Days 95-101 – Our first working week …

After three months of continuous travelling, we have to ditch our adlibing ways and begin our life of planning and preparation as we enter into the working world once more. Though we are officially titled “Foreign Experts”, we still struggle to think of ourselves as university teachers and feel our role is more similar to that of a tutor. Being on the teaching end of class has taught us a few lessons – the main ones being that we now understand why teachers have teacher’s pets and that teaching is as much a motivational challenge as it is about passing on knowledge. While teaching isn’t difficult itself, it is extremely draining – and of course there is the preparation that goes on outside out paid hours.

The advantages in relation to school include the fact that our schedules are identical, which means we have all our spare time off together, and that we teach the same level and can thus prepare for classes together.

Our students are second year students attempting to prepare themselves for attending Canadian Universities for the final two years of their study – it is our role to prepare them for the test they need to pass to get into international universities. So after saying goodbye to our university studies, we now have textbooks in our possession once more.

The first week of teaching was full of up and downs – the students who try in class reward our efforts, while those who couldn't care less leave us frustrated. Some students are clearly ready for their overseas experience, while others will get a harsh reality check once they arrive in Canada (if they make it).

Mondays and Wednesdays are both 8-hour days with an 8am start and a 6pm finish – the only saviour is the 2 hour lunch break between the four 2-hour classes. Basically we just try our hardest to survive these days but still provide the last class with at least an ounce of enthusiasm.

Tuesdays and Fridays are our 4-hour days, and we get to relax/plan classes on our day off on Thursdays! The weekends are true weekends, where we have time to ourselves to do our own thing in our way, except for late Sunday night when we enter cram mode in preparation for the week’s lessons. The excellent thing about our Friday classes, is that we have the ability to have the four hours jammed into Tuesdays, giving us a four day weekend to adlib our way around the China we haven’t seen yet.

After living in permanent weekend mode for months on end, where days were just numbers to us, our first ‘weekend’ (as in, a break from the working week) couldn’t come too soon! It seems we had adapted to the “do what you what when you want” way of living with ease, and now have to somehow struggle our way back into our new working life of schedules and class plans.

So when Saturday arrived we spent our time in similar fashion to the prologue week, by exploring the town and indulging in some shopping along the way. On Thursday we had attempted to go shopping, but ended up at a huge and expensive mall underneath the City Square (the Silver Plaza), which had just reopened after falling victim to the massive floods that wrecked havoc on the Chinese population. The same floods also wrecked havoc on our minds during our travels as we watched future destinations of ours feature in the news (underwater). As the prices in the Silver Plaza were comparable to prices at home, we had left empty handed with that feeling you get after setting out to spend money but not finding anything to buy!

For our second attempt at shopping, we armed ourselves with one of our students who was keen to practice his English. This resulted in an informative tour of shopping and eating spots around town, and seven hours later we returned home with bags full of goodies! Our main purchases for the day were computer-based accessories, and once the University fixes the internet (again) we’re geared and ready to skype our friends and family!

Sunday was pretty chilled – we started the day preparing for lessons and then made a brief foray to explore a market we’d passed on our regular bus trips, only a few purchases but we’ll be sure to return!

Adlibing it into the working world.

Days 89-94 - A prologue to teaching

Jinan is the capital city of Shandong Province, a wealthy coastal province South of Beijing and North of Shanghai. The most famous draw card in Jinan are its Springs (Jinan is known as the City of Springs), but apart from that there are no real tourist attractions – this suits us fine though as we will adlib our way around the town and seek out our own sights and formulate our own opinions of the place! “Shandong” itself means “East of the Mountain”, which we think is very fitting considering the amount of mountains around us. The Yellow River (Huang He), which starts in Tibet, ends its journey in Shandong, reaching the sea in the North of the Province. As well as being famous as the hometown of Confucius, Shandong is also home to the most holy of the 5 sacred mountains in China – Tai Shan, which we will summit one of these days …

Our arrival in Jinan was brilliant - firstly because we were picked up directly off the train station platform by our boss-to-be and driven through town where we got a glimpse of our home for the next 9 months. Secondly our arrival at the campus where we will be living and teaching was a lovely surprise, as it is located in the suburbs out of the hustle and buslte of town and surrounded by hills - the sun was even shining and the blue sky looking down upon us - what a welcome! Finally the news we had been waiting for: our 9kgs of important and valuable gear that we sent months ago had arrived and was ready waiting for us!!

