A Chinese Halloween

I have a few long overdue school stories to share, complete with ADORABLE pictures!

A few weeks ago, I walked into the small class to teach my lesson, but all of the kids were in their puffy vests, lined up with water bottles--field trip! Clearly, there was no reason to notify me in advance. I changed my shoes, grabbed my coat and water bottle, and piled onto a van-bus with 22 children and 7 adults. I had no idea where we were headed, but an hour and a half later (gotta love, Beijing traffic), we pulled up to...a playground? Nope. Hands-on science museum (a la Discovery Place)? Nope. Anything remotely related to 2 year olds? Nope. The Military Museum/Museum of the China People's Revolution. Yes, we took 22 2-4 year olds to see how China became and maintained its Communist state. Now, as a teacher who has planned many a field trip, I don't think this would have been my first choice. [Lauren and] I always considered the age group and relative interests of our students. However, in China you take a field trip to take pictures, eat snacks, and pee in random places. 

PICS: As soon as we arrived, the kids were ushered to the front of the museum, where all of us posed for a picture (apparently one of the chaperons was there solely to photograph the kids). We did the same thing next to various cars, planes, and boats in the museum. The head teacher yelled a lot to keep the kids in order (when all they really wanted to do was pull on the chains that roped off the vehicles). That was the entire experience; we were in the museum for a sum total of 25 minutes.

PEE/EAT: On the bus, they pulled out a little portable potty, put a garbage bag on top, and had the kids use it throughout the 1.5 hour ride. Upon arrival, it was thrown out and a new garbage bag was used IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MUSEUM any time a child said "xiao bian" (pee-pee). Then that one was thrown out as we left and sat on a sidewalk to have a snack of bread and water/tea. As the kids finished, the teachers had them all stand in the dirt next to a tree, pull down their pants, and pee again before getting on the bus!!! The security guards thought it was adorable, as did the hordes of tourists looking on. I just kind of stood there and ushered the kids who had finished onto the bus. On the way home, they each got a banana and to pee on the garbage bag potty again. Then we got back to school and fed them lunch before naptime. It was an experience that completely summed up China: pride in a country, pictures with no real meaning behind them, eat a lot, and demonstrate bodily functions in public. Honestly, I think my eyes were bugging out for most of the field trip. I'm just sorry I didn't have my camera that day!

Luckily, I did have my camera for my school's Halloween party!  I co-coordinated with Susan, who works in the office and speaks some English. A group of us decorated the school's entrance and big auditorium:

This is what you see when you walk into the school.

Susan and I preparing for the party!

We co-emceed as well so she could translate for the teachers and kids, who were absolutely adorable! A few came to school with costumes, but most filed into the auditorium in teacher-made ensembles, consisting mostly of garbage bags and random accessories.

The youngest class (1.5-2 year-olds); these are the kids who cried when I first came.

Me with one of the 3-year-old classes.

Baby International Class--these are mine!

I love the bow on his head in front!

We started by showing pictures that related to Halloween and having the kids learn and practice the words. We then carved a Jack-o-Lantern and put a candle in it for them to see. Next up: mummies!  The kids helped wrap one teacher and one student in toilet paper and then we all sang a song. They thought it was hilarious.

This was followed by teachers bobbing for apples; everyone found this hysterical because they clearly had no idea what was going on. The teachers even coerced one of the janitors to get in on the fun!

Then it was time for the kids to grab candy from the string using their mouths (no hands):

A dinosaur, Snow White, and the only white kid in school (Australian parents, speaks only Chinese)

Finally, they all "trick or treated" around the school and received bags with an apple and a few pieces of candy. This culminated in the entire school circling the outside of the building, chanting "Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween!" It was awesome. I had a great time, and I know the kids were having fun. I'm looking forward to celebrating more foreign holidays at school!

Our poor landlord

I'm afraid to know what our landlord, Ma Long, thinks of us. I think I already talked about this, but a few weeks ago, the gas in our stove wouldn't turn on, and we asked Ma Long for help. He called the building engineer for us, who came and spoke to Ma on the phone in our apartment. Low and behold, the only problem with our gas was that the batteries were dead in the meter. Essentially, a building engineer came change batteries for us, while poor Ma Long (an engineer himself) politely explained what had happened. We figured he'd forgive us this one ridiculous error though.

