Chengdu

Happy Holiday and New Years. I just got back from Chengdu, China which is why I have been out of contact with most people. Chengdu is in central China and is the last city before Tibet, often times people stop off in Chengdu before they enter Tibet. Because the city is in such close proximity to Tibet and Xinjiang (a Muslim state controlled by China) Chengdu's make-up and vibe is much different from the Coast. Chengdu itself is a very cool town. The people are relaxed and laid-back, the weather is mild (no snow), but most importantly the food is wicked-awesome. Smack dab in the middle of Sichuan province (Szechuan) most of the food was mind-numbingly hot, but extremely good. Sichuanese food is know for hotpot and barbecue, both are both to eat in a group. In both cases you order a whole bunch of different meats and veggies on a stick, you cook the food yourself, and once the food is done you go to town. Hot pot houses and barbecues vendor, or as I like to call them 'street meat', can be found everywhere. I was walk back to my hotel on night and found an ally of just 'street meat'. I end up spending only $1 US for a tray full of grilled meats and veggies.

Hotpot of Death


















Lamb 'street meat'


















Tibetan food


















Beyond the food Chengdu is know for its temples and pandas. There are a few temples in town that have been converted to national sites and the surrounding streets have been made to look they way they would have had hundreds of years ago. A few milds up north is the Panda research facilities. There the Chinese are working hard to keep alive one of their national treasures. On the outside it looks like nothing more than a glorified zoo for pandas but the Chinese Government has successfully been able to breed captured pandas. If you go south there is a small town call Leshan which houses the largest statue of Buddha. There you can scale the cliffs and take pictures next to a giant Buddha.


















Overall Chengdu has been one of the best cities I've visited in China. I can't over state how nice the people are and how awesome the food was. When I was there it seemed like there was a lot of fog but most of the Chinese say its fog from the mountains. I dont know its hard to really tell the difference in China.

Here are some more http://picasaweb.google.com/dankhuon/Chengdu

Grading test

Here is one of my 7th grade students answer to a short answer question.

"What set Mohenjo-Daro apart was that there was a lot more technology. Its' like shanghai suddenly being cyber-technized on a major. Like suddenly having 20 robot slaves for every citizen"

Yeah he's getting full points

Coffee incident

Holy crap this is what happened to me when I tried to make coffee this morning. I went to turn off the gas on my stove-top coffee make and it exploded in my face. Let this be a warning to all coffee lovers. First do not cram as much coffee and water into a coffee maker and second do not crank the heat up to high. I'm going to have to pay the maid extra to clean this.

Pu Dong

Shanghai is divided into two parts: Puxi and Pu dong. Pu xi, the old part of Shanghai, is anything west of the Huangpu river and Pudong, the newer part, is anything east of it. I live in the Xuhui district, which is in the South west part of Pu xi. All the shopping, eating and fun can all be done in Pu xi. Some people find Pu Dong boring but I honestly think the pace over there is a little nicer. Everything is newer and there is certainly not as many people crowing the streets. The financial district is nothing to write home about but Century park is beautiful and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a nice way to fill up an afternoon. However the biggest attraction for Pu dong is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Build in 1996 it rises about 1,535 and give you a nice view of downtown Shanghai. For only 100 yuan you can take an elevator to the top.



















I still amazes me how far Shanghai and China has progress according to Western standards. One fun fact that a lot of the Shanghaiese like to throw out is that the majority of the buildings and edifices are less than 20 years old. Shanghai's subway system is only 4 years old and it is more efficient and runs more lines than the Chicago L. It frightens me to think what Shanghai and China will look like in the future because if it only took Shanghai 20 years to reach this point what will it look like in another 20 years.

