The Benefits of Being a "Regular"

Tonight, something wonderful happened.

I have a little stand just about 200m up the road from the front gate of my school that sells the most delicious pancakes with sesame seeds and a spicy glaze on top. They make them fresh in the mornings and throughout the day, but I usually only get them at night when I'm not terribly hungry.

Both the man and the woman who operate the stand know of my love of the spicy pancake. They also make a non-spicy version of this pancake, which is a bit bland but still filling.

Tonight I came to the stand for a quick bite (my tutoring schedule on Monday's doesn't give me a long dinner break, so I usually grab something on the way home in between sessions). While they did have the regular pancakes, they were all out of the spicy version. I used my limited Chinese to confirm this, and then went ahead and bought the non-spicy type.

This man did something that made me irrationally happy. He, remembering my preference, brought out the spicy glaze and put some on my non-spicy pancake, just because he knew I'd like it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the highlight of my day. 

The Newcomer

I sat down to lunch yesterday with my rice and lukewarm vegetables. It seemed to be a day like any other, until Spring turned to me and pointed to a tall gentleman in the lunch line. "Do you know him?" she asked, as if all white people in China know each other. "No," I responded. "Who is he?" It was then that I was informed of the presence of a new foreign teacher. Confusion was my first response, and I continue to feel confused. Why did Yuanling Primary School hire an additional foreign teacher when I am teaching the entire school? Do they mean to change my schedule so that I'm only teaching upper or lower grades? My questions were all met with vague answers.

Today, I got to meet and speak with Jon (from England), who is very nice and seems eager to get started. He just moved here from a province far in the northeast, where he has taught kindergarten for the past three years. He too has been kept out of the loop as to whom he is teaching and when. Since he was at school with nothing to do, he asked if he might observe my classes today. Luckily, most of the students were well-behaved.

At lunch today, I inquired once more about what the new arrangement might be, and Spring told me that I would keep my same schedule. I will be teaching the lower grades next week, and he would teach the younger children as well - just different classes. I'm not sure that this is the final word on the subject, but regardless, it seems completely counterintuitive to me. Yuanling clearly has no idea of how to maximize the value of their foreign teachers.

So, the next few weeks may be a period of transition. I'm hoping that I'll be informed of any of these transitions before the point in time that they are occurring, but I'm not holding my breath - I'm in China.

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.

***

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.

***

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

***

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!

Cultural Exchange

So it's Halloween! Want to hear a scary story? It's called "Eating in China." It's about a girl who is haunted by ghosts of pesticides past, GMO-zombie produce and creepy additives. Read this article to learn more about the horrors she faces.

China's a fun place to live, and it's easy to get complacent about all of the things you know are going on. For example, the air quality. Some days I can't even see the massive skyscraper that's a mere ten minute walk away from my house. I don't even want to think about my poor lungs. A more pressing problem is the water contamination. I have no doubt that even the bottled water I'm drinking is laden with heavy metals. The food issue is almost always at the forefront of my mind, though. When I first got here, it was almost debilitating. I couldn't eat anything without considering the fact that if I didn't cook it myself, it was doused in MSG and possibly worse. Even if I did cook it myself, the produce is either GMO or is coated with toxic chemicals (the lettuce is sprayed with formaldehyde...cool.) - or, more than likely, both! At the end of the day, I've opted to put my head in the ground and eat as healthily as possible; however, this is still not a country that I feel comfortable staying in for an extended period of time. 

***

Lately I've been realizing that I'm going to be coming away from my experience teaching in China with some skills. The skill that I've acquired this week is the ability to sleep through anything. The screams of school children are my natural alarm clock, Monday through Friday at 7:45am sharp. If, by some miracle, I manage to sleep through their banshee-like descent upon the elementary school, I have the morning ceremonies to look forward to. Every morning from 8:10-8:30, I am subjected to patriotic marching music, blared through loudspeakers. In the past week, my body seems to have finally adapted (or succumbed to exhaustion, it's unclear). 

