Too long...

Long time between blogs, I know, but there is a slight problem with me at the moment that has meant its hard for me to sit for more than 5 minutes, and also means I'm likely to return home sooner than hoped.

After having recent problems with my spine go from bad (slight ache while in Thailand with two great buddies, Han and Fi, who did their best to help accommodate a slightly annoyed and whiney Katie) to ridiculously painful (leading to me laying on the floor in agony and having to crawl around to get to the bathroom).

This recently led to a string of hospital visits, almost all of which were fruitless. In China, if you are sick, you don't go to a clinic and see a doctor like we would, instead you visit a grotty, unhygenic, smelly hospital, where hundred of other Chinese people insist on pushing in front of you. Once you get through all that, you then get to see a Dr (with your own translator.. with shit english essential.) who usually puts aside his cigarette and ashtray to be able to look at you for two minutes and tell you nothing is wrong, you just need to rest. SO helpful!

Suffice to say, Mum and Dad arrive in 6 days, can't wait to see them. Going to then try and pack up to go home with them so I can get treated back home...(one final doctor told me yes, back is screwed and I do need surgery).

I'm disappointed that I'm incapacitated and unable to show Mum and Dad around when they get here, but so grateful to have them here to help me when I'm such a wreck! I'm also sad to be going home early, there was still a lot of tavelling I had planned, and people I was meant to visit before I left. But hopefully I can get better soon and come back for another semester!

The weather here has improved so much, which is lucky for me, as walking is the only thing I can do at the moment. The trees all around where I live are shedding this strange cotton like balls of fluff everywhere, in huge quantities, which makes Wuhan look quite pretty... there have even been hints of clear blue sky!!

I think I will miss my kids the most.. even toward the end of working, when I was in excrutiating pain, they still made me smile and laugh. I'm hoping for a late, at very least brief, recovery so I can go in and say goodbye to them, and my employers. They were all so good and accomodating, I'll miss them very much.

Anyway, best be off now, needing to lay down again...

Thailand to China.

Hi again!


So today is Womens Day in China, and that means I get a half a day off work. Good opportunity to write my long ignored blog....

I am back to work these last two weeks since having a whole month off. February was a fantastic month! I started off my months by going to Thailand for 10 nights and having the most unbelieveably relaxing time. Everyday was spent in, on , or around water. The weather was amazing, hot and beautiful everyday(and their winter, much to my surprise!). To be able to see gorgeous clear blue sky again was so refreshing, not to mention the lush green I could see everywhere! Good old Wuhan isn't so bad, but getting out for a while made me realise the things I really crave, such as a little but of eye candy regarding my landscape.

Wuhan, although somewhat dirty and boring, is home, and after a bit under two weeks I was looking forward to... Ah, but I had decided previously I would get into Shenzhen(some 3 provinces away from home) and rock up to a counter somewhere in the airport and book myself a ticket home. But it was not meant to be... I arrived into Shenzhen at about 2am, three days before Chinese New Year. Bad idea. Shenzhen is a transport hub of China and I'd bet my life that at least half of their 10 million residents were trying to also get out of there. I digress... So 2am, in the airport, can not be bothered with doing anything about getting home at this point, just in dire need of a shower and a nights rest after travelling since 6.30 that morning.

Suddenly I am approached by a woman asking if I need a taxi. I think what the hell, the dodgy 'not' taxis are usually cheaper in Wuhan than a regular taxi and right now I just needed to get to somewhere sleep. I asked her to take me to a hotel, that's not too expensive and off we go. 5 mintues and 100rmb later(absolute bloody rip off, but to tired to argue) I am dropped off at a 'business hotel' where I paid $50au to stay in a complete dive. I happen to notice that you could also rent the rooms here by the hour. On the elevator ride up to my room, there were fairly blantant pictures of what's on offer there. Still, beggars can't be choosers and it had hot water and a couple of good locks on the door, so it would do for the night. Wasn't sure how I felt about the broken peephole in the door that had been plugged up with a filthy tissue, but figured I'd have the lights off most of the time anyway, so it didn't matter. I did feel like I would have to go to a chemist the next morning and buy a shit load of disinfectant to wash myself with though, and I was not real keen to get into the bed..But I'm writing this, so obviously I survived.

