The trip Day 7 Beijing

M 27 January Beijing day 7. We sleep in late this morning until almost 8:30 and enjoy a light breakfast of eggs, toast and tea at the Red Lantern. I am in somewhat of a tizzy about the state of my laundry (!?) which does not seem to be trying as per the laws of thermodynamics and poor Elizabeth has to deal with a fiesty and under- caffeined David until she can get me to the cafe and called down, while of course being picked up. We return to Tianammen Square and discover that Monday is closed museum day in Beijing. No worries. We walk south and then veer westward into a very up class shopping district of pedestrian mall. At first I am sceptical :the place may be too NYC for people to be having a good time, but my apprehension is in fact ground less. Duck restaurants abound, and I spend some time watching a baker rolling out a crepe dough that must be a metre wide and over that in length, yet subtlely thin. There are vendors selling the most delicate little toy birds with wings that flap when launched. Jewellers, clothing stores, art, bookstores, antiquities real and unreal, actors in opera costume and makeup, and people everywhere enjoying each others company. Elizabeth observes rightly that the sun is truly warming us for the first time since wnter came to Changchun in early November. To our minds this counts as the beginning of spring so we stroll along in a George Harrison state of mind. The area is very clean, bright and decorated in classical elite Chinese themes. We gawk like the tourists we are and then end up to the south where Elizabeth engages a rickshaw to take us to the Temple of Heaven. The driver weaves us through traffic, down some strange back roads and along a bumpy sidewalk before depositing us at the front of the Temple and charging twice what she has proposed. All well and good : the difference was truly minor and the trip was a blast. The Temple of Heaven is another beautifully crafted complex which, the signs tell us, is the largest area devoted to Heaven on the planet. I enjoy the swipe at the Vatican, especially since Matteo Rici may well have worked here on occasion, and try to take some film footage. We spend perhaps an hour and a half when a dress renew rehearsal for an enactment of the Lunar New Year Sacrifice for the Endurance of A Bountiful Harvest diverts what little attention we ever had There are perhaps 150 actors in elite feudal costumes of red, blue, green, purple and yellow variously carrying whips, swords, pilkes, banners, sunshades, peacock feathers and scrolls. Very colourful and there is some pretty powerful gonging coming from somewhere too. After a while we wander to the east gate where we catch the metro back to our neighbourhood. All of this on breakfast, a coffee and a few squares of chocolate! We are famished and therefore find a place to eat meat pie, spinach with nuts, a soup with chicken and mushrooms and rice. Then we do return to the Red Lantern where we plan for the transfer to Guanxi province tomorrow and also discover that my socks has finally more or less dried. Elizabeth retreats to the lobby for warmth and a little time to write while I update this trip diary in the room. Tomorrow we go south...

The trip Days 4-6 Beijing (DEA)

