Goodbye Dalian - The work is done

How really does a person say goodbye to a city? Emily and I decided to do a "City Tour", conducting poorly planned interviews with the unique people of all our regular stops and hangouts; for low-resolution keepsakes for us to take away with us when we go. We did the weekly ritual shop-around one last time... but this time instead of seeking pirated DVDs and the necessities, we were seeking closure.
We went to the tailors, the linen lady, Amy's, dumplings, Xing Hai Square.... and it was first in the days afternoon that I had an epiphany. I realized that this days 'closure tour' wouldn't be complete without one last trip to see my favourite employee at the Bubble Tea cart in Dalian's most central square. It was almost two years ago that I was first amused to see this blond, curly haired, plastic doll bent over and bobbing up and down pumping Bubble Tea on a rumbling drinks cart. Each time I walk through that square I look for her and when she is there working her Bubble Tea machine, it always makes me smile a bit, because maybe, in an unconventional sense, she counts as one more working foreign woman in Dalian.
When I got there, I asked the lady if the doll would pump me a cup of closure (I mean Bubble Tea) and she told me that the doll doesn't work anymore. Hmpf. I turned and as I walked away I thought: this foreign doll is finished her work in Dalian... how fitting. That's closure!
Then the old gang, Chen, Wayne, Emily and myself went for dinner and did a little night drive through Xing Hai Square, where everything seems high fantastical, and this is where we took these pictures.

I'll have another

My two year contract at Maple Leaf has been like having a deserved popsicle on a hot day. You buy your popsicle, are really excited to eat it; open it, take your first taste (it is good); then you see a friend, and you start talking and laughing away about something you think is interesting.... la la la la, di do di do di do di do di do and boom.... you look down and like a ton of bricks it hits you that you have eaten your whole popsicle. Can I have another? Sure... a Swiss popsicle. Then, when we are old we can look back on our past and remember hot days with friends and popsicles.

China blogging suspension and WuZaiChaung cone skating

Another arbitrary blogging suspension has come to another arbitrary end. In this zwischen time, I have discovered a new place to spend my evenings. These cats don't just do it for fun, they do it for fun and to get better at it, so I will too! Take a look at the videos.
A week ago, one of the other skaters showed me a picture of me skating in the Kaifaqu paper. Interesting. it would have been more interesting if I could have read what it said about me. I finally got it translated at school and the article says something to the likes of, "Skating at Five Colour City has attracted some foreigners... Sha Sha is a Maple Leaf School history teacher who has lived in Kaifaqu for two years and says she loves skating....". Who says I love skating? Me? I do, it's true, but who told them? And who are they? I may never know.

The 2007 Dong Bei Ball Hockey Playoff Results are in!

An intense and entertaining tournament final ended a month of constant hockey hype today at DMLIS. Hockey hockey hockey; play, watch, talk about it, repeat. After a good season, today was a disappointing loss for us hopefuls, 2-3 in sudden death. Shucks... time to celebrate anyways and then let the battle wounds fade. Dad, you watched last year and I think this year was even more exciting!

The Constitution, Federalism and what I want to be when I grow up

Chapter test day has come and gone once more in Ms. Kothlow's Social Studies class. Some students showed their stuff in their knowledge of Canadian politics and others showed it the most in the bonus question. This time I asked: What do you want to be when you grow up?
"When I grow up I want to be a good person. I want to be a good man, a good husband, and a good father."
"I will be a good mother that will tell my children to study for Social Studies tests."
Good ones, kids.

Friends who make their dreams come true

My dear friend Emily made it to Everest base camp this week and just in the off chance she ever reads this, I feel grateful to have friends who can inspire me by following their hearts and enduring the difficulties they are led through. Come home safe, I miss you.

The Science of Kite Flying in the Park

If we had taken a cab home today with all our groceries, we would have missed this. This man not only made his own kite out of an old calendar, but he also had broken it down into an art, and then he taught it to me. I told him his kite was as good as the purchased ones and he basically said, bought kites have no meaning. At the beginning I wasn't very good at keeping it high, but I got the hang of it and I think my notible improvement made him equally as happy as it made me. I'd like to try it again this spring.

