China trip 1st Letter

[mudbrook]

I know this does not have anything to do with the topics discussed on this message board, but I think it's a very interesting read.

A friend of mine had the opportunity to travel to China to teach English.

She sends emails of her daily life or routine in China, it's in her own words...enjoy!

I will post a letter or two a week.

first communication from Shidao, China
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 01:47:47 -0500

Hello everybody! I am here and had a wild experience getting here. Tears were dropping, stomach was churning, and knees were knocking and I just kept telling myself...this is a good learning experience and I will live and learn from it. I kept the tears to myself, except for the one time. The day I left we had a large snowfall the night before and continued into the morning. John plowed his upgrade in the driveway and we whizzed up and out onto the road. Nikki was driving and I was in the back seat. My family knows I do better not looking at the cars that are getting to close to the front of the car. I closed my eyes, in some road conditions that I could see from the side window. We got to the airport just fine and I said my good byes to my daughter, Nikki, her boyfriend John and my husband, Dave. Nikki took it harder then I did,... I needed to keep my composure. Each of them got three rounds of kisses and then I asked them to leave so I could stand in the first of many lines. The United plane did not arrive for us to board on time. It finally arrived, we boarded, and had to be de-iced. At the time of de-icing, my plane in Chicago was boarding to leave for China. Oh Great! I got to Chicago, and because I never have traveled alone, I knew I needed to rebook for the next flight. The next flight was the next day! Now I had to figure out were to stay for the night and figure out the expansive airport. I think I was in the airport for approximately 1&1/2 hours. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and ordered in for supper. It was not close to anything that I could walk to. My luggage was kept at the airport so I did not have my stuff for the night. Luckily, I couldn't fit my nightgown in the suitcase so it was in my purse. You know, when I was packing my nightgown into my purse...I thought about being stuck and thinking, "well, I will at least I'll have my nightgown." Thank you Lord! My new ticket to fly to China was upgraded to economy plus, which means I had a seat with more leg room. That ticket and my age, probably was the key to the airline check-in attendants to up grade me to business class. Yahoo! Really, I think the plane was overbooked in economy and had open seats in business class, so they moved me, to give my seat to someone else. (You have to pay extra to have economy plus seats, did you know that?) Wow! I had table linens on my fold out table, headset for the individual tv's at each chair, pillow, blanket, bathroom kit with toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. and great food and beverages. Champaign, red wine, white wine, drinks, juice, water, as much as you want. I had lots of water, but wine with my dinner and dessert. Steak, garlic mashed potatoes, green haricots (beans) 2 salads, and the best chocolate cheese cake with red wine. Yum-m-m! Hot steamed towels were served to wash your fingers at the beginning and end of the meal. I watched two movies and tried to sleep for awhile. We flew over the north pole and I had screen on the tv that I could watch the altitude, air speed and outside air temp. It was -72 degrees over Iceland, -97degrees over the north pole and back to -69 degrees over Mongolia. The trip lasted 12 hours and 55 minutes. We had very few bumps on the way over. Culture shock hit when I deplaned. Massive people speaking Chinese and no one speaking English, in sight. I just followed the line of people to the security check in. They do not like you crowding the yellow wait line. The security guards would walk over to you and stand in front of you to get your attention to move back. They did not have to get me to move, I was minding my p's & q's. ( wonder what those letters are suppose to mean, p's & q's?) We walked into another room for our baggage. Each of my bagges weighed just under 50#. I struggled to get them off the belt and onto a cart. I met Carol Guo just outside of the bagged claim area. She informed me I would have to stay over night in Beijing for the next flight to Weihi. This was my first overnight in China. The ride from the airport to the hotel was eye opening. Major expressway to city streets with bicycles, motorcycles,buses and cars. They beep their horn before they pass someone and the center line really doesn't mean much when there is no on-coming traffic. It is like a race. If my family could have seen me then! Stop lights don't seem to mean much, either. Go if you think you can fit in, is the attitude. They really cut drivers off when pulling back into a lane. Well, everybody knows that is the way you drive so they are all defensive drivers.
 
I need to stop here... I need to go back to my apartment to eat something before tonight's class. More to come. Miss you all and learning SOOOOOO MUCH.  Holly
 

 

[mudbrook]

2nd letter form China
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 23:10:16 -0500