4-6 January 24 – 26 Beijing

F 24 (continued) We venture out down the street west from the entrance of our houton to count the music stores in the area. We come up with more that 30 on the south side of the street! Crazy, as Wily Nelson might have sang. Elizabeth returns to where we got her flute and talks to the flute master there. We purchase a CD of flue times and they discuss how to get a slight distortion sound out of the instrument using tissue paper. I purchase a guitar capo to ensure I can play with her no matter what the key and we spend a few minutes looking at guitars. Imports are priced comprabably to the US and I don't run into any local instruments that particularly move me, but that may be due to my language shortcomings. Elizabeth is still having trouble with the electronics and this is not making her a pleased person in a tent. However she is maintaining a cheerful and pleasant demeanour and remains very positive about the day's events. After a few fruitless hours on the tablet and telephone she decides to seek out dinner which takes us back to Red Lantern dining room whet we are informed that we are exactly on time for two plates of dumplings and free beer. This brightens our mood considerably, especially when the dumplings arrive. They are magnificent - - perhaps the best we have ever tasted - - and the beer was pretty delicious to. Afterward we return to our room and then repair to the lobby of our building to play flute and guitar together. It is a gentle and quiet time, with accompaniment from a bird who lives there. And so to bed. S 25 January the Forbidden City day 5. A late start this morning. We sleep in until almost 9 and break our fast on French Toast. In keeping with our Canadian hippie ways we also feed on tea and oranges that come all the way from China. This is not the accomplishment it might have been when those words were first sang, but there is a comfortable resonance. After morning business we have coffee and a donut large enough to have been used as the driver side tire for a small Fiat and then take the subway back to the Forbidden City. This is a truly jaw - dropping installation As monumental preservation goes, I have never seen its like The scale is truly imperial, designed to tell the visitor "No matter how big you might be at home, here you are an insignificant insect. Join us or die". One gets a sense of the immense power that was imperial China, even when it was weakening, but little insight into the hearts of the people who lived there. We suspect that this is a deliberate move on the part of those who recreated the complex : the Party has no love for the feudal lords who oppressed the people for so long. I had the same sense of disjuncture from the residents of the palace in Istanbul. The Turks are a little more generous when it comes to the Sultan : there were domestic quarters and kitchens on display, but the Forbidden City was all static views of monumental proportions without any context. Sure they talked a lot about rituals and sacrifices, but there was never any sense of what they might have entailed. Nor was there any sense of what a poetry party might have been like, what children did in this environment or even how the the servants lived and worked. All very stark. A classic example of condemning by praising until the subject is revealed to be unworthy of sympathy. While inside we are waylaid by some artists from the school in Xian and we purchase two pieces - - one for Angus and the other for David and Angie. Then we return our erratically performing electronic guides and cross the street northward into Dongshang Park to climb the hill and view the Buddhist shrine on top. There is also a clear view of the city: south to the Forbidden City complex and neighbourhood, east to the broadcast tower, north to the Drum Tower and westward to the lake. We head that way and pass people flying kites to enter the Lotus Market. Although the weather is warm there are people skating, sledging and Ice- biking as we walk along. I am getting moody so we purchase and consume a chocolate bar as we make our way through houtons and a large totally local market before emerging about 300 metres from our lodgings. But instead of going home we go eastward to where we suspect one can eat Duck. We are too early so we cross the street to a shopping centre which has an advertisement for Cafe Bene, but the place is still being built so we go to the food court in the basement to an Italian (!) place where Elizabeth has some delicious mushroom soup and we share flatbreads. A good appetizer. Then it is Duck Season. It comes on a large platter: breast meat and a crispy skin. It is accompanied by moo shoo pancakes, sliced of onion and cucumber, and duck sauce. I am getting quite excited but Elizabeth just smiles at the mountain of food and reminds me that we have all evening to eat it... About forty minutes later we are sitting with silly smiles and a collection of bare plates. The locals seem impressed with our prowess, and hide their children from us both as we exit the establishment. We arrive back at the Red Lantern in about ten minutes and start to document the day. Down the hall comes the muted sounds of human voices and a well - played cello. The evening is starting out well. Elizabeth is still locked in mortal combat with Google but manages to avoid a final confrontation and instead masters a few new levels on a game before taking her flute to the common room. I join her a few minutes later. We play together and with our host until after ten o'clock 26 January Sn - Panda City day 6. We wake up, breakfast at the Red Lantern and are off to the Beijing Zoo for 9:30. On the way we stop at a local convenience store to get Elizabeth a new pair of gloves and then descend into the metro for the three stop trip to the zoo. Admission process is quick and painless and we arrive at the Giant Panda exhibit in time to see them having a late breakfast. Everyone is massively excited and there is a certain amount of untoward shoving and butting in as visitors surge forward to view some of China's best loved emmesaries to the world. But it is a good natured crowd and there is ooing and asking as the masticating ursunoid waddles up to the glass and settles in for a good scratch. I got excited and took some film footage which I hope to share with Lucy upon our return to the Great White North. We are no less excited than anyone else. Afterwards we wander the zoo and view a number of monkeys, polar bears, Emu, Zebra, giraffe, cobra, Python's, boas, giant tortoise and other assorted wildlife. We make one stop for overpriced but nevertheless welcome coffee during our walk and leave the zoo at about 2:30 to catch the metro back to our local station. The system is more crowded than we have experienced this far but eeverything goes smoothly and we catch a light lunch at our local cafe before pausing in a music store to get information about how to ensure that the paper stays affixed to the bamboo flute. We are aided by a knowledgeable young man who sells us a good backlog of papers and stickum and then continue home. At the entrance to our houton there is a cobbler who punches two holes in my belt for the princely sum of 5rmb. Ecstasy! I now have a belt that actually helps to hold up my trousers.! So life improves incrementally... Later Elizabeth discovers that yes, she can use Facebook. Our spirits lift even more, if this is possible. At seven we walk west to a houton with lots of food places. Elizabeth selects a Muslim run establishment and orders an incredible quantity of food. There is Kimchee, tofu, cabbage, seaweed and tentacles, a savoury peanut sauce, moo Shu pancakes and a hot skillet with brilliantly flavoured beef and onions. And beer too. We pounce. All of this walking outside gives us an appetite but we don't seem to be having weight, which is nice. We return to the Red Lantern and loll about. Elizabeth has found a computer game she likes (thanks Ian!) and I take a few moments to write up the day and review our finances. So far, so good.

