Another new post!

As you can see, I have totally updated my blog.  I have more entries to add, more photos to upload and more photos to add to previous posts.

Please leave comments and let me know what you think!

It's fun going back and reliving moments whilst writing about them and reviewing photos.  I should really try to keep it more up-to-date!

In other news, Matt's parents are in China!  Their plane has landed and they are probably wandering around the airport as I type.  Here's hoping they survive their first few days alone in Shanghai before they come to Suzhou on Wednesday to spend a week with us and let us play tour guides!!

Suzhou Laser and Water Fountain Show

Matt and I were out exploring one night and discovered Rainbow Walk on Jinji Lake.  Rainbow Walk has many pubs and restaurants and is built beside the lake.  There is a large, open area opening onto the lake with a heap of weird things sticking out of the water.  We thought that it was perhaps a super-sized fountain, but had no idea!  Upon further internet research, Matt discovered that every Friday and Saturday night at 8pm they have a spectacular water fountain and laser show, set to music.  We went along one night to check it out!  It was also a great excuse to eat dinner at Rainbow Walk.

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Procrastination

I am sitting here in the new office, with a nice view (well it would be nice without the haze so that I could actually see things!), enjoying the air con and procrastinating!

Summer classes begin tomorrow and I received my schedule yesterday.  I am taking 2 Primary Level 1 classes, 1 Primary Level 2 class and a Kindergarten Level 1 class, also an Interchange Level 1 class.  Tomorrow, I have all of the Primary classes and the Kindergarten class.  I will have these classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other class on Thursday and Saturday, leaving Tuesday and Sunday as my new days off.  So ... that means I have 3 classes to plan for tomorrow (luckily that two of them are the same class, otherwise I'd have to prepare 4 classes!), I have a test to write as my Primary Level 3 class is finishing and also write reports for that class.  I have lots of work to do, and what am I doing .... anything but much work.  At least over the summer semester as I am rostered to work more than 20 hours, I will get paid some sweet overtime, meaning I will be rich, meaning that I should ensure I put more money into my savings account!  But I shouldn't get too excited yet, as apparently overtime is calculated monthly and they could work out a way to diddle all of us out of overtime somehow .. maybe .. who knows!

I have already taken a Primary Level 2 class, the Primary Level 1 class shouldn't be too hard (I have sat in and watched Craig take a primary level 1 class multiple times) and the Kindergarten ... well ... Level 1 meaning they really don't know any english!  This could be really fun as long as the kids aren't babies and don't cry because they don't like me and want their mummy because they are too young to be learning a new language.  It will be an accomplishment though to hear them start talking in english.  The only thing is, the class is 2 hours!!!  2 whole hours!!!!!!  If you have any brilliant game ideas, please let me know as I think it will be all games, games and games and I don't think I have enough game ideas to keep the kids interested for 6 hours a week without getting too repetitive.

I have no idea what Matt's schedule will be like or what classes he will be taking.  He will get his schedule today and I'm sure I will find out soon enough.

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P.S.

In relation to this post - i tried playing around with my nokia and got so frustrated with it, I bought a new phone.

Say hello to the HTC Desire.

I have been wanting an iPhone for a while, and thought that I'd be able to buy one cheaply in China ... but this doesn't appear to be the case.  I could buy a really crappy fake one, or a real one without wifi that would cost me more than it would in Australia!  The HTC Desire in my opinion is better than the iPhone and is just as good, if not better than the newly released iPhone4.

And besides, with all of the bad press Foxconn have been receiving, I really didn't feel like buying an Apple product which probably came directly from the Shenzen factory.

I could easily save half of my wage here every month, if only I would stop spending!  I think I have nearly exhausted my wish list of things to buy ... but knowing me, I will think of more.  I should really be thinking EUROPE EUROPE EUROPE 2011!!!!

I have fans!

Seeing as it seems people actually read this, I should make an effort to update more regularly.  I often think of things that I should write about and then get lazy.  I will try to change that!!

The weekend of the 1st of May was a long weekend in China.  Of course, they don't refer to it as a long weekend, but as a 'holiday'.  Seeing as it was a holiday, it meant that most of the country was on the move!  It was also the opening of the Shanghai World Expo!!!  Once we found out about the long weekend, Matt and I had dreams of getting out of town for the weekend and heading to Hangzhou.  In typical Chinese fashion, we were left totally ill informed until the last minute as to whether weekend classes would be canceled and exactly what time we would have free to do our own thing.  This meant that we were unable to book anything until a couple of days prior to the weekend and as it was such a busy peak period, this spelt trouble!  It is so frustrating, but it's China, and I wonder if any other company would be different? We managed to get a room at a decent hostel (at holiday prices!) and get bus tickets (not without hassles!).

