Yes It Has Been A While. . .

And for that I'm sorry! My laptop is still sick - I have to take it downtown to get better but first I have to figure out how to say "I think the fan is broken and the CPU is overheating, what do you think?" in Chinese. . . so first things first! So no scenic pictures for now. But luckily we have Jen's camera to record only the most seminal of moments of our time in China, including. . .

Cha-CHING!!

Cha-CHING!!

Yes, I am hold thousands and thousands of cents worth of RMB (the Chinese currency) in my hands. That's right - we get paid in cash! Our school was very good about paying us on schedule and for that I'm thankful. Now how to spend it?? Well our National Holiday (7 days off!!!) is starting very soon so we may think of a few ways :) Stay posted mes amis!

Some other highlights this month:

Borrowing a guitar from the school music department (they also let me play the piano whenever I want!) and teaching my kids songs. One particularly rowdy day when I had the class singing and I was banging on the desk with a plastic chalkboard eraser to keep the beat the head teacher walked in scowling, thinking the class was going nuts. Nope, we're just singing, I swear! Except I must NEVER hear the song "This Land is Your Land" again!!

Jen's birthday on the 25th!! We went out to one of our favourite restaurants in our district, which ironically is not Chinese, but Korean. Quality food with quality friends, no better way to spend a birthday!

Finding out that I can actually make chocolate chip cookies in China, as long as I am prepared to pay good money. Was it worth it?? Yes, yes it was.

Attempting to eat a chicken foot that one of the teachers gave me (PRE-PACKAGED chicken feet I might add!!) and then quickly excusing myself so I could run to a remote part of the school and dispose of it. OK that was NOT a highlight! I was trying to act like a local, but there are just some things in China I will never get used to. Oh did I mention I have also tried tripe (stomach lining of some animal) and congealed pigs blood? Note I said "tried" not "liked"! I am edging closer and closer to vegetarianism with every bite I take here.

OK life has been crazy this last little while so I'm going to go plan a holiday! I miss you all and hope you are happy and healthy, as always :)

Lucky Red

OK I say "Lucky Red" for two reasons - one, because throughout antiquity, the colour red has symbolized luck, among many other things of course. It is considered the colour of happiness and prosperity in China - brides wear it on their wedding day (no I'm not getting married in this picture). It is also a symbol of protection by higher powers - Germanic warriors would paint their weapons and their bodies red with the blood of slain animals, red gems warded off the "evil eye", Neolithic peoples placed red ochre over their deceased. . .
So the second reason I say this is because I need some of red's better qualities imparted on me! It's been one of those weeks where the world seems to be humourously conspiring against me, only when you're in the thick of it, it ain't so humourous (I only speak English good when I'm in front of a class;)). Internet's finally up and running again, and almost as soon as it came back, my laptop wheezed and coughed and decided to stop working. Ever. Well there's still hope. Miraculously I backed up all these files mere hours before this tragedy. Only to have the DVD with the files curiously stop working. And it's been a trickle of other things, suffice to say my mood is distressed right now.
Of course, it could be worse. Far worse. The good news? I still have a (somewhat archaic) computer from the school, and I have not seen a cockroach (in my place) for over a week.
Well, they say when everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. So I guess this means it's SUPPOSED to be hard. Man, and I thought moving to China would be a walk in the park. Boy was I off on that one!! :)
I hope you are all happy and healthy - the most important things in life! Along with friends and family of course. Below, my "China family" - some very special friends indeed!

Strolling through the curiously postmodern city of Dongguan on Teacher's Day (postmodern mostly in regards to the architecture and sculpture as you can see above). Jen and I with our contact teacher, also called Jennifer, and known better as our saving grace here! She is sweet and intelligent and will do anything to help you. We couldn't have lucked out more with someone like Jennifer to take care of us. So maybe my jacket is working after all. . .

Internet Limbo

OK so internet here is dubious at best. I haven't been able to get online to update my blog recently :( but because of two lovely friends I am bumming their internet for a few minutes just so I can upload some pictures (thanks Kirk and Steve!!).
OK, for some reason I can only upload one picture so here is one from our Teachers' Day Retreat to DongGuan, a city about an hour and a half north of Shenzhen (hurray for seeing another city in China!). Teachers' Day is September 10th, and it is a day for students to show their appreciation to their teachers by giving them flowers and cards and chocolate and other presents (one student gave me some flowers with mint breath spray attached to them - am I being sent some sort of sublminal message here?!?). So not a bad way to start off the year! My classes are huge - 50-60 students, some of whose English levels are very low. But I am slowly learning to manage these monstrous classes and growing very fond of these energetic 12-15 year-olds. The hardest part? Finding a balance between being firm and in charge but also making your classroom a comfortable - and FUN - place! They say you should maintain a stern composure for at least the first 2 weeks and then loosen up, but sometimes I just can't help breaking into a huge smile at the things the students say and do. When I was introducing myself to them during the first week, I made sure to show them a picture of my cat (WILLOW), a move that caught the attention of even the rowdiest students and resulted in cries of "awwwww", "cute", "beautiful", and "tiger!" across the classroom. By far the most memorable was the one student in the front row, who with a rather large and maniacal grin on his face, proudly remarked, "I would like to eat your cat." Priceless. And horrifying. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry (everyone reading this knows how precious Willow is to me), but I think after a moment of dumbfoundedness I broke into laughter along with the rest of the class. I am in for a challenging (but hopefully fun) year! Zai jian!
Jen and I with our school principle. It was actually cool enough that I could where my favourite coat :)

The Tropical South

Welcome to Shenzhen in southern China, where lush fronds, steamy weather, and rolling green mountains predominate! I sound like a travel brochure - what really predominates in this city of 6 million are people, cars, skyscrapers, McDonalds, and cheap knock-offs (see the smaller picture). But this is what surrounds us and what I love to see - vibrant greenery and mountains (there are no mountains in southern Ontario as most of you reading this know), and this varied topography makes everything more interesting. This picture was taken in Sha Tou Jiao in Yantian District, in the very southeastern part of the city. Now of course, if you look closely you'll see proof that I'm not in some tropical utopia but am in fact in a rapidly growing city that is rapidly running out of space to cram in all the people who want to live here and businesses that want to have a foothold in the Special Economic Zone, while still trying to maintain an image of a "Garden City". Yes, slightly to the left of centre there stands a crane and below it, the skeleton of a building. Almost had the pristine landscape thing going on!

Lóng Chéng Square

Some pictures of the town square, Lóng Chéng Square, near where I live ("Lóng" is "Dragon" in Chinese - same as in the name of the district, Lónggang - "Chéng" is "Wall" I believe). Lóng Chéng is also the name of the middle school where I teach. This district is very new - only 10 years old - and so it has a very fresh and open feel to it, although some may also describe it as artificial. Of course, step 10 minutes off the beaten track, and the freshness falls away somewhat. More exploring is needed. . .