Soo...the weather's nice today!

Yeah, I know that's supposed to be the topic that you talk about when you have nothing to say...and well, I haven't seen you guys for a while, so you know...

hehe, not really. The weather here is actually nice today! Over the last couple of weeks it was getting progressively worse. The last two days have been unbelievable. Literally. I wouldn't have believed it a couple of months ago.

Here are some photos I took yesterday and then today:

This is yesterday. The flowerpot on the left is the same one I'm standing in front of in the next photo.

Even the flowers are happier!!

The photo's are from my phone, so they aren't the best quality. The building you are looking at is the library at my campus. The best part of these photos is the tall building behind the library. I couldn't actually see it yesterday! Our poor, poor, lungs!

So, how's the weather in Aus? Paul was telling me they were expecting a tornado in Brisbane last week...how did that go?! I heard it's getting pretty warm too. We are waiting for the cold snap here, I think it's coming, it got quite cold today. It was still only 11C or something, so not too cold, but they are predicting a very cold winter this year. (YAY FOR SNOW!)

ok, over and out!

The Hospital!

Esther in front of the emergency department...

It's ok, everything's fine!

I took my friend Esther to the hospital today as it is quicker than visiting a doctor. She had a sore throat, sore belly...you know...all the stuff you get in China! Apparently it is the change of the season that everyone gets sick!

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you...this is Caitlin by the way!

Me: Not sick! :)

So, we made our way to the hospital..poor Esther hasn't even been out of bed for the last couple of days, so it was exhausting. First we ask someone who repeats very loudly all of the most emabarrasing of Esther's symptoms so that not only are we being stared at as 'waiguo ren' (foreigners) but everyone is having a little chuckle as well!! So we make our way to the appropriate window and pay 20rmb (Still not sure what it was for..). While waiting for the little red stamps to be put on the reciepts, a guy walking down the corridor hawks something up and spits it onto the floor. Yes. Inside the hospital. So, after paying at one counter, someone takes us to see the doctor. Each doctor has a desk joined to and facing another doctor, their respective patients share the bench seat that runs along the desk...

I won't blabber on too much...I'll let the pictures say their thousand words...

Esther filling out the paperwork...[note of the little red stamp in front of the doctor, this is one of many...]

In China, privacy isn't an issue! This is one of the many times we were interrupted by angry sick people demanding something from OUR doctor! Another note on privacy: when the doctor found out we went to Shanda Uni, she asked if we knew another overseas student and if we could take her results back to her...Esther: "No, we don't know who you're talking about" Dr: "Well, she's black and has long hair in plaits. Can you tell the black girl that we still have her results?" Esther: "No. That's your problem, not mine." Caitlin: *quietly chuckles in disbelief*

Say "Aah!" [yes, it was a camping torch...]

The only waiting we had to do...10 mins for the blood test results!

In the midst of these photos, we have been to the cashier twice and then back to the doctor, then to the blood test, and then wait, and then back to the doctor, and then back to pay for the drugs and then to the next window to get the prescription to take to the third window up, and then get the drugs from this window, and then back to the doctor for her to stamp everything with her red stamp. In the end I think it cost 226rmb over 3 trips to the cashier. Hopefully it all comes back on insurance...coz that is why we pay it!

These are just some of the windows that we visited!

For all of those pharmacists out there...how good are your working conditions? Although there are so many people in here, they probably don't have to do too much!

It's ok Esther...just one more window...just one more little red stamp...ok, ok, make that two...

Yes...the doctor is on her mobile...

Apparently getting an IV drip is the cure for everything. This is a baby with a drip, and grandma is holding it up for him. [ps..can you see the baby's nappy?!] About the drip too, we were wary enough of the blood test (which turned out to be a prick on the finger and squeeze enough blood out), so when the doctor told Esther she needed a drip this is what happened: Caitlin: "She really needs a drip?" Dr: "Yes, very important" Caitlin: "Why? What is it for?" Dr: "For fever" Esther: "If I take the medicine, won't I be ok?" Dr: "Yes" Caitlin and Esther: "Then does she really need the IV?" Dr: : "ok...maybe not..." hehehehe There were people hooked up to IV's everywhere in the waiting room...

Other differences I noticed:

*Man spat in the corridor

*Woman sitting next to a bin shuffles over slightly when a nurse directs vomiting patient to bin. Nurse slaps patient on the back...

* While Esther was waiting for the blood test results, we were directed to some chairs...one of which had a used cotton bud (to stop the bleeding) and all of them had bloodstains on them.

We stood.

*China loves uniforms. I think we could count a minimum of 3 different coloured nurse uniforms, 2 different ones for the doctors, and 2 different guard uniforms!

*The ambulances and emergency vehicles have to compete for parking space in the public carpark!

Other than all of that however, it was a very interesting and a quite quick visit! I know it's not uncommon to have to wait for hours in an Aussie emergency waiting room! We got straight in here.

