The Southern Gate

My apartment has two gates, one in the front and one in the back. I live close to the back so I almost always use that gate. I love using this entrance. It's on a calm street, lined with green trees and quiet apartment complexes- very Western-feeling, very peaceful and very convenient. One of my favorite things about this back gate is that at any given time there are at least one, usually two or three Chinese families sitting out by the road, selling freshly picked fruits and vegetables. It's a convenient way for me to get some of my grocery shopping done the Chinese way- buying a little bit every day. I know this goes against all Sam Club memberships and those of you who buy groceries for a week at a time, but here in China, when you're walking up 5 flights of stairs (have I mentioned I don't have an elevator?), it's next to impossible to carry a big load. Only a couple of bags are practical. Therefore, I buy a few fruits or vegetables every day, sometimes twice a day depending on my coming and going. Right now in my fridge I have cucumbers, carrots, nectarines, grapes, and apricots. I must say China has the best fruit and such a variety. If I had a better camera (hint, hint) I would be displaying lovely pictures of said fresh goodness.

Besides the deliciousness of this routine, it also gives me a great opportunity to practice my Chinese. “How much is that per jin?” and “What kind of fruit is that?” and sometimes simple conversational stuff like “I’m from America.” and “I love living in China.” It’s fun to be able to use my words that I so rarely have an opportunity to use in my Western bubble of friends.

And that leads me to my favorite thing about this Southern gate. I get to interact with everyday-Chinese people. I know that may shock you. “You live in China, Jen. Of course, you interact with Chinese people.” And you’re right. I do. I take the bus and taxis. I shop at stores and buy things. But it’s not often that I get to have daily interaction with the same people over and over again- to smile at them and say “hello” even when I’m not shopping at their little market. I’m excited about this opportunity to make friends with these few lovely Chinese people. It’s been a long awaited moment, mostly because of the language barrier. But, as I learn more, I hope to make some non-English speaking Chinese friends right outside my home. How’s that for getting out of the bubble?

Moving Along

So, we're all just going to move on and forget about any other blogs that might have anything to do with my trip this summer. I wrote the promised second post but accidentally deleted it and have been avoiding blogging since. It was either avoidance or my computer thrown through the window...moving right along...today is my clean-slate day.

Some exciting things have happened since we last talked.

I moved to a new place. My new apartment is awesome. It's beautiful and cozy and decorated just how I like it. Most importantly of course, it's all mine. That's right boys and girls, I've finally become an adult and have a place of my own. I've been busy decorating and moving and unpacking. It's taken awhile to figure out where I want to put things. You know, when you have a roommate, you always have to compromise where the dishes go or where stuff is stored. So now that it's totally my decision, well, it's a little overwhelming. I'm still shifting things around trying to find out where I want to them to go. I'll post pictures at some point so you can see the new abode. It's just not quite ready to be seen by the public.

The move has quite drastically changed my life. You know, in America, when you make an in-town move, it's a little inconvenient but usually no big deal. Here, it's literally life-changing. I've had to learn my location and how to get there. And how to tell a taxi driver how to get there. In another language. It's all new vocabulary. I've had to find new stores to buy food in and then actually find the food I like, not always easy. It's a lot of work to create new schedules and new routines. My bus picks me up at a different time than what I'm used to. I have to add in the extra minutes of walking down my FIVE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS when I'm trying to catch that bus. Everything's just so much harder now and takes longer. I know it'll get easier (it already has) as I learn the area and get used to this new life. But for now, it can be a tad bit frustrating. It's like starting all over again. At least it's during the summer and not school. That would be almost unbearable. It sounds like I'm complaining but I'm NOT. :) I love the complex I live in and the places I have to shop in. Even though I'm farther away from a lot of my friends and the center of town, I'm a lot closer to school and I have a group of friends that moved with me here. I'm still close to the beach, it's only a block away and have I mentioned that I don't have a roommate? :)

