Hello, Hallo, Heller, Helllluurrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hello! Hallo! Hellarr! Helllllllllluuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!! The many pronunciations of Hello in China.

As any foreigner can tell you, when you live in China you will be constantly bombarded with the word hello. You might see this and think, wow many people speak English here. Don't be fooled. This is just one of the ways that Chinese people who don't speak English will try to interact with you.

I haven't been able to figure out a better way to explain it so I'll give you the same explanation an English teaching alumna gave me. "People will feel the need to talk to you, it's kinda the way people feel the need to mooo at cows. We know that mooing means something to cows but we don't know what it means, we only know that they say it. So when you see a cow you moo at it. People know that "hello" is what we say, some know what it means, most don't; but they say it to you the same way you would moo at a cow, because you can." Definitely not a direct quote but it's the wisdom that has kept me sane on bad China days, as I call them. 

I had a very bad day the other day. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and forget about all 1.3 billion people in this country. However I find that when I have bad days in China as much as I want to crawl into a ball and lay in bed this is the worst possible thing I can do. So I reluctantly dragged myself out of my bed and went to meet a friend at our favorite coffee shop. Along the way I heard five hellos. I know the people saying them weren't trying to make me feel bad but it just reminded me how bad I am at speaking Chinese, because past a few basic questions I can't have a conversation with them.

As my friend and I were shopping for a flash drive something awesome happened. A random act of kindness reminded me why I love this country, why I'll always miss it. As we were looking through a store I found something I thought my parents would love. Using my Chinese translator, my broken Chinese, and his broken English the store owner helped we figure out what exactly I was holding. After I decided not to purchase it he showed me some of the art he made on his computer and I told him it was very good (in Chinese!). As my friend purchased what she wanted the man took the art he showed me and gave it to me and then put it in her bag without accepting any money for it.

These random acts of kindness remind me how lucky I am to be living and working here. I'll always treasure this gift. 

He made it by drawing on his computer and then printing it out on to canvas.

The Rockstar Feeling

Living in China is a constant adventure, its hard to describe, I've spent many hours staring at my computer screen trying to figure out how to accurately describe the most amazing experience of my life. How do I explain this land that frustrates me, embraces me, amazes me, but most of all, that I love. Baoding has become my home this year, yes, home, it worked it's way into my heart and now a part of me will always long for it the same way I long for breeze off the Hudson river at my favorite park in my hometown.

The Hudson River from my hometown.

The people of Baoding are of the most friendly and accepting people I've ever met, and although I sometimes get frustrated by their stares, I'll never forget the kindness they have shared with me.

Before coming to China I had no idea what to expect. About a year ago I sat down with a program alumna and asked her "what should I expect?" I laugh at the question now, because she must have thought the same thing that I think when people ask me to sum up my experience. Bewilderment is how my body reacts to that question. How do you sum up a year of your life living in your own country? Why would anyone think it would be easier when living in a different one? Yet I was one of those people too. And I'm so thankful for the words of encouragement this amazing woman imparted upon me.

Sitting in a little coffee shop my friend and I (we came to China together) looked at her for guidance, and on some level confirmation that we weren't throwing away a year of our lives. I remember the confusion when she told us we would be treated like rockstars in Baoding. She went on to explain that sometimes we would love it and sometimes we would hate it, but in the end it would be something we could never escape.

Although I have now lived it and totally understand the feeling, I don't know how to explain it any better. It's a feeling, it's knowing that you will get extra special treatment because of who you are. I learned quickly to drop the "I'm a foreign English teacher" line when trying to buying things as I was always quickly offered a discount.

The best I can offer as an example of the rockstar feeling comes from an experience I had with a group of friends a few weeks ago. In order to show this moment's true glory I have to give a little back story. When you try to get on a city bus leaving the Eastern train station in Baoding: run at it as fast as you can, as soon as the doors open start elbowing people, pushing them aside, until you can claw your way on to the bus. Seriously its always a stampede.

