Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The hills are alive


100_0280
Originally uploaded by Yuek Hahn.

I just had to give more details about our hike last Sunday, especially since I've finished uploading the pictures that go with it. (Click on the pic and then look at all the pix tagged "1st hike")

Now our hiking experiences have all been in North America--on trails that have been set up in parks and/or wilderness areas. While this had prepared us for the physical walking of the hike, it certainly didn't prepare us for what we were about to see. We started out in the city, walking around our campus and down a commercial street. Except for the newly built orphanage, the buildings were all somewhat old. We ventured up a side street that shortly became a one lane road. The higher we climbed, the more old fashioned the homes became. Fired brick structures gave way to mud bricked ones. We came to a little plaza with a gazebo and an elephant shaped slide. There was a nice viewpoint from which we could see a bit of the campus and the fields behind our building. Venturing further we soon left the buildings behind and our road became a footpath. We climbed around a terraced rice paddy. The rice was so close that we could reach out to touch it. (We didn't. We want to be good guests here.) Beyond the field, the trail started following a ridge. On our right was a small creek or ditch--I couldn't tell if it was natural or not. On our left was a nice view of the city. There was also an occasional group of bamboo plants, larger than I had ever seen. around the foot of them seemed to be husks of bamboo shoots. Whether this is a natural phenomenon, or some folks had been making a snack for themselves, I don't know.

A bit past the bamboo, we passed a small shack in which was chained an irritated dog. He was either telling us to get out of his territory or that we were headed the wrong direction to see the shrines. A few paces past the shack, Michael decided that we were headed in the wrong direction, so we backtracked to the last fork in the trail. We ventured up the road not taken but soon decided that it, too, was the wrong path. As we headed down the switchback, we encountered another big nose. Matthew was a new English teacher at one of the local middle schools. He had never met Michael before, but was acquainted with some of the other expats. He, too, was looking for the shrines and had gone the wrong way. So we figured that if we were going to be lost, it'd be more fun to be lost together. However, between Michael's past experience and the directions Matthew had received, we managed to find the shrines.

The first shrines seemed to be dedicated to the seven immortals of old Chinese literature fame. (Yau Neih knows these things because she's read all sorts of English translations of Chinese classics.)(Me, I've watched a few kung-fu movies.) There were paintings of the seven on the wall, all sorts of gifts left on the ledge beneath the paintings, and a bunch of burnt out joss sticks in the incense urns. I had my usual reaction that I get when I encounter religious practice other than my own--an admiration for the artistry and devotion, mixed with sorrow over our doctrinal differences. Anyway, we rested and photographed for a bit and then ventured up the path to the second shrine. I forget to whom this was dedicated to Kwan Yin--I think she was the goddess of peace, or mercy or something. Michael was delivering a mini-lecture on it, but I wasn't paying close attention as there were some excellent views of the fields and city below us. This shrine had three statues in it, all enclosed behind glass.

There seemed to be yet another shrine up above the second one, this one with a few people already visiting them. Matthew started boldly heading up the trail and I, like Sir Robin at the bridge of infinite peril, bravely followed him. It turns out the "third shrine" was actually somebody's house. The had another one of those concrete gazebos stuck on the edge of the hill and a couple of guys were sitting and drinking tea. They had already invited Matthew to sit a spell, and when I rounded the corner, they motioned for me to sit as well. With typical Chinese hospitality we were given some tea and the guys tried to make conversation. I understood none of the words, but one guy seemed to be saying that I was fat. Or at least my legs were. He made a point of comparing the size of our respective thighs and I have to admit, I certainly had him beat. Anyway, the rest of our party arrived and were all treated to tea. The guys especially took a liking to Siu Wan, who is, of course, incredibly cute. She, of course, didn't care to be the center of attention, but she bore it well. So we sat and chatted within the limitations of our groups' Chinese and drank tea and watched the chicks and chickens waddle about the yard.

