Weekend in Yangshuo

On Friday afternoon, I received a text message from Joe in which she told me that she couldn't give me a teaching job. Bummer. I asked her if I could become a Volunteer Teacher at New Start in return for accommodation. She texted back that she could put me up in one of the school's apartments in return for joining English Corner two nights a week. Deal! Unfortunately, none of the school apartments is available at the moment, so I'm still staying at an hotel.

Barry and I had dinner at '7th Heaven' on Friday night. You'll find a lot of 'love & happiness' here in China - on T-shirts, keyrings, hotels and restaurants. I'm not so sure about the presence of love and happiness in daily life. The people in Yangshuo (Chinese and foreigners) seem to like alcohol a lot and as a result, there are quite a lot of fights as well. Not last Friday, though. Barry and I were enjoying our food when Sinan, Kathy, Johnny and their kung fu teacher George sat down at the table next to us. Kathy and I agreed to meet each other at New Start College at 9.30 pm, so we could go dancing. Some of Kathy's students went with us as well. The first bar we went into, had horrible music and the second wasn't much better! When we were walking in West Street, Yangshuo's main street, a Chinese woman stopped us and asked:'Do you have a moment, please? I'd like to introduce you to my friends. Is that okay?' Sure, why not. Her 'friends', however, turned out to be 4 slightly older Chinese men who were hoping to get more out of us than just a friendly 'hello'.... Kathy and I accepted a drink from them and finished it quickly whilst keeping the conversation as general and polite as possible. We ran into the first bar that we saw and there, they played music we could dance to - at last! Some kung fu moves would have been useful to keep the Chinese men at a distance (can anyone please tell them what 'personal space' means?!?), but at least we were dancing!

I woke up late on Saturday. I'd agreed to go to the Yulong river with Kristen, Johnny, Tom and Tom's Chinese girlfriend Nimbo. Johnny and I went on a motorcycle taxi that took us to the river in about 20 minutes. The Yulong river is surrounded by mountains and absolutely beautiful. There's bridge you can jump off from, you can swim in the river and you can bask yourself in the sunlight on the river banks. Tom (Englishman) made a comment about my extremely white legs, but his girlfriend said that she envied my pale skin! At the end of the afternoon, we all went back to the center of Yangshuo. Johnny and I had dinner together and then we went to The Alley (bar) to watch the football/soccer match between Arsenal and Wigan. Across from The Alley, Tom was having his farewell party at bar Looove, so after the first half of the match, we went to Looove and stayed there for the rest of the evening. At Looove, I had an interesting conversation with Stephen, an Irish architect, who had just arrived in Yangshuo. He's been travelling for 2 years (!) and had fascinating stories to tell. I went to bed late again (or actually, it was early...), and even though I had set my alarm clock, I didn't wake up until 12.30 pm. I went for a long walk this afternoon, bumped into Stephen twice, went back to the hotel to have a shower (it's still extremely hot here) and had dinner alone. I'm typing this from the computer in the lobby of my hotel. On my way to the hotel, I bumped into Tom, Naomi and Kathy and they asked me to meet them downtown later, so I'll be going back in a sec.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I hope my ex-McK colleagues had fun during SAFE!

Funny Facts

Chinese babies don't wear diapers, but clothes with a few extra holes. Whenever they feel the need to do you-know-what, all they have to do is squat...

When I was in the supermarket the other day, the cashier didn't have small change. Guess what she gave me instead of 20 cents? A piece of Wrigley's chewing gum!

One night, when I was at a restaurant, I decided to order soup for a change. I don't really like soup, but I'd just received an email from someone telling me to monitor my salt intake (see D., I do listen!). So I ordered a vegetable and tofu soup. When the waitress brought the bowl of soup over to me, she gave me chopsticks, but no spoon. I was a little bit surprised, but I didn't want to let it show, so I started fishing out the chunks of tofu and vegetable with my chopsticks. When I was halfway, I heard slurping sounds coming from the table next to me... No way I was going to do that! But then I figured that it would probably be weirder to ask for a spoon, so I drank my soup as quietely as possible.... I think I'd fail the Chinese 'inburgeringscursus'!

In Yangshuo, there are shops that only sell one item: there's a ricecooker shop (you can choose between three different kinds) and there's a soymilk shop (you can choose between yellow, green and black beans). I can't believe they can exist! (The yellow bean soymilk is very good by the way.)

I wish you all a great weekend!

