We took Em and Brian into Campbell River, shopped and came back.  With the two-ferry waits and the 30 degree Celsius temps, it was a long day but we were looking forward to some down time and headed back with relaxation in mind.  Mind you, even that had to wait until Ginny’s cocktail party was over so as soon as we unloaded and fed the dogs, we went over to see her house, ferry the Jensens and eat more hummus.  It was good.  Ginny and her crew are doing an excellent job on the house.

By 7:00, I was ready for bed.  Couldn’t keep my eyes open.  Sal was much the same.  So we said our goodbyes and headed back across the bay with the Jensens.  I was advised by the passengers that there was a small inflatable dead ahead on a collision course.  Naturally, I gunned it.  But, of course, we averted the collision and said hello to the couple in the little boat.  “Hi.  Anyone in your group by the name of Sally Davies?”  “Well, yes.  That would be me”, said Sally.  ‘I’m Arno and this is Suzanne.  Your dad, Peter, told us to drop by when we met him at Telegraph Cove.” “Oh.  Gee.  That’s great.  Uh, we are just heading home.  Why not come to the dock?” As we headed to the dock ahead of them. Alva burst out laughing. “More guests?” “Thanks for your understanding, Alva,” I said.

Suzanne and Arno came back to the house.  Sally fed them wine, Spanikopitas and fresh salad and they left at 9:30.  I think.  I was asleep by then.  We fell into bed and wondered how this was all possible.  What had we done?  How is the Karma thing working here?

Don’t get me wrong: Arno and Suzanne were very nice.  But it was just a bit too much of a good thing, if you know what I mean.  Too many, too much, too long.  We had people in our lives like bedbugs in Morocco.  Just a little crazy.

I used to be a people person…………you know, gregarious, social, even a bit needy, perhaps.  I was, as a younger person, uncomfortable with just my own company.  Doing things by myself felt weird.  Not so anymore.  In fact, I prefer my own company second overall to having Sally with me.  After her, I am #2 on my own hit parade.  It is not so much that I have come to dislike people (though there is plenty to work with on that).  It is more like the ‘people greeting and visiting’ thing is a bit rote-like, a bit routine.  People come, we all chat and sit and eat and drink and then we hug good bye.  Nice.  But I have a funicular to build.  A tower to erect, a deck to finish.  And a number of other chores to get accomplished.  Even though relationships are way more important than chores, there comes a time when the chore list is looming and so is winter.  I really have to get on with some of it. 

Some of my friends are really very good.  They understand and some even offer to assist.  But then, I am my own worst enemy……….I usually decline their kind offer.  It just seems to me that ‘working’ my friends is kind of exploitative.  I, too, subscribe to the chat, eat, drink, hug-goodbye school of hospitality and so we all remain trapped in some kind of social inertia in the name of being ‘nice’.  Gawd, people are weird, eh?

Anyway, today was earlier declared an official ‘down’ day.  Nothing.  Nada.  Sal is supposed to sit and eat bon-bons.  Mind you, while I slept in, she tended the garden, helped a neighbour move their camp and took down our own tent while generally cleaning up.  She stripped the beds, put away linens and things, fed the dogs and walked them and then, as I got up, ran down to the beach to receive the six lengths of fire hose we just got delivered.  My first words: “So, sweetie, what would you like for breakfast?  I’m doing everything today.  You just sit.  How am I doing so far?” She just looked at me and her eyes told the story.  Looks like a long day.

We creeped through the lagoon in shallow water to the edge of Earl and Alva’s camp to pick them up for the ride over to John & MC’s.  Dinner and drinks were waiting.  All the ‘bites’ were there; John and Jorge, Roger and Anne, J&MC, Earl, Alva and Karen and, of course, our group of four.  It was good.  Group photos taken, appetizers consumed, wine disappeared and enough stories and goofiness to entertain including a group rendition of Happy Birthday to Brian.  He turns 30.

We left before dinner as we had a ‘previous engagement’.  Think about that – a social evening on the deck of a remote cabin in the middle of Discovery Sound and we were double-booked!  Of course, we could have put something off til the next night but – no lie – we were booked the next evening at Ginny’s for ‘cocktails’.  And even with that, we have to squeeze in a trip to town before that!

People think we live remote.  They ask me if I get bored or lonely.  Hah!

