The countdown continues

It's almost exactly a month to the day that I finish teaching here at the middle school. Tack on a couple weeks for my trip to Yunnan, and I'll be back on Canadian soil. Some days I'm perfectly fine being here for that amount of time. Other days, the days can't pass quickly enough. Today may or may not be one of the latter.

Over the weekend, I was able to represent Canada (and an uber-small scale) in a volleyball tournament in Beijing with a few of the Jinshitan teachers. A couple of the guys played some college and university ball back home and were itching for some competition, so they found a tournament in Beijing after sending some emails to a couple different places. One of the guys gave me a call after hearing I played a bit and invited me along, so I hopped on the train on Friday night for the tourney.

It was a blast. I was rusty as I've ever been, but it was great to get out and play against some serious competition. One team had a bunch of players that used to play for China's national team, and a few other teams had former professional players on their teams. All 5'10" of me didn't really compete on an athletic scale with these dudes, but it was still a tonne of fun playing. Our record didn't show that, though...

We finished with 1 win. And 5 losses. And the team we beat had a bunch of high school students on it. But don't judge... those kids were good!

Considering the calibre of players, the record for the weekend wasn't totally surprising. Especially considering we had one guy who'd never played organized volleyball before. But when you have a good group of guys and we improved with every game, giving some really strong teams a run for their money. That, along with the fact that we had a big group head out for celebratory dinner on Saturday night to a great Mexican restaurant, made for a solid weekend. The legs are sure paying the price now, though, and my sleep debt wasn't exactly helped in any way.

Not too much else to report... just letting the days pass by. There might be a trip to Qingdao in the upcoming weeks for a stag, but otherwise survival is my first priority. And sleep. Sleep is good.

T

It's finally happened

My friend Linda (one of the Chinese ESL teachers here at my school) and I were catching the bus back to my school's campus after going for dinner at a restaurant near the local university. As we sat down, the only other passenger on the bus started talking to Linda. I caught a piece of their conversation when Linda looked at me and told the woman that I was Canadian and a teacher at the Maple Leaf school. The bus driver piped up, they all started talking loudly and began smiling and laughing quite a bit. I don't understand enough Mandarin to have understood the rest of the conversation, but there was a lot of laughing and smiling. You may be wondering, "Why"? 

When Linda and the woman started talking, the woman asked if I was Linda's boyfriend. She explained that no, I wasn't, but we worked together. Then she asked the woman if I was from XinJiang province (a province in the NW of China)!!! Linda laughed and told her that no, I was Canadian and that I was one of the foreign teachers at the school. The bus driver then chimed in and agreed that I looked like I could be from the NW and that I wasn't even slightly Asian or had a Muslim background (XinJiang has a large Muslim population and is near Kyrgystan). 

So, for the first time since being in China, I was mistaken for a Chinese man! In a lot of ways, being associated with being from the NW still makes me quite the foreigner in the 97% Han Chinese region that I live in. But still, I never thought I'd see the day when people actually mistook me for a countryman! 

So, dad, I guess my speaking demos on the phone from a few weeks ago has seeped into my DNA and I'm now blending in to this place! :)

Linda explained later that because of the lack of light on the bus, the fact that I was wearing a hat and glasses, and that I am currently sporting a goatee and have a big nose that, under the circumstances, I was the perfect XinJiang man silhouette. And really, all I'd have to do to debunk such a case of mistaken identity is open my mouth and speak. Nothing separates the foreigners like language.

In other news, I'm heading to Beijing tomorrow night on the train to play in a fun men's volleyball tourney over the weekend with a couple of the teachers from the high school. It should be pretty epic... a number of former Chinese National Team players are apparently playing on some of the teams, so I think I'm getting in over my head. Oh well! Bring on the embarassment! Luckily two of the guys are former UBC Thunderbird players, so I'm just hoping they'll carry the team. I'm wearing my new 2010 Team Canada jersey for warm up... should be awesome.

Otherwise, the countdown to Canada remains... 7 more weeks and I'm back on Canuck soil!

