It's almost time to leave Changsha. Tomorrow is our last night and Monday morning we leave for our sites. Today we left for Orange Island with our Chinese teachers. It was quite a walk and I've never tanned this fast before. I think I even got a sunburn. I can't say for sure because I've only been burned once before, the rest of the time I've been careful about sunscreen or covering up. It was a really wonderful day out. We had a blue sky instead of a hot grey day. It was a real workout and my congestion started to kick up in addition to my constant sweating. I could totally see myself going back though. I liked it a lot.
A duplicate of Mao's poetry and handwriting. I still have so much to learn about this influential figure.
Big Mao head on Orange Island. The face of a young Mao I've never seen much in the US.
On another note, I finally got a taste of chou doufu (stinky tofu) which I've been meaning to try for so long. I've heard it smells like garbage but when I got it, it just smelled really vinegary. Then again, my congestion may be preventing me from experiencing it in its full stinky glory. It was good. Maybe not the amazing food I expected given how much high praise I've heard for chou doufu but I spent all day thinking about going back and buying another since I thought the textures and everything were really wonderful. She fried it and covered it with cilantro and other toppings so it was fresh out of the wok when I got it. I have a feeling that I'm going to be a full participant in Hunanese food culture even if I'm not the biggest participant in Changsha's ever active nightlife.
I surprised the woman selling the doufu though. She told me I looked Chinese after she heard me talking to one of the other volunteers in English and I told her I was American but my family was from Guangdong. It's the best explanation I can give with what Chinese I have. I was told I would have different expectations from other foreigners because I'm part Chinese but so far people seem to understand that I don't speak Chinese and seem receptive to the idea that I've been away from China my whole life.
I surprised the woman selling the doufu though. She told me I looked Chinese after she heard me talking to one of the other volunteers in English and I told her I was American but my family was from Guangdong. It's the best explanation I can give with what Chinese I have. I was told I would have different expectations from other foreigners because I'm part Chinese but so far people seem to understand that I don't speak Chinese and seem receptive to the idea that I've been away from China my whole life.
My first bowl of chou doufu (臭豆腐), also known as stinky tofu.
It's hard for me to say all that happened today. I really didn't do much after 2pm. I finally got to sleep for an extended period of time but people kept coming in to check in on me. Which is nice. I'm happy for the network I have now and every day so far has promised to be a good year despite my doubts about myself as a teacher before. I made myself go out and eat something for dinner that wasn't 6 kuai (yuan 元) and a bowl of hot noodles. I'm really looking forward to Zhuzhou and settling in. I'm going to have my own apartment which I've heard is quite large and has a kitchen. The other volunteer who is working and living at the same school will be nearby so we can swap lesson ideas and we're supposed to be right behind the school and close to the central train station. It'll be great to cook for myself again and I've been hearing that Zhuzhou is like a cleaner Changsha with a smaller feel.
I am really sad to be saying goodbye to Changsha even though Zhuzhou is so close. I feel like I still have so much to see and haven't totally found my way around here yet. We see our Chinese teachers one last time tomorrow for a fun performance with the other volunteers. I've heard one teacher wrote a rap for her class to perform and another has her class singing a sad song. We're singing the viral song Xiao Ping Guo for our part. We couldn't learn the dance fast enough and it turns out that the song is pretty fast too. I have a link to the video below but be warned that it's weird. Like Gangnam style weird. The song doesn't start until about a minute in. There's another viral video going around too with a dancing Kim Jong which uses this song. It's hard not to hear it on a daily basis.
I am really sad to be saying goodbye to Changsha even though Zhuzhou is so close. I feel like I still have so much to see and haven't totally found my way around here yet. We see our Chinese teachers one last time tomorrow for a fun performance with the other volunteers. I've heard one teacher wrote a rap for her class to perform and another has her class singing a sad song. We're singing the viral song Xiao Ping Guo for our part. We couldn't learn the dance fast enough and it turns out that the song is pretty fast too. I have a link to the video below but be warned that it's weird. Like Gangnam style weird. The song doesn't start until about a minute in. There's another viral video going around too with a dancing Kim Jong which uses this song. It's hard not to hear it on a daily basis.
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