Matt didn't have his kindergarten class tonight as it was a review class. Every 4 classes, the Chinese TA's do a review class so that if the kids don't understand anything, hopefully they can figure it out and talk chinese etc to catch up. I think it's a pretty good idea, and it means that we get out of teaching once every 4 classes!
So, last night Matt asked if i wanted to go to Wal-Mart tonight and I was like err why walmart? Why don't we go elsewhere? And then this morning it clicked that DUH! On Tuesday afternoons we have kindergarten classes near the walmart and we can go straight from there to walmart without having to go back to the office! Brilliant idea. Matt either never wishes to go shopping, or has to go back to the office on tuesdays for his kindergarten class .. so i was glad when he suggested it tonight. Anyways, in the end we decided on going to Auchan as it's a way better store and Walmart is pretty expensive in comparison. Soo .. off we went on the bus to Auchan.
We went to Auchan one Friday night a couple of weeks ago and it was seriously busy. I thought we may have had time to get dinner and do shopping ... but we were in the grocery store for about 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! and we had to leave to catch the bus home. The shop closes at 10, but the last bus leaves about 9pm! It's a 2Yuan ride home compared to about 40Yuan for a taxi ..... It is like K-Mart and Coles in one store, but so much better. Tonight I made Matt walk around the shopping centre and look at a few stores before we did groceries. There isn't a whole heap to see and I think that half the stores are still to come, anyways ... we still ended up in Auchan for at least an hour and a half. It's just that big. They have nearly a whole aisle for noodles, and another for soy sauce and half an aisle for msg and an aisle for milk drinks and gah SO CRAZY! They have live fish swimming in tanks (although half of them are dead .. gross!), prepared foods, preserved meats you can buy what you want, pick and mix your own tea and not to mention all the household electrical goods / toiletries / clothing / plants / bikes / furniture and homewares etc that you can buy. We bought food that our local store doesn't really stock ..... alot of junk mainly (snacks etc). We bought mince to attempt to make spaghetti but the mince we have seen looks quite fatty. I guess we'll have to wait until we make it to find out what it's really like. So that is how we spent most of our evening.
I bought some chinese herbal cought mixture because my cold seems to be getting a little better (finally) but now I have this really annoying cough at times because my throat feels itchy. I wake up in the early hours of the morning coughing and errgh. It's just irritating (for Matt too). I also finally found tracksuit pants that are warmish and that were cheap! (cheap = 50 Yuan) They are too big for me and look hideous no doubt, but who is going to see me at home, besides Matt and pfftt, if he really cared I'd be worried.
We caught the bus home and it wasn't packed for once! The buses here are usually pretty nice, but we have discovered some buses that are old and crap and that stall every time the driver stops to let someone on or off. It's kind of amusing. Some of the older buses have wooden floors and the doors don't really close properly. One night when it was freezing I swear my feet got so cold i could hardly feel them on the bus. Sometimes the buses are so so crowded i have mid panic attacks that we are all going to die because the bus is going to crash. Some of the bus drivers are a bit crazy and pull up and stop rather quickly and all the standing people sway a bit violently if they aren't hanging on tightly enough. Oh well, that is life right? I'm going to die one day, and if it happens to be by catching a bus around Suzhou, so be it! I can't just sit at home all the time and i refuse to catch cabs because they cost too much.
I really want a jacket. Not a big coat, just a jacket to wear as the weather is warming up. I have no idea where to buy one though. The clothes seem to have skipped from winter to summer already. Maybe I can go shopping on thursday without matt!!! I'm sure he will be supportive of that idea.
On Saturday we have the Aquarium trip with work and then I think it's the Monday that we get off for Tomb Sweeping Day. It sounds pretty much like Easter to me! I think we'll see if Jake from work is interested in going out on Sunday night, or going on an adventure on Monday. We quickly talked about going to Hangzou but it's a bit short notice to arrange anything so I think we'll just do sight-seeing around Suzhou because there is heaps that we haven't seen yet. I want to go to the pet market. I want a kitten and they are so cute and look like they need rescuing but probably not a good idea. We may get a fish when the weather warms up a bit more. Matt seems quite keen on this idea. So this week is looking like a good week. Matt is now supposed to be coming to the aquarium and then we will have Sunday and Monday off ... together!!! We have seen ads for a place that you can get a 4 course German meal for a set price or other places advertise roast lunch. It's a bit more expensive than Chinese food but it seems like a good enough occasion to splurge .. and we get paid tomorrow!!!!!! Our first pay!!!
