Lead up to Christmas Dalian 2010

---

Sorry about the technical glitch... It turned out it didn't lose the other half and the photos, it just published the first half of the text. I must have hit some key combination that set things in motion, sort of... Anyway, here is the real blog!

Tourists in our own town

We had decided to spend the weekend of my birthday at our favourite hotel in Dalian. The first problem was that the school’s University Fair was that weekend and Dianne wanted to volunteer to help the students with their registration procedures or any other help they needed. Then we got an invite to the Diwali celebrations from one of our colleagues. Diwali, the festival of lights, is an important Hindu festival and they like to celebrate with family and friends. It was to be held on Friday, Nov 5th, so we decided to move my birthday celebration to that weekend. We combined a great celebration with the chance to be tourists in our own town.

The festival was a lot of fun. There was a group of young Indian medical students who are studying locally. They sure know how to celebrate. The food was great and it was a treat to stay in the same hotel as the party even if it wasn’t our “favourite”, the Kempinski.

Saturday was a nice day but there was quite a heavy mist. At least we like to think it was mist. We walked all around Xinghai Square which is larger than Tiananmen Square in Beijing although it doesn’t have quite the same history. It is right on the ocean and we had visited part of it on our first weekend in China when things were still so new. Now we could just wander around without fear of getting lost or out of our depth.

We took a cab to Church for the Saturday afternoon service which was a nice touch because on the first Saturday of each month they have a little gathering afterwards to meet and greet old and new parishioners. Another cab ride took us into an area of the city we had never visited to go for dinner at Barolo’s, an Italian restaurant we had heard about from many of our coworkers.

It was my 65th and, as I had no children and grandchildren to share this momentous day with, this was a great substitute. Compared to our other meals in China, we spent a fortune but I am worth it ("Gag" says Dianne). Everything about the place was wonderful, except one thing (see pictures). Very relaxing. We cabbed back to the hotel and walked around for a while as it was a pleasant evening. We even sat in the lobby bar and had a drink while listening to some lovely live classical music.

Sunday the weather started out even nicer so we loaded our packs and headed out on the trolley to find the Natural History Museum. This was going to be a bit more of a challenge as all the directions I could find were in Chinese. I was able to Google Map it on our computer at the hotel but I hadn’t thought to print a map before we left home. One good thing was that a McDonald’s was shown on the map near the museum so, if we saw that, we knew we were close.

We rode the trolley for a while and thought we must be getting close so we got off. We weren’t close, as it happened. But we were able to walk through a very nice park and came upon some folks listening to some really nice classical music. Someone had a boom box hooked up to a battery with jumper cables. It looked so unusual that we had to take a picture. Ah! I forgot to take the battery out of the charger at the hotel! Rats! Oh, well, we’ll always have the memories…

We came to the end of the park and had to return to the main street but soon came to the McDonald’s and, sure enough, there was a sign pointing towards the museum about a kilometre further on. It was free but you have to show your passport! I assume this sign in English was for the benefit of tourists as I don’t believe most Chinese have passports. Dianne had left hers in the hotel safe but they seemed happy enough to record my info and waved us in. A neat place even if most of the signs were in Chinese. We were walking out of one display room just as a mother and son were walking in. I’d guess the son was about 3 or 4. Just as they passed us we heard him say one word to his mother: waiguoren (foreigners). We almost burst out laughing. We have heard stories and read books about how some foreigners are verbally abused by locals and even have had things thrown at them. This was so unexpected as it was the first time anyone had said anything like this to us. But in this case it was more a statement of fact that a rude comment. At least that’s what we chose to believe.

When we went to leave, we discovered the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was pouring rain. Dianne had a coat but it wasn’t a rain coat and we had both left our umbrellas at the hotel. Brilliant! We waited for a few minutes in case a cab should happen to stop to drop people off but no such luck. A Chinese lady was standing at the door with her little girl. We had heard her speaking English to her daughter as we were all wandering around the museum. It turned out they live in Toronto! They were sorry they couldn’t offer us a ride as their car was already stuffed with family members.

We decided there was no point standing around and walked back to the trolley line. We took what we hoped was a short cut and ended up right at the McDonald’s. I suggested we go in for at least a coffee while it was still raining. Dianne said there was a Pizza Hut at the other end of the block so off we slogged. About half way there we came to an Amici’s Coffee. We quite like the Amici Coffee store we know from the other side of Dalian. As soon as we walked in the manager was over with a handful of napkins to help us dry off. We were soaked. After pizzas and cappuccinos we were ready to brave the rain again.

Luckily we were able to grab a cab almost right away and he dropped us back at out hotel where we were able to dry off and get ready to return to reality in Jinshitan. Quite a weekend.

