End of year break

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…..I am exhausted. I just washed up, a bowl, 2 cups, a fork, a spoon & a lunch box. Doing it balanced on one leg, in the bathroom, (there's no running water supplied to the kitchen / living room in our 2 room apartments), a trip back to fetch the dish washing liquid. I need to lie down... I'm doing it on one leg as the other is in plaster, after I slipped on the wet floor during a pre-Christmas clean up.....

…..it seems I am doomed to periodic accidents with accompanying orthopaedic issues, like my current fracture in one of the lower leg bones where it connects to the ankle. They've told me I should not bear weight on it for 3 MONTHS! (It's always been 6 weeks previously, & I do have experience in this area!). On Christmas Day, 2 days after a spectacular, messy but thankfully unwitnessed attempt at a back somersault, my colleagues & very kind friends Halim & Gyu, insist that I go to the hospital for an x-ray. I insist it's just sprained. The X-Ray can't lie, can it? It's broken.....

…..while the newly built Yangzhou No.1 hospital wing has lifts it seems that it has been designed more with a comprehensive tour of the hospital in mind than getting the sick treated quickly. Halim finds a wheelchair. It's from one building to register, to another building & floor to see a doctor who authorises an X-ray at another location. It's a good thing the weather is nice & sunny, even if a little cold. I wouldn't want to do this in the rain. The lady hands me a bag of X-rays. Back to the doctor, who starts talking about the possibility of ¥20,000 operations & a week in hospital to insert pins. I turn ashen white. However Halim wheels me to yet another room, in the old part of the hospital, where a cheerful, chatty man puts a cast on my leg.....

…..I tell myself it could have been worse. There could have been more people jostling for treatment, like the one who was about to jump the queue until I raised my stick & gave him my “axe murderer” grin. It could have been more expensive than the ¥400, (Au$70), for the X-rays & cast. The doctor didn't smoke. I didn't need an examination of a more personal nature, which, in China might still be conducted in view of a curious crowd of waiting patients. They're quite accustomed to pushing in during your consultation & jumping in the second you've finished, rather than waiting outside the door for their turn.....

…..I still arrive for the gig at the Secrecy bar / restaurant on Christmas evening, thanks again to Halim's kind offer to drive me there. I'm sure it was a little white lie that they were, “going that way anyhow”. It was hard work but the staff & manager appreciated the effort &, with Windsong, our new teacher from the USA, assisting with some Christmas songs, I made it. They seemed desperate to have two foreigners on stage, Steve quite reasonably insisted on a break from playing on Christmas day, to spend some time with his girlfriend. Windsong has an unusual voice, quite deep & a little throaty but she's obviously performed before & has no problem keeping pitch, or singing against my vocal harmonies & a lot of people, Chinese & foreigners, commented favourably Thankfully another very good friend, Shen Yue, was able to drop in & give us a life back to the school. As I'm currently managing on just one crutch that Steve had from his bike accident last year, getting from A to B requires some creative thinking, especially if it's up or down stairs....

…..China is just beginning to recognise the need for things such as disability access. Where the latest buildings might have wheelchair ramps & other concessions most places do not. Our school was built more than 10 years ago. There is a lift to the 2^nd & 3^rd floors of the cafeteria, mainly to allow supplies to be taken up, but useful in cases like mine. The classrooms however are organised in 3 storey blocks of 9. So my 10 classes are spread over 3 floors, the office being on the second. I took my classes on Friday, (after our special concession day off for Christmas), but vow to take some sick days combined with 3 days for the New Year break to give myself a week of recuperation, much as resting & sitting or lying for long periods are quite alien concepts to me.....

…..Andy's girlfriend, Alice, works for a company that makes things like wheelchairs &, yes, crutches. She brings me a pair to borrow. It's easier already!.....

