On vacation

Karen will be on a break from blogging because she is limited to internet access and she is writing papers!!! Pray for her and she will get back to blogging when she's back in Canada! =) YAY! 

- Adoria

Things that I miss....

After being in Shanghai for 3 weeks, asides from my family and friends that I miss the most, there are certain things that I miss a lot. 

I miss...

... speaking English... even though I have been blogging everyday, not speaking it makes me worry that when I come back, I will have a Chinese accent....

... eating plain and simple... the food here is tasty, but everything is soooo greasy... (which is why it's tasty, right?)

... eating fruits and veggies regularly.... for some weird reason, fruits in China makes my stomach go crazy, so I don't risk eating fruits.... 

... wearing flip flops wherever I go... the streets in China are toooooooooooo dirty to wear flip flops... I did that the first few days in China... my feet were black by the time I got back to the hotel... sickkkkkk.

... driving... even though it's nice to be driven, I miss driving... being in China and it's traffic system and so many dangerous drivers... it makes me want to die... and... there are wayyyyy too many people in Shanghai, which makes me don't want to go anywhere too far.... 

Last weekend in Shanghai

We all slept in today (except for my roommate...... I have no comments about that), and the feeling of sleeping in felt great! Veronika slept in til 1pm.... originally we wanted to go to Jin Shan (金山) to go to the beach but it was too far, so we decided to stay within the city and went to the famous Tian Zi Fang (田子坊). Tian Zi Fang is an arts and crafts place developed from an old residential area. It's known for small and specialty craft stores, coffee shops (expensive...), art studios and narrow alleys. There were a lot of foreigners who went... toooooo many people.

 We didn't get a chance to try this place, but we went to take pictures because it was picture worthy. LOL. It's a toilet-themed place! All the dishes are served in toilet bowls, and of course dumps of poop here and there. One day.. when I go back to Shanghai, I will go! 

Last but not least, here's a picture of me taking a dump, enjoy!! 

Well folks, one more week upon my return..... technically, less than a week. Time definitely flies! 

Learning how to say no is still so hard...

..... I have always had issues saying no..... and of course, I faced the same dilemma this weekend.... but as a result, it was somewhat rewarding.

Earlier this week, I was asked if I wanted to go to Nanjing this weekend... I guess I wasn't really thinking and said "sure, why not"... throughout the week, as I was lacking sleep, starting to get sick.. I didn't really want to go and I wanted rest.... I wanted to say no. I tried to get away with it, but I wasn't able to say no... so I ended up caving in and went with the Korean teacher and a travel agency. I woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the trip and we didn't get back til 10:30pm... oh my... 

It was tiring, a lot of walking but it was definitely rewarding as I have never been to Nanjing before. The most memorable place in Nanjing is Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum (中山陵), it was established in memory of the Chinese revolutionist Sun Yat-sen. It was a lot of climbing.... an excellent workout as I was sweating like crazy. Everyone who mounted up the stairs were all drenched in sweat... 

 My roommate has been sleeping super early... like 10ish, 11ish... definitely wayyyyyy too early for me.... so I have been spending a lot of time with my same-aged friends (Veronika and Xiaoyu) who also like to sleep late I actually spend more time in their room than in my own room....haha. Xiaoyu went out to her friend's that night, so I ended up reading for more than 2 hours in their room with Veronika... which was definitely needed, since the TV in my room is always on when my roommate is there... not a lot of silence and quiet time. Xiaoyu came back around 12ish, we all had a sudden craving for wings (I was especially hungry since I didn't eat dinner).... thanks to the McDonald's nearby... we got some. We were the only ones in the restaurant... I am pretty sure the people who worked there judged us... We didn't get back to the hotel til 2ish.... yay night owls!!

Farewell, friends!

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, our class started off with only 18 people, and then it suddenly increased in size because other teachers from other classes joined us. Today marks the last day of their stay in Shanghai and it was sad to see them go. Even though we don't know each other very well, but it was a pleasure to meet them and be able to share our knowledge and experiences with one another. 

