Hello, from Macau

Hello, from Macau, China! I am settled into my apartment, have walked around the city, and have felt like I’ve been doing something every minute of the day. Here's what I have been up to!

Leaving Home:

On Wed, Jan 2nd mom and my boyfriend Gena took me to the airport for my evening flight. Everything went smoothly for us OSU girls at PDX, minus the stressful hiccup where the lady who checks baggage and prints boarding passes wouldn’t let Keeley go because she thought she needed a visa and second identification to enter Macau.

The flight to San Fran was quick. I sat next to two young women, one whose first flight was to Portland. At San Fransisco we had a 3 hour layover. The line to get boarding passes for already checked in travelers was very long. The line for those who hadn't checked in was even longer. Jaime, Lois, and I weren't checked in, so we spent that time in line doing so on tiny phone screens.

That airport was huge and very warm. Our flight, which was supposed to board at 11:24PM, got delayed by an hour. All of us were fighting tiredness and exhaustion. We finally boarded at 1am, but sat on the airplane for quite some time until we started moving at 3AM. I slept quite a bit on the 14 hour flight from San Fran to Taiwan. So much, that I missed both the main meals. Thank you melatonin! Luckily, an attendant let me have a snack when I was super hungry. I wasn't a big fan of the one meal I did not miss on the 14-hr flight...

I was surprised by the amount of turbulence on that flight. I feel lucky that our flight was at night so it felt natural to sleep and wake up to morning time in Taiwan. It was pretty to watch the sunrise from the plane too. I had a middle seat for all my flights. It wasn't that bad, but I wished I had somewhere to lean against.

In Taiwan it was very sunny and warm (70ºF). We had another 3 hour layover here. I slept on the plane from Taiwan to Macau too but woke up for the yummy lunch provided.

The beef burger was acutally a sweet wafer-like cookie

First day in Macau— Fri, Jan 4th

Arriving in Macau, it was about 11am. Phil and Judy, the Macau program coordinators picked us up along with staff from the school in a cute school bus. The staff drove us to our apartment building and carried our luggage for all of us. Much appreciated considering the amount of luggage and being a little jet lagged.

The school bus and my luggage in this photo

Our apartment is on the 13th floor. There are 38 floors in our building. On the ground level, our building shares residence with restaurants, a 24hr store, and other shops. There is a pretty park (see first paragraph photos) that is open until 11PM with turtles, koi, a play structure and exercise equipment. It is very lively and a guard is always there for security (not that it is needed-- Macau has felt safer than Portland or Corvallis even).

Lois and I moved into the 4 bedroom apartment with 3 other CWU students (Alexis, Rachel, and Jen). Alexis and Rachel share the bedroom with 2 beds and a private bath. Jaime and Keeley moved into the 3 bedroom apartment upstairs with 1 other CWU student (Noe). Judy brought us spring rolls and dumplings from the store downstairs to snack on as we unpacked. (below: View from my window and my bedroom with a bed, wardrobe, and desk)

At 4:30 all of gathered as a group to do a mini tour of Taipa city (our Macau island). We went to Daiso (similar to Dollar tree prices here), little shops, a grocery store, and then ventured into Old Taipa city where there were yummy food windows, beautifully colored facades, and a large park. They are still celebrating Christmas here—decorations and lights everywhere! Our last stop of the tour was an old temple which smelled of campfire (in a good way), due to the incense. The colorful buildings and alleyway shops remind me of Denmark some. We eventually made our way to Old Taipa Tavern for dinner. I ordered a little pasta dish for $5 USD. By this time I was feeling very tired. After dinner we headed back to the apartment, I took a shower, took a melatonin and went to bed.

Sat, Jan 5th: Casino Day

Saturday was a free day. I had trouble sleeping the night before and woke up at 2am and every two hours after that until 8:30. In the morning, just the OSU girls went out to find a quick breakfast (Jaime and I woke up starving). We went to McDonalds on the corner for hashbrowns to hold us over. The McDonalds here use the digital ordering kiosks and then you pay at the counter. They do not take credit cards. Then we walked into Old Taipa village from the night before where Keeley and I got Starbucks (I had a raspberry black currant tea) and we all tasted almond cookies and an egg tart (a treat Macau is famous for).

No luck for converting my $100 bill to patacas (Macau currency) because of one small blue pen mark. They are picky about the bills here…

Our adventuring led us to the Galaxy Casino. Everything is in very close walking distance. I was amazed by the architecture and all the gold accents, diamonds, and everything. Inside there is a mall with high end brands (Prada, Burberry, Fendi, etc.).

