What a breath of fresh air!

                         I am writing from Europe, where I am spending the Christmas holidays.
                      I left China in a record-breaking, dangerous-health-level, smog-alert situation. 

A colleague sent a news article about government's 5 reasons why the country's air pollution crisis was actually a good thing.  Briefly, they were  1): a means of bonding between the Chinese people as they found solidarity in their complaints; equalised them, as both rich and poor people were vulnerable to its effects....  2):  a great security cover against satellite imagery and protection against guided missile systems ....3): has enlightened the Chinese people, as they realised the cost of rapid growth.... 4): has made Chinese people more humorous", as smog-related jokes proliferated on the internet.... and 5): has helped to educate people re: knowledge of meteorology, geography, physics, chemistry and history.

I sent the article to a number of people (with particularly black senses of humour) and heard back from a friend who is a scientist specializing in global warming.  Response:
           "A cold front cleared much of the smog away".......to where, you may ask?  Well, it   moved downwind, to Western USA, Canada, the Arctic in general, and eventually other places out of sight and out of the Chinese mind.  Colleagues of mine can see and track this plume on
satellite imagery. It, and the cold front, arrived in Ottawa this week.

I am now one of the many proud (?) face-mask wearers. 

I probably won't write again until I am back on Chinese soil, in 2014  :>) 
Happy Holidays, everyone!  KAREN


 

18 - a river cruise and more

The school turned 10 this year and the staff was treated to an evening dinner cruise on the river in Shanghai, along the Bund - the old European centre of Shanghai and now the pulsating heart of China's modernity.  It was pretty spectacular:

 

The two bits of Chinglish I have on offer are from school.  The first is from a student of mine, who confounded me momentarily by mentioning the 'burdenings' on a pizza. His on-line translator lead him astray, as he was aiming for 'toppings'.  The other goofy language did not make me or any English speaking staff member at school laugh.  The Chinese side of our enterprise spent thousands of yuan on hundreds of advertising banners for the school, without checking if the English was correct. (Infuriating, too, I guess, 'cause this is the way life goes here. There are continual little and big power struggles between the BCers and the Chinese halves of the school.) Anyhow, I used the phrase as a teachable moment, and added the 'eat healthy' posters made by the PE department for good luck. (Verb+Adverb... ring any bells, people?)

 

As for food, I leave you with the following. There was quite a array of foods at the buffet on the cruise.  What do you think this dish is?

The mind boggles....Answer next post!  KAREN

 

the usual history, food, tourism, local colour and Chinglish bits

 

The school I teach at is located 1/2 way between Shanghai and Suzhou.  I spent last weekend in Suzhou with several colleagues.  This "town" (of multiple millions) is famed for being the silk centre of China  This lovely girl is Leizu, concubine of Emperor Huangdi, who, it is said to have started silk production in China 5 thousand years ago. She is holding cocoons... 

 

And of course, what is a history lesson without a reminder of the Silk Road, that opened up trade between the East and the West?  (the caravan below is in the silk museum)

                     The old town in Suzhou is called Ming Town and we spent a nice evening there:

 

Paul, an ex-chef and married to Chinese Jessie, wanted disprove people who say there was no good Chinese food and he took us to one of his favorite restaurants and we had the amazing fish dish below.  I call it "the exploding fish dish". It is a fish deboned and turned inside out, served with sweet & sour sauce. See the tail on the left and head on the right?

 

 I could not figure out what the locals were doing raking this golden stuff around for miles on the road in front of the school, but it's rice! 

 

And to end: you know, one must put used toilet paper in a garbage container rather than flush it -  plumbing very poor, I believe.  So here is a sign to remind one of protocol:
Yup.  So long for now, Karen

Itchy Just Thinking Of It

It all began on Saturday.  At the end of our walk, Jan swallowed a flying bug.  P-tewy.  Then in the elevator I vaguely noticed a few mosquitos and I thought, "That's odd - mosquitos in an elevator."  Well, Sunday night I freaked out when I saw about 20 bit mosquitos on my white wall, in a beam of light.  Then on Monday morning I walked past several hundred on the floor of the stairwell.  This morning I awoke to this, outside my kitchen window:

These are male mosquitos - so no blood sucking.  On the drive home tonight (a 1 minute scoot on my scooter) in the dark, I was delighted to have my plastic windscreen blocking the thousands that were teeming in the air.  When I parked, with my headlamp still on, the number of bugs on the white wall was incredible:  I brushed myself off hard before I got into the elevator.  I suppose like locusts and every other biblically-proportioned outbreak this too will fizzle out.  However, I am not happy that I will be walking over to the next building in a few minutes to play Mah Jong - I will be keeping my mouth tightly sealed.

