Very laid back day – nursing a head cold. Was taken to the Lotus Centre – like a hypermarket – by the landlady,
her son, (Jason), and Mao. So much for my concerns about the son's intentions – he's
all of 16, lives at home with mum (who works at the Uni) and dad (who is a doctor at the downtown hospital) and is still at high school!! I think Mum uses the English teachers to
force him to practise his English! He had a list of notes and gave me a history of Nantong and a guide's description of the sights! Tricky situation when he asked me if I
thought China was more beautiful than Australia. Had to be honest and tell him I thought my home was more beautiful, but softened it by asking wouldn't he always think China
was the best? I'm afraid there's no comparison between the pristine beauty of Yeppoon's beautiful tropical beaches and the local attractions.
I'll go back to the Lotus Centre on my own – fortunately it's on the notorious no 13 bus route – and browse! Mao was given some voucher at the checkout – she was given a
small pearl on the way out (obviously not top class!) – a gimmick to get you to pay for a
chain to hang it on! I've been given the pearl! I think that's the first pearl I've owned!
Had dumplings from a franchise called "grandma's dumplings" in English. They were very tasty but I mucked up
with the tomato soup – broth with chunks of tomato, coddled egg and heaps of fungus. I suspect it was the most
expensive choice because of the fungus and I left most of that behind! I'll know better next time. I realise now, that
what I thought was a dumpling at the Uni was something else – Mao suggested a meat ball – but it was a pork filling in some sort of wrapping!
Monday 27th March 2006
Have 2 classes on Mondays – doesn't sound much, but the first is from 9.25 till 11.30 and the pm one is 2 till 3.30 –
they're the class who don't want to talk. I tried role plays yesterday and got a little response. Got more from pitting
the boys against the girls to write body parts on the board. Surprisingly, the boys were much better than the girls! I'll just have to work out the best way to get them to open up!
Have a miserable headcold and feel very anti-social. Had hoped to catch up with the interpreter to get some
questions written down – have to try to get to the train station and see what time I could get to Suzhou on Friday.
Could be another interesting bus ride (two each way actually if I can find No 41 bus stop!).
Tuesday 28th March 2006
Learnt a couple of lessons today – so what's new??? If you have transport queries, ask the ex-pats. The locals
don't travel a lot, so the ex-pats usually know more. There's no train to Suzhou! There's a railway station but
apparently it only services off-beat tracks to minor centres. So we're back on the bus. Fortunately, I caught up with
my interpreter again and she was writing out the questions I need when she decided she'd accompany me instead
to make sure I get on the bus. (I suspect she doesn't trust my point method!) That's really considerate of her
seeing Friday is her day off, but apparently her daughter leaves for school at 6.30 so she'll be up.
The next lesson was that what looks like a shortcut on the map may well not be! I rode my bike downtown looking
for No 41 bus stop – thought I'd worked out a nice shortcut, wound my way down narrow alleys along small canals
(avoiding other bikes and scooters etc), and ended up about half a block from where I'd started. Great navigating
Trish! Found a bus-stop, but realised on the way home that I'd checked the wrong side of the road for going to the station. Good thing I don't have any reason to actually catch it now!
The final lesson of the day was to not boil your spuds while talking on-line to
husband. Completely forgot about them till I smelt them! Now have one aluminium saucepan soaking – Don had just mentioned earlier that he didn't like
me using Al pans after I'd told him I'd blame any increasing dementia on it! Suspect a conspiracy there! Anyway, I went searching and found a much bigger
brand new SS saucepan under the cupboard – my single serve of rolled oats will look rather pathetic in it!
BUT! The huge news of the day is: it's the first day I haven't worn the bottom half of my thermal undies! Boy, am I learning to appreciate life's little luxuries!
Also had lunch at the Uni again today. I'll have to get someone to write out "small serve" for me! Had several vegies
and a meatball (it actually was a meatball this time, and quite tasty!). I passed on what I thought was a bean curd
dish but found out back at the table that was actually egg! I'm not sure how they cooked it, but it looked like a big
dish of junket! AND I managed to eat the lot with the small chopsticks – rice included. Fortunately, the rice is
pretty sticky – if it had separated out, I'd have been in strife again!
That's it from the north for this trip. Take care everybody.
