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.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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/
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/
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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 :)
Monday, October 19, 2009
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
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
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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/
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/
Saturday, September 5, 2009
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!
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!
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