It is officially official. I have been in China for 1 month! In some ways it has flown by and in other ways I feel like I have been here for much longer. I think that the time will really start to fly now. In 2 weeks we get to go to Bejing. We will be back for 2 days at school and we have another 10 day vacation. It is awesome.
Some things I love about China so far...
1. Teaching- I love being able to be around little Asian 3 year olds all the time. I am not the greatest teacher but I don't mind at all. I do my best. The little kids love you no matter what you do and I am very grateful for that.
2. Scooters as a family Vehicle- You may think a scooter is a very small vehicle for perhaps one or two people. That, turns out, to be untrue. I have seen 5 people and a tree one scooter. They hall refrigerators, building materials and anything else you can think of on scooters. It is quite impressive. Also, all the women wear a mens long sleeved button up shirt backwards when they drive a scooter. I suppose it is for protection but it is awesome no matter what the reason is
3. Michael- Michael is our cook and he makes delicious things for us to eat everyday. Honestly, they are sometimes very strange but we eat it anyway because Michael is so awesome. He makes the best spaghetti I have ever had and his fried Won Tons are to die for. He takes good care of us in the food department. He also teaches us cooking lessons which end up being more like demonstrations because there is no way for him to actually tell us how to many something. We love hanging out with Michael in the kitchen even if we cant communicate.
4. Drinkable Yogurt- Do I love drinkable yogurt with all my heart and is there drinkable yogurt in China? Yes to both of those things. That is all.
5. Kung Fu Lessons- Spring may stretch me in ways my body has never stretch before, kick me so hard I have bruises and make me so sore that I can barely move the next day, but we sure have fun! Spring is an excellent teacher and I have rarely had as much fun as I have during Kung Fu. We all wear matching sweat bands to Kung Fu and Spring requested one as well. Wendy asked him what color he wanted and he said that he wanted one just like hers. You better believe I will get many photo's of Spring and Wendy in their matching yellow headbands.
6. Starers- I am not a person who loves attention. However, we get alot of attention here whether I like it or not. I have made the executive decision, since I am the CEO of my own life, to have fun with all the attention. I think it is the funniest thing. It is amazing how excited people get when I say hello to them in Mandarin. We do decline offers to have coffee at the police station, but we have fun waving at people and smiling. I suppose that the people here are not used to seeing Americans and particularly not 7- 20 year old girls.
7. Clothes- I am amazed at how good the clothes look on people here. It does not matter what they wear or how they wear it but it always looks good. For example, I would not look good in a dress that was cinched with elastic at the bottom so matter what size I was. Does a Chinese woman look good in a dress like this? Could I pull of wearing floral pants with a zebra stripped shirt? Absolutely not. Do older Chinese women wear two prints together all the time and pull it off? Amazingly, yes. I love the way people dress and I love all the clothes you can buy. It is good that I do not fit into most of them.
8. Street signs, Store Signs, and Advertisements- I have no idea what the Chinese Characters mean so all the street signs just look like art to me. I also love that everything is lit up with multi colored lights at night. It is so beautiful.
9. Trees- Is it any surprise that I like the trees here? No. I love tree's everywhere but there are some particularly awesome tree's here. A lot of times, you can see the tree roots above the ground which is awesome. There are some tree's outside out apartment that they grow the trunk to be woven together. It is sweet. I will take some photo's
10. Everything Else- I am often asked what my favorite part of China is and I never have an answer. I love all of it. I love all the bus rides, the smells, the crazy customs and everything else that is involved in living here. A wise sister one told me to love China because of it's faults not in spite of them and that is what I have tried to do.
It has been a great month. One month down, three and a half more to go.
2 comments:
Dear Tessa, I think you are hilarious and I also think that you are awesome! I think the scooter thing is funny. We would often see similar occurrences in Ecuador on bicycles. That is all for now. Love, me
Such a clever and witty post! The Chinese smells nearly did me in when we lived in Singapore...pregnancy is partly to blame for that but I never get used to the smell of rotting fish and spoiled cabbage. I'm glad you are enjoying yourself!! Can't wait to see Spring in his headband. Ha! So funny!!!
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