Mongolian Horse Milk Wine for Christmas

On Christmas Day at the Thomas family I brought my Mongolian Horse Milk Wine for everyone to try.  I had never had it before and it was a gift from my Dean in the English Department, and good friend, Zhou Sha Sha.  Her father gave it to me the last Sunday I was in Xian.  I actually like it.  It looks like the Bai Jiu but has a smoother taste.  For a horse milk wine it has a bit of a kick to it.  I am going to polish this off.  It was different this year at Christmas.  This year I was emailing people in China and wishing them a Merry Christmas or Sheng Dan Kuai La, as we say.  We got a phone call from one of JoAnne's students and she wished us a Merry Christmas.  I had many of my Chinese students wish us a Merry Christmas on our Q-zone the Chinese social network.  James Zhang, our Chinese exchange students sent me a message on QQ and wanted me to give everyone his best.  It is a little different each year here at Christmas.  My friend, Rob Rogers, a foreign faculty member at Xian, said the best thing about this time of year in China is that there is no this time of year in China.  Ah, but they have the Chinese New Year next month and that is this time of year only with 1.3 billion people.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all the best for the New Year, ours and yours.

speaking to the English Class

I has been a while since I spoke at the English classes of Prof. Paul Resnick.  I did enjoy talking about my time in Xian and what my experience of China was like.  Sometimes when I talk about China I get a little sad, because I really did like being there and being with the students and friends that I met.  This time my feelings were happy.  The feelings were happy because I really did like being there and being with the students and friends that I met.  I was so fortunate to have that opportunity and tried to share that with the students.  I don't think the students expected some one to come and talk to them wearing an old work uniform, wearing a large key ring, and having a maintenance radio in their back pocket.  When I told them they have many opportunities to do things at ICC, I meant it, because I was sent to China.  I talked about the food, the culture, the language, and the school system but I also told them that as a student they have so many opportunities if they just say,  "I would like to help or I would do that."  As I get older it does get easier to speak to a group.  What I did was the same assignment I gave my students, to prepare a talk for about 10 minutes on a student that is interesting to you.  Of course my Chinese students had never given a speech to any group on any subject.  It took me about a month of classes to get that bit of information communicated to me.  The school systems are so different.  I did enjoy talking about my hometown of Xian, China and will do it every chance I get.  Thanks, Prof. Resnick for asking me to talk to your students.  One less day that you have to prepare a lecture.

speaking about China

I am going to go over the list of questions that Prof. Paul Resnick gave me about China.  I need to sort them and figure out what ones to talk about in my 10 to 15 minutes.  I will be doing the same thing I had my Chinese students do for me in Xian.  The only difference is I actually have given a speech and my students never had.  They didn't have a clue how to speak in front of group.  The two systems of education are so different.   That is one of the questions I have been asked about, what is the Chinese school system like and how is it different.  I was also asked about how different is China from the USA.  I think I will hold up a pair of chop sticks and a fork and say this is how different we are.  It is easier to list how we are a like.  Take out a sheet of paper and label it from 1 to 2.  I think you can get it filled up but the second one will make you think.  I will list the questions I have been asked and I will try and post some answers.

Can you help me with me speech?

I got an email message from Zhang Kai asking me to help him write a speech that is due next week.   He is very nervous about this even though he is an English major at Xian International University.  Zhang Kai was not my student but he is a person that everyone knows and I went to WuWei with him to speak at his Middle School.  He only has to speak for three minutes but from what I found out, Chinese students do not do public speaking like we do here.   I had asked my students to talk for 5 to 10 minutes and teach me new Chinese words.  That is when I found out they had never done anything like that before, not in English and not in Chinese.  I am trying to help Zhang Kai as much as I can.  He wrote me the topic, "a world that has changed the world."    First thing I asked was, "Is this the correct topic?"  I think it may be a word that changed the world, but in China you never know.  We will see how this goes.  I do keep in touch with my students and I enjoy finding things that I think could help them learn more about the English Language and the USA.  I was not Zhang Kai's teacher but he calls me Eric teacher.  Many of my students called me Eric Teacher.  I did like that.  Now all I need to do find out the topic and try my best to help my friend.  We will see how this goes.

Speaking at Paul Resnick's class

I will be speaking about my time in China to the students of Professor Paul Resnick on November 8.  I will have to check the actual class and times.  I am looking forward to sharing my experience with the students. I was thinking it may be interesting while I am talking to try and do a QQ video chat so some of my students could see what an American class room looks like and the American students could probably see what a Chinese dorm room looks like.  Of course I don't know how to use QQ well enough to do that and I can not read the Chinese well enough to figure it out.
I am looking forward to talking about my time in China.  I am a product of the community college experience and I have been very fortunate to be able to maximize my opportunities while I have been at ICC.  I am going to miss being at an education facility when I retire.  What I like about my job is that I am at a college and I get to teach, be around the faculty, and the students.  A community college has so much to offer a person and it is affordable.  I have students in my welding class that use the classroom as an art studio.   You sign up for class and for 16 weeks you have a very good space to work, good equipment to work with, and a fantastic instructor.  The place is well ventilated and is heated during the winter.
Today the Chinese Club went to Chicago to China Town.  I would have liked to go but I do need to get something done for the Guatemala coffee project.  I am sure Ava will tell me about the trip.  I do need to get some supplies for hot pot and make Jiao Zi before too much longer. It has been a busy day time to relax and hope the Cardinals win.  Friends of mine, that I met in Xian, are going to be teaching in Riga, Latvia in a few weeks.  I need to find out more about that.  Matt Fuller was in China and I think he has a copy of the China Daily that has the printed copy of the article that Rob Rogers wrote about his time in Xian.  I have found travel to be so interesting.

Rob Rogers my Rugby Coach and his China Daily article

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-10/01/content_13830157.htm


I hope you find this interesting.  Rob is a good friend of mine and I always enjoyed having a beer with him and a cup of good coffee.

Rob Rogers writes about his life in China.