Some of us went out to eat lunch together: 

This is a picture that was taken last week when we went to Oriental Pearl Tower.... photobomb!!! 

 In the evening, we went to this shopping centre called iAPM (International am & pm)... it's hugeeeeee and very luxurious. We did a little bit of shopping and watched a movie because my same-aged friends really wanted to take me to a theatre. They originally wanted to an English movie so I can translate to them.... LOL, but they weren't interested in Pacific Rim since it was too sci-fi. So we ended up watching a Chinese movie with a little bit of humor and of course, love story. Ahahah. This is what we do on a Friday night... in a sea of people...

Field tripppppppp!!!

Gotta love field trips! I love exploring different places! 

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to Shanghai Museum! The museum only takes 8000 person a day, and the security is quite intense... I'm not a museum type of person, but I really like the idea of placing different cultural-related things within a building! There were sculptures, paintings, potteries, calligraphies, coins, etc from different dynasties!

 After visiting the museum, we went to City God Temple. I wasn't very interested, so me and my same-aged friend just went to eat food AHAHA. Asians.

Also, my calligraphy skills... I can't even speak of how awesome I am. Even the teacher said I did great ;) 

 Ohhhh and my roommate came back from her hometown... peaceful life is now over.. I miss alone time already :(

Well, last post before the weekend! Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy...have a great one!! 

I love China, but...

.... there are wayyyyyyy too many people in Shanghai (pretty much anywhere in China... but Shanghai is more packed).... everywhere I go, there are A LOT of people.... think about Boxing Day at WEM, but 10 times the amount of people... sickkkkk... level of claustrophobia increased.

.... people here walk reallllllly slow and they block their road.... think about the last time you were in HUB and trying to pass by people... it's worse here. 

.... the traffic here really sucks... no matter how careful you are, you still risk getting run over by a car/truck/bus... no big deal, right?

.... the food here is wayyyyyy too greasy.... it's cheap and yummy, but a lot of times my stomach can't handle it... 

I miss home, I am also surprised at how fast time is going by here in Shanghai. 

Countdown: 9 days.  

It's a beautiful day

The weather in Shanghai finally cooled down slightly.... it's been a walk-in sauna everyday since I've arrived here... SICKKKKK. We went out for a walk in the evening today and the breeze felt real good :) I hope the weather stays like this for the next little bit!! 

The aircon in my room isn't working very well either... It's been harder to sleep at night since it's still pretty hot without aircon. I've asked the people at the front desk to check it out... Hopefully that'll be fixed soon enough.

 

My stomach's been feeling weird here and there.. I have been avoiding fruits already but I think it might be the food here that I am still trying to adjust to.... I also think I might be getting sick... I sneezed a lot today... and my nose is really stuffy :(( Meh.

Please pray for my health so I can finish off these next 10 days well! Thank you!

Thank goodness for technology!

Even though I wasn't able to celebrate my mom's birthday with her, I was still able to "surprise" her with my brother's help. I FaceTimed my brother yesterday and while doing that, my brother pulled out an iPad mini that he bought on behalf of us! My mom was of course surprised :)) Yay technology!!! 

Today was our last 剪紙 class, I am sad it's the last class because the teacher is really funny and our class really enjoys how loving and caring she is. She's always like "are you guys ready to move on" and we would be like "nooo..." and then she would be like "not yet?... you guys are sooooo slow!!". Haha, way too good. She also shared her resources with us so we can use it to teach our students! 

In the afternoon we had a feedback session where they asked our opinions on the classes and the training program... it got really intense and scary... since everyone had their complaints and frustrations. I didn't speak up... but after being here for 2 weeks, I feel like the people at this university are very disorganized and we haven't been really "cared" for... seems like by having us, they just want their funding from the organization that sponsors teacher training and don't put us as a priority. There's also been a lot of miscommunications and changes to the program from what it originally intended to be which led to much frustrations from our classmates. People ended up switching classes because they were misplaced, a lot of the classes are not really teacher training related, but rather talks about language and culture. I mean, I still got something out of it, but I am guessing a lot of people who are attending this training aren't getting as much as they expected... I think the school might not be meeting their needs since most people want to learn more about how to teach, what to teach, etc. Oh well... maybe in the future I will have opportunities to attend other sessions at other universities. But one thing I am certain of, being here has definitely inspired me to want to teach Chinese when I get back. 

