Nov. 9/11 – I just finished packing. I feel so sad to have to say good bye to Xian and the people whom I had become friends with since I got here…. I don’t know when I can make it back but I am sure that I will miss my experience here… :((
I can’t believe it’s been 8 weeks already. I felt like we only got here a couple of weeks ago. De said that it only seemed like a few days ago that we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors…
I started to get “Xian sick” 3 days ago. It was quite emotional for me and a few other students that I had gotten close to through teaching. After I was done crying, I decided to celebrate the fact I met some wonderful people and became close friends to instead of being sad that I was leaving. So to solve my “Xian sickness,” I decided to go condo shopping a couple of days ago since the condo prices are so inexpensive here (RMB 7K-12K per sq meter = CAN $100 -$170 per sf). Checked out 3 areas, found something I liked but it turned out they don’t have the so called “foreign certificate” which means they can NOT sell to “foreigners.” Usually only very high value (over 4 million RMB) buildings have this certificate – the reason for this prohibition is to avoid foreigners coming to buy and flip. The government wants to control the value so that more local people can afford to buy. Even though it turned out to be “window shopping” only, I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot about local real estate, too.
“Amy’s Corner ran from 7 – 9 pm daily” – The university students here were very enthusiastic about coming to Amy’s Corner. Usually it’s full within 5-20 mins after the SMS gets sent out for people to reply to reserve a spot for the following day’s class (they cannot reserve until the SMS gets sent out the night before) therefore many students cannot reserve a spot if they are not active on their cell. So what I did during my last week was I offered an “Amy’s Corner” in the morning on top of the existing evening classes. This way, I was able to interact with as many new students as possible. Honestly, I enjoyed being with them just as much as, they said, they enjoyed being with me.
Some students asked me to consider becoming a full time teacher because they claimed they had never experienced a teacher teaching the way I did. My topics are always fun, interesting and very different from those of the teachers/professors they were use to. A few told me how much I had inspired them and how I had officially become their mentor now. I only wish I had started “Amy’s Corner” as soon as I got here instead of 4 weeks later. But that the only time when the elementary school program was over and since that was the afternoon class so it didn’t affect the evening activities at all.
I was really touched that Catherine (an amazing young lady who was my Mandarin tutor and my first Xian friend) surprised me with a BD cake and all the students celebrated my early 41st BD with me at the end of class last night. A few gave me gifts and made me cards. I was so touched. It meant so much to me. I am really becoming passionate about teaching now….
I was overwhelmed by the number of students that showed up to say good bye to me and all the beautiful comments they shared with me on how much they had enjoyed “Amy’s Corner” and how much I had inspired them. One of them said that I was like a magnet which just drew her to keep coming back. Their acknowledgement really helped with my self-esteem in the “patience and the education” department (as most of you should know these 2 areas are my weakness). Seriously, through them, I experienced such a “deeper me.” I feel my life has been enriched so much now. I know I will miss them very dearly when I leave…. :(((
I thank CCS country director, Jerome, for helping co-coordinating “Amy’s Corner” because without that experience, I would not have acknowledged that I actually DO have the patience to teach and I DO have enough interesting life experience to share with the students. I am so grateful for this discovery and so on top of CCS, I have all my students (children and adults) to thank for that. I am motivated and I am confident I will do a much better teaching when I get to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nepal after all the wonderful feedbacks I got from the students here in Xian.
We stayed in the rural village (7 hour drive from Xian) for 6 days two weeks ago. The name of the school we taught in while we were there was called Mai Xi Xiao Xue. The school was originally built in 1927. It got restored in 1949 then totally renovated 8 years ago. All the desks inside the classrooms were donated by the UN. This school has a total of 141 students (grade 1 to 6) and 17 teachers. The sister school beside it has 80 kindergarten students with 8 teachers. Fifty percent of the students and teachers live in the school during weekdays because it’s too hard to be walking on the mountain range to get home daily. The village students are very innocent and sweet. There are only 25 students per class so teaching them was so easy especially after we had the experience with 65 students per class in Xian. The population of this Township (9 villages combined) is around 6000 people only.
By the time I was done visiting the rural village, I decided to take the “Silk Road” off my “to go” list now. Why? Because everything I wanted to experience from the Silk Road such as NO HOT WATER, NO HEAT, NO INTERNET, NON-FLUSHABLE TOILETS, and NO PAVED ROAD, I was able to experience in the village within the 6 days already!!
De looked so surprised the first time he saw a child carrying a seemingly heavy backpack, walking to school alone. He asked me “Mom, why is that kid (who looked like 3-5 years old) walking to school alone?” Then, I asked him, “You mean you thought all kids should get driven to school like yourself?”…. Obviously I didn’t miss the opportunity to talk to him more about “entitlements, privileges, and being grateful, etc etc”. I was surprised he actually seemed to understand how lucky he was after what he saw there. I don’t regret voting to go and experience the rural village at all because I think it was a good wake up call for both De and me to realize how lucky we are.
Danna’s parents took us to the “Outdoor Saint Hot Spring” on Nov. 6/11. It’s an 80 million RMB (12 million CND) project and it took 4 years to build. The large fancy indoor hot spring tub and 18 outdoor hot spring tubs were completed last year but the hotel is still under construction.
This resort is located on a mountain in the Tong Yu Zhen area which is about an hour drive from downtown Xian. The total area here is around 360 acres. There are many new condos and many more new constructions surrounding this hot spring resort. The whole area is very clean and very beautiful. The entrance fee for adults is 75 RMB (11 CND) and we can stay from 10am to 10pm if we want. They also have restaurant, body scrubbing and massaging service inside the spa for extra cost.
Other than indulging ourselves in the large indoor hot spring tub, we only had enough time to soak in 9 out of the 18 out door hot tubs today. The size for each tub is around 15′ X 20′. The temperature ranges from 38 to 46 degree. Different ingredients get added to each tub. The 9 tubs we soaked in were:
1. Milk + hot spring
2. Chinese white wine + hot spring
3. Lemon + hot spring
4. Rose + hot spring
5. Jasmine + hot spring
6. Gok Fa + hot spring
7. Chinese Herbs + hot spring
8. Tie Guan Yin Tea + hot spring
9. Ginseng + hot spring
Different ingredients added serves different purposes such as – to obtain smoother skin, to de-stress, for better blood circulation, to bring down blood pressure, for anti-aging effect, to obtain weight loss, to get good for sleep; they are also good for joints and muscles.
It was an amazing experience because it is by far bigger and nicer than the Hot Springs I visited in Canada, Vietnam, Japan, or Taiwan. Had I known about this resort earlier, I would have been here every weekend. Definitely, a place I want to come back to next time I am in Xian.
Saying good bye to Xian turned out to be harder than I thought. I am so happy to have spent the last 8 weeks here and not any shorter. I think I can easily handle living here for another 3 months. I had promised to come back to attend the wedding of Danna, Catherine or any of my other students, that is if I would be invited. lol
My next stop is Guangzhou. I am excited to be seeing CC, Tony, and Nam bro there and I am especially excited to be celebrating my 41st birthday with Allen (from Vancouver) and Wah bro (from Arizona). This will be my longest trip in Guangzhou (2 weeks). I felt I should give myself another chance to really see Guangzhou one more time since all my previous trips there were never longer than 50 hours.
That’s all for now. Please take good care of yourself and your loved ones…. 🙂
Love & Hugs
Amy
Originally posted on Amy’s travel blog: TravelwithAmy.ca