Rob Rogers, my friend and rugby coach, had an article published in the China Daily, China's English language newspaper.  He sent me the information and link on Yahoo.  I will get that information to you as soon as I finish using my netbook and get to the big Mac.

Speaking at the American Welding Society meeting

I got a chance to speak about my time in China during the September meeting of the American Welding Society.  It has been a while since I actually spoke in front of a group and it has been a long time since I have done a presentation about where I have been and what I did.   I could do it better the next time.  I showed pictures of welding in China, places I had visited, food that I ate, and just some things that I thought were interesting.  Ava Zhong went with me and listened to me speak and ate a steak.  I enjoyed the chance to talk and like I said, I could do it better the next time.  I how I get another chance.  I enjoyed my time in China and I enjoy talking about it.  One of the class assignments for my Chinese students was to give a presentation and use their talk as a way to teach me new Chinese words and teach me about their country.   I did not realize until the semester was almost over that my students had never given a talk in front of a group before, not even speaking in Chinese.  Some of my students did very well and many did a good job, considering everything.    Like I told them, "You have to practice."   
I practiced but I also brought Chinese hard liquor for my crowd to taste and had door prizes for them.  That always helps.

Here I am with the other members that have serve as a Chair of the Peoria Chapter of the AWS.

This is a picture of Phil England with his door prize, a Chinese style welding helmet, a pair of sunglasses stuck in a piece of cardboard.  Some of the people that I saw welding did not even have this much protection.  I do not understand why people do not protect their eyes but I am glad I work in the USA.  What is strange to me is that even in this country with all our regulations you can still see people doing things wrong.  At the Cougarplex, a contractor was grinding on the concrete floor and worked at it for over a week, no ear plugs and no safety glasses.  I know what he will say to his grand kids, "what." 

Thats me with the Chinese photo pose, the victory/peace sign.

QQ and my Chinese students

I am still able to keep in touch with my Chinese students, using QQ, a Chinese social network.  I have about two hundred people that can communicate with.  I use the netbook for this and check it for a virus many times.  It is not hard to get a virus in China or on a Chinese system.  The netbook is mainly just for me to use to email my Chinese students.  With QQ you can look at others peoples pictures and see what people are doing and my students look at the pictures I post and see what I did in China and what I am doing here.  They have seen the July 4th parade, our home, my college, the farmers market, and soon will see the orchards and the fall produce.  I enjoy writing to them and sharing some of my life with them.
I enjoyed my time in Xian but I really enjoyed spending time with the students.  I know my having a QQ number helped me get to know more students.  When I told my students that I had QQ, I think the students realized that I was not going to just leave and never be heard from again.  When ever I would ask a Chinese student if they had QQ, which they all do, their eye would open wide and they would say, "you have QQ?"  I gave out my QQ number to everyone.
I met a girl on the bus and she figured out I was a teacher at Xian International University, because I was an American, and I was on the 300 bus that takes you to Xian International University.  If I had been a tourist I would not be going that direction and I would not be on the bus.  We talked for about 20 minutes total.  The main topic is almost always, " how can I improve my English skills?"  I have sent her information on how to check on ICC's Website and use the Tumble Books.  We still chat on QQ and she is in Holland now.  I was chatting with a student on QQ and found out he was in my class but had never came to any of them.  He did show up for the last class.  Our conversation was like this, "who are you", "I am in your class but I have never came to any of them.  Sorry."  I said OK watch what the other students are doing and try your best to do your presentation for the final.  Every day in China something happened that made you realize that this was a new experience.  The experience could be a new food, a new smell, meeting a new students, seeing someone spit in the hallway at the hospital, seeing a city bus drive pass you going the wrong way on a city street, having a person yell out the window of the restaurant, "hey, tall man.", but every day something new and different happened.  That is what I really miss about China.  I can see new things here but it is not as exciting.  If you are driving a car that is probably a good thing.

No more cell phones

While I was in Xian I had to carry a cell phone because if a student needed to talk to a faculty member I had to be able to answer the phone and listen.  When someone is going to the hospital, you need to know that bit of information.  I was sending text messages as I was boarding the plane to return to the USA.  Since I have been in the states, I do not carry a cell phone or actually talk on the phone.  I just did learn how to check my voice mail at work.  When you don't do something for 6 months you tend to forget.  I am back on track now.  After six months I had three messages and all of them were current.  One was to check a reference on a student that had made the study abroad trip to China and one was to help out with a community project that was welding related.   I think I was a little late on the employment reference and I am sorry about that but he got the job and I was able to reinforce the fact that he will be an excellent student worker.
The community service project went well and I was able to, not only cut their steel rebar, but donated a marble top table to their garden area.  More important, while I was cutting the steel, they unloaded the table from my van.  I have moved that table for the last time.  I did not get any pictures but they did and I will post the link and share that project with you, when I get back in my email.

My first talk on my experience in Xian

On September 22, I think, I will be speaking to the Peoria Section of the American Welding Society, about my time in Xian.  I will talk about welding and the other jobs I was able to watch people do, while I was in China.  I will also talk about life in general, as I observed it.  This will be the first time I will get to talk to a group of people about what I did in China and what I got to see.  I need to go through my pictures and get them on a thumb drive so I can just talk about the pictures.  I did take pictures of people just working and going about their every day lives, and many of those people looked at me like I was nuts.  I will enjoy getting the opportunity to talk about a place that I enjoyed so much.  I even have treats, Chinese cigarettes, hard liquor, and I will put together a Chinese welding helmet, a pair of sunglasses stuck in a piece of card board.  You strike an arc and close your eyes.  The Chinese word for personal protective equipment is Mei you.   Mei you, pronounced, May yo, like in what you spread on a turkey sandwich, means "not have."  I have been posting a lot of pictures on my Q-zone, so my Chinese students and friends can see what I did during my time in China.  It is interesting for me to go back through the pictures and see what I did in China.  I will enjoy added pictures to the different files as I prepare for this talk.
I will give a talk that will be very similar to the final exam that I gave my students.  All my students had to teach me about 5 to 10 new words in Chinese and talk in English for 5 to 10 minutes.  It took a month to get them to actually understand the assignment.  These were college students but I found out that none of them had ever given a speech before, not even in Chinese.  The school system is different from ours, very different.  I told all my students to talk about something you are interested in and to practice you talk  until you are comfortable with it.  That is what I need to do, get my pictures ready and practice.  It will not be difficult to talk about China because I enjoyed the experience so much.  Did I mention I was going to have samples of hard liquor that I brought back from China.  I will have more details after the AWS planning meeting this week and will post the information on the blog and facebook.  I just hope the room will be big enough for everyone.