The trip Day 3 The Great Wall

Day 4
 January 24 Beijing (EE)

Today we climbed on the Great Wall of China. 

After bacon and egg breakfast waiting for us in the hostel lobby at 7,we left in a car with our driver at 7:20.He negotiated the early morning traffic brilliantly.  One difference we have noticed here is that the cars generally drive using the lane markers.  Not so much in Changun. (we will have hair raising stories to tell) We headed out along the 2nd Ring road to the northwest. It is a cloudy day today, perfect for David 's eyes. It is also hazy with smog. 

Angus,  we passed the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.   VERY  exciting.  After about half an hour we were in the the country heading toward the wall at Mutianyu.  We arrived at 8:45.

This is one of the less developed areas.  The sales stalls were just setting up and we had the first of many offers of "coffee, tea, red Bull, stickers, vodka,  t shirts etc." 

We had paid a flat rate for the day, but happily got tickets for a chair lift to the top. 

It is amazing,  more so than I could imagine. We  were more or less alone for a while.  

Check photos on the net.  We stayed in one direction but after about 700 metres gave up because of the steepness of the steps.  Not because they were too hard, more because of the terror... Like going up scree slopes with very little on either side.  (sorry Ian)  So we climbed back and took the opposite route for about an hour each way. 

Mountains,  row on row in the midst. Some, to the south reminded me of the Green mountains in Vermont.  To the north more rugged,  like mount rundle only much much smaller.  And walls.  Plural because two walls intersect here. 

In some places it is a narrow path with low walls.  In others quite wide up to four metres.  There are also many towers.  Please look on the net for photos of that section. 

There was an enticing slide... Like the one at Malta Lake in Poznan,  but long and high.   Although tempted we took the little 2 seater chairlift back down. (Angus later told us that he had visited this secion of the wall when here for the Olympics in 2008. The athletes all walked up to the top, but took the slide down. Next time.)

At the base we were again approached by the two first vendors of the day.  (we had chatted earlier.) So there,  in the not so cold (about ten degrees.... yahoo!) we had hot coffee and a banana crepe. 

Then a quick walk down the hill to a little restaurant. Lunch was part of our package and we say in a tiny dining room,  that was also ten degrees and ate delicious rice,  a chicken based thing with amazing sauce and bockk choy with mushrooms and garlic.   Then the drive home to the red lantern hostel.  When you have a moment, it's worth a look on the net.  It is right in the hit ones.  Angus,  you'd love it, so much activity all the time. 

One of the coolest things about this city is the many different kinds of vehicles.  Bikes,  electric bikes, electric scooters, tricycle designed for transport, electric tricycles, bikes with space for a side saddle rider, three wheeled motorized vehicles with cabs on them,three wheeled cars,  as well as cars, buses and trolley buses.   This place is much more bike friendly, at least around here,  with wide dedicated lanes for all those bikes. 

Photos? So far I have   been using the camera and will download those when we get home. David is also using his phone camera and we will post a few on the blog, soon.  

