Some Pics and Vids for all the Kids

The above is a canopy that we boated under on our way to fishing crab ;)






Thank the space pope.... I now have a really nice camera. I made a video of my neighborhood this morning. I will follow with some others. I still need to show you all the beach and my house. I need to send a special "I love you" out to Heidi, whom I was not able to reach on her birthday :( I'm pretty tired, and wont blog too much. If I had the time I could write for two hours a day. I will take some time eventually to get caught up, and write about some of my adventures, just not right now. I wanted to be a little further ahead with my planning than I am. Also I don't have time to plan tomorrow as I have a dinner date with a Ukrainian Belly dancer named Eena (No idea how to spell that) Yes of course there is a story behind this. It involves a couple of roller coasters that would make Canada's Wonderland pee it's pants, a fantastic show, a party and a chance meeting at a Chwar bar (also known as a street meat vendor). Anywho, I have the video on my youtube sight. The link is posted in this blog. Here it is again just in case you are incompetent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktY6AUynqcM


Cheers and beers for all those here

Love to all my friends and students.

L8R

Mr. Daniel Mark Andrew Standring Esq., B.Sc, B.Ed

The First Week of Classes (and an Aside or Two)

Life on campus is interesting. It reminds me of University a lot except everyone is making lots of money instead. The living arrangement is also a lot like living in residence, except you have lots of space and privacy. There are always things to do if that is what you want. Lots of teachers sports teams, book clubs and eating out is more often than not a social event.

I was pleased to find in my first week here that the cafeteria is absolutely fantastic. The building has four huge levels, with between one and two dozen serving stations per floor. This is of course necessary to accommodate 2500 people eating lunch in the span of one hour. Each serving station has between 12 and 20 unique dishes. Most stations start you out with a huge heaping plate of rice, then (being unable to order using the power of speech) you walk down the line pointing through the window at the buffet style dishes, which are scooped onto your rice. Many of the dishes are insanely good. I excited to send pics. This has cost me between 7 and 12 RMB a meal (or between $1.00 and $1.75). Since the teachers can’t read the menus, we have to guess at what we are ordering, and never know the cost until it has been rung in.

Teachers do not have their own classrooms here, instead both teachers and students move from class to class. A number of rooms are set aside as teacher offices in which 10 – 20 teachers will have their desks. I would prefer to have my own classroom double as my office space, but it’s not a huge deal. The physical layout of the classrooms are also a lot more ghetto than what I am used to.

The students are definitely different than back home. They are most definitely still teenagers, but it’s clear that they have a whole different respect for authority, and take education much more seriously than do the majority of their Canadian counterparts.

Side note: I just heard some fireworks going off outside. There are fireworks here almost every night, usually a display lasting for about 5 min, comparable to a Canada day celebration in a small city or large town (like the Miramich). However some nights the fireworks are CRAZY!!! It’s funny that private citizens here will put on a bigger display than GP for a beach party.

I know I’m getting a little scatterbrained here, but such is my thought process. The beach is about 10-15 minutes’ walk from my place (depending on whether a relaxed or a quick walk is undertaken). The beach is great; really sandy. Never super crowded (like the pictures that Dad sent me) but more crowded than home. More like Kouchibouguac NB(not sure on the spelling…) There is however more garbage on the beach. Not ludicrous amounts, but more than is nice to see or than what I am used to. I think it’s because the Chinese pay people to pick up the trash so people think “oh, someone else will take care of it”, and they do, which is the only reason the beach does not look like a dump. The water is warm and really salty. The pic is of me and some fellow staff.

I’ve got only two different classes (chemistry 11 and math 10), which keeps planning manageable. However, with four sections of chem and two of math, I have a lot of students. This means a lot of marking, and a ton of names. I don’t know most of my kids names yet, but hope to know them all by the end of the month. I’ve started Mandarin classes, and plan to get back into the pimselur audio lessons soon. I would really love to able to communicate with the locals.


