What They Said

I was reading old entries from my journal from before I left Canada for China and I thought I'd share this one with you over a couple of posts.

"Wow, not only is China not in the same province or country, it's not even in the same hemisphere. Now your parents are actually gonna miss you."

Let's Go Fly a Kite

It's been the perfect weather for flying a kite. An added bonus is that the location of the school provides us with a steady wind almost every day. So really, all we need to worry about are the sun and a decent temperature.

And in perfect harmony with the weather, my camera decided to work today.

Chocolate

Today I had a craving for chocolate. A rumbly in my tumbly, if you will.

This is a very normal occasion for me and wouldn't normally deserve a mention. But today it came with the very distinct feeling that this could be remedied - my spidey senses were tingling, if you will. That I quite possibly actually had some of this particular piece of heaven in my presence.

But this is an impossible notion.

When it is near me, the very idea of chocolate is a paradox: if there is chocolate, there actually really is no chocolate.

Because I'll have inhaled it.

Anyway, the point is, I just spent the last little while turning my room upside down to see if I can disprove my own "chocolate paradox" theory.

Turns out I can't.

Detergent II

So, I managed to flood the sink area of my room when I forgot to the turn the water off while doing laundry...

Oops.

Just Another Day

Dealing with classes of 40+ kids all aged 7 or 8 can get a little hectic.

Sometimes they don't listen. Sometimes they don't understand. Sometimes they feel rebellious. Sometimes they simply don't care.

Because they're little kids one can expect them to get into fights over - what seem to me - the littlest things; break into tears at the drop of a pencil; randomly decide it'd be funny to scream all their answers at the top of their lungs in a pitch only dogs should be able to hear.

Considering all of the above, it was really just a relatively normal class in which a broken computer, unruly class, nose bleed and sob-fest were involved.

The class started like it usually does: I was welcomed with a chorus of cheers and greetings when I first walked in. The thing is, they didn't stop after a minute like they usually do. No, it took a good five minutes for me to get them calmed down.

When I moved to the computer to start the lesson, the machine just decided it would be fun to have a "let's make Natalya's life miserable and unmanageable" day by not working. The computer is entirely in Chinese so when it gave me options I had to just guess at which might get me on the right track.

Meanwhile, the class is getting impatient and the kids are starting to get loud again. I don't really blame them, they'd been getting stir-crazy with the rain keeping them indoors.

Eventually I had the computer fixed and the class relatively calm before one of my students stood up in utter shock and confusion: there was blood all over his desk and hands and an impressively steady stream was pouring from his nose.

I told him as best as I could - considering the language divide - to talk to his homeroom teacher in the office and get cleaned up. He turned around with blood dripping onto the floor - marking his path to the door where he grabbed the handle with great ceremony and both bloody hands, yanked it open and left. I had a girl follow him to make sure - while his head was tilted back - he didn't walk into anything and end up with more blood.

Eventually he returned with a wad of tissue stuck up his nose and joined in the games as if he hadn't just nearly drowned in his own blood.

Shortly after the blood fiasco, two girls started bawling. I have no idea what happened. The only thing I could understand through their gasping, sobbing explanation (said entirely in Chinese) were the emphatic, accusatory fingers pointing at the boy in front of them.

At this point I officially decided this was far too much drama for a 35 minute class and chose to forego the lesson I had actually planned and we played games instead.

Sigh. Just another day with the kids.

Detergent

Hmm... Too much detergent for one pair of pants, wouldn't you say?

The Future

Today all 250 grade one students, the teachers and I went on a field trip to the government building down the street.

I'm not sure of the exact purpose of this building, all I really know is that it houses all the government officials of this area and has these really funky dioramas of all the buildings, houses, rivers, trees, rocks, pebbles, homeless people (ok, not really) of our county.

My camera decided to work long enough for me to get a photo of the diorama of how our school should look in the future once ORTS is finally finished.

For a different view:

I Have Proof!

Let this be proof to those of you who don't believe that the Transformers are real. I believed it as a child and this is why I'm not ruling it out now:

Bloomin'

Spring is here. And of course that means all those pretty plants and flowers will start coming into bloom.

This is something I never really, fully paid attention to in Canada. I don't know if it's because I was just a young little thing back then or because plants bloomed so fast and unexpectedly that one day I'd wake up and every tree would be a sudden explosion of green. Maybe I'm keeping an eye open for it this year around because I'm in China and China is known for its magnificent flowers and plants.

Or maybe it's because this is the time of year students are most likely to learn about how plants grow.

Clearing the garbage and rocks out of the vegetable garden.

What They Said

I was reading old entries from my journal from before I left Canada for China and I thought I'd share this one with you over a couple of posts.