Without further ado we were taken to our dormitory (we like to call it our apartment, as that is what it is like). We have 2 bedrooms, one with a sunroom/drying room off it, a large living area with comfy couches, TV, DVD player, fridge and microwave (they don't fit in the kitchen!), and a welcome airconditioner (thank goodness). Off the living area is our kitchen (complete with washing machine!) and a bathroom. The only problem with the kitchen is that the 2-top gas stove doesn't work because the university refuses to allow foreign teachers to connect to the gas line! This problem was solved when we went to the supermarket the next day and purchased a rice cooker, jug, and an electric element.

We weren't totally sure what to expect as far as accommodation went, but we did have visions of a one room apartment with shared kitchen facilities - but the short of it is that we are pretty stoked with our new home so far.

The rest of our first day was spent receiving a campus tour from a soon to be student (Snoopy) - the campus itself is really pretty, it is the smallest of six campuses that make up Shandong University (we are based at the Software Campus). The buildings are beautiful brick constructions and house the offices, teaching rooms, sports rooms, a convenience store and a number of cafeterias (called 'restaurants', but we'll be the judge of that). Surrounding the campus are mountains, with one of them right on our back doorstep, lots of grassy areas (complete with signs telling students to keep off the grass), lots of outdoor areas with exercise equipment, and a construction sight a few hundred metres away!

After our tour and a rest we were taken to the supermarket by Snoopy and her friend Ian, where we purchased some food and cleaning products, and we enjoyed(!) washing our evening away before settling in for a rewarding Grey's Anatomy session.

Day number 2 at university we set off with Dovid (another foreign teacher here - there are only 4 of us at this campus) to another supermarket via a different bus route, increasing our knowlegde of our new hometown. Here we purchased appliances, more cleaning products, and a little more food before heading home for what would be our running theme for the rest of the week: cleaning, watching Grey's, cleaning, watching Grey's ... you get the picture. The apartment wasn't that dirty by Chinese standards, but after having not been lived in for a few months the dust and grime had built up and "if your mother won't live there, you shoudn't either", so we cleaned, and cleaned.

As well as the usual theme, on day 3 we got our contracts and had a 3-hour meeting with our bosses - this would have been a lot shorter had they not left us for large periods of time to talk amongst themselves. While we were told the contracts were the standard form contracts signed by all foreign teachers, we found some things we were unhappy with and managed to convince them to allow us to re-write a few clauses! During the meeting we found out that some teachers purely hadn't turned up for work, and we were now being asked (almost expected) to take on the extra hours. Realising we held a huge amount of negotiating power, we set about securing a computer for our apartment in return for the extra hours. When they refused, we decided that we weren't that keen for overtime, and within minutes a computer was being organised for our room!

Exhausted from the meeting we headed 10 minutes down the road to a Muslim restaurant to dine with our new teaching friend Dovid, and returned home with 2 yuan beers to fill the void in the fridge.

The number of cards in our wallets is increasing, as we now have a card we can swipe at the 'restaurants' on campus as well as the convenience store, and a card to swipe to pay for our frequent bus rides into town for shopping. These cards make life easy as we no longer have to carry around piles of one yuan notes for the bus (you must have exact change to catch buses in China). Although downtown is 40 minutes away by bus, our apartment is right on campus so it only takes us a few minutes to walk to class!

The next few days were spent getting our apartment in shape, signing the (re-written) contract, making repeat trips to the supermarket, and a LOT of Grey's watching. Finally on the night before class started we began some planning ...

This blue sculpture sits in the middle of the City Square, which is in the middle of Jinan City - a very handy orientation point!

And this is the beautiful crystal clear river that passes through the city:Adlibing our new home.

