Goodbye China

Well, this is it. I have left China to spend the summer in Washington DC before I go on to pursue an MBA at Schulich Business School in Toronto, Canada. I am not going to write a summary of my time in China, because that would simply take too long. What I will do however is talk about what I think were the highlights of my 6 months here.

The top highlight of my time here has been making new and unexpected friends, and so the first thing I have to do is thank the people who made this experience so memorable. The friends you make and the relationships you form are the most important things in life, and I am extremely thankful to have been around an amazing group of people while in China. So thank you to Fran, Joel, Abbie, Ben, Rose, Sybille, Yoyo, Lily, Maggie, Jenny, Becky, Iris, Daisy, Tracy, Cherry, Nancy, Monica, Liz, Erica, Aaron, Georgia, Diane, and everyone else I forgot to mention. You guys are awesome, and I will always remember our times eating, drinking, and laughing together. Xie xie.

I am also thankful for the students I had the privilege of teaching. There was a lot of frustration along the way, but it was always outweighed by the kindness, joy, and occasional brilliance exhibited by the students. It was unexpected, but when leaving I realized that I had completely fallen in love with these kids. Youth truly is beautiful, and something that I think I will appreciate more thanks to this experience. The young mind is extraordinary, and I can say in full honesty and confidence that in my time teaching I have encountered some of the smartest people I will ever meet. The next generation is in good hands.

Lastly, I have to mention the food. People always say that Chinese food in the West pales in comparison to the original, and my experience here has only affirmed and reinforced that belief. I will miss the food dearly, and make it my mission to find the most authentic Chinese food I can when I get home. I will also miss the ease with which one can eat authentic, beautiful food at a cheap price. Fast food in the US doesn’t hold a candle to Chinese street food in terms of standard of quality. Everything is homemade, authentic, and fresh. It doesn’t get any better than that.

This being a blog about my time in China, I think it pointless for me to continue writing in this space. I don’t know if I will start a new blog at some point, but for now I will retire from the blogosphere and enjoy the summer with my family. Thanks for reading. Until the next adventure,

Sebastian

Hockey Musings

I guess it's been a while since I posted anything. Honestly, there isn't much terribly interesting happening at the moment. I have become much more accustomed to life here. I have more friends, including Chinese ones, and that alone has allowed my daily life to evolve beyond the work-gym-sleep routine. However, I know that many of you miss listening to me pontificate about hockey, so I will dedicate this post to just that. I have watched every minute of the Washington Capitals' playoff run thus far, and would like to share some of my thoughts with you.

1) Holtby

The number one story for the Caps this postseason has been the play of Braden Holtby, who in the first round managed to outplay reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas. Was this a surprise? No, I saw it coming. Just kidding. Of course it was a surprise. Not one of the Caps' goaltenders was expected to outplay Thomas, let alone the 3rd stringer. I will say this though. Last season, when the Caps were platooning Neuvirth and Varlamov, I did get to watch a bit of Holtby. He went 10-2-2 with a 1.79 GAA and a .934 SVP. And from what I saw, he's not much different of a goaltender now. He's big, he's aggressive, he's pretty fast for his size, and he's calm. He gives up a lot of rebounds, but most of those seem to end up in relatively safe areas. The question now is whether he is simply the updated version of 2009 Varlamov or the long-term solution in goal the Washington Capitals have been missing since Olaf Kolzig.

2) Defense

This should be the number one story. How in the hell are the Caps blocking shots so effectively? The penalty kill has stood out the most to me. Yes, Holtby has been great, but the saves he is being asked to make are rarely spectacular. The defense is doing a great job blocking shots and not allowing any second chances off rebounds. It's a refreshing change from the days of watching Jeff Schultz get dangled by 3rd liners. Alas, Mike Green still makes at least 2 bone-headed passes per game that get picked off, but oh well.

3) Backstrom

Yeah Ovechkin isn't getting much ice time. Blah blah blah. Who cares. He's stil leading the Caps in points, he still plays on the powerplay, all that jazz, so he'll be fine. More importantly, Backstrom is back. Make no mistake, Backstrom is the best player on the Washington Capitals. He's the only center who seems to be able to motivate Semin. His return allows Marcus Johansson to move to the wing, a position to which he is better suited, creating a strong first line. Having two good scoring lines helped a lot against Boston, as it forced Seidenberg/Chara/Bergeron to play against Ovechkin, leaving the Backstrom/Semin/Johansson line relatively free to do some damage. Backstrom missed much of the regular season with a concussion, and the Caps were written off come playoff time. His importance to this team is paramount, and a healthy Backstrom makes the Washington Capitals much better than your typical 7 seed.

