I live a lego

Well its that time again.  English testing time!  Its my favorite time of each semester and not just because I get to scare little children.  Its the best time for a good laugh.  Chinese kids come up with the cutest/funniest things to say in English.  For example at the end of last semester my second graders had a written test in which they had to give me some basic information about themselves such as: What is your name?  How old are you? etc.  In answer to the question: Where do you live?  One little boy wrote: "I live a lego." I thought it was priceless and has now become a favorite saying of mine.

Although the written tests can be very amusing, I think that the oral tests are even better for a laugh. (The hard part is not busting up in front of the kid who is talking.)  Yesterday I finished the oral testing for my third graders.  They had to speak to me for one minute or more about one of three subjects.  They could choose to tell me about their favorite place, a person, or their daily routine.  A lot of kids who told me about a person would talk about their mom or dad but a couple of kids told me about a classmate.  I thought Harry's was pretty funny.  He told me about his classmate Andy.  Here is some of what he said:
"He is fat.  His eyes like noodle.  He like bread.  He sometimes is a little crazy and angry but he is good."

Another student, Simba, talked about his favorite place.  Here is some of what he said:
"My favorite place is beach.  He is nice and beautiful.  He is very hot.  I go swimming."

Eda also told me about her favorite place.  She said:
"My favorite place is school because I have beautiful teacher, nice chair, nice table, many friends."

Then there were a couple of students who really blew me away with their grammar and use of vocabulary.  I'm pretty sure their parents helped them out.  Here is some of what Mary said:
"My favorite place is Dubai.....It has many top grade hotels and it has the tallest building in the world...."

Testing day is so much fun!  I only wish I didn't have to grade them. :)

Words to remember:

kǎo­shì （考试）= test

nǐ zhù zài nǎ­li？ （你住在哪里？）= Where do you live? (literally: you live at where?)

wǒ zhù zài… （我住在….）=  I live at….

Winter already!

It the course of a few days the weather turned from nippy to chilly to downright cold and then it went back to chilly.  I can tell by the lack of leaves on the trees that winter is definitely here and I'm already counting the days until winter vacation.  The one thing that makes winter bearable is knowing that I will have more time to do things I like in January and February.  What do I like to do in winter?  Let's see.  I like to make soup, bake stuff, write my blog, and study Chinese!  Well maybe not that last one. :)

My street a month ago and now.  What a difference no leaves make!

In the meantime I'm enjoying teaching children.  I really do enjoy it, I just don't enjoy the commute and all the time it requires.  I still have a couple of kids that I teach one on one.  Lately I've noticed how much their ipads are involved in their lives and even thoughts.  In my last class with my nine year old student, Gita, she learned the word treasure. (财宝).  I asked her to use treasure in a sentence and she said "Ipad is my treasure."   A little later I asked her to use this sentence structure: (plural noun) don't belong in (place).  I gave her an example: Cell phones don't belong in movie theatres.  Then she said "Ipads don't belong in classroom".  On a different day I showed her a poem I thought would be a good teaching aid in writing her own.  We read it together, discussed the meaning, then I asked her to substitute some words and make it her own.  Here is the original poem:
Autobiographia Literaria
by Frank O'Hara

When I was a child I played by myself in a
corner of the schoolyard
all alone.
I hated dolls and I hated games, animals were
not friends and birds flew away.
If anyone was looking for me I hid behind a
tree and cried out "I am
an orphan/"
And here I am, the
center of all beauty
writing these poems!
Imagine!

Here is Gita's adaptation:

When I was a child I played
with my ipad, on my sofa
all alone.
I loved Minecraft and I loved
Muffin Knight, monsters were not
friendly and zombies made me
run away.
If any monster was looking for
me I killed it and screamed
out "Don't come back!"
And here I am, the monsters
all around me, I'm dead.
Play it again.

I think I almost like her version better.  It really does give you a peak into the mind of todays children, doesn't it?

Words to remember:

dōng­tiān （冬天）= winter

shī （诗）= poem

cái­bǎo （财宝）= treasure

ipad (ipad) = ipad (Hey, I bet you already knew that!)

