Guess who received mail?

I did and I am extremely excited. I did not even have to race my sisters to the mailbox for it. The lady just handed it to me at my desk. Of course I put down my lesson planning and opened both letters right away.
Currently, I am sitting on the roof top enjoying the faint sounds of the city quieting down for the evening and the patio garden that someone has lovingly cared for. The moon is shining but the starts are not visible due to the city lights. Every now and then, a bat will swoop down but is off again as fast as it came. It is perfect temperature up here, approximately 28 degrees celsius with a light breeze. I could sleep out here if I was guaranteed that it wouldn’t rain. The weather here changes within minutes. At one moment it will be cloudy and grey and the next time I lift your head up from behind the paperwork it is raining

...pause .... I just gave a poor chinese women the scare of her life. She did now know that anyone was on the roof top let alone a foreigner madly typing away on her laptop. We spent about 3 minutes trying to converse in our native tongue realizing that we were not getting any where so she left. Moments later she returned with paper and pen and proceeded to write down what she was trying to tell me in Chinese characters. I am afraid my Chinese reading is worse then my speaking. Not that my speaking ability can carry on a decent conversation or any conversation for that matter. I asked, or gestured to her, if I could keep the paper and have my roommates translate it for me. I think she understood because I know have a message in hand an am waiting anxiously for my roommates to return home from school.

... now where was I, oh yes the weather. Last night we had a quite the thunder and lightening storm. I woke up and watched it for several minutes. I asked my students if they also woke up form the storm and they did not even know that it had rained. I think they study and work so hard that by the time their head hits the pillow

The lady went about her evening tai chee exercises while I finished writing.

I have been having problems with e-mails and I am not sending everyone blank e-mails on purpose. I just wrote with invisible ink, you have to use a decoding device. No, no, no, apparently, my computer at my office pretends to send e-mails but it really doesn’t, so I will see if I can try another method.

Exhausted

I am exhausted after a full day of teaching, aerobics, English corner, and dance class. So I leave you with this: Chinese + English = Chinglish. Chinese characters translated literally into English sentences it allows for unique and humorous statements.

Gotta love the freshness of all that fruit. Strolling through the market is a great way to observe the culture and to gain a glimpse of the types of food they eat. Lots of familiar things that are characteristic of any market, apples, grapes, pineapple, bananas, and oranges. Also, lots of tropical fruits such as durian, dragon fruit, pineapple, star-fruit, mangos, and some unfamiliar fruit. Inside the warehouse the vendors display their fresh vegetables, seafood, and meat. There are so many different types of leafy greens, onions, and mushrooms that I wouldn’t know even where to start. Chinese people like to know that their food is fresh so there are many live animals that are available to guarantee freshness. Styrofoam containers hold fresh clams, crabs, shrimp, fish, frogs, and many other sea and fresh water creatures. There are a few stalls that have large glass containters filled with all sorts of dried Chinese herbs and teas.

Enjoy the view, through the smog

The city goes on forever but the sun is unable to shine through the blanket of smog. Somedays I wish I could see the blue sky with white puffy clouds the ones where you can see bunnies and sailboats. I realized how dirty it is here in China when I return to my cubical office Monday morning, after a weekend of window shopping, to find a fine layer of dirt that had settled on my desk. It makes sense why it is custom here to wear house shoes or slippers because the tile floor is never truly clean and white socks would have black soles.
Oh, and did I mention that every nook and cranny smells like mothballs. Every time I open a cupboard or a drawer, whether it is in my apartment or in one of the classrooms at school, I am greeted with this unpleasant waft. Fortunately, this oh so wonderful fragrance dissipates quickly until the next time you open cupboard. I have tried airing out my closet but it didn't make I difference. I just hope that I am not walking around smelling like mothball while I am teaching.

I have to judge what?

