Living The Great Way

Time for a change

2011-10-18T20:15:00.001+08:00

I guess I've been blogging here on blogger for about 4 years now, but, it's time for a change.
I do most stuff from my Android phone and blogger just doesn't support this application well at all, so, if you want to catch my new blog...head on over to www.livingthemiddleway.tumblr.com
The new title "Living The Middle Way" is also a shift....I guess in attitude. I think the "middle way" is a much better option than the "great way" and in a funny way, it reflects how my life has always gone along.
Anyway same kind of thing but will probably get back to a few more posts because of the ease of use on my android.
Go have a look!....go on :-)
If you're already following this blog, please follow on the new one too.
Cheers
Sue

All Running Like Chinese Clockwork

2011-09-01T18:47:00.001+08:00

IMAG0085.jpg, a photo by sooy2 on Flickr.

My first day back at school today was full of the normal confusion and more.
I even went to school yesterday to check everything was ok in my classroom after the long holiday. I wanted to run a video I put together of photos from my holiday in Australia so I wanted to make sure the smart board and computer was all ok etc. Other than no internet connection, it was fine. What I wasn't to know was that gremlins would come later than me...more about that in a while. So today is in fact THURSDAY but at school it is MONDAY (schedule) tommorow FRIDAY becomes TUESDAY and we have to work SATURDAY this week but it is disguised as WEDNESDAY. So nothing much different there, Sunday and Monday become our weekend this week and then next week Tuesday is infact Tuesday and so on. So after my check yesterday, computer worked, video worked, cleaned up the classroom, rearranged the desks....all AOK. I rock up for my first class second period today, turn on the computer....NOTHING. I can't believe it, I try and get the computer expert to come but he is too busy, he said every computer was checked yesterday afternoon and my internet/modem didn't work but the computer will work if i press the esc button?????ANYWAY, some friends come and try and help me find the problem. The stress of the impending class has been released as I have just been told the kids have to watch something for the next two periods, so my classes this morning cancelled...YAY. back to the computer, we find out that the experts have taken the leads out and put the connections back in the wrong places???UNBELIEVABLE! So we put it back together and get it and the sound working...HOORAY and now I can go home for the morning....UH OH, why are all the kids going to classes? Oh the thing they had to watch has been cancelled, you've got the next period again. Soooo I went from 2 classes this morning to no classes this morning to 1 class this morning within 1/2 hour.
Come to China test your patience :-)

Play hard

2011-08-20T17:38:00.000+08:00

Must be something about the dogs I have in my life, they love to play to the max! Here's Mo, enjoying her two new toys from Australia.

Pick yourself up and dust yourself off...

2011-08-20T16:01:00.001+08:00

Coming back for my fourth year has been a lot like the front of my apartment looks. If there's a hole, I fall down it. In a way even harder than my first year because then it was all new, lots to see and take in. The other couple of returns not much problem...but this one...Lets just say ^$#%^. I'm guessing that when I came to China, it was hard, I challenged myself and learnt many lessons,then over the years maybe I've become complacent with my achievements. Climbed the steep mountain, got to the top, enjoyed the view, and now someone has kicked me off and decided it's time to climb again. It really (for a few reasons) has not been what I expected this year, my fault for falling into the trap of expecting anything. "This too will pass, This too will pass".

The demolition here is quite spectacular. The only good thing is this is the first area of the road they started, so hopefully it means it will be the first area to be finished. Not very pretty, is it! If they try and find another teacher to come work at this school with me this semester....wow I can only imagine how I would have felt in my first year if I arrived to all this. Some nights they work till midnight outside and some days they do nothing?? I took these photos today, as you can see there is not much activity, just mess.

Ahhh the parallels with life !

励志警句

2011-08-14T12:51:00.000+08:00

It's not life that's hard, It's thinking about life that's hard.

Ajahn Brahm

How true!

Dragonfly Delight

2011-07-31T20:11:00.001+08:00

I mean't to post these pics earlier. On the morning of the day I was flying from China to start my journey back home for my holiday, I was laying on the couch near my lounge room window when I looked outside to see this family of Dragonflies. I took these two photos and noticed that there were actually many dragonflies, huge dragonflies, that were flying around filling the sky. Very beautiful :-)

Breath

2011-07-31T20:03:00.000+08:00

Today I was sitting back for what was to be either a relaxing meditation or an afternoon snooze. I was following my breath when I noticed that little space, the space between the in breath and the out breath. I like this space between the breath, I find it relaxes me. Whilst I was pondering the space, it struck me that it is very similar to the beautiful space that you can find within music. When I trained as musician, studying drum kit at University, the space (the emptiness) was what I always focused on to make the drum beat FEEL good, the space between the notes that I played around the kit was for me, my secret to making the music feel great. I was never one for filling the music with as many fancy chops as I could pull out. Both of these empty spaces (Within the breath and the music) give me an internal feeling that I can't really describe. It's like connecting with an internal life force. Interesting!

The Colours of Perth

2011-07-19T11:20:00.000+08:00

We took a ride out to Bells rapids the other day, had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. I have not edited these photos and they were just taken with the android phone. The colours here are always so vivid. The sky is amazing. When you spend much of the year in dull grey, haze and drizzle, it's so refreshing to breathe the fresh air and see the palette of colours. The other photos are on the Quairading road.

Playing with Picasa and Picnik

2011-07-17T18:16:00.003+08:00

Took this photo the other day and played with the Picnik photo program , now associated with Picasa...I think it looks kinda cool.

10 things I have learnt whilst living in china

2011-06-27T21:56:00.001+08:00

Ok, I thought I would try and think of 10 things I have learnt to do whilst living in China, that I wasn't able to do before living here. These things are a mixture of fairly trivial things to life changing things, I'll try list them in some kind of order
10) O.k maybe I can't catch a fly with them (though I haven't tried) but I am pretty adapt at using chopsticks now. I can pick up even some of the most difficult things like Soup Baozi, Jaozi, Noodles (in hotpot, very difficult), toasted peanuts....I think just about anything now.
9)I've overcome my fear of eating most dishes here now without fear that they will kill me, except the fish. I just can't handle the amount of bones in the river fish here, I cant enjoy it all.
8) Still on the subject of food, I'm no longer afraid of "La"(Spicy hot). I have always enjoyed a bit of hot, spicy food, but nothing prepared me for what I encountered on my arrival in Yichang. Even the K.F.C and McDonalds are spicy. In fact my "la" endurance level is now higher than some of my Chinese Yichanger friends.
7)My fear of hospitals and in particular Chinese hospitals, well I can't say has totally gone, but is certainly 95% of the way there. In fact I much prefer some procedures done here in Yichang than Australia now. It's quicker, cheaper, in some cases like MRI the machine, is much more people friendly and the doctors have a very matter of fact attitude.
6) I can hold basic conversations in Chinese. Whilst you may think, so you should be able to after 3 years there, believe me, Chinese is very very hard to get a grasp on. I must also mention here that I've learnt big time about cultural differences and the effort involved in understanding misunderstandings.
5)With the improvement in my Chinese I can now do some tasks which in my own country are absolutely nothing tasks but here become a "great wall" to climb over, such as....Ring the water delivery man when I need to order new bottles of water, catch a taxi, tell him where I want to go and where I want to stop,order food at restaurant, fast food shop and school dining room, top up phone cards, bus cards etc, ask for products I can't find in the supermarket, find my way to different parts of the city on numerous buses, get around the airports and find my flights...must be more things but can't think of them now.
4) Learn not to judge. It is true that you can't always tell a book by it's cover and I've learn't that both ways around here, so, you really can't judge.What seems bad can actually be good. I've been in situations here (especially when I first arrived) that were scary and seemed like the end of the world, those things turned out to be the best things that have ever happened to me. At the end of a week when you are sick and tired of being stared at by everyone in the street and that one person on the bus gazing at you pushes you over the edge....the amount of times I've broken... and glared at them with my best "keep looking at me and I will punch you in the nose look" only to be met with suddenly a warm friendly smile. How easy it is to misunderstand, not only people but also a country!
3)It's a small world (even if it feels like sometimes China is an entirely different planet). The internet I guess is majorly responsible, but I really don't feel the distance with my home country like I did when I travelled 10 or so years ago.Video calls, cheap phone calls, sms, text, email, social networks all keep my family and friends close.
2)I can do and be whatever I want. I can move to another country, learn another language, love, enjoy life, face challenges and grow from them.
1)Let Go, I believe to a great, great extent I have learned to let go. It is impossible to control anything living here. Everything is in a constant state of flux. Work days and times change in the blink of an eye, the restaurant you ate breakfast the day before is gone the following morning, the ferry suddenly stops running for a few months and do the people here question anything....NO...they just go along with life. Living here has taught me to let go of the control over people, situations and things and I believe I'm a much better person now for it.
Thanks China, I'm sure you will keep me on my learning path :-)

What has improved my Chinese?

2011-06-27T19:02:00.000+08:00

Whilst I look to many things to help with learning such a complicated language and culture as Chinese, such as Pimsluer Technique, Chinese Pod, Byki, various books C.D's,Immersion the list goes on and on. I can easily say that the thing that has got me talking more and more to the people (and understanding more and more) is....."Having a dog".....
Where as before, going out was mostly a journey of stares and whispers of "waiguoren"（外国人）The only people out and around the streets that would usually talk to me were people wanting to try their English out. Now it is much more common to hear "ahhh xiao gou, hao keai (小狗好可爱）, which is then often accompanied by a host of questions...What's her name? How old is she? What type of dog is she?, What does she eat? Does she understand English or Chinese? Is she from China? Does she bite people?........This is then usually followed (once they know I understand them) with... Where are you from? Where do you work? How old are you? Where do you live? Do you have children? Do you have friends here? Do you like Chinese food? How long have you lived in China? and on and on...Last weekend on the ferry I even ended up in a discussion about the exchange rate of Australian dollars and Chinese rmb.
So it is easy to see that the absolute best Chinese learning tool that I have found is my dog
"Mo li hua" 茉莉花。

All the latest

2011-05-27T19:06:00.000+08:00

Been so busy living I haven't felt like blogging so I'll try and do a quick report to catch up. Thanks to an Easter parcel from Mum and Dad I had some glorious Australian Chocolate and got to give Carol and Annie an Easter egg hunt. The kids really love trying the western cultures and look forward to Easter, Christmas and even Mothers day gave Carol heaps of joy this year. We organised a Mothers Day cake from Eliville bakery and I took Carol to buy a little treat for her mum.

One of my new favourite things to do is a Saturday morning walk through Bingjiang Park. Moli and I catch the ferry across to the city side and then take a stroll along side the river, through the park to Netties apartment(about 50 minutes). In the few years I have been here I have only really been to the main areas of the park, but since walking along much of it's length, I have found it to be so beautiful and very relaxing. It brings me back to normality and lets me see many of the varied and different activities that make China such an interesting place. People are busy all along the park exercising, doing martial arts, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Kite flying, playing Badminton, singing, playing traditional instruments, playing cards, Chinese Chess, drinking green tea.....The list goes on and on.

For something a bit different, there is a new scheme here which requests teachers to do some home visits to some students homes a few times a year, to build the relationship with the students, teachers and families.
The other night I attended a student/parent dinner and after that tagged along for a home visit to one of my students homes. Very, very interesting.

Sunny picnic on Yangtze River Bank

2011-04-14T13:47:00.000+08:00

Banks of the Yangtze, Yichang

A couple of days off while the kids take their mid term exams and some beautiful warm, sunny weather made up my mind to make some ham, cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwiches and a flask of coffee and take a short stroll down to the river behind my apartment.

