June tomorrow

I wrote this yesterday....but lovely China internet would not let me connect to my blog :S       

         I am so happy to say that it’s June tomorrow.  I’m so happy that I’m going home in about 4 weeks.  Yes, school is fun, but I think that everyone is just at that point in the year where they are kind of done with teaching and the enthusiasm has really dropped. 

                I officially won my hockey pool at work, with thanks to Mike Wilson J  I won 600 RMB, picking 100% of the teams in all the playoff rounds….just one more to predict right.  That is also making me so sad at the moment.  This is the time of year that revolves around playoffs and swim club…and right now I can’t really be involved in either.  It’s really hard to watch the games here because they play in the morning our time during the week, which means I’m working.   It’s just not as exciting to see the score on highlights or on updates on the internet. 

                After this week there are only two teaching weeks left, and then it’s exam time.  I am getting way too giddy to come home at this point though, I need to settle down and focus on what I have left here, but it’s so hard to do so.  I keep seeing pictures of little Tia and of my little swim club kids and it makes me miss home so much! 

                This weekend it was one of the secretaries birthdays so we all had a surprise party for her.  We all went to KTV and she had no idea that we were all there, so that was really fun.  The night ended not so great, but I’m not going to get into that.  We may need to find a new spot to hang out for the next few weekends :S  but I guess that’s alright, there really aren’t that many weekends left.  I have decided to go on a trip this weekend to Xiamen.  It’s a tropical place and I’m just going to chill out at this resort and hang out by the pool and what not.  It’ll be nice to have a little vacation before I head back to Canada to work…hehe.   I know, everyone thinks I’m crazy, but I’m actually excited to get back to the pools.  I never thought I would miss it this much.  Hopefully the summer gets better at home though, I’ve heard that we’ve been having cool weather, as opposed to the average of 35-38 that I’ve been having here :S

                On Saturday I tried to go see the new Pirates movies with a few people…we saw a movie…just wasn’t the right one, haha.  We had pre-bought tickets (that’s what you do here, you pick your seats when you buy tickets, it’s actually kind of a nice system if you have the time to go before hand).  Anyways, we pre bought tickets, said “Pirates” and when we get into the theatre there is a long preview for a movie….hmmm, no, wait, we’re not seeing Pirates, we’re seeing Kungfu Panda 2.  It was too funny.  Only in China would you end up in a different movie than you thought.  It was kind of fitting to see Kungfu Panda though, as it is based in China and there were some Chinese jokes.  Oh well J

                Anyways, I will have to update after my tropical weekend away! 

Miss ya’ll

-Taryn

Auntie Taryn, Vacation and Home Stretch!

                First off, I am sooooo excited that my brother had his little baby Tia.  She was born the Thursday before I left for vacation so it made it even more exciting for me.  I got sent a picture right away and she is super cute and very Asian looking J.  It was a little sad that my parents were in china when this happened but we all did get a chance to Skype with her in Xi’an in our hotel room.  It was nice to share this experience of seeing her ‘live’ with my parents.  This does make me want to come home so bad though so that I can hold her. 

                Anyways, the vacation was a whirlwind and is still kind of continuing.  Mom and Dad arrived in Wuhan last night, so I will still have a different dynamic in my life for the new few days.  It’s kind of strange having them here and they finally get to see all of the things that I have been referring to for the past 8 months. 

                Let’s start with our first destination and I’ll go day by day of the many activities that we were able to do!  The first day we were out of the hotel by 8am.  Our first stop was the zoo to see the Pandas.  Something which I still hadn’t done in China so I was pretty excited to see them.  They were soooo cute!  They ate their bamboo and just munched away almost like a human would.  We didn’t spend long there, but I’m so happy that we got to go.  After that we were off to the Summer Palace.  Let me just say that even though I have been living in China for 8 months I had never seen so many Chinese people in one place.  It was their Labour day holiday so it was absolutely packed.  We walked along this long corridor which was at least 1km at shuffle pace.  It was quite the site as it’s a very big tourist attraction so you could see orange and blue flags waving everywhere and groups of people wearing matching hats.  After the summer palace we were off to the Forbidden city.  It was the second time that I have been there now, but  it was a much warmer day than the last time that I was there.  We also went into this clock museum on sight which was spectacular.  I know that sounds so lame and weird, but some of the clocks were so intricate, they must have taken so long to craft.  The day ended with a lovely dinner and a much needed nights sleep as we were about to have a very long day ahead of us.

