Karaoke, acupuncture and Dynasty fashion

The past couple of weeks I have completely immersed myself with the authentic Chinese culture: on my spare time I go singing at the KTV (karaoke television), go browsing at the plentiful markets, enjoy home cooked food, discuss with my friends which Chinese medicine to buy to moisturize my skin or to heal a dry throat, and most importantly: get ready for the Chinese new year which here is called the Spring Festival!

Earthquake alarm system located in an ancient Han Dynasty palace.

Karaoke here is called KTV: no one calls it karaoke. Plenty of people will ask you if you like singing or simply say "let's go to KTV!". The idea of karaoke here is completely different compared to what we think of it back in the West: as we normally queue up in a busy bar with a drink in our hand (or heavily intoxicated more like it) and muster the courage to sing in front of all these drunken strangers while our friends giggle and cheer us on, the Chinese people go to KTV to rent a private room where they can sing - usually stone sober - with a friend or a big group of friends. KTVs open at 1pm and close around 2am, and many of my friends prefer going in the afternoon or early evening. I have not once drank any alcoholic beverages whilst singing in KTV because none of my friends do. It's more of a hobby and entertainment for the whole family: one time we had a few children of my friends tagging along and no one thought it weird bringing along three 3 to 5 year olds to sing karaoke on a Saturday night at 10pm.

It's funny how the Chinese people consider themselves a very shy nation but yet they go and sing their hearts out on a leisurely Saturday afternoon in front of their friends. It's a habit I enjoy now, though at first it was a bit strange: standing there in a room with a little private stage, being expected to break into a song and no liquid courage to be seen anywhere..

Oh yes, I'm loving KTV!

I've mentioned me trying Chinese medicine before and the past weeks I've explored a bit further. Over a year ago I was rock climbing in New Zealand and managed to twist my knee badly, which resulted in the ligaments of my right knee being torn; horrible inflammation and swelling immediately occurring. It was very bad and I could barely walk the first weeks after the incident. I had intensive physiotherapy for my knee for the following six months, but the problem has never really left me. Now as I arrived to China everything went swimmingly at first, but climbing plenty of stairs up and down and sitting on these horribly low chairs all day (we don't seem to have any chairs for adults anywhere) has aggravated the pain in my knee. I talked to my friend, who is the kindergarten doctor, and she took me to a specialist in the local hospital where I received acupuncture.
Now I must mention that I've experienced acupuncture before and I'm not afraid of pain or needles, but the acupuncture treatment I received here for my knee was purely agony. The doctor told me the idea was to puncture my knee area with a few needles to release pressure, after which I received infrared treatment. The first treatment didn't do much, but as I was adamant that Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, would be my remedy. So I decided to stick to it. The second treatment was as painful as the first one and unfortunately this time around it left my knee feeling worse than ever before! Regular walking was painful, I developed pain in areas where I hadn't felt it before around my knee and I started to limp, which drew me to the conclusion that Chinese acupuncture is not for me at this stage. Alternative treatment to follow!
I must admit I'm sad that acupuncture didn't work for my knee: in my mind's eye I saw it as the answer to all my pain and tribulation. Oh well.. Back to my Western physiotherapist's recommended fitness program. When I join a gym here I will surely have more cultural novelties to experience! I've heard that many Chinese people work out, so I'll be interested to see if their fitness regime is similar to ours in the West.

Talking of health, how do you like this smoggy view? Can't believe we're all breathing in this horrid pollution day after day.. Although this was the worst I've seen it so far.

I'm hoping to get my knee functioning properly for the most important thing in the Chinese calendar: the Spring Festival! We know it as Chinese New Year and it is by far the most celebrated time of the year. The festivities are being planned months before the actual date and many schools - like ours - will hold their own Spring Festival event. Our training center has invited all the children with their parents to join the festivities, so we have rented a big hotel where we will have many performances: singing, dancing, different plays, food, and what-else, I am to find out!
As I first came to China and started working here, they obviously told me about the important time of the year approaching. They asked me if I would want to be a part of the festival program and as I'm always ready to throw myself out there, I said "yes, of course!". So they decided I shall sing a song. In Chinese! I am hence performing a very old, traditional Chinese song called Mò lì huā (translated: Jasmine flower). It's a bit of a challenge, but I'm half way learning the lyrics now and I got almost three weeks time left 'til the performance.
If Celine Dion - who performed the same song in 2013 for a Chinese audience - can learn half the lyrics, then I can learn the entire song! I've warned my colleagues that I won't be singing quite as high and well as her though.. But they think I have a lovely singing voice! Well, Chinese flattery is such a heart warming thing, I don't care if it's a lie :)

