admin

Harbin riverfront and central market

Harbin is the largest city in China that is the closest to Siberia.

The last day on Harbin! I’m actually excited to get back to Guangzhou and warmer temperatures. It is pretty here but the temperatures range from -15 C to – 20 C. At that temperature the air is very dry. Using lip balm and moisturizing often is a must. You also need several layers under a really good coat and insulating snowpants and boots.

We packed everything and put our luggage on the bus. We headed to the riverfront and walked to the flood control monument which intersects the riverfront and the road to the central market.

We first walked down the central market street to west 12th to see St. Sophia’s church. The architecture here is but Chinese but like any eastern european country.

St. Sophia’s is a Russian Orthodox church which is beautiful. Unfortunately they were renovating the inside so we could not enter.

From there we went in and out of shops in order to warm up a bit. Taking gloves off to take a picture left fingers numb!

Musicians took turns playing music or singing from this balcony. It was beautiful. This guy played beautiful old music on the saxophone.

One of the things people do here is buy ice cream to eat on the street. It is just ordinary ice cream, but something people do. It actually didn’t make me any colder.

We went in and out shops mostly to look for caviar. There was none to be found. I think it is banned due to covid-19. The virus had been found on fish products earlier in the year. I was disappointed in that.

I did find this bread flavored soda. I did try it. It tastes like that yummy taste you have in your mouth after you eat really good bread. It is a lingering bread taste and actually quite tasty. It is a favorite in Russia.

We found a Russian restaurant that had good food though I did not find the potato latkes I was looking for. I had a beetroot salad and potato mushroom soup.

Next we took the cable car across the river. The number of things you can do on this completely frozen river is amazing. Skating, sledding, pulled by dog teams, and other fun activities. If you love winter and outdoor activities, you will not be bored! The spaces they have created here is amazing. The ice is 1 meter thick.

A walk along the river back to the bus to look at smaller snow sculptures.

We also saw construction of the sculptures in this temperature. It was amazing.

A street food market for stinky tofu. It is just fermented tofu. Yummy but had to eat fast before it became cold.

Now back to Shanghai and then on to Guangzhou!

Sun Island, Siberian Tiger Park, and Volga Manor

Sun Island

It was cold. We started the tour at -20C and finished at -16C. There are a few coffee shops around to get out of the cold. Of course if you keep moving and don’t take your hands out of gloves to take pictures it is easier.

These sculptures are made by making artificial snow as that snow is wetter and sticker than the snows that falls on Harbin. They place the snow in big wooden boxes to pack then use the block to make these incredible sculptures that are the largest in the world. All of this is made from packed snow.

It started out at -20C and when the sun was shining warned up a bit.

You could ride this vehicle and soon around on the river ice.

This one is still under construction and looks like a little mushroom house village.

Siberian Tiger Park

The siberian tiger park was pretty cool. People move through the various paddocks in caged vehicles. Some tigers are in cages if they are not acclimated to weather, weak, pregnant, or young. They can get enough nutrition that way. There are over 1300 tigers and the park is very large.

You can pay to feed them by holding meat through the bars or even feed them a live chicken which is dropped through a chute.

Some of the buses also will be used to feed the tigers. You can always tell which bus.

They are such beautiful animals.

Volga Manor

This was a Russian village created by a wealthy entrepreneur in the turn of the century. It prospered until the cultural revolution when it was destroyed. Since then it has been rebuilt on the actual style of the original buildings.

We took a bus to the castle at the end where you took a freight lift to the 5th floor. There you could lay on an inner tube and hold on to each others legs to sled ride down this impressive ice chute. It was so fun we did it twice.

We looked at the Russian church.

There were many other buildings that were not open.

Of course there was a vodka chateau. We learned about vodka.

Sampling the vodka was fun. It was poured in ice cups. I sampled an amber colored vodka that had a definite spicy kick at the end. I also tried a dark colored vodka that had a really full flavor. You could buy your favorite vodka in the gift shop. I purchased the two I tried!

Walking back to the bus was beautiful to see the lit houses.

Afterwards some pedestrian street shopping and food at a Japanese restaurant. On the way back to the hotel we saw this sign which is so very covid-19. It is a little blurry as the bus started moving.

Harbin ice festival

Merry Christmas! An early morning start to catch the plane and I had some of the stollen bread that my dear friend Tricia and Dan bought me for my birthday! It was delicious. Not like the recipe I grew up with which is a yeast soft bread with candied fruits and nuts inside. This was somewhere between that and a fruitcake. It was yummy and will be good when I’m hungry on the trip.

