Spring Fever

Hi all!

Just a quick hello from us to you

as we continue to live out our lives

in this country of the squat loo.

We've just recently been gifted with the presence of a great friend of ours - Renae, all the way from Adelaide, South Australia.

Renee had a blast in Beijing,

To sum it up - shopping, shopping, shopping.

Michelle the guide-cum-bargain-buddy,

Made it easy and fun - no fuddy-duddy.

Beijing's beauties did it all

Nails, Massages, pedicures, malls.

With 8 days and no time to waste,

Clothes, jewelry and shoes filled Renae's case.

Tibetan, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Cadbury

Food of all sorts - Mmmmmm....more than plenty.

Decked out with cards to finish the days off

We played and drank...won and...lost.

Spring in the air and spring in our steps

It was a week we Aussies in China won't forget.

Yes, winter has given way to spring here in China, and within a matter of weeks the lakes and rivers have gone from frozen to un-frozen, and the days are becoming quite bearable. No more beanies, scarfs, gloves and layers of clothing to accompany every journey out the front door.

But winter was fun while it lasted. It was great to see snow falling, ice cities (see a few blogs below), people skating on the lakes, and throwing snow balls. So different from winter in OZ. What's more, it never rained during winter. It was a dry as dry can be. We'd wake up halfway through the night needing a drink! But both winter and now into the spring, we're seeing more blue sky days than before, and that's enough to lift anyone's spirits here.

I'm continuing to teach English full-time, as well as 2 nights a week, and Michelle continues to go to and from Australia every day (so that the Chinese can go to and from Australia!).
By the way we're happy and sad to announce that we're coming back to OZ in July this year. Happy, because we get to see your faces once more, and sad because we've kinda grown attached to this wacky and wonderful country. So yes, we'll miss the Olympics, but get to follow the Australian coverage of it on telly back home. Go Aussies Go!

(Apparently it's good for the body to have a good swim in the icy waters of a frozen lake)

This coming Easter weekend we're spoiling ourselves, and heading to the 'Hawaii of the Orient' - Sanya, on the island of Hainan in the South of China (go ahead - Google Earth it and see it for yourselves). So stayed tuned for the next blog where we boast of sun, surf and coconuts.

This is China

Dig it.

Beijing Goes Ballistic!!!

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!

*The following photos were taken from our apartment window 6/2/08 - Chinese New Year's Eve.

The Year of the Rat is upon us, and so we wave farewell to the little pig who went wheeeeeeeeee all the way home, and we let the Rodent run amuck awhile.

Well - the New Year certainly got started with a BANG! I really can't do it justice writing about it - you really had to be here -

...here when firework stands were set up on every street corner.

...here when the days and nights leading up to the Chinese New Years Eve started snap-crackle-n'popping with increasing intensity in the streets of Beijing.

...here when on the Eve itself, as night began to fall, it began to feel like we were in a war zone.

...here when our windows were our only protection from in/up-coming explosives.

...here when Michelle was ducking for cover.

...here when at 11:45pm - Beijing went ballistic!

Yes - Beijing! Everywhere. And of course - all of China was doing the same. As words can't describe it, maybe pictures can. Moving pictures that is. First, watch and listen as I commentate the happening from our 15th floor apartment window (never knew we were renting a 1st class viewing platform!)... Warning: This is very amatuerish, as these two videos caught on my digital camera will show, but you'll get the idea. Note: The first one is long with commentary, the second is short without it. Stop them anytime you've captured the wonder of it all. *And turn up the volume for full effect.

(To watch this video on Youtube with the option of full-screen viewing click HERE.)

(To watch this video on Youtube with the option of full-screen viewing click HERE.)

Yes, the fireworks were this close to us!!!

Next - here's a much better video taken by one of the locals (where from in Beijing I'm not quite sure), but it's bound to complete the picture I'm trying to paint of Beijing gone Ballistic.

As you have seen, our photos just won't tell the full story, but they can end it (and to see more, view the slideshow to the right):
It really was a night to remember, and even though it's over...the people are still letting off fireworks in the streets of Beijing days later. This is their Spring Festival. It's much like our Christmas - a time when everyone heads back to their hometowns and families, exchanges gifts, feasts and celebrates. I just can't imagine how many fireworks were let off in China in total - but for a developing country - this was splurging. Actually - no wonder its still developing!

Next time we'll let you in on more of what goes on during Winter in Beijing, and any other Spring Festival happenings. In the meantime we're both enjoying some time off work with the rest of China, and enjoying the serenity...

Anyway - until next time - watch out for those rats.

This is China.

Dig it.

COLD as ICE!

Happy New Year everyone!


