Blooming Peach Blossom...
There are a lot of songs that I hear over and over and over again here in China. You hear the same few songs everywhere -cell phone ring tones, in the grocery store, outside a music shop, in the train station, on the radio, in the bus, etc. I finally decided to look up a few of the music videos and here's one for a song that I hear all the time. The song is called "TaoHua DuoDuo Kai" (Blooming Peach Blossom) by "A Niu" (Ah Cow).
In case you want to do some KTV, here's the first few lines of lyrics in PinYin:
-Wo zai zher deng zhe ni huilai
deng zhe ni huilai
kan na taohua kai
wo zai zher deng zhe ni huilai
deng zhe ni huilai
ba na hua er cai
If you're interested in more current/popular Chinese music videos, let me know and I can post a few more.
November 16, 2006
School of Centenary Prestige...
Today was the 100 year anniversary celebration at my middle school. Yup, my school was founded in 1906 during the Qing Dynasty as a women's middle school. Sometime during the Cultural Revolution it became a mixed school, and in 1996 it became a foreign language school.
The whole school has been fixed up, repainted, and cleaned, which included sending hoards of students behind the dorms to pick up the garbage they throw out their windows into the bushes below! Now I don't have to look at yogurt bags and dirty underwear in the morning (at least for another week).
The ceremony itself was fairly short, only 2 hours with speeches by dignitaries and alumni, a song by the teachers, and a poem recital. They also published a short, glossy book for the anniversary with the photos they took of me a few weeks back in it.
The students had the rest of today and Friday to go home, so there's hardly anyone left here. Because they get a day off school, the Senior 3 students (last year at highschool) must make up missed classes on Saturday and Sunday, while the rest of the students only have to make up classes on Sunday. Which means... I have to teach classes this Sunday.
Today was the 100 year anniversary celebration at my middle school. Yup, my school was founded in 1906 during the Qing Dynasty as a women's middle school. Sometime during the Cultural Revolution it became a mixed school, and in 1996 it became a foreign language school.
The whole school has been fixed up, repainted, and cleaned, which included sending hoards of students behind the dorms to pick up the garbage they throw out their windows into the bushes below! Now I don't have to look at yogurt bags and dirty underwear in the morning (at least for another week).
The ceremony itself was fairly short, only 2 hours with speeches by dignitaries and alumni, a song by the teachers, and a poem recital. They also published a short, glossy book for the anniversary with the photos they took of me a few weeks back in it.
The students had the rest of today and Friday to go home, so there's hardly anyone left here. Because they get a day off school, the Senior 3 students (last year at highschool) must make up missed classes on Saturday and Sunday, while the rest of the students only have to make up classes on Sunday. Which means... I have to teach classes this Sunday.
November 13, 2006
Beijing, Again...
I went up to Beijing again this past weekend for some shopping, coffee, and sightseeing with five foreign friends from the university. We left Baoding on Friday afternoon, and arrived at the Jade Hostel after dinner time so we ate at the first restaurant we came to, Beijing Roast Duck (北京烤鸭)! After wandering WangFuJing a bit, we headed back to call it a night.
We decided to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu (慕田峪长城) on Saturday morning. After leaving less early than we expected due to coffee and pastries, we made it to Dongzhimen Bus Station to start looking for a way there. We ended up getting a private van, which costed about as much as the bus/minibus combo, but without stopping every 5 minutes at a bus stop. The guy had a cute little 1 month old puppy with him. It whimpered quite a bit so the guy asked us if we wanted him to throw it out the window. No joke! We said no, the dog was OK.
The wall itself was amazing. We took a cable-car to the top, and a toboggan ride down. The photo above is posted right when you get onto the cart thing - TEST THE BRAKE - so I made sure to test the brake. We had to buy 1Yuan ($0.15) insurance with the entrance ticket, so you can imagine the insurance jokes! I've still got my insurance papers, just in case...
Back in Beijing we had dinner at Mr. Pizza, the first pizza I've had in two months, and the first time I've used a fork and knife in two months! I thought it was pretty good, but then I haven't really had much to compare it to recently. After a few hours of shopping, the others headed back home while I stuck around the big city for another day.
I decided to make Sunday a relaxing day so I headed first to JingShan Park (景山公园), right behind the Forbidden City (故宫). There's a big hill in the park made from the dirt pulled up from the moat around the Forbidden City, from where you can see over the roofs of the old palace. It's quite impressive, although there was too much fog/smog to see much. The photo to the left is where the last Ming emperor hung himself in 1644AD, after it was clear that Li Zicheng would capture Beijing, ending the Ming Dynasty.
