Don’t Burn The Day

OK, sooo this comes better late than never…I’m only a month and some “CHANGE” late.. ha!

Here’s my Inner Mongolia post!

Disclaimer: PLEASE EXCUSE MY HOT-MESS’NESS!!! You would be found looking crazy too, if backpacking in similar conditions!!

And here’s a mini convo that I had with my Dean before leaving for the trip:

Dean: Mimi, do you know what you are getting yourself into?

Me: Yes.

Dean: You won’t be staying in a hotel.

Me: Yeah, I know.

Dean: You won’t even be staying in a motel!

Me: Yes, I know this.

Dean: Just take care of yourself, ok?

Me: I’ll be fine!

And guess what! I DID DO JUST FINE!!

OK, so now I’m giving ya’ll two options:

First, for the lazy ones, I’ve uploaded my flicks onto a slideshow for ya’ll to just sit back and enjoy with little caption commentaries to give ya’ll the overall gist of my 8-day adventure. However, I must warn… the slideshow has hundreds of photos (of scenery, food, adventures, etc.. but ALL worth the patience….especially the desert flicks 3/4th way thru!!), so I advise enjoying the reel when you have a good 30 mintues to devote your attention to me. LOL (And you can glance below for a few selects…)

Second, for the “I’ve got all the time in the world for Mimi” ones, to enhance your experience with my wonderful slideshow,  I’ve typed up a little more detail about the in/outs of the days, to guide you through…. here’s a little day-by-day breakdown:

Sunday, September 28

• Departed Shanghai and arrived in Hohhot at approximately 11AM.
• Checked into our hostel, Anda Guesthouse and chilled in Hohhot, visiting temples and discovering some good eats……. This temple had Tibetan flags….hmmm/weird…

Monday, September 29

• Hopped in a van for a 2.5 ride out to the grasslands where we would spend the next day and half.

Attempted cartwheel…

• After a few minutes of walking and exploring the grasslands, I was a bonafide master of  “The Squat.”  Squatting became ever-so important throughout this trip, especially in the grasslands and desert as since bathrooms were non-existent. Ya gotta just find yourself a rock, bush, tree etc. dropped the pantalones and get down with it.  Baby wipes and tissue were vital and we had all stocked up in preparation for the trip, so all was good. I know, I know it is T.M.I., but I gotta let the truth be known. Afterall, that is why you are reading this, right?!

i squat.

• For lunch, we were served dumplings, diced tomato and cucumber, coated with sprinkles of sugar (- a first for me).
• The fun began in the late afternoon when we got on for a 3-hour horse riding session! I was of course, initially uneasy about the whole thing ala “what if my horse goes crazy on me.” And I guess my hesitation got to the ears of the horse that was picked for me, because as soon as I hopped on, my horse decided to move away from the  rest of the bunch!  I was saying to myself, “Why?!! Why me??!!”  Trying to shout “Whoaa!! Stop!!” was NOT effective. I finally learned the commands of Go / Stop / Fast etc. in their local dialect, in addition to realizing that my horses’ issue was that all he wanted to do was to be in the front; that is, to lead the pack. Once we bonded and I understood this, ALL of the riding was FANTASTIC!  Many had said that I went crazy with my commands and control of my horse…but all in a good way of course. LOL. I was just having a grand ol’ time! I LOVED IT!!

First though, I am a ninja!!……

Meet my horse….I named him, “Rocky.”…along with his buds… The horses, themselves weren’t really all too tall; sort’ve stunted.

Here I am, assuming my position and leading the pack….  Well, Rocky and I….

• After our horse ride, we cleaned up and had ourselves a delicious chicken and potatoes meal.
• Night time’s highlight involved night-tag with our headlights/flashlights all about the grassland, fire made of cow dung…..and seeing a gazillion stars shining oh so brightly!! I can’t remember the last time being able to look up in the middle of the night and seeing so many!  Big Dipper and all…. I even saw shooting stars!

Tuesday, September 30

• Breakfast = Mongolian Bread/Dough thingy with beautiful sunrise!!

