Gill Reflects on Guangzhou

Greetings from Guangzhou!

It’s not too bad here on the 26th floor, amongst an endless forest of skyscrapers, construction, & a few pockets of small formal gardens. We all gape at the size of these apartment blocks. I feel like a country bumpkin.

Guangzhou is in SE China, 3rd largest city, hot & humid. Clouds or pollution cover the sun.
Occasionally on the triple lane roads, amonst the shiny Toyotas, one sees a rickshaw laden with scrap metal or bulging bags. People seem to smile less here than in ‘country‘ Ylan, Taiwan.

My hosts live-in home-help/child minder cooks the family beautiful Chinese meals – several tasty dishes of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, fish, rice, rice noodles, & various desserts made from rice-starch are served on the beautiful professionally hand crafted table. My hosts have English names but do not speak much English. Hannah edit’s a magazine called ‘Creativity’ about building design. Roy is also professional. Emma is 3 & sweet & cheeky. I sleep in her room, also furnished with handcrafted furniture, in 4 poster bed with slim futon syle mattress covered with woven cane mat which makes a lovely cool bed.
They have an Oz style, ordinary toilet, unlike the Steiner School. (significant info…) Chinese loos do not suit me… Enough said!

Last night Roy & Hannah took me for a walk past Guangzhou Museum to West Gate Square, fringed by the Opera House and Asian Games Stadium, with a view of Guangzhou Tower & several others all lit up. Lots of happy people out enjoying the balmy evening.
Each morning Roy drives Emma & I across Guangzhou Bridge (another landmark) to the Steiner School a coulple of km away. It’s 3 level with 1 outdoor kindergarten play area. The kids here are younger. We teach 3 (!) to 7 yr olds simple pentatonic songs. Their normal teachers stay and translate for us. They have another campus, also for young children, which is a couple of rooms at the base of a grand old multi-story hotel. So ceilings are high with fancy columns & formal gardens outside.

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