Gingerbread (cracker) Houses

It was a first time for the kids to make gingerbread houses. Most of them ate more candy then they put on their houses. Not Surprising!!!

Rugby Match

So last Saturday, Chengdu came down for the Pu’er Plate competition in Rugby. Now, I hadn’t played rugby since we went to Shanghai in October and if you had read the blog post about that…We did horrible. But not this time. We beat the pants off of them….I didn’t score in this game but I did have two saves for scores which helped us out tremendously because if one of them had happened…it would have put Chengdu ahead of us and the momentum would have shifted there way. But we ended up winning 26-7…so it was a good day all around. Then we had a after match meal at Appetizing which is a Thai restaurant which is owned by the captains wife….IT WAS ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!! IT WAS GLORIOUS!!!! For those of you who don’t know, pu’er is a type of tea that is sold in southern China.

So this week in the character class, I have decided that we are going to start the lesson of creativity because Christmas is a season of creativity….People decorate there houses with lights and other stuff….well, we are going to try to make gingerbread houses. It is going to be something of a challenge I imagine. First, I couldn’t find gramcrackers…so I got these other type of crackers. I do have a friend who make icing about once a month…so she is going to make me tons of icing which we are going to use for the houses….My next thing I need to find is colorful candy…I hope that we don’t make too big of a mess….

Thanksgiving and....egh....

So I had an excellent Thanksgiving….Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, stuffing, Homemade Cranberry sauce, AND GRAVY OVER EVERYTHING!!!! So some friends and I went to O’reillys Irish pub to have a thanksgiving meal cooked by a German woman. Now, she is the best international cook in Kunming. So we knew it was going to taste good. The downside was that it was only one plate and not all you can eat like I am used to eating in the states. So after we were done eating and playing pool….we went out for some Chinese BBQ. So the Thanksgiving meal satisfied the taste buds and the BBQ satisfied the hunger.

And then that Sunday, I got food poisoning. I ate some bad chicken. So for two days I was rushing back and forth from the bed to the toilet. But I am all better now. So I didn’t eat for two days, which made me so hungry by the third day when I started eating…I think my body was in shock because when I ate a bowl of the fabulous pork stew that made in my awesome crock pot, I had horrible chest pains. So the stew consisted of pork, tomato, carrot, two types of leafy greens, onion, and peppers. I was trying to hit all of the nutrition thingy.

So the apartment has white tiles….which look really great….when they are clean, but they only stay clean for a day, mainly, because we have a shoes on policy in the house. I have to sweep my room every other day. It is kind of getting tedious. I will never have white tiles again. So my next home project is the increase the water pressure in the shower. So we have solar hot water which comes from the roof. I think when they installed the shower, they took the pipes all the way down to the first floor and then routed them back up to the bathroom which is the reason I have no water pressure in the shower…Also, there is this device that is next to the water pipes which is not turned on and I don’t know what it does. I am going to take it out. Wish me luck. Also, I purchased a toilet seat and it didn’t come with the nuts and bolts so my toilet seat is duct taped down. MAN HOUSE!!!!!

House warming party

We had a house warming party. There were about 25 people who came over. We also got a huge crock pot out of it. Now, this is no new age crock pot with all the FDA restrictions....This is an old school crock pot that actually can cook stuff in an hour. So i made a pork roast today with carrots and peppers. The carrots and peppers were awesome but the pork wasnt very tender. So it was a good dinner. So now that my friends here have seen my new place...it is time for you to see it. I also have a microwave now....but no rice cooker...We are probably the only apartment in all of china that does not have a rice cooker. It is kind of embarrassing. My roommate said he was going to buy one at the second hand market but he didnt. We do have some art. You might notice the huge fish tank also....It came with the apartment. There is no plan to put fish in it because it is too big to have to CLEAN. The furniture might not look great but it is REALLY comfortable.

Internet is back on.....

I can finally communicate with the world again.

