Winter on campus

WOW, it is cold here. The temperature is higher than Chicago is but it feels much colder. It has to do with the water content of the air. I hope that is one of the last times I whine about the cold.

The updates have been less frequent because I am feeling like life here is almost normal. I am trying to look at things differently because I know that everything is different here but, I do not want to bore you with the mundane (wow, I am calling things in China mundane, I am acclimating myself to this country) and uninteresting.

I now find it mundane to see a mother holding her child over the gutter and allowing it to shit or piss. It is now mundane to see women walking down the street in bed clothing. It is now mundane to see two guys intertwined as they walk down the street. I now find it mundane to see a full city bus driving down the wrong side of the road. I now find it mundane to see people spitting bones on the restaurant table while they eat. I now find it mundane to not have water for several days in a row. I now find it mundane to see restaurant cleaning the dishes on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant. I now find it mundane to see grown men step 20’ away and urinate whole waiting for the bus. I now find it mundane to hear and watch a good lucking woman hork up a luggie and spit on the bus floor. I find a lot here mundane.

This winter has been the coldest in 50 years. There are coal and food shortages. Thanks to the New York Times website, I know that 24 people died when a bus plunged 40 meters (130 feet) off the side of a mountain. The Chinese government predicts 600,000 people will be stuck at the train station by Monday of next week, 170,000 in Shanghai and the expressway and airport out of Nan Chang been closed since Saturday the 26th of January. I think I am stuck here until next week. Oh yeah, we have not had water in our building for three days, well most, my water was turned off today. The water lines have frozen and hot water does not defrost them. I am going to the health club to workout and have a hot shower tomorrow.

Life here is interesting. Because of a falling out with one of my travel companions to Shanghai, I did not go to Guangzhou. I told this guy that when I first met him, something about him scared me. I could not put it to words. However, age grants something you. And, when he exploded at me over the phone, I figured it out. The problem is that I started not liking the guy two weeks before the trip to Shanghai. My desire to make money made me put it aside. I am glad he thinks I am passive/aggressive and would not be good with children because, I have had several job opportunities that would not have arisen if I had left town. And, all my friends know I am not passive/aggressive, I am always aggressive.

I took many pictures of the campus today. I woke up to at least three inches of snow. When I went outside I found many frozen tree limbs and a frozen pond (they call it a lake). The pictures that follow are of my campus.

I have inexpensive accommodations in Hangzhou next week. If I can get there, I will be in what the Chinese call a very pretty city. Some pictures of that later.

Thanks for reading.

Terry.

Shanghai

Shanghai is a BIG city, very BIG. It makes Chicago look like a town in Podunk Iowa. Moreover, it is cosmopolitan with a diverse population. There are so many westerners that, unlike in Nan Chang, you do not acknowledge their presence. The downside of that is that some exude arrogance that is probably a result of their jobs.

The city has many western restaurants including Subway Sandwich shops. Wu Shuai and I went there for lunch. The only western food we have eaten together that I know he has enjoyed. In fact, when we were next in the area he bought a sandwich to take home for his dinner.

I went to Shanghai with Rodney, Aaron, Rodney is a teacher at my school, and Aaron teaches at a university on the other side of town. We stayed at a hostel; this place was economical, clean and convenient. However, it makes one of the worst pizzas I have ever eaten; the pizza had pesto sauce as its base topping.

Like Hong Kong, Shanghai has a large, clean and efficient mass transit system. The system is used by a significant portion of the 1 million people that live in the city (14,000,000 is the number I was given this weekend, like the population of this whole country that number is probably understated). The system has large monitors that provide news, sports and transit information. The display indicates how long until the next train arrives at the stop and, the trains tend to arrive within 15 seconds of the displayed time.

