August 25, 2012, 3:00 a.m.-6:00 a.m. Shanghai time
I slept little the 2 nights preceding my August 23,
Thursday, flight to Vancouver, and on to Shanghai, in part because I was
stressed, excited, and trying to get done all the chores and arrangements. It seems I spun my wheels until 2 weeks
before, and only when the Separation Agreement was actually signed that I
really got into gear and got things done.
So, basically the time line was that I had the interview with Kazahkstan
in the wee hours of July 1st in Ottawa with this offer pending, got
their rejection August 4 and on August 3rd agreed to sign with BC
Academy and Nanjing Foreign Language School, at 40% more money, and doing BC
curriculum. I will teach a Grade 12
English for pragmatic purposes, and an Introduction to Post Secondary Education
elective project based course for all 5 Grade 12 classes. Though it is a private school, it is English,
it is abroad, it is Nanjing, it is EFL.
It is a dream come true.
I actually went into Winnipeg with Xian on the 22nd,
hoping I might be able to switch flights to the Wednesday morning flight. But there was only one seat left Vancouver to
Shanghai and it was Executive class so would have been ridiculously
expensive. So Xian and I got some
chicken breasts and shared a nice dinner with Che and Brianne at Che’s place,
before watching a pretty depressing movie called The Wrestler about the
life fate of a completely self centered man while I repacked my luggage for the
4th time. I hope this movie
was not some hidden message intended for me! This time I offloaded another 20 lbs in
addition to the 15 that my third repack had purged. I still wondered how I would manage the
backpack, carry-on, and three wheeled but heavy cases. On the 23rd then I spent the morning badgering Xian to get his
Student Loan Application done and then Che got home from work at 12:30. He completed his Student Loan application and
submitted it at 2:30. Then we went out
to the Hobby shop down near Higgins and he got his engines for the rocket. Only then did I realize that he had hoped and
expected to launch the rocket in the afternoon before going again to work
5:00-8:00. But I also had to go to the
Courthouse because I’d forgotten to bring what I believed to be an outstanding
traffic ticket. I got to the courthouse
at about 3:45 and back to Che’s at 4:05.
He had not taken his phone with him because the battery was dead, and
when he got back Brianne was angry because he had not told her that we had run
out of time to do the launch. As he
commented when I was about to drop him off to return to his apartment, we never
seem able to accurately estimate how long things will take, and we plan to do
more than there is time for. Xian
continued to play his game, which did not include me until 6:45 when he agreed
to my suggestion that we go for a walk.
We started out heading north but then I suggested it was more scenic if
we walked south, thinking we would go over to the Legislative grounds and then
onward. But the way lead us across the
Maryland Bridge and then we turned left onto Academy, past St. Mary’s Academy,
across the street and through Munson Park, and then on and down
Dorchester. I suggested we pop in and
say hello-goodbye to Fenella, which I was pleasantly surprised Xian
unhesitatingly agreed to. Alas, she was
not hope so I scribbled a note and we walked on back toward Che’s along Stafford and Academy and back across the
Maryland Bridge. We talked about
differences in the distribution of wealth and especially oil revenues in Norway
and northern Europe where they offer a deal and tell the oil moguls to take it
or leave it, as opposed to here where our governments pander to them for the
benefit of the very few. And he
mentioned how he wants to read Neitsche and Marx in the original, perhaps not
realizing that would mean reading them in languages other than French which he
is learning, or English, which then raised the issue of what is lost or
maintained in translations by those in agreement vs those opposed to their
arguments. I mentioned that though
dated, I have one of Grandad Mardiros’ preferred books on each in a box marked
“philosophy” in my storage shed. He was
quite interested in that idea. On the
way back, at about 7:50, knowing Che would not be back until 8:30 I was
internally pleading for more time with him and suggested we grab a bite at
Stella’s since it would, with the rocket launch, be another 1.5 hours before we
could get dinner. He treated me to a
piece of delicious Saskatoon pie with ice cream and we got back to Che’s about two
minutes before he walked in the door.
Brianne declined to join us for the launch or dinner which gave us some
quality time for just the three of us.
We took one rocket, knowing we would not have time or light for more
than that, and not wanting to launch Brianne’s without her because of the
chance of not being able to find it. We
decided the nearest wide open space was at Assiniboine Park’s east soccer field
and set out at 8:50. Che knew the way by
bike and would have turned off on Academy but acknowledged it was a twisty
turny route, whereas I thought the south entrance was off Grant. So it cost us an extra 5-10 minutes by the
time I resolved my confusion between Assiniboine Forest bisected by Grant, and
Assiniboine Park north of Corydon. Then I took the west entrance to Park Drive
and drove all around to get to the soccer field east of the Conservatory. Of course, Che’s twisty turny route off
Wellington would have been far more direct.
We walked halfway across the field and set up between the E/W goal
posts. It was perfectly calm so Che
thought a light trajectory would be best, and then the breeze rose. We launched and Xian followed the rocket’s
path even after the first engine fell away.
