Last night me and Joe went to see a couple of people about a venture. It was quite a good meeting and we hoping for a good outcome. People were responsive though there was about two people that did not look interested at all. But we believe that the mover of people will have a good chat to them.
So if you can believe with us, that would be much appreciated.
At work, we have great opportunities and if the breakdown of technology is a sign of good things we are doing, then let it come!
This mornin got to work only to find that my emails weren't working... but we will find a way to working around that. There is no keeping us back... I am here, and i am here to stay.
Keep on keeping on, and continue watching this odyssey in progress.
Shanghai (China)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
New job, new family.. new season
It has been a while since i last updated and just to let you all know that things have changed tremendously.
I have a new job, i am in Shanghai... living with a family with three kids. Life is full, but the best is yet to come. I am learning all about family life, disciplining your child, sacrificing life for your children and living a bigger life than myself.
You quikly learn how selfish you are when you live with a family with kids. Njoy your single life.. once you have kids things change.
I also thank God for my family, as now i see how much work they had with 4 kids. Mom and Dad... you are my heroes!
I have a new job, i am in Shanghai... living with a family with three kids. Life is full, but the best is yet to come. I am learning all about family life, disciplining your child, sacrificing life for your children and living a bigger life than myself.
You quikly learn how selfish you are when you live with a family with kids. Njoy your single life.. once you have kids things change.
I also thank God for my family, as now i see how much work they had with 4 kids. Mom and Dad... you are my heroes!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Screw and/or be screwed
Those who don't know yet, the work visa that the University was supposed to arrange turned out to be a student visa. Working on a student visa is not good for future travels, ask me. So it was time for plan B. Well, don't know where I am on the alpahabet with my plans. I know I am heading towards my 4th visa in two months. A friend that lives in Shanghai offered me a job a while ago, but me being fully focused on teaching didn't even think twice about that opportunity. But now, the other options started showing their true light.
As u can imagine, I had a decision to make. I am not the kind that take very long to make decisions. I can remember that since I was a small boy I hated to wait for things to happen. If I had a good idea, I wanted it to happen immediately. So after a couple of minutes conversing with my friend in Shanghai, the plans was made for me to head in that direction. But before that, I needed to face the Uni director, the police station and then myself. Almost in that sequence.
The Uni director wasn't happy! He demanded back the money for my accommodation, for my visa that they messed up, and fees for my agent. Needless to say, he didn't get too far with that. I gave him the money according to the accommodation contract I didn't sign yet. He wanted moneys for almost three months stay, but I wasn't planning to pay him that. He settled for the amount I gave him after I told him I had no more money left. He would have sucked me dry! Sometimes you need to tell a half truth. Oh yeah, the agent money... they need to speak to the agent about that. I was promised a work-visa not a student.
Well, the passport is at the police office once again as they wanted to cancel my previous illegal student-work visa. I hate those places! Sounds like i am getting my visa in 5 days, but hopefully sooner and then I am on my way to Shanghai.
The new job sounds like a good challenge. Will be selling furnished office space to all kinds of businesses. So will keep me busy.
Sometimes you have to ask yourself the question... "screw or be screwed?", and sometimes they coincide.
As u can imagine, I had a decision to make. I am not the kind that take very long to make decisions. I can remember that since I was a small boy I hated to wait for things to happen. If I had a good idea, I wanted it to happen immediately. So after a couple of minutes conversing with my friend in Shanghai, the plans was made for me to head in that direction. But before that, I needed to face the Uni director, the police station and then myself. Almost in that sequence.
The Uni director wasn't happy! He demanded back the money for my accommodation, for my visa that they messed up, and fees for my agent. Needless to say, he didn't get too far with that. I gave him the money according to the accommodation contract I didn't sign yet. He wanted moneys for almost three months stay, but I wasn't planning to pay him that. He settled for the amount I gave him after I told him I had no more money left. He would have sucked me dry! Sometimes you need to tell a half truth. Oh yeah, the agent money... they need to speak to the agent about that. I was promised a work-visa not a student.
Well, the passport is at the police office once again as they wanted to cancel my previous illegal student-work visa. I hate those places! Sounds like i am getting my visa in 5 days, but hopefully sooner and then I am on my way to Shanghai.
The new job sounds like a good challenge. Will be selling furnished office space to all kinds of businesses. So will keep me busy.
Sometimes you have to ask yourself the question... "screw or be screwed?", and sometimes they coincide.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Banks... again
The last couple of days I have been mainly spending time at home and relaxing. Most of the shops have opened now, so I head to my local noodle shop every day for my 3RMB noodles. This is the best deal around town that you will find and the noodles are much better than other more expensive places that I have visited. Therefore this has become my local now. For 5.50RMB I can have a beer and a bowl of noodles! In some shops this is the price of one single beer. So I am a local there now and every now and again me and the shop owners share a couple of words.
I am sitting in McDonald’s at the moment for a coffee. They serve the best coffee in town. I have been told that KFC has good coffee as well, so I will need to venture there sometime to see if the information is correct. But for time being I am a McDonald’s fan and client. I don’t eat there, I just drink their coffee. This is the couple of minutes I grant myself in the western world, sitting in McDonald’s with a coffee in hand and typing on my laptop. There is probably some other places around that serve good coffee, but their prices are ridiculous.
Sorry for the delay, it is now two days after I initially started writing the top two paragraphs. My computer just crashed on me in McDonald’s. Or rather the battery ran out. It used to have a battery life of 2 hours, but it looks like I might need a new battery as it only lasts 10 minutes now. Good thing it is "Made in China", might be able to get a good deal here. Things are going great here apart from the Banks that are still killing me. You need to know that when you travel from province to province the same bank’s branches are not connected. I found this out the hard way only to wait a week for my money from Shanxi province and for the service charge of 45RMB. Oh yes, and you have to cough up the money first before they will do your transaction. Mmm… it was also a good thing my Chinese is very bad otherwise I would have said a couple of things to the cashier that I would have later regretted. I think my translator saw the anger and the good thing is that she understood the frustration as she had a running with a bank a while ago.
Well, to put it like this. Someone stole her wallet with all her cards and money. So she headed to the bank to close her account only to find that she is not able to close her account without her ID card, and off course her ID card was in her wallet which got stolen. You see the frustration!! So she had to go to a different province, get a new ID card and close her account. They don’t just cancel the old card and give you a new one, no; you have to open a new account. So a week later she cancelled her account, opened a new account which cost her 10RMB and got a card which cost her another 10RMB. Ohh.. I would have been red in the face. Maybe this is a good place to work on patience.
Linyi City, Shandong Province, China
I am sitting in McDonald’s at the moment for a coffee. They serve the best coffee in town. I have been told that KFC has good coffee as well, so I will need to venture there sometime to see if the information is correct. But for time being I am a McDonald’s fan and client. I don’t eat there, I just drink their coffee. This is the couple of minutes I grant myself in the western world, sitting in McDonald’s with a coffee in hand and typing on my laptop. There is probably some other places around that serve good coffee, but their prices are ridiculous.
Sorry for the delay, it is now two days after I initially started writing the top two paragraphs. My computer just crashed on me in McDonald’s. Or rather the battery ran out. It used to have a battery life of 2 hours, but it looks like I might need a new battery as it only lasts 10 minutes now. Good thing it is "Made in China", might be able to get a good deal here. Things are going great here apart from the Banks that are still killing me. You need to know that when you travel from province to province the same bank’s branches are not connected. I found this out the hard way only to wait a week for my money from Shanxi province and for the service charge of 45RMB. Oh yes, and you have to cough up the money first before they will do your transaction. Mmm… it was also a good thing my Chinese is very bad otherwise I would have said a couple of things to the cashier that I would have later regretted. I think my translator saw the anger and the good thing is that she understood the frustration as she had a running with a bank a while ago.
Well, to put it like this. Someone stole her wallet with all her cards and money. So she headed to the bank to close her account only to find that she is not able to close her account without her ID card, and off course her ID card was in her wallet which got stolen. You see the frustration!! So she had to go to a different province, get a new ID card and close her account. They don’t just cancel the old card and give you a new one, no; you have to open a new account. So a week later she cancelled her account, opened a new account which cost her 10RMB and got a card which cost her another 10RMB. Ohh.. I would have been red in the face. Maybe this is a good place to work on patience.
Linyi City, Shandong Province, China
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Closed, closed closed
It has been a quiet couple of days. As some of you might know, it is Chinese New Year and I have to admit that they have a much bigger party than the Westerners. It is to such an extend that you need to stock your house with food as you won't find any shops open. I mainly spent my New Years lazying at home, preparing for my studies for this term, watched Chinese television and drank beer. I am thinking of changing my diet from a coffee one to beer diet as this is much cheaper. Before i drink a cooldrink in this country I always go for a beer first. It is amazing to see the difference in price!! Just to give you an idea... one decent coffee goes for the price of 6-7 beers.
I don't really have too much to talk about as I was locked in my room for most of the time apart from getting lunch. To my surprise I found a couple of street vendors that were selling food. Most foreigners would not necessarily buy food from street vendors as this might not be seen as the cleanest. But like I said, I am no longer a foreigner in this country. So I went for it!! Up until now I haven't had any food poisoning or anything yet, "touch wood". And, I am planning to keep it like this for as long as possible.
Yesterday one of the shops which is a muslim food shop opened its doors for service again. I got my Mandarin together and decided to go eat something there. To my surprise they understood everything that I said. First I asked if they had a certain dish, and the chef confirmed that they had it. Then I said to him that I would like 1 dish. He then looked at me and said in Mandarin that there are two, one goes for 3Yuan and the other for 5Yuan. How I knew that he said this I don't know, but I ordered the 5Yuan bowl. I have been spending many hours listening to a Mandarin podcast and I am also spending quite a couple of hours in front of the television listening if I can hear what people are saying in Mandarin. There is one tv series that I am watching and sort of getting into. Catching a word every now and again I build the rest of the story with my own ideas and words.
