Steph's Blog

Detective Steph

2010-01-03T15:31:00.002+08:00

Exam time again. Lucky me. Unfortunately, 'exams' also means 'cheating'.

One of the other foreign teachers had a problem last year with students sending their friend to their speaking exam for them. As far as I know, that hasn't yet happened to me, largely because I know their faces pretty well by now. But it could have done.

However, last week I had two instances of cheating [or attempted cheating] which leads me to think that it could well have happened before and gone unnoticed. Ah China...

The first time, in the morning, I noticed a student who had come into the classroom and looked a bit lost. I also didn't recognise her, though this still happens after a year and a half, cos my classes are so big. Anyway, I waiting till almost everyone had gone and she came to hand in her exam paper. I asked her her English name and she didn't know - said she'd forgotten[!] She started phoning someone and I asked her who she was phoning. She said she was phoning her friend. I asked her why her friend would know her English name if she herself couldn't remember it!! Then I asked her for her student card. She didn't have it, but went to get it and brought it back. The photo didn't really look like her - she told me it was from high school. While she was away, I asked the only other remaining student if the one I suspected of being an imposter was actually from that class. She was reluctant to answer, but I told her to be honest [she's a very good and honest student] and she said that the other student wasn't. I told her I wouldn't tell anyone that she'd told me.

I then asked the imposter a couple of questions, such as 'Who was your foreign teacher last year?' [It was me, as she would have known if she'd really been in that class!] Haha. Anyway, Rick had finished supervising his half of the class by then and came in. I asked him what he thought of the photo and he also agreed it didn't look like her. He suggested I ask a Chinese person to check as well.

I marched off to the office with the imposter trailing reluctantly behind. Fortunately I met Bob, the Vice-Dean and explained everything to him. He asked the imposter her name and eventually she confessed. He phoned her friend (the one she'd been standing in for) and found out that the student in question was working in Shanghai and hadn't been able to get back in time. Now, a few of my students had this problem, because I've had to do my exams a bit early, because of going home. But they've got in touch with me and we've rearranged their exams. It would have been easy for this student to do the same!

Anyway, I left it with Bob to deal with. [On a side-note, Rick told me that a few years ago Bob sat a Japanese exam for one of his friends...]

I was quite angry about all of this, understandably, but not hugely surprised. I've encountered and heard about cheating in China a lot in the past. What I wasn't prepared for was what happened in the afternoon.

Again, I was supervising half the class. I quickly noticed a student who I was convinced was from another class. I recognised here as a hard-working student who I've helped a lot, but she was definitely from a different class. I asked her carefully 'Are you in this class?' She answered that she was. I then asked another student sitting nearby who, though she initially didn't want to answer, confirmed that the student did in fact belong to a different class! I couldn't believe it. A) that it had happened again; B) that one of my students thought I wouldn't recognise her and C) that she lied to my face! I was furious. I made the class monitor check all the other students and ranted for a bit.

The thing is, it was lucky that I spotted both cases of cheating / attempted cheating. In either case, if it had been in the classroom that Rick was supervising, he simply wouldn't have known. It could easily have happened in past exams.

Incidentally, the student involved in the second incident ran off before I had time to deal with her, but I'll catch up with her next week. The friend who had asked her to do the exam phoned me last week, crying, asking me to help her and not report her to the department. I haven't done it yet, as I haven't had chance with the long weekend, but I fully intend to do it.

Grrr.

Anyway, wishing everyone reading a happy new year for 2010 and hoping that some of my students will realise that cheating is not OK. Adios!

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

2009-12-02T17:42:00.003+08:00

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

2009-11-29T15:50:00.002+08:00

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

2009-11-07T11:57:00.005+08:00

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

2009-10-22T18:38:00.003+08:00

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

2009-10-17T17:35:00.003+08:00

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

2009-10-01T08:31:00.005+08:00

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

2009-09-23T12:18:00.005+08:00

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

2009-09-10T11:01:00.003+08:00

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!!!

2009-09-01T07:35:00.003+08:00

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!!!

2009-08-30T11:54:00.002+08:00

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

2009-07-01T15:15:00.001+08:00

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

2009-06-29T16:17:00.004+08:00

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

2009-06-24T17:50:00.002+08:00

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)

2009-06-22T12:52:00.004+08:00

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

2009-06-17T18:15:00.002+08:00

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.

Hot!

2009-06-17T18:07:00.002+08:00

It's got hot and (sadly) quite humid. So I'm mostly spending my days sweating. Niiiiice. We have fans and aircon in the bedroom, but still. Walking anywhere, eating hot food, cleaning the house... they all make me sweat. Roll on getting to the mountains and cooler temperatures.

The photo may remind you of your childhood and home-made ice lollies. Our current favourite is made with a kind of lemon juice drink - so refreshing. Yum.

Mock Crocs

2009-06-11T12:21:00.003+08:00

I bought these in the supermarket for not very much money. I don't even know if they're meant to be an imitation of 'Crocs' but I love them! They're sooooo comfy. I know, they've got dodgy 'Hello Kitty' bits on them, but still, I am in the land of 'cute is good'. If you can't beat 'em...

Ah, China. Again.

2009-06-02T20:05:00.004+08:00

I had planned to write a post entitled 'Things you might not know about China', but haven't got round to it yet. In any case, I wanted to write about something you probably do know about China, but whose extent is difficult to measure outside China.

This Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Talking to students and other Chinese people here and also reading about it on the internet, it's clear that many Chinese do not know about Tiananmen, or certainly don't find out about until they go to university, for example.

Those of us who live here get used to websites being blocked from time to time. Many people use proxy servers (myself included). But apparently it all gets worse at certain times - the run up to potentially controversial events / anniversaries of such events. Now, in fact.

I tried to use hotmail earlier and the page wouldn't load. Didn't think anything of it until it loaded perfectly using a proxy server and then I read this article on the Times website: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6414510.ece

The government knows best...

Anyway, on a slightly lighter note, I managed to get pizza for my birthday - at Papa John's, in Changsha (see photo). Twice, actually. Yum.

Brave new world

2009-05-21T14:28:00.002+08:00

This website is currently blocked in China. It's not the first to receive this treatment, nor will it be the last, but it's somewhat annoying, to say the least. Not because of this, but partly driven by the on-off random(?) blocking of other websites here, we decided to shell out for a proxy server. There are free ones available, but as far as I understand it, they're slower and less reliable. Plus, I particularly wanted one which would give us s UK IP address, thus enabling us to watch British TV. Yippee!!!

In other news this week... Pingixang College has been subject to an inspection by... erm... some inspectors, to decide if it's good enough to become a university. Obviously, this would be a great thing for the college - more money(?), better facilities and certainly higher enrollment figures and probably higher standards among the students enrolled. We've yet to find out whether or not the college was successful, but I can't really see it happening just yet.

Anyway, the curious thing about the whole inspection period was the preparation. All of a sudden, things that had needed doing for weeks, months and even in many cases years, suddenly got done. My multi-media classroom this week was in the best condition I've ever seen it: there was a full compliment of curtains at the windows, the projector screen which had had some writing on it had been cleaned / replaced and the projector was working properly. Fantastic. Many cosmetic changes took place around campus as well - painting and particularly a big clean-up operation. The students were drafted in to clean classrooms instead of their usual evening reading. They were also told to clean their dormitories, which were later inspected by teachers / other students. They were exhausted, poor things... Even the chickens that live on campus seemed to have been hidden away somewhere.

There's a small street out the back of the campus which we have dubbed 'filth street' (for obvious reasons!!) which is usually full of small shops and stalls selling all sorts of things, but particularly food and snacks. This was completely closed last weekend and many of the signs, explaining what was sold in each, were removed. The reasoning behind this was probably partly to reduce rubbish, but I have to wonder if there was something more behind it. Who gets the rent from such shops and stalls? Anyway...

The campus was much cleaner for a couple of days, including the classrooms, which was nice, but it won't last, I'm sure. Excuse my cynicism, but the dirt and the filth is already creeping back, just days later. It would be nice if things were done all the time, not just because there was an inspection about to happen.

Oh, the chickens are back as well...

Exploring in the countryside

2009-05-12T20:02:00.002+08:00

It's amazing where you can get to when you have your own transport. Here are some photos from last weekend's adventures.

Me and my moto

2009-05-07T14:47:00.003+08:00

So, having gone through the tortuous process of getting a Chinese driving licence, buying a motorbike was relatively easy. (Of course it still took me about ten times as long as anyone else in this city - except my boyfriend!)

I went for a similar one to Rick's, but Haojue, a Chinese brand, rather than a Suzuki. I suspect things might drop off more easily than with his bike. I've taken it out to practise on a couple of weekends now. The first weekend we did two day trips, the second one quite long. I was absolutely exhausted!!! All went well except for dropping the bike a couple of times...

The first was in a small town / village where we'd stopped for lunch. I'd come to a halt behind Rick's bike and he was busy ordering some lunch. I went to put my stand down and thought that I'd been successful, so I let go of the weight of the bike. Sadly, the stand had obviously flipped back up again and so of course the bike started falling over. I hadn't expected this in the slightest and certainly couldn't support the weight of the bike myself!!! Rick was otherwise engaged and didn't realise at first what had happened, so it was actually some random Chinese man that helped me.

I was OK, apart from a developing bruise and lump on one ankle. My strongest feeling was one of embarrassment, but this also quickly gave way to pain and a bit of shock!!! Poor me.

Then, we took a short-cut which involved me doing my first bit of off-roading, something that I hadn't even thought about doing. It was fine, but at one point I had to go through a muddy bit, got a bit scared and suddenly the bike was on its side in the mud. Fortunately I was ready for it that time and got out of the way.

So, after that baptism of fire, I felt a bit more confident as we set off last weekend for Jinggangshan, home of revolutionary action. It was the May 1st holiday, so we took three days for the trip - one to go, one staying there and then another to come back. It was pretty successful, I think, though again I felt very tired. One reason is simply getting used to driving again and also getting used to riding a motorbike. Another is a feature of the roads here. Physically, lots of the roads are in bad repair - potholes etc. In addition, there are always hazards - people and / or animals drifting into the road, other drivers doing crazy and just plain dangerous things. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

This time I only dropped my bike once - going through a muddy puddle, skidding out the other side and drifting periliously close to a bushy hillside!! But I did refuse to go on the same short-cut on the way back...

Jinggangshan was nice, though much busier than last time. We didn't do that much while we were there, though we did visit the revolutionary museum, which had some captions in English. We also heard 'laowai' and 'waiguoren' [both words for 'foreigner'] about a million times. Lucky us! Not many foreigners make it to Jinggangshan - though we did spot a couple. Amazement on both sides there.

Last week I took my bike into the garage for its first service and oil-change. The people there were quite curious and (I like to think) impressed by where we'd been.

Teaching

2009-05-04T18:04:00.003+08:00

I looked at my class as I tend to do just before I start teaching, and noticed a few faces that shouldn't be there. Not unfamiliar faces, but definitely not in the class they were normally in.

One student piped up, "Oh, we didn't have a class so we came to yours."

Yep, that's right. They voluntarily came to my class when they didn't have to be in class at all! It's things like that make me feel all warm inside...

Now I should really point out that what had happened was that students whot normally come to my Friday class had simply come to the Thursday class instead. They're all part of the same group, but split in half for my classes this semester. But still, they didn't have to come and they know they have a repeat class to look forward to this week (they didn't have class with me on Friday due to National Holiday - more of that later), but they still came.

I'm glad things like that happen. They remind that I do like teaching and that generally the students here are nice to teach. It's easy sometimes to get bogged down in the futility of teying to teach a class of 50-odd students (which some of mine are), dealing with dirty classrooms and faulty equipment and trying to motivate the many that simply don't want to be studying English. But at the same time I'm sure I can see improvement and I'm being asked questions more and more these days, which makes me very happy. So what if they laughed uproariously when I recounted tales of dropping my motorbike? (more of that later too!!) At least they were engaged, interesting and listening.

However, students feeling comfortable enough with me to ask questions also has its downsides. After nearly four years of English, I feel that my grasp of grammar is OK, but it's still often a case of knowing what's right but not knowing why. My students often bring exercises from horrendous multiple-choice grammar books asking why one answer is better than another. Sometimes it's even because they disagree with their other teacher's answer... Oh dear. I do my best, but I'm not sure how helpful I am.

The photos are from a talent contest thingy that some of my first year students held the other weekend.

Chinese driving licence - a simple procedure (!)

2009-04-15T19:37:00.003+08:00

Almost there.... after several months, lots of paperwork and many trips to the police station with my patient co-teacher, tomorrow I go to collect my Chinese motorbike driving licence. Phew!

On Monday I took the translation of my UK driving licence and finally got the UK to convert it into a Chinese one (getting to this stage had been far from easy!) So my co-teacher and I filled in some forms, got some special photos taken (with my passport number on them) and had my eyes tested for colour-blindness. There was a guy asleep on the sofa in that office! The man who tested me managed to say 'one, two, three, four, five' in English, so I returned the favour by saying the numbers I could see in Chinese to him. Someone made up my eyesight(!) and my height(1m70 apparently - I must have grown!!) I had to pay money several times for various things and then I got a piece of paper to say I should do the theory test.

We took a taxi out of town to the place they told us to go to, but when we got there everyone seemed to be leaving. A random guy gave us someone's phone number, so we headed off to meet him on a street corner. Turned out that he was a policeman and if I paid more money I wouldn't have to do the theory test. After lots of phone discussions it transpired that as I was a foreigner I wouldn't be allowed to bribe anyone(!) Haha.

Today we managed to find out where to do the test (finally) and I stepped into a corridor full of Chinese men all staring at me. How I hate those moments. We queue-jumped wildly and got into the test room. When the supervisor turned up he looked at my documents and assigned me to a computer to the do the test. My co-teacher and I began.

There were 100 questions, all in Chinese. Some were just road signs, some true / false questions and some multiple choice. Even with her good English, and a handy book that the invigilator gave us (with all the answers in!) it took us ages and we didn't manage to finish in 45 minutes (the allowed time). We only got 59 and needed 90 to pass...

So then we waited a while and another batch of people came in. This time I was re-assigned to a computer at the back of the classroom. We started the test and before long the invigilator came along and did a load of questions for me. After a while he went away so my co-teacher and I tried to do some more (slowly!) Then the invigilator sent over his colleague who finished off the answers for me and checked the previous ones - result. 95!!!

Now if that's not dishonest I don't know what is, but I'm happy. I passed.

Just need a motorbike now....

PS - I didn't post this the other day when I wrote it, but I duly collected my licence the following day and you'll be pleased to know that my nationality is actually Chinese!! Apparently there was no facility to change it..

I've bought a bike and am just waiting for the paperwork to be finished. Photos to follow.

Out of my comfort zone

2009-04-12T10:58:00.003+08:00

The title of this post could apply to my life here in China and to be honest, sometimes I am tired of being outside my comfort zone: the constant staring and 'hallloooooo's, the lack of the usual leisure facilities, the lack of other foreigners (nice as my Chinese friends are, it's not the same), the lack of cheese, pizza and other western food, the difficulties of teaching and the poor facilities, missing family.... I could go on, but I don't want this to turn into a complaining post. What I really want to write about is last weekend.

As I write this, the sky has briefly brightened between torrential rain storms, but last week was quite warm and at times sunny.

Last weekend was a long weekend as we had Monday off as well. On Saturday and Sunday we visited Nanchang, the provincial capital of Jiangxi. We don't offen go there, as Changsha is closer and has Carrefour (for Western food!) To be honest, I prefer Changsha anyway. Nanchang still has the feel of a small city and Rick says it hasn't changed much in the last 9 years.

The weather wasn't great, so we spent most of the time in the shops, Pizza Hut and MacDonalds - never mind!

We found - quite by chance - a nice hotel. It was carpeted, which is never a good idea in China, but the carpet hadn't yet become filthy! Generally, it was of a good standard and a bit cheaper than the last one we stayed at in Changsha. We also met a really interesting guy there. He was a young Chinese guy working as a porter in the hotel. He showed us to our room and generally helped us out and his English was really good. Much better than a lot of my students. His accent was clear and his understanding was also good. Amazing. I asked him where he'd learned it, thinking he was maybe a university student with a part-time job, but no, it was just high school English and then practising as much as he could since then. It really makes me think when I meet people like that. Someone who obviously had a talent for English and was really keen. When I compare him to some of the students I teach who have the opportunity to spend time studying and really improve their English, but who just seem to be complete disinterested, it makes me feel a bit despondent.

Then on the Monday we went out all day on the motorbike. We ended up on some tracks that were really just wide footpaths, often quite bumpy and / or muddy and full of puddles. Quite exciting and a bit scary at times. I had to get off and walk sometimes because it was too much with the two of us on the bike. We went right up into the hills and saw lots of children walking down the track. My guess is that they were heading back to school after a weekend at home. They live so far from the school that they probably have to stay there during the week and just make the long trek back at weekends - poor things! Some of them were quite small as well. We got to one village which was completely in the middle of nowhere - only really accessible my motorbikes. It looked as if the road had been prepared so that it could be concreted, but either the money had run out or had been appropriated...

