The Crew

Its been a while, yes, forgive me, and far too much has happened so far to explain it all. But the short of it is that there has been much to transition into, much to be challenged with, and yes, still much to enjoy. Our first month and a half back in China have been a whirlwind and we are struggling to find time to relax. Seems we are always on the go and always more to be done, but we are attempting to find balance. I am LOVING my kids! Maybe there are struggles in certain other areas, mainly in the adult world, but thats what life brings, beyond that though, and before it, I guess, are the chillins who make me laugh, question, wonder, smile, and ache for them. They are bundles of joy and I am thankful for each one of those little bundles in my class. So here are most of them, a few I haven't had a chance to capture yet as they were absent.

Shopping

Daily grocery shopping can be a fun task in China, mainly because sometimes I marvel at how cheap things actually are. Take for instance my trip to the vegetable market today. In total I spend 45 yuan (a little under 8 dollars Canadian). For this well spent 45 yuan I got:
-two large heads of broccoli
-one large head of cauliflower
-one head of celery
-one head of lettuce
-two large handfuls of long green beans
-eight large tomatoes
-eight large green peppers
-eight large carrots
(eight is a good number in China, sounds like the word for 'wealth' and you want to avoid four, because it can sound like 'die')

Is it organic, no, is it local, not too sure how local, but I bought it from a local, so that fits the bill for me. The local, my regular produce lady, was shocked at the weight of the bag as she heaved it over her neatly arranged rows of vegetables... then she asked if she wouldn't see me for another week... only time will tell on that.

What are all these vegetables going to make you may ask?? Well Christina is going to make a huge batch of her delicious Minestrone soup so that we can freeze some and have some ready to go meals after those long hard days at the office!!

back in TEDA

We're back! Our apartment greeted us late Tuesday evening to a hot stale air smell. It really doesn't cool down up on the 29th floor when all the windows have been closed for a month. Our Air Canada flight was GREAT!! No one sat in the third seat so Christina and I had the whole three-seater for two !! We enjoyed two very nice meals, a mustard chicken and a penne bolognaise, as well as many snacks and best of all had our own personal entertainment systems to pass the 10+ hours in the air, and did the time ever FLY!!

We've had two orientation sessions at the new school, and we are enjoying things so far. I've been given the keys to my new classroom and biology lab (Christina had already been over to her classroom before we left in June) and we are diligently planning the year. Well Christina is and I'm trying to! We have two more days on Monday and Tuesday with all the returning staff and then on Wednesday the students arrive!!

Home home home.....home?

We are home, finally! Feet set firmly on our lovely Canadian soil, breathing in the freshness of ocean and lush trees, drinking in the sight of galant towering clouds and calming cool mountains. We have stopped many times now to take it all in. Our Canada is far more fair than ever. A love is truly appreciated when absent for a mere moment in time, and yes, we love and appreciate Canada so much more than ever before. We are piling on lots of visits with family and friends over our short time here so please forgive the lack of posting until mid august when we will return to China and start our new positions for this next year. Hope all are well all over the world:)

Picture this...

...you are enjoying a lovely jaunt on your gym treadmill, stationary cycle, or elliptical. Listening to music, burning the calories, contemplating life, pushing hard, and sweating fiercely. You're decked out in your old sneaks, a well worn in pair of gym shorts, a raggedy tank, and your hair is all tousled and sweaty, but who cares? You're working out! But, then you question your attire, in fact you question your actual physical location, did you get the wrong venue? You're on a treadmill, right? There are weights and mats and water dispensers? Towels? Sterilizing wipes? What brings about this questioning? The man who walks in, dainty little gym bag in hand (quite a typical accoutrement here in China), donning his best tan leather loafers, porting his freshly ironed chinos, flaunting his crisp white collared dress shirt, he casually saunters around the room, puffing his chest out, eyeing each person's machine and their chosen level of resistance. After a slow once about, he meanders to the nearest, techiest looking machine and hops on, clicking the dials to be at least one higher level than the nearest user. For the next 5 minutes he "works out". Its at these times (and they are numerous) that I lose all focus on the calorie burning and MUST chuckle at the hilarity of it all, as well as pause in perplexity and wonder. Usually the man finishes his "cardio" and picks up a couple free weights, mostly to do something completely ridiculous, while grunting unnecessarily, perhaps what he has seen in some testosterone induced movie, which looks kinda good, maybe impressive from the right vantage point, but has no actual purpose or value. Then, casually, puffed out and proud chested, he picks up his baby blue gym purse and leaves satisfied and slightly smug. This is a regular occurrence (and not usually ever the same offender!) and completely shocking each and every time but it rivals the very recent, fantastically tight, all white, transparent gid-up a regular local has been sporting lately as he lunges and leans and grunts and growls. Honestly, its a wonder we get anything productive done at all at the gym, we are fully and entirely amused by the very diverse habits of some of the colorful locals.

And counting....

8 days and counting. We sit here, report cards finished, classrooms cleaned, offices becoming quite bare, and there are still 8 days until we depart for Canada. What are we doing? Watching paint dry....or something quite similar: invigilating exams. Yes, teachers become "big brother" during exams, "we are watching you". And yes, we are there to help, supervise, answer questions and hand out exams, but for the most part its boring and tedious and pretty much like watching paint dry. Ben and I are only invigilating 3 exams each, so that means a whole lot of hours of twiddling our thumbs....and perhaps getting ready for next year. Which, by the way, will be a whole new bag of tricks for us, since we are both switching up schools. It was originally just I who would be skipping off to the other side of the street, but fortunately for holidays and such, Ben was able to nail down a placement at the same school. We are quite excited about the new positions, and we are hopeful for the school community. Nothing is perfect, we realize that, and no grass is ever truly greener, BUT we are optimistic that the new school seems to suit our needs and aims a bit better than where we have been working this year. So adieu to Maple Leaf, thank you for the year, the learning, the struggles, the growth, the challenge, the humbling moments, and the paycheck. Now, hello to new challenges!

baby steps...

just a quick little shout out to the good samaritans who made a point to help out Thursday morning with all the carnage left around Vancouver. Too bad the major media outlets prefer to spread the doom gloom and fumes instead of the feel good stories...

here's to hoping more stories like Thursday's can wash away some of the black marks left by Wednesday evening...