Sorry this post is 6 days late.  I'm working on it.

We had a relatively quiet New Year's holiday over here.  We went to Teppanyaki (Hibachi) with a group of friends and had a wonderful all-you-can-eat grilled Japanese meal with all-you-can-drink sake and beer (and at around $25 per person, it's my favorite deal in town!).

My handsome boyfriend and me taking photos of ourselves before meeting our friends.

Friends to the right

Friends to the left

The meat.

The rice.

The pancakes.

The sake.

After that, we went out to a bar to continue the festivities and watch fireworks.  Funny thing: safety does not seem to be an issue in this city when it comes to fireworks.  Not that all of the fireworks here are safe, but more like the people setting off the fireworks don't take safety into account.  At midnight, a group of people went out to the curb in front of the bar and set off very loud, very big fireworks.  We oohhed and aahhed for a couple of seconds before the downpour of ash from said fireworks began.  I saw about fifteen seconds of New Year's sky sparkles before hovering in a corner with my hand over my glass and my coat over my head.  Truthfully, I don't know why I expected anything different.  I love this city and all of its distinctive illogical idiosyncrasies.

At any rate, New Year's is supposed to be a holiday on which we reflect upon our previous year and set goals for ensuring an even better oncoming year.  My resolution, as previously stated, is to stop being late.  I have a tendency to think it only takes me five minutes to get ready and that every cab ride is ten minutes, no matter where I'm going or where I'm coming from.  That being said, my goal is to leave the house ten minutes earlier for everywhere that I go so I can make sure to be on time.  My other resolution is to keep our apartment cleaner and free of debris.  For the random debris that somehow materializes all around our place, I've purchased several decorative baskets and placed them strategically around the house at our "dropping off" points.  For the cleaning, I've hired a maid to come once a week for around $4.80 per week.  Did I mention that I love this city?

On the docket for this year:
Vietnam
Cambodia
Hong Kong (again, and when it's warmer)
Japan
America (both coasts)
Taiwan
South Korea
Sichuan province of China

Happy travels!
Love,
ali

Hello!  This post is dedicated to my current class of students and all of their hard work so far this year.  They just completed their final exams for the first semester after taking similar tests in every class in every month for the last four months.  And I am the meanest teacher because right before these exams, I made them turn in a very important and time consuming project.

Here is one of my English classes with their poetry anthologies.  They should be so proud!

 And now for a sample of some of the best and funniest excerpts from these projects:

This student believes she will live to be 102 years old.  Ambition.

Pretty cool concrete poem about Taekwondo.

My students blow my mind every day.  The last two lines say, "She's not lost/ We just can't find her."

 

A rather dark student.  Bright, but very dark.

Concrete poem about tornados

So cute.  They had to write five haiku, one for each of the five senses, with accompanying illustrations and annotation.

Found poem.  They had to find an article and pick out words to write a poem.  They could only use words found in the original source.

This was a creepy surprise.  This kid found my facebook profile picture and included it in his anthology.  Of course, he added his own little detail - hot pink devil horns for Adam.

And the devil clearly stole his missing poem from his book.

I've been doing this poetry anthology project every year since I started teaching, and it has always been my favorite project to grade.  I love poetry, and I try my best to encourage my students to read and analyze poetry in order to become better poets.  This project that they created is a collection of the various poems they wrote over our five week unit.  They were required to revise, annotate, illustrate, and reflect on the process of writing poetry.  Some of them hated it, but most of them love it.  And they did a brilliant job (for the most part).  I'd say that's a win.

Love,
ali

SO many places left to see!

 Merry Christmas everyone!  Of course, we started calling and facebook-ing with this message too soon, because Christmas (and everything else) happens a half day in the future over here in China.  I guess that means 2012 happens a half day sooner, so I'll let you know how next year is in a couple of days (that is, unless the world ends, of course).

Having five days off for the holidays, Adam and I spent our time in Hong Kong.  This city, we had heard, celebrates Christmas Western-style complete with fa-ra-ra-ra-ras and people dressed as Colonel Sanders.  We actually didn't see any Santas carting around any greasy buckets of chicken (much to Adam's dismay; we all know how much he loves chicken meat.  And eggs, for that matter), but we did spot this festive little Chinaman:

I think he's calling his elves to bring more bootlegged DVDs and knock-off bags and watches.  And yes, that is a hot pink tutu he's wearing.