I love telling people that I'm going abroad, that I'm leaving behind my life of comfort and predictable routine to start a life of new experiences, spontaneity and - most likely - gross miscommunication.

What I like even more are the reactions I get to this news.

Frankly, my dear, it's quite hilarious to see their faces and hear the comments they blurt out without thinking. I think I can honestly state I've seen more looks of disbelief and scepticism in the past few months than I have in my whole life.

And it's awesome.

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the comments that have made me laugh, have scared me, or have made me question the relative sobriety of the commenter.

Some of the comments have been paraphrased.

"A friend of ours who went to China told us he lived off of rice and beer. You like rice and beer."

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Well, our trip is officially ending. We caught a flight down to Shanghai. Figured it would be the best idea because of the huge snowstorm that hit China. Trains and buses were out of whack, not on schedule, the passengers were going stir-crazy and were reportedly violent – besides which the trains were way too packed because of the New Year and the fact that this is the time of year most people travel within China.

The flight was uneventful. We were all proud of ourselves for waking up on time and not missing it like we were so afraid would happen.


The service on the plane was pretty awesome though. It was a relatively short flight and yet we got a full meal with rice and chicken and snacks and a chocolate bar which was quite delicious, even given my propensity for disliking Chinese chocolate.


From the airport to the subway lines of Shanghai there is a train called the Maglev. You might have heard of it. It’s quite famous. It’s the fastest train in the world and is run entirely by magnetic force making it green and clean. It was a short and sweet ride, reaching a top speed of 431km/hr. Like a rollercoaster!


Shanghai itself was fun and is on my personal list of “Favourite Top Three Cities of the World” but I’ll save the details of Shanghai for next time I go back and have batteries in my camera.

It’s rather sad to realize my first backpacking trip is over and while I look forward to the comforts of my regular, steady life back on campus, I think I’d honestly rather do this for a while longer.

I quite like the chaos and not knowing what’ll happen next.

Another year?

Well, I just got a call from the school headquarters.

I have been officially offered a renewal of my contract. And if I'm not entirely happy with this one, they have other schools they'd like to send me to.

They've given me some time to think this over.

Hmmm... food for thought...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve!

Perhaps because we didn’t think things through; or perhaps we’re just not as smart as we give ourselves credit for; or perhaps because we got caught up in the backpacking lifestyle we lost track of time – but whatever the reason – the decision itself was not our most brilliant.

We ended up saving the ultimate tourist event of Northern China to the very last day of our trip that just so happened to be the Chinese New Year.

Thankfully, we had very few problems getting to or in the “Harbin Snow and Ice Big World”.

It’s a park made entirely of ice. Featuring world monuments like the Westminster Abbey, the Acropolis and temples made of ice, from top to bottom, including a fully functional concert stage.

In case you didn’t know, it needs to be cold for there to be ice, and so therefore, it was ridiculously cold. Cold enough that my camera froze and I didn’t get to take as many photos as I’d have liked.





A couple hours later the Chinese New Year’s cheer really began. All day long fireworks were randomly being shot off, on the streets, sidewalks, parking lots, off the tops of buildings. But when midnight started drawing closer there were multiple fireworks going off every 5 minutes on every single block in the entire city.


I am not, in the least, exaggerating.

For about 4 to 5 hours there wasn’t even a tiny lull between fireworks going off.

So far as I know, there are no – or very few – rules or regulations regarding fireworks in China. And New Year’s is the best time to truly discover this.

Nothing Chinese was really open, but good ol’ USABUCKS was, thankfully. So the New Zealander and I rang in the New Year with a couple beers and a walk the long way back to the hotel.

Dear Canadians

I'm sorry for your recent cold weather and the snow you've been getting of the nearly-record-breaking variety.

If it makes you feel any better, out here it is currently sunny and 22°C.

Oh wait... I'm sorry.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

You can tell we’re all getting a little tired and worn out from this trip. We just spent the day within a 5 block radius of our hotel. Taking it easy. Tomorrow will be a big day though. Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year.

I think that if I was to make the rest of my life a backpacking adventure, there are a few things I’d change:

• I’d make a more regimented, logical daily schedule. Nothing that has strictly adhered to but one that will make it so that my first meal of the day is not at 6pm - where I don’t wake up at noon one day, go to bed at 3am and then expect myself to be able to function like a regular human being when I have to wakeup again at 5am. It’s really no wonder we’re starting to feel burned out.
• I’d carry a lighter, comfier bag that has a water bottle holder on the outside.
• I’d set aside one or two days specifically for resting. No expectations or grand adventures. Just a little R ‘n’ R.