Done

Yesterday afternoon, I was supposed to teach at Outdoor English College. That is what Simon and I had agreed upon. When I arrived at OEC, however, it turned out that Simon had hired a Swedish teacher... Simon wasn't even there to tell me this face to face. He called the school, because he knew I'd be there. The guy that answered the phone, passed the phone on to me. Simon told me that he'd hired someone else. When I asked him why, he said:'Because she looks friendlier'. What?!? I was so fed up with this guy! I told him that I thought it was really unfair. Then he told me that he thought it would be better if I went to a school in a town 3 hours from Yangshuo. No way! On Tuesday, Simon had asked me how I was. When I didn't answer, he'd started guessing. '22? 19?' Yesterday, I told him my age and I also told him that I'm not a kid anymore and that I'd had enough of his childish games. I was really angry. Shame that he wasn't standing in front of me... (He's half my height, by the way...!).

Now, I know it's hard to believe, but after my phone call with Simon, I really missed my office job. Yep, I really did. So then I thought 'This is NOT good. I'll go to New Start and tell Joe that I'd like to become a volunteer'. Since OEC and New Start are on the same road, I didn't have to walk very far. When I went into Joe's office, she said:'Carola, nice to see you! I was just about to send you an email, because I may have a job for you and I think you deserve a second chance after your demo class'. Right. This was not going according to plan.... I had a long conversation with Joe in which I told her that I was nervous when I had to teach five teachers and pretend they were students. I also told her that I didn't want to teach fulltime and that I'd appreciate a little bit of guidance. After having talked for almost an hour, we agreed that I'd meet the students on Thursday (today), talk to their current teacher and then decide whether I'd accept the job or not. Deal! So I went to New Start this afternoon, sat in on Vanda's class, talked a bit with Vanda and now I'm still none the wiser. The students have a say in this as well (if they don't like me, I'm out), so I hope to receive the 'verdict' tomorrow. To be continued...

Yesterday afternoon, after my conversation with Joe, I went to the park to climb the mountain. It's a mountain with steps and it isn't very high, with for me, it's quite a challenge. When I'd finally reached the top, I was soaked, because it was really hot. After a few minutes, however, it started pouring. Oh no! The steps were very slippery, so I decided to wait under the arch until the rain would stop. I waited and waited, but it was still pouring. I really wanted to go to yoga at 6.30 pm - I figured folding my body in weird positions would help get Simon out of my system - , so at 6.10 pm I went downstairs. The Chinese people that had been waiting with me under the arch were very loyal: they went downstairs with me! Maybe they were thinking 'We might as well go all together'? Anyway, I was in time for my yoga class and I felt much better afterwards. I had dinner with Steve, an American guy from Atlanta, Georgia (with matching accent!).

Tonight, I had dinner alone for the first time in days. Poor me! I had to eat early, because I was expected to join English Corner at New Start. Sinan (from Belgium) was at English Corner as well. The topic for tonight was 'Sex Education' - needless to say that the Chinese students were very interested in this topic! It was good for them to practice their English and it was interesting for me to learn a little bit more about their culture. After English Corner, Sinan and I went to a bar downtown. Tom and Dan (both from England) joined us a little later. Tomorrow night, I'm going dancing with Kathy and her students. I'm really looking forward to that, although I'm not sure if I can dance on my Teva sandals... (Unfortunately, there wasn't any room in my suitcase for my dancing shoes....)

It's bedtime on this side of the planet. Have a good evening!

Pubquiz!!!

Op verzoek in het Nederlands...

Gisteravond was het pubquizavond in bar '98. Roland had mij gevraagd of ik het Nederlandse team bestaande uit Ronald en Robert (allebei eind dertig) wilde versterken, omdat Roland zelf er niet bij kon zijn. Eigenlijk had ik niet zo heel veel zin, maar ik dacht 'Ach, is weer eens iets anders'. De quiz bestond uit 20 vragen een 1 bonusvraag. De vragen waren gemaakt door de Australische (?) eigenaar van de bar. Volgens mij waren er vier teams en ik denk dat ons team verloren had. Ik weet 't niet zeker, omdat ik al weg was toen de winnaar bekend gemaakt werd. Behalve Robert en Ronald zaten ook Chris (een gepensioneerde dokter uit Australie), Freaky Frank en Johnny in ons team. Geen Nederlanders nee, maar dat maakte niet uit. Ik geloof dat ik maar bij 1 vraag heb kunnen helpen (!), maar desondanks hebben Ronald en Robert gevraagd of ik volgende week weer wil komen. Ik zal er over nadenken...