Pictures!

For the Facebook impaired (i.e. old people), here are pictures from my life. Included are pictures from work and from my trip to Thailand. Enjoy.

P.S. The pictures from Thailand come first.

Binge Eating

I suspect you are like me. There are certain foods that, once you start eating, you can’t stop. The old Pringles mantra comes to mind: “Once you pop, the fun don’t stop” (ironically enough I don’t really enjoy Pringles). In the spirit of binge eating, I humbly present my top ten foods that I simply cannot have 1 reasonable serving of.

10. Dumplings

Seriously. Can you eat just like 6 dumplings? Is that even possible? I treat them more like potato chips and just keep going.

9. Sushi

This is why any sushi that isn’t all you can eat is a bad (and expensive) idea. I mean who the fuck is full after 6 pieces of sushi?

8. Peanut Butter

Yeah I know. Gross. But I fucking love peanut butter. Me, a movie, a jar of peanut butter, and a spoon. Good times had by all.

7. Potato Chips

Have you ever started a large bag of chips and not finished it? Yeah, me neither.

6. Chicken Nuggets

McDonalds, is that a joke? 6 piece nuggets is a meal? That would have fed me when I was 3 years old. I once ate 40. They are delicious.

5. Fried Chicken

Yeah, I’m the asshole who orders the bucket. For me. No sharing. I don’t care if I pass out from a food coma right after. Those 12 pieces of chicken were worth it.

4. Bacon

            Do I really need to explain this one?

3. Popcorn

“Hey, I’ll share this popcorn with everyone and make it last the whole movie!” Fuck. No. My large popcorn is gone by the end of the previews.

2. Anything on the McDonalds value meal

McDouble. McChicken (or junior chicken if you’re Canadian). 4 piece nugget. Nothing is better than taking 15 bucks and mixing and matching. The haul is better than trick or treating.

1. Pizza

Nothing tops Pizza. I can’t share pizza. I can’t save Pizza. I have to eat it all. It’s the only way. 

Update

I guess it's been a little while since I last posted. My new year in Thailand was amazing, thanks mainly to some great friends and the warm weather. I would recommend to everybody to make the pilgrimage to Thailand at some point. The people are friendly, the food is awesome, the weather is warm, the parties are crazy, the beaches are white, and the water is clear. Is there anything more one could ask for? I think I'll post pictures at some point as well.

Because I live in China, I got to experience a second new year as well. The Chinese new year is the biggest holiday here, by far, and it was a lot of fun. Well, by fun I mean that it seemed like every man, woman, and child in Wuhan was involved in a city wide competition to see who could set off the most firecrackers and fireworks. Chinese legend (so my students tell me) has it that there is a monster that appears at the end of each year, and that the sound of the firecrackers scares it away. The result was that it sounded like I was in a war zone. Also, they obviously don't have any sort of firework safety restrictions, so it was commonplace to see fireworks launched from the side of the road or sometimes even out of windows. New years eve was amazing in that there were fireworks lighting up the sky from multiple directions, which was really cool to see.

Other than that, my life has been pretty mundane. I'm currently busy with applying to graduate school and applying for jobs (I'll decide later which of the two I want to do) for the fall, so cross your fingers. We are nearing the end of our term, so I have to make sure the kids are prepared for finals (they are because I'm an awesome teacher). I finally bought an iPod and registered at the gym. All in all my life now consists of a pretty smooth routine.

The only question now is when to break it.

A Day In My LIfe, Part IV

Part IV

Making Moves

I think it’s safe to say that human beings crave routine. Routine means certainty, and certainty seems to be something we as a species value dearly. But what if you don’t like your routine? What if the only certainty available to you does not fulfill your hopes and dreams? This is essentially the key question. We have to balance our love of certainty, our fear of the unknown, with how much we are willing to risk in order to pursue our dreams.

I hop on the bus to Aston 1. Aston English Schools is my employer, and has four campuses throughout Wuhan, referred to as Astons 1, 2, 3, and 4. Kids come there after their regular school hours for extra English lessons. This is the reason I teach mainly weekends.

