Fog and Feasts

Time really got away from me this past month. Between tutoring, teaching, and a last-minute vacation, I've been running almost non-stop.

The good news is that everything is getting easier. Literally everything is getting easier. Lesson planning is becoming a much simpler task. Planning for my private jobs generally takes me no longer than 20 minutes, while I've cut the school lesson planning down to an hour or so. The language is definitely getting easier; I'm understanding so much more and producing a lot more language. When I first started practicing Chinese, it felt like a bunch of random sounds got jumbled together in my mouth. I have no doubt it sounded atrocious. These days it's coming much more naturally - everything from the tones to the phonics to the speed. I'm really pleased with my progress (my teacher says I need to practice my vocabulary more, but she's complimentary of my pronunciation). Basic logistics of daily life are improving as well. This past week, Dave and I discovered an incredibly convenient bus which cuts about 15 minutes off of our commute. Frankly, the commute itself has gotten easier due to a a great development: the Kindle app for my iPhone. I'm on third book in the Game of Thrones series. So happy for all of these little improvements!

One issue has arisen since I last wrote. Since I live in the teachers' dormitory, my neighbors are, predictably, fellow teachers. I live at the end of a corridor, with a neighbor to the right directly outside of my front door and my well-loved view into a third-grade classroom to the left. This neighbor is a bachelor who has a deplorable sense of cleanliness, which has become increasingly evident in the past month.

For the Mid-Autumn Festival, all of the teachers were given some very practical gifts: a 25-pound bag of rice, an enormous jug of peanut oil, and enough laundry detergent to get me through the rest of my time in China. My neighbor promptly set all of these objects out in our shared open-air corridor. This did not bother me until I began seeing tiny black beetles around my room; I had an inkling that they were weevils, and I was right. What began as a trickle was soon a veritable flood of weevils crawling under my front door with hopes of infesting my grain products. It is beyond vile. Yesterday, my Chinese teacher also noticed that my neighbor has some bad habits, and she offered to go knock on the door and have a word with him. I wasn't sure this was a good idea, but she insisted that she would be nice and went ahead and spoke with him. Unfortunately this did no good; he maintained that he planned to eat the infested rice, so he would not be disposing of it. Looks like I'm going to have to bring in a third party. Between you and me, I do not recommend that he consume this rice, as I have sprayed it with Raid.

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In a wonderful turn of events, I was able to have some time off two weeks ago to travel to Hunan Province with Dave for three days for his birthday. We took an overnight train deep into mainland China and woke up in Changsha, where we boarded a 3.5 hour bus for Zhangjiajie, a city located in a mountainous area of China renowned for its natural beauty. We got to the city around midday and went straight into the Tianmen Mountains National Forest Park, where I could not wait to see the Heavenly Gate. We first took a cable car ride up to the top of the mountain, which offered spectacular views of the valley below...until we hit fog. I'd never seen fog like this. It completed enveloped us; the whole world was quiet, and it felt as if time stood still. We certainly didn't get the views we'd hoped for, but I loved this ethereal experience and the peacefulness of the mountaintop. We hiked up here for a while, and then made our way down to see the Heavenly Gate. I'd been marveling at this geological structure for quite a while - basically as long as I've been planning to go to China - so I was really excited to get to see it in person. The problem was that fog, which had been so "ethereal" earlier in the day, was completely shrouding the formation. If only we hadn't climbed 999 treacherous steps to find this out, and then had to climb back down them in the waning light.

Compare. 

Here's what I hoped to see...

...and here's what I saw. The up-close view.

We stayed in Wulingyuan, a small town that is very conveniently located to the entrance of the main attraction of the area, the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. The rest of our time there was sadly dampened by rain, but we were able to spend some time in what is supposed to be the best cave in China, the Yellow Dragon Cave. We also got to enjoy some stunning views in the park, despite the fog and rain. However, I was super annoyed to find myself being photographed just as much as the surrounding landscape. The language barrier was pretty tough here. Between myself and Dave, we've got a pretty decent amount of basic Chinese under our belts. This was no help here. Unbeknownst to us, the people of Hunan Province speak a different dialect than the people of Guangdong Province (this would be like us differentiating between a Texan accent and an Oklahoman accent, mind you). There are a lot of people from one of China's minority ethnic groups in this province, and it was interesting to see some of the differences between the ways of life of people in Guangdong and in Hunan. On the way home Dave and I also tried (and loved) stinky tofu (fermented tofu which is well-known in China for its pungent odor but delicious taste, for anyone who's curious).

The second half of Dave's birthday celebration took place in one of our favorite cities in the world: Hong Kong. For my gift, I'd managed to snag a reservation at one of the hardest-to-book restaurants in Hong Kong, (if not the world) Liberty Private Works. Here we enjoyed a 10-course tasting menu which featured some of the best dishes I've ever eaten and can ever hope to eat and basked in the glow of world-famous chef, Vicky Cheng. It's a pity that I'm so young and underfunded, because Hong Kong is definitely the place to have a refined palate. I'm not even going to attempt to recreate this meal for you in writing. Have a look at the menu for the night, and you'll get an idea of how phenomenal it was. Can't wait to go back as soon as possible.

Feast your eyes on perfection.

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A few funny tidbits from the past few weeks:

• Last week a fellow teacher presented me with a friendly gift: face whitening cream. As if I need it. I hope my face didn't give anything away, but I was simultaneously confused and taken aback. Do my co-workers imagine that I am already using face whitening cream to maintain my milky-white skin, so they are simply replenishing my stores? Or do they perceive imperfections in my white skin that they would like to remedy? Or do they simply think I'm not as white as I could be? Maybe it's the freckles. Regardless of her intent, I was both flattered by the gift and amused by it. 

• Before class last week, one of my grade 1 students jumped up out of his chair, shouted "Wai guo ren!" ("foreigner," in Chinese), and proceeded to pretend to shoot me. A friend suggested that this is the picture they associate with America, which is why he reenacted it for me. I agree that may be part of it, but I'm not so sure that's all there is to the story. Even though I've only been here for a few months, I have certainly witnessed xenophobia and nationalism. It's one thing to associate something with a particular nationality, race, or ethnic group, but the term "foreigner" is very broad, allowing it to be applied to anyone who is clearly not Chinese. I certainly don't mean to imply that all of China is seething with xenophobia; I've been warmly welcomed into many homes and spent time with Chinese friends who are just as interested in me and my culture as I am in theirs. It was an interesting exchange though, and it reminded me of what so many expats have said about China; no matter how long you stay, you will always be a foreigner. 
• Doesn't cola actually eat away the enamel of your teeth?

An interesting flavor of toothpaste found in HK

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This past week I got to celebrate my second Thanksgiving abroad! I went to a local expat bar where they were serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Not quite up to par. I tried to be a good vegetarian and skipped the turkey, but I was foiled. Who on god's green Earth puts bacon in their stuffing...and mac'n'cheese? Whatever. I wasn't going to let a bit of meat put a damper on my Thanksgiving feast. On Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving yet again with my fellow foreign teachers in CTLC. We had a delicious pot-luck dinner, and some blessed soul brought a pumpkin pie. I was in heaven.

Well, we've now gotten through Thanksgiving, and I held fervently to that Shumate family tradition of waiting to play holiday music. I've broken out the Christmas music here in China - currently alternating between Celine and Buble. It doesn't get much better than this (without actually being in the States). We've even finally got a cold wind blowing! Unfortunately, it's accompanied by rain, not snow, but I'm bundled up and feeling merry.

Sending everyone lots of love and warm wishes!