For Future ILP Volunteers Going To Ningbo

We decided to make write down all the things we learned and the places we visited in Ningbo.  When we got to the city, we knew nothing about it.  There was a guy who had been in the last ILP group who had stayed on to teach for the rest of the school year, but sadly he didn’t really explore the city and so couldn’t really help us.  This is split up into sections: map, food, shopping, and entertainment.

Map:

While we were here they were building the metro so we didn’t have that.  I am not sure when it will be finished so this is the advice I can give you on getting around town with the bus system.  But I added some map pictures to help you.

330 is the bus number you will take the most.  If you get on you can go down to the very end of the line, takes about 40 minutes, to go to the city part of the city.  Tianyi square is the center in which was our land mark for everthing we loved to do in the city.  Once you get off the bus and to the main road go to the light and turn left and cross the street.  Head straight down the road till you get to a place called Shoe City. (don’t buy shoes there.  It is expensive.) There is an escalator that goes under ground.  Take it down.  It gives you three options.  One is Tianyi square.  The other one we used a lot was the one to Lady Fashion square.  These two will take you to the places that lead to the places listed below.

Have fun and explore!

Food:
There are a lot of good places to eat. I have seperated this section even more from cheap to expensive.

Cheap:

One of our favorite places to eat is what we nicknamed “Muslim Noodle Place”.  It is down the street from the school.  Just turn left when you walk out of the gate and head to the intersection. Cross the street and head straight.  It looks sketchy, but it’s fine.  You will walk for about 5 minutes.  You will pass the Dairy Factory.  You can buy cheap milk and yogart there, but it closes at 5pm.  After the dairy factory is an open market.  The market has a lot of good fruit and street food.  We recommend the fried flat bread and the pineapple.  After the street market is a convience store.  It has cheap drinks and snacks.  Although if you want cheap ice cream go to one of the tiny tiny stores that you pass.  After the pool tables you will see a place that usually has people outside.  The resaurant is in one of the little shacks.  When you look inside it has a giant board with pictures of the noodle and rice dishes.  You know it’s the right place if you go in and see the Muslim picture with the two kinda creepy looking white girls.  They make the noodles by hand.  It is very delicious.  All you have to do is point to the one you want and hold up your finger saying Yi ge (said like you are saying the letter e and good without the d at the end.) If you want it to go just say tao bao.  (On a side note, the word for this is jigga.  You can say it when you point out what you want.  This applies to whenever you are ordering food.)  When you want to order you say the number and add ge at the end.  Holding up fingers also helps.

There is also a cheap place to buy dumplings down the street as well.

Moderate:

Wanda Plaza has a lot of restaurants on the top floor.  Our favorite is the Peiking Duck restaurant and the Ningbo style restaurant.  You can order individual dishes or share.  It is cheaper eating family style.  (Side note, bring your own drinks.  They only serve hot water for free at the Peiking place.)  

In Tianyi square there is a place called Babela’s.  It is so good.  It is kinda of Italian.  They have decently priced pizzas that are actually really good.  

Expensive:

I use this term loosely.  They can get pricy depending on what and how much you order.

Indian

There is a nice and wonderfully staffed indian restaurant by the end of line 330.  You get off the bus, turn right and go to the corner.  Cross the street and turn right.  Walk down to the busy intersection.  Turn left at that corner.  Go down the street, there is a park across from you on the left.  You will cross a small road.  You will see it on your left side.

Lebanese

It is by the Indian place just a little further down.

Turkish

You go to Tianyi square and cross to the other side and exit by the Coke bottle to the busy road.  There is a bus top there.  Take bus 19 to LaiWeiTan. I believe it is one stop.  LaiWeiTan is a block of foreign foods.  Explore.

Irish Pub:

Also in LaiWeiTan.  

Snacks:

GoMax-get the mango drink

Shopping:

Groceries:

Tesco:

It is at Wanda Plaza and it is okay priced.

Markets:

They are everywhere and is usually the best places for fruits and veggies

Achan:

There are two that are close to the school.

