To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent. - Buddha

I have been feeling restless lately because I’ve felt a little too idle for my liking. I like a fast pace and I like to keep myself busy with different kinds of projects on the go. I have been reading a lot more lately (I’m finally reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy), but I’m feeling this is not enough. Alethea and I went to Shenzhen and Macau last weekend and it was fantastic! I will tell you more about it below, but I really am feeling like I need to get out and do more or at least try to explore Chenzhou more while I am here too. Today marks our 5 month anniversary of being here, which means we have about 2 ½ - 3 months left of teaching. This is crazy to me and even though I have done so much I am feeling more pressure to get out and do more things before my time here is over. In many ways I have challenged myself in moving to China, and in other ways I feel I could have challenged myself a lot more. I have a checklist of things I want to complete and I’m feeling the time ticking away before I come back to Canada.

As I said, Alethea and I went to Shenzhen and Macau for a few days. The students had exams and since we don’t have to teach for those days we ended up having almost 5 days off. There is not a whole lot of sightseeing to do in Shenzhen, but we did indulge in some of the foods we have been missing from home – cheese, pasta, salt and vinegar chips, and sushi to name a few... yum! The sushi bar we went to for our last dinner was amazing and was the conveyor belt style where you can choose what you want and tally it up at the end. Very cool! We did a bit of shopping around at the markets and I got a bit more of my souvenirs/gifts for family while I was there. I can’t get over how awesome the markets are around China and I’m definitely going to miss that when I go home. It’s such a rush with a million people yelling at you to buy their products and then finally scoring a good deal that you would never find in a shopping mall.

Macau was a really cool place and one of my favourites that I’ve visited here in China. Like Hong Kong, it is technically part of China, but you still need to go through customs and show your passport to get in. It’s basically like the Vegas of China and there are tons of casinos and things to see. Apparently the casinos here actually bring in more revenue than in Vegas (although maybe not surprising having such a large population in China). We also visited some older churches, gardens, Macau Tower, and just walked around soaking in the atmosphere. It was colonized by Portugal a while ago and became a part of China again pretty recently so there is a great deal of Portuguese influence – you can see this all around you in the buildings, sidewalks, and people that are there.

The Venetian - hotel and casino with many shops made to look and feel just like Venice.

Up in Macau Tower.. with my new boots bought at the market!

Walking around Macau. (Left: Senado Square; and right: Ruins of St Paul's)

Hanging out under a giant banyan tree

In going to these places I really can see that I don’t want to just sit on my butt waiting out the time until I go home. It’s expensive to get around sometimes, but I don’t have to go far to do something new. Maybe I will see if I can go dancing more with the teachers. Maybe I will finally get out to Suxian Mountain that everyone around here keeps talking about. Maybe I will actually pick up my running shoes and get out there regardless of how long it has been and how low my motivation is. Either way, I’m not going to continue being idle; I’m going to get out there and diligently try to do something new every day!

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. - Buddha

I have always considered myself very good at living in the moment – sure, I worry and I plan (I blame this on my mother’s amazing ability to plan and organize so effectively), but I love to keep things in the back of my mind and have fun for now! It’s difficult to not worry about the future when I have so many things to think about, but my oh my, you can’t help but just live in the present here. When you have a vacation coming up, you probably won’t find out until like the week before. Exams? Oh, those are in 2 days. End of school? Heck, we won’t find out until the month before—if we’re lucky. This has been both a benefit and a burden these past (almost) 5 months. I love it here and I love my students so much. I love discovering new things and exploring, and I even love the mundane everyday things because it just means that I see it more as a home here. I love how friendly and happy people are and how simple life seems sometimes. I love how being here has shown me just how much I love Canada and how I want to explore more places at home too.

We are becoming less of a novelty now and more a part of their community—this means they don’t necessarily sugar coat things, but tell us how it is. My students tell me what they think and feel more and sometimes I can really see we are making a difference here. They tell me about their likes and dislikes and even though I’m not always allowed to talk about certain things (politics, religion and other topics are off-limits), I can listen and I think some of them just really like to have someone who listens and cares. Of course, not all the students like me or want to speak English, but I’m trying and I know I am so fortunate to be able to meet so many great students and teachers.

