I Had An Amazing Weekend! And I Have No Time To Write About It

I spent this past Saturday relaxing in my neighborhood park, riding in boats, riding carnival rides, eating cupcakes, and I even saw some Chinese drag queens. Saturday night I went to the grand opening of a new club in the city which was amazing. Sunday I spent the day with some friends in the nearby city of Hangzhou where we rode bikes and enjoyed the scenery. Unfortunately the weekend was so busy I had no time to write about any of these things and now I'm so busy with work, school, and the eminent arrival of my Mom and Miguel that I can't do these posts justice at the moment so they're being put off for now. To top it all off I've also been sick for the past 3 or 4 days...miserable! Here's a picture of how I feel right now. Hopefully I'll be able to write later this week before I leave for my second break!

Teaching English and Learning to Teach

For the last 2 weeks, and continuing every Monday for the rest of the semester, I will be teaching English to the children of migrant workers. China operates on a Hukou system which is a sort of household registration that registers by family rather than by individual. Permits are issued and people are required to remain within the location that their permit allows, and aren't supposed to leave. In reality though, this is not strictly enforced and people move from rural areas into cities all the time. These people are called migrant workers and they are almost comparable to illegal immigrants. They are working in the cities, where they're not allowed to live or work, but the government has turned a sort of blind eye, although they could be kicked out at anytime.

This is their playground where they march around for recess. Yes, they march.

The school we teach at is a school for the children of these workers. The children could in theory be kicked out at any time, and in the classrooms children are seated by how long the administrators and teachers think they will remain there. Students who have been in the same school for years sit in the front row, others who may only be there for a few weeks sit in the back. The students must all wear small red scarves tied around their necks but otherwise there is no uniform. Before they enter the classroom they raise their hands outside the room until they are acknowledged by the teacher. But otherwise they are very much like the typical American student.

 

The outside of the building. 

  

 It'll be hard to make out but there are children peering out of those windowed hallways.

Our job is to teach these children English. NYU students teach English on Mondays for grades 3-5 at the primary school. We are split into different teams and each team is assigned two classes to teach. Each class is around 40 minutes long, although I have to say sometimes it feels much longer. I teach class number one in Grade 5 and class number three in Grade 4. The lower number classes are the higher level classes, so for example class one is the highest level, and class six is the lowest.

Last week after my first week of teaching I came back exhausted and exasperated. My two classes had been a living hell of sorts. Every class was supposed to have a teacher sitting in while we led the lesson, but both of my classes lacked a teacher. This caused a certain amount of chaos in the classroom. The class monitor tried to help us keep things under control, but with only a few really interested in learning the lesson, and with their apparent lack of respect for us as teachers, we didn't get very far in the lesson. My 4th grade class was a similar sort of affair. Students were running around, hitting each other in the head with pencil cases, and knocking each other out of their chairs. It took a while to get the sound of screaming, rambunctious children out of my head.

I came home thinking that these were terribly evil children! But I knew they weren't. They were just kids, and this is what kids do. I came this week more prepared. I had a precise outline of what I wanted to teach, I learned to say a few useful phrases in Chinese like "please sit down", "be quiet", and "raise your hand." I learned all of their English vocabulary in Chinese so I could explain if they didn't understand and actually, the 5th grade class was much better. I had lots of participation, and with the exception of one girl kicking her classmate in the groin in the middle of class it went really well and I left the class very pleased with myself, and sure that they had learned something.

Fourth grade was another story entirely. The 5th grade class had done well today day even without their usual teacher in the room but the 4th grade class had other ideas. Without a teacher they continued their usual shenanigans and for some completely unknown reason, none of them had their English textbooks!! We tried to teach from our outline without using the book but they weren't interested in listening. The class was a blur of children screaming and hitting each other over the head, and asking for our autographs...?

 This is my lovely 4th grade class.

Even though I left feeling like I only accomplished half of my goal of getting the kids to listen, I still felt pretty good. One of my classes was definitely making progress and I was excited and happy about how much English they knew and how eager they were to learn. I was just going to have to consider the 4th grade class a project of mine. I'm already starting to get mentally prepared for next week.

