Contrasting Cultures

The Chinese culture is just so strange...to me. It is much more different than the American culture. It doesn't matter if I have been in this country for 7 months, or 7 years it will still be different from what I am used to. Since I have been here, I have compiled a list of things I have found to be different and at the same time, contradictory. These things may or may not be independent of the Chinese culture, and other Asian countries may embrace these aspects as well, but I do not know. I only spent a short amount of time in 3 other Asian countries, not enough time to decide. So, these are just a few things I have noticed along the way and maybe it will help you back home understand a little bit more about the culture here and how they live their daily life.

1. They don't like to eat anything with their hands. I saw a girl eating McDonald's french fries with a TOOTHPICK and eating hot wings without her hands touching it. She was using a napkin to pick it up...And we have "Finger food Potlucks" at home! Haha, that is so funny to me!

2. They like to open windows in the middle of winter to keep from getting sick because of the "bad air", but they will smoke indoors until someone, usually me, starts coughing. In some states in America, you cannot smoke in any public indoor area.

3. Most men smoke like freight trains, yet the country as a whole is so health conscious!

4. Most people eat with their mouths open and talk while they chew, yet it is considered rude to show your teeth when you use a toothpick.

5. I have seen many people wipe down an area before they sit down because it is dirty, but there is no soap to be found in the bathrooms for which to wash your hands.

I don't mean for this to sound like I am complaining, because really this is just to show a little bit of daily life to you back home! Some of these things are things which got to us when we were dealing with culture shock. My blogs are designed for me too look back on this experience and to remember what I was feeling at a certain moment in time. This is what I am feeling now. Any culture apart from what I am used to is going to be frustrating. It is simply different and that is difficult sometimes. These things may seem silly, but it's funny because sometimes these things are what bother me the most if I am not having a good day! haha! Don't take this blog as me being upset or down in the dumps. I'm not, I'm just opening the Chinese world to you!

Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to think about me in China!! I love you all!!

"Chariots of Fire" Solved!

A while back; last semester I posted a blog about our school playing a song, but we couldn't ever figure out why they played it. Click here if you were unfortunate and did not read it. :) Anyway, we found out why they play that silly song over and over and over again! Well, we found out that they play it at lunch time, and at dinner time right after classes let out to signify an announcement time. It's just a song before the mid-day and 5 o'clock news! haha! One of our students informed us of this and I was happy to have the riddle solved! They make some announcements about things going on around campus and then they play some songs for an hour or two and that's it! It's probably pretty lame of me to actually do a blog about it, but I'm happy to understand a little bit more about this campus now. When I find out things like that, it helps me to feel just a little bit less lost in this world over here! Well, thanks for reading and don't forget to think about me in China! I love you all!!

Teaching Re-cap

This week the Proverb I used said, "Do not withhold good from those who need it, when you have the ability to help." I asked my students to tell me who they can help... they were reluctant at first because they HATE to volunteer information, but after I asked the question 3 different ways, they began to give me answers. I thought a few of these were interesting...

The Disabled, old, young, poor, women who are pregnant, women, people who are ill, beggars, prisoners, people in disaster, animals, the lonely, foreigners, teacher. And yes, they help me with things that are in Chinese and I have no idea what it says! haha!

A few of these surprised me because I wouldn't think they would consider these to be people we should help. It was very heart warming to hear it coming out of their mouths. Knowing this could mean their hearts very well could be ready for something more than just a lesson on a Proverb was encouraging as well! Keep these students in your Thoughts! I told them they had a homework assignment to complete for next week. I told them to help just three people and then email me what they did. So far I have gotten many many emails and messages about helping people. I've been telling them how special it is to help someone and show your love. Think about this as you Think about me and Stan in China. Thanks for reading! And I love you all!!

More Chinglish Pictures!

