Darling, Darling Shoes!!!
A shiney new wallet...too bad the zipper is already broken.
I didn't bring any winter clothes (dumb, dumb, dumb!).
Friday, October 17, 2008
Shopping Trip
One of the things I was most excited about in coming to China was shopping (I'm a girl, what can I say?). While I haven't been nearly as impressed by prices as I thought I was going to be, I've still managed to get some good deals. Here are a few of my purchases:
Darling, Darling Shoes!!!
A shiney new wallet...too bad the zipper is already broken.
I didn't bring any winter clothes (dumb, dumb, dumb!).
Darling, Darling Shoes!!!
A shiney new wallet...too bad the zipper is already broken.
I didn't bring any winter clothes (dumb, dumb, dumb!).
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
MMMM....breakfast.
Ok, so this is where I go almost every morning for breakfast. The little baozi (bow(as in 'take a bow')-dsuh) place is in the middle of this crazy outdoor market with live, unplucked chickens and ducks, fresh fish, eels and even FROGS!!!! Gross and fascinating. I LOVE it! (Also, I had just woken up when I took these videos so I look a little disheveled. Just wanted to point that out. :)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
9.9.08
Hello Father!
>
> I'm glad you got home safely but I'm sorry to hear that grandma P's
> health is declining. It seems like you talked to her a little bit more
> about moving in with us---what exactly did she have to say on the
> subject? Was she just hesitant or did she outright refuse to move? I
> feel so sad for her :(. If you'll give me her home address I'll try and
> write her some letters now and then to see if I can cheer her up.
>
> Classes are exhausting because I'm standing up talking, trying to get my
> class excited and trying to keep the energy level high for about an hour
> and a half as many as three times a day. I doesn't sound like much, but
> the yelling (yelling in a good way--like "ARE YOU READY!!?!"), the
> enthusiastic hand waving, and extensive gesturing really takes it out of
> me. So far, I've just been having them introduce each other so I can
> evaluate their English skill level. I also went over the class rules
> with them, showed them pictures from home (I get the hugest WOW! when I
> show them pictures of our house), asked them things they wanted to
> learn/talk about in the coming weeks, and played games with them for the
> first week's lesson. I'm currently in the midst of planning lesson 2
> for tomorrow which I think will be about University life in America, a
> subject all my classes seemed interested in.
>
> I'm going to try and attach a couple pictures of my apartment so you can
> see what my accommodations are like. The apartments are brand new, so
> new, in fact, that there was still a layer of construction debris on the
> floor when I moved in, and I still don't have hot water, gas for
> cooking, or internet access. Really though, I don't have any complaints
> to make. They Chinese are SO accommodating and try SO hard to make
> things really nice for the foreign teachers. I have found however, that
> there is a definite way of doing things here, a very beaurocratic way.
> My friend Jeff and I actually got into a spot of trouble yesterday
> because we didn't do things "the right way". I thought I had locked
> myself out of my bedroom so I went to go get Jeff (who went on his
> mission to Taiwan and therefore speaks Chinese very well) to help me to
> communicate to the housekeeper what my problem was. The housekeeper
> wasn't home so we ended up trying to mess with the door ourselves to see
> if we could get it open. It turned out that it was broken rather than
> locked and Jeff, who has worked construction in the past, took the
> doorknob off the door. Meanwhile, we got a hold of Hunter, the
> maintence man, and told him there was something wrong with the door.
> Hunter said he'd be there in an hour, then called back and said he
> probably couldn't have a repairman there until Monday since it was a
> weekend. Jeff decided that was too long to wait, which is when he
> decided to take the doorknob off himself. Well, Hunter turned up, saw
> the doorknob lying on the floor and immediately got really angry. He
> kept on saying, "There is a process for doing things. Why didn't you
> wait. You have to go through the process!!" Things worked out ok in
> the end though, and I got a new doorknob by that afternoon. I felt
> really bad for getting Jeff and myself in trouble---I really don't mind
> doing things their way because I want them to know that I respect their
> culture very much. The Chinese have this word 'guanxi' (goo-wahn-shee)
> that deals a lot with friendship and being in someones good graces. By
> coming to teach in China, we Americans put forth a lot of guanxi--trust
> in the Chinese people hosting us, giving of our time, traveling from our
> homes and putting our lives on hold. In return, our Chineses hosts
> showed guan by putting us in the best and newest accommodations. They
> took us out to eat several times, treated us to a banquet and to a trip
> to the local museum. We return guanxi by being well prepared and early
> to our classes etc. etc. Basically what I'm trying to say is that this
> little spot of trouble has taken Jeff and I a little bit out of our good
> graces. We will now have to try extra hard to redeposit some of that
> good standing back into our guanxi accounts. I'm sorry if this
> explanation is at all confusing, I'm not sure I really understand the
> principle of guanxi myself but I do think it's pretty fascinating.
>
> Sanitation in my apartment is good but instead of having a garbage man,
> we have to throw all our garbage into a nasty little trash heap behind
> the apartment. I'm not very fond of doing it because it feels like I'm
> littering. The bathrooms at the school are kinda gross too because they
> always seem to be wet...I think they clean them by hosing them down.
