Welcome to China!

Well, it's been quite a while since I updated this blog, but now that I'm on another long-term adventure, and particularly someplace where it's not convenient to use Facebook, I figured I better document some of the happenings for all to read.

I arrived late last Saturday night after roughly 20 hours in transit, not counting the 2 days spent in Boston and NYC with all of my luggage ("all" one suitcase and a backpack...) saying my see-ya-laters. I was picked up at the airport by two of the Chinese staff from my school and whisked onto the clean, modern, and convenient Metro, which makes Boston and NYC subways look pretty awful. After about an hour making our way across the city to Panyu, we hailed a cab to carry us the last bit to Olympic Gardens, where I will be living for the next year. After a stop at 7-11 for fish balls, tofu, and mini hot dogs (Who knew hot dogs were so popular in China?), a five minute walk from the front gate, and 5 flights of stairs, I came to the 3 bed/2 bath apartment void of roommates (and dishes, and sheets and towels, and blankets). Lucky enough to have arrived first, I staked my claim on the master bedroom, complete with a queen size bed and attached bathroom, which even has a bath (I understand this is quite uncommon). With a fresh tattoo unwashed through the international transit, I had to jump in the shower, and regretted the ill-considered decision not to pack a towel. I spent a very uncomfortable and virtually sleepless first night in China, buried under all the cushions I could find in the apartment.

Days 2 and 3 and the others have begun to blend together, with sheets, towels, a comforter, pots, pans, and dishes purchased along the way. The jet lag is subsiding after about a week of waking up between 7 and 7:30 am. Firsts include a trip to IKEA, chicken feet, and an X-ray. The required medical check was quite the experience, blood drawn, vision test, hearing test, ECG, urine test, all as I was ushered from exam room to exam room, feeling somewhat like cattle, though pleased with the cleanliness of the hospital designed for these standardized medical exams. I've gotten a handle on the Metro and bus system (to some extent, there are of course many many of them). I still only know how to say a few things in Mandarin, but miming, helpful Chinese and foreign co-workers who know more, and the consistency of written numbers go a long way. I've used a credit card only once, at a bar geared specifically toward foreigners, as cash is definitely king here. Ironic, being in a communist country.

My school is located at Jiang Nan, the old downtown area, about a 45-minute commute by bus or Metro. I am one of four full-time foreign teachers, including my manager, and work with about a dozen Chinese teachers' assistants and other staff. Thus far I have mostly been watching the other teachers' classes, though yesterday I was thrown into a couple of "make up" classes to teach. The first was less than successful, but the second went quite well, and tomorrow I begin my Winter class, teaching the Baby Animals book to a class of very small children daily for two weeks. After that is Spring Festival, when we will have about two weeks of holiday and I will have time to explore the city. Some of the other foreign staff are going on vacations, most to Thailand, but I cannot leave the country until I am issued a residence permit and multi-entry visa. Anyway, it's better than working illegally and having to hop over to Hong Kong every month.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I will try to update again soon, but we all know I'm not very good about that. Oh yeah, and pictures...

No escribí Nada...

...for about 6 weeks! Sorry guys, blogging is just so much less interesting than other things!

So, picking up more or less where I left off, Cabo Polonio. This place is absolutely incredible. First of all, you drive up or take a bus to this place in the middle of nowhere on the side of a main road. There are a few small buildings, basically tourist information and a ticket booth. A guy in a 4x4 comes up and offers you a ride into town for a fee. I went with my Swiss friend Remy, so we got into this 4x4 with a couple from Argentina. We proceeded to ride into town, through a bit of forest, over dunes, and eventually over the actual beach to the town of Cabo Polonio. The town consists of a lighthouse surrounded by about 100 or so little shack-houses without electricity or running water, as well as a little market and a restaurant or two. We went before high season, so there wasn't so much of the usual tourist-y souvenir shops and whatnot. We checked into our hostel, a 4-bedroom house. The first night, we had dinner with the operator, her father, and a friend of hers. Since there is no electricity, they have battery-powered lamps and a lot of candles. The atmosphere is absolutely natural and calm, amazing. The next day we went to explore the town a bit, which takes about a half hour to walk through, and saw the massive population of giant seals on the rocky part of the coast in front of the lighthouse. We made a friend with a dog, who followed us all day, as well as the workers at the only restaurant in town, where we had shark for lunch. Delicious. The next day we went to the beach and saw the dunes. Literally like desert dunes. Very impressive, but painful with the strong winds blowing the sand up. That night we went to a Halloween party at the restaurant, pretty low-key since there were probably only 200 people in the whole town. Very interesting little hippy village. On the last day we left on the top deck of a big truck sort of vehicle over the dunes, kind of scary but fun.

