10 Years ago today, Americans put their differences aside to mourn a series of horrific events that were supposed to break our nation apart. Instead it bound us together and made us stronger, reminiscent of when our country first began. Today, I look at the news and facebook and such, and all I see is stupid democrat this, or idiot republican that. But in the end, none of it matters. Terrorists, mother nature, they don't care who you are going to vote for. For one day, let's stop the stupid arguing about everything, and show the true qualities of the US- compassion, perseverance, and pride. Let's use this day to honor those who have lost their lives (both home and overseas), to support those protecting us today, and to hope for a bright and united future.

It’s so strange for me to think how someone who has been around for my entire life is gone. A staple of all holidays, always smiling and watching us crazy young kids make fools of ourselves. One of my greatest wishes is to be able to see those who helped raise us when they were younger. I know with Uncle Joe I would have met a fun-loving, sweet boy, because that’s how he was as an adult, and so much more. He built a loving family around him, and raised his kids into amazing adults that I am proud to say I am related to. Even in the last few years, as he became more distant from us, he was always there for a hug and a kiss and a beer.
I have been in China for 13 months now, and the most difficult part of being here is not being able to be home for my family when they need me. I know that being home would not have changed the course of events, but I am so miserable that I cannot be there to add one more hug to those who have been most affected by this. Today, my boss asked me if I would consider coming back to China after my contract was finished. I told him flat out no. I love my students, and the experiences I have had here, but neither of those can compare for the love I have for my family. While I might still teach overseas one more year, it will definitely be on the same side of the world, so if, God forbid, something happens again, I can be there.
I’m so glad for the time I was able to spend with Uncle Joe, and while I wish he could still be with us, I am glad he is at peace. I know he will be remembered and loved by so many, and I am honored to be sharing in those memories. We lost a wonderful man, but we keep treasured memories among us, and through that, Uncle Joe will never truly be gone.

I’ve decided that I am going to stay in Hohhot for an additional four months. This means I will be home at the end of November, ideally for Thanksgiving and UF/FSU weekend. As many of you know, I was toying with this idea for a long time. I miss everyone at home so much, and can’t wait to see everyone again. But if I stay here a little longer, I can save a good amount of money so I won’t be so hard pressed to find a job when I get home.

Many of you have asked me what I am going to do next, to be honest I am not quite sure. I’m thinking about a teaching position somewhere in South America. Reasons? Well, no crazy Hohhot winters for one, and being on the same side of the world as all my family and friends is a huge plus. A huge reason, though, is that I want something completely different from the culture and society I am in now, so I can compare and learn. I’m not going to start a job in South America until around next May or so, which will have be looking for part time work until then.

Yes, eventually I will be coming home to stay. I love the US, Florida, St. Augustine, Gainesville, etc. I just want to get as many experiences as possible before settling back down. As before, everyone will be more than welcome to come visit me!

The post is about something I never thought that I would be doing as often as I do now: playing computer games.
Back home, extra time means going outside and reading a book on the beach, or, if the weather is bad, flipping through the TV channels to find yet another Law and Order. I am somewhat ashamed to say, now when I am bored I usually find myself playing a game on the computer. Why? Many reasons…it’s easy, it’s fun and addictive. Not to mention the fact that I have no beach, and no TV channels that I can understand enough to be interested. I am only somewhat ashamed of my new addiction because the alternative would be to plan lessons, and that no matter how many computer games I play, the average Chinese boy plays way more.
So what games are Sarah’s favorites? On the website primarygames.com, I play Dune Buggy, Wild Wild Taxi, and Monkey Go Happy (I also use this website for lots of games with my students, great learning games on there!). Thanks to Google Chrome’s new App system, I’m hooked on Bowman2, Zombie Drop, Robot Unicorn Attack, and of course, Angry Birds. I have finally been taught how to play Pants vs. Zombies, and can see why it is one of the most popular games in China (that and Crossfire). I have dabbled in a few others that are good, just not favorites, such as Use Boxman.
I realize though, that the playing of all these games stem from one certain game, that I proud have gotten most of the staff addicted to- Mahjong Solitaire. In this game, you have to get matching tiles. Yea sounds easy, but it is a little more difficult than that. You cannot collect a tile if it has tiles on wither side of it, or on top of it. Now, this is not the true Chinese Mahjong, pretty much a Westerner made it up because they didn’t understand the real game (which is like a poker game). I am still hoping to learn the true Mahjong, but have yet to have the time or patience to do so. For now, I will just stick to killing zombies and flipping dune buggies to fill my free time.

