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Published: November 9th 2007
Steven/
Zhongshan gets a brief mention in the LP- summing up, not a place to divert travellers for very long, but we have called it home now for 4 months now.
We've thrown ourselves into some learning and cultural pursuits. We started going to a Kung-fu class a while back. This is an extract from my diary shortly after starting:
Oct 29th 2007
'We've just got back from our second lesson kung-fu lesson. The younger of the two teachers taught us. He looks like a chiselled acolyte - Lelde thinks he should be in the movies- ... the instruction is clear, despite the language barrier.
The most notable thing about this evening was that the older teacher took us to meet his friends after the lesson. We drove in a tiny micro-van with our bikes jammed in the back to a restaurant where we went through to a back room. One of the circular tables was littered with the after mass of a large meal well had, and there were some interesting characters there. The most conspicuous was the man-mountain who introduced himself as our teacher's teacher. He was and is most definately the hardest person I
Bridge in Zhongshan
Look how black the water is!have ever met. He greeted us with the traditional greeting one clenched fist against the palm of a staightened hand, and handed us business cards with the Chinese government emblem embossed clearly.
It transpires that he teaches kung-fu to the Chinese army. He looked the man for the job- super pumped, with a massive frame and crew-cut to match. Eften translated for us and it turns out the guys had five or so bottles of rice wine already. It became more and more apparent how drunk the main dude was- red eyes, occasional moans. This would have been an intimidating meeting had our teacher not been there- at one point the guy showed us the knuckles on his oversized hands which had callouses from training- looked like intimate contact with a brick wall or two!
We,(had) tea with fruit and nuts- we declined food- they had obviously had quite a feast because the large hotpot in the middle of the table was filled with all sorts of meat- including tree snake- which they said was the kind of food to build a strong body.We left ,suprised at the invitation and left with vivid memories of the encounter.
China throws up another suprise!'
We are learning Shoalin kung fu, similar to but a bit more free than the WingChun( the style that Bruce Lee started with)we were learning in England. Because two foreingers learning Chinese martial arts round here is a bit of a rarity, a journalist from the local paper interviewed us, with our friend as translater- you can see the clipping from the paper below.
Lelde being a die hard fan of any sort of game, it was an obvious move for us to learn Majong, which is popular all over China. Lelde's students have taught us the basics and we've played a couple of times already. The nice thing about the game for me is that the pieces are so tactile- really nice in your hand. Of course Lelde has proven to be a killer player and wins regularly( She's even planning to get a set of pieces to send home- I wonder how many Majong sets there are in Latvia)
Some of our classes are coming to an end, as they're intensive courses, so we've had a few really nice nights out recently. We had a meal with one group
and then went to karaoke, which unlike crooning away on a stage in the corner of some pub, is quite sophisticated here. You get your own room with plush sofas and screens and people bring in plates of food regularly- very posh!
We then went to a barbeque- again, a bit different from home- we roasted everything from fish to chicken wings on skewers over a fire in a car wheel rim. The food was gorgeous- I had one older lady who obviuosly thought I needed feeding up, as she kept bringing me honeyglazed chicken legs and things. The beer was also flowing that night!
We have also been out with another of Lelde's groups this time to a hot pot restaurant. At these, like in Sichuan, you select your food and cook it in the pot in the middle of the table, except that this pot was split down the middle,like a yin-yang symbol, so you could choose either hot( read scorchingly, fire breathingly hot) and normal.
What I'm surprised about is that everything has been gratis- the relationship between student and teacher being what it is in the East. These events also show the way
that Chinese people like to eat and celebrate- en-masse and together! Through China so far, I have felt a kind of kinship and bond between people, so that they can all comfortably live in each others' pockets without incidence. This creates a feeling of safeness, so I would have to say that China is about the safest place you could imagine. You don't get any of the messy Friday night scenes you get on British streets after a the pubs chuck out and there's certainly no violence or ill feeling in the air at anytime- when was the last time you saw a fight or the lead up to one? For me-I can't remember when.
I would have kept my rosey view of China as being a place without the uglier sides of human nature, would it not have been for the incident that happened this week. Just the other day, one of our colleagues, an older lady from New Zealand was mugged by two guys on a motorbike on the walk to lunch- just two blocks! We all walk together now, and I am reminded that, although China seems like the land of milk and honey, it
is not without it's problems.
Lelde/
nu kads laiks nav rakstits. Nekadas parakas izmainjas vai novas nav notikushas, bet nu shis un tas jau ir ko pastastit. Tatad, visjutamakas izmainjas ir saistitas ar laiku, proti, nu jau ta reali var manit, ka rudens ir klat. Kadu nedelju atpakalj, pekshnji ne no ka ne no sha palika auksts un mani T-kreli un ieshljucenes bija strauji janomaina uz daudz siltaku prikidu, pec divu dienu aukstuma, laiks nedaudz uzlabojas un shodien, piemeram, atkal esmu T-krekla, bet visa visuma ir palicis ieverojami vesaks!
