FOUR MORE

All of these are from Shanghai.

Christianity does exist here in China. As does Hershey chocolates, Cold Stone, Papa Johns, Subway, Burger King, Mickey D's, Dunkin Donuts, Mister Donuts and a Texas barbecue chain. I have not seen a GAP, T.G.I.F, or Saks, but I have seen every upscale store you see on Michigan Avenue (not a Nordstroms) and many really expensive watch brands and many, many cosmetic stores. Seems the Chinese women want to look like white women (really, it seems like if they could do what Michael Jackson did, they would).

A LONG TIME

Once the government started blocking blogspot and I started using Facebook I forgot (really ignored) this blog. Now I think I have reliable access to my blog: I will start posting here again. Today is picture day.

The Picture of the dog is in Zhengzhou. I was thinking he wanted the big bottle of Budweiser. The rest are from Shanghai.

POST VACATION BLAHS

I have been home for 8 days and I am bored. Few people here, although a friend is staying with me, and weather is not good enough to be out on bike all day, so I spend quite a bit of time reading and doing nothing. Weather is good enough that I am able to run (if you can call it that) again.

The foreign teachers from Canada returned earlier this week and that helps out. But, they are married and actually like being together, so that leaves little time for others. the wife did save me from holding the title of "Idiot of the Day" for more than 2 hours. I had tried to call them all day and their phone was never answered. It had gotten to the point that I was going to go to their apartment to make sure they were alive. Finally, I looked at my phone list and realized I had been calling George all day and not them: Therefore, I was Idiot of the Day. Ah, but I did not hold the title for long.

Later, the husband and I were drinking beer and watching Independence Day when his wife arrived. The movie was at the part where a counterstrike was going on... She asked...."does Canada have one of those people flying things?" She immediately took the title from me. Later she asks, "how can they fly into space and go to their ship, how do they know they have milk to breathe?" She had solidified her hold on the title. Gotta love those Canadians! She would hunt me down and kill me if she read this.

While I was in Guangzhou I spent a lot of time at a fish/sea food distribution center and market. Except for the smell (the workers walk to the seawall and pee on the ground; I don't know why they do not pee into the water), it was really fascinating. Here are some pictures of a shopping area, a street outside of Peoples Park (the protective machine) and the fish market.
















I was very surprised to see the condom dispenser. That is located near Peoples Park, as I have said before all cities in China have a Peoples Park to celebrate the Revolution. This is the first time I have seen this. And, I have no information about significant gay activity in this area, but, the presence of this indicates that or prostitution. China is not what I learned in college.

TTYL
Terry

HAIKOU, HAINAN PROVINCE (ISLAND)

I am back home in Shangqiu, so I will start putting some pictures and videos on this blog.




Every city in China I have visited has a People's Park. The two pictures above are from Haikou. People's Parks in China are almost always elaborate, well maintained, and I rarely use this word, beautiful. I think the same can be said for the primary parks in America. Because of the number of people in China, the parks here are very clean and well maintained. Very little rubbish (ah the affects of my exposure to the rest of the world is reflected in that word) and constantly changing floral.





I commented on one of the above pictures before, that poor cow. The other is of two Chinese children "celebrating" Christmas. (If I ever get another one of those "Let's keep Christ in Christmas mass emails it will be too soon.)



The top video was taken at Peoples Park and the man is singing Haikou opera. The other is of street traffic in Haikou. I am not posting one of me standing in the middle of a street watching traffic pass.

TTYL

A NICE DAY ALMOST FROM HELL

I must be relaxing when I call what you are about to read as being almost from hell.

I started out the day at Starbucks. I am predisposed not to like French people: I don't like that part of me, but it exists. I was relaxing and reading a map when a guy comes in and sits down by an exterior window. Two minutes later he bellows to the staff his order, when they do not understand he walks to the counter and tells them again. After telling them his order he loudly states he knows no Chinese and will not learn it. Then he recites the 3 words and/or phrases he does know. The first he says is that he does not understand and the second is no. Guess his nationality.

However, five minutes later two other men walk into the shop, by then I am outside on the veranda drinking my coffee, after they get their order they sit at the table behind me. Before they sat both of them said hello, interrupting a spirited conversation they were having. Guess where they were from.