Gansu; The Final Days

We thought we were going to get a well-deserved shower after our nights on the train, and then in the freezing cold desert but luck wasn’t with us that morning and our hotel rooms weren’t ready by the time we got there. They were able to open two rooms so we could use the restroom, wash our faces, and change clothes before heading, you guessed it, back onto the bus.

Our first and only stop on our last day in Gansu was to Yadan National Park. The park is situated just over two hours outside of Dunhuang and it was a long and bumpy ride. Half of the roads that we were on were unpaved and we were in a large bus, bumping and rolling over the uneven terrain. Although we were all exhausted, I doubt anyone got much sleep on the ride over, bouncy as it was. I looked out the windows but there wasn’t much to see. The park is located in the depths of the Gobi Desert and there was no sign of life on the way there. Mile after mile of desert wasteland spread before us for two hours before we finally arrived.

           

Yadan park is a National Park that consists mostly of geological formations, specifically these mud formations that are somewhat reminiscent of some rock formations you might see in Arizona. There is nothing around for miles. The park is served by one restroom, a small gift shop, and a terribly sub-par restaurant, which we were forced to eat lunch at. I have to say I was not at all in the mood. We were going on 72 hours without shower, after having restless nights of sleep, and lots of inadequate meals and I was having a hard time getting interested in a park that solely consisted of dry mud. 

After the meal we boarded a government run bus that would take us through parts of the National Park to show us some of the “famous” (?) formations in the park. We were driving through what used to be a huge lake that had obviously dried up a long time ago, and these dried mud formations were what was left of that lake. Yes fossils had been found; no we were not allowed to see any of them. I sighed. Our guide showed us one formation that looked a little like the sphinx in Egypt, and a lot of other formation that looked like nothing at all.

The Sphinx.

We were allowed to get out and walk around and though I still wasn’t amazed by what I was seeing I was trying to appreciate it. The Chinese tourists seemed really interested so we did our best to appear interested as well, but it was hard to fight back the feeling that we could see something just as impressive if not more so back in the United States. Also, it was pretty hot outside.

 

 Also, they were selling rocks...is this a joke?

Once we were done with our dried mud formation tour we got back on the bus and headed back to Dunhuang. We did make a quick stop at an ancient check point from the silk road before another long and bumpy ride back to our hotel and, success, showers! I was so excited to step into the shower and wash the grime from the last 3 days off myself. I felt like a new person, and I was exciting for the upcoming visit to the Dunhuang night market later that night. 

 What's this?

Oh my gosh grass and water!!!

 See those tiny mounds in the distance? Part of an ancient "great wall".

After everyone had showered and we’d eaten dinner we gathered our money and our beginner Chinese skills and headed to the night market. The market was two quarter-mile-long rows of vendors selling their wares. It was the perfect place to practice bargaining skills. At first I was a little timid but after a few hours in the market I was bargaining like the best of them, facial expressions and all. “Tai gui le!” I yelled, immediately after I was told the price, and I made a disgusted face. Occasionally I’d switch into English “Oh my God!” which worked just as well and got a few laughs with it. I ended up with a large assortment of different souvenirs and I was pretty pleased with myself, as I flitted up and down the aisles, moving between groups of friends, laughing and breathing cool, dry, evening desert air.

 

It was our friend Ryan’s birthday the next day, and since the day would be spent largely on a bus and then on an airplane back to Shanghai we devised a surprise party for him that night at midnight. Plans went awry and we accidentally got two cakes but that ended up being good because we went back and set up a mini surprise party that ended up being attended by the entire group and lasting until past 2 AM. It was a great end to our trip in Gansu.

We found the only bakery in the city who would make us cakes at 11 PM! And they were good!

The next morning we had a four-hour bus ride to the airport we’d be leaving from where (to no surprise for those of you who know I’m bad luck with flights) our flight was delayed for a few hours. We finally made it Xi’an home of the terracotta soldiers where mechanical problems kept us on the ground for another few hours, and we landed in Shanghai at around midnight, a full 18-hour travel day. When I finally got back to my apartment I collapsed onto my rock hard bed with unapologetic joy. I would never forget Gansu, but I was glad to be back to my temporary home in Shanghai.