There’s an ice bar just down the street from the hotel. The whole entire thing is made of ice: from the walls, to the chairs, to the shot glasses. It’s supposed to be modeled after the Russian stereotypes.

There was no Starbucks in Harbin that we could find. We did, however, find a USABUCKS. We figured we’d take what we could get. Besides, the resemblance between Starbucks and USABUCKS is really quite uncanny.

International Women's Day

Tomorrow, March 8th is International Women’s Day. China is very much on top of this celebration. For the past week and a half I have been teaching the students a song to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine” that goes like this:

You are my sunshine, my dear mommy
You make me happy when I am sad
I want to tell you, how much I love you
I love you mommy, dear mommy

It was mostly written by another teacher with a bit of help from yours truly. It’s simple and easy and meant for the students to sing to their cats. Duh.

This morning the students made their mothers a card and directly after lunch we made dumplings for them to bring home to the women in their lives.

So, do let us follow the Chinese and recognize all those great women, whether they’ve influenced us directly or indirectly, the world certainly wouldn’t be the same without ‘em.

What do I do?

So this is the plant the teacher bought me on the weekend:

Pretty, eh?

So here’s hoping the green thumb skips a generation and I can keep it alive for the 6 months it’s supposed to live for.

This is where you come in.

How do I take care of it? Do I leave it in the sun or is this one of those shade plants? Do I water it? Well, of course I water it, but how often? What’s it called? Do they grow in Canada?

Here’s what I know about it, to help you help me:

• It’s red and green.
• It’s supposed to live 6 months.
• It was bought in China and possibly even made in China.

Grand Hotel

I'm currently writing this on Jiahua Grand Hotel paper. Because that is where I am right now. In the bathtub.

It's actually March 1st, 2008.

I have a confession to make: I've never stayed in a hotel room by myself before. So when I realized I would get a room to myself I got ridiculously and embarrassingly excited. What made this realization so embarrassing is the fact that I have been in China completely cut off from any semblance of my Canadian life, living alone on a campus where the majority of people cannot speak a single word of English – and yet, staying by myself in a hotel is this new, grand adventure.

I can’t remember if in a past post I mentioned that the students and Chinese teachers are so enamoured with me that they’d like to take me home with them on weekends (not an ounce of false modesty in that statement, eh?). I was flattered and figured this would be a good chance to experience the “real China” and not just the touristy western-influenced China – like on my New Year Trip.

I figured right.

One teacher and her husband and her son - who is one of my students – has had me for the whole weekend so far. She has treated my like absolute royalty. The Chinese – I gotta say – are a very giving people.

Yesterday after work and after a brief shopping spree we met up with about 10 of her friends for dinner where every drinking tradition was thrust upon me. The Chinese – I gotta say – are a very traditional people. Honestly, one cannot turn down a tradition without being horribly offensive. No matter how you word it, or what excuse you give.

One tradition in particular is to prove your friendship to another person by each of you chugging three full glasses of beer in a row. Which amounts to a little over a bottle and a half per person. Before every drink you shout “gān bēi” and tip your glass in respect to the other person. This literally means “bottoms up”, so start chugging it down!

Afterwards we headed to a “Western Dance Party” club called Las Vegas. There is nothing western about this club besides the flags at the entrance.

I was the only female of about 5 foreigners in the whole club. Let’s just say I got a lot of attention.

This morning we went to what is essentially a tree farm. We were originally going to go fishing in the lake at the same park but there aren’t any fish at this time of year. There was an army training ground though - that was fun.


We headed to a nursery next, where there were easily over 200 separate greenhouses. After wandering through and looking at so many different beautiful flowers and plants, the teacher bought me potted cacti for my desk and a really gorgeous flower/plant for my room (which will deserve its own blog post later).

After the nursery we spontaneously stopped in at a roadside greenhouse that grew strawberries all year long. Mutant, huge and delicious strawberries.


We went for a hot-pot supper (you put raw meat and veggies into a pot on a boiler that’s in the middle of the table) where I ate about three different kinds of fish, duck tongue and “cow’s husband” (bull).

They reminded me constantly over the weekend that “Chinese people like to eat all animals”. Geez, now Westerners look discriminatory.

On the way back from the teacher getting her hair professionally cleaned (she has a lot of it) we were pulled over by a cop because she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt. That’s two run-ins with the law now since I’ve been in China. You can expect me to be deported soon enough.

We went back to Las Vegas where it was a much better crowd and the teacher and I each won a stuffed dog, literally by jumping up and down.

So now here I am in a bubble bath trying to remember every single detail of the past 34 or so hours.

I have a magnificent life.


