Hey all!
So if you're even still checking for updates (because it has been over two months now) I thought we should let you know the latest... namely that Steve and I are back in the US of A.
The next great adventure for the Spanglers? The 9:00-5:00 job. After a year and a half of traveling, experiencing, and working together, it's time to find full time jobs and get a place of our own. We're excited to get out all of our wedding presents and actually use them! We've tried our hardest to forget what we were given so that it will kind of be like Christmas when we open them the second time.
If you have a job opportunity that you think would be perfect for one of us, don't hesitate to let us know (haha, only half kidding...)! If you just want to talk to one of us then get in touch by e-mail or Facebook and we can let you know our phone numbers.
We apologize for the long absence in posting. I don't think Steve will ever be a blogger, but we'll see if I decide that anything in our lives is important enough to post on the world wide web and maybe I'll update this thing occasionally.
For now, we love you and look forward to catching up with everyone. Hope that you have all had a wonderful summer!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Foreigners
The other day I was eating my 香辣鸡片儿 (xiang1 la4 ji1 pianr1) during a short lunch break on an otherwise long Saturday, generally enjoying the fine, oily, crispy greatness of it all (crispy fried chicken slices with hot red peppers, carrots, and spicy green pepper.. mmmm). Well, not so much enjoying as devouring... I quickly swallowed most of it, being quite hungry after teaching two classes on an empty stomach. Upon nearing the end of the heavenly dish, I gently set aside a carrot to uncover one of the last green peppers.... only to find a large silver thumbtack. You know, the kind your kindergarten teacher used to use to pin your stick figure art to the bulletin board. And there it sat, piercing the delicious skin of the final pepper, daring me to continue. More than anything, I was disappointed that I couldn't eat the last few bites of my meal. But to inspire some office conversation I proclaimed, "Huh. Look at that. A thumbtack. Right there in my xiang la (we abbrev. our Chinese to sound cool and knowledgeable when in the office). See?" Whereupon I proffered my dish at the others so that they could have a look see.
I was instantly implored to take it to the front desk and have them call the restaurant. This was unacceptable! A thumbtack??! Get your free lunch! Give that restaurant hell! Make sure it doesn't happen again! Typical reaction, right? Well I have to say, I just didn't care. Stuff happens. Things fall into food. Whatever. I was able to eat most of my lunch before discovering it, and nothing was harmed. I suppose the big deal here was that I could have been greatly harmed; had I chomped down on that thumbtack rather than discovering it by sight this whole story would be very different. But that's not what happened, so I couldn't bring myself to be bothered. In the end, another teacher took it to the front desk and asked them to do something about it. This resulted in profuse apology to me from the Chinese staff and seeming outrage from the school janitor who assured me that the restaurant has been called and dealt with. Something in my manner seemed very surprising to them, however, when I just shrugged it all off, offered my thanks and told them it was no big deal. "Really, don't worry about it! It's OK. What can the restaurant do? How do you take measures to prevent thumbtacks from falling into food?" I said. They looked at me open mouthed and shook their heads at my unconcern as they left the teacher's office.
At the time I figured they were thinking, "Crazy foreigner! How can you not care about something like that?" as they shook their heads. But I was later forced to admit that their surprise might have come from a different thought process. Namely, "All other foreigners would have thrown a fit about this... your actions surprise us because we were led to believe foreigners would scream and yell in this sort of situation and you did not."
Now here's where I have to make a huge confession. Something that has always been hidden inside me and that I've never really liked about myself.... I'm terrible at traveling/ being a traveler. You know why? Because I always like to be in control and appear as if I know what's going on. I don't like asking for directions or appearing as if I need help. I don't like taking pictures lest people will think I'm a tourist. I have this awful pride that often prevents me from truly enjoying myself, because I don't want other people to think something is new to me. And that's bad. And it really doesn't fit with the intrepid and adventurous spirit that I like to think of myself as having. I'm slowly learning to relax and let go and let myself look clueless. Because sometimes that's OK. And in China, I really just can't blend in... no matter how hard I try.
