The TTC seems to have stayed the same. I expected advancements, but this is not so. They struggle to keep from falling backward on themselves. While most bus drivers are courteous, I have met those who are not. Once there was a detour because of a crime and police had closed the road. This driver did not even announce why he was detouring, so many people asked. He got so mad.

One day on the Yonge subway line I was able to try out the new subway trains. This is one long train that you can walk from one end to the other. Very nice. The schedule has LEDs that light red or green, but have no legend, so I did not know their meaning. Was I to guess? The loudness of these trains was by far much less than the old TTC subways, and much more comfortable. Annoying was the fact that the metal passenger handles on the roof and in the middle of the car squeaked incessantly when passengers and the train moved. This was a new train, and these metal handles were squeaking like rusted objects left out in the rain.

Finding your most efficient TTC route takes some time. The Finch East towards Yonge Street has had construction for the last year. Traffic was down to one lane, slowing the express bus to a crawl. That was the last I used that route.

As I knew before, most TTC commuters sleep. At leat 60% of all commuters close their eyes and try to wish away their commuting experience. Others have ear pieces and listen to music while sleeping. It is annoying to walk behind those that fiddle with their phones and e-toys, who slow down because they need to concentrate on their fiddling. Please, people, step aside and fiddle, and let others walk to their destination.

Electronic toys will be the death of many, I am sure. I saw some guy trip on the sidewalk while texting, and there was no break in the sidewalk. Two people walk into each other, both texting on their devices. It is comical. Darwin candidate?

People are as colourful as usual, with a variety of dress and looks. It is interesting to see them and analyze their dress. Pretty girls everywhere. To fit in and to look normal, seemingly.

I walk and look through my narrow periscope, trying to see the big picture. Maybe the solution is to aggregate these experiences and build up a composite.

Mary Ward's front door archway, a nice piece of steel and glass.

Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School is a high school located in North Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, or TCDSB. These tips are primarily from a parent’s viewpoint and will cover uniform, student attitude, working with teacher adviser (TA) and a little on courses. I hope this helps new grade 9 students.

School Uniform

MW will have a uniform fitting day, where new students will be able to purchase their uniform. Uniforms are expensive, and a good fit is important. Note that not all uniform sizes will be available on the fitting day. If your kid is smaller or larger than the norm, it is much better to go to Halpern’s, the uniform store where they have all the options as well as sales folk who know what they are doing. Blouses come in xs as well as youth m and s, which were not available on uniform day. Long sleeve polo shirts can be lengthened or shortened without charge, but you’ll need to wait 2 months. Halpern’s is conveniently located on Consumer’s Road, east of Victoria Park and Sheppard, and is within 20 minutes drive of MW.

Halpern’s has an excellent guarantee policy for their clothing, though you will need to retain your receipt. If you have not worn your uniform yet you can exchange it for a different size. For worn clothing they warranty their clothing for one school year for wear and tear damages. When the serging of one polo shirt started to fray out we returned to the store for a straight exchange. There was no hassle.

MW’s physical education uniform will be given out in PE class. Students receive a “Property of Mary Ward” t-shirt and basketball shorts. The “small” t-shirt is massive. I don’t know if you get a t-shirt each year or one for 4 years.

School uniform adherence varies with the grade. Grade 9 students are monitored somewhat strictly. Some teachers will not allow you to attend class unless properly dressed, while others will give you a warning. Kilts are supposedly to be no more than 13cm from the knee, but due to height differences this reveals more for shorter students and less for taller students. Older students are not monitored as strictly. Older students may be able to get away with wearing non-monogrammed white shirts, for example. While there is no official school tie, some students do wear one, passed down from older students.

Monitoring Students and Teacher Advisor

MW is an alternative school that has no set classes. Students are given lessons and a schedule in which to complete them. It is up to the students to seek help when required. I was initially concerned about this arrangement, as it could allow a student to fail miserably. A Teacher Advisor (TA) is assigned to a group of 16 students. A TA is a regular teacher that also doubles as the overall “helper teacher” for the student’s 4 years at MW.

