hey am back in Shaoxing ... again

Hi all

Well made the break from Yuyao and am back in Shaoxing. The first place I came to back in February. I have been lucky that a co teacher from Yuexiu last semester is also here in Shaoxing after her own bad experience in another part of China second time round. And she has offered me a room to stay at. The white wall with chinese characters is my new home and address. Interesting she has a place in Turkey and is planning to go there and open a school. ... might have some possibilities down the track.

I have now been here for a few weeks and have settled mostly. I had some stress re my visa status but now sorted and I om ok. More recently I have been doing some part time work, ironically for the same Co I left in Yuyao but a different owner and mangement. And next week the 2 Aussies working there go home so I will be quite busy then til they replace them. Good for me to keep busy and get replenish my cash reserves.

Also been looking for a new full time job for next semester that starts in Feb09. I am trying to get into Beijing or Shanghai but is very competitive. Also have back up plan if that fails. cross my fingers I can get something good.

Anyway, winter has arrived here. It is cold but not freezing here yet. Mostly about zero or just abouve at night and most days sun is out. I took a couple of pic of the place for your info. I really luv this one on a restaurant that says Chinese Food. deh, we are in middle china and like there is nothing else around but chinese food. Except KFC and Macs of course. Also a pic or two of the old Shaoxing area and canal. I hope you like.

As always am happy to hear any comments from you on this site or by email.

cheers.

Oh by the way, yes I am ok and missing you all but not Oz and work there.

Hangzhou West Lake ...

I recently had to go to Hangzhou for teacher training at TEFL headquarters. Not so strangely when I got there, they told me the training was cancelled for that day. GGrrr... Now right now I live in Yuyao. And I have to get up very early and catch the train 2hrs and then 40min taxi ride to TEFL Hangzhou. So I was no real happy when they told me that it was cancelled that day. And that I would have to go back home again and come back the next day.... I don't think so.

So just lucky that a co-worker(Bruce) from Yuyao centre comes from Hangzhou and was there that day on his day off. He has a car so drives. And yes he is Chinese. Crazy drivers, but that is another story. I told the headquarters people that I would stay overnight but they had to pay the hotel bill. Long story short, yes this happened and my Yuyao centre manager paid the hotel.

And I had the day and night in Hangzhou. Bruce and I went to part of West Lake. My pics are ok, but West Lake is the most famous in all of Zhejiang Province and is synonymous with Hangzhou. Something like the Summer Palace in Beijing. So here are a few pics for you. It is huge and would take days to walk or ride all around and thru it. Bruce and I also went out for some dinner in a local restuarant place and had a foot massage after at the massage shop next door. Very civilised.

Actually the massage was very interesting situation. Imagine we are in room with like 4 large recliner chairs. Bruce and I sitting in chairs alongside each other chatting in English and the massage girls doing their job. We can chat about any topic we choose in English as the girls speak no English. Interesting situation ... and conversation. (sorry no details for you)

Here you go some pics of Hangzhou's West Lake. Sorry none of the massage shop or girls, but if you want some email me back and I will go and get some for you. Cheers for now. I have some news re Yuyao soon in following blogs.

TEFL headquarters Hangzhou (boo, hiss)

