From Beijing to Cangzhou

Sunday, August 26

We got to have our second encounter with the Beijing subway system on our way to church. We actually got to church much faster than they (our group leader people, Jacob and Spencer) had expected, so we had about an hour to kill at the church building before it started. This was good because it gave us a chance to grab some breakfast, which we had neglected to do before leaving for church. Luckily, there was a little restaurant on the first floor of the building where church was held, so we ate a random bowl of something we pointed to and it was really yummy. It tasted like a rice bowl that you might get at like a Rumbi or something back home. Yum. Then we went back up to the fourth floor where church was held. This office building seemed pretty ordinary, but once you got off the elevator at the fourth floor, it seemed fairly similar to a church meeting area you might find like on BYU campus, not necessarily like any old church building in Utah. All of the rooms had labels in Chinese and English for churchy things like “Branch President's Office,” etc. There was even a chapel room that seemed like it was pretty dedicated to being a chapel. It was just like a big meeting room with chairs all facing a podium and stand in the front. There were even those little wooden plaque things that show the hymn numbers up on the wall. At the beginning of sacrament meeting the Branch President read a message that they apparently read every week, reminding the members of the circumstances under which we were meeting and the laws that we needed to strictly obey. Then an American couple that has been living here for 6 months spoke one by one and it was very touching. It was nice to be in such a familiar environment again. After sacrament meeting, we all (China Horizons people and some foreign exchange students here from BYUI) met in a big room with the Branch and District Presidents, where they reiterated the importance of our obedience to the laws of the land. They expressed that it took a lot of negotiating to get to the point where the church is with the Chinese government right now, and that we need to be very careful to keep those good terms untainted. They then went over what branches everybody would be in. Just like most others, we will be attending the virtual branch. It's pretty neat. You just call in and type in a certain number every Sunday and then participate in sacrament and one other one-hour meeting (they switch between relief society and priesthood) virtually. Pretty neat. I think we'll do that most of the time, but try to go to Beijing every once in a while to attend the branch there. Overall, church was a really nice experience. We just about doubled the size of the branch for the day. Pretty crazy.

On our way back to the hostel from church, we actually ran into some other LDS people! Small world! We were walking down the street that our hostel is on and a Swiss lady walked up to us and asked us if we spoke English. Then she asked us if we were mormons. I was a bit caught off guard, but answered in the affirmative, and she said that she was too! She pulled her children and husband over and explained that they wanted to go to church in the Beijing branch but had a hard time figuring out when and where it met. So neat that we ran into some other LDS people. We spoke with her for a few minutes and then went to a little restaurant with the Erbs for dinner. I had that tomato-egg dish on rice and it was so so delish. Mmm.

Monday, August 27

For breakfast we tried this new thing that's basically a sandwich bun around a big piece of fried bread and some stuff (saurkraut?) in the middle. It was pretty good. Then we spent the next 8 hours in “ESL training,” which was actually pretty simple and just consisted of our teacher teaching us some Mandarin using techniques we can use in the classroom. Plus we chatted about how to deal with some cultural differences and stuff like that. Somewhere in the middle there we took a lunch break and ate 30 dumplings. Oh boy, I'm pretty sure we're going to come back quite plump. Also, at some point we were assigned a Chinese family name that was supposed to sound like Russell, for the purpose of learning how to introduce ourselves and stuff. Whew. It's hard to say. It's spelled Cao (no, it is not said like “cow”). It's the second tone, so to us it sounds like you're asking a question when you say it. The hardest part is pronouncing the “c,” which is pronounced like a highly aspirated “ts” sound. It's the same sound in our city's name, Cangzhou. Also, apparently it means “grass,” but is a homophone with the worst swear word that exists in Mandarin. Oh boy. Aren't we lucky. I think we'll try to get a new Chinese family name.

After training ended, we grabbed some dinner with our new buddies, the Erbs. I ate a big plate of fried rice (it made me happy) and Tom ordered a mysterious thing that was translated as “fried bean curd with sauce.” As it turns out, it was a plate of tofu with some brown sauce. He actually quite enjoyed it, but felt weird being full of tofu after. (He is currently lying down, saying “too much tofu, too much tofu...”)