My fears proved to be unnecessary. Students need check in with their TA thrice a day at 8:30am, 12:45pm and at 3:00pm. There is no ability to surreptitiously skip school. In Grade 9 students are initially coached but are expected to mess up their schedules some time during the year. It is normal for a student to slack off and fall behind the schedule. The first early warning is from the TA to the student, followed by a letter home to the parents, and then a phone call from the TA to the parents. I find this system provides plenty of warning to parents. If parents are uninterested in their child’s progress then the student will fail the course. Summer school is available to those that have done at least some of the work.

There are 18 units in a course. Some units require the student to attend seminars, similar to a classroom lesson. I found it difficult to understand the importance and grading of each unit and how this affects the overall course grade. Instead I focused on ensuring that all units could be completed given the remaining time within the school year. If all units cannot be completed within the school year remedial summer school classes are required. Communication with the TA will help the parent assess if the student has the ability to complete the course within the remaining time.

If a student falls so far behind as to not be able to finish the course they may be told to attend “Student Success” classes, which are classroom taught classes that allow them to catch up. Students do less work and receive a lower mark but still pass.

I found dealing with the TA very friendly and effective. I found Mrs Holmes empathetic, reasonable and effective. She always returned my phone calls. I found it very helpful to cultivate a friendly relationship with the TA early in Grade 9 so that when an intervention is required it will be swiftly dealt with. Other teachers at MW may not return your call, as I found out.

Exams and Preparation

At the end of the year there are exams. Students have one week to prepare for exams but cannot normally start studying beforehand. This is because each unit is returned to the teacher for grading and not handed back to the student. Only a week before the exam, these units are returned. You may ask for your units early but may not receive them. A teacher may tell students to study certain units for the exam but this may not encompass all the exam’s content. There are a maximum of 2 exams per day and there is ample time given to prepare. Early exams are also available.

Extra Fees

The yearly school registration fee of $90 covers locker, lock, yearbook, gym uniform, school BBQ, etc. Almost all courses have extra fees. For us we were charged extra course fees of $60 at the beginning of the year. For music you are required to purchase a mouthpiece or reeds.

Gym had an extra $40 for rock and rope climbing and $20 for a CPR course. Activity day fees are up to $70, depending on the activity chosen.

Grade 9 Elective Courses

I do not have first hand knowledge of all grade 9 electives. It is best to talk to returning grade 9 students before choosing electives. Yes these are optional courses but are still learning opportunities that should not be squandered.

Instrumental Music seems to be elitist and geared to the development of the school band. Students with prior musical experience in Woodwinds and horns are given priority when selecting instruments. Other students will strings or no music experience will be given unpopular instruments that other students have rejected. It may be better to ask to switch courses rather than have a student play an instrument they detest. Instruments are assigned one month after school starts.

Vocal Music is a lot of work and practice. You will perform in the Christmas and Spring concerts as well as the annual play. For those who liked singing students found it interesting. You need to make a commitment to follow the separate schedule for the music department. The teacher can be overly critical of students.

Food & Nutrition actually does very little cooking. There is lots of information about nutrition, which is good. If your child is already somewhat familiar with your kitchen then this course will be boring. On the other hand if your child never helps you prepare a meal, then this course will be a good introduction.

Drama is a simple course where you participate in games in the classroom. This course is for those that detest work. Drama students participate in the annual play. Students really like this course as it is fun.

Visual Arts is a lot of fun. This is a course for people who enjoy art. There are field trips. There is sketching, water colour, sculpting and other aspects of art. Students plan the school art show. Students participate in an egg drop where you build a device to protect the egg as it is dropped off the top of the school.

Business is very technical with a lot of computer time. You are given all your units at once. There are presentations, excel spreadsheets, letter writing, Photoshop, etc. There were mixed reviews from students, who thought it was easy and somewhat boring.

Tech makes projects out of wood. You make a race car, cutting board and a quest project (student chosen project). Tech is very well received, as is the Mr Emer and Harrison, the teachers.