Whew... big load off my shoulders. But even with that out there, I still believe that there is something to be said for trying to blend in to a culture not your own. A month or more ago, Steve and I stopped by Hamamas (pictured and described in our photo album) to grab some Western grub. There was an older, larger, white gentleman there with a Chinese woman friend. He was speaking slowly to her about many things, trying to educate her in Western ways and possibly giving her an English lesson. From what we overheard, this man was American and he had lived in China for a while at least. In fact, he had just returned to China after a visit home to America. His manner and conversation topics were somewhat annoying to Steve and I, who couldn't help but listen to his loudly stated opinions. But what really made us hang our heads and be ashamed to be white/American/Western was when this man's bacon was delivered to him. He was angered that it wasn't cooked to a crisp, and apparently he had discussed this with the staff before. In fact, he kept asking them if they remembered him, and sounded quite shocked to find that they didn't. But anyway, he proceeded to tell the waitress, "This bacon is not cooked enough. ALL AMERICANS will tell you the same. I want it cooked more and in the future remember that ALL AMERICANS will not accept this." Now.... first off, Steve and I love the bacon and how it's cooked there. Second... NEVER make blanket statements about your country. UGH! Thanks a lot man... now the waitresses think that ALL AMERICANS are jerks and ingrates. Great ambassadorial work there, man.
And that's the sort of thing that makes me revert to the other end of the spectrum. I just try to blend in, be appreciative, and avoid situations that require confrontation. And there are times when this approach is inappropriate or causes me to miss out on something that might have been cool, but I have constant fear of being that foreigner who forever shapes the opinion of a Chinese person. Because the fact is that they may only ever see a handful of foreigners and maybe only interact with one or two of those. We are constantly on display and in a position to be criticized or looked down upon. Like it or not, our one meeting with a Chinese person may form their lifetime opinion of Americans. So I hate it when I see foreigners take the attitude of, "It's not my country and no one will care here. They can't speak English, so what are they going to say to me?" Well they CAN speak Chinese, and they can say plenty ABOUT you to their friends and family.
I hear students tell me their impressions about Americans and Westerners all the time. Usually it's somewhat filtered and they only tell me the good things. But from the news stories that their government allows them to see and from the one or two Americans they've ever encountered on the street, in general their impression of us is not great. They think we all carry hand guns and fire them into the air just for fun. My co-worker admitted to me that she thinks America is very dangerous. They think we all party constantly, because that's what the kids on the OC and most of the foreign teachers do. One student swore to me this weekend that you had to get a license to wear high heels in America. When I tried to tell him this wasn't true he would not believe me because he had read an article about it.
But this conversation always gets turned around. Students always want to know what I thought of China before I came. And honestly, I don't remember. I just spent my 23rd birthday in China, and the first time I was here I spent my 19th birthday. In between I did a lot of study on Chinese history, society and culture. So my opinion has been greatly changed and shaped. I try to stop and think what other Americans think about China. So tell me, what do you think? How do you picture it? Do you think of dragons and silk dresses and monkeys and open air markets? Do you think of bicycles and rickshaws? Do you think of opressive government and undying nationalism? Has your opinion been formed by one Chinese person that you met or saw? Do you think of tourists with cameras around their necks at Disneyworld? Or do you think, "I've never been there. I don't really know what to think."??
I really would like to know. Honest thoughts and opinions on China that have not been influenced by any of my posts? I'd love to see your comments.
-Jaclyn
I was instantly implored to take it to the front desk and have them call the restaurant. This was unacceptable! A thumbtack??! Get your free lunch! Give that restaurant hell! Make sure it doesn't happen again! Typical reaction, right? Well I have to say, I just didn't care. Stuff happens. Things fall into food. Whatever. I was able to eat most of my lunch before discovering it, and nothing was harmed. I suppose the big deal here was that I could have been greatly harmed; had I chomped down on that thumbtack rather than discovering it by sight this whole story would be very different. But that's not what happened, so I couldn't bring myself to be bothered. In the end, another teacher took it to the front desk and asked them to do something about it. This resulted in profuse apology to me from the Chinese staff and seeming outrage from the school janitor who assured me that the restaurant has been called and dealt with. Something in my manner seemed very surprising to them, however, when I just shrugged it all off, offered my thanks and told them it was no big deal. "Really, don't worry about it! It's OK. What can the restaurant do? How do you take measures to prevent thumbtacks from falling into food?" I said. They looked at me open mouthed and shook their heads at my unconcern as they left the teacher's office.
At the time I figured they were thinking, "Crazy foreigner! How can you not care about something like that?" as they shook their heads. But I was later forced to admit that their surprise might have come from a different thought process. Namely, "All other foreigners would have thrown a fit about this... your actions surprise us because we were led to believe foreigners would scream and yell in this sort of situation and you did not."