Upon getting back to Baoding my friends and I were attempting to take a bus of this nature, the first one was too packed so we waited for the second. One of my friends speaks very good Mandarin Chinese so he asked a bus attendent when the last bus was as, we were told they run every 10 minutes for the next 2 hours, he also complemented my friend on his Chinese. As the second bus approached the throng of people began madly dashing for the bus. As we begrudgingly began to follow the friendly bus attendant who had told us the bus schedule called out to us Laowai (foreigner)! Laowai! And motioned for us to follow. We began running after him as he led us to the back door of the bus, he pried open the doors with his hands and yelled in Chinese something to the driver, I only could make out laowai. The doors opened and he single handedly held back the throng of people as my friends and I got on to the bus and got seats. I'll never forget the image of this man holding back more than 100 fighting Chinese people so we could safely get seats.

Had it been a zombie apocalypse he would have sacrificed his life for us.

I think there are moments in life that are just so awesome you need to take a second and truly appreciate them, cause nothing like it will ever happen again. My experience at the bus station was one of those moments. Like the insightful alumna explained we can never escape the rockstar status, but in that moment I loved it.

Chinese Glasses!

I've heard from many American expats that I should purchase glasses in China because they are so much cheaper than what we are used to. I never realized how much cheaper. In America with insurance my glasses often cost about $150 and I'm lucky that growing up my parents always had really good eye insurance. Many of my friends have spent hundreds of dollars each time they purchased glasses.

With this thought in mind, a few friends and I wandered into a Chinese version of Lens Crafters the other day. We spent a while combing through the frames before we each found the perfect pair. Once we found our frames we went into a backroom, this is when I started to get a little nervous. I did not want my eyes examined, I just wanted the same prescription as my American glasses. I was frantically searching the Mandarin vocabulary in my head for a way to convey this.

In the meantime my very brave friend Katelyn sat down to get her eyes checked.

She is brave.

The eye exam was relatively uneventful (at least from my perspective), despite not speaking Chinese Katelyn didn't seem to have any trouble getting through it. Under different circumstances I would have gotten my eyes tested, however I wasn't sure how to explain "I don't care what you find, I want the same prescription." 

This picture was taken during the funniest part of the exam to watch (in my opinion). Katelyn is looking at an eye chart, but instead of using all the letters like we do in America, it uses a capital E and you point your fingers in the direction the E is pointing. However the eye chart isn't in front of her, it's behind her, she is looking at the reflection in the mirror. The guy performing the eye exam always seemed to be looking at chart behind her and not at her....

I know you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats trying to figure out if I was successful in communicating. I WAS. This was definitely a success moment when it comes to my spoken Mandarin. Here the eye glasses man is measuring my American glasses. Success!

My glasses are the middle ones on the right.

My other friend Katie already had her prescription so she just handed over her card. Katelyn's glasses are on the left, Katies are on the bottom right, mine are in the middle on the right, and a mystery person's are on the top right.

Part of what surprises me the most about China is the kindness of the Chinese people when I think about how happy and excited they were to help I wish I could say the same thing happens in America. The woman who helps you pick out frames even gave us plums as we waited for our receipts. 

It turns out the expats who told me to buy glasses were absolutely correct. My frames were slightly more expansive and I chose the best quality lenses. I spent $34.88 without insurance. 

My Glasses :-)

Baozi

Street Food Pork & Scallion Baozi

 Baozi = Steamed Bun = Best food on Earth

The above statement might be a slight exaggeration. However it is my favorite street food by far, and honestly it might be my favorite type of Chinese food. My love affair with Baozi started shortly after I got to China during my first trip to Globe Square. A friend took me there to introduce me to Chinese street food, I've been buying them at least twice a week ever since.

Whenever I travel to a new city I make it a point to try their baozi, here is a list of my favorite all time baozi: 1st Baozi Lady - Globe Square Baoding, 2nd John's grandparents Tongling, 3rd Baozi shop near the Forbidden City Beijing. The thought of moving away from delicious baozi prompted me to take a cooking class so I can introduce baozi to my friends and family back home.

After much research I found a baozi cooking class in Beijing at Black Sesame Kitchen - I highly recommend it if your in Beijing. This was my second cooking class the first I took in Yangshuo during my backpacking trip.

The school (which is really a restaurant) is located in one of Beijing's Hutongs,  it helped make the experience feel so much more authentic.

I love walking through the hutongs.

The school provided me with excellent directions and I found it no problem. I know I should have taken a picture of the place, but I was too excited to remember, sorry.

