The Chinese in Yangshuo...

Winter time has started in Amsterdam (daylight savings time), but in Yangshuo, it's so warm that I could wear shorts today! I'm so glad that I don't have to wear gloves (yet). I only wear plastic gloves here, for when I clean the bathrooms. Chinese people just aren't very hygienic... I'll give you some more examples of what I think is typically Chinese (and most foreigners in Yangshuo agree with me!).

The Chinese in Yangshuo:
- walk very slowly
- don't pay attention to where they're going (they usually look backwards)
- are surprised when they bump into each other, but don't say 'excuse me'
- don't stop for pedestrians at a zebra crossing
- get a kick from honking their horns when driving cars, motorbikes, buses and trucks (the noise is terrible!)
- sell meat on the street in the blazing sun (and people buy it!)
- have a bad taste in fashion (I think Viktor & Rolf would die if they saw the people here....)
- think it's completely normal to wear your pajamas when you go shopping (!)
- can't sleep without having taken a shower
- don't drink coffee, because they think coffee makes your skin black (pale = beautiful here)
- work 24/7 (and they expect me to do the same!)
- don't celebrate birthdays
- think vegetarians are crazy ('Snake is really delicious!"
- don't have any table manners (as discussed before....)
- don't care about the state of their house (inside and outside)
- are afraid to lose face
- and are therefore not afraid to tell (white) lies
- are pushy sales people
- will give you a piece of gum instead of money if they're out of (small )change

The purpose of this list is to give you an idea of the world I live in. I find it very interesting to observe the differences and to learn more about the Chinese and their customs. Teaching English to Chinese adults and sharing a room with a Chinese student are perfect opportunities for me to obtain more information. Teaching English to Chinese is exhausting (a real test for my patience...) and sharing a room can be a bit suffocating (the Chinese don't understand the meaning of the word 'privacy'), but I consider it all a unique experience.

I'll be teaching afternoon classes again this week, so I'd better get some sleep now. I had quite an eventful weekend: I went dancing with Kathy Friday night (+ some of my students) and Saturday night (I got three red roses last night - crazy!); Kathy and I biked to Moon Hill yesterday and then we climbed Moon Hill as well; this morning, I had to be at school at 11 am to interview three new students (I told you, work never stops here!); this afternoon, I cleaned two bathrooms, swept the floors, handwashed my clothes, went for a walk and did some shoppping with Kathy.

Good night and have a good week!

Back to normal

After my great weekend in Shanghai and the warm welcome by some of Yangshuo's most beloved animals , it's back to normal (for as far that's possible in China...)

When I went back to my room on Monday night, I was surprised to find a different girl than Nancy in the bed next to mine. Nancy has moved to the room next to mine (she has a whole room to herself now) and Keira, my former student, is now my room mate. Keira was supposed to go back to her hometown. Remember her graduation ceremony? Well, because of the crisis, Keira couldn't find a job in her hometown, so she went back to Yangshuo and is now working as a volunteer teacher at New Start. Eh?!? The girl's a sweetheart, but she hardly speaks English! Apparently, this is quite normal in China. I can give you numerous examples of the (lack of) logic of the Chinese. A lot of things just don't make sense here. (Live with it or your life here will be hell!)

On Monday morning, when I was still in Shanghai, I received a text message from Joe in which she asked me if I could teach the afternoons this week. Sure! I have dfferent students than last week. Kevin, Icy, Anny and Fisher were already in my class last week, but Harshita, Rita and Cenos are new. For the record: they are all Chinese. They choose their own name and if they don't like it anymore or if someone else already has that name, they change it. Just like that! Joe used to call herself Isis. Julia changed her name to Jessica, because there was a Julie in her class. I'm thinking about changing my name as well, because the Chinese have a lot of trouble remembering and pronouncing my name. Just like in Japan, I have to keep telling the people here that I'm not a car! (Toyota Corolla)

