Easter Without the germs!

Hopefully!!!!! For those of you who have been following this blog you will remember the disaster of the Christmas Party at the language school. It was bad enough to be asked to dress up like Santa but to be surrounded but hundreds of children was not my cup of tea. When we finished we thought that the worst was over but we were wrong. The plague these little infection machines gave us lasted for weeks. I have to report that this time so far so good.

When I was asked to return for the Easter celebration I was a little worried. Is it possible that they found an Easter Bunny outfit that large in Jinan. Delightfully the answer was no. I actually did some teaching and singing and dancing with the kids. No costumes were used during this class. Next I had to take part in Easter Egg decorating. I am not kidding but for the students who didn't have eggs, including me, we decorated ping pong balls. The little kids were wonderful and the new school was very nice. All in all I had a great time. It is off to Beijing this weekend in search of the answer of where next?
Hope you all had a great Easter.

PS Thanks to everyone told us about their Easter dinners with ham, Turkey, and Pumpkin Pie. In China we had fried egg sandwiches. I had a great Easter dinner with June on the couch watching Doctor Who.

Strawberry Fields

Don and I were invited by a group of students to go strawberry picking yesterday. We jumped at the chance to spend a day in the country with them. Funny thing is that we never did this in Canada. We always thought that it was much easier to buy a basket from the roadside.

Great thing about doing anything with students here, they take care of all the details. They heard about this place on the news and thought that it would be a nice outing during this long weekend and it would be less crowded. They looked it up on the Internet and planned how we could get there. Since it would have taken us hours and 3 bus transfer to get out to the strawberry fields, they hired a couple of taxis and negotiated a price. We arrived comfortably in an hour.

Here's an aside. I think Chinese friendships are enviable. Often they make lifelong friendships early, maybe grade school even. School friends are very precious here and they actually keep in contact. The girls we hung out with yesterday are roommates. In university, roommates tend to spend a lot of time together and grow close. Guess if you have to go to ALL of your classes together for four years and you live together, you bond. We spent the day with Alice, Valeria, Addy, Martha and Christina. Unfortunately Sally had to work. Don taught these girls for a year and now I'm teaching them.

Back to our day, we were a bit nervous when we found out that they really didn't know exactly where we were heading. No matter, as long as the taxi driver knew, right? In the cab, we found out he also didn't quite know exactly where the strawberry fields were so he stopped periodically in the villages to ask the locals for directions. As we got closer, we saw the signs so we felt a bit more confident. A guy on a bike finally offered to bring us so we followed him.

When we got out of the taxi, we were greeted with the smell of manure. Ah, brings back memories of Barrhaven (we used to live in a suburb that enjoyed this smell regularly because of the farms nearby). We were led into a greenhouse (1 mud/brick wall enclosed with plastic in a curved shape). Inside, we found rows of strawberry plants. We found out from the farmer that the strawberries were not that big yet because this was a second crop. The first had been harvested during Spring Festival in January / February. We sampled a few anyway and found them sweet. Unfortunately, we had to leave because the girls suspected something was off and found out that this was not where they had intended to go. Apparently, the boy who led us there was trying to intercept unknowing visitors to get some business for these farmers because they were located far from the main area which was still half an hour's walk away. Thankfully, the taxi drivers had parked a little ways off to wait for us so we got back in and drove.

When we finally arrived, there were many similar greenhouses lined up along the road. We walked a bit to visit a few to find one where we wanted to pick. It was a nice warm day (around 20C) so the greenhouses were quite warm inside. We only lasted about half an hour in one building and only picked a small quantity. As we walked along to find another patch, we found a man who was selling strawberry at the side of the road. We decided that, since it was the same price anyway, that we would "pick" his strawberries instead of going inside another greenhouse. So we walked away from his stand with a box each with a lot less work.

After that we headed off to find something for lunch. There were, as far as we could tell, only two options. The first restaurant was unanimously pooh-poohed so we wandered around looking for the second. While we were wandering, we happened across an elderly lady sitting in her doorway. It was a moment begging to be captured. Don, through the girls, asked permission to take a photo of her. They had to yell cause she was hard of hearing, being 91 years old. He took a couple of spectacular images that will definitely grace our wall one day.

After that, we wandered a bit farther down the street and found the other restaurant. Even though the village was small, we still had to ask for directions from the locals. Sure, there was only one main road but there were a few side roads so directions were good. When we arrived at the restaurant, we gladly sat down and enjoyed a delicious lunch. After that, we called for the taxis to return for us. While we waited, we walked around a bit more.

Till then and quite surprisingly, Don did not generate as much interest as I would have guessed. He got a lot of attention during lunch from some little girls in the village but not much before that. However, during our walk after lunch, an older gentleman came walking towards him with an open note pad and asked for his autograph. (See pic below.) He told Don he was welcomed back to the village and even tried to invite us into his home for some water. We politely declined.

