Mar 2006

So last time i wrote i was.... at school waiting to get into my new apartment. Ok so heres whats happened since.

Moved into the new place that night, it's very nice with timber floors and white walls and ceiling. I have two bedrooms, a kitchen, a balcony and a bathroom, all very spacious and comfortable. The only complaint i can find is its so empty! I have a couch, a coffee table, a tv, a computer and desk, a small square table and a bed. Theres so many empty corners i often amuse myself by kicking a ball around the place, took out a light bulb though which eneded that fun.

My first night there was pretty lonely, i didnt have a dvd player, internet or any distractions of any sort, and as well as that i was (and still am) flat broke. I read a book for Four hours solid, and almost went crazy with boredom.

The next day i came to school and observed a class, and met some of the other teachers, all chinese. There are also two other schools at which i teach, all owned by the same man. I went and saw them and met the students, and afterwards came back to the echoing apartment. Determined not to spend another night going nuts with boredom, i caught a cab over to lucas's and met some more of his friends, all very cool people. Had some beers and went to sleep.

I started teaching wednesday, thrown into a thirty minute class with absolutely no idea of what to do. It went relatively well i think, the kids seem to enjoy it and as i was only reveiwing old learnings i just played some games. Since then i have been teaching around four hours a day.

I've got it pretty good in the fact that i only pop around to all the classes and do a thirty minute english lesson (30 minutes for upper classes, thats 8 years old, 25 minutes for middle class's, 6-7 years old, and 15 minutes for baby classes, 4-5 years old.) in between all the math and history and whatnot, so the kids are stoked and automaticly love it. Plus i don't have to worry about discipline.

My schedule is:
8:50-9:20 Upper 9:25-9:50 Middle 9:55-10:10 Baby one 10:15-10:30 Baby two.
I do that tuesday to friday, as well as afternoon classes, 2 hrs worth on tuesdays and thursdays, 3hrs worth on wednesdays and fridays.

On the weekends I will be doing maybe 1-2 hrs a day so thats good, hopefully not to early. But this weekend i dont work and is a long weekend for me! Yahoo no work till tuesday.

The kids are great, and after maybe four lessons I realised there's nothing to be really scared of, because trust me I was scared. They love you no matter what you do as long as you bounce about and act an idiot. They're all very eager to learn (some are too eager) and obidient enough, if they are really naughty I don't deal with them anyway, their teacher does.

I can't even imagine, and never want to try, teaching on a hangover or worse. Yesterday one of the classes teachers told the students that to get my attention they should yell 'Teacher, Teacher, Me ME!' Oh sweet lord I wanted to slap her! I had 20 kids screaming franticly, trying to get my attention by yelling louder than the kids around them.

I love all (ok, most) the kids, though some have serious issues. This one kid can't contain himself if i don't pick him for a game, he skitz's out and gnashes his teeth. I'm not kidding you, he sits bounces up and down biting the air. I think he may have ADD or something, but in china there are no facilites or help whatsoever for it, i don't think they even know (or care)what it is.

I got a photo taken with my favourite class, i'll send 2 copys by post to yumi, one for mum and the other for her, if your interested in seeing them hit either of those two up.

Yesterday i did an hour long lesson with Parents looking on, which was scary as! But strangely it was one of my best lessons. The hardest thing is explaining a game to the kids, once one gets it they all catch on.

Everything is sailing smoothly, well there are a few ripples on the lake but my boat is sturdy (haha love the metaphors). I'm living off about $3 dollars a day, easy enough to do, as i eat breakfast, lunch and supper at the school and then usually just some fruit before bed. The schools cook is great, he's teaching me a thing or two every now and then which is awesome.

