Kids, bombs, and freezing cold temperatures

As i sit here typing on the computer, i can see fireworks exploding outside in the chilly night air. Chinese New Year is approaching fast - February 9th this year, year of the Rooster!

The intensives are half way done already (2 out of 4 weeks), and i'm liking the routine, structure and just the fact that that classes are more spread out. Definitely more my kind of working environment.

I have a class that is extremely rambunctious on Saturday afternoons. This week we learned the "If you're happy and you know it" song, you know the one, don't deny it! I got them all in a circle, holding hands, doing a full body workout - it was fabulous. I'm using a lot more TPR techniques with my wee ones, especially to start and end a class. I really believe that coming together as a group, and even doing stretches and (limited) call and response yells is beneficial to learning. Coming from a single-child family, these kids hardly get time to just chill and 'play' with kids their own age. You can see some of the symptoms of "the little emperor" shining through when they refuse to participate and pout in the corner, or in the other extreme, when they scream and yell and basically go bananas, clamping on to the backs and legs of their classmates... or their teacher for that matter! And that's when Teacher decides that everyone should sit down and not get up until class is over. Ah, the power.

As taxing and draining it is to control a group of kids in the morning, some of them are just precious precious precious. Poor little Blue (yes i have a student named Blue, and funnily enough, he is always wearing blue) has all this pent up energy that needs some major directing. A bright little boy, he has what i think is the most baby-beautiful face i've seen. His eyes shine and dance, but it's also as if they long for more. More life, more challenges, just MORE. I don't know, but just looking at him is like looking into a bottomless oasis. Bob, another spunky kid in the same class, is so hyper and just adrenalized (is that even a word?) he is constantly sweating. Not in a disgusting kind of way, but his face is always moist with perspiration and normally it would be a bit gross but this kid, a bit chubby with a round face and spiky hair, c'est cute. Without fail, I would have to tell Bob to "sit down" about a dozen times each class. He is the one who constantly falls out of his chair (the EF chairs are connected to the desks, which are extremely tiny even for 7 year olds) and once he falls, down goes the textbook, workbook, crayons, pencil case and all its contents. Anyways, Bob is worth a mention in this journal because if he isn't sitting in his desk, or falling out of it for that matter, he is on the floor crawling under desks or wriggling around on the floor like a worm. I've caught myself laughing out loud, almost to the point of tears too. It's just so funny! When i would turn my back to the board to write something, and turn back around to face them, there would be Bob - face down squirming like some fish out of water. Why the other students don't laugh or make fun of him or even seem to think it's weird/obscure/strange is beyond me. "Bob, sit down please," I say, trying to sound annoyed that i have to remind him all the time. "Ok, Teacher," he says, eyes wide open, sweat dripping down his rosy cheeks. My heart just goes out to him; I'm a sucker for kids, i admit it. Hey, kids are kids.

There were two explosions on Jan. 22nd. The first one happened when a short-distance bus travelling from Karamay city to Usu city in northern Xinjiang exploded on a highway, killing 12 and injuring many more. About four hours later, a blast killed two people and injured 10 others in the Uyghur area of Urumqi, leaving a nine square meter (97 square foot) hole in the ground. At first we weren't sure what the cause of these attacks were, besides relying on rumours, only that they were hours apart and it just happened to be on one of the Muslim holidays. The one in town is said to be caused by a natural gas leak.

It's been hovering around -27 degrees for the past few days, a bitter bitter cold, the kind that can snap in two if you could actually snap a substance like air. Every part of me is dry, I cannot wait for the sunshine and tropical humidity in Thailand! Wahoo! One week baby!

overdue

Overdue entry, i know. But here goes, my attempt to summarize what has been happening in the past few weeks.

Christmas was filled with lots of fun gatherings with friends and colleagues. Susi and I hosted a Christmas Party on Dec.24 - lots of people showed up (more than i ever expected actually), and after pretty much everyone had left, Uli and I went clubbing down the road in some underground club, excellent times!

Kids EF Xmas Party was on December 26th at the Yindu Hotel. Lots of games, food, screaming, songs, yelling, dancing, and finally... beer for the teachers!

