What's Your Name?

Since today marks the day of 6 months being in China, I have been reflecting a lot on my experience thus far. Then, it hit me that I haven’t updated you all on the funny names that I have encountered here. Some of these you will not believe but NONE of them are made up. I have/had students named all of these names:

 1.       Fairy

2.       Birdy

3.       ABC (yes, that’s pronounce by just saying the letters ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’)

4.       Dudu (this one is simply their Chinese name but it sounds terrible in English)

5.       Seven

6.       Puker (like thrower upper)

7.       Kitty

8.       Tiger

9.       Wolf

10.   Apple

11.   Candy

12.   Feynman

It’s always interesting when the students choose to keep their Chinese name like Dudu did. I have some students I have to call Yuanyuan, Taozi, Cici, and Diandian. No matter what their names are, they are all so cute and keep class interesting each and every time. I feel like I have such a strong bond with each of my classes now, even some of the newer ones. I cannot wait to see what the next 6 months will hold as some of the classes will be ‘graduating’ and moving up to the next level! Maybe by then they will let me give them a proper English name.

My New Home Away From Home

Recently, I joined a gym which by no means is a New Year’s Resolution! The gym is actually in the same apartment complex that I live in, but I never knew it was there. After a friend told me about it, I chose to go gym hunting with my roommate (with only 6 months left, it’s the best time to get a membership as gyms only do by the year or 6^th months). We looked at 3 different gyms, and this one was the cheapest and has a pool – I’m a little bit of a water baby. I slept on the idea of spending a decent chunk of money on a gym and decided that it was time to do something besides watch Netflix in my free time.

The main reason that I decided to join the gym was because I love challenges. Now, most people think of challenges when it comes to gyms as challenging themselves to reach certain physical goals. My challenge is being able to understand what these people are trying to say to me. The workers at this gym speak ZERO English. Okay, I take that back. They can say “Hello!” and love to do that whenever they see me, but besides that, I have to resort to using my Chinese. After I paid, they introduced me to my personal trainer, which took me a while to have me understand who exactly she was. Then, she starts talking to me in such a soft hushed voice that’s going a mile a minute (I’m assuming she’s explaining how she can help me). All these new vocabulary words and situations gives me so many more opportunities to learn and practice my Chinese which ultimately made my decision to join the gym.

The first day of working out, I had to go swimming. Swimming just relaxes me, it’s such a good workout, it’s not necessarily too challenging, it reminds me of being a kid, need I go on? So I throw on my bikini and the next thing I know all of the other swimmers at 9:30 am are old Chinese men who just happen to only wear speedos. They were shocked to see a foreigner join them as we all swim laps, but that didn’t stop me, nor will it ever. I plan on going back tomorrow and swim a few laps as they continue to stare.

The aspect of this gym that is the hardest for me to handle is the confidence people have when they are naked within the locker room. Don’t get me wrong, I am confident with my body, almost too much so if you ask my mother. However, there is a point where it’s too much. These ladies like to stroll around and chat to each other completely in the nude. This is something that I will need to work on being accustomed to.

Finally, this gym offers free classes each day. Unfortunately with my work hours I cannot make it to most of them but on my two off days, I’ve decided to attend at least 2 classes. Today was my first. I went to spinning class. I’ve never done this before. It’s where you are on a stationary bike which you can adjust the resistance for. The teacher plays some music and then leads you through the workout by varying the resistance, sitting versus standing, bouncing to the beat, etc. Let’s just say, I will be going back to this every single week! I have never had so much fun working out before. Tomorrow I will be trying a yoga and belly dancing class. I will let you know how that goes.

Next time, I will get some pictures and post them so you all can see what my new home away from home looks like.

新年快乐！ Happy New Year!

With the start of 2015, everyone is talking about New Year’s resolutions and how you can be a better person. Well I’ve never been a fan of this theory because what makes this day so special? Why can’t you start achieving your dreams on December 31^st? Any way, Amy Kauffman posted this great article on Facebook that I wanted to expand upon, and let everyone know how I have been living my life and will continue to do so in 2015. I’ve picked 8 off of the list of 36.

1. “3. Leave the country or go somewhere you’ve never been before. If you don’t have money, look into doing charity work abroad, some programs will sponsor you, otherwise you would be surprised where you can get with a bus ticket.”

