Must learn Chinese... must learn Chinese...

I have just this morning finalised my travel arrangements for next week's holiday. As I think I wrote before, I'm returning to Pingxiang (scene of last year's visit to China) to see Steven, Rose, Jasmine etc. I had booked the train ticket there (all 28 hours of it!) in plenty of time, knowing how busy the trains will be at this time of the year. I was trying to avoid taking a plane because it's quite expensive in relation to my salary here. However, there were only 4 tickets available on the train I wanted to take coming back and, of course, they were quickly snapped up by those with friends in high places... So, a quick bit of internet surfing last night found me a plane ticket from Changsha to Kunming (I'll take a bus to Changsha early doors in order to catch my flight). A 'conversation' this morning in Chinese (!?!?!) with the delivery man, me pedalling madly round campus trying to find him and a dodgy handover of hard cash found me the proud owner of a plane ticket. Cinderella will get back to Kunming in time for classes on Monday! (Fingers crossed).

Yippee! Anyway, I have to finish planning my class for tomorrow morning (Saturday!) As we are only allowed 3 days for the holiday, Wednesday and Friday's classes have to be 'made up' this weekend... Luckily, I only have one class on Wednesday and none on Friday.

Oh, I had a request for more pictures. I'm afraid I haven't taken any for ages, but here are a couple from when I was in Chengdu. One is in the grounds of a temple and the other is a Chinese tourist shop at DuFu's House (he was a famous Chinese poet).

'Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.' Ernest Shackleton

Are these your own words?

Morning all. Today sees me marking assignments for the second day in a row - yippee! I have to set assignments for my 3 writing classes. I'm supposed to set 10 over the semester, but I'm not sure that that's going to happen as I have about 150 students in the 3 classes - that's a lot of work to mark! I made the mistake of not reminding students that their writing must be their own work - the first few I read were so obviously lifted (either in part or entirely) from books or the internet. Next lesson will start with a short presentation on the word 'plagiarism'...

Last weekend I made my first trip to the swimming pool in Kunming. It's called 'Tudong' swimming pool and is in the East of the city, close to the Camelia Hotel. I went with one of my students and her boyfriend. It seemed fine, apart from the greenish tinge at both the shallow and deep ends. Hmmm.

Monday saw me reading the commentary for the promotional video that is being made for the university. If you remember, last week I got roped into appearing in the video. Someone liked my accent and so they asked me to read the commentary as well. Lucky me. I'll have my 15 minutes of fame yet.

Oh well, back to those assignments. Wish me luck!

It is China, after all...

Well, yesterday was my last Wednesday-masquerading-as-a-Friday as the first years are back next week and so I'll have a class on Thursday as well.

Anyway, it was quite an interesting Wednesday, as it happens. I managed finally to get hold of a library card for the campus library and found that they actually have quite a lot of novels written in English and also various textbooks in English. I decided (foolishly!) to try and borrow a book. All was fine, I even managed to find the man to scan the barcode in the book so I could borrow and was able to ask him when it was due back. However, as I tried to exit the library I set off the alarms on the doors and had to return to the main desk (yet another 'stupid-foreigner-who-has-no-idea-what-she's-doing' moment). As a crowd began to gather, they finally realised that all that was needed was to swipe the book along the magnetic thingy so that it wouldn't set off the alarm! Yippee. It's often less than straightforward here...

Then mid-afternoon I got a phone call from our contact in the Foreign Affairs Office asking me if I could come straightaway and appear in a promotional film for the university. Obviously, I had had no prior warning. I had no good reason to refuse, so I off I went, with Jared in tow. Turns out that they are trying to get some funding or some involvement from the European Commission for some programme, and the deadline for submissions is looming. As it was a nice day (yep, the sun has reappeared in Kunming) the pressure was on to shoot some footage of the university, which included the new foreign teachers. Oh well, we managed to get it done fairly painlessly and provided some entertainment for the nearby gardeners! Don't know what the European Commission will think of it, though.

I went to an English speaking competition last night (second night in a row), as one of my students was speaking. I'm glad I wasn't judging, as these things do seem to go on for a while. On the first night the students have to do a prepared speech on a common topic. The second night they have to do an improvised speech (they get the topic 10 minutes beforehand) and they each have a different topic. They then have to answer a question on their prepared speech from the night before. Not easy - hats off to the students who get up there and have a go.

I've been invited back to Pingxiang (where I spent a couple of months last year) for the October week holiday. So I cycled into town today to attempt to purchase a ticket for the train. Even on a fast train it takes 25 hours, but it's all I can really afford. You can only buy tickets 10 days in advance and I had no luck today for 30th September (except for train which takes an epic 38 hours! No thanks.) I'll keep trying - it would be really nice to see the people I met there last year.