New Year's was celebrated amongst the biggest gathering of foreigners i have yet seen in Urumqi. We gathered at the Silk Road bar, where one of my colleagues had the intention of setting up his discs and tunes.

Unfortunately one of the wires busted and we were left only with the cacaphony of random drunken slurs of people manoevering their way through conversations about mountaineering in the desolate Xinjiang mountains to the debates of whether China should become a democratic nation.

We welcomed a couple more teachers since the last time I wrote.

Alina, who hails from Canada also (Windsor!), arrived a week ago with experience in electrical engineering and various stints of ESL teaching in Eastern China, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Peter, a British bloke (from the North, a very important distinction I've gathered), who landed a couple of days ago with his mountain bike and will be part of the new school of EF. He's been biking around the dodgy streets of Urumqi and getting to know the city well, although he did pass through the area 4 years ago when he biked across a part of central Asia and China.. and ?

The winter intensive courses are begining tomorrow. They run for 4 weeks. This means I have almost 40 AC hours (1AC hour = 40 minutes) of teaching to do, not including the 'chores' that we are assigned weekly, such as Social Clubs, OPI's (Oral Placement Interview), etc.

I'm actually really looking forward to them, getting to know the students on a more personal level since i'll be seeing them several times a week. This is good motivation for me to conduct a good class, something that i've been needing as of late i feel.

Went skiing with a bunch of friends a few weeks back. Of course, it was nothing like many of the Canadian ski hills that most of you are used to, but it was good fun nonetheless.

There were a few runs, some powdery snow, and a lot of first-timers on the 'bunny run', which i think proved a lot more difficult than the 'advanced run', only due to the fact that you had to manoever your way around these people who would literally set themselves up on the top of the hill where they could see a straight line down the mountain that would prove the least dangerous.

Then watch out, cause once they're off, they speed like rockets down the hill oblivious to whatever is in their path. Perhaps oblivious is not the proper word, i do think they are completely aware of what lies ahead of them, but the fact that most haven't mastered the skill of turning or even slowing down renders the object that unfortunately happens to be in the way, redundant, and sooner than later, hit/squashed/pummelled/smashed to bits.

Had a teen class yesterday where I invited some 'guest speakers' to come in and do a mini presentation of their home country.

Each student had to choose a country to research on and present in class. Michael talked about Canada and even sang a Lumberjack song, much to the students' amusement. Fatima talked a bit a bit about El Salvador and showed us how to swing our hips to Latin beats. And Matt introduced us to the charms and treasures of tiny Jersey Island, entrancing the students with stunning pictures and captivating stories. Good variety for the class, and an opportunity to hear different English accents!

Making plans for Chinese New Year (Feb.7-13), where pretty much the entire country is on some sort of 'holiday'. We at EF get one week off. To avoid the vicious crowds that will be undoubtedly be travelling en masse to all sorts of in-China destinations, not to mention clogging up the modes of transport like trains and buses, Matt and I are heading down to Thailand for one week! I'm getting super excited as i've never been to South-East Asia before, and Thailand will just be a taste of what can be experienced there, probably leaving me with an urge to keep travelling and seeing the surrounding countries. Going to stop on the way back to see Stella-bean in Bangkok who is doing an internship there right now - yay!!! It will be very very nice to see a familiar friend from back home!

We are planning on going up north to Chiang Mai for some trekking, and then flying down south to Phuket for some sun-infused times. At first we thought of going to the East side, thinking the south/west was still too devastated from the horrible tsunami disaster. Upon more research and thinking and talking, we decided that the best way to help a situation that has brought so much devastation to a single country is to reply to its many urges of tourists to return to their hotels and beaches so that their financial situation can pick up again. Matt and I have said that if we see something or someone that needs help, we will do so, not limiting ourselves in any way. It will be interesting to see first-hand how it really is, and not just read about it.

I organized a mini-drive at EF amongst colleagues to see how much money we could raise for the Canadian Red Cross. I was so thrilled at how many of the local staff also contributed, well aware of the fact that their salary is only a slight percentage of what we foreign teachers get paid. The good news was that with the money we gathered together, my dad at SDM doubled that, and then the Cdn. Gov. also doubled that amount. Let's just say that the total amount raised (in Chinese RMB) is equivalent to seventy years salary for a local farmer here. A little certainly goes a long way.