Next I wandered over to BeiHai Park (北海公园), just across the street and north of the Forbidden City.
It was another gorgeous park. The park used to be the site of Kublai Khan's (1300's) palace, but all that's left is a giant jade bowl that is thought to have been used to hold wine for large banquets. It's also home to the Nine Dragon Screen built in 1771, and a giant White Dagoba built in 1651 for a visit by the Dalai Lama. There are also a number of temples and gardens where the emperors used to sit and read. The history is just amazing -even some of the trees have their own history ("This tree was planted by Emperor XZY", "The famous poet ABC wrote a poem about this tree, which is where it's name comes from", etc).
After some snack food I wandered to Tian'anmen Square, before hitting up a Starbucks on WangFuJing DaJie. I decided to splurge and get the most expensive coffee on the menu -a grande caramel machiatto for 30Yuan. Sure it's about the same price as everywhere else, but in China 30Yuan can buy you 1.5months of cell phone time, 5 DVDs, 8 bowls of duck fried rice at the cafeteria, 12 bubble/milk teas, 34 packets of Nescafe instant coffee, or 100 bowls of rice porridge (zhou1). I enjoyed every drop of it.
I went up to Beijing again this past weekend for some shopping, coffee, and sightseeing with five foreign friends from the university. We left Baoding on Friday afternoon, and arrived at the Jade Hostel after dinner time so we ate at the first restaurant we came to, Beijing Roast Duck (北京烤鸭)! After wandering WangFuJing a bit, we headed back to call it a night.
We decided to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu (慕田峪长城) on Saturday morning. After leaving less early than we expected due to coffee and pastries, we made it to Dongzhimen Bus Station to start looking for a way there. We ended up getting a private van, which costed about as much as the bus/minibus combo, but without stopping every 5 minutes at a bus stop. The guy had a cute little 1 month old puppy with him. It whimpered quite a bit so the guy asked us if we wanted him to throw it out the window. No joke! We said no, the dog was OK.The wall itself was amazing. We took a cable-car to the top, and a toboggan ride down. The photo above is posted right when you get onto the cart thing - TEST THE BRAKE - so I made sure to test the brake. We had to buy 1Yuan ($0.15) insurance with the entrance ticket, so you can imagine the insurance jokes! I've still got my insurance papers, just in case...
Back in Beijing we had dinner at Mr. Pizza, the first pizza I've had in two months, and the first time I've used a fork and knife in two months! I thought it was pretty good, but then I haven't really had much to compare it to recently. After a few hours of shopping, the others headed back home while I stuck around the big city for another day.
I decided to make Sunday a relaxing day so I headed first to JingShan Park (景山公园), right behind the Forbidden City (故宫). There's a big hill in the park made from the dirt pulled up from the moat around the Forbidden City, from where you can see over the roofs of the old palace. It's quite impressive, although there was too much fog/smog to see much. The photo to the left is where the last Ming emperor hung himself in 1644AD, after it was clear that Li Zicheng would capture Beijing, ending the Ming Dynasty.Next I wandered over to BeiHai Park (北海公园), just across the street and north of the Forbidden City.
It was another gorgeous park. The park used to be the site of Kublai Khan's (1300's) palace, but all that's left is a giant jade bowl that is thought to have been used to hold wine for large banquets. It's also home to the Nine Dragon Screen built in 1771, and a giant White Dagoba built in 1651 for a visit by the Dalai Lama. There are also a number of temples and gardens where the emperors used to sit and read. The history is just amazing -even some of the trees have their own history ("This tree was planted by Emperor XZY", "The famous poet ABC wrote a poem about this tree, which is where it's name comes from", etc).
After some snack food I wandered to Tian'anmen Square, before hitting up a Starbucks on WangFuJing DaJie. I decided to splurge and get the most expensive coffee on the menu -a grande caramel machiatto for 30Yuan. Sure it's about the same price as everywhere else, but in China 30Yuan can buy you 1.5months of cell phone time, 5 DVDs, 8 bowls of duck fried rice at the cafeteria, 12 bubble/milk teas, 34 packets of Nescafe instant coffee, or 100 bowls of rice porridge (zhou1). I enjoyed every drop of it.
November 10, 2006
Disappearing DVDs...
I had better not say anything incriminating, but everyone knows there is a healthy market for cheap DVDs in China, and in many other countries in this part of the world. It's quite easy to get a DVD soon after the movie is released in theatres (though of varying quality, sometimes with someone's head as they get up for more popcorn). Anyway, a few days ago all the cheap DVDs were cleared out of a shop that I have visited on occasion. Apparently this happens from time to time as the police do their job, but in a week or two the DVDs should be back and members of the police force, not in uniform of course, will be back buying DVDs with the rest of us.