Another recent highlight: going to futbol games! Soccer is super intense here, obviously, and even though I am not a sports fan I went to check out the scene. It is absolutely incredible the enthusiasm for this sport. At the beginning of the game, when the teams come out, the fans literally set off fireworks and smoke bombs in the team colors, throw toilet paper, etc. It is absolutely insane. And throughout the game there are candombe (drum) players and a million different fight songs. So much fun to get involved in. I even went to the Clasico, the match between the two biggest rivals in Montevideo. The game was a bit boring (tied 0-0 at the end), but it was still interesting to see the intensity of the fans. Plus tickets sell out in about half an hour!

The past weekend I went to Punta del Este. On Saturday I went to Punta Ballena for perhaps the last time for the end of the year party at the school. Bittersweet. Despite the frustrations I had, I will miss those kids and the kindness of the other teachers. They gave me a lovely book of quotes as a thank you/goodbye present. Not too much else to say, saving most of the tourist stuff for when my mom gets here- on Saturday! Looking forward to that!

So now I am finished with responsibilities and just have some visiting/traveling to do! I am going to spend this week preparing and seeing some of the tourist stuff I've missed in Montevideo, spending time with friends. On Saturday I will move with my mom to Punta del Este. From there we will do a bit of traveling, to Buenos Aires and most likely some more of the coast northwards. And once she leaves, I will be making a trip to the south of Argentina and Chile, Patagonia! It is supposed to be absolutely incredible, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes(?), and the southernmost city in the world! Definitely very excited about that. Then, Christmas in Montevideo and I'll be headed back to the states! Can't believe I'm already so close to leaving. I will miss this place. And I think the reverse culture shock will be worse than the regular culture shock... I don't know how long I'll be sticking around. Well, we'll see, but I am pretty sure I'll do my next co-op abroad also. And I'm pretty set on getting my ESL certificate after graduation. And then....the world!

Mueve Mueve Mueve!

Well, another 2 weeks since my last post. I have been so busy I just haven't been able to keep up with this too well. I went to the hot springs last weekend with Remy. Very relaxing, sitting in hot pools of water all day, but definitely would have been bored if we'd stayed much longer. The city of Salto itself is very small, but we went out and played pool over a few beers anyway, probably the least touristic bar I've gone to here, but that meant cheaper beer!
This weekend was a long weekend (yes, they celebrate Columbus Day here, too, it's also America!), and I went out to Piriapolis with a bunch of friends. I would tell you more about Piriapolis, but I didn't see much of the town. I know it was originally established as a tourist destination by an alchemist named Piriap, it has a nice rambla, and you can see Pan de Azúcar from there. Pan de Azúcar means Sugarloaf and is a small mountain-hill with a cross on top. Haven't visited there yet, but it makes a nice view, and I imagine a better one from the top. I went to a friend's beach house there with over 14 other people. We made asado, spent time at the beach, and drank an obscene amount of cerveza and other beverages among us.
Another 2 weeks at the school. Starting to feel frustrated and useless. The culture of the school is so much different than in the US and I really have no idea how to teach. Without training and with only an hour a week with each class, I am not doing much. I'm already halfway through my time there and don't feel like I've accomplished much. At the same time, they don't expect much from me and at least it is better than nothing... just wish I was more successful at it. I guess I'll have to be more creative or something.
I haven't been going to many Spanish classes for the past month or so. I've been making a lot of long weekend trips instead! Even though I have this 'home base' in Montevideo, I haven't been spending much time here. Three days and 2 nights a week in Punta Ballena and 2-4 nights in other places, Bs As, Salto, Piriapolis, I feel like I never stop moving! I think this weekend will be a little more close to home, but the next weekend it's off to Cabo Polonio most likely. And since I don't bring my computer with me on any of these trips, I have been less in touch and active in blogging. So I guess I'm feeling a bit homesick, but still having an amazing time. More than missing home, I'm missing the feeling of being a native and understanding everything as well as feeling more or less permanent in the place I am. Anyway, I am only halfway through and I am still enjoying myself. The best is yet to come and I still think I will be sad to leave when the time comes.