We went through a rather nasty cold spell, and we are experiencing the tail end of it, although i'm sure we'll get another one before spring comes. It got down to -32 on Xmas day, the coldest i've ever been here! Nowadays, there is a lot of fog and pollution, ugh. I'm sitting up on the 25th floor and all i see outside is this pasty-milky fog/haze. It's so dense i can't even see the ground. Somedays the drab of the city in winter really does get to people, me included, and we hibernate and recoil into our homes and thoughts and spirits. I'm trying to keep happy and surround myself with happiness, which at the moment is NOT a problem (!), so even though i feel as if i'm floating on clouds, at other times i do think Urumqi needs a big heads-up on what constitutes good clean air and how to manage it...

So to sum up, this month has basically consisted of a lot of growth, discovery and sharing. Intense as everything is, i'm standing solid on the ground with my wings spread. There are emotions errupting inside of me that I have never felt before. Let me try and paint a word-picture: Think beautiful rays of a sunrise, when it first peaks beyond the sealine or mountain peak, of how its radiant glow just captures the childish awe in you, enveloping you in its warm embrace. Imagine how the sun rises, quickly but steadily, and as it does everything in its path is touched by all its glory and light, and those things in turn begin to breathe and smile... unjustifiable words i'm using to describe to you this feeling inside of me. But there you have it. Lots of good memories and appreciative lessons learned in so many different and (sometimes) difficult circumstances; they have only prepared me for what I know will be a truly incredible 2005.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, happy and joyful Christmas!
Lots of love, Bonnie :)

Holiday Love from Urumqi (ooo-roo-moo-chee)

Ok, only now have i had a decent amount of time to sit down and write a proper journal entry.

How am I suppose to explain what has happened to me in the past few weeks? It has been a whirlwind of emotions, all high and higher. I am still stunned and shocked at the beauty with what has been presented to me, unexpectedly and so in its entire wonderment.

So to answer some of your pleas for more detail, his name’s Matthew. He’s from Jersey (the English island near France), has traveled extensively, worked for the UN for several years, heavily into sports (especially water ones!), speaks fluent Japanese and better Mandarin than me, is currently working as a Project Manager for the renewable energy project for Shell, distributing solar systems to nomadic families around Xinjiang (mainly Uyghur and Kazakh people). That’s the just of it, and I feel a bit weird posting his life resume here so I guess I will just have to tell you via personal emails or phone calls.
But believe me when I say I’m over the moon. Magic.

I cannot believe that another year has come and gone just like that. It seems like my time with Katimavik was so long and distant ago, and yet I hear from my participants from time to time and I absolutely LOVE it. I love being able to be a part of their lives, even though time zones apart and time between us. We can talk and communicate and wish each other well in such sincere and simple manners. We are blessed to have met in our lives and to linger on to that special relationship. I wish you all well, and miss your energy (and spontaneous naughtiness) a lot. I felt alive with them, in that role, as tough and heart-wrenching as it was at times, but I learned a lot this year. From my participants, from my loving colleagues, from my friends with whom I reconnected with in Ottawa. I love you all dearly, you have given me such courage and faith in myself and how I absolutely need to do things for myself in this lifetime. It is a matter of faith, discipline and adaptability.

It’s holiday season, and these past two days I have grown quite nostalgic about home and just the feelings associated with this time of year. I don’t know, it’s the first time I have honestly felt this way. It’s not what I would call text book ‘homesickness’, but more of a reflective stage where I realize that friends and family back home are currently gathering together to celebrate another year of success and joy, and perhaps to remember some of the sorrows too. I am off this week for 3 days (thurs, fri and sat) for xmas, and we have the same days off next week too for New Year’s. Tomorrow Susi and I will be hosting a Xmas party at our place for all of the EF staff, our friends around town.. and whoever else they may bring. We cleaned a bit tonight, spray painted our windows with ‘snow’ stencils (however, we were disappointed that the spray can we bought only allowed us to spray about 3 and a half stencils – Chinese quality at its best!!). Tomorrow will be dedicated to baking and baking and buying lots of booze!! ;)