I hope you are all well, thanks for tuning in and i'll keep everyone posted on any exciting events (It's not half as exciting as you'de think here, though it is good just to be here and be experiencing it)
The roads, for example, are so crazy. I don't think there is a chinese translation for the word 'Lane' or 'Roadworthy'. Lanes are marked on the raod but they don't mean diddly, if theres room to squeeze through they'll take it, even on the wrong side of the road. Clint, you once said to me that a good place to learn to drive is Brisbane, because if you can drive there you can drive anywhere. I'd love to see you try china!!

Well, thats all folks, I'm settling in quite well now that i have a schedule and routine, and im adjusting to self sufficiency quite well i think. I wish i had a camera to put some photos on here but for now im much too broke.

Love you all.

P.S hello bonnie!!! I'll send my postal address as soon as i find out so we can correspond the old fashioned way. Love you XXX

Finnaly, the travelling leg of the journey is over. No more lugging heavy bags through train statins, airports and onto buses. No more customs officers messing up my neatly packed bag (i swear it was neat!). But alas, i shall miss the excitement of it all. Now i shall settle into the working routine, killing the boredom (you'll be pleased to know, choni, i stuck it on my door) with alcohol and the scarce good company to be found. If Lucas weren't here i would probably go insane! And Mandy tells me Zak will be here shortly, can't wait to drink a delicious warm beer with you bro.

We flew out of Guanzhou at 15:30 on friday afternoon, without any bomb scares or other nasty delays. The flight was as pleasant as can be expected from economy class on a chinese internal flight, and after a short stop in dailan we landed in chilly harbin. Picked up our bags, and headed outside where people from our respective schools picked us up. Lucas was driven to his new apartment, and i was taken to a nice hotel (my flat wasnt ready yet). On the way home, the guys (and one girl) from the school were kind enough to take me out for a quick bite to eat at a very busy bbq. All on the schools tab, including the beers! We then left and i was dropped at my hotel. Treated like royalty the whole way, four stars and a very big room on the seventh floor. Drew a steaming bath, and enjoyed it immensly. Havent had a bath in so long (not entirely true, i did have a very nice on before i left...) and was soon reminiscing about duck races and other tub games we played as kids.

Saturday morning i woke up, pulled the curtains back and (lo! and behold) it was snowing! Got dressed, walked outside, and soon scampered back inside to the comfort of central heating. After applying a few more layers, i ventured back out and walked the streets (positively snug as a bug now) and took some photos.

Harbin is beautiful, especially covered in snow. Well, it's beautiful after hong kong and Guanzhou at least. Soon enough though a mighty blizzard kicked up and i was forced back inside to finish off my book which was, coincidentally, the chronicles of narnia.

My school had told me lucas would be coming to stay in the hotel with me... so i bought a few brewski's (50c each, god its great) and had them on the outside windowsil chilling down nicely. After waiting around for a while i soon realised he wasnt coming, so i went and gave him a call. He was already settled in the apartment, a very nice place on the fourteenth floor which features a great shattered glass wall (one big peice of glasss, broken into a thousand peices, stuck between two other panes of glass, to give the look of a shattered window) which divides the kitchen from the living room. He came over and we both headed to his place.

His school has about fifteen foreigners, the majority being canadians, with a couple of poms, an aussie and a yank. We ran into one of them (a canadian) and were soon invited round to meet the rest of the crew and have some drinks. soon turned into a good gathering when lucas bought half a case of harbins finest longnecks. All good chaps and lass's. One of them had lost on dvd, and she was such a doll that she lent it to me to watch when we got back to the flat. Watched half an episode (don't rememeber much of it) and passed out cold.

Woke up this morning with harbins finest hangover, and lucas and i went off in search of a breakfast that our tender stomachs could agree to. We decided to cook our own, and it would have been delicious but for the lack of salt and pepper. turned out, instead, to be a bland mush. But edible all the same.

A lady from the school came and got me at around eleven and brought me to the school, where i was shown around and talked things over with the owner. He's a very nice man, though his english is limited. Its a private college called 'Aitong language academy', very nice and modern with an inhouse cook. I had lunch today and it was scrumptious. So here i am, waiting to go into my new place. It's currently being cleaned and the owner himself is out buying me a bed (as i am a touch taller than the average chinese person.)

