Chinese New Year
A couple of photos.
This one has a coujple of the weird buildings....the one in the middle is the third highest in the world...the one in front of it is basically an advertising billboard at night..see the set below to notice what they do with the buildings at night....the
one coming out of my head is a tv tower and looks weird....the other one shows the contrast as it is of the British design I think....I am going to put the rest of my pics in another blog and just give some comments on them there.....
\Well I made it through to another year....and in China
I get to celebrate a real Chinese New Year.
But before I start some trivia....saw my first ever Number 1 bus....lots of big numbers before but this is my first number 1.
Had a good time teaching over the holidays...no days off....Christmas Day and then you are back at it. Jennifers Christmas package made it on December 26 so I wore my new Christmas tie for the 26th...kids loved the Christmas carols that the tie played.
Damn earthquake that happened off China created a little chaos as some hotel bookings and air flights were difficult to get..but we did make it to Shanghai. We left just the day that it first snowed here, a few centimetres and it is cold enough that it will stay around....but it did slow up the traffic a little...on the way to the airport, we saw that a bike had been hit by a vehicle. Didn't notice anyone around....Shanghai, the sun was shining, way less pollution and a lot warmer.....a much prettier city I think...Beijing is really clouded over with smoke...choking at times....many of the staff have coughs and flu and all sorts of little airway problems
It was supposed to have a fireworks spectacle...there wasn't. So in that regard it was a disappointment . BUT the skyline from the BUND, a place where the Brits and French used to have their offices, is spectacular.....I will probably put a couple shots in here and then put a whole bunch in my next one so that I don't spoil it with my talking....apparently they do some movie shooting here because the of the designs of the buildings...Angie and I took a boat tour of the harbour and got some good shots....as I said some weird looking buildings....
Get this....I was walking down the streets of Shanghai and passed someone I thought I knew...Seconds later, the next guy comes along and say "Hey Mr Canada" It was the guys from Argentina, Brazil and Paris who were out skiing with us in Nanshan...I had helped the French lady put on her ski boots...so she was Frenchie and I was Mr. Canada..Imagine in a city bigger than Beijing, I meet up with these guys again....hard to believe.... un petite monde
I was saying to Bob and Mark on the way from the airport to the hotels, that if you take the populations of Shanghai and Beijing, you have the entire population of Canada..kind of puts things in perspective...n'est-ce pas.
The week back has been a bit of a zoo....we are trying to get some exams ready, make up some lessons and get ready for some more forms that seem to be a way to keep people working...hey they even make the kids who don't pass stay an extra weekend just to cram some more stuff into their brains and then they write more tests....seems liike they don't want to have the kids fail because it would cause them to "lose face".
Confiscated a couple more cel phones last week...one kid, a good one too, actually lost his. Mom went an bought him a new one....about $800 touch....I wish I had a mom like that.....just kidding.....but I did tell him that if he wants a new one, he can lose his old one with me....
Am looking forward to the Spring Festival...Merle will arrive here on the 26th and we go to Thailand for about 10 days....that will be difficult and different because there will be not much to do and I think I need to stay active...maybe some snorkelling or bungee jumping...whatever....I will enjoy the time off teaching.....we also go to a Snow Festival in Harbin....from +25 to - 25 in two days ...may be tough to get adjusted....then to the Terra Cotta Warriors, in Xi'an...and then a week or so in Beijng...and then the holiday is up and I have to make a decision to stay or go...no ....I don't know yet....
We have been having issues with the school here getting our pay back to Canada....they have had all sorts of excuses...... from the African Summit to the earthquake but no one takes the blame if somebody messes up...seems like Buckpassing 101 has been perfected here...remember saving face.
New years was pretty uneventful...we had booked the tickets to a bar....an ex patriots they call them....English...70-90s music bust not much daancing...hell we didn't even sing Auld Lang Syne..I did bring My Smirnoff Twisted to the bar...asked them if they would keep them in the fridge and then Mark and I cracked them at midnight....We wore our Tuxesand got some strange looks...at midnight we went out to see if there was anything special and there wasn't..there were a heck of alot of people walking around..and so I did tooo until about three o'clock...at which time I was standing outside our hotel people watching and Bob invited me up to his room...he had just got back from the other side of the river...still can be by yourself... even in a big city...not really an event but certainly different place
Linda, a friend of Bob's from BCCSC has take some video of the trip and I have it on a CD....will show it to you if and when I get home....not in that order yet....
Have found a new massage place...will check it out soon....also close to there is a place where I can get some stuff framed....Marathon....Wall....my frame that was shattered....will get that done asap...
Saw an interesting thing the other day...a funeral procession with 4 guys playing some stange wind instruments in front of a truck carrying the body, I presume and a group of about 15 people all dressed in white walking behind...quite a spectacle....didn't get a picture as I didn't have my camera....not sure if that would have been a good idea anyway....
There are several places around here where you can eat western style breakfast and dinners so you are not as isolated as we thought. With the Olympics, I think there has been a plethora of places opening up to cater to the crowd coming for that.
Talk to ya later...one more probably before Thailand.