New Apartment

So I finally have some time to relax after I am fully moved into my new place. My new apartment has three bedrooms, huge living room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and great roommates. So I am living with a german and another American. The first time I met the German was when I came to look at the place, but I have known the American since last December. So my room has a private bathroom, king size bed, wardrobe, futon, and a couple bed side tables (See pics below). So I took over the bedroom from a girl who took a job 2 hours outside of Kunming and she didn’t want to make the trip everyday….Understandable. So my bathroom needed a new shower head and a toilet seat. The shower head was easy to find, but the toilet seat has been harder as most people have squat potties. So today I head over to the east side of town to try to find a toilet seat. The character class had another person sign up last week….So it is getting a little momentum. We just finished responsibility and are moving on to self-control next week. 

So we have had some trouble with internet access at the new place. Apparently, we are on a pay as you use system....I think. and if that is in fact the case, then we are definitely changing it to a monthly system. So the day after we moved in...we couldnt access the internet because we didnt know why...so we let it go for a day...then figured it out...Well, that only lasted a day before the internet just stopped. But this is a different problem because we have no internet coming into the house. My theory is that China Telecom is making some changes because i have heard from different people that the internet goes down for a couple of days and then just comes back on...We are going to let it go for another day...and then we will make a fuss about it. So i have to lug my laptop with me to a cafe to check emails....Also, Oreillys is the only place my VPN works so i havent been able to post anything or send out a newsletter.

Moving

So i have found a new place to live.....I am so excited to move in. My new room is about 5x as larger as my current room. We have a solid internet connection and not just the cheapest one. It is 4mbps instead of 600kbps. That is by far the thing i am most excited about. So the residential complex that i am moving to is across the street from a police academy so a lot of police officers live in the complex and when i went to look at the place there was a police car parked right outside. So i imagine that there is little to no theft in the complex. So i bought a bicycle. 19" mountain bike. Second hand of course because it still might get stolen. And i have two locks on it....one key lock and one combination lock. Do you think i need to get another one? I move into the new place tomorrow. So a couple of other features....I have my own full bathroom. I have a wardrobe, king size bed, futon, and some other stuff that i cant really remember. AND THERE ARE NO GIRL ROOMMATES!!!!! So that means that there will not be hair EVERywhere It is not great to walk into the bathroom in the morning and see a glob of hair. 

We are doing responsibility in the character class....so at the beginning of the class i gave  all the kids an egg and told them to write their most important thing on it...It was there job to make sure that the egg didnt break through out the class. One boy put the egg in his jacket pocket and we started to play a game and of course he hit is chest one time and the egg broke in his pocket. Another boy had his egg in his hand and we were clapping and he forgot it was there....So he went to clap and it busted in his hands. It was pretty funny. a majority of them did a good job at keeping their eggs safe. In the sunday class i was throwing my egg around showing the kids what not to do and i dropped my egg on the floor....It broke....It was a great example. 

i will post pictures of the new place and bike after i get settled in.

Shanghai

Shanghai was great....the rugby was awful. So i had the pleasure of flying on a plane where leg room was scarce but i did sit next to a chinese woman which meant more leg room for me because she couldnt touch the floor with her feet. She was short and her husband was really scared and nervous. It was kind of funny. so he was clinging to the arm rest the entire flight and i dont think he moved a muscle. So i arrived in Shanghai and went directly to the canal street where there was festival going on where tons of local international restaurants had tents setup with food and drinks. Luckily, the event ended at 11:00pm because we had to wake up the next morning at 7:00 in order to make it to the rugby fields by 8:30am. We didnt arrive at the fields until 9:30pm. We slept in a little later then planned. I was privileged enough to get an air mattress which was probably the best part of the trip. Well, there were 16 teams registered to play and we got put in the group with a chinese team, japanese team, figi team, and one of the shanghai teams. The first game we played the japanese team and only lost 3-1 in tries. All the rest of the games were much worse. We only scored 1 try the entire tournament. We had a player dislocate his knee, another guy broken his hand, and another guy got whip lashed into the ground. We finally arrived home at 11:00pm that night after the after party at the fields. I was staying with the guy who dislocated his knee and his knee swelled up almost 5x bigger. So sunday we just watched some movies and played some video games. He went to the local hospital and the doctor looked at it and just said wait. So we went out to find some crutches and the first place only had one....so we bought it....and then next place had two....well a friend.....not me.....bought it and gave it to my crippled friend....and it was a different size....so he is walking around with one crutch that is for a 6'3" man and the other crutch that is for a 5'10". HILARIOUS!!!!!! I made it back to kunming okla. The biggest problem that i had on both flights was the fact that the person sitting next to kept looking over and watching my screen to watch what i was watching. It was kind of getting really annoying. because they would only do it every so often.