I have never been so glad to reach concrete again. Phew! My whole body was aching the next day from hanging on. Still, it was a good trip. Photos attached.

Spring? Winter? Summer? Who knows?

2009-03-29T17:50:00.003+08:00

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, the weather lately has been extremely changeable and unpredictable. Only a week or so ago I was sitting here in a t-shirt, sweating, and now I'm back in my thick jacket and woolly hat. Grrrrr. It's also be raining rather too much and quite hard, which means that our corridor gets flooded. Just another thing that needs fixing. [The toilet that was removed from the other foreign teachers' apartment is still sitting out in the courtyard and I suspect that it will be for some time to come].

Not much of excitement to report this week. Had a nice meeting with my language exchange partner on Wednesday, followed by lunch at her house. Then a meal on Friday evening at another Chinese friend's house which was really good. Delicious food and good company.

The students are quite tired these days, having both morning and evening reading sessions to contend with. Rick took a photo on his phone during the break in one of his morning classes. All but 5 or 6 students out of a class of 50 or so had their heads down on the desks. I'm not convinced of the value of it, but someone's obviously decided it's a good idea.

A couple of photos from our brief exploration this afternoon.

Wining and dining and a lost(?) laowai

2009-03-22T19:21:00.002+08:00

On Friday the four foreign teachers went out for dinner and a few games of pool, as we quite often do. We went to eat in one of the restaurants we like. As is the way, we don't know its proper Chinese name and so we call it 'The Picture Menu Restaurant' (I'm sure you can guess why...) Having the pictures means that instead of ordering the same dishes that we know how to order all the time, or even ordering blindly from a Chinese menu, we can actually try some new stuff that we like the look of.

We'd just placed our order and one of the teachers had gone to choose the beer, when a group of people came into the restaurant. All of a sudden we noticed that one of them was a foreigner (a 'laowai'). Rick's reaction was 'Look at that!' Not entirely polite, but understandable under the circumstances - there are seven or eight foreigners in the whole city and up to now we have met one Indian guy and there are of course us four foreign teachers. The other foreigners (we've been told) are here working for companies.

Anyway, it turns out that he's Brazilian and is here working for some company. We must invite him out for a drink or a meal some time. I guess it's pretty lonely being here by yourself... (Incidentally, he was as shocked as we were to see other foreigners!!)

Today we were meant to visit an organic pig farm, but instead we went to some government hotel in the middle of an artificial lake. I had a quick look at the room prices and it's not cheap. It was all a bit random, as life often is in these parts. We ended up eating our lunch in a big room which just had this one table in the middle. There were lots of government types and some people from Shanghai(?) There was also a presenter from the local TV station (I think!) We managed to escape the strong alcohol (more or less) and stuck to the beer, which was a good choice. The Chinese guy that had driven us there drank so much he was unable to drive us home! Fortunately, we got a lift with someone else instead.

Back to work again tomorrow. The weather suddenly got warmer last week, which is nice. Sadly, it got a lot warmer very quickly, leaving me no time to enjoy any in between warm-but-not-too-hot weather.

In other news: I'm still waiting for the first copy of my magazine subscription to arrive. I have visions of it sitting on a desk somewhere with someone wielding a black marker, striking out anything they don't like the look of. We'll see...

China in the 21st Century

2009-03-20T17:24:00.002+08:00

I like my coffee in the morning. This how the coffee-making process looked this morning.

No power. Why? Apparently the lines were being checked. For what? Don't know.

Ah, China...

Fun in the sun

2009-03-14T17:51:00.001+08:00

The first sunny day in a while today, so we got out and about and had a bit of a wander.

In the main square here in PX, there are often people out and about, having a walk, having a chat or partaking in one of the forms of entertainment on offer. Today there were also a few people gamely trying to fly their kites. Anyway, as well as the bouncy castle and electric cars, there were also these horses. Unfortunately, no-one was riding them while we were there. However, I've seen them in use once before and it seems that you press down on the foot pedals in order to make the front legs go forwards and the back legs go backwards (at the same time in a kind of 'splaying' manner) and the wheels move the horse along (somehow). I resisted the temptation to have a go on the biggest horse. After my plastic stool-breaking incident last week, I've become extremely wary of sitting on anything here!!!

There are also a couple of pics of our visit to Anyuan a few weeks ago. They're building a 'film city' which is (I think) a mock-up of old-style architecture which can be used as film sets.

Then, just in case you think that China is clean - I do try to take pictures which look nice and so generally avoid taking photos of the litter which gets everywhere - a picture of some rubbish.

Enjoy...

Developing our immune systems

2009-03-03T17:52:00.004+08:00

We were shopping in the supermarket yesterday and needed to buy meat. We usually get some pre-packed pork fillet, but there wasn't a piece that we liked the look of (too much fat), so we got the butcher to bag up a piece that was lying on the chopping board. It was nice to watch him putting the meat in the bag with his bare hands, as he smoked a cigarette...

As an aside: it's not uncommon to see tables in the small towns/villages here with raw meat sitting on them for sale. At least it's freshly slaughtered, I suppose, but no refrigeration, no hygiene, no protection from flies. So in fact, the meat in the supermarket is relatively clean. I hope.

Sichuan photos

2009-02-22T10:20:00.003+08:00

Some more photos from our trip.

Winter holiday (part 2)

2009-02-18T17:55:00.002+08:00

So, we had gone to Juizhaigou having heard that the National Park area there was quite beautiful, and thinking that winter would be a good time to go and to escape the hordes... Well, we were right about that, it was beautiful. It was also extremely cold (imagine your fingers going numb after less than 5 minutes outside, even wearing gloves), and a little bit like a ghost town! Still, I'm glad we went when we did.

We got into the park without too many problems, apart from having to shell out a small fortune for the ticket and also for the buses that run round the park. As it was winter, it wasn't very busy, so we had to wait a little while before our bus set off into the park. We were dropped off at some lakes and told that the walk would take about 40 mins and we would be met at the car park at the bottom. Now Rick and I were not keen to be herded around like good Chinese tourists, so we abandoned the rest and wandered up the road a bit, took some photos, wandered along the paths a bit etc. At one point 'our' bus drove past with everyone else on it and the guide signaled to see if we wanted to get back on - we didn't. She looked disappointed...

When we finally arrived at the carpark meeting place there was just one man there with a radio. He asked us where we were going and we told him, even showing him on the map. As we walked off we heard him speaking into his radio about 'two foreigners'. A bit further along the road a green park ranger vehicle pulled up and asked us where we were going and did we want a lift...

This was pretty much the pattern for the next two days. Occasionally we succumbed and had a ride on the bus, but that was mainly just to get in and out of the park. Most of the time we played hide from the ranger / convince the ranger that we have enough clothes, food and intelligence to make it by ourselves without the aid of a bus and a guide!!! Honestly. We met a French couple and they had a very similar story to tell.

But it was worth it - truly beautiful. Clear, bright blue lakes, some lakes frozen over and dusted with snow, ice falls, brilliantly clear skies. Marvellous.

After Juizhaigou, we took a bus to Songpan. It was one of the most beautiful bus rides I've ever taken and it was also probably the coldest. [It was occasionally a bit scary too, but I was expecting that]. We arrived in Songpan and I felt like I was going to die of cold. We staggered down the main street and into a noodle shop. I'd eaten food on the bus, but need to eat more just to get warm.

We had gone to Songpan to go horse riding, but sadly all the horse riding places were closed. So, we just stayed there a couple of nights, relaxed, hiked up to a temple on a hill, drank tea in a tea garden, watched as blood flowed down the river (from the town's abbatoir - niiiice!!) and enjoyed the sunshine. When you get to that part of China, you see lots of people wearing traditional Tibetan-style clothing, with very brown, very weather-beaten faces.

We had a brief encounter with the police, but the police officer who spoke to us was very friendly and spoke reasonable English. He also kindly gave me the rules for foreigners checking into hotels - all in Chinese. Great.

After Songpan we took the bus back to Chengdu via Wenchuan and also therefore via the earthquake zone. We saw lots of crazy stuff: bridges broken in half and tipped into the river, houses destroyed and falling down, massive rocks the size of a small house by the side and even in one case in the middle of the road. We also saw one part of road that was completely bent up by the movement of the earth. We saw lots of tents and temporary housing - clearly a long way to go until the area is fully back to how it used to be.

A couple of nights in Chengdu, enjoying Pizza Hut, KFC and Starbucks (sorry!) before a flight back to Changsha (not train tickets because it was quite close to Chinese New Year by then). We sat on the runway at Chengdu for nearly two hours after being delayed boarding as well. It was pretty foggy, so I guess it was visibility problem. Anyway, we arrived late in Changsha and so missed the easy bus that goes directly to Pingxiang. Instead we had to get a bus into town to the train station and we caught the fast train back. Just.

Exhausted, but a good trip all in all.

Yang Shi Mu - photos

2009-02-14T21:02:00.004+08:00

Here are some photos to go with my previous post.

The last one is after the wedding.

Please note that I avoid taking photos of the litter and filth that is to found up the mountain, but I really wish now that I'd taken some as it all looks a bit too nice on my photos! The scenery is very beautiful, the litter is an absolute disgrace.

Weddings, mountains, forest fires and a brush with the law...

2009-02-13T17:26:00.004+08:00

The weather forecast looking promising, we decided to head for the hills. Rick put the plan to his Chinese friend, Joseph, a keen photographer. After some confusion, we understood Joseph's plan. He had a wedding to go to on Tuesday morning, near Yang Shi Mu, a local mountain. He suggested that we also went to the wedding and then climbed the mountain with him.

He had to stay in the town where the wedding was the night before (I think it was called 'Wanlongshan', but I'm not sure), so we set off on Wednesday morning, having arranged to meet him. All went reasonably well - apart from one of the bags falling off the bike and into the filth just after we set off, and Rick having to reclaim ownership of his sleeping mat from a local who'd picked it up out of the road thinking it might be useful!!!

We met up with Joseph just before lunchtime on the morning of the wedding. As we rode into town it was like being in a cowboy film, or something. You know the one where someone walks into a bar and instantly it's silent and everyone stops what they're doing and looks round? Well, it was a bit like that. Even with our helmets on people spotted us as 'laowais'. On the way through we passed lots of tables set out by the side of the road, with people sitting round them.

We waited on the edge of town and Joseph called in a little while to say he'd arrived, so we went to look for him. Sure enough, Joseph and the wedding we were looking for were at the place we'd seen the people sitting round the tables in the street. We pulled up on the bike. More staring. And when I say staring I mean that EVERY SINGLE PERSON was staring. Hell.

The bride arrived to a barrage of firecrackers and we all ate what turned out to be a good meal. We got away with drinking only a tiny tiny bit of the evil baijiu and a little later were on our way in a mini-van up the mountain.

We got out where the road ended and walked [or in my case struggled] up the path, which was mostly concrete steps. Rick and I had decided to take camping gear and so we were quite heavily laden. That night we slept in a 'hotel' (more of a mountain hut) and ate dinner there.

The next morning we got up reasonably early and tramped around taking photos and carrying our heavy bags everywhere. The weather was beautiful - warm and sunny and the views were pretty reasonable (a bit hazy as usual, but not too bad).

In the early afternoon Joseph set off to climb down the mountain and we went off to find a good place to camp. We camped that night in a beautiful, quiet spot, with amazing views. It wasn't cold and it was almost as light as day in the moonlight.

The next day we had a quick look at another area where you can stay. Unlike a lot of the mountain, this place was clean and tidy, with no litter to be seen. [I spent much of the trip up and down the mountain feeling saddened by what people do to beautiful places in China, dropping litter everywhere].

We walked down the mountain and then out along the road, back to the town where we'd been for the wedding. The road itself was about 16kms and most of it was downhill. Our legs got more and more like jelly as we went on and it was difficult to resist the numerous offers of lifts we got from the motorbike taxis and even an ambulance at one point! No-one could really understand why we wanted to walk and we had to be quite firm in our refusals.

At one point a white four-by-four and a black government-type car passed us on their way up and stopped. We didn't think much of it as people often stop near us, if only to have a better look! However, it turned out to be Joseph and some of his photography friends who come along to take photos of a tree which had come into blossom. I think it was a kind of magnolia tree and it smelled really nice.

We made it back to the motorbike and had to refuse more offers of food and accommodation etc. from the people who'd kindly been looking after it.

On the journey back to Pingxiang we saw that the plume of smoke we'd seen as we were coming down the mountain was actually the product of a fairly long strip of forest fire that was being fanned by the strong wind that was blowing. I was horrified by the noise and the sight of the huge flames and also by the apparent lack of action to put the fire out. A few people seemed to be watching and we saw one police car, but little else. Some of the houses back directly onto the forest area.

Eventually we arrived home safely - tired and a little stiff. However, we decided to return this yesterday morning to look at what had happened because of the fire etc. As we got close we could see big areas of the hillside blackened by the fire, but some trees poking out from the blackness, clearly still alive. The fire also seemed to have stopped before it got to the houses and in one case had actually gone round a house and carried on.

We went up one track into the blackened area to have a closer look and to take some photos. On the way up we saw some police officers coming down - two on foot and three on a motorbike. On the way back down we also passed a couple of police officers. A bit later on and further down the road we met a police mini-van coming the other way. They flagged us down and asked for ID. Rick had his driving licence (as always) but I didn't have any ID. Now, as far as I'm aware, you're always supposed to carry ID in China. However, as ours is our passports plus Foreign Expert Certificates, we don't generally bother when we in and around Pingxiang. It's always seemed to be an unnecessary hassle and likely to lead to completely wrecked passports!

Might have to have re-think on that one, though...

We ended up having to go to the police station, fill in some forms (I managed to write my Chinese name on the form, after a fashion!), drink some tea and explain our whereabouts over the last few days. Rick spoke to our contact in the English Department and he also spoke to the police. We found out that they were investigating the forest fires and unfortunately we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and without ID.

In the end they seemed satisfied with the information we'd given them, and invited us to have lunch with them! Soooooooo typical for China. Get taken to the police station and questioned, then invited for lunch.

As a postscript, under any other circumstances I'd have been pleased with how much Chinese we managed to understand and to reply to. Sadly, I wasn't really in the mood for feeling very pleased with myself...

Motorbike exploring

2009-02-07T22:00:00.004+08:00

From being very cold, then very rainy, the weather here has actually turned quite pleasant. It's fairly mild and the sun has made it out from the clouds the last few afternoons. So, of course, we've been out on the motorbike.

Exploring the countryside around Pingxiang can be quite a depressing experience at times. There are a lot of poor areas and a lot of areas where coal mining is the main industry and everything is, well, black. However, the sunshine makes a big difference. Everything looks brighter somehow.

A couple of days ago we went for lunch at our Head of Department's house. It was very pleasant. Quite a few teachers from the English Department and we managed to avoid drinking the dreaded homebrew and instead had a couple of glasses of a very reasonable Chinese red wine. Before and after lunch we were entertained by a couple of the kids playing the piano. As far as I can see, it's becoming more and more popular in China for kids from reasonably well-off families to learn to play the piano.

After lunch we set off on the motorbike. We headed to a temple that Rick had spotted up on a hillside. We parked up and then went up some fairly steep concrete steps. Close to the top there was a small building and a wooden shelter. Inside there was a Chinese couple and lots of fireworks, paper money and incense sticks. The woman told us to sit down and brought us mugs of Chinese tea, which was very welcome. We made a bit of small talk with her in our bad Chinese. They were clearly surprised to see foreigners going up to the temple. She was making something out of gold paper - not sure what, but she seemed to say that they were something that people put in their houses.

Anyway, she tried to sell us some fruit, which we didn't really want, so Rick bought a bottle of water.

We continued up to the temple, which was a riot of red (see pics) and virtually empty. There were a couple of other visitors and a couple of men who obviously lived and worked there (and had their washing hanging out to dry!) Beyond the temple, the path continued up to the top of the hill, which gave a reasonable view over the surrounding area. It would have been a spectacular view, but it was a bit hazy and the light was going a bit. I was almost in Chinese woman mode with my (almost) unsuitable footwear. My achilles tendon's been giving me trouble, so I've been avoiding wearing my walking boots, which seem to make the problem worse. So there I was, climbing up the hill, tramping through the mud in my long, black leather boots. At least they don't have high heels, like the boots one woman was wearing to make the ascent!

Then the day before yesterday we also went out on the bike. We started by having lunch at a local restaurant, which we go to fairly often and where the people are very friendly. Then we set off out of Pingxiang.

At one point we passed something which I've never ever seen before in China. Pulled in off the road there was a big truck with a stage built on top of it. There were people performing some kind of play \ opera on the stage and a really big crowd of people watching.

