Chinese New Year's started out pretty uneventful for me.  All of my Chinese friends had gone home to their home towns to celebrate with their families.  So besides from going to Ikea, which was a huge mistake...because all of Beijing seemed to be in the store!!! it was spent re-orginizing my room...with my new Ikea storage bins!!! 

 

This is a huge festival for the Chinese people...they light off firecrackers all week leading up to and then at 12:00 midnight on New Year's Eve they light off fireworks... At least this was my understanding of the tradition.  Well all I can say is that the weeks leading up to New Year's were filled with fire crackers and fireworks every day all day long...They light then to ward off evil spirits... So during my room organizing adventure I would have to stop and watch the fire works which where amazing...then at 10:00 p.m. our neighbor invited us over to his place for some New Year's cheer!!!!  This was only the 2nd time I had met Leo...but when he found out I was organizing my room he would not take no for an answer...and really was I even considering saying no!!!  organizing my room or partying??????? it really was a no-brainer...

 

Leo had some work friends over and his brother and parents and some kids...so it was a full house very busy and lots of bantering amongst us all.  I really enjoyed myself...celebrating.  At midnight we headed outside and watched the fireworks display and listened to the fire crackers....it was totally out of control!!!!! what a sight to see...no matter where you looked the sky was lit up...it was so loud all of the car alarms where going off...people where in the middle of the street lighting off the fireworks...everyone was having a great time....After all of Leo's fireworks were gone we headed back to his place for some more New Year's cheer...I finally headed across the hall at 3:00 a.m. Amazingly enough I still heard fireworks at 4:40 a.m. and the fire crackers started again at 8 in the morning....absolutley amazing....I am completly sure that there are no more evil spirits in the whole of China....What a night!!!

 

Happy Chinese New Year's everyone!!!  Sin nyen kwai ler ----- or Kung Hei Fat Choi....enjoy the photos 

On Friday after work we headed to the train staion to meet up with the Cycle China tour group. We had signed up for a weekend excursion to Harbin. We took the overnight train as Harbin is located in the north of China in the Province of Heilongjiang which boarders Russia. Harbin has the nickname as Little Moscow because of its Russian architecture located throughout the city.

We arrived in Harbin on Saturday morning at around 7 a.m., the temperature when we arrived was a balmy....-29 with a windchill of -----COLD!!! Thankfully I am from Canada....but even the cold air took my breath away when I first got off the train....man it was cold and it stayed cold.....BRRRRRR.

We headed for the hotel for some breakfast before we got started for the day. The day started with a trip to the Church of Saint Sophia, famous for it's Russin architectural influence. After a few photo opts and a tour inside of the Church we headed to our next stop of the trip, the frozen Songhua River. At the river there were many winter activities we could participate in. A few of the people in our tour group took a horse and buggy ride most of us just looked around and took picutres. I wanted to go on snowmobile but it was soooo cold and I was not dressed warm enough for it.....and well it was being driven by a tiger???? What's up with that? Our next stop was the Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base - Division 731. It was a museum set up to show the tourture the Chinese people endured at the hand of the Japanese during the second world war. Very sobering to learn about this part of history. Later in the afternoon we headed to the Ice Lantern Festival. We walked through the park taking pictures of the amazing ice buildings and sculpture. Then as we walked around the sun began to set and the ice sculptures and buildings began to be lit....What a beautiful sight...unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice....

The next day we enjoyed a stroll through the Snow Sculpture Festival at the Sun Island Park. The day was beautiful, although it was still FREEZING!!! the sun was shining and it was a nice crisp morning for a walk though the park..the snow sculptures were amazing....so much detail and some of them sooooo big!!!!! After the stroll through the park we headed to the Siberian Tiger Park for a safari. The park has over 300 free roaming tigers and cubs and other species such as a liger(lion and tiger hybird), white tigers and pumas. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a good picture of a liger or a white tiger but I did get many great shots of the tigers. They sure are a beautiful creature. After our safari we headed to the pedestrian shopping street, Zhongyang Avenue to do some shopping, and to enjoy the Russian architecture. Then back to the train station to board the train for our overnight trip home.

A great weekend away in the north of China despite the cold weather...Enjoy the pictures, I enjoyed taking them...well most of them!!!! a few of them are from another tour member, Jacob V from the Netherlands...thanks Jacob).

Happy New Year's.    WOW  2006!!!  I hope you all had a great new year's eve...I know it is a bit late in coming but our internet has been quite touchy since the new year....we think we finally have it figured out. 

