Is Jianhua missing?

So good to hear from you,Jianhua!
I have okra seed saved for you...do you want it sent to your home?

I was thinking of you today Jian....and was concerned about the danger of SARS in your area...I am glad that you have reported to us that you are in no danger! Jo

Hi Jianhua :)

Good to hear from you.. The Mirabilis jalapa seeds you sent me last year have sprouted. They are nice looking seedlings. I am going to sow more of them. Were the seeds from you own plants?

Jianhua, It sounds like you are getting settled into your new life...dont let those ladies do your laundry...they have other things on their minds....lol....
I have thought of you often and wondered if you are ok, be careful with the SARS, dont go into the big cities....especially beijing.
have fun with your new classes and especially the gardening ones.
It's good to hear from you!

Jianhua, I just read an article in the paper that kind of scared me. They are saying that the SARS outbreak originated in Guangdong province, they think it started at an animal market in Dongyuan, because the first cases that were reported were in the catering profession, either chefs, food handlers, or animal sellers from the Dongyuan animal market.
Please take care, and dont eat any meat....that includes snakes, frogs, birds.....

Hello,boys and girls,
(sorry,i have been used to greeting my class like thiS)
first of all i'd like to express my great thankfulness to all of you.it is here that i have learned a great deal of useful up-to-date english .i can use what i have learned in great dave's garden to teach my students.yes,no doubt almost all my kids like to attend my classes.i think i can deal with these noble kids.all the kids come from noble families .their parents have piles of piles big notes.they do not like to learn so-called real knowledge,such as geography,biology,physics,chemistry,mathematics,but they like to practise chinese wushu(chinese congfu),playing football,playing the piano,guitar...but there are real some students liking learning english.one of them whose parents are living in the city of new york especially does well in english.maybe some day in the future his parents will take him to their sides.
The south climate in the city of Chaozhou is hot and wet.though in my hometown now it is still in spring,yet here it is rather unbearable -- i have to change to shorts as soon as i go to the dormitory.and have a cold water shower and have the air-conditioner working all the time.
indeed here the trees grow very well.lines of lines of banyan trees line on both sides of the driveways forming the huge natural umbrellas.people would sit chatting and sapping tea just under them.
Now talk about of the dreadful in-typical phnewmonia(spelling? just heard of it spoken by radio).yes,from the newspaper and tv,we know that the sars is spreading over the south of china,especially in guangdong province.but happily to tell you there is no such case reports in the city of Chaozhou.so far,so good.even if so,the school has taken active steps to block the coming-in from outside.school regulation says no students' parents are permitted to go to the school to meet their children.and all the stuff in the school are not permitted top go out without special permission.and besides twice a week students will drink some herbial medicine to precaution the illness.so as i know,there is NO sars carriers around my school.
Here every one show care about my family.here i am glad to tell you that my wife and son have moved to my school.school arranges my wife to be life-teacher,who holds responsible for the students' bedrooms and do some washing and the like.my son,who has a professional technical comptuer certificate,to be a typrist.the school does so just due to my reasons.no bull,now i am the salt of the school's englishteachers.hehehehe
The school's computer house will not open till june.now i am in a public net-bar(of course i got the permission to go out on school business).
well,so much for now.again,i will thank all of you my dear friends.i will try my best to come here more to respond you.
): Love from Jianhua

This message was edited Saturday, May 17th 6:38 AM

Jianhua, it's so good to see you. Of course we all knew that you would be the top English teacher, I'm glad they have brought your family to be with you. We miss you terribly and will wait as patiently as possible for June where you can be with us more.
love you

