China Adventure - arterra

Arrival
Dongguan, China
Here we are in Dongguan...We had our 2 nights in Hong Kong - didn't do any shopping there as our bags were already too full!! On arrival in Dongguan the first 2 things to hit us were the smog and the heat...it was a bit of a shock really, after coming from coolish days in Canberra. ...it's hot again today...so we have set up 'the fridge' - that's our name for the one room that we put the air conditioning on in, and then we can go and sit in there every so often!!!
We went for a walk earlier today and found a nice bit of park - beautiful green trees and even green grass - so I did a bit of Tai Chi which caused much interest...I will have to get used to people stopping and staring!! I might try and get up and go down there early a few mornings a week - it might be a touch cooler then.
I don't think China is in drought, judging by the lovely greenery that is around, but I think it may be heading for one, given the amount of water that Andrew and I are consuming at the moment!!
Yesterday we had a little trip to the local big grocery store where they have imported goods as well - so we have stocked up on Cadbury chocolate, magnums, biscuits, corn flakes, and even butter - it's actually Irish butter called 'Kerry Gold' and it's great. Actually the store is huge - it has everything - including half a pig if we ever care for one!!. To shop at the store we have to set up an account - so we'll have to do that next time (yesterday we used Tamzin's card). (Tamzin is the Aussie girl who hired us - she has been in China for 3 years or so). We bought some veggies and chicken fillets too, so our first home cooked meal will be happening very soon.
So far the people that we've met around - the Chinese people- have been quite friendly - there is a nice guy called 'Sam' who works in the little corner shop just downstairs from our apartment. He doesn't speak a lot of English but enough to help us out a bit.
Our apartment is in a complex that has a security gate and guards at the front - all cars coming in are checked (including the boot). The security guards aren't too scary though - there are some stationed around the complex too and they say hello to us when we go past. There is an outdoor pool in our complex too - so that's nice - except I didn't bring my swimmers - I'll have to find some over here - shouldn't be too hard. There is a small gym down the road and another bigger swimming pool that we can go to. Today we walked past the gym and there was a game of basketball going on - uniforms and all. Andrew could join the local team - I suggested it but he wasn't too keen!!
We start 'training' next Saturday and then start real teaching the following Tuesday. We saw Andrew's computer lab yesterday and it is very impressive - and air conditioned, so he will be teaching in comfort! The school is really nice and has sayings painted up on the walls in English (the one that stood out for me was 'Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise...hmmm....i wonder if I'll be able to get up early over here!!!)
The only real drawback of our accommodation is that the beds are SO hard - may as well sleep on the floor. Tamzin gave us a couple of little mattress things to put on top of the mattress, but we might have to find a couple more. Apart from that the apartment is great - it has a washing machine, microwave, little gas stove, kettle, toaster, TV, dvd player, iron, etc. The shower is funny - it's not enclosed - you just go into the bathroom and it's the shower room as well - the water goes everywhere so you have to mop up afterwards and mop the water towards the drain.
Anyway, hope everyone is well and thought I'd let you know that we arrived safe and sound!
written by  arterra on August 26, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure

1 week on...
Dongguan, China
Hi there,
Here we are one week on, still in Dongguan! Yay! We've been finding our way around by taxi and generally trying to make ourselves understood (we will be able to challenge you all at charades when we get back!! The best one so far was when I was looking for some swimmers - the girls in the shop understood straight away what I was after, just by a few freestyle actions!!!). Today we went to Huying park - about a 20 minute taxi ride away. It's a huge beautiful park with a big lake in the middle. It rains a lot here so wherever there is greenery it is very green. In the park people were playing soccer and games, and there were a couple of ping pong tables too. I think the Chinese really know how to enjoy themselves. There was a large gathering of adults who were playing a game and they were all killing themselves laughing. After that we went for our weekly treat to Starbucks (well, we have been there twice this week, but that's ok!!). It costs 25 yuan - or Kwai as they say here, for a cappucino.
The other night we walked down to Walking Street - about 10 minutes away and I got a new mobile that I can use over here. Then we had dinner and we were all walking back and we went past a big gathering of young people - some of them ran over and asked us to come over - they wanted us to dance. So we all had to take turns being in the middle of the circle while everyone clapped and sang the can can. It was very funny!!
Our training was put back a day so we start tomorrow and then start teaching on Wednesday. Apparently the kids over here can be a little bit naughty, so I'll be looking forward to the classroom management ideas!! If all else fails, I do know a little bit of Kung Fu that could be useful (just kidding!!)
Our Chinese vocabulary is increasing little by little - I can now say 'take away' so at the end of the meal we can take what we couldn't eat with us. I am missing those fresh farm eggs - the eggs over here are very pale and small...and they don't come in cartons - they are loose and they are just placed in a small bag!
Anyway, better go and get my beauty sleep for our big day tomorrow. Andrew will be having an exciting experience tomorrow - his back is playing up and he has been in a lot of pain, so he is going to the local hospital, and hopefully will be able to see a physio there.
Bye for now
Ruth
written by  arterra on September 1, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure

First day of training
Dongguan, China
Today was our first day of training - we had a tour of the school, and I was amazed by the facilities here. They have about 10 small music rooms with a piano in each room - proper acoustic rooms. There is also a dance studio and a few computer rooms. Every classroom has a huge flatscreen monitor/TV so you can save things onto a flash drive and then project them in the class - like games, powerpoint presentations etc. When you put the flash drive in though all the instructions on the screen are in Chinese - so we'll just have to get used to that and learn which buttons to press!
Andrew went off this morning to the hospital and had a bit of an adventure there - he saw 3 different Doctors and was finally taken to the 'human manipulation room' (I think if I'd been there I would've left when I saw that sign!!!). None of the Drs spoke English but Andrew had a Chinese English teacher from the school with him. In the 'manipulation room' he was pummelled back into shape and then had some kind of electric magnetic treatment (ie lots of electrodes on his back!). When he came out his back actually did feel better. They advised him to go again tomorrow but he hasn't decided about that yet.
In the afternoon - back at the school - Andrew and I met one of the computer teachers - 'Jack' - he was lovely and has invited us to his home for dinner sometime. He asked us if we like Chinese food and when we said yes he 'Do you? Are you sure you're not cheating me?'. He was very cute!!
That's all for today - bye for now! Ruth
written by  arterra on September 2, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure

