YCFLS Christmas Concert

OK...Dad, this is for you because I know you'll be up early checking emails etc :-)
This is the section right at the end of the drumming piece I played for the show...The night was great and I'm really impressed at the students talents...I'm going to write more and put more pictures up but right now it is midnight and I need to go and sleep :-)I just put this up because I know how much you do the proud father whenever it comes to me playing :-) LOVE YA ! Merry Christmas :-)

NEXT MORNING : and heres some more pictures from last night...a whole heap of the kids I teach being very cool and showing they have many different talents indeed :-)

"HAPPY CHRISTMAS"

To all my family and friends back home in Australia and around the world and to my new friends here in China...
"MERRY CHRISTMAS" and all the best for the New Year!

It's a cold Christmas !

I don't know how accurate the website is that I'm using to look at the temperatures...but it's the only one I can find for Dianjun, Yichang. If it is accurate yesterday got to -5 degrees, today -1 degree. I don't know but it feels colder than that, I have a feeling like with the Yichang summer, how it was 35 degrees but felt like 45 degrees...Well I'm getting the feeling that the same thing happens back the other way with winter also...I have never felt so cold, even when I was in England and Ireland (mind you I wasn't actually there for the worst part of winter). Everything kind of feels numb...and winters only just started.
It was a really strange feeling for me tonight...Growing up in Australia and only ever experiencing Australian Christmases, this is my first taste of Christmas in winter (just like I've always seen on the movies lol)ironically it's in China...but...shopping downtown tonight had much atmosphere. Christmas music was blaring around the square, shops all decorated, COLD, people walking around in Santa hats :-)Much more than I thought I would see. Interesting feeling! So the two countries I've had Christmas in...Australia, smack bang in the middle of scorching hot summer and China where Christmas is not usually celebrated but is now starting to commercially show itself.

What is it about this place?

I have recently been thinking about how an experience like living in such a different country (like China)can possibly change a person. The people you meet, the relationships you form, the change in job, the different cultural etiquette, different opinions you come across, different environment and weather, different habits, different food,drinks, different concepts of money, life etc....I could go on forever! I think it is an amazing opportunity.
Before I came here I had heard good and bad about the place...I felt quite annoyed at the people who were very quick to talk badly about China when all they were really going on was hear say, what they had seen and heard in the media etc...and also seeing as I was about to leave for China, I also felt it was rather unkind and insensitive of them to be saying such negative things... BUT...there were also the people I spoke with that had been here and experienced China first hand and from them they spoke about the wonderful, wonderful people and the beautiful countryside and you could sense a real love for China that had been planted inside of them and held a special place in their heart. In some way China had made an impact on them and their lives.
I can't quite put my finger on it but I feel there is something special here and I now know what these people meant and why they felt such an affinity with China.
Everywhere obviously has good and bad points but unless you go out for yourself and see and experience things in person...how will you really know?

Christmas Party

Last night friends arrived for a bit of a Christmas party. I'm not very domesticated and I'm certainly not great at organising parties and have never actually organised and hosted a party entirely on my own, so this was new ground for me :-)The other thing to add into the equation is that it was on my own, in China. You can't just think "oh yeah I need this or that...I'll just pop down to the supermarket and get it"...I still have trouble finding basics, so it was challenging!
As a child my Christmases were always the most exciting and wonderful times in my childhood. My parents always made them so much fun and I felt the Christmas Spirit very strongly. I guess my main aim was to try and create that kind of atmosphere for the children that were coming to the party. I think it was O.K. :-) I thought the biggest clash of cultures may occur with the Australian "help yourself" attitude and the Chinese "host and guests" attitude...but I think everyone knew they may be waiting around for me for ever so ...it was all o.k.
We played "pass the parcel" and a balloon game that I made up for my classes..which I'm quite proud of :-) Some "Twister" was also played and I had the Christmas Carols going in the background...It was certainly not a "Grand Christmas party"...but...it was A Christmas party of sorts... and I got to spend time with my friends and show them a little of the kind of things we do and eat at Christmas time. Unfortunately I did not get many photo's but Lily and her husband took quite a few...again I will see if I can get hold of some. I'm starting to slip on the taking photo's front...whoops!
Here's one of Lily and her Husband Bingo


The kids trying out their "pass the parcel" gifts.