Then, a bit later, we were met by a woman who stopped Don to ask "How much?" and motioned towards his box of strawberries. Ha ha! That started a little negotiation and Don had to call on his knowledge of Mandarin numbers to manage. It was hilarious!

We arrived back at school late in the afternoon, exhausted but happy. We had had such a great day in the country with great company. We did have a daunting task ahead though because we had to eat all of the strawberries quickly as they were getting mushy. Guess being bounced around in those boxes all day in the sun is not the best way to transport them. I can imagine the smell of 6 boxes of strawberries in the girls' small dorm room last night and without a refrigerator!

We enjoyed French toast this morning with strawberries. Yum!

A few more of June's pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73374&id=571108357&l=b6a0f1a3a1

Stay tuned for Don's!

Finished with the Dentist?

Well, after three visits to the dentist I'm finally finished. OK I'm not actually finished so let me explain. If you have been following this blog the number of required visits has been steadily increasing. Originally it was two visits then three. Wednesday, which used to be my day off but for the last three weeks has been my dentist visit day, I had my third appointment. We waited for about 1 1/2 hours before we got in to see the dentist. Sam, my normal dentist buddy, was busy so Joy came with me instead. It was the first time I had meet her and having her watch me get dental surgery was really a nice way to start a friendship.

After some drilling, scraping, and pushing some king of metal wires into my tooth it was time for the x-ray. I guess everything looked OK because then the filled in around this wire like you do when you plant a flower. They even packed it down. I was a little surprised when I smelled a match so I had to look. She had a small alcohol lamp and was heating up a small metal probe, red hot. It was a weird sensation when she put it in my mouth, no pain but I could feel the heat. She was melting the exposed parts of the wire. They put in some more filling and told me to spit. A few more words to me in Chinese they all turned to the desk and started to talk about something. I just waited. After a few minutes one of them looked over and was surprised to still see me. I guess they had forgot that I didn't speak Chinese. The dentist told me I was finished.

Finished and I didn't have to come back to see her. YIPPIE. Well you don't need to come back to this office, which kinda put the brakes on my celebration. Yes I now have to return next Wednesday to another office on the 7th floor to get my crown/cap. How long will that take I asked hopefully, 3 more visits, at least. Oh well the total for this trip was the same as last week.

The photo is of my view while they do their work. My old dentist in Ottawa had pictures plastered on his ceiling and it was nice to stare at a photo of a beautiful beach during your visit. No such luxury here.
See you all again next week.
Don

Wedding Day

A couple of Sundays ago, we were heading to the school with the intention to watch some of the female students participating in some activities to celebrate International Women’s Day. We got distracted. On our way there, we stopped to pick up breakfast and stumbled across a crowd of people waiting for something. Down an alley, we saw a group of dancers and noticed that it was a wedding celebration. We decided to wait along with them on the sides of the street.

While we stood there chatting with Jerry, who happened by as we were waiting, some of the neighbours were going about their business. A couple of kids were doing homework on the sidewalk while their parents set up shop for the day. They are the ones hanging belts up. The elderly people stood around and gossiped and some even set up their folding chairs to be more comfortable. It was a nice warm afternoon so we enjoyed our time out in the sun.

After an hour and a half, this was the most exciting thing to happen. We only got a very quick glance at the bride who

was quickly whisked away in the awaiting car. Then the firecrackers were lit. The kids stopped doing their homework to prepare for the impending noise.

p.s. At the end of the movie, I ran away from the edge of the street cause bits of the firecrackers were starting to rain down on us.

What can you buy in China for $50 PART 2

I know that everyone out there is following my dental adventure with great interest. Well today was appointment number 2 and because there was still some pain in the tooth they put in more medicine and replaced the temporary filling. I had to wait about 1 hour for this appointment and the Dentist apologized to me. She said next week just to tell her that I'm there and she will see me first. I say part two because this is stretching out to 4-5 appointments. They gave me some medicine to help with the pain and to clean any infection. Darn internet! Now every time I receive medicine I check out the drug and see what it is for and this time was no different. As far as I can tell it has little to do with infections but I guess I'll have to trust my dentist. Now you may notice the photo above with the endless sea of people. And you are probably wondering if there was a sale, a line for train tickets, or some kind of free give away. If that's what you were thinking then you have never been to a Chinese Hospital Pharmacy. There were hundreds of people pushing their way to the front of the lines and it was organized chaos. The chaos part is clear but the organized part well it took only about five minutes to line up and get my medicine.
Total cost for this trip. 7 yuan to register, nothing to see the dentist, 6 yuan for the medicine, and finally 9 yuan for the taxi home.
TOTAL- 22 yuan or $4 This may not be overly pleasant but at least it is not expensive.
See you next week.
Don

What can you buy for $50 in China?

Hi everyone. What can you buy for $50 dollars in Jinan. Well, a lot; dinner for four at Pizza Hut with drinks, dinner at our local little restaurant for 25-30 people, or all you can eat BBQ and Beer for 6-8 people. What did I buy you might be asking. I bought a 2 1/2 hour intercultural dental experience. What's that? Let me back up a little.