Saturday in Dongguan
Hi there,
Well, it's Saturday at last. We've had an interesting week, with the training and then starting our own classes. The students are definitely not the sterotypical quiet, disciplined type (at least not for the foreign teachers anyway - they see a foreign teacher walk into the room and they rub their hands together - hmmm, what fun can we get up to!!) They are lovely on the whole though - I had a great Grade 2 singing lesson yesterday - they were so cute. We practised weather terms and then we sang a couple of songs abot the weather, and 'You are my sunshine'. The best thing is to keep them busy !After the class one of the kids always comes up to help me pack up. Andrew had a good PE class with Year 6 - after wondering what to do with them he decided to teach them how to play hand tennis - the kids loved it. They are exteremly competitive and don't like to lose. Andrew has had to spend quite a bit of time getting his computer room set up - it turns out it isn't the fabulous computer room, but a different one and all the computers had been taken apart, so he had to help put them back together.
Every day in the afternoon the kids do 'eye exercises' to music - they massage their eyes for about 5 minutes. I love it because I get to sit down for 5 minutes!!
Yesterday was teacher's day - a big day to celebrate in China apparently. All the teachers are given some lucky money in red envelopes. After school we went out to dinner with all the teachers from the school. They love their alcohol - especially that really strong 'firewater' - they call it wine but it's 47% alcohol. It's a compliment if you get really drunk with them!! They were joking with us and saying 'bottoms up', meaning we had to finish what was in our glass - they wouldn't let us get away with just a sip. The food was interesting - I was a bit worried when the first dish came out and they politely put it in front of me so that I could take the first one - a chicken foot on a skewer. I just couldn't do it, so I went for the only other dish that was on the table - little seafood things (pipi's?), which were fine. One of the Chinese teachers saw me looking at the chicken feet and said "Are you afraid" - I said "yes" - he thought that was funny!! It was a very raucous occasion - lots of toasts and laughing, and we had fun even though half the time we didn't know what was going on. We had a lovely Chinese guy on our table who is a prac teacher and his major at uni is English, so he told us what the dishes were - so that helped a lot, it meant we could steer clear of the intestines!!
On Friday afternoons I will be looking after 4 girls in Grade 5 - it's just a chance for them to practise their English and is sort of like babysitting. Yesterday we played scattergories and then walked down to the corner store outside the school and got an icecream. I showed them photos from home and they were interested in my nieces and nephews!
This morning we went down to the school (it's about 5 minutes walk away) and Andrew did a track session - they have a very nice running track. People were waving to him as he went around and some even took photos!!! There were quite a few people around as I think the students have classes on Saturday mornings too. They have a very long school day during the week. On Friday afternoon at around 4.30-5pm there were still little primary kids having lessons.
Anyway, we're off to do some shopping soon so I'd better get ready. Hope everyone is well. Eloise, I hope you're feeling better again soon!
Ruth
written by  arterra on September 7, 2007 from Dongguan, China

A week night
Hi there!
It's Wednesday night...thought I'd share with you what I got up to tonight....after school we went out for dinner to our favourite restaurant around here - it's called Neighbourhood's Favourite, and if we last here 12 months they will be seeing a lot of us!! We had a yummy dinner - 3 dishes plus rice and unlimited Chinese tea and watermelon....Luckily the menu is in English as well as Chinese. The total cost was 60 Yuan ...i guess about $10!!! It was enough to get take away as well.....then after that a group of us went for a massage. THe massage parlour is in the hairdresser's....1 hour massage cost 20 Yuan ($4 or so). Wow. I think I'll be there every night!!!
We get a long lunchtime at school because of the heat, so lunch is from 11.40 to 2.20pm. It's enough time to come home, have lunch and then have a little nap (just like the students - they all have a sleep at lunch!). Quite a lot of the students are boarders, and we saw their dorms - about 10 beds in a small room, and a very small bathroom. The mattresses are so thin you can hardly call them a mattress....Poor little kids!! I haven't quite worked out how long the school day is - it just seems to go on and on for the CHinese teachers and the kids....even at 9pm at night there are classes going on. The teachers are at school until about 10pm and they seem to start at 7 ish in the morning(not that I would know!!!)
Anyway, better go, hope everyone is well. Love, Ruth

Sunday night
Hi there!
It's Sunday night here after a nice restful weekend. Friday night we went for a swim at the pool down the road - we went with Jack, the Chinese computer teacher, so he organised a card for us so that we can go all the time (a frequent swimmers card!!). It was so nice to go to the pool and get out of the heat. The pool is beautiful. It's really surprising that it is always so quiet - not many adults go swimming. Then yesterday a teacher who has been here for a few years took us to computer city - a very dingy looking building absolutely packed with computer stores - Dad you would have loved it . Andrew bought a wireless router for about $35. To get to computer city we (andrew and I) climbed on to Geno's motorbike - a little thing - about a 90cc. We hooned off along the streets - lots of fun!! And Geno of course was on the bike too, so we must have looked a sight!! Chinese drivers are hilarious - the never seem to look around too much, but always seem to avoid things on the road - pedestrians, other cars, 3 wheeled things piled high with all sorts of things, slow cars, fast cars, etc. There are lane markings, but they are just a general guide really - not to be taken seriously at all!! A car horn is used to tell people you are coming, so if horns are going off, it doesn't mean that people are cranky, it just means "I'm coming through", or "I'm next to you, look out". People generally drive quite sedately, even though they may be driving on the wrong side of the road or even the wrong way. We haven't seen a hint of road rage. The taxis generally do not have seat belts.
Last night we went to 'One for the Road' (the English pub) and watched the Wallabies play Wales. Yum, they have delicious food there and no rice in sight. (Not that we don't like rice, but after a while it is nice to have a change!!) Mmmm, chips!! And bangers and mash are on the menu too - I'm sure I'll get around to trying them at some stage! My lungs are taking an absolute hammering at the moment - every second person here smokes, and they smoke everywhere - Andrew saw a man in a change room trying on a new shirt and he was smoking!!) The pollution is really bad at the moment too - it's very hazy out there. When I get home I am really going to appreciate those blue skies!!
Today, Sunday, we had another trip to Huying Park and we hired a tandem bike and went for a spin around the park. Tonight we'll have to do some lesson planning for those lovely little cherubs - Monday is our biggest day.
Better go, hope everyone is keeping well. Ruth