As for the Spring Festival itself, icing on the cake is not only being a part of the party and admittedly one of the starlets - as all eyes WILL be on me, the White girl - but also that the school offered to buy me a dress for the performance. ANY dress I wanted! So as I have learned to enjoy so many Chinese things already, it was clear from the beginning that I will wear a traditional Chinese dynasty dress. I've seen so many beautiful pictures of the old dresses during Han or Tan dynasties, and decided that I want something that I might never get a chance to wear ever again. So today I pranced to a tailor and showed her a picture of what I wanted: the results shall be available for viewing in a week :)

Spring Festival has all the girls planning for their dresses, and most will be wearing something Western it seems. Looks like traditional Chinese style it's not "cool", because most of the girls want to wear something "fashionable", which means modern Western style. I on the other hand can't wait to put on my Han dynasty dress and sing a song in Chinese!
And this is exactly what I love about traveling: how else would one ever get to experience such a thing? Exciting times. I can't wait :)

Zài jiàn for now!

One of the entrances to a Han Dynasty temple.

Zhōngwén: yī', èr, sān.. (Chinese language, one two, three..)

Learning Chinese (way of things)

After a month in China I reckon I've finally gotten over all the culture shocks looming around. The drop toilets I can now handle - even the public ones where there are no doors whatsoever and no flushing system either: what ever comes out of the human body stays in the pit... While you get to see your neighbor doing their business, too.
The pollution is still a big bummer, but I have some surgical masks to use when it gets really bad outside, and I will definitely get a decent 3M pollution mask for real protection. It's kinda unsettling how the people in Nanyang reckon their city is pretty clean and air is fresh... Compared to what?? The pollution definitely is a part of everyday life here in China.
As for the dirt and questionable cleanliness of absolutely everything in China, as of far I haven't had food poisoning. My gut must be made of steal by now!

Before arriving to China I decided I wanted to learn the language. I knew only how to greet in Chinese when I first got here, but since then I've improved massively. My recruitment agency promised to organize Chinese lessons for me if I wanted them, but surprisingly no word of them yet (pun intended). Luckily all my lovely colleagues at work have been kind enough to help me with my Chinese whenever I needed: they are more than happy to teach and help me with my pronunciation.

I love languages and learning new things, consider myself a bit of a linguist, so you could say I am passionate about learning Chinese. Also it's the best motivator when the entire nation surrounding you doesn't speak any of your languages, so to be able to communicate and simply survive in China I must learn Chinese.

Remember to keep smooth! (Found in a stair case, original meaning was apparently to say "keep clear")

During my travels I've noticed how people always like to make fun of different languages, dialects and accents. Sure, I can't say that I've never made fun of any, but the more I travel the less I want to laugh at anyone's native tongue or accent. Language is a way of communicating; a survival method which once you master you can express yourself eloquently and genuinely be the person who you are. And it's fascinating how different languages have different ways of saying things, quirky expressions, (origin of) words, all of which are connected to our culture so tightly. So essentially you are what you speak! Did you know that the word "please" doesn't exist in the Finnish language? Or that the Chinese language has five different tones: meaning that a word spelled the same way but pronounced slightly differently has altogether completely different meanings.. Think about Australians and their favorite slogan, "no worries"; no wonder the people there are so easygoing!

So far I've been teaching myself Chinese (thanks Youtube and all the free websites!) and after studying Chinese online I go outside and impress people with my new expressions and words I've learned :D Everyone I talk with is so impressed how much I've learnt already - though I have to say the Chinese people are VERY complimentary! I work very hard on my pronunciation, which is quite challenging I must say. The difference between pronouncing i.e. "zh", "sh", "ch" or "x" is mind blowing... "I'll keep practicing it", has become my new motto!

