From Vannes to Quimper

It was another busy and fascinating day in France. We ate breakfast at our B&B, set off at around 9:30 AM, drove back roads along the coast through some stunning countryside, took a short hike to an abbey gate (we didn’t go in because it seemed too expensive for what we’d see), looked at a castle where Rasputin lived for a while (we decided not to tour it because it didn’t seem worth the 12 Euro it would have cost to enter the gates), ate lunch and shopped around in a seaside town called Concarneau (the old city was surrounded by ramparts and I was amazed by the advanced architecture that kept the sea at bay),  got takeout from small pizzeria (there wasn’t even seating inside and the man gave us a free pizza because the people hadn’t arrived to pick it up, so it was going to waste), and relaxed in our room. 

Outside of Vannes

As I recently posted on Facebook, I’m all cuted out. In my travels, I’ve never been to a place as adorable, cute, and just durn beautiful as France. Accuse the French of whatever you want, but you can’t label them as being uninterested in aesthetics. As you travel though France, you realize that to the people living here, beauty is life. You sense that appreciation of quality in everything you see, smell, or taste and that care is causing me to fall in love with this country.


In our adventures today, we passed though breathtaking countryside filled with forests, wheat, corn, or rolled bales of hay; wandered though villages composed of houses with plastered white walls, roofs painted black, and brightly painted shutters of dark blues, reds, or other bold colors; and strolled along beaches of fine, blisteringly white sand. When we arrived at our B&B this evening, my senses were over stimulated by all the beautiful things we had seen today and I’m not sure I can take much more adorable, though I’m sure there’s more on the horizon. 

Though we had vowed to take it easier today, we still managed to pack in a number of activities. We drove through a number of seaside villages (Carnac, Quiberon, Plouhamel, St-Pierre-Quiberon, Étel, Gavre, Belz, and Erdeven), saw the amazing megliths at Carnac and walked along the beach there, ate lunch at a créperie, explored an old fort, took a short break from our travels to eat some sorbet and drink a Perrier at a small boulangerie/patisserie, tracked down some freshly made goat cheese, and ate a lengthy dinner at our B&B with another guest. I was thrilled because I was able to understand almost all the conversation, though I had a difficult time speaking in French.

Tomorrow it’s on to Quimper!

From Nantes to Vannes

After a lengthy drive, we finally arrived in Vannes, France. Though the distance was short, we were our normal selves and got lost a number of times; it was fun to see the beautiful French countryside, though. Jean-Jacques and I remarked to one another that it reminded us of the Willamette Valley, Benin, and San Juan Island. 

Once we arrived in Vannes, we tried to check into our B&B, but the owner wasn’t around so we drove into the city center to explore. We walked along the docks, passed by touristy shops in the old city, and enjoyed some Perrier at a café. Jean-Jacques crashed when we finally were able to check into our room, so I had to venture out to find dinner. Unfortunately, the only grub within walking distance was a Chinese restaurant; I ordered sweet and sour pork and a beef dish. It wasn’t thrilling, but it fed us. It’s already late, so I’m heading off to bed! I think we’re going to Carnac tomorrow, so that should be an interesting outing.

Nantes, France

We’re now in France! Yesterday, we woke up at around 5:00 AM, took showers, ate a small breakfast of a banana, lugged our bags to the Tube, got off at the train station, took two high speed trains, and arrived in Nantes at around 5:30 PM. We checked into our hotel, took naps (I slept for about 2 hours), walked to a Carrefour and bought some bread and cheese for dinner. When we were finished with everything, it was about 11:00 PM; the time is deceiving because it stays light so late that it feels much earlier than the real time.


This morning we ate breakfast in our room and left at around 10:00 AM to explore the city of Nantes; this was a little later than normal, but we decided to take it a little easier today since it was Sunday. As we were walking along the river, we noticed some police cars and ambulances driving up to a spot near a bridge. When we got a little closer, we discovered that the authorities were investigating a body and I glimpsed the dead man’s face. Needless to say, it was one of my first experiences with seeing dead people (I might have seen a couple of people in China, though) and it was rather sad. It definitely put a damper on the rest of the day.

After seeing the deceased man, we continued walking and soon heard a kitten mewing. Confused by the sound because we were on a busy street, we decided to investigate and found a little kitten who was stranded in some bushes. It took a few minutes of our best cat impersonations, and some crawling around in the bushes, but Jean-Jacques was finally able to grab the kitty. We had to ask a few people if they knew about an animal shelter that was close before we found a family (mother, father, and toddler) who wanted to take the cat (either to adopt it or to run it to the shelter). They were thrilled and so were we, so all ended up well in the kitty rescue!