So good to meet you all too.
Yes,my son and my wife have come over to work with me in the same school.once my wife made a telephone call telling me that she dreamt me three times one single night.so i have no way that i have to let her stay with me,otherwise she would become mad.):really good that i can hear the gigle and giggle again.
tiG,we did receive your bruggie seeds.my wife told me just before she left home all the seedlings had come out.i have made a telephone call telling Father to take good care of them.
Evert,i often mention of you to my students,sying even if you are among the same age group with them,you have become a world shot.now some of my students have drawn some quite good chinese pictures (about mountains and water,and flowers).if you have the intention of becoming pen pals with them,i will let them send you some of the pictures and some gifts.of course in return if you send each of them a little euro coin,they will be so glad to dance on the sky. ):
Pebble,Roadrunner,really the sars is terrible,but our government from top to bottom take great care of it.we are doing well to control and wipe off it from the land.luckily enough there is no sars cases in my region.but i should be careful not to go to big cities,just staying at school.nowadays security is above all.
Melody,about the okra my wife have planted a lot in my own plot just before she came to me.now they are under care of my father-in-law.it is impossible for us to look after them.
in my new school i have planted some potted flowers such as begonia,belly bamboo,millet-flower tree.i place them in the bright teachers' office.my collegues joke at me,i should be a gardener not a teacher.really even the biology teacheers addimt that my botanic knowledge is at least as wide as them.just around my school there is a natrural park,in which there are green hills with singing birds in it,and also many kinds of wild plants unknown.i will have a good survey when i am on summer holidays.by the way,i have savesd quite a few kinds of tropical fruit seeds for our gardeners,such as pipa,olive,yamei.but no because of the obvious reason,i have to wait for some time to share with you.
Yardbird,yes,long time no see.to tell you the truth,i miss you all very much.when the sars alarm dismiss and our school puter house is connected with internet,i am sure i will come here more often to meet you.
Ponditis,the wild duck,so fine! you know right around my school there is a lake ,in which there are many wild little colorful ducks swimming happily.from the dormitory,i can see them all the time and also there are many birds in the woods.so early every morning it is the birds that wake me up.so fine it is to stay here.only a pity i have to say goodbye to my lovely homegarden.but in the future when i retired from teaching,i will be sure to come home to play with the soil again.i think blooms and birds can pure my heart and give me the real meaning of life.

Jinhua, it's soo good to hear from you :)
We all miss you very much. It's good to know that your family is with you now and that you can be close together once again.
I'll be in line for some of those seeds when you can share..........LOL. You take care of yourself over there and don't get sick!! Hope to hear from you again soon :o)

Aimee,I thank you to start this thread.
missing?i think i will not.God will always mercy the sons of his.i assure if i will not do anything wrong to my family,my motherland,and bury myself in mentoring my students well,anything wrong will fall upon me.heheheh
Azelea,tell you,i have seen many azelea flowers in bloom red as burning fire on the hills.so showdy.i even pick some and place in a vase.
MaryE,how are you getting on on the vast mountainous farm?
and i even dream to be a herdband on your farm,hehehehe
so glad that i have a tiny space in your mind.
Justmelisa,Whiterose,Cristina,Debby,your concerning of me does moved me a lot.this time i move to the south partly for a living.life is not so easy for us.first of all we have to eat in order to live.i finger out in a few years when i have saved enough i will quit from teaching and go on with my gardening.
Redrose,):pet mom,just wonder how you are getting along with your babies?.as i know,all the animal lovers have compassions,so i say you are a kind lady.

Flowox,sure,you can share with me the mystic seeds.the fruits from the trees are fantastic.i have never tasted the delicious fruits before i went to the south.really not bad.i will save some for you all,but not now.heheheheh
one thing to tell you,some time ago,our school appointed one american and one british person to teach the english language.after they contract is due,they left for their homelands.maybe in the future school will reconsider to employ new english teachers from english speaking countries.if there is such a chance,i will let you know.heheheh of course a teacher's certificate for foregn students is necessary.
Mavierose and Meiyu, you both have something Chinese blood running in your pulses.so whenever i chat with you,i feel even more pround.a pity that i did not find your relatives ,Meiyu,when i was in the school in Fuzhou.you know,it's about 50 miles away to Fuqing,your counsins' home.
but i did let my students from fuqing inqire your relatives,but there was no result.heheeheh Mvierose,you should pay more attention to your health.when you are feeling bad ,do not forget the green oil.):

WantabeGardener,I should thank you specially for your latest envelope to my new address.the birds and blooms magazine is really wonderful.i have read it again and again.

At last,please permit me to have a delated greeting to all the mothers and mothers' mothers:
Happy Mother's Day! ___CARNATIONS---

Hi Jianhua :) Good to hear from you. It's so sad what's happening because of sars around the globe. It even reached Finland, but didn't spread. The man who can from Canada was taken to the hospital in Turku, and has been under control and care.
Spring is three or two weeks late here, but now everything is so nice and green and fresh - it has been raining for two days. I have my window open and I listen to the voice of rain right now and see it coming down from our neighbors roof and making everything wet. At least plants like it :) Last year was extremely dry so this is good for them.

I met my friend from India week ago btw, he came visiting us and stayed one night at our place.

Sure I can become a penpal for some of your students :)

Hey Hi Jianhua so good to hear from you so happy that you are all doing ok and enjoyed very much read your post here, I knew you are very busy so everything is ok with all my babies pet and I has been not feeling well for while and suppose to have surgery sometime soon that doctor will call me to let me know when.
Take care of yourself!

