Total Celebrities

I know that Camiile just did a blog post about this, so for those of you who read both of ours, I'm sorry you have to read about it again! I'm a little slower at updating than Camille, I guess. Anyway, here goes...

A few weeks ago, our school basically volunteered us to be the judges at a high school English competition in Yangxin. Yangxin is a village (really a town) about an hour from Huangshi. They told us it would just be 15 students giving a short speech in English so it wouldn't be very long. We said we would do it, thinking it would be low key, classroom, just a few students, just a couple of hours, no big deal!

As it turns out, the whole day turned into complete celebrity mode starting with being picked up in a nice car to be driven to Yangxin. Sounds nice right? Well I should mention that we were picked up at 7 in the morning and it was raining that day so Camille and I are looking rough to say the least! They stopped and treated us to breakfast...noodles of course! Then, we get to school and 15ish teachers are standing there waiting to greet us. They walk us to the auditorium, where to our surprise, there are hundreds of students sitting, waiting for us and the competition to start! The picture below is literally what we saw as we walked in...

Because this is a village, most of these people had never seen a foreigner before so they erupted into clapping and cheers for Camille and me as we walked in! The picture taking started immediately!

The competitors came up one at a time and gave a short speech on their dream in life. I was surprised and impressed at how good everyone's English was. After each speech, all of the judges would give them a score. 

Camille and I at the judges' table, sitting front and center! Diana sat next to us and also Zhu Ming. Zhu Ming is the daughter of one of the teachers at our school and she came with us to Yangxin for the day. Diana and Zhu Ming acted like our bodyguards for the day, always keeping close to us and speaking Chinese on our behalf! 

After all of the competitors had given their speech, it was time for awards. They asked Camille and I to go up on the stage to hand out each award and congratulate the students and pose for pictures! We said sure, thats easy, we can do that! We thought it was over and went to sit down, but oh no, we weren't finished yet!

Then they asked us to give the closing speech, ON THE SPOT! Why they couldn't have given us a heads up, I have no idea! So the two of us walk up on stage, microphones in hand, with no idea what to say. Basically, we just thanked them for inviting us to their school, said we enjoyed the competition, and congratulated the competitors and encouraged them to go after their dreams! Ok, speech done, that should be the end right? Of course it isn't. Now it was time for the Question and Answer session, in which students could come to the front and ask us a question. What?!?! They asked all of the usuals about boyfriends, how to improve their English, could they please take a picture with us, etc. The last girl came up to ask if we had QQ, the instant messaging system in China. Camille immediately replied that yes we do, and then she immediately regretted her statement! We walked off the stage and were mobbed but at least 50 students, handing us books, napkins, and scraps of paper to sign our name and QQ number on! I wish I had a picture showing Camille and I in the middle of the mob. It looked like we were signing autographs! I literally would sign a paper and then pose for a picture! Below are a bunch of the pictures taken by a teacher in Yangxin. Remember, picked up at 7 am!!! :)

Yep, this actually happened, she actually kissed me on the cheek! I know what it feels like to be Justin Bieber!

Finally, Diana came up to me and said "Ready to go superstar?" Haha I laughed and said yes! 

The teachers then treated us to a fancy lunch at their school, with our body guards remaining on either side, of course! Its not that we needed body guards, but more that it is more comfortable sitting with people you are familiar with who aren't constantly taking pictures of you!

And then it was time for the teachers to take pictures with us! We thought this was pretty funny, because they acted like the students were being outrageous with all of their cameras and phones and QQ numbers, and then just a short hour later, here they were doing the same thing!

It was a crazy day experiencing the lifestyle of a celebrity, but all in all it was pretty fun! This past Monday, Camille and I were asked to judge another English competition at the university in Huangshi. We've been feeling a little burnt out by all of the extra jobs we've taken on recently, but were asked by a friend and didn't want to turn him down! The university competition was way more intense and 3 HOURS LONG! We were assigned jobs when we got there and Camille got to be a judge along with the other teachers. I had to be the Question Master! After the students gave their speech, I had to ask them questions related to their topic! I was so nervous, that I made Camille help me write down question ideas before the competition started! But then I remembered that there were only 4 native English speakers in the whole room ( Camille, a couple from New Zealand who work at the university and me) so only these people would know if I messed up! I could do it! It turned out to be easier than I thought, but my palms were still sweating the whole time! After the competition ended, once again, we had to hand out awards and pose for several pictures! 

THE END.

A little bit more of the Usual China...

So a while back, the Huanghsi team took a trip to Wuhan to visit friends, eat some delicious western food, and even go BOWLING!!!! If you couldn't guess from the cap-sizing, we don't have bowling in Huangshi. We don't have too many options, entertainment-wise, here so this trip was a lot of fun and a nice break for us! Unfortunately, I have zero pictures from the weekend with friends, but I snapped some pictures on our interesting bus ride back. Camille and I had to leave early so we took a black bus back to Huangshi. A black bus isn't exactly legal....its a small bus that is pretty cheap and leaves at no set time, just as soon as the bus is full. Because of this, they can pack on as many people as they want.

