Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

We've had an exciting couple of days here. It's really hard to think about Christmas when we are so far away from everyone but we tried to get into the spirit for the students' sakes. So we put up a few decorations and twinkling light for them to see. So it was a nice treat then for the school to invite us out on Christmas Eve. We were taken out to dinner by the President and Vice-president of the college along with the Dean of the Foreign Language Department (our direct boss) and a few of the English speaking Chinese teachers. We had a delicious dinner then followed up with karaoke with the gang. We found out how seriously they took their singing! We (Don, Jackie, Gord and I) quickly came to the realization that we shouldn't give up our day jobs :) We had an enjoyable evening out and appreciated their kindness. You see we don't get out much. No, seriously, the public transportation out here stops early in the evening so seeing Shantou by night is a real treat!

We followed up that late evening with another one last night. One of the students we all know sings in a bar and she invited us to go and watch her. We took the last, very crowded, bus into town to have dinner before we headed to the bar. It was a miracle but we actually had turkey! We found a Christmas buffet of Western food at a revolving restaurant at the top of a hotel. We were the only foreigners there but enjoyed an interesting variety of food along with English Christmas music. We even won a night in a VIP room. That was another miracle since the raffle was, of course, held in Mandarin, and I had to really listen to hear the winning numbers. We thought we might have to use it last night if we couldn't find a taxi to get us home. Luckily, that wasn't a problem.

The show at the Soho bar was great. For Christmas, they must have brought in all of their singers so we enjoyed numerous live songs in different styles and languages. Swan, the student, did an amazing job. We are happy to report that we were able to stay up late for a second night in a row, ha ha.

Had a nice chat with family to start our morning while enjoying Starbuck's instant coffee (thanks so much to Glen and Susan), sent some emails and now are going to recuperate for the rest of the day... translation, nap time!

We did a bit of traveling a couple of weeks ago, visiting my parents in Guangzhou. It was a few days full of food and shopping. We are now busy finishing the semester in the next couple of weeks and will be giving oral exams to our hundreds of students. Then we plan on joining my parents again in Hong Kong for a week. After that we will enjoy a nice long vacation and will return to school on March 2nd.

As the students would say, "Thank you, that's all." J xo

p.s. I'll add a link to pics when more of the coffee kicks in.

A Day in the City

We went in to town today but decided to just explore instead of going in for provisions. It was nice to just wander around and see all these little store up close. We've been passing them on the bus for a couple of months now but you never see anything from so far away.

We had a bit of an adventure. We were waiting for a bus downtown but couldn't understand why it was taking so long. The answer came when we saw the streets filling up with a parade of people. We decided to start walking to see if we could find the detoured bus. Along the way, we found out from some of the people in the parade that it was a charity drive to help the poor who need winter coats. Since we've been here, the fact that I speak Cantonese has helped.
That's how we understood what was going on today.

As we walked, we saw another little parade of children. They were so excited to see Don and were trying to talk to him as we walked on the sidewalk while they walked on the street. Don decided to join them for a bit and chat. Here is my paparazzi pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22798130@N07/4122040402/in/set-72157622697355939/

We had a great day in town but are now pooped. Resting our weary legs. J

Some Pics and Update

Sorry it's been awhile. We've only been teaching our classes and taking the occasional trip into town to get supplies that we can't find around here. It's amazing how quickly things become routine. It's turned cold the last few day. Yesterday, it was 10C at one point but felt like 5C with the wind. Quite a change from the heat and humidity we've faced since we've been here. I guess if this is winter, it's not too bad. Unfortunately, this part of China is not heated so I'll be off to buy a heater today :)

We are just passing the half way mark of the term and so are of course looking into our vacation:) The school told us that we're basically done by Jan 11 and will be off till March 1st. Sweeeet!

Besides that, Mom and Dad are heading to China next week to do a 10 day tour first then staying in Guangzhou for a few weeks. We are excited about visiting them in Guangzhou for a few days since Guangzhou is near enough to do on a weekend. We're going to move a couple of classes so that we can get a few more days off for a longer weekend.

At the end of their trip, my parents are also going to Hong Kong for 5 days so we're hoping to join them there too. It would be a very different experience being in HK with them.

Here are a few pics from the last few months. I still can't post pics here. Toodles for now. J xo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22798130@N07/sets/72157622697355939/

Our place

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22798130@N07/sets/72157622821685230/

Cocktail Party

Last night, we went to a cocktail party hosted by Jackie and some of her senior students. We had a blast despite the fact that there was a serious lack of cocktail! Thanks to Jackie though there were platters galore of finger food. There was singing, game playing and lots and lots of photos. Don and I have never been in such a photo op frenzy. Individually and together we are now a part of hundreds of cell phone pics. It was hilarious! At one point, Don and I were just standing and little groups of students would run in, pose themselves around us, get a couple of pics and then move off while the next group came in and did the same thing. Our cheeks were sore from all that smiling by the end of the evening but it was well worth it. For whatever reasons I think we made many students very happy to have their pics taken with the foreign teachers ... like when you can get a pic with a special animal at the zoo :)

Hullllo!

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't posted for such a long time. It's not that we have been lazy. Living here has its drawbacks unfortunately and one of them is the spottiness of access to certain Internet sites. We've found a workaround for now... ok, my tech Don has. Don't know how long it'll last but we'll take advantage while we can.

We've settled into life at Shantou Polytechnic. Our days have a rhythm now and we're very happy and comfortable here. Little by little, things are becoming more familiar. We're hitting some of the restaurants more regularly so they are starting to recognize us. Our food choices are improving as we translate the menus. Our apartment is starting to feel homey as we add the little things. And most importantly we're getting to know our students.

It had been hard learning their names since each of us has close to 400 students and we only see them for 2 hours once a week. Last week, we had the brilliant idea of taking photos of them and asking them to share a personal detail with us. Now we'll have something to look at that will give us a face and maybe something to remember them by. It's already been worth it as we've learned one or two more names. We think it makes a huge difference for them and for us when we can call them by name. Now if only we can convince them to look exactly as they did in our pics until we can remember their names.