A printing contest. Each student had to copy a passage using their best possible printing. There will be 10 first place winners, 20 second place winners, and 30 third place winners out of a total of 650 students, and you get to be the final judge. Fortunately, I did not have to sift through all 650 papers just 120. Do you know how hard it was to make a decisions especially after working in the Scrapbooking store where I have read several articles and books dedicated to handwriting. Well, I completed my official duty and the top ten students will be informed of their prize in the next couple of days, probably a new pen because they ran out of ink practicing for the competition. The students have very unique printing, the picture is a poor example, but many of the students add an extra loop to the top if their ‘i’ and ‘y’s also they like to make their ‘f’s have extra long tails. First thing on the agenda for tomorrow is marking the student’s writing compositions of their ‘dream house’. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to give out a writing assignment so early in the term, but I did. My desk is covered in little English composition books and my goal is to have them all marked by the end of the day. They do not have binders or duotangs but these little 20 page books booklets with cartoons on the cover for their work. I will keep you posted about my progress. Also, if you look closely at the printing contest sheets of paper you will notice 4 ledger lines to write on. The red line is the base line where most of the letters will be positioned. There are two black lines above and one black line below the red line to help guide the height of the letters. How can your printing possible go wrong with everything so structured. So much for the blue dashed line dividing lines. The students whose paper is in the center of the photo had their paper upside down for his composition, so disregard that one as an example.

Motorbikes and honking

So many people and so many motorcycles.There are about the same number of motorcycles as there are cars here and if it is too busy on the road to drive then why not drive on the sidewalk and honk at the pedestrians. Oh, and why not squish two adults and two children onto a motorcycle because it is much more convenient than a car. There helmets look like a flimsy version of a hard hats and would likely fall off in the event of an accident but this is there most common mode of transportation. Cross walks, or 'Zebra roads', don’t really mean stop for pedestrians, just be aware of them. You really have to study the traffic, much like a surfer studies the waves. Once you make your move don’t second guess yourself or hesitate because there is no time for that. The people here do not even flinch as a vehicle crosses their path within inches from them. It is also not uncommon to be honked at several times if you are in the car or motorcycles way. At first, I was surprised at how much honking there was and it seemed like they just wanted to add their two bits to the noise pollution. If he can honk, then I can honk too, adding to the viscous cycle of honking chaos.

Dumplings 101

Haul out the bamboo steamer because it is time to make Cantonese pork dumplings. Okay, so if you don’t have a bamboo steamer a vegetable steamer will do. A successful dumpling cook off must include 3 Chinese teachers, one Foreign teacher, a willing husband to take photos, two teenage girls to run to the store for more ingredients and several steamers. First, prepare the filling. This step was prepared in advance before the dumpling cook off began, but as far as I could tell the filling included ground pork, minced ginger, shredded carrots, wild mushrooms, and corn kernels. Next, place a round siu mai wrapper (won-ton wrapper) in the palm of one hand and place 1 heaping table spoon of filling in center of wrapper. Folding the dumpling is tricky but with practice you will become a pro. Gently pressing the edges together in a fan like pattern gives the dumpling its unique shape and prevents the innards from escaping. Steam dumplings for 15-20 minutes and serve with soy sauce or spicy chilly pepper, sesame, and peanut sauce. Dumplings are my new favorite food and must be eaten with chop sticks and soy sauce.

Wow! What a busy weekend

This weekend was filled with non-stop movement. It all started when Deanna, the one and only other foreigner in Foshan, (she is from SFU and this is her second term teaching in Foshan but she is at a different school) and I hopped aboard the bus headed for Guangzhou with our to go breakfast from McDonalds. 45 minutes later we started our walking marathon and headed to Ersha Island, home to the National rowing team. 20 sport stores, 3 schools, 12 security guards, 1 police car, 2 other foreigners, several beautiful homes, and 3 hours later we still had not spotted any rowing boats out on the water practicing so we finally ended our search. Our new search now included lunch and course it also included some browsing through shops along the way. Lunch at McDonalds and then back on the Underground to Bejing Lu for an afternoon of shopping and bargaining. We joined the crowds and braved one of the busiest pedestrian streets in Guangdong. There are so many corridors and tiny shops to explore it is no wonder we spent almost 5 hours strolling down the street. I ended up buying some boots and a coat. Our very sore legs managed to carries us to the bus station to catch the bus back to Foshan our final destination. My whole body was so sore by the time I flopped into bed at 11:00. My calf muscles and the bottoms of my feet are begging me not to move them another inch. In total we walked over 11 hours with only a short break for lunch.

