So whats the real story Sue ???

Some people seem to think that maybe I'm glorifying my blog :-0 They wonder "How can it be that China is such a cool place" and how come I don't ever seem to get peeved (lol)
Well in my eyes, Yichang is a very cool place.
Yes, I do feel...not so great some days. Obviously I miss my Mum, Dad and Daisy and sometimes feel homesick....It has rained almost non stop for two days and I have been trying everything to get rid of the start of a cold as I am terrified of having to go to a hospital again...sometimes classes at school are very hard work and it can be very frustrating needing to ask for help from my friends for simple things like finding something at a shop or how to use the bank...BUT... they are all just passing moments, passing fears or passing frustrations
AND...
I can not justify spending time thinking on these things...infact even writing them here on my blog feels wrong. It's like I'm whinging, complaining and not being satisfied...which is so not the case.
These days I practice being satisfied with everything that each moment brings and find much comfort in the fact that I think every thing is always as it should be.

Gorging all day :-)

It is difficult to know where to start with this post and I wonder if there is too much to write about and too many photo's to post, so I will have to maybe try and condense everything somewhat :-)
Yesterday I was invited to the "Three Gorges Dam". Jess's husband works there and it was very kind of him to offer to show me around. I bused into the city early and met Jess, Nettie, Carol and the children and we were driven out to the dam in a company van. The drive out to the dam really is so beautiful, many mountains and beautiful scenery. We picked up Jess's husband as we drove into the Three Gorges Dam area and headed off to see what it is all about. The debate rages as to the good and bad points of the dam...but you can't ignore the fact that it really is an amazing feat of engineering and construction and as I have mentioned the whole area surrounding the dam is breathtakingly beautiful. We drove around to different vantage points and saw just how huge it really is.


It was great to see the famous landmark and then head on back to the city and be treated to a delicious lunch. I have found Chinese people to be very hospitable and my friends are so kind and generous that I feel very lucky to know them. I wonder just how to manage to repay them for all their kindness.


After lunch we took a walk along the riverside park. Check out this tower to guard over the "Chang Jiang" river and keep the river monsters away. I think now it hosts a tea rooms and probably gives you a good vantage point to see anyone who gets caught in the altering currents (rips) that occur whilst swimming at this bend in the river(the river monsters maybe?)

We then went to "Childrens Park" and I finally found the very small, very old and very real Buddhist Temple that is there. I have been trying to locate it but in such a big park was having problems, thanks to my friends I now know :-)It has a wonderful calm feeling about it...a real find I think.
and then....
We went to visit Jess's apartment and just chill out for a while. Whilst we chatted we also watched some National Geographic channel. The show was about moving houses(literally moving houses from one location to another)I was telling them that we also do this in Australia and it is not uncommon whilst traveling the road to my home town, to see these houses being transported on massive trucks to their new destinations...I think it was a little unbelievable for them :-)
and then.....
We went to another restaurant for dinner...again another impressive meal at a restaurant with a real difference. It is like eating in a park wonderland, a big living green house of trees and plants and to add something a little out of the ordinary...the food gets transported from the kitchens by guys on roller skates, they give the food to the waitresses who then serve you...:-) I was fascinated by these guys flying around like speed skaters with trays of food and drinks. The restaurant is huge so they move the food quickly...but they also run up and down stairs...on roller skates...I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing (lol)


Anyway,to sum it all up... I had a wonderful day with some wonderful friends who really make me feel welcome here.
And for all those who want to see all the photo's from the day, please click this link below :-)