We are also staying in touch with our friends back in Jinan. They've told us that our old campus has been quarantined for fear of spreading the H1N1 virus. Classes there are continuing but no student has been able to leave the campus for a week now and they haven't been told when it'll end. Some of the more serious cases are in isolation but thankfully it doesn't include any of our friends. The funny thing is that the teachers can come and go. Hard to imagine how they can just close the gates and prevent students from leaving. Thankfully they have the cafeteria and a little store on campus for their daily needs. Poor dears must be going stir crazy though.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is well.

J&D

First Weeks Teaching

Meeting our students- They have been welcoming and curious. Here are some of their most common questions so far: Why did you chose Shantou? Have you ever quarreled (their word not mine, given a choice they use the most British or formal word) with Don? Can you speak Chinese? (To both of us) And our favourite, tell us something romantic that Don did for you.

The Students – They are studying in a 3 year program to give them a certificate teaching English to primary or middle school. We’re not too sure yet whether they would be able to teach college / university. Some have studied two years at another school before coming here. They are in their early 20’s and their families are close by, most within a couple of hours bus ride from the campus so they often go home on the weekends. Unlike some of our students in Jinan, there is no epic journey to go home.

Classrooms – We are thankful for the many fans in the classrooms. Some even have one right over the lectern. Unfortunately, we don’t just stand there all of the time and because they spin to circulate the air, we still sweat. So our new teaching dance is talk talk talk, wipe wipe wipe. Ha ha!

Temperature - This week, the average temp has been in the mid 30’s with the humidity factor making it feel like high 40’s, they’re calling for mid 50’s in the next few days. Enough said.

Eating – Our food options have expanded since the students’ return. Despite our best intentions, we’re not able to cook as much ourselves now. Because of our schedules, we can’t go downtown during the week when the bus wouldn’t be so crowded. Last weekend we chose to avoid the bus altogether because we were told it would be bad (remember that there is really only one bus route taking everyone to town, they come every 15 minutes and the buses are small).

So we do take out for lunch and dinner a lot. Most of our meals have remained very reasonable, at $1 Cdn or less. You get lots of rice (Yay for the south, in the north they are not as rice oriented), a bit of greens, and a choice of 3 meats (BBQ pork, roasted duck or chicken for example), cafeteria style so you normally just pick and chose what you want and easy enough to order. We just point.

We also found a restaurant in one of the cafeterias where you can order off a menu. The ordering process is a bit different. Step 1 – take a few photos of menu. Step 2 – go home to translate on electronic dictionary as it’s too rushed there so I take my time and write in the menu items into my dictionary and it translates them for me. Not only can I figure out what is of interest but more importantly what we want to avoid. Step 3 – order a new dish to see if the translation is correct ☺

For fresh fruit, we shop at a little cart outside our gate or the stores along the main road. Sadly, the veggies are further away in the village that looks close but really isn’t in this heat. We made another trip last weekend but it’s a killer to walk there at anytime and the bikes haven’t moved since that one trip we took, just too hilly and hot for me at the moment.

Breakfast – We have been enjoying a great bacon we found in Walmart on the weekends. We can easily buy eggs now. On weekdays, I often buy a steam bun in the little store just outside, one yuan or around 15 cents, filled with some veg, a bit of meat and a piece of boiled egg. The only problem is that if I snooze, I lose. They only make one batch and when they’re sold out, I starve. Boo hoo.

Work - Our schedules are not too bad. There is a max of 3 classes a day since the school day goes from 8:10 – 3:40. We each have one full day. Luckily there is a 2 hour break at lunch so we have time to eat and take a short nap if we want. We’ve found that teaching in this climate has been a bit draining at times. We are always trying to be energetic to begin with, with the temperature and humidity factored in, well, let’s just say nap time is great.

Extra activity - We’ve just had our first English Corner here. Since the other Canadian couple hadn’t returned yet, it was only the two of us. We were surprised at the turnout. The freshman were all required to attend so there was a couple of hundred (yes! hundred!) students there. The student union organized it and a couple of students were hosting it so that wasn’t much a burden for us. The only thing was that we had to give a short presentation (unrehearsed and off the cuff really). It was the Don and June show. Apparently, if you put a mike in either of our hands, we morph. We also dressed the part of Canadian teachers with our matchy matchy red Roots t-shirts. Our big item for show and tell was our Canada flag. We had little trouble filling in our given time slot and then we had fun playing the various games that followed.

Life here so far is comfortable despite the weather conditions. Our classes are going well and the majority of the students seem interested. What more can we ask for.


Here are some more pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22798130@N07/sets/72157622290402185/

Walking to the Local Village

We set out at 9:30 this morning with our parasols. It helped a little but it was still a hot hot walk to the village right next to the campus. We live near the back gate of the campus (think two gates along the same highway). It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk to the front gate and then another 10-15 minutes walk to the village. We searched for puddles of shade along the way but were still sweating nicely by the time we got there.

We wandered around the area of the small village where little old ladies were selling fresh greens. We imagined that they just picked them from their own gardens. We bought a few veggies and some fruits while entertaining the locals by our very presence. We even bought some pork from a stall. The man selling it was smart, he just started putting a couple of pieces onto the scale and we had to tell him we only wanted one piece, 10 yuan for a big piece of pork. With our little shopping bag full of provisions, we set off towards home.

Along the way, I bought a bottle of cold water from a little store by the gate of the village. I was able to have a short conversation with the lady in a smattering of Mandarin and Cantonese. It’s really cool that everyone I’ve tried to speak Cantonese to either answered back or at least understood me. We got our lunch that way in one of the many little restaurants along the highway back. Lunch cost 10 yuan or $1.45 Cdn. It wasn’t elaborate or anything but tasty enough and definitely reasonably priced. Don even got his hair cut. It was much more expensive than in Jinan, a whole 10 yuan. In Jinan, it was only 4 yuan.

We just arrived home after a two and a half hour “short” walk to get groceries. I’m not sure how often we’ll be doing that, at least at this time of the morning. Thankfully, we did notice that a few of the stores closer had fresh fruit for sale. Planning on taking it easy for the rest of the day with maybe a trip out to get ice cream at our store, the one that is a stone’s throw away, reeeeeally convenient!

Btw, we have found out that everything is downhill from us. Sounds good, until you have to come home. We’re definitely getting a good workout!

