What IS that?

I went to a noodle shop right outside of my apartment. It's super close so I figured it would be nice to be able to get some food there. I walked in, looked at the menu and just stood there... I don't know how to read any of the foods. Sure, I know some of the characters by themselves, but once they are put together in this way, I have no clue. So, I decided that the first one on the list is probably pretty popular.

I knew the first character so I said that pointed and said that one, the first one for 9 rmb. He said, "OK" and got to work making my noodle soup. It all looked good until he delicately poured something on top. I didn't know exactly what it was until he handed me the bowl. Even at that time, I didn't exactly know what it was. I took it upstairs, knocked on Nicole's door and said, "NICOLE, I have something to show you... what IS this???"

We both were flabbergasted (not sure what this word means exactly, but seems like a colorful word to use here). It looked like a bird, or a mouse, or... half bird/half mouse. I took a picture so I could remember it forever. Then I turned around, went back outside to get food that I would actually be able to eat.

I later found out that it was a quail. They steam the quail and then carefully place it on top. You can still see the ribs, tail, and head. Not my cup of tea! That's for sure.

I didn't know which picture was the best, so I included all of them.

I think you can see the ribs on this one.

Another quick animal story...
Today I was walking to the store. Next to me was a man carrying two large, plastic bags. All of a sudden, a huge fish jumped out of a bag and flopped around on the ground. The man walked up to it, kicked it, it died (or was knocked out) and he put it back in his bag. Then he continues to walk as if nothing happened. I was shocked and sort of giggled at the same time. There was his supper and it almost got away!  Oh, China... you never know what will happen next...

A wrong "OK"

Today I went to get a massage. It's probably my 15th massage or so since I've been in China. I feel pretty comfortable with the routine, I know what they do, I know what I like and what I don't. I can tell them to push harder or softer and where I have pain. I'm pretty confident while I'm lying on that bed. However, sometimes they do ask me questions that I don't quite understand (happened a lot my first year or so). Then, when I hear them say, "keyi ma? (is it ok?)" I just respond "keyi (OK)" because whatever they are doing is usually just fine.

Today I said, "OK" and I got a bit of a different response. I have had to go to a nicer place because my hole in the wall massage parlor got torn down. So, the people at my new place are a bit better (also a bit more expensive). The man I had today was about 55 or so, and I'm guessing he's been doing this for quite some time. He knew exactly where it hurt.

He was working on my right shoulder for a while (the place I have the most pain), and he keep pulling my shirt down to look at my skin there. He didn't like my shoulder, something must have felt wrong when he pushed around on it.  Then he would mumble things that I didn't really understand. At one point he said "something something something keyi ma?" and I as usual, responded with "keyi (OK)" Immediately he left the room...

I thought maybe he would rub some oil on my skin, maybe to relax the muscle. When he came back he put a blanket over my back and pulled up my shirt... (I was laying on my stomach, so it was ok). He began to put a liquid on my back and I still figured it was for an oil massage. Andrew (fellow FoCer) was watching and I asked him if my man had a needle. He said, "no, just looks like a Q-tip". About 30 seconds later Andrew says, "But that was a needle!" My guy just stuck me! Apparently, when I said, "OK", I was saying it was ok to give me acupuncture on my back...

He stuck three needles around the spot that usually gives me a lot of problems. I didn't hurt at all. I'm feeling pretty good right now, I'm hoping that I'll notice it feeling better even more in the future.

Who would have thought... I got acupuncture on accident :)

Here is my proof...

English Corner gone wierd..

Last night I decided to take the new teachers to English Corner (EC). EC is a great way to meet people. Chinese of all ages go there to practice speaking in English. Since We are all native English speakers, they tend to swarm to us as if we are fresh meat. The first time I went people surrounded Nicole and me within 3 minutes of us getting there. This time it was a bit different.

There were three foreigners and one Chinese that I went with. We arrived, stood off to the side for a bit and no one came around at all. We got some stares, but nothing to show interest. We then decided to break up. The boys went to groups and began speaking right away. I went to a group and stood there staring for a while. They didn't even acknowledge me! Wow, times are changing :)

By the end of the night, I had a good conversation with a few people, so it wasn't a waste. I got a few QQ (instant messenger) numbers and even reconnected with a long lost study friend!

