Eating in Jilin City, China Part 5

Food

When you first arrive it will seem that there isn't much food around except for huge restaurants and in the wall looking dives. To be honest with you there are ton of different varieties of food to eat there it is more about knowing where to look and being brave enough to try to order and then ingest it.

If you know me, you know I love food. So here is the last  post on Jilin dedicated to food! 

I did find a sushi joint!

Korean meal.

While I was working at the Jilin Agricultural Science and Technology College teaching oral English once a week to about 120 students between 3 classes in one day. Since the college was located about 35-40 minutes our of Jilin City I ate at the cafeteria. Here I learned that there are about 3 different kinds of food and there are many variations within the categories. First I found that western food is pretty much a hit or miss, it is either terrible or tolerable. Unless it is cooked by an actual westerner, even then without the right ingredients this could be next to impossible to get the correct taste. (unless you are in a very westernized city you cannot locate western ingredients) How tasty it is also depends on how much you miss western food. This seems to bode true everywhere in China. Secondly, there is NE Chinese food, which is usually an assortment of fresh veggies with a strong salt or sugar base sauce that will help you eat more rice. There seemed to be a shortage of meat based dishes. Most of the time the meat are very finely chopped up and just tossed into your vegetable dishes. The third option is noodles, now there are plenty of different kinds of noodles (egg, rice usually) in many different shapes and sizes. You can choose whatever you want to put into it like a salad bar, this usually entails some green veggies and an egg. Chinese people really like eggs. This is always served with a vinegar sauce, chili powder and a soy sauce that you just mix in with your noodle soup. All the dishes cost anywhere from 4-15 Yuan.

Eating squid in the sun!

Eating Squid in the rain!

Street vendors: this is where the magic happens, vendor food doesn't always look the most sterile or the most healthy but it sure is the tastiest. You can pick pretty much anything you like from meats on a stick, deep fried tofu, veggies (ie. grilled corn, green onions) nothing from the stands will cost you more than 3 Yuan so that is roughly 0.50 Canadian. I have had my fill of street food when I am running late for class or only have a short break in between. Mind you convenience store food is always interesting since you can't read the packaging and everything you buy is like a mystery prize you never know what you are going to get. I do have to add that the best juices I have ever tasted were from China. I love BBQ meat, especially the squid.

As for local restaurants most of them serve regular Chinese food or dumplings. Dumplings (Jiǎozi 餃子) are very popular here and I personally quite like them. They are easy to order when you learn the words for the kind that you like and they are cheap. About a dollar Canadian will get me about a dozen which is more than enough since they are stuffed with a meat and vegetable mixture again served with vinegar. They are usually steamed. While on the top of steamed foods, steam buns are another one of my favourites you can usually get a one huge one for about 2 Yuan, they vary from cabbage to green onion and pork or chicken. These make awesome easy warm morning breakfasts.  In China they usually eat porridge (congee) a rice boiled soup where they will serve with shredded meats, duck eggs, very little veggies and a long deep fried doughnut to for dipping purposes.

Due to the fact so many Korean people have settled in Jilin there are quite a few Korean restaurants.

Did you know you can BBQ bread.

Our attempt at BBQ

Some Dong Bei Food.

These look like green onion cakes but they are not, inside is actually leeks and pork.

Congee

My experience with food in China is if you can't speak the language  and there is no picture to point at, be prepared for anything.

If you want anything past the hours of midnight you'll have to hunt down one of the holes in the wall for some late night BBQ or hit up McDonalds. There is no such thing as pizza delivery but KFC & McDonalds will deliver between the hours of 5-8pm.

Grocery stores have pretty much anything you would want to a stir fry but I did find at DaFuYuan (a local chain grocer) dog meat and dog heads! Personally there are many street vendors that will sell you meat, fruits and vegetables at a very low price with out the hassle of fighting through over populated grocery stores. After awhile they will even know you are a regular customer of their and give you deals. Gotta love the barter system. The lady that I bought my fruits and vegetables from would tell me how good my Mandarin was, I don't know if this was because she was trying to butter me up so I would purchase more of her produce.