I will probably be spending the rest of the month planning my studies, learning Mandarin and visiting shops practising my non-existing Mandarin.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
I don't really have too much to talk about as I was locked in my room for most of the time apart from getting lunch. To my surprise I found a couple of street vendors that were selling food. Most foreigners would not necessarily buy food from street vendors as this might not be seen as the cleanest. But like I said, I am no longer a foreigner in this country. So I went for it!! Up until now I haven't had any food poisoning or anything yet, "touch wood". And, I am planning to keep it like this for as long as possible.
Yesterday one of the shops which is a muslim food shop opened its doors for service again. I got my Mandarin together and decided to go eat something there. To my surprise they understood everything that I said. First I asked if they had a certain dish, and the chef confirmed that they had it. Then I said to him that I would like 1 dish. He then looked at me and said in Mandarin that there are two, one goes for 3Yuan and the other for 5Yuan. How I knew that he said this I don't know, but I ordered the 5Yuan bowl. I have been spending many hours listening to a Mandarin podcast and I am also spending quite a couple of hours in front of the television listening if I can hear what people are saying in Mandarin. There is one tv series that I am watching and sort of getting into. Catching a word every now and again I build the rest of the story with my own ideas and words.
I will probably be spending the rest of the month planning my studies, learning Mandarin and visiting shops practising my non-existing Mandarin.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Linyi Town
Yesterday morning after doing some shopping I bumped into some more foreign teachers that were heading out for a day on town. They didn’t have an idea where they were going but just wanted to do something. This is my kind of traveling and sight-seeing!! You usually see things that others won’t see because you just drift around aimlessly and every now and again you end up at a place you would otherwise not have seen if you had a schedule. I quickly ran up to my apartment and chucked my groceries in my room forgetting about my washing and with a quick jog caught up with the other teachers.
We got on the bus and made our way towards town and the big “People’s Square” which is also the center of Linyi City. This is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. We arrived in the center of the city at around 13:00 I think. I am on holiday so I am not keeping time or date! Most of us have been at the square already, so today we were just in the mood to discover town. We went from shop to shop, mall to mall and street to street. It is then that you realize the city you living in is much bigger than you expected. The central city is about 15min drive in taxi from where we live.
On this expedition with me was Al who is a 30year old black African American whose speaks very good Mandarin, his wife whose name is Lilian who is an Asian American whose family are from Pilipino and Japanese descent can also speak some Mandarin and Spanish, another Michael who is older and from Australia (Brisbane) and speaks fluent French and Pygmy, and there was George who is from Australia but actually from the Middle East and speaks fluent Arabic and some French. It felt like a UN meeting. And this was just 5 of the teachers together. Imagine what it is when all 50 teachers are present.
What you experience in this city is that during night it goes through some kind of metamorphoses. During day the city looks like an old run-down Communist country, but at night it gets a facelift and the grey buildings get exchanged for the most beautiful city lights that you have seen. It becomes this place that you have never before experienced. Nighttime is definitely the way to do sight-seeing in this City. The day was spent jumping from taxi to taxi going from restaurant to shop to restaurant to taxi. We ended up in Macdonald’s which is on one of the corners of the road facing the "People's Square". There we had some great coffee, discussed different languages, countries we’ve been, and politics. We sat there until around 00:00 and then decided it was probably a good time to go home. New sites, new friends, all in a day’s work.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
We got on the bus and made our way towards town and the big “People’s Square” which is also the center of Linyi City. This is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. We arrived in the center of the city at around 13:00 I think. I am on holiday so I am not keeping time or date! Most of us have been at the square already, so today we were just in the mood to discover town. We went from shop to shop, mall to mall and street to street. It is then that you realize the city you living in is much bigger than you expected. The central city is about 15min drive in taxi from where we live.
On this expedition with me was Al who is a 30year old black African American whose speaks very good Mandarin, his wife whose name is Lilian who is an Asian American whose family are from Pilipino and Japanese descent can also speak some Mandarin and Spanish, another Michael who is older and from Australia (Brisbane) and speaks fluent French and Pygmy, and there was George who is from Australia but actually from the Middle East and speaks fluent Arabic and some French. It felt like a UN meeting. And this was just 5 of the teachers together. Imagine what it is when all 50 teachers are present.
What you experience in this city is that during night it goes through some kind of metamorphoses. During day the city looks like an old run-down Communist country, but at night it gets a facelift and the grey buildings get exchanged for the most beautiful city lights that you have seen. It becomes this place that you have never before experienced. Nighttime is definitely the way to do sight-seeing in this City. The day was spent jumping from taxi to taxi going from restaurant to shop to restaurant to taxi. We ended up in Macdonald’s which is on one of the corners of the road facing the "People's Square". There we had some great coffee, discussed different languages, countries we’ve been, and politics. We sat there until around 00:00 and then decided it was probably a good time to go home. New sites, new friends, all in a day’s work.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Eating someone's best friend
Yesterday morning I was interrupted from my beauty sleep by a phone call at around 8:00. You will understand that I was very surprised when I tell you that not too many people have my telephone nr, and those that have it would still have been sleeping. But, it rang and I felt the need to answer it. It turned out to be a lady from the politics department that I met a couple of days ago at a staff meeting/conference. She wanted to know if I wanted to join her and her daughter to do some shopping. Not having anything planned I agreed to join. A couple of minutes later I was picked up by “Shirley”, and her 8year old daughter “Bright”. She is the cutest little Chinese girl. I tried to communicate with her with my non-existent Mandarin, but realized I need lots more work.
We first went to a shopping mall to do some window shopping. Mostly clothes were in these shops and we had a good time just walking around and talking about brands. Shirley pointing out some known brands, that ended up not being too famous in my eyes. She rated the popularity of clothes by all the languages that appeared on the labels of the clothes. Mmm… I ended up nullifying her theory.
We then headed to all the food products where she wanted to buy some food for the festival that was lying ahead. These shops were as busy as you have never seen before. Food is a big culture in China and the New Years festival is a time and place where Chinese show how much they can eat. This is a time of family and friends. It is almost like the family getting together in the Western world for Christmas.
After collecting all that she wanted for the festival we headed to the food corner for something to eat. It was already 12:00 in the afternoon and my stomach made it known that it needed some food. While walking around and looking at the different food they offered, we got to this one stall where they had a couple of different kinds of meat. “This is dog” Shirley pointed to some strips of cold meat. Well, how could I not. We got a whole plate of dog meat. At first it took my mind some working on!! Eating dog is not a bad idea, but your mind could be the only thing actually coming between your mouth and the meat. But, how can I put it… I had a couple of bites of someone’s best friend. I am not a dog person, but more of a cat person. I have to admit that the meat is quite salty. Shirley admitted unashamedly that she eats dog quite often, while I was eating and keeping the voice in my head quiet. Will I eat dog again I got asked by a friend. Well, yes but this time I want to eat it warm with some nice spicy sauce.
After the food we went to this big fish pond full of “koi” (colorful carp "fish"). Here, for a fee you can feed the koi with a bottle full of a liquid fish food. Bright and I ended up feeding the koi with this bottled food mixture. Bright loves fish and her fish recently died, so we headed to the fish market where her mom purchased her a couple of fish for her tank at home. After returning from the shops we headed towards the ping-pong (table tennis) club where I got my ass kicked by a high-school girl!! This sport is what they do for a living!!
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
We first went to a shopping mall to do some window shopping. Mostly clothes were in these shops and we had a good time just walking around and talking about brands. Shirley pointing out some known brands, that ended up not being too famous in my eyes. She rated the popularity of clothes by all the languages that appeared on the labels of the clothes. Mmm… I ended up nullifying her theory.
We then headed to all the food products where she wanted to buy some food for the festival that was lying ahead. These shops were as busy as you have never seen before. Food is a big culture in China and the New Years festival is a time and place where Chinese show how much they can eat. This is a time of family and friends. It is almost like the family getting together in the Western world for Christmas.
After collecting all that she wanted for the festival we headed to the food corner for something to eat. It was already 12:00 in the afternoon and my stomach made it known that it needed some food. While walking around and looking at the different food they offered, we got to this one stall where they had a couple of different kinds of meat. “This is dog” Shirley pointed to some strips of cold meat. Well, how could I not. We got a whole plate of dog meat. At first it took my mind some working on!! Eating dog is not a bad idea, but your mind could be the only thing actually coming between your mouth and the meat. But, how can I put it… I had a couple of bites of someone’s best friend. I am not a dog person, but more of a cat person. I have to admit that the meat is quite salty. Shirley admitted unashamedly that she eats dog quite often, while I was eating and keeping the voice in my head quiet. Will I eat dog again I got asked by a friend. Well, yes but this time I want to eat it warm with some nice spicy sauce.
After the food we went to this big fish pond full of “koi” (colorful carp "fish"). Here, for a fee you can feed the koi with a bottle full of a liquid fish food. Bright and I ended up feeding the koi with this bottled food mixture. Bright loves fish and her fish recently died, so we headed to the fish market where her mom purchased her a couple of fish for her tank at home. After returning from the shops we headed towards the ping-pong (table tennis) club where I got my ass kicked by a high-school girl!! This sport is what they do for a living!!(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wind vs. tuc-tuc
Today is a very windy day in the City of Linyi. I just went out to get some lunch and realised it is the best day for some popcorn and a nice movie. Unfortunately I don't have any of those so i might just settle for a beer and 24 hour BBC-news channel on tv. This channel has become my background music/entertainment for when i just feel like relazing. Ok, I have become a news addict. I love to know what is going on in, and around the world, and staying up to date with everything. With Obama's inauguration I was up until 2am with a couple of beers and some snacks. It was almost like watching a real live movie.