Matthew was eager to continue upwards and we all followed along. We hiked another 15 minutes or so, the trail being very steep in some places. We stopped at a clearing on the trail and gazed about us. Ga Dai had about reached her limit, so we all decided to head back down. (No doubt that Matthew and Siu Wan--who's part mountain goat--would have continued until the top of the mountain.) The trip back was rather uneventful, save that we paused to sort of talk to a woman at our previous tea stop and stopped to visit Flora, as I mentioned in a previous post. A few days later we gazed up at the mountain from campus and tried to visually trace our route. If we identified the shrines correctly (why, oh why did we leave the binoculars back in Seattle?), we had only traversed about a third of the way up the mountain. We may have to try to get higher next time. Assuming we don't spend all our time exploring other places.

Free plug

As I type this, it is 9:47 pm and the kids are getting ready for bed. Back home in Seattle, it's 6:47 am and some people are getting ready to go to work. For my folks in Illinois, it's 8:47 am and they're... aw, heck, they're retired, so they're probably doing anything they want. So how, do I know all these different times around the world? Well, I suppose I could look at a clock and do the math, but instead I'm referring to a nifty little Java app, WorldTime. WorldTime was created by the Unearthed Ruminator, a regular reader of this blog and an all around nice fellow. I had actually downloaded the app a number of months ago, but it wasn't until I moved out here that I really appreciated what a nifty little utility this is. Thanks, Ruminator!

(I know I could have just sent you a personal e-mail, but I thought I'd rather sing your praises in public.)

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Getting down to business

One of the common questions we got when talking to people about our plans to go to China was, "What's John going to do?" When we answered that seriously, my primary role was to be that of a homeschooling father. Well, I finally got down to "work" this week. Despite the lack of some books, (we shipped two boxes of our school stuff. One made it here, the other is probably (hopefully) still in transit.) the girls commenced the fall session of their schooling, with me handling the bulk of the teaching. Yauh Neih, who has at least a week of summer vacation left, is still teaching a couple of subjects, and is on hand to answer my numerous questions.

After two days, it's going pretty well. Ironically, one thing that hasn't gone as expected was my relationship with my students. I was expecting to have some trouble with my older, argumentative daughter Ga Dai. On the contrary, teaching her has been rather pleasant. Because she's an early riser, she reads extremely well and her curriculum is so well structured, she is pretty much a self directed student. For the past couple of days, she's done her work and then came to me about midday to have me check it. She's taken any corrections and comments quite well. (And she's even helped me find the answer keys in the voluminous teacher's guide. It makes me feel a bit like Mr. Carlson of WKRP--a mere figurehead.)

Siu Wan, on the other hand, is a nuisance. She whines and drags her feet with any assignment she doesn't like, which so far has been all of them. She's always been able to get away with more from me than with her mother, and that hint of a twinkle in her eye shows that she's exploiting that here. But eventually she does finish her work, so I can't complain too much. I'm pretty sure she's going to learn despite her best efforts not to.

As for the coursework itself, I love exploring the stuff that Ga Dai is learning. There's plenty that I can learn myself. Well, the grammar lessons are just as boring as they were back when I was in school. But I forget all that when we get to math--my favorite subject, back in the day. It's fun to try and guide the girls through the processes. Of course, how much of the fun is due to them still needing my guidance, I don't know.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Well, if we were feeling isolated the first few days we were here, that has changed this weekend. On Friday, we met our neighbor, Michael. He and his wife, Joan, are the other expatriate teachers here at the college. He had just arrived and introduced himself to us. (Joan's still in the UK for a few days. Her mother had suffered a stroke and she had to finish arranging for her care.) It was a brief encounter, him being jet-lagged and all. But we agreed we'd get together again. This occurred the next day, in style. Michael bopped over in the afternoon for a nice chat, and then he invited us over for supper! We had a truly delicious spaghetti dinner (vegetarian sauce, even!) and a wonderful time getting to know each other and learning more about the small expatriate community here. (I think we number about 17) My only regret is that our household is in no shape to reciprocate. That will have to be one of our priorities.