Very relaxing and interesting to watch all the boats heading down stream loaded with coal, sand and all kinds of different cargo.

The countryside around this area of Yichang really is quite pretty, I'm guessing these cute kids have a dinner appointment tonight though. Spit roasted goat is very popular in these parts.

On the way back we happened upon a group of children doing a favourite Chinese activity for this time of the year, "Kite Flying". My friends here are oftened amazed to hear that I have actually flown kites before and people in western countries also enjoy this pastime...anytime of the year! I was telling them about the stunt kites and things that are around now...they are always amazed and suprised.

Enjoyable afternoon :-)

Now back to lesson planning...oh well!

Smart Board, Smart classroom

2011-04-07T21:06:00.001+08:00

This year I was lucky enough to be given my own classroom to teach from (instead of going around to 22 different classes) and this semester I have been really really lucky and had a smart board installed in the classroom. The picture above just looks like a normal black board right?
But look

Fire up the console and slide open the board and TADAA! an interactive touch screen smart board.

Classroom looks a little dark because I pulled the curtains whilst we watched a DVD today.
The next picture is the control desk and looking up to the back of the class where there is still an old blackboard.

Even a microphone pack to save your voice if you have a noisy class.

Ahhhhh really so cool.

Mass disruption destruction

2011-04-02T10:11:00.001+08:00

So Dad, you'll be pleased to know that they are rebuilding Jiangnan road. I know how you love so much taking the number 27 bus, with it's rock hard suspension over the crater ridden road...but next time you may have to settle for a smoother ride. I don't think they will upgrade our wonderful 27's but they are upgrading the road. Check it out, You wouldn't believe the disruption and noise that we have to suffer before we see the benefits. They decided to start right outside our school.
From this next photo you can see the trees have also gone, I have heard to make way for running the power underground.

You can imagine what Friday afternoons are like when the kids go home from school.

Still exciting though....a new road....YAY!

xiao Mo, not so xiao now :-)

2011-04-02T09:54:00.001+08:00

So xiao Moli is not so xiao anymore. She is over 10 months old weighs about 3.5 kilos and is an absolute delight. I guess she still is a small dog but compared to the tiny runt of the litter I bought home...she is considerably much larger. She is a content dog who loves her toys and LOVES to eat. On the days when I must work long hours I always return to see her toys stockpiled on her mat or beanbag, she obviously plays a lot when I'm out. This past week I have had a stomach bug, much better now, but the days I spent in bed, I could hear her throwing her toys around and playing on the beanbag...obviously does this when I am out also. I wish I had even half of her energy levels.

We have to play this above throw the toys game many times a day...Even her daily walks, running in the school playground or playing crazily with other doggy friends don't wear her out.

怎么办，没办法！

2011-03-08T20:36:00.000+08:00

The beautiful warmer weather shone through today. Today is "Womens Day" and all women teachers at our school were given the afternoon off, so there was time to take the dog for a walk and enjoy the warmth. I also parked myself on the window seat in my bedroom, in the sun and had a coffee and studied Chinese language for an hour or so. This semester has been so busy it's difficult to find time to do anything much. It was refreshing this morning to speak to a couple of Junior 3's (who constantly complain to me how much work they have to do...all students complain about this here) but these two girls greeted me with a warm smile and whilst they said they are very busy, they feel happy and not stressed, even though this semester will decide which senior high school they will go to. Here in China it starts from kindy...If you don't get your child into a good kindy, hard for them to get into a good primary school, then hard for them to get into a good middle school, then senior school, then university....it's a big problem.
Being here in China though the changes are occurring every minute of everyday and changes will already start to take place next semester. The girls today gave me a refreshing answer saying you can't look at the negative and must see the positive, no point in being stressed and unhappy.
The kids here do have to work so hard but constantly complaining can't help them. I too work extremely hard and this semester have 22 classes per week, Monday and Tuesday consuming 14 periods of that week between them, it's exhausting, but Is there any point in complaining, definitely not here...没办法 ! So if you can't change it, why suffer by making yourself unhappy. It's not the thing or the situation that makes you unhappy, it's how you think or view that thing or situation that has the ability to make you feel one way or the other.

励志警句

2011-02-15T17:44:00.000+08:00

I love this one,

"It's imperfection that is the cause of beauty"
Ajahn Brahm

新年快乐 Happy Chinese New Year/The art of making Jaozi

2011-02-02T15:26:00.002+08:00

The closest equivalent to our Christmas in China is Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. Today is Chinese New Years Eve and I am enjoying the day with my Chinese family :-). So far we have had an amazing home cooked lunch of things like Chicken Hotpot, Mushroom and Pork, Jellyfish, Pig Liver, Chinese green vegies, Bamboo, Tangyuan, home made soy milk and Jaozi...All very delicious. The video is of Netties Dad making Jaozi and making it look easy, If you can see some not so pretty Jaozi on the tray, that would be my attempt
:-) Very tricky getting the little folds. If you really can't handle loud noise this is not the time and place to be in China. Crackers go nonstop ALL DAY.You can hear them in the video. Tonight at midnight is something that can't be explained , it's a definite have to be here kinda thing. The sky lights up bigger than any sky show in Australia and the noise is so loud you can't hear anything at all. Every New Years Eve there is a Chinese new year festival gala on TV, showcasing the countries biggest stars. The country will all watch this in between eating and letting off fireworks and crackers. You really are lucky if you can get to experience this event in China, nothing else quite like it in the world.

These photos are us not really enjoying setting off fireworks and crackers on the roof last night :-)

Too funny :-)

励志警句

2011-01-30T20:58:00.000+08:00

“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.”Nikos Kazantzakis

Snowed under

2011-01-21T21:21:00.000+08:00

The cold winter has been biting hard this week. It is amazing for me when it snows during the night and totally transforms the landscape outside your window. Like someone put a coat of white paint over everything.

It looks very beautiful but I have been thinking lately about how peoples actions can seem to lay as heavily as the snow.

Why does the person that does an unkind act such as deliberate racist or prejudice action effect the mind more than the person who then does something really kind, like offer you their seat on the bus. If I encounter many good people why is it easier for the mind to ruminate about the unkind people, usually rolling like a snowball gathering as many bad thoughts as it goes?

I recently read something that said the secret to happiness is choosing to be happy, no matter what...It seems sometimes this is an easy thing to practice but the majority of the time it is most challenging for the mind to get around.
It seems a little unfair to use bad similes about the poor snow, it really does look beautiful and I really enjoyed spending an afternoon walking around the city with the snow falling all over me....WOW i'm Zen I think? :-)

The more I Learn

2011-01-14T21:24:00.000+08:00

The longer I live here in China, the more I see just how much I don't know about this place and the Chinese people. In fact it often feels like the more I learn the less I suddenly realise I know.

renewing my faith in human nature

2011-01-11T19:16:00.000+08:00

Had a bizarre ferry ride home today. About 10 huge buckets of live catfish were on board with us, of which I thought "I guess the poor things are going to the restaurants for tonights dinners". Then something strange happened, half way across the Yangtze, the boat slowed down. At first I thought it must be going around passing ships or avoiding bad currents, which they do sometimes but then something totally amazing happened.Everyone on board started tipping the fish into the river to freedom, Hundreds of small Catfish...saved....for now anyway :-) then the ferry turned around and went back to where we left??? I was just going home from a lazy afternoon meandering around "Walking Street" with Moli...I'm not sure what happened but I just stayed on the ferry( after everyone collected their buckets and got back off) which proceeded to take the normal route second time around. Some of the people were singing some Chinese buddhists chants at one point. ANYWAY...So lucky I got to witness it, not everyday in China you see such a thing. Wonderful ! I did speak to a lady to try and find out what was happening but Yichang dialect even harder than mandarin to understand. I think it was a "World in Crisis" kind of group but I'm pretty sure I did understand her when she said something about many people around these areas just don't understand The good thing is there was a whole boat load (well 20 or so) who did understand today and a Ferry willing to participate.

Christmas Yichang 2010

2010-12-27T19:13:00.000+08:00

So what is a Christmas in Yichang, China like? For me this year it has gone a bit like this... Some classes were changed around and some were cancelled during this week (nothing unusual there). Tuesday afternoon the kids from Junior Two had a singing contest. I joined some other junior two teachers to help judge. I actually really enjoyed seeing the kids sing and have fun, made me have a lot of fun too. Wednesday afternoon I did some much needed grocery shopping (was down to noodles) but had too much to carry home on the bus to do any Christmas gift shopping. Thursday night the kids at school held their Christmas parties and as I teach so many classes I had many class parties to try and attend, I did manage to get round to quite a few. I took Moli along with me and the kids in every class I went to quickly took her out of my hands and thoroughly enjoyed fussing and cuddling her. Owning a dog as a pet is only really a relatively new thing here in China and few kids have dogs as pets, but many would love to.

Friday morning I had first period but then managed to go to the city for really last minute Chrissie shopping, had a Macca's for lunch, caught the bus home just in time for going back to school for the 5th period class...then...straight after class I headed down to our schools media room for the 2nd Yichang Foreign Teachers Party, this year hosted by our school.

13 Foreign teachers are based here in Yichang this year, I know a few of them, but not many. We participated in games and watched our kids sing and dance. After the event we headed out to dinner. I think last years party scared a few away this year...really very different when they want us to perform and participate in games, give speeches etc...Only 6 of the 13 of us showed up which I feel a little sad about. I don't like these things much myself, but it is genuinely done in good spirit and heart by the Yichang Education Bureau and some people cancelled right at the last minute leaving the department with their very beautiful gifts (that had been hand picked by students) and other stuff. I know our school also put a lot of effort into the whole thing and I really appreciate that they did try and make us feel a little wanted at Christmas time. After dinner Nettie drove me back to my apartment and we picked up Moli and my stuff and headed to her apartment which brings us to ...Christmas Day.
Actually Christmas eve spent by me organising lessons and Christmas day...lessons...but in between I tried to explain how things are done at Christmas and we opened presents, played games etc. Going to friends of ours for Chinese Christmas Dinner tonight, HOTPOT :-)....and I wonder why I always feel tired?

Early Birthday Pressie

2010-12-15T10:09:00.001+08:00

I walked through the fresh new snow to my early class, Wednesday mornings are challenging for me, 4 classes all in a row starting at 8.10 and going through until lunch time. It is also a bigger challenge as the classes are all Junior 3, who are in a busy important year of study and often prefer to do homework during my classes, no matter how fun and interesting I try and make the lessons. It can really hurt when you spend hours finding lessons for them and they don't want to listen. Not as bad as when they think your lesson doesn't meet their fun expectation so they would rather play cards or talk though. Junior 3 is really very very difficult and you have to build your strength and try not to take it to heart otherwise it can be very hurtful. That being said I must also mention that some J'3 students are the exception and great kids and some classes are better than others. My Junior Two classes have had the opportunity to have been with me from their first days at school and we mostly seem to have a good understanding of each other and with Nettie's help, my junior 2 classes are really very very good, not the same problems in these classes. It really makes much more sense to me to just teach Junior 1 and 2 from Day 1, they will get the same amount of lessons from me for a full two years and wont impose into the busy Junior 3 schedule. Oh well, mei ban fa!
Anyway, I have wondered off down a different path, back to where I started,
I walked through the fresh new snow to my early class, up the 6 flights of stairs to my class and got ready for my mornings classes, the bell went and no students arrived, the start of class bell rang and still no students. I tried to ring some of the teachers...no luck, so I locked up class and started back down the stairs to the office. On the way I met Tina who gave me a huge early birthday present, the news that Junior 3's have exams today and tomorrow and they wont have my classes. I only have Junior 3's on both of these days, so I don't have to teach until Friday! I walked back through the snow singing "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me.....a day early, how cool :-)
You really never know what will happen until it happens here in China. It keeps you on your toes :-)

First Winter Snow

2010-12-15T09:47:00.001+08:00

Today brought the first snow for this winter, it's currently 1 degree Celsius and lightly snowing but frosty cold.
As you know Christmas isn't celebrated here and in past years I still put up my own decorations and have my own little internal celebration. This year I have been toying with the idea of not putting up the tree and tinsel etc, but it would be the first year ever that I have not partaken in the tradition which may feel too strange for me, maybe just a few bits to acknowledge what was always the most exciting time of the year for me are called for. My reasoning for not decorating has been that no one will get to enjoy my decorations except for Moli and myself...but then why should we consider ourselves not important? Don't misunderstand, whilst it is definitely not the same as Christmas at home, my friends do celebrate with me (but out and about), the school will have some kind of Christmas party and many shops and big stores decorate for Christmas. It really is very different though, kind of superficial, the meaning of giving and family at Christmas is not understood in the same way and that warm fuzzy feeling is missing somewhat. Have we really taught the Chinese that Christmas is just about the glitz?

thankful

2010-11-21T23:23:00.000+08:00

Having my parents here for a few weeks has been wonderful and I can only show some of the pictures from the great times we have shared here together in China, which can't express what we felt and truly experienced

Train trips here are a real experience!

