June 4th--June 6th

June 4^th:

TGIF! Today was a bit drizzly so wasn’t in the greatest of mood since we had to school. The worst thing was that the class we were supposed to attend didn’t even go to class. Nia and I were just sitting in class jamming out to BSB songs! Thank god someone called me and we had laptops to just watch random shows for a bit. I was taking the bus back to my apartment and of course the bus BREAKSDOWN---IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC! Just my luck, we had to wait in the sweaty heat for another bus that was stuck in traffic…China’s traffic is not to be messed with. Cars can create their own lanes if they feel like it so being a pedestrian is very dangerous here…. So much for jay walking…

June 5^th:

Since it’s the weekend, we decided to go bar hopping and clubbing since the weekend has been long awaited. We went to “lao wai tan” which translate to “foreigner’s island” . There are many restaurants catered to foreigner’s taste. We decided to eat steak at a place called “Bullfighter” and it was kind of early for lunch. We were the only ones in the place until we almost finished then people started to roll through.

As we observed the place, I realized it kinda looked like Brooklyn for a bit. The cobble stone road with bridges covering the area and a spot near the waterfront to sit and take in the view, it was really nice. As we were about to finish our lunch, some random dudes decide to ask us to take our pictures. It was really random but TIC (This is China) so why not. They followed us for a bit and we kinda got annoyed after a while so we were like ‘uh, we want to go to a bar to have drinks so ..yeah…’ After we got them to understand we gave them our emails in hope of receiving the pictures they took that day even though we knew the chances of actually getting them are SLIM, we decided to try it anyway…WE NEVER GOT THE PICURES! (It is july now!)

After we had drinks at Shamrock bar, we decided to go clubbing. The club we went to was supposed to be a good one, from the outside it looked okay. It was all fancy and what not. Since it was still early we decided to bar hop a bit more and went to Wonderland. We ordered some B-52 shots…(It comes with fire!) There was a special that day so we stayed for a bit then moved onto another bar until we could dance.

As we made out way to the club, the music was loud so we got our hopes up…Once inside, it was just old people! By old people I mean like some were middle-aged and others were beyond their 20s. We had on our ‘WTF’ face. When we were seated we asked where the dance floor was, and the guy said “you’re looking at it!” …In the midst of the loud music I was like “WHAT! You got to be kidding me! That 4x8 looking piece of wood is your dance floor!” Okay, it wasn’t 4x8 but it’s not that big. It’s about the size of an average dining table.

Since it was our first time clubbing here in Ningbo, we decided to give it a chance. Ordered some beer and tried to get a feel of the music and club. It was an epic fail! They had some live performances which were okay, but the dancing….OMG! It was basically worth to go laugh our butts off. Drunken old people dancing are hilarious! Some were doing ballet moves on that small platform while others looked like they were having seizures attacks. The first DJ wasn’t that good, but as the night went on, the next DJ was better. After 1am we decided we couldn’t take it anymore and called it a night.

June 6^th :

Wu Xuan came so when we woke up, we decided to use her Chinese skills to help us out and find us food! We were hungry so we decided to have some hot pot. It’s been a while since I had hot pot so I was excited. We asked around what was a good hot pot place and went there. It was near Tian Yi square so we were happy we got to walk around. When we went, we were the only ones eating but after a while people started to flow in.

After lunch we decided to hit up the bell tower market and just have a glance. We saw an arcade and decided to play a few rounds. We played bball, a water/beer pouring game, wack-a-penguin/artic animal, and even racing games. It was intense! After all that, we hit up a small dessert shop called ‘2 girls’ and ate some small desserts. The place was all graffiti-ed up and so we decided to contribute as well.

Since it was about dinner time after we ate dessert, we went to a sea food restaurant that looked okay. We ordered some random seafood and ate. There was a cute little girl there who danced for us and even showed Nia some moves. She was really cute. The owner met his wife on QQ an online chat place sort of like our MSN or ICQ. Then he decided to open the seafood shop with her and had their daughter. She was 6 ½ years old. Such a cutie.