BBQ food from the Chicken Skeleton

The KTV Fruit platter.

Thank you for reading. Where ever I am it sure isn't boring.

Bye bye- Jilin.

Entertainment in Jilin City, China Part 4

Commuting 

Around Jilin taking a taxi is the quickest way to get around, the meter starts off at 5Yuan and that will take you a fair distance about a 5-10 minute drive. (taxi drivers in Jilin from what I can tell are a bit sheltered when it comes to the outside world since most of them were not aware of Cantonese, they also do not speak any English)**I did however find a taxi driver that lived in Hong Kong for awhile I grabbed his cell phone and called him for personal uses since it was more pleasant way of getting around, he also chauffeur people to the airport, at least this way I could practice my Cantonese** Buses are the cheapest way after cycling around, it costs 1 Yuan/per bus you take but this stop at every stop driving at snail pace while people cram on even though there is clearly not enough room. You can also get a 'bus card' where you load up money and it costs you 0.90 Jiao per trip saving you the hassle of fumbling around for loose change. Cycling would be the cheapest but not necessarily the safest the roads in China have no rules it is like a free for all. If you can afford a scooter and ride it with confidence I would suggest this would be the way to go since all you have to do is drag the battery up to your apartment to charge. My roommate in China had one and weaving through cars past the buses and cyclists is the way to travel. There is a train in this city but it will only take you out of the city, luckily it is much cheaper than flying but takes a lot of time. You can read about the different tiers of sleepers on trains in China in the lonely planet.

Entertainment

Here is me horseback riding for the first time since I was in Jr. high. Later on this day I fell off the horse since it started galloping and I had to drag the courage out of me to get back on the horse, literally!

Mr. Professor Turtlestien. He lives happiliy in an aquarium with lobsters now.

As for finding things to do as expected there are lots of things to see and do when the whole city is brand new. From there I very quickly made friends with the other foreigners, being so far away from home bonds people together and shortly after you are all friends.

Fire works we bought to celebrate Canada Day and Independance Day.

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Above:  Me at the driving range, I very quickly found out that this isn't my sport. It was nice to socialize but the boys seem to take this game a little more seriously than I care to.

Probably one of the smallest amusement parks in a mall that I have ever been to but it was an adventure non-the-less.

This lake apparently has a dragon within, like they all do. Somewhere there is a chain I believe it is to the left of this picture...something happens when you pull the chain up. In the end we learned that this chain will only make you dirty.

Obviously there are the regular tourist attractions, parks, temples, amusement parks, sports based events on top of that there are the holidays, birthdays and dinner parties to top it all off. Surprisingly with very little communication skills I had tonnes to do while I was there. Volunteering is always an option if you find yourself lost for things to do, getting involved with the locals will give you a sense of self satisfaction. 

Chinese New Years where you make dumplings with your family or in this case with my new found Chinese friends, Teacher's Day, Tomb Sweeping day, dragon boat races and all the western holidays that us westerners want to take advantage of giving us lots to plan for.

Who doesn't love a haunted house?

With traveling around China, visiting the local sites, making new friends, volunteering at a home for handicapped, a high school and a bar I never was bored.

Here is me drinking my beer in front of the dancers.

I was introduced to some bars where they played top 40 Chinese music and some very main stream western music like Lady Gaga. KTV - karaoke in a private room was something I really enjoyed only your friends are allowed in there, they serve fruit platters some bar finger foods like sunflower seeds and beer.

I decided to post this because people fall down all the time right?

You might ask yourself, 'what am I looking at?' cause I did. This is one the LED light up wall artyou can find within a KTV. Just to show you that there are weird-os everywherein the world.

G+ the hippest most happening place in town. They have dancers on the tables, singers and sometimes even a pole dancer. Expensive drinks, large TVs with sports showing and bad music.

Trivia Hosting!

 

 

Yay, Triva!

Teaching English @ New Horizon in Jilin City, China

Teaching

I knew that teaching was something that I had always wanted to try since it was a great way to travel abroad and make money. After having taught a year I can't say how thankful I am and proud of myself that I not only made it through a year of teaching but I found my calling. I love teaching.