Now here's where I have to make a huge confession. Something that has always been hidden inside me and that I've never really liked about myself.... I'm terrible at traveling/ being a traveler. You know why? Because I always like to be in control and appear as if I know what's going on. I don't like asking for directions or appearing as if I need help. I don't like taking pictures lest people will think I'm a tourist. I have this awful pride that often prevents me from truly enjoying myself, because I don't want other people to think something is new to me. And that's bad. And it really doesn't fit with the intrepid and adventurous spirit that I like to think of myself as having. I'm slowly learning to relax and let go and let myself look clueless. Because sometimes that's OK. And in China, I really just can't blend in... no matter how hard I try.
Whew... big load off my shoulders. But even with that out there, I still believe that there is something to be said for trying to blend in to a culture not your own. A month or more ago, Steve and I stopped by Hamamas (pictured and described in our photo album) to grab some Western grub. There was an older, larger, white gentleman there with a Chinese woman friend. He was speaking slowly to her about many things, trying to educate her in Western ways and possibly giving her an English lesson. From what we overheard, this man was American and he had lived in China for a while at least. In fact, he had just returned to China after a visit home to America. His manner and conversation topics were somewhat annoying to Steve and I, who couldn't help but listen to his loudly stated opinions. But what really made us hang our heads and be ashamed to be white/American/Western was when this man's bacon was delivered to him. He was angered that it wasn't cooked to a crisp, and apparently he had discussed this with the staff before. In fact, he kept asking them if they remembered him, and sounded quite shocked to find that they didn't. But anyway, he proceeded to tell the waitress, "This bacon is not cooked enough. ALL AMERICANS will tell you the same. I want it cooked more and in the future remember that ALL AMERICANS will not accept this." Now.... first off, Steve and I love the bacon and how it's cooked there. Second... NEVER make blanket statements about your country. UGH! Thanks a lot man... now the waitresses think that ALL AMERICANS are jerks and ingrates. Great ambassadorial work there, man.
And that's the sort of thing that makes me revert to the other end of the spectrum. I just try to blend in, be appreciative, and avoid situations that require confrontation. And there are times when this approach is inappropriate or causes me to miss out on something that might have been cool, but I have constant fear of being that foreigner who forever shapes the opinion of a Chinese person. Because the fact is that they may only ever see a handful of foreigners and maybe only interact with one or two of those. We are constantly on display and in a position to be criticized or looked down upon. Like it or not, our one meeting with a Chinese person may form their lifetime opinion of Americans. So I hate it when I see foreigners take the attitude of, "It's not my country and no one will care here. They can't speak English, so what are they going to say to me?" Well they CAN speak Chinese, and they can say plenty ABOUT you to their friends and family.
I hear students tell me their impressions about Americans and Westerners all the time. Usually it's somewhat filtered and they only tell me the good things. But from the news stories that their government allows them to see and from the one or two Americans they've ever encountered on the street, in general their impression of us is not great. They think we all carry hand guns and fire them into the air just for fun. My co-worker admitted to me that she thinks America is very dangerous. They think we all party constantly, because that's what the kids on the OC and most of the foreign teachers do. One student swore to me this weekend that you had to get a license to wear high heels in America. When I tried to tell him this wasn't true he would not believe me because he had read an article about it.
But this conversation always gets turned around. Students always want to know what I thought of China before I came. And honestly, I don't remember. I just spent my 23rd birthday in China, and the first time I was here I spent my 19th birthday. In between I did a lot of study on Chinese history, society and culture. So my opinion has been greatly changed and shaped. I try to stop and think what other Americans think about China. So tell me, what do you think? How do you picture it? Do you think of dragons and silk dresses and monkeys and open air markets? Do you think of bicycles and rickshaws? Do you think of opressive government and undying nationalism? Has your opinion been formed by one Chinese person that you met or saw? Do you think of tourists with cameras around their necks at Disneyworld? Or do you think, "I've never been there. I don't really know what to think."??
I really would like to know. Honest thoughts and opinions on China that have not been influenced by any of my posts? I'd love to see your comments.
-Jaclyn
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Just some thoughts
Hey all,
I added some pictures to the Harbin and Apartment albums and also posted one of our staff trip to Crazy Lake. Check them out and see if you can figure out what the door to the left is.
