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Today was a special day in Nanjing for local people....the 13 December marks the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre - an atrocious event when the Japanese invaded the city killing over 300,000 innocent people in a 6 week period. This morning air raid sirens rang hauntingly across the city to mourn the loss. The sirens continued for about 2 hours - just when you thought they had stopped they started up again - you could see the local people continuing their daily working life but largely in respectful silence. Given that the population of Nanjing at the time of the massacre was about 1 million people almost all families here were directly affected.
Well it seems that I am definitely the Queen of judging competitions in Jiangsu Province at the moment. Went to Suzhou to judge the English speaking competition for China Daily for 2 days earlier this month. Had a great time and managed to also catch up with a dear friend who took me out and about in Suzhou. They have a fantastic expat community there and I thoroughly enjoyed the bars and restaurants..... a nice break from Chinese food etc. We went to a new bar (only open for 3 days) where China had its own version of Tom Cruise in the movie "cocktail" who entertained us with his juggling bottles etc. Also got invited to the Gaelic football club end of year Xmas dinner. Don’t know a thing about the game but it seems that it wasn’t a pre-requisite. Christy thought it was hilarious that I got so excited about the traditional foods on offer......turkey breast carved in front of you, mashed potatoes etc etc. Oh the things that excite you when you are far away during the festive season :) Was invited to judge in Suqian this weekend but unfortunately have to work at the University - it would have been nice to see another city in the province.
We had a visit from some Aussie nursing students from QUT and it was interesting to see their reactions to daily China life and also the healthcare system here. A few surprises for them.....especially the lack of privacy in the hospitals!!! Had an evening where we bought some of the Chinese nursing students together with the Aussies and they shared some of their different cultural things. The Chinese girls taught the Aussies the intricacies of eating very small things with chopsticks....needless to say a fair bit of food went flying!!! The Aussies made and shared Vegemite sandwiches, Milo, Tim Tams and Anzac biscuits....the faces of the Chinese students when they tried Vegemite was a sight to see!!! They are so used to always being polite but the poor girls couldn't help the looks on their faces!!!! Finished the evening off with singing the national anthem.....well at least I could sing the first verse and my argument was...who ever sings the second one !?!?
The woes with my apartment, the internet and the weather continue. No progress on getting the apartment painted and once again the plaster is starting to peel off....seems like this might be an ongoing issue. The bane of all our lives is the slow internet connection at the moment and the constant crashing of our systems. I am eternally grateful that Matt installed decent anti-virus software on my computer because 2 of the other teachers have had their computers crash completely and have had to buy new ones!!! Even so having to reboot 4-5 times each night is driving me up the wall. Our weather has certainly turned into winter and we are now experiencing minus degree temperatures at night with all days being in single figures......not a happy lady.....AND we are still not allowed to put the heaters on in the classrooms yet because "its not cold enough"......seems that daily temps below 5 degrees might be the magical number to be allowed turn them on!!!!
Visited one of our other foreign teachers last weekend and got to see how real expats live here. Oh my goodness their apartment is grand - 3 storeys, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 study's, spacious living room, dining and a real kitchen (for those inclined to cook) plus a room for an ayi (which is kind of a housekeeper in China). Petra and her husband are here from Sweden for 2 years and the apartment is provided by his company. Makes our University apartments look very poor but I'm not sure that I would want to live way out of the city centre in a gated, secure community....kind of defeats the purpose of living in a foreign country..... The only thing I was jealous of was the fact that they had a lounge to lie back and relax on...it is one thing I do miss. Did get to enjoy a lovely dinner complete with some imported wine which was lovely :)
Am starting to teach a new program at the University this weekend - Called the English Program for Young Medical Experts it is designed to prepare these doctors for working overseas, presenting papers at international conferences, getting their research published in reputable English speaking medical journals and of course dealing with foreign patients......well that is the spin being put on it and the University had been granted the honour of designing and conducting the program by the Provincial Government and it is endorsed by the Mayor of Nanjing. Sounds terribly important doesn’t it???? I was very excited when first approached to be part of this program. WELL it is actually a bloody debacle at the moment…I’ve decided that the Chinese are all very good at talking but not good at organising anything from the ground up (maybe that’s why building don’t last!!!). I have been to multiple meetings, put together documentation, liaised with the other foreign teachers, received multiple documents in Chinese and then having to get them translated – not sure how many times I have told them I cant read Chinese very well and here we are 2 days away from the actual teaching and I still don’t know for sure what is expected of me!!!! Those who know me well with my perfectionist streak can imagine how I am feeling right now!!! I’m not sure if I want to pull my hair out or punch a Chinaman in the face!!!! I ask simple questions but cannot get answers….I get emails telling me we will discuss it at the next meeting…..the meetings go on for hours where nothing is achieved except a severe rise in my blood pressure…..it is starting to feel like the bureaucratic ******** I left 2 1/2 years ago…….but trying to be an optimist and will give it a go. Basically decided today I’m just going to go ahead and prepare what I want to teach and the rest of it can get sorted by someone else!!! At least that will get me sanely through the next 5-6 weeks until the end of semester.
