School trip

Kunming has been looking lovely the past few weeks with the blossom out everywhere [and hordes of people taking photos, but I can't blame them and I have indulged a little myself as well...]

The weekend before last, several of the foreign teachers, plus a load of people from the Foreign Affairs Office departed for a trip to Xingping (to the south of Kunming). Though we did spend quite a lot of time on the bus (and a very nice bus it was too), we visited some really spectacular mountainous areas, ate some nice food and stayed in a couple of reasonable hotels (shame about the karaoke place on the floor below us in one of them!) It's probably a place I wouldn't have gone to had I not been taken there, so that's an added bonus. We also had a police car with us the whole time as the Head of Security for the university decided to come with us on a jolly. His flashing lights came in handy one evening when we were following him to find a performance place and he pulled off down a side road...

Still hot and dry here - especially in my apartment. I like the way I get the extremes of temperature up here. It's not enough that I have to climb four flights of stairs several times a day, but I also freeze or fry depending on the weather... Hey ho.

'Frustrating' or a variation thereof is definitely the word of the last few weeks. I like teaching. A lot. But I find it difficult and frustrating trying to teach students who blatantly would rather be anywhere other than in an English class.

However, I have my first visitor from Britain here, so thank you, Sally, for making the effort to come and see me and for bringing Cadburys chocolate with you!!!