On Sunday Fish invited me to join her family for an outing to Gaoming, the countryside, It was a nice drive. We stopped at several villages along the way and passed many farms. Fish insisted that we get close to the cow for a picture, I on the other hand noticed that it was watching us very carefully. I was fascinated by the rice husking machine. A contraption that was wheeled form home to home to shell the families rice. On our drive home we passed through the Furniture material city of China. A 20 km stretch of furniture factories and stores. I have never quite seen so many stores selling chairs. Trucks were everywhere transporting mattresses, sofa innards, chair legs and all sorts of odds and ends from store to store. We stopped and looked around at the display center. It was 7 floors high with furniture from every style imaginable, Turkish, European, Chinese, African, Indian,... They probably even had Canadian although I am not sure what we would classify as Canadian furniture. Fish informed me that I need to return to China in a few years and become a business women buying furniture to sell back in Canada. The furniture was really stylish and there are several pieces that I could have easily bought if I had my own place to decorate and if I could transport them home easier.

So many new types of food

I joined the 6 other Senior 1 English teachers for a staff meeting this morning. This is not your typical BC teachers type staff meeting. I was informed that we were going out for tea and would be engaging in teacher talk at the restaurant. Little did I know that having tea also involved having a full course meal at 8:30 in the morning. I should not have had that bowl of porridge before I left my place. First I have to let you know that it is the Chinese culture to sit at round tables with an elevated turn table in the middle. The food is placed on the turn table and you turn the table until the desired dish is in front you. Serving spoons! What are serving spoons? They are unheard of, everyone just uses their own chopsticks to dish up the food into your little bowl. So bring on those chopsticks, actually I am getting quite coordinated with the chopsticks. Noodles are still a challenge, especially if they are in served in a liquid because then they are extra slippery.
This time I tried the chickens feet. They were very bony and had very little meat on them. I think I would prefer a chicken drumstick any day over chicken feet. I also had fish and pickled egg rice porridge, fried dough, cows stomach (very rubbery, it took me 5 minutes just to chew it into pieces that were small enough to swallow), durian*, and several different types of dumplings. Did you know that when eggs are pickled they turn completely black, but they still taste the same as a hard boiled egg? Oh, yes we did discuss some school related issues although it was all in chinese, but somehow I was talked into judging the printing competition.
I was so full that I skipped lunch and it was a good thing because I was invited out for dinner again. This time we went to the Chinese version of a fondue. The restaurant was huge and like a maze with corridors, rooms and balconies that lead all over the place. In the center of the table was a large hot pot that was bubbling away with congee**. The servers would come to the table and add different serving plates of various foods to the congee. Several minutes later the server would return to dish up the cooked food. We had meat balls, pig intestines, clams, individual whole fish, and lettuce. We also tried a couple of dishes, lotus root, rice noodles, and fried dough, that did not end up in the congee hot pot. With all this food I am definitely going to need to get some exercise tomorrow.

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*durian |ˈdoŏrēən; -rēˌän| |ˌdʊriən| |ˌˈdʊriˌˈɑn| |ˌdʊərɪən|
1 an oval spiny tropical fruit containing a creamy pulp. Despite its fetid smell, it is highly esteemed for its flavor. (I was told to taste before I smell and yes it did have quite the odor)
2 (also durian tree) the large tree that bears this fruit, native to Malaysia.

**congee |ˈkänjē; kô n ˈ zh ā| |ˌkɒndʒiː| |ˈkɑndʒi|
(in Chinese cooking) broth or porridge made from rice.

Eye Exercises

Every afternoon at 3:00 the entire school takes a break in-between classes for some eye exercises. Yes, get those eyeballs moving to the left then to the right. Now massage those temples in a circular fashion. I actually have no idea what the recording is saying over the PA system but I am sure it is something along those words. Majority of the students wear glasses, probably due to the long hours spent studying and the poor lighting. Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy. They are of the classrooms, courtyard, and school building. Note all the work books on the students desk, their desks are also full of work. It leaves them with very little room to work. they do not have locker to store their belongings so it all gets piled on there desks. They also leave most of their work at school and take very little of it home for homework. After all, they spend more time at school then they do anywhere else. Also, notice the track suit uniforms and how everyones hair is cut short, it makes it easier to manage. The pictures are not uploading to my blog at this moment so look for them next time, hopefully.