The flight to Harbin was diverted due to weather and did not arrive on time. I still had enough time to change into multiple layers to visit the Ice Festival. On the way there you could see people on large snow mounds making it into something for the festival. Harbin is close to the Russian border with China.

We arrived at the festival around 3 in the afternoon. The sun sets just after 4 here. So far the weather is not bad. It is cold but tolerable with layers. If course when the sun goes down….

It is negative 16 Celsius. That is around negative 5 F.

It was great to see my friends Amber and Michael on this trip. I haven’t seen them in awhile. A core group of us met and took trips together this summer. Covid-19 wreaked havoc but did give us that.

Some of the ice houses were already starting to light up when we arrived.

We went ice bicycling. It was pretty fun around this frozen track that wound through a building and under a bridge. Hard to move legs in the bulky clothes but once you find a rhythm…

There were some restaurants to stop in and get warm. While we were there the sun went down and the ice buildings were lit up.

This snow sculpture of the Buddha is my favorite of the day. It is enormous.

As the festival officially opened in February, some buildings were still being constructed. Ice from the river is brought in and cut into smaller blocks. It is 1 meter deep there. Lights are put in on the top blocks. It takes a lot of orbison to hand cut all of these blocks.

The shows they usually have are with Russian acrobats. They unfortunately could not come back to China due to covid-19 restrictions. They had finishing and dancing which the audience participated in and warmed us up.

More nighttime pictures. Eventually my phone powered down from the cold but taking my hands out to take pictures left my fingers numb!

Afterwards we removed layers at the hotel and went to a nearby neighborhood for hotpot. Yummy and just what was needed after being in the cold. Finally I drank the Harbin beer manufactured here in the actual city.

Xinchang ancient town, Christmas Eve

In the morning of the 24th we strolled the lanes, carved stone-arch bridges and old wooden buildings. They have the conserved courtyard-style architecture reminiscent of the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is a glimpse of a time when Pudong was actually a string of individual villages similar to this one.

We sampled foods including glutinous rice balls, bean cakes, warm chestnuts, and others.

We stopped at a great coffee house and had dirty coffee which was more steamed milk and dusted with chocolate. The cutest dog played fetch the whole time we were there.

We also did a lot of shopping. Beautiful antiques, jade, stone, and antiques were everywhere. Afterwards we cooked vegetarian chili, rice pudding, and snacks. My friends Tricia and Dan came to Cat’s for dinner and they brought me a stollen bread they found in Shanghai. It is a Christmas tradition and so happy to have it this year. I have some really great friends.

Shanghai and the French concession

After helping Cat with grocery shopping for the holiday meals I took a Didi into the city to meet my friend Tricia and Dan at the Grand Hyatt. I splurged on a massage then meet them for tea in a lounge.

While they were getting ready for dinner I went to the adjoining building to view the city on the observatory tower. Beautiful lights.

Dinner was in the French concession at Pollux. The French concession was an area of Shanghai under foreign control from the 1800’s until about 1943 when it was signed over to Japanese control. Since then it has retained its european flavor and is a popular tourist destination

It is a well rated restaurant. My dinner consisted of charred cauliflower (pureed cauliflower topped with a cauliflower steak with a parmesan crisp on top. Yum!), Salmon with bernaise sauce, and creme brulee.

There are beautiful markets, music venues, and restaurants here. It was lovely to walk around and take in the sights and sounds.

Shanghai flower market

Before leaving Guangzhou I had breakfast with Elaine and Killian. Our routine Monday night dinner would not happen due to travel so was nice to see them before I left. From there I walked with them too the metro to go to the airport.

After arriving in Shanghai, a driver picked me up to take me to my friend Cat and her son Rowan. They are fabulous people, so warm and welcoming. Rowan and I have hiked together and I have to say he is the coolest 14 year old I’ve encountered in a long time. A testament to his mom and his personality. They also have two dogs. This will be a fun few days!!!!!!

We went to the flower market where I could get my fill of Christmas decorations. It was nice window shopping and having fun with the two of them.

In China you are always on the lookout for mislabeled products. This one that Rowan found led to serious laughter. If the stickers were on that theme I would have bought it!

Lunch was amazing. Portobello mushroom soup, super food salad, and a trio of desserts we shared because we couldn’t decide. Date sticky pudding, chocolate pecan pie, and run raisin cheesecake. All delicious.

Mall shopping. We saw this cake store where the cakes are 1000 rmb. That is about 150 USD.

Outside the mall.

It is cute the reindeer bring each other decorations, but Christmas balls hanging from the butt….

This was outside the entrance to a store that has novelties from a movie called Spirited away.