Beijing

I've finally have enough time to actually update everyone on my last trip. Beijing was worth the three days I spent there but any more time and I would have ended up annoyed with the place. Since it was my first time there I had to go to the standard tourist sights: Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. My buddy and I wanted to check out Mao but his mausoleum was closed for the weekend. Rumor has it that Mao’s body is not looking as fresh as it use to. Surprisingly all three places were not that exciting. Tiananmen is just a huge square with a lot of foreigners and peddlers, the Forbidden City has even more foreigners and peddlers, and the Great Wall is completely comprised of foreigners and peddlers. I’m glad I went to these places; it really is a must if you have never been, but I cannot see myself going back to these places anytime soon.































One difference I notice between Shanghai and Beijing is that the air pollution is actually worse in Beijing then it is in Shanghai. I don't know how this is because after a day of walking outside in Shanghai I feel like I've smoked a pack of cigarettes, however in Beijing it feels like a thick layer of death is constantly covering every part of your skin. Visibility poor at best and I don't think is going to get any better before the Olympic Games. Some people are even speculating that Beijing might lose the games if enough events are canceled and if they are it could spell disaster and humiliation for China.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/6934955.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7061253.stm

Another problem was the traffic. I’ve been stuck on the 94/Dan Ryan in Chicago during rush hour but nothing compares to the traffic congestion that is Beijing. We were coming back from the Great Wall at 3 in the afternoon and there was bumper to bumper traffic for mile. It took us 2 hours to get into the center of town. I don’t thing there’s anyway I’ll attempt to go the Olympic Games; I’d rather enjoy them from the luxury of my apartment.

Beyond the smog and the traffic I had a good time in Beijing. The food was amazing, the people were mostly friendly and it’s cheaper than in Shanghai. I really enjoyed going to all the places the locals went to instead of being trapped in some tourist joint. If you’re ever in Beijing just get on the Metro line 5 and get off at Huixinxiqiao, amazing food and night life with very few foreigners. My friend, on the other hand, kept on getting ripped off by the peddlers. At one point he ended up paying 120 yuan, $15, for a pair of AA batteries. I guess that’s what happens when you look like a stereotypical American, you end up being an ATM to these people.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dankhuon/Beijing

My mornings

Each morning I get woken up to the wonderful sounds of a Chinese man's voice shouting fitness instructions out to the local Chinese students, none of which are my students, at 6:30 in the morning. I have nothing against daily fitness, in fact I think America needs to institutionalize mandatory exercise because we're becoming one amazingly fat country, but if you're going to wake me up at the crack of dawn to do workouts i beg that you actually do something challenging. I stayed up once to see the kind of things these kids do and for the pictures its not much. From the little bits and pieces i can translate from the "Drill Sargent's" instructions the school is basically having the students raise their hands up and down. I don't want to sound judgmental but I think these are the same exercise used to teach kindergarten students how to raise their hands in class. Now IF i was in charge of national fitness in China these kids would be in ridiculous shape. I'd hire Barry Bonds as my nutrition expert, require Puma track suits as their official uniforms, and have Kanye's work out plan on constant repeat. Hmmmmmm I might be on to something here. . .

ARRG WORK

WOW I’ve been utterly atrocious the last few weeks updating. This is probably the direct result of Midterms. No I’m not taking them I get the give them, which isn’t as great as it sounds. Shanghai High School has to be one of the most test oriented schools I’ve ever witnesses. Every student’s grades are dictated by tests. At last weeks meeting, which I never pay attention in, the administrations was telling us that all test would be worth 70% of the final grade and homework should be worth no more than 10% if that. That includes everyone, high school students to students in the primary school. Can you imagine a 7 year old taking a midterm and final!!! It utterly preposterous. So what ends up happening is students don’t give a rat’s ass about general performance and only worry about how they do on their test. Most of my students are very smart but I’ve never met a bunch of lazier children in my life. I should not that the majority of my kids are rich foreign students who’s parents are working is Shanghai so the majority of them really don’t care. There was a brief moment today where I almost lost it because a Chinese teacher asked me to write list of students who don’t do their home. Granted I should not have gotten pissed off at her but I think it’s completely ludicrous for me to point the students out who do not turn in their homework when we don’t even make homework worth a significant percentage of their grades. Then there is what we call Optional classes, name for because the work for the class is optional. There classes are designed to give student breath in their learning but in an enjoyable setting. Students have a large selection of classes to choice from. Some of the classes include American movies, English Movies, English conversation, creative writing, and my Personal relationships class. If these classes sound like a joke its because they are. None of the student's optional grades get factored into their GPA. So if I wanted to give everyone a failing grade no one would really care because the grade does not affect their GPA so it’s like it never existed. Heck if I wanted to I could give my students the grade ‘banana’ and no one would notice the difference. *ARGGG* I think my frustration stems from my realization that I’m nothing more than an over glorified test-facilitator/babysitter.

