One of the coolest parts of being an expat is all the people you meet. They come from everywhere. I’ve met chefs from Italy, chemists from New Zealand, PhD students from Turkey and of course, musicians from Portugal, The Philippines and beyond… We all come from different backgrounds and are in China for various reasons, but we all have one thing in common… We’ve all chosen Suzhou as home away from home.
Dave and I at the “Red Dress Hash”. Everyone dressed up in red dresses and fundraised for an Orphanage here in Suzhou. We saw a bit of the city, spent the evening outside walking, and had a great time!
At the beginning of this year, I decided to put myself out there more. I joined several WeChat groups in an effort to meet more people and to become part of the expat community. I started with music groups, because it was something I knew a lot about. I’ve also joined writers’ groups, travel groups and most recently, a Foodie group.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love both cooking… And eating!!!
In the Foodie Group, we all post about our favourite restaurants. Now, whenever Dave and I want to try something new, we check out places that have been recommended by fellow Foodies.
Our most recent recommendation: a Singaporean restaurant in Suzhou Center
A few months ago, I wrote about our friend, Lixia, and her restaurant that specializes in Guizhou food. Before I knew it, I was getting messages from the other Foodies, thanking me for the recommendation. Since then, this tiny Chinese restaurant has become quite popular amongst expats.
Lixia surprised Dave with a cake for his birthday last month
Lixia is easily one of the sweetest and most hard working people I know, so when I learned about a Food & Beverage competition, I got in touch with the organizers and nominated Zou Guizhou for the “Best View” award.
Her award winning view
Tonight, we went to the finals for this award, at The W hotel here in SIP. Lixia won in her category, and we were able to celebrate with her. It was a really fun night filled with good food, great wine and fabulous company.
Kevin joined us for the evening. He is the one who found Zou Guizhou for us 2 years ago
Several of our friends won awards. Larry (on the right) owns the best Vietnamese restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. He’s also a great guy (and Canadian!)
So happy to have Miya back in Suzhou!!!
Larry and Lixia have become friends too 🙂
Some of the fabulous food we had tonight
The best part of the night was when I realized how many people I knew at the event. A year ago, I made it my mission to become part of the expat community in Suzhou… And that mission has been accomplished.
In a week from today, we will begin our trip back to Canada for the summer! First, we’ll be stopping by Las Vegas to see some friends get married (more on that next week!) and we also have plans to drive around the area a bit to see The Grand Canyon in all its glory. We were originally planning to take a 10 day road trip back to Manitoba, but those plans fell through when we learned that the car rental alone would cost us $1500. So, instead, we’re going to take a camping trip at our favourite park (Rushing River in Ontario) while we’re back.
Fantastic Sunsets over the Canadian Shield
The View from our Favourite Campsite
Peaceful Canoeing
I am excited to cook over the fire, and wake up to the sound of loons, but mostly I look forward to the smell of fresh air and being surrounded by trees. I miss the smell of trees a lot. I actually played a gig a few weeks back at a large park just outside of Shanghai. It was the most grass I’d seen in about a year. Since then, I’ve been dying to get back into the Canadian wilderness.
The gig was outside at a community BBQ of sorts.
My band performed a few sets..and I’ve gotta say, we killed it!
I know so many awesome people…
That’s not to say I don’t love Suzhou though! Lately, it’s been quite rainy, but for about a month before the rain hit, we had gorgeous clear skies and (mostly) clean air. I took advantage of that time to snap some shots of the city we currently call home. I thought people might like to see Suzhou the way I see it.
Suzhou has plenty of beautiful parks and gardens. I know I’ve posted some of these pictures of them before, but they’re just so pretty, I have to show you again!
Central Park is about a 10 minute walk from our Apartment
Speaking of our apartment, this picture is from our ‘back yard’. Our apartment complex (which probably has about 20 buildings in it) has a park, tennis court and a playground in it
Various parks around the city
Suzhou-style arches
Credit: Me!
Suzhou also has some interesting architecture outside of their gardens. For some reason I don’t understand, China is obsessed with creating replicas of famous buildings from around the world. Beijing has a replica of Sydney Opera House, and Shanghai has its very own copy of the Eiffel Tower, and Suzhou apparently, didn’t want to feel left out. So they made a replica of London Bridge (sort of).
There are definitely some inaccuracies, but over all, it looks pretty cool. The bridge is mostly used for wedding pictures, and the surrounding area has plenty of places for photo-ops.
This red bridge was lovely
One of many happy couples
They even have a Cinderella horse and carriage!
Although Suzhou is pretty during the day, I find this water-town most beautiful at night. Dave and I have spent many evenings walking around, taking pictures of the high-rises that are popping up all around SIP (we live in Suzhou Industrial Park). I love the way the buildings here are all lit up.
The building in front will be done in the next few months. I think it’ll look really nice when it’s complete
A replica of the Wall Street bull
The view near our apartment
Xinghai Square, where I catch the metro every day
The canals are also gorgeous at night. The reflections from the buildings give them a dream-like feel.
Of course, Xinghai Square is such a buzz of lights and traffic, it makes for some very interesting night photos as well.
The city recently replaced the lights along the street outside of our apartment complex, which was a nice change. The old ones, though pretty, were getting pretty rusty, but the new ones are nice and bright white.
A street lamp right outside our building
The street that runs alongside our apartment
The guard house outside our building. These guys are so friendly and nice! I don’t think they’ve ever not welcomed us back when we return home from going…anywhere!
We live on the 12th floor of this building in the back left corner.
Central park is also very pretty at night. We often walk through there on our way to (or from) one of our favourite restaurants: Lu Yu. They specialize in a type of roast fish that’s unlike any fish you’ve ever eaten in your life.
Kao Yu: It tastes better than it looks!
Kao Yu has actually become a bit of a weekly tradition we have with some friends. We walk down there (it’s about a half hour walk each way), and meet up to discuss our weeks and enjoy some good food and draft beer. The walk there takes us through Suzhou’s Central Park, and I’ve brought my camera along a few times now.
I love this fountain. Last week there were 50 or 60 people around it, all dancing
Xinghai Square is about a 10 minute walk from this area
The canal we walk along on our way there
Dancing is a common pass-time here
Tai Chi is also commonly practiced at the entrance of the park
But as much as we like Kao Yu, there is one restaurant in Suzhou we love even more. A few months back, we told our bilingual friend, Kevin, that if he could find us a restaurant that makes Guizhou food (the province where we lived prior to moving to Suzhou), that we would take him there for dinner. We’ve gone there pretty much every week since he found it. We’ve brought countless friends and even people visiting from America and Argentina…every person we’ve brought has been floored by how good the food is!
At Zou Guizhou with Kim, CJ and Kim’s parents. The Chinese lady in the middle is the owner. She’s simply one of the sweetest people I’ve met in my life
A group of us enjoying some hot pot
A different group of us enjoying hot pot
The owner has a little girl who loves us. She was all dressed up for Children’s Day, so I asked her if I could take a picture with her and this is what she did. I love that kid so much!!!
In addition to the food and the company being so great at ???, the view is also pretty spectacular. We usually sit outside, across from the little island near Suzhou University.
A temple over the canal in Suzhou, China
Of course, I’m not the only one that’s caught on that Suzhou is an incredibly photographic city. My friend, Kevin, also enjoys taking photos of this gorgeous place we all call home. I asked him if I could include some of his shots, and he kindly said I could. Here they are:
I have a hard time choosing a favourite picture, but I think this one is it. It’s taken about a 5 minute walk from my apartment, and love the colour in it.
This, of course, is Kevin. He incapable of taking a picture without making a silly face :p
That’s all for this post! I’ll be back soon with an update on life here. We’ve been so incredibly busy lately! There are plenty of stories to come!