Next morning, I had no desire to get ripped off again, so I legged it to the airport, only to find out that there are no avaliable seats to Wuhan for over a week, unless I want to wait on standby(for a mere 1080rmb, a ridiculous amount of money to fly anywhere in China). I was on a deadline to get back to Wuhan to met Dora though, so I politely declined and made my way to the taxi rank. After being offered to be taken to the train station via taxi for 600rmb(literally laughed at this guy.. I told him I was not a tourist and to bugger off..) I got a legit taxi this time (cost me only 110rmb!) So ended up in Guangzhou train station with half of Shenzhen and fought my way through the ridiculous crowd to find the long distance train ticket booth. After much handing over and returning of my phrase book, as well as plenty of bad miming between myself and the lovely young girl behind the counter, I managed to ascertain that I could catch a 20 hour(!!!) train to Wuhan at 3.40am(13 hours away from the time I bought the ticket). I grabbed it, 260rmb later, with horrible knowledge that I could only get a standing ticket(!) but with the satisfaction that at least I would be home soonish and I would get in three hours before Dora. Sadly, in my sleep deprived state I got confused and though I would get in after her and sent a panicked email to her telling her to wait somewhere prominant for me... but thats another story I'll get to.

So with half a day to kill I holed myself up in a starbucks, to exhausted to do anymore touristy things, while lugging around my suitcase. Sadly, Starbucks closes at 12, so I was thrown out with another 3.75 hours to kill. Made my way back to the train station and found one of the only vacant spots within a 500 km radius of the place and sat down. Started chatting to the Chinese old fella who was next to me, who was also making the long trip back home to Wuhan for New Year. Another young guy joined us a bit later, who spoke English, and ends up being the hero of this story... Philip is a Japanese translator working in Shenzhen, but also from Wuhan. We all chatted for ages, when I felt the coffee having it effects and I realised I would have to brave the portaloos set up for the holiday rush. Ahh... but what to do with the suitcase... do I try and fit the thing in with me? Or maybe extend one of the straps and hold it through the door whilst trying to pee? I gave up both these ideas in the end and thought, bugger it, I'll take the risk. Philip kindly agreed to stay with my things and keep an eye on them. Bless his little cotton socks, when I came out of the filthy disgusting excuse for a loo, he was still sitting where I left him, complete with my case.

Anyway, so 3.40 rolls around, my new friend and I turn out to be on the same standing train cart, so he helps me to get on and settle into my designated standing position. I lucked out, I had to spend the next 20 hours in the wobbly bit between carts, he was about five people away from me, further in the cart. I have never felt so much like cattle as I did on that cart. There was literally NO room to move. I tried to arrange myself as best I could in a 30cm x 30cm area, keeping in mind I would need to be sleeping for most of this trip to try and kill time and avoid having to climb over everyone to go to the toilet. Suddenly Philip is pulling me and my stuff off the train and telling me he's been chatting to our cart attendant, and in honour of my being a foreign guest of the country he and I are being moved! Into the staff cart no less!!! Which had seats!!! And a table!!! Oh such bliss! I nearly snogged him on the spot.

The next 20 hours ended up being fairly pain free, Philip and I played cards for ages, slept a bit, ate some interesting food(he kept offering me really weird shit and its considered rude to refuse, and I'm not the rude type, particularly considering what he's already done for me!). We mostly chatted, about all things, what I miss about home, how I like the food, religion, love, philosophy, politics, differences in culture. It was great, particularly as he was giving me very honest responses, which is unusual in Chinese people. Mostly they tell you what you want to hear or are very careful about what they say for fear of being overheard(party members are everywhere). We were mostly left to our own devices in the cart, with the staff coming in every now and then to eat, smoke, play cards with us and practice their English on me. Philip was kind enough to translate for all of us!