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Photo syncing

Syncing photos between iPhoto and Flickr is being a pain, so instead of using that as an excuse to continually not upload posts, I will persevere and add photos later!

Residency

We now have residency visas!!  Woo hoo!  It sucked that everything was left until the very last final moment possible, but at least we now hold them in our hot little hands and we can stop stressing over it.  They are valid until April 2011!!!  Maybe we can sign a 3 month contract and work until the weather gets warmer or who knows.  Matt and I were talking about places that we want to visit tonight and the list is just going to keep on growing.  It's just unfortunate that January / February are too cold to really travel north and I am adamant about not leaving China before visiting Beijing and climbing the Great Wall!  I also definitely want to go to Tibet and see alot of southern China, which would be ok to see during the winter months (well except Tibet would be cold too). grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Flights to Hong Kong really aren't cheap (about $600 AUD return each from Shanghai!!) and to fly to Europe it's cheapest to fly from Beijing or Hong Kong, or maybe we could do the vodka train??  Once again, decisions, decisions!  Any advice, ideas?

I really shouldn't be complaining about the cold!  Spring has sprung and the weather has been great.  I think it's become warmer here than it is in Brisbane at the moment.  It's even predicted to be 32 degrees one day next week!!!! 

Massage

I had a massage today and I really needed it.  The masseuse can't speak much english and I can't speak any chinese really to communicate anything to him, so it's interesting.  The massage was really painful though and i'm glad that the masseuse did at least know a few english words, being .. painful and relax.  HAH!  It's kind of hard to relax when you're in pain!!  I feel so much better now though and I'm sure I'll be a bit tender tomorrow but at least it'll be a good pain. 

Things I should do ...

* update blog with real posts!!!!  I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted anything.
* I have uploaded pics to flickr but need to organise them and once again .. update blog with photos!
* get over being bitter about the work situation. haha
* make more muffins (hopefully chocolate chip this time!!)
* do more exercise to counter the effect of eating said muffins
* take more photographs
* read more books
* buy an iPhone (lol).  so i got my nokia unlocked and it's bugging me so much. it doesn't have the chinese language on it and I tried to update the firmware on the phone and as i have a mac and matt has windows vista, it's a no go.  i went to nokia to get them to enable internet but it won't update that way either.  stupid piece of nokia crap.  i HATE when i can't figure out things for myself.
* write an itinerary for places i want to see in china (umm hello, EVERYWHERE!)
* do my study on my TESOL course before i consider doing any other forms of study
* buy a big stuffed toy to cuddle in place of sheena
* try searching for new jeans ..... 

I will seriously try and update properly soon!  I have a half written entry, I just need to learn to not write so much, add photos (they tell a thousand words) and hit publish.  I have lots of entries that can be posted.  Promise!

xox

Incompetence.

I am so over the incompetence of the people here.  Having to spend my whole day off sitting around the office whilst they prepare documents they've had 3 months to prepare is really not my idea of fun!  It's not like I get tomorrow off either.  I don't care what they say but I am sleeping in on Saturday morning.  I didn't come to China for a job.

Google maps have been updated!

Google Maps have been updated.  Check out a map that I have created here.

I have marked where we live, our office and various other places that we have been too so that you get a feel for where we are located within Suzhou.

Suzhou is divided into 3 main areas - the SIP (Suzhou Industrial Park) to the east (around Jinji Lake), the old town or "downtown" (within the moat area) and the SND (Suzhou New District) (to the west)).  We probably spend most of our time in the SIP or downtown.  We haven't really explored the SND much but we probably should more as I'm sure there is lots of awesome food to be eaten there!

edit: once you click on the link and are redirected to google maps - change the map to a satellite image to see my map properly otherwise the tags will end up in random places!  Google's maps and satellite images aren't overlaid correctly so things will look a little skewed in the 'map' state.

