The Final Chapter
I can’t believe that I have been reporting on my travels and adventures in Africa and China for over 2 years and now it is down to the final chapter. Well, I do still have a month of travelling left before I reach Australian shores once again, so perhaps this is the penultimate chapter.
Tomorrow morning I will be leaving Huaian and saying goodbye to my life as an English teacher in China. It is all a bit surreal at the moment. My friend, Betty, is coming with me to meet my father in Chengdu in Sichuan (Szechuan) province. We will stay in Chengdu for a few days, then Betty will leave us to come back to Huaian and Dad and I will be travelling on to Yunnan province for a week, then on to Vietnam for just over 2 weeks. I will be flying back to Australia from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and landing in Brisbane on the morning of 31 July. That is, as long as Dad and I don’t get arrested or meet some other calamity along the way!
I have no idea what the future will hold for me back in Oz. Currently, I will be returning to Australia with no money and no job! At the end of my last chapter I told you that I had been applying for jobs in Australia but, to date, nothing solid has eventuated. I was pinning my hopes on being accepted for the 2007 intake of graduate trainees in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). I lodged my application back in April and was notified in mid-May that, out of nearly 2000 applicants, I had been one of 300 selected to sit for the written exam. I went to Shanghai at the end of May to sit the exam, but was not particularly confident about my performance. My feeling proved fortuitous, as I received an email this morning informing me that I had not been selected to go through to the interview round of the application process. It was very disappointing news, but at least now I can go on my travels and not be worried that I might be called back to Australia for an interview!
Anyway, back to the story of my life in Huaian. My last chapter was written after the May holiday when I met Anthony & Sue in Shanghai and went travelling with Mum and Nana. Not much has happened since then other than a few nights out on the town.
I went to Shanghai to sit the DFAT exam at the end of May and arranged to meet with my friend, JP, from the Africa trip. He had been working in Hong Kong and was between jobs so he decided to take a trip to the mainland. We spent the weekend in Shanghai and, given that it is around the 10th time that I have been to Shanghai, I acted as local tour guide and took him to all the places of interest.
On Sunday afternoon we got on a bus back to Huaian. I had picked up some cheese in Shanghai (real cheese cannot be bought in Huaian), so I invited the usual suspects around to my place for wine and cheese that night.
The next morning I went to class and left JP to sleep. I came back to meet him for lunch, then took him to my afternoon class. The students were very excited to see another foreigner and, given that my students are mostly female, were especially excited to see that my foreign friend was a male. I introduced JP to the class and told them they could ask him questions for a few minutes. Of course, the girls tittered nervously, their faces went red and they were mostly too shy to ask questions. There were whispers of “oh, so handsome” floating around the classroom. I had told JP not to get a big head about this because any young foreign male appears to be “so handsome” to the Chinese girls, as indeed is every young foreign woman “beautiful”, including me! Anyway, there were some standard questions like “Where do you come from?” and “What do you do?” and “What do you think of China?” Then, of course, came the expected question (and I had warned JP to expect this), “Is Meagan your girlfriend?” Answer – “No”. Question – “Do you want Meagan to be your girlfriend?”. Answer – “No”. Question – “Why don’t you want Meagan to be your girlfriend?” Answer (very admirably handled by JP I thought) – “Meagan is a very good friend but we live too far apart”. Comment – “That doesn’t matter, I think she should be your girlfriend”.
I thought it best to cut the questions off there and JP sat in the back of the class while I taught the lesson. Later I recruited him to demonstrate a dialogue with me, and he received a spontaneous round of applause for his effort. Now he has experienced first hand how you can be King or Queen in a city like this!
That night we met with the usual suspects to show JP a night on the town in Huaian. First we ordered a feast at one of our regular “better” restaurants and paid about the same price for dinner and drinks for 8 people as JP would pay for 2 beers in Hong Kong. Next we went to the local ten pin bowling alley for a spot of drunken bowling. Then it was off to the Boss club to experience the bouncing dance floor and pole dancing. Next the boys piled into one pedicab and Colleen & I got in another for the short but vocal ride to the Last Chance Bar where we sang some karaoke and played some drinking games. And last it was off to the zoo (or near the zoo) for some late night BBQ. I can’t remember what time we stumbled back to my place, but I do remember struggling to get out of bed for my early morning class that day!