Intensive is not fun. Would I rather be chewed on by a thousand ants while an elephant sat on my head? Nah, probably not. But still, intensive is not fun.

What is intensive? Intensive is three months during the summer and two months in the winter when, because school is out, we work a lot more hours and have a lot more classes. Remember, I work for a company, not for the school system. I’ve mentioned it before, but think of it this way: growing up, we went to piano or gymnastics or karate after school, yea? Chinese students go to English class (and for some very unlucky ones, extra classes for math and such). Personally, I have so many thanks to give for not being raised in the Chinese education system. Ten hours of classes, plus copious amounts of homework everyday? No thanks, I prefer to be seen as a stupid American.

Anyway, back to Intensive. We have extra classes for all grade levels, in addition to their usual ones. The students don’t have to do them, but of course they are “highly suggested”- think summer camp, a bit. They are called Life Club (we actually have these life clubs throughout the whole year for adults, but this is the first time we are doing them for kids). The topics are usually things that we don’t cover in the regular course, and in my eyes, are usually more fun. Nothing beats a morning of teaching adults how to play BS and poker ( Oh wait.. sleep does..).

Today, myself and another teacher taught a “Life Club” lesson for a group of 10 year olds. What life lessons do kids need to learn? Why, finger painting of course! That’s right, my “teaching” today involved a couple quick games on colors, and then painting. Ahh, this is the life. Other than painting, we are doing other cool things with the kids, like talking to the museum and making “dumplings” (which will be filled with chocolate and such). All in all, not a bad way to spend all your extra hours at school.

One of my least favorite situations to be in here is when people tell me they don’t like America because it is so dangerous. They watch movies and TV shows, and are convinced that all we do is go around and kill people all day. I’m not making this up, I had a student two nights ago tell me that she did not want to go to America because of that. Thanks to that, and rap music and music videos, (and I am not being racist whatsoever, I am just stating the facts) most Chinese people do not like black people. We recently had a teacher arrive from South Africa, and many Chinese staff members expressed concern when they heard the word Africa. Again, I am not condoning this in anyway, just relaying how it is here. We did, for a short period, have a black teacher from London. As far as I know, she never had any trouble with the Chinese people based on her skin color. The Chinese can be very quick to judge, but they are tolerant enough that they would still let a black teacher teach their children. Now, not all of the Chinese people have these beliefs. One student I had today expressed her feelings about the matter quite well. She knows that the movies are just movies, and that there are dangerous places everywhere in the world. To quote her, “Where there are people, there are problems”. She still felt a bit of concern about the places and situations depicted in some movies, but knows that there are as many good places in the US as there are bad. It is interesting to think, though, how much of an impact a movie can have on a person’s future education and career. And it doesn’t help that they don’t get much positive news from the West, just as they don’t really get any bad news about China.

So I’ve said it many times before- most of Hohhot doesn’t speak English. There are still people in the city that have never seen a foreigner before. After 11 months here, I still experience people stopping dead in their tracks and going “Whoa’. But to say that they don’t speak any English would not be true. According to a Chinese friend, there are certain words that all Chinese people know in English. Namely, ‘hello’ and ‘bye bye”. Interestingly enough, the Chinese rarely say the Chinese word for goodbye; maybe they think that “bye bye” is Chinese? Almost everyday we walk down the street and some teenagers shout “Hello!” and run away giggling. Yea, it’s a blast. Usually we respond in Chinese, or ignore them.
The other words all Chinese people know? Weird versions of the ABC song and the Birthday Song, and several swear words. They probably don’t know what they mean, but thanks to us, they use em.