So, dear kids and very close friends,  please know that we are well,  happy and taking in every second of this experience.  Love to all.   Liz and David

The trip (SPring Festival 2014) Days 1-3 Changchun/Beijing

Day 1 January 21 Changchun (DEA)

We flagged a taxi at the intersection across from Ji Da north gate and were swiftly transported to Changchun north railway station. It cost less than 30 RMB and the trip in total was about 45 minutes, at the beginning of rush hour.

The station is enormous with four pagodas on the departure Hall and enough seating for everyone and their luggage. We may be the only people of obviously European descent in the place. So people are watching us with tolerant good humour. Nice.

The Hall is long. There are ten pillars speaker perhaps 20 meters apart running the length of the building on each side. The rows are perhaps 80 meters apart. The ceiling is maybe 25 meters above There is a mezzanine on the long sides with some food concessions: more are coming this year, according to the hoardings. Seats are numerous and comfortable Very clean and modern.

As E had predicted, many people had one or more cartons of noodles needing only hot water to make a tasty meal.  There was, of course, a hot water machine and seats near it for eating the noodles.

We boarded the penultimate car and found our compartment 5_18/17. The soft sleeper is a little bedroom with two sets of bunk beds with clean sheets and a duvet and pillow provided. Very modern. There was a family from Changchun in the other two bunks. We all settled in for the overnight trip to Beijing.

Elizabeth is amazing. Within 20 minutes she managed to communicate that we are teachers on vacation and managed to found out that the family less 4 kilometers from our school, it costs 7 RMB to travel by taxi, and that the son (English name is Tiger) is eleven years old.

Train departed promptly at 6:14 and we all bedded down at around 8:30.

Day 2
 January 22 Beijing (DEA)

We slept well until 5am and learned more about our roomies. He is a long distance trucker who specializes in automobile transport. The were travelling to Beijing to pick up a truck load of cars, then the whole family planned to drive in it to the south of China, visit grandparents and have a holiday.

By 6:30 we were in the station McDonalds drinking coffee and listening to Greenday being played loudly on the PA. First step done! Outside the station the sky was getting lighter. The large plaza in front of the station was filling up quickly with families and individuals carrying parcels and pulling big bags. This was our first sign of the famous Spring Festival human migration.

Elizabeth got us onto the subway with perfect aplomb and found the appropriate stop. Afterwards we walked a bit farther than the directions, basically because the landmarks were missing. Lesson learned: don’t rely on landmarks. Things change quickly in China.

So we back tracked for about twenty minutes and arrived at the Red Lantern Hostel We are in a courtyard in a sweet little room with private bathroom. Had a light breakfast at the Hostel and then ventured out onto the byways of Beijing.

Elizabeth bought a local map for a few RMB so she navigated is through the hutong and down to the lake. Lovely late morning and early afternoon ramble for us both. We saw skaters, ice sledges and ice bikes and even a Dragon Boat fitted out for ice! There were also people swimming---crazy

Visited a national museum marking the life and career of Soon Ching Ling and a lovely Chinese garden with elements from the Ming dynasty. At around 2:30 we paused for lunch of dumplings and salad then walked back to the music stores where Elizabeth got a lovely bamboo flute for about 80 bucks. It sounds really really nice! Retreated to our room to store the flute and figure out what we are doing next. 
Of course we are cold. There is not a lot of central heating in old Beijing and we aren't near the stuff that has it. But we are managing to stay warm enough.

7.00 out to dinner for a combination of beef stew with a bunch of different spurts of mushrooms. Yummy. Then back to our little courtyard that time forgot.

Elizabeth had a pretty high performance day. She started quite excited and upbeat, had a bit of a moment of existential doubt which was assuaged by chocolate, and of course her late afternoon blahs. But she seems generally resilient and in good spirits. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings...

Day 3
 January 23 Beijing (DEA)

We woke at around 6 am happy with the room, which had warmed up quite nicely. Breakfast was delightful hot tea, toast, and egg Yum!