 Still managing to look somewhat awake at Pudong airport at Midnight!

A Night in the Gobi Desert

The bus parked on the side of the road in the middle of no where. Desert stretched as far as the eye could see on all sides of us and the silence was broken only by the sound of our voices and the occasional passing car. We took everything we needed out of bags and packed small backpacks for the night, applied sunscreen, and then went to meet our camels.

 

The camels came in all sizes and colors and some had two humps while some seemed to only have one, and a few camels had weirdly bent over humps that I didn’t really understand. We were in trains of about 8 camels each, but it didn’t really matter which group you were with because when you’re riding in a camel train you find it’s not very easy to communicate with anyone. The camels were sitting down when we climbed up on their backs and it didn’t seem so high then, but as soon as we were ready to move the camels stood up and I was surprised to see how high up I was. 

I was the first in a train of camels so I had the whole of the Gobi Desert to behold. It was a dry and desolate place. But up ahead in the distance I could see some sand dunes that marked an area where we would be camping for the night. Someone in our group had looked up how to tie a turban and all of us had our heads wrapped to block the sun from our faces, and the dry air from our mouths and noses. We must have been quite a sight to see. 

 

The trek to the campsite was about 2 hours on camel, and I have to say by the end of the ride I was pretty sore from riding. I couldn’t imagine people on the Silk Road riding for days and days although I did get rather attached to my camel that I named Dustin. There was nothing really to do except to pull out an ipod and listen to a desert playlist, which is what most of us ended up doing to pass the time. 

 This is Dustin.

When we got to the campsite, which was easily spotted since it was the only source of color for miles, we said goodbye to our furry camel friends. We would be boarding a van to drive us out of the desert the next morning. The tents were brightly colored and very small for sharing but obviously it would have to do. We saw our dinner laid out for us. It was a dismal sort of meal that was made up of instant noodles, assorted fruits, sodas, and prepackaged precooked sausage and pre-packaged vegetables that looked anything but appetizing. We settled in to eat.

 

After a meal that mostly consisted of apples and grapes for me a bunch of us decided to hike up one of the larger sand dunes to try to catch the sunset. It was an easier climb than earlier because the dunes here seemed to be packed down a little more and we got a great view of our campsite from up top as we watched the sunset. When we returned we found that people were starting a party. The campsite was bathed in full dark and people had thought to bring glow sticks and speakers for ipods and the sounds of American pop filled the night.

The people who had set up our camping trip had a few tricks up their sleeves as well. They brought in some dry brush and we got a huge bon fire going and roasted potatoes and other assorted random things over the fire to eat. Someone even thought to find marshmallows in a Chinese supermarket and so it was almost like a traditional American campfire. Eventually everyone tired out from the long day and we all headed to our tents to sleep. 

It was a long cold night. I had on lots of layers but I was never quite warm enough during the night, and someone to my left snored the entire night at a volume I didn’t know existed. When we awoke the next morning at around 6:30 it was with little rest and we piled on more layers for breakfast which was instant coffee and bread with some apple jelly and some fruit left over from the night before. Although I was cold and sleepy I have to admit the early morning haze in the desert was sort of beautiful and when we got in the van that would drive us out of the desert and back to civilization I was kind of sad to leave. 

The Mogao Grottoes

Exhausted and likely dehydrated from our sand dune escapades we wiped the sweat from our brows and climbed back into the bus, which had become our home ,and we stopped for lunch before heading to our next stop, the Mogao Grottoes.

            The Grottoes or caves, which are also known as the “Caves of One Thousand Buddhas”, are a cave system in Dunhuang that contains over 700 different caves where peoples of ancient China used to reside. The oldest cave is dated at 366 BC and they were originally intended as places of worship for Buddhism. Some of the 700 or so caverns that have been excavated were not used for religious purposes and were instead the homes of monks and the rest of the general population at the time. 