Going to the doctor

Everyone here has told us that if you're sick, you go and see the doctor at the hospital!  This in itself is strange to us because at home if we're sick, we'd go to see the doctor as a medical clinic.  We only go to the hospital if we're really ill, require an operation or if it's at a strange hour of the night when urgent medical attention is needed.  Here, the doctor most commonly prescribes an IV drip also.  The thought of sitting around with a bunch of other people with an IV drip in my arm does really not appeal to me, whether it be for an hour or 8!

I have been sick with a cold ever since the day it snowed in Suzhou!  I'm going to blame the snow because I can.  Matt and I were so excited about it, I probably didn't realise how cold it actually was.  Anyways, this cold has hung on and on and I developed a cough.  I have gone to the chemist twice to get OTC drugs and drunk a whole bottle of cough medicine.  I thought that I was getting better about a week ago and then this past week the sickness has hit me again and today it really hit me, so I decided to visit the doctor.  We read somewhere that at Kowloon Hospital they have a foreigners clinic with English speaking doctors, which sounded good to us as the hospital is only a few blocks away.  We rocked up today and had no idea where to go and people everywhere.  I went to the reception desk to ask about the clinic and apparently it's closed on Sunday!  Bummer!!  She asked what was wrong and I said I had a cold so she sent me to the Respiratory department.  I then had to go to the Cashier and pay 13 Yuan and got a book and a card and had to give the guy my name and birthday.  He told me to go to level 2, so I did.  We really had no idea what was going on.  Level 2 looked a little like an airport with boarding gates.  There are different 'departments' all with a nurse station / reception desk and a waiting area.  We found the respiratory department and my name was on an electronic board.  We went through to a doctors office where he quickly examined me (he could speak english, luckily!) and wanted me to undertake two days of IV treatment!  errr GROSS!  I asked if I could have tablets instead as I wasn't keen on the IV idea so he wrote out a prescription for 4 different tablets!!!!!  I then went to the nurse station / reception desk thing again to pay and then downstairs to the pharmacy to collect my drugs and that was it.  It all seemed rather easy once we had done it but it seems like a really strange way to see a doctor.

Apparently I have acute bronchitis and pharyngitis!  Fun fun fun!!  I have four different lots of tablets to take, some 3 x 3 times a day and others 2 x 3 times a day.  Crazy!!  At least I don't have to sit with an IV though.  There were people sitting downstairs in the reception area with IV drips attached.  I have also been informed that some places have rooms full of booths with seats where everyone is attached to an IV.  Crazy!  I guess an IV is instant but the idea seems wrong to me.  So hopefully now that I have drugs, my illness will be gone!!  It will feel so nice to not have to blow my nose all the time, to be able to sleep through the night without coughing and to not have random coughing attacks.

So if you're sick in China, going to the doctor really isn't as bad as it sounds.  It might be daunting but once done, it's not so bad.  I even have my own hospital card thing now so next time I go, they know who I am!

What was I going to say again?

I thought I had something that I wanted to write about here, but now I can't remember.  It mustn't have been that important.

So, life in China goes on.  I have been given a couple more classes at work.  2 x Grade 2 classes at a new school and the lessons are only 20 mins long!  Kind of strange but it's easy.  The school is nicer than others that we go to and the kids are smart and already know alot of english.  I also had to do an Intro to Interchange class with girls from work this morning.  Interchange is for older students who already have a pretty decent grasp on the language.  Whilst I don't want to teach older kids in schools, doing Interchange classes at the centre could really be ok I think, as you can just talk to them in english and they mostly understand.  Craig has announced that he is definitely leaving at the end of June so who knows what will happen then.  I think they are getting us prepared to take over some of his classes when the need arises?  I think that schools have holidays in July and August?  I really don't know when, so I'm not sure when we'll get a new teacher or if or what will happen.  We have been informed though that they want to take kids on a trip to Expo (hello!, i'll go!).  At first it was just talk of a day trip or a 2 day trip.  It's way too much for a day trip as we have to travel to Shanghai and well, it's China ... so going anywhere means battling large crowds, so expecting to see a lot of Expo in one day just doesn't compute in my mind.  They are now talking about doing a week 'summer camp' in Shanghai.  Sounds kind of awesome to me but details are only light on at the moment.  Spending 24 / 7 with a bunch of kids will get VERY tiring, especially as kids are kids and just go wherever they want, whenever .. so they require an awful lot of chasing after, BUT getting to spend a week in Shanghai doing touristy stuff and going to Expo for FREE sounds appealing!  I guess we'll find out more in the coming weeks.