Ballroom lessons in Chinese

I found out today that they have dancing lessons here at the school for teachers to learn. I already had a prior commitment to participate in the English club after school with the students so there wasn’t going to be any foxtrot or quickstep today. Unless...English club ends early, which it did. I have been eager to take dance lessons for the past couple of years but never seem to have the time. I never imagined that I would learn in China. 30 minutes into the lesson I joined, okay I watched as 8 other young teachers from the school were waltzing away. Why is it that there are always more females interested in dancing and not many males? One of the ladies comes over to guide me through some steps, she speaks english and is able to demonstrate for me. Next, the instructor comes over and she doesn’t speak English very well, but is trying to teach me some additional steps. This is where ‘monkey see, monkey do’ comes into play. All I can say is that I think I will be really good at counting up to 8 in Chinese. Count me in for next week, swing dancing.

Curious minds would like to know...

...what my apartment looks like. So are you ready for the grand tour? Apartment 603 a grueling climb of stairs just to get to my place (it’s really not that bad). I have a living room equipped with couches, coffee table and entertainment system, but the TV, underneath the lovely satin pink cover, only gets two English channels. Oh and behind the love seat I found a keyboard but it is missing the cable to plug it into the wall. I think I will live. Right beside those blue plastic chairs is the front door. I have a eating area even decorated with flowers and a basket of fruit. Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone but only 3 of those fruits are actually real. A microwave with pictures of food items and many Chinese characters. I have a tiny kitchen with a stove top and sink, no hot water though. Off the kitchen is the bathroom with a pit toilet and a gas powered hot water tank for taking a shower. My bedroom is quite spacious with a bookshelf, two desks and a very hard bed, but that is the Chinese way. My roommates bedroom is smaller but they have and enclosed balcony. There is also a balcony of the living room where I have been tending to some houseplants.

Heat for 30 seconds...

...not for 2 minutes. Before I arrived at my apartment a couple of the teachers stocked my fridge with some basic items. One such items were these packages of sweet buns. Not finding any english instructions I decided to take my chances and try cook the bun in the microwave. Ovens in Chinese homes are unheard of, so baking bread in the microwave was my only option. Visioning a golden brown bun I thought 2 minutes would be about right to bake the pasty white dough. Well, was I ever wrong. An awful burning smell crept through the kitchen along with smoke. My bun was anything but golden brown more like a shade of charcoal and hard as rock. These buns are not supposed to be a golden brown but remain pasty white and only need to be heated up for 30 sec. You only need to make a mistake once to learn from it.

PIcturesque

Had a wonderful afternoon walking through the gardens and boating on the lake. Some colleagues invited me for an outing to the provinces largest park and man-made lake. It was absolutely stunning. It was a damp and foggy afternoon, as it has been for the past week, but most enjoyable. And of course took over 50 pictures. Here are some of my favorites. The park not only had beautiful gardens but also some rides, a zoo, and displays from fairy-tails. I will have to return another day to see some of the gardens and ponds that I missed.
This was one of the childrens favorite rides. They were zipped into this plastic ball that was pumped with air and sealed to keep the water out. Then were rolled onto the water to play, but still attached with a rope so they didn't float away. I wish I was still a kid so I could play in a giant bubble.

It's International Women's Day

For Women’s Day a tour to Dong Guong City. Yes, the women get a day off from teaching and are treated to some sightseeing in the neighboring province. Firs stop, the site of Weiyuan Battery located on the river underneath the longest bridge in China. Second stop, the Lin Zexu Memorial in Humen also known as the Opium War Museum. This museum is in honor of the man who banned and stopped the illegal smuggling and use of opium. Third stop, where else would you go with a bus full of women but the shopping mall. This mall puts West Edmonton Mall to shame with over 7 floors and over a thousand of stores per floor. The malls here do not have and large department stores but instead very small shops no bigger than a bedroom. Dong Guong City is known for their clothes making factories and one is able to purchase these clothes at the mall before they are to be exported around the world. Too bad that the Chinese are such petite people or I would have been able to find more clothes that fit. The city is also know for their International factories making all sorts of items that will eventually bear the Made in China sticker.