> There is also no toilet paper or soap located inside which grosses me
> out. The Chinese just do things differently and I have to keep
> reminding myself that different is not bad, it's just different. The
> Chinese people themselves seem to be always very well cared for and
> clean (except for the taxi drivers...what an interesting universal,
> eh?). In fact, they tend to dress nicer on the whole then westerners
> do. The girls wear almost nothing but high heels. How do they manage?!
> All my little flats are killing me. Oh, I've just thought of another
> very interesting difference between Chinese and western culture. The
> babies here DON'T WEAR DIAPERS! Ha ha ha ha...you can imagine my shock
> the first time I saw a Chinese baby and realized that, though it was
> dressed, it's entire back and front sides were exposed. They teach the
> babies to associate whistling with going to the bathroom so when the mom
> or dad whistles, the baby pees. Ha ha ha, it's so funny! Sometimes I
> want to whistle just to see what will happen.
>
> My group is really great. It's mostly made up of BYU or BYU-I students
> with a couple random Utahns thrown in here and their. There are also
> four married couples, one even has a one year old baby with them. They
> are so brave! The 30ish or so of us are organized into a group with a
> group leader (kinda like a brach president but with no
> interviewing/counsleing responsiblilities) an assistant group leader and
> a relief society president. We meet every sunday for a 1 hour sacrament
> meeting and a one hour preisthood/relief society or sunday school class
> (we alternate every sunday between these). Our group is a part of the
> Beijing China International Disctric Branch, BCID for short. This
> branch covers all the foreign passport holding residents for the whole
> of China. We are not allowed to interact with the native church
> members. We have also been strictly warned many many many times against
> proseletyzing of any form, agressive or passive. We've already had a
> little bit of trouble with this because our Native China Horizons
> leiason has been impressed with our group and has wanted to come to
> church with us. We, regretfully had to tell her no despite her
> pleadings that no one would know. Despite all hindrances, what and
> amazing opportunity and experience I've been having, especially in
> regards to the gospel. I find myself with much more time on my hands
> than I usually would have...than I've ever had before. The second
> counselor in our branch, when he came to organize my group, admonished
> us to use this time to grow closer to the Lord. He told us to spend our
> time reading and mediating on the scriptures and the words of the Lord.
> I feel very blessed here to have been able to do that, to take life a
> little more slowly and contemplate about the gospel. Brother Brighton
> (the 2nd counselor) also pointed out to us that we are pioneers! There
> has never before been an organized unit of the chruch in Xiangtan. How
> cool is that and how lucky am I to be apart of it!?! Today during fast
> and testimony meeting, one of the girls in my group pointed out that we
> are the Lords hands in an area that has hardly, if ever felt his
> presence. She said that as members of the church, we are
> representatives of Jesus Christ here. Neat!
>
> Dude, I between writting the above paragraph and now I just had like an
> hour long converstation with some chinese kids....they LOVE to talk to
> foreigners to practice their English skills. They are so nice and so
> interested in my life.
>
> Thanks for putting the adaptor in the mail. I haven't recieved it yet,
> but I'll let you know when I do. Please keep me updated on the goings
> on of the siblings and you and mom too. I love you all so much! Please
> call me soon, I'm avaliable in the mornings between 8-noon (china time)
> on wednesday and thursday and every evening after 6:30. I'm dying to hear your
> voices. Love you mucho!
>
> Love,
>
> Haylee
>
> I'm glad you got home safely but I'm sorry to hear that grandma P's
> health is declining. It seems like you talked to her a little bit more
> about moving in with us---what exactly did she have to say on the
> subject? Was she just hesitant or did she outright refuse to move? I
> feel so sad for her :(. If you'll give me her home address I'll try and
> write her some letters now and then to see if I can cheer her up.
>
> Classes are exhausting because I'm standing up talking, trying to get my
> class excited and trying to keep the energy level high for about an hour
> and a half as many as three times a day. I doesn't sound like much, but
> the yelling (yelling in a good way--like "ARE YOU READY!!?!"), the
> enthusiastic hand waving, and extensive gesturing really takes it out of
> me. So far, I've just been having them introduce each other so I can
> evaluate their English skill level. I also went over the class rules
> with them, showed them pictures from home (I get the hugest WOW! when I
> show them pictures of our house), asked them things they wanted to
> learn/talk about in the coming weeks, and played games with them for the
> first week's lesson. I'm currently in the midst of planning lesson 2
> for tomorrow which I think will be about University life in America, a
> subject all my classes seemed interested in.
>
> I'm going to try and attach a couple pictures of my apartment so you can
> see what my accommodations are like. The apartments are brand new, so
> new, in fact, that there was still a layer of construction debris on the
> floor when I moved in, and I still don't have hot water, gas for
> cooking, or internet access. Really though, I don't have any complaints
> to make. They Chinese are SO accommodating and try SO hard to make
> things really nice for the foreign teachers. I have found however, that
> there is a definite way of doing things here, a very beaurocratic way.
