Day 433-434 Newbies to Tianjin

On Friday, November 6th, we had our first snowfall of the
season.  It is so dry in Beijing (the Gobi Desert is just on the other
side of the mountains) that snow is a bit of a rarity here.  It
put it down for several hours that morning.  Besides the fact that
I HATE to be cold, I was more concerned about the weekend
trip I had planned the minute school let out.  I was taking a
group of teachers to Tianjin on the high speed train.  The
last thing I wanted was to be tromping around playing tour guide
in the freezing cold; I was still trying to get over a cold myself.

It took five cabs to get the whole lot of us to our
hotel, the Holiday Inn Riverside, which is right next
to the Tianjin Eye.  Seeing the excited expressions of
my colleagues at their first look of this beautiful city,
I knew that cold or not, it was going to be a FUN weekend.

With everyone checked into their rooms, (I mean, really,
can you beat that view of the river walk?!) we ventured
out in five more cabs for our late dinner reservations at
Pizza Bianca.  They were in for a treat :)

The wait staff took extra good care of us, bringing out all kinds
of tasty Italian treats for us to enjoy- at no charge!

One of our newbies, Bradley and his beautiful wife Moe.

Ganbei!  (Cheers in Mandarin :)

We had a great group of people along for the trip, newbies,
some returning teachers and several family members.

I love these two :)

After sleeping in and enjoying a leisurely breakfast that was 
included with our hotel room, we ventured out in to the cold.

It was cold and raining- the worst for me :(

Our first stop was the Dabei Buddhist Temple, which was
conveniently located right behind our hotel. 

It is a beautiful monastery, and it quite the deal, only 5rmb
to visit the grounds- that's about 85 cents.

There are marble miniature Buddha statues all
over the grounds, offering well wishes.

Mostly they are there to remind visitors to
speak in a whisper, as there are people
who are there to worship.

It was fun watching these folks trying to toss coins

into the tower for good luck- their aim was not so good!

It was a little on the chilly side...

Still, this Buddha was just chillin'

`

Beautiful

I am always in awe of the beautiful marble carvings, on
staircases, vases, monuments and statues. Such detail.

These two lovelies, Rici our Spanish teacher, and Jade
our Scottish lass who teaches PE.  I <3 them both.

Turn teachers loose on a 'field trip', and they get silly, too :)

As we left the temple, we walked through a market place
for some early Christmas shopping on our way to the Eye.

Carlos has an eye for photography.  Love this.

The 'warning label' for riding the Tianjin Eye- in Chinglish!
We all could benefit from the 'scenic area civilized tips', lol.

I am very blessed to work with some awesome teachers and
school counselors from all over the world.  All in all, Beijing
National Day School does a great job in hiring quality people :)

I wish the weather had cooperated more :/ It's a beautiful city.

At the top!

From the Eye, we headed up the river walk toward the
Chinese Culture Street for more street food and shopping.
There is a carved marble wall that tells a pictorial history of Tianjin.

There are five distinct bridges that cross the river in to various
neighborhoods and the CBD.  It is called Five Avenues.

Zach and San are the sons of two of our faculty.  It was fun
hanging with boys again; I miss my grandkids Ava & Eli.

We walked through the Ancient Culture Street
which is a good place for browsing all things
Chinese.  There is a small temple there
from the Qing dynasty, and it is typically
packed with tourists- not on this cold, rainy day.

As we exited the Gu Wenhua Jie, many loaded with packages
of local art ware, silks, kites and such, we passed by Xikai Church
which marks the French Concession area.  The church was built with
bricks from France and was completed in 1916. While it is an active
People's Catholic Church, it also is a war museum of sorts with
several monuments, and even a tank in the courtyard of the church.

We crossed another bridge, and entered the Italian concession.
In many ways, Tianjin looks like you could be in Europe, not China.

At the end of the bridge, we were greeted by
another Christian church. In fact, within viewing
distance there were four churches- in a largely
agnostic country- though some here practice Buddhism.

Next was the very fancy, very ornate Marco Polo bridge,
which again, looks like you are somewhere in Italy or France.
This marks the entry to both the Italian and German concession. 

When I reach the clock tower, I know there are brats
and beer in my near future- though I pass on the beer.

This is a beautiful (but crowded) area to sit in an outdoor cafe, enjoy
a glass of wine, and people watch in the spring and summer months.

We opted to eat indoors at my favorite German restaurant, Bavaria Brauhaus. 

Most of the group opted to cab it back to the hotel for a night
cap, but Damien and I decided to walk off dinner to see the
churches and river walk at night. It was cold, but no longer raining.