We also found our way to another temple, which was part-built into the rock, with a massive limestone cave inside. It was very impressive. There seemed to be only one monk there, but he was very friendly and we had a bit of a chat with him. [When I say 'chat' in relation to Chinese people, it is always the same basic questions which form the limit of my repertoire. However, I like to think that my repertoire is expanding...]

And finally, yesterday we went to have lunch (and also dinner) at the home of one of the Chinese English teacher's elementary school teacher. The Chinese English teacher, Bob, is 45, so we're going back quite a few years. He grew up in a small village and was one of the first from the village to go to university. In fact the very first in the village was his elementary school teacher's son. The son was welcomed back from his university studies by a party from the school who had taken a truck to the train station in Pingxiang and taken a band, flowers etc.

It was really this son's home we went to. His own son and niece were both back in Pingxiang for the holidays. Both are usually away at university - one in Tianjin and the other in Hangzhou. I'm sure we were mainly invited round to give the youngsters some practice with their English (both were pretty good, incidentally), but we had two good meals, some interesting conversation and, as always, a warm welcome and an invitation to return again whenever.

I really hope that some day I have the opportunity to repay some of the kindness I've experienced in many different places when I've been travelling and working overseas.

Cheese!!!

2009-02-04T10:45:00.003+08:00

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but cheese is not that easy to come by here in Pingxiang. You can get slices of 'plastic' cheese in the supermarkets, but as far as I'm concerned, that's only acceptable for consumption in dire emergencies!! I understand that you can get pizza (or some Chinese version of pizza) in the Western-style bars / coffee shops here, but I haven't tried it yet.

So I miss cheese. Obviously, I can live without it, and mostly I have to, but it's a real treat when I get to have some.

We've just been to Changsha, the nearest big city, for a couple of days. This means that I got to go to Pizza Hut and MacDonalds - yippee! Sadly they don't have Starbucks there yet (not that I'm a big fan of Starbucks, but it's nice to go to a proper Western coffee place and have a big mug of nice coffee...) Pizza Hut is also not my favourite place for pizza, but I'm not going to start being choosy about this!

We also went shopping in the French supermarket, Carrefour. Last time we went they had a very disappointing selection of cheese, but this time they had Brie, Emmental and 'sharp' Cheddar. I had to buy some. You don't get much for your money, but I'm going to enjoy it sooooooooo much. I also got some 'normal' bread, that is bread that is not sweet (most Chinese bread is).

We also managed to find our way to the place where they dug up a 2100 year old Chinese woman. We'd already seen her well-preserved body in the Provincial Museum in Changsha on our last visit and this time we managed to find our way to the burial mound. This used to be outside the city when it was excavated in the early 70s, but is now just a suburb and surrounded by shops and houses. We had the position of the tombs marked on our map, but in reality it was really quite difficult to find - no signs or any indication in fact that they were there. They're in what are now the grounds of a hospital, which carries the same name as the tombs, but this was the only clue... Anyway, it was great to see the place where they were discovered and then to return to the museum afterwards to have another look at the coffins and the body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mawangdui

In Changsha we stayed in a hotel called 'Motel 168' (http://www.motel168.com/En/). It's a chain of hotels, which I'd read about on someone else's blog. The price was not the cheapest, but seemed reasonable. We figured the standard should be consistent as well as it was a chain. It turned out to be pretty good really. The room could've done with re-decorating, but on the whole it was a lot cleaner that a lot of hotels we've stayed in, despite having a carpet (these are generally very dirty and badly looked-after).

One final thing, as it's been Chinese New Year, lots of people have been travelling all round the country, going home, or to other cities to visit family and friends. It truly is a massive operation. Even though it's really all over now, the bus and train stations are still busy. Travelling to Changsha and back, we were aware of the soldiers at the station, basically on riot control. This might seem a bit mad, but when you see the way people push and shove, it's definitely necessary. There were also a lot of police officers on duty at Changsha train station, making sure everyone was queueing at the ticket windows in single file (I got told off for not adhering to this!) and I even saw one policeman telling a man to put out his cigarette! Amazing. I've never seen that before...

As a PS, I've just been shopping in Pingxiang and found a bakery that was selling French sticks. They don' t have a crusty outside like true French baguettes, but the taste is good. Yippee!!

The Chinese way

2009-01-31T19:23:00.003+08:00

First of all, I haven't forgotten that I have still to post on the rest of the Sichuan trip - I'll do it soon. This is just a quick post, but I had to write about it.

We were invited for lunch at the home of one of the Chinese teachers. In fact, she doesn't do a lot of teaching, but does timetabling etc. Her home is just out in the countryside, so we took a taxi from town to get there. Unfortunately, despite being with some Chinese people we got out of the taxi in slightly the wrong place and had to wade through quite a lot of mud to reach the front door...

Anyway, the meal was fun (despite my not being able to drink alcohol due to illness yesterday and the day before).

When it came to the time to leave, we had to wait a little while, and I presumed that we were waiting for a taxi to arrive. But no, it turns out we were waiting for the return of a car which was already dropping some other people off.

Now, Rick and I often joke about the police cars here always being used for driving friends and family around and not for actual police work. [Can you see where I'm going with this?]

Yes, the car that arrived to drive us back to Pingxiang was in fact a police car. We did laugh a bit (especially Rick, as he was a bit worse for wear!) It had the special kind of horn that you only really get on police cars, government officials' cars etc. Rick also got to turn the siren on!!!

And so, by getting a lift home in a police car we're just that bit closer to becoming Chinese. The hair and eye colour might still give the game away a little bit though.

Happy 'Niu' Year!

2009-01-27T09:16:00.002+08:00

So, the Chinese New Year has begun and the first day dawned... full of snow! It snowed all day yesterday and it was very foggy, so I'm afraid I did very little. There didn't even seem to be that many fireworks - I suppose it was too cold for a lot of people to venture outside...

Just to explain the title of this post to those non-Chinese speakers out there: 'niu' (牛) is the Chinese word for cow and this year it's the the year of the... well, you get it.

We spent New Year's Eve round at the house of some Chinese friends, which was really nice. They've both been working in another city since September, so we haven't seen much of them. Their daughter is three and half years old now and my honorary niece. We spent quite a bit of time playing 'shop' which was interesting, what with my bad Chinese and her extortionate prices!!

Anyway, today needs to be a day of activity after yesterday's inactivity.

Have a good one...

Winter holiday (part 1)

2009-01-23T18:45:00.003+08:00

As you will probably know, it's almost the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and we're on holiday - yippee!! We currently back on campus and it's fantastic - clean and quiet. Why can't it always be like this? Oh yes, because the students have to be here too... tee hee.

Anyway, we went on a short trip to Sichuan, which was great. We went to Chengdu first on the train. I normally really like taking the train in China - there's a big network of railways and [if you can get a ticket] you can get a bed and sleep for as much of it as you want. On the way, we got a ticket. It was very cheap, only 170 RMB. However, the train was a bit dirty and old and not as nice as some I've been on.

We stayed in a lovely place in Chengdu: Sim's Cozy Garden Hostel (www.gogosc.com) A bit more pricey than some of the places we stayed, but lovely clean rooms, a good bar and restaurant and a good travel service. While we were in Chengdu I stocked up on Western food - burger and chips, pizza, sandwich, coffee... and we bought some camera-related equipment.

After a couple of days we left for the mountains. We were heading for Songpan to go horseriding, but we were told that the bus from Chengdu to Songpan was not running (we never really got a clear explanation for why...), so we decided to get a bus to Pingwu and then a tourist spot called 'Jiuzhaigou'. We had initially not wanted to go there as Rick knew it as being a very popular place with the Chinese and thought it might be overrun, but we decided it was worth the risk at this time of year.

Early start, to the bus station and we successfully arrived in Pingwu. This is one of the places affected by the earthquake in May last year. The only real evidence we could see was in the blue tents that were still there and also some other temporary housing.

We found a hotel - a bit damp, but cheap, got some food and explored.

Next morning we got up early to stand by the side of the road and wait for the bus that we were told would go to Jiuzhaigou. Now, we'd been told 9am and 10am by different people, so we made sure we were out there just before 9.39am. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. And it was COLD. Eventually a woman in a nearby shop came out to ask us where we were going and when we told her, she explained that we were in the wrong place and that the bus stopped somewhere else along the main road. We duly found the right spot. And waited. And waited. Fortunately someone else was waiting for the bus, so we knew we were in the correct place. Eventually the bus arrived and we had to wait while the people on it got some lunch, snacks etc., and then we finally set off.

It wasn't a very nice bus - lots of sick on the floor etc., but we managed to find a couple of clean-ish seats.

Oh, and then the bus stopped and picked someone up exactly where we'd been waiting... never mind!

We arrived in Jiuzhaigou, but we needed to be a bit further along the same road, so we (eventually) negotiated a price with a random guy with a car and set off. We found the hotel we wanted to stay in, but just before that, our driver had spotted some people looking for a hotel. He offered (I think!) to take them to some hotels and so we sat in the car while he took them to a couple to look at. Eventually they decided to go to a completely different one, so he followed them to see where they would go(!) and then tried (I think) to see if that hotel would do some kind of commission thing with him if he brought them guests... I think he was also trying to do the same at the place where we stayed, but sadly it was a very cheap place and clearly not in the market for that sort of thing!!!

Anyway, our hotel was absolutely fine, if a little cold (see picture). More later...

Sleeve Protectors

2009-01-20T09:36:00.004+08:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while - end of term exams and then a short holiday in the mountains (more of that later).

Anyway, we were doing some cleaning yesterday and I thought I'd write about sleeve protectors (see photo).

Now, in China these are very popular for women, children and anyone working in the catering industry and other dirtyjobs. The seem to be worn mainly in winter, as far as I can see, and come in an array of colours and patterns. Lots of women wear them, even very smartly-dressed women, and you can get them decorated with ribbons and all sorts.

We got ours mainly for cooking (avoids oil splashing on your sleeves), but they're equally good for washing up and cleaning. They are, sadly, not the most fashionable (especially ours, being bright green and covered with pictures of small dogs!!!) but they're damn useful.

Small children wear them as matter of course through the winter and I think this is a very good idea. I've even seen them used on their legs as well...

So, what do you think? Disastrous and unfashionable or useful and practical?

And should they be re-named 'arm gaiters' for extra credibility?!!

Answers on a postcard please...

Snow!!!

2008-12-23T09:50:00.002+08:00

Yes, yesterday we woke up to snow. Not a huge amount - a light dusting really (as my dad might say!!), but the students were highly excited. I even saw a few snowball fights on the football pitch...

I just felt cold. It's currently five degrees inside our apartment. Yes, that's right - INSIDE!!!! We can get some hot air out of our air conditioner, but it's not that hot, and we only have that in the bedroom. Brrrr! Still, we are better off than the students who have no heating whatsoever and they seem to be wearing much less clothing than I am.

Hey ho. Or should that be 'Ho ho ho'?!!! Merry Christmas!

Practising English and Chinese

2008-12-19T16:06:00.003+08:00

On Tuesday evening this week I attended the final part of an 'LSA' competition here at the college. The 'LSA' stands for 'Listening and Speaking Achievement' (I believe). Anyway, the part that I attended involved the students making an impromptu speech. In other words, they were given a topic before the competition began and then had to speak on that topic for a fixed amount of time. They were then given a question by one of the judges.

Now I've attended a few of these competitions in the past, but it's always been a competition involving prepared speeches. I'm fully in favour of students practising and using their English outside class, but I'm not sure how much value such competitions actually have. Memorising and then regurgitating a speech (in my opinion) does not teach students how to meaningfully communicate in a foreign language. However, I am more in favour of the idea of impromptu speeches and questions, such as I saw on Tuesday evening. This at least encourages students to think on their feet.

Anyway, there were some very good speeches and responses to questions and some not so good. I've a lot of admiration for the students who take part in such competitions and some were clearly (and undestandably nervous). Unfortunately the student I thought was the best (and coincidentally one of my students!) did not get a prize as she didn't do so well in the listening part of the competition.

The judges were also asked to give a short speech at the end. I trotted out my usual line about telling students to 'practise, practise, practise'. However, I've not really been taking my own advice when it comes to learning Chinese. We have class once a week for two hours, but between one class and then next I rarely take out my textbook, though I know I should. Obviously, living in China means that I have to practise my Chinese everyday, but usually there is nothing new that I have to say. Anyway, today I managed a bit more practise than usual. First, with a friendly taxi driver - they often one to chat and this one had very clear Chinese and second with an old guy on the bus. Also very friendly, but a little less clear. The bus driver also weighed in for a while, reminding the old guy to speak in Mandarin and not the local dialect!

Christmas next week. Christmas Day will mostly be spent giving exams, like the rest of the week. However, we do have a few festive things planned. More about that later...

Finally, congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law and welcome into the world to my nephew.

Jinggang Shan

2008-12-02T20:19:00.004+08:00

I realised I never wrote about my other trip during the sports meeting...

Anyway, Rick and I went off to a place called 'Jinggang Shan' ('shan' meaning 'mountain' in Chinese). It was lovely. A bit touristy, but only Chinese tourists there - we didn't see a foreigner the whole town. The air was clean, there was very little litter (unusual for China!) and there were lots and lots of mountains. Yippee!!!!

We had an interesting drive, going through some tiny villages in the countryside, along some small and not always in very good condition roads. At one point, along a really muddy, potholed road we were passed by a man on a motorbike with a side-board lashed to the back, sticking out a good metre on either side. We barely had time to stop laughing and marvelling at the amazing things people carry on the back of their motorbikes, when another one drove past. This time the man had a set of large metal driveway gates, held on by he was friend who was also on the back!!! Crazy. Oh, and the other day there was a gutted pig carcass flapping around on the back of someone's bike. Yum.

Winter Preparations

2008-11-22T17:56:00.003+08:00

Yes, it's getting cold. I've donned my thermals and yesterday I started my shopping in preparation for the next couple of months or so.

Last time I was in China, my best winter purchase was an electric blanket for my bed. Switch it on for half and hour before you get in and by the time you do, it's toasty and warm. It's only on my side of the bed, cos Rick felt it was a step to far for him, but I've no doubt he'll be gravitating towards my side...

I also checked out the following with a view to making purchases later in the week:
- long boots;
- quilted pyjamas (pictures to follow);
- more thermals;
- cosy slippers.

Everyone here is trying desperately to keep warm (though not as desperately as me!) and so there is no shortage of keeping warm devices and clothing in the shops.

This morning we were woken not to the sounds of the campus student security guards on their morning march-around, but operatic-style singing. Further investigation reveal students moving en masses towards the sports field. We ventured outside without our morning coffee (which in itself was quite brave!) and I spotted a couple of my students to ask. Turns out that it was a celebration for 30 years of Pingxiang College. We found a vantage point on top of a building (often quite easy to get to the tops of buildings here!!!) and watched for a while as the students gathered in their class groups and then filed onto the field. They were then talked [shouted] at for a while, before the national anthem was played and everyone was left to get on with their day...

On a different note, I finally managed to get a decent [?] helmet for motorbiking. Rick had got one a few weeks ago. When I say 'decent' I mean a full face solid-feeling helmet as opposed to some kind of plasticky building site style hard-hat with a chin strap. I had had trouble finding one that was small enough for my head (no, I don't understand it either - I have a big head!) and had tried to order one twice without success. We went again today to the same shop and I had the same problem. I even tried a couple of open-face helmets on, despairing of ever finding one to fit me. The suddenly one of the men from the shop [I think he was from the shop, but there were quite a few people milling around outside, so it was difficult to tell] produced the right style of helmet, in the right size and brand. I tried it on and, like Cinderella and the glass slipper, it fit!!! Yippee. Not the best colour - silver, red and black pattern, but fine anyway. Where did it come from? Why did he choose that moment to suddenly produce it? Who knows? Ah China...

One last thing. I also got my hair cut yesterday. As it's very thick, I decided to get it thinned a bit at the same time. Anything that makes it quicker to dry with a hair dryer while the weather's cold. So he thinned it. And thinned it. Then thinned it a bit more. And then did some final thinning. I HAVE NO HAIR!!! Fortunately I started with quite a lot and I'm sure it'll grow back. And it was cheap. Never mind...

Power and water

2008-11-20T17:40:00.002+08:00

Just a quick post and I'll write later about the other trip we went on.

Tuesday evening I had a text message from my 'co-teacher' (the Chinese English teacher who was assigned to help me out with all sorts of things) telling me that the electricity and water were due to be off the following day from 8am to 6pm. Yippee!!! Anyway, duly forewarned we filled as many plastic vessels as we had, including a huge plastic bin-like container.

Next day the power and electricity were off and we had the cleaner coming round, so it was lucky that we'd stocked up.

And they stayed off... Yesterday evening there was some electricity in the classrooms but none for us. I retired to bed with my headtorch and book and was asleep by 9.30pm!! The electricity did come on again for a little while, but not long. Besides which, I was settled in bed by then and not getting out!

Don't know what was going on, but it looked like a lot of the city was without power as well.