School News

Part of my job is to edit the website news that is written in Chinese and translated into English. Most of the news I get is quite trivial and most schools would never consider putting it on their website, but here everything and anything can be turned into an exciting piece of tabloid. Here's one good example

We Can Know Ourselves More
Students of G7 were organized to watch a documentary about puberty. Considering about the special mental qualities of this age, they were divided into boys and girls. While watching the film, students sat in groups, concentrating their attention with curiosity. They even discussed when they saw something they were interested in.
Puberty is the period of time when sexual organs mature and additional sexual characteristics develop. Both sexes experience huge splendid changes not only physiologically but also mentally. Thus to make puberty education properly and to make students realize that the changes inside their body are normal is so important and helpful.

See anything can be made into news

News from the Mother country

Heres a bit of news i found on Cambodia. Its not everyday we make the top news on Google http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSBKK21344820071016

Its starting to feel like Fall

Korea pictures are up!! Unfortunately I wasn't as awesome as I should have been and i ended up forgetting two pairs of shorts, a polo, and four undershirts at my hostel back in Korea. . . I guess thats what happens when you decide to drink you weight in soju the night before you morning flight out then try to pack when you're drunk off you ass.

As for China things seem to be getting better. Its actually starting to feel like Autumn here. The temperature is dipping, days are getting shorter and the pollution is starting to die out a little, i can go running without feeling like I have smoked a pack of cigarettes. As you can see Shanghai does get blue sky.































However I still do miss Fall in Michigan, so if someone could please send me a pumpkin and some cider it would be much appreciated.

Korea Trip

I just got back from Korea and I have to say trying to put the trip into words doesn't Korea justice. The sights were amazing, the people enjoyable, and OMG . . . there was clean air. No smog, no acid rain just pure, unadulterated air the way it was meant to be. As you can tell after living in the chimney that is China I've come to miss the good air quality back in Michigan. I've only been here for about a month and I think the pollution has taken 3 years off my life. Also Koreans seem use to seeing foreigners because I traveled with my Big-ass, loud-mouth, white friend and no one really seems to shocked when they saw him. In China everyone flocks to him like he's bloody Jesus Christ.

But enough about my complaints with China. Korea has to be one of the most technologically advance countries I've visited, it makes us look like we're in the Stone Age. Everyone has some kind of device they are walking around with, the bathrooms all have flat-screen TVs, and even the bums are sporting tech gear. Probably the coolest thing the Koreans have is the portable satellite TV. They're about the size of a cell phone and you can get TV signals anywhere. So you can watch the news, a talk show, or a soccer game on the subway. One Korean told me the new thing is for people to do a lot of their money transactions using their cell phones. The idea kind of freaks me out a little but its kind of cool that you can pay all your bills on a phone.

My favorite place I visited was Mt. Seoraksan, one of the tallest mountains in Korea. The town that was located by the mountain came straight out of a novel. Everything there was so natural and undisturbed. We climbed up one of the peaks and the view was to die for. I honestly could have spent another week in Korea because its such a beautiful Country. Defiantly worth another visit.