Anyhow, I went for lunch and got myself a burger from one of my locals. Well, I have been eating quite a couple of them as most of the shops are now closed for the Chinese New Year. After grabbing the burger I decided that the right thing to do, was stock my fridge for this festive season. Reason being, I don't know if I will find any shops open in the next couple of days. So I set off to a big supermarket that's about a ten minute walk from the campus. It is so windy, and a cold wind at the same time!!
Looking around you see people trying to guard themselves against the wind. Scarfs, big jackets, binis and whatever else you can think of. I personally was not feeling that cold, but most probably because I just came out of my nice warm apartment. Every once and a while this strong wind blows past you and all you see is motorcycles drifting the road. Quite a funny sight.
After doing all my shopping I headed back home. The wind still blowing everything around, apart from busses. A tuc tuc was right in front of me and just dropped off a lady with some shopping bags. On the left of me I saw this whirlwind heading towards this man and his little vehicle. Another couple of Chinese guys was busy observing this exact whirlwind and they also realised it was heading for this tuc tuc. The man in the tuc tuc not having a clue what was about to happen... There in front of us, this whirlwind picked this tuc tuc up and moved it about two meters before putting it back down on it's wheels. Me and the Chinese guys observing this scene just looked at each other. With a language and culture barrier and all else between us, we were thinking exactly the same thing. With a smile we all parted knowing how lucky this tuc tuc man was.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Anyhow, I went for lunch and got myself a burger from one of my locals. Well, I have been eating quite a couple of them as most of the shops are now closed for the Chinese New Year. After grabbing the burger I decided that the right thing to do, was stock my fridge for this festive season. Reason being, I don't know if I will find any shops open in the next couple of days. So I set off to a big supermarket that's about a ten minute walk from the campus. It is so windy, and a cold wind at the same time!!
Looking around you see people trying to guard themselves against the wind. Scarfs, big jackets, binis and whatever else you can think of. I personally was not feeling that cold, but most probably because I just came out of my nice warm apartment. Every once and a while this strong wind blows past you and all you see is motorcycles drifting the road. Quite a funny sight.
After doing all my shopping I headed back home. The wind still blowing everything around, apart from busses. A tuc tuc was right in front of me and just dropped off a lady with some shopping bags. On the left of me I saw this whirlwind heading towards this man and his little vehicle. Another couple of Chinese guys was busy observing this exact whirlwind and they also realised it was heading for this tuc tuc. The man in the tuc tuc not having a clue what was about to happen... There in front of us, this whirlwind picked this tuc tuc up and moved it about two meters before putting it back down on it's wheels. Me and the Chinese guys observing this scene just looked at each other. With a language and culture barrier and all else between us, we were thinking exactly the same thing. With a smile we all parted knowing how lucky this tuc tuc man was.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Hope is alive!!
How can i not discuss the history that has been made yesterday?
You are probably over the whole Obama, first African American President hype. Well, if you are... good!! Anyone that gives a mere man Messianic status will soon find out that man is man... and God is God. Don't get me wrong, I am very optimistic about this new President, and probably more than you. I believe that Obama has amazing potential and that there couldn't be a greater and better candidate for the country that is leading the world at the moment.
Obama is seen as a great orator, and you don't need to look too far back into history to remember other great orators. One that comes to mind was Adolf Hitler and it is pretty clear how that went down in history. By no means am I comparing these two leaders, but with great words and great charisma you can either do much good or much bad. But I have Hope!!!
I think when you look past the great speeches and the hype that people contribute to Obama, you will see a man that generally cares about people. You see a man that understands who he is and the reason he was created for. For he has grasped the mandate on his life and knows that it is to serve others, no matter what religion, colour or background.
With everything within me I hope and trust that this young President will deliver, but at the same time I understand the importance of my own contribution to society. May I not be one to point the finger and accuse others for things not happening the way I want it, for much of that responsibility lies within my own capacity. In his speech he said that men don't recognise a strong nation for what they destroy, but for what they build. I believe what you see through the eyes of the Spirit is eventually what you will build. What you will build is evident from the words of your mouth. May we find Hope, Truth and Peace on our tongues for generations to come.
Even if my feelings and emotions deceive me, the one thing I hold onto is Hope. Hope does not disappoint.
"To whom much is given, much is required"
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
You are probably over the whole Obama, first African American President hype. Well, if you are... good!! Anyone that gives a mere man Messianic status will soon find out that man is man... and God is God. Don't get me wrong, I am very optimistic about this new President, and probably more than you. I believe that Obama has amazing potential and that there couldn't be a greater and better candidate for the country that is leading the world at the moment.
Obama is seen as a great orator, and you don't need to look too far back into history to remember other great orators. One that comes to mind was Adolf Hitler and it is pretty clear how that went down in history. By no means am I comparing these two leaders, but with great words and great charisma you can either do much good or much bad. But I have Hope!!!
I think when you look past the great speeches and the hype that people contribute to Obama, you will see a man that generally cares about people. You see a man that understands who he is and the reason he was created for. For he has grasped the mandate on his life and knows that it is to serve others, no matter what religion, colour or background.
With everything within me I hope and trust that this young President will deliver, but at the same time I understand the importance of my own contribution to society. May I not be one to point the finger and accuse others for things not happening the way I want it, for much of that responsibility lies within my own capacity. In his speech he said that men don't recognise a strong nation for what they destroy, but for what they build. I believe what you see through the eyes of the Spirit is eventually what you will build. What you will build is evident from the words of your mouth. May we find Hope, Truth and Peace on our tongues for generations to come.
Even if my feelings and emotions deceive me, the one thing I hold onto is Hope. Hope does not disappoint.
"To whom much is given, much is required"
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Mr.Miyagi
Last night while chatting away with a friend on msn she asked me this question “how was your weekend”. I was a bit stunned as to the question. In my mind it must have been Wednesday, Thursday or something like that. Least did I expect what I was about to find out. It was 19:00 on Sunday night. This came as a shocking realization that I have missed a couple of days… or did I gain a couple of days? I was totally lost for time, day, date etc. This must be the affect that a holiday has on you. All the traveling, locating, relocating, visas, people, experiences has made me live on my own time in my own little world. It is like you are constantly going somewhere, not really knowing where, and not knowing how you get there or with whom. I love the unknown!! I have to admit that it is not always easy, but doing it on my own opposed to doing it with a family goes a really long way.
My children would have been culturally, ethnically and locality screwed!! Thus, a good reason for me to do all these things now, while I am still young and healthy. I think doing these things when you are older is not impossible; you just need better time management. Who wants to go see the world with a bag full of pills? I mean, instead of keeping track and schedule of trains and other means of public transport, you have this bag of pills that fills your diary. Ok, that is me totally giving the old folks a hard time.
I personally would still love to be traveling the world when I am an old man. And no better place than deepest darkest Africa with all its corruption, brilliant public transport and health services. Oh yes, that is what I want to do. I think now you understand the reason I am not married yet. Not every woman wants to spend the last couple of years of their lives like that. No, your old day has to be comfortable in an old people’s home with male nurses sticking pills up places you didn’t know you had places. Mmm… I think it is quite clear to you where I would love to retire one day. I must be getting old writing about this today. To be honest I didn’t really have anything to say but just thought I would say hi and let you in on a couple of my thoughts.
Talking about old people, I have been inspired to see the amount of older people still traveling the world and teaching English and other languages. At the University I find myself at the moment I would say 85% of teachers here are 45 and older and we are about 50 teachers all together. You can do the math, mine has never been the greatest. This gives me great excitement as to my future!! My hero is a 73 year old male teacher from Japan that I met in Linfen. He is the nicest little old man you have seen. Reminds you of Mr.Miyagi from karate kid, and this is the name I baptised him with. I saw him the one afternoon walking down the street with four 20-25year old Chinese girls arms locked in and a smile on his face. A couple of days later I asked him if he enjoyed what he was doing. He said "I love the students and they love me… therefore I am a very happy man". Mmm… I would be as well with 4 female students totally overwhelming themselves over me.
My children would have been culturally, ethnically and locality screwed!! Thus, a good reason for me to do all these things now, while I am still young and healthy. I think doing these things when you are older is not impossible; you just need better time management. Who wants to go see the world with a bag full of pills? I mean, instead of keeping track and schedule of trains and other means of public transport, you have this bag of pills that fills your diary. Ok, that is me totally giving the old folks a hard time.
I personally would still love to be traveling the world when I am an old man. And no better place than deepest darkest Africa with all its corruption, brilliant public transport and health services. Oh yes, that is what I want to do. I think now you understand the reason I am not married yet. Not every woman wants to spend the last couple of years of their lives like that. No, your old day has to be comfortable in an old people’s home with male nurses sticking pills up places you didn’t know you had places. Mmm… I think it is quite clear to you where I would love to retire one day. I must be getting old writing about this today. To be honest I didn’t really have anything to say but just thought I would say hi and let you in on a couple of my thoughts.
