Before going to Bali I thought even if I only have a few days, I should stop in Manila. It is the last time I may be able to before leaving Asia. Even if I can’t see everything, I can say last be in the culture and eat some local food.
Traveling between countries require an e-arrival card with a health declaration. They also require proof of vaccination.
Having been colonized by Spain, there is a lot of Spanish spoken here as well as local Filipino and some English. This may be what Ecuador will be like: poverty, infrastructure challenge, and almost 12 hour day and night as it is close to the equator. As I am actively relearning Spanish, the practice of listening and some speaking is good.
First stop was Intramuros. Many historical buildings are there and the area is more walkable than where our hotel is in Pasay. We toured San Augustin church. The Museo de Intramuros was closed during the week.
From the church we walked towards Fort Santiago. The walls of the city were still evident though many of the structures are unstable.
Fort Santiago has a long history under Spanish rule and was even occupied by Japanese forces near the end of WWII. A Filipino opthalmologist who was also a prolific writer was imprisoned and executed here, convicted of starting the revolution against Spain. Rizal actually didn’t. But his death by firing squad did bring the revolution stronger to eventually topple Spain rule. He now is considered a national hero.
Inn the tunnels that served as a dungeon. When US forces overtook the Japanese in 1945, they found 600 bodies that died from overheating and horrible conditions. Many were local and dinner were US.Marking the mass grave and prayers for the 600 many unidentified.
These pictures are the sights we saw walking around Intramuros. I like to take pictures of various architecture and people about their daily life.
Very different from Singapore and China but everyone here is friendly and acknowledges with Ma’am. Very polite. The food looks amazing. As a vegetarian, less options here as it is very meat centric. But next we are headed to Makati, which has more options.
I visited gardens by the Bay on a night tour last time I visited. It included a walk around and then a view from near the top of the hotel. This time I expanded my stay and paid for the tickets to go in the giant domes. Video: https://youtu.be/oWo0kgt9dCo
The first was the flower dome. It was cool temperature unlike a hot house with some impressive displays and complete view to the outside. Video: https://youtu.be/oWo0kgt9dCo
I played with my new toy. A 360 camera. Because of this I have more video than i have pictures. I am still playing with the video which I have uploaded to YouTube in my library: LouiseMaine.
After the flower dome, we went to cloud city which had characters from the new Avatar movie scattered around. They also had a machine that scanned your face and would turn you into an Avatar. Video: https://youtu.be/GH9IFs-Zc20
There are 360 views to the outside which is breathtaking.
One of my 360 videos is here: https://youtu.be/bHNEekshtaw
Though not part of that tour, as we were leaving Singapore I learned there was a large waterfall in the mall connected to the airport. It is a vortex waterfall and I am so glad I checked my luggage and received my ticket then went across to see it. Pretty spectacular. There are hiking paths along the bottom that you can access at various points that lead to overhead walkways.
Our hotel was in Little India which is pretty if a heritage trail that also goes through a Muslim quarter called Kampong Glam. The street art, good, and vice was amazing. One of the items on our agenda was to get a western COVID vaccine. The trails led is too the hospital clinic we needed.
Kampong Glam, Sultán temple
The food here in Singapore is amazing. One of the other things that we did was to find the local Hawker Street to eat like a local.
There I also found a nice gentleman to fix my sandal as the bottom was falling off. A total of 3 Singaporean dollars which is about 2 USD. He would not take a tip.
And of course I again had a Singapore sling at the original Raffles hotel. The drink was created for women as they were not allowed to drink in public and it looked non alcoholic.
This is my second trip to Singapore, the first when COVID had first hit the world and I had made the choice to go back to China rather than the US. I revisited some places I had already been as I was traveling with someone who had never been here but also did more street wandering.
I love Singapore. It is not just a green city with the number of gardens but also with their electric vehicles. There are large buildings but it is very open. There is a lot of history here.
I stayed in Little India which is one historic area here. Off of Serangoon Road, it has colorful buildings and shops with amazing restaurants. The street art is fabulous. As we walked to various places we also found different routes to find new places.
Of course the most iconic places are the esplanade and the marina sands/gardens but the bay area. We visited during the day and at night.