So a few days ago was my birthday (and thanks so much for all of the amazing birthday wishes I received). There was something extra sweet about being so far away but still getting lots of messages. To be honest, other than receiving some random presents (not complaining, I love my kitty socks), it didn’t really seem much like a birthday. I had to work, of course, though my classes were pretty chill.. and when I say chill I mean me throwing a football down a hallway and enjoying watching the kids scramble to get it. The Chinese don’t place a lot of emphasis on birthdays. Whenever you ask a student what they will do for their birthday, they always say, “eat cake”. They don’t get presents or even have parties. That’s right, Mom and Dad, had you brought us up in China you wouldn’t have had to shell out the megabucks for Chuck E Cheese. Though, if you had brought us up in China I most likely wouldn’t exist..I like to think a little celebration once a year is worth it to have me in your life!
Random Chinese birthday facts:
In China, when you are born, you are one year old. Which means all of you out there, clinging to age 49, thanking the stars that you aren’t 50, sorry! In China, you are 50! (It is actually more complicated than that, it goes by the lunar calendar and such; sometimes you are a year older than we think you are and sometimes you aren’t.) This makes things very complicated at school sometimes. The minimum age of students we are supposed to teach is 3. So in come these babies that don’t even understand the minutest amount of Chinese, and the sales staff says “They are almost 3!”. Nope, not at all. That baby is one and a half.
The Chinese sing the Birthday Song differently. Despite the fact that about 85% of Hohhot does not speak English, I have yet to come across someone that does not know the Birthday Song in English*. However, they song;
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you”.


*-See post: English Words Every Chinese Person Knows

Lesson Plan for the Teens
This is a lesson plan on materials (plastic, metal, etc) for a class of 12-14 year olds. These lessons are 2 hours long. Pretty much everyone hates teaching them, because they are so long. However, it kind of works out because since the students will do activities for a longer period of time than the little kids will. With the babies, you can only play a game for 5 minutes, and then they lose focus.
1. Check attendance and homework (noticing a pattern yet?)
2. Introduce vocabulary- gather students around the computer and bring up pictures of the words, students write the Chinese translation in their book. The teenagers don’t really care about flashcards, and I like to make sure they get the correct translation (I don’t have a Chinese teacher in the classroom with me). This sometimes takes 20 minutes, because something we see online invariably sidetracks us.
3. Give the students a sentence structure, and have them plug their own words in- A ___ is made of ___.
4. Scavenger hunt- students go around the school and find different materials, write the down then share with the class.
5. Invention- students have to create something new using the materials listed in the book (just draw a picture and describe it, I wish we had the resources to attempt to make things).
6. Complete a page (or 2) of bookwork.
7. Paper airplane tournament- students make a paper airplane. They say a sentence or answer a question, and get to try to throw their airplane into the trash can. If the get it in, the go to the next round, where the throwing line is farther back, and so on.
8. Listening (out of book).
9. Discussion- Quality of materials, where you should buy certain things, etc.
10. Worksheet on a grammar structure
11. Football throwing game- kids throw ball back and forth to each other, first to drop is out and answers questions.
12. Review sheet (like the ones the kids do, but I don’t comment on their behavior unless they are really bad.)

This is a lesson plan on food for a class of 7-9 year olds. The classes are an hour and 20 minutes long.
1. Check homework and attendance.
2. Introduce vocabulary words- have them shout and use in sentences; I like, I don’t like.
3. Race- One student from each team crab walks to the board, and says what the flashcard is. First one to finish gets the point.
4. Throw ball around, having the student who throws the ball asking “What do you like to eat?” and the student who catches it responds.
5. Throw all the flashcards onto the floor. Turn off the lights, and the students have 5 seconds to get a flashcard and sit back down. (This game only works at night, otherwise they can see). The student must say “I have a…” and whatever their flashcard is. If they didn’t pick up a card, or if they say the wrong word, tickle them or bounce the ball on their head.
6. Complete a page of bookwork.
7. Hangman with a sentence.
8. Put the class in two teams, and give each student a number (and someone else on the other team has the same number). Put them in two lines, with some distance in between. Put the flashcards in the middle. Yell out a number and a food, for example 3, banana, and the students have the number 3 have to race to get the banana.
9. Complete review sheet- students write down all the words and sentences they learned that day, as well as their homework, then I leave a comment about their behavior for the class.

