Happiness fills my soul!

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lady;First
FN:First Lady
REV:20090911T072223Z
END:VCARD

I heard a knock on my door so I thought it would be Mary or Jen, it was 3 of my old students, I was soooooo happy to see them, but I shouted through the door, " I cannot see you, I'm not supposed to see any students". Then I said "wait" ran for my mask and let them in LOL> We were so excited to see each other. They told me that a student (a boy at that) was crying because he thought I was not coming back to school. That explains why when I saw him through my window he looked so delighted. We shouted at each other through the window briefly. My other students who came to visit told me how much they missed me and was happy that I was back. The highlight of my day!

Nothing!

It's 224pm, I have not done anything for the day and for some reason... I feel fine with that! Don't get me wrong, I woke up at 5:45am, spoke to some friends, took a shower, went downstairs for a teacher's briefing, made banana muffins, gave tutoring lessons to a boy for about 75 mins, ate lunch, played cards, spoke to many friends/two of my sisters but I don't feel a sense of accomplishment. The last 4 days have been extremely productive, so maybe its OK. 

The day should end a bit more productive, after dinner I have a study session at the government chch ( U R missing) later and I may listen to a few Chinese podcasts.

The weather is beautiful and not sure exactly what time my official quarantine ends but I'm going out tonight!

Technology Rocks

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lady;First
FN:First Lady
REV:20090910T023144Z
END:VCARD

So I am sitting in my bedroom talking to friends in Florida, Pittsburgh, Jamaica, and Canada! I'm watching my godson from half way across the world as he sleeps so peacefully! Then my Chinese friend calls me from America to wish me Happy Teacher's Day. Gotta love technology!

All settled in

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lady;First
FN:First Lady
REV:20090909T032128Z
END:VCARD

I'm completely settled in and ready to go (well no where far since I'm quarantined!) The temperature has dropped significantly. When I arrived on Friday, it was about 93 deg, today its 72 deg.

 

I've had lots of time to catch up with old friends and relax. Great day!

Norman Sandcroft

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lady;First
FN:First Lady
REV:20090908T130522Z
END:VCARD

Norman Sandcroft, former St. Jago High School graduate (the best high school in Jamaica because I went there) recently received a scholarship to pursue a Master's degree in Beijing, China.

 

"Remember that you are Ambassadors of your country, and you are expected to hold the flag high on this new adventure. Conduct yourselves with dignity and decorum at all times. Take the best of Jamaica with you. Embrace the Chinese culture. Don't keep yourselves locked away in your rooms and cling to each other," Miss Diaz advised.

 

http://www.jis.gov.jm/officePM/html/20090806T130000-0500_20696_JIS_JAMAICANS_RECEIVE_SCHOLARSHIPS_FROM_CHINA.asp

 

Jamaica!!! Expect no less!

So productive!

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
N:Lady;First
FN:First Lady
REV:20090908T124309Z
END:VCARD

By 10am, I had so much accomplished, caught up on many things I should have done over the summer. By the time my lunch arrived, I accomplished most of my goals.

On Tuesdays, we eat at Mary's house, we had some great Mexican food and then played a Chinese game called Mah jong.

Day One- "Vacation"

OK so I know I made a bug fuss about being home for a week (esp since they did not even know that I had a cold) but I'm kinda liking it. In fact, I can get used to it! I am having such a productive day, I set a list of goals and tasks to accomplish. I am well on my way. Today I had my groceries and lunch delivered to me and had many opportunities during the day to catch up on sleep. I must say though Mary Beth has been such a blessing. She is soooo helpful and shows her love in a very tangible way. Missing my students though...

My supervisor and I went to the nurse to see if she thought I needed to go to the doctor for toe treatment. When we arrived after 4pm, she was just waking up and seemed very nonchalant. She said many times, its not a problem, drink hot water. I think my liaison  kind of urged her to give me medicine so I "would feel better". Its kinda like giving sugar pills to a psychiatric patient. Going to see if this thing works, hope it doesn't burn!

