It's dog-eat-dog, oh no, sorry...

So, Rick was out running the other morning. Several dogs barked at him - nothing new there, but a couple were a bit more vicious, teeth bared etc. He bent down to get a stone to throw at them to get rid of them and they soon scarpered. Their new-found aggression could mean that they know...

Know what? It's winter you see. He also passed a woman shaving a newly-dead dog with a Bic razor.

Winter is definitely dog-eating time of year in China.

Bon appetit!

Swine flu and other adventures

Swine flu has arrived at Pingxiang College. We got a phone call at lunchtime last Wednesday to tell us that lessons had been cancelled for a week, due to an outbreak of swine flu on campus! Yippee. Rick was at the time in the middle of a bad cold, so our boss was a bit anxious (phoning every day for an update on his condition, offering trips to the hospital, drips, swine flu vaccinations etc.), but we seem to be OK so far.

So, we're mostly enjoying being lazy. We had planned to go away on a motorbike trip, but it's really a bit cold for that at the moment. And it's not sunny either. We set off this morning for a short trip and were back in PX two hours later, freezing! Still, it was good to get out in the fresh air. We saw an old broken-down building (see photo), lots of cold people and a few dogs.

At PXC they're continuing to demolish a small hill on campus, to make way for some building or other - not sure what (see photos). I had to try and compete last Tuesday (when I was teaching) with a 'pecker' - one of those attachments they put on diggers to chip away at rock and / or concrete. I thought my voice was going to go. I did of course get the students to shut all the windows, but they don't fit very well and double glazing... what's that? I remember trying to explain it to my students once. Don't think there's much of it round here.

As for adventures... not much of those lately! I've been working on my MA, planning my assignment and doing some reading. I've also been preparing for my trip home in January - yippee! And, I've been trying to sort out more photos so that I can finally post about the summer trip.

Watch this space...

The [not really] welcome to China tour, 2009

I can believe it's already November and I still haven't written about our summer motorbike trip.

We set off on 3rd July, 2009 and returned to Pingxiang on 28th August. We covered a total of around 9,250kms - equivalent to going from London to Basra and back, as the crow flies. Oh, and the bikes were only 125ccs.

It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, and also one of the most amazing. At the moment 'difficult' is what I think of before 'amazing', but I'm sure that in time 'amazing' will win. We didn't have any major problems. I came off my bike twice, but both times at relatively slow speed and I suffered nothing worse than grazed elbows and bruised and grazed knees. However, it was the sheer physical exhaustion, the low temperatures and high altitude, and the fact that I was way out of my comfort zone that made it difficult. I guess that living in China means that I am already out of my comfort zone, but when you're actually living somewhere, you find ways to make it more like 'home' and to, well, just to make things easier. When you're carrying everything you need on the back of a motorbike, you don't have many comforts. As well as that there is the human factor. If I thought the staring was bad here in Pingxiang, it's nothing to what we encountered in the middle of nowhere in China. Understandable, really. Two foreigners, which is surprising enough, but also two foreigners riding motorbikes [how can they ride motorbikes?] and who had, judging by the licence plates, ridden them a long way.

As a relatively inexperienced rider, it was a steep learning curve for me, not least because of the poor quality of lots of roads in China, and also because of the horrendous driving. I was absolutely physically exhausted at the end of each day, and then we had to find a hotel for the night. Sometimes we were lucky and found a reasonable one quite quickly. More often we found one which was acceptable (but not that nice) quite quickly, and occasionally we had to look for a long time and then only found a fairly nasty one.

One of the worst things, though, in the first few days, was discovering that there are places in Hunan (the next province to the one where we live) where foreigners are not permitted without a special travel permit. More of that later...

PS - alternative names for our trip: 'Welcome to China, but not this bit' or 'Welcome to China. Give us your money and bu**er off!'

Strange things about China

It seems that winter might finally be on the way. I'm wearing a polo-neck for the first time in a long time and am contemplating putting the other duvet on the bed [we got a new one and it has two parts that you can fix together]. Anyway, it's not bad for the third week in October, I suppose.

