Thursday 4/25:
Thursday morning I woke up to singing in the hall which confused me because it didn't make sense with my dream so it took me a good 5 minutes to figure out where it was coming from. I first confirmed that it was not in Chinese, then decided it wasn't a recording, then finally settled on the idea that it was Sam. He's super ridiculously good at singing. At least that's what I thought when I woke up to a hallway of sound in China.
I got out of bed to freshen up since I'd been wearing my retainer all night (yay for peer pressure from roommates!) and ended up being in the bathroom again when Sam came to wake me up. I went into his room after and was immediately assaulted by Luke being mad about something so I left and went in the common room where he followed me and kept talking so I went back in my room where Melanie was mad because all of the water was off again so I went back in Luke's room where he hit on me so I went back in my room where Melanie was still mad so I finished my long trek with hiding in the common room again and got a couple hours of silence thank goodness. I spent all morning working on catching up on my journal and messaging Matt on Skype.
I walked down to lunch with Melanie and Luke and they started fighting again even after I changed the subject. When I got back I ran into Mark walking out of his room with a big grin on his face and watching him shove a pad and tampon under Kristen and Andrea's door as he said, "I don't want to talk about it." He and Geoff came running in our room later accusing us of decking their room out with pads and tampons but I had no idea who did it. Turns out Sam and Dellany had done it using extras that were in the kitchen left over from old groups. Mark had put some under the other girls' door because he had first assumed they were the culprits. Always fun and games in China.
Sam came in to talk before classes while Melanie and I were finishing last minute lesson plans. AKA I was starting to write mine for the day. I decided to try out Jeopardy that Sam and Melanie had already used in their classes and had success with so I was working on coming up with questions for that. On Thursdays I only teach 3 classes instead of 4 which is nice but the first 4th grade class was crazy. The Chinese teachers often seat the kids in the class according to intelligence and I made the mistake of having the smart side compete against the stupid side for the first period. It wasn't intentional but that's how it ended up playing out. Therefore, the smart kids wasted the other half because the dumb kids didn't even play because they knew they had no chance. It got so bad that I simply set my book down and walked out of the class, slamming the door. I've used this before in 5th grade to show them how very serious I am about them behaving well enough for me to teach but hadn't tried it out in 4th grade yet. Once I was in the hall I realized I really was stressed out over it and took a minute to cool down before I walked back into what was now a perfectly silent classroom.
As soon as that class ended I had a break so I booked it back up to the dorms and changed into a tank top and shorts and headed up to the roof to tan. There are areas with black roofing that provide a little more warmth but after trying that I couldn't handle the intense cold wind so I moved away from the edge to the cement which cut down on wind but still wasn't comfortable. I lasted about 20 minutes and then headed back downstairs where I sat on my bed for 10 minutes and ate Mike and Ikes that I still have stashed away for emergencies.
Back at the school Luke was freaking out because he discovered that some of the classes the head teachers had cut from his schedule they hadn't told the school they cut so he had classes sitting without a teacher all morning so I gave him a big hug which started a whole new wave of questions from students asking if we liked each other. One of my 4th grade boys (I think Bruce?) came up to me and told me, "Your boyfriend is Superman!!" which I started laughing at because I had showed them a picture of me from Halloween this past year with Stephannie and Jason with Jason in a Superman costume. I tried to explain that Superman had a new girlfriend but he was very persistent with informing me that Superman is my boyfriend so I've decided to just appreciate that I have a superhero boyfriend.
I was a lot smarter for the 2nd hour of 4th grade and split the class up differently so they were actually competitive and it went really well. 5th grade enjoyed it a lot too so hopefully it's something I can incorporate weekly since it's fun but still educational.
When classes got out I discovered Cherish had arrived and could see her blonde hair all the way across campus. Most of the group went downtown to the noodle shop and night market to show her around but Melanie and Mikelle and I had already made other plans. The high school kids wanted to meet us and hang out for a while so I cleaned up my room at the dorms while everyone else did that :) Since Luke and Sam were both having an off day I stopped by and left them each a Reese's candy that I still had stashed away from Casey's visit. Those things are gold here. Afterwards the three of us (Melanie, Mikelle, and I) ended up taking a bongbongshua (rabbit car with 3 wheels) down to the JiaJiaYue where we caught the 30 bus and then got help from a random woman who told us when to get off to transfer to the 12. She didn't speak a word of English but when I said the bus stop out loud she tapped me on the shoulder and tapped her nose to indicate she was also getting off on that stop. When the time came she gave me a good pat on the shoulder and we got off and lucked out picking up the 12 less than a minute later. Where were we going? Back to the steak restaurant of course! This time I ordered a plate with both steak and chicken and it was to die for amazing. We decided we needed to cut back though because even once a week a $6-$10 meal gets expensive, especially in China. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store there and picked up some food for the trip and then headed home.
I spent the rest of the night talking to Matt on Skype which was really nice but eventually had to say goodbye because Melanie was trying to sleep and I afterwards discovered everyone else was asleep too. Staying up late in China just doesn't really happen because we all know how horrible it is teaching the next day sleep deprived.
