FINALLY

It's been a while since everyone out there has heard from us so we are happy to be back on board with our posts. For the longest time we've been blocked -- the government has blocked this block site, among others, because some foolish people have used blogs to further their political agenda or talk about other inappropriate matters -- and not able to share stories.

Before we start telling you about our new students and adventures while teaching here in Hangzhou, we want to share a little bit about our trip to Tibet. It was fantastic and also one of the toughest trips we've ever done. Not that we did any trekking or bicycling through the place but that altitude can really get you. We were even taking anti-altitude sickness pills and we were still hit.

First off, Sharon, a friend from MN joined us for the trip. She met us in Chengdu (where a great Panda Reserve is located) and where our friend and past tour guide Chen Chun lives. Upon our arrival to Chengdu, Chen Chun set us up in a great little hotel in a hotel room with three beds in two rooms and bathroom (only 300RMB or $39USD total.)

That evening Chen Chun took us out for dinner, Hotpot, where we finally met her mother, her boyfriend and soon to be husband, and the friend who introduced the two. Hotpot! Definition: Remember fondue? That's what it is but the pot can have two sides for liquids. One is chicken broth while the other is oil filled with chillies. Whatever you can think of that can be boiled and eaten can be put into a hotpot. Sichuan Province is the place to do it and boy, was it delicious. Spicey and hot, definately YES!

The next day we set off for Lhasa, Tibet. We were met at the airport by an English speaking guide who was with us just for that day. He was nice and we saw some paintings of deities on a mountain but really, all he did was drop us off at our hotel. This was a good thing! We slowly moved around that day. Didn't do much but a little exploration around our hotel, a little food at a restaurant down the street and sleep.

It wasn't until the following day that we met our tour guide for the trip. This trip was 10 days long and we had the greatest of luck in having La (not his real name) with us. He was wonderful. His English was superb because he had his schooling in Nepal. He is now around 30 something.

For his safety we will not use his name. It's still very sensitive between the Tibetans and the Chinese but we can tell you a little of his story which is quite amazing.

At around the age of 8 or 9 he, and other young children, were sent on a trek across the mountains ofTibet to Nepal. Yes. Over 10 days a group of 12 kids went over the mountains. Not everyone made it but he did and he was schooled by the sister of the Dali Lama. He's met the great man several times. They, along with all the students of that school, are his "family."

He is married now and has a two year old child. He calls Tibet home and goes on treks with tourists across the country but has also hiked up Mt. Everest 8 times (as a human mule of sorts) so has climbed to the 4th level. There are 6 levels by the way. La's hometown is close to where the "Friendship Hwy" ends; before you leave the "good" road and get on the "bad" road toward Mt. Everest. (the "bad" road is a story in and of itself and you'll read about it a little later in the blog.

We've got a lot of catching up to do. That means you'll have a lot to read about. There are a few pictures we'll add here but we've got to find a way to let you see more than just a few -- we took a lot of them while in Tibet.

This will take some time and we hope you stay along for the ride.....

Anyway, he was

We're on our way back to China

The picture is of an older gentleman from China who was visiting his son and daughter-in-law in Minnesota. He was a friend of our Chinese teacher, Youmei, and we met him at her home one evening. He loves, and is very accomplished, in painting Chinese calligraphy.

NEWS FLASH !

We are on our way to China again this year. Both of us had such a wonderful experience last year that we've signed up for another September-January term to the same university, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Xiasha, Hangzhou, China.

Before we start classes in September we are heading to Tibet. Yep - Tibet. Our close friend, Sharon Shapiro, has agreed to join us for this adventure and boy do we plan on having loads of fun and excitement. Well, we're hoping for it anyway .

If you are wondering how this all got started here is our explanation. Our dear friend, Chenchun, really was the instigator of this plan. Well, not really. She was our tour-guide in 2005 and has remained a friend of ours ever since she bedazzled us with her personality as well as with her knowledge of the English language, literature and music. Since our trip with her she has taken many tourists to Tibet given that her city of Chengdu, China is a gateway to "the top of the world."

Last year we were supposed to go on this fabulous trip with Chenchun but due to illness we couldn't make it and we came home earlier than expected. Well, then we decided to go back to China and said to one another, "Why couldn't Chenchun arrange a trip to Tibet and join us this year?"

Alas, she couldn't join us but being the wonderful person she is, she has taken it upon herself to arrange everything for us . Our trip to Tibet will last 10 days and we look forward to posting many of the pictures from that trip here.

This first entry into this blog is just a precursor to what's to come. Hope you join us for this year's adventure. There is a lot to come and hope you stick around for it all.