Hmm, it's been extra peaceful in my room the past couple of days since my roommate went back to her hometown for a few days. I'm quite enjoying it to be honest... I like her as a person and I respect her, but she talks wayyyyyyyyy too much. I am learning how to be more patient and more loving to her each day, but it's definitely exhausting, without Big G's help, I am pretty sure I would have lost it. Well, gotta enjoy my alone time while I can :)))) 

A day in Hangzhou

... and the adventure continues!! 

Today, I went with two of my same-aged classmates to Hangzhou! They are roommates and we've been spending quite a lot of time together! They've been inviting me over to watch TV, eat fruits (I'm learning how to say no since fruits kill me...), etc! They originally planned to go to Hangzhou on Saturday, but they changed their plans to accommodate my weekend plans!

My very very first experience on a train in China! I've always wondered what it's like and I've always heard horror stories of no space, very crowded and very dirty. But I guess with time, things have changed. It is definitely more spacious than an aircraft! I would have to say, my experience was quite pleasant. Well, maybe minus being overcrowded at the station... I hate being claustrophobic... argh. I also dislike people who walk really slow... which is 90% of the people in China unless they are wanting something... 

From Shanghai to Hangzhou only took an hour and ten minutes, with 3 stops in between. I think max speed almost reached 300km/h!  

 We visited 西湖 (West Lake), which was only a couple metro stations away from the railway station. Man, when we walked outside... Hangzhou reached a high of 46.5 degrees... I missed how "cool" Shanghai was.

We first went to feed our stomachs... We went to a place which is quite famous called 外婆家 (Grandma's Home). We were 40 tables away... so to speed things up we requested to split the table up and sit with other people, which is pretty normal. We sat with a family of 3 and a couple, it was an interesting experience. They were all very friendly and... they ordered wayyy too much food we all had a good laugh... Take a look!

  We should have gathered our forces to order and split our food.. we realized too late... what was really funny was all 3 groups ordered the exact same thing... 

After a super late lunch (we finished around 3ish), we went to tour around West Lake and went on a boat ride! It was super sketchy and we were all scared that it might flip. Turns out I do get seasick... but thanks to my bff Gravol! 

We wanted to walk around the lake and it got wayyyy toooooo hot so we had to hide inside for a bit where there was aircon... I'm sure many people got heatstroke today :(

Around 5ish when the sun went down, we started walking to this tower (雷鋒塔) which was an hour and a half away... It was a good walk, and even though there was no sun, we sweated a lot... We didn't go into the tower though, it was too late for admission and we were pretty tired from the walk.

Here's a glimpse of the beautiful West Lake and pictures of us! My first time and hopefully not my last time!

And then we taxi-ed it to the railway station because we were all exhausted and took the train back to Shanghai!

Well, it's been 2 weeks since I've been in Shanghai. What does that mean? I'm back home in 2 weeks! I'm enjoying my time in Shanghai, but I do miss home... especially since it's Mama Chung's birthday today... I really want to be home. 

Happy birthday, mom! 

Let the adventure begin!

Say what? Adventure? That's right! I finally got out of my shell and went to adventure!!

7 of us teachers found a pretty cheap travel agency and they took us to 西塘古鎮 (the ancient town of Xitang), which is an hour and a half of bus ride away from Shanghai... the bus ride was alright... super bumpy, but good thing I brought Gravol with me. Yes, Gravol is my new bff..... 

It was superrrr hot outside (in China, anywhere is hot...) but we got to browse around the town, went on a boat ride and had some pretty good food. It was a lot of walking but the scenery was absolutely beautiful, I do not regret at going. Like a friend of mine would say, WORTH IT. 

I'm pretty "lucky" that I haven't gotten super sick yet from the food. I know for sure I can't eat fruits in China.. for some reason it doesn't sit very well in my stomach....

