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!