Easter Weekend and 6 day work week!

                It’s the third day of our six day work week, almost halfway done.  The school feels that when we are about to go on holidays we need to work an extra day to make up for it.  It makes no sense to me at all.  Anyways, so in China we did not have a long weekend for easter like the rest of you back home.  On Friday we did try to have an Egg Hunt with the kids outside.  Obviously they were just candies and not eggs.  It was slightly successful.  Some of my students were really into it, but others just went back into the school when the hunt started. 

                I started the weekend off with a great hockey game ( no not the Canucks :S ).  Every Friday afterschool we play street hockey at school.  It’s the same group of people every time and it’s just  a good way to unwind from the week.  I had an excellent showing though, unassisted goal and a stellar assist.  The girls don’t tend to score much, so apparently I’m doing pretty well for such a late start in the year.  After that we had some beers at Jeep Bar.  The principal and his wife from the Dalian campus were in town so everyone was out.  After that headed out to Vox for some dancing and street food, and then it was time for bed.   It was a fairly early night for me, which was good.   I spent Saturday being extremely lazy though. 

                Sunday I went on a long run and then ventured to Tailor Street with Robyn, Laura and Tara.  It was a very funny trip with a lot of communication problems.  I got another blazer made, giving them the one that they had made for me before as a prototype.  When I picked up my new blazer and asked for my old one back she had this funny look on her face.  She slowly pulled it out of the bag and showed me a slice in the sleeve and then points at her 3yr old son.  It was pretty funny.  After much guessing she offered to make me something for no charge.  After Tailor Street I had invited the girls over to our place for dinner.  I made them Mom’s famous sweet and sour, stir-fry and eggs with chives.  Mom – they said it was the best they have ever tasted J.  It’s so much harder trying to cook big meals like that with only two elements and no rice cooker.

                This week has gotten really hot here, mid thirties every day and that humid feeling is coming back.   Teaching two PE blocks back to back is quite exhausting.  Right now I’m doing a basketball unit in the gym, which is higher than the 5^th floor of the building, so it’s extremely stuffy up there.  I’ve really had to take into consideration the heat when I’m teaching, as the students are just dripping sweat.  So the last few days I’ve been spending the last chunk of class playing a full court game with the, but taking shifts so that they’re able to get some breaks. 

                I can’t believe we are already approaching the May break.  I can’t believe that I will see my parents in Beijing on Saturday.  It is going to be such a crazy experience for all of us.  It’s good that they are starting in bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai so that the culture shock of Wuhan won’t be as great when they get here.  It’ll be nice to show them what I do here and what I call normal now may not be so normal to an outsider. 

                In other cannot believe moments I cannot believe that I could be an Auntie at any given day now.  I got sent pictures of the baby room which was nice.  They used my little beanie babies to make a mobile which turned out great and I’m so excited for my brother right now.  I’ve been on my toes the last few days waiting to hear of something happening at home. 

                Anyways, that is all for now J 

-Taryn

April 18 -- Term 4, the Final Stretch

                Yesterday we started the last term of the semester.  It’s hard to believe that we are at that point already.  We have two weeks of school and then we are off on our last vacation and I’ll get to meet up with my parents for some travelling around China.  When I first got to china it felt like May was so far away, it’s nice to know that it’s coming up so soon.  I think the weather is helping the attitude of everyone a lot.  It’s so sunny and warm already.  I’ll have to send all my sweaters and coats home with my parents , as I won’t be needing them anymore. 

                We had a very good weekend.  On Friday everyone was a little pooped from marking midterms and doing report cards so it was a very low key night. Five of us girls went to dinner at Aloha.  Two of the girls that were with us had never been and it’s always a treat to get good western food when you are in China.  The next day we really needed to go grocery shopping so Robyn and I went to Metro, picked up some stuff and took the shopping bus back.  We’ve kind of stopped doing the shopping bus trips, as it tends to take up your entire day.  You leave at 10am and don’t  usually get back until 4pm.  So, unless you really need to go to the places where the bus is going it kind of sucks up your day. 

                After we got back from shopping we headed to Hankou.  As I’ve said before Hankou is like going to DT Vancouver for us.  It’s just a lot nicer area.  We had some drinks at this cute little deli and then had a nice and fancy western meal out.  Dinner was great and once we were done with dinner it was time to hit the club for some dancing.  The place we go in Hankou is called Return 97.  It’s a three story club, the bottom floor is loud music and dancing, the second floor is slightly less loud music and places to sit and talk, and then the third floor is even less loud music.  We got the VIP treatment and they opened up the third floor and that’s where we began our night.  A bunch of other Maple Leafers joined us later in the night.  The only bad thing about going to Hankou is the next day :S  We always end up coming home extremely late since it’s about an hour or so away.  The other funny thing is how in China the late night Mega Bite/McDonalds/JBC run has been replaced with street food, which is another adventure in itself.  Outside of all the bars there’s always street food, so we always sit, eat and usually make some new Chinese friends.  Always a fun way to end the night. 

                Anyways one more weekend out before we work on the Saturday and then head out on our separate adventures.  It’s pretty crazy how everyone is all over the place.  Some people are headed to Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, etc.  Definitely one of the biggest perks to having the job that we do. 