We also supposedly get a long weekend the first weekend in May.  Details for this are still sketchy too, as to if weekend classes will be canceled, or if we'll have another field trip or what days we will actually have off.  This is frustrating as Matt and I really would love to go away for the long weekend and need to book buses and accommodation.  We are planning on going to Hangzhou if possible, but Matt has been investigating and a lot of accommodation is already booked out for this weekend.  I guess once again, only time will tell!  But it's annoying as we don't get holidays, only 'holidays' and if we never get the chance to leave Suzhou I will get annoyed!

I've had an infatuation with Cantonese food a little since we've been here as there aren't alot of Cantonese restaurants and Cantonese food is more the kind of 'chinese' food that we get at home.  The food here is really not the same though and never would be.  They serve meat in dishes that still has bones in it and arggh.  I find it a bit yuck.  We had cantonese the other night and while it was nice, it was a bit bland and meh.  I think I'm over my obsession with it.  We had dinner in the SIP in an area that has alot of restaurants.  After dinner we went for a walk towards the lake as I wanted to check out Rainbow Walk by night.  As we passed an apartment complex, I nearly fell over do to a large bang.  What else could it be but fireworks?!  They were being let off right between two buildings and the sound was just reverberating.  Too bad if you'd just put your baby to bed!  I can't believe that people don't get in trouble for this kind of thing.  Someone is seriously going to start a fire one day!  We found Rainbow Walk. It's advertised as a shopping complex and a lot of restaurants there are advertised.  We really only found restaurants and not the cheap kind either.  They are mostly foreign food restaurants i guess, so that equates to ........ more expensive dinners.  Some of the places looked ok though and we may go back one day.  The rest of the place once again looks so new and barely finished and is kind of like a wasteland.  We wonder how the restaurants and stuff can really make any money?  Rainbow Walk is practically on the lake though and I think on a nice summer's day, hanging out by the lake would be pretty cool.  There is a huge fountain thing in the lake, a public square, decks over the lake, and bikes for hire / paddle boats for hire on the lake.  We also saw a couple of big boats on the lake.  If you can do lake cruises I'd be up for that.  I think it would be interesting and something new to do.


I started writing this the other day but kept falling asleep so didn't end up posting it and went to bed instead.  Indeed, my old habits of falling asleep on the couch haven't left me even though i've traveled across the continents. 

I caught a bus to go downtown the other day, specifically to go to Shiquan St.  I decided to catch the 110 bus for a change, instead of the 47 which we would normally get.  They both go in totally opposite directions and the 47 goes up Shiquan St, while the 110 only stops near the end of the street and I would have to walk.  The 47 bus is always old and seems to stall every time the driver stops to pick someone up or let someone off, so i thought I'd go for an adventure on the 110 as we haven't caught the 110 in that direction since our first night here and the 110 is generally a nicer bus!  Well ... we got to downtown and i really couldn't decide or remember which stop that I should get off at.  We went past Soochow University (Suzhou University) and I thought that maybe I'd gone too far.  I got off at the next stop and went to a market that i'd seen near the university inside a building.  The market really was quite average.  I kept walking up to near the university and couldn't decide if i should walk a bit further up to find Shiquan St or just to come home, so i decided just to come home!  I got on the bus outside the university and so did heaps of other university students I guess!  There were probably about 10 other girls on the bus who were taller than me and gorgeous!  It's wierd getting the feeling of being short in China.  At 174cm tall, I don't really get the felling of being short very often, even at home.  I thought maybe they'd just to uni to study modeling .... hah!, but I know that is just silly.

xoxo

Tomb Sweeping Day

Today is such a gorgeous Suzhou day!  NOT!  It's overcast and foggy outside, but at least it's a little warmer.  I'm actually wearing a skirt!  I tried riding my bike wearing a skirt this morning and it was an interesting exercise.  Luckily I was wearing tights!  I wonder how I will go once summer comes?  They did predict snow again for next week (yeah I know, a total WHAT THE?), but in typical fashion, the weather report has changed again and now there is no longer snow but it's getting cooler again.  Oh the joys!

So, in China they don't really celebrate Easter, but last Monday we did get a public holiday in the aid of Tomb Sweeping Day.  From what I can gather, this day is a Buddhist day where they honour the spirits of their ancestors and clean their graves and honour their memories I guess.  I don't know how much this tradition is really upheld anymore, but it was great for us to get a day off work.  I loved finally getting two days off work in a row.

