ORANGE ISLE MUSIC FESTIVAL

This past weekend, the six of interns decided to go to Changsha's annual Orange Isle Music Fest to see what Chinese music fests were all about and compare them to ones back home. The day (abruptly) began at 1pm when I was awoken by Fran who came knocking on my bedroom door saying that we were leaving right that minute for the festival. I still drunkenly stumbled out of my bed threw some clothes on and grabbed my stuff and out the door we went! The fest took place on Changsha's Orange Island which is absolutely gorgeous! We arrived at the festival and mulled around to see what was all there. There were two stages and many food venders (selling Chinese food of course) and a lot of local people that set up shop selling the most random items (so Chinese). We sat on the grass on the side of the main stage and watched a few performers, getting up occasionally to grab some food and water. It also didn't take us long to find the beer gardens..the staff working them loved us and gave us a whole bunch of free Tiger Beer t-shirts and flags (simply because we were foreigners I assume). Towards the end of the night we reverted to hanging out by the beer stand because Tiger beer put out these massive cushions in the sand and it felt amazing to just chill, lay down,  drink beer, and listen to the music with a view of the stage. We were quite the attraction while sitting there and so many Chinese people stopped to take our picture "Oh wow look at the foreigners laying on the pillows, let's take a picture!" The Tiger beer rep even got a few photos of us which I'm sure will be used in a beer advert somewhere here in China. As for the actual music, some artists were pretty horrible and others were pretty good! The only thing is that Chinese people have absolutely no sense of rhythm so their songs were pretty well off beat. Some artists attempted to sing some English songs but for the most part it was all in Chinese which was pretty cool to experience what their music scene is like.  We ran into a few other foreigners at the festival as well which was pretty cool since seeing other foreigners here seems to be quite rare unless you are at Pizza Pizza on the walking street. One of them was actually from Canada as well which was cool because other Canadians are sparse around China, or at least from my own experience. It was so refreshing to talk to him and hear a Canadian accent...I listen to Brits and other Europeans or Chinese speak all the time so it made me feel like I was at home! All in all the Orange Isle fest was a good time..was great to spend the day hanging out on the island with a great view of the city and enjoy some great Chinese musical talent!

One of many Chinese people who stopped to get a picture of us at the festival

你好 (HELLO) CHANGSHA!

A week ago, I packed all my belongings into my backpack and hit the Beijing train station. Many times in China, I caught myself thinking 'where are all the people? China is supposed to be packed full of humans' well I found them, they are at the Beijing West train station. Being hungover, sad to leave, and carrying a bursting at the seams full backpack through a huge crowd of Chinese people staring at you was quite the event let me tell you. I had never been on a train before, since back in Canada passenger trains are not very common so I was very excited to see what it was all about. Well, being a third class passenger in China was a great way to start. It might not of been very glamorous or extremely comfortable but it was an experience and I'm actually glad I had to do it because I'm sure I would have never chosen to travel that way. The beds were stacked three high and I had the top bunk so it was impossible to sit up on my bed so I spent most of my waking hours sitting in the isle hanging out. To my satisfaction, there was a young boy, maybe about 3 or 4 who was next to us on the train. He was so much fun! Even though I could only say a few words and phrases in Chinese, I was able to entertain this little boy and have fun with him! I would make crazy faces at him and he would giggle and try to copy them! It also worked out in our favour as his mother was constantly offering us fruit, meat, and chinese candies while we were playing with her son. 15 long hours later we arrived in Changsha and were greeted by some extremely friendly members of our department from our school and headed back to our school. We were taken to our apartment, and let me tell you when you expect the worst in China, sometimes you are pleasantly surprised. Our accommodation here in Changsha is absolutely gorgeous!! We all have large rooms with King sized beds and are spoiled enough to have a flat screen tv in our living rooms. The boarding school that we use as our home base is gorgeous and quite large considering it's a primary school. All the other teachers are very friendly and the students are so cute but some of them are a little crazy at times. I am teaching mainly grade 5 so the kids' English is not too bad and they are lots of fun! The younger students are adorable but a little crazy and harder to teach because they don't speak much English...cute nonetheless though!

As for Changsha as a city, what a breath of fresh air...literally! The air pollution levels here are minuscule in comparison to Beijing. The Xiangjiang river flows through the city and there is a range of mountains on the west side of the city, the most famous being Mount Yuelu which makes the city have quite the nature feel to it. The population of Changsha is currently at around 6 million so it's the perfect size for China as it has everything an expat needs without it being too overwhelmingly large and crowded. The people here drive like maniacs and are extremely friendly. Since most of the people here don't see many foreigners, the 6 of us interns are local celebrities and are constantly being stopped and stared at, something that one must get used to. One of the most famous areas of Changsha is a walking street downtown which is home to many stores and restaurants and there is a small bar street that branches off of the walking street with many small KTV bars and pub style places to go and enjoy a cold one. There is an outdoor market very close to Tian Hua (the school we live at). The sights and smells sometimes leave much to be desired but it is much what you would expect to see in China. There are many small shops selling various items, from clothing to shoes to fruits and vegetables to carts with large pieces of meat. Here you can also find many outdoor BBQ's where many Chinese go to enjoy some spicy meat skewers of all kinds and drink tea and beer. One of the things that makes this market smell a bit odd and look quite dirty is the fact that garbage collection means just throwing waste on the ground which gets cleaned up in the wee hours of the morning. This makes for a rats haven and a less than lovely scent for humans and I have twice already seen a rat scurrying around (a bit alarming but is to be expected).

Life in Changsha has thus far been good. It is very refreshing to be out of Beijing and see what else China has to offer!

SAYING GOODBYE TO BEIJING

I apologize for my lack of blog posts lately. Between teaching practice, having a social life, and moving to Changsha I have kind of put it on the back burner. Because I'm horrible at keeping up I'm going to rewind back a week in time when I left Beijing. What a sad sad day! Over the course of the past month I have gone from being complete strangers with everyone at TTC to being extremely close with a lot of people. I feel so blessed that I had the chance to come here on my own and leave with so many great amazing friends that I'm certain I will see again (cough cough Inner Mongolia trip)! Saying goodbye to Beijing was really hard for more than one reason. Firstly, I was just starting to feel comfortable and at home in Beijing. I had finally adapted to the climate, the food, I knew the subway system to a certain degree, I knew where to go to get a great meal or a cheap bottle of beer and most importantly felt comfortable crossing the street..I was comfortable. Leaving was like reseting the system again which at the time was a hard concept to grasp but now that I am sitting here at my desk in Changsha I am glad I did it. Secondly, the people..what a riot! Beijing is an amazing city and I have so many fantastic memories there, from the beer garden, the many silk market trips, the sky bar, the fat Toms from teaching practice, the crazy nights at the beer garden down the road, the 50 yuan all you can eat buffet, jamming out with Miguel in the lobby, laying in the grass at the summer temple, dying laughing 20 times a day from George and Rasmus, having a nap in the beds in Ikea, having morning cuddle sessions with  miss Clem, and going to the shop down the road from some delicious dumplings. And not to mention all the great times sitting out on the front step of the hotel until the wee hours of the night! It didn't really feel like reality saying goodbye to so many amazing people that I have grown so close to. Beijing was one big party and now I'm feeling the effects of the Beijing hangover, the worst kind if you ask me! I was forced to literally squeeze all of my belongings into my backpack and leave Beijing with 5 other great interns for Changsha
再见 Beijing!