Edinburgh, Day 4

Today we took the hour-long tour of the Scottish Parliament (it was only established in 1997); visited the National Museum of Scotland (admission was free, like many of the museums here); drank hot chocolate in the Elephant House, which is one of the cafés where J.K. Rowling worked on the Harry Potter series; made a trip to the cheese shop; and walked around the city. 


The weather has gotten a bit nasty this evening. As I’m writing this, I can hear the wind blowing down the chimney in our hotel room. I’m happy to be cozy inside right now enjoying the fire. 


We had a fairly simple dinner of a salad, an apple, cheese, and bread this evening. Generally, we don’t like to leave the apartment once we’ve made it back after a long day of touring. It’s also pleasant to eat a small meal at night because we’re usually still quite full from lunch.


That's about the news from today. We're throughly enjoying our time here and are excited that we still have a number of days left to explore Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, Day 3

After walking about seven miles today, my feet and legs are exhausted. However, the pain is worth it because we saw some incredible sights/sites today. 


We started our adventure at around eight this morning and had been planning to eat a large Sunday breakfast at a nearby restaurant; our plans were quickly changed when we discovered that the restaurant wasn’t open yet. We decided to wait until we could find a decent place to eat.


Our first stop was Calton Hill. It has a partially-completed replica of the Acropolis and some other interesting structures. The climb up to the hill was short and we didn’t spend much time looking around. 


We then wandered around the buildings close to Holyroodhouse (the Queen’s residence in Scotland) and found a fun place to eat a meal. Jean-Jacques and I both ordered the full breakfast (it contained eggs, toast, bacon, two sausages, beans, a fried tomato, and came with a large pot of breakfast tea). After we finished, we toured the palace and throughly enjoyed the visit. We’re both happy that the US doesn’t have a monarch, but it was certainly fascinating to learn more about the UK’s government.


Following our trip to Holyroodhouse, we hiked up Arthur’s Seat. The weather was nasty -- windy with occasional snow flakes -- but we enjoyed the climb and view of the city once we arrived at the top. Once we had summated the “peak”, we climbed down the opposite side of the hill to visit a six-hundred-year-old pub. Jean-Jacques and I both ordered beverages and we enjoyed observing the atmosphere of the place as we consumed our drinks. 


Since we were far away from our hotel, it took us about an hour and a half to walk back from the pub. Along the way, we found and ate lunch at a Pakistani restaurant that Jean-Jacques had discovered while doing research about the trip. We ordered two lamb dishes, some naan, and a side of rice; the food was delicious and helped warm us up.


We arrived back at the hotel at around four thirty and have spent the rest of the day regrouping, relaxing, and getting warm again. 


I’m a bit behind on the photo processing (I’m one day behind, sorry), but here are some pictures from our trip to Edinburgh Castle and the farmer’s market yesterday.

Castle time!

More castle!

View of Edinburgh from castle

An "artsy" shot

Farmer's market; the stall on the left is where we bought some tasty venison haggis

Edinburgh, Day 2

It was another wonderful, busy, and fun-filled day. We visited a farmer’s market and bought some bread, local cheese, and two brownies; we toured Edinburgh Castle, saw the Scottish Royal Crown Jewels, and some spectacular views of the city; and we visited the National Gallery of Scotland where we viewed some paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rafael, Monet, and Goya. We ate venison haggis with neeps (turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes) at the farmer's market, cheese at home this evening, and hamburgers at a terrific local restaurant called Wannaburger. The weather was a bit misty (with a few sprinkles of rain), but we managed to stay warm and dry. We’re exhausted, but happy!

Edinburgh, Day 1

As I am writing this entry, I’m happily sitting at a table in our hotel room in Edinburgh, Scotland. After an extremely lengthy journey yesterday that I’ll explain in a bit, we are throughly enjoying our vacation. We’ve had a terrific and productive Friday, but before I launch into a report of our day’s activities, I should first explain the ordeals we endured yesterday. (Actually, I’m exaggerating a bit; the trip wasn’t bad at all.)


