I’ve been in America for a week and it’s going by fast. I left almost a week ago tomorrow and here I am counting the weeks (just 9 left). It’s been funny the “Chinese” I’ve seen around. I drove by the China King and noticed the “wang” on their sign. I was playing Street Fighter and noticed the Chinese characters in the background for fire (“huo”) and mountains (“shan”). By brother walks by Asians and says, “Are they Chinese?” I’m even wearing sandals inside my dad’s house which I never did before I went to China.

I’m just beginning to realize how much of “China” got in my blood. However, I have vowed not to eat rice ALL SUMMER LONG!!! (No offense Chinese students and friends who read that. J) But, sincerely, I found myself doing many things in my Chinese ways. It’s quite interesting to “study” my own behavior.

Tomorrow, I’ll head up to Tulsa and stay at mom’s for the next week before Wheaton. It’ll be good to visit all my Tulsa buddies.

Over the past week, I’ve just lounged and tried to adjust to the time. Last night I actually went to bed before midnight (the days before were 6 AM, 4:30 AM, 3:30 AM, and 2:15 AM respectively). Crazy, huh?

So it’s past midnight now and I know the local McDonald’s has a 24 hour drive-through – and a Big Mac sounds real good right now. So gotta go…

 

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I’ve been home in the States for about a day and a half. The train and plane rides went quite well. There was a delay both in Beijing and Chicago, but I arrived home only 30 minutes behind schedule. Not bad for all the travel I did for about 36 hours.

So as of right now, I’ve had: crunchy Cheetos, a Taco Bell Chalupa, Hydr8 (a QT favorite of mine), strawberry cheesecake, a ham & cheese sandwich, a Sonic Route 44 Vanilla/Cherry Diet Dr. Pepper (easy ice of course), an apple fritter and Mazzio’s pizza. It’s been a great time being home already. Tomorrow I’ll try to finish up my Wheaton homework that’s due in less than two weeks.

It’s been great hanging out with my nephew today. He’s so cute and talks quite well. All day he was saying something like “bao ding” (which I could have swore sounded like Chinese). J Anyway, I’m safe and sound at home and am enjoying being an American kid – umm, I mean adult.

P.S. to Wube – My dad DIDN’T have to be picked up off the floor last night. However, he said someone should be there to do this when I leave in August.

 

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Today closes my first year in China.

 

First of all, I woke up at 5:30 AM and started the mad rush of packing everything “down” (that will stay in China) and everything “up” (that will go to America). I just finished right now. I cleaned the last of everything before I leave. And I’m a little overwhelmed and excited.

Earlier, we took the orphans to Nanhu Park for a morning of fun. We bought there rides and stuff. We even spotted them a meal at the Jiping Hotel. It was good to have a final goodbye with them. The three children that had the cleft palate surgery (two were sponsored by the students) were back at the orphanage. Rach, Steph & Sarah went and got pics while me and the “boys” (Seth, Robb & Wu) were with the kids at Nanhu. Hopefully, I can get the pics from one of the gals soon. Anyway, the surgeries went great and it’s amazing how well they look. Rach was crying while showing me pics of the kids. I know this will definitely help them in life as well as getting adopted.

Afterwards, I went to Hong Bang to say goodbye to the gang. I gave Jake a necklace and Sam a choker. You can see their pics below. (I’m sure gonna miss those guys ‘cause they’re waaay cool.)

So now, grades are done and everything’s packed. I have train and plane tickets, Chinese money, American money, Passport, Worker’s Permit, blah, blah, blah. So this will be my last entry this first year.

Wow, it was amazing and I’m thankful to the One who made it all possible.

P.S. – Students, if you are reading this, thank you for helping me with my Chinese, letting me teaching you my language and culture, and being patient with me when I sometimes felt confused, lonely, and restless. You’re the best!

 

Number of views as of this blog entry: 2674.

I have "officially" entered my Sophomore year. I just completed the compiling of all my grades and put them all on the university grade sheets. Tomorrow means packing the things I will leave here and packing the things I'm taking home. I am nervous and yet completely excited. Tomorrow I'll just be running on adrenaline!

 

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I’m writing this after a wonderful China day.

 

As I type this, I am now a “sophomore” in my China experience. I still have like 52 tests to grade and total grades to finalize for five classes, but it’s no sweat at this point. I said goodbye to three of my classes today and it was a good time. After each class picture I took this week, I would tell the classes, “Well, that’s all. You may go home.” And they always stood around, like they were waiting for something more. I knew that they missed me. Sure, they’ve had other foreign teachers before, and, sure, I think they might do the same for them. But, then again, maybe not. At any rate, I did feel special in those moments.

 

In the evening, some students and friends came over. At one point, I had two English majors, one Music major, one Management major and one Russian major. My goal is not to just know my students, but to know the whole school as well. I felt highly accomplished in this goal tonight. Anyway, one of my students has a girlfriend who made some sushi for me as a gift from the group. She learned it from my student’s mother who is Korean. And it was slammin’. I hadn’t had good sushi like that since Fuji in Tulsa.