T

Things that slipped my mind

In the past week:

- Watched go-go dancers at a Xi'An bar groove to techno music on a make-shift stage before being entertained by a slew of local music performers, one of which took on the persona of the Chinese Michael Jackson. The staff, as the performers did their thing, circled the club and proceeded to wave their hands in the air to the music, as if it was a Boyz II Men show circa 1992.

- Recorded my voice for the Dalian Education Bureau... I'm now the newest voice of Chinese Standardized English testing here in Liaoning.

- Ate duck heads while having a Ganbei-fest with my ESL Dean at one of the coolest restaurants in the area. No one else participated. I think because of this, our Dean pulled me aside and whispered to me, "You're a real man." Awesome.

- Broke up a fight on the bus on the way back to school, post-dinner/Ganbei-fest, as some locals mixed it up.

- Had one of my female students ask if I got fat over the week-long holiday. Exasperated, I said, "No, I didn't get fatter. I can't believe you would even ask that!" I laughed it off, but feeling bad, she just responded, "You must've gotten stronger then!" Ya. Thanks. Nice cover. Am I allowed to call my female grade 9 student a jerk? Just kidding. I wouldn't do it... in public.

- Brought back a small set of Terracotta Warriors from Xi'an as a souvenir. I explained to my mother on the phone that the real warriors were made unique by using blank head molds and attaching them individually to a set number of body designs, and artists used clay to mold their facial features. The separate attachment of the heads made them a little fragile. As we started talking about something else, I knocked one of my new souvenirs off the coffee table and... his head snapped off.

T

Chaos and moments of feeling a bit rockstar-ish

In recent weeks, my schedule at school has constantly been flipped, turned, manipulated and shifted to accommodate for exams and field trips and every sort of administration-related request you can imagine. This week has been no different. Most of the time, these changes mean that my classes get cancelled and I get more time off. I assume that most of you know me well enough that I'd NEVER complain about such changes. But it's starting to get a little ridiculous. 

The week before my holiday, I ended up teaching less than the 3 full days because of these constant examinations and changes. For 2 of my classes, I saw them 3 times. For another class, I didn't see them... at all! This week, I'm looking at teaching about 2.5 days (maybe less) for the same purposes. And there's only 7 weeks left, one of which involves an entire week dedicated to grading oral exams presented by students. And the final week is the week of the entrance exam for the high school, which means at least 2 other days off. This doesn't include the yet-to-be-discussed other days for district exams and school exams and everything else. I don't even know how/what to prepare for these final weeks, and it's become more and more obvious to me that the school doesn't see the foreign-teacher's ESL classes as vital. They actually call our class ESL, and when the Chinese teachers have THEIR English class, it's actually called English. Most of you won't care, but it's become an important and obvious distinction.

Regardless, I'm trying to roll with it and enjoy the time I have outside the classroom. Summertime is almost here and the shorts are making their first appearance! And other things have made me really enjoy life lately...

Of course, my trip to Xi'an was great. I had a really good time, met some cool people, and definitely relaxed my way through the week. It was nearly 30 degrees all week, which was a nice change. I got to see the Terracotta Warriors, check out some pagodas, parks and temples, and ate all the Uighur (pronounced wee-gurr... Chinese Muslim) food I could get my mitts on. I walked pretty much everywhere and spent a lot of time reading, drinking coffee and just hanging out with other travellers. For my teacher friends, I suggest you get your hands on a copy of "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt... I blasted through it in 3 or 4 days. So good. I also just finished reading, "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom... for any runners, "Born to Run" was also fantastic. Anyways...

After getting back late Friday night, I got a call Saturday from, Maxine, the woman who helped organize the ML Cup speech competition I judged a few weeks ago. She wanted to know if I could help her and the Dalian Education Bureau with their English listening exam. So, Sunday morning, I was taken to the Dalian Radio and TV Broadcasting Centre where the local radio stations and TV news sessions are taped, and with Meghan (one of the other speech comp judges), I spent a few hours recording scripts for the Dalian Ed. Bureau's exams! I ended up getting paid nearly $40/hr for the gig too, which was pretty awesome.

Now, it's Tuesday and I have no idea what my teaching schedule will look like for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll get a week off and need to suddenly go to Shanghai! I doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to dream! Just the countdown to Canada remains... 60 days and counting until I'm kissing Canadian soil!!!

