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Published: November 19th 2014
Tea...
Tea with Holly, Belinda, Catherine, and Josh. Belinda and Holly are our lovely translators. Josh and Catherine are the other Royal Roadies...One of my eternal quests, it seems, when I am away from home, especially for long periods, is to find that little bar where I can enjoy a frosty beverage and generally ponder the universe. Or at least the blotch that I occupy at any given time. The trick is finding one that is open during the day—not ‘crack of dawn’ day—just one that opens before eight or nine in the evening, which is the common practice in China. Well, dear readers—I found one just up the road from my apartment that is just the ticket—compact (about the size of a decent size walk-in closet), clean, comfy chairs and a big TV. The bar only sells beer, mostly imports: about 30 or so I would guess, nice servers, well, server actually. I think only one person works there, other than the owner who pretty much just hangs out with his buddies administering ‘quality control’ to the product. So the cool bit is that the bar is called ‘BEER’…yes, BEER. So after one of my Jinhua walkabouts—I call them a Bill Bryson day—I had little choice but to stop in and see what looked good. I ended up with a cold Danish
Hangin' Out...
Students just hanging out before class. The characters on the back wall say something to the effect: "Work for what you want and you will get it..." lager ‘Bear’.
So I had a ‘Bear beer at the BEER bar’…cool, or what…
Time is zipping by—it’s amazing how that all works; as we used to say in South Korea “The minutes go by like hours, but the days go by like seconds…”. It seems that one minute I’m fretting about class on Monday, and the next thing Friday is upon me. Not that I’m wishing my time away, but…
School and life has mostly been good and has settled into a regular and fairly predictable pattern of teaching (or my stab at it…), trying to figure out what and where to eat and seeing if I can cajole Netflix into working for any longer than seventeen-seconds (plus working on my UVic stuff...). The internet at the apartment is quite limited, especially when all the other foreigners are sucking up all the band-width downloading movies and playing some world domination video game or other. I guess that includes me streaming Netflix, too…ha!
The weather now is quite pleasant—sunny’ish and a light breeze most days—getting chilly at night and I finally resorted to breaking out the fleecy pants for hanging around the apartment. I try not
Welcome...
...to Jinhua Public Washrooms and Scooter Emporium and Arcade!
Caught this along the river on my walkabout... to wear them in public as they might scare the children. Fashions at school have shifted from micro-shorts and nano-skirts and tees to micro-shorts and nano-skirts with black leggings or jeans and tees … and that’s just the boys… and I expect puffy jackets will start to show up soon. The school buildings are unheated, so it does get quite frigid in class (trace your breath frigid). The teaching building is open at the roof line (covered, but open at the sides). I asked Jin what happens when it rains. He said: “It gets wet.” Oh right. Of course it does. What was I thinking?
I gave my first (and last) final exam of the semester last week, which I won’t repeat as the formal exam thing really doesn’t work here, not in the conventional exam hall, invigilation model because of many reasons that I won’t go into here, but involves covert glances, furtive whispering and other ‘secret’ signals…
Jinhua seems to be in the middle of an infrastructure renewal boom as roads and sidewalks everywhere are being replaced and new sewer pipes and underground wiring installed. It doesn’t matter where you go, some piece of machinery is
Jinhua street re-construction...
This scene is repeated many time throughout Jinhua right now...likely back to 'normal' in a couple of weeks... ripping up the old stuff and gangs of workers are hauling it away to be replaced with new stuff to be replaced in another five years, probably. One of the main stretches of road on the bus route to school was minding its own business, perfectly happy just being a road when last Friday the crews moved in and by today, Monday, the old road is down to the roadbed and the workers are starting to pave. Amazing…
Fortunately the construction in my apartment building has finished and has more or less returned to ‘normal’, although normal is a relative term in China. The new apartments across the street have finally been completed and seem to be on the market now, so tenants will be moving in accompanied by the incredibly loud fireworks that go off when people move house, get married, have babies, and ‘celebrate’ whatever other calamities might befall them…just kidding…a session went off last night that was the loudest I have heard yet—right outside my apartment.
In spite of my moaning and whining, the people here like Jin, Belinda, Holly and Keith and many others are unfailingly gracious and helpful dealing with the wussy foreigners.
Lost in Translation...
Many examples of fractured English... I had to get my visa extended, which was a day late (oops!), and entails going to the immigration centre at the Police Station and fighting your way through about 3,000 shouting gnarly seniors
(“Why are they so loud?” “…they are country people…”) applying for travel documents to go gambling in Macau or some such thing. Belinda drove me there (in her own time), breezed through the shouting gnarly seniors like a hot knife through butter, and took me to the photo studio (!) for ID photos (which is actually in the centre), walked me through to the head of the queue (she seemed to be on very good terms with the handsome police Captain…), got my form processed, had them waive the late ‘fine’ and then drove me back to my apartment in her BMWX3. She also invited me and the other Royal Roadies, Catherine and Josh, to ‘proper’ tea at the college…as well. And, after a week’s processing time, she picked up my passport with my extended visa…as well.
I am returning to Canada in another few weeks so this might be the last dispatch from the front-line. I have enjoyed writing them and I hope you
Noodle Stand...
One of the many food outlets at the college. This one specializes in fresh hand-thrown noodles that the cook in the background is preparing. A big plate of chow-mein with meat and vegetables cooked to order is 10 yuan...about $1.70... got a little taste of life here. Sincere THANKS! to everyone who took the time to follow my wacky adventures in China and especially those that left comments. Much appreciated!
Must dash—my smiley-face toast just popped-up…hope I haven't run out of
'Extra Very Delicious Peanut Butter with Crunched Parts of Nut Meat'
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Anne
non-member comment
safe travels
Hello, Merv. Great to hear from you again, it's been too long. Looking forward to having you back on our side and a catch up date is a must. Have a safe and effortless trip home. See you both soon. xo P.S. It's true about time, what the heck!