Huangzhou: Continued

The things we saw in Huangzhou:

Walking around the most beautiful lake, West Lake, we watched the coolest water/laser/light show. The lasers played different moving images through the mist to start the show. The actual water show could have been a ballet it was so perfectly performed with the music and lights.

The main night market street was lined with just that: markets with various people showing and selling the fruits of their talents. One man was making and selling combs made from the antlers of some type of animal.
Another was drawing portraits of people.
All sorts of necklaces, beaded shoes, and rugs were being sold.
One man was selling a fruit-cabob that looked too good to eat.
There was a shop that had all sorts of costumes you could dress up in and they'd take your photo using all sorts of medieval props.
My absolute favorite was a man wearing traditional Chinese robes and hat doing a one man puppet/theatre show to tell stories of Chinese myths and legends. In order to see the stage you'd have to sit down on a little stool and peek inside a little eyehole, and as you'd watch the show he'd tell you the story/legend of that particular painting while in rhythm to his little hand clapper instrument. It was all very enticing and from the moment he called us over, there was a large crowd to "watch the foreigners" watch the puppet show. The storyteller was a very happy man with smiling eyes and face and so we couldn't turn him down. As he was telling the story Taylor would respond to his rhyming, rhythmic poetry, and apparently his responses were extremely funny because everyone burst out laughing, which continually drew in a greater laughing audience. They loved whatever was going on.

The following day we went to their temple, a large 5 story pagoda on Huangzhou's biggest hill. We climbed the paved road to get there and were able to see the entire city from the top floor. The one side of the city reminded me of a little resort town, and on top of every hill to be seen there was a pagoda temple, and then the lake in the middle of it all. Looking out the other side was the city. We had to laugh that their temple had a restaurant on the 3rd floor, and all the other floors only boasted of empty space. It was high on a hill, and lit up bright red at night. On our way down we wandered a different way and found a little village on the other side of the hill, and the way they looked at us it seemed as though they had never seen a foreigner ever. We were off the 'tourist path' and walking the back roads. This is what I love about China. We found a little alleyway down, which happened to be the front stoop of a neighborhood of houses and we were able to peek inside a couple. It amazes me every time to see the way they live. We ended up on the other side of the city and were lost, and had to take a taxi back.

We found a brass museum. I couldn't understand what all of the pieces were, but there were lots of bronze statues, and one grandma was walking around with her one year old grandson--way cute Chinese kid--and was telling him to worship the statues. So this little boy who looked like he was only one foot tall would waddle over to one statue at a time and clasp his little chubby hands together and shake them back and forth in worship.

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While visiting another art exhibit close to Taylor's work the other day the entrance sign read: NO PSYCOPATHS CAN ENTER UNLESS WITH GUIDE.

Hangzhou

I had to travel to Hangzhou for a meeting last night. After my meeting was over Jen came and met me here. Hangzhou is about a 90 min train ride from Shanghai. It is supposedly a big tourist area. When Jen got here we quickly put here things in the hotel and then went outside to grab some lunch, about nine hours later we got back to the hotel. Today was blast. We spent a lot of time walking around the West Lake. This is one of the most famous lakes in China and is featured in many movies such as Croutching Tiger Hiden Dragon.

Today's adventures could fill many blog postings. It seemed like everywhere we turned there was another thing happening that was definitely 'blog material'. Things like the bikes that we rented for two hours for 15 cents. We were both way too big for these bikes but that didn't stop us from putting a bunch of Cokes and goodies in the front basket and cruising all over town. Somehow I ended up driving down a bunch of one way streets, the problem was that I was going to wrong way! My bike was equipped with a baby seat attached on the back and a seat post that would probably fit a 5 year old.

Other blog worthy scences included a dad pulling his kids pants down and holding him over a garbadge can to go to the bathroom. This wouldn't have been so weird if it wasn't in the middle of one of the most crowded sections of the city. It got better when a random lady saw this and stopped, then proceeded to pull out some tissues to help wipe the kid and then she was on her way. This was then topped by my own experience in the public bathroom. Let me paint the picture. We are right next to the West Lake, thousands of people everywhere. The bathroom has open windows that are about chest level. All of the windows are wide open so all the thousands of people walking by can see all of the men standing next to the wall, from the chest up, taking care of business. I went in and took the last one all the wall. As I'm taking care of business I look out the window at all these people outside just a few feet away. I give a kind smile and nod of the head to some of them. Just as I've decided that I've been in this situation enough times now to not think it's too weird, things change. Next to me another guy starts crowding in on the guy who is already going, he's trying to share the toilet! The guy starts yelling at him but it was too late, they were in the middle of a sword fight for the rights of the toilet. The guy eventually stopped yelling and the both did their thing and then went their seperate ways. Classic China experience.

