How do you go to work?

Traveling to work in America is simple. My guess is that the majority of you drive your car. Maybe a few of you walk or take a bike. Even less of you probably take the bus. None of you (to my knowledge) have ever taken the subway to work. Here is a simple blog about the variety of ways I can go to work. I have put them in the order of most likely to least likely. Notice that none of them include me driving a car...

1. Bike- it's healthy, free, and fast! I can stop to get fruit, vegetables, and meat for dinner and be on my way. At only 10-15 minutes per trip, it's faster than the bus!

2. Subway- super clean and really close! This is the lazy way I usually go to school. Door to door is about 20 minutes (depending on my walking speed) cost: 32 cents

3. School bus- no, it's not a little yellow bus with a red stop sign. It's a big brown van. Most companies provide transportation for their workers. My school bus picks me up about a 5 minute walk from my place. Only problem- if I miss the bus, I'll be late for school. Total time: about 15-20  min

4. Walk- nothing to explain here, just a 30 minute walk in the great sunshine!

5. Motorcycle- No, I don't have one, but many people in China do! You can find them all over. Older men sitting on street corners waiting for the next customer. It's not really through a company at all, you can just tell them where you want to go and negotiate a price. I don't usually use them because they are a bit more expensive than other transportation and I'm not usually running that late. Time: 10 minutes Price: $.80- $1.20

6. Public bus- There's a bit of a hike to the nearest bus stop, but it's an option if I need it. Cost: 29 cents

7. Taxi- Because of the one way streets near my area this is very inconvenient. I have never taken one to or from school, but it's an option if I'm coming from a different place. Price: about $2.40

Wow! 7 ways to get to school. I guess I can never have an excuse as to why I didn't show up!

p.s.- I could also take a black taxi- those are random cars that offer you a ride. Don't worry, not super popular and not that unsafe either. Never taken one, but I know other Focers who have.

p.p.s.- I also forgot one! I can get dinked! This is when I sit on the back of Nicole's bike like I'm riding side-saddle on a horse and she gives me a ride to or from school. Perfect for a time when only one of us has a bike and we both need to get home!

Keeping busy

This semester has started out quite well. I've gotten myself into a bit of a routine, which has been nice. Part of my routine includes tutoring an older man. He's about 48 and is hoping to go to America as a visiting scholar. I don't know exactly what that means, but I do know that it includes being invited by a university and given opportunities to teach some lectures (at least I'm pretty sure). He's trying to improve his English quickly so that he can be accepted into this program. I've been working with him twice a week for the past few months. He's taught me a lot about Chinese culture and isn't shy to talk about ANYTHING! Today we had a fun converstion.

Jefferson： [looking at my pictures on the wall] Jess, you are beautiful, but there is a problem with some of your pictures.
Me： Well, thanks. What's the problem?
Jefferson: Well, the problem is you don't wear enough make up or tight clothes. You would be more beautiful if you did that. In this picture you aren't standing up straight- it makes you look like your not confident. (I changed the English to sound more fluent)
Me: Yeah, I don't like to wear too much make-up, it takes too long.

Hmm... didn't know how to respond to this one... :o) It's ok, he's a great guy and works really hard. Maybe some day I'll take his advice and wear more make- up.

I've also been volunteering at our local English-speaking coffee house. They now have California ice cream!!!!!! This month's flavor.... Mint Chocolate Chip!! For some of you, you know it's my favorite!!! I've had a few already, keep going back for more :o)

Bus in Wuhan

I took some pictures while I was on the bus from my part of town to another Foc part. I was hoping to capture the crowds of people that are always outside waiting for the bus. They were taken from my iPod, so they might not be the greatest quality.
One of the pictures shows the inside of the bus. I also included a picture of me with my friend Lyrica!

Hospitals

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This week has been a bit crazy. One of our fellow Focers had surgery. He broke his foot in Thailand during Spring Festival and needed surgery to put in some pins to help it grow back together. So, with the school semester starting, studies starting, and visiting him in the hospital, I've been keeping busy. Chinese hospitals are quite different. Here are somethings I have learned from my friend's experience.

