Life

We've expanded our cafeteria repertoire. Now we can order a couple more rice dishes thanks to Jerry.

Jerry is a Chinese student who is majoring in Japanese but takes every opportunity to practice his English. He is, in fact, more fluent than many of our English students. He found Don the first day of classes and has been a frequent companion as we make our way across campus after classes. He will walk us to the campus gate and then go off to his next class. We have eaten with him a few times now and each time he helps us order something different. Our strategy is to memorize the approximate location of the characters on the menu and try to re-order it by ourselves the next time.

Meals in the cafe are very economical... as long as we manage to order. The most expensive thing there is just under $1 so the two of us can eat cheaply. The only thing is that, for now, we are limited in our choices. Since they don't have cooking facilities in their dorms, many of the students eat all of their meals there or on the street for some variety. We cook in the apartment but the meals are very simple and quick. Usually, it's a stir-fry and rice from our rice cooker.

I got my first haircut here yesterday. Kathy took me along to her salon while her husband, Hermen and Don went off to do some shopping. I only paid 15 Yuan or about $2. It was half price because she had a coupon but I think I could manage a full priced haircut. It'll be a shocker when I have to pay Canadian prices again. The stylist was quite good. I think there is an advantage here because they have experience working with Asian hair. Kathy told me that he was puzzled as to why I couldn't speak Chinese when I looked Chinese though. Ha ha ha.

A comment about the definition of female beauty here. I was amazed at the number of skin whitening products on the market. They sell these face masks (the ones with holes for your eyes, nose and mouth) and even have treatments to lighten your colour. Having a paler face is a traditionally held view of beauty. Maybe it has something to do with purity. I tried to explain to some of the students that in the West women want to look darker because it looks healthier. They asked if it was true that you sit under lights. Yeah, it does sound kind of foolish when I try to explain why people would cause their skin harm to get a darker colour.

We're going cell phone shopping today with Jerry. We feel that you can't be in China without a cell phone. Don wants one that he can write Chinese characters. He thinks it'll be amusing to text random characters to people. Stay tuned.

J xoxo

Hockey Night in Jinan

Some of Don’s students helped organize a language festival on Friday and invited Rob, Don and me. We didn’t really know what to expect but having done the English Corner last weekend, we thought that we would just be chatting. Boy, were we wrong. We arrived in the corner of the basketball court to see it all decorated with balloons and there were tables and chairs set up. There were even loud speakers and I had a feeling that didn’t bode well.

We were warmly greeting by the students who were waiting. Most of Don’s freshman students were there along with students from the Japanese and Russian classes. It was a bit overwhelming (as most things have been here). They were so eager to talk to us, to practice speaking and many many more just wanted to be near enough to listen. Because they already know Don, some were more curious about me. They asked me questions about everything. The most popular question? Do you speak any Chinese? So I impressed them with my stock phrase… “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” I felt like a star because I was surrounded by students who took turns asking questions.

We were persuaded to perform. Yeah, we were warned beforehand but were confident that we would be able to talk our way out of it. Unfortunately, for me, Rob and Don are suckers when there’s a captive audience and microphones. They started our “performance” with a 10 minute dialogue on hockey. Remember, as you watch the video below, that this is totally unrehearsed.

You can’t talk about a hockey game without referring to the national anthem. See what happens next below. Please forgive us for the mangling of the lyrics though.

We had a great time at this event and look forward to doing more… but maybe without the performance.

Mexico en la piel

Church bells. I miss the sound of church bells. We're hearing lots of fireworks here but no Mexican church bells. Instead we console ourselves with Spanish music. It is often playing in the background here. It’s in fact playing as I write this entry. Those of you who have been following our adventures will have noticed that Mexico was a bit easier for us.

One of the students asked me if coming to China has felt like coming home. I am sad to say no. China has been quite a different experience so far. Everything about it has been tinged with strangeness but also a touch of familiarity at the same time. Thanks to my parents and extended family, I have maintained a bit of my heritage but just enough to not get too freaked out by all the sights and sounds.

I feel like a foreigner here. While people don’t stare at me as much as they do at Don, I feel out of place all the same. To emphasize this point, I find myself using “they” more often than “we”. Is that not strange? Considering the way I look?