Hong Kong day trip
Hello!
The students had a day excursion yesterday to Shenzhen, so the English teachers had a day off - we had a trip to HK yesterday which was great - it was good to have a look around with someone who knows the place and do some shopping! We left straight after school on Tuesday and arrived about 3.5 hours later ...we went by bus, and had to get off and back on again to go through customs at the border, so there was a little bit of waiting around there. Tuesday night we took a stroll down to the harbour and admired the pretty lights - it was nice and cool too, so that made a nice change. We went to an Irish pub for dinner and we had an absolutely heavenly burger - real mince meat...mmm...it was soooo good.On Wednesday we toured around the city by the metro, which is very fast and very clean. Katharina remarked that it was just like the Tube in London - and it was (but much cleaner!)...they even said "mind the gap". I think we'll be doing lots more trips to HK - for the shops (they even have Marks and Spencer there) , and the restaurants, and the English bookshop.
We took some more photos, so will put them up soon.
Well, lunchtime is almost over - i have 3 classes this afternoon of Grade 5...we are going to do a song )'I can see clearly now'...so i hope it goes ok!!!
Thanks for your comments on the blog...I know some people are reading it! yay! But in the end, I guess it'll be like a travel diary for us anyway....
Ruth

Funny things we've noticed
Hi there,
Yay, it's Saturday at last. One thing about here is that the weeks really fly past! It seems like we've been here for ages, but it's only 4 weeks or so.
I thought I'd write about some of the funny and different things that we've noticed so far about living here.
I wrote a little bit about the traffic before and how everyone just seems to get along on the road. They do have traffic lights here and people obey them, but when it comes to 'Give Way' signs or just giving way when pulling out into the main road, well that just doesn't exist. If a car is heading towards the main road, they don't even look, they just pull out, and it's up to the traffic on the main road to avoid them! It's actually really fun being in a taxi - it feels a lot like dodgem cars (with out the actual crashes - but it does come pretty close sometimes!).
Mmm, food...one thing we've noticed around here is that Rooster is very popular. You can hear the roosters in people's apartments, and you can tell what's on the menu for that night! Poor roosters. In the grocery stores, fish are in big tanks and so people just select the fish they want. In the shops there is a lot of chicken as well - raw chicken, all plucked, but with the head still on....and it's not in a fridge! it's just sitting out on a table in the middle of the shop! I haven't seen any steak, or mince so we haven't really being eating any red meat apart from when we go out. Ice cream...mmm...we can get Nestle ice cream in tubs...yum. The fruit is nice - the oranges are delicious at the moment and we can also get pineapple, apples, bananas, watermelon and things that look like Nashi pears. There are some other sorts of fruit that I've never seen before. We've been advised to wash all veggies and fuit without peelable skin in the sink in detergent!
Bread is like gold. There is one type of bread that tastes like real bread - it's wholemeal and only comes in a packet of 8 slices. Westerners are always on the look out for it, so if we ever see it we snatch it up!! Today we discovered a shop called 'Park n Shop" and they had the best stock of it that I've seen so far, so we got 3 loaves and felt very happy with ourselves. The other bread tastes really sugary and isn't very nice.
Hot water. Apparently most Chinese people don't have hot water in the kitchen (or so we've been told)...we don' t, anyway, so i have to boil the kettle to do the dishes. We do have hot water in the shower though, so that's nice - but sometimes it doesn't work, for some reason or other. Things in the apartments are always breaking or just decide not to work. The Brisbane boys haven't had water in their apartment at all for quite a few days now (lucky they are 18 and don't really mind!!)...we went out to dinner with them and the German girls last night and Matt had to wear a bright fluoro pink T Shirt because that was all he had left...oh, and shorts - but they weren't pink!! We've had the workmen to our apartment quite a lot. One of our air conditioners stopped working, and to fix it a small Chinese guy had to actually climb out the window (we are on the 12th floor) and work on it, all while holding on with one hand and his feet were only just able to be on the ledge. It was amazing. Some of the pipes under our kitchen sink are held together with sticky tape. Apparently 'that's China for you'!!!
That's all I can think of for now...stay tuned for the next exciting episode in the China adventure!!! Ruth

Happy Birthday to me!
Hello and Happy Birthday to me!
It's Friday here and we've spent the morning helping to supervise the end of term exams (yes, it's the end of term already - it was a short one!). Supervising exams just involved us being in the room with a Chinese teacher while the kids did their maths and English exams. It was soooo hot in my room, I don't know how the kids could think - I had to keep going out to the corridor to get a breath of cooler air.
Some of the kids call me 'teacher' but some of them call me 'Ruth' and it sounds very cute when they say it! There are some really gorgeous kids here. A couple of them didn't have English names at the beginning of term, so I asked them if they wanted an English name and if they did, I suggested one. I named them after my brothers (a John and a Paul - I already had a Frank in one of my classes). And I named one of the girls Sandy - I drew a little picture of the beach and told her about the ocean, the sun and the sand - so she liked her new name. There are some funny names that the kids have too - I have a Harry Potter , a Lion, a Panda, a Monkey and some other strange names like Arek (which I think is meant to be Eric), and an Eadd - I asked this boy what his name is and he said Eddie.
Man these Chinese kids work hard.....all Aussie kids should absolutely count their blessings about school hours!!! Chinese kids go to school every day until about 5.30pm, and on top of that they have homework. (And this is primary school!!!) Some parents pay for extra classes for their kids, so some kids do evening classes as well. Sometimes we go past the school in the evening and there are kids out doing marching practise on the oval. They don't seem to have much free time at all. The teachers put in phenomenal hours at school.....we had been out to dinner one night and were walking back past the school at 9pm. Martin, one of the English teachers was just leaving and just about to go and have dinner!
Next week we all have a week off for China National Day on Monday...but to make up for the holiday, the kids (and teachers) have to work this weekend. That includes us, so I am really looking forward to Sunday night when it's all over!!
Our plan is to head back to HK for a couple of nights and we hope to see Sonja, Neil and Abi on Monday on their way back to Australia! Yay!
I'm not sure what I'll be doing for my birthday tonight as I have 2 lessons to get ready for tomorrow....so I'll just wait till next week and have a nice time in HK I think.
Bye for now, hope you are all well!!! Ruth