2008 is certainly well underway with February already creeping up and yet in a way... it’s not. February signals the beginning of the Chinese New Year, so it’s kinda like living between the times!

As I write this, I’m sitting in the pub down the road on a cold Saturday afternoon (-1degrees), watching the Australia vs India Cricket Test live from Adelaide, eating fish n’ chips with a diet coke, and listening to the chatter of Aussies, Europeans, and other foreigners all around me. This is life at ‘The Den’, as this pub is called, popular among Aussies for its live coverage of AFL football, the cricket and tonight – the Australian Open (Women’s Final). Ponting is just about to reach a half-century (unless he gets out first - which I predict is not going to happen!), and I’m reaching for the tartare sauce for the battered fish. Such is our hard life in Beijing, China.

With that said, Michelle is busy working overtime at the Embassy.

...Happy Australia Day!

Tonight we’ll be meeting up with some Aussie friends (and honourable Aussies) to celebrate our national day at a local pizza joint called Kro’s Nest. They make the biggest pizzas we’ve ever seen. And not only that, but they’re absolutely de...lish!

Now all this talk of cricket/fish n' chips/pizza etc may leave you wondering – ‘Are P-J and Michelle really in China, or just laying low in some other Australian city?!’

...The proof is in the pollution.

I’ve now been working for two weeks in my new job with an English Club/School called Vivid English Club. It’s a Mon-Fri 10-5pm job, with a morning and an afternoon class. I’ve also just started working 2 nights a week (Tues/Thurs), for my previous company, teaching business/conversational English. So it’s good to be hard at work again and meeting a whole bunch of new and wonderful people. By the way – I never did get the remainder of the salary that was owed to me by the kindergarten I worked at.

Spewin' - as they say.

Getting the money that was rightfully mine really turned out to be mission impossible. But I can’t say I didn’t try. So in the end I put it down to experience.

Ripped off in China.

Most people take home a story like this.

Last weekend Michelle and I ventured north towards Russia to a city called Harbin where the temperatures drop to around minus 30 degrees at night, and during the day ‘warm up’ to about minus 15 degrees! Now that’s cold! It’s pretty much like living in a freezer, except that you’re not actually frozen, but well on your way. The outdoor markets can be guaranteed of selling fresh meat and seafood – so fresh it’s frozen, right there on the sidewalk. Calamari anyone?

The real attraction for us going to Harbin was the annual Ice and Snow Festival. It really is worth the trip. The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival is by far the largest ice and snow art exhibition in the world. And it’s huge, amazing, and really quite dazzling. You won't get blown away by this quality-wise, but here's one of my videos I took of the Ice and Snow World:

That's me inside a giant 'igloo', and Michelle with a very cute and cuddly snow fox, with a snow scultpure in the background.

That's Michelle on the steps of the 'Forbidden City'!

And Michelle in front of the 'Cathedral'. When we went in we got a bit of an icy reception...

We also went to the Siberian Tiger Park. It is the largest natural park for wild Siberian tigers in the world at present. There are over 500 purebred Siberian tigers there, with 100 visible to visitors. There are also white tigers, lions, lynx’, leopards, and black pumas as well as Bengali tigers. Except for the overhead viewing platforms, most of the time is spent in a minibus going through various areas where the tigers freely roam in the fields, and if you pay about $8AUS, you can buy a chicken and watch as they feed it to them live.

I paid.

Once again, watch my very amateur video...

Finger Lickin' Good!

For those who are rich, there is also a chance to buy a goat, or a cow even! But fortunately for Michelle, and unfortunately for me, no one on our bus paid up. But I did manage to find a recent video from someone who did and here’s the result (if you’re not up for watching tigers maul a cow, don't click on this one!).

Sometimes you just know that you're in China.

On the Sunday, we relaxed, viewed an old Russian Orthodox Cathedral, fed pigeons and caught up with a friend we made on the way over in the overnight train. He was a young Uni student who spoke excellent English, and he was only too happy to drive and show us around his hometown. He was another example of the generosity and kindness that has been shown to us by many Chinese people over the year.

This is the Russian Orthodox Church with a big lump of snow in front of it, with a face carved into the top of it. Strange, ugly, oddly placed...but one creative way to get the snow cleaned up from the quadrangle!

Michelle has such a way with birds.

Not one flew onto my hand!

Michelle -what an angel!

All in all I'd give a big thumbs up for our trip to Harbin! And if anything else, it makes Beijing feel nice n' warm with its mild temperatures of 0 to -12degrees!

This is China.

Dig it.

Hip Hip Hoorate, it's 2008!

Happy New Year!