Gistermiddag zou ik een les bijwonen op het Outdoor English College waar de Chinese Simon de scepter zwaait. Toen ik daar echter aankwam, zei Simon:'Ik wil dat je vanmiddag les geeft. Mijn Amerikaanse docent is namelijk vertrokken. Je hebt nog 15 minuten om kopie-en te maken'. Wat?!? Dat was helemaal niet de afspraak! Een heleboel mensen hadden mij al gewaarschuwd dat Simon zulke streken uithaalt. Heel irritant. Gelukkig wilde hij me wel betalen voordat de les begon. Ik heb les gegeven aan drie jongens (19, 25 en 26 jaar oud) en het was best leuk. Deze jongens hadden een iets hoger niveau dan de 7 leerlingen die ik 's ochtends had onderwezen op het Zhuo Yue College. Eigenlijk zou ik vanmorgen een les bijwonen op het OEC, maar toen om 7.30 uur de wekker ging, dacht ik 'Stik maar in'. Ik heb me omgedraaid en ben weer in slaap gevallen. Simon had mij namelijk ook al 3 keer beloofd dat hij een appartement voor me zou regelen. Iedere keer had hij echter een slap excuus als ik hem ernaar vroeg en dat was gisteren ook weer zo. Ik had echter dringend een bed nodig, dus ben ik zelf maar op zoek gegaan naar een goedkoop hotel. Ik heb nu een kamer op de begane grond (hoefde ik m'n koffer tenminste niet de trap op te sjouwen!) met een westers toilet (erg belangrijk!) voor de helft van wat ik betaalde in het andere hotel. En ik heb nog lekker geslapen ook! Een appartement zou nog goedkoper zijn, maar voorlopig is er niks vrij of het appartement is te duur/te klein/zonder westers toilet. Het moet wel een beetje leuk blijven...

Gisteren en vannacht heeft het heel hard geregend en u is het gelukkig een beetje afgekoeld. Ik loop nog steeds op slippers en in een T-shirt, maar nu wel met een lange broek i.p.v. een korte - en de mensen staren nog steeds, haha! Ik heb inmiddels ook al behoorlijk wat bijnamen verzameld: little one, Olivia Newton John (!), Jodie Foster (zo noemden ze me in Japan ook), 'car' (refererend naar Toyota Corolla) en Sneeuwwwitje (omdat ik regelmatig appels eet). Ach ja, er zijn ergere namen denkbaar. Mijn uiterlijk werkt echter ook in mijn nadeel, heb ik gemerkt. Mensen denken dat ik 19 (!) ben en zeker als ik voor de klas sta, moet ik echt respect afdwingen. Als ik mijn echte leeftijd vertel, slaan mensen steil achterover. Het is natuurlijk een compliment, maar niet altijd handig....

Vanavond wil ik een yogales volgen van de Amerikaanse Kristen. Tijdens die les zal waarschijnlijk wel blijken dat ik ietsje pietsje ouder ben dan 19....!!!

Drink - Drunk - Drunk?

They say that 'the Chinese eat anything on four legs, except an table' and 'anything that flies, except an airplane'. I think it's true. Also, it's very common to select your dinner when it's still alive. If you like, they'll show you how they kill it. Yuk! With my dietary restrictions, it isn't easy to find food that I can eat and that I like. When I tell Chinese people that I don't eat pork and beef, the response I usually get is:'Are you a monk?!?' No, I'm not, but I'd rather be a monk than eat duck head or the internal organs of an ox.... Even in the supermarket, you can buy fishy snacks in plastic bags. Fishy snacks are quite ok - think 'kroepoek' -, but the eyes staring at me through the plastic really make me lose my appetite....

The Chinese in Yangshuo have 3 price levels: one for locals, one for Chinese tourists and one for non-Chinese tourists. You know you're being ripped off because of your skin colour. I can't stand that! I know it won't change. My classes about honesty haven't made any impression at all....

Yesterday, I looked at a few apartments, but with October Festival coming up, the prices go up as well. Bad timing. I really hope the Outdoor English College can put me up somewhere, because I checked out from the hotel this morning, so I don't have a bed for tonight... We'll see.

Yesterday, I also had dinner with Kathy, the Belgian teacher. We went to a place where you can eat rice and vegetables - freshly 'wokked' - for only 6 yuan (about 60 euro cents). It was very good food! When I went to the supermarket for water later on, I met a lovely Dutch couple. It was good to talk in Dutch for a while. When I walked out of the supermarket, I bumped into Johnny, a teacher from England. We went to a bar for a drink and he persuaded me to have a gin-and-tonic. Uh-oh! Freaky Frank (think: Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, golden tooth and all) was also at the bar and later, a couple from Canada joined us as well. We had good fun, but I did have to teach this morning... Ooops! Of course, I overslept, but I don't think my students noticed that I wasn't really awake yet...!! At least, I slept last night! Oh, I've got more shocking news: it's so hot here, that even I wear shorts (the only pair I've brought) and dresses. My white legs don't seem to scare the Chinese. Sorry, what are you saying? Oooooh, is that why they stare at me...?