It is interesting to be here 20 years after a major event and not be able to talk about it with any Chinese person that I know... mainly because they don't know about it. Not sure what I'm talking about? Check out some of these essays: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/opinion/31tiananmen.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Every time that I've been to China, I've been struck by the contradictory nature of their society. It is often difficult to explain my observations of Chinese people and culture because there are usually two seemingly conflicting sides to every issue. For example, citizens feel little or no obligation to clean up public areas such as their stairwells or litter on the streets, but if you walk in to their houses or offices you will be struck by the attention and care given to cleanliness. Further, most pursuits in daily life are somewhat selfish: when crossing the street, driving a car, boarding a bus, or waiting in "line", Chinese people tend to put 'me' first. I must get from this side of the street to that one, no matter how many accidents I almost cause. I must get on the bus first in case there is a seat for me. I must merge into that lane of traffic... too bad if I cut off 4 other bustling lanes. And when looking at the big picture, one begins to forgive and understand that this selfish attitude is out of necessity in order to claw one's way through the ranks of 1.3 billion others. However, one of the most notable, and oft cited, differences between Chinese and American culture is China's orientation toward groups and group work and America's tendency toward individualism and independence. So I have to wonder, how is it that this group mindedness can coexist with a selfish nature? The truth is, Chinese people will go out of their way to help or host a friend or family member... they just might push a few people out of their way when buying the cherries for the party.
That is the frustrating nature of the society. China is a culture that has always revered and honored revolutionaries who went against the rest of the society to accomplish a goal and make things better for the Chinese people. At the same time, they continue to suppress new ideas and revolutionary types, and often have in the past. See? Contradiction. It seems that only in hindsight is this sort of forward thinking and action good. It makes me sad to see a nation of youth who don't fully understand their nation's history or its possible future... sad that I can't even talk about it with them, not only because I might get kicked out of the country but also because they wouldn't understand what I was talking about. They would just label me as another arrogant Westerner that didn't really understand China. And they'd be mostly right. I could never hope to understand everything about their culture and society, especially with just a few years of study and a year of first hand experience. But I know that this country is a nation full of lovely people and there is more out there for them. I don't mean western, materialistic things. I mean a purpose or a cause. A society with no religion is an interesting one indeed.
In their pursuit to be like us, they've taken a liking to our expensive, famous brands and our unhealthy fast food chains. Every person under the age of 40, and some over, that I talked to before the Dragon Boat Festival admitted that they didn't know how to make the traditional food for the festival, a type of rice dumpling called zongzi. No, their mother couldn't make zongzi either. Their grandma? Yeah, she could make them. When I asked what this meant for 20 years from now, they shrugged and said it didn't matter because you could buy zongzi at the supermarket. Even with all of this western influence, I still cause near accidents every day simply by walking down the street. I garner cat calls and "Hellos!" just for being white. They love me and want to help me, while at the same time they don't trust me or respect me. Contradiction.
Perhaps it is living in this society that has done it to me, but I love China and I hate China. I love the people. I love the traditions. I love the food and I love the challenge of crossing a street. I don't like people staring at me... I don't like the people talking about me when they think I can't understand. I don't like the food... don't you people eat large chunks of meat? I hate the traffic... can't you see that there are ways to do this better? I love the Sunshine Chinese staff. I love the feel of a Chinese city. I hate the litter... I hate that people so carelessly toss it out of bus windows or throw it at your feet as you're walking by. I love the genuine warmth of a Chinese stranger. I love the importance that is placed on education... I don't like the the education system. It's great to see people take pride in their appearance and dress smartly. I don't like when their critical eyes inevitably turn to my artfully worn and holey shoes. I love riding on Chinese buses and I love it when my students run to hug me and shout my name in glee. A full Chinese bus is the most uncomfortable place a Westerner could find themselves. I hate when that student who shouts, "Jaclyn!" and beams at me during break deliberately disobeys me and doesn't pay attention in class minutes later. Taxi drivers will honk at you and try to pick you up just because you're foreign... Taxi drivers will blow past you or ignore you just because you're foreign. Neither is desirable. A day in China is lovely or disagreeable. Exciting and adventurous or difficult at best. You love it and you wish to leave it. A true battle of the senses.
Switching tracks entirely....