Q-zone and other things.

I have been busy trying to learn how to post pictures and blog on QQ, a Chinese networking system.  I am trying to share my life in the USA with the students and friends that I met in Xian.   I am starting to adjust to life back in the USA but more important I am busy on other projects and working towards my goal of retirement and moving to Silver City, New Mexico.  That is something I hope to do in June of 2012.  I will add a few things to this blog as time allows and things happen but I will be writing a new blog about a project that I am working on now, a solar coffee bean dryer for Guatemala.  I have been working to get a team of people at Illinois Central College involved with this project and we hope to come up with several models that could work.  What I know about coffee is that I like to drink it.  I hope to learn more about coffee, solar energy, Guatemala and more important meet interesting people that know more about all of the above than I do.  Once I get a name for the new blog and get it started I will let people know.

Link to a show that is similar to what we show at Xian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrUnEKE1hgQ&feature=related



While we were in Xian we show an outdoor show that was visually one of the best shows I have every seen.  They would not let you take any photographs but in the West Lake area they have a show that is similar and visually is very interesting.  I thought I would share this link with you.  The show in Xian was different but still done on the water.  They could raise and lower the floor and the different lights.  It is hard to describe but it was amazing.

the cell phone

When I was in Xian I had to carry a cell phone.  That was the first time I had ever had one in my pocket every day.  If a student needed something, they had to be able to contact us.  I also sent my first text message in China.  It took forever but I got it done.   I remember our last day in China sending text messages as we killed time at the airport.  I was texting as we walked to the airplane because the phone would not work outside of China.  I have not used a cell phone since.  I have done a few video chats on QQ.  Some day I will get back in the swing and use a cell phone again, but not now.

visitors from Xian

Rob Rogers, his wife Ang and son, Min, stopped by Peoria last night to visit us before they drove up to Milwaukee to visit some other friends.  We when out for Bar-B-Que and this morning had waffles with real maple syrup, bacon, omelets, melon and cherries.  It was really nice to see them again and to have JoAnne meet them.  I do hope to see them again sometime in Xian.

You don't get a breakfast like this very often in  Xian but then you don't get a breakfast like this very often in Peoria. I am so glad they stopped by and spent the night with us.

hot day in central Illinois

A hot day like today makes me long for retirement even more than I already do.  To top things off our air conditioning quit working on Sunday.  The one problem I have about returning to Peoria and returning to work is that I miss being the English teacher in China so much.  But the English teacher could not have fixed the air conditioning and done it for 16 dollars.  I guess there is some advantage to being a "gong ren", or working person instead of the English teacher.
I have been in contact with one of the students that I met at the Wednesday English Corner in Xian.  The difficult thing about communication with the Chinese students is that I met so many people and was not able to learn enough names or you learn an English name and then do not know who they really are.  I have been emailing Ellen since I left.  She wrote me today that she was afraid to speak out even though she liked me.  I have told many of my students to practice a few sentences and get good at saying them and then you just have to force yourself to talk to foreign visitors.  I have always told my students that every day I walked in the classroom I was nervous.  I enjoyed teaching but I was always nervous that it would not go well and I could not help them learn.  But you just have to suck it up and try and try and try.  If I can get students to practice saying things like can I help you find something, or is this the first time you have been to China, etc.  If they would practice 10 sentences that would be "ice breakers" I think they would develop the confidence to then continue to talk with the foreign person.  They just have to force themselves to not be so shy.  I know how they feel because I have missed several opportunities to talk or do something for just that reason.  Something does not go well, you lose some confidence, and then you put your hands in your pockets and shuffle off.  It happens.
One good thing about being back here is the Guatemala coffee bean dryer project.  It is starting to develop and we are starting to get some more people involved.  I think we will have a good team of students and faculty to work on this and I hope we can develop something that will work or set the ground work for something that will work in the very near future.  Sometimes you have to get something built to see how to do it better.  Right now I need to get something built.  But that is going to make my days before retirement a little bit more interesting.
I am just glad the house is starting to cool off.  In Xian, in the classrooms you did not have air conditioning.  The last day I taught it was 98 and we had two over head fans and two windows opened.  Students were trying to give a speech and we had construction noise and the hallways are loud.   I felt bad because I was leaving and this one girl said to me, "smell", and I taught, "Of course I smell, it is hot, I am nervous and sad, I know I smell.  And then see told me one more time, "smell" and she did smell from ear to ear.  :-) , with a great big grin.  I will always remember my Life in Xian, and I will do it with a smell on my face and a tear in my eye.

The world is a lot smaller now

This horse on a flying bird is the symbol of tourism in China.  When I went to Wuwei, with Zhang Kai, I visited this park in his town that plays tribute to this horse being selected as the symbol of Chinese tourism.  My first week back at the ICC East Peoria campus I saw a small copy of the horse in the lobby of PAC.  I looked at it and smiled and said to myself, "I know what that is and I have been to the place where they found it."  To be from a small town in Illinois and to have the opportunity to travel to China has been a dream come true.  When you travel you get to see things and do things that you will always remember.  You get to meet people that you will never forget.

