Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

Last Saturday we went to the Great Wall of china which was a lot of fun. We took lots of photos and I’ve uploaded then to the gallery which you can find ???here???. After going to the Great Wall we basically relaxed for the rest of the week. Sheree had her first full day of classes on Wednesday, so we were deliberately taking it easy beforhand and then afterwards she was fairly busy getting the classroom up and running. I applied for an job teaching English. I don’t find out if I got the job for another couple of days but even if I do it doesn’t start till the 10th. I’m also starting to get into a rythm at home which is good.Mao our cat is starting to get really fluffy. When we bought him he was shaved but since we haven’t shaved him he has furs has grown so his face looks really chubby. His hair still has another cm or two to grow which will make him even cuter. My mandarin study is starting to show progress which has encouraged me to put more in even more effort. It will be interesting to see how much mandarin I can speak by the end of next month. I’m finally starting to feel like I’m settling in. The streets are starting to look more famillar and I’m getting use to walking around surrounded by chinese people :-).

One of the best things about the modern world is the fact that it’s really easy to get in contact with people at home. I’ve had a couple of video link ups with friends and family at home so in a way it feels like I’m just down the street. When I lived in Australia no one bothered with web cams but now that I’m overseas almost everyone has one.

Today we saw something that was so typical for China. They’ve been shutting down pirate DVD stores in Beijing. I think it’s either for the World Trade Organisation talks that are going on or for the Olympics. Anyway one of the better shops got shut down this week. We to check it out after church and he’s planning on opening a Silk Store in the same location with an enterance in the back for the DVD store which is currently downstairs in the basement and about twice as big as it was before. The reason why it’s so typical for China is that the government can say that they’ve cracked down on piracy which is true but nothing really changed it just went underground. There is no real insentive for things to change over here. In China there is a big gap between the laws and reality. I suppose it was the same back in Australia but I never noticed it in Australia.

I hope to have two products ready to launch by the end of this week or at least a beta test out. Hopefully that means that by the end of September my internet business will have made it’s first sale.Hope your all well.

Nathaniel & Sheree Brown.

Hi, Hi, Hi,

It’s been ages and I apologise…Well it’s been a great couple of weeks and I’ve really enjoyed settling down in a new place.

A short update from me…(Nat’s post should come through any day now)

My little kitten is doing well - however he is having a few settling in problems, mainly with wetting the bed, hiding behind the couch and chewing on the phone cords back there and drinking from every cup that is ever in his reach. But the good far outweigh the bad. Like last night, when I attached a peg to the fur tip on the end of his tail and he spent about 1/2 and hour chasing his tail - it was sooooooooo adorable. And now he is curled up beside me on the couch purring loudly.

School officially starts on Wednesday - my classroom is set up, which gives me till Wednesday to have my units/lessons and activities ready for the new school year. On Tuesday this week the new kids (first time to the school) are coming for an orientation day. So I will get to meet them first and give them a tour of the school with it’s new building (build over the summer) if can manage to find my way around. You know whats greatest about school…I get a cafeteria style lunch everyday - usually a choice of 3 or so different dishes, a dessert, sometimes a soup and a help yourself salad bar all for only 12 Yuan ($2) very cheap. I’ve never had this style of lunch before so it’s still a novelty, but I’m sure that after 6 months it will have totally worn off.

The Great Wall was amazing - we went today with a school tour. It was fun except for all the walking and the long day that it ended up being. I got some great bargains, my rough rule is to pay about 10% of their asking price. I got some things at the markets near the Great Wall - my best buy was a set of 4 bottles in a gift box that were all painted on the inside (called “The Great Wall and Panda”) on one side of the bottle is a paining of the Wall, and on the other is a painting of some panda bears - 4 different designs of each. The asking price was about 300 Yuan, but after thinking about it, I didn’t want them THAT much so offered 20 as my low price, she said she couldn’t do them that low and I said not to worry then…after a long discussion, more/less, more/less I finally got out with paying only 25 Yuan or about $4. A huge bargain and even all of the Chinese teachers were HUGELY impressed.

Anyway that’s enough from me for now - please keep writing, I really enjoy getting email updates…It doesn’t seem like we are that far from home when we read your emails.

All my love from abroad (doesn’t that sound exotic???).

We arrived at church today expecting a fairly normal service but a choir from Hong Kong was visiting. They sang really well but what impressed me the most of the ensemble they played using only bells. The ensemble consisted of 10 people with each person having 2 to 4 bells. They rang the bells in unison but each bell was slightly different and had it’s own sweet and gentle sound. It was truly amazing.

After church went to IKEA to check it out. Sheree was really looking forward to checking out IKEA because I’d banned her from it in Australia. IKEA was massive and in a way I’m glad we didn’t have much money. I don’t know if you’ve been to IKEA before but it’s not like any other store I’ve been to. There is a food area on each flow and each floor is like a maze so that if you just follow the path you’ll see the whole level. There are virtually no aisles to be seen anywhere. We ended up having a cafeteria style lunch at IKEA which was great value and it was nice to not have Chinese food.

Over the last couple of weeks one of the things that has stood out the most is the Chinese work ethic. It’s absolutely phenomenal. I’ve been to Vanuatu, America, Malaysia, South Africa, the Solomon Islands and I’ve lived in Australia but I’ve never seen a work ethic that even approached the work ethic over here. It’s really hard to explain it but I’ll do my best. Here are some examples that I think illustrate what I’m talking about:

• There is a guy at the end of our block that just sits there and fixes bicycles. He also pumps tires and sells various bike parts.
• There is also another guy about four blocks away that fixes shoes. He sits there with about three friends and two old people in the shade and people bring their broken shoes to him and he fixes them while they go shopping.
• There are wagons on every street where people congregate setting locally grown food and locally cooked food.

None of these goods or services cost more than 10 Yuan (~$1.5). In Australia people seem to abuse the welfare system when ever they can instead of even trying to find work. In South Africa and the Islands people just did nothing and stayed in there villages till they needed money and then they tried to get a job that would make them money with the least amount of work.

Working seems to be part of Chinese society. It doesn’t just seem to be something you do to earn money. Instead of having the right to get a job where it’s the responsibility of the employer to get as much value out of you as they can. It more like you have the responsibility to society to work and it’s up to you to add enough value to make money. It’s really hard to explain but the difference smacks you in the face when you live here.