I might see if I can stream another episode of Ugly Betty before going to bed. Yay for good internets and for having something to watch other than hourly news on the only english channel! if i've watched all of the Ugly Betty episodes, I can always watch more Gossip Girl!!
xoxo
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
What I actually do
I realise that I've talked about China and things that go on but not much about work and what I actually do.
I teach kindergarten classes and primary school classes. I teach at 2 different kindergartens and I think 5 different primary schools. I also teach 2 internal primary classes. I was teaching an internal kindergarten class but now I am not, as detailed in a previous post. One kindergarten we visit every day, so the classes get English lessons daily - and i think that their teachers also do some English with them. The other kindergarten we visit weekly, but the classes rotate so they only get one English lesson a month with a foreign teacher. We were warned that this kindergarten is painful, but it hasn't really seemed to be so much. Some classes are quite hard to handle, but others aren't! They also do English classes with their teachers and some of the teachers can speak English quite well. I guess this kindergarten is more annoying in that they don't have a curriculum book that they use - we just make up our own lessons. This can be a good thing and a bad thing but it isn't as bad as we were led to believe.
I teach kindergarten classes and primary school classes. I teach at 2 different kindergartens and I think 5 different primary schools. I also teach 2 internal primary classes. I was teaching an internal kindergarten class but now I am not, as detailed in a previous post. One kindergarten we visit every day, so the classes get English lessons daily - and i think that their teachers also do some English with them. The other kindergarten we visit weekly, but the classes rotate so they only get one English lesson a month with a foreign teacher. We were warned that this kindergarten is painful, but it hasn't really seemed to be so much. Some classes are quite hard to handle, but others aren't! They also do English classes with their teachers and some of the teachers can speak English quite well. I guess this kindergarten is more annoying in that they don't have a curriculum book that they use - we just make up our own lessons. This can be a good thing and a bad thing but it isn't as bad as we were led to believe.
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| CMD Kindy G2C3 |
Saturday, March 27, 2010
More stuff about china
Well, this week has been interesting! It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride but I'm ok and everything is fine.
We bought a DVD last sunday as I am sick of watching nothing on TV and wanted to just watch a dramaish kind of thing. I have been streaming ugly betty like crazy on the internet but nothing beats watching something on TV. We bought my sisters keeper for 10 Yuan (of course it's real!). I wish that movies had a sadness rating .... especially this one! I found it really sad and shed a few tears. I think I was feeling a bit down about life and watching this really didn't help.
Work hasn't been bad, but one of my internal classes has been a bit of a thorn in my side. The kids are a difficult mix, the TA keeps taking over the class meaning I can never actually take a proper lesson (and meaning that I can't really bond with the kids to even make a start), one of the girls (who is only 3 - WHAT THE?) doesn't want to come to class and always chucks a tantrum and won't come into the class and I am getting pressured about that (I mean what could I do, ignore the 3 other boys who were waiting for the class to start so I can try to talk to a 3 year old who can't speak English? err) and yeah. I know that discussions have been had about me and the class (without involving me) which has made me feel really wired and uncomfortable. I think they have had problems with this class in the past (it's now a Lv 2 class, and most of the kids did a Lv 1 class, but with 2 different teachers) due to teachers, one who has been fired, hence Matt and my employment! Anyways, the parents (paying customers) didn't want to have to deal with anything more and just wanted a good class (sorry that I need to bond with the kids and that I'm a little inexperienced) and the TA really didn't help me much so ... work decided to give the class to the teacher who had most of the kids in his lv 1 class. Who knows why they decided to change teachers in the first place ... but at least now I don't have to worry about it. They said they didn't want me to work in a stressed environment etc - I wonder if they are disappointed or realise it's their stuff up? Anyways, I feel happier and as long as everyone is happy, we're all one big happy family. I guess it's shown me something though - maybe it's a culture thing - but if there is a problem with me, I'd rather people talk to me about it, not to everyone else about me behind my back (even if I can hear the conversation)! I don't think they like confrontation very much. As long as they think I'm doing an OK job otherwise I'm happy!