Vacation?

OK so I know that angels respond to me every word so I should choose them carefully! I was talking to a friend and I said "ahh man, I need a vacation from my vacation" I was informed today that I will not start working until next week (9/13). The school has asked me to stay home for the week. Uhm, excuse me...did I just get quarantined even though I don't have the swine flu? Well you know me, life throws lemons, make lemonade. This week is going to be awesome. I can catch up on my QT, reading, goal setting, etc. I feel bad that the other teachers have to take my classes though. I could use a day though- a whole week, uh we'll see! So this week I will be on American time, see you online.

PS twitter and blogger is "down"- hopefully only temporarily.

where r u,i miss u

here is an email I received from my student yesterday...

Dear Rose,

          Where r u ? why didn't i see you in our school...?

         you won't come to here and teach us anymore,will you? If you tell me you won't,I think I will be very disappointed...I really miss you...We need you to be here......

        By the way,How r u ? I hope you happiness every day...

Misconceptions about Americans

Misconceptions

 

I am not sure what misconceptions there are of Americans or foreigners in general; but I refuse to play into them. I go down for breakfast at 6:15am, I am seated and a lady brings me this....

 

Two slices of different kinds of bread, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and watermelon. She then brings me a hot beverage. While seated, I hear a discussion among 3 staff members trying to figure out if I should eat chinese breakfast or "american" breakfast. How about you ask me folks?

 

So anyways, I need to find out what this drink is:

Me: excuse me (pointing at the cup), what is this?

Staff: its coffee

Me: I don't drink coffee

Staff (looking puzzled because apparantly all americans drink coffee)- calls someone over, tells her in chinese that I dont drink coffee, what are we going to do? The other staff member responds in chinese "maybe we can give her tea"

Me: (nodding my head, not waiting for translation): yes can I have tea please

 

So I'm sitting with all this grass on my plate thinking maybe this is first course, I see her coming towards me with scrambled eggs, as she approaches closer, the plate breaks, they clean it up and try again. Now its ready, she walks by me with the eggs! So I inititate a conversation

 

Me: can I go to the buffet and get my own breakfast?

Lady: this is your breakfast.

Me: you gave me watermelons and salad. People don't eat this for breakfast!

Lady: this is what the airline ordered for you (the airline paid for my hotel and meal vouchers for my sleepover in Beijing)

Me: Can I have a chinese breakfast then?

Lady (looking frustrated, asks someone else and then brings me a chinese breakfast)

 

notice the difference? Three steamed dumplings, 3 slices of watermelon, boiled egg, sausage, noodles or maybe it was fungus not sure...

 

My intention is not to be difficult, but I am sooooo not eating grass for breakfast!

 

Now mind you I am not jetlagged, so it is not 6pm for me, its very much 6am, so to be eating a raw salad is not what I had in mind. Salad is never my first choice period regardless of the time!

 

I think there are times when I just have something in my head and I know that's how it is supposed to play out. I stay calm until it happens. For example: yesterday I get to the hotel, the receptionist asks me for a voucher which I did not have. She then explains to me that I have to go back to the airport to get this voucher.

I look at her and say "I'm not going back to the airport", smile and wait patiently. Within 2 minutes, she finds the receipt book she was looking for, gives me my room key and reserves my pick up for the following day! I kinda felt bad for being so stern, I was no where close to being confrontational but I had such low tolerance for stupidity. 

Misconceptions diffused....

Beijing!

Customs

 

All questions asked were in Chinese and I was baffled between whether the young man was flirting with me or harrassing me! Even though I was on the "foreigners" line, he still insisted on speaking to me in chinese. He started with a general "ni hao" and I figured he said that so I could raise my head so he could match the picture. Then he proceeded to ask me questions. I answered and he repeated my answers until I left in amazement, seemed satisfied and let me go! I've always vowed not to speak chinese when in legal/governmental situations. Regardless of how much chinese I know, I always vote for English because they can easily switch to more technical terms and next thing you know you are signing away your life!