Eventually we looped around, and headed back into Old Taipa to search for lunch. We ended up finding lunch in our neighborhood block at the Kingship Japanese Restaurant. It was yummy and priced reasonably. It was interesting how we shared a long table with other guests. They serve appetizers with every meal (sushi, seaweed salad, and salad with dressing tasting like bubble gum …not a fan of the latter).

After lunch, Lois and I went to Daiso and then back to the apartment to take naps before our whole group activity at 4:30 pm.

The group activity at 4:30 pm was revisiting the casinos. Caroline, an instructor from OSU Cascades and her daughter Julia arrived to join our group too. We all ate dinner at our chosen places in the Galaxy casino’s food court. I had a Caesar salad from McDonald's and a Coke. After dinner we watched a cool water and light show for free. The show changes lights and music depending on the season. Felt like I was in Disneyland!

Phil and Judy led us outside to view the Galaxy and it’s drained pool area. The weather felt exactly like I was in Maui. All the buildings lit up were so pretty and in between the Galaxy buildings plays a laser light show constantly. The Galaxy includes other hotels in like the Marriot and the Ritz-Carlton. The Ritz is the photo on the right.

After the group outing, Keeley, Lois, Jaime, Noe, Rachel, Alexis, and I went off on our own. We visited the even fancier Ritz-Carlton penthouse bar (with very expensive drinks) to see the view. I couldn't get any good photos of the view because of the reflection. But trust me, it was pretty and twinkling. Enjoyed some free candy and took pictures at the Ritz. I love how the staff in these luxurious casinos are so friendly. One lady even took a group picture of us. Next hotel we visited was the Venetian. Our group of 7 took a crowded casino bus for free to the Venetian.

On the second story is a canal with gondola rides, a fake sky, and more fancy shops. Having a large body of water on a 2nd floor doesn't quite make sense to me. The last place we went to last night was back to Old Taipa Tavern for drinks. We also played Jenga and took some shots; which were interesting because the vodka shots were red and tasted almost exactly like strawberry lemonade. At first we thought we ordered the wrong thing but then we decided that there was maybe chaser added? After our fun and games, we left the tavern to walk home.

Visiting main Macau Island (Sunday, Jan 6th)

(Written on Jan. 6th) Today was another big day. This morning I slept in till almost 6am! YAY! I ate cup noodles for breakfast, called Gena, and wrote in my personal journal. Jen and I walked to the currency conversion window in Old Taipa (I switched bills to a clean $100) and finally got pataca cash. Patacas are also called MOP for short. Then Jen and I filled our Macau cards for riding the bus. Lois and I got coffee and tea at 7-11 before leaving with the whole group on a bus to main Macau island. It was about a 15-20min ride there squished between many people.

Our stop was in Senado square, the middle of Macau. Judy and Phil organized a scavenger hunt for us where we were assigned partners and had to do things at certain given locations. Alexis was my parter and we had a fun time, minus being the last group and being given incorrect directions by locals. I experienced some culture shock today with how busy the streets were here, and just the different look compared to Taipa city (our Macau island). Another culture shock experience, was when I was at 7-11 today and a man and his young daughter were pushing into me and putting their things on the counter with my items while I was paying in a tiny, but empty 7-11. It didn’t bother me, but I am becoming very interested/aware of the differences between Macau and the U.S.

Walking around Macau and seeing the St. Paul Ruins, the Macau Museum, and side streets was neat! It was very warm over there. Warm enough I was wearing a tank top and wanting sun glasses.

After taking the bus back from Macau, I ate more cup noodles (quick lunch), changed my shoes, relaxed a bit, and the some of us went to the Panda Pavillion! I saw my first Giant Panda today. We had to take a taxi which was bit frightening (fast driving, close to pedestrians and other cars, etc.) Also, even Phil had a hard time describing what the Panda Pavillion was to the driver who didn’t speak much English. My Google Translate app only has Mandarin, and not Cantonese, which is the main language here. The Cantonese words I have learned are thank you very much (Mgoi Sai) and Check (Mai don).

The Panda Pavillion was 10 MOP (about $1.25 usd) to get into. It also had other rare animals, flamingos, black swans, birds, and a long hiking trail with pretty plants that also included steep, old cobble steps that led to a pagoda on a hill overlooking the city. I enjoyed this trip and will probably visit again soon!