We didn’t go into this building, but it looks like my kind of place….

Later I had to go to the travel office to get my covid test to travel to Harbin. They made it so easy. 5 minutes and I was on my way. We registered in advance and they take care of everything. Afterwards we walked around the neighborhood as Cat had never been there yet.

The next morning I took their golden retriever Ollie in a jog around. It is colder in Shanghai much like Virginia weather. Of course my nose is running constantly and another reason I don’t want to be in colder weather. I have not seen frost in over three years.

Friends and the week before Christmas

I am grateful to have a variety of friends and activities to keep me occupied during this holiday season. Even though it really does not feel like Christmas and just another week in this crazy ridiculous year that was 2020, it helps to keep my mind off the fact that I had planned to be home in the US this holiday season. Of course now, no one really should be getting together in the US as the virus cases are out of control.

I am equally blessed that my family is healthy even if my brother was potentially exposed at work. So grateful that his covid-19 test came back negative.

The combined Christmas concert at school featured choir, band, and orchestra. As usual it did not disappoint.

My legs were better midweek after the marathon to play in the girl’s teacher-student basketball game. It was called the Christmas chocolate classic. Teachers wore ridiculous clothes. To make it fair, teachers had no rules. We could do anything. We still lost. It was a blast though. Even though my legs didn’t hurt, they didn’t want to run back and forth across the court either! But honestly, those girls can sprint.

The coach is so fun and everyone was great as a team!!

Book club was held where I used to live in Clifford mansion. Tatz made a carrot cake for my birthday, we swapped books for Christmas gifts, and we were surprised by carolers!

We closed out the end of school for the holidays at a 90’s themed holiday party. It was fun despite losing my voice voting (screaming) for my friend Trisha and Dan to win best couples contest! They won and I did win the trivia contest as well.

The first weekend of break I decided to relax. I was originally supposed to travel to Chengdu to go hiking with my friend Morgana before traveling to Shanghai. Unfortunately, Chengdu went red with a covid-19 case that infected multiple places (a young person going from bar to bar…). I cancelled that part of the trip. Money was refunded easily.

Instead I stayed in Guangzhou and ate food and other things. Brunch at a Christmas market and movie on Saturday and dim sum on Sunday with Jack.

At the lobby of the grand international hotel where we ate dim sum.

After dim sum we took a walk around Tianhe park.

Artist who is famous for depicting the mood of the times.

Soldier who led the battle against the Japanese and is buried in the park.

Jack had never tried stinky tofu. It is fermented and has an off smell but tastes like regular tofu. Very spicy sauce.

Great start to my two week vacation. Next on the agenda is Shanghai to visit a friend and then off to Harbin. I really have no plan and am just winging it for this vacation.

Guangzhou marathon

An item that was on my bucket list many years ago that I discarded was running a marathon.

In training for one I ignored all the pain signals and now have a lasting hamstring injury. I could still run half marathons but I routinely would reinjure it and have to take time rehabilitating. I didn’t think I would be able to train.

I really couldn’t train fully. But I worked with the athletic trainer that helped me in the last injury and decided that limiting training to 35km per week might be a plan. That is barely enough for a half marathon training but running the half marathon the week before on Dec. 5th was plenty.

Picking up the race packets the day before with Carolyn and a new teacher Justin.

For covid-19 precautions we had to sign a health declaration, have a negative covid-19 test 5 days before, and fill out online temperature checks two weeks before. The day of the race they had put 1 meter apart dots we were to follow and separate. No one did.

Race day December 13th

Police runners to make sure everyone is sportsmanlike and watch for medical and other issues.

I went into the race feeling the best I have in awhile but it was brutal. The first half was fine but the third 10 km was rough and my quads were really tired in the end.

My goal was just to finish even if I had to walk. I was able to finish in 4 hours and 46 minutes. I could have shaved twenty minutes off, but it is that thinking that always leads me to an injury. And this time I walked away injury free.

At the end of the marathon, my friends were waiting for me. Such good friends.

Going to the local mexican restaurant for food was next on the list.

The international choir singing Christmas carols!

And the medal was the coolest. Purely Chinese with the lion.

Active weekend with a surprise exclusive visit

The weekend started out with Japanese food with a couple friends. I played it safe on the food but did have sake. I was to travel the next morning to run a fun half marathon with friends for charity and needed to be good with what I ate. We ran so that a few new runners could set a goal of running their first event and then we added raising charity for food banks. My friends Trisha And Daniel had this great idea months ago and I was keen to join in!

The next morning I drove with two friends, Jack and Claire to Huadu which is the north part of the city. I attended my last class for the leadership assessment class as we drove using zoom. It was beautiful sunshine but much colder of late.

