A Massage with some Chinese Staff/ The IRP Police

So I got a massage at the mall near the school yesterday.  I went out to eat with some of the Chinese staff.  We had ramen noodles.  They were okay.  Nothing special.

After that, we headed to a massage parlor (no, not a brothel), and had a 100 minute massage.  Initially the massage was for my feet, but I guess the masseuse got bored (or fed up) with massaging my feet.  She gave me a whole body massage instead. Good deal...especially since I only paid the foot massage price.


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I remember at UBC, my old FAs used to tell my cohort and I that there are no IRP police (Instructional Resource Packages or IRPs, are the curriculum standards of BC schools).  Well, looks like that wasn't true.  Tomorrow, the BC teacher's accreditation team come in to take a look at everyone's lessons.  I think I'm ready.  Let's hope so.

Many Things Happening/ Trip Plan

Well, I haven't updated this thing for a long while.  There are many reasons for this.

I've been slowly planning for my 5 week trip around East Asia.  South Korea and North Korea just had an exchange of artillery fire.  I'm not sure if this will make me change my plans or not.  Probably not, but it's too early to tell.

Because I worked an extra day last month, we get two 3 day weekends in December!  Nice trade off!  For Christmas, I'm going to a hot spring with some of the Chinese staff.  For New Years, I'm going to visit the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an with some Canadian colleagues. Hen hao!!!



 I think I temporarily got sick last weekend.  I haven't exercised recently because I've been busy at work.  And I missed the school bus to go to free Kung Fu lessons.

Here's my preliminary trip plan:

January 15 - Bus from Wuhan to Jingzhou (ancient capital of the Kingdom of Chu, a powerful state during the Warring States Period).

Jan 16-21 Jingzhou

Jan 22 Wuhan to Seoul, South Korea

Jan 22-27 Seoul

Jan 27 - Feb 1 Travel through South Korea to Busan

Feb 1-3 Busan

Feb 3 - Busan, SK to Fukuoka, Japan (via hydrofoil)

Feb 5- To Osaka

Feb 5-8 Osaka

Feb 7 Day trip to Nara

Feb 8-9 Kyoto

Feb 10-14 Tokyo

Feb 14-16 Sendai

Feb 17 Sendai to Tokyo

Feb 18 Tokyo to Wuhan

Trip Planning: South Korea and Japan

Well, it's time.  I have to start planning for my trips to Japan and South Korea.  Trying to find cheap tickets in my spare time.  I might spend 1 week somewhere else in China before heading off to the Land of the Rising Sun.  I figure I should go to Japan, then to Korea.

Today I did my first high school invigilation.  I was so excited, I told one of the veteran teachers that I look forward to "bagging and tagging" a cheater.  The 3 hour exam went smoothly, and no one cheated (or perhaps I didn't catch anyone cheating).

Anyways, aside from supervising exams, marking and finalizing report cards, I'm running more often, and trying to score some cheap plane tickets to Osaka. From there, I'm going to bullet train to Kyoto, Tokyo, then Sendai to see my friend.

If I'm staying in China for a week before heading off to the easternmost countries in East Asia, where do you think I should go?  I'm thinking Hong Kong, but I'm open to suggestions.

Halloween Anelects

This Halloween I wanted to be Bruce Lee in a custom-made yellow jump-suit.  It never happened because I didn't place an order with the tailor in time.  Maybe next year.  I was Hannibal Lector/ a zombie instead.

 I was at Metro (a Costco type store) trying to find a costume, and my backpack (with my digital video camera) went missing.  I ran around the store trying to find it, thinking someone stole it.  I even ran around the parking lot.  I panicked in front of my colleagues, including my principal.  But then one of my colleagues took my backpack out of his cart.  Apparently, he thought I misplaced it, and took it for safety reasons.
 
I got totally pwned in every game I played this weekend.  I got pwned in darts, 20 questions, foosball, a staring contest, ball hockey, a 100 meter dash, and computer chess.  Lucky for me, none of these were for money or drinking games.

I didn't dress up for school because I woke up too late to apply my zombie makeup. Luckily I had a Hannibal Lector mask.  I put it on for the day, but changed to a zombie for the Halloween party at night.

I decided not to bring drinks to the teacher Halloween party because I intended not to drink this weekend (see the last post for the reason why).  We all went over to my colleague's house.  Told me I wasn't allowed to drink anything in his glasses unless it had alcohol.  He gave me a quarter bottle of rum and told me to finish it.  Had some, but then switched back to water, claiming it was vodka.  If you're one of my colleagues reading this, let's just say you act really, really funny when you're drunk.

I went to a Chinese restaurant this weekend with some of my Chinese colleagues.  I remember something good professor Henry Yu once said about Chinese restaurants in Vancouver: the better the food, the worse the service.  Obviously he was joking (maybe), but I found out it applies to Chinese restaurants in Wuhan.  Fill in the blank.  The food was so good!  The service was __________________.