Dave and I had plans today to explore the city. Suzhou recently opened its 3rd metro line, and it has made all sorts of local attractions easier to get to. We thought exploring the city and getting some more photos would be a grand way to spend the day…but then the smog came…
I realized while talking to my family this morning that many of the people back home can’t even begin to understand what pollution is all about and the many ways it impacts our lives here, so I thought it might make for an interesting article.
**Note** Very few pictures in this article will be my own…they’ve mostly been borrowed from the internet. If I did take the picture, I’ll indicate it in the caption Our Global Pollution Problem
Pollution is a problem all over the world. In India, I saw unbelievable amounts of garbage on the road, and I brushed my teeth with bottled water to avoid getting sick from the tap water.
The firework displays during Diwali this year set off the AQI scale to more than 1000 and put the country in a state of emergency. For comparison, Toronto’s current AQI is 17
Although much better than India and China, Vietnam also has some pretty terrible pollution problems. The number of motorcyles on the road leave your lungs pretty sore by the end of a day sight-seeing in HoChiMin City. Phu Quoc is also a giant dumping ground for garbage.
A helmet protects your head…one of these fancy masks protects your lungs
We saw this on our jungle walk, on the way to see some ruins…
Lots of broken glass on the beach…
Even in the beautiful Caribbean, you can find all sorts of pollution issues. Water there is generally unsafe to drink, and although resorts do a good job of keeping their shores clean, the same can’t be said in other areas of the country.
This was taken in Haina, Dominican Republic
Pollution is a problem globally, there’s no doubt. I look forward to my time in Canada every year. The fresh air smells so fantastic, and even in the heart of Winnipeg, I’ve never smelt the tinny scent of PM2.5. Yet…where do you think this picture was taken?
This is in Sarnia, Ontario, where First Nations residents in a nearby town are suffering from the effects of this pollution.
What I’m trying to say here is that pollution is an issue everywhere. If you’re lucky enough to never have seen anything like this with your own eyes, you are a minority on this planet and this is a case where being a minority is a good thing… The Lingo
In Guizhou (the Chinese province where we lived prior to moving to Suzhou), the pollution isn’t so bad. That’s not to say the air was perfect there (because it’s such a poor province, many of the vehicles on the road are old and blow large amounts of black exhaust), but we never needed masks or felt like our health was at risk.
Guiyang is in the green zone in central China (the one surrounded by beige zones). Shanghai and Suzhou is in an orange zone.
In Suzhou, things are different. We are only about 100km west of Shanghai, so we get a lot of our pollution from the factories out that way. On a bad day, our AQI level will go up to 200 or occasionally 300. During the current sandstorm, we are sitting somewhere between 450 and 600 on the AQI scale. What exactly does that mean, you might ask?
This was today’s reading in Suzhou. 596 is the highest I’ve ever seen it here
AQI is the global term that indicates how clean the air is in any particular place. Air Quality Index becomes a very important part of your life when you live in a city with a pollution problem. Most people have apps on their phones that tell them whether they should wear a mask outside. I don’t use an app because I have an easier way to tell. Suzhou’s iconic Pants Building is within eyesight of my apartment. I make a point of looking out the window every day, and I can usually tell how bad the pollution is by how clearly I can see the pants building.
Dave took these pictures last year. Today looks a lot like the picture on the right
Something else people are aware of here in Suzhou are the different KINDS of pollution. I’ll begin explaining this with a story…
Last year, one of my jobs as a teacher was to help students prepare for their IGCSE spoken exams. To do that, I met with students individually, gave them a topic and had them tell me what they could about that topic. The topic I chose one day was ‘The Environment’. One girl really impressed me, as she started rattling off different types of air pollution (PM2.5, PM10 etc.). I was FLOORED that she knew those terms. I had only lived in Suzhou for a few months at that point.
Now, these terms are part of my regular vocabulary. I frequently say things like ‘PM2.5 levels are brutal this week’, or ‘well this stand storm is mostly bringing in PM10 particles, which aren’t QUITE so bad’. All this ‘PM’ talk refers to the size of the particles. PM10 particles are slightly bigger, but equally as harmful as PM2.5. Both get trapped in your lungs and build up over time and both are linked to lung cancer, lung disease and even brain issues. Of course, living in China for a short-term period doesn’t mean that I’ll come home with lung cancer, but the elderly in China really do suffer.
The Effects
Pollution is more than just something you see on the news. It’s something that is real and it affects a large portion of the world on a day to day basis. Here are some of the ways it effects me:
I sometimes need to wear a mask to go outside
I constantly worry about the quality of air in my home and at work
I spend hundreds of dollars every year on filters and machines designed to clean my air
I have had a lung infection so bad that I needed to be on 4 different medications to get better. I was using an asthma puffer for 3 months after that infection.
Colds last longer and are much more severe than they are elsewhere I’ve lived
If I don’t ride my e-bike for a few days, I will get dust on my pants when I sit down.
I dry my clothes in my bathroom because if I dry them outside, they’ll be dirty by the time I wear them again (most people in China don’t have clothes dryers)
Hanging onto a railing as I climb up or down outdoor stairs will leave me with dirty hands.
I go into coughing fits when I go to a country with clean air. My lungs literally try and eject the garbage that has built up over the months.
After a particularly dusty day, I’ll wake up with build up in my eyes and a bit of a sore throat.
When the PM2.5 is especially bad (usually in January or February), you can actually taste metal in the air.
I often worry about the long-term health hazards of pollution. The obvious ones don’t worry me as much (lung cancer, emphysema etc.) but after recently discovering that PM2.5 is connected to alzymers disease, I’ve been in a constant state of worrying about the health of my brain.
You can always tell if a car in a parking lot hasn’t been driven in a while….the dust builds up over time. Similarly, it’s important to keep your apartment well maintained, because dust collects inside too
Pollution levels are a constant presence in my life. I need to know when they’re high so I can turn on my air purifier. I also need to know about the air quality so that I know when it’s appropriate for me to partake in one of my favourite pastimes: walking.
Since I was just a little girl, I’ve always loved walked. It started with walks around the block with my Pepere, and it evolved into walking my dog in the forest trails of St. Malo Provincial Park. When I moved to Guiyang, walking was one of the ways I dealt with the stress of living in such a difficult city. In Suzhou…taking a walk is off the table some days.
My sweet, Trace. He passed away 5 years ago. I still miss him. He was the best walking buddy I ever had
The man who got me walking when I was just a little kid. We seemed to go on endless walks…always with the same aim. “To see a man about a dog”
With this as my backdrop…I couldn’t walk enough back when I lived in Rural Manitoba
The provincial Park 5 minutes from where I grew up
How We Get Through It
On days like today, we mostly stay indoors. At home, we have 2 air purifiers, so we definitely have those running while we’re in the apartment. My classrooms also have air purifiers, but unfortunately, my school doesn’t see an advantage to making sure our offices also have clean air. Air purifiers can be a bit pricey and they seem to become obsolete frequently, making it impossible to find a new filter for a device you purchased only 6 months before. Our solution has been SmartAir Purifiers…they’re a small company that make purifiers that work well, for only 600rmb (most other purifiers that do a decent job cost up to 5000rmb…). If you’re living in mainland China, check out their website. They’re well worth the money.
How This Effects YOU
If you’re reading this from Canada, you might be thinking that I’m crazy for choosing to live here. I know the risks, but I still take them. There are risks living in Manitoba as well. Hitting the ditch in a snow storm, or sliding into oncoming traffic during winter/spring is every bit as much of a risk as living somewhere where pollution is a problem. I check the PM2.5 levels the same as you check the temperature to know how many sweaters you should wear under your parka.