It isn't always about playing games but I do have to say that is one of the better parts of the day. From giving out assignments, making sure every student is participating, marking homework and exams it is a very rewarding career. 

With New Horizon I was placed all around the city at different schools owned by this one company to teach an English class once a week to students on their down time (evenings and weekends) From the ages of 5 (kindergarten level) all the way up to university. I also taught business English to the employees at Petro China and to some very awesome 'medical students' which were actually doctors, dentists and specialists.

I averaged about 15-20 hours a week not including after class time, 2 hour classes with a 10 minute break in between, of about 5-45 students. I was accompanied by a Chinese Teacher Assistant (which I found out later only get paid about 30 Yuan a class) they would do the more difficult translating for me depending on the skill level of the students.

With the last school that I worked at they just tossed us teachers with little to no information about the students. This was very much the same. I was given a book to teach from (sometimes no book) a short teacher training which consists of me doing a lesson plan in front of the head management before being sent into a live classroom. If it wasn't for my star shining TAs I wouldn't have made it through the beginning of the semesters. They do their very best to make you feel welcome and try to take some of the stress off your shoulders. The unfortunate thing is that when you get a bad TA it can really ruin your day, with this company your first meeting with them are usually about 10 minutes before you start your class. There was a different TA for every single class that I taught.

My university students

My University Students

More university students

This is a picture of my Elementary Students

This was one of my favourite classes, they loved to play English games!

Some cards I obtained over the year, there were tonnes more I couldn't fit them all in one photo.

My most advance middle school class.

More university students!

Last day for my summer students, we decided to have a BBQ out of the classroom and in a park.

My Teacher Assistant Fisher and my screaming girls, don't worry Andy we know you are there.

My Medical student class, having one of those impromptu potluck.

 Students

My students are what changed my life, gave me the love for teaching. From little children dragging me out at recess to play tag and giving me apples for teacher's day to my adult students bringing home cooked meals to hold a impromptu pot luck before and after class were just some of events that made my year in China. Some of my middle school students even give me presents on our last day of classes. (little anime key chains because they knew I liked anime or something as simple as a card written in English) Without them I would have been just another traveling adventure because of their kindness I left China with one of the most beautiful feelings that I get to take with my for the rest of my life.

It is true that Chinese classes are more important than English classes so I try to provide them with something more relaxing. Through my many questions I learned from their translations so much about the daily life of a Chinese student. They go to school for about 12 hours a day usually this does include doing home work and on top of that they have extra curricular classes such as English and sports.

From my students I learned that Chinese teachers don't let them speak and that western teaching gives them a lot more freedom to be themselves. 99% of them have to wear a uniform from grade 1-12 and have stylized hair cuts,  little to no self expression allowed.

For them I was very different, free and liberal in many cases.

They work hard and just want to have fun just like all kids.

Corruption

So there is this thing I'm going to call 'red tape' for some reason with all the teachers that I have spoken with there are always some things you just can't get. For me it was ample timing when covering new classes with some history on the student's English level. I always had to just use a previous lesson plan and have it ready to be altered if it was too easy or difficult. Working on days off sometimes became a hassle and certain things just became 'well that is just the way it is'. 

A lot of the times they spoke to me like they had my best intentions at heart but there was not action to prove this was the case. Even people that have worked for a Chinese company long enough just seem to chalk up bad management; being the norm. This was something I wasn't sure I would ever be able to deal with long term.

Something as simple as getting a reference letter from the headmaster (which was promised because I asked about it when I was hired for my future teaching endeavors) was never taken care of. I even sent emails that were ignored at the end. Why he didn't provide me with this piece of paper, who knows?

By the end I was aware that it’s quantity, not quality.

