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Published: September 1st 2011
Ni hao. I have awoken very early this morning. Seems my body is not to be fooled. It knows that way back home, in the province of Manitoba, it is actually 9 in the evening, and why are you sleeping, dammit? LOL I am writing as I sit in my balconyish type alcove off my bedroom. It is a large window with an amazingly large ledge and I have it open to the early morning air. There are insects and birds singing. And, much to my amazement, a rooster crowed and crowed his morning greeting to me. I do believe that is the first time in my life I have ever been greeted in the morning by a rooster. For me it was a magical moment. As I gaze across at the 11 story apartment directly opposite this, I see only 3 lone lights shining at this early hour of 5:44 am. I have been up for at least 2 hours, already, and have exhausted my capapcity for sleep. I have done Reiki, and talked to my angels, but, my body, it seems, will have no part of going back to sleep. Okay. I will not fight it but rather go
with it! 😊
Yesterday was a busy day. I took my teaching colleague and roomie, Donna, from Canmore, Alberta, ("Hi, I'm Mike, from Canmore,", that made me think of AirFarce, LOL) to our campus downtown by bus, which was very much a personal triumph for moi, Ta-da! I am so proud of myself for not getting us both lost but instead delivering us right where we needed to go! She met our staff, got her bus pass sorted out and got a phone. We then headed out to Dad's Kitchen for some lunch, with Graham, who helped us order something to eat (the school is getting the menu translated for us, so we don't end up eating fish butts or something crazy yucky! LOL) We dined sumptuosly on the best fried chicken I have ever eaten in my LIFE, egg drop and tomato soup, mixed green vegetables with rice, and these amazing, amazing cucumber pickles with garlic and fiery chiles. Mmmmm. We ate so well, we didn't eat again that day! We were serenaded by a young man, staff at the restaurant, with a wonderful singing voice, who sang Chinese songs for us and knew he had a captive
Photo 12
Typical table setting. Not a knife or fork in sight. Sometimes, spoons. audience. We were utterly charmed, of course! The staff, who are very kind to us at the restaurant, picked out the bills I held up in my hand as payment, and then sent us on our way with good-byes in English from them and our Chinese good-byes in return. You know, a smile is still a smile whether in Chinese or English. People are more similar than they are different, regardless of what language they speak or where they live. That thought gives me incredible hope for the world in which we live.
Some of you are wondering, I know, about the typhoon that we were supposed to have. all that has happened with that is that it has rained and rained and sometimes poured. I now know how a beaver must feel for most of its day. Yuk.....How do they stand it, I wonder? Today, as I was yesterday AND the day before, I am wet. My hair is wet, my arms are wet, my clothes are not just damp they are WET, my feet are wet. I do believe I may start to mildew before the week is out! The typhoon which was forecasted has not materialized,
Photo 13
Inside of this wondeful restaurant. but instead has plagued us with rain, rain and rain. Everybody has an umbrella. I am no exception. I am now the proud owner of a large orange umbrella. It is quite bizarre, I see women dressed in high heels and business clothing, looking sharp and pressed, make-up pristine, holding their umbrellas smartly and marching through the rain completely nonplussed. And then there is me. The Canadian, who is wet, bedraggled, face slick with sweat, or moisture and looking anything but put together. I have showered every night this week because the streets are so dirty, and wet. My new orange umbrella is getting a work out and I do not go anywhere without it. All day yesterday, Donna and I slopped around and had to contend with wet hair, clothes, arms and legs. Yeah, well, that is pretty much everything, isn't it? IT is HOT, too, not just wet. The air is close. And so we sweated as well. I have all but given up on looking good. I am wet, sweaty and my makeup just runs. I've nixed it and the hair is more a hair don't than a do. I am so glad I got it chopped.
Photo 14
Menu. What will you have? What do you mean, you can't read the menu? I should be calling this entry, my ugly adventures, lmao, but it is true. I would never, EVER wander around home looking like this. Thank GOD nobody knows who I am. IT's just better this way! I have surrendered to the rain, heat and humidity and it aint pretty.