No water again this morning, but the electricity had returned. By lunchtime we also had water back and I was able to finally wash my hair (it was a bit nasty!) The internet (which had also been off) has now returned as well. Obviously.

Still, it could be worse. The weather hasn't really got properly cold yet. We're used to unheated houses and classrooms here anyway and you don't really need light that much during the day, do you? It did make me think, though. Back in Britain schools are closed down if there are power cuts in winter. Here, people spend the whole winter without heating, trying to stay warm.

Anyway, if you're sitting reading this in a well-heated room, spare a though for me - I'm currently wearing four layers (including my jacket), thermal leggins and contemplating adding a hat. Joy...

How to draw a crowd in China...

2008-11-17T21:19:00.003+08:00

... stop.

As anyone who has spent any time in China will tell you, it's not difficult to draw a crowd.

We've been out and about quite a bit recently and the first trip we took was round Wugong Mountain with Rick's friend, Joseph. We were taking advantage of the fact that the students were involved in a sports meeting and so there were no classes, or so we thought...

The first day of the sports meeting dawned wet. Very wet. So classes were back on. Except that half the students had gone home. Thursday was fine, so the sports meeting was back on!! We somehow got dragged into the opening ceremony and then we dashed of on the bikes. Thursday stayed fine and we had a good day's riding and taking photos. We stayed way up the mountain in what is loosely termed a 'hotel' but is very basic. Still, we had some good food and some evil baijiu (more of that later...)

Next day was wet again, so the sports meeting was off and classes were back on. Sadly, we were up a mountain and a few hours' ride away from PX, so there was not really much to be done. We drove back in the cold and wet. Not pleasant.

Here are some photos from that trip anyway and I'll write more about the rest of the gallivanting soon...

Classroom antics and other things...

2008-10-28T11:08:00.002+08:00

Today is an easy day for me, just one afternoon class. However, the day began as my Tuesdays usually do with a run through the fields, scaring the farmers and trying not to be scared by the dogs (they're harmless, but I do feel a bit nervous as they trot towards me...)

I did consider giving the run a miss today as I went to the gym yesterday. Yes, that's right, a gym. In Pingxiang. And a clean one at that. Yippee! It's a Powerhouse gym, which is an American chain, so I suppose it works on a franchise basis or something. Anyway, it's empty during the day, spotlessly clean and has all the normal machines etc you'd expect to find in a gym. They also do aerobics, spinning and yoga classes, so I may well try some of those too. Now I'm not a big fan of gyms. In fact I'd even go as far as to say that I actively dislike them, but we decided it was necessary as we're not getting enough exercise in. My plan is to put some Chinese listening on my mp3 and make it a learning experience as well (though I'll probably just end up switching to music as I sweat and curse!!) Ooh there's also a squash court. Looking forward to that, though no doubt I'll be bruised and battered.

Back to my class. It's a speaking class - 60 first years and a bit noisy. No, acutally, a lot noisy. But never mind. At least they're speaking and as far as I can tell, most of it's in English.

I'm not sure if I've written about him before, but I have a mature student in this class. It's quite commical to see him at the back, squashed into a bench amongst the youngsters. I really don't know what he thinks of my class - I'm sure it's a far cry from his English lessons at school and university (?) In fact, I was told that he wanted to improve his English in order to be able to read more articles etc related to his job, so I'm not sure why he's coming to an oral English class.

I was preparing them for their mid-term exam today and so I told him that it was optional for him. But he was quite keen to come along and take part with one of the groups. So, we'll see.

As I was walking back from class, enjoying the sunshine, a smart white VW drove past me and there he was leaning out of the window: "Bye bye!" Made me smile.

On a different note, R has bought a motorbike (125cc only) which makes it a lot easier to get out and about - even doing the shopping is more fun!! It also means we can get deep into the heart of the countryside, and you really don't have to go far to do that. Promise I'll post some photos soon so you can see how it is - like stepping back 50 years or more.

Well, the weather's fabulous. Maybe just time for a quick spin before tea...

Brass, Bacardi and Being Beautiful

2008-10-15T16:53:00.003+08:00

The nice weather is back. Clear blue skies yesterday and today, warm but not too hot and a pleasant breeze - mustn't grumble!

I went into class yesterday afternoon wearing a skirt, a skirt I hadn't worn before and was surprised (though a little pleased!) to hear choruses of 'beautiful' from my students. That's why I'm teaching in China and not in the UK...

Anyway, enough of my ego. What's new?

Not much. We still haven't been paid (two weeks late now), though this has never happen to R before, both times he's taught here. We have been told we'll be paid tomorrow, but we were also told originally we'd be paid on the 12th. Hmmm.

Went out on Saturday night for the birthday of one of the other foreign teachers. We went to a bar called 'Brass', of which there are two branches in PX. It's a Western-style bar, or as close as you get to it in this part of China, serving coffee and waffles, amongst other things. We went there for dessert (waffles) and drink. Actually, we drank their Bacardi supplies dry. Now this isn't as bad as it sounds - they only had one bottle and you tend to buy spirits by the bottle here and share them. Oh well... The other branch of Brass didn't even have a single bottle last time they went, but have since phoned to say they've got plenty in...

One interesting thing, we started off in a kind of booth by the window on massive comfy chairs. We then bumped into a former PXC teacher and his girlfriend, so had to move to a bigger table. We ended up in what was more like an alcove room with curtains that you could pull across. Every time a waitress came with food / drinks, she closed the curtains. And then we opened them again.

It's something different about China. In restaurants you'll have the main seating area and then private rooms. When I'm with other foreigners we always just go for the main area, but with Chinese people we'll offen end up in one of the private rooms. Not sure what the attraction of them is really. In fact, the whole Chinese dining experience is different. Many more people are able to eat out here as it is much more affordable. It's also much noisier. You go into a restaurant in Britain and people will generally speak fairly quietly and not draw attention to themselves - right? Well here, the volume tends to be much louder, with shouting being the norm, alcohol is drunk, but quickly and in the form of 'toasts', and when it's hot the men roll up their t-shirts and get their stomachs out (to cool down, presumably). Maybe that's why they have private rooms...

Didn't you read the notice?

2008-10-06T21:21:00.003+08:00

Information vacuum (again!)

Today was the first day back after seven days' holiday to celebrate China's National Day. I won't even go into the fact that we had to work Saturday and Sunday prior to starting the holiday so that we could have a seven-day holiday...

We had prior notice (amazing!) via R's co-teacher that afternoon classes start at 2pm now instead of 2.30pm. I was preparing for my evening class as usual, when I got a text message through at 7.06pm from the class monitor to tell me that the time of the class had changed and that they were all waiting for me!!! I have written and ranted about this in the past (the lack of information, that is) so I won't rant again. I also have good reason to believe that the Chinese teachers didn't know about the change either... I just took my time and pottered off to class when I was ready. My class (bless them!) were sitting quietly looking through their textbooks etc. Yay.

Recycling - Chinese-style

On a slightly different note, one of the other teachers was talking the other day about 'Toothy the Bin Raker'. Of course we all knew immediately who he was talking about. He's a tall, skinny man who carries a sack around campus, going through the bins for plastic bottles which he gets money for. The 'toothy' bit of his name refers to the fact that he is actually a bit lacking in that department. It's a pretty horrible job, but he's not the only one. Near our apartment is the rubbish area - basically an open bit of concrete where people throw their rubbish bags. There are often old ladies there, going through the rubbish, sorting out what they can take away for recycling (and therefore money). It also gets periodically set on fire. Lovely.

Wugong Mountain

We thought we had done well to get on a trip with a photography club to Wugong Mountain. We had contemplated doing it solo, but it does require a lot of effort, particularly without our own transport. However, things slowly became less good as we realised that most of the rest of the group were students - argh!!! We need a break from them sometimes.

Anyway, it wasn't too bad, once you got used to their shouting, rubbish-dropping, mobile phone music and generally behaving like kids on a school trip. I took quite a few photos, got a little wet in the rain and sheltered in a fake 'yurt' somewhere in the fog and rain (that didn't provoke any interested in the other random [Chinese] people who were also there...!!) The 'hotel' we stayed in was of a slightly lower quality than the ones I've stayed in previously up there, but perfectly OK. The food was tasty and we had some beer before and after dinner. The students entertained themselves by playing a game where you had to try to NOT guess the number a student had typed into their mobile phone. If you did guess it, you had to do a forfeit - fairly tame things such as singing a song, telling a story etc. It was quite interesting as well, actually, as the student singing only had to start the first few bars of their chosen song before all the other joined in. They're good at doing things together, these Chinese.

We declined the offer to join in [spoilsports!] and played cards instead. I ended up being the 'Donkey', 'Scabby Queen' or whatever you want to call it twice. Poor me. There wasn't much more to do and so at about 8pm we went to bed! Sadly, the lights were on a single circuit and so we couldn't turn ours off until the generator went off at 10pm. Didn't stop me falling asleep, though...

We managed to get to the top in the morning and could see a little, though not the views I've been able to see from the top before. Coming down the next day, down the steps (remember, this is tourism with Chinese characteristics) was agony for tired legs and I can barely walk today! We saw a couple of people (including one tubby Chinese boy) who couldn't even managed to walk up the mountain and were being carried on chairs with long poles attached. Yes, that's right, carried up by other people, namely Chinese men with huge calf muscles. Ridiculous! We also saw men carrying up rocks and bottles of gas, amongst other things. Not the easiest way to make a living.

I think that's all for now. Photos this time. Enjoy...

Almost famous

2008-09-30T13:27:00.003+08:00

The weather has, thankfully, got much cooler and I am writing this with the window open, wearing jeans and long sleeves. Things are sooooo much easier when you don't have to do them in the baking heat.

I was thinking the other day about how kind and polite (most of) the students here are. Some examples of kindness from the last week:

1. I arrived in one class to find the teacher's desk dirty and covered in chalk dust. This, by the way, is not unusual. The classrooms all seem to be dirty and I spend my life covered in chalk and trying to dust myself down without spreading more chalk on myself. Anyway, a student rushed forward and wiped the desk down with some tissues before I had to chance to put my stuff down on it.

2. Power cut on Monday evening about 5 or 10 minutes before the end of class. When it didn't come back on in a minute or so (having tried to get the mobile phone wielding students to sing a song (!)), I abandoned class. Two of the students stayed and waited for me to pack up and then guided me on my way with their mobile phones.

3. Took speakers to class in order to play a song from the textbook via my mp3 player. Of course there is a CD and a VCD to accompany the book, but no such thing as a CD player or a high likelihood of my getting my hands on one of the multi-media classrooms. The speakers are quite heavy and as I was leaving the building, the class's form tutor (? - often called 'Head Teacher' here, but that's just confusing for me!) told two of the students from my class to help the 'laowai' [foreigner] with her bag...

Now I know that that last example was due to prompting, but I'd had offers before to help me with my stuff. In fact, one of the boys from another class actually did help me (unprompted) on a different day.

As for fame, in Pingixang it comes easily and un-asked-for if you are not Chinese or Chinese-looking. The cooler weather has left me able to have my hair down again (after weeks of having it off the back of my neck at all times). I'm not sure if this makes me more noticeable or not, but this morning R & I attracted quite a lot of stares, though remarkably few 'hallloooos', it has to be said. We had a fan club of small girls in the dumpling restaurant at lunchtime, but they were quite cute.

Well, we're on holiday now and the campus is noticeably quieter as some students have gone home. Not sure what we'll do yet. Today we went on a shop investigation to a new department store that actually sells proper coffee, Ferreo Rocher (sp?) and plastic cheese. Hurrah!

It's all about the little things...

Chaos in the classroom

2008-09-23T21:00:00.002+08:00

It feels a little bit that way sometimes, particularly in speaking classes.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not saying they're out of control. In fact, they come to heel pretty quickly and if any of them step out of line (talking when I'm talking, for example) they soon stop if you single them out.

However, it's just a bit mad at times.

Today, for example, it was really windy. As I wrote before, it's ferociously hot here at the moment, so the breeze was definitely welcome and there was good reason to leave the windows open. However, it also meant that every piece of paper not anchored down soon flew off the desk. I am used to this to a certain extent, as the ceiling fans are usually on right now, but today it was about five times worse than usual. Joy.

What else? A few common things: 1) I forgot my lesson plan! Oops. Luckily my good memory did its job and I remembered what I'd planned. More or less. 2) Dropped the board rubber on my denim skirt. I hate chalk! I spend soooooooo much time dusting down my clothes and often just end up spreading more chalk. 3) Caught my nail on the black board - I HATE that feeling.

Oh, and my mature student decided to make today his first class. Oh yes, I have an engineer who works for one of the mobile phone companies coming to my first-year oral English class to improve his English... Not a problem, but I'm not sure how keen he was on singing 'Stand By Me' with the rest of the students. Tee hee. I enjoyed it though.

One more good thing: in English classes at university in China there tend to be very few boys - the most I've got is 5 out of a class of about 50. They also, almost without fail, sit together at the back of the classroom. And, I'm sorry to say, are quite often the laziest. So today I was more than happy to see four boys in the front row of my class. The reason "It's because we're confidence[sic]." Hmm... must work on the whole noun / adjective thing. Next week...

Back in the Middle Kingdom

2008-09-19T16:05:00.004+08:00

First of all, apologies for not having written this sooner. I promised lots of [may be a slight exageration - a few] people that I would get writing my blog again once I was in China and I've been here nearly three weeks now and not written a thing...

Smooth journey, collected successfully from Changsha Airport and taken into Changsha, where we stayed overnight, in order to have our compulsory medicals the next day. All went more or less smoothly and it appears that we're both fit and well. Phew! Only slight hitch was when R was rushed from the blood sample room to the toilet for a wee sample and mid-flow his arm started off bleeding again. What to do?!!! Haha.

The College is busy and full of students (big surprise there!) We had some respite - only one day's teaching the first week and the first year students missing for the first two weeks. (They have to do military training and we could see them on the football pitch every day, getting shouted at by the soldiers!!)

Teaching has been fine so far. Getting used to the noise of 50+ students all speaking at once in an Oral English class. I quite like it actually, providing they're actually practising their English and not taking the opportunity to have a sneaky chat with their friend in Chinese... I only have Oral and Writing classes this semester, which makes planning relatively easy, though teaching can feel a little repetitive at times.

The apartment is slowly taking shape - we've cleaned a lot and the cleaner has been in twice. Still killing the odd cockroach, but I believe (optimistically) that they are getting fewer and fewer. There was also a scary flying spider last night, but I'm sure that's a one-off!!!

Will post photos soon when I've taken some.

It's good to be back in the land of cheap DVDs, good food and being semi-famous.

Altogether now: Halllooooooooooo!

Blogging again

2008-08-26T03:40:00.003+08:00

For those of you still reading this (and I hope that there might be one or two left), usual [or maybe even better] service will be resumed and I will start writing again once I'm back in China (next week).

Comments are good from time to time just so that I know you're reading and if there's anything you're interested in and / or want to know about life in China etc, then let me know.

Laters...

Moving on again...

2008-06-22T22:39:00.002+08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted and I'm aware that I haven't posted much these last 10 months or so in Spain. Not sure why, but I will try to do better when I'm back in China again.

Yes, that's right, I'm returning to the Middle Kingdom.

Thoughts:

Glad to be going home (especially as it's got hot here), but I've gained some very valuable teaching experience and met some great people, visited some fantastic places and eaten some lovely food.

Looking forward to some time with family and friends, though wish it could be a little longer.

Also looking forward to Chinese food, teaching at a normal time of the day and cheap beer.

Definitely NOT looking forward to the lack of personal space (buses and trains etc) or the spitting.

Hey ho.

A Spanish Smorgasbord

2008-05-18T00:49:00.002+08:00

Well... I hadn't realised that it was so long since I last wrote a blog, but no-one's complained so maybe it doesn't matter.

Anyway, last weekend I made a trip to Seville on the train. I liked it. A lot. So much so that I could imagine myself living there for a while (as much as I like living in any city). It just felt warm (not only the temperature - in fact it wasn't actually that warm when I was there), relaxed, culturally diverse and quite beautiful. I did a load of touristy things on Saturday and got my hair cut at Corte Ingles (department store) and a few on Sunday morning. On Sunday I also just walked along the Guadalquivir River, enjoying the sunshine and people watching. There were lots of people out and about. Some of them were obviously tourists, but many just ordinary Seville folk enjoying a run / walk / cycle in the sun, or even rowing along the river. It was all very pleasant and not even a down-and-out shouting in the bushes and then another saying something to me (in English) could change my feeling.

I stayed in a cheap, clean and extremely quiet hostal, right near the centre. The guys on the front desk were very friendly and the English-speaking one was one of those guys who kind of wink at you as they're talking to you (there's a guy in one of the restaurants here who's the same...) I did insist on speaking to him in my bad Spanish, however.

