As I explained in a previous post, I am at a different school than my friends and am the only native English speaker so it can be difficult sometimes. One of the benefits of being with only my co teachers is that we talk about some pretty interesting things.
I Will Always Ask Before I Eat Now
Last week I was eating lunch with my K3 co teacher, Melody, and one of my K2 co teachers, Leah, and we were just randomly talking. I usually try everything at lunch no matter what it is. We get rice, a meat substance, a vegetable dish, a soup, and a piece of fruit everyday. It's usually pretty good with a couple things being too spicy or too tofu-y for me.
At this particular lunch, I had tried the meat and it seemed really fatty and there were a ton of bones, it wasn't my favorite so I moved on to the veggie. Leah usually eats my leftovers so she leans over and asks, "Can I eat your foot?" I was like eh? Leah's English is the worst of my three co teachers so I just assumed she used the wrong word and waited for translation from Melody. Melody then says, "She wants to eat the rest of your pig feet." MY PIG FEET?! I just ate pig feet. I think my face showed utter horror as I realized the bones I had been trying to get some meat off of earlier, were hooves. I also noticed little hairs on the meat. As in, "Not by the hair on chinny chin chin." I was so grossed out. Melody and Leah were both cracking up and looking at me like
I was the crazy one. They kept saying that pig feet is really good for the skin so girls like to eat a lot of pig feet so they will have beautiful skin...Sometimes I don't know where they get their info or who are doing these tests but they have these kind of "facts" all the time!
For example, whenever I am sick (every other week) it's because of my heater and I should just drink warm water and I will be fine. The school is FREEEEEZING. Like, I don't get to school and then I can take off my jacket and get warm by the heater, no they don't believe in that. They leave all of the windows and doors open for "fresh air" and then blast the heater. Everyone wears at least 4 layers, top and bottom. They believe that if you come inside and get warm and take your jackets off then you will get sick when you have to go back outside in the cold. So they just keep everything cold and try to keep the body temp up. It's a very interesting and very cold theory. I keep shutting all the windows and doors and trying to explain to them about saving money and energy and keeping the heat in by doing this but they think WE are the crazy ones.
Anywho, that was a big tangent...So Melody and Leah start telling me about all of their favorite animal parts, Leah's fave is sheep brain, Melody's is pig ear. Chinese BBQ is really big here. It is just on the side of the road and you point to the meat you want, they grill it up right there and you eat it on the street. I haven't tried it yet but I know I need to, to get the whole experience.
Melody and Leah told me they need to take me to get a whole sheep at BBQ sometime. I was like uhhm what? They said around 20 people go and it's 2,000 yuan ($325) to get a whole sheep. Then everyone eats EVERYTHING. They fight over who gets to eat the brain or the eyes etc. It's a whole big thing, apparently.
They then were asking me questions about "beef steak." "Why do some people only eat it when it is 40% done and others eat it at 70% and then only some eat it at 100%?"
Many conversations start with me being confused and then asking follow up questions to figure out what they are talking about. I caught on that they were talking about eating steak rare, medium rare and well done. I started cracking up that this is what they think is weird after telling me that they love eating pig noses but hey, different strokes right? I tried to explain what these terms meant for steak and how some were more bloody. I never realized how weird that is until I am telling them that I like my steak medium rare with some blood and their faces are horrified. I tried explaining that it is delicious but they just thought it was "not fit." haha oh well.
Population Control
Another conversation I had with my co teacher Melody was about having children. You always hear about the one child policy but it was interesting to hear it from her point of view. So, from what I understand as long as you or your significant are only children you can have two children. If you both come from multiple child families then you can only have one child. Melody has two sisters and two brothers (crazy!) but her husband is an only child so they can have two. But, Leah and her husband have siblings so they can only have one child. If you want to have more than two you have to pay the government a lot of money. So interesting. Most people only have one and that child is like the King/Queen. Super spoiled.
Capital Punishment is Alive and Well
Leah was telling me about school in China and I was a little shocked! She told me that class sizes are between 45-70 students and only around 45 if you pay more. They would be at school around 12 hours a day in MIDDLE school! If they talked at all during the lessons then they would have to come in at lunch and sit perfectly still, no moving, and weren't allowed to eat lunch. Leah should have been at the back of the class because it was according to height but her mom just gave her teacher some money and she moved her to the first row! That happened all the time. If people didn't have time to do all the homework they would just give their teacher money so they wouldn't get in trouble, i.e. hit! She said they had a test everyday, three questions, if you got any of them wrong you couldn't leave school until you had retaken a different one and gotten them all right. As she is telling me all this I just couldn't imagine any of this happening in America! So many lawsuits!
My co teachers are pretty great! Sometimes I really wish I was with my friends at the other campus but all my teachers told me on different accounts in the past week that they love having me in their class and they are happier when I am there. It was so sweet! I teared up!
It has been a sick couple days at school! A card means they are here, a green card means they are good, yellow means they need to drink more warm water (ha) because they are starting to get sick and red means they are on medicine and our nurse needs to monitor them and give them more throughout the day. No wonder I am always sick!
I have talked a little about Anthony's Mom, Tandye, but she has just been great! Anokhi and I have gone to her house a couple times for dinner and this past weekend she took us to a market and we went shopping. It was so great. She really looks out for us over here. Anthony is going to Hong Kong to get his tonsils taken out this week so she is letting us use her driver and go to her apartment whenever we want to use her dryer, oven or whatever else we want! She even delivered her keys to me at school today with a tupperware of brownies! She couldn't be nicer and whenever we thank her she just says it's nice to feel like she is helping someone and doing something over here.
It was a little crazy when we went shopping at the market. Tandye brought Anthony and his little brother Alex and the Chinese people were kinda scary. They ask us for pictures or talk to us a lot but with really young kids it was scary. Her husband and her had to learn how to say "don't touch," in Chinese because when the boys are walking by Chinese people grab them and pet them and touch them. It is so weird. At one point, Anthony was asleep in his stroller and people were poking him and trying to get pictures with him. No wonder he is so afraid at school at times! His new phrase at school to the Chinese people is "Get off me!" Now I understand why.
We were waiting for Tandye's driver to pick us up so of course a crowd gathered to see the foreigners standing around...
We are leaving for Beijing next week and tonight we booked tickets for the Chinese New Year break! We are headed to Hong Kong and Sanya (Chinese Hawaii)!! We are so excited!
"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you"
