Daily Discovery
October 2018
October 31: Happy Halloween! Spooky things are happening here in Wuwei!
For the students, midterms!
For the city, new curved poles popped up unexpectedly overnight.
Though, I think they are just new light poles that are being put in to replace the ones currently on the street. I'm not sure what benefits these ones have over the existing ones, but soon the street by the school will be full of them!
Of course, it wouldn't be a true Halloween (or a day in China) if something else didn't happen haha.
First, I collected some journals from my students, and was surprised and grateful when one of my students ran back to me after handing in her journal with a handful of candy that she just bought for me for Halloween!
And while I'm waiting, with the journals and the aforementioned candy, I picked up my pickled vegetable pot from the post office - I ordered it last week and it arrived! Unfortunately, a ghost must have kicked it while I was waiting and it was broken when I finally got in back to my apartment.
October 30: It's time to teach again, and before doing a quick lesson on Halloween, I wanted to work with the students to introduce vocabulary for body parts.
Usually, this is a fun lesson for students, but perhaps less so for me .. or because it is not as fun for me, the students love it even more. Why? Because many of them are really quite good artists, and anyone who knows me knows that I am not .. so drawing faces and bodies in order to label and teach body parts keeps the class light and fun for the students.
What do you think?
October 29: It's the Monday after a long weekend away, so that means that I have to go to the market to get a few vegetables, eggs and snacks for the week.
I love the wet markets here in China, and particularly in Wuwei, and unfortunately, one of my favorite wet markets is going to be close at the end of the year as the area is transformed into a tourist attraction to highlight the history of Wuwei.
As I was walking through the market today, I took what is definitely one of my favorite pictures of the market, as it highlights the wide range of goods and people that you will find. Vendors sell everything you could imagine: clothes, chickens, beans, tofu, pots and pans, funeral money, cloth... and this picture shows this wide range from a transient cart of live chickens to clothes racks outside of more-or-less permanent store.
October 28: It's time to head back to site after a long, but beneficial, weekend of language refreshing.
As my students tell me, "It's a small world!"
As I stepped on the train today, I got a message from a student also heading back to Wuwei from Lanzhou, and it turns out that she was getting on at the other train station in Lanzhou, but her ticket was for the seat right next to mine .. on a train with over thousands of seats.
Small world, indeed.
One cool thing about the train from Lanzhou to Wuwei is that there is a 'direct' train between the two cities that runs round trip twice a day.
It's a little faster than the other trains that are coming from and going to different places but just happen to stop at both Lanzhou and Wuwei, and it is "双层" or double-decker style, with lower and upper seating compartments in each of the hard seat cars.
October 27: This weekend I am in Lanzhou for a "Language Refresher" training, a training you can go to once in your two years of service while at site to think about how to plan your language study at site, how to work with tutors and how to gain and retain motivation to study!
It was very useful for me - more so than I thought going in to the weekend, and I am really glad and grateful that we had the training.
One of the cool things about WeChat - China's main app for everything! - is that you can easily make and share group chats.
All you need to do is form a group chat and then have the app create the QR code for the group. Then, paste it on a PPT or send it out to others, and they can scan it and immediately join the group chat - simple, convenient and quick!
October 26: I gave my midterm exams this week, and for my exams I always have both a written and and oral component, which is not the norm for my students' experience with English exams - often, it is just write write write, read read read.
Sometimes the oral exam is to just try to have a short conversation with me ... this makes my students very nervous, even though I assure them that it's not too difficult and they can do it.
One of my students this semester came into the exam, and when I asked how she was doing, told me, "Outside, I was nervous." Why? "Since I was young, I always want communicate with American."
Now, sometimes I think my students tell me things like this without really meaning it, but I could tell that she was sincere and that, even though we have had class together for 6 weeks, she didn't really think we had communicated until our 1-on-1 exam conversation.
