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

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