Fast forward to right now. On Thursday, I added 100 RMB (15 bucks) to our hot water card, but when I came back, our hot water meter read 1.0, the same as it did before. We waited a few days to make sure there wasn't a lag in electronic update, then called Ma Long today, when I noticed the meter read 0.2. He had an engineer come over as soon as possible (so at like 10 pm on a Sunday night). As per his instructions, we called Ma as soon as the engineer arrived to translate. But, before Ma Long picked up the phone, the engineer showed us the meter, which read 8. Turns out, we have been inserting the card incorrectly, so that the meter can display numbers but can't get updated. Ma Long was polite as always on the phone, but we're both pretty sure he thinks we have a few screws loose.

It's now past the point of embarrassment to pathetic.

Shanxi Province site visit

A few weekends ago, Sarah and I joined Drs. Zhao and Qiao (btw, their names are pronounced J-ow and Chow) to watch the launch of the international START-UP study, which will study the accuracy of 5 different low-cost screening methods, including one that has never been used before! We went to Shanxi Province, which is famous for two things: history and coal mines.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see any of the history, but we did breathe in air that made Beijing seem unpolluted. As you can see by this picture, of our ride, the pollution was so bad it was almost like being underwater!
Did you notice what we were driving around in? That's right, we traveled via ambulance fleet. The second reason we were there was to take lots of pictures to show the Fogarty that we actually do epi research at field sites, not just write epi papers in the office. So here's a picture of Sarah and Eunench, our colleague at the hospital......and one of me pretending to do work with UEuench. Nerd alert: the machine we're pretending to use is careHPV, which provides super-cheap, rapid results for HPV DNA--and it's a big point of the paper I was working on, so it was really cool to see what it was and how it works.

The craziest thing we saw there was how the projects start in China. Everyone lines up in white coats outside the hospital entrance
where the important people all give speeches (including the local head of the Communist party). They then light a long row of fireworks that don't make any light, only smoke
and TONS of noise.

When they're done, there's a lot of left-over trash in the street.But never fear: there's a man with a specially created street sweeper ready to clean it up.At night, we went to an ENORMOUS banquet.
That was like, 1/3 of the room. Anyways, the tradition in China is that everyone has little goblets of wine, and, when they say "gan bei!" (bottoms up!) to toast, it is considered extremely rude to not mimic how much the person leading the cheers drinks. As in, if the person gulps it all down, you have to as well, regardless of how drunk you feel. Luckily, there is only a big sip or two in the goblet each time, or you would die because...first, you have to toast everyone at your table, sometimes individually. Then all the important people come around to each table, and you stand up and gan bei with them...then because we're American, Sarah and I had to go around to each table too...and then a lot of Chinese researchers came up to honor us by toasting us. Best toast of the night: "to the health of Chairman Mao, who made this country great!" If we had had full glasses of wine, we would have been taking our pimp rides (sirens blaring) to get our stomachs pumped.

And then the fun starts with KARAOKE. People are called up to sing, and then you give the people fake flowers if they are good. There are all sorts of risque jokes, including when this random man sang a song to one of the researchers from San Fran
and ended it by saying in English, "You are so beautiful. Please come to my house anytime." Because we were American, we had to sing as well, but I didn't want to ruin Chinese-American relations by piercing ear drums, so I was the official photographer while Sarah and San Fran colleagues sang "I will Always Love You." It was one of those, "Where am I and what am I doing with my life?" moments.

submitted!

Well, the paper is finally submitted. Monday morning, Nov 1 (the day it was due), Dr. Qiao personally called the Chief Asia Editor of Lancet to ask for an extension. I am a little confused as to why the request was granted, but whatever--we finally finished, and the rejection (or less likely, acceptance) will come in the next few weeks.

From a cultural standpoint, this experience was a fascinating insight to what it's like to work in China. As you know, two weeks ago, Dr. Qiao decided that I would switch gears from a paper on HPV prevalence to one on the accuracy of self-collected HPV-DNA testing...and I've been working on this paper ever since. Though Dr. Zhao, the director of the cervical cancer research team, tried to explain it wasn't feasible, Dr. Qiao said as long as we worked hard, it would get done. And because he said we had jump, we said, "Is this high enough? Because if not, we can jump higher next time!"

