Spirited Northern Girl

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” ~ Freya Stark And so it is. This morning and for the last 3 mornings, I have awoken in one of the world's largest cities. It still doesn not quite register that I am sharing space with about 20 million other people. Almost half the population of our country, Canada. How am I supposed to wrap my brain around that, eh? LOL Beijing is really magical. I love the "feel" of this city and I am enjoying the COOL weather. I have bought myself a rather, if I do write so myself, FUNKY touque/hat to wear here, since it feels decidedly chilly to me, being that the temperature hovers just slighty above zero here since I arrived and I ... read more

It is Friday morning here, the 18th of November, and I am just finishing up the final touches on this blog entry. I have been wrestling with it for several days having had issues with uploading pictures, making editorial/text changes and generally "polishing" it. As usual though, I will have missed little things here and there while I am packing up and making my departure arrangements. I have done my best with the pictures. They can be such a "bete-noir" with this blog. *Sigh* I am beset by melancholy listening to the rain drumming steadily outside. The last several days have been wet and uncomfortable. My new umbrella busted a spoke. Already. Sheesh. Good thing I'm on my way home tomorrow. LOL Who-so-ever amongst you who dreams of tropical or, in this case, sub-tropical paradise, ... read more

*We have had no internet service in our apartment for a few days. I have not published because of it. I am at the school using the connection there, today on November 8th. Now I know how Justin Bieber feels. LOL. Well, lol, sort of. My face was SO sore from smiling all evening, this Hallowe'en night! Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, it was awesome! Me and the other costumed teachers starred in literally hundreds of pictures this evening. Rich, Diane, Joyce and I and a convoy of the marketing staff from Tianjiao jumped into the school's van after our evening teaching and strolled the shopping street in Xiamen in our Hallowe'en gear. Rich did say today at lunch after our visit to the antiques market that I'm a diva (pffffft! Whatever!! LMAO) I ... read more

On Friday, October 26th, at about 4:30 p.m. I was at our campus waiting for the others to show up before we departed to our Hallowe'en outing to a local mall. Well, it actually was not THAT local...lol...we had gone to see it the day before and it was quite a long way to get there--a good 45 mintues by van! We, and by we I mean Vivian, Diane, Joyce, Rich, another staff member whose name I don't know, and Bond, (NO, not James Bond, just Bond, LOL) our driver, made up the reconnaissance party. We checked out the venue because we were having a Hallowe'en "do" with costumes--basically a BIG party for our kids and also the public. I sang with Alan who accompanied me on the guitar. I was dressed as an angel. LOL ... read more

I am writing this blog entry almost 2 weeks since I visited the Hakka houses; none-the-less, the memory of the trip is still much with me. The cinnamon/paprika coloured dirt hills, the huge black and neon blue butterflies hovering mid-air, and very unfortunately, the garbage everywhere. Leafy bamboo canopies black as pitch underneath in full daylight. Prong-horned cows and bulls here and there.....it felt so GOOD to be rural. LOL I didn't realize how much I enjoy my small town life and its proximity to nothing but "outside" until that moment. I relaxed in the "green" and breathed sweet clear air. Everything in China is loud; it is a very noisy culture, we find. The sheer population, the fact that that many people living, dying and otherwise going about their businesses in such close proximity to ... read more