Guangdong province – Page 3

Photobombing in Xiang Xue Park

Not too far from my school in Science City is this beautiful park full of plum trees. They are blooming now with white or pink flowers. Because of the beautiful trees, so many people were there and Jack and I decided only to go if we could find a parking space. We both hate crowds.

But once there the photobombing opportunity made it worth it!

Photo bombing a live performance was not the original goal. You could hear singing everywhere and Jack explained that many of them were live streaming. They have some followers who will send them money but if they do something special they can sometimes get more. So I decided to photobomb them for those watching. I then took a picture of what I saw. Meanwhile Jack took pictures of me.

Then the one singer realized what I was doing! So funny!!!! They didn’t ask me to sing though which is a good thing…

This was my picture from behind the singers.

Beautiful flowers were everywhere. The plum trees were in full bloom and the bees were buzzing. It was so fragrant just walking through the park.

Lots of people everywhere, talking and enjoying the day. Many brought lunch, some played games….

It is a nice free place to enjoy nature and be outside.

I had wondered if there were bee hives here and there were at one end of the park. The darker honey is made from the summer pollen and the lighter from the winter pollen. I purchased some of the lighter honey as I had already purchased the darker from a farmers market a few months ago.

Bees busy making honey from the winter pollen (lighter in color and thicker honey)

This honey is the honey made from the summer pollen.

Across from the trees are a large space for food stalls. I was thirsty so we went in search of something to drink. In Chinese:

Wǒ kěle. Wǒ xiǎng hē guǒzhī. I am thirsty. I want to drink juice.

Sugar cane juice which was sweet but not as sweet as I thought it would be. It was delicious.

This bread was yummy. It is baked in a very hot oven that makes a well.

This dessert is frozen with liquid nitrogen making it very cold and you can blow clouds with your breath.

The food and fresh produce is amazing as it is everywhere here in China.

Running with visually impaired individuals

On Sunday four of us from school learned how to run as a running guide with visually impaired individuals. It was a great day and the gentleman Bin that I led spoke some English and I spoke some Chinese as well.

We held this rigid elastic band and used it to guide. Pulling up means to step up. Pulling down means to step down. Pulling left is to go left while pushing my right elbow against him means to go right. Pulling back means to stop or slow down. Communication is key to be at the right pace and it was a lot of fun.

Bin and I holding the band that we run with.

Late that day I went to Jack’s apartment in Favorview where we drank coffee at the clubhouse. There was a book club meeting there. People are the same all over. I loved how they brought snacks and drinks (they drank tea though in my book club it is often wine). They even had gifts for each other. But mostly they talked about the book while mostly just talking and learning about each other. We do the same as well. They were lovely to watch and notice the care of one another. I can’t wait for my book club meeting next week!

Food, running, and more food

You can find any kind of food here in Guangzhou including a Poutine place. This restaurant is not far from me and friends met to try different versions of toppings for french fries. There is the original Canadian poutine as well as others inspired by different countries. I tried the Lhaksa poutine with shrimp and crab meat. It had coconut and was spicy.

On the weekend, Jack took me to the Liwan district for authentic Cantonese food. It was off the beaten path. We had bamboo noodles. It is regular rice noodles but shaped using bamboo sticks. The soup had pork blood cubes in it. That is a standard Cantonese dish.

Afterwards we went for dessert. You know the place is good when there is a long line waiting for take out.

This dessert Bai xiang guo had papaya in it and a sweet juice. I’m not sure what else is in it. It looks like a rice noodle (chang fen) and the dish is good for those with a sore throat.

Rice triangles with a variety of fillings which could be pork, mushroom, bean, or plum. They are stranded in bamboo leaves.

This dish is made with almond paste and rice milk. It is not as thick as a pudding and it’s served warm. It reminds me of the filling of a bear claw but not as sweet.

The next morning we went running on the Guangzhou International Bio Island. It is a manmade island that houses international corporations many for pharmaceutical and other technology. Self driving cars are tested here and move people around on the island. There is a great running track around the perimeter and it is very beautiful to run with the view of the river.

Mangrove trees. Unfortunately many were taken down when guangzhou was developed and the islandsc were made.

Burning Rick works with individual genetic testing of cancer patients for individualized treatments.

Astra Zeneca China. This company is one of the covid-19 vaccine developers.

Then later we went for sauerkraut fish. It is a sour soup that is quite hot. There are many different peppers and the little round ones that look like peppercorns makes your mouth completely numb of you accidentally eat them.

Later in the week we went to another fish place where you add in other items to the fish and sauce you choose. This was Mekong fish with a spicy garlic sauce. There is so much incredible food here.

We passed by a place where young children get their hair cut. They sit in cats and watch cartoons to keep them still for their haircut. Clever.

Winning stay at the Garden Hotel

The Garden Hotel is the oldest luxury hotel in Guangzhou. I have been there this year at the TedX conference, the AmCham ball, and the 90’s Christmas party. At that party, I won a free night stay. As I had only a few weeks to do so, I decided to do it the last weekend of vacation.