I think part of my nostalgia is due in part to the fact that this is the first time in my life where I am NOT in Canada but overseas where there is snow during Christmas time. Usually if I’m away during the holiday season, it was in a tropical warm climate. SO I think the snow and the frost has me thinking, and fooled, that I should infact be at ‘home’ in Canada celebrating amongst friends and family. But I have to admit, my surrogate family here, comprised of the most bizarre and eccentric (but absolutely beautiful) people I have ever come across, provide me with some of the utmost joy and love I have ever received so readily in life. I cannot say how much I truly love and appreciate this team I have that surrounds me everyday. We are not just a team at work, but a network of support and communication for each other. Not out of necessity either. I mean we are all extremely stubborn in our own ways, and we all come from very diverse backgrounds, but I can say wholeheartedly that none of us would spend time with the others if we didn’t want it in the first place. What I’m trying to say I guess is that we have chosen to enjoy each other’s company and friendship. It’s times like tonight where I sit holed up in my room on Dong Hou Jie (the street name of where I live), baking in my incredibly hot and dry flat, writing these endearing words on my brightly lit laptop screen surrounded by candles. Read on if you can bear with me...

Who am i? I am thinking about what my future has ahead of me. What kind of year will 2005 be? Tomorrow is xmas eve, but our celebration will be mainly one filled with love and food and joy and laughter, surrounded by my surrogate family here, my Xinjiang friends. Gathered from different walks of life, coming together by some force, some fluke, some destiny. We are all wanderers in this world, some have traveled further distances than others, some have treaded through more difficult passages than some, and others have worked hard to achieve what they currently have to end up in this delightful city in Central Asia.

Other things that I’ve been doing since my last entry:
- Got together with one of the local teacher’s students for some Western food. Susi made spaghetti bolognaise and I of course offered my banana bread baking skills. Get this: we microwaved the cake! Yes, there are microwaves here in China (and probably elsewhere in the world, but I do not know of any place so if you do, please let me know!) where you can actually MICROWAVE a cake within 5 minutes. I was shocked still.

-Gathered with some non-EF expats one night to swap music, mp3’s mainly. I love expanding my music collection and I love it more because it’s free! Next get together should be a book swapping I say.

-My favourite class which I teach on Sunday afternoons, a group of 13-15 year olds who are at a pretty high level, were covering a unit on Protests. And so of course, being me, I egged on a lot of controversial topics, asking and probing them to think actively and to question society’s norms and standards. After discussing and telling them stories about “sit-ins, hunger strikes, petitions, campaigns…”, we held our own protest around the EF corridors. It was awesome!!!!!!! Here are some pictures. I was so incredibly proud, so PROUD! My kids (ok, I just have to call them ‘kids’ this one time) decided amongst themselves that they wanted to protest against doing homework at EF, and to stage the message that they deserve more free time. They made banners, flyers, petitions, signs that hung around their necks. Their chant was “Make us Free!” “No Homework! No Exams!” “We want sunshine!” I videotaped them while another (new) teacher who was shadowing my class, Fatima, was the “journalist” and was taking pictures. I’ll be sure to post them soon.

We went to every classroom(I of course forewarned the teachers), interrupted their lesson with our shouts of anti-homework, had the students sign the petition if they agreed, handed out some candy, and carried on our merry way. At the end of the class, we discussed how we felt during the protest. I was surprised and honestly touched to hear some of their responses. A lot of them focused on the point that each student had a certain role to play but that they were all working towards the same mission/goal. One of my students, Sophia, made some side comment that “Bonnie was the craziest EF teacher at the school!” So be it, I just may well be, but at least there was enormous learning that day, and it wasn’t just English vocab and grammar! Needless to say, I granted them their wish and assigned no homework that week.

The new teachers who have arrived are fitting in just nicely.

Ron, British bloke from London, worked for Marks and Spencers for the past twenty years, has been to Tunisia 15 times, loves Turkish anything and played Santa Claus at our adult Xmas party. Now Ron is quite short and tiny and you have to imagine a blue eyed St.Nick dressed in red and white and literally hopping around like a bunny just in order for people to see and notice him! It was hilarious!