School days are longer here than back home, but we have more prep time during the day. My understanding is that we teach the same number of hours in a school year as do regular teachers in BC. I think we get our crazy x-mas holiday because of all the four day weeks we miss or something like that. Personally I think the 5 weeks of vacation time in the middle of the school year is wicked!!!! My School year Calendar is posted on the blog (all updated and everything), so you can see when I work and when I don’t. If you decide to call me PLEASE remember the time difference. I’m in school from 7:00 to 5:00 each day. I will be calling everyone as soon as I get the whole card thing figured out though.

There is so much more that I could write, but I’m getting a little tired. I have new stories and adventures to share, but they will have to wait. I know Mom was really interested in hearing about the first week of school, so that’s what I tried to concentrate on for this post.

I am enjoying myself. I like my job. The staff is absolutely fantastic. And the opportunities for adventure are abundant. I am looking into arranging a trip to the country side to harvest reeds with some locals farmers (or some other “yea I’m a tourist, but I want to experience the REAL China” type of get away).
By the way I took my first motorcycle taxi yesterday. Much cheaper than a regular taxi and also more exciting. Dave and I split it. Yep, Three people on one bike here is no problem :). I have yet to see a motorcycle helmet in this country though…. Also there’s a story about some of us teachers getting our cabs into a high speed race on the highway… I’ll tell that one another time.

I love and miss you all

Daniel Mark Andrew Standring

My School Year Calandar

School Calendar for 2008-2009




Sept 1 First Day of Full classes

Sept 12 Terry Fox Run

Sept 22-27 Autumn Sports Week

Sept 27 Saturday classes (in lieu of extra Oct holidays)

Sept 28-Oct 4 National Holiday Week

Oct 6 Classes Resume

Oct 23 Halloween Party

Oct 29-31 Term 1 Examinations

Nov 6 Marks Due by 9am

Nov 12 Term 1 Report Cards Issued

Nov 22-23 4th University/College Student Recruitment Fair

Dec 9 Chinese 12-9 Run

Dec 19 Jinshitan New Years Performance

Dec 25-26 Christmas Holiday

Dec 31 DMES Staff New Years Party 2pm

Jan 1-2 New Year’s Day Holiday

Jan 10-14 Term 2 Examinations

Jan 10 Saturday Exam Day (in lieu of Dec 26)

Jan 14 Last day for students

Jan 16 Marks due by 9am

Jan 17 Saturday reports Checking (in lieu of Jan 2)

*** Jan 18-Feb 22 ***Dan's Ridiculously Sweet X-Mas Vacation***

Jan 18 Last day for Chinese and ESL staff

Jan 20 Last day for counselors and dorm teachers

Jan 26 Chinese Spring Festival

Jan 19 Arrival date for Chinese and ESL staff

Jan 21 Arrival date for counselors and dorm teachers

Feb 23 Classes Resume

Mar 12 Chinese Cultural Knowledge Competition

Mar 16-Apr 2 English Arts Festival

Apr 15-17 Term 3 Examinations

Apr 22 Marks due by 9am

Apr 25 Saturday classes - Reports issued

Apr 25 Last Day of classes before May holiday

Apr 26–May 3 May Day Holiday

May 4 Classes Resume

May 25-29 Campus Ceremony week

May 30 Staff Sports Meeting

June 6 Grade 12 Graduation Ceremony

June 17 Last day of Scheduled Classes

June 18-20 & 23-26 Provincial and School Exams (including Saturday)

June 22 Day off in lieu of Saturday exams

June 26 Last day of Scheduled Examinations

Jun 29–July 3 Report Cards Issued & Professional Development

July 3 Last day for Canadian Teachers & Reports issued

July 4 First flights to Canada

Bottom to Top Post Order!!!!