After a run to and back from my covid-19 test required to return to work, I packed up and left for Dim Sum with colleagues.

Then I left to pick up Jack by Didi and headed for the Garden Hotel.

We didn’t get settled in when they sent up a snack. Phyllis dough with filling was just yummy.

We were given a pass to the executive lounge for high tea. Great snacks and tea or juice to drink.

We were delivered another snack to the room.

We walked around the neighborhood as it is one of the oldest in Guangzhou. There are middle eastern and african restaurants. Unfortunately as we found many of them closed due to covid-19. We had been looking for the Ethiopian restaurant, but it was closed. Instead we found a Syrian restaurant. I had Foul which is a slightly sour bean dish. Along with the hummus was a flat bread.

After dinner we went back to the executive lounge for drinks (included in the free pass). They also had Dim sum snacks.

The live entertainment was great. I requested a few songs which they knew and sang quite well like Adele’s “Rolling in the deep” and Alannis Morrisette’s “You outta know”.

Breakfast the next morning was great followers by sauna and outdoor hot tub.

I had never won anything before so a stay in a great hotel was amazing. A relaxing start to the New Year.

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.

Thanksgiving 2020

This year for Thanksgiving I did not host a dinner like last year. Killian instead hosted at his place on actual Thanksgiving day. I had PD that day as well as a fall celebration so made cornbread and pies as my contribution. I think these were the best pies I have made.

The Thanksgiving dinner was great. Killian has an 0ld but cool apartment in Dongshankou which is a historic area of the city.

The Thanksgiving celebration before the holiday weekend was fun with corn hole tournaments, food and drink and live music with a teacher band.

We may not have had Thursday off, but we did have a three day weekend. Of course, I scheduled doctors appointments and tests for that day! But before that, I ran 17 km to train for the marathon I signed up for then went to my appointment. After leaving the Imaging center where i had a mammogram, I walked through Martyr’s park that commemorates those who fought for the current form of government. Even if it was communism it was better than the Qing Dynasty which ruled before that. Martyr’s Park is really beautiful and many people writing poetry with water and practicing TaiChi.

I took the subway to the sports center as it is a beautiful walk around there. My friend Elaine messaged me, so I went to see her at PoPark to grab lunch and walk around before my next appointment.

I’ve been eating out more than before… there is so much good food here! My favorite is Thai food and there is a great place in PoPark near the East Railway station. A good vegetable soup, Pad Thai inside a thin egg omelette with coconut jelled dessert.

We walked around and visited some of Elaine’s other friends that had rescued kittens. They are so adorable.

Over the weekend I also met with some other friends to hiking in Baiyun. I had not seen Joanna in some time! Morgana is also very busy at the Canadian school. Whenever we can make schedules work, it is amazing.

Afterwards, we traveled to Dongshankou to go to the Owl’s Nest whcih has a really nice brunch and coffee shop.

This is really reminiscent of the types of houses in the area at that time. Very romantic and beautiful.

It was a great holiday weekend and the start of the week was pretty spectacular too. Elaine, Killian, and I met near the river for Vietnamese Pho and then walked along the river to look at the light show. Some of it is paid entrance (in the amphitheater), but the rest was the pedestrian area of Huacheng Square.

It also was the first time that Book club met in person now that more of the teachers are back in China. Yummy food of grilled vegetables, an eggplant dish, and rice. The discussion was of the book Lizzie Borden which had some great analysis of all the past information about that famous persona.

November, 2020

It is easy to let multiple weeks go by without writing everything down. This year which is the longest year ever. Covid-19 had made this the most ridiculous year ever. No big travel trips this month but many little outings as school returns even more to normal and all students are on campus. We are almost back to the normal schedule. This has less to do with the virus itself but with finally having most of our teachers back in China. I’m also taking a leadership class on Saturday mornings (virtually …)

One of my really good friends here is Elaine from Canada. She and I live close to each other and we go out to eat every Monday. Sometimes Killian, my other good friend goes with us too. She works in an English language school so she works nights and weekends. Monday is our one day to catch up.

This portobello burger is amazing and the little restaurant is so retro.

I am still running to get ready for some races. My favorite place to run is along the river.

I also attended the AmCham ball. It is the American chamber of commerce. My school is a member and has a number of tickets. It was a great night with my colleagues. The food was amazing and the Garden Hotel never disappoints with atmosphere and food.

We also found a Poutine restaurant. It has original Poutine and also different nationality themes. Delicious!

Christmas displays at Parc Central in Tianhe!

I pulled out a Christmas tree I was given to decorate. It may become a cat climbing tower!

Food and friends

I am grateful to have a variety of friends from different activities and tours I have been in since arriving in China. They all have found incredible places to eat.

I am eating out more and more and enjoying the amazing delicious food in this city (it is really renowned for is cuisine and variety).

I started last weekend in a Friday afternoon at a golf driving range. I didn’t take pictures but I had such a great time whacking at a ball and talking with coworkers I don’t see everyday over snacks and drinks.

