Xi'an City Wall & Musings.

A little while ago, Tom and I went for a stroll down the famous Xi'an City Wall. In my opinion, besides the food and the people, the wall is the coolest thing about my beloved Chinese city. It makes the city feel protected, ancient, and more managable. What makes the wall even COOLER (shout out to my Medival Times fans) is that it has an all-encompassing moat. That's right, in 2012 I live in a city that is surrounded by a moat AND a wall. No biggie. 

Anyway, we couldn't have picked a better spring day and the Chinese Gods of Weather blessed us with clear skies and hot temperatures. We decided against hiring bikes and casually wandered from South Gate to North Gate... passing some tourists, runners, locals out for a walk, and even some split bottom babies. Perfect!

It's an awesome feeling to be a tourist in the city that you live in. I don't know whether it's the location, language barrier, or what - but Xi'an above any other city that I've lived in has a vastness about it that doesn't seem obtainable. In Melbourne I loved giving various people impromptu tours around small alleyways, cafes, hidden bars, and side streets. Here, I get lost easily and am still piecing together where my favorite places are. It's definitely frustrating sometimes, but keeps things interesting to say the least.

Seeing the city from the wall was a view that I definitely hadn't taken in before. To think that for thousands of years this wall has been standing sturdy and strong is incredible. Back in the States we consider old to be a cannon ball stuck in the side of a house from the Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783). We're babies compared to this.

There were a couple of reasons why I decided to sign a contract to live in a country that I admit, I knew practically nothing about. Besides Disney's 'Mulan', the Beijing Olympics, and scatterings of history lessons from High School my knoweldge of China was minimal to say the least. But wasn't that the biggest draw? Isn't that the point to travel? To learn about another country, to experience a different language, to be overwhelmed and out of your comfort zone. Isn't that the most important part... to be able to override the judgements that you may have and open your mind? To keep learning...

It's easy to sit back at home and relish in the differences that supposively make the US - or wherever you are from - 'better' than 'the others'. It's also easy to be arrogant about a country that has been a dominate power for the majority of time since it's creation. But that's not saying too much compared to some civilizations and countries that have been around for ages and ages.

I'm not trying to send any political remarks or deeper meanings or whatnot. I'm just saying that after being here 9 months I can say that my decision to come to China has opened my eyes more than any other choice I've ever made.  There are some things that I'm definitely going to take away with me (the closeness and loyalty of friends & family as well as the fact that hot water cures everything) and some I'll probably leave to the Chinese (the spitting. everywhere). I've learned a lot, I'm still pretty bad at the language, but overall I've gained a lot of knowledge that I would have otherwise never had. And I'm super proud of myself for it.

This might be a slight reason I've talked my boss into extending my contract for an additional 3 months and my visa for another year. :) I'll be back for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year though everyone! So get excited! 6 more months to go here in the Land of Holidays (Tomb Cleaning Day) and Confusing Hellos!

xoxo

Em

ps - a BIG shout out to some of my best friends ::: Christa Rossell, Ali Frank, and Paul McDonald who all turn the big 2-5 and 2-6 today! YOU ARE SO OLD!

Christa and I at Byron Bay, Australia 2011

Ali and I in Centre Harbor, New Hampshire 2003

Paul and I in Danbury, Connecticut 2008

Day Off Anthem!

for all you lazy bums out there...

How long have you been in China?

It has recently occured to me that I have just sailed by my 2/3 mark in my contract, and year-long stay in China. It hit me last week when I woke up and realized that, crap - IT'S MAY?! 8 months down! When did that happen?!

Last year at this time my friends and I were finally getting settled down in Fremantle, WA, Australia. We were living in a ghetto/creepy side town called Hilton with an American couple in the house, and Mexican, German, and Dutch couples living in our driveway (well in their vans to be more specific). It was amazing. Super broke, still cleaning the cobwebs from our rooms, deciding to leave the massive spiders in the kitchen to catch the flies, and entertaining ourselves with international scrabble games and learning the 'soldiar boy' dance. Some of the best memories to date.

