ChinaTeacher

  

Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2007!

According to Chinese culture, 2007 is the year of the “Pig”! Now, I was born in 1958, the year of the DOG, so here is my Chinese Horoscope for 2007:

This year is better than 2006. Life starts to stabilize. The social aspect is very good this year. You can spend more time in building rapport and knowing people who can help you. You will have lots of fun this year. For those who are not in a relationship, there is also a strong sign that you will meet the right person this year. There are signs of marriage and getting attached.

Hmmm…. Sounds pretty good to me!

I can’t believe that I never got around to making any entries for December. But, it wasn’t actually my fault!  We had some serious internet difficulties at the university, and then a few days before the end of the year, a major earthquake in Taiwan pretty much destroyed many of the fibre-optic cables connecting communications services with North America. There are currently 7 ships of scuba-divers working on restoring those cables, as we speak.  But, they say the damage is worse than expected and it will be at least two MORE weeks before they are done. 

Now, during the Xmas holiday season I did get out quite a bit to socialize. I was invited to a ‘pot-luck’ dinner one evening (by the Vice-Principal of Hangzhou’s International School, no less). It was very nice. And the English teachers at my university got together at the Holiday Inn one night to gorge on a magnificant Xmas Buffet dinner featuring turkey and pumpkin pie – yum! On Christmas Day evening, I accompanied the Dean while he ‘surprised’ many of the classes as Santa Claus and greeted everyone with candies and Christmas Songs.   

The big news these days is the opening of HOOTERS in Hangzhou. Yep, it’s all downhill from here on in! And, you won’t believe what they’re paying the waitresses – they’ll be getting at least three times what most people make on average. What kind of message are we sending here?!?!?!!?

Next week I start my vacation.  I will be spending 6 weeks in LAOS and VIETNAM.  I can’t wait!  I will spend 2 weeks travelling solo around Laos, and then head off to Hanoi where I will join one of my colleagues, a Japanese teacher (who speaks little English), on a 3-week eco-tour of Vietnam.  Should be quite the adventure!  Stay tuned….!

 

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 2:11 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.