Shanghai was way too big for me personally. We probably spent 500RMB just on taxi fair going to different parts of the city...luckily, we could split it between 4 of us where ever we went. 

Mom's visit

Other than the earthquake, we had a great week.

Day 1

I took my mom to the Yunnan Nationalities Village and we only spent 6 hours walking through the villages, watching little side shows, watching an elephant show, and seeing the local village dances. We did go ahead and eat some road side fried noodles and fried rice. Mom thought the noodles were super delicious. Luckily, the sun was out the entire time we were there….so I got a nice sunburn. Mom on the other hand received a nice umbrella from a really great guy so she was covered from the sun for the entire time. After seeing everything, we then proceed to go up to the center city where we sat down and ate Japanese food for supper which was paid for by the best grandmother in the world. After hanging out for a couple of hours..I took her to her hotel where she then slept for 10 straight hours.

Day 2

We went up into the north to eat Korean Food for an early lunch. It was OK….not the best I have had. After the meal, we went up to the Wild animal Park (ZOO). I call it the safari. We saw monkeys, tigers, birds, pandas, raccoons…Yes, they had at least 20 raccoons. There was a golden monkey and it was the first time that we had seen one. We got within 5 feet of some tigers….There were some white tigers….and white foxes. So we had to walk to the different places…and I looked and the farthest place was only 3 miles from the entrance. So “we” decided that we would try to walk it..Now, this place is on a mountain…so it was uphill all the way…After about 1 mile, “we” decided that we should hop in the shuttle and take it the rest of the way….It was a great idea. For some reason, the people who made the place decided to spread out the facility over about 10 sq miles. Then later that night…I “allowed” my mom to teach some of my class.

She slept great that night again.

Day 3

We had a first lull. So we had been spending 10-12 hours a day together…And I day three we were walking in silence at some points. It was a more relaxed day. We went to Salvadors to each brunch and then went up to a temple…then went up to Oreilly’s….and then walked through two parks and then sat down for Thai food that night….And I was a gentleman…I let her pay for everything

Day 4

I was hoping this would be a more relaxing day as well. We went to a Temple where the taxi driver didn’t know where it was and I had never been there before….The temple has a market ever Thursday. I though this market was going to be like tourist trinkets, but it was just a market where they were selling anything from spices to shoes.  She did teach some of my class that night.

There aren’t many pictures because mom has all the pictures and I forgot to get them off of her camera before she left.

Kunming trembles on her arrival

So my mother mad it to Kunming in one piece....HURRAY!!!! So i have arranged this private driver to pick her up from the airport and We left with plenty of time to spare. Everything is going great!!!! So her flight was supposed to arrive 7:45pm and the driver says that she probs wont get in until 8pm which is fine by me....We arrive at the airport at 7:10pm, and parking in China cost by the half hour. There is nothing free in china except for......UUUUMMMM...nothing is free in china. So we stop on the highway on the side of the road....and it is common....there are other cars doing this and i sit in the vehicle twiddling my thumbs while the driver is out on the highway having a smoke. Finally after about 30 minutes, we head into the airport.....It is a brand new airport and looks awesome. We are reviewing the arrivals board and there it is.....mom's plane....it's arrival time was 7:45pm....ETA is 8:50PM....WOW!!!! the driver said she was going to be a little late....BOY was she every late. Her flight was just a 1 hour flight from Nanning. We were sitting on the highway and she had not left Nanning airport yet....No worries...My candy that she was carry was not damaged....It was a relief. So we end up getting to her hotel around 10PM which lost her reservation or never got it..IT IS CHINA!?
So the day started off with a little fear and excited...YUP, you guessed ...Kunming had a mild earthquake, but it was enough to shake her hotel room and my apartment building (across the street). There was no damage done...It was just shaking of the buildings.
http://gokunming.com/en/forums/thread/6853/earthquake

NEXT Blog:
Mom's visit and the "Exciting" time we had

Character Class and what i thought was going to be the start of something GREAT!!!!