Autumn in the city

China all the way to New York I can feel the distance getting close
You're right next to me but I need an airplane
I can feel the distance as you breathe - Tori Amos (China)

Sam's sister Elizabeth got married October 19th.  We watched the ceremony on the Groom's iphone.  It was strange.  Even more so because the person holding the phone was someone who didn't know us.  The phone was also on mute so we had no way to say hello to the people we did know.  It felt like we were looking through a portal to a world that we couldn't touch.  It was like a dream.  Like a dream in which I'm watching everyone but no one sees me and no one notices that I'm not even there.  We agreed later that it was a bad idea to watch it that way.  For anyone who wants to know the hardest part about living far away from home its just that, living far away from home.  You have to accept that life will continue going on there without you.  You can get used to it by keeping involved in your new life but there will always be something to pull you back and make you feel the distance.

Maybe in the days before instagram, iphones, Skype, the internet, and even the telephone it was easier.  People picked up their things, said goodbye and just accepted that the life you had was coming to an end.  It was probably easier to look forward when looking back wasn't so darn convenient.   For my part, I'm resolving to look back a little less and forward a little more.

And on that note.... here are a couple of pics I took while out and about.  It seems that when the weather is clear autumn in the city is really pretty. 

PS. I borrowed freeradicalsinchina.blogspot.com's format of song quoting for this blog.  If you haven't yet done so, check out their blog.

What I bought on the internet

My level of speaking Mandarin has improved greatly in the past two and a half years but I still have a long way to go.  Of course it doesn't help that my hearing isn't great and lots of people mumble here.  I should also mention that many people speak Mandarin as a second language because in many provinces they have a local dialect .  All this means that I will probably never run out of embarrassing stories of misunderstandings.  Here's the most recent one.

The other day a friend and I were taking a short rest on a bench at one of the local college campuses.  Across from us was a little grandma holding her grandbaby girl.  We chatted with her for a bit but she was very difficult for me to understand.  She not only had a soft voice but I didn't understand many words she used.  She said she was from the Henan(河南) province and she mostly spoke a local dialect.  She was pretty friendly though and when she found out I was American she asked many of the usual questions.  She first asked if I was married.  Then she asked how often I went back home and how much my plane ticket was.  Then she mumbled something I couldn't make out clearly.  This is what I heard :"blah blah blah, in China or in America?"  I really should have asked her to repeat herself but instead I just guessed that she must be asking me if I bought my plane ticket in China or America.  So I replied "I used the internet to buy" (我在网上买的）.  As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew I had guessed wrong.  My friend next to me was laughing so hard she couldn't speak and the little old lady just looked at me with a puzzled expression.  I asked my friend what I said wrong and she just said she'd tell me later.  I felt uneasy the rest of the conversation but finally as we walked away I bugged my friend to tell me what I had missed.  She said the lady had asked me where I had met my husband, in China or in America?  And I had replied that I bought him on the internet!!

After having a good laugh I felt so embarrassed!  What must that lady have thought?  I also couldn't understand why my friend hadn't corrected me right away but I guess she was laughing too hard.  Fortunately I ran into the lady again as we were leaving the campus and was able to explain the misunderstanding.  I'm not sure if she totally believed me though.  Oh well, since there are mail order brides there must also be mail order husbands. But, can you imagine how much my friend would have laughed if I had followed my reply by saying that I used the internet because its cheaper?

Phrase to remember:

wǒ méi tīng qīng­chu（我没听清楚）= I didn’t hear clearly.

A good day for a hike

Lately the air quality has been really bad.  Even people with no breathing problems have been complaining of burning lungs.  Even so, in restaurants and on the street the usual smokers are still puffing away.  I could complain forever about the air quality and smokers but this blog is about the one beautiful day in amongst all the crappy ones.   Last Tuesday morning it rained pretty hard and cleaned up the air so on Wednesday it was perfect for a hike.   And it just so happened to be the day we planned to go for one.  Since last week was the National Holiday many locals had free time.  If you went to any of the touristy spots it would have been crowded but the small mountain we hiked wasn't too bad.  We had a really great time hiking the mountain and picnicking with friends.  I think the pictures give you a good idea of the air quality.