The bus system appears to be large and efficient. The buses are wide and clean. In addition, people do not hork up a luggie and spit on the floor as they do in Nan Chang. On some of the buses, they do not have automatic fare machines. Instead, there is a person sitting by the rear door, after people get on the bus that person walks through the bus (as best as they can because of the number of people on the bus) and collects fares. This is China dealing with so many people and doing its best at full employment.

Prices in Shanghai are lower than in Nan Chang. An example is the price of pork: It costs 24 Yuan per kilo in Nan Chang and 14 per kilo in Shanghai.
I was able to locate the first 7 years of The Simpsons; it cost about 8 U.S dollars. In addition, I found the 7th season of West Wing, which cost about 9 U.S. dollars. I have been watching West Wing since I got home.

Note that I used the word home. I find it interesting that I am calling my residence in China home. The PSB issued my residency permit; I am now allowed to live in China for more than 30 days. Yep, you figured out that I have been living here illegally for several months. I love this university.
Well that is it for now.

I will not be going to Guangzhou to work the winter camp.

From Shanghai, PRC

this was in my draft box, that means there are two entries today. I will review the posts to see if I put up pictures from Shanghai.

This is cool traveling around China.

When I left Nan Chang the weather was warm, my students were returning to campus to take more finals and the pollution was so bad our running group could not run. I was ready for a break from that city.

Rodney, Aaron and I took the hi-speed train to Shanghai. The train left on time, was clean, quiet and arrived early. Some services for the general public are better run as a not for profit organization. A train system like this in the US would be a great benefit to all socio-economic levels. I only saw part of the train station here but, what I did see reminded me of an airport.

My friend, WuShaui, met us at the station and we took the mass transit train to our hostel. Like Hong Kong, the inner city train system is large, clean and efficient. They have clocks on the was counting down to the next trains arrival. They seem to arrive within 5 - 10 seconds of the the clock time. This system makes sense because of hte number of people in this city. It is huge.

Hello Everybody (well those of you still checking this site):

Pictures are not posting from this computer i am using here. Maybe soon I will get an internet connection in my home. This school lies.

Classes ended on the 28th of December and I graded my last exam a week ago. Only four students failed, one out of pure stupidity and the others because they just are not smart. I was given my first class assignment for next term. That is unusual because normally this school does not tell teachers what they will teach until a day or two before classes start.

Classes do not start again until the 18th of February. A few of us are going to travel around China. Tomorrow we are off to Shanghai and come back here on Wednesday. Then next weekend it is Hong Kong (one of the other teachers needs to get a new Visa), then to Guangzhou for a week of teaching at a winter camp (the weather will be warm) then we may go to the Chinese version of Hawaii. The island is Hunan, that spelling is probably wrong. We plan on being back in Nanchang around the 10th of February.

I think my term will be done in mid to late June, I will come to the states until mid-August. Plan on going to Chicago first, then S. Cali., then back to the Midwest with a visit to Madison and the balance of the time in Chicago.

I started a little running group here. However, sometimes the air is so bad we don't run.

I got nothing else to say right now. I do not have internet at home, still. I use an internet cafe and it is akward using these machines.

I will have a lot to write about the next month. I will try to update this while we are traveling and post the occassional picture.

I am trying to repost the pictures FAS posted, they are the last ones of Christmas.

Hope all is well.

Terry

FAS

Hi, I am FAS, the picture above this is me. Don't ask me about the name, Terry gave it to me.

Terry has been busy with finals, the “holidays” and being himself, so he has not updated his blog in a long time. Now he is out somewhere with his friends, doing who knows what so, I am doing it for him.

I came to China about a month after he did. I know he bitched about his trip but mine was worse. You trying being fondled by American and Chinese postal workers; I will not mentioned what happened with the baggage handlers on the different planes I was thrown onto. I was very happy when I was put in the same place for a few hours.

