Dec. 3 2006 - It's a Fish Eat Fish World

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Nov. 26 2006 - Toilets - This one's for Glen

I've tried to describe the toilets here, but I don't think I've done them proper justice. I found an article online where a writer decribes her adventures in China and it would be impossible to leave out a trip to the loo. Here's what she said:

"There's a reason to go to the gym every other day and suffer through deep squats with a weighted barbell on your shoulders, and that reason is a public bathroom in a Chinese bus station. I don't mind "squatties" when they're not gag-a-maggot filthy. This one's a tiled trough, no door, with a trickle of water and 10 years' waste running below."

For the complete article, check out this link: http://www.slate.com/id/2153586/entry/2153587/?GT1=8805

Not all toilets are as awful as the ones described above, but very few of them are a pleasant experience. I took a picture of a typical "toilet" at what I guess would be a hardware store. Imagine going into a restaurant washroom and looking down at this thing. Not all places have separate bathrooms for men and women. Few have toilet paper or soap. Actually, there are places that don't even have this "toilet" in the washroom. I was in the unfortunate position of having to use a washroom that was entirely cement...the stalls were divided by a cement wall maybe a foot and a half high. The "toilet" part was something I am not sure how to describe. I would have taken a picture, but I figured the quicker I could get out of there, the quicker I could come home and shower.

I feel sorry for the ladies who wear high heels and nice dresses or skirts and have to squat. But then again, when I walk down the street, so many people are in the squatting position - as if it is the most comfortable way to sit.

At school, you can smell the bathrooms before you see them. No joke.

I really don't understand how so much emphasis is put onto clean food, clean hands, etc when the washrooms are drowning in the aroma of an outhouse and the floors have a variety of streams running in different directions.

It's a big crazy world.

P.S. New photos posted in the My Apartment album.

Nov. 23 2006 - Saturday Night and 20 or so of M's closest Friends

Birthday celebrations are usually very social over here. Just like at home, you gather all of your friends and go out. Sometimes for dinner, sometimes for drinks, sometimes both. The biggest difference is here the birthday boy (or girl) must pay. There are no buying drinks / shots for the birthday boy. So when deciding where to go and who to invite, it's based on how much money you want to spend (or don't want to spend). After changing plans a few times, we met at the Empty Bottle pub around 9 pm. The bus ride back from Xiamen took almost two hours and I thought the bus was going to die a few times on the way home. It was an exhausting and frustrating trip. The bus was like a sauna and traffic was terrible.

Anyways, the turnout for Max's birthday was really great. Jason, Charlotte, Steven and Jody came. A handful of collegues from school came and also some of the friends Max has made here over the last four years - Joe & Tina, Gabriel & Lucy, Tony, Bruce & Lisa (Bruce gave his wife my name b/c he said it was so pretty - poor girl - hahaha). Fellow Canadian Amber came too - she is very funny and entertaining. Mr. Hong (I teach his daughter) and his friend came too. Apparently I am supposed to buy a cake and bring it to the celebration - but since this is all very new to me, Mr. Hong's friend went out and bought a fancy cake. In the picture, the centerpiece on the cake is a large candle that once lit, shoots out a small flame and opens up into a huge flower. It also sings Happy Birthday - the same way some birthday cards do at home. The cake was enormous - more than enough for everyone who came. Somehow it was decided that I should be in charge of cutting and handing out pieces. Just a little messy.

Many beers (and many hours) later, only a handful of people were left. Steven, Gabriel, Lucy, Max and I headed to a bar that is apparently open until 3 am or so. We walked in and not only was it empty, but it smelled like piss. So we left and went to a disco. What a crazy place that was! Terrible music, louder than loud. Not busy, but the people watching was great. Two guys were grinding next to our sofa area. There was a dance floor and a small stage. Steven had his dancing shoes on, so off he. An English song came on, so I went to find him. I'm not sure why, but for some reason he was having a dance off with three Chinese kids - maybe 20-ish. Steven is closing in on 40. It was so funny.

Getting home at 4 am and having to wake up for a 10 am childrens class is nothing short of a rough go. But since it wasn't my birthday, I didn't celebrate too much.

Sunday afternoon, we went to a dinner celebrating Joe & Tina's upcoming wedding (they will be married on the 28th - my first Chinese wedding). There was so much BBQ'd food. Gabriel & Lucy came, but the beer selection was not to Gabriel's liking. They left and came back with a bottle of vodka and a bottle of Jack Daniels for everyone. The restaurant gave us Coke, Orange Juice & ice. Perfect.

Nov. 20 2006 - Xiamen - the City of Back Room Bargaining

Last week was my first trip to Xiamen - about an hour away by bus. The city is much more advanced than Zhangzhou. I can see why the students think Zhangzhou is a small city - Xiamen has high rise buildings, so many neon lights at night, etc, etc. It's almost like going from Burlington to Toronto, if you wanted to attempt to compare.

We left mid-afternoon on Thursday (Max's birthday). After meeting his friend Joe at the Bigong Hotel, the three of us went for dinner at Pizza Hut. Some very good people watching there. Because the majority of Chinese people don't like using their hands to eat (they think it is very dirty), they use chopsticks to pick up their pizza. The slices are much smaller than at home, but this is still pretty amazing to watch. From what I saw, they spend more time making a mess then eating. A lot of my people watching was concentrated on the salad bar. Salad is very rare in China from what I have experienced so far. Raw vegetables are considered dirty and are boiled / cooked to ensure cleanliness. This salad bar is a one-trip deal. So one person in each group will order the salad bar and load up the plate. I'm not just talking about piling up the food, but they spend at least 20 minutes at the salad bar carefully stacking fruit & veggies until it looks like a Jenga game. One wrong move and the whole thing will topple over. I have pictures (of course).