Instead here is a picture of my station

Everyone is given their very own apron, pen, and spice bag filled with sichuan mouth numbers. The class included a part about common Chinese ingredients and their uses. Despite living in China for for nearly a year, I still found this section particularly enlightening. Finally I started to understand how the unique flavors of Chinese cooking are created.

Baozi is made in two basic steps, the dough and the filling. The dough is similar to Western bread dough but much less dense. It was tricky getting the correct feel, our teachers kept coming around and helping us find the perfect consistency.

Here the chef & teacher is showing us how to roll the dough.

Anything can serve as baozi filling with the most traditional fillings (the type we made in class) being pork & scallion and egg & chive. I have plans to try and make western breakfast baozi with egg & cheese as a filling :-)

Baozi ready to be steamed

The actual process of making baozi sounds really easy; make dough, make filling, fill baozi, steam. Easy right? NOPE!!!!!!! Filling baozi is an art a difficult art at that, finding the perfect way to cup your hand while you rotate and pinch the top. Not easy. However once you power through the difficult prospect of filling all the baozi, cooking them is really easy.

Put them into a steamer and steam for 15ish minutes.

Then take out and let sit for a few minutes.

Don't they look delicious?

As my year in China begins to wind to a close, I'm looking forward to taking another cooking class. I want to be able to cook my favorite foods for all my friends and family back home.

My New Hair Cut

Tuesday started out just like any other Tuesday. I slept in, relishing in my day off from teaching. A great start to a day off, it got even better when a friend texted, inquiring about a dumpling lunch at our favorite place.

Dumplings. By far one of the best things about living in China. How could I say no? Plans were made and I started to wander in the direction of the restaurant.

Going to this restaurant is usually one of the highlights of my week, I absolutely love it. For one, the woman who owns it is the nicest woman ever. She loves teaching us Chinese and tries to repeat words we say. Our lunches there usually span at least 1 1/2 hours, we order, eat, and talk.

We each ordered a plate of dumplings, we order different types and its like a dumpling sharing party.

Yummy Dumplings! Complete with a side of vinegar.

As any lunch with friends goes, we spent our time talking about a variety of subjects and at some point my hair became the focus of the conversation. In America I usually keep my hair relatively short, however in China I've kept it longer because of the difficulties getting haircuts. As we talked I held up some of my hair and made a cutting motion as I asked my friends if either of them could cut my hair.

Suddenly the owner motioned that she could cut hair and ran to the back of the restaurant. She came back and proudly announced in English that she can cut hair. After a few moments of deliberation, I gladly took her up on her offer.

Youtube Video of My Haircut When I'm in America I'll post the video here.

My Chinese Hairdresser!

Definitely my most interesting haircut ever! She didn't charge me, so I've decided to pay her back in homemade cookies! She doesn't know it yet but tomorrow I'll be surprising her with cookies :-)

Let's Talk About Teaching

I teach a lot, well its my job so that's expected. I teach a lot more than I travel and reading through my blog you definitely wouldn't realize that. So like the title of this post says. Let's talk about teaching.

Graduating from university as a Psychology & Sociology double major with a minor in Social Work I never thought teaching was in my future. I filled my schedule with classes about counseling. How to interact with people in a one-on-one or small group setting. I remember walking into my first class with forty students staring at me, I was terrified. I was standing there thinking "what did I sign up for?" 

My first semester teaching was full of tribulations, many of them. Often times I felt stranded in my classroom, no curriculum, no textbook, and no idea what to do. At first I dramatically underestimated my students' knowledge, I also found myself doing a lot of things that I thought I "should" do but were also the things I always hated teachers doing. Needless to say my first semester teaching wasn't my best. I didn't post about teaching because I didn't have many positive things to say.

That has since changed.

I thought long and hard about my favorite classes throughout my educational career, why my favorite teachers are my favorite, and what I liked/disliked about my own educational history. It was through these long reflections that I finally started to find my ground.

For the teachers, instructors, and professors who's classes and instruction helped me to become the person I am today, I thank you. Without having the honor of being one of your students I wouldn't be the teacher I've become. Without the knowledge you imparted through your lessons and your actions I wouldn't have been able to have my reflection. So I thank you.