All of us on Josh's Birthday! Fremantle, WA - Australia

 Fast foward a year and after a brutally cold winter, I'm learning to come to terms with the 86 degree days and summertime in Xi'an. I'm still living with Alex (London, UK) but he will soon be going to start on his 'real life' after traveling around Asia for a bit. Replacing him will be one of my good friends from my travels through Oz, none other than Jess MacDonald! We're still waiting on the Chinese-Canadian consulate to accept her visa based on stupid-idiotic-unnecessary-ridiculous medical forms. Honestly, who has the Bubonic Plague these days? Nobody from Fredericton, NB I don't think?! But again, who knows with those Canadians up there... I kid. Anyway, we're crossing our fingers that she gets here by the end of May armed with her amazing accent and wealth of Canadian knowledge. Being outnumbered now 5-2 by Brits, Scott and I definitely need another North American in our corner. However, as pointed out by one of those smarty pants British boys, apparently Canadians and UK folk agree on important things such as the spelling of 'favourite' and 'colour'. Guess I'll continue to lose arguments on the spelling font. Lame.

Jess and I in St. Kilda, Victoria - Australia. Clearly, teacher material.

Adam is back in the UK at the moment catching up on everything that isn't sleep. Friends, partying, eating (specifically - SANDWICHES), moving house, and seeing family. Jealous. He'll be back around the same time Jess will get here and will either continue working at Kid Castle or move onto another job in the city. Charlie (short for Charlotte) just arrived a couple of weeks ago and is living with Adele in the 'nice apartment'. That makes FOUR from our group that calls the magical place of Milton Keynes home. Monopoly.

Adam and I at his going away party at Fantasy! Cigars and champagne!

Charlie and I at Fantasy for her first time! Welcome to Chinese clubs!

We've had TONS of visitors since the New Year has hit us (the Chinese one, that is). Matt Englander, Leo Siddle, and Rich Legasse have graced us with their precense at various points and provided with ample opportunities to 'live it up' and show them the nightlife, and in our defense - a bit of the day life, that Xi'an has to offer. All great guys who have known the Milton Keynes group for years... It was definitely refreshing to have new faces around. Rich is currently living in Hong Kong, Leo is London, and Matt is now in Australia! Crazy.

Hahah... Me, Tom, and Leo at Fantasy! Happiness.

Matt and Leo getting down with a regular.

Rich, Adele, and Adam at German Beer Bar!

What else has happened? Well Tom and I took a quick trip to Nanjing (see previous blog) to visit Zack Ober and to see the Nanjing Massacre Museum. Nanjing made my Chinese city count go up to SIX cities which I'm pretty excited about. Hong Kong, Xi'an, Beijing, Kunming, Jinghong, and Nanjing! Phew, so many N's and J's in those names! Anyway, I'll post a better blog about that trip with pictures next! It was amazing and so good to pack up a bag and get out of Xi'an for a couple of days.

Top 5 things I've done in the last 8 months (not in order) :::

1) Ate yummy foods like scorpians (big and small), cockroaches, and centipedes on sticks.
2) Did a 4 day trek through the boarder of China and Myanmar (Burma) with Tom Jamieson. We stayed in tiny villages where they didn't have running water and only minimal electricity. The older women's teeth were dyed brown for health purposes and beauty. It was amazing.
3) Nanjing / Nanking Massacre Museum. If you don't know about this, google it. It'll blow your mind that we weren't taught this growing up when learning about WW2. So unbelievably sad.
4) Made and ate my own dumplings. Kung pow!
5) Had an afternoon / evening BBQ on the side of a lake with most of my best friends here. Complete with lotus root, sausages, chicken wings, beer, and beijiou. It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of camping, traveling, and living out of a van. I miss being near the water!

Okay, that's all for today! Still have to finish prepping for my open house I have today! Hopefully the parents will chalk the fact that I'll be sweating like mad up to me being just another silly foreigner. 'They are so strange, aren't they?'

Happy May ladies and gents! And to the ENORMOUS amount of people I know born in this hot month - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm in China, so I'm sorry if you don't get anything besides a facebook post. I'll make it up next year, promise!

Love & miss you all. Every day!
xoxo
Em

Me at our Chinese BBQ!

Nanjing (Nanking)

At the risk of sounding like I have no life whatsoever, I'm going to talk about books once more. Yey, Emily! You're all the way in China and updating us about your book list again? Go out and explore, you idiot! In my defense, I DO have a life (ask my Dad who emailed me last night that said '3:20AM on Skype? Go to bed!'). It's just that this particular book has to do with my current travel plans. So hush critics and hear me out!