This one has a coujple of the weird buildings....the one in the middle is the third highest in the world...the one in front of it is basically an advertising billboard at night..see the set below to notice what they do with the buildings at night....the
one coming out of my head is a tv tower and looks weird....the other one shows the contrast as it is of the British design I think....I am going to put the rest of my pics in another blog and just give some comments on them there.....
\Well I made it through to another year....and in China
I get to celebrate a real Chinese New Year.
But before I start some trivia....saw my first ever Number 1 bus....lots of big numbers before but this is my first number 1.
Had a good time teaching over the holidays...no days off....Christmas Day and then you are back at it. Jennifers Christmas package made it on December 26 so I wore my new Christmas tie for the 26th...kids loved the Christmas carols that the tie played.
Damn earthquake that happened off China created a little chaos as some hotel bookings and air flights were difficult to get..but we did make it to Shanghai. We left just the day that it first snowed here, a few centimetres and it is cold enough that it will stay around....but it did slow up the traffic a little...on the way to the airport, we saw that a bike had been hit by a vehicle. Didn't notice anyone around....Shanghai, the sun was shining, way less pollution and a lot warmer.....a much prettier city I think...Beijing is really clouded over with smoke...choking at times....many of the staff have coughs and flu and all sorts of little airway problems
It was supposed to have a fireworks spectacle...there wasn't. So in that regard it was a disappointment . BUT the skyline from the BUND, a place where the Brits and French used to have their offices, is spectacular.....I will probably put a couple shots in here and then put a whole bunch in my next one so that I don't spoil it with my talking....apparently they do some movie shooting here because the of the designs of the buildings...Angie and I took a boat tour of the harbour and got some good shots....as I said some weird looking buildings....
Get this....I was walking down the streets of Shanghai and passed someone I thought I knew...Seconds later, the next guy comes along and say "Hey Mr Canada" It was the guys from Argentina, Brazil and Paris who were out skiing with us in Nanshan...I had helped the French lady put on her ski boots...so she was Frenchie and I was Mr. Canada..Imagine in a city bigger than Beijing, I meet up with these guys again....hard to believe.... un petite monde
I was saying to Bob and Mark on the way from the airport to the hotels, that if you take the populations of Shanghai and Beijing, you have the entire population of Canada..kind of puts things in perspective...n'est-ce pas.
The week back has been a bit of a zoo....we are trying to get some exams ready, make up some lessons and get ready for some more forms that seem to be a way to keep people working...hey they even make the kids who don't pass stay an extra weekend just to cram some more stuff into their brains and then they write more tests....seems liike they don't want to have the kids fail because it would cause them to "lose face".
Confiscated a couple more cel phones last week...one kid, a good one too, actually lost his. Mom went an bought him a new one....about $800 touch....I wish I had a mom like that.....just kidding.....but I did tell him that if he wants a new one, he can lose his old one with me....
Am looking forward to the Spring Festival...Merle will arrive here on the 26th and we go to Thailand for about 10 days....that will be difficult and different because there will be not much to do and I think I need to stay active...maybe some snorkelling or bungee jumping...whatever....I will enjoy the time off teaching.....we also go to a Snow Festival in Harbin....from +25 to - 25 in two days ...may be tough to get adjusted....then to the Terra Cotta Warriors, in Xi'an...and then a week or so in Beijng...and then the holiday is up and I have to make a decision to stay or go...no ....I don't know yet....
We have been having issues with the school here getting our pay back to Canada....they have had all sorts of excuses...... from the African Summit to the earthquake but no one takes the blame if somebody messes up...seems like Buckpassing 101 has been perfected here...remember saving face.
New years was pretty uneventful...we had booked the tickets to a bar....an ex patriots they call them....English...70-90s music bust not much daancing...hell we didn't even sing Auld Lang Syne..I did bring My Smirnoff Twisted to the bar...asked them if they would keep them in the fridge and then Mark and I cracked them at midnight....We wore our Tuxesand got some strange looks...at midnight we went out to see if there was anything special and there wasn't..there were a heck of alot of people walking around..and so I did tooo until about three o'clock...at which time I was standing outside our hotel people watching and Bob invited me up to his room...he had just got back from the other side of the river...still can be by yourself... even in a big city...not really an event but certainly different place
Linda, a friend of Bob's from BCCSC has take some video of the trip and I have it on a CD....will show it to you if and when I get home....not in that order yet....
Have found a new massage place...will check it out soon....also close to there is a place where I can get some stuff framed....Marathon....Wall....my frame that was shattered....will get that done asap...
Saw an interesting thing the other day...a funeral procession with 4 guys playing some stange wind instruments in front of a truck carrying the body, I presume and a group of about 15 people all dressed in white walking behind...quite a spectacle....didn't get a picture as I didn't have my camera....not sure if that would have been a good idea anyway....
There are several places around here where you can eat western style breakfast and dinners so you are not as isolated as we thought. With the Olympics, I think there has been a plethora of places opening up to cater to the crowd coming for that.
Talk to ya later...one more probably before Thailand.
posted by 12thhobo | 5:22 AM
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