                Hope everyone is well,

-Taryn

Midterms and Playoffs

                So it’s Day 2 of midterms and I’m all done my marking….and everything that I need to get done/can get done at the moment.  So, I’m sitting in the office watching the game online while the rest of the office is marking away.  I miss watching hockey more than I thought I would.  It’s really frustrating to watch it online though because I need to use my VPN to watch games which slows down my internet even more.  Anyways, it’s going to be hard to watch the games due to the time difference.  7pm at home is 10am here…making it a little difficult sometime.  So I guess weekends and times when I have prep I’ll be able to keep up with the games live…otherwise it’ll all just be updates.  We did a little hockey pool at work, so that should be fun, we have a big pot going at the moment. 

                Apparently the game distracted me a little bit :S  Anyways now we are on Day 3 of midterms and I’m trying to fill my day.  I got to talk to Brad for awhile this morning and called Dawn to confirm everything with my taxes that she is doing for me.  I got to see the baby’s room as well which was nice to be involved in everything at home to some degree.  I can’t believe that the baby will be coming soon.  It would be crazy if mom and dad were here with me when it happened as well…I can’t even imagine. 

                Anyways there were some office pranks again this week.  April Fools I may have put Mitch’s desk in the hallway…so someone leaked that I may have had a hand in that so the last day of classes for the students, while I’m running around answering questions and giving make up tests and what not I notice that a bunch of stuff from my desk in on top of my desk and not in the drawer.  I didn’t even want to deal with it at the moment with so many students around, so I just let it chill there for a bit.  Once it was all calmed down in the office I opened the drawer to find a lovely pigs heart :S  Fun fun fun.  Anyways, I went into the science office and made him take it out.  I know it’s just meat, but it was still gross looking.    I do think that the crabs were worse though.  Thank goodness we stopped that when we did.  I talked to Annali recently and she said that he was planning on putting live chickens in our apartment somehow!  I don’t know how he could pull it off…I’m sure he would have though…

                Anyways, it’s now the last day of midterms and I think my afternoon is going to be spent on my computer watching movies or downloading music.  This weekend I think we might go to Aloha (the western food restaurant)  and maybe into Hankou tomorrow.  Hankou is the nicer area of Wuhan.  We’re in Wuchang…which doesn’t have a lot.  Hopefully I’ll have some fun stories to tell after the weekend.  I still can’t believe that Monday we’ll be starting the final term of the year.  I’ll get my last group of Drama kids.  I’m almost close to starting the countdown to come home.  July 1^st is actually starting to come into sight now that we’re starting the last term.  Also two weeks until our May vacation where I meet up with Mom and Dad in Beijing and start our journey around China J  Can’t wait!

                It’s also started to head up again.  Yesterday it was 30, feels like 33.  Today I looked at the weather forcast and it says highs of 32, feels like 38.  Funny thing about that is that I talked to Dawn today and she said she scraped snow off the car…little different from back home!

-Taryn

               

Weekend at the Hot Springs

                This past weekend a bunch of us headed up to the local Hot Springs resort.  It was a nice way to get away, but not really get away all at the same time.  By the time we turned around countless times trying to get to our destination it took about 3 hours to drive where we needed to be. 

                This was one of the last weekends that we could have done this as the weather is getting a lot hotter and sitting in a warm pool of water would not be as enticing.  This Friday when we were in the car the temperature read 18 C outside, which is pretty warm.  Much different from home J  Anyways we got to the resort early in the afternoon.  We had a ‘friend’ with us who organized the bus driver.  He’s a guy that some of the teachers know from Vanke.  He took us to lunch when we got there.  He ordered all the food without really consulting with what we wanted to order.  As a Chinese person always does, he ordered way too much food for everyone.  Also, the first few dishes that came out weren’t so appetizing for a lot of us.  Pigs feet, stomach and chicken soup…with all the parts of the chicken.  Hehe.  After that there were a lot veggie and tofu dishes which perked everyone’s spirits up a little.  Louise (the friend who took us) thinks we are so simple and feel that we aren’t really experiencing the food, which I guess is true to some extent.  I think my background has really helped me with the squeamish factor that so many of the foreigners have towards the food.  I have been to enough Chinese banquets and dinners to be pretty neutral to anything that is put in front of me. 

                Anywho, back to the spa.  It was really nice, this place was huge.  Not only did they have countless of pools around the property but at the back they had an outdoor wave pool and a few waterslides.  We went on two of them which was really fun.  One was a four person tube one like one we went on in Hawaii and the other was just a straight down shoot which gave me a huge wedgie, hehe.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon.  We sat in the pools, got some massages and had some pedicures done by the fishes again :S  It was my second time trying this treatment (like the one I tried earlier in the year in Sanya) and I think I was a little better at it.  It still feels so weird having fish eat at you…more ticklish than anything else.  We ended the day in a bunch of pools that had different things in it like lemon, green tea, wine vinegar, coconut milk and roses.  Some of them were extremely hot though.   I don’t know how people could have actually put their whole body into some of them.  Overall it was a great experience and it was nice for everyone to get away and relax before a long week of marking for midterms. 