Beginning of hike.  Love the yellow leaves!

This was the shed skin from a very interesting bug 

  The bottom sign says "The rock of ghost laugh" 

Sam took a liking to this centipede

 View from the top

  Sam even got to play some baseball

Words to remember:

爬山 pá­shān = to climb a mountain; hiking

A tale of two beds

I mentioned in my last blog that we had two new queen sized beds leaned up against a wall in our guest bedroom.  We've been trying to get rid of them for a while now.  Actually we came close a few times to finding them a new home but in the end no real success .  I had posted advertisements on both Chinese and English websites here and almost sold one to a talkative Australian man.  He was quite a character.  He came, looked at the bed, talked for a long time about everything from world politics to how I should paint the exposed pipes in our bedroom fire engine red, and then he gave us 100rmb as a deposit.  He said he would come back the next day to pick it up.  But the next day he sent me a message saying that his landlord changed their mind about taking away his current bed and so he no longer needed ours.  He was very apologetic and even let us keep the deposit.  Sure an extra 100rmb in our pocket was nice but what we really wanted was to get rid of those beds.  I complained about it to everyone that I could and finally one of my English student's mom told me I should just have someone come and haul them away.  It sounded easy enough but I didn't even know where to find someone who does that sort of thing.  She said she knew someone and called them on my behalf.  They said they would give me 100rmb for each bed.  That was okay by me and when I told Sam about it he agreed.  We made the arrangements for them to pick it up on Saturday sometime in the afternoon.

Then on Saturday afternoon I got a call from my student's parent.  She said the people who were coming to pick up the beds could not give me any money for them but they would still come and pick them up if I wanted.  At this point I really didn't care about the money so I said it was fine.  Sam was working but I knew he would be okay with it too.  About dinner time there was a knock at my door.  I opened it to find, not someone who hauls away garbage, but the man who cooks dinner for my student's family.  He was accompanied by his wife.  This man is a good two inches shorter than me and probably weighs ten pounds lighter as well.  His wife is maybe even a little smaller.  I was a bit surprised and said "Are you two going to move these two beds down three flights of stairs?"  He smiled and said it was no problem.  He was right there was no problem.....well except for one problem. 

They moved the bed frames and mattresses carefully one piece at a time and I held the door open for them.  When he came to get the last piece I asked him what kind of car they were driving to move the beds and he replied he had a 三轮车 (San lun che).  A 三轮车 is basically a big tricycle with a small metal bed in the back.  (See the above picture.)  Naturally I was shocked that he would be attempting to move two big beds and their frames on such a small contraption.  I figured I should take a picture of it so I grabbed my camera and ran downstairs.  I watched them load it in disbelief and took a few pictures.  But just as he loaded the second mattress the tricycle fell forward and hit my neighbor's van.  My neighbor just so happened to be watching the whole thing and he wasn't too happy about the small dent in his hood.  He immediately started arguing with the owner of the tricycle and demanding that he give him 600rmb for the damage.  The tricycle owner's reply was that he was just
here to help me and that the dent was really small and probably easy to fix.  The argument started to get a little heated and I was getting worried.  It was a tiny dent and clearly not my fault but if my neighbor was unhappy about something connected to me that couldn't be a good thing. I also knew that both men were waiting to see what my reaction would be. Since Sam wasn't home yet I tried calling him for advice but he didn't answer.  I finally got a hold of another friend who advised that I talk the man down from 600rmb and offer to chip in some money myself but not to take any of the blame.  After hanging up the phone I casually walked over to the van, looked at the dent, looked at my neighbor, and then said "Look here, he's going to give you 100rmb and I'll give you 100rmb too, okay?"  He looked at me and said it was okay.  By the time I came back with the money they had reloaded the tricycle with both beds and were on their way.   I gave my neighbor the money and breathed an inner sigh of relief.

 I didn't get a picture of the finished project but the one you see above was taken just before they put on the second mattress which made it fall forward.