I also apologize to you. I never realized how much effort must go into creating lesson plans, and assignments that are both educational and interesting. I'm sorry I spent so much time looking out the window. It wasn't until I saw some of my own "awesome" lesson plans crash and burn before my eyes that I realized I was once that student who would zone out and stare longingly towards the window. I'm sorry that I thought your lessons on ancient Chinese history would never impact my life (really wish I paid attention to that unit). I wish I could have appreciated how great you were when you were still my teacher.

This semester is full of positive things I want to blog about.

I've spent more time listening to the advice of seasoned teachers. Instead of spending time wishing someone would hand me a curriculum, I took the initiative and made a curriculum. I spent more time listening to my students, I found ways to incorporate grammar lessons with lessons on American culture. I remembered a lesson from a Social Work professor and I became comfortable with the silence as my students thought about their answers. I used Mother's Day and making cards to send to their Mothers as a way to teach complex adjectives.

As my time in China begins to draw to a close I feel confident that I have taught my students well. With all my lessons planned and final exam prepared it seems like I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However the closer I get to the light the more I wish for extra time. My students have impacted me as much as I've impacted them and it saddens me to know in a few short weeks we will have to say goodbye.

I'm Going Home

I'm going back to the USA. Not today, or tomorrow, or even the day after. I have about 5 weeks left. I always knew I was going to leave China, I never thought about my move here being even remotely permanent. That being said it seems as though I'm living in a constant battle with myself, am I happy or am I sad? Excited or foreboding? Expectant or dreading? Most the time I don't know. Its strange now that I have a definitive end, I came to China on a one way ticket, so I never had a countdown to when I was going back. Now I do, now whenever I get frustrated I check the app on my phone. Slowly ticking away the seconds in the form of big green bars that are slowly getting smaller and smaller. I have it set to the time I have to leave my apartment (for the last time) to get to the capital airport bus station. Precision.

Recently I was at a brewery in Beijing. It was full of expats and honestly I was overwhelmed by all the English. I could understand every conversation taking place around me and focusing had never been so difficult. I'm used to the "silence" of not understanding the words being spoken around me......

I'm not sure how I "should" feel or even how I expected myself to feel. It just seems crazy that I gave my students their assignment for the final today, and I told them when I'm leaving. Every day it feels a little more real and every day I feel a little more out of sorts.

To make me feel better I drew a picture, I hope you like it.

Macau - More Than Just a Casino

Ever since I first learned of Macau (sorry to all my former history teachers I honestly can’t remember it from school) when I got to China, I had wanted to go. It was something about the architecture that looked so European and the ruins of the Church of St Paul. It looked so beautiful. I quickly decided that one of my days in Hong Kong would be spent taking a ferry back and forth to Macau for a day trip. My friends couldn’t understand why I felt so compelled to see this strange peninsula known mostly for its casinos.

In Macau it is easy to use the free shuttle buses casinos offer to get all around the peninsula. We used them to get from the ferry port to the center of Macau. Katie's Mom wanted us to check out a casino so we stopped at the first one we saw Wynn.

Our trip to the casino was an experience, as soon as we walked through the doors I was stopped by security asking for my ID. I was a bit surprised, living in China I have never once been carded, however what happened next is what really surprised me. The woman quickly opened my passport and looked very relieved, as she handed it back to me she said in English "ohhh good, you look sixteen." What? Maybe she thinks all foreigners look the same cause I'm positive I don't look sixteen.

The Wynn experience was ehhh, I've only been to one casino before, Mohegan Sun in CT. I must say Mohegan sun was a lot more fun, the slot machines reminded me of old online video games and we couldn't find a bar that we were allowed to go in (they were all for the high-rollers). Needless to say we left pretty quick. 

On our way to the ruins of the Church of St. Paul we decided to stop for some Macanese food, a style that mixes Portuguese and Cantonese styles. It was so delicious! They even had sangria!

After lunch we made it to the ruins of the Church of St. Paul, the most famous monument in Macau, unfortunately by the time we got there we had little time to explore. We snapped some shots and then had to make our way back to the ferry port.

Hong Kong

When I first arrived in China I was surprised by what it looked like. For some reason the standard pictures of what China should look like (I thought) was not at all like what I was seeing. At some point I got used to this skewed version of what I thought and decided that I must be crazy on some level. Turns out my thinking wasn’t crazy. I was just thinking of Hong Kong. Every image I had in my head of what China looked like I found while wondering around the crazy city of Hong Kong. Honestly I could have never left, Hong Kong is an amazing mix of the East and West, I loved it beyond belief.