26-10-2008 Three Gorges Dam Day

Culture Vulture

I was thinking today about Chinese people (funny that:-)I find the whole topic of culture really interesting. I was obviously expecting the change in culture (moving to China) but what I wasn't expecting so much, was the impact it has on language! For me, I now see languages and culture as being very closely related, much more related than I had perceived before my arrival here.
Whilst I have experienced slightly different cultures in England, Ireland and Australia...basically..I think that we generally think the same way. In China though, it is very easy to misinterpret not only what someone is saying..but also their whole train of thought. This could lead to major miss communication and misunderstandings. I have met some people here who can speak great English but have a lack of understanding, so you can ask them a simple question or speak an easy sentence and they have no idea what you are talking about...but their vocabulary is easily up to understanding what you have said??I think we are just on two different wavelengths. It is very interesting and maybe can't be explained so well with words and must be experienced in person to truly understand. I personally think that I am very lucky to have a few Chinese friends who are very talented linguists :-)they have actually managed to improve their understanding as well as their vocabulary which makes things easier for me. In a way there is probably a good lesson that I am learning living here as I am usually very quick to judge how or what people are thinking and form my own assumptions, but here there is a very great possibility that my assumptions are totally wrong..As a foreigner in China I think that you just can't read too much into things.

YCFLS Rocks :-)

Wow what an interesting day! I was given the day off from teaching yesterday so that I could join all the other Chinese English teachers from our school in attending the "Yichang English Teaching Competition" which is held every two years. Carol was representing our school and I was keen to show my support. The winner of this then goes on to represent Yichang in the "Hubei Province" competition and then the winner of the Hubei competition goes on to represent Hubei Province in a nationwide China competition. Our school holds a proud history at this event and from what I had heard the competition was going to be fierce with a couple of favorites vying for the honor. I think most of us had a lot of belief in Carol's abilities. She is a fun, outgoing personality. Well...she did it...she won. Congratulations Carol! As I have mentioned our school holds a proud history of winners at this competition and with Carol winning this year it means (I think)that our school has won consecutively for the last 4 competitions and (I think) 5 times in total(I will double check this and correct it if I'm wrong). Many interesting facts and happenings occured today I will list some of them.
Interesting fact 1 : Chinese celebrate such things differently :-) It is lucky I didn't jump up and holler and yell... "YES, Go Yichang Foreign Language School,you good thing...We Rock" (lol).. because, whilst everyone amongst our group clapped and was happy...it was very much happy on the inside...very controlled...
Event 2 : The school that the competition was held at is the school in which Swallow is the Vice Principal. It was so very nice to see her...For those that remember, Swallow is the person who initially organised myself moving to Yichang. We liaised on the internet, she picked me up at the airport, helped me out when I was new here and was pretty lost and disorientated. Now, with her new job she is very busy and apart from texting, this is the first time I have seen her in a while...It was so cool to get a big hug and catch up.
Event 3 : I also saw Salina..Unbeknownst to me, this is also the school at which she teaches. It was also great to see her :-)
Event 4 : I actually felt like maybe I fit in a little around here...Yes there are cultural differences and maybe I will never really truly be thought of as one of the group...but today I actually kinda felt like maybe I was..just a little, maybe :-)So English teachers at Y.C.F.L.S, I thankyou!

Carol working the class very well... Congratulations Carol !

Drumming it up in Yichang

This weekend turned out to be a busy one. Yesterday a fantastic time at Nettie's, today, I hit the music store again for a bit of drumming. This is a picture of myself and Mr Zhu. He is so friendly and it's great to hang out with him and also play a bit of drums. He teaches drums himself so I'm going to try and talk him into a drumming duet for fun. I used to love playing drum duets with my drum teacher in Australia...you basically just keep time while the other person shows off and keep swapping back and forth...it's a great way to learn and have fun :-)

Ok..this is a little bit of footage (below) of me just trying to remember how to make a rock beat FEEL really good, nothing flash, just grooving...the footage is on it's side so you have to turn your computer on it's side or lie down to watch it...but I think...maybe just listen :-)
It's also great to see that little drum dens are the same the world over, small dark semi soundproofed rooms for the avid drummer to skulk away into and learn their trade (lol)

Great Company, Excellent Food !!