With all good comes some bad, and I have seen the stereotypical Ugly American here. He is a former real estate (commercial) guy from the s.e. United States. He tries to make Chinese people eat in a western style and does not adapt his behavior to where he is at that time. And, he compares how much money he spends on mutual Chinese friends with the amount I have spent. UGLY AMERICAN PERSONIFIED (in my opinion).

After Starbucks I spent the day with a local who showed me the city. First, I think I could love Guangzhou! It is big, mostly clean and full of energy. But the day with this local was difficult.

I think he is afraid of everything unknown. If he had not taken that route before it was dangerous, the subway is dangerous and he walked very fast to avoid danger. I tried to explain to him that I had not seen the city before and we should slow down; two minutes later back at an 8 minute mile clip. Eventually, when it was not rude, I said I was going home, but went for a slow walk around the neighborhood, then back to my hotel.

My hotel is called 7 Days Inn. If you can, come here and go to the big cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong (but Hong Kong is expensive). My hotel in Guangzhou (and international and cosmopolitan city) costs $23.00 per night. It is like a Holiday Inn Express. The food is cheap, two people can eat on 20 U.S per day, And, if you plan, the airfare is relatively cheap. They (7 Days Inn) are sprouting up all over China. It is my preferred choice, no frills (well some have washers, all have breakfast and have Internet) and inexpensive. I am 100o yards from Shamian Island (a very ritzy place that used to house all of the embassies). I am also very near a port that brings in seafood.

I have learned that the fish does not come off fishing boats that dock here. The fish is shipped in via the Pearl River from the places where it is caught. Makes sense, but I deluded myself with the idea that the people that caught the fish delivered the fish to market. HA HA

I also learned that here, unlike Chicago, the restaurants buy their fish the night before and store it over night.

Anyway, I wondered around there tonight, for the second time, looking for dinner. The restaurants and kiosks do not sell cooked fish, seems those that handle and deal with it all day do not want to eat it (reminds me of working at Dunkin Donuts when I was 15, hated the damn things).

I am posting pictures I took tonight, less than two hours ago. The alligators are cool and the lights on the other side of the Pearl River are just as cool (though they are blurred).

TTLY

Terry

24 (almost) HOURS ON THE CHINA SEA

I am taking a ferry/ship from Haikou to Guangzhou. The trip is about 19. hours. It is the first time I have been on the open sea. I am on the China Sea. Currently the boat is rocking back and forth and side to side, however, I am not getting sick (must be all those years of bed spins from my friends Jager, Jose, Jack and Southern 1x), The sunset was great and the idea of being out here is even better.









My 7 days in Haikou were ok, not great just ok. One of my friends got sick and the other was typical Chinese, never thinks about the other person. But, it is also my fault for not speaking Chinese better. If I spoke ok Chinese I could have done more.

I am posting some pictures of the boat, harbor and sea. I will post more about Haikou (The Wugong Temple was nice) later.

This ship has satellite television, so I get 2 Chinese channels (on five different station settings).

I am listening to Traffic while writing this. It is the Low Spark of High Heeled Boys in honor of the gay Chinese couple shipboard. One is a flamer.

Even though it is very big, the ship rolls over the water, it feels like it moves forward in surges. I got good pictures of the sunset, but it is cloudy and I can't see stars. Will try later to see the sky,

Oh, I have a first class cabin (such as it is) all to myself. twin bunks, a sink, TV and couch, And, I got free dinner. I am not complaining, a student from school father has connections and I got it for free, saved me 300 RMB. Yea, I am happy.

I am going on deck in shorts, the Chinese people will look at me like I am crazy. Everyone has to be the same here in China. After October 1, in central to north China, they no longer have cold beer available. I am not talking about Beijing or Shanghai or Fuzhou, but the smaller cities that have not had the exposure to other ideas consistently.

The swells have picked up quite a bit. It is not making me sick but it is awkward moving around, don't know how sailors stay upright in a violently roiling sea.

I woke up at 3 in the morning and looked out the window and saw a bright moon in a mostly clear sky. I went on deck to look at the sky. Without city lights I was hoping the stars would look close enough to touch. The sky was full of stars and a couple of planets. The did not appear to be close enough to touch, but there were many many more than I normally can see. It was the first time in a long time I was able to clearly identify the Big Dipper and other constellations.


Now I will try to wake up at 6:30 to see the sun rise.

Sunrise was ok, nothing spectacular. Pretty, but when it came up there was a marine layer, so by the time it was visible it had been up a while.

