http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Tianjin , TEDA en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:22:45 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:22:45 +0000 This is my first blog but if you don't blog has it really happened I have been here for close to four months now and I have a lot to catch up on. I already have a load of pictures and a couple of general impressions I have written down so those can go up immediately. Welcome to my adventure in Asia http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-461290.html Tonight is my last night in Tianjin because tomorrow I'm taking an early bus to Beijing and from there I'm flying to Tokyo in the early afternoon. I'm not sure when I'm getting back from Tokyo actually but I'll most definitely be back by the 21st. You see I was going to stay there until the 20th but one of my wisdom teeth has decided that now RIGHT NOW is the perfect time to start pushing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-428551.html What does an American look likeAs an American I don't really think about this because well... I think we look like every one but Chinese people seem to give this a lot more thought. From what I gather when Chinese people think of Americans they think of tall pale white people. Many Chinese imagine that all Americans have light colored hair light colored eyes and pointy noses so when they http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-425863.html According to the calendar on my wall I have 17 days left in China. Three more weeks till I come home Adjusting will be strange... at first I will wake up on my Mom's couch surprised that I'm not in Tianjin. Maybe this will happen a few times and then after a while it while all seem like a dream like none of this ever happened at all. Then I'll look over and see some small trinket which will http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-424051.html Ni Hao people we LOVEWell... the girls have been here for just over two weeks now and we are getting very excited to move on from Tianjin to VIETNAM The last two weeks have been awesome. I was really starting to get homesick especially on my birthday but two of my lovely girls helped to make it very special. School has just been finishing up here. It was nice that the girls got to meet some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-413235.html Today finds us in Tianjin China where we have taken the day to find info maps etc and enjoy another round of damn fine food. Southern Japan was a pricey treat and procuring ferry tickets turned out to be far easier than finding our way to the dock After a few interrogation sessions with helpful locals including a spanish exchange by some strange chance we found the obscure footbridge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-394562.html Porque que eu escolhi a localizao TEDA Tambm eu no sei talvez porque a Technological Development Area de Tianjin e ultimamente alguns amigos tmme falado muito deste stio. Enfim j no escrevo aqui desde que comearam as frias. A passagem de ano na China na realidade ningum liga nada passagem de ano do calendrio solar portanto no se passa nada de extraordinrio nesta noite fom http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-364398.html I want to get back into the habit of documenting each week's adventures. I have a hodge podge of miniadventures from the month of October to share with you and then next week we should be back on track So I apologize if this blog is all over the map. Thanksgiving We did celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving at The Parrot a Western Restaurant. Its buffet style but they actually put full turkeys http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-216518.html The bonus of the service component of my job is that I get invitations to community events. The first event Craig and I have been able to attend was last Monday September 24th 2007 The MidAutumn Day Tea Party.This was Craig's first time out with me representing the school in the community so I think it gave him a taste of some of what I have been experiencing. You walk into such an event ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-206821.html When our IT Manager Mike sent out a mass email inviting everyone from work to his wedding a number of us thought we should decline surely he didn't mean us newcomers...he didn't know us well enough We were soon informed that just the opposite he would love nothing more than to have the school fully represented at the wedding. Chinese Weddings are large affairs. When we told Mike we would co http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-202957.html My Biggest Workout Since Landing in China Well Friday rolls around I'm tired from a week's work tense from sporting my backpack daily and well I think still full of kinks from the 16 hours on an airplane a month or so ago. It was time for my first massage. Yvonne another teacher at the school brought Shelby and I to her favourite masseuse.This is not like any massage I have ever had. It http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-201655.html Its been another exciting week just living my life in China. Every day offers so many funny stories that by the time Sunday rolls around I know I have forgotten a few gems. I knew as of Monday night I would have a lot of fun writing the blog this week. Good Morning So Monday night Craig and I decided to go for dinner at UBC Coffee a restaurant attached to Hymall the shopping mall. It http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-198169.html We are all slowly getting settled into our routines. You have to relearnrevisitrethink your old routines and discover what you can handle here. As requested in this blog I will try to focus less on the adventures and more on the basics of living here. The Apartment I think we really lucked out. We chose our apartment on our first jet lagged day in China. We had no concept of the layout of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-192594.html Hello and big hugs to everyone. We have arrived safe and sound in China. It has been quite the adventure already.We boarded the airplane full of excitement. We were seated beside a very sweet older chinese lady whose English was barely better than our Mandarin. She immediately wanted to make conversation and try to help us learn her language. The plane was huge and had all the bells and wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/TEDA/blog-188225.html