it at the table or in the restaurant. These lessons are learned, often by error.

One lesson that should not be learned by error, is crossing the road. It is often a dangerous task, but only if you don't know what you are doing. You must (at least try to) be aware of all the traffic around you as you step down off the curb. You must push all fear from your mind, because the cars/ bikes/ motorcycles/ semi trucks smell fear... then, you just GO. Sometimes you can hold your hand out to signal that you are crossing - but mostly you just GO. A rule I like to follow on the bigger roads is to just go when the locals do, you really can't usually go wrong when you follow a group of people that have been doing this their entire lives. All that being said, I LOVE crossing the street - it is so much fun. :)

This coming week is Mid Autumn Festival - we get out of school for it. We got gifts for it - a box of 30 apples and a box of 15 moon cakes EACH. Some of the girls on my team (myself included) are going to go to Beijing to see friends and go to IKEA on Friday. I will have to post about that later.

I have started hanging up letters and notes and pictures that people have given me, so if you want to be included on my wall of (I don't have a name for it yet...). Send me mail!!! :)

(Sorry for the extreme lack of pictures... I will fight the internet and put some up next time)

You might live in China if....

So this past month in Beijing has been awesome! I want to share some stories and pictures with you and then I want to share with you something that I've been working on for a while - some things that you might experience if you live in China.

We finished up training last week, and then had to say goodbye to everyone as they headed off to their cities.. it was sad, but I know that I will see them again in Thailand in February. I made some great friends this past month - and got to spend some time with my Google+ people!! So without further ado, here are some pictures from the last week or so and from all the goodbyes...

Our "class" - we had practice teaching on our last day of class - and these beautiful kids were part of it!

Malaysia and Me

Clare and Chesney

Starbuck's with the Mongolian team!

Our team (minus Alyssa and kids and with Joy and Katie)

So glad to have been able to have Joy and Katie join us, it was an awesome month!

So much fun.

Alicia and I. Alicia was off to Nanchang.

Lindsey and I - Lindsey is in the COLD city of Harbin.

Matt and I - Matt is on the Mongolian team in UlaanButaar 

Chesney, Matt, and I

And now we added Lindsey!

JOY!

Katie!

AND NOW, what you have all been waiting for... OK, so you probably haven't been waiting, but I have... I've been planning this post for a while - and just so credit is given, this would not be possible without the rest of my team or Joy - who came up with so many of them..

... you might live in China.

(These are in no particular order, and not all of them have pictures...)

If you can't tell where your bus is going because the schedule looks like this....

 If you know what a Shoilet is...because you have one....

If you have literally followed the yellow brick road but have never been to Oz...

 If you eat potato chips with chopsticks....

Or Peanut Butter...

 If cars "parallel" parked are all facing different ways...

(This is one of the many many things I love about China)

 If parking ON the sidewalk is normal...

 Or French Fries...

(This doesn't really have a joke with it, I just really love these strollers)

 If you get touched by minimum 800 people every subway/ bus ride...

This is not even a nearly full subway...

 If you take pictures of the blue sky or the moon, because you haven't seen them in over a week...

 If rice is one of your 4 main food groups...

 (Also no joke here, I just love Lindsay in the mask)

 If you are used to seeing kids with split pants...

(If you don't see what I mean, then look closer)

If you get to decide whether to sit or squat when you go to the bathroom...

A few random ones before continuing with pictures...

If you have to stab your food because you're no longer allowed to use a fork....

If the best thing you smell all day is paint...

If your new favorite pastimes are sweating and getting stared at... (or getting your picture taken - we've started posing, because they try to sneak a picture...but we see them) 

If you are taller than (some of) the bathroom stall doors  (funny story..)

If you see 15 (HUGE) malls within 3 blocks...

If you can't tell the difference between rain clouds and smog...

If your favorite to go food is jiaozi.... (this stuff is AMAZING!) (dumplings, in case you were wondering)

If you know how to get to the Summer Palace because you know how to get to McDonald's....

If you have a Starbucks map...

If you order pizza to go...on accident... (we really wanted to eat there, and failed)

If you see at least 1 naked baby in public everyday, and it doesn't phase you....

If you have ever stood in the middle of the (main) road with cars zooming around you...

If you nearly get run over multiple times by cars ON the sidewalk...

If your bus makes an "illegal" U turn in the middle of a busy intersection (with oncoming traffic)....