I arrived at the hotel and was given a key to my room. It was simple and had a view of the courtyard. It was dark outside so I couldn't see it. Carol, Jason and myself walked to have supper at a local shop. I had tofu with a hot, spicy oil, and three kinds of fried dumplings. In China a dish(es) of food is placed in the middle of the table and you select what you want to eat by reaching in with your chopsticks and picking up your piece and placing it on the small plate in front of you. I had a fast lesson on using chopsticks! I did ok, but my inexperience was showing and the waitress brought a fork and spoon over to me. I didn't want to use them, I wanted to learn the Chinese way. The food was really good. I didn't think I would like tofu, but it was all right. It was thin and rubbery like compressed,thick bread smushed to a 1/4 inch. Jason poured us each a small bowl of vinegar and Carol put a lot of chili peppers into hers. I followed, but took just a little. We dipped the dumplings into the vinegar and ate them. I like dumplings, very much. While sitting at the table a big, many legged insect came crawling out from under a tray, and headed for me. I got up quickly and said,..."Oh MY!" Angela called the waitress over and she pushed it on the floor and killed it. That was the excitement for me at supper. We walked back to the hotel and Angela said she had to leave me that night. She had written a note for me to show the taxi cab driver and the people at the airport where I wanted to go, the next day. I did not sleep well that night. I was afraid to do what she expected me to do the next day. The next morning I got up and took a shower and got ready to leave. I repacked my bags and closed them up for the day. I walked to the lobby and saw they had a breakfast buffet for the travelers. I had 100 yuan (you say it, "u-an")(money) and the buffet cost 30 yuan. The waiter did not have change but ushered me in to eat. Later, the waitress came to me, while I was trying to figure out what the food was, and what I wanted, and said that there was a problem with my money. Her English was limited and my Chinese was non-existent. I asked her if I needed more. She looked at me funny and left. I stood off to the side and didn't take any food, in case there was something wrong. 10 minutes later she came back and gave me 70 yuan back and ushered me to eat. By that time, the buffet was ending and the foods were being taken from the buffet tables. I had some little food on my plate and looked around to sit down. The room was large and had lots of round tables to sit at. Some had red chair covers and some had pink chair covers. I didn'twant to offend them and sit in the wrong section or on the wrong color if there was a wrong section or color. So I moved very slowly and took my clue from the few women that were in there. There were a lot of foreign men in the room, not from China. They looked like they were from the middle east. I certainly didn't want to upset them. So I sat as far away from them, and closer to the women. I ate my food, sat awhile and then got up and left. I decided, when I got back to my hotel room I would leave the hotel and go to the airport, in case I would run into any other trouble like at breakfast. It was around 10 AM when I left the hotel and my flight left at 3 pm. As I pulled my heavy suitcase into the lobby I hit my head on a sign and made lots of noise. Everyone looked at me, and I felt like a fool. I went back to my room to get my other suitcase and rolled it out to the other one. I showed my page sized note to the door man and he waved a taxi to come in. As we were getting my bags, some other people got into the taxi. The taxi driver had made them get back out and loaded my suitcases into the trunk. Off I went to another adventure...the airport.
We arrived at the airport and the driver pointed at the carts and told me to get one. I walked over to the carts and brought one back. He loaded the suitcases onto the cart and I paid him 60 yuan for the ride. The fare was 55 yuan, but he kept the 5 yuan for a tip. I pushed my cart in the same direction that other people were walking. I saw another person pushing a cart, so I kept my eye on them to see where he was going. He pushed his cart down over the curb and crossed the road and into the building. I struggled with my cart at the curb, and a chinese man helped me down off the curb onto the road. When I got to the other side of the road, I had a curb to go back up. That is were I had to unload the cart in the street, pull it up on the sidewalk and reload the cart. Cars had to go around me. I hated having luggage! by that time. I got inside the airport and followed the people. Carol said I had an e-ticket at the airport, but I had no clue were to find that. I looked around and saw a large ? on a sign. I went over to the counter and showed my large note to the girl. She could speak English and she said go to station G or F. I could not understand her English well, and repeated what she said, "grf?" She repeated again and then I figured out she said G or F. I saw the area I was to go to and proceeded ahead. I stood in line, where others were to get their bags heat taped shut. When it was my turn, he looked at me funny. I showed him my note and he said I can't start for another 3 hours. He pointed to benches were I could sit down and wait. The benches were full, so I walked around with my cart, trying to find a bench to sit on. Finally I found an opening and sat down. There was a young woman on the edge of the bench with a little girl and older woman standing along side her. The young girl got up and the older woman sat down in her place and pushed up against me. Maybe I did something wrong, if I did, I didn't know. I had lots of time to kill, so I took out my journal and wrote some of the experienes I had. Time past, and it was time for me to check in. While I was sitting there I got a better feeling of what I needed to do when it was my turn. There was a check in for foreigners at station F, so I stood in that line. I handed my note and passport to the attendant. He asked me if I was American, I answered, and he gave me a seat assignment and registered my luggage. I still had my purse and carry on and the 3 wheeled cart to take care of. He pointed to the security area and I started walking in that direction. All of a sudden an airport attendent stopped me. She said nothing to me so I wondered what was going on. Other people were walking past me. I finally figured out she did not want me to take the cart any farther. I took my purse and bag off, and walked away. I went thru security well. They searched other people, but not me. Could it have been that lost look on my face and what the heck am I doing here, look, that helped? My ticket said station 25. So I followed the signs hanging from the ceiling and walked acroos an overpass and down some stairs into a large room labeled 25. To my dismay the room had all the doors labeled A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,.... My flight gathered at one of those doors, but which one. That trusty "?" sign was in the center of the room and I went to see what door I should sit by. It was H. I found a place and unwound my nerves. I had lots of time to watch people. It was interesting. It was time to board the plane an a bus came to pick us up. We road the bus and drove to the plane. We went outside and up the stairs into the plane. It was very windy and cold outside. I was glad I had worn my warmest sweaters and winter coat. The flght to Weihi (we high) was quick. I deplaned and walked into an unheated terminal. That was the first glimpse of what was to be normal, from now on. I waited for my suitcases, those dreaded suitcases and wheeled my cart with my stuff out to the reception area. I was greeted with a "Hello Holly" from Angela, Stone and Mrs. Liann. (Coordinator, adult student and assistant, respectively). They were expecting a young teacher, according to my voice on the telephone. They were happy to see and OLDER teacher. Older teachers don't need as much help when teaching. My job was to teach conversational english to the Chinese students. I have students that are as young as 10 to adults. (this note is for my friend, Roger).
More to come, I need to walk back to my apartment for lunch and the fix it man is coming to fix some things in the apartment. I will write again. Love, Holly

[mudbrook]

3rd letter from China
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:25:51 -0500

