Pig heart, cow tongue, snails, and much more!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to Putian to visit a dear friend of ours, Adrian. When we first got there we visited his cousin's tea shop and had some super yummy Chinese tea. Tea is a part of Chinese culture. They love to have tea and sit and talk with friends. The minute your cup is slightly empty they pour more in for you. I like it because it gives you a chance to sit and relax with friends. 

                                                         Talia, Esmie, and Jen enjoying tea. :)

                                           Talia, Jen, Esmie, Danni, his cousin, Lauren, and I.

What I loved about Putian was the absolutely gorgeous scenery. I felt as though I was in a National Geographic! It is a very poor village filled with farmers and many humble people trying to get by. Many of the homes were very old and torn, but in the middle of them you would see brand new homes being built. The Chinese are trying  very hard to catch up to America so you often see a western style home with columns, and that contains four floors. Here are a few of my favorite shots...

After walking around for many hours we had dinner with some friends. I ate many interesting things! I ate pig intestine, large snails, pig heart, cow tongue, and some other very questionable meat. I tried everything and was quite surprised as the pig heart was super yummy! When the Chinese sit down for a meal it truly is a treat. Everything is shared and there is usually 10 different dishes, not including soup or appetizers.

 I am truly amazed at how kind and generous the Chinese people are. We were always being offered food, they even paid for our trip home. I truly hope that one day I can be as kind and generous as the Chinese people. That is the goal I aim for. They are so kind, even to strangers they are kind. Makes me think of the many opportunities I have had in my lifetime to do the same, and did nothing. What a blessing it is to have wonderful people around you all the time ti provide an example of who you can one day become.

                                                                  Adrian and I. :)

                                                                   Adrians family!

                                     Gotta love this little moped thingys, they're lots of fun!

Julong

We recently visited a city about an hour away from our school.  We had a blast as we got to do so many things! We met a friend by the name of Mr. Li and he showed us around Julong and around the school he works at. Julong is beautiful! There were flowers everywhere and man made lakes and mountains in the background. It was nice to take a break, get out of the city, and enjoy some fresh air. We walked around a beautiful park and saw lots of lilies! I have always wanted to see lilies as big as they were in the park, so it was breathtaking. It also rained quite a bit, which made me miss and think of home. 

 

 

We had a meal with a friend that we made while traveling and I got quite daring! I had Pig intestine that day! It was not super yummy, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I tried some of their native dishes and enjoyed the sweet ice cream afterwards. Chinese people love to put random things on top of ice cream. Sometimes you get tomatoes on top of your ice cream, beans, or in this case, watermelon. Always interesting to try something new!

 

Chinese Chess

 Typical sidewalks--the Chinese believe that walking on these stones is good for your feet.

I saw this sweet scene in Hulong. :)

 While on this journey there have been times when I would feel as though I was not making a difference in any of my student’s lives while teaching them. I would ask myself-are they really learning any English from me? Have I inspired them at all? Just what was I thinking signing up for a trip to China?? I put pictures of North Carolina on my wall in my classroom so that whenever I would feel a moment of weakness, I would look up to those pictures and just think, I’ll be home soon!  There were days when I would just take a deep breath, look at those pictures, and simply do what I could to get through the day. 

 

Always, always when I would feel a moment of weakness I would be given a tender moment with a child that would put a smile on my face and give me the strength to keep going. I look forward to those moments. I understand what it means to be a teacher now. Everyday will not be a success story, but in between the horrible “I’m going to strangle you” days with the kids, there are moments when you have tears in your eyes due to their kindness and love towards you. I would like to share one of those many precious moments with you.

 It was a free day with the kids, and I decided to have them make cards for the other teachers to carry back to America with them. I had them sign their English and Chinese name and write that they loved their teacher. As you can imagine, you have to watch the kids like a hawk to make sure no one draws something inappropriate or doesn’t do as they are told. I gave the other kids play dough to play with while I was doing this. One of my students, Sam, was playing with his play dough in the corner and I was not paying attention to him, as I was trying to get everyone to sign the card in the short amount of time that we had. At the very end of class, I hear his little voice call out my name. “Teacha Ambah, look!” I walked over to his corner and was brought to tears as he wrote I love you on his desk out of play dough for me.  I quickly grabbed my camera and took a picture of him as he had worked on it the entire class period. 