This lady is someone I will not forget.  See cleaned my room and she could read and write English and could speak some.  I could read and write some Chinese and could speak some.  If we both worked at it we could communicate.  I always enjoyed the days went she came it to clean my room.  Some days we would be on the computer on QQ or looked at facebook and working very hard to communicate with each other.  I do realize that if I could have just spoke a little more Chinese my time in Xian would have been so much better.  Hopefully next time I go to China I can speak, read and write better than I do now.  I just have to keep practicing.  I have her QQ number so I need to email her and practice my writing.  Even though some of the students were not great at keeping their rooms neat the staff did seem to like having us around.  When Dr. Murphy was in the hospital everyone wanted to know how he was doing and many of the them went to visit him.  They were really and nice group of people to be around.

yard work on a hot day

I will be doing some yard work today.  The only yard work I did in Xian was to play Rugby on the Astro Turf sports field.  I do need to do somethings around the house because it needs to look it's best if we are going to put it on the market in the future.  The experience in China was a good one and it has both Jo and I thinking about the next phase of our lives, retirement.  I thought about what Jo and I would do after the daily routine of clocking in and going to work was over.  I thought about that a lot in China, how nice it would be to return to China and teach a semester with JoAnne.  We could enjoy the culture, relax, met new people, and afford to eat out every meal if we wanted.  It is nice to only have to go to work and then have the time to do what ever you want.  No yard work, no house, no car, you don't have to cook if you don't want.  For a little while you are just free to enjoy your life and the people around you.  You can stay very busy, rugby practice, English Corner, sights to see, new lesson plans to develop, doing things with students, you can find more to do than you will have time for.
So this next phase of life, the retirement years, should be interesting.  We do plan to move to Silver City, New Mexico.  A little town of around 12,000 people that has everything you need in it.  It is right by a 3.3 million acre national wilderness area.   It is high enough up in the mountains to not be too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter.  I can start playing tennis again, and Jo can hang out with the artist folk.  That will be or base for future travels and adventures.  There are places we want to go and things we want to do and we do not have to plan those trips around a vacation for work.
The whole time I was in Xian people would ask what I missed most about being away from the USA.  I would say, "morning coffee," and the evening meal with my wife.  I really did not miss any of the food but I did miss drinking morning coffee, good coffee, not the instant stuff I did drink.  But I really did miss eating with JoAnne and talking with her in the evening.  That I did miss.  It was strange to be in Xian, around people that you develop a close relationship with and yet you realize that you have not touched any one for four months.  I have faculty friends in China that I miss dearly, students that I care about and still communicate with, staff members at the hotel that I saw every day, a whole lot of people that I was very sad to have to leave and yet for four months I longed to be with my wife and wondered what it would be like to return.  Of course I know that when I am away from my wife that I am not supposed to touch any one but it is strange go and do things and always end up at an empty house and to always wake up at an empty house.  It is good to be home now.  It is good to look at the calendar and be able to mark off the days until I can start life all over again.  I would hate to think I have to work another 10 years until I can retire.  If that was the case then I should have never went to China, because it would drive me crazy.  I need to get on some work clothes, pour a cup of coffee, and get some water and start on the brick wall.  One thing we are going to do in Silver City, is to fix things the way we want them and then live there and enjoy them.  It seems like we fix things to sell and then do not enjoy them long enough ourselves.
Guatemala, Mongolia, China, Guatemala, Mongolia, China.  Oh I forgot about Antarctica. Hmmmm.

My life is now back to normal.

I have been in the USA for almost 3 weeks and today marked the second full week of work, at my old job. A few weeks ago I was in Xian, China and I was an English teacher and now I do heating and ventilation. It is not too difficult to guess which job I like better.  It was so much fun to walk in to the classroom and try and help the students to improve their speaking skills.  At Xian everyone knows you are a westerner and that probably means you are a teacher, so you are special.  The students would smile at you and come up to you to talk or ask to sit with you at the cafeteria.  I enjoyed that interaction so much.
That does not happen at work now.  No one has asked to have a picture taken with me.  Imagine that.  I also notice how empty to campus is.  At Xian you had 16,000 students on the campus and they all were there.  They lived there with no cars to take them away.  The bells would ring and the students would empty out of the buildings and head to the cafeteria to eat and the place was just packed full of people.  You would walk up the last few steps to the upstairs dining area and the hazy and smoke of the food vendors would hit up in the face and make you cough just a little.  By the time you walked a few more steps you were OK and ready to eat.  I notice just how empty everything is here.  Where are all the people.
I also notice just how green everything is, how blue the sky is, and how fresh the air is.  In Xian it is dusty and it is polluted.  The trees are not as green and that is because of the dust and pollution.  In Xian you could look at the horizon and it would fade to gray, but not here.  You can see for miles here.  The sky is so blue.  I never really noticed just how blue the sky is until now.
Here people in cars only run the yellow lights.  Motorcycles are not all over the place and they are not on the sidewalks.  It is different here.  No food vendors on every corner.  Nothing to eat that costs 35 cents and tastes good.
I was thinking today that a few weeks ago I could say, "yesterday I was in China."  Soon I will be saying two months ago I was in China and then six months ago I was in China and then it will be last year at this time I was in China, only when I say that I hope to be saying it to someone in Silver City, New Mexico.   I have worked long enough to be able to retire and I do have other things to do that should be more interesting than work.  I have applied for an opportunity to travel to Mongolia and help evaluate their vocational school system.  That may happen but I will have to wait and see.  I am also working on a solar coffee dryer for Guatemala.  That project is in the works and we just need to build a system or two and then see how well they work and what improvements we need to make.  We also need to see about how to design simple hot water systems for the people.  So I have lots of things to do once I quit working and start retiring.  I would still like to return to China and teach.  I really liked doing that.  I enjoyed the students and the faculty that I met.  The Chinese people are so interested in the USA,  they are so polite, and just darn nice to be around.  The food is great and it is cheap.  China is so different from the USA.  We have nothing that is the same.  We talk different, write different, look different, eat different,  and yet we all seem to get along just fine.
 I want to travel as much as I can in the short time I have left but I do not want to be a tourist and just ride on the bus and then see the sights.  I want to live in the areas I visit, get to know the people, live like they do,  and I hope to be able to help them so that their lives are better because I was there.  I would like to think that my time in Xian did help some students to improve their English skills.  I know they have the information they need and can improve their speaking skills if they will do the important stuff, study and practice.  With a language you need to practice if you are going to improve.  I need to get the Chinese language on my netbook so I can written in characters and improve my Chinese language skills.  I also need to load pictures on my QQ zone so my students in China can see what I did in China and more important they can see what I do here.  I got QQ for one reason, to stay in contact with my students in Xian.  I also want to show them what life is like in the USA.  I know they watch TV and movies but the USA is not really like the movies.  No one is going to make a movie about the Eureka Fourth of July Parade.  But things like that are what America is.  So much of this country is small towns and farms and just common people.  That is what I want to share with my students, just how boring our country really is.  So come July 4th, don't disappoint me.
Actually I have had some culture shock the last few weeks.  I did not have a lot of trouble with culture shock when I got to China.  I knew it would be dirty, crowded and very different from here but I welcomed that difference and expected it.  It has been difficult to transition from being an English teacher to going back to punching the time clock.  Today was difficult because it was very hot, in the 90's, and you are in a work uniform,  up on the roof, in the heat working to find a leak in the air conditioning system.  I thought if I was in Xian, I would be inside a classroom with students, trying to figure out how to get them to talk,  and it would be in the 90's, because it is hot in Xian and they don't have air conditioning.  No one complains.  Just for fun in my best Chinese I would say,  comfortable, and smile.  I always was comfortable in the classroom, even when I was very nervous.

