Snapshots of My Life in China

It's Thursday. I managed to get ALL my grades done in 2 days. I finished my statistical analysis today. Do I dare say I'm done? Yes. I even made that my status. And then the phone rings. It's the foreign affairs department. The president wants to meet me tomorrow afternoon. The bus ONLY leaves in the morning which means I'll have to wait for him for several hours. Sigh. And the lady at the waiban (foreign affairs office) said, "Is that alright?" No. It's NOT alright, but I don't have a choice, do I? No, you don't. Well, this all occurred when I was searching for my debit card AND my internet wasn't working. I ended up calling her back and saying, no. I can't make it unless a bus leaves in the afternoon. I need Friday to get ready to go to Dazhou for 2 weeks. I don't have time to wait on Mr. Big Fish (who only wants to see me now that I'm leaving.) I was panicky and on the verge of hysteria. So, it worked out in my favor. She informed me that he was coming to the campus walking distance from my house. I never found my bank card :( I went to the bank and got another one :) (Aside: I went to the grocery store and went to pull out my debit card. Wait a minute. It's not there. I couldn't pay for my items. I HATE doing that!) And, while I was searching for my bank card, I ended up finding money I lost in February :) I thought maybe I recycled it or something, but it turns out, it got stuck behind a drawer (which is why I could never find it!) So, my day was productive, frustrating, and eventually good. I calmed down, went to the bank, drank my victory Dr. Pepper, and watched Dexter. Yay!!

Many people inaccurately visualize China as a rural, dirty country. I'm in the city. There are 13 million people. There are KFCs, McDonalds, Hooters, lots of cars, buses, stop lights (many people see them as a suggestion), etc.

Here are some pictures of my city. (I swear, I was rolling my eyes like it was my job when PC said last year, "Now when you go to your village..." Really PC? Village?! (Another volunteer says they said site, but I'm convinced village was used.) PCVs in China aren't sent to villages. They are sent to cities.

Pork...it's what's for dinner

The new LV store

Tiffany's is just down the road from my apartment

And of course, Gucci
Pictures from my school (1 hour bus ride away from Chengdu)

The sign in front of the school


The cafeteria (I eat on the 3rd floor)

The pools

The Library

Walk way between buildings

Goodbyes, Exams, Travels

On the 28th, I began saying goodbye to students. Some of them were sad, some were happy (but they didn't show it), and all of them wished me "Happy every day." Happy every day used to annoy me, but I really like it now. Not Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary, but Happy EVERY DAY.
My writing students wrote me letters. I wanted to know if they learned anything, what they would like to see in the future, and what should I tell the next teacher. Here are a few clips of my favorites:
"I had four foreigner as teacher during two year. But I think you are the best one. Because you told me how to write a E-mail and let me knew the difference from CVs and resume. I really get something from you."
"I hope you smile more, you are beautiful when you smile. When we have mistakes, you should take more pains. In a word, you are a nice person."
"Maybe someone will feel you are so mean, but I know what you do is to protect us from making mistakes in our future work."
"But I think your class is so boring. I have been tired sometimes. You can give me something that can be interesting....I think you can let us bring our cellphone."
"I have learned something about writing more or less."
"You have tried to smile more and tried to be more attractive. Thank you."
"I hope next teacher would be serious but smile, too. The voice should be loud just as you that it's can be heard clearly."

During the last class, we reviewed and then took pictures. I took pictures with each class. It was a nice way to end the semester. I sometimes wear the same thing 4 days in a row. (Don't judge!) I tried to change outfits every day because I knew I would be taking pictures, but it didn't happen.

Monday Class 8:40

Monday Class 10:25

A few of my regulars that come to Office Hours


Monday Class 2

Wednesday Class 8:40
Wednesday Class 10:25

Thursday Class 8:40
Friday Class 8:40

Friday Class 10:25

And a few pictures from saying goodbye at the middle school

On Tuesday, I gave my first set of exams. I graded 110 exams in 2 days. Not bad. I have another 200 to give on Tuesday. I leave for summer project on the 17th which means I have 3 days to grade and submit student grades.

For my secondary project, I contacted Darien Book Aid. (http://dba.darien.org/). Living overseas has really hit home how wasteful Americans are (food, books, electronics, etc.) Instead of throwing books away (as I read in horror on http://www.goupstate.com/), DONATE THEM! DBA mailed about 20 books of all different levels. I was amazed that a few students wanted to check them out over the summer holiday. While I don't know if I can personally visit DBA in Connecticut, I will definitely remember them and hope to donate books when I can.