17 months

The village behind our mountain has been 'relocated' this month, in favour of plans for another high rise development, including the reclaiming of the bay. If you look closely there are still two small houses in the picture on the right, possibly the next famous nail houses? Supposedly they can't legally be forced to leave if they refuse to, but they can be cut off of water, sewer and electricity... as easy as I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down the first time around.

Fixing Up the Neighbourhood

Jokes make tests on the evolution of the Canadian government more memorable... It is a win/win, they get to tell me a joke and I get to hear it. These were my favourites:
1. "An apple was walking down the street and he got hungry so he ate himself." HAHA
2. "Peat and Repeat were birds on a tree. Peat flew away. Who was left?" HAHA

Kaci's Weekend

I was so lucky to spend the whole weekend in Dalian with Emily and her old friend Kaci who came to visit us from her teaching post in Southern China. Emily and Kaci have a mind-blowingly, impressively extraordinary history of world travel together. We did a little bit of everything we could think of and then some, including the compulsory jumping pictures at the coast. Here are some pictures in sets of twos.

.

Living History out my Window

I wish I could talk to these men and ask them about what all they have seen in their days on earth, and, really, what they are thinking about.... right.... now. Imagine they are in their 70s. Having grown up in LiaoNing province, it means they were born during the Japanese occupation and their WMD experiments, they were governed by the Kuomintang, then the beginnings of Mao's dreamy PRC... by this time maybe they are in their thirties, then the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution.. and then Reform and Opening again! Capitalism to Communism "full circle".

Saturday's Tomfoolery

Today was a day where we set out with the simple plan of spending it together, and we did, and when it was done we were pleasantly surprised by the breadth of entertainment we had created for ourselves. Highlights definitely included reinventing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon scenes at President Hu's Dalian beach house juxtaposed with the Chinese military training. Here is a sampling of our action tableaux.

The Making of the Gibraltar Accord

The Friday Night Maple Leaf Risk Club made the leap today into mission-style play. Elvis, with his strategy of unrelenting pressure in the East, completed his four missions in a record 2:15 time for our club... including the notable mission of total Asian control. A well deserved victory. Albert played a strong game out of South America before sweeping his artillery across to East Africa and threatening the security of Malcolm and my Peace Treaty, the Gibraltar Accord, that had previously secured a solid no-fighting zone over the Mediterranean. Molly pushed strong into North America putting a ruthless end to Steven in Central Canada. It is easy to excuse that the winner often wins because they secure control of Australia, but this time I think Elvis could have done it even if he didn't control Australia too.

Powerfulness and powerlessness

The Purple Ice Monster Hits Kaifaqu... and the people fight back!

We began to hear the wind over the fireworks at 5:00pm Sunday night. We marveled at the force of the coming storm, which was about to be the worst Dalian has seen in years. Each day since Chinese New Year, I made a claim that the constant firework displays would start to simmer down now but each day so far I had been proven wrong. Today, with all the hacov reaped by this 'Purple Ice Monster' included, was no exception. Over the course of the evening, I grew to believe that the stronger the storm blew, the more earnestly determined the people became to light their fireworks. As my neighbours lit them higher, they were countered with a horizontal hail rebuttal. Then, when the fireworks grew louder and more numerous still, we all got our power and water cut. Eerily back and forth the storm and the fireworks intensified... as if we were angry in Grade 5 again, saying... "oh yeah? Well..." ... "oh yeah? Well..." ... "oh yeah! Well..." ... "oh yeah! Well...". Lampposts broke at the base and crashed down into ice beds, the wind blew over and smashed our complex glass railings. The complex playground lay in a fun's-over pile swept up against the fence. Still, the fireworks continued. People spent three hours stranded at the shopping center, people held poles to not be thrown over, the whole city was in the dark, but still the fireworks somehow continued, loud and unruly like the wind. We lit candles just before the power went out. The doors and windows froze shut and we were thankful because it sealed the small cracks that usually allowed the wind to sneek through. We awed the storm for a few hours and then Jamie pulled out her guitar and I sat on the other couch, wrapped in a big fleece blanket, and listened to her play and sing songs until we were tired enough to sleep.
When we woke at 5:15 this morning for work it was still dark and the power and water were still off. We got ready for school by candlelight and it turned out to be a gorgeous, yet extremely extremely cold and windy, day. I took a few pictures of the Kaifaqu battleground. Though the storm left an ugly trail of destruction in this city, the battles winner can not be so easily declared because the wind is gone now, and all that is left to be heard outside my window is the confident, unrelenting fireworks.