While we're on the topic of sleep, I don't think that I've mentioned one of the greatest delights of China: nap time. Every day, I have an extended afternoon break from 11:50 - 2:40. The children go home to eat lunch and "have a rest." Miss Melanie passes out for a solid two hours (until the sounds of children wake me from my slumber). This was an incredibly welcome feature of my schedule, as I had fostered a new "daily nap" habit over the summer. I can only hope that my next job will afford me this same luxury... 

My lessons for the past two weeks have been Halloween themed! This week I figured out how to download YouTube videos so that I can show them to my classes (the "Great Firewall of China" had previously prevented this). This gave me a major advantage in teaching the nuances of Halloween, such as carving Jack-o-lanterns. These lessons have been simultaneously fun and depressing. Fun, because I get so much enjoyment out of the kids screaming at scary things (does this make me a bad person?) and depressing, because for the first time in my life, I'm far away from the holiday spirit. 

Teaching a lesson about my culture to a group of Chinese students was an interesting experience for a couple of reasons. First, I have never lived somewhere where people don't celebrate the same holidays as I do. Nothing has made me feel like so much of an outsider as talking about an experience that they've never had and can only partially comprehend. I say they can only partially comprehend it, because a holiday is so much more than just the nuts and bolts. Just because you have a carved pumpkin and a costume doesn't mean you've got Halloween. There's just this intangible element to a holiday that can't be explained. I've never been without it the way that I am in China. And I miss it. On a more basic level, I've simply never taught someone else about my culture. I'd taken it for granted up 'til now. For the first time, I saw things that to me are commonplace through new eyes. The origins of Halloween are so interesting; there are so many traditions that we still practice. What's even more interesting is seeing what the holiday has morphed into in the modern day. It just reeks of that same commercialization that's taken over all of our other major holidays. What a shame. I can't remember the last time I saw a child wearing a homemade costume. I personally wish that America was still safe enough that you could be invited into people's homes to enjoy some homemade caramel apples. Also, when is the last time you went to a Halloween party and bobbed for apples? When I get home, I'm bringing back the basics. 

All of these Halloween lessons have included that most important element of the modern Halloween holiday: candy. Looking at it every day has been wearing on me, and yesterday I was hell-bent on getting my hands on some candy. Naturally there is no Halloween candy here, so I opted for Snickers. They do not taste quite the same, FYI. I asked Dave to share this candy with me equitably, but I soon found that he was not the ideal candy-sharing partner. Not because he ate more than his share, but because he ate significantly less than his share, leaving me to eat the majority of the Snickers by myself...plus all of the other candies that I purchased. Thank god for the rice diet.  

We did take the opportunity to celebrate as best we could in China, costuming ourselves in the official apparel of Shenzhen public schools. We were able to find a store that sells student uniforms, so we purchased one girl's uniform and one boy's uniform and made ourselves look as youthful as possible. We definitely turned some heads. 

***

Today I went to my office and was presented with a stack of apology letters from Grade 5, Class 3. It was a surprise, but by no means unwarranted. These are 50 of the devil's own minions, in the form of Chinese students. Every time I teach them, I'm on the verge of walking out of the classroom within ten minutes. 

Luckily, I have some really wonderful students as well. In the past few weeks, I've been flooded with tutoring opportunities. I'm now incredibly busy teaching kids ages 4 - 10, and each is wonderful and different. These opportunities come with multiple benefits. I've gotten to enjoy a real look into Chinese family life. Every Friday night I am fed a home-cooked Chinese feast. I've also acquired a wonderful private Mandarin Chinese tutor (the mother of one of my students), who teaches me at my home three times a week for two full hours. She is incredibly patient with me and is teaching me exactly how I want to be taught - like a child. I'm so glad to be learning Mandarin; nothing is more frustrating that not being able to express yourself, especially with children. Several of the parents speak English very well, and I'm able to talk with them at length. I really am loving being able to meet and connect with these Chinese mothers and learn more about Chinese culture just by spending time with them in their homes. 