Steve and I went to the Xuefu bookstore again yesterday. We hadn't been since Harbin was an icy wonderland, and I didn't recognize any of it! Steve kept saying things like, "Oh yeah, there's the building with the curvy roof," and I was sure I'd never seen the building with a curvy roof in all my years. It also doesn't help that they are building a subway in Harbin and many of the roads are barricaded with blue fences, as was the case in this part of town. So for me, everything seemed new and interesting. We had a look through the bookstore and then strolled through the surrounding area. This particular area is home to two of the large universities in town, and we saw a student dressed in cap in gown having his friend take some pictures of him around his campus. There were also lots of street stalls offering 'fast food' and wares being proffered everywhere you looked. I had bought several books in the book store (Northanger Abbey, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1, and Out of Africa... only the classics are offered because they are for students of English) and my shoulder was beginning to resent the fact that we'd gone to the bookstore before walking the streets, so we took a bus home. But first, we noticed a sign advertising chocolate donuts! That's right.. chocolate donuts! It was a fast food chain specializing in fried chicken called Dicos ( a Chinese version of KFC ). We weren't at all hungry, since we had eaten a large lunch, but we grabbed some chocolate donuts to go and ate them this morning for breakfast. Not too bad!
For now, Steve has gone to teach his 1:00 o'clock class and then has a long break before his 5:30. I'm waiting for my 4:30 start time. We've enjoyed having all of our windows open for the past few weeks. The weather has really been great, but now we're getting in to rainy season. There is rain in the forecast everyday for the foreseeable future, but it doesn't always come to fruition. It didn't rain yesterday, for example. But as long as it's raining, the temperatures stay in the high 60s or low 70s, so you can't complain! And the sun is now coming up at 3:45, so you've got a lot more time to enjoy the cool temperatur
es. The sunset (pictured) is around 7:30.Having the windows open leaves you a little more susceptible to the many and varied sounds of a Chinese neighborhood. We usually wake up to the banging of plastic buckets and the long, high-pitched cries of "recycling men" (for lack of a better term). These men [and women] ride around banging on their buckets or shouting out their presence in case anyone within ear shot has some bit of recycling to give them. This includes everything from bottles and cans to scraps of metal or cardboard and old refrigerators. Of course, there is the constant honking and the sounds of trucks and buses braking. We also have been hearing someone play a flute, or similar instrument, quite a bit recently. It would seem that this person has just taken it up and is practicing with determination, because I can constantly hear the same patterns and notes floating out of a nearby window. It would also seem, however, that the flute player has not contracted a tutor or learned how to read music... Just now I heard a large piece of metal hit the ground and a few weeks ago we heard the constant pounding of bricks into sand as all of the sidewalks around our neighborhood were redone. And of course, you can always hear voices. The other night we heard a pitched and feverish argument between a young couple, wherein the woman was crying and yelling in that hoarse, somewhat unintelligible way that people yell between sobs. All very interesting.
And that's about all I can think of to say.
Good morning, Good night, or Good afternoon! Choose the one which best applies...
Love you all!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A Post
*Click on the title for a good story. I later heard that the man named Lian Jiansheng was on his way to pick up his crazy meds, which makes a lot of sense.
Again, I'm (we're... Steve just doesn't even try anymore) having trouble deciding what to write about! But here is some stuff for you to read....
1. I have an adult class with two students. One is a middle-aged man with a son in college and a wife in another city. He is new to town and moved here for business. I named him Greg. The other is a youngish woman with a 3 year old son who grew up in Harbin. She named herself Sisi (like Cici, but the Chinese don't like to spell it like that because of some connotation unbeknownst to me). Anyway, this class takes place twice a week but only lasts for 40 minutes each time. Honestly, I don't think they get much out of it, because Greg is always asking Sisi questions in Chinese and she often translates what I just said for him because their conversational English level is quite limited. But, they really seem to enjoy the class and my company for some reason. We've had fun getting to know each other. They took Steve and I out to dinner last week to a place called Mala 100%. It specializes in spicy food and it was delicious! We toasted each other several times and discussed any and every topic under the moon. Yesterday, Greg and Sisi both brought me colorful paper lanterns (for lack of a better word) to make sure that I was properly outfitted for Dragon Boat Festival, which was today. Anyway, they're nice folks and fun to chat with.
2. We're trying to plan some post contract travel in China, so we've been looking at lots of possible destinations. The truth is, if you've seen one big city you've seen them all! Of course, some have more interesting attractions than others, but really Steve and I are more interested in outdoorsy and nature things. SO, we're looking at going south and west and possibly touring Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is said to be remarkably beautiful, so we'd like to see it for ourselves. Google it for more information. There is a guy who runs a guesthouse down there, and from everything we can find online it seems like that guesthouse and that guy are really cool. So, yeah.
3. Blogger.com is blocked in China right now, as is youtube. Luckily, proxies can get you most of what you want to see, but it's always interesting to see what gets blocked. New sites are always getting the axe from China.
