1. When guys are hot here they just lift up their shirts and walk around with their bellies hanging out.
2. China is like anywhere else in the respect that cafeteria food is NASTY!! When I first got here I was so worried thinking that all the food tasted like the “food” in the cafeteria. It doesn’t! I’ve been to some DELICIOUS places!
This is a group of us at a fabulous little dumpling place! YUM!
3. There are NO traffic rules. Lanes are more of a guideline.... they use their horns A LOT. They squeeze into TINY spaces, even if it means driving on the sidewalk. They don’t believe in helmets or seat belts.
4. As for pedestrians... they do not have the right of way. Crosswalks are rarely used... it’s more like a giant game of frogger.
5. Very few Chinese people believe in diapers. More often you see pants with a giant hole in the crotch and babies being held over garbage cans. Lovely...
6. People will stop to speak ANY English they know to you... which usually consists of “hello” “hi” and “beautiful”, but when you try to speak Chinese to them they just ignore you!
7. There are a million toilet shops lining the streets, yet there are “squatters” everywhere...
8. The equivalent to a “your mom...” joke is “your ancestors...”
9. Staring at white people is not rude... neither is taking pictures... or filming... or stalking... I had this one girl follow me for like 20 minutes at the beach. She kept looking at my nails, hair, and trying to read my book over my shoulder...
10. They really use fireworks to celebrate anything! They’re just always going off in the street! It’s pretty sweet!
Those are some things I have observed over the time I’ve been here! It’s really interesting immersing yourself in a different culture like this! It’s amazing how different things really are! I’m learning to love certain aspects of it. At the same time, I’m finding out how grateful I am for my own culture!
Things are going so great here for me! Our group is quite big and they’re splitting us up to teach. 9 are staying here, 8 are going to one school, and 2 are going to yet another school (then there’s our 2 head teachers. One is over the people staying, one is over the people traveling). We’re all still living here together and doing everything together, we’re just being split up to teach. Who are the lucky 2 going by themselves? That’s right, Cierra and me! Originally it was going to be Cierra, Samantha, and me, but they needed one more person in the other group, so they took Samantha from us! It’s ok though! She’s going to be teaching at a WAY nice school, so that should be great!
We don’t really have any information about the school we’ll be teaching at. All I know is that we officially start there on Monday. Chinese people tend to be a little disorganized... so, we probably won’t know details until Saturday or Sunday! Haha! Lucky us! I’m excited though! We’ve been teaching, but it’s been in random places where we’ve been needed. I’ve loved teaching and I love those kids! But I’m excited to get my permanent class! :)
These are some of the kids I've been teaching. The two in the front are Kyle and Coco! They were little angels! :)
Our group is going to start Chinese lessons soon (once again... Chinese people tend to be a little disorganized...). But I’ve been really anxious to learn! Heather will tell me how to say something (at meal time, at the store, teaching... any random time), so I’ll come back to my dorm and write it on a sticky note. Cierra and I have sticky notes covering our cabinets! We’re trying hard to learn!
Lately, Heather has been getting bombarded by our group since she’s the only one who knows Chinese. Well, she doesn’t mind HELPING people, but she really doesn’t like DOING it for them! She came in the to our room the other night and saw us trying to learn how to count! She was so excited! Cierra and I left for a few minutes, and when we came back she had labeled our room in Chinese! It’s awesome! Heather is SO hilarious and I just love her! She’s been an amazing asset and blessing to our group!
This is an example of Heather's labeling! It's ALL over our room! :)
A group of us went to the night market a few nights ago! It was way cool! I am now the proud owner of a Hello Kitty watch. I figured it would help me blend in a little! :) Plus I needed a cheap watch to keep track of class time... ha! But we saw some crazy things at the night market... skewers full of chicken heads, cockroaches, squids, and many other unnamable things. At least we don’t have that stuff in our cafeteria!!
This is my new watch. There's also a little taste of the night market in the background! haha!
I hope everything is going well back home! I’ll keep you updated! Love you!
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