Llego Luego

SO it's been almost two weeks since my last post, because I'm bad at blogging and I've been really busy. Last week I had the week off from work for spring vacation (which no one told me about until I asked) and went to Buenos Aires! Another country on the list of "places I've been," and a very cool city. I went alone so I did a lot of wandering the streets alone, seeing museums, various sights, etc, and getting many many "compliments" from passing porteños. A porteño is the name for someone from Buenos Aires. I also saw the Cemetario Recoleta, a very fancy cemetary full of small tombs of the rich and influential, including Eva Perón. It was absolutely beautiful but I didn't get to take many pictures because my camera's battery died after 3 pictures! Also went to a little area called El Caminito where there are a bunch of buildings painted in all different colors, which is in the middle of a poor neighborhood. Very touristy, but interesting. I stopped to watch a tango show over a coffee and wound up dancing some tango with the people working at the café. I think they thought I was cute, and also kind of impressed that I could dance a little. Funny stuff. I stayed with a couchsurfer there named Pablo who plays the bagpipe! He didn't go out much since he was always working or studying, but was a very welcoming host. There was another girl staying at his house at the same time, a Colombian and chain-smoker. I think I got a little sick from breathing in her smoke while I was sleeping... Very sweet girl though.

After I got back from Bs As, I went to an asado at Remy's place, my first! An asado is basically a barbeque, home parrilla. It was quite fun and tasty and I got to help a little! Of course, being an American I brought potato salad...

Then I went to Punta Ballena again. Work was kind of chaotic this week after vacation and with a new teacher to replace the other who is now on maternity leave. Also I fell on the playground while I was playing a game with some of the kids. Opa. Also ripped my jeans climbing the fence in the forest. So now I don't have any jeans without holes and I think I need to buy some :(

Tonight I'm going to the couchsurfing meeting and then to some big graduation party or something for my Uruguayan friend. Supposed to be pretty crazy! Then tomorrow I leave for Salto to spend the weekend checking out the hotsprings. Should be pretty nice!

Hasta luego!

Kilograms and Kilometers Kill me

So, time for another blog entry. I think I need to do this more often because I keep forgetting what I should write about. But now I will be able to start adding photos because I finally have a functioning camera!! I just posted my first pictures of Uruguay to Facebook today. Unfortunately they are not all that cool because I've only had it for a day. But there are many more to come! I have to get used to taking pictures of things. I'm a terrible tourist. Anyway, the past week:

First, El Prado. This is a yearly event which is 10 days long and resembles a county fair during the day. There are competitions for cows, horses, and sheep. Some of those cows were unbelievably big. But I got to pet them and the other animals and they were very cute! Too bad they will mostly be slaughtered. Uruguay is huge on beef and consumes the most red meat per capita in the world!! They also have fairly high rates of cancer and heart disease I've heard. There are also little stores to buy souvenir type things as well as various other things, including fancy local foods and lots of pancho (hot dog) and churro (tasty fried dough sticks) stands and other stuff. Then at night there is live music and after, they have temporary bars set up, making it a big party of nightclubs by around midnight. All this takes place in a park in a neighborhood of Montevideo and it's a huge event for the people here (I think one of my Uruguayan friends went at least 4 or 5 days so far). This weekend is the end of the 10 day spree. Maybe I'll end up there tonight and see how crazy it is.

Second, work. This week went pretty well. I starting teaching the World Cup song (K'Naan version in English) to some of the kids on Monday. It was completely impossible with the first graders and my patience was tested, but I am learning that I can't teach the same things to 5 year olds and 10 year olds. On Tuesday it was windy and rainy again so I didn't have class. And apparently this coming week is spring vacation (no one told me until I asked) so I don't have to work! Good thing I asked or I would've gotten up at 5 am on Monday, showed up at the school and found no one... So I'm thinking about doing a little traveling this week instead! I am planning to go to Punta del Este for a day with a friend, and I'm not really sure what else. I'll come up with something. Or maybe I'll spend the free time taking classes and doing tourist-y stuff in Montevideo to fill in some picture gaps.

This week I also went salsa dancing and took another tango class, ate some delicious empanadas (a El Taberno del Diablo) of several types, including one filled with dulce de leche, chocolate, and nuts. Soooo good.