Hi everyone, well I have left Yuyao now. My time so far in China has been bitter sweet. The people working there in most cases were great. And I really enjoyed the company. Nice little place Yuyao. BUT the TEFL school in Yuyao turned out to be brand new with no students and 2 foreign teachers and way to many Chinese employees. So after my one month of probation they flicked me. actually in one breath they flicked me and than asked me to stay longer. Of course with a hidden agenda. anyway I stayed. I needed the money and a place to stay. And get this the best or wrost thing is they flicked me but I had to pay them all this money for costs and stuff. Anyway a long arguement happened with head office and me about wat I would pay and what I would do next etc. They insisted I go to another school of course one that they had trouble filling vacancies. and I said no way. so push came t shove and I had to pay them money or have my visa cancelled. SO I paid... not happy. ANd since then I spoken to many people about the visa situation. ALways conflicting info. and the CHinese Dept that handles it speaks no english so cannot find out the real story. this is a work in progress because they are very heavy fines if the visa gets cancelled. my main anxiety right now.
On a happier note I have left Yuyao and am back in Shaoxing. Staying with an Aussie friend who extended a hand of help. thank god. I have been aboe to get some pert time work for a little cash. as yet no a lot but am surviving. Mid term I am looking to get a job back in a college or University for the start of new semester in Feb09. Prospects look good to get a good job. SO I am optimistic. So even though I am signuificantly poorer right now I think the failed TEFL job at Yuyao may be a blessing in disguise. crossong my fingers. Right now I am saying a lot of ....."fucking chinese". they alwasy find a way to screw ya.
The pics here on the post are of the TEFL headquarters in Hangzhou. Got any eggs anyone. I want to throw them at the building. They are in the new looking building and I thought the ironic thing was that this other really great looking building is right nest door. boo hiss TEFL ... I dont like you one one bit.

anyway life is better now in SHaoxing. I have friends here and am feeling more secure even if I dont have a job. Just have to sort the visaresidency thing out and I will be much happier.

I hope all is well there in Oz. I know it is warmer there. Winter is about to hit here and that is scary becuz it is alreay freakin cold. last night minus one. and winter not begun properly yet .......
always happy to hear from you ...
zai jian
Mike

Little Yuyao by night .... and Mickey mouse garden

Hello all
I have been here for about 7 weeks now. Alas my days are numbered here in Yuyao. More details on what and when and how next time. Today I will show you a few pictures of this little city by night.

Most night I have been working so had little chance to go down the main street when most of the people are out and about. Also never realised some of the lights and hi-lights around the place. Remember this is a small place by Chinese standards. But is quite wealthy and clean, especially in the main city area.

So the other night when I had some time and I was out and it was not so cold or raining. Yes, is rare that all these things coincide. I took a few pics of the place. There is a hill in the centre of the city (the name escapes me right now) but is lit up at night with coloured spotlights and many lights in the trees and walkways leading up there. An easy walk and quite safe at night. Actually just realised that I have one recent pic of me up top of the hill, but in the daytime.... so here you go.

the Chinese do like to get out on these kinds of nights and you see people in parks and areas together dancing and entertaining their kids (oops sorry that should be "kid"). Here are some pics of the streetscape. And there is a very interesting little garden right on the corner of the main street and the road that leads to the hill. Mickey and Minney mouse garden. They must be 4m tall I think. Easily twice my height. These are actually rare pics because there is just one chinese in them. That is almost impssible normally. Although when I was taking these there were a couple of tricycle drivers having their say about me taking the pics.

Pretty little place Yuyao and friendly people. .... enjoy. I am always interested to hear your comments if you have to say.

this week in Yuyao

o

Hi all
well what a week.... dead boring at work. I am off now for 2 days but the last 3 days at work I had zero classes. and let me tell you that is boring as batshit. Especially when I have to be in the office for the 8 hrs. 1-9pm of pure boredom.
Actually the only plus is that I get to chat to my co-workers and learn a little bit more survival chinese. Oh yeah and sometimes we go out to eat, so get to find out where some good eating places are and eat some good food.

This week has been a combination of a stack of things that I swear where are conspiring to send me a message .. " go home Michael, go back to Australia". things at work like the boss saying stuff like we could not chat online, couldn't do this or that. I think he is young and inexperienced. Also just little things like the ATM not working for me when I need cash (problem ok now), a flat tyre on the bike and some minor shit like that. I have to say that my bank account is bleeding, having forked out lots of costs to come from Oz and get setup and live here. I am really looking forward to getting paid on the 10th Nov. Only once a month here.