 

I spent New Year's Eve this year at the Kai Bar, a local Tea House, and then at Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising!  It was a great night!!!  Although I must admit that I am not as young as I used to be because pulling an all nighter...well to say the least took more out of me than I care to admit (mind you my oh so younger roomies did not fair much better either...one of them even went home earlier!!! and woke up later than me!!!!!)....New Year's day was spent around my apartment recouperating from a lack of sleep.

 

I feel I need to start planning for next year's New Years Eve event...last year Time Square-New York ....this year Tiananmen Square-Beijing....what to do, what to do????

 

I am not sure how I managed not getting any pictures of Tiananmen Square...but really I was there...all I can say is the crowd was huge...Till next time enjoy the pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a week!!! Not one I would like to repeat anytime soon, now the weekend I would like to repeat anytime soon!!

I had to work from Saturday thru Friday which is not that big of a deal just a really long week.  It started out pretty unevenful, Saturday and Sunday and even Monday were great days at work.  The kids have been great and have started to really warm up and try to talk a bit more in English and are even trying to teach me some Chinese!!! I seem to butcher every word I try because the kids burst out in laughter when I try.

On Monday night it all started, I had the worst case of flu like symptoms I have ever had, I felt like crap!! So we decided I should make a trip to the hospital, yes the 2nd time since I arrived only 6 weeks ago.  So my roommates called our neighbor Jing to come with us, so she could translate. Once at the hospital I went to see the Dr.and as helpful as Jing was in translating there is something about not being able to tell the dr. in your own words what is wrong.  Very vulnerable.  Well he was deeply concerned with my pitting edema on my legs!! he didn't seem concerned about my flu symptoms or the fact that my pinkie and ring finger on my left hand were numb and had been for over a month.  The last dr. I saw was indifferent about that to!!  I on the other hand was very concerned about the numbness.  Anyway this dr. sent me to a bigger hospital with an English speaking dr.. So back in the cab we went.  We arrived at the hospital and my roommates filled out the appropriate forms, while I spoke to the dr. after I found a stretcher to lay down on!!! Well a urine test and 2 blood work tests later showed I had some sort of infection, most likely some food poisoning, so she ordered an I.V. drip and a bag of vit. C.  and 4 hours later I was able to go back to my apartment, with dr.'s orders to see a specialist about my legs.  Again no mention of my finger numbness!  How frusterating.  By Tuesday afternoon I felt a bit better and managed to eat some supper.  What a mistake that was I had a bit of a relaps and felt crappy once again.  This time I managed to fall asleep and woke up Wednesday morning feeling a bit better.  Off to work I went, I was still a bit chilled and had a bit of nausea but felt I could manage at least the morning. When talking to Jasmine,the supervisor of the Kindergarten, she could really tell I was quite concerned about my finger numbness and that I couldn't get through to the dr.'s that I wanted to know why they are numb!  About an hour later Jasmine came in to the office and introduced me to Dr. Darren Wang, one of the students dads, I was greatful for the concern but thought another dr. to try to get my symptoms across through a translator, then he starts talking and asking me all sorts of questions in English. I was so happy to have someone I could talk to about my symptoms. He did a bunch of tests in the office and then told me he thought it in my best interest to get an MRI done.  The numbness is caused by some problem in my spine, around the 8th vertabrae, it could be a number of things but he wanted the MRI to pin point the problem and go from there. Needless to say I was a bit freaked out.  He gave me his card and said to call the office, at the International SOS clinic, and make an appointment to see him, and he would schedule the appropriate tests, he also wanted to do an ultrasound of my legs to rule out any blood clots, he felt it was unlikely but just to be safe he thought it would be a good idea. On Thursday I went to see him, he did a few more tests and set up the appointments for that day.  The ultrasound came back fine, it most likely has more to do with a lack of protien in my diet and standing up all day, hiking the Great Wall didn't help it either!! The MRI test was the next thing to go and do.  The clinic doesn't have big equipment like an MRI machine but they have contracts with many of the local hospitals to use their equipment, so I went with another Dr. and a driver to a different hospital to get the test done.  Yep now I have been in 4 different hospitals in Beijing!!! Hopefully I won't see any more!!  On the way to the hospital Dr. David Wang (not Darren) walked me through the test they would be doing. I had a general idea of what to expect but his explanation of the test was very much appreciated.  Not a fun test at all, for those of you who don't know what it is, it is a big magnetic tube they place you in and then leave the room and close the door behind them and then start sending loud noises into the tube.  Oh did I mention you are only inches from the top of the tube.  One test I would rather not do again.  The car ride back to the clinic was not fun either, because Dr. David had the results but I had to wait for Dr. Darren to talk to me about the results.  Then when we arrived back Dr. David asked me to wait in the waiting area while he briefed Dr. Darren, all the waiting totally sucked.  Back in the office with Dr. Darren he showed me the film of my spine and the problem areas, it appears I have two herniated disks in my upper spine.  Between the 6th and the 8th vertabraes.  Not great news but I suppose it could have been much worse.  He has given me some suggestion to alleviate the problem, mainly just some common sence stuff, like sitting straight wihen typing at the computer and lying on my back to sleep, and well resting for 2 weeks would be really good!! So I have been trying to lay down as much as possible throughout the day, but it is kind of hard doing circle time with the kids while lying on my back!!!!!  By Friday all my nausea and flu like symptoms were gone.  Just in time for my Birthday. 