written March 7

10 hours of school 6 days a week

The school system here in China is very different from in Canada. School here in China starts at the very early age of 2 and the number of hours you attend just keep increasing with your age. All the students wear tracksuit uniforms differing only in colour depending on the school. The middle school students attend from 7:30 am until 5:30pm with a 2 hour lunch/nap time during the middle of the day. The high school students attend from 7:30 am-9:30 pm also with a 2 hour lunch/nap time and 1 1/2 hour break for dinner. The evening classes are for self-studying with a teacher to supervises the students. All students and teachers can eat their meals on campus in the canteen. I am not sure if there is an extra charge because I just walk up and point to what I want. Each class have 50-55 students with approximately 12 classes for one grade. This means that I will be teaching English to over 550 students. Each classroom has a head teacher and each grade has a head teacher. As well, there are numerous directers that see to the students moral behaviour. Instead of the students moving around from classroom to classroom depending upon the subjects the teachers move around. The students all sit in rows and their desks are stacked with numerous text books leaving them with very little work room. Many of them have so many books that they have gone and made themselves permanent bookends attached across from one side of their desk to the other to hold all their books in place. The students spend most of their day at the school therefore they do not carry backpacks back and forth and those who live faraway stay in the students quarters. During their free time, many students like to play basketball, badminton, and table tennis in the courtyards. The school contains two buildings each with about 6 floors and are attached by open corridors with beautiful gardens and hedges in the middle. The school also has a track and a field for PE lessons.

A special celebration is in order, for today marks the end of the Spring festival so why not hang some lanterns in the palm trees and bring on the fireworks. First, Christine and Shiney lead the way to the foot bridge where it is custom to cross the bridge either carrying a pinwheel or a bouquet of lettuce for good luck. Yes, you read correctly, a bouquet of leaf lettuce tied with some long grass and incense. In the Chinese language the word lettuce sounds similar to good fortune so they use the lettuce to represent good fortune. At the end of the bridge is a giant stature of a head of lettuce where individuals try to toss their bouquet on top of the stature. If is reaches the tops and stays then they believe that good fortune will come.

written Sunday, March 4

Yesterday morning I decided to take a walk around my apartment to become more familiar with the area. I headed towards the park that Christine mentioned on our drive from the airport. The park is known for its large open field perfect for kite flying. The park has many small little gardens featuring different types of plants and bushes. Different areas have just bamboo plants while other areas have palm trees and small bushes. Two men were trimming some hedges in the shape of vases in preparation for the lantern festival. Other workers were busy sweeping and clearing the pathways. I love the incredible large straw brooms that they use to sweep the walkways. There were also a group of people huddled under a gazebo practicing music with their pan flutes and bassoons. There were many people taking a stroll, flying kites, relaxing, and exercising. I sat and watched a boy and his dad flying a kite together. Many red and gold lanterns decorated the trees for the festival. At one end of the park there was a large building with several linking ponds. The ponds were full of tadpoles with many children eagerly trying to capture them.

Christine picked me up with her daughter, Shiney, and we headed to the market before going to her parents place for dinner. I stayed outside the market with Shiney and her bike, while Christine quickly went in to pick up some items. Together we walked through the fruit area of the market. I am definitely going to venture there on my own one day with my camera and some money and see what I can find. Christine’s parents live in a very nice area. There are several apartments buildings that are separated with nice walkways and gardens. Apparently, it is one of the more expensive places to live. Inside their apartment they had very little in the way of clutter yet they did have several items that made it feel like a home. They also had a nice furniture and a large TV and stereo system. Ken, Christine’s husband, Shiney, and myself watched some TV while Christine and her mom were preparing dinner.