We conferenced back at the room. Elizabeth is still experiencing some problems with Google and Facebook, so what's some emai to manage. We also telephoned friend E, and got our departure date from China confirmed. Now I have to talk to Janet and arrange travel plans for the Island.

We wandered into the morning haze and after a suitable interval treated ourselves to a second breakfast of coffee and donut.
Thus fortified we December for Tiananmen Square.

Elizabeth is Queen of the Subway! We entrained at Ping'anli station and transferred onto line 1 to Tiananmen East station. I was hopelessly befuddled but she was in complete control. Quite reassuring. (E: The subway is well labeled in English as well as Chinese, and very well laid out. Lines on the platform show where to stand to get in when the train stops, and there is a separate lane marked for exiting. This is another result of he Olympics.) We first walked up the east side of the Forbidden City perhaps half way and then skirted the wall southward and along the front, talking pictures as we went. To be frank, I really never grasped the magnitude of the place until that moment; think of the entire old city of Jerusalem and you won't be far off. But Beijing 's centre has a formidable coherence that is hard to grasp on first introduction.

We paid a tiny fee of perhaps 3 RMB each to enter the Zhongshan Park installation just west of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Lovely place with a museum dedicated to Sun Yat Sen in the former Temple of Earth and Agriculture for an additional fee of 2 RMBI managed to break my sunglasses but was so engrossed by the exhibit that I lost my sell-annoyance in about 30 seconds. We walked south and west to a lovely garden by a pond and along some covered walkways with exquisite paintings along the beams. There were depictions of rural life, a bit from Journey to the West, Daoist saints, red birds, and much, much more. We exited on the south side of the installation and walked eastward past the Mao Zedong museum and onto Tiananmen Square. On the way I nearly managed to fall headfirst down a long flight of stone stairs but managed to grab a handrail and was hauled back to vertical by a kind municipal worker who seemed to have teleported himself to the scene just to rescue the baffled foreigner.

There is quite a lot of security getting into the Square, but the people doing the job are efficient without being officious, which is a nice change from the way things are done in North America!

On the north of the square is, as mentioned, the Mao museum and Forbidden City. To the west is the Great Hall of the People and on the east Chinese National Museum. On the south stands Mao's mausoleum. We left on the southeast corner after taking a picture of the Chinese Railway Museum and were back to our hutong in about 20 minutes. There is an alley just west of us with lots of good places to eat so we stopped for coffee again, a healthy light meal of cold beef and rice and then home to the Red Lantern for a shower.

At 6 pm we were met in the lobby by a driver who skillfully got us to the Chinese National Acrobatic troupe show.

VIP treatment! Our seats were first mezzanine centre and were brought in through a side door and therefore missed having to wait outside or be herded in with perhaps 700 excited locals.

Show started with a clown who wandered into the audience making balloon animals for all the kiddies. I tried to project my inner juvenile but somehow didn't quite manage. But it was still a lot of fun to watch. [Note in October 2014.  Some of my EFL studetns made balloon animals as part of an oral presentation and gave us an armful of balloon poodles and flowers. so david got his wish after all.]

Tumblers leaping through hops! A rope walker! A brilliant contortionist balancing glasses on a tray! A juggler managing ten balls while walking backwards up a set of stairs! A woman balancing on one arm looking like a giant tree frog! A troop of climbers leaping on to vertical poles with the ease of capuchin monkeys! Twelve women on a single bicycle! 
It was awesome.

Afterwards we took the tube back home and walked about 10 minutes to our hostel. A lovely night.

Saturday fun

We met our colleagues E, Derek and Erik at 9:30 amd headed into the cool biut bright morning to be children for a few ours.  By walking about a kilometre south on Qianjin street we were able to all get seats on the #13 bus.  The trip north to the edge of Nanhu park now only takes about 20 minutes, compared to the rugged 45 minutes on unpaved roads last year. The major road reconstrucion in this area is nearly finished. When winter is approaching, construction moves very qquickly here.

T

September 24, 2014

Mid week reflections

It is 1:15 on September 24, 2014 in Changchun, Jilin province, China.  After rains overnight that left big puddles on the track around our sport field, the sky is clear and blue and the sun is warm.  There have been so many sunny days in Changchun both this fall and last.  The temperature is about 20 degrees.