Fenghuang is a cultural feast, full of interesting shops and stalls and spectacular scenery.

Can't not take my parents to SanXia Da Ba

My Australian family with my Chinese family

Yidu fun and feast

Ferry cross the Yangtze to Bingjiang Park

Xiao pengyoumen

Walking
Moli

Of course this is just a quick couple of pics from many photos and as I say it can nowhere near show what an amazing holiday we had together. I love and miss you and wow, what a great time we have experienced the past few weeks. Thanks for being such a great Mum and Dad and to my Chinese friends and family you have made my parents visit very special indeed. THANKYOU

The China Experience

2010-10-21T20:03:00.000+08:00

Life has been a flurry of activity lately. As I get ready for Mum and Dad coming to visit, cleaning, rearranging and making it all comfortable, I know that (as it must be for everyone that visits real China) it will be a life changing experience for them. My Mum has of course visited before(during my first year here) so she is prepared somewhat for China (if that is at all possible :-) Dad on the other hand will experience a way of life like he has never seen before. The food, the people, the lifestyle all drastically different. It all hits you when you land ((we're not in Kansas anymore Toto :-) The language barrier instantly becomes a problem as you try and find your way around Guangzhou airport which has a serious lack of any English signage, try and find something resembling a cup of coffee and a sandwich and then try and actually order it....then find your way to your small Chinese connecting flight....It's definitely an adventure :-) Of course all these things just make it more amazing and character building. Once here, wondering around and observing life in a Yangtze river city is never dull and being able to show my parents some Chinese customs and pastimes and many new experiences will be so much fun.
China throws me challenges day after day after day. It has made me stronger and given me confidence by sometimes making me feel very weak and vulnerable. I hate it and I love it at the same time.
I recommend it to anyone and everyone who really wants to see and experience a whole different world to the one in which they have grown accustomed to.

gorgeous weather

2010-10-07T19:20:00.000+08:00

Just took a ferry across the Yangtze river (behind my apartment) to Bingjiang park which runs along the city side of the river. Packed Ham and Cheese sandwiches, drink, Pringles and Moli's lunch. We've just returned from a lazy couple of hours laying on the grass, under the trees looking at (amazingly) blue skies with the fresh cool breeze blowing across the Yangtze. About 25 C here today...Absolutely beautiful!

Traditional Chinese Song

2010-10-06T20:16:00.000+08:00

Here is a link to a beautiful version of the Chinese song that my little dog Moli is named after.
Enjoy!
Mo Li Hua

and here's what it all means
Lyric:
Traditional Chinese                 Simplified Chinese
好一朵美麗的茉莉花                 好一朵美丽的茉莉花
好一朵美麗的茉莉花                 好一朵美丽的茉莉花
芬芳美麗滿枝椏                       芬芳美丽满枝桠
又香又白人人誇                       又香又白人人夸
讓我來將你摘下                       让我来将你摘下
送給別人家                                 送给别人家
茉莉花呀茉莉花                         茉莉花呀茉莉花

Hanyu Pinyin
Hǎo yī duǒ měi lì de mò li huā
Hǎo yī duǒ měi lì de mò li huā
Fēn fāng měi lì mǎn zhī yā
Yòu xiāng yòu bái rén rén kuā
Ràng wǒ lái jiāng nǐ zhāi xià
Sòng gěi biě rén jiā
Mò li huā yā mò li huā
Literal Translation
What a beautiful jasmine flower
What a beautiful jasmine flower
Sweet-smelling, beautiful, stems full of buds
Fragrant and white, everyone praises
Let me pluck you down
Give to someone
Jasmine flower, oh jasmine flower

Figurative Translation

Flower of jasmine, so fair!
Flower of jasmine, so fair!
Budding and blooming here and there,
Pure and fragrant all declare.
Let me take you with tender care,
Your sweetness for all to share.
Jasmine fair, oh jasmine fair.

dusting off the blog

2010-09-19T14:01:00.002+08:00

As I logged on to my blog, it felt like I had to blow out the cobwebs :-)
Life has been busy. New class schedule with more hours, my own English Classroom to teach from (instead of going from class to class), New (white fluff ball of love) puppy "Moli", everyday stuff like cooking and cleaning...the days just fly past.
I have to decorate the new classroom, so I will get the kids to help out. At the moment I am using it(undecorated) and just the fact that I have the tables set in groups of 5 around the edge of the class and a big open space in the middle for games and activities, well lets just say it seems to have blown the kids minds. They are so used to routine, they find it hard when things are different. Luckily most of them also find it exciting.
With my new added hours of classes and a young puppy in the apartment, it's hard to find time to get across the river to Walmart. Now that there is fresh milk for sale there this year, it's a torment that I rarely get to pick it up. Many of my classes don't seem to be before lunch or dinner time at school which also means that I mostly come home and cook, well kind of cook anyway :-)
Both my apartment and my classroom are located on the 6th floor of their buildings, so I spend much of my time climbing stairs....up and down, up and down. It's 102 stairs up to my apartment...I haven't counted the ones at school but I'm pretty sure more. So added to the normal up and down for going to work and at work...also add the extra couple of times up and down at home for "Moli" morning and night so she can get fresh air and not stay in the apartment all day. I've taken to trying a kind of "walking the stairs meditation"..it seems to help :-)
Oh, I've also now got digital reception on my T.V. There is one English station (lol) and just my luck...It's basically all news, which I hate to watch. Still at least the reception is good now and I can still watch ICS on PPTV which is my favourite English speaking station, produced in Shanghai.

Gratitude

2010-08-28T13:13:00.000+08:00

I've left Moli home alone for a couple of hours, a couple of times now and she seems very, very good. I broke her into it by walking in and out of doors to bedrooms and shutting them behind me or her and in and out the front door for short periods of time, she doesn't seem to notice I've actually gone anywhere, so hopefully things will continue that way. Moli weighs in at a massive ;-) 0.6 kg, today... 0.7, YAY ...I think her poodle bloodlines must be "toy", although her brother was in the pet shop with her and he was nearly double her size.
I left her home this morning and headed into the city for a bit of shopping and some lunch. The weather is glorious and I had one of those moments coming home when you suddenly realise how much you have to be grateful for. 1) I actually got a seat on the bus 2)It was near a window 3) the window opened 4) The sun was shining 5) There was a beautiful cool breeze blowing through the window as we travelled along 6) I shut my eyes and relaxed and knew when we were crossing the Yangtze river on the Yiling bridge because the air gets fresher and even cooler 7) I opened my eyes to look downstream and realised once more "I'm in China, living near the Yangtze" It looked and felt beautiful. 8) I was heading home to a wonderful little puppy who I knew was probably chilled out asleep in her basket not worried about me being out hardly at all.
I guess it's all to easy to get so used to things that you can take them for granted, but I often think how lucky I am...and today I really feel very grateful!

Mo Li Hua 茉莉花

2010-08-22T12:48:00.002+08:00

This is my third year here in Yichang. I love life here but I obviously miss some things from Australia like Mum and Dad, Sunshine, clear sky, beach, fresh air etc. Also all of my life I have been lucky enough to grow up with dogs. I think being responsible for dogs can teach you many life lessons and give you a cool companion to share life with. Since losing Bronson and moving to China I have thought about the idea of getting a dog on and off, but with settling in to a new life, thought I had better wait.

I thought long and hard and decided that now is the time.

Enter...Mo Li Hua...
This beautiful little girl melted my heart. She is a “GuiBin” which is a cross between a Poodle and a Bichon (Poochon). This breed is very popular here in Yichang,but you mostly see brown ones, not so many white.

We called her "Mo Li Hua" This of course is Chinese and means "Jasmine Flower". When you pronounce "Mo Li" it actually sounds almost identical to the English name "Molly". She is totally adorable, seems very clever and has a massive appetite.

The other really great thing is that the place we bought her from is a vet/shop/groomers, with a great reputation and all her needs (including boarding if we all have to go away) is catered for there. The Vets husband speaks English and worked in Australia for a few years, and their daughter lives there now!
It was obviously all meant to be :-)

Shanghai Shines

2010-08-21T20:41:00.002+08:00

World Expo in Shanghai. It's not everyday you get to see a world expo and it was an amazing feeling just standing amongst the elaborate buildings and the hundreds of thousands of people. The weather was stinking hot but Shanghai tried their best to keep peoples cool by installing sprinklers and shade all over the expo grounds and above the long queues. We didn't see many of the so called "BIG" named pavilions as none of us are that way inclined, to stand in 4 hour queues was not why we were there. We just wanted to soak up the atmosphere and see whatever opened up for us. We did however see Australia Pavilion blasting through the queue (at dinner time) in an amazing 20 minutes maximum.

Made me proud, they did a wonderful job. Funny to see everyone aghast when they found out about our low population. We also had an aussie dinner there, tasty! Another night saw us fine dining in Luxembourg pavilion, a refined experience in China :-)
We explored Expo for three days in total and around those days we explored the rest of Shanghai!

The Bund at night was even busier than Expo but is a sight to behold.

Lingering around the alleyways of TianziFang....always a treat!

Shopping, eating out, Starbucks Coffee...Ahhh it's all too good.

I love Shanghai to visit and I can see why many expats decide to make Shanghai their home....There are many of the comforts from our homelands to be found there,but, I think I couldn't live the life...Always great to come back to Yichang.

transition

2010-08-18T09:50:00.000+08:00

Time really does fly now days. 5 weeks back in Australia went very quickly. I had a great time catching up with family and friends. Some great times meeting and getting to know my new niece Mathilda and spending time with my Brother and family, visiting the Perth Zoo, shopping and hanging with Mum, golf with Jude, Supa Golf with Anthony, Kings Park, Family get together, just relaxing at home with Mum, Dad and the dogs....the list goes on.
After I arrived back in China I only had 3 days to re acclimatise and I was off to Shanghai for the World Expo.13 days in Shanghai, 24 hour train journey each way, 3 days in total at World Expo and the rest of the time wondering around the amazing city of Shanghai with Nettie, Carol and Netties sister Helen.
I didn't take my laptop with me so I'm just catching up now that I'm back home in Yichang.

The Swordsman Theme

2010-07-22T16:32:00.005+08:00

I realised today that I forgot to put the beginners video of me playing Guzheng on my

blog...so here it is

It's called "The Theme from the Swordsman" and is just a very basic piece.