The week before last, my topic was Superstitions and I learned a great deal from my students about some of the things people believe in China. It was another eye-opener to just how different we can be, yet how similar at the same time. It was so interesting to hear about the superstitions and I’ll tell you just a few of my favourites. It is bad luck to wear a green hat and this symbolizes that your husband or wife (more often it has been associated with wives) may go commit an adulterous act. I thought this was hilarious with St. Patrick’s Day having just passed and lots of people around the world wearing green hats! As well, a lot of their culture is based around numbers and the words are often very similar and thus tied to each other. For example, the number 4 is pronounced “se” and the word death is pronounced almost the same, but with a different tone; therefore 4=death. 8 is pronounced “ba” and is similar to “fa” which means to make lots of income; therefore 8=money. 2 means foolish, 6 is good luck or happiness, 250 means very foolish and 290 is very bad luck. After learning more about these superstitions I can see just how much their culture is tied with numbers – the words for months and days of the week are associated with which number in order they are, and even the way their numbers are pronounced makes it simple (so much easier for me to learn after I knew 1-10). The stereotype that Chinese people are good at math actually makes so much more sense and though they may not all be good at math, their language is certainly tied strongly with numbers.

We got to go dancing a couple weeks ago as well with some of the teachers and it was so fun!! In Canada when I think “go dancing” I think of either going to the club or learning how to dance with lessons. Here we got to learn how to waltz! It was a big room full of people all dancing ranging from beginner to expert and it’s only 2 yuan to get in (which is like 33 cents). I didn’t know how to waltz or dance very well, but one of the teachers has been going for 2 years and helped me to pick it up as well as a couple other teachers. We got a lot of stares from people for being the only foreign people, but I didn’t care because I was just dancing the night away!

As well, I had a problem with my computer screen and that was an adventure in itself getting it fixed! Somehow the computer screen inverted the colours and after asking multiple people at home, searching the internet, visiting the computer teacher, and trying a vast array of confusing things (man, I’m really not a computer person), it still couldn’t be fixed. We went to a few different places until we got directed to a place they called “Computer city” which is every computer store you can think of with booths in a small mall plaza. They didn’t speak English there, but the guys who worked there were smart and opened up a translation website on their own computer so we could establish what the issue was and how it could get fixed. They said they would have to keep it for the night and then I could find out what to do the next day. Anyway, long story short, there was something wrong with my screen and it would end up costing me 450 rmb to get a new one. This is just under $75! Alethea used to work for Best Buy customer service and she said this was an amazing deal as normally people have to pay for installation, screen, shipping, labour, and all the other fees they slip in there. The teachers even told me that normally it would cost about 1000 around here. Oh and hey, I got to keep the old screen too.. anyone want a faulty Acer netbook screen?

I knew before I came here that I wanted to do something working with kids and that has not changed. In being here I see that I love being a teacher, and I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but I’m actually pretty good at it. I doubt myself far too often and in the past I will admit I’ve faced a lot of my own problems with the “if I don’t try, I can’t fail” attitude. I think this trip has been valuable in showing me that I can do more than I imagined if I set my mind to it. I want to be a teacher—no, I am a teacher and I just need a job in Ontario. I forget sometimes that I am still only 23 and I don’t have to have it all figured out just yet. I still feel strongly that I want to work with children and I’m going to make that happen. I got accepted to teachers college and I’ll be on my way to UOIT this September; one more step in the right direction!

We really don’t know when the school year ends though and we found out that we may be here longer than expected. Alethea was asking about dates of when the school year will end and our company said that it may end after our contract is set to be finished. Apparently in this case we are to finish the school year even if it goes past our contract end date. I love my students and of course I can see that staying until the end of the year is the right thing and I wouldn’t think of doing anything else. However, I had some tentative traveling plans for July and I would like to spend at least a few weeks at home getting accustomed to life back in Canada. Ah, to live in the moment and go with the flow right?

I think there is a balance between appreciating the past, working for the future, and loving the present and though sometimes it feels like I’m walking a tightrope, I’m learning to find my own balance.