Day 88 - Last day of freedom

In preparation for going to Jinan tonight, we spent the morning undertaking the normally despised task of packing, planning and preparing ourselves for our next destination. However, this packing mission was attacked with enthusiasm as it will be the last time, for a long time, that we have to go through these motions. Even better we know that once we arrive in Jinan someone will be at the train station to pick us up, meaning that we won't have to lose ourselves in the masses and figure out how to get to somewhere with a bed.

After the packing we headed out for one last adlibing adventure, which led us to the Suzhou Silk Museum. Our Lonely Planet had told us this was a must-see, and since Suzhou has a 4,000 year history of silk production, we thought we'd better stop by. However the museum consisted of mainly replicas of ancient silk, and apart from getting to watch silk worms eating mulberry leaves, we left disappointed.
So in search of something exciting to do on our last day we headed out into the rain - our destination being a pedestrian shopping street that houses a Taoist Temple - The Temple of Mystery. The bazaar area surrounding the temple was once home to travelling showmen and acrobats, but all we found was the normal hawkers selling knock-off handbags, sunglasses and belts. Nonetheless the markets were located in a beautiful setting with the temple smack-bang in the middle, and we enjoyed our hour and a half wander through them. As the rain intensified we hopped on a bus to take us back to the hostel. However, after spending half an hour barely moving, we opted to sacrifice our 2 yuan ticket and walk back - we ended up beating the bus and were relieved to escape the sardine tin bus, and the smell that comes with wet people in the summer.

With a few hours to spare we decided to break away from the adlibing budget and spend up large, before we start earning in Chinese yuan - so we treated ourselves to a delicious Italian meal for dinner and spent some time reflecting on our wonderful three months on the road through China. This dining experience was the first time we have dined in a restaurant where the patrons were 100% foreigners! Although the meal was a fantastic change, it cost us 10 times more than our usual meals, and left us just as satisfied.

Mounting our packs we boarded the ever familiar public bus for our journey to the train station, where we settled into our ever familiar role as the station-spectacle and after waving to or 'fans' we sat down and read our way through the hour until the train arrived.

As it was already almost 10pm when the train arrived, we off-loaded our weighty friends and set about reading ourselves to sleep in our luxurious soft-sleeper cabin for our last night of freedom. Our cabin even had a door to keep out the noise and the smell of urine drifting from the toilets, AND we could sit up in our beds as there were only 4 bunks in the room instead of 6!!
Adlibing our way to a new home.

Day 87 - Wandering the sights of Suzhou

After the dramas we encountered with buses yesterday, we decided to tackle today by foot. Our first port of call for the day was The Master of Nets Garden (we figured we couldn't leave Suzhou without visiting one of the gardens it is famous for), which was beautiful, but to be honest, not that much different from the other gardens we have visited in China. The good thing about this particular garden is that it was small enough that we could see all of it and not feel like we missed something.
After this we got ourselves lost while searching for the Pingtan Museum, however in our lost state we journeyed along Pingjiang Road, which is a cobblestone path that follows one of the city's canals, and got to enjoy the local scenes (while dodging scooters and bicycles!). Perched along both sides of the canal are the slowly deteriorating houses of the locals who go happily about their lives, while tourists mill amongst them. We eventually came across an interesting building we thought we'd explore, only to find out that we had actually found the Museum we had been searching for - it's great that a completely adlibed path can succeed as if you were following a map. The Pingtan Museum is really just a theatre in a beautiful old building, where Pingtan shows of singing and storytelling are performed daily - and we had timed our visit perfectly as a show was due to begin half an hour after we arrived.