We started our journey at around eight o’clock China time on Wednesday, January 26. Fortunately, the flight from Anqing to Shanghai was only delayed about an hour. (We did have to wait for the Beijing-bound plane to leave before us, though we were ready first.) After the flight, we rode the Shanghai subway for about an hour and fifteen minutes to reach Pudong airport; we had arrived at Hongquio, which is the domestic airport and our flight to Scotland left from Pudong, the international one. We spend about nine hours at Pudong waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam; during our time there, we ate two meals, I read, and finished a pair of socks. 


The flight from Shanghai to Amsterdam was uneventful. I was so exhausted that I managed to sleep a fair amount on the plane. I drifted off for about hour-long periods of time, so by the time we arrived in the Netherlands, I was sleepy, but not in the zombie-like-state I would have experienced if I hadn’t caught some z’s on the flight.


Now here’s a story that’s stranger than fiction -- I’ve got the pictures/video to prove it occurred. As I was buying breakfast in the Amsterdam airport, Jean-Jacques Skyped with Isabelle and discovered that Kurtis was going through Amsterdam on his way to Finland. After a bit of research, we were able to locate his arrival gate and greet him when he deplaned. Needless to say, he was a bit shocked to see us, but we spent an enjoyable hour together chatting before he had to catch his flight to Helsinki. 


Thankfully, the flight from Amsterdam to Edinburgh was short and sweet. After we got off the airplane and went through customs (it was the best border crossing I’ve ever experienced), we caught a double-decker bus from the airport to our hotel. We were a bit lost after we disembarked the bus, but quickly got our bearings and found our lodging without much trouble. 


We got an amazing deal on our hotel and man are we lucky! It’s a boutique hotel that has a fully equipped kitchen (I think we’re going to use it to make some haggis); a living room with an electric fire place; a beautiful bedroom with a large, cushy bed; and a bathroom with heated floors, heated towel racks, and a mirror that defogs itself. We’re going to be extremely comfortable for the couple of weeks!


I managed to stay awake until seven thirty last night (most of the day was spent being exhausted, though we did eat a delicious lunch at a small shop called Bread and Olives and we grabbed some fish and chips from a nearby restaurant) and was able to sleep the entire night until around seven o’clock this morning. I feel a bit discombobulated at times, but I don’t think that we’re going to suffer much from jet lag. 


We ate breakfast at a hamburger joint and I throughly enjoyed my meal of a fried egg, fried tomato, beans, bacon, whole wheat bread, sauteed mushrooms, tea, and potato cake. During the meal (and while eating last night’s order of fish and chips), I realized how much I’ve missed salty food. Anqingeese cuisine doesn’t have much salt in it, but it’s a taste I really enjoy. 


After breakfast we walked to a grocery store and bought some breakfast foods, drinks, apples, carrots, and a ready-made pizza we’re going to eat for dinner. We made a quick run back to our hotel room so we could put away the goods before heading to our haircut appointments.


Once we looked presentable again, and after a couple of showers to rinse off the stray hairs, we headed out on the town and walked down Princes Street. I took a number of photos, Jean-Jacques bought a coat, and we visited a cheese shop and a yarn shop. We had a wonderful time walking around the city, absorbing all the beautiful sights (it’s one of the most scenic cities I’ve ever visited). The people are extremely friendly -- we even chatted with two sets of people as we ate a lunch of potatoes with curry and a Greek salad. Yummy!
Well, I’m about out of energy, so I’ll sign off. Hopefully, I’ll be able to process my photos this evening so I can post some of them tomorrow. 

Scotland, here we come!

We’re approaching the final stretch to our departure because we leave on Wednesday. Yesterday we have a full day of socializing because we visited five classes at a school that specializes in providing extra tutoring in English, dance, and art. It was an unassuming school that was fascinating to visit because it was tucked away on the third floor of a random building.


The school visit was similar to a number of experiences we’ve had here: we were given a topic to “teach”, but weren’t given much time to prepare it or many guidelines as to how they wanted us to instruct the students. The students were excited to see us, but were too terrified to speak much with us. It’s sad because many of the students study English for years, but are unable to speak it smoothly. They are either too scared to make mistakes, or are too nervous to talk to a native speaker.


After the school visit, we ate dinner with some friends after we walked through a typical Chinese food street. The restaurant where they had originally planned to take us was closed, so we went to a different place. There wasn’t a menu and we had to go back to the kitchen to speak with the chef about what we wanted him to prepare. We ended up ordering a number of vegetables and I enjoyed the meal. At this point in our say, I have to admit that I'm getting a bit tired of Chinese food (I miss the bland tastes of western cuisine), so it’s good that we’re going to Scotland for a small break.


