Jun 2008

Most things I need I can buy in China. There are a couple of things I would like, but think I can do without until there is the time when I have a package worthy of asking to be sent, or I can no longer live without.

However sending mail out is the biggest pain. China Post is so difficult to get along with.

I sent a parcel home to my nephew, Shawn, with no real drama except in China they like to pack everything so they packed a sports bag with Styrofoam. The more it weighed the more I would have to pay, right!?!

I successfully sent a lucky charm home to my Mother in ordinary post. I tried the following week to send birthday cards to two friends and had enclosed a piece of costume jewelery - Sorry can't send them, you will need to send them by parcel post. It was not worth sending by parcel post. I then tried to send a gift home to a friend and was told that I couldn't send it because it might break! I then tried to send some thermals home to my sister, Wendy, for her trip to UK with Shawn later this year. They wanted to charge me more than what the thermals cost and told me it would take 6 weeks. I wasn't having that. Then they told me that if I sent it by surface mail it would take 4 months. I was happy to accept the price but not the length of time. I eventually got them down to 6 weeks. I'll wait and see what happens!

Oh well, as they say this is China!

Once cheap, China has long become increasingly expensive. However, simply knowing where and how allows you to live well within your means.

Some things are inexpensive here and other seem to be more expensive. Sometimes it is hard to understand.

For example, I had my hair coloured, cut and blow dried and it cost me $43. The next time I went it to the same hairdresser and had exactly the same done and it cost me $65. In a hotel I paid $6 for a cup of coffee and I had an all you can eat buffet and that cost $14.

Some items are less expensive in Australia ie cameras and computers are best ordered in Oz and shipped back to China - the place they were first made. Ipod's are the same. I'm still trying to decide what I will do, ie buy an Ipod from OZ and ship it or just buy an MP4 player in China??? I will make my decision next week when I go to Jinan.

Every night we go to the same restaurant and have a great meal. The meal cost us somewhere between $1 - $2.

Overall things are less expensive here which is good for us when we are also earning Chinese wages. There is a thought out there that wages will increase so I'm taking an educated guess that we will soon be paying more for the items manufactured in China.

It was very strange when I first arrived as Easter was the following weekend. There was no sign of the Easter Bunny, no mention of Easter and we worked as it was just another normal day.

Anzac Day came and went and trying to explain to the Chinese students what it meant to be an Australian was just wasted.

Queens Birthday was also a holiday here, Dragon Boat Festival. However we still had to work.

It appears in China that public holidays are public holidays however the leaders will decide if you will or won't work. Some of the western teachers from other schools, colleges and universities have days off for public holidays and we don't and vice versa.

Until this year the Chinese enjoyed a long holiday for Chinese New Year however the Chinese Government decided that they should shorten this period and adopt other important days as public holidays.

It is quite amazing how important gardens are to the Chinese people. The gardens everywhere you go are quite amazing. I don't know that we have anything to compare them to.

When I arrived it was only weeks after they had snow and a very cold winter. All the trees were lifeless, everything looked brown and barren. I wondered if everything would every grow in the soil that was almost rocky and full of clay. Although there were pots of colour.

The gardeners work laboriously to ensure that all is taken care of. The gardens are always being updated. Sometimes they leave the flowers in their pots and put a border around it. I don't quite understand this but I'm guessing it makes it easier to replace.

The gardeners weed and change the pots and then the colour scheme changes. When the weather started to warm up green shoots appeared from nowhere. The brown barren land changed to a rainbow of colour almost overnight. The gardens look spectacular.

Overnight there are always changes. Trees are removed and replaced. The lawn around the tree is replaced. It is hard to know that there was any activity at all.

Most people don't have gardens at their homes because they simply live in high rise apartments. You can understand why street scape is so important to them.

The gardenia is a plant I like. I have them in my garden at home and the attraction it is more to do with the perfume. Well we have them in the school gardens and I have been waiting for them to bloom. The first flower opened up this week and I'm looking forward to the others opening soon.

So soon we will have a pretty delicate white flower and a wonderful fragrance that fills the air. The flower itself is short lived and I hope I don't miss it. I might even steal a couple for my apartment!

In China it has been easy to exercise. Basically everywhere I go in my opinion is walking distance. Unless of course I have been grocery shopping then I either catch a Bung Bung or a taxi home.

However in saying this I recall my first day here and how I walked up to the office on the 4th floor and was breathing normal. Soon I found myself walking up and heavy breathing. I decided I needed to do something about this as I didn't want to lose my fitness and all the walking I was doing was purely incidental exercise.

I wrote myself a program and bought a skipping rope I was about to start my exercise regime. This proved difficult. I didn't enjoy running around the school oval whilst my students were there. So I went looking for a gym.

I found one at the Zhong Bai shopping centre on the 4th floor. The gym obviously was not of Australian Standards but had everything I needed. I signed up for 6 months at Y499 ie $83. What a bargain!

I took it easy on my first session. Only to wake the next day with legs that felt like steel, Gluts that hurt to sit and a stomach that hurt to talk. I guess that's what you get for not going for 4 months.

Now I'm focused and have been everyday since. 5 days later my body seems to be back to it's normal self.

Being the only foreigner at the gym is always going to be an interesting experience. On my first day it was like a fish bowl. It was OK though cause I had heaps of people wanting to spot for me. Kind of like having your own personal trainer with out having the associated cost.

The guy at the gym was also friendly. He started sending me text messages, 'When are you coming to the gym next.' Not thinking anything of it I responded. Then the messages became more frequent and the dreaded message, 'I think I like you.' Which of course I did not respond.

My next time at the gym he ignored me. That's cool. The next time he said, 'hi.' Now that he knows my routine he is never there when I go. That's cool by me.

I have some very strict guidelines that basically means I will be a spinster for life. They guidelines are:
1. Must make more money than I do. I'm giving them all a chance with my current income level.
2. Must have a greater net worth than I do. I'm not sharing anything that I have worked for with anyone.
3. They must be in the age group of 35 - 40.
4. Don't care if they have been previously married, but I don't do kids.
5. Don't do mixing of race.

So that just about wipes out the whole male population. Don't care what people think about my guidelines. I am happy being by myself doing what I want to do when I want to do it and with whom I chose to do it with.