My birthday began with my Mom, sister Kerri and her 2 kids Kyle and Rachel singing happy birthday to me through the web cam.  What a great way to start the day!! Then it was feild trip Friiday we were off to  a peanut farm with the kids to picked peanuts.  The kids had a blast and I really enjoyed listening to the laughter and chatter amongst the kids while they busily picked the peanuts.  It was a beautiful sunny day, with a cool breeze. A perfect day for picking peanuts I must say!! The kids also enjoyed singing happy birthday to me in both English and Chinese, it was too cute!

Friday night I was invited to go out with Jing and her boyfriend Tom and some of his Austrailan mates, who are travelling for the year and were in Beijing for a few days.  It was alot of fun to get dressed up and head out on the town and enjoy nice evening with other forigners.  I enjoyed the evening and decided to stay with Jing at Tom's because the commute back to my end of town is so long and then we could enjoy a nice brunch before I headed home the next day. As birthdays go it was way up there, not quite as fun as our hat party after party a few years ago!!(remember Heather, Deb and Mandy) but pretty close.  Then on Saturday I arrived home to find that my roommates had planned a surprise party for me.  What great roommates. Thanks Ladies.  They had decorated, got me a cake, invited many of the teachers and then planned to go out dancing later in the evening.  It was another great time and luck would have it we met back up with the Austrailian guys who had decided to stay one more night. What a great night of fun, friends and good times.  I am so thankful for all the great friends I have met so far in Beijing, who would have thought a year ago I would be sitting at my computer writting about my adventure in China, it still amazes me how life can change so quickly, especially if  you are open to it. What an awesome life I have today!!

I hope all of you who read this are well and Hello to all those First CRC members who have checked out my web page, my mom mentioned that somehow it got published in the bulliten at Church so I hope you all enjoy reading about my adventure and I look forward to hearing all your comments. It has been alot of fun to do and is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends. Take care, until the next time enjoy the pictures.

 

 

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the latest pictures of my week off.   Till next time be well.   

 

 

     Welcome to my web page!!!!  Another new adventure for me. 

 

         I am going to try and update it on a weekly basis, with new pictures and info. on  what is happening in my life.  I hope you will enjoy looking me up and keeping up with what's going on here in Beijing.

 

        Many of you have received my emails so I won't bore you with retelling it.  Life here has been an adventure, something new everyday.  Some good, like going to the markets and to the local tourist attractions, if only to see some other westerners!!  Some not so good,  like getting lost in a taxi cab  and driving around for 40 min. just looking for landmarks, which seem to change daily!! and getting sick and going to the hospital and not being able to fully communicate with the Dr.  even with the English speaking Chinese teacher Mandy bless her heart!!  It was a very valnerable experience.  Some really good, like meeting Todd and Jing who live right across the driveway and speak great English, and  scoring free tickets to the China Tennis Open. 

 

        There have been days of homesickness and days of just missing the easiness of life back home, knowing where to shop, where to go for a nice walk, what channel to watch,  just being able to communicate.  Here everything is so much harder!!  But I am learning more everyday, not the language mind you!! it is crazy hard, 4 different tones, and half the time I can't hear the difference, Jing has offered to teach me but we'll see. Maybe LATER, a favouite Chinese phrase   later later!!!  We hear it often when something needs to get done, like when our hydro shut off at 10:00 at night and they said maybe later!!! Yeh   no! right now we said, so they spliced into someone elses till the next day when we found out where we had to buy a new hydro card!!!  Only in China.. I have learned alot about living in a new culture, culture shock hits me at least once a day when I see something I would never see in Canada, like the kids who just pull down their pants where ever and pee in the grass, makes me thankful for closed toe shoes!!!! 

 

Life has been one big adventure here and I am happy to say that I have had many more great days than not so great!!! I am thankful that.  Till next time enjoy the picture file too.