Farewell to Jilin City

It's early afternoon here and my train out of Jilin leaves this evening. This marks the beginninng of what promises to be a long and painful few days of travelling but I'm definitely excited to be getting home.

The end of my adventure in China is definitely filled with mixed feelings. I will miss many things about my experience here but I'm also very, very ready to return to a culture I understand. A quick weekend in New York precedes a nice relaxing break with Mum and Dad in Bayfield and from there I'll have to start thinking about a new job. Blue skies ahead :)

On marriage proposals, open manholes and superheroes

I was leaving a restaurant last night (with a beautiful young lady!) when the disastrous nearly happened. As we were walking down the street she suddenly grabbed me by the arm and yanked and said "Did you see that!?" Clearly I had not. I turned to look where she was pointing to see an open manhole inches away from where I had walked. Seriously...AN OPEN MANHOLE! Can you think of a dumber way to die?

In other news, I have 10 days left until I leave Jilin and have recently received two marriage proposals. These were delivered in jest of course, except for the fact that I think they were only quasi jesting. Maybe my instinct is bad but I definitely get the feeling that if I said yes, they would suddenly stop joking and I'd be married in a few weeks. Craziness.

Finally, and this would be creepy if it weren't a little kid but...apparently I'm a superhero. I've been informed that there's a kid that lives in my apartment complex that thinks I'm pretty cool. I'm not really sure where he got this idea and I know of about 500 former students and dozens and dozens and dozens of peers that would happily correct him, but he has been watching me for a few months and has definitely been duped somehow. Apparently he has even had superhero dreams about me. Like flying and stuff. Tomorrow we have lunch together, I'm certain to disappoint.

I'm F*$!'n Awesome

Okay, okay, okay...I KNOW...it's a family blog...foul language is inappropriate. But please read my story before you judge me.

Today was one of those frustrating days that seem to happen from time to time. I left work in a foul mood and things didn't appear to be headed to a happy place. As I'm walking up the path to my apartment building then who should come waddling up opposite me but a Chinese woman I estimate to be in her late 30's with a face that made it clear she hasn't laughed in at least two decades wearing a black t-shirt with big white lettering saying "I'm Fucking Awesome". Classic Chinese...wearing shirts that are in English and they have no idea what they say. I started laughing out loud, I'm a bit ashamed to admit, right at her. I think she probably won't smile again for at least another decade because of me. But it did cheer me up!

Bye Shanghai

So I'm back from my 'field trip' to Shanghai and the World Expo. It was a-mazing! First Shanghai; the skyline is incredible...it must rival any city in the world. I had a bit of time to walk up and down Nanjing Street which is the commercial street in Shanghai. It begins at a Madame Tussauds (my first time visiting a wax museum!) and ends at the Huang Pu river. The river cuts the city in two and on one side is this super modern skyline and on the other side are a collection of beautiful European style architecture buildings built in the first half of the 1900's when Shanghai was first emerging as an international financial center. It's stunningly beautiful.

The Expo was an experience I'm really glad I got to have. I spent three full days with my students checking out the different pavilions and still missed a good portion of it. That said, by the end of 3 10 hour days I was plenty ready to be done with the Expo. The pavilions were mostly really good and some were brilliant. For those of you who don't know (like me a month ago), each country sets up a building and a display inside the building. In theory each country presents the best of itself whether it be science, arts, vision, history, culture or some combination. Canada held it's own, in my opinion...but the real stunners were the Czech Republic, Italy, UK and a number of smaller countries that I really had no expectations for...like Uzbekistan, for example. Really poorly done were Australia and Israel. I was really disappointed in Israel after a LONG wait there just wasn't much content. Nobody held a candle to North Korea however. Stunningly bad. They would have been better off leaving it empty to provide the illusion that they were just slow in getting set up.

Check out the pics at: www.flickr.com/photos/44196127@N04/

Mystifying Things Ch. 2

Growing up in the '80s I can remember when seatbelt laws came into effect in Nova Scotia...or at least I think I do...perhaps this is a false memory that I have somehow superimposed onto my life but regardless I THINK I remember it. This being the case I seem to have a bit of a fetish for seatbelts. Wearing them. Not wearing them. Whatever. The point is, I REALLY notice seatbelts. I don't really care what people choose to do and sometimes I choose not to wear one myself because I feel very rebellious and free when not doing so (surely this is a measure of how boring a person I am).

So what does this have to do with China? Well, these Chinese people here in Jilin are really good at doing things that don't make ANY sense. In just about every car that I've been in...mostly cabs, but a few personally owned ones...the seatbelts are inaccessible. The cars are all built with seatbelts but most backseats are covered by, well, a seat cover. And you can't get at the seatbelt. So you can't wear one even if you want to. In the front seat you can use the seatbelt (when it's functional which is not always because many of them are broken out of disuse) but nearly every time I try to, the cab driver gets visibly nervous and tries to talk me out of it. I'm serious, they get upset. Why? Seriously though...why would you try to talk someone out of using a seatbelt? You gain nothing from it...and it costs you nothing to allow it. What possible reason is there for trying to prevent this? And why don't the seat cover manufacturers just cut a little hole in the seat covers so that the seatbelt buckle can fit through? Seriously? Why not? I can understand choosing not to use a seat belt...as mentioned before, it's thrilling...but why would you try to stop someone else?

Hi Shanghai

I'm going on a trip to Shanghai...a field trip to be precise. The World Expo is being hosted there this year and I'm chaperoning our students as we go to check it out. It promises to be pretty awesome. We leave for 5 days on May 7th.

Shanghai does not have nearly the cultural weight of Beijing but it is, from what I've heard, more developed and, dare I say it, "cosmopolitan". I look forward to seeing the Chinese at their best. I'm also very excited to see the Canadian exhibit at the Expo (see link below). My national pride has soared to ridiculous heights in the past 8 months.

My Chinese Massage

Yesterday I went to a Chinese sauna. Quite an experience. The whole ordeal was hilarious but too lengthy to explain so let me stick to the massage. I am no massage expert...I've had maybe 3 or 4 professional massages in my life. But I know what pain feels like. And I know weird when I meet it. The guy giving me the massage was pretty random. To begin with he tried to rub my back off. I seriously think that was his goal. If I'd had one of those big back tattoos it would almost certainly be gone now. His method was, well, violent. And I'm not sure that's a word that's supposed to be associated with massages. I spent this portion of the massage gasping for air and marvelling that I had paid for this treatment. Later, as I was lying on my front, he lifted my foot and started punching the bottom of it. Literally punching it...what was he going for? And why didn't he punch my other foot? Other techniques he employed were "cup his hands and slap my back" and "grind his elbow into my shoulder blades". These techniques, though lacking in relaxative effect or enjoyment, are certainly high in pain. I came out of the massage feeling like I'd just had the living shit beat out of me (please forgive my crudeness). Combined with the full body exfoliation I had endured an hour earlier and I was left pretty exhausted. That's right. Full body exfoliation. But that's a story for another day...