Side note: my plan for next week... blog about some culture stuff so you can have a better idea how China is a bit different from America :)

Meeting a Chinese Celebrity

My friend Myto is a student at the Sports University in Wuhan. It's about a 10 minute bike ride from my place. So... we do things together every once in a while. Last Friday, we planned to play basketball in the afternoon. The night before she asked if  wanted to come to her university around 1pm to meet Li Na, a famous tennis player in China. She is very famous, won different things and has participated in high scale tournaments.

Well... I wasn't that busy, so I agreed. I got to her place about 12:20 so we could get seats before the doors closed at 1. I found out once I got there that the doors closed at 1, but she didn't come until 2. That's ok, we got there early enough to get seats (not everyone was so lucky). She came out at about 2:10 and looked... well.. beyond normal. She was wearing a baggy blouse that looked like a guy's shirt. She had her hair pulled back in a pony tail. Not at all impressive. Apparently she had a fever, but I was still disappointed by her appearance.

Here is the room FULL of students.

Doesn't she look amazing???? :(

The chatty host

The host of the day introduced her and started talking about her. Then he asked a question... then continued to talk and talk and talk... overall, he talked at least 80% of the time! maybe even more. My Chinese friends were also a bit disappointed with this "speech" from Li Na.

All well... later that afternoon, Nicole, Myto, and I played against 3 Chinese guys for basketball. So much fun!

Not doing so well...

...in keeping up with my blog. I do enjoy writing my blog, I just don't enjoy putting pictures on my computer and I know that blogs are much more fun with pictures :) So here is another blog with no pictures.

I've been keeping myself a bit busy the past week. So far, I only teach Tuesday and Saturday. However, Monday will start soon. My Tuesdays are quite long... 8 am until about 8:30 pm with a 2 hour break for lunch and 30 minutes for supper.

Saturday I also had a bit of a long day. I taught in the morning, ate lunch with an old co-worker, biked home, cleaned my apartment a bit, then bused (for about 1 1/2 hours) to kids' study. It's a super long bus ride and usually I curl up by the window with my music and sleep or stare outside. This week G-d had another plan for my ride. Almost as soon as I sat down, I saw someone looking at me with the intent to talk. He sat down and said, "may I sit next to you?" (there were about 20 other seats open out of about 35 at the time). I decided that it was ok to talk this trip. So, we started. Towards the beginning I asked him when he would get off (wanted to see how long I would have to drag out the conversation) He was going almost as far as me! Which meant... about a 1 hour conversation in a bus.

About 25 minutes into the conversation he asked if I was a b-liev-r. After confirming, I asked if he was. He is... and he lives near to my friends in Hankou (an area of Wuhan). Wow! what a gift! Tuesday I'm meeting him with some Hankou friends to hopefully introduce studies to him and get him in touch with people near his home. Pr-y that it goes well and we can feed his s0ul with the true WORDS of life!

First Week

It's Saturday afternoon and I just finished my first week of teaching. This year I teach Monday afternoons, Tuesday morning and afternoon, and Saturday mornings. I don't really enjoy having to get up Saturday morning for school, but it's nice that it gives me a three day weekend during the week.

Even though I don't teach little kids anymore, there are still times that funny things happen in class. My first funny happened when I was reading their reflections about their English level.

• I put Brownsville on the board, but not my name. My name was on the powerpoint. One of my students wrote in their paper to me, "Dear Browsnville, I hope you can ask me more questions..." Oh how silly she must have felt when we played a name game and she found out my name was Jessica :)
• Next thing happened today. I had "Chicken" on my powerpoint and I asked what a Chicken was. One of the boys yelled out, "it's a place where you prepare food". Hahaha! "No, that's a kitchen. This is a little different."
• Finally, towards the end of class I was walking to the back of the room and a boy put his hand to his mouth and started whispering something to me. I didn't quite get it, so he said it again, "Nature's calling" I said, "ok, go ahead" and he got up and ran out. Oh... the things that may happen this year :)

Our Theme

This morning I was reading the daily Meditations book. I was reading last Tuesday's (I started a few days late). After each Dev0ti0n there is a Bbl reading you can do. I looked up the one after the Devo and I got the chills. It was a perfect p-ssage for what I will be doing.

C-lossi-ns 4:2-6
 Devote yourselves to pr-yer, being watchful and thankful. ³ And pr-y for us, too, that G-d may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Chr-st, for which I am in chains. ⁴ Pr-y that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of gr-ce, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

It's perfect. It's what we all need to hear, both me and everyone reading this. Be salt, that's what we are! We're different and thanks be to HIM for that!