We have had many opportunities to do things with our students this semester. We have been on a couple of trips with our students as well, and it has opened many doors. One of those doors is showing them who we are and Whose we are. Another door to open is the opportunity to take more pictures of Chinglish!! Here are a couple I have captured in the past couple of months. Some of these, you might have seen on Facebook, but I still wanted to keep them in this collection! I hope you enjoy!


Was this meant for the Restaurant Director? ;) Haha!


This was at Kris and Michael's school. The cafeteria is bad, but it's not THAT bad! haha!






Same sign with a girl beside the ferocious animal. I just thought this was ironic. :)
There's no English past the title of this sign...why?



Yup, that's exactly what it says...
Look closely...
I don't know if you can read this one, but it says, "Give you supermarket."

A Blog Post for Erin! :)

Stan and I have a friend who is a doctor in the clinic on our campus. Her English name is Sandy. She is so fun to be around and she laughs constantly! She is a big help to us when we need medicine, because she knows what to give us! Our relationship has been growing quickly! So, we invited her to go to lunch with us last Wednesday. She said she knew the perfect place for us to go. So we all got in a taxi and headed downtown. Stan and I didn't know where we were going, but we were just along for the ride. Even though we invited her to lunch, she just took over, she paid for the taxi ride and then she wanted to pay for lunch, but Stan was sneaky and slipped the money to the waitress. :) So, she was upset that we paid for lunch, I mean like mad...so she said, "Ok, you paid for lunch, I will pay for your massage. Would you like to go get a massage?" We said, "...Uhm, ok!" So off we go to get a massage. Well, we walked up to a hair salon and she said, "Here it is." Confusion sets in. I asked what we were going to do, and she said they were going to massage our heads.

So we got a head massage, and Stan got two because he doesn't have as much hair as Sandy and I do. They washed and styled our hair after the head massage. The head massage was wonderful! But the styling part was not so wonderful. In China, they just do things differently. They do things in a way I would never think to do them because it is the longest possible way to do it. I asked the stylist to just straighten my hair and curl it under at the bottom. So Sandy told him that. It took him about 4 times longer to do my hair than it takes me. I'm not kidding either! We were there for a very looooooong time, just doing MY hair!! It was ridiculous, but it was a fun experience and things are often ridiculous in China. :)

Here are some pictures from the day. I forgot to bring my camera, so these are taken from Stan's camera phone! This is me getting my hair washed.


The name of the hair salon was "Danny"!
This is after the hair washing, preparing for some styling!!


As you can see from the front view in the mirror, he did not do as I asked. lol If you can't see it, click on the picture to make it bigger!




And...we never figured out what this was. They hooked these chords up to someones head somehow. Maybe for a perm? Have you ever seen this, Erin!? haha!


It was a fun filled afternoon and I thought you should see how things work in China related to the hair realm. Thanks for reading and don't forget to think about me in China! I love you all!

Engrish Corner :)

This is just a short post about the English speaking community in this culture. They like to hold things called "English Corner". Stan and I have not had the privilege of being a part of one of these. We had some scheduled by our school last semester, but they were canceled due to the H1N1 virus, or as they pronounce it "H.E.N.E." because you say 1 like you say E. Anyway...we got invited to go to one by one of my students this semester. Her English name is Van. I had always heard what happened at these things, but it's always a different experience when you do it for yourself. They gave us presents for coming and they were all so nice to us. Here comes the awkward part...

We walk in and the room is split in two with desks on either side. Van welcomes Stan and I and we are asked to sit at the front like royalty. So here we are facing everyone as they stare, not being embarrassed at all by the fact that they are just completely staring. Van says she would like for everyone to start "Free talk" and the topic to discuss is hometowns. So, Stan and I have no idea what to do. They take us by the arm and lead me to one side of the room, and lead Stan to the other side. We each have about 15 students just looking at us. So, I tried to make it a little less awkward by saying hi and telling them where I am from. And then the questions start flying. They asked me every question about myself and as soon as I got the answer out of my mouth, here comes another! Watch out!!

