你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

The frequency may have been reduced to one post every blue moon, but that doesn’t mean I don’t write anymore – of for that matter want to write nothing more. I have just been busy. Like a pretty busy bee, but taller, even if I do bumble just as much.

My right knee had some minor reconstruction to reduce a strained tendon and a knotted ligament. It is recovering. As such I haven’t played football for a while and will continue to avoid contact sport and cycling for at least three weeks. I am permitted to do none-impact sport. Cycling fits into that category, but on the roads around here, I will not be taking that chance. Instead all my stretches and physical activity is confined to indoors, like making cheesecakes and cooking tuna with pasta. That kind of thing.

School has been ticking over and classes have passed by as always. Some are great, others so, so. I always try to add a new zest each week. In one class, it works, then I try it through the other classes of the same grade. I’d say 1 in 7 classes enjoy it and it works very well. Class 503 (by far the noisiest and most disruptive class I have ever encountered) tear all plans to shreds. I don’t have teaching assistants in class, and seldom require them. The gremlins of class 503 need it. I ask. I bed. I plead. I demand. I explain the futility of trying to teach that class. I get mostly empty promises by Teacher Jack Armstrong that he will attend and observe. In fact, of the six classes, Jack attended two of them, and the students were amazing. A real life-affirming wow factor was felt. The competition levels shot up high to the sky and a positive perfunctory response to all tasks was had. Then, the week after the ruins of a conquered castle reappeared. I find some grade 8 classes to be a challenge, but this class in grade 5, are nemesis-like. They are all very smart but collectively they want the ship to sink. I shouldn’t get too worked up, because after all they are kids. Mostly aged 9 to 11!

Where have I been of late? Let me think. Shenzhen, twice, in two days. Mostly Dongcheng and Hengli. Not really, anywhere that can be considered exciting. I haven’t watched any music, seen any shows, or attended anything dramatic. But, life has been beautifully wonderful, on the whole. I think. Food has been had many times in Dalang and great sushi moments in Hengli. My City hat has been found safe and well, and wil be collected this weekend from Sam at Winner’s Bar (sadly, soon to close) in Hengli. The hat has a lot of sentiment. It is the third time I have lost it and t has returned. Granny Ivy gave me the hat a birthday gift once. There is also a City ski hat soon after with the same retro style crest. Although I can’t wear that hat in this heat!

HubHao writing has been continuing. But, even that is less so than usual. I guess the month in Nepal during January slowed up the writing. But, here are some pieces yet to be mentioned on this blog.

A Taste of Nepal

The written piece to accompany the Photographic Taste of Nepal.

 

Bar Review – Ziggy’s DG

In Bar Review – Ziggy’s DG, John Acton enters a world of great beer good food, billiards, darts, and KTV.   One sentence reviews would say, “Any bar…

 

Didi or Didi not?

Didi Chuxing, having recently acquired Uber’s Chinese venture, has announced an English smartphone application in on its way. The monopolist taxi arranging service…

 

A Photographic Taste of Nepal

Writer John Acton’s piece from February is accompanied by his photographs. He allowed HubHao a taste if the experience. Here are his favourite shots… The first…

 

Revolution @ One For The Road

Revolution is such a powerful word. Moving away from the political connotations of the word, I can mean a swift movement in cycling. Revolution, the band, in Dongguan…

Is March the bluest of blue months? It has been mostly grey of sky, devoid of spring flowers and greenery with the odd patch of dullness. I am fairly certain that every relationship I have broken up from, was in March. I also know March to be the time I felt the lowest back in the U.K. The seasonal affective disorder thingy would always be mentioned in the news and the Spring Equinox (it happened yesterday) barely mentioned. In the Premier League, it can prove to be make or break time, and as City sit 12 points adrift of Chelsea with ten games remaining, you’d be forgiven for not believing in a late title charge. If City deliever 30 points from 30, even then it is asking much for Chelsea to lose 4 games or draw much more! Still there is the Champions League League Cup F.A. Cup semi-final to go for! C’mon City! March on!

 

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

Trust. A small word with big implications. Do you trust every decision you have made? Do you trust those that you have allowed close to your heart? Do you trust you have learnt from your mistakes? Do you trust in your own ability and those that you work with? How much trust given is too much? Have you received so much trust from someone special? By its own definition, trust is placing a firm belief in someone or something. Believing that truth, strength, reliability, or ability is to be found within someone (or something). Having confidence assists with assurance, belief and gives conviction to certainty. Reliance in a faith. All mistrusts, doubts and distrusts should evaporate. Rely on, depend upon, bank on and be sure of someone or something. Earning trust and respect works both ways. I hope to prove myself in as many ways as possible.

The problem with trust, is that is heavily influenced by the past. By mistakes of your own causing, or that of others. Where security should stand, the pathways are locked hand in hand with experiences of negativity. They prise away at what should be a smooth journey of sailing, offering strong Atlantic winds in shallow waters lined with crooked-edged rocks waiting to swallow you whole. No matter what you feel, you either must give your all, or hold back. If you hold back, does that make the plant of insecurity grow? Or, does it allow you to make an informed decision? Only time can tell. Give your all, or give as much as you can. Trust works both ways. Trust can be both a lesson and a response.

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

I’d seemingly been walking for ages, when I grasped my watch. Three hours had passed. I stopped for tea at Goyam, height of 3220m. I had ascended 645m. It had been arduous. A real slog of slow steps, one foot in front of the other. One at a time. Ever. So. Slowly. At a tea shop, a toddler sat beneath a sign advertising Yak cheese for sale. The toddler, joined by a thin grey cat, played and smiled. I tucked into garlic soup and yak cheese potatoes, quickly cooked by the owner. Across the path a series of flattened houses and following my meal, I would see several houses up the path, equally as destroyed. A soulful reminder that nature rules these mountains and the people here are guests clinging onto the edge. Immediately after leaving Goyam the trail seemed to steepen more than I thought possible. Was I climbing or trekking?! The beautiful primordial Rhododendron forests became sparser. The odd lightning struck tree flanked an otherwise trench-like path. Was the path formed in a riverbed or did the summer monsoons strip the earth away? It felt like I was in Tolkien’s Rivendell. A beautiful stray mongrel, part wolf-like, part-Labrador like followed me for several hundred metres. Every now and then I skirmished to the side of a path to allow cattle, mostly yak-cow hybrids to bundle by. Their heavy weight shook the loose pathways as I perched precariously on a ledge just inches above.

Since leaving Sete, I had been regular passed and overtaken by a young pair of children heaving 20kg of potatoes. The 12 year old girl and her 14 year old brother had stopped to talk with me several times. They rested their sacks of potatoes and commented on my weight load and walking pace. These local Sherpa children were polite and invited me to their parent’s lodge for the night. I politely declined and stated my end point of Junbesi. Eventually their strength and experience allowed them to zoom ahead of me as I rested and took in the panoramic scenery. Several Kathmandu to Lukla flights passed lower in the valley beneath me, rising to fly over Lamjura La pass and mountain. This was my aimed route, over that curving ridge way off in the distance. The plants and trees became bare of leaves and greenery. Even the mosses and lichens dulled in colour. I started to tread on ice and snow. It lasted seemingly for several kilometres. I reached a Stupa and several closed lodges. Looking up at higher ground, I placed my rucksack down and looked at the towering boulders and scattered Mani stones, scrolling prayer after prayer. I turned around to be greeted by something grim. A blizzard.

The clouds, thick as ash, grey as the darkest of skies, and swelling with tumbling snow and a menacing amount of local wind. I turned forwards, aware that inside ten to twenty minutes that storm was going to hit me. I took in my surroundings. An open creaky wooden toilet was not adequate. I had to keep going forward in the hope of finding a lodge. I stumbled between two large and saw an open door set inside a wooden single storey building. The sign, Lamjura View, bellowed out, hope and sanctuary. A Sherpa man gestured me to enter. We talked and drank black tea. He said I was lucky to avoid the raging blizzard outside. In the corner the teenage boy and girl I met on my trek sat talking. They were the man’s children. The mother had died in the devastating earthquake. The family, strong and very together, ran this lodge and farmed potatoes lower in the valley. To some they live an idyllic life in a mountain paradise, but to those with open eyes, a harsh lifestyle with nature battling all odds was clearly in play. After maybe thirty minutes the storm dissipated and disappeared completely. I stepped out of the hobbit-hole like door, thanking my hosts and wishing them all the best.

Immediately after leaving the lodge, the crest of the mountain pass folded away. On the steep descent, after only a few short metres the snow line ended. Green primordial trees towered high and strong. Thick orange-brown trunks crammed the slopes and a path wound tightly beneath them. Each tree blanketed in moss, a coat of rustic pubic hair belying that of the ancients.

Large steps downwards, occasionally showing a dusting of snow that had breached the thick tree canopy overhead. The sky disappeared above, hidden by foliage. Still air and an eerie lack of sound pinpricked my ears up, alert, listening for any discernible sounds. Few came. Not even birdsong. The climb to 3736m, along a ridge that hit 3300m and finally 3530m had been relentlessly tough, on icy slippery paths with a sheer drop far below. The descent started as a welcome break. It ended almost on tears. The downwards path seemed to go on forever. Down, down and down like listening to Radiohead and mulling over personal depression on a grey autumn day, faced with a long cold winter ahead. A massive downer. Down. Seemingly eternally cast downwards.

A shriek of an eagle came from my left. I looked up at a cloud covered peak and cliff-face. I suddenly felt extremely small, like an ant looking up at a tree. To my fore, a broken patch of land emerged from trees. Ruins of a once glorious looking alpine-style lodging scattered across the ground. The damp looking wooden timbers, long rotten and rock walls draped hitherto and with no order.

My legs dragged as I walked the final kilometres downhill, slipping slowly into the valley surrounding Junbesi. Few lights twinkled between trees and from the village below. I sought a lodge. Between dark trees, I found a row of lodges. I opted for Apple Lodge, despite my dislike for Apple products. To my surprise, I linked up once again with Will and John. We compared thoughts on the day’s trek. They had arrived earlier than me, having departed from Sete much earlier too. My twelve hours up and up, gave me good reason to go to bed earlier. That and the cold. I found my room pleasantly warm. I pulled my sleeping bag shut and drifted away into a peaceful sleep.

I opened the curtain. The view looked out onto an apple orchard. In the distance, I spied a new roadway from Salleri, south in the valley, stretched up the long deep crevice of valley into Junbesi. This was a sign of modern times and a connection to the outside world, likely welcome that would advance the region’s prosperity. Maybe even bringing silence to busier villages between Jiri and here. Many jeeps from Kathmandu travel to Salleri now to allow Everest Base Camp – and other popular wanders in the region – treks to save money compared with flights to Lukla. Yesterday’s 15km of apparent endless up and down walking.

The day would involve 17km ending at Nunthala village, 2194m. I departed without breakfast and arrived two hours later at Phurteng. The lodge proclaimed to all, “Everest View” as a name. It was accurate. The Himalayas beckoned up the valley. Sure enough, there it was, to the left, a pyramid-topped peak with clouds whipping from the summit. Pure beauty. This was the fifth day of trekking and I had already seen the world’s tallest mountain, above sea level, with my naked eyes. I ate my Sherpa stew and Tibetan bread, satisfied at this special moment. Scaling Taksindu Pass and passing Taksindu monastery complete with helicopters buzzing back and forward to assist with construction work, I descended to Nunthala, along slippery muddy and mule-dung strewn pathways. A trio of Lammergeiers (Bearded Vultures) glided overhead. This is a beautiful bird with around one metre of long narrow pointed wings and a stocky tail. Their underbodies light in colour and black underwings a light coloured heads. Having seen Himalayan Serow, deer-like mammals that day by a waterfall, and also Siberian Weasels, it had been a most pleasant nature day.

I arrived in Nunthala, checked into a pleasantly warm lodge, ordered a Yak cheese pizza which was 90% cheese and 10% base. No tomato or vegetables. It was brilliant and crispy around the edges. The sound of mules passing by with bells tinkling one by one reminded me of days spent by Welsh harbours enjoying the sound of boats gently rocking on calm waves, with the sound of cables rattling on metal masts. Most relaxing. I chatted briefly with a Canadian couple, only the fourth and fifth foreigners I had encountered in eight days of trekking.

Will and John stayed nearby in a different lodge. Our leapfrog casual way of bumping into each other was becoming part of the trail. We marvelled at how fast the French man, Vincois moved. He always set out later than us, smoked a chimney’s measure of cigarettes and managed to beat us to every end-point. Not that it was a race. Trekking is all about managing your own pace and not rushing. You take in your surroundings, manage the weight you carry and your body. Your feet need tender loving care, as does your meal management and nutritional requirements. Energy and comfort is the key to performance, aside from hydration and mental belief.

Leaving Nunthala, 2194m, with contrasting views of the Himalayas, cold and icy beyond fertile hills and mountains, the morning mule trains carrying freight to and fro, passed by, bells ringing gently and softly. The odd yak train interrupted the passage of mules to give a continual hazardous flow of passing footpath traffic. The paths generally being no more than a metre wide, meant for a tight squeeze often and regular brushes with cargo ranging from gas canisters to cement to wood and occasionally polystyrene blocks as high as the animals themselves. Passing through Chhirdi (1500m – the river crossing of the mighty Dudh Koshi Nadi glacial river), Jubhing (1680m), Kharkikola (1985m) to reach Bupsa Danda (2340m) resembled a Tour de France stage with a mountain finish. This was the least tough of all the trekking days today, a gentle meander with a climbing at the end. From Jubhing to Kharikola, a patchwork of gardens and some well-maintained ornamental pathways gave a tropical feel. Banana plants, flowers and other tropical fruit mixed with higher altitude plants. One tree even had an umbrella on top. The mystery as to why remains unanswered but it did make me laugh and raise my spirits as school kids skipped by on the way to their mountainside education places. Gumba Danda at the foot of the climb to Bupsa Danda was very busy and queues to pass a packed suspension bridge held me up for twenty minutes as mule trains passed over and over again. On stalking the steep trail to Bupsa Danda, it immediately became apparent that this village had far more hostels and lodges than previous villages. The spur of a Lukla to Tumlintar trail and a higher concentration of hydro-prayer wheels and monasteries are the probable draw.

At Bupsa Danda, I stayed at Sherpa Guide lodge, overlooking a valley with the Dudh Koshi Nadi glacial river passing way below. The walls of the lodge were covered in summits that the Sherpa leader and owner had reached. 14 of the top 20 Himalayan peaks were there! Two children including a toddler who ran through a wall (MDF panel, it may have been) played around the room. I spoke with a Sherpa guide, Lakpa Nuru Sherpa, on a week’s holiday from his home village of Namche Bazaar.

The Dudh Koshi Nadi glacial river is fed by glacial run-off from the gargantuan Cholatse and Ngozumba glaciers. It thundered deep in the vale below. The morning walk involved something more serene, Orange-Bellied Himalayan squirrels, chipmunks and many unique birds accompanied me on my stroll skirting Kari La at 3080m high. In Paiya, I stopped at Dreamland for a late breakfast and met Will with his father John. We discussed the trail and John, being a former Nepal tour guide from over 15 years ago told me of how the trail used to be bustling with porters, guides and much more freight feeding the lodges from Jiri to Everest Base Camp and Namche Bazaar.

Having a late breakfast at Dreamland, with their penned motto of, “Come as a guest, leave as a friend,” I mulled over my thoughts. Nepal is like a distant, yet loving brother, one who has gone through the best and worst of times, together and apart. Seeing Siberian weasels along the route connected me with nature, seeing fish painted on buildings reminded me of the high levels of illiteracy. Many political parties favour symbols to gain votes, because words simply cannot be understood. Amongst the scuttling Highland shrews, the pathways were clean, save for the odd lonesome horse going to the bathroom. At stages I had been followed by faithful-looking dogs, perhaps looking for scraps of food or simply as a guide through perilously precarious passes.