Talking about old people, I have been inspired to see the amount of older people still traveling the world and teaching English and other languages. At the University I find myself at the moment I would say 85% of teachers here are 45 and older and we are about 50 teachers all together. You can do the math, mine has never been the greatest. This gives me great excitement as to my future!! My hero is a 73 year old male teacher from Japan that I met in Linfen. He is the nicest little old man you have seen. Reminds you of Mr.Miyagi from karate kid, and this is the name I baptised him with. I saw him the one afternoon walking down the street with four 20-25year old Chinese girls arms locked in and a smile on his face. A couple of days later I asked him if he enjoyed what he was doing. He said "I love the students and they love me… therefore I am a very happy man". Mmm… I would be as well with 4 female students totally overwhelming themselves over me.
Little Mr.Miyagi old Japanese man, you are my idol!! (Mr.Miyagi is the old man sitting between the girl with the pink top on his left and the sexy guy on his right.)
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Grass?? greener?? the other side?
Let that be a lesson to us all!! Sometimes the answer, and in my case, the burger was where I least expected it. Some of my walking around and venturing is in direct connection with my eating habits. You see i don't eat a lot, but i eat often. This has become a great habit of mine that failed a bit living in Linfen. Linfen is a time in my life that will be known as a constant discomfort due to a overload on good food. But the muchies are back without me smoking some interesting stuff. I love the idea of being hungry constantly and never overdoing it. You always have a little space if you want to try something you see in a shop or at a street vendor. You must be thinking that my stomach plays up quite often. Well, in China only once did i need to run home, but that was due to bad planning on my behalf after having some figs.
So tonight was no different than any other and i felt peckish and just in need of something lightweight. I already had a shop in mind that i wanted to visit to see if i can just get a normal chicken burger. While i was still about hundred meters away from this shop, i realized that they were closed for business. Mmm... on my right, which is just outside the grounds of the campus I live, was a little shop. Previously i wanted to have a look at what they sold, but tonight i didn't have any other option. Getting closer to the shop/kiosk I saw a menu lying on the desk. Yeah... I could actually see what I was going to eat and it was not just Chinese characters on this piece of paper, they actually had some English on the menu and accompanying pictures.
They had something on the menu which looked quite small and this looked like just the right size for me. It was called a "Chinese burger". Don't really know what made this burger Chinese as it had some chicken, tomato, some greens and off course a spicy hot spread. This was an amazing experience for me. To make things even better, the girl behind the desk spoke a little English. Well, no questions as to where I will buy many more "Chinese burgers" from. Did I mention yet that the cost of the "Chinese burger" was only 1,5Yuan? This is a steal if there ever was one.
So tonight was no different than any other and i felt peckish and just in need of something lightweight. I already had a shop in mind that i wanted to visit to see if i can just get a normal chicken burger. While i was still about hundred meters away from this shop, i realized that they were closed for business. Mmm... on my right, which is just outside the grounds of the campus I live, was a little shop. Previously i wanted to have a look at what they sold, but tonight i didn't have any other option. Getting closer to the shop/kiosk I saw a menu lying on the desk. Yeah... I could actually see what I was going to eat and it was not just Chinese characters on this piece of paper, they actually had some English on the menu and accompanying pictures.
They had something on the menu which looked quite small and this looked like just the right size for me. It was called a "Chinese burger". Don't really know what made this burger Chinese as it had some chicken, tomato, some greens and off course a spicy hot spread. This was an amazing experience for me. To make things even better, the girl behind the desk spoke a little English. Well, no questions as to where I will buy many more "Chinese burgers" from. Did I mention yet that the cost of the "Chinese burger" was only 1,5Yuan? This is a steal if there ever was one.
Let this be a lesson to us all! The grass might be greener on the other side, but the burgers are closer and cheaper right where you are.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Donkey burger?
Today was another day for sleeping in and not really doing anything strategic. I find that my body has adapted to the holiday mode (might not have said yet, but I have holiday until the 3rd of March), but I still struggle to switch my mind off. It is always on its way somewhere and always feels the need to do something. I can positively confirm that my mind is my greatest worst enemy and friend at the same time. I cannot wait for my studies to commence as this will give my mind some stimulation and something else to focus on. But I need to enjoy this time I have on my hands as the studies and work will keep me pre-occupied when they eventually commence.
To help the time and boredom pass, I find no better way to cure this disease than walking. Around 12pm I got some walking shoes on. I have two pairs of shoes I live in. One of my pairs is semi-casual, semi-comfortable Levi’s and the other pair is some running shoes. Today called for the running shoes. This means business!! My stomach at the same time in need of something different to eat. I love venturing as you have probably now realized. I love eating different kinds of food and venturing into places where not many dare. I believe this is the only way to experience the culture. If in Rome… well, I am in China!!
Started heading in the direction of the markets where I saw the dog hanging on a hook the previous day. I didn’t go through the market, but just outside I found a vendor that sold me some sort of pancake lunch. The lady cooks the ingredients right there in front of you. An egg, some veggies, sausage all wrapped up in one big pancake. Not bad I might add. The lady cooking the food must have had some foreign customers previously as she knew exactly how to ask me what veggies I wanted in my pancake. This is easy… she just pointed and said “jiga”, “jiga”, “jiga” which means “this” in English, and all I needed to do was confirm with a nod of the head which ingredients I wanted.
Walking and eating I ventured into some unknown streets to find out what else was cooking in town. Once again, glad I took that street! In front of me a vendor was cooking and selling donkey. “Now I know where to purchase donkey if I ever feel the need” I thought to myself. A couple of meters away from this vendor a couple of donkeys were tied to a pole and I assume they will be future donkey burgers. This is China!!
On my way home I got some different types of snacks from my local supermarket which is called “Peach Blossoms”, don’t ask?? Have not succeeded yet in finding a taste that I peculiarly enjoy, but the game is on. Chocolate does not taste like chocolate! Most of the snacks you find are a mixture of sweet, spicy and salty. Strange combination, but you got to get used to it.
When was the last time you saw one of these?
To help the time and boredom pass, I find no better way to cure this disease than walking. Around 12pm I got some walking shoes on. I have two pairs of shoes I live in. One of my pairs is semi-casual, semi-comfortable Levi’s and the other pair is some running shoes. Today called for the running shoes. This means business!! My stomach at the same time in need of something different to eat. I love venturing as you have probably now realized. I love eating different kinds of food and venturing into places where not many dare. I believe this is the only way to experience the culture. If in Rome… well, I am in China!!
Started heading in the direction of the markets where I saw the dog hanging on a hook the previous day. I didn’t go through the market, but just outside I found a vendor that sold me some sort of pancake lunch. The lady cooks the ingredients right there in front of you. An egg, some veggies, sausage all wrapped up in one big pancake. Not bad I might add. The lady cooking the food must have had some foreign customers previously as she knew exactly how to ask me what veggies I wanted in my pancake. This is easy… she just pointed and said “jiga”, “jiga”, “jiga” which means “this” in English, and all I needed to do was confirm with a nod of the head which ingredients I wanted.
Walking and eating I ventured into some unknown streets to find out what else was cooking in town. Once again, glad I took that street! In front of me a vendor was cooking and selling donkey. “Now I know where to purchase donkey if I ever feel the need” I thought to myself. A couple of meters away from this vendor a couple of donkeys were tied to a pole and I assume they will be future donkey burgers. This is China!!
On my way home I got some different types of snacks from my local supermarket which is called “Peach Blossoms”, don’t ask?? Have not succeeded yet in finding a taste that I peculiarly enjoy, but the game is on. Chocolate does not taste like chocolate! Most of the snacks you find are a mixture of sweet, spicy and salty. Strange combination, but you got to get used to it.
When was the last time you saw one of these? They are not extinct in China!
Spotted: China, 2009
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Friday, January 16, 2009
Venturing into the Village
Everything I said regarding Linyi previously now need some editing!!
I went for a walk today and stumbled upon my local market. This market is very close and convenient and it is about a five minute walk from the apartments where I live. I was walking around in this market still amazed at the state of these places and the variety of products they sell. It is not by all means clean but it is a sight you need to see. As I was walking through this market I came to a vendor with meat. All sorts of different kinds of meat that you can imagine. But there, on the table in front of me were three skulls of what looked to me like dog. I have been saying that I want to eat dog but when my eyes caught sight of that my stomach started doing strange things. With the dog in mind I walked further down the road looking for a place to eat something.
You remember what I said about Linyi being developed and advanced. Well, I think that has to be according to Chinese standards. I was walking down the main road looking into the side roads. It is amazing that just off the main road you still have 17th century dirt roads right in the center of the city.
I trust that you have eaten before reading this!! Walking further on the main road I saw a scene I will not forget. There right in front of me was a couple of goats just lying around. I couldn’t understand that they weren’t walking or anything. But then I saw the big picture. The goats' legs were all tied and they were lying there ready to get slaughtered. As I looked up there he was with knife in hand slaughtering away on a piece of goat that was hanging from a piece of rope right there on the sidewalk. Four heads of what used to be goats lying just under the man’s feet. That is how you do it in China!
I still didn’t have any food, but with all that in mind I needed to eat quickly before I saw something that will make me lose my whole appetite. Just across the road I saw something that looked familiar, “Bao tsi”. The reason I know this is because they cook it outside and it makes a lot of steam. It is like smoke signals in the fresh cold air. I made my way to the shop and pointed “Bao tsi” I said. She nodded and said something. I just nodded and said yes. Didn’t know what it was but a couple of seconds later she came out with some “Bao tsi” and something else I didn’t order, but apparently I did. The food was good and I started heading back to the apartments, but decided I need some nuts from the market. Passing through the market after buying the nuts I decided to go back to the… what I thought was dog meat stall.