Today we visited with Amanda for a little while. She had some questions to ask us about her upcoming TOEFL test and we helped her to the best of our abilities. I also gave her the scarf that I’d knitted for her and she was pleased to receive it.


That’s about the most exciting news I’ve got at this point. I turned a sock heel today and am working on the gusset decreases. It’s quite exciting!


Adios!

Adventures in snow

Yesterday I ventured out in the snow to take some photographs and below are some of the pictures that I snapped during the outing. Someone mentioned to me that this is the most snow that Anqing has received in a very long time. Hope you enjoy the images!

This wall is located directly outside of the stairs that lead to our apartment.

The walkway outside our apartment building.

A walkway

The "courtyard" of No. 1 Middle School

A cool gate

A snowy campus

A snowy street directly outside No. 1 Middle School

People battling the elements

A little snow never stopped intrepid entrepreneurs 

A winter wonderland!

A snowy day

It's the second day of snowfall here in Anqing, but not much of it seems to be sticking around. Neither Jean-Jacques nor I am terribly saddened by this fact because we're flying out of town next Wednesday for our two-week Scottish adventure and we don’t want the weather to muddle up our plans. It’s supposed to snow for the next three days, but warm up by Monday; I hope the weather forecasters are correct.


We’re extremely excited about the upcoming trip and have been spending a considerable amount of time preparing for our departure. We’ll definitely be busy during our stay, since there are a surprising number of interesting activities to do in the city. However, one of the things that we’re most thrilled about is the food. There are a number of excellent restaurants in the area and we’re looking forward to eating French, Italian, Scottish, Indian, and American food. I think that one day we’re even going to partake in a high tea at a fancy hotel in Edinburgh; I’m sure it will be a fun and memorable experience.


In preparation for our excursion, I’ve been reading Ian Rankin’s Black and Blue, which is a detective novel that's set in Edinburgh. Normally I’m not much of a fan of “guy” murder mysteries, but I’ve throughly enjoyed the book for a number of reasons. First, the plot is complex and well constructed. Second, I like reading a story told from a “foreign” point of view because it feels fresh. Sometimes it seems that many American authors are unoriginal and use similar plot or writing techniques, so I enjoy looking at the world from a “new” angle. Third, the story is educating me about Edinburgh and the challenges it has faced and continues to face today. In summary, it’s a good read and I would recommend the book.


News from Anqing? There’s not a whole lot to report, but we’ve officially completed our first semester of teaching in China and are enjoying the first few days of our Spring Festival vacation. Unfortunately, Jean-Jacques is feeling a bit under the weather, so we haven’t been venturing too far from our apartment. (Yesterday made an emergency run to a computer shop to buy a new hard drive because ours suddenly “gave up the ghost”. We had a fun walk in the snow through downtown Anqing, so the trip was worth the effort.)


We were invited to a hot pot dinner a few nights ago and enjoyed the outing. We stuffed ourselves with the delicious food, but suffered afterward a bit from the meal’s spiciness.


That’s about all I have for exciting news. I finally finished my blue cabled sweater last week and we experienced a mild earthquake earlier today (nothing was damaged, thankfully).


Hugs to all!

The first week of January

Here's a round of journal entries from the past week.


Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Edinburgh, Scotland is the answer to the infamous question, “Where should we (Jean-Jacques and I) go for the Spring Festival vacation?” Yes, that’s right. Edinburgh, Scotland. Certainly the question marks and puzzled looks will begin at this point, but rest assured that we have not made this decision without much contemplation, research, and soul searching.  
Every spare second of Monday and Tuesday (remember that Monday was a holiday without school) was spent on the time-staking process of eliminating possible destinations. 


We considered Chiang Mai, Thailand, but it was too difficult to find flights. Also, we wanted a bit of a change from our pace here. Plus, an English speaking country would be wonderful. 


