For those who are mad at me for deleting my facebook account because you wanted to see pictures from China, I have made a web album so you can see them anytime you want. The links are below. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have enjoyed taking them!!!
the most recent: http://picasaweb.google.com/thebazile13/YangshuoGuilinTrip?authkey=vKs53_h9nJw
Pictures from the beginning of China:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thebazile13/China2
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sent May 16, 2008
Hello again,
I wasn't going to write so soon but there seems to be a lot of question as to whether I am alive or not. Well, I am happy to announce that yes, I am. Monday's earthquake has caused more damage than any report can accurately portray. The stories are so sad and a lot of our students can't find their friends and family members. I am in the Hunan province just east of the Sichuan province. I didn't personally feel much but a lot of my students felt it. Everyone in the library ran out during the quake. Most people had never been in a quake before. The school I am at has started taking donations for the victims but there are so many people and the cities effected are literally obliterated. The students here have very little money as it is. The Chinese govt is really doing an amazing job with the relief effort though. This has been a hard year for the Chinese. I hope everything goes well with the Olympics. Please keep the earthquake victims and survivors in your thoughts and also take it as a reminder to be prepared in case of an emergency.
On a lighter note, my birthday was amazing. My friends and students really out-did themselves. My "eleven dwarfs" took me to lunch at a really good restaurant. They surprised me with some 'traditional Chinese handicrafts" as a gift. They are the funnest group of girls. Hanging out with them is kinda like hanging out with a bunch of beehives. I had about 10 surprise parties this week. I loved it! The other foreign teachers and Lany, our "China mom" and some good friends from the school took me out to a delicious restaurant. It was northern food so it was much sweeter than Hunan food. Lany bought a delicious cake. It was so good. It got kinda smashed but it was still amazing.
On Tuesday night I told my students that they could come to a park near our apartment for a very casual party. There were a ton of people there. I was surprised that we didn't get in trouble but it was a blast. I have included some pictures. I got some of the most random gifts ever and I loved each one. Everything from boiled eggs and ancient Chinese medicine to batteries and a back massager. They are so funny. I still don't know what the battery is for.
This week my university was being inspected by the Ministry of Education. They cleaned everything up and made it look really nice for the inspection. They filled in the dump, made all the vendors leave, and improved the food at the dining hall. The students were threated with demerits for being late and they had to memorize pages of information about the school to regurgitate in the event that an inspector asked them a question. I didn't see any of the inspectors though....it was pretty intense.
No one was allowed to leave the campus this week (that is what they told us anyway but I saw plenty of people leaving). We were told Tuesday that our trip to Guilin the next day would have to be postponed. We were not to happy about that. Hopefully we can go next weekend. We are running out of time. I only have three more weeks of teaching left and then I am off to Hong Kong to see my friend Samily. Then I will be home. So soon. I can't believe it.
love and miss you all!!!
pic 1- me and my eleven dwarfs outside of their dormitory before my birthday lunch
pic 2- some of my guests at my awesome party
pic 3- the strangest b-day gift of all.....time
Eleetherbasss
I wasn't going to write so soon but there seems to be a lot of question as to whether I am alive or not. Well, I am happy to announce that yes, I am. Monday's earthquake has caused more damage than any report can accurately portray. The stories are so sad and a lot of our students can't find their friends and family members. I am in the Hunan province just east of the Sichuan province. I didn't personally feel much but a lot of my students felt it. Everyone in the library ran out during the quake. Most people had never been in a quake before. The school I am at has started taking donations for the victims but there are so many people and the cities effected are literally obliterated. The students here have very little money as it is. The Chinese govt is really doing an amazing job with the relief effort though. This has been a hard year for the Chinese. I hope everything goes well with the Olympics. Please keep the earthquake victims and survivors in your thoughts and also take it as a reminder to be prepared in case of an emergency.
On a lighter note, my birthday was amazing. My friends and students really out-did themselves. My "eleven dwarfs" took me to lunch at a really good restaurant. They surprised me with some 'traditional Chinese handicrafts" as a gift. They are the funnest group of girls. Hanging out with them is kinda like hanging out with a bunch of beehives. I had about 10 surprise parties this week. I loved it! The other foreign teachers and Lany, our "China mom" and some good friends from the school took me out to a delicious restaurant. It was northern food so it was much sweeter than Hunan food. Lany bought a delicious cake. It was so good. It got kinda smashed but it was still amazing.
On Tuesday night I told my students that they could come to a park near our apartment for a very casual party. There were a ton of people there. I was surprised that we didn't get in trouble but it was a blast. I have included some pictures. I got some of the most random gifts ever and I loved each one. Everything from boiled eggs and ancient Chinese medicine to batteries and a back massager. They are so funny. I still don't know what the battery is for.
This week my university was being inspected by the Ministry of Education. They cleaned everything up and made it look really nice for the inspection. They filled in the dump, made all the vendors leave, and improved the food at the dining hall. The students were threated with demerits for being late and they had to memorize pages of information about the school to regurgitate in the event that an inspector asked them a question. I didn't see any of the inspectors though....it was pretty intense.
No one was allowed to leave the campus this week (that is what they told us anyway but I saw plenty of people leaving). We were told Tuesday that our trip to Guilin the next day would have to be postponed. We were not to happy about that. Hopefully we can go next weekend. We are running out of time. I only have three more weeks of teaching left and then I am off to Hong Kong to see my friend Samily. Then I will be home. So soon. I can't believe it.
love and miss you all!!!
pic 1- me and my eleven dwarfs outside of their dormitory before my birthday lunch
pic 2- some of my guests at my awesome party
pic 3- the strangest b-day gift of all.....time
Eleetherbasss
Sent April 30, 2008
Hello Everyone!
How are things going in the USA? I have been hearing stories that make me want to consider staying in China for a lot longer! But then I think about grilled cheese sandwiches and tacos and I decide that even if the USA is crumbling, at least they have a delicious variety of food.
This weekend is the Labor Day Holiday. Isn't the rib cook off this weekend in Reno? My body aches for some Kinder's BBQ sauce. Regardless, I have 4 days off this weekend and we are going to have some fun. We were going to go to Guilin but with all the crazy traveling traffic, we are waiting for a couple weeks. I feel much better about that. We will be here in Xiangtan for a relaxing weekend. I am going to buy some painting supplies and paint some pictures.
