Last Days in Old Rizhao

There's a book I want to read called Last Days in Old Beijing, which inspires the title for this post even though Rizhao isn't that old.

Anyway, my last couple days in Rizhao were pretty chaotic -- filled with grading, packing, moving, cleaning, and goodbyes.  I had a big Dongxi (stuff) Give-Away at my apartment on Monday night and about half of my 300 students trooped through my apartment taking my stuff and saying their goodbyes.  So that was exhausting, but it was good to have a last event that people could come to and say goodbye rather than juggle a bunch of smaller invitations.

Dongxi Give-Away

Goodbyes a-plenty

A few students asked me to write on the back of the photo cards I gave them to remember my e-mail address.  I felt like a celebrity... or a high school senior.

I meant to have a last "Rizhao" day where I went to all my favorite places and explored a few new ones, but I was about a day too short to make that dream come true.  Other unfulfilled dreams: An outdoor student dance party and a series of student Q&A videos.  Alas, there just wasn't enough time.

I got all my belongings whittled down to 2 suitcases and a small box I sent to America (heads up, Mom and Dad!). 

On my last day in Rizhao, my roommate and I were frantically trying to get our apartment ready for the next occupants, which meant a lot of in-depth cleaning and trashing.  She was still packing, however, so we were saved by some very sweet students who volunteered to come over and do exciting things with us like wiping out our fridge and carrying down our garbage.  Thank the Lord for Chinese students -- I'm serious!  I was thanking Him (and them) a lot.

Goodbye to my neighbor the Japanese teacher

Mid-morning on our last day in the apartment -- still a lot to do.

I cried when I said goodbye to Sara.  (She left about an hour before me.)  One of the students walked with me so I could get some dinner for the train.  He took it upon himself to comfort me by saying things like, "Just change your mood and be happy," and "You can't change it so just accept it."  Then he said, "Actually, I'm not very good at comforting girls when they are crying."  I thought it was pretty funny and I gave him some advice to improve his girl-comforting skillz.

Two fellow teachers drove me to the train station and then I had a good 12.5 hour ride up here to Beijing.

Goodbye, Rizhao.  It's been a good year.

Things I Did That I Never Told You About: May

Life in China, whatever else it may be, is always interesting, and I would hate to keep such interesting things as a squid kite or a purple potato to myself.  In that spirit, here is another month of weird and entertaining happenings that somehow failed to make the blog:

• A trip to JiuZhaiGou (nine village gorge), a complete knock-off of a more beautiful tourist site by the same name in Sichuan province
• A farewell banquet with our school leaders
• A beach party for our fellow teachers -- the last big teacher event our team hosted this year.

Jiu Zhai Gou


Two sophomore student friends invited me to head a couple hours outside of Rizhao to visit a scenic spot called "Nine Village Gorge" (I think.)  Apparently this is a privately funded enterprise -- some guy decided to copy the original jiu zhai gou in Sichuan province by building his own nine hamlets in the low, wooded mountains outside my city.  He ran out of money before he finished, but there are still plenty of tourists coming to check it out.

It was fun to spend a day out in nature seeing new fake villages with my students. 

One of the main "villages"

We walked up a long paved road and got this view.

Sweet students

The rather apathetic looking monk by this little temple told us the well on the left is from the Ming Dynasty.  I have my doubts.

On the bus home, we saw a tea farm, the first I've seen in Rizhao (which is known for green tea)!

Banquet with our school leaders

As foreign teachers, we are given formal banquets several times a year.  This banquet was given by the leaders of our department to celebrate the end of the year and to thank me, Sara, and Cathy, the three teachers going back to America. 

It was Sara's first time to sit in the seat of honor and give a toast.  I also had to toast.  FRIGHTENING.