So, the new first years (or 'freshmen' as they like to call them here) have been with us for over a month and a half now. Given that their first two weeks were taken up in military training, we could call it roughly a month that they've been 'loose' on campus. Enough time you would have thought [or I would've thought] for them to get used to the sight of foreigners on campus, right? No. Sadly not. I'm sure they got over it much quicker last year, but Rick swears that it went on for the whole year. So we're still being subjected on a daily basis to what I can only describe as 'weirdness'. People suddenly starting to speak English when we're near them. Now, they're not speaking to us - oh no, they're just spouting all the English phrases they know. People shouting 'hallloooo! to us from a distance' - they're not being friendly and they're certainly not trying to communicate with us. It's just some kind of reflex reaction [see a foreigner, 'say hello'] and, I have to say, weird.

Today after class I was checking some students' work and students from the next class started coming into the classroom. Suddenly, I was aware of a few 'hallloooooooo's and 'nice to meet you's from the back of the class. Not normal.

I was reading some comments about this whole thing on someone else's blog. Someone commented that when working in Shanghai she just put such behaviour into a box labelled 'strange things about China' and forgot about it. I reckon it's probably the best (and only) way to deal with it without (a) going mad; or (b) thumping someone!!!

Anyway, the whole point of this is to say that today my faith was somewhat restored. I was walking to class when I student I didn't know started talking to me. She spoke to me in a perfectly normal way and we had a good chat. Phew! There's hope yet...

PS - this week I have mostly been getting my students to write stories about aliens. Some great stories!

The best time of year

As the title suggests, I just wanted to write about how wonderful the weather here is right now. It really is the best time of year in PX. The sun is shining, the skies are clearer than normal and blue, and the temperature is warm. Not hot, like summer, but warm enough to go around in short sleeves still. It's great. It really keeps up your spirits.

Rick's parents and brother were out here just over a week ago and the weather was pretty much perfect the whole time. The photos with this post are some that I took on a day-trip out to a lake. We went on a boat round the lake and had lunch there. It was really peaceful and relaxing.

60 Years of the PRC

Today is National Day in China. The fireworks have just started, which seems remarkably restrained as it's 8.30am (the past few days they've been going off from 4am onwards!) It's a day of celebrations and is particularly special this year as it marks 60 years of the People's Republic of China (and Communist Party rule). Many of the shops have the national flag flying from them and taxis do too. A lady was selling small flags near college last night.

Anyway, in honour of the occasion, Rick and I were invited to Nanchang (the capital of Jiangxi Province), last Friday night for a meal and concert. We were a bit skeptical about joining the celebrations of a communist party and country but we couldn't really say 'no' and we thought it might be quite interesting anyway. And it was.

We took a bus to Nanchang with Bob on Friday lunchtime and arrived in good time to check into Jiangxi Hotel in Nanchang. It was a great hotel - the standard was on a par with some of the best hotels we stayed in on our summer trip. Bob left us there and we settled in.

The meal was at 5.30pm in the same hotel and began with some speeches, which were all translated into English for the benefit of the many foreign experts present [mostly teachers, but some other foreigners working in Jiangxi as well]. One lady on our table spoke a bit of English and we also managed a bit of Chinese. The food was a buffet and very tasty. The wine was also good - a Bordeaux! We drank a bit more than the Chinese people. They tend to drink wine for show and not because they really like it.

After the meal, buses were laid on to take us to the concert which was happening at Nanchang University. We got onto our designated bus, set off and to our excitement(!) we saw that the driver had put the hazard lights on. We were in a leader convoy, complete with police escort!!! I might have mentioned this before, but important people in local government, the police etc. like to drive around in a convoy with their hazard lights on and often their horns blaring - telling people to get out of the way as they are important!! Haha. They also often have a special horn which makes a different noise from the average car horn, so no-one is left in any doubt that someone important is trying to get through. We've mocked these convoys many times, but it was hysterical to think that we were finally in one.

The concert hall seemed fairly new and the concert programme was great. There was some Chinese music, western music (including an excellent Chopin piano solo) a bit of singing and then some acrobatics. They were really amazing. There was one routine where they balanced candles on their hands, feet and heads whilst balancing on each other. Another one saw woman in pointe shoes balancing on a man - on his shoulders, and even on his head! He was tremendously strong (obviously!) with huge biceps and chest. I held my breath for quite a lot of it.