Words to remember:

sān­lún­chē (三轮车)=tricycle; pedicab

chuáng (床)= bed

It's been awhile

I can't believe its been three months since my last post.  So to any of you who are still reading this blog I apologize.  I have not dropped off the face of the earth but I have been busy.  Here's a brief synopsis:  We went to California for just under a month, then spent almost a week in Hong Kong, then back to China only to be told by our landlords that we had to find a new place to live as soon as possible.  I have many blogs about the last three months all stored in my head but at this point I think its best to move forward.  Its September and a new school year has started so we are busy teaching and also still settling into our new apartment.  Our new place is just a few blocks from our apartment so its not a huge adjustment but when you walk to get groceries even moving a few blocks can change where you shop and eat.  Also our new place is in a small building which means no elevator and even nosier neighbors.  But being on the third floor isn't a tough stair climb and we have a good view of the trees and street below.  I would like to include some pics from our new place but its not quite up to my standards yet.  For one thing we have two queen beds that are leaned up against the window in our living room/second bedroom.  The landlord didn't want to get rid of the beds for us so we are trying to find a good home for them.  I may just break down and find someone to come and haul them away.  Oh yes, did you notice I said living room/second bedroom?  Technically our new place doesn't have a living room.  Its a two bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom, and no living room.  Its not a strange thing for apartments here to not have a living room.  On the bright side both bedrooms are roomy.  The bigger room is what we are using as a living room and guest room.  It was important for me to have a place for guests and this was really the best we could do.  Prices are getting higher every year here, we basically pay over 100 US dollars more a month now for a smaller place.  But its definitely cozier than our last place.  (If cozy-ness carries any weight with you this is a huge plus.)  I will try and include pics as soon as we get rid of those extra beds.  For now, here's a couple pics of our old view. 

Mung Bean Porridge...or maybe Soup?

One of the perks of going to people's homes to tutor their children is the occasional home cooked meal.  Sometimes there are several dishes and sometimes its more simple.  A couple of weeks ago one of my student's parents asked me if I would like some porridge.  It was around eight o'clock and a little late for a big dinner but porridge sounded just right.  It was really just watery rice with beans.  Although very simple I loved it.  The Dad told me it was really easy to make.   He showed me a bag of small green beans.   He said to just cook the beans and add rice.  Sounded easy enough, so the next day I went to the market and found a bag of the "green beans". 

Turns out the English word for them is: Mung Beans.  I haven't cooked a lot of beans in my life but I do know that many of them need to be soaked for a while before you cook them.  Since I was unsure with these I decided to look for some online help.  Turns out there are many Mung bean porridge recipes out there.  Many are from other Asian countries and call for coconut milk and sugar.  I looked at several recipes and decided to put my own spin on it. 

In the end it was nothing like the porridge my student's father gave me.  In fact, I think I liked mine better.  But more importantly, Sam liked it and it didn't have any meat in it!  The next week I told my student's Dad about my porridge.  He looked a little surprised when I told him what I added to it.  He started to tell me that I made it wrong but his wife interrupted him to remind him that I'm western and that its only natural for me to want to change it to my liking.  He accepted this and then went on to tell me the benefits of the mung bean.  Did you know it takes the "heat" out of your body?  I guess that's why this porridge is so popular in the summer.  So for those of you right now in the Sacramento heat you might want to give Mung bean porridge a try.

Here is what I used:
4 or five cups of water (depends on how thick you want your porridge)
1 cup of mung beans
1/2 cup of white rice
1 cup of chicken broth (can also use vegetable broth for you vegans out there)
1 purple onion
1 carrot
2 table spoons of olive oil
a couple pinches of cumin
an 8 ounce can of light coconut milk


Here is what I did:

First, I rinsed the beans a couple of times and let them soak in water for about an hour.  Then I rinsed them again and let soak for another couple of hours.  After rinsing one more time I added more water and turned the burner on high until the water started boiling.  Then I reduced the heat to a simmer.  I let it simmer about twenty minutes and then added the rice and the chicken broth.  After returning to a boil, I reduced the heat and continued to let it simmer.

