Saying Goodbye

Today was my last full day in China! I thought I would take it easy and have a restful day before traveling... but it was not to be. First I was running around all morning trying to input grades and turn in paperwork (I'm still not done). Then I went downtown with some students to eat hotpot... after which we spent 4 hours shopping. Whoops. I made it back just in time to get paid and then go to the market with other students to get ingredients for dinner.

My student, Lancer, cooked a giant feast for us!

And then afterwards, as we were all saying goodbye, we were all standing around and the students started looking a little emotional, so Betsy said, "It looks like we're about to do trust falls."

So of course, we did.

And then finally I went around and hugged everyone, and they left, making room for Adam and Laurie to come in and say goodbye! WHEW! What a crazy day, but no better way to end my stay in China :)

Spicy Chinese egg noodles recipe

Because I am leaving in two days, one of my closest friends/students here who cooks at my house almost once a week has been trying to teach me all of her Chinese recipes so that I can cook it for my family and friends back home.

The great thing is, they're all REALLY EASY.

Let's take this spicy Chinese egg noodle dish, for example.

Ingredients:
-iceberg lettuce
-thin egg noodles
-soy sauce
-vinegar
-chili oil
-regular oil
-salt
-egg
-green onion to garnish

Step 1: Boil some pieces of lettuce. Put cooked lettuce in a bowl.
Step 2: Boil noodles until soft. Put in bowl on top of lettuce.
Step 3: Add a little of all the rest of the ingredients! You can make it as spicy or salty as you want. It's up to your tastes!
Step 4: Fry an egg and put it on top.

THAT'S IT! YOU'RE DONE! It's so quick and easy that I don't even have pictures for the steps. And it's so delicious! There are no measurements because it's up to you how much you want to put in. I would probably start off with putting more than a teaspoon of each ingredient, tasting it, and then adding more sauces/spices until I like it.

I seriously make this almost every day. Let me know if you want me to cook it for you when I get home! :)

My Greatest Achievement

Goodness gracious! This week has just been full of craziness and fun! I just got back from my freshmen girls' dorm where we had a SPONTANEOUS DANCE PARTY.

You may not realize how big of a deal this is. Maybe I should refer you to this post about my earlier experience in freshmen girls dancing.

Uh huh. Remember that?

Now compare that to this:

Wow! It looks like they actually feel comfortable dancing!

What happened was some of my students complained that they feel like they don't have enough social activities at their school. I explained to them that the only reason why American students have so many social activities is because the students are the ones to initiate, plan, and host all these fun things. In contrast, Chinese students always wait for their teachers to allow them to have a party for a school event. I told them that if they want more social activities, they should just have some parties in their dorms.

So they did!

They invited me to their dorm, and at first we just sat around playing cards, but eventually everyone got pretty tired of sitting down. We all got up to stretch, someone put on music, and the next thing you know, I was jumping around and saying, "THIS IS DANCING! JUST DO IT!" That resulted in this:

Soon they were going crazy. They started calling all their friends to come. Whoever passed by their dorm they would seriously ambush and drag them into our party! Haha! It was crazy!

We probably danced for a good 2 hours. I'm super glad they had fun and actually were active for once! Yay! What an awesome time!

In the end, as the school year draws to a close, I consider getting my students to actually have spontaneous, active fun as my greatest achievement in my year teaching here.

Prom in Guiyang!

Tonight our university had its first prom ever for the English department juniors!

Actually, this was quite a hassle to get approved. The person in charge of all extra curricular activities  is the communist party secretary for our department, and she does NOT like the students to really have any fun, especially not western-themed fun. Thankfully, the dean of the English department is super supportive of extra-curricular events, and she was able to approve the prom by saying that it is an academic event. The only downside is that we have to have it in the classroom on a weekday, but whatever!

Students decorating the classroom.

Not gonna lie, for the first like two hours, it was pretty awkward. No one would dance. They all just kinda stood around the perimeter of the room eating snacks. It was worse than junior high.

Girls politely standing against the wall.

Look at all these crazy snacks behind me!

But finally after they realized that if they weren't going to dance, it was going to be very boring, they all got out on the dance floor and just went crazy. And I think they had a lot of fun!

The students elected a popular boyfriend/girlfriend couple as their prom king and queen! I made them dance to All My Life.

The king and queen!

ALLLL MYYYYY LIIIIIIIIFE

I PRAYED FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOUUUU

And that was it! What a great night!

