Hannah Banana Changzhou

Hannah and I lived together in Lithuania. Then we both came to China as head teachers. Her school is 1.5 hours by slow train or 30 min by fast train from my school. So when I had the week off and decided last minute not to go to changzhou it seemed like a great chance to go see Hannah! This would also be my first time traveling alone through China. Okay it barely counts beacuse I just had to take an hour ride on the metro, wait an hour in the railway station and then take an hour train to her which I am on now but hey I'm still solo in China. It's quite intimidating this country. 

Hannah will be meeting me at the train station. Right now I'm wishing I had spent the extra $2 to take the fast train especially since I'm sitting backwards. But hey this is part of the experience being squished between a bunch of chinese on a smoke filled train with food scraps all around me. Puuuurfect.

Have you ever tried to get on the metro when everyone is trying to get to work!? Neither had I, until today.

I thought this was crowded. Ha. The chinese laugh. This is very open and spacey. At this point we still had 6 stops till downtown. Six. Each time I though no way, there is no way one more person is going to fit on this train. I mean when they open the metro doors people literally fall out. But oh how I was wrong. More and more and more kept squishing in. 

I must interrupt because I quite literally might vomit right now. The lady across from me just busted open her vacuum sealed chicken foot and is going to town. As if the smell alone wasn't enough to knock out a full grown man the sounds she's making as she slurps the preserved skin off this bone is gut wrenching. I've only been on this train for two minutes. I might not survive. 

Okay so back to the metro. Check this out:

This is what it is like to try and board the metro. You saw what it looked like inside but look how many people are about to get in there. For reals. China has so many people. 

Oh now a man is coughing up who knows what is in his lungs. Oh the smell. I may pass out. I don't know how to discretely plug my nose and keep my face in a neutral position. She literally just bit off part of the mest and is sucking it then spitting the grits on the table. Wueezy. Queezy. 

Blah! 

I survived. Got off and headed out to look for the McDonald's that Hannah and I were to meet at. Went in no Hannah. Decided to wait outside. No Hannah. Went back in mcdonalds and checked all the levels. I waited outside until about 11:25. I got in at 10:50. Then I decided to wait inside McDonald's. She didn't show. I started to panic bc what if she forgot or get lost etc. I had no idea where her school was. I would have to figure out how to buy a ticket and go home. I prayed and prayed and then started texting her. But I never got a response. At this point it was 11:40 and about an hour has passed. I decided to wait until 12:30 and then go back. I kept texting and saying all sorts of things. Finally at 12 i headed out and saw Hannah walking up! Woohoo! Turns out the bus she normally takes got canceled and she tried a different bus and got kicked off and then had to figure out how to take a taxi. What is even funnier is she was getting all my messages and responding. I wasn't stying any of her messages but the way I was responding made it look like I was. 

Too funny! I am so glad we found each other! So then we had to figure out how to get back. Her city has no metro. I will never complain again about our metro. I'm so blessed to live in a city with a metro! So an hour and a half later we get to her school and she takes me on a tour. Her school is significantly smaller than mine and very different but so cute. 

These are their bedrooms! They are HUGE! Their beds are also HUGE! But they have squattwrs 😂 they also have common areas which are great and an industrial kitchen they can cook in which I am so jealous! But they only get cafeteria food which is nasty. We are so blessed in nanjing to have so many food options and to get a monthly living allowance which allows me to do my own food. I would have died if I had been assigned to Changzhou. They have a rock wall which is awesome! They also have adorable eating areas outside and their building is so pretty! They have wrought iron stair rails and peacocks! Even a garden they can pick food from!

The kids at the school are so cute! Everyone walks past and says hello teacher and gives you a high five! Adorable!

They also have had a lot of teachers paint the walls of their school which is so fun. I got to stay and watch their openings and how their teachers teach. Got some ideas for our school and loved seeing ILP in place at another school. 

That night we went to the night market. It was awesome! They have little tuck tuck. Cars that you can use to go close distances for 5y and we took that about two min to the market. I tried this amazing food that is like an english muffin kind of:

Like a dough with an egg and green onions in it. It was so good!

After that we came back and played cards. The next morning we went to lunch and then went and watched their elementary classes. After that we headed into town on the bus. The bus that was so hot and moved so much I was sick and miserable. Again I will never again complain about our metro. We are so blessed. 