Then, in a pan I heated up some olive oil, added some cumin, and after about thirty seconds I added some chopped purple onion.  After a couple of minutes I added some chopped carrots.  Once cooked to my liking I added it all to the simmering beans and rice.  I let the whole mixture simmer together for 15 minutes or so and then added a can of light coconut milk.  Once its all hot again its ready to eat!  Oh yes, and don't forget to salt and pepper to taste.  (You can also eat this porridge cold.)

I think you can add anything you like to the porridge.  The one thing I didn't add that almost every recipe added was sugar.  I didn't want my porridge sweet but if sweet porridge is your thing you can even add a teaspoon to your bowl if you feel so inclined.

Words to remember:

lǜ­dòu （绿豆）= mung bean

zhōu  （粥）= porridge, congee

In response

This blog is in response to those that feel my last entry was
"creepy". I'm sorry if it seemed that way. I probably didn't explain
the situation good enough. Here is what I can say about it. The man
was obviously drunk but not gay. I was at times uncomfortable
but that was because he was drunk. Neither Sam nor I
felt like he was hitting on Sam.

You need to understand that in China, (and in many other countries
other than the United States) people are more affectionate with one
another. They might not kiss you on the cheek when they see you (as
they do in France or Italy) but often times girls will interlock arms
or grab your hand when you are walking side by side. I remember my
first day after we moved here. A Chinese friend we had met the day
before took us to buy stuff for the kitchen. As we started to cross
the street she grabbed my hand and didn't let go until we had reached
our destination. At first I felt a little awkward because I hadn't
held hands with another girl since grade school but after a minute it
felt completely natural. Now if I'm walking with friends I wouldn't
think twice about it. Guys too are more open about hugging or
putting their hand on each other's shoulder etc. Sam and I find it
rather refreshing.

Going back to the man in the restaurant, I think he had his wits about
him enough to know that it would be inappropriate to kiss me but he
probably felt giving Sam a peck on the cheek was no big deal. Perhaps
he would have kissed me too had he been a little bit more drunk.  Overall
the situation was more funny than creepy.

Blowing kisses

 Out of nowhere a beer bottle attached to an unsteady hand  appeared.  It was trying to top off Sam's already full glass of beer.  I looked up and sure enough it was the same man Sam had made eye contact with when we first sat down at the restaurant.  He was sitting at a table of about four or five middle aged men who were slightly red in the face and smoking.  I'm sure they were all drinking plenty of beer and baijiu. (A clear hard liquor similar to cheap vodka.)

Sam and I exchanged smiles as he leaned on the table and put his face right next to Sam's ear. He spoke very slowly with maybe just a hint of slurring. What follows is my translation of the conversation into English.
 "Do... you.... speak Chinese?"
 "Yes." Sam replied.
 "I noticed you when you walked in.  Are... you.... American or Russian?" 
"American."
"Ah.... America..... and China are friends.  This is how Chinese are with their friends."  He slid his glass across the table and tried to clink it against Sam's glass.  Sam pretended not to notice.  I smiled.
"Is that your..... girlfriend? She is very beautiful......  You are beautiful."
"She's my wife."
"Oh...... She's your wife?.........  We say old lady for wife in China."  He said as he ran his fingers along Sam's chin.
"Yes...... you are also beautiful" he continued.  He then rambled on for a bit about America and China.  We smiled and nodded.  You might think that we would be uncomfortable to say the least but actually we have become quite accustomed to these sorts of attentions and now we find it downright entertaining.  However at this moment, I could feel the eyes of others watching us even more than usual.  Finally the man walked back to his table and Sam and I continued eating our meal.  Sam looked at me and said "For a moment there I thought he was going to kiss me." 

Just as we were finishing up and getting ready to pay the bill I looked up and there was our tipsy friend leaning once more on Sam and trying to clink glasses..  His face was right next to Sam's cheek and he talked some more about us being beautiful.  Then somewhere in mid-sentence he actually kissed Sam's cheek.  I didn't know whether to laugh or be creeped out.  Then the guy finished his ramble and once more went back to his table.  The hostess was looking at us and smiling really big.  I think she might have even been giggling.  It was pretty funny.