Cindy & Michael

Thanks for sharing Our China Adventure

We are sad and happy, both at the same time, to announce our return to the West. Due to some unforseen circumstances our trip has been cut short and we shall come home early.

This experience has been fantastic and it won't be the last. We all know that shit happens, especially at our age but if all goes well, it is our plan to return next fall term to teach again at ZSTU.

The staff and students have been wonderful and we've told them so. They all will be missed but as the saying goes, "We'll Be Back!"

Happy Holidays to All

href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6395/3185/1600/381418/IMG_1021.jpg"> A little Christmas tree at a party given by Michael's advanced student's classes.

This is Michael, yes, he was one of the two foreign teachers playing Santa Claus, with his co-Chinese teacher, Ms. Stephanie Liu. She is a doll and beautiful to boot. She's even had us over to her home (she lives directly behind us in another apartment complex, to make dumplings.) She's a wonderful person and the students love her as well.

Yes we have been eating like pigs, we can't help it, but no, that's not Michael's stomach your gazing in amazement at...it's a balloon stuck inside the costume....really!





Cindy's postgrad classes held a couple of parties as well. At this one they asked us to join them for dinner first, then what they call KTV, we call it kareoke. This picture just shows you a little of the table as there was two servings of food. Took about 2 hours of eating and drinking before the singing began.


If Michael wore a Santa Claus outfit at his student's party Cindy had to get up and sing for her students. Thankfully, the music was so loud no one got hurt. Here they don't care if you have a good voice or not. They love to sing and they sing from the heart.












We spent New Year's Eve in Yiwu, a city known as the wholesale capital of China as the West comes here to shop, becuase Jimmy, the gentleman standing to the left, has a children's english program in this city. Jimmy is a Chinese English teacher who shares our offices at the school. He's a great man with a vision to get kids to speak english in their early years. His program has around 40 students and they range from 5 to 12 years of age. Erin, another foreign teacher joined us down there and that's where we spent our New Year's eve. It's wasn't quiet with 30 children running around screaming and making the hotel staff freak out.
Great mugs on these kids!

The proud parents...





One parent placed their child with Cindy for a picture and...





here's Michael with a couple of the kids and....







here's Erin with a couple of kids surrounding her....

Party Time

This post was written in December but due to us being so busy and forgetful we never put the post up so, here it is. Sorry, no pictures this time!

We've been going to so many parties lately it's hard to remember what we saw, who we were with, how we ended up there and of course, the names of all our students. With more than 250 each that's been the most difficult task throughout this adventure.

Of course, there are those students that just make an impression and break the barrier of forgetfullness and so, you remember their names. But more times than not we just act like we know their names and have wonderful conversations.

About a week ago we were invited to a party by one of Michael's students. She said that it would be held on another campus, a vocational college, and that we would be picked up by a car since the location would be difficult for us, or a taxi, to find. Thank goodness we were picked up. About an hour before we were to be chauferred we get a text message (we'll explain that) Helen, Michael's student, calls to say she will not be able to attend the party but another one of the students from our university will be going. Okay. The pick up is planned 6:45 and we go out for dinner.

The pick up occurs as planned, we are driven to this out of the way (in our educational zone however) small college (only 4,000 students to our 20,000 students) and we walk into a cafe type room and there we are, the stars of the evening. The school does have one foreign teacher, a Brit, who teaches only the international trade students. Here, when you can get a laowi (Westener) at a party it's a big deal. We are so different and exotic to most of the students as they've never seen a Westerner before.

The evening was full of fun and games: singing, dancing (break dancing and one slow dance with me and a female student) and the ever so popular, bob for oranges! Yep, that's Michael bobbing -- I laughed so hard I couldn't take the orange from his mouth as I was doubled up on the floor.

Last night we attended an event given by the Material and Textile College here at our univesrity. Cindy has several postgraduate students from this college and in particular, two of them performed in the event.

The Chinese Opera

Earlier this month our university took us to the Chinese opera, "The Peony Pavilion" performed in Hangzhou. As you will see the costumes, makeup and stage sets are fantastic. So beautiful and exotic and truly the picture that many westerners have in their mind of what Chinese plays might look like. The story line is also very Chinese as you will find out.

The play was a love story. Du dies in her quest for the lover in her dream. A scholar, Liu, expresses his admiration for Du's beauty and her spirit is invoked. They become a couple despite the rift between the worlds of the living and the dead. But no sooner do they begin their new married life than they again have to separate. Liu is treated as a tomb raider by Du's father and is tortured and beaten. The couple reunite after Liu comes first in the national civil examination.