Aston 1 is where I spend most of my time. Friday afternoon is when the Aston classes start, and I have class at four. The bus from DFH takes about ten minutes or so, which gives me about an hour to have some food and go over my upcoming lessons. The bus is packed, as always. The usual stares. A blind man gets on the bus. No one stands up to offer him a seat. This is standard practice in China. Although it annoys me, I don’t think it’s fair to criticize them for this. It’s simply a cultural thing.

Eat street. Or at least that’s what we call it. My favorite place. I wave at the lady making wraps. Not today, I say to myself, but she returns my smile nonetheless. I’m in the mood for some ma la tang, which I think literally translates to numb hot soup. It’s essentially a spicy noodle soup, except you pick your own ingredients. And there are a lot of them. The guy knows my order by now. Very meat heavy compared to the average Chinese order, and therefore relatively expensive. $1.50 well spent. Next I go to a small coffee shop on the same street. The lady working there remembers me as well, because of both my size and my order. Coffee, black, no cream or sugar. A decidedly un-Chinese coffee.

I’ve retreated to the teacher’s lounge (lounge is a bit strong of a word) and am enjoying my food. The other foreign teachers working Aston 1 today are also here, and the usual banter ensues. Some of our Chinese assistants, all young women (hooray!), are also present, and the room is alive with chatter. I look down at my watch. Only 5 minutes until my C3 class. Yoyo, my assistant for this particular class, tells me it’s time. “Bu yao shang ke,” I reply, which means, “I don’t want class to start.” Nevertheless I gather my things and follow Yoyo down to classroom A2, ready to impart wisdom.

Day In My Life, Part III

Part III

Belly of the Beast

Children love at the drop of a hat. It is by far their most beautiful quality. They aren’t skeptical, or wary. They recognize that love should be given to a person who brings them joy. It is the only condition they know, and really, it is the only condition that matters.

Class is 40 minutes long. I spend most of these simply saying words aloud and having the kids repeat them. Anytime I involve any students in what, for China, would be considered an “unusual” classroom activity (i.e. getting them to stand, play games, etc.), their excitement level immediately spikes. Today’s game is no different. Almost all of the students are standing and yelling so that I may call on them. I oblige most of them, and by the time I’ve done that class is over. On my way out they follow me all the way to the school entrance, some giving hugs, some demanding high fives. I wave one last time and then walk home. It’s 9:20.

My next class isn’t until 11:30, which gives me some time to eat and have more caffeine. I make some coffee and some eggs, and then sit down in front of my computer to check my email. I lose track of time, and then realize it is now quarter to eleven. The bus only takes about half an hour to get to DFH, the other Chinese primary school I teach at, but I enjoy getting there early and catching the kids during recess. Recently I’ve been trying to teach a group of boys how to play basketball during this time, but this invariably degenerates into me running around and playing with half of the school’s student body. I don’t mind though. It’s not every day you get to make a lot of people happy.

As a student, you try to convince yourself that teachers are impartial arbiters of academia, simply there to preside over and guide the fair and equal education of all. Shockingly, I have learned that in my case this hypothesis does not hold. I have favorite classes, and I have hated classes. Some students I would consider adopting, some I want to fail just out of spite. In a sense I have come to admire my former teachers for their ability to even make it somewhat believable that they didn’t have favorites. It is fucking hard.

            Luckily for me, the two 3^rd grade classes I teach at this particular school are my favorites, and I am filled with energy. We play games, we laugh, we sing. This lesson is based on ‘I can (verb), I can’t (verb).’ The smart kids get it immediately, and the dumber kids follow their lead. Soon they are one-upping each other with ridiculous things they claim to be able to do, and everybody is in stitches. One boy claims to be able to stand on his head. I decide to call him on it. I march him to the front of the class, and demand that he stand on his head. He gets really quiet and mumbles something in Chinese. He looks embarrassed. I then grab him by the ankles and hold him upside down, with his head barely touching the ground. I express astonishment that he can indeed stand on his head. He roars with laughter, and the other students right along with him. Even the stern Chinese teacher helping me breaks into a smile, then a giggle. As soon as I put him down, everyone else wants a turn. I tell them later. They reluctantly sit down, but they are still beaming. This is when I love the job. This part is fun. 