A week off
Hello!
We've just got back from 2 lovely days in Hong Kong....it was China National Day on Monday so there are 2 public holidays for that, and lots of people, including us, have the week off. To make up for the holiday we had to work a 7 day week last week - hmmm, yes, well, that was fantastic. Who ever heard of working extra days to make up for having a holiday!! Crazy talk!!
It was nice to get away on Monday and even better because Sonja, Neil and Abi were in HK for a night and we were able to catch up with them for dinner and even have some Aussie wine. Abi is gorgeous - almost 2, and saying lots of words. I hope the trip home went OK Sonja! There were fireworks on the harbour for National Day so we were able to watch them from Sonja and Neil's hotel....and Abi didn't let us forget what was going on, every now and then she'd say 'fireworks'!
We had a nice time in HK wandering the streets, checking out the shops (well, I enjoyed that, Andrew didn't!!), having a look around the night market and also a trip up to the Peak (by tram) to see the view of the harbour and the city - wow. Mmmm and the hotel room was luxury - even had a bath!! Walking along Nathan Road was quite an experience - every time you turned around there was another salesman saying "suit for you, copy watches, handbags"... We had another trip (2 actually!!) to our favourite Irish pub...yum. And we took a ferry trip across the harbour. I love HK - it's so easy to get around - the Metro is really clean and orderly, heaps of people speak English and there are English signs everywhere so it's easy to walk around the streets and find your way. In Dongguan we are still trying to get our bearings as everything looks the same - there are a few landmarks but apart from that there aren't many English signs and the streets just all blend into each other. We have had one Chinese lesson so we have started learning a few words. The lessons will start again next week, so it'll be good to start learning a few phrases.
We arrived 'home' last night to discover there was no water - not just in our apartment but the whole block - no running water at all. Not unusual apparently, so we stocked up on bottled water and hoped it wouldn't be too long....and the water is back today so that's good! For our last few days of freedom we'll probably explore the city a bit more and try to work out where a few more things are. Oh and I have to get a hair cut! Very scary - lucky I brought a hat with me so if it goes wrong I'll just have to wear my hat for a while! I'll let you know how that goes!!
written by  arterra on October 3, 2007 from Dongguan, China

Hairy arms and taxi rides
It's a hot Saturday afternoon in Dongguan. I think it's about 32 degrees and with all the concrete around it feels even hotter! We went out this morning and explored 'South China Mall' which is only about 10 minutes down the road by taxi...but there wasn't that much there apart from a MacDonald's and a big grocery/department store called Spar...Andrew tried on some shorts but couldn't get any big enough!!! There is also an 'International' Cinema there and they had pictures of Harry Potter etc, but when we went in and looked at the board to see what was on, it was all in Chinese. Maybe another day if we really want to go to the movies we'll try asking if they movies are in English...
I thought of a couple of funny things that I should tell you about. One is about personal space and hairy arms. The kids are absolutely fascinated by Andrew's hairy arms - and often in between classes the kids stand around him and want to pat his arms!!! It's very funny. He was a bit taken aback though when one of the students patted his chest hair. The kids don't think anything of personal space or personal possessions - so after class if we're not quick enough, we'll find them looking through our bags - just happily going through our stuff to see what we have!! And they know that the English teachers often give out lollies, so the kids are always saying "teacher, give me candy". I really think we need to do a lesson on 'please' and how touching other people's things is just not on!!
We went into Starbucks this afternoon - it's a new branch that's just opened and it's closer to our apartment in Nancheng. There was noone else in the place apart from us, so the staff came over and stood around our table and talked to us - one of them, called Falen, who we had met at the Dongcheng branch, even sat down with us because he was on a break. They laughed at the few Chinese things we can say (we started an online Chinese course, and I've learnt to say "do you speak English" - not the most helpful thing is it really, because if they spoke English I could just say it in English and I'd know right away!!).
On the way home we had the funniest taxi driver - we got out our little notebooks and we were practising saying "left", "right", "go straight" etc. He thought it was so funny and he was giggling away. I said to him in Chinese 'do you speak English" and he waved his arms and said "no", so at least he understood me!! We can say where we live in Chinese ("Riverside Homes"), and we find that if we at least try to say where we want to go in Chinese (and sometimes it takes a few goes of us repeating it, or me trying to say it instead of Andrew or vice versa, before the taxi drivers will give a laugh and finally recognise what we're saying) - then the taxi drivers tend to go the direct route, but if we pull out our 'Here, Dongguan!' magazine and point to the place (written in Chinese and English) then sometimes the taxi drivers take that as a licence to drive us all around the city for a few extra dollars!! One day early on we were getting totally ripped off - I think the metre had reached 35 and was still ticking over, for a trip that had previously cost us 22, so I pulled out my notebook and started writing down the complaints phone number that was on the dashboard (yeah right, like I was going to be able to call it!!), and the taxi driver noticed and gave us back 10 yuan when we got there. Yay!
Well, I suppose I'll sign off now - we're going to go to the pool this afternoon to cool down and tonight is the big night - Wallabies vs England - so we're off to the English pub to see that - there should be lots of atmosphere there....
written by  arterra on October 5, 2007 from Dongguan, China