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Going shopping ..

Matt didn't have his kindergarten class tonight as it was a review class.  Every 4 classes, the Chinese TA's do a review class so that if the kids don't understand anything, hopefully they can figure it out and talk chinese etc to catch up.  I think it's a pretty good idea, and it means that we get out of teaching once every 4 classes!

So, last night Matt asked if i wanted to go to Wal-Mart tonight and I was like err why walmart?  Why don't we go elsewhere?  And then this morning it clicked that DUH!  On Tuesday afternoons we have kindergarten classes near the walmart and we can go straight from there to walmart without having to go back to the office!  Brilliant idea.  Matt either never wishes to go shopping, or has to go back to the office on tuesdays for his kindergarten class .. so i was glad when he suggested it tonight.  Anyways, in the end we decided on going to Auchan as it's a way better store and Walmart is pretty expensive in comparison.  Soo .. off we went on the bus to Auchan.

We went to Auchan one Friday night a couple of weeks ago and it was seriously busy.  I thought we may have had time to get dinner and do shopping ... but we were in the grocery store for about 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! and we had to leave to catch the bus home.  The shop closes at 10, but the last bus leaves about 9pm!  It's a 2Yuan ride home compared to about 40Yuan for a taxi .....  It is like K-Mart and Coles in one store, but so much better.  Tonight I made Matt walk around the shopping centre and look at a few stores before we did groceries.  There isn't a whole heap to see and I think that half the stores are still to come, anyways ... we still ended up in Auchan for at least an hour and a half.  It's just that big.  They have nearly a whole aisle for noodles, and another for soy sauce and half an aisle for msg and an aisle for milk drinks and gah SO CRAZY!  They have live fish swimming in tanks (although half of them are dead .. gross!), prepared foods, preserved meats you can buy what you want, pick and mix your own tea and not to mention all the household electrical goods / toiletries / clothing / plants / bikes / furniture and homewares etc that you can buy.  We bought food that our local store doesn't really stock ..... alot of junk mainly (snacks etc).  We bought mince to attempt to make spaghetti but the mince we have seen looks quite fatty.  I guess we'll have to wait until we make it to find out what it's really like.  So that is how we spent most of our evening.

I bought some chinese herbal cought mixture because my cold seems to be getting a little better (finally) but now I have this really annoying cough at times because my throat feels itchy.  I wake up in the early hours of the morning coughing and errgh.  It's just irritating (for Matt too).  I also finally found tracksuit pants that are warmish and that were cheap!  (cheap = 50 Yuan)  They are too big for me and look hideous no doubt, but who is going to see me at home, besides Matt and pfftt, if he really cared I'd be worried.

We caught the bus home and it wasn't packed for once!  The buses here are usually pretty nice, but we have discovered some buses that are old and crap and that stall every time the driver stops to let someone on or off.  It's kind of amusing.  Some of the older buses have wooden floors and the doors don't really close properly.  One night when it was freezing I swear my feet got so cold i could hardly feel them on the bus.  Sometimes the buses are so so crowded i have mid panic attacks that we are all going to die because the bus is going to crash.  Some of the bus drivers are a bit crazy and pull up and stop rather quickly and all the standing people sway a bit violently if they aren't hanging on tightly enough.  Oh well, that is life right?  I'm going to die one day, and if it happens to be by catching a bus around Suzhou, so be it!  I can't just sit at home all the time and i refuse to catch cabs because they cost too much.

I really want a jacket.  Not a big coat, just a jacket to wear as the weather is warming up.  I have no idea where to buy one though.  The clothes seem to have skipped from winter to summer already.  Maybe I can go shopping on thursday without matt!!!  I'm sure he will be supportive of that idea.

On Saturday we have the Aquarium trip with work and then I think it's the Monday that we get off for Tomb Sweeping Day.  It sounds pretty much like Easter to me!  I think we'll see if Jake from work is interested in going out on Sunday night, or going on an adventure on Monday.  We quickly talked about going to Hangzou but it's a bit short notice to arrange anything so I think we'll just do sight-seeing around Suzhou because there is heaps that we haven't seen yet.  I want to go to the pet market.  I want a kitten and they are so cute and look like they need rescuing but probably not a good idea.  We may get a fish when the weather warms up a bit more.  Matt seems quite keen on this idea.  So this week is looking like a good week.  Matt is now supposed to be coming to the aquarium and then we will have Sunday and Monday off ... together!!!  We have seen ads for a place that you can get a 4 course German meal for a set price or other places advertise roast lunch.  It's a bit more expensive than Chinese food but it seems like a good enough occasion to splurge .. and we get paid tomorrow!!!!!!  Our first pay!!!