So in the end I got into Wuhan, 3 hours before Dora, then stupidly left the train station... forgetting that once I'm out, I can't get back in to find her when her train arrived. Luckily, Dora had her wits about her and managed to leave after I wasn't there to greet her, found a public phone and called me, so we could meet up:

Dora: "Where are you?"
Katie: "Standing near a massive blue sign.. its real big..."
Dora: "They're all big and blue!"
Katie: "oh... um...."

My fabulous directions worked a treat and she found me. Hurrah! Then we went home and slept.

Having Dora here was great! I worried a lot that she would hate it, and find it boring, since everything was shut due to Chinese N.Y. But we chilled out a lot, ate food, did some touristy things. We saw a fabulous modern art exhibition with my Chinese friend Carmen. Later on I took Dora out with Carmen and we met our other friend K, who then paid for us to go to Karaoke! The ultimate Chinese experience!

Chinese New Year itself was mental. Dora and I kept rushing out of my room and up onto the roof to watch the spectacular fireworks! Believe me when I say you have never seen fireworks until you have seen the ones they let off at New Year in China. We had a panaromic view from the roof, and they were going off everywhere you looked. And it went for hours!!! In the end we couldn't see the outline of buildings anymore because there was so much smoke in the air.

Anyway, Dora left after several days, to make her way across the country. It was sad to see her go, but so great to have had her here at all.

After that, it was just me chillin' out until my birthday and then School resumed..

Birthday was much fun, if spent a little crazily! Did get send home in a cab by one of my lovely friends though, bless him!

And here I am, looking forward now to Mum and Dad coming over in nine weeks!!

Take care all, love you lots. xx

Today at work I had my show lesson. A show lesson is where you prepare a half an hour lesson to be performed in front of the principal. The end result being, that if she approves of how the lesson went, you are then able to perform it again as a public lesson. A public lesson occurs on an open day, where all the students’ parents come in and watch, which is somewhat of an ordeal if what my co-workers tell me is true. So I did my usual thing where I jump around and act like a genuine idiot for 25 minutes, doing the hokey pokey and singing hickory dickory dock, while the kids join in and giggle themselves stupid at the silly fat ‘waiguo ren’ up the front . Afterwards I am taken up to see the principal where her thoughts are carefully translated by my co-teacher Caroline. “Our leader has one word to describes your lessons” (sic) she starts, I’m slightly panicky but figure they’re unlikely to send me home over whatever the problem is… “Very good!” Phew, I’m so relieved I don’t even bother to correct the three blindingly obvious grammatical mistakes they just made. So all in all, it was very successful and they continued to sit there and praise me for ten minutes. And they call this work.

As you may or may not have heard, my very best friend Hannah just came all the way to Wuhan to visit me. She managed to drag along one of her friends to help keep her occupied whilst I was at work. The day they arrived we had drinks at the residence, in warm sunny weather (around 25 deg), went out to Prison Bar which is a hideous dingy bar that serves very cheap spirits and Boags no less! This was followed up by some serious KTV action. There is something so wonderful about China and karaoke, I can’t help but have a fantastic time, it’s so much more fun here than back home. So after belting out a round of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart, and (my new go to song) Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name, we stumble out into the dirty streets of Wuchang to grab some early morning street snacks and head home! But not before I get wound up in the moment and buy an ill-fitting red leather jacket. Mmm… Don’t take shopping advice from drunken friends.