first full work week back in the USA

The alarm went off each morning at 6 am and I put on the safety glasses with the side shields, packed my lunch and went to work, so yes, Toto we are not in Xian anymore.  ICC did have a conference about study abroad programs and what it is like to send students to study in China.  Dr. Li Hua, from the College of Lake County was there and showed pictures of Xian International University.   I got to see the Building I worked in and the windows for the classrooms I taught at.  I will always remember my time in Xian and my students.     My students are on QQ right now waiting for me to finish this and address their emails.  I am going to share a link so that you can see what it is like to walk from my hotel to the number 1 cafeteria.  I walked that every day and usually had lunch at cafeteria number 1.  Good food for a dollar.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4hgIKMLIwU&feature=channel_video_title     This is not the greatest video but it is what I saw every day, only it is not as busy as it would be around noon.

First day back at work

Monday is my first day back to work at the ICC maintenance department.  It will be interesting to see how that goes.  I will be at the East Peoria Campus now.  I have not worked on that campus for two years.  I also will teach my first welding class in four months.  I am a little rusty.  We will see how the work day goes.  I know it will be different for me but am curious to see just how different.

My welcome home meal and other things.

We all went out Thursday to the ICC North Culinary Arts Lunch.  I had a wonderful meal, talked to the instructors, and passed out a few gift items to people that I worked with.  I spoke with Chef Keith a while about being in China, told him about the cookbooks I brought back from the trip, and saw what he has been doing in the world of food.  It was very interesting and exciting.  We spoke a little about the solar coffee roasting project and what that project will be like.   I am looking forward to starting on that.  The food was great.  JoAnne and I have eaten many a meal at the North Campus Culinary Arts building but this one was very good.  We always shared the different menu items but yesterday they were all good.  They are never bad but usually one is better than the other.
After lunch I went to the ICC East Peoria Campus to attend the celebration of 35 years of service for Board member, Dr. Ehrich.  It was interesting to hear how much the school has changed since he has been on the Board.  He was involved in the program that first allowed students to use calculators in the classroom.  Think about that and what we do today in the classroom.  My classroom in China had a blackboard in it.
I then met with management and found out what I will be doing on Monday.  I will be clocking in at the East Peoria Campus and attending my first morning meeting to find out my work assignments.  I will pack my first lunch in four months.  First day back at work will be a long one because I will teach that night as well.  But I have a young heart.
It was strange to see a large parking lot again and to walk in to a building that has air conditioning.  In China the heat was shut down on March 15 and we did not have air conditioning in the building that I worked at. I remember when they shut the heat off because the next week it never got up to 50 degrees.  That building was so cold that in order to warm up you went out side in the sun, during the break.  It was bad for about three weeks.
Monday I will see how different it will be to walk around the US campus compared to being in Xian.   I have noticed just how much cleaner the sky and the air is here.  It is strange to look outside and see things look so fresh and green.  Xian is polluted and it is also dusty.  Here it is clean and fresh.  I have had to work on not saying Ni Hao and Xie Xie or other Chinese terms to people here.  My Chinese is not that good but I had gotten in to the habit of mixing the two languages quite a bit.  Now I have to work on getting things for the yard.  My first trip to the hardware store.

My first real meal since I returned from China.  I will have to post this on my QQ account and see how strange this looks to my Chinese students.

First full day back in Peoria

After spending four months in China, today will be my first full day back in Peoria, Illinois.  Yesterday involved the plane ride back to Chicago, the ride in the car to Peoria, trying to adjust to the new sleep cycle, and starting to unpack.  Today should be more like a normal day at home.  We are going to the ICC North Campus at noon to have lunch.  The food is being prepared by the culinary arts students. They are not making the food for me, the lunch is something they do as part of the program.  After that I will go to the East Peoria campus and find out what and where I will be working when I start back to my regular job.  On Monday I put the side shields back on my glasses, set the alarm, pack my lunch box, and punch the time clock again.  That will make the trip to China officially over, as soon as I clock in on Monday.
I was thinking about some of the things that I have and have not done the last four months.  I made fresh brewed coffee for the first time in four months, yesterday.  I watched one person get on a bus that was at the middle of its route. Not only was she the only person to  get on the bus but she was able to find a place to sit.  That never happened in Xian.    I have not heard fireworks.  I saw it rain hard and with thunder and lighting.  I only saw it rain hard once in Xian and then it did not thunder.  I did not drink Moutai before going out for supper.  I did not use chopsticks, or eat rice or noodles.  I started a car.  I still have not driven a car in four months but I did start it.  I put clothes in the dryer for the first time in four months.  For the first time in four months I did not interact with Dr. Tim Murphy in some way, unless you count the QQ message I sent him.  Before the trip to China I never knew Dr. Murphy.  We worked together for four months, ate together about every night and I may never see him again.  Then again I may see him again, and see him in Xian, China.  You just never know.  I saw less people yesterday than I would have seen in only minutes in Xian.  It is so empty around here.  Today I looked out at the horizon and I saw the horizon.  In Xian things fade to gray but here the sky is blue and the air is fresh.  Did I mention that I did not hear fireworks or car horns, the constant sound of car horns.  I made my first to do list of things that I need to start on around the house.  I have not thought like that for four months.  I stopped myself from answering the phone and saying, "Wei" the Chinese word for hello when talking on the phone.  It will be hard to not said "Ni Hao" to people or "Xie Xie" but I will adjust.  I did not look at my watch and think about what time it was in Peoria and if I should call now or wait a few more minutes.  It is different to be back home but it is so good to be with my wife again.  It is like I never left and yet because I did go it seems like we are even closer now.