Here are a few pics of some side-of-the-road graves.  It always fascinates me to see how a culture deals with their dead.

Plastic flowers, which would last a good long time, and some drinks as offerings, I think

(rather than a boozers leftovers).  The very light and dark green behind the trees is a rice paddy - the plants go golden this time of year.

 

 Off to play MJ with 2 expat women and a Chinese girl - Paul's wife, so he will probably wander in with their baby for a feed and we will all clutch at the little bundle (Gabi). 

Cheers. KMG

 

And for Bambi, who says she enjoys the tales of tortured English: 

(again from a menu)* Crispy Cod Article

* Need a Small Charcoal Grilled Wong (no idea)

ramblings 14

...I am feeling another blog coming on....

I really get a kick out of the quirky English I encounter,  eg: the slogan on my scooter is "your any idea";  the name of a bakery: "Bread Talk";   or this large sign for a building development:

 

Say, what?...You know, the move of the Chinese country folk into the city is the biggest migration in human history.  We are talking around 100 million people here.  I thought this pic showed a nice juxtaposition of old (bamboo scaffolding) and new (pretentious, moi?) :

 

 

Yes, that front structure is someone's house.


The people living here have a BMW but it is never parked in front when I have my camera.

                                           Interesting priorities....Love the flowers, though.
                                                                Toodles, Karen

 

Lucky 13

I work with some great people.  Here are my desk buddies, and my favorites: Susan and Paul.

They both teach English.  Susan is from Nova Scotia - mother of 4 grown boys...Paul is from the UK and is up through the nights with his newborn. Yes, those are socks hanging off my desk - David Graham gave me them - moose motif - the first summer I went abroad.  When I picked my desk I was attracted to the pair of Canada-theme socks Susan had on her desk (far edge of pic).  And a friendship was struck - over socks!  David would love that.

I scootered over to the "Venice of China" yesterday: Tongli - a water town.  And what a pretty, touristy place it is!  Great shopping. 

 

 

 

I also went to a Buddhist temple (built in 1618 and now under siege by many construction vehicles transforming the rice paddies all around).  I sat in the sun  for so long listening to the chanting, the birdsong (and trying to block out the cacophony of the construction) - with my eyes closed - that a lady attendant came up to see if I needed food (!) (?)  That golden colour denotes that it is a Buddhist temple, I've been told.

 

 

Sorry to ruin the picturesque-ness but this is the reality over here: history & beauty,

garbage & rubble. 

 

I was fine getting to both the temple and the town (about 1 hour toodling along a highway, watching for - well, every damn thing coming out of left field)  but Lordie did I get lost coming home.  In the end a lovely Chinese man escorted me back to familiar territory - relief!  Thank goodness for my foresight in making a little laminated card with the school's address in Chinese (my attempts to say town names seem to baffle everyone).    

bye bye Karen

#12 Home Sweet Home. ish.

I went for a retail-therapy shopping experience with Susan this aft.  I just received $100 dollars of organic foods from Fields in Shanghai and I needed/wanted a container for my brown rice (found it!). Susan is quite a nest builder as this IS her home and so she is fun to shop with as she always sees things that are great for this or that, while I try to keep everything down to a minimum.  However, her "pitches" are sometimes irresistible - as is her savvy regarding life in China (she's on her 4th year).  "The Nest" is shaping up to be nice-ish to come "home" to - someone taught me how to work the heater so it is warm now (the weather has changed radically).  Here are a few snaps of what I am calling home these days:

 Bedroom (with a comfortable double bed) and a bathroom with shower and tiny washing machine are upstairs.  There is a decent-sized wardrobe and a tiny balcony (for air-drying laundry).

