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Published: June 25th 2007
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Morning Excersice
Every morning from 8.20 - 8.40 the kiddies are hurded outside for their morning excersices.... Speakers blaring with Yi, Er, San, Si, Wu, liu etc.... Guigang in the morning is wonderful. Life is a lot slower, the air seems to be cleaner and there is a relaxed smile on peoples faces. A morning stroll is well worth while.
But within the school grounds it is go, go, go. The students get up for a quick wash and some hot noodles for breakfast, then they have 2 lessons and it is time for morning excercises. The kids look like they hate it, but I think they are just trying to be cool in front of their friends and pretend they dont like it. Every morning from our apartment we hear Yi, Er, San, Si, 1,2,3,4..... coming from the permanent speakers around the school in a military style voice.
The evenings are the opposite. Neon lights flashing from every building, music blarring from shops, people, mopeds, motorbikes, taxi's, cars, bikes and pedal taxis all trying to get somewhere urgently.
So, whats been happening over the past month. Chelsea won the FA Cup and we watched it at our friend Peters Bar. Then we went to a Night Club which was awesome. But damo and I started dancing but then realised that we were the
only foreigners there and that everyone, I mean everyone was staring straight at our little boogying bodies. So the rest of the night was sitting down trying to stay inconspicous.
People stare at us everywhere we go. Mostly with inquistive eyes and a friendly smile. We can never walk down the street without someone yelling out 'hello'. It's a little bit like being a superstar. Im ready to take a break from it though and Im excited about going to Beijing in 3 weeks.
We invited Damo's boss, Star and boss's assistant, Annie and her husband for dinner a couple of weeks ago then found out it was Star's birthday. We weren't prepared, so with a moments notice made her a watermelon cake to celebrate. After dinner we were invited out to KTV with a group of her friends... See photos 😊
I caught a bus to a town called Guiping, to climb the famous mountain called Xi'shan meaning Western Mountain. Walking in I was spotted by the 'tourist guide' at first i said mayo tourist guide.. i dont want a tourist guide ... bu yer xie xie.. no thank you ... but she was persistant saying
she was my new friend!!! So for the next 3 hours - although she did show me a special bowl that the monks rub to make the water vibrate and sing and I got to have a turn - she just would not stop talking. But besides having her in my hear and bossing me around to take photos of her for half of the time it was a really beautiful walk.
It took about 3 hours to walk up the mountain and half way up there were some really beautiful temples where many monks live. With 30, maybe 40 statues of buddha and other deities. It was awesome. I bought some incense and prayed at each one. One temple had hundreds of little buddhas inside. On the top of the mountain there were more temples and these belonged to the nuns (lady monks??). It was beautiful too. Very peaceful and the energy of both places was very different although both were sacred and tranquil in their own way.
A rainforest covered the earth all the way up the mountain and there was a kind of tree that grows on the mountain called (translated into English) the dragon
scale tree. It looks just like dragon scales covering half of the mountain. There was also an underground spring running the whole way down the mountain. It was sparkling and clear.
After walking up the mountain for 3 hours i was lucky enough to catch the cable cart back down... hmmm... i mean sky lift back down the mountain. Its was delightful. Think of the skylift at the royal melbourne / adelaide show and then think of it being 10 years older.... yep that was me hanging by a chinese bolt. As we took off over the ledge I couldnt look and covered my eyes, but then i peaked through my covered eyes and saw the beauty of a simple life. Below me there were women picking tea leaves leaf by leaf. Slowly, calmly, peacefully, as if in a meditation... it was beautiful.......
Back down the hill I went for a bit of a walk around the town of Guiping which is quite lovely and a lot less industrial than my town. I came across a fortune teller. He was so gorgeous. About 90 with thick glasses and a mischeifious smile. So I sat down enthusiastic to hear
about my future. He took my hand and excitedly and matter of factly started to talk - in Chinese of course - I heard 'hen hao' many times which means very good, so Im pretty happy about that. He did some other things to but bc of the barrier in communication I didnt really understand any of it. But it was fun...
School has finished for the semester, exams went well and I am now on holidays. I miss the kids already. They have been so gracious and patient with me over the past 5 months. I possibly may have learnt more during this time that they did. One student told me I was her favourite teacher. She was adorable and her and her friend came over to make me a goodbye dinner. I miss their big black eyes.. sniff, sniff...
Next blog will be all about my trip to Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, The Yangtze, Guillin and many other places. I hope to see you then.
Bye for now.
Dani xxxx
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Lil SIS
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i love u danz! your hair looks so long. i miss you sister! xx "gracious and patience with me" i think this sentence makes you sound like you are chinese. haha im so jealous! Hope you are well sister! xxx