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chinacanuck - Steve LePoidevin

After teaching many years in Canada, I moved to China in 2007 for a different experience. Teaching a few more years, and seeing a bit more of the world at the same time, seemed like a better idea than retiring. I am now in my third year at Wuhan Maple Leaf International School where I teach Mathematics and am head of the Math Department. An avid motorcyclist (over 60, 000km of North American road trips during the last five summers), I now ride a Chang Jiang 750cc sidecar bike here in Wuhan. This blog was started to keep our friends and family informed about our adventures. I hope anyone else who stumbles across it also enjoys reading about our experiences in our new home.

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Joined on: February 26th 2008
Last Login: November 29th 2009

Blog Entries: 72
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by chinacanuck, order by Date newest first.

By chinacanuck
November 25th 2009

Student art, Shanghai art, Food art... Asia » China

Student Art Show 7

Yep, student art show, Shanghai Art Gallery, Beijing Opera, and Bernstein's restaurant. Even the food this month was artistically presented. Well, once again, it has been a long time since I wrote anything in here. It has been a crazy few weeks. Hard to believe it has been almost a month since Halloween. In that little period, we have had a university recruitment day with over 40 North American universities (mostly Canadian) setting up for a couple of days to recruit our Grade 12 students for next year, a wonderful student art show, a five day trip to a Math conference [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
November 8th 2009

Nancy's New Ride and Halloween Pics Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

The new "ride"

Just a short entry to show pics from the school Halloween party and Nancy's new trike. She is doing great with the shifting and is finally getting more comfortable in the traffic, which there is lots of around here! Weather here is still great! Today it reached a high of 27 but supposedly cooling down a bit later this week. The fact that we are still riding our bikes to school says it all. Later this month I am off to a Math conference in Shanghai with Nancy coming along for the ride. Should be fun... [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
October 18th 2009

Another year...Another sports day! Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

Cherish says hi!

Another year has passed and another annual sports meet has taken place. Sports days are a big event here and take place in every school in the country at least once a year and sometimes twice. Maple Leaf is no exception. Picture a typical high-school track meet with a few elementary school events thrown in for good measure. A huge opening ceremony with lots of marching, speeches, and flag-raising....and no spectators. It is a fun time but is pretty much organized chaos over a nine hour period. Rules can change by the minute right to the moment of starting and there [View Full Entry]

Bryn, Alan, and Janice looking sporty...

By chinacanuck
October 4th 2009

A few days in Hong Kong Asia » Hong Kong » Kowloon

Waiting at the airport

The Chinese National Holiday week found us flying off to Hong Kong for a few days. It is only a short flight away from here to Shenzhen, just over an hour, where we can catch a bus for the one hour or so ride across the Hong Kong border to the main part of the city. It is easier for a foreigner to travel to Hong Kong than a Chinese citizen! As soon as we crossed the bridge into Hong Kong, we could see a big difference in almost everything. People actually drove like they do in other parts of the [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
September 20th 2009

The holiday comes early... Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

Smile

The cooler, wetter weather has begun to peek in on us every few days this week. Today, it was very rainy and windy but by Tuesday the temperature is supposed to be back up in the 30s. We are finally able to give our air-conditioners a little break for a bit. Next Sunday, our National Holiday week begins. We have booked our flight to Hong Kong and reserved our 10 foot by 10 foot hotel room. It should be quite the experience. After several attempts to please the powers-that-be with our responses to the large number of students sick with the [View Full Entry]

$Anneli, another member of our happy Math department$

By chinacanuck
September 12th 2009

Road Trip Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

Alan and Lindsey
Clubbing the night away!

Today, a group of us went bike shopping for three of the new staff members. We headed out to a town in the countryside about forty minutes outside the Wuhan city limits to an area where we knew there were was a good selection of bikes and scooters. It was the first time Nancy and I had ventured outside of the city on our motorcycle, so we didn't know if it was up to the task or not. After a heavy night of partying last night by some of us at one of the local clubs, it was a miracle that [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
September 11th 2009

Another School Year Begins Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

Janice and Evelyn, "the babes"
The Chinese sign on the back of the bike says "pretty girls only". lol

Yes, we are still here! It has been ages since I have documented my latest adventures here. Anyway, we got back to China on August 10 after freezing our butts off in Ontario for three weeks. A great time was had by all but damn it was chilly. Who has ever heard of 15 - 20 degree weather in Southern Ontario for the last week of July and the first week of August? Either we have become acclimatised to hot weather or Canada is getting colder. We have loved the heat since we returned. I know, I know...enough about the weather [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
July 17th 2009

More Parade Pics Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

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Here's a bunch more parade pics that have come in from others, many of the group in motion. [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
July 16th 2009

Wuhan International Yangtze River Crossing Festival Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

The first ones to arrive!

Yesterday, under scorching sunny skies and 150% humidity, we took part in a large motorcycle parade, one of the major publicity events of the Wuhan International Yangtze River Crossing Festival. It followed a 24.5 km circuit route across Number 1 and 2 Bridges through Hankou and Wuchang. Today, the swimming race across the Yangtze River occurs, which is the reason for being for the festival. We had to wake up at 4:30 am in order to rush across the Number 1 bridge by 6:00, a strictly illegal activity for motorcycles! Our early morning plan worked and we successfully evaded the police [View Full Entry]

By chinacanuck
July 13th 2009

Wuhan Bikers Asia » China » Hubei » Wuhan

Ready to battle the traffic

On Wednesday, the Wuhan International Yangtze River Crossing Festival is taking place. The local motorcycle association is organizing a large bike parade as part of the festivities. Yesterday, a group of us rode across the bridge into Hankou to register and take part in a little practice run. I have rode in many North American cities over the last five years but nothing comes close to riding in this crazy metropolis of 10 million. It took us over an hour to get to the practice location from our starting point here in Wuchang. The other guys have been riding sidecar machines [View Full Entry]

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