My Brief Stint as a Minor Celebrity in Inner Mongolia

Ni Hao Everyone!

Today is my last day in Hohhot.  I leave for Beijing tomorrow, and then head to Bangkok on Wednesday.  

This morning I was on a radio show -  90.1 FM Hohhot!  They interviewed me about Aston School and people called in wanting to know how to improve their English and to guess where I was from. It was fun!  My last few weeks here have been packed with dinners and lunches and outings with my students, including a lunch in a yurt with traditional Mongolian singers!  One of my students and her mother stop by my house all the time to give me gifts.  Chinese hospitality is incredibly overwhelming. They either won't speak to you at all, or they smother you with attention and gifts. 

I have really enjoyed my time with my students.  They loved the English books that I gave them (thanks for sending them Mom!) and the $1 bills and the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Many of them have pleaded with me not to go back to the America.  I have to admit, I've been teary eyed a few times, and I know that I will probably cry at the airport tomorrow when little Amy says goodbye to me. All in all, it's been a wonderful experience.  

Oh, and if anyone has sent me mail, I apologize on behalf of the Chinese Postal System, because I haven't received anything! Efficiency is not one of their skills...

Enjoy the photos, and I will be in touch from Thailand.

Love,

Kendall

Best Day in China EVER!

Hi all!

Friday the 13th was the BEST day I've had in China yet!  The date of this great day is quite ironic... Click here to see the photo gallery of my day:

http://gallery.me.com/eprepservices#100078

At 10am I met my 7 year old student Amy, her mother, and our Chinese teacher at the school.  We drove down to the New Market to see the painting studio of Amy's calligraphy teacher (a few days earlier Amy's mother presented me with two of Amy's calligraphy paintings, which are beautiful).  He is the most famous painter in Inner Mongolia, and his paintings are very expensive.  Amy walked me through the various stores of antiques and artifacts shouting "Wow! Kendall! Look at this! Look at that!".  We strolled through the plaza and I bought some old Chinese coins green with patina, perfect for necklace pendants.

They took me back to the Dazhou temple, where we lit incense and prayed to Buddha and his myriad of saints.  Amy wished for straight A's in all of her classes, while I said a prayer of gratitude for everything and everyone in my life, and the happiness of the day.  We wandered around and I bought some prayer flags for myself and Aunt Jen (she had put in a request!).  

Hungry, we drove to the Bayantala Hotel for lunch, the nicest hotel in Hohhot.  Amy's mother treated us to Beijing Duck, which is a specialty in China.  We had our own private room and the table was quickly covered with massive quantities of food, including duck, shrimp, cucumber, fried corn and exotic vegetables like cooked lotus leaf stem.  Amy's mother had brought a bottle of the best drinkable yogurt, which was packaged and boxed up like the finest wine.  In China when you treat a guest to a meal, it is important to order too many dishes and have food left over, to show the guest how important they are.  Needless to say I was stuffed and we didn't finish all of the food!

After lunch we drove to the indoor flower market where Amy frolicked and we bought Valentine's Day roses.  I was not allowed to buy anything for Amy or her mother - I was their guest for the day and was treated to everything.  They even helped me run some errands, like purchasing wine for my adult students.  Exhausted, Amy's mother said she was taking me to Pizza Hut so that we could eat again and "have a rest".

So, at 4:30pm we drove to Pizza Hut.  Unlike in America, Pizza Hut is a VERY nice restaurant.  We had coffee and of course I can't say no to pizza so I ate again!  Amy's mother even ordered a hot fudge sundae to surprise me and the Chinese teacher.  At 6pm they dropped me back off at the school, where I met my adult students for dinner!

My adult students took me and my foreign manager to dinner at a nice Islamic restaurant with a private room.  The 15 of us swapped stories and laughed and of course ATE AGAIN.  After dinner they had made a reservation at the KTV (karaoke bar) across the street.  It was super fancy with a private room, an array of drinks, and a spread of fresh fruit.  They sang traditional Chinese songs and the ballad from "Titanic", while I was forced to sing George Michael and 'N Sync.  It was hilarious!

Yesterday was truly everything I dreamt that teaching in China would be.  I have enjoyed my relationships with my students immensely.  I feel very blessed for these experiences and for the opportunity to be here.  Finally, I can say "I love China!" and it's because of my wonderful students.

Ah man!  I'm getting all choked up....

Enjoy the photos! I love you all!

-Kendall

Quote of the week...

My students continue to be hilarious.  I have a one-on-one class with a bright young man named Caleb who is a university student trying to get to England to study electrical engineering.  He was telling me about his favorite movie.  He said that he didn't know the English name of it, but it was during World War II, about a man and his son: 

Caleb:  "You know, during World War II, with that bad man, Shitler."

Kendall:  "Excuse me, who?"

Caleb:  "Shitler."

Kendall:  (laughing) "Shitler? Shitler? Oh oh! You mean HITLER!"

At this point I had to explain two words to him, one being "shit" and the other being "Hitler".  It was a joy to point out to him that his minor error was, in fact, very accurate, since Hitler was a total shit.  In any case, can you guess the movie??  "Life is Beautiful", of course...

Currently my adult students are competing over the latest issue of "People" magazine that I bought in Shanghai for nearly $10, and my little girls are learning how to spell their numbers.  My mid-level students, including the infamous 7-year-old named Amy, continue to delight me with their witty expressions.  Today, while Amy was drawing a hippo, I was talking to our Chinese teacher Yoyo (great names, huh?) about my plans after my contract is up:

Yoyo: "Will you travel in China after you are done?"

Kendall:  "No....I'm going to Thailand.  It's too cold in China..."

Amy:  (very annoyed)  "That's because it's WINTER!!!"

And so of course I accepted a lunch invitation with little Amy and her mother for Friday afternoon. She is hilarious, gifted, and precocious.  She is also a gifted calligrapher, chess player and EATER. Lunch will be a comedy act.  I will keep you posted....

Love you all...

Kendall

Life in Inner Mongolia

Hi All,

Well, I only have 2 more weeks of teaching left!  I will be heading to Thailand around February 24th! Hurray! I have become quite attached to my kids though, so it's sad to think that this time has gone so fast.  

This week I indulged in traditional Mongolian hot-pot, which is kinda like the fondue of Genghis Khan. I'm serious.  Genghis Khan invented it.  I guess he was trying to eat before a big battle, and the cook was so slow and the other army was advancing so quickly, that Genghis just threw all of the meat and vegetables into a pot of boiling water and fished them out as they came to the surface...

Speaking of fish, they put the WHOLE FISH into the hot-pot...It was pretty tasty. I tried mutton too. Things are getting crazy up here!  The weather is getting warmer and my eyeballs don't freeze in my head any more.  Oh, and I finally went to the fancy bar at the Holiday Inn, and it WAS actually quite fancy. One drink cost the same as our entire meal at our local, whole-in-the-wall restaurant, where I got to hold a local baby and make it cry - every Chinese baby is ridiculously cute!

Today I visited the Inner Mongolia Museum with Arena, my Chinese co-teacher.  She is a very sweet girl, but I don't think anyone has told her that her English name means "sports stadium".  I learned about the Mongolian landscape, the history and the culture.  I even got to see traditional dancing!  They had amazing life-like wax figures of Genghis Khan (whose name means "universal ruler"), and they even had one of him meeting Marco Polo!

My Chinese has improved, and the greatest achievement of my trip so far was when I went to a local restaurant by myself this week, and ordered in Chinese.  I was ridiculously proud of myself.  It doesn't take much to please me...

Enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Kendall