Goodbye Muffin: A Photo Montage

Just a few moments ago, Muffin was picked up and taken off to his new home! To say goodbye, I have created this photo montage of Muffin throughout his stay in my care. So far, it has been met with outstanding reviews!

"It's brilliant!" - Betsy Hoisington

"...the song's perfect. Now you can breathe again!" - Sally Miller

Take a look for yourself!

What did you think? ;)

A Tale of Two Kitties

Well the time has finally come. Someone has offered to take guardianship of Muffin. Muffin is scheduled to be taken away this Saturday, and in honor of that event, I decided it was high time I record the tale of Tibby.

Some time last semester, Betsy inherited a cat from another foreign teacher at this school who left to go back to his home country. This cat's name was Tibby. The first night Tibby stayed with Betsy, he went buck wild, screeching and throwing himself at the walls. Betsy couldn't take it anymore and let him loose outside.

Unfortunately, that was not the last we saw of Tibby. Tibby refused to come back into the apartment, but he would routinely lurk outside my window and meow, which resulted in this:

And that is what Muffin sounded like on a good day. Usually he would literally wail. Now imagine that going on incessantly until Tibby ran away. It was awful.

Well, luckily one day Betsy came home and saw Tibby right outside her door! She let him inside, and he made himself at home. Eventually, she found a student willing to take Tibby and all was well.

Or so we thought.

Not long after giving Tibby away, Betsy came home, looking slightly disturbed, and said, "I think that Tibby was a fake."

Fake Tibby

Betsy had just seen another cat outside our apartments that looked strikingly like Tibby. The next day I also looked out my window and saw this:

Most definitely Real Tibby

It seems that Betsy had let in, taken care of, and given away an impostor Tibby!

Of course, that left me with more cat screeching until we moved apartments last April.

Moral of the story: Sometimes stray cats pretend to be evil house cats in order to get a nice home.

Muffin saying "Doh! We were all tricked!"

Pinterest Trial: Ranch Chili Pepper Crackers

Today I decided to try out these crackers that I saw on Pinterest:

It was fairly easy! I mixed some vegetable oil with laoganma black bean chili pepper oil (because I have a crap ton of this stuff in my kitchen) and one Hidden Valley Ranch packet and soaked the crackers in this mixture.

Crackers soaking in ranch/pepper mix

Then I baked it for 20 mins at 120 degrees Celsius and got this!

IT IS SO YUMMY!!!

Verdict: Incredible success. Super easy and super yummy. Great snack for parties or just everyday :)

Pinterest Trial: Rainbow Sprite

Recently I found myself with some free time on my hands. In America I usually like to do crafts and cook things whenever I find myself with lots of free time. Here in China, my resources are limited, and even though I see so many fun things on Pinterest to try, I am not able to!

When I saw this rainbow drink pin on Pinterest, though, I thought I should give it a try, since it doesn't require many ingredients.

Welllll, I went to the store and bought as many different colored juices as I could.

Then I froze them.

Then I put them in a cup and poured sprite over it.

Meh, not so colorful. The ice cubes started dissolving right away and it turned into a funky color. I think I saw someone put online that they froze Kool Aid instead of fruit juice, which makes a little more sense, cause what kind of real fruit juice is so pigmented in all colors of the rainbow?

In conclusion, I would call this a halfway success. I guess I could try it again, but in reality, I don't really like soda anyway because of all the sugar. It was fun, though! Maybe I'll stick with things that I actually would want to eat after I make it :P

Muffin strikes again

Woke up this morning and walked into the bathroom to find this:

"What is that?" you ask? Why, it is Muffin, with half his body in my toilet bowl, drinking water. The fool's not even trying to stay dry.

You can only wonder what he'll come up with next...

Things My Students Say: Naked

Mark (student): I wish I was a ghost.
Betsy: Why a ghost?
Mark: Because then no one could see me and I could do whatever I want, like be naked.

Things I Took for Granted: Pets that Don't Poop in your Shoes

Yes, you read that right. Pets that don't poop in your shoes.

I got home one day from class to find that Muffin had left me a little present in my Toms. And the present was poop.

As you might suspect, I was infuriated. The really maddening part is that this was clearly a DELIBERATE and INTENTIONAL attack against me. Betsy and I live together now, and so we have twice as many shoes lying out by our doorstep. Of course, Muffin chooses my shoes.

