YMM 11th Anniversary Color Walk

This was a surprise event that I knew nothing about until the day before, SO.

On Monday morning, all the YMM employees met at Shenzhen Bay (theoretically around 8:30am, but almost everyone was a little late). Turns out my roommmate Xiaoxiao is kind of high up in the company? So she got a company driver to take her (and therefore me) to the school, which meant that I didn't have to take the metro :3

We got little sandwiches for breakfast that were pretty much just bread, but I had grabbed cereal from my room before I left so I wasn't starving. Everyone got together to do some group photos - everyone had to dress up in one solid color, so basically it was a big rainbow kinda deal.

You can see a little bit of the rainbow here, but I took this photo for the architecture mostly

Then, when that was finished, we walked from Shenzhen Bay to the YMM HQ office in the OCT Loft (which is coincidentally where my apartment is, so that was nice for me). It's about a two hour walk, and along the way we had little cards that got stamped so we could get a gift at the end of the walk.

Shenzhen Bay itself - the low building is the sport center that include the mall where I teach

proof that I was there

LOOK AT THIS LANDSCAPE, MAN I AM TELLING YOU

Those are my fellow teachers up front.

It was sunny and hot, and most of the other teachers were pretty disgruntled about having to walk for so long on their day off (or, in my case, while still having to teach in the afternoon), but they didn't let that ruin the mood, so it was actually a pretty good time. It gave me a good chance to see parts of Shenzhen I hadn't before!

If I don't take a close up of a flower, can I truly be said to have gone somewhere?

Once we finished, the company treated everyone to lunch at this restaurant called Huataoli. And I need to make this clear - I say lunch, but for a company event like this, what I really mean is a feast. A proper Chinese style meal involves at least ten dishes that you pass around the table so everyone can sample, and it's just amazing.

I photographed - not my favorite dish - but the most interesting presentation.

Delicious fried chicken that comes in a cage!

and I do mean THE WHOLE CHICKEN

There was a discussion later in the meal about what weird parts of chicken people had eaten, beginning with my boss Jessica talking about eating chicken eyes and brain. It's really interesting to go to places where food traditions from ancient times, when survival was much more pressing, are still prominent. American food traditions are so disjointed because of our constant demographic shifts (the American "melting pot"), which gives us incredible and delicious variety! But it also provides a kind of shallowness, where everyone only wants the most beautiful or most delicious seeming part of food, and we tend to ignore the "waste products" - like eyes and brains.

Apartment Life

I FINALLY MOVED OUT OF THE HOTEL!!!

Very exciting news, mostly because I finally have a washing machine, so all my clothes are truly clean again instead of being washed haphazardly in the hotel bathroom sink. The apartment building and the apartment itself are all done in tile flooring, and the hallways have tiled walls too. My first reaction was a little "ugh, it's some kind of sanatorium," but then I realized "BUT THERE'S NO PLACE FOR MOLD TO GROW," and that put an end to any dissatisfaction, haha. I never realized that carpeting and wood flooring was such a climate-dependent thing, but there you have it.

I moved on Friday, but I also had a full day of work on Friday. I put all my bags in a bag check at the hotel, checked out, and then went to spend two hours at my school's booth at a children's education exhibition.

I had to get up sooooo early because commuting by metro takes a while, but at least my neighborhood is BEAUTIFUL. 

They had my press photo on the wall!!!

After that, I went to the bank (all by myself!!!) to change the phone number associated with my account, since I had made the account when I had a temporary SIM card. I was really proud of myself for getting through the transaction with no translation, and then I was able to get a holiday bonus from work through my phone.
Then I taught two classes, and went to check out my apartment to make sure I could get in just fine.

So, turns out, the door is a little sticky and you have to jiggle it a little to get the lock open. I didn't figure that out, so I was like "ah I guess I have to wait for my roommate to unlock the door." I somehow thought she had an extra lock on the door that only she could open? But that makes no sense, because if I couldn't open it from the outside, how could she?

Regardless of my less-than-clear thinking, there's also a door man at the base of the apartment building. Now, I didn't know how to say "I just moved in," so I told him "I have my co-worker's keys, I need to give them to her," and that was how he let me into the building the first time. When I left, I said "she wasn't home, so you'll see me again!"

So anyway I finally went back to the hotel to grab my bags--

I'm quite a sight lugging them all around.

-and retired to the local Starbucks for the free wifi and the ability to sit for a few hours at a time without being questioned. I was waiting for a response from my roommate, but she was at work and didn't really get back to me. I will also note here that my phone is finicky without wifi; I can't use the primary messaging app on only data for some reason, which means that without wifi I pretty much cannot communicate with anyone. This will become important later.