Though I had already completed a preliminary draft (thank god, because otherwise, the paper would never have gotten done), since Thursday, Dr. Zhao (head boss), Shangying, and I worked 18-hour days revising text (my job) and tables (Shangying's job). Between tasks, regardless of the hour, I was expected to be next to my computer, waiting for one of them to send an updated table or edited section unless I was told it was ok for me to sleep (at 2 am, 3 am, and 1 am). I found the breaks the most frustrating part because Chinese people, by definition, are masters of euphemisms. And I am waaaay too dense to think outside the box, especially when I'm tired. Classic example was at 1 pm on Saturday, after I emailed Dr. Zhao yet another revision. When I asked for my next task, she said that I should eat lunch. Considering they ordered in lunch and dinner Thursday and Friday so they could eat standing up in <2 minutes, I frantically gulped down some leftovers...and returned a few minutes later to ask for my next task. And she said, "I think now is a good time for a young person like yourself to talk a walk. It is beautiful outside." A moment later she followed up with, "Perhaps a short walk. It is too cold." I took that to mean that she was closer to sending me new work than she originally thought, and, sure enough, 10 minutes later, I had something to do. It made me miss good ol' American bluntness.

Now that it's over, I can say that I'm proud of the paper, am excited to see what reviewers say, and am ready to have my life back. On that front, next weekend, Dr. Qiao, Sarah, LiRong (Sarah's twin), and I are going to Yunnan province to launch another site for the vaccine study, to give presentations to Chinese physicians (mine is on Healthcare in the U.S...gulp), and visit the tin mines responsible for the extremely high number of men who get lung cancer in neighboring towns. It's where Alison and I want to travel for a week in February, so I'm really excited for my first taste of this must-see location.

fantastic weekend with visitors

We have been so consumed with writing about our trip that we haven't written about Courtney and Stacy's last few days in Beijing! It was a lot of fun for Adam and me to experience new parts of the city with our visitors.

We went to Wanfujing Snack Street and ate a delicious dinner of insects, 

scorpions,

snake, 

and pigeon kebabs.

Ok, so that was a total lie...except for the snake part, which Adam is eating in the picture above. You know me: I would rather starve than eat SNAKE. Courtney, however, was brave enough to try it:

We had a few other, more appealing, snacks and took lots of pictures of the "kebabs." We also enjoyed a standard Beijing treat: sugar-coated fruit. Delicious!

On Saturday morning, we met Sarah in old town Beijing. We went to an organization called The Hutong to take a dumpling cooking class. It was fantastic! There were about 12 of us altogether--5 Frenchies, 2 Brits, and us. We each had our own cooking station and shared the ingredients. We had a great time using carrot and spinach juice to color the dumplings, trying to figure out how to actually roll out and shape them, and of course eating!! We have the recipe, so be prepared for dumpling parties when return stateside!

Courtney and her mixed veggie ingredients.

Colored hands!

Of course we were the messiest :)

We rolled out of the class and onto the subway to the Olympic Green. The Olympic area has its own subway line, which is why Adam was able to do this on the train:

Absolutely the least crowded subway in all of Beijing; it was wonderful! Upon stepping off the train, we were in the middle of an open area with the Birds Nest stadium on one side and the Water Cube on the other. After all of 3 minutes, I decided this was my favorite part of Beijing thus far; not jam-packed, awesome buildings (did anyone else DVR 8 hours of Olympics a day, or just me and Lindsay...?), and lots of green! We took a bunch of pictures (big surprise):

Swimming at the Water Cube

WE MADE IT TO THE BIRD'S NEST!!

Anyone else notice the Olympic rings?

