The last post from Jinan for now, I have decided to leave straight away, and forget the plans for climbing Tai Shan or hanging around Shandong and Jinan for any longer. Today, I got through my two last classes with my least favourite groups, was handed my final pay, said goodbye to people at work, the girl at the massage place and my lovely neighbour Ma Ai Hua.

Now all that remains to be done is to stuff all my things into my backpack and off I go. I'm taking a train to Shijiazhuang tomorrow morning (no seat, surprise, surprise!!) and then trying to get another train to Baoding. I'm planning on staying there for three days or so, just long enough to see some people and sort out my stuff.

And then I'll go to Alan's village to visit his mum for a bit, and after that... still a mystery. I've been thinking about going to spend some time at a Buddhist temple, monastery or nunnery, but all that is still not clear. I was thinking of going to the holy mountain of Wutaishan in Shanxi province, but i was then offered by this girl that she could arrange for me to stay in a really nice temple in the countryside about in the Jiangsi province.

The offer was very kind and the place sounds lovely, just what i've been hoping for: peace and quiet. But I'm mostly interested in Buddhism as a philosophy, and not so much as a religion. Which in practise I suppose means that I am more enclined to learn more about Chan (known in the West by its Japanese name Zen) Buddhism, than the major Chinese Buddhist school, Pure Land.

And this temple that I was proposed, is a Pure Land temple. Now Pure Land Buddhists practise mainly by chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, who they believe resides in a Western Pure Land. They believe that by trusting in his guidance and by chanting his name, they can also be reborn in the Pure Land and there attain englightenment.

The Chan Buddhists, however, do not include God in their practise, but concentrate on looking inside, on learning to be aware of themselves here and now. And this is what I would want to learn more about.

But as I have this offer from the Pure Land temple, even though I'm not so much tempted by the religious aspects of their practise, it's a very tempting offer, especially to the little anthropologists inside of me. What a great chance to go and learn more about such an important part of this culture from the inside out! And also, there is the promise of that quiet place on a mountain in the countryside... And who knows, I might really like it and might learn something about myself... And there is always time later to try and find a place to learn more about Chan.

So, that might be a place where i find myself soon... a pretty big change to this life in Jinan. But I was told that they have computers and internet at the monastery, so i can keep you updated and send you stories and pictures of the life in a chinese temple!

watch this space...

Yesterday, after a day visit to Beijing, I took a train back to Jinan. Onmy way to Beijing in the morning it took me 4 1/2 hrs to get there, but on the way back i spent more than 7 hours going the same distance, as it was a slow train, stopping many times along the way, so I spent most of the night on the train, getting home only at 4 a.m. And what's more, there were no seats left so I had to buy a standing ticket... I was really not looking forward to the trip at all.

But what do you know, it turned out to be a very good 7 hours, as I met this Chinese guy who started talking to me (ok, this wasn't exactly a surprise... all those hours of train conversations that usually always follow the same pattern) in great English, and we ended up sharing his corner of the seat for the whole trip and talking for 7 hours. And there's quite a lot to be said in 7 hours of conversation...

We managed to cover topics ranging from China, working, dreams, Buddhism, Taiwan, corruption, love, his wife's divorce from her ex-husband, books and fortune telling to the meaning of life (just HAD to cover that one, too, eh ;)

It was refreshing to talk to someone who talked to me openly about his (and many other people's frustrations) about the current political system, how he feels despair at the fact that he at 31 years has never seen a voting slip and that someone else keeps making decisions and policies that concern his life and future, while he has no infuence over the decisions. But he chooses not to talk about it normally, he says he just keeps quiet, as there is nothing he can do and what's the use of complaining. But when i asked him when is it ever going to change if nobody says anything, he said that he believes that as the middle class gets bigger and bigger, they will start to voice more demands and things will begin to change.

He also talked about the problems in Chinese workplaces, telling me about his and his wife's experiences of how people would do just about anything to climb up on the ladder, they would cheat and lie about their collegues to the bosses, ruthlessly compete for a place on top or at least a step higher. And of course the bosses are the ones who get all the money that the company makes, while the salaries of the common employees can be very low.

Another things we talked about was the way that the Chinese society is changing so quickly that people are forgetting to preserve what good is left of the old, just in their greed to grab all the new things as quickly and as much of them as they can. People are running after money and materia and forgetting the rich culture of this country. But he was optimistic about it, saying that when those people, or the next generations, are more confortable with better living standards, they can again afford to turn to their own culture and appreciate and cherish it more.