I know I have talked about cycling in China before, but I have a couple of things to add. One is that apart from the big junctions, cycling is actually not too dangerous. Most roads have a separate lane for bikes, scooters and sometimes people. It's normally ok if you can cope with people on mopeds beeping their horns to tell you they are behind you. It's only when you get to junctions that it's a bit of a free-for-all and basically, if it's bigger than you, you give way! There are many bicycle parks in town. You leave your bike and, for a small fee, someone keeps an eye on it for you. They even have one at Carrefour.

Well, that's all for now. Don't forget to add your comments, even if it's just a cheery 'hello!'

'The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life.' Arthur Miller

Consequences

So, the meal last Thursday was really good. We went a long way in a mini-van, but it was worth it! The food was delicious and there were free massages, singing and dancing. It was a minorities-themed restaurant - very colourful and lots of rice wine flowing! Some of the university leaders were there. The Vice-President of the university came over to talk to me and share a toast - he had been told that I was English and he is very fond of England, having studied at Hull University of all places!! The head (or maybe it was the second-in-commande - not sure!) of the Foreign Affairs Office told me I looked like someone out of Braveheart (I think he meant William Wallace's wife rather than one of the dirty hilltribe people!!)

Russ's friend, Nelson, is visiting, so last night we went out to a couple of bars including one of our favourites, Speakeasy. Unfortunately, I managed to slip on the stairs and now have an ankle the size of a football (or near enough!). Good job my class tomorrow morning is on the 8th floor.

The glorious age of the ... horse?!?!

Afternoon campers.

Well, yesterday afternoon I decided that I was in need of exercise, so I once more risked life and limb (and probably my lungs!) on the roads of Kunming. I went in search of an alternative route to Wicker Basket. I managed to find one, having ended up at a dead end once, then following lots of other people along the side of a small river, which proved to be an interesting short cut. In a second I went from high-rise modern apartment buildings to old country-side type houses built on a hill-side. It was like going from one decade to the next. What completed the picture was that alonside the cars, bicycles, scooters and buses were lots and lots of horse-drawn carts. Now I've seen a lot of these on the roads here already and the horses all seem to be tiny scrawny things. Usually the carts have all sorts of things on them - one time we saw one piled high with grass (the stuff that your lawn's made of). This time the carts they were pulling were actually for people to ride in - up to 6 at a time plus driver. Those horses must be stronger than they look! One man shouted something at me and two other men then turned round and grinned, but fortunately ignorance is bliss and I haven't got a clue what he was saying!

I completed my circuit - almost an hour which is enough with that much adrenaline going round your system. Tee hee. Then Jared and I road-tested his bottom of the range badminton racquets. We were wondering before we started why exactly they were so cheap as they seemed ok. However, the tape round the handle quickly slid down to one end and the plastic end of my racquet came off. Several times. I abandoned it completely in the end. But our game gave the Chinese students some entertainment. A lot of people walking by were curious to see whether or not the foreigners could play tennis, while a few just blatantly laughed (neither of us had played for a while, it was windy and the sun was in my eyes, ok?) Maybe 5pm is not the best time to play (almost everyone on campus goes to eat at 5pm and it's even more like Piccadilly Circus than normal).

My writing class as usual got progressively better as the week went on. It's also because the class size reduces as the week progresses (I have 3 classes - 59, 47 and then 39 students). Luckily, my visitor chose the Wednesday class to visit. Some random Chinese man just came and sat down in my class and made some notes. Turns out he was a leader or someone and was checking my teaching! Glad I didn't know at the time... Fortunately, the class went well with good contributions from the students and his report was favourable.

Russ has returned from his trip to Shangri-la (Zhongdian) with lots of good tales. I think I will take a trip there with Lois and possibly also Russ in the October holiday. So, of course, we went out last night. We found a new bar called 'Le Cafe de Camel'. We weren't overly impressed - it was a bit dead. Even a power cut didn't really liven things up. But it was Wednesday night after all. Plus they did some mean cocktails and they have live music at the weekend. We bumped into a Belgian guy who has being living in Kunming for 3 years but doesn't work!!! What does he do all day? I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions...

Thanks to last night, today has been something of a write-off. Tonight we have the meal for all the foreign teachers, organised by the Foreign Affairs Office. Should be good. Tomorrow I'll mostly be painting flags and lesson planning.

'If at first you don't succeed, failure might be your style.' Quentin Crisp (haha!)

Still learning to teach!