 

After this, I took a walk with the Management major around town. We talked about many different things and had a real time of connection. He told me that I should go to Shanghai or Beijing because it would be better for me. But I told him I can’t because I like Siping. I, furthermore, told him that Siping chose me, so I chose Siping. (I had not come to that realization until the words were coming out of my mouth.) He understood it and that was enough. When he walked me to my apartment, he kept holding my hand and gave me a tirade of things to do: wear more clothes, buy more clothes, give his tea gift to my mom, lose a little weight, watch for pickpockets, keep my tickets close, pack quickly, sleep well…I realized after this (being Chinese) that this was his way of saying he would miss me and that I indeed mean a lot to him. He is a good friend and I’ll miss him this summer as I will all the other “Sipingren” I have met.

 

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I now have three days until I’m on a night train to Beijing! My time here has been amazing and extremely significant to my life. The “American Sonny” is very happy to be going home: to see family, eat some American food, enjoy friends that I haven’t seen in a while and relax. The “Chinese Sonny” is very sad to leave: no student visits, no practicing Chinese with the nationals, no teaching schedule, and no fellow teammates.

 

It’s been a good reflection time as the year closes. I have been able to begin processing what exactly I’ve done this past year in terms of teaching, living and working in China. Surreal moments come and go. Just last night, after Wu and I took out the Hong Bang gang out for a meal, we went to KTV (Karaoke TV) with them. Chinese just LOVE karaoke. So Wu and I joined them with the three Chinese songs we knew as well as singing “La Vida Loca” (again, for me), “Waiting for You” by Richard Marx, “American Pie” by Marvin Gaye (I think), and “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion (yeah, I felt really “flamey” singing that one). But then again, this is real China.

 

In terms of classwork, my research papers are down to 8 left! I've been a grading machine! I have my living room almost packed and I'm starting on my bedroom today. Seventy-two hours just isn't a lot of time, but I can do it.

 

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Two very cool events happened over the weekend (that I’m just finding time to blog). First of all, I went to my first Asian Wedding Reception. Mr. Watanabe (a Japanese teacher who teaches Japanese at the school where I teach) married a Siping Chinese woman. So I say the wedding was “Asian” since I don’t know what aspects of anything was Japanese or Chinese. I did know that the bride wore two kimonos, which are of course Japanese. She was so cute.

Anyway, I put some of the pics in the album called “Wedding Day”. You will see pictures of Robb, Ruth and Steph. Some of the people I posed with are the newly-wedded Asian couple, our school principal, a couple of our foreign affairs office guys (they are the best since they take care of all our needs), and other peeps who were there.

That same day, we went to Nanhu Park and had Josiah’s B’day. He turned a big FIVE. The Wu’s had a piñata shipped to them, so they saved it for this occasion. We had a candy-decorated cake (fully decked with Nerds) that was “delorcious”. And as always, we had the random visitors who simply wanted to check out what these foreigners were doing. It was an interesting Chinese day. See the pics of Josiah in the album “Birthday Day”.

 

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I have my plane tickets in hand! (YEAAAAAH!) I just got them today, so I updated my Summer Schedule information for all to see. Peace out!

 

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Last Friday, the Wu’s, Robb, Seth and I went to Shenyang. It’s a heavily populated city (around 8 million) that is around two hours south of Siping by train. There we went to the Horticultural Expo.

 

This Expo features flowers and plants from all over the world. Many nations were presented (such as Bolivia, Turkey, America, Germany, and Kenya) with nationals and tastes from their respective regions. We walked all day and it was waaay humid.

 

One of the most annoying things about the Expo was the looped English song they played. I’m still waking up with nightmares as the tune reverberates in my mind. Aaaaaaaah!

 

The Expo runs until October 2006. If you’re out and about in China between now and then, you should check it out. Anyway, see the album “Shenyang Expo” for pics of the event.

 

P.S. – I had a Dairy Queen Blizzard and a McDonald’s Big Mac that day. Yum yum!

 

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One in Seven Chinese Living On Under US $1 Daily (May 15, 2006, China Daily)

There are now at least 200 million Chinese living below the United Nations definition of the poverty line. In other words, nearly one in seven Chinese nationals live in extremely reduced circumstances, earning less than US$1 per person daily. This figure is ten times worse than the current Chinese official estimate of 20 million people earning subsistence level incomes of below 683 Yuan yearly. The vast underprivileged population is in striking contrast to China's overall economic advancement, concluded the first Beijing University forum on sustainable development of poverty-stricken areas. Most impoverished people are scattered in regions with largely underdeveloped production capabilities, harsh natural environments, and a low quality labor force. They are economically marginalized and highly vulnerable to any possible misfortune. Reputed Beijing University economics scholar Li Yi'ning attended the forum and says urbanization which shifts masses of surplus rural laborers into towns and cities is a feasible way to tackle the poverty problem. 37 per cent of China's 100 cash-strapped villages sampled by the State Council still suffer from starvation. The basic necessity of food is yet to be secured in some areas plummeting below the poverty line.

 

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