Keeping busy here has not been a problem. In the beginning, much of our free time was spent in developing lesson plans for our first few weeks. HIT provided no curriculum. In their exact words; "Do what you want". Sounds easy but it is actually is a lot of work. Thankfully Nonie's twenty years as a career TOC kicked in and we quickly developed some basic ideas to plan our lessons around. Then I jumped on the Web and went looking for lesson material that would fit with those ideas. There is tons of stuff out there so it takes a bit of effort to find material that is appropriate for the level of students we are teaching. We can both teach the same lesson to all our classes with the only differences being in our delivery mostly due to our differing personalities. We are now in our fifth week and the lesson planning doesn't require as much of our time leaving us with free time to explore and socialize.
We must also deliver two one hour lectures each semester which will be open to the entire department to attend. No pressure there! We have chosen our topics. Nonie is doing "Penticton, My Home Town" and "The 2010 Winter Olympics". My topics are "Ironman,Extreme Endurance Sports" and "Seperatism in Canada". Nonie is scheduled to deliver her first lecture on October 8th. I will not be attending as she says it will make her too nervous.
Thanks to a couple of veteran teachers we have started to spread our wings and explore areas outside the campus. Our first foray was to the Russian section of Haerbin. The buildings have all been beautifully renovated and it is the go-to-place for Haerbiners to do some high end shopping. The area consists of a 6 block pedestrian mall with dozens of exquisite Russian style buildings lining the street. The buildings house hundreds of shops selling anything you could possibly want. The mall extends down to the Song Hua River. There a linear park called Stalin Park extends both up and down the river for miles each way. We went on Sunday and the place was packed. We enjoyed lunch in a small food court on a side street off the mall then a leisurely stroll along the river with the intentions of hitting a street market along the way.
The market specialized in pets and pet supplies. As we entered the market, we found fish and fish supplies. As we moved up the street and deeper into the market, we found every imaginable type of dog for sale. It is no Petcetera. From huge mastiffs and huskies to tiny little dogs no bigger than a Guinea Pig. The noise and smells were incredible with animals packed into all sorts of crates and boxes or tied to anything that would not move. The animals all looked in good shape and seemed for the most part to be well cared for. A week later, Nonie and I returned to the market on our own by bus. She had seen a glass container in the market that could hold some bamboo shoots and provide greenery for our apartment. We stumbled through our first price negotiation at one of the stalls and managed to walk a way with solid glass container for $4.00. The best price of course??? It now graces our bookshelf with four bamboo shoots.
From the market we explored some back streets as we made our way back to the mall. It is a different world once you leave the tourist areas. Here the buildings have not seen any love for quite some time although there does seem to be some plan in place for renewal. We came across a street where on one side, the buildings were beautifully restored but empty of people. The buildings on the opposite side were occupied but crumbling, almost ready to fall down. The only thing that seemed to be holding them up were the clothes lines strung between the buildings and the electrical poles. No matter what the living conditions, we always found the residents friendly. Initially they appear stern, even angry as they stare at you. Simply flash them a smile and they immediately smile back. Give them a polite Nia Hao and the smile gets bigger.
We have been able to attend two concerts. The first was provided by three piano students making their stage debut while the second was a full 30 piece professional concert orchestra. Both were enjoyable with the full concert orchestra providing some great music. This concert started at 6:30 pm precisely but people continued to wander in and out through out the performance. The hall seating was made of wood with zero padding and if you were not careful when you folded the seat down, it would SLAM and make a terrible noise that resounded through the hall. This happened dozens of times throughout the perfomance. It was quite disquieting for us foreigners (Nonie) but did not seem to bother the Chinese audience or the orchestra.
We closed off the week with a picnic and by attending a gala dinner to mark the beginning of the national holiday week. The holiday celebrates the creation of the Communist Party. The dinner was held for all the foreign teachers, experts and exchange students. The president of HIT was in attendance along with some local political bigwigs, so it was quite prestigious. Nonie wore a dress and I broke down and wore a hurriedly purchased dress shirt and tie. It started off as any typical gala dinner with a delicous buffet dinner and standard speeches. But after dinner it took a bit of a Chinese spin. First we were serenaded by the President. I gather this was quite an honour. I cannot imagine the Chancellor of UBC singing to his dinner guests. The evening ended with some rocking Karaoke tunes from the head of the Foreign Affairs Department, one of whom confided in me that he really wanted to be a performer. We closed the evening off going out to a fancy hotel drinking a few wickedly expensive beers as well as some cheap ones we snuck in and hid under the table. Probably won't be going back there too soon.
The next day we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the Song Hua river. We stopped along the way to picked up some sub sandwiches at a local restaraunt that specializes in a western menu. A quick ferry ride across the river brought us to Sun Park where we found a little chunk of beach, laid down some blankets and enjoyed a picnic lunch under partly sunny skies. We took some to time to explore the park and while wandering we met a monk / Lama who was holidaying in Haerbin. Didn't think Monks would need holidays but I guess they do. He spoke excellent English and was thrilled to find someone he could practise on. He took a moment to bless one of our group. While visiting with us he was constantly chanting under his breath, while listening to everything we said and responding to our questions. Very Cool.
This pretty well catches you all up on what keeps us busy. I apologize for the length of this weeks post. Now that we are caught up, they should be more manageable. We have settled in nicely and are looking forward to many more adventures.
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