I might see if I can stream another episode of Ugly Betty before going to bed.  Yay for good internets and for having something to watch other than hourly news on the only english channel!  if i've watched all of the Ugly Betty episodes, I can always watch more Gossip Girl!!

xoxo

What I actually do

I realise that I've talked about China and things that go on but not much about work and what I actually do.

I teach kindergarten classes and primary school classes.  I teach at 2 different kindergartens and I think 5 different primary schools.  I also teach 2 internal primary classes.  I was teaching an internal kindergarten class but now I am not, as detailed in a previous post.  One kindergarten we visit every day, so the classes get English lessons daily - and i think that their teachers also do some English with them.  The other kindergarten we visit weekly, but the classes rotate so they only get one English lesson a month with a foreign teacher.  We were warned that this kindergarten is painful, but it hasn't really seemed to be so much.  Some classes are quite hard to handle, but others aren't!  They also do English classes with their teachers and some of the teachers can speak English quite well.  I guess this kindergarten is more annoying in that they don't have a curriculum book that they use - we just make up our own lessons.  This can be a good thing and a bad thing but it isn't as bad as we were led to believe.

CMD Kindy G2C3

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More stuff about china

Well, this week has been interesting!  It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride but I'm ok and everything is fine.

We bought a DVD last sunday as I am sick of watching nothing on TV and wanted to just watch a dramaish kind of thing.  I have been streaming ugly betty like crazy on the internet but nothing beats watching something on TV.  We bought my sisters keeper for 10 Yuan (of course it's real!).  I wish that movies had a sadness rating .... especially this one!  I found it really sad and shed a few tears.  I think I was feeling a bit down about life and watching this really didn't help.

Work hasn't been bad, but one of my internal classes has been a bit of a thorn in my side.  The kids are a difficult mix, the TA keeps taking over the class meaning I can never actually take a proper lesson (and meaning that I can't really bond with the kids to even make a start), one of the girls (who is only 3 - WHAT THE?) doesn't want to come to class and always chucks a tantrum and won't come into the class and I am getting pressured about that (I mean what could I do, ignore the 3 other boys who were waiting for the class to start so I can try to talk to a 3 year old who can't speak English? err) and yeah.  I know that discussions have been had about me and the class (without involving me) which has made me feel really wired and uncomfortable.  I think they have had problems with this class in the past (it's now a Lv 2 class, and most of the kids did a Lv 1 class, but with 2 different teachers) due to teachers, one who has been fired, hence Matt and my employment!   Anyways, the parents (paying customers) didn't want to have to deal with anything more and just wanted a good class (sorry that I need to bond with the kids and that I'm a little inexperienced) and the TA really didn't help me much so ... work decided to give the class to the teacher who had most of the kids in his lv 1 class.  Who knows why they decided to change teachers in the first place ... but at least now I don't have to worry about it.  They said they didn't want me to work in a stressed environment etc - I wonder if they are disappointed or realise it's their stuff up?  Anyways, I feel happier and as long as everyone is happy, we're all one big happy family.  I guess it's shown me something though - maybe it's a culture thing - but if there is a problem with me, I'd rather people talk to me about it, not to everyone else about me behind my back (even if I can hear the conversation)!  I don't think they like confrontation very much.  As long as they think I'm doing an OK job otherwise I'm happy!

So, along with that ... I've had a cold for a few weeks which is still hanging around.  Matt came home from work and told me they were talking to him about me (AND NOT ME) argh!, I wanted a hair cut but didn't leave the house on Thursday (my day off), the toilet was blocked, and when we went out for dinner .... I caught my finger in the chair and squished it!  I really wasn't happy on Thursday evening, but by Friday afternoon everything was resolved.

My finger is beginning to bruise, but is OK.  I did get a hair cut tonight, and while it's no John haircut, I'm not totally dissatisfied.  It only cost me 10 Yuan!  I found a street seller in our local area selling flowers, and after dinner I made Matt buy me flowers (and a vase to put them in!).  The street seller will be there every Saturday!!!!!  Weekly fresh flowers, look out!  I got carnations which were 1 Yuan per flower stem - so I got a bunch of flowers (some still have buds on) for 10 Yuan!  Tomorrow we are going to Shanghai so that I can FINALLY pick up my boots!!!!!!!  Yay!!!

