When the Pollution Passes!

So Ni Hao is hello, Ni Hoa Ma is how are you. I’m not happy with this, I think there should be a ‘hello, how are you’ option, but apparently it is another situation in life where one must obey rules that go against all previous belief, knowledge and understanding.

It’s been a difficult few days, reason being that:

a)      Pollution has been at a HAZARDOUS level, so leaving the apartment for a walk is inconceivable, a trip to the mall… the one acceptable outing. Sadly my lungs, that I’ve made suffer through a pack-a-day smoking for 15 years, is not overly pleased about our new habitat and so a chesty cough sneaks up when you least expect, and often enough that often times I don’t even notice until someone points it out!

b)      Due to ‘mid term exams’, all my classes were cancelled this week which means my mind has been about as occupied as a hampster on a wheel, something particularly unhealthy for someone like me.

To deal with this situation I have:

a)      Made another three lego action figures to add to my already ubundant community of seven (including Daffy, a minion, Raphael Turtle and now even the Hulk and much to his distaste, Deadpool – I still see him leering at me across the room trying to demand I crush him back to lego pieces in order for him to be more abstract in his existence [non comic people please excuse that short rant])

b)      Have purchased a 1000 piece puzzle of a snow leopard… you are correct, there is a bucket load of white involved! It should take me til next week given the time I have available… although, admittedly thus far there has been some foot stomping, groaning and at one point I pulled a whole section apart in frustration

c)       Then there is you, dear blog, but one must wait until one has something to say and on a silent week as this… oh, hang on… I’m writing in you now? Excellent - scrap that, blog, I will spend time with you even when I have NOTHING to say! Well done us – it’s like a proper relationship!

My housemate, Robyn, and I are heading to Beijing for a night over the weekend. There are a few Western activities we are longing to participate in:

1.       See a movie… in particular DOCTOR STRANGE! I’ve found a cinema in a relatively tourist orientated area and with a little effort and some GOOGLE TRANSLATIONS we hope to make the dream become reality

2.       GO TO A BOOKSTORE WITH ENGLISH BOOKS : call us mad party machines as much as you like, this is GOING to happen! I’ve spent a wee bit of time researching and have found a store that’s only been open for two years and is a delight for English speaking ex-pats… There is fantasy, classic, historical fiction, crime, literature… travel, and cooking (aint getting a cook book, you cant get the ingredients you want half the time and its just far too depressing). Eeek could I be more excited?

We’re also going to head to the Forbidden City, Robyn hasn’t been there for ten years and when I went it had been closed.

It’ll be a short but sweet little visit, and will hopefully restore some of my sanity and general sense of well being!

Saying that, yesterday… I woke, I thrust open the curtains and low and behold, a giant yellow orb rotated in the sky before me.

What is this? I asked myself… What kind of magic, some delusion? Did I still sleep? What is a bizarre form of Chinese firework (given they tend to fire off at any time of the day or night… still trying to stop myself thinking it’s the Russians coming and gunfire ensuing)… but no, I recollect this orb, there is a faint and distant memory of it… there is a warmth to its rays

GOOD HEAVENS IT’S THE SUN!

Well, says my head to my feet, shall we get our gear on and embrace this unique turn of weather? Yes… says my feet to my head, as shoes are tied and sunglasses donned.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can make the most of where ever you are, and yes, I am in a concrete jungle, the closest to the definition I’m yet to find (bar Docklands in Victoria… don’t know what them architects were thinking there…), so while I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived a moments away from a deserted ocean, have sat with my parents on their porch watching the rain over a river inlet shouldered by grassy hills, to have been up a mountain in Ireland and down a mountain in Switzerland… beauty is there, amongst the rubble and rubbish and in a city I’ve come to accept, if not appreciate.

I hate when people call a garden ‘contrived’, well, ofcourse it is… unless you are standing in an African wilderness or Australian bush, someone has had a good think, popped that plant there, this plant here and a water feature just yonder… it doesn’t mean it cant be ascetically pleasing, or infact beautiful.

So, I took a bus for half an hour and headed to a little garden escape I’d previously only had a quick look at. It was a lot larger and smaller than I’d imagined and hoped for. Since I’ve been here I’ve realised the magical difference that the sky can make to a landscape, I used to love to watch the clouds hover slowly on the hills, darkening this space and that… then the sun shimmering rays through clouds, lighting up a paddock here, a dam there… the flicker of bird wings as they sailed through.

Sun glasses donned and coat tightened, I braved the chill and entered the almost silent, practically empty, urban garden. I slipped under weeping willows, enjoyed the flickering sun-rays through slightly waving leaves and mirror image of the sky on the lake. I wandered past a woman moving through her Tai Chi paces and children with their parents throwing bread bits at the ducks swanning about.

