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Published: September 16th 2012
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Virgin Pulp,
It's a new beer at the Da Run Fa supermarket. What more do you need to know? New photos on:
http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg311/draftwrite/ Using a few photos from the new phone. Not great quality but I sometimes snap things I'd miss with the SLR, like the new beer in the first picture or the sunset when I don't have the "real" camera with me.
…..Xiao Wei delivered a baby daughter, 3.4kg. It must have been a great relief as she looked ready to deliver about 3 months ago. As Chinese people are concerned about the quality of the powdered milk from local suppliers where possible they prefer to use imported products. As a paediatrician she has done her research & luckily the nationality of the chosen product is that of my Dutch friend, Klass. who enlists some friends to order & send some. It arrives from Holland almost on time so I take it to West Yangzhou to deliver it in person.....
…..Xiao Wei meets me at the top of the 6 flights of stairs to her apartment, her remarkably youthful looking mum standing behind her. In China the mother usually stays with the daughter during the first few weeks at least so Xiao Wei's mum is here from Jilin in northern China to share the care
of the, as yet unnamed, baby. Her father is on his way for a shorter visit. He is the mayor of their hometown. I'm told it's a very small town but by now you know that size is relative, especially in China.....
…..I learn some Chinese customs relating to newborn babies, some ignored, some reluctantly adhered to. The mother is not allowed to go outside for a month after the birth so, after a busy life as a doctor at the Yangzhou No.1 Hospital Xiao Wei is now bored witless wandering around her apartment in her pyjamas. She turns the fan on for me, (it's hot & really humid today). I get up to switch it onto oscillate so she gets some cool air but am told that's also forbidden for a new mum! There's another custom that forbids the mother to wash for a month after delivery but that thankfully appears to be largely ignored, though she sounds almost guilty as she points to her clean hair.....
.....Grace has a final farewell dinner before going to Canada for 10 months, to study English Literature. The buffet at the Jing Hua hotel, (or “Metro” to foreigners), has gone
Farewell Grace
Last goodbye dinner, with our friend, Elaine down in quality but up in price, ¥160, or about $24 for all you can eat & drink, (beer & soft drinks that is). Ridiculously expensive, though maybe due to Grace & her expert browbeating techniques I think we got it for about $18 in the end.....
…..the weather a little cooler & more often cloudy. Humidity still around 80% or more, clammy but down from my estimated 200% a few weeks ago, awash in the Bamboo Sea. Having been used to 25C in South Australia being the temperature AFTER the cool change, when you start thinking about extra layers of clothing, it's hard to get used to the same temperature leaving clothing, pillow cases & paper constantly damp. Mind you I don't need to wash sheets in the summer now having adopted the Chinese method, a bamboo mat on the bed, easily wiped clean & cooler to sleep on. Combined with a fan aimed at me at night it just leaves the pillowslip to wash. Next year the bamboo pillow, (don't know why I didn't buy one this year).....
…..it's turned a bit cooler. I put a t-shirt on last night, for the first time in about
Teachers Welcome Dinner
The ever-photogenic George and Chance 3 months. I may need a sheet to cover me soon. Now the teachers who like to shower in the morning, which appears to be most of the foreign teachers, are complaining that there's no hot water. They only supply hot water from 6:30am to 7:30am, then 11:30am to 12:30pm, 6:30pm to 7:30pm & finally, 8:30pm to about 11:20pm. Now even those limited times are doubtful. So far it's been hot in the evening so I haven't complained but the weather's getting cooler &, rest assured, the first night there's no hot water at 11pm the maintenance manager, Mr. Tang will receive a call.....
…..writing out the characters for the HSK (Han Yu Shui Ping) exam which 3 of us are aiming to take at level 4, following our success at level 2, I'm getting a picture of the enormity of the task of trying to learn Chinese. It's a bewildering maze of related, some very similar but not quite identical, some elegantly simple & other impossibly complex, characters. We have to know around 1,200 to master level 4 & that's only a small fraction of the estimated 48,000 in existence. I just want to read a menu, a
Duck Restaurant, Yangzhou
George, Mike & his friend, Zhu Ping & Dave sign on a shop, a newspaper. It's not too much to ask, is it?....
…..I'm sharing my push bike & Marc the Carolina Redneck's, e-bike. He needs exercise, I'm old & can't get around too well, at least, I can only pedal as fast as the slower e-bikes. “Yew kun yewse mah e-bark, en ah'll yewse yower persh-bark”. That's the way he suggested we use duplicate copies of bike lock keys. I'm taking advantage of it on hot days or when I need to go somewhere & arrive less than soaked or am just feeling lazy. He has the fastest e-bike here & I'm starting to enjoy using it. Expect me to balloon out as my exercise levels decrease.....
…..this year's Grade 6 includes some classes from my previous years here, some new ones I haven't taught before. Familiarity probably does breed a certain amount of contempt. The classes I haven't taught before are really good, generally bright, attentive, fun but respectful. My two previous best classes, 8 & 10, have been like a zoo, 7 & 9 likewise problematic. Luckily the Chinese head teachers don't like to see their classes kept behind during the breaks, yelled at,
John and Julie
John's friend Julie has joined us as a teacher. or seen to be an undisciplined rabble. Just hang in there & hope it's all under control before the Valium runs out. I'm also getting used to their English. On getting them to ask ME questions it takes a while to figure out that one girl's question, “What's your favourite fishball?” is actually, “.....favourite festival?”.....
.....since Australia has become, according to your politics, a nanny-state or a cleaner, healthier & more civilised place, it's almost a surreal sight to see teachers occasionally smoking in the office, (windows have been open so I haven't said TOO much yet), or sitting on the stairs puffing on a ciggie as the kids return from the playground. As I've said before it's a real blessing that half the population, (women), generally don't smoke.....
…..I ask the Chinese teachers in the Grade 6 office to tell me when they have time & I'll take them to dinner. Then, a few days later, they all decide to go together & invite me! I manage to avoid the worst of the smoke &, by clever subterfuge, avoid actually drinking any of the expensive, “good quality” baijiu, or rice wine. Discerning “good” & “ordinary” baijiu is
Unusual sunset sky, Yangzhou
Being able to see the sky and individual clouds in China, wow! a bit, (no, a lot!), like drinking petrol & being able to tell the octane rating. I notice the Chinese men pulling some pretty elaborate faces of distaste after taking a swig. There, I knew it....
…..how many of you have been to find out where you can buy some? Just to see whether I'm exaggerating? Just because you think you're made of sterner stuff than me? Don't say I didn't warn you.....
…..what next? Now I'm a music teacher, despite my woeful knowledge of music theory. Betty, one of my Grade 3 students 2 years ago, received her new violin today & had her first lesson at the family's tea shop & small hotel on Dongguan Jie. Yes, she's really happy she can play “Twinkle, Twinkle little star” already, her parents too. I bump into Shen Yue & her son's grandma as they drop him off at school. She's thinking about guitar lessons for him. Makes a change from English at least.....
…..I forgot this one, from my trip to Anhui province a few weeks back. A public announcement at Hefei railway station, in English; “For safety's sake please don't crawl under the train or across
Brad, new teacher and artist
Young Canadian with a talent for drawing the track”. Well, I hadn't considered it before, but now you've put the idea in my head.....
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