Stood by the river Dudh Koshi Nadi, rapids crashed against rocks and solid mounds of pebbles. The glacial blue water, deep and powerfully displacing all water flowing beneath it. Ice lined the rims of calmer shallower pools, set back from the main violence of malevolent torrential channels. The sounds resembled that of Viking god Thor crashing an iron hammer in the sky. Passing through the villages of Muse, Chheplung (2660m), Nurning (2492m), Phakding (2610m), and Monja (2835m) before reaching Jorsalle (2740m), the river kept me company. Ever present, ever powerful. I walked against the flow of the river, safely dry and up bank from the crushing waters. Missing posters of a trekker, who fell into the river in November, issued a stark reminder of the dangers of those waters. The water flowing was equally relaxing. I felt like Clark Kent when he walked and formed his fortress of solitude. Awakened.

你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

Between the articulations of idioms a Chinese class beneath the Grade 4/5 office, I could hear the distant sound of Wham. “Last year I gave you my heart…” and this was odd. The neighbouring kindergarten (nursery school) seemed to be ploughing through Christmas songs faster than a sleigh whizzing around the world, carrying a fat bloke delivering presents and gifts.

Christmas, this year, was and remains far more visible than the previous two years. The local malls (shopping centres), cafes, bars, even small shops have all gone all out. Even my apartment complex has invested in a huge tree and many decorations. Seeing and hearing Christmas, as an embraced addition, an imported tradition doesn’t even seem purely commercial. There is joy with it. As part of the Christmas movement, I attended two Christmas parties at Speaker Training Centre (Hengli) and another Christmas themed afternoon in Dongguan City 17th Sunshine Primary School. At Dongguan (东莞) Shi (市Market or City) Nánchéng (南城south town) Qu YángGuāng (阳光sunshine) diqi (第七17th) Xiǎo Xué (小学primary school), I was reunited with Bright once again. A friend since the first day I arrived at Dao Ming. We picked up like we had last met yesterday.

Christmas weekend was spent in Hengli, walking, talking, eating and cycling. Sky, Mark, Maria and their team had welcomed me many times before. The Speaker Family training centre is a hearty place, focused on making students young and old confident to conquer English and master the art of public speeches. They are a passionate bunch, surrounded by family in Maria’s case and full of zest for learning. It is infectious. I like their business model very much. So, I attended many classes and Christmas game activities, sang Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes with several four year-olds and went to many great meals. On Christmas Day, Maria, Mark, Maria’s father, Maria’s step-father, Obama (Maria’s brother and a very talented cook), Jonhson (the spelling is right, I think… as it is on his ID card; an American) and I went to a very standard-looking Chinese restaurant and ate. We had tofu, chicken (the whole thing, heads, eyes, the lot), and many other delicious foods. Alongside, some Chinese medicinal drink, good for the kidneys. In Chinese medicine, your sexual mojo, stems from your kidneys. Our recycling machines are reportedly the body’s yin and yang. The seed of energy. Good diets make for good balance. Good balance makes for good kidneys. In turn, a good sexual function and reproduction. We drank a drink, medicinal alcohol, a kind of wine with elements of nuts, ginseng, pollen, spores, leeks, ling zhi (Reishi mushrooms, 灵芝) [possibly dried shrimps and oysters]. The sceptic in me was beaten back the next day. I awoke having had a great night’s sleep. I hadn’t been told that the drink was good for anything, other than my kidneys, the night before, but I can safely say there is a strong aphrodisiac quality in it, one that blasts your dreams into the foreground of the mind. Traditional Chinese Medicine may be a controversial area, often slammed for historic links to poaching and continued killing of animals. Some have been derived from the human body. However, the current 13,000 medicinals (it used to be 100,000!) are mostly plant and farmed animal sourced. Some are controversial, some have side-effects. I guess, like all commercially obtained pharmoceuticals (again some are derived from endangered animals and animal extracts), we must look at them on a case by case merit. Anyway, back to Christmas. It was a most wonderful weekend. Maria gave me some chocolates. Her family also gifted me a meal and Speaker Family treated me to a further meal. Chinese culture is heavily evolved around celebrations and meals. As Jonhson put it, “The more you eat and drink, the more you celebrate!”

Apples (苹果 Píngguǒ) are given because the word sounds like Ping’an (平安). Ping’an Ye 平安夜 is silent night. Someone cashed in on it and now it is a tradition. I have had many apples from teachers and students. I’ve eaten one apple a day for a week now. I now have 15 apples left. I don’t have an oven to make a crumble! I will have to rehome these apples.

 

To be this far from home, is tough, I won’t lie. To be so far from family at a time, traditionally and wholeheartedly for family, is tougher. This week has been the most homesick I have been, since arriving in China. This February will mark three years away from the U.K. (only, less the 13 weeks I have spent in China, across two summers).

“You have no authority. None.” The harsh grasp of M’s words in recent James Bond flick, Spectre. That’s how I feel right now with one of my colleagues. Analisa is an American. I think I don’t bond well with Americans. Perhaps, I try to hard in teamwork or perhaps I come across as authoritive. I’m no expert but I do have experience. I try to nurture and push. I don’t lead as such, I just influence and try to ensure the team are equal and steering the ship in the right direction. Otherwise, we will be powerless and grounded. Maybe it is just me? Maybe, I am a poor teammate? I doubt my value as a leader if I cannot guide, lead or be worked with. I think deep down in my heart, I am a farmer, looking for a simple life, but one who has been forced from his comfort zone into an unfamiliar land. An adventurer in a world where all adventures seem to be have been had. The deep ocean and space remain. And I’m too early in technological advancements to take those voyages!

The phrase “two cultures separated by a common language” is banded around quite freely now. American English seems to have usurped [British] English, and using phrases and idioms of everyday usage back home tend to fall by the wayside. Lost in translation? Or unheard? For the umpteeth time, I’ve been asked to compare the two languages. It was like watching paint dry. I feel like some people ask just to take the mickey. But, they’re not. Many of my Chinese colleagues and friends are very direct in how they speak. They simply avoid discretion and courtesy as it isn’t something learnt so freely. Our cultures are different. Turns of phrase are too much for most. Even trying to simplify my phrases is a problem at times. What gets me, is when a Nigerian accent or deep-south American accent is understood far clearer than my own voice. That said I get why those, who listen, around those speakers, with those accents, follow clearly. Your ears titrate. It takes time to understand people’s speaking styles and accents. Also, maybe I am guilty of being followed so well, that I slip back into a normal speaking style. However, I won’t be condescending and assume non-native speakers’ levels of English are not good enough to understand me. Non-native speakers, learners of a new language learn to communicate and better themselves. I won’t add water to a lake. I won’t remove the bones of the turkey, pulp it up and create a jelly. For me, if the learners spot the differences and ask questions, they are learning that proper [British] English is as peculiar as it comes. He most diverse language on Earth with more and more words and phrases being coined over time. It helps others to help me help you. I’ll adapt my tones, phrases and words to the scenario I face. Communication is key, clear or unclear, questions can always be asked.

So, my journey into learning Chinese is creaking. I am struggling, grasping at every loose rock on an upward climb to a peak far away. I’ll get there. It just takes time. I am trying to study the grammar, speak as native speakers do, and think in Chinese. I have been recording my spoken Chinese and playing it back to myself. Comparisons of the inflections reveal, I am near tone deaf. I can’t differeniate the four tones at times. Partly because of the varied accents around me and partly because I’m learning Mandarin, slap bang in Cantonese language territory. I do have the advantage of natural speakers galore around me. I just need to prod them to make them speak Chinese with me and not English. I don’t care if I make mistakes or lose face. I will learn from these instances. I want to use formal and informal phrases, so making mistakes or cultural faux pas from times to time will assist me. There are co many cultural rules and habits, and these can differ from town to town, region to region and so on. My Chinese notepad is bulging. Soon, I may need to have to expand it!

Anyway…

我永远不会放弃

(wǒ yǒngyuǎn bú huì fàngqì

[I will never give up!].

 

 

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

---

你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

Last week, I heard a saying for the second time in as many weeks. I didn’t remember how to say it the first time around. I still don’t. However, I will try to learn it off by heart. I’ve printed a copy and downloaded an audi track to support the learning of such a phrase. Oddly, I think I heard it on a self-help guide someone was playing nearby me, on a subway train. I guess we all get inspiration from odd places at times.

Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself. Shī fu lǐng jìn mén, xiū xíng zài gè rén. 师傅领进门，修行在个人 Similar to You can lead the horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.

 

Right now, I feel inspired to create and write. It hasn’t always been that way this week. I have had purple patches. I think Elvis sang about having a Blue Christmas, and it had nowt to do with football allegiance. My melancholy mood has been brought on self-inflictedly, by not being home for Christmas. Last year and the year before, I felt so desolate and dejected. I was wretched company two years ago, and as downcast as a Mancunian grey sky last year also. Inside an optimist there is always a pessimist. There must be! To look forwards and upwards whenever the proverbial fan is smeared with excrement, there must be an ability to recognise the bad in all good. Disappointment doesn’t need to expected at every possible moment but it should be anticipated otherwise how do you dig yourself out of a shallow grave? Am I unhappy? No. But, I can feel unhappy. Sometimes I just keep my eyes looking at the sun, and knowing that whenever I fall, a warm ray of light can sweep me back onto my feet. The great thing about understanding your own mind, is control. I can control how happy I am, and how to escape crestfallen moments. Back off sadness. Shut up head. Have a Happy Christmas! Well, I will try, and at the end of the day this week has proven most positive.

Yesterday, Angle (pronounced Angel) and her team in Grade 5, class 7 gave me a wonderful Christmas card signed by many students. The thought and constant greetings of Merry Christmas from her class during the oral English exams made for great and hearty entertainment. All my classes in grades 5, 7 and 8 have been given little slips of paper, with “Dear Father Christmas…” and plenty of space to write their letters to Father Christmas (me, in this scenario). There will be a prize for the best written letters, the sweetest letters and maybe a few smaller prizes too. I’m going to ask the English teachers to do this too. “How can anyone be dispirited, trying to bring joy to others?” I ask. Well, the answer is never easy. Our minds are beautiful playgrounds of creation and memories. They can fill us with joy and longing. We’ll get there one day. Wherever there happens to be.

 

 

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

Around 176,000 words have been spent to date. They have now migrated in monthly chapters from Wix.com to WordPress. There has been a considerable gap between postings. So, here we go… let’s try and fill in some gaps.

The last weekend of December, I went to Zhuhai for the Magic Island Music Festival. The review can be found on HubHao with some images supplied by the organiser.

 

The week, that followed this, I felt like curling up and watching Father Ted. “You’ll have some tea… are you sure you don’t want any? Aw go on, you’ll have some. Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on GO ON!” I’d shaken off a sore throat and headache which seemingly lasted forever. It started on a Tuesday and exited by Friday, thanks to Asda-branded dual action blackcurrant flavoured 2.4mg throat lozenges containing Hexylresorcinol. “There’s always time for a nice cup of tea. Sure, didn’t the Lord himself pause for a nice cup of tea before giving himself up for the world.” Yet, all I have wanted to do that week, was curl up with a packet of biscuits, crumbs spilling all over the bedsheets and a milky cup of P.G. Tips or Tetley’s tea. Something imported, proper English style tea, proper milk and one sugar. Instead, I ate chicken. “Are you sure, Father? There’s cocaine in it!” Well maybe not just a little bit of chicken but just under a kilogram of the feathered victim of a knife. “Oh, no, not cocaine. God, what am I on about. No, what d’you call them? Raisins.”

 

Amongst that displeasure, Murray’s Maine Rd FC were renamed Murray’s Cityzens F.C. and we have mostly new players. We lost against the reigning Champions, Cavera F.C., who are chasing their third Dongguan International Football league title, now named, Mission Hills League. The players Cavera (his team is named after himself), Mateus, Fausto, Vini and others tore us a new one, as some would say, we lost 10-0 having trailed 3-0 at the break. An absolute lesson in football. Before the game, we held a minute’s silence to observe the tragedy that occurred involving the Chapecoense team, staff, supporters and flight crew. Such a sad day for global sport. Everyone loves an underdog story, a team that grew and battled to get to a dream cup final. They have posthumously been given the Copa Sudamericana by South American football confederation Conmebol but have captured the hearts of many. Hats off to their Colombian opponents Atletico Nacional for their “spirit of peace, understanding and fair play.” Brazil will play Colombia in a friendly match at the end of January to help victims of the air crash. From the ashes of despair and loss, I hope that a phoenix of togetherness comes from this awful event. On talking with a teacher about this event, she chirped, “Why does no one remember the victims of MH370 so well?” I offered her a reponse, “I guess people need to push the authorities, their communities and the media to show how much the loss matters to make a difference in the way the tragedy is remembered.” Well… silly answer considering the totality of media power both here in China and Malaysia.

 

By that week’s Friday, I attended class 701, and every student looked despondent before I had even begun. After two minutes, two forlorn tearful students entered the class. Their sorrowful state conveying perhaps they hadn’t done homework and had received a scolding dressing-down. As I went amongst the students later-on in the class, I noticed more tearful faces. One boy was whining like a mourner at a scene of tragedy. Proper tears. I asked him what was up. He told me, “the Chinese teacher is leaving school soon.” I went team by team around the room, only to be greeted by similar melancholy. One girl had written a letter in Chinese with the odd English phrase bordering it, and she asked me to help, “What can you do to keep our teacher here?” I said I would talk with my teaching colleagues in the office and say how sad the students are right now. I did. It turns out the teacher, sporting a picture of a pug dog on the front with the phrase “Pug Life” is leaving very soon. I’m unsure why. Nobody has divulged any more detail and it is not my place. Whilst I feel accepted in the school and by my colleagues, I’m not quite part of the highly-intwined family structures of school life. Parents see less of their kids than these hard-working and well respected teachers. I’m mostly an observing guest, tolerated and respected but never ever equal. They know my place. I know my place. The lines are not misty or obscure. I do my job, without directions form others. My task is to get students talking, even in a teary-eyed environment, by the doldrums.

The weekend arrived, I fled to Shenzhen and attended the Shenzhen Blues Christmas party. Numerous kids visited Santa Claus (me in a blue suit, with fake additional hair) and most adults enjoyed the evening buffet. I won a prize in the raffle with numbert 142, kind of. Except I had purchased ten tickets, numbers 136 to 146. It should have been 136 to 145. I didn’t have a number 142. 142 was drawn from the hat. Katherine and Stephen, the brilliant leaders of Shenzhen Blues apologised profusely. It didn’t matter. I enjoyed the night, prizeless as it was. Soon after they posted me a City jacket as a Christmas present, addressed to Acton 142. So sweet of them. Too kind!

Murray’s Cityzens F.C.’s second game was a derby against Murray’s PandaBrew F.C. We lost 2-1, thanks to a late winner for the opposition. A quick free kick was taken as I lifted Barry up, having clattered his ankles, unintentionally. I struggled to get back and the other team scored. Maybe the goal had been coming but it was a bitter pill to swallow. A week later and we beat Chang’an F.A. 4-1. A good way to bounce back. Next week we have a tough game against Day & Night Bar F.C.

 

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

Dr Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

17^th November 2016

你好/ Ní hǎo / Nín hǎo / Hello / How do,

 

 

 

On this day, way back in 1999, I said farewell to Pup. At that time, he was by far my best friend in life. I remember him so fondly and even at lunchtime when I realised today’s date, a tear formed in my eye. Back when he had to be peacefully put to sleep, my chest heaved, my body stiffened and my heart wilted. As sad as it was, I had to say goodbye. My Dad was too sad to talk at the time, he asked his partner Bernadette to call me. In a swallowed response, I said, “Okay.” I hung up and ran to my room. I lay on a road mat play area, my Dad once got me, and the loose Lego bricks dug into me. I did not feel a thing. I was numb. My closet companion had passed from life. The year 1999 was not a pleasant one. I’d hugged Pup many times since losing my Nana to that terrible disease of cancer. It had been a painful few months. And then Pup was gone too. The ever faithful and reliable Pup was no more.

 

The next time I saw Dad, I could see Pup’s collar, sporting the address and name of Grandad’s address. It dangled emptily from a fruit bowl. The greeny-blue fruit bowl Nana had, with a cat somehow constructed into the glass flute of the stand. A horrible yet homely design of a fruit bowl. It reflected Nana’s love for pets and animals.