Just in case you're not familiar with how blogging works, the most recent post is always at the top. This means if you are a first time reader, you should begin with the post at the bottom of this page. The dates on these posts are all the same so far, but that is just because I have taken these posts from my family blog. This blog basically has the same stuff but without the posts from the rest of my family.

Hope you enjoy

Daniel Mark Andrew Standring

A White Man in Manshutan

It seems that the days here are so full. The days of the teachers start by 8:00 and end between 3 and 4:00. Then there is of course dinner, time spent organizing your living space, and acquiring those things you need for the year. I’ve managed to get my hands on some more money and so should have a phone and camera shortly. I also hope to figure out how to send mail this weekend so that I might send home some trinkets.

The night before last I had a great adventure in town. About 9:00 most of the teachers had turned in (everyone has a pretty early schedule due to the time change). Dave and I decided we would take a walk down to the beach (which I have yet to visit). Feeling a little dry we thought we would stop in town to grab a couple of brews. By the way, Chinese beer is totally great. It’s weaker than the green party, but it’s delicious and refreshing. Also you’re allowed to drink on the streets here (something I fully enjoy). Walking up the street with our beers, a Chinese guy sitting with some friends calls out ‘cheers’ (he pronounced it cheerce). I excitedly reiterated his cheer and ran over to clink bottles with him. A couple of them started patting chairs, signaling they wanted us to have a seat. We obliged, thinking we’d have a drink with them and then head for the beach. We ended up having such a great time; we hung out with them until after midnight.
Part way through the night we were joined by a Russian acrobat and German stunt driver. The acrobat was ridiculously massive. The stunt driver was pretty small and had a Mohawk, complete with trailing Mohawk-mullet. The driver was named Yogi. I can’t remember the other guy’s name. Also a Chinese girl named butterfly (I know right) gave me some little key chain trinket and said ‘you are my friend’.
As in most cultures, drinking is also accompanied by feasting. Now seeing that I had eaten frog legs the previous day for lunch (which were superlatively delicious by the way), I decided to try something really different. A large basin filled with fat wriggling grubs, set nearby, were being sold by a street vendor. I’ll have a couple of those I said. He speared them with a wooden stick (Kabob style) and roasted them over a bar-b-q, throwing on a pinch of spices now and again. Dave and I each grabbed one off the stick and cheersed them. Down the hatch. They tasted like mashed potatoes with an extra crunchy skin. And by the way, frog legs really do taste like chicken. I’ve also added eel and raw fish to my ‘food I have eaten’ list. I don’t even know how many ‘(mystery meat on a stick)’s’ I’ve had.
I wrote the first part of this post during my lunch break and finished just now (3:00). I have a wine and cheese party to attend at 3:30 (paid for by the school).