Last night was a great night ! I was invited to dinner at Nettie's apartment. Her parents cooked up a beautiful meal, a feast of many different traditional Chinese foods and I think she is correct in saying that her Dad makes the best Jaozi in town. It was delicious. The company was great, Nettie had also invited her two good friends Jess and Carol (Carol is also an English teacher from our school) and their daughters Annie and Mary. There was much to talk about and much laughter to be had and it was nice for me to be able to speak English freely for the afternoon and evening. The children all know a little English and performed some songs which was great. So much fun!

Nettie's Dad cooking Jaozi

Nettie's husband and Mum with a feast of good food.
Heads and shoulders, knees and toes :-)

So Let The Sun Shine In :-)

Just a report to say that the weather this week has been absolutely beautiful. It went from stinking hot to very cold within a few days and now (Hopefully for this week at least) it has settled on "Perfect". It has been good timing for me because this week I have been feeling the homesickness a tad and it's almost like the weather is saying "hey c'mon, how can you feel anything other than happy when you have such beautiful sunshine" Today after I had finished my classes I took this bit of footage...please excuse the squinting but it was sunny and I didn't think to take the sunnies of my head and put them on my eyes:-)

As I walked past one of the locals she offered me an orange...I was also asked to sit out the front of a cabin and chat with another local resident (but I find this difficult when my Putonghua is limited)and was also stopped a couple of times by other residents of this laneway, who were mostly all out attending to their vegetable gardens, they wanted to find out if I could speak with them...They had a good laugh at my limited vocabulary anyway. Here's some more pictures from my walk.

You've Got Mail !

Milk Mail to be exact :-) With all the carry on here about the milk...Mum and Dad have sent me some glorious "Full Cream Milk Powder" from Australia. THANKYOU...I have to admit, when you have had Dairy all your life and suddenly you're told not to eat or drink any dairy whatsoever...it is a bit of a bugger. I have been a little worried about the effect on my body....Maybe it's all just blown out of proportion...but you can't get a direct answer from anyone on whether it's safe to have or not. Anyway, for the moment I have Milk...YAY...
"I will not form attachments...I will not form attachments" :-)

A Brake In Routine

I don't particularly even notice when I do it, but somehow I get into set routines very easily...You know things like... Eat dinner at a certain time, clean up, take a shower then go on the internet etc. Tonight (fueled by the desire not to cook and clean up) I went to the school for dinner. The meals there are pretty good...a lot of the dishes are fairly spicy and mostly I don't really know what I am ordering, I just pick what looks good. I ended up with spicy potato and pork, some kind of chopped up fine noodle,bean,vegetable and beef dish and of course rice. Many of my students were all saying hello and I decided I should sit by myself so as not to look like I was picking favourites to sit with. I didn't take long for many to move to my table anyway :-) I don't mind at all....I enjoy speaking with them. They ask questions but also tell me much about their country..and...It is really good to hear them speaking English and practicing...some are really very good and they maybe don't get a lot of opportunity to show me that whilst in the classroom.
After dinner I was going to go straight back to my apartment ...but I decided to turn the other way and head down to the river. I was going to go for a walk but I got to where the ferry arrives and departs from and decided I would sit quietly and just watch and listen. It was so great! I watched as day turned to night and the city on the other side of the Yangtze lit up in all it's glory. I watched the ferry go back and forth and the bigger boats with their bright spotlights cruise past. I saw some unusual kind of insects(a moth I think) that had a neon green glowing body..there was a few of them flying past..I watched a Chinese junk boat pull in and tie down for the night.I watched and listened as the water of this grand river lapped against the banks. I watched and listened to the Chinese people arriving home to our district from the city across the water and also those departing for the city.. I watched and listened and enjoyed every moment.
This is a very beautiful place!