I arrived to the Weihai airport in the later part of the afternoon. Remember I said it was cold, and no heat in the building? Well in China in the developing cities there is no heat. There is no heat in the shops, the stores, the restaurants, THE SCHOOL! I only have heat in my apartment. I am lucky because a lot of apartment buildings are not heated. Angela lives in a seven story apartment and has no heat. They use a small space heater for some comfort. I have been told they put hot coals under their cement bed to warm the cement and sleep on the cement surface with blankets. The chinese people are use to this life style. I have my Miller Real Estate coat, here and it has a coat inside of a coat. (like a ski jacket that comes down over the hips.) Their coats are much thinner than mine and I have seen people wear coats like we do in early spring, for their winter coat. Some people have down filled coats, but they are not thick, either. Their bodies have adapted to the temperature and they are fine with what they wear. All most all the women don't wear hats and only the older ladies wear the hood on their jacket. Guess what I do? I have an insulated black stocking cap and the hood on my red coat up to keep my head warm. I fit in with the older ladies. The Chinese people have beautiful clothes. The men and the women. Men have tailored like winter coats that go to their waistline and dress slacks with nice black shoes. I have not seen sport shoes or jeans on a single man. The women have nice thinner sweaters, skirts, leggings, dress pants and high winter boots that are adorned with attractive metal detailing on them. The boots are usually high heel boots. My chiropracter would make it rich here adjusting their backs from distorting their spines. Well, I don't look like the normal woman. I wear under-all leggings, and top, a turtleneck pull over, a wool vest, and yes, I'm not done yet, a wool ski sweater over all of that. I do have dress pants! That part of me looks like everybody else!! I have a pair of expensive black tie shoes that I wear that have no heel with foot supports built in them especially for my feet. Yes, you guessed it...I look like the older ladies, again. Thank goodness my coat is big enough to have all those clothes on under it. I look like a rolley-polley walking down the street, but I don't care, I'm warm. I can't afford to get sick here. Angela took me shopping one of the first days in Shaidao. We walked thru a department stoe and one whole floor was devoted to women's clothing. Their prices are cheaper, but I didn't want to buy anything to fit my bigger body. I want to lose weight and then buy something that would look nice on my changed body. I have been losing some weight.
The food here is a lot different them what we have to select from. Because I am in a sea port city, we have many local fisherman bringing their catches in into the open air market. Shrimp, clams, oysters, weird looking fish, kelp, seed weed, sea cucumbers, squid, etc. They also have many vegetables I have never seen before, dried fruits and vegetables and dried fish. I have seen meat that I had no clue what it was and I have seen chicken feet, duck heads, and internal organs from I'm not sure.  The people look healthy, so who am I to question what they eat. I have tried some of the (what we would call 'weird food') and I can say some of it was good or ok. I haven't had anything bad, yet. I hope I'm not asked to try dog, or bugs. They eat that too. I was surprised to see small dogs as pets, in the market. I like the many kinds of mushrooms they have to eat. I have never seen so many kinds. They are fresh, too. I have stir fried a number of my meals and also learned how to fry raw peanuts. I have eaten raw filberts (nuts) and they are sweet and meally). When I go to the grocery store I have to examine the pictures and the contents of the item. I sometimes can tell what it is if I recognize it. Most of the time I have no clue what it is. Everybody seems to shop for food on a daily basis. The packages are small because most people do not own a car or motor scooter to transport their groceries home. They carry their daily purchases in small plastic bags, as they walk back to their apartment. As of June of this year, the government is requiring the grocery's to charge for the plastic bags. They want people to use cloth bags to carry their shopping home. Too many bags are only used once and creates trash in the streets and uses too much petroleum to make them. The Olympics has forced the Chinese government to change how food is displayed for consumers. They are pushing to have the food wrapped before the consumer can handle it. Good idea, I have seen some unsanitary sneezing, couching and handling of the food in the stores to make me think twice before buying it. There will be a red seal on the package (safe) if it was properly wrapped and handled before it was available to the public.
Oh! I forgot to tell you about my experience about money. The day after I arrived i went to the ATM machine to get some Chinese money. My credit card did not work and the debt card did not work. Yikes! what was I going to do? Angela tried it using the Chinese language button, and it still didn't work. Her I am, in a foreign country with no money and the bank is closed and I need to buy some things for me to eat and the apartment. The next day Angela met me in the the bank, (it was open) and we told the woman behind the window about my problem. She went to the ATM machine, we tried it and it did not work for her, either. In Menomonie, the bank person would try to figure something out, but this woman said it was my problem and walked away. Angela followed her to the window again and the two of them spoke increasingly louder and faster. I could tell things were not going well. All I could think of was, 'what am I going to do?' As they spoke louder and louder, my eyes began to tear up. I had too many learning experiences in such a short time that I couldn't take another one of this magnitude. Angela turned to me surprised to see tears in my eyes and asked what was wrong. I don't remember what I said but she said it was ok. Well, those words were suppose to make me fell better, but I started to cry. I went and sat down, pulled myself together and told her I had some American money($100) in my purse, could they exchange that? The woman behind the counter said no, I'm not a member of their bank. I asked if I could become a member and the answer was no, I'm an American. So...Angela said, 'give me the money' and she went to the window and told the lady it was her money and she would like Chinese money for it. The lady couldn't say no, this time, and we got Chinese money. We left the bank and walked around the corner to the apartment. Angela got a cell phone call from Carol, the lady that picked me up in Beijing and had me stay in the hotel for the night. She asked to talk to me and I tried to hide the sound in my voice. She told me because it was a branch bank, maybe they couldn't do what the main bank could have done. She said she was sorry for the way the lady treated me. I went home and stayed in the apartment the rest of the day. I had had enough experiences, I didn't want anymore for awhile.
 
I will write again, like I said, there is no heat in the school and the computer key board is extremely cold to the finger tips. I need to warm up. I have class tonight and want to wash some clothes before I come back to school. The warm water will feel good on my hands.
Love, Holly

[mudbrook]

4th letter from China
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:30:20 -0500

My apartment was a bit of a surprise for me when I walked into the living room. The previous teachers did not clean anything and broke things and told no one to repair them. The Chinese had nothing to do with the mess I faced. It took me 10 days of cleaning and fix things to where I thought it was acceptable. I happened to bring along some tools, like a small hammer, phillips screwdriver and a straight head screwdriver. It is amazing what you can do with just those three pieces. I fixed doors, cabinets, drawers, took light switches off, so I could wash the grease off of them and did many other things. The floors were black and very dusty. I have hot water heat and there are one inch water pipes exposed along the outside walls of my apartment. The dust that piled up was one inch high. I am not kidding. I swept the floor with that little broom you saw in my pictures and then proceeded to wash it. The water was black in minutes, so I kept changing it. I used 15 buckets of water to wash the floors just once. The kitchen walls were full of old grease splatters, I was suppose to have shiny stainless steel cabinets and they were splatter full and there were black bugs crawling everywhere. In the cabinets under the cabinets and behind the cabinets. I washed all the dishes and the inside of the cabinets. The cabinets are moveable so I pulled them away from the walls. Oh my goodness! I was not happy. I washed and washed until it was clean. I bought bug spray at the store and sprayed everything. Not having money at the beginning was a blessing. I would have never put my food in those cabinets before they were clean. The walls are grease free, the cabinets shine and the insides are clean and have clean dishes and food in them. My kitchen sink only has cold water so I cook water in my large kettle until it is boiling and then pour it into the dish pan to wash dishes. I first was carrying hot water from the bathroom into the kitchen by small pots full. Boiling it goes a lot faster. I feel like I'm camping!!! I don't mind it, I think it is kind of fun. When I get up in the morning I have breakfast, pour hot water on my dishes and then go take a shower. I get ready for the day and go back and wash the dishes, before I leave. Air drying dishes is my friend. Actual, that is the most sanitary way to dry dishes, towels spread germs. I camp out in my bathroom, too. I have a hand held shower head that mounts on the wall close to the sink and sprays water almost over the entire room. The water heater hangs from the ceiling and I have always had enough hot water for everything I wanted to do. When I'm done with my shower, I just take the shower head off the wall and spray down the toilet, sink and the floor areas that were not reached during my shower. The floor drain takes it all. I dry me and the stuff off and we are all squeaky clean. I still use bottled water to brush my teeth, even though the cold water is probably safe for me to drink. I even have a portable clothes washer. I looks and acts different then what we use, though. I fill it with the shower head if I want warm or hot water, add clothes, add detergent and set the hand dial to 15. It agitates for about 15 minutes and then I drop the drain hose on the floor to empty the tub. I pick up the drain hose, hook it to the outside of the washer and fill it with water to rinse. It agitates and then I drop the hose, again to drain. Now comes the good part. There is a small centrifuge on the machine that will spin the clothes to almost dry. It is very narrow and deep. I can only put a few pieces in at a time. It has a locking lid and an extra lid you must close, before it will operate. I turn the dial and it wiggles until the speed of the centrifuge has thrown the clothes tightly against the walls of the machine. I usually only set it for 2 minutes and the clothes come out almost dry. I hang them outside in my porch, or I have been hanging them in the second bedroom so they don't freeze and they are dry by the next day. Works pretty slick, if I say so myself! Apt. smells good from the fresh laundry. I will be getting a new pedistal sink one of these days. The one in the pictures was completely broken and fixed with wide scotch tape and red string. I have to hold it while I dry it, so it won't fall apart on the floor and break into smaller pieces.The owner of the apt. said that the sink was old and that because I could still use the water faucet and the drain worked ok, she wasn't going to fix it. I didn't like that answer so I called Eric, the plant manager-engineer and had him call her and ask for a new sink. He got the point across to her and called me with the good news that a new sink will be coming. I'm living with a toilet that has no seat and the guts in the back tank are not working correctly. The top cover is broken, so I put it in the closet. I have to pull a string tied onto the flapper to let water into the bowl to flush the toilet and I have to tap the float to get the water to flow back into the back tank to have water ready for the next time I use the toilet. Going and using the bathroom is not enjoyable. China has squat pots and in most places no running water or you get a dish of water to rinse the hole in the floor. I hold going to the bthroom until I get back to the apt. as many times as I can. You have to carry your own toilet paper and when you use toilet paper you throw it in a garbage can next to the squat pot. Can you get my drift? It doesn't smell pretty. You go in , get it down and get out. I think I'm ready to be an underwater diver. I have learned to unzip, sqat, dry, zip, get water and rinse and get out of there, holding my breath. I have increase my lung capacity since my visit began. It is a lot like hunting for a women when she is in the woods. A bright white moon comes out for just a short while, when the sun is out! Thought you would like that mental picture of me!!!! Talking about going to the bathroom, Here is a funny happening.
I had a date with Angela to do some shopping in the open market. I started having the diherria (I don't know how to spell that word) so I called her to tell her I couldn't meet her that day. I needed to stay home. She asked me what was wrong and I said I had the diherria. She did not know that word and asked if I was jornaling. She had a questioning voice when she asked me that, because that was not a good excuse to cancel our appointment.  I said no, and then realized she was asking if I was writing in my diary. I told her in different terms and said I was going to the bathroom a lot. I was using lots of sheets of paper, but not the kind of paper she was thinking about. She laughed and said she understood and that she would be right over. I wondered why she was still going to come over, but I didn't question her. She arrived, we talked for awhile and then my stomach and guts cramped, again. She asked me to lay down on the bed and she preformed chinese medicine on me. She was really good and had very strong hands. It hurt, but I took it and later that afternoon we kept our appointment and bought food from the market for my apartment. I never had cramps after that. She also told me when you expect that you may have a loose stool, drink a little warm water with some, (not a lot) of salt in it. That will stop you from running to the bathroom all day.
My fingers are frozen, I am calling it quits for the afternoon. Write to you soon. Love, Holly   

