Holidays

Thought you might get a kick out of this one...Chris took this from the first birthday party with Bob...forgot exactly what it said......was quite funny at the time..... but this is a condom dispenser in the washroom of the restaurant we were at....at the time I didn't even, and still don't know how much it cost.....I think I was putting in about 1/10 of the value....















Some down time so I can get another message out.

Saw a fight yesterday off the campus...just on the roadway......I caught the tail end of it and apparently there were two older women having a go at one and other....when I arrived, and I stayed on the other side of the road, they were still arguing and shouting and some pushing.....I stayed there for about 10 minutes and then left...this was at about 2 in the afternoon....alcohol was involved too...

Had a bit of a birthday party and after test bash on Friday..to Hell with Winter and Sex on the Beach all in one....Angie was the bar tender and she mixed some powerful shots...a little music and some birthday cake and a good time....was finished by about 11:00..go figure...the rest partied until about 1:00.

Internet access has been quite spotty here since the earthquate severed the cables....some stuff we get from the US seems to take forever....but our connection here is poor too so that doesn't help....

Finallly met up with my acquaintance from the Mongolian trip and we agreed to meet again..I said I would like to go to a professional sport game and he suggested basketball so I am going to get tickets and meet him in Beijing to watch it...















Took a bike trip out of the compound for about an hour and saw a few more local sights....the continual work is amazing.....you really notice the difference after a week or so...some of the housing projects that were startedway back when are now nearing completion and they just keep building.... looks like one of the ones that was hidden behind the green mesh is actually going to be a stadium....will go and check that out soon....they have stopped the river except for a small rivulet.....while they do some repairs on the underside and along the bank..just pile up the dirt and go to work....saw two accidents while I was out driving....apparently if it is just a little one, you come to an agreement who was at fault and settle up right then and there with cash or something like that...if it is a little more serious, you phone the police and then the details

Have just about all the details for the trip to Thailand....Merle arrives on Friday and then we are off to Thailand and then to Harbin for an Ice Festival ( will meet one of the students there, as it is her hojme town and she wants to show me some of it. Hope I can contact her)and then to Xi'an (another stdents home) to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and then about a week around Beijing...there are lots of sites to see...Mark Chapman and I had an idea....there is a driving school here and we thought we could get to drive the 3 wheeled vehicles.....you see them everywhere...if we can it will be a hoot...they are the mules of the trucks...espcially when you see stuff piled so high that it almost blocks out whatever is even close to being behind it...

Have had some trouble getting to sleep lately...don't know why...I just try to read and that will usually get me tired enough that I at least get nod off until the book hits me or the bed....the pollution here has been bad this winter....so bad that a couple of the staff got the masks..at least it stops the particles from getting into your lungs...hopefully it will get better in the spring and summer as the people don't have to use the coal to heat everything..am already noticing the days are getting warmer and longer...it will get hot soon enough

Don't know what I will be teaching next term as 40 students go to Canada and about the same number return in Grade 12..that means there will be some combining in 11 and I think I am losing 2 English classes and poicking up an environmental science class that is supposed to be a 2 year project.....and I may not even be staying....also may be the sub for any sick people..not going to get my knickers in a know aabout it until I find out for sure....can't even start to prepare anything...who knows

Have been able to keep in touch with the kids....J is getting a little chubby as she is expecting in April and Mark always was (hahahaha)...Mark is also moving into a condo in the Hat and moving out of his house that he was renting....

Don and Eve and Brenda and Ron (from CIS) went to a restaurant the other night called Browns.....was a nice restauarant...but missed out on a real chance to drink...it was their first anniversay and aafter 9:30 drinks were free..Angie and I thought about it but we had to teach the Saturday so we decided against it...but did have some good food...a steak...even ordered a couple of drinks...one was called Too Blue and the other was called a Screaming Orgasm.....we sure had a couple of good laughs over that...a little potty mouth talk.....will go back there sometime as it was a nice baar and had a good dance floor.....

Also had an unusual thing happen...we had to teach on Saturday...unusual, yes..it was supposed to be for all the failures to give them a chance to pass...to make up for all their lesson that they didn't hand in or if they blew a test....well one of the kids.....one who is going to Canada came up to me in the staff room and said...and they have different ways of using expressions..."you are the best teacher I have had and the kindest man" and presented me with a big bottle of Cognac Hennessey Grand Champagne....blew me away..I don't recall doing anything special...he just sat at the back ...didn't say much all term...had to do the makeup work...and then does this. He said that he wasn't going to see me before he left so he wanted to give me this gift....you just never know how you affect kids....

Going out to the 1001 Arabian Nights restaurant this Wednesday..good food, I think Lebanese, supposedly the best so far...and they have belly dancing.....woo hoo...will also go to a massage place and also pick up my pictures that I left there to be framed.....Bob wants to go out on Thursday as well, after payday, so we will see

Going to be a deserted place after Friday...several going back home.....others to New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, India, some to Thailand too, Bob's off to Florida to golf....

Was thinking of taking a Yangtze River tour....The Three Dams project...I think that is what it is called..biggest project in the world..won't know what the environmental impact will be...it is 6 days though and I don't know when we would get the time off..also have a Tibet tour that gets you to the Himalayas to see Mount Everest....

Look like we will be making another golf purchase soon....maybe another 7 sets or so....our man John will be tickled pink to make these sales....Bob thinks we will be golfing when he gets back...not sure about me...I may start running again for the Wall Marathon..but I will be only doing 5 or 10 k.....

Will finally get my telephone back to see how it works here..probably not worth all the trouble to get it here but you know how determined I can be at times...also may get to finally use Marks computer as my music box as I needed some upgrading and the Windows 98 to get things going....also Merle is doing a bit of a grocery run....green leaves....some snacking cakes....a new supply of Smirnoff Twisted...and some other stuff ....enough apparently to fill most of a suitcase....but she will fill it up with other stuff on the return trip so it is a trade off..I may help her bargain..

Thanks to all of you who have been responding to my blog...nice to hear from you wherever you are...I like to know what is going on in your world....heard that they are considering closing Chaplin school....so there will be the good fight....don't know if the expansion at Sask Minerals is a go yet....I keep in touch by CBC on the internet....don't know how a person got news from before...can you imagine months waiting for letters from home????....shudder

Take care...will see you in the summer for sure...well maybe not all of you but I will be returning after classes are done....I think it is July 14th officially...and that will only be about 4 months after we get back from out holidays...whew time flies when you are working...