Disney

I realized last night that I actually haven't wrote about the actual reason I came to China. The thing that takes up part of my time! That is Disney English! I have been in China for a little over seven months and it has been quite interesting. Disney is something completely different than what I expected but I enjoy working for the mouse!
 

For those of you who don't know, Disney English is a program created by the Walt Disney Company to teach English to children in China. I teach children between the ages of 2 to 12 years old on a daily basis. I have nine different classes that meet once or twice a week. In these classes they learn the foundations of English. The youngest learners learn colors, shapes and basic phrases. After that children learn sentences such as I want, I like, I have. The older learners begin learning past tense (difficult because there is no past tense in Chinese) and begin to learn more conversational English.  All the content is created by Disney and is presented by various Disney characters. They have created songs themed to the specific topic we are teaching that day. It is a lot of fun for both the children and the staff!

The children I work with are amazing! They are so good and very cute! Compared to the children I used to work with these children are amazing! They listen but are very spoiled.  They are very funny as well. If the children know English songs or phrases they are very excited to share. I had two boys singing Rain Rain go away. I then proceeded to teach them London Bridge including the whole dance that goes with it! They are very loving and love to give you hugs and give you little candies or even tomatoes! (one little girl gave me a tomato last night!) They give me chestnuts because they call me Leeza, which means chestnut in Chinese! (which they think is soo funny and see Leeze chifan..which mean Liz I want to eat you!)

The other day I was discussing with a co worker the signs that you have been at Disney for a while. Number one, you begin singing songs down the hall randomly. Number two you begin to feel more magical and act upon it. Number three you will dance in front of a waiting room full of parents so they feel the magic, and number four when you talk to the new people very relaxed they look at you like what!? number five you get your nails done the same color as a magic token (the reward system used in the classroom that gets the children awesome prizes)

Working for Disney is a lot of fun. The only down size is that you are in China. As much as I love my current experience, come October I will be ready to leave China. China is an interesting country and I can't see myself here another year.

Working for the mouse is a lot of fun. And naturally one of the best perks is getting into Disneyland for free and getting all kinds of cool Disney gifts along the way!

Everyday Life

As I exited the subway this evening, I realized that people back home have no clue how everyday life works in China. It is completely different than life back home. (for me anyways!) Some things are the same, I get up in the morning, have breakfast and lunch then head to work. Things that seem ordinary to me, to anyone else would seem well ordinary.

For instance dogs running loose. My apartment complex has many buildings in it. They are still building some of the buildings. The workers must have dogs, because everyday I see the same three dogs running around outside in the complex. They are sniffing for food, peeing on whatever, just roaming around. Roaming dogs outside in the USA would not happen. If I saw a random dog at home in the states I would stop and take the dog inside. Hear I think oh man poor dog, but I better stay away cause he may have some weird disease.

Another thing I realized the other day is the lack of safety here. In my house back in the USA I have a smoke detector in every room, a carbon dioxide reader, and if I went into any public building I would know how to exit and there would be fire alarms. Not so in China. I am fairly positive my apartment doesn't have a smoke detector in it.   At work there is no fire alarm. If a fire were to occur, they either a. announce it over the PA system or B. flicker the lights on and off. Sounds really safe. There are fire extinguisher but they are not in pristine glass cases, no they are just sitting on the floor. If I had to guess they probably aren't checked regulary either.

No street signs exist here. There are signs that mark the street name, but no yield to pedestrian (more like hit the pedestrian) , no stop signs and I have yet to see a speed limit sign!  Its kinda terrifying if you think about it. A busy four way intersection and no signs or traffic light. Its basically a giant game of chicken, who is going to win the battle! I have seen signs saying don't drink and drive but I don't know what the penalty for that is. (If there is one) I have been in taxis that have literally gone 100 km an hour down a residental street. I have seen speed limit signs in Shanghai but not in Beijing. (then again I don't drive here either so maybe I am missing them).

Street vendors line the street at night. You get off the subway and there are literally bikes with carts  attached to them and people selling food of the back of a bike cart. They sell everything and anything. I have seen them cutting pineapple of the back of bike, making pancakes, caramel popcorn, sweet potatoes, candied fruit, selling socks, hats, iphone cases, blankets, scarves, meat on a stick, and coconuts with straws in them. I have never exited the subway in Pittsburgh and see someone selling a cut up pineapple. Its really unreal.