Seeing smashed up cars in Manitoba is normal. I was involved in 2 ice-related accidents in 2012 alone. I hate driving in Winter far more than I hate PM2.5
You may also be thinking that countries like China and India are poorly managed and that if they ‘got their acts together’, this wouldn’t be an issue. But let me ask you this….
Where are the majority of your ‘things’ made? The truth of the matter is that we export our pollution to China to cut costs. One of the reasons things are cheaper coming from China is because health and safety standards aren’t as big of a deal here….it’s something to think about before you shop at places like Walmart, Superstore or other ‘low cost’ chains. You’re paying 50 cents less, but the global environment is suffering.
Furthermore…we live in a very wasteful world. I recently got into a heated debate about the use of paper cups in the office. I think they should be banned, whereas other people really like their convenience. What’s important to remember is that by using disposable items (on a regular basis), you’re contributing to our landfill problems, as well as creating a need for more factories in the world. For more information on that, I found this nifty article written by Time Magazine called ‘Throwaway Living’. Be sure to check it out if you’re interested in the topic.
If hearing about this very sad state of affairs has depressed you, here is a picture of Poe to help you feel happy again.
PS..I know it’s been a while, but I have 3 posts in the works:
Our weekend in Seoul
Catching up on Life in Suzhou
Beautiful Suzhou (I’ve been on a picture taking mission lately)
It’s hard to believe that Dave and I have nearly been back in China for a month already! The past 3+ weeks have flown by possibly even faster than our time in Canada did! I sat down today with the intention of writing about Vancouver and realized that until I updated all the things that have been going on out here, I couldn’t focus on another topic. So here we go!!
Here’s a picture of Suzhou’s iconic ‘Pants Building’ being cleaned. Just because…
I’ve Been Performing as a Lead Vocalist!
Until recently, I was working back up or in duets with The Chairmen. It’s been great fun playing with those guys, but when Kit (our fearless leader) approached me and asked if I’d do a duet show with our guitarist, Mark, I jumped on the opportunity. We’ve only done one show so far, but it was pretty cool singing all 3 sets by myself. Best of all, Mark is super flexible about what play, so I’ve been able to do a bunch of new stuff. It was a nice switch up after all the Adele and Stevie Nicks I’ve been doing since May!!
I’m Competing in the Suzhou Expat Talent Show!
This one came about in a bit of a crazy way…Back in July, one of the HR staff at my school contacted me about representing the school at some kind of school district party. I agreed because I knew I’d already be back in Suzhou by that point and all was good. They knew I cover Adele, so they recommended I do “Rolling in the Deep”. I was cool with it.
We ran into our friend, Nick, at the show. He was there on behalf of his new school, Eaton House. (Also, my face looks like that because he was photobombing us)
Fast forward to the day of the ‘government party’…it turns out that this was less of a school district party and more of a ‘government beer party’. There was a full band there waiting for me along with about 100 government officials and 200 teachers (etc) from schools in the area.
I had a tough act to follow…this (rather tone-deaf) district big wig sang some traditional Chinese songs before my performance
The real kicker was when HR Frank told me…about an hour before I went on…that if it went well, I would be representing Suzhou Foreign Language School in this year’s Expat Talent Show. Notice that he didn’t ask…
Oh yeah, and that talent show will be televised and recorded in front of a huge audience. And it’s in 4 days…This band didn’t like me very much…They wouldn’t believe me when I said I did the song in A Minor (I don’t have a terribly high voice) and they refused to play it in my key. I had to sing it high, and I wasn’t as strong as I could have been, but it was alright…I guess…
It went well. Fast forward to 4 DAYS LATER (!!!!) and it was talent show time! There was a mix up with the band (mainly, there wasn’t one) but I lucked out when I learned that The Chairmen (my band) were also going to be performing (the rest of them all work for the same school). They ended up backing me for my song too, and the performance went pretty well! Here, you can see it yourself!!!
To my credit, I don’t feel like I looked as unprepared as I felt! I was very relieved to have Kit and Mark there! I also had a student come to see me perform, which was pretty awesome. I have awesome students. Have I mentioned that?
I have no idea what the results were for this show. From what I understand, they are going to be watching video auditions for the next month, and choosing people to go onto the second round from there. I just hope I find out with more than 4 days to prepare this time!!! I Am Writing for a News APP and a Newspaper!!
The night of the talent show, I received a text message from an editor at Nihao Suzhou, an APP designed to help foreigners in China (it’s actually a branch of Nihao China…every city has their own, I believe). They had been for writers earlier in the week, and I’d inquired along with a link to my blog. The editor liked my work and asked me to write an 800 word piece about anything I wanted. A week later, I was published!
The article was pretty successful and received over 2000 views in the first day. Carrie, my editor, told me to go ahead and write another article if I wanted, and I submitted that one today! Also, she was so happy with the article that she recommended it for publication in the Suzhou Daily Newspaper! So there’s that, too! I Lost the Olympics
Dave and I decided that we wanted to be more social this year, so we’ve been busy trying ot get involved in the expat community. Dave’s joined a gaelic football team, I’ve been doing gigs (and everything else above)…and we subscribed to this really cool website called InterNations.
The Olympic Athletes
InterNations plans all sorts of events across the city. The one we attended last weekend was held at the Kempinski Hotel, where there is a Paulaner Brewery. We got to learn about the ancient German art of beer making and we spent the afternoon playing games with a few friends we’d dragged along, and a LOT of new friends that we met at the event.
The Ladies of our team
Lizz and I, designing our team flag
I did not win. Not by a long shot. But it WAS a blast! And I feel like we met some really cool people. It was definitely a good time and we’ll be attending another InterNations event next Friday.
Mia, killing it at Beer Pong (just kidding…our team only managed to get 1 in, the whole game!!!)
Our team mate, Miguel, playing the 1 game I sat out. I can sip beer…I am not a chugger. I cheered from the sidelines!!
School Started
September 1st was our first day of classes. I am transitioned into a full-time English teacher (no more cooking classes) and am getting to know my 2 new grade 7 classes! So far, my new coworkers are upbeat and awesome, and I’m having a great time!
School Assembly
One of my new Grade 7 writing classes
So that’s been our last 3 and a half weeks! Pretty wild! Now I need to catch up on some sleep…
Suzhou Foreign Language school’s Autumn semester begins on September 1st. As I prepare for my classes and plan out my term, I thought it might be a good idea to write a little bit about what it’s like teaching in China!
(Spoiler…it’s awesome!!)
I don’t have many selfies with my older students! They’re too cool for selfies!
I’m not going to lie…living abroad isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. When we arrived in Shanghai last week, after a sleepless 11 hour flight, I was not prepared to deal with the bus depot’s toilets or the long ride back to Suzhou. I wanted to get right back into the plane and return to Canada. But as I sat there, fighting back tears of exhaustion in the bus terminal, Dave reminded me that soon I’d be back at work, and that calmed me right down. I thought of all my students and all the plans I had for them this year, and I knew that everything would be okay. Teaching is what I was always meant to do and I can’t express enough how rewarding it can be. I’ve taught children as young as 3 years old, 50 year old business men and everything in between, and I’ve gotta say…it doesn’t matter what age or level you are teaching…being an educator is a blast!
So pumped to see these guys again! Can’t believe they’re going to be in Grade 8 this year!!
No matter how awesome the job is, though, the beginning of the semester offers some rather large challenges. If you know about them ahead of time, it can help a lot, here’s a list of tips I have for teachers at the beginning of the term. 1.) Be Prepared!!!
I once had an interviewer ask me what my ‘super power’ is. I replied, without hesitation, that it is organization. My ability to stay on top of my chaotic life all goes back to my day planner. Without it…I am lost. I am the master of lists and checking off items is sometimes all that gets me through hectic days. But that’s the key…it DOES get me through!
