A Year in the Life of a Waiguoren

Just a quick post to let you all know that I am safely back on American soil. I arrived home on Monday after a one night stop in Narita, Japan and my flight to Chicago and off to MN. It feels wonderful to be home. So many people to see, things to experience, and observations to make. It is a different world here for sure. Public places are quiet, there is not a different smell on every corner, and many of the people look like me. Weird!

It will take me awhile to re-adjust to the time zone and way of life but hopefully not too long. I do miss China, my friends, and my students. I have to remind myself on occasion that I really did just get back from China, because it almost seems like a dream now that I am back at home. It was a wonderful amazing experience that I will always be a part of me. Now I just have to figure out what is next for this girl! Gotta keep things exciting

Writing Chinese calligraphy in the park

Even though I am finished blogging for this chapter of my life I do plan on continuing to blog. I have found that it is a great way to cherish the moments of that which we call life. I am going to switch back over to my blogspot page since it allows more creativity and is not blocked here in the States. If you want to continue to read my posts feel free to look up lizziehenak.blogspot.com. It is far too cold in this coffee shop. Time to get back outside where it is warm.

Something to think about: Let your teeth see the sun everyday!

A favorite English phrase of my students

Like it or not my time here in Shijiazhuang is almost over. Spring semester has flown by and I cannot believe I have almost completed my first year of teaching post-graduation. The next two weeks will be filled with goodbyes, photographs, email exchanges, shopping, and "lasts" of all the routines, habits, and friendships I have developed here. If all of my family and friends moved here from the states I would definitely stay here for many years to come. I have loved it all...well almost all of it

Boss and his personal translator-class 1

Here are a few more of the many reasons why I love being in China:

• Night markets filled with things you don't need for very cheap and people who would love to sell them to you
• Street BBQ-a night of delicious grilled food, beer, and great company
• Adorable children who will sit on the street and giggle with you for hours (Meimei in the photo below is my favorite)
• There is always a friendly face to talk to- just today I had a phone conversation with a staff worker from my gym. Using half English and half Chinese we managed to communicate to each other that my gym membership was over and that was OK because I was going back to America soon. A third of the conversation was laughing at each other trying to speak a different language.
• Chinese people are so proud of their culture and traditions and love to share it with you
• Foooooooood
• Crazy things people do that now seem normal to me...coming back to the states should be interesting hehe
• Silly texts and emails I get from students everyday in Chinglish
• Chinese people treat each other like one big happy family-crowded trains and all

Mr. Fu! My English teacher friend

Last weekend we all traveled to Qingdao for an end of the year bash with the gang. It was so much fun just walking around in beautiful weather and spending time on the beach together.

My China family!

I spent the past week outside on the new AstroTurf field that the school just put in. It was a blast to take the students out of the classroom. We had a great time playing "Sharks and Minnows", "Red Light Green Light," and "Duck Duck Goose."

Sharks and Minnows<img class='img' src='http://www.travellerspoint.com/Emoticons/icon_smile.gif' width='15' height='15'

I will post at least one more time before I head to the West. Be sure to check out my photos because I have posted quite a few recently.

Savoring the moments,
Lizzie

After weeks of anticipation my parents and sister finally arrived in China! It's amazing how even after 9 months of not seeing each other it is always normal and comfortable to be around family

I was lucky enough to finagle my way into getting a week vacation from the school with only a little begging and rescheduling required. My parents and sister arrived in Beijing on a Wednesday and I made it up there by the next day to see them. For most of the two weeks that they were here we traveled with a tour group and it was wonderful. We just followed the leader like little ducklings and got to see many interesting sites and ask as many questions as we wanted. It was much more relaxing than if I had to be the one showing everyone around!

Our tour consisted of Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, and of course Shijiazhuang with me as the tour guide
In Beijing we saw the popular spots like the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and even the Beijing Zoo. In Xian we saw the famous Terracotta Warriors and toured the Wild Goose Pagoda. The warriors were amazing to see. Crazy to think that there are thousands of soldiers still buried under the ground and they have been there for thousands of years! I also took my sister out to experience the awesomeness of a Chinese night market. We bargained our way through and found some nice sunglasses, a shirt for Hilary (that ended up being the latest fad in China), and a couples t-shirt for Hilary and her boyfriend (they are all the rage in Asia these days).

Hilary and I at the Bird's Nest in Beijing!