Day In My Life, Part II

Part II

The Hamster

Complete mastery of a language is nigh impossible. Complete mastery is not simply the correct and unerring use of the words and rules of a specific language (shit, spell-check can do that). I have taken a couple of books from my dad’s very snobbish library (although he is actually smart enough to justify such a collection) and started reading them. Mostly I have been engrossed by the short stories of William Faulkner. His command of the English language is breathtaking. He is concise yet eloquent, the ultimate balance in written English. In a sense calling myself an English teacher after reading Faulkner seems inappropriate. Teaching English to Chinese people is simply teaching them how to communicate with someone who speaks English on that person’s terms. It is at its core a convoluted exercise in translation. That is not language. The English language is properly presented on Faulkner’s pages, and its beauty is as important as its meaning. It cannot be translated.

My first class is at a primary school a mere 15-minutes walking from my apartment. After picking up a couple of dumplings, I accelerate to a brisk pace. The cool air is refreshing. The caffeine is starting to kick in, and now I am truly awake. I pass by a succession of small shops selling hot noodles for breakfast. What looks to be the Chinese middle class is clustered around these shops getting bowls of re gan mian, a local noodle specialty. As I arrive at the entrance to the school, the parents and their kids stare. Just another day in China.

Instead of a bell, this school plays an instrumental version of Elton John’s Can You Feel the Love Tonight over the loudspeakers to signal the start of class. This particular class consists of 40 or so first graders. As soon as that tune begins, they scamper to class and start jockeying for seats in exactly the manner you would expect of a first grader. Their Chinese teacher, who assists me when she is not busy on her cell phone, lectures them in a stern voice. Their attention however isn’t with her anymore. They have spotted me lingering outside, waiting for the Chinese teacher to finish her morning duties, and are now pointing and craning to get a better look at the foreign Gulliver. They are all smiling. I can’t help it either. I smirk back at them, then make a funny face outside the window. They roar with laughter. Some of them yell “Hi Seb!” as I poke my head through the door. The Chinese teacher has finished her announcements, and is beckoning for me to come in. Enter stage left.

Being welcomed by first graders is a unique feeling. There is no pretense. There is no formality. There is no courtesy. There is only honesty. I can see their happiness, their excitement. Their smiles, their laughter, their bodies bouncing up and down. All of it is palpable. I love them for that. I greet them with “Good morning, how are you”, and they reply in unison “I’m fine how are you?”, their voices briefly subdued by the rigidity of this exchange they have been forced to memorize. Class begins. Of course they have forgotten everything. But the Hamster runs on.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This may come as a shock to some of you, but Christmas isn't a really big deal in China. Who knew. You don't really see any sort of decorations out, and the only times you hear christmas songs are when you are in a grocery store that tries to create a more western atmosphere. Despite all of this, the other teachers and I forged ahead with Christmas. We bought a tree, decorated the apartment, and did secret santa. At school we had a christmas party, and I had the honor of playing Santa himself. It was a blast and the kids loved it. It was the first Christmas away from home, which was a bit weird, but we made up for it by having a big Christmas party at our apartment on the 25th. Now, I am off to Thailand for a week to enjoy some warm weather and usher in the new year. My new year's resolution is, as it has always been, to be a better person than I was last year. I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and I wish you all a happy new year.

Part I, A Day In the Life

A Day In the Life

My fellow teacher Joel kind of gave me this idea. For one of his advanced students he wrote a short piece detailing one of his days. I read it and thought maybe I would give it a shot. I will write it in multiple installments (just because of how long-winded and full of myself I am) and we’ll see how it goes.

 Part I

The Phoenix

I don’t have a real alarm clock. I use the $30 cell phone I purchased on my second day in Wuhan, China, and the alarm is uninspiring. As it goes off, the only signal my brain sends my body is that it wants more sleep. Painfully, I ignore its pleas and open my eyes. It’s Friday morning.

For most people, or at least the ones I know, Friday mornings are the beginning to the last workday of the week, a prelude to the weekend. Not for me. Friday is my Monday. I am in China.

The air around me is freezing cold. Our apartment somehow manages stay below the outside temperature at all times. It defies what limited knowledge I have of physics. In my room, I can see my breath. I exhale, inhale, repeat. The irony is that though I’ve lived in Canada, I am for the first time in my life bothered by the cold. Cold air is one of the least appealing things to wake up to, and this morning is no exception.