I do have a little bad news.... I may be signing a year contract. I wouldnt have even considered it, but the offer is lucrative (such a great word, lucrative). I'm still considering, nothings final yet i have till tomorow to decide.

Well with that i am outties. Hope everyones smiling and happy, i miss you all so so much. I hear Lachjaw may be popping over, do it my son i think i have two rooms in my new place and you are more than welcome, if not theres always the couch, floor, tub or you can spoon me. I'm only a $3 cab ride from lucas which is awesome, i plan to hang with him and his roommates a fair deal, if they'll have me.

Till next time... farewell!
china tom

p.s. is the tomline operational yet? i will have a number very soon i hope.

p.p.s choni your so gay, when you went away how good was all the email love i gave you. But i'm gone not a week and you seem to have forgotten me. Thought we were friends. Thought we were... weekers! and barton too, you slack bastard. haha seriosly if i dont get an email off both of you by tomorrow im signing a twelve year contract.

After staying a night in the hostel at Hong Kong, I woke early that morning, and, with a great deal of yawning and regret (damn Poms and Canadians, and their Johhny walker) i packed my things and made my way to the train station which was only a couple of blocks away from where i stayed.

Bought a snack and a drink, and sat and waited for the 8:20 Train to Guanzhou... eager as i was not to miss my flight i arrived way to early and had to sit, twidling my thumbs and reading for a good half hour. Boarded the train, bade farewell to Hong Kong, and i was on my way. The train ride was pleasant enough, mainly city all the way, Guanzhou and Hong Kong are so big that instead of bering two clearly definable cities, they sort of merge into one big Urban sprawl. There were some nice sights, terraced farms, little cottages and lovely winding rivers (though the majority were highly polluted by the look of them).

I have amazed myself with the amount of reading i've got done here, absolutely powered through the chronicles of narnia (well worth a read, the movies however, i thought were rubbish, and yes, helen, i did steal your copy!!! Sorry) and once again embarked on the epic Lord of the rings trilogy. Again, well worth a read if you have the time, which, travelling a lot on planes and trains and buses, i found i am in excess of.

Arrived in Guanzhou at around 9:40, tired and dazed as all hell, (the hangover from the night before had only been triggered by the train's motion i think) and found myself a cab. I'm embarressed to say i fell asleep and got ripped off bad. What i paid 300RMB for, i later learned should have cost me only around 150RMB. Nice little loss there of about $30. Damn sneaky chinese.

Got to the airport, where i found not one person who spoke english. The time was slipping away, and i still hadn't found anywhere that would change Australian notes. Panicking now, i got so frustrated ewith the language barrier i simply stood amongst ther throng and yelled 'Does anyone speak english!!!?' at which point a little chinese man came up and said 'Hello!' very enthusiasticly, but that was about the extent of his vocabulary. After a bit more running around i found two guys in suits who said they would change my money, but for a shit of an exchange rate. With no other option, i agreed. It was only after i'de done this i realised, with the exchange rate they had given me, and the taxi scam, i now didn't have enough for the plane ticket. Very intelligent Tom.

So now, without any hope of boarding the plane, i found an internet cafe and told my woes to Mum and lucas, and we decided the best thing to do would be to find a place to sleep until lucas arrived with some money mum was to lend me (thanks again mum) and we would fly together. By now i was thoroughly aware of the sneakiness, and began to stand my ground with the chinese. I booked a hotel, and demanded a cheaper price (you can barter with almost anything here). Found a bus and caught that to my hotel, where i booked in and at last had a chance to relax.

I slept very contently that night, and the next morning set out on some damage control, organising new flights, liasing with mandy the agent. I also got a chance to see a bit of the city, bought a little disposable camera, still got some film left so you wont be seeing the pics for a while, but as soon as i can ill scan and upload.