I took this a couple of months back now and since I've been holidaying back in Australia, I haven't got to practice at all. Unfortunately being the size it is, Guzheng is not made to easily travel half way around the world with! It's a beautiful instrument and even though I don't do it justice here :-) I will indeed keep enjoying to learn something so new to me. Guzheng really is such a traditional Chinese instrument. It's so steeped in Chinese culture and history and I adore the many different sounds it can make. You cant see it in such a simple piece as this but bending strings to get notes, vibrato techniques, plucking all come into play and you can really convey how you are feeling through the music you play. All that and it looks so beautiful too!

Oh if anyone is wondering what the screaming noise in the background is...it's the kids over at the school basketball court screaming support for their class teams :-)

For another aspect on life...alternaview.

2010-07-15T16:44:00.002+08:00

I have found a really cool site. For help travelling through life just by maybe looking at things a little differently. Very nice website. ALTERNAVIEW Click it to check it out!

River Walk

2010-07-15T16:25:00.004+08:00

Nice day for a walk with "Daisy and Tina". Took them for a stroll along the Avon River walk, then through town to sit and have a cuppa, before heading back home :-)

Kings Park 2010

2010-07-06T20:08:00.003+08:00

A beautiful sunny winters day in Kings Park. Family, sandwiches, coffee, fresh air, vivid colours, sounds and smells of nature. Very Nice!It really does feel great to hug a tree

The coffee, very nice :-)

Midday Sun

2010-07-04T15:45:00.003+08:00

So I'm back in Australia for my summer/winter vacation. Yes it's winter here and yes it's very cold early morning and through the nights, but the big difference here....SUNSHINE! The winter sunshine is a wonderful pleasure to behold. I've just come back in from sitting down on the property, meditating in the warm midday sun, whilst the rescued mob of kangaroos milled around me, the magpies and many other birds sang, the insects buzzed and my body gained a much needed dose of vitamin D. No traffic noises, beeping horns, people talking...just the sounds of nature

and the warm sunshine followed every so often by a cool breeze. Now that is relaxing.

Australia you really are a beautiful country.

励志警句

2010-07-02T10:25:00.001+08:00

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
- Epicurus

Summer is back!

2010-06-19T14:55:00.003+08:00

Summer has arrived along with the (got to be experienced to believe)Yichang heat. I still prefer summer to winter though and I have to admit the seemingly never ending grey skies and cold of China winter is one of the most difficult things about living here. The fact that I love summer but spend the year chasing winter is only made easier by the fact that winter in Western Australia is much more tolerable than Chinese winters. Sorry farmers but when I come back for my holiday next week, I'm hoping for some winter sunshine and and less of the grey skies and rain.
I'm looking forward to seeing my family, meeting new members of my family like my niece and our new four legged family member :-) and giving everyone a big hug.

Mini Dell Making life easier

2010-06-04T08:23:00.003+08:00

Since living in China and teaching ESL, much of my life revolves around my laptop and the internet. Contacting home, sourcing lesson ideas, making up lesson plans etc take up much of my time. My Dell Inspiron is fantastic but has very large screen and is very heavy. A few days ago I decided to treat myself and buy a Dell Inspiron mini 10'. It's really very compact, light and will make travelling around much easier. I use my computer a lot in lessons and I often spend weekends at my friends house so I'm always carrying my laptop around, not to mention back and forth between Australia and China...so I consider it a very valuable investment. My new little laptop is ultra cool and I'm enjoying checking it all out. Because I had to set up all the programs that I use frequently, it got me thinking about what I think is like my survival pack for being on the internet when you live in China...or be it any country away from your own patch of grass.
In no particular order here it is
1) Witopia - personal VPN
2) Skype
3) Avast antivirus and Malawarebytes
4)Mozilla Firefox (for me it just seems much more reliable and quicker than I.E. and I use many handy add ons to organise my internet and help me learn Chinese)

A couple of things that are not crucial but just make life a little easier
PPTV - I can watch some cool shows in English or with English subtitles
Blogger - To keep my family and friends in touch with what is going on

Not much really but these few things make so much difference.

Junior/Middle high school entrance exam day

2010-05-31T20:45:00.005+08:00

Well over 2000 kids came yesterday to sit the entrance exam for our school. It is the best middle school in Yichang and because of the success rate here, competition to get into our school is fierce. Only about 300 of these kids will make it in. Look at the chaos on the road outside my apartment as the hopeful parents and nervous students left just before lunch time. It was this crazy from very early (about 7.00 am). The cars were parked for many miles up the road and some parents and kids had to park and walk for around twenty minutes to get to school.

Such Chaos

2010-05-29T15:41:00.008+08:00

Back from Wuhan....such a big, crazy, unorganised city. Taxi Drivers are crazy there!...but the people were friendly and we had a great time shopping, drinking Starbucks coffee and hanging out. Actually found "Harvey Fresh Milk" from W.A in one of the major stores....amazing :-)and we stumbled upon a very beautiful Daoist Temple. Really one of the nicest temples I have seen since I have been in China. Not crowded and a haven away from the crazy city outside. I actually forgot to take my camera but Nettie used her phone to snap a picture of me with Lao Zi (Lao Tzu/Tsu)...I'll see if I can add it soon. Whenever I go away it always makes me appreciate Yichang even more when I return, but still it was a welcome break and the paperwork is organised :-)

Wuhan

2010-05-25T19:27:00.004+08:00

Starting to organise things to bring home to Australia for the holiday. After this week I think I have two weeks of teaching until the end of my semester. The kids and Chinese teachers will stay on for about another four weeks. This week is an easy one for me as I only had two periods yesterday and two periods today. Nettie and I will go to Wuhan (The capital of Hubei Province) tomorrow morning for a few days to organise renewing all the paperwork for me to stay teaching here again next year. It's about a four or five hour journey by coach. In my two years here, I've only really stayed in Wuhan once before and that was to organise the paperwork when I first arrived. It is a huge city split into three main areas which are on both sides of the Yangtze river. A VERY BUSY and chaotic place. I may actually take more in this time though...last time I went there I was still a little shell shocked at just being in China.
So nearly at the two year mark here in China, I think I'm quite settled now. I have moments where things really annoy me and moments of complete wonder. Living a Chinese lifestyle is very, very hectic and by the time it gets to this end of the school year...EVERYONE is very tired...My battery is drained very low and a holiday back home seems to have come just in time.

Lunch is on me!

2010-05-13T21:28:00.005+08:00

So as I mentioned, when I was layed up in bed last week, my friends really looked after me by bringing me homecooked meals and many other things. This week I wanted to thank them and take them all out for lunch my treat. We often eat at Jiangnan Restaurant, just down the road from our school so I invited my friends and we had a fun, relaxing lunch. They still rarely give me chances to pay for lunches or dinners, so I'm glad I got to treat them for a change.

This is how you eat snails...actually very tasty!

So good to have great friends!

励志警句

2010-05-13T21:09:00.003+08:00

"Dont interfere with life. Life knows what to do. You just go along for the ride and stop shouting at the driver".
Ajahn Brahm

With the bad comes the good

2010-05-06T08:20:00.003+08:00

When you're laying in bed all week with a herniated/bulging disc, barely able to move whatsoever. It gives you time to do other things like "think too much"...but also, interesting stuff like read, meditate and listen to the interesting world of China going on outside my apartment.
In the reading department I have very little in the way of English books to call on but one of my work mates loaned me a book she had at home called "Wolf Totem" by Jiang Rong. It's very, very interesting. I've scanned through my Lonely Planet China, caught up on some history of the different Dynasties and absorbed inspirational quotes from Buddhism etc.
My friends and work colleagues seem to have taken it on themselves to work in a roster like situation of home cooking me meals so I don't starve and bringing me fruit, books, dvd's etc. So kind of them because in situations like this, can be very easy to feel alone and far away from the comfort of what you know.
I'm very lucky. I guess these are the type of times that you look and see that with the negatives come the positives.

"It is the enemy who can truely teach us to practise the virtues of compassion and tolerence"
His Holiness The 14th Dali Lama

The Arrival

2010-04-27T19:32:00.004+08:00

Picked up my new Guzheng today, isn't she beautiful! Sounds amazing. I feel like I should apologize to her because I'm still learning ;-)

When I improve a bit more maybe I'll let you hear her too ;-)

励志警句

2010-04-22T21:29:00.003+08:00

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it"

Buddha

Tiptoe through the tulips

2010-04-05T22:03:00.005+08:00

Amsterdam? Pinch me am I dreaming? Nope, I'm still in China! Well, that's what it felt like today when we ventured, not very far, infact, stayed in Yichang and even stayed in my part of town. An international flower exhibition that they somehow manage to keep running for something like 6 weeks.

It shows of their agricultural/horticultural skills and shows an amazingly impressive array of famous flowers from different parts of the world.

You could even wander around and check out the water grown vegetables and how the green houses work.

Very interesting, a really HUGE display of many different areas and a massive splash of colour to what can sometimes be a rather grey environment.

Like I said, you could easily be forgiven for thinking you'd somehow entered the twilight zone or teleported to another country...or even at least rocked up to some spectacular in a big Chinese city such as Shanghai or Beijing.
Well done, Yichang. What a breathe of fresh air.

Australian Easter in China

2010-04-05T21:22:00.007+08:00

My last post mentioned habits I've formed since arriving in China...I guess it works both ways. Look at the girls enjoying their Easter Eggs whilst watching "The Wiggles" compliments of Grandma and Grandpa in Australia and of course "The Easter Bunny" :-). This morning I walked onto the balcony to see Carol eating Cocoa Pops (She often eats cereal like Cornflakes, Fruit loops etc) for breakfast whilst Nettie ate bread, butter and vegemite ( a taste which as she puts it"her body has now totally accepted" :-)
Back to Easter...The girls seemed to really enjoy themselves searching for Easter eggs and decorating eggs...and of course eating the Chocolate. Most Chinese people have heard of Christmas but very few have heard of Easter.

China habits good and bad?

2010-04-02T08:02:00.004+08:00

Actually I'm not sure if I have posted about this already at some time, but I often think about it so it maybe warrants a mention, in case I haven't :-)
As I was skipping over the wet areas on the pavement yesterday, it made me think about what other Chinese habits, good or bad, that I have taken on.

The avoiding of wet areas on the pavement thing may sound a little strange to those not accustomed to life in China but it becomes kind of obvious why when you live here. The same logic also sees me take of my shoes and don a pair of slippers upon entering the door of my apartment, which of course is probably a much more familiar custom for you to read about :-)

Unfortunately along with the Chinese people I often wash my hands much more regularly than is probably considered normal. At first I found it funny that no-one in Macca's would touch their hamburgers etc with their hands, always holding everything in the wrapper, but now, I fear I follow suit...BUT...If I go to Macca's I usually order a big Mac, which comes in a box, not wrapped and I use a little bottle of sterilizing soap (the kind that you don't need water)...BUT....failing all that(if I forget the soap)...I don't worry about it as much and just eat the food :-)

Still on food, I now drink soup from the bowl instead of using a spoon (sorry mum ;-) and I too spit any bits of bone etc onto the table near my bowl if there is not little plate provided to put it on.

I can't bring myself to eat the skin on fruit and vegetables anymore...ie apples, pears,potatoes, tomatoes etc. They just won't do it here, which makes me think...why??? is the fertilizer and pesticides really that bad that it doesn't even wash off?When in Rome... but let me tell you peeling grapes is not my idea of fun and unfortunately I'm lazy enough that it puts me of eating much of the stuff when i know there is so much preparation to get it in your mouth.