But it went into the trees, and it was too dark to find it. The boys decided to come back in the morning
after seeing me off, and a couple more hours of sleep. I hope they found it but it could easily have
gotten hung up in the trees.
Then we went to Osborne village to have dinner at an
Ethiopian restaurant but it was 5 minutes to closing and we didn’t think they
would appreciate our showing up at that time.
But downstairs we had a nice meal of Chinese food at the Spicey Noodle
House. I got involved in the usual nagging
before Che reminded me that it would be nice to talk about how much fun it was
setting off the rocket. And it was fun
to be with them, a really wonderful send off gift to be able to spend several
hours of relatively low stress time with them.
I love them so much and I know I will miss them terribly. But this is the right thing to be doing, for
me to be forced to give them the space they need to grow and for me to do what
I have long wanted.
My
flight left Winnipeg at 7:00 a.m. so I was up at 4:50 a.m. and the boys took me
to the airport. Xian threatened that it
was way too early for a normal human to get up, but thank goodness he was
joking, and they both came to help me get away. I had a good, though of course, long trip, a full
24 hours in transit, to arrive in Nanjing at 8:00 p.m. local time despite
concerns about my ability to manage my luggage. It ended up it was the carryon
weight that had to be juggled to get back to 22 lbs.! To do that I had to
transfer all of my makeup and personals, 5 lbs, to the overweight bag. The airline only charged overweight/oversize
($225.00 Cdn/1435.85) for one of my three bags(68 lbs). They extended a
kindness in not charging the $50.00 overweight charge for the other
two (64 lbs and 59 lbs ) ($100.00Cdn/638.15 Y). Leaving Vancouver Airport I had to pass by
several Duty Free shops and though I was not in desperate need of anything,
could not resist the Mac makeup counter.
I doubt I saved any money, but I did buy some foundation powder, cream
eye liner, angle brush, and lipstick - $93.00! The
overweight/oversize one did not arrive in Shanghai with me and is being sent to
the School by the airline. The train system required that the other two be
shipped as freight from Shanghai to Nanjing at a cost of 60 Y each. Mei was
most helpful in making those arrangements. So you see in the end, while I did
not have luggage carts, I only had to cope with the backpack and the carryon
bag! I hope the bags will be waiting for me at the
School on Monday morning. In the meantime, I have some makeup to wear without a
crash course in shopping and language learning.
A hotel
stay of three nights is what is normally permitted while a new teacher finds an
apartment. Although she did find three apartments for me to look at, by
Saturday afternoon, two of them had been rented to other tenants. I had
understood that the agent would hold #1 and #3 until I was able to see them
both. But only one was available to look at and it was not acceptable for two
reasons. I found that the 64 stairs to get to the apartment will be more than my
arthritic left hip is able to contend with when carrying groceries or homework
without the option of an elevator, and the landlady, who apparently
lives across the hall, keeps some possessions in the apartment. The real estate
agent said that she will find alternatives for me to look at but that will not
be possible until Monday, and then I am only available after our meetings so
even then the time will be very limited.
Therefore,
I have asked whether there exists the discretion in the 3000 Y luggage allowance
to permit me to stay an extra night, and possibly two, at the hotel while we
search for an acceptable apartment. I understand the hotel costs about 300
Y/night while my total luggage cost has been approximately 1560 Y. I had help
to interpret Nanjing's map and select a couple of possible areas where it is
likely that I will be able to find either a one or two bedroom apartment within
or close to the 4000 Y budget that meets my criteria.
In the hotel lobby yesterday, with only my high top hiking
boots for footwear, I decided I needed to find some sort of feminine
shoes. The porter walked with me, a nice
break from a boring job of standing around waiting for someone for whom to open
a door, to a little shoe shop a block away where I found a pair of dressy slip
in flip flop sandals that will do till I get my luggage. There was a meeting of army officers in the
hotel and later in the day as I waited for my pick-up, I noticed an officer
speak sharply to the young man, for no apparent reason other than that the
former could and the latter was available.
He scurried to pick up an infinitesimal little something off the carpet
as the officer walked past him. I
noticed and smiled at him, he smiled back.
I could not help but silently laugh a little, and he did too, at the
officious officer. I guess that`s why
they are called officers! Today he had a
warm smile for me as I went down to breakfast.
I intended to update
my blog on Blogspot – Google and communicate through Facebook since that’s
where Che and Xian get their e-mail most regularly, and where I can post photos
too. I wanted to listen to CBC radio
last night when I did not care for what was on the English language TV
channel. Also, Eldon had sent a YouTube link
I wanted to see. Alas, all are blocked
here in China! Xian helped me download a
site that may help me circumvent some of the blocks but it apparently does not
work automatically. I need my
students! We will truly be a community
of learners! Skype works and when I get
a phone, I will load it.
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