So, along with that ... I've had a cold for a few weeks which is still hanging around. Matt came home from work and told me they were talking to him about me (AND NOT ME) argh!, I wanted a hair cut but didn't leave the house on Thursday (my day off), the toilet was blocked, and when we went out for dinner .... I caught my finger in the chair and squished it! I really wasn't happy on Thursday evening, but by Friday afternoon everything was resolved.
My finger is beginning to bruise, but is OK. I did get a hair cut tonight, and while it's no John haircut, I'm not totally dissatisfied. It only cost me 10 Yuan! I found a street seller in our local area selling flowers, and after dinner I made Matt buy me flowers (and a vase to put them in!). The street seller will be there every Saturday!!!!! Weekly fresh flowers, look out! I got carnations which were 1 Yuan per flower stem - so I got a bunch of flowers (some still have buds on) for 10 Yuan! Tomorrow we are going to Shanghai so that I can FINALLY pick up my boots!!!!!!! Yay!!!
I should really go to bed so that I get up early and so that we make it to Shanghai before midday. That will be a first, but so worth it. It takes longer to get to the station from our apartment than it does to get to Shanghai from Suzhou.
I also saw fireworks tonight. It's so random but nearly every day we see / hear crackers / bangers / fireworks at all hours of the day. Most people don't even take much notice but I think it's crazy awesome. I really want to buy some but Matt isn't so keen.
The weather is also slowly warming up ... slowly. It's still cool but not cold. It's more a spring cool, even though the temperatures aren't that high. Maybe it's just my frame of mind because I'm over the cold? Anyways ...
Till next time,
xoxo
We bought a DVD last sunday as I am sick of watching nothing on TV and wanted to just watch a dramaish kind of thing. I have been streaming ugly betty like crazy on the internet but nothing beats watching something on TV. We bought my sisters keeper for 10 Yuan (of course it's real!). I wish that movies had a sadness rating .... especially this one! I found it really sad and shed a few tears. I think I was feeling a bit down about life and watching this really didn't help.
Work hasn't been bad, but one of my internal classes has been a bit of a thorn in my side. The kids are a difficult mix, the TA keeps taking over the class meaning I can never actually take a proper lesson (and meaning that I can't really bond with the kids to even make a start), one of the girls (who is only 3 - WHAT THE?) doesn't want to come to class and always chucks a tantrum and won't come into the class and I am getting pressured about that (I mean what could I do, ignore the 3 other boys who were waiting for the class to start so I can try to talk to a 3 year old who can't speak English? err) and yeah. I know that discussions have been had about me and the class (without involving me) which has made me feel really wired and uncomfortable. I think they have had problems with this class in the past (it's now a Lv 2 class, and most of the kids did a Lv 1 class, but with 2 different teachers) due to teachers, one who has been fired, hence Matt and my employment! Anyways, the parents (paying customers) didn't want to have to deal with anything more and just wanted a good class (sorry that I need to bond with the kids and that I'm a little inexperienced) and the TA really didn't help me much so ... work decided to give the class to the teacher who had most of the kids in his lv 1 class. Who knows why they decided to change teachers in the first place ... but at least now I don't have to worry about it. They said they didn't want me to work in a stressed environment etc - I wonder if they are disappointed or realise it's their stuff up? Anyways, I feel happier and as long as everyone is happy, we're all one big happy family. I guess it's shown me something though - maybe it's a culture thing - but if there is a problem with me, I'd rather people talk to me about it, not to everyone else about me behind my back (even if I can hear the conversation)! I don't think they like confrontation very much. As long as they think I'm doing an OK job otherwise I'm happy!
So, along with that ... I've had a cold for a few weeks which is still hanging around. Matt came home from work and told me they were talking to him about me (AND NOT ME) argh!, I wanted a hair cut but didn't leave the house on Thursday (my day off), the toilet was blocked, and when we went out for dinner .... I caught my finger in the chair and squished it! I really wasn't happy on Thursday evening, but by Friday afternoon everything was resolved.