He also told me the story of him and his wife, how they were high-school sweethearts but he eventully broke it off when they went to university of different cities. He then had a 6-year relationship with another woman, which the also ended. After 10 years of seeing his old girlfriend the last time, they both ended up working in their old hometown and he called her up. And when they saw each other again, that was it. He found out that she had been loving him all those years, although she was now married to another man, but not very happily. Shen then made a very brave decision for a young woman in today's China and filed for divorce, which her soon-to-be-ex-husband finally granted, though she had to pay him for it. But in the end the two old lovers got each other, and got married. And now she is pregnant, and he was glowing with happiness, talking about her and their baby. Just made me feel all warm and fuzzy listening to him and seeing his love and happiness :)

And so what about the meaning of life? Well, some say it's 42 (sorry, the inner geek in me raising her head) but I'll leave the final answer for another time...

Lalala-Laura, you computer genius! What's annoying though is that as I can't access the actual website of the blog, I can't post replies to the comments, so i have to do it like this using an actual post rather than a comment. Anyways, well done!! ;-)

As for something that's been going on at the school, our little Aston 3 has been having some problems with its teachers lately. And no, i don't mean me! First of all, my old flatmate Rebecca left as she got a good job in the media here in Jinan. She was then replaced by David, who came from Shanghai and took over her classes. David lasted for about 3 weeks or so, after he disappeared into the night without a trace. He literally just packed up and left, without so much as a note, we just started to wonder why he didn't show up for work the next day... He was then replaced by various sub-teachers, and finally they hired this older guy who i never even had the chance to meet, as he was fired only two days later. and now, the subbing goes on....

...those poor kids are probably not following the situation at all, having a different teacher every day.

But for me, the count of days of teaching left is 5!!!!

Today China is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great comrade and leader Deng Xiaoping. Mostly you can see it in the media, and there are official celebrations organised in different cities. Also here in Jinan you can see some red banderoles hanging in front of various buildings that seem to have his name on them among all the unrecognisable characters...

Other than that, I'm not sure what's up with the comments... they should be open to anyone but as i was pointed out (thanks, mum!) you are asked for a username and password if you try to post one... i checked the settings and it should be ok, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work...

did i ever tell you that i can't read my own blog? (that's why i can't check what it actually looks like or how well does it work) It's only accessible outside of China, apparently it has been considered suspicious enough to be blocked by the ever-watching Big Brother. I find it kinda funny...

How do you like the new look of this site?? There's even a fancy comment feature if anyone has too much time on their hands and wants to write anything here, instead of sending me an email (both are appreciated) - in any language you wish.

oh well, you can all see that i had a little too much time on my hands tonight myself... sitting at home with just enough of a cold and a temperature so that i don't really want to move anywhere... and that's when my roommate's laptop comes in handy...

Yay, finally the photo site is working. Thus --> pictures here and here. (Yes, Mikko!!) And don't miss the chicken heads on the last page. (you're right Steve, it's all about the protein...)

ugghh, i can't seem to get my photo gallery site to upload any pictures, so while i'm fighting with it (the battle has been on for quite a few days already), check out Andy's pictures from our Yantai trip. They're pretty good, check out the chicken head kebabs, for example, or the choice picture of me with the stylish glasses...

Last night, Andy and me took our bikes and headed for some foot massage fun. She'd seen a little place not too far from here that we decided to try out. And so, for 28 yuan each, we got a nice footbath/arm massage (!! why does this come with the foot massage??!) / foot massage, all according to Chinese medical tradition.

What made the visit especially fun though, were the people there. A girl who works (and lives) there came to talk to us, and she was soooo excited and happy to have us there. She literally kept bouncing about the place like a Duracell bunny after 10 cups of coffee. But it was a good laugh, she's real nice and made me laugh. In the end, she managed to get a photographer to come over and take a picture of all of us, which they will blow up to quite a big size and probably put on their wall. I'll have to drop by there some time this week to take a look at the picture and have a little chat with her again.

In the past few days, I've met some other nice people too. One is an older woman, Ma Ai Hua, who lives on the first floor in out building. I bumped into her a few days ago and we started talking. She invited me to go over some time to talk some more, and so I did on wednesday night. We talked for a long while, she told me about her life and family and so forth, and I told her about mine. She was also excited to hear that my flatmate Andy comes from Ottawa, as she has relatives living there, so she invited her to come along with me for a dinner, which we are going to do tonight.

