Christmas in China

I spent Christmas in Beautiful Hainan! An Island off the coast of mainland China about an hour flight southwest from Zhuhai. We landed on Wednesday night and spent the first two nights in Sanya in a Hostel located near the beach. We, for the first time found a place to buy wine and cheese and kicked off each evening by munching on some. During the first day we went to the beach and relaxed. The following day we went to a hot springs which offered over 60 different springs for people to relax in - hot, cold, super hot, super cold, coffee filled, coconut milked filled, and liqour filled. It was very bizzare. We ate at a terrible restaurant and hit up the most exciting pool of them all - the fish theropy pool. It was a large donut shaped pool with thousands of minnow - large minnow sized fish. These fish are related to pirahanas. As you sat still in this pool schools of these fish would begin to eat your skin off. We're talking about small bites, it tickled and didn't really hurt. We saw some people spend a few hours in here, we only spent a little over half an hour. After climbing out I noticed I no longer had any cuticles but that's about it. -- That's how i spent Christmas: no presents, no snow, no family. It was quite sad in more than a few ways.

The following day we climbed into an overpriced van (we're still kicking ourselves for getting so ripped off) and drove north on the island to a secluded area which we spent the last few days learning to surf. I managed to stand up for 3 seconds before falling down.

Tuckered out.

This picture is an unstiched 360-degree shot from the roof of United International College.

We made it to the monastery yesterday, after a 3 and 1/2 hour hike. Our group consisted of 3 T.A.'s and 5 Chinese students. The students volunteered to hike with us our Friday afternoon frisbee practice (we are forming a pretty sizable and skilled team here at UIC).

This is the first monastery I have been to while here in China, so forgive me if this gets a bit lengthy. There were about 9 buildings filled with statues (Buddha and his friends), pads for kneeling before the statues, and carts for placing your lit incense sticks. In the courtyard a few merchants were hunched over a wooden cart selling various sized sticks of incense with Chinese characters scrawled across them.
A Chinese student, Austin, told me that the kneeling pads in front of the statues were for 'making wishes' to the Buddha.
"Those big incense over there, " Austin continued, pointing at an incense stick the thickness of a broomstick handle and length of my right arm, "Those cost about 800 rmb."
...That's over 100 usd.

Continuing past these buildings we came to... the gift shop. The monastery wasn't really a tourist spot, and we may have been the only people who entered the gift shop that Saturday afternoon. It's presence made me flash back to my experience of visiting a Catholic church in Italy - now museum. Like a sea shell found on a beach, these beautiful monuments of faith were discarded and reclaimed by another type of creature, one who enjoys it because of the 'sound in makes when you put it up to your ear' not necessarily the function for which it was created. This is the impression I had visiting some of the churches in Italy, and this monastery. However, I am convinced that this is is an unfair judgment. After all, I never attended a mass/worship service in an Italian church, and this temple housed monks who were still practicing Buddhism. It is my intention to rectify this error in judgment - -

Behind the gift shop was a giant building which housed the monk's 'dormitory', and the dining hall. We showed up at 2:14 and missed having lunch with the monks which usually runs from 12 - 1. I plan on attending lunch the following weekend with an interested student (if I can find one). Lunch is prepared in the monastic tradition - completely vegetarian and it is extremely cheap for visitors to participate.

Zhen Zhu Nie Cha - Bubble Milk Tea, a great drink...

Eating weird things

Since we last spoke (me to you, not visa versa) I have eaten congealed blood, bought tickets for christmas, and gotten sick. Well maybe I've been sick a lot of the time I've been here. But that's not a big deal, Ben (my roomate) assures me, most of the time you are in China you will be sick. Great...

Well anyways, I have bigger fish to fry, and blood to congeal. Serously?!? Yea. That's nasty. I'm talking about 'red' tofu. Yeeuuck. The Chinese tell me that Japanese tofu is totally different, "it's sweeter." They then go on to tell me about this amazing dish from Shezuan (I know I am botching the spelling but bear with me). It's a spicy dish, they tell me. It's so spicy, it kills all the bacteria that is in the intestines, liver, and congealed blood floating around in it (after all it is a soup). Cool, sign me up.... Not so much. after eating one or two slices of congealed blood, you might begin to notice the bubbles or the odd 'undertexture'. *Wuffff* This is about the time that I bring up the "you eat dog meat? In America we consider dogs, MANS BEST FRIEND"....but mostly out of defense.

SPEAKING OF DOG!!!! A week ago we went out to a resturant as a group and one of my friends was visiting the bathroom. When he entered the bathroom he saw a swarm of dogs hanging out by the kitchen, gathering scraps and what not. When he left the bathroom he saw one of these dogs hit with a blunt object and dragged into the kitchen............sweet. I don't think I have ever been so skeptical about the food I was chowing on. I was chewing on crabs leggs, pulled straight from the leg of a crab (it still had all it's anatomy attached, eyes and all) and I couldn't not imagine anthing but ugggg, I'm finished eating.