In the pictures you can see that besides the regular seats, they also placed small stools in the aisle to fit in more people. Camille and I were lucky enough to get there early and have an actual seat. But that means we had to wait a little over an hour on the bus for more people to get on!

Even the regular seats are a bit small. Our legs barely fit in our seat area. Luckily, the ride is only about an hour and a half. 

This picture doesn't even do it justice! You can't really tell how crowded it is, but this is the best I could get from my seat. Even as we were driving from Wuhan to Haungshi, the bus would just stop on the side of the highway to pick up more people. At times during the ride, people were standing because there weren't any seats! Totally normal China!

Another time, some friends came to visit us in Huangshi and we went out to the park for the day because the weather was nice and it is one of the more beautiful areas of Huangshi! They have a few rides and activities for children and this sort-of rock climbing thing in the picture below was one of them. I had to get a picture of these kids because it was just too funny. This boy had a rope tied around his waste and was being pulled up the wall by the rope. He thought this was the funniest thing in the world and could not stop laughing. We stood and watched while he was dragged by the rope and laughed for at least 5 minutes! Again, this was a typical China moment!

Many people like to take their wedding photos in this park. I have seen a lot of different couples over the year posing for pictures. Chinese weddings are quite different from American weddings as are their wedding dresses! This couple below chose bright blue and yellow for their wedding clothes. I have been to two weddings here and typically the bride wears a white gown during the ceremony and then changes into a more traditional, red, Chinese dress to toast everyone after the ceremony.

This couple chose red and black!

This is the really beautiful C@tholic Chur.ch at the back of the park. 

I had to get a picture of this rare sunset in Huangshi! Because of all the pollution, the sun is usually hidden behind layers of smog. This was a beautiful site for all of us here! So for those of you reading this, remember to appreciate the beautiful sunlight where you are!!!

So excited about the sunset! The Huangshi girls with our sweet friend, Melodie!

SLUMBER PARTY!

Camille and I had been promising the Randal girls for months that we would have a girls' sleepover at our apartment and we finally did it! The Randals moved out of Huangshi last week, so we had to have the party before the left! 

Pizza sticks, popcorn, oreos, American candy, check! Now its time for the girly movie! 

We chose to watch Ella Enchanted! I had to get a picture, because this was the first time we used our Chinese DVD player! It was short-lived however! It worked for about 20 minutes and then just stopped completely! Probably because it was an American DVD on a Chinese player. So we improvised and watched it on my computer instead! Whatever works!

And then we made Smores! YUM!!! And yes we roasted the marshmallows on wooden chopsticks!!! Chopsticks are multifunctional....I've learned a lot this year!

Roasting on our stove top! 

YUMMY!

Such a fun treat! They don't have graham crackers here and only sometimes have marshmallows!

Yay! It was finally time for bed! 3 little bugs in a rug! We had so much fun we ended up having them over for another sleepover! 

Our good friend, Wu Xia, is one of the few Chinese people who likes sweet things. I made her brownies once and she loved them so she asked me to teach her how to make them! Here we are getting ready to bake!

Wang Hao hates chocolate, so he and Camille watched dance videos while we were baking! 

After baking, they took us out for CRAWFISH!!!! Thats correct, these Louisianians actually ate Chinese crawfish! I know that in Louisiana this is a big no no, but this would be Camille's only opportunity to eat crawfish this year (I got to eat it once on my quick trip home). Not to mention, we have eaten much stranger  foods since living here than crawfish! 

They were different, but flavorful, and surprisingly good! It was funny to use chopsticks and gloves to eat them. I gave up on that pretty fast. They actually eat the whole crawfish body here, not just the tail! 

                                We even go the Canadian to eat crawfish with us! Yay Kevin! 

This is outside of the restaurant. Its funny because in a way it is similar to Louisiana, the way they had all of the tables set up outside for people to eat at! They also only get one bowl of crawfish and then get a lot of other dishes to eat with it! It was an interesting dinner and pretty good too!

A Little Bit of Life!

Here is an update on what life has been like in Huangshi the past couple of months. Like I said in the last blog post, I'm trying to catch everyone up since I was a complete slacker and dropped off the face of the blogging world. This is the start of the catch up...another post coming soon!

Camille and I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon with two wonderful students, Cherish Missy and Kristen, making cookies. We went to a DIY (do it yourself) shop where they let you go in the back and teach you how to make the batter yourself. This was really exciting for our students because baking cookies is not a common past-time like it is in America. Chinese people typically do not like sweet things the way we do in America. 

After preparing the batter, you could create your own cookies any way you wanted. I wrote my initials!

I should be a professional :)

Camille, Kristen, and Cherish Missy making cookies...

Our tray ready to be baked!