Sundry stuff

There have been lots of interesting things going on here and they are described in the picture captions. Winter has returned with a vengeance. Just a dusting of snow but the winds are brutal. The windows are single pane (should be pain) and don’t fit that well. Even when they are closed, the drapes still flutter in the breeze. The windows in the room we use for a TV room are really loose and I am amazed they don’t blow out.

Christmas is almost upon us. A bunch of us are planning to stay at the Kempinski for the 24th and 25th so even though we don’t have our Canadian family with us we will be able to share Christmas with some of our Maple Leaf family.

The next weekend we get a three day weekend and it is off to Shanghai. We were there briefly on our way to Guilin last year so we know we will have a great time. And when we are back from that it is just two weeks until we leave for Winter vacation in Canada. Yahoo!

And before you wonder if we do actually work over here, Dianne has been working very hard this year. Reduced administration, split campuses, a new semester system and the merging of the ESL department into Grade 10 as the Language Elective program has been quite a challenge. She also keeps busy by helping to judge speech competitions and debates.

This year the school has run into a shortage of substitute teachers. I threw my hat in the ring and so far have been quite busy but it is feast or famine. Five classes Friday and Monday then nothing until the next Friday when it was five classes again. But there is no marking, planning etc. I quite enjoy working with the kids. So far I have done Math 10, 11 and 12, Intro to Lit 10 (poetry, yikes), Drama, Macroeconomics, Social 10 and 11 and my personal favourite, Calculus. I did a Math degree in university but remember almost nothing about calculus. I told the girls I graduated in 1966. One girl said “That was a long, long, long time ago”. Another said “That was the year my Dad was born”. Sigh.

Onwards and upwards! We hope your Christmas and New Year’s weekends are a special time for you and your families. All the best in 2011.

---

Photos

The Boss
This is the official photo of The Boss as it appears on Maple Leaf's web site. The students still like my story about Dianne being my boss at work and at home.

Christmas tree in China
We decided not to buy a real fake tree here but Dianne likes to have something to decorate.

The Good
The view from our kitchen window on a nice day is great. You even get used to the bars. Even if it is cold, the blue sky reminds us of our Alberta roots.

The bad
Some days you can't even see across the street.

And the ugly.
Some days you can't even see out of the windows. But at least you know it is going to be cold out there.

Dynasty Party
But the Christmas season is here. We went to a party put on at the Dynasty hotel for all expats in Dalian. The staff of the hotel put on quite a show. Their version of English Christmas carols and songs was pretty good.

Multi-cultural experience
Not our tradtional western Christmas entertainment but very entertaining none the less.

Tibetan influence
This dance routine was very graceful. We never did figure out what the "Andrew Night Carnival Party" referred to.

Dynasty Hotel Tree
They had a traditional (at least our version of a traditional) tree in the lobby.

Santa is everywhere
You can even find pictures of Santa in the washrooms.

Clocks
From our "tourist in our own town" weekend comes this picture of an ornate clock. Clocks were a big deal back in the late 1500s when Jesuit missionaries introduced them to the late Ming dynasty emperors. Many of these old, ornate clocks are still around.

The Big Day
Is Peter disgusted at turning 65? No. It is just November 6th and they are playing Christmas music in the restaurant were we had his birthday dinner. Humbug!

The light of my life at my Bday dinner
The kids, even the boys, think it is so romantic that we have been married 43 years. They really seem to like it when Dianne comes into one of my classes, even for just a quick visit.

Greening up Dalian
Well, at least protecting what they can. We are always amazed how many trees were cut down to provide the supports for other trees.

Night lights
The buildings next to our hotel in Dalian were really lit up. A photo doesn't do justice to the light patterns that go up and down the building until after midnight.

Not for all the tea in China....
When we were kids, we used to say we wouldn't do something for all the tea in China. Little did I know I would go to an exhibition hall in Dalian where the whole hall was full of people displaying various teas, tea pots and other paraphernalia for use in enjoying tea.

Hunh?
I don't usually pay any attention to the English translations on the many construction billboards around town. But for some reason this one really struck a chord. Just what were they trying to say?

Another victory for the computer
This huge electronic billboard sits just off Xinghai Square. I was surprised to note the error message was in English!

Once a teacher...
Dianne can't resist kids even this playful pair in Xinghai Square

Birthday fireworks!
Our friend Linda put on a dinner party on my actual birthday weekend. Lots of fun, especially when the birthday candle actually went off. We are never sure what to expect because the instructions are in Chinese. But this one went off with quite a flourish!

Halloween
The students were ecstatic this year as they were allowed to have a combined Halloween Party. Various classes use this theme to develop projects in class that are used in the Party. Some work better than others; I bought a bunch of snowballs that are supposed to taste of coconut but actually tasted more like curry. Interesting.