It's a Very Censored Christmas, Charlie Brown!

I celebrated my first Christmas overseas and without any family members this year and it was a bit hard. I have always been around relatives for the holidays and got to do our traditions like going to midnight mass on Christmas eve, opening presents on Christmas morning, watching a Christmas Story, and drinking apple cider. This year I was able to do some of these traditions but others I could not. Way not.

First, teaching western holidays is part of my school's curriculum. Students get to learn what westerners do on certain days and we can celebrate them if we can. For Thanksgiving my first grade students drew what they were thankful for and created turkey pictures with their hands.
Christmas we were able to make ornaments and hang them around my room. I made cookies and we watched a movie. What we were going to do was have Santa come and give students presents. Students were going to do a scavenger hunt around the school and we were all going to listen to Christmas music. I say going because we did not get do those things. In fact, Santa was banned, any decorations with Merry Christmas wording had to be taken down, and no celebration on the actual day. It seems that a certain entity, who I will call the Grinch, decided that Christmas was too western and not Chinese enough.
We are a little confused on why this was happening for a few reasons.

The first is that when our students go to the mall, watch TV, or take the subway there are advertisements for Christmas everywhere. Students can see Christmas trees and  wreathes displayed in stores or watch cartoons where Mickey dresses like Santa and invites them to see the Shanghai Disney theme park where Christmas will be full blown awesome. It seems as if the "Grinch" is okay selling Christmas but not students learning it. 
Second, Christmas movies are available here. When I asked my adult students if they were familiar with any Christmas films they listed off Home Alone, Elf, and Polar Express as films they had seen before. One person stated Mean Girls, which I will give credit for. On the online movie service here, Youku (no Netflix here sadly, even with VPN) I was able to find every Christmas movie that I usually watch this season (except for the Patrick Stewart Christams Carol which everyone should know is the best version). So it isn't like the Grinch is banning Christmas for viewing or learning about either.
Third, some of my students are Christian and did take off the day to celebrate. Teachers did a gift exchange on their own time and even the company I work for had a Christmas party. The company owned grocery store was able to hang up Santas and say Merry Christmas. However, the school was not able to do any of these things. Why? The company and the individuals working or learning from the company are allowed to do these things which are literally in front of our kids but the school can't do it. It seems that there are loopholes you can get around but my school got caught the rope.

You may have noticed that I mentioned that students asked for the day off for Christmas. Yes, I worked on Christmas and no one in the entire country gets the day off unless you ask for personal leave. It is not a national holiday and probably never will be. (Americans stating there is a war on Christmas can kiss my misletoe.)
One of my co-workers had an attitude that she was going to teach Christmas anyway since she had planned it all out. "What is the worst they can do to me?" I told her that most likely they would fine her or ask for her resignation. If she was considered evangelizing, she could be deported or even do jail time. This is all on the US governement's website by the way. This is not America where you can teach a pleathora of religions for educational use. This is not where you can state your mind and be okay. This is a place where you are not a citizen but you have to follow the laws. Pleading ignorance will get you nowhere either, because once you are in a foreign country you are expected to know the laws.

What about my actual Christmas? On the weekend I went to Shanghai and attended mass and ate my beloved western food at a high end restaurant. I bought some Christmas presents for myself which included a silver bat bracelet, old snuff jars which are cool as heck, and a statue. On Christmas day my co-workers and I went to a restaurant then headed to my apartment to exchange gifts, drink apple cider, eat cookies, and watch A Christmas Story. None of them experienced anything like this before and loved each part of it. I was touched to recieve a Jesus statue from one of my co-workers who knew I was Christian. Others got me a headband and earrings which are things I love a lot! That night my dad and brother video called me and we talked about our holidays. It was a great day.

Overall I was very touched on  Christmas. My co-workers cared enough about me to pay attention to things I liked or in one case was part of my identity and knew that Christmas was coming up to give me these things. I still got to see my family as well and got to do some of my traditions. Being overseas can be hard when it comes to the holidays but there are ways that it can feel like home. So as we say in China, Happy Holidays!

100 Days Of School

When I got my schedule to teach they included all the holidays, days off, and 100 days of school. I found out that I would give a presentation, give two demo lessons, and have parent teacher conferences on that day and my students would have a concert to display things they learned from every subject. Here is how it went down.

I watched the ceremony and let me tell you, it is cool. In the Chinese tradition when a child turns 8 they would have this ceremony but now that everyone goes to school, they changed it to be the 100 days of education for first grade students.

The students wear traditional Han outfits. The girls have to put their right hands over left and boys have to put left hand over right. I was told it was because left means powerful (it looks close to the Chinese character I think) and the men usually had more powerful position in government (due to patriarchy). The students wash their hands in a bowl of water (right hand first for girls, left hand first for boys) to show that they are cleansing themselves of their past. The teachers told me it is similar to baptisms. 

After washing their hands the students will kneel on mats and recite a poem about knowledge. They will approach the stage and write the Chinese character for person. This is to show that the students are moving from childhood to being a fully developed adult. The students take their scrolls and kneel on their mats once again and a teacher walks up to them with red paint. The teachers place a red dot on the foreheads of the students to show that their knowledge chakra has been opened.

After this the students show the parents what they have learned. The students created a lego puzzle from their math class, talked about the planet, played xylophones, sang songs about how awesome parents are, performed karate (they broke pieces of wood!), showed their artwork, and then sang two English songs that I taught them. The first was about rainbows and the second about numbers 1-20.

The last part of the ceremony the teachers brought out cakes and selected students and parents came from the audience and wrote, in English, "Happy 100 Days!" Everyone got a piece of cake and then the parents would continue with parent teacher conferences.

Remember when I said that Chinese parents were known to be intense? Yep, that is a thing. The number one question I got from parents was, "Can my students have more homework?" YES. MORE HOMEWORK. I was told that first grade students should be given no homework and we told parents that too, but they were not satisfied. Right now we are thinking of ways for students to practice more at home. I have already given parents apps to use, books to read, and that they can place sticky notes around the house for students to practice their vocabulary. They seemed pretty happy with that response.
Parents also told me that they thought I should be more strict with their students and punish more. o_O That was unexpected.

A really cool thing that parents told me was that the students loved learning English and were impressed by how much they learned already. It was pretty motivating to hear that.

So it has been 100 days of teaching and I love every moment of it. Here is to 200 days!

Chinese Air is Ruining My Skin

Pollution is a big problem here in China. I have to order clean water to drink, bought an air filter, and have to wear a breathing mask when I go outside. Not to mention that I have to clean my sinuses almost weekly due to my nose getting so stuffy but one thing I did not realize the pollution would affect is my skin.