• Then back in the van to return to Hohhot where we checked out more of the city.
• Evening came and we hopped on an overnight sleeper bus to take us back to Yinchuan. It was my first time on a sleeper bus!  Not too bad of a ride as I slept most of the way…and it fit me just perfectly… I don’t know how tall people would deal, but that wasn’t my problem. LOL So this ride was stated to be 11 hours, but our crazy driver got us to our destination in about 9.5 hours.

Wednesday, October 1

• Since we arrived early at approximately 4AM in Yinchuan versus the predicted 6AM, we bundled ourselves up, backpacks on and trooped our way 3km to the bus station that would take us to our next destination of Zhongwei. Once arriving at the bus station, we were prompted to find some eats and fed our bellies with each a bowl of noodles at 5AM. I recall feeling a bit of a hot mess.
• 7:50AM – We hopped on the bus to head down to Zhongwei.
• Upon arrival, we hopped in a tuk tuk to take us to the downtown area where we would just scope out dwelling locales. (All quite a different experience for me because I’m usually, one to have all things pre-planned all the way through when traveling, but this “on the spotness” all worked out too.)



• After agreeing on a place to stay, we booked our 2-day camel trek through the Gobi Desert to take place the following day, then of course we grabbed some eats and checked out the city of Zhongwei… temples etc.

• For dinner, we ventured into the Night Market and got ourselves a good size plate of noodles for about 70 cents USD!

Thursday, October 2

• 9AM – We meet in the lobby and are taken for a little over an hour drive out towards the Gobi Desert. Again, I was a bit nervous at first, especially since I had heard that camels stank and really high and can run like maniacs if prompted to, to the point that there’s no chance in staying on, etc. etc. …. But all of this was nonsense. I LOVED THE CAMEL TREK!!  We rode for about 4 hours straight or so till we stopped for lunch break and decided to mess with sled on the incredible sand dunes. The desert itself was absolutely beautiful and clean. The weather was perfect in the day allowing us to not be too cold/uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, it got pretty hot; and despite the fact that I wrapped my face with a scarf for a good amount of the time, I managed to get a pretty good tan out of the day-trek.   Anyway, after our lunch break, we hopped on our camel friends and headed deeper into the sand. Don’t ask me towards what direction because I still have no clue.

• Our camels were very well-behaved for the most part. They are trained “babies” of our guide…..my camel was soo chill, I nicknamed him “Cool Moe C.” They were no fuss, just doing their job-camels and didn’t smell at all! I’m so glad that I had prepared for the worst, to only be pleasantly surprised!
• As evening approached, our camel guide staked out a spot that he thought was good for us to rest in for the night; We then, unloaded our camels, went off to gather wood and branches for our fire, brought it back to headquarters, pitched our tents and had a very impressive rice, chicken, veggies dinner that our camels were holding for us. The camels were dope!  They had all of blankets, food, equipment and all. Just awesome.

• After a good pile of wood was gathered, tents pitched and bellies full….. I roamed some more to find nearby life (another group of trekkers on the other side of our dune — visiting from the UK) and made use of the sled some more. Our herder saw me talking talking to strangers so quickly yelled for me to return to base. HA!  But it was starting to get dark anyway and he was doing his job to make sure I wasn’t about to get lost nor get into any trouble…so he was forgiven.

I love the next couple of flicks…. The camel eventually got too close…

I’ve said it before…. I love sunsets!!……..

• After sunset, we put on more layers and gathered around our campfire. Our guide whipped out some beers and a bottle of potent baijo (sp?!) and had us all playing rounds of paper-rock-scissors / losers drink a shot of baijo! This got us all warmed up REAL quick! But again….. the shield of stars above were spectacular! I saw more shooting stars

Friday, October 3

• We woke and found a nice little breakfast awaiting us. Our guide had started up a mini fire to boil water for us to make coffee/tea and sliced bread over the fire to make toast with jam!  Shortly after, we got on our camels and rode out of the desert for a drive back to the hotel, shower etc.