After being seated at the back (fine by us as this minimises the eyes on us and keeps them focused on the show) and given our cups of tea, we waited patiently for the show to begin. These shows are a very social occasion, although clearly for the older generation - we were out-aged by at least 50 years! We didn't mind the age gap though as our fellow theatre-goers showed extreme kindness to us and welcomed us warmly. The first man who approached us was slightly taken aback when his comment was understood and replied to in Chinese - though he was also clearly appreciative of our effort. Before long we had a steady stream of visitors, most proclaiming "they won't understand anything" - only for us to be defended by our friends saying "they do understand!". One man happily wandered over to us to explain that he had seen us (the bearded one and his girl) as he rode to his favourite theatre on his bike. The expression on his face illustrated that this conversation might be the highlight of his day. Eventually people told us what we already knew - that this show would be performed in the Suzhou dialect, different to Putonghua that we can semi-understand - and we all laughed together about the fact that we would understand very little, if anything at all!

The storyline completely alluded us, but at one time we were sure the joke that had the audience in hysterics was to do with the size of the male character's family jewels. We basically spent the show enjoying the changing tone of the actors voices, and their ever varying facial expressions, as well as listening to the musical pieces of the show - quite unlike anything you'll hear on MTV! We were stoked that the shrillness of the famous Peking Operas were absent from this show!
After the two hour performance and many cups of tea (all for 80 cents each) we headed for lunch as it was already 3.30pm. We ended up at another Muslim restaurant which we love - the meals tend to have more flavour and variety than other street kitchens - thus our noodle dishes threw a curve ball at our stomachs that are used to the usual grease and soya sauce flavoured noodles.

Back on foot patrol we enjoyed getting to really see Suzhou town as we headed for the North Temple Pagoda - the tallest pagoda south of the Yangzi at nine stories high and adjacent to a 1700 year old temple, which turned out to be one of the most relaxing and enjoying complexes we have been to in a long time. It was especially enjoyable as most of the tourists were headed away just as we were arriving. After gazing up at the height of the pagoda, it was thrilling to know that we were going to get to climb the biggest pagoda we have seen so far! The lack of tourists while climbing the pagoda was very welcome as the staircases were very narrow and it meant we got a clear run to the top, rather than waiting in line like we're used to! If you look really close you can see Liv hanging out the third window. At the top we got sweeping view of the city, and despite it being a clear-ish day, the skyline in the distance was still battling to break through the smog. The battle between sky and smog is a continuous one in China, and with the huge coal towers burning 24/7 it's no surprise that the latter is winning. From all the way at the top, the pagoda seemed even higher than it did from below and had there been any tourists in the complex they would have looked like ants - and we looked forward to enjoying the temple and its surrounds in peace. With all the tourrist gone it was easy for Adam to slip under a fenced of area and get up close and personal with Buddha.
Back down on level ground we spent the next hour wandering through the temple grounds, and although we've seen many gardens and temple this one was a nice change, due to its simplicity - straying away from the maze of pavilions, alleyways and rock sculptures of many others. Making our way to the exit, we were sidetracked by a roaming white rabbit, which was incredibly friendly and easy around us - letting us pat it and feed it by hand. This is a perfect example of when you treat an animal with kindness it has no reason to fear you or anyone else - kind of like the dogs here that roam the streets with natural freedom and cause no one harm, in contrast to the environment in NZ where fences sometimes aren't enough to keep savage dogs out of sight (or out of trouble). Nipping between the closing gates of the complex we were so enjoying, we continued our foot march with dedicated steps towards the markets - determined we would find them tonight! After less than half and hour of wandering, it seemed like this determination had failed as we arrived in the exact same place we had searched in vain for the markets last night. However, with a stroke of fate Liv read a neon hotel sign with the character for the street we were looking for on it. Soon we had a semi direction to head towards, though it took us another half hour of searching through handbag stores and watching a watershow for us to finally locate the elusive markets.

At the markets we set about a frenzied shopping spree, with the knowledge that we only have to lug our packs around for one more day - as well as knowing that travel clothes probably won't do at work. At the end of our night Adam had purchased a pair of trousers that are a mix between 'good' work pants and kick ass grandpa pants (of course 5 sizes too big, according to Liv). Liv walked away with a pair of cool jeans and a handbag that made denying all the other handbags on offer over the last three months worth while (though she's still keeping the bag from mumbles that connects her to home, even though it's broken!).