The river walk comes alive in the evenings with dinner cruises,
street performers, and people sending paper lanterns in the air
and lighting giant sparklers, like Ms. Rici :)

Soon it was time to head back to the train station for the
quick trip home.  I met three Chinese men who were all
carrying instrument cases.  I saw that they said Bach, so I
asked if they were trumpets.  Lo and behold, they were!
They became very excited when I told them their instruments
came from my hometown in Elkhart, Indiana.  Not one of
them played the trumpet. They received them as "corporate
gifts" from a business meeting they attended- strange gift.
They insisted I play something for them.  People, it's been
over 25 years since I've held a trumpet, but I still could run
the scales, and hit a high A. I missed the high C by two notes.
But man, I thought I was going to blow a gasket! It was
so much fun- and they of course had to have lots of pictures
and videos made with me while we waited for our train.

After spending the entire day touring in the cold outdoors,
it was a quiet ride home to Beijing....zzzzzzz......

Which took all of 30 minutes at 302km/hr!  I love
the high speed trains in China- it's a smooth ride and
oh so cheap- only $9.00USD each way from PEK to Tianjin.
No doubt, I'll be returning again soon :)

G'nite, y'all!

Day 428 I just want to flush my d**n toilet!

China tries me some days.... it's been several of THOSE days as of late.  I had to succumb to a Big Mac and fries earlier this week to avoid a near breakdown.  You think I'm kidding?  Not even.

For a country with 1.4 billion people, you would think there would be a way to mainstream things in the name of efficiency.  I have decided that this is not the case, as every body needs a job in China. 

Take for example "cards"....

I must carry no less than ten cards since coming to China, and
that does not include the three credit/bank cards I brought with me.
I have a coffee card, a school ID card to purchase lunches and items
from the convenience store, a card to swipe to get into my gate and
building at the apartment complex, my China bank card, the subway/
bus card, a hospital card, an insurance card, a gas card, an
electricity card, and a 'reclaimed water' card. So. Many. Cards.
A way to put China to work, I guess. 

I have meters all over my apartment.  The electricity card gets
inserted outside my front door.  The gas card for my stove gets
inserted under my kitchen counter.  The reclaimed water card
gets inserted in the meter, IN MY SHOWER.  What is a
'reclaimed water' card you ask?  It is the ability to flush my toilet!!!
Of which, I have not had that ability for two days now. :(

They moved the office of the reclaimed water. Thankfully, my
friend Alejandra had to go through this same process last
weekend, so she sent me a picture so I knew where to go.

I walked in to the office of "Ocean Ambiance Property
Service."  It seemed like a good sign.  I could use a little
ocean ambiance these days.  Like, for real.

After much chittering in Mandarin (the three ladies working behind the counter, NOT ME), I was able to catch about every 10th word.  With the usual game of charades, I was finally able to figure out that they were telling me to come back at 1:00pm.  Now these people were helping other customers, so I did not understand why I was getting sent away.  Begrudgingly, I returned to my apartment, used a bucket of water to flush my toilet AGAIN, and made myself some lunch to wait them out until 1pm.

I returned at 1pm, hoping for success.

It was not meant to be.

A fourth woman was now working behind the counter.  She took my card and money, and it seemed as if this transaction was going to work.  Soon though, she handed me back my card and money and said "Go Home!"  

What the what???  

After another game of charades, I gathered that I had credit on my card (I thought I recharged it before I left for the summer).  So I went home.

I changed the batteries in the meter. Just. In. Case.

I inserted the card....the meter 'whizzed'....

I flushed the toilet. Nothing.

I took pictures, typed in what I had done in to Google translate, and trudged over to the "Ocean Ambiance" office for the third time in two hours.

I showed her my pictures.  I showed her my translated message...

Google translate is a beautiful thing... "I changed
the batteries, inserted the card, but my toilet
still will not flush."

She said, "Work?"  I said, "No, it won't work", (as I waved my hands like the Chinese do for "no").

She then said, "Ummmmm....Work?  Work.....er?"  Oh!  "You will send a worker?!  Great!"  To which I said, "Xie! Xie!" and bowed graciously.

About 30 minutes later, this kind man showed
up at my door.  He took the batteries out, put them
back in.  Check. He took the card out, put it back in.
  Check. He turned the water off and on at the meter.
Check, check, and still nothing.  Then he turned the
 water off and back on at the toilet.  I don't know why
 that would work, but it did, and now I can flush the
damn toilet once again.  Geesh. 

The good news?!  About 5000 flushes costs me all of 18y, or $3.00USD

If you'd like to get your giggle for the day,

Chinese engineering beats any Redneck ingenuity

I've ever seen.  Watch closely as my friend, Robert,

turns on the water in the men's bathroom at school.

Lollllllzzzzzz!!!!

G'nite, y'all!