No internet for 1 week=life rough & unhappy Sim

So I did not have internet for about 1 week and I was NOT HAPPY! I was actually very grumpy! You try not having internet on a weekend! It's not good!

Now I'm back to civilization again, I will update the blog on long awaited stories :)

The first few days

Sorry for being behind the blogs--been busy lately..Will get back on track in a week or two...I'll try to write every other night or so.

June 1st

Tuesday was children’s day… Yes, they do actually celebrate it here while we in the states have no clue. So apparently there’s a discount for people who are university students (score) so Nia and I hit up the Brazilian BBQ and got the student discount. After classes (boring because we were just observing) we went home, showered then hopped in a cab and arrived at the BBQ. Once there, a big party table was there but it was a nice place to eat.

I’ve only eaten at a Brazilian BBQ once before this time and it was in LA with Alex and her family. It was awesome! Unlimited salad bar and then all the meat you want---all so juicy and delicious! The food there was fresh and I had so much but it was so good! We also ordered some drinks to pass the time. There were children running around, but it was a good atmosphere.

After dinner we decided to walk off all the meat we’ve just consumed. We were close to Tian Yi Sq. (the main square in the city where all the name-brands are) and we decided to just walk around. It’s really pretty at night.

Coming back to the campus was interesting. We took a cab from Tian Yi and the driver was 2F2F(2 Fast 2 Furious) status. He was zooming left and right and I don’t even think he used the brake once unless it was for a traffic light (but it felt like we didn’t even stop for any lights! Traffic lights are truly a suggestion in China!) and then within about 10mins or less we’ve arrived at our school! Also during the ride he was like you girls scared? Don’t be, don’t worry you’re fine!

I think we’ve settled in okay but waiting for the actual time we get to teach. We’ve been approached by students asking many questions and many stares (but mostly for Nia…)

June 2nd:

Today we had to sit in our class that we’d be teaching and it was sooo BORING! The teacher was teaching US history from colonization to the Great Depression. We legit fell asleep in that class. So we decided to just come back to our apartment and slept until we had to go back to school that night.

At 6:30pm they had a concert celebrating May 4th and we were invited to attend. It was a great performance with dancing and singing and what-nots. It was a long day but at least we were well rested.

3 day in 1

Recap of Flight to Ningbo:

Arrived at JFK at 8am. Checked in and then went through security but was called aside because apparently a snow globe can not be carried on the plane. The snow globe was a gift for someone—and the guard told me I had two options—> throw it away or check in my carry on bag! So I had to sadly leave it back in NYC and find a way to ship it somehow when I get back.

Before getting on the plane I already puked because I was nervous and anxious—so I knew I wasn’t going to like the plane ride. The plane ride was about 15 hours so I basically didn’t sleep the whole way there and my left eye got irritated with me and decided to revolt and become bloodshot, while apparently my right eye didn’t get the memo and stayed normal.

I re-watched movies I’ve already seen just to pass the time. They had a good Korean Pop playlist so I was really happy about that. After we landed in HK, I had to run through the airport because our gate was at 503 while we landed in 33.We took a shuttle and ran to our gate which we made in time.

On the connecting flight from HK to Shanghai they had the option of western food or DIM SUM! I of course took the dim sum tray duhhh! Inside there was a zhong zi (sticky rice), jiaozi (dumpling), shui mai and xiao long bao! The zhong zi was really good. They even served ice cream—I got the cookie and cream flavor. For someone who gets plane sickness I was okay (thank god).

We landed around 6pm going through the security check. People from Ningbo University of Technology were there to greet us. We got our dinner at the airport then started on our journey to Ningbo. We got to Ningbo at around 10pm or so. We settled in our apartment and the first thing we did was get our internet worked out. We don’t have to pay for our internet so YAY! We just need to use the Ethernet cord which I’m down with.