Still can't believe the end of the year is creeping up on us already; how is it already November?! A year in China is going to be over before I know it.  

Welcome Home!

This doesn't even come close to capturing how blue the water was.

I know I've been back from vacation for almost two weeks now, but I thought I'd hit the highlights (and...lowlights?) of seven days I spent in the Philippines.

Highlights

1. Filipino mangoes. You haven't lived until you've had one, and I say this in all seriousness. I had fresh mangoes, I had dried mangoes, I had mango milkshakes, and I had mango pancakes. It doesn't matter what form they come in, Filipino mangoes are unparalleled in the mango world. Yes, I am now a bit of a mango connoisseur.

2. My first venture under the sea. Dave was pretty adamant that we go on a "Discovery Dive" while we were in the Philippines, which basically just lets you dip your toe into the world of scuba diving (no pun intended). My newfound fear of sharks made me a bit reluctant to join in on this adventure, but I'm so glad that I did! I don't even have words to describe how incredible the experience was; all I had to do was dive down about 8 meters, and it was like being on a different planet. Since this was a "Discovery Dive," we didn't get flippers. Instead, the dive group held onto us by our tanks and carried us around. We were given food to feed the schools of tropical fish, which was probably the best part of the entire trip for me. It was amazing to be so close to creatures I've spent years marveling at on the Discovery Channel. As I passed over the reef, I watched sea anemones make their lightening-quick retreats. I looked down to see starfish littering the ocean floor, along with enormous purple sea urchins. Scuba certification is now at the top of my to-do list - I can't wait to get back in the ocean!

3. Fresh fruit shakes. Whether it be Filipino mango, buko (young coconut), or banana, I treated myself to at least one shake every day (yes, I said at least one). Sometimes this required a bit of a search, but I always managed to find one. Frankly, life has been a little lackluster since I gave up this habit.

4. Cliff diving. I figured if I've been skydiving, I've got to be able to go cliff diving. I literally had to work up the courage to jump every single time, but it was exhilarating. I only managed to jump from 5 meters, or about 15 feet, but they also had 8 meter and 15 meter jumps (~25 and 45 feet, respectively). Next time :)

5. Leisure reading. In the past 2 years, I think I can count on one hand the number of books I've read for pleasure...and when I say one hand, I actually mean one finger. This week of vacation allowed me to lay on the beach or sit in a hammock and read to my heart's content. I managed to finish Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Now for the sequel...

6. Beachside massages...and regular, good old massages. Enough said.

Less than ideal elements included:

1. Prostitutes. Everywhere, young and old (but mostly young - very young), accompanied by old white men. Two friends that we met up with told an incredibly depressing story of encountering a 14 year old girl who was with a middle-aged companion - a gentleman (I use this term lightly) from Indiana. She was crying. When my friends suggested she just go home, it was revealed that she wasn't allowed to go home until she made enough money. Let me reiterate that she was fourteen. These guys gave her the money she needed and put her in a taxi home - but that was just one girl, and that was just one night. It makes me physically ill to think about all the other Filipino girls who have undoubtedly been in her place. Probably the most disgusting thing was the old men. By the end of my trip, I couldn't even look at an old white guy and not assume that he was a sex tourist. It was that bad. There were absolutely hoards of them, milling around with scantily-clad Filipino girls in tow, flying in from all over the world to find companionship (that's the pleasant way of putting it). I somehow resisted the urge to confront each one I saw and call him out for being a sick pervert, but I will never forget what a disgraceful phenomenon this was to witness.

2. Typhoons raining on my parade. It started raining on day 4, and it basically didn't stop for the rest of the time I was in the Philippines. This, unfortunately, led to the cancellation of our underground river tour, which was to be the highlight of our time in Puerto Princesa. The city didn't offer much else in the way of sights or entertainment, so we spent most of our time in hammocks reading.