• After grabbing quick eats, we hopped into the van again approx. 1:30pm to our “village tour,” “Waterwheel” viewing and rafting in Yellow River excursion. This would’ve been all nice and dandy had temps not dropped with drizzling rain!! But we made due anyway…even seeing a piece of left-over Great Wall (though I found rather uneventful especially in the cold wind and rainy conditions.)  There was a little light at the end of the tunnel though… as we drove back to the hotel, we drove through a full arch’ed rainbow!!! I’ve never in my life seen such a thing, so this was super splendid! Then, I got my wish to just lay in bed for the rest of the evening….

The rafts were made of shaven goat!!

Saturday, October 4

• 9:11AM - We bussed our way Zhongwei back to Yinchuan, arriving at 11:45AM.
• Got ourselves checked in, grabbed some lunch and cabbed our way out to Western Xia Tombs.

• Thennnnnnnnn, rewarded ourselves with a 60rmb (less than $10usd) massage for 100min, an 8rmb (just over $1usd) dinner and called it a night and trip!!   We were out the next morning… back to the ‘Hai life! And similar to the feeling I get when I am returning to NYC from Boston… the Shanghai skyline (as does the Manhattan skyline) totally made me feel happy to be back in city life!!

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo there ya have it!  Enjoy the flick reel!! I worked really hard on this post, dammit!!

. . don’t burn the day. .

Sooooo for school, we’ve got this annual Halloween Activity thing for all students in the International Program.

How It Works:

• 6 Foreign Teachers are to each conceptualize a Halloween Activity.
• All students of the International Division are divided into 6 groups (their House League groups).
• Day of Celebrations: Students and teachers alike are encouraged to wear a costume, and each House League group of students rotate from one room to the next, per Foreign Teacher/Halloween Activity room.
• The final rooms consisted of: (1) “Face Painting” led by a Pirate, (2) “Drawing on Pumpkins” led by Dora the Explorer, (3) “Finger Puppets” led by a Nerd and Scary Little Red Riding Hood, (4) “Scary Stories” led by a Robot, (5) “Gooey Food Concoctions” led by a Mad Scientist, and (6)………………… “Michael Jackson’s Thriller Room” (music video and dance) led by ……who else, but yours truly, as a Boombox!

First off, I have to say, this had to be the MOST stressful and time-crunched week! On top of my already insane 26 lesson-week, we had to create our midterm exams that are to be administered next week……and I had soooo many friggin tech problems with just getting the downloaded music video to play on the prompter in the classroom. (But that is an ENTIRELY SEPARATE story in itself.)

Anyway, at the very last minute, I was saved when I popped into a cd store, the night before showday, and was able to very luckily, find a cd/dvd combo pack of good ol’ MJ that included the Thriller video. But I was not done yet!… I had NO COSTUME!! And if you think getting a costume in the States is stressful, try doing it in China!!  I literally MADE MY COSTUME ON THE MORNING OF the day of celebrations. I worked on the thing in between my classes and skipped lunch for it. Oh, and inspiration came as duh…… I’m playing the music video and going to teach the kids the Thriller Dance…. I couldn’t find a box to fit me as an ipod….so I went old school on the kids, and turned myself into a boombox! What can I say? I was on a Creative Crunch!!!!! But it turned out superb!!

So, ya’ll better enjoy this!!

Introducing: Boombox

Starring: Me

If you look closely, you can see I pulled a plug from a real radio, and made a little home for it in the back of my costume. Thennnn, on the side, I made 3 insertion holes for “Line, Mic and Stereo”. I borrowed a co-workers’ big set of headphones and wore it on the day of, with the wire plugged into “Line.” Knobs, buttons… the whole sha-bang!…. Plus! A real cassette, taped on the front!!  It’s kinda nifty to think what you can do with just a plain ol’ box, colored construction paper and some foil!!

The cd that saved my Halloween Activity Concept!!

Welcome to The Thriller Room…..<insert Evil Laugh>

The kids watch and and get a little skurred…

And now onto The Thriller Dance! I had two dancer-students from the 9th grade help me with choreographing the little ones….

