#i got ice cream as a treat for being soo brave

[coyote-kiddo]

i was very brave today :3

[curiouskarenscapers2017]

Vol 2. Sep 2017

My 3 days off was absolute bliss. Think I caught up on all my lost sleep along the way. I experimented with some food stuffs I discovered and with cooking my own dishes with what was available. Totally different lifestyle than at home in SA. I could feel the kg’s melt away as I embarked on my mostly vegetarian eating habits with limited access to any western sauces and fried food. All clean eating, mostly in soups with fresh veggies and minimal meat. Spices make up for most of that and I easily adjusted.

Found these little parcels and actually remembered them from Taiwan. So I was brave enough to cook them as instructed in Chinese on the vacuum packed wrapping. Maybe could have steamed them a bit more but they turned out a treat. A gooey sticky rice around a sweet meat in the middle. Couldn’t make out whether it was actually meat in the middle or not, but the more I scrutinised my photo’s the more I’m convinced it was.

Anyway, I’m still alive and it was tasty. I settled into the school routine and started classes and demo’s like I mentioned before. So a demo class is more like a show class for the parents to see what the teaching is like with a foreign teacher but also whether the kid enjoys it and could actually attend the school. We as teachers also assess the kids English ability and level while playing with them and asking them what certain flashcard pictures are. My initial classes were quite daunting as one adjusts to the children but also the unfamiliar books and ways of teaching. Our lesson plans made up daily for the next class becomes a focus point as your time runs out and the classes follow one after the other with scarce 10 minutes in between which included a feedback session with the parents telling them what the kids learnt in the lesson….or not! BUT…like everything one gets used to the way things are done and you adjust. Doing lesson plans more in advance in off-times or allocated lesson planning times. I’ll survive…and like Lionel, my fiance, said, you’re not teaching a CEO of a company or training managers like I used to. That immediately calmed me down, all will be just fine. hahahahaha.

So as I was sitting at my fancy table in my living room in front of my TV with only 14 channels of either traditional hidden dragons and flying tigers with a monkey king thrown in or soapies or military soapies or sport where china is the focus or participating in with the occasional news I would watch to see the natural disasters of the world and then more 90% China news, I noticed that my table actually had a warmer in the middle, like the hot pot restaurants. Soo cool! Must have cost a small fortune. It has a display on the side to adjust and a fancy built in copper floor plug.

Thanks goodness while the US open tennis was on I could check  some of the main games at the weirdest times. And they would just stop broadcasting the game at a specific time whether it was done or not to go back to the games China was taking part in to show weight lifting while the tennis was a set from a nail biting finish! aaaarrrgghhhhh!

Must say while I had TV it was interesting to see some historical information they had in a particular show every now and then about the world wars and what they have achieved. They’re a culture that’s quite hard on themselves and their failures but there’s always hope and they always pull through and go the extra mile to make sure they achieve their goal set for them by their authorities, sacrificing much for the greater good.

As you stay here and live among the people you see how communism or socialism works and where it doesn’t. One area where it does work very well is everything is for everybody. No one begs on the street or no old people look destitute. Everybody can cope and is looked after to an acceptable level. The country is continually improving social structures and infrastructure. They’re worse than Dubai. Construction everywhere. High rises of 50+ floors everywhere being built to house the hordes. Amazing. It’s like a living breathing organism. They must be concrete/cement and blasting experts by now! I hear it daily and even hourly from my flat as they construct the railway. It sounds like firecrackers at times! and some times it is….hahahaha.

Thank goodness I found a cheap local wine that actualy doesn’t taste that bad….or maybe I’m just desperate…who cares.

It’s Mid-Autumn moon festival time. Much like Christmas for the Chinese in importance and we’ll be having a week of holidays 1st week in October. Looking forward to some relaxing then as I’m financially still a bit strained to be going anywhere for holidays. I’ll be patient…not yet not yet!

In all the stores the mooncakes are appearing and being handed out as gifts. Also teachers day is approaching and I’ve been getting some prezzies from the kids and mothers….hahahaha didn’t expect that! Flowers, a little packet of something and a dark toblerone! Yes! real chocolate!

The people also placed candles everywhere, this one was near our apartments and apparently it’s for the ancestral spirits.

Bit of a fire hazard if you ask me. Unsupervised open flame in a bush near an apartment block. Anyway, the ancestors were obviously appeased and we’re ok.