4. It's interesting to live in a pre-furnished apartment. You have exactly what you need and little else. This is not really a problem, but we often dirty all of our dishes in a single meal because we have so few! It helps you to get in the habit of washing a bowl or plate as soon as you're done with it so that you don't have to do it when you're ready for breakfast in the morning.
5. Lots of our friends either just got married or are about to... so here's one big CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! for all of the happy couples. Hope you enjoy your first year of marriage as much as Steve and I did!
We love you all and might be seeing you sooner than expected! Miss you!
*Happy Dragon Boat Festival Day*
Again, I'm (we're... Steve just doesn't even try anymore) having trouble deciding what to write about! But here is some stuff for you to read....
1. I have an adult class with two students. One is a middle-aged man with a son in college and a wife in another city. He is new to town and moved here for business. I named him Greg. The other is a youngish woman with a 3 year old son who grew up in Harbin. She named herself Sisi (like Cici, but the Chinese don't like to spell it like that because of some connotation unbeknownst to me). Anyway, this class takes place twice a week but only lasts for 40 minutes each time. Honestly, I don't think they get much out of it, because Greg is always asking Sisi questions in Chinese and she often translates what I just said for him because their conversational English level is quite limited. But, they really seem to enjoy the class and my company for some reason. We've had fun getting to know each other. They took Steve and I out to dinner last week to a place called Mala 100%. It specializes in spicy food and it was delicious! We toasted each other several times and discussed any and every topic under the moon. Yesterday, Greg and Sisi both brought me colorful paper lanterns (for lack of a better word) to make sure that I was properly outfitted for Dragon Boat Festival, which was today. Anyway, they're nice folks and fun to chat with.
2. We're trying to plan some post contract travel in China, so we've been looking at lots of possible destinations. The truth is, if you've seen one big city you've seen them all! Of course, some have more interesting attractions than others, but really Steve and I are more interested in outdoorsy and nature things. SO, we're looking at going south and west and possibly touring Tiger Leaping Gorge. It is said to be remarkably beautiful, so we'd like to see it for ourselves. Google it for more information. There is a guy who runs a guesthouse down there, and from everything we can find online it seems like that guesthouse and that guy are really cool. So, yeah.
3. Blogger.com is blocked in China right now, as is youtube. Luckily, proxies can get you most of what you want to see, but it's always interesting to see what gets blocked. New sites are always getting the axe from China.
4. It's interesting to live in a pre-furnished apartment. You have exactly what you need and little else. This is not really a problem, but we often dirty all of our dishes in a single meal because we have so few! It helps you to get in the habit of washing a bowl or plate as soon as you're done with it so that you don't have to do it when you're ready for breakfast in the morning.
5. Lots of our friends either just got married or are about to... so here's one big CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! for all of the happy couples. Hope you enjoy your first year of marriage as much as Steve and I did!
We love you all and might be seeing you sooner than expected! Miss you!
*Happy Dragon Boat Festival Day*
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A loose promise...
Hey all you out there still checking for updates and being disappointed.... I just wanted to put it out there that we loosely promise that we'll post something soon. Why loose? Because I don't know how soon... maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, maybe one more week? The truth is, there just isn't a whole lot going on in our lives and we're not the kind of people who want/need everyone out there to know and value our fairly insignificant, daily thoughts and opinions.
Here's a preview of things we should/could write about:
1. Staff trip to Chang Ling Hu
2. Our developing plans for travel within China
3. The bummer that is our "ideal" work schedule, until it actually happens to you
4. Websites that are blocked in China, including www.blogger.com
5. A few more pictures that we have
6. Other cool China stuff
7. Future plans
We love you all and are thinking of everyone. Quite a few of our friends and family are going through some really rough times right now, so we send our thoughts and prayers out to all of you. We certainly wish we could be there for many of you in your times of need. We greatly look forward to catching up with each and every one of you when we get home.
Love,
Steve and Jaclyn "Bad Bloggers" Spangler
Here's a preview of things we should/could write about:
1. Staff trip to Chang Ling Hu
2. Our developing plans for travel within China
3. The bummer that is our "ideal" work schedule, until it actually happens to you
4. Websites that are blocked in China, including www.blogger.com
5. A few more pictures that we have
6. Other cool China stuff
7. Future plans
We love you all and are thinking of everyone. Quite a few of our friends and family are going through some really rough times right now, so we send our thoughts and prayers out to all of you. We certainly wish we could be there for many of you in your times of need. We greatly look forward to catching up with each and every one of you when we get home.