It’s 2008! My oh my, last year just fleeeeeeeeew by! When we take the time to look back on a year gone by we get a sore neck (looking back has its downside), but we realise how many memories and experiences we’ve added to our humble collection along the way. Here’s a short trip down memory lane.

Plane, Train,
Beijing, Came.
Smog, Fog,
Work, Jobs.
Teach, Reach,
Sun, No beach.
Boats, Moats,
Candles afloat.
Walls, Malls
Great and small.
Spit, Spat,
Stop n’ chat.
Stir-fry, No sky
Chinese wonder why.
Hong Kong
Family ‘So Long’.
Friends, Trends,
Wonder, no end.
Bikes, Hikes,
Flying Kites.
Ni hao, Tell me how,
Say hi, don’t bow.
Gym, Dim Sim,
Try to keep trim.
East, West,
...Oneness

Anyway, back to 2008...
Rachel, our friend from Adelaide, has been and gone after a quick trip to Beijing over the Xmas week. It was great to have some Aussie company. Rachel and Michelle went to the Great Wall together and struck it lucky – seeing snow on the wall. Ok, there wasn’t much...but it was there! They also visited the Forbidden City...and of course went shopping/got their nails done...massages...need I say more?!

For Xmas Eve we had a big buffet dinner with friends at a nice hotel restaurant complete with a Chinese Children’s Carolling Troupe, a Chinese Santa, a lucky draw (in which 3 out of 7 on our table won prizes inc wine, a tea-set, and a Sony PSP...although Michelle and I ended up empty-handed *sob,sob!), and lamb chops.

The children were so cute singing carols to a CD backing, trying to imitate the English words and succeeding about half the time. They were quite serious and professional but we managed to get them laughing with a few ‘whoo-hoo’s.

If you really want to hear them sing then just press play:

This Santa had come bearing gifts from afar – all the way from the East. (Actually he was the restaurant manager...but don’t tell anyone – shhhhhh!). Sounds a bit like a Christmas story we know.

And of course the night was also a PARTY!

The Christmas spirit was found around Beijing in different forms, but none quite like at this place called ‘The Place’. It has the biggest outdoor overhead digital TV screen in the world. It’s quite awe-inspiring and wow-inspiring. Certainly a neck-strainer.

You can get a tourist's ant's eye view of it by playing this video from Youtube (and there's more on the right). Gotta be seen to be believed (well now I'm going overboard!).

And this pic was also taken there. Nice one Michelle!

Next week I begin a new teaching job (a day job – yay!), and on Mon the 7th I finished up the evening work I’ve been doing, which has been great. I’ve had a mostly good run with my teaching work.

But recently I also discovered the dark side of Beijing, or should I say Korea. As you know I was working at a Korean Kindergarten that should be named Chaos Kindy, but isn’t. Like I said in the last blog, I got out of there as soon as I could. Since then I’ve been trying to chase up my salary, and I must say - it’s been quite a chase! Excuses, lies, just plain denying me pay...the wicked witch kept trying to work her dark magic. We (yes, even with Michelle and Rachel in force), faced a visit to a police station, invitations to take our matter to court and more obnoxious behaviour as we did battle. We uncovered lies and cover-ups, and stared into the coldest eyes we’ve ever seen. And this is cutting the long story short. In short though, I’ve been denied 3-weeks pay without reason (that’s enough to get me back to Australia!). But I’m not giving up. Whahahahahaha! (And yes, I will be coming back!)

Even my workmate from London faced the same thing as he went to collect his pay the day after our little Armageddon. Now’s he’s joined in. We’re hoping for Aslan to bring a quick end to Narnia’s long winter. I’m telling you, I don’t know how these people sleep at night.

Anyway, always look on the bright side of life right?

So to end, here’s some more Chinglish signs to bring some cheer (thanks to Rachel for these)!
This one was found in a cable car heading up to the Great Wall. Apparently when they say ‘scratch’ they mean graffiti (of course!!!).

And this one was found at the Forbidden City...

This is China.

Dig it.



Ps. If you ever want to see our photos enlarged just click on our photo album link to the right.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Hi-ho all!
Time flies when you're havin' fun - and we can't believe that Christmas is fast approaching, and cross fingers - we'll be in the race for a white one! In fact, we got our first snow for this winter just the other day and I was keen to get out in it...until it got in me! (Snow doesn't just look nice...it's as cold as ice!)
But it was so great to see the contrast of the whole before-and-after-snow outside world. There is a strange kind of beauty in the colour white. Snow White that is.

So yes it's cold here in Beijing. Averaging around 5degrees maximum, and -4degrees minimum... and this is just the beginning of winter. Ouch! Our beanies are everyday accessories now. And gloves even. And one of these days - thermals!
Nothing like what you Aussies back home are experiencing with the heat and record highs that come hand-in-hand with the whole climate change that's upon us. What can I say but - let's SAVE OUR PLANET. (Got to get a green message in blogs these days - it's so in!...*plus needed).