The other major thing going on in my life right now is my Chinese class. So, it's a requirement that we take 2 hours of Chinese every week during the school year and every other summer we do a month-long intensive course. We have a four book (10 chapters each) curriculum. By the end of Book 4, one should be able to hold a decent conversation and know a couple hundred characters. In my 9 months at school, I only made it through the "pinyin" (pronunciation) and chapters 1-3 in Book 1. I'm pulling the "it was too hard to focus on Chinese with so much travling in my job" card but I think it's mostly laziness. Studying language is EXHAUSTING. Anyway, I made the commitment at the beginning of this 4 week intensive that I wanted to finish chapters 4-10. I'm on my last week of study and I have ch 9 and 10 to finish. I'm oh so close but there's so much left for me to do in the next three days. It's exciting though. I've learned hundreds of words and can actually speak in sentences...sometimes. The problem is, the words don't often come to me fast enough to sound like an intelligent person. I still have a LONG WAY to go but it's progress.

Life seems to be moving along. Vacation in Europe- check. Moved to new apartment- check. Chinese language course- almost check. School starts in 22 days...arg. TOO FAST!!!!

Euro Trip- Part 1

So, I'm splitting this blog up into at least two different posts. Mostly for you because I don't think any sane person will want to read a 15 page long diatribe/description of my blundering through Europe. The other reason is because my brain will need a break. Do not fear though, I took notes during my trip so I should be able to remember everything important. If you'd like to see pictures, please go to my facebook, that's where I'm uploading them. So far I've only gotten throughTaiwan (I realize that's not in Europe but it was a pre-trip to my Euro Touro) and Vienna. I'm am currently working on Prague and the rest will be on there shortly.

You may be wondering why I haven't written yet and why it's taken so long for me to get anything posted. I have two main excuses including 1. I didn't take my laptop with me on my trip and 2. I don't have internet at my house as I'm in the process of moving. There's other excuses I could add like tired, busy, blah, blah, blah.

Let me set up the trip for you. I left on Saturday, June 5 for Taiwan where I met up with some good friends that I worked for/with in South Florida. He was my boss at the school in Hollywood and she was the HS English teacher. We were great friends and had so much fun when we worked together. In fact, he helped set me up with the man who gave me my job here in China. Anyway, they had been invited by a higher up in Taiwan's Department of Education to speak at several colleges in Taipei. It, of course, was not a possibility for them to be so close without seeing them so I flew down for 4 days to spent some good quality time with them. We had a wonderful time together. We laughed and shopped and talked and ate and made new friends. It was totally worth the quick trip. I left on Tuesday, flew back to Qingdao, stayed in the airport because 3 hours later, I flew back to Beijing. I stayed the night in Beijing and flew out to Vienna on Wednesday, June 9th. I took with me only a backpack with as few clothes as possible, and left behind my brush, blowdryer, facewash, and laptop. Only the bare essentials were taken. My route was 3 nights in Vienna, 3 nights in Prague, 3 nights in Krakow, 3 nights in Budapest and then I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the last two nights of my trip (which ended up being an additional night in Budapest and a night in Bratislava).

I did some tallying (just for the European part) and here's what I came up with:

• I spent about 85 hours traveling or waiting to travel
• I was in 4 airports (x2), 3 train stations and 4 bus stations
• I Was in 5 cities (plus the Moscow airport which I think should count since I was there for really long layovers both there and back).
• Had at least 15 different roommates.
• Used 6 different currencies.
• Learned how to use metros, subways, trams, buses, electric buses, cabs and trains all over Europe
• Ate American, Thai, Italian, Greek, Mexian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Slovakian food
• Made friends from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Poland, Hungary, America, the U.K., Wales, Russia, the Philippines

After quite a long trip (6 hour layover in Moscow), I finally arrived in Vienna. I walk off the plane, semi-dazed (because I usually become comatose when flying and it's hard for me to wake up when I arrive somewhere and I'm sure my crazy eye was out in full force) but super excited, grab my bag and walk outside. It's. Blazing. Hot. Like, put-my-hair-up-in-a-ponytail-and-wished-I'd-lathered-on-an-extra-layer-of-deoderant hot. And those of you who know me, know how I feel about being hot. Normally, it wouldn't even be that big of a deal EXCEPT I had PLANNED for 70 degree weather. I only had pants and layers to wear. My clothing was very limited because of my backpack size, I planned oh so carefully and the WEATHER WAS NOT COOPERATING!!!! No worries, I was sure I could cool down at my hostel. Nope, no air conditioning. Maybe at Starbucks...nope, no airconditioning. Apparently, hell showed up on Vienna's doorstep with out any warning and I was going to have to suffer. And suffer I did for the next three days. I sweated my way through Vienna and had the dry skin to prove it. My face was actually chafed from being wiped so much as I slicked away the sweat. Gross but true.