1. The nurses are there mostly to make sure your alive and they give you IVs.
2. Family does the rest for you- get you food, water, anything you need. Empty your bedpan, basically anything that isn't directly connected with your reason for being in the hospital... so...
3. If your family can't be with you all the time, you hire someone. Our friend has his only little "maid" that he pays $3.25 a day to do all the things he can't do on his own. This includes, but is not limited to heating up his food (he has to pay for the microwave too), emptying the bedpan, getting him hot water, and... really anything that he needs help with.
4. Visiting hours are... well, always. You can go anytime and stay as long as you wish!
5. Showers are not required. He hasn't taken a shower in a while.. why? because the bathrooms are really sanitary and he would need help. I don't blame him for not showering, I wouldn't either.
6. Bathrooms- you provide your own TP and soap.
7. Nurses wear the "typical" nurse hat that we all think of when we think of nurses.
8. You have 2 roommates.- unless you pay for a VIP room.
9. Hospital food is not provided and seldom eaten.
10. Pain medicine is not provided quite like America- no Vicodin here!
11. They keep you for a long time! He had his surgery a week ago and he's still there for a few more days.
12.  Although it's quite different, they still make sure you are taken care of and provide the best care they can give.

Shopping

Today I taught my students about shopping. We had some vocabulary in the beginning. Some of our words were: for sale, on sale, pharmacy, window shopping, shopping spree, debt, barcode, and compulsive shopping.
To review the words I asked some questions and they had to tell me which vocabulary word is connected to it. The last one I said was "what if I have no money?" Some of the students yelled out "debt" I laughed and said, "no, what should I do?" "Use your credit card." Me: "ha! Why don't you try using a vocabulary word." Finally I got someone to say "window shopping!"

Picture: Leona's birthday!!

Lateran festival

The past two weeks China has been celebrating Spring Festival. It starts and ends with a boom (literally... Fireworks all over). Today is the last day of the festival. So, of course, we hear a lot of booms outside :)

I'm assuming these booms symbolize similar things as the first booms. Superstitions about chasing the old spirits away. Tonight we were having our "meeting" and during our first song as we were lifting our voices to praise Him, we heard booms all over outside. Here we are, a small group in this land of the lost. I'm sure there are more people tonight making noise to scare away bad spirits than making noise to praise their creator. Our work never ends. :) Thanks for your continual thoughts!

The pictures are of my friend's house. Her aunt is cooking and this is their kitchen table.

Family in China

Most of you probably know about the one child policy in China. Because of the growing population, families are only allowed to have one child. However, there are some exceptions. 1) If you are a minority- not Han Chinese 2) If you live in the country-side 3) If you are rich enough to pay for a second child 4) If you hide your second child from the government-not the best way, but it's better than aborting the child.

Because of this, most Chinese my age don't have many cousins. They probably have a few aunts and uncles, but each one probably only has one child. They are shocked to hear that I have 18 cousins and flabbergasted when I tell them my mom has 100! They also don't have many or any siblings, but for some reason they always talk about their brother and/or sister. Hmm... how does that work?

It's their cousins! Family here is very close. Everyone lives in the same town, probably in the same area, maybe even the same house. (Although as always, there are many exceptions). Being in Bella's hometown, I got to see first hand how close family is here. We went to so many relatives homes and by the end of the three days I felt like her cousins were my cousins. We were in the country, but the homes were still right next to each other. Children walk easily from home to home. Your cousin lives 4 minutes away walking. At one place we were at the grandparents lived in one part of the house, the uncle and his family lived in the other part (I'll show a picture).

I think it's amazing how close Chinese are to their family. They help each other with no question, they work together, they have each others' back. Most can't fathom the idea of nursing homes. You just don't do that.

Sorry, these pictures aren't in a very good order, hard to organize sometimes.

Hallway outside

This is their bathroom. A bit different than yours, huh?

Bella's brother with two of their cousins

I realize that I already uploaded this one, but I like it so here it is again. :)

apparently I like this one too.. second time for this one as well

Doesn't matter how simple the kitchen is, it can still produce amazing food!

Bella's Grandma's super simple kitchen.