I remember when Terry picked me up at the postal station. I had been sitting by what I think was the front desk for quite a while. While I was there I heard these two ladies talking and they kept saying Terry White over and over again. I found out later that Terry had been awaiting my arrival and was not happy with the postal service, I thing he said they stole his shit. One of the ladies called someone else and said Terry’s name, about an hour later I heard this strong masculine voice say something about a package for him. That was Terry. He carried my container to where he lived, I remember he had to walk up a lot of stairs (anytime anyone takes me someplace we have to use stairs, does not seem like fun) but, he seemed happy.

When I was taken into my new home my container was jostled and I began to see sunlight, then I saw a big smiling face (I figured it was Terry). The guy took me out of my box and started tossing me up into the air and running around my new home. I thought good, I am being used like I am supposed to be used. Next, I was taken across the hall and given to a guy called Rodney and he did the same things Terry did with me. I was happy. That is how the rest of my first day went. But, at the end of the day I was put on this big hard thing called a mattress and Terry got in next to me, I don’t know why he used that big fluffy thing and I did not get one.

The next day was strange.

Terry went somewhere for a long time then, he came home and tossed me around, changed clothes and took me outside. (Someone please tell him not to have me in the room when he changes clothes.) Terry and Rodney took me to something called a soccer pitch. They started tossing me around and the next thing I knew there are all of these other guys talking in some strange language I did not understand. I know I was made in China but, I never thought I would come back here so I did not pay attention to the language. Next thing I knew Terry and Rodney are organizing a football game and I was the only ball. Wait this is supposed to be about Terry. Damn, its always about him. Well not this time because I am writing this entry. They played with me for a couple of hours then I was taken home.

The first day there were only 9 people playing football and it seemed like Terry was trying to tell them, and Rodney, how to throw the ball and play the game. I thought it was funny because , the Chinese guys have watched a lot of Australian Rules Football and every time they would catch me they would throw me to someone else. By week 4 they learned that was not the correct way to play with me. After we were done that first day Terry took me home and lounged around for a while; he held me most of the evening.

The first week I was here I spent the night in bed with him. Oh, the horror story I could write about that week. The pictures following this show what my life is like at this school in China. The ones he took of the basketball courts really irritate me, since when does basketball think it is a real sport. The skateboarders don’t bother me much, we all know about those types. I hear him coming into the apartment so I gotta go. I will tell you more about my time in China later.

TTYL,

FAS

(f'ing American sport)

Sorry there is no picture, Terry is leaving for Shanghai this Friday and forgot to put one on here.

Christmas Pictures

Just some Christmas pictures from China.

CHRISTMAS TIME

It has been a while since I have posted. Some of the delay is because things here have settled into a routine for me, most of the things I used to see with wonder are now common place. Other reasons are final exams, lack of internet in my residence and a more sedentary life because of the weather. Enough excuses.

I have pictures of Christmas in China and will post them later this week.

I am amazed at the prevelance of Christmas here in China. Most major stores, including SchlockMart, have Christmas displays. It seems that the Chinese believe that all foreigners celebrate Christmas. I do not think they realize the correlation of Christmas with the purported birth of Christ (I will not activate the comments for this entry). I have received numerous boxes of Dove chocolates as Christmas presents and, I have not opened a single one. My new pig out food are peanuts, can't get enough of them.

There are Christmas displays everywhere, most of them bad. Some of the trees are hilarious. And, you have not laughed until you have seen a 130 lb Chinese man dressed as Santa Claus.

The spirit of being nice to others is one of the good benefits of being in China. Everyone seems to be in a better mood. No bad attitudes from shoppers however, I have not been in SchlockMart on a weekend in three weeks. Things may be different in that pit. I will not say I do not go there, they have bottles of Johnnie Walker for about $16.00 US, I am lucky I don't live down the block.

Things may change for me. I have job offers to go to other schools, one of them would double my salary. Until this afternoon I was not giving them serious consideration, today they changed the way I am reimbursed for expenses. I can afford them now but, they change the rules in the middle of the game: Why should I show loyalty and honor the remainder of my contract?

