Stacie says ni hao y'all

Hello friends and family,
 I do not have a lot of time, I always have water to boil :-D. I am sorry I have not posted yet.
I read Kevin's blog and he covers a lot of what has happened, so I will just add a few things from my perspective.
China is an awesome, welcoming place! I love the friendly people, I love the beauty that is all around us (once you get off the streets), and I love the food! The people say the same things a lot to us... beautiful... 5 children, wow!... look, foreigners... helloo... They are really quite kind. There is a dialect here so sometimes I can't understand words I have learned like "water," "7," "8," and "9" for instance. Our neighbor came over to ask if our water was working and I couldn't understand her at all, so she grabbed her granddaughter who could speak English. I was shocked to learn that she had ever used the word "water!" I know that word and it was not used in our discussion. ha ha
The most frustrating thing is not knowing what is being said. Two adorable older ladies wanted to talk to us at the grocery store today. They went on and on in Chinese and... couldn't understand a thing! This happens everyday. I wish I could respond to these conversations because they are so friendly and interested in meeting us. Being a mom means it is hard to find free time to make studying a new language very effective, but I am trying. The schools here teach the children English, so the younger generation can often say a few things.
This is a beautiful place. I love the plants and trees. I saw a bird that looked a little like a woodpecker in body-type but with bottle-blue, sheeny feathers all over it's back! I love birds so I was thrilled. The waterlilies in the photos are lotus and are sometimes nearly 2 feet in diameter. The top of the lotus flower stem is full of seeds that are sold everywhere here and I tasted one- they taste almost like a pine nut. Since I have never left American before, sometimes I am surprised that the trees are real. Other times I think "so that is where this plant comes from before I see it in a store." Buying two small plants for the apartment was a bright spot for me in this busy first week.
Speaking of nature, there are many small dogs in Chengsha. This attracts Evelynn's attention. There are many miniature poodles, and other small, fluffy dogs but I am unsure of their breed. Evelynn notices them all, "so cute," "so fluffy!" Most often the dogs are not on a leash and just sit next to the owner's chair while they are at work, the littlest ones are carried around, just like my Lucy.
The food is really good. The meat can look very questionable in some places, and there is the local specialty "stinky tofu" sold all over the place that smells like something DIED :-P. Other than this I think everything tastes great. The dumplings, fried rice and noodles, the skewered meat, barbequed eggplant, and breads, all so good! The food is more flavorful than in America, I think. Either that or I am more hungry. The breads always tempt me. They fry it, steam it, barbeque it, boil it. There is plum, sesame, nut, honey, onion, sugar... It really tempts me. Everytime I see bread I feel hungry.
I am excited to teach this Saturday, wish me good luck. I am teaching phonics to 7-9 year olds. (B says "buh" buh-aa-tuh, bat!) I always feel nervous to teach, but I love the challenge of it too. I don't know what will work and all that, I have never taught a foreign language before. Also I can NOT speak their language. So, I feel nervous. A baby boy was crying for his mother while we were walking the other day, and I said to my family, "I can't even understand what HE is saying, and he is a baby! I know less Chinese than a Chinese baby!" It is true too.
I think I have lost a little weight, all my clothes are loose. That means I need more bread, right? Speaking of weight, the people here are all sizes, thin to fat, short to tall. The difference is that the thin ones are thinner than a thin American, the fat ones are more rare than they are in America, and anyone taller than Kevin's 6' 2" height is hard to find. I have seen one, he was about 6' 4". Everyone looks the right height because they are generally close to my 5' 3" size, especially girls. Appearances make me think of my new haircut...
I got my hair re-cut into my favorite pixie, and I love it. Our Chinese translating-helper and friend Sophia took me to a hair salon to get it done. She got her hair done at the same time. I went to the back of the store to get the shampoo first. They had me lie down on a bed-table with the sink at the top to  do the shampoo. The stylist then shampooed my hair for at least 5 minutes. Shampooing and massaging my head with a lot of pounding and rubbbing. I was thinking "are we done yet?" for most of the experience. Then I was led up front for the cut. Most stores like this (and notably a dentist office on our street) have big glass storefronts so everyone can see in while the service is being done. (None of us want to go to the dentist here now.) So I sit down and the stylist says something in Chinese. I figure he wants to know what to do with my hair, but  I just shrug for fear that he might get going and I won't be happy with that result. Sophia is still getting a head massage in the back, a lot of good it did to bring her! Luckily the girl in the next chair is a university student and tells me what he said (how do you want your hair cut, obviously) then I pull out a photo, and tell the student the rest. Sophia comes along about now, and I am pretty sure she adds that I want to look like Anne Hathaway, because she asked me earlier if that was what I meant by really short. It is a great cut. I love it. Had some trouble paying because of the 7 and 9 in Chinese like I mentioned earlier. All the stylist I have seen in these big shop windows so far are men. Just like in America you can tell by the big, colorful, edgy hairdos that they are hair stylists. They were really nice to the clueless American girl with 5 kids and professor husband (I could understand that part of the conversation) that can't understand "70" (he had to write it down.) My haircut was only 19 kuai, 3.5 US dollars, the 70 was about something else.