I've started planning my travels post PC. Tibet is official (I paid. I'm going :) I need to purchase my other tickets. Will keep you informed of my next adventure.

I'm visiting my homestay family on Monday. They got a new volunteer. I was a wee bit jealous, but I've gotten over that. I talked to her the other day for a few minutes and welcomed her to the fam! I'm actually really looking forward to meeting her!

My friend, Matilde, has a photography club at her college. Her students go out and take pictures and write about it. Check out her website (and leave encouraging messages for her students!) at http://gongdaepc.livejournal.com/.

Go Netherlands :)

Feelin' the LOVE!

Today I received 15 letters! I am so blessed to have amazing friends and family! Because this weekend is going to be low key, I've decided to post the cards.

Xmas card from the fam

Card from my mom (picture of her alma mater)

Postcard from my mom and my aunts

Letter from RPCV Emily

Letter from Hannah (She even printed a picture of Krams and me and of us. How sweet!)

Letter from Debby and Ben (from my hometown church...even in China, they write me! :)

Vday card from my mommy

Birthday card from the fam

Card from Melody

Letter from Mali PCV, Lindsey

Card with the "anti-Kramer story"

Letter from my mom, just b/c she rocks remembering me

Easter card from fam

Letter from Amy J.

Letter from Jim DeMint (SC Senator), thanking me for my service
On a different note, I have 2 other things to share.
1. Last Sunday, Andrew's dad was in town. He graciously took us out to eat at a buffet. The price for one person was 17% of our MONTHLY allowance! I'm not used to resturants like these, and I went a little crazy. (I think we made his dad uncomfortable because we were going from place to place! Me: "OMG! LOOK! A chocolate fountain!" Andrew: "7 choices of pasta!" and on and on and on. I wondered aloud to Andrew how much it cost. His dad approached us and was like, what? And Andrew was like, Katie wants to know how much it costs. I was so embarrassed! He wasn't supposed to say it OUT LOUD! JEEZ! I bet his dad thinks I'm super classy (NOT). It was a lovely dinner until I overdid it. Hello, gluttony. After that meal, I didn't eat for 24 hours (no joke). So, 3 meals for the price of 1!
At the beginning of the meal...Oh fresh shrimp!
2. I received a letter from my middle school student. It cracked me up! Here it is...
(In case you can't read the sentence: "I am very sorry for your left hand")

So, while I sit in my electricity filled, running water out of the tap, home taking pictures of my cards while on the internet, there are PCVs in Mali that are making a difference. Check out http://www.mary-in-mali.blogspot.com/ for an incredible Malian adventure! I'm so proud to know this incredible woman!

Beautiful China

Today (June 16th) is Dragon Boat Festival Day. Unbeknownst to me, China says that South Korea stole this holiday. Maybe it's because I'm an American, and we tend to make things our own, but I just don't see what the big deal is. Regardless, we got 3 days off :) But, not really because we had to make up the days last weekend.

Anyway, thanks to this, um controversial of who's holiday is the Dragon Boat Festival first, China made this holiday "official" a few years back.

Andrew got this great idea that we should do something this holiday. He suggested Jiuzaigou. So, that is what we did for our holiday. (We WERE going to row a boat on Saturday, but we had to back out because, that's right. We had school.)

Jiuzaigou is the prettiest place I have ever seen in China.

The view from the bus

The water in the town....and we didn't even know it gets even BETTER!

Eating yak meat


Inside the park




Blue skies!!! They DO exist in China!

Trees!


Look at that water!



Andrew and I were going to walk all the way back to the beginning of the park. Little did we know exactly how far the bus took us. But, we did walk for several hours before flagging down a bus. During our hike, we saw a yak! It was just hanging out by the side of the road. I kept on visualizing it coming after us, and was trying to think of escape tactics. Luckily, it never came.



We decided to get on a path that was closed. I liked to think that we were taking the road less traveled. For a while, I thought it was so stupid that it was closed. And then we hit a part of the path that must have been hit by the earthquake in 2008. There were boulder type rocks that smashed our path. We had to balance, but managed to get through it.

It was such a fabulous minivacation!

Now, it's back to the real world. We have a week and 1/2 left of teaching and then we have exams.

I've been so busy these past few weekends! I'm really looking forward to doing nothing this weekend.