Then we went to an acrobatic performance. Overall it was pretty dang impressive. Some of it was a bit cheesy, and they lacked perfect timing, but some of the stunts were simply unbelievable.  

These guys were pretty awesome. They were like super buff and hairless and stuff. They were really good at cool poses but the most important part of their act was their zoolander look out into the audience when they reached the climax of their pose.

This was probably the most mind-blowing act of the night. What you see is a large metal cage, with 5, I repeat, FIVE motorcycles riding around inside together in loop-de-loops. Craziness.

These ladies were really good with their balance and could juggle balls with their hands and feet and hold each other up. Amazing.

Tuesday, August 28

Tuesday was another training day. We were running late, so we had to skip breakfast, so like an hour into the meeting I thought I was going to die. Luckily, the “super market” next door sold some Ritz crackers, which we bought and ate a whole sleeve of during a break. We only had training until like 11:30, and then had a long break for lunch and a nap. We reconvened at 3 for some last words of wisdom from Jacob and then at 5:30 we went to the farewell dinner down the street. Side note: crossing the streets here has been an adventure every time. Wow. It's pretty scary. Each street has a little side street which is separated by medians for bikes and scooters to ride on, which is such a great idea, except for when it comes to intersections. It is seriously a free-for-all. Traffic laws (if they even exist), signs, lanes, red traffic lights: they are all simply suggestions, only to be followed if convenient. Crossing the street is basically like playing Frogger with your own body. (Has anybody seen that episode of Seinfeld?)

Anyway, the farewell dinner was yummy. We've had this dish at a couple of places which is like cooked bok choy with chewy mushrooms. I ate more than half of the plate that was brought to our table. I think part of why I like it so much is that my body really wants more vegetables than it's getting. Dinner ended with this delicious American-type treat that was little rolls that you dip into sweetened condensed milk. Mmm. We ordered a second plate. I think Jacob knew that we would need a little American food for our souls before being sent off to our cities.

The subways are so packed. There is no such thing as personal space.

After dinner, we went on an adventure with a few other couples. We took the bus and subway back to the silk market, where Tom got really close to buying a pair of toms shoes. He talked the lady down to only charge 50 RMB (like $8 USD), but when he got out his wallet to pay, he realized that he only had 30 RMB with him at the time. We were sad about that, but not too sad. Then the real adventure began. We took the subway and did a lot of walking to get to this famous night market where they sell fried scorpion and other such things. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was shut down. For such a huge city, Beijing shuts down really early. On our way walking back to the hostel (which was quite a long walk, might I add), we saw very few people and cars. And it really wasn't all that late, between like 10 and 11 p.m. It was pretty weird. We did see something neat though: we walked by the city's mote (yes, it has a mote; and until semi-recently it had a city wall with towers for archers and watchmen) and saw people night fishing in it. It was pretty dang nifty to be in the middle of this massive city and all of the sudden see a huge mote and people fishing into it off of the bridge, basically in complete silence.

We passed through Tianenmen Square on our way back to the hostel (that's how we knew we were close), and took a quick break on the curb because our feet were hurting. As we were sitting there, a few Chinese girls stopped to talk to us. They looked like they were on their way to a dance party or something. They wanted us to be their friends and "come and drink beer and dance" with them. I'm sure that would have been an adventure, but we were very tired and ready to go home. It's fun to see how eager some people are to try speaking to us in English. These particular Chinese girls were very excited to show us their English abilities.