The sun is rising later these days, of course, so I did not get up until after 5 am. As I was leaving the building at 5:30 for a short run on the track, our friends and mentors Carol and Roy Kirby were returning from their morning exercise.  They both start by walking briskly around the 330 m track. Carol then continues to walk or jog while Roy goes through a Tai Chi routine he has done for decades.  Oh, they are both over 75 and that was the start of their day that includes at least four hours of teaching each to classes of nearly 100 students.

She looks like this

They were not alone on the track. I joined about twenty Chinese people who were walking or jogging both forwards and backwards. Another woman gracefully does Tai Chi every morning, followed by more exercises with a sword.  (In fact there us a group of about 20 women who do this every morning in a square at the Jida campus down the road from 6 – 7 am.  At 7 they put the swords into velvet bags, hoist them over their shoulders, then head out to babysit their grandchildren, or drink coffee, or play tennis or dance in the park or buy food or cook or ???   I would love to find out more.)

Then back for breakfast with David who had also risen a bit late for him at 6:00.  Oatmeal with bananas, toast and marmalade, coffee.  As usual I headed up the hill to teach first. Today I wore a black skirt, the red Olympics t-shirt from 2008 and a black cardigan jacket.

Great classes.  I have the privilege of working with the freshman students who have stronger English skills and started the program at level two (whatever that means.)  As all you teachers know, there is nothing like routines to help both students and teacher and we are starting to get some good ones in place.  Of course it is National Holiday week starting on Saturday and almost all the students are going home. After the holidays we are together for three more weeks, then an exam and then everyone gets a new teacher, level, book and classroom.  Like so many other things pedagogical here, it doesn’t make too much sense to a foreign teacher, but one can find good parts to any process.

So the morning for both David and me consists of two different classes for the same course.  His students have a big mid term exam on Friday, so today was the second o f two review classes. He has been fortunate enough to be assigned (for the second year) a superb TA, Sophia.  Today she delivered the review class, given in English on Monday, in Chinese to ensure that students really understood everything. She is an extremely capable young woman with exceptional English, cross- cultural and organizational skills.

David usually waits for me outside my teaching building, perched in his characteristic posture on the side of the porch. Today he wore his China red shirt with a very attractive red and black tie. What a handsome fellow. We walked hand in hand down the hill for lunch. The students think we are either funny or cute … the old foreigners holding hands outside.

Yogurt and fruit for r lunch, then David went back up the hill for another 90-minute class then an office hour. Wednesday is his very busy teaching day.

I watched him go, then spent more time watching three little families playing on the sport field (now dry.) Three toddlers, three grandmothers and one mother.  The children here are so, so adorable!  The little ones often stare at us because we look so different and are encouraged by their parents to say,”Hi,” or “Bye, bye.”  I just want to hug the little ones who remind me so much of sweet Nikka. The children want to be hugged about as much as Nykka does when she is playing outside– why stop when there are puddles to explore, stairs to climb and balls to throw?

So now I will either have a nap, or walk to the grocery store for some yogurt, or go downstairs to the coffee shop and do some marking.  Nap is winning.  Thanks for reading.

Summer 2014 - a quick review

Hi again! We have been back in Changchun since mid August. What a spring and summer it was back in Ottawa. We paddled and biked and made the garden beautiful. World Cup.  Many happy hours with Nykka, Bobby and Lucy, Ian and Jenna and Angus. Singing and music making at Song Circle. Lots of dragon boating. A peaceful week at Crow Lake. 

v

 On July 5 David and I were married in the back yard with family and very dear friends there to celebrate with us. 

In early September I returned to Canada for Ian and Jenna's wedding at Glebe-St. James and reception party under a tent at the Rideau Canoe Club.   That was definitely the best wedding party in history!

 

Now we are well into the first semester at Jilin University Lambton College.  Returning to friends and familiar places here was a very different experience, and we are having a wonderful time!

So, it is time to post the diary of our adventures during the Spring Festival holiday in Janauary and February. Words for now,  photos to follow, perhaps.