I have made good friends with some students here. They are not my students but they have been teaching me how to play ping pong and they are so funny. There are 11 of them and 10 of them live together in one room that is much smaller than a single car garage. They are small though so they pack them in like sardines. All of the girls are about a foot shorter than me. I have dubbed them my "eleven dwarfs" and I am Snow White. I will miss them a lot.
Not a whole lot has changed since my last e-mail. Things in China are still going well. There have been some interesting developments with the Tibet problems and the Olympics that have made things a little shaky here. The day after the guy on CNN made the comments about China was very interesting. My students were very offended and were expecting me to have the same opinion as the CNN reporter. I felt like I was trying to regain a toddlers trust when I was explaining to them that not all American's think alike. This concept is very hard for them to grasp because in America, we all think for ourselves. We do what we want to do when we want to do it. But in China, they are VERY group oriented. They seek to be a part of a group and also to be just like everyone else in the group.
The students brought up censorship and this launched into a week long discussion of whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing. It is very strange to talk about it with them, but also very interesting. They are almost 100% for the censorship of the media. I asked them the question of why or why not and one of my students said that if the news wasn't censored, there would be riots and the country would become very unstable. I didn't argue of course but it is just very interesting to hear their opinions. Another funny example was from another one of my students and he said, "Censorship is good because if a political person did something really bad, the media would keep us from knowing so that man's image wouldn't be tarnished." I laughed out loud and then I told him how one of American media's favorite things is to expose these such cases to every listening ear. haha... kinda funny.
One of the coolest things about being in China has been seeing another side of the story. It is nice to be able to see something from someone else's point of view but it also makes me very frustrated because now I don't know who to believe. The Tibet problem for example is quite comical for some young Chinese...They feel like how we would feel if say Texas, decided that it wanted to secede from the nation...again....They also hate the Dali Lama with a fiery passion and regard him as a terrorist. They say that he is using his religious influence to gain political power in Tibet so he can return to rule over it. Also, they feel that the rest of the world refuses to understand their history and culture. My students told me that in 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated by China, acquiring it as one of the largest Chinese Provinces. China then built up Tibet and gave the people there a better life. When I tried to read some sort of history about Tibet online for anything that would help clear things up, ALL the websites were blocked. I don't know if this is because the internet is slow or because....... Either way. There are two sides to this story for sure.
The thing that I keep thinking is how much I wish I understood what is going on all over the world. Not just in China but everywhere where there is conflict. I think that sometimes we make to quick of assumptions about things and are too quick to judge situations and people. This last few months has certainly taught me the importance of seeking to understand something before seeking to be understood.
Well, before I make this e-mail any more political, I better go. My e-mails are surely being censored. I ate mashed potatoes tonight. It was incredible. I love American food.
Elizabeth Jenkins
How are things going in the USA? I have been hearing stories that make me want to consider staying in China for a lot longer! But then I think about grilled cheese sandwiches and tacos and I decide that even if the USA is crumbling, at least they have a delicious variety of food.
This weekend is the Labor Day Holiday. Isn't the rib cook off this weekend in Reno? My body aches for some Kinder's BBQ sauce. Regardless, I have 4 days off this weekend and we are going to have some fun. We were going to go to Guilin but with all the crazy traveling traffic, we are waiting for a couple weeks. I feel much better about that. We will be here in Xiangtan for a relaxing weekend. I am going to buy some painting supplies and paint some pictures.
I have made good friends with some students here. They are not my students but they have been teaching me how to play ping pong and they are so funny. There are 11 of them and 10 of them live together in one room that is much smaller than a single car garage. They are small though so they pack them in like sardines. All of the girls are about a foot shorter than me. I have dubbed them my "eleven dwarfs" and I am Snow White. I will miss them a lot.
Not a whole lot has changed since my last e-mail. Things in China are still going well. There have been some interesting developments with the Tibet problems and the Olympics that have made things a little shaky here. The day after the guy on CNN made the comments about China was very interesting. My students were very offended and were expecting me to have the same opinion as the CNN reporter. I felt like I was trying to regain a toddlers trust when I was explaining to them that not all American's think alike. This concept is very hard for them to grasp because in America, we all think for ourselves. We do what we want to do when we want to do it. But in China, they are VERY group oriented. They seek to be a part of a group and also to be just like everyone else in the group.
The students brought up censorship and this launched into a week long discussion of whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing. It is very strange to talk about it with them, but also very interesting. They are almost 100% for the censorship of the media. I asked them the question of why or why not and one of my students said that if the news wasn't censored, there would be riots and the country would become very unstable. I didn't argue of course but it is just very interesting to hear their opinions. Another funny example was from another one of my students and he said, "Censorship is good because if a political person did something really bad, the media would keep us from knowing so that man's image wouldn't be tarnished." I laughed out loud and then I told him how one of American media's favorite things is to expose these such cases to every listening ear. haha... kinda funny.
One of the coolest things about being in China has been seeing another side of the story. It is nice to be able to see something from someone else's point of view but it also makes me very frustrated because now I don't know who to believe. The Tibet problem for example is quite comical for some young Chinese...They feel like how we would feel if say Texas, decided that it wanted to secede from the nation...again....They also hate the Dali Lama with a fiery passion and regard him as a terrorist. They say that he is using his religious influence to gain political power in Tibet so he can return to rule over it. Also, they feel that the rest of the world refuses to understand their history and culture. My students told me that in 1951, Tibet was peacefully liberated by China, acquiring it as one of the largest Chinese Provinces. China then built up Tibet and gave the people there a better life. When I tried to read some sort of history about Tibet online for anything that would help clear things up, ALL the websites were blocked. I don't know if this is because the internet is slow or because....... Either way. There are two sides to this story for sure.
The thing that I keep thinking is how much I wish I understood what is going on all over the world. Not just in China but everywhere where there is conflict. I think that sometimes we make to quick of assumptions about things and are too quick to judge situations and people. This last few months has certainly taught me the importance of seeking to understand something before seeking to be understood.
Well, before I make this e-mail any more political, I better go. My e-mails are surely being censored. I ate mashed potatoes tonight. It was incredible. I love American food.
Elizabeth Jenkins
Sent April 1, 2008
Hello everyone,
A lot is happening so I figured I would write and get you all updated...
The most exciting news first...I got an amazing internship with a PR firm in Los Angeles when I get back from China. I am so excited. I will be going with one of my friends from BYU and we are going to have a blast. I am not sure what exactly I will be doing but it will be some sort of lobbying. I will also get to go to the beach anytime I want and finally take trapeze lessons like I have been wanting to do for a million years. I will start work on June 23rd so I am going to leave China a little early, on June 15th as opposed to June 25th and go to Hong Kong and Macao for a couple days and then I will fly back to the states. This will be an awesome summer!