 

The selfish side of me had fought and fretted, wishing the RSPCA would find a way to keep Pup with us. I knew it would not be so. Pup had been equal part Rottweiler, Labrador and Kangaroo amongst other parts of the dog breed world. He was never neutered and even in present day Newton-of-the-Heath (a posh part of Manchester) you can see the most recent generations of his offspring. For years, Tracy and Jimmy, had a dog called Nobby (he was neutered) live next door to Grandad and Nana’s house, later Dad’s house. It was comical to see Pup, a big dog, alongside Suzie, Nomaz and other small dogs. Pup’s mild manner was pleasing, he had a nasty lick and could leave you coated in dog-saliva. He would bound over to you, a face full of zest and vim, almost smiling and then send you flying. Any dog that could clear a six feet high fence deserves an Olympic medal, yet he was just a modest member of the Acton-clan. He’d accept all and be loved by more. Having pulled me out of Clayton Vale’s red river once and sat with me on the brook overlooking Broadhurst Park, and Broadhurst Park Allotments, we were close, as close as a boy and a dog could be. He seemed to know if I was sad and find a way to cuddle close. He’d sit on my knee at any given opportunity, which for a larger dog, could stifle my blood flow.

 

Pup, was more than men’s best friend. He was a boy’s best friend and he inspired me. Who or what inspires or inspired you?

 

 

再见/ Zài jiàn / Bài bài / Ta’ra / Goodbye

“You speak authentic English”

September 2014

“You speak authentic English”, Teacher Kate tells me.  My arrival in February was swift, fast-paced and stressful.  All emotions had been worn in a short pace of time.  This week the new school year began.  My second semester here is oddly one, I am at ease with.  There is much to be done.  There are many new faces.  Yet in the collective panic and worries, I am at calmness personified.  I am not coolness, let’s be fair the 34°C and humidity makes it feel closer to 47°C.  Locally, the average daily relative humidity for September is around 71%.  The weather here is not stopping my composure.

 

Teacher Kate has asked me to assign two slots of my timetable to coaching two students, Apple and Bobo, in oral English.  They are entering something called the 6^th Annual Dongguan Oral English Competition.  The simplicity of the names of competitions here is that you don’t need a description afterwards.

 

The pace quickened last Friday.  After the arrivals of Liam, Bryony and Becky earlier that week, a new set of foreign teachers landed.  Meaghan, Emily, and Bonnie arrived from Beijing having had a week’s intensive TEFL course exposure.  Alongside them Micaela, Kira, and Joe arrived having had the month long course in Beijing for a TEFL certificate and teaching practice.

 

Teacher Cherry has replaced Teacher Bright as the person in charge of foreign teachers at the school.  Bright’s duties are now split between Cherry and I.  On the day of arrival, Bryony, Becky and I said hello to Emily and Bonnie.  The landlady of the accommodation block near to school practically forced us to.  We were told the new arrivals were in a state of slumber, so we would return later.  The landlady, is funny, speaks no English but insisted, physically grabbing us and then knocking very loudly on the heavy metal doors.  The cold steel/aluminium frames resembling something from a secret lair in a James Bond movie.

 

On establishing Emily and Bonnie are from Marple, Stockport, the U.K. and saying hello we scattered.  Later that day we reconvened in our fully assembled foreign teacher group, helped them obtain mobile phone sim-cards and find the local Liaoxia Suppermarket (this is how the sign is spelt) and Tesco.

 

Cherry asked us all to meet again the following Sunday morning on order to go through the plan of action for the week and semester ahead.  At this stage I realised playing football that Sunday evening for Murray’s F.C. was not going to happen.  My previous appearance (last Wednesday) with a winning goal would have to do.

 

Saturday night involved a trip with Liam, Nikki, Joe, Crystal (from Nikki’s kindergarten), Bryony, and Becky to H-One nightclub for a few drinks and a dance.  Earlier that day I had met Silence from one of the kindergartens to help me with my Mandarin articulation.  Silence insisted on having food at a restaurant afterwards.  Here I bumped into two kindergarten teachers working!  A massive amount of Là (spicy) sauce was added to a pot of boiling duck.  I struggled with the shrimp but managed to devour the glass miàntiáo (noodles). Afterwards I felt bloated and sleepy, bid my farewell and half wanted to stay in for the remainder of the evening.

 

Sunday at school was simple.  Introductions were made.  A tour given and lesson plans required on the day.  I managed to get my textbooks and draft my first timetable (with help from middle and primary school).  Grade 7-9 are separate from grades 1-6.  This semester, I have 7 classes in grade 6; 8 in grade 7; 4 in grade 8; and a class for P.E. and Science teachers.  The V.I.P. classes have not been assigned yet.  I have 20 classroom based classes, each lasting 40 minutes.  In total 800 minutes or 13.3 hours.  Each Tuesday morning is a team meeting for us foreign teachers.  The same day we have Mandarin class at 18:00 for one hour.  All other time is set aside for preparations, office time and the like.

 

Monday meant all hands on deck.  Here we go.  The familiar jostling school entrance swarmed with parents, children, bicycles, scooters and angry beeping car horns.  The large security guard welcomed me back.  The flag raising ceremony doubled up with the opening of the school ceremony and lasted a massive two hours.  Sweat resembled Victoria Falls on my legs, back and front.  Nothing was spared.  I was drenched.  Later, it was noted I had some sunburn too.  My first class 603 bit the bullet.  The first day sparing me a class straight after the two hour sweaty parade.  Class 803 marked my return to overhead projectors and teaching.  This is a class made up of last semester’s grade 7 students.  I was instantly recognised and greeted with zeal.  Questions, mostly about summer, fired at me for many minutes before the tones of the classroom speaker system boomed out.  Class 804 after lunchtime also greeted me with vigour.  I felt and feel very welcome here.

 

Tuesday zipped by, four new classes in grade 7 figured me out as I figured them out.  They’re as new to me as I am to them.  All it takes is one click, and barriers and shyness will scatter.  In the evening Nikki and I met Micaela, Kira, Bryony and Becky for a huge hotpot costing 12RMB each.  It was most satisfying, even though I had to avoid the sweetcorn knobs.

 

Yesterday was an interesting day.  School zipped by, the flow and confidence of new classes carrying me on the crest of a wave called curiosity.  Shirley (Lĭ Huì Mĭn), a 21 year old new teacher, graduate of JiangXi Normal University did give me some feedback, I may have been a little apprehensive about, considering it was my first time with class 604, with students I do not know their exact levels of and in the first few days of a new school year.  This is a tricky time, several new students have entered every grade, some unbeknown to the ways of speaking the English.  On top of this, the students are excitable, some upset at starting a new semester, some upset at spending an entire semester away from their families and friends, some just bouncing off the walls to learn more and succeed.  This week and next week, for me, are entirely about judging, planning and then deciding an action of lessons for the entire semester.  I’m sure a Chinese Chequers player would do the same.

 

Today, Shirley (Lĭ Huì Mĭn), has observed another class.  That is four in two days.  I’m not supposed to have any observers.  Whilst polite and curious, Shirley doesn’t seem to have noticed – or if she has, she certainly hasn’t let on, that each class she has been to, has been pretty much the same.  The same content, layout and purpose.  An introduction to me, and for me to get to know a few names.  The afternoon at school drifted in and my two new classes in 602 and 702 have proven to like the clown at the front of the class.  I think this semester shall go well.

Busman’s holiday

9^th September 2014

“Be at the school gate for 7.50am please, we will go drifting then go to a hot spring.  The next day we will go to a beauty spot” was the message sent via popular national messenger service Weixin (my WeChat ID is acton28) by Cherry [NB: I also have QQ International, my number being 2814963400].  So naturally, the efficient German Kira arrived on time, as did Volvo loving Micaela, Aussie rules Joe and Emily from near Stockport arrived all on time.  I also plodded along punctually.  Almost an hour later and we boarded the coaches, complete with a cheap nasty orange baseball cap, so nobody could get lost.  We seated midway along the coach’s upper deck (no discernible lower deck was sighted, and the coach was rather high).  Legroom was claimed immediately.  Joe sat to my left.  Emily and Micaela behind, Kira accompanied by a Chinese teacher, Smile (I think).  Three hours passed before we arrived at Héyuán.

The city of Héyuán includes many rainforests and the largest lake in the region of Guangdong: Xinfengjiang Reservoir.  The literal meaning of the city’s name is “origin of the river”.  The spring water Nongfu Spring is sourced here.  Wanlv Lake is another name for this vast man-made lake.  The Xīnfēng Jiāng (river) runs into the lake that spans a massive area of 370 km².  We arrived at a city claiming to boast Asia’s tallest water fountain (out of order at the time of the visit) and immediately exited our two coaches into a restaurant.  A lukewarm meal platter awaited, here Regina, Snowy, Smile, and other teachers treated us well and mingled lightly.  Conversation seemed mostly reserved for the food on the deck – as befits most Chinese meal tables.  The duck, the pork drizzled in honey, the scrawny chicken, the homemade dòufu (tofu) and other selections made for a fine meal.  Alongside 7-Up (qīxĭ, which translates as seven happiness and not 7-Up) rice and something resembling chicken stock-meets-thin soup.  Immediately after eating, we re-boarded the coach and headed for the drifting.  Drifting is a lightweight version of white-water rafting, essentially a streamlined stream, often stylised to force water down tighter and sharper channels.  The main flow of the river was natural.  Our coaches split off, helmets (that would fail every sane nation’s safety standards) donned alongside fluorescent orange life jackets, big enough to qualify as being a bra for me.

Along the coccyx-bruising dips of the stream, gentler pools allowed for some rowing and water play.  Teachers took aim at us, and we drenched them with eratic splashing and targeted countermeasures the U.N. would be proud of.

On exiting, drying and diving back onto the coaches, our party of many headed for an evening meal with sweet mǐjiǔ rice wine.  The meal resembled the earlier day’s lunch to a near perfect replication, save for a different type of fish.  Table talk extended to each other’s abilities to speak English or Chinese.  “English is so hard to learn” countered by “Chinese is so hard to learn.”  7-Up was not on offer, an evening chá (tea) replaced this.  To go with a very busy day so far, we re-boarded the coach yet again and headed for the Yeyuan Hotsprings Resort in the village of Liangtian.  A varied set of springs, an ice cold bath, a swim and a game of basketball in the pool was completed with running along mats in a kind of budget Total Wipeout style.  Joe, being from Àodàlìyǎ (Australia), is used to hopping over crocodile heads so managed the full length of the pool – and greeted by cheers from an ever increasing crowd of Chinese folk.  I practically belly flopped after 4 or 5 mats.  The other 10 mats or so being a pipe-dream.  A water fight later in a wave-ridden surfing pool and back on the coach we went, via a sign that said whiff pool, and made me laugh.  We arrived back in the centre of Héyuán for the third time that day.  On checking in half of China into the Emperor Hotel, Joe and I joined Micaela, Emily, Kira and Smile for a wander to get a snack.  We settled on K.F.C., a combination of no real other options and exhausted feet and souls gave the colonel a share in our rénmínbì (RMB, yuán, kuài or máo).

Joe and I bunked in a room with two single beds, woke up startled by my phone’s alarm (playing a jitty by The Levellers), showered (separately), breakfasted and then again boarded the coach.  Off we headed for Wanlu Lake to see a short cultural show, try a zip-line and a stroll along the lakeside views.  The show told the story of Jinghuayuan.  The plot consisting of flower fairy people born of the Tang family in Heyuan County.  After this, you guessed it… we headed back into Héyuán for a meal cloned of every other meal experienced in the same city.  A three hour sleep on the coach back to Houjie allowed me chance to sleep.  On arriving I hopped on my bike, cycled 20km to play football for Murrays F.C., we won 13-2, before cycling back.  I had every intentions of sleeping but managed to make it to Irene’s Bar and Iron Bar for a few drinks.

Monday was a national holiday.  Zhōngqiū Festival celebrates the moon.  Mooncakes were devoured, the odd lantern flew by, but Nikki and I stayed in and watched Dexter.  A good rest does the world of wonders for tired legs.  That and I had to plan lessons and make powerpoints for this week.  The festival is celebrated by family and friends gathering.  Thanksgiving and praying is seen but the emphasis is family.

The weekend away was also to celebrate this Thursday’s other national celebration Teachers’ Day.  The whole weekend was paid for by the school, a thank you letter is needed now…

Have I changed?

13^th September 2014

215 days have passed since I arrived in China.  218 days since I last attended a Manchester City senior fixture.  Have I changed?  I think so.  Perhaps the culture has rubbed off on me.  I feel much more relaxed, despite not knowing what exactly is expected of me, other than the obvious:  get students talking.  I also think I’m really enjoying the culture, the dining locally, the people and the job.  I’ve never felt like I have ever fitted in.  Maybe I have a little, but something has been missing.  Maybe I dislike swathes of bureaucracy and talent suppression.  No more systems thinking, no more intervention teams, no more Customer Cups, and nothing resembling these terms should ever cross my life.  I’d rather focus on doing the job.  Here’s the task, get on with it.  Simple thinking without a label.

Classes this week have been varied by the response of each student.  Discipline is drilled into students here.  Most classes see me having a Chinese English Teacher to assist or watch over the students like a hawk.  In Grade 6, this is more apparent but so far there has been no need for any intervention.  Grade 7 is mostly the same, except a teacher Alex, will often ask the students what the equivalent is in their native tongue.  This can be a little distracting and kill momentum.  That said by the end of the week, she gave me praise over a game used to review a class.  Sometimes I expect feedback too much, I think this is a very British or western mentality.  People here give feedback, just in a much more relaxed way.  Maybe, I strive for higher than present standards, I have a hunger to be better, to do better, and not just to be liked by students – the desire to want to make a difference.  Some classes respond loudly and try often, others have pokerfaces, that collective teenage ego that does not want to be seen to get things wrong.  Each has a niche who will raise their hands, some have super students, far more advanced than others, and then there are the evasive students – some who will never try, or simply don’t understand.  The fine line of balance to reach all is so tight, and 40 minutes is all that is available to grade 6 and 8 each week.  Grade 7 get double the time

As is often the way the question, “How much do you get paid?” crops up regularly.  The new batch of teachers had the same equivocal, elusive, cagey and indistinguishable answer numerous times over in the last fortnight.  According to CNN’s online global wage calculator, which uses data from the International Labo(u)r Organization, the average annual salary of a worker in China’s private sector was 28,752 yuan (about $4,755) in 2012, or 38% of the global average.  The average monthly wage for a native teacher in a middle school is around 2200RMB.  My salary factors in comparative costs of living; provision of high standard accommodation; salary free from taxation; the ability to pay for basic health care; the ability to self-fund the reimbursement of airfares amongst other things.  I feel very privileged to exchange cultural notes, language etc to both the school students, the teachers and support staff, the community and people around me.

No more so than the community is curiosity present.  Photographs with foreigners by the locals is commonplace, a little invasive or sneaky at times, but never intended for anything wicked.  Often teachers tell me, everyone here wants to ask me or other foreigners so many questions, but they lack the language to ask.  I lack the language skills to answer or recognise all their questions.  Maybe one day, my Mandarin knowledge will be good enough, but not today!  The community welcome foreigners, especially if the person is a lăoshī (teacher).  Perhaps foreign workers often form cliques together, not mingling too greatly, but teachers generally are viewed to mingle, looking for culture and tourism more than pennies and profits.

This week I have had meals with teachers, seen dinosaurs loose in Houjie, received wonderful gifts for Teachers’ Day (all from students in class 703!), spotted signs of Christmas, enjoyed the brilliant bright moon, and played football for an hour each way sandwiched between a 19km cycle ride… today, I am happy relaxing, alone.  A state I am enjoying.  Oddly, I’m no longer missing going to football so much…

Post #77: Notes from afar

22/9/14

After listening to this, I decided to write some words.  This past week’s heat has fluctuated between 36°C and 29°C.  Yesterday and today has been slightly cooler, a breeze following the recent passing Typhoon Kalmaegi (Luis).  It passed very far from Houjie, over Hainan Island but the weather here has varied from being ridiculously humid to slightly windy and wet for short blasts of time.  Thankfully the last typhoon was not so bad here, and across Asia.

 

Scotland is still with us.  Try explaining the concept of independence to some people in China.  That a place with 5.3 million people [Dongguan has 8,220,237 folk] with a surface area of 78,387 km² (30,414 sq mi)[Dongguan 2,465 km² (952 sq mi)] wants to be free and independent does not compute.  Their communist minds will rattle, steam explodes like plumes of volcanic gases and ultimately neither party can convey what is happening.  Very much like a Scottish person (not Scotch, back off Americans!) finding out Majorca has ran out of sausage rolls and Irn Bru. 

