Developing our immune systems

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

Some more photos from our trip.

Winter holiday (part 2)

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

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...

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

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!!!

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

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!

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)

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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...

... 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...

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

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?

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...