I am wearing sweatpants, two layers of sweaters, and double socks. I leave my bedroom, fueled by my desire for a hot cup of coffee. 5 minutes later, a boiling cup of instant Maxwell House Coffee is keeping my hands warm is I step into the bathroom. The tile floor is still wet from showers from the day before. Chilly temperatures make for a poor drying environment. As I prepare for my shower, I dread the feeling of my bare feet on the cold tile. I do not turn the shower on in advance, because that would waste our hot water supply. When I am ready, I hop into the hot shower, my sanctuary from the cold. My body wants to stay forever. My internal clock turns on and says the hot water will last for another 7 minutes.

27 minutes later. I am clean, dressed, and caffeinated. Ready to face the day. Did I forget anything? I look around the living room. Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced English textbooks litter the room. I pick up the ones I need for today. Mostly beginner classes all day, then my most advanced class from 7-9. The extra 15 minutes I decided to sleep have cost me my breakfast, so I know I have to hurry if I want to grab some dumplings from the cart across the street. One more mental double-check. Left shoe on. Right shoe. I open the door. My weekend is over.  

The Walking Chinese

Have you ever been walking along, texting on your phone, when suddenly someone passes you? Did that piss you off, knowing that he had somewhere important to be while you didn’t? Well you no longer have to live with this frustration, and can instead frustrate those who dare surpass your pathetic pace. The solution: walk like a Chinese person. The Chinese have developed a method for making it nearly impossible to pass them on foot. I will attempt to outline their basic technique so that you can learn this ancient system.

Step 1

Walk really slowly. This may seem counterintuitive, but it is the rock upon which this entire system is built. If you are walking at a reasonable pace, there is no need for anyone to pass you, and you will have given in to the dark side of medium-to-fast paced walking. Walking slowly is not only the basis of this method, but it is also symbol of solidarity against the people with places to be. Fuck them.  Oh, and if you are on an escalator, make sure to always stand in the middle, and never walk. It’s there to walk for you, why should you put in any extra effort?

Step 2

Do not walk in a straight line. It is easy to be passed when walking in a straight line. You only take up one lane when you do that. That is so efficient it makes me want to puke. To boost your inefficiency, never walk in a straight line.

Step 3

This is more of a corollary to Step 2, but it is the key feature of this entire philosophy, so it deserves it’s own step. Never be predictable. Predictability leads to order, which leads to efficiency. We’re not giving in. Be unpredictable. Change directions frequently, and with no discernable pattern. For example, walk in a straight line for a couple of steps, then switch to a more right-diagonal direction, then go diagonally to the left. Make sure to fill as many lanes as possible. Also, don’t make your pace predictable. A human being with a brain can quickly identify openings to pass if you set a consistent pace. Therefore, make sure to accelerate and decelerate often. Once you become adept at this, you can take it one step further by changing how strongly you accelerate/decelerate to further throw off the enemy.

Step 4

Always do something else while you are walking. Eating, texting, talking on the phone and reading a newspaper while walking are good places to start. This will serve to further frustrate the fast walkers, who will be jealous of all the time you have to read a newspaper and all of the friends you have who you are texting.

These are mostly basics. If you truly want to master this art, come to Wuhan, China, and see the true experts at work. Their natural habitat is along busy roads and around metro stations, usually on stairs or escalators. Also make sure to visit our website at www.walklikeanasshole.com and follow us on twitter #youshallnotpass

Next week: Stuck in traffic, being passed by pedestrians? Fuck that. We will explore how to drive on the sidewalk and teach pedestrians that sidewalks are for cars, not people. 

Janus

A pros and cons list is a hard thing to do. You inherently feel like each side should be pretty even, just because the very nature of a pros and cons list implies that you are undecided in determining the merits of whatever it is you are analyzing. By extension, if your pros and cons list is one-sided, you are basically admitting to yourself that you are an idiot and should’ve come to the obvious decision way before having to make a list. In the interest if brevity, I will list the two pros and cons I feel are the most prominent.

First the pros:

The teaching is a blast. There are some classes that suck, but they are completely outweighed by the classes that I love. I teach kids age 5—15. The kids I enjoy teaching the most are the youngest and the oldest in that age range. The oldest kids I have, my C12 class, are hilarious. Their English is strong enough that I can laugh and joke with them, and they can in turn make fun of each other in English. They are very curious about more advanced English, and are not shy to ask me questions about things they don’t understand, which I love. I have the most fun in that class because I don’t really have to stick to a curriculum and can instead simply talk with my students for two hours (in the context of the lesson, but still). The really young kids I love because they are just so damn cute. The are genuinely ecstatic to see me every time, mainly because I’m ideally suited for them to climb on between classes but also because seeing me means they get a break from their rigid, monotonous style of Chinese learning.