It was just so funny, because I could tell they were so excited to ask a question and when they knew I understood the question, they didn't even care about the answer. They were just ready to ask the next question. Then the games started and I got the pencil box on the left in this picture as a prize for answering a question correctly! The notebook on the right was the gift they gave me for coming. Stan got one too, but it looks only slightly less girlie. :)


After the games we learned a song. A song I had never heard, but it was English and they enjoyed themselves. After we were finished, the picture taking ensued and we went to our next class. All in all, it was a fun time and it's always something funny, different with the Chinese people. Never a dull moment! Well, that was mine and Stan's first experience with an "English Corner" and I'm sure there will be many more to come! Thanks for reading my blog! Don't forget to think about me in China and I love you all!

Comments

I have had a couple people tell me they have been commenting on my blog and they are reading! I have also had a couple people tell me they can't figure out how to leave a message. That is exciting, but...the comments aren't showing up. It's not that I need to see your comments, (although they are uplifting and encouraging.) If you are wanting to leave a comment and it's not working, here's a crash course.

• What you have to do is go to the bottom where it says "Post a Comment" (I know, I know, that's obvious). Then you select a profile where it says "Comment as:". If you do not have a profile, you can comment anonymously...just please sign your name at the bottom. :)

NOW THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART! DO NOT STOP READING! :) :)

Ahem...now, what you do next does not require anything but patience and the ability to read. And I know you all can do that. :)

• So, after you have made your comment, you need to click "Post Comment" and then you just wait. (This is where the patience comes in.) It will renew the page and either bring you to the top of my blog or just leave you where you were at the bottom. Now you will see a portion of the page that says "Preview" with your comment in view. Below that will be a portion that will say "Word Verification". All you need to do is copy the word or words in the space provided. Then click the button that says "Post Comment."
  
  

• Now, with my blog you will not see your comment immediately because I have chosen to screen my comments. After you have waited patiently it will say, "Your comment will be visible after approval." Some people's problem's might be with their computer or internet. Sometimes, you might have too many "Cookies" and that is why you cannot leave a comment. If you so choose, you can get rid of those and then you will be able to comment!

Whew! That was a lot! I hope you found this blog helpful...if not, leave a comment--HA! No, just send me an email @ (julianeinchina@gmail.com) Or you can send me a message on Facebook! If you can comment, try to leave a comment on this blog so I know you can! I love you all and thanks for thinking of me in China! Thanks for reading!

KTV

If you don't know what it is, you're in for a treat! Some of my students from last semester invited Stan and I to go to KTV with them. This is Karaoke- Chinese style! They do it way different in China, let me tell ya. In stead of getting up in front of a lot of people, you go to KTV and rent a room for you and your friends. I asked Jane, one of my students who invited us, how long we will be at KTV. She said, "We usually stay about 4 hours." 4 hours. 4 HOURS! I laughed when I saw her reply (via text). So we made the trip on the bus downtown to KTV. The one they took us to was suitable for us because they had a lot of English songs from which to choose!

We walked in and it looked like a 5 star hotel lobby! Of course all the people standing at the front desk were staring at Stan and I as we walked in, well, because we are foreigners. Here is a picture of the lobby and some fun we had while waiting to get a room.

So the girl at the desk gets us signed in and walks us to our room. This is us on the way to our room. Notice how colorful it is with the neon lights! And look at the walls how they have stuff jutting out!

And this is our room! Stan is sing-sing-singin! That's Jane sitting next to Stan. Sorry it's kinda blurry, the lighting was weird in there.


They had a buffet room, included in the cost of the room. This is what they got for the Americans to eat. Steak and ice cream. haha :)


This is Yuki singing and that's Vivian beside her! That's how it's done...you just sit on the couch and sing your song!