I had better not say anything incriminating, but everyone knows there is a healthy market for cheap DVDs in China, and in many other countries in this part of the world. It's quite easy to get a DVD soon after the movie is released in theatres (though of varying quality, sometimes with someone's head as they get up for more popcorn). Anyway, a few days ago all the cheap DVDs were cleared out of a shop that I have visited on occasion. Apparently this happens from time to time as the police do their job, but in a week or two the DVDs should be back and members of the police force, not in uniform of course, will be back buying DVDs with the rest of us.
November 09, 2006
French Night Out of Rice?
It's been quite a while since I've spoken any French really, and I've been missing it, so I decided to get together all the French speakers in the city for dinner last night. We were five in total -a newly arrived Francaise from the Paris region teaching here, an Italienne from Turino studying Chinese before she translates a book for her masters, a Francais/Canadien born in Laos, a Quebecoise who's here studying Mandarin for a year, and me the anglo. We had a great time with lots of laughs, and of course the requisite comparisons between Canadian and Parisian French (Marrant? What did you say?), and the comparison of stereotypes (it's vast and cold there, non?). The meal wasn't half bad either, although they didn't have enough rice! We ordered five bowls, but the waitress came back and said they only had four bowls of rice left. Things were made better at the end of the meal though when the waitress gave us all fuzzy animal things to put on our cell phones or onto our key chains.
It's been quite a while since I've spoken any French really, and I've been missing it, so I decided to get together all the French speakers in the city for dinner last night. We were five in total -a newly arrived Francaise from the Paris region teaching here, an Italienne from Turino studying Chinese before she translates a book for her masters, a Francais/Canadien born in Laos, a Quebecoise who's here studying Mandarin for a year, and me the anglo. We had a great time with lots of laughs, and of course the requisite comparisons between Canadian and Parisian French (Marrant? What did you say?), and the comparison of stereotypes (it's vast and cold there, non?). The meal wasn't half bad either, although they didn't have enough rice! We ordered five bowls, but the waitress came back and said they only had four bowls of rice left. Things were made better at the end of the meal though when the waitress gave us all fuzzy animal things to put on our cell phones or onto our key chains.
November 06, 2006
Cold, again...
I've fallen ill with another cold. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's the 3rd or 4th cold that I've gotten in my two months here so far. I've tried to take care of myself -oranges/apples everyday, keeping as warm as possible (although there's no heat until Nov. 15th), lots of hand washing, vitamin pills everyday, enough sleep, and a balanced diet, etc. The only thing I can think of is that there are more strains of cold here than I've ever been exposed to in Canada, and it'll take some time to build up immunity. Of course it doesn't help that the level of hygiene is lower in China than in Canada -spitting everywhere, one nostril nose blowing (although I'm impressed, because I know I'd end up with snot all over me), the lady who picks her nose then makes your noodles, and the lack of soap if hand washing occurs.
Talking to other foreigners who've been here for more than a year, they all said they got sick quite often the first year for the same reasons. At least I'll have a good immunity when I go back.
I've fallen ill with another cold. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's the 3rd or 4th cold that I've gotten in my two months here so far. I've tried to take care of myself -oranges/apples everyday, keeping as warm as possible (although there's no heat until Nov. 15th), lots of hand washing, vitamin pills everyday, enough sleep, and a balanced diet, etc. The only thing I can think of is that there are more strains of cold here than I've ever been exposed to in Canada, and it'll take some time to build up immunity. Of course it doesn't help that the level of hygiene is lower in China than in Canada -spitting everywhere, one nostril nose blowing (although I'm impressed, because I know I'd end up with snot all over me), the lady who picks her nose then makes your noodles, and the lack of soap if hand washing occurs.
Talking to other foreigners who've been here for more than a year, they all said they got sick quite often the first year for the same reasons. At least I'll have a good immunity when I go back.
November 04, 2006
The Token Foreigner...
My school is turning 100 this month so they're putting on a big celebration in a few weeks time. They've also decided to put together a glossy brochure to promote the school. Seeing as it's a foreign language school, they need pictures of the foreign teachers at work. So this morning a group of students and I held hands and walked across the field while the photographer took photos. We then had another photo shoot, where I was pretending to teach a small group of students something outside (if you look closely, I was teaching them from their chemistry texts). We'll see how the photos turns out. In the example photos the photographer had from another school, I saw two other foreign teachers that I met earlier this year. I wonder if they ever saw the photos?
