Wednesday 7 December 2011

Snow falls on China Gappers

SNOW! At long, freezing last. The first snowfall of the season came last Friday, and brought with it chaos. The graduating classes of the middle school ganged up on the third story walkway and pelted the unsuspecting younger classes (my classes) from above. There were kids diving and sliding everywhere, but the third floor was too high to retaliate. The steps became treacherous and many fell victim to their icy edges, and the ramps alongside were transformed into ski slopes. Inside the classrooms, there was little attention to be payed to anything other then the falling snow, and a student even put a lump of the stuff on my desk and told me it was a present. How thoughtful.

Hayley had the good fortune of finishing early on that day, and so she caught an earlier bus with her students. Due to the horrible conditions it took her a good two hours, instead of the usual one, to return to our home. I had the misfortune of having the last three classes of the day, and so, finishing at 4:05, I waited inside until the bus would arrive before braving the elements (this being the 4th or 5th hour of the snowfall). When I arrived at the location, amidst the glistening snow, I joined a group of other teachers who were also waiting.

My black coat went completely white with snowflakes, my teeth had begun to chatter, and I was starting to doubt whether this bus would come or not, when a group of the teachers began walking down the road towards the gate. Figuring they had better intel than I did (having none) I followed, but alas, five minutes later we all turned back again. I decided that, since I had not yet seen the American teacher, I would go to his office and see if he was still there. If he was not, I was in trouble.

He was, and the first thing he said was “Didn’t anyone tell you? The bus is going to be late.” No, no-one did tell me, so I stood in the snow for half an hour. Eventually the bus did come but, due to an accident somewhere, we did not arrive home until seven o’clock. On the way I was finding it hard to tell between piles of snow ploughed onto the side of the road, and most of the cars. Many had at least three inches of snow clinging to every surface but the front windscreen, giving them the appearance of a lump of snow on wheels. This was indeed an experience.

In light of the snow, Hayley and I returned to the famous Wuai market, to find that we had actually never been there before. The first time, when we asked the cab driver to take us there, we had found ourselves in a large, cramped, grimy and foul smelling store that we could not bare because of the heat. It was still summer back then, and we had not seen any need to return to that place, but had we known just how great the REAL Wuai was, we would probably have been there every day. Hayley bought some blindfolds for the class she is teaching on sight, and some amazingly warm snow boots.

I was caught with a beanie in my hand when the lights went out the shop-keeper said “guan men” (which means the shops are closing). Feeling the need for something warmer on my head, I bought it in a heartbeat and we were out the door. Needless to say, with the biggest indoor market in China closing, a very large mob exited and blocked the street. Taxi’s immediately became scarce and the busses were, as one of my students put it, like a can of fish. Faces squashed against the windows. We stood on the street for quite a while before a taxi was actually willing to stop for us.

It snowed again on Tuesday, and a few classes were cancelled while the kids put muscle to snow and shifted a hell of a lot of it. Even at “the best school in Liaoning”, the students study comes second to the life lessons of manual labour. When all the snow is moved, they still have to chip away the ice and move that too. It’s a miracle we don’t lose them by the hundreds. This week the temperature dropped below the -20 mark, and the snow is above the ankles. For those of you who complain about Australia’s winter, you have seen nothing. I don’t believe I will ever truly feel cold in Australia again.

At least it’s not raining. Touch wood.

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