I was supposed to be climbing the Alcazaba peak in the Sierra Nevada this weekend, but I decided my high mountain snow skills weren't up to it and instead went on a lower level walk with some Spanish people. Was very nice, though they were a bit perplexed by the rain as we set off, and were unsure as to whether or not we should be walking in the rain. Now of course it does rain in Spain, but from my experience it seems to be fast and furious, then over. My impression is that if it looks like rain, the Spanish generally don't go walking. Which is fair enough. However, if you followed this in the UK then you would almost never get out your walking boots...

On a slightly more mundane note, I went to recharge my international phonecard in Corte Ingles yesterday. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: I'd like to recharge this card.
Assistant: You can't do that here.
Me: Yes I can - I've done it before.
[Assistant calls supervisor].
Supervisor: Oh hello, it's you again! [This has happened to me before...]
[Tells assistant what to do and recharge transaction is duly completed.]

And then on the way out a cute kid in a pushchair randomly waved at me - made my day.

Photos sometime in the future.

Have a good one...

Only in Spain..?

2008-04-06T02:43:00.003+08:00

Look at me: blogging like a crazy thing.

Anyway...

I went to the train station this morning to book a train ticket to Madrid. It's two weeks away, so I thought I was being reasonably organised, but not excessively so. The guy in the ticket office started tapping away on his computer and then told me I could buy the outward ticket, but not the return. Grrr!!! Why? He said something about 15 days before, so I thought I'd left it too late and they were all sold out. Not so. Turns out you can only buy tickets 15 days in advance and I was just way too keen. Me and my Britishness...

Then this afternoon as I was on the homeward stretch of my run, I saw a man and a boy on a horse. On the street. As you do. The horse was really quite beautiful and high-stepping, with its head neatly bent over in a dressage-type way.

On a slightly different note, I think some people have set up a church in one of the nearby apartments. I keep hearing lots of singing in a worship kind of a style. I wonder...

Weekends in the sunshine

2008-04-04T19:59:00.002+08:00

So, as it's Friday and I'm limbering up for my last classes of the week, I was inspired to write about last weekend.

I still don't know loads of people here and weekends can sometimes drag a bit. However, last weekend was a definite exception, packed to the rafters with fun and frivolity!

On Saturday I went over to see my friends, Rich and Julia in nearby Torredonjimeno. Julia and I walked up to a local landmark in Martos. It's known as La Pena de Martos, and is thoughtfully situated next to the town's rubbish dump. Rich dropped us off and we started our climb to the top of the hill faced with trucks, rubbish and a huge pile of old clothes. There was a sign, though, just in case we didn't realise it was a tourist spot...

After our climb, one tinto con limon* but no tapas later, Rich picked us up and we headed to the petrol station to pick up supplies. [It being 2pm, the shops were closed for the siesta]. We then walked round to Rich's boss's house. Phil is British, married to a Spanish woman and they have two children. We spent a very pleasant afternoon with them and some of the friends, eating and drinking. It all culminated in a game of chocolate scrabble and a quick go on the Wii. For me it was my first Wii experience, and I was berated for not holding the control thingy as if it was an actual proper golf club. As far as I was concerned it worked perfectly well one-handedly...

I finally caught the bus home at 8.15pm and tried to re-hydrate.

On Sunday I went walking with Paco and Domingo, two of my friends from the local walking club. We set off at 8am, after the change of time, driving past the youngsters just leaving the nightclubs(!)

It was a beautiful day. Sadly, I forgot my sunglasses and was cursing all the way up Pico Magina (2164m). The walk wasn't too difficult and as my walking companions haven't done much exercise since the last time we walked together (before Christmas) I was able to take it easy. And then, as if by magic, a pair of sunglasses appeared. They were filfthy and bit scratched, but fit me, so I quickly put them on and continued in comfort.

On the way home, as well as commenting on the people who were setting off at lunchtime, we called in at the local mountain rescue equivalent (GREA). They had a big shiny luminous green / yellow helicopter, and they let us stand in front of it for photos.

We then, as is usual, repaired to a bar and sank 4 beers in rapid succession. Paco and Domingo chatted with the barman, who kept winking at me, I talked lots of nonsense and then I was deposited at my house, having promised to invite them to my wedding (if and when I ever have one..!)

I had a cheeky nap to recover and by then it was Sunday evening again.

This week has been reasonable on the exercise front and I'm going walking again on Sunday (the cherry blossom is out, so it will be a Chinese-style outing... without the pointy shoes, of course!)

On Wednesday I caught the bus to Torredelcampo and ran back along the Via Verde. About 14kms altogether, I think. All was fine, apart from having to walk past an old guy weeing against a fence in the middle of town. Lovely.

It's shaping up to be a hot one again today so I'll spend my teaching time opening and shutting the classroom window. Traffic noise / unbearable heat...? Traffic noise / unbearable heat...?

Roll on 8.15pm...

* Red wine with Fanta limon (or similar). Served cold, a very nice summer drink.

Hiking... the Spanish way

2008-02-27T20:04:00.002+08:00

Now, usually when I go walking with the walking club here, it's a fairly serious affair, generally up a steep hill with much sweating involved. We often go for a beer and tapas afterwards and I invariably end up home at about 3pm, more than a little tipsy and completely exhausted.

But it's all done in the correct order: walk, drink.

However, the other weekend I went walking with one of my friends, Paco, from the club. His wife came too, plus another couple who are friends of theirs. We walked along the Via Verde, which I think I've talked about before. As an old railway line that's been developed for walking, running and cycling, it's easy walking. We walked to Torredelcampo, a nearby village, which is about 11 or 12 kilometres from Jaen. A reasonable distance to walk, and very enjoyable in the sunshine.

At Torredelcampo we went to a bar for drinks and tapas. We sank several beers, a glass of wine and a small glass of something which looked radioactive and was very very strong. The tapas was good and included some mature cheese, hand-cooked potato crisps and goat (I think!)

It was all very pleasant I began to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Shame about the 12kms we had to walk home... The journey passed quite quickly (!) but it wasn't ideal. By the time I got home I was fit to drop and had the beginnings of a hangover. Oh well...

Last weekend I visited Cordoba, a very attractive city which is famous for its 'Mezquita Catedral', a combination mosque and cathedral. I know, I was a bit surprised too. It's a very attractive building and it, and the rest of the city, are well worth visiting.

Portugal this weekend for a long weekend.

Hasta luego...

Adventures in urban running

2008-02-07T19:40:00.001+08:00

As I was on the last bit of one of my favourite running loops yesterday, I pondered the hazards of urban running.

Now that particular loop is a relatively new one, but I like it a lot. It does involve some pounding the streets and dodging shoppers, but it also includes a good steep climb, some quiet bits below the castle, and fantastic views across the city to the mountains beyond. On a clear day (which here means most days) it really is beautiful.

However, the street bits do require some patience and concentration as there are plenty of potential pitfalls for the unwary runner. Here are some:

1. Sudden stoppers / direction changers;
2. Congregators (people who walk in a big group, taking up the whole pavement);
3. Drifters (often too busy looking at their mobile phones to steer a straight course);
4. Arm swingers (some people do this very heartily as they're walking!) and
5. Last but not least - that which dogs leave behind...

And on that note, I'll bid you farewell for now, except to say that I've had to purchase an oven glove due to a more than acceptable number of burns to my hands recently (see photo).

A new term, a new year...

2008-01-15T17:23:00.000+08:00

Just over a week into the new term and in some ways it feels like I never had a holiday. However, motivations levels are still not as high as they should be, so I know I've been away.

What is it about teaching? I know lots of teachers and of course we always talk about it. Why do we teach? Well, for most people it's to avoid working in an office, because they enjoy the challenge, the instant feedback and the sense of achieving something. Now I know that Monday mornings are difficult for everyone, especially so after a holiday. But when I worked in an office I found that you could 'hide' to a certain extent if you weren't feeling on top of the world. Not so with teaching. It really is performing and you have to get up there and throw all your energy into it, however you feel. It means 'getting into character', especially so if you're not the most out-going of people.

I'm lucky really where I'm teaching. My classes are mostly small and the students are mostly nice and want to learn. However, I do teach quite a lot of teenagers and their expectations can be quite high. I prefer days when I have the younger ones as well, who are quite happy to bounce round the classroom pretending to be kangaroos, or just play 'teacher' and give commands.

And being back in Spain? It's nice to see the sunshine again and to need sunglasses. I went out with a friend of mine on Saturday for a drive and bit of a wander round some Spanish villages. It really was beautiful - clear, blue skies, warm in the sunshine and lots of attractive views. So, it's not bad really...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-09T05:48:00.000+08:00

And so, thanks to the deafening (well, almost) cries of 'keep writing', I will continue.

Watch this space...

Thinking...

2007-12-17T21:58:00.000+08:00

... of giving up on this blogging lark.

Just out of interest, is anyone still reading this?

Can you send me a comment if you are, please.

Ta.

The Humble Queue

2007-11-12T02:38:00.000+08:00

What can I say? I'm British...

Now, I'm sure I've written about queuing before. I was deeply frustrated in China many many times by the almost complete lack of queuing. Anywhere. I remember getting excited [I know!] at Bank of China because there was a system of taking numbers and waiting your turn. It did go a bit wrong from time to time as someone tried to push in for a 'quick' query etc and wasn't turned away by the bank employee... but still. Then I was pointed in the direction of the 'foreigners only' queue and found that I could blatantly jump the queue. It all felt a bit wrong.

Still, there were still bus stations, train stations, bus stops, fast food restaurants, public toilets and, well, you get the idea.

So, it was great to be back in Britain over the summer and participate in effective, civilised queuing (mostly!) Coming to Spain, I didn't really know what to expect with regard to queues, but so far things have been entirely satisfactory. From experience at the post office and the doctor's, even if there is no obvious line in sight someone will invariably announce as you arrive that they are the last person in the queue, so you just have to watch them to know when it is your turn. And if no one does make such an announcement, then feel free to ask around for the last person. Long discussions can ensue, especially if someone was going to join the queue, but then went to check if they were in fact in the right queue. So are they still (despite being physically absent) in the queue? And don't forget to take into account the (usually) older members of the queue who may have decided to sit down on nearby seats, not necessarily in order...

That said, I still prefer going out in China. All done and dusted by 11pm (at the very latest) and you have plenty of time to recover from the evil baijiu you've been 'forced' to drink.

Hasta whenever...

Running.

2007-10-29T02:08:00.000+08:00

I decided that my running needed some sort of focus, so I entered myself in a 10k race here in Jaen. It was part of the annual half-marathon, only this year they decided to open up a 10k as well to enable more people to participate. This suited me as I haven't been training for a half-marathon and didn't think I was really fit enough to do one (I now know I'm not!)

Anyway, I decided I'd push myself to see how fast I could go (despite the fact that it was the hilliest 10k I've ever run) and I did OK, coming in 3rd in the womens' race. It was a small field, but there were definitely more than 3 women running in the 10k!!!

I am now the proud owner of a (quite large) trophy and I had to stand on a podium to collect it. Very, very random, but fun.

Picture may follow.

Pottering along

2007-10-26T20:10:00.000+08:00

I’ve felt lately, and I was feeling a little like this towards the end in China, that being home, i.e. in Britain, for a while would be nice. I miss things, such as being able to communicate freely with everyone (though this is less of a problem here in Spain than it was in China), things I am used to, things being easy.

However, last night I was also reminded of one of the pleasures of travel and living in the different places – meeting new people.

One of the other teachers at the school where I work, an American, invited the other teachers round to his house for dinner. He lives with his Spanish boyfriend in a house they have lived in together for six years. Their house is beautiful – decorated in a really interesting way and really cosy and homely. We had the open fire lit (the weather here has suddenly got cold) and it was nice being in a proper ‘home’ rather than rented accommodation. The meal was also really nice. We had salad with ranch dressing to start, followed by pork tenderloin with vegetables and then orange cake for dessert. I have to admit to eating quite a lot, but it was so tasty and it was really good to have someone else doing the cooking for a change.

It was a very good evening, the only downside being that I got home at about 1 am. Still, no chance to sleep in this morning as some builders were making a lot of noise somewhere nearby.

Still no internet, two weeks after having ordered it…

Something I was puzzling over the other day was the pecking order for bin scavenging. I was watching two people going through one of the big bins on the pavement here. (As many people live in apartments, they bring their rubbish down to the street and leave it in big bins). As I watched them, another person arrived to scavenge through the bin with them, and I wondered, as you do when you’re by yourself and possibly a little bit bored, how it works. Is there some kind of first come first served basis? Do they have to fight it out? Or is it all amicable and friendly. One to ponder… maybe…

On a different note, I had a great long weekend last weekend, cheaply exploring a few places in the immediate area. The next long weekend I plan to travel a bit further afield. This weekend I am taking part in a 10k race to get a time so that I have something to work towards for the next one I’m doing in December. Sadly the course here goes downhill on the way and uphill on the way back. That’s my excuse prepared anyway!

Red tape and randomness.

2007-10-18T16:42:00.000+08:00

As is generally the way, and as I knew they would, things are starting to settle into some sort of pattern.

It is currently the 'Feria' in Jaen, though I have yet to make it inside the gates. Last Saturday night it was 3 or 3.30am when we got there and I had just had enough, so went home! I can't get used to the time people go out here and I've decided that I don't particularly want to. That night my flatmates got in at about 9 in the morning. As far as I'm concerned that's getting up late, not a time for getting in... hey ho.

Yesterday was a good day as I finally got my N.I.E. (Numero de Identidad de Extranjero), which should make things generally easier and ensure that I don't get taxed at 25% any more. Getting it was less than easy, however. To start with I needed to fill in a form (of course!) With that form I had to have a certificate of registration in the city. To get that certificate I needed a rental contract with my name on it. First hurdle. I had to wait until we had found a third flatmate for the landlord to come round and sort that out. That done finally, I returned to the Town Hall for the certificate, which of course involved two trips. Then I had to call the Foreigners Office and make an appointment. That involved dialling many many times and the number seemed to be constantly engaged. And then, even when I turned up for my appointment I had to queue to get a number to go through to the inner sanctum where my documents were processed.

That done, amid much queuing with mostly North African men, I had to go to a bank to pay some money to the National Treasury or something. Then back to the Foreigners Office (but only at 12pm), more queuing and finally I was sent away clutching a certificate with my number on it. Yippee!!!

And it's supposed to be easy for EU residents to work in other EU countries.

Apart from that, I had an interesting conversation with an old Spanish man yesterday. He sat down on a park bench next to me and asked me if I had a boyfriend. He then proceeded to tell me (I think!) about some cousin of his in Madrid who had some woman on the side and to warn me about the dangers of living in a different place from your boyfriend / girlfriend. I think he just wanted to talk to someone and seemed content with my brief nods and the occasional 'si'. The only slightly worrying thing was that he seemed to be leaning closer and closer as he spoke to me. Probably a bit hard of hearing or something...

So today I'm going for a day out with one of the other teachers at my school. She and her boyfriend have a car, so we're going to make good use of it and actually do something during our four day weekend. Saturday I'm going walking with a local walking group and at some point I'm going to try and sign up for the 10k that's going on here in Jaen next weekend.

More soon...

Exercising in a foreign language and all things Chinese...

2007-10-10T15:40:00.000+08:00

Yes, I am still in Spain, but China seems to be following me. More of that later.

Exercise is a constant theme in my life. I like to exercise and I don't like the feeling of being unfit. Wherever I am, I always have my running shoes. It's free, you can do it almost anywhere and apart from the wear on the old knees, it's an excellent form of exercise. I've run in Australia, in the French Alps, through the fields in China and now here Spain. I've also recently joined a gym and have started going to the exercise classes there. So far I've done 'Body Pump' (EVERYTHING ached the next day, so it must've done my muscles some good), 'Pilates' (brilliant for a Monday morning) and 'Step' (confusing). My Spanish is still a bit ropey, so I'm kind of slow at everything, having mostly to wait for a physical demonstration rather than being able to use the oral commands to help me... Never mind. The women in the classes tend to be a little bit more vocal than those back home, shouting out 'Es muy facil!' [It's very easy!] or complaining when an exercise is a bit more difficult. One woman sat massaging her chest after a set of exercises meant to strengthen the pectoral muscles...!

I've also found a walking club and will be going on my first outing with them a week on Saturday. I'm very excited about that. It should be good for improving my Spanish and will get me out in the hills - yippee!

And so, China. I've already written that I miss the place. More than I thought I would. I'm particularly missing the food, so need to go shopping to try and find some of the necessary ingredients and try to cook my own.

I went for a Chinese meal when a friend came to stay with me, but of course it was Chinese food for Westerners and not a chopstick in sight... There are quite a few Chinese restaurants in the town. There are also lots of Chinese shops, one quite close to where I live. I went there on Monday and it was a dazzling Aladdin's cave of, well, tat, basically. But very cheap tat. I'll definitely be going there again! Here in Jaen (and maybe in the rest of Spain?) the name 'Chinese Shop' seems to be synonymous with very cheap and selling everything...