                That night we went out for street bbq/outdoor restaurant food.  It’s funny how no matter where you seem to go, no matter how much food you eat, how much beer you drink your meal will always be around 20-30 kwai…which is like $4-5.  We also met a little friend while we were eating dinner which was so entertaining.  It was a little 5 year old girl and she was the cutest thing ever.  I also enticed her by giving her a candy, which in turn made her crazy and hilarious.  It was our entertainment for a good half an hour watching her dance around with me.  Tara took a picture of me with her, so once I get it I’ll add it to this post. 

                The next day I woke up way too early on a Sunday, but had a nice breakfast at the hotel, all like dim-sum kind of stuff, steamed buns and what not.  And read in my room, which I haven’t  done in awhile, which was nice to do.  It still took us around 3hrs to come back.  I was able to Skype with the fam for a bit then went on a nice long run.  It was pretty warm and I got into that salty sweat which I haven’t been able to do in awhile.  It’s soooooo boring though!  Bah, 30 times around the outside of the track is really not that entertaining.  I keep complaining about it but I think that’s one of the things I miss the most from home.  You know what they say, you don’t miss something until it’s gone, well I miss my runs at home so much!   Heck, I used to think going down to Como Lake was boring, I would take that in a second at this point.  I know that when I get home the first place I’m going to run is Rocky Point…that was also the last place I ran at home and I miss it so much.  I think I may even take some drives to go on runs like the Sea wall and stuff like that. 

                So, midterms this week, which may mean I have more chance to blog.  I’m ahead of the game at this point.  I’ve entered all of  my comments and behavior marks into the system so that all I have to do is enter a grade.  The last time we had to deal with this system it kept crashing because everyone was trying to get on it at the same time.  Now that I’ve done all of this work before hand I can hopefully avoid the head ache of trying to get on the system while everyone is trying to do the same.  I also don’t really have to wait for marking since I have two blocks of PE and Drama, I just have to put in some of their final marks of the last unit we did and that’s that. 

                Take Care J

-Taryn

Friday Euphoria

                For anyone who is a teacher, or works mon-fri , you all know the euphoria that is Friday afternoon.  It is such a great feeling that I don’t know if I will ever get tired of feeling.  Talking to Margaret who has been teaching for years says that the high of Friday never goes away, and likewise the dread of Monday as well.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy my job, but by the end of the week I am utterly exhausted.  On top of teaching every day I have been a lot better with my running, and have been sticking to 5 days a week, which means Tues-Thurs, I’m up and out the door running by 5am.  The days are pretty long if you’re up that early and I do my best to be in bed before 10 so that I’m not a zombie during the day. 

                On Tuesday Robyn was feeling a little bit of cabin fever so we went out for dinner and picked up some groceries on our way out.  What we didn’t know was that we would have our closest to near death experience that I’ve had in China so far.  I’ve had cars close to me, I’ve been stuck inbetween two buses on the street and highway, I’ve almost been hit by a car, scooter, bike, etc. but I have never been so scared as we were on Tuesday leaving the school.  We were just at the intersection leaving the school and our cab driver was not going slow…and neither was the truck coming the other way.  Like I said, I’ve gasped and been afraid in cabs before living in Wuhan, but on this special occasion I screamed and braced myself.  My heard actually stopped, along with Robyn.  I also feel that the cab driver was generally concerned, not just a crazy China driver.  It was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon….but we’re both still alive and that’s all that matters. 

                Other than my near death experience the week has gone by pretty well.  I just finished up a hockey unit in PE which was super fun.  In English I had to plan for next week and ended up doing most of it myself, since most of the English department had a pretty heavy load and my partner was really feeling it.  She appreciated it a lot and I was glad to help.  I needed something to occupy my prep times during the day. 

                Oh, random thought from last week as well.  I saw a scorpion when I was running in the morning.  It was the most freaked out I have ever been on a run….which includes that time I saw a bear in Mundy Park.  It was so big it looked like a lobster.  The bugs are starting to come out and I am not enjoying that part.  I thought the bugs at Shuswap were weird and gross looking…the ones here are even worse. 

Last night one of my students from my grade 11 class last semester put on a “No Pop” concert for the students.  He was so proud of it and did an awesome job.  Some of the teachers were involved in some of the performances and it was awesome.  It’s neat that these students are so open to doing stuff like that.  I guess if I lived on campus, having something to go to instead of doing self study would make me excited as well.  The opening act was Ewan (the VP) singing school of Rock with Bryn on the bass guitar.  Later on Shane from across the hall did a guitar and singing solo which was sooooooo good.  It was nice for the students to see the teachers let loose a little. 

                Today was April Fools.  Nothing like it would have been in Canada teaching at a high school.  We pranked Mitch in the other office, the one that had previously put crabs in my desk.  Sanya and I took his desk out of his office and set it up in the hallway.  It was pretty funny.  Hopefully nothing comes back my way again :S

                Anyways, that is all for now.  I think we may be planning an adventure for next weekend before we have a week of Mid-terms (not a fun time for the English Department…marking wise :S). 

Wishing everyone well,

-Taryn