The one think that I did do yesterday that I did the whole time I was in Xian, was to think about China and think about the USA.  One thing about China is that every day was different in some way.  Every day I saw or experienced something that I had never seen or experienced before.  You could go for a walk and see something that you would never see in the USA.  It could be something big or just a little thing but every day you could have a new experience, good or bad, but new.  Next week I will return to work and walk the hallways of the campus and see for myself just how different the life style is between the US and China and how different the school systems are.  I will also teach my first welding class in four months.  Something tells me that welding class will be different from the Oral English classes that I taught in Xian.  One thing the welding class will have in common with my Oral English class,  the class room will not have air conditioning and it will probably be hot.

One person gets on a bus, the bus is almost empty.  Oh yeah, I am back home now.

Korea airport

I am in the Korean airport wait for my flight to LA.  At 12:33 AM on Wednesday morning I will arrive at the Chicago Airport. After the ride home I will be in Peoria around 4:30 or so.  It has been a wonderful stay in China. I have enjoyed teaching my classes to the Chinese students.  One thing about the Chinese people they are hard working and they are very nice.  I have met a lot of people that I hope to see again.  I find it interesting that people I know in the USA have been able to communicate with people that I know in China.   The world is getting smaller and the world is getting more interesting.  Every year JoAnne and I meet more and more people from all over the world.  We have been fortunate to have the opportunities to do this.  I hope that JoAnne and I can return to Xian and teach here.  It would be nice to do so before the students that I know graduate.  Here they go to school three years.  China is so different and yet it is similar in many ways.  The main way the countries are similar is the people. In the Midwest, not the Global Midwest, but the real Midwest, where people farm and and live in small towns, the people in China are very nice and work hard and the people in the Midwest are also very nice and work hard.  When people from different countries get together many times friendships develop.  It is the people of the world that make travel what it is, a wonderful experience.  To go some place and only be there for four months and yet meet people that you will think about for the rest of your life is a wonderful thing.  I have meet many nice people on this trip and some of them live in Chicago.  That is what I like about travel.  Another thing is that by leaving your home you realize just how special the person is that you share that home with.  I will be home in just hours, Jo.  I miss you.
We also need to work on that information about Mongolia. 

Last day to teach and we leave Tuesday morning

I will teach my last class in China this afternoon, record my final grades, send them to Zhao Sha Sha, and then on Tuesday morning we all head to the airport.  I will have lunch today with some of my students from the Tuesday class.  I will miss them all very much, even the ones that just sat there and said nothing as much as they could.  But I will miss being on this campus.  I was teaching in a building that did not have any foreign faculty.  All the foreign faculty and the English majors are in building #1 and was in building #2.  My students had never had a foreign teacher and had never taken a class like mine.  It was a different experience for all of us.  At least I know now what I think I should do if I return.  Looking back on the situation, I am surprised and how well my students did.  I asked them to give a speech in a different language and they had never given a speech in any language, ever.  Our education systems are so different and yet many of them did very well.  What is interesting for me is to see how my department chair and I slowly built a relationship.  She was always helpful to me but I later found out that I was the first western person she had ever been in contact with.  As I changed and learned more about the culture and got my QQ number, she also changed and learned about the USA culture.  When she saw me eating Chinese food in the hotel restaurant, and realized that all western people do not eat hamburgers, we became much closer.

I spent my last weekend in Xian at her home, with her husband and her parents.  Her father, a retired welder and ship builder, fixed Chinese food for me and would have poured me enough BaiJiu to put me to sleep if I had let him. After a nice lunch we did what Chinese people do on a hot summer day.  We played some Chinese checkers, watched TV, snacked, and at 2 pm people that needed to, took a nap.  Later that evening we walked to the local outdoor barbecue and had supper and I returned to the campus.  It was nice to see how people live in Xian.  I will miss Zhao Sha Sha and her family.  I will miss a lot of people here.  Some of the people I will miss the most are the ones that you see every day and only say Ni Hao to, because you do not speak enough Chinese and they speak no English. I has been a great experience and one that I will always remember.  I dream of mine that I have had all my life, and I mean all my life, has come true.  I can not remember a time when I did not want to come to China and I have been here and lived here for four months.  I have been very lucky to have had this opportunity.  Now I will return and see how well I can adjust to life back in the states.  It will be different, that is for sure. How different, I will find out soon.  It will be good to get off the plane, get my luggage, and get in the car with Maris and make the drive back to Peoria.  At least when I get home the first face I will probably see is that of Ava Zhong, so she will help make the transition a little easier.  I imagine JoAnne will wake up to see me.  That is going to be a long day, long plane ride, long car ride to Peoria, probably talking to people very early in the morning and then trying to get some more sleep before the sun comes up.  I will probably go to the college on Thursday to check and see what the next week will bring.  I will then start on the solar coffee project and turn in my information that I need for the opportunity to go to Mongolia and help them develop and improve their vocational training, because I am ready to see more of the world, even before I get home.