Once we made it the hour on the bus we went to the most beautiful park I've ever seen. We spent hours walking around and exploring this gigantic park. 

There were two huge pagodas and tons of quaint little bridges and walkways. 

This one area was covered in green algae. There was a rose garden with roses bigger than my outspread hangs. 

As we walked through the rose garden this cute man was taking our picture and then became way into Hannah.

I don't blame him bc she is beautiful and look at her hair! So he wanted to take some photos of her:

Then he found another photographer and they took more photos of her and an Asian model. 

I was totally fine with being the DUFF in this situation. So funny to watch this unfolding. After this we continued our walk. 

After walking around we hit up the grocery store partially bc it was one I have not been in and also to find dinner. we got some 1y oh I don't know what they are called. It's basically a huge bread dumpling of dough and sometimes has things inside like meat. They cost thirty cents. 

I forgot we also went to a candy store and picked out a whole bunch of candies and then tried them all. They were delicious. So much fun and they lady in there thought it was hilarious to watch us. One time I bit into one candy and it shot chocolaye all over my face and hands and the lady laughed and laughed. Too much fun! 

Hannah and I had a great time catching up and also talking about Lithuania and how much we missed it. I just might need togo back there! 

By the way I paid the extra three bucks and took the really nice fast train home. 

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Obsessed. Food Edition.

Really. I'm kind of obsessed with food. Okay, majorly obsessed. While I'm a go green eat from the Earth, anti-packaging, non meat eating, stay away from processed, don't waste person I also know good food. Good crap food. Good real food. Just good food! 

So the problem is that I keep living like I am on vacation and I just haaaave to try everything because what if it I don't come back or never see it again. But the fact is that I am not on vacation, I live here! Anyway I've accepted that I have a deep love for food and I'm going to enjoy it. I will also enjoy the exercise that is in place every day to combat my obsession. Moderation is key. 

So. Tonight Mikelle and I once again had a total freak out as we discovered Exit 7 of xinjiekou. This place has 24 exits but exit 7 might just be my favorite. We literally didn't know what to do with ourselves as we walked up to an 11 story mall and passed gelato, Belgium wall fes, crépes, and so much more. It was pure bliss. There are some things in life that throw me into pure joy. One of which is good food and grocery stores. This exit 7 had both. 

Taking this picture was really scary. This is 11 floors up and I had to get next to the glass rail. Didn't know I had such a fear of heights. 

This was like the Rodeo Drive of China. Prada, Gucci, etc etc. 

Let's get back to the food. I decide upon the chocolate banana crepe. Seeing the mass crowds decend upon this place as well as the engorged crépes I knew I had to divulge. A mere $3.70 later I had this:

Banana, chocolate, cream, chocolate ice cream, banana ice cream all rolled into one hot delicious crepe.

Oh it was good. 

So good. 

It goes in my top ten China foods that's for sure. Funny how none of my top ten China foods include Chinese food. 😂

Mikelle got this gelato. She's obsessed with gelato. 

This candy bar by the way is delicious.

I got a hair cut and bangs. Yeah a cute Asian in a bow tie cut it.

He didn't speak English. 

Have you ever tried to get a hair cut by using only hand gestures?

It's not for the faint of heart. 

This is what my morning walks around the school look like. I go walk alone and listen to podcasts. I learn all about cool things like blood types, probiotics, going green, the Berlin Wall, etc. 

This is the craziest plant in have ever eaten. Look at it closely it's covered in little water droplet crystal things. There is no way to describe the texture of this plant. By far the weirdest mouth feel I've ever had. 

Still loving China, and it's food. 

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Chinese Dinner Extravaganza

We were invited to go out to dinner to Miranda's family restaurant. The drivers picked us up outside the school and we headed into town. When we walked into the restaurant we knew this was going to be amazing. We had heard they owned a pretty famous restaurant in Nanjing and it was beautiful.

Once we sat down the dishes started to come. We ooo'd and awe'd over the incredible presentation and the amazing flavors.

They had a salad that was so good! There were tons of veggies too. The food of course kept coming, with a minimum of 20 dishes. At the end came the most delectable mango sorbet. It was almost like a really fine Hawaiian ice. Oh man it was good. When we thought it was over then came dragon fruit and mangoes.
As we sat around the table and attempted to communicate with the parents, who spoke no Chinese, all the waiters and waitresses burst through the door pushing a table with candles. The lights went off and then a speech was presented by the happiest man.

