What
we did on the weekend Dalian integrating technology blog at DAIS
integrating technology
grades K - 12 tofu
Power off Life on
We have had these notices before… "The school is informed by
the Electrical Company that there will be a power outage on Friday, May 3 from
7am to 4pm. If you bring your own
lunch, please make sure that it does not need heating up as the microwave will
not work.” Not to worry, I teach technology, how could having no electricity affect
me? I have two teaching areas; one is in the basement with no windows and that
is our video/film studio/area, the other is my fishbowl; so anyone strolling the halls sees everything and anyone from the
library can wave to my kids as they do. Not to worry, lots of glass plus the
windows to outside overlooking just another China construction site with a
dozen cranes and lots of people scurrying about to keep us entertained when I
have lost the plot. But with no electricity one realizes how dark it still is
even surrounded by glass. Computer class was no problem; we just used the new
Intel Zen Ultrabooks from the computer carts which
had been charged up. They were not able to save to their folders on the
intranet but we had a good session with Adobe Fireworks, InDesign and Photoshop
and hopefully they will remember what we did by next class. Of course middle
school students at the start of spring… maybe not. My basement area was not
useable. It reminded me of when photography was more fun when film processing
was done in the darkroom. My video area surely is dark enough but I doubt the
equipment is even available to develop film anymore. I went to Lane Community
College, Eugene Oregon for a semester in 1969 and took courses in photography.
It was such a disjoined time in my life; living with Carol Ann and her one year
old daughter, Desiree (who now is 45), a friend on Facebook living in Colorado
now. Back in 1969 we barely knew the day of the week but I did get to my
photography classes. Then before the end of the year we ended up in Hawaii in a
cult religious order and I somehow got myself a job in a photography studio in
Honolulu. I got back into photography and darkroom development toward the end of
the 1970s in Towson, Maryland and used my work as part of my picture poem art which I
exhibited in various art shows 1977 - 1979. Part of teaching photography should
involve developing film in a darkroom but I doubt that will ever happen again.
So we were told that at four pm we would have
electricity. Last year this happened too and it did go back on. At
four pm the electricity did not come on and when it became too dark to see and
there was nothing much to eat and all we have is an electric stove and
appliances we asked others, now flushed out into the hall, what their dinner
situation was. Folks over at the other apartment complex have gas stoves which
lead us to Jean and Sean’s. With candlelight and a gas stove. The electricity
did come on for ten minutes and that was it. I made a large pot of spaghetti
then Narda and I found our way home in the dark. At
about 4 AM the electricity was back on which lacks in excitement when sleep
seems to be 
the
only option, however, it was short lived and went off until 7. There were a
couple of flickers of off and on but Narda had time
to Google+ chat her sons and granddaughter between Australia and Atlanta
Georgia. The one in India must have been in between online moments so he did
not make it to the ‘hangout’. We missed the shopping bus and took the light rail into Kaifaqu ( 开发区 )
eating some good Western tucker at Tarsa in Five Colour City (our
video of it last year). Expats, especially the young ones like
Five Colour City but
we find it run down, seedy, past its whatever-it-was-meant to be heyday, though
it is where we buy Western food stuff at Harbour View
and purchase stuff for our non-Chinese brains. I read this review of the place
recently which sums it up quite well: “There is nothing
quite like Five Color City. It’s as if a group of
first grade students designed the buildings in crayon for a classroom art
project”. [http://www.whatsondalian.com/guide-74-rise-and-fall-of-five-color-city-in-dalian.html].
At the teacher’s get together pot-luck meals tonight
– with a day of electricity under our belts the talk was that someone got the
wires crossed. OK where did they get their electrician degree from? It was a
highly inconvenient stuff-up but as always we enjoyed the moments. I made tofu
burger balls, what I usually bring as my contribution and they all got eaten so
that is good. I just cooked up a couple cups of black rice, added couple of
cups of peanuts, carrots, onions, tofu, spices, flour and deep fried small
balls in olive oil. I bring them to each hall party/apartment pot-luck/ and
wherever else we end up eating in groups. I used to make them in my tofu
factory thirty years ago and took them to barbeques in Australia so my life
really does not change in so many ways.