The food here is amazing. I could write an essay on it, but you would all get so jealous I think I’ll spare you the pain. Suffice it to say that I can buy 12 handmade dumplings for 50 cents, half a roast duck for 1 dollar, and amazing noodles or rice for 25 cents. McDonalds is the same price here, but that is fine for when I have a McDouble craving. Coming to China I thought that consumer products would be really cheap, but I was wrong. The real bargain in China is food, which is just fine with me.

Now the cons:

            The no.1 con is boredom. When I’m not teaching or eating, I’m basically doing nothing. Why? Well unlike in Cambodia, foreigners are not common here. At all. As a result, no one speaks any English. This makes it very hard to communicate with anyone, so exploring is kind of difficult because the chances of getting lost are very high. Even taxi drivers don’t speak any English, and the metro closes at 10. Also, the work schedule is such that I have Monday, Tuesday and Thursday off and am working the bulk of my hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There isn’t much in terms of nightlife outside of the weekend, and even then nightlife just isn’t a very Chinese thing to do. I haven’t even been able to sign up at the gym yet, because I don’t know how to ask the lady at the front desk to let me in for a tour or to give me a membership. It’s kind of annoying.

Con no.2 is overcrowding. I know it is a cliché about China, but holy shit is it true. Nowhere is this as apparent as on public transportation. If you are taking the metro or the bus, be ready to be squeezed between 5 people basically at all times. Since these are my only modes of transport, you can imagine how this gets old real fast. Also, courtesy seems to not have made it’s way over here to China. People don’t hold doors, leave seats for old women, and generally don’t give a shit that you’re standing there and have no qualms bumping into you without as much as a ‘sorry’. If you have personal space issues, you’re in the wrong place. Also, Chinese people are really loud when they are on their phones. Like fucking yelling. When there are about 100 of them within 10 feet of you all trying to top each other in the volume department, it gets rough on the ears.

All in all though I’m having a great time. Learning Chinese especially is an awesome challenge that, while frustrating, has the potential to really change my life going forward. Oops my dumplings are ready. Gotta go. Until next time. 

It has now been almost three weeks in China, and more importantly almost three weeks since my last blog post. Just when you thought you had finally gotten rid of me, I'm back. Well at least digitally. So you all must be wondering: What's China like? The answer is I have no idea. China is big (duh), and I really haven't had any time for sightseeing or traveling, which is kind of shitty (I will get to the pros and cons section soon, be patient). I can however tell you what a foreign teacher's life in Wuhan, China is like. You can draw your own conclusions about the rest of the country accordingly.

In case you didn't know, Wuhan is quite a large city. This being China, that means really really big. Wuhan  has almost 10 million inhabitants. And in typical Chinese fashion, it shows. There are people EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME. I guess that's big city life. It does get kind of annoying though, especially when 2/3 of those people are staring at you at all times.

I feel like I have given the impression throughout my posts that everything here is all amazing all the time. While many many things have been amazing, this trip hasn't been without it's downs, and in that sense I think I have not given a full view of my experience in my previous posts, a mistake I intend to rectify. In the interest of short blog posts I will post a pros and cons post tomorrow sometime. Until then, content yourself with the fact that I am alive and blogging.

Going to China

            These last two weeks have been great. Teaching was more fulfilling than I expected, to be perfectly honest. The speed with which these kids picked things up was astounding, or at least relative to my expectations.  They were great kids, always in a good mood and really excited to learn English. They come from extreme poverty, yet talking to them you learn that they have lofty dreams, and their enthusiasm for English stems from the fact that they believe that English will help make those dreams come true. In that sense it was an honor to be entrusted with giving these children the tools needed to reach for their dreams.

           

I feel much more comfortable as a teacher now thanks to that two week trial period and I am now leaving for China. It feels odd, leaving this place. I can’t say it feels like home, but it certainly feels like a familiar place that could easily be a home, if that makes any sense. Phnom Penh has provided me so many memories in such a short period of time that I will always have a soft spot for this city. I’ve made some great friends here, many of whom are now scattered throughout Southeast Asia. I’ve learned a lot, not just about teaching but about people and about myself. For that I am truly thankful.

