Hello
friends and family, yes, we have finally and officially overcome the great
firewall of China! If you’re reading this first post then you almost certainly
know us personally and I appreciate you reaching out to see how we’re doing
being burrowed so far away from home. I’d be glad to report. After three weeks
in China we are still on our feet, still breathing the heavy air, drinking the less-than-genuine
fluids some Chinese call “beer” and eating the food to a slightly gluttonous
degree. Here in Shaoxing we have settled into a cozy apartment, nestled within
a complex seemingly inspired the mid-century architecture of Russian gulags.
Nevertheless, the community here is bustling and friendly. Within a five minute
walk out the door of our residence there are more services to be found than
within ten minutes of driving in Edmonton.
The wintertime air is generally crisp (I
won’t go so far as to say “fresh”) and the climate is moderate. Several people
have told me that 10 years ago the city would have been blanketed in snow
throughout the winter, but all that remains of that now are temporary sprinkles
of snow or light rain. Bikes are as abundant as the cars that compose a
symphony akin to the sound one would expect to hear if you gave a legion of
preschoolers each their own brass instrument to wail on as they please.
To give you an idea of the general population, we have lived
here for over three weeks, keeping active and exploring the city every day,
however we have still yet to see a single white person beyond ourselves. I’m
starting to think that in the world of Shaoxing they don’t exist and before us,
people of pale skin and coloured eyes were merely a mythology propagated by
fashion advertisements and counterfeit DVD stands. To layer a blanket upon the
sheet of alienation, what is considered an “expert” English speaker reminds me
of the fluency expected from a public school student who had studied French
throughout their Junior High experience. The discrepancy of ~79,974 characters
between the Chinese and Latin alphabets are indeed a significant impediment to
fluency. Much is lost in translation and even more is just simply lost.
Our school has surpassed my
expectations of a large teacher base, which likely exceeds fifty heads. The
heads of Julie and I are the only ones of which hold hair naturally diverging
from black. As I write this I am sitting at my desk in a comfortable and
spacious office, occupied by four desks, an espresso machine and a large window
pane giving a full view into one of the two jam-packed offices of teachers
occupied by perhaps thirty decorated desks, a whiteboard and a single air
conditioner. There are many students whom occupy many classes, of which I’ll
drop in for a class, perhaps weekly, bi-weekly, never (?) and review whatever
has been taught in proper imperial English. Yes, capital E. Along with these
classes, “V.I.P. classes” (a very popular acronym here in China) take up a
large portion of my schedule, mostly dedicated to students who’s parents have
ambitions and means for their children to study overseas.
All in all, things are well with Julie
and I, but we’re still finding our ground. I suppose this should be my first
blog post, which isn’t insignificant for me, as aside from my essays, writing
has always been a strictly personal and private practice for me. I haven’t
quite figured where I want to go with this blog yet. I think updates and
commentaries should be commonly posted, but as for anything else we’ll have to
wait and see. As with many things, I intend to exercise and develop my writing
over the next year and perhaps some of what comes from that will wind up here.
With
love from China,
- Cameron
