September Update

Language camp in Yangshuo

Language camp was incredible.  The location was spectacular, the people were wonderful, and every day I was able to spend time with friends and study Chinese.

Ping'An

Ping'An

Yangshuo is a beautiful place.  We enjoyed biking beside rivers and mountains, swimming, and cave exploring.  On one weekend we were also able to skirt up to Ping’An, where there are gorgeous rice terraces. 

We also met many interesting people including a tour guide from Holland, a handle of rock climbers, and a lady from S. Africa, who came to China for the same reasons we did.  One of our teachers was a sister and we got to visit a Chinese group who were dedicated to studying our book every week.  I love meeting people from such different backgrounds and cultures who still have the truth that we have.  It’s encouraging to know that it can be found in many places.

Xing Ping

Moving in

Thanks to Bonnie, Laura, and Matt, I was able to move almost everything from my old campus to my new one in less than three hours (despite dropping a bottle of soy sauce which splattered and shattered all over the floor).  We only had to take two taxis! 

I’m still cleaning and organizing though, so I’m not exactly settled.  Due to certain circumstances, we did not return to Wuhan until Friday afternoon so I’m a little behind on planning lessons and cleaning.  My new apartment is awesome though.  When I’m finished putting things away I’ll post some pictures.

Teaching

On Friday or Saturday last week, I found out that my classes don’t start until the 10^th, which is great.  (Most classes start on the 2nd).  I’ll be teaching five writing classes each week, two on Tuesday and three on Thursday.  Two of the other foreign teachers, Mary and Abby, are also teaching the same writing classes and I am really excited about planning lessons and tests with these two.  Mary and her husband Ed have been in China for years and I think they are both outstanding teachers so I have the opportunity of learning from some of the best. J   

I was able to catch up with one of my students from last year and was excited to learn that she has been continuing to read our favorite book!  This week I hope to catch up with some others.  It's still only the first week back for them so everything is a little hectic.  :)

Do they eat cat in China?

The answer, as is typical when discussing China, neither yes nor no.

Dog meat

In Wuhan, and most parts of China, they absolutely do not eat cat or dog and may be appalled and mildly offended that you even ask.  “That is horrible!”  they say.  “Dogs and cats are so cute – they are pets – we do not eat them.”  But then they may turn up their noses and vaguely remark that those people in the poorer southern regions were an odd, maybe even backwards people and that is why people sometimes think these things about China. 

Cat meat

So I was under the impression that people in South China used to eat cat.

 That was until I traveled to Yangshuo in southern China to live and study Chinese for two weeks.

Restaurants in Yangshuo often post their menus on large signs that they stick out on the side walk.  My fellow classmates were walking down the road when Eric, who has studied Chinese the longest and can read many characters, saw something that caught his eye....but he wasn't too sure about what it really meant...however...

Any doubts about the translation were cleared up when the boss came up behind them and, with a grin, gestured and said “meow, meow!”

So, yes, there are restaurants where you can find cat or dog on the menu, but it's mostly only in a the south west part of China.  Typically, people in Wuhan think it's pretty disgusting. 

Hi Everyone!

Due to certain internet issues, I stopped using Blogspot and switched to Tumblr last year.  However, I still like Blogspot better so I'm moving back to Blogspot.  If you want to see older posts, you can still check out my Tumblr. http://kristin07.tumblr.com/

Very soon I will be leaving the U.S. to begin my second year of teaching in China.  This year I go armed with a year of experience and a lot more hot chocolate mix, but I know that the best preparation has little to do with what I take in my bags and everything to do with prayer.  And, unfortunately, knowing what to expect doesn’t make leaving my family for 10+ months any less scary.

The next four days are almost entirely reserved for travel and, after that, I will be spending two weeks learning Chinese in one of the most beautiful places in China: Yangshuo. 

Then I’ll have a week to begin move into the apartment at my new school.  My new school is about a twenty minute taxi ride from the school I was at last year.  I hope to visit some of my old students at least once a week next semester, and, since I only teach on Tuesday and Thursday, that should be pretty doable.

I hope you all are enjoying these final days of summer!  Here's what I'll be doing for the next four weeks:

:)

3 Weeks!

I can hardly believe it, but in 20 days I will be in Searcy, ready to take off at four in the morning for the Little Rock airport.  Then, 27 hours and 4 airports later, I'll be in Wuhan, China.  

But don't worry!  I'll have a book to read on those flights!  

Right now, I’m in the middle of three different nonfiction books, all about yup, China.  I have two more teaching books to read and one is a library book so I need to get started on it!  It's thick enough that I may just give up and buy it so I can take it with me.  

Some of the books that I'm taking.   

I am so slow at reading nonfiction books!  I can read the 7^th Harry Potter book in three days, but with nonfiction I am like a turtle, trudging through the bogs of information like it's knee-deep mud.  It’s good information – the sort that is really useful when read – but, with my turtle pace, I am going to be traveling to China with a small library in tow.  Sorry shoes and seasoning packets, you may just have to stay home.

This is completely unrelated, but check out my owl hat :) It isn't finished but I think my cat likes it anyway.  Unfortunately, it is now coated in cat fur.  

Thanks Kitters.

Woo Hoo! Wuhan (Woo-hawn)!

Wuhan is a quaint little town of about 9 million. It is divided by the Yangtze and Han Rivers and was formerly three separate cities (Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang). Wuhan’s history is old, dating back 3,500 years. Once a busy port town, and later a nucleus of revolutions and uprisings, Wuhan is now an esteemed center of technology and education in central China.

However, I was a bit concerned when I discovered that they don’t exactly speak Putong hua(“the common tongue”), in Wuhan. According to my travel book, they speak Hanqiang, or “Wuhan speak,” which is their own, slightly different dialect of mandarin. It's probably just a "pop" vs. "coke" and "shopping cart" vs. "buggy" type of thing but I hope that most of my frail attempts at learning the language(Putong hua) still apply.  We shall see. Whatever the case, I’ve been assured that I’ll be able to get by on mostly English, and, if not, well, wŏ bù míng bai nĭ shuō shén ma (I don’t understand what you’re saying)!

We're going to Wuhan!

It's official- we're going to Wuhan!  Bonnie and Tiqua are teaching at a university of technology and Laura and I will be teaching at a college specializing in education.  We'll be leaving the U.S. sometime in late August.  More details to follow.  

-Kristin

PS: We don't usually dress like this.  Can anyone guess the theme?