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

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