To Sanya and Back

Hard to believe it has been a month since my last post, I thought I would keep coming back each week but daily life has gotten in the way. I am at the point where I am comfortably  settled into china. My apartment no longer feels like a stop-over place but more of a home. My students and I have gotten into a nice routine in class and I am starting to get some great results from them in class. I certainly am learning lots about how to teach, with some lessons excelling and others not going so well. By now I have gotten to know most of the teachers pretty well. There are still a couple I have not bonded with but I think that it will come with time.

I have done my best to make sure China does not change me too much, wanting to retain a bit of my 'Canadian-ness'. To that end I watched the first Leafs hockey game with a couple buddies while having a beer or two and ordered pizza. To keep with tradition the leafs lost and I got pitied by montreal fans. We didnt watch it live but waited till the next day and downloaded the game. It was a weird experience doing such a Canadian thing in China, really made me realize how ingrained culture can be in a person.

Since I last wrote a blog I have gone on an adventure. A fellow teacher, Adam, and I took off on September 25th from Nanchang and flew to Sanya in Hainan province which is in the VERY south of China. I suggest you look up where it is because it was a really beautiful place. It was a bit like Cuba to me. White sandy beaches, very warm water you could float in for hours, and lots of Russians walking around. Apparently if you are Russian you can come to China without a Visa as long as you leave within 14 days. Adam and I stayed in a hostel a couple minutes from the beach. We were there for 4 nights and three days. Spent two days at the beach and one very long day traveling to Monkey Island. Advertised as a nature reserve you could hike with 2000 wild monkeys running around we were determined to get there, even if the meant our own Steve Martin/John Candy remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. So we got on a bus near our hostel and took it to the train station. Then the three of us, a russian girl staying at the hostel tagged along with us, hopped on a train and went out to the small city where monkey island is located. From The train station we took a rickshaw (or is it tuktuk, still not sure of the difference) to the park. Once there we were told we needed to take a gondola ride across the water and over the mountains to get to the entrance. Once we arrived I realized we had been hoodwinked. It was a small touristy place where we could see some wild monkeys and others that were caged up or had been 'trained' to perform tricks. While it was nice to see the wild monkeys play in the trees, it was worse to see the animals being mistreated. Kind of soured my idea of Zoo's for a while. By this time we were all dehydrated as it was about 35 outside without a cloud in sight so we took the gondola back across, got into a motocylce with a supped up side car that took us to a bus. The bus then took us back to the train station, where we grabbed a bus back to hostel. So, Bus to Train to Rickshaw to Gondola to Gondola to Motocylce with sidecar to Bus to Train to Bus, was a long day. Overall Sanya was a great time with lots of stories, a good place to relax if you are ever in China.

After that we went to Guilin which is known for its limestone karst's that surround it. Was quite beautiful but a very touristy city. By this point Chinese National Holiday had kicked in which meant about 300 million Chinese were traveling within the country, aka there are even more people than normal which is crazy. Our hostel was right near the main area which allowed Adam and I to go exploring with ease. After a day in Guilin we were joined by two friends of mine from Halifax who are also teaching in China for the first time, Matt and Neila. The four of us set off for a boat tour the next day of the Li River. Advertised as a bamboo raft tour that would allow us to serenly see the beauty of the area. In reality it was sitting on a boat made of pvc pipes and a loud annoying motor taking us down the river. The scenery was amazing but was overshadowed by the other 50 boats doing the same thing. We also were not told that the bus that took us there would not take us back to Guilin but to another city Yangshuo south of Guilin. We were interested in seeing a new city so we wandered among the city for a while until 6 pm hit and we are having beers on a rooftop patio (like 8 floors up with no elevator) and realized we needed somewhere to sleep. We were able to find a room in a hostel that clearly used to be a massage parlour, not the best spot but would do in a pinch. Was a good decision as the night market was amazing, if a little packed, and I am sure I am now in about 100 families vacation photos. The next day we headed back to Guilin by bust at night after taking the day to explore the outside of the city. The four of us rented e-bikes and drove around the country side for the day seeing a bunch of small villages and the area. Do not worry, I was too scared to drive one of them and just rode shotgun with Adam. Once we realized we were out of water and the e-bike was running low on battery we headed back to town got a bus and took the 2 hour ride back to Guilin. Was really good to see some familiar faces in China and know they are going through the same things I am. Was a nice break but man was coming back to work hard.

Last couple weeks since vacation have been tough but productive. I find my lesson planning is getting better and I need to spend less time coming up with ideas. Highlight of the week is buying a slow cooker and making pulled beef yesterday. It can be hard to find any beef at the grocery story but at the costco-like store we go to once a week big roasts were on sale for cheap so I treated myself. I also treated myself to buying a bottle of maple syrup for those times I really miss home.

Our school has started up a hockey league with the kids. It is very basic with plastic sticks, nets created out of outlining a net with rope through a fence and foam balls, but it is fun. The students love it and it is nice to seem good at hockey for once in my life. I have also joined up with another teacher to play ultimate frisbee with the students. Had our first practice today and they are pretty good, though the technical skills and rules need to be enforced a bit more. Have also started playing basketball informally with some of my students. Wanted to build a report with them before giving them back their tests which some people did not do so well on. Have gotten a couple other teachers to join in.

Life is going by and it is fun over here. I am enjoying working with the students, getting to bond more with my teachers and I am finding life a little less hectic than when I first showed up and a bit more relaxing. This weekend we are planning a big boardgame night and I have a pile of marking to do.

Having started doing some more exercise , partly because I can not keep up with the students on the basketball court and partly because I hear my father asking about my personal health quadrant (dont worry dad, my quadrants are all good!).

Was hard to miss thanksgiving but instead a group of us went out for barbecued lamb, may have been the best lamb i have ever had in my life. Was a little different than eating lamb at home as the carcass itself was hanging outside the bbq joint. Well the whole thing was outside but basically for 15 dollars had more lamb than I could eat along with drinks and barbecued eggplant.

Guess that should get everyone caught up on my life in china. I will try not to let another pass by before I write my next one.

The China Kid