Saying "Wo xihuan Wuhan" to a taxi driver guarantees he will drive you to the right location.

He bu he?

Hedy: Paul, I think they're trying to get you drunk.
[Some of the Chinese teachers continue talking in rapid Mandarin]
Paul: That's what I figure. Okay let's do this! Cheers Nicholas! [takes a swig of beer]
[Chinese conversation stops]
Nicholas: Hey Paul, we're gonna play a drinking game. It's called "he bu he?" (to drink or not to drink?)
[Nicholas explains the rules to Hedy in Cantonese]
Hedy: [translating] Basically it works like this. One person covers his eyes. The person to his right points at a person sitting at the table and says "he bu he?" The blind person says either "he" (drink) or "bu he" (not drink). That person the pointer pointed at has to drink. You can point to the blind person and yourself too. You can't pick the same person in a row, but can go back and forth if you want.
Paul: Sounds stupid easy, and probably will make me stupid drunk.  Didn't you say they are trying to get me drunk? They're gonna gang up on me.

...1 hour, many beers and a round of baijiu later...

[One of the Chinese staff fronts some more baijiu towards Paul]

Paul: Oh man, I don't like this game at all. I can't believe I'm still standing.  Hey this guy's trying to get me to do another round of baijiu! Eh, how about Nicholas here? [hands Nicholas a cup of the stuff]
Nicholas: No, I can't handle that stuff. [divides his share between Paul and a Chinese teacher]
Paul: Um...okay...

[Paul stares at a glass half full of baijiu]

Wuhan Anti-Japanese Protests

So, if you've been reading world news, you might know that there recently has been a wave of anti-Japanese protests throughout China, but particularly in Wuhan.  It's gotten pretty rough around here.  A Sony store in the mall near my international school got smashed up.  A few days ago, 2 of my colleagues were scooting around town and saw a division of police in riot gear coming away from a local university.

About 10 hours ago, the staff and I were told by the head office that we have to work tomorrow (Saturday, October 23rd) because Wuhan's civic government ordered all schools (middle school to university level) to remain open. Apparently, this move would encourage youth not to participate in a major upcoming anti-Japanese rally scheduled for tomorrow.  It has been deemed "illegal" and the police and military have been called in to stop it by arresting protesters.

I'm not sure what group is pushing this protest-that-might-turn-riot.  This is China, so perhaps there might be an ultra-nationalist student activist group behind all this.  Indeed, it has been those groups that have fueled mass zeal here in China for the last century and a half.

I also think that people here who are easily disillusioned and dissatisfied in some way with their life (and there are a lot of these types of guys in China) are easily mobilized by the prospect of fighting with authorities and smashing stuff. They might come out in droves in the next few days. Would the CCP throw these guys in the slammer? We'll see.

To read a bit about the situation, here's a link to the NY Times Asia Pacific world briefings HERE.

Funny how Fox News says the authorities are "allowing" anti-Japanese demonstrations. Who knows...they might be right, but maybe not.  Although they did use Associated Press for this one...Read about it HERE

Also funny is how all of this was sparked by a little island in the sea, and a detained Chinese captain on a Japanese boat.

Now, the hard part for me: how will I engage this political issue with my class if it arises through conversation? I've already heard many anti-Japanese remarks in the hallways over this week...

Shanghai Expo Story #106: The Philippines Pavillion

Paul: Hey Boss, let's go into the Philippine Pavilion. Let's see what my peeps have to offer!

Nicholas: Alright! You're the Chief, Chief!

P: [Approaches the pavilion] Oh God, there's no Chinese lining up there. Typical.  Let's take a look inside.

[Both P and N walk in and are met with blaring Pinoy hip-hop.  Two Filipino DJs are on a stage.  Both look like some of Paul's cousins].

P: [Desperately tries to keep his laughter to himself as he looks around].

N: Eh Paul! Look how many instruments are scattered around here! You got guitars, mics, drums, pianos, traditional instruments, and DJ booths. I take it Filipinos really like their music.

P: [recovering] Ahem! Cough! Um...yeah.  Hey, let's get some food here. Filipino food is awesome. Nice break from Chinese.  You'll love it!

[Both walk to the food counter.  Not to many people are eating around them, and the people eating in the food area are almost exclusively Filipino].

P:  Kumusta! I'll have a halo-halo and a leche flan.

Server: [Raises eyebrows] Oh oh. Mmm...nice t-shirt!

P: [Looks down and realizes he's wearing a Manila shirt]. HEY! This proves that I'm not fully Chinese!

...

[As N and P eat Filipino desserts, more people, mostly white and Pinoy, enter the pavilion].