 

In this week, I have understood why so few people wear watches. Sweat rash and sweat around a leather wristband does not appeal.  I’m unsure how people keep track of time, aside from mobile phones.  Clocks here are set at many times, and at a height where batteries are rarely replaced they sit dormant very often.  Yet punctuality in school is great for classes – but lapse, touching on abysmal for meetings and excursions.  Time is golden here, yet relaxed.

 

Round our way there seems to be a little redevelopment.  An area with a crumbling poor conditioned pavement has been torn up.  Kerbs (not curbs, back off Americans!) are in place, but the rest of the walking area has yet to appear.  Some of the roads nearby essentially look like an abandoned building site.  Where pavements are poor, most of the roads are poorer.  I’ve cycled along worse, often avoiding a ten foot wide gorge alongside one road edge on the way from football midweek.  I could have easily disappeared and ended up in the centre of the Earth the first time my bike lights discovered said ravine.  On top of this my rear bike light/laser combination appears to be faulty now.  Time for a new rear light!  Made in China.

 

Cycling back from football is relaxing, it may be dark, but most roads have an eerily quiet feel to them.  Rogue pockets of older ladies dance on wide public concrete squares often around a crackly speaker dancing to music on a cadence similar to 90’s dance music but smashed in the face with pop lyrics.  Somehow, not far from this hullabaloo, old men play Chinese Chequers alongside card games dealing in small denominations.  Occasionally, roller-blading teenagers skim by, fuelled on their passion for their sport and occasionally toppling over, but rapidly getting up – without a laugh to be heard.  In the U.K. this would be funny, but not here.  Oddly, most public squares in Dongguan seem to be neighboured by pungent waste management centres.  As Eric Morecambe would say, “Ruggish!”

 

At night, no matter how late, restaurants spill onto pavements, like a Chinese version of U.K. greasy spoons with much more spicy options.  People sit there eating, relaxing after a long day’s work.  Smoking is prominent.  Food is splayed out like a sharing buffet and the moods are light and cheery.  This would not work in the U.K.  It is too cold back home!  For every person eating at home, it appears supper and evening meals are always eaten out by many, many people.  Places with food are rarely quiet after 8pm and before midnight.  There are many places to relax.

 

In this past week I’ve played football on two evenings, for an hour each way.  The latter being to greater opposition with substitutes, unlike our team.  The game last night being on a half pitch, far too wide to defend.  We lost 7-5 in 8-a-side.  The midweek game we won 7-5, with just one sub.  Should I play Wednesday?  Hell yes.  We need to get back to winning ways!  Since I joined Murray’s F.C., we’ve been beaten once in around 12 games.  We haven’t drawn a game either! 

 

Classes 603, 803 and 804 today reacted in dissimilar ways.  Sometimes it depends what teacher is in the room marking books, how their last class went, and how they feel.  Monday morning classes are usually sluggish.  Students tend to underhandedly panic write their homework due later in the day.  Later on, they seem to calm and then the competitive edge reappears.  This is the opposite of Friday classes, where afternoon classes are like fighting a tide of lethargy and distraction, their collective focus aimed towards the weekend ahead.  Class 801 and 802 are my afternoon classes.  Class 704 before lunch is not so bad.  Class 703 after lunch are fast becoming my favourite class.  They try hard, behave brilliantly and smile lots.  They like to question things too, which is a rare quality.  Teaching is both torture and fun.

Got wood.

28^th September 2014

Some days resemble artwork stylised by Max Ernst.  Last Tuesday, a teacher, Miss Li from middle school, entered my office, “You’re classes this Thursday and Friday are cancelled.”  Seconds later, a school director and a shorter-slimmer man entered.  Before I had chance to ask why, all three discussed something.  As are the mannerisms and tones of the common language, to my western ears it sounded heated and belligerent.  After a while smiles broke out and then all three faced me.  I know from simply saying hello to the director before that he spoke no English.  I heard the dates 26^th and 27^th banded around their lively conversation.  My mind could easily have started with, “What have I done wrong?”  Instead, I opted for, “What do they want?”  The smaller man asked the teacher, “How big is he?” in Chinese.  The teacher was about to ask me.  I said, “I am very big.”  Then she explained that they need my shirt size.  I assumed here on it was to size me up for the awful red/black school shirts.  That is where all logic ended.

Ten minutes later I had agreed to go to Guangzhou and help a student’s parent (the slim-smaller man) with a job.  The role would simply be to look big, look western and represent their company as an American colleague could not fly over to assist them.  This is how I attended Wood: Guangzhou International Artificial Board Industry Expo.  The fair was to be held at the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre on Pazhou Island.

 

My now normal Wednesday game of football for Murray’s F.C. against a local Chinese team ended with a resounding 12-4 victory.  Marcelo, from Brazil and works for a company that produces shirts for Nike and other sports brands, gave me a new Atlético Madrid shirt, printed with Koke on it.  I’ve heard of this player – and since reading further about him, his full real name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio.  That’s not a bad name to have.  I might get it translated into Chinese.  Before the game, I finally received my 3XL Murray’s F.C. shirt, which is a tad too small but did the job.  The green shorts that go with are way to small and the socks – I gave them away immediately.  You can’t squeeze a fat lad into skinny jeans.

 

So, Thursday morning arrived.  I was up for 6am.  Out the door, soon after I was in a flashy sports car with Alan and two of his colleagues.  Off to Guangzhou we zoomed.  The two days that followed were pretty boring, meeting many traders and potential customers.  However, the calamity of Thursday morning won’t be forgotten.  It transpired Miss Li and the school director, despite saying they would, had failed to tell Cherry, Miss Jiang or the teachers of my grade 6 classes.  As such my company was informed I was absent, and confusion had to be sorted swiftly.  I felt duped, cheated and angry.  Later on, all appeared resolved, but deep down I still feel I let the school down by not double checking this with all my affected teachers.  Ultimately, I feel I let my students down.

 

At the trade fair, I was well fed.  I had two lunches the first day.  Alan and the other two men said that the first meal was poor.  Soon after one of them returned with McDonalds.  Hmmm, not sure they were being serious or trying to accommodate a westerner.  In the evening we had a huge meal and stayed at a 2000RMB a night room in a plush hotel called Poly World Trade Centre.  The prices varying greatly across the internet for the same rooms, dependent on how many events are to take place locally.  Pazhou Island is essentially crammed full of exhibition centres.

 

Anyway, after arriving back to Houjie, I wanted to sleep.  I didn’t.  Now I want to sleep more.  Due to golden week (1^st to 7^th of October), I am working a Sunday.  The 1^st of October marks Guóqìng jié (National Day of the People’s Republic of China).  Founded on that day in 1949, this year will mark 65 years of this hugely historical, cultural, and nationalist day.  The native red flags straddled by 5 stars adorn many pieces of road furniture, shop fronts and school gates.  Government organised and private organised festivities, including fireworks and concerts will turn mainland China, its islands, Macau and even Hong Kong (known in Chinese as Xiānggǎng).  Portraits of revered leaders (e.g. Mao Zedong) are expected to decorate many walls publicly.  I can’t imagine David Cameron will ever get that treatment in the U.K.  I’m sure Ed Miliband has a poster up on brother David’s dartboard.

 

There is something strangely enticing about devout nationalism.  I think we view it with fear in Britain.  We fear St. George’s Day as being too far right, too easy to exploit symbolism to exclude others.  I think our history with a certain moustached dictator did not help this.  Yes, symbolism can be a path of exclusion – or it can be a path of pride.  There is no perfect way to view symbolism, and no way to properly ignore it either.  Worship the eagle crest of Manchester City and spit on anything with the devil?  I don’t know what the answer is, I’m Mancunian, not English – and European before British.  Slapping a brand, label or border on something just doesn’t do it for me.

 

Today, I have four grade 6 classes and a VIP class with grade 5.  It is going to be a long day!

Right, I’m off to raise my blue and white flag in this sea of red.

I’ll add some photographs later.

A week of 36°C heat

4^th June 2014

MONDAY:

As heat builds, energy saps.  Standing on an open athletic field watching the flag raising ceremony at school seemed perpetual.  Make it end, please make it end.  Even wearing a cap, sunglasses and a thin shirt counts for little.  I feel sweat seep, run and drop from lower legs, it feels warm and sticky, bloodlike in texture.  The stifling heat bakes me, stood up, feet exhausted and my brow draining of anything resembling liquid.  To the left, in amongst the classes, a young girl, maybe only 8-9 years of age, heaves up her breakfast, collapsing with a lack of energy.  Two teachers dash to her, lift her limp body up and haul her away for a quick checkover.  It is inhumanely hot.  8am should not be 33°C.  The forecast says highs of 35°C today.  Oh dear.

TUESDAY:

VIP Class for grade 5 faced the chop today due to an impromptu poetry competition.  I say impromptu, I mean, nobody told me or the foreign teachers.  We at least had chance to practice on a stage bigger than the London Lyceum Theatre.  Yes, I heard an actual pin drop many miles away.  Stage nerves are to be added to by the thin steal plating and rickety nature of the ground beneath our feet.  I advise my peers, do not stamp.  I do not want to die in China.  The rehearsal went well, even if the early stages had been interrupted by an eight year old student from one of James’s classes.  His actions with a toy chainsaw left many bruises on Esben’s and Liam’s abdomens.  On a lighter note, the student (who nobody seems to know his name) is calling me John rather than James (the standard greeting he shouts to anyone white).  It hit 36°C today.

WEDNESDAY:

My sunburn is receding into a form of peeling dry skin.

Today, we are supposed to record the Singing On The Rain song for our show this Friday.  This was supposed to happen at lunch time but did not due to James and Liam being kate by twenty minutes at lunchtime.  From 13:30hrs to 14:00hrs is a quiet period at the school.  Nap time, flumoxed kids by the midday heat and teachers equally dazed gives near tranquility.  Noises drift from outside of school such as hooting of horns, construction and general loudness, typical of this neck of industrial China.  Because Liam had only just set up the lap top for 13:55hrs, we have had to abandon the recording until the evening, after everybody has no more classes.  This is assuming the microphone works okay.  Again it hit 36°C today.

Liam and James could join us for the quiz in the evening.  They were running it!  Team “Trim The Fat” (we’d shed several pounds of Liam and James) won with just Esben, Nikki, Becky, Tim (from New Zealand) and I.  A staggering 2.5 points seen us over the finish line, despite dropping a massive amount of points on the final round.  Result.  Next week I am the quizmaster.  I’ll keep my quiz under lock and key until then.  Next week I cannot be on the team of Champions.

THURSDAY:

One quick show infront of the principal and his panel of judges later, and we had conformation that around 8am tomorrow we shall be in the Children’s Day Show.  Arghhhhh!  Earlier in the day 36°C was recorded, later on a storm cooled things off briefly, but later on it rose again to 36°C.

FRIDAY:

Dear diary, I hate mornings.  I hate being on stage.  I hate acting.  I’m not even sure I like Chinese food, children or being at school.  After we improvised facepaints using ground-up blue chalk, donned a very homemade and whimsical outfit each, our audience awaited and then action.  To follow ancient Chinese musical productions and displays of sheer obidient organisation was going to take soemthing.  Order, structure, organisation, professionalism, stability and neatness look better when shattered by a splattering of pandemonium, disarray, disorder and confusion.  I thank you.  That said we did provide a wealth of proper belly laughs from the audience, something I had not heard from the previous four acts and the 12 or so that followed.  The hours that followed the performance allowed me to teach class 701-704 without hitch.  My foreign teacher peers all had no classes, Children’s Day applies to children up to Grade 6 only.  Afterwards, I strolled around with James and Liam, enoyed masses of watermelon and was gifted more sugar based treats than should be legal (to which I passed them all to my Grade 7 students later).  The day itself was beautiful, like a friendly, welcoming version of Christmas slapped into summer, without all the religious pomposity and bullshit.  It also looked like the lower grades of school had done some proper crafts with their decorated rooms, costumes, hats and enthusiastic smiles galore.  Britain needs a Children’s Day, but the first rule would be – no commercialism.  And it Britain it will not be 36°C.

In the evening Birgitte and Esben flew separate ways to Shaghai and Guilin respectively.  The remainder of our clan went for pizza, before heading to Irene’s Bar to drink the quiz prize and buy a bottle of single malt whisky (sadly not Penderyn single malt whisky – remember Irish and Americans spell it whiskey or whiskeys, both are wrong).  On the way back Becky spotted a toad kissing a cockroach on the road.  This is very normal for Becky (who we would later find out, randomly that her dad does not eat cheese).

SATURDAY:

Nikki and I boarded the number 310 bus, crammed in, but breathable, headed to Daojiao.  We looked around the food festival (complete with water fight arena) and sidecourse of dragon boat racing.  Some blueberry liquor was purchased and lots of things tried, some foods so pungent that the nose was tested to the extreme.  We headed home early evening as the 36°C heat was far too much to brunt.

In the evening we met Tim and the foreign teachers and played Ring of Fire on the 9^th storey roof of their apartment, complete with plantpots for Tim to add to the compost.  Tim also decorated the pavement below.  Báijiǔ (rice based spirit) does have that effect.  Especially mixed with Chinese brandy and other oddities.  Try tomato based alcopops.  Fantastic roof party, without music.

SUNDAY:

After waking up, doing some work, popping my head outside and realising that the weather was far too hot, I decided to lounge around.  Pretty much all day.  Nikki went back to Daojiao food festival with some of the foreign teachers.  In the evening we started watching a film with James, Liam, Bryony and Becky but could not finish it, a combination of lack of proper sleep, heat exhaustion and giggles killed the mood.  The Sunday high was 36°C.  Grrrr.

The horde on the embankment

4^th June 2014

Dragonboat festival day and Monday being a day that school was closed allowed us chance to explore.  Liam, Bryony, Becky and James joined Nikki and I in a trip to Wàngniúdūn, a lesser known part of Dongguan.  Most people pass by this town on the nearby G4 Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau Expressway blissfully unaware of a very traditional area beneath them.  From Houjie we caught the 310 bus to Daojiao packed to the gunwales.  James and I stood somehow between the driver’s seat and one of the doors.  I’m fairly certain one of the foreign teachers had an unwelcome face full of Chinese lady armpit.  From Daojiao we negotiated through pigeon Chinese and Becky’s dragon articulations two taxies to Wàngniúdūn.  Becky, Liam and I split off from the others.  After driving for a while we agreed the taxi driver’s licence picture was certainly not the driver.  Unaware that Nikki, James and Bryony also having an unlicensed taxi driver.  Their driver was an older woman, the picture being of a younger man.  Still it was cheap and safe.  This is very normal for this neck of the world.

On arrival, at two different times, having had each taxi travel two different directions, we meandered towards the main river and presumably the race area.  I spotted a solitary dragon boat, untenanted to my left.  On wandering down one of the embankment roads to either side of the canal channel, distant drumming sounds rode up the water.  Two dragonboats drew closer.  Drums banging, chanting and filled to the brim with red baseball cap wearing, sportswear clad Chinese versions of Scousers on holiday.  Their smiles, and shouts of “ní hǎo” welcoming our band of foreigners curious by their customs.

Nikki and I abandoned the children (Becky, Bryony, James and Liam – it was hot, they were tired and grouchy) finding an alleyway through an impoverished estate with houses built from anything spare – the closest thing to slums I have witnessed to date.  On reaching the end, maybe a kilometre or so along, an elderly gentlemen gestured us to turn right, I bid him, “xiè xiè” to which he responded, “bù kè qi.”  We tottered on by a shop, and an English Major student spoke scarily good English as we grabbed two bottles of much needed corporation pop.  Next stop, the river bank and Liaoxia North bridge, both in view.  Up the bridge we strolled, the sun baking down from above and the clamour from a huge throng was instantly heard.

The crowd lined the river along the kilometre race section.  In the middle of a wide section of river lay five boat lanes colourfully marked with buoys and on a slight bend, the start line position was hidden.  We stood at the business end of the dragonboat race lanes.  After the other parts of our temporary expat clan caught up, we sauntered to the west shore (the shadier side, shady as in sun, not underhand).  A very zany and odd local individual seemed to admiring our camera and unswervingly talking to us, in Mandarin, to which I understand nothing.  He seemed sweet… and unthreatening.  Maybe he was just excited foreign people were there to see the boats.  If a load of Chinese folk came to watch Manchester City, I’d say hello too.  They should have a banner placed up with “Welcome to Wàngniúdūn.”  Instead of Carlos Tevez, perhaps place an image of Chéng Lóng.