I have been having a really hard time with the food here. It was bad at first, and then good, and then really good... and then.....it happened... I was eating at this one restaurant that looked a little sketchy, but really, all the places to eat around here are really sketchy... anyway. I was eating this one dish that had potatoes and something that I knew was meat...but I don't know what kind of meat. I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and went to put it in my mouth when I noticed that on one side of it, there was.....hair! I'm not talking about 'a' hair.... im talking about a full on section of animal fur! I wanted to puke ....and since then I have been unable to eat meat. even now, just thinking about it... yuuulck!
And also, we found out that they add MSG to everything. It is a very common ingredient in all their food. I remember seeing it in bags at the grocery store when I first arrived and visualizing in my mind the Chinese restaurants in America with neon signs that say "NO MSG". haha I have a suspicion that it is addictive. One of my students said that if her mom doesn't use it, she wont eat her mom's cooking. haha
The other night, Christy, my roommate and Doug, one of the other teachers, and I went to a street (Lian Jian Lu) that has a lot of places to eat. It is on campus and we go there a lot. We were walking down the street when we noticed that between the buildings, you could see a huge field of vegetables growing. This was where a lot of the food was grown that is sold on the campus. We walked down to see it when we came to a stomach churning realization. We realized that uphill from the crops was the university dump...literally like 30 feet away... Everytime there is a rain storm, our vegetables are watered with toxic waste water. YUMMY. Also, there was a stream of water that was watering the vegetables and it had a really funky film on the top of it. It looked like what the street looks like after it rains on a car oil drip. All marbled and cesspool-like. I pretty much stick to bananas and peanut butter ever since I saw that. Sick nasty.
Our trip last weekend was canceled because it was rainy. We were going to go to Zhangjiajie (zhong-ji-(like eye) -jay). If you want to see a Web site about it, go here > http://www.zhangjiajie.com.cn/english/
It is beautiful. We went to Changsha, the capital of the province again instead to stock up on peanut butter. The weather was horrible but it was still fun. We are going to Zhangjiajie this weekend for sure though. We already bought our bus tickets. The bus will take about 5 hours to get there. We are leaving on Friday and we will come back on Sunday. There is a huge elevator that goes up the side of one of the mountains. We are totally going to take it. I believe it will cost about 100 yuan (14.00 USD) to go up and come down. You can get out at the top and take pictures. It is the tallest elevator in the world.
It is really interesting to hear what the students think of America. There is a movie out in America called Juno. It is about a 16 year old girl that gets pregnant and she gives the baby up for adoption. It is actually a really funny movie. They showed the movie on campus here a few days ago and a lot of my students went to see it. This week they have all been asking me questions. The first thing they said about the movie was that it was unrealistic. To quote a student, she said "a 16-year-old girl would never get pregnant" Oh how naive they are. I told them some statistics about teen pregnancy in America and they were floored. They were so shocked that their squinty eyes became round. It is interesting to see what the different problems and issues different countries and cultures face.
Everything else is going well. It has been a while since I have seen the sun...I hope it comes out this weekend. Please keep me posted on what is going on in America. And PLEASE take a deep breath of fresh air for me and drink a big glass of water straight from the tap. Oh how I miss that.
Love and miss you all,
xoxo
Elizabeth
A lot is happening so I figured I would write and get you all updated...
The most exciting news first...I got an amazing internship with a PR firm in Los Angeles when I get back from China. I am so excited. I will be going with one of my friends from BYU and we are going to have a blast. I am not sure what exactly I will be doing but it will be some sort of lobbying. I will also get to go to the beach anytime I want and finally take trapeze lessons like I have been wanting to do for a million years. I will start work on June 23rd so I am going to leave China a little early, on June 15th as opposed to June 25th and go to Hong Kong and Macao for a couple days and then I will fly back to the states. This will be an awesome summer!
I have been having a really hard time with the food here. It was bad at first, and then good, and then really good... and then.....it happened... I was eating at this one restaurant that looked a little sketchy, but really, all the places to eat around here are really sketchy... anyway. I was eating this one dish that had potatoes and something that I knew was meat...but I don't know what kind of meat. I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and went to put it in my mouth when I noticed that on one side of it, there was.....hair! I'm not talking about 'a' hair.... im talking about a full on section of animal fur! I wanted to puke ....and since then I have been unable to eat meat. even now, just thinking about it... yuuulck!
And also, we found out that they add MSG to everything. It is a very common ingredient in all their food. I remember seeing it in bags at the grocery store when I first arrived and visualizing in my mind the Chinese restaurants in America with neon signs that say "NO MSG". haha I have a suspicion that it is addictive. One of my students said that if her mom doesn't use it, she wont eat her mom's cooking. haha
The other night, Christy, my roommate and Doug, one of the other teachers, and I went to a street (Lian Jian Lu) that has a lot of places to eat. It is on campus and we go there a lot. We were walking down the street when we noticed that between the buildings, you could see a huge field of vegetables growing. This was where a lot of the food was grown that is sold on the campus. We walked down to see it when we came to a stomach churning realization. We realized that uphill from the crops was the university dump...literally like 30 feet away... Everytime there is a rain storm, our vegetables are watered with toxic waste water. YUMMY. Also, there was a stream of water that was watering the vegetables and it had a really funky film on the top of it. It looked like what the street looks like after it rains on a car oil drip. All marbled and cesspool-like. I pretty much stick to bananas and peanut butter ever since I saw that. Sick nasty.
Our trip last weekend was canceled because it was rainy. We were going to go to Zhangjiajie (zhong-ji-(like eye) -jay). If you want to see a Web site about it, go here > http://www.zhangjiajie.com.cn/english/
It is beautiful. We went to Changsha, the capital of the province again instead to stock up on peanut butter. The weather was horrible but it was still fun. We are going to Zhangjiajie this weekend for sure though. We already bought our bus tickets. The bus will take about 5 hours to get there. We are leaving on Friday and we will come back on Sunday. There is a huge elevator that goes up the side of one of the mountains. We are totally going to take it. I believe it will cost about 100 yuan (14.00 USD) to go up and come down. You can get out at the top and take pictures. It is the tallest elevator in the world.