Walking towards the stall, now I had a better look where I was heading and there it was! A big poster with a golden retriever on it hanging right above the shop. I was lost for words! Walking past the shop I saw four skinned dogs hanging in the stall with a hook through the mouth. I still want to eat dog some or other time, but I must say this came to quick for my liking. It will probably be easier to eat dog if you don’t know what it is you’re eating.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
I went for a walk today and stumbled upon my local market. This market is very close and convenient and it is about a five minute walk from the apartments where I live. I was walking around in this market still amazed at the state of these places and the variety of products they sell. It is not by all means clean but it is a sight you need to see. As I was walking through this market I came to a vendor with meat. All sorts of different kinds of meat that you can imagine. But there, on the table in front of me were three skulls of what looked to me like dog. I have been saying that I want to eat dog but when my eyes caught sight of that my stomach started doing strange things. With the dog in mind I walked further down the road looking for a place to eat something.
You remember what I said about Linyi being developed and advanced. Well, I think that has to be according to Chinese standards. I was walking down the main road looking into the side roads. It is amazing that just off the main road you still have 17th century dirt roads right in the center of the city.I trust that you have eaten before reading this!! Walking further on the main road I saw a scene I will not forget. There right in front of me was a couple of goats just lying around. I couldn’t understand that they weren’t walking or anything. But then I saw the big picture. The goats' legs were all tied and they were lying there ready to get slaughtered. As I looked up there he was with knife in hand slaughtering away on a piece of goat that was hanging from a piece of rope right there on the sidewalk. Four heads of what used to be goats lying just under the man’s feet. That is how you do it in China!
I still didn’t have any food, but with all that in mind I needed to eat quickly before I saw something that will make me lose my whole appetite. Just across the road I saw something that looked familiar, “Bao tsi”. The reason I know this is because they cook it outside and it makes a lot of steam. It is like smoke signals in the fresh cold air. I made my way to the shop and pointed “Bao tsi” I said. She nodded and said something. I just nodded and said yes. Didn’t know what it was but a couple of seconds later she came out with some “Bao tsi” and something else I didn’t order, but apparently I did. The food was good and I started heading back to the apartments, but decided I need some nuts from the market. Passing through the market after buying the nuts I decided to go back to the… what I thought was dog meat stall.
Walking towards the stall, now I had a better look where I was heading and there it was! A big poster with a golden retriever on it hanging right above the shop. I was lost for words! Walking past the shop I saw four skinned dogs hanging in the stall with a hook through the mouth. I still want to eat dog some or other time, but I must say this came to quick for my liking. It will probably be easier to eat dog if you don’t know what it is you’re eating.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Intro to Linyi
Linyi compared to Linfen is like a dream. As you might remember, Shanxi is the most polluted Province in China. Linfen which is a city in Shanxi Province is the most polluted city. So, I lived in the most polluted city in the most polluted province in China. I love taking things to the extremes!! This pollution is due to all the coal mines in the area. Linyi City on the other hand which is in Shandong Province is a more developed city and pollution is not taking its toll on this beautiful city as it does on Linfen. Shandong Province is much more developed and advanced as it is right between Beijing and Shanghai. This means that transport etc is of a much better standard due to trade and industry.
I just need to correct something that I wrote previously. You need to understand that sometimes you get lost in translation in this country, so everything that I say you need to take with a bit of salt as there could be a slight possibility that it might change as my revelation of this country progresses. Previously I said that the population of Linfen was 400 000 people. Well, seems like they had nothing to do for the last month as the population increased by a couple of million people. The actual population of Linfen is 4million people, and this is seen as a small city. The population of the city in which I find myself at the moment which is called Linyi City is 11million. This City is seen as a middle size city for China. I sometimes think that TV arrived a couple of centuries too late for China.
Well, this is the city that I find myself in at the moment. Advanced, developed/developing with a good infrastructure and close to the town that sells the best beer in China “Tsingdao”. How can I be any closer to heaven?? Tsingdao which is actually spelled Qingdao is also a city on the coast and a favorite tourist destination due to good weather in the summer. Will make a trip down there soon enough!!
The University I will be teaching at this year is called Linyi Normal University. This is a big University and all and all we are about 50 foreign teachers from all over the world. The University has just opened its new second campus. This new campus has a capacity of 30 000 students and it sits on a piece of property with a radius of 10km. I have been told that it is like a city with even its own mall on campus. When they are finished with all the development, this will be the biggest Uni in Asia.
Making me Linyi savvy at the moment is a young girl called Mary. Don’t know what her Chinese name is, and not even going to try. She has been a great help in pointing me in directions for some nice food, a phone simcard and a buss that goes towards a mall. She even made me dumplings (Jao tsi) for the second night in Linyi The Uni is not as helpful as in Linfen, as Linfen had a much smaller foreign teacher body. That makes Linfen more personal. But I am glad to be here and enjoy the city and the food that I had so far. I discovered a nice little local food shop close to the mall, and it’s about 15mins drive on a
free bus. A very nice old lady and man who I presume own the shop has become my great friends. We can’t speak a word to each other, but my facial expressions show them that I love the food and with every visit they give me free tea, and a top-up. They cook this meal with veggies etc. which is called “Ma la thang”. This is my newest favorite food. Can’t wait to speak a bit more Mandarin.
In case you are wondering about the photo? It is the only way for me to know i am getting on the right bus back home!! Take a picture and you can't go wrong.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
I just need to correct something that I wrote previously. You need to understand that sometimes you get lost in translation in this country, so everything that I say you need to take with a bit of salt as there could be a slight possibility that it might change as my revelation of this country progresses. Previously I said that the population of Linfen was 400 000 people. Well, seems like they had nothing to do for the last month as the population increased by a couple of million people. The actual population of Linfen is 4million people, and this is seen as a small city. The population of the city in which I find myself at the moment which is called Linyi City is 11million. This City is seen as a middle size city for China. I sometimes think that TV arrived a couple of centuries too late for China.
Well, this is the city that I find myself in at the moment. Advanced, developed/developing with a good infrastructure and close to the town that sells the best beer in China “Tsingdao”. How can I be any closer to heaven?? Tsingdao which is actually spelled Qingdao is also a city on the coast and a favorite tourist destination due to good weather in the summer. Will make a trip down there soon enough!!
The University I will be teaching at this year is called Linyi Normal University. This is a big University and all and all we are about 50 foreign teachers from all over the world. The University has just opened its new second campus. This new campus has a capacity of 30 000 students and it sits on a piece of property with a radius of 10km. I have been told that it is like a city with even its own mall on campus. When they are finished with all the development, this will be the biggest Uni in Asia.
Making me Linyi savvy at the moment is a young girl called Mary. Don’t know what her Chinese name is, and not even going to try. She has been a great help in pointing me in directions for some nice food, a phone simcard and a buss that goes towards a mall. She even made me dumplings (Jao tsi) for the second night in Linyi The Uni is not as helpful as in Linfen, as Linfen had a much smaller foreign teacher body. That makes Linfen more personal. But I am glad to be here and enjoy the city and the food that I had so far. I discovered a nice little local food shop close to the mall, and it’s about 15mins drive on a
free bus. A very nice old lady and man who I presume own the shop has become my great friends. We can’t speak a word to each other, but my facial expressions show them that I love the food and with every visit they give me free tea, and a top-up. They cook this meal with veggies etc. which is called “Ma la thang”. This is my newest favorite food. Can’t wait to speak a bit more Mandarin.In case you are wondering about the photo? It is the only way for me to know i am getting on the right bus back home!! Take a picture and you can't go wrong.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
A new respect for hell
After my long journey to Linyi City I thought that I really needed to show some respect to my worst enemy! Yip, China’s public toilets in trains. I believe if you ever want to have a glimpse what that place (hell) is like, all you need to do is visit a toilet. You will quickly agree that hell is not really such a warm place, but rather a place where every inch of your body cringe when you enter. But I have to say that I made peace with my hell and I will explain to you now why I have a new respect for it.
So, arranging tickets for me to get from Linfen to Linyi took some time. But as you know I made it in good time. The reason that public transport is so busy during this time of year is because of the Chinese festive season. Literally millions of people head home to their families, friends and to neighboring provinces for this time of celebration. It is a mad rush and tickets need to be purchased well in advance, or you might just lose out and end up standing in a cold train for a couple of hours feeling like a sheep in the outback being transported somewhere. Only difference would be the weather!! I have to admit, I would much rather have been a sheep in the outback!
I did not understand how the trains could be so busy until I saw some statistics, and it all came to light. During the festive season alone, 118million people would have traveled on trains. This number is 8% higher than last year. Think of it like this… almost three times the population of the whole of South Africa using the public transport in a matter of two to three weeks. I think this makes it clearer as to the difficulty of finding tickets. To paint an even better picture, they will all be using the toilets on the trains. Apart from one person off course which is me!! Well, I did use it a couple of times, but only standing up. But, it was still not a good experience as someone before me missed while squatting. This was a poo legendary to China. You see, a western poo has a solid texture. A poo in China has more of a liquid substance. I will spare you the detail!! I did try my best to give it a spray down while standing… if you know what I mean!
But I think we need to show some respect and have a minute silence for this thing called hell, this thing that I believe we all need to experience once in our lives.
My hell
Never will we mock you
Never will we treat you bad
May we never “miss” you,
If we do, we won’t be sad
May I never need you,
Unless it is to stand
Never will I do a 2
I’d rather do it in my hand
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
So, arranging tickets for me to get from Linfen to Linyi took some time. But as you know I made it in good time. The reason that public transport is so busy during this time of year is because of the Chinese festive season. Literally millions of people head home to their families, friends and to neighboring provinces for this time of celebration. It is a mad rush and tickets need to be purchased well in advance, or you might just lose out and end up standing in a cold train for a couple of hours feeling like a sheep in the outback being transported somewhere. Only difference would be the weather!! I have to admit, I would much rather have been a sheep in the outback!