Birthday Bonanza

Been a bit of a delay in blogging my birthday...but it has been crazy busy. I can't get over the generosity and kindness of the students and the staff at my school. I think in all honesty I can say I have never had such a busy birthday. When I arrived for the first class of the day I had a huge rendition of "Happy Birthday" sang to me and the blackboard was all decorated. Many students gave me gifts and cards. I then trundled off home as I did not have another class until two o'clock. When I returned for that class it had been moved to the "Multi Media room" and my class of junior two's had turned on a big birthday party. The students performed (singing and dancing), gave me more gifts and cards, sang "Happy Birthday" and then asked me to shut my eyes. When I opened them, there was a massive birthday cake.We then tried to dish it out between 60 students and some teachers (this class is taught English by Lily,who tries to teach me Chinese, but i'm not a good student (lol) and she must have done quite a bit of organisation with the kids and the cake..very kind! I did not get photo's of all this, but others did...so I will try and track them down.
Then I had the last period of the day...this class also sang "Happy Birthday" and showered me with cards and more gifts. Some of the letters and cards I received from the students throughout the day were just so beautiful..They had written things such as "although you are away from your family...it's o.k, we are all your family" :-)They are so sweet and some of them have huge aspirations and really want to improve their English to fulfil their dreams.
Straight after class I was taken out for a birthday dinner by the school...We went to a "Farmers Restaurant" and I had my 5th dinner at a restaurant within the last 6 days (pretty impressive hey)I was also presented with another cake (this time a Chocolate Mousse)and an amazing gift from the school of a special Chinese paper cut book with paper cut art pictures of Peking Opera Facial Makeup. THEN......We headed downtown and I had my first Chinese Karaoke experience...
Hey at least you're in a private room...not like in Australia where you have to do it on stage. There are even buttons on the wall you can press for applause and whistling (lol)and YES ..I did actually sing a few songs, enough to make me realise that I should definitely stick to playing Drums...but it was fun :-)
Sooooo....Many meals, 40-50 cards,3 birthday cakes, many beautiful gifts, suprises at every turn and well wishes from so many students...Anyone back home that is worried that I might be lonely...NAH....and the experience of living and teaching here in China...UNBELIEVABLE.

Random Blog

I've been meaning to put this picture up...It is in Yiling square as the sun is going down. It's a great spot!

Suprise Dinner

After we had finished decorating last night...the girls suprised me with some early birthday presents...I will not see Jess or her family nor Nettie's family on my birthday this week so they suprised me early. I received a beautiful "Jade Buddha necklace" from Nettie and a very cool "Yixing Clay Cup" from Jess to brew and drink Green Tea from. These are fantastic gifts for me and I am so pleased with them :-)
Then Mr Zhang picked us up and we all headed off to the amazing restaurant with the rollerskating waiters and tropical plants. We ate dinner near the water and they had even organised a "Black Forest Cake" from my favourite bakery... I had no idea we was going out for dinner let alone a special birthday dinner!


OK the "28" candles...It's an "in" joke:-)Everyone here that asks my age guesses me at around "28" Personally I just think that they are all very polite...but I figure if that is what everyone thinks, then why not...If they want to guess me as nearly 10 years younger than I am...Maybe I should not argue the point. (lol) Of course my friends know my real age.


It is a Chinese tradition to have a special bowl of noodles on your birthday...here they are. Long Life Noodles...
What a cool night :-)A great Birthday suprise!