Sunday character class didn't go as smoothly as Saturday. Part of the problem was because i had just come from 6 hours of teaching and i was dead tired. But all in all the kids had a good time with the games and activities. 

MOM IS COMING TO KUNMING!!!!! on october 14th. So that day i get to teach 7.5 hours and then rush out to the airport to pick her up.....IT IS GOING TO BE A FUN DAY!!!! The biggest difference with having her here as opposed to my father is that we can actually eat Chinese food. We will do probably most of the same sight seeing stuff except i plan on taking her to the stone forest. But i am really excited to spend her money on EXTRAVAGANT meals. and i hope i get my passport back by then.

Day 1 of the Digestive Flush = I am not going to last the 5 days....

So the night before i went out an bought some fruit for the morning fruit shake....Oranges...apples.....you know.....FRUIT! So that night before i ate tons of food to a point where i wanted to get so full that i didn't have to think about it on the first day. It didn't help. I wake up and drink my water with lime and lemon juice and then proceed to peel the fruit to put in the blender.....Now i am expecting it to taste a little bit like fruit juice.....NOPE!!! It was bland and not good. And this was the fruit which made me really scared to try the vegetables. So i finish the fruit shake and didn't gag. Then i started to get hungry about 4 hours later so i proceed to start making the vegetable one. Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, some kind of green leaf, carrots..It only took an hour to peel and blend everything....I open the top of the blender and it smells like grass....but the kicker is that it tasted worse.  After the first gulp, i almost puked, but by the time i got to my last drink on the second 16oz glass....i had adapted to the bad taste and it wasn't feeling like puking....The hardest part of the whole day is that you don't really feel starving...you just feel a little hungry....THE ENTIRE DAY!!!!

Day 2 = I think i can, i think i can, i think i can......but i probably won't

So after looking through some cleanse articles..ONE said that i could add maple syrup to the morning shake....SO I DID!!!!! and i also only added half the oranges and went more with more apples. IT TASTED SO MUCH BETTER!!!!! Now, i didn't add a ton of syrup. I think it was just a squeeze. The night time shake was tons better that day 1. I did all the same except i added peanuts and lemon juice. Peanuts because i figure Protein and i don't know if the vegetables are really adding anything to that. I am thinking one more day and i will be throughly cleansed. 

End of the my first year Newsletter goes out this week. If you don't receive it and you would like to, Please email me at jaredkprice@gmail.com. 

Flush of the digestive system

So since, I have no passport and I can’t go anywhere and i need something to do. I have decided that I am going to do a digestive system flush/cleanse. So I am asking if anyone has any good recipes for a 5-day juice cleanse. Could you email me the 5-day plan at jaredkprice@gmail.com? I will also be in full preparation for the character classes for the upcoming year. IT IS GOING TO BE SSSSSOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!

Side note: Mom gets to town on October 15h.

