travelling day six - where we discover the power of recuperative icecream

Today I realised what it meant when the guidebook says 'Wuhan is the furnace of the south'.  And it is only autumn.  We were invited unexpectedly to an orphanage on the other side of town for the orphanage open day.  This was very exciting as the orphanage has not had many visitors from different places before.  We travelled all across town and were let through the guarded gate into the grounds of the orphanage, which were strangely devoid of children.  After about a 45 minute wait we were instructed to stand in lines on the parade ground to view the performances from some of the children.  Very cute - but the introductory speech promoted that there were 700 children at the orphanage, and in the performance there were only about 30.  After the performances we were toured around the ground floor of the building, and then ushered out of the gate.  We didn't meet any children today.  Maybe next time!

I took some photos inside the orphanage, but was requested not to use them.  So here is a photo of a lady and a baby watching us enjoy icecreams outside the gate of the orphanage.  We needed icecreams because we had all melted standing in the lines outside in what was a very humid 34 degrees.

NB babies very cute here but don't whistle when you hold them - they are without nappies and the wee/pooh cue is a whistle

In other news today I was able to visit twin Chinese girls and talk with their family about ideas for their learning.  They had some apoxia at birth, and now presented with learning difficulties/attention difficulties and also had epilepsy.  This is tricky here as the teaching system is not so flexible for students such as this.  I had a lovely afternoon playing with them and doing some informal language assessment through a translator.  I hopefully gave the family a few ideas and resources (thanks Bridget!).  It was super interesting to participate in bilingual therapy, and the girls really enjoyed it.  They also mocked my poor attempts at Chinese.

terrible ipad photo of the twins - I forgot the camera

Tomorrow we are going shopping again in what is locally known as the CRAZY markets.  I am expecting much much randomness.

Chris’ cultural tip: The traffic is odd in China

Over the last couple of days we have been driven around different parts of Wuhan.  This has given us a good opportunity to see first-hand some of the oddities with the traffic in China.  Here is but a few:

• ·        No helmets on bikes, motorbikes, scooters, trikes, etc.
• ·        Passengers on scooters with umbrellas (to protect from the sun)
• ·        Passengers on scooters eating noodles on the freeway
• ·        U-turn lanes (a bit like hook turns in Melbourne)
• ·        Countdown  timers on the traffic lights
• ·        Indicators are optional
• ·        Seat belts are optional

These are all odd to my Western eyes, but this is one of the oddest.  Today we went to the same area of Wuhan as yesterday, but had to go a completely different way.  The reason – it was an even day.  You see with all the traffic in Wuhan one way they have decided to limit it is by only allowing vehicles with number plates ending in odd numbers to cross a certain bridge one day, and vehicles with number plates ending in even numbers another way.  So only half the cars in Wuhan are allowed to cross any given bridge on any given day.  There is always another bridge and another way around but you may have to go quite out of the way to get there.  To combat this the rich even go as far as to buy two different cars and make sure the number plates are odd & even!

So tomorrow if we take a car we will be allowed across the bridge we went over yesterday.  The reason – it is an odd day.  Which all just goes to show the traffic is odd in China.

travelling day five - in which a trip across town over the yangtze river results in a lot of possible puppets

Today we were driven in a company car (one of my friend's friends husbands works for a company that has a car and a driver at our disposal) all across town to visit the fabric market.  I had a crazy idea that we would replicate Mr Orange for my puppetting workshop on Sunday with the teachers here.  We needed to find a tailor, fabric, foam, cord for the arms, eyes, wool, felt and glue.  And it was no quick trip to Spotlight.

After visiting several little stalls we managed to find all of the above, bargain for it and choose colours.  And we decided to make 24 new puppets.  They will be ready on Saturday - very excited!  This is a result of a conversation that went like this:
How many do you think we will need?
Maybe 6
Well if we are going to make 6 we might as well get ten
ok then, but I want to take some back to Australia, so let's get 20
4
ok so it's 24 puppets
yep
and we need 8 different colours of fabric (one metre makes 3 puppets)

The fabric market was all that a great Asian market should be - confusing, random and unplanned with some brilliant stuff hiding on the bottom shelf.  I am sure the shop owners thought we were a bit nuts.  The puppets will work out costing about $7-8 dollars each.

Hence the decision to get 24.

Chris had his shopping face on today.  He can play cricket in the sun in a field for 8 hours, and can shop for about an hour before shopping face appears.  But he was very supportive and took the girls for an icecream while important fabric decisions were made.