I have to cut this short. Some students want to meet me and give me a Christmas present; I hope it is not more Dove chocolate. A huge Snickers bar would be GREAT.

Hope everyone has/had a good Christmas. If you do not get a call from know that I am thinking of all my friends.

Terry

I am working Christmas Day

Nan Chang








Nan Chang






























Hong Kong
Hong KongHong Kong

Hong Kong


Disregard what I have written about the order of the pictures. When I uploaded them, the order was jumbled. Figure them out.

Here are some more pictures of Hong Kong. The city is so clean, the indigenous people are no nicer than mainlanders but, the city is so clean. When I was in Hong Kong, I got lost. Three Chinese people were unwilling to help me, luckily there are a lot of westerners I was able to to talk with and get help from. I have asked several Chinese people about this and have been told that it is common in China, people do not help strangers and, they may help people they know but it is uncommon. Life is so hard here they will deliberately not help anyone. And, when it comes to westerners (I think that should be treated as proper noun) they are afraid of using the English skills they have learned so, they do not try.

The pictures I am posting are of the harbor area and downtown. I will return to Hong Kong during spring festival and take more pictures and, I will go to the top of the mountain on which the island derives.

Back at school.

None of the Westerners have heat. This building was originally built for students so the wiring is not capable of handling large electricity demands. (the story is that Mao Tse Tung decreed that parts of China south of a certain line did not require heat and that parts north of that line did not require any cooling systems) Every time a heating unit is turned on it activates the circuit breakers. This makes it tougher because all of the buildings here are built from concrete and have no insulation. Those of us that have space heaters use them, those without use more blankets and heavy clothing. A space heater only heats its immediate area.

Finals are coming up. LOL. I was told to have my final exams AND retests ready by the 17th of December. They will be ready and I start reviewing with the students on the 10th of the month. Reviewing is telling the students exactly, yes exactly, what is on the test. Otherwise they will fail and the teacher must give a retest in February. 20 percent of my test can be answered by reading the remainder of the test, I have been told that it is still too hard.

I am a klutz but not bad enough to break a key of in a lock that works correctly. That is what happened to me yesterday. Three time I have been told that it is not that persons job to find someone to fix the problem and, our minders are not answering their cell phones and text messages. This is not an “I love China” day.

The foreign community lost 2 of their numbers this week. Turstin and Amir returned to Germany this week. However, we have met other ones to take their place. The more Westerners I meet the more gay people I find. And no sex for me, the Finnish girl made a show of being with a Chinese guy when I saw her last week.

We went to a Brazilian barbeque last week, it was great. 12 of us ate animal flesh for an hour before we realized there was a salad bar. LOL. Lamb, chickenr pork, beef and salmon. Te salmon tasted old, it was sushi style, so, it was only tasted. Now we are back to eating leaves, roots and rice or noodles. Hey I weigh less than 100 kilos, at this rate I am going to need a body lift. My clothes are sagging, I feel like those teenagers that run around in baggy clothes but, I keep my ass crack covered. Nice mental picture, huh.

There is a bar here that gives free Heineken to Westerners, our group of twelve was given a case. And, as I walked around the bar, Chinese people with whole bottles of Johnnie Walker Black kept refilling my glass. I like that bar.

If you come across the movie Bicycle Thieves, it is Italian from around WWII, watch it. It is a good movie and seems to correctly portray life at that time there and current life here. Life is harder in a lot of places. Times have not changed.
In spite of Bush, America is so very, very good.

I will add to this later.

A blanket and space heater only stop some of the cold. Cold weather, concrete walls, wood vinyl flooring and wet air are hard to handle.

It is 10:00 Saturday night and I am going to bed. Exciting life here in China. LOL, there is fun to be had if you go out. Funny thing is the Chinese go home by midnight, so few of them and mostly Westerners (140 or so in town) are out later than that. That can mean trouble, stuff I can’t/won’t write about here.

