Student art part II

No words needed.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

Joining a gym

One of the first things I do when moving to a new place is try to find a gym to join. So did I here in Guiyang. As soon as I landed, I asked my principal if he's a member somewhere or if he knows a gym. He said that he's wasn't a member yet, but he cooperates with the owner of a gym where teachers and staff of our school get special discounts. He'd organise a trip to that gym sometime soon he said. Ten days after my arrival, he organised said trip and some interested colleagues joined us.

It is a massive brand new gym, owned by a US American. He personally took us around and showed us the large yoga rooms, the weight lifting room, the changing rooms, the cafeteria soon to open, the mini golf course on the terrace, etc, etc. Everything was stylish and very impressive. The yearly fee is quite impressive too, despite the special offer for us. But he made us an offer to teach in the English corner and go down in price. The English corner is free English lessons to Chinese members of the gym. If you choose to teach two hours a week, the membership would be totally free. One hour a fortnight and you pay 25% less, etc.

The problem with that gym is that it is a bit far off and you need a car, a scooter or a bicycle for the eight miles one way. There's no direct bus, and since the bus system is all in Chinese, and it's all Greek to us, we avoid them like the plague. I didn't really like the atmosphere in this gym. It was quite sterile, it felt like a hospital. That's why I didn't want to become a member.

I asked and looked around to find something closer, but as Jinyang is a relatively newly built area, many things are missing and nobody knew a gym nearby. One day however, there were some people outside our mall, handing out flyers of a gym. I took one, but it was all in Chinese. No prices were to be seen. I figured out that they must have a special offer this month, because there were some dates on it and it read ‘Goodbye Winter’ in a corner. I took my iPad, fired up a translation software, scanned the two sides of the flyer and retrieved my info. Well, it didn't mention anything specific about the special offer, and indeed there were no prices. As I wanted to be sure, I took the flyer to school and gave it to my students to translate. It was their project for the day. I looked up the address on Google maps, and it said six miles away from home. I had a closer look and discovered that Google was fooling me. First, where it said that the street was, I knew that it wasn't. Second, who advertises their business far away from it? It had to be closer. And indeed it is.

Thanks to my wonderful French colleague who got lost one day and got to meet a Chinese woman who spoke English and was a member of said gym and brought her there, we discovered that it is very close to our house. Both of us became members.

The 'how' is interesting though. My colleague was driven there by the Chinese and because the Chinese woman didn't have the time to show her around, she left her there with the ladies from the reception. As none of them speaks English, they called a young lady who does and translated everything over the phone. The young lady is a friend of the manager and negotiated a good deal for my colleague who signed up on the spot. The very next day, my colleague got lost on the way to the gym and a policeman approached her to ask if she needed help. My colleague showed him a photo of the building of the gym and he offered her a ride in his police car. Quite a flashy way to get there! Inside the building, all members of staff and various customers wanted to be photographed with her. So she almost missed her yoga class.

When my colleague showed me the photo, I thought the building looked familiar. I then took out the flyer and discovered that it was the one I've been looking for, for weeks. One night we went together and she showed me the way. She went to her yoga class and the ladies from the reception asked me to sit down and offered me a cup of hot water. A few minutes later, I was already nervous because I had the impression that they might not have understood that I wanted to become a member and might have thought that I'd wait for my colleague, I stood up, but was immediately asked to sit down and wait. One of the ladies was going around with her mobile phone trying to reach someone. A few minutes later, she passed me over the phone and a female English speaking voice was to be heard. The lady from the reception organised a few people to show me around and the phone was passed over from person to person and back and forth to me. A few members of the gym followed us, among them one who spoke little English. I didn't join that day because I didn't have any money or card with me. The ladies from the reception however had the form on the counter and pointed with a ballpoint at it. I said to the lady on the phone that I would come back in two days to join.

'Why don't you join today' she asked in a very direct and harsh way.

‘Because I don’t have any money with me’ I replied.

‘You can pay by card!’ she said, what came across in a harsh military tone.

‘I don’t have a card with me either!’ I said.

‘OK! When will you come back again?’

Jeez! I thought.