My impressions of Vienna...beautiful but totally stuck up. Unless you have a lot of money or are there on a honeymoon, it's really rather pointless. It's super expensive and very touristy. It's lost all of it own culture and has turned into this money making theme park. I'm sure the country of Austria is absolutely lovely and I WISHED I had gone to Salzburg and sung through the Alps. I'm not saying it was a waste of time because honestly, it really had some beautiful architecture and things to see but I wouldn't go back. And the truth is, I didn't realize I didn't like it until I'd been to a couple of other cities that had the same cobble stone streets, old buildings, beautiful churches and insanely long histories AND managed to keep some of it's own culture. Now, it's totally possible that this might be the anger from the blazing heat talking or from the fact that I didn't make one friend the entire time I was in Vienna or maybe from the pure exhaustion of finishing up school and then going straight to "vacation" where I walked every day for 10-12 hours out in the heat, who knows. Take it for what it's worth. I will say that in spite of the millions of Western tourists, the jacked-up prices and the fake rebuilt buildings, it was still possible to get lost on a little side street or alleyway and find yourself able to imagine what it was like 200 years ago. And I did find a really neat clothing boutique that I wish I could live in.

After three-unairconditioned nights in Vienna, I made my way to Prague. Traveling to the next city was always a little adventure within itself. I only planned a day in advance and usually went with whatever was cheaper. And cheap it was. I only spent about $175 on all of my buses and trains getting around Europe. Most of the time it was clean, convenient, safe and pretty easy to figure out. I just asked my hostel what was best, used a map, found the station, bought the ticket and went on with my sightseeing for the day. The next day, I packed up and headed out a couple of hours before my train/bus left. My bus from Vienna to Prague was about 4 hours and only cost about $15. My American mindset has a hard time grasping the fact that I can travel to ANOTHER COUNTRY for $15. Insane!!!

On my trip to Prague, we drove through an insane rain and hail storm. It was rather intense for a few minutes but made it safely. I'd only wished I'd brought snacks for the trip. Mostly, me and my narcolespy-ness slept. Oh, and I read a some. I have an app on my iPod that has over 100 classic novels that I can read at any time so I spent a lot of my traveling time reading. I think I got through 4 books on my trip.

(Just took a snack and coffee break...have I mentioned that I'm in Starbucks?)

Prague...was beautiful and has a lot of really neat places to go (The castle, the river, my hostel). First, let me say that both Vienna and Prague are really easy to get around in. Super user friendly. Just buy a day pass and you can use it for the bus, trams and metro. And as long as you can read a map, you can get around. This is a good thing because my hostel in Prague was a little out of the main area so I had to take the tram or subway or bus to get anywhere important. In spite of BAZILLIONS of tourist groups (I honestly don't mind individual tourists. It's the groups that drive me crazy. Because they travel in such large groups, they just kind of run everyone over and ruin any peaceful/beautiful place within seconds of arriving. They just kind of steamroll everyone). The Prage castle with it's view, a trip down the Vltava River, live music, delicious food, quaint shops and homey feel helped me to recover a little from Vienna's madness. At this point in my trip, the architecture was still totally enthralling (at some point it all just started to run together. I didn't have to be anywhere exciting, a good park bench would do. I spent a lot of time watching people, staring at hundreds of years of history and imagining what it would've been like to live during another time.

As I close up this blog, I'll leave you with a few random thoughts/events that occurred during my time in Vienna and Prague...