I have struggled with cruddy skin since puberty but had a pretty good handle on it. I got a moisturizer, face cleanser, and an exfoliator. That was all I needed! I have sensitive skin so many products would dry me out so it was a lot of testing to get this far.
Then I moved to China where apparantly, bad air and sensitive skin do not go well together. My acne came back full force and then the cold weather came in and now I am so dry that I literally have skin flaking off my face. (Sorry for that visual.) I actually have met people that take "skin vacations" where they go to anywhere but China to get relief for their skin. They all say it is due to Chinese pollution. Whenever I see someone here with nice skin I ask them how they treat it because I need help friends.

Right now here is my skin routine. Make up remover for oils, cleanser, exfoliator, moisturizer, moisturizing spray, and a spray my friend gave me for breakouts. I also use facemasks and a volcanic ash black head remover every two days. I recently took a break from all my cleansing products since they can dry me out more and am moisturizing like none other right now.

Hopefully this works out soon because I do not want to look like a crumbling mummy.

It's Called Fashion, Brenda. Look it Up!

In every culture you will notice different fashion styles or trends that you are not used to in your country. I thought about China's current style a lot, keep in mind I know basically nothing about fashion, so it feels like they are either way ahead of everyone else or super behind. Let us get into it.
There have been multiple cases where I have gone shopping from the mall behind my house, street markets, fashion districts, and the high end malls in Shanghai and this is how I would sum up fashion overall.

Fur dyed or non-dyed.

1990s sweaters with looney toon cartoon characters if possible.
Big comfy sweaters in the colors dark pink and mustard yellow.

Big zippers with a huge ring on them.

Earrings that you can pull the chain through your ear back and forth. They are super fun and they look awesome.

Pearls.

Clothes with English on them or at least the alphabet. They do not make sense. My favorite is from my first grade student's jacket which reads, "Art is just a plagarism on life." Or something to that effect. HE IS IN FIRST GRADE.

Glasses. The glasses they have are usually thin wire and highly reflective. The music teacher at our school has a pair of glasses that appear to have an opal shine on them. One of my gym coaches wears glasses for only the aesthetic, he has perfect vision otherwise and he works out with the glasses on. I have never loathed someone so much.

High heels. Honestly Chinese women who wear heels non-stop need to have some sort of award or tell me their secret. It is every woman too who wears heels. Mom is picking up kids from school? Gotta wear those stilletos. Working at the grocery store? Two inch heel for you. Walking around the lake for fun? Four inch heels for you, you go Glen Coco!

Embroderied items especially of birds and flowers.

Scarves. The big see-through kind or the ones that keep you warm. They are usually five feet long and one foot wide.

"Modern Chinese Chic" is the name stores call it but basically it is the traditional Qi Pao and party tunic but with a modern twist. As I stated before, I am ignorant on fashion and new to China, so I am not not sure what the modern twist is that they advertise because it looks traditional. None of my co-workers know either. The clothes sure are cool though!

Overall, the fashion is kind of a mish mosh of items and is hard to describe. I asked my co-workers to summarize it and they said, "Eh, sweaters and qi paos?" I said 90s with bigger statement pieces. One said Modern Chinese Chic. So there you go. China has fun shopping so you should definitly stop by one of their clothing stores. 

I am Considered Tall Here and I Have No Idea How to Handle It

When I was at my principal's house (the one where I ate jellyfish by accident) I realized that I was a little taller than the other people invited there. I joked, "Now I can finally be tall! " My co-workers replied that I actually was two inches taller than average. This was the best news I have heard in a long time. All through college I was teased a lot for being short and often used as an arm rest but NO MORE. There are some interesting things I have discovered now that I am no longer the little people.

For those who do not know I am 5'3" or 161 cm and 130 pounds or 48 kg.

First, I am actually a medium to large size in clothes. In the states I always had to order small, and even those came baggy, but here I had to buy a large jacket in the men's section so it would fit! My shoe size is considered big too (8 1/2). It is kind of cool buying items in the larger sizes.

The second is that when people are short here they are much shorter than I thought they would be. There have been multiple occurences where I saw a family who were all around 4 feet tall (120 cm). I am embarrassed to say how often I thought a full grown adult was a first grader.

The third is that men are only 3-5 inches taller than me usually. It is pretty cool! Most men I know in my family and at my college were about a foot taller than me. It also makes going to the gym way less intimidating as the men aren't hulking giants of muscle. Now they are a little taller than me muscle.

One item I have to get used to is the fact that I am not considered short anymore. In boxing, I used to get close to my opponent and aim for their stomach as that is all I could reach and the opponent would have a hard time hitting downwards. Now in my boxing classes I am told to crouch down, stand further back, and aim higher. Basically, I have to relearn my workout.

Also, I still have to climb on counters and use chairs to reach items and when I complain about being short, I get second glances. That would be like someone who is 5'7" complaining about being short in Nebraska.

Before thinking, "Wow, if Chelsea is big there than I must be a giant!" Let me tell you this. One of the tallest people in the world is from China. Southern Chinese people are considered short but Northern Chinese people are considered super tall. It is obvious to tell if someone is from Northern China because they look like they are seven feet tall.

I like being "tall" here and am a little sad to go back to the USA if for the only reason that I will once again be used as an arm rest. I will enjoy my tall time as much as I can.

It Will "Work Out"

When I first came to Jiaxing, I learned that my school is part of a larger company. The company wants to turn the area around my school into its own self sufficient town with a school, grocery store, farms, and apartments. Right now the school and apartments are done and there are a few farms that grow vegetables and the last thing they have is a gym.
Right away my co-workers and I were given a tour of the gym and then we were asked if we wanted to sign up. Here is the thing, there is a gym literally across from where I live and the company gym is about a 10 minute drive. It seemed obvious which gym I would go to but there was a hurdle. How could I train if I suck at the language? My "small" town does not have a lot of English speakers in it, so could I take gym classes or have a trainer effectivly?
The answer was yes!

Right now I am a member of In Fitness Gym and the rate for a year was 2,000 RMB which is about 285 USD. Not bad. The gym offers bellydance (I take that twice a week), yoga, pilates, jazz, spinning, and access to the weights, treadmills, and a boxing ring complete with sandbag and gloves.
When I was in college I was a member of BAD which stood for Bobcat Arnis Defense Club where I first learned MMA boxing and loved it. I got bruises and little cuts on my knuckles, punched stuff, and got a really great workout. I asked this gym for a personal trainer for boxing and it was pricey. It was around 10,000 RMB for 32 classes which is 1,428 USD which was more than my gym membership!
If you ever get a personal trainer in China know that many will charge that much. I talked to many people before agreeing to pay for my boxing coach and they all said it was about that much at different gyms.
I paid for this because I really did want to do boxing again and my money was not going to go to anything else so why not. Just for perspective I get paid 18,000 RMB a month here and only spend about 8,000 RMB a month. I have quite a bit in savings. (Please do not rob me.)