TTC to School, bicycle parking

There are three TTC bus routes to MW: 42 Cummer, 43 Kennedy, and 17C Birchmount (Short turns at Kennedy east of McNichol). 42B Cummer stops at Kennedy and returns westbound. 17C Birchmount can be unreliable and is infrequent. After school it passes the school only ONCE between 3:00 and 3:15, after which there are no other 17C buses. 43 Kennedy is extremely crowded. Leave home early if you rely on this bus.

When the weather is good you can ride your bicycle to school. There is bicycle parking at the school entrance as well as behind the community centre near the fitness centre. Not many kids ride bikes. It is reasonably safe to lock your bike to the bike rack.

Overall my experience as a parent has been positive and reassuring. Yes, there are issues that arise but they are dealt with accordingly. more importantly the feedback from students I have met has been decidedly positive, and they should know.

Get on the bus in Changzhi (3.5M population) at Dongguan station. This station is east of the main Changzhi train station, and is not far. The bus fare is about 20RMB for the 480km distance to Licheng. Sometimes there will be a crash along the route so the bus will vote on taking the highway. This is more expensive and everyone pays for the toll. It is still better than waiting on the road for hours. Crashes are common on these roads, particularly the coal trucks. The bus is a small mianbaoche, seating about 30 people, including luggage. Buses are reasonably clean. Licheng is on the train line.

The Changzhi-Licheng bus starts at Dongguan bus terminal in Changzhi, Shanxi, China

The overall route takes you from Changzhi’s Dongguan bus station, along the National 309 road (G309), which parallels the Changhan Expressway. G309 goes for about 48 kms to Licheng (1M population), where you can then take a bus to Dongyangguan (4k population) and eventually Changning. Cut off G309 north on a side road for another 2 kms to ChangNing (2k population). Further north is Longwangmiao (1k population) and Quixiuyuan (1k population).

The trip Changzhi-Licheng-Dongyangguan-Changning-Longwangmiao, Shanxi, China

The Changzhi-Licheng bus will drop you off at the main Licheng bus terminal. You will need to exit the bus terminal, and walk north to the main square, on the 15s of the hour a bus will stop that will go to Changning. The central square is north and east of the bus stop. The bus stop is in front of a 2 story department store. The cost is 4RMB, but there are private taxis that, while crowded, are faster and only cost 2RMB. They are, of course, illegal.

Downtown Licheng's central square, where you catch the bus to Changning, Shanxi, China

The Licheng bus terminal (bottom right) is south-east of the Main Square. Licheng, Shanxi, China

The Licheng-Dongyangguan map, Shanxi Province, China

Dongyangguan-Changning-Quixiuyuan map, Shanxi, China

along the road north to Changning, on the left side you’ll pass a large fertilizer factory. At the Changning stop there is a circular pond, about 15m wide. To the east is ChangNing’s main road. To the west is the road to Xincun. The 1 km long road into the village is bordered on both sides with crop fields. As you enter the village turn north until the road ends. At this intersection there is the old road into the village back to the main road. Take this road at your peril. It is dirt and washed out, difficult to traverse by motorcycle but walkable. The bus will stop if you flag it down. On the east side of this intersection about 40m is XiaoYi’s house.

Map of ChangNing, Shanxi Province, China

From ChangNing the road will continue north and then fork at Longwangmiao. Take the east road (right) to Quixiuyuan.

Map of QiuXiuYuan, Shanxi, China

The entrance to Qiuxiuyuan has large concrete blocks that prevent large buses and trucks from entrance, but there is space for a car. Continue into the village but be careful of villagers and children walking to their homes. There are so few cars here that most people don’t expect anything larger than a loud motorcycle. At the pond (50m from the entrance), car traffic northbound is difficult. Travel north 15m, going up the steep hill. Turn left and follow this to the end, which will make a right hand turn. The entrance has a gate with a roof.