                The next day we left the hotel at 6:30am to beat the crowds at the Great Wall.  Well, at least that’s what we thought we were doing.  It was still the holiday and the crowds were insane.  The trick was getting higher and higher up the wall though.  There were several towers that you could get to and it seemed that most people kind of stopped after the first or second tower.  We all made it to the very top of the gate that we were at which was really neat.  It wasn’t quite the scene that dad and I were hoping for, but it was still pretty spectacular.  After that we went to a jade factory, which was alright, more of a selling opportunity for the tour I’m sure.  After we had lunch we headed to the Ming Tombs.  This was a very peaceful spot and a lot less crowded as our tour guide informed us that the Chinese believe that it’s bad luck to visit sights such as this.  From there we carried onto the Olympic sight.  This was a highlight for me, being able to see the water cube and the torch.  We’re such an Olympic family it was awesome to see how this sight really was able to bring all of the athletes together as most of the facilities were all in one location unlike the past Olympics that we had in Vancouver.   Phewf, this was a long Day!  We headed to dinner where we were ‘on our own’ and our tour guide suggested a restaurant for us.  I was quite proud of my Mandarin skills as I was able to order for our whole table and somewhat communicate with the staff in the restaurant, all of the people on our tour were quite impressed and I ordered well for the table J.  The evening ended with a…lovely..cough…opera.  I could have done without it, but I guess if you had never experienced a Chinese opera before it is a sight to see. 

                Our last day in Beijing was still pretty jam packed.  We weren’t up as early, but we still had a lot to do.  We started our day with the Temple of Heaven which is one of the prettiest temples I’ve seen in Asia so far.  After that we went to the city museum where there were several large scale 3D maps of the city.  We also watched a movie about the history of Beijing.  Across the street from the museum was Tiananmen Square where we snapped some more pictures.  After lunch we took a penny cab into the country and got to sit and talk to some locals in the old part of Beijing.  It was really neat to be invited into their home and ask them anything about their life growing up in China.   Following the country side we visited a silk factory which was pretty neat and got to see how they made silk threads and silk blankets.  The day ended with shopping at the knock off marked (where I did very well, hehe) and a traditional Peking duck dinner.  Overall our Beijing stint was jam packed and quite exhausting at the time, but looking back I’m glad that we were able to see so many things. 

                The next day we were off to Xi’an.  It’s quite funny how fast paced our trip was because as soon as we got off the plane our bus took us to our first destinations while our bags headed to the hotel.  We visited the Big Geese? Pagoda….I honestly can’t remember, something like that.  After we had lunch we headed to the small geese one where they had a nice garden and a museum.  We had more of a leisurely afternoon which was nice after the fast paced trip that we had in Beijing.   That night we had some free time for dinner.  I was dying to have some western food, so I took note of a subway by our hotel which was conveniently located by a street market, so that is where we spent the night. 

                The next day we were off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  This is why people come to Xi’an.  You start the day off by visiting a factory where they make replicas of the warriors and are explained the process in which they are made.  Following that we were on to the site of the Warriors.  It was tourist central as per usual, but it is quite the site.  The large pit is filled with 8000 Warriors which covers the space of 2 soccer fields.  It’s amazing the amount of time and effort it took to build the site.  We spent the afternoon here and had lunch here.  We were able to have a rest in the evening before we went to another cultural show and a jaozi dinner.  The dinner was cute as all the dumplings were shaped like what they were made out of.  The show was also much better than the Beijing Opera, more dancing and instruments. 

                My last destination with the parents was Guilin.  This has been one of my favourite placed in China so far.  It was just so picturesque, which is what it is known for.  Our first day arriving there was not the nicest weather, but gosh it was humid.  We hiked up a little mountain, and visited some caves in the afternoon.  The caves were amazing.  The next day we took a 4hr boat cruise to Yanshou where we did some shopping in the market and then took a trip through the countryside.  It was such a nice day and we ended it off with dinner.  After dinner we got dropped off on our own with another family that was on our tour to Elephant Trunk Hill.  That was another great sight.  That night we just walked back to our hotel and packed up for the next day.  I came back to Wuhan, whereas my parents and the 4 other s that were left on the tour were off to Shanghai. 