At this point, I discovered that I had left my purse in the hotel room. I’m not sure how Jean-Jacques manages to put up with my forgetfulness sometimes, because this isn’t the first time this has happened to me. Once I realized my mistake, we rapidly retraced our route back to the hotel (which, strangely enough, caused blisters on our feet) to recover the wallet. Fortunately, nothing had been taken, so the mishap had a happy ending.


We headed out into the heat again, though by this time Jean-Jacques and I were rather warm. We walked around Nantes for about an hour before we found the restaurant where we ate lunch, which was voted the best in the region. Deciding to splurge to celebrate Jean-Jacques’ job offer, we went with the menu special of a three course meal and were thrilled by our choice. I had a leg of lamb, Jean-Jacques chose the fish, and we both agreed that it was one of the best meals we’ve ever eaten. The restaurant’s décor was breathtaking and the food outstanding. 


Once we finished lunch (at around 3PM), we decided that it was time to return to the hotel because our blisters were hurting too much and we were rather overheated. There’s a reason that people in France relax during the middle of the day in the summer! It’s too darn hot to do much more than sit around enjoying coffee and conversation. 


This evening we ate dinner in the room because we had some left over food and were too full from lunch to eat a large meal. In total, I think we walked about six miles, so I’m sure we’ll sleep well tonight!


Tomorrow we’re picking up our car here in Nantes and driving to Vannes, which is about two hours away. Along the way, I think we’re going to stop at some stone formations that are similar to Stone Henge. À demain!

Last day in London

We spent our final day in London visiting museums; I visited three and Jean-Jacques, two. This morning, we went to the Natural History Museum and had a great time meandering through all the impressive exhibits. We took a short break from touring to eat lunch at a small, but incredibly authentic Italian restaurant. Jean-Jacques had risotto and I ordered an eggplant penne dish that was delicious! 


Since our tastes sometimes differ, Jean-Jacques and I split up to explore different museums; I chose to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum and saw some wonderful pieces of art from the Middle East, China, Korea, Japan, India, and Europe. Jean-Jacques was interested in spending all of his time in the Science Museum, so he went there while I was at the V&A and I met up with him later.


It was another night “in” for us and we got doner kebabs for dinner. I’m now off to bed since it’s an early day tomorrow; we’re going through the Chunnel, which is something that I vowed I’d never do because it’s terrifying. Funny how I always end up doing the things I swore I never would -- get married at a young age, travel to Asia, eat scary things, and pass through the Chunnel. 

London, Day 4

What another busy and fascinating day in London! We began our journey at the Imperial War Museum where we saw an emotional, but educational, exhibit on the Holocaust. The museum was well put together and had fascinating artifacts and information about airplanes, tanks, WWI, WWII, spies, nautical battles, and many other things. 


After the museum, we started walking towards Waterloo Bridge hoping to find an outdoor book market; along the way we stopped for lunch at a small Thai place. Unfortunately, the books weren’t out, but we did find some frozen yoghurt (and it was real frozen yoghurt, not the fat free ice cream version that we get in the states) that we ate on the bank of the Thames. The pigeons tried to attack me more than once, but I bravely fought them off. 

Once we had finished our refreshing dessert, we tried to find a Tube station, but had a hard time locating one, so we wandered around for a while. We visited a hat shop, a bookstore, had some tea, and witnessed a rent ceremony.  As part of this ancient tradition, we saw a man who was dressed up in “ye olde” clothes parade down the street with some important royal (or we assumed it was because he was driven around in a fancy car with a royal sign on the roof); accompanying the two was a marching band playing New Orleans music. The whole scene was rather bizarre and left the two of us wondering if we dreamed the experience. 


Since we were exhausted, we decided to call it a day at five thirty and return to the B&B to relax for the evening. I processed some photos, we watched some of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, and enjoyed resting our feet. Tomorrow will be our last day in London and we're planning to visit the Science Museum and Natural History Museum.

London, Day Three

Dr. Who fans will recognize this!

I know these posts are often devoid of exciting vignettes, and are mostly lists of things that we've done during the day, but by the time I am able to write, my eyelids are usually about "half mast", so it's a struggle to jot down notes. My main goal is to keep track of what we do so that I can remember everything later. I'll stop trying to rationalize or explain my lack of creativity and simply relate the day's events.

