ten weeks in the land of rice

I am spending ten weeks studying in Qingdao, China. This is my journey.

[ten-weeks]

回国了

I'm sitting at JFK right now and thinking about how much I hate this airport, but also realizing that I'm not in China anymore. It's a weird feeling. Also I'm no longer surrounded by Chinese people; everyone's a different color. Welcome back to the melting pot. I'll put more pictures up when I get back home but for now I'm just in awe that there's no Chinese all over the place and I'm actually back.

[ten-weeks]

so the tier I baby ducklings are gone, but their stuff remains piled in my room. i wake up every morning to this solid wall of suitcases and crap, and when i dream i imagine that there is a magical world on the other side, not unlike the world on the other side of the looking glass in the mid-90's tv show adaptation of alice and wonderland.

i get a week to myself to go to taidong and shop for gifts to bring back home to everyone, and somehow this pile of crap makes me feel less lonely than i probably would have if they just went on the study tour without making a magical wall for me to dream about every night. 

[ten-weeks]

So last year I was accosted by Chinese people, this year some people wanted to film me saying stuff and reading books. Because I'm white. And it was legit too, they had two really nice cameras lol.

[ten-weeks]

Today we went to a Buddhist temple~ And took crazy pictures. And Li Dan sucks as a photographer. "Well you already have a bunch of pictures of yourself, I thought that guy looked pretty interesting."

[ten-weeks]

We went to Laoshan! The only mountain I have to climb this summer yaaay.

[ten-weeks]

end of tier I week 2

the roommates for the tier I students arrived today, and i finally got to sleep in and not have to work, so i could update my tumblr and commandeer someone's computer to post pictures. 

last night we had a banquet and everyone performed, they even got me to do a raokouling and wu laoshi to sing a song. she said the sweetest thing after too to the students. at the ending banquet, i'm definitely gonna cry even though this isn't even my tier.

i feel like things are going to get busy again soon, we go to bed too late and wake up too early to get enough sleep, so a few people are already sick, but they went from not being able to hold any conversations with chinese people to being able to communicate for hours with the roommates, it happened so quickly. i'm surprised.

also i start teaching on monday, woo hoo. there's 5 weeks left of tier I!

[ten-weeks]

Chinese Graffiti on Qingda Lu.

[ten-weeks]

Qingda Yilu

[ten-weeks]

The streets of Qingdao and Qingda Yilu

[ten-weeks]

Welcome back dinner with Tier II roommates from last year and the new Tier II students.

[ten-weeks]

Welcome back toilet and my hotel room in Qingdao.

[ten-weeks]

In the airport on the way to China

[ten-weeks]

Qingdao day 4

I'm finally over jetlag, my stomach has adjusted to china, and I'm at the point where I'm tired of waiting for the Tier I students to arrive. Every morning I text people and catch up on emails from bed, get up and eat either oatmeal or digestive biscuits (little crackers that either have milk or a lot of fiber, basically a convenient sub for cereal) while drinking tang (I need to get some of that powdered milk stuff Dailina had last year, craving digestive biscuits dunked in fake warm milk lol). Then I take a shower, get dressed, and do a combination of walking and bus-riding to get to 青大 (Qingdao Daxue - Qingdao University) to hang out with the Tier II students and give them stuff to do and make sure they eat. Now that everyone is here I get to give them homework [insert evil laughter here]. It's weird that I spend almost no time in my room though because no one is here yet. I feel like I'm commuting to work in China lol. And it's weird not having a roommate this year. But I've finally mastered crossing the street, though now I do it while yelling at the Tier II students for not being safe because if they get hit by a car I don't know what I'd do. Probably freak out a lot because I've never even been to a hospital here, much less taken care of someone who needs to go there. Anyways boring post, but I thought I'd update everyone at home. Also Nainai posted a picture of magnum ice cream today and we JUST were about to buy some last night but decided it was too expensive (6 Kaui ~ 1.00$). China makes you cheaper than you already are!