On Tuesday morning, I prepared my class and in the afternoon I taught. I went to English Corner on Tuesday evening and to the pubquiz. On Wednesday morning, I prepared my class,I taught in the afternoon and I went to yoga in the evening. Because Kristen, my American yoga teacher, has left, I went to a Chinese teacher. I couldn't understand a word she said, so I had to follow her movements and the movements of the other participants. I thought it went quite well, but the teacher had to tell me three times to relax. Apparently, she knew that word in English. The third time she said it, it didn't sound so friendly anymore... 'RELAX!' she hissed. Sorry! Not knowing what you need to do can be quite stressful... After class, I asked the teacher if she could show me some of the positions again. I tried to imitate her, but I couldn't do it. According to the teacher,I can't do certain yoga postures, because there's something wrong with my back. Excuse me? The herbalist told me there's something wrong with my blood and my kidneys and now there's something wrong with my back as well? I never have any back problems. But when the yoga instructor pointed it out to me in the mirror, I could see it as well: there's a crook in my spine. Hmmm....

When I arrived at school for lunch on Thursday, Joe asked me:'Do you have 5 minutes for me?' Yes, but why? I didn't really like the tone of her voice... She told me that the students had complained about my class on Wednesday. Ooops! The students are in charge in this school, so if they complain, it's not a good thing. I promised Joe I'd make them talk more and do less written exercises. So on Thursday afternoon, I let the students talk for 2.5 hours. This morning, Joe told me that the students were happy about yesterday's class. Phew! I intend to take my students outside this afternoon, because it's a beautiful day. It's sunny and warm and I hope the change of scenery will inspire them to talk more. (Of course, it's for my pleasure as well! )

The hissed 'Relax!' from my yoga teacher was a signal for me that it was time for a massage, so I booked an appointment at Hanna's. I had a 90-minute oil massage last night and it was very good, but Hanna also said that there's something wrong with my back. She offered to go to a doctor with me. Last night, I told her that my back never hurts, but when I woke up this morning, I felt pain in my back and unfortunately, it's still there. After my visit to the Chinese herbalist, I'm not so keen on going to another Chinese doctor, though. I'll give it a few days and see how it goes.

It's almost time for my afternoon class. Tonight, I'm going out for dinner with Kathy. Kathy will be going back to Belgium on Nov. 11, so we're trying to spend as much time together as possible while she's still here. Kathy will return to Yangshuo in December, but then I won't be here anymore. It'll be a lot less fun without her. Of course, we're going dancing tonight as well!

I wish you all a great weekend!

Shanghai - day 2, 3 + 4

On Friday, I didn't wake up until 11 am. Paul had given me the key to his apartment, so I was free to go wherever and whenever I wanted. Ronald, a Dutch guy who's lived in Yangshuo for nearly 8 years, had lended me his Lonely Planet of Shanghai. I decided to do one of the walks as described in the Lonely Planet. It was called 'French Concession I' and the estimated duration was 2.5 to 3 hours. It took me almost 6 hours to complete, hehe! I really enjoyed walking through Shanghai's French Concession. It's a very lush area of Shanghai with wide streets, low buildings, villas and a European atmosphere. The walk took much longer than indicated in LP, because I visited the Shikumen museum and I couldn't resist all the shops, department stores and malls along the way. Shanghai sure is shopper's paradise! I didn't buy anything, though, because every time I found myself on the way to the cashier, my overweight suitcase sprang to mind.... So I enjoyed window shopping and the sun outside - it would have been a shame to spend such a beautiful day indoors. It was dark at 6 o'clock. I'd reached the end of my walk, the temperature was dropping, so I decided to take the subway back to Paul's place. When I was in the subway,however, I received a text message from Paul: 'Feel like joining me for a drink after work?' Sure! Only, he was in the French Concession and I was heading the other way.... I got off the train at People's Square and tried to hail a taxi. After having waited for about 10 minutes, a motor cyclists approached me and offered me a ride. Ok! So on the back of the motorbike I went (again without a helmet...) and I was back in the French Concession in no time. Paul introduced me to one of his colleagues. His colleague left after one drink, but Paul and I stayed and ordered some food. After our meal, we went to the farewell party of an American friend of Paul's. We basically barged in on their party, but nobody seemed to mind. I was introduced to the crowd and seated next to Coby, a girl from Australia. She was at the party with her Dutch husband, Roel. It's a small world! I had a really nice talk with her. After a while, Paul, his Chinese colleague Ting and I went to a bar called Zapatas. Coby and Roel arrived a few minutes later. The temperature outside was still pleasant, so we sat with our drinks outside. From inside the club came music and of course, I had to go dancing. It took a little persuasion, but after another drink, Paul and Ting went with me. To my surprise, the only people that were dancing were dancing on the bar, not on the dance floor ...No way I was going up on the bar! We didn't stay very long, because Paul was really tired after a busy week at work, so we left around midnight. Paul fell asleep in the taxi back home (!), so as soon as we were inside the apartment, we went straight to bed.