FIRST CHARACTER CLASS

I am staying another year if you haven’t figured that out already, signed the contract last week. They gave me a whole 5/rmb raise. I feel really valued.
So the character class on Saturday went so well. The day was just a big rush for me though. I had the whole day planned out…..Let me, let you in on a little secret….Nothing goes to plan while you are in china.  I awoke and finished the last minute touches on the schedule on what wanted to accomplish during the class. Then I had to rush up to the north because I really wanted to play in the rugby inter squad match which was supposed to start at 2:00pm. Now I specifically told the captain that I needed for this match to start on time because I had other obligations after the match, the character club. Well, we didn’t start on time. We started at 2:45pm. From there we proceeded to play 4 8-10 minute quarters. So I had planned for the match to be done at 3:00ish. Well, we played the match and I refused to look at my watch as I didn’t want to know what time it was. I had made plans at O’reilly’s for them to have 4 cheeseburgers ready at 3:30pm for me and some other volunteers. And then I was supposed to pick up the volunteers at 4:00….I finally got to O’reillys at 4:15pm. Rushed up to pick up the volunteers and got there around 4:30 and finally got home around 5:15…..While the volunteers ate, I quickly took a shower, and then proceeded to eat. I ate the bacon cheese burger and fries….This is important for later in the story. Well, the three of them only ate 1.5 of their three meals. Which was fine because I figured their leftovers would make some nice meals for the next two days…..So by now with all of my rushing around I have finally caught up where I can relax a little. So we arrived at the school around 6:15 which was plenty of time to prepare for the class at 7:00pm that night. So we had setup these floor mates for the kids to sit on because I didn’t want the kids to have chairs and a desk that would make more of a classroom environment. Well, none of the kids sat on the mat. We put chairs on the outside of the classroom for the parents to sit at because these initial classes the parents were allowed to come and watch. Well, we had, what I considered, a great class….WE played ice-breaker games…we had a lesson on patience…we did skits..we did an egg race….i think altogether it was a success…..At the end the parents asked for a year long outline of the course….So I get two weeks to make an outline…it is going to be FUN!!!!! So after the rush filled day..I came back home and then proceeded to eat the rest of the cheeseburgers and fries…Talk about stress eating.
But at least I have next week off for the Moon Festival/Cake holiday….however, I don’t have a passport as it is in process of getting my visa renewed….so I am stuck in Kunming….and my parents sent me a care package…and I cant get it because I don’t have my passport…. Some other things….Went to see Dark knight…..It was in Chinese. That is the last time I let someone else buy something for me. I was told it was in English…Honestly, probably wasn’t as good. When I tell this story, it is really funny…but this blog post is getting too long.

Next Time on Jared’s Blog:

1. Sunday’s Character class
2. Mom is coming to town….but we don’t know when….

Character clubs

So the first character clubs start this weekend. We have been able to get two different clubs at two different locations. This is exciting!! I have decided that we are going to start with the trait of.......wait for it.......Patience. An d we also have a team of foreigners and Chinese. This is exciting!!! I am hoping to get at least 4-5 different volunteers for each club. But I will be at each one as the head teacher. This was a request made by the schools. So we have a class on saturday and on Sunday. And then we are going to take a break for the holiday, and then we will be back at it. 

The apartment search isn't going to well. This is a bad time to search for an apartment because most places already have been filled as people come in August to start the new school year. But I don't have to technically move out for another two months. So it is not a rush. I have been trying to find places just in the north but I have recently start to adjust my stance on that as I probs want to try out the bike thing again. So I am trying to find a place that is on the second or third floor so I can bring my bike up to the apartment every night so that it doesn't get stolen.

About the wedding

So the wedding was nothing special.....I mean except that it was a wedding of course. But it was a western wedding. There wasn't really anything Chinese about it except for the guest. It was a good time though. Lots of people...the best manis from new Zealand. And he gave a 25-45 minute toast. He did the first half of it in chinese and you could only really understand about 5% of what he as saying. It seriously was that poorly spoken. Granted he has never spoken a word of Chinese in his life. And apparently the best 10s player in the world gave a video shout out to the groom. 10s is a type of rugby. I met some people that work with the groom and they had never seen the bride before.  I thought that was kind of weird. All In all, it was a good time.  

So the moon cake festival is the first week of October. I dont like moon cakes. But it does make the end of my first year here. And we are starting the character education clubs officially on september 22nd.......HURRAY!!!!!!! But the sports clinics are not progressing.....mainly because we can't find a facility that is available on Saturdays. So I am a little bummed about that. 

Also, I didn't take any pictures at the wedding because it was a traditional western style one.