It is really interesting to hear what the students think of America. There is a movie out in America called Juno. It is about a 16 year old girl that gets pregnant and she gives the baby up for adoption. It is actually a really funny movie. They showed the movie on campus here a few days ago and a lot of my students went to see it. This week they have all been asking me questions. The first thing they said about the movie was that it was unrealistic. To quote a student, she said "a 16-year-old girl would never get pregnant" Oh how naive they are. I told them some statistics about teen pregnancy in America and they were floored. They were so shocked that their squinty eyes became round. It is interesting to see what the different problems and issues different countries and cultures face.
Everything else is going well. It has been a while since I have seen the sun...I hope it comes out this weekend. Please keep me posted on what is going on in America. And PLEASE take a deep breath of fresh air for me and drink a big glass of water straight from the tap. Oh how I miss that.
Love and miss you all,
xoxo
Elizabeth
Sent March 21, 2008
Nin Hao!!!
I thought I would get in a quick e-mail before I take off for a few days. We are going to have an adventure!
China is remaining awesome. I don't have a lot of new news other than we are taking our first trip this weekend. We are going to Mao's home town. It is about 45 minutes away and we are going to stay the night and see all there is to see. I am not sure just how much there will be to see there but I am looking forward to getting off of campus. The weather is so draining here. It is gloomy and cloudy and rainy way too much and I am so sick of not seeing a blue sky. I hope that the weather is good for our trip tomorrow. We haven't totally figured out all the details yet but we are taking two students with us so they can get us there and back. haha It is so difficult not knowing the language. I bet it will be really weird when I get back to America and I can tell the person what I want to eat rather than point to it. One thing is for sure, I will be able to whip anybody at Charades when I get back.
My classes have been going well. I had to lay down the law in one of them this week because it is a class full of slackers. They saw a side of "leezer" that they didn't know existed. For the most part, all my other classes are doing great. I have to meet with a few students outside of class to help them because they are sooo far behind. It is frustrating when they have no idea what you are saying and they are English majors and they just repeat everything you say. I would say the most tiring thing about teaching is straining to understand what they are talking about. They are trying so hard and they pause for like 30 seconds between each word haha. Cracks me up.
Ping pong is basically my new addiction. I played for almost 6 hours straight the other day. I love it. I play everyday that it isn't raining. I have made a lot of friends by playing and I even bought my own "pie" (paddle) I am so going to join the BYU Ping Pong Club when I get back. And buy a ping pong table for the garage....haha mom, dad, don't think I am lying. I am hoping to get a lot better before I come back. Good thing the Chinese train hard.
I bought a cell phone today. One of the other teacher's students works for one of the two cell companies and he hooked us up.I got an amazing deal. For 200yuan ($28.00), I got a phone and 252yuan worth of minutes. That is about 2500 minutes that never expire. Also, in April, we get to pick 5 people that we want to talk to for free. haha that is like...everyone in my phone book. I love the Chinese. haha
Well that is pretty much all that is happening right now. I am sure that over the next couple weeks things will get more exciting because we are going on a lot of trips and we are getting more and more involved with things happening on campus. If only the rain would go away. I would be outside playing ping pong all day everyday.
Love and miss you all. Keep me posted on what is happening!!!
oh and no, we didn't feel the earthquake. Good thing too because they freak me out.
--
Elizabeth Jenkins
I thought I would get in a quick e-mail before I take off for a few days. We are going to have an adventure!
China is remaining awesome. I don't have a lot of new news other than we are taking our first trip this weekend. We are going to Mao's home town. It is about 45 minutes away and we are going to stay the night and see all there is to see. I am not sure just how much there will be to see there but I am looking forward to getting off of campus. The weather is so draining here. It is gloomy and cloudy and rainy way too much and I am so sick of not seeing a blue sky. I hope that the weather is good for our trip tomorrow. We haven't totally figured out all the details yet but we are taking two students with us so they can get us there and back. haha It is so difficult not knowing the language. I bet it will be really weird when I get back to America and I can tell the person what I want to eat rather than point to it. One thing is for sure, I will be able to whip anybody at Charades when I get back.
My classes have been going well. I had to lay down the law in one of them this week because it is a class full of slackers. They saw a side of "leezer" that they didn't know existed. For the most part, all my other classes are doing great. I have to meet with a few students outside of class to help them because they are sooo far behind. It is frustrating when they have no idea what you are saying and they are English majors and they just repeat everything you say. I would say the most tiring thing about teaching is straining to understand what they are talking about. They are trying so hard and they pause for like 30 seconds between each word haha. Cracks me up.
Ping pong is basically my new addiction. I played for almost 6 hours straight the other day. I love it. I play everyday that it isn't raining. I have made a lot of friends by playing and I even bought my own "pie" (paddle) I am so going to join the BYU Ping Pong Club when I get back. And buy a ping pong table for the garage....haha mom, dad, don't think I am lying. I am hoping to get a lot better before I come back. Good thing the Chinese train hard.
I bought a cell phone today. One of the other teacher's students works for one of the two cell companies and he hooked us up.I got an amazing deal. For 200yuan ($28.00), I got a phone and 252yuan worth of minutes. That is about 2500 minutes that never expire. Also, in April, we get to pick 5 people that we want to talk to for free. haha that is like...everyone in my phone book. I love the Chinese. haha
Well that is pretty much all that is happening right now. I am sure that over the next couple weeks things will get more exciting because we are going on a lot of trips and we are getting more and more involved with things happening on campus. If only the rain would go away. I would be outside playing ping pong all day everyday.
Love and miss you all. Keep me posted on what is happening!!!
oh and no, we didn't feel the earthquake. Good thing too because they freak me out.
--
Elizabeth Jenkins
Sent March 7, 2008
Hello Friends and Family,
I hope you are all doing well. I hear that spring break is just around the corner. What are you all going to do? I don't get a spring break but I do get to have some awesome adventures everyday. This past week or so has been very fun. We have been able to do a lot. I don't really know where to start.
The woman that takes care of the foreign teachers here at Xiangtan University is Lany. She is very nice and makes sure that we are happy and healthy. She is Buddhist and thought that we might enjoy a visit to the Buddhist temple. I was really excited because I had never seen a Buddhist temple and I was not sure what to expect. Lany had a driver pick us up at 7:00 a.m. last Sunday morning and we drove to the Temple. It was very different than what I expected. The street (or ally) that the temple was on was full of people and the gates to the temple were just in the middle of it all. I don't think I would have even noticed them had Lany not pointed them out to us. We went inside and we were expecting a service to be starting but as it turned out, all the nuns were meditating and had been for hours. We decided to take a look around and Lany told us what each of the Buddha's represent. It was really neat because I didn't know anything about the religion before that. We met this lady who was so sweet. She was so excited to see Americans. She just kept thanking us for being there and we thanked her and she thanked us and we thanked her and she thanked us and back and forth over and over. It was really funny. Maybe we need to learn more Chinese phrases other than "thank you" and "Your welcome". The first picture is one I took of the lady that we met there.