I use old traditional Chinese folk remedies for minor ailments...often turning to steamed pear and rock sugar for coughs or brown sugar water for women's problems :-)

I seem to sometimes come out with strange mixtures of Chinese and English when I talk.

I'm a little obsessed about if I'm warm enough, people here are always constantly say "Make sure you keep warm". The weather here in Yichang is so changeable that it's not unusual to see people walking around in a down coat when the weather has hit 25 degrees +

I'm sure there are many many more, which I can't think of right now. Ahhh the things we do!

Guzheng and Note Flight "What a score"

2010-03-23T17:32:00.006+08:00

Since I have been learning Guzheng, I've been trying to come up with creative ways to practice whilst I'm waiting for my own actual Guzheng to arrive. It's hard to keep up with a class full of chinese students, even if they are only very young, because I think as most people know, Chinese students work ethics are VERY high. I'm grateful for my background in music because not only am I dealing with learning the instrument but I'm also dealing with learning the Chinese for everything. It adds a few seconds on to my thinking process when I have to first translate in my head what Tu Laoshi has just asked me before I can do what she wants me to do. For example play "bei di yin mi " (very low register "mi" string, as in do,re,mi,so,fa,la,ti,do) or gao yin do (High registered "do" string.)
For those who are musically inclined, the Guzheng is split into 4 registers, bei di yin qu, di yin qu, zhong yin qu, gao yin qu, tuned in a major pentatonic scale and 1 high string "bei gao yin do string". 21 strings which as the teacher calls out (in chinese obviously)or writes, in the unusual way that Chinese write music (with numbers and dots above and below them and dashes for note values)...I have to find...very quickly. What a challenge!
Last week I drew the guzheng strings onto a big piece of card, so I could practice what each string is called and where each string is. This week I hit GOLD on the internet when I found this site
http://www.noteflight.com/info/make_music
Not only is it great for me to practice memorising melodies for guzheng (like the short tune we have to be able to sing and identify the notes for at this weekends lesson) but also at "Noteflight" I can start writing and composing songs again, something I havent done now for many many years. For my Muso mates, I urge you, CHECK IT OUT!

General Report

2010-03-18T22:20:00.003+08:00

General report.....
#1 Work
#2 The never ending chore of thinking of lesson plans and making them fun for the kids.
#3 Restaurants, baoziguan and more restaurants.
#4 Learning Theory and basics for Guzheng
#5 Shopping(mostly window) and hanging with friends
#6 Enjoying the sudden change in temperature...last week below 10C... 24C today....31C tomorrow. Bring on the beautiful sunshine :-)

Oh for some reason this semester, many teachers come and watch my classes. Not unusual now for a different english teacher to often sit in the corner and take notes (or I usually try and get them to join in:-) Most of the J1 teachers seem to incorporate many of my ideas and games (and their own) into their lessons now or ask for advice on activities they could do to enhance whatever they have to teach from the text books (which I kind of feel proud about!) UNFORTUNATELY it seems to have morphed into a "teaching the teachers" period once a week and....it seems that the "English Club" (fancy name, just meaning an extra lesson)will also appear on my timetable for a class of the best english students.
All I see my job as here, is to teach the kids to have fun with english, give them an opportunity to listen to a native english speaker and understand and use what they learn. They work sooo hard on grammar and all the key basics in their "real english class", my stuff is just supplementary...Still if they think it's helping...Great!
A lot like life really...seem to need to find a balance of "realising there is some kind of purpose" but also "not taking it all too seriously".

China, the good,the bad, the good and the Gu Zheng

2010-03-08T18:10:00.003+08:00

I knew that coming to China would be heading down a new path to unknown adventures and who knows what. I have a very distinct memory of my brother saying that to me at the airport at 1.00am in the morning before I jetted off to the "Middle Kingdom". Something along the lines of "You're off on a life changing pathway, but you don't know where that pathway will go yet"...yes, very nervous and exciting times. I really had no idea just what a huge impact China would have on my life. I still don't know where the courage came from to get on that plane, why I came to Yichang (a strange little city) out of the millions of places in China that I could have picked? That has since become very clear!
China of course can be very challenging and along with many other foreigners living here, I too feel the complexed mixed emotions of a love for this country and it's people and the times of dispair and disillusionment. Infact, I think one of the big things that China has taught me is that "You just never know".Things are never what they seem. At a time when things seems like disaster and chaos, well this is when the most unexpected and best things can follow. They say that life is suffering followed by happiness on a perpetual cycle.
ANYWAY...this post has gone in a different direction to what I originally intended. What I was going to talk about is one thing that I do love about China, it's rich culture and history. Before I came here I didn't know what would happen, but one thing I did have in my mind to do was learn a Chinese instrument. Up until know I have had little time. Last year was mostly spent adjusting to the lifestyle, the job, the language etc....BUT this term I have managed to enrol and start lessons to learn how to play "GuZheng". It really is very exciting for me and I think I have fallen in love with the instrument almost instantly. Having majored in Drumkit at University, this is of course a completely new direction for me to take but one that i think will give the blocked musical creativity within me a chance to burst out:-)lol
Because it is such an old traditional Chinese instrument, it also gives me huge opportunities to learn more culture...AND...because the teacher only speaks Chinese, more opportunity to learn Chinese.
Hey, even if it bores you, I'm afraid you may have to put up with lots of Guzheng information in my up and coming blog posts

The Cup Game

2010-03-02T15:02:00.005+08:00

These are some great kids and myself playing the cup game I showed them...Looks cool I think :-)

Shanghai

2010-02-22T16:23:00.007+08:00

Hard to know where to start when talking about two weeks in Shanghai. I really am not a huge fan of big cities, so I went not expecting anything too different, but there is really a very unusual and interesting vibe about the place. I could talk about the amazing architecture, fascinating buildings (new and old), the great shopping, the temples, the coffee, the technology such as the magnetic "MAGLEV" train (which took us over 30 kilometers in 8 minutes at a speed of around 300 kmph), the view from the top of the Oriental Pearl Tower.

I could also talk about the fascinating European mix that I have not yet seen in any other mainland city in China, yes there is a big European influence in the businesses, the fashions, the food and drinks available, the buildings old (such as the French Concession area and the Bund)

and the new.

There is also still old China in some Hutong areas and of course temples etc. Unlike Yichang food (Hot and Spicy)the food in Shanghai is very sweet. The transport system is amazingly good especially when you consider that there is well over 20 million people in this city.

I was suprised at how clean everything was....Apparently much is being done to make sure that Shanghai looks perfect for the world Expo which they are hosting later this year, if it's to do with that, I'm not sure. Overall the people there seemed very friendly and helpful, all willing to happily help when I asked for directions to places. I was suprised at the amount of English that most shop assistants could speak, in Yichang most people shy away from any English even though they all learnt it at school.
Of course I must mention Nettie's family who were kind enough to let me join in with their Spring Festival celebrations, her sister and brother in law who warmly welcomed me and happily showed us around all the sights.

HangZhou, Suzhou and ZhouZhaung

2010-02-11T10:54:00.005+08:00

So we arrived in Shanghai on the 6th, had a quick look around the following day and headed of on a 3 day tour of HangZhou, SuZhou and ZhouZhuang on the Monday. Chinese tours are VERY tiring as they fit as many sights and shops into the limited time that they can. The tour operators make most of their money generated on sales at certain places, like a commission basis, so lots of specific shops are on the schedule.

HANGZHOU - I'd heard a lot about Hangzhou and West Lake but although it was beautiful, it didn't strike me as the amazing place I'd heard all about. It may have been because of the very rushed tour we experienced on that day due to a 2 hour delay in which we sat on the coach on the highway because of fog. The whole day after that was spent rushing from sights to shops....very tiring!

SUZHOU - is not far Shanghai and we headed back to Suzhou to spend the night and then sight see the next day. This tour was much better, not as rushed and I thought Suzhou is really quite beautiful. The vibe of this city, is cool and the many canals that run through the place makes people call it the "Oriental Venice". The city is also full of many temples and special gardens. We had beautiful, warm sunny weather for our day in Suzhou.

ZHOUZHUANG - interesting little town about half an hour from Suzhou. Full of canals like Suzhou some of which run through the houses. It's now very tourist orientated in this town and every shop we walked past I was greeted with "Hello, come in". They tell you a price and when you walk away they ask you how much you want to pay for it. It drives me crazy!
A busy Three day tour then back to Shanghai!

Chinese Breakfast

2010-01-28T18:31:00.009+08:00

I don't often eat Chinese breakfast 1) Because the choice this side of the river is more limited 2) I can actually get some cereals like Cornflakes, Instant Oats (Frosties, and Cocoa Pops now also, if I like), So I just prefer to mostly keep one regular, kind of normal meal for the day and that is Breakfast.
I must admit though that I really do like Baozi and the teachers like to get Baozi from a particular restaurant in Yichang. It's known as the best Baozi in Yichang and across the road is a shop selling the best breakfast Jaozi in Yichang (according to the locals). I've never actually been to either place because it's nowhere near my apartment or Nettie's apartment, nor near Yiling square or other places we usually hang out around. Also I'm rarely in the city at breakfast time.
Today we had the opportunity to pay a visit. "Was it good Baozi? shide...very tasty :-)"
"Baozi" is similar to bread but it is steamed and filled with various fillings such as beef, pork, vegetables and pickles. You can also get "Soup Baozi" which has meat and soup inside, that is very delicious.
The bowls of food we have in the pictures are "Rice Porridge". The other popular breakfasts here are many different types of noodles, a soya bean curd porridge(which I like very much)called "dou hua" and instead of a cup of tea or coffee, it's mostly often a cup of hot Soya Milk.

Thought you may like to see what most brekkie places in China look like :-)

加油

2010-01-26T21:08:00.002+08:00

I've been watching the Australian Open... The Aussies not very strong at the moment but WOW I've got two great little dynamo's from my adopted country to support
Zhèng Jié 郑洁 Chengdu, Sichuan CHINA
AND
a local from my province :-)
Lǐ Nà 李娜 Wuhan, Hubei CHINA

at the moment both are through into the 1/4 finals...history making :-)
"JIA YOU"
加油

GO GIRLS!!!

Busy times

2010-01-26T18:49:00.006+08:00

A condensed version of the last few days would be something like this...
FRIDAY : "Happy Birthday Nettie", Lunch at the steak house in CBD and window shopping for the afternoon.

SATURDAY: Delicious Lunch and Dinner at Netties parents house, bank business and bits and pieces shopping in between.
SUNDAY : Lunch with Friends of friends, sleep in the arvo,learned some Chinese, stuffed around at Netties house before she cooked a delicious dinner.

MONDAY : "Yichang Foreign Teachers New Year/Spring Festival Get together Party"
only 13 government employed primary through to senior foreign teachers here in Yichang....4 or 5 of which come from a school in Yidu (a district or county of Yichang, about an hours drive away). So not really many of us considering the total population of Yichang is over 4 million (keep in mind that includes all districts etc, not just the city).

We all had to do some kind of performance, partake in some games and eat a meal with the government officials. Not exactly what any of us westerners would call a party :-)but I guess the key word is COMPROMISE. I like to believe they meant well, but I've never been one for taking part in such activities. It reminds me of when I used to bend over and pretend to be doing up my shoelaces whenever they were looking for people to come on stage at shows and performances in shopping centres or school etc, but from this show, there was no escape!!!but hey, I got to meet other foreign teachers and was given a great gift of a whizz bang ping pong paddle.

A night at the Beijing Opera

2010-01-20T20:53:00.007+08:00

Last night Nettie and I trotted along to watch some Beijing Opera here in Yichang. It wasn't only myself who had never seen it, Nettie was also going for a first time experience :-) It was held at the "Yichang Theatre" which is a new building, only small (two tiers) but cosy, clean and a great little venue. It reminded me a bit of our Concert Hall in Perth, but of course much more modern.

