A jumbled mess...

Normally, I like my blag entries to be a bit...well, orderly, I suppose.  This is not one of those times.

I'm here in Tongzi, Guizhou Province, PRC, at Number 2 High School, waiting for...well, you'll see when you read on, O Kindly Audience.  So without further ado, here are my notes from the last couple days.

Wednesday, 28 August, mid-afternoon:


Driving to Tongzi, with Mr. Wang and Mr. Chen - my FAO and, if I understand correctly, fixer. The weather at Chonqing was a mere 30 before humidity, and Tongzi is further north, so I should be fine. I hope.
 
Mr. Wang took us for lunch, and I wish I had the presence of mind to snap photos, 'cause it was gorgeous and delicious. We started with hard-boiled, blue-shelled eggs; fried cured, spiced pork a la pancetta; and a jelly-like rice noodle I couldn't manage to get the knack of, despite my valiant attempts. The main events were two fish dishes - one in a rich, sour tomato broth with sesame seeds and green onions, and the other boiled in oil with peppers and garlic. We also had boiled cabbage and rice. Quite delicious, really!

(Author's Note:  Mr. Chen is a fixer, but not a fixer.  Rather, he does odd jobs at No. 2 HS)

Wednesday, 28 August, late-evening (originally to be the blag post, and entitled "I'm heeeere (or, Here's Jimmy!)"

So, as the clever ones of you may have surmised via the title of my blog post, I've arrived at my assigned school: High School No. 2, in Tongzi, Guizhou Province.  This is a relatively new school, and they're building a lot of new additions to it, which is always a good sign.

I arrived around 5pm and promptly put my foot right into it.  I was wearing a T-Shirt and jeans, owing to the fact that I had just made a 10 hour journey from Yangshuo, and Mr. Wang, my FAO, brought me to the President of the School; he greeted me, and asked me to wait in the adjacent room - no problem at all.  Mr. Wang and I made small talk, and I commented, off-handedly, that I felt under-dressed for meeting the President.  After the President finished his meeting with his Assistants, Mr. Wang spoke to him, bade me enter, and the President greeted me.  Then dismissed me.  No conversation, nothing.

I intend to find out if he smoked and give him one of my pipes as a sort of peace offering, but I'm not sure that it will work.  And Mr. Wang then took me to the school canteen, where he asked if I wanted supper; I was still full from a delicious lunch of fish in tomato broth, and fish boiled in oil, and declined as politely as I could.  He seemed...unimpressed by that.  After that, we finished our tour of the campus, and Mr. Wang bade me goodbye.  There goes another pipe, I think.  The Armellini Natural Brown and the Brigham Voyageur, like as not.  I like those pipes, but amends must be made and face saved, so they are sacrificed on the altar of having a year that isn't terrible.

After that, I got back to the flat, which is immense, and clearly intended for two (or even three!) but, alas, Josh is not here as he had a family emergency and needed to return to the States, so I'm here alone for at least a week, until the second teacher from the 60th arrives.  At that point, I'll help them manoeuvre the second massive dresser from my room into theirs.

Thursday, 29 August, mid-day:

Cooling heels in police depot. When I first arrived, thought the town looked like a war zone - and it does have that Hue, '68 quality in parts, but I realized that the debris and detritus aren't from neglect or poverty, but demolition for new construction. They occupy rooms as soon as they're done, here, which leads to hectic, but interesting, situations.

My flat, for example, got running water at 7am today; Internet, too. With those (the water, mostly, to be honest) in place, the previous night's anxiety (and, honestly, minor panic attack) faded away, and I'm ready for a year here. The President doesn't smoke, so I keep my Armellini. Mr. Wang seems confused and bemused by the whole thing rather than interested, so the Brigham's probably safe, too.

What gets me most about China is that you can smoke everywhere. Which is cool, but weird.

Thursday, 29 August, late-evening (writing this now, so it's the most up to date):

I kind of wish it was hotter and more humid here, and that I had no AC in my room, that way I could get the full Captain Willard experience.

I'm probably being overly cynical, but still; Mr. Wang informed me that I won't be teaching until late next week at the earliest, which is after the second teacher from Buckland (from the 60th Training Group) arrives.  It would be an OK vacation, were I not effectively confined to quarters; my visa is still with the police, and they want me on campus all the time to find me should they need me.

The campus, by the way, is gorgeous; six completed buildings, plus two under construction, and it's own security gate.  I live just off campus, above a shop, about 10 metres from the main gate.  Nice place, really.  My schedule is 17 classes per week, all three grade levels, and I've  gotten quite the following over the last couple days; lots of kids here are excited to see me, and say hello.  Of course, I'm probably the biggest, hairiest thing they've ever seen that's not quadrupedal, but hey, I'll take it.  One girl asked me to teach her English class tomorrow, even!  Alas, I had to let her down (gently, of course) and told her that I wouldn't be starting for a few days yet.