After an hour I finally felt back to myself, not cooped up in an apartment, but out near water and trees… I found a quiet place, a quiet seat and took out my quiet pen and quiet book… I started to write, I wrote about the often difficult times of being so far from all that is familiar, about the highs and lows and my concerns and hopes… I wrote about how it was nice to finally feel some peace and tranquillity…

Then…

Just as I was writing the word “tranquillity” , as I took a moment to silence my thoughts and watch the ducks pondering their own existence a familiar sound crept up behind me… 

“hooccckkkkkkggrrr SPIT”, and again… … “hooccckkkkkkggrrr SPIT”, but this time with a more feminine touch and closer to my side than my back. An entire family were passing by, hovering about and enjoying the park in a similar, and yet, different fashion than I.

I nuzzled my head into my fauz-fur hood and continued to write, but no such luck, I was spotted… A whitey in the park!

I imagine this family were from outside of Tangshan, maybe from a smaller community outside the main cities, given the utter excitement of seeing me.

The group of, I think, seven, descended upon me, pointing and poking. They were fascinated by my writing, as I streamed my pen across the page – infact the writing was about how uncomfortable I was with the attention – then a poke in the shoulder… a poke… I was poked?

I looked up, a woman tried to converse, but in Chinese and I indicated that I couldn’t speak and returned to my writing. A good few minutes later, they still pointed and poked and laughed… the only time I’ve felt like a monkey in a zoo… admittedly, I imagine there are many in the world that never ever feel like a monkey, or any other animal, in a zoo, but there we go.

After a time I heard a ‘hello’, and stupidly, in a reactionary moment of politeness I responded with HELLO… much to the utter and complete amusement of the family, they laughed and repeated HELLO and had a jolly good time all.

I smiled toward them as they walked away, was glad of the silence I’d finally regained and spent time considering a country that has really only been open to the rest of the world for the last thirty years or so…

When I first arrived here I couldn’t think of any major differences between Australian culture and Chinese. I imagined that maybe queuing was the most exceptional of them all. Infact, I was of the opinion that all humanity is alike, that when it came down to it, all cultures may have their idiosyncrasies, but in the end, they’re all one and the same… deep down we value in the same way.

My ex boyfriend used to tell me he was constantly shocked and amused at my ‘innocence’ and ‘idealisim’… I think in terms of feeling we are all one and the same, that the subtle differences in culture are simply that… subtle, I was and am very ignorant.

Its funny and true that the more you learn the less you know, and I am learning less and less each day, trying to redefine my perspective of ‘human nature’, if… infact… there can be an over aching definition, description or… goodness, I don’t know… maybe there is no such thing as human nature, maybe it is nature based on culture, based on location and experience and interaction.

Enough of the philosophical questions… do forgive me… it is the day that Trump was announced president so I spose a lot of people in a lot of places are questioning a lot of things…

Lets just say, sometimes you wish you had a pair of ruby slippers, just for a day, just for a quick visit, a barbeque down the river, a hug from a friend, some laughs at a movie you’ve seen a thousand times… or even just a knowing look between companions.

Needless to say…

a.       I cant wait for exams to be over so I can start teaching again!

b.      A visit to a bookstore is like Santa coming to town, I cannot wait!

c.       Speaking of Santa…

I was called to the Principals office (not a thing I’m used to as my school mates would attest to!), rather nervous that I’d done something wrong… was it the lollies at Halloween? Should I not have introduced them to Beetlejuice? Was it cos I was mad at poor Albert with his turning the lights off in the class room constantly, resulting in my chasing him down the hall – should teachers not chase children down halls?

After a time in the Principals office another teacher joined me and I realised we were just having a chat about our more difficult students… There was some conversation about my use of hand puppets and how much the kids loved that…

“We are going to have a Christmas party”, said Andy the Principal

“Oh, well that sounds fun”, I replied

“Would you be interested in doing a presentation with you class”, asked Andy…

“You’ve chosen the wrong person”, I responded, with a gleam in my eye and a grin at my cheek…

Andy and the other teacher took a moment, they looked at me, they looked at one another… and they started laughing outrageously! I had made a funny! And what a funny it was!

So, it’s been agreed my kids and I will be presenting a Christmas… something… goodness knows what. I’ve not told them yet, but I imagine they’ll be atleast half as excited as I!

This job is my forever desired broadway production, weekly pantomime… fun.com, teach with laughter… the weather may be bad but the career is worth every particle of smog :0)