Wedding

Don't worry people.....it is not mine. So I have a friend who has known he was getting married for a long time now. And it is tomorrow. And he told his friends that because of limited space he was not going to be able to invite everyone to the wedding. I have only known him for about 6 months so I figured I would just be one of the ones who wouldn't get invited. Well, I received an email tonight inviting me and some of the other guys to his wedding. this is not even 24 hour notice. Something like this is typical for the Chinese, but he is a kiwi who is marrying a Chinese. Oh well, I don't know if it is going to be a Chinese or western wedding but I am sure there will be plenty of picture moments.

popcorn, Popcorn, POPcorn, POPCOrn, POPCORN.......POPCORN

So I only eat popcorn that I cook on the stove straight from the kernel. I can't stand eating microwave popcorn. I have been looking for kernel popcorn out of the bag since I got here. I have been asking everyone I know. I even walk by convenience stores that serve it right out of a popcorn maker and they wouldn't sell it to me. And I couldn't buy it because they put sugar on it and I am not a kettle corn guy. SALT AND BUTTER for me. Well, I went over to a friends house the other day to watch a movie.....side note.....it was a Spanish movie and the script was awful, the actors weren't good and the directing was bad....but guess what...there was popcorn right off of the stove. I was so excited that I almost forgot to ask where they bought it. So now I can eat popcorn again. It is a great day to be alive.

KICKED OUT...........of my apartment

So I am being kicked out of my apartment as the landlord wants to sell the place. It was so nice living here. Incredible roof top where we could hang out and grill....great roommates....close market and tons of eateries...I am going to miss this place....and it was cheap rent....as The school moved me to just working up in the north, I am trying to find a place up there. The only problem is that finding a vacancy is harder than finding a place down around this area. My rent is going to increase by 250% to 300%. But I really need to find a place up there as my hours at the Korean school as supposed to increase. I also don't have a bike any more to get around town. It was stolen after having it for 10 days. Money down the drain. This new found vacancy is requiring me to save all my income to put towards the move. I was really hoping to stay in my current place for at least another half a year because then I could put the money into some free sports clinics.

Oh...so.....I finally found a bike that was big enough for me and I was happy that I didn't have to take the buses anymore.....it was a great day....I was  biking everywhere....work...soccer....hanging out.....phenomenal how much better it was now that I had a bike......so, apparently, I thought my bike was safe inside the complex locked up.....boy was I wrong...there was a theft spree that might where many people had there apartments broken into and stuff taken...I live on the seventh floor so the only thing that I had stolen was my bike...which was on the first floor. Welp, it is back to taking the buses.

Free Classes = tongue twisters

so if you see me with my hands in my mouth, it is not because i am nervous and i am biting my nails....I have to show the kids where to place their lip to produce the correct sound. Also, my new doesnt have me working on Saturdays so this makes it easier to pursue the sports ministry because then i can spend my saturdays doing basketball and soccer training. Wish me Luck!!!! I am so excited about my new ventures (character clubs and sports training).

Special Events and Character Education

Special Events this summer

Besides going to wenshan, I haven’t been able to travel much at all with some free classes that Odies decided to offer to kids. So there is a speech contest happening in Yunnan, and it might happen every year. I don’t really know. All I know is that it took over my Saturdays. So we had the pleasure of hosting the first round which it just seemed like we were teaching. So I had the pleasure of teaching tongue twisters. Now, Chinese already have trouble with pronunciation, and when we have to say it fast three times….it gets pretty funny. Oh, we were teaching kids ages I don’t know to I don’t know. So the lot of us were at the school on Saturdays 8:00am to 5:30ishpm which made for a long day especially since we were originally supposed to have our Saturdays off. It was fun and it went by really quickly because we were teaching 20 minute classes as opposed to one and half hour classes and there was no writing….it was all oral.
Camps:
So the organization did a week long summer character camp which was a great turn out. I however, was not able to attend all week because of other obligations. But it was a big success. There were over one hundred kids who came in for it. We had over 30 volunteers including the team from the States, Chinese, and other foreigners from all over china. It was a four day camp that lasted from 9:00ish in the morning til 5:00pm. I wish I could have been there for the entire camp.
My sports camp was cancelled mostly due to the fact that the school that I was going through didn’t really advertise at all. So I am pretty bummed about. I kind of got a feeling because there was one week left and I had heard nothing from them. I wanted to do just sports, but they wanted to expand into and English camp also, and I think that the scope just became too big plus they were really focused on the speech contest.

Character Education:
We have been in talks with the school about starting some trial character clubs as a part of their already established classes. This is a huge leap as we plan to start at the end of the month. So we are finalizing the curriculum and getting team members together. Getting excited!!!!!

Pictures from Wenshan