We decided to go get some breakfast down the street and then come back and have a meeting with the Master of the temple (She is the one in brown in the second picture). Then we went back to the temple and met the Master. She was so nice. It was kind-of the same situation where we just went back and forth telling each other how great they were back and forth for about two hours. Then we ate some lunch and it was delicious. My roommate informed me about an hour ago that while we were eating, she saw three giant rats running around the kitchen...I am so glad that she decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell me that while we were there.
The nuns at the temple treated us like royalty. It was really interesting to see how much they loved us and they don't even know us. English teachers are very appreciated here because they believe learning English is the door to a brighter future. They just think we are the greatest and they don't hesitate to tell us over and over again. haha. The master of the temple gave us these really cool bracelets that Buddhist people wear and these little charm things as a thank you for our visit. She also invited us to come back and stay the night at the temple and be a nun for a day. I thought about it and I decided that I didn't want to. My roommate is going though. I decided that I would rather spend the day in the city with some of my students. We are going to have a super fun day of shopping culture.
On Wednesday night our friend Dennis, who is the equivalent of student body president, was in charge of a fund-raiser for the victims of the ice age. We didn't really know what was going on but I think it was an event to honor the students who raised the most money. How they did it was they sold oranges. The money from the oranges went to the farmers who lost all their trees from the snow. In the middle of the event, Rita pulled out some money to donate so we thought it was a good idea too. We handed the money to one of the people that was working at the event and she looked really confused. We told them that we wanted the money to go to the farmers and then all of the sudden all these cameras were on us and they were thanking us and we were even more confused and then they told us that our oranges would be delivered in the morning. After trying to explain that we didn't want the oranges, we just wanted to donate, and failing miserably, we gave up. We thought that we bought a few oranges and we felt good about helping out the farmers. Well, the next morning, I came home from class and there was a HUGE bag of oranges in our front room. This things has to weigh more than me. There are probably 400 oranges in the bag. Anyone got any ideas for how to have fun with 400 oranges?
I really love teaching. It is so fun and the students are so eager to learn. I love making them laugh and helping them to learn English in a fun way. They get so excited when they see us on campus and they want to do things with us. I taught about 5 of my students how to play basketball a couple days ago. They are actually really good for having never played before. I loved it.
This week the number of students I teach doubled. I originally had about 200 students and then I was given 5 more classes of college juniors to teach. I now have about 450 students. I have made a real effort to memorize their names and I think I have about half of them. It is a lot harder than you think because they all look so similar still! For the first week, I swore that the same girl was following me everywhere. It was probably a different girl every time, I'm just an idiot. I taught them about emotions this week and ways to express themselves. I lost my voice practically every day this week because of it. Showing that you are ecstatic and enraged and terrified is hard on the vocal chords. haha I think they got the point though. I also taught them about music. I played some of the hits of today and some Beatles songs. They love the Beatles and they love Mika. They really like country to which I though was funny. I taught them the head-shoulders-knees-and toes song, and the Itsy Bitsy spider song... they hated learning those hahaha.
Today, Friday, was Women's Day here in China. Apparently they adopted this holiday from us but...i had never heard of it before. I think in America we usually refer to it as "Take your daughter to work day." Anyway, there was a big conference in Xiangtan City that was for all of the most important people in the city. Rita, Christy, Lany and I were all invited to attend. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I did NOT want to have to do any sort of chanting. We got to the place where the conference was and it was a beautiful hotel. The only 5 star hotel in the city. The meeting was all in Chinese of course but Lany helped to translate. Our table was in the front of the room and they were broadcasting the show on TV. The hosts/emcees were dressed like they were hosting the Oscars or something. They had Chinese dancers and a few people did Karaoke (they love that here and take it VERY seriously) and they presented awards to some people that were very helpful during the "Ice age" (they refer to the ice storm as the ice age) A lot of people in this province were badly put out by the storm. Many people lost their homes and many even died.
The Chinese love to toast to...everything. I now know what a room full of tipsy Asians looks like. They get up and walk to all the different tables and toast to each other and drink red wine. Christy and I both don't drink so it was funny because after the toasts, everyone would look at us and stare like we were forgetting something...oh well. Our table got a lot of attention and we just smiled and nodded because we didn't know what they were saying haha. Lany leaned over to us and said, oh now it is time for you to be interviewed for the TV. Uhhhhh... excuse me? WHAT?! So we were all interviewed and they asked us questions about how we celebrate this day in America and ....since we don't, I had to make up some stuff. Rita, one of the other foreign teachers decided to turn it into a Hillary Clinton Rally...gag. She loves Hillary Clinton so in her interview she asked the entire conference to stand up and toast to Hillary Clinton. It was really funny and I just kept thinking, I hope this doesn't make it back to America. After the conference, they gave us these awesome "China Red" tea cups and saucers. They are so beautiful. I was so excited. It will be something that I keep forever. Then we went to a super nice hotel and we had Lunch with all of these important people in Xiangtan City. They all kept saying how I look like Barbie with my humongous eyes. haha At least they don't say that I look like a bug or something.
After we got back from the celebration, we went to the salon and had our hair washed and blow-dried. It was fabulous. I feel like my hair has never been so clean and smooth. I will be going back...every week. Then we came home and took naps and then Rita called and told us to turn on the TV. There we were. They were showing us at the conference and our interview and they talked about us for about 5 minutes. It was ridiculous. I took pictures of the TV to prove it! haha. So random. At the end of our interview they had us hold hands and raise them in the air and say "HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY" haha. Awkward. There are some pictures of that too.
Everything is an adventure here. We have made friends with almost all the street vendors between our apartment and our classrooms. They just laugh at us because we are clueless. Oh well. I love China and the people here are so generous. I have to fight my students to let me pay for my own lunch. The people are very curious and they just want to talk with us. I hope they know that I really am not as cool as they think. They keep saying how grateful they are for our contribution to the students of China but I really think that I am getting more out of this experience than I ever imagined. I love it here.
I miss you all and I am enjoying the replies I am receiving. Keep em' comin'!