[ten-weeks]

This week's schedule

This is for the students mostly so they can check if they need to. Not really an update. Tier I Beijing tour starts: 5/20 (Saturday) Tier II Students Arrive: 5/20 – 22 (SMT) Opening Banquet for Tier II: 5/25 (Friday) Tier II Roommates move-in: 5/26 – 27 (Weekend) Xie and Tier I Arrive: 5/26 (Saturday) Tier II First class: 5/27 am (Sunday) 1-585-429-8033 my number The potential roommates will be taking you to go out and do stuff once you all are there, so I think tomorrow they're taking you all to go tour the campus and show you around so you don't get lost again. Banzhang needs to be sending Xie and I updates about when people get here and other shenanigans.

[ten-weeks]

Traveling to China: Round Three

My journey this time started on the 19th at 3 in the afternoon. It didn't end until 1 pm (am US time) on the 21st. Let me enlighten you on the journey. So I began excited as most people are and reminded myself to eat what I can't eat in China. I had a wonderful Wolfgang puck roasted vegetable sandwich, simple because it was well made, had aioli sauce, and mozzarella cheese balls! I'm writing this post right now because I remembered the mozzarella. It was so good, and I won't eat it again until I get back. Sadface. Got on the plane after texting/getting goodbye calls, made it to Houston. There I had soul food and called family members. Then I flew to LAX. These flights are basically nothing to me because all I'm doing is flying around the US for short periods of time, but when I get to LAX I have to go to the international terminal, feeling pretty cool walking around the airport myself like I know what I'm doing, and when I get through security I get a call from someone in china (through wifi) so that entertains me till I get on the plane. By this point I've been around Chinese for a few hours which provided a nice transition into Chinese mode for me (I don't do well back and forth, I have to switch and stay that way for a while). On the plane is this nice middle aged couple who were in the US for their son's graduation from college, and I fall asleep immediately because it's already 1 am Florida time. They wake me up (very suddenly after we've been airborne for like an hour and a half) to feed me. I am not hungry at all because my stomach is jet lagged (my sleeping schedule gets messed up on the way back but my stomach is what is confused on the way there) but I try to force myself to eat anyways because since my meal is specially prepared and gluten free, it's much healthier than everyone else's. Steamed vegetables and lemon chicken with potatoes, a rice cake instead of a bun, fruit, and a salad (with no dressing). I eat a little bit of the veggies but really can't eat much. When my stomach is like this I stay away from fruit and grains and meat and try to go for simple veggies, which is what they gave me. Anyways all I really want to do is sleep, because my body is tired, so that means I'll sleep a full 8 hours (which I did), so I wait for them to come back and take my trash, then go to sleep, without drinking a bunch of water, which I think made me dehydrated later (planes dry you out because the air is all recycled and dehumidified). When I wake up we're Halfway through the flight (hallelujah) and despite the 3 different screaming infants, I've managed to get a full night's sleep. Unfortunately my butt and legs are also asleep, so I go walk around, take a pee, wash my face and brush my teeth. When I get back I talk to the couple next to me for a while and realize they're ridiculously cute. They hold hands the entire way (even though they've obviously been married for a long time, they reminded me of the couple in Up) and while she was sleeping he made sure to get her drinks and wake her up to drink them so she wouldn't dry out (meanwhile I'm slowly turning into a raisin), and she kept cleaning his glasses and wiping crumbs off his shirt. Anyways, we talked for a long time about stuff and I had to use that to warm up my Chinese, because it was still rusty from a year out of China. By the time we got there I was fine. We had another meal which I actually ate in its entirety, the gluten free meals are good because they're healthy and simply steamed. I got steamed eggs with chives, spinach, and steamed tomatoes and mushrooms. It was yummy despite being airline food. I also got another rice cake and fruit. I drank down a bunch of water and tea, then read/napped/talked to them for the rest of the flight. I realized when we had 3 hours left that we were literally passing right over qingdao to get to Guangzhou, and felt like the next half of my day was a complete waste of my time, and it was, and it was horrible. So we get off the plane, and because I can smell China (you can smell the water. It isn't a bad smell usually unless you go near a bathroom/somewhere that has been used incorrectly as a bathroom, just kind of smells like sprinklers constantly). I go to the bathroom, welcomed back by the squatty toilets, then find my way to immigration. The line is huge even though it literally consists of only people from our plane. It's 5 in the morning so they aren't using the air conditioning. And the screaming babies? Screamed