This was also the night I introduced Hannah and her friend Kristie to Jinjiu. Jinjiu is the less potent sister to Baijiu, which is classified as a ‘Chinese vodka-style spirit’, but is more colloquially known as ‘that nasty cheap shit that tastes like paint stripper’. You can learn more about this rank liquid at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baijiu . Sufficed to say I decided I wanted Hannah to come out with me again at some point so I eased her in with the slightly less rancid Jinjiu, which tastes more like fermented vegemite and has nowhere near as much alcohol content, but still manages to sneak up on you if you aren’t careful. So with enough watery beer and Jinjiu under our belts we had a great night out!

Now for the best story of Hannah and Kristie’s whole stay. One night after work they invite me over to their hotel room for some drinks and a Jacuzzi (which was advertised on their website and on the in-room flier). The weather has turned pretty dreadful here now (slipping down to about 10 degrees) so I’m thinking a Jacuzzi sounds great. I head over, Han and I get stuck into some 12 year old Ballentines she’s found, Kristie is knocking off some of her Absolut, we’re playing cards and decided it’s about time we head out and get our hot tub on. So down we trundle, to the floor with the swimming pool, saunas and most importantly, the Jacuzzi’s! We sidle on up to the desk and ask “where are the hot tubs please?” When we are given the most unwelcome response of ‘women have shower, men have this’. Huh? Why would we come all the way down to the 5^th floor to have a shower? We could do that in the suite. Odd… but we persevere… “When can we have a Jacuzzi?” “Oh no, women no have Jacuzzi, only shower”. RIGHT!

With a couple of scotches under my belt, I’m ready to go down to reception and sort this out. Hannah and Kristie are not happy, saying they only booked to stay at THE BEST WESTERN (yes, I’m using names) because they offered Jacuzzi’s. So down we go, get a wee bit riled up, and demand to have an explanation. Max (oh lovely Max), our assistant manager tells us it’s all good, head back up and we’ll be getting out Jacuzzi very soon. Ten minutes and one pre-Jacuzzi shower later we’re sitting on the couches waiting to be led into the room, when all of a sudden a trail of about 15 business men come streaming out of the Jacuzzi Room, looking exceedingly put out, followed by about three over dressed women. Suddenly the penny drops. The Wuhan Best Western hasn’t got any ordinary Spa room, it is in fact a men’s only number.

Suddenly the idea of a Jacuzzi isn’t so appealing. Unless it’s thoroughly bleached first. I’m overhearing the staff of this floor tell the men that they can now have free drinks in the bar (trust those to be some of the few Chinese words I’ve picked up). Next we are told to wait an hour while the area is cleaned then it’s all ours. So now Hannah, Kristie and I are realising that the hotel has probably just lost a LOT of money all because we demanded a Jacuzzi which now we’re not that keen to have. Still, we figure we’re grin and bear it, but alas, it was never meant to be. We get called down an hour later, everything is ready for us, we are escorted to the Jacuzzi room to find –WHAT! There is NO JACUZZI! The whole evening has been in vain, they do not even have a Jacuzzi, despite advertising having one and my having brought the picture from the suite down to show them and everything! Ugh! At least we got to have a laugh…

The final part of my latest instalment regards the change in weather. As I write it is now 2 degrees, the warmest it has been in three days. It has been snowing, that’s right, SNOWING. “It never snows in Wuhan” they say… pretty sure that 4 inches of white stuff everywhere outside ain’t just dust. However, despite the fact that I can’t stand the cold, I will say it was very exciting to wake up yesterday and see how pretty everything looked. Even dirty filthy Wuhan looks lovely under a layer of snow. Plus I got to frolic in it; I’ve never frolicked in snow before. I made a snowman, not a very good one, but I made him none the less. I even got to throw snow balls from the stop of my roof onto the heads of the school kids down below. It was awesome!

The one downside to all this is that even though it’s averaging around 1-2 degrees at the moment, NOTHING in China is heated. The class rooms aren’t, my staff room isn’t, when you go out to a restaurant it’s not, you are still constantly covered in 25 layers. Thank heavens I found a pair of polar fleece lined pants that fit under my jeans… I feel like I’m turning into Grandma (bless her!).