Chris' cultural tip: It's all in the name
After our trip to the fabric market (and I think I am doing well to have persevered where many men would not have even dared to tread), we went to a restaurant fondly called "Greasy Joe's" by the fellow-foreigners we were lunching with.  More culinary delights, but what stuck me there was the label of the Pepsi bottle.  To me it is a perfect picture of modern China.

I'll let you interpret that yourself, but it did strike up a conversation about the translation of its name.  When Pepsi's name is cleverly rendered into similar sounding Chinese characters it is read "100 ways to good luck".  With a fascination on luck in this culture it is apparently having a positive effect on sales.  Apparently people prefer the taste of Coke, but are more likely to buy Pepsi because it may bring you good luck.  Coke's has worked out its characters to mean "to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice".  In the growing market that is China, the cola wars are being fought not just in advertising, but over names.  Pepsi seems to be winning that battle at the moment.  And Pepsi's current translation is much better than the rumoured confusion with past Pepsi campaigns in China where "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation" was possibly mistranslated as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead"!  Now I certainly don't want that from my cola drink.  It just goes to show that it's all in the name.

travelling day four - the day I discover chance comments lead to gifts

I had the wonderful opportunity this morning to share storytelling ideas and strategies for working with kids with a group of teachers.  This had been arranged by my friend - one lady had even travelled from another district to come (like coming from NSW to QLD).  They were so geniune and kind and concerned about the children in their care, and asked wonderful and insightful questions.  I felt very privileged to meet them.
And then I was having a conversation with the principal of the small school afterwords at a specially prepared lunch for us, and I asked what is the support like for children with difficulties or disabilities in China.  I am interested to know, and have a heart for this area.  We had a long talk about how really there is limited knowledge and resources in this area, and having a child that is not so academic is very difficult in one child China.  And then she told me about some friends she knew who had twins with some difficulties - and I said I would love to meet them.

The father has just dropped around to the apartment with a gift of mooncakes, prior to the visit with the girls in a couple of days.  This overwhelmed me a bit, and I had to think through how I am in a different culture now - as much as it feels like home in some ways there are some bigger differences, and I have a limited comprehension of it as I understand very little of the language.
I am looking forward to meeting the twin girls and seeing if I can support them in some way.

In other news Gab and I ate our first lotus fruit today at the lunch.  Yummy - but a lot of work for the fruit - like a pomegranate.  Stay tuned for more adventures - we are going to the fabric market tomorrow to source puppet materials!!

 

Chris' cultural tips: Your kids are always cuter overseas

My kids are cute.  I am the first to admit that.  I may be biased, but I reckon they are good looking kids.  But even my views pale in comparison to the looks, smiles, comments and even touches they are getting here in China.  We adults get a few looks from strangers, but it is the kids that attract all the attention.  The locals think our kids (and the kids of our friends) are just the cutest things they have ever seen.  It certainly helps to open doors and disarm people when you have a few cute kids to smooth the way.

Upon reflection it all makes sense.  Have we not all said or heard comments in Australia about the cute African kid, or the cute Asian kid.  We look, we smile, we comment.  We are now experiencing that in reverse.  And it all leads me to conclude with more certainty - your kids are always cuter overseas.

travelling day three

This is the day I learned what a numbing pepper was.  It was hidden in my lunch at a Western Chinese cafe were we went after the weekly Sunday morning meeting.  There I was, chatting away, using chopsticks to deftly grab food from the middle of the table, meeting new friends from all over the world, trying all sorts of new food, giving the girls bits that were non spicy - and I bit into a numbing pepper.  It looks like a little clove, and causes your whole mouth to feel like it has had  a dose of very spicy anesthetic.

Tiny, bit powerful.

Like a food ninja.

Today we also let the girls ride bikes around the apartment complex in the afternoon and played a game of giant chess.  I lost miserably to Chris.

Tomorrow I am doing a storytelling workshop in the morning, and the afternoon promises mooncakes for the autumn festival.  Getting more culturally adjusted - I even crossed the road today more confidently.  It's warm but not too hot.

Quite liking China!

And now I can recognise the numbing peppers.