[mudbrook]

5th letter from China
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:52:10 -0500

Kids are the same all around the world...great! I love the students that are in my classes. They act up like American kids when they have too much sugar, and get down to work when it interests them. The Primary class is just beginning to speak and associate english words to objects. They can read english reasonably well, but didn't know what they were saying and what it looked like. For example, "the spoon is on the table, the bottles are in the refrigerator." We spent a whole day (3 hours) on one lesson learning how to identify objects. They had difficulty saying the word refrigerator, so I had them say one syllable as they took a step down the stairs. So at the end of the class I heard them say, as they walked down the stairs...re..fri..ger..a..tor all the way down six flights of stairs. They know how to say it really well, now. It is cute! "I say repeat after me", and they do and then I say "look at me", when I want them to do something different. Many times they would say Look at me and then realize they didn't need to say it. I am mentally drained after that class. It takes all my brains to come up with movements and words I can use to get my idea across. The Junior 2 students are older and are learning sentence structure like; noun, pronoun, verb, etc. It has been 45 years ago I was suppose to have learned that, and I didn't learn that very well, and now I have to teach it! I'm doing fine and so are they. No one has died in class and they are making sentences that 'sound good to me!' The book I use was written in England and uses the english version of spelling. At times, American spellings are different, like colour (color) favourite (favorite) to name a few. The Junior 4 class is high school age students and they are so nice. They have a good understanding of what they are saying and we are working on creating conversations and defining english words they have not seen or heard said. They do not have fairs in China, so I was explaining about the rides, food, animals and why we have them. It is not easy sometimes to explain or answer their questions. I have set up a pen pal letter writing experience with a school in Menomonie. My students are so excited to be able to email to an American. We have a list of topics they want to discuss. My last group of students are adults. I have a Doctor, Government worker, hospital worker, computer business owner and a young lady who's father is a manager of a company, taking the class. We read prepared topics and  I explain and define words they do not know and enlighten them with the additional knowledge I have on the subject. We have great classes together. Sometimes they start talking Chinese and I remind them I would like to be in the conversation, too. When they don't know the english word the chinese words start flowing. And they talk so fast!
I must be making an impact on the students. I have been invited to have dinner at one of my Junior 4 parents home on Friday night. They own their own home overlooking the Yellow Sea. Angela told them I like to cook and wanted to learn how to make Chinese food. The mother has invited us to come at 5 and we will make dumplings, together. I like their dumplings. It has a raised, thicker dough around a tasty interior. The dumplings are then steamed and eaten hot. I have gotten pretty good with chopsticks, but I cheat in my apartment and use a fork and spoon. I bought 20 pairs of chopsticks, so watch out... If you come to my house, you will be asked to use them. Oh, by the way, they are great for a weight lose diet. You get tired of using them before you get too full of food. I can even eat long noodle soup with chopsticks. Pretty good, if I say so, myself!
I understand I am a topic around Menomonie, but I am a topic around Shidao, too. A young woman was on an airplane in China and sat next to a businessman from Shidao. The woman said their is a 'pretty American teacher at Webb school and that she is a good teacher'. he came to the school and registered his daughter in the Junior 4 class. I was in the office at the time he came and asked if I was a foreigner. I answered I was from Wisconsin, America. He said your are a pretty teacher. I was so surprised he said that, I blushed and lowered my eyes and said thank you. I had to get back to class and hurried out of there. I was thinking, "what a pick up line, and right in front of others!" He then explained to Angela that he wanted his daughter in my class because of what someone said on the plane. That made it better!!!
I have extra time on my hands, so during the week days I go to an ancient chinese medicine, massage and beauty center. It is run by a beautiful young woman in her late 20's. The girls that work their are also in their 20's. I have a girl that is just 20 and has the training and hands of an experienced person. Everyone speaks chinese and the owner speaks a little english. We have fun trying to figure out how to say things to each other without words. We both forget at times and say what we mean, and the "deer in the head lights" look comes over the face of the other. I have an English-Chinese translator book that I received as a christmas present form John and Nikki, that has become the communicator. The other girls grab it, when we are not using it, and huddle together reading and pointing to english words. I hear them trying to pronounce some english words, and I say the word, correctly out loud, so they can repeat after me. We all are having such a great time. They are now trying to teach me Chinese words with the book. The first thing they said to me was, 'you are beautiful.' I looked like 'deer in the head lights' when they said that to me. One time I was having a oil back message and i could see 6 pairs of shoes around the bed from the hole I had my face in. I could here them speaking Chinese and laughing. I couldn't figure out what they were laughing at. Afterwards, I got the book and we communicated. The lights skinned girl put her hands close to my bare back and they all laughed because she looked yellow-brown compared to me. They all took their turn holding their hands to my back and seeing the major difference. And I thought they could see something private on me! and was laughing about that! They have also come and touched my eyelashes and examined my eyebrows, lips and skin on my face. This business does tatooing of eyebrows and lips. They call it embroidery, I call it painful. I was asked if I wanted it done, and I said no. It is amazing how I feel after the messages. I have had some other weird things done,* I don't want to tell you about, because  you are not going to understand what and how it was done. Trust me, they were weird but created great results.
I'm going to go now, got to get ready for my adult class.
Love, Holly 

