We went to the zoo!

I've been bad about writing here, but I think it's because we haven't really done much on our days off. We have two different classes each. I teach 3 year-olds for 3 hours on Wednesdays and 6 years olds on Saturday. Dave teaches 4-5 year-olds on Tuesday and 3 year olds on Friday. We both agree that teaching 3 year olds for 3 hours straight is the most ridiculously hard thing ever, but it's only for this month. We've also had a change up in our days off slightly in that I had Tuesdays and Thursdays off, and Dave had Wednesdays and Thursdays. And somehow my Tuesdays off, in which I had always hoped and planned to spend all day at a park reading in the sun, were always rainy. :(

The weather has been a bit cloudy and rainy lately. I swear we had more clear sunny days in winter. It's starting to get hot but muggy and the sky is overcast. We had a big thunderstorm the other day, and a huge downpour of rain the day after. The streets were totally flooded.

But the past two days were sunny and warm and so we decided to venture out again. Firstly, the zoo is set in a huge park called Shuishang. It has an amusement park with roller coasters and a giant ferris wheel, as well as large sprawling lakes, pagodas, and bridges. It's very beautiful and free so we will definitely be coming back just to have a picnic or some reading time. The zoo cost 20 yuan, but for an extra 10 you get access to the monkey area, reptile building, herbivore garden, and birds area. We were glad we did since the monkey area was the highlight of the trip. It is a big grassy place with tall rock structures for them to climb, with a swingset and play area as well. There are no cages or fences though, and you can walk through a pathway where the monkeys freely run across. There is also a seating area where you can sit and the men who works there entices the monkeys to come close. Dave had one sit next to him, and one tried climbing the pole next to me then pulled at my hair. As we were watching the one sitting next to Dave, another came up and quickly stole the water bottle we had set down at our feet, and we are thinking that this was a plot hatched between the two. ;) You can pay to feed them slices of corn on the cob and things they like to eat, and they will jump for the food or even take it from your hand. It was such a cool experience and we will definitely do it again. We think that the herbivore and possibly bird areas will also have a similar structure in that you can walk around them and interact with the animals.

We didn't get to see all of the animals they had there either so we will definitely be back for the summer. There weren't many people there today and we're kind of interested in seeing it when it's packed.

We have Memorial Day coming up and will hopefully have a 3 day weekend. If we can, we will hopefully make the trek up to the Great Wall. I have been trying to research other places we should visit while in China, and Heaven's Gate mountain is another place we'd love to go to. We also heard that Shanghai is beautiful. We are trying to make a list of things we need to see while we're here. :)

Whew! We have been so busy lately preparing our lessons for our classes. They are 12 lessons spread over 3 months. Dave is teaching generally 4-5 year olds and mine will be a little younger. And because we are native English speakers, they are charging more for our classes, so they keep telling us they hope they will be very good... which puts us under a bit of pressure. ;)

Other than that, spring has finally sprung! We had one snow day while we were here, which I was extremely grateful for (though I wish it could have been on a day we had off so we could actually enjoy it), but I'm ready for it to be warmer now. Blossoms are slowly popping out on the cherry trees, and I even saw a patch of grass today by our apartments. We've also been preparing for a big Easter party at school. I'm pretty sure the kids will go crazy for the egg hunt, bunny hop dance, and cookies.

So we have been trying to learn more Chinese, although we're pretty lazy about it. Most important was learning the numbers obviously for when we have to buy things, but you also have to learn the hand signs that go with it. In America we just count by adding another finger, which is generally the same for the Chinese for numbers one through five. But then it gets a little tricky. Here's some pictures to illustrate.

Chinese words and phrases learned so far:

One- iy head- toh knee- si gai no- mei yo

Two- ar hair- toh fa ear- ir dwah yes- dwei

Three- san hand- shou eyebrow- mei mau wo bu dong- I don't know

Four- tse finger- shou juh chest- xiong hello- nihao

Five- wo arm- guobua pants- koo zah hu diye- butterfly

Six- liu elbow- guobua juh America- mei guo

seven- chi nose- bizuh China- Jung guo

eight- ba throat- bwazuh thank you- shye shye

nine- jiu foot- jiao you're welcome- buh cuh jyi

ten- shur toes- jiao juh subway- di tiye

Did I mention the girls at work gave us Chinese names too? Dave's is da shiong which means big hero. Mine is shon shian which means fairy (they dig my curly hair over here). Not that people really call us these names, but it's still nice to have. :)

Recently on our way back from work we've seen piles of flowers burning in the middle of streets- sometimes rather busy traffic streets too. We had no idea what was going on until we asked and were told that it is to honor people who have died in those spots. One night we saw the whole ceremony as we waited to get food from a street vendor. About 15-20 people walked into the middle of the street with flowers and three tall wooden cases. They placed the flowers in and all around the wooden cases, then lit them on fire. As they burnt, everyone knelt on the floor and started to bow and pray to the pyres. It was a bit strange to watch, but at the same time I could feel the need for respect for the situation. Right now we have a three day weekend because of a holiday which sounds rather similar in that families are supposed to honor their dead ancestors.

We have recently discovered the awesomeness of outdoor markets, which are huge and sprawling and practically everywhere in China. We were a bit hesitant to try buying things at them at the risk of being jipped, but today we thought we would venture out to the one just off the corner of our street. Half of these markets are dedicated to fruits and vegetables and the other half has hot and ready food you can buy for snacks or a meal. We got some really tasty fried chicken there tonight, and tomorrow we'll probably get a roast duck. We also got super delicious vegetables and noodles that we later cooked in the wok, and it tasted just like at Mongolian BBQ. I think I will definitely do more shopping at these places because it's much cheaper than at the supermarket. If my camera had audio capabilities for its movie taking, I would just show you our street myself, but since it doesn't, here's a video to give you a sense of the outdoor market in China.

Other than that, things are great and we will hopefully take a trip up to the Great Wall after we get our paycheck. There is a closer way to get there through Tianjin than the more typical route through Beijing, and apparently it is less crowded that way too. :)

Oh, we also found out about QQ which is China's version of facebook. Everyone here has one and since we've gotten an account we've been able to connect with our co-workers more (and help them with their English typing skills). They sent me some pictures they had taken of me at school teaching lessons. :) Pic 1 pic 2 pic 3 pic 4 pic 5 pic 6