Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 144

So, you would think that in most countries they have a system in place to move people from one side of the border to the other...like perhaps a customs officer comes onto our bus and processes each of us or you have enough officers to handle the volume of traffic they typically get.... Well, not in China! We were told that we would be driving to the border, changing buses and then getting a Hong Kong driver to take us to the hotel. When we got there, we had to take all of our stuff and WALK across the border to Hong Kong...with 8,000 (est) Chinese day visitors to Hong Kong!!!! It took us 4 hours to make it over and that is with cutting the line at some places (rude Americans). We took in total ... read more

THE RISING TIDE A film by Robert Adanto China. The scene of the greatest economic, social, and political metamorphosis of our time. This hybrid-nation that blends Leninist authoritarianism with a market economy, struggles to secure resources and quell growing social unrest, despite averaging 9% growth over the last 20 years. However, for most Americans, China remains a mysterious land of ancient scholars with long beards practicing their calligraphy, of qi gong and flying monks from Shaolin. Despite its breakneck race towards modernization, this enigmatic land of contradictions completely escapes the notice of most Westerners. The transformation that China has undergone began in 1979 when Deng Xiaoping opened China up to the forces of the global market. Deng declared, “To be rich is glorious,” and his m... read more

Well actually that's not quite accurate. It's more a case of "Chinese people say no" China is an amazing place - a land of extreme contrast. Surrounding endless mammoth cities is lush empty countryside. The filthy rich mingle amongst the plain filthy. And for every one person who wants to befriend or help us there's hundreds who would rather walk away. Of course when people can't or won't help us it's generally because we can't communicate in the same language. However it can lead to some pretty frustrating situations. Today for example we wanted to book a train ticket from Zheng Zhou to Beijing. I went to two places that book train tickets. One said there's a train tomorrow night at 9pm, but you'll have to come back tomorrow to see if there's tickets. The other ... read more

Neeha! Today's Thursday eve and it's almost 8 pm. I'm at work waiting to do some OPT's (Oral placement tests) for kids and adults that want to become students at EF, before heading home around 9. Exhausted after four days of teaching 10 to 12 -year olds. Especially the first day was real tough, with four of the boys in the class beeing very difficult. But then it has improved, day by day. Am proud of myself, and a quite chocked too, that I haven't lost my temper yet. Have never thought of myself as a teacher but am actually liking it a lot! It's defenitely a challange though, to deal with kids this age; come up with games to keep them motivated, stop them from not freaking out, and teach them a little too.. :) ... read more

Hey! It's now almost twelve at night and I'm at an internet cafe close to Veronica's place. It's so freakin hot and terribly humid, prob bout 35 degrees c. Even now, at this time it's sweatin hot. But it's quite lovely too though!!! This past week has been busy but real cool and I'm really enjoying it here! Cajsa arrived with Gotheborg last Tuesday and we met up with her and the ship at a harbour a bit outside Guangzhou. There was a whole big event for relatives and the Swedish community here in Guangzhou, with a bus leaving in the morning coming back in the afternoon. After the ship had arrived we finally got some time to spend together, all the tree of us =) The whole event regarding the arrival of the ship has ... read more