 

 

View from the stairs of my living room  :>)    I unpicked a duvet cover to make a cover for my (disgusting) sofa, and will make covers for those 2 big pillows when I get to my sewing machine in Germany at Christmas. I am loving finally having a reading lamp - and I have that same lamp in Canada and in Germany, which is somewhat comforting.

Here is a delicacy I saw on sale today: corn milk.
And some words and phrases from a recent menu:
- a list of starch-y type side dishes to accompany your meal, titled:  characteristics of starch
- a list of fruit juice items that are available, titled:  friend-is-pressing-the-juice-series

 

I'll end with a shot of one of my classes.  They are so shy - the camera stunned them into serious mode.  Really, really great kids, though, and the teaching is fun and interesting and rewarding.  I have 3 classes of 18 for English- easy peasy, and great, reliable technology (they are required to have their own laptop/tablet)  - I am in heaven, teaching-wise.

Cheers for now - KAREN

I zip over to a fancy hotel for a breakfast buffet every Sat and Sun (because it is China, there is a lot of lunch/dinner food choices, too).  Lots of good food and all for only 28 yuan ($4.75).  Bacon and eggs, noodles, fruit, chicken skewers...Chinese dishes, a few of which  I eat, and breakfast intestinals, if you desire (yes, they would be sausages).
I did my hard walk with Jan before breakfast, and will do again tomorrow.  She recently purchased a pedometer to ensure she does 10,000 steps a day and when we returned to the "resort' aka tenement housing) we had done 10,022.  Now that is exact! We did my first walk a couple of weeks ago and there were lots of cats and dogs, but today there were no dogs - are they now being served up to the students?

                                      We live in the Yangze River delta, province of Jiangsu.


The loud horking up and spitting is EXTREMELY off-putting and it happens constantly.  The Chinese believe that this is a way to rid their bodies of germs.... Here is what the stairwell often looks like in my "resort" hotel.  Nice, eh?

                     I'll end on a positive note, with some wild flowers....Marigolds, zinnias, etc.

                                                                           KAREN





 

More Buddha, IKEA...and Mah Jong

 

Either some naughty person secretly snapped this pic, or it is an officially sanctioned one from the temple.  On an earlier post I put my picture of a reclining Buddha that is in the temple in Shanghai that I visited.  A-OK to take that picture, but this is the protected Buddha, with the quiet music, the incense in a special (admission fee) room. 

This picture does not quite capture the ethereal sweetness of the face. I guess the dim light and the soft music really added to the whole effect...

 

The pilgrimage to IKEA was fine.  It was so comforting to enter, feeling like I was home because of the familiarity of the layout.  That store could have been anywhere in the world, once you are inside!  I just had the usual awkwardness of schlepping stuff home on public transit (and I guess the Shanghai subway at rush hour is nothing to be sneezed at).  I got the reading lamp I desperately needed (you know, the 2 light one - one bowl pointing upwards and a small arm bulb that can be moved around downwards).  The cheapest of the IKEA standing lamps (there wasn't a one in the 2 towns near the school).  I now have that same lamp in 3 countries in the world: China, Canada and Germany.  Thanks, good old IKEA.

 

Off to do a big hard walk around the area of the school, with a real no-nonsense walker, Jan.  She had an initial night of Mah Jong last week, and those of you who know me will not be surprised that even though I was really looking forward to learning the game, and socializing with a couple of women colleagues, I forgot about it and missed it. Then I had to give the lame excuse of  "a form of dyslexia, actually dyscalulia, regarding time....blah blah blah"  Will they forgive me?  Will I ever learn to play Mah Jong?   

 Karen

More food, sanitary issues, IKEA

I carry napkins, tissues and toilet paper all the time. Half of the toilets I have encountered are the squat-holes, including the student toilets at school.  The school floors are washed daily: with a mop that has been rinsed in the filthy canal water that wends its way around the grounds.  If I accidentally put a piece of cutlery down on a table or counter my friend Susan, a vet, yanks it out of my hand and says, "Never touch that again!" 

Yesterday I went to the school cafeteria (one of several eating outlets) and had little rib things and rice for under $1 and then for dinner went with some people to a Japanese restaurant - all you can eat and drink for  the shocking price of  $25. (The restaurant food was beautiful, as you can see.)

Below are Jeremy and Benson, both from Vancouver, eating at a Japanese café where the food rolls by on a conveyor belt - to pay, the waitress just adds up your stack of little pink dishes. See the small black faucets -  tea on demand!

