Thoughts of an English teacher living in China
A few days ago we went swimming with some local friends. This little girl here had the best time with us, especially with our kids. While we were in the pool she told Bethany that she wanted to wash her hair so she had Bethany come over to the shallow end so she could reach her head a little better. Well, she kept washing it and commenting on how dirty it was. Each time Bethany came up out of the water she would say she had to do it again. She started saying how “yellow” (often translated as “blonde”) it was and she just couldn’t wash it out. Finally I asked her what color it would be once it was clean. “Well, black of course!” I think we all almost drowned laughing!
Am I the only one that finds this a little confusing, especially with the Chinese characters below the English writing? Nothing is written in French either. You tell the truth it’s not so much confusing as it is mildly humorous. Since we just celebrated Autumn Festival I still see ads for French style mooncakes and if I’m not mistaken some come with red bean mousse in the middle. After six years living in China culture clash no longer makes my head hurt (usually). More and more I find it amusing.
This past Saturday we had a very typically Chinese teacher outing. Here in China it’s very common for schools to take their teachers out of the city for a bit. Now, I mean common as in once a year and possibly once a semester. Even though Michelle’s school is more of an American school, they’re in China and this is something they decided to do this year. We ended up at a park doing some “mountain climbing” which in China mainly entails walking up some very steep stairs and paved walkways. Just because the way was paved doesn’t mean it wasn’t a hike to get up there. That's a steep slope!
If you click on the image of the lake you might notice that there are little paddle boats out there. They’re actually some of the biggest paddle boats I’ve seen since they’re big enough to carry four passengers while two others paddle with their feet. There was even a table in the middle so you could just paddle to the middle of the lake and enjoy a picnic out there if you like.
After the paddle boats we had just enough time to explore some caves before heading back.
The hike down was also tiring, but there were more than enough little pagodas to rest in where we could get some shade and gear up for the rest of the climb down
Mixed nuts aren’t what you typically find on the shelf here so this was a pleasant surprise. You may be wondering what that plastic thing on the bottom is. It’s a theft prevention tag. I guess these are expensive enough (50 RMB!) to warrant it.
Now the unpleasant part comes when you check out. On the one hand it’s just like in the States where you wait as your items are scanned. If you want a plastic bag, you have to pay extra. No big deal. The big deal is when 3 of your items don’t scan. You’d think they would call someone over and find the price. No, they set it aside and tell you that you can’t buy it because it won’t scan. Sometimes they’re kind enough to punch in the SKU number below the bar code. If that doesn’t work, you’re just out of luck. Now try not to get too irritated when you watch them put that same item back on the shelf so they can repeat the same process all over again with another customer.