Moving along

Hi,

May 1st. This is Labour Day in China and a National holiday. Like every holiday, it is a 3-day holiday. Too bad they don't do that in Canada. But, unlike Canada, it doesn't matter what day it falls on. So evferyone has Sat, Sun and Mon off. I don't work any of those days anyway except for Sunday at the training school and they don't close for holidays. Usually, they schedule extra classes for those days because students don't have school so their parents will send them to study English. I had lunch with the owner yesterday. Great lunch. I had never heard of that restaurant before but it's menu is bilingual so I can go by myself if I want. It is expensive so I won't go often but it has a great atmosphere. Very high-end. I took Krista there for supper and she enjoyed it too. She is a native of Ma'anshan but had never been there.

Lately, there have been some incidents of stabbings of children in schools. One guy has already been executed and the others will follow shortly I suspect. Justice is swift and often final here. Not much room for pleas of insanity or countless appeals. There is an appeal process but I doubt that many are successful. The same outcome was delivered to those found guilty in the tainted milk issue and in the schools that were built under standard and collapsed in the earthquake 2 years ago. China likes to send the message out that if you screw up and are caught then you will quickly be out of the picture. When you look at the population of 1.3 billion, serious crime is very low. It is a very safe country to live in. Much safer than Canada or USA...even Halifax!

75 days until I get on the plane. I will do a little visiting but not much. I would like to see Huangshan (Yellow Mt.) before I go home but I will see. Krista said that she would go with me. I would like to go with someone because it can be difficult without Chinese to visit some of the sites. She has never been there. I have seen pictures and it looks beautiful. We would have to stay over at least one night maybe two. But it won't happen until July if at all because our schedules don't mesh.

See you later,
Don

Chinese Train Innovation‏

The announcer sounds so familiar to me. I can only understand a little bit but the train is going from Beijing to Guangzhou, in the south of China near Hong Kong. It is train 680 I think but I can't be sure. She says the numbers too fast for my ears. When I am at a train station I listen for my numbers and ignore other numbers. But I can hear them when they are called although sometimes it is not easy. But I heard her say liu bai ba shi (pronouced leo bye ba shir). Which should be 680.

See you in 3 months. Unless I change my mind.

I am going home‏

Yeah, July 15 I will be going home. Will I come back? The last time I only lasted 2 months! Last time I was only here for 9 months and now it is another 15 months. I will miss so many good people.

I will visit with some friends before I go home. Pan lei will visit me on Monday. She is from Zhengzhou in Henan province. Maybe 41 years old. I have visited her before. I need to clean my home!!

On May 1, Joseph, Reena and Joel will visit. They are from India. I hope she can share some recipes with me. I love her curried food. I will stay at their home in Shanghai later. I want to visit the Shanghai Expo with them.

I will visit Amanda in Hangzhou and lijun in liyang. I want to see Rez and Jing in Changzhou. Also, Olivia, Neal's daughter. I have not seen her yet. I hope to go Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors. I only have 3 months. I still have classes and final exams. I will only work at the training school for one more month.

I finally found a restaurant that has hot and sour soup! I have been looking for more than a year. I was thinking that it is only a Canadian invention. But a new restaurant opened almost next door to me but their menu was all Chinese so I didn't go there. But last Wednesday, Krista wanted to eat so we went there. The food was great! She said they have hot soup. I said isn't all soup hot? No, she said, this is spicy soup. I said you mean hot and sour soup? Yes!!!! It was so good. Not the same of course but very very good. I can now go there and order it. Only 3rmb. I am happy. suen la tang. Or something like that. I can point to it on the menu if they don't understand me.

Am I happy to go home? I don't know. I have made many friends here. Good people. Yes, I miss my family and friends at home but now this has become my home away from home. I will go home but I am not the same person that I was when I left. China is a part of me and I will not be able to tell you how I feel about it.

I will have lunch with two students. We are going for a duck hot pot. I had it before. Very good. She is so small. I think about 155cm and she weighs 41 kg. I am more than twice that. A very pretty girl. And so small!!!

I will miss China so much. I may come back. It is difficult to spend more than 2 years meeting people, teaching, living here. My friends are here. I will miss every one of them. But it is time to go home. When I get on the airplane I will be crying. But life moves on. Will I come back? Maybe. Maybe to work or maybe to visit but everything will have changed Like it has changed at home. We always think that everything is the same, like a snapshot, but life does not stand still waiting for us. I will go home. But everyone will be different. I will miss my friends.

Don

FW: I will have visitors!‏

Hi,

I am leaving China on July 15. I will not be back next term. But I am finally getting some visitors. Yamin visited me last year but she is the only one and I was busy and I could not spend much time with her.

On Monday, pan lei will visit me. She is 41 and lives in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province. I need to clean my home!!! I visted her home twice. I have met her husband and daughter, mother and father, two sisters. Her mother died this year. She was a good woman. I was at her parent's home during a holiday last year. It was quite funny for me. Only lei could speak English but the others tried. They kept filling my plate with food and all of them stared at me when I ate. I was the first foreigner that they had ever seen. I have pictures. Her father offered me a fork. They had one fork. I declined. I ate with my chopsticks. Her father fought for North Korea during that fight. He had medals. Here I was sitting with them and my relatives fought on the other side. But none of that matters. I embarrassed her when I left the last time. I gave her a hug. That is what we do with someone we like. But her sister and her sister's husband were there. So I know it was not proper to do that. It was automatic for me and I didn't think. Her sister is beautiful. haha

On the weekend of May 1, I will entertain Joseph, Reena and Joel, a family from India. He taught at JPU with me last year. Joel is about 5 now and he dotes on me. I can't understand a word he says because he has about 5 languages and he uses all of them in a sentence! He speaks Hindi, and the local dialect from southern India, Maldivian because his parents worked in the Maldives, English and now Chinese. But he uses all the words at the same time. Only his parents can understand him. He is loud and won't let me out of his sight! A sweet kid. He gave me a one jiao note. It is the only one I have ever seen. It is worth about 1.5 cents. I will stay at their place and visit the Shanghai Expo with them. They are good people and I enjoy our talks. We don't always agree because of our cultural differences but we accept those differences and we enjoy each others company. They are a nice couple and we enjoy our conversations. They are very smart and it is so nice to spend time with them. We talk about many different subjects. I will miss them.