 

Hotel

 

I went to the info booth to ask for my hotel to pick me up from the airport. The man kept holding up 4 fingers telling me to go to the 1st floor! I know there is a language issue with "l" and "r" but this is critical info, you cant tell me to go to the first floor, while holding up 4 fingers! He was like go outside to F1 because the vehicle will not come inside, duh!!! I know I'm high class but having the vehicle drive into the airport is a bit "Ludacris" or Peety Pablo! Didnt trust him, so I went to another booth, the lady called, asked me to wait for a few mins and within 2 mins a lady from the hotel greeted me and took all my luggage, so apparantly I did not have to go to the 1st, 4th or any other floor because they had arranged to meet me in the airport.

 

Things I realized:

 

a. Immediately started to feel more relaxed (which is easy after a self inflicted crazy vacation!)

b. New York is the only airport I have been to where you have to pay for the smart carts for your luggage- other cities at least refund you when you give it back!

c. Apart from JFK's Jetblue terminal, you always have to pay for wifi-- many other cities give you free wifi in the airport!

Swine Flu Exceptions

When the plane landed, I woke up got my things together and started to medicate myself to ensure I did not have a fever to avoid being quarantined for 7 days! I was standing on line trying so hard to suppress my cough. Everyone who was working had on masks, but I realized something... you cant get the swine flu when...

 

a. you are asking a question! There was a man in front of me being questioned, he could not hear because of the language barrier AND the fact that the guy was mumbling through his mask. The worker took his mask off, asked the question and quickly proceeded to replace his mask! How does that make sense??? Either you are going to wear it all the time or never!

b. when you are eating- people will wear their masks faithfully but as soon as that food came, they took that mask off, chowed down their food and put it back on!

 

Tips

 

Wearing a mask does not benefit the person who does not have the illness, the ideal situation is for the infected person to wear a mask to prevent contamination.

Wash/sanitize hands after touching public items (door knobs, handrails, etc)

Where did Friday go?

If you know anything about me, I possess some nocturnal habits and my sleeping patterns are very odd. So what did I do one the plane for 13 hours considering I bought books to read, brought my laptop and movies, etc? I slept!!! I was so tired mentally and physically, I was just out! Every time the food came, I would wake up like clockwork, eat and go back to sleep. I felt bad because there was a lady beside me and I could tell she wanted to say something but I kept going back to sleep. She would pull down my table for me to eat, get water for me before the hostess moved to the next row, she collected my papers to fill out, she was just helpful! So I wake up at 1am, peep through the window and its sunny! Its 1pm in China so I just missed out on Friday morning altogether (12hr diff in time zone).

I stayed up for a while to talk to her and she told me about her family, asked me 21 questions about my life, why I was going to China, length of time, etc and wished me all the best. Went back to sleep.

 

For dinner on Thursday I chose the duck and rice but then was a little baffled that its 4am NY time and I was eating beef and rice for dinner. 

Oh what a day! (Thursday afternoon)

After all the festivities over the past few weeks, it took a toll on my immune system, Wednesday and Thursday, I was just weak.  Roxanne bought me halls and alka seltzer and I was just popping pills. Normally, I dont like taking medicine but I could not afford to have a fever going to China. They were so paranoid about the swine flu before I left, so now with a possibility of contact having been to the US and Canada, I was taking no chances. There would be hazmat  people zapping you as you passed to take your temperature.

 

I took the alka seltzer and some halls to try to ease my sore throat. While packing I found some chinese medicine which I know worked very well. I took one and realized that it was a black one (indicating night time) but was too lazy to wrap it up and take a white one, so I took it. What I forgot is that I always have periods between classes where I can sleep if necessary, including a 2 hour daily siesta. Around 10 mins later, I was one drowsy girl. I was bobbling in the shower, but I kept on pressing. Went downtown to go to Macys and the bookstore. On my way back, saw a cab- got quoted a really good price, so I hopped in, went to my house and got my suitcases. What a mad rush!

 

Daddy's Little Girl