After a few races, we wandered ever deeper along the horde on the embankment.  Photogrpahs of the white folk were captured and my ears destroyed by a chain of firecrackers comparable with placing one’s head into a roaring tornado.  It was ear-splitting, piercing strident but at the same token amusing.  After seeing several races, the Champion teams paraded their trophies on the water.  The heat had gotten to us all – the other foreign teachers had snared sunshine on their shoulders and other peripheral bits.  Food was needed and shade.  We all scattered to the four winds, homeward bound without the cat or dogs.  An exceptionally pleasant day was had.

Conragtulations on your engagement

4^th June 2014

To my best buddy Daniel Lee Ridyard and Vanessa ‘vanTrouble’ Dreuter – and all within your tribe. I love you loads, and congratulate you wholeheartedly on your engagement, may your two beautiful boys, the cats and your tribe be happy forever. Thank you for always being there for me Dan and here’s to your family, past, present and future. Now I’ve been sensible and sensitive, stop reading and pop on some Star Trek.

It’s about time someone else wrote on this blog!

6/6/2014

Hello to all. Sorry for not writing much, I’m really not much of a writer plus I’m just not as entertaining as my husband. I’ve not much to say seen as John has told you about everything we have seen and done.

Really enjoying work and exploring locally. Last week was especially good as it was nice to see some Dragon boat races. The South of China is the place to be, however actual races are declining due to village/town budgets. Just read this in our monthly magazine ‘Here Dongguan’. So most places now only plan to race every 3 years or so, however the place where we went and another place will still continue with yearly races. Dragon boat races have now turned into Dragon boat parades in most places.

Last weekend was also Children’s Day as John has already mentioned. His school had a big celebration on the Friday morning and I managed to see the foreign teacher’s act, along with a few other acts, including a weird western style interpretation of the hokey pokey. My school decided that we teach most of the day but have fun from 10.30-11.30. Fun in the sense the kids are practicing what they have learnt in phonics classes. All kids had a book and had to get 3 stamps in it to get a ticket to the school teacher’s show. Stamps were given for correct answers – so K1 had to say what the picture on the flashcard was all stuff learnt in class like tiger, umbrella, dog, cat etc. K2 did the same as K1 but also had to fill in the missing letter of a picture e.g. f_sh, K3 had to spell words like box, pot, hop etc and also put words into sentences that have been taught from their conversation books. Even though the kids had to work they loved it running around the school to different classrooms to get their stamps. Me well I was the ‘Help Station’, so if a child didn’t know word etc they would come to me. I’m pleased to say none of my K3’s came for help so my English/Chinese teachers have done a fab job. I just had a few K2’s with missing letters, which they knew as soon as they asked me as I made the sounds of the letters. I also had a few K1’s visit and again if I did the start of the word like ‘um’ they would then go ‘brella’, so they just needed only a little help. This went on for 20mins or so and then it was the show, which all teachers were involved with, including me. All acts were of groups of 3 and the first act was a group of Chinese teachers acting as animals, then it was me and 2 Chinese/English teachers Amy from my K1 class, and Crystal from K2. We decided to act and sing the song, which all my classes know and love, ‘Walking in the Jungle’. It was a lot of fun and we chose 4 kids to pretend to be the animals in the songs which they loved! Next was the next group of Chinese teacher doing a mini drama, looked great just wish I could of understood it all. Then my K3 and baby Chinese/English teacher did a song with kids singing with them. All in all a great little show and at the end the children got given alarm clocks, which they couldn’t stop showing me. Boys got green frogs and girls got pink rabbits. TBH after lunch and naptime I didn’t teach much, instead for my K1 class I put on Despicable me 2 on TV, and actually another class came in to join us too!

Other news with my school is the fact that the other foreign teacher called Simon, just up and left. He didn’t tell the school and I found out just before he flew out. So not a nice way to leave the children he taught, but they have been told he has left and many kids now don’t ask about him.

This semester is flying by I have only 6 weeks of teaching left, finishing on the 18^th July. My K3 are learning an English poem and song to sing at their graduation, which I chose. We practice every lesson and my teachers are getting the kids to practice in their lessons too! Both of my K3 classes have a different poem and song to learn, both are doing really well, it is going to be really sad to say goodbye soon.

Well that’s all folks I’m sure I’ll write again soon, well maybe in a months time!

The Fēng Shuǐ Masters

9^th June 2014

Called off.  Wednesday night I was supposed to run the pub quiz, the problem was only two teams turned up.  The quiz was called off due to a waterlogged pitch around 9pm.  No lightning strikes meant the game was not delayed.  The following day, my co-worker at Worlda, advised me my last working day at Dao Ming Foreign Language School is to be June the 20^th.  Although since then, the 19^th of June and 18^th of June have been mentioned.  Either way, it isn’t long off.  Yesterday (Sunday), I was advised at which point I move to the sister school, Oxford Kingdom International.  That is a kindergarten (nursery and reception school to us “stiff-ass Brits”).

Happens to be that since the fallout of Nikki’s colleague Simon left his role midterm, things have been bumpy.  Whilst Simon enjoys a new job in Sognefjellet, Norway (Northern Europe’s highest mountain pass) Bryony has had to transfer from the Oxford Kingdom International kindergarten to the Junior Kingdom kindergarten that Nikki works in.  In the meantime our company Worlda has supplied Taneisha for 2 weeks to the Oxford Kingdom International.  As it stands I will be going to Oxford Kingdom International after my role here, but as is apparent Bryony is slightly miffed and wants to return there.  However, this would result in me working with Nikki in the Junior Kingdom kindergarten – something our company does not want to happen, nor do I.  Too many working hours and too few feet between us could create unnecessary stresses.  Ah well, I’ll do as I am told.

Anyway, Sat’day was a chilled out day, I went shoe shopping with Nikki – for me!  I found size 14 (EUR 50) a few times in Uggs, Crocs, basketball shoes with football studs/blades affixed (very odd and I bet they never ever sell) and a few walking boots.  The shop I spotted some decent walking boots in had sold out of my size but did have 15,16 and 17.  Good luck selling them in China!  After which I sent Nikki back to relax, prepare to go to Irene’s Bar to watch the rugby (England v All Blacks).  I then tottered a tad further, found a pair of walking boots that looked solid, of sound quality – and asked for the price.  800 RMB (bābǎi), ouch.  I decided to negotiate.  Before I’d even thought about it, my mouth just opened, it just left, I don’t know why I said it, or even started off with, “èrbǎi.”  I might as well of said, “bú yàoliǎn” (the worst insult here, it translates as “doesn’t want face” – shame or “face” is important in Chinese culture.  Surprisingly I got one of the shoes.  The left shoe hit my shoulder with a clunk.  Maybe I’ll not be giving them customer feedback.

Me and my shadow set off again, plodding, back to a shop I had spotted many big work shoes and walking boots.  I managed to get a pair for 220 RMB but oddly their size (UK: 13; EUR 47) was bigger than the bigger labelled UK 14s.  Not to worry.  After this I decided a round hat I have fancied buying was needed, I negotiated the sale from 80 RMB to 40 RMB.  All I need now is a new belt and some trainers.  After which I went to join Nikki at Irene’s Bar.  A few of our fellow foreign teachers turned up in drips and drabs (James definitely the latter, having been drunk the night before – with possible food poisoning turned up last, pale as a ghost).  After the main game, Irene’s husband, a cheery Maori called Marcus brought out dishes of pork belly, loin and ribs – alongside salad and bread sticks.  It was the first time since February that I had tasted mustard.  Mustard being up there with Vanilla Slices, Manchester Tarts, Bakewell Tarts and other such homely tastes.  That evening Nikki and I returned home and watched The Lego Movie on DVD.  The film is well worth a look, it reminded me very much of my childhood.  During the war…

Plenty of sunshine was seen this weekend. On Sunday, Nikki went with Birgitte to the world’s largest shopping centre/mall.  The South China Mall is 99% unoccupied, some of which looks and sounds severely derelict.

No. of stores and services: 47 (20 planned) (Total spaces: 2350, Unoccupied: 2303)

In the mall there are seven zones modeled on international cities, nations and regions, including Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Venice, Egypt, the Caribbean, and California.  Features include a 25 metres (82 ft) replica of the Arc de Triomphe, a replica of Venice’s St Mark’s bell tower, a 2.1 kilometres (1.3 mile) canal with gondolas, and a 553-meter indoor-outdoor roller coaster.  Nikki’s words were, it is interesting but very much a building site with lots of closed areas and construction workers still living on site.  See also Chenggong District and Ordos City (the latter looks stunning).

Often things like shopping can tire me out – but I wasn’t there, so afterwards Nikki and Birgitte later explored a few other historical areas of Dongguan.  I simply spent the day on my bicycle de-cluttering the mind of dust and cobwebs.  That and the floor needed mopping, some finances needed checking and I had to finish two lesson powerpoint displays.

New developments this week concluded with an evening arrival of our co-worker Casey and new colleague Taneisha from Guangzhou.  Taneisha is an American lady, very plain accented and confident in character.  We all met her briefly in our first week’s training in Guangzhou.  She has been teaching in that city but finished her role last week.  Like me, she moves from teaching middle school (secondary school) level to kindergarten.  After re-introductions we shown off the market barbecue facilities and range of available foods before nipping to Tesco for provisions.  It sounds so British until you get there and smell Durian fruit, see fish being slaughtered freshly and note the distinct lack of queuing systems and order.  Chinese men have fantastic poker faces and will happily stare you in the eye before slowly sliding in front of you at the cashier’s desk.  If you stay still, you become part of the map, and that means fair game to overtake, undertake and clamber over, barge past or fight to get to the cashier.  I recommend you be polite but not too polite, as you will never escape a shop ever again by being too polite.  Etiquette means nothing; China is too big; the people are too busy, you are not important to their family centric social lifestyles.  You’re always made to feel welcome, just don’t get in the way!

Seriously where does time go?  Today is Monday, I have class 801 soon.  I am a wee bit tired, during the night the Gods decided to move all the furniture several times over.  Honestly, their fēng shuǐ (it means wind-water) is well and truly out.  The Chinese English Teacher said she won’t be attending – so can I run the class without her, “you never need me anyway.”  I take that as positive feedback to couple with Casey’s, “You’re a good leader” comment yesterday.  To think, the first week here, I wanted to scatter.

Loves Got The World In Motion

2014-06-11 02:26:23.0

I’m on the outside looking in.  BBC Football is my starting point.  Here I can locate the fixtures and fittings of the 2014 World Cup held across Brazil.  From here I can head to the Manchester Evening News sports webpage, MCFC.co.uk for key World Cup links to my Champion team, and afar into the cosmos of illusory information.

World Cup fever has not hit Houjie, a few loosley flagged footballers in shop windows, the odd advert on TV for Harbin Beer (sponsors of the competition) and the odd mention at bars for foreigners.  Some bars will not open locally for any games, some may if the games are on in their regular hours.  Most of the foreign teachers here don’t care much for football, Bryony wants to see a few games, as does Liam.  Becky likes Edinson Roberto Cavani Gómez‘s cheekbones.  He put three past City in the 2011/12 season Champions League, whilst I rate his quality, his character at the time struck me as being a bit of a knobhead (no affection included in this term).  That said Uruguay play in a decent colour.

Image:  Between the group of foreign teachers we did manage to draw 4 teams each – the winner will take the stake (yet to be determined).  Some got a decent set of teams, others like Birgitte and James did not.

Put aside the lack of long-term legacy for this contest; wash away the negative news of fragmentary stadia and facilities; pack away the political white washes and the common man being crapped on from above; this summer is all about football.  The beautiful game.  Money may rule the roost off the field but on it, eleven souls face eleven souls who want the same thing, to win* (*unless they play for a draw like a Mark Hughes squad).

In previous finals, I could watch the game on television, at fan-parks in Manchester or at a public house or two.  Here in China, my options are limited.  Time difference, enemy of the football fan.  Brazil is -3 hours on the UK, China is +7 on the UK.  I started writing this at Rio de Janeiro time of Wednesday 03:34 AM – it is Wednesday 02:34 PM here in southern China.  Then you factor in games held at Manaus & Cuiabá are an hour further behind…  Here I am 11 or 12 hours ahead of the host nation.  My attention has been brought to fake sick notes for the tourney – but I shall pass on that!  The World Cup kick off times are ”inhumane” for players, say some, to some TV spectators globally, they are just plain inconvenient.  Based on this website, for games you can see that are convenient to your timezone, I may catch around 9 games from 48.

Which players from City can inspire their national squad to excel at this World Cup?  Yaya Toure should do well with Ivory Coast, but they have never excelled at the World Cup – I think they’ll go one better than Round 1 though – 3^rd time lucky; England’s number one bears the weight of the U.K.’s cut-throat media and has the support of “There’s only one Jimmy Milner” but England’s group will be very tough.  They could finish third in the group stages.  A lot of attention has been rightly directed at the hosts and with Fernandinho – and ex-City star Jo on hand, why not?  Brazil will gets to the semi-finals.  For me Argentina have strength in depth – they’ll make the final, Demichelis ended the season on form, Aguero is a proven striker of massive quality and Pablo Zabaleta will run every second of the game like it is his last.  Are Belgium in good Kompany?  Yes, he is brilliant and they have a very strong outfit at the finals, they’ll make the quarter finals.  Edin Dzeko’s Bosnia and Herzegovina may well be debutants but I think they are more than capable of a quarter final berth.  I fancy David Silva’s Spain to win it overall and end the no European team has ever won a World Cup in (four finals held there) South America streak.  That said, I’d love Ghana, Cameroon or Iran to win it.  It’s all about the underdog.  The Netherlands, Germany and Italy have reached 16 finals between them, so again, they could be there come that fateful last kick-off.  6 of the 19 finals have been won by host nations.  The only thing undeniable is not a soul considers that blasted Lightning Seeds song anymore as being achievable.

I so want to see the opening ceremony and first game but I have school the next day.  The timezone/referee is a… (at least the Tour De France finishes before bedtime!)

Nikki and Bridget’s adventure

2014-06-11

Firstly let’s get where I work correct. In John’s blog a few days ago he mentioned I worked at the Junior Kingdom Kindergarten. This is wrong as far as I’m aware I work at the Oxford Kingdom International Kindergarten to set things straight.

 

Anyways Sunday last week was nice. It was great being with Bridget nice to chat lots and just enjoy the day exploring at out leisure. the mall is a building site only the front end is open. Currently it does not feel like the world’s largest mall. Who knows what they are building to the side of it, but builders were busy at work. Getting there was the first fun part of the day though. Firstly John said to get the bus opposite Tesco. We stayed there for 15mins and saw no buses with the correct numbers. So I called John and asked if he put the starting address as our apartment. The answer was ‘no!’ So after searching from ours we knew we had to go to the main road. We could get the 66, 67, 217 or 219. 66 arrive first we managed to stop it and hop on! I showed the lady who took our money the mall address. It sounded like they didn’t go there so we just decided to stay on the bus and see where we end up. I used my map app on my phone to see if we were going in the general direction. It did stop at the Nancheng bus station, where we have been before, we weren’t sure if this was the end of the line so we waited to see if everyone got off. Luckily many stayed on and so did we. We then went over a few bridges and turned off down a street and then suddenly we were at the main bus station, directly opposite the mall. We did a little cheer to celebrate that we had made it!

 

After looking around the mall we decided to take a walk to the Jin’aozhou tower which wasn’t far. We walked along the river which was nice, as it was quiet and we got good views of the tower as we were walking. The river was a lovely brownish colour however there were people swimming (or rather floating with rubber rings) in it, as well as people fishing and washing clothes. It was free to walk around the tower and its gardens, gates stopped anyone from going inside the tower though.

After having a look around we then carried onto head to the People’s park across the river. First though we followed the river path to a square just after the tower. On this square a big golden dragon. This is where Dragon boat races end in Dongguan. We found this out at the tower as there was a small museum with pictures of races.