I started rubbing off on my students…at the beginning of the term, in food and nutrition, many of my students just left all their vegetables all over the counters…by the end of the 1st term, they were neatly putting things in bowls. They agreed that it made it much easier cooking this way!
I recommend check lists to everyone and everyone because they allow you to stay on top of everything (and not forget about important events or tasks!) but also because they can give you a real sense of accomplishment. I recently had a coworker tease me for having ‘start grade 7 ppt’ as one of my check-list items. He thought it was silly that I had only ‘part’ of a task listed as an item on my list.
So, I asked him: “What’s the hardest part of making your weekly Power Point?” He answered “getting it started…” Boom! Item #1 is done and once you start, it’s not nearly as daunting of a task.
Literally, my day planner RIGHT NOW…I leave little boxes in front of the tasks so I can fill them in when I’m done! Also…notice the colour coding??? It’s an ongoing joke in the middle school that when a student asks if I have finished grading their work or if I know where something is, my response is ‘Of course! I am VERY organized!’
I also firmly believe in the power of lesson plans. I know countless teachers who go into their classes with an idea of what they’re doing…but with no physical plan. I honestly have no idea how they do it…I lose track of time, I miss items and I let the class get carried away in discussions when I don’t have a proper plan. Don’t get me wrong…discussions are great in an ESL classroom! It’s what you WANT!! But in your 8:30am writing class, it isn’t always good when little Tom asks me ‘what I like about Suzhou’ to try and distract me from teaching about Present Perfect tense…
I am trying a new way of doing lesson planning this year. Last year I was doing much more detailed plans, but then I realized that my Power Points were pretty much all I needed. Now, I’m focusing on the big items I want to cover every week. I leave space for notes to comment on things that went well (or badly) and for information students who really excelled or may need extra help.
And going Macro…Term plans can also be an excellent idea, especially when you don’t have a book to teach from! Last year, none of my classes had actual textbooks, so it became very important for me to plan ahead to make sure I was covering all the material they’d need to know for their IGCSE exams. Even when I DID have a book to teach from, when I was teaching Elementary and Kindergarten, my term plans were crucial to making sure all content was covered. It was a simple outline for the term, but an outline nonetheless. I recommend these tools to anyone! (And if you have any questions about layouts or things you should have in any of these plans, shoot me a question in the comments section! I’m always happy to help a fellow teacher!)
2.) But not too prepared…
This may seems silly…but in China, you need to expect things to change. Your classes might get moved around or cancelled at the last second. I’ve often walked into my classroom to find no students there…when I track down their homeroom teacher it’s usually because some other activity was planned and they forgot to tell me. This is normal in China. You have to roll with the punches because like it or not…these things are CONSTANT!
Leading up to the Drama Festival I was losing my mind because each class was so important for rehearsal, and my classes kept getting cancelled so the students could go horseback riding…or because they had a dance rehearsal to go to instead…it was Maddening!!
These types of things used to drive me CRAZY until I had someone tell me the reasoning behind it. China is what is known as a ‘Shame Culture’. I’ve written about ‘saving face’ in previous posts, and that’s what’s coming into play here. Things are often planned at the last second in here because it reduces the chance of having to cancel events. Cancelling an event is very bad in Chinese culture and knowing that actually made me feel a lot better about the ways it affects me. People here aren’t stupid or disorganized…the cultural norms are just different. That is something VERY important to remember when living here! 3.) Be Prepared for all the September/October Holiday Mayhem
The beginning of term always takes it out of me… Whether you are in a Training Center, a Foreign Language School or an International school (the 3 basic types of schools in China). the beginning of term has many challenges to overcome.
First, you need to get back into the groove of things and find your flow in the classroom. Then, you have to get all of your ‘beginning of term admin stuff’ out of the way…then you have to deal with 2 holidays within the first month of teaching!!!
“Teacher’s Day” is also a mini holiday (no time off) in September. Students bring you all sorts of little goodies and the school makes you feel very appreciated!!
Mid-Autumn Festival is a lovely holiday (one of my favourites!) celebrated by getting together with family and eating Moon Cakes. It takes place in the beginning of September and it usually means a 3 day holiday for teachers.
Delicious, Delicious moon cakes!!!
Then, there is China’s “National Day”, which actually lasts a week. It’s known in the tourism industry as “The Golden Mess” because there are literally over 1 billion people all on holiday at the same time in China! The regular tourist sights are PACKED and even the lesser known sights are still teaming with people. We traveled to Xiamen our first year in China during the holiday and it was uncomfortable trying to get anywhere, because you were shoulder to shoulder with tourists…
Beijing…literally, shoulder to shoulder….
And then there’s the other problem with all these days off…Holidays are great, but they REALLY mess with your schedule! In China, if you are given 3 days off, it doesn’t necessary mean that you don’t owe some of them back. For example, this year, Mid-Autumn festival falls on September 15,16 and 17 (a Thursday, Friday and Saturday). In order to make up for that time off, schools open on Sunday and the week following the holiday becomes a 6 day week, with 2 Tuesdays in it. My first year, I had to have someone sit me down and draw a chart so I understood what was actually happening and when I had to work!!
4.) Form a Good Relationship with your Co-Teachers/Homeroom Teachers
I cannot stress enough how important this is! It seems like common sense…who doesn’t want to get along with the people they work with? But too often I see people treat their Chinese counterparts in the education system poorly (and vice versa). There seems to be a mentality at some schools (and even in some departments at my own school) that it’s US vs THEM!!! This is SO counterproductive!
It’s natural to connect more easily with other expats…
But it doesn’t mean there’s no value in befriending someone from a different culture. It can be difficult sometimes…because some people ONLY want to be your friend because you’re ‘exotic’. But most Chinese people are genuinely very warm and friendly. There’s no need to treat them badly just because you don’t understand their culture!!
I’ve always tried my very best to be kind to the people I work with…to me that’s just common decency. When I was at the training center, I became good friends with Talia and Kayla. They weren’t teachers, but they were the people who helped me translate for parents and made sure that parents got important information about homework and students’ progress. Now, I work at a Foreign Language school where I’m co-teaching with Chinese teachers. We may not always see eye to eye on the way some things should be handled (education systems vary greatly from country to country!), but I always try to find a reasonable compromise.
Talia and I at Halloween
Kayla and I…she and I went through the ringer together with some pretty difficult parents. She always stood by me and was always SO helpful! I love both the TAs I had at Interlingua
I also do my best to never to create more work for my co-teachers. I’ve worked with teachers that wait until the last minute to do their progress reports or who don’t grade their papers until they’re told they HAVE to, even when they know that their Chinese counterpart needs them to finish up before they themselves can begin. Once more, I feel like this should be common sense, but I’ve seen it happen SO many times!!!
Too often, Expats won’t even invite their Chinese coworkers out to dinners and things. I always make sure to invite anyone and everyone in my office and a lot of the time, they come out! Ivy (in the middle) has been such a good friend to me over the past year…I can’t imagine how I could have gotten through some things without her (like when I went to the ‘acupuncturist’ and when we got Hugo and Poe.) I don’t understand why people don’t put in more effort with one another!
This doesn’t only extend to the classroom either. Staff rooms can be tricky when you have a mixture of different cultures together. For example, the Chinese staff typically don’t want to have the air conditioners on in the summer or the heaters on in the winter. It’s a belief in China that they both blow dirty air, so they prefer to open the window. I run hot, so this has always been an issue for me in summer, but I compromised and bought myself a fan. On days where it’s particularly humid, I ask if I can turn on the AC for 15 minutes or so, to dry out the air. Then, when the room is cool, I turn it off again! There’s no need to be demanding…you’re in THEIR country! And it’s amazing, because 9 times out of 10, when you are respectful, so are they!!! I didn’t even have to ask by the end of the year…my dear friend Ivy would go and switch on the AC when it started to get uncomfortable.