Wednesday, August 29

We woke up real early to pack up our things and head to the train station. Driving up to the train station felt like driving up to a big airport, except for instead of a runway, there was a huge platform area with tons of bullet trains lined up ready to depart. There was a security check, just like at an airport. We made a pretty big traffic jam in the train station waiting for our gate to open up, but the wait gave us time to say goodbye to our friends that we'd made over the tour. Unfortunately, Tom and I couldn't sit together on the train because of some errors in organizing the train tickets, but ten minutes into the ride, I went to sit with Tom because he had an empty seat next to him. There were only two stops before ours in just over an hour. In between those stops we were going well over 120 mph or so. The train was very smooth, quiet, and spacious. Spencer came around to make sure we got off at the right stop. We said our goodbyes and thanks to him and got off the train in Cangzhou. At the exit, we met our liaison, Susan. If we thought we were nervous, then she was definitely nervous. She and a driver escorted us to an Audi that they brought to pick us up. We asked Susan about the weather and if it was always this muggy and she said it was. As soon as we pulled in to the Cangzhou area, it was like we were in a cloud of fog and pollution. This combo made it very hard for our eager eyes to see anything in our new city. We just had to trust that these were the right people to be leading us into the city. 

Susan showed us to our apartment, which is conveniently located on the school's campus. She told us we could "take a rest" and call her when we were ready. We weren't really sure what this meant, so we just checked out teh the apartment for a half hour and called her. She took us to meet "The President" of the school, Mr. Zhang. This was by far the most interesting experience of our introduction to the school. We had no idea what to expect before walking into his office. We were quickly welcomed in and sat on the couch. On the other side of the coffee table, or tea table if you will, sat Mr. Zhang, The President, wearing a "Just Do It" t-shirt and some jeans and tivas. We felt a tad overdressed in our dress and suit. He was slow to begin the conversation, but managed to offer us a cigarette, tea, and coffee, within the first 10 minutes of meeting him. When we mentioned we were from Utah, he immediately made reference to the "religious building" in Salt Lake City. He's never been there, but he knows about it. He asked about the church and we told him it was a Christian church; he seemed surprised. He was also quite surprised we declined tobacco, tea, AND coffee. He thought we were quite healthy for it. He wanted to make it clear to us that he wanted us to be happy here; that was reassuring. He then invited us to have lunch and dinner with him in his personal kitchen for the next few days, until the school cafeteria opened up. Immediately after inviting us, he walked over, picked up the phone, shouted something in Chinese, and put the phone back down. We assume he was telling the chef to make extra food. Unable to interpret everything that was going on, we simply accepted the invitation. After meeting with Mr. Zhang, Susan showed us around the school, and then we went to the kitchen to have lunch. Mr. Zhang met us there, with a line of 4 or 5 pretty Chinese ladies following him (I think they were kindergarten teachers). This is when he offered us some of his finest liquor. He seemed really quite befuzzled when we declined. He said we could just try a little, but when we told him it was a family tradition to not drink alcohol, he respectfully didn't prod any longer. The food was delicious; it was served family style, of course. Out of the 8 or so people sitting at the table, he and Susan were the only others who spoke any English. We soon discovered that Mr. Zhang speaks English very very well and actually is a kung fu master. He offered to teach Tom his ways. Tom wasn't really sure how to react, so accepted the offer, but didn't take Mr. Zhang up on it (yet). Since that lunch, we've had a number of lunches and dinners in his personal kitchen, and we think that Mr. Zhang really enjoys talking to us. He's a very interesting guy and has a powerful position in his family and city. At the end of lunch, Mr. Zhang recommended that we go and take a "snap" (nap), so we can have more energy later in the day. He told us this was a Chinese tradition, to always have a snap after lunch, and he said we should enjoy it while we are here. We were happy to oblige.

The first thing we endeavoured to do in our new apartment was to figure out how the A/C works. This was especially fun because there are about 15 buttons on the remote control, and none of them are in English. Also, the temperature is in Celsius. After our afternoon snap, we took to cleaning the apartment. It wasn't terribly grimy or anything, but there was a layer of dirt on pretty much everything. After Susan finished her regular work, she took us to Tong Tian, the supermarket, so we could get some food and household supplies. This was the first real supermarket that we'd been to here in China (save for Walmart in Beijing), and boy what an experience it was. We felt like lost ducklings following our liaison through the store. It was such a good thing that she came with us; we would have been so lost without her. It's hard to find things for two reasons: we didn't know if certain things existed in China, and very very few items had any sort of English on them, or any recognizable American brand or symbols to show what they were. On our way back, Susan told us that we couldn't leave our apartment the next day until we went with her to buy a cell phone because it was her job to keep track of us. It was kind of late when we got back, and we tried to cook some dinner, but realized that the fancy gas stove (our only cooking mechanism) wasn't hooked up, so we just ate some "mini french breads" and jello cups. Luckily, they were both delicious. We decided to end the night by watch a copy of Forrest Gump that we found in the DVD player. Turns out that this copy was pirated and only played in black and white, and had Polish subtitles. It was good enough! I was really quite happy to see that my favorite movie just happened to be left here. It was a sign.