If you ever have the chance, visit Cambodia. I know it is often an afterthought when it comes to Southeast Asia, but it really is a place worth a detour. See Angkor Wat. Go party on Pub Street in Siem Reap. Visit Laughing Fatman for dinner in Phnom Penh, and then go hang out at Howie Bar after hours. Go to Sihanoukville and relax on the beach all day and have fresh fish grilled for you while you sit with your feet in the sand and a cold beer in your hand. Meet new friends, be they other visitors like you or locals. I did all of these things and more, and I can say I enjoyed every step I took here. Bye bye Cambodia, it’s been real. 

Show and Tell

Time to show pictures. Most of these come from the weekend of October 7th. Pictures from past that will be up at some point. Ok enjoy.


First night out in Phnom Penh. This is a fish massage (or pedicure, can't remember). The fish eat the dead skin off your feet. It tickles. A lot.

Still first night out. At Howie Bar. Awesome place. The little (well average by Cambodian standards) guy in the middle is Pithol, one of our drivers, who we convinced to come out with us. He sucked at pool. So we put money on a game against him. He then proceeded to completely destroy us one after another. Hustling 101. Jerk.

View from our hotel. As you can see, there is some serious poverty. Below is a tuk tuk, our most common form of transportation. Really fun, but sometimes nerve-wracking. Especially when you are dodging traffic or driving in the wrong lane of a busy road.

On the way to Siem Reap. There was some serious flooding, and at times even the road was under water. Oh and we saw water buffalo. I don't have pictures. Sorry.

Our group at temple no.1 (forgot the name). This one had a lot of Buddha faces, some smiling and some frowning. The second picture is me in deep thought at that same temple. We saw 4 temples in all, including the Tomb Raider Temple (where they filmed Tomb Raider) and Angkor Wat.

First picture is the Tomb Raider Temple (Yes, they really did film Tomb Raider there). Very cool tree. No statue of Angelina Jolie though. The picture below is of the Baphuon temple, which was never completed. Because of this, there were no restrictions regarding access, so we got to climb into the ruins Indiana Jones style. It was a lot of fun exploring all the nooks and crannies of this ancient structure.

Angkor Wat. One of the ancient wonders of the world (name the others?) and just ridiculous, in both size and beauty. The picture with the reflecting pool is really cool and just like all the postcards. Too bad about the scaffolding.

Crocodile dinner that night. One of those crocodile was fated to be our dinner. The second picture is of the bill (in case you don't believe me), and the third is of the prepared crocodile meat. They wouldn't let me wear the crocodile head as a helmet. No idea why.

Finally, eating Tarantula. Shit why not? Apparently you're not supposed to eat the butt. The rest tasted fine though, really not that bad.

That's all for now. Yeah yeah still too long. They're just pictures it's not like you have to read. Until next time. Hopefully I'll have pictures up from Sihanoukville. Also, in case you're wondering, I don't go to China for another two weeks. C u later. Go Caps.

A Cambodian Frosh Week

It has now been a week in Cambodia. You should go. Seriously. I have already started to fall in love with this place. It would be impossible for me to recount all the things that have happened to me in the past week without writing a couple of pages, so I will do my best to create a highlight reel spanning this and the next couple of entries. And it'll still too long. Whatever. Deal with it. 

Let me first say that all the people doing the training program with me are awesome. A lot of us are recent graduates, while some others have put their previous careers on hold to go on this adventure. Everyone it seems has a different background, but we all have a similar mindset with respect to moving to Asia, and because of that we have been able to build friendships amazingly quickly and easily. It feels a bit like Frosh Week 2007, and that is the highest compliment I can give. The teaching staff is as professional as it is nice, and the additional staff, comprised mainly of locals, is simply amazing. They do everything for us, and they do it with a smile on their face. I have quickly learned that language barriers are a minor detail when it comes to the human ability to connect.

Cambodia, at least the way it is now, is a very young country. It is still in a sort of recovery stage from the reign of the Khmer Rouge, and that becomes very clear when you see some of the poverty and the standards of living that exist throughout the city. You don’t see many old people, because during the Khmer Rouge era about a third of the population was killed. The recent history here is unbelievably sad. The most humbling part however is that the people here have found a way to put it behind them. Their positivity is contagious. It really makes you rethink how lucky most of us have been.

