Some things I like and some I don't.

Rubbish piles between shops in the main street.

Last night I went to a wonderful restaurant in the Hanok Village - the old part of town which is a fascinating tourist site. There were three car loads of us that went after class - and I was shocked to discover that this was to my first time in a traditional Korean restaurant where we sat on the floor.

For a start, I'm always a bit concerned about my shoes - what if someone takes one (or both) as a souvenir? It will be impossibly for me to buy a replacement pair here as Koreans have tiny feet. Anyway, I was glad to find them waiting for me as we left, so that was not an issue last night.

But sitting on the floor is not easy for me. So I did my best to look comfortable with my long legs stretched out under the table. The food was great - so much of it - and the last dish was a chicken soup with a whole chicken in it - and we all got one. I thought I was going to burst! But it was tasty with mushrooms and ginseng in it. The other dishes were great too - but always, always, too much. And we never ever eat it all. I am surprised at the amount of food wasted.

By the time I was eating my chicken my bum was sore and stiff from sitting on the floor - I long to get up and walk around and give it a massage, but it was impossible. No, I don't like sitting on the floor and will continue to avoid these restaurants. Actually most restaurants have an option - you can choose floor seating or at "normal" tables. This one offered no alternative. The food was excellent though.

One thing I love is the double glazing on the windows of my apartment. I do leave the window open a little for fresh air, but it surprises me how quiet it is in the apartment, despite the fact that the window juts out over the roadway. Cars park under the overhang - but I seldom hear a car. Occasionally a food deliverer on a bike will toot (or "horn" as they say here), but otherwise it is amazing to see the foot and motor traffic that passes so close without making a sound.

I love the underfloor heating. There are pipes of hot water under the floor - and one can adjust the temperature, but they keep the apartment cosy. At least the main room (bedroom/sitting) warm. It can be freezing outside, and warm inside.

I am surprised about the traffic - it too is quiet on the main roads, but the chaos is fascinating. It appears that taxis and food deliverers on motor bikes do not have to take notice of stop signs or pedestrian lights. So one really has to look in all directions when crossing a road - even if you have the green light. And no one seems to mind. There is no "tooting" or "horning" as near misses occur.

"Near enough is good enough" - I think would be a good motto for workmen who make concrete paths, or put down pavers. They really are a joke, as the pavement, or any surface is so uneven. I know pavers can move - but there are gaping holes in pavement so you have to look forward to find out where you are going and down to make sure you don't trip in a nasty hole or uneven section of the paving. It's everywhere.

The governments, so it reads in my "manual" is so meticulous when it comes to rubbish removal. There are "strict" rules about how to dispose of your rubbish, and high fines for those caught breaking any rule. The reality is that there is rubbish everywhere and there seems to be indifference about it. Some of my Korean friends have even proudly told me how well Korea does about removing rubbish, and they like to think they are cleaner than China, but I think there is a huge opportunity for improvement. What I see sometimes is disgusting.

What is incredibly clean is most restaurants. And corner shops. We in Australia could learn a lot from this! They are meticulous.

The big supermarkets are amazingly clean and tidy. Again I think better than in Australia.

Kindness and gentleness of the people. I don't read the newspapers, but I do get some Korean news and the impression I get is that they are a much gentler people here. The police do not carry guns, and they don't have to face the violence that we see in Australia so much. Everyone has been extra ordinarily kind to me.

Workplace health and safety. Not! It is not anything that is considered here. I see somethings that would fairly freak me out and I would report if I was in Australia, but there seems to be little concern about things. Like the uneven pavements, and the curious things sticking up in the paths where one walks, and the lack of fire safety things. No smoke alarms. No fire extinguishers. Surprising. Even at the university when I was talking about O H & S, and I sent students to look for the First Aid Kit in the 15 story building, there was none.

Addresses - it is curious as you cannot work out an address. I don't know how the postman works in out! Street names are not easy to follow and the numbers in the street are not sequential. So house number 12, will be next to house number 453, as houses are given numbers according to when they were built. Imagine being a taxi driver!!! Which is why I have to get the taxi to the hospital, as the taxi driver knows where that is!

A visit to the supermarket

Yesterday my friend and I had an interesting couple of hours in Shaoxing. First of all we purchased tickets to a Chinese opera. There is a building in the city which is a "copy" of the Sydney Opera House. I'll try and post a photo of it later. It is not my first attempt to get to see some traditional Chinese Opera. I've been thwarted by the language barrier, and the lack of interest by my students who had "offered" to help me. It seems that young people have no interest in the old culture of their country.

In any case armed with the correct about of money, we set out to buy 6 tickets to a performance from the Sichuan Opera Company. It really was hilarious as we used sign language, our book of Chinese words, a few Chinese and English words, and eventually we got front row tickets for the performance tonight.

Then, happily we went to the supermarket. The big Trust Mart in the centre of town, to buy a few snacks for a trip on a canal by boat that we did last night. Venturing into a supermarket is always and adventure. Young people will approach us for our cell phone number, a chat, a photo - any one or all of these. Older people will stand and stare at us, and even look into our supermarket trolley to see what we buy. See what we eat.