We then continued through some gardens, which had an Egyptian feel to it with a few carvings on the walls. We then crossed over 2 bridges and arrived at the People’s park. This was stunning and well worth a look and very peaceful. There were a few large ponds with koi in and also there were black swans, ducks and geese swimming around.

There were also some building’s which we could look around. After enjoying the park we decided to head back to the mall for food, however we were hot and hungry so decided to take a bus back. Just as we left the park via the main entrance we kinda realised you had to pay to go in. We hadn’t as we came in via another entrance which had no gates, kiosk of guards, so one to remember when I visit again. Bridget asked a couple at the stop which bus to take as we had no idea with all the symbols on the timetable. Another cheer for making it back to the mall. We then grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then walked back to the bus station. We got on a 66 back to Houjie and managed to stop the bus where we wanted to get off. So another cheer deserved!

Irene’s Pub Quiz (Round 1)

Round 1: At the movies [13 points]
#Question
2000
Who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his fine performance in the movie Traffic? [1 point]
Benicio del Toro
2005
The Stylish film Sin City is shot in black & white with little tints of colour here and there. One man in particular even goes by the name of a certain colour, he is called? [1 point]
Yellow Bastard
2007
The Oscar winning movie No Country for Old Men, is set in which US state? [1 point]
Texas.
2008
A Pixar’s WALL-E see the little robot go on a journey to where? [1 point]
B Where did the name WALL-E originate from? [1 point]
A Space.
B The name “WALL-E” is a tip of the hat to Walter Elias Disney. /WALL-E stands for: Waste Allocation Load Lifter earth class.
2009
A In the sci-fi film Moon, who voices the robotic assistant GERTY? [1 point]
B Who is the director’s Dad? [1 point]
A Kevin Spacey. B David Bowie
2005-2013
Put the Legendary Pictures films in order of release date.
a Superman Returns, b Inception, c Watchmen, d Batman Begins, e 10,000BC, f The Hangover, g 300, h Pacific Rim
[2 points for the full order, 0 for out else]
d (2005), a (2006), g (2007), e (2008), f/c (2009), b (2010), h (2013)
2010
In 2010, Leslie Neilsen died. A How old was he? [1 point]
B What was the name of the TV series that preceded the Naked Gun film trilogy? [1 point]
A 84. B Police Squad.
19??-2014
a) In what year was the first Godzilla (Gojira) film released? [1 point]
b) How many official films have Toho, Tristar, and Legendary/Warner brothers franchises created based upon the character Godzilla? [1 point]
c) True or false. Godzilla has a star on Hollywood’s walk of fame. [1 point]
1954. 30 (28 by Toho). True.

 

Irene’s pub quiz (Round 2)

Round 2: Tag, you’re it. [16 points]
Match the Movie Taglines [1 point for each]
Life is in their hands. Death is on their minds. 12 Angry Men (1957)

The ultimate trip. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

…and remember, the next scream you hear may be your own! Birds, The (1963)

Earth. It was fun while it lasted. Armageddon (1998)

He’s a man of peace in a savage land…Suburbia. ‘Burbs, The (1989)

Her life was in their hands. Now her toe is in the mail. Big Lebowski, The (1998)

Buy the ticket, take the ride. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

For three men the Civil War wasn’t hell. It was practice. Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (1966)

You’ve never been scared until you’ve been scared in 3-D. House of Wax (1953)

Earth. Take a good look. It might be your last. Independence Day (1996)

A disgrace to criminals everywhere. Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

From the brother of the director of Ghost. Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)

Great trilogies come in threes. Scary Movie 3 (2003)

It’s not like they didn’t warn us. Signs (2002)

The future is history. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Trust a few. Fear the rest. X-Men (2000)

Irene’s Bar pub quiz round 3

Round 3: No cheating [17 points]
# Question
Weaver
A How many Tour De France wins did the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) strike off Lance Armstrong? [1 point]
B What two films has the above mentioned cyclist made cameos in? [1 point]
C He is now known as a cheat, but can you tell me one of his two nicknames? [1 point]
7 (1999-2005). DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story; You, Me and Dupree. Le Boss; Big Tex.
Crooks
To the nearest 10 years, when was the first recorded case of drugs use in competitive cycling? [1 point]
In 1886/1896 (was confirmed later on), Arthur Linton from Aberdare in Wales died aged 24 of ‘exhaustion and typhoid fever’ a few weeks after finishing second in the Bordeaux–Paris race
Edghill
In Major League Baseball what was the longest ban for drugs cheating? (15 games being the shortest ban length) [2 points for the exact figure, 1 point for within 5 numbers]
Ramón A. Castro, Washington Nationals, missed 105 games from July 1, 2005
Wiekens
Which recent World Cup (28th May 2014) warm-up game/friendly is being investigated following a serious error by a goalkeeper? [1 point]
Scotland 2-2 Nigeria
Morrison
I copied this question. What does the Latin word plagiaries literally translate as? [1 point]
Kidnapper.
Horlock
Which essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic said the following? [1 point]
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. Bad poets deface what they take.”
Thomas Stearns Eliot
Brown
What is Cryptomnesia? [1 point]
Cryptomnesia occurs when a forgotten memory returns without it being recognized as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original
Whitley
Jeff Rovin, Raymond Benson, David Michaels, Mark Greaney, Peter Telep, Grant Blackwood, Jerome Preisler are all ghost-writers, co-writers or pseudonyms for which writer? [1 point]
Tom Clancy

Dickov /Goater/Cooke/Taylor
A Ioseb Besarionis Dze Jugashvili is known by what other name? [1 point]
B Robert LeRoy Parker is known by what other name? [1 point]
C Florence Nightingale Graham is known by what other name? [1 point]
D Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is known by what other name? [1 point]
Joseph Stalin. Butch Cassidy. Elizabeth Arden. Mother Teresa.
Bishop
What is the Capgras delusion? [1 point]
A disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor.
Vaughan
The names on the left hand column reflect the 1999 Football League Second Division playoff final between Manchester City and Gillingham. Which current Premier League team is managed by the manager of Gillingham from that day? [1 point]
Crystal Palace, Tony Pulis

Irene’s Bar Pub Quiz Round 4

#Question
400
What movie title is linked by a Madonna song on the 1998 album Ray of Light; a 1997 released film by Wang Xiaoshuai; and a 2004 stage play by Bryony Lavery? [1 point]
Frozen
441
In World War I, why did tens of thousands of ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) end up in Weymouth (England)? [1 point or 2 if you state the reason]
It was an ideal site for their recuperation – due to the seaside climate.
484
In 1794, British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti; 1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V’s horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness and dies a few days later; 1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded; 1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends – British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech; 1975 – Angelina Jolie was born. What was the day and month? [1 point]
4th June
529
How many days remain from today until the end of the Gregorian calendar year? [1 point]
210.
576
Aside from the hosts, which team becomes the first team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup (Brazil 2014) on this day in 2013? [1 point]
Japan 1–1 Australia
625
What name links a Greek goddess (one of the Horae); a daughter of Poseidon; a wife of Byzantine Emperor Leo IV and empress regnant; a town in South Dakota (and also smaller towns in Texas and West Virginia); and the names of several Hurricanes/tropical storms? [1 point]
Irene
676
A traditional method of paying in a drinking establishment; a type of musical composition; a ritual in medical education and inpatient care; a planetary cycle of reincarnation in Theosophy all can share which other word as a name? [1 point]
Round
729
As of the 3rd of June 2014, how many English Language Wikipedia pages was listed… was it A: 4,527,242 B: 5,527,242 C: 6,527,242 D: 527,242?
[1 point]
4,527,242
784
Name the year that…
The Commodore 64 8-bit home computer is launched by Commodore.
The first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, written by 15-year old Rich Skrenta, is found in the wild.
The DeLorean Motor Company Car Factory (in Europe) is put into receivership.
Cal Ripken, Jr. plays the first of what eventually becomes his record-breaking streak of 2,632 consecutive Major League Baseball games.
In Hong Kong, health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory.
The first compact discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
In Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney World opens the EPCOT Center, to the public for the first time.
The population of the People’s Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion making China the first nation to have a population of more the 1 billion.
[1 point for a year either side; 2 points for the exact year]
1982.
841
What is significant about the question numbers within this round?
[1 point]
They are all square numbers (202-302)
900
What is significant about the numbers 199, 211, 223, 227, 229, 233, 239, 241, 251, and 257? [1 point]
They are all prime numbers (45th-55th prime numbers to be precise)

Irene’s Bar Pub Quiz – Penultimate Round

Who’s behind the anagram?

FILTH LOADER
A RACIST LORD ONION
MOBILE UNIONISTS
MOILED BANANAS
OLD WEST ACTION
NIGEL, FETCH AN IRON LEG
SCREEN IS A STORM
Read, Shun Islam
A Crap Trek Twist
Nerd amid late TV
He bugs Gore

Answers in the same order:

ADOLF HITLER
CRISTIANO RONALDO
BENITO MUSSOLINI
OSAMA BIN LADEN
CLINT EASTWOOD
FLORENCE NIGHTINGAL
MARTIN SCORSESE
Salman Rushdie
Patrick Stewart
David Letterman
George Bush

Irene’s Bar Pub Quiz – Final Round

A table was created to add the following World Cup Host (12pts) / Mascot (13pts) / Golden Boot Holder (12pts) from 1966 to 2014.

Hosts: Argentina, England, France, Italy, Mexico, Mexico, Germany, West Germany, Spain, South Korea/Japan, South Africa, USA
Mascots: Ciao, Footix, Fuleco, Gauchito, Goleo VI & Pille, Juanito, Naranjito, Pique, Sreiker, Tip and Tap, The Spheriks, World Cup Willie, Zakumi
Golden boot holders: Gerd Müller (West Germany) 10; Eusébio (Portugal) 9; Ronaldo (Brazil) 8; Grzegorz Lato (Poland) 7; Mario Kempes (Argentina) 6; Paolo Rossi (Italy) 6; Gary Lineker (England) 6; Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) 6; Davor Šuker (Croatia) 6; Miroslav Klose (Germany) 5; Oleg Salenko(Russia) & Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) 5; Thomas Müller (Germany) 5 {NB: David Villa (Spain), Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlán scored the same too}

The Man with One Blue Shoe

16^th June 2014

Today’s title is a reference to a lesser celebrated Tom Hanks film.

Last week was a peculiar one.  Friday was no exception.  All four classes faced the axe, students instead had a fun day, with games and activities spread across grades 7 and 8.  At lunchtime Taneisha had me hunting a cockroach in her apartment, I found a shedding but no actual cockroach.  Taneisha or Tanny to the students departed back to Guangzhou for the weekend – hopefully with no unwanted guests.  Bryony and Nikki watched on, one for support and one to screech when anything resembling an insect was unearthed.  On Friday morning, Esben asked me to record a class lesson, which did not go well, his camera decided to stop functioning after 28 minutes.  Still, following that he has around 12 minutes of footage.

On Thursday as I can call it, so can you for that matter saw an eclectic diversity in classes, my reasonably sane 704 class bounced off the walls with energy; 801 decided that without a teacher they’d say much more than usual (I hope the teacher fleeted by the classroom during the notorious, “What does f**k you mean?”  In the last month or so the students, particularly Grade 8, have been looking for offensive English words, words they can trick a teacher into saying.  I do tell them that the words are naughty, offensive and not to be used sparingly, but for meanings they should consult their form teacher.  This usually quells any curiosity.  They’ll see them in 1 of 34 foreign language films permitted to show at Chinese cinemas each year anyway!

Wednesday, was as The Sun or some other bad taste newspaper would it coin it, “Quizgate.”  I ran the weekly quiz at Irene’s Bar, usually there are 4 or 5 large teams.  This time round there were four very small teams.  Fractions in the foreign teacher camp caused Bryony to side with Birgitte and Taneisha.  Esben slotted off to take photographs of the evening.  James, Liam and Becky segmented with Nikki.  My aim of the quiz was to make it hard, but hard enough a team could only get 50% or so.  In the end, Nikki’s team scored 38 from 107.  They won.  The other teams dipped below 20 points.  Needless to say it never went down to well.  One American, who I will call Mr Mustard The Nemesis (he wears a mustard shirt, is always accusing other teams of cheating and seems to be a social butterfly through choice, not his) arrived in the last round.  Within milliseconds the abuse levels shot up from banter to downright bullying.  I wouldn’t mind but he missed the earlier round on cheating, included just for him!  After a few moments I went to collect the final round scores, and he took charge of his new team, ripped up and screwed up the answer sheet and threw it at me.  He also called me a word associated with the phrase, “see you next Tuesday.”  I don’t usually get angry, it takes a lot for me to see fire.  I have a younger siblings after all and regard myself as tolerant.  I avoid fights.  Right then I really wanted to lash out.  I turned on my right heal, walked out the bar, started jogging and left it all behind.  I pounded the streets in my walking boots.  A good run burns anger, a sprint here, a dart there, burning adrenaline and anger.  The hot night, the exhaustion of a long working day, the notion of arrogance from Mr Mustard The Nemesis.  It evaporated.  I soon relaxed.  My body and mind became at peace.  I started to notice the bats I crave to relax my mind.  Their fascinating fluttering flight patterns, their dynamic mould, their hunting.  Hunting to survive.  Just like I had done, I had hunted silence.

In my escape frogs bounded over one side street from a small patch of food growth to another patch of rubble.  Those who fear night, do not fear it here.  Houjie after dark is loud yet peaceful.  The hard workers of the day eat and drink at street restaurants, sit outside shops, play pool on rickety old tables, they digest their long days and await the next same old, same old.  The stares at a westerner wandering the streets alone double at night, but curiosity is the only emotion conveyed.  The odd “ní hǎo” or “hello” is heard.  Some trying to welcome you in for food and to bring further customers, curiosity breeds curiosity.

Soon after my toes rewarded themselves with a sit down.  Nikki and the others knew I needed to escape and soon after Nikki walked back to meet me with Liam and James.  It is quite odd seeing the boys of the group be responsible – especially since one confesses to early morning power naps on building sites!  I won’t say who, Liam.

Friday night of last James disappeared on a magic taxi journey (more to follow); Liam, Bryony and Becky went to empty a bottle of vodka at Irene’s Bar; Birgitte was ill and stayed in; Esben, Nikki and I watched a movie.  I personally experienced some odd floated drunken sensation without touching a drop.  Rather than carry on outside, inside with the prospect of a nearby bed seemed more sensible.

The weekend was judged to be too hot to travel.  I woke up feeling okay Saturday, cycled a fair distance to Dongcheng in around 32-36°C heat.  I cycled past a lake, a B&Q DIY warehouse, numerous oddities – a man selling brushes in the middle of an eight laned highway; a rollerskating tournament; and a tower reflecting so much light it was melting the tarmac below.  Upon arriving there I had a tomato quiche and a drop of peppermint tea at Alan’s World Of Cornish Pasties & Devon Cider.  Nikki was jealous when I told her later.  I did bring back apple pie.  In Dongguan I visited an abandoned football stadium, mostly converted into a police station.

Later that day I arrived back (much later due to a double puncture, always on the mould of the inner tube).  Slightly shattered and seriously worn out, I went to join Nikki, Bryony and Becky at Irene’s Bar.  They had been there watched England versus New Zealand in rugby.  Marcus was also holding his birthday party.  Esben met me on the way.  On arriving Esben emptied the remaining piles of meat onto his plate and tucked in like he was at home.  I looked on, thankfully not hungry.  Later Irene and Marcus gave us all some birthday cake, it turns out Marcus is 53, he looks much younger than this.  After a couple of drinks and birthday wishes the strange sensation of dizziness or nervous fatigue of sorts came back.  Nikki and I went home, just as James and Liam arrived.  It transpired James had been into the centre of Houjie on Friday evening, tried to get a taxi back to Liaoxia (around 2km at most) but ended up in some random place.  He trekked back and decided to stay in Iron Bar.

Yesterday (Sunday), Becky and Bryony called around at 6am for England’s defeat to England.  Why always Balotelli?  After the game we went to KFC for an egg and bacon muffin.  Later Nikki and I finished watching series 2 of Dexter and I stayed in for the most with a very bad belly (probably KFC-related).  In the evening I ate a few crisp butties and some aubergine later at the market.  An early night was had.