Well, two days later I am back with my card. I enter the building and am immediately greeted in English by a young lady. It turns out that she was the lady I spoke to on the phone. She’s all nice and friendly this time, not at all harsh and military. She comes with me to the reception, talks a while with the ladies there, and asks me to enter my name and telephone number on the form and sign it. That’s it! Very uncomplicated for a complicated country. I speak to the lady while my details are put onto the system and discover a little camera on the counter. I ask if they need a photo of me for their system, but they reply that they have already taken one. When did this happen? Incredible those Chinese!

All this time at reception, people gather around and stare. When I get my membership card and walk towards the changing room, I am followed by a small crowd. The small crowd stands around me in the changing room and one who speaks little English engages me in a conversation. I feel like a celebrity surrounded by fans, but they don’t ask for autographs. Once I’m in my sports gear, I make my way out of the changing room through the ground floor, which in China is the first floor, up the flight to the (western) first (Chinese second) floor to the weight lifting room. The crowd is still behind me. Once on the first floor, heads turn, people smile and the crowd spreads over the room while I walk towards the bicycle. 

There’s only one bicycle on the entire floor. On its right is a stepper, on its left are several treadmills. Stepper and the two treadmills next to the bicycle are free when I sit on the bike, but within two minutes, three people come and occupy them. Half an hour later when I go to the weights and place myself on a machine, one of the coaches approaches me and wants to show me how it works. I’m grateful for that, because I have no clue how it works. A minute or so later, while the coach is watching me, a young man who speaks English appears and engages me in a conversation. A crowd forms a half circle and some of them ask the English speaking young man something. Then he turns around and asks me if I mind to be photographed with them. Jeez! I think! That’s the price one has to pay for joining a gym not frequented by Laowai. I agree to a photoshoot and continue then with my workout. I hope this won’t happen every day I come here. I somehow can understand it and it fills me with pleasure. Then I think to myself, those people here treat us with respect, treat us like stars and how do we treat them back home? I wish we were like them.

                       Flyers (advertising with Laowai)

    Chinese sense of humour (in the changing room)

Interesting menber activities ...