First the gym paired me up with Robert (no relation to my father of the same name) who is probably the best English speaker the gym had. He would be in charge of translation if needed and if I wanted to do other training like general fitness. Then I met Yao who was my boxing coach. He spoke no English when we first met. However, through the power of smart phones and a translating app called YouDao Translator we could communicate when Robert was not there.
My bellydance teacher, Ting Ting, speaks zero English but she shows the class what to do with her body and we mimic. While she can explain to everyone else what muscels are being used and what moves are called and I sit there like a bump on an ignorant log, I can still generally get the moves down correctly by watching.

One last thing to know about Chinese gyms and Chinese culture overall is there is no such thing as personal space. Teachers will touch you and put their arms around you and it is deeply uncomfortable for someone like me. My bellydance coach once grabbed the sides of my hips from behind and pushed them side to side to help correct my form. I let out a little scream and it threw off the entire class for a second. In the West, teachers and coaches and whoever else in a professional setting are never supposed to touch the client and only allowed to give verbal instruction. My friend, Camden Grasmick, who was my personal trainer at one point, told me this along with my former boxing coach, Dr. Darrin Coe. My co-worker, Angel, who goes to bellydance with me, let me know that it is very common here for coaches to touch their clients. The reason Angel did not get a personal trainer was because they had no female trainers left and she was uncomfortable with a man. I do not blame her.
Overtime, I have gotten used to the touching more and more. My coaches do know now that they have to let me know if they are going to touch me because of my uncomfortableness and I give them permission to do so.

If you come overseas and want to work out, know that you can workout here okay even with the language barrier. Also, let them know if you are uncomfortable with touch. If they won't respect your wishes then go to a gym that does. They want your business so they will assist you!

I Came To Catch Flights...Not Feelings

Before moving to China one of the top five questions I got was, "What if you meet someone over there and fall in love?" Now that I am in China the number one question I get is, "What if you meet someone here and fall in love?" Often times this question is followed by a story about how they knew a Westerner who fell in love with a Chinese person and it is all roses and sunshine. While I think it would be really cool if that did happen to me let me address a few things that kind of put the "fall in love in a foreign country" in a more realistic situation.

The first is that I am not good at speaking Chinese so the person I would meet would have to be good in English. Or I would really have to get good at Chinese fast.
This is possible but when you live in "smaller" areas that can be hard to find. My city is considered small and it is 4 million people. The only people I have met that speak English fluently work in my bilingual school. Shanghai or Beijing would have more English speakers.
It also takes 5 years of living in a country to be considered fluent according to psychologists who have studied language acquisition.

Two is that I have no idea what dating culture is like here. Is it okay to hold hands on the first date? Is a movie and dinner a normal date here? What are taboo subjects I should avoid? To add on to this I noticed that PDA (public displays of affection) are rampant here. People hold hands, hug, and make out on sidewalks, elevators, escalators, and in front of the sock display at the mall. (I just want socks. Get out of my way, lovebirds!) I am super duper uncomfortable with PDA so that adds another layer of why dating here would be hard.

Three, let us say that I do meet the right person. We are truly in love! Now we are going to get married but there is a catch...a big one. You can not be a dual citizen of China. That means one of us would have to give up their nationality to be with the other person and we would have to choose a country to live in. For instance, I could stop being American, marry my Chinese husband, get my Chinese citizenship, and live in China forever and then have to apply for travel visas to America to visit friends and family OR my husband would have to do vice versa. Would one of us be willing to give up our citizenship for the other? I know I will not give up mine.
The other option is that we could keep our citizenships but that means we have to keep applying for work visas to be with one another. Let us say I stay in China with my Chinese husband and keep my teaching job here. Even though we are married I would have to keep applying for a work visa to legally stay in China with him. If he were to move to America, he would have to do the same.
If we are really in love we can do these options but it is asking a lot of the other person and that is not even counting the other difficult parts of being in a relationship such as family, religion, money, or politics.

So while being in love in China sounds romantic and awesome there can be a lot complications with it as well. I also low-key wonder if men get this marriage question as much as I am getting right now. Not to mention the reason I came to China was to have a life changing experience and learn a different culture...not to fall in love.

As I read on twitter once, "I want to catch flights, not feels."

The W Curve

Before moving overseas I talked with a buddy of mine, Mary Heng, who had lived overseas before (in Spain) and she was truly one of the most helpful people to talk to. Since we worked together we were able to talk about what I needed to do to prepare and she mentioned something called the W curve.
The W curve is taught to students who are going overseas but I think this is skipped over when people want to work overseas. The idea of the curve is that you will be able to understand the peaks and valleys that you feel when living in a foreign country and know that what you are feeling is normal.

To start when you are headed overseas you first feel a sense of euphoria, the top of the W. You are going to do something big and scary because you want to! You are the master commander! When you first arrive in the country there is a ton to experience from the views, food, and people. You feel like you finally made it after all the dumb paperwork and training and can enjoy being in the country.

That is when you hit a valley. You realize you can not speak the language in some cases (like me). Ordering food, asking for directions, and just trying to live your life is hard when you can't speak the language. You are also totally isolated. Your family isn't just an hour away drive and your friends are in a different time zone so you are unable to Skype them. The finishing touch is that you miss your own culture and food.
People joke that America has no culture but that is honestly so dumb, we very much have a culture and do I miss it at times.
*Seperate note-the lack of cheese in China is astonishing. I had no idea that I had such access to cheese in the states.

The second uphill is finding coping mechanisms for the isolation, knowing how to get around, and understanding the customs and culture more. You get better at the language and soon enough you start to feel like a local. This stage lasts the longest and will be most of your time overseas.
You stay uphill when you get to come back to your home country. You get to see family and friends again! You can see your country's views and eat that thing you missed a lot while overseas.

The final drop comes after you arrive back in your home country. There are things that you notice about yourself that is different. No one can relate to you and you speak a language that maybe many others don't. The food you used to eat in your work country is not available anymore and you miss it. The friends you made overseas are now hard to contact. There are things you notice too about your home country that you do not like. You wonder, "Where do I really belong?"

The last uphill is when you find your place. There is an understanding of what you need and how to get there.

We Are Going to the Parents' House and We Are Going to Get Married

During the Mid-Autumn Festival break I attended two Chinese weddings. Weddings are not a big deal for me. My dad has nine brothers and sisters, therefore I have many cousins. It didn't even strike me as odd that I have been to over 10 weddings and baby showers until I compared with my friends. However, they were all "western" weddings. Let me tell you how Chinese weddings work.
I would like to thank my IT guy and the HR person who invited me to their weddings. It was super kind of them and even a bit last minute for them. Thank you!