After the first two days i wrote the posting 'A beauty and a beast', after seeing a lot of the povery and also a lot of the nice things in the city.

Staying in a room by yourself for three nights in a strange country does tend to get a touch lonely, especially withouty even TV's chatter to keep you company. The only English TV was 'Pearl", which had a couple of good shows, but the really good ones were all dubbed in Chinese, the OC for example. I did make friends with the reception girls though, all very nice and very helpful, and they showed me a nice cheap bar a couple of blocks away, where we shared a few brewski's.

On the last day, when everything had been organised ( i wont bore you with the details, for they were indeed very boring) i sighed with releif, and after talking to Jim (Lucas's dad, who is also teaching over here) he suggested i stay with a friend of his named Cherylynne who lives across town in Guanzhou. Shes a great lady who has been so much help, going as far as to come and pick me up on the metro and take me to her house. After dropping my bag at her house ( a cosy little apartment, where i felt very much at home) we went for lunch at her favourite restaurant, which was only 200m away.
Pic's of that too, really nice food and the beer, oh the beer in china is tantalising. MMM Australian beer just doesn't compare to the golden dewy amber liquid that pours like rain in this Country. (ok, point made). Lunch for two with plenty of left overs, along with two 700ml bottles of beer, cost a whopping $4 Australian each.

Went with Cherylynne to her school, and got involved with some lessons, the kids here are so unbeleiveably cute and very willing to learn. Got some first hand experience, which was invaluble... as the tesol course isn't nearly the training a language teacher really needs.

Came back from school, at about 9pm to have dinner with Cherylynne, Her Teachers aide, and her roommate, a canadian called Ryan who has been here for three years. Went to the same restuarant we had lunch at earlier that day. Banana's dunked in toffee, so so good. Strange that we had sweets before savoury, but all the same very good. Had chicken steamed dumplings and bean shoots in a creamy soup. MMM and of course several bottles of chinese beer. Gam bei, (chinese for empty glasses) the chinese custom for downing a whole glass of beer in one go. Last empty glass to hit the tables is shamed!

Got home, passed out cold. Woke up to a call from lucas, who had got into Guanzhou the night before but stayed in a hotel. He's standing here now, and soon we will have lunch and go to the airport to fly to Harbin, at 3:30 on China southern Airways (Cherylynne was tutoring some of the staff last night, with me looking on!)

Well, it was a hell of a long blog, congratulations on coming to the end of it... your a braver one than I. And if you skipped to the bottom, shame shame shame.

Much love, take care and holla back at me.

Love you all. Tom xxx

There is so much beauty, and yet so much ugliness in china. The terraced farms and cottages in the country are wonderful, and the people are all so kind. I met a Kind little chinese man in a garden who played the violin. He played traditional chinese music, and to here it coming of a traditionally western instrument was strange and eerie and enchanting all at once. He was very kind, and taught me some words in mandarin. At times you just look a certain direction down a lane, or into a garden, and you see china at its best.

On the flip side of that, there is so much poverty and squalor it is in places appalling. I took a picture of a high density housing complex situated right next to a canal, as soon as i can i will upload it. The state of the canal is wretched, the locals simply dump there waste, faeces, food scraps and litter straight in there, and the smell makes you dry reach.

I have only seen a little of the country, but from what i have seen i think i will like it here. Once i have a little better grasp of the language and customs, I'm sure things will be better.

To all those at home, i love you and miss you so much. Life isn't the same, when you go from being surrounded by the friends and family you love, to be surrounded by millions of strangers without the slightest clue as to what your saying.

Take care all.
Tom

P.s. I feel like harry potter whenh i walk down the street, all the stares i get is sometimes unnerving.