Evert,
It seems as if the thing has gotten some effective control in the sars spreading regions.don't worry.
Here it often rains -- almost every other day we will meet a rain.i think it is both okay for man and plants.in my schoolyard there grow dozens of saga plants,of which some are in bloom.i noticed there are male and female flowers.
and on the slopes of the hills are many green bamboos.so nice to enjoy the landscape when i am free from work at the weekend.
yes,young man like you likes to make friends globally wide.i have kept your address in my little notebook(sent by Redrose).i will let some students send you envelopes.it would be so fine,ifeel.

Redrose,
Pain here and itch there is normal for a lady
who has got several times of special overwork in life.):
never mind,take more exercises
and keep a good mood every day
you will be fairly well.

Well your climate is totally different than ours ;)

When your students send me somethin,g could you please ask them to put a return address with their letter, and in proper format, because I can't write Chinese characters. :}

So good to hear from you, Jianhua. Your notes about your
family, work, students and your surroundings are all so interesting. Keep up the good work! Stay close to a computer. hehehe. Greetings to your family....farizona

Jianhua, how good it is to hear from you. sounds like now that your family is with you things should be fun.
I will be moving across the world, to Turkey, and like you, will be in a much warmer climate, it will take a while to adjust, but so much variety of what we can grow. I think my internet access might be limited also.
Best wishes to you and family.

Evert,
No problem.i will deal with it.i am sure you can get one surprise after another.each boy or girl will send you different gifts.and you can send them all with one big envelope.all my school kids are very cute.they know how to make friends.some are good at paintings,some are good at wushu(like boxing,but permit to use hands as well as legs),some,palying football,some,playing guitar...
I agree the climate here is quite different from that of yours.right now it is raining cats and dogs.late as it is,i
have no way to go back school and have to stay in the public for night.but i think the hot and damp weather is good for plants.i observed that there are quite several kinds of ferns growing everywhere on campus.so our school has a long rain-protecting gallery connecting to the buffet dinning hall,the dormitories and teaching buildings.
Farizona,
I should stay close to a computer if possible.i will not drop off my flower-loving hobby.these few years i will do some more studies on flowers than cultivating.i finger out as soon as the school computer house is joined to the internet,i will come here more often.you know,the computer of my own in my home has to be put away with a bedsheet.

Pebble,
Yes,when a person moves to a new place,there will be a period of time for him to adapt the surroundings.when i got here,first,it is the hot climate,second,the food.in the north my hometown,our staples are noodles and dumplings,but here three meals a day are rice,and rice and rice.for long i have not smelled the smell of noodles and dumplings.):

Jianhua, friend, it is great to hear from you and know that you and your family are well. We are just now getting springlike weather here due to an extra month and a half of unusual rain and it is wonderful to be outside again. I look forward to seeing your postings and enjoy your descriptions of you native lands very much.

And such wonderful news that they found employment for your Wife and Son so that you may not be seperated for so long!

Jianhua, since you have an english written address that you can use now, e-mail me and I'll add you to the address exchange list and that way you'll have lots of addresses for us too :)
include your birthday (no year, just month and day) and some of your interests too (don't have to be garden related) and I'll put you on and will e-mail you an updated list of it. There are over 100 DG people on the list :)

It really is "GOOD" to hear from you again and know that you're alright :)
I'll have to make it a point to mail you something.....not sure what though.........LOL........but everyone likes mail, right? :)

Reading through so many kind words,a current of warmth stirs in my heart.it was only the disconnection of the computers to the internet that came to a pause for me to keep on sharing with you all.i stronly feel whenever i go,and whatever i will do,i will be right at home here smiling at you.Zanymuse,yes,it is really a gladtide that our family reunite.as you know,the chinese take on the family unit as the solid kernel.we both will treasure our long-testing love.Flowox,you are held in mind often.kind heart will bring forth good result.i hope you have come out of shadow.
i will email you my regular mail address both in chinese and english,including my birthdate,my hobby and the like.
To have a good friend in life is really a happy thing.
I am the happiest man in the world to have so many kind-hearted close friends to share my sadness and happiness.

And we are blessed to have a friend like you :)

Jianhua, I don't often post on DG. I have been wondering about you and love to read all you write. I'm so happy to hear your family is with you now. Take care, I will be watching for more of your post.

Jianhua, it is so nice to hear that your family is together again. I was concerned that you were so far away from your wife and son for a long time. It is sad that you are far from the gardens that you love but time will pass quickly and you will know more about what you wish to grow when you can garden again. Now that I know your family is with you I will get a package off to you very soon with the gifts for the family (and you).
My Doctor just came back from China and he is very worried about the epidemic over there as he said it is grossly under reported by the people. His son is a Doctor in China. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts many times a day until this epidemic is over with. Don't take chances thinking that it isn't in your city as it probably is even though you don't know the people.
It would be nice to see some pictures of your new area and the plants and flowers that are there along with some of the wonderful buildings and other sites.