Friday 4/26:
Friday morning Melanie and I woke up to other ILP teachers being ridiculously loud in the hallway. She doesn't teach until later but I had to be at school by 8. I ended up just having them take a spelling test and then play the games for the rest of class. Super easy and necessary for crazy Fridays.
After class I graded tests in the supply room again and hung out with Sam and then went down to the printing room and printed off stuff for the trip until they kicked me out for lunch time.
We ate a quick lunch and then started packing for our big 9-day trip we were leaving on in 3 hours. I've been missing wearing sandals super fierce but didn't bring any with me to China because it's rude to wear them here but I found a pair in the pile in the kitchen and packed them. Originally we packed our things in a carry-on suitcase but then downsized to a backpack. I can't believe that I fit 9 days worth of clothes, food, toiletries, shoes, and souvenirs in a single backpack. While I was packing I decided to finally wash my sheets for the first time since I got to China so I have clean sheets to look forward to when I get back. Melanie, Mikelle and I made an entire loaf of pb&j sandwiches to throw in our bags to help cut down on hunger for part of the trip.
A bunch of us took 3 vans to the airport in Yantai and our van driver caught on that we were watching to see who was in the lead so the drive turned into a race and we won! The airport has such low security which is actually kinda nice that we only have to deal with pretend security here. The do have an obsession with tickets though.. For example, we had to get off the plane in Jinan before we got back on to go to Xi'an and in that exchange they ripped 4 tickets for me. They'll tear off one part at the beginning of the walkway and another at the end as if somehow in the 30 feet you walked in a closed off ramp to a plane you somehow managed to add another person. Once we got to Xi'an it was already about 9pm so the 4 of us I had booked hostel rooms for (Melanie, Mikelle, Jay, and I) wanted to go straight to the hostel but the rest of the group wanted to go to the Muslim quarter. We ended up getting a big bus for all of us (15?) that was going to stop at the hostel and then the Muslim quarter. We got to the hostel around 10:30 and everyone got off there :) Guess who knew that it would be too late to travel that night before we got downtown? Gloat gloat gloat....
The hostel was huge. It had 3 buildings with 3 stories each and tons of plants everywhere. It was a crazy party place though and had people partying it up with karaoke at least until 12 which is when I finally got to crash. The 4 of us made plans to skip the expensive tour and visit the Terracotta Warriors on our own the next day by public bus. Afterwards I took the coldest shower of my entire life and then crashed into bed.
Saturday 4/27:
Saturday morning I woke up to Rochelle getting up at 6:40 to head out with another group. I had set my alarm for 7:20 but since when do I ever get to sleep in as late as I want when I'm rooming with a group? Geoff had planned to go with our group but decided to switch to the other one for the day and decided he needed to tell me this as I was peeing in a squatter. My response was something like, "Really Geoff? Do you really need to talk to me at this precise moment?" I got all packed up and went downstairs with Jay where we met Melanie and Mikelle eating breakfast and I ate Mikelle's egg. Oh noes!!!! BIRD FLU!!! Remember that one time the bird flu broke out across China and people died? Oh right.. that's now and I'm in the middle of it. We've been advised by the embassy to not eat chicken, eggs, or street food. Unfortunately those are 3 of my favorite things to eat here so I've just decided I'm not going to get bird flu and I eat whatever I want.
We locked our luggage up at the hostel and caught the 603 bus to the bus station. It was a double decker and reminded me of a bus I rode in Ireland in the front of a DD with another crazy driver. At the station we ran into the other group that still hadn't left and was bartering with a driver to get to the Terracotta Warriors. We just got in line for bus 306 which gets you there for $2 and while in line I had the discovery that red pandas are sometimes called fire foxes and that's the emblem for Firefox. Aha moment! I also discovered that I've finally gotten Asian goggles and started taking creeper pictures of cute Asian guys so that when I get back home I'll be able to remember what I thought was super attractive after being away from white people for over 2 months.
On the bus we sat by 2 awesome Chinese college guys that we talked to. We never asked their names but we've since named them Talkative and Gorgeous. They spoke English really well and we had a good time talking about a bunch of things including marrying to get a green card. I would have married one of them so they could come back to America with me. They got off at some hot springs which we considered stopping at with them but decided to just go straight to the Terracotta Warriors.
At the Terracotta Warriors we hired a tour guide for 2 hours for 40 yuan a person ($6.50) named Jenny and had a good time with her showing us around and telling about the history. The Terracotta Warriors are a bunch of clay (terracotta) statues of soldiers and horses that were placed in front of the first emperor's tomb to protect him in the afterlife. They stand between his tomb and enemy territory. They were buried in trenches/pits that then had roofs built over them. There are 3 pits you can visit with different warriors. The main pit is the biggest with soldiers and horses which is what you usually see in pictures. The other two pits are slightly smaller. The second pit had archers and a calvary which made up the higher ranking military warriors. The third pit had a meeting room with the top-ranking officers. I kept thinking about Mulan while I was walking around. I was a much more impressed with the exhibit than I thought I'd be. The statues are all unique and made to represent the emperor's actual army so Chinese people will try to find a statue that looks the most like them. They're also painted but the paint disappears after a couple hours of being uncovered. I'm mind blown that over 2000 years later so many of these statues are still intact after being under the ground for so long. They were discovered by a farmer digging a well. He was at the exhibit signing souvenir books when we there.
