China in Mourning

Along with the rest of the country, Don observed the moment of silence yesterday in class as the horns and sirens sounded outside. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about it since I was home by that time. Last night, I flicked on the tv only to find the same news feed on almost all of the 60 channels. I didn't know that it was part of the national mourning until I read the CTV news this morning. A nation in mourning means no entertainment programming and the closing of movie theaters for 3 days. When I was out at a department store today, all the employees were wearing yellow ribbons on their sleeves. This evening, I noticed some of the students sporting China's flag in heart shaped buttons. There are also collection boxes everywhere. Don just figured out tonight that he was getting the news free on his cell. Apparently this is related to the earthquake too. The cell phone company, thinking that everyone is eager for news, is sending the feed for free at the moment. Obviously, they hope that people will continue to subscribe to the service after the free period.

The images of the disaster have been unforgettable and heart breaking. Our thoughts are with everyone in that area.

Foreign Experts’ Day

Every year, the government of Shandong province arranges a field trip for the Foreign Experts (a.k.a. foreign teachers) to show their appreciation. Yeah, we really like the title, especially the “expert” part. This year, we visited the city of Linyi. Before we left, the students told us that Linyi is the 3^rd and remaining area in China most likely to be hit by an earthquake. We tried not to let that bother us.

We left Jinan in a convoy of 8 small buses with police escorts, who remained with us for the entire 2 day trip. Now I know how the Prime Minister feels. When we arrived in Linyi after 3 or 4 hours on a modern highway, there was an army of policemen stopping traffic at each and every intersection so that we never had to stop at traffic lights or bother with any traffic. It was hilarious when we crossed one intersection where the policeman had stopped a man and his dog so we could drive by. I felt bad the whole time that the city’s crime rate might have been affected whenever we were on the move. Surely, there was a better use for all that manpower.

The population of Linyi is reported to be 10 million but we didn’t see that many people while we were there. We did see construction at every turn. Tower after tower of apartment buildings were under construction. One of my students told me that the people of Linyi mostly live in the surrounding area. Because the apartments looked rather pricey, I gather they must be for investors and not for the current population. This is definitely a city growing at a quick pace.

We had a busy first day. We visited the Linyi University (the 1st photo is our group looking at a model of their enormous campus). Then we drove through the factories of the Shandong Lingong Construcion Machinery Co. Ltd.(we literally drove through one door and out the other door of one of the factories and never even got off to take a closer look at the heavy machinery, the boys were disappointed). We visited an exhibition of the urban planning of the city (where we say a huge model of the expanding city). We saw a few historic sites: the former residence of Wang Xizhi (a famous calligrapher) and the Linyi Yinqueshan Han Dynasty Tomb where they excavated the original script for Sun Tzu’s Art of War which were written on bamboo slips. The day was capped off with a concert at the Linyi Normal University.

The highlight for us was the next day, for different reasons. Our first stop that morning was the Immense Beer Co.. The itinerary had that planned for 7:30 a.m. so I was a bit concerned. Thankfully, the time was our departure time and the plant was a couple of hours away. The boys were very happy at the beer plant because they enjoyed samples. However, since our next stop was a primary school, I was worried that we might show up as a bunch of drunken and loud foreigners. Who thought that visiting a beer factory was a good appetizer for a primary school visit? Thankfully, we showed up sober at the school but an hour late. Imagine how hard it was for the organizers to tear people away from free beer.

We were warmly received in this little village. The older people were all standing outside to check out the foreigners. Inside the yard, the children were all lined up according to height. We brought along with us some donations of toys, school supplies and money for this needy school. As I looked at their faces, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through their minds as we descended on them. Some of us must have looked like giants to them.

We finished off the trip with a hike in the Menshang National Forrest Park. After seeing some of the natural beauty of China, we are looking forward to seeing more this summer.

We plan on posting more pics from this trip so stay tuned.

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary by going out for a lovely dinner. This is no small task for us here, going out for dinner. We haven't been able to eat out at restaurants much because we're basically illiterate.

The Chinese food that we're used to in the West is mainly Cantonese style. The food I'm used to at home is also Cantonese style since my family comes from the Canton region. The cuisine in the northern part of China is quite different so we've been craving more familiar dishes.

We learned of this Cantonese restaurant in town and was happy to hear that it had English AND photos in the menus. Bonus! We took the bus to a newer area of Jinan and walked along clean, tree-lined streets to get to the Shandong Hotel. The Cantonese restaurant was one of 3 restaurants at this fancy hotel. They also had a Brazilian BBQ and a Western restaurant (whatever that means).