We don't mean to bring so much bathroom talk into our blog but when you see things like this the stories just have to be told!

News of the Weird

The other night we decided our apartment needed some greenery. Walking outside of our complex sat two men and their hundred year old bikes with large plants and small trees that they were trying to sell. Seeing our interest they quickly used their best techniques to sell their treasures, which they did. They even offered to bring it up to our apartment! After choosing one the man loaded it on his tricycle and then proceeded to load another one to try and sell again at our door. We had to laugh at that. Taylor was able to bargain it down a little, but we decided not to bargain too much because we knew they really needed the money after seeing their excitement and happiness at the prospect of selling one. As he biked away toward our complex in the evening hours, us walking a few paces behind, we had to laugh at the mix of worlds: an old man on a hundred year old rickety tricycle with two large plants on the back, biking slowly toward our fairly nice and modern apartment building with taxis and cars parked in front. Past and present all in one moment--it seemed. It would have been quite the picture and I was sorry we hadn't replaced our camera card yet. We ended up buying the second one as well because he really wanted to sell it, and it really did look good. We both made a killing though. He made a load of money, and we bought the plants for an impossibly small price in the US.

Does anyone remember 'News of the Weird' that is published in the SL Tribune?? My fourth
grade teacher used to have us sit down on the carpet every Monday morning, and he'd read us the weird news of the week. Anyhow, welcome to NEWS OF THE WEIRD. That is definitely what my blog has started to proclaim.

Last night when walking home on a busy street amongst hundreds of others, passing a large electronics store stands two teenage boys smoking, facing the side of a delivery truck. Not that weird, but upon closer examination was seen two steady streams of . . . ya, urine. Taylor yells out to them that the front tire is not a bathroom, and they kinda laugh and lean in closer.

And the reason why, folks, the Chinese NEVER wear shoes in their houses, and why we don't either, is because sidewalks are often times used as bathrooms.

The Smoke Massage

Did I mention for the kindergarten teaching interview I had to do a demo lesson. So there I was sitting at a conference table with three other Chinese women, me singing The Color Song while standing, twirling, and being very entertaining I'm sure.

This evening decided to eat local and get a cheap massage. Our dinner was roughly 75 cents off the street... Ya, you guessed it...more noodles. Some guy was standing on the corner with his cart of noodles, his wok, and other spices, and he cooked up a mean set of noodles.

Our hour foot massages cost 3 and a half bucks. There were spaces for five people and a young 10 year old boy did mine. I kept wondering if he had to do homework. Like I said about massages, they're a definite hit/miss kind of thing. This was a miss. He basically pounded the muscle out of my feet, and I'm sure I'll be bruised tomorrow. IIt hurt so bad! t felt like I was going to walk away with shin splints he pounded so hard. Taylor was all about it and he went on about reflexology and foot zoning, etc, but I think I just got the tar beat out of my feet. I won't be returning to that one.
At one point during the middle of our massage the two men next to Taylor pull out their cigarettes and light up. And then later they tried for a second but Taylor butts in,

"What! You just smoked one! Now you're going to smoke again?!"

The man says, "huh? You want a smoke?"

Tay says, "No! And neither do you! The smell of smoke is just too unbearable."

He says, "Wow, you have good Chinese. You have really good Chinese. It's better than a lot of Chinese people."

Now maybe Taylor added in that last sentence so I'd think he was cool, maybe not, but the point is... the man did not light up for a second time.

Metro and Markets

I had two job interviews today. One teaching Kindergarten English. The other teaching Adult English one-on-one. Hmmm, adult English sounds a lot better.

I learned how to use the metro all by myself! And took a taxi all by myself! Imagine not being able to ask directions, or read street signs while finding your way around the city, while being surrounded by millions of people not one of which who can help you. That was me yesterday, but having conquered that I feel I can do anything here now. It wasn't all me though. Taylor was always a phone call away if I needed him. I called him a lot. And when I couldn't find the right building I had to be in for the first interview, a kind man on the street stopped, looked at my directions, and pointed me in the right direction. I'm glad he was inspired to help!