The end of the week...
Wow, the holidays seem like an age ago! It was so nice to have that break, but hard to get back into school - I think the kids feel that way too.
Tonight we had our second Chinese lesson - Belinda from the school takes our class - she works in the finance office so it's good to be friends with her :) We learnt numbers tonight and it was quite fun to be at the school at night - some of the older Chinese kids saw us there and were all looking into our classroom to see what we were doing. After class, at 8pm, we noticed that the Grade 5s were in class, so we walked past. Cookie (one of the Grade 5 teachers) invited us in to a class as it was just about to end and we just talked to the kids. That's absolutely the most enjoyable thing we have done at the school since we got here - the kids appreciated us dropping in and that particular class absolutely loves Andrew - they wrote his name for him in Chinese and they were all standing around him - I wished I had the camera!! (Pity they are not like that when we are taking their classes!!). Then the bell went and they still had one more class to go - I can't believe that Grade 5 kids are still working away at school at 8.30pm. No wonder they are restless in our classes. I definitely think it would work better if there was a Chinese teacher in all our classes and we somehow worked in conjunction with each other.
Andrew is still battling away with his classes in a computer room that has heaps of broken computers - the funny thing is that there are 2 Chinese computer teachers and they have fantastic computer rooms with all sorts of capabilities - like being able to shut down the students' computers from the teacher's computer etc. So that has been very frustrating - for the kids as well, because they know that the computers are falling apart - and that there are other much better computer rooms. Most of Andrew's classes he is running from one computer to another trying to fix some problem or other - like keyboards that have letters that don't work, or a mouse that doesn't work, or a computer that is just dead!!
Anyway, enough about school! Yay, it's Friday tomorrow - our best day, as we both have only 1 class each, and then I look after 5 Grade 5 girls for a couple of hours and then our week is over.
As you can see from the photos, I emerged from the hairdresser without the need to resort to a hat! I went to a pretty flash looking hairdressing salon - and it was great. 50 Yuan (less than $10)!! There was a funny young guy working in the salon - he had bleached blonde hair and was so vain!! He kept looking at himself in the mirror. Then he disappeared and came back with blue hair!! The lady doing my hair said something to him and he went and washed it out, and then he came back and sat down in one of the chairs and blow dried his own hair. He must have been bored - a quiet day in the salon maybe.
Oh, and there was a comment on the blog from someone coming to Dongguan - I don't have your email address so will just write what I know here! We've only been here a little while, so I don't know anything about Chang An. We are in Nancheng and that's a pretty good area - there are restaurants around here and some good apartments (sorry I don't know what the rent is as our accommodation was supplied). Dongcheng is also another good area - it has heaps more restaurants and grocery stores - we go there all the time and it's about 25 Yuan by taxi. I think I read in a magazine that it's more expensive to live in Dongcheng though, but it is a nicer area. There is a website that might be helpful too : http://www.thatsdongguan.com/
Anyway, bye for now,
written by  arterra on October 11, 2007 from Dongguan, China

My name is dumplings
Hello!
Friday night is here at last...best night of the week. After school Jack, the computer teacher, came over to our place - I think he was curious to see it. From there we caught a taxi to Yin Feng Liu (Yin Feng Road) - I even asked the taxi driver myself - wow, my Chinese is just taking leaps and bounds. Well, actually, just before we left school, as we were walking out the gate with Jack, we saw one of our students with his mother and we were just standing around saying hello etc - the student asked if we could speak any Chinese and I said 'My name is Ruth'....well so I thought, but Jack told me I said Dumplings Ruth...and not just any dumplings, but fried ones, not boiled!!
We went out to dinner on Yin Feng Road to a restaurant we've been to before - it was good having a Chinese person with us...but we still got a chicken complete with head! Then Jack invited us back to his apartment which was nearby - he lives there with his Dad. It was great to go into a real apartment and also to meet his father, who doesn't speak English. The Chinese people we have met so far are just so lovely. Jack and Andrew played computer games and Jack's father watched for a while and then curled up in bed (which was in the same room)...and I should say 'on' bed because it looked pretty much like a piece of wood on legs!
Also, another thing that I keep meaning to mention (For all the animal lovers reading the blog!)....just near Sam's corner store is an aquarium shop - it's really tiny but it has some amazing fish and aquariums in there. The shop owners also have 2 dogs - a big one and a little one - a lovely golden retriever and a little white dog. Often we walk past on the way to and from school and the dogs are playing with each other having a lovely time. It is a pity though that they don't have any grass or a backyard to play in - it's all just concrete, but they seem very happy and are definitely loved! I think there is also a cat in there somewhere, but we don't see that as much. I'll have to get a picture of them and put it up on the blog.
That's it for now...I hope everyone at home is well.... Ruth