I did not understand how the trains could be so busy until I saw some statistics, and it all came to light. During the festive season alone, 118million people would have traveled on trains. This number is 8% higher than last year. Think of it like this… almost three times the population of the whole of South Africa using the public transport in a matter of two to three weeks. I think this makes it clearer as to the difficulty of finding tickets. To paint an even better picture, they will all be using the toilets on the trains. Apart from one person off course which is me!! Well, I did use it a couple of times, but only standing up. But, it was still not a good experience as someone before me missed while squatting. This was a poo legendary to China. You see, a western poo has a solid texture. A poo in China has more of a liquid substance. I will spare you the detail!! I did try my best to give it a spray down while standing… if you know what I mean!
But I think we need to show some respect and have a minute silence for this thing called hell, this thing that I believe we all need to experience once in our lives.
My hell
Never will we mock you
Never will we treat you bad
May we never “miss” you,
If we do, we won’t be sad
May I never need you,
Unless it is to stand
Never will I do a 2
I’d rather do it in my hand
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Linfen to Linyi
I was very happy that I had a travel partner. Without Freddy I don’t think that I would have made it to Linyi. When traveling public transport it is very important to be able to speak the local language. Freddy was also on his way to Shandong Province, the same province in which Linyi is. He was like my angel that went before me and made the road flat and easy to travel. The journey to Linyi is a long and gruesome journey. This I didn’t know. I thought you get on a train and it takes you there. Mmm… sometimes I think I live in my own very idealistic world. Only thing is, if it was idealistic and everything worked out so perfectly, what would I be writing about. I constantly tell the people around me that when I am in China I am Chinese. I want to travel like the local people, I want to eat what the local people eat and I don’t want any special treatment because of the color of my skin. They cannot always understand this, but I want to experience the culture of the country, not like a tourist but like a local. This will probably never be 100% possible, but I can do my best and try.
We got in the taxi at 12:00pm at Linfen University towards Linfen train station. The first train we had to catch was from Linfen to Hengshui. This was a twelve hour trip. Back into the train wagon with 60 beds. This time this experience felt much different than the first time I was traveling. Maybe because the people in our cubicle were cleaner than the group I traveled with the first time. I sort of prefer the first time traveling as I was able to sleep. We had two really loud girls and another loud guy in our division of the wagon. Chinese people can’t whisper, but this we realized a while ago while playing Chinese whispers if you can remember. Neither me nor Freddy closed and eye while lying on our beds for about 9hours. I was actually relieved when we got of that train. By that time I was annoyed and irritated by the two loud woman. We arrived at Hengshui station at 00:15am
Hengshui station was cold!! From here we had to travel to Heze where I needed to catch a bus to Linyi. Sitting in the waiting area waiting for the next train we didn’t even try to close an eye. We were no longer tired. The next couple of hours on train weren’t too much fun. We only got tickets to stand. Yip… it was about 3-4 hours to Heze and the trains were so busy that there were no seats. 2:10am we boarded the train to Heze. This was an experience. You need to understand that there really weren’t any places left on the trains. Everyone boarding running for a place to stand, the train conductors pushing you into the train with all he has in him, no place to go in front of you as people are blocking the way. They don’t care about babies or old people… they are all the same and need to get into the train, and quickly.
This train was cold. Me and Freddy standing with another 20 people between two train wagons with a great big wind blowing right on us. Hypothermia goes through your mind every once and a while, your toes dead and numb because of the cold and standing. You can understand that we were happy to get off of that train at 5:40am the next morning. Sleep deprived and our feet killing us we exited Heze station. Taxi drivers swamping us to take their taxi. Oh, how glad I was that Freddy was there. Freddy haggling for a good price, me freezing and shaking, not really caring how much I pay as long as I get out of the cold. In the taxi, Freddy happy, and me defrosting we headed towards Heze bus station where I had to catch a bus to Linyi. This bus station was the coldest station yet. I couldn’t stay there; I needed to go somewhere warm. Opposite the road we spotted a place that served noodles and hot soup. I didn’t waste any time to go there.
My bus was leaving at 7:30am. After the meal, we made our way back to the bus station. A quick toilet run and a photo later(a guy just came up to me and asked if he could take a photo with me) I boarded the bus. With another cold wind blowing right on me in the bus I started longing for a nice warm bed. With no heating on the bus, it didn’t make the trip any more bearable. Two stops and four and a half hours later I arrived at Linyi bus station at 12:00pm. It was officially twenty four hours later since I started traveling and alas I was at my destination, well not totally. Another 10minutes in a taxi got me to my new home assisted by Daniel, my new host. We went for some food, and after two beers I went straight to bed.
All that stuff I said about being a local in this country, I realized is more difficult than I thought. My Western upbringing has made me soft and made my life easy, comfortable and convenient. This whole trip to Linyi was a great experience, but I don’t know if I want to do it again. If I do it again, I will make sure it is summer. I can endure everything, but when it is -10 and the cold moves into your body, there are not many things that will make your body heat return back to normal.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
We got in the taxi at 12:00pm at Linfen University towards Linfen train station. The first train we had to catch was from Linfen to Hengshui. This was a twelve hour trip. Back into the train wagon with 60 beds. This time this experience felt much different than the first time I was traveling. Maybe because the people in our cubicle were cleaner than the group I traveled with the first time. I sort of prefer the first time traveling as I was able to sleep. We had two really loud girls and another loud guy in our division of the wagon. Chinese people can’t whisper, but this we realized a while ago while playing Chinese whispers if you can remember. Neither me nor Freddy closed and eye while lying on our beds for about 9hours. I was actually relieved when we got of that train. By that time I was annoyed and irritated by the two loud woman. We arrived at Hengshui station at 00:15am
Hengshui station was cold!! From here we had to travel to Heze where I needed to catch a bus to Linyi. Sitting in the waiting area waiting for the next train we didn’t even try to close an eye. We were no longer tired. The next couple of hours on train weren’t too much fun. We only got tickets to stand. Yip… it was about 3-4 hours to Heze and the trains were so busy that there were no seats. 2:10am we boarded the train to Heze. This was an experience. You need to understand that there really weren’t any places left on the trains. Everyone boarding running for a place to stand, the train conductors pushing you into the train with all he has in him, no place to go in front of you as people are blocking the way. They don’t care about babies or old people… they are all the same and need to get into the train, and quickly.
This train was cold. Me and Freddy standing with another 20 people between two train wagons with a great big wind blowing right on us. Hypothermia goes through your mind every once and a while, your toes dead and numb because of the cold and standing. You can understand that we were happy to get off of that train at 5:40am the next morning. Sleep deprived and our feet killing us we exited Heze station. Taxi drivers swamping us to take their taxi. Oh, how glad I was that Freddy was there. Freddy haggling for a good price, me freezing and shaking, not really caring how much I pay as long as I get out of the cold. In the taxi, Freddy happy, and me defrosting we headed towards Heze bus station where I had to catch a bus to Linyi. This bus station was the coldest station yet. I couldn’t stay there; I needed to go somewhere warm. Opposite the road we spotted a place that served noodles and hot soup. I didn’t waste any time to go there.
My bus was leaving at 7:30am. After the meal, we made our way back to the bus station. A quick toilet run and a photo later(a guy just came up to me and asked if he could take a photo with me) I boarded the bus. With another cold wind blowing right on me in the bus I started longing for a nice warm bed. With no heating on the bus, it didn’t make the trip any more bearable. Two stops and four and a half hours later I arrived at Linyi bus station at 12:00pm. It was officially twenty four hours later since I started traveling and alas I was at my destination, well not totally. Another 10minutes in a taxi got me to my new home assisted by Daniel, my new host. We went for some food, and after two beers I went straight to bed.
All that stuff I said about being a local in this country, I realized is more difficult than I thought. My Western upbringing has made me soft and made my life easy, comfortable and convenient. This whole trip to Linyi was a great experience, but I don’t know if I want to do it again. If I do it again, I will make sure it is summer. I can endure everything, but when it is -10 and the cold moves into your body, there are not many things that will make your body heat return back to normal.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Tickets, tickets...tickets
You might think that it has been a while since I wrote something?? Well, that is correct. The last couple of days that I was in Linfen, I spend hanging with my friends and going for many meals as I was going to leave. As to when I was going to leave was not yet confirmed. To travel during and before Spring festival (this is the biggest holiday in China, their Lunar New Year, Christmas and a time when no-one does anything) you need to purchase your tickets long before you even decide to travel. This is the time of year when the whole country set off to visit family and friends. Me on the other hand didn’t have all this information beforehand, until we started making arrangements for me to leave for Linyi.
Just to let you in on everything else that happened… I managed to get my visa and am therefore still legal in the country for another month. And the next visa that I will need to apply for will allow me to stay in the country for another year or so. That being something to look into later, first is first. The next step is to get me to Linyi with enough time left that I can apply for my next visa. You might think that there is a lot of time left? Well, I thought so as well until I got told everything closes for Spring festival. The date for this festival is from 20-26 January. This is exactly the dates that I need to apply for my new visa. Some more info that I didn’t have is that even the police stations are closed during this festival and it is with them I need to extend my visa. So I pretty much needed to be in Linyi on the 12th January to get all the paperwork done and hand them in for processing.
