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.

Semester 1 is finished!

It is with great joy and happiness that I write this post, for today is the Friday that brings with it one month of glorious holidays. I have just completed 95 working days as a full-on kindergarten teacher. It's been the toughest job I've had so far for sure. Luckily, I have turned out to be a pretty good teacher. If I was a worse teacher things would have been a lot worse!

I've been looking forward to this day since October! I'm very excited and can't put it to words! I've decided to let the venerable Mr. Spock do the talking for me.

Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry

On the weekends I usually read the China Daily, the country's national English newspaper. It's an OK read since I understand it, but I find it a bit fluffy as it's too full of feel-good stories about people returning large sums of lost money to rightful owners, or families being reunited. One small snippet in the ChinaScene column on page 3 attracted me though. Here it is:

Lack of male teachers in kindergartens a worry.

The grandmother and mother of Qiang Quiang, a boy in Hefei, Anhui province, have visited almost all the kindergartens in the city, but have not found any suitable for the child - because non had male teachers.

Qiang Qiang's father is reportedly working outside Hefei and the boy stays at home with his mom and grandma.

The women fear the child would become too feminine without any male contact and have been searching for a kindergarten with male teachers to make him more masculine.

An official at the Hefei teacher's college said the lack of male teachers is a "national problem".

Onee male teaching graduate told reporters he and his classmates would not work in kindergartens as long as the salaries remain low.

Maybe I should try and renegotiate my contract for the second semester, since it looks like I'm a commodity!

Hokey Pokey

I sing Hokey Pokey with my kids, and I'd say it's their favourite song. They love putting their left hand in, taking it out, and shaking it all about! I never thought children could get so stoked about songs, but these 3 year olds squeal with joy whenever we sing Hokey Pokey. So, it was with special interest that I read the following, sent to me by Heather:

Sad News

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the
moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very
important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.
Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote "The Hokie Pokey" died
peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his
family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left
leg in - and then the trouble started.


It doesn't matter who you are...that's funny!

Slow News Day

So, it's a slow news day here at jvd.evenflow. Well, not really. I just haven't been in a writing mood. I'm slugging through the last few weeks of school until a month of glorious, well earned holidays.

I was going to do report cards today, but I guess I'll do them tomorrow. They're due the next day. I never thought I'd be doing report cards when I came to China. This job doesn't seem like your average "teaching English in Asia" job... I thought I'd just swoop in, teach some words, and leave. I've been given much more responsibility than that. Participating in parent/teacher home visits, planning crafts and science lessons, teaching the kids to count and read...it's been good, but difficult since I have no formal training in education. (Don't tell that to the parents and the other teachers. Apparently everyone thinks I have TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages?) because the woman that hired me off the street has told them that.) Oh well.

Anyway, here's a funny picture that I'm going to post for no reason.

Have a good Tuesday.

Clickity to see bigger size.

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