Spitting

This bit of our experience of China probably doesn't need much explanation. It is definitely something I will never get used to and that is how much the Chinese spit. And it's not a polite little 'tut' spit off to the side of a street. It's a huge hocking loogie that involves deep throat hacking and a large amount of saliva which is then spat where ever the person feels like it. It is done noisily on trains, in the streets, out of bus and car windows and into bus dustbins. Most men make really loud sounds while doing it and some elderly women can also produce a pretty mean spit, but it will always catch my attention no matter who is doing it. The younger generation does it much less, but there are even a few rare students in our school who feel the need to spit during class in the garbage can. Some are start to campaign against it, but I think the movement is slow. It is definitely part of the everyday soundtrack of China. This picture is a sign on a train window.

Hard Beds

Another interesting fact about living in China is that the beds are as hard as rock!
Hard beds are very popular in China. Chinese people believe that hard beds are good for your health so the beds are made this way. Hotels don't even accommodate to the many foreign tourists coming to Shenzhen, so if you go to a hotel the beds are the exact same. Surprisingly even though our bed sometimes feels like we're sleeping on a kitchen table, my back has absolutely no problems here (which is rare). I know I'm going to miss this bed when I go back to Canada because I've had the best sleeps on it. Maybe China is onto something. Watch out Mom! I might be sleeping on your table this summer. (jk)

Squatters

This is what a toilet looks like when we are out and about in the town of Shenzhen. Occasionally we will be able to find a nice clean western toilet, but most of the time we have to suffer through using a 'squatter'. They are absolutely horrible, but when you gotta go you gotta go. We avoid them like the plague, but unfortunately they are unavoidable. If you are curious as to how we use them, which is a feat in itself check out this website for instructions http://www.banterist.com/archivefiles/000348.html

Birthday coming up

Ah yes and for my birthday that is coming up I've decided to round up the teachers here and have a big potluck on Sunday night. All I want is real food.

The information to go with the pictures: February Break

So I just realized that I haven't actually written about our February trip and it's April already. To fill you in, our school had a two week holiday at the end of February to celebrate Chinese New Year. For most of the Chinese this is they're only holiday all year and they go ALL OUT. It symbolizes the end of a business year for many and thus there are many superstitions and traditions held. One of the weirdest I heard was that you need to get a hair cut before New Year day because you couldn't cut if for the whole month afterward. If you did cut in during that month your uncle will die. Fireworks were set off everyday at any time of day for 3 weeks straight. One new years eve the WHOLE ENTIRE TOWN was setting off fireworks all at the same time. I cannot begin to describe the feeling of standing on a ruff in a city of over 14 million watching fireworks of all shapes and sizes coming out of every street corner, every apartment window and on top of every building. It was 360 degrees of thousands of fireworks...it was breathtaking.
Jayme was able to come visit me for these wonderful two weeks off so she was able to join in the festivities. Jay arrived Friday night and spent two nights in Shenzhen with us before we flew up to Beijing with my Mta friend Alicia. We were in Beijing for 4 full days of tourism. We walked the great wall, went to ti'an men square, saw the forbidden city, went to a jade market, learnt about traditional chinese medicine, did some really really cheap shopping, saw a temple fair, watch an acrobatic show, went to an antique market, ate peking duck and even ate in between. We were completely exhausted by the time we left back to Shenzhen.
In shenzhen I took Jayme to all my great shopping places to get cheap purses and pearls, we got a hair wash, ate my favorite sushi restaurant and fit in a pedicure and then one day later Greg, Jayme and I left for Boracay in the Philippians. There we layed on a beautiful beach everyday, took a glass bottom boat tour, checked out some nearby islands, did some snorkeling, ate really good food, drank a lot of cocktails and went in a zorb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorbing). After 6 days in the sun we had a beautiful tan and we ready to return back to our normal lives. Jay stayed for one more night in Shenzhen before she sadly left me for Canada.
Ever since then Greg and I have been back into our normal schedules or work, gym, mandarin lessons. Greg still tutoring, playing basketball and eating Chinese BBQ and beer. We're starting to get excited about coming home. Under 100 days left!

so many spelling mistakes...:S
I'll fix them later. sorry

Ko Phi Phi- snorkelling

After Boxing Day we move on to a different beach called Ko Phi Phi. This was a very small island loaded with tourists. We saw people from all over the world speaking many different languages. Here the beach was much bigger and there were many places to go tourist shopping. Here spent most of our time enjoying the beach, sun and some fancy drinks. Our one day of adventure was spent on a beach touring near by islands. We took a long tail boat to an island with monkeys on it. We did two different snorkelling stops and saw some coral reef, tropical fish and even some sharks. Like the kind you don’t want to see when you’re in the water. Apparently they’re safe to swim with, but just the same I wanted to be out of the water after seeing one. Greg on the other hand chased one down to get a good look at it. We also visited Mai beach from the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. On the way home we watch the sun set. It wasn’t as good as the Bay of Chaleur, but I didn’t tell them that.