On Saturday morning, Paul asked me if I would like to go to a polo match. Polo? Wasn't that something with horses? Hmmm.... It was still quite early when I was asked this question, so without further thinking I said yes. 'Right, then we have 20 minutes to get ready', Paul said happily. 20 minutes?!? Help! I quickly took a shower and got dressed. I wasn't really prepared for a visit to a polo club, but luckily, I had a pair of reasonably decent trousers with me. We took a taxi to a restaurant where we had breakfast on the roof terrace together with Jim, an English friend of Paul. We had to hurry, because the bus that was supposed to take us to the polo club - located about one hour from Shanghai - was about to leave. When we arrived at the meeting point, however, it turned out that the bus had already left. Oh no! Another bus was summoned and with a group of 10 people we went to the Shanghai Royal Salute Polo Club. I felt very out of place and underdressed there, but I had a great time people watching! The weather was beautiful, so we just walked around, sat on the grass, had a few drinks and snug into the VIP tent for a free glass of champagne (!). At 5 pm, the games - of which I didn't see much - were over and the polo party began. The food at the party wasn't great (pizza and hotdogs) and I'm not much of a drinker, but the music - ah, fantastic! I couldn't stop dancing! There were fireworks around 7.30 pm and at 9 pm, we were picked up by a bus that brought about 50 party people back to Shanghai.

On Sunday, Paul had to go to a wedding, a client lunch and a basketball match, so I decided to do my own thing. It was nice weather, so I decided to walk all the way to the famous Bund, passing loads of shops where I couldn't buy anything... The Bund is a must-see site in Shanghai. I'd heard great things about it, but I found it rather disappointing, because the entire area was under construction! I continued walking and ended up in China Town. That's right: China Town in Shanghai. It was great! Shanghai has a very cosmopolitan atmosphere. You don't really feel like you're in a Chinese city, but China Town felt very er... Chinese. I walked back to Paul's place where I arrived right after dark. The apartment was empty, so I texted Paul if he had any plans for the evening. He replied by saying that he expected to be home around 8 pm and the we could order dinner then. Fine with me! I went outside for another walk, went back inside, read a book, looked at my watch a couple of times, but still no Paul. Hmmm.... I was getting hungry! Paul came back at 9.20 pm. We ordered some Thai food, (mmmm!) watched a dvd and went to sleep.

On Monday, I left Paul's apartment at noon and I arrived in Yangshuo 9 hours later. I did take the Maglev train this time, but it went so fast, that the ride was over before I knew it! My return flight was delayed (don't fly Juneyao Airlines!), but my journey from Guilin Airport to Yangshuo went well. In Yangshuo, I was welcomed by a rat in the alley to my apartment, a cockroach in my bathroom and a handful of spiders in my bed.... Welcome to the countryside!

Shanghai - day 1

I'm back in Yangshuo - back to squat toilets, spitting and staring Chinese, school meals, sharing a room and street stalls.... Before I went travelling, I told everyone that I was looking forward to leaving the city (Amsterdam) for a while to enjoy some countryside peace & quiet. Who was I fooling?!? The moment I set foot in Shanghai, I felt GOOD. No more herbs for me, just sent me on a city trip!