My finger is beginning to bruise, but is OK. I did get a hair cut tonight, and while it's no John haircut, I'm not totally dissatisfied. It only cost me 10 Yuan! I found a street seller in our local area selling flowers, and after dinner I made Matt buy me flowers (and a vase to put them in!). The street seller will be there every Saturday!!!!! Weekly fresh flowers, look out! I got carnations which were 1 Yuan per flower stem - so I got a bunch of flowers (some still have buds on) for 10 Yuan! Tomorrow we are going to Shanghai so that I can FINALLY pick up my boots!!!!!!! Yay!!!
I should really go to bed so that I get up early and so that we make it to Shanghai before midday. That will be a first, but so worth it. It takes longer to get to the station from our apartment than it does to get to Shanghai from Suzhou.
I also saw fireworks tonight. It's so random but nearly every day we see / hear crackers / bangers / fireworks at all hours of the day. Most people don't even take much notice but I think it's crazy awesome. I really want to buy some but Matt isn't so keen.
The weather is also slowly warming up ... slowly. It's still cool but not cold. It's more a spring cool, even though the temperatures aren't that high. Maybe it's just my frame of mind because I'm over the cold? Anyways ...
Till next time,
xoxo
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Life in China continues
- People are allowed to spit here, wherever they like. I find it really unpleasant, especially the hacking gross sounds they make just before you know they're about to spit. EEEWW!
- Traffic!! Who would know if someone was drink driving or not! People drive insanely here. You either honk or flash your headlights if you want to change lanes and it's legal to turn against a red light. People turn right when the traffic to their left has a green light so it's insane!! (they drive on the opposite side of the road here, compared to Australia) To drive here you'd really have to keep your eyes open. Not to mention the amount of e-bikes, scooters, bikes etc on the streets. I can't believe that we haven't seen more car accidents, but we have seen a few! Pedestrian walkways mean nothing either. Cars don't stop for pedestrians. It's more a who gets there first, and if you're a pedestrian ... you hope like hell that they stop!
- Construction is everywhere! Apartments and new buildings are going up at an insane rate! Shops too! Maybe they live by the motto, if you build it, they will come.
- I have a craving for the style of (chinese) food that we eat at home but can't find much here. Alot of the restaurants are korean, japanese and sichuanese (chilli's!!). We have eaten well and eaten good food, but I'd just love a great fried rice, or some pork buns, or a beef & black bean ... and they are hard to find here!!! I think I need to find a good cantonese restaurant as I think that's more the style of food that we are familiar with.
- The weather here is really strange. Apparently it got really cold in mid november, and it's still cold!!! We have had a couple of warmer days but I am still wearing thermals and multiple jumpers. I am so over wearing the same clothes constantly. I really wish we could have 20 degree plus days!! I also have a cold and am kind of losing my voice!! Not good when I have to talk alot with my job.
- The kids here are pretty cute and they look extra cute in winter when they are so padded up with clothes to keep them warm.
- The bus system here is pretty good, but we are still working out which buses to take where. The only sucky thing about the buses is that they finish at about 9 / 9:30pm at night!!!! Seriously!!! They are building a subway here but it's not due to open until next year!
- There is no major city business centre here at we would know it, just lots of shops and a shopping mall. Suzhou is very industrial and I think that's why the smog is worse here than we saw in Shanghai.
- Apartments here are dirty! People don't clean before they move out, you clean when you move in .... eergh! Gross!
- People love shopping!
- The supermarket's here are more hypermarkets and stock so much stuff it's insane!! We went to this great store the other night and it took us nearly 2 hours to get what we wanted!!!! The store is that big and it was so packed with people ...
Our work isn't hard and doesn't take an awful lot of planning, it just requires some thought and at least once we have planned a lesson, we can use that lesson in multiple classes. We have been told that we can be more strict with the kids as teachers here are really strict. I have seen kids being yelled at and scolded for .......... (I really don't know why!). Most of the kids seem to like us as we are foreigners and it's nice getting to know them too. Most of the children at the primary schools have chinese names though and I'm not sure that I will ever be able to learn or remember them!
I should get back to work! Lessons to plan etc.
xoxo
Monday, March 15, 2010
Life in China
We have been in China for 4 weeks now. How time flies!!!!!!