I think, apart from being exhausted, Esther had lots of fun as I snapped photos of everything and told jokes (coz I'm so awesome at telling jokes!)

:)

ok, ta ta for now! xoxoxox

This is the result: 2 boxes of antibiotics, one bottle of something for a tummy ache, one stip of tablets for headache and fever, and one book of everything - in chinese! This makes one happy Esther! :)

Last Saturday...

Hey Everybody,

I know there are some of you who out there for a dying for another tasty morsel of delicious noob blogging so I've decided to feed your hunger for uninspired non-literary ramblings about our time in China. Down boy/girl!

Ok so I'll tell you what we did last Saturday night...

Caitlin went to a party with a bunch of her foreign friends and I went to KTV with another teacher from my school and some of our students. Much fun was had by all. The girls had to be back at the school by 10:30 as this is their curfew!!! (Yes even on the weekend! These are 20 - 21 year year olds by the way...imagine trying to enforce rule that in Australia...well I guess they did at Grace College...but they are religious so...)

So yeh, KTV is like karaoke where you pay for a room for a couple of hours and they have a P.A system hooked up to a computer jukebox and a projector and you sing karaoke with your friends. It's weird because I thought the whole point of karaoke was to get drunk and sing in front of people you don't know, but these kids were stone sober and taking it very seriously haha. Although Lemon (my student) came with us and he was drinking. After the girls caught a cab home (at 10:00!) we went out to two bars that were pretty dead and then ended up back at the place Caitlin and I went to a couple of weeks ago (Lan Kwai Fong). Once again, Tequila was had by all and I met Caitlin there too. We had some chats with everyone and got home around 3:30am ish...

My mate Lemon belting out some random Chinese song...

Me belting out some super random English song

Maggie and Renee

Steve and I....as you can see from all the bottles, I have become slightly rosy cheeked...

The sign says it all...although it should read "Cheap Tequila will mess you up big time"

Hello Kitty Lemon

Caity and Cainty - Cainty is famous for her words "Let's Drunk!"...nice

The next morning is what was rad - WE COOKED A FRY UP! Nice, it is so good to eat a sweet awesome fry up...twas hard to find the ham but we got some and treated ourselves to a belly full of greasy western breakfast. I like eggs now too by the way.

Mmmmm...so bad but sooooo good.

So that's about all that's happened this week/last week. I have been working hard and enjoying it and I have also been playing pool with a couple of my students and with Steve at lunch times. Oh and I've also learnt a couple new dishes that I can order so I don't have to keep getting tung su litchi or hong shou tiairzi (sweet and sour pork or braised eggplant). Nice.

Caitlin has been studying like crazy...I'm glad I'm not studying anymore. I'm loving my 4 day work weeks (during which I am encouraged to drink beer and play pool). I haven't actually been drinking as much beer as this blog may lead you to believe by the way, its just that whenever I blog I talk about the times when beer has been drunk because that's when I'm having the most fun/relaxing usually. Don't worry I'm not turning into an alcoholic.......or am I???? Nope, just having a very good holiday!

Ok so here are some candid photos I took of Caitlin studying...because she is literally studying ALL THE TIME!!!! Which is good for her but boring for me lol!

See Caitlin's rad little laptop/study table...it's so awesome! Great for those gen y kids out there who read the news news through a wifi internet connection before they go to bed etc...I'm gonna get one too and I'll get a laptop so Caity and I can do Gen Y reading in bed before we go to sleep....novels are for suckers!

And here are some more photos of my school!

The View - It is so much clearer, crisper and fresher out at my school than it is in Jinan. I can see blue sky everyday which is a real treat!

This is awesometown - They have outdoor ping pong tables at the school. they are always packed at lunchtime. You have to play the breeze though...it requires a new element of skill that I am trying to master. Once you get it though, the swing is amazing!

Steve and a student (Emma) have a friendly game...but most of the girls are as good as the boys so it's a bit harder than what you might expect.

Ok, that will be all for now, if you have any questions post them in the comments and I'll try to answer them....next week hahahaha!

Pauly

Let's go back to the....past....

I finally updated my Qufu post....and it posted under the original date - in September! So you have to go and find it if you want to read about the fantastic adventures I had!! :)

PS: You can use this to travel back to September....just think about the date...close your eyes...and click:

My Students...

Hey all,

Just thought you might like to see a photo of one of my classes. This is my Thursday class of advanced english learners. They are a really great bunch of students.

Unfortunately these are very bad photos. I realised I didn't have the camera set up properly. I'll have to take some more next week, or maybe tomorrow. The fella with the red jacket on and the messed up blurry face is named Ba Yuen but his English name is Lemon. He is one of my mates and we drink beer and eat Shou Cou every Tuesday before I speak at his English Club (he is the president of english club - and there are over 200 members who attend each week!). Cindy is the girl up the front with the striped jacket and next to her is Monica, they both have very good English and Cindy has a crazy imagination (which is quite rare in many chinese students).