My current book is called 'The Rape of Nanking'. Obviously, with that daunting of a title and the intensity of the cover, you can pretty much infer that it's not the happiest of stories. The book is one of the most complete and historically accurate accounts of what is called 'The Nanking Massacre'. Nanjing is a large city in the South East part of China near Shanghai. It used to be called 'Nanking' but for clarification purposes I'm going to refer to the city with it's modern day name. Nanjing used to be one of the four ancient capitals of China. It was a very prosperous city and one with great historical artifacts. It was known for culture and it's unique setting near the Yangtze River. However, in 1937 one of the worst cases of mass torture, execution, rape, and destruction happened known to history. After the fall of Shanghai the Japanese set their sights on Nanjing. With Nanjing at their mercy, Japan thought their success at taking hold of China would be eminent. But things went really, really wrong.

Even though the Chinese army in Nanjing outnumbered the Japanese, most of the soldiers were unskilled and as young as twelve years old. Therefore, when the Japanese offered peace and fair treatment to the Chinese who surrendered, many did. The problem was the Japanese were never planning on treating the Chinese with any sort of respect and within seven weeks between 300,000 and 450,000 men, women, and children were exterminated. This was also the site of one of the worst mass rapes known to man. 90,000 women were raped... it is said that women were carried off at all hours of the day, some as young as six and as old as eighty. As rape is not sanctioned by the rules of war, the commanders encouraged the soldiers to kill the women (and most of the time - their entire family) to keep them quiet. It was a period of absolute terror, chaos, and brutality.

What is absolutely amazing about this atrocity is that it is not taught very often in the Western World, and let alone Japan. While we focus our efforts in learning everything we can about the Nazis, Hitler, and the German Holocaust, we spare a couple of pages in history books covering Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima / Nagasaki. It is completely unbeleviable that so little is learned about a major crime against humanity. Although the numbers estimated that were killed varies, nobody can debate the severity of the situation. Some Japanese still deny this ever happened, but then again - there are still those who refuse to believe that Hitler's Holocaust existed as well.

I haven't quite finished reading the book and doing research, so my knowledge on all of this is still growing. However, I have a two day holiday next week and just bought train tickets to go visit Nanjing! It's a crazy feeling reading about a place that seems so far away and then being able to click a couple of buttons online and get there in less than a week! The 15 hour train ride gives me time to finish the book, and probably talk Tom's ear off about all the facts, dates, and people. I'm really interested to visit the Nanjing Massacre Museum and see another one of China's beautiful cities.

Sorry about the not-so-uplifting post! But if you're a history buff, or just into reading about new things - definitely go out and get this book. It's eye-opening and really well written.

xo
Em

Quickly! What's Up?

Weather : Bright and Sunny with a touch of Humidity.

Health : Poor. Stomach Flu due to Unknown Reasons.

Songs : Ben Howard - Old Pine & Laura Marling - Ghosts

Movies : Dumb and Dumber & Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt Den Rätte Komma In)

Exciting News: Jessica L. MacDonald will be arriving in Xi'an on May 7th, 2012!

Best Thing I've Done Recently: Walk Xi'an's famous City Wall.

Current Book : Girlchild by Tupelo Bassman

Current Drink : Purea Tea

Current Food : Toast 

Best Class Recently : Teaching Kangaroo and Lion to my 4 and 5 year olds.

Best Game Recently Played : Scrabble with Tom, Adam, and Adele.


Wish : That I will get better, my Dad will come visit soon, my students won't be crazy tomorrow, and that the smog continues to stay away so we have more clear and beautiful days to spend wandering around and exploring!

Books? They still make those?

I celebrated my 24th birthday back in September in Xi'an after only being here a week. It was AWESOME. The food, friends, gifts, and party were amazing... so different than any other birthday I've had. Shout out to all of those who made it special (what? 6 months later is a bit late for a shout out?). Anyway, I was lucky enough to have seen my Dad in Hong Kong for a couple of days before Xi'an. And not to play favorites, but he gave me the most useful present I could have EVER received. I had no idea at the time that it would save my avid-reader-soul. So what was it????