I struggled through my morning classes then went back home to meet a refreshed JP for lunch, although I had to take a power nap first. In the afternoon I took JP to the DVD store to pick up a bunch of pirated movies for peanuts and then to show him the local sights, um sorry, sight, which did not take long! Time has faded my memory but I think we had a reasonably early night after the frivolity of the night before.
On Wednesday morning, I took JP to the bus station and got him on a bus to Nanjing where he was to take a flight to Guilin.
On the Saturday of the next weekend, Bill and Mark decided to throw their going away party, despite the fact that it was still a month before their intended departure. This time I could only manage to get together about 7 or 8 students to come to the party but, luckily, Bill and Mark had finally provided their own guests and the party was quite a success until about 10:00pm when most of the student guests left to go back to their dormitories. I had bought some fireworks so, at about 10:30, the remaining guests (15 or so people) climbed up to the roof of Bill’s apartment block and set off the fireworks. It was a bit dangerous up on the roof at night because Chinese building standards are pretty low and most of us had been drinking. Fortunately, there were no casualties and the fireworks were impressive. I don’t think the neighbours were all that impressed though. After the fireworks, we made our way to the zoo for another late night BBQ (although a bit earlier this time) and the die-hards (the foreigners) then hit the Last Chance bar again.
By this time, it was nearing the end of the school year and so preparations had to be made for exams; plans for travel had to be made and preparations for leaving started to hit full speed. And right about the same time, world cup football fever hit. Now, I have never watched much soccer, but anytime Australia is playing in a world event my patriotism and nationalism outweighs my interest in the game. Although I am the only Australian in Huaian and I am completely outnumbered by the Americans, I managed to convince them to support Australia.
The Chinese are soccer mad, despite the fact that they can’t play the sport and did not make the world cup. The Chinese also hate the Japanese. Australia’s first round match was against Japan. Colleen, Jeff, Betty, John, Change and Island came to my place to watch the match and we were all very excited when Australia came back from 1-0 down to win 3-1 in the last 10 minutes. And the fact that Australia beat Japan made me somewhat of a local hero in the school for a day.
The win spurred on some football fever amongst our small group, so, for the next match against Brazil, we bought t-shirts and adorned them with Australian flags and slogans in English and Chinese and attended a local café/bar to watch the match. It was fun despite the fact that all the Chinese patrons were supporting Brazil, and Australia lost the match. We made the local newspaper for our effort.
The third match against Croatia was at 3:00am and I could not convince anyone to stay up and watch it when we all had classes the next day, so I went to bed early and set the alarm to get up and watch it on my own. The 2-2 draw was enough to see us through to the top 16 and the knock-out round which was played at 11:00pm on Monday night.
The troops were martialled and we went back to the café/bar to support the Aussie’s against Italy. I am sure I don’t need to remind you all of the dramatic ending to the match and the result. Suffice to say that when that penalty was kicked with a few seconds to go, my head went down into my hands and I cried like a baby. Really. What a way to go!
And that brings you all up to date with my final weeks in Huaian. This week has been a frenzy of reporting grades, packing and cleaning, so nothing much to tell. There have been a few frustrating episodes of inefficiencies in trying to get things done, like taking half a day and 4 trips to various offices around the school just to get back 26 RMB (AU$4) from my bus card. I was tempted to abandon the effort but I really need the money! Trying to book a plane ticket from Nanjing to Chengdu was also a drama, but it has been done now and I am out of here tomorrow so I am not going to dwell on it anymore!
You can view the photos from the drunken bowling, the farewell party and the world cup matches on these blogs:-
meginhuaian.blogspot.com
megspartyphotos.blogspot.com
To everyone back in Australia, I look forward to seeing you all in August. To all my family and friends in other parts of the world, I will send you the final chapter then.