Following the main road that parallels Quixiuyuan gets very bumpy. There are large concrete blocks at the border of Shanxi and Hebei, blocking cars and trucks, around 3.5m from Qiuxiuyuan. Coal trucks stop and turn around here. Further travel is possible by motorcycle into Hebei Province, but there are no larger towns in the area. There are no authorized gas stations in the area, but one illegal one.

This area of Shanxi Province, China is restricted to foreigners. Police will prosecute and expel foreigners. If you are not of Chinese heritage you cannot hide, as this area is homogeneous Chinese. You need to be fluent in Mandarin to be understood. The local dialect is markedly different from Mandarin. There are numerous police in Changzhi and a Shoupaichu at Dongyangguan. From Dongyangguan to Qiuxiuyuan there are many coal trucks but few cars, some motorcycles and almost no police.

Outlining this trip with maps could not be done without Google Maps. Even peering into the countryside of The People’s Republic of China, finding roads used, looking into villages that are no larger than 1,000 people and being able to almost identify individual houses that you visited is quite remarkable. Even more remarkable is to be able to do this in a strictly controlled communist country.

Burned buses blocked traffic intersections in Downtown Beijing

In our dorm a group of us huddled around, talking about the protests when an excited student arrived. He had just returned from the Square and told us about the killings. I still recall his nonchalant attitude, of telling us an everyday story. He was with a Chinese friend, who was beside him. He heard gunfire and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately his friend did not and was killed. He had his friend’s blood on his shirt. Not only was he not afraid for his life, but thought that the event was so cool. Very cool. Your friend is now dead, and you could have returned to the States in a body bag. That’s so not cool. This guy was actually preparing to return to the Square to see what else was happening.

I returned to my room and turned on my shortwave. These were the days of CCTV only at set times of the day, and no private phones, much less internet. I recall VOA’s broadcast of events as being sketchy on the details. VOA had broadcast that Chinese soldiers had surrounded Beijing University and other nearby universities. I knew that was not true, and hoped my parents were not listening to the broadcast. BBC was much more measured and had more accurate information, which I could verify with eye witness and personal accounts. From that day I had much respect for the BBC’s reporting integrity.

I had a lunch meeting with a Chinese friend the next day, but was not sure if we could still meet. I called her house and she was home. She told me that it was much too dangerous for me to travel down to her place and wanted to postpone. I said I still wanted to visit so she agreed. Her brother, who was about 12 at the time, had gone down to the Square’s perimeter to face the soldiers on the front line and had taunted them and swore at them, and was almost fired upon. They had run after him but he ran away. She was afraid that her brother would get into trouble, be beaten up or killed. He was livid that the Chines People’s Liberation Army would kill their own unarmed citizens.

The University was abuzz with activity, more than usual. As I rode my bike I noticed that all was not well in Beijing. At almost every street intersection cars were blocking the road. Citizens were out on the street screaming loudly and crying. Car traffic had stopped. In the beginning I was able easily ride around cars at intersections, but as I got closer to the city centre more often than not I had to puck up my bike and carry it over the grass dividers that separated traffic.

Very odd was my first sighting of Beijing public transit buses at intersections, torched black. They had obviously been set ablaze and left to block the intersection. I wondered why would people block the intersections anyway, and why would citizens set so many buses on fire? Cars were also turned over and also had been set ablaze.

Beijing was in total chaos. Traffic lights were not working. Intersections were all blocked. There were no police in sight at any intersection. In fact I saw no police nor police vehicles the whole day. As I got closer to the Square I was very thankful I had a 10 speed bicycle, which I could easily pick up and carry over obstacles. There was no way a car could traverse the city.

And all this because of a peaceful student protest? A protest that I thought would peter out. It had been over a month and the university students were back in their dorms recovering. As I looked around the streets I could see that the protest had become much bigger, including workers and common citizens. When trouble brews in China escalation can happen pretty quickly and can easily get out of hand.

Typical Chinese long distance bus. Note the careful packing

When I ride on public transportation in China I realize there are a whole different set of rules. I’ve long gotten over getting upset over small breaches of etiquette, particularly pointless because the Chinese do not believe they committed any error. Cuss all you like. In China, follow Chinese etiquette.

