East meets west

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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.