Update: the next day she took me to meet her family. Her mother made me dinner and they repeatedly told me they wanted me to continue to be a part of their family. I’m scheduled to eat with them again the next time her sister is in town.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Last night after we got back into Harbin from our "ski trip" (pfft, yeah right) we went to a Korean restaurant for supper where I had the same meal I'd had a couple days earlier.

I have no clue what it was. It was Korean, I'll tell you that much. I think I recognized cucumber in there.

But it was hot.

The whole dish was extraordinarily hot. Like, painfully so. But the good kind of pain. My lips were tingling half an hour after I finished. My nose was running so badly, it ran clean off of my face.

So this lovely hot Korean dish decided to give me food poisoning, which means I'm out for the day.

February 2 - 3, 2008

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Today is slope day! Woo hoo! The climax of our whole trip! The whole reason we’ve been travelling for a week, enduring rabid dogs and police chases and multiple cases of mistranslation.

We were on the bus for two hours, making a stop to get those people without snowsuits a rental. Thank goodness for my funky new suit – there is something off-putting about sharing a suit with possibly hundreds of sweaty people exerting themselves, running up and down hills carrying skis or a board the whole time.

So we finally pull into the parking lot and this is the hill we’re supposed to ski/board down:



Umm… I’m pretty sure I made hills to toboggan down bigger than that in my backyard. How is this the best slope in China? Thank goodness I already know how to board so I’ll only have to spend a short while on this teensy little pimple of a hill.

Not so.

There’s no snowboarding here.

Whaaaat?

They offered us lessons on how to ski, I declined their kind offer because A) I’m feeling a little vengeful for being lied to about snowboarding, so I don’t want to give any more money to this outrage. B) they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese. How were they expecting that to work? C) I’m Canadian. It’ll come naturally to me in a few minutes. Snow sports are inbred in Canadians.

Not so.

I fell my way down the hill a ridiculously high number of times, losing my stick thing in the process and managing to unlock my ski from my boot.

The only upside is that the hill was so small I could easily walk up to the top in a few minutes and fall back down in a few seconds.

When we asked the guide about the bigger hills and when would we get to go to them, he peered at us through his coke-bottle glasses and said that this was it, no more. When we pointed to the mountain directly beside us that had obvious ski slopes on them:



He said they were closed, the conditions weren’t suitable. And besides which, the package we signed up for didn’t offer alternate slopes.

So we resigned ourselves to the puny hill and enjoyed ourselves regardless of the disappointments.



Sunday, February 3, 2008

On the bus ride up we were offered a ride up the mountain to take pictures of the view. Of course we said no - we were going up to ski/snowboard, not look at the landscape and take pictures. Sigh. If only we’d known.

In the end, though, we ended up having a helluva lotta fun ourselves while the rest of the tour group took pictures. There wasn’t a single soul on the slope so the four of us rented a sled and a GT racer and had ourselves some races and contests for several hours. We got creative and tied the two together to see how far down the hill all four of us could make it before wiping out. Not very far, let me tell you. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures as I didn’t want to break my camera.

The rest of the tour group got back and they invited us to join them on a walk up towards the mountain, where after a 20 minute walk we saw this:



A real live slope!?

Whaaaat?

And with a half-pipe?!

Whaaaat?

We weren’t impressed, to say the least.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Today was spent acquainting ourselves with this beautiful ice city and attempting to find warm gear for the skiing/snowboarding/winter-sporting we plan on doing in the next few days.

We got ourselves a sweet deal at a travel agency to go up north another two hours where the best ski/snowboarding hills and resorts of China are. We’ll only stay there for one night. For the first little while of the first day we’ll need to stay on the bunny slope but once we’re finished and ready to move on to more hardcore hills we just need to talk to the guide and he/she will tell us where to go next.

So pumped.

I searched for most of the day and finally bought myself a good quality – if really bright – winter jacket and snow pants. I didn’t find any boots I wanted though. I’ve been stuck with the same Converse sneakers since I first got to China. They really aren’t winter-proof…

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Saying bye bye to Shenyang today and hello to the key destination of our trip. Our mecca. This wonderous city in which it is cold and in which there ought to be snow and more ice: Harbin!

Alas, I have no fun, wild stories to tell for this particular leg of our journey. Now that we’ve got the two relatively fluent travellers with us our lives have become far too easy.

Oh, but the irony: there’s no snow.

At all.

None on the pavement, none on the sidewalks or the roads. None piled up on the curbs from the snow plough. Not even any of that really stubborn stuff that refuses to melt because there’s so much dirt and mud and garbage mixed in with it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (my school): they got over a foot of snow dumped on them. The most they’ve had in record time. The city is not anywhere near remotely prepared for this kind of snow. Pretty much the entire city is closed and huddled up in their homes, unsure of how to approach this much of the fluffy white stuff.

Sigh. Figures.