China 2006 14-16

Ok, so now I know how to load some pictures, the ne part is how do I move them around so that I have them where I am talking about them and how can I load them off MY camera .

Well I am trying to master some of these techniques on the fly so to speak.

There are a couple of interesting shots. The wall shot shows Mongolia to the right and China to the left. I am not sure why you need a wall to stop the hordes....seems like the terrain would do that. Another shot is that of us on the bus...I was at the back...toke westerner...not really....Another is of downtown Beijing... and this is just a miniscule portion of what it is like...I will try to get more. The other one was at the Bamboo hotel...the inner part...but there were about 4 areas like this...including a waterfall

Wednesdy was a staff meeting and we were taken by cab to Tuanli to a Muslim restaurant for supper. I will get some shots of our "staff meeting" as we got a little boisterous....Mark got far too boisterous drinking somethng call Pijou...hard liquor...and he was hurting the next day...apparently you are not supposed to mix beer and this and he did... We found out the next day that we were eating lamb's testicles and some other delicacies. Several of the women say they are now going vegetarian....actually they tasted quite good....you speared them with toothpicks....not sure what the stuff was that was on the shish kabob sticks but I am sure someone will get all the details and I will pass it on.

Thursday evening was a joint staff meeting with the Chinese teachers and interns and the Canadian staff and it was expected that you were to be there. I was late as I was preparing those Friday exams I will tell you about. It was Karaoke and apparently will be that. Only one of our staff got up....and did reasonably well. We have decided that next time...mid November we are going to do the YMCA and really do it up well...practices and all. It was interesting about 5 minutes before 10 a lady came on and said something and then there was some modern music....well, all the younger set were up and dancing to it....a middle aged man comes up behind me and tries to get me to go but I resist...finally I drag him up with me....it was a bit of a riot and we were dancing...then 10 o'clock, the light go on full bore and you are whisked out and I mean whisked.....the tables are cleared in about 5 minutes, and almost everyone is gone......done.

Friday was an uneventful day as it was test day for the students. Unit 4 for the 11s and I don't know what for the others. Anyway I have about 140 4 page tests to correct and idiot that I am, I have included some writing that I will have to read...funny how English should be about reading and writing and yet apparently, others make up multiple guess and fill in the blanks and matching to evaluate it. Maybe changes are coming for me.

Lesson plans have to be created on Friday so that we are sort of justifying our positions and perhaps giving someone something to do......Anyway, a bus is charted every Friday for the staff to take into but not out of Beijing. I drop off some laundry 5 shirts and 2 pairs of pants to dryclean....cost about 40 yuan....7 dollars

Stopped by Starbucks in the China World Trade Centre. Girls got theres and Chris and I wandered around. We found all the expensive places to shop. Apparently some don't even put price tags on the stuff because it would offend people who have the money to pay whatever they want. The Louis Vitton store even has guards and about 12 guys around the store. It is vulgar the richness of the place and how much money some people have and can throw away. This is truly the upper class area. ...The centre has a small hockey arena as well. Chris and i found it and then tried to get back by another route...lost...return the old way....best Idea.

My troop of cohorts who are going to Inner Mongolia had to go and pay for our escapade. Took us over and hour to find the place...I knew where it was but was not told the place it was near...I know where the Gloria Plaza is but that was only in the last couple of directions so we walked almost around a kilometre of block to almost get back to where we started...life is an adventure... Found our travel agency and paid out fare. In order to save some fare I guess I get to share a room with Jennifer and Angela...or Chris and Grace...as well as sharing a room on the train...they say they will flip and the loser gets to take me...hahahaha

Should be interesting...I will be able to run in the Gobi desert...It is all inclusive....don't know what the food will be like .....includes overnight train ride there and back, one night in a Yurt ...Mongolian sleeping quarters....one night in a hotel....trip into the Gobi desert....some entertainment....but not the camel rides or sand sliding...supposed to take some warm clothes as it get to 10 there...but apparently the wind can get up pretty good...just like in
Saskatchewan...