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

New Year's Day / Chinese Spa

It is about 7am on New Year's Day and we just got off a taxi. I still have U2's tune 'New Year's Day' in my ear. The musicians sang it in the taxi and one is still humming the melody. 'Nothing changes on New Year's Day' sing U2. So true! I might be dazed after a long night out and having consumed various alcoholic beverages, but I am not confused (reference to Led Zeppelin made here). I'm tired too. No wonder, I've been awake for 25 hours and danced half the night. What should change on New Year's Day? And why? Is there a reason for it?
'Come!' says one of the musicians, 'Don't stand there like a Greek statue!'
I'm standing in front of the building, looking at the entrance, various thoughts crossing my mind.
'Come! Move!' he says again.
We greet the porters and walk in. The spa is located in, from what it looks like from the outside, a normal building. A small entrance and a sign above it signals that it is a spa. It's a bit hard to find too. It's at the top of a steep slope located between other buildings.
Inside, an ample hall awaits the guests. Comfy leather couches, stylish tables made of glass and wood, many plants and marble floors invite you to sit for a while and enjoy the Roman style scenery. We have a seat and as soon as we are seated, some members of staff come to greet us and bring us bracelets and a red pin with a number on it. You have to wear the bracelet at all times, because it contains an RFID chip, with which you can open your locker and which will be used to charge you when you leave.
We have to take off our shoes and are given some flip-flops. The red pin with the number is attached to the shoes and the staff take them away. The shoes get a treatment too. They'll be cleaned and fragranced, so they smell nice. They'll be put in an air conditioned glass cabinet in the lobby.
The good thing about the spa is, that you don't have to bring anything with you. Whatever you need, towels, slippers, comb, etc. is provided. I give them my dead mobile phone to charge.
We stand up and are directed into the changing room. There, more personnel is waiting to serve and help you. They have a look at the number on your bracelet and direct you to the locker. They use the RFID on your bracelet and a second RFID to open the locker. Then you have to strip naked and put all your clothes inside. They close and lock it for you and direct you to the spa area.
Since it's past 7am and we haven't had anything to eat since midnight, we ask for some sort of pyjamas to go to the restaurant. There is a restaurant in this 24-h spa that serves food several times a day. It's included in the entrance fee.
So we walk to the restaurant to have breakfast. It's not continental or full British or poor Italian with a piece of bread and some butter, no, it's Chinese: dumplings, seafood, noodles, soup, some local delicacies, etc. Most of it it's spicy. You can eat as much as you like. There's a water dispenser with of course warm or hot water and plenty of tea.
After having breakfast we walk to the spa area. The area is ample and contains a large pool with various springs, there's a sauna, a steam room, a massage place and some cold water tubs. Above the pool is a massive screen that shows a Chinese version of Pop Idol. Marble everywhere. Quite luxurious I have to say. There are some washing basins in a corner with some baskets between them. In the baskets are toothbrushes and razors, and there's toothpaste and shaving foam.
The temperature of the water is 39 degrees and is it a pleasure to lie and swim in it. We sit in something like armchairs and press a button that makes water come out with force from all directions. A waiter brings us some plastic glasses with warm drinking water and places them on the floor behind us. Oh, this is nice at this time of day!
Opposite us are some Chinese men who stare at us all the time, smoke (!!!!!) and talk to each other without taking their eyes off us. Two things cross my mind while I stare back. Jing, my wonderful teaching assistant from Hull Uni, once said: We are yellow! I don't remember why she said that, but I have to say, yes, Jing, you are. Why did you say that Jing? What were we talking about?
My friend Yi, said a few days ago: You are alien to us, so get used to be stared at. Jing felt uncomfortable when I once took her to the club Ella Street Social in Hull. She planted herself on a stool and wouldn't leave the table. When I asked her why, she answered that it's too many whites in there. Hmm... But sharp as she is, nothing passed unnoticed. She scanned all the people and actions.
Looking at those men I get jealous. Not of their yellow colour, but of their skin. Hairless, spotless, no wrinkles, looks like a baby bum. Look at us whites instead... And we are red like lobsters due to the heat in here, but the Chinese look cool as ever.
After a round in the pool, trying out the various hot springs, we decide to have a shower and go upstairs to the massage place. As soon as you exit the lift on the third floor, you see something like a bar in front of you. There you can get coffee, tea and hot juice and various fruits. Behind the bar is the massage place on the left and the relaxation rooms on the right.
We have something to drink, I go for the hot juice, the others for a cup of coffee, we also have some fruit and walk to the massage place on the left. There, some ladies receive us and direct us into rooms. The entire session lasts an hour. There's soft music playing in the background and after a few minutes I drift off to Morpheus' realm. The masseuse wakes me when she's done, and this is when I find myself in a dazed and confused state (yes, Led Zep again). I walk across the floor to the relaxation rooms and go to sleep for a while. That's the other good thing about this place. There are rooms with beds in it you can use. No need to go to a hotel or even home, you just sleep here.
I have no idea what time it is when I wake up. Hunger brings me back to reality, so I get dressed in my pyjamas and go down to the first floor to the restaurant. It's not time to eat yet, I am told. There's another hour to go. So I go to the spa. I find one of the musicians in the pool, half asleep.
'Where are the others?' I ask.
'No idea!' he says. 'Might have gone home or still sleeping upstairs.'
We spend a while in the pool going from spring to spring under the close observation of some Chinese eyes... We smile at them and they smile back. Who knows what they're thinking! A horse! A horse! My Kingdom for their thoughts! I say and we burst out laughing, which irritates the Chinese a bit, but they continue staring. It feels like as if small boys look at their wieners and compare the size.  Sorry guys, western men have longer ones.
We go to the restaurant to have .... what time is it? What are we having? Lunch? Brunch? High tea? Dinner? The menu consists of Hot Pot, various soups, seafood, various salads, rice, meat, noodles. After an extensive lunch (?), we go back to the changing rooms.
At the exit we return our bracelets and a computer screen tells us what we had and how much we have to pay. It's 15 GBP each. It's only 7 GBP without the massage. As soon as we pay, we are directed to the comfy leather couches and our shoes along with a glass of hot water are brought to us. I haven't seen my shoes that clean in a long time! I also get my mobile phone back.
It is still bright outside, so it can't be that late. It's 5pm reveals a glance on the wristwatch.
Our clothes smell of smoke and sweat from last night. I wish they had a laundry service too.
I say goodbye to my friend, walk a bit through the streets before I hail a taxi to get home.
What a wonderful way to start a new year!

U2 New Year's Day (opens in a new window)

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused - extra long version (opens in a new window)

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy. 

Happy communist new year!

Last year of the day and the school is celebrating with a show. All primary classes perform various dances and songs on stage. All pupils are dressed up in various costumes and many parents have come to see their offspring. Of course they jump up and down like crazy seeing their kids on stage.
Underneath are some images and videos from the show.