Surviving in the Subtropics

It’s hot and humid here, ALL of the time. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine a hotter place. It’s certainly the hottest place we’ve lived in. While it’s breezy up on the hill where we are, there are few screens on the windows so we can’t really take advantage of it. So we are thankful for our air conditioners.

The temperature has averaged around 34ºC with the humidity making it feel more like 43ºC. The nights don’t cool down very much either. In fact, the night time temps would cause a warning in Ottawa. So how have we been surviving? We sweat… a lot. If we go outside for any length of time, we have to change as soon as we get back inside. Thankfully we have a washing machine and a balcony to hang our clothes to dry. We even have a laundry stick that allows us to hang our clothes up high on the ceiling of the balcony. Imagine a stick with a hook on the end. We also keep our curtains closed for much of the day since the heat and the sun beat in.

Another reason we keep our curtains closed in the kitchen is that it overlooks the little convenience store and one of the student dormitories. So when we cook at the stove top, we can see them and they can see us. In fact, today when we put the mop out on the balcony to dry, there were 2 students sitting on the grass right below.

Lily gave us a tour of the campus today. We were shown the 2 canteens, the teaching buildings and another little convenience store. We found a couple of places on campus where we could see the ocean and enjoyed a nice breeze as we walked around. We also found out that there is no barber on campus like in Jinan so we’ll have to head to the nearby village for Don’s haircut. I will wait to find a place in town I think.

Oh yeah, we got class lists today. Don is teaching 9 classes and I’m teaching 8. We will be teaching close to 400 students each. Yikes! We normally try to get to know the students’ names but feel less than confident that we’ll be able to do that here due to the numbers and due to the fact that we’ll only see each class once a week. Don starts on Monday and I start on Tuesday. Wish us luck.

J

Foreigner Day At Walmart

We went to Walmart all by ourselves today. It took about an hour by bus and we even have to transfer. We made it there no problem and celebrated with a KFC lunch. After filling our tanks, we were all set to shop. Shortly after we got into the store, we noticed that there were other foreigners there. Our best guess is that they were new English teachers from another school here and they were buying their provisions. Funny enough, many of them had identical pink irons in their carts. At the checkout, we also noticed a big difference from our basics. One of their carts had a good supply of liquor. No wonder the tonic section was empty.

We also bought an iron. Since we have more clothing that required ironing this time around, we felt that it was a necessity, ok I felt. I wanted a steamer so we didn't needed to cart an ironing board back on the bus. I was able to discuss my options with the clerk today in Cantonese for the first time on the mainland. It was handy! Now we'll be presentable when we get to class. Btw, we got our teaching schedules today too. Now we can start preparing for class. Don starts Monday with 3 classes (his heaviest day) and I start on Tuesday.

Earlier today, our mission with Lily was to get bank accounts set up at a nearby bank so we could get our salaries direct deposited. After an hour of paperwork and other procedures, we walked away with our bank books and bank cards. The next challenge will be to navigate the ATM. Lily promises there is English. We'll have to see if it's Chinglish:)

Besides accomplishing that, we drove through the Free Trade Zone near here (Shantou was one of the first Special Economic Zones set up in China but it looked abandoned) to get to the local police station where we began the process to register our residence here. All foreigners have to register at their local police station. There are many more procedures we have to follow in order to work here. Thank goodness there is always help!

J

p.s. Still cooking our meals. Thanks to precooked meats from Walmart, we had an easy supper tonight of yummy roasted drumsticks with Chinese greens and leftover rice. Thanks also to my mom who taught me to precook a delicious oyster sauce for my greens. It's a quick way to flavour simple blanched greens.

Pics So Far

Since we can't post photos here nor on Facebook, we'll be posting on Flikr ... until we can't anymore :)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/22798130@N07/sets/72157622090140673

A Day At The Beach

An unexpected bonus so far is that we are 20 minutes walk away from a lovely beach. We walked there this morning (earlier this time to avoid the midday heat cause we are learning to live in this climate) along the side of the highway in front of the campus. It’s a public beach so we didn’t have to pay to enter. We were slightly worried about the quality of the beach but are very happy to report that it exceeds expectations. It’s Wednesday (we’ve been here exactly one week) so there was only a family there enjoying the beach. Another fabulous thing was that there was music for our enjoyment. Don frolicked in the ocean while I watched from under my umbrella. One thing I’ve learned so far about surviving this heat is that my umbrella is my best friend!

Campus Life So Far

It’s very very quiet! The teachers’ dormitories are almost empty. Many of the apartments are assigned to teachers who have homes in the city. They use them only to rest during the day while at work. Our current neighbours are the ones who are not from Shantou and there are just a few of them. We’ve seen them wandering around with their families, hear their scooters and see the occasional car drive by. The students haven’t arrived yet because school doesn’t start till September 7th.

Jenny and Lily took us out for dinner to a restaurant within driving distance from here the first night. We had a delicious meal with fresh seafood chosen from tanks at the front door. A yummy start! We spent the next 2 days shopping for food and other basics. Since the campus is nearly deserted during the holidays, the nearby little stores and restaurants are closed and there are no fruit or veggie vendors either. For now, we have to go into town to get everything. There is a village about a 5 minutes drive away with tiny stores. We were driven there the first night to get a few things but we haven’t checked it out ourselves yet since it would mean a 20 minute walk in the heat or a 10 minute bike ride. I haven’t been on a bike in many years so I don’t want to be trying the hilly ride until I’ve rediscovered my bike legs. All that to say, we have to cook. The kitchen here is bright and inviting. It’s also large enough for two people so we can cook together again.

Without a nearby source of food, we desperately shopped for things we might need for our meals for a couple of days at a time. The first day we had the driver with us so we could buy bigger and heavier things. On the second day, we had to take the bus into town with Lily’s help and we headed to Walmart. We bought what we could carry and took the bus back to the university by ourselves.

One of the “essentials” we had to shop for was cockroach spray. Why? Because I saw my first live one in the bathroom the second night we were here. I saw lots of dead ones in Mexico and maybe one live one but I’m not sure since I didn’t get a good look at it since it was the middle of the night. I was unpleasantly surprised! Don came to my rescue. Since the walls are concrete and the window was shut, we think it came from the floor drain or the sink. A plate was assigned the important task of covering the floor drain when it was not in use. The next day when I told Lily about it, she also suggested putting a heavy rock on it since rats might try to come up the drain in search of food. Yikes! A full water bottle quickly joined the plate until we can find a rock. I will not be happy to see one of those! I saw one dead on the street when we were in town but in our apartment, I don’t even want to think about that.