At one point, we had narrowed our choices to Dublin, London, and Edinburgh. To help us made the final decision, we watched a episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and we were sold on Edinburgh. It just felt right. It’s not too big, is extremely romantic, has wonderful food, has many options of things to do, and is quite reasonably priced. Plus, we were able to find a five start hotel within our price range. I think it’s going to be a magnificent vacation and I can hardly wait for it! We’re leaving three weeks from today, so it’s going to be exciting.


In other news, the lesson has been going rather smoothly this past week. We’re learning about winter activities and the students seem to really enjoy the content. We watch some funny videos, learn some vocab words, look at pictures of winter around the world, we do a version of the word game where students try to make new words using the letters in “hot chocolate”, I tell some knock knock jokes, post a couple of riddles that I help the students understand, I explain some common mistakes that we see Chinese students make, and we play charades if there’s time. I’m happy that it’s going so smoothly.


I’ve officially decided that next week we’re going to have a “party” and watch High School Musical 2 to celebrate. Finals will be starting soon and the students are already nervous about things, so I’m going to give them a break.


Thursday, January 6, 2011
It’s 7:24 PM and Jean-Jacques and I are comfortably set up in bed, ready to fall asleep soon. Yes, it’s early, but we have had a long week filled with trip planning. Plus, it’s so cold here that the only place where you feel warm is in bed. We’re using three blankets at night and that keeps us comfortable.


As Thursdays go, it was a rather fantastic one. My morning class was terrific and so was my middle session of the afternoon. The section directly after lunch was also quite well behaved and we had a fun time together; the only unfortunate experience I had was with one of the worst group of kids I have here. I think they have a difficult time comprehending English, so it’s easy for them to get off task. 


I did have some heart-warming experiences today, too. During one class, when I mentioned that Jean-Jacques and I were going to Scotland, some of the students got sad and one of them asked, “Will you come back after the holiday?” I responded affirmatively and he seemed relieved. Some of the female students volunteered to clean my classroom. They picked up the trash off the ground and straightened the desks. It was fun to see them help out so much and it made me feel good about my role here in China. The girls are so excited about the movie tomorrow that they can hardly wait. I think that it’s going to be a highlight of their week.


We had a date and ate dinner at the Muslim noodle shop. I ordered what I thought was going to be a beef noodle soup, but got a different concoction instead. It was delicious!


Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sorry about not writing yesterday, but we ended up staying up late with our Irish friend last night (who needed some counseling), so I didn’t have time to write up a quick entry.


Events from yesterday: I taught two classes and they went smoothly. I was thrilled to be finished with the week’s topic; yes it was a fun subject, but by the fourteenth time through a lesson, any content becomes repetitive. 


Directly after class, I met Jean-Jacques at the travel agency so we could buy our plane tickets from Anqing to Shanghai for our trip to Scotland. Alice, the travel agent, was extremely kind and generous (I don’t think that she charged us a commission for the arrangements). We had to pay an exorbitant price for the airfare, because it’s so close to the Spring Festival, but it’s worth it to us and we’re thrilled for the vacation. 


After the appointment at the travel agency, I had approximately an hour before my “movie lunch” so we returned to the apartment. I relaxed a bit before heading out again.


Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties while trying to show the students the movie. Approximately eighteen of them showed up and I think that they were excited for the opportunity to see a cartoon movie. (I had originally planned to have The Emperor’s New Groove.) However, the words and pictures were out of synch and made it impossible to follow the plot. Panicking, I had to find something else for them to watch and I ended up choosing (partially because it was the only back-up movie I had) Prom Night in Mississippi. I think the students were interested in it, but it did have a picture of a lynching which was probably a bit much for them. Also, the southern accents made it practically impossible for them to comprehend the spoken English. In the future, I think I’m going to stick with cartoon movies since that was one of the best ways I learned Spanish.


This morning we met with the eight students we selected to tutor. It was a fun meeting and I think that the students are going to enjoy working with us. The group is composed of all girls and they are mostly in the “arts” track of school. Many of them have heart-wrenching stories and I’m extremely happy to be working with them. I think that I’m going to put a little more effort into preparing a bit more for the sessions, but it’s going to be an enjoyable group. Actually, I’m happy I’ve added the “movie lunches” and tutoring to my schedule because I feel great about giving more to the students than what I’m required to do. It feels good to do a little extra.


