Teaching in Asia

I can’t believe it’s already fall break! And I haven’t blogged since before school started. Teaching is kicking my butt! But I love it.

In this post, I’ll tell you all about living and teaching in Central Asia. Then in my next post, I’ll describe our adventures this week on vacation in Uganda. Right now we’re in the Nairobi airport on our way home, and I’m writing this in Word and will post later. It’s been nice to have the week away and not think about teaching. So hopefully my brain has processed a bit of all the craziness and fun of the past several weeks.

Where do I begin? My 9th grade Algebra class is a blast. It’s my fullest class, but very fun. Then there’s Consumer Math, which is mostly juniors and seniors. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy teaching students that old, but they’re a great group. Some of them have very specific dreams for their future careers, and are very driven to achieve them. I only have two girls in the class, but one of them wants to be a corporate lawyer. Then there’s the boy who wants to be an auditor. Next is 8th grade physical science. That’s my hardest class management-wise. Only 4 girls and a whole bunch of boys that are great individually, but set each other off in class. And there’s the fact that I’m not really a science teacher. But it’s a good challenge, and we’ve had some really fun moments together. Fortunately, I’m almost done with the last chemistry unit, which is the hardest for me. Plus, I love middle schoolers, so I’m grateful to get the experience. My biggest challenge content-wise was Pre-calculus class. It was getting so difficult for me to explain the content (and it’s still in the easiest section), so my director swapped me classes. He’d taken on a 7th grade Pre-Algebra class, and due to scheduling issues, taking it on means I now teach it at the same time as my Consumer Math class. It was a very difficult decision because I wanted what was best for all the students. I also didn’t want to give up on a responsibility that I’d accepted. But I wanted the students to get the best education they could, and the director is a great math teacher. Both classes are small and self-motivated, so it’s been okay so far, but it will be a challenge. I’m glad to have more middle school math experience, though. Which brings me to my last class: Math Foundations. It’s 7th and 8th graders that are struggling with their regular math classes. It’s very small so I get to give more attention to them and give them extra practice in skills and help with their regular homework. So now, most of my classes are within my licensure.

And I’m loving it. Teaching my cute little 1st graders in China was fun, but this is much more fulfilling for me. My students are full of character and I’m relishing getting to know them. I’m trying to think of specific examples (hey, I’ve been on vacation for a week!). Math night was especially fun. It was for the elementary classes, but the secondary math teachers were asked to offer extra credit for volunteers to help. I didn’t even tell my kids about the extra credit at first (and never did for my science class), and I had well over 20 kids sign up to help! And almost all of them showed up. I ran around that afternoon trying to get them all to the various classrooms and stations to help, and it was fun watching them. One boy had a great time running the “cookie walk” (a cake walk where they had to do simple math problems to see which number was the winner). Other students were really sweet helping the little ones do the games the teachers had set up. I also got to meet a mother of one of my students, and got the official 3 cheek kisses greeting that are part of this culture.

So that’s a bit about teaching here, but what about living? Well, living in Central Asia has some similarities to Eastern Asia, at least where I lived in China. You have to remember to brush your teeth with water from the water cooler, and throw away toilet paper in the trash can. And of course there’s squatty potties. We also have mountains around the city, which I love, and appreciated when I was in China as well. Then there are things that are more particular to this region, like dressing to respect the culture and blend in more in public. Like China, there is the warmth and hospitality of the people when you get to know them. And the music. People here love music and dancing. They love Indian music and Bollywood, but they also have great pop music of their own. And they consider bread and cats sacred, and are very passionate about soccer. Love it!

Then there’s the culture of the international staff that lives here on campus. Most are from all over the States. I’m the only one from Oregon, besides one teacher whose parents recently moved there so he stayed there this summer. So now I have friends from all over, bringing their traditions and interests with them. Slacklining is a pastime I’ve attempted to take up. I can only get about 8 feet across so far, but it’s fun! There’s also a lot of musical talent amongst the staff. We like to play music and sing together and may put together something fun for Christmas. We also like to get together to watch movies at each other’s houses, and have watched some movies on a projector screen in a nice yard of one of the other teachers. Very fun! Going out for dinner is also fun. My favorite meal out so far was bbq lamb, and here at school my favorite meal is kabuli palau. Delicious!

I haven’t had a chance to get out and see the city a lot with being busy teaching, but I did go to a lovely park and will try to include a picture or two from that. I also have pictures of the rugged mountains around the city, which when we flew in today had a dusting of snow on them. There’s also a crispness in the air that is very refreshing (although I already miss the warm humidity of Uganda). Bring on autumn!

