Barcelona!

I'm writing this very quickly as it is definitely two am in the morning in Barcelona, but I have to, or else I'm afraid that I'm going to forget. I write this to you from my bedroom in Mas Palou, my friend Maria's country ... manor? near Barcelona - it's so beautiful and comfortable... but I'll talk about that later! The things that I have learned today.

1. Zara and Mango are SO much cheaper in Spain. I have the proof. The same dress that I bought it America was 60 USD$, was only 29.90 euros, which in dollars is only, 39.12 dollars.

2. There are a lot of Asians in Barcelona; they are ALL Chinese. For now, Spanish people can take comfort in not being racist when they assume all of the Asians that they see are Chinese, because 100% of the people of Asian background were in actuality Chinese. The Chinese people stared at me so hard! The Spanish people also stared at me! Sigh, I know living in China has gotten me used to all the staring - but in such a different way!

3. I went to a FCB/Madrid game today at a bar with Maria's friends - people of Catalonia are proud of their futbal team and will stay out until midnight on a Wednesday to watch it. ALL people - old, young and in bars - which brings me to 4.

4. Bars in Spain are not dark and do not predominantly sell alcohol. Bars in Spain are American local restaurants/bistros/small eating establishment with full lighting and are packed during big futbal nights.

5. The men in Barcelona are stilllll beautiful. I'm glad I've returned - the last time I was in Barcelona was 10 years ago and I vowed then I would come back!

I'm going touring in some vineyards tomorrow so I must go to bed now. As they say in Barcelona, "'Dio!"

On Atlanta

Since I've been home, I've languished in the luxuries of food diversity. One thing that I never took into consideration when embarking on a two year adventure in rural China is the complete lack of variety. For breakfast, I ate a cup of Greek yogurt. For lunch, I went to Hashiguchi Jr in Buckhead, followed by dinner at Mediterranean Grill in Decatur. The gyro meat was a little bit dry but the tsatsiki sauce was DIVINE.

It was here at Mediterranean Grill that my friend and I encountered a woman who very vocally commented on our social behavior. I realized that only in a developed civilized culture do people feel like they can publicly criticize another's behavior. In rural China, no one yells at you for spitting on the ground or bringing your chicken on the bus, a chicken that's not fully tranquilized, one that's jumping all over all the passengers on the bus.

In line, which in rural China, lining up does not yet exist - in the line to order, I was reunited with my friend who I haven't seen in a year. There was a woman who was behind me, who my friend walked past in order to hug me and to begin our reunion. I noticed after we hugged, that the woman began to glare quite fervently in my direction. I shrugged it off as surely, surely as she was very clearly eavesdropping that she would not be begrudging my friend's position with me in line. She did. She bitterly remarked upon my friend's position in line and asked to supersede her in the line. Then, she made even more remarks after my friend gracefully demurred her place. Confused by such social ... the only word I can think of is - awkwardness?, she insulted our manners and then ordered a take-out order for herself.

This instance was no instance at all. With the exception of being incredibly awkward, where I live now has taught me not to sweat the small things and that the people that express their negativity outwardly are people that are undesirable friends!

Exhibit A: Desirable friends!

Not in Atlanta: these are my friends in Yunnan! People that you DO want to associate with!

I miss ya'll!

I'm in DETROIT!

YAY!

..well.. It's America.

These are my travel plans for this holiday (by airport code)

KMG-TPE-NRT-DTW-ATL-BCN-CDG-ATL-SAV-ATL-DCA-LGA-ATL-SEA-PEK-KMG

mwahahahahahahaha I'm dizzy with excitement and jetlag! I can't wait to hang out with you - if you're reading this, you should probably email me.

My kids dance better than Tom's kids

A little more than a week ago, Tom posted a blog about teaching kids Jingle Bells (which I already did here) - and then with the speakers and computer that he had in class, two of his students had a little after hours dance party.

Well, after I saw his kids dance to LMFAO's Party Rock, I mused over what dances I could teach my students in a very short time. Last week, in the short time that I ran out of chalk in my fifth grade class, a grand idea popped into my mind!

Click and see the fruits of my effort. Love the boys in the front row. It's a long video, but scroll until the end and watch the expert girls lead my class! The boys take the dancing very seriously because I stressed the applicability of this dance to both boys and girls.

 Then, I made them silently practice 10 mins on their own with peer monitors as I ran downstairs to my room to grab my speakers and camera. CUTE. WIN!

A belated Christmas card from Shannon

Meet Shannon:

While she looks like a veritable badass in this picture taken exactly 4 months ago, Shannon is my hardest working sweetie who studies in all of her spare time and always has the most focused expression on her face.

Shannon was the one that asked me oh, so politely after I showed my students their first American television series (Once Upon a Time with Chinese subtitles), what the word "kiss" meant. "I tried looking in the book and also in the dictionary and I couldn't find it anywhere!" That's what she said to me as I looked at her incredulously. When I told her the meaning, her face turned bright red and she ran from my presence. My heart melted.

Shannon is also the one that I watch The Amazing Race with while she writes down every word that she hears - she studies so hard that she can recognize words and write them down! I'm so proud of her!

Imagine my surprise when Shannon sought me out after classes and handed me an apple after Christmas with a special note rolled into it!

This was her Christmas card to me! Outside was a lion and a squirrel, inside a letter that reads:

I wish you a Merry Christmas Miss Yuan! I know that Saturday is Christmas, I'm going home and you're not here so I can't give this card to you on Christmas Day. I hope that you have a happy winter break! But when you're happy, don't forget about me! Miss Yuan, I don't know how to draw a Santa Claus, so I drew you a few little animals. Please forgive me!

Your student,
Shannon

Shannon is the reason I teach on those cold early Tuesday and Thursday mornings!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's the new year in China and America. 2012, you're going to be amazing.