Monday Field Trip part deux

Obviously as good Americans, we felt it our duty to visit the local Pizza Hut establishment to see if it lived up to its great name.  Pizza Hut in China has a slightly different atmosphere than ones in the states.  Not only is it a sit down restaurant with waiters and real menus, they even serve fried squid and pigs in a blanket! I ended up being a woman and getting garlic bread and a salad (I wasn't particularly hungry) but I did manage to snag myself a slice of stuffed crust cheese pizza from one of my friends and it did not disappoint.  Afterwards, we journeyed around Walking street and did some shopping. 

Walking Street

Ditto

We found it!

Sweet uniforms. I love tennis ball green

Inside Pizza Hut

This water mug was definitely not big enough for me

Yummy!

The very satisfied group

Shoes/Heaven but where are the flats? You'll be glad to know that my small feet and hands feel at home here in China, everyone is my size!  

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist...

Dedicated to Lindsay "balls' Yuen

Here are some pictures of the kids I teach throughout the week.  I teach Basic Reading to 8 & 9 year olds at Guanghua school (the school I live at) 4x a week (T,TH,F, Sat). On Wednesdays, I travel to 2 preschools in Hefei and teach to 3 & 4 year olds. Teaching has definitely been much tougher than I had anticipated and I am still struggling to figure out what I am suppose to be doing most days but I have had a lot of fun with the kids and they are slowly warming up to me.

So freaking cute!

They learn the peace sign so early, I assume it's part of the mandatory Chinese curriculum

The little ones

  They love ninjas, you don't even know...

These 4 look cute but they are ohhhh so naughty

What I imagine Lindsay to look like as an 8 year old except she would have a fanny pack and a Mickey Mouse ears :)

Charlie or as some of the kids call him, Chocolate

Pencil peace signs

Joey and Spencer were stoked to get their picture taken

Benny and Jesse (and yes, we Americans have given them all ridiculous names)

Field trip to Lord Bao's Park

Last Monday on our day off, the group all took cabs to Lord Bao's Park in Hefei.  It was a pretty cold day but it was fun to get off the school grounds for the afternoon and walk around.  The highlight of the day came after the museum when we found a dvd shop that sells pretty high quality dvds for a little over a buck.  Some of them were pretty shady but I was able to pick up some of the movies that are still in theaters in the US that I didn't get a chance to see before I left.  Let me know if anyone has any requests while i am here.

Proof that we were in fact there

Yay, tickets! These will have to go in the scrapbook

Me and Danielle in front of the entrance all bundled up

Pretty and I am slowly getting used to the gray skies

Megan, Tammi and I in front of Mr. Bao. And get used to this pose, you're going to see me doing it alot!

Abby acting like the cats?

Black hoods are so in

Creepy wax statues. We think that is Lord Bao in the middle

This may be my only opportunity to ride an elephant in China. And in case you were wondering, the answer is yes, the girls in my group think i am quirky but in a good way of course

Hefei

Laundry Day

Just thought I'd share a few pictures of the washing machine we are fortunate enough to have at our disposal.  There will be no handwashing for me/ giving my clothes to the village women to wash in what was probably the Ganga river (like we did in india)

The washing machines. Please note the faucet/hose at the top in which we fill the basin

Who needs a lid?

The spinner - we do not have a dryer but this thing takes the clothes from being dripping wet to merely damp. Amazing!

Chinese Class

We are fortunate enough to be getting Chinese classes twice a week which are taught by one of the vice principals of the school.  It is a hilarious 1 hour in which we spend most of trying to learn how to pronounce the alphabet and figure how to say the tones of the vowels.  I am getting no better than I was on the first day I arrived in China with my very limited vocabulary of Ni Hao (hello) and Xie Xie (thank you).  The class also has the benefit of not only being a language class but also a drawing class. I have included some of my lame attempts at character drawing.  

Our ILP group in class

The letters we were learning for the day and it may look easy but we struggled

My Chinese notebook!

JoyMart!

My friend Danielle and I went to JoyMart (which is a glorious grocery store about a block away from our school) a few days ago and decided that we didn't stand out enough as the only 2 Americans in the store so we decided to pull out our cameras and start taking pictures.  It was great fun walking around the produce and meat department and no one seemed to mind us or our cameras.  Enjoy!

Please note the lack of glass in front of them

The refrigerated section

Romantic?

Cooked meat

At least they're fresh....

What the???

They don't even know what's coming

There are no words

My guess, shrimp of some sort?

I want to try these! I think they're a type of fruit

Yay, cleanliness!

The Chinese Taco-Twinkie

Our trips to Guogou Plaza

We have now journeyed to the mall twice since being here (and if you must ask, there is only one male in our group).  The first time, we just went there for the cultural experience which consisted of walking around aimlessly.  The second time, we went to get ice cream in order celebrate Valentine's day properly.  I was surprised to find out the Chinese do indeed celebrate what I thought was an American holiday although as you may expect, it is a bit less commercial here.  I only noticed the flower shops around here seemed to be a bit more busy than usual.

Our walk from the bus stop to the mall.  Apparently the Chinese love neon lights

Our group arriving at the mall and yes we definitely stick out like sore thumbs

Inside the mall

A store display

You can't read this sign but this is a microbrewery at the mall which made me laugh.  The name of it is "Golden Hans", they served meat Brazilian style and instead of normal pint glasses, they served beer in what looked to be child sized glasses.

Our bus trip back. We barely got on, it was that crowded. Intense!

Us, getting up close and personal with the native Hefei-ers/ans (?).  Aside from our group, I have yet to see a single non-asian person since arriving in Hefei.