> My friend Jeff and I actually got into a spot of trouble yesterday
> because we didn't do things "the right way". I thought I had locked
> myself out of my bedroom so I went to go get Jeff (who went on his
> mission to Taiwan and therefore speaks Chinese very well) to help me to
> communicate to the housekeeper what my problem was. The housekeeper
> wasn't home so we ended up trying to mess with the door ourselves to see
> if we could get it open. It turned out that it was broken rather than
> locked and Jeff, who has worked construction in the past, took the
> doorknob off the door. Meanwhile, we got a hold of Hunter, the
> maintence man, and told him there was something wrong with the door.
> Hunter said he'd be there in an hour, then called back and said he
> probably couldn't have a repairman there until Monday since it was a
> weekend. Jeff decided that was too long to wait, which is when he
> decided to take the doorknob off himself. Well, Hunter turned up, saw
> the doorknob lying on the floor and immediately got really angry. He
> kept on saying, "There is a process for doing things. Why didn't you
> wait. You have to go through the process!!" Things worked out ok in
> the end though, and I got a new doorknob by that afternoon. I felt
> really bad for getting Jeff and myself in trouble---I really don't mind
> doing things their way because I want them to know that I respect their
> culture very much. The Chinese have this word 'guanxi' (goo-wahn-shee)
> that deals a lot with friendship and being in someones good graces. By
> coming to teach in China, we Americans put forth a lot of guanxi--trust
> in the Chinese people hosting us, giving of our time, traveling from our
> homes and putting our lives on hold. In return, our Chineses hosts
> showed guan by putting us in the best and newest accommodations. They
> took us out to eat several times, treated us to a banquet and to a trip
> to the local museum. We return guanxi by being well prepared and early
> to our classes etc. etc. Basically what I'm trying to say is that this
> little spot of trouble has taken Jeff and I a little bit out of our good
> graces. We will now have to try extra hard to redeposit some of that
> good standing back into our guanxi accounts. I'm sorry if this
> explanation is at all confusing, I'm not sure I really understand the
> principle of guanxi myself but I do think it's pretty fascinating.
>
> Sanitation in my apartment is good but instead of having a garbage man,
> we have to throw all our garbage into a nasty little trash heap behind
> the apartment. I'm not very fond of doing it because it feels like I'm
> littering. The bathrooms at the school are kinda gross too because they
> always seem to be wet...I think they clean them by hosing them down.
> There is also no toilet paper or soap located inside which grosses me
> out. The Chinese just do things differently and I have to keep
> reminding myself that different is not bad, it's just different. The
> Chinese people themselves seem to be always very well cared for and
> clean (except for the taxi drivers...what an interesting universal,
> eh?). In fact, they tend to dress nicer on the whole then westerners
> do. The girls wear almost nothing but high heels. How do they manage?!
> All my little flats are killing me. Oh, I've just thought of another
> very interesting difference between Chinese and western culture. The
> babies here DON'T WEAR DIAPERS! Ha ha ha ha...you can imagine my shock
> the first time I saw a Chinese baby and realized that, though it was
> dressed, it's entire back and front sides were exposed. They teach the
> babies to associate whistling with going to the bathroom so when the mom
> or dad whistles, the baby pees. Ha ha ha, it's so funny! Sometimes I
> want to whistle just to see what will happen.
>
> My group is really great. It's mostly made up of BYU or BYU-I students
> with a couple random Utahns thrown in here and their. There are also
> four married couples, one even has a one year old baby with them. They
> are so brave! The 30ish or so of us are organized into a group with a
> group leader (kinda like a brach president but with no
> interviewing/counsleing responsiblilities) an assistant group leader and
> a relief society president. We meet every sunday for a 1 hour sacrament
> meeting and a one hour preisthood/relief society or sunday school class
> (we alternate every sunday between these). Our group is a part of the
> Beijing China International Disctric Branch, BCID for short. This
> branch covers all the foreign passport holding residents for the whole
> of China. We are not allowed to interact with the native church
> members. We have also been strictly warned many many many times against
> proseletyzing of any form, agressive or passive. We've already had a
> little bit of trouble with this because our Native China Horizons
> leiason has been impressed with our group and has wanted to come to
> church with us. We, regretfully had to tell her no despite her
> pleadings that no one would know. Despite all hindrances, what and
> amazing opportunity and experience I've been having, especially in
> regards to the gospel. I find myself with much more time on my hands
> than I usually would have...than I've ever had before. The second
> counselor in our branch, when he came to organize my group, admonished
> us to use this time to grow closer to the Lord. He told us to spend our
> time reading and mediating on the scriptures and the words of the Lord.
> I feel very blessed here to have been able to do that, to take life a
> little more slowly and contemplate about the gospel. Brother Brighton
> (the 2nd counselor) also pointed out to us that we are pioneers! There
> has never before been an organized unit of the chruch in Xiangtan. How
> cool is that and how lucky am I to be apart of it!?! Today during fast
> and testimony meeting, one of the girls in my group pointed out that we
> are the Lords hands in an area that has hardly, if ever felt his
> presence. She said that as members of the church, we are
> representatives of Jesus Christ here. Neat!