The performers were from the "Shanghai Beijing Opera Troupe" and the star of the show, who played the leading role in the performance we watched, is actually a Yichang girl "Xiong Mingxia 熊明霞". The performance was called "Hong Niang 红娘" (meaning Red Lady). In the below photo she is wearing red.

The Chinese people love to spend their freetime match making and organising dates and "Hong Niang" is the name given to a lady who sets up a date between two people. I really enjoyed it for the first hour and a half, but the whole show( including a small performance taken from another famous Beijing Opera as the opening act) went for around three hours and whilst many of the older Chinese people really enjoyed it, even many Chinese people were fading out, so considering I could understand very little (without Netties pre description of what the show was about, I would have had no idea what was happening)We did rather well, I think.
The first performance was really very cool as it involved a lot of "Wushu"(martial arts)It was called "Sanchakou, 三岔口", a story from the song dynasty. We watched a fight scene taken from the story in which the guys are fighting as if they are in a pitch black dark room. It was very clever!

The main performance was colourful, traditional music was great and with very little stage props, was still quite engaging to watch. Although as you can see from this picture, maybe Nettie didn't enjoy it as much as I did, the book was obviously much more interesting :-)

Anyway, to sum it all up, very entertaining, something very unique to China and I think alot of fun.

What do you think this is?

2010-01-19T15:26:00.006+08:00

O.K. I don't normally take photos of all the wonderful Chinglish signs, menus and packaging, but this one is a goodie and I couldn't resist throwing out the challenge :-)
Anyone wanna guess what this is? I saw these quite a few months ago now and when they were on sale in the shop yesterday, I just had to get myself a bag of 1 time sex shoe sets :-)
This is a perfect example that you can't just translate word for word and get the correct translation.

Winter Holiday

2010-01-18T08:36:00.002+08:00

My Winter holiday has just started. It's late this year as we follow the Chinese Calender for this stuff and Chinese New Year this Year, 14th February, Year of the Tiger!
Had a great start to my holiday. On Friday we went to see "Avator" at the movies...All the movies here are voice dubbed in Chinese and subtitled in Chinese, so alot of guessing is involved, but, it's amazing how you can pretty much follow just about everything. We also checked out some new restaurants, window shopped and relaxed our way through the weekend.
Hasn't been quite as cold the last few days and they are even saying it may get to around 16-19 degrees today? Which in Yichang standards will feel about 11 - 15 :-) hmmm maybe?

励志警句

2010-01-11T22:12:00.004+08:00

"When you come right down to it, the secret of having it all is loving it all"

Dr Joyce Brothers

Just Hanging!

2010-01-08T20:44:00.007+08:00

Because of my very busy Tuesdays and Thursdays at school, I have Fridays off. I usually spend a bulk of the Friday getting lessons for the next week organised but today I spent the morning giving my apartment a thorough winter clean (very therapeutic)lol and this afternoon hanging in "Walking Street". Here's a few shots just having some fun :-) Unfortunately with the opening of the grand "CBD", "Walking Street seems to be suffering a little, although I think it's always busier of an evening. I actually love to just hang around this area, grab a hot drink, some snacks, look at the cool shops...I find it relaxing here. The photo up above was actually quite funny, as I was talking to the Chinese statue of the lady cooking mianwo and asking her how much and stuff...the Chinese people in the nearby stalls were finding it very amusing :-)It's strange how in Australia we presume that all foreigners visiting or living in Australia can speak English, because in China all Chinese people seemed stunned when you speak Chinese! It's quite the opposite reaction here.

Winter wonderland

2010-01-05T19:17:00.005+08:00

This morning at around 10 am it started to snow. Tonight, after a heavy days teaching, I am snuggled up in my apartment and it is still snowing. It has been a steady snowfall all day and tonight everything is blanketed in white.The above photo is taken from my bedroom window. For a "West Aussie" who's only seen light snow a couple of times now, it's a wonderous thing. It looks stunning! The kids have been playing all day (when they have break periods)throwing snowballs and drawing pictures in the snow which is covering the sports field. It registered about 2 degrees most of today and at the moment is -1 degree.
Lunch break on the street outside my apartment.

Thank goodness for the extra double thick thermals my friends bought for my Birthday and Christmas.

The best restaurant in town :-)

2010-01-01T23:47:00.003+08:00

Yichang is full of many great restaurants, food stalls and places to find yummy food. Though it can be very difficult finding food that isn't spicy (even much of the stuff at KFC and Maccas has a kick), generally I like the food around here. The best place to eat around these parts though is definitely at a reserved for friends and family place :-) So often, (actually nearly a couple of times every week) I end up eating at Netties Mum and Dads apartment. The food is so delicious and it feels good to be in a home/family atmosphere. I have mentioned the great Jaozi and Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs, but Netties Mum cooks so many different types of food and they always taste delicious and often there are left overs for the next day...giving me something to look forward to. I'm so lucky :-)I was very kindly invited for "New Years Day 2010" Check out the above feast! Happy New Year!

Teachers New Year Party

2010-01-01T20:55:00.010+08:00

This is our group photo of Junior One teachers (but 3 of us are missing from the photo? I'm not sure where they are?)

New Years Eve, we only had to teach our morning lessons. The kids were sent home from school at lunch time for a long weekend. Thursday afternoon we all went to a restaurant for our schools New Years celebration party. Each group of teachers from all the different years taught (ie Junior 1 through to Senior 3) think of a performance , rehearse and then perform at the party. I was asked to join the Junior 1 group but it would have seen me having to dress, sing and dance a traditional Chinese Number. Just a bit too far out of my comfort zone. Heres the video of a little of the Junior One performance :-)

The teachers performances were fun to watch and although many of them think it a bit of a laugh to dress in the traditional clothing, I think the Chinese women really look very beautful when they do. Heres some pictures of some of my friends and collegues.

Changes

2009-12-29T23:42:00.002+08:00

Bare with me while I redesign the blog. I have to re add some stuff...What do you think? I think it's quite beautiful :-)

Christmas Parties

2009-12-26T22:25:00.003+08:00

Christmas Eve was a hive of activity at school. Every class held their own Christmas Party celebration. The kids gave me invitations to attend and I'm glad I did :-) When I arrived I got a rock star welcome BUT it's not just me! When Sarah arrived she also got the same loud, warm welcome and then later when Nettie arrived, again huge cheers, clapping and attention. It seems they love their English teachers! Really makes you feel good.

Sarah brought one of her twins along and Nettie brought Carol. Kids here in China really seem to look after other kids very well. They all call each other younger or older sisters or brothers and seem to treat each other that way.

I had a great night even though I had to sing a Chinese song in each class party I went to. The kids get really excited when you speak or sing in Chinese. Infact the kids here just LOVE to sing and dance FULLSTOP.

Christmas Challenge

2009-12-26T09:40:00.005+08:00

Seems I'm being tested...given some "Growth Material". Firstly "Merry Christmas" Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day and continue to have a great Chrissie break! I didn't blog my "Happy Chrissie" message yesterday because ....well...lets say it was definately a trying day. "Thursday afternoon (Christmas Eve) the water went off(not unusual for around here)...what is unusual is that it is now "Boxing Day" morning and the water is still not back on. "Christmas Day" itself was quite pleasant, I was asked to be a judge at the kids English singing competition in the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and a couple of the performances were really standout great! After that I came back to try and organise for my Chrissie Party, thats when the electricity went out aswell! With 7 friends and 10 kids about to arrive I tried to maybe "cancel" (the obvious thing we would do in such a situation in Australia...but...apparently not here!) So I walked to the shop downstairs and bought a heap of candles and a torch. Before most of the guests started to arrive, electricity did come back. With yet some other kinda cold thing hanging around...It was a tough evening to say the least.
Many dhamma teachings and other well known sayings that we grow up with kept running through my head "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" etc...
There is a Zen saying "When my house burned down, I gained, an unobstructed view of the moonlit sky"
Well I tried to see the stars but wasn't very successful (lol) Keep practicing I guess!

励志警句

2009-12-23T11:44:00.011+08:00

Inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well being. Cultivating a close warm hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease and opens the inner door.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Big Christmas Sale!

2009-12-22T23:19:00.010+08:00

This afternoon the Junior 1's held a wonderful event as part of our "English Culture Week", holding their own "Big Sale" at school. They had a couple of stores (stalls) per class and over the past weekend they went shopping with a small budget to buy things to sell at their shop stalls today. Then at the end of the day they split the stalls takings evenly between each kid in the group. Great idea!
It was a whole lot of fun. Check out my kids enjoying themselves :-)

Most of the teachers (including myself) ended up not being able to say no to the kids. Seeing them enjoying themselves so much and selling, using their English speaking skills was a joy. All the teachers could be seen walking around with arms full of shopping from supporting the kids fun afternoon.

Happy Anniversary

2009-12-19T12:53:00.003+08:00

To my amazing Mum and Dad,

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY"

I love you both very much.

C.B.D shopping brings Walmart to Yichang

2009-12-18T18:55:00.008+08:00

The new C.B.D shopping area has brought a few nice new shops, restaurants, big state of the art movie cinema complex and as from a couple of weeks ago a new Walmart to shop in. I first visited the Walmart a couple of days after it's grand opening and it was so busy I thought I would never get used to such a big busy shop. People pushing and shoving in long crowded queues (if you can call it a queue in China :-)It looked promising but all really wanted to do was get out...it was so noisy and overcrowded...I joked with my friends that I didn't realise so many people actually lived in Yichang.
Last night I ventured back. I had a fairly extensive list of groceries and that involves getting different things from different stores. I thought my best chance of getting everything in one place was more likely to happen in Walmart. To my relief the crowds had diminished and I could really see what was available. To my joy many things to make things a little more normal for me here in China (Grocery wise) were scattered around everywhere. Not only did I get Beef (WOW), Pork, Chicken, Fruit and Vegetables in one shop, I also found such gems as a huge array of frozen goods, such as frozen french fries and frozen vegetables. Also a big fridge full of ready to go Chinese meals all cut up and ready to stirfry, even hotpots for 1 or 2 people all ready to cook! They even make Pizza and BBQ chicken on roast spits fresh, hot and ready to eat. The prices here? Very cheap! I'm impressed. One of the things that I thought was GREAT were the lights in all the freezers, fridges and cold shelves that are sensored, so they go on when someone walks up to have a look at the food and turn off when no-one is looking. Very energy efficient and Earthwise idea! Nearly as good as the Bus drivers here who stop the buses engine when they stop at traffic lights, even when it's a 50/50 chance as to whether it actually starts again :-)

Birthday Bonus

2009-12-18T11:06:00.004+08:00

Another birthday came and went and I was totally looked after and spoilt by my friends, school and students here in China and my family and friends back home.
A big thankyou to Judy who sent me a lovely traditional "Christmas Fruit Cake" and "Shortbread Biscuits" for Christmas and a very cool "Sayings of the Buddha and other Masters" book for my birthday:)The sayings are so uplifting I might start picking out some favourite to post more regularly on here. Mum and Dad, THANKYOU for the Christmas/Birthday parcel full of goodies. I really love the Perfume very much and I now know that Father Christmas will still find me here in China and fill a stocking for me on Christmas eve...(How old am I ? :-)Here in China I had students giving me cards, not shy in saying their love for me (which really makes your heart feel warm), many renditions of "Happy Birthday", a day or two of all the kids walking past wishing me "Happy Birthday", blackboards decorated with "Happy Birthday" messages, Dinner and beautiful gifts from my friends, "Birthday Cake"......I really am treated so kindly here. Everyone is so generous, kind hearted and loving towards me. I am so GRATEFUL!