But the most exciting thing that happened to me this week was .... almost getting knocked off my bike by a freakin lunatic taxi driver on the wet road. The drivers here are crazy at best but they don't slow at all in the wet. Most cars are not in good shape. So I am riding home the other night and had to cross from the bike lane to the middle of the road so I could turn. I did that ok and I am right in the middle of the road about to turn when I hear a cars wheels lock up behind me, and sliding tyres on the wet road and then "whack" into the back of my bike. Lucky it was a glancing blow and I did not get knocked off the bike. But I was shaken. And the bloody taxi driver just straightened up and drove off. Maybe lucky he didn't stop I would have been very agro I think. I am ok, not hurt.

The bike was a little bent though in the back wheel. Buckled we would say. So I had to take it to 2 different places next day to get it fixed. Fixed now, I guess it is 90% and that is as good as it will get. Still ok to ride. Here is a pic of my bike FYI.

Oh one other good thing that happened this week. I got my passport back with the resident permit. Doesn't sound much but is a big thing. The process is long and started in Oz. So here you go treat yourself to a look at it. hahahaha

thats it for today ...
zai jian

See the foreigner in the window ...

Hi all
Hey if you ever want to know what is like to be a sideshow and have everyone stare at you .. .then my advice is come to China. We talk about it as the freak show. They just stare at us as being different, and not very subtley either. And yes I know some of you may be thinking ... yeah so we already know you are a freak. Yes that may be true, but the Chinese don't know that.

Anyway I am one of quite a few foreigners here in Yuyao (so I am told). I have to say that I have met 2 others and seen a few on the streets so I know there are some here. But, I sometimes go to McDonalds to get a 30c cone (2.5 yuan here) and I always sit inside near the window to watch the world go by. Outside is usually quite a few of the tricycle taxis (not sure what the correct name is?) And this tricycle driver just started staring at me through the window. I even waved at him to try and break his gaze. But he just kept staring right at me. So I took a pic and here it is. He just showed no emotion at all and kept on staring, even when I took the photo. Strange people at times.

Around Yuyao ... parking Yuyao style and stuff

Hi
I was on my way to work and just around the corner from work is the only 5* hotel in Yuyao. Always out front are many "black" cars. Usually very expensive cars like Lexus, Merc, BMW, Audi and more. Red is China's colour, no doubt for almost everything, except cars. Black is the go for cars if you have any money of course. And there is lots of $$$ here in Yuyao.
Yuyao is apparently the "plastic" capital of China. I am surprised they dont have plastic cars ... hey there is a idea. I have one student (a very wealthy business guy) who I can talk to about that idea. He has the money and businesses to make it. He has 4 businesses and believe it or not one of them is stationery manufacturer and another is a promotional products branding business. He has NO chinese customers, all from outside Zhong Guo (China).

Anyway, when I was going to work past this hotel, I noticed one of the black cars parked (I think) and took a photo. Check it out. Anything goes here. At least this car is stopped. The stuff these guys do when driving on the roads is scary at best. Road rules (what road rules), and traffic lights are for decoration only. And they complain to me that foreigners make fun of them because they dont obey the road rules. Der, my response is always ... well you don't obey the rules. I don't have any pic's of the actual breaking the road rules but I do have the 5* hotel front and the car "parked" outside with a string of other black cars.

New Job opening day ...

Hi all

We had the official ceremony for the opening of the school last week. Here are some pic for you of the place plus co-teachers and co-workers . Included in the pics is a Filipina girl (Noreen), who was my other foreign teacher. Sad story that I am still annoyed/upset about that the principal didnt think she looked "foreign" enough so fired her. That is the true reason although we had been told a series of bullshit about other reasons why??? I understand it is his business but the circumstances were just awful. I am not going to detail them here but enough to say that as of that day I do not trust the principal now.
The school went to a lot of trouble to dress the place up. And importat people came from head office and around the place. Names I do not know, and also because no one told me what they were or who they were. .. Oh yeah that is another thing I will tell you about sometime soon ... the Chinese communication ways.