…..having already bought tickets for a planned trip with Andy, one of the younger teachers, from New Zealand, during February's Spring Break, the Chinese New Year holiday, the question now is, get a partial refund on the tickets or find someone else to transfer them to? Andy is as disappointed as I am but will still do the trip alone if necessary. However the possibility of still being on crutches & tackling a journey through Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon by train, then to Phnon Penh, Siem Reap & Ankor Wat in Cambodia, followed by a trip to Bangkok then north to Kohn Kaen in Thailand … I'm pretty game but even I have to be realistic now & again.....

…..well, apart from the odd bone fracture, what's the news? Christmas came & went as noted. It's always strange spending Christmas in China. There are Christmas decorations in all the bigger shops, the check-out chicks at the Da Run Fa wear Santa hats & almost life size model Santas playing the saxophone, (no, I have no idea why...), are seen, our students get excited about it & decorate their classrooms, but with absolutely no idea what Christmas is about. The saving grace here is it doesn't last as long as the relentless commercialisation that I found so depressing in the months leading up to Christmas in Australia. It's good to be away from that. Our Christmas dinner was the usual western cafeteria mix of pizza, (cold), frozen salmon, lamb chops, a few vegetables & tiramisu for dessert. As turkey is expensive & hard to come by in China I suggested roast goose but no no one seemed keen.....

…..as someone who has never had a particular interest in sports & rarely participates I find I am a late blooming volleyball player. A couple of weeks before Christmas a foreign teachers team is assembled for a school tournament & I (generally) don't disgrace myself, in fact, I have to say, I'm pretty good at serving.....

…..still trying to reconcile behaviour on the roads to “cultural differences” & still failing , miserably. In West Yangzhou at around 10.30pm, there's not much traffic, a completely empty footpath on my right &, IN THE MIDDLE of the bike lane, a pedestrian walking in that peculiarly Chinese fashion, BACKWARDS. He didn't hear my scooter approaching but, after a blast on my air horn I assume from his position as I passed, in mid air, arms & legs akimbo, that he realised I was there.....

…..when I've played at weddings in China before I'm usually placed at a table with some guests, sometimes awkward for a couple of minutes but a great way to practice Chinese once they're used to the strange foreigner amongst them. When Steve & I play at a neighbouring town everyone seems friendly &, when we are asked if we want something to eat we assume they'll bring us out a selection from the food being piled on the tables at the banquet. We sit outside in the foyer & are given a KFC burger each. Steve actually eats his. I'm left to look for a very late dinner on my return to Yangzhou.....

…..I don't miss the pre-Christmas hype that starts now, I'm told, around September. In fact I'm happy to be away from the constant commercial messages. I do miss that one day though, & you can't recreate Christmas somewhere else without family & friends around.....

…..as for the the big picture in China, they've just added a Gaotie, (bullet train) line between Lanzhou, in the central north, to Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, the huge, far western province. At over 1700km long it's longer than most country's entire fast rail network & further, (I believe) than from London to Warsaw, but this part only spans a fraction of China, (see map). The other thing is, they've totally blocked Google's Gmail in China. Google already withdrawn from this country as they wouldn't go along with the censorship requirements of the Party but now other avenues to access Gmail have also been blocked. Ah! One step forward, on step back.....

…..well, the show must go on so, (in between resting of course!), Steve has organised a quite well-paid gig at a new shopping centre in West Yangzhou for New Year's Eve. They are desperate for genuine foreigners & want a band, not a duo, so he's enlisted a percussion player, Italian Dario, to join us. Mama Mia, All I have to do is get there now. Thank heavens taxis are affordable here. Also how many more shopping centres does a little city of 4,000,000 people need? I wish you a Happy, Peaceful &, oh, yes … Healthy New Year 2015.....

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Photos

Christmas Show at the school
Foreign teachers dramatisation of Frosty the Snowman

Thanksgiving dinner at school
way back in November, 2014

Thanksgiving dinner at school
Windsong & Halim, with Halim's daughter, Excelina

Party time
New friend Alicia, host of a party in West Yangzhou

Party time
Party time in West Yangzhou

Christmas Show at School
Foreign teachers in Frosty the Snowman