Donna and I shopped around in Walmart yesterday for our groceries. I decided to take a few pic tures inside the Walmart. I was only about 3 pictures in when an employee rushed over and jabbered something in Chinese, and I just nodded my head and put the camera quietly back into its case. No sense getting myself into trouble! I have to say, I will try to take some stealth pictures of some of the more interesting items with my blackberry camera. There are dried "things", and I say things, because they are barely recognizeable to me, and honestly, even if I was sure I knew what they were, I cannot imagine eating anything that smelled that badly. There are cross sections of ducks, fish, and ??? and they are all dried and they all smell to high heaven. My stomach lurches as we approach this section, fyi, the
Photo 15
View from our booth. It absolutely poured on us getting there and poured on us while we ate. Did I mention we were wet? LOL ice-cream freezers are in this section-I sure ain't browsing the flavours with that smell hanging in the air!! Plus, it would melt before I even got it home, in this heat and having to use the bus to travel. LOL
A word about the bus transportation. The Chinese, now, they know how to move people! The buses are fast, and stop often, and cost just about nada. Only 1 yuan to ride it. 1 yuan! I think that works out to less than .20 Canadian. Yes, you read that correctly. Cheap and fast. I like it! LOL
Yesterday in the Walmart, a man approached us and asked me if we were Americans. I said, no, we are Canadians, and he smiled and helped us find what we wanted. A very cute little boy, who made me think of you, Aiden, smiled very broadly, oh, he was adorable and about maybe 7 years old, I would say, said "Hello!" to me in very good English without any trace of Chinese accent, then ran away quickly after I greeted him in Chinese. The Chinese all smile and laugh a little when I use my very, very, limited Chinese, but seem
Photo 16
A soggy, soggy me. UGH to find it a novelty. OMG, I wonder how bad I must sound to them? At least I am trying, though, and that seems to go a long way with them. The guards here at the apartment complex enjoy it when I greet them, they smile and try to engage me in conversation, which of course is futile, since all I do is nod and smile, and thinking all the while, how much I wished I could talk to them! They are probably laughing AT me, the funny, short, white-lady foreigner, but, what the hell! Can't say I blame them.
I am learning sone quite a interesting facts about China, things that we don't often hear in Canada. During our evening meal 2 nights ago, Andy, the Tianjiao employee who met me at the airport told me that they DO vote, although, I am not sure exactly how that works, and to say that I was very surprised is an understatement. Voting in a communist country? Huh? I had mentioned to him that I was expecting my ballot for the provincial election. I must find out more about this voting. And, I did ask him about the one child
Photo 17
Donna, my roomie. policy. He said that his family has 3 children. And that it was during the 80's that policy had been implemented. Andy himself if a young looking 31 and unmarried. He said that now, if a couple who were both from single children families (meaning that each of them was the sole child in the family) marry each other, they are allowed to have 2 children. WOW! I was surprised, and had NEVER read that anywhere.....oh, as I am writing that rooster is crowing again......lol.....so it seems China is evolving in ways that we sometimes are not aware of in the west. Makes me want to verify everything I've been told or read about China. Maybe we have all been mislead a bit?
I am drinking and actually very much enjoying my instant coffee (yes, I know, I know, I can't believe it either!) and it tastes great, considering my last cup of real coffee was in the Beijing airport. Desperate times call for desperate measures. lol. Well, it is now 6:35 and my coffee is disappeared. Time to make more. Today's adventure beckons....a day trip with some of the staff to the nearby Island of Gulang Yu, to
the pearl market. I may buy myself something beautiful since they tell me, they is Graham and Ed--our Tianjiao school directors, that the most beautiful things are available for extremely cheaply, and pearls have always been a favourite of mine. Gulang Yu is accessible by ferry and is, according to my lonely planet guide, "Bucket loads more charm than, gasp, Xiamen. Even locals are enamoured with the darn place...it is a sedate retreat of meandering lanes and shaye warens of backstreets, set in an architectural twightight of more than 1000 colonial villas, crumbling buildings and ancient banyan trees...there really isn't anything quite like it anywhere else in China..." Thank you Lonely Planet. Is this really MY life? 😊
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Gail
non-member comment
Quite the adventure!
Keep blogging Carolyn...