Divas no mana apmacibu grupam ir beigushas un pedejo nedelju es aizvadiju ejot pusdienas un uz karaoke baru ar maniem studentiem - jautri un par brivu! 😊 Studentinji man vinji labi, ar dazhiem no vijiem mes pat ta regulari satiekamies. St.citu, karaoke iestade vinjiem ir stipri atshkjiriga no ta pie ka mes esam pieradusi, proti, sheit, cilveku grupa noire savu skabuziti, kur viss prikids jau ir ieksha un tad nu vinji izvelas kadas dziesmas grib un tuse sava kompashka. Nav nemaz tik slikti, jo ipashi, ja ir ar ko iet!
Man ir uzradushies jauni apmacamie. 5-cu zvaigznju hotelja Shangri-La apkopshans personals. Vinju apmacibu kurs ir diezgan
iss, bet kompakts, proti, 10 reizes, bet katru dienu, tatad 10 dienas pec kartas, ieskaitot sestdienu un svetdienu, man vinji ir jaskolo. Grupa nav liela - 10 cilveki, kas ir ljoti jauki un optimali aridzan! Kad tas beigsies, nekas parak daudz ko darit vairs nebus, ja nu vienigi musu menedzere atradis jaunus klientus. Decembra sakuma musu viza beidzas aridzan. Mes ta ka planojam palikt sheit lidz Februarim, un es ta ljoti ceru, ka musu darbu devejs doma tapatas 😊)
St.citu, pateicoties shai intensivajai hotelju apmacibai esmu tikusi valja no savas bernu grupas sestdienas ritos!!!! 😊 Bliss!!!! 😊)) Ka jau esmu teikusi, berni man patik, bet nu apmacit shitos mazos mezhonjus nav tas vieglakais vai patikamakais no darbinjiem 😊)
Vel jaunumi ir tadi, ka esam ietikushi vieteja avize!!!! ZhongShanas slavenibas ta sakot. Tas viss ir saistiba ar kung fu (bildi no avizas varat redzet fotografiju sadalja), ko mes esam regulari sakushi apmeklet. Ta, luk! St. citu, ka esmu atsakusi kung fu nodarbibas, mana potite, rada arvien mazak problemas! Paradokss! A, vienu vakaru pec kung fu nodarbibas musu galvenais skolotajs (mums ir ta ka divi skolotaji, viens ir pavecaks, uz gadiem 40 un radas but in charge of everything,
Sign
they're becoming a photographic obscession! un otrs ir daudz jaunaks, musu vecuma, vai pat vel jaunaks- ljoti stiprs, specigs, atrs un zinoshs - vinjsh praktiski mus apmaca, jo galvenajam skolotajam laikam citas darishanas) pateica musu draugam Eftenem (vinjsh mums ari ka tulks darbojas😊, ka pec nodarbibas vinjsh velas mus uzaicinat uz pusdienam ar saviem draugiem. Tad nu pec nodarbibas sasedamies vinja dzhipa un devamies uz vienu restoranu, kur vinja draugi jau bija labi pamielojushies un samalkojushies risuvinu (joprojam neesmu to nogarshojusi, bet kaut kad tas bus jadara). Visi tadi muzhiki gados , un ipashi viens - pats galvenais - ar tadu masu un tadu feisu, ka but nedraugos ar vinju es negribetu. Acimredzot vinjs ir baigais kungfu masters, ka ari uz doto bridi - kaut kada atbildiga amata saistiba ar armijas un valdibas shtellem, isti nezinu, bet vinju vizitkarti gan dabujam. Interesanta pieredze, neviens no vinjiem angliski, saprotams, neruna, tad nu mus draugs dabuja melnu muti visu tulkot 😊 Pasedejam kadu stundu, patusejam un tad jau ari bija laiks doties majas.
A, esmu iemacijusies vijnu nacionalo speli - Magjang - ko es jau sen gribeju.(Bildes Jus varesiet redzet ka ta izskatas) Vel tikai nedaudz japapraktizejas, tad, protams, jaiegadajas sava ipashuma, un tad jaiepazistina Zenu
building above a shop, Zhongshan.
Zhongshan is peppered with this sort of colonial era architechture, a riminder that the West has made several incursions along the Pearl river delta in history. gjimene, ka ari pareja Latvieshu tautu ar sho jauko galda speli!!! 😊
St. citu, esmu sheit atklajusi ljotu brinishkjigu augli - nezinu ka nosaukt, bet tas ir lidzigs greifrutam tikai daudz lielaks - 3x liekas vismaz, miza ir zaljgandzeltena un garsho - nu ljoti labi! Ta ka greifruts, bet bez rugtuma. Vinjiem ir ari ta saucamie Kjinieshu apelsini, kas ir aptuveni plumes (alichas) lieluma, var est ar visu mizu, un garsho tieshi ka apelsini un ari izskatas. Te principa ir visadi interesanti auglji, daudziem es pat nezinu nosaukumi, bet, piemeram, zemenju vinjiem nav, vai ari citu ogu - bruklenju, mellenju, avenju utt. Toties ir zemenju jogurts 😊)
Nu ta, tas, shkjiet uz doto bridi viss.
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anonymous
non-member comment
coool! not all birds in forest sing so sweet! love carolinexxx