Chris' cultural tip: Look up, look crane.
You may have heard about China Inc. and how there is a construction and building boom in China.  But being here it is really in your face.  In our particular part of Wuhan (from which I am labelling all of China of course...) the skyline is dominated by cranes.  There are new high rise buildings in  various stages of construction wherever you look.  It is hard to imagine there is enough demand to fill all these new buildings, but they are still being built.  So as you look at the skyline it is not hard to multiply that out by the 1.3 billion people all over China and it is not hard to see this huge, resource-hungry beast that is modern China.  And it is not hard to imagine that all over the increasingly urban China it will be look up, look crane.

travelling day two

We made it!!  All the way to Wuhan.  The seven hour wait in the Shanghai airport was a long drag - we sampled lots of airport food and paid airport prices for a cup of tea just so we could sit in the comfy cafe chairs, and walked possibly seven kilometres around the terminal.  We arrived at midnight last night (2 am Brisbane time) and crashed.  Kerplunk.

We have adjusted well to the time difference - 2 hours behind Brisbane - it makes my sleeping in and nightowl like behaviour look legitimate.  The culture feels familiar - apart from the whole language barrier.  Crossing the roads is...let's call it 'adventerous'.

I can hear the autumn festival happening out the apartment window at the moment.  The girls had a ride on a merry go round in the apartment complex this afternoon.  There is a public holiday on Monday where we get to eat a 'mooncake'.

So today we:
- had a Chinese painting lesson in the morning - I discovered a love of calligraphy with a brush and ink and received my Chinese name AND learned the characters for it - Song Mai - apparently it means plumblossom and is a common name like Jane.  Annika loved doing the painting.

 - did some storytelling for a local English learning preschool - overacting crosses all language barriers as does a monster puppet

- participated in a tea ceremony - lovely!  I felt very welcomed and the tea was delicious.  Annika the cockatoo loved the sunflower seeds and Gab ate half a rockmelon.

- dumplings for dinner...yummm
- catching up with wonderful old friends

I am really proud of Gab and Annika as they have taken all the new things in their stride.  I was worried about Gab eating new food and being overwhelmed, but she has tried about ten new foods in the last two days.  Thank you to all those who have been praying for our children for travelling and settling - we notice and it is not in our strength.

I have commenced my language learning and have inflicted my terrible Chinese on several unsuspecting locals.  If I keep saying it maybe I will get it right!  I am sure I use an awful accent.

Stay tuned for more adventures travelling in Asia!

Chris' cultural tip: Don't assume a footpath is safe.
With busy cars, buses and trucks zooming past in a city of 10 million the road can be a dangerous place.  One handy thing is the traffic lights give a countdown timer so you know how long you have to try and get over the road before the lights change and you are in peril once again (although having a walking green light doesn't guarantee safe transit across the road, but it does keep the traffic hazards to a minimum).  With all that going on you could assume that the footpath is the safest place to be.  But you would be wrong.

There are these electric scooters that zoom around everywhere, but the road is only one place they can be found.  Footpaths are seen just as much as a valid thoroughfare for these vehicles.  And without a petrol motor they should be put in the "silent but deadly" category.  They can creep up on you as silently as a pushbike, but at greater speed and momentum.  So as you are attempting to make your way with a menagerie of small children in tow, the footpath can be a hazardous place you aren't counting on.  Don't assume a footpath is safe.

Travelling!

Day one of traveling. We have made it as far as Brunei, and now are sitting in the airport waiting for the next connection. We took a free tour of the city, where Brunei was shown in a glowing light by the tourist operator. I also ate deep fried bananas. Not sure if I was craving the fat or the banana - any banana is a good banana after a nine month banana famine.

I really can't sleep on planes. I need to upskill.

We snapped a few photos from the bus:

This is the government building






One of the big mosques covered in gold





Gab on the bus on the way to the market. She had been informed there may be spring rolls.






Off to Shanghai next!! Then a seven hour wait, then Wuhan.

At some point tonight.

the sad tale of chicken sitting when there is attrition

There are no more chickens at our house.  When I agreed to chicken sit 18 months ago I was excited. Naive.  A chicken newbie.  We started with three black hens.

We built them an enclosure and a little house.  I fed them scraps, collected the egg (NB singular) and let them eat the grubs in the garden.

Then we came home one day to find one of them lying on it's side with its legs stuck out.  Dead as a dead chicken.  It was ceremoniously buried under the mango tree.

Two chickens.

A couple of months later I found a hole in the back fence, a lot of feathers, some blood, and no chicken.

One chicken.

I gave the chicken back to its owner, apologising very much for chicken attrition.  Al and Chris built her a lovely new house, and I am told she is very content to sit out her days there.  Not laying.  Just sitting.  They made the house from bits lying around in the shed - a couple of window frames, some wood, some leftover tin from the shed construction and some ply.

While our chicken house sits forlornly in the corner of the yard.  I am going to start afresh when we get back from China.  Maybe I will get brown ones this time.  And hopefully there will be less attrition.