One of my Grade 5 classes at Interlingua. Notice they’re all in parkas? Parents frequently requested that we turn off the heaters so that their kids wouldn’t ‘get sick’.
5. Extra Work = Extra Awesome!
I’ve found in China (and pretty much everywhere else in the world too) that the better you are at your job, the more you are asked to do. It can be a bit much sometimes when you’re an overachiever (I may fit that description…), but I always remind myself that I am asked to do things because I’m doing well. The bright side of those extra projects is that you expand yourself SO MUCH when you take them on! Last year I organized the school’s first yearbook and hosted the annual Drama Festival, both in the second term.
The Drama Festival was SUCH a success!!!
Both events were SO fantastic!!! Not only did the students work hard, but they also saw ME working hard…that does wonders for your relationship with them. When they know that a teacher actually cares about them…it’s like the game changes a little bit. There are so many foreigners teaching China that are only here for the visa and so they can live abroad….and that’s okay! That’s how I started out too…but then I fell in love with the job and now, I take that job very seriously! And students can always tell when they have a teacher who is present and putting in effort vs the teachers that show up and do what they have to do.
The Yearbook was such a worthwhile project as well…not only was it a lot of fun to put together, but it really expressed what it’s like being in the IGCSE department at Suzhou Foreign Language School
Being a positive influence is SO important. As an educator, I know that my students are learning more from me than just what is coming out of a text book. My boss, Nathan, is a prime example of teaching through doing…As I’ve mentioned before, he does a lot of work with Migrant schools and other charities around the city, and this year, our grade 8 class organized a big fundraiser for the migrant schools Nathan works with! It was so awesome watching them find ways to raise money and they really did a great job! Students are watching you ALL the time! Be an inspiration!!
I encourage Michael to be more positive all the time (he tends to mope a lot…). I was surprised when I saw this on one of his worksheets. He aspires to be more optimistic (a word I taught him!) because I’m optimistic. That’s the biggest reward I could ask for as a teacher!
6.) Have Fun with It!!!
Lastly, make sure to have fun teaching!! It’s an AWESOME job and at most schools you are given plenty of opportunities to let your own skills shine. I mentioned earlier that I didn’t have textbooks for any of my classes last year. That may have intimidated some teachers (which is why my boss offered me a few textbooks I could follow along with if I needed), but for me…it meant I got to be creative.
I may not be much of a drawer, but my jelly bean people are always a hit! This is how I taught family vocabulary. If you notice that the family members all have different facial expressions, it’s because I was also teaching the students how to make sentences about emotions using their family members. For example: Daddy is angry.
I had a lot of free time during my administrative hours (we weren’t allowed doing grading etc…) so I jazzed up my classroom with my arts and crafts skills. I was VERY proud of this! It went from being an empty quark board, to a colourful masterpiece! lol
I also made these tracking boards for each class. I awarded stickers based on schoolwork, class behaviour and effort. Whoever reached the end first won a prize. It went over VERY well!
In Food and Nutrition, I decided to teach my students about culture and how it relates to food. I did focuses on Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, Italy, France, India and then I also taught them about December Holidays around the world (and the foods people eat during those holidays). It ended up being a tonne of fun! Because I’m so interested in both travel and cooking, I was able to shape this class around my own interests and talents. It worked out well for everyone, I think!
At Easter, I taught my Grade 7 girls to dye their deviled eggs. When I taught them about Jamaica, we made Jerk Seasoning and had topped some deviled eggs with it (SOOO good!). They liked the dish so much they asked if we could do it again!
For Drama, I used my writing skills and training to have the students write their own plays for the drama festival! I’m also very competitive and I turn everything into competitions within my classroom. The students ended up LOVING the way we chose which play we’d perform in each class.
The Drama Festival was a huge success because I used the skills I had to make it happen. Best of all, I learned a lot along the way! I’d never been given an opportunity to direct before, nor had I ever coordinated an event like that. I developed new skills while using skills I already had. It was a perfect combo 🙂
One of the groups in my Grade 8 Boys class presenting their play to the other students. They were actually the winners and the whole class had a great time learning their parts
So that’s the beauty of my job! I decided to try and keep my posts shorter this year, but as I was writing, I just couldn’t stop! I’m far too in love with my job and have so much advice to give!! I do hope that you’ve found this informative and if you’re teaching in an ESL classroom yourself, and if you are just reading to know what it’s like to be a teacher, I hope you got a good idea of how awesome my job is 🙂
If you have any comments or questions about anything I do…feel free to as in the comments section below! Thanks for checking in!
We fell in love with Suzhou before we’d even moved to China. I did a quick search on the internet for the most livable cities in China, and Suzhou was near the top of the list. From that google search on, I always knew I wanted to live here. Although it didn’t work out for our first year in China, with 2 years of teaching experience under my belt, it wasn’t a problem to find a job here for year 2.
Guiyang is lush and surrounded by rugged beauty
Suzhou is modern and peaceful
Living in SIP, we are surrounded by expats, western food, western bars and English. It couldn’t be more comfortable for us and I sometimes forget that we’re living in China. But Suzhou isn’t only good as a place to live and work. There’s plenty to see here as well, and although tourism isn’t as high as it is in cities like Guilin, you’d have no problem filling a week in Asia’s Venice.
When we first arrived in Suzhou, the tourism board of the city gave us a tour of a silk factory. Suzhou is famous for its silk
We got to tour a factory
A lot of the merchandise was out of my price range, even at factory prices, but I did buy myself a scarf 🙂
Watertowns
Where Guiyang has minority villages, Suzhou has Water Towns. Water Towns are built along the canals and are a peaceful retreat into ancient China. They can be a little over crowded during holidays and weekends, but if you can escape to one during the week, they are a lovely experience. You can get traditional minority candies and food and there are always plenty of little restaurants where you can stop for some food. Water Towns are also nice for shopping and it isn’t difficult to find a shop that sells scarves and other traditional Chinese gifts.
You can go on boat rides along the canals
lots of pretty views
lots of pretty bridges!
small restaurants are scattered along the canals and you can almost always find a patio like this one
They can be a little bit overcrowded, but that’s part of the fun!
Shantang Road and Pingjiang Road
There is no shortage of places to shop in Suzhou. Shantang Road ad Pingjiang Road are both ancient shopping streets where you can find any Chinese souvenir you desire. They’re also great places to grab a beer, hop on a boat and eat some local food. My favourite pass-time on Shangtang Road (we haven’t actually visited Pingjiang yet) is taking pictures. These roads are beautifully picturesque and no matter which time of day you visit, there are endless photo ops.
Although Dave hates shopping and crowds, even he is impressed by some of the craftsmanship you can find on Shantang Road. Jade carvings, paintings and wood art is easy to find along the street. Not only are these things beautiful to look at, but they give you an (air conditioned) escape from the crowds when they get to be too much!
An elaborate stone carving. It cost over 10,000 rmb and I had to pry Dave away from the window he was so impressed by the work.
Parks
What drew me to Suzhou happens to still be my favourite part of living in this city. Suzhou has the most beautiful parks I’ve ever seen in my life. They are a mixture of old and new, with old style buildings and carefully trimmed trees. In some of the more famous parks, the crowds can be a problem, but if you go to some of the smaller parks, they are peaceful and refreshingly quiet.
There are always places to stop and take in the beauty
Dave can never get over the beautifully trimmed trees we see every time we visit a park
Suzhou is modern and peaceful
Circular doorways are abundant in Suzhou Parks and I never grow tired of taking photos of them. Most of the parks we’ve visited have also had rock formations that make mini caves. There are dozens of parks in Suzhou and so far I’ve only seen 3 or 4, but each has been impressive in its own way.