We finally got out and walked around the campus yesterday. It has been very hot (34ºC) and humid so we went early in the morning. It didn’t matter. I’m not sure it’s ever cool here. The campus is large and hilly. There are many buildings to accommodate the 7,000 students who live in the dormitories. Some of them are only here during the week and return home nearby for the weekends. I’m sure the campus will look very different once they all arrive. In the meantime, everything looks abandoned. We saw many people working on the grounds. The vegetation has taken over during the summer so they are busy cutting and cleaning.

Everyone is preparing for the new school year… except us. We haven’t received our schedules yet or our text books so now that we’ve settled into the apartment, we have to wait. We have been enjoying the Internet, and our two English (not CCTV 9) and Cantonese tv channels. My Cantonese will definitely get a work out here and I’m teaching Don more. Mandarin is still the working language here but some people do understand it. I’m sure I’ll be able to communicate more. I’ve already spoken it with Jenny and Lily and heard it around me. Our Mandarin still won’t be improving quickly but I’m happy that I’ll be able to help do things. Besides our intention to experience a different part of China, we wanted to live in an area where my Cantonese might make life a bit easier.

Update: Btw, Don is a big attraction here. No other foreigners in site … until yesterday at Walmart. It was funny. I found Don talking to her and when I approached I was happy to see another foreigner but she didn’t know to be happy to see me. I keep forgetting what I look like ☺ Everyone tells me that I look Chinese until I open my mouth!

Limitations of Blogger

So it looks like we'll be able to continue to post on Blogger but we will not be able to post photos here. Unfortunately, we can't post on Facebook here either so we will have to find another site to share our photos. We will hopefully put links here to the photos. J&D

Our New Bikes

Along with the accommodations, we also get mountain bikes. We took them for a spin today. While I haven’t been on a bike in many years, it does seem that you don’t forget how to ride one. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in any traffic though as my skills are definitely rusty. Our main mission was to get air for the tires but we weren’t able to find any on campus. The guard at the gate pointed us in the direction to the nearby village so off we went down the hill.

The day before, the driver had shown us where we could buy veggies and meat at the village and took a little road back to the campus so we knew to take a more scenic route to find the air. Without too much trouble, we found the little hut at the entrance to the village and motioned our meaning to the attending man. There was even a little stand beside it that sold cold water. Ah! It cost half of a yuan to fill our 2 bikes up with air and then another yuan for my very cold bottle of water. A great thing we’ve found so far here is that cold water is plentiful. In Jinan, it was a bit harder to find cold bottled water.

We figured that while we were already there, we’d take a quick ride through the village. Unfortunately, it was just enough time under the blazing sun and humidity for me to get overheated. It was a LONG journey back to the apartment. The way there only took 10 minutes but the trip back was filled with frequent stops in the shade. Apparently the campus is very hilly☹

Home Sweet Home

Wednesday August 26th

Our first impression of Shantou, our new city, was the airport. The landing was out of the ordinary, another adventure. We came in fast and the plane bounced off the runway, was buffeted by the wind and the pilot braked hard to stop. I don’t think we were in any danger since nobody panicked. It just felt rough to us. Maybe it had something to do with the age of the airport. As we taxied to the terminal, we noticed scarecrows (or were they crosses?) in the field and fences made of pinwheels. The terminal was the smallest and oldest one we’ve been in. A great start?

The first people we saw after we got our luggage were Jenny and Lily from the new school. They were waiting at the exit and greeted us warmly. We were whisked into the awaiting van (the school president’s ride with his driver, leather seats and comfy) right outside and off we went.

Our first glimpses of Shantou brought back warm memories of Mexico for us. It is green with lots of vegetation and the air is hot and humid. Despite our worries of constant rain here, it was a bright sunny afternoon. We found our new colleagues warm and friendly and during pauses in our conversation I snuck peeps at Shantou while Don rode in the front of the van with the driver. A great first impression.

We arrived at the university, Shantou Polytechnic, after about 40 minutes. It’s located across an inlet from the city proper and is in a rural area right by the ocean. As we approached our apartment building, the guy from the phone company was already waiting for us. The school had arranged to get our phone and Internet hooked up that day.

We have been assigned to a flat on the second floor of the second teacher’s dormitory building. We are the only foreigners in this building. Another Canadian couple, Jackie and Gord, live in the other building. You can easily spot the foreign teachers’ apartments because ours are the ONLY ones with white security bars over ALL of our windows and doors. Talk about sticking out.

Our apartment is very well equipped. It’s furnished with almost completely new furniture and appliances. We spent some time unpacking things from their boxes. It felt like Christmas. We have all of the necessities: a 29” flat screen tv (it’s heaven because we were watching a 15” computer monitor before), DVD player (with USB so we can watch downloaded movies and tv), a wooden living room set (a bit uncomfortable for now but I’m sure we’ll get used to), a couple of desks, a storage unit, dishes, a cleaver, a cutting board, chopsticks, a gas stove top, a microwave, a refrigerator, a dish sanitizer (don’t know how to use this yet but Mom says everyone has one in Guandong), and an instant gas hot water heater in the shower. They even installed a new toilet and sink. The bedroom has a couple of older wardrobes but a brand new bed with a bedside table. We even got 2 brand new mountain bikes that we get to use while we are here. Even though it’s only one bedroom, the apartment is nicely laid out and comfortable. We’ve spent the weekend organizing and cleaning it and now it feels quite homey.

New Home in Shantou

After 2 months of lounging around, it was time to get back to work and to China. It was such a treat to be home and visiting with family and friends but time to get back to reality. We dumped off our winter clothing, stocked up on necessities and headed back with fewer bags.

August 24/25 - The flight, while long, was uneventful. With a few of these long flights under our belts now, we are getting more used to the details. Thanks to a nice Air Canada employee at check-in, Don and I got seats by the emergency exits again which guaranteed us great leg room (seats 50 A&B would be ideal). Yay! We even enjoyed the new Star Trek movie finally. Great flick!

