living like a local: finally, with pics!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

finally, with pics!

Steve and his team have made their way south for Sunday's first league game in Guangzhou, which is very exciting for them... finally, games that count! They arrived late last night, and Steve says it's hot and humid and dirty; it reminds him of Cuba - the place has the feel of a poor Caribbean country ( - interesting). Mapped out above are the teams that the BAIC Motor team will meet in round one. Check out the article on the Team Canada website, including an awesome photo of the three foreigners posing with a car; maybe they'll send us home with one of those?

Okay, updates. I really should write some latest-news regarding the kiddies, but it will have to wait until another time because I have too many little snippets and tidbits to share (including my first visit to a park, my first subway ride and my first grocery shop). So, the park: Shanti had scoped it out with us in mind - there's a kiddie play structure/section that's decent but... but - where do I start? The walk there wasn't bad - just a few blocks but down a very busy street; busy with cars, people, bicycles, buses, honking etc., which all added up to a shell-shocked look on Hendrik's face. We get to the park, and somehow the air inside the park is even more horrible than the air outside the park, and this is because there are people smoking everywhere. Mostly men, mostly dressed in black or dark clothing - nothing creepy or weird or anything, just drab colours and gross air, and it made the nice green of the trees and the patches of grass (first we've seen since we've been here) not really worth the while. The flash mob that we saw dancing to some poppy Chinese techno was entertaining, but the stares and people that started approaching us to gawk as soon as we stopped to watch made us get going. The stares, the air(s) and just general dirtiness (people spitting, men peeing) made us thankful for an interesting experience... but didn't encourage us to linger too long.

Next up, grocery store. (The subway ride doesn't get its own paragraph; it was crowded and much like a subway almost anywhere else in the world except Japan, where people are quiet and respectful. 'Nuf said.) Man oh man I love the grocery store experience of a new place! This might be the first time where there really is way more food that I can't recognize and don't know and don't know if I'd eat, than food that is familiar to me. This means goopy bins of prepared food, dried I-don't-know-what, and then things that I might know what they are, generally (dairy, milk) but since I can't read Chinese, I actually don't really know. The meat is out in the open, and people touch it freely, and there were so many different kinds of eggs, and people were lining up for huge bags of rice (on special). I could have taken a photo at every turn, but since I left Alana at home, there was a business time-clock feel to the outing; I had to get back before she decided she was hungry. A few photos...

Here are a few shots of the Club Oasis, and a few of our apartment too... finally. (I'll get a video tour up here one of these days.)

the pool ... amaazing!!

our apartment - the kitchen and main living room

views: to the left (first two) and right

our boy on our bed

I still can't believe that we have housekeeping services complete with fresh sheets and towels, twice a week! There's more to write about, but I'll get pictures up instead, and get out to the fancy-fancy mall for a walk... it's raining out!