I’m now fairly well settled in to my new home for the year in Central Asia. It needs a spot sheetrocked and a fresh coat of paint, but my room is quite cozy, complete with a crimson colored Persian rug. The weather’s been great here since I arrived, so I just leave my windows open and it stays quite comfortable. My three housemates are really nice, and our dining room/living room is quite elegant with crimson furniture and matching rugs. This afternoon I saw my classroom, and I love it! Small-ish (but bigger than the one I had in China), and sunny, with nice cupboards for storing math manipulatives and science supplies. But enough about my new digs. I’ve got to tell you about the journey here and what I’ve experienced so far.

All the new staff met in Dubai for a few days for some orientation. We live in very specific circumstances, and there is a lot to learn. It was great to spend time with each other and some of the administrative staff. And they treated us to some great experiences in Dubai!

Dubai is a land of superlatives. We saw the world’s tallest building, which was the backdrop for what I’m assuming is the world’s most amazing water fountain show (we ate dinner at a balcony at TGIFriday’s that overlooks the show). Then, one of my fellow new teachers who has family in Dubai took some of us gals shopping for abayas in an old district of the city called the City of Gold, and on the way to it, we walked right by the world’s tallest man! Then there’s the heat. It’s been two years since I lived in subtropical southern China, so I’m not sure which place was hotter and more humid, but Dubai was certainly in the running for being the hottest place I’ve ever been. And of course, there are the shopping malls. We went to two of them. Dubai Mall has a huge artificial waterfall with statues of divers all over it, as well as a huge aquarium complete with a shark. That may have been my first time seeing a shark, unless I blocked that memory from the Newport Aquarium.

Then we flew to the high desert in Central Asia. It had (miraculously) rained the night before and a bit that evening as well, so the dust wasn’t as bad as it is normally, or so I’ve been told. Dust is everywhere. The dustboogers it creates are nearly as big as the buildings in Dubai. But it has been much, much, cooler than Dubai, not to mention less humid. Today is my third day here, and it’s been

Tallest building in the world

very nice out. I’d say in the 70s and 80s. Which is a blessing since us females have to layer and cover. It’ll probably get hot just in time for me to start teaching. Oh, well. I’m happy as long as I don’t see any live versions of the dead scorpion one of the other teachers found the other day (and kept to show off and give us all nightmares, of course!)

Most of my time has been spent on the campus, setting up the house I share with three other teachers and getting to know my other coworkers. Our teaching staff is awesome! I’ve met some of the local national staff as well, and they seem very nice and very fun. Our cook is awesome. He’s made some Western food and some local food, and it’s all been very good so far. The maid for my house is very nice as well, although she doesn’t know much English so I haven’t spoken with her personally, just through one of my roommates that knows some of the local language. Today a couple of the teaching staff gave us an overview of important words to know in it, so that will help. Our drivers are very entertaining and kind. One of them missed his lunch today to drive some of us to a grocery store, so we got him a kebab on the way back.

At the store, a young lady behind me in line spoke English fluently, and I chatted with her a bit. She is studying architecture in Europe, and was excited to hear that I’m a math teacher since she uses math in her studies. Then she told me that she liked how we dressed (us gals wore our abayas today to shop) because we dressed like them. I thanked her. She wished me luck for teaching, and I returned the sentiment for her studies. It was a brief encounter, but made an impression on me. I hope she is very successful in her career.

I’ve been waking up at 4:30 a.m. since I got here, because it gets dark early and gets light early (and jet lag probably has something to do with it as well, although I’d gotten used to the time in Dubai and it’s not much time difference here). Each morning I lay in bed for a while, but then I turn off my fan and listen to the sounds of the morning. Voices of people chatting. Birds chirp and stray cats cry. Then there’s the ice cream cart, which comes around periodically throughout the day starting around 6:30 a.m. with the Happy Birthday song playing. I’ve been told that sound will get old really fast, but I haven’t lived anywhere with an ice cream truck for years, so it’s fun for now.

Today is Thursday, which is this part of the world’s Saturday. We did have a meeting today since all the staff has arrived by now. But tomorrow is Sunday and we can sleep in. Well, maybe I’ll sleep till 5:00 or even 6:00 a.m. this time… Goodnight, world!

For the first part of this year, most of my writing was either newsletters for the DHS Diversity Committee, or teaching job applications. The latter paid off! In May I accepted a position teaching math in an international school in Central Asia. I’ll be heading over there this month. I can’t wait!

