Blond hair, green eyes, and eating with chopsticks?

If you look anything like me, and I mean anything like me, and you are feeling like you just are not enough of a celebrity, you should take a visit to a small town in northwest china. At home I am very accustomed to being fairly average (that is if I don't take into account my spastic tendencies and my eccentric lifestyle choices). Here, I can barely walk down the street without being met by blank stares and school children shouting "hello" and waving emphatically. A few days ago I had dinner with the other volunteers and a few school children, and one of the girls from Yumen was entirely flabbergasted that our eyes were not simply dark brown. When I go to the market the vendors rub their cheeks and touch their hair while staring at me in amazement and speaking Chinese that I have no hope of understanding at this point. On occasion I have walked into one of my classes and been met with applause and cheering. Today, as I was walking back to my school after lunch a man from inside his store waved to me to come in and visit him. When Susi and I went in he asked us to sit down and he started asking us questions in Chinese. Susi understood a few of them, but most of it was just a really strange (though nice) interaction. 

I have actually heard from previous volunteers who claim to have experienced "reverse culture shock" upon returning home. I am beginning to worry that I will be disoriented when I return home and I am not worshipped simply because I have pale skin and blonde hair. 

KTV

In case you are not aware, karaoke is a very very very big thing in China. In the US, karaoke is something reserved almost entirely for drunk people. Also, in the US if you cannot sing karaoke, and let’s face it, most people can't, other people in the room scoff, giggle, and make uncomfortable faces towards their friends sitting across the room. In Yumen, however, "KTV" is an entirely different situation. First of all, you can pick from many different settings. In Yumen alone I believe that there are at least 10 karaoke venues. Some of them are classic Karaoke bars, and some of them are sit down restaurants where your party gets a private room equip with disco lights, a projector screen, two microphones, and a dinner that is quite delicious. Sadly, I have only experienced the private room, but I am seriously considering hitting up some KTV bars in the very near future (yes, I realize that sentence was riddled with absurdities). We went to the KTV restaurant, sat down, ordered food, and started belting out cheesy '80's song after cheesy '80's song, with an occasional (slightly less) cheesy 90's song, and quite a few Chinese songs that I am completely incapable of describing. 

I honestly think that no one in the room was drunk (although I cannot be entirely sure)! Nevertheless, everyone was belting out songs as loud and as passionately as they could. At the beginning I thought that it was shaping up to be an uncomfortable experience, but it ended up being astonishingly fun. I honestly think that if anyone wants to experience "modern" Chinese culture, they should hit up a KTV bar! 

So this is what it's like in China!

I have now been in Yumen for two weeks. I like it here and I am starting to settle into the town. I am still amazed by how excited the people here are to see white people. This is especially true in towns like Yumen, which have no tourist attractions, no notable businesses, and essentially no draw for anyone not from Yumen. There are three other volunteers in Yumen. Nina and Susi are both from Germany while Jennifer is from Switzerland. I am teaching at a Senior High school

called Yi Zhong. Susi and Nina are both teaching at a middle school called San Zhong, which is beside Yi Zhong, while Jennifer is teaching in a middle school called Er Zhong, which is across town. I am actually living in an apartment building in San Zhong along with Susi and Nina. In a few months I should be moving to another building in Yi Zhong, but for now I am really glad to be living in a building with the other volunteers. I walk a lot here. It's really strange when I compare it to home. At home I walked from my room to the kitchen, then from the kitchen to the car. When I was at school I also walked to class on occasion. Here, I think that I probably walk a minimum of 10 miles a day. My apartment in San Zhong is really not very far away from my office but the schools are surrounded by fences, so I have to walk half a mile to get to and from my school. I usually make that walk to and from at least 3 times a day, and I have to walk into town for lunch and dinner and to go grocery shopping. Basically, it is a lot of walking.

The food here is seriously amazing. I'm invited either to eat out or to eat at someone's home at least a few times every week. One of the key differences between eating here and eating at home is that in China, everything is shared. There is no personal space or individual plates. If you go out with three other people you get three or four dishes to share. If you eat at someone’s home you do not get a plate, you simply pick each bite up separately from one of the several dishes that have been prepared. In America people would tend to think that

this is unsanitary, but here it is an entirely common practice.

Ruhong, a woman from the Amity Foundation, told me that during the SARS influx a few years ago the Chinese people were encouraged to stop sharing meals. In response many people said that they would rather die of SARS than do something so contradictory to their traditions and culture. I think that this really shows a sense of community that is

excellent, though life threatening at times.

*Just a reminder! There was a very long time in which I did not post anything on my blog because of internet restrictions. As a result, there is a delay between when I write these blog posts and when they are posted. For instance, this post was written about a week ago. In a few weeks I hope to have gotten rid of this delay, but for now just bear with me!*

I wrote this blog post on my fourth day in Nanjing, only to

immediately discover that blogspot is blocked by the great firewall of China. It has been about two weeks since then and I am now having a friend in the US upload my blog posts.

There is a lot about Nanjing that I really like, and I think that if I

were here with someone else, or if I were staying here long term I would truly love Nanjing.

First of all, I absolutely love the way that traffic works here. In

North Carolina there are rarely any pedestrians, and traffic is very calm and controlled. Here, there are crowds of pedestrians at every corner; people on bikes fill the streets; cars honk frequently; people cut others off and switch lanes constantly. Essentially, chaos is ever-present. While I would be terrified to drive here, riding in cars and walking through the streets is incredibly enjoyable.

I am also really enjoying the food here. There are a number of street vendors throughout Nanjing. For breakfast every day I have eaten a strange breakfast burrito-esque meal. I have no idea what is in it other than egg, but it is very delicious.

On Friday I spent the day with Robert, who works at the Amity

Foundation. He took me to a few of the organizations run by the Amity Foundation in the area. First, we went to a school for autistic children. China has only recently started recognizing autism, so this school is one of few for autistic children. It helps about 20 children at a time who are at most 7 years old. The children were unbearably adorable. Afterwards, Robert took me to the Amity Bakery. This bakery employs 16 mentally challenged adults. It is really wonderful because

it gives them the opportunity to lead more independent lives. The last place that we visited was Amity Printing, which is the primary printer of Chinese and Braille Bibles in the world. It also initiated the first translation of the Bible to Chinese.

Afterwards, Robert dropped me of at the Youth Hostel where I am staying. For the rest of the weekend I have essentially been on my own. In case of emergencies I have Roberts number, but I basically alone as I navigate a city that is an entirely different language. At first I found this incredibly daunting, but it has actually been a pretty good experience.

On Saturday morning I planned to go to the Nanjing Museum. So, I grabbed my street food breakfast and took a subway to the Museum, which is apparently closed. While walking around the museum I met to men who are also new to China. They are both in Nanjing to study traditional Chinese medicine at a hospital in the city. Of the two men Sako was far more talkative. He was from Canada, while Muhammad was

from Australia. I ended up spending the day with them. We went to Purple Mountain, which is a massive area with several mausoleums, temples and other monuments. My camera died, but Sako took some pictures for me. I will post them as soon as he emails them to me. I really enjoyed my day with them, although, in the past few two days I have walked at least 15 miles and my feet are beginning to hurt very badly.