The energy (yes I said energy, don’t worry I haven’t turned into a hippie) here is amazing. Life moves at completely different pace than life back home. It seems chaotic, especially when driving through the city and witnessing a million motorcycles passing each other in bumper-to-bumper traffic, seemingly completely oblivious to any sort of traffic laws. I have frequently found myself driving on the wrong side of the road or simply cutting straight through moving traffic. But you learn quickly that there is a very distinct order, evidenced most clearly by the fact that there are literally no accidents.

One of the things I was most looking forward to before coming here was the food, and I have not been disappointed. I have eaten frog, goat, tarantula, and crocodile. Still haven’t been sick. I have eaten some amazing Pho, some ridiculously good spring rolls, and a plate of dumplings that simply has no peer stateside. But the best meal I’ve had happened when four of us asked one of our Cambodian drivers to take us to his favorite restaurant, because we wanted an authentic taste of Cambodia. What happened next was a feast featuring spring rolls, dumplings, and pork belly. But the piece de resistance was an entire Fish (couldn’t understand him when he explained what kind of fish, and the menu was not in English, unlike most things here) very simply wrapped in tinfoil and prepared on an open flame. Unbelievable. Oh and no meal has cost me more than 7 dollars. And beer is 75 cents a can. Shit, now I’m hungry.

I will post pictures soon (that I have poached from some others in the group), and I will also tell the story of our weekend trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat (one of the ancient wonders of the world), which was unbelievable. This post is already too long. Until next time.

Oh and the title change happened because I am pretty sure that I am by far the largest person in this country. 

That John Denver Song (The One Peter Paul and Mary Stole)

  And so, after the longest summer of all time, I am finally leaving. I was going to attempt some sort of poetic tribute to North America, but that seemed a bit pretentious. Besides, I think it is a fitting enough tribute that my three meals today were fried chicken, a cheeseburger, and another cheeseburger. Today at 1:25 PM I board my flight to Cambodia, with a stopover in Seoul. I didn't mention this in the introduction post, but in order to teach English in China, you actually first have to learn how to be a teacher. I thought my economics degree would be enough, but oh well. So I will be going to Cambodia to become a certified teacher. Yes, I could've added 'and 4 weeks in Cambodia' to the title of the blog, but that would've been stupid.
  I will be spending 4 weeks in Cambodia completing teacher training, and then I will make my way to the People's Republic. I will attempt to document all the interesting things that happen to me along the way, but if that results in too many posts, I will do my best to only tell the most interesting stories. I am excited to begin this journey, and I hope you are excited to read about it (not like 'woooooo' excited, but at least more than 'meh' excited). North America (and I say North America because Canada is such an important part of my life. Not Mexico though), it's been real. I love you, I'll miss you, and in the immortal words of Arnold, I'll be back.

P.S. If you don't get the title of this post, google John Denver. But don't listen to the song. It's terrible.

Introduction

   As some of you know, and some of you may not, I am leaving my dear North America in order to spend a year in China teaching English. I've been advised by many people to write a blog about my experience, and so here it is. Since I love to talk about myself, this shouldn't be too hard. I am however new to this, and have never kept a diary, so I anticipate the style, pace, and substance of this blog to evolve as I get more comfortable with this whole idea. Of course it is entirely possible that the Great Firewall of China will stymie my efforts to talk about myself, in which case you guys are all out of luck. But I think that by using proxies I should be able to continue this thing. 
   You guys probably have a couple of questions (or at least I hope you do) concerning my trip. Why am I doing this? Well it's definitely not for the money. I won't tell you what I'm making, but I can assure you that I will not have any savings at the end of this year. My motivation stems I think from the fact that I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Last year I was convinced I wanted to go to Law School, then I wanted to go straight to my MBA, then I wanted to work in the banking industry like seemingly everybody else with an Economics degree. I came to the realization that I am as indecisive as a child, and in order to decide the direction of my adult life, I first needed to become an adult. And the best way to grow up, to find out who you really are, is to leave your comfort zone completely and challenge yourself to the limit. It is for that reason that I decided to leave my culture, my family, and my friends. I am nervous and scared, but in one year my culture, friends, and family will all still be there, and hopefully I will return to them as an adult. 
   This post is very long winded, and I apologize for that, but this being the introduction, there were a lot of bases to cover. Don't worry, not every post will be an essay. Please leave comments, even if you do so only to pretend to have read my blog. My ego can never be too inflated.  I like quotes, so I will leave you with one by Plato: "For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories." (from The Phaedrus)