Love,
Steve and Jaclyn "Bad Bloggers" Spangler
Saturday, April 25, 2009
General update
Hey all! So, I updated the blog's appearance just a bit but we haven't written in a while.
Not much to report. Our biggest news is that we bought a rice cooker. The salewoman at the supermarket was very nice and patient with us. Surprisingly enough, there is an aisle full of rice cookers to browse when you're in the market for this small appliance. They range in price from 49- 500+ kuai, but we were definitely looking on the lower end of the spectrum. Even so, we had 5 or 6 to choose from. Most of the cheaper rice cookers are white/pink and covered in flowers. Steve told me that he didn't really want a flowery rice cooker to bedeck our kitchen and I told the saleswoman as much. Lucky for us, the model we were interested in came in two designs! So we decided on a 79kuai (on sale from 99), white with pink swirlies beauty. And boy can she cook some rice! Just throw some rice and water in there and don't even worry about it, cause the cooker has it under control. This purchase came after several attempts to cook rice in our paper thin pots and burning it every time. I make a lot of rice back home (it's a staple in Braun dinner fare), but I'd never had this burning problem before! So the rice cooker is a bit of a cheater system, but worth the dough we shelled out. Now we have fresh, delicious, perfectly cooked rice anytime we want it.
On a very unrelated note, there is a great art display comparing Western and Eastern life that you can see here (or click on the post title). These were done by a Chinese woman who grew up in China and moved to Germany when she was in her early teens. A strikingly simple concept that really nails some of the differences between Eastern and Western culture. There are a few I don't quite agree with, but see for yourself and let us know what you think. If you have no idea what's going on in these pictures, click on the Will-Excel TESOL blog link on the right. One of our co-workers who has lived here for a few years and has a Chinese wife posted a few of the pictures with his personal commentary which should help you to understand the meaning a bit better.
Also, several people have told us that they've had trouble leaving a comment on the blog. We can't figure out why, but it seems that if you post as Anonymous it works better than trying to post from a google/yahoo/whatever account. Just sign your name in the comment if you want to let us know who you are!
Thanks for reading! 再见 (zai jian) !
Not much to report. Our biggest news is that we bought a rice cooker. The salewoman at the supermarket was very nice and patient with us. Surprisingly enough, there is an aisle full of rice cookers to browse when you're in the market for this small appliance. They range in price from 49- 500+ kuai, but we were definitely looking on the lower end of the spectrum. Even so, we had 5 or 6 to choose from. Most of the cheaper rice cookers are white/pink and covered in flowers. Steve told me that he didn't really want a flowery rice cooker to bedeck our kitchen and I told the saleswoman as much. Lucky for us, the model we were interested in came in two designs! So we decided on a 79kuai (on sale from 99), white with pink swirlies beauty. And boy can she cook some rice! Just throw some rice and water in there and don't even worry about it, cause the cooker has it under control. This purchase came after several attempts to cook rice in our paper thin pots and burning it every time. I make a lot of rice back home (it's a staple in Braun dinner fare), but I'd never had this burning problem before! So the rice cooker is a bit of a cheater system, but worth the dough we shelled out. Now we have fresh, delicious, perfectly cooked rice anytime we want it.
On a very unrelated note, there is a great art display comparing Western and Eastern life that you can see here (or click on the post title). These were done by a Chinese woman who grew up in China and moved to Germany when she was in her early teens. A strikingly simple concept that really nails some of the differences between Eastern and Western culture. There are a few I don't quite agree with, but see for yourself and let us know what you think. If you have no idea what's going on in these pictures, click on the Will-Excel TESOL blog link on the right. One of our co-workers who has lived here for a few years and has a Chinese wife posted a few of the pictures with his personal commentary which should help you to understand the meaning a bit better.
Also, several people have told us that they've had trouble leaving a comment on the blog. We can't figure out why, but it seems that if you post as Anonymous it works better than trying to post from a google/yahoo/whatever account. Just sign your name in the comment if you want to let us know who you are!
Thanks for reading! 再见 (zai jian) !