The esplanade boasts the Merlion statue of a mythical creature.
Across the bay is the famous marina sands hotel.
On the way are many historic buildings.
These buildings recreate Durian, the smelly fruit you either love but many hate.
Gardens by the Bay are giant structures that have plants growing up them. They are iconic in the skyline and a beautiful park along the way across from the esplanade and under the shadow of the Marina Sands.
From the gardens you can walk through the center of the Marina Sands on an elevated walkway.
On our last night we bought tickets for winter wonderland festival at the gardens. Music, lights, food, but a lot of people….. Add still a pandemic. It is tough coming from China to freedom. Actually a little scary for us.
We also visited another park with different views of places we had been. I loved the food but most importantly the ability to walk around in a beautiful environment!
I thought during last school year that I would finish one more year here in China. I had applied to four jobs before that summer but did not get any interviews. Given the start of COVID infections around the world, I thought it was also better to stay. The bonus the school gave did not hurt either.
So this year I actually gave up teaching biology and taught the senior environmental class instead. As the IB classes are two years long, starting a new class as juniors would mean I would leave the biology students in between their two years. I wanted to avoid that disruption. It was also an opportunity to have another colleague experience teaching International Baccalaureate.
I used the same site I did last time: Search Associates. They vet the applicants and the schools and it is much easier to shop around and compare. Many of the countries have age limits for their visas and that eliminated many. I was primarily looking for Africa and Ecuador. Seemd very narrow, but this may be my last school and there are a couple places I want to live and learn the culture. Many African countries I was already too old for. I did apply to a dozen other places in South America and Asia, but international teaching is odd in that they are looking for something specific in the candidate: part of a teaching couple, weird combinations of certifications, or looking for certain diversity or age.
I actually had interviews each with Lusaka, Zambia and Quito, Ecuador. I always wanted to live in Africa. It is a good school, more laid back than China, but the tax rate is high and more difficult to move around and go places. Flights in and out are in and out of many small airports and could take two days. They also did not have health insurance when I go back to the US. The idea of being along the Serengeti was exciting. Security and corruption is an issue but one of the better African countries to be in. I had two interviews and they wanted to offer me the job. Unfortunately, the girl leaving was not sure and the board kept extendimg the final decision they had to make.
In the meantime, I started interviewing with Ecuador. The school is not as great as Lusaka. It will be a little laid back as well. There is corruption and security issues as well but Quito has less issues than neighboring countries. I was offered a contract. I decided to accept it as there was no guarantee the Lusaka position would actually be available (it was in the end). I was put in contact with a present teacher who answered many of my questions and concerns. One concern I had were reviews of student behavior but that really depended upon how you approach a class. The thought of being in Ecuador and seeing much of the continent was exciting. I would also be closer to home and finding a retirement property in the next few years would be easier. I would be able to save approximately the same amount of money in both places though the savings is much less than in Asia. I also think Ecuador offers more for my adventurous side.
Could I have waited and found another job? Possibly. But there are many applicants for jobs right now and my age does not help me there. I also found a school possibly near a place I wanted to live. I kept my online account open just to watch what happens. Of the other dozen applications I had sent, I received no reply. I did get messages from Kuwait and Ningbo China to apply at their school, but was not interested.
Signing a contract takes the pressure off. When the school is on the other side of the world, it means late night interviews. Exhausting. And then waiting to hear back…. But after I signed I still woke up in the middle of the night wondering if I made the right decision. Buyers remorse exists here too and mostly fueled by the daunting task of starting over somewhere else. Every major life decision can lead to that. But everything always works out. It is challenging to uproot yourself and start over in foreign places. New country with its rules, new schools with its procedures, and IB Biology has new curriculum worldwide next year and not even sure the extent of those changes yet.
In the end I liked both of the directors that interviewed me and was excited about both the schools. It will be very different from China and less pay, but also a different pace of work.
And then there is China….. It is becoming difficult to even go from one place to another. They have spent so much energy on testing, identifying contacts, and quarantine that they are not even pushing vaccinations and boosters. They put themselves in a corner and now cannot let the virus spread without over running the hospitals. So now we have been online for 7 weeks. And with the final relaxing of all restrictions has created chaos. I still don’t trust China. Local areas can have their own rules that is more extreme than the national policy. We will see.