Living in Jilin City, China Part 2

Accommodations

The apartment that I was placed in was above average. I had experience from the Changchun incident 'The Passport Heist of Changchun' that this two bedroom apartment was better than any that the average Chinese family will ever live in. When I had arrived there were two beds, a very dirty aquarium with two live fish residing in the dark green water, stand up shower, western toilet (I mention this because it had became such a  rarity to see them after I had left Canada) gas stove top, no oven, tiny fridge and very little cutlery. From there I made it as homely as possible but with nothing but a suitcase full of mostly clothing there wasn't much I could do until I went shopping for some anime posters.I had to obtain kitchen ware from one of the foreign liaisons in the end she donated what she could (a pot, a pan, two bowls and chopsticks) everything else I had to buy. Later on the school provided me with a toaster, a wee toaster oven and a rice cooker. 

As for Internet you need a VPN for most restricted websites such as facebook and even blogger. If you don't own a laptop you will be provided one from about a million years ago. I believe the one they supplied me had about 4G of hard drive space. As for water there was a button (a little metal disc) under my kitchen sink that measured how much water I was using in my kitchen and my hot water heater in the bathroom. Power I had to pay for myself and it never really cost all that much about 100RMB (6.8 RMB = 1 CAD). I didn't get A/C in my apartment but since I wasn't facing East my apartment never got very hot so a fan sufficed quite well. Winter was another story. I needed the school to provide me with a very large space heater that took a lot of complaining, I usually ended up hiding in my bedroom under two sets of blankets with the space heater sitting on a table pointing over my bed. 

Now a short blurb about heating in China: My floors were heated but heat in China or at least Jilin was regulated by the government. I guess how it works is that everyone pays one fee and you get the same amount of heat as everyone else. So for some reason they decide that October was late enough into the winter before they would turn it on. If you can guess they also turned off the heat early due to all sorts of unknown reasons. They just figured that everyone can manage.

In comparison to other teacher's homes with this company I had the pick of the crop even though I hadn't known it at the time of arrival. They lived in small cramped spaces that we would call bachelors here in Canada but with walls to divide the rooms. The regular bathrooms has a shower head sticking out of the wall and a shower curtain that hung from the ceiling to substitute as a 'en suite shower'. I mention this en suite because later on I start meeting locals through work and friends of friends that not everyone has showers within their humble abode. It is very common that people would go to the public showers every couple of days to wash up. I have never done this myself but I hear that it is fairly cheap and very common in daily life.

Living in Jilin City, China Part 1

Due to the fact that my travel blog was born after I had departed China (when my teaching contract was finished) I didn't have nearly as many posts as some would expect from someone who was abroad for so long.

This particular post was inspired by another travel blog that I have recently started reading. The Art of Backpacking which had a post about teaching English in China. Thinking to myself "Hey I did that, why haven't I written a post about it?" So here it is! This is will be a pretty lengthy piece  that will be broken down into parts since it does cover a year's worth of life experiences, I hope that you enjoy the read. This post might even give someone going to China to teach especially in the north-east (Dōngběi東北) area a bit of an idea of what they should expect in Jilin.

I don't have much for an introduction so I will recall the most memorable thing that happened whilst in Jilin city. For the very first time I lived through a flood, now I say this in a way where I personally didn't suffer any of the harmful effects of mother nature. Don't worry thought this happened July 28 2010. Even though my 'medical students' shared their horror stories with me about how many were left homeless, they still tried to keep me in the best spirits.


What happened here was I believe there was a huge down pour of water upstream of the Songhua River
that eventually took out a chemical factory where thousands of barrels came barreling down the river. These barrels eventually picked up up a pig farm, now there is pigs and barrels rushing to towards a bridge. It dismantles this bridge adding debris to the mess. I have taken some picture from my students from QQ (the Chinese version of MSN) so you can have a visual.

My roommate Randall and I did buy an abundance of water due to the possibility of a chemical scare. In the end we didn't need it, but it is always good to be prepared.

This is No.1 High school. This is where I taught my grade 10 art class.

From the Bei Shan Mountain or was it Long Tan Shan....Oops I forgot.

 

Good Ol' City Scape.

It isn't unusual to see construction at every turn and a man riding a donkey pulling a huge pile of 'recyclable' goods talking on his cell phone. At night it is all about neon signs questionable massage parlors and drunk middle aged men puking on the street.