Christmas on long beach

Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day our group really wanted to be away from the touristy areas, so we went to a small quiet beach not far outside of a town called Krabbi. Here Greg and I shared a little beach hut right next to the water. During these days we didn’t do much besides, swim, sunbath, and eat. It was very different than our other places because we had no access to internet and power was only on from 7pm till 6am. On Christmas morning we got up and all had breakfast together. We had exchanged names earlier on in the trip so we each had a gift to open. Christmas day was spent on our quiet beach and in the evening we went into town to skype with our family.

Thai food cooking course

For our last full day in Chiang Mai we decided to go to an organic farm, again, outside of the city. Here surrounded by empty fields and rural Thailand was a small piece of property filled with gardens and tiny cooking shacks. We were lead through the gardens as our guide, Max, explained what each plant was, how it smelt and what we could and could not find in Canada. We were given red aprons and sombreros to wear. Each of us cooked 4 different dishes throughout the day. Everyone had a chance to make curry from scratch, a soup, salad and a dessert. My dessert was mango with sticky rice, which sounds weird, but was amazing! I even compared it to the greatness of ice cream. It’ll be hard to make most of these dishes back in Canada, but we both loved everything we made, so we’re going to try.

Flight of the gibbons

Our third day in Thailand was spent zip lining through the jungles outside Chiang Mai. After travelling an hour outside of the city we found ourselves in thick forests up in the mountains. We spent hours traveling from one tree to the next, hundreds of feet above ground. It was hard jumping off a platform so high in the ground, hoping that one wire and one metal hook will safe you from plummeting to the ground. It was also a great rush! We did a lot of zip lining, walked a couple of suspended bridges and took a few leaps of some REALLY high platforms. Mom, you would have hated every second of it. We left with our adrenaline pumping. Afterwards we visited a huge waterfall and then were treated to a chicken curry meal (which most of us will say was the best curry we had in Thailand). It was a great day!

Chiang Mai

So yesterday we did our big trip to elephant orphanage. It started bright and early at 8am when we were picked up at our hostel and driven to the outskirts of the city. Along the way we learned a little bit more about what we would be doing for the day as well as stories of the elephants pasts. We had a quick orientation and were then taken to see our first elephants! We were able to touch them, pet them and kiss their trunks. Soon afterwards we gave them their first feeding, breakfast! It was small bananas and watermelons and pumpkins in a very large basket. We were told to hold out the fruit and the elephant would take it from us using their trunk. They were very hungry and ate a basket of fruit the size of a university load of laundry, each. If they didn't like food they would drop it until you gave them the fruit they wanted. Then we went to see the baby elephants. When they're younger they are much more rambunctious and can be dangerous at times, so we were told to keep our distance. Needless to say Greg still got head butted by one of them. After that we walked over to the river at the orphanage, grabbed some brushes and buckets and jumped into the water with them for their bath. It is quite interesting to see such large animals roll around freely in water like they are little kids. We threw water onto their backs and scrubbed their sides clean. This did seem quite rewarding until a few minutes later when they got out of the water and threw dirt on themselves. Dirt is an elephants sunscreen for the day. Then the elephants went to their favorite trees for a good scratch before they took off to roam in the open fields. We were given an amazing buffet style Thai meal in the meantime. After lunch we pretty much repeated the whole morning over again. We also had a small break where we learned a lot about the woman who started and owns the orphanage. We also learned many heart breaking stories about some of the elephants that were rescued and how most elephants are treated in the country. Elephants in the streets of thailand are used for begging. They can make their owners up to a months worth of income in one night. But to get them ready for the streets they go through torturous training and are forced to live in the city where they are traumatized by traffic, humans and could be killed easily by a car. We learned the stories of several elephants who were tortured and blinded by their owners, one who was used only as a breeding tool and suffered many broken bones and are now disformed, elephants who were rescued as babies because their mothers were killed, and one that stepped on a land mine. Most of the elephants are now recovering safely in this sanctuary, but there are still many others out in the streets being abused and traumatized. The orphanage makes money on tourists who come and volunteer as well as those who donate money to help purchase an elephant from the street to bring them there. All in all we learned a lot yesterday about elephants in Thailand and we experienced something I'm sure we will never forget. it was amazing!! Pictures to come soon.