shanghai maybe brought out several things that i didn't realize about myself or cultural differences before, don't get me wrong- it was a good trip and had a lot of blessings.. but it was also tiring, physically/mentally hard, and a lot different from my expectations...
1. traveling styles: chinese people travel MUCH different than this chinese american haha... i was with 2 chinese students for majority of the weekend and their idea of travel is to go everywhere, see everything, and WALK at all times. yep... my traveling styles were slightly different. i'm use to taking breaks, enjoying nice chats over coffee, driving to places instead of walking, and etc...
2. half-introverted? for sure. i've always been a "people person" and get excited around crowds... but that can only last for so long. haha... china has a lot of people... A LOT of people.. especially during their may holiday weekend in a huge metropolitan like Shanghai and being around people 24/7 was hard mentally. i felt like leeches were sucking out every ounce of energy to my last toe. and it affected my physical ability to "keep up" with the chinese style traveling... fatigue, headaches, nasea... i told them it was because i was getting drained from the crowds of people, but i don't think they quite understood the concept. so i told them "i'm getting OLD" haha..
3. language: chinese is hard...but a different province dialect is even harder! haha... i went traveling with amy and her best friend that i met before when visiting their hometown earlier in january... but this trip made me realize how important language is... to speak someone's language allows for so much more conversation, openness on their part, and understanding of their culture! it's hard enough not to understand mandarin- other than 9% of what's said.. but understanding 0% of another dialect is no fun :( language barriers were hard because amy and her friend often spoke in their native tongue and i didn't want them to translate everything... but i definitely saw amy opening up a lot more and being more comfortable to talk in her native tongue.. it was an encouragement to me to continue to study the language and not give up!
... there were several other things that i've learned and experience on the trip. most of the pictures are on facebook but here's a short video with pictures of glimpse from this weekend-
enjoy!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
it's been 9 months and...
... my chinese is still not 9-months material
... i'm still not use to the extreme weather (heat!!)
... i still struggle up 100+ flights of stairs to the office
... still got one more month and another 10 at blue sky to go!! :)
"biking adventures (China style)" and "possible black eye" all in a lunch period.
soo... i got to hang with my lovely student in the office and grab lunch afterward with her too.. we decided to take her bike and ride it china style- one person riding and the other sitting on the bike rack over the miniature tires... naturally, since it was her bike and she's the native rider of the "china style" she offered to ride while i perch on the rack... i'm maybe twice her size and her steering wasn't too promising. meanwhile, i'm screaming in fear of falling and see a few of my students staring at me in shock... then we crashed into an innocent pedestrian. needless to say- i took over riding the rest of the way and surprisingly didn't crash! down below is a quick video of our lovely bike experience- with the help of my new flexible tripod i stuck on the bike. haha..
....we had a good lunch- i think it was maybe the first with just the two of us! it was nice to finally catch up with her and talk about deeper things and see where she's at... good conversation, good fried rice lunch, good ice cream, and a good (safe hehe) ride back to the office building...
had a nerf football with us and we started to play around with it for a while.. throwing it back and forth in a non-violent way of course... but accidents happen and i went to throw it to her.. she was about to catch it...and it landed straight her in her face, her eye- to be more precise. ouch!! i'm thankful it wasn't a cannon ball or anything and it didn't break her glasses either! but it did leave a little red mark and bruised feeling that MIGHT result in a lovely black eye.. thanks to her oral english teacher! nut. let's cross our fingers it doesn't turn shades of colors!! hehe
posing for the memory. i'm a real nice teacher. haha
sorry baby student friend! my bad my bad...
not the best filming quality or view of what china style biking is like but it'll do for now. hehe
... i'm still not use to the extreme weather (heat!!)
... i still struggle up 100+ flights of stairs to the office
... still got one more month and another 10 at blue sky to go!! :)
"biking adventures (China style)" and "possible black eye" all in a lunch period.
soo... i got to hang with my lovely student in the office and grab lunch afterward with her too.. we decided to take her bike and ride it china style- one person riding and the other sitting on the bike rack over the miniature tires... naturally, since it was her bike and she's the native rider of the "china style" she offered to ride while i perch on the rack... i'm maybe twice her size and her steering wasn't too promising. meanwhile, i'm screaming in fear of falling and see a few of my students staring at me in shock... then we crashed into an innocent pedestrian. needless to say- i took over riding the rest of the way and surprisingly didn't crash! down below is a quick video of our lovely bike experience- with the help of my new flexible tripod i stuck on the bike. haha..
....we had a good lunch- i think it was maybe the first with just the two of us! it was nice to finally catch up with her and talk about deeper things and see where she's at... good conversation, good fried rice lunch, good ice cream, and a good (safe hehe) ride back to the office building...
had a nerf football with us and we started to play around with it for a while.. throwing it back and forth in a non-violent way of course... but accidents happen and i went to throw it to her.. she was about to catch it...and it landed straight her in her face, her eye- to be more precise. ouch!! i'm thankful it wasn't a cannon ball or anything and it didn't break her glasses either! but it did leave a little red mark and bruised feeling that MIGHT result in a lovely black eye.. thanks to her oral english teacher! nut. let's cross our fingers it doesn't turn shades of colors!! hehe
posing for the memory. i'm a real nice teacher. haha
sorry baby student friend! my bad my bad...not the best filming quality or view of what china style biking is like but it'll do for now. hehe
p.s. please be keeping in your thoughts one of the two foreign teachers from japan- a sweet japanese mother of a young child... i don't know many details but i found out that she has a type of "woman" cancer and she won't be returning this semester but maybe next (if he wills it)... that's all i know for now but please ask that his power can be made known in her life and that this will allow for more opportunities to share hope with the japanese teachers!! thank you!!
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