I've lived in china for almost 9 months now and It's really crazy to think about. This is the longest i've ever been away from home, let alone my country. I have a routine here. I love coming home after a day of teaching even though half the things are broken and I still haven't gotten around to buying some simple items, like a fork for example. But this place feels like home now. I've also really grown attached to all my students. Class 5B is still driving me bananas, and my grade 4's are still as hyper as ever some days. But I always have fun. One of my students gave me a wooden sword last week and i've begun bringing it to my classes, carrying it sheathed in my belt. Little Carl wasn't raising his hand yesterday so I walked over and stabbed him in the chest cavity. Any future teachers take note of that one. Worked like a charm.
One thing I love everyday is when I walk through all the little grade 1 and 2 classes playing around at recess on the way to class. They all run up to me and pretty much every day say "nice to meet you" or "what's your name?" regardless of how many times I have previously answered the question. One little girl ran across the yard and right up to me today and said "Hello Hippopotamus!." It was the cutest thing ever and it made my day. Wondering why she said that, I thought back and remembered that I had spent one morning long ago messing with them and told them all my name was something ridiculous like Yoda, Conan and apparently hippopotamus. Good on her for remembering. I also love the little things I get away with in China that wouldn't fly at home. I made a whole story for the kids last week involving a super hero I made named super pig, who at the end of the story pulled out an M4A1 machine gun and shot the bad guy in the face. Anything to make them smile. There parents and teachers work them into the ground everyday.
Some days i'll travel around Wuhan a bit or go for a walk to the new starbucks that opened up down the street. I still notice things in China that confuse and intrigue me at the same time. I've begun to just say "ohh china" and continue walking. Like someone taking a video of me on their phone while i'm eating. Ohh China. The other day I was waiting for a bus with about 4 other people, two of which were elderly chinese women. The bus came rolling around the corner and suddenly the look in those elderly ladies eyes changed. It scared the hell out of me and I could sense they were ready to pounce.
They were getting a seat on this bus. Even if this nice foreigner was standing in their way.
They meant business. It was on.
As soon as the bus came close grandma knocked me out of the way and hobbled over to the doorway. When I reached it finally, grandma number two came busting in behind me, dug her hand into my back and pushed me through the doors. You see I understand China busses can get insanely full, and pair that with the driving capabilities of a chinese bus driver and your holding onto a bar for dear life while people are falling all over you. This I understand. But when this bus pulled up it was completely empty and there were five people clearly getting a free seat on that bus. In a prominently taoist society you think they'd have some patience. Me first, me first, everywhere you go. But I guess in a overpopulated country of over a billion people, if you don't think me first you will always be last. Like I was on that bus. As well as every time I go through a doorway or try wait in a line. Canadian politeness doesn't go far in China.
But thankfully, you all voted for the end of most canadian values this week. So I won't have to worry about that much longer. Thanks for that one by the way.
So this weekend I decided to go to South Korea. I had a long weekend and thought i would be nice to get out of China for a few days and visit my good friend Natalie in Seoul. This pictures pretty much sums up much of the weekend as I woke up on a wooden floor most mornings with the worst hangover ever. Let's just say the expat community there parties harder than they do in China. The alcohol is also much stronger and after spending the year drinking the 2.1% water/beer here, Korea kicked my ass. I did get out to do some touristy stuff as well, but it rained for two days and ruined some of our plans. Seoul is a beautiful city, everyone speaks some english and it's really easy to get around. There are outback steakhouses, burger king, subways and 7/11's everywhere and I can see how a foreigner living there could even forget you were in Asia. Which where I am something nuts always slaps you in the face to remind you of where you are. I would put Seoul right up there with Hong Kong. The second night there we had some Korean barbeque which I will highly recommend to anyone. They basically give you your own grill in the middle where you cook strips of pork and beef. As well as garlic and onions to go with it. Once its cooked you dip it in this fantastic sauce and wrap it up in a big leaf, making kind of a leaf fajita. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. After, we all went out to enjoy the Seoul nightlife.
About 20 jagerbombs and many hours later, I found myself dancing on a stage with a group of koreans until the sun came up. Koreans really know how to have fun. Chinese people just drink a bunch of Baijiu, sing karaoke, yell at each other and then pass out in the street at eleven o'clock.
I had a great weekend in Korea and met a lot of great people.
Anyways, I found out today that I might be able to come home earlier than I thought. The students have their final exams from the 13th till the 18th and depending on when my classes finish I can go home immediately after. The older grades usually finish earlier so I may be able to come home as early as the 16th of June. Which means less that 6 weeks to go.
Going back to Canada is going to be crazy. It's weird to even think about it. But i'm really excited to see my family and friends. I'm going to go to Tim Hortons and Subway every single day and never complain about having to take the OC transpo again.
see you soon,
Corey