Today we visited Greenwich, snuck in a gate to take a picture at the Prime Meridian (it cost 7 pounds to officially enter the "museum", but we noticed an unlocked gate close to the meridian line, so we entered, took our pictures on the line, and left), spent a little time at the Maritime Museum (it had a very confusing layout and half of the exhibits were closed because of maintenance, so it was rather disappointing), and ate a fish and chips lunch in an authentic English pub, though we both vowed that it would probably be the last time we eat much friend food. The fish and chips were delicious, and we had some mashed peas (a very traditional English dish), but after eating oily Chinese food for ten months, our grease tolerance isn't what it used to be, so we're sticking to salads and other healthy food for now. 

Golders Green, where we're staying in London. Pretty cool, huh?

We then took the Tube to a shopping center close to the BBC television center, where we had some tea and scones, wandered around a mall, and took a tour of the BBC. As we were walking around the BBC station, we saw Barry Manilow. The whole experience at the BBC was wonderful and extremely educational, especially after our experience of participating in the taping yesterday. After our time at the "Beeb", we caught the Tube back to the area where we’re staying and picked up some Turkish take-out, which was delicious!

I’ve been editing photos for a very long time now, but I’m finished for the evening and I’m going to go to bed soon.

London, Day 2

Man was it a long day! We’ve been out on the town for a good thirteen hours this Tuesday, but every second was either educational, entertaining, or enjoyable. 


The journey started with a rather lengthy bus ride past 221 Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes Museum (though we didn’t stop in to visit) to Picadilly Circus; we then visited a HMV (it sells music, videos, and books); stopped at Hamleys and saw all five floors of the Mecca of toy shops; ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant; walked to Trafalgar Square; strolled through St. James’ Garden; snapped some photos of Buckingham Palace (which was much smaller than I thought it would be); found our way to Harrods where we bought some cheese and rode the escalators in an Egyptian-themed stairwell. We needed a break at this point, so we stopped in a Starbucks (I know we’re terrible!) for a quick refreshing beverage. After this, we walked to the Science Museum, were greeted by a woman who asked if we’d be interested in taking part in a science experiment about color that was being filmed by the BBC; we agreed to participate and ended up spending the next five hours doing various tests, being filmed, waiting to do tasks, or waiting for the film crew to prepare everything. We had a wonderful time learning about TV production and chatting with the locals. 


The best part of our day happened when we arrived back at the B&B and found out that Jean-Jacques had been offered a HS science job at Mt. Si in Snoqualmie, WA. We’re so excited, though I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet. This process has been so long and involved that it’s wonderfully relieving to have it over. Plus, we could never have dreamed of such a wonderful location. Yay!

London, Day 1

It’s official, Jean-Jacques and I are no longer in China. On Saturday, we were driven to the Hefei train station, where we caught a high speed train to Shanghai; we spent the night in a posh hotel and woke up relatively early to catch our 11  AM flight to London. The plane was about two hours late because of some problems with paperwork concerning fuel calculations, but eventually we took off and twelve hours later landed in the UK. Surprisingly enough, the flight passed quickly (I watched four movies, so that helped me remain comfortable) and uneventfully. 


It was a fun-filled, but busy first day in London. We woke up fairly early (6:45 AM), ate a full English breakfast (eggs, toast, beans, sausage, and bacon) in the dining room of our B&B; caught a couple of buses to try to get into the city, but ended up taking the “Tube” instead because it was faster; saw Big Ben & Parliament; rode a boat upriver to the Tower of London (which is a castle complex that was first built by William the Conquerer in 1070); grabbed lunch from a deli-style restaurant called Absolutely Starving!; ate our meal on the bank on the Thames; toured the WWII warship HMS Belfast; and ate a delicious dinner at an authentic pizza place. We’ve walked a lot, and it was a great day. 

Zai jian, China

This will likely be my last blog entry from China since we leave Anqing in two days and China in three. There were times during our experience here when I never thought this day would come and yet I’ve found myself feeling a tad melancholy these past couple of days. No, I won’t miss the pollution, spitting, noise, and feeling lost most of the time, but I will miss the people I’ve met and connected with during my ten months. 


Today was filled with goodbyes. We bid farewell to some close friends during a lunch and dinner and it was difficult. I know that I’ll enjoy returning home, and the luxuries that come with living in the United States (blue sky, drinkable tap water that doesn’t smell like poo, a walled-in shower that doesn’t flood the entire bathroom floor, flushing toilet-paper, eating raw fruits and veggies without worrying about how they’ll affect my insides, etc.), but I’m not quite sure how I’ll feel about China once I’m stateside. 


What will I miss? I honestly don’t know because I haven’t figured out yet what this experience has meant for me. I certainly feel changed (who wouldn’t?), but I think it will take some time to process everything -- the good, the bad, and the bizarre. So far, I think that I appreciate my life much more than before; man I’ve got it good -- a loving family, a good education, great friends, a healthy savings account, a car, promising job prospects, enough food to eat, a computer, my travel experiences, the freedom to voice my opinions without worrying about repercussions, clean air and water, and the list goes on! In the coming days, weeks, months, it will be interesting to see the other ways I’ve changed. 


