Every few days I go to the market to supplement my rather diet of cafeteria food. I’m trying to eat more fruit and add some nuts to this lacklustre fair. I certainly will be glad to return home and eat crunchy vegetables. Do you know that they even boil their lettuce? It’s limp and slightly warm—yuck! I know that I should be thankful that I have something to eat, but I just can’t get past the fact that my lettuce is boiled.
I was at the market the other day and I noticed a young girl of about nine years old following me. I turned, said hello; she giggled, waved and ran off. A little while after that two girls were following me. This time I asked them how they were. They even answered in English, giggled and ran off. Soon, there was one more added to my entourage, all very curious as to my purchases. They followed me around, giggling and speaking to me in Chinese.
The “teacher” in me couldn’t resist, so I had them repeat the names of the produce that I was purchasing and the numbers we saw, etc. I would ask them “what is this?” and they would respond, altogether, in English. We were by the frozen food section and I had them repeat I like ice cream, yum yum. We marched around the bulk food section, repeating I like noodles, yum yum. I like cookies, yum yum.
All in day’s work!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
This is the city of Xiamen (formerly known as Amoy) as we left the Ferry Terminal to go to Gulangyu. This Island is located on the Taiwan Strait. Keep going 100 km the island and you will get to Taiwan; a few more thousand kilometres and you would hit Vancouver.
This island is about 2 km long and 1 km wide with a population of 20,000 people.
Small homes (flats) line the narrow streets. You will notice that often the sink is outside. People will wash dishes, themselves and their clothes at this sink.
Of course, the streets are packed with tourists and residents. The locals say that Gulangyu is a “peaceful, relaxing” environment. I beg to differ! The crowds are similar to Best Buy on Boxing Day!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The island boasts that there are over 200 pianos on it and that most people take piano lessons. Here is an advertisement telling of the piano festival coming soon. To the right is a piano that had to be brought from the ferry to the concert hall on a cart. They still had to get the piano up a hill, so at this point the leader was gathering some recruits with brute strength to get the piano up the hill.
The island is carless and there are very few bicycles as well. People get around on foot or by handcarts. There are quite a few hills due to the rugged terrain and everything that is brought in by the ferry must be taken by handcarts to their final destination.
A day with the Paparazzi
Yesterday we went to Gulangyu Island. (Incidentally, by using my deductive skills in word formation, I have figured out that when a location name ends in “yu” it means island; when it ends with “du” it means street; when it ends with “hu” it means lake—not bad, eh? Just a few more weeks and I’ll be fluent). But I digress.
We had a 15 minute walk to the bus stop; a 45 minute bus ride; a 15 minute walk to the ferry and then a 10 minute ferry ride to the island—nothing seems easy to get to, that`s for sure. The island is only 2 square kilometres and there are still 20,000 inhabitants on the island, which I`m sure that number swells as tourists plan their day trips to the island.
The locals are prepared for the tourists as they set up their tables of wares to sell. Between the tables, tourists and umbrellas, there was not a whole lot of room to manoeuvre. There was one restaurant that had about 12 large pails, almost like the kiddie pools that you have for your children on a hot day. In each pool there was some type of marine life—sting rays, eels, crabs, fish and other identifiable species. People would get a net and pick their creature. The net with the unsuspecting being was then weighed and whisked away to the kitchen. The customer was given a piece of paper, presumably with the weight and type of creature, and let inside the restaurant while waiting for their dinner to be cooked.
I was also the subject of many photo-ops yesterday. I was sitting on the curb, merrily eating my Popsicle when I noticed a group of guys talking to each other and looking at me. Then the two brave ones came and sat down beside me while the third friend took their picture with me. They were excited to put their arm around me and have their picture taken with this blonde bombshell...I mean...Canadian. A little later I was taking some pictures and two girls stopped me and had their photo taken with me as well; each taking turns to have their picture taken with the Canadian. So, I flashed them my pearly whites and waved with each person who wanted their moment with the Canadian. I never knew that I could one day be so famous...I should have had paper with me so they could have my autograph...maybe next time.