Some beautiful sunsets have been happening as the weather started getting slightly cooler, by a degree.

This is on top of the building opposite me. A few other apartment blocks have these little pagoda’s on top but very little temples around the city. I’ll have to go outside to find them.

Went walking around to my favourite mall in town and came accross the Holiland bakery at the entrance to my supermarket. Oh my word, and were they good! Only bought one donut! They know how to bake!’

  I treated myself to a coffee at a cute coffee shop called Cafe bene. They just couldn’t understand my order. i wanted an Americano with hot milk…got a black Americano, no worries, I can do that too.. Same at Starbucks. I’ll have to work on my ordering skills.

The decor was so cute and detailed. Look at the lights at the back, little doves, or birds in it.

My favourite supermarket was a must for some supplies. The display in the middle is all moon-cakes. Every cake is individually wrapped with decadent boxes and wrappings.

I was craving some fresh fruit and bought some grapes and peaches. Grapes everywhere. The bunch I got I could make a good bottle of pinotage from, they were huge and heavy, tightly bunched. Crazy, it looked plastic and weighed over 1kg.

I also indulged in a sushi platter for dinner at a third of our prices at home!

    The fridge was looking much better!!!

The week rushed passed and we were working a bit late at school one evening and Aya, who is my teacher’s adviser, asked me to go with her to get some dinner at the a place below the school before I go home, I was starving  and didn’t know what I wanted, so she suggested the duck, I said why not! and received my food.

It was way too much for me

The boys , Alex and John, were craving pizza from a real Italian chef/restaurant and we decided it was time to go after having to postpone before. We got in a taxi with Rowan a new English teacher and her boyfriend grant and off we went.

  We arrived at a mall we have not been to before and with much excitement we looked for the restaurant. Due to renovations they had moved it to a floor on a food court level, thank goodness it was still here. We arrived and was sat down and soon visited by the Italian chef himself Simone. He was so pleased to meet us and see Alex again. The boys went to go and buy alcohol at a shop in the mall while we perused through the menu. My mouth was watering! It read like a proper Italian restaurant menu.

Simone was so grateful to us being there that he made us a foccacia on the house. He was so surprised that I knew what a foccacia was that he kept on chatting to us throughout the night about the foods and ingredients. I ordered a fritta. A foldover pizza deep fried…yeah!!!! It was divine!! As was the rest of the food. Cold meats and bread sticks. We’ll definitely be back. And homemade ice cream on the way out.

Some of the other restaurants also looked inviting

As we explored the mall we found this awesome figurine store closing up but got some pictures in before we left! Look at the prices, but also the quality of them.

Amazing!

As we left the mall there was dancing going on outside in the square. Apparently it’s a thing these days and people dance in groups, bit of a line dancing affair and coordinated dancing typically instructed by a lady with her radio and music. Sounds very festive but tonight we had two groups going at the same time.

This mall also had a McDonalds and a Starbucks. We’ll definitely be back.

What a night, we then proceeded to walk the streets for quite sometime before eventually getting a taxi back! We were so tired and Alex wanted to go out somewhere, I think all were so tired that after looking for transport for over an hour we eventually took a black taxi just to go home. Thank goodness we were all together in this one! The car barely moved past 10km/h and struggled up hill. I had visions of us being stranded in the middle of nowhere with the overly friendly taxi driver. The guy turned out to be a UN soldier in his younger years so he could speak English and was facinated by us. Too facinated. He had a laugh that sounded like there was something not quote right with him. Like a low continuous chuckle. Never the less, we eventually got home safely and couldn’t get out of the car quick enough.

I was dead and passed out soon after in my cozy bed in my own flat. I was off the next two days so I definitely would be sleeping late.

So my next adventure was taking a bus ride into town for the first time. After making doubly sure which bus to take I was ready with my 2Y = R4 instead of the R100 a taxi charges me to go downtown to our head office in the city. Slight drawback, the trip might take over an hour and is usually busy so standing room most of the time….I can deal. Luckily the bus stop is not far from the school in our main road.

I waited a while and the bus arrived no. 237. It was great seeing different parts of the city and eventually being dropped off at my other favourite mall. Estee.

When the training finished about 2 hours later I walked a round a bit next to the river before catching the next 237 back to Jinyang.