IT Guy's wedding was on Monday of the break. I came with five other co-workers to a hotel/conference building. Right away there are cardboard cut-outs of the couple and a billboard sized photo of them together in the lobby. Tons of pink balloons and roses that are have gold leaf on them. Holy cow.
Then we walk inside the venue and...we are early? People are setting up the tables, ten people are chilling in their seats, and there are others cutting up fruit at another table. All of them are wearing t-shirts and jeans. My co-workers and myself are wearing nice clothes. In the middle of the room is a catwalk runway and stage with a light-up board that has a slideshow-video of the couple on repeat. We wait an hour when the room gets full of t-shirt wearing people who are smoking like chimneys. It gets bad enough that a few of us wear our breathing face masks. The tables all have a lazy susan on them with four packs of cigarrettes, one bottle of wine, one bottle of bear, one bottle of rice wine, and bottles of orange juice, coconut water, and mango juice. Slowly the food comes out.
The first is a bowl of peanuts, then we get a plate of sliced beef, and a few meatballs. The real food comes out and it is plates and plates of meat, 30 to be exact. There are so many plates that we literally stacked one on top of the other like food jenga. The meat includes fish, crab, abalone, a pork thigh, a whole duck, brisket, lobster, and shrimp. Other dishes include a pumpkin with purple rice inside (wedding dessert), a dense cake (it was like carrot cake but not made of carrots), asparagus, broccoli, and a mixture of green beans with shrimp. Every guest also gets a goodie bag or should I say box. It is a literal box of candy, cookies, and fruit to take home.
We hear fireworks go off and see smoke outside the windows. I read that it was custom to light a load of fireworks for the couple to scare off bad luck. They keep this tradition to this day.
While we ate the couple finally walks in on stage the parents join them. While they walk up to the stage, the waiters and waitresses literally cut them off to serve food and many people walk over the cat walk. It surprised me and my co-workers. They give maybe 30 second speeches each when the parents come off stage. Keep in mind we are all eating, when we look up the couple is exchanging rings! There was no pause, no ask for silence, eveyone just kept eating and chatting it up barely noticing the couple. The DJ asks them to kiss and then we give a toast. That is it! They are married. The couple sits down with the wedding parties and eat then they go to each table and the guests toast them. We go home after that.

Questions I had that you probably do to. 

1. Is there gifts you give or money?
Yes, families give gifts but everyone else gives a red packet of money usually 100 RMB or more. DO NOT GIVE 400 as 4 sounds like the word death in Chinese. Anything in pairs is fine (200, 600). 8 is a lucky number, 9 is not. Also you usually give the red packet money to the couple before the wedding. While we were at the wedding we were searching for a gift table or card basket and it was not there. We gave it to the couple as they toasted us.
2. Uh, what up with people being so casual?? Rural weddings in China will have people come in just regular clothes but urban weddings everyone dresses up. The part we attended wasn't even the actual wedding but the reception, even though they exchanged rings. Many Chinese people do not wear wedding rings and the ring ceremony has only just been recently included. That explains why the staff and guests didn't act like anything was a big deal when the couple did arrive and why no one was quiet during the ring ceremony.
3. What up with the extravagence of the posters and cut-outs and food? Chinese weddings were once all about showing off the families' wealth to their neighbors to climb in social status. While people no longer compete the idea of going big for the wedding to show fortune is still there. One person at the wedding told me it can be seen as a way to invite fortune into the couple's life as well.

HR lady's wedding was on Thursday of that week and were invited to the entire event which takes ALL DAY. We woke up at 7:00 am and did not go home until 9:00 pm. First we go to the bride's parents' house where she is getting ready. Her family is very excited I am there and that the bride knows a white person (maybe why I got invited for the entire day? Not sure.)  The groom then comes to the house to fetch his bride but not before meeting with a few tricks. In order to get the bride he has to pay off people in the house (the red packet money mentioned before is what he uses) to get in. Then the bridesmaids give him tasks to do in order to see his bride. There are no set tasks, it is up for the bridesmaids or family to decide. For this groom it included eating wasabi oreos, drinking vinegar, paying the bridesmaids twice as much, and finally reading and signing a contract about how he will do the dishes, never complain about housework, and serve his wife hand and foot. (I need a copy of that contract TBH.)
Next stop we drive an hour to the groom's house (Jiaxing is 4 million people) but before we get in the car and leave, the mother of the bride gives her a pair of red shoes (red is lucky). At the groom's parents' house we are greeted with fireworks and roses on a red carpet leading to his house. In the doorway of the house the couple stand in front of the groom's parents. A man says a few lines, the couple bow three times to the groom's parents, bow to each other and boom! They are married.
The bride changes from a white dress to a red dress and we eat lunch. The meal is just like the other wedding with tons of food and drinks and cigarrettes. The couple toast each table then we are off.
We head to the couple's new apartment for tea and snacks but this is only for the wedding party and a few others. I was one of the few others. This is new custom as usually the married couple will buy a house and have their parents live with them, or they live at one of their parents' houses. A typical family in China lives with grandparents, parents, and kids in one house but some have moved on to where everyone lives in their own home. The bride changes into a different red dress with a phoenix on it. At weddings you could find dragons or phoenixes littered in the decor or outfits.
Last stop is back at the bride's parents' house where they have made supper. Just like the lunch there are tons of meat dishes, we each get a goodie box, and the couple toasts us.

Questions I had that maybe you do too.

1. What up with the meat? Typically only wealthy families could afford meat so everyone serves the meat first and a ton of it to show their wealth. Veggies are served last and there are few of them as those are "poor foods."
2. No cake. That is a western thing.
3. Is the wedding ceremony that short? The wedding ceremony we saw was only just a slice of it. People will go to a government office, fill out the forms, and will be married there. Everything that we saw at the homes and venue could technically all be called reception and just for show.  Your wedding day and anniversary can be totally different here. People will be married a month before the reception, but most people will celebrate their wedding anniversary on the day of the reception. In America you get the forms but then the person performing the marriage right (usually a religious person) and the maid of honor and best man will sign the form as witnesses the same day as the reception and the entire group of people you invited can be at the marriage ceremony.
4. What up with the sybolism? Most of the items I saw were rooted in these old ideas of luck. Avoid the number 4, everything must be in even numbers, red and gold included, dragons and phoenixes be included, fireworks to scare off bad luck, and markers on the door to invite good luck. I know that western traditions are based in these ideas too but I think many of us do not remember their meanings or why we do it. For instance, bridesmaids, which are a western ideal, started off as a way to confuse evil spirits who may try to attack the bride. Best man was a person that was supposed to be skilled at sword fighting to protect the couple from jealous suitors. Some we have that I do not know why we do it include: the groom can't look at the bride until the wedding ceremony as it is bad luck, rain on your wedding day means good luck, and throw a bouqet of flowers and the person who catches it will be married next. Chinese know why they have their traditions, but I do not think Westerners know why we do our traditions.