Thought is might be interesting to explain how we teach to the different levels. Here is a basic lesson plan for one of my classes of 4-6 year olds (I’m assuming no EF competitors are going to take this and sell it..). This is an hour class, teaching animals.
1) Check attendance, homework, and sing the Hello Song:
“EF Small Star kids, hello everyone! We are here to learn and play, hello everyone!”
2) Show flashcards of animals, and elicit responses
3) Shouting match- show students card, team to say the word the loudest, quietest, happiest, saddest, weirdest, etc gets a point.
4) Freeze dance- play music, students dance around to music, when the music stops they shout the animal name and then pretend to be an animal.
5) Telephone- Whisper animal in one students ear, they whisper it to the next student, so on.. Last student picks the corresponding flashcard.
6) Limbo- hold a string across the room, students go under it. If they touch the string they have to say an animal.
7) Pass out HW, give good students smiley faces on their papers. Sing Goodbye song:
“Goodbye friends, goodbye friends, we’ll have fun another day. I’ll see you soon and we can play again, but for now I’m going home”.

I realized that most of my posts are about the differences between the Chinese and us, or about things that happen at school. Here is some things we do outside school.
During the non-busy times (Spring and Fall) we have two days off a week. This usually means that one day is spent in bed, nursing the effects of the local bar. The other day, though, we try to get out of the house and do things. If we want to go shopping, we have two main options. Wanda is a new shopping mall, complete with some western stores (albeit lesser known in America), an arcade, and a nice cinema that supplies us with our western movie fix when needed. The mall is also home to a great supermarket, so when we leave we are always laden with bags, even if we didn’t buy any clothes. The clothes are more expensive there, but better quality and more in the western fashion. Our other option is to go to Manda (the rhyming is completely coincidental) which is a huge market of all things clothes, accessories, and whatever your heart desires. Bargaining is expected, so I only go there when I have lots of energy. The problem with the clothes, though, is that they are in Chinese fashion, and some of them are reallllly strange. Women my age and older can regularly be seen walking around with shirts with bunnies or kitties on them, short shorts and 3 layers of leggings, and thigh high boots. I’ve chatted with some Chinese friends about this, but I don’t think I will ever truly understand. They like frilly and girly things because it makes them feel younger. Chinese women do not show their chests like we do. Shirts usually have high necks, and more commonly loose. However, they love to show their legs. They usually aren’t entirely bare, wearing leggings or tights, but they wear some booty shorts that would make a nun cry. I’ve seen women that are at least in their 50’s wear super short skirts, tights, and 4 inch heels-when it was snowing out! But I digress from my topic. Manda caters to these styles, so I rarely go there if I am looking for clothes, though I have found some amazing shoes and jewelry for dirt-cheap.
Another popular day-off trip spot is the DVD store. I’m sure I have written about it before, but this place is just heaven in Hohhot. Whenever a new teacher comes, one of the first places we take them is the DVD store, and we just watch ‘em go crazy. It is not rare for one of us to walk out with 10 DVDs or more. Additionally, they have an employee that speaks English, so if there is a movie we want that they don’t have, they can try to order it for us.
The Culture Market is another hot spot. I don’t know why it is called that, but it’s a great place to buy odds and ends. That’s where the boys stock up on their video games, and I have purchased random things from Christmas wrapping paper to flower seeds.
Recently, I spent a day off climbing a mountain. Hohhot is surrounded partly by a mountain range, which is accessible by a 45-minute bike ride out of the city. This journey takes you through some of the older areas of the city, which is quite the adventure in itself. To get up the mountain, we first must hide our bikes in a cemetery at the foot of one of the smaller mountains. This sounds morbid, yes, but cemeteries are quite different than here (I will do a separate post about them). We then begin the trek up to the top of the range. Now, two weeks ago was the first time I actually attempted to climb a mountain, so to me it was quite a feat. The trail we followed weaved over and around huge boulders, and right on the edge of steep drop-offs. The view from the top, though, was entirely worth all the aches and pains from the hike up. There’s nothing like sitting on top of a mountain and eating a mini cheesecake!
Other places we visit include some local parks, and of course a few restaurants that know what we are going to order the minute we walk in because we go there so much. Soon I will be venturing out to visit the museum and temples of the city, and will post information on those when I do. I am a little ashamed because I haven’t visited the main tourist attractions yet, and I have been here for 9 months, but hey, better late than never!