I had wanted to write this post earlier but teaching online, testing daily, and other facets of life took over. Here is to new experiences!
For a more relaxing holiday (and to save money as travel this holiday is expensive), I visited friends, Amber and Michael, in Shunde. Our holidays don’t always coincide and I have not seen them in months. We met at brunch and then I traveled to their place in Shunde.
We watched movies, walked around a local village and found great food to eat.
Okay, these are rats. We didn’t eat them but this is some of the original Cantonese food in the area.
I then went to panyu to participate in a bike tour. We started at the Shawan ancient village and visited a local artisan who carves wood.
The side of the house has oysters embedded in the concrete to help with cooling and to deter insects.
From there, we ride on Phoenix bikes reminiscent of old Chinese bikes (but safer). We traveled to Baomo gardens, approximately 16 km.
Another short ride and we ended at an old sugar processing plant that now has art installations and some artists in residence.
A great mini vacation with friends and fresh air visiting ancient towns.
I did make it to Macau if even for two days. After crossing the border it was nice to see Portuguese. We are in a different country.
We checked into the Venetian. Such a beautiful hotel…..
A few dishes were recommended and one of these was crab porridge.
We ate in taipa and after dinner walked back to the hotel through some beautiful streets.
A view from the 32nd floor.
The next morning we took a cab to the old city to the Ruins of St. Paul, an old church. The front and the crypts are all that remain.
The streets are cobblestone and the buildings in colors and style of small European villages. We found a great little restaurant with amazing food.
We walked along the streets looking in some stores. It reminds me of Hong Kong and the international beauty products you can buy. I was able to find brown mascara which I cannot find on the mainland.
We looked inside this old church.
We were also able to see a race with servers from the various hotels as they raced through the street.
Sights along the way to the MGM Grand to grab a shuttle back to the Venetian.
We headed back to Taipa for dinner. Noodles with crab and salted egg yolk fried prawns.
Portuguese egg tarts are another food to eat here. They are amazing especially when just out of the oven!
Walking after a great dinner.
From there we went to the Parisian to see the Eiffel tower.
A quick trip but happy to actually finally make it here. Avoiding the holiday rush was the goal.
As one of my friends, Heidi, is leaving China soon, I wanted to go to Macau with her and Elaine and Donnie for the weekend. They since opened that border for foreigners as it had already been opened for mainland Chinese. As a special autonomous region like Hong Kong, it is leaving the country.
Despite what would be a rushed visit, I was excited and left for the metro straight from school to get to the high speed rail station. Foreigners are again asked to show more than just their green code since a Chinese man went to Germany, had sex with a man, and brought back the first case of monkeypox. Of course, before those specifics were reported the head of the CDC gave this warning:
The last four are sound advice. But the first… From a doctor…
They eventually walked back that first statement but the damage had been done and has brought some more anti-foreign sentiment. A person on the metro who could not just stand and had to sit next to me like this:
Back to the Macau story. I was able to leave school early so Heidi and I decided to move up the train booking but we did not notice that lineup had already happened and they would not let us through (totally our fault). Because of this, we took the next train. No problem except they wanted our passport information 20 minutes after we left the station which I thought was odd and then as the train slowed they locked the doors in the front and back of our car. They announced that the code of a person in our car of the train had turned to red in transit. Heidi is from Canada and speaks Cantonese. We did find someone who spoke Mandarin and Cantonese and a couple that could speak English. That helped but the information kept changing often.
He was possibly a close contact of someone who did test positive. Maybe…. We were herded to a gated area on the street where we were tested (2 nasal/1 rapid) and our passports/ID were taken. People who lived in Zhuhai were allowed to go home but isolate and get tested. The rest of us were to be sent to a hotel. When we asked questions, we were given a variety of answers but mostly a day in a hotel. The man’s test came back negative as we waited and we were told we would have to pay for the required stay now. People were upset. When I heard that noise I was just hoping the man did not test positive. No one was happy.
This is actually inside the gated area.