It doesn't seem like long ago that we left home, but sometimes it feels like it was ages ago and I can't believe that we've only been here for 4 weeks. We have settled into life and work in Suzhou and I think it's safe to say it now feels like home. Shanghai was awesome and we loved it, but after living in Suzhou for a few weeks and going back for a day, it seemed as though there are entirely too many people there!! We stayed at the Mingtown Youth Hostel near People's Square and it was great.
We could walk to so many places, and walk we did! It was such a nice surprise (... not) to arrive to a balmy 2 degree temperature. I had to go and buy a doona (down) coat the day after we arrived because I just love the cold (or definitely not). We walked around the Bund area,
went through the Bund sightseeing tunnel,
saw the views from the TV tower and the SWFC tower,
hung out in People's Square,
braved the masses at the YuYuan temple,
shopped on Nanjing Road,
walked the French Concession,
experienced (and were disappointed) the Qupi Lu markets and so much more. People in Shanghai love their icecream and their coffee. They also love their Hershey's chocolate!!!! We found a Hershey's store .. of all things.
We got heckled and invited into dodgy back doorways and alleyways to buy the best fake goods on offer. We fumbled our way through ordering dinners which usually turned out to be amazing and discovered that China really only sells half strength beers! You can buy the most expensive or the cheapest of cheap goods and there are so many chain stores and a variety of department stores that you can really buy whatever you desire. I was disappointed with markets as I thought we'd see more. We went to Qupi Lu as I had read it was great for cheap clothes, but it was just a junk jumble and really not a 'market' per say. It was NOTHING like the weekend market in Bangkok, which to me is still the greatest market I have been to. It's a street lined with dodgy stores, most of them selling the same thing, and then a couple of buildings with about 4 floors of little shops selling a jumble of assorted goods. I inspected so many fake iphones, and fake they were. It was laughable and also pretty tragic and I felt disappointed. The real iphones here cost more than they do at home and the government has blocked wi-fi! I think there are talks being held with apple about reducing the price of the iphone, so i will wait!!! I am not going to buy one without wi-fi though, because what's the point. You can buy electronics galore - who knows if they are real or fake but. Riding the metro (subway) was easy and a breeze to get around on. We saw stars in Shanghai also! I think they must have been clearing the sky for New Years celebrations. We saw and heard so many random crackers and fireworks going off and we still are, even now! After 6 nights in Shanghai, we bid it farewell to head for Suzhou - our new home!
We were picked up (by someone from U-Learn), handed train tickets and waved off at the station. We had no idea where we had to go or what we had to do and were amidst masses of people. Luckily we're smart (ahem) and could interpret what our tickets said, and were pointed in the right direction once or twice ... and we made our train to Suzhou. The train ride was great ... but arriving in Suzhou and having to lug our stuff around was truly not great, but we made it and that's all the matters and it brought a huge sigh of relief from us both. We were met at the train station by a girl from work and brought straight to our apartment. After a 5 minute inspection (standing around in the living room and me busting to go to the toilet, but having no toilet paper and not bothering to search for tissues) we headed off to the local supermarket to buy sheets and pillows and doonas and toilet paper!! as our apartment was devoid of all but furniture. That was an experience. We came home, dumped our stuff and went downtown to eat Italian dinner (of all things - it was Ping Ping's choice!). She is a downtown local and showed us around the old town and it really is pretty by night. It was great to see and we caught a taxi home and had to make our bed (which is extremely hard) before falling into it, exhausted! We had a week before we officially had to start work, but we had a meeting at the office with our new boss on Tuesday morning, then we headed to the supermarket once more to purchase a whole array of kitchen wares. It felt as though we spent so much but we really only bought necessities and all up, our two shopping trips only cost us about $200 which really isn't much considering all the we purchased. I think it all became a bit much for me and I slept the rest of the afternoon away. We had wednesday free to ourselves and i think we explored downtown during the day? I can't remember. On thursday we had to go and watch the other two american teachers from work do a couple of classes and i think on friday we had to go into the office for some reason also. We had saturday free and sunday were back in the office for more watching of classes before I had to take my own classes on Monday!! Talk about being throw into it, but no amount of planning can really help until you do it for yourself.