As mentioned in my previous entry, I managed to surprise Michelle some weeks back with some tickets to '42nd Street' - the New York Broadway show that made headlines here bringing broadway to China for the 1st time. Well it was our first time too. And there's nothing like some tap tap tapping to get you go go going when the cold wind's blow blow blowing (I was obviously inspired!).

Work goes on as usual for Michelle, with it's mundane and manic mix making a managing messy yet measureably mastered-over-able...(w-w-w-what?!). Other than work, she's feeling a little homesick with Christmas coming up, but she's made a new friend with a local Chinese girl, and they're catching up regularly to exhange Chinese/English lessons, so that's keeping her life full and interesting.

Over the last 7 weeks I've undertaken 2 teaching roles - Business English in the evenings, teaching employees of a Chinese oil company (Mon-Thurs 6:30-8:45pm); and Kindergarten teaching - teaching English to 4-7yr olds (Mon-Fri). Teaching my Business English class has been extremely satisfying and rewarding, and with 3 weeks to go, it'll be sad to say goodbye to some great personalities I've had the privelege of getting to know. Last month they even threw a party to celebrate my birthday -cake n' all! Coincidentally it was the same night they requested seeing a movie (so educational!), and so Bruce Almighty ended up making for a night of good food and good laughs (and they call this teaching!).

On the other hand, the kindergarten was what one fellow English teacher (from London) called the 'Kindergarten from hell' - somewhat extreme but you get the feeling from this that it wasn't the best environment for kids and teachers alike. That much was true. Although the picture collage below suggests otherwise, it really was a wacky, crazy, disorganised, out-of-control place to work. The Head Master kinda lived up to C.S. Lewis' character in the Narnia tales - the White Witch, who made the inhabitants of Narnia live in a perpetual winter. But I found the wardrobe, and escaped back into the real world (gave my 1 month's notice and left after completing 6 weeks). Don't let the photo decieve you. Those kids can be lethal when left undisciplined. I do luv 'em, but even they didn't deserve to be there. Anyway - it was a good learning experience, and I'm pretty sure from this that I won't be chasing Kindergarten work in the future. It's exhausting!

Christmas is coming up, and we'll definately feel that emptiness created by the absense of family. But Michelle has a good friend coming over - Rachel from Adelaide - and that'll be a real blessing as we put it. Although the Chinese don't generally celebrate Christmas it's amazing how the silly season as it commercially expresses itself has taken hold of the Chinese market. There's no lack of Christmas decorations/lights/trees around the city, in the stores, plaza's, malls etc. Impressive actually. So it still feel's like Christmas is on its way, yet we still feel like something's missing.

Christmas Eve we'll be heading out with friends to a fancy resturant for a big Xmas dinner buffet complete with seafood, turkey, entertainment etc. And on Christmas day we'll have a more subdued lunch out somewhere with other friends we've met along the way. So the food element won't change. We'll just miss family and of course - beach cricket. Hit one for a six into the ocean for me will you? Cheers.

Now what other interesting things can I report?

- With $60AUS in Beijing you and a friend can get a taxi to a top cinema (and back) + get 2 tickets to a new release movie + have a meal with drinks at a local resturant + get 2 large pizzas home delivered + have some drinks at a pub with mates and grab some snacks on the side. (That's just $30 each!).

- A new Pub has just opened around the corner from us - an Irish Pub at that! Called Paddy O'Shea's. On the Australian Election night it was packed with Aussies, and all the TV screens showed the LIVE Election Coverage from Australia (ABC version). With all the cheers - my guess is that it was mostly a LABOR Party supporters gathering. But it's just crazy how much we find ourselves feeling like we're home, right in the middle of Beijing China.

- Speaking of home, we found Arnotts BBQ Shapes on the shelves of a local supermarket that caters for the expat community...Excellent. Also Nippy's Chocolate/Iced Coffee/Honeycomb Milk all the way from SA! Still, it has nothing on Classic Chocolate Milk. Mmmm....Classic Chocolate...

- Most of the lakes, creeks, puddles and people's spit-on-the-footpath have now frozen over, so it may be time to get ourselves a pair of iceskates and make some moves on Beijing's Ice. (Or try some toslagganing).

Finally, my blog wouldn't be the same without a typical Chinese sign with it's fun-to-behold CHINGLISH:

'Smal-Scale vehide'... 'Tourist suprvision trlephone'...
Don't they have a spell-checker here?!!! Please!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

THIS IS CHINA.

DIG IT.