No one drinks the water here, no one. Even the locals drink bottle water. Every place you go has water coolers. The airport has free hot water, the library the same. Every business has purified water. It is also very cheap. You can get a bottle of water for less than 1 kuai which is 15 cents. The water is so bad here.

There are many unusual things that occur in China. These are just a few off the top of my head that I wanted to write down and share!

Art in China

 Yesterday I went to 798 art district, located somewhere in Beijing. The art district was something completely different that what I have seen in Beijing. An old factory was created into the art district. You can see the smoke stacks throughout the area and intermingled were cute little shops with the artist galleries inside them. Some of the surrounding area was questionable art, for instance was it made to look trashy or is it simple trashy looking?

Walking along the streets, you forget your in China. It reminds you of an old village back home. The streets were relatively clean and there were not many people walking around. You could spend hours just wandering around. Duck into any building and see different art galleries or stop for a cup of coffee or lunch. It looked like a nice place to go see in warmer weather as well. Little cafes had places to sit up on the roof and there were actual trees and greenery!

Some of the things they had in the galleries and the gift shop were quite appalling. I didn't post these pictures on facebook simply because I thought they were offensive. I am going to post them in the blog. Note these are not my beliefs I just think its simply appalling they create merchandise with this on it.

Other than appalling merchandise (who would simply buy these things is beyond me!) the art work was really neat. It was different and had the element of both modern art and china mixed together.

Overall the art district was a really neat place to walk around. I plan on going back when the weather is warmer and checking out more art galleries!

The Small things

After living in China for seven months, things start to become the usual. I was talking with my mom the other day and I was telling her, oh I didn't feel like going out yesterday so I ordered food in. She was shocked that I could actually order food in so easily. Everywhere in Beijing delivers food to your door, including McDonalds. The biggest key is to know your address in Chinese (Thankfully I do!) I have gotten use to the idea that I can have anything I want basically delivered to my door, except mail! (If I want mail I have to have it mailed to work!)

You also get excited over the smallest things in China. I went to the grocery store the other day and they had dole bananas. You don't realize how delicious a dole banana is until you don't eat one for seven months. Any type of western food in the stores gets you all giddy inside. Knowing you have a bag of Doritos waiting for you in your bag, is sadly very exciting.  Planning your day around a trip to Burger King is also very sad. (Not that I have done that....)

Even finding western clothes is tricky. I went to the mall the other day and they were playing Footloose and Kiss Me, old songs from the 80's/90's. Good songs but old. Then I go in the stores and realize that a lot of the clothes in the stores are from the 80's and 90's. Now Beijing is not the fashion capital by all means. People wear the weirdest things here. Shorts with black tights, fur baseball caps, high heel furry boots, orange furry vests, fifty housewives clothes. Needless to say finding Western clothes is not easy, I will probably come home wearing the new Beijing/China style and think I am normally dressed!

There are many good things about living in China. I think one of them is the excitement over small things. You get excited over blue skies, warm days, someone holding the door for you, a guy helping you carry your suitcase down two flights of stairs, someone running after you to give you 1 rmb you dropped on the floor, and clean toilet seats.

Spring Festival!

Well Chinese New Year has come and gone! And in that time span I have traveled around China! I went to Hong Kong for a week and then went to Shanghai for a few days! Now I am back in Beijing!

Hong Kong was amazing! I especially loved going to Disneyland. One of the perks of working for the mouse is getting Disney tickets for free. And a discount on merchandise and food! So for two magical days I went to Disney! Disneyland Hong Kong is smaller than the parks in the States but after being in Beijing for six months it was like heaven! Just walking into the park I felt at home. I truly love Disney to begin with so I was like a little kid! I waited two hours to see Mickey and Minnie! I got my pictures with as my characters as I possible could. I ate mickey shaped cookies and bought Disney gifts. I went to Small World and Tarzan's tree house. I watched a magical firework show beneath Sleeping Beauty's castle! Truly amazing! I am honestly planning another trip back sometime in May! I can't wait to go back again!

 

 

After going to Disney I went exploring around Hong Kong. I found working temples with people praying for the New Year. I also saw the Hong Kong skyline at night and walked around the city. I also went on a cable car through mountains to get to a remote village that had a giant buddha built inside. In addition I went to the top of the Peak and saw a New Years parade as well as New Year fireworks. I went to different islands around Hong Kong and explored them. I found beautiful beaches and mountain terrain that made you feel instantly like you were somewhere else.