After finding dumplings for dinner and a McD's ice cream for dessert, we congratulated ourselves when we found the bus we needed to catch by pure happenstance! Ice cold beer in hand we relaxed our last travelling evening away trying to wear off some of the excitement of a great day but the end of a wonderful adlibed tour, well for now, that is ...

Adlibing the night markets, eventually.

Day 86 - A day at Lake Tai on foot

After all the thunder, lightning and rain last night, we woke to a clearer morning and prepared for our day out. Our destination for today was Lake Tai, and more specifically Dong Shan (East Mountain). Lake Tai is a fresh water lake which is home to more than 90 islands, including Dong Shan, and is famous for its eroded rocks, similar to which we have had the pleasure of viewing in traditional gardens all over China. Dong Shan, which is positioned on Lake Tai's southern shores, is famous for its gardens - however we are slightly over visiting gardens, no matter how beautiful, so instead we spent the day wandering to nowhere specific on the island.

Deciding to do something out of the ordinary, we accepted a taxi driver's offer to drive us part way around the lake to save us some walking time and give us more time to explore the lake and the villages on its edge. The taxi driver thought he was being very clever in charging us only a few quai to take us to a place beside the lake with no particular attraction - hoping to lure us into paying a lot more to take us back to the tourist spots in the opposite direction. Little did he know that this secluded place he dropped he had dropped us was exactly where we had wanted to end up, for this is the adlibing way. Soon we were wandering along the lake by foot power, which we are much more accustomed to, and we got to slip down and explore the local fruit orchids that make up a large proportion of the landscape. Here we got to watch ferrets (we think) playing together amongst the trees and walk along small, aging jetties that hover over the lake. Continuing our adlibing adventure, we found a cliffside spot, where we feasted on crackers and cookies, and took in the semi-disturbing view of enormous power pylons planted directly through the lake, creating a stepping stone route to other islands on the lake. To the other side, below the lush mountains, we had a great view of small villages settled on the edge of the lake, with local boats sheltered in small canals that led off the lake. After almost being attacked by local dogs on one of our ventures down a small alleyway, where grandparents rushed to get their grandkids to show off the foreigners to (it's not common for tourists to venture away from the usual attractions) we decided to board a local bus and see where it took us. Unfortunately, the bus ride wasn't a long one, and we were soon dropped off in the midst of locals pleading with us to hop aboard one of their motorboats for a lake cruise. Adam had earlier laughed at the boats' attempts for cornering at speeds, knowing too well what speed is - there's nothing like a real Hamilton turn!

Instead of accepting their offers, we walked in the opposite direction from all the other tourists and headed along the road we had just come along - but enjoying it at a slower pace. Before long the bus we had hopped off only 15 minutes earlier made its return trip past us, and given the increasing rain we used the Chinese tactic of waving down any bus going your way to give our feet a rest. Soon enough we were going on our way back to the bus station to catch our next bus - we like the fact that it only costs us $1.50 for the two adlibers to make an hour journey back to town.

On our bus trip back home we sputtered over one of the massive bridges that span the Grand Canal, this provided us with a great opportunity to gaze upon the gigantic tug boats hauling their loads, some sunk so low to the waters edge that it splashed over the decks. It was so easy to imagione the canal in its hay day for in reality it hads never stoped poroviding for the towns that surround it.

Back in Suzhou, it was already almost 5pm and since breakfast all we had eaten were snacks, so we decided to have an early tea. Walking our street, we came across a Korean restaurant and Liv finally relented to Adam's desire to try Korean food. Much to Liv's pleasure the food was great (though the kimchi still doesn't go down well with her) and Adam loved having real spicy food once again.

Our night was spent searching for the night markets, which consisted of a bus ride to we don't know where - although where we ended up provided us with a spectacular view of Chinese buildings in all their illuminated glory reflecting off the gorgeous canals that trapse their way through the city. We found ourselves in the Old Town of Suzhou and spent some time wandering the streets aimlessly until the time came to catch the last bus. Back in our side of town we munched on a typical meal of noodles and rice while we chatted the hours away until it was time to pick up a beer and head home.

Adlibing Lake Tai, our way.