Mikael, Czech guy, 30, tallest guy ever, and even taller due to his slim stature. His girlfriend Camilla arrived a few days ago, perhaps to stay long term (?) but not as an EF teacher, not yet at least, and is just so insanely nice and a great gentleman. He has been so helpful to Peta, for example, since she dislocated her knee in class (story to follow); he cooked us crepes for dinner, piggybacks her everywhere and anywhere, etc… and just generally always willing to lend a hand. Like Ian put it, “at least there’s a gentleman amongst us!” Amen to that!

Fatima, 23, born and raised in El Salvador, is running/marathon queen and works out religiously, studied Global Economics and Latin American studies, has such a wacky sense of humour and uses “dude” to address anything that has two arms, two legs and a head. My goal is to NOT use that term of endearment here. I’ve already picked up ‘bloke’ and ‘mate’ from my British and Auzzie buds.

Ulrike, or Ullie for short, 32, quit a job of doing promotion for large companies or something like that in Germany, well it was a stuffy office job that she saw was really not her cup of tea so she got out of it. Good on her, many say they will leave a dead-end job with no challenges, however many don’t do anything about it. She’s left and is here and is fitting in just nicely. I love her approach to life and is bringing a lot of stability and laughter and creativity to our growing team.

Our new school in Urumqi has opened as of last weekend. Apparently it was a success. A few dudes (ah, I did it!! Crap, it was totally instinctive too!) from head office in Shanghai were here to observe and we got heaps (an Auzzie word for A LOT which I picked up) of compliments for a job well done. Lots of shoulder and back patting were going around this week, that’s for sure! Yay.

So Peta dislocated her knee. Here’s the story: she was talking with her class about stunts and flexibility. Her students asked if she could do the splits. She said yes, because apparently she can. Our carpets in the classroom are actually one foot square carpets, which are removable. So she goes down to show her eager students that she can do the splits and one of the carpets comes up, sending her knee into spasms and twists that caused her to curse and swear in such colourful language that her students at first thought she was kidding and playing around. It was only until a few seconds later that she really started to scream and point to her knee, that one of them got on her cellphone quickly to call the ambulance.

So the ambulance came, sirens blaring and all, whisked her away to the hospital and now she is in a crotch-to-toe cast, only capable of hopping on her right leg, which is proving to be quite strong I might add. All this happened while I was teaching nearby in the next room!! I don’t know how I could not have heard all the commotion!

The whole thing is quite ironic, as we discussed afterwards, while she was being pampered with people bringing flowers and get well wishes, because Dora (her ex) had broken her ankle in several places just a month ago, and although she has left China, will require about 6 months to heal properly. Ditto for Peta now.

Our declared lesson of the week: Be careful for what you wish for.

We held an adult EF Christmas party on Dec.21 at one of Urumqi’s 5-star hotels. Great food, pretty decent entertainment (magician, Uyghur dancing and singing), and some acts from students and some pretty bad carroling from teachers!

On boxing day we will have the kids xmas party, at the same hotel.. this is going to be quite the mad zoo I’m told, as we have over 200 kids coming to pretty much be babysat. Let the fun and games begin!

Susi and I are have been getting closer these past few days. There were a few tense moments, and I’m sure more to come, as I am entering a new relationship which means I can direct less energy towards our friendship.

I don’t want to hurt her most of all, and Peta too, because the two of them have been my pillar of strength and the ones I’m closest to here. There is a balance, a fine one, to walk.

I am certain we can do it, but that requires open communication, and it took a few days for me to honestly open up to each of them individually.

Of course I want them involved in my life as much as possible and I want to feel that I can talk to them, and vice versa, so here I am attempting to manage some excellent friendships while a relationship is blossoming from the inside.

ok, it's getting on 4:30 am (Beijingtime), I should get some beauty sleep so that I can properly host a party tomorrow evening! It shall be fun. We told everyone to bring a twenty yuan present so we can do a Kris Kringle exchange thing. Youppee!! I love surprises!

ps. thanks wendy for your advice - i have taken off my mailing address. Folks, let me know if you want it via email instead.

fallen

Well, it's been a while since i've last updated... a few brief things that have occurred:
I have received my working visa and my resident card - yay!
But the most recent development is that i've fallen madly in love... more to come later...

happy happy happy!

Guess where i am? sitting in a smoke-filled underground hall with about a hundred computers in north-west Urumqi.

