Back in Norway

09.06.09
For thoose of you who have visited the blog frequently you have probably noticed that we have not updated our blog in a long time now. The reason for this is that Blogspot was blocked so we could not open, or update it the last weeks we were in Ningxia. We are sorry for this.
So now we will write about some of the things we did the last weeks we had in the Middle Kingdom.

In the beginning of May we held exams at the schools we worked. The last month in Ningxia we also spent time preparing for the follow up work that we have now started in Norway.
The last period in China we went on a couple of trips in the Ningxia area. In the May holiday we visited Sha Hu (Sand Lake), a beautiful site outside Yinchuan, where the desert is right next to a big lake. It was cool to see desert and water this close. It makes you think about the closeness of fjord and mountain in Norway and why it is so extraordinary. Along with Sand Lake we also visited the famous Helan Mountain rock carvings.

The 18th we got to go with the Red Cross to visit a school they help to run in the Tongxin district in Ningxia. The school is situated in one of the poorer areas in Ningxia, where water is scarce. It was an interesting visit for us to the school, and for the pupils, who probably hadn't seen to many foreigners around, it also seemed interesting for them to have us there. The Ningxia Red Cross is giving away different materials to help supplying the school in Tongxin.

The 17th of May (Norway's national holiday) we celebrated with both Norwegians (Tom and Karen from Norway) and Chinese, and we made pancakes in the evening.

The last week in China, we said goodbye to everybody at work and that we knew. We attended some farewell banquets with our Chinese class, and with The Foreign Affaris Office at Ningxia University. We also bought our last gifts and finished our packing.

We came back to Norway in the end of May, and the temperature was about 20 degrees lower than we have gotten used to this spring. In that way (one of a few:)), we knew we had arrived back home. The rain also helped to convince us we had arrived back home.

It is good to be back, with all the things we have missed while in China. The food, our families and friends and the chilly weather.
But we cannot guaranty that we woun't miss China, Ningxia, the people we meet there and the travelling in the future. We had a fantastic time in the Middle Kingdom, a year we will most likely never forget.

Now we are in Flekke working on our follow up work. We want to send a great thanks to all who made this year possible, to Fredskorpset, Red Cross Nordic United World College, Ningxia University and the Ningxia Red Cross. Also we want to thank those at home and thoose who have followed us.

Chris and Tom

Too tall for China...

With his 188 cm above the ground Tom rules the basketball court in the University. Well, at least he would've if height was all that mattered. Everywhere he walks he also get a pretty good view of the crowds, which helps when you lose your friend and just have to look for the only blond guy among ten thousand people.

But being taller than the average Zhou is no laughing matter. Not when you are travelling by public transport, and the expected public is way smaller than you.

For when do you know that you're too tall for China? When your kneepad is flat after sitting in a bus or an airplane? When your elbow hurts after the shopping cart constantly bumping into you while passing down the aisle? When your head aches after crashing into doorways, signs, lamps, roofs, all of them hanging too close to the ground? When your feet are hanging out of every bed there is? When you want to buy clothes, but no stores have your size in shoes, and no sweater arms are long enough? When your best hope of buying clothes is to get them tailor made? If you cover at least three of these, you can surely, with Tom's guarantee, apply for the title; "Too Tall for China".

That said, the young generation in China seems to be much taller than their ancestors. Seeing grandparents, parents and kids walking side by side, it seems like each generation are growing over ten cm. If that's the case, we're looking at the Chinese National Team in Basketball with an average height of 250 cm twenty years from now. Good luck to the rest of the world! So, next time Tom comes to China, he'll probably feel a lot more normal. And maybe public transport is more suited for people like Tom. One can always hope.

Our last semester in China starts...

Teaching has started. Students have found their pencils and sharpened them thoroughly. And we are ready to continue what we started last semester. Or, at least we thought so.

Much remains the same, Red Cross teaching started again two weeks ago and Christian's school has started. Well, Tom's school has started as well. But the difference is that Christian has started teaching. And Tom is still waiting. Tom went home from Beijing two weeks ago and thought that his teaching would start the following Tuesday. But no, on the contrary. When he finally got to Yinchuan, his superiors tells him that teaching is not in another two weeks. Kind of a bummer when you have your family visiting and you could have stayed longer in Beijing.

Anyway, after having been in China for over half a year, you get used to "expect the unexpected". So instead of asking why, Tom decided to tell you about the changes made to his subject.

It seems now that Tom has the same amount of teaching. But what used to be two classes have now doubled. So Tom is going to teach two lessons a week in four different classes. And where he had students who were randomly chosen last semester, he now has all new students who had to apply for a seat. Big changes. But foreign teachers in China are really popular. So I guess they had to be made to make more people happy.

So now he is just preparing for next weeks lessons, and waiting eagerly to hold the white chalk again.

Enough about the teaching, today is Women's Day, worldwide. And we would like to congratulate all women, young and old. We would not have been here if it were not for you! Thank you all for giving this world more than we men could ever give.

Last thing, thanks to family members for coming to visit during our holidays. We really appreciated it, and promise to repay you with dish-washing when we return to Norway. =)

More pictures from our backpacker journey

Pictures from our backpacker journey

We decided to put up a lot of pictures in one post instead of adding to the numerous texts we've been writing. So here they are, directly from Tom's camera, some of the things we saw during our one and a half month through China. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

We, Christian and Tom, have had a wonderful semester in Yinchuan. We have seen a lot and experienced even more. Now we look forward to the next semester, which will bring us even more joy and happiness. But first we will have a vacation. Chinese people celebrate the new year when the lunar calendar says it's time. So we also look forward to the 25th of January, when there will be celebrations all over China. That's what they call Spring Festival, which is a holiday spent with family. But since we don't have that much family in China, we decided to travel instead. So here comes our current travel schedule; Yinchuan - Ürümqi - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Lanzhou - Chengdu - ?. The question mark means that we haven't decided where to go after Chengdu. But every decision, every experience will be noted down here on the blog. Maybe just in short words, and definitely without pictures. All the most interesting pictures will be posted when we come back from our one month journey through parts of China. So all that remains is to say; happy western new year!

But for your pleasure, here are some pictures so you wont forget us while we are gone;