I found this little red envelope and chocolate coin on my desk this morning. As I hear from my lovely former teaching assistant Jing, it must be a local custom, because she didn't get one in the North where she lives. People here, and in some other countries in the world give each other such a coin to wish luck, fortune and lots of money. The custom here is to give it in a red envelope. Red is the colour of luck.

Unlike in many western countries where you have massive firework displays, here (at least in Guiyang) you have none. People, however, do go out and celebrate. All major hotels host events and many bars and clubs do so too. West meets East.
I went to the Grand Theatre to watch Beethoven's No. 9, which, like every year, is recorded and broadcast live on Guizhou TV. That's the province's TV station. It was a spectacular concert with more than 60 singers and more or less the same amount of musicians. As it is one of my favourite pieces and as I know many of the musicians, I enjoyed it a lot. It is a night to remember.
After the concert, some musicians and I walked through the nicely decorated city centre to the Sheraton hotel, where the entire orchestra gathered for their New Year's dinner. There's was plenty of food, mainly sea food and fish, and plenty of wine and Chinese beer. All for free.
We had a lot of fun and interesting discussions. The members of the orchestra come from all over the world and quite a few are multilingual. There was a Spaniard, a Greek, an Italian, a few U.S. Americans (one of them black, who is actually the funniest of them), a few Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans, Uzbeks and many Chinese. There might be some other nationalities too. I spoke German with a U.S. American, a few Russians and Ukrainians and a Chinese!
I stayed until the end and some of us continued to a bar called Helen's, mainly frequented by expats. I'll share my opinion about this bar and the expat community in a later post.
It took us half an hour to get there. On the way we saw many Chinese out on the streets going from party to party and cheering when seeing us. Some wanted to be photographed with us and others wanted to engage us in a conversation.
When we arrive there, we see the usual crowd on the little street outside the bars. People standing or sitting on one of the chairs, couches, armchairs, stools, etc. talking, drinking, eating something from the street kitchens, laughing. We see some people we know and get to know a few new ones.
When we go up the stairs to Helen's, we face a crowded bar, despite the late hour of 3am. Since they had a different kind of 'happy hour', during which several drinks were for free, people gathered early and got drunk immensely. Now, pretty much everyone is filled up. I don't like this bar at all and didn't want to come here, but the others insisted, so here I am. The plan is to go downstairs to Muse 1 after a drink.
I see many familiar faces and many people wish me 'A Happy New Year' and hug me, and I hug and wish back. The German speaking U.S. American goes to the bar and returns with many bottles of Belgian beer. I have two and since no one wants to go to Muse 1, I pack my jacket, tell the musician that my phone died and that I'm going downstairs to Muse 1 to dance.
When I enter the club, some Chinese leaving it are looking and staring at me as if I were from outta space. A few say 'hello' or 'bye bye'. I greet and smile as usual. Once inside, I see that not that many people are here. The place is usually packed around 4am, but not tonight though. I go to the cloakroom to leave my jacket and as I turn around, somebody shouts 'HEY!' and my name. I look around and see Rex. Rex is a Chinese who did his Masters in Manchester. He's here with a girl, holding and pulling her by her hand. He nods with his head and signals me to follow him. We walk through the club, house and electro beats seem to fall like shower upon us, and go straight to the dance floor. There some people make us space and when they see me, a giant compared to them, they first look and stare at me, I look and stare back, and somebody says 'come on!' So we start dancing and jumping and singing the rest of the night away.
It is already bright when I leave the club and step outside. I stop for a bit, close my eyes, breath in and out, raise my head towards the sky, and then I hear some people calling my name. It's some of the musicians who just left Helen's.
'Where to?' they ask.
'Home, I guess', I reply.
'Don't be boring', one says.
'So, where to?' I ask.
'Spa?'
'Spa?' I ask back.
Spa it is. We get into a taxi and reach the spa a few minutes later.
(More about it next time)

Wish you all a prosperous new year! Hopefully with lots of luck, health, peace and happiness!

Last night of the year/beginning of the new

Decorated street in my area

The orchestra warming up

The choir after a spectacular show

New Year's dinner in the Sheraton Hotel

Group photo (not all musicians fit on stage)

With Yan Sau, a German speaking Chinese musician. 

 With Gerasimos, the Greek percussionist.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.