My favorite costumes…. Woody from Toy Story (my little Johnny in 1st grade, sooooooo adorable!!) and The Incredibles Boy (George from 2nd grade, who I taught over the summer…. cutie!)

And now the best part….. is a little video clip of the little monsters dancing to Thriller!  aka Organized Chaos! LOL! Enjoy! 

. . don’t burn the day. .

The Economist has opened up the vote to its readers worldwide to see who’d be the next US president if the whole world could vote. China, as it turns out, is “strong Obama” — 83% of respondents here voted Obama and 17% McCain. With more than 10,000 votes cast, it looks like the whole world is voting overwhelmingly in Obama’s favor. When last checked, 9,120 votes went to Obama while McCain managed 270 votes, defeating his opponent with a small margin in such enlightened states as Cuba, Congo, Sudan, Algeria, Namibia and Macedonia. Iraq turned out to be the only “strong McCain” constituency (thanks to all his military buddies).

Hmph, anyway… just some food for thought…. as we all tick, tick, tick away!

. . don’t burn the day. .

I don’t mean to sound pompous, but ummmm… I just had to share this thoughtful note that I had received earlier today, from one of my student’s parents:

Dear Ms. Mimi,

I just want to share my thoughts about the Open House day with you.

I was very impressed with your class. You had the childrens’ attention throughout the whole lesson. You were serious, but at the same time, you made it very interesting and even funny at times. I can see why Alex is so happy to be with you. He is very, very interested to learn and do the English homework and I think it is because of you. I have been in several Open House lessons (my other son is in Grade 3) and I can say that your lesson was the best I´ve ever attended. It has been a big relief to see that Alex is in very good hands. Thank you.

Mmmmmm Hmmmm!  Ya know, in all the headaches and dramatics of the day, notes like these, smiles from the kiddos and sparkles in their eyes KINDA, DO in fact make up for it all. I’m already pretty amazed with the progress of these little beings…and we haven’t even hit midterms yet!

Then, on another note - I just spent the last two hours on the frickin’ phone with Netgear to troubleshoot my wireless issue. (If ya think internet problems are awful in the States, try troubleshooting in a different country!) Boy oh boy!… But in the end…. I got it to work. I’m still grumbling and grumpy over the whole thing, especially over the uselessness of a particular being with whom I share sleeping quarters with, but that is a whole other discussion in itself.

With that said, we are closer to me sharing my Inner Mongolia flicks! I know I keep promising, but they will come!

. . don’t burn the day. .

OK, I just had a great week with my kiddos..and I just needed to share!  I am one proud teacher right now!  The first 7 weeks have been quite an adjustment for all… parents, students and well, teachers alike. Just as not all parents are the same… not all students are the same… and when the kids are difficult to crack and/or the parents are being stupid and/or they don’t jive with the curriculum and/or get with the program, then headaches arise. However, despite some hiccups with a few students, the success rate for turn-around has been close to a perfect score!

Speaking of perfect score, I conducted my first major exams in English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies this past week…. and was SMILING uncontrollably while correcting the tests. You see, while parents and students are pissing their pants over taking the tests… I as the teacher had a thumping heart as well; I mean, afterall, it is a reflection of my ability to educate these little people. But I’ll spare the suspense and say I felt OH SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE ONES! Even the students who were deemed a bit more challenged scored higher than I could’ve imagined!  And no, there was no way they could’ve cheated (I’m way too smart to allow anything close to that happening in my classroom), and the exam itself was no easy-breeze. Subject matters included: What is a Sentence, Sentence Structure, Word Order, Statements, Punctuations, Parts of a Book, Question Words, Personal Narratives, What Being Special Means, Feelings, Heart, Love, How to Care for Others, Having Talents, Body Parts, Use of Hands and Legs, Protecting Your Body, Private Parts and Five Senses…. Yeah!! A helluva lot for little munchkins, when you think about it… But all of my students did remarkably well! I am convinced my students will all be geniuses by the time I get through with them!  Better yet, my hubby (whoever the lucky lad may be) and my very own kids (someday) should be ready for some wizard-esque world domination.