For dinner we had soup broth with a few vegetable, rice and several different vegetable and meat dishes. And of course a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup. Soup is served just as often as rice. The soup is usually boiled with several different types of vegetables and either fish or chicken. One usually only drinks the broth but on occasion the goodies used to make the stock are also served at the table. They had located every spoon they could find so that I would have an easier time dishing up the food into my bowl. They also offered me a fork, probably the only one they owned, to eat with, but I tried with the chop sticks. Thanks to ordering Chinese food for dinner at home a few times I can manage the chop sticks fairly well. They were actually surprised at how well I managed and informed me that I was the best foreigner they had seen to eat with chop sticks.
written Sunday, March 4

"We like to eat anything that moves"

As I was handed a menu in a traditional Cantonese restaurant the head director, Daniel, of senior 1 classes informed me that as Chinese people we like to eat anything that moves. With that, the first dish arrived, chickens feet. While I was starring at some very pale bird phalanges he proceed to tell me some other interesting and unimaginable delicious cuisines. Ants, jellyfish, scorpion, duck, sea cucumber like creature, abalone creatures and leech to name a few.
“Do you like seafood” he asked.
At home I would respond with an affirmative yes but realized that my like of seafood only extends to large fish such as salmon, halibut, cod, and a limited selection of shell fish such as crab, shrimp and prawns. So I replied with “I like some sea food” not wanting to limit myself. The rest of the plates included, peppered beef, curry noodles, honey pork, shrimp cakes, spicy jellyfish, sweet creamy egg yolk and sugar filled bun, green beans with leeches, snails, and small dried fish, and fresh hot corn juice. The hot corn juice was really tasty. It was like drinking peaches and cream corn kernels purified straight from the cob. The farmers in Chilliwack could advertise for hot corn juice and start a new market.
I will let you know that I did try the spicy jellyfish, green beans with leeches, snails and small dried fish but was unable to find the courage to taste those chickens feet. I am not sure how tasty it could be when every few seconds you have to spit out a bone. Maybe I will next time, which I am sure there will be, because in this region, as I was told by Christine they like to eat food. Oh, and the jellyfish was very rubbery and hard to chew.

Written after dinner on Friday evening

Safe Arrival

After 15 hours of flying, 3 airplane meals, killing time for 3 1/2 hours in Narita airport, Japan, and tackling 12 Sudoku puzzles, I have finally arrived in Guangzhou, China. I came through the gates quite quickly due to the few people travel at this time of night and searched eagerly for someone to be holding a sign with my name on it. No luck. The interns from last year had a miscommunication glitch and arrived a day earlier than expected, so they spent the night in the airport. So I wasn’t too worried but sure enough I spotted two ladies rushing to the gates with a homemade sign in their hands that said Welcome to China Natasha Findlay. I walked over to them and introduced myself. They introduced themselves to me with their English names, Christine and Fish. Christine chatted for the next 45 min, the entire drive from the airport to Foshan, about the school, the city, and all the people who want to meet me. Currently they are in the middle of their Spring celebration, which started on the first of their lunar calendar (Chinese New Years) and lasts for 15 days. As a result, many schools are on break so that people can celebrate, which explains why I saw a couple of fireworks shows form the airplane as we were coming into land.
By midnight I was unpacking my things in my apartment and getting last minute instructions and details for the next couple of days. I have two roommates, two of the tops students at the school, Ivy and Joyce who are excited to show around their hometown.
This morning I woke up quite early to the sound of birds chirping. After laying in bed listening to all the foreign sounds and after my roommates left for school I explored the apartment. My bedroom has plenty of cupboard space and a queen size bed that I can stretch out on, along with two desks located on either side of the large widow. From my window between two buildings I can see the athletic field for the school I will be teaching at, Foshan Middle School #2. Several students were making their way towards the school all dressed in their matching uniforms, a navy and white tracksuit, at least thats what it appears to be from my 6th floor vantage point. In the far corner of the sitting room is a fake bouquet of sunflower type looking flowers, so I will feel right at home. In China the balconies here do not serve the same purpose as our balconies do at home. Here the balcony can be considered the laundry room, for there is a sink for washing and a clothes line for drying. There is a tiny kitchen that contains a gas stove top and a rice cooking, it looks like I will be getting my fill of rice during my stay in China. Just off of the kitchen is a small bathroom with a pit toilet, yes you heard right a pit toilet.

Written Friday, March 3, 2007