So now it’s time to dust off my trusty blog site, and get it ready for international posting again. I’m not very good at e-mail newsletters, so this is the easiest way for me to update friends and family. Eventually I’ll have time (after I figure out how to teach pre-Calculus) to work on my fiction writing again, and will hopefully use my blog for more literary purposes as well.

I’m going to a region that isn’t always very stable, so I won’t be as specific or as frequent in my travel blogs as I was when I was in Shenzhen. But I hope to capture some of the beauty I will see in new places I live in and travel to.

Next time I post, I’ll be on the other side of the world!

Today is the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. And it is beautiful! The moon is full and out (it’s usually covered by smog, but today had real blue sky! More on that later) and is graced by thin high clouds. Children are carrying paper lanterns, and adults are sending up floating light things (I’ve had them described to me before, but I couldn’t tell you exactly what they are). So cool!

So today was a day off work for everyone. To celebrate the 3 day weekend, my roommate and I headed to the beach (Dameisha Beach) on Saturday. It was awesome! Good breeze, not very humid, and warm water! We got completely in and body surfed. We bought beach mats and coconut drinks (they cut a hole in the coconut and stick a straw in it). It took a couple hours to get there by bus, but totally worth it for a tropical beach day! With transportation, buying our beach mats and coconuts, and dinner, the whole day probably cost us less than 20 bucks in American money. I can live with that! That’s just the gas money to get from the valley to the beach in Oregon!

Today, I went to Walmart to buy curtains. But when I got off the bus, the air felt so good and the sky was so blue, that I just couldn’t head right in to the store. So I walked over to the mountain first. Yup. I did a spur-of-the-moment hike up Nanshan on a Walmart trip. You can do that here. I didn’t go all the way to the top since I was on a schedule, but I stopped at a resting platform (not sure what else to call it, there wasn’t a view or anything) and laid down on a bench. I gazed up at the clouds grazing the blue sky, bordered by the tree branches swaying in the wind overhead. Heaven.

Weekends like these, I really love being here! It was a long, rough week teaching, so I needed it desperately. Even the kids were exhausted. Here’s to a new week, and fortunately it’s a 4 day one!

P.S. I should mention my birthday- it was a fun time with friends. The girls at my campus (we’re all girls here except when the music teacher comes from the other campus) bought me a beautiful purse with an antique map design. One of the girls bought me a playground ball that’s a globe with all writing in Chinese except for the China section, that says “I (heart) China” in it. Hilarious! My Chinese friend Jessica bought me a beautiful tea set. I love it. I went out to lunch on the Sunday before with all the girls from my campus and a couple of the guys from the other campus. I chose Mediterranean food. The owner is a guy from Canada whose name is Aragorn. So funny! All in all, it was a great birthday abroad. My first one since I was born in Germany.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I haven’t blogged in a while. The reason is last week was my first week of teaching. And before that, I was getting ready. I didn’t know I was teaching elementary school, so I didn’t think to bring things like ABC charts and 100s charts and things like that, so I had to make them. It takes a while to decorate for 1st grade! And teaching was busy, even though I only had half my class due to vacations and illness (and it was small to start with!)

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to write about my favorite local places. The places I frequent or plan to frequent. The places where I feel most at peace. I also want to do a whole post on the food here, but that will have to wait. Because today, I discovered a new favorite place.

Aside from flying into Hong Kong, shopping in Dongmen (in central/eastern Shenzhen), and meeting at the other campus in Futian disctrict of Shenzhen, all my time has been spent in my district of Nanshan. Each district has many neighborhoods.

I live in the neighborhood of Nanshan Central District, aka “Shopping Mall Land.” That’s what I call it, anyway. There aren’t really a lot of Westerners in my district, but the shopping is trendy and spendy, and there are lots of Western eateries.

To give you a frame of reference, one block away is the Maoye department store (which is several stories high, and has a supermarket and restaurants in the bottom, like every good department store here), and next to it is Book City (one of my favorite places, of course!) with McDonald’s and Starbucks in the bottom. A couple blocks away the other way is Coastal City, which is a mall in itself (and a supermarket in the bottom, of course) plus a lots of shops all around it (complete with another Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen, and Burger King). At the other end of that is Carrefour, which is kind of like Fred Meyer. The list goes on.