• For all my Springfield friends, there was an Aldi's in Vienna
• Oh, and literally every city I went to had an IKEA.
• In the underground metro system in Prague, a guy as high as a kite offered to sell me his watch.
• When I ordered my ticket to Prague (which I did online but should've done in person), I ordered the ticket for the wrong day. When I'm not in school and/or working, I have a really hard time keeping track of the days. It was a lot of ma fan to change the stupid thing. I went from being so proud of myself one moment to wanting to scratch out my own eyes in the next.
• After living in a place where I am my own tourist attraction, it was so nice to just have people assume that I was from the area.
• I cried in the first church I visited in Vienna. It's been so long since I've been in a place made for worship and it just felt so quiet and peaceful...it was very impacting. I'm not going to be able to explain why but for some reason I could still cry over it. We Americans and the West in general, we don't realize how "lucky" it is that we have the priveledge of choosing between 100 different churches, to find a place of worship that fits who we are, to have structural reminders on every street corner of God and how he has worked in our history. To have a religious structure that's remained for hundreds of years, that is still being used as a place of worship, that is incredible. Anyway, that was probably one of the favorite things of my trip, going to churches and just enjoying the beauty and peace found there.
• Speaking of crying...the enormous amounts of beautiful men all over Europe almost brought on tears of joy. Now, I don't know if it's that there truly is a LARGE portion of extremely attractive men in Europe or if it's just me being deprived for so long but WOOOOOooooooohweeeee.
• So, in Vienna, I went to a concert. We'll call it a concert anyway. It was supposed to be Opera, strings and ballet. And if I took that at it most literal terms, it was all those things. But mostly it was mess. Four musicians kind of dressed up in period outfits, a ballet couple dancing on a stage with a piano and 3 other instrumentalists that was the size of my twin bed. And an Opera singer who...was okay. Needless to say, I wasted $60 and left at intermission...along with half of the audience. It really wasn't that bad. I mostly just chalked it up to a funny experience.
• Two major things in Prague- graffiti and Americans. Every building in every reachable space (outside of old town) was covered in graffiti. I would also say that Prague had the most Americans of any of the cities that I went to.

Anyway, that about sums up the first half of my trip. The last half...to be continued.

It's All Coming Together

Monday will start my last week of school. I'll blog about all of that later. What I really want to talk about is everything that's happening after school is out.

It's 11:30pm on Saturday night, I am leading worship tomorrow at fellowship, I have to get up early and yet, I can't fall asleep. I don't even feel tired. Why? Because I'm so excited about next weekend. What's next weekend?

I have good friends from America headed this way. My first and possibly only friends to make it to this side of the world and I'm going to see them. They will be in Taiwan doing some guest speaking for the something something of Taiwan's education something something. Very important stuff. I'm flying down to meet them for the weekendish. It's a quick trip really but totally worth it. I have no idea what we're going to do. I hope they're planning it because I don't even have a clue. I'm hoping that I can use some of my Mandarin there. The problem is, they use traditional characters and I'm not sure how that pans out in the spoken language. And I'm not sure about the accent. Qingdao has a very specific accent and pronunciation of words. When we went to western China they could barely understand us. I have no idea how that'll work in Taiwan. I'm going to assume though that there will be a lot more English speakers there. But who knows? I really have no idea what to expect.

THEN...when I get back from Taiwan, I leave the next day for Europe. I've been planning all day today. I've reserved 4 of my hostels and started to pin down what I want to do while I'm in each city. Here's what I have so far...

Vienna:

• go to a palace or two
• listen to something musical like an orchestra or symphony...something classical
• have some coffee
• visit a museum and see old paintings
• shop
• attend a church service
• eat a sausage and/or weiner schnitzel

Prague:

• walk around or maybe take a segway (I seriously doubt I have the balance for it) around the city
• sit in a cathedral
• walk through a castle
• see the town square
• study communism
• listen to an opera

Krakow

• walk around the Jewish district
• make a trip out to Auschwitz
• tour a basilica
• visit Old Town

Budapest

• take a ride down the Danube River
• study communism some more
• go on a tour of the city

There will be a few things added I'm sure. I'm trying not to plan too much because one of the benefits of traveling in such small numbers is that I can change my plan any time I want to.

I'm excited to get away and be on my own. I can talk to people if I want to or I can go days without saying a word. I'll be living a phone free, laptop free life. I'll be staying in hostels with tons of other people just like me and have the opportunity to make a bunch of new friends. I get to see all the places I've taught about for years. Places that have hundreds of years of history. Places where really important things happened. Beautiful buildings, historical aritfacts, incredible stories. New experiences, new people, new places. Oh, the excitment.