3. Sleeping on an airport floor...and getting bitten by a roach. Ew. If you ever find yourself arriving at Clark International Airport on a red-eye flight, keep in mind that the departures terminal does not open until 5:30am the next morning. This will effectively dash any hopes you had of spending the night snuggled in a chair in the terminal, and you may have to seek refuge in a 24-hour snack bar. Lack of chairs and loss of sanity will lead you to try to sleep on the floor, at which point a cockroach may mistake you for a corpse and try to nibble on your flesh.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to get back to my extra firm Chinese bed. I'd also be lying if I said that I wasn't craving rice and genuinely looking forward to my free cafeteria lunch the next day. But it was great to get out of China and see a new country. The Philippines had a really unique vibe; in some ways, it felt very much like South or Central America (not very surprising, given the Spanish influence), but at other times there was no mistaking that we were in Asia. But at the end of the trip when I was crossing back into Hong Kong, I really felt like I was on my way home. And that's a really great feeling to have when you're thousands of miles away from the place you grew up.

***

The week that I came back, teaching was at an all-time high. Kids were enthusiastic and generally well-behaved. Everyone was greeting me in the halls, and I was feeling pretty pleased with how things were going. This week has been the polar opposite. The kids have been unbelievably rambunctious; one group finally got to write sentences for the rest of their class - the first and hopefully last time I'll have to implement this punishment. Regardless, I'm pretty much sick to death of kids this week.

Sometimes being a teacher sucks, because I pretty much like all of the kids that I teach. It's just the teaching process that's the tricky thing.

A few of my adorable Grade 1 students

A few parting thoughts:

• You know you're a teacher when the only necklace you wear is a USB on a lanyard. 
• Teaching makes you appreciate your teachers so much more. 
• I've become infinitely better at improvising in the past month. 
• Kids are kids no matter where you go. And I still love them.  

And this is my oasis, no matter where I am in the world.

One Child Left Behind: China's New Education Policy

After teaching in China for over a month now, I've come to regard the education system as something of an assembly line, producing identical little comrades. In comparison to the American education system (only based on my experience in public education, which I know was not the norm), I find the Chinese classroom to be a harsh world where only the strong survive. It is anything but a nurturing environment for children to learn and grow.

Chinese teachers are mean. Fellow students are mean. A few weeks ago, I had students translating sentences from English to Chinese - not an easy task. When I would call on students, and they gave incorrect answers, the entire class would laugh at them. When students don't understand or don't speak loudly enough, their teachers scold them in front of the rest of the class. Grades are posted at the front of the classroom for all to see. What good does this do? Does this push students to do better? Maybe it's different here. But I don't think there was any mistaking the looks that I saw on the faces of those kids: shame.

This isn't just the case in the classroom. Parents seem to be incredibly demanding as well. One of the students I tutor is accompanied by his mother at every session. Her English is quite good, while his is sorely lacking. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a learning disorder; every time he tries to read English, he jumbles the letters up - even simple words. She is extremely impatient with him as he struggles, calling out his every mistake and huffing loudly when he fails to read quickly enough.

For me, watching this unfold is disheartening. So many of my students are eager for attention. I am truly disturbed by the fact that I don't even know most of their names. I can literally remember three students' names. Is this their fault? No. Is this my fault? To a degree. But more than anything, I think the system is at fault. How can classes of 50-60 kids be conducive to learning? Everyone has to fight for their voice to be heard - many don't even try anymore. The Chinese solution to this problem is to simply have all of the children repeat the same thing in unison. I want so much more for them. I have many enthusiastic students. I have many others who I believe would be more enthusiastic with just a little encouragement. I think that if you're told every day how stupid you are, sooner or later, you'll probably start to believe it. To have kids believe they are stupid by the age of 12 is genuinely tragic.

It may be true that in the U.S. we baby kids too much these days, insulating them from harsh experiences and hurtful people. The "helicopter parents" are certainly out in full force. But maybe it is also true that the assembly line experience in the Chinese education system prevents students from realizing their true intellectual potential and squanders creativity.

Note: Many thanks to Jamie Battjes for the title of this post, a hybrid of the "No Child Left Behind" education policy espoused in the Bush era and China's "One Child Policy."

