It hasn’t really been 2 weeks since my last entry, it’s just on my last attempt, about a week ago, I had an exceptionally long and detailed entry; and what happened? The network conked out and I lost it all between clicking the button and getting the ‘connection failure’ screen.
Yup, not exactly state of the art equipment, which will give problems, especially on a network with cable longer than any telecommunications infrastructure I’ve ever known of, in a building no bigger than a small scale cheese factory.
I don’t even know what the source of the net is – where the server room is, if there even is a server room, and who supplies the connection. Also, China has brilliantly fast ADSL for a fraction for the price compared to the cheapest place I’ve been (Malaysia), yet – you have to imagine, even with vast infrastructure, it totally falls on it’s face (or other, more padded part) when the internet going population goes on the internet… imagine 64 million (which is about half of the 12.8% of China’s population estimated to have internet access) all logging in around 7pm which is when he average Chinese gets home.
I’m sure even the Googleplex would strain under that stress. So, the lesson to be learned is… don’t compose blog entries in the evening. The best time really is in work time, which is when the average person is hard at work. These people are relentless, and it’s easy to see why China is fast becoming a super power. The people never sleep. Ok, they do sleep… in fact, they have an afternoon nap… but then it’s work from 6am till 9pm with only 2 hours for a mid-day nap, 40 minutes for breakfast and an hour for dinner. Work work work. How the population is growing at all, never mind the 1 child restriction in some places, is beyond me. The people never have time to meet anyone.
Anyway, for me life goes on here in China, except for the fact that the 30 day limit I had to convert my entry visa into a residency permit has almost expired. All I need really, is a medical test, yes – very similar to he one I spent R1,200 on BEFORE I came here – that will verify that I have no AIDS, some ungodly venereal disease (which I might well have) or some heart defect via ECG, because god forbid I die of a heart attack in front of the kids, or… what was the other test I had to do… oh yeah, a chest x-ray to prove I’m not carrying the ever-popular African disease, TB.
Can’t blame them for most of the tests. I mean, South Africa does have the highest count in the world for AIDS infections and TB related diseases, and I am a balding, Afrikaans South African, so if anyone is likely to die of a heart attack or some heart related disease, it’s going to be me. It’s just, it’s all such a hassle and such a waste of money.
Now, if I could have it all done here in Shiyan I wouldn’t even be mentioning it, but as luck would have it, and timing would direct it’s discovery, they closed down the unit here in Shiyan that previously had the power to officially conduct these tests. Sure, any backyard quack can give me the tests and verify the results, but not just any old quack can give me the Government Approved Seal for the Official Medical Exam for Foreign Experts. Cause that’s what I am, apparently, a foreign expert.
Oh no, the only hospital capable of doing that in the whole province of Hubei (and Hubei Province has about 12 million people MORE than he entire South Africa), is the hospital in the Provincial Capital of Wuhan. Hey, no problem… except Wuhan is 7 hours by train, or 9 hours (since been cut to 6 thanks to the opening of the high-way) by bus from the fair city of Shiyan.
Airport? What airport? By Chinese standards Shiyan is a quaint village and therefore justifies no airport. Hey, it’s only THE most important car and truck manufacturing city this side of the Yangtze river, but those you transport by road and thus have no business pondering the purpose of an airport.
So, between me and my residency permit lies 1 medical test, 2 days in Wuhan waiting for the results, and 16 – 20 hours of pleasant traveling time in either a mildly comfortable bus, or a bearable (but only just) train. Choices abound. But either way, it’s days lost and in this business, like so many others, time is money… but worse, for every hour I don’t teach, on this trip I will end up SPENDING money. Coming to China has been very expensive… I’ve almost spent all he money I will earn from the standard contract, and the only way to get over it is PLENTY OF OVERTIME. For which, of course, I actually need to be here.
Complaining? Me? Never. It’s purely content for my Blog. I’ve heard rumours that people actually read it, but have been unable to verify such claims. Why? This I can’t tell you? Boredom? Confined to room because of dire illness? House arrest? All likely reasons. An even better question is, why do I write it? And my spelling is terrible, which doesn’t really lend any weight to my current position of English teacher. It’s the typing I tell you… my spelling is fine, but it’s my typing that needs work. And when you’re moving at this speed, you hardly see what you type, so TYPOS (not spelling errors) are common. My apologies in advance.
So anyway, I discovered a little book of magic in the form of a hand written transcript of Chinese / English which is very helpful. It’s the Chinese in pinyin… which is the romanisation (ie. non-Chinese readable) version of Chinese characters. So, once you’ve gotten your tongue around the pronunciation of zhi, zi, si, shi and qi (which to my untrained ear and tongue is all the same) – then you can really just read the pinyin and pronounce fairly accurate Chinese.
I am now days away from communicating with any Joe Song, or more specifically, hundreds of kids hungry to talk to me, as a foreigner, to whom I can only say – wo put tse tao – which means, I don’t know. They must think I’m as bright as the flame in wok full of hot-pot-beef. And watching all those Chinese movies with the subtitles didn’t help me either.
Ok, the length of this entry is starting to border on criminal, so I will pack it up. I’m rambling anyway. Oh, just one more thing – just now I had to quickly pretend to teach a class and had some photos and video taken… apparently for the newspaper or TV or something like that. Hey, I might be famous ! Now to work on my image…