This isn’t the happiest topic out there, so I’ll make it short and efficient (I also think I have touched upon this before). China doesn’t have cemeteries dotting their cities like we do. The traditional method is to take the deceased outside the city, and bury them in any old plot of land. In some areas, where many people have been buried near each other, they (and I have no idea who “they” is) put up a fence to make the area more sacred. In this respect, it is a cemetery. However, anyone can access it easily enough, and through it can have access to the rest of the mountain. One of the more interesting things, though, is that in the mountains you come across holes that are, most likely, pre-dug graves (which is pretty morbid). According to some Chinese I spoken to, though, most people today opt to be cremated, so as not to waste any precious land or money.

Movies and TV shows are a very interesting part of the Chinese life. I’m dividing this into several sections because there are lots of things to explain.

Movies in the Cinema
There is no movie rating system in China, unlike the rigid G/PG/R system of America. The powers that be screen a movie, and if they think it is appropriate for the general masses to see, then it goes to the theaters. Only a certain number of foreign movies are allowed in a cinema per year. Sometimes, a movie will show in theaters for a week or two, and then be taken out for no apparent reason. When we have asked why this happens, a possible answer is that they realized it was really ok for everyone to watch, or that it wasn’t popular and they didn’t want to waste one of their few slots for foreign movies on it.

Movies on the Internet
We have been able to find tons of popular movies on Chinese websites like youku.com, which is just their version of youtube.com. Sometimes they have Chinese subtitles, which is great for showing kids in class, and sometimes they are cam copies with Arabic dubbing (haven’t figured why it’s in Arabic..). One of the most common issues when trying to find a video is that the title had been translated into crazy Chinglish. For example, the new version of The Karate Kid is on the Internet as “Kung Fu Dreams”. The titles of movies are translated into Chinese as best as possible, but when they translate them back to English it creates a new translation. We have found that the best way to find a movie online is to try to find the Chinese translation and look it up that way. When all else fails, we ask for help from a Chinese person!

TV Shows on the Internet
When I came to China, I was worried that I would be unable to watch my favorite TV shows. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I have been able to find almost every episode of all the series I like to watch back online on one website or another. Usually I have to deal with Chinese subtitles blocking part of the scene, but I’ve gotten quite used to then. One particular website has people uploading the episodes of the series in order, soon after they show in the US. I am considering continuing to use said websites when I get back home to the States, I’m getting spoiled without having to wait for commercials!

Movies and TV Shows in the Stores
Here we come to the most interesting section of all (to me at least). Only a month or two after most movies come out in the States, we can buy decent, if not very nice BluRay versions of movies. Same with TV shows, as soon as the season is finished, it is for sale. There are two copies available of most movies, one being a cheaper decent copy, the second being an actual copy in a box like we purchase in America. But why pay 28 yuan for the box, when you can buy a good copy for 10 yuan? The we come to the whole legality thing. If you try to mail a DVD from China to the west, they will tell you no. If you try to carry a DVD onto a plane out of China, they will tell you no again. Originally, we thought this was because they were illegal copies. Recently, though, I learned the (most likely*) truth behind it. Distribution of movies in China is controlled by their Army. The Army buys the film distribution rights for China, and then sells them at cheap prices. You know when you watch a movie, and the Federal Warning says “This movie is for private viewing only”? Well the videos sold here are for “Viewing in China only” which is why they don’t want them sent out of the country, but also why they can sell movies on the side of the street without and repercussions. Now, does this mean I cannot take home the approximately 150 movies I have purchased since I have been here? Nope, just gotta put em in my checked baggage among my American bought movies, and I should be as good as gold.

*Why most likely: This reasoning has been researched by one of the teachers who has lived here for 4 years and is married to a Chinese woman. However, there is still a possibility of some error in translation.

The only thing people really have to worry about being stolen in Hohhot is bikes, phones, and iPods. Sure, every now and then other things get nicked, but these are the hot ticket items. I have been very lucky so far, I haven't lost a bike in 9 months (though to be honest, three month of that times was winter, and the bike never left my apartment!). One of our teachers has been here for 3 months, and is already on his 3rd bike.

Today I bring you an epic tale that was concluded only hours ago, and for once, it ended well for the bike owner.