Cheers and beers from way over here

Daniel Mark Andrew Standring

Brain Stew

My first couple of posts have looked to give you an idea of the things I am seeing and experiencing. Yes I know you would all like to see pictures. I will get myself a camera as soon as possible. Also as soon as I figure out how to use the postal service here, I will be sending presents to you all (except Andre and Pierre who I will see in the coming months). I think I’m heading in to Dalian for a shopping trip today, so I’ll see if I can find an electronics store. However I would like to instead share some thoughts with you this morning. By the way, I just had the sweetest water melon ever for breakfast.
It occurs to me that this experience will likely be more than an adventure. It seems to me that living among a group of people, with whom I do not share a common culture, language ability or experience cannot help but affect my train of thought for the rest of my life.
While the China that I have seen in the last couple of days does not reflect the destitution that Dad has seen in his travels through India, or even quality of life that he has described to me as the standard for the people of Jamaica, China is also certainly not Canada. Most of the buildings look as though they were built in the early 70’s. They tend to be dingy in appearance, and washed out in color. All signs and billboards are faded so as to be less clear than I am sure they were meant to be. Bright tones have been traded by way of sun and wind to become overly dominated by shades of muted blue and grey. At first while driving through the city, seeing these old looking building stretching up toward the sky at identical heights, as though an invisible layer were placed in the sky at which construction must stop, I wondered how old they really were. When examining the newer building going up though, they have the same look. Even during construction they have a washed out look of a building that has been minimally repaired and maintained for decades. I suppose the majority of Chinese have simply not had the affluent luxury of becoming expectant of impeccable aesthetics.
As eye catching as many of the differences here are, I have found even more striking how similar people tend to be. A girl crying at the airport in Narita looks the same as a girls crying at the beach in the Miramichi. A young couple walking the streets of Dalian look no different than my grade 12’s Peace River. The laughter of old friends selling vegetables at the Jinshutan market sounds like Dre and I. Facial expressions are rather universal. In fact, for each of us to occupy the privileged places that we all do (and I assure you everyone reading the post is ridiculously privileged), seems to me to be little more than a series of winning cosmic lottery tickets. I’ll expand on this idea another time, but that’s a project all on its own.
I do not know where the road I have chosen will lead me. I might return to Canada in a couple of years, but it also seems no less likely to me that might be in Switzerland or somewhere in Africa. When a person puts themselves into a drastically novel situation, they must either insulate and isolate themselves from their surroundings, or expand and contract to make sense of things. I see no possibility of taking the former route, and so find it next to impossible to tell how my priorities and desires will shift in the coming years.
I can say that I look forward to expanding my understanding of people. I look forward to the unknown and the challenges, struggles and adventure that come with taking the road less traveled.

It’s is striking how fast the world can change around a person, family or nation. Nothing is certain or unshakable in this world but the laws of physics. I imagine the following passage (Viva La Vida) as being taken from the mind of Napoleon, once proclaimed to be the Emperor of France, and future ruler of the world. Ending his days as a prisoner.

I used to rule the world, seize and rise when I gave the word
Now In the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemies’ eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing “now the old king is dead, long live the king”
One minute I held the key, the next the world is closed on me
And I discovered my castle stands upon pillars of salt

It sounds kind of depressing, but our history is full of many stories of great triumph. There have been many people with happy endings as well. However, stagnancy is short lived. Change is inevitable. So we may as well be agents for the kind of change we want to see. All change is possible, but for the will to make it so.

I love you all

Daniel Mark Andrew Standring (Adventurer)

Adventures with Allyways and Noodles

6:30 in the a.m. I can’t believe how little the jetlag has affected me. I feel great/well rested this morning. I neglected to mention in yesterdays post that I got really sick my first night here. Not like stomach flew from food, but a nasty head cold (really sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, headache, and I think I even had a fever for a bit that night). Yesterday morning it turned into really achy muscles and head . Popping a few Advil helped. I thought at first I may have picked something up at home from my rather unsanitary nieces and nephews, or something on the plane. However, when I look at the timing and symptoms, I think it’s more likely a reaction to my MMR vaccine. In fact I went through a similar ordeal during my first round of the vaccination while teaching in Peace River. But again, I feel good this morning.

I suppose It shouldn’t really be that surprising, but there are quite a few things here that seem to be different from Dre’s description of China. Small things really. Like underwear availability. Dre, there is plenty of selection. It’s not all tight and white. Also, electronics do seem to be a fair bit cheaper. I bought myself a fantastic speaker system for my laptop yesterday for under $40. I’m sure a similar setup would have run me triple that back home.

Also some other things seem to be more expensive than I expected. My first night out, the new teachers all went to a restaurant , ate and drank a ton all for about 25RMB each (RMB = Chinese dollars. I believe it’s pronounced Rem Em Be). To figure out the equivalent Canadian value, you just divide by 7. So this meal would have cost about $3.50. My guess is that a similar back home would probably run about $60-80 per person, in large part because of the amount of beer drank. Just the food would have probably run about $40 each. I do recall Dre telling me that eating at a great restaurant should run a person around a dollar (I’m not sure what the beer cost… but I’m pretty sure its cheap). Incidentally, the beer here is standard 3% alc/vol, so it’s pretty much impossible for Canadians (or at the very least Miramichiers) to get drunk. A nice bonus for those of us who might like to drink beer with their lunch on school days. I fact, because it can get quite humid here, our principal has told us that “beer is very important” I’m not really sure why one couldn’t just drink water… but I trust the guy. He’s been here a while… You know.