Budget for Beijing travel

Cost of living in Beijing

During my stay in Beijing a week, I could see how much to spend on several things: accommodation , food and tourism , so I'll give you in this activity the costs down .
You guessed prices in Beijing are much lower than in France ! The Yuan is trading at € 0.15 cents. 1 year ago while the Euro was higher, it was 1 yuan to 0.1 euros! Now with the fall of the Euro, we still have a little less power purchases but there is still huge.

Budget for the trip to Beijing Move is essential in Beijing, there are several ways the bus and train are very popular :

It will cost 2 yuan to take the train to go anywhere in Beijing and 1 yuan to take the bus or 10 or 20 cents bus fare or subway! Cheap : D .
Take a taxi on the other hand cost a bit more expensive but it will cost less than 5 euros so if you did not share , do not spend a lot of money ! If you want a night out , take the train and go before 23hours taxi because there are more trains after 23:30. It sets early in China and up however early.
The price of the taxi from the airport to the city will cost you much more expensive 15-20 euros as it's quite far if you take the international taxi ( black 40-50 euros): the ideal is to take the metro which will cost you 3 euros!
You can visit all the attractions by metro except for the wall of China, or it will either take a bus or group to take over there . It will cost 15 to 20 euros .

Budget accommodation in Beijing.

During my stay in China , I decided to sleep in classic Hostel Hotel to meet more people , even if the prices are almost similar for a room to share with 2 or 4. So we paid less than 10 euros a night in the best hostel in China.
For less basic hotels and toilets and showers share count from 12 euros each room for two .

Budget for food in Beijing 

The Restaurant price is more expensive than the street shops , it is very easy to find a place to eat outside when the weather is nice ! It will cost less than 5 euros to the restaurant. A beer bottle with a liter will cost you only one euro and 20 cents.

Other costs for Beijing. 

The price of electronics is cheaper than in France if you buy made ​​in China by against all that is not Made in China is much more expensive than France !
It's the same thing for clothing made ​​in China and the clothing brands is cheaper made ​​in China is more expensive for clothing brands .

source:www.tripadvisor.fr
http://beijingrelocation.com/
fr.hotels.com 

China drinks

China drinks

water

ATTENTION, the water is not drinkable in China. Keep your tablets Micropur or Hydrochlonazone for possible treks , because you can easily buy small bottles of mineral water. In addition , hotels always provide you with a thermos of boiled water, kai shui (pronounced " Quaille choueille ") in the rooms. The Chinese rarely drink plain water , but many enjoy a cup of hot water.

Tea 

The Chinese drink par excellence. The Chinese drink mostly green tea ( Lucha ) . Lighter than black tea and deemed more healthy, it is not fermented but simply dehydrated (80 % water in the sheet) , and then roasted . Some great wines are maojian (Hunan and Guizhou ), the biluochun (Suzhou ), the longjing (Hangzhou) and maofeng ( Huangshan Mountain ) . Regarding the black tea (fermented) locally called red tea ( hong cha) , its flavor is more pronounced and more responsible in caffeine , hence its success with Westerners. You 'll often collapsed into cake or brick . There is also an intermediate range of semi- fermented tea ( oolong cha) , which is a good representative Guangyin tea. Finally , we must mention the many flavored teas (chrysanthemum , osmanthus and jasmine tea ) , the rarest teas like white tea ( very young green tea leaves covered with fuzz still in bud ) , or tea yellow master whose jealously guard the recipe.