I have avoided eating any seafood, as the water contamination is outrageous, but as a colleague said - nothing is safe.  Even the veggies have been irrigated with the same water. There is an upmarket (expensive) delivery service from Shanghai that trades in organic foods; hat is where I will be able to get my whole wheat bread.  I am still hunting for brown rice.  Oh, it seems I am on about food again...

Tomorrow is Friday and I will be taking the 1pm student school bus in to Shanghai (multiple actually, as we have 1000 students who will be heading home) and then I'll take the Metro to IKEA to get a much needed stand-up lamp.  It is supposedly the busiest IKEA in the world. I will regular-bus it back "home" in the evening.

My initial IKEA trip in Germany is etched indelibly on my memory.  I picked up a rolled-up twin mattress that, because it was rolled up, I thought would be manageable, but the weight and awkwardness of the thing!  I schlepped  it back in the absolute pitch dark and the rain through an unlit graveyard (crying with the frustration/difficulty/misery of it all) only to reach the (far-off) bus stop to find I had missed the last bus.  So not fun.  We will see if tomorrow's China IKEA adventure can match the German IKEA one for grueling-ness (new word).  I shall gird my loins.

KAREN

                                                   Cute old trucks, and not in a museum.
 

Post #7 FOOD

The first of what I think might become quite a collection of Chinglish signs...

            Food is always very important to get right and a big issue for me as I carve out a life here. 
                 
                       One is warned off the street food (or what is called in Mexico "hole in the walls"). 

                Here is a picture of a kitchen in the back alley of an inside medium quality restaurant:

 

 

The Chinese are funny:  so much of their food is "plastic food" heavily processed and preserved crap, but they also love the polar opposite.  They adore fresh seafood (often it is brought live to your table if you have a little hotpot to cook it in).  Here is the seafood corner of quite an upmarket restaurant where you literally choose your meal:

 

Benson and I had a fun meal in Shanghai at a hotpot restaurant.  Our bowls included an egg and some really interesting veg (see also the fat-streaked meat in front):

 

We have a feral dog and cat population in several of the abandoned buildings on the school site.

Dog is on the menu at one of the student restaurants.

 

I am signing off with some more street food:

                                                              Cheers for now, Karen

 

 

 

 

Post # 6

I find this blogging business quite fun.  I had a huge bubble tea today and of course the caffeine in the tea is now keeping me up.  The girls at my favorite bubble tea place are sweet.  The get really excited when the see me because they know which is my flavour and "no sugar" and they learn a new English word a visit from me.  I have to laugh about the no sugar bit though - no, there is no granulated sugar in it, but glucose and fructose syrups up the yingyang....sigh....I try.  Delish tho - grapefruit (and of course the natural sugars alone would be, well, for get it)

There are 2 towns near the school - one is the building-frenzy-that-is-China Luxu and the other is Shenta, quite a rustic village, which I must prefer. I'm attaching a snap of the main shopping area.  At some point  I will show you the pools of live fish and other sea creatures that are for sale all along the road.

And yes, you do drive through that, it is a through street. 

Just honk your horn a lot!!

"That's all for now,"  she wrote. 

Karen

Post #6 Fish and Rain

I absolutely adored these guys when I saw them at a temple in Shanghai.  I took about 100 pictures of them, and finally had to be pulled away by my companions.

I know these picture gives you no perspective to get how big they are, but they are BIG. The biggest ones (not shown) are about 50 years old and the size of my cat Talli.

 

So, the other day there was a typhoon.  Now, 70 km inland, we just got a little tickle, but let me tell you the rains and winds were biblical in proportions.  I did not dare ride my scooter the laughably short distance to school as I knew I would be blown away. When I arrived in school I took off my shoes and socks and pants to dry them - much to the mock horror of Paul the amusing Englishman.  I defied him to tell me what the difference between bathing suit bottoms and underwear is and blithely left them hanging off the air conditioner/heater.  I have since taken a spare pair of pants (not the English meaning: 'underwear' but rather 'trousers') and shoved them in a desk drawer for the next typhoon. 

Here is the gang again (what else am I going to do with 100 pics of gaping-mouthed koi?)  And one more for perspective.  K