Our adventure came when we landed in Beijing. Sam had reserved a room for us at a hotel near the airport the week before we left China to come home for the summer. They were to send a driver to pick us up and would meet us at the airport with our names written on a piece of paper. That was the plan. Instead, we arrived one hour late and so had to make our way in a taxi. I had a printout from the computer with the hotel name in Chinese so we thought we would be ok. Unfortunately, our driver didn’t know the street and had to stop to ask for directions. We even called the hotel but there was no answer. Despite asking countless people by the side of the road and in cars at stoplights, he still couldn’t find it after an hour. The hotel was only supposed to be 5 minutes away. At his last stop, a police hut by the road, the taxi driver found out that the hotel had been demolished! Now what?

We finally called on our friend Kathy in Jinan. Now there is a superwoman! Thanks Kathy for saving us! She talked to our driver, found another hotel for us online and reserved a room and then explained to the driver what was going on. He still had to call the new hotel for directions but got us there in short time. It ended up to be very close to the airport and we even ordered supper from a picture menu with English. We took the hotel airport shuttle the next day and caught our flight to Shantou. No issues this time

Testing Testing 1-2-3

Hi everyone! We've arrived in Shantou. This is just a test to see if we can use Blogger in our new location. Stay tuned. J&D

July Weather

We made it home to experience the "soggiest month on record". It's official. The Citizen said so.

In China, we're often asked to describe Canadians. We tell the students that we Canadians like to talk about the weather. Now we find ourselves checking the Weather Network daily and we have many conversations about what the weather is like at the moment and what the weather will be like later today and then we finish with what the weather will be like tomorrow. Sure, it's been very wet here but that just makes the sunny days extra special!

Enjoying Ottawa's "Summer". J&D

Hanging Out in Ottawa

We are sitting here at the Starbucks in the neighbourhood. It's great here. We've just learned that we get 2 hours of free Internet every day. We're enjoying coffee and free samples right now. I've just discovered how much I love the chocolate and caramel covered pretzels. Yummy! Keep those samples coming.

We finally accomplished something on our to do list today. We had been taking it easy and sleeping a lot. Today, we took the bus downtown to renew our passports. The bus took a very scenic route downtown and we both realized how much we took the natural beauty of Ottawa for granted. We went along the river and everything is just so green. It seems that you appreciate things more only when you haven't seen it for awhile. Don and I have only seen Ottawa in the winter these past couple of years so it's really really nice to see it in the summer... even with the cooler temps and rain. Hope we get to see some warmer temps soon.

Summer in Ottawa

After a weight gaining last few weeks in Jinan, we've said our goodbyes to our friends and students. We are now back in Ottawa for the summer.

After packing up a few belongs and shipping them ahead to Shantou, our new home in China, we made the long journey home. Our plans were to enjoy the summer in Ottawa before returning to teach for another year in the south of China, in the province of Guangdong. Sadly, the summer weather hasn't quite made it to Ottawa yet. After the 39 C and 40 C we were used to in Jinan, the low 20 C we're experiencing here might as well be winter. Brrrr! Hopefully summer will find us soon.

Still trying to get beyond the jet lag so will update more soon. I am happy to say that I didn't need a 2 hour nap today, for a change :) J xo

Don's New Pics

Here's what Don has been up to lately:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026167&id=1013962974&l=cd3778f035

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026166&id=1013962974&l=e86da9d763

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024564&id=1013962974&l=cc42c7dee7

39°C

Every time we turned on the tap last night and still had water, I thanked the water Gods :) We still have water thanks to the government deciding that they would postpone the water cut off because of the extreme temperatures that we are enjoying. It is currently 39°C and the forecast for the next couple of days is 37°C and 35°C. The low tonight is going to be a cool 29°C :)

I'm sitting inside enjoying the a/c with the curtains drawn to keep out the hot sun. This will be our routine until we leave for Ottawa, hiding indoors until the sun goes down. Then we'll venture outside for provisions.

Did I mention we're heading home for most of the summer? We're looking forward to being home when it's not snowing and freezing cold. Warm up the bbq's everyone and let the drinking on the patios begin, here we come!

J & D xo

Agua Agua Everywhere

No, we didn't have a flood. I've just been filling up all of our containers with water. Why? Because starting from 9 p.m. tonight until the same time two days from now, we will have no water! Sam just informed us this morning and we've been trying to figure out how to maximize our water storage. Thanks to Yoshi's idea, we've even filled up the washing machine.

It's a little distressing, the thought of having no running water for 2 whole days, but it's a good reminder about how important water is. It really is a luxury to be able to drink the water from the tap. Ever since Mexico, I've had a bit of a problem with hoarding drinking water, must have lived in the desert in a previous life :) Because of this, we always have at least one full container (20 L) of drinking water in the house. Enough to last 2 days. Thankfully, we had an empty container so we've filled that with water too. We'll have enough for our washing and washroom needs, I hope. As for eating, we've basically given up on cooking these days so as long as there is still water in the nearby restaurants, we're good. Let the adventure begin!

7:15 pm Update
We went out to get our dinner and saw the rush to buy buckets on the street. The one guy who was selling washing tubs and buckets all semester is a happy camper right now. The run on them must have been profitable for him as the students rushed to buy containers to hold the water.

Ran into some of the students. One of the girls told us how she and her roommates had lugged water up the stairs of their dorm this afternoon. Many were buying big bottles of drinking water from the little store on campus. I feel sorry for the students. Many of them have 6 to 8 per room and while they have a washroom (with no shower facilities - but that's another story) in the room, they try not to use it to keep the odor down. They go to the shared washroom out in the hallway. I DO NOT want to be in that area in the next couple of days if the washrooms in the teaching buildings are any indication. Here is a case for never having smell-o-vision :(

OK, to change the topic. We got our dinner from the cafeteria tonight but will probably go elsewhere tomorrow night since they won't have water either. Not sure how sanitary things are now and will definitely have to wonder when there is no tap water.

I'm still filling up containers. Just filled 2 small water bottles that we just emptied from dinner. Is there a name for this psychological illness?? :)

Sunday Morning

Outside our window, there is a hive of activity. It must be cleaning day. Many of the neighbours across the way are hanging out their windows cleaning the outside of the glass. Don is sitting by the window describing the various precarious positions to me. One guy has climbed up a ladder on the outside of the building and is scraping through the caked on cooking residue from the vent. He's using the wires for support as he climbs. Some of the other neighbours are just standing around chatting. Maybe they're discussing the possibility of cleaning their own windows.