On Sunday, Michael asked us if we'd like to join him on a hike to see a couple of shrines. We eagerly agreed and I was happy to see that my impulse to bring my hiking boots was warranted. We ventured up the mountain, getting lost a couple of times in the process. On the trail we met a fellow big-nose, Matthew. He's just started teaching English at one of the middle schools here. He and Michael were strangers to one another, but they had common friends amongst the other expats. One of these was Flora, who worked at the local orphanage. The orphanage happened to be on our way home, so we stopped in to meet her.

Flora invited us in, gave us some treats (including Chinese Oreos!), and generally treated us all to a wonderful chat. I don't know if it's being so far from home that makes folks so friendly, or if they've just picked up some manners from our Chinese hosts. Matthew was in and out of the flat. Turns out he had visited before and had played some with the orphanage kids. As anyone who has ever taken the time to play with kids knows, doing so grants an instant obligation to do so again. Flora praised his friendliness, pointing out that the kids benefited from having another male role model. (All but two of the orphanage workers were female.) She invited me to come over sometime and adopt a similar obligation. Although I'm terrible at basketball, I suppose I'll have to oblige. Ah, from loneliness to having too many friends in just a couple of days. Life is good.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

And everywhere that Mary went

The problem with blogging is that you have to be fast. If you don't blog an idea today, something more blogworthy will come along tomorrow and your idea won't get written. For example, I was planning to write about our apartment, to give you a first hand account of life in China with a bit of philosophical musing about roughing it. However, before I could write it, we went to dinner and, well, something happened. Or didn't happen, rather. Let me explain....

Right now, for us, getting something to eat is a challenge. When we go into the store, we're confronted with all sorts of odd foodstuffs with Chinese writing on the package. There may be a pack of hotdogs sitting on the shelf, but we have yet to recognize it. The result is that we've been slow to stock our pantry and, for the time being, are compensating by dining out for at least one meal a day. (It's easier to eat unknown food if it's just plopped before you rather than having to purchase and cook it yourself. The latter gives you too much time for the imagination to work.) So this evening, we decided to go out for supper. Problem is, we don't know where the restaurants all are and we don't want to get into a rut so soon. Hence, we ended up taking a stroll down one of the local avenues, in search of an establishment that looked safe. (We did a "fast food" lunch the other day--a noodle stew cooked in the open air--and Yau Neih's digestive tract is still recovering.)

We wandered a number of blocks and saw a variety of shops which we may patronize some day. The only things we picked up, however, was a shadow. At one point I noticed that a guy sitting on the side of the road was following us. He was a thin fellow, dressed in a black T-shirt and khaki pants. He wasn't directly following our steps--sometimes he would pass us and walk ahead a bit. But he followed us for a number of blocks. At first I thought he was a potential pickpocket, and I moved my wallet to my front pocket. Then, imagination kicked in and I wondered if he might be looking to catch us in the proverbial dark alley or, worse yet, follow us home to see where we lived. I started trying to think of ways to shake him--from dining at a fancy hotel to grabbing a cab and speeding away. But as we walked along, I began to relax. If he was looking to follow us home, and even if we shook his tail, he would probably find our location eventually. It's a small city and we've been told that there's only about eight Anglos living here. It doesn't take much genius to figure out that the mei guo family is staying at the Teachers' College. And, bottom line, if the Good Lord wants to allow this guy to hurt us somehow, it's going to happen no matter what I do. So I kind of made my peace with it all. Instead of trying to play cool, I'd look at him and make eye contact. I told Yau Neih and the girls about him, so they could get a look at him. (If nothing else, so they could describe him for the police report.)

Anyway, nothing so dramatic happened. Despite our concern and fears, we still had the basic need to find a place to eat. A few blocks from home, we managed to find a place that looked acceptable. (It was expensive, but we felt our tummies would be safe.) We sat down near the doorway and I grabbed the chair looking out. Our friend walked past the restaurant, but didn't come in. I gave him a wave and he saluted me. We ordered (a blog post in itself) and waited for our food. After a while he walked past again, headed in the other direction, and saluted again. Meanwhile we waited and waited and eventually got our delicious dinner. When we finally exited the restaurant, he was nowhere to be seen.