Finding one's way around the supermarket shelves is not too difficult. These days many of the familiar brands from home are easy to identify - so for most things it is easy. Fresh food, packaged food - well that is different.

The supermarket has a lot of live fish and animals. A huge tank where you catch your own fish. Smaller tanks with frogs, tortoises, eels, crabs, prawns etc. Catch them yourself. Meat is sitting on beds of ice - and the locals handle it all, looking to see which piece has the most meat, or the least fat, or the least bone.

The food handling procedures that we are familiar with, are not yet part of the scene in China. Although they are clean. Workers wear clean uniforms, rubber boots, hair nets, and gloves. There are some times when we just shudder a little as we pass by.

Yesterday we were looking at cakes - the Chinese make marvellous cakes - when a bag of something jumped up on another supermarket trolley. A huge fish, recently caught from the tank, was protesting it's capture in the big plastic bag and much to our surprise leaped as if trying to escape. Quite frightened us!

Then when we had eventually completed our loading of our trolley, we got on a queue to get to the cash register. They actually have televisions so that you can while away the time on the queue. It took nearly half an hour to make it to the cash register. Shame we could not understand the telly.

The joys of shopping in China.

Drama at the supermarket

There are times when I feel very confident in getting around here. I've been to the supermarket many times. Alone. I always manage and in the end did today.

I was only going for a few things - but when I saw the shopping trolley on wheels I bought a few heavy things - bottles of ice tea, orange juice etc. as well as carrots and a big watermelon. When I got to the checkout the price was not on the trolley - so there was a conversation in Chinese - that I did not understand.

Despite the fact that about 6 staff were doing nothing but watching, no one offered to get the price for me. Oh, well. I'll carry it al myself.

When I presented by China Bank card, I was handed the thing to key in my PIN, and when I saw the price I agreed by hitting the green button. Don't we do that at home in Australia? Anyway, I should have just keyed in my PIN - as chaos reigned. It had refused my PIN, so it wasn't my card. About eight staff - none of whom spoke English stood around. "Money. Money" they said. I would if I could. But I wouldn't have used my card if I had the cash.

There was a Chinese standoff for a while. Is there at ATM here? No one understood until eventually some customers came to my aid. Yes, there was an ATM, so I left my goods and found my card did work and I got the cash and returned. You'd think the 6 or 7 staff standing around would have got the price for the shopping bag/trolley thing. No way. They just chucked it behind the cash register and I had to carry my goods in a plastic bag. Which I had to pay for!

There's no such thing as customer service as we know it. Anyway, I managed to collect my goods, and get a quick taxi (I'm not joking!) back to the college. I'll try and take cash next time, or not press the OK button.

A visit to the supermarket

The weekend was pretty cold really. Saturday I think the maximum temperature was 7 degrees. Cold. Damned cold. I stayed indoors with my heater on for most of the day. But on Sunday I wanted to go somewhere instead of being cooped up in the apartment.

As it turned out, there were three of us that wanted to explore. M1 and M2, and a Chinese teacher by the name of Lily, who met us at the West Gate.

The HyMall is about 3 kms from the college - and it is a pleasant walk. Apparently it is a problem getting the bus - so walking is the best option. It is a good walk through much of the built up area and industrial sites. Just prior to reaching a big canal which had a huge barge travelling in it, we found a walled area that is farmed. There were elderly men tending the garden there.

We noticed too that along the walk the wonderful streetscape plants were all in bud - magnolia buds about to burst forth, and camellias every where.

When we reached the HyMall we entered an amazing supermarket. One that I will put right on top of my list of preferences. It is a TESCO supermarket - I think TESCO is an English chain.

It was huge - and what a surprise, much of the product has English labelling. Whoo Hoo. I can at last tell what is in the packages!

And as we were walking around one of our students from the college who works there as a promo girl for a dairy company spoke with us. There are a few staff there that speak some English.

The bakery section was wonderful - with a whole lot of baked items that we recognised, and a whole lot of very interesting items. There was hot chickens!!!! M2 and I bought one. Very small chicken - would never have made it to our supermarkets, but for us it was a pleasant change. They also had wonderful looking meat balls in sauce, duck and chicken in sauce for take way. The array of meats in the butchery was excellent.

I have no means of cooking at this point, so it was a matter of looking and planning! The items in the freezer section were well labeled and very enticing, and they had a great range of fresh fruit and vegetables.

On and on we walked - trying NOT to buy anything - as we somehow had to carry it back with us. And we weren't sure how we would get home!

It was a great adventure - we were so pleased to see so many foods with labelling that made some sense to us. Much of the product was of course Chinese, but the English labelling was excellent.

In the end we did have a few bags of goodies to carry and luckily we found a taxi that took us right home to the college. The taxi fare was less than $2!

I think that supermarket will be a very popular haunt for us Aussies!

Now I must buy a wok and work out how the stove works.