Last Thursday, I left Yangshuo at 2 pm. Kathy was so kind to walk me to the bus, just to make sure I got into the right one. 90 minutes later, I arrived in Guilin. I only had a backpack and a small handbag with me, so I jumped on the back of a motorbike (without a helmet - sorry, mum!) for a short ride to the MinHang Hotel (in English: Airport Aviation Hotel). The airport express bus was already waiting outside when I arrived, so I could just hop in. So far, so good. When I arrived at Guilin airport, however, it turned out that my flight was delayed. I was supposed to arrive in Shanghai at 8 pm, but we didn't leave Guilin until 7.30 pm.... The flight went well and the food onboard was surprisingly good, but unfortunately, the last Maglev train had just left when we finally landed at Pudong Airport in Shanghai. I had to take a bus instead and it took more than an hour to get into Shanghai city. I got off the bus at People's Square, which was near Paul's apartment. I'd informed Paul, my host, of my arrival and he told me to take a taxi to his place. Paul was still at work (at 11 pm!), but he promised to be home soon. The taxi dropped me off at a very high apartment building and I went inside to wait for Paul. I'd never seen Paul before and Paul had never seen me, so it was a bit weird, but as soon as Paul walked into the lobby and said:'Carola?', it wasn't weird anymore. We took the elevator up to Paul's apartment, on the 27th (!) floor. It was already 11.30 pm by that time and I was quite tired after a day of travelling (I could've flown from Amsterdam to Hong Kong during this time!). Paul made a bed for me in the living room while we chatted a little bit. Paul had to get up early for work the next day, so as soon as my bed was ready, we went to sleep.

To be continued....

I love Shanghai!

Shanghai is GREAT! It's official now: I'm a city girl, not a country girl... I'll write more about my stay in Shanghai later. I'm at Pudong Airport now, waiting for my flight from Shanghai to Guilin.

Later!

To Shanghai + Cats & Dogs

Today, I'm going to Shanghai. Yippeee!

It's going to be quite an adventure to get there. I need to take a bus from Yangshuo to Guilin and I need to make sure I step into the bus that doesn't stop at every station, otherwise it'll take far longer than the expected 1 hour. The people at the Yangshuo bus station only speak Chinese, so that's going to be a challenge... Long live the Point-It book!

At the bus station in Guilin, I need to take a taxi to the Min Hang hotel and from there, I need to take the shuttle bus to Guilin airport. My plane leaves at 6.10 pm and I'm expected to arrive in Shanghai at 8 pm. But then I'm only at Pudong airport and that isn't my final destination...

When I'm at Shanghai Pudong airport, I need to take the Maglev train into Shanghai city. The Maglev train is super fast: it goes 431 km/hr. Unbelievable! After a 7-minute train ride, I'll have to take subway line 2 to Nanjing East Rd station. From there, I can walk to the place where I'll be staying.

So, I'll have to leave Yangshuo between 1.30 and 2 pm and I hope to reach my final destination around 9 pm. Pfff! I'll have to do everything again on Monday, when I go back to Yangshuo - but then in reserved order, of course. ..

I don't have much to tell you about the last couple of days, other than that the weather has changed quite a bit. On Sunday, I was still wearing flip-flops, shorts, a T-shirt and a pair of sunglasses, but on Monday, my outfit consisted of sneakers, socks, (long) pants, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a zipped sweater and a jacket. The temperature has dropped a lot! On Tuesday, it rained cats and dogs all day long. My students couldn't get over the absurdity of the expression 'it rains cats and dogs.' They didn't see any pets falling from the sky, no matter how long they stared out of the window! Although, pets? When you talk about cats and dogs, the average Chinese thinks about a delicious lunch or dinner....

The rain on Tuesday seemed to disrupt the daily life of the Chinese. They were all covered in colourful plastic and when I looked out of the window, I saw umbrellas rather than people. The rain didn't stop me from going to the pubquiz. There were enough teams to play the quiz, but the teams were a lot smaller than last week. 'My' team only consisted of Ronald and me. We didn't win, but we had a lot of fun and we learned a few things as well (the English word for 'poolstokhoogspringen' is pole vault, for example) .