The next morning I juggled a long run with a leadership course in assessment. Of course there was homework, but afterwards I met my friend Morgana and co-worker Dirk for British day. If course there were fish and chips and pints of beer.

At night there were long established plans to go to a 2 star Michelin restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The restaurant is called Jiang by Chef Fei. It is an amazing restaurant.

Drinks in the upstairs bar while others arrived. They have an unbelievable selection of gin.

Netherlands, Germany, UK, Canada, NZ, Singapore, and US represented here.

Part of the 9 course set meal some chose.

When did arrived and everyone takes pictures!

Some photo shots afterwards. We crowded into an elevator that had a bellman and trolley. He did not know what to make of us squeezing in that way instead of waiting for another elevator.

Downstairs in the Mandarin Oriental.

I also went to dinner on Sunday with my friend Elaine. She knows of a great Thai place in Po Park. The fish curry was amazing. So hungry we forgot to takes pictures. Another highlight was sitting in the Tesla cars in the mall.

Another dinner a day later at a different Cantonese restaurant to start the week.

Apple shrimp, a great mushroom fish, and a casserole with crab roe.

And more window shopping… This place was a one stop shop for a bunch of things. Stationary, snacks, wine (right next to the toys)…

Looking in a clothing store brought back memories of shopping for similar flannels for the kids and I to wear for the holidays….. Miss my family….

Kaiping

I traveled with Global friendship and Pachamama tour to a village outside of Kaiping for day of the dead celebrations. It was a two plus hour bus ride out of the city.

Kaiping area is home to hundreds of unique Diaolou-fortress watchtowers. They were used to protect the city from invaders and we’re built during the second world eat and with conflict with Japan. Kaiping is the hometown to many overseas Chinese many of which have an interest in maintaining and finding use for the many abandoned buildings. The villages are historic and surrounded by agriculture and traditional way of life. The Diaolou and villages are enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Tangkou village

The TK-SPACE is a communal space for international people to get together and learn and interact in rural practices and developments.

Two old factories were renovated to build this hostel and restaurant. The largest part was an old watch factory and the other made lampshades.

The place was already decorated for Halloween.

We had lunch and settled in then took a walk around the village where the abandoned buildings and diaolous. Many of the buildings the owners cannot be found or descendents won’t spend money to transfer ownership. As all the owners here are from other countries many are not here anymore and are elderly.

The design asking the to of not in concrete but of pressed rice and has survived the years.

Wet painting. While the concrete is wet, the paint is applied and they must work fast. The color stays many decades later.

This old place is like a mansion. So sad to see it empty.

This is the post office and all collect calls in the area came here which means they needed to be arranged in advance.

The Diaolou.

An old Diaolou. There is writing on the wall from 1946 where soldiers used this as a hideout during the war and to keep a lookout for japanese.

In every rice field there will be an altar for good crops and always near a banyan tree which must never be cut down.

The flowers and seeds (rice) in this rice paddy. You know how you cook rice or open a rice package and smell the rice? Standing next to the rice paddy, that is what you smell…

We painted pumpkins or skulls and are mexican day if the dead bread made as gifts to leave for the dead on Nov. 1.

Day of the dead party

Morning run

We ran from village to village for a 10k run the next morning and saw this moon. It was the first full moon that fell on Halloween since 1944. The picture here in the morning is better than the one I took at night.

I also went through a UNESCO area but did not take pictures. Unfortunately we did not go back there later that day.

After breakfast, we toured the crops. This place leases land to villagers and then buys back the produce for their center. They supply jobs and economic incentives.

This rice is within two weeks of harvest.

This bathroom is state of the art for the area and had brought in tourism as a result.

In front of this Diaolou is water chestnuts.

Bunlos Resort, Yangjiang

I went on a banana tour to a resort this last weekend and was so happy to see friends from my school and dear friends from other schools I don’t see often enough!

This will be a great resort when it is fully open. It was a soft opening so not all stores and restaurants were open. But to be able to walk on the beach, swim in pools, and be with friends it was a great weekend.

The infinity pool at the top is nice. A typhoon was off shore so the weather changed constantly.

I enjoyed the pool off of the beach even more.

Fresh watermelon juice just blended with no sugar.

There is a rock path that leads to a cliff pool. We walked the path but did not pay to enter the pool.

For dinner we bought beer and take our and ate in one of the rooms so we could have good conversations and company.

Some other pictures of walking around the beach.

The breakfast buffet was good! I especially liked the steamed buns. The purple taro ones had date filling inside. The black ones were chocolate with a nut filling. The rice rolls are a local specialty and have shredded cabbage inside.

The Nanhai Maritime silk road museum was interesting and they recovered many artifacts from the sunken ship. The ship sank in 1000 AD.

The maritime silk road connected China with the Middle East and Europe. It takes its name from ‘Nanhai’ – the South China Sea. The wreck is in exceptional condition as a container was placed around it under sea and a bottom added. They then lifted the whole thing out and excavation is now done in the museum where people can watch. Quite the undertaking. It is thought to contain 60,000 to 80,000 precious pieces of cargo, especially ceramics.

Outside the museum is another beach and local merchants.