And finally, I went out last Friday evening with the new Erasmus students. My flatmate works at Jaen University and so gets to gatecrash such things. It was all quite noisy, with the Italians in particular making lots of noise. However, I ended up sitting next to four Chinese students, three from Nanjing and the other one from Changsha, of all places.

It's a big country and it casts its net wide...

Tomorrow is the start of the 'Feria' in Jaen, so there will be lots of eating, drinking, making merry and a three-day working week for me next week.

Hast luego.

Sunshine, bullfighting and singing 'Head Shoulders Knees & Toes' .

2007-10-04T19:17:00.000+08:00

So, finally, I get the chance to write my blog again. A lot of time has passed since I last wrote, or it feels like it at least. I'm now in Jaen, in Southern Spain, with China seeming a million miles away in some ways, but definitely missed.

Term started at the private English school where I teach on 13th September. Things are gradually settling into some sort of pattern, though I've yet to stop feeling nervous and to fully gain control of one particular class of 7 year olds, but I'm working on it. I've also yet to get my special 'Foreigner's Number' (an ID number which means I'll no longer get taxed at 25%!) In order to get that I have to go to various places with various bits of paper, none of which can be done until I have my rental agreement. Happy days...

A friend visited last week and at the weekend we visited the Cazorla National Park area, which was beautiful. We only saw a small part of it, so I'll definitely be back to see some more.

The weather has been pretty warm, though is just starting to get a bit chilly. I'm struggling a bit with working afternoons and evenings - you basically spend all day waiting to go to work. It's also difficult to go to bed early and therefore difficult also to get up in the morning. However, I've joined a gym (yet another test of my poor Spanish!) and will be trying to get to the 9.30am classes at least (the 8.30am ones might be a step too far...)

Next week and the week after are short weeks - 4 days and 3 days respectively. Yippee! The second of those long weekends is also the Feria here in Jaen, so I'll definitely be reporting back on that. Which brings me nicely to bullfighting. Very much still part of the culture here. I've watched it a little bit on TV and no doubt I'll go to one just for the experience, but I can't say it's something I really understand.

And finally... 'Head Shoulders Knees & Toes'? The old favourite. I've sung it in England, France, China and now Spain. Can't go wrong...

Adios and hasta luego with some more photos hopefully.

Back home

2007-08-31T17:21:00.000+08:00

I've not posted for a long time, but I've generally been enjoying being back in England.

The journey home was reasonably smooth. I called in at Pingxiang on the way [kind of] and had a last visit to my friends, Steven, Rose & Jasmine. Jasmine (now aged two) is speaking quite a lot and was even persuaded to say some things in English. They tried to get her to call me 'Auntie Steph' (in English), but the best she managed was 'Auntie Douf' (as in 'dou fu' - tofu), which cracked me up! I also called in at Shenzhen and met up with a former Pingxiang College student, Maggie. She's now working in Shenzhen and it was really nice to catch up with her (plus she found a nice hotel for me to stay in). I also had my one and only visit to the beach in China and it was so weird! We went in the evening and so it was very busy - people arriving after work and avoiding the heat of the day etc. It felt like the whole of humanity was either on the beach or in the water. This was made worse by the fact that the people 'swimming' were all inside a limited roped off area and most of them were wearing rubber rings. It was surreal. Difficult to imagine the scene unless you were there...

Anyway, I flew from Hong Kong to London with only some minor turbulence and the annoyance of the person next to me spreading out a bit too much while she was asleep. (I was also jealous of the fact that she was sleeping as I managed an hour tops). A chatty guy originally from Pakistan collected me in a taxi and I made it back to my sister's by about 6am on a beautiful, clear morning. It had only been eleven and a half months and I know that people are away from home a lot longer, but I was really glad to be back.

Since then I've been catching up with friends, bonding with my niece, running, swimming and enjoying the simple pleasures of empty pavements, being able to chat to random people in shops, old people on park benches etc.

Spain next. Watch this space...

And now, the end is near...

2007-07-19T09:44:00.000+08:00

The proverbial curtain is hoving into view, but it's just one of those ones made of strands of beads, and on the other side... Well, don't want to stretch the metaphor too far.

So, anyway, it's a strange time. Lots of goodbyes, but at the same time lots of excitement about going home, seeing friends, family and in particular my niece (for the first time).

I finally gave my last exam yesterday, only a week and a half after all the other teachers! Not bitter at all. It was the British Literature exam and they did pretty well - I was pleased with them and their analysis of the texts. That class were my saviours. In a school where many students are apathetic towards learning English (to say the least!) their enthusiasm and aptitude were so refreshing. I also enjoyed teaching literature and remembering things about texts I studied over ten years ago.

Last night at an Italian restaurant in Kunming, my friend Rachelle and I were waiting to order. One of the owners brought a plate of fruit and cream to the table. Now, this has happened a few times before with random food and most times I've said 'this isn't mine' or 'I didn't order this', but then often it's just some free food they want to give us. So this time I didn't say anything, though I was a bit wary about digging in. Rachelle didn't hesitate and had a couple of forkfuls. Then suddenly, a waitress came up to our table, picked up the plate, said 'sorry' and walked off with it.... to another table! Yes, I'm afraid some poor customers got the plate and the fork that Rachelle had eaten off... haha.

And so next week I say farewell to Kunming and a little while later 再见 to China.

More Chinese generosity

2007-07-07T09:31:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I finally made it to the hometown of one of my students in order to taste the famous Yi Liang duck. And well worth the trip it was too...

So, the story goes that someone from Yi Liang travelled to Beijing (can't remember why!) and took some food for the journey, namely duck. The people of Beijing liked the duck so much, that they decided to cook their own version of it, which became the famous 'Peking Duck'. Don't know if this is true, but it's a good story...

We set off late Sunday morning - myself and three students. We had a 40 minute bus ride and then were picked up by Yoyo's father and driven out into the countryside. It was nice to feel the fresher air and smell the greeness. Kunming is less polluted than some cities in China, but you still notice the difference when you go to the countryside.

Yoyo's father took us to a restaurant in a village. There was a kind of square in the middle of the village and around it were small structures used for cooking the ducks, plus lots of ducks, plucked and hanging on racks. The restaurant itself was a bit dirty, especially the floor - debris from various meals scattered around the tables - but the food was delicious! The ducks came with two different accompaniments: there was the traditional Peking plum sauce, or the local salt/pepper mix to dip it in. Sooooo good!

We each left the restaurant with a full cooked duck (complete with head and beak) to take home.

After lunch we took a short drive up a red-earth track to a small lake. There were lots of people enjoying the warm Sunday sunshine - fishing, playing cards and just generally chilling out.

Back at the bus station we met Yoyo's mother, who gave us drinks for the journey home.

We arrived back in Kunming at about 5pm, a little tired, but full of delicious duck (well, I was, anyway. My friend, Thao, was hungry again, but that's what she's like!!)

Yet another example of extreme kindness and generosity from Chinese people. Something I will definitely miss when I go home...

Going home

2007-06-29T17:01:00.000+08:00

With only a month left to go here in China, from time to time (OK, maybe a little more often than that!), I think about what I'm looking forward to about going home and what I will miss.

Here in Kunming things are fairly easy mostly. You can get decent Western food and people generally don't stare (too much!) But it's still China and things are still significantly different from home. I'm looking forward to fish and chips (can't get those here), my mum's cooking, a big fat steak, some observance of the rules of the road, being able to communicate successfully in shops, taxis etc. I could go on, but I won't, because there are also things I'll miss - the unbelievable kindness and generosity of strangers, the food, the weather, the scenery, the friends I've made...

...

On Tuesdays I teach English to Mary, a hyperactive, but very, very bright nine year old. I cycle to her house and back through areas that obviously don't see many white faces, judging by the responses I get. I often hear 'hallooooo' and am sometimes unable to identify the source. Last week I swear that I was 'halloooo'ed' buy a policeman on a motorbike! Random people start conversations with me at traffic lights and I try to reply in broken Chinese. I often hear 'laowai' and sometimes parents encouraging their children to say hello to the foreigner.

Apart from the usual dangers of being on the road on my bike, I like those rides home. The sky is often clear, the temperature at a pleasant level. It's interesting people-watching too (as long as I don't let my attention wander too much...), though the enjoyment has been tempered slightly by the deteriorating condition of my borrowed bike, more specifically the chain. It kind of falls off. A lot. Luckily I am now an expert at putting it back on, but it's annoying nonetheless.

I should say as well, despite feeling like I've fought with many of them the whole year, I'll also miss the students. It's been an interesting experience and I've learned a lot. I was really touched last week when a couple of students (and not students who had particularly stood out at all) gave me gifts.

So, just two days of speaking exams, 4 writing exams and 200 exam papers stand between me and freedom. Piece of cake.

XXX

2007-06-01T10:53:00.000+08:00

So there we sat, in a cold room with the sound of thunder rumbling round the hills, remembering an Australian with a big heart.

Not something I had anticipated doing on my thirtieth birthday, but Peter's death happened suddenly and the meeting to remember him was arranged for Sunday. A teacher on and off for several years at YUFE, Peter certainly seems to have touched many people's lives and many remembered his smile and generosity. His daughters had come over to China from Australia and must have found it strange finding out so much about Peter's life in China without him there. For me I remember a guy who was very helpful to me before I ever arrived in China and who would always joke around with me about something. He will be missed.

Last Saturday, the day before my birthday, we celebrated with a party at the apartment of one of my students, followed by bowling and a quick dance at Speakeasy. Part of the reason for celebrating a day early was that two good friends from England, Sophie and John, were visiting me as part of their whistle-stop tour of China, but were due to leave the morning of my birthday. It was a cracking evening, especially for someone who usually dislikes being the centre of attention.

The next day I completed my East-meets-West birthday, being taken out for dinner by the parents of some Chinese children I teach English to. It was a really nice meal - good restaurant and a really kind gesture. We even had Chinese birthday cake, though this was massacred rather than cut by the nine-year-old wielding the (plastic) knife!

And so it is now June and there are just four more teaching weeks left, exams and then time for a rest, I think. I am looking forward to going home very much, but I will certainly missed the city that has been my home for the last nine and a half months and especially the people I have met here.

I wonder if I'll still be able to perform my favourite party trick in another thirty years...

Photos from Golden Week jaunt

2007-05-18T22:35:00.000+08:00

I had trouble uploading these last time I tried, so fingers crossed...

Curry and Flying Tigers

2007-05-12T09:10:00.000+08:00

When you think about eating at a restaurant in China, the first word that springs to mind is probably not 'curry'. In fact, it could well be the last... But yesterday I had my first taste of Indian food in nearly 9 months and certainly the first time in China, and it was worth it! A recently opened Indian restaurant in Kunming, with branches in Xi'an and Chengdu, proved to be a good place to find a decent curry and I know my tastebuds enjoyed the different flavours.

Another first last night - going to the cinema in China. We went to watch the new Spiderman film, which wasn't bad. The cinema was nice, though the whole viewing experience was marred somewhat by people holding full-scale conversations on their mobile phones during the film. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised, knowing the extent to which mobile phones rule here (it's not considered rude to break off in the middle of a conversation with someone in order to answer your phone and I'm sure that most people are unaware of where the on/off button is located on their phone...) The lack of an advert at the start of the film, politely reminding cinema goers to turn off their phones, should also have alerted me to what was ahead, but honestly! What is so important that it can't wait till the end of the film? What makes people think that other people in the cinema want to listen to their conversation when they have paid 30 yuan for the pleasure of watching a film on the big screen with full stereo surround sound?

OK, rant over. For now.

Anyway, so, Golden Week was interesting. I went with Rachelle, another foreign teacher at YUFE, and a couple of Chinese families to a place called Tengchong in western Yunnan. It was a really interesting and beautiful drive there - lots of mountains, trees etc. We had hot springs and a big pool just outside our hotel room at one place we stayed, we visited a museum about the Flying Tigers and the Hump during World War II and also climbed a volcano. We ate some wonderful food... but, I found the experience a little frustrating. First of all, we had three children with us. Now I like children, but having someone else's child come into your room first thing in the morning and say 'Get up! Get up!' [albeit with very good English pronuciation] is not ideal. I also found that we spent a lot of time driving round, asking for directions, trying to find somewhere with 'hao chi' ['good food'] and not so much time doing things I would have liked to have done. Oh well.

Photos to follow.

Today I am mostly sheltering from the rain and marking a mamouth pile of exam papers. Lucky me. Fortunately there have been enough random unsollicited comments on them to keep me amused - extra points for any student who makes me laugh as I am marking their paper!

Can't wait for the end of the month - a visit from friends and my birthday...

Photos only

2007-04-26T13:24:00.000+08:00

Here you go...

I have of late...

2007-04-19T17:40:00.000+08:00

... but wherefore I know, not lost all my... hang on a minute! It's OK again.

Thanks, Hamlet, but I don't need to borrow your words just yet. Last week when I thinking about writing my blog, I was feeling kind of fed up and tired of everything Chinese. It was all part of feeling homesick, I guess - something which doesn't really affect me often. But fortunately, it seems to have passed. Yippee!

So, Sally's visit was great - we did lots of stuff in Kunming, visited Dali, did a bit of hiking and even went to a maths lesson at a secondary school (that was for Sally). Things are now back in their usual pattern, with less than a week until the May holiday. It remains to be seen exactly which days will be holiday, but no doubt we'll find out the day before the holiday starts.

Friday we had a great burger party at a friend's house (thanks Jared for the bacon cheese creations!)

Now, I'm sorry [not really!] to mention spitting again, but as anyone who has lived in China will know, there's a lot of it about. Last week in one of my classes I heard one of my students making the horrible 'hawking' noise that usually precedes spitting. I looked around, but couldn't work out who had made the noise. Then it came again. And finally, a third time. This time I spotted the culprit and invited him to go to the toilets to do it. I was kind of shocked. I had got the impression that the younger generation didn't tend to spit. Then later, a child who couldn't have been more than 2 years old, and who seems to hang out in the copy shop made the nasty sound and spat. Being a child he hasn't yet mastered the whole projection thing, and the spit ended up down the front of his clothes, but still...

The word from Beijing is that the Chinese are trying to clean up their act (literally) in time for the Olympics (thanks, Rachelle): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/world/asia/17manners.html

A few snapshots from yesterday:

(1) Me sitting in a Chinese friend's car with a pile of 50 or so of students' CVs and covering letters on my lap, a red pen in my hand and the beautiful Yunnan countryside rolling past.

(2) In a restaurant in Gejiu with my friend, a ten-year-old and a couple of Chinese men I had only just met, eyeballing a plate full of what I think were grasshoppers and dragonflies. (Yes, I did try them!)

(3) My friend saying I would be back home by 11.30pm [famous last words!]

(4) Driving along, suddenly hearing a funny sound and trying to persuade my friend to pull over.

(5) Sitting at a toll gate just outside Yuxi waiting for a Chinese surgeon to arrive in his Buick and see whether or not his wheel would fit on my friend's car.

(6) Wandering round a Volkswagon garage at midnight while a mecanic did his stuff and the rest of us watched.

(7) Going to bed at 3am and getting up again at 8am for my busiest day of the week...

On that note, I'm off to bed! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

School trip

2007-03-30T17:31:00.000+08:00

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!!!

Communication

2007-03-19T18:57:00.000+08:00

Never easy, though it is getting better and some days I feel like I am really getting somewhere.

Still trying to get over a Chinese friend who wanted to do a language exchange with me, telling last week my speaking in Chinese was not very clear! (This is despite hardly ever having a problem being understood as long as I know the words for what I want to say...) This was followed by her daughter completely not understanding my trying to ask her 'Is the food nice?' (in Chinese). Now this is something I have said about a million times and up until now never had a problem being understood. Though it is of course possible her daughter thought that I was speaking to her in English!

But yesterday was good. I had a really good chat with a taxi driver who works on ships and has been to Britain and Ireland amongst other places. He also knew a few words of English, which helped matters enormously. I managed to answer quite a few of his questions in Chinese, understand what he said to me and even asked him a couple of questions of my own.

Then I had a brief chat with the woman who puts credit on my mobile phone for me. I can say much more to her than I could back in September, though that's not really saying much! It generally ends up being about the weather or something equally scintillating. Conversations tend to run their course fairly quickly when I have exhausted my limited vocabulary and selection of phrases. Oh well, it's still not bad. It's all progress, I guess.

A litany of mini-disasters and / or near-misses

2007-03-12T19:46:00.000+08:00

Well, it's been an interesting day. The morning was quiet enough - doing preparation for the rest of the week. I should maybe have seen it coming when a [I presume] student kindly (!) told me when I could cross the road in front of the university. (Don't know how I've managed to cross roads by myself all these years). He then asked me where I was going and if I needed any help. Of course it was very nice of him, but completely unnecessary!!!