On top of that….. my kids are cracking me up more and more by the day. As they have gotten used to “what school is all about” and also my ways, I’ve also lightened up a tad to really just let out full out chuckles when one of my students really say the darndest thing! (The general rule is to not smile during the first month of teaching, to let the kids know who’s boss…. I think I passed on that one!  You can ask my students who’ve had detention with me.. HA!) I was also forewarned that I will fall in love with my kids at some point…and I think, the time has come.

Last Friday, we had “Open House”  - parents were invited to attend and observe class. I received some great, positive remarks including.. “My wife and I were very impressed. I was sitting there thinking, if I were a schoolboy, I would really be interested in your class!” HA!  And the only thing that my Dean could keep repeating, was my passionate way of teaching. Damn skippy! I’m passionate when I put my mind to something. Ya’ll know that… so just imagine me lesson planning and teaching. Passion-mania. And now, as I admit that I’ve fallen for lil’ ones, I’ll be the first to kick ass if someone messes with one of my own.

Check ‘em out in the full uniforms…

Class 1: Silly faces and Spelling Bee!

and Class 2: Just being silly!

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OK kids — I lost my address book when my hard drive decided to go kerplunk on me (and no, I did not time machine …le sigh….)

Sooooo, I need for ya’ll to take some time and hit me via email with your digits and addy info, perttttty please!

I’ll then return the favor by sharing mine as well, so you can send me a grand care package! (I would love for someone to send me a good slab of juicy steak with a side of mashed potatoes right about now.)

PS. Pics of Inner Mongolia are coming soon! Please hold onto your horses and camels!!  (I am right now fighting off a soon-to-be-cold that was going around towards the end of my trip… so I need to get my proper rest!!)

. . don’t burn the day. .

…my trip to Inner Mongolia!

Though I can’t really type much nor do I have pics loaded/ready to share… I did want to touch base with all as since I made it out alive with no bruises, scratches or bug bites!… but I did somehow achieve a bit of a tan from the grassland and desert days.

Real quick though - the trip was quite an awesome experience! I can say that I love horse riding!  Yeah, it did hurt a bit, but I was having way too much fun to really notice; folks were shocked that I was a rookie… I was told that I was riding like a pro — chinese commands and all!

But the highlight I would say would be the 2-day camel trek through the Gobi Desert. Friggin amazing and beautiful!! I can’t wait to share the photos!

Oh, also did a bit of rafting in the Yellow River as well… but cold, rainy weather put a damper on that experience… not all bad though…

Ok, until next time .. when I actually have time.. pics will be up!!

Thanks for the prayers to those who kept me in their thoughts!

. . don’t burn the day. .

Word travels fast. I received news today from nephew, that one of our former teachers, Mr. Cook (taught Health Class in junior high school) reached his dream of 33 years just a few days ago…… via reaching the top of The Appalachian trail. Back in my youngun’ days, I recall Mr. Cook being a tad different from all the rest; A random memory: I do recall a poster-sized picture of him skiiing on some snow-filled mountain, hung on the wall of the classroom, with some story of his (which is a little blurry to me right now). But regardless, he was a man full of intensity, and year after year, talked endlessly of how he took up running (marathons especially) as a result of the early-age passing of his father, and of course, the importance of maintaining good health, andddd the big one:  some time in the mid 70’s he met a man who had hiked the Appalachians…. and since then, became a major goal in life for the Cook-man.

I am happy to announce that my Mr. Cook truly stood by his words of inspiration and encouragement back in my school days. “I hope the kids I taught will see I am following through on my dream,” Cook said in the local paper.

Here’s are some words from Cook aka “Old Buzzard” himself, upon reaching his dream!