Surrounding me are Chinese young adults and teens utterly absorbed in their virtual world of "O-ICQ" or "MSN" or this popular computer game called "Pow Pow Tang", which from the looks of it, involves a little cartoon bonhomme dressed in a red mousesuit going around and racking up points through this maze-thing. I dunno.

I'm with my VIP student, LiYan, who takes me out every Wednesday on a day trip somewhere in Urumqi. It's a great way to see this local culture that i would not voluntarily do on my own free will.

In any case, this gives me a good chance to update the journal. The week's been full of great moments: went for an overnight trip to Heavenly Lake, clubbing till 6:30 on a MONDAY night, attended a Uyghur wedding on Saturday (see photos), but i must run now. Our time is up here.

Huge snowfall this morning, absolutely gorgeous!

lazy Tuesday morning thoughts

I love weekdays - i can be as lazy ass'd as i want to be.

Attempted to watch "Collateral" with Tom Cruise ;) last night with Peta in her flat. Her DVD player is a unique one: it only plays the background sound, there is no dialogue except for the subtitles. So strange, we even tried another movie but with the same results. We didn't feel like reading at all, so we watched it in my flat. Sometimes i love the fact that we live so close to one another. Went to bed around 3:30am and woke up at around 9.... It's great to not have to go into work until much later. I'm quite enjoying the absolute freedom we have at EF to come and go as we please. As long as our planning and prep work gets done before the mad rush on the weekends and you do your extra chores during the week, nobody bothers you. So far today, i've been playing guitar, baking banana bread (susi's business class is cooking dinner here tonight and she promised to have desert for them courtesy of me), writing, surfing, eating.

As i had predicted, the spa was fantabulous last Friday. Cheap (about $10CDN in all) and fun, this is certainly a great way to endulge and do some serious self-care. Laura and i went from hot showers to hot tub to sauna to steam room. Last time Laura went, she put up a fuss about being naked and after a lot of persuasion, she was allowed to wear her bathing suit. However, because she was alone (her BF Ryan was in the male section of the bathhouse) she found it a bit awkward to be amongst naked Chinese women who were lounging around the hot tub and sauna. And according to her, some were completely liberal and then some about giving her full frontal views, legs spread and all. Nice. So we got to wear our bathing suits without any opposition this time since they recognized her. For about $3CDN extra, we got a full body exfoliation, where i swear they scrub every single square inch of your body and without giving graphic details, one has got to be utterly comfortable with one's body in order to fully appreciate this experience. However, at this point we were told to take off the bathing suit, oh well, when in Rome... After getting up from the table and upon seeing all my dead skin she had sloughed off, i was totally disgusted. After another hot shower with hair salon shampoo and soap, we were given soft yellow cotten pj's, yellow underwear and yellow slippers. We were then showed upstairs to the dining room, reunited with the boys who were adorned in cute blue pjs and blue slippers and probably blue undies. After sinking into a chair from pure elatedness, awaiting us was a full buffet spread - unbelievable! There was soups, noodles, rice, fruit, fish, chicken, tofu, veggies, cold appetizers, DESERT, drinks..

I rushed home afterwards to welcome Mikal, the new teacher from Czech. First impression: tall tall taller. He towers over everyone at 6'5. Great sense of humour, has been in Australia for the past few months, has travelled in US, Malaysia, all over Europe, loves nature, skiing, cycling. First time in China, he marvels at the little quirks that make China CHINA. Ie: the clap on lights. To save electricity, many of the lights in the offices and stairwells of buildings are sounds sensitive. To turn them on, you can clap your hands, stamp your foot, or as i've heard some people do: yell "HAAAMMPHH". WHen Mikal discovered this light system, he was quite amused and giggly. Funny how quirky things like that become the norm so quickly.

Sunday night was Ken's birthday. After teaching 4 full blocks, which is 8 hours of actual teaching time, (my first time where i haven't had a break in between, quite intense and i've gotta learn to pace myself or i'll burn out by my last class), we all went across the road to the ORANGE STREET BAR for some drinks. It was a great ol' time, we spent 1299 yuan which is quite excessive even for us foreign folk, but hey it was fun. At this bar, they have live musical acts that play a set or two, and then different people come on. In between acts, Ken and i jumped up and played a little duo. Me on the ivory keys and Ken on some guy's guitar. He attempted to sing also, which basically means him ad-libbing words on the spot - hysterical, and upon reflection, a bit embarassing. I honestly don't remember exactly what we were playing but after a few minutes we were politely told to leave the stage. At least we weren't kicked out.