* They put three wet towels on my back, sprayed them with alcohol and lighted them on fire! I had to tell them when it got too hot and they would put out the flames, then. It would heat the towels and they would press them against my back. I cried and the tears were dripping on the floor when Angela told me what they were getting ready to do. I was in 2 fires; our house 5 years ago and when I was in college. I am very afraid of fire. Angela said I would like it and they were going to do it. I asked if we could do it another day and she said no and started. They asked if I was crying when someone felt a tear hit their foot. They said, 'don't cry'. I said it was too late, I was. I forced myself to relax and it actually felt good. They have done it 2 times since. They also oiled my back down and placed big round globes on my back that had big mouths on them. They heated the inside of the globe and place it quickly on my back. It creates a strong suction when it is stuck to my back. I had 8 large circles of bruises on my back from that treatment. You know how a hicky is made, well it is the same concept! It pulls the impurities out of the body through the skin. It actually worked. my shoulders don't hurt like they use to. They also found another use for shrink wrap. They rubbed my upper legs with a solution and wrapped my upper legs real tight with shrink wrap. They even placed the wrap close to my butt crack! After awhile, it started getting really warm. I had to keep it on for at least 4 hours. You should have seen me walk around with that on. remember I have lots of steps to go up and down. I took it off that night and my skin was really soft and my legs were thinner. HA-WHO! What a way to lose weight! I can't imagine it will stay off. It did take some impurities out, though. Today when I was having my message, 3 pretty women came in to have a treatment. One of the young girls that works with me opened my English-Chinese book and pointed to a word. I looked at it and it said, PROSTITUTE! oH MY! One was having a message and another was asking to have her eyebrows embroidered and the other came along for the ride. Three of the girls that work at the message place stood by me like they were protecting me. The girls did what the women wanted and then they left. I could hear a lot of Chinese conversation between the girls and laughter after the prostitutes left. Just think what I could bring out on the open market with my white skin and tight thighs!!!! That's all for now. Love you guys! Holly

[mudbrook]

6th Letter from china
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:43:52 -0500