>
> Dude, I between writting the above paragraph and now I just had like an
> hour long converstation with some chinese kids....they LOVE to talk to
> foreigners to practice their English skills. They are so nice and so
> interested in my life.
>
> Thanks for putting the adaptor in the mail. I haven't recieved it yet,
> but I'll let you know when I do. Please keep me updated on the goings
> on of the siblings and you and mom too. I love you all so much! Please
> call me soon, I'm avaliable in the mornings between 8-noon (china time)
> on wednesday and thursday and every evening after 6:30. I'm dying to hear your
> voices. Love you mucho!
>
> Love,
>
> Haylee
Monday, September 8, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
9.5.08
Hey Moth and Family!
I got all your e-mails but I have a hard time getting a hold of internet access for long enough periods of time to give you a good reply-hence the lateness of my response. I am doing great but I am not getting over my cold because.....I got a kitten, and I think I'm allergic to it. Ha! A couple of us are sharing ownership of it and this is my first (and hopefully last) week to keep it at my apartment. We named it Chairman Mao. Mao is the Chinese word for cat....ah hahahh hahaha haaha ahahah!
In other news, I LOVE teaching. I am having so much fun with my students. On my first day of teaching, as soon as I set foot inside the classroom I got a standing ovation. It was great. Chinese people do wonders for your self esteem. Everywhere I go on campus, people say, "oh you aw sohr byou-tea-ful!" My students say this too me a lot also. In one of my classes, we were playing this game called 'fortunately-unfortunately'....it goes something like this- person1: (says to person2) fortunately I have a cat. Person 2: (replies) unfortunately, you are allergic to it. (turns to person 3) Fortunately, I love Chinese food. Person 3: (relpies to person 2) Unfortunately Chinese food in Hunan province is very spicy....and so on and so on. Ok, so we were playing this game and one of my female students says, "fortunately, we have a beautiful English teacher, Miss Haylee!" The male student next to her replied, "Unfortunately, she cannot be my girlfriend." Ha ha ha! They are always making silly wise-cracks like that...not only about me but also about each other-in fact, mostly about each other. One of the questions I have them answer when introducing each other (in addition to where are they from, what do they like to do, favorite food, English name etc ) is if they are single or not. They love that one. They tease each other mercilessly and boy do I enjoy it. (Maybe it comes from having a couple of rotten red-headed older brothers J/K )
I never have the same class of students twice in one week, so I've been doing the same lesson since Monday. I haven't gotten tired of it yet though because one, every class is super different, and two every time I show them the pictures I brought of the fam, they literally ooh and ahh and wooowww in unison. It's so cute! This week's lesson consisted of introducing each other, talking about class rules and playing games. The introduction questions I've already mentioned. My class rules are:
1. English is FUN!!!
2. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
3. Please raise your hand if you wish to speak.
4. Show respect by being quiet when others are speaking.
5. Peace and quiet (when I hold up the peace sign, you be quiet)
So far, I've played a slightly altered form of catchphrase, pictionary and categories with them. If there is extra time left over, I talk to them about the difference in animal sounds between Chinese and English. (Dogs in Chinese go 'wong wong' instead of 'ruff ruff' etc. etc.) This activity makes everyone laugh because they get to see their fellow classmates and me make retarded animal noises. It's great fun.
K, I love you all and thanks for the many e-mails I've received. More news soon!
Love,
Haylee
I got all your e-mails but I have a hard time getting a hold of internet access for long enough periods of time to give you a good reply-hence the lateness of my response. I am doing great but I am not getting over my cold because.....I got a kitten, and I think I'm allergic to it. Ha! A couple of us are sharing ownership of it and this is my first (and hopefully last) week to keep it at my apartment. We named it Chairman Mao. Mao is the Chinese word for cat....ah hahahh hahaha haaha ahahah!
In other news, I LOVE teaching. I am having so much fun with my students. On my first day of teaching, as soon as I set foot inside the classroom I got a standing ovation. It was great. Chinese people do wonders for your self esteem. Everywhere I go on campus, people say, "oh you aw sohr byou-tea-ful!" My students say this too me a lot also. In one of my classes, we were playing this game called 'fortunately-unfortunately'....it goes something like this- person1: (says to person2) fortunately I have a cat. Person 2: (replies) unfortunately, you are allergic to it. (turns to person 3) Fortunately, I love Chinese food. Person 3: (relpies to person 2) Unfortunately Chinese food in Hunan province is very spicy....and so on and so on. Ok, so we were playing this game and one of my female students says, "fortunately, we have a beautiful English teacher, Miss Haylee!" The male student next to her replied, "Unfortunately, she cannot be my girlfriend." Ha ha ha! They are always making silly wise-cracks like that...not only about me but also about each other-in fact, mostly about each other. One of the questions I have them answer when introducing each other (in addition to where are they from, what do they like to do, favorite food, English name etc ) is if they are single or not. They love that one. They tease each other mercilessly and boy do I enjoy it. (Maybe it comes from having a couple of rotten red-headed older brothers J/K )
I never have the same class of students twice in one week, so I've been doing the same lesson since Monday. I haven't gotten tired of it yet though because one, every class is super different, and two every time I show them the pictures I brought of the fam, they literally ooh and ahh and wooowww in unison. It's so cute! This week's lesson consisted of introducing each other, talking about class rules and playing games. The introduction questions I've already mentioned. My class rules are:
1. English is FUN!!!
2. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
3. Please raise your hand if you wish to speak.
4. Show respect by being quiet when others are speaking.
5. Peace and quiet (when I hold up the peace sign, you be quiet)
So far, I've played a slightly altered form of catchphrase, pictionary and categories with them. If there is extra time left over, I talk to them about the difference in animal sounds between Chinese and English. (Dogs in Chinese go 'wong wong' instead of 'ruff ruff' etc. etc.) This activity makes everyone laugh because they get to see their fellow classmates and me make retarded animal noises. It's great fun.
K, I love you all and thanks for the many e-mails I've received. More news soon!
Love,
Haylee
Monday, September 1, 2008
9.1.08
If you want Haylee's phone number or address, email Cathi.
Hey There Mom and Pop (and Family),
>
> I have been having SO. MUCH. FUN. We just got back from Yangshuo in Guilin Province on Saturday morning. What a great trip! We stayed at a little hotel called the Bamboo House Inn and Cafe. It caters to westerners so I got to have (drumroll).................BACON AND EGGS for breakfast every morning I was there!!!!!!! In a word, YUM. It was a great little taste of home. Bamboo House Inn is located in a tiny shaded alley perpendicular to a street they call West or Western Avenue which is FILLLED with all kinds of little shops selling clothes and jewlery, Chinese knick knacks, knockoff purses and wrist watches, scarfs, hats, stuffed animals and oh so much more. A shopper's dream. The best part of all is hageling. Typically, the vendors selling in the streets will jack prices up by 5 (or even 10) times so you have to play this crazy game of walking away, looking interested, coming back, walking away again etc., etc unitl you reach a price you can both agree upon. Typically it goes something like this: Westerner walks up to street vendor's wares, Chinese vendor says, "You like? I give you good price", Westerner says "Bu Yao" (not want) until they find something they do want and say to vendor, "How much?" Vendor grabs calculator and types 280 yuan (aprox $40), Smart westerner acts as if you just insulted their parents, grandparents and favorite childhood pet then stiffly walks away. Chinese vendor will say, "Ok, ok how much? You say how much?" Westerner will quote a ridiculously reduced price (i.e. 50 yuan...$7 USD). Chinese vendor's turn to look offended/disgruntled and will say, "What?!!! To little! This very high quality! How much How much?" Westerner sticks to price and walks away...Chinese vendor shouts "ok 140....(westerner still walking)....100....(keep on walking) ok ok, you say" western says "55"...keeps on walking, Chinese vendor will keep going down until they say "OK, OK 55" and then you pay. It's so fun. I hope we can all take a trip to China as a family someday, especially to Yangshuo (yang-show-uh). I love the Chinese people and the landscape in Guilin is the most beautiful I've seen yet. Our first day there, all of us rented bikes from the hotel (10 yuan for the WHOLE day...that's like a buck 30) and rode out into the counrtyside to a little river. There we caught a bamboo raft heading down stream and enjoyed an hour of simply relaxing under the shade of an umbrella, watching the beautiful scenery slip past us. Every so often we'd float past these crazy old ladies anchored in the middle of the river on their own bamboo rafts trying to sell us beer or cooked skewered rats on a stick (nope, not kidding). "Hkghullo (hello with a chinese accent), bee-uh (beer)" was their constant refrain. Stragely, they all seemed to be toothless and hunched. There were also a whole bunch of kids on bamboo rafts out in the middle of the water with computers hooked up trying to take our pictures and then sell them back to us on a laminated postcard. These chinese are quite the business opportunists. Eventually we got to the next little mooring area and rode our bikes to a place called Moon Water Cave. The whole cave system has an underground river with various waterfalls and muds pots. So we went and SWAM IN THE MUD!!!!! Ahahahhahahaha! It was so great. I didn't bring a swimsuit with me to China so I ended up having to buy one there....and it was pink...and ruffley......and had a nasty little frilly skirt attached. I looked so retarded, it was great.
>
> Today was my first day of teaching and boy am I tired. My classes are all about an hour and half long and I taught THREE today. For the first half of class I had the students divide up into pairs and ask each other get-to-know-you questions. Then they had to stand up and introduce each other to the class. The chinese people seem to love to perform and I had 2 kids in my first class and 3 in the third stand up and sing songs in English in front of everyone!!! I was even coerced into performing...I sang them the national anthem....terribly. Ha Ha! They're so cute! They all clapped and told me I was " Sohr b-you-tea-ful!" (so beautiful) They all love blonde hair.
>
> I'm still getting over my cold...mostly just snottiness left now. And who knows if that will ever go away fully. :)
>
> I've been eating lots of delicious chinese food especially, baozi (bow-dza) and mantou (mahn-toe)...homemade bread dumplings and steamed bread respectively, which you you can buy from little carts all over the campus. OHHH it's all SOOO good. MMMMMmmmmmm.