Night market in Xian

Next we headed South to Hangzhou. My friend Jessica is teaching in Hangzhou right now so we got to have dinner with her and take a walk around West Lake. If you recall from one of my earlier posts Hangzhou is said to be paradise in China. It is beautiful and green compared to many major Chinese cities and it has the famous West Lake. In Hangzhou we did some shopping, learned about traditional Chinese medicine, took a boat tour, and learned all about the famous Dragon Well tea that is produced there.

We got to have dinner with my friend Jessica in Hangzhou!

Tea Plantation

Suzhou was the next stop. It is only about a 2 hour bus ride from Hangzhou. Suzhou is known as the "Venice of the East" because of its many canals and waterways. It is also famous for its silk. We took a relaxing ride through the canals and learned all about the making of Silk. We also toured some of the many beautiful gardens found in Suzhou.

Beautiful canal ride in Suzhou

The last city before Shijiazhuang was Shanghai. As you may know the 2010 World Expo is currently happening in Shanghai. When I was in Shanghai in October there was massive amounts of construction happening in preparation. It was fun to see the city again when half of it was not blocked off. Here we toured the Shanghai Museum, walked along the Bund (river walk), got the bird's eye view of the city from the top of the world's sixth highest building, shopped at the largest bazaar, and of course spent a day at the World Expo! It drizzled for the entire day that we were at the Expo but we all agreed we would rather have that than very hot weather. At the Expo we ate good food from different countries, went through 10 different country pavilions, walked a million miles, and did plenty of people watching! We even got VIP access to the Russia and USA pavilions due to my dad's schmoozing abilities It was a neat experience to be able to attend a worldly event like that.

Me and Dad with the China pavilion in the background

Me and Hilary with Haibao!

This post is getting long but we are at the final location...Shijiazhuang! After Shanghai, the tour group headed home but my parents and sister accompanied me back to Shijiazhuang. We maneuvered the Shanghai subway with a little help from a local and hopped on a plane back to the Shiz. The family got to see the city I currently call home. They stayed in one of the empty apartments in my building and I gave them the grand tour; Waterpark, downtown, school, favorite restaurants and meeting my friends etc. They even got to go to my friend Jing Jing's house for lunch. Her family invited us over and completely stuffed us with dumplings and delicious food. Only Jing Jing spoke English but we all enjoyed each others' company nonetheless. Monday morning they also got to meet one of my classes and get a taste for being a celebrity in China.

Mom, Dad, and Hilary came to meet one of my classes!

Overall it was wonderful to have them here and I am so glad they got to come and experience a bit of what I have been living in for almost a year! Be sure to check out my photo album because there are many more photos there that I did not put in the blog post.

Savoring the moments,
Lizzie

This post is long past due but better late than never right?

The crew for Saturday night supper

Just to refresh your memory Johnny is a very good friend of ours who works at our school and has helped us through many a confusing Chinese moments. We had all been wanting to take a trip home with Johnny and finally a weekend came when most of us could go! So on May 15th Johnny, Steph, Laura, Jordan, and I headed to Nanhe for in overnight with his mom and dad. Nanhe is a smaller town about 3 hours outside of Shijiazhuang by bus. It was a wonderful relaxing weekend. John's mom and dad (Ai and Shushu) were wonderful. Neither of them spoke English but we all had fun using our broken Chinese and having Johnny interpret for us.

Aunt, cousins, and, uncle oh my!

Best buds, Johnny and Jordan.

The two days that we were there were filled with eating, chatting, walking, and meeting just about every neighbor and relative that lived in Nanha. We met aunts, uncles, cousins, co-workers, neighbors, and even high school friends. It was so much fun to see a smaller town and get to be visitors to someone's home. I even got to try driving an electric bicycle! We taught Johnny's friend how to play some card games and they taught us how to speak Chinese with the local dialect. It was a little different to listen to!

Johnny and his mom

Plenty of dumplings for dinner!

On Sunday for our meal with all of their friends we ate sooooo many dumplings. You can see them in the picture and that is only half of them! We did not go hungry at any point in time over the weekend. Saturday evening we had a wonderful walk around the town and the town park. Laura, Steph, and I even joined in on some dancing with the locals on the street.

Dancing in the street!

John's father (right) and good family friend

Overall it was a wonderful weekend and I am so glad we found the time to go. Everyone invited us back again and we all wanted to spend more time there but unfortunately we had to head back to Shijiazhuang so we could teach on Monday morning.

Our favorite sandwich man--Laoban! (Boss)