I have been observing many things in China and my surroundings. I find it interesting that Shidao has street lights that operate according to the public being outside. Most people are in their homes by 10 pm and the streets are pretty much empty after then. The street lights are turned off, all over the city at 11 pm and stay off until 5 am. The street lights are then turned on at 5 am. The family below me in the apartment building gets up at 4:30 and leaves around 5:30 am. I hear the closet doors and drawers opening and closing, the water running in the bathroom and him leaving and closing the steel door. The street lights go off again at 6 am. By that time, the sky is getting light from the beginning of the day. At 8 am the school outdoor speaker system strikes 12 chimes (sounds like a clock) and music begins to play. The first time I heard the songs, I thought they sounded familiar. It was the second day that I put a name to the songs. You won't believe what they play, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells. After those two songs a chinese song is sung by a child. Very high pitch, if I say so! If I slept through the 12 bells and the first two songs, I'm awake by the third. Good reason to get out of bed, make it and go in the kitchen and close the bedroom door behind me. The students all wear uniforms to school. The primary students wear turquious (don't know how to spell it)  tops and pants. Every child wears a bright yellow or yellow-orange baseball hat, too. They wear that color hat so the drivers can better see them when they are going and coming home from school. The young students come to school in many ways. Most walk, but some get rides from their parent's bicycles, motor scooters and a few vehicles. The middle school students wear a royal blue top and pants and the oldest students wear a navy blue uniform with a stripe or two on it for decoration. Those uniforms look more formal like, like policeman uniforms. I still don't have a full grasp on how long the older students are in class. It sounds like they are in school from 6 am to 9 pm with a 1&1/2 hour break for lunch. I know Angela has to have lunch ready at 11:30 and then her son goes back by 1pm. I live right next to the bus station so I hear the older students come home, and off the public buses at 9:30 pm, so I'm sure of the end time. If some students live too far from school, they have sleeping quarters at school for them to stay in. They pay extra for that and get a supper meal with the bed. It sounds like the older students have school on Sat. and Sunday. I have been told that they have an afternoon on Saturday off and one Sunday afternoon off, each month. That gives the boarding students time to go home and see their parents. I will understand more when my older students start writing pen pal letters to Menomonie students. Students and parents don't like the current school teaching day. I have heard stories and comments from parents they want a change, but don't know what to do about it.
I don't think American students would like going to Chinese schools because of the time in school and the way they teach. If you are not a smart student, you may be taken out of the classroom and put in another room to study on your own. If an important visitor came to the school you would be a disgrace to the class, teacher and school. You must be kept where they won't see you. Class is strictly run and no fun is allowed. The chinese take learning very seriously and expect seriousness from their students. 
It is really weird that everyday is like the day before. In America, our Saturday and Sunday are typically different from Mon.-Friday. Everything is open every day of the week, even banks are open on Sat. and Sunday. I had trouble keeping track of what day of the week it was, because of that. I have started crossing the days off the calendar to keep better track of the days. I now have been here for a month. It feels like months! I have experienced so much that in Menomonie it would have taken months for me to experience that amount. I also look forward to the time Dave will come to visit me, and that time is taking too long to get here.     
I saw what I think was a funeral procession, one day. The cars were all shiny black with individual flowers stuck on the hood and sides of the car. The first car had the spray of flowers across the hood of the car. I also saw 10 large coach buses with older boy students in it, going somewhere. There was an adult in the front of each of the buses with a microphone, facing the students and talking to them, as the buses passed me. Hey! maybe they were pointing out that light brown and blonde foreigner walking down the street in Shidao, acting like she lives there! I didn't wave to them, that would be "foreigner like."
The lady that works at the school that can speak english and chinese quite last week. I am the only teacher at the school. There is another woman here that registers students and takes the attendance, but speaks very little english. I know I can teach, but my communicator and curriculum person is gone. I'm a bit nervous, I'm close to the end of the lessons in 2 classes and don't know what they went to after that. Only time will tell. I don't like some of the surprises I have had to deal with. BUT, I'm here to do a job and can learn from my choices. Life is not always easy but you sure get a lot of experiences to draw on, for the future.
I will be going to Shangai for a well deserved break when Dave arrives. Our next door, Menomonie neighbors and friends live there. He took a position in China with 3M for a number of years, and now we have someone to see and catch up with. My visa in my passport requires that I leave China in the first 90 days. So Dave and I are also going to Seoul, Korea. That gets me out of the country, to satisfy my visa.
My dinner with a student's family was nice. We had oyster dumplings with a dipping sauce, steamed kelp (seaweed), steamed spinach with little shrimp, sweet and sour garlic cloves and shredded chinese cabbage with hot peppers and a vinegar dressing. I learned how to stuff and close the dumplings. My student also noticed that I didn't hold my chopsticks like she holds them and wanted to teach me. I was game and followed her directions. I was having trouble using them that way. I was told to try to pick up something very small with the chopsticks, so I did. Not knowing what I had picked up off the salad, I quickly put it into my mouth before I would drop it from the sticks. They all opened their eyes really wide when I did that, for I just had put a dried hot pepper piece in my mouth. They told me, but it was too late, I was feeling the heat as they said hot.... Everyone laughed and I quickly put some other food in my mouth to get the pepper off my tongue and down into my stomach. After dinner I was invited to join them in the living room for tea and fruit. They had a large oriental rug on the in-floor heated ceramic floor. We sat on the rug, Japanese style, with our legs crossed in front of us. Good thing I sit like that in America, otherwise they would have had to pick me up after awhile and pull my legs straight! There was a low sitting 'desk' that the tea cups and saucers were sitting on, in the middle of the rug. The 'desk' is about the size and shape of a large dress box, but made out of strong material like; wood, metal, rigid plastic. Hot water was poured into the tea pot of green tea leaves and quickly poured out. That was to wash the leaves. Then more hot water was poured into the tea pot and allowed to sit for a short time. The hostess poured us a small cup of tea and continued to refill our cups as they became empty. We talked for about two hours sitting on the floor. We had fresh pineapple and clementines. Clementines are, or taste like, tangerines. Very sweet and good. I got to see their photo album books of the student when she was young and some of the vacations they took together. I was also shown a book of chinese characters that had tracing paper between the pages. The book is used to practice writing the chinese words. The student taught me how to trace quite a few Chinese characters and told me the words they stood for. I would try to pronounce them and maybe I said 10% of them right. Chinese words have 4 different tones that are used when saying their words. It is difficult to speak. I was having fun tracing the characters and the student told me which strokes to do first. She gave me a different word to do and asked if I knew which strokes to do first, and I did. I had just done one that had some of the same strokes, and she was testing me if I remembered. I DID! and she didn't have to tell! She told me, VERY GOOD!" and we did a few more and then quit. While we were writing Chinese letters the mother put the flowers I brought, in a vase and placed them on the kitchen table. I was taken home by 9 pm. It was a nice evening.
I'm out of stuff to tell you. See ya! Holly

[mudbrook]

7th letter from China
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:43:28 -0500

Most of you know I am a shy person and avoid speaking to the public. Well I made it out of my comfort zone, again. I had to give a speech about the school I teach at, to 2,400 students. Oh my goodiness! I was getting sick just thinking about it. I knew I couldn't back out, so I started preparing my speech. I practiced and practiced and created note cards to prompt me. The morning came and I was picked up with a car and driven to the school. Many buildings have moving gates placed in the driveways to keep unwanted people out of their areas. The school was no different. The school that I was at, houses 7,000 students. I fist met the assistant to the head master (assistant to the principal) and then met the teachers that taught english. They were very nice to me and asked about where I was from and questions about schools, teaching and universities. Since I have taught at middle, junior, senior, UW Stout and vocational schools I could answer their questions from my experiences. I was then asked to follow a teacher and went outside to another tall building. We walked up 5 flights of stairs and saw a room full of students. It was a sea of black haired heads. Each student brought their stool from the classroom and were seated very close to each other in the large room. When I was introduced, their heads turned towards me and I could see a sea of brown faces. It made me smile to see the transformation occur right in front of me. I walked to the front of the group and had Eric, a chinese business man that works for the same man I work for, stand along side of me. I gave my speech in short phrases that Eric translated into Chinese. Here is what I said. Hello, (with beauty queen wave!) My name is Mrs. Wagner. I am the American teacher at Shidao Webb School. I (pointing to me) am happy to be in your country and your school. Your teachers (pointing to teachers) taught you to read and speak English. They have done a fine job. It is important that you (pointed to them) study hard and learn to speak english well. The world you and I live in (put both my hands out into the air to represent the world, and then to them and me) has a lot to offer. But you (point to them)  must be able to hold a conversation in english. Your future depends on it. Continue your hard work and studies. I (point to me and then them) would like you to come and join me at Shidao Webb school. I have many lessons to help you learn to speak english conversation. Your teachers(point to teachers) have identified these students from your classes that have learned english well. ( There were students that were named off and brought forward to receive a gift from Shidao Webb school. It was a well made backpack that had the school name on it.) ( I handed a pack to each student, individually and congratulated them and shook their hand. Many of them said thank you in english and I responded with your welcome. It was fun looking them in the face and smiling at them. They were happy and surprised they had received something so nice.) I then turned to the large group and said I congratulate these students for their accomplishments and that they too, can do well. Keep up your studies and hard work. The world is there for you (point to them) to experience, but you need to speak english to work and travel the world. Thank you (bowed my head) for having me in your school. Please say Hello to me, when you see me around(made a large circle over my head) Shidao. I did this 3 times to talk to all the kids. I was glad when it was all done. Me breaking a smile when their faces turned toward me, helped me to relax a tiny bit. It was the edge I needed to keep a real smile on my face and not a scared look.
 