I have four new solar panels up.  Had ém for about a week.  Unbelievable!  Those extra 4 panels (on top of the original 4) now keep us ‘topped up’ fully in the summertime.  That is only 640 watts of power but we are getting good sun and it has kept us fully charged up.  This bodes well.  When we add the wind gen, we will be good even in the winter.  I think. 

I tend to measure rodent activity by the amount of mouse poison consumed.  I have a half dozen ‘feeding’ stations around the place and, if the food levels remain as placed, then no mice are present.  And that has been the case for the past four years (yes, I monitor and replace the stations).  We have been mouse free.  Yesterday I checked the stations and all the food was gone!  If all the food is gone, it is likely the mice are too.  That poison works.  But it also means that some have moved back in to the neighbourhood and so the killing vigil is on again.  It is gruesome, of course, but not worse than having gnawing, scratching, skittering sounds in the walls of your house.  Thankfully, we have managed to stay mouse-free our entire time here but this latest ‘feasting on the poison’ suggests that there has been a bumper crop of little critters this year and I have to stake out our territory again.  It is not a problem if you stay on top of it but many of our neighbours have been lax.  And they have lost the battle.  There are a lot of homes on the islands with healthy mouse villages entrenched in their walls.  The people have learned to just ‘live with ém’. 

We don’t feel that way.  As far as I am concerned, it is them or us.  So far, it is us and I intend to keep it that way.  Being on a peninsula helps a great deal.  We don’t get many itinerants.  A mouse has to make quite a trek to get to us including a crossing of Jake-the-great’s territory.  Jake is a ferocious mouser and not much gets past him.  He is John and Jorge’s cat and has been the rodent gatekeeper for some time but I guess a few little guys got by and so we are bringing out the big guns now.  I am confident that we can do this.  More on this latest insurgency as results indicate.

Em, Brian, Sally and I plus two dogs…………..the students left today.  Sally took them by boat to the other island and then by 4×4 down the 20 kilometers of logging/paved road to the ferry.  They left at 10:00 for the 12:00 ferry and, tho they could ‘walk on’, they couldn’t take the car because it was full.  Sally walked with them through town to the bus station and they were hugged and ‘goodbyed’.  They are now on their way to Victoria.  Sally got back by 3:00.  That’s five hours just to get to the nearest bus station and back!

It is good to have the house back to semi-normal (Em is here, after all!).  Already the pace and decibel level have lessened.  Having the students is great.  Really great.  They are wonderful young people and strong friendships have been made.  And we sort of feel like we are ‘doing something’ to assuage the pollution, consumption and materialism that has come to symbolize the Chinese ‘way’ of becoming a ‘first world nation’.   

Isn’t that tragic?  The current definition of first world is basically pollution, crap and overwork.  It really should be sustainable in every way – especially for the people.  China is currently very close to being unsustainable in terms of healthy lifestyle.  It is already unsustainable environmentally speaking. 

That stereotype, of course, is not quite fair to anyone, even the Chinese government.  But, from our vantage point, it seems as if their country is hell-bent on polluting itself and everyone else into oblivion. The present first world, it seems, is not a good role model.  And soon, economically anyway, China will be first world. 

I do not fear relinquishing top-of-the-heap to anyone.  My heap is good enough for me, thank you.  But I do fear a society whose influence will be great heading the world to the brink of environmental disaster.  Look how the US has done so far………..

The students have never seen a forest like ours.  They have never seen eagles and ravens and porpoises and seals soaring and cavorting around them.  They were stunned at the natural abundance of free and clean food-for-the-picking by simply walking out the door.  In fact, they have never even see the stars properly at night (due to the excessive ambient light)!  These are urban kids, raised in concrete and shut in classrooms and offices like Skinner boxes.  Their ‘everyday life’ is hell for me, and, at the very least, quite unpleasant for them.

But they didn’t really know that.  Not until they came here.  They only knew what they had experienced, ‘what is normal’ in the city.  Now they know that ‘normal and natural’ can be very, very different from what they have grown used to.  I think it is important for them and for their country that some young people know this.  Admittedly, it is a small thing.  A very, very small thing.  4 Students at time is the smallest of things.  But it is still an important thing and we were pleased to offer the opportunity to them.