December in Yichang

If you're planning on visiting China for a quite Christmas away from the commercial hustle and bustle, get togethers and Christmas mayhem, maybe you had better rethink. I have never been so busy with social engagements in my life...of course the usual thing of having a birthday close to Christmas has added to it...but neither has actually arrived yet and I have been showered with well wishes, gifts, meals and much generosity. I had pictured this time as having quite time alone with just a few decorations for Christmas and quitely letting my Birthday slip past..my family and friends in Australia know that I'm very shy about attention and rarely celebrate my Birthday (my parents gave up trying to organise parties for me) So ironically (again) it seems that I am being made to make up for many years in one big swoop :-)
There will be a Christmas get together at my apartment on Saturday and I invited Nettie, Jess and the kids over yesterday to help me put up the Christmas decorations.
I actually found a Christmas tree (about 4 foot high) in a shop in Yiling Square...I bought it thinking they would take off the lights and decorations and fold it up for me to take home...but NO I had to take it as it was, fully decorated, on a bus, in China,carrying a decorated Christmas tree back to my apartment (lol) All I could do was look out the window and try not to feel all the eyes staring at me and the SILENCE was so quite you could have heard a pin drop...I have never heard a quite bus...anyway...
I think everyone had an ok time decorating and the evening ended up as a huge suprise for me..I will write about it later(I will also post the pictures later as the internet connection is very slow and dodgy at the moment)...right now I need to go and meditate as I have another dinner engagement at 5.30 tonight...

OK here's a few pic's

Confession

I have a confession to make....every now and again something really gets my goat and I blog it...I don't really get angry...but I do get annoyed and when I get annoyed I write about it :-)
Now I'm being honest here when I tell you I have a little stash of unpublished blogs because what I usually do is write when I am annoyed or sad or whatever...save it....sleep on it...and then next day have a look...If I still feel annoyed I figure I will post it...if I dont feel so annoyed anymore I will leave it :-)Mostly I think the annoyances pass (I don't think there is much negativity on this blog site ?)...So I guess the question arises am I being totally honest..I think YES...I think when you're annoyed, angry, depressed, having a bad day...whatever....I think it clouds your thinking and sometimes you're judgement.
Tomorrow is a new day and one may feel differently.
Does it make for exciting reading? probably NO (LOL)
TONIGHT...I am sleeping on a blog post...how will I feel in the morning...we'll see :-)
But in all reality...I'm finding more frequently now that everything passes AND it is much healthier (I think) to just let this happen.

Cold...Hot...or what?

Just a day after posting how cold I am...today the weather has been gloriously sunny and from what I'm told will stay that way for most of this week! It is amazing how much one appreciates the warm sunshine during winter :-)
It reminds me a little of that song.... "Camp Granada" The last bit that goes...

Wait a minute, it's stopped raining
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing cricket, gee thats better
Mudduh, fudduh kindly disregard this lettuh (or in this case the last blog post)
(lol)

Brrrrr

Do I look cold? Do you like my groovy slippers and hat? I have just started to keep a check on the temperature on the internet. I live in Dianjun, Yichang across the river from the main part of the city and for some reason it mostly is a lot colder here than in the city itself. When I checked early last night there was a 6 degree difference...it was 6 degrees in the city and 0 degrees in Dianjun...currently it is 4 degrees.
I took the ferry over to the city today and one of the students said to me it is like spring in the city and winter in Dianjun...she was very correct.
So today I bought this woolly hat because my ears,nose and my throat don't really know what is happening with the cold air (LOL, pick the West Australian). I'm kinda getting worried at the amount of heating gadgets I see around town (I have never seen quilted pyjamas before I came here)Just how cold is it gunna get?. I could really do with some more thermal underwear, but I think finding my size may pose a problem. Right about now I'm thinking I made a good decision to come to Yichang and not Harbin in North China. Maybe -20 to -40 degree's would have been a bit too much for me to handle:-)But I would really, really still love to visit there.
The North of China has central heating, but heating is not so common here. I actually do have reverse cycle in my apartment and they are not too bad for taking the chill off, but I don't like to leave them on for too long. I think most people just seem to rug up and stay rugged up??
Today I found some Christmas decorations in a small shop. It feels very strange being in the cold for Christmas, something I have not experienced before (well I guess I have when I was little un' in England...but I don't remember)
OK...I'm going to get a cup of hot Milo :-)
P.S. Yes the picture is in my apartment. When I have decorated for Christmas I will take some more pictures of it and give you a tour (and when it is a little more tidy)

Hockey mates !