I will be leaving China on July 15 but China will not leave me. It will always be in my heart. I have met so many nice people. Judy, Cherry, Lijun, Yamin, Pan lei, and so many others. I will go home. But a part of me will always be here. Maybe I will come back but I am not sure. Even as I write this I have tears. I will miss everyone so much.

That is a big problem for me. I get too connected to everyone. If I were a cold-hearted person then it would not matter where I am or who I meet. But that is not me. I meet people, I become friends and then I have to leave them. Life goes on without us. But I will miss them so much.

Don

I am feeling sad‏

Hi,

Today is not a good day. I found out that they will not offer me a new contract for next year. We have 6 foreign teachers and they think that they don't need so many. We get paid about 60% more than the Chinese teachers with PhD's. So I am out. I am much older than the rest and I think that has much to do with it; the rest are in their 20's. I want to stay here. I like this town. I have many good friends here. So now I have to make a decision...will I go home to stay and miss my friends, or will I go to another city. It is easy to get a job but do I want that? It is difficult to move to another city...new city...new university with new rules...make new friends. Maybe Beijing or Shanghai. But I don't want that. I want to be close to my friends. I don't know. I will decide before I go home in July. Maybe I will stay in Canada but I will miss so many people. I don't always agree with them but I love to listen to their life. I would miss that. If I move back to Canada I will seriously miss China. At this time I don't miss Canada. I miss family and friends but after two years here I will miss so many good people. What to do?

Will I see you again? Ever?

Don

long time no talk‏

Hey,

It has really gotten quite mundane lately. No travel...no interesting news...just doing my job (enjoying it more than the last 4 terms!). I have some beautiful girls as friends and sometimes we go out to eat or sing at KTC (karaoke) or I will have them here and cook for them. It is really nice to walk down the street with one of the girls on my arm. We get so many stares! Nice people.

I guess that I am quite used to China now and not much surprises me any more. I am comfortable. It is almost the same as a regular job at home now. Wake up, go to work, come home, get ready for the next day. Of course the beer isn't near as good as home.

I don't plan on growing old for at least 10 years and then I will be kicking and scratching. Several girls have told me that they are surprised at how young I act. I still feel young...until I look in the mirror!!! But I ride my bike, climb a mountain, fly a kite. I am willing to do whatever they want to do.

I met a couple of Chinese teachers and we went for a beer one night and we had a good time...played pool, foosball, darts. I think they are gay but I don't care. We had a good conversation. Maybe the best conversation that I have had here. They were very knowledgeable on economics and educational differences between East and West. I eally enjoyed it. I will have to do that again soon.

There is supposed to be an English singing contest here on Saturday but damned if I can find out where or when. I have asked my TA's and my liason at the Foreign Affairs Office but no one seems to know. Sometimes it is difficult to get info about anything, even for the Chinese teachers. I think there are people who are in their jobs because of nepotism or guanxi (connections). The last two terms I would only know about holidays from students sometimes. 'Oh. We don't have a class next week. Didn't you know? It is a holiday. Holiday?' It can be tough but you need to roll with the punches and accept the system. It probably doesn't matter because I work at the training school that night so if it is in the evening than I won't be able to go. But I have students who want to know and I can't tell them much. I would like to learn a Chinese song that I could sing then I would surprise the students! There was a teacher last year in Changzhou and he learned a Chinese song that he sang every year at the freshman's party. He said he only knew one song but it worked well because each freshman heard it for the first time!

I have no holidays until week 13 which is for mid-terms. We have finished week 6. In China, each holiday is a three day holiday; unlike Canada where we have one day. Their National Day is October first and that is also three days. But it doesn't matter which day it falls on. Last week was Tomb Sweeping Day. People go to the cemetery and pay their respects to their ancestors. It fell on Saturday. That meant we had Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. I don't work those days. So big deal. If it fell on a Tuesday then it would matter! THe next holiday is Dragon Boat Festival. It also falls on Saturday, so what? Obviously they don't have unions!! THere are no other holidays until July and I will be done then.

Life is good. My courses are going well. I have no idea what will happen after July but that is not unusual for me. Uncertainty is not bad. Some people need to be sure what will happen but I am flexible. I teach Consumer Behaviour and part of that course is the difference in personalities, learning methods, perceptions, etc. If you want to sell your product then you need to define your target segment. I am part of the market who is willing to try different things, who doesn't need stability, who does not place much value on acceptance by my peers, who wants to experience new things. There are many different personality traits and different needs that people are motivated to fulfill. It is an interesting course. I could give you some tests that would show what kind of consumer you are. Interesting course.

My Oral English course is going well. I am enjoying it. I make them work but I also give them some fun. THe most difficult problem is to get them to do their work in English. If I give then an exercise to do some will try to do it in Chinese and then give me the answer in English. Naturally, they want to talk to their roommates or classmates in Chinese. Some guys are especially difficult. I will make them work harder than the thers.

Have a good Spring
Don