I should really go to bed so that I get up early and so that we make it to Shanghai before midday.  That will be a first, but so worth it.  It takes longer to get to the station from our apartment than it does to get to Shanghai from Suzhou.

I also saw fireworks tonight.  It's so random but nearly every day we see / hear crackers / bangers / fireworks at all hours of the day.  Most people don't even take much notice but I think it's crazy awesome.  I really want to buy some but Matt isn't so keen.

The weather is also slowly warming up ... slowly.  It's still cool but not cold.  It's more a spring cool, even though the temperatures aren't that high.  Maybe it's just my frame of mind because I'm over the cold?  Anyways ...

Till next time,
xoxo

Life in China continues

• People are allowed to spit here, wherever they like.  I find it really unpleasant, especially the hacking gross sounds they make just before you know they're about to spit.  EEEWW!
• Traffic!!  Who would know if someone was drink driving or not!  People drive insanely here.  You either honk or flash your headlights if you want to change lanes and it's legal to turn against a red light.  People turn right when the traffic to their left has a green light so it's insane!!  (they drive on the opposite side of the road here, compared to Australia) To drive here you'd really have to keep your eyes open.  Not to mention the amount of e-bikes, scooters, bikes etc on the streets.  I can't believe that we haven't seen more car accidents, but we have seen a few!  Pedestrian walkways mean nothing either.  Cars don't stop for pedestrians.  It's more a who gets there first, and if you're a pedestrian ... you hope like hell that they stop!
• Construction is everywhere! Apartments and new buildings are going up at an insane rate!  Shops too!  Maybe they live by the motto, if you build it, they will come.
• I have a craving for the style of (chinese) food that we eat at home but can't find much here.  Alot of the restaurants are korean, japanese and sichuanese (chilli's!!).  We have eaten well and eaten good food, but I'd just love a great fried rice, or some pork buns, or a beef & black bean ... and they are hard to find here!!!  I think I need to find a good cantonese restaurant as I think that's more the style of food that we are familiar with.
• The weather here is really strange.  Apparently it got really cold in mid november, and it's still cold!!!  We have had a couple of warmer days but I am still wearing thermals and multiple jumpers.  I am so over wearing the same clothes constantly.  I really wish we could have 20 degree plus days!!  I also have a cold and am kind of losing my voice!!  Not good when I have to talk alot with my job.
• The kids here are pretty cute and they look extra cute in winter when they are so padded up with clothes to keep them warm.
• The bus system here is pretty good, but we are still working out which buses to take where.  The only sucky thing about the buses is that they finish at about 9 / 9:30pm at night!!!!  Seriously!!!  They are building a subway here but it's not due to open until next year! 
• There is no major city business centre here at we would know it, just lots of shops and a shopping mall.  Suzhou is very industrial and I think that's why the smog is worse here than we saw in Shanghai.
• Apartments here are dirty!  People don't clean before they move out, you clean when you move in .... eergh!  Gross!
• People love shopping!
• The supermarket's here are more hypermarkets and stock so much stuff it's insane!!  We went to this great store the other night and it took us nearly 2 hours to get what we wanted!!!!  The store is that big and it was so packed with people ...

We are still constantly discovering things and it's still fun.  My only gripe is the weather!!!!!!!  I hate the cold.  It seems to warm up for a day or so and then get cold again .. ie. they are predicting snow again next week.  (yeah right!)  AARRGH!!

Our work isn't hard and doesn't take an awful lot of planning, it just requires some thought and at least once we have planned a lesson, we can use that lesson in multiple classes.  We have been told that we can be more strict with the kids as teachers here are really strict.  I have seen kids being yelled at and scolded for .......... (I really don't know why!).   Most of the kids seem to like us as we are foreigners and it's nice getting to know them too.  Most of the children at the primary schools have chinese names though and I'm not sure that I will ever be able to learn or remember them!

I should get back to work!  Lessons to plan etc.

xoxo

Life in China

We have been in China for 4 weeks now.  How time flies!!!!!!