To summarize I would say that Chinese weddings are about fortune, meat, and serving the guests first. I think for my own wedding I may include some of these ideas...especially the husband contract. ;p

What Exactly Did I Eat?

Before coming to China I watched a few documentaries and they covered foods in the country. My area is famous for zongzhi which is a rice ball with meat,veggies, or dates in the center. That is pretty tame to what other things I have eaten here. Some by accident. Here are my top odd foods thus far.

5. Fish with the heads and tails still on. Every fish here is served with everything but they are all buttery and delicious. We are close to the ocean which is probably why they are tasty. Look intimidating but good meat.

4. Chicken feet. My school serves these and my initial reaction was HECK NO. They look gross and scary. There are no claws on them but still...feet. After walking by a restaurant we smelled something heavenly and walked in and ordered whatever the smell was. IT. WAS. CHICKEN. FEET. They are delicious. That restaurant cooks them in a broth for hours until they get tender. They still look horrible but they are good.

3. Pork tongue. I had this when I was in high school and it was horrible. It was slimy, cold, and hairy. When I was at my Chinese school I was eating what I thought was ham and gosh it was good! It was more flavorful than normal pork and served with cabbage, warm. My Chinese co-workers stared at me and when I asked why they told me they had never seen a foreigner eat pork tongue without freaking out. I didn't freak out when I learned and played it cool because it was the best pork I had in a while.

2. Jellyfish. One of my principals invited me and a few other co-workers to her house for a meal. We made noodles and dumplings and then ate a buffet style meal with various meats and veggies and nuts. I scooped up these short hard white translucent noodles and thought nothing of it. When I was describing the noodles to my friend she was confused as she never heard of a noodles like that before. Fast forward to a week later at a wedding and I say, "These are the noodles I had at the principal's house!" My friend looked at the bowl, then me, then the bowl. "Those are shredded and dried jellyfish." These are okay to eat but they are very hard and chewy (not like what I imagine jellyfish to be).

1. Duck tongue. My school had a fancy dinner the first week I was in China to celebrate all the teachers finally arriving to Jiaxing. We get our typical buffet style meal on our rotating table and the Chinese teachers think it is hilarious to hold up a food and ask me what I think they are. (I got every one of them wrong.) They hold up a red twirly thin meat, "What is this?" "Uh, octopus tentancle?" "No duck tongue!" My eyes almost popped out of my head. I pick one up and bite into it and guess what...bone or something like it. The duck tongue is attached to the tendon that goes down the animals throat and it is hard as a rock when cooked. There is not a lot of meat on them but they are succulent. I had five.
Also yes, I did giggle when I ate them because it was like "french kissing a duck." Except you know...the duck was dead.

BONUS! I did not eat any of these but they do sell bugs to eat here. What I saw were fried trantulas, scorpions, and cockroaches. I freaked out and ran far away from those. They maybe just for tourists but I do not plan on eating those in my life.

Three Favorites and Three Dislikes

While I was in Hangzhou my co-worker asked me three things I liked best and three things I did not like about China thus far. So I will be sharing her list and mine.

My favorites
1. Inexpensive. Everything in China is cheap! It is about 7 USD to 1 RMB. A meal costs between 20-40 RMB which is about 2 to 5 US dollars! Amazing! I just got a haircut for 98 RMB which included a scalp massage, it is 15 USD. *cue tears of gratitude*

2. Architecture. I love architecture and I can not get over the buildings that look "Chinese" with the slanted roofs and red doors with big Chinese characters written on them. They are beautiful. Plus many places try to practice feng shui which is a decorating style the Chinese invented. It states you need earth, water, and four directions in a house or living area to create a peaceful environment (there is a lot more to it but that is the most dumbed down version I can think of). My courtyard has a pond, trees, and four exits which is convenient for pick up for work and gives me a nice place to relax.

3. My co-workers. The people I work with are kind and understanding and have helped me, a first year teacher, a lot. They provide feedback everyday and let me know what went well and what needs improvement and their ideas on that. They compliment me a lot too. :)

Dislikes
1. BONES. I hate eating meat with bones in them. This was mentiond in a previous post but it truly irks me to no end when I bite into a meal and have to chew carefully in case I choke on feather thin bones.

2. Hygine. This is a western idea for sure and I am trying to accept it more but it is really hard wired into me. People spit on everything here from the phlegm in their throats. It is yucky. When we were in Leifeng Pagoda a guy straight up spat a booger onto the marble floor and no one batted an eye. I have been told that younger people don't do this as often and the culture is changing but for now it is gross.
Part two to this is that hand soap is not in every bathroom. I knew this before and packed hand sanitizer for this reason. It is used often. When I go eat street food I make sure they use tools; not sure when they may have washed their hands with actual soap and water.

3. Not being able to read. There is no alphabet in many Eastern languages so when I order food or see a sign I take a picture, translate it, write my translation, and give it to my waiter/waitress. I have been taking pictures of food that I like so I can show it to restuarants so they can make it.

Co-workers Favorites.
1. Co -workers. (You da best!)

2. Cheap.

3. Food. My co-worker loves the food here and enjoys the spice and noodles. There is even a "spice capitol" in China which I do not plan on seeing. I have a very low spice tolerance. My co-worker loves it.

Co-workers Dislikes
1. Internet. If you do not know, there is something called The Great Fire Wall of China. No western websites are allowed which inclue Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Blogger. How do I get access to Blogger you ask? VPN. A VPN is a way to get around the firewall and get access to these websites. The government has a fire wall so citizens will use Chinese sites and help their economy. This Februrary any Chinese based VPNs will no longer exist, but foreign ones are okay. The US government website states that the Chinese understand that foreigners want to keep using their websites and are fine with us using  it. Even then, sometimes my internet will mysteriously stop working when using VPN. Hence my spotty coverage.

2. Pollution. Right now we are in a yellow zone for pollution which means you may or may not need a mask, depending on your preference. There are four levels-green (good), yellow (okay), orange (bad), red (super bad), and purple (TOXIC). Everyone wears breathing masks here. I have noticed that I get sinus problems at least once a week. I brought my neti pot (something to clean out sinuses) with me from the USA and man, I am glad I did. Right now it is fall and mostly been in the yellow zone. Winter it gets to be red zone more often.
Also the water is not safe to drink unless filtered or boiled. (Stop arguing about saving the planet, I can see what happens when you don't care about the environment first hand!)

3. Cars. This was mentioned a while back but driving here is scary. It is a bit odd as the driving test is quite hard here but as soon as you pass you can break all the rules you want it seems. People go down the wrong way on one way roads, people park on the sidewalk, today a car almost ran me over for running a red light. I have grown more accustomed to this but my co-worker really hates it.