So I need places that I can go to get away from it all. Of course, I love the bookstore. Who knows how many stories (you keep going up these slanted moving sidewalk things) of books and school supplies and paper and all sorts of stuff. Most of the books are in Chinese, of course, but for anyone who understands the pull of Powell’s in Portland, it’s still a world of books.

My second favorite store is probably the Jusco, which is in the bottom of the Coastal City mall. It’s my favorite grocery store. Yeah, I know. A grocery store. But this one has an awesome deli where you can point to a bucket full of rice and vegetables (and maybe meat), and the guy stir fries it up for you fresh, packages it up, and you go right on grocery shopping. And it only costs around a buck in American money. We (the Nanshan Clan- me and my coworkers) go there, grab something to drink off the cold drinks row and maybe some fruit, get our stir fry, and head outside to sit by the ponds (recycled water canal).

But all that shopping gets to you. So I have a few places to get away from it all.

First of all is the park across the street from me (and the school- I live right next to my job. Weird!). It’s a lovely neighborhood park, complete with grassy lawn, courtyard and pavilion, stone path, dry streambed, and pond with waterlilies and footbridge. There is also a path that goes through this covered walkway with very jungle-ish vines. Sometimes there’s dancing going on in the pavilion- ballroom dancing to Chinese music! Once they actually put on a Shakira song. (Speaking of songs- I heard a Lady Gaga song in the grocery store today! So funny). Most of the time, though, the park is very peaceful. My favorite time to go is dusk, when the air is steamy from the heat and humidity. The last couple days there have been hundreds of dragonflies out, especially by the pond. Magical!

My next favorite place is where my new friend Jessica lives. She lives in Shekou (a neighborhood south of us, on the peninsula, where lots of expats hang out. She lives there with her aunt and uncle and cousin. Her family is from a northern province. Most Shenzheners are from provinces outside of Guangdong province, which is why the city speaks Mandarin even though the rest of the province speaks Cantonese. She’s now taking Cantonese lessons. She learned British English and lived in England for three years. It comes out sometimes- when she took Ashlee and me to her house, she pointed to a veterinary clinic and declared, “That place is rubbish!” and proceeded to tell us about when her dog got sick. Anyway, my coworker Ashlee and I got to see her place. It’s amazing. It’s the most beautiful condo I’ve ever seen with the most beautiful view (even nicer than when I stayed with my friend Elly’s family in Germany). Even the elevator has a view. The view itself is of the bay, with Hong Kong in the background. Below the complex is a palm tree-lined boardwalk along the bay, complete with lighthouse. Amazing. Her balcony had the air of a vacation home in Hawaii. We drank tea and chatted under an umbrella. That was probably the most relaxing day I’ve had here.

And now for the grand finale: Nanshan Mountain. I hiked there this morning. Yeah, it was crazy hot. I went through four big water bottles and an orange juice. But it was awesome. It’s a short bus ride away (you get off at the Walmart, go figure) and head up the mountain. Literally. The “trail” is a cement staircase that goes straight up the mountain. No nice low-grade switchbacks here. Fortunately, the mountain is only about the size of Spencer’s Butte in Eugene (a half-hour to forty-five minute hike). But with the heat and humidity here, it took me at least an hour and a half to get up. At the top, there are a couple of vendors (and a couple of bathrooms!) I decided to do like the locals and buy whatever food they were buying from the outdoor vendor. It seemed to be some sort of fried tempureh skewers. The guy asked me if I wanted sauce on it. I nodded okay. It was stinking hot. But delicious. The sweat poured out of me and cooled me off in the top-of-the-mountain breeze (thank heaven for that!). A rooster came up to my table to check out my food. There was a hen, too. I kid you not. Anyway, the views were, of course, breathtaking. They would have been much more so if it hadn’t been hazy today, but at least it doesn’t seem to be too often. It was nice to be way above the city instead of stuck in it. The trees along the trail seemed to be tropical scrub forest type. They were wonderful shade. In my last post, I informed you of the umbrella-carrying custom here. That holds true on the mountain too, although not as strongly. I saw a few ladies with hats instead of umbrellas. Those who weren’t carrying umbrellas carried fans. Most people here don’t use the fancy folding fans; instead they use cheap flat paper and plastic ones. So I broke out my butterfly-shaped one with the school info on it. Oh, yeah. I carry it everywhere. Once I returned to the trailhead (called “Mountaineering Portal” here; and I should mention the observation tower called a “Navigation Platform”), I proceeded to buy an ice cream bar. It looked from the picture like it was filled with some kind of berry or currant. Nope. Red bean. Very popular here. Sweet and cold. Good enough for me!