The buses took us back to the hotel afterwards and we had a reasonably early night. Sadly, I forgot my camera, but I've found a couple of old photos to add to this post. I've also discovered how to do links.

Next day we took the opportunity to wander round Nanchang, do some shopping and go to Pizza Hut for lunch. Yum! We caught the fast train back to Pingxiang on Saturday evening. It was great.

This week we've got Rick's parents and brother visiting (more of that later) and only had one day of our weekend last weekend due to the holiday. They give us holiday with one hand and then take it away with the other... So we were a bit tied last night. Anyway, we're now on holiday for eight days - yippee!

Wugong Shan tent festival

Last weekend we were invited to go to nearby Wugong Mountain for a tent festival. As expected, it was a load of Chinese people (and three foreigners) all camping on the mountain. Not such a strange thing you might say, but it was a tent festival with Chinese characteristics for sure:
1. Many people looked as though their rucksacks, tents etc were having their first ever outing.
2. Camping is still not a big thing in China, so for so many people to be doing it at once is unusual.
3. Some people found the whole experience of heading up a mountain with a big rucksack a bit too much and soon gave their bags to a handy porter to carry (see photo). [Some also used porters to carry their bags back down again...]
4. I must've written so many time about the amount of litter that is casually dropped here in China. Wugong Mountain is a prime example. A beautiful place that people go to to escape from the city, but which is being ruined by litter (see photo).
5. A tent festival in China requires a stage and evening entertainment - mostly singing and some dancing and also a bit of flag-waving.
6. Tents were pitched soooooooo close together - I felt a bit claustrophobic!
7. The 'squawking' went on until quite late and started up again at about 4.30am. Sadly, we had forgotten our earplugs.

It was interesting, but not sure how enjoyable we really found it. I like to go to the countryside for peace and quiet. There was none of that! We met a couple of young Chinese people who spoke good English - one had studied in Britain for a while. We also met another foreign teacher who'd been taken there by his students.

We spoke to a middle school teacher, who was from near Lu Shan, and who thought Wugong Mountain was very dirty! We also met another teacher in a restaurant on the way back. She was also an English teacher, but it took her a while to summon up the courage to speak to us.

We had many many 'halllooo's and 'laowai's during the weekend, and these have continued a bit back on campus with the new first years being let loose from their army training. Ah well, it'll pass...

The good and the bad

At the start of this semester we were giving a book called 'Teaching English in China'. It's really useful and a great read for anyone new to teaching and China. It's quite useful for those who've been here a while as well. There was one part of the book which talked about 'culture shock' and also 'culture fatigue'. I think that sometimes, despite being here now for more than year, I still find myself suffering from culture fatigue. The book describes it as 'the "little things" that wear you down' and things do still wear me down sometimes [though living in PX does seem easier since our summer roadtrip].

Anyway, an example of one of those "little things":

I got a call the other morning from DHL. I worked out [after a bit] that the guy was Chinese. His English was very good and I couldn't really place his accent at first. He asked me if I was expecting a parcel from DHL. I wasn't. He then said it was from the University of Birmingham and it clicked - it was some initial paperwork for my distance learning MA that I'm embarking on this year. So, I confirmed that it was for me and he asked me for more information about my address, such as the street name. Embarrassingly, I didn't know. So I said I'd find out and call him back. In the meantime, he managed to find enough information and phoned me back to say it was sorted. I told him to send the van to the Foreign Languages Department office.

A little while later I happened to be looking out of the window and I saw a DHL van drive past. I got Rick to check later with the FLD office, but no parcel had arrived. I couldn't understand it. One response was that mybe the parcel wasn't in the van(!!!) So it had come all the way from the depot in Nanchang with no parcel?!! Hmmm... Anyway, they seemed to think that it would turn up the next day. I was far from convinced and not a little annoyed. I thought that if they came too many times and couldn't deliver, then they would just send the parcel back to Britain and I'd end up having to pay for it again. Grrr...

But it turned out well in the end. DHL reposted it through the Chinese EMS (express mail service) and it arrived the next day. Culture fatigue [just about] averted. Things just seem so difficult sometimes.