You are very beautiful today
Hello! Hooray Hooray Hooray, it's Friday! Friday is the best. I have just one class - a Grade 2 singing lesson, and Andrew has one PE class. Then in the afternoon I have the five Grade 5 girls for a couple of hours- today I promised them that they could come over to our place, so that will be interesting!
We've had a mixed bag this week - some classes just make you want to tear your hair out (or the kids hair actually!!), and some have been great. I had a couple of lovely Grade 2 singing lessons yesterday - I got them more involved - getting kids out the front to do the actions etc, and it was fun. And it always helps when the Grade 2 Chinese teacher settles down the class at the beginning and gives them a talking to (probably telling them that if they don't behave something terrible will happen to them - I can only imagine what the teacher is saying, but it works like a treat - all the kids sit up straight and are quiet...so that is a good start anyway!)
One little girl stopped me in the corridor between classes to say "Teacher, you are very beautiful today"!!!
Apart from school we've been having a good time...we've been making friends around the place - everyone seems to like talking to Andrew and he isn't one to say no to a good chat, even if it is mostly trying to work out what the other person is saying! One of the security guards at school has been trying to communicate with us every day...she is lovely...one day she caught a student as they went past made the student be the interpreter, so she could say "I will teach you Chinese and you can teach me English"...so now every time we arrive or leave school she teaches us a word! Also Sam at the corner shop has started teaching us a few words...they think it's great when we try and learn some words...
Andrew has spent this morning at school - he went in early to test all the computers and write down what is not working ( he still isn't back, so it must be a long list!). He is going to give the list to the Chinese teacher in charge of computing, and then hope for some action!!
We asked Cookie (a Grade 5 English teacher) if we could sit in on her class last night - the class was for 30 minutes from 7.20pm...so we turned up to school and the kids thought it was great that we were there. They were just doing homework, so Cookie told the kids that they could ask us to help...we walked around and talked to the kids and they were so lovely...I had a nice chat about earrings with a group of the girls...and at the end of the lesson 2 girls came up to me and said "Ruth, welcome back to our class next Thursday"! I also helped Harry with his homework - he was doing an English comprehension thing. When I was standing next to him, another boy from the class (John) went and got me a chair. John and Harry are sooo cute - they are boarders at the school and share a room. I find it sad that such little boys could be living away from home!
Apparently there is a mountain climbing trip tomorrow with students from the school, so we've said that we'll go along - it is an early start, but it sounds like an opportunity not to be missed...I'll let you know how that goes.
Well, Andrew is back now so I'll sign off...I hope you are all well and that you have a great weekend! I am thinking of Canberra in Spring with all those lovely flower smells. (I don't know what I'm smelling here, but it ain't flowers).

He marched them up to the top of the hill...and he marched them down again
We just got back from our little excursion this morning - it was a very early start for a Saturday morning...the alarm went off at 5.45am...and then to our dismay we discovered that the water was off...the water supply has been intermittent this week! So we had to just douse ourselves with bottled water, apply liberal amounts of deodorant, and head off to school.
We discovered when we got to school that it wasn't a trip for the students at all, it was a trip for the teachers! So it was very civilized - one school bus took us all to a nice green place about 30 minutes away, and we all walked up the hill together. It was fun...and then on the way home we stopped at Winnerway hotel and had breakfast....I was hoping for bacon and eggs, but I was pretty happy with what I got anyway! There were some Spring roll type things, but in rice paper, filled with vegetables, and lots of other small bread type things that were very sweet. And Oolong tea. Andrew and I sat at the Principal's table (Mr Ding), along with the other foreign teachers that went this morning - Katharina and Sarah, and Dalene (from South Africa). We had Andrew, a Chinese English teacher, with us too so he could help us out with interpreting!
We've put some more photos up....
Anyway, it's time for a little nap now after the shock of being up so early. Then I'm going to go out with Katharina later and get a massage - we need it after our big walk up the hill!!
Bye! Ruth

(In the words of Kath and Kim) - 'That was eyebrow'!
Another little blog entry....we had an interesting night last night - Dalene was given some tickets to a concert, but she had other plans (she's from South Africa, so she was preparing to watch the rugby final!)...so she kindly gave them to us. So I got dressed up for the first time since we've been here, and we had a night of culture at the 'Dongguan culture plaza'!
We had no idea what the concert was going to be, or where it was, so we gave ourselves plenty of time, had a quick dinner at Neighbourhood's Favourites and then hopped in a taxi. The place wasn't too far away but we had to walk around a bit to find exactly where we had to go...we arrived at the theatre with 5 minutes to spare, showed our tickets at the door and walked through, expecting to be shown to a seat, but the ushers just looked at us in amazement and kind of pretended they didn't know we were there!! So we kept looking around, as if to say 'where do we sit' and eventually one of them showed us to a seat down the front - perfect seats in the middle that were roped off (we wondered if these were the foreigner seats!)
Out came the compere - a young guy who seemed pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing...then out came a very elegant looking Chinese lady with short hair, dressed in a beautiful full length navy blue velvet dress - she looked stunning. She was carrying a stringed instrument. On the stage there was a piano, and also a sofa. The compere and the lady sat down on the couch and he interviewed her...then after a while he left and she talked more about something, and then started to play - wow, it was fantastic. In between each piece she played she talked for quite a while - i guess about the piece.....in total she was on stage for over an hour!!
Then out came the Chinese man and the compere and they all went to the couch again for another little chat. There was also question time - so people in the audience could ask the performers questions.
By this stage we were starting to get the giggles - just because we were sitting there, without a clue about what was going on in the conversation, but we would clap when everyone else clapped etc....I started to think of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine had to run out of a concert because she couldn't stop laughing.
We were wondering if there was going to be an intermission...but no, it just kept going!!
Then the Chinese man started his part of the performance...he was playing a different kind of stringed instrument, and had piano accompaniment. He was great too. Both performers really got into their music - they were loving it and it showed.
Finally it was over - after about 2.5 hours!!!
I looked up on the net to see if I could find out what the instruments were - I found a website with info...the instruments were the Pipa and the Erhu.
http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/
Anyway, it was a great experience, and if we get to go again we will be prepared for a long evening!