The pictures following this are of Nan Chang. Some are of sculptures by the river, the others are of the central part of the city. The pirate ship is in central Nan Chang and is in front of a new building. To prove Americans are nuts, I rode my bike down the path between the stairs. Scared the shit out of me.


Terry

Happy Birthday Dad

Today, November 30th, is my father’s birthday. He is 85 years old today. Happy Birthday Dad.

On to the boring Blog.

This past Sunday I went to Hong Kong. I took an overnight train 793 kilometers to Shenzen, China. It had 17 cars, 13 of the cars have a seating capacity of 118 people. The other cars were sleepers or “soft seat” cars. Those had a capacity of 50 to 100 people. The train was full.

The only thing worse than an airplane bathroom 9 hours into a 12 hour flight is a Chinese train 4 hours into a 12 hour trip. It was, the only word that is appropriate, horrid.

First thng that happened was that I was accosted by a 7 year old beggar, he could have been 10 or 12 (Chinese people are small). He was filthy and acted as if he was deaf and mute. He was filthy and kept touching my arm and leg trying to pester me into giving him money. Of course, he got no money from me. After he left me I went to wash my hands to rid myself of every germ, bacteria or infectious disease he probably has, then I went for a walk.

When I came back from my walk, I saw the young beggar talking with another child and counting his money. People/beggars are the same everywhere.

As I was boarding the train, a young western appearing woman tried to push past me. I have learned Chinese custom and she did not get past me. However, when I got to my seat she was right behind me, her seat was in the same row as mine. I had the window seat. In Chinese, she tried to convince me that the window seat was hers. You know what happened. Later, during the train ride she started to complain to the other passengers in our area about me taking her seat. I explained to her, with hand signs, the seating configuration and showed her and the group my ticket number. She swore and sat down and began mumbling to herself. I looked and pointed at her and made baby crying noises. Everyone laughed at her and she switched aisle seats with another passenger.

On the train, I had a dinner plate. The food was ok however; I immediately noticed that it was not spicy. The food in Nanchang and Jiangxi Province is known for its spice. They use lots of hot peppers in this region.

To cut this short: At 1:00 a.m. I left my seat and found one in another car where I could stretch out and sleep. I did not sleep.

The train arrived in Shenzen at 6:30, over half an hour late. As I was walking along the platform, I saw another westerner and asked if he could tell me how to get to customs and the cabstand. He asked where I was going and told me the route supplied to me was stupid. He led me to customs and the mass transit system. At customs, the agent actually looked at my passport picture and me several times. To a stranger, I no longer look exactly like my picture.

The subway system in Hong Kong is GREAT. It is clean, fast and efficient. It is also expensive. I was able to take the system to within two blocks of the immigration office. I got lost a couple of times because I tried to follow
the directions the office here gave me: I finally did what the westerner said to do.

I have always thought Chicago’s skyline was beautiful. Hong Kong’s rivals it. That city is huge. So many people and, for the most part they are officed and housed vertically.

I arrived at the immigration building 35 minutes after it opened. There were about 50 people in line in front of me. An Australian told me I would be there all day. I was worried I would have to spend extra days in Hong Kong. When I got to the front of the line, an American walked out of the building and handed me his number, I was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt, it was #43. When I got upstairs I was given number 113, the queue was on number 29, I got lucky. All went well with dropping off my papers and passport so I gave my number 113 to a person with number 170.

I spent the next 6 hours wondering around Hong Kong. That place is huge, busy and very cosmopolitan. I was not stared at once, I rather missed the extra attention.

The pictures I posted in this Blog are of Hong Kong. I have also posted the menu from our Thanksgiving Day dinner.

Hope all is well.

Dad, I hope your Birthday is a good one.

Love Terry

Hong King Pictures

The tall monument commemorates the
return of Hong Kong to China. Pictures of Christmas in Hong Kong. Tall Buildings, me and general stuff










Hong Kong Convention center is below.
And a ferry for crossing Hong Kong Harbor.