This week was 2 hours 2006 09 23

I put in several shots of the other side of China. The bottom one here reminded me of the old guys at the post office or pool room shooting the breeze. They were tickled that I would take their picture..I showed it to them afterrwards..even said hello...that's the total of English.

The old lady would not raise her head long enough for me to take her picture. Through the day I think trucks would come and dump loads of corn on the roadway. It looks like her job was to shuck them and leave them to dry. The drying corn is just left on the highway and is on the roadway. She did raise her head to smile and show some missing teeth. An old wisened veteran of the farm.

The first one was of three younger guys all sipping on beer in mid day of Sunday...not a care in the world and I am not even sure what or if they were selling anything. You could tell that they were saying something about the silly bugger taking pictures becasue the folks around them were having a good laugh...the old guy...notice his bike.....millions like that....and some even worse shape ...actually that is good...the guys all seated are playing a form of Chinese chess I think. Couldn't make heads or tails out of it and again some comments about me I am sure ...the guy waving is the guy I bought peanuts from at the farmer's market close to here....smiling all the time..only words.....Hello but they knew how to weigh and were able to tell you how much to pay for their stuff.

Will load up another load of pictures for some transportation ideas....

Terry Fox run in Beijing had about 20,000 people I think...400 from our school.....in front of Workers Stadium....massive place....want to get inside sometime to see what it is like..... 400 from our school. Very hot and humid...I ran it as part of my training...needed some water....at the end....and luckily it was there. apparently they ran out so the first ones in got the water. Had some funny hats...I'll include pictures in the next blog...... so may have been on China TV as they were out shooting for the tv...Riders temporary tattoo on one side of face maple leaf on the other and also on the back of my now bald head.....quite a site to behold....fun time...kids were good..on our way back to the restaurant...about 1 and 1/2 hours walk.....we didn't take any money for a cab as we were told it was about a 10 minute walk....Bob told me ..last week it was you Croc everybody was looking at....now it is your bald head....what's next?

Hope to get our first pay cheque this week but apparently not everything runs on time here. May just blow the whole damn thing on stuff.....

Next week we are off to Mongolia for a couple of days. ......Bob is being smart...he's heading to China's version of Hawaii..where it is warm

A couple of kids were throwing around a football today so I went over and started playing.....we may get some touch or flag football going as they seem keen on it.

Spent about two hours talking to Jennifer and Mark on SKYPE....a computer program that allows you to talk to people around the world..and it is free...at least for now.....if you happen to have a Skype phone number, let me know and I will phone you some time......like in the middle of the night....hahahaha....Mark even had his webcam on so was able to see the whole family...Jaxon even sang the Eagles song ...There's a Whole in the World Tonight...for me.....before he crashed.....Mark's looking into a piece of machinery that will allow me to see some CFL football...if not live at least on some sort of delay....last week we watched some NFL game that had been sent to Kris's computer and we projected it onto the wall and it was like being at a drive in......we knew the results but it didn't really matter.....I am not a big fan of the NFL anyway...the others are as there is no team out there so they may have loyalties to some of the Eastern US teams

Merle Davies and Vi Antoniuk may be coming here in the February break...I will be able to show them around....and maybe not get too lost.....but I think I would like to go to a warm place for a week or so....maybe Thailand of Vietnam or Cambodia.....the folks here seem to know where to go...I'll just be a tagalong type

Went to a restauarant on Friday...with Don and Eve after we had scouted out the Silk Market again...We were the centre of attention...we had some sort of Fondue dealie that we were supposed to use....steam pots or something and I was trying to eat the stuff that was in there for seasoning....a good laugh......the waiter gave Don a fork because he was having so much trouble with his chopsticks....they gave us all bibs.....they showed us what to do and we were having ahoot...even the chefs came out to watch and talk....the kids were even watching.....the waitress....actually we had 3 of them waiting on us...gave me her Aunt's phone number.....I am not sure if it was the bald head or not...Don said he liked my pickup line.....I'll teach you English if you teach me Chinese....

Bob and I are going to shave each other...Bob needs the hair on his neck cleared off and I will need my head kept clean shaven..aerodynamic for the marathon...he even has the shaving cream....something I asked Jay to send in a care package.

Spent a couple of hours today trying to get ready for next week teaching....would have liked to go to Tianamen Square again as it is getting ready for their National Day and it is decorated to the hilt I guess. May do that on Friday if I get some time. Will see.

Better go now and at least shave my face so that I look half presentable tomorrow.

Don't be afraid to email or send comments. It is always nice to hear from you....and find what is going on in your life too.

Bald and in Beijing