What I love about the Chinese culture and language is that many things revolve around food! "Nǐ chī le ma?" is an expression one hears often here after (or as) a greeting: it means "have you eaten yet?". Food and eating is very important for the Chinese people. The culture embraces healthy eating so the diet is based on protein and fat. There is virtually no sugar or milk used in anything. Drinking coffee is rare, but there is obviously a wide selection of different teas and the Chinese believe that each tea has different effects on the body. For instance you should never drink green tea late during the day as it has energizing effects and you'll struggle to get any sleep if you drink it too late. Red tea on the other hand is very relaxing and good to drink even late at night to help you sleep.

The "Chinese medicine" can include not only herbs and lotions but also certain food and drink. Chinese are quite particular what to eat and when: during winter they don't eat rice but noodles, because they say rice is too cold for the body. Hot water is consumed everywhere all the time. Cold water is thought to be "bad for health" during winter. At first I had a hard time drinking only hot water as the idea of it was so strange: I'd have rather had weak tea or just a glass of cold water, but as everyone else drinks plain hot water all the time (the restaurants offer only hot water), then it was time I adjusted.
Different teas, as I mentioned, are believed to have different effects. When my throat got dry and I had a cough, my friend bought me a root of a plant and I was to make tea out of the root to heal my throat. So the idea of Chinese medicine is that nature can provide a solution to any illness the human body might have. I'm fascinated by the ideology and will look deeper into it while in China!

Fruit pizza, the Chinese love it! It's not too shabby to be honest :P

To be fair not all things Chinese raise my interest: I was a bit peckish the other day and my friend kindly promised to get me a snack from the school kitchen. She returned with chicken legs. I don't know how long I must've stared at them without being able to say much as I was trying to think of a very polite way to say "no". On another occasion by friend's child was eating a treat and his mother ordered him to offer me some, so the kid hands me over a single-packed item that has a picture of a duck on it. As the child is munching away happily, I open the item and what I see has no resemblance of anything familiar to me, so I taste it. Crunchy, spicy, little meaty but the texture is tough. Kinda off-putting already, but the killing punch was finding out it was duck tongue. I can safely say it won't be on my snack menu ever again.

The infamous duck tongue... partly chewed, never finished.

Studying Chinese language is definitely opening up new dimensions of the entire culture to me. Still a long way to go to improve my Chinese skills, so better get cracking! :)

Zài jiàn!

A teacher colleague Molly and me :)

Ho ho ho holidays in Zhōng guó (China)

As I got back to work after surviving from the pre-Christmas tourist flu it could not have been a more drastic change for me. I felt like I was torn from bed and thrown straight to the deep end at work as I had promised to play the role of Father Christmas during the silly season. I didn't realise that they wanted me to prance around in the Santa Claus costume throughout the two days and actually have my lessons wearing it. As I'm nothing but a good sport, I was happy to wear the outfit – with a beard and all (pictures included)! You can probably imagine how the kids got crazy excited when they saw me dressed up as Santa. And though teaching several hours a day whilst posing for pictures with a constant smile on my face and singing Christmas carrols for two whole days I actually think it was the closest I ever got to feeling that warm, fuzzy Christmas spirit as an adult!

Me and Peter as Santa Clauses

Our little Christmas tree at work

The Chinese absolutely idolise all things Western, so they have keenly adapted the decorative part of Christmas. If it wasn't for their love and eagerness to be as Western as they possibly can, the Chinese would not celebrate Christmas at all. As my school organised a Christmas party, I thought that it would entail the traditional Christmas festivities such as carols being sung, some gingerbread cookies and mulled wine with other Christmas food, mistletoes, Santa giving out gifts... Well, it was nothing like I imagined! In the outdoor playground they had a big festival area with an arena and a food court. The show included ballerinas, ”bull fighting”, line dancing, clowns, ballroom dancing, etc. The food court was called Champs d'Elysee and had a lot of different Chinese food (as Chinese don't have any special foods for Christmas). In one of the classrooms named ”the Shakespeare Theatre” they had a play running constantly and the teachers were performing the ”Sleeping Beauty” fairytale. At the festival entrance gate I was dressed up as Santa Claus, along with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Snow White, to meet and greet the kids. The children were wearing funny outfits themselves, dressed up as superheroes like Batman, Santa Claus, different princesses and fairies and what-nots! It was a Merry Christmas indeed, with all the jolliness going around :) After some intense ho ho ho'ing I was tired but happy, and ready to say goodbye to Christmas for a year.

