(re-post from jenderle.modevia.com)
All good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we say good bye to Hangzhou for a while. They say when you enter a new country the first step to adjusting to the culture is called the honeymoon stage. Well in Hangzhou this has been multiplied by 100, even the Chinese come here for their honeymoons. We see a wedding couple in the park by our Pinyin classes everyday. One day one of the girls said she saw nearly 2 dozen wedding couples. Hangzhou has been magnificent. The people have been so friendly and the sights are like none in America.
Today we had a taxi ride with a driver who spoke pretty good English. This is very rare. He was so excited to talk to Americans and use his English. He asked where we were from and talked of Michigan and Detroit and the Detroit Pistons. He then went on to name half of the NBA teams and the cities they were located in. He knew geography very well, saying Missouri was near Oklahoma and Kansas. This is better than a lot of people I know. He even knew Clinton was from Arkansas and Bush was from Texas. How many Americans know that? We said we loved Hangzhou and he said "you love China?" we said yes, and he said, "We love America." It was a very cool experience.
We started our day with our final orientation meetings and then our last Pinyin class or (the basics of the Chinese language crammed into 4 lessons). But really, we had a great teacher that was very friendly, very good in English and who not only taught us Pinyin, but a lot about the culture of China and some great places to visit.
We finished the night at a nice restaurant on Shi Hu (West Lake). It was nice to have the group together before we head our different ways. Our new uncles have been great in telling us what is expected of us, what to expect and showing us what our new home is like.
A few of us ended the night by walking around Shi Hu and ended up at what we thought was an Arabian restaurant and pub that was playing Latino music. One our group members who has spent some time abroad asked the live band in Spanish if they could play some salsa music. They didn't understand a word she said. The looked Hispanic, but were only a Chinese band that sang in Spanish and English. They did have very good English though.
Tomorrow we leave for Wenling. I hope to get to see some more great countryside. Should have some good time on our 4 to 6 hour bus ride. Next week... TEACHING!
All good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we say good bye to Hangzhou for a while. They say when you enter a new country the first step to adjusting to the culture is called the honeymoon stage. Well in Hangzhou this has been multiplied by 100, even the Chinese come here for their honeymoons. We see a wedding couple in the park by our Pinyin classes everyday. One day one of the girls said she saw nearly 2 dozen wedding couples. Hangzhou has been magnificent. The people have been so friendly and the sights are like none in America.
Today we had a taxi ride with a driver who spoke pretty good English. This is very rare. He was so excited to talk to Americans and use his English. He asked where we were from and talked of Michigan and Detroit and the Detroit Pistons. He then went on to name half of the NBA teams and the cities they were located in. He knew geography very well, saying Missouri was near Oklahoma and Kansas. This is better than a lot of people I know. He even knew Clinton was from Arkansas and Bush was from Texas. How many Americans know that? We said we loved Hangzhou and he said "you love China?" we said yes, and he said, "We love America." It was a very cool experience.
We started our day with our final orientation meetings and then our last Pinyin class or (the basics of the Chinese language crammed into 4 lessons). But really, we had a great teacher that was very friendly, very good in English and who not only taught us Pinyin, but a lot about the culture of China and some great places to visit.
We finished the night at a nice restaurant on Shi Hu (West Lake). It was nice to have the group together before we head our different ways. Our new uncles have been great in telling us what is expected of us, what to expect and showing us what our new home is like.
A few of us ended the night by walking around Shi Hu and ended up at what we thought was an Arabian restaurant and pub that was playing Latino music. One our group members who has spent some time abroad asked the live band in Spanish if they could play some salsa music. They didn't understand a word she said. The looked Hispanic, but were only a Chinese band that sang in Spanish and English. They did have very good English though.
Tomorrow we leave for Wenling. I hope to get to see some more great countryside. Should have some good time on our 4 to 6 hour bus ride. Next week... TEACHING!
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