After visiting the Panda’s our group of 5 (everyone in our apartment) went to the restaurant that is always busy below our apartment called Quinella. All that walking worked up an appetite.

This evening we all met with Phil and Judy at the school I am teaching at which is a block from our apartment. We took a shot of non-alcoholic Prune juice that smelled like cough syrup to “cheers” to the meeting and starting teacher things tomorrow. The meeting covered things we should expect, differences in education culture and teaching styles, and some jobs. One of my jobs so far is apartment leader. Another job is a reading circle on some Wednesdays after school (I’m looking forward to that one). We stayed at the school until almost 9pm. Our closing activity was something Phil and Judy call a Raccoon Circle. Which are basically ice breakers or “bag of tricks” games with this red cord that is tied to make a loop.

Orientation Day: Mon. Jan 7th

(Written today 1/7/19 because I was too tired to finish and publish the blog last night)

Today was our first day of school. We arrived at 8am and watched the flag ceremony in the court yard with a flag precession and some type of choral chant/song. There are so many students! The school I am teaching at is called the Hou Kong Premiere school (HKP for short). This school has primary and secondary grade levels. The little kids are so cute! I was surprised by how tall the teenage boys were (6 feet or taller). Another Chinese girl I passed in the hall and said "hi" to was as tall as me! I thought I'd be normal height here, but maybe not? Some of the teachers at the school are tinier than me though. I've also noticed that clothing sizes are smaller here in non-mainstream stores.

The beginning of the day was a meeting with Mel (a former CWU teacher and current HKP staff) and Jane the principal of HKP. We got our weekly schedules and learned more information. The education system is very different here and we were advised to observe with an open mind and approach questions humbly instead of saying, "that's weird". I'm interested to see in person what the classroom structure is like. Our dress code is black pants and a nice white top. Wednesday is athletic wear day and Fridays are business casual (no jeans!) On Wednesdays there are also activities like basketball and yoga. I'm planning on doing yoga. Another perk is having a (very basic) gym to use 24/7.

For class transitions the bells are nice sounding songs/chimes. Student have a homeroom and stay in that classroom, while teachers move for each of the periods.

My weekly schedule and jobs

Today I needed to use the bathroom during our school tour and accidentally went into the "Eastern" stall with a squat toilet. At least there was toilet paper! It wasn't all that bad actually because it was clean.

Next time I'll use the Western bathroom perhaps

I enjoyed the tour of the school given by Mel. There are so many stories and all the rooms are so nice. The library for the kids is beautiful and decorated for Chinese New Year and displayed CNY books. The art room is so cute and Mel said maybe I'll be able to help teach art classes after the CNY break. The students are so talented here. In the morning before school they play the piano. Their art is hung around the school and some of the students even made a lego replica of the school. During the tour we went to the Kindergarten wing. They wear pink shirts and we passed two classes where they do Just Dance (probably for a wiggle break).

Jaime and Keeley left with Phil to the main school on Macau island where they will be teaching 8th and 9th grade. They are also having another orientation over there until 6PM I believe.

I did not meet my mentor teacher today, but tomorrow I will. Tomorrow we will also get our picture taken for our IDs. The rest of the day was free. We ate lunch downstairs at Quinella again and then I called mom and Gena and took a nap. The wifi was spotty today but the wifi in the park is supposed to be good.

After my nap, Lois, Alexis, Rachel, Noe, and I went to the Galaxy to go shopping for clothing for Athletic wear day (Wednesdays at our school). The stores here are well kept. I was very impressed by something as normal as an H&M. On our way back to the apartment Lois and I went to Nike where they were having a 20% of sale for buying 2 items and ended up getting matching sweats from the boy's department.

By this time is was 5PM and we stopped by the dumpling window for dinner and the 24hr Market to get groceries.

All 5 of us ate in the apartment and started watching the Netflix show "You". Tomorrow is a full 8AM-5PM day at the school. I'm excited to finally meet my mentor teacher Charlotte and observe classes. I'm going to be co-teaching English with Charlotte and General Studies with Alice (similar to social studies and science).

Blurry but this was our dinner time! Me, Lois, Alexis, Rachel, Noe

And that's all for now! I will probably write another post about what I've learned here and about our apartment. I've been filming some on my phone and hope to make a little video of some sort since this blog platform can only take YouTube links :/ Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Hope everyone at home is well.

xoxo,

Maia