In the last post I mentioned how lucky I am to have found friendship here in China. Today I must also mention just how thankful I am for my friends back home in Australia. I always value my friendships very highly even though I have never been a very social person.
Most of my friends from my hometown are from the local Hockey team..I miss my Hockey and I miss my friends from the team...today I walked into the office at school to find another huge parcel on the desk, this time from my friends back home :-)
My special friends from the team had got together a Christmas/Birthday parcel for me and sent it over.
Henny, Marjo, Kazz and Jude...Many many thanks! and a big special thankyou to the kids for the homemade cards...I love them very much.
Look at all these goodies



I have hung the Christmas cards along the window in my loungeroom (That is Yichang City outside the window but it is wintery weather today as you can see)
I have not opened my birthday cards yet...I am saving them for my birthday.

I haven't put up Christmas decorations yet...I will post a picture when I do :-)
The wintery weather that has set in here today reminds me of Saturdays standing on a hockey field in the wind and rain :-)

Thankyou all so much for being so thoughtful, it means a lot to me.

Masterpiece

What is this scroll?


Last night I had another wonderful dinner with my friends and young My Liao. I was given the Chinese painting painted by his father and framed by himself. The framing in itself really is also an art form and I am told that there are not many people that can do this properly. It looks absolutely beautiful. I can't show you it displayed properly 1) because I do not want it to get dusty and 2) I don't know where to put it that would be suitable :-)I am told it is covered with a protective coating that will keep it safe for 100 years.



I am lucky enough to have this painting because of the kindness of my friends who are always taking me out and showing me around. Jess is always so sweet and kind and her husband (Mr Zhou)is very good at thinking of and organising expeditions into Chinese culture for me, of which I appreciate very much. Nettie's husband (Mr Zhang) is constantly driving us all around in the car, last weekend he also cooked a fantastic meal for us all, giving me my first Chinese Hotpot experience... and Nettie, well she is there for me all of the time, helping me with anything and everything and is a constant support. I think I am very lucky to have found good friends.

Two Little Drummer Girls

Check this out for cute. This is Carol and Annie banging out a tune on their drums.


and this is them in real time.

In my parcel that arrived from home, Mum sent some advent calenders thinking that Annie and Carol may enjoy them. This is the girls getting their advent calenders yesterday and an explanation of what to do .They were very excited and pleased and Nettie informs me that Carol slept with hers last night :-)

Dinner and disco

Friday night I went out for a meal with the Junior 3 teachers (all subjects)and principals and vice principals from the school. I'm not really sure why :-) but I think it was a prep up the teachers to work extra hard dinner ! Junior 3's have very important exams coming up. It was good, most of the dishes were fairly spicy so I must be kind of getting used to it. For the first time, out to the table came a nice big plate of chicken feet...I would have tried them but I can't really reason what there actually is on them to eat ??? I've not mentioned it before but Chinese meals involve a lot of toasts, not just a couple at the start of the meal but many all through the meal...and...you have to stand up for each one. So again if anyone dares mention that I'm losing weight, I keep telling you the lifestyle here is full of exercise, even eating a meal gives you an aerobic workout (lol)and while I'm on that subject, have I mentioned 103(from memory)stairs up to my apartment...I do this up and and down at least three times a day and often much more, then at the school there is many floors and I am up and down again a few times a day. Then there is the fact that I don't drive in China(if you were here, you would see why :-)so I walk many places(the amount of stairs everywhere in this place is amazing) and teaching classes each day is virtually like having to put on a performance, plus socially, my friends keep me very busy...Very active lifestyle!
Back to last night...
After dinner I was given a choice. All the women teachers decided to go for a foot massage :-)???? and a group of the men teachers were going to the nightclub.
I opted for the nightclub. I was actually suprised, it was pretty cranking. Typical nightclub in the sense of smokey, flashing lights and loud music but different in that it had many private areas with couches and a table (these are pre booked for a fee and they bring you out heaps of stuff...drinks, fruit, popcorn, sweets etc) There is also much entertainment, a sax player and a singer make cameo performances and two very talented barmen doing the cocktail type bar tending complete with juggling bottles that were flaming, swallowing fire and much much more...very entertaining indeed.

