Bumming Around Downtown Shenzhen!!

Hurray!! Made it downtown for a few days to meet up with fellow foreign teacher friends. Some of the highlights - scouring the insane shopping district for great deals, rendez-vous-ing with the group at an awesome party in a downtown bar, being lazy at the beach, running into friends and eating an expensive Indian meal (my first non-Chinese meal in China, unless you count my PBJ's), getting lost as usual, talking to my family in Canada while meandering back through Dongmen, and a nail-biting busride back to my quiet little home in LongGang District. Enjoy the pics! More to come soon. . . (Meagan H. - the above picture is for you, my fellow sassy lady!! Yes, it's the dress!)

Exploring the shopping chaos known as Dongmen - and taking in some unique refreshments along the way. I hope the slushy ice is purified water. . .

Bumming Around Downtown Shenzhen (Cont'd)

Oh the corporate takeover. . . I think there are as many Micky D's and KFC's as there are in any western city. . . oh I forgot to add Starbucks - still in Dongmen

Welcome to Shenzhen Party!! The Waiguoren Laoshi are reunited at Ibiza, an expat bar in downtown Shenzhen. The Theme: Stoplight Party - only red, yellow, or green allowed, and each colour stands for something (can you guess what??). An amazing night, with amazing people, who made the three hectic weeks in Beijing unforgettable, and who no doubt will make the coming year a memorable one.

Us teachers are multi-talented - James spinning at Ibiza

A lot of green being worn!! Can you guess what that means??

The next day - spent most of it relaxin' at Da Mei Sha Beach (no I haven't parasailed yet. . .)

Lazy afternoon at the beach

I love the mountains and the water and the clouds :)

Still downtown - met some friends by chance - on the way to Indian food!!

Finally - home sweet home!

Time for Some Pictures!

Our school from my front porch!!

Contract signing!!

A Storm if Brewing

I sit typing in my new home in suburban China (why does that sound so weird to say?), listening to someone shouting, the banging of maintenance work nearby on the premises, and the tense rumblings of a brewing storm. I have come to live at Long Cheng Middle School along with my friend Jen in LongGang District, Shenzhen, one of the more outerlying districts in this massive city (somewhere around 5 million, but I've heard up to 10 million). Since we don't start teaching for a few more days, we have had time to rest and clean and explore and find our friends in this new world. Our school faculty has provided us each with an apartment with internet, TV, all the basic living essentials and of course a bathroom that doubles as a shower (why waste space with an actual shower stall?). BUT I have a western toilet so no complaining allowed. No cockroaches yet, although I MAY have bedbugs (the most durable creatures on earth in my opinion) and my washing machine empties all over my kitchen floor, but at least it's soapy water so that can count as a mopping and doing laundry all in one. Other than that, it's pretty "normal". Sorry to use that word.
LongGang District is laid back - comparably speaking of course - with colourful shopping malls, a town square, strings of restaurants (mostly Chinese, especially Hunan food, but a couple western ones sprinkled here and there), a few parks, and a beach within bussing distance. Last night after a hearty meal of Korean food, a few of us visited our local park where there is a man-made lake. We wandered out to the pagoda in the middle of the water to listen to group play and sing traditional Chinese music - the only waiguoren (foreigners), attracting more than a few stares, but overall, just enjoying the evening's festivities and taking in sights and sounds we never see back in our native countries. We made our way up a hill to a larger pagoda, all lit up in glitzy lights, where people were dancing, or learning to dance, to some kind of pop music. Seeing these couples made me think that I should take up something new myself in my new home - and make a stronger effort to communicate in Chinese because this language barrier is at times irksome to say the least. I wish I could speak every language - I think it's an amazing feeling to converse in a foreign tongue and just learn about language in general. That is why I'm reading Bill Bryson's "Mother Tongue" right now (yes I'm STILL reading it) and once I start a recommended reading list, that will go on it. So I recommend it.
I am not using my laptop to write this blog, so no pics at present time - once I figure out how to set up this internet on my laptop I can start posting some images of my new home. Until then, zaijian!

Beijing Sunset

Life Starts Tomorrow?

So previously I posted some pictures of various bits and pieces of what I saw in Beijing during a hectic 3-week period that has left me exhausted and hopeful and somewhat mystified. Tomorrow we meet up with our various schools and get shipped off to our new lives as laoshi (teachers) in a foreign world that is in some ways, not so foreign. Shenzhen is sprawling, new, lush, and muggy on first glance - a breath of fresh (but not that fresh) air from the relentless noise and smog of Beijing. I think the first thing on all our minds this morning as we boarded the bus headed for our hospital exams was that you could see sunlight and greenery everywhere. I'm sure I'll discover Shenzhen's darker side in time, but for now I can relish in the idea that I am on the brink of discovering more and more of this world with every step I take in my new home. . . until I fall into routine here, of course, and then it's off to new places to shake things up and keep me constantly guessing about what lies around that corner. . .
"What gives value to travel is fear," so says Camus - am I afraid? I think I am, but perhaps "trepidated" would be the more fitting word in this instance
These last photos are of some good times in Beijing - the class I taught at Peking University (a diverse and energetic group of 12-14 year olds), sampling various bits of animal life at Dong Hua Men - the Beijing Night Market (I can now check off scorpion, locust, slug, and snake off my "Things to Eat Before I Die" list, how ironic and horrifying), and one beautiful sunset in Beijing.

"The Works of Men Should Match the Works of Heaven"

The Summer Palace
- Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998
- 2.9 square km, 3/4 of which is water surface
- Originally constructed during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) but by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) it had been extended into a luxurious garden - Qingyi Yuan or the Garden of Clear Ripples - a place for relaxation and entertainment for the ruling class
- A monument to classical Chinese architecture and garden design, combining imperial grandeur with natural beauty

The Forbidden City
- Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987
- Located in the centre of Beijing
- Construction began in 1407 and was completed in 1420, during the Ming Dynasty
- Was used as the imperial palace during the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911)Dynasties
- The world's largest palace complex, covering 74 hectares and exhibiting over 9000 rooms

The Great Wall of China
- Became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987
- Stretches approximately 6700 km (4163 miles) east-west across China
- Built during various periods in different sections, and did not become the "Great" Wall until the Qin Dynasty (208 BCE) joined several sections of the wall together
- The majority of the Great Wall that can be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century
- Preceded by walls built as early as the 3rd century BCE

Almost Home!!

In Shenzhen after a super long (but which somehow did not feel that long) train ride. We arrived at about 5:30 am this morning, were hauled to some 5-Star resort in what seems like the middle of nowhere (and so it does not feel at all like we are really here), and threw our stuff down. Today was largely administrative stuff, having presentations by the Public Security Bureau, Bureau of Education, and Bureau of Foreign Experts. Tomorrow is the oh-so-fun sounding National Medical Exam. Pray for me.
And on Tuesday, the year starts. . .

32 Hour Train Ride Ahead. . .

We depart Beijing tonight for a 32 hour train ride into southern China where I will finally have a home for a year in Shenzhen! I will post more pictures of Beijing when I have internet connection again, but for now, here's some of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

Time to Play Catch-Up

OK so this is my blog that I have not been using, but promise to use from now on. I have been in Beijing for about 2 1/2 weeks now, most of that time consumed by Chinese language training, TEFL courses, teaching practicums, eating goooooood food, sleeping, and trying to experience a small amount of China's capital, forever drowned under construction and a daily mayhem of honking horns, bold drivers and even bolder pedestrians, sweltering city smog (3 blue-sky days in August so far), and amusements of every kind. We depart Friday for a loooong train ride down to the south of China where we will live, working and exploring for a year or so. . .