Construction

This is the site I saw today going into work. Its a very common sight in Shanghai, the Chinese using bamboo scaffolds to hold up construction workers on sight. While an American worker would never go near them the Chinese see construction as one for the best ways to move up and with sky-rocketing growth China is experiencing expect more and more Chinese from the countryside to come into the city and work under these conditions. Here's an article to give you some perspective http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4994478.stm

One Month

It’s been one month since I’ve arrived and here are some of the things I’ve learned thus far and advice for anyone who wants to come and visit…
- Food is cheap here, eat as much as you can because you’ll burn off all the calories for the heat.

- The Chinese are good at deflecting yes and no questions so learn to read between the lines. If they say maybe then you’ll probably get what you want. If they say 'lets see what happens' then you don’t have a snowballs chance in hell. You’ll hear 'lets see what happens' a lot :-/

- If you’re ordering duck makes sure you know what the word for duck is or at least the characters because you might end up ordering something quite different. (In my defense the picture of the roast pigeon looks just like a roast duck)

- If you’re not paying an arm and leg for something its probably fake and of poor quality.

- Corrections you’re probably getting ripped off no matter how much you’re paying for something so just assume that everything and anything is fake.

- It’s amazing! A girl can walk into class dressing like a prude but is wearing sandals and everyone will treat her like she starred in a porno but when the Chinese version of Lindsey Lohan makes her entrance wearing nothing but shoes with a backing or back strap she’ll be totally ignored. Somethings I’ll never understand.

- China likes to blocks websites. If you come here for any extended time learn to use proxies.

- It rains a lot here, get an umbrella

- Try the street food it’s not bad.

- Learn to drink beer, regular coke, or hot tea because most restaurants do not have water, at least cheap water.

- If you’re a foreigner the Chinese like to stare at you. There’s nothing wrong with staring just stare back.

- While you’re gone your #5 ranked football team will precede to lose to an unknown school from the mountains. Learn how to deal with in a constructive fashion.

- And by ‘constructive fashion’ I mean not crying in the fetal position in front of your 7th grade history class.

- European soccer is huge over here. If you like it hooray, and if you don’t try picking up another hobby (sorry Zu).

- There are no movie theaters here just DVD shops that release the movie two weeks before it gets release in American theaters.

- Again that Lacoste polo that you got for $5 is probably a fake

- Most Chinese love to take with foreigners. Use this to your advantage and learn the language.

- Haggling is a way of life here. It can be a real hassle but sometimes you’ll find you actually like it. I did

- Squatting toilets are amusing for me but are not for women.

- China has some great cell phone plans. Verizon can kiss my ass

- On the other hand China’s banking system seems to be somewhat of an oxymoron

- When in China take the good, the bad and just live in the moment.

Typhoon day

Wednesday school was canceled because the biggest typhoon was schedule to hit in ten years. As you can see from the pictures nothing really exiting happened except that it rained and it didn't rain as much as you think for a typhoon. I at least got a day off where i did nothing and had the maid come in and clean the apartment.

The Fabric Market and haggling

I finally got to go to the fabric market!!:-) but i didn't get anything. This trip was more like a recon mission. I wanted to see what these people were capable of and let me say that China is indeed the "World's Xerox Machine". They really can reproduce anything you want. A few of my co-workers went last week to have a few things made. I tagged a long to see how things turned out and I was quite impressed. The girls showed me the picture of the dress they wanted to make and the finished produce looked exactly like it. Now I feel confident that if I ask them to make me a three-piece suite they'll be able to make it no problem. The price estimations I got from most of the booth were somewhere between 400 and 600 RMB ($50-$80) depending on material, difficult, and how much you're having made (the more the cheaper). I think I'll start off with a few button-ups before i go for the ultimate kill. The best thing is that tailored suites and shirts are just the tip of the iceberg. You can also get coats, blankets and bedding made for you. Basically if its made out of material you can have it made in China.