May 30^th:

On Sunday I woke up early at around 7:30am so Nia and I decided to go shopping for some food to stock up our fridge. We had KFC for breakfast. Our apartment layout is pretty nice. We have our own bathroom, kitchen stocked with a fridge/microwave/stove and even a washer. Then the ‘living room’ was converted into Nia’s bedroom. Then I got the actual room. This apartment was meant for a single person but it’s not bad. We are in a good location because we are near food.

After shopping for food and have stocked our fridge with beer and water, we headed out to a village in Ningbo. This village has lots of farming area—apparently city people pay these farmers to grow crops for them. So we went with one of the teachers and her friend who had property there. The weather was gorgeous! It was sunny and breezy. We were surrounded by mountains and trees. Once we reached the property they started digging and they had crops like corn, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage and peppers. After they’ve collected their crops, we went to a restaurant in the village where they prepared the potato, cabbage and lettuce that were just dug up.

I was very full by the end of that lunch. We then toured a bit more by car going through the mountains. It was very scenic.

By the time we made it back to the dorm, I had to get my SIM card for my phone so I had a working phone in China. We then had Sichuan food for dinner. Thank god we ordered beer lol we had to go to bed early because the next day we had to wake up early (7am) to go to check out the school.

May 31^th

One of the teachers drove us to the new school which is about 15-20 mins away. Let me just say their campus is GINORMOUS! The teacher the campus was small in China standard. The campus is still being renovated with buildings being built left and right so it’s not completed yet. But with what they have now, it’s really huge already.

After we arrived we got to meet some of the other foreign teachers. One teacher is from Japan (Akira), Australia (Jeanette), Germany, and two from the States (Bruce and Daniel). Daniel was nice to take us out to get some breakfast on campus. There is this little alley way that has lots of different food and stalls so I bought some pork buns…I bought 3 pork buns and a soybean milk. I miss the pork buns in China, they are so juicy!

When we finished our breakfast we sat in on 3 Interpretation Classes. It was interesting that the classroom was set up like the UN. The tables, podium and then the booth in the back where translators usually sit—it was like mini UN. It was really cool. At first it was cool but then the classes got boring because the questions seem to be dragged out. I had to translate from English to Chinese 2 paragraphs… (I really don’t know enough Chinese to translate things about inner city illiteracy…or how to say federal tax forms…) But I gave it my best shot. Damn me for being able to speak somewhat decent Chinese.

After sitting on the classes, we toured the campus a bit. There are 4 bridges right now that connect the academic buildings to the dorms, but by the end of the construction there will be apparently 11-12 bridges in total! (Don’t know why they want that many bridges!)

T-17hours to Ningbo,China

My suitcase lays in the guestroom with clothing flying in every directions. Yes, basically it looks like a bomb went off in that room. I am packing my backpack to bring onto the plane.

I have to wake up early to be at the airport at 8am.

Flight leaves at 10:10am.

Gets into HK at 2:05pm on the 29th and then to Shanghai at 5:30pm.

Hope I don’t get sick like I do everytime I fly.

Sim out!

5 days until I leave for Ningbo.

There's 5 days left and I still haven't packed, done most of my lesson plans yet, and does not have one clue as to what I will be doing there even though I'm suppose to co-teach a survey course for 1.5 hours for a few months the first month and English classes the other.

I am so NOT prepared for this!

panicking sim

Ningbo Internship

I will return to China this summer (hopefully it gave up in trying to kill me...)
I will be in Ningbo, the southern part of China. It's about 2 hours or so away from Shanghai which I will hopefully travel to during one of the weekends to take a look at the World Expo! :)

I'm just getting ready now to head out.

I'll be flying out on May 28th from NYC and have a layover in HK then head to Shanghai where I will be picked up...

Back to MHC life now...

Sim out.