Last night, Kelly, the Chinese owner of the restaurant Kelly's Place, had organized a farewell dinner for Barry. Barry will be going back to Australia on Monday. Barry's son, who lives in China, was there as well, together with Jim & Laura from Alaska; Paulien & Karst with their 2-year old son Pelle from Holland; Nadine (from Switzerland) & Michael (from England) with their two sons; a Taiwanese/American guy who didn't tell anyone his name (!); and Kelly herself. Nadine and Michael run a guesthouse in Yangshuo, called the Outside Inn. Paulien and Karst are the owners of The Giggling Tree, a hotel just outside of Yangshuo. It was nice to meet all these new people and to speak Dutch with Paulien, Karst and Pelle. Little Pelle spent the evening flirting with me, so I think I've got a new friend!

Moving

Last Friday, Kathy and I went to bar Si Hai to go dancing. I'd been looking forward to going dancing all week, but when I stood on the dance floor, I just couldn't make my body move.... I was too tired. I stayed until midnight and then I went home, leaving Kathy at bar Si Hai, playing a beer game with dice with Ricky, the Chinese bartender. I was sure something would happen between Kathy and Ricky that night, but when I met Kathy for lunch the next day, - after a very relaxing massage - she said that nothing had happened. Hmmm....

After lunch with Kathy, I went to the mountain in the park with the aim of getting a bit of peace & quiet. I couldn't have picked a worse spot! The October festival in Yangshuo ended on Thursday, Oct. 8 and it's been a lot quieter since then, but it was as if everyone had decided to go to the mountain in the park on Saturday afternoon before saying a final goodbye to Yangshuo. Really, I don't know why there were so many people on top of the mountain when I was there - and everybody wanted to talk to me! I signed at least 15 notebooks while I was there. My goodness!

When I walked back to my apartment after a not so peaceful and quiet afternoon, I ran into Jack, Kathy's Chinese (ex?)boyfriend. 'Jack is very happy to see you!', he said with a big smile. I talked to him for a while and then I moved on. When I turned around the corner, I literally bumped into Kristen, my American friend and yoga teacher. Or more accurately: Kristen bumped into me. It was her last day in Yangshuo and she was crying, so she didn't really see where she was going. I gave her a hug and then she sobbed:'I must really go now...' A lot of my foreign friends have left Yangshuo. With the Chinese tourists gone after the October festival and many of my foreign friends gone, it has become really quiet. On Saturday night, however, I met three new foreign people: Joanna from England, Stefan from Switzerland and Naomi from Denmark. Kathy and I had dinner with them on Saturday night. Kathy knew Joanna and Naomi from before. We went to a vegetarian restaurant and the food was very good.

After dinner, Kathy and I went to bar Loove for a drink. We wanted to go dancing, but it was still too early. Soon, we were joined by Kathy's Chinese friend Eric. Eric told us that he knew card tricks that were magic. Show us! He did and we had a lot of fun, because Kathy and I had no idea how the tricke worked. Eric had the time of his life, impressing two foreign ladies, hihi!

Around 10.30 pm, Kathy and I went to Si Hai to go dancing. It was quiet and the music wasn't great, but at least we didn't have to use kung fu techniques to keep the Chinese men at a distance. Ricky was there as well and he persuaded Kathy to play the beer game with him. He couldn't persuade me! I just sat at the bar and watched them play. Around 12.30 am, Kathy and I went back to Loove. Philip (from Australia) and Kev (from England) were there and I started talking with them. Ricky had followed Kathy, so they went to another table and talked there. While the sparks were flying over where Kathy and Ricky were sitting, I had to deal with the complete opposite... Philip received an email on his i-phone from his girlfriend back in Australia in which she dumped him - after 6 years. What do you say to someone who's devastated? I stayed until 2.30 pm and by that time I was so cold and tired, that I really wanted to go home. I walked back to my apartment, but I couldn't really sleep. I woke up early, checked my email and cleaned the bathroom (!). After my lunch with Kathy, I ran into Philip. He told me that he'd slept like a baby... I spent Sunday afternoon walking, reading and enjoying the sun. It was really hot again yesterday. In the evening, I went to Kathy's new place. Yesterday, she moved into a 3-bedroom apartment. Tom & Naomi (couple from England) will be living with her as well. It looked really nice and spacious and Kathy was clearly pleased. Kathy and I had dinner at Gan's Noodle in the centre of Yangshuo, and after that, I went home. I had to prepare Monday's class. I taught this afternoon and I'll be teaching tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday afternoon as well. Not the rest of the week, though, because on Thursday, I'll be going to Shanghai. Looking forward to it!