>
> K well that's about it. Please please send me e-mails/letters/phonecalls/facebook notices....anything! I'm dying for news from home. This goes for anyone who ends up reading this letter. I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear from you. Please call me!
>
> Love you!
>
> Haylee
>
>
> PPS Mom, why haven't you called....Did you get my last e-mail with my phone number on it?
> PPPS Dad, can you come see me on one of your trips? Maybe we can meet in Bejing or Shanghai. What do you think?
Hey There Mom and Pop (and Family),
>
> I have been having SO. MUCH. FUN. We just got back from Yangshuo in Guilin Province on Saturday morning. What a great trip! We stayed at a little hotel called the Bamboo House Inn and Cafe. It caters to westerners so I got to have (drumroll).................BACON AND EGGS for breakfast every morning I was there!!!!!!! In a word, YUM. It was a great little taste of home. Bamboo House Inn is located in a tiny shaded alley perpendicular to a street they call West or Western Avenue which is FILLLED with all kinds of little shops selling clothes and jewlery, Chinese knick knacks, knockoff purses and wrist watches, scarfs, hats, stuffed animals and oh so much more. A shopper's dream. The best part of all is hageling. Typically, the vendors selling in the streets will jack prices up by 5 (or even 10) times so you have to play this crazy game of walking away, looking interested, coming back, walking away again etc., etc unitl you reach a price you can both agree upon. Typically it goes something like this: Westerner walks up to street vendor's wares, Chinese vendor says, "You like? I give you good price", Westerner says "Bu Yao" (not want) until they find something they do want and say to vendor, "How much?" Vendor grabs calculator and types 280 yuan (aprox $40), Smart westerner acts as if you just insulted their parents, grandparents and favorite childhood pet then stiffly walks away. Chinese vendor will say, "Ok, ok how much? You say how much?" Westerner will quote a ridiculously reduced price (i.e. 50 yuan...$7 USD). Chinese vendor's turn to look offended/disgruntled and will say, "What?!!! To little! This very high quality! How much How much?" Westerner sticks to price and walks away...Chinese vendor shouts "ok 140....(westerner still walking)....100....(keep on walking) ok ok, you say" western says "55"...keeps on walking, Chinese vendor will keep going down until they say "OK, OK 55" and then you pay. It's so fun. I hope we can all take a trip to China as a family someday, especially to Yangshuo (yang-show-uh). I love the Chinese people and the landscape in Guilin is the most beautiful I've seen yet. Our first day there, all of us rented bikes from the hotel (10 yuan for the WHOLE day...that's like a buck 30) and rode out into the counrtyside to a little river. There we caught a bamboo raft heading down stream and enjoyed an hour of simply relaxing under the shade of an umbrella, watching the beautiful scenery slip past us. Every so often we'd float past these crazy old ladies anchored in the middle of the river on their own bamboo rafts trying to sell us beer or cooked skewered rats on a stick (nope, not kidding). "Hkghullo (hello with a chinese accent), bee-uh (beer)" was their constant refrain. Stragely, they all seemed to be toothless and hunched. There were also a whole bunch of kids on bamboo rafts out in the middle of the water with computers hooked up trying to take our pictures and then sell them back to us on a laminated postcard. These chinese are quite the business opportunists. Eventually we got to the next little mooring area and rode our bikes to a place called Moon Water Cave. The whole cave system has an underground river with various waterfalls and muds pots. So we went and SWAM IN THE MUD!!!!! Ahahahhahahaha! It was so great. I didn't bring a swimsuit with me to China so I ended up having to buy one there....and it was pink...and ruffley......and had a nasty little frilly skirt attached. I looked so retarded, it was great.
>
> Today was my first day of teaching and boy am I tired. My classes are all about an hour and half long and I taught THREE today. For the first half of class I had the students divide up into pairs and ask each other get-to-know-you questions. Then they had to stand up and introduce each other to the class. The chinese people seem to love to perform and I had 2 kids in my first class and 3 in the third stand up and sing songs in English in front of everyone!!! I was even coerced into performing...I sang them the national anthem....terribly. Ha Ha! They're so cute! They all clapped and told me I was " Sohr b-you-tea-ful!" (so beautiful) They all love blonde hair.
>
> I'm still getting over my cold...mostly just snottiness left now. And who knows if that will ever go away fully. :)
>
> I've been eating lots of delicious chinese food especially, baozi (bow-dza) and mantou (mahn-toe)...homemade bread dumplings and steamed bread respectively, which you you can buy from little carts all over the campus. OHHH it's all SOOO good. MMMMMmmmmmm.
>
> K well that's about it. Please please send me e-mails/letters/phonecalls/facebook notices....anything! I'm dying for news from home. This goes for anyone who ends up reading this letter. I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear from you. Please call me!
>
> Love you!
>
> Haylee
>
>
> PPS Mom, why haven't you called....Did you get my last e-mail with my phone number on it?
> PPPS Dad, can you come see me on one of your trips? Maybe we can meet in Bejing or Shanghai. What do you think?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
8.27.08 Finally More News
Hey Mamma!!!!
