Changchun Impressions
Last Edit Time:September 24 2008
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You're invited to contribute your observations, comments and stories, personal and otherwise, about Changchun to this space. It's meant to be a group blog. Individuals write sections which will appear in chronological order of contribution. Have fun using your writing skills and publishing your work on LocalJoy.
Missing Changchun
Cool, silent nights, perfect for sleep. The Milky Way as splendid canopy, thousands of stars, clear to the naked eye on moonless nights; no city lights to interfere. Days filled with sun warmth, perfect for long walks. The perfume of cedar, spruce, cut hay, mown grass, autumn flowers.
Corn is still standing tall in the fields waiting to be turned into silage for the dairy herds. Teams of Caribbean farm workers shop Friday nights at the supermarket after their first week's picking in the apple orchards.
I've been lunching on tomatoes from my dad's garden and munching the pears I gathered from the tree behind the house, not wanting to leave them all to momma raccoon and her two kits. The local fox has been nibbling at something under the pear tree and stretching, like dogs sometimes do, in the twilight. The squirrels in the ancient tree by the deck chitter at me, proclaiming their territory whenever I come home while they're awake. A couple of days ago, driving home from dinner out with dad, just before turning into the driveway, in the rearview mirror I spotted three deer crossing the gravel road behind me. Down the road, nearest neigbours in a farmhouse half a kilometer away.
I've spent August and most of September at the family's rural home atop the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Beaver Valley and Georgian Bay. Basically, doing nothing. Sounds idyllic, doesn't it.
The Province of Ontario's health insurance is one of the most generous in Canada, especially when it comes to those of us who teach overseas. It continues to insure us for up to 5 years provided that, in each of years 6 and 7, we are physically present in the province for at least 153 days. Afterward, we can have a further 5 year leave of absence to teach outside the country.
I'm in year 7. This is day 54; 99 more days to go. I wish I could be back in Changchun.
I know; I know. You'll say that the pasture on the other side of the fence always seems greener.
But I really do miss the streets filled with people going about their daily lives; the small children going off to school; the bustling markets with all their colours and sounds. The prices. The food. Being a guest of one of the most hospitable peoples on the planet. The efficient and inexpensive transportation. Here I'm driving a Ford F150 pickup truck which costs the equivalent of 600 yuan to fill with gasoline once a week for just local driving.
I miss the bright, innocent, cheerful faces of the students; the humility and self-deprecation; the brutal frankness of their self-analysis. I miss the hundred smiles a day. I miss the collegiality; the personalities of my fellow teachers, some of whom are genuine characters. I miss my friends. I even miss the experienced dare-devilry of the taxi drivers. I can barely wait to be back. Hope to see you in January before the term ends.
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