Take bus 330 three stops past Wanda Plaza.  Get off the bus and turn left.  Walk down the street to the intersection.  Cross the street going straight.  Turn right and head down the street.  You will see it on the left side.  This one has the best selection of inported foods.  It is also not crowded and very clean because it is fairly new.  To get back you go back to the intersection and cross to the diagonal side.  It is a bit of a walk. You walk down the block and cross the street to the bus stop.

The second one is also on bus 330.  It is three stops past the first Achan.  You will see it on the right side of the bus.  The stop is right across the street from it.  To get back you go out of the store and turn left and cross the street.  It is more convient for the close bus stops but not very clean and very busy.  

Ole:

This is the most expensive place.  It is across the street from Tianyi by the Louis Vauton store.  

Clothes and Stuff:

The best place we nicknamed The Pagota Place.  It is by Tianyi.  In the underground walkway head to the Lady Fashion Square.  Walk down the street.  Cross the small road and you will see it.  It has a golden statue of the Jade Emporer.  The top floor is the cheapest. Lots of clothes on the first floor.  Good rule of thumb: if it has a price you can’t barter, if it doesn’t you can.  Never go for the first price they give you.  

Entertainment:

KTV:

go anywhere, it is cheaper on weekdays.

Movie theaters:

If you want to see a movie go on Tuesday’s they are half priced that day.  The price on the board or screen is the normal price when you pay they charge the half price.  A nice theater is on the corner of the Lady Fashion Mall right across from the Cathedrial.  

Student Store at the School:

This place is really nice for snacking and saving snacks for vacations.  The school gives you a card with money on it.  Spend wisely we went through it in three months.

*Don’t be afraid to try things.  Some are weird, but most are really good. Also make sure something is chocolate, some things look like chocolate and are actually beans.

Advice:

Have fun.  China is a strange and different country.  You will get stared at no matter where you go.  Everyone wants to say hello to you and people love taking you picture.  We ended up just asking them if they wanted to be in the pictures.  It made it fun, instead of awkward.  Meet people.  We have made many friends in the city.  People want to learn English.  It is a good way to have friends here, learn the language, and know of the places around the city.  

With the kids, disipline first, friend second.  If they have to have new teachers ever few months.  They like to see how far they can go.  Once everything is set, they will open up and be your friend.  They are so cute and it is very hard to leave them.  They become part of your heart.  

It rains a lot.  It can get freezing and incredibly hot.  The weather is tempermental.  Just go with the flow.  There were times that we just hung out in the apartments.  Become friends with your group and roommates.  None of knew each other before we came and you would never be able to tell.  

Be friends with the other foreign teachers.  Silvia is one of my favorites.  She is so cute and has good advice about the city and places to go in China.  The IB teachers know what happens around the school and are fun to hang out with.  They come from all over the world and have seen many parts of the world.  

The food they serve at the school is not what the Chinese food tastes like other places.  It is like eating cafeteria food back home.  There are good and bad days.  They serve a lot of fish, so if you don’t like fish I would save money for groceries.  On weekends the food is the same as the students get.  It’s slightly worse then the normal food and you have less choice.

Vacations:

Vacations can get expensive.  Save wisely.  

Trains:

Train tickets are the cheapest way to travel.  Buses are pretty much the same price but are not as fast or comfortable.  You can buy your own tickets by going to a train ticket purchasing building by Tianyi, by the bus stop that takes you to LaiWeiTan, by the coke bottle.  Passports are needed for ever trip to buy tickets.  Most tickets for a seat are going to be 192 rmb and a sleeper 330-350 rmb.  If you want a bullet train those are about 400rmb.  A good website to look at train times and tickets is www.chinatravelguide.com.  You can’t buy tickets online unless you want to be charged an arm and a leg. You can’t buy round trip, once you get to the train station in the city you are visiting buy your ticket home.  Easiest way to buy tickets if you can’t speak Chinese is to write the beginning city, an arrow and the desination, the date and time.  Time needs to be in military time.  

Hostels:

Hostels are the best way to stay for cheap.  Most are nice, check the ratings and reviews.  There are two good websites for booking hostels online.  www.hostelbookers.com and www.hostelworld.com.