Last night a group of 15 of us ate at a Japanese restaurant, It ran me about 70RMB or $10. Again there was lots of beer, but I know my food was 55RMB. $45 of that was for a dish I got called tempura. A dozen HUGE shrimp lightly coated in a sweet batter and deep fried I’m guessing. You then dip it in a sauce that looks like ‘Au Jeu’ or beef dip. It’s not beef (I think). Again it’s sweet.

After I sent yesterdays post, I went on an adventure walk by my self through. Taking random turns on streets, and cutting through back allies from time to time. I walked through the residential complexes, visited a few shops. Eventually I found an open space between a bunch of stores where there is a market. People sell there veggies off of blankets laid out on the ground. I recognized some things but not others. There were peas in the pod the size of large bananas. The peas swelled out to look as though a group of plums had gathered together in a green blanket for warmth. I went into a shop an bought a pastry. I learned how to say “one of those” from the lady at the shop “eega”. I think ee is one and ga means that. Wandering some more I eventually found an old lady standing outside building with a cart selling noodle something or other. Wow, it was really hard to order!!! I’ve got to get on this Mandarin thing going so I can communicate with people. I just kept pointing things and she kept asking me what I’ll assume were questions. Let me stray for a moment… In Japan, before you eat a meal you are given a hot face cloth to wipe your hands, or face, or whatever you want to wipe. The Japanese have in my limited experience tended to offer these cloths with a pair of tongs. Back to the lady and the cart. Finally after about a minute of spewing friendly noises at each other, the lady offered me a cloth with her tongs. As I reached out and took the cloth, I realized I was a little out of my element. It had the feeling of the shell of a wet pirogue. I realized she was not offering me something with which to wipe my hands, but was asking me, “hey white guy would you like some of this?” So there I am holding the end of pita shaped noodle, while she is still clinging tightly to the other end with her tongs and a huge grin on her face. I let go and gave her thumbs up. “Yes the texture of your noodle is fine… I’ll take it” She chopped it up and put it in a big metal mixing bowl. Now she started pointing at things. Each time she did I gave her a thumbs up and a big smile (having no clue what I was ordering of course). She eventually got the idea that I in fact knew what none of the things on her cart were. She helped me select a series of powders, herbs, sauces and oils to go on my noodles, noodle like things and what I’ll guess were chunks of either tofu or sponge. The metal mixing bowl was now full. This was a lot of noodle. It was like I ordered a noodle noodle combo with a noodle appetizer and a side of noodles. She now proceeded to mix my noodle around in a fashion that I can only describe as being Chinese. Every few second she would stop tossing my noodle salad and look up at me and say “uuuhhhh?” which I translated as “how’s that? ….. Mix, mix mix…. what do you think about that? ….. Mix, mix, mix…. How’s that looking… and on and on. She then picked up a plastic covered bowl and dumped my noodle noodle combo in. Then she reached under the bown, grabbed what were the handles of a bag tied it up and gave me a pair of chop sticks. I then wandered home to eat my bag of noodle noodle wonder. I wouldn’t say it was great, but it was good. I only made it about half way through. I have heard that the Chinese connect the eating of great quantities of food with strength… There going to think I’m such a wussy.

Though there is lots more I could tell you all, I have a great deal to do today, and so will continue monologueing later. (Yes I am more that aware that the word monologueing is rather incongruent with the present form of the English language, but I’m wordulating… you heard me… or read me at least.


L8R

Dan (or Mr.Standring) depending on who you are