So that is us making our lives in China in a super nutshell. I have so much more I could say but I will save it for another time. Right now, I should finish planning for tomorrow, organise my clothing and go to bed!
xoxo
It doesn't seem like long ago that we left home, but sometimes it feels like it was ages ago and I can't believe that we've only been here for 4 weeks. We have settled into life and work in Suzhou and I think it's safe to say it now feels like home. Shanghai was awesome and we loved it, but after living in Suzhou for a few weeks and going back for a day, it seemed as though there are entirely too many people there!! We stayed at the Mingtown Youth Hostel near People's Square and it was great.
 |
| Our room - Mingtown Youth Hostel |
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| The Bund (whilst under construction) |
went through the Bund sightseeing tunnel,
saw the views from the TV tower and the SWFC tower,
hung out in People's Square,
braved the masses at the YuYuan temple,
shopped on Nanjing Road,
walked the French Concession,
experienced (and were disappointed) the Qupi Lu markets and so much more. People in Shanghai love their icecream and their coffee. They also love their Hershey's chocolate!!!! We found a Hershey's store .. of all things.
We got heckled and invited into dodgy back doorways and alleyways to buy the best fake goods on offer. We fumbled our way through ordering dinners which usually turned out to be amazing and discovered that China really only sells half strength beers! You can buy the most expensive or the cheapest of cheap goods and there are so many chain stores and a variety of department stores that you can really buy whatever you desire. I was disappointed with markets as I thought we'd see more. We went to Qupi Lu as I had read it was great for cheap clothes, but it was just a junk jumble and really not a 'market' per say. It was NOTHING like the weekend market in Bangkok, which to me is still the greatest market I have been to. It's a street lined with dodgy stores, most of them selling the same thing, and then a couple of buildings with about 4 floors of little shops selling a jumble of assorted goods. I inspected so many fake iphones, and fake they were. It was laughable and also pretty tragic and I felt disappointed. The real iphones here cost more than they do at home and the government has blocked wi-fi! I think there are talks being held with apple about reducing the price of the iphone, so i will wait!!! I am not going to buy one without wi-fi though, because what's the point. You can buy electronics galore - who knows if they are real or fake but. Riding the metro (subway) was easy and a breeze to get around on. We saw stars in Shanghai also! I think they must have been clearing the sky for New Years celebrations. We saw and heard so many random crackers and fireworks going off and we still are, even now! After 6 nights in Shanghai, we bid it farewell to head for Suzhou - our new home!
We were picked up (by someone from U-Learn), handed train tickets and waved off at the station. We had no idea where we had to go or what we had to do and were amidst masses of people. Luckily we're smart (ahem) and could interpret what our tickets said, and were pointed in the right direction once or twice ... and we made our train to Suzhou. The train ride was great ... but arriving in Suzhou and having to lug our stuff around was truly not great, but we made it and that's all the matters and it brought a huge sigh of relief from us both. We were met at the train station by a girl from work and brought straight to our apartment. After a 5 minute inspection (standing around in the living room and me busting to go to the toilet, but having no toilet paper and not bothering to search for tissues) we headed off to the local supermarket to buy sheets and pillows and doonas and toilet paper!! as our apartment was devoid of all but furniture. That was an experience. We came home, dumped our stuff and went downtown to eat Italian dinner (of all things - it was Ping Ping's choice!). She is a downtown local and showed us around the old town and it really is pretty by night. It was great to see and we caught a taxi home and had to make our bed (which is extremely hard) before falling into it, exhausted! We had a week before we officially had to start work, but we had a meeting at the office with our new boss on Tuesday morning, then we headed to the supermarket once more to purchase a whole array of kitchen wares. It felt as though we spent so much but we really only bought necessities and all up, our two shopping trips only cost us about $200 which really isn't much considering all the we purchased. I think it all became a bit much for me and I slept the rest of the afternoon away. We had wednesday free to ourselves and i think we explored downtown during the day? I can't remember. On thursday we had to go and watch the other two american teachers from work do a couple of classes and i think on friday we had to go into the office for some reason also. We had saturday free and sunday were back in the office for more watching of classes before I had to take my own classes on Monday!! Talk about being throw into it, but no amount of planning can really help until you do it for yourself.
So that is us making our lives in China in a super nutshell. I have so much more I could say but I will save it for another time. Right now, I should finish planning for tomorrow, organise my clothing and go to bed!
xoxo
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