It's always nice to be reminded that my work and effort here is valued and meaningful - as are, of course, the pictures that have to be taken to remember such a momentous occasion.
October 25: It's been a few days since I posted about food - so I thought a new photo was warranted, and I am particularly proud of my dishes today.
I cooked up three different dishes, and sent a photo to my Chengdu host mother, and she replied, "You're eating at the cafeteria again?" and while in the US, that might not be considered complimentary, the cafeteria food here is quite good, and, even more importantly, real Chinese food. So, my host mother thought my food looked sufficiently like actual Chinese food .. Oh, yeah.
It's a simple greens (little bok choy today) and mushroom dish, cold-tossed cucumber and my homestyle tofu recipe!
October 24: I have definitely posted about this pending library numerous times so far, but it seems that each and every day I discover something new about it.
Today, for example, led to me walking past the library on my way to class and noticing that it smelled terrible. Strong, acrid fumes. After 30 seconds it hit me: paint.
Sure enough, they were painting they sidewalk/square area that I mentioned just days ago. They drew lines into the concrete while it was drying, and today spent a good portion of time just painting it a dark grey color.
It's my first time seeing this, I think. Unless I've forgotten if I've seen that before in the States. That's possible, too, and although I don't like the smell today, I think it will look good tomorrow.
October 23: It's back to school .. and I am very tired these days. As my students would say, "so very tired." Or maybe I would say that.. I'm not sure anymore at what point my English is mine and at what point it has been acquired from my students.
Anyways, the school is back in session, but after class I noticed that the bathroom in one of the buildings must have sprung a leak .. or they're just testing out the new flood irrigation system, as the water was pouring out of the hose and flooding just about every open space on campus.
October 22: I finally made it back to Wuwei today after a long train ride back from training in Chengdu. The train was late by over an hour, which used to be rare in my experience, but is now something I just expect every time I step foot on a train. Today brings my total up to 462 hours on a train thus far.
Yet, in all of these hours, this was by far the dirtiest and most disgusting bunk/seat I've seen. I'm not sure what was spread all over the walls in brown and red, nor was I confident in the identity of numerous fluid stains all over the sheets and bedding in the bunk.
Fortunately, my time on the trains before has taught me to be prepared ... and now I bring my own sheet and pillowcase whenever I take the train - and that habit paid off today.
October 21: In Chengdu, as you know if you've ever heard me gush about it before, there is a lot of a delicious food... so much so, that no matter how many times I had back there, I will always run into an opportunity to try something new.
Today I found a few things... first, homemade steamed corn bread, but not like the corn bread in the States.. much more watery and dense, and a lot more raw natural corn flavor... probably because the corn was ground so fresh.
The second was the kind of shop that you can find on many a street .. but my first time actually buying anything. It has a lot of cold food - not much is warm, but it is all cooked, often times more of a marinated, stewed type of food, so it is all full of spices and flavor. Lots of heat. A bit of sweet. Extremely delicious. All you need to do is just pick what vegetables and meats you'd like, and take it home.
October 20: I discovered this picture outside the elevators on many floors of the hotel, and it confuses me...
Is it really a picture of what I think it is?
And why is it on every floor?
October 19: It's the first full day of training here in Chengdu. ICDI (Intercultural Competency, Diversity [Equity] and Inclusion) topics are incredibly important, but also emotionally difficult topics to spend hours discussing and learning about.
It was a great day of classes, discussion and learning about myself and my fellow Volunteers, but also extremely exhausting and draining so I was definitely ready for an early bedtime tonight.
October 18: I am back in Chengdu, which means that I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time with the best host family, and my best friends, in China.
I made lunch with my host mother today, but of course, it wasn't normal. Is it ever?
She recently read a quote about how cooking is only relaxing if you listen to music and drink wine while doing so. Therefore, we had to try it out, of course. Though, we switched out the wine for a plum alcohol a friend of hers makes. "82 plums in that little bottle, btw" as she would say.