But we may not do it again.  It is getting hard.  There is a week of preparation and half week of cleaning and, of course, there is the week of ‘hosting’ that exhausts me and Sally does twice what I do.  I think we can still offer this experience if we can find a way to ‘cut back’ our efforts but, to be fair, cutting back might ‘short change’ their experience and so we have to get creative if we are to continue.  Delegating some of the ‘hosting’ might work.  Hiring some help might work.  Maybe even just building another ‘bathroom’ for them………….we’ll see.  Whatever it is, I hope we can continue.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

With Em’s arrival the place just got more crowded by half.  Brian and Emily are just two people but the five Chinese students only occupy the same space as three gwailo Canadians and they all largely move and act in unison when in the house so it seems even less.  When one has a shower, they all follow suit and ‘badda bing, badda boom’ all the showers are handled.  Five of them can even do the dishes!  Em, Brian, Sally and I are more like those robot vacuum cleaners that go about bumping off walls and things unpredictably.  I have to say that five Chinese students occupy half the space that do four gwailos.  Throw in (out?) the two dogs and getting from one part of the house to the next is like moving to the back of a city bus during rush hour.  Oh well, it is fun but a bit intense at times.

They all hiked yesterday but I stayed back to get some chores handled.  When they got back it was dinner time and so we BBQ’d burgers.  As you know, home made burgers are not at all like fast-food chain burgers.  They are much taller for one thing.  Our burgers always look like they are going to tip over.  And they ooze goo like a triple O.  They are ‘glop burgers’.  The kids have had burgers in Hong Kong but nothing like the build-your-own that we presented.  They would stop half way through and take pictures and then finish their 6 inch high creation and take more photos.  I think there were a minimum of four photos per burger counting Em’s, Brian’s and mine.  32 burger pics were recorded for posterity.

Everything followed by a fancy dessert and tea.  Sheesh!

It is good having Brian and Em here.  The kids all get along well.  Brian is 30 and Queenie is only 20 but everyone else is mid twenties and their conversations get more and more animated and louder as the evening wears on until I retreat around 9:00 to the relative peace of my room.  They continue at it until about 10 – 10:30 and then everyone heads off to bed.  The logistics of peeing, alone, can alter the schedule considerably. But, usually by 11:00 the house and all the sleeping areas (decks, John’s cabin, boat shed, upstairs) are quiet.  By 8:00 am it starts up again.

Earl and Alva arrived yesterday.  They are camping on the other side of the peninsula with their daughter, Karen.  It is nice to see them there.  They have a beautiful site and so far, camping is working for them.  But we’ll check on them now and then – as much as we can what with all the cooking and cleaning and hiking and talking and playing with young people and dogs.

Yesterday we learned a bit more about the Chinese language and how it is written.  I would propose a word like ‘computer’ and they would write that word in pictograms (the Chinese written characters).  Typically there would be two or three distinct ‘pictograms’ making up the word.  Then I’d circle one of them and ask what it meant all by itself.  Electronic and calculator were the two pictograms for computer but the two for husband made them howl with laughter.  When I inquired why, they seemed just as surprised as I did since they only saw the combination of the two making the whole of the word as a rule.  But breaking it down into each pictogram made them laugh.  “This one means ‘man’.” They said.  “But this one means ‘a measured length’ like a ‘foot’ or an ‘ínch’.  Much laughter.  “So, we depict the word husband as an inch or foot man?” I asked.  “Yes!  Ha, hah.  I guess it depends on the man!!  Ha, ha, ha, ha……..some are ‘inch men’, some are ‘foot men’!!!” Much laughter ensued.

Which, of course, led naturally into queries about their respective boyfriends and other discreet matters.  Much laughter.  All the girls had boyfriends and Kin had a girlfriend but most of them had never told their parents about their ‘friends’ even tho most of them had been going steady for two or three years.  Winnie and her steady had been dating for five years without officially ever mentioning it.  “It is not the Chinese way.” They said.

Emily’s boyfriend, Brian, seems like a nice guy.  They arrived Sunday afternoon after arriving in Victoria from Toronto the day before.  They get along well together.  Nice to see.  He seems impressed by our setting and lifestyle and seems to appreciate the beauty of it.  Mind you, most people think that way (especially those from Toronto) and, at the same time think, “Sheesh, it is very beautiful and all but I couldn’t live so remote.  I’d go mad!”