Talk to you later!

Teach - Taught - Have Taught

Today I taught my first class - hooray! And they're all still alive!

I had to teach a level 2 class of seven students. Level 2 means that the students have a basic understanding of English, a good understanding of grammar, but a lousy way of speaking. My patience got really tested today... The topic for this morning's class was 'honesty'. Well, I've learned something as well: 'honesty' is not in Chinese people's dictionaries... They think it's okay to lie - which made it very difficult for me to make them understand the meaning of the word! I taught from 9.00 - 11.30 am and I think I did a pretty good job, because the students were disappointed when I told them that tomorrow morning will be my last class. Unfortunately, there are no job openings at that school at the moment, so after class was over, I went straight to the Outdoor English College. I'll probably start there on Wednesday. Simon, the Director of OEC has tried to persuade me to work for his school since the day I arrived here. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a very good reputation, but I've decided to give him and his school a chance. The only thing is: Simon's school doesn't use books. The only thing the teacher has to do is make the students talk. Right. Interesting. I'm going to find out if that really works tomorrow afternoon. If Simon and I can reach an agreement, I'll only work from 2.30 -5.00 pm every day and I'll get an apartment, food and some pocket money in return. Not a bad deal, if you ask me!

Last night, Barry took me out for dinner. Barry is 75, so I was right about his age. He's taught English all around the world for years and he was generous enough to share some of his teaching experiences with me. He gave me sheets with exercises and warmers, two books I can use in class (one about grammar, the other about vocabulary) and a lot of general advice. I'm very lucky Roland introduced me to him, because he's been a great help.

I'll be looking for an apartment later today with Kathy, the Belgian teacher. Can't hurt to see what's out here before I accept one of Simon's apartments...

I've got to go now. There are other people who'd like to use the computer. Have a nice day!

Teaching

My demo class on Friday wasn't good enough, because 'you are tired, you are not energetic enough'. Right. Thank you for your honesty, but it doesn't make sense to me at all...

On Saturday, I finally met Roland, my Dutch contact person. Roland has been in Yangshuo for 3 years. He runs the Mandacentre (www.mandacentre.com), he works as a tour guide for a Dutch organisation and he used to own the cafe where we had agreed to meet. Busy man! Barry, an Australian guy with years of teaching experience in various countries, also joined Roland and me. Barry must be in his seventies, I think. Jennifer, Roland's Chinese wife, also joined us. When I told Roland and Barry about my demo class at New Start, they both said 'What a load of crap!'. According to Barry, Joe, the recruiter at New Start, has never taught in her life, so she doesn't know what she's talking about. Barry thinks Joe rejected me because I'm pretty. What?!? I thought my teaching skills mattered, not my looks... I get stared at over here and people photograph me as well. In that sense, China is quite similar to Japan.

Anyway, Barry couldn't get over the fact how stupid Joe is and Roland quietly left, only to return 5 minutes later, shouting 'You've got a job at a different school!' What??? I went to Zhuo Yue College about 30 minutes ago (yes, on a Sunday) and apparently, I'll be teaching Monday morning and Tuesday morning. Missy, my contact person at Zhuo Yue, has already printed out the exercises and she's given me a book to work from. I'll be covering for the regular teacher, who'll return on Wednesday. Great! This will be a good chance for me to find out whether I like teaching or not. No idea if I'll get any money for it. Right now, the experience is more important.

It looks like I've already made some friends in Yangshuo. On Thursday night, I went to a bar with a few foreigners and one annoying Chinese guy. I didn't stay very long, though. Don't like Chinese beer... On Friday, Adam (from the U.K.) greeted me when he cycled past me and yesterday, Sinan (from Belgium), came up to me to ask me how my demo class had been. Yesterday afternoon, a 45-year old Scot took me to the park and last night, I had dinner with Barry, Roland and Jennifer. I'll be having dinner with Barry again tonight. He's fun to be with and he can tell interesting stories about all the countries he's visited.

All in all, I'm having quite a good time, but (there was bound to be a 'but'!) it's way too hot & humid, I need to find a cheaper place to stay (and a better bed - haven't slept well apart from the first night) and I don't like the games the Chinese play (like Joe - apparently, backstabbing and lying is normal here).

I'd better start preparing tomorrow's class. I'll be teaching seven level 2 adult students. Level 2 means that their understanding of English is quite low, so I think my patience will be tested..

Thank you for your emails and please keep sending them!

Update

No job and no idea what to do next... But I'll think of something!

Have a good weekend!

Geen baan en geen idee wat ik nu moet doen... Maar ik verzin wel wat!

Prettig weekend!