Take Care
Meagan
I can’t believe that I have been reporting on my travels and adventures in Africa and China for over 2 years and now it is down to the final chapter. Well, I do still have a month of travelling left before I reach Australian shores once again, so perhaps this is the penultimate chapter.
Tomorrow morning I will be leaving Huaian and saying goodbye to my life as an English teacher in China. It is all a bit surreal at the moment. My friend, Betty, is coming with me to meet my father in Chengdu in Sichuan (Szechuan) province. We will stay in Chengdu for a few days, then Betty will leave us to come back to Huaian and Dad and I will be travelling on to Yunnan province for a week, then on to Vietnam for just over 2 weeks. I will be flying back to Australia from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and landing in Brisbane on the morning of 31 July. That is, as long as Dad and I don’t get arrested or meet some other calamity along the way!
I have no idea what the future will hold for me back in Oz. Currently, I will be returning to Australia with no money and no job! At the end of my last chapter I told you that I had been applying for jobs in Australia but, to date, nothing solid has eventuated. I was pinning my hopes on being accepted for the 2007 intake of graduate trainees in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). I lodged my application back in April and was notified in mid-May that, out of nearly 2000 applicants, I had been one of 300 selected to sit for the written exam. I went to Shanghai at the end of May to sit the exam, but was not particularly confident about my performance. My feeling proved fortuitous, as I received an email this morning informing me that I had not been selected to go through to the interview round of the application process. It was very disappointing news, but at least now I can go on my travels and not be worried that I might be called back to Australia for an interview!
Anyway, back to the story of my life in Huaian. My last chapter was written after the May holiday when I met Anthony & Sue in Shanghai and went travelling with Mum and Nana. Not much has happened since then other than a few nights out on the town.
I went to Shanghai to sit the DFAT exam at the end of May and arranged to meet with my friend, JP, from the Africa trip. He had been working in Hong Kong and was between jobs so he decided to take a trip to the mainland. We spent the weekend in Shanghai and, given that it is around the 10th time that I have been to Shanghai, I acted as local tour guide and took him to all the places of interest.
On Sunday afternoon we got on a bus back to Huaian. I had picked up some cheese in Shanghai (real cheese cannot be bought in Huaian), so I invited the usual suspects around to my place for wine and cheese that night.
The next morning I went to class and left JP to sleep. I came back to meet him for lunch, then took him to my afternoon class. The students were very excited to see another foreigner and, given that my students are mostly female, were especially excited to see that my foreign friend was a male. I introduced JP to the class and told them they could ask him questions for a few minutes. Of course, the girls tittered nervously, their faces went red and they were mostly too shy to ask questions. There were whispers of “oh, so handsome” floating around the classroom. I had told JP not to get a big head about this because any young foreign male appears to be “so handsome” to the Chinese girls, as indeed is every young foreign woman “beautiful”, including me! Anyway, there were some standard questions like “Where do you come from?” and “What do you do?” and “What do you think of China?” Then, of course, came the expected question (and I had warned JP to expect this), “Is Meagan your girlfriend?” Answer – “No”. Question – “Do you want Meagan to be your girlfriend?”. Answer – “No”. Question – “Why don’t you want Meagan to be your girlfriend?” Answer (very admirably handled by JP I thought) – “Meagan is a very good friend but we live too far apart”. Comment – “That doesn’t matter, I think she should be your girlfriend”.
I thought it best to cut the questions off there and JP sat in the back of the class while I taught the lesson. Later I recruited him to demonstrate a dialogue with me, and he received a spontaneous round of applause for his effort. Now he has experienced first hand how you can be King or Queen in a city like this!
That night we met with the usual suspects to show JP a night on the town in Huaian. First we ordered a feast at one of our regular “better” restaurants and paid about the same price for dinner and drinks for 8 people as JP would pay for 2 beers in Hong Kong. Next we went to the local ten pin bowling alley for a spot of drunken bowling. Then it was off to the Boss club to experience the bouncing dance floor and pole dancing. Next the boys piled into one pedicab and Colleen & I got in another for the short but vocal ride to the Last Chance Bar where we sang some karaoke and played some drinking games. And last it was off to the zoo (or near the zoo) for some late night BBQ. I can’t remember what time we stumbled back to my place, but I do remember struggling to get out of bed for my early morning class that day!