Research:

 

Plan your trips in advance.  Book tickets and hostels at least two weeks in advance.  Most of your trips are set around a holiday in China and so lots of people will be traveling with you.  Research the cities you want to go to.  Plan, plan, plan.  We went to Hangzhou, Huangshan, Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Guilin, and Yangshuo.  There are so many places to see and not enough time to see everything.  You will have to pick and choose.  

There are enterance fees for most places.  Bring at least 1000-2000 rmb a trip.  That should include train tickets, food, fees, and hostel.  It’s about $200-$300 a trip.  

For the shopping trips like Beijing and Shanghai bring more and make sure you have room in your suit case to carry it.

Metros:

 

In major cities take the metros.  Shanghai the average metro price is 4rmb to each desination.  Beijing has a set price of 2rmb no matter how far you are going on the metro.  

8 Days and counting....

We pretty much did nothing on Monday.  Some of us went to a market and got some veggies to make salsa for our pot luck that we had on Tuesday.  That was pretty much all we did.  Tuesday I spent the day packing and cleaning and chopping.  It was so weird not having any pictures or anything up.  The pot luck included those who are in our little church group that meets on Sundays, other foreign teachers we became friends with, and some Chinese friends of ours.  It was way fun and sad at the same time.  We had a lot of American, South American, and European food.  It was so delicious!  We went to bed early because we had to get up early the next day, Wednesday, to get to the train. 
 
I have never been on such a long train in my life!  26 hours.  OMG!!!  We had hard sleepers, which means a small pad on wooden planks.  Pretty much we have been sleeping on at the school.  It was an adventure of sorts.  
Guilin is so beautiful!  It has these mountains that remind of us "Oh the places you go".  Big bumping mountains! They are awesome!  There are a lot of caves to check out and a few mountains to climb.  At night the city lights up the sides of the 4 rivers and lakes with there bright colored lights and it is so pretty and romantic!  I have tons of pictures, don't worry.  That was my Thursday and Friday.

Saturday, we went to the LongJi rice terraces. They were so beautiful! We were the only ones there besides the villagers. It so peaceful. We also went to a tea field and they did a tea ceremony for us. I recommend this being one of the places you see if you ever get a chance to go to China! 

Sunday, we went around town. At 6:30 a could of us went to the train station to go to Shanghai. Now I'm sitting on the train. I have a top bunk on a hard sleeper car. The bunks high. So excited for the 20 hour ride. 

Love you and miss you!

Last week of teaching.... Bittersweet

This past week was the last week of teaching. It's weird knowing that I don't teach anymore. Monday and Tuesday we had or normal lessons. We really didn't do much although Sarah and I did go grocery shopping.

Wednesday it was rainy. We taught in the morning and cause of the rain we didn't do much outside. I got an email from one of the members in Shanghai, Sister Griffith. Her husband is the consult general on the US Consulate. She told me that another member of the consulate was going to email because they were going to be in town and wanted to meet us. So I got an email and emailed back and forth to figure or a time to meet. We decided to meet at 8pm on Thursday.

Thursday came and we had our normal morning class with the kindergartners. Then we took naps and stuff till our 4pm class. Dinner happened right after that and we waited till our class at 6, but at 5:20 I got a text from Marine, our Chinese coordinator, asking if it was okay for us not to have class so the kids could rehearse a song for a singing competition. I said that was fine and suddenly we didn't have to teach. It made it easier to get to our appointment with the consulate members since their hotel was across the city. We went to meet them. They treated us to mango smoothies from our favorite smoothie stand, GoMax, and we sat in the lobby of the hotel and talked with Brother Griffith and Russell Menyhart. It was really cool taking with them. 

Friday was normal, but crazy rain. Like a typhoon! It was so crazy!!! We had to test our ele class but it was a short test. It was a lazy day till close to dinner time, when the train had let up. Sarah and I went shopping. I had to but another umbrella since my other one got left on a bus.

Saturday we taught again it was or Thursday schedule except we didn't teach the kindergartners. It was kinda strange teaching on a Saturday. We went and bought our kids presents before we taught them that night.