>
> Yeah I finally found an opportunity to write! We've been so busy and I've caught a small cold but DON'T WORRY. I'm ok, I have the the necessary meds and great people in my group who have been super nice to me. So don't worry about me, ok? Alright, I want to catch you up on all my goings on since I left Texas. The flight to L.A. was good. I sat next to this really nice grandpa dude named Bob and we chatted the whole time about me going to China and about the time he was stationed in Italy as a young soldier. When I got to L.A., I had a three hour layover. Yuck. I did use my time wisely however, and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The last Mexican food I'll eat for FOUR MONTHS! : ( I then flew to San Fran where I met my group at the terminal for our flight to Hong Kong. The flight to HK was 13 hours, which I think I've already told you...along with what I did during the commencement of those hours. So we got to Hong Kong in the early morning and went to go eat jiaozi (gee-ow-zh)--dumplings for breakfast. YUM!!! Spent the day trying to figure out the flight situation, slept on the floor that night. In the morning, a few friends and I snuck out of the airport and found a little beach. I even collected some shells for the nephews!!! When we got back, they brought us our suitcases and we caught a bus for the Hong Kong temple. We were so lucky to be able to stay in the patron housing next door. Usually they only let people who are doing temple work stay there--they made an exception for us owing to the circumstances. There were at least 4 other families (some, even from mainland China...WOW) staying there too and I had so much fun trying to communicate with them in my really bad Chinese. Oh and they had the cutest little Chinese kids!!!!! One of them gave me a new Chinese name: Huang Pei Pei (h-wang-pay-pay). It means yellow flower bud. How cute is that? Those few days alone were enough time for me to fall in love with the Chinese people. They are sooo friendly and full of fun...and I think I've decided I want to take a Chinese kid home in my pocket. They are SOOOOO cute! The Saturday we arrived at the Patron Housing, we got to go down and ride the subway to this awesome grocery store in a mall. It was HUGE and they had they craziest Asian food. I bought some cooked duck meat. WAY good...kinda tastes like turkey. Later, we took the star ferry out to Hong Kong Island and just walked around the city for a bit. Sunday morning we got to attend church at the ward that meets in the Hong Kong temple. It was so great. They translated sacrament meeting and relief society into English for us and we had Sunday school with the area authority who speaks English fluently. Brother Wan (the area authority) told us all the history behind the Hong Kong temple. He is deeply connected to it's construction because he was the one called to find a sight for it in Hong Kong. Just a little back history (which you probably already know),HK was British owned ever since the opium wars. Later, England agreed to a hundred year lease after which the city would be turned back to the Chinese. This lease began in 1897. As the date for the handover approached, the church decided that they had better put a temple in the city so that when it was Chinese owned again, there would be a temple in China. In 1992 Brother Wan was called to find a place for the temple. For 6 months he and his colleagues worked, trying to find different sights they thought appropriate for a temple. Finally they found a one. All the stake presidents and the other misc. church leaders from the area prayed and felt like it was the right place. Now they could present to President Hinckley, sights for the Hong Kong temple. President Hinckley came...and he rejected every sight Brother Wan took him took. Can you imagine? He felt awful...like a failure. All those months of work down the drain. So they took President Hinckley back to his hotel for the night and decided to reconvene the next day to see what could be done. In the morning president Hinckley showed up with a full sketch of where the temple should be and how it should look. He had had a vision in the night! The new Hong Kong temple was supposed to be at the sight of the current mission home and offices. Of course, Brother Wan had not thought about this place because of the existence of buildings already on it. He and the other Chinese church leaders had many concerns about this chosen sight, one of which was the fact that it was located in a red light district. When president Hinckley was told this, He simply replied, "The Lord will find a way." Now, years later, Brother Wan says that one by one, all the seedy motels have disappeared to be replaced by schools, homes of the wealthy, and a 7 story mall with a food court (one of the other concerns was where the temple workers could eat...no cafeteria in the HK temple). There is even a subway station super close that connects to all the other routes in the entire city and to the mainland. What a neat story, huh? At the end of church, one of the members handed out hard-boiled eggs died red..it's a Chinese tradition to do this whenever anyone has a baby. For dinner, we were invited to eat with the temple president couple and the mission president couple. We also got to tour the inside of the mission office, which is in the temple. How lucky am I? Tell Dad I went to Victoria Peak as well when I was in HK...I think he suggested I go there. We arrived in Changsha Monday around lunch time. Lani (a nice little Chinese lady who tells me I'm beautiful whenever I see her), who is the China side of China Horizons, took us out to eat for lunch and dinner both Monday and Tuesday. Chinese hospitality is amazing. I'm getting settled into my apartment now and school starts next Monday (I think). For the next couple of days, I'll be on a trip to Yangshou to see the Chinese countryside. I'm doing well besides my cold and I'm so excited to be in China. Feel free to pass this e-mail on to the fam if you want. I don't think I'll have time to keep up with my blog. I love and miss you mucho!
>
> Love,
>
> Haylee
>
> PS I probably will need you to send me an adaptor but I don't know my address yet. I'll let you know when I do.