The question remains, was he some malicious dude, or just a nut fascinated by the foreigners? For all I know, I may find out in the days to come. 'Til then, I guess the best thing is to tell the tale and not loose too much sleep over it.

tweak!

I'm attempting to switch my comments from the Blogger provided system to one provided by Haloscan. Since I can't read my own blog directly here in China, I haven't been able to read any comments that may have been posted. This way I can access the Haloscan site and at least read any feedback that's posted here. Adding my own comments, however, may not be possible. (Well, I suppose I could always edit a comment to provide my two cents.)

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Greetings from the East

I've been in China about a week now. Internet time and access hasn't been the greatest. That's why I'm attempting to post this via Flickr. (I won't be able to tell if this posts, as Blogspot is blocked in China.) Hopefully soon we'll get our apartment hooked up and I can figure out how to write without posting unnecessary photos.

What more can I say? It's exciting but a lot of work. Finding and purchasing a screwdriver today was a major accomplishment. The first few days were nice since we stayed at a hotel and had a number of fellow teachers to lead us by the hand. Now, we've gone to our respective stations and the Hamburger clan is reduced to incessantly bothering our vice dean (a wonderful guy) or trying to figure it out ourselves. Work, work, work. Oh, well at least it takes our mind off of the rental situation. And we get to see water buffalo out of our back window. Can't beat that.

Update: Well, it's tomorrow and I logged onto blogger just fine. I'm attempting to edit this post, to get rid of the picture and see what happens. Next I'll have to try to figure out how to read the comments.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Tonight's the night

By 11 pm this evening we should be in the air and heading towards Vancouver. (A half hour flight and a three hour wait for the plane to Hong Kong. Such a glamourous life this will be. ;-) ) After the last few days I am weary and ready to collapse. Just a few more bits of business to take care of, though. (I know, I know. You'd think I'd be done with that already.) I'll be bringing along my good ol' pen and steno pad so if I have access problems in China, I'll still have material for my forthcoming book. (Hey, I'm so tired I'll believe anything.) See you on the other side....

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Roughing it

I'm down to a primal existence: four walls, a roof, a pillow, a blanket and a laptop. My worldly goods are packed in suitcases and five large crates sitting on the side of the road in front of my house. I opted to stay here and watch over them tonight. (As if I'll be able to hear any thieves over my snoring.)

I have to say that this has been one of the more depressing days in my life. We were truly poorly prepared for the task of "moving" all our stuff out and are dumping some things simply because we didn't have time to pack it into one of the crates. When we moved in here, the previous owners left a handful of items behind. At the time I thought it was foolish. Now I understand. (Though I have to admit, We're taking most of those aforementioned "treasures" with us.)(Okay, not "with us" with us. The crates go to Kent, we leave the country.)

Adding to the frustration was the loss of stuff--be it temporary or permanent. While each thing was only a "thing", it also represented some aspect of our family and the life we've lived and helped create. It's depressing to put that aside, even if I know that our essential selves are intact and headed to a new venture. (not AD-venture. An adventure is a very bad day which you manage to survive. We can do without that.)

Anyway, the stuff is packed and the next two days are for cleaning and finishing up some business. I'm hoping Sunday will be a day of rest, but, well, we'll see what happens.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Let's eat


100_0053
Originally uploaded by Yuek Hahn.
A day of diversion, if not rest. We enjoyed a neighborhood picnic, which included a chance to shmooze and say farewell to a number of friends. I also got to give the digital camera a workout as I grabbed shots from the picnic and the distant air show by the Blue Angels. (I only uploaded three of 'em though. I'm too cheap and my modem's too slow to go pro.)

One more week till I become a man of the world. But before that it's the drudgery of mundane labor and paperwork.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Don't be afraid of the dark

I think this is going to be the "darkest" time of our preparations. A week ago, I had a lot of work to do and two whole weeks in which to do it. Today there still seems like we have a great deal of work to do and problems to solve. However, the days left in which to handle these can be counted on one hand. (Well, if you cheat and use some fingers more than once.)