Later we passed my many small islands. At first they appeared to be just rocks, as we got closer you could see green foliage. Some had antennas on it's highest point. One looked to be a resort. We are going through the Yangtze River to get to Guangzhou and there is a lot of activity by smaller ferries island hoping.

I forgot to mention that as we left Haikou there was what appeared to be a sail surfing competition about a mile off shore. It was pretty cool. If the pictures are acceptable I will post them.

We are to arrive in port at 11.30, 20.5 hours after we set sail.

TTYL

Terry

We are going to be 2 hours late arriving. I don't know for sure, but we may have been slowed by the weather on the China Sea. The small islands we passed were nearer to Shenzhen than Guangzhou. This is a heavily traveled water way. That makes sense because Guangzhou is a huge manufacturing center. I have been told that this is where New Balance, Nike and the rest of the shoe companies have their factories.

I have eaten two meals on board, both the same and both hit my stomach like a lead balloon. The lunch today seemed to be what was left from yesterday that they did not expect to serve, but because of the delay they served it to us. At least it was free.

We disembarked at 2:40 p.m. It was an interesting trip, but next time I will not do it alone.

Below is an image of the China Sea. If you look closely you will see a large island (Hainan) just south of the central part of China. There is a line drawn from the s.e. corner of the island to Guangzhou, that is the route the ship took.

FINALLY FINALLY AN UPDATE

I am finally getting around to updating this blog. I am watching the movie "Bucket List" while I do this, so it may take a while to complete.

I am settled at this school. I said this before, but it bears repeating, when things get comfortable, things go wrong.

A few weeks ago I came to the realization, for the second time, that foreign teachers care more about their student's education than do they. The hurts your motivation. I find it hard to concentrate only on the students that want to learn. I like to see the light come on for the recalcitrant ones.

I teach a part-time job at a local private college. Private colleges accept students that did not pass the test for a state university, and they cost a lot of money. So, I am teaching a bunch of rich kids that did not care enough to work hard to get into a state school. Tell them to speak only English in class and they can do it for 3 seconds (on a good day). They have been learning English for no less than 6 years and all they can do is read from a text. In an effort to show them how poor English speakers they are, I took them out on campus and had them describe what they saw. They were able to say I see green grass, I see a bench, the leaves are brown. They finally understood they need to work. That understanding lasted for 1 week.

My full-time job is at a state university. This school is probably a second tier school. We had a Scottish guy here that was asked to leave. I think he has a mental illness. He acted inappropriately with the students, and (wait for it) he physically attacked me.

This man is not right. I went to Ganzhou in early October, when I returned he called me and said he wanted me to share his apartment, I artfully dodged the issue while still declining. One week later he was telling his classes that he hates Americans. He verbally attacked and abused his students. He told one class that he would only talk to 5 specific students: He found out that several students (both male and female) complained to the school about his hugging. Returning to school one day I was scuttling down an auxiliary roadway and I called out to him. He made an obscene gesture to which I responded that was "rude" whereupon he charged me and attempted to intimidate me while poking his finger in my chest.

The point of that story is that I am teaching sophomores oral English; that is in addition to teaching 16 hours a week of intensive reading comprehension to seniors. I had my oral English students learn a song, the song is "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." They sang it last week and did quite well. The top two groups won a free dinner at a good restaurant.

cont. days later, January 2, 2009.

A big problem with a hangover in this city is that there is NO PLACE to get a cheeseburger. I want to go to Toons for greasy meat.

I give a final exam next week, after I am done grading them I will leave for the Chinese version of Hawaii. It is called Hainan and is an island on the southern coast of mainland China. Then I go to two other large cities.

I have been back to Shanghai this year and appreciate the civilization that can be found there. However, that civilization is based on conspicuous consumption. In Shanghai there are HUGE glittering shopping centers everywhere. It seems like they are sometimes only a kilometer apart. Shangqiu has no large shopping centers.

Shangqiu is in Henan Province. This province is culturally 20 years behind the large metropolitan areas of China. Women hold their babies over the curb to perform all bodily functions, grown men step to the side of the road to urinate, dishes are cleaned by dipping them in a bucket of water then dried, and people not covering their mouth when coughing is the norm.