Last night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant we go to quite often. When we arrived, there were two mopeds outside, so we added our 3 bicycles to the mix, and went inside to enjoy some scrumptious food. About an hour and a half later, we emerged to only 2 bicycles. Dan, the teacher whose bike was missing, was perfectly sure he had locked his bike, which means someone cut it, and then stole his bike. Rob had seen a suspicious man lurking around outside the restaurant when he came in, but had thought nothing of it at the time.

Cut to today, Rob and I biking around, enjoying the nice weather. I stopped to check out some shirts they were selling on the street. I turned around to tell Rob I wanted to look for a minute, but I saw him turning around on his bike and going the opposite way. Assuming he was distracted by something shiny, I went back to my looking. Less than two minutes later, Rob rode past me on his bike, toting another bike with him. He wasn't stopping so I jumped on my bike, and pedaled away with him, wondering if he decided to dabble in the criminal world for any great reason. but the bike he was leading home? The one that Dan had had stolen the night before! Here is what I missed apparently: He was riding along, and saw the man that he had noticed the night before outside the restaurant. Then he realized that the man was riding Dan's bike! He turned round and confronted the man, and for lack of a better way of saying it, stole the bike back. The man tried to argue but when he realized that 1) it was a Westerners bike he had stolen, and 2) he had been caught on the bike, he gave way and let Rob take it.

The real kicker to the story? The guy that stole the bike put new pedals and a new seat on the bike, and cleaned it up really nice. And, the place that we caught the guy with the bike was literally around the corner from the restaurant where it was nicked the night before. Moral of the story? If you steal a bike you should maybe keep it off the road till you can disguise it, and hope that the buddies of the person you stole it from don't see you around!

Today is my grandfather, Elliott Maguire’s 90th birthday, and to my deep regret, I am on the other side of the world from him, unable to help him celebrate it. This post is dedicated to him, and to all of my grandparents.
When I think back to happy times of my childhood, most of them surround times that my grandparents were a part of. Running barefoot through orange groves, and sitting in the bed of a pick-up truck, peeling tangerines. Sitting on the floor of the beach house living room, not on the couch because no wet bathing suits were allowed. Little bowls of Werthers Originals candy (just like in the commercials!), instant grits mixed with cheese slices, and cold Cokes in the fridge. And of course, all of the Gator games our family has attended throughout the years- had my grandfather never gone to UF, we wouldn’t be the fans we are today.
When we are young, we take our grandparents for granted. They are they there to give us presents and spoil us when our parents won’t. Trips to see them means vacation, but usually we would rather going to Disney World, so we squander these precious moments we are given. It is not until nature takes a hold that we begin to realize their mortality, and begin to comprehend the amount of time we have left with them. Before I was born, I had already lost 2 grandparents, and another one lost when I was young, and one of my great grievances of life is that I never got to know them.
With our grandparents, we are given a rare glimpse into a simpler time, into a different world. You can read all the history books you want, but no text compares to the first hand account that they can share with you. Sometimes we dismiss the older generations, citing the new ideas and technologies of the world- and this is where we err. Mankind is built on experiences, we would not be where we are today with those that come before us.
One thing we usually fail to recognize is our grandparent’s deep and undying love for us. To them, we are extensions of themselves, living on in a new and exciting world. Our grandparents only ever want the world for us, that we may have easy lives filled with happiness and love. It is only at the end of ones life that one realizes what is most important, and our grandparents try to convey it to us daily. To them, we have the world at our fingertips, and for their sake I believe we should be doing everything in our power to grasp it. Without our grandparents, we would not be here today, both in the physical sense and the motivational sense.
My grandfather, Elliott Leo Maguire, aka Poppy, is my hero. He has been a constant in my life, through the good times and the bad. He bravely served his country and then came home and built a family that today cherishes each other over all else. His house always meant family and happiness as I grew up. Around him is a tightly weaved web of support and love, and in my eyes as a child and even now, he holds it all together. Recently, my grandfather began to suffer the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Diseases, and day-by-day they become more apparent. I know that the day will soon come when my grandfather no longer recognizes me as his granddaughter, a relative, or even someone he knows. No matter when that day comes, though, I will continue to show him my love and adoration as long as he is with us. My Poppy means the world to me, and I can only hope that one day I have as much of an effect on my grandchildren as my grandparents have had on me.
To My Grandparents: You are my inspiration; I love you and thank you for all of the support you have given me through the years.
Elliott Maguire
Derry Williams
Vivian Maguire
Wayne Williams
Geraldine Maguire
Juanita Maguire

And also to those who looked over me and loved me as if I were their own grandchild:
Bob and Dot Maguire
Joan Lewis

As I’m sure you know, China has a law that prohibits families from having more than one child. It has been very interesting to live and teach with this law in places, and also come to notice it’s exemptions. The law has now been in effect for 30 years. Originally, at the end of 30 years the government was going to get rid of it, but they have apparently decided to continue it for at least 10 more years.