It was a fun way to spend my first few hours in Chengdu after a long and difficult-to-sleep-on train ride.
October 17: I am off to Chengdu today, but before I can do so I have to finish reading a week's worth of journals for one of my classes.
On my way there, surprise! Construction on the library is still underway and it is looking better and better every day. Two days ago, the little field of wheat started growing; yesterday, the trees were planted; today, concrete was poured for the sidewalks and public square area outside the entrance.
Soon the school will have a real library!
October 16: I truly have the best students here in Wuwei. Even if sometimes they are generous in the extreme.
A few days ago a student messaged me after class asking if I liked apples. I said yes, and she told me that she would express me some apples from her home, because they grow delicious green apples. "No red ones." she said. I said that was totally unnecessary, but after she insisted, I said okay, I would appreciate a few apples.
Well, it turns out a few is a bit more than I thought or expected. She messaged me today and asked when we could meet, and at the appointed time, she showed up lugging this huge box of apples ...
I now have 20 pounds of apples to eat, and I will need to enlist her help to do so in the coming days with some more applesauce to be made in the near future.
October 15: A new week starts - but a busy one for me. I will have a few days of class and then I will head to Chengdu for two and a half days of ICDI training and training for the Peer Support and Diversity Network I am a part of.
First, though, I have a few days of classes, and that means I need to power through ... one of the ways to do that and keep my energy up is by eating all of the fruits that are in season and cheap.
Here's one of my favorites I hadn't eaten before coming to China: persimmons. It's kind of a weird, hard-to-describe fruit. It's sweet, kind of pulpy and has a few bulb like plumps inside, with a distinct flavor that is mild but with a hint of honey... some people have said it tastes like a cross between a tomato and a pumpkin .. but I don't see that myself.
October 14: I needed to feel (and taste) a bit of Wisconsin (or just fall in my family) after a long week of classes and preparation.
So I bought a bunch of (ugly but still delicious and perfect for this use) apples from the market and spent a few hours cutting, peeling, chopping and cooking to make this applesauce.
I even broke out the special ingredient my parents sent me last year to make it particularly reminiscent of previous fall treats!
October 13: In September, on the 13th, I also posted information about the construction that pops up everywhere, and voila! this 13th day of the month holds the same.
Lately, paint has been popping up all over the campus - parking spaces, road dividers, centerlines, directional arrows, all in white and yellow .. you can see and smell the paint from a distance here on campus today.
October 12: Frisbee Club. Day 1.
And it might be the last day of the club if many of the students had their say ... it was difficult when we had 50 people show up to an event with three Frisbees and no one besides myself with previous experience in throwing them.
So, many people left with the impression that this is a game that primarily involves chasing after a disk that is never thrown towards another person or with any accuracy.
Luckily, I found a few people who seem to really like this, and I hope that we can continue to work with this smaller group and then have them teach and introduce the game to the larger school population.
October 11: Yesterday, I made that eggplant and pepper dish, and while making it, I had the thought that it might be great if... I combined the eggplant and peppers with a little vinegar and then made some little breads, similar to the style served in the cafeteria last year.
I threw together a quick bread base, loaded it up with peppers, eggplant and a splash vinegar, and then fried them up on my gas range. They are quite delicious, almost like mini pizza pockets.
And, they make the perfect breakfast: freeze 'em up first, then take one out to throw in the oven for a crispy, easy, warm breakfast and then cook with some eggs on the side.
October 10: I have been trying to improve my cooking of Chinese foods, and while I might be failing in the looks department (everytime I send a photo to my host mother in Chengdu she invariably responds, "That looks ... not so delicious") I think the taste is quite good, and it is a healthier accompaniment to my diet when compared to eating out at restaurants most days.
Here is my homestyle tofu, eggplant and peppers and mushroom and greens dishes. Oh, yeah, and some fried eggs.