Sunday was also Tonia's birthday, the Centre Manager of EF Urumqi. She came to the bar with some of the other girls, and we toasted her with rounds of vodka shots. Chinese women/girls have this cutsie way of having fun. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like this innocent/naive/selfless nature that is very girly and giggly. One of the course consultants (CC's are assigned to various classes at EF to be the liaison between the teachers and parents), Amy, would perform this little dance number after each shot, she would stand up, kinda shake her boobs and do this batwoman thing. You have to see it, but she would make the "peace sign" with her two hands and sort of wave them across her face. God, it was funny.

I had two of my kiddie classes finish this weekend. During the span of one course which consists of 16 classes, there are two parent observation opportunities. One happens in the middle of the course and the second one happens during the last class. These two classes i was co-teaching with a local teacher, but parents only observe the foreign teacher's class (something i don't agree with to begin with, but anyways). So during my parents obs, we played games, handed out candy prizes, sang songs and i gave out progress reports to the students. And then parents can ask questions about their child and sign up for the next level. It was my first time ending a class and it was so chaotic. Every mother and father, and sometimes the grandparents come too (!) want to know everything about their child, and i get the feeling that all they want to hear is the foreign teacher boasting in front of the other parents about how hard-working and bright and amazingly god-like their child is. Maybe someone might say i'm exaggerating but honestly i don't think i'm too far off. The pressure is unbelievable for these kids to excel to the standards that their parents and society places upon them.

This rat race to be successful and maintain individual pride and consequently, family dignity, is contagious, equally competitive, and a lot of times it can lead to a detrimental lack of self-confidence and just a miserable state of being. I see how the young kids have a spark and glow in their eyes, but my older students, the teens and especially the adults, tend to be more like robots on auto-pilot, gliding from school to school to textbook to workbook to exams to work. I gave my adult class an assignment last week to do something FOR THEMSELVES, anything that makes them happy, just for 1 hour the entire week. One student played basketball, another had a birthday dinner celebration for her Grandma, one went out to eat with her parents, one went shopping. During the last half hour of class I taught them the lyrics to Hotel California by the Eagles. It's quite popular here in Urumqi and they wanted to learn an English song. Variety is great and sometimes the textbook is a bit dry. I brought my guitar as did Hugh, a student in the class, and we had a sing-a-long at the end, funfun!

I'm still trying to unravel the layers of Chinese people and figure out what it is that makes them so hard to read on the outside, and if and how they are striving to this so-called success. As an outsider, i'm frustrated at the fact that they seem to internalize this pressure coming to them at all angles, but from what i gather, the most destructive is the pressure that they self-impose for whatever reasons. Peta was telling me that as of today, there are no trained psychologists in China! But despite it all, there is this intriguing facet of Chinese people that binds them together, that of national pride. And the powers that be up in Beijing try so desperately to keep these outlying provinces and minority groups under their iron fist as much as possible. But the more you force it, the more assertive people can become and thus why the Uyghurs here cling so dearly to their Uyghur identiy by defining themselves NOT as what Uyghurs ARE but what they are NOT. And what they are not is Chinese.

Perhaps this opening sentence in the CHINESE History course textbook here at the University of Xinjiang will illustrate what i'm trying to say:
"Xinjiang is an inseperable part of our great and glorious motherland."
- What does one say to that? -

Nanshan

Yesterday i spent the day hiking in the comfort and solitude of the NANSHAN Mountains (literally SOUTH MOUNTAINS).

I went with Peta, Michael and George (Dora's brother) and after spending about an hour trying to figure out where to take the bus from, we finally were able to purchase tickets (for 7 yuan each way!!! just a little over $1CDN).

At the bus station, we were having trouble communicating, so one of the women called her husband on the cell phone who spoke exceptional english and we were able to figure things out that way.