I struggled through my morning classes then went back home to meet a refreshed JP for lunch, although I had to take a power nap first. In the afternoon I took JP to the DVD store to pick up a bunch of pirated movies for peanuts and then to show him the local sights, um sorry, sight, which did not take long! Time has faded my memory but I think we had a reasonably early night after the frivolity of the night before.
On Wednesday morning, I took JP to the bus station and got him on a bus to Nanjing where he was to take a flight to Guilin.
On the Saturday of the next weekend, Bill and Mark decided to throw their going away party, despite the fact that it was still a month before their intended departure. This time I could only manage to get together about 7 or 8 students to come to the party but, luckily, Bill and Mark had finally provided their own guests and the party was quite a success until about 10:00pm when most of the student guests left to go back to their dormitories. I had bought some fireworks so, at about 10:30, the remaining guests (15 or so people) climbed up to the roof of Bill’s apartment block and set off the fireworks. It was a bit dangerous up on the roof at night because Chinese building standards are pretty low and most of us had been drinking. Fortunately, there were no casualties and the fireworks were impressive. I don’t think the neighbours were all that impressed though. After the fireworks, we made our way to the zoo for another late night BBQ (although a bit earlier this time) and the die-hards (the foreigners) then hit the Last Chance bar again.
By this time, it was nearing the end of the school year and so preparations had to be made for exams; plans for travel had to be made and preparations for leaving started to hit full speed. And right about the same time, world cup football fever hit. Now, I have never watched much soccer, but anytime Australia is playing in a world event my patriotism and nationalism outweighs my interest in the game. Although I am the only Australian in Huaian and I am completely outnumbered by the Americans, I managed to convince them to support Australia.
The Chinese are soccer mad, despite the fact that they can’t play the sport and did not make the world cup. The Chinese also hate the Japanese. Australia’s first round match was against Japan. Colleen, Jeff, Betty, John, Change and Island came to my place to watch the match and we were all very excited when Australia came back from 1-0 down to win 3-1 in the last 10 minutes. And the fact that Australia beat Japan made me somewhat of a local hero in the school for a day.
The win spurred on some football fever amongst our small group, so, for the next match against Brazil, we bought t-shirts and adorned them with Australian flags and slogans in English and Chinese and attended a local café/bar to watch the match. It was fun despite the fact that all the Chinese patrons were supporting Brazil, and Australia lost the match. We made the local newspaper for our effort.
The third match against Croatia was at 3:00am and I could not convince anyone to stay up and watch it when we all had classes the next day, so I went to bed early and set the alarm to get up and watch it on my own. The 2-2 draw was enough to see us through to the top 16 and the knock-out round which was played at 11:00pm on Monday night.
The troops were martialled and we went back to the café/bar to support the Aussie’s against Italy. I am sure I don’t need to remind you all of the dramatic ending to the match and the result. Suffice to say that when that penalty was kicked with a few seconds to go, my head went down into my hands and I cried like a baby. Really. What a way to go!
And that brings you all up to date with my final weeks in Huaian. This week has been a frenzy of reporting grades, packing and cleaning, so nothing much to tell. There have been a few frustrating episodes of inefficiencies in trying to get things done, like taking half a day and 4 trips to various offices around the school just to get back 26 RMB (AU$4) from my bus card. I was tempted to abandon the effort but I really need the money! Trying to book a plane ticket from Nanjing to Chengdu was also a drama, but it has been done now and I am out of here tomorrow so I am not going to dwell on it anymore!
You can view the photos from the drunken bowling, the farewell party and the world cup matches on these blogs:-
meginhuaian.blogspot.com
megspartyphotos.blogspot.com
To everyone back in Australia, I look forward to seeing you all in August. To all my family and friends in other parts of the world, I will send you the final chapter then.
Take Care
Meagan
posted by Travelling1972 | 2:30 PM
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