Last night I went out to a parrillada called El Tigre with some classmates and friends. A parrillada is a restaurant that serves Uruguay's specialty, MEAT. A parrilla is a type of grill used here to cook the meat and a parrillada is a restaurant that specializes in that type of food. They have other food, but you go to a parrillada for the meat. So I ate meat. "Weird" meat. A friend and I had agreed that we would order a "parrilla para 2" and try everything. So, we did. I'm not sure exactly what all of it was, but I know it included regular cuts of meat ("vacio," basically a delicious steak, chorizo, which is sausage, and ribs), but also intestines (large and small), blood sausage, liver, and a few other things I think were brain and perhaps saliva glands. Yes, it sounds gross. It's surprisingly good. Here's what was left of the set when we were done. It's a bit of brain and intestines. So that was a very Uruguayan experience for me.

Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for a classmate's boyfriend. Should be fun. Hasta luego!

I missed I...

So apparently I've forgotten the alphabet...which is weird because I've been teaching it to the little ones at the school.

Anyway, it's been an interesting week. Last weekend I spend the whole weekend with the volunteer group Un Techo Para Mi Pais. It's a group similar to Habitat for humanity, but the houses they build are generally much more basic. The weekend was the biggest project of the year, aiming to build 150 emergency dwellings throughout Uruguay. The meet-up in Montevideo included thousands of volunteers, which split up into groups to go to different neighborhoods on the outskirts of Montevideo, where there are poor settlements of rough houses. I went with a large group to a neighborhood called Maracaná, the largest of the settlements with about 5000 families. We were split into groups of about 7 people to work on each house, a small kind of cabin of plywood, without running water or electricity. My group went to the home of a woman named Fabiana and her family. They lived in a small, rough house of cinder blocks, at least 15 people, including her 9 children and a second family. We built the emergency house on a bit of land next to the existing house, on a giant pile of mud... It had been raining all week (Santa Rosa!!) and into Saturday, making the job very difficult and dirty. It rained all day on Saturday as we dug holes in the mud for the "pilotes" (wood stumps to make a level surface for the house's floor). The rain stopped in the late afternoon and we worked until dark. On Sunday the weather was much better (I got a bit of a sunburn actually) and we worked all day until about 9 pm, but still didn't finish the house, as we had waited about 3 hours in the afternoon for missing supplies. On Friday and Saturday nights we slept in a school/church altogether on the floor, less than 5 hours per night. The plan is for some of the volunteers to return this Sunday to finish the houses with the continued help of the families. Overall this was a very interesting experience, the closest I have been to the kinds of slums you see on TV, read about, or drive by when visiting another country. There really is nothing comparable to this kind of life in the United States. Still I felt somewhat like I was watching from a distance as I couldn't communicate very effectively with the family or even the other volunteers in the group. It makes me wonder how this happens, and even much worse in other parts of the world.

So after the weekend I was very tired and dirty and got home at around midnight on Sunday night. Then I had to wake up at 5 am to go to Punta Ballena on Monday morning. So after 3 nights with less than 5 hours of sleep, I was exhausted to say the least. But luckily my time in Punta Ballena is very tranquil and restful. As for the teaching, here is what I wrote for the school's blog:

Now I have had my second week of teaching English. The schedule still is not very sure. This week the teacher of first, second, and third years was not be able to attend the classes. Therefore, the younger students did not attend classes and I had classes only with fourth, fifth, and sixth years, for more time. I taught the parts of the body and the imperative to the students, and I played Simon Says with them. On Wednesday, I met the music teacher and I watched her classes. Next week, we are going to work on the World Cup song, something that the students already have interest in and the music teacher already began to teach the older students. On Wednesday I also had a class with some of the youngest students, I taught them the alphabet in English. (¿¡There’s ñ!?) Also, I received some materials from the previous English teacher on Wednesday. I am going to study them and I expect that I can use them in classes next week.