But it gets better. It’s not a hotel. It is a quarantine facility with cameras and sparse interior. We had to pay 1500 rmb ($210) deposit which is roughly a 6 day quarantine. That irked me along with the smell and pond of bleach sprayed everywhere on the floor. We were told the money was a deposit. We started calling it the “Ritz”.
For the record, not as bad as Shanghai. The central room here is all the space I had in Shanghai for 2 weeks. At least there are two bedrooms and I could take the mattresses (only a couple centimeters thick for each one) and put them together. With the two comforters on top as an added mattress, it made for a more comfortable bed. And there is a balcony…
Those are the two mattresses.
Food was meager (and we had to pay) but you were allowed to order food from outside. But setting up any Chinese app for delivery is difficult. I have resisted so far as I feel I should cook my own food and walk to eat out. Healthier that way. I contacted admin and HR about my predicament and they had an IT guy walk me through. HR had to buy me my first meal as my app wasn’t set up in time to make the delivery window. I do know enough words to type into the Chinese keyboard to search what I want. Will I use it back in Guangzhou? Probably not. But I was pretty happy to know how to type in salad (shala) and eggs and tomatoes (jidan he xihongshi). Oh… And coffee (kafei) but had to look up the translation of coffee powder.
I also contacted the consulate, just in case. I only have so much asthma medicine with me and worried about the lack of communication with us and staff here. My HR is actually wonderful at calling to find information for me.
We were told at one point just one day… Then two days… And at the end, two tests in three days. We were tested Friday night, and each of the next 3 days.
Usually I pack extra things just in case this happens but let my guard down, so I did not have coffee or some other things with me. Lesson learned….. But I am adaptable and so grateful to be able to order in. A few people on the train did not have anything with them. I gave one person a summer dress to wear and others loaned their clothes too. I am glad I had my computer to do some work and read.
We were released Monday afternoon. They refunded some of the money and then just let you find your own way out of the complex.
I had to take a personal day for missing a day of school. I was able to get my Macau hotel refunded. I decided to take two more days off as well. I have already missed my scheduled China trip with the 11th grade and will join a 2 day trip at the end of the week with the grade 12′ s. I also plan to call the government hotline as people are not to pay when they were found in this situation.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been teaching it is still a sprint and a marathon at the same time.
More responsibilities as a science PLC leader (professional learning community) and coaching cross country had kept me pretty busy. I also choose to teach IB environmental systems and society and give another person a chance to teach IB Biology. Crazy, right?
I looked forward to a full year in the new building.
And we finally had our 40th anniversary gala which was postponed several times (it is now our 41st year). As usual I don’t have many pictures as once the music starts playing I don’t leave the dance floor.
I booked a hotel room there at the Garden Hotel which had beautiful snacks ready and concierge service where they take you to your room to check in. With a late checkout whatever time you wished, it was a nice stay.
Unfortunately, COVID is still messing with schedules. Our sporting events cannot compete in person this year outside of the city. We have had a couple of meets scheduled with other schools near us and a virtual meet planned for the schools we usually compete against. One day at a time….
I always started school when it still felt like summer but soon morning would be cooler and the days shortened. This year, my 35th year, we started a bit earlier and it was still summer hot. As the humidity doesn’t start to break until October, it feels like an endless summer just with diminishing daylight.
I didn’t travel much this summer, spending time eating out with friends….
Learning to play mahjong….. There are three kings of tiles. The rules are to get 3 of a kind or 3 consecutive. You can only pick up from the discard pile if you can play it right away. Otherwise the standard rules are similar to other card games. It is fun to play the rules fast and listen to them click…. And I won the game!
Each row is a set of tiles that are related.I won. Play continues until one is left. You get chips depending upon when you go out.Won again…… And again
DragonBoat on the weekend… Great arm and cute exercise and brutal two days in a row…
Stand up paddle boarding at a new place with friends on a 3 day weekend… Beautiful little village….
And of course running around the river or swimming in the rooftop pool with a view of the river…..
October will bring warm days but less humidity. Always something to look forward to. It still seems like an endless summer as the trees do not lose their leaves here and flowers bloom all year long…