Wherever we go, we are Canadians first but having spent such an amazing time in Mexico we definitely feel an affinity there now. We left such good friends back in Querétaro. They have helped shape incredible memories and leaving them has left a big hole in our hearts. We miss their warmth on a daily basis. We miss greeting them in that Mexican way. We miss speaking Spanish or “blah blah blah” in my case. We miss hearing Spanish. We have used Spanish here to talk when we’ve wanted to discuss something in private but are surrounded by 50 people on a crowded bus. I’ve even used it in the classroom when the students have asked me to speak Chinese (my dialect of Cantonese). They reacted like it was another language so I broke into Spanish because it might as well have been that or any other foreign language. This were this close to applauding. Trained monkey, I am. Talk, I must. ... in my best Yoda voice... :)

English Corner

Trista organized an English Corner at the Changqing campus of the university yesterday. We took a one-hour bus ride to the outskirts of Jinan. We got to see a community made up of newer university campuses. Because the land for expansion is unavailable around the universities in town, many have built newer, bigger campuses outside of the city centre. Hence, university row was born. The open spaces, wide roads with little traffic, spacious sidewalks and the clean air pleasantly surprised us. It almost reminded us of Canada. If it weren’t for the fact that it is inconvenient to shop for necessities and food out here, this campus would be more attractive for us to teach at.

For us, a day is not complete unless we have good food. We had a great day today since we stopped to have a delicious lunch at a Korean restaurant in a small mall dedicated to the student populations nearby.

English Corner capped off our great day. It’s an opportunity for the students to interact with native speakers and practice speaking. We had a good turnout of students who were very curious about us. They asked us questions like: Can you tell us about Canada and its culture? What do you think of China? Where else would you like to go in China? Have you adjusted to life here yet?

We also participated in naming a couple of them who wanted to have English names. Being an English teacher here gives you the power to name grown people. In order to give them a choice, Rob, Don and I would look at the student, ask a few questions like what’s your favourite letter or what do you like to do in your spare time and then offer our suggestions. They got to choose. We’re happy to announce the birth of “Sophia” and “Damon”. If they’re anything like some of our other students though, they may not keep them forever but we had fun coming up with the suggestions.

Click here for more of our pics:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/22798130@N07/A6BD03

Confucius

The university arranged a trip to Qufu yesterday for the foreign teachers. So off we went in a small bus, a couple of Danish students studying here for a semester, their teacher, his wife and their visiting family (son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren), the Russian teachers and the Canadian contingent.

We travelled 2 hours to get there and we were able to catch a glimpse of the landscape outside the bustling city of Jinan. Everywhere, there were rows and rows of apartment buildings, and factories. We also saw many farmers tending to their terraced land.

The highways that we traveled were full of transport trucks laden with goods. Three things we noticed that were different than Canada. First, the idea of slow vehicles keeping right does not exist here. Often, you would see three big trucks blocking all three lanes of the highway but going slower than the speed of traffic. Second, and related to the first, when your vehicle approaches these trucks at high speeds, the only obvious choice is to pass on the right, on the shoulder. Passing on the left did not seem to be common. Third, in Canada drivers tend to shoulder check before making a single lane change. Here, high speed vehicles will swerve from the left hand lane across three lanes of traffic and then pass on the shoulder. What does this all mean? Imagine a cross between a huge convoy of trucks on the 401 and F1 racing. What are you left with? The Chinese highway system. If you think only small vehicles do this, think again. Our bus did it for most of the trip. It truly is organized chaos. Don watched and worried while I slept. Good thing. Don can't wait to get out on the highways again.

Qufu is a growing city too and even the walled area surrounding the birthplace of Confucius is getting modernized. The English tour guide, Ben, led us through many highlights of the grounds: the Confucius Temple, Confucius Mansions, the family living quarters, the gardens and the tomb of Confucius in the Confucius Forest, or family cemetery.

At the forest, Ben gave us a choice to walk or take a trolley bus. We voted to take the bus so that we could see more of the forest because it covers a vast 200 hectares. The Kong family, Confucius’ descendants, has been buried here over the past 2000 years and is still being buried there today. We saw a small group there honouring their ancestor and our cart drove by as a woman was bowing deeply to the ground while on her knees. This sight was both fascinating and comforting to me. I don’t ever remember seeing people bow so deeply before, head to the ground. It was comforting because I understood the tradition, having done that at my own ancestors’ graves.

All along the way there were vendors who enthusiastically called out “Hello” in near perfect English. I never heard more than that from most of them though. There were hundreds of stalls selling mostly the same products though. The most popular were stamps they could carve your name on and there would be signs advertising “Finalworkcompletin5minutes”, all one word, every single one of them. The only thing that changed was the amount of time and one would have to assume the quality of your name. We were also treated to lunch at a modern hotel and during lunch they even had a show.

Our overall impression was that much of the original beauty of this place was destroyed and we were seeing mostly replicas. Still, we enjoyed the outing and the relative tranquility the town offered.

Click here to get to our pics from the day.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/22798130@N07/owF497

Bureaucracy

In order to stay in China for the year, we have to apply for a residence visa. Part of the requirements for the application is a medical exam. Today, Sam (another very important person in our lives here because he coordinates many things and generally takes care of any issues we have) took us to get the exams. While we had some anxiety about the process, it actually wasn't as bad as we had imagined.

