16 March 2014

Hi  everyone,

My second weekly post.  Still feeling a bit nervous about blogging, but here goes.  Please note that dollars in my blog are US$, unless otherwise stated (the Aussie dollar is too volatile).

Canberra connection

Over 3,000 local and foreign journalists covered the annual meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing 5 to 13 March 2014, so it is likely that you saw some coverage on your news channel.  Did you recognise the spokesperson?  You may have - she was the Chinese Ambassador to Australia 10 years ago and some of you would have met her at that time.

I am talking about Fu Ying, China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.  She was Ambassador to Australia and then to the United Kingdom, before taking up her current position in 2009.  Unusually, Fu Ying  is from the Chinese Mongolian minority; she was born in the Province of Inner Mongolia in 1953.

21 June 2004 Ambassador Fu Ying in Canberra receiving illegally imported Chinese fossils seized by Australian Customs.

5 March 2014 Fu Ying answering questions as spokesperson of the NPC meeting in Beijing.  She impressed with her wit and urbanity.

As an activity this week, I asked the 82 students in my Oral English classes to talk about a recent item of news, and why they thought it was of interest.  Guess how many mentioned the NPC meeting in Beijing?  Not one!

The most popular topic was the disappearance of flight MH370, followed by World Consumer Rights Day (15 March), and other topics, but none chose the NPC and yet that has been the lead story on every news broadcast (TV and newspapers) for the last week. Interesting - do they see through all the hoopla, and consider it just a big talk-fest?  Or maybe Chinese college students are just not interested in politics (same as most college kids the world over!).

Welcome little Eddie

Andrew and Caroline had a baby boy on 14 March 2014, our 4th grandson!  His name Eddie Zoltan Olah, 3.7 kg, 49.5 cm.  After a long and complicated labour, finally Caroline had a C-section.  Mother and baby (and father) doing well.  He has already been nick-named "Teddy" because he is as chubby as a little teddy bear, but my preference is "Zolly".  What do you think?

By the way, he is the 5th generation Olah with the name Zoltan (my grandfather, my father, me, Andrew, and now Eddie).  Something special.

Medical issues

A little mole appeared on my forehead a couple of months ago, so last week I went to a big hospital near us and saw a skin specialist.  She examined the mole, and said it was not serious.  I asked her to 'freeze' it off, but she didn't want to and instead prescribed an ointment which she assured me would shrink the mole over time. Two small bottles of the ointment cost all of $1.60!

We then went to the dental clinic in the hospital and spoke to an oral surgeon about a tooth implant.  He had lived in Canada so it was great to be able to converse in English.  He immediately arranged for an x-ray ($45), which showed that an implant was possible. He explained that there is Chinese material but the quality is variable and his clinic only uses imported material from Korea. America and Germany.  He quoted between $1,500 and $1,700 for the implant, depending on the origin of the material.

Gulp, that's 10 weeks salary for me! But the place was spotless, they had the latest equipment, and I could communicate with the dentist so I decided to go ahead. I chose the German implant, and made an appointment for later in the week for the operation.

The operation took about 90 minutes and seemed to go well.  He wants to see me in a week for a check-up; then wait for 3 months for the jaw to settle before adding a crown, which will cost an additional $600.   So, all up the new tooth should cost about $2,400.

That may sound reasonable by Australian standards (why are implants so so so so expensive?), but it is a lot of money in China.  One is never too sure about the quality of dental care in another country, so fingers crossed that it all works out OK.

The mystery of the missing plane

Yesterday the Malaysian Prime Minister announced that MH370 had veered far off its designated course.  Why did it take 7 days to figure that out?  More questions than answers at this stage, but it does not look good for the passengers.

On 15 March it was announced that MH370 turned left and crossed the Malaysian Peninsular. Where did it end up? CNN came up with this graphic showing two likely flight paths.  

The whole world is holding its breath .....

Ukraine

The situation in the Ukraine is messy; a nightmare finding a solution acceptable to the major interest groups.  A referendum is being held today in Crimea on its future status - predictions are that more than 80% of the populace support joining Russia.  If true, how can such a decisive majority be ignored?  What would you do?

I didn't realise that so many people in the Eastern part of the Ukraine have such strong links to Russia.

...

That's it for another week.

Take care, and keep smiling.  After a cold spell last week the weather has suddenly warmed.  Today reached 14C.  Could this be the start of Spring?

This changeable weather has affected many - including Vera - she has had the flu for about 10 days.  Get well soon!

Best wishes,  alex & vera olah (in Qingdao, China)