They seem like good kids, and the chow here's not bad either (and it's free!) which is always a plus.  My FAO is all over me, though, like a Predator drone on an Afghan wedding ceremony.  That kind of chafes me, not gonna lie.  Still, it's probably for the best; my Mandarin is terrible, and I really should be working on it, so Mr. Wang's my interpreter.

We're headed into town on Saturday, to check out the Post Office, bank, etc., which is nice (it also means that tomorrow and tonight will be filled with letter-writing!), so there's that.

Also, I took some photos and videos of the place.

They are, as always, under the jump.

Schools, Sadness, and Snake Liquor

Hey, all.  It's been a hectic and fun-filled* few days here in Yangshuo, enough for me to figure that I owe you lovely people an update!

First things first, I figure I should let those of you who aren't here at Buckland know about the people I'll be referring to - this is no dramatis personæ update, as that'd just be inconvenient for new readers, but it is an important bit of info for those of you who want to know who I'm referring to.  So, with that said, let's start with the roomies here in Yangshuo:  Stephen and Chris (no, not that Stephen and Chris) are, respectively, and Irishman and a Welshman.  They're both headed to Hunan, along with Michelle - one of our Kiwi contingent - and, originally me.  Unfortunately, my school in Longhui county is unable to get a Foreign Teacher just yet due to some paperwork issues, and I'm going to Tongzi town in Guizhou province, instead.  That's not a bad thing, mind you, as I'll be going with Jemma, Darren, and Josh, but the original was a sweet gig where I'd have been the only FT in the school.  Alas!  There will be no golden statue erected to my glory at the end of the year, as I will share it with my fellow teachers.  Such is life, though!

Next we have a bit of sadness; nothing bad, mind you, but still sad.  A couple nights ago, Chara, Bre, and I went to dinner with a local gentleman named Michael, who is from the northern part of the country.  He ordered before we arrived, and got a specality of his home town - fried dog.  Chara, perhaps wisely, declined, while Bre thought he was saying 'duck,' and didn't realize it was dog until much later.  I figured it couldn't be worse than hákarl, and I was right.  It wasn't bad at all - a bit rich, kind of gamey, and a little tough, but definitely edible.  Then I realized the bones were very small (they eat most of their meat on the bone here), which made me think of Kaylee, which made the meat taste of sadness.  And not the good kind of sadness, where the young animal's life is cut short tragically,** but rather man-sadness, and that is a terrible taste.

And now on to the snake liquor.  Last night was the last night we were all going to be together - Bre, Chara, Jonathan and Julie left at 9am today, and Sasha, Mckay, and Jenni left at noon - so we decided to go out and get...festive.  Which we did.  Potentially to a bit of excess, which I will blame entirely on the consumption of snake liquor.  Now, that's not liquor made from snakes, but rather liquor that has had a snake drowned in it.  It actually wasn't that bad - it tasted, for those of you who have had it, like Jólabrennivín, though a bit...snakier, I suppose.  Either way, though, not too terrible.  It was a fun night and a good way to unwind without doing anything too crazy.  Of course, the night had to end some time and, when Stephen, Ellen, Jemma, and I were asked to leave around...early in the morning, we found ourselvs picking our way down West Street in the pitch blackness of night.  Ordinarily, that wouldn't be too much of an issue, but it started raining.

Now, for those of you unaware of just how it rains here, I should explain something:  Back in Canada, and even in Iceland, rainstorms tend to come in lashings of raindrops, even at their worst.  Very rarely do you get sheets of water pouring from the sky and soaking you to the bone.  Well, let me tell you a little something about China: That sort of rain - the sheeting, bone-soaking, leave-you-feeling-like-you've-drowned kind - seems to be the most common.  And so when we did finally get home - after stopping for noodles, and me becoming a tourist attraction for a number of Chinese labourers who thought that a gigantic bearded guy was the coolest thing ever - I was completely and utterly soaked.  My wallet felt like it had gone through the wash.  It was...unpleasant.

Fortunately, the next day - yesterday - things were drying fairly well, so we went to have an English breakfast on West Street and, afterwards, took a boat tour along the Li river.  It was very Apocalypse Now, and as such, I took a good number of photos, and they are, as always, available for your viewing pleasured beneath the jump.


*For a given value of fun.
**This is what makes lamb and veal taste so delicious.  A true scientific fact.

Coming to you live from the other side of the world!

Hey, all, I'm back, but not in Iceland!

Nope, this is coming to you from China - Yangshuo, to be specific.  I'm here for 12 months teaching English, and just got in on Sunday afternoon, after a 2/ hour trip from Toronto to Hong Kong to Guilin to Yangshuo.

Thus far, I've been floored by the scenery (which should come as no surprise) and just how green everything is.  Also, how wet it is.  It's not raining now, but it has been, apparently, for the last five days straight.  I have an umbrella, but I'm thinking that a poncho/rain-cloak would probably be a safer investment.  That should give you an indication of how wet it is here, by the way; I hate umbrellas and rain-gear, normally.

Anyway, not much going on yet - administration and whatnot, really - but I did get some photos snapped with my cellphone (which is likely to be my main camera here), so, without further ado, you can check them out under the read more jump!