Well back to the present, tomorrow I hike up the 'ol mountains again hopefully this time we make it to the monastary without getting tired and turning around. We will randez-vous at 10 am so I must go to sleep.

Ahhhh, added as a second thought I didn't fill you all in one my Christmas plans, we do have Christmas here in China, even thought it's warm as summer in MN. I will be flying to an Island called Hynan. I botched the spelling, as I have only heard it spoken. It's supposed to be quite spectacular and have a neighboring island -- monkey island. All my students are asking me to bring them back coconuts. meh.

Best to all,
quin ah sen

Hikage

I was just informed that it is no longer Thanksgiving, and I should update my blog. So here goes.

Last weekend, I went hiking with a group in the nearby mountains. We were looking for a monastery but ultimately we were unable to find it. We hiked 3 hours out and crossed a few peaks. Eventually we were forced to turn around to to make sure we would have enought light to make it home. On the way back, we tried to take a short cut and walk through a golf course, but it didn't work out so well. Within a few minutes a security guard on a motorcycle was escorting us off the course. Unfortunately, the security guard took us off the golf course and brought us to to an area where the city is building a new highway. This construction area is fenced off on all sides and has security cameras posted at regular intervals. We paced around looking for a legitimate way through the fence line - - but found none. We ended up jumping the fence and quickly walking away. The picture below was taken on the mountain and is of me fighting another T.A. with our walking sicks.

On sunday I went in to the office to get some grading done. I only corrected 2 papers, big disappointment. Today, Monday, I had the opportunity to wake up at 7:30 in the morning and tape some mock interviews. I filmed as two professors interviewed a senior, one professor asking questions in English and the other in Chinese. This was hilarious to watch. One student encouraged the professor to give them the job because their room is very clean.

Thanksgiving, Schedule, Cooking

Since we last spoke, a great deal has happened and I sort of glossed over it. I was pretty sick all last weekend from the wonderful thanksgiving meal we ate. It was a 150 Quai (approx $25) all you can eat buffet. And we ate. And ate. We paused to go around the table to say what we were thankful for, and returned to eating. Mashed potatoes, gravy, duck, stuffing, 4 kinds of salads, a meat counter where you could pick a raw meat and have them cook it up for you on an outdoor barbecue, sweet potatoes, and even TURKEY!
I have to say this is my first thanksgiving without the family, but it was fun to spend it with some good new friends and hear what they are thankful for. Some traditions are truly valuable.

I taught my first class today! It was the little yellow post-it stuck on my schedule. It was pretty scary but a lot of fun. Once the prof introduced me and took off I said something - far too quickly for them to understand - and then slowed down and the class went smoothly from there.

My Schedule

y1,y2,y3 Tutorials - I meet 2 times a week with a group of students and work with them on their english speaking skills. The class is extremely informal and we generally sit around just talking about their plans, my experiences in America, or anything else. My tutorial students have been a lot of fun.

TESL - I have this written on my schedule for 7 hours. I have no idea what this is... I was just told to block it off. TIC (This is China, a phrase taught to us immediatly upon arrival. Used to explain events and actions we don't understand.)

English Corner - A club (all first years must take at least a club each semester). Students play sports or learn about sports in the classroom.

Weekly Meeting - The Enlgish T.A.s meet with the Head of the Enlgish Dept.

Writing Center - I explained this in the past, we help students with their papers, presentations, etc.

Office Hours - You know, work on my blog, etc.

Chinese - 2 times a week we meet for Chinese lessons. The first 2 lessons we just made noises, now we learn words!!!

Enlgish Lessons - Once a week we teach enlish lessons to staff/faculty. It's what we offer in return for the Chinese lessons.

I plan on cooking. I don't know what most of these veggies are but I will try learn, and make something. We'll see how this goes.

Torrents become the norm

Wow.

I was just walking through the English department when I overheard two english professors:

"Yea, I just lost my password so I can't really help you out..."

"But wait, it's just d-e-m-o-n-o-i-d-.com right?"

"Yea, just go there and..."

That's when I jumped in. I couldn't believe that two highly esteemed professors were exchanging demonoid information. For those of you who don't know, demonoid is a torrent search engine.... Basically a search engine for downloading software both legal and illegal. There are hundreds of torrent search engines, but Demonoid is elite. In order to download torrents on Demonoid, you must register first. In order to register you must be invited by a current member.
In the US it is relatively difficult to find someone who is a member. Here in China -- while most world news sites are blocked access, google - images is blocked, US tv network online programing is unaccessible, and countless other sites are blocked -- torrents are common place. There are also tons of Chinese sites which you can find any movie/tv you could ever think of.

Truly Amazing.