Prisoner on the 12th floor
Here I am, it's 4.25am and I can't sleep....I've been overloaded with sleep over the last few days and now I'm wide awake.
Hmmm...let's go back a few days....on Monday I actually had a good class! Yay!! There were lots of disruptions to classes this week because there were health checks going on at the school - all the kids had to have blood tests, eye tests, and the general medical check up, so some classes were cancelled all together. So, on Monday some of Andrew's classes weren't on and he came to one of mine. He sat up the back and it was great because the kids liked having him there...and then I started involving him in the lesson like he was a student, getting him to pronounce a word etc. Then I'd say "Oh wow, what a good student" and write his name on the board...the kids thought it was so funny - they were yelling out "nooooo, he's not a student, he's a teacher" but I'd just pretend not to know what they were saying, and carry on.
Tuesday was a fairly average day really. Tuesday night at about 8pm we went to the school - I thought I might be able to get some Tai Chi in, and Andrew was set to do some laps of the oval. We weren't there very long though when we bumped into some of our Grade 5 girls....well, weren't they happy to see us. We were quickly organised into playing games with them, and the numbers grew, until we had enough to do relays on the track, play "teacher says" and then do some more running games!!! Some mothers had turned up to collect their kids, and they had trouble getting them to leave. Wow, I've never felt so popular!! The kids made us promise that we'd come back at the same time the next night!!!
Andrew has started helping out with the music at the school too....he has made friends with the music teacher (who doesn't speak English), and somehow arranged to help out on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, teaching a small group of students who play trombone and trumpet.
On Wednesday, sickness descended. I went to school in the morning, but by lunch time my throat was really sore and I went home and collapsed on the couch. I've barely been off the couch or out of bed since then, and it's now Saturday morning!! I think it's the flu...aches, pains, coughs, and only enough energy to go from the couch to bed and vice versa!!! Andrew is now coming down with it too...I haven't been out of the apartment since Wednesday which is starting to drive me a little mad...Thank goodness for the DVD player, I've been watching lots of 'Thank God You're Here' and ER! Dalene sent me over a nice loaf of bread and Anne has been ringing to make sure I'm still alive, so that's nice...
Oh, and to top it all off, we didn't have hot water for 2 or 3 days...in the end, after we got tired of waiting for the workmen to come and look at the gas thing, Andrew went and bought some new batteries and put them in, and also cleaned the inside of the gas thing (I forget it's technical name!!)...and bingo, it's working again...it's very unreliable though, so we will enjoy hot showers while we can.
So, that's the latest....I'm not sure what the weekend will hold, probably more lying around I'd say!!!
Hope you are all well....breathe in some of that fresh air for me....Ruth

The lift
A funny story..well, it cracked me up anyway....
One night, a while ago, we arrived home to find that the lift wouldn't budge from the 12th floor - we kept hitting the button, but the lift was not going anywhere.
So we had to climb the 12 flights of stairs (we paused at floor number 6, tempted to break our journey at Matt and James' apartment, but then we soldiered on and made it to the top)....
When we got to the top, Andrew inspected the lift....
Being the dutiful citizen that he is, and not wanting anyone else to have to walk up 12 flights (like our elderly neighbour who incidentally has a very cute little dog), he approached the lift to use his impressive handy man skills on it :)
By this time though, someone had got in on the floor above, and so because Andrew had pressed the button, the doors opened at our floor. The guy in the lift was quite surprised when Andrew didn't get in, and because of the language barrier, Andrew couldn't explain why he was loitering outside the lift - I heard him say "doors broken", but clearly the guy in the lift was a bit mystified - he kept signalling for Andrew to get in and Andrew would just stand there and say "no thanks"!!!
So, after the guy accepted that Andrew was just standing there for no good reason, the doors started to close - but then they sprang open again, because they weren't aligned correctly (although lift man probably thought Andrew had pressed the button again!!!)
After once again ascertaining that no, Andrew did not want to get in, the doors started closing again - this time Andrew lunged forward and punched the doors back into place...this must have been quite a frightening experience for the guy in the lift, who would've seen Andrew approaching as the doors were closing, and then heard him punch the doors violently!!!
Poor guy....he probably got home that night and warned his family to be careful of the crazy Westerner on the 12th floor!!!
Oh well, it gave me a laugh anyway. And we haven't had a problem with the lift since.

Back to school tomorrow
Hello there!
I've been slack with the blog this week...sorry about that! My flu got a bit worse last weekend and I ended up with a chest infection as well - must be all that lovely air around us! So on Monday morning we headed off to the Global Doctor - actually an Australian company...and I saw a Dr from Venezuela, called Dr Jesus! So I knew I was in good hands. He hooked me up to oxygen and ventolin through a mask and then gave me an IV drip of penicillin. I was treated really well and the place was nice and clean....much better treatment than I probably would've got at home!! Yes, Jesus saved me. So I've just been recuperating all week and taking medicine... I'm on the road to recovery now - I went back to school on Friday for my one class of Grade 2 and my 5 Grade 5 girls who came back to our place and watched a DVD.
One thing I haven't mentioned about Dongguan is that it is shoe lovers heaven. A lot of the factories around here make shoes....and so there are heaps of shoe shops and the shoes are gorgeous!! Lots of heels though, so most of them I just admire and don't buy(I'm not too good on heels!!). They have lots of groovy shoes, different colours, and with very interesting decorations on them. Most women around here wear heels all the time - even with jeans. And if you are looking for a plain pair of jeans, forget it - all the jeans I've seen are heavily laden with decorations like pearls, sequins, embroidery, etc. The fashions over here in the shops are very strange - even hard to describe! I didn't bring any winter clothes with me so now that its starting to get cooler (we can finally sleep without the air conditioner on!), I've been keeping an eye out for some warmer clothes - but so far I haven't found anything that I wouldn't look competely ridiculous in!!
We are planning another little trip to Hong Kong next weekend - and hopefully a trip to Macau on Saturday for the day, so we are looking forward to that.
Anyway, that's about it for now - I hope you are all well....Ruth
written by  arterra on November 3, 2007 from Dongguan, China