Other than that, my water consumption is pretty high. I've gone to the supermarket many times to replenish my water supply... A lot of water. But definitely needed for this kind of weather.

More adventure to come tomorrow. I'll keep you guys posted. 

Like a pro!

(Sorry for the late posts, Karen did not stop blogging.  Adoria was simply away from the city for the weekend but here they are!)

Tonight, a few classes from ECNU went to Shanghai Circus World to watch a show called "ERA: Intersection of Time". Due to copyright, I wasn't able to take pictures during the show, but it was an awesome show. High intensity, dangerous, risky... enough for my heart to fall out... 

Well, it's finally the weekend and I'm going to make use of my time in Shanghai and go be adventurous. Stay tuned!!  :)) 

You know you're in China when....

... almost every bakery you pass by has Hello Kitty cake...

 ... when pedestrians are the ones to yield to cars not the the other way around... and there are a lot of motorcycles and bikes... 

... no matter what kind of weather, smog still covers the whole entire city... 

 ... when Metro has more than 10 lines...  and the platform has gates to protect you from potential "danger"... 

 ... when a straw becomes a pipette...

We did a reading comprehension exercise today and I really enjoyed it. The activities we did in class caught my attention and has given me a new idea how to teach it differently! There's so much more to learn! I hope to be able to apply all that I learn here and bring it back to my future classroom :)) 

I'm absolutely in love with tai chi! Who would have thought haha it's simple yet complicated!! I can't wait to learn all 18 moves since we only get to learn 8 this month. 

OHHH, I also have a new nickname from my classmates... 睡寶寶 (sleep baby) because I like to nap in the afternoon and still sleep well at night haha. I do like to sleep, it's my favorite past time. 

Anyways, this is the last update before the weekend. Stay tuned early next week for more adventures and pictures!

<3

An epic day!

Despite the 41 degrees weather, the Big G is good, all the time. Take a look at Big G's creation in Shanghai! Pretty awesome, right?

Man, words cannot explain how tired I am right now. No words... which is why this post will be mainly pictures...

Well, today was exciting and epic. Exciting because we went on a cultural experience to the famous Oriental Pearl (東方明珠) and traveled 256m from the ground! 

I also conquered my fear of heights.... even though I almost died...

 After visiting the Oriental Pearl, a bunch of us went to 上海書城 (Shanghai Book City) to look for teaching and reference materials... We spent almost 2 hours there...it's a HUGE place!! And as a result from the nerd inside of me... 

Yup. Being a teacher made me become a super geeky nerd.... I was 100% satisfied with my purchase and I kept it under 200RMB! ;) 

Epic day and now it's time for bed. Good day! 

Slowly becoming a pro!

Even though I am getting used to this extreme weather, I really miss being in Edmonton... this weather is too hot to even go out sometimes... it's going to be 40 degrees for the next couple of days... oh my. Sweating bullets time...

Onnn the brighter side, I am slowly becoming better at Chinese calligraphy, SEEEEE? 

That's right. With time and patience, I am slowly improving!! And my hands don't shake when I hold the brush now, I'm so proud!! 

Hmm, I had to present in front of 40 people today about how Chinese education works in Canada (well, I spoke of Edmonton...). I was slightly nervous, but I think they understood what I was saying and they seemed to  have an idea of how classes are run in Edmonton... My partner in crime, Efraim, did a short lecture on what Chinese class looks like at the university level - we make a perfect team! We had the chance to hear from places such as Italy, Ecuador, Lao and Korea too, it was interesting to see how other countries run their classes differently and how it can be effective depending on the type and level of students.

OHHH, and I have been taking afternoon naps after classes... haha I love to sleep :DD

The art of tai chi

I still remember those days when my grandma used to do tai chi at home and I would have to do it with her... I would often complain how boring and pointless it was. 

Today's cultural class changed my view on tai chi. Tai chi is an internal Chinese martial art that is often practiced for both its defense training and health benefits. We spent about an hour and a half learning new moves today, and it reminded me how much I miss working out and swimming... can't wait to be back in Edmonton!