Listen and Learn

Whilst many of you back home in Australia still picture me frantically trying to learn as much Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese)as possible before my arrival here...just hold that image...it hasn't changed :-)
When I am on my own I can speak some basics to help with general things about town...BUT...I feel somewhat itimidated when I am around my Chinese friends. There is no reason to as they are so kind and helpful and have never laughed at my attempts at speaking their language...but I get very shy.
Today it was Lily to the rescue. Lily is a Chinese English teacher at my school and we share an office. She very kindly offered to teach me Putonghua and today was my first lesson in "Essential Chinese" :-) SUCH AS....
It has been really annoying me that when I go into a restaurant, I did not know how to ask for something mild..(some of the dishes here literally almost dissolve the lining all the way down from your nostrils to your stomach) Just kidding...but they are hot..Now I can order more confidently...YAY!
But really. It is very kind of Lily to teach me..she does not have to. She knew I was keen to learn more and just offered to help me out. For that, I am extremely grateful:-)

Life on the "Chang Jiang" (Yangtze)

Yesterday I took the ferry across the river. It is not even a 5 minute walk from my apartment to where the ferry departs from and only took between 5 and 10 minutes for the ferry to cross the river. It arrives at the park which is about a 10-15 minute walk to the square, so I really need to find out which bus I can catch for the times I don't feel like walking. Today I stayed around the park and that area of town..I just wanted a relaxing few hours. It is interesting to watch life going on along the banks of the great "Yangtze River".This is certainly not as crowded as the bus!This was the first person I saw swimming but by the end of the afternoon I had seen about three or fourI took me a few pass by's to work out that these people were actually cleaning sacks of garlic by treading on the sacks whilst in the water..

Exploring

After the busy end to last week and start of this week, I have had a relatively quite holiday. I've still been exploring new parts of the city and finding cool and interesting places. Walking the streets of a strange and foreign country is an unusual feeling and you never really know what you will wander upon. There are indeed some very unusual shops and things for sale here and many different ways of living compared to our culture. I have suprised myself at my ability to adapt and accept many things that I thought I wouldn't tolerate so well. I think the secret is maybe to remember that this is a different way of life here(which seems in somewhat a state of flux)and not to be judgmental.
Anyway back to the shops...Ever since I took my first journey into the city, I noticed that on the way (on the outskirts of town) that there is a shop with Drum kits in the window. I keep thinking of getting off the bus early to check it out but until the other day...have not get around to it. Well yes, on Friday..I pulled myself off the bus in the pouring rain and checked it out. The guy in there was really friendly and spoke some English...Upon hearing I played Drums, he handed me the sticks and wanted me to play..It was great...It's been a while now and I enjoyed it. He said to please come back at anytime,that there's a good noodle shop next door that we can eat at and then come back and play drums...so I will be taking him up on that offer. Also, I think he has some teachers that come in and teach traditional instruments such as "Erhu" and I'm quite keen to learn a traditional Chinese instrument.
Yesterday I ventured down Erma Lu ...The tourist guides list this as the cool street with clubs, coffee places, restaurants etc. I know that some Australians and other foreigners meet at a club there one night each week. I also found DVD alley which is full of little shops selling DVD players, speakers, electrical and of course DVD's and CD's. I bought myself "Bridget Jones's Diary" I love this film...maybe in some strange ways I relate to it :-) I actually can't receive the English channel on my TV and it was a joy to watch last night and listen to some English being spoken.I should also mention it was even more enjoyable as I decided to have a "junk food pig out" and enjoy my Australian "Caramello Koala's", "Freddo Frogs" and some "Lay's Crisps" that you can get here and they actually taste like Crisps from home. I have to ration my chocolate though...so I couldn't go too overboard on the finer things in life. "Bridget Jones's Diary" and junk food...the perfect combination (lol)
There are actually some DVD's here at my apartment but many are not really my scene. There is a "Mr Bean" one here which I watched the other night...funny thing was, it was in Russian :-)It gave me a chance to brush up and remember my Russian language skills (it was "Bean"...so not too much dialogue and had English subtitles) After exploring "Erma Lu" I walked to another part of town (on another side) and found a really great shopping place that Graham (another Aussie here in Yichang)told me about. There is a huge range of groceries...It's a bit out of my way,but not too bad, and I now know the number 1 bus will also get me there from the square.
So nothing too exciting to tell...just looking around :-)