As I write this, another Sunday has passed. I am so used to spending time with my friends in the fellowship of like-minded people. I miss that terribly. I know that some people have liked the blog and have been keeping up with my adventures. However, I am not privy to some of the everyday happenings of your life, so please, drop me an email just to give me some news about you. I can’t receive any social networking websites, but my email still works. An email with a little bit of news does wonders to help make the distance seem much shorter. I am half way through my time away—only 20 more days and I will be home!
We had a 15 minute walk to the bus stop; a 45 minute bus ride; a 15 minute walk to the ferry and then a 10 minute ferry ride to the island—nothing seems easy to get to, that`s for sure. The island is only 2 square kilometres and there are still 20,000 inhabitants on the island, which I`m sure that number swells as tourists plan their day trips to the island.
The locals are prepared for the tourists as they set up their tables of wares to sell. Between the tables, tourists and umbrellas, there was not a whole lot of room to manoeuvre. There was one restaurant that had about 12 large pails, almost like the kiddie pools that you have for your children on a hot day. In each pool there was some type of marine life—sting rays, eels, crabs, fish and other identifiable species. People would get a net and pick their creature. The net with the unsuspecting being was then weighed and whisked away to the kitchen. The customer was given a piece of paper, presumably with the weight and type of creature, and let inside the restaurant while waiting for their dinner to be cooked.
I was also the subject of many photo-ops yesterday. I was sitting on the curb, merrily eating my Popsicle when I noticed a group of guys talking to each other and looking at me. Then the two brave ones came and sat down beside me while the third friend took their picture with me. They were excited to put their arm around me and have their picture taken with this blonde bombshell...I mean...Canadian. A little later I was taking some pictures and two girls stopped me and had their photo taken with me as well; each taking turns to have their picture taken with the Canadian. So, I flashed them my pearly whites and waved with each person who wanted their moment with the Canadian. I never knew that I could one day be so famous...I should have had paper with me so they could have my autograph...maybe next time.
As I write this, another Sunday has passed. I am so used to spending time with my friends in the fellowship of like-minded people. I miss that terribly. I know that some people have liked the blog and have been keeping up with my adventures. However, I am not privy to some of the everyday happenings of your life, so please, drop me an email just to give me some news about you. I can’t receive any social networking websites, but my email still works. An email with a little bit of news does wonders to help make the distance seem much shorter. I am half way through my time away—only 20 more days and I will be home!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Trip to McDonald’s
Which trip to McDonald’s would not be complete without a trip to Walmart as well. I guess it is similar to ours in Canada, although their food section contains a lot more noodles; fresh fish, crabs and some other unidentifiable marine life. This Walmart was attached to a mall where I was able to take a peek at the different stores. There were no familiar brand name stores, other than Nike. The clothes sizes are so tiny. I’m sure the sales clerks took one look at me, widened their eyes and were thinking “seriously, you really think we have your size in here?” I have a snowflake’s chance in Hades to find something to fit me! However, I did manage to find these adorable flat shoes. I’m a size 38 and it only cost me 89 Yuan or about 13 bucks!
A few other observations:
· There are “No Spitting” signs instead of “No Smoking” signs
· There is an art to walking down a crowded street with your umbrella without impaling anyone with the points
· You cannot be a polite Canadian when getting on the bus, or you’ll be at the gate until next week.
· Credit card purchases are not the norm; everyone pays cash
· Electronics do not seem cheaper here
Yep, Byron….I ate at McDonald’s.
It’s Friday night and we celebrated with the completion of Week Two of teaching by eating western at a fast food joint! The fries weren’t bad at all. A couple of children just stared at me; some brave ones came up to me, touched me and waved hello. I guess it is a rarity to have white people eat in “their” restaurant. A smile still goes a long way.
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