Beer 

Beer pijiu (pronounced " Pitio - or ") is also a particularly affectionate drink by the Chinese. Extremely cheap beer comes in hundreds of brands including the famous Qingdao (or Tsingao ) , imported by German brewers in the late nineteenth century in Shandong (former concession ) or liquan popular throughout the South . Generally low in alcohol , beer comes in glass bottles ( large or small) or cans (often the prerogative of imported beers). Recently, we also note the appearance of draft beer ( Zhapi ) very fashionable bars in Beijing or Shanghai.

The wine 

Wine hongputaojiu (pronounced " or - tio Ronge poutao ") is not part of traditional Chinese culture, which prefers hard liquor ( jiu ) . Thus , very often, local productions disappoint palates . Evoking a more sweet wine fortified wine ( port type), the Chinese red wine remains a separate product . But over the past fifteen years, China has made considerable progress. If the best wines often come from collaborations with the West are beginning to find some small local wines quite honest. As for imported wines , they are increasingly present in some chic restaurants and westernized . Their prices vary according to their origin : a wine from Australia or Chile is cheaper than French wine.

Alcohols 

Buffs spirits ( jiu ) , the Chinese do not hesitate to close a good tuck , emptying a full bottle of eau-de -vie any . Among the best liquor, Maotai ( 53 ° ) of all banquets. In the region of Maotai, we also manufactures the Xishui , very fragrant and sorghum , and wine Dongjiu blend of sorghum, wheat and Chinese herbal medicines . Also include the Daqu (55 ° ) of Guangxi , famous alcohol sorghum and Wuliangye Sichuan alcohol five cereals ( millet , sorghum, rice, maize and non- edible grass that grows in rice fields) . If you enjoy moderately hard liquor rather try the rice wine , the glutinous rice wine ( nuomijiu ) . Most are eaten slightly heated.

source: travel.cnn.com/drinks-china-410151‎
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_alcoholic_beverages
 ‎http://epermarket.com/

China Flight Cheap

China Flight Cheap 

China is the third largest country in the world after Russia and Canada. It has about a fifth of the world population, and China is also the oldest civilization in the world that are still famous. This is an important destination for business and leisure travelers.

A large part of the population and advances in technology in the country have created great opportunities for entrepreneurs and traders. In addition, tourists can the Yellow River, the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Mount Everest, the Gobi desert, the Qinghai-Tibet to enjoy the famous attractions among others. Visit the countryside, tombs, Chinese monasteries, resorts and experts in traditional medicine for natural treatment of modern diseases.

 Do business in China

Do business in China's major cities, and relax in the large park, vacation possibilities are endless in China! To reach China flights can vary significantly, depending on your departure, your destination, time of year, flight hours.

 Factors to consider

 You have several factors to consider that you will find the prices for the ticket cheaper to insure. China direct flights to any destination in China are the most expensive in general. The best market prices resulting from one or more hits. Bargain flights to China it often leads to other major cities like Seoul or Shanghai first to travel before landing in Beijing or in any other major Chinese destination. There are over 40 international airports in the area. China is one of the most versatile and most easily accessible to fly aircraft. Select a date and select a time to start looking. The connections to dozens of regional airports should also constitute a particular problem. The airport security is very strict, so make sure you hold on the applicable rules and regulations for the internal flight China and outside China.

Do not leave anything to chance when you travel to China and your efforts will be richly rewarded. For airlines, most major airlines fly either directly or with a stopover in China. You will find that most of Flight China are cheaper very similar and usually, if you plan months in advance .

source：
www.voyages-yunnan.com
www.asie-online.com
touristchinese.wordpress.com
 
 

China new strong country of e-commerce

China new strong country of e-commerce 

The growth of the mobile internet in China is increasing the number of Chinese Internet users and their online spending. The e-commerce are growing so fast that China is expected to exceed this year the United States as the world's first online marketplace in total expenditures, according to a report by Bain & Company, quoted by Reuters.