And the cool thing is, it's really inexpensive. I'm staying in hostels and it's only going to cost me about $18 per night. And they're nice places. Sure, I'll be surrounded by strangers but that just adds to the adventure. I'm taking earplugs, my iPod and a padlock. Keeps out the noise at night, keeps out the noise during the day, and keeps my stuff safe.

I'll be traveling by train to all of these places. Another nice thing about Europe is that it only takes a couple of hours to get from one country to the next. I think the longest train ride is from Prague to Krakow and it's only 4 hours or so. Amazing. And I'm traveling by backpack so it'll be super easy to get around.

And while I'm gone on this hoped-to-be-fabulous-trip, I'll be moved into a new apartment. Yay. It's been found, it just has to be approved by the board. I haven't seen it yet but my friend on the housing board picked it out and I totally trust her. I'm so excited.

AND I know what I'm teaching next year. Finally. MUN and 9th grade World History. It basically covers the beginning of time to the 1500's. The idea of having an entire year to cover all of that makes me happy. It's a regular class so I won't have to lecture all year. I'll get to do fun stuff like group work and games and videos and projects. Can't wait!

See? It's all coming together.

Dear Mom

I'm sitting on my bed 6,423 miles away from you (exactly...I Googled it), it's Mother's Day and I wish I were closer to you. I was trying to think of the last time I was home for this special occasion and I think it was 1999. Courtnii Almanzar and I decided to make a surprise "weekend" trip home to see our moms. Wow, that was a long time ago. Anyway, I've been thinking about you all day. Oh to be home and making you lunch or going to your favorite restaurant, giving you a gift, watching a movie with you.

Do you know I talk about you all the time? I tell people about how funny you are and what a good woman you are. You love your husband and kids more than they deserve. You are charming and thoughful and someday, I hope to be like you. These are the things I tell people.

Okay, and a few other things. Like how when you were a kid and stuffed a kitten into a paint can and put the lid on it thinking it would be a great way to carry a cat around. Or how you snuck into a neighbor's house and stole a popcicle only to get caught under a bed when they unexpectedly arrived home. Or how when you would help me with my math in junior high and we laughed and laughed about "rr". And that when we laugh together, it's the exactly the same, mine's just a little higher pitched. We harmonize well.

I also tell them, mostly my students, about how you threw candy AT us in school instead of TO us, many a poked eye were the results. That's always followed with how cool you were and how my friends loved you and that you were my favorite teacher.

You are a wonderful woman. I wish I was close enough to give you a long hug right now but I suppose that'll have to wait another year. Just know that I was thinking about you on this Mother's Day. I love you mom.

Jen

Not Funny

So, I was reading through some of my old posts from my other blog and I used to be so much funnier. What has happened to me? I'm mean I wasn't hi-larious, but definitely had a bit more wit with my words. And I told a lot more stories. Surely, I haven't told all my stories...dang it. I've got to get some pep in my step. Just wait, some day soon, I'm going to bedazzle you with my awesome tales of adventure and..stuff...

Checking In and Some Thoughtful Thoughts

Update:

• Since the last time I wrote, I've hosted an MUN (Model United Nations) conference here in Qingdao. We had 9 schools, 2 from other cities in China and 2 from Korea with a total of 170 students and teachers involved. It was a 3 day event and included an opening ceremony, hundreds of snacks and lunches, hotel rooms, formal debating, sightseeing, several trips to the airport, hundreds of phones calls, thousands of papers being printed, a lack of sleep and some serious stress. After spending about 6 months planning it, things went fairly well. There is a long list of improvements to be made for next year but it was a huge check off my list of things to do. Yay!
• I've been leading worship at my fellowship and am really enjoying it. I had a friend recently ask me why I didn't end up doing something in music and I said, "I never really thought about it." She looked at me like I was an idiot but it's true. I never thought about doing anything in music. It was always something I was passionate about but, I don't know, I just never had the guts (maybe?) to do anything with it. Anyway, this leading thing is a great growing experiences. I have an amazing band that is good to forgive me when I screw up and everyone's super flexible...I don't know, it's just fun. A lot of fun. It makes me want to do it more often. Who knows what the future holds?
• I'm going to Europe this summer. It's like a third of the price to go there than to go home. And since I make about 1/4 of what I made last year, it's all about saving as much money as possible. So, I'm flying to Vienna, Austria and from there, I'll train to (as of right now) Prague-Czech Republic, Krackow-Poland, Budapest-Hungary, and Bratislava-Slovakia. I'm backpacking for two weeks and the plan is to stay in super cheap (but safe, mom) hostels. I'm really excited about it. It'll be nice to get away and have some time really reflect on/evaluate this last year.
• We have 24 days until school is over. That makes me happy. This has been a crazy year.
• I get my own apartment next year. I cannot express the joy that fills my heart when I think about it.
• I'm missing the conveniences of America. There's this one side of me that loves the fact that I don't have a car- no maintainance (big deal for me), no payments, no insurace, that I don't pay my own bills (the school does it for me), that I can't understand what's being said around me...and then there's this other side of me that HATES that I don't have the freedom to go when and where I want to, that I don't really know how much of my check goes to bills, that I can barely communicate with the millions of people around me. It drives me crazy that I can't just call and order a pizza. Or that I can't just "run" to the grocery store (or Walgreens). Everything's this big process. It's frustrating sometimes. Most days, I don't even think about it, it's just my life. But yesterday, yesterday, not so much. I miss being able to go for a ride or being on my own or ordering in. I know, that's all trivial stuff. It's just, every once in awhile, the inconvenience hits me right in the face.
• My language acquisition has completely halted. It's dead. I have stopped learning new words. Not purposely. Just between the crazy travel and the insane business of my life, I haven't had time. I'm so excited about our intense language training this summer. Seriously, two hours a day, five days a week for four weeks, it's going to be crazy but so totally worth it.

This is going to be a hard summer not coming home. I actually chose this fabulous trip to keep my mind off of not being there. So much change is happening. We all move on with our lives which is of course, expected. But soon, we've moved so far from what it once was, it's no longer familiar to those who've been absent. I have friends getting engaged, getting married, having babies...nothing new I suppose, except because I'm not there to witness it, it's almost like it never happened. Until I see them in a couple of years and then there's nothing left in common except a few fun memories.

When I moved to China, that's one of the things that hit me the hardest, mourning for the things that will be lost by being so far away. I'm missing out on all those new memories. Yes, I'm making new ones of my own, but they're with a whole different group of people. My old life...it already seems so far away. And I hate it. I hate that a couple of my closest friends are getting married and I won't be there to see it. By the time I do see them, it will have been a year. Old hat. They'll be moving on to babies and families and I'll still be grappeling with this new reality.

Why don't I come home, you ask? Besides the money, it's just easier this way. Too many people to see, too many places to go and not enough time. It would be a whirlwind of unsatisfying activity. It wouldn't be restful or easy. A day or two here, a day or two there...I think it would hurt more than it would help. So, instead, I'm going on an amazing vacation and pretending like it's not all happening. I'll just deal with it when I come home next summer. Super healthy, I know.

Oh, and please don't misunderstand me. I'm happy for my friends and family that are starting these new adventures. I'm just being completely selfish and don't care for the idea that life goes on without me. How dare it! :)

On another note, I've been looking at cities in western China. Turpan, Urumqi, Kashgar...who knows what'll happen after my contract is up here? I have no idea if I'll resign or not. I work for an amazing company and it's a great school but whatever God wants, I'm in. Just keeping my options open and myself informed. I'm hoping to go out there next fall or winter to visit, maybe meet some friends of friends. It's never too early to start networking.

A totally different note, spring has finally sprung. It's time. We haven't had temps above 40 degrees since early November. Finally, on Friday it was in the 60's. Now, if you know me, you know how much I love winter. I'm all about snow and cold but this has been going on way too long. Even in Colorado, we have beautiful weather for a day or two of and on in the winter. Not here. No such thing as a break. So, as much as I love winter, I'm more than happy to say "Farwell, old friend". I need to get my tan on!

One last note, and I realize there are only two of you who've made it this far...I have tomorrow off of school. My only plans are to go grocery shopping, maybe do some grading and go to a friends for dinner. :) Happy day.

And seriously, one final note...I realize I've used the word "happy" about 20 times. Deal with it.