After many long delays with passports, visa's and contracts i finnaly found myself en route to the airport. Running a little late, we hurried to the check in desk, and after the usual questions about sharps etc, the question of explosives was raised. We both replied 'No'. Should have left it at that, but lucas, always the joker, was quick to add 'Except for my bomb'. The look on the check in guys face was enough to tell us in an instant that he didnt find it funny. Neither did his supervisor, nor the two armed guards who appeared to escort us to a bag checking bay. Lucas was told he wouldnt be flying today, and, needless to say, my excitement was soon replaced with dissapointment.

A simple suggestion from my lovely yumi, however, brought about a breif glimmer of hope. Why dont i just go? Meet lucas there. So thats what i did, and the breif glimmer turned into a blazing flame of excitement once more.

So i got on the plane, not really knoing what i was doing, it all
happened so quickly, due to our lateness, and the delay of bomb threat.. i just ran for it and couldnt really say
goodbye... Sorry all you guys i wish we could have had the drawn out
goodbye but fate dealt its cards and i just had to go with it... i couldnt bear another delay. And thankyou, so much to everyone who came. It was lovely to be surrounded by my dearest friends on my last moments in the country.

After a strenuos customs inspection ( i think they radioed ahead
about the bomb thing) i found myself tearing past the gates
franticly searching for mine, i found it (thank god) and boarded,
thankfull for the two seats (the one bonus of an otherwise crappy state of affairs!!) I made friends with
the hostess's and soon had them laying down the gordons one after
the other. Then i made the mistake of askng for a rum, at which
point they realised i was 'mixing drinks'(as elusive myth as there
ever were) and told me i should slow down, and that they would 'keep
an eye on things'. My frustration with the lack of alc was short
lived however, after i befriended a hostess named bethany who helped
me on my road to the drunken stupor i aimed so determendly for. And
then... when i was getting off the plane she gave me two (yeah
TWO!!!!) amenity kits usually reserved for business class with a
razor (on an aeroplane?), shaving cream, toothbrush and paste, moisturiser, soap deo and bandades. Lovely lady.

So i got into hong kong, changed some money and headed for the
buses. had a crash course in chinese public transit (have to buy the
tickets seperatly from a booth not from the driver) then almost
upped a guy for short changing me before realising the coin in my
hand was a ten dollar coin, not one dollar(whoops)

Got into the city (stressing hard that i missed my stop) and found a
hostel, the garden point hostel. Small and dingy but surprisingly
clean, bunked up with three poms and two canadians. There all really
cool, though they like shit music, except one of the canadians who seemed to have the exact taste of music as i, so exact it was almost uncanny (for lack of a less stupid word). I put on the strokes and the others didnt dig it.... but there lots of fun. the poms had 2Lts of Johnny red each which knocks them up a notch in my book. Got roaring drunk, playing a game called kings (cards and alcohol) until i passed out cold on my bunk.

Its so different here, everything is faster. the roads are insane,
almost got hit tonight. Theres an indian guy literally every ten
mteres who says 'watches? suits? hashish?' must all be part of the
same racket. but my roomates said they weren't asked for hashish... Must be my Blonde hair.(?)

Had dinner at a cute little noodle bar, the lady didnt understand a word i said, i kept asking for vegetarian cause im not game for meat, ended up having a cauldron sized bowl of cabbage and noodles, but not all that bad.

Woke up the next morning and boarded a train bound for Guanzhou.

Anyway, just thought ide post and let you know im fine,
travelling is so great, ive met so many cool people already
and its only my first night. Sorry i couldnt call (yum and mum) to broke, conserving every last penny (God Honkers is expensive, only a
ittle cheaper than home!!!)

Some of this you will have read (mum, zakka, yum, helen, i think thats all) as it was an email that i modified. Needed it i daresay, as i typed it all during the raucious night in Honkers (yes, the one involving the Johhny Red)

Much love, all the way from Chink. Spread all ive said to those
i couldnt say it to. I'll try and keep this blog updated, drop a comment anytime... Please!!!!

Love you all, especially my dearest Yumi. Everyone take care of her for me till i get back.

Much love,
Tom, aka Delta stallion (week till death)

p.s. weeks just aren't the same.