Ni Hao from China - November 16, 2007
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
8
17
Trip End
Ongoing
Zhongshan, Guangdong,
China
Friday, November 16, 2007
Well, I can't believe that we're already half way through November! I had good intentions to send out an update after I got back from Vancouver at the beginning of October - where does the time go?
Although my visit to Vancouver was short, there was enough time for me to go to my reunion, do some visiting, and get in my food fixes!
My reunion was a blast, although I was a little disappointed that it ended so early (it ended around 2am, but it was supposed to go until 4)! Oh well, it was lots of fun, and it was great to see everyone again. I can hardly wait for the 40th!
When I got back, I finally bit the bullet and registered for the Macau Marathon. I can't believe that it's only two weeks away. My longest run so far has been 3.5 hours, and I'm supposed to do a 4 hour run this weekend. However, when I was in Hong Kong this last weekend, I took a fall, and my knee is still bugging me. I went for a short run today, and it seemed to be okay, so I'll give it a try on Sunday. When it gets this close to marathon day, I always find that I worry about anything that could go wrong (injury, cold, etc.) before the big day. I'm not in as good of shape as I usually am, and am a little concerned about whether or not I will make it across the finish line in the allotted time. This is the third time that I have trained for marathon number ten, and I want to finally be able to complete it! Not only that, I can't imagine having to tell my students that I didn't finish. If I have to crawl across the finish line, I will!!
Less than two months now until the end of my contract. In some ways, the time has flown by, and other times, it has gone so slow that I thought I'd never make it to the end. Bond has asked me to stay a few extra days in order to finish off the term, and I have told them I will. I should be finished on January 5th, and head out of Zhongshan on January 6th. My plan is to start heading back to Vancouver, but in a roundabout way. My first stop will be India where I will go and visit my Indian family, and do the Rajasthan Desert, as I never got to do it in 2003. I had quite a time trying to contact Sunil and his family in India through e-mail, but when I did, I got a reply from him telling me that he had received my e-mail and 'got very much happy'. He also told me that when he told his friend Mr. Karp (who I met when I was there in 2003) that I was coming for a visit, Mr. Karp 'was also turned very happy'. I don't know who is more excited about my visit - me or them! I have been told that when I come to visit, I can not be in a hurry, as everyone has his own plans with me.
After India, I will go back to Thailand to the beaches, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat (these are two places I missed on my travels in 2003), then on to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, back in to China to Beijing to do the Trans Siberian Railway in to St. Petersburg in Russia, on to Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, then on to Turkey (of course!). My friend Helen will be meeting up with me in Turkey for three weeks. It should be fun and will bring back a lot of memories, as Helen and I met in Turkey in 2003. While I am in Turkey I will also go and visit my Turkish family in Konya. After I leave Turkey, I will head to Ireland to visit two of the foreign teachers who are here at Bond, then on to Scotland to visit two more teachers who are also at Bond. After that, it's on to Iceland and Greenland, and finally back to Canada. I figure I will be home some time in August or September 2008.
Only one more week of lessons at middle school, then we start doing oral testing. It has been a little bit different this term in that we have a rotation of students every three weeks, whereas last term it was only two. We have only had to come up with three different lesson plans for one grade, and four for another. Although testing can get quite boring, we won't have to plan any more lessons, and the students are particularly polite to us, as they want us to give them a good mark!
The last lesson we did was on Canada, and it was good fun. We gave them lots of information about Canada, then asked them questions to see what they remembered. One of the questions we asked was 'What does R.C.M.P stand for?' The choices we gave were:
1) Regal Canadian Mounted Police
2) Rich Canadian Money People
3) Really Cool Mounted Police
4) Royal Canadian Mounted Police
It took a few tries before I could say numbers 2 and 3 with a straight face, but it was even harder to keep from laughing when some of the teams actually PICKED number 2 or 3!
Middle school seems to have been quite different this term, and I'm not sure why. For some reason, it doesn't seem to be as much fun as it was last term. I don't know if the lessons weren't interesting enough, or the time of year (beginning as opposed to the end) made a difference in their interest levels. The students have been great on campus, but the classes haven't been as much fun as they were last semester and it has been quite a challenge to get them interested. Maybe I didn't present the lessons very well.
Our friend Shirley continues her battle with, and treatment for, cancer. We are having another fundraiser for her on November 24th, and this time (we're hoping) it's going to be big! We are calling it 'A Night of Western Promise'. John, the owner of Bond, has been very generous and given us money to have posters and fliers professionally printed to advertise the event. We have also been interviewed by the local newspaper, so hopefully that will provide some advertising as well. One of my ex-students, Lennie (bless his heart), has been a huge help in getting things organized and having to deal with Chinese people. There is so much we couldn't have done without his help. He kept saying that he wanted to help Shirley out, but he didn't know what he could do. When I told him that we were doing the fundraiser, he said that he wanted to help. He said that it feels good to be able to do something for Shirley and I have to say that I agree with him!
Until next time,
Gaye