Now the thing about shopping at the fabric and open markets is that you have to haggle, there basically no way around it if you don't want to get extremely ripped off, and you're always wonder what you're really buying. Whenever a Shanghainese merchant sees an American or anyone that does not seem to be from the area they try to lure you in with catch phrases like "I have quality shirt very cheap just for you" or "REAL Polo or Lacoste shirts". First off most of the stuff that people are selling are not quality, and second assume everything is fake because it probably is. Whenever you ask them how much something is (duo shao qian) they usually see that you're foreign and they say whatever pops into their pretty little head. I had one guy trying to sell me DVDs for 20 kuai ($2.70), which isn't bad for American standards, but when most DVD run between 5 to 10 kuai there was no way I was going to buy from him. The only way to combat the possibility of being ripped off is to do a little research and take everything they say with a grain of salt. This is what I've learned after three weeks:

Step 1: When you ask the purveyors how much something cost they'll give you something ridiculous that is probably 10x what they'd tell a local. If you're doing research just walk away and tell them you don't need it. They will insist that you haggle but just walk away.

Step 2: If you do want the item at hand and the initial price is ungodly high move the decimal place over to the left so if they say 100 kuai tell them 10. If you have a price that you want to pay use that as the mid-way point

Step 3: The purveyor will make a fuss that its too low and they wont make any money off the sale. Thats a lie because the purveyor would not be wasting their time on you if there wasn't a profit potential. They will give you another price probably 20 or 30 kuai less then what they initially said usually what they call "friends price".

Step 4: At this point you could do one of three things: walk away (which i suggest saving for later), accept the price (only if you really have your heart set on it and are really bad at bargaining), or give them your offer.

Step 5: If you continue to bargain with them it tends to go back and forth a few rounds. There two methods that I've seen work when trying to lower the price. One is to say little and just tell them less and the other way, my personal favorite, is to give them a lot of attitude. Every time they tell me they are giving me a "friends price" I over react like its the biggest injustice in the history of mankind. I tell them in English and Chinese that the price is insulting, they should pay me to take their juke away, or they should feel luck that I even considered gracing them with my presence. All of this is pretty much bullshit. For the most part it goes both ways, they always spew you with exaggerations too. Sometimes i ask them if this is the price they would charge to their grandmother. One women said yes and i just pointed my finger and yelled shame on you.

Step 6: Sometime around now the price is getting close to where you want it but it can always go lower. This is where walking away often works but not always. If they give you a price you're not happy with pretend to walk away. If you spent a fare amount of time haggling with them they'll be more inclined to chase after you. Give them your final offer and hold your ground. If they give you a higher price and you don't like it walk away again. Most of the time they'll settle for what you offered them. Again you should not feel bad for bargaining. The prices are set with the intention of haggling and they would not sell you things if they were loosing money I've been told that my style ranges from funny and humorous to me being characterized a full-fledged asshole. I do admit that I get a little overboard with things but it does the job nicely.

Now this pretty much sound like a huge headache but I actually found it to be fun. It take some practice to get use to. My first time I tried I settled too early and ended up paying way too much for some basketball shoes. Now I've gotten better and I even haggle on things I don't even want just to see how much of a deal i can get. As they say in China there are two official sports: ping pong and haggling.

Teaching injustice

So I was invited to join my Chinese office mates for dinner. The only other expat teacher that came was Andrew. Andrew is a thirty some cheeky, Scotsman who doesn’t share the same office but the one next to mine and since we are the only expat teacher on our floor you’ll often find the two of us hang out a lot. We get to the restaurant and let me say it’s nice to go to dinner where people know what they are doing. One of the teachers from my office demanded a private room and we got one. I don’t think that would ever happen to a foreigner, heck I never knew these places offered nice clean rooms to eat in. As we sat down to dinner the Chinese teacher seemed to transform. While in the school many of them put on a face of professionalism and seriousness but outside the school they crack the same joke and complain just like the rest of us. Probably the best statement made was when Andrew asked if working at the school was a good job and one of the teachers replied “is that a question or statement” while all the other teachers laugh their heads off. I later find out that I make about twice the salary the Chinese teachers do for about a third of the work. It’s hard to believe that some of the foreign teachers complain about the salaries and benefits we get while some of the Chinese teachers have to share their apartments. Another thing that amazes me is that most of the Chinese teachers here would be unqualified to teach in a Western school because they are Chinese. Fuck I think most of the teachers here are far more qualified to teach than some of the teacher I had (Ms. Ozmen). But as most of them say that’s how the World works.