My good friend, assistant and slave, Lifei, had all the travel arrangements on his plate. After spending three days brainstorming with me and the guy that would be my new travel partner, Freddy (who is Chinese and need to travel to Shandong Province for the festival) Lifei realized he will need to call in the higher authorities. Something to do with the president of the University, don’t ask? I bargained to travel on the weekend of the 10th, 11th of January. It was already the Wednesday before I wanted to travel and we still didn’t have any good news. On the Thursday before the weekend I wanted to travel, I spoke to Lifei again. He told me that we will know on Saturday. “Mmmm…. maybe he doesn’t understand?” I thought by myself. I want to be there around Saturday or Sunday. But I had to wait.
So Saturday came along and I was up early to find out what was happening. I sat in my flat in anticipation to hear the news. 10:00 there was a knock on my door. Lifei assisted by Freddy standing in my door with smiles on their faces. They did it!!! I had two hours to get all my things packed and get ready for the long journey to Linyi. I arranged for the last coffee with Jess at a place we found along the road that made lovely coffee with rum syrup. Good thing that I was leaving Linfen or I would have spent all my money on coffee.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Just to let you in on everything else that happened… I managed to get my visa and am therefore still legal in the country for another month. And the next visa that I will need to apply for will allow me to stay in the country for another year or so. That being something to look into later, first is first. The next step is to get me to Linyi with enough time left that I can apply for my next visa. You might think that there is a lot of time left? Well, I thought so as well until I got told everything closes for Spring festival. The date for this festival is from 20-26 January. This is exactly the dates that I need to apply for my new visa. Some more info that I didn’t have is that even the police stations are closed during this festival and it is with them I need to extend my visa. So I pretty much needed to be in Linyi on the 12th January to get all the paperwork done and hand them in for processing.
My good friend, assistant and slave, Lifei, had all the travel arrangements on his plate. After spending three days brainstorming with me and the guy that would be my new travel partner, Freddy (who is Chinese and need to travel to Shandong Province for the festival) Lifei realized he will need to call in the higher authorities. Something to do with the president of the University, don’t ask? I bargained to travel on the weekend of the 10th, 11th of January. It was already the Wednesday before I wanted to travel and we still didn’t have any good news. On the Thursday before the weekend I wanted to travel, I spoke to Lifei again. He told me that we will know on Saturday. “Mmmm…. maybe he doesn’t understand?” I thought by myself. I want to be there around Saturday or Sunday. But I had to wait.
So Saturday came along and I was up early to find out what was happening. I sat in my flat in anticipation to hear the news. 10:00 there was a knock on my door. Lifei assisted by Freddy standing in my door with smiles on their faces. They did it!!! I had two hours to get all my things packed and get ready for the long journey to Linyi. I arranged for the last coffee with Jess at a place we found along the road that made lovely coffee with rum syrup. Good thing that I was leaving Linfen or I would have spent all my money on coffee.
(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Bar Room NY finale
After KTV (karaoke place) we started heading toward our apartments. The actual plan was to go to the pool club and celebrate our New Years there. The main reason we were heading towards our apartments was because of some needy toilet visits. This can only mean the person will not be standing. Walking down the street we passed this place that me and Jess have been meaning to go and visit for quite a while. It is called "Bar Room" and this is a club/bar under a kind of car park. Just there and then our options for venues expanded and we decided to start our New Year in that club. With that in mind we took a brisk walk to the apartments for the toilet run.
Jess had a couple of bomb crackers (fireworks that sound as loud as a gun shot) and he had this great idea of taking it along. Walking back towards the club, now around 22:45 the streets leading towards the club empty, apart from a couple of street vendors selling food on every corner. Fireworks in hand we decided to start spreading the good news of New Years. Don't really know if fireworks are allowed in the streets, but hey... it's only New Year once a year. The first firework ignited and was thrown right in the middle of the street. It went off with a bang... windows reverberating and car alarms going off around us!! "What a beautiful sound this time of night" i was thinking to myself. After a couple more of those and one ending up right in front of a police car we decided to leave them in a little bush where we could retrieve them from again later.
Entering the bar/club it sounded pretty quiet. Through the whole night there was only about 20-30 people... not too many for an occasion like the New Year. On entering the club i could hear with my little Chinese and the broken English of the DJ that they are welcoming these two white faces assisted with the Chinese girl. Partly cause everyone looked at us when we walked in and a "Hallo" by die DJ and locals. We were taken to a nice couple of red couches right next to the dance floor with complimentary seeds. Yip, in China it is not peanuts but seeds. We ordered about five beers and started making ourselves comfortable. I felt in a dancing mood so needless to say it didn't take long for me to enter the dance floor. The dance floor was more like a small little stair, just high enough that you should realise it is not part of the walk area. We started dancing and i saw this Chinese move by a couple of girls that i needed to get the hang off. A couple of minutes later... there was I, Jess and Amy doing this dance with the locals having a ball. What can i say we had to teach them a dance as well. The only dance that came to mind that me and Jess would know i thought, must be the "Macarena". It turned out that i was correct. Here we were, teaching the "Macarena" to Chinese people with Chinese songs. We were the heroes.
Jess had a couple of bomb crackers (fireworks that sound as loud as a gun shot) and he had this great idea of taking it along. Walking back towards the club, now around 22:45 the streets leading towards the club empty, apart from a couple of street vendors selling food on every corner. Fireworks in hand we decided to start spreading the good news of New Years. Don't really know if fireworks are allowed in the streets, but hey... it's only New Year once a year. The first firework ignited and was thrown right in the middle of the street. It went off with a bang... windows reverberating and car alarms going off around us!! "What a beautiful sound this time of night" i was thinking to myself. After a couple more of those and one ending up right in front of a police car we decided to leave them in a little bush where we could retrieve them from again later.
Entering the bar/club it sounded pretty quiet. Through the whole night there was only about 20-30 people... not too many for an occasion like the New Year. On entering the club i could hear with my little Chinese and the broken English of the DJ that they are welcoming these two white faces assisted with the Chinese girl. Partly cause everyone looked at us when we walked in and a "Hallo" by die DJ and locals. We were taken to a nice couple of red couches right next to the dance floor with complimentary seeds. Yip, in China it is not peanuts but seeds. We ordered about five beers and started making ourselves comfortable. I felt in a dancing mood so needless to say it didn't take long for me to enter the dance floor. The dance floor was more like a small little stair, just high enough that you should realise it is not part of the walk area. We started dancing and i saw this Chinese move by a couple of girls that i needed to get the hang off. A couple of minutes later... there was I, Jess and Amy doing this dance with the locals having a ball. What can i say we had to teach them a dance as well. The only dance that came to mind that me and Jess would know i thought, must be the "Macarena". It turned out that i was correct. Here we were, teaching the "Macarena" to Chinese people with Chinese songs. We were the heroes.
Learning the Chinese dance before heating it up with the Macarena!!
After a couple of dances i started making my way down the dance floor, a young man appearing out of nowhere shoved a beer in my hand and said "gumpay" meaning down with me. No worries... got that one down... then this girl enters with another beer and repeats the same word "gumpay", wanting me to down with her. Jess walking towards the dance floor wanting to take a photo of me downing gets a beer shoved in his hand "gumpay". He drank the beer as quick as he can and made his way back to the couches in no time. Man, Chinese people love downing. It is a symbol of respect to drink and down with someone i think... who knows... just down it.
So midnight arrived and with some more "gumpaying" we enter the New Year. Let me not forget about the drunk man that had his arm around my shoulder, not really in a way to be a good friend, more in a way of keeping himself on his feet. Yip, he also just walked up to our table, using Amy's drink to "gumpay" with me and Jess. The waiters got him away quickly!!
As if we hadn't been treated like VIP's yet, the owner of the club came up to us and sponsored us another 3 beers after he "gumpayed" with us. Now we were Rock stars!!
Well, it ended up being a great start to the New Year!!!
You might think that i was totally wasted hey?? Well, i have successfully worked out that if i was in London i would have had two pints, and if in South Africa i would have had three dumpies (bottles of beer). The beer in China is only 3%alc. How can you not have a couple more than your average Londoner have per day?
(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)
Friday, January 02, 2009
Chinese Karaoke New Year
A couple of days ago we started with a whole New Year. Yes, it is officially the year 2009. Shees, just the thought of me turning 29 this year makes me think that life runs past too quickly. It is because of this reason that I decided last year I needed to do all I can in this life while I can. Experience different cultures and do things I said I will never do, go to places I never thought I would go. And here I am, in China. It was never really an option of mine to come to China. I had in mind the lusher Spain and South America. There were many places I would have loved to go, but it just so happened that all the doors opened towards China.
So, why not end the year with something different and start the New Year with something even more different and daring? You can imagine this was going to be a night of fun and games, doing things you never see yourself doing again!! Or maybe you will.
Here I was in Linfen, trying to gather some people to do something really fun. We ended up going to this place called Dico’s for a meal. It is like the Chinese Mcdonald’s. It was me Jess and his girlfriend Amy. Joel didn’t make these festivities as this time it was his girlfriend Joy that was feeling ill. Got the burgers down and successfully converted Jess and Amy to my kind of thinking. Jess was fully up for it in any case, it was just Amy that needed some convincing. I already had the next stop in mind!! KTV… the best Chinese karaoke place ever, that's what i got told in any case!! With not too much convincing everybody was sold to this idea. Amy with pure brilliance suggested that we enter a shop to buy some snacks. Now you have to understand… in my mind this karaoke place is like a bar you walk into and loads of drunken people taking their turns on the microphone. I was all up for it. But there was a useful piece of information that I didn’t know. Karaoke places in China were nothing like the picture I had in mind. I entered the shops in search of a cigar… I mean, it was the start of a New Year!! Did not find any cigars, no. But I decided to settle on a small bottle of some strong Chinese “bagio” this is like “mampoer” in South Africa (never check my Chinese spelling; I write it as it sounds). Made from the purest corn! Amy grabbing a couple of snacks and drinks we are ready to hit the karaoke place. We must have been lost in translation a bit because when I asked Amy if we could take these things inside the karaoke place she said it is fine. It ended up not being so fine because on the way to the karaoke place we had to hide all the snacks at the most uncomfortable places.” Mmm… seems like we are not really allowed to take these in” I thought by myself. Sometimes the language barrier can be a bit of a problem.