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Good things on the web
It's an amazing thing, the internet.. eh? I've often wondered how different my life would have been if I had lived in a time completely devoid of internet (ahem, 15 years ago...). I still recall doing book reports with nothing but the library card catalog system, but honestly I am a child of the world wide web. I can't imagine what college would have been like without my friends Google and Blackboard. Maybe one of the coolest hang out spots at Clemson, the Robert Muldrow Cooper Library, would have made more sense to me.... I mean, I always wondered what all of those shelves full of bound papers were all about. Sometimes they got in the way of all of my friends sitting at one table with our laptops and coffees.
But anyway, this is the first time I've kept a blog and I must say that the most surprising thing I've found is that people I don't know have read it. I write posts with the assumption that those reading the blog know me, so they know my sense of humor and my outlook on the world and life. They know that my ramblings are merely observations made after 4 years of studying Chinese culture, history, and anthropology and almost a [collective] year of living in China. A lot of things written are meant to be taken with a grain of Steve/Jaclyn salt, which is difficult to do if you don't know us. So if you're out there reading this and have no idea who Steve and Jaclyn Spangler are....well I don't know how to tell you about us in just a sentence or two. Hopefully you won't judge us too harshly....
But honestly, what amazes me is how others even find the blog! I've run google searches and have never hit on SpanglersinChina.blogspot.com. Fascinating... just goes to show you how powerful the internet can be. Of course, I understand reading blogs with which you have no personal association. I do it too! Sometimes they provide answers to google queries, sometimes I link to them through friends' sites or recommendations, and other times I just stumble upon them. It really is interesting to gain a glimpse of someone else's perspective on life and thereby understand your own outlook just a little bit better.
One reason I'm surprised that others read our blog is that I'm bad at surfing the web. Steve can spend all day on the computer finding interesting things, reading reviews and specs on various products, and going from site to site, but I just check my e-mail and occasionally peruse facebook. If I have any questions about life or the universe and '42' just doesn't seem to answer them, I'll run a search. Every once in a while I'll stumble upon some other sites or get sent a link from family/friends. So here are some websites I've been reading lately. Some are blogs and some are official news sites. In case you're web-surfing impaired like me, maybe you'll find these interesting.
A guy doing some good with coffee:
Company website- http://www.DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com
Personal blog- http://jonathangolden.typepad.com/
Woody Harrelson's zombie qualms:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/10/woody.harrelson.zombie/index.html
A place to get a good ol' fashioned Amurrrican name:
http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/12054/
A blog entitled 'Simple Bliss' written by a girl who wonders why she has migraines:
http://vanessa.hoozh.net/
And although I want to post more links, I am out of ideas...
But anyway, this is the first time I've kept a blog and I must say that the most surprising thing I've found is that people I don't know have read it. I write posts with the assumption that those reading the blog know me, so they know my sense of humor and my outlook on the world and life. They know that my ramblings are merely observations made after 4 years of studying Chinese culture, history, and anthropology and almost a [collective] year of living in China. A lot of things written are meant to be taken with a grain of Steve/Jaclyn salt, which is difficult to do if you don't know us. So if you're out there reading this and have no idea who Steve and Jaclyn Spangler are....well I don't know how to tell you about us in just a sentence or two. Hopefully you won't judge us too harshly....
But honestly, what amazes me is how others even find the blog! I've run google searches and have never hit on SpanglersinChina.blogspot.com. Fascinating... just goes to show you how powerful the internet can be. Of course, I understand reading blogs with which you have no personal association. I do it too! Sometimes they provide answers to google queries, sometimes I link to them through friends' sites or recommendations, and other times I just stumble upon them. It really is interesting to gain a glimpse of someone else's perspective on life and thereby understand your own outlook just a little bit better.
One reason I'm surprised that others read our blog is that I'm bad at surfing the web. Steve can spend all day on the computer finding interesting things, reading reviews and specs on various products, and going from site to site, but I just check my e-mail and occasionally peruse facebook. If I have any questions about life or the universe and '42' just doesn't seem to answer them, I'll run a search. Every once in a while I'll stumble upon some other sites or get sent a link from family/friends. So here are some websites I've been reading lately. Some are blogs and some are official news sites. In case you're web-surfing impaired like me, maybe you'll find these interesting.
A guy doing some good with coffee:
Company website- http://www.DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com
Personal blog- http://jonathangolden.typepad.com/
Woody Harrelson's zombie qualms:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/10/woody.harrelson.zombie/index.html
A place to get a good ol' fashioned Amurrrican name:
http://rumandmonkey.com/
A blog entitled 'Simple Bliss' written by a girl who wonders why she has migraines:
http://vanessa.hoozh.net/
And although I want to post more links, I am out of ideas...
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