I think i had most of the people in the station's attention: me, a chinese- looking girl, shouting (literally) into the cell phone in english and then passing the phone through the wired mesh that separated me and the ticket seller, who would then yell into the phone and nod occasionally, and then hand the phone back to me.. and i thought cell phones were such a nuisance!

In any case, we eventually reached Nanshan and were awarded with stunning scenery (towering pine trees, crunchy snow paths, a little river with a frozen surface but with running water underneath it still). The sun was out and blaring - the first time since i've arrived in Urumqi were i actually could FEEL the heat on my face.

We walked for a few hours without seeing another soul. One Kazakh man approached us in the beginning of our hike to see if we wanted to rent his horses to go up the mountain. Perhaps next time. All in all, it was a fabulous day.

We drank from the river, breathed fresh fresh air, ate our picnic lunch, had a strenuous yet satisfying cardio workout, threw 1 fen (10 fen = 1 jiao; 10 jiao=1 yuan, 1 yuan=$6.2 CDN) into the river and made a wish, ... Peta was wishing we had some whiskey with us since the snow, which was like the consistency of sand, but clear-coloured, would have provided some good ice shavings for a good drink. Instead we had some fags and cigars, good nuff.

Upon return, we had to go LOOKING for somewhere to eat.

Now this is in a country where food stalls and restaurants pop up like weeds (not to mention shut down also), but we had to actually go looking for someone to feed us - a definite first for me in China. I remembered seeing a row of little houses so we ventured that way, crossed a rickety bridge and i went 'knocking' on one of the doors. Turns out that family often feeds weary travellers.

So into their Kazakh home they invited us in, where we sat on these gorgeous Kazakh rugs, surrounded by fluffy pillows and mattresses which they prop up during the day so that they can sit around a low-rise table. Of course there is almost no corner of the world where televisions are not part of the expected decor of a home, so there we were eating little snackey foods, horse meat (DELICIOUS!), mutton kewabs, and drinking milk tea, all the while watching Kazakh music videos which i would bet are from the 80's era.

After our meal, we all had a little repose before we set out to catch our bus. I was a bit worried/ skeptical that the bus driver wouldn't come back and pick us up, only because i was not confident of my language skills.

But suddenly out of nowhere, still with nobody in sight, the blue minibus came roaring down the dirt road two minutes before our scheduled pickup time! What's this ON TIME business??? Another first in China! Ok, it's not that bad, but i was definitely impressed.

Today, i paid a visit to the PSB (i think it stands for Public Service Bureau, or perhaps PRIVATE??), the equivalent of a Chinese police station to apply for my work visa and temporary resident card. I was surprised at how quickly the whole thing took.

Kate, an EF employee, took me so she could translate. They basically need to just make sure the person in my passport is actually me, but i couldn't understand because where i was told to wait and sit down, the entire time my BACK was to the person behind the glass.

Next thing i know, i'm told i can go. SO apparently seeing the back of my head is good enough to say i am indeed the girl in the passport. Or maybe they have little hidden cameras all over the room, which was a bit sketchy looking to me to begin with. Am i getting paranoid or what. yikes.

After a nice lazy swim and lunch at The Vine (casual Western-style restaurant run by two women from Caracol in the Carribbean) with Susi, I met up with American Laura and her BF Ryan from St.Louis. I missed their American thanksgiving feast yesterday where Laura made Gumbo, very popular in Louisiana i'm told.

We went to a tea house and drank oodles of oolong tea for three hours, and talked about politics, school, Chinese chess, expat gossip, travel (they went to pakistan last summer and Ryan had been to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Samarkland, and me being me, all i want to do now is go travel and see these places).

The whole tea ceremony was quite the elaborate process and i did enjoy our own little room with sliding wooden panels.

Service was great and literally every 3 minutes the lady would come and refill our tiny teacups. I'm meeting up with them in about twenty minutes again to experience a fullout Chinese bathhouse. Should be fun.

Tonight we're going to have another welcome-a-new-EF-teacher toast; Mikael, the Czech guy, will be arriving around midnight. Copious amounts of beer and wine will be consumed as usual. It will be a lovely and painful Saturday morning tomorrow with the little kiddies, that is certain.

Kay, I'm off to be scrubbed down and exfoliated and massaged.

* hey my fav sis - i promise i'll post some pics asap, hang tight.