This evening we went out for hot pot with our Irish friend and some of her colleagues. I would have to say that hot pot is addicting and I think we’re going to have to make it in the States.


Sunday, January 9, 2011
Yowling cats are serenading me as I write this entry. I think that some of them must be in heat right now because for the past three nights we’ve been graced with the nocturnal sounds of singing felines, and it’s not the most pleasant of sounds.


A girl couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. I slept in, my sweetie braved the cold to purchase me a bacon and egg Taiwanese pancake for breakfast and fried rice for lunch, I Skyped with my grandparents, the Têtus all sent me sweet e-cards, and I had a relaxing day. I managed to block my sweater arms in a minimal amount of time and I started Jean-Jacques’ weasel hat. 


The only unfortunate portion of the day was from 6:15 PM to around 8:30 PM and that was due to the fact that we were invited out to a banquet. We discussed an exchange to an American school for the host's son, so hopefully that paid for our dinner, but we were asked to tutor the boy as well. Our school contact suggested that the boy attend our Saturday tutoring sessions, but we said no to that; we did offer the Friday movie lunch as a possible alternative, though. Hopefully that will pacify them.


That’s about all the news I have from today. As I mentioned, it was mostly a day of relaxing and regrouping. Amazingly enough, we’ve been rather busy this weekend, but it hasn’t felt like it. I feel rested for the new week and ready to tackle the final five days before our month-long vacation. I can hardly wait for the break and Scotland. Whoo hoo! 

Happy New Year!

Audience at No. 1 Middle School Arts Festival

Ah, the week from hell. Well, maybe I shouldn’t phrase it exactly like that because it truly wasn’t one of the worst group of five days I’ve experienced here. I’ve been getting tougher in the classroom lately and I think the total number of students that I’ve kicked out has reached three or four. It seems that many of the students aren’t learning from their mistakes and changing their behavior. 

Arts Festival Presenters

For example, on Friday, I kicked out a girl for listening to an mp3 player during class. She was using ear buds and was obviously listening to music. I asked her to give me the device (my intention was that I was going to return it to her at the end of class); she disobeyed a couple of times and said, “No.” I tried to be patient with the situation because I understand that Chinese students sometimes have problems with authority and that when caught, they are too scared to follow directions and think that ignoring the situation (or apologizing profusely) will remedy the issue. (I’d already fought with this particular student before about a cell phone that she hid in her sleeve and refused to give me.) After a few seconds of her saying "no" and me asking her to hand over the mp3 player, I asked her to leave the room. She also refused to obey this request until I scooted out her chair; she finally got the hint and scurried out the classroom. 

Principal giving a speech

Did I enjoy the confrontation? No, I most certainly did not. Again, I understand that it’s difficult for the students to deal with my expectations as an American teacher; however, I’m also in a bind because I have to instruct 50+ individuals who don’t speak my language very well. I try to be lenient, but I probably tend to be a bit more strict than some teachers here. I do let some things go and for the most part, the students are doing an excellent job of behaving in my class (though I’m certain it’s been a considerable adjustment for them). 


In other news, Jean-Jacques and I attended the No. 1 School's Arts Festival that was put on by the students in honor of the new year. I had “planned ahead”, charged a battery, and replaced it in my camera to be prepared to take photos during the performance. However, my STUPID BATTERY died and I was only about to snap a few pictures of the show. Oh well, at least Jean-Jacques had his camera and was able to capture some excellent footage of the performance. It truly was epic.

No. 1 Choir

One last exciting bit of news from Friday. I tried saying Happy New Year in Chinese in front of the whole school, but I don’t think I talked into the microphone well enough, so I didn’t get much of a response. However, when I said, “Happy New Year” in English, I got a resounding response of “Happy New Year” from the audience. Then Jean-Jacques took over the stage and wowed the audience with his singing.

More singing

I hate to admit this, but on December 31 Jean-Jacques and I were so exhausted that we went to sleep at around ten thirty, instead of staying up to “ring in the new year”. Yes, I know it wasn’t the most thrilling way to experience a New Year’s celebration in China, but Jean-Jacques had spent the entire day watching students perform in a freezing auditorium; I was only there half the time, but it was enough for me to feel wiped out. However, large quantities of fireworks were set off at midnight and 12:15 AM, so we were awake when the new year began.