On Saturday I had my final day of teaching and I wish it could have gone a little more smoothly. The last class I taught was too excited about playing Jeopardy that they wouldn’t be quiet long enough for me to explain the directions. I gave the group a couple of warnings about their behavior and informed them that if they couldn’t listen to me when I asked them to, we wouldn’t be able to play the game. Unfortunately, they didn’t follow directions and I had to stop the activity and show them Mr. Bean episodes instead. Three students came up to me to ask if I would give them a second chance, but I refused to budge because the class had demonstrated to me that they couldn’t handle themselves (and this wasn’t the first time that I had problems with them). I was already taking a risk by playing Jeopardy, and the activity required a certain amount of maturity that the group of students didn’t possess. After a little while, I stopped Mr. Bean, explained to the class why they didn’t get to play the game, and told them that they had made the decision to refuse to listen to me so that’s why I cancelled the activity. Though they were unhappy, I think some of the students understood my actions.


A teacher arranged a going away party for us for the next day, but at the last minute the school informed him that he would have to attend parent-teacher conferences at the time of the event. This meant that we were on our own with students for about two hours, which caused a considerable amount of chaos because the kids didn’t know how to host a party. We didn’t know what was happening either, because the teacher hadn’t told us his plans. The students decided to rent a karaoke room, but it wasn’t big enough to fit everyone comfortably; the sound system was having problems and made intermittent, deafening screeching noises; three or four teens were hogging the microphone, so some of the other students wanted to open a new room; and many of the kids were unhappy with the party and left early, while others hinted that I should pay for the karaoke room (I ended up playing stupid and didn’t have to shell out the cash). Eventually everything got straightened out (we were never supposed to do karaoke originally) and we ate some lunch with a couple of students and some adult friends. Though uncomfortable at times, it was an educational and entertaining experience.


It’s getting late, so I should head off to bed! Our sleep schedule has been so out of whack lately because of interviews and late-night (or early-morning) calls to schools that I’ll be happy when it gets back to normal. Wait! It won’t for a little while because soon I’ll be dealing with jet lag. Oh well, at least I’ll be able to eat fish and chips and cereal soon (not together!) so I won’t complain. 


Thanks for being so supportive of us during our China Adventure! Your love, kind words, and cyber hugs kept us going through some difficult times and we can’t thank you enough!

Jeopardy and Feedback!

Sorry that it has been ages since I last wrote. I don’t really have any elaborate excuses to provide, other than that we’ve been busy applying to jobs in the US, planning our European Vacation, and finishing up our time here in China. We still don't know where we're going to be next year, but we have some promising leads.


Starting today, I’ll be conducting my last three days of teaching English in China. On Saturday, I decided to take a calculated risk and try playing Jeopardy with my students; I’ve got to say that I’m proud of my decision. The students are thrown off when they walk into the classroom because I’ve moved all the desks and arranged the chairs into six circles -- it’s funny to see their expressions as they take in their new surroundings. Noise levels are high during the game, but the students are quick to become quiet when I raise my hand to ask for silence. Surprisingly enough, everyone is engaged and interested in participating. Group work isn’t something used here often, so I think that the students enjoy experiencing something new.


Last week I played Mr. Bean for the students so I could talk with some of them individually to get some feedback about the class and my teaching. During the “interview” I got some interesting responses to the following questions:


Question #1: What was something that you enjoyed about this class?
Answers (NOTE: I’ve complied these answers to reflect general trends)
“The movie, cartoons, and Mr. Bean.”
“I like to relax myself in this class. It very fun.”
“You very funny. I like you very much.”



Question #2: What was something that you didn’t enjoy about this class or that I could have done better as a teacher?
“Class was very loud. We talk a lot.”
“More talking.”
“Nothing wrong. You very good teacher.” 


Question #3: What was something that you learned in this class?
“I learn spoken English and American culture.”
“You show me a new world. I learn about things outside of China.”
“I learned about western culture.”


Question #4: What do you think is one major difference between the United States and China?
“America is more open.”
“American students are more free. Chinese students have to study so much, but American students can do more fun things.”
“Classes in America are more fun. Chinese classes are very strict.”


Question #5: Do you have any questions?
“Why you come to China?”
“Will you come back to China?”
“Do you like China?”
“What you do when you get back to America?”
“Will your husband go back to America?”
“Why you leave China?”


Departure Countdown Clock: 10 days!