Sunday was our last day teaching. Pretty much it was a party and we took pictures and videos. At 12:15 the kids, the teachers, and some parents held a performance party for us. We had fruit, the principal spoke, one of the parents spoke, or kids performed songs, and they gave us some gifts and notes. We sang Somewhere over the rainbow accompanied by Erica's ukulele. At the end the kids were.giving us hugs and that's when we all lost it. We were all crying, the teachers and the students. I am going to miss then so much! I love the 16 kids I taught. They are my kids and I feel like I just got to know them. I want to stay with them or take them home with me. It's so hard to leave them. I didn't just teach them, I played with them and tucked them in. Some of them called me their sister. I'm crying just writing this.

I love and miss you. It's bittersweet to leave but it is almost time for me to come home.

Almost done with my adventure in China

So we have only seven days left of teaching.  It is sad.  I will miss all of my kids.  I really have grown to love them.  We taught like normal.  Monday through Thursday.  Friday was Children's Day.  The school had a special activity for all the kids.  We painted the kids faces.  They have never had their faces painted before so that was a fun experience.  We spent most of day chilling out in the apartment.  We went out that afternoon to Tianyi and went shopping.  We went to Lebanese restaurant and walked through a really pretty park.  I love the parks in China. Saturday we went to Indian food and I got lamb saagwala.  It was so good!  Sunday I got to skype with Caden and all the dance people cause mom went to Big Show and I totally cried.  I miss everyone.  I don't know how you are doing it.  I have only been gone almost four months.  I bought you a present.  I hope you like it.  

Love and miss you always,

Brittany

Short Shanghai Trip (Short Email)

So nothing really happened this past week.  We taught like normal.  We pretty much spent most of the days waiting till we would leave to Shanghai. 

We left Ningbo on Friday right after we taught.  It took 3 hours to get to Shanghai.  It was like the perfect temperature, although it was a little more humid then I would have liked.  We got to the Griffith's house.  Brother and Sister Roundy are watching the house while the Griffith's are in Beijing and so we were technically staying with them in the Griffiths house.  This place is so nice and big.  

Saturday we spent 5 hours shopping and then came back with all our stuff and dropped it off.  A couple of the guys from the ysa group in Shanghai showed us parts of the city.  We went to a restaurant called More Than Toilet.  It was awesome! We sat on toilets and ate out of miniature squatters. It was great! We saw the city at night. We went to the pearl tower which is the tallest building in China. And we saw the construction for the building that when finished will be the tallest in the world. Shanghai is so awesome! 

I just want to stay here forever! We went and bought our train tickets on Sunday and then went to church. The branch here is so awesome! The members are amazing! There is a good mix of families and ysa. Everyone is so welcoming! The spirit was so strong. We went back to the Griffiths with all the ysa and ate dinner and talked. There are people from everywhere. I meet several guys who served in Taiwan. They are here for internships. We also had some Taiwanese members here as well. I met so many people and I wish I want leaving Shanghai. I want to actually get to know people instead of just meet them and then leave. Ningbo can feel so isolated. Eventually everyone left. We packed and went to bed. We are leaving right now back to Ningbo. Back to work.

Miss you and love you!
Brittany

Memory Blank

I really don't remember what happens each day anymore. It's pretty much the same. Teach, hangout in our rooms, and go to the store. 

Last Thursday night we tucked our kids in their beds. They are so cute! I will miss them so much! Friday the parents came and watched us teach and kinda talc to us. Saturday I got to Skype Mom, Dad, and Tony! It was so awesome even with my sketchy wifi. Sunday Sarah and I were invited to a students house. They love in a nice apartment area. (most people love in apartments/condos). His parents fed us lots of delicious fruits and cookies and cake. They also gave us some small presents. 

Monday I had a nice long Mothers day Skype with Mom and had a normal Monday. The rest of the week went as normal. Saturday we had a day trip paid by the school. They booked a private bus and your guide fir the island of Putuoshan. Shan means mountain so it translate to mount Putuo. It's one of the four Buddhist mountains in China. It was so awesome! A mountain with temples, beaches, and a giant gold Buddha!