Ironically, when that thought is crossing their mind, they are also noting how many people are dropping by and calling.  Yesterday, a neighbour brought us a magnificent 25 pound salmon, the Hong Kong students and Sally went visiting neighbours and also went mountain climbing and I went into town to shop and get Brian and Em from the ferry and meeting two lost and curious Chinese tourists on the way.  It is never dull in the summer and I only find it ‘pleasant and easy-living’ on the shoulder seasons.  Winter can have a few bleak days but, even then, there are the storms and life threatening emergencies to keep us on our toes.  Nothing like an outboard dying in the middle of a winter storm at night to make you feel alive.  But summer?  Summer is a whirlwind!

I have to mention Kin again.  He has taken to this wood-chopping thing like a beaver.  This guy whacked away until he started to get a sense of the rhythm and timing.  Now he is, pound for pound, damn good at splitting rounds.  It is really quite neat to see Kin’s attitude in this.  He is grinning from ear to ear and aiming for the one-strike split every time.  When he gets it, he lights up.  I have to admit that so do I.  He is enjoying his physical-ness in a way that he doesn’t get to experience much living in Hong Kong.  All the kids are.  And most of them have stated that they would prefer not to return home.  “But, of course, we have to.”  

I find that sad in a way.  While I understand it completely, I am touched by their acceptance of their already established role in life.  It’s depressing.  They seem to be committed to something they don’t want and, even when they express awareness of that, they shrug and accept it as their fate or destiny.  Usually with a weak smile.  It is like they surrender to the greater but invisible social will and yet, can still express a desire not to.  It is very hard to say much to people who are making informed choices.  They know what they are doing.

Well, in a way, they don’t………..  They have never really ‘stepped out of line’, broken the rules or failed to meet others expectations.  So, they don’t know the freedom of acting for themselves.  Not really.  They know the obligations, the responsibilities and the duties very well but they don’t seem to know the limits or lack of limits in their own life.  They just toe the line obediently despite, sometimes, knowing that there are other choices.  It is like they are saying, “I see what is out there but I don’t see that I am entitled to it. I have obligations to fulfill, not personal growth”.

As usual, I am having trouble getting anything done with guests around.  I still have a tower to erect and funicular tracks to lay, not to mention some fabrication of steel assemblies to make.  I’ll get to it but, right now, dishes and clean-up and socializing seem to fill the day with the exception of these stolen moments updating the blog.

So, with that, I’d better get back to work…………..

Having the students here is, for the most part, a vacation for them but Dennis hoped that they would also learn.  None of us is quite clear on what the lesson is but we are all engaged in it fully.  Yesterday, Sally took the four girls and taught them to start the outboard and run the boat.  In and of it self, that may not seem like so much but these girls are much more soft and petite than our local femmes.  They have been raised to dress nicely, be pleasant, study, work, maybe cook and shop.  And not much else.  Hong Kong life doesn’t leave much room for much else.  They have never run a motor of any kind in their lives.  But Sally’s 9.9 Evinrude empowered them!  Testosterone charged teenage Chinese mutant boaters!  Pretty funny to see them squirelling all over, practically out of control, shrieking and covering their eyes while Sally constantly lurched over them to save a collision.  Power Squadron it was definitely NOT!

This boat handling lesson followed on the kayak lesson the day before.  That went well.  Amusing but well.  Queenie (we have Annie, Winnie and Queenie with Kin and Su-yen.  4 girls, one boy.  Queenie is the smallest at about 80 pounds.  Even the smallest kayak makes her look like the proverbial bump on a log.  The kayak paddle was almost as thick as her arms!  But they are all pretty game and even Queenie kept up as Sally, John and Jorge guided them around the bay and the peninsula while I took the required pictures.  You have to have pictures for everything!

The strangest subjects for pictures are the meals.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks are digitally recorded.  “Why do you take pictures of meals?” I asked.  “They are so beautiful and we remember meals more than anything!” So much for the kayak lessons, I guess.  Maybe a little cream cheese spread on the deck…….?