--
XOXO,
Elizabeth Jenkins
I hope you are all doing well. I hear that spring break is just around the corner. What are you all going to do? I don't get a spring break but I do get to have some awesome adventures everyday. This past week or so has been very fun. We have been able to do a lot. I don't really know where to start.
The woman that takes care of the foreign teachers here at Xiangtan University is Lany. She is very nice and makes sure that we are happy and healthy. She is Buddhist and thought that we might enjoy a visit to the Buddhist temple. I was really excited because I had never seen a Buddhist temple and I was not sure what to expect. Lany had a driver pick us up at 7:00 a.m. last Sunday morning and we drove to the Temple. It was very different than what I expected. The street (or ally) that the temple was on was full of people and the gates to the temple were just in the middle of it all. I don't think I would have even noticed them had Lany not pointed them out to us. We went inside and we were expecting a service to be starting but as it turned out, all the nuns were meditating and had been for hours. We decided to take a look around and Lany told us what each of the Buddha's represent. It was really neat because I didn't know anything about the religion before that. We met this lady who was so sweet. She was so excited to see Americans. She just kept thanking us for being there and we thanked her and she thanked us and we thanked her and she thanked us and back and forth over and over. It was really funny. Maybe we need to learn more Chinese phrases other than "thank you" and "Your welcome". The first picture is one I took of the lady that we met there.
We decided to go get some breakfast down the street and then come back and have a meeting with the Master of the temple (She is the one in brown in the second picture). Then we went back to the temple and met the Master. She was so nice. It was kind-of the same situation where we just went back and forth telling each other how great they were back and forth for about two hours. Then we ate some lunch and it was delicious. My roommate informed me about an hour ago that while we were eating, she saw three giant rats running around the kitchen...I am so glad that she decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to tell me that while we were there.
The nuns at the temple treated us like royalty. It was really interesting to see how much they loved us and they don't even know us. English teachers are very appreciated here because they believe learning English is the door to a brighter future. They just think we are the greatest and they don't hesitate to tell us over and over again. haha. The master of the temple gave us these really cool bracelets that Buddhist people wear and these little charm things as a thank you for our visit. She also invited us to come back and stay the night at the temple and be a nun for a day. I thought about it and I decided that I didn't want to. My roommate is going though. I decided that I would rather spend the day in the city with some of my students. We are going to have a super fun day of shopping culture.
On Wednesday night our friend Dennis, who is the equivalent of student body president, was in charge of a fund-raiser for the victims of the ice age. We didn't really know what was going on but I think it was an event to honor the students who raised the most money. How they did it was they sold oranges. The money from the oranges went to the farmers who lost all their trees from the snow. In the middle of the event, Rita pulled out some money to donate so we thought it was a good idea too. We handed the money to one of the people that was working at the event and she looked really confused. We told them that we wanted the money to go to the farmers and then all of the sudden all these cameras were on us and they were thanking us and we were even more confused and then they told us that our oranges would be delivered in the morning. After trying to explain that we didn't want the oranges, we just wanted to donate, and failing miserably, we gave up. We thought that we bought a few oranges and we felt good about helping out the farmers. Well, the next morning, I came home from class and there was a HUGE bag of oranges in our front room. This things has to weigh more than me. There are probably 400 oranges in the bag. Anyone got any ideas for how to have fun with 400 oranges?
I really love teaching. It is so fun and the students are so eager to learn. I love making them laugh and helping them to learn English in a fun way. They get so excited when they see us on campus and they want to do things with us. I taught about 5 of my students how to play basketball a couple days ago. They are actually really good for having never played before. I loved it.
This week the number of students I teach doubled. I originally had about 200 students and then I was given 5 more classes of college juniors to teach. I now have about 450 students. I have made a real effort to memorize their names and I think I have about half of them. It is a lot harder than you think because they all look so similar still! For the first week, I swore that the same girl was following me everywhere. It was probably a different girl every time, I'm just an idiot. I taught them about emotions this week and ways to express themselves. I lost my voice practically every day this week because of it. Showing that you are ecstatic and enraged and terrified is hard on the vocal chords. haha I think they got the point though. I also taught them about music. I played some of the hits of today and some Beatles songs. They love the Beatles and they love Mika. They really like country to which I though was funny. I taught them the head-shoulders-knees-and toes song, and the Itsy Bitsy spider song... they hated learning those hahaha.
Today, Friday, was Women's Day here in China. Apparently they adopted this holiday from us but...i had never heard of it before. I think in America we usually refer to it as "Take your daughter to work day." Anyway, there was a big conference in Xiangtan City that was for all of the most important people in the city. Rita, Christy, Lany and I were all invited to attend. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I did NOT want to have to do any sort of chanting. We got to the place where the conference was and it was a beautiful hotel. The only 5 star hotel in the city. The meeting was all in Chinese of course but Lany helped to translate. Our table was in the front of the room and they were broadcasting the show on TV. The hosts/emcees were dressed like they were hosting the Oscars or something. They had Chinese dancers and a few people did Karaoke (they love that here and take it VERY seriously) and they presented awards to some people that were very helpful during the "Ice age" (they refer to the ice storm as the ice age) A lot of people in this province were badly put out by the storm. Many people lost their homes and many even died.
The Chinese love to toast to...everything. I now know what a room full of tipsy Asians looks like. They get up and walk to all the different tables and toast to each other and drink red wine. Christy and I both don't drink so it was funny because after the toasts, everyone would look at us and stare like we were forgetting something...oh well. Our table got a lot of attention and we just smiled and nodded because we didn't know what they were saying haha. Lany leaned over to us and said, oh now it is time for you to be interviewed for the TV. Uhhhhh... excuse me? WHAT?! So we were all interviewed and they asked us questions about how we celebrate this day in America and ....since we don't, I had to make up some stuff. Rita, one of the other foreign teachers decided to turn it into a Hillary Clinton Rally...gag. She loves Hillary Clinton so in her interview she asked the entire conference to stand up and toast to Hillary Clinton. It was really funny and I just kept thinking, I hope this doesn't make it back to America. After the conference, they gave us these awesome "China Red" tea cups and saucers. They are so beautiful. I was so excited. It will be something that I keep forever. Then we went to a super nice hotel and we had Lunch with all of these important people in Xiangtan City. They all kept saying how I look like Barbie with my humongous eyes. haha At least they don't say that I look like a bug or something.
After we got back from the celebration, we went to the salon and had our hair washed and blow-dried. It was fabulous. I feel like my hair has never been so clean and smooth. I will be going back...every week. Then we came home and took naps and then Rita called and told us to turn on the TV. There we were. They were showing us at the conference and our interview and they talked about us for about 5 minutes. It was ridiculous. I took pictures of the TV to prove it! haha. So random. At the end of our interview they had us hold hands and raise them in the air and say "HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY" haha. Awkward. There are some pictures of that too.