We also hear a stir-fry sizzling sound from a lady who is making breakfast. Yum. I'm getting hungry. The beauty of living here is that I'm going to put 4 yuan (70 cents Cdn) in my pocket, grab my keys and be back in 10 minutes with breakfast. We are constantly amazed at how we can leave the house with only $1!

Now, the exercise music has started up. EVERY morning, a group of senior citizens gather in the courtyard at the side of our building to do exercises. They play a recording that must have been made during the revolution. The voice of a lady is telling them what to do, I guess. They rub their knees, their face, their earlobes, nothing too strenuous but good for their health, I guess. The seniors here seem quite healthy. They are walking everywhere or also ride their bikes. They socialize all the time, sitting on small chairs or playing board games outside. They spend a lot of time outside, sometimes just sitting and watching the world go by. Many are raising their grandchildren. Every day, we see groups of them gathered with their toddler grandchildren. When we walk by, it's hilarious. We try to get the children to say Hi to us while the grandmothers encourage them to say Hi to us too. Oh, and to call me "Yee Yee" or auntie. Don, they just stare at :)

I'm off to buy breakfast now. More soon. J

Happy Birthday Don !!!!

We celebrated Don’s birthday on the weekend with a few of the students who we’ve become close to.

It was arranged quickly, not that we hadn’t planned on doing it but we’re not in the habit of hyper-planning anymore (ok, I don’t have that habit as much anymore). I sent out the text messages in the morning and then got some help with the other details. Veleria and Alice took care of reserving a room at a nice KTV (karaoke bars – a popular form of entertainment in China). Aileen helped me reserve a private room for dinner and order the cake at a nearby bakery.

The evening started off with a wonderful dinner. Many people prefer to eat in private rooms here because you get some privacy and better service. You get a personal attendant for most of the meal and it’s much nicer than being in a loud public area. Almost every restaurant you go to will have this option or at the very least a sectioned off area.

Everyone contributed to the menu by each ordering a dish. It came together nicely and we had a lovely meal. Sunrise had bought a birthday cake for Don too so we had hers at the restaurant. Yum!!!

The nine of us piled into two taxis and headed off to the KTV. For most of us, it was our first time at a KTV and it was a memorable night! ALL of us tapped into our inner performers and had a riot belting out songs. It didn’t bother us that we sometimes didn’t know the tunes for the songs! The great thing about these KTV’s is that the rooms give us privacy so that we don’t feel embarrassed singing at all. There was a comfortable sitting area, a big screen tv and a great sound system. The service was great too. Whatever we needed, we just buzzed and someone was there almost immediately. At the end of the night, we had the second cake. One can never have too much cake!

Thanks to Sunrise, Veleria, Alice, Aileen, Sarah, Jerry and William for sharing the evening with us celebrating Don’s birthday!

Here are some pics from the evening:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024377&id=1013962974&l=df9104f998

Mulberries

Sorry, we found a way to post despite the block but can't seem to get photos posted. Here is something I wrote last week.

Walking out to get breakfast this morning, I noticed the return of our favourite fruit lady. She had been absent from the street ever since Spring Festival and I had to resort to some of the other vendors on the street. Since we liked to buy from her as often as we could I stopped by on the way home. It really is a shame that I can’t ask her where she’s been so I settled for my normal “Ni hao”. She didn’t have a huge variety of fruits for sale but I noticed a display of something I hadn’t seen before. So I asked her what they were. Yes, I can ask “What is this?” Of course, all the guidebooks really miss out in the “What you could hear in response?” department so when she went off on a detailed explanation, I was lost. What I managed to understand was that she wanted me to try one. You can see from the photo why I might have hesitated. With Don’s recent attempts eating from the bug kingdom, I really wasn’t sure if I’d be trying fruit or bug. If I looked more carefully, I would have seen the stems but I was trying to be polite so I bit in. Thankfully, it was fruit. I learned later from Don that this was mulberry. The other funny thing, while I was enjoying my sample, she went into the benefits of the fruit. I know this cause she was gesturing to her stomach :)

Rainy Day

We just got home from dinner and had to wade through a flood. This is the second time since we've been in Jinan that this has happened. It's normally quite dry here but then every so often we get a downpour. This is an occasion when we can teach the expression "It's rainy cats and dogs."

We had made a date to go for dinner with Sunrise and were looking forward to catching up. Then the rain started. Since it rained heavily, we knew we would be in for a flood in our neighbourhood and our street. The drains are just not made to cope with such heavy rains. We had no choice but to go outside because I can't even remember the last time we were in a grocery store. We've lapsed back into our habit of going out since I've been feeling better. So it was out with our least favourite shoes and umbrellas.

After a very pleasant dinner, it was time to tackle the walk home. Thank goodness that it's dark out! I really don't think I could walk through the water if I could see what was floating on top. It's bad enough that I know the amount of garbage that is usually on the street and the funky odor in the air didn't help either. Suffice it to say that our shoes and umbrellas are in the hallway drying and we've just had a good wash. Ah, it's all part of the experience and doesn't it make for a good story :)

Linyan Temple Road Trip

Sam took the foreign teachers on another road trip last weekend. Yay! So off we went in our little bus for a drive in the country. We started out early Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and were quickly met by another wedding cavalcade. It was another auspicious day to get married!

We only had to drive for about an hour to reach Linyan temple, a historic Buddhist temple. It was one of the four most famous temples in China and still attracts many pilgrims. It was one of the first places we've visited where we found some pockets of peace. We didn't miss the crowds and tour groups!

Since putting many photos into a blog here is a bit hard, check out my album on Facebook:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79045&id=571108357&l=7c258e47b0

May Day 2009

We had the day off yesterday. Don suggested we get out and do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, we forgot that going shopping seems to be THE favourite pastime here.

Before we got on a packed bus, we saw this at the gate of our neighbourhood.



















Apparently, May Day 2009 was an auspicious day to get married. We found out later from Yoshi that it was his friend's wedding. We think that this is a rather unusual sight even for the locals because they were taking advantage of the photo op too. We think, because we didn't stay around to see, that the horses were for the groom and his attendants. The sedan chair would have been for the bride.