T

The late-night return

I don't know what it is, but I must like to tempt fate. I give myself enough time to get to the places I need to get to. However, I easily convince myself that I have more time than I do to accomplish things, and often when unexpected delays arise, I get myself into a bit of a pickle. If you recall my adventure in KL when I was attempting to fly to Cambodia over the holidays, such delays happen. Especially, I think, to me. Last night wasn't much different.

I was scheduled to fly out of Xi'an back here to Dalian at 8:45pm last night. I knew that it was about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the airport, so I wasn't too worried. At a reasonable time, I went with Max, one of the guys I met in Xi'an, to wait for the bus up to the airport shuttle pickup. Typically, these buses come every few minutes and the shuttles are equally frequent. I'm sure you can all see where this is going.

I kept waiting and kept waiting and after 15 minutes, was panicking... the bus to the shuttle hadn't arrived and I was cutting it far too close. Just as I was getting ready to flag a taxi, the bus came around the corner. I hopped on and anxiously positioned myself close to the exit so I could jump off right when I got to the exit.

After getting off, I dashed to the shuttle stop just to see the shuttle leaving. The next one wasn't leaving until 7:40 and arrived at the airport at 8:40. Not good enough. So, after sorting out my options (it was a short list), I haggled a bit with a cab and told him he'd have to hurry if I was gonna pay over 110RMB. He agreed and off we went. 

Of course, it couldn't just be an easy trip out. The traffic was nuts inside the city and, telling the driver my flight time, he got a grim look on his face. Luckily, this guy was in the mood for an adventure... so, with one finger on the horn and one hand on his brights, he proceeded to honk and weave and flash his lights all the way to the airport to get me there on time. After all this stress and fear (of dying in the taxi), I arrived at about 8:15pm, far too close to the wire considering the check-in policy of most airlines. Just as I'm ready to cut in front of everyone in line and demand to be checked in, I hear the following announcement:

"Attention ladies and gentlemen. Flight AB1234 to Tsingdao and Dalian has been delayed due to air traffic congestion. Your new departure time is 10:20pm. Thank you."

Serendipity rescued me, as it so often does. I was able to get in touch with the driver picking me up in Dalian, relaxed into a barley soda with my computer and passed the time with a smile on my face. The 2am arrival at home wasn't particularly fun, but I slept like a log so all was well. I keep hoping that I'll learn my lesson. Maybe this time will have been it. 

More on the rest of the holiday trip to Xi'an in the next day or two. For now, I've gotta figure out food (I'm starving) and my lessons for tomorrow... I'm actually making an impromptu trip to the city in the morning to have my voice recorded for the Dalian Education Bureau at the Dalian Radio and TV Centre before I teach in the afternoon. An extra $100 for 2 hours of work? I think so! 

T

Mystery on the bus

On Saturday, I was on the bus to the airport for my flight to Xi'an and 5 days of freedom from Daheishi. As the bus began to fill, a man carrying a large sack lumbered up to me awkwardly and put down a large oddly shaped burlap bag. My eyes instantly darted over to movement in the bag. Movement? Yup. Movement. And then not just movement but writhing! Puzzled, I couldn't tear my eyes off the mystery at my feet, nor the smile from my face. What was in the bag, you ask? I wasn't sure but I had my suspicions.

After I thought I had figured it out I couldn't stifle my laughter. The woman who was with the mystery-sack-carrying guy started chatting with me, asking me if I was American and where I was going. I did my best to respond that I was Canadian in my terribly broken mandarin and that I was heading to Xi'an for holidays and I was also a teacher at the ML school.

To confirm my assumption I asked about the wriggling bag and she said yes... It was, in fact, a dog! What was her next question??? Do you want to buy it?? I laughed again and said I didn't but thanks. "Only 150 rmb!!! Very good!" she responds. How do turn down the offer of a bag of dog on the bus on a Sunday afternoon as you're on the way to the airport?? Not with a straight face. I'm now in Xi'an enjoying the balmy 28 degree weather. This is a very cool city so far and I'm already happy about choosing it as my holiday location. More stories later. For now: coffee.

T