Chinese e-commerce

The Chinese e-commerce has grown at an average annual rate of 71% from 2009 to 2012, against 13% in the United States, and its total size is under $ 539 billion (€ 407 billion) in 2015, according to the report. More than half a billion Internet users Overall, Chinese consumers spent online from 212.4 billion dollars in 2012 and 228.7 billion Americans. This growth will continue only if the Chinese Internet population continues to grow - and the standard of living.

Currently, about 44% of the 1.3 billion Chinese people (or 591 million people) are online, and 70% of new users access the Net from their phones. According to the Chinese giant (and world number one) e-commerce company Alibaba Group, online sales represent 10 years half of retail sales, against 6% currently. However, according to eMarketer, not in 2013 that the United States will be supplanted by China.

 The institute expects a turnover of e-commerce in the U.S. to 384.8 billion dollars this year, significantly higher than the 181.6 billion planned for China, thanks to an average annual spending heavily higher (in 2221 dollars in 2012).

source： http://www.zdnet.fr
http://ecommerce-china.blogspot.com/
www.journaldunet.com

Africa wants to attract Chinese Tourist

Africa wants to attract Chinese Tourist 

Africa is still the main destination for Chinese tourists , but their growing purchasing power attracts the attention of the Department of African Tourism .

African Tourism

The 20th Congress of the World Tourism Organization was established on 25 August in Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, on the border between Zimbabwe. According to senior officials of the African tourism industry , China is an important market in this sector. The purchasing power of Chinese tourists is also higher than that of the Americans. According to statistics from the World Tourism Organization , the volume of foreign purchases of Chinese tourists , an increase of 40 % reached 102 billion dollars in 2012 , compared to in 2011. The Chinese Institute of Tourism Research estimates that by 2020, two million Chinese will leave on a trip abroad.
"If we can travel 10% of Chinese tourists abroad win , we will be very happy," said Tourism Minister of Zimbabwe , Walter Mzembi . "The Chinese market is very important for us , so we plan to introduce direct flights and to facilitate visa formalities . " According to statistics from Zimbabwe, only 5,000 Chinese visited the country last year , a figure still far from its goal of hosting more than 50,000 Chinese in 2015.

 Victoria Falls

According to Mr. Mzembi " Victoria Falls as famous as the Niagara Falls in North America. Last year, 11 million tourists visited Niagara Falls and most foreign tourists were Chinese. However , very few Chinese have visited the Victoria Falls. "
Africa is an increasingly popular holiday destination among the Chinese . In South Africa , China has become the fourth country of origin of foreign tourists , followed by France . More than 20,000 Chinese tourists visited Kenya to see the spectacle of the wildebeest migration . However, few people venture into the rest of the continent.
"With Cape Cross and Red Desert , Namibia has two world famous sites. Around the Chinese market, we need to know to southern Africa to the Chinese. Are interested with the political stability and attractions offers , Namibia , the Chinese deserved," said Uahekua Herunga , Namibian Minister of Environment and Tourism .

 Namibian  Tourism .

The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization , Taleb D. Rifai , said that " the future development of Africa together closely with the tourism industry. During the first half of 2013 , the income of African tourism sector grew by 5% . China and Russia play an important role in the development of this sector , but there is great potential to use .



sources:  
www.southafrica.net/‎
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_tourism_by_country
www.african-tourism.org 
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http://touristchinese.wordpress.com/

First Walk to Taozi Lake

We are starting to develop a bit of a routine here.  Sometimes our life seems a little complicated, though.  We certainly are not used to having to wash all of our food in boiled water before eating it, sterilizing all dishes before using them, brushing our teeth with boiled water, and having to plug in a water heater and wait 20 minutes every time we want to use hot water to bathe.  I also must admit that Stacie and I are not sleeping particularly well because we sleep on a box spring with a very thin pad covering it.  You know that stiffness you feel after a rough night of camping? We feel like that every morning.  I'm hopeful that I will eventually find someone who sells a real mattress so that we can start sleeping better.   We also have difficulty finding various household items that would normally just be a quick trip to the grocery store.  Stacie spent three days trying to find contact lens solution and I looked for several days trying to find a plunger for our toilet.  The toilet works, but it drains very slowly and I'm told the pipe is very small.  So, we need to pump it just to get water to go down.  Warning: too much information about to come so skip forward if you would like.  Going #2 in our master bedroom is absolutely out of the question due to the difficulty just getting water to go down the pipe.  We have banned the children from using the toilet in our room because we don't trust them to get into a habit of following the #1 is ok, #2 is not ok rule.  Alright, moving on to livelier topics...