“I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters”
This is a common answer that I get (with some variation of the numbers) when I ask students about their siblings. Does this mean they secretly have a multitude of family members? Nope. Chinese people call their cousins and friends their “brothers and sisters”. This makes it pretty difficult to teach family members. Here is a basic convo…
Me: How many brothers or sisters do you have?
Student: I have 3 brothers.
Chinese assistant: *translates that cousins are not your brothers, and neither are friends*
Student: I have 3 brothers.
Chinese assistant: *translates that a brother or sister is someone who came from your mother’s loins (in a way appropriate for kids of course)*
Student: Oh. I have 0 brothers.
See how this can be a little difficult?

Exceptions
Some people are allowed to have more than one child (which usually just means they have two). If a husband and wife are each themselves only children, they may have another child. If you have twins, you can keep both (we have a set of 3 year old twins that come to the school, and every time James, one of the teachers, sees them he says to one “How does it feel to be an insurance policy?!”). If you are rich, you can have another (Yes, China is quite corrupt.. I can write a whole other post about that.) And lastly, if you live out in the country (and not too many people do anymore) you can have more. One of my friends has 3 sisters!! The fact is though, that it is quite expensive to raise a child in China in a way that gives them any hopes for a good future, and most people only make enough to be able to support one child. While we may find it odd and cruel that the government limits their family size, many Chinese people actually are fine with the decision, and some even agree with it.

So it’s been awhile since I’ve had the time (and also not been so lazy) to write on here. We just finished with our Winter Intensive period, which is a 2 month long timeframe where we work 40 hours a week and are all super stressed. During that time we only have one day off a week= i.e., I never got anything done!

But now I’m back to 2 days off a week, and feeling much more relaxed. Less hours of work means better classes for us since we have more time to plan. I have completed 7 months of my contract, and have less than 5 months to go. And after that? To be honest, as of now I have no idea. I need to be in Florida in February 2012, through April. I had thought about possibility of heading to South America or some similar place, but I can’t start a job there until after April. I am considering two options: coming home and trying to find a short term job, or signing on for 6 more months here. Both options have their pros and cons, and luckily, I still have time to decide. Either way, I will be home sometime this summer, maybe for 2 weeks, maybe for longer!

That's right, ladies and gentleman.. I have been in China for 6 months! As of today, I am halfway through my one year contract. Just wanted to reflect on everything that has happened so far.

I've had this question a couple times, so here's an explanation for all.

A couple weeks ago I was given the honor of attending a Chinese wedding. One of the sales staff at our school, an adorable lady by the name of Apple (because of her apple-like cheeks) was getting married, and she invited us to come. The actual wedding ceremony is more of a performance, partly because of the mix of entertainment with the actual ceremony, and partly because Chinese couples are already married before the actual ceremony. A Chinese marriage is as simple as getting a license from the government (much like our marriage license in America). Couples usually get legally married, and then do not have the ceremony until a year later, due to the high costs of weddings.

This wedding took place in a town that was about a 2-hour bus ride away. A 2-hour, freezing cold, stared at constantly, people yelling on their cell phones, and then practically kicked off the bus, bus ride. The bride sent her brother-in-law (more on that later) to pick us up, and he drove off us out to literally, the middle of nowhere. China is dotted with little brick villages that appear abandoned. On closer inspection though, some people do maintain a very simple, lonely, and low-tech, but low cost, living. Our bride’s family (as well as the groom’s family) was one of such families.

Enter the foreigners into the two-bedroom house that was already packed with about 25 Chinese people. We were eagerly led to a couch and given tea, fruit, and of course (because Chinese men are smokaholics) cigarettes galore (no, I didn’t take em, though I could have probably given the whole of Gainesville lung cancer with the number I was offered!).