>
> Yeah I finally found an opportunity to write! We've been so busy and I've caught a small cold but DON'T WORRY. I'm ok, I have the the necessary meds and great people in my group who have been super nice to me. So don't worry about me, ok? Alright, I want to catch you up on all my goings on since I left Texas. The flight to L.A. was good. I sat next to this really nice grandpa dude named Bob and we chatted the whole time about me going to China and about the time he was stationed in Italy as a young soldier. When I got to L.A., I had a three hour layover. Yuck. I did use my time wisely however, and ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The last Mexican food I'll eat for FOUR MONTHS! : ( I then flew to San Fran where I met my group at the terminal for our flight to Hong Kong. The flight to HK was 13 hours, which I think I've already told you...along with what I did during the commencement of those hours. So we got to Hong Kong in the early morning and went to go eat jiaozi (gee-ow-zh)--dumplings for breakfast. YUM!!! Spent the day trying to figure out the flight situation, slept on the floor that night. In the morning, a few friends and I snuck out of the airport and found a little beach. I even collected some shells for the nephews!!! When we got back, they brought us our suitcases and we caught a bus for the Hong Kong temple. We were so lucky to be able to stay in the patron housing next door. Usually they only let people who are doing temple work stay there--they made an exception for us owing to the circumstances. There were at least 4 other families (some, even from mainland China...WOW) staying there too and I had so much fun trying to communicate with them in my really bad Chinese. Oh and they had the cutest little Chinese kids!!!!! One of them gave me a new Chinese name: Huang Pei Pei (h-wang-pay-pay). It means yellow flower bud. How cute is that? Those few days alone were enough time for me to fall in love with the Chinese people. They are sooo friendly and full of fun...and I think I've decided I want to take a Chinese kid home in my pocket. They are SOOOOO cute! The Saturday we arrived at the Patron Housing, we got to go down and ride the subway to this awesome grocery store in a mall. It was HUGE and they had they craziest Asian food. I bought some cooked duck meat. WAY good...kinda tastes like turkey. Later, we took the star ferry out to Hong Kong Island and just walked around the city for a bit. Sunday morning we got to attend church at the ward that meets in the Hong Kong temple. It was so great. They translated sacrament meeting and relief society into English for us and we had Sunday school with the area authority who speaks English fluently. Brother Wan (the area authority) told us all the history behind the Hong Kong temple. He is deeply connected to it's construction because he was the one called to find a sight for it in Hong Kong. Just a little back history (which you probably already know),HK was British owned ever since the opium wars. Later, England agreed to a hundred year lease after which the city would be turned back to the Chinese. This lease began in 1897. As the date for the handover approached, the church decided that they had better put a temple in the city so that when it was Chinese owned again, there would be a temple in China. In 1992 Brother Wan was called to find a place for the temple. For 6 months he and his colleagues worked, trying to find different sights they thought appropriate for a temple. Finally they found a one. All the stake presidents and the other misc. church leaders from the area prayed and felt like it was the right place. Now they could present to President Hinckley, sights for the Hong Kong temple. President Hinckley came...and he rejected every sight Brother Wan took him took. Can you imagine? He felt awful...like a failure. All those months of work down the drain. So they took President Hinckley back to his hotel for the night and decided to reconvene the next day to see what could be done. In the morning president Hinckley showed up with a full sketch of where the temple should be and how it should look. He had had a vision in the night! The new Hong Kong temple was supposed to be at the sight of the current mission home and offices. Of course, Brother Wan had not thought about this place because of the existence of buildings already on it. He and the other Chinese church leaders had many concerns about this chosen sight, one of which was the fact that it was located in a red light district. When president Hinckley was told this, He simply replied, "The Lord will find a way." Now, years later, Brother Wan says that one by one, all the seedy motels have disappeared to be replaced by schools, homes of the wealthy, and a 7 story mall with a food court (one of the other concerns was where the temple workers could eat...no cafeteria in the HK temple). There is even a subway station super close that connects to all the other routes in the entire city and to the mainland. What a neat story, huh? At the end of church, one of the members handed out hard-boiled eggs died red..it's a Chinese tradition to do this whenever anyone has a baby. For dinner, we were invited to eat with the temple president couple and the mission president couple. We also got to tour the inside of the mission office, which is in the temple. How lucky am I? Tell Dad I went to Victoria Peak as well when I was in HK...I think he suggested I go there. We arrived in Changsha Monday around lunch time. Lani (a nice little Chinese lady who tells me I'm beautiful whenever I see her), who is the China side of China Horizons, took us out to eat for lunch and dinner both Monday and Tuesday. Chinese hospitality is amazing. I'm getting settled into my apartment now and school starts next Monday (I think). For the next couple of days, I'll be on a trip to Yangshou to see the Chinese countryside. I'm doing well besides my cold and I'm so excited to be in China. Feel free to pass this e-mail on to the fam if you want. I don't think I'll have time to keep up with my blog. I love and miss you mucho!
>
> Love,
>
> Haylee
>
> PS I probably will need you to send me an adaptor but I don't know my address yet. I'll let you know when I do.
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