If you can't tell the difference between the sidewalk, the bike path, and the road...

If you use the word "perhaps" to answer any question ever asked...

If you get called a barbarian, not for eating fish eyeballs, but for splitting up the check at the table....

If you get excited about a McDonald's cheeseburger, and you don't even really like McDonald's (or cheeseburgers in some cases)...

If Chinglish is your new favorite language...

If there are people sleeping EVERYWHERE...

I love China. But I think if you can't have fun with the differences of where you are, you may go crazy. There are a lot of very different things in China, these are only a few. If you asked me to name something I love about China - I may very well mention something on this list. I love how they don't park the same way, or how U turns in the middle of traffic are normal. I love how the sidewalk might as well be a road, or a parking lot. I love that you can get a dozen jiaozi for not even 1 US Dollar and it will fill you up all day and it is delicious. I love the food. I love the people. I am learning to love the language - it's hard. I love how kids wear split pants and use the sidewalk (or store floor, or wherever) as the restroom... OK, so maybe I don't love this - but it's crazy. I love all the dogs not on leashes. I don't really love all the smoking.. everywhere - regardless of signs. I love crossing the road, it's nerve wracking the first couple of times - then it's just fun. Like a giant game of frogger. I love the food. I love China.

I didn't come to China loving China. I came because I really didn't have an opinion on which country I went to. But in the past month, I have come to love China. The Father knew what he was doing when He sent me here (well there right now, cause I am sitting in Washington D.C. at the moment). Which leads me to, I love how crazy things are and how I and 9 others had to fly back to the States cause or Visas didn't come through as Work Visas the first time.

In the past month I have learned a lot about love. He loves us so much, and I think I always knew that - but I don't think it was until I saw how many people are in this country that I truly was able to start appreciating that Love. To think that He loves and cares for every person I see or touch or talk to or that live in this world - and He loves us all the same - it is truly incredible. 

Hello from the other side of the world!

I’ve now been in China for a little while, and I have to tell you that I love it!

There are always things that are just different enough to be a bit frustrating, but that is to be expected in any new culture.  The sounds – it is LOUD in China. Probably one of the loudest places I have been. The smells – some of them, well let’s just say they are not all that pleasant… but it is what it is. The tastes – OH MY GOSH, guys the food is amazing! I may not be saying that after my 425707084752nd Chinese meal, but it has so far been really good food. There are things I don’t like, like tofu, eggplant, or really really spicy things... but other than that everything has been pretty awesome. My chopsticks skills are improving, which is good. Cause without them I really couldn’t eat a whole lot.

The language is a barrier – a big one. I really am hoping to be able to learn enough to have some basic communication skills, cause Chinese is just so different from and language that I recognize that it’s hard to be able to communicate anything.

I have heard these first weeks talked about as the “honeymoon” phase – where everything is new and you just love it all. And while that may be part of why I love it so much here, that isn’t all of it. I do not believe that I would feel as comfortable and “at home” here if I was not supposed to be here. I am definitely not completely accustomed to this place – I still get really nervous crossing the street with a car coming at me, but I am getting better. I walked into the Wu Mart (a grocery store around the corner) today, and it just really felt normal. Normal is probably not a word that most people would describe a place like this, after coming from the West, but it is a word I have heard used several times by several different people within this group I am with. It is amazing how well we have all adjusted.

My team is awesome! I am truly blessed to have these wonderful ladies to spend this next year with. I will have to do a post on them sometime, but for now – just know they are all amazing and we have all bonded very well so far. 

My team - plus Joy and minus Alyssa and the kids

China is an adventure every day! A group of us went to find the forbidden city (not the word ‘find’)… because of the directions we were given on where to go in the city, it took us about 2.5 hrs just to find the place, then we got there and they told us that gate was closed we had to take the bus to the other side of the city so we could go in there… It was still a fun day, just a really long one – but, hey it’s a good story. 

The Forbidden City! We made it!

Most of the group - right before we left the City.

Today, Sarah and I (one of my teammates) went to the Silk market… don’t be fooled. It is NO market… it is a mall, a big mall. It was a bit overwhelming, but I got what a cam for – a purse – so it was at least a success. Then we went to Tian’anmen square and saw that. It was pretty crazy, there were people everywhere. Who knows what tomorrow holds….

Tian'anmen Square

I ask that you keep me in your thoughts, you are all in mine.

Hailey