through the whole flight and are still screaming. I get through and recheck my luggage and redo security, then find my gate and sit to charge my phone and drink water. I still have no desire to eat, because my stomach is confused, so on the next flight I get extreme motion sickness. It doesn't help that it's a tiny plane so it's bumping around everywhere, but on top of that I haven't eaten in at least 5 hours and they give me another (completely Chinese) meal. I eat the rice, and some vanilla wafers my mom gave me. I get up to get rid of my trash (after watching the first half of In Time) and immediately regret enjoying the sauce with the rice, because it isn't sure which way it wants to evacuate, so I run to the bathroom and sit there in agony, not sure which position I should be in because I don't know which end is going to blow. In Tier II we called this 'Total Evacuation', but it's more accurate if you're also on your period. Anyways so I get out and because the woman next to me was rude when I wanted to get up and wouldn't do anything but move her legs slightly, I don't want to go be trapped in my window seat, in case the evacuation comes again, so I sit down in the aisle seat closest to the bathroom. 'Felling better?' asks an Egyptian man who was staring at me as I rushed to the bathroom. 'Yes, thanks. I was having motion sickness.' This guy keeps watch on me the entire flight, asking if I'm ok and telling me when we need to put our seatbelts on, because we have turbulence the whole way and my solution to nausea is holding my head and passing out in whatever comfortable position you can find. In my sparse lucid periods he tells me he runs an import/export company in china and he gives me his card. He also offers to get a car from his company to drive me from the airport to wherever I need to go, but I've been reading a book about teenagers getting abducted because they ride in a car with strangers and are killed, so I politely decline. When I get off the plane I quickly exit and grab my bags, then I'm greeted by Zhang Long, a twitchy guy from Ocean U who Dr. Shepherd has sent to pick me up. I tell him about the motion sickness but it doesn't make much of a difference, but I think it was as much my own fault for being already sick as it was his driving. We talked for a long time in the car about stuff and I decided that my Chinese mode had sufficient time to fully load up, and that was why we were having this conversation about the weather and topography of Qingdao versus Florida. And he tries out some English on me, saying Rethrv over and over before I realize he's from Qingdao and he's saying Reserve (the men have an accent that gives them a lisp, even in Chinese). We get there and he helps me take my bags in, then leaves. As much as I want to pass out on my giant bed and sleep, I unpack, take a shower, eat a poptart to try and settle my stomach, then catch up with everyone. I change into my warm clothes (fun fact: it's cold in Qingdao right now, especially at night) and go out to find the tier II students I'm supposed to be taking care of. I decide I'm gonna walk because I don't want to be in another vehicle until the end of time, and realize its a really far walk. I also realize I can use google maps even without cell service, and still manage to get lost like 3 times. I make it to somewhere that at least I know where I am, then find the China Mobile store. I get a sim card with a group of annoying Americans making me look bad, then pop over to the bank to withdraw some money. Once my chores for the day are done, I find my students and gather them for a meeting. I update them on what's going on and they bombard me with questions. I thought I was just the TA for Tier I, but I guess I'm their TA too. Anyways we talk for a few hours, then my roomie Han Rui gets out of class and we get excited to see each other. I decide my students need to eat, so they all come out and I get to catch up with our roomies from last year (there was much hugging) and we get fed. My stomach is still being obnoxious, but I eat anyways and all is well. I get two huge bottles of water for the hotel room (so I don't have to pay for theirs) and FaceTime my Tier I students, then pass out at 9:30. I'm actually really impressed with myself for managing to stay up that late and go to sleep at a normal time, 2 days of traveling and a 12 hour time zone difference is harder to deal with than you would think. My body knows I'm exhausted though, I didnt wake up again (or move at all, I don't even remember if I dreamed) until 6:45 when the Tier I students woke up and decided to wifi-text me till I responded. Then I remembered the mozzarella (which means a. My stomach finally wants food and b. I already crave cheese) and wrote this post! Also I get push notifications about Facebook even when I'm not on the VPA, so I'm excited. Update complete! On to day 2 of Qingdao!

[liftupthismask]

When you are really close to someone and see them every day, you don’t notice how they change. How they grow into themselves and improve from their former selves every day. When they move away and you only see them every so often, or you see their pictures on the internet every so often, it’s...

[ten-weeks]