• Living abroad, especially in China is a big change that a big majority people in this world would not even dare to try. I am so glad that I took this leap of faith because you truly learn so much about yourself and how capable you are in this giant world. Don’t let anyone stop you or hold you back. Going abroad and living there is something that you will never forget. Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone.

2. “5. Don’t focus on losing weight, just focus on being healthy. Think about what you are putting into your body and make time to exercise. Your body is your greatest asset, take care of it.”

• In December, I started a workout plan just to stay motivated and focused. I try and do something every day. Yes, I have had days where I skipped my routine, but I get back on track the next day. Holding myself accountable to this schedule makes me miss less days. I also am more conscious of what I am eating and more importantly, how much I am eating. By no means do I want to lose weight, I just want to maintain my healthy lifestyle.

3. “8. Learn a new skill. There is always room for you to improve, but it doesn’t always have to be life changing. Don’t ever feel limited in your growth potential.”

• You never know if you will be good at something until you try. These last few months I have been able to take part in many company events, one being archery. The last time I had shot an arrow was in high school, and it was nice trying out this hobby again, even just for a few hours. Archery isn’t for me though. My next task is going to be to learn how to arm knit. Keeping hobbies alive makes life interesting and entertaining!

4. “13. Learn to cook. Eating out every day is only going to make you wonder where your money went. Eventually, you will have to learn to take care of yourself, but it’s also a skill you can use to impress that special someone.”

• This is my newest hobby. I’ve always loved to bake, but this last week I cooked my first steak by myself. I’ve taken a few cooking classes here in Beijing which has been nice to learn some Chinese food, but I love just experimenting in the kitchen to see what I can come up with next. I’m also working on putting together my own cookbook of recipes that I like.

5. “21. Wake up early. You will fall in love with just having quiet time for yourself. At 6 AM, there is no one to bother you so you can invest some time in yourself. It’s ridiculously hard at first, but it gets easier.”

• Having work from 1:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays is nice; however, once I realized that if I sleep in until 11 a.m. every single day, then my whole day is wasted just on work. I’ve been following a personal rule to wake up before 8 a.m. every day and use the morning to be productive. I love my mornings now because I can choose to make a brunch date with the few people who actually want to or are free to partake, or I can just relax and enjoy my morning which is what I normally do. It makes a great start to the day.

6. “24. Read. If you were to write a book today, what would you write about? You would put everything you know into that book. People spend years writing some books but you can read it in a few hours. Reading is one of the best forms of mentorship, you have access to all the knowledge you need.”

• This is my one resolution for the year. By the end of the year, I want to have read at least 50 books. I am just not sure if I will be able to handle that since I read rather slowly and everything else going on in life, so I am going to do small goals of reading one book every month. I also have an issue with setting my expectations rather high and then being disappointed when I don’t reach them. So this way I will exceed my expectations if I read 5 books one month or something. If you all have good book recommendations, please let me know!

7. “26. Practice meditation. Meditation is not about thinking of nothing. It helps build your awareness of your own thoughts and how you think about and treat others. With every distraction we have in this world, meditation helps you practice focus so you can appreciate being in the present.”

• In 2014, I started to meditate. It has been helpful for me when I become worked up or anxious. Becoming one with your mind and focusing solely on breathing makes you feel so alive and in control. I like to wake up and either meditate or practice yoga. It helps that I have such an amazing few out my window that I can let my mind be at peace while staring at the beautifully crafted skyscrapers in front of me.

8. “34. Drink more water. It is easy to forget how important water is to living. Skip the sugary drinks and make water your new favorite beverage, you will live guilt free.”

• Every single time I get sick here in China, I get told to ‘drink more water!’ They also specifically recommend hot water. It’s supposed to be better for your body and is basically treated as a cure all. The other cure is to wear more clothes. I choose to drink more water. You can now see me with a cup of hot water working at my desk or laying in my bed.

That’s all for now. I know this post is a little unlike the ones I have written in the past, but I felt like writing something different this time. Here is the article if you are interested in seeing the rest of the resolutions. http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/how-to-break-into-the-new-year-the-36-resolutions-that-actually-matter-for-2014/