Here if you can read my horrible blackboard writing, I am trying to teach them how to differentiate English sounds from Chinese sounds ('Hang' in the chinese vocabulary is pronounced Hung and men is pronounced Mn). So this was a fun lesson getting them to say words like sink and think, hung, hand, sung, sang, sing, sin, win, wine etc...So yeh, now most of them can pronounce these words properly (with a thick Australian accent to boot!). I 'sink' they enjoyed it very much haha. Thanks to the guys from elt edge for the sweet lesson plan (our American friends we met in Qingdao). I'll try to repay the favour a.s.a.p!

O.k, I promise better pictures later on, but now, I am le tired... so I will have a nap.

Pauly

Our mini holiday

Hey everyone, Pauly here...

We arrived home from our little mini holiday in Qingdao yesterday. We had a really great week in the little seaside city and would love to go back there if we ever get another chance.

We stayed at this placed called the YHA Old Observatory and was absolutely fan-bloody-tastic. I highly recommend it to anyone planning to visit the area. It is run by a Chinese family but the guy in charge (AJ) went to high school in the Sunshine Coast and did his university in Boston so his English was really good. His best attribute though (other than being super friendly and a great fella all round) was that he knew what westerners wanted even if the westerners didn't know what they wanted. After being in China for a while, you forget about a lot of little things that you miss and, at this hostel, they had everything from equal sugar and masterfoods tomato sauce to western toilets and great showers, western music/tv/films, soft beds and AMAZING home made pizzas!


But the absolute best thing about this hostel was, by far, the mamahuhu lounge. The hostel is a refurbished observatory as the name suggests and on the top floor there was this great dining/lounging/drinking area that had a fantastically awesome view of Qingdao. It had a basic western restaurant (with great food like real grilled cheese sandwiches and fries, currys, aforementioned home made pizzas, proper steak and chicken burgers with fries etc), a bunch of tables and big lounge chairs, a pool table, great lighting and a tv/dvd projector that projected onto the side of the actual observatory. Another cool thing was that, not only was the bar open until the wee hours of the night, but also the western food wasn't ridiculously priced as it usually is in China.



It was great hanging out up there for a western breakfast, going into town during the day and then coming home and chatting with the friends we made at the hostel and drinking Qingdao beer fresh from the Qingdao brewery.

A special shout out goes out to Snow, Evie, Tim, Bobby and Mike, some awesome American teachers + 1 awesome Chinese girl we hung out with most of the time we were in Qingdao. (Sorry, I just realised we didn't get any photos of you guys and gals!)

EDIT: I found a photo of the group on Snow's facebook. Thankyou web 2.0 and social networking!

The bar also provided a communal acoustic guitar for those late night drinking sessions ;)

When we arrived at the hostel, like the stupid westerners we are, we just assumed we could book a room when we arrived....the day before one of the biggest national holidays of the year in China. So, lo and behold, there were no rooms available at the inn. Luckily, after talking to AJ for a little bit and declining the offer to book a room in a "sauna" down the road, we asked if we could hire one of their tents (they have tents for hire in the summer). He insisted that it would be to cold and said we could sleep a tiny little room that was soon to be refurbished into a massage room. They set up a nice bed for us in there and everything. After that first night, we were able to book the next 3 nights in a perfect little private room with a shower and western toilet, espn and air conditioning. This was much better than what our friends got as they had a few to a room and had to shower in the basement showers....if i remember correctly.

So yeh we went to annual Qingdao beer festival and ate some great meat kebabs (shou cou i think its called), met a dead deer and drank a bunch of beer.

Caitlin and I also did a tour of the Qingdao beer factory.....and then drank a bunch of beer.


LoL - the nutritional values of tsingtao beer. Nice


Every night we would come home and relax upstairs...and attempt to drink a bunch more beer. It was awesometown.

So yeah, if you ever come to China, i definitely recommend the old observatory and Qingdao. Less smog, nice weather, great people, good times.

Oh and the website is soooo much better than any other Chinese accommodation website we have seen so far. We found out that the reason for this is because there is French-Canadian who has been living at the hostel for about a year now who is super talented at web design and Internet promotion. We also met this fellow as his bedroom is linked with the massage room so he got a huge fright when he woke up in the morning to go to the toilet as he has to go through our room first (we were passed out stone cold after the beer festival!). Nice.

So, if you want a taste of our little adventure I suggest u pop down to your local liquor store and pick up a couple of tsingtao/qingdao tallies and imagine yourself in this little piece of paradise.



OK well that is about all for now. I've added a skype button to the site and am automatically sending out e-mails to like 10 email addresses I could remember whenever a new post goes up, k? K.

Argh. have to start teaching again for 12 weeks straight now. Stupid teaching. lol. See yaz.


Pauly