After parting ways with Joe, Max and I went to the movies. We saw the Nicolas Cage movie about 9/11 (it was terrible in my opinion). The movie is in English, with Chinese subtitles. After the show, we went to a small restaurant across from the hotel for a drink. We asked for beer and wine, but they only had canned beer. We had a bottle of wine in our bag, so they gave us a bowl of ice and let us drink there - we ordered a late night snack and had a glass of chilled wine before calling it a night.

Friday morning, Max & I went to Gu Lang island. To get there, you have to take a ferry across the water. The sky was grey for most of the day, so many of my pics are a little blah. But the Island was full of adventure. We weren't off the ferry for more than two minutes when some Chinese tourists asked us to take pictures with them. After the photo shoot, the first stop was McDonalds. Inside was a bride, groom and two other wedding party people. The two women were having their makeup done in between bites. It was so entertaining. There was even a photographer taking pictures. While we were eating, a twenty-something kid came over to us and started telling us in English how he takes pictures with every foreigner he sees. He was very funny and his shirt said "Motherfucker" on it - I hope it's clear in the picture.

As soon as we stepped outside of McDonalds, two sales girls from the adjacent store grabbed us and took us into their backroom. Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, Burberry, Rolex and on and on lined the shelves of purses, wallets, clothes and watches. In this situation, prices are all negotiable. It is very entertaining actually. They start out with a ridiculous price and then you throw them a much lower price. They become very animated and lower their price a tiny bit. And so it is back and forth until agreement is reached. If you tell them that you aren't interested, they will lower their price until you buy it. At another shop, we were just looking at a pair of Rolex watches and the lady put them in a bag and we were saying "no, no, no" and she continued to lower her price until we ended up paying 50 rmb for the pair - her original price was 250 rmb. (To convert, one Canadian dollar is approximately 7 rmb - so 70 rmb is about $7). Some of the merchandise is really quite nice, and some is not worth a second glance. But they will sell you everything. At the end of the whole production, you leave feeling exhausted, but full of gifts. We also bought some silk scarves & purses in another store and I found amazing paintings in another (one for me and one for Robin). The streets are lined with small shops selling everything...paintings, expensive brand name bags, clothes, watches, sunglasses, silk, pearls, shoes - anything you could possibly desire. And it seems that almost all prices are negotiable. We didn't really do much on the island, other than shop and people watch, but it was a good day.

Joe met us for dinner once we got back to the mainland. He took us to an amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Myanamar (or something like that). After dinner, the three of us wandered the streets for a bit and then went back to the hotel. We walked around a bit more with Joe and then around 11, Max and I went into a small bar across from the hotel. It was just like at home - some comfy chairs & table, tall bar stools at the bar and good music. The owner (Jimmy) is half-Chinese and half-Japanese, but grew up in Taiwan. He hates living in China, but has lived here for 10 years. He played everything from Bob Marley to Heart to Diana Krall to Micheal Buble and in between. We had a few Corona's and he polished off a bottle of whiskey while chatting about life, love, music and China - his stories were very entertaining. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died, so no pictures of our new friend - next time. We gave him a list of Canadian / American / British music to download for his collection. There aren't many bars around that have the western-feel. Many of them have private rooms and KTV (karaoke). The music is so loud while everyone sings and plays the dice game that you don't really talk. So it was cool to find a place to sit and chat and enjoy a nice cold beer.

Nov. 15 2006 - A Few Things on the Go...

There have been a few things happening over the last few days - nothing exciting enough to write a single story about - so I've saved them up.

Sunday afternoon - two guys came over to hook up satellite tv. Hooray. Max and I have been watching the first season of Lost - downloaded from the internet - I think we only have 4 or 5 left before we start on season 2. With Satellite, I have about 40 channels - most are english, a few french. HBO, BBC, etc, etc.

Oh, the Satellite guy wants to bring his daughter to my childrens class. We gave him Mr. Hong's number and he called to set something up. So my class is getting bigger. I am making good money there and it's only two hours a week. The kids very excited to learn English and I have a student (Richard) from school helping me out. She is very good. The parents did not like the flashcards, so I have been teaching them conversation and simple phrases instead. The parents also do not want them to write - something I find a little strange. But they are paying me, so I can't complain.

Richard is also teaching me Chinese. I am learning how to say simple phrases (My name is Lisa and I am from Canada = Wo jiao Lisa, lai zi Jianada), how to count to 10 (four and ten sound almost identical). I am also learning how to write the Chinese characters, but that is even more difficult than speaking.

Thursday is Max's birthday - 31 - he is getting old!! Hard to believe I knew him when he was just 23. We are heading to Xiamen for Thursday and Friday nights. The school has a holiday to celebrate a flower festival or something, so we are off Wed, Thurs and Friday. Xiamen (sh-ow-men) is the city I flew to from Hong Kong. Max's friend owns a hotel there, so we are getting a good deal. There is much to see and do in the city, but I will write about that when we get back.

In honour of Max's birthday, we are getting together with friends from the city Saturday night. People celebrate birthdays a little differently here. In China, it is customary for the birthday-boy (or girl) to pay for everyone's dinner & drinks. So the more friends you have, the more you will have to pay. There are some places in the city that are expensive, but many places are quite reasonable and bring out plate after plate for everyone to share.

More pictures & stories to follow.