Now, Betsy also has much larger feet than me. Do you know what size shoes my Toms were? A five. Toms size five. Do you know how SMALL the opening is to a Toms size 5 shoe?? It's probably smaller than the size of an iphone. Now imagine trying to aim your POOP to go into that opening.

This. Was. No. Accident.

And if that's not enough to convince you of Muffin's evil intentions, a week later he pooped on my fake Ugg boots.

Muffin, this is war!

My Favorite Things: Tokyo

I'm back with a recap of my Tokyo trip from ages ago!

So here are some of my favorite things:

1. Harajuku

During our first full day in Tokyo, Richard and I headed over to the Shibuya area to see Meiji Jingu, Yoyogi Park, and Takeshita Street in Harajuku. Meiji Jingu and Yoyogi Koen were great nature-y areas in the middle of the busy city. It was actually quite a nice break from all the people rushing to do their own business. However, as it was the middle of winter, the scenery was a little dry and dead.

The not so vibrant scenery of Yoyogi Park in winter.

Takeshita Dori in Harajuku, however, was full of life! Harajuku is world famous for being the center of crazy Japanese fashion, and Takeshita Dori is just a long street for people to walk through lined with clothes/shoes shops down both sides. A lot of the shop owners will bargain with you, which, although a given in China, is not so common in Japan. Richard bought these crazy shoes here for 8000 yen, bargained down from like 140,000 yen or something like that.

We had to go meet a friend for lunch, so I didn't get time to look around longer and shop :( but I definitely recommend checking this place out!

2. Akihabara

If you are familiar with Japanese pop culture, you probably have heard of Akihabara (or Akiba). It is known for being the geek center of Tokyo. Seriously. This place is famous for its electronics and its anime. This is where they have the Gundam cafe and the AKB48 cafe (and maid cafes, which I didn't go to, but I did run into a maid in the bathroom).

If you've heard of Akiba, you've probably also heard that it can get sketchy. This is truth. There are a lot of strange and most likely unholy things going on here, so don't go around walking down too many dark alleys or stores with creepy men. However, DO wander around the malls connected to the subway station and the Yodobashi electronics store! You'll find all sorts of unique and interesting gadgets. The 6th floor of the Yodobashi is just a huuuuuuuuge floor completely dedicated to children's games, and it kept Richard and me occupied for a couple hours at least, before meeting up with another friend for dinner. We bought a lot of our souvenirs here actually.

Hello Kitty section of the toy floor of the Yodobashi electronics store.

3. Speaking of all these meals with friends, one of my favorite things is definitely the FOOD. The first thing Richard and I did was hit up a ramen place.

Don't be fooled, friends who have never had ramen in a restaurant before. This is no Top Ramen. This is the real deal. The way ramen is supposed to be cooked. And it is awesome.

Also hit up an izakaya if you have a chance. This is a more traditional Japanese restaurant, where you  take off your shoes and sit on the floor. And often there are private rooms or at least partitions that section you off from the other tables. These places get more expensive, but Iino-sensei, my Japanese TA from my freshmen year, was kind enough to treat us to this izakaya in Akiba.

The room we were sitting in.

So delicious!

Aaaaand on the other end of the dining spectrum, don't forget to hit up a konbini (Japanese for convenience store). 7-11's are so much better in Japan. They have awesome snacks, and really cheap options for lunch, if you are looking to save cash. Just pick up a few nigiri (rice balls) and you're good to go! Richard and I bought various flavors of bread buns and juices from the convenience store near our inn every morning for breakfast. I love the apple juice :P It tastes like real apples! I know that sounds stupid, but really, if you think about it, I have yet to taste an apple juice in America that actually tastes like a real apple.

Also try McDonalds. They have stuff on the menu they don't have in America. Like shaka shaka chicken!

4. Ueno Zoo

I know you might think that zoos can't be that different from country to country.. and for the most part, that's true. BUT I just think zoos are fun. AND it is really interesting to see what kind of animals are popular in different countries. In America, you always see tigers and lions and elephants being featured in all the promotional stuff, but in Japan, you'll see capybaras and red pandas on all the souvenirs. I bet a lot of you don't even know what a capybara or a red panda is!

I don't have a picture from Tokyo, but here's a capybara from Osaka!

Red Panda!