But luckily there are usually things to counter-balance the bad stuff.

Today in China it is Teachers' Day. Unfortunately we don't get a holiday. However, in my class this morning the class monitor had organised all the students to say "Stephanie - Happy Teachers' Day!" which was great. And then, at the end of class, one of the students, actually one of the quiet ones, gave me a bunch of flowers. I was so touched.

Happy Teachers' Day!

Prison Break!!!

I did, for a short while, enjoy the first series of the American series 'Prison Break'. I started watching the second series, but my DVD was a bit dodgy and somehow it fell by the wayside. Maybe I'll try again some time. Anyway, it's hugely popular in China and my students in Kunming always used to tell me how handsome they thought the main character was.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch... We were taking the two new foreign teachers our for dinner last night. We've been trying to show them some of the restaurants we like and helping them a bit as they have virtually no Chinese. We went to get them from their apartment at about 6.15pm or so. Where we live there's a wall and a gate which we have to go through to get out. Apart from scaling the wall, there's no other way to get out of the 'compound'. There's an oldish guy who acts as 'gatekeeper' and keeps an eye on the place. He also stops students and other people he doesn't know from coming in. He's had his orders, and he's sticking to them. Fair enough, I suppose. He also locks the gate at night and sometimes during the day when he goes out.

We got back from our motorbike trip to find that a new padlock had been put on the gate [can you see where this is going yet?] We asked for a key, but none has been forthcoming as yet.

As we tried to leave last night, we found that the gatekeeper had gone out, locking the gate behind him. Yes, we were locked in!!! Lovely. I tried to phone a number of people who might have been able to get us out, but the only one who answered my call was my co-teacher who was in Changsha. Ha. Eventually I wondered if the gate could be lifted off its hinges and indeed it could. Freedom at last.

The two new teachers were a little worried that we'd lifted the gate off its hinges and that someone would be annoyed with us when we got back. In fact, the gate keeper apologised for not giving us a key, but said it wasn't his fault [which was really the point!] and one of the young Chinese teachers helped to explain to him that it was us and not burglars who had left the gate like that. We fixed it again, of course.

So now there's talk of getting a new padlock, even getting a new gate. I don't really care as long as I can get in and out in the way you would expect to be able to...

PS - we have to go for our medicals today. As far as I understand it, anyone who stays in China for six months or more has to have one. We had one this time last year and despite not having left the country since, now have to go for another one. It's because we're dirty foreigners, you see...

I'm back!!!

Long time no post, but I've been on my motorbike for the last two months, riding round the west of China with Rick. My bum has survived, as have my nerves. Just. I'll write about it all asap and put some photos up.

In the meantime, we've returned to boiling hot weather (though it's cooler today) and a building site right outside our apartment! The dorm opposite has had its windows replaced, which is great cos the old ones were always break in the wind. Unfortunately, the workmanship seems to be up to the usual Chinese standards (i.e. not that high!) and two of the new windows have already fallen out. We witness one falling out yesterday. Yay.

Playing the waiting game

Well, we´re all ready to set off on our trip - exams finished, papers marked, stuff organised etc. But our new residence permits have yet to materialise. So we´re just sitting around. Waiting.

Wugong Shan cycle race

Yesterday we got up early and set off at 6am to watch some Chinese people doing a cycle race. It seemed pretty well-organised and there were some super fit people taking part. There was also, as is generally the way, some randomness. For example, we had breakfast in some people's house and I'm sure it was just their breakfast, but they had plenty of it so we joined in. Also, as we were waiting for the cyclists, a man came trotting up the track on a white pony. As you do.

Anyway, it was a good day out and the weather was a bit cooler than in PX, which was a bonus.

Last meals

The other two foreign teachers have left on their travels, prior to going back to the UK. So of course we had a few meals to say bye to them. These are some photos, including a few of food.

I'm determined to post more photos of Chinese food because I'm aware that I haven't posted very many and it really is different from the Chinese food you get back in the UK.

Hope you're not feeling hungry...

Yangshuo (2)

So, I spent a very nice Saturday, drinking coffee, wandering around, taking photos, reading my new book (picked up a second-hand in a cafe), eating a massive burger... It was great. I also had a long rest in the afternoon and watched some cctv9 (the English language channel which we don't get at PXC). To be fair, it was boiling hot outside and I'd had a bad night's sleep the night before...