We decided to take some photos while the cookies were baking. This is Kristen on the left and Cherish Missy on the right. Their English is really good and they are the sweetest kids you will ever meet! Today, Cherish Missy, helped me to practice my Chinese. She told me that I am so "clever" because I have improved so much since moving here! Believe me when I say that she is being generous in her compliment! But it was really cute!

Do it yourself cake shop! You can also make cakes and chocolates.

The cookies are done! yay! 

We also had two other students over to our house for lunch. This is Loura and CC Smith. CC used to be my student and Loura used to be Camille's student. But in March, the students took a placement exam and chose a major. They could choose to study Science or History for the remainder of high school. They will still take all of the other subjects like Chinese, English, Math, etc. but now only have to take one or the other of Science or History. This was difficult for Camille and I because we each teach half of Grade 1. I had 8 classes of Grade 1 and Camille had 7. After the exam, all of the students were moved around based on the major they chose and the score they received on the exam. Soooo after 7 months of attempting to learn 500 names, all of the students changed!!!! It was a difficult adjustment because we had to say goodbye to some of our favorite students as they ended up in one of the other's classes. All this is to say that now Loura is my student and CC Smith is Camille's. They are good friends and we really enjoyed having them over for lunch. 

They wanted to eat an American meal, so Camille made grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans! It was great! Our school has two and a half hours for lunch, so we spent the entire lunch break with them listening to English and Chinese music and watching videos. 

EASTER CELEBRATION

On Good Friday, we celebrated at Paul and Erin's house by dying Easter eggs together with some of our Chinese friends. Erin's mom had mailed her a kit from America. Camille and I are playing the Easter memory game that came with Erin's kit! I had been wanting to play for days since Erin's package had gotten to Huangshi. I was beyond happy to finally get to play! 

Watermelon came from Wuhan to visit for the weekend! I was so excited! She is one of our closest and funniest friends, but works in Wuhan now, so we barely get to see her! We also played memory together.

Some of the girls working on their eggs!

Camille and Erin!

OUR FIRST MOVIE IN CHINA!!

Our good friends Wang Hao (our hip hop teacher), Wu Xia (hip hop teacher's wife), and their friend Ya Be took us to see a movie. It felt just like America....first dinner, then a movie with popcorn. Totally normal life for a change (until the actual movie part that is). We went to see John Carter, which we had never heard of, watched in 3D, ALL in Chinese! It was pretty funny because none of us were sure wether it would be in English or Chinese, but it was definitely dubbed over with Chinese voices. Camille and I understood maybe 5 or 6 words throughout the 2 and a half hour experience. We got really excited when knew a word! Mostly we kew that they were saying "we have....something" or we want....something", only we will never know what the somethings are! Oh well! It was fun!

TITANIC

Titanic also rereleased in China for the anniversary and that movie is a bid deal here. Most Chinese people LOVE this movie. We have students named Jack and Rose because of this movie. The girls were really excited to see it because a few of the features were going to be shown in English! Score! The first time we tried to go, the English showing had been sold out hours in advance. Go figure since I know there aren't that many people who can speak English in Huangshi!

We got to see it though! Waiting outside to be let in the theater...

And yes it was also in 3D! 

We were so excited before it started. But none of realized how incredibly sad the movie is. I remember watching it when it first came out in 1997, which astounded my students, and made me feel incredibly old. I remember the love story, obviously, but this time I was struck more by the tragedy and how scary it must have been. Funny how your perspective changes as you get older.

SCHOOL LIFE

Camille and I decided to visit some of our fellow Zhong team members' classes just to see what a regular day is like for them. Kevin and Aaron teach middle school. Their students are adorable, but I don't know if I could do it....very vivacious and very limited English!

Kevin's class. He got us to play the games with his students.

Aaron's class.

One of Kevin's students drew this cartoon of Camille and I in about 10 minutes while were in their class. I was so impressed by it and she let me keep it! I'm the one with the long hair!

Camille's class. I go to some of her classes all the time, but I happen to take pictures this time!

Sleeping kid.... This is a regular occasion in our classes. There are too many students in every class to keep them all attentive so we have gotten used to this. But the rest of the students saw me taking this picture and got them all laughing. The laughing and the flash from the picture woke him up and he was very embarrassed. Needless to say, he did not fall back asleep! 

Then we visited Erin's classes. We went to two classes with her and played 20 questions with them. Erin asked her students if they wanted to ask us anything. Basically every Chinese person asks us the following..."where are you from? how old are you? why did you come to China?" Then after they get brave, they ask, "do you have a boyfriend?" And when we say no, 10 out of 10 times the next question is "do you want a Chinese boyfriend?" Haha since this happens every time, Camille and I have a rehearsed answer....he would have to speak English and be taller than us and be a Chr!stian. That eliminates most people in Huangshi. Everyone thinks the English part is funny, but they do understand that not many people our age speak English!

Paul's class

He got his students to lift their arms to look like they were amazed by him. I snapped the picture a little early though....

Ok, well thats all the update I can write about right now! But much more to come soon....