Sunday 18 October 2009
Dust Storm
This is not a fake. This was a dust storm that hit Sydney. The first in 70 years. Obviously I have never seen anything like it in my life time. It was so thick that I had to stay inside all day because of allergy problems.
A Sunday in Spring
Hello everyone,
Sunday night and it has been an interesting weekend.
Yesterday, Saturday 17, Anji and I took part in a fund raising event known here as Relay for life. It goes for 36 hours.
It is to raise money and awareness for all types of cancers and the research into the cures.
Anji and I are both working for The Cancer Council of NSW, which is the major cancer research and awareness association in Australia. Totally unfunded by any government, they rely solely on donations and fund raising events to get the much needed money for cancer research.
Since returning home, I have begun working for the local branch as a volunteer as a training officer for community speakers and also doing some public talks on Healthy Lifestyle and other cancer related issues.
Anji is still looking for work and they invited her to come in one day a week to help with the branch accounts. With her experience in office work and management, she has fallen on her feet into a little position that she is good at, is doing something worthwhile and is getting valuable work experience in an Australian working environment.
I get enough work to keep me mentally active and still have enough time to do the many things around the house that need to be done after 7 years away.
And the government pays us a living allowance for doing the volunteer work.
We are doing a lot of work in the yard, front and back and it is good to be able to get out in the sunshine and make the gardens look nice. My front lawn has always been my pride and it is starting to take shape again. Anji loves to sit on the grass and pull out the weeds. She finds it relaxing and I find it great because I hate weeding.
A funny thing came to my realisation this afternoon. I was looking at the sky and musing at how blue it was and I realised I had forgotten just how blue an Ozzie blue sky really is. So deep that you feel you could fall into it. I guess 7 years of looking at the murky, pale grey/blue skies in Weifang made me forget how blue a sky could be. I miss many things about China but I am glad to be home among the gum trees, with lots of plum trees, a parrot or two and a cockatoo. (he! he!)
Anji has been slowly getting the wild birds to come and feed in the backyard and has a few eating out of her hand. She is over the moon because she has never had a wild bird come so close to her, let alone sit on her hand and eat. They have become her pets. And the lovely thing is they are not in cages but are genuinely wild and go back to their trees at the end of the day. Next morning, they outside waiting and even looking in the kitchen window trying to get her attention.
It is mid spring here and it has gotten a little cold after a warm August. But days of 18 and blue skies are easy to take. Daylight saving stared at the beginning of the month so outdoor life is good. We have had a lot of rain this month and that is good because everything was looking
I still haven't tried putting photos on this new web site. I thought I had downloaded all my old blog before it closed but I may have lost all the old details.
A lesson learnt, I will try to remember to save a copy of each of my postings on this new blog. Hard to remember 7 years of blog postings. A pity because I know I had a lot of information that could have lead to me writing a book which I still intend to do.
For everybody's information, we have SKYPE up and running so you can call and talk for free if you want to. I set it up for Anji to chat with her family. We got her father to load the Chinese Skype and they tested it successfully today.
So that's it for today. Our work day tomorrow. Put on office clothes for my one day a week. Next month we have a training week and I have to present two training courses, both of them half day presentations.
I have an appointment next week with a man from a solar water and electricity company. I am going to turn my house into a solar system. If all works out, I will be producing solar hot water and generating electricity from the sun. Any electricity I don't use will be bought back by the government. :-). I'll keep you up to date as this goes along.
Cheers to all our dear friends.
Ian and Anji
Saturday 10 October 2009
A new start
Hello everyone.
My original blog, Weifang whales has disappeared due to the company closing down.
As I have moved back to Australia and I am setting up home again, this is the first chance I have had to add some comments.
I will start with some downloads from the old site and then see how it goes.
From the old Blog
Weifang History Blog
It is holiday time and I finally have some time to get to my blog.
Last weekend I did something I have been hoping to do for a long time. I went to the remnants of the old
In the main CBD, there are two old gates but it is not clear to me if they are part of the original wall or built in the recent past. From what I have seen in diagrams, the original gates were within the stone walls and not stand alone wooden structures. But they are very old in themselves. I believe they were built after the removal of the old wall. I am waiting to confirm this information.
According to what I do know from a visit to a local museum is that the city was divided into two sections that are naturally separated by the main river, the Bai Lang He (pronounced HERR which is Chinese for river. Bai Lang means white waves). This is still the case only the river is now artificial, having been dried up by the construction of a large dam to the south of the city. The portion of the river that exists is currently being upgraded, as is much of Weifang, to make it an environmentally friendly area for people to spend some recreation time.
(insert old city model here. 3 photos).
I had seen one part of the old wall from a bus some time ago and only realised that there were two parts when we recently moved to the area nearby.
The remaining piece is an East-West wall and is cut in half by Xiang Yang Lu, a
The purpose of the walls was not protection from human invaders but from the river. Apparently, the river used to flood regularly, inundating the town and the peoples’ houses. So the governor at the time decreed the building of the walls to keep the water out. His name was Zheng Ban Qiao and he wasn’t from Weifang but he had deep feelings for the area and the people and there are still some statues of him in his memory.
(insert photo of statue)
There is an old residence in the west of Weifang not far from the
(insert Photos of Shi Hu Yuan)
There are two other small rivers that used to flow through Weifang, Zhang Mian He and Yu He.
When I first came to Weifang, Yu He was a putrid black sess pool of rotten water. Now it is a lateral park that stretches from the centre of Weifang to the Peoples’ Square park in the east. All the storm water is now underground in large pipes and a beautiful artificial river with walking trails the full length of it on either side.
Markets
An essential part of life in China is still the street market. Many people still buy only enough food for one or two days and the markets allow this because they are only 5 minutes walk from your house. This is one of the things I am really going to miss when I leave China
In the more rural areas, there is a farmers’ market once every 5 days based on the lunar calender. Each local district will have it on a different day so that all have a chance go to each market if they wish.
The other type is the regular street markets in the towns and cities. Some are during the daylight hours and some will start in the early evening and go to about 10pm. Some venders will simply lay a blanket on the ground if they only have a little to sell. Others can have quite elaborate stalls which are permanent fixtures. Some will just sell off the back of a truck.
Friday 9 October 2009
HISTORY
Hello everyone.
My original blog, Weifang whales has disappeared due to the company closing down.
As I have moved back to Australia and I am setting up home again, this is the first chance I have had to add some comments.
I will start with some downloads from the old site and then see how it goes.
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