Kunqu (pronounced kwin chu) is one of the oldest and most refined style of traditional Chinese theatre performed today. It is a synthesis of drama, opera, ballet, poetry recital, and musical recital, which also draws on earlier forms of Chinese theatrical performances such as mime, farce, acrobatics, ballad recital, and medley, some of which go back to the third century B.C. or even earlier. To learn even more about this art form you can look it up at this website: www.wtrgreenkunqu.org



That being said we both want to express our own feelings about the Chinese opera -- Michael: The colors and costumns were incredibule and the stage sets were simple and elegant. It made me think of traditional and historical China. The acrobatic and martial art moves obviously took a lifetime to develop and I'm sure that many of the performers in Cirque de Sole came from this background. I felt honored to be able to go backstage before the performance to meet the actors and see them put on their make-up and costumns.

-- Cindy: I saw this type of opera when I was here back in 1983 with my mother. This time around I still thought the colors, costumns, sets and acrobatics were amazing but I remembered that I disliked the singing so I brought the iPod and listened to Western music. The other foreign teachers kind of scared me a little as they eyed me with desire! This last picture was a real hoot and at first, the performer was taken aback when she suddenly turned around and saw this big dude standing over her, then, she just giggled.

Turkey Day in China

Hi to all of our friends and family and we hope you all had a delicious and merry Thanksgiving. We finally had ours this past Saturday, August 25th. Although this may not look pretty now, it certainly was a tasty 20 pounder. We are happy to introduce you to our dinner. No names please! This bird was injected with Caijun juice and deep fried for 1 hour so that 10 foreign teachers from our school, one foreign teacher from Shanghai, one Texan businessman named Craig, and two wonderful Chinese friends could have a fantastic Western meal.

Here's Craig placing the bird into the fryer. He injected the bird with a tool he had sent to him by his family/friends back in Texas. He bought the cooker and borrowed the gas tank and burners from a gentleman down the road and we cooked and ate the beautiful foul at a restaurant by the name of Van Land. Van Land is about 3 blocks away from the main gate of our University. It's the only place around school that serves some types of Western food even though most of you wouldn't say it was real Western food. Items on the menu include curried chicken/meat/fish and rice, a spagetti of sorts, fried noodles, soups of varies flavors, pizzas (not my favorite) and even a club sandwich. The main wall of the place is painted as you will see, it has a second level with booths and also a picture screen so they show films during the weekends if people like.

This is Michael with a university student named Arthur -- who not only speaks very good English too but who is also very sweet -- Craig's roommate's girlfriend (don't remember her name but she must have weighed at least 80 lbs.), and of course, Craig...all sitting outside talking and watching the turkey fry to a crispy delight.

The restaurant use to employ a young student from another university in the area and her name is Jenni. Although she didn't join us this night I wanted to add her picture into the mix because we met her at Van Land and you haven't gotten a chance to meet her until now. Jenni speeks beautiful English, is mega friendly and very helpful to anyone needing odd things like directions (I'm speaking of us if you didn't already guess that.) Anyway, even though Jenni no longer works at the restaurant she lives and goes to university not too far away from where we live so we see her every once in a while. She's a doll!

Well, to get back on track and to the Thanksgiving event, here are some more pictures for your viewing. Here's John (sitting /3 yrs) - Robert (middle/3 yrs) - Ken (standing/new to our school) chatting before the turkey has been fried. Here are a lot of the same folks including the teacher from Shanghai, Tom, who is sitting second from the left and who also use to work at our school but found a much better paying position in the big city. Molly, the pretty blond is talking to Ken, the happy beer drinker. See the wall? Don't know who painted it but they did a great job.

Everyone was put into action. Besides turkey we also had stuffing (kind of a stove top stuffing but made from scratch) and here we see who made the stuffing.......which everyone was very impressed with by the way.

To finish off this wonderful starchy meal Craig prepared mashed garlic potatoes, Stephen prepared the baggette with butter, garlic and Kraft parmesean cheese (thank you Stephen who is pictured above) and for dessert, I chopped apples which were placed onto a pizza pie and laddened with sugar and cinnamin. Oh yeah, Craig also bought Hagen Daz ice cream to put on top of the apple turnover that wasn't really turned over.

And finally, the whole reason we all got together....

On a non-Thanksgiving note. We're flying with our eyes wide open again. This means for those of you who haven't kept up with the blog (naughty naughty) that we can get to our blog ourselves and that the government of China is not blocking us amymore.