Life In Wuhan

I actually wrote this particular blog a while back, when I couldn't get into my blog because of Chinas government blocking the page, so its about a month out of date. The weather has cooled a lot now, but the rest of the content is still very relivant.

Wuhan is hot. Really hot. Inescapably hot. To beat the heat myself and some of my new friends have been heading out to the beautiful streets of Hankou to indulge in local thirst-quenchers.

Wuchang, the ‘suburb’ of Wuhan we live in is not the most attractive area. Don’t get me wrong, it’s considered a very affluent area, the apartment building is set within a large block of other apartments all of which is surrounded by lofty trees. It is pleasant enough, but the glamour of Yanjiang Dadao (the main esplanade of Hankou) is undeniable, and a perfect spot to meet locals and swig a few beverages.

Allison, an American girl who is about to be here for her 2^nd semester, has been my tour guide/translator of sorts. Between her and my phrase book (kudos Custard) I’ve managed to have a few chats with some curious natives. A conversation typically goes like this:

Wuhan-er: Where are you from?

Me: Australia

Wuhan-er: AH! Sydney?

Me: No, I’m-

Wuhan-er: MELBOURNE!

Me: No, I’m from an island called Tasmania.

Wuhan-er: Oh. (said with a tinge of disappointment.)

When walking through this hilarious club called Song Song (think of a Chinese ‘Lonnies’ crowd but with a comical karaoke element) we’re treated like royalty. Everyone moves aside for the foreigners and we’re given the best spot at the bar. Men buy us drinks and bar snacks and write out their phone numbers for us, insisting we call them. They can be very charming and funny in a completely ridiculous way... They are big on impressing me with their limited knowledge of my homeland and for some reason have this bizarre but hilarious need to tell me I look like Nicole Kidman. Yeah right, I wish.

Two days ago I was sitting on a bench in the ridiculous heat, eating an icy pole, trying to recover from my first Chinese hangover when I was approached by a lovely lady who introduced herself and her daughter to me. We had a chat, she gave me her number(they’re really big on giving out their numbers!) and said she’d love to practice her English with me. During our conversation she asked me why I decided to come to China. I told her my reasons (how I enjoyed it so much last time, the people are so friendly, I’d like to see more of their beautiful countryside) but she just couldn’t understand... Not because her English was bad, but because the idea of a foreigner wanting to live in China was mental to her. I get the impression this is a common belief. Nemo (who I had no trouble finding by the by..) was very much of the same opinion when I spoke to him on the trip back from the airport and so are most of the other Chinese people I have spoken to. But I think I will be very happy here.

One adjustment that is a bit hard for me, is going from being completely ordinary and mostly ignored, to being looked at constantly. People stop what they are doing just to stare at me. I ventured out to the supermarket yesterday, and was followed around some of the isle by curious onlookers. Little old Nana’s point me out to their grand kids, making them wave to me, while they stare, mouth open, with the look of a dead fish. Its hard to get used to it, but only because its so odd. Allison says at some point, like everyone else here has, I will probably need to take a mental health day to stay inside to avoid being looked at.

In addition to the above, I've also started to realise that for the first time in a while I am really happy. I have so few worries here, I'm finanically well off (who says money can't buy happiness!), healthy, making great new friends, enjoying my job, learning so much and being stimulated everyday. I miss my family and friends, mould free living, and eating food that I am used to, but on the whole Wuhan agrees with me.

Wuhan

Its been a while since my first blog(sorry to some of you who got this in the form of an email already), so I figured its time for a new one..
My job is still going well, my children are gorgeous, as you will see from the pictures. Considering I came to this job with no experience of teaching before, I wasn't really sure how I would take to it, but I'm loving it. I was also unsure how good I was at it, but I had my first monthly review with the Kindergarten principal last week and she said she was very pleased with my work! So that was a huge relief.