So there you have it: my favorite retreats in Nanshan. The places I go to get away from it all. Or to get fed.

On Saturday, I was feeling restless. It was nice outside- a dry heat (at least comparatively!) and a nice breeze. So I decided to go exploring.

I wanted to see the bay, so I headed due east. I found myself joining the locals in a pilgrimage around the Shenzhen Bay Stadium, which was built for the Universiade. The sun blared down on all of us pilgrims, but I came prepared: I whipped out my umbrella like the locals do. Umbrellas sold here all have UV protection. You can easily tell the Westerners because they’re the only ones wearing sunglasses and not carrying umbrellas in the sun.

The first stop on the pilgrimage was this outdoor stage thing. It was covered, so people sat and ate picnic lunches or took pictures of the lake (kind of a man-made bay off the main bay). The lake had giant colored balls sitting on it which were icons of the Universiade. Looking northward was a great view of the stadium. So everyone got their picture taken with that as the background. I asked a young man to take mine since he was taking pictures of his friend. Then his friend wanted his picture taken with me! That’s the second time that’s happened; the first time was a young woman in Dongmen who linked arms with Alina and me for a picture. It makes me feel like a celebrity! Funny.

Then I made my way around the lake and up to the torch. It was awesome. It’s still burning. After that, I got a picture of the front of the stadium. They kindly had some sort of portapotties there (squatty potties, of course, but they did have real sinks!) I finally made it to the vendor’s avenue at the end of the pilgrimage. They could have made a fortune on selling water all around the area, but I survived. I also bought a couple Universiade souvenirs.

So ended my Universiade pilgrimage. But then was the game! Men’s volleyball, USA v. Turkey. My friends and I took taxis to get to the University, but we ended up touring the entire campus a couple times before we found the entrance to the gymnasium. Some of our friends had a taxi driver that knew the right place to take them, so they’d held seats for us. We were the only Westerners in the crowd. So we cheered loud and proud for the USA! Even though the Turkey team was pretty good looking…

USA won!

So ended my Universiade experience. The closest I’ll probably ever get to the Olympics. Now, I’m hooked though. I’m thinking my next world sports venture will be the soccer World Cup. Go, Mexico! I mean, USA…

Right now I’m watching the opening ceremony of the Universiade: Shenzhen 2011. I’m watching it on TV, but I’m only about 10 minutes away from where it’s happening live!

The Universiade is probably about the closest I’ll ever be to the Olympics. From what I understand, it’s like the Olympics for college students. Torch and all. Hey, here comes the torchbearer now!

My friends and I just watched the parade of all the national teams with the host country China going last, and then they had dancing, speeches, beautiful Chinese music, and acrobatics. My friends finally gave up and went home, and my roommate went to bed, but I’m holding out for fireworks and hoping I can see them from my balcony! This event is seriously huge here. I heard they have 1.4 million volunteers from the city!

And even more exciting: I’m going to a game tomorrow! Some of my coworkers and I are going to watch USA and Turkey face off in men’s volleyball. I bought Universiade flags yesterday from a woman selling them on the streets, so I’m ready! The volleyball is held at a different location in the city than the stadium they built for the Universiade, but it will still be cool. The stadium they built is only hosting the opening and closing ceremonies and ping pong, as far as I can tell. But it’s awesome! I’ve driven by it. I’ve heard they built it to resemble the building for the Beijing Olympics, and I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s amazing!

I think they just said the newest torchbearer to take the stage is a former Olympic medalist. Cool!

I’m not really into sports, but there’s just something exciting about something big like this. My friend Karissa that was here earlier said it’s because I like world history, and this is the world coming together in an historical event. And we’re part of it! Love it.

Ooh, they just lit the giant torch. Sweet!

Hmm. Computer graphic fireworks. I’m still holding out for the real thing…

Talk to you all after the game tomorrow! Wish America luck! Unless you like Turkish food as much as I do. My heart is divided…

All right, Go Team USA! And China, of course, since they’re hosting and it’s where I’m living for now. So cool! Go Shenzhen 2011 Universiade!

Sea World, Shekou, with Nanshan Mountain in the background

SS Minghua, Shekou Sea World

Shekou Sea World at night

Tuesday night, the Nanshan Clan plus Cameron ventured out to Shekou Sea World. No, it’s not a theme park with orcas. It’s a very Western (and by that I mean European and American) shopping/dining area, complete with a large ship with restaurants and bars on it. The ship has been docked permanently in cement. Out in the plaza area, there is a Starbucks, TCBY, Mexican restaurant, Irish bar, and just about everything else you can imagine. My favorite part is the great view of Nanshan Mountain, that I want to hike soon.