TGIF!

It's 8.45 pm here in Yangshuo. I'm dressed to go out to celebrate the start of the weekend. Thank God it's Friday!

Last week, I spent the morning preparing my classes by surfing the net for exercises, games and articles. I went to school around 11.20 am, so I could have lunch with the students and then I made one of the Chinese staff members go away, so I could use his computer and print the materials I'd found on the internet. That usually kept me busy until the class started at 2 pm. I taught English to 5 students from 2.00 to 4.30 pm every day and I usually stayed at school for dinner. On Monday, I had yoga from 6.30 - 7.30 pm, and after that, I was exhausted. On Monday, I was in bed around 9.30 pm. That's so early for someone who usually goes to bed after midnight! I find teaching Chinese adults extremely tiring. They speak very slowly, their pronounciation is bad and you have to ask them three times what they're trying to tell you. Explaining words and sentence structures also takes a lot of time. It took me more than 10 minutes to get them to understand the meaning of the word 'window shopping' - and even then, one of them asked:'Where can you find that shop?' AAAAAAA!!! I asked one of the other students to explain the meaning to him in Chinese, because I had run out of ways to tell him. I left school that day feeling very frustrated...

Normally, you don't have to attend English Corner if you're teaching, but of course, you can always try to take advantage of a foreign teacher... So, I attended English Corner on Tuesday night and after that, I went to bar '98 to play trivia (pubquiz). We were with a different team than last week and we didn't win, but we had a lot of fun and learned some interesting things (did you know that an average bee has 5 eyes?).

On Wednesday night, I went to yoga again and on Thursday night, I didn't have to go to English Corner, because I'd asked Joe if I could go to Kristen's goodbye dinner. I could have just told Joe, but I thought she'd appreciate a question more. Apparently, she did, because she gave me permission to go. Kristen is a 24-year old American who lived and worked in Yangshuo for a year. She was my yoga teacher and she also taught English at Zhuo Yue English College. At her dinner party last night, more than 20 people showed up. We sat at two tables, ordered some Chinese dishes, tea and beer and had a lot of fun singing Christmas songs (!). After dinner, around 7.30 pm, most of the people went to bar '98 for a drink, but I didn't feel like going. I had to pick up my laundry and I really needed to buy a duvet, because even though it's still hot during the day, the temperature drops at least 10 degrees at night. I'd woken up a couple of time during the nights before because I was trembling under my sheet! Kathy and I went to a shop where they sold blankets, duvets, sheets and pillows - most shops are open until 10 or 11 pm here. Bargaining about the price required a lot of acting and drama, but we succeeded in getting what we wanted for the price we wanted. Last night, I slept like a baby and I didn't wake up until 10.30 am (!), so it sure is a good purchase! Because I woke up so late, I didn't have time to prepare my class, but that didn't really matter. The topic for today was 'Review', so I just made the students talk about what they had learned the days before. The rest of the time, we played games and munched on some snacks that I'd brought with me. At 4.30 pm, Joe entered the classroom with two certificates in her hands that I had to sign. Apparently, today was the last day for Jun and Keira, two of my students. At 4.45 pm, there was a 'graduation ceremony' and I had the honour of handing out the certificates. A lot of pictures were taken and a lot of speeches were held. A bit weird that I wasn't informed about this, but after all, this is China, not Holland....

I'll be teaching next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well (afternoons only). On Thursday, I hope to go to Shanghai for a long weekend (thanks, Paul!). It'll be good to leave Yangshuo for a while. I've already been here one month! I'm not sure how long I'll be staying here in total. My flight from Hong Kong to Auckland - step 2 of my journey around the world - isn't until Dec. 1. I'll see what I'll do. Still got plenty of time to think about it. Right now, it's time to go dancing(I miss you, Erick!).

I wish you all a great weekend!