Ezra has developed some kind of infection/inflammation in his throat.  He's been coughing since we got here.  Stacie's new friend, Lily, gave him some herbal lozenges to help soothe his throat, but they didn't seem to be minimizing the symptoms.  So Lily called her friend He Yisheng (Dr. He-pronounced Dr. and then the "e" sounds like the "u" in "put").  She met us at the international office with her medical equipment and looked Ezra over.  She said he needed antiobiotics, so we immediately put him on some pills that we were given by the travel clinic in Cedar City.  We have a dose of antibiotics for every kid and so Ezra is now using his up in the very first week.  Something in the physical environment here has really not jived with his system.  He's been on the pills for a day now and we hope it will continue to improve.  Personally, I think it's the "Beijing cough."  This term was coined to describe the health problems related to living in the pollution-rich environment of Beijing.  Politically, it has been a very controversial term as many Chinese diplomats believe it is a tool for foreigners to mislabel the health risks in China and to scare away potential foreign investors.  But, it is what it is.  It's clearly polluted here and it is likely affecting poor Ezra.  Stacie says that when she goes outside, her contact lenses immediately start reacting (in a bad way) to the particles in the air.  I should add that some days are better than others and I frequently check the pollution index to check and see how bad it is on a particular day (but I don't often tell Stacie this).  She has enough to worry about.

Yesterday, we finally had a chance to take a walk around Taozi (pronounced "tow" like tower and just a "dz" sound.  It was so close to our apartment and such a beautiful walk.  Sometimes the city can be a little overwhelming with all the honking horns and people with microphones trying to get us to buy things in their stores.  It's wonderful to have Taozi Lake, Yuelu Mountain, and other pretty parts of campus to go to in order to decompress.  You can see some of the pictures posted in this blog and how gorgeous this lake is.  It's hard to believe it's actually part of the Hunan Normal University campus.  We arrived on August 23rd and apparently have until the middle of September before I have to start teaching.  I was initially told that I would be teaching on September 2nd (which is tomorrow), but found out that I am teaching all Freshmen and since they have military training, I have to wait for that to conclude before I begin.  I'm not sure if we would have chosen to stay in the U.S. for an extra two weeks had we known that this would be the situation, but I'm glad that I have this time to help Stacie and the kids get settled.  To be honest, I'm getting a little nervous about the teaching simply because the Chinese provide me so little information about what I'm actually supposed to do.  I've had one person tell me that I need to use their textbook and another tell me I can use my own.  I had one person tell me I'm teaching 6 classes of 35 students and that this constitutes 12 individual class periods per week.  However, the Chinese classes are 1 1/2 hours long with a ten minute break in between.  Am I teaching for 12 separate 1 1/2 hour blocks or 12 of the 50 minutes periods? You can guess which one I'm hoping for!  Anyway, when the information is finally provided to me (likely one week AFTER I begin my classes), I will make whatever adjustments are needed.  I'm trying to be more adaptable and sort of "roll with the punches."  Those who know me well know that I am a very organized person and I don't like it when people don't provide me the information I need to do my job.  On the bright side, I will have no teaching evaluations.  If I bomb in the classroom, the only people that will know it are me, the students, and whoever is monitoring those video cameras at the back of my classroom. 

Stacie is feeling a bit more comfortable every day that we are here.  She is orienting herself to the immediate environment, knows her way around the grocery store, and even went to get her hair cut at a Chinese hair salon while the rest of us stayed home.  It was a big step for her.  She had been growing her hair out for months trying to get it to the point where she could put it in a pony tail.  And, this process was so aggravating for her since she felt her hair was in that "in-between" stage.  Well,  today she decided to chop it all off.  The rest of all are calling it the "Anne Hathaway" haircut because that's what it looks like.  We all love it and she is so happy not to have all that sweaty hair hitting against her neck. Stacie is also making so many friends here and making them more quickly than I thought she would.  They are just gravitating to her and want to help her with whatever she needs.  She has felt very warmly received by the Chinese people.  Her friend, Lily, and our personal assistant, Sophia, have been absolutely wonderful to us.  Lily asked Stacie if she would like to teach English to her son and some of his Chinese classmates.  Stacie, who has homeschooled our children for 2 years now and taught a U.S. liberty and constitution class to other kids is very comfortable in this environment and I think it would be very good for her.  I thought this opportunity might come her way eventually, but I didn't think it would be this soon.  She is ecstatic to start doing this and I'm happy that she will have something fulfilling to do while I'm busy at the university.  Then, on the weekends and during holidays, we can hit those places we want to see like Xi'an, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Ziangjiajie National Park. 