My school is turning 100 this month so they're putting on a big celebration in a few weeks time. They've also decided to put together a glossy brochure to promote the school. Seeing as it's a foreign language school, they need pictures of the foreign teachers at work. So this morning a group of students and I held hands and walked across the field while the photographer took photos. We then had another photo shoot, where I was pretending to teach a small group of students something outside (if you look closely, I was teaching them from their chemistry texts). We'll see how the photos turns out. In the example photos the photographer had from another school, I saw two other foreign teachers that I met earlier this year. I wonder if they ever saw the photos?
October 31, 2006
Blogspot is Back!
After close to a week of Blogspot being down (i.e. censored in China), it's now back up for business! I can still publish posts when it's down, but I can't easily look at other blogs. Now I have to reading to catch up on.
*Update: it seems that Blogspot is 'down' again after being up for half a day. Here's an interesting article about a Chinese official who claimed at a UN summit that the internet is not at all censored in China.
After close to a week of Blogspot being down (i.e. censored in China), it's now back up for business! I can still publish posts when it's down, but I can't easily look at other blogs. Now I have to reading to catch up on.
*Update: it seems that Blogspot is 'down' again after being up for half a day. Here's an interesting article about a Chinese official who claimed at a UN summit that the internet is not at all censored in China.
October 30, 2006
Weekend in Beijing...
*I've put up lots of photos on my Yahoo site. If you don't know the address, or you've lost it, send me an email or leave me a comment.
I finally made it to Beijing, and I don't know why I didn't go earlier (maybe the crowds and heat?). According to my trusty Lonely Planet the size of the Municipality of Beijing is larger than all of Belgium, and there are at least 7 million more people in Beijing! One bus I took was so crowded (fill the bus to overflowing, then push in 10 more people) that there was no need to hold the hand rail. If the bus were to roll, we'd stay right where we were standing.
Around 7:30 on Saturday morning I headed out on a tour to the Ming Tombs (十三陵) and the Great Wall. There were three Spanish on the group who spoke some English but understood French (so I translated), and an Austrian girl studying in Wuhan with her father. Later in the evening, I quite randomly ran into the two of them by Tian'anmen of all places. The tomb was quite interesting and the guide did a great job of explaining things. We had a few 'factory tours', aka buy our products, and ate lunch before heading to the wall.
We visited the Great Wall at Juyongguan (居庸关), which was a strategically important pass because it's so close to Beijing. I didn't realize until after, but if you've seen the TV show The Amazing Race, I went where the contestants went this season.
It was less crowded than I expected, and I'm glad I didn't climb it in the middle of the summer heat. The views were really beautiful, and it's crazy to think that you're actually walking on the Great Wall of China. OK, I know where I was had been renovated, but still.
Back in Beijing I decided to walk from my hostel (which actually had toilet paper -a rarity in Chinese bathrooms) to Tian'anmen. It was about a 45 minute walk, but the evening was warm and there were people on the street playing cards, talking, fishing in the moat, etc. I ended up buying some postcards from a lady out front of the Forbidden City. We chatted in Chinese a bit (I was having a good Mandarin day), and I ended up buying a Chinese-English version of Mao's collected works. I'm in China for a year and she gave me a good price, how could I not?
I kept walking, went through a short tunnel, and realized that I had walked into Tian'anmen Square (天安门广场) with the portrait of Mao right above my head. It was really quite amazing to see the square for the first time.
Sunday morning I headed to the Summer Palace (颐和园) and Kunming Lake, which were packed with tour groups. It was gorgeous, but I didn't really enjoy it with the people everywhere pushing and shouting. I'll have to go back very early one day.
In Mandarin class last year, we learned about XiangShan (香山) and the red leaves that you can see in autumn. I decided to head there, since it was also in the far northwest of Beijing. Big mistake. Me and tens of thousands of Chinese (I only saw three other foreigners) wanted to see these famous red fall leaves. First you walk through a gauntlet of shops trying to see you any and everything. There are cars trying to drive down the lane, and people everywhere. The photo shows one tiny section of the path to the ticket booth. Luckily I've learned how to 'line up' Chinese style, though I was pretty exhausted by the time I got my ticket.
I didn't really see any red leaves, though I didn't go far enough into the park I guess because I didn't have enough time. But I did get to see the Azure Cloud Temple (碧云寺) which was really impressive.
I really enjoyed Beijing, and I'll have to go back to see some more of it. Not to mention the food and bargain hunting/shopping.
*I've put up lots of photos on my Yahoo site. If you don't know the address, or you've lost it, send me an email or leave me a comment.