Shifu (Master)

2009-12-03T21:19:00.002+08:00

The name here in China for a master tradesman, someone who is very skilled at what they do is "shifu"...For those of you into Kungfu movies...there is always a "Master" who guides their young apprentice. Well I visited a very skilled Shifu yesterday. Years of playing Goals in Hockey and throwing myself around sometimes comes back to haunt me and a few days ago it visited in the form of lower back and hip pain that became so sore, it was difficult to walk. The time had come to face another "China Experience".
Yes, I've tried the foot massage but really that's just what the Chinese do to relax. This time I was going to see a Massage Shifu who has 40 years experience to back him up.
A little nervous "YES"...From my experiences here, the Chinese love any chance to massage, beat and hit, prod and pull, pick and poke. I also knew that this place not only did massage but also "Cupping"(sucking your skin up into little glass bowls) and "Scraping"(scraping with a piece of horn over your back, bringing all the blood to the surface)both of which can be very beneficial but 1)look a little painful and 2)leave you looking like you've just been beaten up.
Upon my arrival the Shifu rearranged his schedule to treat the "Waiguoren"(foreigner). This kind of preferential treatment does happen quite a lot here. Not many foreigners in "Yichang" and people love the opportunity to be with you. I 99% of the time don't mind the inquisitiveness and am always happy to talk. When I have someone with me who can interpret both ways, it's often fun for everyone:-)Nettie came with me and we all had a great laugh with the Shifu who was indeed full of character and stories and very funny. My Chinese can still only pick up parts of information and my vocabulary is limited so when visiting a place like this for the first time, a fluent Chinese/English speaker is a safe option :-)
ANYWAYYYYY The massage started with an apprentice working on my neck and shoulders before the Shifu worked on my back. Yes it did involve the usual hitting and beating (That even happens when they wash your hair in the hairdressers here)but my back feels sooo much better today than yesterday, much less pain and it really wasn't that bad.
It's always interesting to see how different things are here and this was no exception. Many people who do massage here in China are actually blind. This was the case yesterday. They believe they have a gift for this profession because their other senses are so heightened with their lack of sight. Makes sense!
So now I have also found a great place for natural Chinese massage and therapies.
Will I try the Cupping and Scraping? I think so? Some things the Chinese really do exceptionally well and I believe these treatments could be very beneficial...a little painful maybe??? You never know until you try.

Foo Lun Cha

2009-11-24T21:19:00.005+08:00

I've decided that it is indeed a useless task trying to forecast Yichang weather...we are back to about 20 degrees and sunshine this week after around 0 degrees and snow last week. Sooooooo....to change the subject, today I went off on another jaunt to give some lessons to another school in Yichang. This time not far away, just over in the city. As part of the "keeping good relationships with other schools" My school put me on loan every now and again, just to give some students and teachers that don't have foreign teachers at their schools a few lessons and a chance to speak with a native English speaker. Today I had two classes (40 kids in each) with some Junior One students. It was VERY HARD WORK!The students at this school only had very, very basic English. They couldn't speak or understand much at all. I often get told "our school(Y.C.F.L.S) is the best, has the best students, has the best teachers, has the best grades, best work ethic" etc etc etc. Today maybe I came to realise that it is infact, Very True! How lucky I am to have such great kids to work with. YES, some days they can be frustrating, but, they are great kids! Even the most troublesome seem to have BIG hearts and are more over excited than naughty. I'm so grateful to have come to "Yichang Foreign Language School."
I must make mention of a funny thing that happened whilst teaching one of the classes at the other school today, which is what inspired the title of this post. One child came up to the front to have a go at the "Taboo game" which I was playing with the kids...His word was "Bread"....I cant remember the taboo word...He desperately started telling his team "foo lun cha, foo lun cha!"Everyone looked puzzled. I said to him "NOOOOO...you can't speak Chinese in this game, ONLY ENGLISH...NO CHINESE!"He looked at me and said "Wo shuode Yingwen" which is "I'm speaking English"
It was then I realised along with everyone else, he was saying "For Lunch, For Lunch"
All everyone could do was laugh :-)The teachers took me out for dinner after classes and we were still all laughing about it. Ahh the joys of teaching English in China!!!

Very COLD!!

2009-11-14T19:33:00.003+08:00

The sunny warm pictures around the fountain in Yiling square last Saturday (in my last post),well, I think they've gone for the year now. The weather has turned bitterly cold this week. The forecast is for snow tomorrow night and Monday. The temperature is clocking in around 4 degrees give or take some...down to the minus range at night. 28 degrees last Saturday, I put that at quite a big jump, don't you?

Yiling Square Fountain

2009-11-10T13:17:00.008+08:00

I was in "Yiling Square" on Saturday. The weather was stunning and I sat for a while with my Chinese book trying to learn this language which seems equivalent to walking the length of "The Great Wall". I sat with the women doing their knitting and the people playing their card games and even the young couples cleaning each others ears out with ear spoons :-)
Here in Yichang, Yiling Square is a great place to just hang and watch all the different activities that Chinese people like to do. Of an evening, it is full with people dancing, mornings many people exercise there and in general anytime you will find kids playing, skating or whatever the fad game happens to be at the current time. It also has a wonderful fountain that (I think) only goes a couple of times a day on Saturdays (for about 20 minutes)I'm never sure what time of the day and although I've seen it in it's full glory a few times now, I've don't think I've ever had my camera with me at the time and taken pictures of it, but on Saturday I did :-)
Here's some photos for you.

So much excitement with the kids and after it's finished they all love to play where it was spurting ferociously just a minute before.

Here's a short video!

My Little Casserole Dish!

2009-11-07T09:08:00.007+08:00

Anyone that knows me also knows I'm not really very domesticated, mostly when it comes to cooking :-)I did make efforts last year (a few times a week) to find some similar foods and cook some similar meals to those I would eat back home in Australia, but this year I seemed to have become more integrated in the Chinese lifestyle and I have been eating mostly Chinese food. I eat at the school food hall quite a lot because my meals are provided for free and as I have mentioned a few times before, the lifestyle here involves much eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner so restaurant eating is very common and a normal part of life here.
Because of my Stomach cold last week, I decided I had better try and get into a bit of home cooking again, the biggest trouble is that I really don't enjoy cooking very much at all and of course the other trouble is finding the right ingredients.
I decided I wanted to make "Bread Pudding". Whilst I can get butter here, it tastes very unusual and I don't like it very much so I just used Bread, Sultanas, Milk (kind of:), Eggs and Sugar. I searched and searched for some kind of bowl that I would be able to use in my little oven. Because they don't cook with ovens here in China, It was a hard task. I finally found the perfect Casserole type dish that would withstand high temperature and I'm loving it!! My first bread puddings I had to make in some muffin cases that Mum sent over to me, but now the casserole dish makes the perfect bread pudding it even fits perfectly in my little oven.
My little casserole dish has inspired me to greater heights (with some inspirational ideas from my mum) LOOK a "Roast Pork Pot Roast" (kind of :-)Complete with crackling.It must have been tasty because Nettie didn't feel compelled to add from her trusty jar of Chinese "HOT Spicy Relish", which she must keep handy on my shelf for emergencies :-)
Who knows what will be next???
Any ideas gratefully accepted :-)

Bread Pudding

Giving Thanks

2009-10-29T22:26:00.003+08:00

I've spent quite a bit of time in the Chinese Hospital again :-( Tuesday I felt so ill that I didn't see, notice or care much about what they said or done or what went on around me. After blood tests etc, I was told "Stomach Cold and a Bacterial infection" hence why I spent the whole previous night with my head in a toilet bowl (that is when my Butt wasn't occupying the space) It really was very nasty, I can't remember a stomach virus that made me feel so unwell..anyway without going into the details to much... I could only just walk on Tuesday and because of this, I ended up on a bed with an antibiotic,saline,glucose drip for three hours (first part of a three day course)The next two days the drip was much quicker only an hour visit each time as I was now stronger and they could feed the drip through more quickly.
The second and third days I got to observe the goings on around me more. People everywhere, A big room for people to sit in and hang their drips up for an hour or so, guys coughing and spluttering with drips in while they still puff on their cigarettes. Girls yelling at their boyfriends (a sign of affection I'm told...apparently shows they care :-)Babies through to old people, all sitting around with drips in their hands. On the third day we walked back to the room where they had been giving me my antibiotics and the room was empty....The twenty or so beds, chairs, patients, Doctors and Nurses....ALL GONE! So for the third day I joined everyone else on the chairs and observed all that I have mentioned. It is very interesting. I have to say I am truly grateful to the hospital and the staff for making me feel better, I really felt so ill and they were very efficient and good. I think good Nurses must be the same the world over, they should be held in very high esteem. Whilst things are different here, they still do the best with what they have and in many situations seem more efficient, especially when you think of the pure number of people they have to deal with everyday.

Sea Change in Xiamen

2009-10-09T09:30:00.005+08:00

A week long holiday for the combined celebration of Moon Festival and National Day saw us visit Xiamen for a 6 day change of scenery. I still don't know how they figure that it is a week holiday when we have to work two weekends to have it. Today I'm back to school(Friday) and I have last Mondays classes...tomorrow I have last Tuesdays classes and Sunday I have last Wednesdays classes...Before the holiday I had this Thursdays class on the Saturday and this Friday's class on the Sunday. Then of course this Monday...back to normal...and I have Today again on Monday....DID YOU GET ALL THAT :-)
ANYWAY...for this sacrifice we had a week long break and I went to Xiamen for 6 days with Nettie and her family. We drove to Wuhan (4 Hours) and then a short plane trip to Xiamen for a sea change. The weather reminded me a lot of Perth. Being on the coast it was very windy and warm. We took in the sights of Xiamen, Gulang Yu island and Jimei. Xiamen is infact itself an island that is connected to the mainland by a 5 km long causeway with a train line and footpath.
We visited Nanputuo Buddhist Temple...very, very busy and I couldn't help thinking what a different lifestyle the monks in this temple have compared to the monks in Bodhinyana Monastery back home in W.A.

We went on a two hour boat trip to get a closer look at neighbouring Taiwan (Jinmen Island)...this saw most of the boat load of passengers reaching for the sick bags as the water got more rough...after that we headed to Gulang Yu island...very pretty and interesting. It is full of old colonial style architecture and used to be the home of all the European Consulates. Easy to get lost in the maze of small streets and alleyways everywhere giving much to see and do.
Since I have been in China...I have never seen so many people as I saw throughout our holiday in Xiamen. As they say here "People mountain, people sea". It was also clear though that the locals lived an oceanside lifestyle much the same way as we do when living near the coast in W.A. Of course there are obvious differences but essentially you could feel the same vibe. I enjoyed being near the coast for a while and soaking up the warmth and the sea air.

There are many more photos, some of which are uploaded on my flicker account.. click on flicker link in my blog to see the rest :-)

Up and Over some Hurdles!