And while walking on the other side of the city, an overly exhuberant man tried to tell me...something, I couldn't figure out what. He was pointing to his card--looked like a make-up ad, I'm guessing he wanted me to buy his make-up--while grabbing my arm, talking, and literally dragging me inside this one building. Had I been in the U.S. I would have been very frightened, but I had to chuckle. He seriously wouldn't let me go even though I repeatedly told him BU YAO! I finally decided to be tougher and dragged him a little with me and ignored him and he finally let go.

Here in this great city, close to our apartment, they have these small village neighborhoods. Markets line the street, it being the first floor of someones house. Some of the souvenir shops are not connected to their home but sit right in front, on the street. There are many hair salons, many foot massage joints, and many fruit stands. Then an occassional nick nack store, and other random stores. Some streets are fish markets and each person is selling turtles, fish, frogs, crabs, and other crawly sea creatures. The crazy thing is all these creatures are still alive. And some streets are souvenir markets that sell the exact same souvenirs which appear to have sat there, unsold, for hundreds of years. It's so fun and exciting to walk down those small streets and look at the loitering pajama people, and what they have to sell. But I'm usually more interested in looking past the market and inside to their homes. They have a small, small dark living room-- dark because all the homes are connected, their only natural light being the open front door. The floor is cement, and there's usually a sink right in front of the door. Maybe a chair, maybe a table. And that's all that fits in that main room. Sometimes I'll look past and see a small door behind and I'll see a bed, or sometimes I'll see stairs that will lead up to their living quarters. The front door sits right on the sidewalk. It's so amazing to me how they live.

In the small little neighborhood grocery stores they sell mostly crackers, cookies, and small snack things, and some household items, but if you want to buy stuff to make for dinner you'd have to shop for little frogs and green veggies on the markets outside. Or you'd have to go to a Carrefour. I don't think I'll be making dinner very often here.

And one day I'll send photos when we purchase another memory stick for our camera. We seem to have misplaced it.

Shanghai Update

Here is what we've been doing lately:

Playing the Wii with some friends we met at church-these people like to laugh. We played mario cart, Guitar hero, and American Idol. Tay sang Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody and did not progress to Hollywood. Sorry Tay. (Simon was so nice to everyone else and so rude to me, I didn't get any love for doing a song with such a high difficulty level! - Taylor)

Getting our house in order-you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find hangers here! So our clothes have been laying around in the back bedroom and we've been on the lookout. Today while walking home from The Wii friends home, Tay spots this old man on a bike carrying a load of household goods, including hangers. Tay runs after him, stops him, purchases all the hangers he has, which by the way was still not enough, and bargains for nearly half the price. We then walk into an art shop and sitting by the front were the owners, and the one lady says to the man (in Chinese of course),
"Look at those foreigners and all those hangers. What on earth are they going to do with so many hangers?" Taylor turns and says to her,
"I've got a lot of clothes to hang, thank you very much!"
They both kind of giggle and gawk that a foreigner can speak such great Chinese, and they ended up becoming friends, and he offered all his artwork in the store for a low price. Even for the huge wall paintings. It's awesome that he can understand because we'll get many comments while walking, or shopping, and Taylor always understands why they're laughing or pointing.

An eventful trip to IKEA. We bought a few household items and ate lunch there as well. IKEA is just as big as it is in Utah, and their lunch menu contains swedish meatballs, some sort of egg drop soup, spaghetti, salmon wrap, and raisin rolls.

Eating dessert with friends from the church. It's quite interesting to see the kind of friends we hang out with now. They're all at least 10-20 years our senior and all well established.

Getting massages. We picked a cheaper place off the streets for our last massage, and it was by far the best. We figure it's all hit and miss no matter how much you pay. It's fun because we get a little room together and get them at the same time! (Jen was having a great time. It was supposed to be 60 min but half way through they convinced her to add another 30 minutes. Then before we left they got her a VIP membership card! - Taylor)

There haven't been too many dull moments yet. It has been nice to have Tay staying home with me the past few days; to help me get the house in order but he will be going back to work tomorrow morning. :( Now it's probably time for me to find a job...

Thoughts

Thoughts: First Day

-I miss my mom.
-Noodles are eaten for every meal.
-People here are so polite.
-You can get a nice, juicy pomegranate for a fraction of the cost you'd find in the U.S. Awesome!

Tay's thought:

-"Why do I bother getting dressed when everyone stays in their pajamas all day?" (It's true, I can't tell you how many people we saw on our first day who were in their matching pajama set and sandals in the store, at breakfast, walking down the street in the middle of the day...

Thoughts: Second Day (Looking out my balcony at 5:30 AM)

-It's so light at this early hour.
-I sure hope that's humidity hanging thick in the air and not smog.