It doesn't seem like long ago that we left home, but sometimes it feels like it was ages ago and I can't believe that we've only been here for 4 weeks.  We have settled into life and work in Suzhou and I think it's safe to say it now feels like home. Shanghai was awesome and we loved it, but after living in Suzhou for a few weeks and going back for a day, it seemed as though there are entirely too many people there!!  We stayed at the Mingtown Youth Hostel near People's Square and it was great.

Our room - Mingtown Youth Hostel

We could walk to so many places, and walk we did!  It was such a nice surprise (... not) to arrive to a balmy 2 degree temperature.  I had to go and buy a doona (down) coat the day after we arrived because I just love the cold (or definitely not).  We walked around the Bund area,

The Bund (whilst under construction)

went through the Bund sightseeing tunnel,

saw the views from the TV tower and the SWFC tower,

hung out in People's Square,

braved the masses at the YuYuan temple,

shopped on Nanjing Road,

walked the French Concession,

experienced (and were disappointed) the Qupi Lu markets and so much more.  People in Shanghai love their icecream and their coffee.  They also love their Hershey's chocolate!!!!  We found a Hershey's store .. of all things.

We got heckled and invited into dodgy back doorways and alleyways to buy the best fake goods on offer.  We fumbled our way through ordering dinners which usually turned out to be amazing and discovered that China really only sells half strength beers!  You can buy the most expensive or the cheapest of cheap goods and there are so many chain stores and a variety of department stores that you can really buy whatever you desire.  I was disappointed with markets as I thought we'd see more.  We went to Qupi Lu as I had read it was great for cheap clothes, but it was just a junk jumble and really not a 'market' per say.  It was NOTHING like the weekend market in Bangkok, which to me is still the greatest market I have been to.  It's a street lined with dodgy stores, most of them selling the same thing, and then a couple of buildings with about 4 floors of little shops selling a jumble of assorted goods.  I inspected so many fake iphones, and fake they were.  It was laughable and also pretty tragic and I felt disappointed.  The real iphones here cost more than they do at home and the government has blocked wi-fi!  I think there are talks being held with apple about reducing the price of the iphone, so i will wait!!!  I am not going to buy one without wi-fi though, because what's the point.  You can buy electronics galore - who knows if they are real or fake but.  Riding the metro (subway) was easy and a breeze to get around on.  We saw stars in Shanghai also!  I think they must have been clearing the sky for New Years celebrations.  We saw and heard so many random crackers and fireworks going off and we still are, even now!  After 6 nights in Shanghai, we bid it farewell to head for Suzhou - our new home!

We were picked up (by someone from U-Learn), handed train tickets and waved off at the station.  We had no idea where we had to go or what we had to do and were amidst masses of people.  Luckily we're smart (ahem) and could interpret what our tickets said, and were pointed in the right direction once or twice ... and we made our train to Suzhou.  The train ride was great ... but arriving in Suzhou and having to lug our stuff around was truly not great, but we made it and that's all the matters and it brought a huge sigh of relief from us both.  We were met at the train station by a girl from work and brought straight to our apartment.  After a 5 minute inspection (standing around in the living room and me busting to go to the toilet, but having no toilet paper and not bothering to search for tissues) we headed off to the local supermarket to buy sheets and pillows and doonas and toilet paper!!  as our apartment was devoid of all but furniture.  That was an experience.  We came home, dumped our stuff and went downtown to eat Italian dinner (of all things - it was Ping Ping's choice!).  She is a downtown local and showed us around the old town and it really is pretty by night.  It was great to see and we caught a taxi home and had to make our bed (which is extremely hard) before falling into it, exhausted!  We had a week before we officially had to start work, but we had a meeting at the office with our new boss on Tuesday morning, then we headed to the supermarket once more to purchase a whole array of kitchen wares.  It felt as though we spent so much but we really only bought necessities and all up, our two shopping trips only cost us about $200 which really isn't much considering all the we purchased.  I think it all became a bit much for me and I slept the rest of the afternoon away.  We had wednesday free to ourselves and i think we explored downtown during the day?  I can't remember.  On thursday we had to go and watch the other two american teachers from work do a couple of classes and i think on friday we had to go into the office for some reason also.  We had saturday free and sunday were back in the office for more watching of classes before I had to take my own classes on Monday!!  Talk about being throw into it, but no amount of planning can really help until you do it for yourself.

So that is us making our lives in China in a super nutshell.  I have so much more I could say but I will save it for another time.  Right now, I should finish planning for tomorrow, organise my clothing and go to bed!

xoxo