A Kindle.... (insert God-like 'ahhhh' noise here)

Me and my Kindle hanging out.

Obviously, here in China English bookstores are few and far between. Specifically, I haven't seen one. And I'm a pretty big reader. I always have and always will be. I'm a big fan of getting books as presents and absolutely love getting sucked into other worlds. I've hit my 40th book in 6 months mark so I'm going to start doing sporadic and spontaneous (get excited) BOOK REVIEWS! Although this might not be the direction to head in to up my followers / views (Note::: If you are reading this and are not a follower, please locate the button on the lower left hand side and click. It's easy for you and makes me feel important.) but what the heck... maybe I'll start a book club like Opera someday and be more famous than I already am (see blogpost below).

Let's all start with a list of the books shall we? Then we can get into the nitty-gritty of tearing them apart. Okay don't get bored and minimize me, this might be semi-interesting! Also, as you will notice, my favorite author is Jodi Picoult. Her books are definitely my weak spot (romance, unethical subjects, and court cases - come on!). So although I am rereading all of them, I'll pick one that's my favorite. The ones in RED are the best... aka go out and buy them as soon as you're done reading my blog, commenting on it, and requesting to follow me (I'll most likely accept you as a follower - seriously, you have nothing to lose!).

What I'm Reading Right... NOW - Mike McIntyre : The Kindness of Strangers
Jodi Picoult : Perfect Match

Guy Delise : SHENZEN A Travelogue from China
Jodi Picoult : Change of Heart
Chimamada Ngozi Adichie : Half of a Yellow Sun
Yangzom Breauen : Across Many Mountains
Roald Dahl : The Best of Roald Dahl
Jodi Picoult : Keeping Faith
William Landay : Defending Jacob
Hunter S. Thompson : The Rum Diary
Hunter S. Thompson : Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Jodi Picoult : Lone Wolf
Jasper Becker : Dragon Rising: An Inside Look at China Today
Jodi Picoult : Second Glance

Mark Haddon : The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time

Chimamada Ngozi Adichie : The Thing Around Your Neck
Ian Brown : The Boy In The Moon
Jodi Picoult : Nineteen Minutes
Lucky McKee and Jack Ketchum : The Woman

Alice Walker : The Color Purple
Chelsea Handler : Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
Chelsea's Family : Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me
Tina Fey : Bossypants
Jodi Picoult : My Sister's Keeper
Glenn Beck and Nicole Baart : Snow Angel
Jodi Picoult : Sing You Home
Jodi Picoult : Plain Truth
Jodi Picoult : Salem Falls
Jodi Picoult : Mercy
Jeffrey Eugenides : The Marriage Plot
Vanessa Steel : Punished
Sarah Burleton : Why Me?
Paula McLain : The Paris Wife
Jodi Picoult : The Pact (P.S.)
Judy Blume : Summer Sisters
Jaycee Dugard : A Stolen Life
Emily Griffin : Something Borrowed
Emily Griffin : Something Blue
Kathryn Stockett : The Help
Erin Morgenstern : The Night Circus

Hope this list gets you started for all those in-between moments, long rides, or rainy nights! I'll work on some write-ups for the best ones in that lot! If YOU have any interesting, different, amazing, or favorite books send them my way!!! I'm constantly looking for new authors and subjects to read/learn about!

xoxo

Em

I'm FAMOUS!

So. I was already exactly 4 minutes late for class and scrambling to collect my props ::: flashcards, board markers, erasers, wigs (pink & green), a hand crafted tea pot, and of course - myself. Out of the corner of my eye I catch our boss, Hansen, snapping photos of Adam up against an unforgiving off-white background. I want in on whatever is going on. After settling me against the same harsh wall I get exactly one picture taken and was sent on my way... "Hansen! Is it at least an okay shot?" I yell over my shoulder. "Maybe, not so good." Was his reply.

Fast forward two days and I'm given a four page pamphlet with my face on the back, told it was mass produced with at least 10,000 copies, and distributed all over the city of Xi'an. Oh, and the line in the middle of the page guarantees that us teachers have 10 years of experience. Pshh, so according to the Chinese I am either a 14 year old protege or I age REALLY well. Either way, I'm super pumped about my 15 minutes of fame! Ch-ch-check it out!