This weekend was sunny and beautiful, and I had the
opportunity to do a bit of exploring with my friends. Of course, I still made
time for some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Most of the American friends I’ve made here are from Eastern USA, and I
guess St. Paddy’s Day is huge out there. On Friday night we went to a potluck
and enjoyed some Irish food…soda bread, cabbage, potatoes, and of course the
traditional lime green Jello shooters.
On Saturday I went shopping downtown with my Chinese friend
Dion. We went into one insanely expensive mall that has every brand name
imaginable. I felt extremely underdressed even going into the stores! Even in
the less expensive departments stores, I was still quite surprised by the
prices of clothing. This is just my perspective from talking to Dion, but it
seems like Chinese people are quite concerned with their image, and with
material possessions. She tells me that a lot of women will save their money to
buy a brand name handbag that might cost their entire paycheque, because that
is the most important thing to them. Finally we stumbled across H&M, which
is much more in my price range, and I managed to buy a cheap green shirt.
In the cosmetics department of one store, I convinced Dion to
tell the makeup artists to paint my eyes bright green, to match my lucky
Shamrock earrings. They must have thought I was so weird! “Why is this crazy
white girl dressed all in green with bright green eyes??”
On Sunday one student who speaks really good English took me
to a national park area called Purple Mountain. We went to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s
mausoleum, where there are hundreds of steps up to the tomb of whom the Chinese
consider the “Father of the Nation.” It was really quite beautiful, and was
nice to see a different part of the city.
I am beginning to get into the routine of teaching. My
students are very sweet and for the most part seem to want to learn. They also
tell me that they enjoy my class. The language barrier is definitely there, and
the cultural norms for classrooms are different. It is very hard to get
students to volunteer, ask questions, or participate in discussions. They are
just not used to speaking up in class. One class, however, I brought some
Canadian flag pencils that I brought from home, to use as prizes, and was
amazed at the response I got. Students were literally jumping out their chairs
and yelling out the answers, just to get a dollar store prize. Now I wish I
brought more “Canadiana” stuff!
It’s definitely beginning to feel a little like spring, so I’m
not so frozen in my room anymore. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to open the
windows and enjoy my fifth floor balcony with a view!
This was the smallest puppy I've ever seen! Looked like a little teddy bear.
Johnny feeding the pigeons.
The view from the top of the Mausoleum, looking at the hundreds of steps we just climbed.
This lady was playing the flute! My friend Johnny took me on a tour of Purple Mountain.
Here are a few pictures of the campus. This is my building. My apartment in the corner one on the fifth floor.
The kitchen and office.
My bedroom.
The view from my balcony.
Can you bring one of those puppies home. So cute!
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