Sunday we had church at 10 again although we are changing it to noon because of scheduling issues. 
We are all starting to think about and discuss what we are doing when we get home. It's strange thinking that this trip and experience is almost over. 

Love you so much!
Brittany

Beijing trip!

So we pretty much spent Monday night with the Westover kids. They showed us their school and we watched chopped and cake boss and had another delicious dinner. It was nice having a normal night. We woke up and got ready to leave. The Westover's have a driver and they scheduled to have us driven to the train station so we didn't have to take the metro. It was so nice if them and we don't even know how to thank then for all they did for us. The station we went to was Nanjing South. It is a new train station and is so nice and huge and clean. It's like a nice mini airport. We took a bullet train to Beijing. 4 hours! It was so awesome and smooth. We took the metro from the Beijing South station to the China world apartments. Sarah's aunt and uncle, Brian and Celia, live there. We checked in at the reception desk and got card keys to get into the building and the apartment. We didn't have to use the card to get into the building unless it was late cause they have a doorman. They had set up another bed so that we fit five of us. It was a nice apartment with a normal kitchen! We set our stuff down and walled 40 minutes down the street to the forbidden city. The actual museum of the palace is only open on Mondays and holidays from 8am to noon. So we didn't get to see that. We went down to a Chinese restaurant and ate dinner. We walked down a few street markets and then took the metro back to the apartment.

Wednesday we woke up early to go to Mao's mausoleum at Tiananmen square. Once we were half way through the long line they told us we couldn't take bags or purses in and we had to leave the line. We decided to let two of the girls go and we would watch the bags. There was a miscommunication between us and we didn't find them for four hours. We stayed at the same spot. There was thousands of people there that day since it was a holiday but still. We went to subway for loch and took the metro to the summer palace. We met up with four of the other girls in our group who were still in Beijing and toured there then went to a Lebanese restaurant with a belly dancing show for Camberley's birthday. We went to the apartment and went to sleep.

The next morning (Thursday) I didn't feel good and threw up. The girls decided to spend the day shopping and I took the day to rest since we booked our great wall tour for Friday. It was a good thing for me to take a day to rest. I mostly napped. When the girls came back we watched The House Next Door which one of them had just bought and went to bed.

We got up at 5am and got ready for the great wall. The can picked us up at 6am and took us to the bus. The bus drove for the hours and gave us McDonalds for breakfast. I honestly can't describe how amazing the great wall is. We hiked the wall for three hours. It was so incredible and surreal to be there. I took tons of pictures and videos. They feed us a late lunch buffet and we drove again for the hours back. We went back to the apartment. Brian and Celia had just came back that day from a trip to Tibet. They got us these grass bracelets that look like twigs and it only grows in Tibet. We then went to a Tibetan restaurant and dinner show. We ate yak. It was really good. The show was so good. We got white scarves and we got to go and like throw them a certain way and then place them around the necks of our favorite singer. At the end we joined in on a dance around the restaurant with the performers. We got videos of it all. We then walked past a bunch of embassies on our way to see the worlds biggest TV screen. So awesome! Then we went to the tallest building in Beijing, second largest in China. (the largest is in Shanghai). It was an amazing few of the city at night.

Saturday we went to the temple of heaven. It was really cool and huge. Then Celia took us to the cheapest place to get stuff. She had hook ups and we bought things for Pennies! It was incredible! We went back to see if we could fit everything in our suitcases. Brian and Celia and so wonderful! So welcoming and fun! I don't know how we are going to repay them either.

We got onto the long train back to Ningbo. Trying to sleep on a 15 and a half hour train ride in a seat that doesn't recline is awful. I slept for maybe there hours total. We got back to Ningbo and took the bus home. I unpacked everything and repacked all the presents and feel asleep at 1pm. Sarah just woke me up. It's 7pm. She wants me to be able to sleep at night and not Utah time. It's kinda weird being back. It's our home away from home. The trip felt short but good. It was an incredible experience. I think my luggage home is going to be much lighter then coming here which well be very nice. Can't wait to talk face to face!

Love you and miss you!
Brittany