The first day in Hong Kong we enjoyed the plethora of English found everywhere as well as the non-Chinese food that wasn't much more expansive than Chinese food itself.

The second day was when I really started sight-seeing, I woke up early and went straight to the peak. Unfortunately that wasn't the best idea, the morning was very foggy so I didn't get a good view.

The day continued with a trip to the longest escalator in the world, the mid-levels escalator. 

I spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach! I have seen the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii or the middle as I say, and now I had the opportunity to see it from the Asian side.

I even splurged and had a ride in a traditional boat!

Its difficult to go to a museum in a foreign country because of the language barrier so I've been avoiding them in China. To date I've only been to one museum in Kunming to learn about the flying tigers. However on my third day in Hong Kong I gave myself a morning to explore the Hong Kong museum of History before wandering through the Wan Chai area of Hong Kong Island. The museum had a really interesting exhibit about the history of Hong Kong itself. Strolling through the exhibit made me miss my home's proximity to the impressive museums in NYC.

Leaving Hong Kong was difficult, I absolutely loved it there, blue sky, warm weather, spoken English, it was perfect. Not to mention easy access to facebook. I think the thing I'll miss the most was the ferry rides between islands, so beautiful!

The Worst Bus Ever

Shenzhen, there are many unflattering nicknames bequeathed to this city, however for most its just the entry to Hong Kong. As we devoured travel guides and spoke with fellow travelers we realized that Shenzhen is only a means to get to Hong Kong, not really a place you would want to stay. It is also much cheaper to get to Hong Kong via Shenzhen. A ticket to Hong Kong will cost hundreds of yuan more whereas a ticket to Shenzhen is cheap and then you can just walk across the border.

By this part in our trip we were accustomed to overnight trains, having been on so many we created our own rating system. We figured that Yangshuo was such a tourist destination that the buses must be high quality and we assumed that the bus would be similar to the one from Xishuangbana to Kunming. Never assume. How does the saying go? “Never assume or you make an ass of you and me?” Well I will never assume anything about future Chinese transportation again.

Although the trip was an overnight trip, our bus was not an overnight bus. We had actual seats, regular sit up seats. For a 10 hour ride????????? Mind you our feet were all still wet from having stood in a river earlier today. The ride was horrible, we were so tired and wet, plus there was no bathroom on the bus, and we only made on stop. What we hadn’t realized was that this was the last day off from Spring Festival and everyone was traveling back home, our bus got to Shenzhen about 5 hours late. I’m pretty sure at times we went over an hour without moving more that a quarter of a mile.

Xingping – The back of the 20 Yuan

I’ve always had a keen interest in money, I remember being a small child and my grandfather taking me to a coin and stamp store to get supplies for keeping his coin collection. The collection started with my great grandfather in the early 1900s and has many old coins. As a child I wasn’t usually allowed to touch them or even really look at them but just knowing about them sparked my interest in coin collecting. 

Today I consider myself an amateur numismatist with an extensive collection of coins in circulation as well as many old coins I’ve found miraculously in circulation. While working at a gas station during high school my interest in coin collection flourished, as I constantly used the cash drawer I was able to set aside coins and paper money I wanted to buy before my shift was over. My co-workers even began setting money aside that I could check when I came into work. It was very common for me to spend $5 - $10 per shift on money I wanted to add to my collection. My best finds from working at the gas station include a 10 cent Deutsch Mark from 1910, numerous rare pennies from the 1930s, and a rare silver cetificate.

Unfortunately before coming to China I had to sell a small portion of my collection, everything I sold was a duplicate but still parting with it wasn’t easy. As I travel and encounter new types of money I’m constantly looking at it, trying to gain an understanding of who the people on the money are, and an appreciation for the landscapes often found on the back of money. Having moved to China I was able to do this on a level I had never done before, generally I only spend a week or so in different countries so my understand of the money's symbols stays very superficial. In China I have been able to learn a lot about the places showcased on their money. So when our travel plans took us to Guanxi I knew I had to get to Xingping, the back of the twenty has an image of the Li River in Xingping on it.