Shidao is made of many mountains and the stone is granite. A pinkish rust color. All the staircases in the buildings are polished granite with black polished stone on the sides. Even the sidewalks are made of large pieces of granite. They are not polished to a shine, but more of a matt finish. Cement would be more expensive than stone. The community is getting ready for the Chinese New Year. It is next Thursday. I teach every day now from 9 in the morning to 8:30 at night until next Monday. Remember Saturday and Sunday are normal days for them.    "I just found out that Chinese people have Sat. and Sunday for rest, but I think because I am in a smaller community and living in a poorer area, I see everybody working every day. "I have had some students ask me to meet them next Tuesday night at 7 pm at the community square to learn the traditional chinese dance that I said I wanted to learn. Every Sunday night the local people gather in the square outside of the school building and do the traditional dance. I noticed one night, on break from class and mentioned I would like to learn. So some girls made it a date to teach me. The city personnal have placed gold and blue christmas tree lights in the bare trees to decorate the square. It is very pretty to see from the classroom. I believe more decorations will appear as the date gets closer. I will let you know and will try to take some good pictures of it. Stores have begun hanging chinese lanterns in and outside the buildings. This celebration is very important to them. This is the year of the rat. Micky Mouse is very popular and is found on many decorations. I have bought three chinese greating cards that are for the holiday and will frame them when I get home. They have raised ariticles on them in gold (bamboo leaves, coi-fish, and flowers), with a red back round. Very pretty.
Bye for now, Holly

[mudbrook]

8th letter from China

Ok, you who have road rage, I dare you to come to China and drive these roads, and live to tell about it. You won't last a day without wanting to tell someone off or doing worse. You can't imagine what they do, and I don't think I can give it justice with words. Here is my attempt.      Opps! I forgot to turn. I'll just turn around here in the road. There is a car coming, but I should be half way done by the time they get to me. Well, I guessed I was wrong and they will have to wait til I finish my turn. WELL, I guess they didn't want to wait, They squeezed by me and ran up on the curb. Well, they are out of my way, so I can finish and turn where I wanted to go. Those city buses just peep their horn and expect me on my motor scooter to watch out for them. I'll just ride along their side and catch a draft. I can save gas that way. Hey you on the bicycle, do you want to hang onto me and save the pedaling? I'm catching a draft from the bus and saving gas. We all should do our part in conserving energy! What's wrong? Why did you stop? Oh, the bus is picking up passengers. Let go and we will be on our way. hey, look up there, she made a brave move. She just pulled into the traffic with her motorscooter with out stopping and looking to see what was coming. She was lucky no one was in the lane closest to the curb. She could build up speed and cross the oncoming traffic when there are less vehicles in her way. Hey, she didn't wait, she just pulled in front of that truck, he swirved to miss her and she joined in along a car going in the direction she wanted to go. Was she going to hang onto that car to save gas? I guess not, she went to the slow lane where she should drive. That must be a liberated woman, or one who thinks she won't get hurt or worse, by driving like that. Let's walk across the street and go to the store. In America I look and start walking when there is space between the vehicles for me to cross safely. Chinese people start out with crossing and then look to see if they want to chance it with the vehicles they meet. Standing on the road dividing lines is a safe zone for them until someone in a vehicle does something that causes other vehicles to swirve to miss the changing vehicle. Look out walker! you will lose every time against a metal moving object. One day, the secretary took me by the arm and pullled me into what she felt was a safe traffic to cross in. I drug my feet until the car tires passed by my toes and then hurried the rest of the way over the street. I like walking and crossing alone! The rule of the road is to peep your horn if you are going to pass. So you peep for bikes, motorscooters, carts pulled by people, three wheeled tractors with carts, cars, buses and delivery trucks. People get peeped too if you are in their way. It is amazing no vehicles colide when they go around corners. You don't stay in your lane. You start turning in the oncoming lane and could hit the oncoming curb if you would cut it any closer. I have been in vehicles when they are taking a corner and they drive up on the oncoming sidewalk to get around the car in the on coming lane, waiting to enter the intersection. A pedestrian is not safe anywhere.
 
I have been asked to spend some of the Chinese New Year with the family that wants to adopt me. They have offered to me to live in one of their homes for free and spend time with them. The mother's sister is a lawyer and will be here for the holiday. They want us to get together and talk english. It should be interesting to see what we can talk about. I don't know exactly what is going to happen to me and Webb School. I will be moved to another condo and will be teaching english to non speaking chinese in a factory. The school has moved most of the furniture out of the school and has placed it in the factory. I will have a heated school room, which will be a large improvement. I don't know if students will be having any more classes. It has not been explained to me. Each day I am told it is my last day of teaching and then I'm told the students will come for another day. I wish I knew. I can't keep pulling lessons out of the air for the three classes. I can't use the regular lesson because the students are not all here during vacation. It is very hard. Chinese children can read english and write it, but they have no clue what they are reading and writing about. They cannot make up their own sentences. They can not follow directions it they don't have a written direction that they have not done before. I am mentally tired at the end of class, especially with the youngest students.
 
I am looking forward to speaking a regular conversation with an American. Just to say what I want to say and not have to explain the word or words, would be a treat for me. I don't mind explaining words, but it makes me think how to explain myself to the point of me forgetting what I'm talking about. Mrs. Lianne has found out I like cucumbers a lot. She bought me an extra serving of fresh cucumbers in spicy hot vinegar/sugar mix to take home to have with my supper. We had it for lunch and she said it was delicious, but wrinkled up her nose when she ate it. I liked it very much. I think she was being polite to eat what she ordered for us, put I think she ordered it, just for me. She has become a vegetarian because she doesn't care for the taste of meat. We often have hot noodles in a broth, or rice and stir fried vegetables. They have many vegetables I have never seen before. So far they all have tasted good. I have lost some weight and am happy. They (the Chinese that know me) are not. They keep telling me to eat more. Some touch my checks and say I have lost weight and shake their head in disgust. I like that my checks aren't as full. I don't have that chipmunk look that is only cute on young children. Don't tell anybody here in China, I'm going to make spahgetti with meat sauce for supper tonight. I found a can in the grocery store and bought a can opener to open the can. It will feel a little like home.
 