 Zhao Sha Sha's parents and our supper.  Good food and go company.

 My new friends.

 Zhao Sha Sha and her MaMa, just relaxing in the living room of their home.

Xi Gua, or watermelon, one of the advantages of having tile floors, you can cut your watermelon in the living.  Probably not a good idea to do on the carpet.

Two welders.  We have a lot in common, we both weld,we are the same age, and we both enjoy cooking.  I hope to see him again.

Sitting around the table and enjoying a good meal, that is a nice way to spend your last Sunday in Xian.

A nice pot of soup that was very good.

I have learned a little more about how to cook chinese food. I am sad to leave the people I have met here but it is time to get back to my normal life in the USA.  My own little street in Peoria will never be the same after having been in China for four months.

Zhao Sha Sha's neighborhood.  Now I know why when I asked Kevin Shu

My highlight in China

I have been able to go and do many things while I was working in Xian.  I have seen the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Hua Shan, the Ming Ma Yong, the beautiful city of Xiamen and if someone was to ask me what I treasure the most about my trip to China, it would be the people that I have met in Building 2 at Xian International University.  I have had the pleasure to teach four classes in this building and meet many nice young students.  I hope that in some way I had been able to help them learn more about the USA, the people that live there, and not only how to improve their English skills but why it is important to do so.  If I could only speak Chinese a little better I could not only help them more in the class room but I could have done more things here.  The reason to learn a language is to use it and the best way to use it is to meet new people and develop friendships.  I hope my being here has motivated some of these students to try and study just a little more and to practice just a little more so that they can speak better.  It will open many more doors for them if they do.  I know that my being here has motivated me to try and learn more and continue to practice and improve my Chinese.  I do want to return and I do want to have the freedom that speaking the language better will give me.  I just have to make a habit of listening, reading, writing and speaking Chinese as much as I can.  Because as you can see I love it here.

Smiling faces

For the last four months every time I walk in or out of the hotel I see one of these smiling faces behind the lobby desk.  I will see one of them on Tuesday morning when we all leave to go to the airport.  I just wonder how long it will take to adjust to life back in Peoria.  Not hearing fireworks every day three or four times a day.  Not having some one ask you if you just ate, because that is a way to say hello.   Having to pay more than 1.25 dollars for a meal. Not seeing hundreds of Chinese people walking down the street.  Saying, "boy is it hot and humid today."  Eating off my own plate for the first time in four months.  So much will be different.
Driving a care again and actually seeing people stop at the lights and obey the traffic laws.

My last Tuesday class

This was my last class on Tuesday.  I have a Thursday class and two on Monday and then we all leave at 4 pm on Tuesday.  The lady on the left is Zhao Sha Sha, my department Dean, as I call her.  We started off kind of slow but once I got my QQ number and she found out that I eat Chinese food and not hamburgers we developed an nice friendship.  I will miss her.  We can communicate but we both have to work at it.  I enjoy that a lot.  I hope to keep in contact with her when I return to the USA.  I hope to keep in contact with a lot of the students.  They have my QQ and I do plan to post things on QQ so my students can learn more about the USA and what life is like in Peoria.

Tomorrow I will drop off some grades and some english books that will be useful to her and I have gift for her and then I may never see her again.  Then again I might.  I hope I do.

Hua Shan today

I got up this morning before 6 am and got my stuff ready to try and tackle Hua Shan.  I got a cab to the Xian train station and started looking for the #1 tourist bus for Hua Shan.  I was looking for a bus that had signs on the top similar to those of the city buses, since this is basically a city bus.  The only problem is the sign I am looking for is a small sign in the window,  After having someone tell me to go to the end of the row and figuring out that if the driver could not tell me what time the bus leaves and comes back, then I do not want that bus.  I worked my way up the row of buses and saw a big sign that said Hua Shan and it was the 22rmb price that I had read about.  Someone was able to tell me the departure and return times and where they drop you off.  I got on and about 20 minutes to 8 I was on my way to Hua Shan.  The first stop is at down town Hua Shan for shopping but you only had to do that if you wanted because the bus just opens the doors and as soon as everyone is off the bus, we go on to the entrance gate to get our ticket in and our bus ticket up to the park.  The entry is 100 rmb and the bus is 20 rmb one way.  After getting the cable car ticket for 150 rmb I was up the mountain and ready to hike at 10:20 am. 

It is pretty up here and since it was a Wednesday it was not as crowded as on the weekends.  I hiked with a younger man from England.  Because I had a back pack and a young heart I offered to carry his water.  I took the time to buy a padlock and have the man engrave JoAnne's and my name on it and lock it on the chains at the mountain.  I have the key in my wallet and when we return we will find it move it to a different spot on the mountain.

Every one that climbs Hua Shan in the future will know how much I love my sweet, JoAnne.  From here is was a nice easy hike to the South and West peaks. 

Much of the hiking at Hua Shan is just like this.  That is what they mean when they talk about the Steppes of Asia.  The view at Hua Shan is definitely worth the walking and the effort to get to the top.  This is what you see for much of the hike up the mountain.

Once you get to the top it is a nice view and I would climb up here again and I think I will get another chance in the future.

stinky fruit

I have eaten this before and liked it and I thought this may be the last time I get to buy one that is fresh not frozen.  They do stink. But they are pretty good to eat.  They are diffent.  But they do stink.  Their is a reason why you do not bring them in the hotels in Malaysia, and it is pretty hard to sneak this in the hotel because did it mention, they do stink.

I think I will have some right now.

The street where I have eaten many a good meal while in Xian

This is the dirty and crowded little street that I call the food court.  We have eaten many a fine meal here and enjoyed a few room temperature beers in the past four months.  I will miss going here for supper.  It is so different from Peoria.  It is so interesting to walk around here and just look at what is going on.  The place is always busy.  The food is wonderful and I have never gotten sick on anything that I have eaten.  I have had some things that were too spicey, like the eggs and vegetables that looked so good in the picture but turned out to be half eggs and half hot peppers.  That we did not finish. What is going to be strange is when I go home next week I get to eat off my own plate.  I haven't done that for four months.  Except for the Golden Hans last Friday or when I eat by myself.  You order food and everyone eats it, it is just what you do here. The fresh fruit and vegetables are very good here.