I hope you like this post, I may do more like this in the future!

Hangzhou Crowds

During Mid-Autumn Festival in China you get a week off from work. Teachers, business professionals, whoever all get October 1st-8th off. Many Chinese families work in one city and send money to their children or parents who live in a different city and this is the one time in the year they can all reunite. During this time off many Chinese citizens choose to go to relaxing cities instead of bustling ones.
My co-worker and I decide to vacation but since we are last minute most tickets and hotels are sold out and we want to go somewhere close to us.
Both me, my co-worker, and half of China decide to go to visit Hangzhou. Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake which has shops, night markets, fountain shows, boat rides, and food places. It is really nice.

We stayed in an AirBNB and got around mostly by taxi. There is a metro in Hangzhou apparently but I hardly saw any stops and we were discouraged from traveling on it since there were so many people in the city. We did use it but sparingly. Even biking in some parts of the city was barely possible. Mostly we walked. At one point we walked from the bottom of the lake to the right side and it took us 40 minutes. On WeChat there is a function to count your steps and we averaged 30,000 a day there.

The first thing we did was go to Linying Temple. It is full of street food and little shops. The temple cost 40 yuan per person. The temple area is mostly walking trails and Buddha statues carved in the stone which is pretty! At one point we walked up this mountain and noticed we were finally alone. We got to the top and discovered...nothing. It was just a cliff to climb and look at trees, which would be cool except it was foggy that day. We almost went on another trail but a man told us that the only thing up that mountain was a rock that said, "You did it!" Hard pass.
The temple had a few worship centers and a place to drink tea (it was closed). I noticed there were hardly any monks. When we tried to leave we saw a huge building which was the actual Linying Temple which cost another 40 yuan to get in. Looking in there were hundreds of monks in yellow outfits walking around. Part of me wishes we gone in but the other part was tired of being there for hours, hiking up mountains, and desperately wanted lunch.

The next stop was a night market. They weren't booths but actual shops and they sold souveniors, papercut art, cairicatures, and tons of food. The food included fish, crabs, beef skewers, noodles, and bugs. One store sold fried animals like scorpions, trantulas, and seahorses. It was a bit tramatizing. The area is famous for crabs which is a bit obvious because they sold crabs on sticks EVERYWHERE. They also sold huckleberry covered in sugar on sticks too. I recommend strawberries over huckleberries as huckleberries have four pretty good sized seeds inside.

Second stop was going to the lake. We boated to an area called Three Moon Reflection Island. It is called that because the island has three lakes side by side and the moon fits into each perfectly during the Mid Autumn Festival. It. was. packed. We saw these little pagodas that had facts inside them, restaurants, or little temples which are on each side of the island. There were tons of souvenir booths along the roads too. I would love to go at night to see how the moon reflects on the water but we couldn't find tickets that sold for that time. Maybe next time.

The other popular attraction on the island is the Lei Feng Pagoda. At night it is lit up and really beautiful. We went inside the courtyard for Lei Feng Pagoda and outside, leading up to the building, is an escalator. Bless. It was a lot of stairs. We went up the escalator and visited the museum inside. The temple dates back many years but was recently rebuilt, however the rubble is preserved in a giant glass room. We climbed up four flights of stairs and met with, you guessed it, a bunch of people. I have a fear of falling so once we reached the top it was breath taking and terrifying. I got a few pictures but the entire time I was worried about dropping something over the edge, myself included.

In the evening we went to a mall area and shopped. Big cities have tons of foreign brands the most popular are Japanese, British, and American. Be warned that British and American brands are super pricey as you are buying a "foreign experience." Even french fries in the food market were more expensive just because they were Western. That night we watched the fountain music and light show but was barely visible where we were due to the crowds. It was still very fun seeing sprays of water shoot up to Celion Dion.

We visited museums on the last day. One was for a general named Yue Fei. He conquered and united most parts of China until 1141 when minister Qin Hui said that the war should end and peace talks should take place. Yue Fei tried to continue taking back Chinese provinces but was seen as a traitor for not following orders. Yue Fei was beheaded in 1142 alongside his son and many of his soldiers. Today he is seen as a national hero for trying to resist foreign powers and uphold Chinese values. The other museums included a calligraphy museum and a lacquer museum. 

The Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum was the very last place we went before we headed to the train station. It was all free thanks to a business man from America. The museum was cut into several parts, dinosaurs, animals, and science-technology. There was an IMAX theatre too. The science-technology part had a section dedicated to not doing drugs which was a stretch as it was directly next to a model of a nuclear reactor. Overall, the animals were super funny to look at as the taxidermy made them look a bit derpy but it was informational even for me as all the museum was written in English and Chinese.

The moral of the story is that even if you are last minute you can find things to do and places to stay. Asking locals is a great idea. There were many times when our map app led us the wrong way but a stranger did not. They also let us know what we could do in the city during that time. Very nice people.

White Privilege

When I was researching about China I found that many white people who have lived here say they get stared at and people yell things at them like, "Foreigner!" I have not been yelled at. Have I been stared at? Yes. Does it bother me? No. I understand that this is the first time many people in my city may have ever seen a white person in real life and I don't feel offended. The issue is the implicit thoughts that come with that. 

In psychology and sociology, students study about various topics including racism which branch off into two ways, Implicit and Explicit racism. Explicit racism is displayed through abrasive means such as hate crimes, yelling slurs, and straight out discrimination. Implicit racism is unconsciously acting in a way you don't realize is racist such as not making eye contact with a person of a certain race, believing that a race might rob/trick you, or believing that a race is better at things. Even items that could be considered "positive" is racist. I had a chat with my dad once because he said that a certain race was better at sports. I told him that was racist and he was confused, "No, it is a good thing!" 

"Well, you are saying that a certain race is better at sports because of their genes and not because of hard work or talent."

"Yeah...and?"

That is implicit racism. 

Implicit racism has shown itself here as a "positive." Parents believe they know what I am talking about when it comes to English. People compliment me when I do simple tasks like use chopsticks and say basic phrases in Chinese. I have had co-workers who told me that there would be no way they could go to bars with me because my tolerance must be really high. When I asked why they thought this they all answered, "because you are white." 

That was a little jarring but it got worse. 

One of my co-workers speaks fluent Chinese and English but she teaches English at the school. She has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in education, and she has been teaching for over five years. When parents found out she was the teacher they got angry. They said they didn't think she was competent enough and even demanded that they watch her teach a class. Why doubt her? Because she looks Asian and she isn't white. The parents said that out loud to her face and to the principal. They asked why a white person wasn't teaching the class. They said and I am paraphrasing, "Why didn't you hire a real American who is pale and has blonde hair?" 

