Yawn

I can't sleep. I'm not trying too hard.

I'm going to Hong Kong to pick up Carol tomorrow. She has been been in Canada for an extra two weeks because a bad ear infection that didn't allow her to fly. I like Hong Kong, so it's always fun going there.

We're going to stay at a place called Mirador Mansion. It's nothing like a mansion though...it's an old firetrap of a building that has 16 floors, with a mix of tenants including small garment factories, hostels, and some real apartments. We're staying at Cosmic Guest House this time around and it should be good. We have a "luxury" room which means the room has two double (instead of twins) beds and a bathroom attached. I went for the bigger beds because Asian beds are a bit on the small side for me.

Here are some pics of Mirador Mansion. It's great! The last picture is me in the stairwell on our last stay. I don't know if it's blood, puke, or used chewing tobacco. It was on every other floor.

My city is safe.

I went on a short bus ride to the supermarket and noodle restaurant yesterday, and was struck by how safe the roads are here in Guangzhou.

On the way to the supermarket, I saw a three-wheeled taxi lying on its side, with the owner and a friend working to right it. These little taxis have three wheels and are chain driven. They have a driver straddling a motorcycle-like gas tank on the front, with a passenger compartment in the back. I believe they are modified motor bikes, in the same way a three wheeled adult trike could be called a modified bicycle. The fares they charge are cheaper than a normal taxi, but more expensive than a bus. I have never been in one, and I don't think I'll start. I didn't see any evidence of shaken up or injured passengers, so that was good.

When I got to a major intersection called Tong He, I saw someone my age being attended to by his friends, with a number of girls looking on. He had lots and lots of blood streaming from his head and face, and he was walking around in a stupor. My bet is he got in a fight and my bus drove by just after it ended. There were people all around, and they all were watching him walk away, making me think there was quite a spectacle happening just before we passed. The good news is that head wounds bleed more than they should, so head injuries tend to look worse than they are and cause more apprehension and concern than they deserve. Plus, this guy was walking, so I figure he'll recover.

On my way back home, there was a police officer setting up pylons and all traffic was being merged from two lanes into one. When we drove by, I saw the source of the problem...a mangled bicycle was laying on the ground behind a car that it presumably had a collision with. The bike took the worst of the accident, and wouldn't be ridable again for sure. I didn't see any damage to the car. I saw the victim half laying down, half sitting up by the curb, dialing his cell phone. So the good news is that he was moving around and didn't seem to be too seriously hurt. The bad news is that he wasn't standing up to make the call, so maybe he was too hurt to do that. The accident happened at an intersection where a small lane and busy street meet, and I imagine the car pulled out onto the busy road without looking (like they always do) and either hit the bicyclist, or the bicyclist rear-ended the car when it pulled out in front. The accident site happened near the bottom of a down-hill, so the bike would have been going too fast to stop. It was about 9:30pm as well, so it was dark and people don't ride with lights here.

This bus trip reminded me that I must take caution and avoid three wheeled taxis that easily tip over, avoid confrontations that lead to physical violence, and avoid cars that drive blindly into intersections.

Running

I've started running again, and can feel the hit my fitness took from being home where I ate Harvey's burgers and Gino's pizza as much as possible. I did supplement this diet with a vigourous almost daily shoveling regimen though. It's OK, because if I stick with my running I'll be back in the game in a week or two.

My run today was good. I did hill reps on the "mountain" inside the compound. It takes me about 3:30 if I push to the top, the road having a length of just over 530m. It's a good interval workout if I choose to treat it like that. I know the length because I brought my GPS watch back with me from Canada, and it's great! I couldn't find my cable to download my workouts on the computer but that's OK. I still get to recall run distances, pace times and other neat stuff from the watch's memory. The watch also has an altimeter function, so it'll be neat to see how high the mountain really is. I don't think it'll be high enough to be super impressive, but that's OK. I ran 6K today, just on the mountain. It felt good to be back out there. It rained all night last night and some of the day today, so everything was wet and smelled fresh.

I have an attainable goal now as well. My aim is to be ultra fit for my Indo surfing safari (some people say "surfari" but I think that's ultra dorky) in July. I'm a beginner, but want to improve and don't want poor fitness to hold me back. Plus I don't see myself being back in Bali, arguably the world's number one surfing destination, very often. I am also entertaining the idea of swimming on my 2.5hr lunch breaks. The hotel's pool is only a 3 minute walk from my room, and it's big enough to get some laps in. Core strength is important in surfing because to catch a wave you have to be fast in transitioning from paddling your board to standing on it.