Today is offiicially day 14 of my new job. Things seem to have settled quite a bit but a lot has happened in some ways and not a lot in other ways. The actual work I have had to do is minimal so far.
This is a brand new school/franchise so there are not a lot of students yet. I won't bore you with the details of how it works but my role with the students is small initially. So up to now I have spent a lot of time on the internet chatting and surfing the net (as they say here). I know things will pick up as we get more students.
Also there has been little structure about the office. There has been no head of the Teaching Dept until yesterday. And that has made it difficult to understand what they want me to do. The school is a franchise and sells its product to students based on "the franchise system" of learning. So far I have not been asked to go to the training in Hangzhou to know what the hell is the system??. So that is a bit frustrating, I just make up some basic stuff in any class I have had to do. Not hard really because they think everything I say is good because it is English. And the English level of most students is basic at best. Good place to be huh?
So everyday but 2 each week I got to work at 1pm til 9pm and fill the FT(foreign teacher) spot .. so far. I do hope that I will be complaining I am so busy at some point in the not to distant future ...

Chinese gardening .... this is amazing.

Hi
Interesting here that they seem to have lots of money to spend on "new" construction but bugger all to spend on maintenance. Things seem to age very quickly. Anyway on another note, there are lots of people (understatement, I know) but gardening is one things they are very very good at. They can turn an ordinary garden into a spectacular show.
Check out these pic's to illustrate it. and there are many more, I just can't add them all here.

Yu Yao interesting happens ... photo's photo's photo's

As a foreigner here we are always a bit of a curiosity. They all stare as you walk by. Some more obvious than others. It takes a little while to get used to. But they always give you a friendly look or smile. And it's hard not to get the impression that they want to talk to you and ask questions. Obviously, the big problem is that most people here do not speak much if any english other than "hello".

So I was in KFC the other day to get some food. Not knowing any other food place to eat at that stage. And there was just nowhere to sit and eat. KFC is very popular here (they are on every corner). But nowhere to sit in this one. So I walked around and around looking for a seat, with everyone staring at me as I walked ... situation normal really.

Anyway after a little while I was beckoned over to a table of middle school students (teenagers) and they insisted I sit with them. Excellent, because I was jack of walking in circles. These youg kids were great. They spoke some english and were wrapped that a foreigner would sit and talk to them. They took some photo's, as the chinese always want to do with us. And so I took a pic of them. See it here. As it turned out it was one of the young boys birthday. We all sang happy birthday in English to him and it really was a good time.

The photo thing goes on all the time. Often when you will be walking in the street people will angle to take a pic of their friend, but it will be arranged to include you in the background. Interesting really. They take it without asking, not that it is a problem. Others just come right up and ask for a photo.

Our school is very new and we sent a marketing team out to the street to hand out flyers the other day. they were dressed as astronauts. Very appropriate here in China at the moment. I just happened to be out in the street after buying my new bike, and had just left the store with it when we an into the marketing team. They asked for photos ... what can I say. So here are some pics of the team and me on the street.

Back at work ... The TEFL Academy Yu Yao

ni men hao

Well I have had my summer vacation and now back to work. As some of you may know I have been a little stressed about this whole return to China and all the stuff that goes with it. Maybe unnecessarily but it is the great uncertainty that usually gets me going. Anyway each day another piece of the puzzle is put in place and I think all is well now. Allowing for the usual chinese stuff of language communication and they drop stuff on ya at the last minute. Other than that it's all good right now.

I am happy with my apartment, the job seems good, the people good, the boss good. I have just got home from my first day on the job. And if anything I was bored out of my mind for most of the shift ( 1pm to 9pm).

It is a new franchise so students are not yet busting the door down. Although I am sure they will when they hear I am here. I had just 2 class sessions today. One with only one student (10yr old girl) and the other with 2 business types at 8-9pm.
The young girl was ok english, not good but ok. The business types spoke very little english. Kinda fun really. They are so so keen. And you know in the end I can say any dam thing I like and they really have no clue. Not that I do but there is always the option to do it.