Thursday, August 30

Susan called us at 8 a.m. and told us she'd call us back in an hour. So we snuck out to the market across the street in the meantime. The market was pretty nifty. There were stands with all sorts of fresh produce, fish (alive or freshly killed), chickens (also alive or freshly killed), and many other interesting things. We bought a couple of crispy biscuit-type-things and some pizza bread, but we hurried back to our apartment, so we wouldn't get in trouble. The pizza bread was pretty interesting. It looked like a very simple pizza from afar, and it turned out to be fried bread with sweet and sour sauce and some chives on top. It didn't taste like pizza, but it was still quite delicious. After we got back, Susan came over with two guys to fix our stove dilemma and internet dilemma. It turns out that there's no gas running through the pipes, so they just brought an electric stovetop. They couldn't figure out how to hook up our laptop to the internet, so we are just using the desktop computer they provided for now. It's actually really nice to have a desktop, other than the fact that the operating system is in Chinese and can't be switched to English. 

Then Susan took us to buy a cell phone. We bought the cheapest one available, and later found out why it was the cheapest. It's pretty old school Nokia, and doesn't even have T9 texting. But that's okay, it does what we need it to. The cell phone is basically our ticket to freedom, so we won't have to stay in the apartment all day. We got back late for lunch, so Mr. Zhang wasn't there when we went to the kitchen. But the chef had food ready for us. Using Susan as a translator, we set up an appointment to go to lunch early the next day so that the chef could teach us how she cooks so well. After lunch, we of course enjoyed a "snap." The rest of the day was filled with getting settled in to our apartment and having dinner with Mr. Zhang.

Friday, August 31

In the morning we did some more cleaning and unpacking, and exploring the market across the street. Then we headed to the kitchen early to get a cooking lesson from the chef lady. It was quite the experience since she spoke zero English and we only know a few phrases in Chinese. She taught us how to make the tomato and egg dish, as well as these delicious-looking fish pictured to the left. The word for fish in Chinese is yu, spoken with a rising tone, and a curly-do lip that is impossible to replicate. Then we decided forego our afternoon nap, and save a few kuai (slang term for yuan) by walking to Tong Tian, the supermarket, instead of taking a cab. That walk was longer than we had anticipated. Although our walking experience was an adventure, and we saw many interesting things on the way, we will be taking a taxi from now on. It's worth 7 kuai (~$1 USD) each way. On our walk, we spotted a KFC and a place called e-Pizza that we made plans to try in the future. We bought a few more food items and household supplies while we were at the supermarket too. Unfortunately, we didn't bring the backpack this time around so we had to carry all of our groceries back by hand. We thought about asking this guy for a ride. He looked so friendly.


It was all worth it when we stopped at one of the street vendors selling fruit literally right accross the street from our apartment. The verbal exchange was confusing as always, but when it was all over, we walked away with 13 bananas for less than 1 USD. Even better, they were some of the best tasting bananas we've ever had. The bananas here are way better here. I think it's because the banana taste is not quite as strong, but they are sweeter than usual. It's pretty awesome that we came to Cangzhou at this time of year because it is harvest time, and all of the produce is super fresh and super cheap. We informed the chef that we wanted to cook in our apartment that night, and made some Ramen Noodle packet. We couldn't read the instructions, but it wasn't hard to figure out.

No, we did not get this picture off google. And yes, that is a real carrot. We are just glad that we don't have to get scurvy.