Dear Jianhua, you are more than welcome! I actually started the thread out of my own selfishness, as I was worried about you. I agree with others, it's so nice to know your family has joined you. How wonderful it is that your father will be able to tend your plants while you must be away. Your students are fortunate to have such a dedicated and talented teacher. One can only imagine how many lives you will enrich because of your good heart. And we at DG are also fortunate to have you among us. Your gentle manner is refreshing in a world increasingly self-absorbed and materialistic.

Juinhua, I love reading your posts!! You make them so interesting....and a lot of poetry comes through. Keep up the good work...and I am doubly glad to know that your family has joined you! Love to all of you...Jo

Hello dears,
Today's Children's Day (June 1st).we are having a two-day's holiday.some of the students are going picnic in the natural park near the school,while i together with a few students are playing computer in a public cyber pub (our school computers will soon be connected with internet.by then i will have regular time to come here to meet you).
before the students go outside,i have told them to pick some wild flowers and collect some seeds for me.you know,kids are fond of doing this kind of things.almost every weekend i will go around the school campus to search for the wild plants.to tell you the truth,there are quite some that i cannot call out their names.i figure out when i gather enough seeds i will share with you all.
I have two photos of mine taken with my school as background.next time i will have a scanning,and post in here.
The sars seems to be disappearing in the area Guangdong province.but our school still warns us of keeping the high
watchout.so usually we will not go out of school if there is not something necessary to do.by the way,here we cure sars mainly by taking some herbial medicine (liquid water).

Jinhua, good to hear from you. I hope you have a great 2 day off. clever of you to enlist the children's help in collecting seeds for you!

enjoy your mini vacation.

yes,2 days off will be useful for me.i have found a new kind of plant nearby which is flowering purple flowers.i am planning to remove it in a pot.Thus my potted flowers in the teachers' office will be added to 6 .

My summer holiday just began, no school for almost 2,5 months. :) When do you have summer holiday there?

Evert, my kids get out this coming Friday but in other states they got out last week.

my kids dont get out till the 25th of june....

hello, jianhua!!! so wonderful to hear from you! what great news about the sars in your school town. i hope this is also true in your home town? are you still separated from your family, or will you get to leave the school for summer break and go home for a long visit? my kids have to go to school on monday to make up a severe weather day from earlier in the year...it will be a fun day for them to sign yearbooks and share their plans for the summer, so it's not so bad. my son, conor is graduating on June 4th...wow, i can finally push him out the nest and make him fly...hahaha...kidding!!

in japan, children's day is january 1st, i believe...is that right? i so miss all the ceremonial and celebratory traditions of the japanese. do the chinese girls put out their doll collections? i kinda remember that the doll collections were a very big deal in japan.

have you heard if your family got my package? i'm going to be so upset if they stole my package! i keep hoping it will be like the chinese green oil, and take like 3 months to arrive. except that i think it's been more than that, even.

i'm glad you are doing well, and so happy to see you posting. i've missed talking.

Greetings Jianhua!
So glad to see you back.I have enjoyed your descriptions of where you are so much.

School turned out on the 22nd and won't be back till the first week of August.I haven't forgotten about the class of American pen pals for your students.

Dinu's youngest daughter now has a class of 8 year olds who are writing to her.They got to exchange letters before school was out.It was exciting for all the children involved.

I have collected a few magazines for you that I feel that you will enjoy,so I hope that we get your new address soon.Maybe instead of sending seeds to your new home,magazines might be more useful at the moment.One that I have, has an article that mentions me in it.It talks about how I collect vegetable seeds from people.

It will be good to see you around DG again when you get your computers on line.
Be watching for you!

Oh, it will indeed be great to have you back here more often. You are so very missed!

Lucky kids, to have a teacher clever enough to foster an appreciation of wildflowers and inspire them to collect seeds. They will learn so many things from this simple activity. Many years from now, they will remember you fondly for your gentle guidance.

jianhua, i have heard of the floods in china, and seems most of the fatalities were near beijing...i'm not sure, only had one ear on the tv. i hope you and your students and your families are all doing well. you are in my thoughts every day, and i hope we hear from you soon.
love, meiyu

Jianhua,
I just saw this thread and have been thinking about your adventure. I am so glad your family is with you and you are safe from SARS. We have had it here in Florida but was controlled immediately. Please keep in touch, I love reading your posts. What interesting wild flowers you must find there. I have seen big banyan trees in parts of Florida and they are absolutely amazing. I love to sit under them to cool off and growing near them were huge stands of bamboo. What a sight.
Take care,
Connie