Three different people were planning to hike Mt. K with me this day. I said no. There would be too many emotions in me this day. Mt. K is the greatest vertical of the whole trail. There is a very steep and dangerous mile or more in this climb. I tried not to think about my fall on Labor Day during this time, but it kept haunting me. One step at a time. Just concentrate on one step nice and easy as she goes. The trail eventually leveled off and then rose gently again. I saw a sign that I was but a mere 1 mile from the summit. I was alone and my mind started going over the past 33 years of my life from the time I met Hiram in 1975 to this moment. My pace slowed. I did not want the 33 years that changed my whole life to a positive vein to come to a close. I missed my family, my wife was waiting, my friends, life. I can come here again. I can go out my back door in Maine and hike the most beautiful parts of this glorious wonderful trail again whenever I want. I thanked God for keeping the Old Buzzard healthy and giving me this chance that so many never have. I looked around to see if I was alone–I busted into tears and I laughed at the same moment. I was the happiest man on earth. I am one lucky person. I touched the sign. 2176.2 miles!!

Wanna read more?! By all means, check his blog here.

I think it is appropriate for me to say to all reading this right now:

But rushing around seems what’s wrong with the world,

Don’t lose the dreams inside your head,

They’ll only be there til’ you’re dead.

Dream little darling,

DREAM!

- djm

Thank you Mr. Cook, for encouraging your students to stay on the right path and to never lose sight of our dreams; Gotta chase ‘em down!

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Yup, today it happened. I don’t quite know how or why and I don’t think I’ll ever know. But in the middle of class today, one of my favorite (and cutest) kids waved her hand and tapped her feet/running-while-sitting down style and said, “Ms. Mimi!!!  I need to go to the bathroom!” Of course, her hand was also covering her you-know-what, so I said, “Ok, go ahead!”  Two milliseconds passed and wet pants, wet chair and wet floor —- happened. Le Sighhh.

Fortunately, class was about to end in about 10 minutes…and she was no longer my problem. I called the homeroom teacher and phewww, I was safe!

And well, while I’m at it, let’s learn some new vocabulary! Also today, however in my other class, I heard… “Teacher, I don’t have my rubber!”  I triple-taked and recalled what my colleagues had forewarned me a couple weeks ago: rubber = eraser on this side of the world. Phewwww!

. . don’t burn the day. .

I know, I know… I’ve been slacking majorly on the blog tip, but I’ve been SOOOOOOOO BUSY and not to mention, egggggg-zausted with the teaching thing.  I’ve got quite a bit to backtrack and catch ya’ll up on and I’ll certainly try my best to bring ya’ll up to speed!  Here are some quick notes:

Teaching is NOT an easy job. First, surprisingly waking up at 5:30am isn’t all toooo terrible (despite that my previous jobs required me to COME HOME at 5:30am…but anyway….) … what is terrible is that by the time I arrive home in the evening, I am completely zonked. And to all my teacher-friend readers out there….. It is incredible how many after-school-hours you spend talking about your kids!!!  I mean, EVERY DAY as myself and the roomies gather around for our evening-chill out session, we share stories of our students… “the things that kids say… and do….” hilarious!  You just can’t make these stories up! (Yeah, at some point I’ll take the time to type out some good ones, but for now — just be happy I’m blogging.)  Even more entertaining and hair-pulling…. is stories of the parents! This is the part that makes teaching a not-so-easy job. As mentioned in previous post, parents are … oye!! ALL sorts of scenarios: divorced, step parent(s), adopted kid, housewives, househusbands (though, I have yet to personally encounter this), guilt-filled divorced parents and their manipulative crying kids, and well, crying kids in general (I had about 4 in one day last week)… basically, you name it! I’ve got it!  The varying approaches of parenting, or better yet, the clueless approaches of parenting bewilders me!  I’ve already been told by a couple parents that they admire my time, efforts and tips on disciplining and teaching their students and that they wouldnt mind sitting in on my class to see me in action, and not to mention learn some English too! LOL!  Of course, everyone reading this is welcomed to join me in a grand head shake. I’ve been pretty much certified in their minds a “professional” in this field - that I can single handedly turn their rugrat into an independent genius while at the same time, advising them on how their respective families should function in order to create the best environment for their kid. I’m convinced if I advise them to jump off a bridge, they’d do it in a heartbeat because they “trust my professional advice.”

HEADDDDDDDDDDDDDD SHAKE!

. . don’t burn the day. .