Shopping experience

Shopping in Shanghai should be considered a workout plan. Think Christmas shopping on crack. There 10x the people, the sales are 10x better and its 10x the insanity. Saturday I decided to go to the H&M store downtown because I needed some proper teaching outfits. I live about 20-25 minutes away from the shopping street of Shanghai, Huaihai Lu, but to get there it’s only a short ride on the Metro which only cost about 4 Kuai (50 cents). So I pack up my man-bag with all the essential and get onto the metro. I always carry around a big umbrella 1) for protection and 2) I can never tell if the clouds in the sky is rain clouds or just the pollution :-/. I meet up with my friend David on Shanxi Lu and walk over to H&M where it’s mad chaos: cloths flying everywhere, people screaming, and its hot as ballz. For some reason H&M Shanghai does not believe in the invention of air-conditioning. I find a few shirts and pants that I like and I decide to go try them on. Stupid me I thought I would only take a few minutes to get a changing room . . . the waiting line almost out the door. I figure the lines too long and the cloths should fit me so I buy the cloths without trying them on first. You probably know what happens next. When I got home I decide to try the cloths on and needless to say things didn’t fit perfectly. I got a very nice pair of gray, wool pants but they turned out to be extra slim. I looked good in them but I think you could see the veins popping out of my legs for the lack of circulation. Then I noticed that I still had the security device attached to one of my button-up shirts so I had to make the journey back to H&M. Same size crowed and even hotter but I was determined to return things. You have to understand that in China to return products and get your money back is an act of Congress. You have to argue with the sales person, the manager, and their mothers. Knowing this I was ready to get into my jack pissed American mode but when it was my turn in the queue the sales girl was very pleasant, helpful, and even spoke some English. It took me 2 minutes to get the security device off and return my pants and I was on my way. Needless to say I felt a little sheepish for my close-minded views. It’s a common belief that most Chinese will not help you if it’s not their job but my experience is that most have been quite helpful. At most stores salesclerks are always ready to help, the taxi drivers are quite patients when you’re trying to direct them with broken Chinese, and I’ve even had a few Chinese direct me to the right place. I guess one cannot make judgments until one actually experiences the culture. . .

The Beginnings of Something New

My trip from the State to Shanghai took twenty four hours but i had made it. I had finally made it to my destination and was ready to introduce myself to the World. When i sept off the plane everything excited me: the sight (the vast emptiness of flat land surrounding Pudong International), the sounds (angry Chinese workers yelling at me), the smells (either rotting sewage or the saturation of sulfur in the atmosphere) and even the weather (hotter than anywhere else on Earth with 148% humidity but a little cooler than freakin' sun). Lets just say the honeymoon ended a lot sooner than expected. I attribute my extreme culture shock to the fact that I've never left the State and I've been sheltered more than the Bubble Boy. But this could also be a conspiracy started by God to try and steal my awesomeness away . . . hmmmm I'll have to give the big man a call and see if he's got some kind of beef against me.

But anyways its been exactly two weeks since I've arrived and my experience here has more or less evened out. There some good thing, like the people, the culture, and the job and there are some bad things, like the people, the culture, and the job. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you always try to figure out the situation you're in you'll only end up making yourself miserable. SO I thing I'll go have a beer and enjoy myself right now :-)