So at 8pm (I had a Starbucks sausage roll for dinner - not my best meal lol), I finally decided that my keys probably worked just fine and I needed to just go move in. Luckily my hotel, the Starbucks, and the apartment are all within easy walking distance, so I didn't have to take any of this mess on the train or in a taxi.

Someone held the door for me at the apartment building, so I didn't have to ask the doorman for the key, and I got into the room just fine this time!

And then I locked myself out.

I dropped my keys on the bed, went outside to grab the biggest bags, and bumped the security gate just hard enough that it shut and locked. The interior door was still open, and my friends, you have never felt so taunted by a foyer.

With my roommate still not responsive, my phone unable to log into the apartment'ts wifi, and my feeble attempts at picking the lock failing me, I resolved to just sit in the hallway with my (really heavy and cumbersome) bags until she got home, and just....kind of hope that no one would question me.

TURNS OUT, the apartment across the hall belongs to two women who work for the same YMM Arts company, so one of them found me and was like "why??? are you here???" and called my roommate to say "Xiaoxiao the new girl is sitting here in the hallway and also you didn't shut your door when you left," at which point I came in with "no, that was me, I had keys..."

Anyway, Xiaoxiao wouldn't be back for another two hours, so my neighbors very kindly brought me into their house and let me sit on their couch until Xiaoxiao came back. I was super embarrassed, but they were really very sweet - and also under the impression that my Chinese is way better than it actually is!!! I got their wifi password and they went about their night with me perched on the couch, dozing off as it got later and my looooong day caught up to me, haha.

The one who actually found me in the hallway plays guitar, so she was practicing ballads in the room while I was dozing, and it was really incredibly peaceful. And eventually Xiaoxiao came back, we got all my bags into the apartment, I thanked everyone, and then SLEPT, finally.

So, photos:

It's a queen-sized bed, so my sheets don't fit! I'm going to get new ones soon.

Part of the reason I waited to long to make this post was because it took me forever to unpack and I didn't want to show you my suitcase haha. 

Also because the Fri/Sat/Sun time is really busy for me, and then we had a work event on Monday morning etc. etc.

It's a cute place! A little plain right now because I didn't have space to pack decorations, but I have two days off, so maybe I'll do a little shopping~

Happy Moon Viewing!

September 15th is the start of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival in China. Part of the traditional celebration involves gathering together with your family and watching the full moon while eating mooncakes. Or, if for some reason you can't be with your family or close friends (say, for instance, you moved across an ocean...), the Mid-Autumn festival is also traditionally a time to miss them.

I went and bought some mooncakes yesterday, so I'm all set!

The roundness of moon (and the cakes) can represent unity and wholeness, so if you're missing someone, it's a wish for you to be together again.

It's essentially a chance to reflect on and deal with the realities of separation. Growing up, moving out--it's a little lonely, a little hard. Even if you're on a great exciting adventure, there are things and people you will miss. And that's okay. It's all part of life; nothing is ever only fun.

Also, the hotel left me a card in celebration, which was super sweet.

It's my last night here! Which is good, because I feel like we're reaching the "why is this white girl still here" point, haha.

Tomorrow I have to try and check out of the hotel, store my bags in bag check, work a full day, and move into the new place! Yikes!

Wish me luck! <3

Shenzhen After the Rain

....is just as !@#$^*& humid as it is before the rain!!!!!

But the pollution clears away, so you can't complain about that.

I got caught in a pretty torrential downpour on Tuesday, which would have been alright if I hadn't

1. Left the metro station from the wrong exit,
2. Thought I had left from the correct exit and turned down the wrong street,
3. Had to backtrack across a number of busy streets while underestimating the depth of the puddles by the curb,
4. Stepped heavily in one of the puddles, soaking my shoes, 
5. And then tried to avoid stepping in another puddle, only to get in the way of a massive spray of water from a passing car!!!

And of course this was on my way to work (but miraculously my dance clothes remained dry), and since I'm living in a hotel, I don't have a washing machine easily available. Also I only have one pair of walking shoes.....so it's been an adventure, haha.

Here's some rain for reference:

Shenzhen is also paved with like, the slickest paving stones possible :)

The view from Donghai balcony!!!!

Leaving Donghai

I usually don't have a lot of students at the Donghai location, so I haven't taught a full day of classes there yet.

At Shenzhen Bay, however, I have to actually do my job all day (what a concept ugh haha). So I get to leave to things like this:

I'M INTO IT

As far as the job itself goes, my students are all adorable and young and very baffled by the too-tall white girl in a weird silk sheet with no shoes on. But we make it work. :)