Snow White with Kingkao

Christmas festivities in their prime

Teachers dancing ballet

After the festivities it was back to normal at the school and the kindergarten. My first full week of teaching was going pretty well as I was getting used to the classes, singing and playing games – considering the fact that my teacher training did not prepare me to teach kids, not to mention toddlers. But all in all things were starting to go really well and I was beginning to very much enjoy myself and the job!

My Teacher's Assistants (TAs) are working with me throughout the day: they tell me where we have classes and help me to communicate not only with the children but with the teachers who don't speak any English. I am very lucky because my TAs are very lovely, speak decent enough English and most of them have many years of experience working with children, which really helps me massively during the lessons. If the team of myself and the TA doesn't work, then I'm left adrift.

This happened to me during one evening class. After having a particularly good day with a certain TA that really knew her business and was my right hand throughout the day – for the last class of the day they gave me another TA. She was inexperienced, her English was not up to the standard of communicating with me and she could not handle the children at all. It was a disaster. My class was 60 minutes of horror. The first 10 minutes I could somewhat control the 3 to 5 year olds myself, but after the first novelty of my Caucausian-ness worn off, some of the naughtier kids totally tore apart the atmosphere. I can't completely blame the kids because they got bored and frustrated as they were not instructed at all: my TA did not translate any of my instructions to them. Did she think the kids would understand by themselves what I was saying, when she herself barely had a clue of what I was saying, I have no idea. I asked her several times to please translate to the kids what games we would be playing or any simple instructions that I gave. Fail. Fail. Fail.

As I couldn't communicate with kids who only speak a handful of English, I had little authority over them. The whole thing felt absurd and horrifyingly surreal when looking up at the clock I realised I still had 40 minutes of class left and majority of my students were screaming their heads off, running around, fighting, doing everything that they were not supposed to, whilst my TA was basically standing there doing nothing. I think the world stopped for a minute and I seriously contemplated on walking out. As I came to, I realised two of the smallest students, probably aged barely 3 years old, were holding my hands and looking up at me with such an awe and a brilliant smile that it melted my heart. I couldn't walk out, I couldn't. So for these kids, I stayed. I sat down with them and together we played games and sang songs and they seemed to be learning. Miraculous! As we sat there having fun, some of the kids roaming around came to join us. And I felt much better. I was happy I stayed, though I kept thinking that it must be the worst thing that could ever happen – I never imagined it would even get that bad.

As that horrible class finally came to an end and I said goodbye to the students, I could barely look at my TA. My personal guide and the head teacher, Maggie, came around and found me sitting in a daze in the middle of the class room. She asked me how things went and I told her in all honesty that it was a disaster.

The first hour or two after the class I was horrified. I was thinking whether this job really is what I can do. What I want to do. I felt so...betrayed, angry, disappointed. Betrayed by my useless TA, angry that the class had been a failure when I did my very best, and disappointed that I did not have authority over the kids once they started going crazy.

But after a good night's sleep and some long talks with friends and family, I realise it was a bump on the road. Maggie's worried face as she thought I would jump on the first plane and leave, plus her reassurances that this would be the last time they gave me an inexperienced TA made me smile and I thought to myself that it is not as bad as it seemed. ”Get real, get over it”, I told myself. This is not the end of the world.

I'm happy to say that all my classes before and after that incident have been much fun and judging from the comments I get from my fellow teachers and my TAs, they have been of good quality. The school seems very happy with me and I can honestly say that I feel lucky to work for a company that has such wonderful staff and good atmosphere. I have a feeling of belonging, which I can't explain, but it makes me smile. :)

With some of my students, little rascals - but I love them! 

At this stage I'm very interested to challenge myself more and start planning my lessons with whole new energy. When I was doing my English teacher training, I did get the distinctive feeling that this could well be a job I'd genuinely enjoy doing. That feeling is getting stronger again and I can't wait to get more experience and get even better at this! Maybe this IS the job I want to do when I grow up, who knows?!

Can't wait what the year 2015 has in store for me :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!