The dinner will be dumplings, but as Mrs Ma is not all that healthy, she asked her niece to make them for us. So yesterday, as I was going out, I bumped into these people ringing at Ma Ai Hua's door. They asked me if i knew if she was home, but there was no answer so apparently not. She was carrying two big bags of dumplings so i guessed who it was. She then asked if she could put the food in our freezer instead, and we climbed back up to the 7th floor together. I just think it's great how people here can be so friendly to others who are practically aliens.

A mental sidestep: Chinese bookshops are often more like crowded libraries. Especially on weekends the aisles are full of people sitting around everywhere, reading the books.

So, last saturday was the 'big' day of the football game. By the time it was on, I had made my way to Yantai with my flatmate Andy, and after a walk along the beach, a dinner and a game of rummy we walked out to explore the streets and to look for a place to watch the game. The first place where we stopped was a little restaurant, as they come on China, with just a few rickety tables and some plastic chairs. And a whole bunch of Chinese, a few of the men already drunk on bai jiu. One of the men sat down next to us, and started to yell all the ten words of English he knew, including China, Japan, we win, etc. And he ordered a plastic pitcher of beer and kept trying to pour some for us. He wasn't too impressed with me, when I wouldn't take a piece of mango that he was offering (not too appetising after he'd just taken a piece himself with the same toothpick...) and called me a thief (which he spelled out for us, t-h-i-e-f, just to make sure). All in all he was being a pain, and so we decided to leave the restaurant at half time. (At this point the score was 1-1).

When we left the restaurant, the man came out after us and started following us. So we ran. And he ra. we hid behind a door, he saw us, we ran again... Until we managed to lose him. And ended up at a wicked night market, with lots of food and all kinds of useless and useful and pretty and ugly things you can imagine for sale. As the food goes, the most "interesting" things were possibly the chicken head and chicken foetus kebabs....mmmm...

And the game? When Japan scored their 3-1 goal, the TV was simply switched off, people walked away and it was like it never happened.

Though they showed on the news how in Beijing outside the stadium some violence had erupted, and Chinese fans went around trying to be like their English counterparts...

All in all the weekend was a good one. On sunday we visited the town of Penglai, which has a coastal park area on the cliffs with old temples, a pavilion and so on. A beautiful place... We went their from Yantai by taxi, which we rented with a Chinese family of three. We paid the driver 20 yuan to take us there (it would have been 15 by bus, a 2-hour drive) and we got a lot more for the price than we originally thought. This sweet guy basically drove us around for the whole day, came to eat with us in a little restaurant, fed us fruit that his girlfriend brought, took me to a bank and finally drove us back to Yantai. And there, he arranged seats for us on the bus back to jinan, after which he invited us for dinner, on which he blew more than half of what we had just paid him for the day. Some people are just amazing.

Coming back was a little bit of a nightmare, on a bus that left almost 2 hours later than they originally said it would, with a bunch of people sitting in the aisle on little stools, squashing me into my seat, with the obligatory karaoke videos playing at 4 a.m., being stuck in a traffic jam on the highway for an hour at 3 a.m. and finally arriving at 5 in the morning. And then working at 8.

But now I need to get ready for a trip to the Public Security Bureau to try to persuade them to give me a residence permit for another 6 months in this wonderful Middle Kingdom...

The Chinese hate the Japanese with an absolute and unwavering passion. My students in Baoding would launch into emotional speeches of how evil and ruthless the Japanese men are, and how submissive and completely without rights the women. The attitude the Chinese have towards the Japanese goes far beyond the type of friendly rivalry or even a love-hate relationship that Finland and Sweden have -- no, this is far more serious.

On tuesday, Japan met Bahrain in the semifinals of the Asian Cup in football here in Jinan. Apparently, thousands of Chinese went crazy shouting 'Balin, balin!!' but in the end their support wasn't quite enough and --lord have mercy-- Japan won the game in the very last minute or so.

The same night, China fought it's way through in another game, played in Beijing, beating Iran.

And this, of course, means that the final will be, ***drumroll**** China and Japan!!! The big day is tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed all of you. I think I'd rather be surrounded by 1,3 billion drunken happy maniacs than as many murderous, vindictive, bloodthirsty madmen. So yeah, I think I'm rooting for China.

The plan for the weekend is to go check out a coastal city called Yantai in Shandong province. But maybe more about it later if we actually make it there and don't just sleep in and watch DVDs all weekend...

Pictures!!! A few new additions to the photo gallery, check them out. Now that the internet at our place is working again, I'll make an effort to actually try and take some *interesting* photos too and post them soon...