I finally met up with my friend, Jared, later in the evening (after some very bad directions from me - he had no mobile and had to call me from a phone on the street). I got to choose the food, so we had pizza - yum! Rachelle arrived at about midnight and we all went to bed. Rock and roll. Anyway, the hotel we were staying at was nice - very very clean and also quiet. We were all tired and ready for a good night's sleep.

Next day we took a boat trip on the Li River (see photos). The type of boats that are common on the river are a kind of fake-bamboo raft with a canopy and an outboard engine, driven by one person. There are also seats on them. The river is really very busy with tourists and some of them take the bigger cruise boats all the way from Guilin. We had to take a bus to a nearby village called Xingping and we also spent time wandering round there after our boat trip. It was quite peaceful (despite the hoards passing through, or around, for their trips on the river) and we had a lovely lunch in a quiet restaurant which served both Chinese and western food. We also all bought watercolours of the local landscape.

In the evening I had pizza again and we ended up in a bar by a small river / canal, drinking Chinese red wine. There were a couple of Chinese guys playing the guitar and singing live. It was great - just the right kind of music, relaxing and really quite good. The only thing that detracted from the evening was the local animal-life: huge cockroaches playing nearby and a couple of enormous rats that cantered past. Great.

Next morning we hired bikes and set off to explore the countryside. I didn't get very far before my chain slipped and one of the pedals cut into the back of my leg, which was nice. We eventually got going again and made it into the rice fields which were bright green, the stems quite tall already. Several local women tried to tell us the way, even though we hadn't really decided where we were going!!! We also got really muddy as it had rained the night before.

We went back to Yangshuo at lunchtime so I could get changed and catch a bus to Guilin to get my train back to Pingxiang. I had MacDonalds for lunch (I know!) but mis-ordered somehow and ended up with two burgers!!! Oops. The train waiting room in Guilin was roasting and for some reason I decided not to pay the 5 yuan to sit in the air-conditioned one. Interesting decision.

Anyway, I made it back in one piece and finally arrived home at about 4am. Got a couple of hours' sleep and then up again at 8am for class.

Yangshuo

The weekend before last I visited Yangshuo for the first time.

Part of the reason was to meet up with a couple of people I used to work with when I taught English in Kunming. One is still living in KM, but soon to return to the US, the other is just in China for the summer. None of us had been to Guilin or Yangshuo, it's not too far from where I'm working, and all of us wanted to visit it.

I took an overnight sleeper train from Pingxiang to Guilin. I usually enjoy travelling by train in China. I always go for a an overnight train and get a bed for journeys like this (around 10 hours) and it's really not too bad. I had a bottom bunk in a 'hard sleeper' carriage. This means sections of six bunks, opening directly onto the corridor. You can also choose 'soft sleeper', which is more expensive, but there are only four beds in a compartment and there is a door to give you some privacy. Other people just get a seat. Again, there are two kinds: 'hard' and 'soft'. Finally, there are people who buy a ticket and have to stand unless they are lucky enough to find an empty seat or a kind person who is willing to share their seat. A lot of my students have to do this when they are travelling.

After arriving in Guilin early Saturday morning, I took a bus to Yangshuo. I wasn't sure whether Yangshuo was the final destination or not as some random had steered me on to the bus(!) But the ticket price was right, so I wasn't too worried. I'd read on the internet about some kind of scam where they drop foreigners off at a petrol station on the outskirts of Yangshuo and then locals charge them to take them to right part of the town. Sure enough, we got to a petrol station and they shouted 'Yangshuo'. No-one else was getting off and I was a bit dubious, but decided that as I had a map I could find my way and it didn't really matter. Maybe I should have stood my ground and demanded to be taken to the bus station... who knows?

I got off the bus and a man asked me I had any luggage [I didn't]. He then proceeded to follow me and try and 'help' me. Took me ages to shake him off. Finally I found a nice lady who directed me to one of the local electric buses that ferry tourists around and I took that to the bus station (which wasn't very far away in the end). Phew!

Anyway, here are some photos and I'll write about the rest of my trip in another post.