The bride begins her day at her parent’s house, where her groom comes to collect her. He tries to come into the house, but her family pushes back and says “No, you can’t marry her!” This goes on for a little while, as is tradition, and finally he is allowed in. The bride first wears a red suit (not like a mans, the collar has the traditional Chinese collar, and the suit is quite bedazzled). After taking loads of pictures, the groom picks up his bride and carries her from the house to the vehicle (literally, her feet don’t touch the ground until they are at the ceremony). We were given the honor of riding along with the bride’s family in the caravan of cars (like 6 black cars in a row, all with red ribbons on them). We went from the bride’s parent’s house to the groom’s parent’s house, a similar brick, simple and rugged structure in the middle of a brick village in the middle of nowhere. Again, he took the bride into his arms, and attempted to carry her into the house, but was pushed back several times. Once inside the house, we were then offered refreshments while the bride changed into her second outfit. We then all went to the location of the ceremony, which was another world all to itself.

The best way I can describe this place is to equate it’s structure to a huge warehouse. Inside, it was divided into different dining areas, but not by walls. Fake waterfalls, rocks, pagodas, and trees make the different dining areas have the appeal a traditional and outdoorsy setting while staying in the modern and indoor world. It reminded me a lot of some theme restaurants I have been to in America, and though it was slightly less realistic looking, it still sticks out as the first of it’s kind I have seen (and probably will ever see) in China.

We were invited to sit at a table near the stage with the bride’s brothers-in law. The fact that she has one brother-in-law should amaze you, because this means she has a sister, and most families are only permitted one child (I can dedicate a whole other blog to this topic, and will soon). But, she has 3 sisters! I did not to ask how this came to be, and can only think that because of her parent’s lifestyle, the birth of multiple children somehow slipped under the radar. Anyway, we sat with the brothers-in-law. When we asked where the wives were, she told us “They were sitting back at another table. They were not drinking, but she knew we would want to, so she sat us with the men”. What do Chinese men like almost as much as their cigarettes? Getting foreigners drunk. I am not kidding. The amount of times I have gone to a restaurant or a bar and had drinks shoved at me is ridiculous. When we make new friends, say at the gym or the airport, they are most eager to make plans to go out drinking. Such a hard life I lead, huh?

I could go on forever explaining all the food and alcohol and semi-conversations, but I think that if you view my pictures you can get more than what I can describe. There was so much food that plates had to be stacked on other plates. Every time you picked up your drink, the Chinese wanted you to chug it. Barely any English could be understood, so any attempted exchange turned into a massive game/conversation of charades. All the while, the Chinese wedding ceremony was underway. Of course, I have absolutely no idea what happened in the ceremony. Even if I spoke Chinese, the ceremony is done in traditional Chinese, which is much more complicated than what is spoken today. The ceremony was not what we think of as a wedding ceremony though. As the couple walked to the stage, they were silly-stringed! The ceremony was done by a young woman, interspersed with songs performed by a male singer (who was drinking just about as much as we were). There was a request for the foreigners to sing (Chinese people love to make us sing almost as much they love to make us drink), which of course we had to oblige. There was no music for us though, so we had to creative without any. We eventually came up with (instead of you are my sunshine) “You are my Apple, My only Apple. You make us happy, at EF school. You’ll never know dear, How much we love you. Please don’t take our Apple away”. The bride and maybe only 1 other person understood the song, but we were still pretty proud of our creativity!

Another interesting thing about Chinese weddings is the custom of gifts. They do not give toasters or crock-pots or anything, but simply money. The money is placed in a red envelope, for good luck (more about red later). When the bride and groom come to your table, you present the envelope, and then do a shot of Bijou with them. This means that every time someone gives them a present, they take a shot. This leads to a very happy Bride and Groom- get some money, take a shot!

Overall, the Chinese wedding was an amazing experience. What made it so amazing though, was the bride and groom’s generosity towards us. On her wedding day, the bride was calling us, making sure we got onto the bus, and sending family to pick us up from the bus stop. They was constantly checking on us throughout the ceremony, and even offered to let us stay the night with their families in their hometown. If anyone gets the opportunity to go to a traditional Chinese wedding, I very much suggest you do! But, be wary of the Bijou!