The driver took us to a medical building. On our way there, we saw more of the city and all the construction going on. The city just goes on in all directions and seems to be in a constant state of change, either being demolished or being constructed. There are hi-rise apartments and massive office towers everywhere... and of course, traffic.

Sam had prepared all the necessary paperwork and was there at the beginning to get us started. Thankfully, there wasn't much of a lineup in front of us. When Rob went, he was stuck behind a huge group. The process involved going to all these separate little stations and you got processed at each one by undergoing a different examination. Sam accompanied us on a couple of the first ones, getting our blood pressure checked by a machine and then another machine took our height and weight. Then he surprised us by giving us hurried instructions on what other exams we needed and where to go. Then he left us to our devices while he went off to start the paperwork for our Foreign Expert document.

So off we went, all the while laughing because we were supposing how we would answer crucial questions or follow instructions in Chinese. To make things extra funny, Sam had just told us that he's given us Chinese names (i. e. Chinese characters that sound like our English names. He hadn't thought that I would already have my own and since he used them on our employment contracts, we decided to just go with my new Chinese name). At these "stations", they were calling us up by our new Chinese names. We would just be huddled with the other people waiting. You have to remember that there is never a lot of space where it's needed most here. So at one place, the technician actually pointed at the photos on our package.

Oh yeah, we had to go get passport sized photos for these documents. That was a whole other adventure. Sam wrote down what we needed in Chinese and we went over to a nearby store to get it done. While motioning got us the photos, our next hurdle was going to be finding out when they would be ready. Thankfully, there was a young girl there who translated "tomorrow afternoon" for us. We paid 10 Yuan ($1.30 Cdn) for a total of 8 photos. A bargain compared to the $20 we paid in Canada for our 4 photos.

So for 2 hours, we went from one "station" to the next carrying our package. Imagine it as a thin booklet and after each assessment, they write their report. It felt like we were traveling to different strange countries and getting our stamps. In all, we gave our blood and urine samples, had an ECG and ultrasound done, got x-rays, and had our eyes examined.

The eye exam was particularly enjoyable. We were surprised that we could keep our glasses on during the "exam". From the look on the technician's face, I think he wasn't doing the analysis whole heartedly. I had my old prescriptions on so even with my glasses, I guessed. Don was standing on the other side of the glass willing the right answers to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't sense the right answers and continued to give wrong answers. Oh well. I think I passed anyway.

Now, we just have to wait for the results of the blood and urine analysis and then we can go to the police station to register our residence.

The worst part of this whole morning for me was that I had to fast. So from the delicious dinner last night on, I had no food or drink until after the exams. Thank goodness it didn't take too long!

J

Hot & Spicy

We went out to dinner with Lilan, Jackie and Bart from the International Office last night. By the way, sorry for cutting your face off, Rob. I wasn't drunk. I think I was just so excited about the food. Anyhoo, these nice new friends are an important part of our support system here and they have been great at getting our problems resolved.

Lilan picked Rob, Don and me up after class and drove us to a nice Sichuan restaurant in a part of Jinan that we hadn’t been to yet. It’s nice to get out of our small comfort zone. We are getting more familiar with our little area of the city but even in our neighbourhood, there are still many more things to discover.

Sichuan food is famous for its spiciness and the dishes we had last night did not disappoint. Lilan ordered a few of the most popular for us to try. There were 2 huge pots of shuizhu yu (boiled fish in a fiery sauce or oil with lots of peppers and spices), gongbao jiding (spicy chicken with peanuts), ganbian sijidou (dry-fried green beans), a dish with a variety of seafood, tripe and other ingredients in a broth, and a fried corn dish. It was all very tasty. Rob & Don had some surprising numbing effects from the Sichuan peppercorns after chewing them on purpose and then enjoyed the aftertaste of detergent. Bart said, when he noticed Don doing it, that people don't normally eat them. A little too late :(

A couple of things I am noticing here about dining out. First of all, you have to bring your own serviettes usually so everyone carries little packets of tissue that often doubles for serviettes or toilet paper. Lilan says you can buy the packets at that restaurant. The other thing here is that rice is not offered unless you ask and you only really ask at the end of the meal if you are still hungry. None of this getting full on rice, just the good stuff!

J

Favourite Images From Our Year in Mexico

Enjoy!

I knew that China would be different but Wow!

I knew that China was different before I came but not this different. Even the name of their language. When we were talking about coming here everyone wanted to know if June spoke the right Chinese, Mandarin or Cantonese. Here even the third year English students, who have a very high level of English, have not even heard of these terms. We had to teach them the names for their languages in English.


