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,
Ruth

written by  arterra on October 11, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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!!
Ruth

written by  arterra on October 3, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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

written by  arterra on September 27, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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

written by  arterra on September 22, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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

written by  arterra on September 19, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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

written by  arterra on September 16, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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

written by  arterra on September 12, 2007 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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
from the travel blog: China Adventure
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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
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