On Monday, after classes, I went to the beach with some of the little ones and Memo (one of the fathers, whose house I stayed in on my first visit), and played a bit of some unnamed game similar to simplified American football. Then I spent a bit of time there alone, walking the beach and finding a tiny sea turtle! So cute! After which Martin came to meet me and watch the sunset with some mate. So beautiful. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this week.Then we drove out the actual "point" of Punta Ballena and saw the stars come out. I saw a bit of Casa Pueblo, but I'll have to go back in the daytime and go inside to see the museum. More on that when I see it. Later on in the night Martin took me out to the Arboteum Lussich, a huge forest just next to his house. There are a couple horses that hang out there, which I got to pet, and I saw the Milky Way for the first time! I'm really loving being in the city for half the week and in nature the other half. It's perfect.

On Wednesday night I went out to the Prado. Every year there is a big exposition of livestock for 10 days, and each night entertainment and temporary bars set up in a park in the neighborhood called Prado. I saw another spectacle of Uruguayan carnaval music, and I actually understood some of it this time! It helped that there was an Uruguayan explaining some of it to the foreign ones of us. Last night I went to a folklore show, which included some kind of theater (I had no idea what was happening, but I think it was partly because we missed a good part of it), traditional dance, I think of gauchos (cowboys), and an improvised guitar performance by two musicians (also dressed as gauchos). The dancing and guitar were quite good and I wound up going out after until about 4 am, even though I had class today. Speaking of which, I'm now taking 2-4 hours of classes of Thursdays and Fridays. And I won't be moving out of the school residence. Apparently the possibility of moving into an apartment was never that realistic. Good to know now I guess?

Jerseys and Junk and all that Jazz

Alright! So I had my first week of work this week. Here's what I wrote for the school's blog about the experience:

This week I began my work in Punta Ballena. I left Montevideo at 6:30 in the morning on Monday and I arrived at the school around 8:30. I began the day with the third year students, children 11 or 12 years old. Then, I had class with the first years, 5-year-olds, and after lunch, I finished the day with the second year, 6-year-old kids. On Tuesday, I had classes with fourth, fifth, and third years. All the classes were an hour (more or less), and we passed the time learning introductions and the most basic things, the colors, the letters of the alphabet, etc. The majority of the students do not understand anything of English, and the most advanced students only know basic concepts. Students of the same age have different levels and the result is that some are more timid than others. I think that this is going to be my biggest challenge.

The school functions very differently than schools in the United States. The schedule could be called "flexible". The children generally arrive between 9 and 10. The rain of Santa Rosa (a storm that comes at the end of each August) began yesterday in the morning, and today, Wednesday, only five students of more than 50 attended school. The result was that the children watched Tin Tin and drew for the day. The plan on Wednesday for the English classes is to do a class with all the students and the music teacher in the morning and a class with the preschoolers in the afternoon. But today, there were no preschoolers and there was no music teacher. I have hope that with time, the situation is going to improve and come to be more peaceful and regular.

The two nights, I stayed in the house of Martin, a friend of some parents of students. He lives in a cabin next to the forest, a comfortable and small house. He has a kitchen and a small living room, bath and bedroom, with a room above which I stay in when I am there. There is a fireplace in the living room. It is a very tranquil and pretty place. Martin is a man of good vibes, he has travelled in all parts of South America, much of it by bike. He has interest in clay house construction, astrology, and other quite unusual things. And he likes to cook a lot! I like that he will be my host and I expect that we will know each other better despite our different languages (he speaks almost no English).

More next week!

So, I'm feeling better about the whole thing now that I've begun to experience it. Still not sure where I'm going to go with my classes, or how much I'll really be able to teach these kids. But, I'm hopeful and I think it will only get better, as long as I keep my patience. I think it will be very good for my Spanish, too, because it is almost complete immersion. The children's English skills are very basic and the same goes for the other teachers and my host. There are only two people I know there that speak English pretty well.

I finally went to the feria last Sunday!! It was everything and more than you can imagine. We got there around 2, so it was already winding down a bit, but you can pretty much buy anything imaginable there. Clothes, new and used, antiques, food (produce as well as canned and dry goods, bread, etc.), household goods, electronics, books, and pets! Such cute rabbits. It's like a giant flea market/supermarket/produce market/etc. I bought a mate and bombilla (the mate I bought has a hole, but I'm hoping to be able to fix it, or otherwise buy another one), a packet of cumin, 2 kilos of tangerines (for the equivalent of 50 cents!), and some kind of Chinese balm for headaches. Oh, and a pretty tasty empanada! Pretty surprised I made it this week, after the house party I went to the night before. I'd like to go earlier next time, if I can manage to get out of bed before noon...