 



 

Hong Kong is so much nicer than Beijing. For starters its clean, spitting is illegal and people speak English! There is so much British influence there it is soo nice!  Hong Kong has a lot to offer as well. There are many islands that you can visit that have beautiful hiking trails and beaches. There is the bustling city life with Western stores and a good mix of Western and Eastern food as well. Honestly if I had to pick a spot to vacation I would seriously go to Hong Kong.

After Hong Kong I went to Shanghai. In Shanghai I got to see my dad! I was very excited to see my dad! I haven't seen him since November! We went to the Pearl Tower and I stood on this glass 250 meters high! We ate steak almost every single night! We also went to this old village which was quite interesting. It is this village outside of Shanghai that has the original buildings and streets that it had hundreds of years ago. They also served food that was probably served hundreds of years ago! Fish in tar sauce, pork shanks, fried pork in God knows how old oil! They also had all kind of touristy things you could buy. But the things were different things than you typical see in China. Its much nicer then constantly seeing the knock off products!

After Shanghai it was back to Beijing. So currently I am back in Beijing. Nothing interesting has happened in Beijing, aside from the nightly firework show.

Happy New Year to everyone and good fortune to you!

Vacation!

One of the perks of living in China is the Chinese New Year holiday. I get off of work from today (Feb 5) until Feb 17. So during this time I have decided to explore China a bit more.  I have planned a trip to Hong Kong and then going to Shanghai for the last few days to spend some time with my dad. Now Hong Kong isn't part of mainland China but still, I am going to Hong Kong!!!!!!!!!!

I am excited to get out of Beijing for a week. The pollution has left me a virtual prison in my own apartment. I literally go outside to go to the subway and that's about it. I miss being outside! Hopefully the pollution in Hong Kong is not bad.

Preparing to go I really haven't done much lately in Beijing. I went and had Mongolian food last week. It was a bunch of lamb. I have never ate so much lamb before in my life. They love lamb in China. I missed the super bowl but go to watch rerun of half the super bowl at the bar last night. And see the half time show. No commericals.

It is interesting watching all the people leave to go home. Most people who live in Beijing aren't from Beijing. They are from other areas of China. All the local girls I work with are going home. Many of them have a very long train ride home. It takes about 20 hours for some of them to get home. Some of the areas they live in don't have airports so the only way to get there is by train. And the cheapest train is the slow train. On the subway you see people who have these giant bags made out of plastic filled with all their worldly possessions. I have seen lots of dirty, sickly looking children getting ready to go home. I have been doing a lot of people watching and I can tell which people are the ones who you never see out and about. They work the jobs that no one wants to work or the people who live at their job site. It truly is eye opening the wide difference from the people.

I will join the travelers tomorrow. But instead of going home I am going to Hong Kong for fun! For me Chinese New Year is simply nothing more than a break from work! And I hopefully will get to see a lion dance in the park!

Fighting Pollution

 As I am sure all of you aware Beijing has had terrible pollution here lately. We have had three weeks straight of hazardous air conditions. There has only been one day in the past three weeks were the air quality has been deemed good. The smog has been very dense I haven't been able to see the mountains in the distance in weeks, let alone across the street! 

 

 When I moved to China, I was aware that Beijing was notorious for poor air quality. I remember the first few days here reading the air quality. I believe in the first few days I was here the air was reading at 70 to 100. Which at the time I thought was horrible! I could feel the effects immediately. In time I got use to good air meaning days that were 40. I began thinking, the air wasn't that terrible. Sure we had smoggy day but they were days that were filled with sunshine and blue skies! Nowadays I have seen one blue sky day in about three weeks.

 This being said I decided to try to fight the pollution and keep myself healthy. I have take precautions such as buying an air purifier for me to use in the apartment. It helps tremendous. You don't realize how much the poor air quality really effects you. I constantly had a sore throat and a cough. I also have taken to wearing a mask outside. (Though its probably pointless since if I  cover my nose I can't see out of my glasses and I heard you absorb pm 2.5 through your skin....). 

Overall I am still enjoying Beijing despite the pollution. I move my activities to indoor activities and find plenty to do in the city. And at the end of the day I come home and sleep knowing that I am breathing in clean air!