Me and Jane :)
This is Jane singing what I like to call "The Ukelele Song" simply because it's a bunch of Chinese words I don't know and the girl is playing a ukelele. :)




This is Paul singing a song called "Julia" but he kept saying "Juliane" and they all thought it was hilarious! Well, it was. haha!




This is Roy and Jane singing "Dimples". It's pretty popular because I hear it everywhere I go!




Here's the whole gang! We had a blast together!
Even though we had planned on staying 4 hours, we were dissapointed to find out that you can only rent a room for 3 hours on the weekends because it is soooo busy! We still had fun!

We have had a lot more contact with our students this semester than last and we are feeling really productive. HE is doing a lot and we are happy to see the effects of it. We have eaten lunch with some students this week and are making more friends. Our hope is that these friendships do not just make it to friendship, that they become something more. Be thinking about that please. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and videos! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to think about me in China! I love you all!

Teaching re-cap

This week I did the Proverb that says, "A gentle answer will calm a person's anger, but an unkind answer will cause more anger." I think it went over well because they all understand getting angry with someone. Everyone does. I talked about how me and my sisters would fight when we were little and scream at each other: an unkind answer. After I asked their opinion of the proverb, if they agreed or disagreed, all said they agreed with this wise saying.

After some discussion, I had them get into their "family groups" and come up with a skit. (I taught them the word "skit".) I told them to act out what they learned in a storyline. They were so funny. First of all, they get a kick out of acting like someone else. I mean, it's like the funniest thing in the world for a girl to act as a guy. So, it was fun to watch them have a good time and learn something important too! I wish I had some video of it, but they just get so nervous if I start to video them and then they don't do as well.

One funny story from this week: After the Proverb skits, I taught them how to play Charades. I told them this game was for them to work on their pronunciation, and they needed to pronounce everything correctly for their team to score a point. The phrase I gave the team mates was "Climbing the mountain." Now, Chinese people have trouble with the "th" sound. They mispronounce it almost every time because the Chinese language does not have this sound.

So, when a girl from Team 2 shouted "I know it, teacher! Climbing za mountain!"
I said, "No, you are close."
She replied, "Climbing a mountain!"
I said, "No, you are not as close as you were before!"
*Confusion sets in...and then as she rolls her eyes and laughs, says, "Ok, ok teacher. Climbing THE mountain!!"

It might be one of those things where you had to be there...but it sure was funny! Ha! thanks for reading my blog! We have had a wonderful weekend with some students, so look forward to some blogs about that! And Lee, my Chinglish pictures collection is growing, so be looking forward to that! I love you all and don't forget to think about me in China!

We got a Package!!

Yes! We got a package!! Thank you to all of you who helped put the package together! We love it! I can't put enough of these ! in here!!!! :) Today Vincent, our Waiban told us we had a package because our mail doesn't come to our apartment. We were really excited! Stan went to get it while I was coming back from class. When he came back, we opened it and found this!!

We actually opened it upside down. haha!

Here are all the goodies!


These are all the sweet cards we got from lots of people back home. It was so nice!

We decided to decorate our not-so-colorful apartment! Now it IS colorful! Yay!!

We love you guys so much and you mean a lot to us! We can't say it enough! We really appreciate what you did! These were our smiling faces when we received it!

We love you all and don't forget to think of us in China!

Teaching re-cap...Finally!

Hello all! I didn't do a teaching re-cap blog last week because...well, I didn't feel like it. ha! I've got my schedule all figured out and things are running smoothly! This semester, I have decided to be a bit more bold with His teachings, while I am teaching English. Stan and I decided to talk about a wise saying, a Proverb, each day in class. Last week, I wrote the wise saying on the board and had them act it out in groups. They had so much fun with it! I plan to do that every once in a while, because it hits home with them better. This weeks wise saying was,

"Don't answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are."

Some of my students did not understand this and we talked about it for a while after explaining my understanding of it. I had each student write down this wise saying in their own words and then tell me about a time it happened to them, if it applies. Two student's answers stuck out to me the most. Here are their examples of a time it happened to them.