He greeted us and thanked us. The table said welcome out of sesame seeds. Then they busted out in dancing to one of the very popular songs here. It was like being on a cruise ship. Everyone was clapping and singing along. Then they invited us up to dance with them. It was incredible! What a fun and exciting night we had!

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The Day We Became Celebrities

This week we started English classes at a new school. It is a public school about 15 minutes away from our campus. We were told to prepare lessons on days of the week, months, and festivals in America and that we would be teaching third through fifth grade.

Not knowing much else Jerem and I forwarded the information to the six teachers who were taking on this project and hoped for the best. I was to go with them to check in and make sure thing were smoothly. This morning we met our drivers at 7:30 and they took us the campus. We were immediately met by smiling teachers who were so thrilled we were there.

They took us on a quick tour of the campus and then to the canteen to give us noodles. They were so warm and inviting, we knew this was going to be great. The girls then headed to their classrooms and I went back and forth between to observe and check in. First of all, there were 40 kids in each class.. FORTY! But they were so well behaved. They were exactly what we thought Chinese classes would be like. The kids were BEYOND excited to have us there. They about died when we walked in. We learned later that they had never had foreign teachers on campus before. After the first lesson kids started coming up to us with pens and books asking for our signature.

We were confused at first but with the permission of the Chinese teachers went ahead. Within seconds there were dozens of kids pressed up against us throwing books, journals, post it notes, lesson books and pens in our faces. We could not sign fast enough.

We looked at each other and just started laughing like crazy. Then the bell rang, which by the way is a pleasant song or chime- America take note it is much better than the annoying bells you have. After the second lesson the swarms started again and once again we were being attacked by crazed fans. The teachers hurried them away to morning exercises where the kids stood in perfect lines and practiced a memorized exercise routine during recess. After the third round of classes when most books had been signed the hug berg-aide came. One after another we were met by eager arms and warm hugs. I am not kidding you if you are ever feeling sad or in need of a smile come to this school. It was insane. Even when we went into the break room they swarmed the windows and greeted us telling us how beautiful we were.

Once lessons were finished we were invited to stay for lunch and to see the kids at PE- really Kenz just wanted to play basketball and was so excited when we got to shoot some hoops and run laps with them.

This school rocks. I can't wait until next week, when I become famous once again.

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The Day we Became the Museum

We wanted to explore somewhere in Nanjing and so after much debate and lack of planning we thought heading to the Nanjing Museum sounded like an easy enough adventure. 

For purposes of this blog post we indicated myself, Claire, and Mikelle. 

We arrived to the museum and began to explore. It started as any museum trip does walking around, pondering the past, and gazing at endless museum things. 

As we wandered through the corridors we saw something intriguing ahead. The museum was reproduced to resemble a street somewhere in China. I would tell you where but there was a lack of English translations. It was a full reproduction with buildings fronts, stores, lanterns, the works. Super cute!

So we head into a cafe so they could get some waffles. It was an adorable cafe with cute chairs and furniture. As we sat at the window one of us probably myself or Mikelle came up with the idea of holding very still and pretending to be an exhibit. I mean why not, everyone stares at us anyway. So we all struck a pose and gazed out the window at the bystanders. 

It's actually really creepy when you don't move. We took a video and watched it afterwards and it's freaky. People began to walk by anddo a double take. We enjoyed trying new poses and staring at the intrigued onlookers. Then one of us had the bright idea to move suddenly and throw ourself at the window to scare the bejeebees out of them. Oh. My. Best idea ever. 

They would stop in crowds to take our picture through the widow and just at the right moment we would all jump against the window. At one point there was a big group of young college girls all staring and taking photos. Mikelle went for it and jumped. The girls all in unison kept backwards and screamed. Of course we died of laughter. Laughter so hard tears are running down our face. The crowd gets bigger wondering what's going on. It was hilarious. We did it over and over u til we decided we really didn't want to get kicked out of the museum. But it happens to be one of my new favorite memories of Nanjing. Then we decided to play on these socially weird behaviors. We would find a corner and just freeze. People got way weirded out. Mikelle would find someone, walk up to them and just stare at them. Very interesting experiment. 

It was the best museum experience. The museum itself was Incredible as well. They even had some dinosaurs.

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