We ended the day with a yummy dinner at DaDong Roast Duck, a place all visitors will try (hint hint!). A great few days sightseeing in Beijing :)

A few tidbits:

--Last night our language teacher, Olive, told us that we each have our own learning styles. In her words, Adam is "unstable" because "sometimes he is advanced and other times he fumbles like a beginner," whereas I am "a little slower but much steadier." When we asked which way gets there faster--the Alison-direct-way or the Adam-two-steps-forward-one-step-back way--she said they both work to reach our goal of surviving China! However, not 3 minutes later, Adam interrupted Olive to ask a random question (totally unrelated to learning Mandarin) and she looked me and burst out laughing. Typical :) Bottom line: we're both really enjoying classes and are--gulp--happy that we are taking lessons.

--I find that picture of my eyeball from the previous post kind of creepy. It was taken during a "we've been driving foreeeever" moment en route to Karakul Lake.

--There is a new sign on the 2nd floor bathroom of my school. At first, I thought it was specifically for me--awkward--but turns out that the principal wants the teachers to learn English, so this is how she's going about it. If I were one of the teachers and I saw this sign, I would TOTALLY get it and go downstairs to do my smelly business...

--It has been very cold here since Courtney and Stacy left (come back!), so we've had nearly 2 weeks in thick layers with lots of hot tea. The heat does not turn on city-wide until November 15th! At school we have been given down vests to wear, but it is not a problem for the kids, as they have been wearing long underwear since it was in the 60s.

--Here are some pictures of my "Baby International Class" students, ages 2-4, for your viewing pleasure (taken on a beautiful fall day before all of this cold weather set in!):

Outdoor exercises

Not that I play favorites...but I LOVE Simon

and Andrew!!

Sarah (left) is an absolutely fearless spitfire klutz, while Molly (front) is a girly-girl.

 --A new grocery store opened up by the subway--a foreign-friendly grocery store!!! I'll still get produce from the little market, but this is aaaamazing. I walked through and immediately called Adam because I found cheddar cheese!! He laughed and was like "oh god, that's where your entire salary is going, isn't it?" Um, yes. I'm thrilled.

Last Day in Kashgar!

Well, a miracle has happened: I have time to blog! Yesterday, I finished the rough-draft of the paper and can't make more progress without feedback...so I can talk with you guys about our last day in Kashgar, when we went to Shipton's Arch, the highest free-standing arch in the world (as per our guide, so take that with a grain of salt).

We started off by driving 50 minutes on a really nice road. It was quid-pro-quo Kashgar until out of nowhere, this huge convoy of Chinese military supply trucks came by.
We were really impressed until a convoy of 52 TANKS drove slowly past us (they were numbered for those of you who know how much I love to exaggerate). Each tank had huge guns and tons of soldiers inside and on top (like Indiana Jones-style)--it was a pretty terrifying show of military force made more poignant knowing that those tanks were there for a reason. (Last year, the Uighur people rioted all over Xinjiang protesting government policies.)

We then abruptly turned off the road and started driving on a river bed with enormous rocks and no path. We were in a 1980s SUV, so we could handle it, but before we got our "sea legs," Alison and I were bouncing across the aisles. Here's a pic to show you how desolate it was where we were going.Actually, we took a ton of pictures of the desolation, but we love camels so had to choose this one. (Fun fact: we could have bought a camel instead of a rug. I think we made a good choice though.) Eventually, we arrive at the "ticket stand" where we had to pay some random man on a motorcyle 50 RMB each to continue on.

About 2 hours of being thrashed around in the car, we finally arrive to our destination, which admittedly was beautiful.

We then hiked between crevices and up sketchy ladders...
...hopping over pools of what our guide claimed was mineral water. He said we could drink it, but we politely declined. The combo of cigarette butts floating in the water and algae growing on the rocks was too much for us. 20 minutes later, we got to the arch!We thought it was pretty, but not worth the bruising car ride...especially if you've been to Moab, Utah! Our guide gave us all of 10 minutes there, so Alison took a ton of pictures of the arch and then we took a few of us before our drive back.

The drive back was much better, perhaps because we had a view that we thought best summed up Kashgar. In this picture, if you look closely, you can see 4 different mountain ranges (2 in the background!).


We returned to the airport an hour before our flight left (so 40 minutes before non-white people got there). It was a fantastic vacation, one that we will never forget. I have to say, though, that the highlight of the trip for me was getting to spend an entire week traipsing around with Alison, she of the...

...strikingly beautiful blue eyes.