We paid our bill and started for the door.  Right before we walked out he yelled out Sam's Chinese name and blew another kiss our way........Sam blew one back.

Words to remember:

wěn （吻)= kiss

fēi­wěn (飞吻)= to blow a kiss

 

piào­liang (漂亮)=beautiful

lǎo­po (老婆)= old lady; wife (informal)

Is it summer already?

We had about two weeks of spring weather and now it looks as if summer has hit.  Today the high is supposed to be 90 degrees Fahrenheit and rain is in the forecast for the end of the week.   Time for my Chinese neighbors to start eating ice cream in the afternoon.  And I'm already seeing girls wearing bohemian skirts or short shorts and guys pushing their shirts above their belly.  Personally, I like the warm weather but the summer thunderstorms don't really agree with me.  This is our third summer here and I know what to expect.  Although last year we spent six weeks of the summer back in California we still experienced plenty of hot and wet days here.  I'm glad we've already booked our flight back to the states so I have something to look forward during the hot and sticky weather.  This year we will be going back for only three and a half weeks.   We are leaving the day after our work year ends in June. Sam didn't want to stay any longer than 4 weeks and we have something to attend in Hong Kong mid July, so we have to cut our visit short of a month. 

 

Now practically every night I dream that I'm back in California.  I can never remember how I got there but as soon as I realize where I am I start trying to find a Target or Old Navy.  Some nights I'm looking for Mexican food instead.  It's still a month and a half away but I can't wait to see everyone!

iPads in the afterlife?

Last Thursday was Tomb Sweeping day.  I never pay much attention to this holiday except that I'm happy to have a break from school and work.  I've been told that this is the day that the Chinese use to visit relatives graves and well...sweep it.  I think that really means that they make sure it looks decent.  Another ritual that I've seen people do not only around this time of year is burning fake paper money for dead relatives.  A couple of months ago I saw some people doing this on a street corner.  As I walked by I noticed that it wasn't just fake money they were burning.  One of the papers had an iPad drawn on it.  That struck me as funny.

Last week Sam asked our teacher if Chinese people believed that burning fake money (or I Pads) could really benefit their dead loved ones.  Our teacher replied by telling us her personal experience.  As is very common in China, she was mostly raised by her Grandparents.  When her Grandma died and she was not able to be there she said it was difficult to accept.  After some time had passed she suddenly found herself deeply grieving her Grandma.  She would be walking on the street, taking a bus, eating lunch, or just doing everyday normal things when out of nowhere she would start crying for her Grandma.  Her workmate told her that it was her Grandma that was missing her and that she needed to go visit her grave.  So she went to her Grandma's grave and burned some paper money.  Afterwards she said she felt like a great weight had been lifted. 
So, we asked again if she believed that somehow burning paper money would help her Grandma.  She replied that she wasn't sure if it helped her Grandma but that it made her feel comforted and so she thought it was a good thing to do.  I then mentioned the fires on the street.  She explained that people burn the paper on the street outside their home so that their dead relatives will know how to find them.  Apparently dying can really confuse a person so they need to be reminded where their family is.

Words to remember:

fén­mù (坟墓)= tomb or grave

qù­shì （去世）=  to pass away; to die

wǒ nǎi­nai qù­shìle.（我奶奶去事了。）=  My grandma passed away.

Phlegm and Prejudice

Alternate Title : Pride and Laryngitis

I'm sitting here drinking hot water with honey in an effort to regain my voice which I lost as of yesterday due to an all night coughing fit.  I'm trying to figure out how to explain my most recent somewhat amusing story.  Let's begin in the middle.  Sometime in the beginning of last week before I contracted this horrible cold!