Anyway, the Ueno Zoo just happened to be really awesome the day we went. All the animals were super active. Plus, it was only 600 yen per person (bring your passport to get the tourist discount). Also, even though I love how huge and awesome the San Diego Zoo is, I always get super exhausted by the time I've finished seeing all the animals there. The Ueno Zoo was the perfect size to go around and look  at all the animals, but without getting your feet all sore. Be sure to get yourself a red panda souvenir before you leave! I bought Richard a red panda hand puppet.

So those were some of my favorite things! Other things worth mentioning:

1. Tokyo Tower

This is pretty much just like every other observation tower in every other big city, but if you're going for the touristy landmark places, might as well stop by!

2. Staying in a ryokan

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn. Ours operated kind of like a hostel, with shared bathrooms and towels we could rent, but we had to bring basically all our own stuff. Our room had tatami mat floors and we slept in individual Japanese futon instead of a western bed. A futon in Japan is not like a fold out couch, which is what futons seem to be in America. A futon in Japan is basically like a thick mat and blanket set on the floor that you sleep on at night and then roll up during the day. Thank goodness our room had a heater, but still, bamboo is not a great insulator. Basically, it is way less comfortable than a nice hotel, but it feels very homey and cozy. If you want a cultural experience, I definitely recommend it.

3. Trains/Subway

IT'S KINDA CONFUSING. Richard and I actually never got lost, but still.. the subway is convenient and easy to get places, but the hard part is just figuring out which route to take. Our advice: Buy a suica card (the local version of like a metro card) and figure out how you are getting to places before you leave. Japan has many different railroad companies, each with their own set of lines, which means to get from one place to another, you will have several options, and the railways don't always connect all nicely. You may transfer several times and walk in and out of stations, so just make sure you know where you're going.

4. The Scramble

The Scramble is a famous landmark in Tokyo... there are tons of photographs of it and it's been plenty of movies. It's basically one huge crazy crosswalk. If you're going to Shibuya station to go shop, eat, or walk around, you'll see the Scramble. We had coffee at the Starbucks overlooking the Scramble, which was pretty cool.

See the Starbucks?

5. Tokyo Disney Sea

Tokyo Disney Sea... where to even begin with this one. First of all, the detail put into the aesthetics of this theme park is just mind blowing. Starting from the tram ride, with Mickey shaped windows and handlebars, all the way to the Mermaid Lagoon, this place is just beautiful. Their Mediterranean section was really romantic and pretty, and even though I've never been to the Mediterranean, it vaguely reminded me of being at Olive Garden, so they must've gotten something right, right? They also had an Arabian Coast section, complete with a two story carousel. I rode the camel.

Remember in Kingdom Hearts, how you got to go to all the different Disney worlds and walk around and explore and stuff? That's what it felt like.

They also had really awesome snacks! So many different flavored popcorns! Richard and I tried the cranberry and the strawberry.

Richard and I saw a couple shows too, and they were crazy awesome. Like floating things on the water, Mickey disappearing from one float and reappearing on another in a flash of fireworks, every Disney character every coming out and dancing in the crowd, lots of singing, etc etc.

HOWEVER, TOKYO DISNEY SEA HAD THE LONGEST LINES I HAVE EVER BEEN IN IN MY LIFE, with the exception of maybe comic-con, but even then, the comic-con lines might have even gone faster than these ones. This theme park is NOT really focused on the rides, even though they do have some cool ones - Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull or whatever it's called. If you don't have a fast pass or you don't single rider it, I'm gonna say it's not worth it. So basically, this is a great place for older kids/adults to enjoy the shows and the atmosphere and ONE ride if you have the patience to wait that long, but not really a family place.

Our faces on Tower of Terror after waiting for 2+ hours.

One last thing to mention... and that is Duffy. Duffy is a Disney character - Mickey Mouse's teddy bear (Duffy also has a girlfriend - Shellie May). All the Japanese girls I saw at Tokyo Disney Sea were just OBSESSED with Duffy or Shellie May. I am not kidding. I honestly think some of them were a little crazy. They had Duffy necklaces and stuffed animals, carrying them around like babies. They bought little outfits to dress their stuffed animals in.. it was just insane. At the end of the day, as Richard and I were walking through the gift shops, it was so crowded with girls buying Duffy gear that I felt like I was back in China. It was that bad. Of course, Richard and I bought matching Duffy and Shellie May keychains before we left.

I don't know why we didn't take a picture of our Duffy and Shellie May, but here is a picture from Google images.

So that was my Tokyo experience! What do you think?
-Kristen