We're Supposed to be in Shanghai...

This weekend Jacky and I had planned to visit a friend of mine from Tufts, Mengmeng, in Shanghai. Towards the end of last week we starting noticing the rising AQI (air quality index) in Shanghai. Now, Shanghai usually has relatively heathy air (by China standards anyway) so we were confident that by the time we boarded our flight on Friday the "Moderately Polluted" air quality level would eventually diminish to a "Lightly Polluted" and maybe even a "Good" level (if we were lucky). But to our dismay, every time we checked the AQI app on our phones (yes, every day we check the pollution level along with the weather) the AQI kept rising until it reached "Hazardous" and eventually "Beyond Index." As I was finishing up my lesson on Friday I got a message from Mengmeng warning us to cancel our trip:

Cover of Huffington Post on Saturday

So we eventually ended up canceling our flight last minute but we didn't escape the pollution. The AQI level in Beijing ended up rising almost as high as in was in Shanghai. This was the view out of our window this morning (AQI of 430 "Hazardous," 20 is considered healthy):

After living with it for almost six months, the air pollution here still shocks and angers us. Throughout our time here we've had many heated discussions about the gravity of the air pollution situation and frequently ask our Chinese friends their thoughts on the matter. As frustrating as it is to have to check the AQI every day and frequently wear a mask, what angers us the most is that it seems most Chinese people aren't educated about the long term effects of being exposed to such intense air pollution (WHO recently declared air pollution a level one carcinogen). It shocks us that the government doesn't seem to be working hard not only to prioritize alleviating this problem but also to spread awareness of how people can best protect themselves. We're baffled and saddened when we walk to school through the smog and only see a handful of people wearing masks. When we talk to our Chinese friends/co-workers about it they respond calmly saying something like: "sometimes the bad weather bothers my throat" or, at times, they don't believe us/ shrug us off when we mention long term effects. When we asked one friend if she wears a mask she says that she doesn't "in protest." In 2012, the US embassy and the government in Beijing clashed over the US embassy publishing AQI levels that were measured according to US standards for air quality (meaning that their numbers were always higher than those published by the Chinese government). Like with many controversial topics, the magnitude of the implications of the consistent air pollution seem to be largely ignored (censured) by the Chinese media. Our friend who works for Greenpeace in Beijing (an environmental protection NGO) was arrested last month after she took a picture of a factory spewing out pollution during a particularly smoggy day in a city north of China. Recently the government has announced policies aimed at combating this issue, but the steps seem largely insignificant and unsustainable (limiting cars on the road, prohibiting barbecues and fireworks, canceling school--all only on heavily polluted days).

We hear the worst of it is yet to come this winter! We will continue to wear our masks and encourage our friends to do all that they can to protect themselves as well. We're looking forward to taking a deep breath of fresh air when we step off our flight in Logan in just 11 days!

Bikes and the Generosity of Chinese People

We have been wanting to get a bike for months now. It seems like almost everyone has a bike here. With the constant high traffic and pollution-related driving restrictions, it may be the most efficient way to get around in this city! Everyone told us it would be easy to find a cheap, second-hand bike, but all of our initial efforts failed. After our failed attempts Jacky thought to post on "WeChat" (a very popular Chinese social media application) asking if anyone knew of where we could find cheap bikes. Within minutes, her student's Mom offered to give her their unused bike. I was equally successful, having several parents offer to give me their bike. Jack, our school's "maintenance man" jumped at the opportunity to help Jacky pump more airs into her mostly flat bike tires. When she explained the problem (using hand motions and the translator app on his phone) he grabbed the bike without question and took it down the street, quickly returning it with filled tires. He refused to be repaid for this. The other day, one of our school's administrators, Anna, took some of her break time to take us to get baskets to put on our bikes. While we were waiting, she sneaked away and brought us some "shanza" (sweet hawthorn fruit on a stick, a famous Beijing food). Our bike story is a perfect example of the incredible generosity we've experienced here. Everyone, from our Chinese friends to parents to co-workers, is eager to help us with any problem we've had. They will sacrifice their time and money to make sure that we are happy and comfortable. This amount of consistent generosity is something so unique to Chinese people, it is truly beautiful and inspiring. Now we ride our bikes everywhere around our neighborhood. Our long, cold walks to and from school have become quick bike rides, all thanks to  the generosity of our community in Beijing!