Saturday, September 1

Today was a good learning experience for us about the a particular aspect of Chinese culture. Here, things tend to be planned at the last minute. This morning, our lovely liaison, Susan, called us at 8 a.m. and asked us to come to the school right away. We were still in bed, but jumped up, threw on some clothes, and were there within a few minutes to parade around to each class and introduce ourselves. It was the first day of class, so all of the parents were there dropping their kids off. I'm pretty sure one of the reasons we were told to come right away was so that the parents could see that the school did indeed have foreign teachers. We have certainly gotten used to being paraded around; it's kind of fun. Anyway, after that we went home and Tom worked on fixing my computer, which has been a little sad lately. At 3 we went back to meet with Mr. Zhang (President of the school) and chat about curriculum and schedules for the semester. At one point, he told us that he has had several people (other teachers) tell him that Tom and I look alike, which in Chinese culture means that we are meant to be together and we are going to have a good marriage. Right on. Also, Mr. Zhang and a few teachers chatted in Chinese for a few minutes while we waited (we've gotten used to this) and eventually decided where our office at the primary school would be (we already have an office in the kindergarten building). I'm pretty sure that they just decided to take somebody else's office and give it to us, because when we got into "our" office there was a freshly smoked cigarette in the cigarette dish and a bunch of other signs of recent use. After sitting in there for about 10 minutes and snooping around, another teacher walked in and grabbed the cigarette dish and a few other things and left. It was fairly awkward. So we decided to go home after that. We walked around the campus on our way back and realized how big the property really is. There are geese and chickens and a bunny and a dog and frogs as well as a few acres of gardens with different types of fruits and vegetables. Awesome.

Around 4:45, Mr. Zhang called us and asked us if we wanted to come with him to a wedding banquet of his close family friend at 5:30. We accepted. He called back about a minute later and asked if we could leave right then. So we did. I'll tell you what, we could not have been more satisfied with the cultural richness that we experienced. He drove us out to a village that was only about 20 minutes away from the school, but that was enough for it to seem far far away from a city. On the way over, he told us about his relation to this family and how the bride's grandfather was his kung fu master (teacher). Also on the way over, there was about a mile-long strip where there was just tons and tons of corn piled on the shoulders of the road. It is harvest time! Anyway, once we got into this little village, it was like being at a small family reunion. Everybody chatted, argued about who would take the nicer seats (we were automatically given the nicest seats for some reason, even though there were several people there who were at least 80 years old), etc. Mr. Zhang told us how he was related to everybody, which was a bit hard to keep straight because he was related to everybody there through blood or marriage in some way. This all took place in a little area between some houses, I'm not sure how to describe it. It was like a dirt courtyard, I suppose. I wish we had brought our camera. After chatting for a while, we got back in the car (along with Mr. Zhang's kung fu master and some pretty lady that was related to somebody) and drove down the dirt road into the next village. There we all (nearly 150 people) met up at a restaurant. We sat at a table with Mr. Zhang, the kung fu master, and six other people. Again, Tom and I were given the best seats available at the table. In this case, these were the seats facing the door (in Chinese culture these seats are given to the highest guest). We felt like we were being treated much nicer than we deserved, especially since we didn't even know the happy couple. The food.. wow. The amount of food served at this banquet put mormon eating events to shame. First, ten big plates of food were brought out to each table. A few of these dishes included: crab (which had fur on its legs), shrimp (with heads and legs still attached), meatball-type-things, strips of pig ear mixed with vegetables, sweet egg-roll-type-things, roasted chicken, roasted pork elbow (?), chicken nuggets (more or less), and a few other things. This first round was pretty tasty in general. The pig ear was a strange consistency; I gave up on it after one bite, but Tom finished his helping - he said it was crunchy. Neither of us tried the shrimp because we weren't sure how to go about it. The roasted chicken and pork were both delicious, and in combination with the chicken nugget things made for a good reminder of home. Eating the crab was pretty interesting. Mr. Zhang and the lady sitting next to me helped us bust it open and told us to eat what seemed to be the brain to me. We tried it, but spit it out when no one was looking. Blegh. However, the furry legs yielded tasty morsels of crab meat. Then the second round came. Eight soupy dishes were brought out and piled on top of the already overflowing dishes. These soupy dishes were all clear noodles in a brown sauce with various types of meats and such on the top. I'm not so positive about what the meats were, but I know one of them was tofu, one was little meatballs, and one was described by Mr. Zhang as "not real chicken." Oh and let's not forget the several toasts that were made. What appeared to be vodka was in bountiful supply. Luckily, Mr. Zhang kindly explained that we didn't drink and we were given sprite (with many refills in our little glasses) instead. Many people came up to Mr. Zhang throughout the meal and we were introduced. It was a lot of fun and a bit of a challenge to try to make small talk with somebody with whom we shared little to no common language. All the while, we felt that we were quite overdressed, as Tom was certainly the only man wearing slacks and a tie, and I was the only lady wearing a dress that wasn't a flowy summer dress. Mr. Zhang assured us that this was fine, and that we should simply wear what we feel comfortable in. At that, he motioned to his outfit, which was the same "Just Do It" shirt and jeans he's been wearing since the first day we met him. Overall, the night was a great success. We got to know Mr. Zhang on a much more personal level, which was so much fun. We definitely got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a wedding banquet in (semi-)rural China. We loved every minute of it.