One major difference that I noticed between Hong Kong and Shanghai (besides the fact that nearly everyone speaks perfect English in Hong Kong so you can't talk about them in front of their faces.  Not that I would ever do that) is that the people share common Western courtesy.  I have been elbowed by little old ladies trying to get on the subway many a time in Shanghai, and I figured that was just the Chinese way.  Au contraire mon frere (or should I say, bu yiyong de, wo de pengyou).  The folks in Hong Kong do their best not to touch anyone (so American) and, if they do, they typically say, "I'm sorry" in an English or Australian accent (that's a trip).

Now, having lived in Shanghai for nearly four months, I have become accustomed to shouldering little old ladies out of my way when I need to get somewhere quickly (south Florida friends: if only).  There are many, many people on Hong Kong to avoid ramming into on the streets.  And on the subway.  And shopping.  And in restaurants.  This is the line we waited in to get on the tram to go to the top of the Peak, a mountaintop view from which you can see the city skyline.

This amount of people = standing in line for 1.5 hours!  Aiya!!!

BUT, this was our view from the top (totally worth the wait)!


The next day, we took a ferry over to Lantau island to see the Big Buddha.

This Buddha is 112 feet tall and weights 250 metric tons!  Believe it or not, he is NOT the largest Buddha in the world!

Inside of that big Buddha belly is an ancient relic of the real Siddhartha Gautama Buddha himself.  It's set in a fancy glass box in a room that you can see through a window.  Only true worshipers are allowed in the room to pray to the relic.


After that, we took an enlightening stroll down the wisdom path...

...and stumbled upon these Chinese poem poles:

 Then, we went to the monastery and ate lunch.
 Adam and I ate a vegetarian meal prepared by Buddhist nuns.  This Buddha ate trees.

That night, we got back to the hostel and sat down to find our zen with some beers in the lobby.  After a while, we trekked outside to a sea of people just before midnight on Christmas Eve.  We found the [Swarovski crystal] North Star (which, ironically, is exactly how I found my way home each night).
  At midnight hit and the city erupted (this video was taken a few seconds after said eruption).


We followed the North Swarovski back home to hang out and go to bed.  Then Rachel and Micah came downstairs dressed up all fancy and asked if we wanted to go out.  So we trekked over to Hong Kong's late night party street, Lan Kwai Fong.  I'm told that you are usually able to walk to the street, choose a bar or dance club, and enter.  Not this night.  We walked up to the street, only to be veered right by a group of officers directing pedestrian traffic.  I have never seen such a government-anticipated-and-duly-well-planned party line in all my life.  We were directed to walk up and around at least six blocks with a massive crowd of people before we could finally reach our destination.

On Christmas night, we realized that we had not made dinner reservations, so we would have to walk in somewhere and hope for the best.  We found an Outback Steakhouse (I know, right?!) across from our hostel, so we decided to try and have a no rules, just right Christmas dinner.  The hostess told us 45 minutes, so 15 minutes later the two of us were seated at a four-top in the front of the restaurant (China time, similar to Sheena standard time, but backwards).  Adam ate his very first bloomin' onion (and subsequently felt a rock in his stomach for the rest of the night).

The next morning, we were awake at 5:30 am and ready to get to the airport to fly back to Shanghai.  Hong Kong was beautiful, Christmas was wonderful, and, after flying through a gray-brown cloud of polluted smog, we are home in Shanghai.

I'm ready to say goodbye to this fantastic year and hello to the end of the world in 2012 (or maybe I've just been watching too much Dexter).

OH, and don't let me forget to tell you about the crazy lady who stayed in our hostel room for one night who had mind control devices implanted into her body by an evil clan that has been following her throughout China, turning off her hot water during her baths and convincing her fruit vendor to sell her tainted fruit.  More to come on that soon.

Happy travels!
<3 ali

Have I mentioned that I love my school?