My seat was by the Communist Party Secretary, a powerful and friendly lady.  We realized her daughter is about my age and she told me she is very worried that her daughter doesn't even have a boyfriend yet.*

After the formal eating and toasting, you also walk around and toast people in the order of their importance.  Sara and I teamed up to toast our vice-dean.*

Johnathan, our liaison and friend*

With my teammate Renee', who supplied a lot of the banquet and beach pictures for today's post.  Thank you!*

Some of Renee's food shots:

Candied walnuts*

Tofu?*

Fruit with a message: "Yi lu ping an."  (Bon voyage)*

Purple potatoes, boiled corn, and peanuts are often served together.*

Dumplings*

Gelatin soup*

Seafood sampler*

Another kind of tofu..  Looks like Parmesan cheese; tastes like nothing.*

Jian bing, a local cardboard-like specialty*

Cabbage.  YUM.*

Shrimp.  The Communist Party secretary helped me peel mine.*

Biggest fish I've ever seen at a banquet!*

Year-end beach party with our Chinese colleagues

Our team plans a "Coffee House" in our apartments once a month for our colleagues and their families to speak English and hang out.  We decided to make our last one a party at the beach.

Jumpin with our teammate Harrison*

The whole group. :)   *

One of the families brought a kite.*

It's a squid!*

Johnathan with his family*

Cute little guy*

Harrison and his buddies*

Lynn and Lai Lai*

This is a student I taught last year in Qufu, who happens to be my dean's daughter.  She also came to the picnic.  It was fun to see her again!

That wraps up the fun and full month of May.

*Photo credits to teammates Renee', Jason, and Joni

Things I Did That I Never Told You About: April

In this post, I will share a few fun activities from April that never made the blog:

• Shopping for a qipao (traditional Chinese dress)
• Visiting the Botanical Garden
• Making dumplings
• Getting a visit from my friend Jessie
• Picking strawberries

Let's hit it.

Shopping for a Qipao

I asked a student to help me find a red qipao as a souvenir of my time in China.  She recruited another friend and we went to a big shopping market called Sun City.  I eventually decided to have a lady make me one.  (Just about $30 -- not bad!)

Then the girls apparently had planned a seaside tour and photo shoot, which turned a simple shopping trip into a 5 or 6 hour multi-location extravaganza.  I had a fun time hanging out with them.

Gabriella, a freshman, drove us around in her dad's car.  Yikes!

I tried on a few (including this one) before deciding just to have one made.

Gabriella and Avril Lavigne pose with the shop owners

Then they took me to a park

Then they took me to the seaside.  Photo shoot!

Lots of hotels by the harbor

These fishermen were unloading their nets.  The girls saw them toss out a few starfish and asked for them.

Starfish inspection.  (Smelly.)

My city has done a great job of developing miles of the seaside into nice beaches and walkways.  This was one I hadn't visited before.

As if they hadn't done enough for me already, the girls insisted on buying me souvenirs at the end of the evening.

Dumpling Party and Jessie's Visit

One weekend I got a visit from a former student who lives a couple hours away.  It was so fun to see Jessie again and hear about her new life as a college graduate and elementary school English teacher.

Our activities included visiting my teacher friend upstairs for a dumpling party and biking to the beach (a must-see for visitors to Rizhao). 

My friend/colleague/neighbor Lynn preparing dumpling dough

Me and Jessie

Mountains of dumplings

My friend Melissa and Jessie kept trying jumping photos, but Melissa could never get off the ground.

Botanical Garden

Another great thing about my city is the new (free!) botanical garden.  This spring they had a tulip exhibition and I went with some friends to check it out.

A couple of the students we went with

There are always wedding parties taking pictures on nice days.  This couple was nice enough to wave to me.  And I've never seen bridesmaids in matching dresses in China!

Tulip+Photo Love

JoJo and a rainbow of tulips

Picking Strawberries

On one of our many three-day weekends this spring, a student friend invited me and Sara to go strawberry picking.  We took a couple buses for a total of 2 hours out of town, picked for about half an hour, and then went home.

I've heard a few other students talking about strawberry picking, so it may be catching on as a fun weekend activity for students.

It was in a typical Shandong-style greenhouse owned by a local family, and the rows of plants were pretty brown.  It didn't quite live up to my memories of picking strawberries in bright green fields under Iowa's hot July sun, but it was still pretty fun.

House (right) attached to greenhouse (left)

Pounds and pounds of strawberries

That's it!  If you made it this far into the post, you have my hearty congratulations.  Now I'm off to go find some lunch.