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Published: September 20th 2010
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The New Bridge
The New Bridge, (Wenchang Da Qiao) at sunset Photos: …..sorry to anyone who has been waiting for the YYW to arrive on a Monday morning. With the crazy weekend schedule (see below) I have lost track of what day it is. In fact it's officially Friday today (Monday to everyone else!).....
…..weather indicators; the first night when the fan is not left on all night as I lay on top of the bedcovers. The next indicator of cooler weather will be when I need to be covered by a sheet. In the daytime it takes a little longer for clothing to become damp, but at least damp rather than wringing wet. A cycle ride to the Living Mall, about 45 minutes to the west side of Yangzhou, raises a sweat but not the unbearable, dripping mess that would have resulted even a couple of weeks ago. Every other day seems to be rainy but not the torrential downpours of summer.....
…..Chinese teachers & students all appear very interested in something in the creek that runs through the school grounds. It's a moorhen, or at least a bird indistinguishable to me from the ones I knew from my childhood near the Norfolk Broads. I have noticed
The West Gate
Newly built west gate, main entrance to the school a number of birds like egrets in the school grounds & many more around the allotment plots opposite the school. I'm not sure where they'll go when the land is “developed”.....
…..class discipline this year, I have decided, will operate in three stages; 1: stand up, 2: go to the back (of the class), 3: go to the teacher's office. It is working , up to a point. All of the foreign teachers would like to possess that magic aura of terror that the Chinese teachers, (especially the women, however petite or sweet), can turn on in an instant.....
….. it's the Zhong Qiu Jie, or Mid Autumn Festival next week, the one that giveth four days holiday with one hand & taketh away the two adjoining weekends with the other. With classes scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, then the following Saturday & Sunday it would seem logical that the schedule could follow the usual weekly five day timetable. This concept is obviously anathema to the planners so they have included this Friday (making six days in all) & included two Mondays & Tuesdays but missed out Wednesday. I think there must be a Chinese saying that translates
Teachers' dormitories
2 room apartments, sandard accommodation for Chinese & foreign teachers as, “madness in their method”.....
…..a call to an old (not so old!), friend, Dr. Wei, who I haven't seen or heard from for months. Having moved from the old Yangzhou No.1 hospital to a new position at the West section of the same hospital, & at the same time being occupied with making her new apartment habitable she hasn't had much in the way of spare time. I never like to call as the working hours are so unpredictable & I hate to wake people, especially when sleep is at a premium. I have some time on Wednesday afternoon so I may be able to meet for lunch & catch up on the medical news from China & maybe get some photos of the new apartment.....
…..I have previously been told about the crazy work schedules that the “small” (ie; junior) doctors have to endure in China. Today I catch up with Dr. Wei for lunch at a Hunan restaurant close to the West Da Run Fa. The food is very much like Sichuan fare, very spicy, but maybe more subtle. I also get to see the work roster. A four day roster, repeated without free days
The Living Mall
Shopping Mall on the west side of Yangzhou in between. Day 1: 11am to 8pm (9 hours), Day 2: 8am to 11am (3 hours), then 8pm to 8am on Day 3 (12 hours). Day 3: a rest day (following a night shift). Day 4: 8am to 6pm (10 hours). Over seven days I calculate that to be 58 hours, with two separate rest days following night shifts & a good chance of extra, unpaid hours. I manage to catch up for lunch on day 3 of the roster. Halfway through my tour of the apartment the phone rings. They are short of staff & there is a long queue of sick children. So it's off to work again for an unwanted afternoon shift. At no extra pay! The photo shoot of the new apartment will have to wait until, who knows when?.....
…..I have just installed Google Pinyin on the school PC & on my laptop. It's the way the Chinese use a standard computer keyboard to input Chinese characters. I'm excited about it even if my readers are not likely to ever find a use for it. Chinese characters represent syllables, which are words in their own right, like “boot” or “lace” but can be combined
The Living Mall
Inside the Living Mall to form more complex words, (eg; “bootlace”), The link between the two systems is Pinyin, Chinese characters written in our alphabet, “gong”, “zuo” etc. If I want to type in “gongzuo” (work), I type the first syllable (gong) & pick the correct character from a selection, then the second (zuo). It sounds a very cumbersome system but even I can manage IF I know the characters. Stopping to look them up in my electronic dictionary slows the pace a lot but, watching Chinese people do it, it's amazingly fast, especially as you are replacing a word or syllable with a character, not just one letter. I'm not up to typing out the works of Kong Zi (Confucius) yet but I'm learning slowly & simple SMS & email messages are getting easier.....
…...I notice a few parents being called in to discuss certain students, the ones who not only give me problems but are a pain to the Chinese teachers too. Usually boys, often trying out the limits of authority & teachers' patience. Some have caught me on bad days & find that the latter is in short supply. After an ear-bashing from me, in words incomprehensible but with body
Under construction
The development that is part of Dr. Wei's new home language in large, easy-to-read letters, plus a trip to the dreaded Teacher's Office, some, (not all), have been a little better behaved…..
…..the cost of rearing a child is an issue in China too.
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