When it comes to "Real Americans" I know that it means anyone who was born in America or has American citizenship or even on their way to get their citizenship. The entire idea around America is that you can be any race, religion, or ethnicity to be one of us. That is confusing for people of other countries especially if they have low diversity. They have seen American movies and know our politics and what they have seen has been white people and when a person who isn't white comes overseas and says they are American they don't believe them. It is a hard pill to swallow. 

One blog I follow is Monkey Abroad and he touches on this subject. He found that his non-white or non-American co-workers had a harder time getting a job. Monkey Abroad stated that there are people here in China who have studied English their entire lives, are fluent in the language, get a degree in English and will be considered less qualified than a person who grew up speaking the language as their native tongue. Both Monkey Abroad and Lauren Without Fear did not have teaching degrees before they came to China but both were considered "hot commodities" because they grew up in the USA and English was their first language. 

I know this is just scratching the surface of much larger issues and I knew that I had privilege for the mere reason that I am white. I guess I am surprised because when I looked up what life was like here, I was expecting harassment and I braced myself for that but the person who ended up being harassed was not me. The person who is being doubted and questioned is highly qualified for her position and the person who has never been questioned just got their bachelor's degree in May 2017. 

Teaching abroad can be a great experience and I have enjoyed a lot about it so far but here is the thing, everyone should be aware that racism is out there. This is a problem. People who are qualified and hard working are considered "less than" because of their race. People who are less qualified and lazy are "better than" because of their race. This isn't a problem in one country, it affects every country and in a negative way. I guess my advice is just this...be aware that this exists and make it known. We won't be able to rid of racism in a day but talk about it and when crappy stuff happens you need to air it out. I became a teacher to create positive change in people and I hope that you will too. 

Am I Getting Enough To Eat?

The past few days I have been feeling crazy hungry. Whenever I would go out to eat with my co-workers/friends they would exclaim that they were so full and couldn't possibly eat another bite! Zoom in on me who is asking the waiter if they serve dessert. I was thinking about this and had this thought that most grandma's have about their grand kids...am I eating enough?

Breakfast is usually buttered bread or croissants from the bakery I live nearby accompanied by yogurt.
My school provides a lunch which is pretty nutritious. It contains mostly boiled vegetables, a soup, fruit, rice, noodles, and one meat. It is a lot of food and I do feel full most times.
For supper I make either soup, boiled vegetables, pasta, or rice dishes. They are mostly grain and veggies and seem quite healthy.
Then it is around 8-9 o'clock and I eat an entire sleeve of cookies or a giant bowl of icecream. What up?

I have three theories on this.
First theory is that I am not eating as much protein as I was used to in the USA. Protein can make you feel full and takes a while to digest at times. Today I looked up foods high in protein which include most of the vegetables I am eating! So it is probably not that?

List of High Protein Veggies and Fruits

broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, garlic, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, parsley, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Fruits that contain protein are apples, apricots, blueberries, cherries and grapefruit (GardenGuides.com).

"But Chelsea why not eat more meat?" I will tell you why. The meat here is highly suspicious. The grocery store I go to has the meat lying out on ice WITH NO PLASTIC COVERING. It is bloodier than USA meat and it doesn't have to be inspected. Not to mention none of the meat here is de-boned. It has all those nasty little bones in them for you to pick out and I friggin' hate it. My school lunches serve pork with bones, chicken with bones, beef with bones, and fish with bones. How often in the US can you order a meal and not worry about bones? Answer: 95% of the time. 

In fact most people in China are vegetarians because the meat is not healthy or they also hate eating around the bone. One thing I wish I knew before coming here is the availability of bones in food. 

Second theory is that my diet just isn't filling. I have pasta and white rice but doing research I found that brown rice and whole wheat pasta can make a person feel more full than their white counterparts. I plan on buying and eating more of that.

Third theory is that my calorie intake is too low. Since I am eating mostly vegetables and grains it could be that I am not getting to the 2000 calorie mark. Most veggies have a low calorie count so it could be that I need more grains. It would also explain why I crave high calorie foods before I go to sleep.

My game plan for the moment is to switch to whole grain and eat more protein. I am low on fruit so I think I will buy a bunch of berries to eat for the week. There are apps to track a person's calorie intake and I am thinking of downloading it to see if I am really below the mark. Hopefully my food adventures will get better from here.

Works Cited

“Fruits & Vegetables High in Protein.” GardenGuides, www.gardenguides.com/88079-fruits-vegetables-high-protein.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.

Hong Kong

My sister and I were skyping today and she asked if I had looked at her blog. When I did look at it was very cute and had good information and was funny and I looked at mine and realized that I hadn't posted in a while. The reason being that I had no idea what to post about. After reading her blog I decided to pick one at random and talk about it. This is a long one...buckle up. 

Hong Kong is where I had to go to get my work visa. Before I just had a visitor visa but now I can legally work here. Yay! I was supposed to be there only three days to get my visa which seemed like not enough time to me. I was wrong. Here is how it went.

Getting There

When I arrived in China it was night. I had to find a way to go from the airport to my hotel and realized that my school had not arranged a car for me. I walked around aimlessly with my backpack, a gym bag, and my purse which were getting heavier by the minute. After walking down a flight of stairs and walking across the airport I found a bus service. When I asked if they could take me to my hotel they pointed me to the help desk. The help desk pointed me down another flight of stairs, the next help desk pointed me outside, where I found the ticket counter. My school had given me 5000 Hong Kong dollars but only in 1000 dollar bills. (I didn't know it was a thing either.) I handed the lady my money and she pointed to a sign that read, "We don't accept 1000 dollar bills." I paid with my American credit card. Why not my Chinese credit card? I couldn't tell you except that NO ONE ACCEPTS CHINESE CREDIT CARDS IN HONG KONG. It makes no sense to me since Hong Kong is technically China. We will get into that later. I get on the bus and go to my bus stop.
It seemed like it would be simple to walk from my bus stop to the hotel but it was not. I was lost for 20 minutes. I aimlessly walked around again. Hennessy Road was where I was headed but when I followed the signs they lead me to alley ways. Still lugging the bags, my phone not working (Chinese phone not working in technically China), I headed to McDonald's. The reason being that I was hungry and I knew there would be wifi. Bless McDonald's because that is how I found my directions to get to my hotel.

The Hotel

When you go to a hotel in Hong Kong you have to make a deposit first. The deposit for Ozo Wesley was 1500 which the school told me beforehand it would be that much. When you check out they will give the money back minus any expenses. They asked me if I wanted breakfast all three days and I said yes. Each meal was about 60 Hong Kong dollars. To put that into perspective it is 10 Hong Kong Dollar to one US dollar. That means each breakfast was all you can eat for $6. Yes please. The service was awesome there, they got me taxis, and gave me directions when needed. It was western style too but more British than American. The plugs were British and spelling was in the UK way. However, they don't accept Euros or pounds...only USD. I could not tell you why. 