Acceptable Behaviour: China
General

• Not Yielding your Seat: Most buses have no reserved seating for the elderly, the disabled, the pregnant, or for kids. You payed for your ticket, so you sit where you want. There’s no moral obligation to give your seat to anyone.The old foggies and kids need exercise anyway. Ditto the pregnant lady. Disabled people can stand up or they should stay home. In China everyone is treated equally. I have my ticket and you have yours.
• Kids get their own seat: Only if they have paid for a ticket for the kid and you can prove it. Babies and small kids are free.
• Kid’s shoes dirty up your pants: Ok. The little darlings may be the Devil Incarnate but they can still intentionally soil your trousers. Proper etiquette is to smile nicely to the brat and swear at them under your breath.
• Carrying livestock: Oh yea, it’s alright to hang the chickens upside down, or to have a net bag of turtles, with their heads sticking out of the holes.
• Loud talking or yelling to your friend: Even if your friend is at the front of the bus and you are at the back, yell and have a conversation. No one really cares.
• Carrying large packages and leaving them at the door until you get off: It’s all Ok, no matter that it blocks everyone else’s access. They can climb, can’t they?
• Reading your neighbour’s newspaper: Share and share alike, yea, go for it. I’ve even seen strangers demand parts of the paper before the owner was finished.

Personal Hygiene

• Spitting:
  1. out the window: Perfectly acceptable, bonus points for hitting a cyclist or pedestrian. Spit forcefully enough or lean out the window so that passengers a couple windows behind you don’t get any blowback,
  2. in the vehicle: This must be directed at the ground, near your feet and cannot hit your neighbour’s feet or baggage
• Smoking on the bus: A given in rural locales, very acceptable everywhere else
• Cutting fingernails: Join in and be part of the gang.
• Eating sunflower seeds and spitting the husks on the floor: Very acceptable. Ditto for egg shells and other refuse. There’s no need to clean up, the garbage will automagically disappear.
• Sharing food with strangers: More common in rural areas, it’s perfectly acceptable.

Getting on and off

• Stooping on the ground: Before the bus comes you can crouch on the ground like everyone else. Over time you’ll get used to it. Split and clear your throat as much as you like.
• Getting on: Every man for himself. You need not line up to get a bus or subway. It’s simpler to just push/shuffle your way to the front, the harder the push the better.
• Pushing others out of the way to get on: Only acceptable for the elderly. This is common throughout China
• Yelling at the Bus Driver for the next stop: Very acceptable. You can even yell at him to drop you off before the next stop
• Let people off the bus before you board: Whomever is quickest and strongest gets on first. Some of those old people have sharp elbows, so beware.
• When on an airplane that is taking off: sitting in your seat and fastening the seat belt is strictly optional
• Move someone’s bag or package so you can sit down: Go for it! Totally Ok, and within your rights. You did pay a ticket.
• Sticking your head out the window: How else can you spit accurately?
• When your stop approaches, yell at everyone that you’re getting off, then start pushing towards the door: With finesse, even a laowai can learn this. If others are also getting off they will tell you, so don’t push them out of the way.

Acceptable Behaviour: Canada

• Slouch so that you take up 2 seats: Yes, it is often done. Look like an escaped murderer and stare down anyone who even thinks of asking you to move your stuff.
• Playing music so loud that the who back of the bus can lip synch: It’s done all the time, feel free.
• Talk loudly on your cell phone about your personal life: It’s all ok and it does not matter if others hear you. They are strangers.
• Show your underwear and your low cut jeans: Thongs more than Ok. Boxers in the breeze are Ok.
• Apply makeup on the bus and subway: It’s done all the time
• Ladies first: Hmm. That’s a tough one. Maybe for the older folk.
• Crowding around the front of the bus: No matter what the driver says, you can huddle near the front door, no matter that there is lots of space at the back of the bus. Other people waiting to get on can take the next bus.