We ran through the ecological park that connected with other parks. I couldn’t help but stop and take a couple pictures. My time was still 2 hours and 7 minutes trying to take it slow. However I made a wrong turn and ended 2 km away from where I needed to be so had extra amount of running.

We went afterwards to a nice restaurant (Sean was gracious to let us shower at his apartment.)

After the lunch Jack drive to the Imperial Springs. It is a hot spring resort that is pretty pricey. 400 USD for a standard room and much more for the villas that have their own hot spring in the residence. Jack had a personal connection to one of the dignitaries in charge and we were given permission to enter. It was beautiful but it had much more history than its beauty.

It also has a presidential palace that dignitaries use when they visit. We were allowed to walk in the upper floors. The actual loving areas need an elevator to go below. The top buildings are meeting rooms and in the typical Chinese style of the Tang dynasty. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have stayed here (Obama after he left office.)

A video of the view off the balcony of the main meeting room over top of the presidential quarters: https://youtu.be/wx7yFMRG2u4

We ate at the hot pot buffet restaurant. Pricey but very good food.

The next day I went for a hike with my friends Joanna. We started at baiyun and found the elevated walkway to the 5 rams park. It was beautiful and we passed through some parks I had not been to yet. The elevated paths connect the parks and then you walk through portions of the parks.

One of the parks that we went through was the Sculpture Park. We only walked along the part of the park that took us to the next section of pathway. There were quite a few sculptures in this part alone.

We also enjoyed noodle soup for lunch with handmade pulled noodles. So yummy and good on a cool day after walking.

a great weekend and my legs felt great as I have been lowering my weekly amounts to keep my hamstring healthy. It was great to spend time with friends!

Adventures in school renovations (and during a pandemic)

This is not the first renovation at a school I have taught in but this is the most ambitious. We left last January with one building torn down and in the process of being rebuilt to bring grades 3-5 out to the campus. During the pandemic or was slowed until no cases and authorization allowed the project to continue. Over the course of the hybrid learning that was spring, there was amazing progress on that building and it was completed in October.

Before those grades come to the Science Park campus, the building will be used to house middle and high school as that building will be torn down. When plans are made here, things are done quickly!

The science department had to move before anyone else as we were moving into temporary new spaces that was the cafeteria. These rooms needed moved in order to build the construction road to be able to demolish the building.

We left for October break with a cafeteria and arrived back to school with 8 new classrooms. They are temporary so there are walls that are easy to put up. A little loud but I am grateful that the school does everything it can to help and to make the classrooms functional and teachers comfortable and supported.

Only 2 of the 8 teachers were here so we worked many hours between teaching to unpack rooms and determine existing storage that could be repurposed for the new rooms. We had ayis (translated as auntie) to pack their rooms but I unpacked to determine what was needed. The shushus (translated as uncle) can move a whole room in under an hour. Our storage space and office space for the technician is in a much smaller space so many items had to be placed in classrooms. Our rooms are also much smaller. It was a pretty stressful month as we were teaching as well and I was coaching cross country and running student council. Here are things waiting to be unpacked.

The place looks great. We are settling in. 4 more teachers returned. Then we watched and stayed as far away from the rest of the teachers moving into the future elementary building. We were able to go through in the end to snag cushioned benches to places in the hallway and rescued student created murals to brighten our space.

The week of Thanksgiving we went back to a normal teaching schedule (all my 36 science 9 students used to be in one 65 minute class and now they are separated into 3 classes of 85 minutes each. My 24 bio are now in two classes). We taught online as many things were being moved around campus and could not happen with students here. That Wednesday there were no classes (time for teachers to get their rooms together) and Thursday was a professional development day. Touring through the old rooms was sad.

After Thanksgiving break all students are now on campus and not staggered by grades as they used to be. This is as close to normal as we have been since the pandemic. This is mostly due to most teachers being such overseas. Now 90% off the teachers are back and more to arrive soon.

And here are the science rooms in various states of being torn apart and demolishing the building after windows were torn out.

Behind the science wing where the construction road was being made.

And views of the new building:

Next November we move into the brand new high school built where the old one stood. It is amazing looking according to the plans and hope I am here to see it completed! I also hope all the school is here to do the move as well! I know it will be smooth nonetheless as this is an amazing and supportive school!

I am tired as I spend more time teaching and talking but exhilarated to forge relationships with students now that there is more time to work with smaller classes. It is also great to be back to a more normal environment. This is an amazing school that cares about how everyone is doing. This holiday will be difficult not being able to go home to see family. It has been a year and a half already.