bitz n bobz

Jesus, that just took me a half an hour to find how to log on to my own blog!!!!!!
I flippin' hate computers sometimes.
Anyhow, calmer now....
And all just to share this with you:

And to tell you that I spent an evening in a new Chinese hospital.  I fell off my scooter - slipped on some gravel - and hurt the left wrist and right thumb and ground away a layer of skin on one knee.  I was taken to the hospital by the principal Mark and we took along the long-suffering Helli to translate for us.  I was in a lot of pain, but when I slipped on some water in the hospital hall (near the water cooler) I re-slammed everything down and ...er...yelped very loud.  I had x-rays and that was interesting, as I surprised the technician when I asked for a lead vest (she was wearing one - and standing in the other room).  But the best was when 4 doctors came in with the x-rays and went over their thoughts and analysis with Hellie.  A security gaurd came in and then a stranger and then the stranger's wife and they all stood listening and looking in great fascination.  It was a hoot, really.  From that point, a week ago tomorrow, I have struggled with managing to clothe and clean myself, to make food and to clean up my place.  The pain, which was considerable, is slowly going down.  

But coupled with that has been the snappin' freezing weather with little to no heat in the school.  The heaters are "broken" - except in the staff room and the offices.  Susan says the situation is better than in her last Chinese school, where there weren't even heaters in place. At least we live in hope that they might fix them one day.  I sure appreciate the body heat of a full classroom, and like everyone I wear layers upon layers - scarves, sweaters, coats - as I teach.  Any sense of dressing professionally is long gone - I just want to be warm!  At "home" I go onto my couch and under a blanket to try to get warm - amazingly my bed is lovely and warm.  I am going to a hot place in a couple of weeks and I just want the sun to sink deep into my bones.  I was going to go to Nepal but I cannot bear to pay good money to continue to be cold - no matter how magical the place. 

Not much else to tell - school continues interesting and rewarding and thank god for that.

Thought this was an interesting way to go:

                                                               "That's all," she wrote.
                                                                             and
                                                                 That's all she wrote.

transport fun in China

After almost a month of blog-silence, I am back.  I'm safely settled again in China, after a 3 week Christmas break in Germany and a week of jetlag coupled with frantic teaching prep - at the mo I am under a fuzzy blanket under the ceiling heater in my apartment, drinking a nice cuppa.

First things first - I left you with a question about what the chubby-curvy pink things at a banquet were...No, they were not pigs' tongues, which was my initial guess.  In fact, all they are is peeled, diagonally-cut weiners.

Soon after that banquet-cruise it was time for me to head to the airport in Shanghai for the break... En route, because I had been talkiing too much to people on the subway car, I missed which stop we were arriving at (no signs as you come in to a stop - just an announcement, which, once missed, is over), I got off a stop too early.  No prob, but by the time I realized that I needed to get back onto the train I had gone up an escalator and there was no 'down' - just stairs.  Now, my luggage was HEAVY:  close to the 50 lb max for the large and prob at least 30 lbs for the carry-on (I figure that as they don't weigh it I can put bags of cement in if I wish).  Because of the weight and the awkwardness I did not want to clump down the stairs and along a long tunnel to go that one further tube stop.  "Catch a cab like the experienced expats do!" I thought to myself.  So I tried, but to no avail.  Cabs already occupied sped past, and I was stuck with more saavy (=pushy) cab-seekers who I knew would snap up whatever lone cab might finally pull up. Now, during this time of my frustrated hailing and cussing a scooter driver kept waving to me and pointing at his scooter.  Right.  I kept shaking my head, pointing to my luggage and shrugging my shoulders.  Idiot, I thought.  Well, in the end, I went for it - a friend of the driver's loaded us up and oh-my-god off we went.

Be aware that that 50 lb piece of luggage is delicately balancing on a small footpedal and I am holding on to it for dear life - while the man is going at speed...Whatever you do, do not try this at home.  The final point about this saga is that though my beloved purple suitcase (newish, such a great colour and by far the best piece of luggage I have ever had) survived that little jaunt unscathed, here is how looked after the return flight on Air China:

My return to the school complex was interesting:  I got from Frankfurt to Bejing to Shanghai, across town to the long distance bus depot, and to the little bus station in my village. When the little red 3-wheel-covered- motorcycle-cab (aka 'tin can') turned into the driveway we were almost taken out on a blind curve by a truck driver going at speed.

Here is what happened several days later on my first scooter ride out to pick up some supplies:  The school is doing some major building at the front gates.  The sun is going down into my eyes and I cannot figure out which is the new way to go when I end up driving onto some wet cement - and sinking fast!! 

 I spun wheels and pulled and swore frantically - all the while waving at the workmen at the other end to signal "I am sorry!!  Help!! I am an idiot!!"  I got out, wiped the cement off my shoes and the tires and wondered if I could get fired for doing something so idiodic.  But then, several hours later, I happened to bump into the principal of the school, and I admit to him what I had done. Good guy - he just laughs and tells me about seeing a car doing the same thing on a stretch of roadway.  The point is, I guess, that with no markings of any sort, pretty well anyone can miss the glean of wet cement looming ahead - and you don't have to be a complete idiot to do so.  I did feel bad for the poor workmen, however, as it was even more heavy work added to their burden.

So, business as usual.  

Karen