Jenny dropped us off at a noodle shop for lunch and then we caught a random bus back to Xi'an. It wasn't as nice as the first one and it cost 1 yuan (oh no, 16 cents!!) more than the first one but we were tired and it got us where we needed to be.
Back in Xi'an we went to the Muslim quarter which is a big shopping district with a mausoleum in the middle. Melanie stopped at Haggen Daas and bought their 2nd cheapest ice cream ($10) while Mikelle and Jay got stuff at Starbucks. I was too rebellious and cheap to eat American food so I just waited. We did some shopping and then got on a rickshaw that took us to the mausoleum (which ended up costing money to see so we didn't) and then took it back to the hostel. There aren't any rickshaws in Weihai but they're all over the tourist areas. Basically like those benches you can ride to sports games downtown from your parking garage but they have covers on them. Our driver took us down tiny little alleyways and in main-stream traffic so it was quite the adventure. We didn't haggle a price beforehand and I went with girls that won't argue for a price so we ended up getting ripped off on how much it cost but it was still really fun. We passed a night bus on the way back with beds in it and I finally put two and two together and realized that the Knight bus on Harry Potter is a night bus. Another blonde aha moment for the day.
We had a little bit of time before we had to be at the train station to leave so I showered at the hostel since we were about to get on a train for 2.5 days without any resemblance of hygiene. Once on the train I was really glad I did because everyone else was still all sweaty and gross from the day and then had no way to clean up. We jumped back on the 603 to the train station and started one of the longest journeys of my life. We got on the train around 6:30 that night and didn't get off until about midnight 30 hours later. I usually really like the trains but none of us had bottom bunks so there was nowhere for us to hang out and the upper bunks aren't tall enough to sit up on so I basically spent 30 hours in bed with the exception of getting up to pee and make food every once in a while. I was tired and needed quiet time so as soon as we got on the train I put in my headphones and tuned people out until lights out. I read a book for a while and wrote in my journal for a while but stayed very anti-social. It didn't help that Kristen was in the same compartment with me so I got to awkwardly be there for her and Sam talking/flirting on the ride. Sam was in the next compartment over but our beds were attached together with the wall in between so once the lights were out we talked for a while. I had so much on my mind from reading a relationship book and kept trying to figure out my own abandonment issues and what I was going to do with my life when I get back from China. Sam fell asleep but I couldn't sleep for a long time and then kept waking up all night when the train switched tracks or used its emergency brakes or when one of the conductors kept coming by with a flashlight because Chinese people by us kept talking. After all that I still woke up at (as the book I'm now reading would say) "the ungodly hour" of 5:30am.
Sunday 4/28:
Sunday I half slept in until 7 but then laid in bed all morning. I smashed myself into Mikelle's bunk with her for a while and had a little cuddle session but then got up and ate a delicious (for China) orange roll I had brought and ended up talking to Sam for a while. Cindy was really sick so he got called away to give her a blessing with Mark. They hung a blanket off the bunk above hers and all huddled under it to give the blessing. Sam said he'd come back to finish our conversation but he never did so I eventually gave up on waiting and went back to my bed where I found him talking to Kristen. Yay.... That sent me back to my headphones and journal and I spent the next few hours on my computer reading random old files. Later I laid on Sam's bed with him while he read me entries from his journal that he had written when we first got to China. After that I was frustrated with life again and talked to Geoff about Spam theory and how I need to learn from my past relationships and stop being interested in dating guys that don't really want to date me. The woman in the bed next to us started throwing up so I left and made an attempt at making the package of Stouffer's stuffing I had brought with me. I failed but ate it anyway. Even the American food I brought here often tastes like China because I can't prepare it properly. I went back to reading more random files and journaling until it was time for lights out again. It was really annoying because they turned the lights out but then came by and switched cards with us so we could get off the train. Then they turned the lights back on. Then they turned them back off. Finally it was time to get off and I was so ready to get away from being miserable.
This is when the huge group of people split up. There were 6 people in my group: me, Mikelle, Melanie, Jay, Geoff, and Sam. We also had Cherish for a couple days because the head teachers had her moving around with groups for the vacation. The 7 of us got in a taxi van and headed to the hostel. No one there spoke English and they couldn't find our reservation even though we had called earlier that day to confirm it. It was 12:30 in the middle of the night before we got beds but we did finally get beds. I ended up getting a full-size bed that had a box spring. That just doesn't happen every day here. We were in a weird storage room on the top floor but at that point I didn't care. I took a freezing cold shower and got into bed sticky hot because we were super far south in China. Somehow by the middle of the night I woke up freezing but everyone else sweat all night. Yay China.
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