Today, I feel hungry but better.  The customary morning flag raising ceremony was a tad dramatic.  I had to lift teacher Kate (lower grade teacher) up from the parade square/athletics track to the cooler confines of the administration office.  The Chinese teachers here were lifting her by really odd parts of her body, feet, lower arms and even the groin!  On dropping her (I didn’t drop her) at the office, the accompanying 4 or 5 teachers insisted she lay on a wooden settee char, with a dip.  I needed to place her down and keep her breathing, her breathing was laboured, gasping at dry hot air.  I compromised –the floors here really are not safe – and placed her down in the recovery position whilst holding her head straight so she could breathe.  The other teachers seemed to be stroking and manipulating her hands, feet and legs to keep the blood flowing.  It really was quite odd.  I managed to push a few away from her head so she could breathe.  I told James to pop the ceiling fans on, who on arriving late, had assisted me.  After a few minutes Kate came around, her eyes focusing and her breathing back to normal.  Within minutes, student after student followed in similar fashion.  The heat, possibly combined with slight underlying illnesses caused at least 25 students to collapse.  Needless to say the flag-raising ceremony curtailed ten minutes earlier than usual.  Afterwards I wandered by the administration office to see if Kate had been taken to hospital or a nurse had been called for.  She was sat up okay, smiling – surrounded by a class of collapsed children – all okay.

In the last week Nikki and I have been running or trying to kick a ball around several times.  It is so hot on the evening but we must keep being active. Every now and then a few boarding students join in.

This last week has seen one pair of trousers lose a button (not through weightgain, it got caught on the belt and pinged off… down a toilet); my watch strap lost a link pin so needs repairing; a pair of work shoes split (the humidity here is my prime suspect); my new walking boots detached from their soles (it seems they were a tad crap); and my mobile phone is on the blinkers occasionally (the screen is cracked, humidity is seeping through).  I can afford to sort these out, but one thing at a time.  Tonight, I shall attempt to go to a shoe repairers – before buying a new belt.

As I finish writing this Jane, a PE teacher has dropped me a pile of Lychees off.  Yummy!  Very juicy indeed.  It is lychee season now.  On my cycle ride every roadside corner seemed to be accompanied by a lychee seller or two.

Anyway, be more noble…

 

The obligatory caramelised aubergine

23/6/14

Last week we came 2nd in the pub quiz.  It was a toughie.  We lost by 7 clear points – and a new team turned up and won on their debut, good on ’em.  Time to sack Becky as the manager and bring in David Moyes.  On Thursday evening we returned to Jerry’s Wow for pizza and lovely gratis cake.  Taniesha’s last day being Friday and her impending coach journey back meant we had to go on Thursday.  It was most enjoyable, followed by a naff film at our place.

Day 133 is Monday 23^rd June 2014.  133 days since leaving Manchester International Airport.  Most people would mark 100 days, or 125 days.  I’m unconventional.  We should no longer dispense with the unadventurous and start afresh in a brave new world.  I’m not inebriated – sometimes you just have to rip up the strategy and edge from a starting scratch.  Today marked my first day at Kindergarten.  Like my first day at Dao Ming, I was and remain nervous and apprehensive, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

On Saturday (Shaun Goater Day) Nikki and I had a lazy day.  Something to do with going to bed around 4am the night before and rising from the sheets long after noon.  Nikki did not want to see the football, so I tagged along with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Liam and James).  The Friday evening started early at Irene’s Bar with James, Liam, Bryony and Becky.  This was followed by a meal at a lovely Chinese coffee shop/café opposite the bar.  They do a lovely Thai Grass bread with eggs and an amazing chicken dish containing nothing actually labelled in the title, barely any chicken too.  After this we made the journey (100 metres at most) back to Irene’s Bar to natter some more.  We watched, or attempted to understand Australian Rules Football.  Not the foggiest.  Soon after everyone became knackered, so I tagged along with the boys.  Off we went to Iron Bar, a night club of sorts.  Part seedy, part European styled and part Chinese, this really is East meets West, doesn’t know if East and West should talk, but sits down and invites West in for a cuppa before smearing West all over the walls, general apparel and engages in full blown relations whilst trying to appear local, international and hip all in one go.  Any venue that intersperses dance music with a solo saxophonist or a traditional dance or a live singer or two followed by some random draw from boxes for prizes only described as your very own servant for the night wins my vote.  The down side of the venue being the seedy prostitution in the undergrowth, around the unisex toilets and the overpriced beer.  That said, a wall sized television to watch Costa Rica win over Italy wasn’t bad.  After watching Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum get jiggy with it on a stage, I managed a wee blether with the D.J., a fellow giant, from Jordan.  It turns out he obtained his trainers in Beijing.

Esben and Birgitte had been away to Guangzhou (James joined them later) in yet another reunion with their fellow trainee interns from Beijing.  It seems they reunite every second weekend.  Soon enough, within weeks our new found friends will start to scatter.  They’ll fledge the nest shortly.  New foreign teachers will soon arrive.

Full time arrived, like my last day in Dao Ming Foreign Language School and off we ambled to Pink Lady/V-Bar.  The boys have always raved on about this venue.  Prior to entering we had a roof-beer.  It was essentially a beer on a roof.  The view was good.  In the distance the flashes of lightning slinked around the town of Houjie, appearing to inch closer but actually hit the town.  Into the club we stepped.  Talk about dead.  It was closer to a morgue than a club.  There were some big tunes playing, mostly European popular dance hits slapped together with gnarly rap.  The night churned over and around 4am a taxi ride back was had.  That paid the price of Saturday.  So, the remainder of Sat’day was spent trainer shopping.  No joy.  I have a belt though.  My watch strap cannot be repaired or replaced.  Sekonda is a British watch brand (originally Soviet but now manufactured in Asia, but not likely China, and marketed to Brits).  Great scott!  During the evening food was had at the market barbecue – some lovely garlic-drenched oysters and meats accompanied by vegetables including the obligatory caramelised aubergine.

I hope my mother had a wonderful birthday (Shēngrì kuàilè) on Friday.  I’m still unsure if the present voucher has arrived in her emails – due to the fact I sent it to the .co.uk and not .com version of her email, and the company have yet to respond this week!!!  Email number three has been sent today.

After watching Argentina’s late victory over Iran (football not war) I managed to get up before noon on Sunday.  Nikki and I went to Dongcheng (东城区), just outside Dongguan (东莞市).  Whilst we want to see more Chinese culture, the pursuit for some Yeti-sized shoes goes on.  On arrival Nikki led me to One For The Road, where we had our first roast dinner since February in Blighty!  It was delicious, beef with proper English mustard and gravy.  The potatoes weren’t bad.  It came with sweetcorn, swiftly shipped off to Nikki’s plate.

Afterwards we wandered, and wandered, and wandered, and carried on wandering through ghost shopping centres and malls barely filled with shops and streets with endless restaurants, shops and cafés.  No big barge-footed trainers to be had anywhere.  I treated Nikki to a Devon cider and apple pie at Alan’s in Dongcheng before we made our way home.  It had cost us 6RMB each to get to Dongcheng by bus (4RMB on the number L1 and 2RMB on the C1) – so around 60p.  On the return we missed the last L1 bus back to Houjie (厚街), so our 2RMB journey needed an additional 50RMB taxi… still not bad, but hardly cheap for local travel (even if it is a 15km route taking around 30 minutes).  The day’s high point was the purchasing of Weetabix.  A 48 pack to be precise.  A massive 116RMB (or around £11.00) was exchanged for said rarity.  It is a habit I cannot kick.  Addictions, ey!?

Yesterday, Mum and the tribe were back in Blighty at a garden party for the deserving Dr Kershaw’s Hospice where my late Gran passed away earlier this year.  My thoughts wandered throughout the day, all happy ones.

This week marks the first week without Mandarin lessons.  I look forward to sitting down at some point and practicing the limited phrase book I have to date and really knuckling down with the learning processes of this wonderful language.

Today, kindergarten, has been different – massively poles apart from teaching Grade 5, 7, and 8.  Firstly, I woke up to texts from my co-worker saying she would not attend today and introduce me to the staff.  I walked into a hornet’s nest knowing only Yuki (from an introduction by Bryony.  Yuki is petite, even for the Chinese, and very smiley) and blindly asking for Mrs Jian.  On meeting Mrs Jian, I was introduced to someone else who in turn introduced me to someone else, “oh and get the flashcards from Winnie.”  “Here is the computer.”  “You’ll need this video.”  “Print out your songs here.”  “Class Lychee is here, here is class Banana…” and so on… A whirl of information, in a blip.  This, capped off with a sore gullet and croaky voice did not formulate a virtuous day.  To quote Meat Loaf, “And some days it don’t come easy. And some days it don’t come hard. Some days it don’t come at all. And these are the days that never end.”

Class Cherry (Say and do); Class Lychee (Sentence Pattern), Class Banana (Sentence Pattern) and Class Peach (Say and do) came and went…

Oddly, the day ended sooner than expected.  The ear-marked Interaction Class gave way to an early 1530hrs finish.  I did question this.  However, a welcome escape was appreciated and greeted with a get home and convalesce response.  I didn’t even have lunch today, I wasn’t hungry.  I am now.

Zài jiàn!

Hǎo, huài, Chǒu.

25/6/2014

Today marks the passing of Eli Wallach (known for his role as “Ugly” (Chǒu)).

Tuesday was a write off, up early, ready to go, but my stomach was tighter than my dad’s wallet at a convention for stereotypical Jewish spending habits.  [Caution:  graphic descriptions follow] I managed a bowl of four Weetabix, walked to school with Nikki, about turned in her neighbouring school, waddled back and proceeded to decorate the apartment’s gardens with a weetabix-cum-last night’s tea mixture I like to term disgorge.  I advised my co-worker Casey of my illness whilst downloading into the porcelain pot, so to speak.  Hereon the graphicness ends.  The previous evening I had to pound the pavements rapidly from a shopping trip with a cold drink outside Tesco at a drink’s stall.  I bid farewell to Esben (who popped along with us, undoubtedly to release his words of upset following his break-up with Stephanie at the weekend in Guangzhou – long distances never help) and shuffled back with an intestinal pain causing as much discomfort as humanly possible.  This was all bad (huài).

A day in bed, and I mean properly out asleep, numb, dead to the world around me, was followed by a trip to the doctors.  The doctor, with assistance from Bright at my school, advised me what to take and what to avoid.  Pretty much everything resembling cold food, foods with flavour or grub with spice was noted – fairly simple choices remained.  Porridge or noodles with nowt.  The doctor gave me a combination of 4 medicines, one being Montmorillonite (clay-type stuff) and another being Lactobacillus Complex Capsules (for adjustment of my intestinal flora).  The other two medicines are white and yellow – and entirely dubbed in Chinese Mandarin scripts.  Not a clue.

Today, I woke up feeling better, hungry, drained of energy – devoid of alertness but on the whole better.  Today’s classes with K2 Banana (say and do); K2 Peach (Song and chant); K2 Cherry (Song and chant) followed after lunch by K2 Strawberry (Say and do) went reasonably well.  In the classes marked say and do, I said and did with Kitty.  Kitty is a soft-voiced Chinese teacher from the region of Guangxi.  She has been most welcoming and has assisted me in this kindergarten pool of female only teachers. There are around 10 different classes in the school, and at least 30 different teachers or staff member zipping around.  By zipping I mean head down, not paying too much attention, the teachers appearing exceedingly stressed out owing to an inspection taking place on Thursday and Friday.  For these two days I am expected to hide in Dao Ming Foreign Language with several classes and mostly run games or activities.  This could be a very long end of week run-in!

Anyway back to classes today, Banana class are like monkeys, clambering all over their new found English climbing frame with buckets of fervour.  Despite warnings that this class are sheer agony to control, they weren’t too bad.  Following that class Peach seemed placid but attentive and assiduous in their renditions of “If you’re happy and you know it…”  Cherry class proceeded lunchtime and you can always tell a hungry class, especially when you teach them the phrase “I am hungry.”  That said all classes had some wonderful examples of dramatisation of “I am angry.”  Enough to make the heart warm on the wintry day with a cold snap to the heart.

And now I am properly hungry – again.  This is good (Hǎo).  This leaves me with a wee quandary, something caused my sudden ill spat.  Now, here, germs are everywhere.  It is tropical so bacteria, fungi etc grows well.  One drop of bad water, one handshake too many, a missed spek of dirt by handgel… anything can carry it.  Now I feel better, now I carry on as normal.  I might go for a bite of Chiellini, Ivanović and Bakkal.

(I’ll never forgive Luis Suarez for the injustice when Suárez blocked Dominic Adiyiah’s goal-bound effort on the line in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final against Ghana)

FEED THE SUAREZ, LET HIM KNOW IT IS BREAKFAST TIME…

Today’s weather has been mild – only 28°C.  Whilst I have felt warm, I have hardly experienced heat today.

Zài jiàn!

the international icebreaker – namely Sun Jihai

30/6/2014

The weekly Wednesday quiz was entered by James, Nikki and I.  Our breakaway team “Baldilocks and Co” from Bryony, Becky, Birgitte, and Liam did us well.  Esben scattered and joined another team entirely – one including my quiz nemesis, Mustard Shirt Man.  With expectations low, knowledge limited and trepidation the battle began.  Like Manchester City we came out on top.  Champions.

Thursday marked the exodus of my kindergarten to the neighbouring Dao Ming Foreign Language School’s art and music rooms.  The music room is a hall, very large and typical in polished wooden flooring, matt white walls and several pianos coupled with a random drum kit.  A lone triangle hangs on the wall.  Not a cowbell could be found.  The roof of the hall is flat.  The sun baked down.  The room was hotter inside than the outside walkway in direct sunlight.  This room, after one botched class with my N1 students of Apple class (aged 2-3) became dormant soon after.  It was too hot for everyone – and not healthy.  Initially the day started in a makeshift canteen under a giant plastic roofed garden area.  Kindergarten kids from the four grades seemed to sprinkle with the neighbouring grade 1 and grade 2 Dao Ming.  The adjacent toilets heaved with extra capacity and an odour akin to an animal farm spread over the site.  The bordering grade 7 and 8 students frequently came over to say hello and ask when I would return to their classes.  Then, they’d testify truthfully that the toilets tang terribly.

The afternoon was so hot, the waking students had an extra long afternoon nap.  The mercury tapped 36°C.  Bryony came back to say hello to her students, and as we entered the sleeping area of the dance room – reminiscent of a refugee camp – it became apparent that classes would not start shortly.  The teachers informed me, there was to be no classes, “please go home and rest.”  So I asked a dozen times, if they were sure, and then made my escape.  And no one’s gonna stop me now, I’m gonna make my escape.

For the final Thursday night as a group of foreign teachers, Bright gathered us at a restaurant near to school.  The restaurant is owned by the family of a school bus driver and had several students inside.  However, upstairs a booth dining area was set aside for us.  Here we dispersed around a circular table with a rotating central piece to assist with sharing multiple dishes.  Eight different plates arrived, with food as varied as Sìchuān cài (food from the Sìchuān region) fish doused in spicy , pork with noodles; chicken with bones in peppers; sizzling potatoes in spices; some deep fried meat parcels; and more.  After stuffing our faces, we exited stage right (or through the very centralised glass doors), had a photograph, wished each other good luck (and went our separate ways for the night).  The low point of the night was finding out that Bright, our supportive and intelligent mentor, point of absolute reliability and contact has not got a place in University at Shanghai.  Their loss.  He did mention he’ll try for Beijing’s Normal University.  Good luck to him.  It isn’t easy in China, and he deserves to succeed.  There aren’t enough people like Bright.  He is as his name says, vivid, dazzling, happy and light, brainy, smart, cheerful, optimistic and positive. 

Friday came, I arrived early and joined the breakfast tables of the exiled students of kindergarten.  Their exile imposed the day before as a result of an inspection at the two kindergarten schools (I believe they are technically registered as one, although I cannot be certain).  The wee blighters bounced around gleefully, shouting out “teacher John” at frequencies parallel to that of a crowd at the Etihad Stadium crying, “City, City…”  As the day progressed I managed three classes, The Wheels On The Bus; Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and a few other random classics being sweated as much as sang out loud.  In the late part of the afternoon the green light of play was passed to all students.  I chose some ground, sat down, constructed with some plastic toys and talked (as best possible) with the students.  The responses to questions like, “Did you see the football?” or “What do you think of the rumour about De Jong going to Man U?” weren’t deep or meaningful, but never the less I now know how to count to 100 or identify the colours of anything within sight.