 

            The caves are interesting because many different kinds of people have come through at different times and added their own touches to the caves. For example, although these are Buddhist caverns they discovered examples and depictions of Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses in murals on the walls. These murals have increased our knowledge of the amount of western communication with China during these time periods.

            The coolest thing that we got to see in the caves was one of the giant Buddha statues. There are a lot of giant Buddha Statues around this world but this one is pretty cool because it is the third largest Buddha in the world and it is the largest indoor statue in the world. The caves are pretty well preserved because they don’t let any light into the caves at all, to see things you must use a flashlight. The only annoying thing is that most of the caves are closed to the public. Out of the 700 odd caves we only got to see about 10 on 2 hour long tour. 

            After our tour of the cave system we all grabbed some ice cream before we piled back on to the bus which would take us to meet our camels which would take us to our camping spot in the desert.  

Sandy Arms

Still recovering from our train ride the night before, we immediately got onto a bus and drove into downtown Dunhuang where we had the most disgusting breakfast ever. Silver platters filled with unlabeled food that had clearly been attacked by other tour groups earlier in the day greeted us. Flies buzzed around and I lost my appetite.

Snacking on granola bars that I had brought just in case we were met with something like this, I found a bathroom and washed my face, reflected on the fact that I had another 30 some hours without a shower and then re-boarded the bus to our first stop of the day, Yueyaquan National Park, or Crescent Moon Lake National Park.

This is the Oasis, the Crescent Lake is behind all the green.

When we drove up to the national park we were immediately awed. Although it was clear from our surroundings that we were in a desert, we hadn't expected to see sand dunes of this size, springing up seemingly out of no where. Tourists on camels went on tours through the dunes and in the distance we heard the sounds of ATVs. This was a tourist's dreamland. Activities ranged from riding in small planes over the dunes, driving ATVs, sledding down the dunes on tubes, driving jeeps, riding dune buggies, and of course the camel rides. It was difficult to decide what to do first.

Luckily our local guide decided for us. We headed first to the Crescent Moon Lake that the park was named for. It's an oasis in the desert, and to no one's surprise, it was in the shape of a moon. It was a beautiful sight to see with the flowers that they had coaxed into growing up through the sand but it was also an example of the wasteful nature of the Chinese culture. Flowers weren't meant to grow like this in the middle of the desert, and the fact that they were using all of their water to do this was an extreme waste that to us was unjustifiable.

Ignoring the flowers, we tried to decide what we wanted to do today. Eventually we decided we'd hike up a sand dune....easier said than done. When we looked up at the dunes they didn't look as massive as they actually were. As tall as a mountain, they loomed over us, shimmering in the heat of the dry desert air. We saw there were some other people at the top, so we thought, how hard could it be? An hour later (possibly more, time ceases to mean anything after you've climbed a wall of sand for a while) we reached the peak, and it was worth it. Frequent breaks had been needed and I'd often collapsed into the sand after particularity long climbs, and by this time my arms were caked in sand which gladly clung to my sweaty skin. My mind was screaming, "you don't get to shower for 27 more hours!" but the rest of me ignored it and stared out over the beauty before us.

Miles of untouched dunes continued on as far as the eye could see. I could imagine trains of people on camels many hundreds of years go making their way to Dunhuang on their silk road journey. The people below us looked like ants, it was hard to believe how far we had climbed. We celebrated on the top with many cheers and lots of pictures, and we guzzled bottle after bottle of water in an attempt to replenish ourselves. There was only one thing left to do...to get down.

We ran, stumbled, and fell our way down the dune, sand flying up under our feet, feet catching, tumbling down the side of the dune. In that moment it really felt like we could fly. The drop was steep and intense and thought it felt like we were racing at the speed of light it's a testament to how high we were that it took us so long to get down.

Dusty and breathing heavily we regrouped at the bottom before we all headed off to get back to the bus. But before we left there was one thing I just had to do. With a few friends we found some guys renting out dune buggies and we drove those back to the front of the park. The ride was anything but comfortable but boy was it fun. I might have gotten a little out of control because when I parked the guide standing on the back of my dune buggy looked at me like I was insane. And maybe I was, but I felt like I was on top of the world.

Also, I found this giant caterpillar.