Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Long overdue letter



This pic was taken today when I was out for a walk at the beach. I am standing on the edge of a small cliff (maybe 30 ft high).



OK I know how long it’s been since I wrote a nice long letter to all of you guys. I have been busy with many things in both my personal and professional life. At present I am sitting on the Qinguay (pronounced Ching Gway). The Qinguay is basically an intra-city railway. Like a subway but above ground. I had planned on typing up my lesson plans while on this trip, but it also seems like a good time out to let you all know how things are going in a little more detail.
I am on my way to Dalian (a little less than an hour by Qinguay). The trip will cost me 6 yuan or about $1 . I am going to pick up a suit that I had made by a tailor who specializes in custom suits.

The suit is a 3 piece, and all chocolate brown. It is tailored to be a slim fit. The vest should taper at my waist. I will wear it to a large Christmas party being put on for Maple Leaf Staff this evening. We will supposedly have a beautiful hall in the Victorian Hotel in Kai Fa Qu (pronounced Kie Fah Chu). This is about a 20min Qinguay ride from Jin Shi Tan (home). The event is to be catered by a western food specialist with the moniker Eddie. I’ve eaten at his restaurant before and it was excellent. He makes a great pumpkin soup. It should be a blast. My suit is all top quality wool and double stitched. The entire gig cost me $800 yuan or about $150. It’s a really neat experience, choosing a fabric, having a ridiculous amount of measurements taken, choosing style and modifying details, waiting 2 weeks and then going back and getting a 1 of a kind outfit.

Aside from living a rather sweet lifestyle, I have also managed to put away about $10,000 so far in my Canadian account. Now not all of that will stay where it is since I will be visiting a good bit of south east Asia for my 5 week holiday. The trip has been modified a little bit since I last spoke with any of you. So far Vicky and I have purchased our tickets from Dalian to Shenzen, and from Shenzen to Kota Kanabalu in Borneo. Once we land in Shenzen, we will take a train across the border to Hong Kong for a brief two day stay. Not a place I really want to spend a lot of time, but it is a city that I really want to see. I fully expect to be blown away.

We have a ton of stuff planned for Borneo. It is here that I plan to become a trained and globally certified PADI diver. This is expected to take 3-4 days of courses and dives (at least two dives a day). There are a lot of things that we will decide on when we get there, but a couple of things that we plan on are visiting a section of jungle that serves as an Orang-utan sanctuary. It’s a rehabilitation sanctuary as a matter of fact. Orang-utans, who have been injured or orphaned, are brought here to grow up or get better in a safe government protected. We also plan to visit Turtle Island. Where we will watch turtles swill ashore and lay their eggs and/or see turtles hatch and make their way to the sea. A number of dives may take place on both Borneo’s East and west coast. (by the way, I just watched the BBC "planet earth" on caves earlier today, and there is a huge chunk of it set in Borneo.
From Borneo , We will probably fly to Singapore for a couple of days of high living and relaxation to recharge our batteries. Then we will ride the railway (first first class of course) up through southern Thailand for a couple of days until we reach either Phucket or some other place where there are world class tropical waters with coral reefs. After a week or so of diving and beach chilling in Phucket, we will continue on to Bangkok most likely. From Bangkok, we would fly to Shenzen and from Shenzen to Dalian.



Back-note:
When I went to visit Dre, we didn`t really do very much that makes for good writing or reading. We mostly hung out. Discussed. The same old thing you've all seen us do on a million occasions. Though I can you about a few things of particular note. We visted a wood museum that is actually in Andre`s gated community (I posted some pics much earlier. We ate dinner on a cruise ship that was converted into a permanent restaurant in downtown Shenzen. We went shopping in a gigantic copy market in Guong Jo (I think). It was a great time.


OK I'm getting close to my stop so I'll write a little more on the way home.
I've been standing on the Qinguay for the last 25 min, but finally got a seat (way home). The suit is fantastic. I've got a new shirt and tie to go with it too. A little questionable for me... they're pink. I cannot recall ever having owned an article of clothing that was pink. We'll see. I'll send photos.
I still like my apartment, and love the convenience of living across the street from school. However I am considering a move to Kai Fa Qu. Some of the apartments I`ve seen in town that the other teachers have are so nice. No final decision yet, in fact I haven`t even started looking just thinking.
I`m having a great time here. In fact, I am already committed to coming back next year. Not officially just in my head. I am in the process of applying for a masters degree from UBC. They are setting up a special program for a group of teachers here at Maple Leaf. I will most like do a masters of arts in education. I would like to specialize in neurology and learning in children, as I think I would enjoy doing a PhD in this area sometime much later. It seems fairly certain that this will happen (barring unforeseen circumstances). This means that I will be living in the Okanagan for the next 2 summers as I work with some profs on my new degree. I am really psyched to get back into school again (on the student side I mean) ha ha ha. I hope everyone can come and visit me for a bit this summer in the Okanagan.
I am so pleased with where my life has brought me. There is so much adventure to be had and beautiful places to see out there. I live for the most part, a low stress life. And the intellectual challenges and opportunities I face and have are seemingly endless. Just taking a cab can be a challenge here. I can say life is rarely dull. I love you all so much. I hope some of you manage to visit me while I live overseas. I think I will trot the globe for another decade or two, so if you want to see some of China, now’s the time.


Roxi asked me if I would post some pictures of Vicky and I so I'll end the letter with these. Call me anytime (this is what you need to dial from Canada)
011 86 158 4081 4007





All of the pics here were taken at last nights staff X-mas party or the pre party






















I had the camera in my hand and couldn't resist try to catch this on :)

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