Everything is an adventure here. We have made friends with almost all the street vendors between our apartment and our classrooms. They just laugh at us because we are clueless. Oh well. I love China and the people here are so generous. I have to fight my students to let me pay for my own lunch. The people are very curious and they just want to talk with us. I hope they know that I really am not as cool as they think. They keep saying how grateful they are for our contribution to the students of China but I really think that I am getting more out of this experience than I ever imagined. I love it here.
I miss you all and I am enjoying the replies I am receiving. Keep em' comin'!
--
XOXO,
Elizabeth Jenkins
Sent February 24, 2007
Hi everyone!
I hope that you all had a good last few days. Today is Sunday and I am just hanging out in my apartment because it is really cold and rainy outside. Humidity is something that I am unfamiliar with. The temperature isn't very cold but the humidity makes my fingers and toes go numb. I hate that.
So, I was really hoping to avoid any accidents here in China but I wasn't so lucky. Friday for lunch I wanted some rice so I was boiling water, The only pot we have is a pressure cooker. My mom had always told me they were dangerous but she never told me why. Well, i was trying to get the lid off because I wanted to see how much water was left in it. It was stuck so I kept trying to open it. My friend Doug said.. "uhhh I wouldn't try to force it open...it's like... under pressure." Yeah... I wish I would have listened because right after he said that KABOOM... the pot exploded and boiling water and steam went everywhere. It even shot the ceiling! I was very lucky because only my eyelids got the worst of it. I was just a little red for a day. Now I refuse to put lids on pots.
Yesterday we went to Changsha, the capital of the province. It was pretty much like a NYC but everything was in Chinese.... except for "WAL MART". We successfully found peanut butter there. Wal-mart is pronounced war-ma. haha. It is very different here. In the stores they have dead animals hanging everywhere. No really... Oh and our next door neighbor had chickens and fish hanging from the clothes line all week. Yummy.
On a lighter note, the bread here is purple. They make it with taro. I really like it. I like it more than American bread I think. It is delicious with peanut butter on it. But then again... what isn't delicious with a little P.B.? So far I have made two dishes that I like. One is rice with vegetables and the second is vegetables with rice. Who knew I could get so creative with food! I'm your average Martha Stewart. Or should I say Mahta Stoowaht.
Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I am so excited. Ill let you all know how it goes. I hope that they don't think I am some dysfunctional American. I'll have to keep that a secret for as long as possible.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elizabeth
I hope that you all had a good last few days. Today is Sunday and I am just hanging out in my apartment because it is really cold and rainy outside. Humidity is something that I am unfamiliar with. The temperature isn't very cold but the humidity makes my fingers and toes go numb. I hate that.
So, I was really hoping to avoid any accidents here in China but I wasn't so lucky. Friday for lunch I wanted some rice so I was boiling water, The only pot we have is a pressure cooker. My mom had always told me they were dangerous but she never told me why. Well, i was trying to get the lid off because I wanted to see how much water was left in it. It was stuck so I kept trying to open it. My friend Doug said.. "uhhh I wouldn't try to force it open...it's like... under pressure." Yeah... I wish I would have listened because right after he said that KABOOM... the pot exploded and boiling water and steam went everywhere. It even shot the ceiling! I was very lucky because only my eyelids got the worst of it. I was just a little red for a day. Now I refuse to put lids on pots.
Yesterday we went to Changsha, the capital of the province. It was pretty much like a NYC but everything was in Chinese.... except for "WAL MART". We successfully found peanut butter there. Wal-mart is pronounced war-ma. haha. It is very different here. In the stores they have dead animals hanging everywhere. No really... Oh and our next door neighbor had chickens and fish hanging from the clothes line all week. Yummy.
On a lighter note, the bread here is purple. They make it with taro. I really like it. I like it more than American bread I think. It is delicious with peanut butter on it. But then again... what isn't delicious with a little P.B.? So far I have made two dishes that I like. One is rice with vegetables and the second is vegetables with rice. Who knew I could get so creative with food! I'm your average Martha Stewart. Or should I say Mahta Stoowaht.
Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I am so excited. Ill let you all know how it goes. I hope that they don't think I am some dysfunctional American. I'll have to keep that a secret for as long as possible.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elizabeth
Sent February 24, 2007
Hi everyone!
I hope that you all had a good last few days. Today is Sunday and I am just hanging out in my apartment because it is really cold and rainy outside. Humidity is something that I am unfamiliar with. The temperature isn't very cold but the humidity makes my fingers and toes go numb. I hate that.
So, I was really hoping to avoid any accidents here in China but I wasn't so lucky. Friday for lunch I wanted some rice so I was boiling water, The only pot we have is a pressure cooker. My mom had always told me they were dangerous but she never told me why. Well, i was trying to get the lid off because I wanted to see how much water was left in it. It was stuck so I kept trying to open it. My friend Doug said.. "uhhh I wouldn't try to force it open...it's like... under pressure." Yeah... I wish I would have listened because right after he said that KABOOM... the pot exploded and boiling water and steam went everywhere. It even shot the ceiling! I was very lucky because only my eyelids got the worst of it. I was just a little red for a day. Now I refuse to put lids on pots.
Yesterday we went to Changsha, the capital of the province. It was pretty much like a NYC but everything was in Chinese.... except for "WAL MART". We successfully found peanut butter there. Wal-mart is pronounced war-ma. haha. It is very different here. In the stores they have dead animals hanging everywhere. No really... Oh and our next door neighbor had chickens and fish hanging from the clothes line all week. Yummy.
On a lighter note, the bread here is purple. They make it with taro. I really like it. I like it more than American bread I think. It is delicious with peanut butter on it. But then again... what isn't delicious with a little P.B.? So far I have made two dishes that I like. One is rice with vegetables and the second is vegetables with rice. Who knew I could get so creative with food! I'm your average Martha Stewart. Or should I say Mahta Stoowaht.
Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I am so excited. Ill let you all know how it goes. I hope that they don't think I am some dysfunctional American. I'll have to keep that a secret for as long as possible.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elizabeth
I hope that you all had a good last few days. Today is Sunday and I am just hanging out in my apartment because it is really cold and rainy outside. Humidity is something that I am unfamiliar with. The temperature isn't very cold but the humidity makes my fingers and toes go numb. I hate that.