On my bike ride this morning I took photos of a sign
that points visitors, hopefully not angry government officials from our neighbours up the road (North Korea – 200 kilometer highway
hike or a boat ride away) to where we live and work. Not sure where they got
their info from but I found two glaring things for those Chinese Government
officials who are readers of my blog to think about the next time they take an
English writing course then proceed to put up a sign: Dalian Amerircan Lnternational
School – OK OK it is just point to a school – no
need to do a spell check and they even have a map showing how to get to who
they think we are,
Actually we are not the United States of America School – come on mate that is making us
into a big target. We are all from many different countries; actually I am from
a country called Terrell so surely I am not one to reckon with.
Not to be picky but Bondeaux Wine Manor? Really this is not a wine growing area, of course it is another miss-spelt word the signs on
the “manor” is “Chateau De Bourdeux” (our video of this development last year
which has gone heaps further now) which is just a
strange housing sale office. See http://bordeaux-undiscovered.co.uk/blog/2012/09/moving-bordeaux-to-china/
We have done the tour and found it quite enjoyable in
a humorous way. This strange structure is across the street from us and they
are building 800 homes like it. What is most fascinating is the workers who are
from various parts of China and are itinerant workers who find us Western
living in their midst quite amusing too. We pass them on our morning walks to
the beach and we all have the giggle toward one another. Below is a photo from our balcony.
And yes it is not blue burry valley as it says on the sign. It
is Blueberry Valley with a lovely restaurant at the top of the hill where we
use to go last year on Friday’s after school. This school year we have not gone
there though I am not sure why. The mix of teachers who come and leave changes
a lot each year and the previous mix as well as a lot of us first year here
teachers clumped together heaps. This school year we all seem to go to place on
our own and the social setting is quite different.
I found one of my dozens of domains information a few hours ago. I
suppose when someone makes a webpage they hope not to be in last place and I
guess I am not with billions of webpages out there but as a Leo (Sun,
Mercury, Venus and that awful Saturn and Pluto exact conjunction in Leo all in
my 10th house - what the hell happened?) I was hoping for a higher ranking than 6,298,119,
meaning six million and two hundred ninety eight plus sites are in better
position than mine. Maybe it is my colour scheme or
lack of sense, a flair for a random artistic flavor that I have always
championed going through life. Being popular when there are 7 or 8 billion
people is difficult though I think I am ahead of a few billion but I do not know
if that is very good.
Neuage.org created in 24/04/2003 (what
is not noted is that my first neuage.org site was made ten years earlier in
1992 - two years after the WWW was invented and at that time I was ahead of the
curve) and owned by Terrell Neuage. Neuage.org takes 6298119th position
in global internet… with 159 estimated
visits per day.
I even have a QR reader on their page leading to my site – try it.
We had one of our evening together dinners last night, a celebration of warmer times, at least from a weather perspective. Yesterday was the first time since last October – seven months ago, that we were out and about without jumpers, a tee-shirt day. Today it is 23 (centigrade) so it is bike-riding long-distance time again. I want to go where they are building the new city about half an hour away [Newly Buried Villages of China]
Here is a photo from my balcony looking at where we had dinner last night; I asked about it and the story is that our librarian came across this and others like it in a field went and got the school van and driver and took them to her house. We live near an art school so I would assume it was probably an installation from artists and they probably wonder who stole their art. I use to do art installations – hanging pictures amongst trees as a show and would have been shocked to find them missing. I did a series of clothing that I dipped in plaster of paris and when dried I sprayed painted and wrote poems on them and hung them in a park in the centre of Adelaide and no one took them. I did this once with a dress from a girlfriend and hung in a tree in front of the art school in Adelaide and it lasted a couple of weeks before disappearing. Now that the librarian is leaving she gave these paper machete figures away with this one landing on the porch of our neighbor across the way. I call it ‘caged thievery’.