Got to the doors of KTV, snacks squeezing etc. Here we are, paying 68Yuan for an hour of listening to other people’s false excuse for singing. What a rip off “can’t believe we actually going to pay this” was all on my mind. After a quick tour through their snack corner to avoid any suspicion and a packet of popcorn later we are ready and lining up in front of the lift. Gentlemen start your engines!!
We go up to the sixth level. Mmm… exiting the elevator this place reminded me of the dodgy places you see on movies in Bangkok. You know, like a hostel with some small rooms. Ok, a brothel!! This could just have been a much classier brothel. But alas, our own little private room!!! This is awesome!!! Our assistant exiting the room we all empty our pockets of all the stash. Let the games begin. This place is fitted out with big speakers, streamers, big screen, microphones, a long black couch and even some tambourines. Probably because you can’t sound false on those. I mean, they make anyone sound musical. You should have been there!! Jess singing Avril Lavigne (Skater Boy) not even looking at the screen, no wonder he got the best score for the night. The Titanic sinking again with the back-up voices of Mike and Jess. Eat my shorts Celine!!! We ended up paying for another hour!! It is ten a clock… what now??? Two hours to kill before the New Year, what now?
Me and Jess... think it was either a sad or high pitch song, we both have tears in our eyes.
Well, hang around for the next update.
Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzJXmf5jvk&eurl=http://jesstival.com/cake/
for some live entertainment.
(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)
So, why not end the year with something different and start the New Year with something even more different and daring? You can imagine this was going to be a night of fun and games, doing things you never see yourself doing again!! Or maybe you will.
Here I was in Linfen, trying to gather some people to do something really fun. We ended up going to this place called Dico’s for a meal. It is like the Chinese Mcdonald’s. It was me Jess and his girlfriend Amy. Joel didn’t make these festivities as this time it was his girlfriend Joy that was feeling ill. Got the burgers down and successfully converted Jess and Amy to my kind of thinking. Jess was fully up for it in any case, it was just Amy that needed some convincing. I already had the next stop in mind!! KTV… the best Chinese karaoke place ever, that's what i got told in any case!! With not too much convincing everybody was sold to this idea. Amy with pure brilliance suggested that we enter a shop to buy some snacks. Now you have to understand… in my mind this karaoke place is like a bar you walk into and loads of drunken people taking their turns on the microphone. I was all up for it. But there was a useful piece of information that I didn’t know. Karaoke places in China were nothing like the picture I had in mind. I entered the shops in search of a cigar… I mean, it was the start of a New Year!! Did not find any cigars, no. But I decided to settle on a small bottle of some strong Chinese “bagio” this is like “mampoer” in South Africa (never check my Chinese spelling; I write it as it sounds). Made from the purest corn! Amy grabbing a couple of snacks and drinks we are ready to hit the karaoke place. We must have been lost in translation a bit because when I asked Amy if we could take these things inside the karaoke place she said it is fine. It ended up not being so fine because on the way to the karaoke place we had to hide all the snacks at the most uncomfortable places.” Mmm… seems like we are not really allowed to take these in” I thought by myself. Sometimes the language barrier can be a bit of a problem.
Got to the doors of KTV, snacks squeezing etc. Here we are, paying 68Yuan for an hour of listening to other people’s false excuse for singing. What a rip off “can’t believe we actually going to pay this” was all on my mind. After a quick tour through their snack corner to avoid any suspicion and a packet of popcorn later we are ready and lining up in front of the lift. Gentlemen start your engines!!
We go up to the sixth level. Mmm… exiting the elevator this place reminded me of the dodgy places you see on movies in Bangkok. You know, like a hostel with some small rooms. Ok, a brothel!! This could just have been a much classier brothel. But alas, our own little private room!!! This is awesome!!! Our assistant exiting the room we all empty our pockets of all the stash. Let the games begin. This place is fitted out with big speakers, streamers, big screen, microphones, a long black couch and even some tambourines. Probably because you can’t sound false on those. I mean, they make anyone sound musical. You should have been there!! Jess singing Avril Lavigne (Skater Boy) not even looking at the screen, no wonder he got the best score for the night. The Titanic sinking again with the back-up voices of Mike and Jess. Eat my shorts Celine!!! We ended up paying for another hour!! It is ten a clock… what now??? Two hours to kill before the New Year, what now?
Me and Jess... think it was either a sad or high pitch song, we both have tears in our eyes.Well, hang around for the next update.
Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzJXmf5jvk&eurl=http://jesstival.com/cake/
for some live entertainment.
(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Canadian, Ghanian-Canadian and South African
We were walking down the street one day and there in front of me was this big black African entering a shop. Suddenly it felt like I was back in Africa. For a couple of seconds I felt a bit confused. I felt the same way a Chinese person must feel seeing a white person on the street. It is as if this person does not belong there. Then again, who said I belong here? Well, I feel like a local now. It turned out that Jess and Joel knew him, and it was only me that haven’t met him yet. He went out shopping for shoes assisted by a very short Chinese girl. I think compared to him anything in China looks short. Jess is around 1,90m and Chris (the black man) is even taller than him. You can imagine the people staring at him on the street. I think you can understand the difficulty finding shoes that will fit him in China. You are more likely to be eating dog in a shop than find a number 13 shoe!! Well, he found his shoes… pretty scary judging from the analogy!!
Chris claims that he is from Canada. I am sure he has a Canadian passport, but he has the accent of a Ghanian. He must have moved to Canada later in his life as his accent labels him as a Ghanian. Chris is also an English teacher in China. He has been in China for about 14 months and he can speak more Chinese than all us whities together. Yes, his Chinese is very good and it is quite an adventure to walk around with him and hear him speak this language, you find Chinese people at a loss for words. Imagine a 2meter tall Chinese man… this is more or less how strange I find this black man speaking Chinese. Chris is a great guy and very kind and I think he is probably in his early 30's. He has some strong African mannerisms and this is why I also think he might have lived in Ghana till his childhood. I could also be very wrong assuming this. But I want you to get a picture of what Chris looks like.
So, i got a picture. Canadian Chris from Ghana.
A Couple of days later Chris invited us to join him and some of his friends for a meal. He is the only foreign teacher at his school, so his school was happy to pay for our meals as well, just for some different company for him i suppose. I think he might get very lonely sometime being the only foreigner. This explains the reason for his good Chinese… there is no other option for him.
After going for a meal at “Big Pizza”, one of our locals that serve western style buffet, Chris asked if we would like to join him to his school where the classes do some end of year performances. We gladly joined him to see some of these performances. Joel was not feeling well this day so it was only me and Jess attending these festivities. Got to the school, we realized things weren’t as they seemed. Let me put it like this. We weren’t going to see performances, we were the performances!!! Yip. Ok here we were, one black African Canadian, a Canadian and a South African. Jess 1,90m, Chris even taller and me in-between them. I am like 1,8m. I have never seen three young men that could dance and pull the moves we did that night!! I think we surprised ourselves!! We did feel the strain on our bodies the next day though. I also have new respect for the 27year old Jess and his singing abilities and knowledge of music!! He managed to know all the words of some Avril Lavigne and Spice Girls songs! He is such a nerd, but the coolest nerd that i know!!
Little did we know that his singing abilities will lead us all the way to a karaoke club for New Years festivals!!
(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)
Chris claims that he is from Canada. I am sure he has a Canadian passport, but he has the accent of a Ghanian. He must have moved to Canada later in his life as his accent labels him as a Ghanian. Chris is also an English teacher in China. He has been in China for about 14 months and he can speak more Chinese than all us whities together. Yes, his Chinese is very good and it is quite an adventure to walk around with him and hear him speak this language, you find Chinese people at a loss for words. Imagine a 2meter tall Chinese man… this is more or less how strange I find this black man speaking Chinese. Chris is a great guy and very kind and I think he is probably in his early 30's. He has some strong African mannerisms and this is why I also think he might have lived in Ghana till his childhood. I could also be very wrong assuming this. But I want you to get a picture of what Chris looks like.
So, i got a picture. Canadian Chris from Ghana.A Couple of days later Chris invited us to join him and some of his friends for a meal. He is the only foreign teacher at his school, so his school was happy to pay for our meals as well, just for some different company for him i suppose. I think he might get very lonely sometime being the only foreigner. This explains the reason for his good Chinese… there is no other option for him.
After going for a meal at “Big Pizza”, one of our locals that serve western style buffet, Chris asked if we would like to join him to his school where the classes do some end of year performances. We gladly joined him to see some of these performances. Joel was not feeling well this day so it was only me and Jess attending these festivities. Got to the school, we realized things weren’t as they seemed. Let me put it like this. We weren’t going to see performances, we were the performances!!! Yip. Ok here we were, one black African Canadian, a Canadian and a South African. Jess 1,90m, Chris even taller and me in-between them. I am like 1,8m. I have never seen three young men that could dance and pull the moves we did that night!! I think we surprised ourselves!! We did feel the strain on our bodies the next day though. I also have new respect for the 27year old Jess and his singing abilities and knowledge of music!! He managed to know all the words of some Avril Lavigne and Spice Girls songs! He is such a nerd, but the coolest nerd that i know!!
Little did we know that his singing abilities will lead us all the way to a karaoke club for New Years festivals!!
(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)
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