We go out for BBQ every Friday night. It has become a tradition for us and in all of that time I have never found a bone in the meat, until last Friday. I was understandably surprised when I bit down and found a bone in my mouth. I spit it out into a napkin and was about to complain when I noticed that it was metal. A filling and a "Chunk" of my tooth. I felt around inside my mouth and there it was a huge hole in my molar. I was very upset because I don't like dentists at the best of times and I wasn't pleased about going to one that I couldn't understand. June was sympathetic but Rob only wanted to know if I wanted more beer. I didn't as I was in no mood for beer and the rest of the night I was a little down.

By Monday I still OK but I didn't want it to get infected so I made plans to go to the dentist on Wednesday. Sam accompanied me to the hospital, because all things medical take place in the hospital, for my 2 1/2 hours of intercultural dental experience. You pay to register and then with your medical booklet you go upstairs to see the dentist. We got upstairs to find a waiting room half full of people but I didn't have to wait. It's good to be a foreigner sometimes but I wasn't in such a big hurry this time.
The dentist looked at me and I was off to get an x-ray, 20 yuan ($3.50) . Again lines didn't slow me down. It was clean, quick and you get to keep your x-rays. Good thing I'm not planning on children because they don't bother with those pesky lead aprons here. Then I was back to the dentist. Now they don't have private rooms here you are in a large area with what could be described as cubicles. As they were drilling my tooth out there was a steady stream of patients asking the dentist questions, "he's busy right now!" I thought. They don't use the rubber dam in you mouth so all of the little pieces of teeth fill your mouth and instead of suction you spit.

My dentist had to consult with his superiors because he couldn't find the root. I didn't care because they gave me so much freezing that the whole side of my face was frozen even my nose. They even had to bring out a special ultra sonic drill. Then the root canal began in earnest. Off for another x-ray (another 20 yuan) , my little guys were really taking a beating, and I was almost done. One temporary filling later and it was time to pay. The total was just under $54. I have to return next week for the permanent filling but that should be much cheaper. I hope Sam can come with me then because he made everything easier. He translated, organized the driver and booked my appointments. Thanks Sam!

My conclusion after trying the Chinese dental system, well it is clean, efficient, safe, and inexpensive. I would recommend it to anyone who needs work done. It was as much fun as a root canal could be. Of course next time I think I spend the money on the all you eat BBQ and Beer.
Don

P.S. Like all good teachers I used that experience with my class today reviewing words like freezing, cavity, x-ray, filling, and toothache.

Still Here

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since the last entry. We went home to Ottawa for 3 weeks over Chinese New Year and then came back to teach one more semester here. I'll share some pictures from our trip in a later entry but updates first.

We enjoyed our trip home very much. Staying at my parents' had the advantage of good food that we were missing here in Jinan. Amazingly, the food here in the North is very different than what I grew up with. Who would have known?

Back in Ottawa, we were brutally reminded of what "winter" felt like. Brrrrr. I knew there was a good reason that we are living abroad! Thank goodness we had my dad's car or else we would have been housebound thanks to the bus strike in Ottawa. We visited with family and friends, did a bit of shopping and just soaked the clean air. It was a nice change to gain our total independence back. We were able to do everything ourselves. Yay!

Making two trips in less than a month was interesting. Jet lag was not as bad as the first time we did it last year. Rob joined us for the return trip and the three of us made the most of our long journey. After experiencing these mega long flights, the Ottawa to Vancouver portion was a snap. While we waited for our connection to Beijing, we took advantage of the last minute shopping opportunities at the airport. Together, we bought Timbits (ahhhh, the last ones for awhile so they were savoured!), Canadiana souvenirs for gifts and we stocked up on English magazines.

Life has fallen back into a rhythm now that we're finishing our fourth week of classes. Since we've been home, Don and I have both had to go to the hospital. No, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Their medical system is different here. Instead of doctors' offices and clinics, your first stop whenever you don't feel well is the hospital. The quality of the hospital you go to depends upon your ability to pay. Even going to the best hospital in town, it was an experience. The hospital is crowded, you have no privacy and you pay as you do everything. You pay to register as a patient. You pay to buy a booklet (since neither of us had one yet) that records your medical visits history. You pay to get a blood test and any other procedures. Luckily, in our terms, it was extremely cheap. The medicines were also very reasonable. Guess that was the trade off for people (other patients and medical students or other employees) standing all around as you discuss your symptoms with the doctor. There was, of course, more pushing and shoving here too.

While that experience was not too bad, I hope not to report on any more doctor's visits. It's never fun to be ill but really no fun when you can't communicate well with the doctor. Thank goodness for friends to interpret! So anyway, it seems that I'm anemic and because I opted for a less invasive treatment I'm going to be taking it easy for a couple of months. I've had to ask the school to reschedule my classes to a building that is closer to the apartment. I get tired more easily now so walking far for all of my classes would have done me in.

As for Don's adventure to the dentist, I'll let him fill you in on that. Ha ha.

J xo