2009-09-17T20:04:00.004+08:00

Much of my first year in China was spent in a blur of new experiences. This year it certainly feels different. I started learning Chinese before coming to China but have never been very brave about using it (especially around my Chinese friends)This year I've given up on hanging onto that problem somewhat...thrown away some luggage and stepped out :-) I don't like to feel reliant on my Chinese friends and whilst I can often make myself understood...this year I've really made an effort to speak much more... and much more often. The other day was a great achievement for me. First, I did the normal thing and caught the bus downtown...then I topped up my bus card...not just by thrusting the card and the money at the girl but by actually asking her to please put 100 rmb on my bus card...then I went to a small Chinese food stall/shop and ordered "Fried Baozi" Not just by pointing but by asking...and the biggest achievement, my friend rang me and invited me to her apartment...I said "yep great, I'll walk, see you in a while..." BUT...With such a successful run I decided ,what the heck...I'll hail a taxi :-) Believe it or not I rarely take a taxi and on any previous occasions that I have, my friends have waved one down and told the driver to take me home. I stood on the side of the road (being careful not to get taken out by a bus) and with my ever faithful group of Chinese paparazzi curiously watching on, I watched for the little light indicating a vacant taxi and waved him down :-)I told him where I wanted to go and WOW...I actually arrived there. SO GREAT!
I go back to the small Baozi stall more frequently now "Liang fen Zhu rou jian bao" :-)

First Full Week Back at School

2009-09-12T09:06:00.004+08:00

So at the end of my first full week back...things certainly feel different. The biggest change is the arrival of a second Foreign English teacher to help lessen my load. Adjusting to having a 19 year old American girl suddenly thrown in the mix...challenging. There are benefits now though, such as my classes are only max of 30 kids per class...AND... I'm teaching all of Junior 1 and half of Junior 2 with no Junior 3 classes. I really enjoy teaching Junior 1 (12 year olds) they are enthusiastic and alot of fun. and Junior 2 (my last years Junior 1's)have only had me as their ESL teacher and we have always got on really well...so for now anyway...I'm finding the kids are really great to teach :-)
My schedule is very different this year. I have two very, very busy days of 6 teaching periods and two days with only two teaching periods and 1 extra day off per week. After the first week...I have to say I prefer it, but I guess a few weeks trial will tell if it will be more or less tiring.
Catching up with all my Chinese English teacher friends is great. The Monday night get together dinner that a group of us have, has been moved to my apartment...Each week a different teacher brings the food and really my apartment is just the place for us to heat it up and sit and eat it.
We had "Teachers Day" on Thursday. I was lucky enough to receive some cards and gifts from some students, many "happy teachers day" greetings all day and then at the school ceremony some flowers and a bonus award for ??? I dunno what???
It's a nice thing to do...fun for me to see...maybe a bit full on for Chinese teachers whose whole day (and many days leading up to it)are spent answering phone and text messages from past students and current students parents wishing them "Happy Teachers Day"
Such a busy week !

These are my teachers day gifts

Ever Changing China

2009-09-03T20:38:00.002+08:00

"The only thing certain is that nothing is certain". I think that no truer words can be spoken in China. Everything is always changing...roads, buildings, shops, school schedules :-)It's quite amazing. My first week back at school has only been three lessons due to the the Junior 1's having military training and some kind of E.N.T infection that's rendered me off the spicy food for a while :-(and my J2 classes.
My phobia of all things medical is heightened being here in China because the whole medical system is so different. I faced up though and went to the hospital (no Doctors surgery here)and saw firstly a G.P and the blood test guy... (Check up and blood tests, in and out with blood test results in my hands within 15 minutes)Next over to the E.N.T ward to see a E.N.T doctor...(just to be sure all is ok)Well she took a huge lump of wax out of my ear and gave me the thumbs up. Then today for the "to be sure, to be sure" of to the "Mouth Doctor"(turns out that this was another name for Dentist...oh and this was also in the hospital)He checked and said apart from some inflammation in my throat and mouth area, all is fine! BTW when I sat up from the dentist's chair I had a crowd of about 10 dental nurses all watching...lol.
I have been terrified about going to hospital here...my first visit (when I first arrived in Yichang) was very unsettling for me...but I do have to say...That whilst it doesn't look as flash as some of our medical facilities....It's very, very cheap (my school actually covers my medical costs but it is only about 6 yuan to see each doctor) and it's very, very quick.
If you can get over the fact that the doctor may be smoking his ciggies when giving you a consult....It's not so bad :-)
In Australia blood test results....days....Waiting to see a specialist....weeks or months and Dentist....VERY EXPENSIVE!
So I have to say that my phobia about Chinese hospitals is changing also....not nearly as scary as the first time.

Back in Yichang...what a great holiday back home!

2009-08-26T10:30:00.005+08:00

My 8 weeks holiday back home in Australia flew past very quickly and I find myself back in a steamy hot Yichang, settling back to the Chinese lifestyle. I haven't blogged because I haven't had time. My last 3 weeks back home were full of activity as I tried to show Nettie as much of my lifestyle as I could. We really had a great time and she fitted in so easily. Because her English is so great and she is so easy to get along with...it's easy to forget that she hadn't experienced the western lifestyle before and was seeing, tasting and experiencing many things for the first time in her life. We really had the most amazing time and not only myself but my family all feel very pleased to have her in our life. Between us we gathered hundreds of photos...these are just some of them.

Whale watching cruise in Albany

Tree top walk in Walpole

With friends from my hockey team in York

Busselton...It's always so beautiful
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Getting a cuddle with a joey (baby Kangaroo)

With my Mum,Dad,Jess (sister in law)and Geoff (brother)

More Family : Lin, John, Mum, Dad, Stuart, Harry and Emma

Kings Park

For all those who we just didn't have time to catch up with ...I'm sorry. It really is amazing how quickly time goes past.

Lucky to love and be loved

2009-07-31T14:39:00.005+08:00

Sometimes I think it's important to stop and realise how lucky we are. I have loving parents and friends that I share very special bonds with. We all love to feel loved but an even more amazing feeling is being able to return love unconditionally and do and give as much as you can to make others feel loved and add to making others lives feel full and happy.

With a few weeks left here in Western Australia before I head back for another 10 month run in China, I'm filled with a mixture of emotions. I'm extremely excited that my closest of friends from China accepted the invitation to join me here in Australia for the last few weeks of my holiday. I will get the chance to give back some of the amazing generosity she shows to me when I am in her home country. For someone who has not experienced a western country, I think Australia will be an amazing adventure for her. It will be a lot of fun for me as well as Nettie, introducing her to my hometown, different foods and showing her the sights. Her English is very, very good and I know she will value this opportunity to be in a completely English speaking environment and learn so much from being here.
With the arrival of my dear friend comes the reality of leaving my parents here again in just a few weeks time. I love and miss them very much when I am in China but the support that they always show for whatever I choose to do has got me to where I am now and I hold on to the fact that they want me to experience as much of life as I can and never hold myself back.
I will fly back to China with my friend which is comforting and I wonder how different things will be. Last year I was flying into the unknown..."what would China be like, would the job be o.k?, how would the people treat me? would I make friends?" Obviously all these things made a big enough impact on my life for me to return again. This time it's not unknown...I have learnt much of the language and made great friends. The school is very good to me and I enjoy teaching the kids.
How will this impact on my second year in China? Will I be more adventurous and brave :-)Generally feel more comfortable and at ease in such a different lifestyle?
It's all part of life's big learning curve :-) The amazing thing about loving people unconditionally is the biggest buzz that you get when you give to please and how somehow, it works around in a complete circle of giving and more giving, which comes back to you ten fold...and so on and so on..

Strange But True!

2009-07-24T18:38:00.004+08:00

Tonight (with thanks to a Mozilla Firefox add on) I sat down and watched live streaming of CCTV 5 (China Sports channel)on TV-Fox. I made the experience even more like my past 11 months in China, by eating a bowl of instant noodles whilst I watched :-)

York Rainbow

2009-07-20T14:39:00.001+08:00

York Rainbow, on top of Mount Brown, originally uploaded by sooy2.

I took Daisy for a walk around on Mount Brown yesterday...The weather has been sprinkling us with rain on and off and we were lucky enough to catch this rainbow whilst we were uo top...very pretty!

Revamp

2009-07-18T18:26:00.000+08:00

Hmmm not sure if I like the new look blog page yet??

Stop whinging people and start thanking !

2009-07-17T19:37:00.004+08:00

People often like to complain....whinge, whinge, whinge. Sometimes I wish I had a voice recorder going so people can hear themselves back. The other thing I notice a lot is how people love to discuss tragedy and bad news... I think there should be a channel on T.V and radio dedicated to good stuff, providing a tonic or remedy to help even out the flow of bad news that we are flooded with.
Anyway I have decided to write about a couple of things that I am truly thankful for.

1 : I have been meaning to mention this for a while.... SKYPE : Thank you, thank you a billion times thank you. SKYPE keeps me in free regular contact with my family and friends by text, voice and video (and cheap phone calls and text messages to phones). The world is a much smaller place thanks to you. Living so far away from my loved ones becomes much easier with regular contact.

and today

DELL COMPUTERS : I have had Dell computers for a few years now and never had any problems. My last laptop is still under warranty (just) and it has been playing up quite a bit lately. After talking with technicians and being guided through some very useful ways to update, diagnose and fix problems...they decided to have a look for themselves. They sent a technician to my house and he completely pulled my laptop to pieces, put in a brand new motherboard, fan and heat sensor, sync thingy?
He has also ordered new speakers as mine don't seem to be playing loud enough and someone will come again on Monday to fit them.
So to Dell....BIG THANKS !

My World...where have I been?

2009-07-16T20:03:00.003+08:00

Today I thought I'd have some fun with google maps and start adding the places in the world that I have lived and visited. Its a lot of fun and as you can see I have included the map on my blog. If you click on "My World" it will open the full map showing that I have lived and travelled in England, Ireland, China and Australia. I really should start putting the many places I've been to in my home state of W.A but there are so many I haven't got around to them all yet. Next I'll try and work out how to add the photo's to the locations :-)

Classic Comment

2009-07-07T17:22:00.003+08:00

I guess with me home for a while my dad is feeling a little out numbered yet again. Yes we can be known to give him a hard time but it is usually for his own good as he is frequently getting himself into trouble :-) He has been trying to find something to pin on me since I have returned ranging from "We use much more toilet paper now your back" and the other day whist driving to Northam "accussing me of eating all the biscuits" Why I felt the urge to defend my 1 biscuit a day I dont know :-) ANYWAY...Mum piped up with "HEY so who's been eating all the biscuits while Sue was in China....People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones". Dads quick reply was "THEY SHOULD WHEN THEY WANNA GET OUT! Poor Dad lol.

Transition

2009-07-02T16:00:00.012+08:00

I'm back in China for my third year, time flies! My 5 weeks back in Australia went quickly and it was wonderful to be with my family. We spent lots of quality time and had some great days out at places like the Perth Zoo and Kings Park. Lots of shopping with mum and meeting my new niece Mathilda was a joy. Hey I didn't realise my Brother could cook such a great cake:-) Thanks...delicious!

Playing Golf with Jude and Super Golf with Anthony....very cool.

I miss you all and it's really great to see everyone, the big family get together gave me a chance to catch up with the just about everyone. I haven't had time to blog as three days after I got back here, I headed to Shanghai for about 13 days. 24 hours each way train ride, 3 days in total at World expo and then time checking out the wonderful city and hanging out with Nettie, Carol and Netties sister Helen.. Didn't have my laptop with me...so just catching up now.

The wise words of Lao Tsu

2009-07-02T16:00:00.007+08:00

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Lao Tsu (Daoism) and Buddhism etc...but in Australia not so many people know of Lao Tsu...so imagine my suprise when in my little home town of York today I came across this sign outside of "The York (Palace) Hotel"...Such wise words. Are they trying to use some kind of reverse psychology to advertise "Black Forest Cake" lol.

Nice to catch up!

2009-06-30T19:51:00.004+08:00

It's nice to be home to catch up with people...

Here's Anthony and his girlfriend Cara, visiting for the afternoon...

This is Mum and Dad having lunch today in Northam before shopping.

It seems much more difficult to blog in Australia...I don't know what to write? I guess because I'm so used to life here.