I went shopping yesterday and three young boys, about 8 years old, saw me secure my bike. They then proceeded to follow me throughout the store, they appeared utterly fascinated by my presence. See, in rural China everyone looks the same anyone that looks different is an oddity. I explain to friends and students that the west is much different. Particularly in America, where almost everyone has come from a different country, so seeing people of different races is the rule and not the exception.

I am done writing for now. I will post a video that shows the street corner at the gate of my school. I hope it gives you an idea of common life here in Shangqiu and other smaller cities.

TTYL

Terry





The above is common in smaller areas. By smaller I mean Shangqiu is the size of a Rockford or Madison. Without the cultrual advantages of either.

GANZHOU

I am very happy I do not teach in Ganzhou; this is the most unfriendly place in China I have visited. They hate Indians and cannot tell that I am not from India.
More later.

Terry

NEW CITY AND SCHOOL

Holy f...king crap.

This new city is so small I want to call it "backwater". I think I can walk the enitre place in an hour. By place I mean the city proper. The county has 8 million people but the city only about 500k.

I have learned that all schools are the same in China. Short term thinking and little to no planning.

I have not put together what I want to write about where I am and changing cities but, I wanted to let all know I have not forgotten about this blog. I will try to make it more intersting than it was in the winter and spring.

I am waiting for the internet, cable and other features of my hovel to be repaired. When the internet is up I will sit back and put some organized thought on the screen.

In the meantime remember how good Americans have it in the United States. The indigenous people have a hard life here but, they do try and not work hard....they try to do as little as possible. And, if they are a member of the party they have a job for life. Unless they get caught in corruption; not that I am planning on ratting out a couple of people from a different school that are taking kickbacks from as company in Hangzhou.

Terryu

NEW TOWN

I have moved to Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China. A new school for this year. This town is much smaller and much "slower" than Nan Chang. But, like a lot of middle size cityies in the states it seems to have crime troubles. From the first day here I felt it had the element of bored teenage and early twenties males that created problems. Besides that it seems to be nice town. Not as small as I think but not nearly as large as I am used to, sort of like Rockford.

I have spent two days at fish farms watching them harvest fish. I will post the pictures when I get access to my usb drive, I am not on my computer. My friend, Lai Zhou, family rents two lakes/ponds and raise fish. Last night I went to another fish farm and wathced them harvest the fish and then went to the fish market. At the fish farm they use large barrels to haul the fish from the water to the truck. The barrels were carred by men that appeared to be 70 years old. The muscles on their backs were bulbous from years of hauling things around on poles strung over their shoulders.

They harvested about 1,200 kilos of fish and it took 5 hours to load. Watching this was boring but interesting. The lake is in the mountains and the sky was clear so there were lot of stars to see and I think I say satellites. I was surprised by the amount of air traffic there was at this time of night.

The amount of fish I have seen pulled out of the water over those two days was incredible, considering that there are many others that do the same. And, all of the fish are sold the next morning to middle men that sell it to the markets. In China fish is a not a staple but a delicacy.

I will be home soon and will see some of you then.

Terry

LEAVING NANCHANG

It is 10:45 and the temperature here in Nan Chang is 87 degrees, the low tonight is projected at 84. The heat index now is 100. This place is hot and I am glad I am moving to a new city tomorrow. I am not just glad because of the heat but most of my friends have left and a new batch of teachers are coming in. I am moving to a city in south Jiangxi Province called Ganzhou. It is smaller than this place but is supposed to have better air and less arrogant people.

I finally let student friends know I am leaving, I was surprised at how unhappy they were. Their displeasure made me feel good.

I will be in the states soon so I will see some of you then.

In the mean time, enjoy the cooler weather in the USA.

Terry

DONE WITH THIS TERM

. I am finished with this term and will be heading home in a few weeks. In the meantime, I will teach three weeks of summer camp and see a little bit of China. I am going to Ganzhou tomorrow about a job. I don't want to leave here but I may have to go there to work.

Here are some recent pictures. The sleeping guy is Laizhou, a good friend. The lady with the hat is a parking lot attendant, the room is the teachers lounge at my current school on the new campus (cleanliness is not important here) the others are general scenes around town some of the Olympic torch relay. I rode my bike across town and it was longer than I thought it was and I got lost













May seem boring but, I will be home soon and get to tell you in person how this year went.

This is Terry, looking forward to pasta, an Italian Beef dipped with sweet peppers and a real steak. And, of course Jaegermiester.

Terry