The Protest Next Door

It seems as if the entire world is protesting these days. From the Middle East to China, riots are making the headlines. Here in China, the streets are flooded by anti-Japanese protesters, angry over some long disputed islands in the East China Sea. The Japanese Embassy in Beijing has been the site of major protests, while innocent, Chinese owners of Japanese products have had their property destroyed. Japanese cars have been turned over and lit on fire, and bystanders with Japanese-made cameras have had their electronics snatched and smashed. Shenzhen has been the site of some violent protests, which got so out of hand yesterday that the police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the mob. These rowdy youths were congregated just a single metro stop away from me. You can see some of the insanity here.

The anti-Japanese sentiment is not merely due to the controversy over island ownership. Apparently, the Chinese have harbored a long hatred of the Japanese, following their brutal invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 40s. When I was teaching in Beijing, I got to hear all about this from my students, who were all too willing to parrot nationalistic propaganda. When I asked them what they would do if they had 50 million USD, I had more than a few students write that they would buy Japan, because they "hate the Japanese." This is something I have a hard time understanding, given the fact that these painful events took place long before the time of these students or even their parents. Move on.

It's a bit unnerving to see such massive protests taking place here; they could easily shift from merely anti-Japanese to indiscriminately xenophobic. With anti-American protests taking place across the globe in the past week, it certainly gives one pause. China has also seen a huge rise in xenophobia in the past year as more and more foreigners migrate here for better employment opportunities. With the Chinese economy slowing down, nationalism seems to be increasing. This has also been the case in Europe over the past decade, stoking tensions between local populations and foreigners, especially Muslims. If the situation in Europe shows us anything, I believe we may see heightened tensions not only between the Chinese and Japanese, but also between the Chinese and their domestic foreign populations.

In other news, I've gotten my passport back - complete with Chinese Residence Permit - and I am finally able to leave the country! I'm extremely glad this was such a quick process, as I have already made travel plans for the National Holiday, a week of vacation days to celebrate the birth of the People's Republic of China. I'll be going to Boracay and Puerto Princesa in the Philippines with Dave and some other friends from CTLC! SO excited to get to travel around Asia a bit more (and get a new stamp in my passport!).

I had the chance to test out my new and improved passport this weekend when I popped across the border to Hong Kong. The visa we have (a "Z" visa) is incredible. This is a multiple entry visa (very rare in the expat community, from what I can tell), which means I can go to Hong Kong every weekend if I want to. Hong Kong may be one of my favorite cities in the world - or maybe it just felt really good to get out of China. It's enormous: big crowds and huge skyscrapers. There are a ton of fellow foreigners, so I don't feel so out of place. The shopping...don't even get me started. Anything you could ever want and more. The culinary landscape looks extremely promising as well; I passed by a burger joint that offered free-range, organic beef. Lots of English speakers (for obvious reasons), and lots of foreign products that seem impossible to find in China. Also, I feel much safer there as a consumer (I don't believe they spray their lettuce with formaldehyde, among other things).

As far as teaching goes... I basically have a countdown going on (270 days). It is really nothing like I'd expected. It's not unpleasant (generally), but between the students and the teachers, it is exhausting. There's one English teacher in particular that is really getting on my nerves, trying to dictate my lesson plans. Unfortunately, I'm teaching 15 classes a week with an enormous variety of English levels that I have to cater to. I'm not going to sit down and write a whole other lesson just for your two classes. Not gonna happen. Not sorry about it either. It's people like her that make me long for the language barrier that I enjoy with so many others here in Shenzhen.

Missing family, friends, and home so much this week! Especially missing autumn weather; it's still in the 90s here with wretchedly high humidity. I'd give anything to be enjoying the changing leaves at Furman University and sipping on a Pumpkin Spice Latte! Living vicariously through all of you who are feeling a chill in the air and already wearing boots.

(P.S. I taught all of my students how to say "Howdy." Texan pride is alive and well in China.)