Small, precious moments like that with the children make me realize that I am making a difference. Even if I am doing nothing more than simply loving them, I know I am making a difference. I will never regret my decision to come to China, it has been the best decision I have ever made.  These children are etched across my heart forever, I will miss them so much when I say goodbye to them. I thank God for these small precious moments,  where would we be in life without  them?

-Amber Toy

Children's Day

 

I can’t believe it but I only have three weeks left in China! Tears surface when I even start to think about how much I will miss being here. I have grown to love each and every one of the kids like they were my own. I know their hearts, their smiles, and their kisses. I will miss them so much….China has become home to me, it will always be home to me. I have enjoyed every minute of my time here, and I will walk away with so many memories and wonderful people in my heart. I said my first goodbye to a very good friend on Sunday. My first goodbye of many before I leave here. Goodbyes are always the hardest part! So that means I’ll need some big hugs when I go back to America!!!

So this past weekend we celebrated a big holiday in China! I was able to learn more about the culture, which I love. It’s a holiday especially for children! It’s a day to honor children and to treat them with gifts and lots of loving! We were able to watch several performances put on from the school. I really enjoyed meeting a majority of the kid’s parents. It was a happy weekend let me tell you! All of the kids were so happy to finally be able to see their mom and dad. It was touching to see how proud they were of their child, brought me to tears.

 

 All of us teachers made little hats and name tags for all of the kids during our performance. We also all painted their faces; some girls did war paint, hearts, rainbows, spiders, and snakes. We sang the three little monkeys song with them in front of the school. There were a lot of different performances, ranging from Kung Fu to traditional Tibetan dance. Unfortunately it takes too long to load the videos but I did upload my favorite one! It is of two High School students dancing to Michael Jackson while singing Chinese! You should take a look, its funny! (Click here for the link.) All of the pictures are courtesy of Talia and Dani since I didn’t have my camera with me at the time! I wish you could have all been there with me watching the performance! It was amazing!  I enjoyed learning more about Chinese culture and traditions. Next week I will write about my adventures in Julong! I love you and I miss all of you! Take care!

 -Amber Toy

Next stop: Shanghai!

Here is a small update about what I did while in Shanghai...

 

Shanghai reminded me a lot of New York City! We took a tour bus and rode all around Shanghai, a majority of Shanghai is strictly business buildings or malls. Shanghai astonishes you a bit though when you find a surprisingly small spot filled with a lot of history. Such as Buddhist temples that have been around for ages, or the Yu Gardens.

 

 

Man were the Yu Gardens beautiful! There were lots of ponds filled with Koi fish and turtles. I love turtles, so it was fun to see lots of fully grown red eared sliders!  The Yu Gardens were built to house royalty in the past. We walked through there and took lots of pictures of the statues and Asian styled buildings. We also dressed up in fun, traditional Chinese clothes and took pictures. We thought we were cool ninjas. ;) Be sure to look at my pictures, words can't describe how beautiful Shanghai was!

 

 

The hostel we stayed at served some American food, so as you can imagine, we had the American breakfast every morning while there! It had eggs, bread, bacon, and sausage. Of course it didn’t taste as good as it would if you were in the states, but it was pretty close! I finally got a little bit of bacon! It’s funny what you crave when you’re abroad. I crave things I’ve never really loved before!  We also had the chance of eating at a subway in Shanghai, it felt so good to order a foot long! We were pretty spoiled while there, though I have to say I got sick after every meal. I am no longer use to the preservatives or the amount of sugar in the foods we eat in America. I couldn’t help but eat it though because I have missed it so much! Well, I hope all of you have a great week this week! Miss you and love you!

-Amber Toy

PS. To see the rest of my pictures, click here.