Well, the teaching seems to be going ok so far, though I am of course back on a very steep learning-curve. Some students like to try and sleep in class, while others want to read their newspapers in Chinese. But apart from a reluctance to learn from some quarters, the students are generally nice and friendly. Getting them to listen when someone is talking seems to be an uphill struggle. No mean feat when you have getting on for 60 students! Ah well...

The meal with Foreign Affairs Department has been moved to tomorrow night.

Yesterday I had a random phone call from a Chinese student (Zack) who was friends (last year) with the person who lived in my apartment before me. He seems keen to make friends with me as well, so I guess I'll meet up with him at some point for a beer or two. Why not? Might help me with my Chinese as well.

Well, here are some more photos of Kunming.

Chinese chalk

Monday is the day of the monster speaking class - all two hours twenty-five minutes of it! Yippee. And the chalk here is soooo dusty and regularly breaks when you're writing with it. Which is nice.

Apart from that, I went for an hour's bike ride yesterday with Jared. The further we got away from the centre of the city, the dirtier the kids got! We never did make it properly out of the city, but we got to the outskirts and some nice leafy parts. I'd really like a better bike to be able to make it up the hills a little bit more easily, and I definitely need some new break blocks...!

Last night we met up with a PhD student from the University of Western Australia. Russ is here working on his thesis for a few months in China. He is based in Kunming, but he is studying the effects of modernisation the growing economy on rural areas of Yunnan. It all sounds really interesting, plus he showed us a place where you can get good pizza!

On Wednesday the Foreign Affairs Office is taking all the foreign teachers out for a meal - should be fun! I'll let you know how it is...

'If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.' Maya Angelou

It's all about the little things.

Sorry to talk about the weather, but today for the first time in a while we have rain - yippee! Being British, it makes me feel kind of at home. What makes me feel even more at home is that Jared and I went for lunch today at a restaurant called 'Wicker Basket'. It serves Western food - I had falafel (!) and fries followed by Oreo cheesecake and Jared had a bacon & cheese burger. Yum! A trip to Metro supermarket (a big bulk-buying type place) followed for more Western treats, such as French wine. Normal you get a card to use this supermarket through your business, but it seems that foreigners get cards just for being foreign. And why not?!?!

So, I actually managed to drag myself out of bed not long after dawn this morning and did a few laps of the campus running track. Some people were running , some were walking (both forwards and backwards) and some were doing exercises round the edge. Some were students and some were older folk. I struggled - don't know whether it's the altitude or a month with not much exercise... I'll go with altitude, I reckon!

Right, am going to see if I can work out how to add links to this now...

Have a good weekend!

'An idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.' Anton Chekov

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it!

Hello people

Well, now I know that at least one person is reading my blog (thanks Jess!) I will write some more...

Teaching started this week at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics. As far as I knew, my classes started on Tuesday. The timetabled class I had for Monday was not due to start as they were first years (or so I thought!) and they have military training at the start of term. However, at about 10am, I got a call telling me I was supposed to be teaching. Yippee! So I had to teach a speaking class for nearly two and a half hours with no materials and no preparation. And it was on the 9th floor! Can't even remember now what I did with them - haha! Oh well, as Nietzche said 'That which does not kill us...' So, I've decided that the two most important qualities for living and working in China are patience and a sense of humour. The phrase to keep in mind (as one of the other foreign teachers said to me) is 'water off a duck's back'.

Anyway, the rest of my classes this week have passed off without problems, largely due to their being slightly more expected! I asked the students to write about what they wanted to learn in English class. A couple of classics: 'I hate English. We had to learn English in Middle School. If I had a choice I would learn Japanese or Korean.' Ok... Then one student came up to me and explained that they had already done what we were doing in class (introductions) and that maybe it was a bit boring! Thanks for that... (that was the class I had no chance to prepare for!)

The other teachers here are: Russ (ex-lawyer from New York), Jared (American, just out of University), Scott (Canadian, experienced teacher), Craig (American and here with his Chinese wife, Vicki), Lois (American, retired psychologist and very gutsy), Carlotta (American and has been in Kunming a while), Rouhe (says she's Canadian) and Tim (American, married with kids).

Since the youngsters (Russ & Jared) arrived, I've been able to explore some of the local nightspots a little. We're starting to meet Chinese people as well, which is especially good as we're all keen to improve our Chinese. We're thinking of engaging a teacher and are going to try the free classes here at the University. We've also been trying out the different types of food available in Kunming - including pizza!

I have finally been struck down by some lurgy and spent last night with bad stomach ache. It's better today, but not much. I will have to call on Laurent's famous remedy - Coca cola.

'Eighty percent of success is showing up.' Woody Allen

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