The city is so green and a pleasure to walk in. As I walked I noticed that in a slight clearing behind the trees on the side of the pavement were seating places and older gentleman were hanging up something in the trees and walking from one tree to the next discussing something. As I came closer I realised they were putting birdcages in the trees and on closer inspection I found this type of bird in these cages. I’ve actually seen people carry what looked like a birdcage covered on blue cloth around and never thought much of it. Today all was revealed. It was a type of minah bird. We have them in south africa but with black, brown and white colouring and yellow beaks and colouring around the eyes, here they are a light brown with powder blue around the eyes and they sing beautifully.

It seemed like a daily routine still don’t exactly know what they discuss or whether they actually sell the birds. Very interesting.

I got back to school just before it started raining. The weather has been changing quite a bit lately, more wind and more rain.

Had my first bacon and egg breakfast this week! Smithfield is a brand they have here that is the closest thing to bacon and very nice I might add, only thing is it cooks away to nothing! Clever!

I made extra and ate it for dinner too!! Hahahaha…you can never have too much breakfast!

Louis offered me his bike to buy and I jumped at the opportunity to get around on my own but it turned out to be too small for me (legs too long) and a rip off of another well-known brand , Giant, which then resulted in the quality not being that good. Sadly I had to give it back! I was soo disappointed.

Next time! I’ll check the real thing’s prices and let you know, who wants one!

I took a photo of the school below me when the kids were doing their physical exercise to a cool country style song with shakers in their hands. It sounds so cool. I did take a video as well and will place it on the blog. They are so coordinated.

video

Also found my new favourite less fattening food ever! Shao Main, little noodles. It’s divine, they actually have eucalyptus tasting flavour in it that refreshes your pallet. For only 9Y = R18

One day when I arrived at my flat there was a guy delivering water bottles to our apartments, I thought nothing of it and the next minute when OI was in my flat my doorbell rang. I let him up and the poor guy carried a full 10-20lt water bottle up 4 flights. I thought Jerry from the school finally sorted me out with water a I have a cooler in the house that takes these bottles. He placed it and then asked for 15Y. I gladly paid him and then he wrote out a receipt for 50Y. I eventually understood it to be the deposit for the bottle. Hahahahaha so back at the school I thanked Jerry for organising and she said sorry but she hasn’t! hahahaha so I don’t know if the guy supplied the previous owner or if he just had a spare bottle and took the chance!! Either way I got my water that I have wanted since I’ve moved in. The other thing was that I didn’t have money on me at the time. I had the 15 but not the 50. Wechat is amazing. He just created the 50Y code on his phone and I scanned it with my wechat and it went off my account and he was paid. What a pleasure. The benefits of we-chat is seriously out weighing whatsapp. 🙂

Just as well I got the water because next week is heritage day and our braai day we have been organising follows on the Tuesday because we all work on Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah, organising meat, salads and drinks and I’m getting my housewarming wines from Justin and John. We’re combining the two events.

The day arrives much to everybody’s delight. A much needed letting our hair down event. Pan from school lent us his braai and John and I walked to TP mall to look for charcoal and fire lighters. Quite the challenge for a nation that doesn’t braai/bbq. BUT thanx to translators and Chinese friends at our beck and call we found it in the picnic section. Yes in a box not a bag. We took two.

We were ready!

photo 3

Yes, firelighters. Interesting little things these although just didn’t spark for long enough to get things going, we improvised along the way with supplements.

And the party started!

We then moved to downtown to a new bar called YOLO, you only live once for more partying.

It was great going out for the first time and experiencing different places.

Somehow Sambuca always ends up at the forefront!!! The hubbly Bubbly’s (Hookah) were beautiful. Fruit in the water gave them different flavours. They just looked so eerie. Beautiful bottles.

So after a while here we moved to Uptown the pub Justin took me in the beginning. By now I was tired and we started losing people left right and centre. And I didn’t stay long before I got a taxi home with May’s help at 1am and thank goodness he dropped me off at my apartment, I didn’t have to climb the mountain after all that! I just gave my very messed up flat a glance and said, I’ll deal with you tomorrow…or later.

Next month it’s holiday and my b’day!!! Lert’s see what happens.

Guiyang Gazette Vol 2. Sep 2017 My 3 days off was absolute bliss. Think I caught up on all my lost sleep along the way.