We visited Linger Garden, one Suzhou’s nicest spots, a few weekends back. It was a bit crowded in some areas!
Pretty garbage cans
Circular doorway
Beautifully carved windows are another common feature of Chinese gardens
And if you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I consider it a game to find all the crazy translations each park has to offer. Here are some from Lingering Garden
Funny
Incomprehensible
Spelling Mistake. These signs were everywhere…some were spelled correctly…others were not.
There are really 2 types of parks in China. There are the walled off ‘old style’ parks that are a step into ancient China…and then there are modern parks that are free and open, similar to the ones we have out West. I don’t often go to those parks, but we had one particularly beautiful weekend back in May where Dave and I, and our friend Michael, spent several hours chatting and walking around Central Park. I ended up with a pretty impressive sunburn, but it was worth the peaceful afternoon.
Central Park is close to our Apartment in SIP. It was opened by the Singaporean President to represent peace
Dave and Michael standing on their countries (in Asian maps, North America is on the right)
If you’re lucky, you may even spot some wildlife in Central Park! We saw this little guy from across the pond…a testament to the zoom on my camera!
Remy the Rat!
Perhaps he’s off to make some Ratatouille
All the Other Cool Stuff
Although we’ve been here nearly a year now, I still haven’t had the chance to make it to some of Suzhou’s most famous landmarks. Tiger Hill is somewhere I was hoping to go this week, but my leg is still very swollen so I haven’t been able to. There is a pagoda there that leans that is pretty cool to see.
A smaller and lesser know destination I HAVE visited is Suzhou’s city wall. It’s located at the Xiangmen metro stop on line 1 and although it isn’t the kind of thing that would take up an afternoon, it’s a nice place to stop during sunset or at night, when the area is all lit up.
The old city wall
Canals are everywhere in Suzhou
So there you have it. These are some of my favorite places to visit in Suzhou. This list will continue growing the longer we live here, but I think this is a pretty good start!
In my next post, I’ll be writing more about SIP, the area where Dave and I live.
I spent most of yesterday working on a post about the last few months at SFLS. Just as I was in my last paragraph, I realized that I am missing some pretty crucial photos from the Drama Festival. Now, I usually wouldn’t let something like that stop me from publishing, but the Drama Festival was my baby this year, so until I get those photos (I did track them down! They’re on someone else’s camera!!), I’m going to leave that post in my ‘drafts’ folder and move onto something I’ve been working on for ages…
A sneak peak of my IGCSE play
A few months back, I published a poll asking my readers what they’d like to see next. It was a 4 way tie, so I made the decision to write about Suzhou…the beautiful city where I live. I’ve spent the last 3 months seeing more of the city and taking photos for the post and wound up with so much material that I’ve decided it’s going to be two posts.
Trust me…Suzhou is worth 2 posts!
Post #1 – So, You’re Visiting Suzhou
My first post will be about all the famous landmarks there are to see in Suzhou. The focus will be on the top places to visit if you travel to this lovely city. The scope will be broader and more geared toward my family and friends back home who we HOPE will be encouraged to come out and visit us 😉
We have a lovely spare room for anyone who wants to come for a visit 😉
Post #2 – So, you’re Moving to Suzhou
The second post will be more focused on the different areas of the city and the things anyone who is moving here should know. There is a huge expat population in Suzhou and every year there are new teachers who arrive, so that post is going to be focused on helping those teachers get to know the city and helping them get settled. If you enjoyed my ‘so you’re moving to China’ posts…you’ll enjoy what I have planned for that one.
Auchan is the Carrefour of SIP…there is a love-hate relationship here….
So stay tuned, friends, family and internet people! I’ll be back before you know it….
It’s been ages since I’ve posted about life out here in China, so I thought it was time for an update. Going through my pictures last night, though, I realized that it’s going to have to be a 2-parter! There’s just been way too much going on!
Many things have not changed, to be fair. We are still going to After Hours so much that our waitress knows our order and where we like to sit…
April and May were busy and filled with birthday parties and ‘just because’ parties. We had several mini holidays in those months and we made the most of them getting together with friends and cruising around on the Ebikes (I got lots of pictures of Suzhou, so expect a post about Suzhou Must-sees later this week!)
A sneak-peek
Dave and I also bought a barbecue this spring and had a barbecue party during our May holiday. We haven’t been able to use it as much as we’d hoped because it’s been raining so much lately (it’s the wet season in Suzhou), but in August and September we should be able to enjoy our grill a lot more!
We had a Barbecue at the beginning of May. It was a blast!
Celebrating Jeff’s Birthday was quite the event back in April
Jeff and I 🙂
Dave and I
Fun on the Balcony
I made my deviled eggs for Jeff’s Mexican Themed birthday
Sadly, as the semester winds down, we must once more grow accustomed to one of the less enjoyable aspects of expat life: many of our friends are moving on or moving away. For a number of reasons, turnover was high at the school this year and more than half of the people I work with are moving on to different schools or different countries. Still, we’ve made the most of our time together and I’m looking forward to all the people I’ll meet next year.
Cheetar, Adam and Karsten living it up at KTV
KTV bars are so swank! lol
Dinner on Japan Street where you can get all you can eat sushi and tepanyaki + all you can drink beer for about $35 Canadian
In other news, Hugo and Poe have been wonderful, as always, but we recently ran into some trouble with Hugo’s amputated leg. What turned out to be an ingrown hair caused him 2 months of pain. Our original vet (Beck and Stone…I would NOT recommend these guys!) told us that Hugo had an infection when we brought him in (we were worried about a wound that had developed in his stump). They prescribed an anti-fungal ointment and sent us on our way. Well, it turns out that the ointment they prescribed is designed specifically for injuries that need to stay open…so instead of this wound closing, it kept getting bigger.
At first, he didn’t mind the cone so much
After another trip to the same vet and no improvement we decided to get a second opinion. That’s when we found out about the medication…and it turned out at that point Hugo needed surgery to clean the wound out and stitch it back up. He was home for about 5 days after that before he split open his stitches and had to have the surgery redone. When he came home a week later, the same thing happened again and he needed the surgery done a 3rd time. He’s home now, but he spent a total of 6 weeks in a cone, 3 weeks in a cage at the vet (basically on bed rest so he couldn’t tear out his stitches) and he’s turned back into a bit of a grumpy boy in the process. I’ve trained him to be gentle before, and I know I can do it again, but still…I feel awful that he went through all of this. All because of an ingrown hair (he never even had an infection), a bad veterinarian and his clumsy disposition (it was jumping off of furniture that kept causing his stitches to tear).
He’s back home now, more handsome than ever
Poe’s been working very hard to keep our spirits up
They had to shave Hugo’s entire stump…the poor guy must be itchy as it’s growing back!
Poe being cute
When we went to visit him during his hospital stay, he clung to me like glue
The moral of my story is: Just because a vet is shiny and western looking (Beck and Stone looks pristine and very professional), doesn’t mean that it’s actually your best option. The vet we are seeing now (Simon Pet Healthcare Center down near Zhongnan Jie station and Aeon Mall) is far more low tech and has a very simple set up, but they are FANTASTIC. They love animals and work to rehome animals that have been surrendered by their owners. They took such good care of Hugo and cost less than half as much as Beck and Stone did. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a vet in Suzhou!
So life has been busy between work (which will be its own separate post), birthdays and parties and taking care of our furry family, but nothing has kept me as busy as my new project. In May I began singing with a band. We go by many different names (there are 12 of us in total I think and depending on who’s playing, our band name changes) but I’m officially a vocalist and I perform pretty much every weekend!