The Friday before we left for Christmas vacation, my boss handed each of us a bottle of French red wine and a box of chocolates.  They said it was a token of their appreciation for all of our hard work so far this year.  Then they told us to meet at the gate at 5:30 so they could take us out to an all-you-can-eat Western style banquet with free-flow beer and wine.  This was, of course, after a day of receiving sweet gifts from my sweet students with accompanying cards thanking me for being their teacher.  When was the last time teachers were treated so well in the States?

The banquet was complete with a lovely mix of Western and Chinese foods, great friends, and Christmas carols played on the saxophone and sung by expat teachers trying to create some semblance of tradition.  Oh, and I broke a wine glass because I "cheersed" with Kevin too hard (I don't know my own strength).  Luckily, everyone thought it was Kevin who "cheersed" too hard with me (which could have been caused by me shouting, "Kevin, why'd you do that?!" shortly after the "cheers" occurred), so it wasn't as shameful as it sounds. 

Then, the next day we went to dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant called Isabella Trattoria (highly recommended if you're ever in Shanghai and craving Italian) with a few close friends.

I love this picture because everyone is paying attention to something other than the picture being taken of them!

Chris and Meredith in matching outfits (so Chinese!)

The food was divine, the wine delectable, and the company delightful.  All in all, a wonderful Shanghai Christmas celebration!

The Wednesday before we left for Hong Kong, Adam and I exchanged Christmas gifts and opened the gifts our wonderful parents sent us (thanks!!!).  Here is our tree:


After that, Adam and I were set to pack our bags and get ready for our trip to Hong Kong.  Being the irresponsible, hedonistic duo that we are, we decided to go out with friends for one last Shanghai hurrah before leaving town and put off packing until later.  We went out for Korean barbeque with our neighbors.  Much sliced sizzled meat was eaten, and an inordinate amount of soju (Korean rice wine, similar to Japanese sake) and beer consumed.  Sensible packing was not going to happen that night.

On the way home, Adam decided to use his Chinese to speak with the cab driver.  He got in the cab and promptly announced (in Chinese), "Hello master.  My name is Adam.  I like chicken meat.  What time do the eggs get off work?"  Fifteen minutes later, the ladies at Kedi (like 7-11, where we went to buy more beverages, of course) were giving us strange looks for repeating Adam's Chinese monologue over and over again and cracking up.

Back at home, Micah and Rachel (some friends who came to Hong Kong with us) delivered their kitty to Brian and Joslyn's (our across-the-hall-neighbors) apartment.  Adam crawled under their couch with the cat and stayed there for thirty minutes while Elaine and I begged Will (our downstairs neighbors) to let her get a puppy.  He, like my boyfriend, was stone on the subject.

In the morning, when we awoke dehydrated and headachey, we threw some clothes into a backpack and set off to Hong Kong.  Love this time of year!

Merry Christmas and happy travels!

<3 ali

I'm having a really rough China day.  I miss my friends.  I miss my family.  I miss my kitties.

...

I started to write a despairing letter about my homesickness, but then I skyped with two very close girlfriends in America and I feel much better.

So good to know that I love and am loved and I'm sure again that I am doing the right thing for me over here in the People's Republic.

And now I'm watching Amelie and eating hoodles with murshrams and galic (typos intentional - that's how the noodle shop spells this dish on their menu) that  my boyfriend picked up for me.  All is well with the world again (both sides of it)

xoxoxo

This was the dinner that I'm thankful for this year: Turkey brined for a day and a half, gravy, green bean casserole, spicy mac and cheese, brussel sprouts with bacon, pork stuffing, carrots, scalloped potatoes, twice baked potatoes, spinach dip, cheese and crackers, bread, salad, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple crumble, home-made whipped cream, home-made egg nog, an inordinate amount of wine and beer. Thirteen Americans (well, 12 Americans and one Brit) who needed nothing more than this splendidly enormous feast to take the sting out of living abroad during the holidays.  The alcohol consumption didn't hurt, either.

 This was truly a wonderful, and much needed, American holiday.  I'm thankful for my fantastic boyfriend who is here with me, my friends and family back home, and to have many new friends with whom to celebrate this American tradition in China.  Christmas is just around the corner!  I've already got my tree!

What are you thankful for?

Love,
Ali