I had a week off at the begining of the month for China's national holiday. A group of us teachers went to Beijing for 5 night. It was interesting, eight very different personalities in a confined space.. while it had its fun times, I've decided to do my next adventure on my own. Beijing was beautiful! Much nicer than I remember it from last time. A couple of Chinese people did tell me that it was mostly in honour of the holiday and the fact that they were having televised celebrations, but I was okay with that! Also, because of these celebrations Tiananmen Square was closed off to tourists for the fisrt few days we were there. Luckily it reopened to us in time for me to see a flag raising ceremony at 5.30am.

I went back to Beihai Park, which I fell in love with last time I was here and it was even more beautiful this time! I also went up that big wall thing, you may have heard of it... That was amazing as well, the weather was perfect, the skies were clear(this was because the government had shot rockets of dry ice into the skies to clear it, so everyone would have nice weather, and be able to see the fireworks[incidenty, it was reputed that China spent over 10 million on all of this years celebrations, because it was the big 6-0 anniversary for them becoming the Peoples Republic, and because it cost so much they probably won't do it again ever.. but thats neither here nor there!]). The shopping was phenominal! I found a mall with 5 levels of shoes, bags, jewellery and clothes that I went mental in... haggled like a fiend!

Coming back to Wuhan was a little depressing! Despite being such a huge city, its not particularly Western, which is good and bad. Good beacuse it means everything is CRAZY cheap (cocktails are $3, a big meal will cost no more than $2 if you know the right places, and hour long taxi ride is $10). Its not so good because it means I can't buy anything that fits my giant frame and feet, no menu's are in English and hardly anyones English is more extensive than 'hallo!'... this can be very frustrating at times, particularly at 3am after a bellyfull of beer and you realised you left your notepad with your address in Chinese symbols at home (turns out its true that saying it louder doesn't make it easier to understand).

Having said that, I am picking up the language pretty well. Luckily, this academic year the Chinese Government have instigated free Chinese lessons for any foreign English teacher who want to take them, which I started last week, they're going really well so far. Its expanding my vocab past 'i want that' and '3 beers', as well as teaching me the tones, which is the hardest part of the language. If my skills are anything like the teachers who have stayed on this year, by the end of my year, I'll be a happy woman!

This week at school, a couple of the students in one of my classes have caught hand, foot and mouth disease which means that all of their classes have been suspended for this week... This means I have my other class for two hours in the morning and then its home time! Such a hard life!

I hope you are all well and please feel free to write back to me with news from home! I'd say I'm missing you all, but I'm far too busy for that, ;)


All my love, Katie in China. xxxxx

Moving to China

So I am moving to China. Wuhan specifically.

The plan is that while I am away, rather than send emails to everyone, I will try and regularly leave blog messages, photos, updates etc.

So at the moment, the plan is to leave for Wuhan on the 25th. I'm very excited and equally terrified. I am really looking forward to heading back to China, I fell in love with it last time I went and I've been planning to go back ever since. The part that scares me the most would have to be the idea of moving for such a long period. Ten months is huge for someone who has never lived more than 10kms away from what I know as home. I'll miss my friends, I won't have any idea what to do with myself when Christmas rolls around and I can't be with my family, mostly I think I'll miss knowing my way around! Luckily, the fear and the excitement are running about equal at the moment..

I'll be working at the Wuchang Experimental Primary School and living in accommodation they are providing me with about 8Ks away. The apartment is in a building with around 30 other English teachers, so I'm relieved to know I will have some company.

Teaching classes of around 45 students, aged between 7 and 11 will be pretty daunting, but I believe I'm really going to enjoy it. I've been trying to gather as much information and teaching tips as I can prior to starting... One guy I've been corresponding with who has previously worked in W.E.P.S. suggested I acquire a whistle to help control the large class, else I'll find out soon enough that I will loose my voice!

Anyway, I'll leave it here for now.. Stay tuned for more updates as they come to hand.