My first gig at Maestre Brau
I always close my eyes when I’m singing!!!! gah!!!
My dear friend Li who comes to every show that she can.
This little girl loved my voice. She asked her mom to put a stool in front of the stage so she could watch me…..melted my heart!
The most exciting gig for me so far was a music festival last weekend called Suzhoubury. The Bookworm is a popular expat hang-out in Suzhou and they throw this festival annually. It’s free and people LOVE it! Usually I sing at restaurants and bars, where we’re sort of background noise, but at Suzhoubury, people were there to hear us perform! It was a tonne of fun and I got to sing my two favourites: Rolling in the Deep and Summer of 69. The wonderfully talented Christina Peters took the pictures below of our event.
We were moved inside because of some rain, but the show went on!
A great group! We even got asked to do an encore!
Me and our bassist, Dennis. This guy is multi talented…he also plays guitar and does vocals for one of the mini bands. Great guy
A very cool shot
So that’s been life as of late. My plan is to write 5 blog posts this week….I was hit by an ebike last night on our way to dinner, and my leg is pretty damaged, so I figure it’s a good week to stay off my feet and blog a little!
Be careful driving in China! This guy was entering the street from a back alley and didn’t so much as slow down when entering the road where we were driving. He drove straight into my leg (I was riding on the back of the scooter). The worst part is that when I stood up and was checking to see if anything was broken, he had the nerve of saying it was OUR fault…didn’t even apologize….jerk!
I can’t believe it’s been a month since I got around to blogging! Life has been nutty here again…but I’ll have more on that in my next post.
I also haven’t forgotten about my poll. It was a 3 way tie, so I’m going with ‘The Best of Suzhou’. I’ve been collecting material for weeks
Tonight, after realizing that I had bit of spare time, I decided to write a post I’ve been considering for a long time. This particular post was inspired by an old friend of mine who’s thinking of moving to China. I was giving her advice this morning and it got me thinking about all the crazy stuff that I’ve gotten used to dealing with living in this strange country.
So here it is…a list of all the stuff that you should know if you’re moving to China! 1.) The Food is Amazing…and Amazingly Weird….
Item #1 on my list isn’t a shocker. Chinese food is popular around the world, so there has to be something good about it! I love Chinese food and I doubt I’ll ever tire of it. There are many different varieties, depending on the regions of origin. In Sichuan province, you’ll get spicy hot pot, for example. On the east coast, you’re more likely to get sweet sea food. No matter where you go in China, the local cuisine is worth a try because WOW…there are some amazing things to eat out here!
Hot pot is probably our most regular food in China.
Peking Duck is a MUST try!
Dumplings are a regular for anyone living in China
Then again, when you say you’ll try a local delicacy, you might get more than you bargained for…
I think most of the world is aware that people in China will eat anything and everything. From chicken feet to pig face, and everything in between…nothing is off-limits in this country. I can proudly say I’ve tried everything that’s been offered to me since I got here (still no dog…that may be the one I turn down…), and some of it isn’t bad.
Strangely enough, I enjoy barbecued chicken feet. There isn’t a whole lot of meat on them, but they’re alright. I also like chicken tail a lot. They get nice and crispy on the barbecue. Organ meat has become far more normal for me to eat as well and I’ve become particularly fond of liver, though brain still grosses me out and chicken gizzards seem pointless and rubbery.
Pig feet aren’t too bad. They are really fatty though, so probably not great for the heart…
It’s quite shocking how quickly I became used to eating animals whole. This is a fish and pepper dish, where you eat whole little river fish…bones and all. Having my food look up at me doesn’t even phase me anymore
Most of it, however, I simply don’t ‘get’. I can understand how a starving person might think that pig intestines are the most delicious thing they’ve ever eaten, but for me…they’re kinda gross. There isn’t much meat in them, and every time I’ve had them…they always faintly taste like poop….maybe it’s in my head…but I swear I taste it. So I now avoid them when I see them on the menu.
2. Sanitary Standards are VERY Different in China
Currently, I’m teaching a Food and Nutrition class at my school. It’s basically home economics, but I mostly just teach the students how to cook. The biggest challenge for me has been teaching them about bacteria, food poisoning and basic sanitation. It isn’t as easy as it may sound…
There’s no hot water in our kitchens (a norm in China) and I had to teach them to boil water for doing dishes. When classes other than my own work in the kitchen, the dishes are left a bit oily because cold water just doesn’t clean that stuff off, and soap is often an after-thought…
Teaching them about meat safety has also been a huge issue. In China, meat is frequently left out, unrefrigerated and uncovered. Even in the western type stores, like Carrefour and Metro (if you are new to China, seek out those two stores! They are a must-have for anyone living abroad), you’ll frequently see questionable meat sitting out on the counters.
Meat hanging out of an apartment
Chickens drying in the sun
Meat sitting out on shelves at Carrefour
More Carrefour meat
Dried pig face…I couldn’t decide which section to put this in: strange food, or hygiene
some VERY questionable meat, sitting in a crate…
Similarly, the ideas about personal hygiene are different here. By the time you are finished your first (of many) colds here in China, you will grow very tired of people telling you to ‘drink hot water’. It seems to be the cure to everything here in China, while preventative measures, like hand washing, are never discussed.
Throwing rubbish in the drain….no problem. Cold water….TERRIBLE idea!At the gym, cold water isn’t even an option. The best you can get is ‘warm’ water (which is still pretty hot), because apparently, cold water is bad for your health…
There are also some pretty nasty habits here, that I have never grown used to. Spitting, for one, still grosses me out. People don’t like to swallow their saliva here, so they just spit it out. This is especially true in poorer areas (where people are less educated regarding the spreading of germs) and with the older generations. Similarly, Chinese people think that sitting on a toilet seat is dirty, so they will often hop up on top of the seat and squat over top of the toilet, when an actual squatter isn’t around. The result is usually that urine ends up everywhere (because sit-down toilets aren’t made to be squatted over), which, to me anyway, seems a lot less hygienic than sitting on a toilet seat!
Furthermore…flushing your toilet paper here is a no-no. The sewage systems can’t handle the tissue, so public restrooms always smell because of the tp sitting in bins…
3. Be Prepared for Pollution and Pollution Related Illnesses
Everyone knows that China has a pollution problem. It’s a topic frequently discussed out here, and Chinese citizens are really starting to pressure their government to regulate factories better for the sake of the air. In Canada, I’d never really experienced pollution before, and until I moved to Suzhou, I’d never really given air quality a second thought. Here, students actually know the names of the different air pollutants and what they can do to your lungs. For example, I had a 13-year-old girl tell me that the PM2.5 levels were very high one day, and that I should wear a special kind of mask so that the particles don’t end up in my lungs. PM2.5, she informed me, is the most worrisome pollutant because your body doesn’t have any way of flushing it out…the particles stay trapped in your lungs for years.
When I was 13…pollution was hardly a concept I’d ever even considered!
A smoggy day in Suzhou
I don’t know a single teacher that doesn’t catch at least 1 or 2 terrible colds per term here. I was so sick back in March that I had to be put on oxygen after a short walk to the a nearby clinic. They put me on 5 different medications to combat the viral infection I had in my lungs and I was honestly really scared because I’d never had such trouble breathing in my entire life! Even pneumonia hadn’t been as bad as that lung infection was…
My many meds
4. Things are Done Differently Here
If health hazards are shrugged off here, I don’t even know how to explain how people here feel about safety. Workers frequently wear minimal or no equipment went doing construction, and I don’t even want to think about the repetitive strain injuries that some of those people suffer. I’ve seen women in their 40s and 50s hauling broken concrete out of demolition sights in wicker baskets hanging off their backs…
All of this was hauled out of the building by hand…on the backs of manual laborers…
And those are just some of the long-term consequences of having no standardized regulations for safety in the workplace. Sometimes the consequences are much more current…
In funnier instances, some things just don’t seem to make sense here. Such as:
Our hot water tank being right above our washing machine…but our washing machine wasn’t connected.