I walked into the Drug Store and was immediately greeted  with a "What do you need?" by small stern looking (obviously Chinese) lady wearing a white lab coat.
"My husband has a cold with a cough and I need-"
"Do you have cold medicine?"
"Yes I do. I just need some cough medicine."
"Does he have *^%?"
"Hmm I'm not sure."
"You don't know?"
"I don't know what *^% means."
The woman's face changed from stern and confident to disappointment followed quickly by anxious glances toward her co-workers.  She shouted:
"I need someone to come over here and speak English with this girl!  So and so, you know English! Come over here and translate!"
"My English is not good.  Besides that girl can speak Chinese!"  A voice from behind the aisles shouted back.
"Yes but she doesn't know what *^% means!"
"It's okay I have a dictionary."  I interjected.  My face felt hot. Realizing that now I had an audience of about 4 workers and one interested customer,  I pulled out my I-touch and looked up the word.
"Oh, phlegm!  Yes, he does have phlegm."
She regained composure and then we discussed his phlegm for a minute while she showed me some options. I think she could tell that I could only understand about half of her instructions. She recommended some pills but I also wanted some syrup.  Then she asked if I needed anything else and I replied no but that I would like to look around a bit.  She said that was okay.  I always like to look around a bit but at this point too many people were interested in me so I felt self conscious.  I decided to just buy my stuff and leave.  I said thank you and goodbye to the lady who had helped me and started to make my way to the cash register.  I was almost there when I overheard the lady talking about me to her co-worker.  She was saying something was wrong or that she was worried about something with me.  I quickly turned around and said:
"What's wrong?  What are you worried about?"  She looked surprised and a little unnerved that I had heard her talking.  She was only a couple feet away, how could I not hear?
"Oh well I was just worried that your husband has a sore throat too.  Do you have medicine for that?"
"Yes, I do.  Thank you."  I quickly paid for my items and left, knowing full well that this little encounter would supply all the workers with something interesting to talk about.

So there you have it.  My latest language ability update.  I know enough to scare people when they are talking about me but not enough to discuss medicine or hair conditioner. (Another story)  Its rather infuriating for me and for them too.  What makes me irritated the most is how often people discuss you when you are within easy earshot.  Do they think all foreigners can't speak Chinese?  Just today an old couple sitting across from me on the bus commented to each other that my feet weren't placed right and that I sat on the wrong seat.  I moved my feet, looked at them, and smiled.  All the while I wanted to say "I understand you, so would you please wait until after I get off the bus to talk about me!"

words to remember:

gǎn­mào (感冒) = to catch a cold

ké­sou （咳嗽）=cough

tán （痰）=phlegm

Not only...but also...

Vacation is over and the weather is starting to warm up a little.  Sam's sister Elizabeth went home and we have got back into our usual routines.  That means back to teaching English.  Teaching kids can be very entertaining.  I also end up learning some Chinese too. (Don't tell their parents.)  Sometimes it just so happens they we are learning the same words.  Last week one of my students vocabulary words was "crowd" and this week its a vocabulary word in my Chinese class.  Quite convenient, huh? 

When Sam and I first started attending Chinese classes here in China (Two years ago!) we focused more on building our vocabulary rather than learning grammar.  While its good to know the meanings of words, if you don't know the grammar you will still find it hard to communicate.  Sometimes I know the meaning of every word someone is saying to me but I don't understand the meaning of their sentence and vice versa.  Because I want people to understand my meaning when I speak, I find learning sentence structure very useful these days.  One of the more useful sentence structures is "Not only...but also.." (不光……还 有...)

While one of my English students, Gita, was reading the book "Frog and Toad are Friends" we came across this sentence structure.  Toad said "Not only do my feet hurt, but I have lost one of the buttons on my jacket."  I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach this sentence structure so I pointed out that Toad used this sentence to talk about two bad things that happened to him.  I said she could use this sentence with adjectives such as "Not only am I hungry but I'm also tired."  Then I told her to try making a sentence.  She looked at me and said "How do you say 馋( chán) in English?"  After I told her that word means greedy for food or gluttonous she said "Not only is my father greedy for food but he is also fat."  I had to stifle a laugh.  Instead of changing her sentence I asked her to try to think of a sentence that said something nice about someone.  Her next sentence was "Not only is she beautiful but also clever."  I thought that one was okay.

Now try it in Chinese.

bù­guāng。。。 hái (不光。。。还)= not only...also

tā bù­guāng piào­liang hái­yǒu néng­lì。 (她不光漂亮还有能力)= She is not only beautiful but also capable.