I finally made it to Beijing, and I don't know why I didn't go earlier (maybe the crowds and heat?). According to my trusty Lonely Planet the size of the Municipality of Beijing is larger than all of Belgium, and there are at least 7 million more people in Beijing! One bus I took was so crowded (fill the bus to overflowing, then push in 10 more people) that there was no need to hold the hand rail. If the bus were to roll, we'd stay right where we were standing.
Around 7:30 on Saturday morning I headed out on a tour to the Ming Tombs (十三陵) and the Great Wall. There were three Spanish on the group who spoke some English but understood French (so I translated), and an Austrian girl studying in Wuhan with her father. Later in the evening, I quite randomly ran into the two of them by Tian'anmen of all places. The tomb was quite interesting and the guide did a great job of explaining things. We had a few 'factory tours', aka buy our products, and ate lunch before heading to the wall.
We visited the Great Wall at Juyongguan (居庸关), which was a strategically important pass because it's so close to Beijing. I didn't realize until after, but if you've seen the TV show The Amazing Race, I went where the contestants went this season.It was less crowded than I expected, and I'm glad I didn't climb it in the middle of the summer heat. The views were really beautiful, and it's crazy to think that you're actually walking on the Great Wall of China. OK, I know where I was had been renovated, but still.
Back in Beijing I decided to walk from my hostel (which actually had toilet paper -a rarity in Chinese bathrooms) to Tian'anmen. It was about a 45 minute walk, but the evening was warm and there were people on the street playing cards, talking, fishing in the moat, etc. I ended up buying some postcards from a lady out front of the Forbidden City. We chatted in Chinese a bit (I was having a good Mandarin day), and I ended up buying a Chinese-English version of Mao's collected works. I'm in China for a year and she gave me a good price, how could I not?I kept walking, went through a short tunnel, and realized that I had walked into Tian'anmen Square (天安门广场) with the portrait of Mao right above my head. It was really quite amazing to see the square for the first time.
Sunday morning I headed to the Summer Palace (颐和园) and Kunming Lake, which were packed with tour groups. It was gorgeous, but I didn't really enjoy it with the people everywhere pushing and shouting. I'll have to go back very early one day.
In Mandarin class last year, we learned about XiangShan (香山) and the red leaves that you can see in autumn. I decided to head there, since it was also in the far northwest of Beijing. Big mistake. Me and tens of thousands of Chinese (I only saw three other foreigners) wanted to see these famous red fall leaves. First you walk through a gauntlet of shops trying to see you any and everything. There are cars trying to drive down the lane, and people everywhere. The photo shows one tiny section of the path to the ticket booth. Luckily I've learned how to 'line up' Chinese style, though I was pretty exhausted by the time I got my ticket.
I didn't really see any red leaves, though I didn't go far enough into the park I guess because I didn't have enough time. But I did get to see the Azure Cloud Temple (碧云寺) which was really impressive.I really enjoyed Beijing, and I'll have to go back to see some more of it. Not to mention the food and bargain hunting/shopping.
October 29, 2006
No Daylight Savings...
One nice thing about China is that they don't have Daylight Savings. Although you don't get an extra hour of sleep in the fall, you also don't lose an hour in the spring. Apparently they tried it for a couple of years, but it didn't go over too well so they scrapped it. All the better I think.
Beijing stories and photos to appear shortly!
One nice thing about China is that they don't have Daylight Savings. Although you don't get an extra hour of sleep in the fall, you also don't lose an hour in the spring. Apparently they tried it for a couple of years, but it didn't go over too well so they scrapped it. All the better I think.
Beijing stories and photos to appear shortly!
October 27, 2006
Off to Beijing!
Beijing, the capital city of the most populous country in the world, is only 90 minutes by train from my city. Despite being in China now for two months I haven't made it yet. But I'm off to Beijing this afternoon! I bought a ticket and made a reservation at the Lostus Hostel, recommended by a travelling friend when I was in Xi'an, which is near BeiHai park just north of the Forbidden City. I'm hoping to make it to the Great Wall on Saturday (it's an all day trip, and I want to go before I have to hike up in the dead of a -20C winter). I'll only have time to see a fraction of the city this time, but I've still got the whole rest of the winter to explore the ins and outs of Beijing.
Beijing, the capital city of the most populous country in the world, is only 90 minutes by train from my city. Despite being in China now for two months I haven't made it yet. But I'm off to Beijing this afternoon! I bought a ticket and made a reservation at the Lostus Hostel, recommended by a travelling friend when I was in Xi'an, which is near BeiHai park just north of the Forbidden City. I'm hoping to make it to the Great Wall on Saturday (it's an all day trip, and I want to go before I have to hike up in the dead of a -20C winter). I'll only have time to see a fraction of the city this time, but I've still got the whole rest of the winter to explore the ins and outs of Beijing.
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