And so a list of what followed:

1. Lost a piece of paper on which I had written the information needed to buy a plane ticket for a friend who is coming to visit me.
2. Said piece of paper also had on it the names of recommended running shoes (I was planning to buy some later).
3. Handcream top came off and the handcream splodged out all over the inside of my bag.
4. Nearly got my arm stuck in a bus door as the driver tried to close it just as I tried to go through it.
5. Someone tried to rob me and actually had their hand in my bag - gave him what for when I realised!!

OK, so it's maybe not quite a litany and on the plus side I survived yet another day crossing the roads here, managed to buy both the plane ticket and also my trainers. Yippee! But I did end up walking home cos the buses were just too full.

Felt like more people than usual were staring at me today, though it might just have been that I was noticing it more. Seems worse when I have my hair down. When people staret I still often wonder if I have something on my face like a dirty mark, but I never do. Ah well...

Thinking about how my day has gone, it might be a good idea to move my mouthwash off the shelf on which I keep all my cleaning products.

What is it they say about life and a tapestry and something about rich or something...?!?

Working again...

2007-03-10T14:15:00.000+08:00

I survived my first week back after a long holiday (it's ok, I'm not looking for sympathy!!) Classes went really well actually, though by 9.30am on Friday morning I was ready to drop. Luckily I have a long weekend - no classes now till Tuesday morning.

Thursday was the most crazy day: I started at 8am and taught till 11.20am, then again from 2.30-4pm. After that I went to collect my 'new' bike from a Chinese friend. It's fine - pink and the saddle is far too low, the handlebars far too high and it has no gears. However it was also free, so I'm not complaining. Came back here for dinner at a Korean restaurant, then a concert performed by a symphony orchestra from Hanoi (which of course we were only told about earlier the same day!) It was very good and made me realise how much I miss listening to live music.

Oh, and I found someone to go running with, which is cool cos Kunming is a great place to run - lots of sunshine and the high altitude makes it good training. The only difficulty I've had is finding somewhere to run. My new running partner runs by the massive lake here, Dianchi (where he also lives). It's flat, the roads are wide and relatively traffic-free and there are plenty of stalls selling water. What more could you want?

I think leaving this place may be harder than I thought...

'Humor is reason gone mad. ' Groucho Marx

Chinese New Year in a blur of baijiu.

2007-02-28T12:24:00.000+08:00

So, I arrived back in Kunming on Monday evening to clear skies and much warmer temperatures. I had spent Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, with my Chinese friends in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. I had a great time, though it's a very different experience being in Pingixang than being here in Kunming, and it was nice to get back to my own place.

Having found it difficult
to buy a train ticket, I decided to fly from Kunming to Changsha. I then took a bus directly from the airport to Pingxiang. As usual, I managed to make a friend on the bus - a guy from Pingxiang who's now working in Shanghai (I think!) and who was happy to chat and practise his English. In fact, I spent the whole holiday chatting to people who wanted to practise their English. It's nice to be in a place where you're kind of special and where people are always friendly and welcoming. Though of course the flipside of this is that I have to put up with lots of staring and comments of 'laowai' ['foreigner']. I am much more used to this now than I was when I first arrived in Pingxiang in 2005 and sometimes I even make jokes with people about it. The interest is always based on surprise and curiosity and not hostility, so smiling and saying 'hello' seem to be an appropriate response.

During my holiday I spent some days with Steven (my Chinese friend)'s parents, also making a trip to his grandparents' house in the countryside. I also spent a couple of days with a former student of Rick's - her home is in the deepest countryside and has no running water or gas. Washing is done with a bucket and food is cooked over a fire fuelled with coal bricks. Water comes from a well and is routinely boiled. When we walked about the countryside, whole villages of people were staring at me.

Another highlight was going to Huang Shi Mu (sp?) with Joseph, one of Rick's friends, and some of his friends from the photography club. We had quite a steep climb up the mountain and stayed in a guesthouse near the top - again no running water and this time also no electricity except for a short time from a generator. Good job I took a torch and it was a clear night - the stars were amazing and the moon very bright. The toilets there were across a stream, accessed across a rickety bridge! Kind of puts you off getting up in the middle of the night...

New Year itself was very noisy - many many fireworks and firecrackers going off for days and days. It was incredible - I've never heard anything like it before.

So, the Russians drink vodka, the Chinese drink baijiu. I think it's to do with the cold - houses are largely unheated and so as well as wearing all your clothes a shot of the strong stuff helps keep you warm! We drank a fair bit during the festive period. Some was bought from a shop, but quite a lot was home made from... erm... I'm really not quite sure! At one place it arrived at the table in a soft drink bottle, obviously decanted out from some vat somewhere.

Food... more meat than normal on the table, including the special treat of dog (which I mostly avoided this time - put off by having a live one running round my feet while we were eating, though I did eat some donkey meat). Lots of snacks - fruit, nuts, some sweets. Lots of visitors and trips to other people's houses to eat and drink.

It was cool because this time Steven and Rose's daughter got a lot more used to me and was quite friendly. She's very cute and now learning to speak.

I also started learning how to play Majiang, though I am a bit slow at it still.

Well, that's a very brief version of my trip. Here are some photos.

Teaching starts again next week so I'm looking forward to finding out which classes I'll be teaching...

Perils of life in the Middle Kingdom

2007-02-11T21:20:00.000+08:00

I know, I know... I've written before (at least once) about the hazards of being a cyclist here, but sometimes problems come from rather unexpected sources. Yesterday, I was on my way home, using the cycle (for 'cycle' read cycle / pedestrian / moped / though not usually horse) lane when I saw ahead of me what looked like a wet patch. A woman was tipping washing-up liquid on it and a man was also tipping boiling water on it. He shouted 'be careful!' at me (amongst other things which I couldn't understand) and waved his arms about. I wasn't sure what to do? Should I stop? Was is something toxic?!! So I stopped and put my foot down right in the middle of it. Good move, Steph.

Turns out it was oil and so I spent the rest of the journey home trying to maintain my dignity while my left foot repeatedly slid off the pedal. Not ideal.

Another thing... many lights here, particularly in apartment building stairwells are sound-activated. A clap of the hands will usually do the trick, though stamping your foot sometimes works better. All well and good until you trying doing that in your own home (no sound-activated lights there) or, even worse, outdoors when it's dark.

'To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.' Bertrand Russell

I know exactly how you feel...

2007-02-07T15:06:00.000+08:00

So... I'm enjoying being on holiday and I haven't quite got bored yet (though there's still time!)

Yesterday I finally visited Kunming Zoo. I'd been putting it off for ages and I was mostly justified in that - it was a bit of a depressing experience with old and quite small cages for the animals and a strange show which included performing birds, monkeys, bears and a dog. It also appeared as if there weren't quite enough animals in the zoo for the Chinese tourists to look at... yep, I got stared at!

As if I didn't stand out enough with my fair hair and blue eyes, sometimes I just have to go and draw attention to myself by doing something stupid!!! Today as I was parking my bike at Carrefour I managed to knock into the next bike and then had to watch in disbelief as a load of them toppled over, domino-style... Despite it all happening in slow motion I was powerless to do anything until they were all on the ground and I had to pick them up again!

The weather has got quite a lot warmer and I am enjoying eating 20p strawberries as I write this - there are some things I love about this country!!! However, I did risk life and limb on my bike to purchase them.

As well as strawberries, the shops are full of things for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year): decorations, special food and gifts... It's a little bit like Christmas back home. It also means that most of the kids are now on holiday, which in turn means that there are more of them wandering the streets and shouting 'hello' [or more accurately 'halllooo!'] at me. Still, I guess I should be glad that they're learning something at school.

And finally, as I am unable to go running here (lack of nice places to go and unwillingness to be stared at any more than is usual!), I have decided to take up skipping. Will keep you posted, but so far about 10 seconds is all I can do.

A Chinese Winter Wonderland

2007-02-01T12:35:00.000+08:00

Wow - it's snowing! Apparently this only happens once every few years in Kunming, so we're very lucky. It does make me nostalgic for the Alps in winter.

Speaking of which, I just recently got back from a trip in Yunnan. I visited Dali, Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge. Although I wasn't that keen on Dali when I arrived, it grew on me and I think it would be a nice place to hang out for a few days. I stayed the first two nights half-way up a mountain, Cang Shan to be precise, at a height of around 2600m. I stayed at a place called Higherland Inn (www.higherland.com) and it was wonderful. Being Winter, it was especially quiet, only a Chinese girl and I, plus two Frenchmen who seem to spend a lot of time there. The owner, Li Ping cooked really good food and it was great place to chill out and escape from people (not an easy thing in China!) In the evenings after dinner we sat around the log fire reading with a couple of dogs and a tiny kitten for company.

I spent the following two nights in the town of Dali, which was also quite relaxing, mainly because I didn't do very much! However, I hired a bike and cycled to Erhai Lake and visited a village called XiZhou (only 18kms each way!) Dali is quite attractive, though far too full of shops and tourists for my liking! I also spent some time with Amanda, my new Chinese friend, which was cool.

After Dali, I moved on to Lijiang. Now, if I thought Dali was bad, Lijiang was a hundred times worse! As one of my friends described it, 'Disneyjiang'!!! Oh well. So, I found a bed for the night, visited Black Dragon Pool Park, ate some pizza and planned my escape... When I was staying at Higherland I got chatting to the Frenchmen and told them I was heading to Lijiang. They asked me if I was going to Tiger Leaping Gorge. I had thought about it, but wasn't too sure about making the trip and doing the hike by myself etc., so I had kind of decided against it. However, they told me that it was really worth it and, not wanting to spend 3 more days in Lijiang, I threw caution to the wind and got on a bus headed for Qiaotou.

I was a little apprenhensive, but I met some Germans when we arrived - a couple called Maite and Christoph, and also a guy travelling by himself, Gerhard. We decided we would all walk together and it was really lucky for me that we did as they proved to be great people and I had a really cool time with them.

The walk itself was amazing - my photos are good but you can't really imagine how spectacular it is unless you have been there. The peaks tower above you and the water gushes along way below. Dry and bare hillsides give way suddenly to bright green terraces. Amazing. We stayed at the Halfway Guesthouse the first night - a wonderful place far away from the main road. The stars were something else. The second night we stayed at Sean's Place in Walnut Garden, also cool, but not quite as 'in the middle of nowhere'.

The second day we walked down the gorge to the river and then alongside it for a bit. We were stopped at regular intervals by people asking us for money to use the paths they had created and/or were maintaining, but I guess they needed the money more than us. On the way back up we met a man called Mr Xia who invited us in for tea at his house. He showed us his business card and gave us some of his corn alcohol to try - blimey, it was strong!!! He takes people hiking, horse riding etc and was really friendly. Communication was a little difficult, but I got by fairly well with my poor Chinese. We ended up using his and his friends' ponies the next day to go up the mountain. Wooden saddles and everything...

All in all, I'm very glad I decided to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge. Unfortunately, there is a plan to flood the valley and use it for HEP - see Sean's website for information on this: www.tigerleapinggorge.com.

I arrived back in Kunming last Friday in one piece, but managed to pick up some sort of stomach bug on the way back and was in bed on and off for most of the weekend. Business as usual once more in the stomach department, however, and it didn't do my waistline any harm!

Still snowing...

The festive season Chinese-style

2007-01-02T10:26:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year!

Our Christmas party / performance organised by the Foreign Affairs Office for foreign students and teachers went off without a hitch. We performed 'T'was the Night Before Christmas' and also 'Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer' and hammed it up sufficiently, I feel. The rest of the evening went on a little bit too long, but was generally enjoyable, especially the bursting balloons game! Don't ask.

I spent Christmas Eve at the apartment of a foreign teacher at the Forestry College in the East of the city and met some very friendly students and had a cool time. On the way up to her apartment we passed a man and his herd of goats. Of course. As you do. (See picture of this an also a picture of one of the many horses that pull carts around the city).

I wasn't overly impressed to be teaching two classes on Christmas Day, but luckily my nice Accounting School class had arrived early and decorated the classroom for me. They also gave me a present, which was very kind of them. In return I let them perform a Christmas version of 'Blind Date'. The cultural references were a little bit lost on them, but they seemed to enjoy the drama and I even persuaded one of them to wear some cardboard antlers from our Christmas performance!

I had a break from Chinese class on Christmas Day and 'shared' Christmas Day lunch with my family via the webcam instead. Isn't technology brilliant?

Finally did my dance performance at Nordica last Saturday. We went from being seriously under-rehearsed to doing one of the best performances we'd ever done. Lois recorded some film of us dancing, but I think I will not be following Jared's suggestion to put it on Youtube!!

For New Year's Eve I went out for pizza with Jared and Lois, following a couple of cheeky vodkas before leaving the house! Lois then called it a night and Jared and I met up with a couple of my students, another foreign teacher and a random Dutch couple and did some dancing at Speakeasy. Midnight itself was actually a bit of a non-event as they just played some recorded 'bongs' and we weren't even sure they played them at the right time!!! Never mind.

I wonder what 2007 will bring...

Living the high life

2006-12-17T21:18:00.000+08:00

Although things have kind of fallen into some sort of pattern, the random factor still comes into play with surprisingly regularity and no two weeks are ever the same...

On Friday I went with my friend, Patty, to Golden Temple Park in the north of Kunming. As it cost a whole 20 RMB, we spent 4 hours there to get our money's worth!! It was quite enjoyable, especially running into a camel. Fortunately it has not yet adopted the Chinese habit of spitting...
Then, yesterday (having had not quite enough sleep and a morning aerobics class) I went with a couple of my students to Dian Chi - the big lake to the south of the city. We went in one student's car which included a driver, and on the way we passed her father's factory. No shortage of money there, then. We fed the seagulls first and then went to a very fancy spa (which I was treated to!) All very nice.

It also seemed to be a good day for wedding photos (you can see it's very sunny) and I captured an interesting picture of one happy couple.

The random factor

2006-12-14T22:47:00.000+08:00

One thing that I will miss in a weird kind of way and that will take some getting used to once I am back in Europe is the sheer randomness of life here sometimes.

Some random events this week:

Last night walking through the city [ok, I admit it, I got a little bit lost!] a Chinese woman struck up a conversation with me. In Chinese. Now, my Chinese is still distinctly lacking and her English wasn't much better (or at least as far as she was letting on!)

Today in the canteen on campus a Chinese man said to me 'Can you use chopsticks?' To which I replied, 'I am in China. Of course!' His response 'Very good!' [with a big grin and a surprised air!] It doesn't take much to achieve approval here.

A fun time in Carrefour this afternoon when I managed to jam the locker door (my bag strap got stuck in it!) I had to wait a while until someone came along with a key and a password to access the electronics etc. Unfortunately, neither of these were much use and he ended up levering open the locker with a screwdriver as I apologised, several times, a little red-faced. Fortunately, I didn't draw too much of a crowd.

And if things weren't bad enough, just then it started... SPITTING! [Thanks to Peter Kay].

No, not really. Still dry as a bone here. But an old guy on his bike treated me to a cheery 'halllloooo!' as he cycled past. A rare(?) treat.

Well, I'll finish this as I sit here enjoying my new Christmas lights. Obviously they work really well. It doesn't matter that only half of them flash and the rest stay on all the time. I'm sure they're supposed to do that...

What part of 'no' do you not understand?

2006-12-10T19:49:00.000+08:00

My friend and fellow teacher, Lois, has had her friend, Karen, visiting from the USA this week. On Thursday we went to a restaurant for Peking (or Beijing) Duck. It was really tasty and the meal was only slightly marred by the fact that the staff stood round the table waiting for us to finish and leave and also made Jared pay for a plate he accidentally broke!

On Friday Lois, Karen and I headed to the Stone Forest - a local tourist spot. We set off early and soon encountered the first hurdle - finding the bus station!! A woman touting for business tried several time to get us to take an expensive private car instead of the bus we were looking for. She was very slow to catch on (or possibly accept) the fact that we wanted to go the cheap way!

Anyway we were finally on the bus. Lonely Planet had warned us to avoid tourist buses which apparently stop at every pillar and post between Kunming and Shilin. We thought we had more or less managed this - after all, we were told that there would only be 2 stops on the way there. The first ended abruptly when our minibus returned from getting more fuel, but the second dragged on interminably and I thought there was going to be a mutiny against the driver!

However, we finally arrived and though it was a bit like Disneyland the rock formations were impressive and we managed to find some genuinely quiet corners of the park. We even helped out a Chinese couple who admitted to being lost!! I would like to go again as we didn't really have enough time to explore the place fully. Here's a link to a website about it: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/yunnan/kunming/stone_forest.htm

Hope you enjoy the photos. I'm off to bed, having done a 3 hour dance class this afternoon...

Ganpodwer Splot

2006-12-03T09:45:00.000+08:00

Thanks to one of my students, Jack, for the title of this post. It was his headline for a newspaper article on... yes, you've guessed it, Guy Fawkes!