Anyway end of day 1 and all is good. Hope there are many more good ones. But just a little busier would be good.

zai jian

And then there was... Xiao Shan, Xinchang and eating Ostrich meat

I am going back in time a little here ... but I arranged to go visit the hometown of two students after my work was over in China. So after I finished work at the Yuexiu college and then went to the summer school for the 11 days I went to XiaoShan for 3 days and Xinchang for 5 days to visit with students. Both places are within Zhejiang Province and just a bus ride from Shaoxing where the Yuexiu College and the summer school was.

In XiaoShanI visited with YanWen (english name Samantha). We had become friends early in the semester through one of the student english clubs and she was a student of my colleague Dianne. A smart girl whose English is quite good mostly. She is very interested to see the world and so English learning was important to her. Unfortunately, this is contrary to what her mother wants for her. (a common dilemma here in China it seems) . So she was keen to have a foreigners point of view on how to get what she wanted. What can I say I did my best. I am sure YanWen will do what she needs to do to make it all happen. A very happy time there for a few days. Where Yan Wen lived was a little way from the city centre of XiaoShan but she arranged a hotel for me close by to her home, so this worked well and I was not left to find my own way or places to eat.

XiaoShan is close by to Hangzhou and one day we took the bus there for some sightseeing. We went to Wushan Square. A place close by to the West Lake (Hangzhou's most famous attraction). Many shops there of all sorts. Themed old town streets. But the highlite for me was this little store where this little old lady was doing silk cross-stitch pictures. And the detail was just amazing, using the finest silk thread. I dont know how she was able to see, she must have been 80. But she showed us this large item she said she had been working on a long long time. It was of a large tiger and maybe 2 metres x 600mm. The detail ws incredible. I wanted to buy it until she told me it was 3000RMB. I decided I could not fit it in my suitcase this time.
Here are some pic's of YanWen and the Wushen Square streets we went to .. hope you like.

In Xinchang, I visited with another student by the name of Xiao Xu. English name May. She was my student and we had become friends also early in the semster. It actually is not uncommon for the students to invite you to come to their hometowns (boys and girls). If you recall I went to Zhuji earlier in the semester with Shirley and Daisy. Another situation of visiting a hometown. And there were other invitations but it was not possible to go to them all.
Anyway Xinchang. A small city by Chinese standards and by this time the middle of summer, so freakin hot. And I am sure I was the only foreigner in the whole city. Not that that is a problem, but the locals did dwell when they stared.

Xiao Xu found me a good little hotel that was cheap but very functional, even had internet. She would come over early in the morning before it was to hot and we would venture out. Most of the sightseeing was done early morning and late afternoon/evening to avoid the heat. In the evenings there was literally thousands of people on the streets and in the parks to take advantage of the cool night air.
Xinchang's main claim to fame is a place called DaFo. The locals know that if you go very early in the morning, certain gates are open and you do not have to pay. So along went Mike, XiaoXu and her 3 friends (names ?).
It is like a big theme park but a real mixture of things. There were temples (of course), a garden type area that had replica dinosaurs, several amazing areas with stone grotto's with buddha's and the most amazing and largest female buddha in China. It was in a cave above the park that looked down over a small lagoon, steps carved from the stone up thru the hill and minded by buddist monks. All in all a very impressive place was DaFo.
Not a lot else happened in Xinchang. general sightseeing of things that are common in most Chinese cities. But one other thing that I did do .... One of XiaoXu's friends was involved in breeding Ostrich for meat. She took us to a restaurant one night for dinner and on the menu was the ostrich. I was a little apprehensive at first, but you know better to taste first? which I did and man, it was the most tender meat I had eaten in a long time. I would highly recommend it. I can't say that I know how it was prepared, but however they cooked it was superb. try it is you get the chance ...

So here are some pics of Xinchang. The Dafo park, including dinosaurs, and buddha's. And a real treat for you(if it has worked). The short video I made of the largest female buddha in China. .... enjoy