Things are starting to happen in Tai'an...but what?


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Asia » China » Shandong » Tai'an
March 4th 2009
Published: March 4th 2009
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There's a buzz in the air...a stirring in the streets...preparations for something can be seen around town but for what, we don't know. Is it just Spring? Maybe? Tourist season, perhaps? We see new stores being cleaned, painted and fill with merchandise. But what type of merchandise, do you think? Postcards? pots and crockery? or other paraphernalia with Tai'an or Taishan written on it. Beautiful pictures perhaps? NO.

Most of these shops in the Lotus Supercentre (our local shopping centre) are filling their shelves with rocks. All shapes and sizes. But these aren't any type of rock. These come from the sacred mountain Taishan. In the parks there are large feature boulders with a giant bonsai type tree wrapped around it, smaller feature rocks on a pedestal or smaller still that are placed around a tree. These rocks are judged and considered very seriously before any purchase is made. Why, just today we saw 6 men on the footpath judging about 10 rocks of, say, soccer ball size. They were analysing the pattern of the limestone and other types of geological terms that escape me, a particularly beautiful swirl is studied while dry and then water is poured on it to see the brilliance of the pattern against, you guessed it, a wet stone. The significance is beyond us just now but I'm sure we will learn all about it. In the meantime, I think that if boulders and rocks continue to be taken from the mountain, there will not be much of a mountain left to climb.

Well, we found out that the rocks are for good luck, along with a red ribbon, no 6 (or any number with a 6 in it) and no 8, burning incense sticks and praying to Buddha, letting off fireworks at the front of a business that reopens after new year, burning phoney money for the ancestors, eating some sort of rice balls at new year and more I can't think of at the moment.

The buds are forming on the trees, the grass appears a little greener as more people seem to be coming out of the winter hibernation. Why go out when you can stay in the warmth of radiator heating? We tell the temperature outside by the thermometer in the kitchen. It reads approximately 5/6 degrees warmer than outside. Most mornings it reads 5 or 6 degrees however we did have a 0 inside which means outside temp was -6. Cold enough to form ice on the puddles. I have been reminded of how cold tiles can be if I don't wear my slippers. Putting the kettle on means making sure I am rugged up first before opening the door.

I have to say that we were not happy with the situation at our apartment community. We saw one garbage collection and then nothing for 2 1/2 weeks. This was crazy. And over the festive season too. Could you imagine no garbage collection after Christmas? We complained to our school coordinator and had asked for another apartment somewhere else. They found an apartment on the 5th floor somewhere but to reach it would mean 10 flights of stairs both ways. No elevator! Nice way to keep fit but with all our books, games etc we carry on work days it would be a nightmare. So they keep looking. Back to the garbage...we found out that the collectors wanted more money from the body corporate but they were asking too much. Stalemate! But after 3 weeks we saw a truck brought in to collect the overflow. And now a new group of collectors are looking after the community. All with new coats and gloves and shiny new collecting carts. Much better. I was worried about illness and such but some benefits of it being freezing cold is that food doesn't smell.

I have found a masseur in our community row of shops. He is blind and tries to talk to me in Chinese. I learn now to say timbadom which means don't understand. I have enlisted the help of a lady in the shop next door who can speak very basic english. Most of my communication is in charades and then she tells the masseur what I would like. This guy is amazing. He sits on the computer (with voice) when not working or on the phone to friends. He lives in the shop and knows his way around. My first visit was after a very busy weekend and I had a sore neck but what the hey, I decided on a foot massage too. I was sitting in the chair with my feet in some type of herbal concoction and he heats it up 3 times in 10 mins. That's how cold it was this day. I watched him move about, and at those times when I see someone less fortunate than most doing what he needs to do to survive, I begin to see through the outer layer to the 'beauty' inside. One of those moments that makes me grateful to be alive and experiencing what the world has to offer.

We were taken to the Bank of China today to open our account. Couldn't do it until the residency visa was approved in triplicate then signed by 5 different officials and many more copies later. We are legal. So we enter the bank (getting used to the attention and everybody wanting to know what's going on). Helen, our co-ordinator fills out the paperwork with our first names first and then surname. Weeelllll! Didn't that cause some confusion. Last name first and first name and any other names second. But after much discussion, with us standing meekly in the background, we learn that the names must be 'exactly' the same as on our passport. OK. Then after many entries of new PIN's we are the proud owners of bank a/c's in China with last months pay already in. Yippee! Now we don't have to worry about drawing from our Oz account any more.

Read David's blog about the demo classes today. Mine were very much the same. Absolute mayhem! but oh so much fun.

Bye for now. Am a bit homesick and missing all my family and friends. Please keep the emails coming.


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