I bought some goggles to help myself get into the water. I was in a random store this weekend and found some goggles that are my prescription! They're not perfect, but I think they're like drug store reading glasses in that you're happy to take what you can get for the low price. The sticker says -2.50, which is pretty close to what my contacts and glasses are. I was wearing my glasses when I bought them, so I took them off and looked around with no eyewear, and then looked around with the goggles on. In comparison, my vision was definitely better with the goggles on, but not as good as with my glasses. While I could just swim with my contacts under my goggles, it's not as convenient because I wear my glasses all the time unless I'm going for a run or if I'm dressing up. With these new goggles, I won't have to put my contacts in to go for a swim. Now I guess I can say that I have three types of corrective lenses; glasses, contacts, and swimming goggles. I hope this means I can legally drive with the goggles on if I forget both my contacts and glasses!

Back at it.

I'm halfway through the first day of school of the second term.

It's been a good day so far, and there are lots of changes in the school. Two new classrooms have been created, two offices, and two broom closets have been converted into bathrooms attached to the youngest classrooms.

The air outside smells great! I haven't smelled the plants so clearly since I've been here. It smells like spring and I love it. There are lots of new plants and trees to smell that I haven't smelled before. The air is clean and I'm taking advantage of it while I can.

I think the air smells really good because all the factories in China have been closed for two weeks on account of the Lunar New Year holiday. Guangzhou is still not up to its normal business pace, and an absurd calm has descended upon the city. The air is clean, the streets aren't packed, and people seem pretty happy.

I think I'm going to go and enjoy the Chinese outdoors before the industrial machine gets back up and running. It's fantastic out there!

Teaching was pretty easy today. The kids have forgetten a lot of the words and phrases, so this weeks is all review. It's review for me too, as I have to remember all the students' names. There are a lot of names to remember, and since I haven't really thought about teaching for the past three weeks, some of their names have slipped my mind.

I spent some time giving each student their own box of crayons, and they were pretty excited about that. We put name stickers on each box, so they can feel good about having their own box of crayons, and also learn to identify their own names. I'm glad I brought all these boxes from home, because I noticed our class' crayon stock was not refreshed over the break. I'm happy my kids can now colour with a red crayon that's bigger than their finger nail.

That's all for now. I think I might take advantage of the still empty roads and get some errands done before the afternoon classes start.

China's Recent Transportation Mayhem

This month, China is being hit with the worst winter in five decades. While I haven't been there to experience it, I imagine it's been tough on everyone. Gunagzhou doesn't often get snow, although I heard that ten years ago frost would appear at higher elevations.

It snowed there a few days ago, and I'm happy I am experiencing Canadian snow rather than Chinese snow. Guangzhou drivers were not prepared for it, so I imagine it was a brouhaha out there on the already busy streets.

It is coming up on February 7th, the Lunar New Year, which is the biggest and most important holiday in China's calendar. Traditionally everyone leaves their place of work and travels to their home towns to celebrate with their families. Many rural people have moved from the country to bigger metropolitan centres to work, and the Lunar New Year is a highlight as they get go home and visit with their families again. It's been called the largest human migration on the planet, with the government estimating that 180 million people get on buses and trains to make their way home.

This snowstorm has interrupted travel for many people. Guangzhou has many migrant workers, so the Guangzhou railway stations get really full at this time of year. The recent snow has thrown sand into the gears of the already rickety Chinese New Year transportation machine.

Here are some pictures of people in Guangzhou struggling to get home, and the military trying to control them at one of the two railway stations. I do not recognize anything in the background, so I don't think it's the Guangzhou East Railway Station that I use at least twice a week. It must be the other one, simply called Guangzhou Railway Station, where I have never been.







It will be very interesting to see if everything is back to normal by the time Carol and I travel back to Guangzhou from Beijing and Shanghai in just over a week. The remnant effects of this storm will make for some interesting travel! I'm sure glad we left China before this all started, or I might not have been able to get home in time for Erik's wedding last week!






Thanks to this article for pics and stats.