Yesterday our friend wanted to buy a cellphone. How hard can that be? You choose the model go up to the cash and pay. Well it is not that easy! First of all remember that there is NO ENGLISH here at all apart from the occasional hello. I'm not just talking about clerks who can speak English. I mean signs, descriptions, manuals, price tags or anything else that you would normally use to decide on a purchase. It came down to the color and the price for us. As we had no way of knowing or even finding out the features of each model. It would have come down to some form of coolness scale to decide. And we wouldn't even know if the phone would have any English menus.

So we needed help from one of his students . The selection here for phones is vast, mind numbing and even intimidating. We went to 4-5 different stores all with more cellphones then all the Rogers and Bell Centers in Ottawa combined. It was dizzying. One of the stores had glass display everywhere and behind every inch of the displays were clerks. There was at least the 50-100 clerks and they all wore suits. After a successful shopping day for our friend we went out for lunch.

Well the shopping must have triggered our appetites because we wanted food! Of all the types of Restaurants available here, albeit mostly different types of Chinese, our new friend chose in her words "western food". You know like the old joke "What do they call Chinese food in China? Food." We ended up at a Brazilian BBQ with all you can eat roast meat on a skewer. Yummmm! There were no chopsticks there and we noticed that the poor girl appeared to be struggling. When asked she said it was because she had never used a knife and fork before. She is 20 - 21 years old!

To my friends in Mexico you know that it took a long time for me to feel comfortable hugging and kissing my female friends and students. Now that I am more or less comfortable with it everything changes. In China when I greet my female students, co-workers or friends there is no hugging, kissing or even shaking hands. That kind of contact just doesn't happen here. I tried originally to just shake hands when introduced but that was awkward and uncomfortable for the Chinese so I stopped.

Speaking of Mexico. We saw a place with the name Mexican. We were full of hope that it was a restaurant but no it was a store selling purses and wallets. Oh well it still made for a good photo op.
Talk to you all real soon.
Don

Independence

In the first days here, we didn't do anything without Rob. He took us on the bus, showed us how to pay, where to pay, how to push and shove our way onto the bus and where to go to buy essentials. Yes, I said push and shove. The bus could be empty and people would still rush on without regard to the size or age of the person next to them. It's funny watching people my size push Don.

On Saturday, we ventured out by ourselves. We took the bus to get some groceries and even managed to get back here. It's hard to orient ourselves when the signs on the roads and stores are all in Chinese. There are some road signs marked with English but the names are not that easy to remember at the moment because they are names like "Ji Shi Lu". For now, it's also hard to pick out landmarks. I'm sure that'll change.

Last week, I managed to get our water dispenser refilled. We get water delivered with the help of the building's superintendent, Mr. Huo. Unfortunately, he doesn't speak English. Through the universal sign of talking on my imaginary phone and showing my empty water container, he understood that we needed more water. A nice lady came by very shortly after and with more gestures I paid for the water and sent her on her way with a xie xie. Misson accomplished.

The street right outside of our apartment complex is filled with vendors selling household items, clothing and more importantly food. We went out for a walk yesterday to take a look at the offerings and finally decided on a stall to try. We bought these round cakes that looked like pancakes. Problem was we only wanted 4 but ended up getting 8. Oh well. The other problem is we didn't know how we should be eating them so we put peanut butter and jam on them. I think there's a better way so we'll have to ask. Don had the brilliant idea of asking one of his students to walk with us up and down the street and explain the various food options to us. Can't wait. It'll save us buying from a different stall each time we go out just to try everything.

There is one stall that we know to avoid though. It is obviously marked by the smell. There is a delicacy here called Stinky Tofu. Before we came, I thought that I'd like to try it. People say that if you can get over the smell, the taste is great. I cannot see me overcoming the smell. I haven't been able to come up with a proper description yet since I plug my nose as soon as I figure out it's near. We'd be walking along, la la la and then wham, it hits you. Don says it's the worst thing he's smelled and that it just crawls down your throat and punches your stomach. In his opinion, there are so many other good smelling things out there so why eat stinky things. Wise man!

J

Cornalicious!

This is something I picked up at the store the other day. A - Because Rob was making some lewd remarks. B - It just looks too darn interesting to pass up.

I tried it yesterday. Watch the video for my review.

In the interest of adventure, I think we'll be buying at least one "odd" thing every shopping trip.

Grocery shopping is going to be an experience here since the packaging is sometimes not very helpful in conveying the product. We are grasping onto brand names we recognize to buy what we need.

We were in a department store the other day and the 3 of us were puzzled by an appliance. It was positioned under a gas cook top. It pulled out like a small drawer, had racks in it like a dishwasher but was not obviously a dishwasher. The brochures didn't help either since it just showed a woman relaxing, presumably because she didn't have to do what this product was helping with. I still feel an impulse to buy it though cause it was shiny. I'll have to ask someone about this.

We're off to shop on our own this afternoon and we're even going to try the bus. Wish us luck.

(Sorry I had to remove the video so I could post new ones.)

J