Well now that I have vented my frustrations I will head off….hopefully my next entry will be full of fun and joy…….
Bye for now. xxx
Well it seems that I am definitely the Queen of judging competitions in Jiangsu Province at the moment. Went to Suzhou to judge the English speaking competition for China Daily for 2 days earlier this month. Had a great time and managed to also catch up with a dear friend who took me out and about in Suzhou. They have a fantastic expat community there and I thoroughly enjoyed the bars and restaurants..... a nice break from Chinese food etc. We went to a new bar (only open for 3 days) where China had its own version of Tom Cruise in the movie "cocktail" who entertained us with his juggling bottles etc. Also got invited to the Gaelic football club end of year Xmas dinner. Don’t know a thing about the game but it seems that it wasn’t a pre-requisite. Christy thought it was hilarious that I got so excited about the traditional foods on offer......turkey breast carved in front of you, mashed potatoes etc etc. Oh the things that excite you when you are far away during the festive season :) Was invited to judge in Suqian this weekend but unfortunately have to work at the University - it would have been nice to see another city in the province.
We had a visit from some Aussie nursing students from QUT and it was interesting to see their reactions to daily China life and also the healthcare system here. A few surprises for them.....especially the lack of privacy in the hospitals!!! Had an evening where we bought some of the Chinese nursing students together with the Aussies and they shared some of their different cultural things. The Chinese girls taught the Aussies the intricacies of eating very small things with chopsticks....needless to say a fair bit of food went flying!!! The Aussies made and shared Vegemite sandwiches, Milo, Tim Tams and Anzac biscuits....the faces of the Chinese students when they tried Vegemite was a sight to see!!! They are so used to always being polite but the poor girls couldn't help the looks on their faces!!!! Finished the evening off with singing the national anthem.....well at least I could sing the first verse and my argument was...who ever sings the second one !?!?
The woes with my apartment, the internet and the weather continue. No progress on getting the apartment painted and once again the plaster is starting to peel off....seems like this might be an ongoing issue. The bane of all our lives is the slow internet connection at the moment and the constant crashing of our systems. I am eternally grateful that Matt installed decent anti-virus software on my computer because 2 of the other teachers have had their computers crash completely and have had to buy new ones!!! Even so having to reboot 4-5 times each night is driving me up the wall. Our weather has certainly turned into winter and we are now experiencing minus degree temperatures at night with all days being in single figures......not a happy lady.....AND we are still not allowed to put the heaters on in the classrooms yet because "its not cold enough"......seems that daily temps below 5 degrees might be the magical number to be allowed turn them on!!!!
Visited one of our other foreign teachers last weekend and got to see how real expats live here. Oh my goodness their apartment is grand - 3 storeys, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 study's, spacious living room, dining and a real kitchen (for those inclined to cook) plus a room for an ayi (which is kind of a housekeeper in China). Petra and her husband are here from Sweden for 2 years and the apartment is provided by his company. Makes our University apartments look very poor but I'm not sure that I would want to live way out of the city centre in a gated, secure community....kind of defeats the purpose of living in a foreign country..... The only thing I was jealous of was the fact that they had a lounge to lie back and relax on...it is one thing I do miss. Did get to enjoy a lovely dinner complete with some imported wine which was lovely :)
Am starting to teach a new program at the University this weekend - Called the English Program for Young Medical Experts it is designed to prepare these doctors for working overseas, presenting papers at international conferences, getting their research published in reputable English speaking medical journals and of course dealing with foreign patients......well that is the spin being put on it and the University had been granted the honour of designing and conducting the program by the Provincial Government and it is endorsed by the Mayor of Nanjing. Sounds terribly important doesn’t it???? I was very excited when first approached to be part of this program. WELL it is actually a bloody debacle at the moment…I’ve decided that the Chinese are all very good at talking but not good at organising anything from the ground up (maybe that’s why building don’t last!!!). I have been to multiple meetings, put together documentation, liaised with the other foreign teachers, received multiple documents in Chinese and then having to get them translated – not sure how many times I have told them I cant read Chinese very well and here we are 2 days away from the actual teaching and I still don’t know for sure what is expected of me!!!! Those who know me well with my perfectionist streak can imagine how I am feeling right now!!! I’m not sure if I want to pull my hair out or punch a Chinaman in the face!!!! I ask simple questions but cannot get answers….I get emails telling me we will discuss it at the next meeting…..the meetings go on for hours where nothing is achieved except a severe rise in my blood pressure…..it is starting to feel like the bureaucratic ******** I left 2 1/2 years ago…….but trying to be an optimist and will give it a go. Basically decided today I’m just going to go ahead and prepare what I want to teach and the rest of it can get sorted by someone else!!! At least that will get me sanely through the next 5-6 weeks until the end of semester.
Well now that I have vented my frustrations I will head off….hopefully my next entry will be full of fun and joy…….
Bye for now. xxx
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