Escalators being built outside, instead of under the roofed area…causing them electrical damage every time it rains.
Having air conditioners in every room at a school, but forbidding anyone to turn them on because the cold (or hot…they do heating in the winter) air is bad for your health…
At the school, we use paper so thin that the students have dubbed it ‘toilet paper’. It’s done because they are trying to use less paper and save the environment…yet no one sees anything wrong with having between 20 and 30 flyers left in your e-bike every week
The government telling employees to smoke more to boost the economy…
I can’t stress enough: Cold Water = Bad……transporting food in dirty-cut-up-old containers…FINE!!!
Well, that’s all I have time for tonight! It looks like this one is going to be a 2-parter! Come back soon to see the rest of my list which will include:
I have about 10 blog posts planned at the moment, but have had so little free time that they’ve all just been sitting in my head Spring term has been a little bit crazy, and when you add in holidays, birthdays and regular life into the mix…finding downtime can be tricky! So, I thought an update on all my projects was a good idea…
Life since we returned from India has been eventful in both good and bad ways. When we got back to Suzhou, I started going to the gym again, but realized that I didn’t have anywhere near the energy I should have. I was actually feeling all around pretty terrible…by the time my lung infection hit full force, my body was having difficulty getting enough oxygen. I ended up at the Sing Medical walk-in clinic in SIP (the area of Suzhou where we live), where I was put on 5 different medication and told to stay in bed for the next week…
The doctor wasn’t sure if it was a bacterial or viral lung infection, but he was fairly sure that it had been building up for some time…I think it began in India…but it might have even been before that.
Since that necessary ‘mini vacation’, life hasn’t really stopped. I’ve been put in charge of the yearbook committee and the drama festival this term (two huge projects!) and I’ve also been helping out with some grade 8 exam preparation and of course, I have all my regular classes as well. It’s been a busy few months!
Brain Storming for the school yearbook. Yearbooks aren’t a ‘thing’ in China, so this is SUPER exciting for the students!
My favourite project has definitely been the Drama Festival. 4/5 of the classes that are participating in the event are taught by yours truly, so I’ve had my hands full preparing sets and props, teaching the students how to write a play, and of course, actually writing the plays. This festival has actually given me the chance to teach the students a whole set of new skills, and I really feel that they’ve gotten a lot out of these projects.
From there, I taught them about plot line and then gave them 2 weeks to prepare a presentation for the class about the play their group thought up
They all took the presentations very seriously and when each group had presented their idea to the class, we voted and chose the best play.
Now we are preparing the play that they chose as a group and they will perform it in the drama festival on April 22nd
Of course, when it came down to actually writing the plays, that was mostly left up to me. So working with their plot lines and character profiles, I got to put my creative writing skills to use! It was a tonne of fun and although it meant spending my long weekend holiday at Starbucks, it was well worth my time and efforts! I am SO looking forward to seeing what these plays look like up on stage on April 22nd!
This project has also given an opportunity to develop leadership skills in many of the stronger students.
Drama has been a blast this semester, and I have to say that Food and Nutrition has been on an upswing as well! Last term, and at the very beginning of this term, I was struggling with keeping the kitchen up to an acceptable standard of cleanliness. My students do alright, but students from the high school were using the kitchen in their free time and leaving quite a few messes to clean up.
This is my favourite class to take to the kitchen. They are learning to be so neat and organized!
I love coming in and seeing that they’ve put their vegetables in bowls instead of just having them all over the counter, like they used to do.
Making spaghetti and meatballs!
This class has been doing so well I actually took them to the kitchen for an extra week.
They LOVED the Jaimaican deviled eggs we made last term, so this term I decided to make some special Easter eggs with them
And when we were finished early (because it doesn’t take 90 minutes to make deviled eggs lol!), we got to work on our play for the drama festival!
And, in addition to the regular challenges you’d expect to face in a Home Economics-type class, there are some serious differences in culture when it comes to health and safety. It’s been quite the battle trying to teach the students about mold and bacteria. While in the past, it’s been perfectly acceptable to just stack up wet dishes into the cupboards (that aren’t finished…they have raw wood inside), the mold problem I faced in September made me determined to teach them the value of properly cleaning up. My students learned these skills pretty quickly, but as I mentioned earlier, I share the kitchen with other classes, and not all of the other classes were so quick to catch on.
Notice the sign?? At least they didn’t put them in the cupboard! lol!!
The worst is when I come in after being out of the kitchen for a week…students often leave behind things like this and they begin to rot. The worst is when I find open bags of bags of pasta sauce or open tubes of mayonnaise sitting on the counter…
My writing class continues to be one of the most rewarding things I do at the school. I love teaching those kids and they’re so engaged and interested in my lessons that they are making leaps and bounds as far as their writing is concerned. My biggest success has been a student named Jared, who went from getting 30-40% on his homework last term, to 75-80% this term! Something clicked for him and now he’s finishing 3rd place in the class on tests! That’s huge for a mainland kid, because it means that he beat kids from Singapore and Malaysia, who have been learning English most of their lives. I’m very proud of him.
A classroom selfie. I very much look forward to Friday mornings, when I get my 80 minutes with these 13 year olds 🙂
And of course, in addition to being an incredibly hard-working group of students, they’re funny too! They played a very cute trick on me on April Fools day!
I came into the classroom and this is what I saw! They had all put their hoodies on backwards and were sitting backwards in their seats. Little Tom was also hiding in the teacher’s desk and he jumped out at me as soon as I started teaching! I screamed and jumped about 3 feet in the air. I’m pretty sure I added about a year onto these kids’ lives with laughter!!
Life outside of the school has been busy too. With both Dave and I having birthdays in April, it’s already usually a busy month. As it turns out, our good friend, Jeff, also has a birthday in April and his friends Matt and Lisa came out for a visit as well, so we’ve been having lots of parties as of late!
Dave and I, reading for the Kempinski
At the Kempinski with some lovely friends!
I made a friend that night…this is my friend Eric’s son, Alex. Such a cute kid!!!
I’ve gotta say though, the best part so far was the one we had last night. I turned the big three oh, and some of my favourite people took me out to Beijiang (a Chinese Muslim restaurant with INCREDIBLE food!) and then to KTV! It was such a great night! I can hardly talk today because my voice is so tired from singing…but it felt so good to be out! I have met some awesome people in Suzhou and last night I felt incredibly lucky to be out with them.
Our dinner group…Jeff is incapable of taking a nice picture :p
Dave and I! Dave did such an amazing job making my birthday special this year! I’m spending 2 hours at the Kempinski spa tomorrow as a birthday gift!
My GORGEOUS birthday cake! It taste even better than it looks!!!
Michael, Karsten and I. Karsten’s rendition of ‘I will Survive’ suited his German accent so well! It is officially my new favourite version of that song!
I don’t know what I was singing here..probably Gaga…I did a lot of Gaga last night lol!
Lizz, Jeff, Dave and Piyush! Some of my favorite people in Suzhou!
Fun picture!
Katie killing it rapping!!!
Dave killing it doing AC/DC! lol
So that’s been life lately….it’s been full and awesome and 50 shades of crazy! Oh, one last thing…I already got Dave his birthday present! I found them for sale on the Suzhou Buy and Sell and I’m SOOO happy I did!!!
Meet Bonnie…
and Clyde!
I’ll be back soon…though I’m not sure if I’ll be around again before the drama festival on the 22nd. As always…thanks for reading!