Kin is keen (same pronunciation) to be the lumberjack that Winson (a previous year student) claims to be after having chopped wood when he was here.  Winson took 2 hours to whack his way through one round of wood.  He wouldn’t give up until he had that round split.  But Kin got an unexpectedly dry piece  and managed to split it after about ten minutes and twenty or thirty whacks.  We have a new champion! (in the under-125 pound class, anyway).

Because Kin was pumped and looking for more wood to cut, I offered to take him log salvaging so that he’d have more to practice on.  We headed for a nearby beach and selected a slender 8 inch round log, admittedly a good 30 feet long.  Kin and I got out on the beach with our log-dogs, grappler, ropes, axe, hammer and chainsaw and proceed to get the log down to the water from the high water mark to where we could then tow it to our home beach.  Conceptually, a piece of cake.

But this log was particularly dense for it’s size and was unexpectedly heavy.  ‘Course, I didn’t let on.  It was not really too heavy for me but Kin had met his match and, to be frank, the beach rocks were pretty awkward for both of us.  Not that he would admit it, either.  After he and I struggled for a bit, I mercifully cut the log in two and we schlepped the halves down the rocky beach.  Kin was tested.  We took the log back to my high-line and I fired up the winch to haul it to the top.  But first we had to set chokes and that required scrambling up and down the steep hill (about 100 feet at 35/40 degrees).  Then we hauled it up with the winch screaming.   When the logs were up, I was going to drag them to the sawhorse and chainsaw them into rounds.  I looked at Kin.  He looked at me.  His eyes were wet.  Sweat, mostly.  I think.  He was not looking forward to the next step.  “Well, that is enough for now.” I said.  “We’ll finish tomorrow.” Kin’s relief from that news was palpable.  “Maybe I help girls do cooking!” And he was gone.

I am not so sure that his choice was a good one.  We do all the meals and the kids do the dishes.  But for one night, they cook Chinese food and I do the dishes.  Yesterday they started to cook at 3:00 pm.  Five (count ’em) students going full tilt in the kitchen until 8:00 pm.  When Sal and I are in the kitchen together, we feel as if it is crowded and we often bump into each other.  She takes up a lot of room.  They danced and pirouetted around each other graciously for five hours.  FIVE hours!  Then we ate.  The food was excellent. 

Winnie was the ‘lead hand’ and knows how to cook.  But – OHMYGAWD!  The dishes!  And the time!  These guys worked very hard to do a great meal but no wonder MacDonald’s is popular in China.  I had no idea Chinese cooking was so labour intensive.  We must have all folded dumplings for half an hour at least!  That’s seven dumpling folders for 30 minutes or 210 minutes of intense dumpling folding – NOT counting making the pastry and the filling!! 

That is over three man-hours to make enough dumplings for three men to eat in ten minutes!  Think about that.  China is already poised to become the world’s largest economy and it is only the meal preparation time that is holding them back.  Another few thousand more MacDonalds and KFCs and the world is theirs!! 

Interesting note: we talked about education and, amongst other things, learned that the kids had been taught European and American History.  Also basic Chinese history.  But they have little knowledge of Hong Kong history.  No knowledge of SE Asian history.  Seems it is not deemed as important as American history.  On the same theme: Kin is a sociology student.  Their lessons are based on American and European books and models.  They have no sociology based on Chinese society!?

And all the students say that their English is poor (and it is) and yet, all the courses taught at the university are taught in English!  All except Chinese language and some ‘home economics’/life style courses.  I asked if their Chinese was good…….”No, our Chinese language skills very bad.  We speak good ‘street’ Cantonese but our written and grammatical language skills are poor.”

“So let me get this right…………?  You are amongst the best educated in Hong Kong and can’t speak either of the two official languages well.  How is this possible?  How can you do the job you are trained to do?”

“It is not hard to do a good job in Hong Kong because we all speak the same.  But it is very much harder to do that same job anywhere else – especially overseas.  We had one professor of Chinese languages come from Beijing and he had to leave because he couldn’t understand the students!”

And, complicating matters, it seems the Chinese rely even more on acronyms and short cuts than we do.  Especially the new ‘text language’.  Some students have even submitted papers with ‘texting’ language ( for example: ICU instead of I see you).  Once again I am struck with the dichotomy of smart, intelligent, hard working students who, for reasons local and cultural, are hamstrung by their own habits.

Maybe we all are.