Sunday, September 2

This morning we were awoken by a phone call at 8 a.m. It was Susan, our liaison, explaining we need to work today because we get an extra day off for National Day vacation. So we went over to the school and figured out our schedules. We came back home just in time to phone in for church. The virtual branch is a pretty interesting experience. We call in and simply listen to and participate in the meeting over the phone. There were some technical difficulties, but overall it was a great experience. It was so interesting to be sitting in a living room, just the two of us, and be "at church." There was a great spirit present during fast and testimony meeting. The opening hymn was "The Spirit of God" which really invited the Spirit. It was so awesome. Then we listened as the phones were taken off of mute and various members bore their testimonies. After the meeting was over, they took a roll call of everybody present. Some groups who called in had up to 10 or 12 people, most groups were 2-6 people, and a few were calling in alone. Though people were calling in from all over the country (and even one from Wyoming, I don't know what the deal was there), I felt a great sense of unity among us. After roll call, we had Relief Society. This was again an interesting experience because whenever the teacher asked if anybody had comments it was a bit hard to know when to speak without seeing anybody raise their hands or anything. It all worked out wonderfully though, and was just the lift we needed for the week.

After church, we went over to the kitchen to have lunch with Mr. Zhang. We had a delicious squash dish, among a few others. Then, unfortunately, we had to go work. Thomas taught a grade 5 class, and then I taught a grade 1 class. Wow, there is such a big gap between those two age groups. The fifth graders were so well behaved, and the first graders, well, they were first graders. They spoke nearly no English, so I couldn't really instruct them. It was a bit disheartening, to be honest. But luckily I fell back on a simple "hello" song that I learned during training in Beijing, which worked out okay. Thom did a great job teaching the fifth graders; he's a natural.

When we got home, we watched "Raising Arizona" on netflix, or at least we attempted to. That movie is so funny; if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do. Yes, it has Nicolas Cage in it, but he is really hilarious in it. The internet connection was struggling, so we had to watch in 10 minute increments with 5-10 minute loading sessions in between. We eventually got through the movie and ate some dinner. We've been eating these things that are basically Top Ramen but more authentic. Pretty tasty. Then Susan dropped by and told us that we'd be giving a speech at the kindergarten opening ceremonies the next morning. Lovely. So Tom wrote up a little speech and emailed it to her so she could prepare to be our translator. While he was at it, he made us a QQ account. QQ is like a Chinese mixture of MSN messenger and Facebook. EVERYBODY is on QQ. When you ask someone for their email address or phone number, they give you their QQ number. People are constantly chatting on QQ on their smart phones and such. In fact, we've had two experiences where we've had someone help us with our computer or some other electronic thing and they've hopped onto QQ to ask their buddies how to fix the thing. So now that we have QQ we're going to get mighty popular here in China.