Today, we did a monthly budget for our Chinese salary.  As many of you know, the Stein master plan for the next year is to live humbly on our Chinese salary and to sock away my SUU salary (well 80% of it since this is the policy on year-long sabbaticals).  Then, we can buy a house when we get home.  We looked at our financial situation in great detail today and what our potential expenses might be.  I was told by Amy not to disclose the amount of my salary since it is likely higher than some of the other foreign faculty salaries.  Apparently, the Chinese Foreign Expert bureau felt that my credentials warranted more money than some of the others.  Not sure how that happened, but I'm certainly not complaining.  We have allotted a certain amount for food, fun, allowances for the kids, and household expenses.  Luckily, the university is paying for our apartment and our utilities so we should be fine.  We spent a ton of money this week getting little things we needed for house and are now ready to stop buying every little thing we see. 

Ezra being examined by the Yisheng (doctor).

It seemed a little inappropriate to be taking pictures of my son while he was being examined, but I really wanted to capture the experience.  It probably seemed like I was more concerned about the photo op than the health of my son.

Along the road to Taozi lake.  Just around the corner from our apartment.

My favorite place for fried rice (chou fan) and fried noodles (chou mein).  I went here a million times last summer and was excited to show Stacie and the kids.  That mop of blonde on the left is Lucy watching intently.

The counter of the fried rice place.  It's basically just a small room with a rolling door (kind of like a storage unit).  Many of the businesses are run out of these types of places. 

We couldn't possibly come to Hunan Normal University without taking a picture in front of the main entrance. 

Beautiful bridge running along Taozi Lake.

View across the whole lake. 

Someone tell me what are these awesome plants.  I still don't know. 

I guess the Stein family is good luck.  He just caught a fish right when we walked up. 

This girl just started talking to Stacie and then decided to walk with us a ways. 

Annie looking cute in front of the lotus plants. 

Jeanie just loves everything we do.  No culture shock for her. 

Another fisherman showed us these small fish, which are the size you are most likely to catch if you fished at Taozi Lake. That other guy just got lucky.

It looks like this walkway goes all the way around.  It's a perfect place to go for a walk. 

I tried to get a closeup of this because the head of this plant looks like a shower head to me. Apparently, there are seeds inside that taste a little like pine nuts and they sell them on the street here. 

The vegetation here is just amazing. 

This sign clearly says no fishing or swimming allowed. To the left, you can see yet another group of fisherman ignoring the sign. 

Dinner time.  Oh wait...the CDC (Center for Disease Control in the U.S.) recommends we don't go anywhere near live poultry due to risks of Avian flu.  A picture never hurts, though. 

Nicolas and Ezra playing with their new friend Joey. 

Lily is talking to Stacie about the new class Stacie will be teaching.  Starting in one week, she'll be teaching Chinese kids English for 200 yuan class ($32).

Every time I post something even remotely friendly about the environment, someone jumps on me for being a tree hugger.  But, I was really happy to see that the government chose to build an enclosure around this giant tree rather than chop it down because it blocks most of the sidewalk. 

On our walk, we saw these pools behind some of the HNU buildings.  We weren't quite sure what they were for, but possibly irrigation or maybe even the university water supply comes from here.  We'll try to find out.  Also, see that tower in the background.  We were just up there (see Yuelu Mountain blog post)!

Stacie's new cut.

So, the air quality index measures the--yes, you guessed it--air quality in various cities across the world.  The index below shows you where Changsha's number of 125 falls on their scale of potential health risks.  It could be worse of course.  Beijing's number (at least as of today) was 155 and Los Angeles is 135.  So, when you're thinking about our level of pollution here, think about L.A.