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Published: April 17th 2011
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School Excursion, Zhenjiang
Standard issue sunhat, doubling as a Christmas decoration Photos:
…..plenty of movement & colour in the photos this week as the long, grey winter is consigned to history. I think the pictures & captions are explanation enough, so long as you bear in mind that Chinese people love to get out in the parks in colossal numbers when the Spring really kicks in, as it has now. They almost without exception love to take photos & pose for them & will often ask foreigners to either pose with them or, in the case of the group of girls in one of the Photobucket photos, ask you to take a picture of them, with their cameras & yours.....
…..on a magnificent, clear, sunny spring day the Grade 3 & 4 students are bundled onto buses &, including a few teachers, over six hundred souls embark on an expedition to Zhenjiang. What will they all find to do in this unremarkable city of around 3 million on the south side of the Yangze river, just across the water from Yangzhou? I went to visit friends there a few months ago & thought the Jinshan temple was quite impressive but maybe not to the taste of every ten year
School Excursion, Zhenjiang
2 of my students with their nunchuks..... old.....
…..after a round of karaoke on the bus & the distribution of a bag of snacks to all, including some species of hamburger roll containing something that might once have been chicken, a boiled egg (vacuum sealed), a small cucumber & some assorted smallgoods, we have crossed the longest bridge across the Yangtze & arrived at a large park in Zhenjiang. Thankfully we foreign teachers are not expected to take part in the logistical exercises of getting several hundred kids through the gate & organising them for their first toilet stop.....
…..they all seem happy enough to just walk through the path & take in the spring blossoms although by this time some of the boys, with the money provided by parents to spend at their own discretion, have passed the first stalls selling paraphernalia & have amassed an arsenal of catapaults, wooden crossbows (with rubber tipped arrows), plastic automatic pistols firing from magazines of small, yellow plastic pellets &, in a few cases, nunchuks. The latter are something of a worry as, although they're not professional, martial arts grade weapons they are nonetheless two cylindrical pieces of wood connected by a chain, capable of inflicting damage
Near the School, Yangzhou
Spotted on the way to the bus stop. Cute or what? to the user or bystanders.....
…..George, Evi & I are all in great demand from tourists & students from visiting high school groups wanting us to add an exotic touch to their photos. It's a brief glimpse into the world of mega-stardom, leaving aside the financial aspect of that lifestyle.....
…..by the time we have reached the second park, this time for a lunch break & some time on good ol' traditional playground equipment the stall traders have had a great day &, in addition to arms sales that Viktor Bout would be proud of there has been a run on plastic jewellery, fans, bubble mixture & small propellors that are launched by rolling the hands together to spin the shaft before they land in trees or on pergolas, just out of reach of any available stick or borrowed broom.....
…..we don't get to Jinshan Temple until after lunch. It's pretty hot by now. I can feel a touch of sunburn coming on. More Chinese tourists scoring exotic foreigners in their photo collections, even in the tower, where George & I go for an extra ¥8, partly to get a break from the milling masses below. Still
Spring, Shou Xi Hu, Yangzhou
Shou Xi Hu, (Slender West Lake), at the most colourful time of year the view today is pretty stunning on what is for this part of the world, a clear day.....
…..Shen Yue returns from Nantong, bringing her son for his English lesson, accompanied by some great chicken jaiozi (dumplings) provided by his grandma. She's returning to Nantong next week, not sure for how long so is not able to join Sunny, Kevin & others for dinner.....
…..Grace is pregnant. No, not a new teacher, Peter's cat. I can't remember why it was not possible for her to be neutered when he went to the vet with that aim in mind but this is the result. It shouldn't be long before we know how many kittens are up for grabs.....
…..it doesn't do to generalise about any group of people on the basis of gender, nationality or race. However working here is as much an education about the other foreigners I work with as about China & the Chinese. It's easy to see why the USA, with less than 5% of the world's population, uses 25% of the world's oil production, & according to some sources, more than double the energy use, per capita, (electricity, oil etc. etc.) than the
European Union countries & over four times as much as the Chinese. For the second time I have been to visit a fellow American teacher the light is on in the middle of the afternoon, (with the curtains drawn!). No answer. I try later with the same result. He finally turns up at 7pm. He's been out all afternoon, he sheepishly admits.....
…..it's not just one person leaving a light on. We have three clothes dryers for the use of foreign teachers. Occasionally, with bedsheets to dry on a rainy day I might use the dryer, generally hanging things on the line or the bar provided on the small balcony in my apartment gets the clothes dry without problems. Some other teachers, & I believe all the Americans, automatically throw everything in the electric dryer, leave it on for hours complaining about how inefficient Chinese dryers are. Then there's the issue of heating rooms in winter to temperatures that would be too hot in summer & vice versa. There is an inescapable impression that complete convenience & total comfort at all times is an unalienable birthright & total denial that energy resources might be finite.....
…..I should add
Patrick, Caiyi Jie, Yangzhou
Patrick and the beggar's monkey that I always preface any discussion about energy use (which happens as I'm now the greenie-pinkie-commie-tree hugger) by pointing out that Australia is, as a nation, just as wasteful, we just have a small enough population to whistle an embarrassed tune & hope no one will notice. As the rich in China try to emulate the worst aspects of western living, the wastefulness, junk food, car use etc. the picture is likely to change over the next few years. Unless the Chinese are serious about their renewable energy use the world is in (even bigger) trouble.....
…..the time is fast approaching for us to decide who will go & who will stay, at the school next year. Some have decided. Peter is hoping to go work in Suzhou to be closer to Ting Ting, (Rachel), Erin is hoping to stay for a third year, George Michael, sorry George AND Michael, we're thinking of them as one entity as they share bets & tutoring jobs, they will stay for a second year. Our three young American teachers, known collectively as the Hansons after the 90's (? open to correction) pop group, are seeking work elsewhere in China, & not in
School Excursion, Zhenjiang
Teachers and students at a park in Zhenjiang teaching. Patrick is leaving. I'm aiming to stay, hopefully to teach in the middle school, Grade 7 or 8. Everyone seems to think my progress in Chinese is good but to me it's a constant source of frustration. Paul, our director, has hinted at a way to do a degree course from Australia while I'm here. If I structure my time more efficiently & work a bit harder at it.....
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Michelle
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Sunhat
Love the hat Dave...I want one! hehe