"Example: On the street, the light turns to red. But there are no cars running in front of us. Two men near me discussed whether to cross the street or not. Then they cross the road and accident happened. So if you are a fool, you will follow them, and if you obey the rule, you are the clever."

The reason this one stuck out to me, is because this happens a lot here. People just don't obey the traffic rules and people get hurt. I would never think to associate this Proverb with traffic laws, but he did. Here is the other one.

"When someone talk about me behind mine back, I just give them a smile." That makes me smile. This girl is so sweet, and I do not know any of my students that well this semester, but I plan to make friends with this girl. Her name is Andy. Keep her heart in mind.

Well, that about does it for me! I am ready to start our third week of classes and excited to tell you about it at the end of the week! Don't forget to think about me in China! Thank you for reading, I love you all!

Why was I surprised?

If you did not know, my Thursday's are full! I barely have enough time to eat lunch and it's right back to class. For dinner, I have enough time to take a 30 minute nap, go find some dinner and it's class time again! I am not complaining. I mean, my Thursday's being so full is the reason I have a 4-day weekend!! But it does make for an uncomfortable entire day with achy feet, back, head, and mind! So I was not looking forward to it at all. In fact, I almost cried when I saw my schedule. Literally. I was sitting in the back of a cab with Stan right after we got our schedules, and I almost started crying.

Last night, (Wednesday) I was kicking myself for getting so upset about it. I pulled myself together and had a talk with the Father. I asked him to help me have a good attitude about my schedule and to help me have a good day tomorrow. Well, I did. Imagine that. Frustrating things happened that only happen in a classroom in China, but I didn't get frustrated. Those things didn't ruin my day. I got such encouraging text messages from my friend's in China. (Thanks, by the way) I was surprised I had such a good day when I was on my feet the entire day, save 3 or 4 hours, over explaining everything and exhausting myself with little to eat. Why was I surprised? Ask and ye shall receive, right? Right, but I was surprised. I was studying in the great book of James. In the first chapter, he tells us that when troubles come our way, we need to stick it out! If we stick it out and let things happen, we become more mature and grow. I learned something this week. I had fun today, and I will remember this verse every Thursday. That's just a start! Thanks for reading and don't forget to think about me in China! I love you all!

Making a Decision

Be thinking of Stan and I particularly having to do with our school. We have been tossing around the idea of staying at our school another year. We would come home for the summer, and then head back for another year of being people who show Him to others. We have also been talking with others here in HangZhou about staying 1 more year. Although we will miss home greatly, there are things to be done here. We are torn with the idea and need your thoughts to Him about this. The struggle is determining if our decision is selfish or not.

We are diligently thinking about this and ask you to as well. There are a lot of decisions to be made in the next few weeks/months, and we need to have the wisdom to make those decisions in His best interest and what he wants. Thank you all for your support, I love you all!

Starting Classes!

I have just finished preparing my lesson plan for my first class of this semester, which is tomorrow. My parents, both sides have asked if we know our schedules. Well, now we do, so I will let you know what it is! All the classes are designed to have ten minute breaks every 40 minutes.

Tuesday:
1:30-3:50
Dinner Break!
6:10-8:30


Thursday:
8:10-12:15
Lunch Break!
1:30-3:00
Dinner Break!
6:10-8:30

So that's it! Only two days out of the week, but they are full days! We are looking forward to a new semester and all it will bring. We hope to stay involved with our students we were meeting with weekly. They seemed like they wanted to keep meeting, so we are excited about that! Last semester I was giving a summary of the week's events in class. I am excited to start that up again, because it gives me a chance to report back to you the wonderful things said in class. It also gives me a chance to reflect back on what was said. Thank you for reading and don't forget to think about me in China! We have gotten encouraging notes, calls and we really appreciate them! We love you all!