I need to go. I have to print off a lesson I want to do. Holly

[mudbrook]

9th letter from China

The wanderer has found more adventures to tell you about. Actually three. I was invited to go and see the local Shidao Budda statue with a student from my oldest children's class. She is probably 14 or 15 years old. She coordinated the event by asking other classmates to come along, with a primary school teacher from the public school. There were 9 of us in a small van. The primary husband drove us to the mountain where the Budda was located. The mountains created a horseshoe around the Budda. Korea, Japan and China went together to build and pay for the site. It can be seen from the sea and many visitors come from many countries to see it. The day we went was cold, and few people were there that early in the morning. We left the city at 7:30 in the morning. As we walked up the 100's of steps to the various attractions i gave english lessons as to the english name of what we were doing. Staircase, monk, statue, altar, etc. There was also a museum of anchient chinese artifacts. It was very interesting to see the crude tools that were used many years ago. A lot like our anchient tools, but their's are 1,000's of years old and not just 200 years ago. Because I'm in a seaport, I also saw the world's largest pearl, in it's shell. The pearl was not quite as big as a soccer ball. It was impressive. So was the shell it was made in. We also walked into a building of carved stone folding screens. The room was full of beautiful chines scenes of ancient pictures of people, trees, flowers and scenery. They used every stone found by them at the time they were created. The stone was cut thin and then sculpted into 2 dimensional objects, and polished to a high luster. I loved what I saw and wanted to take a picture of them. But no pictures were allowed. I tried to get a book of the folding screens, but they did not make a book of them. I cannot give it justice to what I saw. All I could say was, "oh, my!" Dave will be seeing this for sure. We also went into another building of natural stones found in the area. There is one stone that is the size of a football that has a naturally formed "bird like shilloutte" in it of a different colored stone. In one part of the building you could buy cut pieces of stone with a high polished surface. Don't tell Dave, put that might be were he will be seperated from some of his money. Oh! I think our suitcases will be heavy! I also like the various carved forms of jade that are for sale. Decisions...decisions! At 11:30 a.m. the Budda statue is the main attraction. It is probably three stories tall and made of bronze. The top is the Budda, in the traditional crossed leg position with a crown behind his head. Below the Budda, are 3 bronze doors that open and 3 "children like" statues come out and are part of the show. Below the doors are numerious dragoons and bronze dancing adults. The top of the statue (the Budda) does one revolution while the dragoons spit red-orange fire from it's mouth, at various times. There is a mist of water spray around the dancing adults and the man-made pond around the whole thing, has dancing water sprays working in time with the music. It was impressive to watch and listen to the music. I had the local camera-picture taking guy, take a picture of the group of us, after the show. I have a nice rememberance of the day and the students that came along. There was only one student that could not make it, that day. We left the mountain at noon and headed back to Shidao for lunch. Many of the students had afternoon classes so we eat fast. I had the pleasure of having two students remain after lunch and we talked for 2 hours. They are getting down their english with our conversations.
 
I have always been an attraction to the local people because I don't look like them, in height, skin color, hair color, eyes and nose. One night I was ask to join a mother and her daughter at the public square to dance. I had seen the dancing from the school windows, and wanted to learn what they were doing. They do a type of line dancing that American's do to country western music. They also do traditional couples dancing, off to one side of the square. The mother likes to do the traditional couples dancing and was asked to dance with a local man. As they were dancing, and I was watching what they were doing, a man came up to me, to ask me to dance. He could not speak english and I could not speak chinese, but I gave it a try. I didn't even know which foot to start with. We had a "toe touching" experience at the beginning, but I got better, as the dance went on. I could follow his lead, ok, but when he started having me go under his arm and all that other stuff, I lost my counting, and it did not look pretty. We started up again and he tried to teach me. After the dance was over, he told the chinese-english student of mine, that I should practice what I learned. It wasn't one song later, that another man and then another man, and then another man ask me to dance to the next four songs. It was when I was danced the fourth song, that I got tired. The dance I learned goes kinda fast. My legs were aching and I definitely was breathing hard. The music is turned off at 8:30 and everyone returns to their homes after that. The mother and student walked me home and then they went home. I slept well that night. I could feel the small aches in my body for the next two days. Good for me, I needed to find those muscles! The men also told the student it is harder to dance with a woman that is tall. I am about the same height as the men in China. I have returned to the square to dance another night.
 
I have been excited to see Dave and only have to wait for the weekend. One of my adult students went with me to get my hair cut and colored. I wanted to look nice and needed to hide the gray that was framing my face. I am glad I asked a student to go along to the beauty shop. She helped me as much as she could. I was given many color palates to select what color I wanted my hair. All the colors were what Chinese women select. They had two brands of color from America and one from Canada. I selected the one from Canada. Now came the hard part. I needed to communicate to the hairdresser what color I wanted. I couldn't get him to understand I didn't want it to get too dark. He pointed to two colors and I selected one. It was an ash base color. (that remark was for my hairdresser). We went upstairs to a private room and the color was applied to my hair. I sat for a long time as the white paste on my hair turned darker and darker. I know you can't judge the color by the paste, but I was getting concerned. Soon it was my turn to get the color washed from my hair and I saw my wet hair in the mirror. My hair always looks dark, when wet, but this looked black. As it dried, it got lighter, but not that much lighter. I look like a chinese woman with american skin and features. I wash my hair twice in the shower, to bring more color out of it. I still see gray-black tinted suds, as I rinse. I got a conservative cut from the stylist, and then told him to give me a choppy look. He did a wonderful job of cutting my hair. I watched him work on other people's hair before he worked on mine, and knew I lucked out, with him. He worked with exacting shears and just whipped around my head and fanned my hair as he cut. It was like watching an artist. Actually he was! I am very happy with the cut and have imersed myself into China, even more. I look like a Chinese, when you see my hair color.
 
Oh, I have moved! I am now in the school owners condo. He is not here, so I have the place to myself. Wow-wee! Marble floors, green-black marble on the wall in the living room, black leather furniture and a state of the art entertainment center to enjoy the flat screen tv and surround sound. You can always tell a man's apartment from a female's apartment based on the electronic gadgetry. Women usually have smaller, less expensive electronics and spend more on their clothes and furnishings. You should see the kitchen too. Everything looks very modern and sheek! I got to enjoy an english speaking movie. That was a great treat. All the channels I had at the other apartment, were in Chinese, except for an english speaking news channel. I have looked for a music channel, but have not found any. One night, I found Yanni in concert, and enjoyed his music. I like to have music playing when I'm in the house. I have the second bedroom that faces the back of the condo. His is on the front of the building. I don't care in the least. I have a nice place to enjoy, while in China. Again, naturally, everything is in chinese and I am having to learn how to operate stuff with the try and see approach. I blew a circuit breaker when trying to wash clothes, heat the apartment and cook supper for myself. It took me awhile to realize that things were not working and then even longer to figure out what might have happened. Then I had to figure out where the circuit breaker box was. I thought there was a money vault in the living room wall, and later figured out it was the circuit breaker box. I don't like to snoop around. I opened the keyed door and saw, sure enough, the switch was tripped. I turned it back on, and I was in business, again.   I did not sleep well that night. I had many things on my mind, as to what I was going to do first, in the morning. I finally fell to sleep around 1 in the morning. It is a good chance this will be my last letter, for awhile. I will be with Dave in Shanghai for 5 days and then back in Shidao. We will be touring the things I have planned for him, and then he returns to America on March 7th. Talk to you, then.
 
Sincerely, Holly