China I am home

It feels good to be back and so it should when one returns from a trip. I was excited again about the small things about living here, in this city, Kaifaqu (the Big Sneeze), that I had long stopped noticing. Example 1: the nice smell of the candles in our apartment and how warm it is compared to outside. Example 2: The China haze; thicker than any haze I have ever seen that hides and isolates you from what else is out there... confining yet comforting. Example 3: The park behind our apartment and all that occurs there. My place of refuge. This picture of the park I took today, standing across my road, on the way to the store (that was closed for the Chinese New Year week... oops).

Discarded leftovers from an enormous party with over 1 300 000 000 invitees. I celebrated Chinese New Year in good company, wandering in Londons Chinatown and I thought I missed it all back here. The city looks as if it has been sprinkled with a red paper confetti; firecracker leftovers wind blown into every small crack, crevas and corner in the country and all the ghosts scared away. It is obvious I missed the big weekend but echoes of the celebration continue as the remaining (or reserve) firecrackers are lit. From morning until night. Bringing in the morning at six and allowing for bed first at 11. One line explodes and ends, triggering the car alarms, fading shortly after and then the other explosions in the distance can be heard again, followed by their associated car alarms. And then it starts again in the next complex and I tell my friend I'll call her back when it's over because I can't hear her but I end up going into the bathroom instead as I would have waited until 11.... I just read in the news that two years ago, the Chinese government lifted a 12 year ban on fircrackers. Hence the incredible number. Everyone wants to play! There are fireworks too. Constantly too. Out my back window tonight I watched some as I put on a little Enya, then I sat down and read a chapter of my book, got up again and the fireworks were still going there. Hardly believable.

Pig, Golden Pig and No Pig

In late January, at 4am on a train back to Dalian from north, northern China, everyone was jolly and awake, eating packaged meat, drinking bai jiu, playing cards and visiting the foreigners in cabin F on their way to the smoking area... including a young girl named Xiu Lee. We chatted long enough to feel aquainted and before she left, she gave me her bracelet of stone pig beads, all different stones with different meanings.... luck for health, luck for love, luck for family and more and more and more. She was lovely, I love wearing the bracelet (I play with it like Tibetians do their prayer beads) and because of all this I have developed a particular interest in this New Year, the year of the pig.
I started seeing pigs everywhere. On peoples clothes, bags, newspapers, even in Starbucks. They have funky Starbucks pigs (with no eyes) in their display window. I learned it was not just the year of the pig, but the year of the Golden pig (2007 is a gold year, on the five year element rotation). Meaning it only comes around every 60 years, which makes it even MORE auspicious. No golden pig on my bracelet, but my love for it is unconditional.
But... while in London, browsing in marked-up shops on Chinatowns strip, I commented on the significance of this years Golden Pig to the Chinese sales woman and she had no idea what I was talking about. She said she was born in London and didn't know much about it. Sorry. I was on my own. We didn't buy anything and as we walked out, I played with my bracelet instead.
So when I got back to China I watched some Chinese CCTV. On the night of Chinese New Year the same all-night variety show is broadcasted on all channels in all regions and, so my landlord says, it is 'traditional' for the whole family to watch. I didn't see any pigs. I looked online and saw that the government banned the pig from being shown on tv.

"Although for most Chinese the pig represents wealth and happiness, images of the chubby pink beast were banned from state television out of concern they would offend China's 20 million Muslims whose religion bans the consumption of pork." - from China Daily today

So my research enlightens me that Chinese New Year, one of the oldest traditional celebrations on earth, means to each person whatever they make of it, Chinese or not. So there go my sweeping generalizations about symbolism; boomeranging around full circle to bonk a deeper appreciation of cultural diversity into my head. As I write this, I am playing with my bracelet. My lucky pigs.