A box of Christmas

Yesterday I received a parcel of Christmas cheer from home. I had been rationing out my Vegemite and the new tube arrived just in time :-)YAY! Also amongst the box of goodies a Mini tree, some Christmas decorations, a stocking full of goodies from Father Christmas (seems he was having trouble with my location so he sent it home and asked my parents to send it on to me :-)CHOCOLATE, proper Milo, Lemon and Ginger Tea, a game of Twister, a slightly early birthday present of the Mama Mia DVD(because I love the movie and I have been teaching the kids some English songs like "Dancing Queen")and because my parents are so thoughtful, even some small gifts for my little Chinese friends (my friends young children.) Lots of goodies ! How cool are my Mum and Dad !!!

Writers Blog

Sometimes It seems I get some form of writers block...or should I say blogger block :-)
It's not that nothing has happened I just don't know how to put it all in words, but it is late now and I have just come back from my first Chinese nightclub experience so...I will try and do a bit of a condensed version of this week and then blog properly..maybe tomorrow :-)Classes were good, Weather is weird..warm and cold, I just honestly don't know what to wear...it is very confusing. Went clothes shopping with Nettie (you all know just how much I looove clothes shopping...not)I told her she would be highly praised if she could help me find some clothes that would be suitable...1) I just cant make decisions and 2) the clothes here are for very petite Chinese women so finding my size is not easy. I came away with a sports top and a good idea on now how to read the discount signs in China (very confusing but definitely worthy of a blog sometime). This week I also got introduced to a very rare find in China...A waffle stall..very exciting.
AND
my parcel from home for Christmas arrived (tomorrows blog...oh hang on today's blog when I get up later :-) Love you Mum and Dad..It's really great of you to send me some Christmas cheer.

San You Dong - Three visitors Cave

Today I took an adventure opportunity and headed of to visit "San You Dong" (Three Visitors Cave)I did some detective work and found out that I needed a number 10 bus to take me there and headed of bravely into unknown territory with NO Chinese phrase book for security (lol). It is about a thirty minute bus ride (still only costs 1 yuan)
It was an interesting ride through more parts of the city I'm not familiar with and then along the river and into the spectacular scenery that this city seems surrounded by. When I arrived I stepped off the bus and immediately felt hungry...it was close to lunch time so I bought my entry ticket and then told the lady at the gate that I would like to eat something and asked where could I go to eat? She pointed to two restaurants that she obviously recommended, so I picked one and ventured inside :-) I again said I would like to eat something (lol) not too spicy (haha) and Yes that there was only me !(I can't read the Menus because they are all written in Hanzi(Chinese Characters). The girl asked if Pork was o.k....I said yes and she seated me at a table...
I'm only giving you such a run down on the situation because I'm proud of myself for negotiating all this in Chinese :-)anyway...turns out I ended up with a nice dish of Pork with Tofu, Celery, Ginger and Rice. I got the usual compliments on my chopstick skills :-) and the owner came out and asked if it was not too spicy for me....I understood all this....SO COOL !
After I had refueled I went exploring...just have a look at this beautiful spot..




Apart from a beautiful walk all around the mountain area to see all the different sights, you can also take rides on speed boats, bungee jump and other activities...








Whilst there I took quite a few photo's and have found it hard to choose which ones to put on my blog, so here is another link to them all if you wish to have a peek.All you have to do is click on the picture below.

22-11-2008 SanYouDong

Fridays Fantastic Class

Every Friday afternoon my week ends on a really good note. The last class of the week that I have is a class of "junior two" students who never fail to make me smile :-) The good thing is they are great learners, ask lots of questions about the English language, are very clever and still have a good time in the process. I wanted a picture with some of them to show you. So after we had done all the work for the lesson we took a couple of shots...This class utilizes having me around a lot by asking me questions around school and not only in class...I really appreciate that they are so keen to learn and I look forward to this class every week because I know I will always end the week with a smile :-)I guess I appreciate them even more because the class I have before them is the exact opposite...I have tried all kinds of different things to make them interested but to no avail...infact I think I could spin on my head and it wouldn't even get a reaction. To be fair there are some students in the class that do participate and want to learn...but the majority...well it's a class that makes you question yourself and whether you are doing a good enough job, but then I walk out of that class and into this class and I think...WOW. It's like "Chalk and Cheese", completely different.

What do you mean "am I afraid to get a haircut in China?

No!!!Just haven't got round to it and now I kinda like it like this :-)