Things of note that happened recently:

The buses in Kunming are mostly good, if a little crowded (especially the number 84). There are 2 versions of the number 9 bus. There is the regular bus, which looks like all the other buses in Kunming, and there is the little one. This one (as its name suggests) is smaller, dirtier and looks like it has come from the countryside, which it kind of has. Taking this bus always involves a lot more staring that taking the other buses. I learnt on Friday that it can also involve an impromptu aerobics session. There I was on my way back from Carrefour with, appropriately, a baguette in hand, contemplating an evening watching a dvd and drinking a well-earned glass of red wine. Suddenly, as we approached a junction, everyone on the bus who was standing, squatted down. When we got past the junction the conductor said 'Keyi le!' [It's OK!] and everyone stood up again. I was a little bemused, but the explanation was suggested to me by another foreign teacher - they cram the buses travel to over-capacity and so at junctions people crouch down to avoid detection by the police! Random...

Yesterday I went to a normal aerobics class and on the way home I cycled past a man on his bicycle towing a trailer piled high with pink stuff. Closer inspection (a little too close for comfort as it turned out) revealed that it was in fact a huge pile of pigs' heads. Yuck!

Then yesterday evening I went to a Christmas fair and concert at Nordica.

Pretty much a normal Friday & Saturday then.

Hasta luego!

East meets west

2006-11-26T09:57:00.000+08:00

I can't remember the start of the week - it's too long ago, but Wednesday saw me judging a speaking competition for the journalism and accounting departments. Luckily for me it was a Chinese and English speaking competition, so I only had to give a mark to half the students (not being able to judge the students speaking in Chinese, of course!) All the judges were introduced at the start and the others, being Chinese, gave a small bow of the head while I found myself standing up and giving a cheery PM-style wave! Oh well.

During the competition, the teacher next to me and I kept having sneaky peeks at each other's marks for comparison, then pretending we weren't!! All good fun, even getting up and giving a short speech at the end for everyone's benefit.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, so I celebrated in style with the other foreign teachers here. It was really good - turkey and pumpkin pie. Carlota and I went to a restaurant called the 'Wicker Basket' to collect the cooked turkey and other food. Unfortunately, I managed to show the taxi driver a business card for the other branch of the Wicker Basket in a completely different part of the city. Fortunately, I realised the mistake and managed to phone a handy Chinese friend to explain matters to the taxi driver. He of course thought it was hysterical and has probably been dining out on the story ever since.

Yesterday I went to my first aerobics class here in Kunming. The directions I had been given were very good right up until the last part, when I wasn't sure if I was in the right place. Fortunately I was able to 'ask' a nearby security guard. [For 'ask' read: me saying "wo yao..." ('I want') accompanied by a vague mime of someone doing aerobics. But it worked!!!]

Last night we went to a jazz concert at Nordica, which was very good, though I am still off the alcohol (4 weeks now) and so I ended up drinking too much coffee and getting a little bit hyperactive...! Never mind.

Dance class this afternoon and more marking of newspaper articles... joy!

Photos to follow.

Kunming in the sunshine

2006-11-18T15:52:00.000+08:00

This morning I went with Patty, a Chinese friend of mine, to Black Dragon Pool Park. It was really beautiful and not at all crowded. The autumn colours are just coming out and it was great to walk, get some fresh air and experience a bit of nature.

The highlights were a school teacher asking his class of small children to say hello to the 'foreign auntie' and a man in one of the temples saying hello to me and telling me I was 'beautiful'!!

The weather is glorious at the moment and perfect for take photos, so here are a few.

Are these your own words? Part II: the sequel

2006-11-17T21:02:00.000+08:00

Unfortunately, my students seem still not to have grasped the concept that I can't actually give them a mark for copying verbatim. The brick wall has a large dent in it and my head hurts. A lot.

YUFE (Yunnan University of Finance & Economics) is currently in a minor state of turmoil thanks to the looming visit from university inspectors. This place was given university status last year, so I guess they are checking that the university is adhering to the necessary standards. However, as well as giving us advice on dressing correctly, being on time and having a lesson plan and materials with us in class, rumours are going round of students being made to sit in classrooms late at night to look as though they are working hard! It remains to be seen whether or not I will have the pleasure of a visit to any of my classes.

I have started playing tennis and there is a possibility of an aerobics class not too far from here. So as well as climbing the local 'mountain' sometimes on a Saturday, I am kind of doing OK for exercise. Oh, and teaching of course - nervous energy, pacing round the classroom, doing elaborate mime...

Highlight of the week: a student asking me if I had 'put off weight'.

Adventure of the week: getting my hair cut. Though I cheated and took a Chinese friend of mine with me for translation assistance.

Low point of the week: talking to a student who had wanted to study psychology, but whose parents were not in favour, so she's studying business now and hating it. It's a common story. Hardly any of the students here seem to have actually chosen to do their course. It really breaks my heart, me who gave up being a solicitor in London simply because I didn't like it.

On that note, I will leave you for now.

The good, the bad and the just plain ugly!

2006-11-11T17:42:00.000+08:00

What I like about living in China:

1. The weather - in this part of China it's particulary good. We're nearly half-way through November and most days it is sunny and the temperature is in the late teens or early twenties.

2. No Christmas hype. Correct me if I am wrong, but I reckon the adverts and general nightmare that is the run-up to Christmas must be well under way by now. I like the family spirit of Christmas and also catching up with old friends, but I can do without the rest of it.

3. Being able to act the fool. I often get smiles from random people (particularly men of a certain age - not sure why...), and any Chinese I manage to utter is met with great excitement (particularly from my students). However, it is a delicate balance and it is easy to drift into 'performing monkey' territory. But don't they say that teaching is all about acting?

4. The food. Here I can eat really good food in a restaurant for very little money. So what if I don't always know what I'm eating or whether or not the food that arrives will bear any resemblance to what I think I ordered?

Things I don't like:

1. Shopping. Apart from people regularly peering into my basket to see what the laowai [foreigner] is buying, shop assistants, particularly in clothes shops, have a tendency to follow me round, often without speaking. Unfortunately, this leads me to play a slightly childish game which involves me walking quickly then suddenly stopping to see if they will also stop in time or will crash into me...

2. Crossing the road. After nearly three months of being here, I still feel as though I am taking my life in my hands every time I cross the road. Even if there is a green light for pedestrians, there is still often traffic coming from some direction, hell-bent on ploughing down a pedestrian or two. Of course it is the pedestrians who have to give way. On Thursday I watched a woman and son knocked off their scooter by a car which didn't even stop.

3. The buses. Often crowded, no such thing as a queue and the word 'deodorant' distinctly lack from some people's vocabulary. Joy!

Oh well, so far I am enjoying more than I'm getting annoyed by, which must be a good sign!

Normal service resumed... I think!

2006-11-09T13:07:00.000+08:00

I finally got some more photos from my trip to Wugong Mountain - from when I visited my friends in Pingxiang in the October holiday, so here they are.

So, what's been going on? I'm still busy, but I seem to have got on top of things a little more. In addition I only have two more weeks of my extra evening class and also my crazy experiential classes, so things will be a little easier once those classes end.

Last weekend I got most of the way up to the top of a local hill / mountain, which was really good. It felt like I wasn't in the city any more - quiet and lots of trees etc. We're probably going back this weekend and hoping to make it all the way to the top this time. Apart from that, I'm still not doing as much exercise as I would like, but my weekly dance class is helping a little on that score. I'm also hoping to go away in the January / February holiday and get to some mountains in Sichuan maybe.

The surreal moment of the week... Tuesday afternoon I went to pick up some photocopies which someone had forgotten to do. While I was waiting for them I was chatting to our contact in the International Business School. [I had previously disturbed her lunchtime rest - she was there in the office on a sofa curled up in a blanket!] We got onto what I do in my free time and I told her about my dance class. I somehow found myself demonstrating some of my dance moves... A little strange.

This afternoon I have to teach a class about Western food. Yippee!

Blog is back!

2006-11-07T17:13:00.000+08:00

Yippee. I haven't posted for a while, mostly because I haven't been able to - website blocked seemingly. Anyway, I have found a way round it and I am now back in all my technicolour glory. Or something...

Anyway, for those that don't know already, I am now a proud auntie to Isabel Emily Arkell, who arrived a little early on 3rd November.

Here's a pic and I'll write more soon.

Monday, bl**dy Monday

2006-10-16T21:36:00.000+08:00

So, in response to my friend and former CELTA classmate, Paul, (see the link to his blog), this is what today was like:

8.30am - quick trip to the photocopying shop followed by a paper-cutting session in preparation for my classes.

First class at 9.50am. A relatively late start, but this is a speaking class for 145 mins! One of my smaller classes (averaging around 35 students). They're mostly keen and lots of fun but I know at least one student sneaked out during the break, so I must take the register at the end of class next week...

Lunch with the students in one of the many gourmet canteens on campus.

2.30pm my first year (freshman) speaking class for 90 minutes. They participate well (all 49 of them!), but I still trying to teach them the concept of 'volunteering'. One student invited me to visit his home town and one of the Vietnamese students has invited me round for dinner this weekend.

4.30pm - Chinese class. This time I am the student for a change. Try to look interested and participate, knowing how it feels to be the teacher. Can't help laughing (for the second week running) at the word 'qiche' [car] for its resemblance to the word 'quiche'. I know... I know...

Quick fast food dinner with Russ at the Western restaurant on campus. Two Chinese teachers arrive while we are there and one tells us about her recent trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, promoting the university.

7.30pm - last class of the day. This is an extra speaking class to prepare some students for the forthcoming university inspection. Only 20 students in this class, which soooooo good. We finish the lesson by miming various things, including 'I'm getting married', 'You've lost weight' and 'I'm hungry'. Much over-acting on my part and much giggling on the students' part.

Probably my busiest day, but I enjoyed all of it.

I've worked out how to add links...

2006-10-15T00:30:00.000+08:00

If you could kindly direct your eyes to the right of this page... Yes, I know, everyone else has been doing it for ages!

Today:

1. Breakfast / early lunch of cheeseburger & chips at French Café.
2. Death-defying trip back on my Chinese bicycle.
3. Lesson planning.
4. Piano playing in a Chinese English teacher's apartment.
5. Trip downtown with aforementioned teacher to purchase piano music.
6. Across-the-bridge-noodles in strange Chinese chain noodle restaurant.
7. Slightly random, though vaguely successful clothes shopping venture.
8. Dodgy dance film at groovy arts venue.
9. Discussion about western dance class for tomorrow.
10. Numerous fights with blood-hungry mosquitoes.
11. Bed.

Adios!

Chinese roads

2006-10-12T15:08:00.000+08:00

I just found this on a website about riding round China on a bike: http://www.draginrun.com/4-13%20thru%2023_Beijing_to_Changchun.htm

Acknowledgement and thanks to Gary Morgan for his extremely accurate description of China's roads:

"China's Rules of the Road (submitted by Gary Morgan)

Traveling on Chinese roads is an hallucinatory experience of movement, color, sound and emotions. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly exhilarating, always unforgettable -- and, when you are on the roads, extremely dangerous. Most Chinese drivers observe a version of the Rules of the Road based on an Jiaguwen, or Oracle Bone Script.

ARTICLE I

· The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

ARTICLE II

· Chinese traffic, like Chinese society, is structured on a strict caste system. The following precedence must be accorded at all times. In descending order, give way to: ducks, chickens, official cars, heavy trucks, buses, camels, light trucks, sheep, jeeps, ox-carts, horses, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats, bicycles (goods-carrying), fowl, handcarts, bicycles (passenger-carrying), dogs and, last of all, pedestrians.

ARTICLE III

· All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim: to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the Chinese driver’s mantra.

ARTICLE IV: Use of horn (also known as the sonic fender or aural amulet):

· Cars (IV,1,a-c): Short blasts (urgent) indicate supremacy, that is, in clearing dogs, auto-rickshaws and pedestrians from the intended path.

· Long blasts (desperate) denote supplication, that is, to an oncoming truck: "I am going too fast to stop, so unless you slow down we shall both die!" In extreme cases this may be accompanied by flashing of headlights (frantic).

· Single blast (casual) means: "I have seen someone out of China's 1.3 billion people whom I recognize" or "There is a bird in the road (which at this speed could go through my windscreen)" or "I have not blown my horn for several minutes.

· "Trucks and buses (IV,2,a): All horn signals have the same meaning, viz: "I have an all-up weight of approximately 12.5 tones and have no intention of stopping, even if I could." This signal may be emphasized by the use of flashing headlights.

· Article IV remains subject to the provision of Order of Precedence in Article II above.

ARTICLE V

· For all maneuvers, use of the horn and evasive action shall be left until the last possible moment.

ARTICLE VI

· In the absence of seat belts (which there is), car occupants shall wear Buddhist Mala bracelets (commonly referred to as 'power' beads). These bracelets should be kept securely fastened at all times. (See Articles I and X). Optional are wedding license plate covers.

ARTICLE VII:

· Rights of way (VII,1): Traffic entering a road from the right has priority. So has traffic from the left, and also traffic in the middle.

· Lane discipline (VII,2): All Chinese traffic at all times and irrespective of direction of travel shall occupy the centre of the road.

ARTICLE VIII

· Roundabouts: China has no roundabouts. Apparent traffic islands in the middle of crossroads have no traffic management function. Any other impression should be ignored.

ARTICLE IX

· Overtaking is mandatory. Every moving vehicle is required to overtake every other moving vehicle, irrespective of whether it has just overtaken you. Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centers. No more than five centimeters should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing -- and no more than two point five centimeters clearance in the case of bicycles or pedestrians. To make eye contact with an 'opposing' driver is to concede the road.

ARTICLE X

· Nirvana may be obtained through the head-on crash.

ARTICLE XI

· Reversing: no longer applicable since no vehicle in China seems to have a reverse gear."

Dog is not just for Christmas...

2006-10-11T16:58:00.000+08:00

So, over 1,600km there and back, a 25hr train journey, a bus, a taxi, a plane and another taxi and I am back from Pingxiang! Yippee!!!

As I explained, I had been invited back by a friend of Rick's (and now also mine), to spend National Holiday with him and his family. National Holiday is very much a family occasion and very important in the Chinese year. Steven and Rose and their respective families included me very warmly in all their celebrations and it was a crazy and fascinating (if a little tiring) week.

I took the train there to save money and also to see the countryside. The journey went very smoothly and I read for most of it, but it was a little frustrating not to be able to communicate with the others in my compartment (6 beds, known as a 'hard sleeper'), as they all seemed very friendly. As usual they shared their food with me.

We passed through some amazing countryside (and some slightly less amazing countryside!) Rounded, tree-covered hills, tumbling rivers, rice stalks stacked up in the fields, corn on the cob threaded together to dry out, water buffalo working in the fields...

So, what did I do? I went for many, many meals at the houses of various relatives, including Steven's parents in Shanli and Steven's grandparents somewhere deep in the countryside. We took a car most of the way and walked the last bit up a dirt path. It was there that I had my first taste or what is normally thought of as a pet. [If you're not following, look at the title of this post]. Climbed Wugong Mountain for the second time with Joseph (works in the library at Pingxiang College) and two Chinese boys, Tony & David, both of whom speak very good English. We climbed the mountain in 2 hours, which is quite quick, and I spend the rest of the week nursing very stiff legs as a result. [Not the best in any circumstances, but when the only toilets available as those of the 'squat' variety, it makes going for a pee a painful experience!] One of the pictures is of the 'hotel' we stayed in. For 'hotel' read 'wooden hut with beds in it'.

Went to a random person's wedding party (friend of Rose's). Got stared at. A LOT. Pingxiang is much worse than Kunming for that. Although I did amuse myself by saying 'Ni hao' [hello] to anyone who stared for too long. The first night there I did this to someone and he was deeply shocked, much to Rose's amusement. Haha. Drank lots of beer and some baijuo (strong rice wine) - thanks Rick! Met up with some of Rick's former students at Pingxiang College. The college has grown quite a lot since I was there last year and looks quite different. I even bumped into Bob [recruits foreign teachers], who asked me as usual if I knew anyone who wanted to come and teach at the college!

So much happened, I don't really know where to start or to finish. I am really glad I went. Kunming is great in lots of ways, and I'm glad to be living here. It's somewhat 'easier' to live here than in Pingxiang. However, I know that if I go to Pingxiang and see Steven etc., I get to experience the 'real' China.

Maybe one day Rose & Steven will visit Britain and I can repay the favour. They're very keen to and I hope they do!

Coming back, I took the aeroplane. Partly because it was difficult to get a train ticket coming back and partly to save time. I took a bus from Pingxiang to Changsha and ended up sitting next to a Chinese girl who teaches English in Pingixiang - someone else to put in my e-mail address book. She helped me sort out a taxi from the bus station to the airport (easier than another bus as I was short of time!) Flying back took just 1 hour 40 mins. Much easier, but you miss out on the whole train experience and seeing the change in scenery etc.

Well, I am currently sitting in my pyjamas writing this, even though it is only 5.15pm. I am nursing a cold, a sore throat and and aching wisdom tooth - sympathy please! However, it has stopped raining, Wikipedia works again here and my last class of the week is tomorrow morning.

Mustn't grumble...