Left there and went to Pizza Hut along the main drag. The places are lit up like Niagara Falls. The food was almost exactly the same. Some smaller portions of things like garlic bread but the food was Western.

Went back to the Silk market where I got hosed and bought 3 shirts for 150 yuan...about 8 bucks apiece and 3 ties for about 1 dollar and 25 cents each. Will come back for the golf clubs after I get paid.

Bob and Mark went to a tailor in Tongzhou and were sized for a Tuxedo for the November Ball...and you thought I wasn't sophisticated...got a $1000 Tux for about $70 American. Again after payday, Don and I will be heading out to do the same thing...Can you get a Tux without tails????

Came back on the subway and then caught a taxi from the station to the centre. This was the best one so far. First of all, you negotiate the price..2 shr 20 yuan....then we get in the 2nd cab but he is not hanging around. He's off like a rocket...off onto the main and does a U turn right at the first intersection....ignoring completely the cars coming directly at us and it would have been me that would have been hit....no problem and we are off...and he just goes. We have a red light and we do stop ....for about 5 seconds..and then we take off...I look back at Angela and sy wasn't that a red light...yes....oh well....and we going like hell...passing just about everything....trucks, big, small, bikes, motorbikes, weaving in and out....we come to a traffic jam...aa truck to our fight is holding up traffice behind him and a couple of cars have pulled up beside him..our guy pulls out in front of these three lanes of traffic...almost nails a motorcyclist...mutters something under his breath...pulls in front of the truck and just nonchalantly keeps right on going.....down a road with no lights and a jeep coming right at us in our lane ...jeep pulls over alongside the truck it was passing...we pull over a little to the right and pass each other....all going fairly fast...miss about 6 people who are crossing at the end of a bridge....5 make it one stays on the right side...cut in front of two buses as we are making a left hand turn and down the road to our complex....miss a 3 wheeled bike with no back lights or any reflective material at all..miss a few more people and stop in front of out place.....I pay him, shake his hand and say thanks for the best ride ever....it was a hoot...this is better than at the exhibition... We go into the store, buy 4 beer ...take it to the Canadian Club by our residences, go upstairs for a pee and are heading back down to the Club when the two people from the other cab are coming up the stairs.... What Kept Ya? HAHA

We stay for a couple of beer at the Club, decide to have a Different Drinks night throughtout the winter and call it a night.

Went out for my jog this mornng...100 minutes...outside the compound...you really get to see stuff. About 5 minutes from here there are townhouse...just like you would see in Canada, and many of them are empty. Don't know why...I think they would definitely be expensive....garages, columns, neat rooflines, big picture window, detailing, yards with walls...amidst poverty......farmers drying their corn on the road....selling their produce from the roadside....interesting stuff...some places the stench of garbage....sewers......industry pollution....noise.

Got back and did my laundry and then decided to tackle the exams. 2 hours for 1 class and I have 4 of em. Oh well..get one done...come back and make lunch..hang up my clothes all aaround the room to dry out.......2nd done and it is about 5 o'clock...decide to go to the market to get some supplies.....buy a lid for our hotplate.....a pineapple...some apples....kiwis......bananas ( our staple)... some peanuts and some types of bread..no milk can't find the good stuff anyways....Go checking around back and see that the pigs that will probably be the meat tomorrow are outside the back of the butcher shop on the back of a three wheel bike.....you see everything...two little boys come up and smile at me and wonder what strange guy is this....even the adults do it.

Come back and find some milk ...still not sure if it is the right stuff...splurge on a chocolate bar and head back and make poached eggs on toast....go back to the office and finish the 3rd set...will do the rest tomorrow.....and then I work on this....hey Meghan and Romain phoned on Skype and we have talked for about 45 minutes....from the other side of the world and it is as clear as day and costs nothing....what technology.....

Time to sign off...I am eating my peanuts and they are not quality controlled ..I think some of them are more like sunflower seeds...

Angela and I are going for a massage tomorrow in TongZhou. I think it is about 5 bucks for a half hour and they hurt you real good.

Talk to you again