So back to our adventure downtown. We crammed ourselves into a bus and then quickly found ourselves in a traffic jam. Anyone who is claustrophobic would not have enjoyed our bus ride. Thankfully, there was a breeze yesterday!

We saw a couple of more wedding parties along the way. The entire bus, including me, tried to get a glimpse of the brides in the back of the fancy black cars. Sadly, they were always tinted so the most I saw was a shoulder.

When we got downtown, we stopped for a bit of brunch before we headed into the crowd. We found a nice quiet KFC and found a seat by the window. Here was our entertainment as we ate. There was a kid's birthday party upstairs. We were just in time for the "get them all wound up" outside part. A KFC employee led the kids through some dances and then gave them a treat. As the kids were lining up, they spotted Don in the window. When we both whipped out our cellphones to take a photo, one of them posed for Don. They were very cute, a bit uncoordinated but cute!

We headed over to Wal-mart afterwards. We made our way through the main square which was packed full of people. There were also big groups of tourists following their leaders holding their "follow me" flags. Then there was the sea of cellphone vendors. It seemed like everyone needed a new phone.

Here are some souvenirs from Wal-mart.























On our way back, we took a cab home instead of cramming ourselves back into a bus. We had a better experience with a Jinan cab driver this time. We told him and showed him (my little piece of paper with our address written in Chinese) where we wanted to go. We headed off in the right direction but was quickly stuck in traffic. He said something and after checking that he wasn't on the cellphone, we realized he was talking to me. I told him I didn't understand in Mandarin and that was met by a laugh. We then proceeded to have a conversation that neither party quite understood. Then, at a traffic light when we were stopped he passed this piece of paper over the cage. Oh yeah, the taxi drivers are normally protected by a steel or plastic cage. WE laughed when we saw it because he thought it would help us to understand what he was trying to say. He said something else and I finally understood that he wanted to go on the overhead road that would cost more money but would avoid the traffic. We told him ok. When we got home, I checked what I could of his message on my electronic dictionary and confirmed that I understood him well enough.





We spent the rest of the day napping until it was time to go to BBQ because the Internet was very very slow. Judging by the text messages we got from the students, they were all bored and so were probably surfing the Internet.

So that was our May Day. J :)

Qufu - A Second Time

We went to Qufu again with the other foreign teachers on Saturday. The school arranges this every year. We went again because it’s an effortless day of sightseeing. We are driven there in a small tour bus, toured around and lunch is thrown in. We can't resist a free lunch!










Qufu is a town that centers around tourism. Since many of the sites are far apart and large, one can get a bit tired. Here is one of the ways tourists who get tired of walking can get around town.

We enjoyed a sunny warm day out with all of the Russian teachers, a Japanese teacher and a Swedish exchange student. At lunch, Don said it was like being at the UN. There was Chinese, English, Russian and French being spoken at the table simultaneously. I got to practice my French with one of the Russian teachers who feels more comfortable talking to me in French than English. Funny that Spanish now pops out of my mouth. Betty V. in Mexico, if you are reading this, you will find it hilarious since I complained that when I was trying to speak Spanish, French came out.

We were surrounded by tour groups. This time around, my Qufu pics (like many of my China travel pics) were of the crowds. Tours distinguish themselves with lovely hats or caps. They trail behind their guides who wear cheap portable loudspeakers giving them tidbits about Confucius. They had to have been straining to hear what the guide was saying though because everyone else’s guides were yelling through their headsets too.

My memory of the day will be of our Russian friends. They love to take photos! They posed at every opportunity and if there was a particularly scenic spot, there was a frenzy. Each of them would need the same photo. Then there were the shopping frenzies. They are leaving after this term so were stocking up on souvenirs. Don spent much of the time making sure that they were not too far from the rest of the pack.



At the temple, Sam told me something that gave me a deeper appreciation of the culture here. Many people were worshiping by bowing in front of the altar. The man who worked there (he's the guy on the left in the photo with the suit on) was saying something each of the three times the worshipers bowed.

You have to keep this in mind first, the university entrance exams are one of the important milestones of life here. Much of the last year of high school is devoted to studying for the exam in June. Many students study every waking moment. The future of your family rests with your exam results. If you do well, then you get into a good university, then you get a good job, then you can support your family.

So back to the praying. I forget what the other two bows were for exactly but the second bow is to pray that your child does well in their entrance exam. That certainly gave me perspective. Hey Glen, aren't you glad we didn't grow up in China :) I sure am! The pressure on the young people here is unimaginable for us. Can you imagine growing up knowing that you'll be expected to, along with your spouse, take of your parents, grandparents, parents-in-law and grandparents-in-law?

Teaching Jokes

Yeah, I've been saving all this up. It's feast or famine huh?

The other day for a fun activity, at least for me, I taught some of my more advanced students some jokes. Since I don't tell jokes well and to keep things nice and simple, I chose one liners, knock knock jokes and doctor doctor jokes. Oh, and I also told them the classic "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

This is really a great way to teach a bit of culture. Of course, I had a lot of 'xplainin to do. I taught them the routine of the knock knock joke. Then gave them a few examples then quickly followed up with the word "groan" in case they hadn't heard of it. See what you just did? That's called a groan. Ha ha!

Then I handed out different "Doctor Doctor" jokes to each of them. I was kept busy for the next few minutes explaining WHY they were supposed to be funny. Get it? Get it? I kept repeating. Some of them were so cute because they were caught up on the literal meaning of the words. They asked me "But why?" a lot. "But why didn't the patient just explain why he was feeling bad?" "But why would he say he felt like a roll of film?" "What kind of doctor would say that?" Oh dear. Then I explained that understanding humour in another language is a very hard thing. THAT was the real lesson. Oh well, at least they know how to respond to "knock knock"! :)

What Begins and Ends with a Car Accident?

Answer: Our Beijing weekend.