Thursday, August 04, 2005

I'll never get rich

For the second time in my life, I've sold off some of my comic collection. The first time was when we moved to Seattle from Chicago. There was a number of comics I didn't care to read anymore and, well, one box sold was one less box to pack. It was kind of a last minute thing. I didn't plan and I probably sold them for less than they were worth. Oh, well. "Next time," I said to myself, "I'll do it better."

Heh. Well, I tried to do it better. A couple years ago, I culled down my comics and had about 3 boxes with which I was willing to part. I made a database of that little collection, dutifully recording the publishing info and condition of each issue. I then grabbed an old price guide and a copy of Wizard magazine and came up with an asking price. Erring on the lower side of the price, I figured I had over $900 worth of comics to sell. Of course, that's all assuming you find a willing buyer. I thought about looking for a willing buyer. Yes, many times I thought I should start listing titles on eBay, or maybe even call a local comic store.

Anyway, yesterday my procrastination ended. Moving day approaches and I'm eager to have less boxes to pack and store. I called a store and arranged to talk to the buyer today. This morning I schlepped the now 4 boxes up to a comic store and came home with a whopping 75 bucks in my pocket. I wasn't too disappointed, actually. There have been a couple of times I've attempted to make a profit over something I had purchased. I consistently fail to make any money. Fortunately, in this case I purchased most of the comics for my own reading pleasure and long ago got my money's worth. And I gave my wife a moment of pleasure when I returned sans comic books. Actually, she's getting a lot of those moments as we pack up and I finally toss things that she was ready to trash years ago. Sometimes I wonder if she had an ulterior motive for this China venture....

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Problème du jour

Well, we had renters for our house. We got word yesterday afternoon that the folks who were interested in our house, who cruised by with a friend and mother to show off the house, who applied and passed all the credit checks, have failed to sign the lease and return it to the rental agent. sigh. So, the house is back on the market again. It threw us both into grumpy mode yesterday, even though I really shouldn't complain. The false hope did lead me to put off painting the weekend before last in order to get some other work done. That was a good thing. Though that does mean I should stop blogging and finish the aforementioned painting. ;-)

Monday, August 01, 2005

Weeding

Hurm. I attempted posting via e-mail last night and it inserted a bunch of line breaks into the text. One more thing to try to fix before I go.

What's in a name?

Last week I took the unprecedented step of announcing the existence of this blog to a number of friends, family and casual acquaintances. (Before I had only announced it to total strangers.)(I know, it's weird. Welcome to the world of blogging.) Now, on the off chance that one or two of you have bothered to check out the blog, I suppose I should explain the nicknames... if I can.


Y'all know me as John. A nice name. One that served my father so well that he gave it to me also. However, through a complicated process I won't delve into here, I ended up traipsing around the web--message boards, blog comments, et al--under a variety of pseudonyms. I even got into the habit of referring to family and friends by nicknames. (Part of that was paranoia about some unscrupulous fellow garnering info on my loved ones off the web. I tend to vacillate between feeling totally hidden in my obscurity and feeling totally exposed to the world.) Anyway, when I started this blog, I first thought to adopt new screen names to go with this brave, new endeavor. (My eldest, Ga Dai, didn't like her old nickname anyway.) So in keeping with the vaguely Chinese theme of the blog, I decided to use the Chinese names given us by a dear friend. Problem was, there's the Cantonese pronunciation (and spelling) of each name, and the Mandarin one. Which to use? The Cantonese, which was the language in which the names were bestowed? Or the Mandarin, which we will probably be using if we share those names in China?


After precious little deliberation, I decided to go for the Cantonese, since I think I have the proper spelling--well, it's called romanization, actually--somewhere around here. Until I find that little slip of paper, I'll just wing it. So if you see Yuek Hahn, that's me. Yau Neih's the wife. Ga Dai is the eldest child and Siu Wan is the younger. And the Sauerkrauts
is the organization under whose auspices we are making this venture. (I know, I really don't need to give them a nickname, but I called 'em the Sauerkrauts once before and I kind of like it.) (If the next post is titled "You're Fired", you'll know that they didn't like it.) More nicknames will undoubtedly follow.


Then again, John is a pretty nondescript screen name.....