Jacky and Anna with their Shanza

Celebrating my Birthday in Beijing

About a month ago I celebrated my birthday in Beijing. I was blown away by the generosity of those in my life, both near and far, and overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude. The weekend before my birthday Jacky and I trekked out to Sanlitun, the "hippest" neighborhood in the city. This is where we go whenever we need a break from the traditional Chinese "vibe" of our neighborhood. It's where we go when we crave English, cheese, and Mexican food. Carine, a friend we met out in this neighborhood a few weekends prior, invited us to stay at the hostel she works at. Seeing as Sanlitun is over an hour subway trip from our neighborhood, we quickly took her up on her offer and decided to make a mini-vacation out of it! We met up with our friends at our favorite (and the only) Mexican restaurant in the city. Then we went back to the hostel for surprise cake and champagne (both hard to come by in Beijing...Jacky is the best)! After we enjoyed a night dancing at a roof top bar. The next morning we treated ourselves to our first bagel in five months and a trip to a Western supermarket!
It was a wonderful weekend, it was very special to share it with so many of our new friends who have welcomed us into their lives in Beijing.

Posing with Carine and the dog she gave me as 

a present (because the "big blue eyes" reminded her of "my big blue eyes").

The whole group at dinner.

First bagel in 5 months!

But little did I know when we got home from our mini-vacation in Sanlitun the celebrations were far from over. For the past month or so Jacky had been organizing and creating a beautiful video made up of videos from our first 5 months in China as well as birthday messages from those I love back at home and here in China. It was the most special gift I've ever received and it made for one of the most special birthdays I will ever have. Thank you to everyone who helped her put it together, I love you all. If you'd like to see just how happy you all made me check out the reaction video that Jacky (secretly) recorded while I watched: http://vimeo.com/79179399.

The next day at school my students sang me happy birthday in both English and Chinese throughout the whole day and also presented me with birthday cards and pictures. I was also lucky enough to hear from many of my family and friends who I miss so much. It was a birthday that I will never forget, thank you to everyone who made it so memorable and brought me such joy! The biggest xiexie (thank you) goes to my fa xiao (dear old friend), Jacky. She worked so hard and took great care to make it a special birthday and to bring the love of all of those at home to me in Beijing. I am the luckiest to call her my best fa xiao, my roommate, travel companion, and co-worker! 我愛你, 華梨花! 

My pal Yoyo wishing me a happy birthday!

With my students after they gave me their beautiful cards! 

Giving Thanks

I know it's early, but Thanksgiving doesn't exist here in China so I think it's okay to start celebrating now. Just a quick update on what we've been up to-

We recently started taking the spinning class at our gym - which quickly became the highlight of our days. They offer it every night at 7pm and unless we're busy going to the Italian Embassy (we did that last Wednesday) we're in that dark basement on a sweaty bike rocking out to some awesome bumping music. We've quickly becoming obsessed with the feeling we get from spinning our butts off for 45 minutes as hard as we can. Although the instructors speak Chinese, it's pretty easy to follow along and just go with the beat. We started a tally and are hoping to reach our goal of 20 classes by the time we get home.

Which, by the way, is in 4 weeks! We're very excited and already starting to plan our 3 weeks in America before coming back here until June. We're already very aware of how much we're going to miss our students, friends and Chinese life so we're extra thankful that "5-months-ago us" decided to stay the whole year rather than just 6 months. 