We ate at the Mexican restaurant. The waitresses were wearing Mexican dresses, but the only Spanish they knew was Hola. It was great food, though! Afterward we explored the ship and wandered around. From the German bar on top of the ship, you could see the bay and into Hong Kong. Beautiful!

Last night, some of the Meilin/Futian campus folks came over to celebrate Debra’s birthday. We went to Noodle King first, and then went to karaoke. Karaoke here is different than what I’m used to. You rent a private sound-proof room for several hours. It has it’s own disco ball in it even. So funny! We had fun watching the old Michael Jackson videos and singing along with old songs (including Lion King songs), but after the second Lady GaGa video I think I was ready to go…   I loved it when our interpreter friend (she’s an instructional assistant at our school like I was in Salem) sang Chinese songs. She did one love song and then a song that seemed from the video to be the Chinese version of TLC. Funny! All in all it was a fun night.

So now I’ve experienced the most popular entertainment places and forms in the peninsula. Aside from hiking, I think next I’d like to head east and check out the theme parks! After I get paid, of course…

So aside from our lovely visits to the park next door, the 8 of us that are stationed at the old campus pretty much do nothing but eat and shop. And drink lots of water. So it’s time I acquaint you with shopping in Shenzhen.

The neighborhood I live in is called Coastal City, which is in the district of Nanshan. Coastal City is made up of a whole bunch of modern malls and ginormous department stores (we’re talking 8 levels with a grocery store, 3 restaurants, and an ice cream shop on bottom, which is below ground level. That’s the one catty corner from us. Next to it is Book City. Oh, yeah!). The actual Coastal City mall is down a few blocks, and you have to reach it by going upstairs to this incredibly futuristic walkway. I’ll try to include pics sometime.

But yesterday we had a more adventurous shopping experience. Jenna, who taught at a local public school last year, took us to Dongmen. Dongmen is one of the older parts of Shenzhen. It’s a labyrinth of shops and large stores with mazes of bartering stalls inside. This is where most local Shenzheners shop.

To get there, we had to ride a bus and then transfer to a subway. The subway was packed on the way there. Ashlee and I barely made it on before the doors closed!

Once there, our group ended up splitting up (it’s too hard to stay together with 8 people in that place!) and wandering, somewhat aimlessly. It was overwhelming. But I got a few cute things. Some dressy but comfortable sandals for teaching 1st grade in, a tiny notebook with pictures of Paris in it for writing key phrases in Mandarin, a day planner that turned out to be a travel diary (it’s adorable! Vintage travel style), and the smallest Jenga game I’ve ever seen. It’s about 6 inches high. Getting those wooden pieces out will be a challenge!

Tired and hungry after a hard days work (okay, so maybe not hard, but the heat and humidity and chaos of that place takes it out of you!) we decided to get food. The other gals went to McDonald’s, which happens to be the first McDonald’s ever in this country

. Sara and I saw the locals eating something that looked delicious, so we braved the Chinese fast food stand. We found a girl eating the pocket bread food we wanted, so she helped us order the right food. From there we were able to point at some fried potatoes and some other food we saw them making but had no idea what it was. Eventually we sat down with our food on the top step of some stairs and ate. It was spicy and delicious!

Just before we got food, the monsoon rains came. The roads were flooded within minutes. Fortunately, I’d brought an umbrella. The locals all carry umbrellas rain or shine (cheaper than buying sunscreen, I guess). But soon it was raining so hard that everyone holed up under cover. Sara and I made it to the KFC (built like a pagoda, of course) where we were supposed to meet everyone. It was packed with everyone trying to avoid the monsoon. I got a 7-Up because I was dying of thirst from the shopping and spicy food. It was an experience.

Eventually we made it back home to Coastal City, where the shopping feels like New York City. Today my roommate Jada and I went grocery shopping at the local Jusco, where things are more normal to us (or are they? To buy fish, you pick them out of the tank. And I got a picture of the most amazing cake I’ve ever seen. Evidently it’s for Chinese New Year). I bought a starfruit and my new favorite food, dragonfruit. We bought some amazing stir fry from the deli (they cook it in front of you) for super cheap, and ate it outside by a pond with lily pads. Yeah, I think I can handle living here!