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The food vendor on the street.  They have of lot of them on the street and a full size open market about  a quarter of a mile away.  The apricots and cherries are in season now.

This is Zhang Yao, on the right, she is my student and the young man is her friend the owner of the restaurant where we ate.  You have to be very careful when you eat with your Chinese friends because they will always try and pay for the meal and they will always try and order too much food.

Dr. Murphy with two of Zhang Yao's friends that joined us for supper tonight.  It was a nice evening.  A great way to end the Dragon Boat Festival.  Tuesday it is back to work. 

What better way to end a good meal than to enjoy some very good watermelon.  Everything was good, the pork ribs were excellent and dry rubbed with spice.  The peanut, cucumber, tofu salad was very good.  The tofu had the texture of cheese cubes.  I had never had tofu like that before.  The white stuff that I had never seen and looked like it was going to be really hot since it was in a oil that looked to be HOT.  It was not and the more you ate it the more you liked it.

Zhang Yao is going for the Liang Fen a white food that is in a red oil and the favor is wonderful.  You can also see the Ribs and in the left corner is the peanut, tofu, cucumber dish, or Dou fu gan.  The tofu had a texture of cheese cubes.  yummy.

This is the Liang Fen, and I would eat this again if I had the chance.  It is not as hot as you might think, especially if you do not eat the little peppers.

This is the Dou Fu Gan, which is dofu, peanuts, and cucumbers.  The little white cubes are the dofu and they remind me of cheese but I am in China so I know it isn't cheese.  They do so much here with Dofu, or Tofu as we say and it is so good.  I just wish we could get food like this in the USA.  The vegetables here are wonderful and they eat a lot of vegetables here, and they eat a lot of corn and potatoes.  I was surprised at how much more they eat here than rice and noodles and the fruit is great.  The only thing they don't do well is pie and cheesecake.  But other than that is is ok.  The meat is just to add favor and many nights we have just had tofu and vegetables and rice.  I almost forgot to say the peanuts here are the best I have ever eaten.  Every dish that I have had with peanuts in it is great and you just eat them one at time until they are gone.

The Golden Hans, meat and beer

The Golden Hans is famous for it's meat and and home brewed beer.  The place is a buffet and the meat just keeps coming.  They will not cut you much at one time but they will just keep coming back.  It is good.  The beef tongue was roasted and was very good.  Best I have ever eaten.

The wait staff just walk by your table and if you want something you just ask them to cut it for you.  I had already eaten enough but needed one more bite for the photograph. 

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We went with Rob Rogers, the Rugby coach, his wife, Ang, and their son Minnie, Tim Murphy, and pictured here is Katie Evans, the nice lady from English that help me prepare for my teaching experience in China.  The other person is a member of the wait staff, or the Fu Wu Yuan.  Katie will return to England in July and may come back depending on how things go in her life,  I wish her all the best.

This is a picture of Rob and Ang.  Rob teaches at Xian and Ang works in ShangHai and travels alot.  It is sort of like what JoAnne and I did for years when she was in Kalamazoo.  They meet up on the weekends and good for them this is a long holiday weekend.

Picture of Ang and Minnie, their son.  Minnie lives in Xian.  I have met a lot of nice people here in a few months and I will miss them when I return to the USA.  I do hope to return to Xian again and would love to teach again.  The Golden Hans has good micro brew beer, good meat, but if you need more than that you can always try the chicken feet and some sort of insides to some animal.  Hao chi.

The high lite of the night for me was to win the beer drinking contest.  I have done many things in Xian that I did not think I would do before I left on this trip.  I did not think I would try and out run 19 year old students on the Rugby field, I did not think I would fall out of a tree, and I did not think I would enter a beer drinking contest much less win it.   Rob encouraged me to enter by saying, " do it for your blog", and it is true I live my life around this blog.  So I gave it a try and I won.  I have brought fame and glory to the USA.

As they say here, Yi, Er, San, and He.  One, two, three, and drink.  I gave them a running chance because my chinese skills are not that good but I finish strong because I have a young heart. 

I am done.  Lao wai, one and the Chinese, Zero.  I got an Alaska beer mug and a gift certificate for a massage.  It is only Saturday, of a long holiday weekend,  I have two more days to party.  Sunday I may go the Horticulture Expo or the Tang Paradise and see the sites.  I think on Monday it will be good to go the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and then on Wednesday I think the Hua Shan is calling me.  Lots to do and little time to do it. 

My first Xian Foot massage

After a breakfast of Zong Zi and Starbucks coffee it was off to the Metro for my last trip to the international market.  Tim and I sorted out the stuff that we needed to gift people here and then we headed out to the KFC to try it.  The KFC in China is much different from the KFC in the USA. Some of the side dishes are the same but the chicken is fixed different and you really don't order a bucket of it.

We ate and walked across the street to get our McDonald's coffee for Sunday morning breakfast.   I have been at McDonald's more in China than I ever have in the USA and that is to just get the coffee.

A cup of coffee and a durrian, the stinky fruit and I am ready for Sunday morning breakfast.  Next thing on the list is the foot massage.  I have never had one at Xian but I have heard they are really good.  Why not try one. 

They start off by working on your head.  The rub your head, pull your hair, and all that kind of stuff.  After she finished I said, "nin gei wo tou tang."  Which means you gave me a headache and then I had to explain that I was just kidding and I felt fine. They were all concerned that they would hurt us.  The foot massage was really nice and at times they did hurt me, a little.

After they worked on your feet they applied some mud and then steamed you feet and legs.  The whole process takes 80 minutes and is great.  It costs 88 rmb and that is around 14 dollars in the USA.  I need to get in one more visit in before I leave here.

After the foot massage we got a call from Rob and Ang and got an invite to the Golden Hans for beer and meat, lots of meat.