It takes about an hour and a half to get to the town from Yangshuo and it was the last thing we were to do before heading to Hong Kong. I was so excited when two of my friends decided to join in. We reached the town and wandered in the direction of the river where we finally found the slew of rafts waiting for tourists. It ended up being much cheaper than expected getting to the place where the picture was taken, only 60 yuan, or about $10.

A picture taken from the raft showing what the rafts looked like.

Most people climbed the small island to get a grand view, however once we reached the sacred spot, we realized that it wasn’t quite right…  

Perfectionists as we are and having come so far we made it our mission to find the exact location where the artist must have stood. We found the spot, it the middle of the river. 

The Chinese tourists began taking many pictures of the crazy foreigners standing in the river! I’m so proud of us for finding the exact shot, in Chinese terms, that moment will live in my heart forever.

Katie, Katelyn, and I at the exact spot the artist stood.

Yangshuo – A Western Colony of Sorts

I kept trying to find the best way to describe Yangshuo and I’ve decided to just call it how I saw it. I’ve never been to an actual colony but I have to imagine that Yangshuo is what it would be like. The meeting of East and West in a tiny place along the Li River.

The availability of western food and alcohol was beyond belief, I must admit I think I went 48 hrs without eating any Chinese food……. It’s just so hard to resist sometimes.

My favorite part of Yangshuo was cooking class. I have always enjoyed cooking, in college I had an apartment senior year where I would cook meals all the time with my best friend. I’ve tried my hand at replicating Chinese food in my apartment this year but I’ve had no luck whatsoever. A friend who had traveled through Yangshuo the week before went to a cooking school that he absolutely loved. I decided to check it out.

The school is actually in a fully functioning restaurant, we were welcomed and given a table in the dining room were they allowed us to sample flavored baiju and chose what dishes to make. I was allowed to choose two meat dishes and one vegetable dish.  Then we went up to the classroom, where we each had our own wok. I was given the ingredients for vegetable dumplings, beer fish, and sweet and sour pork; the dishes I had chosen to make. I was taught Chinese style cleaver usage and how to properly use a wok. Within 40 minutes my dishes were done.

One done we sat back down at our table in the main dining room where we were able to feast on our dishes. Random fact in the south dumplings are served with soy sauce not vinegar.

A Stop-Over in Guilin

Guilin is the capital of Guanxi Province and although it is very important to the Province of Guanxi it has little importance for travelers. We used Guanxi as our base for exploring the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces, but in retrospect we could have easily done it from better locations. Namely Yangshuo, but that’s another blog post, let me not get too far ahead of myself.

Dumplings and French Fries to Celebrate Spring Festival

The day we arrived in Guilin was “Chinese New Year’s Day” or the first day of Spring Festival, naturally everything was closed or extremely expensive. We decided to explore the area and found ourselves wandering the streets. We could tell that the night before had been quite the celebration in Guanxi as all the streets were dyed red by the fireworks. To our surprise we stumbled upon the world’s tallest copper pagoda.

Katie, Katelyn, and I at the pagoda. 

By far the highlight of Guanxi was definitely our day trip to the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces. We took a private van on a terrifying trip to the town. We literally passed four car accidents on our way. The fog was so thick we could barely see thirty feet in front of us. We rounded hairpin turns far faster than we ever would have in America. I can’t tell you how many times I wondered if we would survive the trip. I’m not a religious person, but if I was I’m pretty sure I would have prayed the whole way.

Once we were there our horror was quickly forgotten as we came into the most picturesque little town complete with fog. Now for anyone in the west fog is just fog, and you might not understand why it astonished me so much. Here in China fog is generally smog and it chokes you as you go outside. But here it was fresh and clean fog. Amazing beautiful fog, I love fog.

Look at the fog!

An awesome bridge.

I wish I taught English in a town like this.

The most picturesque little restaurant

Climbing the actual terraces you had to be careful where you placed your feet as the slippery mud could easily send you tumbling down the mountains.  Yet the feeling of fresh air in my lungs was so elating that I often forgot the fear of death that should have been engulfing me.

There are times in China when I see things that I learned about in history class in America. Unfortunately I was never really interested in Chinese history so those times are few and far between. Seeing the rice terraces was one of those moments.