October 9: I thought it would be a great idea for all of my students to keep an English journal every day - 10 sentences a day about their day, to help them practice their English every day, and to help fix common mistakes that all language learners make fairly consistently.
It is a great idea... until there is a week of holiday and you have 520 journal entries to read and give feedback on ... buckle up, folks. It's gonna be a long afternoon - or three.
October 8: I've been trying to get back in to a healthy habit - yes, I know I say that every week, or every two weeks...
On my way to the gym today, I discovered that the bus stops in Wuwei have been upgraded lately.
The school's East gate bus stop now has an electronic display: weather, bus routes, times, and motivational/educational/safety cartoons for kids and adults alike to help you pass the time as you wait for the bus.
October 7: It's another market day! What does that mean? It means that as October and fall progresses, we are finding new seasonal items that are hitting the markets.
Today's arrival: sugar cane.
Cut it up, chew it to enjoy it, and then discard the pulpy remnants. I haven't yet discovered a different way to enjoy this food beyond the vendors who use machines to cut and press the sugar cane into a liquid that you can drink!
October 6: Here's an interesting juxtaposition of my latest discovery. What comes to mind when you see the picture to the left?
A desert?
A wetland?
If you said the first, you agreed with me. If you said the second, you agreed with the city of Wuwei, where a new wetland park is being constructed in the north of the city.
I stopped by today and took a walk through some of the construction that is going in .. bridges, buildings, new plants, and trenches for the water, though I am not sure where the water is coming from or how it is going to be maintained in such a dry city.
I'll keep you updated on that development if I see any progress in the transition from desert to wetland.
October 5: It's a day later, and I'm still thinking about some of the food that I ate last night .. and I have to share it with you.
Here it is!
It is kind of like a hasselback potato ... an eggplant that has been semi-spiralized, leaving the core intact but flaying out the rest of the flesh of the eggplant, which is then dipped in some light batter and then fried before drizzling a lightly sweet and savory sauce along the top.
I might be going back to this restaurant just to eat this dish .. many many times.
October 4: Tonight I had dinner with TJ and some of his Wuwei friends (soon to be mine, I hope!), and we ate some incredible food and then chatted and walked throughout the city.
Here's a picture of us at the south gate in Wuwei!
October 3: Taking a walk down the street today, you could find a curious advertising tactic that (I later found out) has been spreading throughout the country lately.
How does it work? There is a button on the wall with a timer, and people line up for the opportunity to try and stop the timer at the winning time: 10.0000 seconds.
Now, this is quite impossible. Stopping the timer with a huge button to a precision of 4 decimal places on a single try? Yeah. That's not really going to happen. Though, by mid-afternoon over 2000 people had tried it. If anyone manages to win, they will receive a free credit of 200 RMB on their phone plan.
It is quite brilliant actually ... a lot of traffic and interest with essentially zero cost!
October 2: One of the old PCVs who worked in Wuwei - and one of my friends that I met in PST while he worked as a tech trainer for other members of my cohort - has come back to visit for a few days during the national holiday break.
Today was a great day trip with TJ (the old PCV) and our host family in Wuwei. We went to Shandan, a city with spectacular mountain preserves a few hours northwest of Wuwei near Zhangye. We off-roaded and tried to make the summit to the top of the mountains (about 220m), but unfortunately ran out of viable paths and settled for lunch in one of the most relaxing forest picnics I have had!
October 1: Happy October! And in China, Happy National Day - or as my students all wrote in their English diaries, "Happy Birthday to [their] Motherland."
Today marks the first day of a 3 day national holiday for everyone in the country - though, as mentioned last week, it is extended into a 7 holiday holiday by working the last weekend and moving those two days into this full week + weekend off. Many students have gone home, by I'm celebrating it in Wuwei.
I'll enjoy the first day with a package of cookies - I'll give them a score of 5/10, but they do go well with a movie on a night off. These are an almond flavored variety ..