So, I was really hoping to avoid any accidents here in China but I wasn't so lucky. Friday for lunch I wanted some rice so I was boiling water, The only pot we have is a pressure cooker. My mom had always told me they were dangerous but she never told me why. Well, i was trying to get the lid off because I wanted to see how much water was left in it. It was stuck so I kept trying to open it. My friend Doug said.. "uhhh I wouldn't try to force it open...it's like... under pressure." Yeah... I wish I would have listened because right after he said that KABOOM... the pot exploded and boiling water and steam went everywhere. It even shot the ceiling! I was very lucky because only my eyelids got the worst of it. I was just a little red for a day. Now I refuse to put lids on pots.
Yesterday we went to Changsha, the capital of the province. It was pretty much like a NYC but everything was in Chinese.... except for "WAL MART". We successfully found peanut butter there. Wal-mart is pronounced war-ma. haha. It is very different here. In the stores they have dead animals hanging everywhere. No really... Oh and our next door neighbor had chickens and fish hanging from the clothes line all week. Yummy.
On a lighter note, the bread here is purple. They make it with taro. I really like it. I like it more than American bread I think. It is delicious with peanut butter on it. But then again... what isn't delicious with a little P.B.? So far I have made two dishes that I like. One is rice with vegetables and the second is vegetables with rice. Who knew I could get so creative with food! I'm your average Martha Stewart. Or should I say Mahta Stoowaht.
Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I am so excited. Ill let you all know how it goes. I hope that they don't think I am some dysfunctional American. I'll have to keep that a secret for as long as possible.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Elizabeth
Sent February 21, 2007
Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to let you all know that I made it to China safely! I absolutely love it here. It is incredible and strange all at the same time. School doesn't start until Monday so the three other foreign teacher and I have had some time to explore the campus and the city. Our first three days here in China were spent in Shanghai. I loved Shanghai. Shopping there is really fun because you can always get a good deal. They love to sell to Americans because we love to spend our money. Especially when you can get a pair of $50 shoes for $7.00.
After Shanghai, all the teachers split up to go to their school all over the country. I am in Xiangtan City at the Xiangtan University. It is a really nice university and almost everything that I will need to buy while I am here (except for Mcdonalds and kfc) can be found right here on campus. It is a really big campus. The school has about 30,000 students and almost all of the students and faculty members live on campus. There are apartment buildings everywhere you look.
Our apartment is pretty awesome. It will make for some great stories someday I am sure. Our bathroom is more like a shower-toilet-sink all in one. Every morning shower is an adventure. We are definitely used to a different style of living than they are here in China.
When they say that Americans are treated like celebrities here, they are not lying. Everywhere we go, people just stare at us. Some people run up to us and ask us where we are from, others just want to practice their English on us. We are the only Americans, that I have seen, in this entire city. People just don't come here because it is so far from anything touristy.
I have not seen the sun in about a week. It is just really really foggy/smoggy. I hope that it clears up soon. Every morning I am woken up by roosters. They like to hang out by our apartment building. There are also lots of stray dogs and cats everywhere here in Xiangtan. I should probably carry my pepper spray just incase one of the dogs thinks I want to play.
So far I have had some good experiences with the food and some bad ones as well. Trying to find American food in the grocery stores is really hard. I am craving peanut butter and Lucky Charms cereal. I am going to have a huge bowl of it when I come back home. We did find some oreos though. They are the peanut butter chocolate flavor. They taste so good!
Yesterday we were hungry for some American food so we took the bus into town and found a McDonalds. It was the best tasting food I had had in a week. I didn't feel guilty at all. You can find some really good fruit here. There are peasant ladies selling fruit and vegetables right near our apartment building which makes it very easy to eat well.
I think either today or tomorrow we are going to go to the capital of Hunan. It is about an hour away. It is called Changsha. Maybe we will get lucky and find a Wal-mart there.
Well, I hope all of you are happy and healthy. I miss you all and I wish you all could be here to see what it is like here. Please let me know what all of you are up to. I look forward to hearing from you!
--
Elizabeth Jenkins
I just wanted to let you all know that I made it to China safely! I absolutely love it here. It is incredible and strange all at the same time. School doesn't start until Monday so the three other foreign teacher and I have had some time to explore the campus and the city. Our first three days here in China were spent in Shanghai. I loved Shanghai. Shopping there is really fun because you can always get a good deal. They love to sell to Americans because we love to spend our money. Especially when you can get a pair of $50 shoes for $7.00.
After Shanghai, all the teachers split up to go to their school all over the country. I am in Xiangtan City at the Xiangtan University. It is a really nice university and almost everything that I will need to buy while I am here (except for Mcdonalds and kfc) can be found right here on campus. It is a really big campus. The school has about 30,000 students and almost all of the students and faculty members live on campus. There are apartment buildings everywhere you look.
Our apartment is pretty awesome. It will make for some great stories someday I am sure. Our bathroom is more like a shower-toilet-sink all in one. Every morning shower is an adventure. We are definitely used to a different style of living than they are here in China.
When they say that Americans are treated like celebrities here, they are not lying. Everywhere we go, people just stare at us. Some people run up to us and ask us where we are from, others just want to practice their English on us. We are the only Americans, that I have seen, in this entire city. People just don't come here because it is so far from anything touristy.
I have not seen the sun in about a week. It is just really really foggy/smoggy. I hope that it clears up soon. Every morning I am woken up by roosters. They like to hang out by our apartment building. There are also lots of stray dogs and cats everywhere here in Xiangtan. I should probably carry my pepper spray just incase one of the dogs thinks I want to play.
So far I have had some good experiences with the food and some bad ones as well. Trying to find American food in the grocery stores is really hard. I am craving peanut butter and Lucky Charms cereal. I am going to have a huge bowl of it when I come back home. We did find some oreos though. They are the peanut butter chocolate flavor. They taste so good!
Yesterday we were hungry for some American food so we took the bus into town and found a McDonalds. It was the best tasting food I had had in a week. I didn't feel guilty at all. You can find some really good fruit here. There are peasant ladies selling fruit and vegetables right near our apartment building which makes it very easy to eat well.
I think either today or tomorrow we are going to go to the capital of Hunan. It is about an hour away. It is called Changsha. Maybe we will get lucky and find a Wal-mart there.
Well, I hope all of you are happy and healthy. I miss you all and I wish you all could be here to see what it is like here. Please let me know what all of you are up to. I look forward to hearing from you!
--
Elizabeth Jenkins
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