Macau adventures
Hope you are all well and enjoying Spring in Australia. Well, it's Monday again here and we are back at school once again.
We had a great weekend - we got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and hopped on the bus to HK. It takes about 3 hours, so it's not too bad, and it's broken up by lots of hopping on and off the bus for the border crossing. We arrived in HK and headed for our hotel - I searched the Internet for ages and found a great deal at a hotel on HK Island...so we were very excited when we arrived and saw the fantastic view we had of the harbour and all the ships and ferries going by.
Our plan was then to go straight to the Macau ferry terminal and get on a boat for Macau -we hadn't booked - just goes to show we are still not used to just how many people there are here....we naively turned up at the ferry terminal, and thought we'd be able to get on the next ferry (just like we do in Sydney!!)....so it wasn't to be...we had to book for Sunday instead.
So, what to do? Well, shopping, of course!! Poor Andrew - I did suggest he could go and sit in the Irish pub while I made my way happily around the shops, but he decided it would be safer to accompany me (mainly for our bank balance I think).
So, we had to get up early again on Sunday and be down to the ferry terminal, ready to go through customs etc. We went on a hydrofoil thing, so it was fast (took an hour) and smooth (no need for those ginger tablets)!
We hired a pedicab in Macau - I don't think we got too ripped off, as we managed to get them down to less than half the price that the guy originally wanted to charge us!! So we had an hour trip around seeing the sights - lots of casinos, but then we reached the centre of town and started to see the prettier Portugese architecture and cobblestones, and Churches. People zoom around on little motorbikes, so there is always a hum of them to be heard. We walked around the streets for a while and took in the sights....took lots of photos, so we'll put those up.
We thought we had plenty of time to get back to the ferry - we weren't entirely sure how to get there but we decided, over our yummy lunch of foccacias and chips (mmm, haven't had a foccacia for ages!!), that 45 minutes should be ample time to get back. We headed off....our pace increasing as we watched the minutes ticking away and we didn't seem to be seeing anything familiar from the pedicab ride....hmmm...little bit of panic sets in...we run a bit....we realise we don't really know where the hell the ferry terminal is...there are no taxis to be seen....it's hot....my feet hurt....we are going to miss the ferry....we are going to be stuck here!!! Andrew says 'let's just cut through on this street" for about the 5th time...we go past a Casino and I have a brilliant idea - let's ask someone where to go...gee, that's a good idea. So we talk to the bellboy of a hotel...he says the ferry terminal is 2-3 kilometres away. Andrew says in horror "23 kilometres"!!! I interpret for him. I can see Andrew working out in his mind exactly how fast we have to run to cover that distance, and I say "can we get a taxi". Bellboy says there are no taxis but we can get a limousine for 30 HK dollars. Now you're talking. I picture a stretch limo, but it turned out to be just a normal car (a nice one though, and I was so happy to get into it!!!)....Our panic was not quite over as we had to be at the terminal 15 minutes before departure and it was already 2.15pm...our boat was leaving at 2.30pm....
But, in the end we made it (after running through the ferry terminal). Not quite the relaxing end to a nice relaxing day, but I was so glad to get on the ferry!!
We didn't have time to go over to the island at Macau (we just stayed on the peninsula), so that is on my list of things to do still.
Anyway, that's all the excitement for now. I'll be in touch again soon. Ruth
written by  arterra on November 11, 2007 from Dongguan, China

Hooroo from Hefei!
Hefei, China
Hello there!
Well we're on the road. After a few months of teaching we decided to go and see more of China....so we've had a week in a city, up sort of near Shanghai. So we're backpacking 'Terracini style'.
We had accumulated a few odds and ends that I felt we really couldn't do without (DVDs, clothes, pegs, you know just those sort of essential things really!), so we posted a 20 kg box to Hefei before we left Dongguan. Our plan was to work in Hefei and settle down for a while....but after being here a few days the air pollution really got to us - we were waking up with sore throats, and I started to get the old allergy feeling in my nose and the very attractive 'puffy eye'!!!
After having a look around Hefei for the week we were wondering what to do...and now we are off to a city that we were planning to visit at some stage anyway, and one we haven't been to before.....I'll let you know when we get there!
Can you imagine us leaving the hotel this morning...luckily we had help from an Aussie guy who has been very kind to us this week in showing us around the city. He heaved the 20kg box up onto his shoulder, Andrew followed carrying his backpack and notebook computer, then there was me - carrying my backpack (weighing at least 10kg) and my handbag, and then in the line came 2 porters from the hotel, dragging our suitcases, which are absolutely packed to the hilt (Andrew had to sit on his to get it closed!!). Yes, we are really good at backpacking. The porters followed us down the road and across the main street of Hefei, dodging and weaving in between bikes, cars, people etc.
We got across the road and the porters waved goodbye to us and then we made it into the travel agent where we sorted out some tickets to our new destination.
We are having a fabulous time and enjoying this new found life of spontaneity!!! Our plane doesn't go until tonight, so we are in a cafe at the moment.
If we stay in China much longer we will have to say goodbye to some of the possessions we have accumulated...(you would laugh if you could see some of the things in the 20kg box...one of them is a box of Lipton tea bags because I really can't trust all cities in China to stock good old normal tea, and I can't do without it!!)...We may not be laughing so much though when we get to the airport and find out how much excess baggage costs!! Oh well.
Bye for now,
written by  arterra on November 23, 2007 from Hefei, China

Home of the Giant Pandas
Chengdu, China
Hi there!
Chengdu - home of the Giant Pandas! What a great place....this city has everything...and yes we were happy to see Starbucks again, isn't that sad!!
Today we visited the Panda base, about 10 km's out of town...we had organised to be taken out there by Mr Wang, through a local guesthouse....it turned out that we were the only 2 going...and our pick up was at 7.10am...nice and early because it's best to see the Pandas munching on their bamboo for breakfast. Mr Wang had trouble finding our hotel though so there were lots of phone calls back and forth - we rang Mr Wang (he said "wait, wait"), then he rang us about 20minutes later, speaking Chinese (hmmm, a few swear words perhaps?!), then we rang the guesthouse, then Mr Wang rang the guesthouse, then the guesthouse rang us. Then the guesthouse rang our hotel (to get someone who could explain the location in Chinese). Then someone from our hotel came down and signalled for us to follow him. We followed him around the block, he stopped to ask directions from someone, and then we kept going. Then we saw a guy waving at us impatiently. He said something about '3' and waved his arms (like he had driven around 3 times or something). Then we hopped in the van and he took off - really took off!! We got to the Panda Base and he hurried us along - it was almost a sprint to the Pandas!!! I guess he didn't want us to miss out, seeing as though we were about an hour behind schedule!
The pandas did not disappoint - they were gorgeous (see pictures).
Off to bed now after our early start....
written by  arterra on November 29, 2007 from Chengdu, China

Photo from Australia before we left

Hong Kong

view from our apartment

Our New School