                It was weird to come ‘home’ again to Wuhan.  I remember thinking back when I left how far away the May break seemed and now it is all over.  We’re on the homestretch and there is just over 5 teaching weeks left and then exams.  Less than two months until I come home and I couldn’t be more excited.  I’ve kind of been feeling more homesick than normal and can’t wait to see my friends and get back to the pool in the summer.  Anyways, that was a long blog and I will try to post pictures soon!  Missing Everyone J

-Taryn

The Coupland’s take on Wuhan

                My parents arrived in Wuhan last Wednesday evening.  I went out there with our taxi drive friend Bibo.  It was really weird to have them here initially.  I’ve talked about all of these places so much it was kind of strange to have them here experiences some of my daily activities. 

                The first night they arrived mom was not feeling too great so dad and I went to Vanke for dinner and to pick up some groceries for the week.  I wanted to slowly take them around to all of the places that I talk about so Jeep bar was the first place that we went to. 

                The next day I think that they were a little exhausted from the whirlwind vacation that we were having.  They had continued on the tour to Shanghai and was on a schedule there as well.  So, that day they just chilled out in the apartment, did some laundry and came over to watch my PE classes play some baseball.  All of my students were very excited to see and meet my parents, it was pretty funny.  Surprisingly a lot of them said that I looked like my father, which is not a comment that I usually get.  That night we cooked dinner at home since my parents were a little tired of eating out all the time.  It was nice to cook with my mom like we do at home. 

                The next day they took a walk to the IGA while I was at school.  After school I also got Dad out on the hockey court with us and joined us in our weekly street hockey game.  He even scored a goal which was fun to see.  Everyone was very nice to them and it was fun to mix it up a bit.  That night I took them to Lu Xiang (the mall) where we go all the time for dinner.  On the way home we walked by the local university street market as well so that they could see some of the culture in Wuhan.

                Saturday was a little bit of a late start as we were a little weary to get out of the house due to the cloudy weather.  Once we decided to leave we headed to Computer city.  Dad just got a new camera so we bought a lens filter and screen protector for the camera.  We shopped around there for a bit and had a fun time looking around at all of the gadgets.  After that we took a cab to Tailor street and Mom and I had a fun time looking at different fabrics for dresses.  That night we had a nice dinner and watched a movie, which was nice to do. 

                The next morning the weather looked a little better so we headed to Mo Shan which is a big park in Wuhan, pretty much one of the only tourist attractions in the city.  It’s kind of like Stanley park.  There are just different areas that you can walk around and took some pictures.  They have this really neat slide that they drag you up to the top of the mountain and then you can walk around a little bit and then slide down.  It’s pretty tame but also really fun, Mom even enjoyed herself on it.  After that I took them into the nice part of Wuhan which is Hankou.  We had a nice lunch there where mom was actually able to use her Cantonese which has not happened that much while she has been in China.  That night we came home and mom cooked us a good meal.  It was nice to have someone else cook for you, so I enjoyed that.  

                The next day I was back to work and they ventured out to Vanke for a walk.  That night I took them to the University near by and showed them all of the street food that you could possible imagine.  Mom thought it was super neat seeing them cook all of these different kinds of food.  We walked around trying and buying anything that looked interesting.  I think they really enjoyed it, good China experience. 

                I am so thankful that they came as they both came with a completely empty suitcase.  They were able to take home my Boo Costume J all of my winter coats and clothes, shoes and anything else that is not a necessity for the next 6 weeks.  That is going to help me so much when it comes to packing.  All of that stuff was the big and bulky stuff that would take up a lot of room so it’s going to be nice to worry about a lot less stuff. 

                It is almost the end of the week and we’re just discussing how our weekends are getting numbered here.  I’m due to come home in 6 weeks J  I’m at the point now where it’s so close that I’m getting anxious for it to come.  After this week there are only 4 teaching weeks left as well!  I’m starting to get very excited to come home.  The weather here has started to get hot again.  I teach PE two blocks in a row so I’m already starting to develop an awful farmers tan.  Hopefully a couple days in the pool will fix that problem. 

                Anyways, that is all for now!  Miss everyone and can’t wait to see you when I get home.

-Taryn