Our first accident happened on the way to the train station. It’s nearby but because of construction, the driver had to take a detour. We weren’t in a hurry because we left early but I wish I could say the same for our taxi driver. He dodged in and out of traffic like a maniac and drove on a sidewalk because the traffic on the road had stopped. This was fine if I closed my eyes until he tried to move ahead in stopped traffic. He tried to squeeze into an opening at the same time as another taxi and ended up losing his passenger side mirror. Still ok until he turned off the engine. Here we were, stopped in an unfamiliar area of town and quickly running out of time to meet the train. Luckily, we knew we were near and he motioned the direction we should walk. We also had my flashcard from the last time we took the train so Don showed it along the way to make sure we were heading in the right direction. It was a short walk to the familiar train station and we got on the train as soon as we walked in. In retrospect, it was actually good that he got into the accident. With the traffic jam, had we not walked, we might have missed the train even though we were only a few minutes from the train station.

We took the fast train to Beijing and enjoyed first class comfort. This sounds better than it actually was. The train tickets were about $30 each and only slightly more than the 2^nd class option. The only difference is wider seats and a little bit more attention from the attendants. We arrived in just over 3 hours.

The next part of our adventure was making our way to the hotel. But first, we had to buy our return tickets since the system is such that you can only buy the return ticket when you get to your destination. I have yet to find a good reason for this and it makes things challenging to say the least. We managed to do it with a bit of frustration and then we found our way to the taxi stand, here is what we were met with.

It was intimidating to see the long lineup but I guess they are very used to it because there was a very efficient process in place. There were people orchestrating the orderly taxi dance. A large group of taxis would drive up very quickly, passengers would hop in, the taxis would take off and then the scene would be replayed. The lineup moved quickly and we were in a taxi in no time.

I had come prepared with the Chinese characters for the hotel and the address so we were on our way into Beijing quickly. Our first view of Beijing was in the late evening and the large brightly lit buildings were impressive. Our taxi driver got us to the general vicinity of our hotel and then was a bit lost. He stopped on a quiet street just off the main road to recheck our directions. Fortunately, I had studied the hotel name and actually saw it across the street from where we stopped. He couldn’t see it cause the sign wasn’t lit up. Mental note: learn to give directions to taxi drivers, at least “go straight”, “turn left / right” and “stop here”.

We went to Beijing to attend a foreigner job fair. We had planned to go a month ago and then in the meantime we were offered jobs in two different cities. We decided to go as planned as an excuse to go to Beijing and to see if we might see other opportunities.

Here is an idea of what a job fair might look like for our students and here was ours.

It was more packed than this but I took this with my cellphone during lunch. There weren’t that many employers really but the event was held in a relatively small room so it made it feel busy. The lanes where we walked were close together and so were the booths for the employers.

Sam, our friend from the school, was also there to try to recruit replacements for us. The booth was decorated with some nice big photos of the foreign teachers. We noticed pictures of Don and I as well as a really large photo of Don’s teaching award.

After talking to a few potential employers, we went back at lunch to check on Sam and that was the last I saw of Don for the day. He started talking to interested applicants and soon became a recruiter. To keep myself busy, I wandered around and met some Mexican Spanish teachers. I had met one of them earlier and when I saw a group of them talking I couldn’t resist joining them just to listen. Spanish is music to my ears! It turns out that I hadn’t forgotten as much as I thought since I could still follow the conversation. They were frustrated at the lack of opportunities to teach Spanish here and that many employers want native speakers. After that, I went to chat with a Chinese language school to see what my options were to learn quickly. I picked up some English publications aimed at foreigners living in Beijing. It was such a pleasure to talk English to everyone and anyone. Since the job fair was held at a 5 star hotel, all of the staff spoke English.

We left the job fair a bit early to take a tour of the school that had offered us a job. They sent a car to pick us up and after a 40 minute drive, we were given a tour of the city and the school. We were treated to dinner with the boss and one of the teachers and had a very pleasant visit.

Day 2 in Beijing – A whirlwind tour

After a fantastic Dim Sum breakfast where we got to meet the head chef from Hong Kong , we started at the geographic centre of Beijing, Tiananmen Square. We met an “art student” who wanted to practice his English and to show us his work at an exhibition right next to the Forbidden City. Sounds good. I say “art student” because we’re still not sure if it was a well-known scam. Of course, we didn’t read about it till after we came home. Never mind, it makes for a good story. Here he is at work making us a piece of art. He is writing the Chinese character for “love” and writing our names in Chinese under it. Small price to pay for this souvenir.

We also got in some shopping. The photo of me at the beginning shows that we visited a famous shopping street. Well, window shopping really. We ended up at a Western style mall with designer brands so all I could do was window shop while Don took it easy at a café. It’s strangely comforting to see familiar brands.

The other nice thing is that it smelled nice. Wearing fragrance is not yet popular in Jinan but walking through the mall I realized that people were wearing fragrance. Now you might not think this to be a big deal but you really have to live the toilet experience in China to appreciate places that smell nice. Enough said. Sadly, I have yet to tap into affordable shopping here. I need to come back.

We arrived back in Jinan late and had the most frustrating experience with the taxi driver so far in our entire time in China. Coming in late, after the buses have stopped running, is apparently just begging to be ripped off – Chinese and foreigners alike. The driver refused to put the meter on and asked for a higher price than it should be. Even though we were on our way, we demanded to be let out. I was really angry but had no Chinese to express it so I ended up channeling my anger into simple English words he might understand. I called him a “bad man” as I got out of his cab! We finally got into a cab that agreed to use the meter. Unfortunately, we were rear ended by another cab before he delivered us to the wrong gate despite our very clear instructions, which were backed up by our address in Chinese. I am grateful that the other cab was not going fast since there was just a light tap. I was not a joy to be around that evening though, ask Don. I am happy to report though that our taxi experiences have taken a more humourous tinge now since I’ve told this story numerous times to amused students.

Remembrance

I am listening to my new Tibetan music cd in the background. I have enjoyed this style of music from the first moment I heard it, was it in Qingdao at the tv station tower gift shop? I heard it again in Hong Kong but finally bought some cds yesterday in Qufu. It’s Buddhist chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit accompanied by beautiful music and is very soothing.

I am hoping the chanting will help me find some balance today. My heart is filled with sadness for a friend from Ottawa who just passed away. He would have approved. I am overwhelmed by his loss and how it is affecting his wife and our other friends. We had lost touch in the years since I left that company but had reconnected recently. I am grateful for that. I will remember Kevin for his smile, his understated ways and his kind heart.

Living abroad has been hard in some ways. Dealing with loss from so far away is one of them.