Chán ( 馋)=greedy (for food) or gluttonous

 

 

Elizabeth goes to Xi'an 西安

This was the only solider they found in one piece .  He's called the kneeling archer.

This carriage is half life size. 
It protects the carriage behind it which is supposed to be for the Emperor's soul to be carried in.

The over-priced gift shop. 

No they didn't let us get that close but for 10 yuan you can take a picture that looks like you are.

These are Shi Zi Bing (Deep fried persimmon).
Liz liked them so much she had to go back for another.

This was the street with all the yummy local specialty food.

This is either the Drum Tower or the Tower next to it.

A Pagoda lit up at night

 

Sam's youngest sister, Elizabeth, is here visiting us for almost the entire month of February.  She's experienced the endless fireworks that accompany the new year here and of course has eaten lots of Chinese food.  But I thought it would be fun for us all to visit another city so I gave her the choice of either Qing Dao or Xi'an.  She chose Xi'an, so we packed our bags and got ready to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  Although the overnight train wasn't as clean as Liz had hoped, I thought she did pretty well with adapting. She also made good use of her hand sanitizer.  Xi'an was a nice change of scenery and it has lots of Chinese history which I found very interesting.  You could say the highlight was seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors but I almost had just as much fun walking through the streets and eating the local food.  We stayed at a youth hostel close to the train station and ended up making some new Chinese friends that helped us see the sights on the cheap.  (Always a good idea when traveling to go with other Chinese and not get swept in by a "tour package")  Although I have wanted to do this trip ever since we first moved here I now am actually happy to have waited a little longer.  The reason is that after almost two years here my Chinese has finally improved to the point where now I can have a conversation with the locals and not always be looking for the english speakers.  That definitely makes travel less stressful and more enjoyable.  I think Sam felt the same way.  Enjoy the pictures!

Words to remember:

Xī’ān(西安)= Xi'an

bīng­mǎ­yǒng (兵马俑)=Terra Cotta Warriors

Thailand in reflection

We've been home for over a week now and as I sit here looking outside at the snow on the street it feels like Thailand was just a beautiful tropical place that I only dreamt that I visited.  Still, I feel I must write at least a little something about our trip.

First of all, I would like to highly recommend going to Thailand for a vacation but if you do, try to spend most of your time by the beach somewhere or in the jungle like areas because Bangkok is a very dirty city.  And I mean dirty in every sense of the word.  I won't go into details but I will say it was sad to see so many homeless dogs and cats roaming the streets.  Our hostel's decor was modern Thai with hot showers and air conditioning (something we didn't have on the island). I also got a great Thai massage, but overall Bangkok was just a stopping point for us.  The best part was the island we spent most of our time on, Koh Lanta.  There we laid around the beach, motorbiked around the island, and took a speed boat trip to another island for snorkeling.  It was everything you would expect of an island holiday.  

The funny thing was that although I loved the weather, the food, and the Thai people, I actually missed China! (a little)  It really came down to a communication issue.  I didn't realize how well I understood Chinese until I went to another country and didn't even know how to say hello!  Of course many people there can speak English, especially in the tourist areas, but its definitely not the same as speaking the local language.  Sam immediately starting asking how to say some simple things like hello, thank you, and how much does something cost.  The trouble was if he asked how much something cost the reply would be in Thai and he had no clue what they were saying.  You can imagine how happy we were to meet Chinese people in many places that we went.  It felt like every time I turned around Sam had found another Chinese person to talk to.   Apparently Thailand is a very popular vacation spot for Chinese tour groups. 

Some more pics:

Where we stayed on the island of Koh Lanta

Our bungalow was called the Red Snapper

One of our snorkeling tour guides

This island  (Koh Rock) had several huge lizards roaming around looking for left overs from our lunch

This is a better pic of Sam on the motorbike

Open air market in Trang, Thailand

Took the overnight train from Trang to Bangkok

Picture from the train

Our room in at the Cozy Bangkok Hostel

View of Bangkok from our Hostel

Last meal in Thailand and yummy iced coffee too!

Words to remember:

泰国 (Tài­guó) = Thailand

旅行 (lǚ­xíng) = to travel