The Visa

The visa office opens at 9:00 am and I was told to be there before then. So I came at 8:30 and there was a line and security. It wasn't a big deal. The big deal was, you guessed it, paperwork. I walk in and this woman in front of me asks if I know what I am doing. I tell her no. She shows me the forms on the side and tells me to take a few and fill them out since most people are told they fill them out incorrectly. I do so which takes maybe 40 minutes. Admittedly I had no idea what boxes to check for some so I left them blank thinking I could ask someone for help. This is not the thing to do. Next step is going up to these men who give you a ticket with a number. Once your number is called you can see a Visa representative. In order to get a ticket these men check out your form so I thought I was good as they looked over mine and even checked the boxes for me. That wasn't so bad I thought to myself. Next I waited for the 50 people in front of me to get their numbers called (not exaggerating it was literally 50 people). When it was about noon I got called up to the window, the representative looks over my form for two seconds and circles all the mistakes. There were a lot. She tells me how to fill it out very quickly and before I can ask her a question she calls the next number and I am back to square one. Naturally I call my school and I ask for help. I was supposed to put down an inviter, their address, how they knew me. Then I asked what box was I supposed to check, company employee or other? The representative told me I could only do single entry but what does that mean? (I still don't know.) I go up take another number and wait but here is the thing...during noon to two o'clock only one of twelve people are working. The place closes at four. I thought, there is no way I am going to make it. Of course when all twelve people are back at their stations it gets moving again and I do see a representative. 

She looks over the form for two seconds and says, "Would you like to pick up your visa tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Okay it will be done by 3:00 pm." 

I walked away stunned. 

Next day at 3:00 I ask if I need a ticket. The men tell me no and point me to a window. I pay 1400 Hong Kong to get my visa and then I have it. In my hands. I walk out utterly amazed. 

Tourist Stuff

Near my hotel I decide to do a few fun things. According to the map the hotel gave me there is a temple and two parks and a zoo. I decide I can walk to them. For the temple I walked past it before realizing it was the Buddhist temple. It was very small and there were signs that said no pictures were allowed inside. I took them outside instead. 

Next was Wan Chai park which was super cute. They had a place to donate clothes and food, a workout jungle gym for the elderly, tennis courts, and a pond designed for racing boats in. I do not know of any other park that caters to so many people's needs. Not to mention it was handicap friendly, in fact almost every single building, park, and street was handicap friendly. The doors don't have those crazy blocks, cross walks had beepers for blind pedestrians, and even park/road signs had braille written on them! I have not even seen that in America. 

Look how cool the paintings are for trash and the different types of recycling?!?

Day two I decided to go to Stanley Market as it came up as TOP TEN THINGS TO DO IN HONG KONG on several websites. I decide to take a taxi there since it is a 20 minute ride. I did not realize it would be so expensive and that they don't accept credit cards so I used my company money to pay the taxis (I paid my school back). It was not until the final day that I learned there was a subway that goes through the entirety of Hong Kong Island and even under the water to main land China. My taxi was 150 Hong Kong one way and a one way subway ticket is 5 Hong Kong. *Jim from The Office stares into camera*

Anyways, the taxi driver drops me off and I am stumped. I get dropped off at these shacks with these sweaty barely dressed people with bad teeth. One is selling art but doesn't accept cards (I was not going to spend company money on souvenirs) and the other is selling coconuts to drink (I did use company money to buy that). I am dumbstruck because this place is awful then I turn a corner and...it is magical. The people speak English, they are nice, and the stuff is stupid cheap! I buy two paintings and a bunch of souvenirs because they all accept American credit cards, baby! Never been in the area and not knowing where I was going I wonder to Stanley Market Pier which was beautiful. They have a Buddhist temple on the bay and restaurants which were cheap and yummy. I eat dim sum for the first time and it comes with beer for only 16 USD. I buy lychee iceream and get a taxi home. 10/10 would do again. 

Me and my coconut. It was delicious. Worth company money.

The pier! You can see the flags that belong to the temple.

The final place where I went that was nearby was Hong Kong Park. On the map it looked far away so I had planned on taking a taxi but when I asked the hotel worker he told me it only a five minute walk. Sure enough it was! There was a tea museum, a children's conservatory, restaurant, and aviary in the park plus a lot more. It is 20 acres big. 

One thing to note is that when I was in the tea museum it was a bit eerie. It doesn't look Chinese because it isn't. It was built by British forces and was where all the British officers would hang out and in the 1980s (not that long ago!) they made it into a tea museum. If you know your history you will know that the British owned Hong Kong until the 1990s and gave it back to China. Technically Hong Kong is China but Hong Kong considers themselves to be their own country. They have their own money, different customs, and most people speak English. This is why Chinese phones don't work there, why you don't need a VPN, and why they only accept Hong Kong dollars...and US dollars. Again I have no idea why that is. 

There was a competition a few years ago to design the most unique tea pots and cups. These are some of the samples. Yes even the creepy clown is a working tea pot. 

All teapots and cups. 

The Way Home

Immediately after the museum I had lunch at a pretty nice restaurant in the park and headed to the hotel to get my bags and check out. I ask if I can get a taxi and the hotel worker tells me there is a subway DIRECTLY BEHIND THE HOTEL which can take me there. A ticket to go from the hotel to the stop to get to the airport was 5 Hong Kong dollars. It cost 115 Hong Kong dollars to take me from the stop to the airport. I thought it was dumb but regardless. I get off the subway and head to the airport. I get to the correct gate to print off my boarding pass (that is a thing here and maybe in big airports IDK I flew out of Omaha, Nebraska). The boarding passes will not print so I go to the help desk, I check tube that my paintings were stored in, and considered if I should check my other bags. I decide not to which was a mistake because they were big, heavy, and at a few points the gym bag zipper burst open due to the weight and I had to realign the zipper. If I checked it, it probably would have burst open when they throw the luggage onto the plane but if I checked my heavy backpack my awkwardness and weight would have been much improved. I get through all three (yes three) points of security and across the entire airport to my gate barely on time. From there a bus takes us to the plane and we board by walking up a flight of stairs onto the plane. 

So on the plane they play a movie for us but you can't turn it off or even hear it, so you rely on the tiny closed captions to see what is going on. I am all about movies but they played a rated R film on the plane called Battle of Memories. I mean, there were literally kids sitting behind me and it got so graphic that I had to look away. I am squeamish so maybe that doesn't mean anything but the guy literally swallowed a razor blade so...I think I was justified. However, it was an interesting plot and I didn't see how it ended (because the plane landed) and I might want to finish it later. 

Overall, Hong Kong is a cool place. I would like to go back to the places I couldn't visit like the Jade Market or Victoria Park. Here's to next time!