We had a nice dinner with attentive servers. We didn't get to pour our own tea once! Don was supposed to have gone to a football game that evening. He was able to catch glimpses of it at the restaurant because they had the game on in the restaurant and then again on the bus on the way home. Yes, they have tv's on some of the buses here. We had a nice, independent evening and even got to take home leftovers - Chow Ho Fun :)

Safe and Sound

Thanks to all of you who have been checking in on us. We've spent the last couple of days replying to emails. We didn't feel any of the effects of the recent earthquake. In fact, we didn't know anything until a few hours after it had happened. The students received news of the earthquake from their friends and families through text messages. Fortunately, as far as we know, none of our students have been personally affected by this tragedy.

We found out online more details and learned where the epicenter was. We're surprised that the effects could be felt in Beijing, which is north of us and farther away from the earthquake.

Our hearts go out to everyone in that region.

Climbing Hills and Doing Laundry

We did some sightseeing in town over the long weekend. We have seen this ridge of hills since we arrived here but hadn't had a chance to investigate. We didn't have any idea where we had to go to climb them so just headed in the direction of the hills. We found the steps going up towards this monument easily.

There were nice steps all the way up the hill and the kids had some extra fun.




We managed to enjoy some moments of peace, between the small groups of people or couples climbing. If but for a few seconds, we could imagine being out in the country, in the woods. Oh, another funny thing. Couples like to wear identical t-shirts here and the men often carry their partner's purse. So I have to chuckle when I see a guy carrying a big shiny silver bag that absolutely does not go with his outfit.

Here I am whining something like "How much futher?"

















Here I am, happier cause we're at the top of one of the hills AND there's ice cream inside.












Laundry

How do you do laundry when you can't read the instructions on the washing machine? or on the package of soap detergent?

Well, I've used my "new best friend", the electronic dictionary to translate the buttons on the washing machine. It's easier cause I have some idea what to expect but I can't imagine what it'd be like if I'd never used a washing machine before.

I wanted to buy some detergent for white clothes the other day. I recognize the character for white so I bought some Tide (because that's the only brand I recognized and the nice people at Tide have brainwashed me). It's gotta be good since there are these helpful pictures on the back too. Thank goodness for pictures. At least I have a chance to guess some meaning!

Sirens, Neighbours, Goats

Sirens

We heard sirens outside Saturday morning and tried not to get too worried. If it were warning us of something, how would we know? Thankfully, Rob sent us a timely text message to reassure us that it was just a test of the system. Another question now comes to mind, what would they be warning people about?





Neighbours
Around the same time that was happening, we noticed a gathering outside of the building behind us. At first, we thought that it was just the neighbours getting together to enjoy the nice weather. Unfortunately, it became apparent that they were there to observe the passing of a family member. These colourful displays are deceptive, aren't they? It rained heavily Saturday night so they made the tent on the left side of the photo. All day and all night, the men were gathered around outside the building. One evening, I noticed that they were playing cards. I read that people gather in the courtyard to guard the deceased and that gambling helps keep the guards awake. They were there for 3 days.














Goats

I saw these goats on campus yesterday. Don't know where they come from but somehow it's not a surprise anymore. We've often seen donkeys or horses pulling carts on city streets too.

p.s. I updated a couple of the previous posts with some pics.

Winter, Spring and Summer

In the short time we've been here, we have now experienced 3 seasons. Suddenly, it's summer. I think Spring only lasted a few days. Last week, we were still wearing our fleeces but now we're in our shorts.

As you can see above, the men in this area are not shy about doing everything they can to keep cool. This is one of the guys at our favorite bbq place. We were there Friday night and witnessed a ritual that caused me to laugh and to stare in horror at the same time. As the evening wore on, every time I looked up, there were more shirtless guys all around me. I didn't know where to look! The bbq guy was particularly funny since he was doing his best to encourage patrons to strip their shirts off. We watched as he took a guy's shirt off over his head (the one in the background whose shirt is already half off) and then was further amused when a small boy showed off his belly as he was saying goodbye to bbq guy.

Rob had warned us that the men here liked to roll their shirts up past their belly to cool off but it is a sight that has to be seen. We've seen shirts rolled up to show many different belly sizes now. We have even seen pant legs rolled up to show nice dress socks that may or may not match the outfit. I'm a bit worried though cause it gets much warmer here. What the heck am I going to see before the summer is over?

J :)