Since the temperature has dropped so quickly, we have been having a hard time walking to school in such cold weather each morning. The walk is under 15 minutes but in the cold it feels much longer. I quickly grew obsessed with the idea of getting a bike (we've discussed it since day one but never really did anything about it). The traffic on the way to school is a little crazy, so we were nervous to get bikes and stuck with the safer route of walking. However, since we were looking for a way to get to school that much quicker, it became a reality that we should maybe venture out on two wheels. But where to get a bike in our suburb-like district Shijingshan? We looked at the stores, but they were a little too expensive so we decided to reach out to parents at our school and ask where we could find a used bike in our area. Within an hour, each of us got a response from a more-than-willing parent to give/lend us a free bike. We were shocked! And thrilled to say the least. I got mine yesterday and we rode it around (tried to fit both of us on it which was a failure) during our break time. We felt like children giggling and falling off our new bike. Monday Charlotte will get hers and then we will have our first experience riding back and forth from school. Wish us luck! We're very thankful for our new bikes.

Last night, after our spin class we were discussing how grateful we are to be here. And to be here with each other. It's been a magical adventure and somehow our personalities fit perfectly together and we haven't gotten sick of each other. We've even discussed what we're going to do when we're both back in Needham but not in the same room at all times.. Maybe we'll bike to each other's houses! I'm thankful for you, Lotty. 

I'm also thankful for the fruit tea that we're drinking at this dimly lit coffee shop we're in. Both of us are writing and reflecting today.

THANKS for reading, happy Thanksgiving to all! We'll be over here eating a box of mac & cheese and drinking our last bottle of Italian wine that Beca brought us. Yum.

Love always,
Jacky

Making Dumplings

A few weeks ago we had one of our Chinese co-teachers, Ciel, and her boyfriend (whose English name alternates between Stone and Codi (y?)), over to cook. We spent over four hours learning how to make and then making pumpkin dumplings, egg and chive dumplings, and a few other Chinese dishes (including sugary sweet yam "fries"...amazing). It took us a while to get the hang of the art of jiaozi dumpling making...but after about 30 tries resulting in some messy/ugly dumplings (okay I'm exaggerating...maybe 10) we finally started getting some positive feedback from Ciel and Stone/Codi. After four hours we had made almost 100 dumplings completely from scratch (aren't you impressed, Moms?)! After Stone/Codi quickly boiled the dumplings we were ready to enjoy the result of all our hard work. It was well worth it! It was arguably the best meal we've had since we've been here. While we ate we shared some very interesting conversation with our guests. They were very honest and open about the pressure young people in China feel to get married and start a family young. They spoke of the expectation to live with your parents throughout your whole life, and the expectation to be completely committed to your family. We're hoping to have them over again before we come back to the states in 5 weeks(!) so that we can be able to make them for you when we come visit!

The Greatest Wall of Them All

Better late than never... We finally made it to the Great Wall! A good friend of ours who we work with came with us since she had never been there either. We had a great sunny day which ended up being much warmer than expected. We were smart enough to layer up for the morning and quickly started peeling those layers as we continued the steep climb toward the sun...

Enjoy the pictures!

Before the hike

With our friend Yenzi

Check out the fall foliage! Hard to come by here in China..

On top of the world!

Almost there...we were so tired!

Paparazzi

This sign says, "You're not a real person until you climbed up the Great Wall." Haha!

November Already?!

Just a quick update on what's going on over here... One of my very best friends is coming to Beijing tomorrow for a super quick but jam-packed visit! I am very excited so show her around and introduce her to our friends and students. She arrives on Sunday afternoon and leaves Friday afternoon- like I said, super quick! 

We celebrated Halloween this past week at our school by doing many crafts and singing songs with the kids. We put a lot of effort into making it as similar as possible to an American Halloween as we could! Aside from the lack of American candy, we felt it was successful. Post coming soon!

We can't believe it's already November... Beca's visit followed by Charlotte's 24th birthday on the 11th and then we only have about a month left until we coming home for our 3 week visit. Time is flying!!

Oh! And we added a new feature to our blog - if you want to get an email when we post (unless you've already made it your homepage) add your email address on the right. 

Stay tuned!

Love,
Jacky