That evening was designated, a drinking leaving do evening.  Vanetia and Peter joined us from a different school.  We started at the other teachers’ apartment, hit the market for some grub, then Irene’s Bar, (where else?), before arriving at Rubik’s KTV in Houjie around 2300hrs.  Surprisingly, they had Blue Moon, it said by Frank Sinatra – but it turned out to be a homemade version from what sounded like a regular drinker of morning visits to Wetherspoons.  After a few too many Dewars and cokes with ice we all left on Saturday morning at exactly 0230hrs (the last song ends then, mid-flow).  Immediately after we strolled to Pink Lady/V-Bar and ordered a rum and coke, on entering.  Some dancing by Birgitte “I’m not dancing”; Esben “the music is rubbish”; and t’others was observed within nanoseconds of passing the raised dance stage.  I slinked away to enjoy my drink at a table with Peter and James.  Soon after, the saying if you can’t beat them, join ‘em phrase was put into practice.  All the while Nikki seemed to be enjoying the fragrant dancing aromas of China in the dead of night.  At some stage several Chinese men grabbed Liam and I as we passed their table.  A cold Budweiser was thrusted into my hand, and we chatted football – the international icebreaker – namely Sun Jihai.  The beautiful game at its best.

On exiting the club around 0430hrs, we sauntered to the Chinese equivalent of the Kebab House, the western golden consonant of capitalism tinted with bullion colouring.  The night ended after a taxi journey back and a much needed air-conditioned late night of slumber.

Now the drugs don’t work…

2 Apr 2014

Don’t worry the title is based on Verve lyrics.

Last night Nikki typed on the blog for around one hour – before opening a photograph in Firefox, without saving the blog draft.  There are many words lost, please return to Nikki if found.  Nikki worked really hard on it, I was pleased to see her write so much.  It made me proud.  I hope she will re-write the lost words, I want to read them too!

Today, a student shown me a picture of something I thought was so space-aged it had to be Chinese.  The student had shown me because www.bing.com had this as the landing page image.  It was in fact the Falkirk Wheel.  Like an up to date Anderton boat lift.  I had to explain the purpose of canals and why we had them and still use them.  The student in question wants to visit the U.K. to see canals.  Don’t thank me Visit England!

Last week I thought I ended the flu.  Since then I have had a sore throat (occasionally), coughing fits late at night and keep losing my voice.  I have also been bitten a fair bit this last week or so.  Last night, and the night before, it has taken me around two hours to get to sleep.  I cannee lay down laddy.  A dilemma arrived for me today…

Option 1:  Chinese Medicine.  I’ll give that a very wide berth.  The scientist and carer of all things horned, tusked and stripy indicate I should back the flip away from this line of placebo healthcare.

Option2:  The Doctors.  Enter the least inviting medical practice ever.  The doors and walls remind me of a derelict building I one stepped foot in.  Greyed, scaled with smears of who knows what and grime from many decades of neglect.

Option 3:  K.B.O.  Sir Winston Churchill said, “Keep buggering on.”  The problem is that he probably was used to lack of sleep and parliament aside, he didn’t have to teach classes of 40 children, cooped in by recent torrential thunderstorms.

I have exited the doctors with 4 different prescriptions for a 3 days course.  The doctor told me (via Bright) I have late flu symptoms caused by flu.

One medication is the Lian Hua Qing Wen Capsule and Flu Prevention Tea used locally to battle the H1N1 Flu Virus.  It has very little English on the box other than:  “It has the function for cough; phlegm and adjusting the immune system, strongly improving the symptoms of cold fear; headache; high fever; muscle pain; fatigue.   It can kill a wide range of virus and bacteria.”  The Food and Drug Administration of U.S.A. has banned it, but what do they know, they ban life-saving drugs all the time.

One medication is Ribavirin is a broad scope antiviral drug, mainly for viral hemorrhagic fevers and hepatitis C.  The NHS use it for severe flu symptoms.

Qingre Xiaoyanning Jiaonang is written on one box.  The leaflet inside says, “Alleviates fever the disintoxicating, the sterilization stops pain, relaxes the muscles and joints and stimulate blood circulation.”  It appears purely herbal.  http://cmctasly.shenzhou.nl/products/en/patents/23161

One of the medication types has no English label but like the others it carries professional packing, holograms, proper seals and Bright (my superior at school) says are safe to use.

I have been told to avoid spicy food (hard to do), drink only hot water, and avoid tea or coffee for the next three days.

I wonder what is on the menu later…

A long weekend

7 Apr 2014

Well I’m going to try again, but not write as much.

The last post described about the weekend before, which I’ll now do in short. Saturday was a chilled out afternoon in Houjie after the evening before was spend at KTV. It was just myself, John, Esban and James in Houjie. We went for food and suceeded in finding the best place ever, an Italian pizza restaurant. The guy there was amazing and loved us for coming in that he gave us a free greek salad with feta cheese, and some italian bread like stuff. the evening was a DVD evening with the girls while John was out drinking with the boys.

 

Sunday I went to Dongguan with the girls shopping. We ended up at a very western style mall that had zara, h&m and even a clarks shoe shop. It was great to find clothes that fit and we all bought something. Shopping aside the weather was terrible just one big massive thunderstorm for hours. Getting back from shopping was interesting due to the weather as many roads were flooded, plus we got soaked trying to get a taxi, but we got back safe just took longer than normal. John stayed in and enjoyed the thunderstorm from the dry seeing the lightening hit the cranes nearby. Highlight of the day was an English pub where I had bangers, mash, beans, onions and gravy. Going back for sunday roast at some point.

 

This weekend we have had Monday off as well, this is due to to Tombs sweeping day http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/qingming.htm. However with the uncertainty of the weather with thunderstorms and rain most of the week, we all decided to stay nearby and explore further afield when the weather gets better. Friday we went out for food us and 6 other foreign teachers in Houjie and we ended up at the pizza place. this time we got a free cake for afters and a shot of rum each. This is going to be a place we visit a few times during our time here! We then went to bar street for a few drinks and then to a different KTV which was really good and it sold rum, so I was very happy!

 

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and me and the girls went to the temple nearby. It was packed, but nice to see in the daylight. Lots of people were taking our photos, which to me is the normal now. John went to Irene’s bar to watch rugby with Tim a Kiwi who we have meet a few times and has just come back from Japan. The evening we watched DVD’s bought from the cheap DVD shop in Houjie. We watched Frozen which is great and Saving Mr Banks also great.

 

Sunday was a rainy day so me and girls went shopping in Houjie, they introduced me to some good clothes shops, where I bought a dress, and a cheap jewelry shop where I bought a new watch for £3. good to know I can get stuff close by when I need it. John wasn’t up for girly time, but did try and notice the word try and go on a bike ride. However his pedals fell off! Luckily he was only down the road when it happened. I do hope he can go on a bike ride soon.

 

Monday (today) its been a me and John day. We decided to head to the local sports park, complete with a football/building site pitch, olympic sized swimmimng pool and kiddies pool, badmington and basketball courts, a full 400m track and an outdoor gym. Think we may go back and soon in our exercise gear. We then walked to the top end of Houjie to what we thought was a temple, but a pavilion and a park. It was nice and we will go back to explore the woodlands around it another day. So now its the evening we are chilling with a random movie and I’m finally writing on the blog. This time I will save and then add my picture.

What is the fear of crushing a smaller person?

13 Apr 2014

People of wherever, this weeks 20 years since Supersonic by Oasis, their first single.  I am feeling Supersonic…

Last Tuesday (back to school after a 3 day weekend) was pretty damn hard but flew by.

On Wednesday, our co-worker (supervisor) came from Guangzhou to observe two of my lessons and two of Nikki’s lessons.  This time she appeared with a video camera in tow.  I hate being recorded so sweated doubly as much in the 30°C heat (the fans above doing absolutely nothing to break the thick humid air).  My first class that day was to teach the PE teachers key terms for their lessons.  That and they always conspire to get me to act out the odd gymnastic or dance move.  It is good fun, but hard work.  I really like the PE Teachers, Jan is now renamed as Star and one of the other teachers is named Moon.  So I teach Sun, Moon, Star, Winnie (as in the Pooh), Nicole, Jane, Vivvy, and Fabulous – and occasionally one other teacher drops in to join in.  Their Chinese names are so much more interesting but I could not type them other than Feng Shu Lei (AKA Moon).  In the evening, around 1730hrs, I went running, in baking 26°C heat.  I did break it up with a kick around with two Chinese teachers and a student.  We kicked a ball around, not each other.  I went in net for a bit, most shots hitting the neighbouring badminton court, security building and occasionally being so far off target they went out for a throw in.  Never-the-less great fun!  The evening concluded with Team Liam Has E.D. winning the pub quiz at Irene’s Bar by a single point.

Thursday arrived, my busiest day:  6 classes, a foreign teacher meeting and workshop.  Today, the teachers from Grade 7 asked me to delay doing the next topic/module of the text book for two weeks.  I asked the Grade 8 teachers if they also wanted a delay on the next chapter.  They also wish for this.  So next week, I am teaching greetings and the theme of Easter holidays.  The following week I’ll introduce the U.K. culture and differences between China and the U.K.  There are many, many differences.  Some odd, some simplistic and some baffling beyond belief.  That evening, as is typical of the school, my final class was cancelled with just 5 minutes notice.

After school on Friday, the Chinese teachers who lacked skill in football, invited me to play basketball.  The boot was on the other foot.  I have not played a competitive basketball game since year 11 in Reddish Vale Technology School.  I only made 2 fouls, about average for each teacher in the 3-on-3 half court version of the game.  We played two games, I scored a few hoops, and was on the winning side twice.  Not bad, and I am bobbins in comparison with these technically sound Chinese players.  They like height and strength but have buckets of drive.  Oh and bar one player, all were in their early twenties.  Stay still.  Sinophobia is the fear of the Chinese or Chinese culture;  Stasibasiphobia is the fear of standing or walking.  Is there a name for fear of crushing a Chinese person?  Speaking of fear, I want to go here.

To conclude the day an evening using the pub quiz prize of a bottle of vodka (and a few beers on top) wasn’t a bad night out.

On Saturday it was settled that all foreign teachers would assemble at 1000hrs for breakfast.  Following this we would jump on the number 5 bus destined for Shuilian Mountain Park.  By half past ten most of us were taking in a delectable light breakfast and drinking a peculiar milk and oat based tea, up there with glugging dishwater.  James soon arrived very leisurely and relayed to the tribe that Liam was still very much in the land of dreams following the previous night’s drinking.

One stuffy, cramped, but cheap (2 RMB or about 20p) bus journey of around 30 minutes later we arrive at the Shuilian Mountain Forest Park, Dongguan, Guangdong, China.  The highest point is 378 metres high (1240 feet; shy of Bodmin Moor’s highest point).  We took the path of steep steps, humid, hot (easily around 30°C and no sign of cooling).  Two litres of water later and a fair few leg stretches, stops en route we reached the summit.  Here greeted us another temple, complete with more steps.  Up we went.  Up I returned swiftly.  The wasps up there were bloody big, hopefully not too closely related to the deadly Asian giant hornet.  Panic over, time for an ice cream.  Oh, one has just flown past me.  Care to wear my ice cream?  In actual fact I started walking down the other path away from the temple and ice cream shop.  I will do anything to minimise the subsequent panic of me sharing airspace with wasps.  Risk analysis at its best.

The descent of the mountain-hill was pretty, lots of hidden temples, shrines and mini-waterfalls – and photo requests with Chinese folk.  We eventually arrived at the lake by the main entrance, passed on the peddle boats, the 200 Yuan deposit being a problem, as collectively 7 foreign teachers and Birgitte’s sister could not fit onto one swan-themed craft (seating for two) – and carrying large amounts of money is discouraged.  Here we decided to have an ice cream again, a light snack and head home for a shower (how much sweat was sweated makes me sweat thinking about the sweaty sweat).

Last night we returned to Jerry’s Wow.  James and I are veterans now, having called by 4 times in 3 weeks.  Pizza was had, a cracking Greek salad and some hard earned feet up and natter time.  Liam nattered about his love of spotting phalluses in Disney cartoons, much earning his puppy in a pack status.  Esben, Birgitte, her brother and sister compared their Danish and Norwegian dialects.  Nikki looked tired but content with the Pizza Vulcano.  My option being the bell pepper topped Pizza Diavola.  Don’t think we eat Western that often, this is very rare – and it is only because the place is so welcoming.  The staff split a bottle of Bacardi between us, complimentary, gratis, free, appreciated.  Afterwards we stopped at Top 85, a rip-off Starbucks comparable with U.K. prices but very, very good in quality.

Today’s plans involve surprising Birgitte later this evening with a birthday cake – she has not mentioned it is her birthday to any of us!  Her older brother and sister are over from Norway for a week or so here (Norwegians are mega-rich, so treat globetrotting like a walk to their local park).  Straight after that the Scousers versus City shall be popped on the television – and live commentary via BBC Manchester’s The Goat and Cheesey.  Oh and we have to go shopping for provisions.

• Has it really been 9 weeks since we arrived here?

Zài jiàn!

“Teacher, Teacher, let me try”

21 Apr 2014

• What’s different?  What’s the same?  So many differences, so many similarities.  Above all we’re all human, just.  The sense of euphoria that everything was new at first is starting to fade.  Things seem normal.  There is yearning to see family and friends but not at a painful and unmanageable level.  I do miss football madly, that was expected too.  The 3 Fs rank very high in my life priorities.  New foods, new cultural traits and habits, new oddities, new temples or sculptures, landmarks and parks are still everywhere still.  China is like a game of top trumps, something always steps up to the plate and throws the last shock into the shadows.

• Last Thursday, I held a few egg and spoon races at school, proving a chuckle and then some.  Explaining Easter with as little religion as possible (we cannot preach or promote beliefs) was actually quite easy.  Friday’s egg and spoon race took a few hits early on, with students opting to eat their eggs prior to the event.  The pupils do arrive at 6.30am, have breakfast at 7.30am and lunch at 12pm so yes, I can see why the eggs were gobbled early on.
• Friday’s lunchtime was entertaining, in essence a photo of the foreign teachers with the primary school was required.  It took some time to be done.  The weather was hot, we were exposed to the rays of the sun for far too long.  That and I had to wear red.  I almost got out of wearing red – as their largest size (Large) was too small, until a reasonably large teacher from a different part of the school let me use his shirt. Grrrrr.  I hate red.  I keep reading about and being warned about culture shock, and the sudden crash when you realise things are very different.  So far the two fingers of defiance are placed firmly up.  I am far too relaxed about this shock of shocks.  I know there are ups, there are downs and there are plateaus.  All is good on that front.  Just go for it, go with the flow.  I won’t wear red with a smile.
• The media here is great, because I don’t understand it.  No scaremongering.  As far as I am concerned, life is going on.  Peacefully.  Oh, Crimea, North Korea etc you hear in the news, but not muggings, etc.  In some ways ignorance is bliss.  I love reading the news, I love hearing things globally but I hate the repetitive nature that the media churns over, quotes Twitter, shows the most indistinguishable cameraphone footage of what appears to be something doing summat by that thing, you know.
• Before leaving, Nikki and I took a few small pieces of home.  We did our research, looked around at sights and places to visit.  I also believe in the mentality that I am not Chinese, I am just a working tourist.  I will act professional and try to deliver above and beyond, but I’m here to see a culture different to my own.  We definitely no longer need a map.  We are venturing further afield, into the bits between the streets we’ve perused and scoping out the new.  Work, colleagues, students, the locals, the foreign teachers and other expats working in the area are making for a good community here.
• So, teaching, what is like?  Well they stick you front and centre of 30-45 adolescents and make you sweat.  Think of the guy at the open mic comedy night that evidently had too much lemonade and made a comprehensive posterior of his self.  Yes, it is always a man.  We are unsurpassed on this front.  In the bright classroom lights and by the overhead powerpoint projector rays you can burn.  There will be moments when you wish the ground will realign itself in some sort of new fault line, swallow you whole and spit you back out in Elysium.  There will be times so tense, a pin dropping will be as quiet as an Old Trafford end of season party for the 2013/14 season.  But do not panic.  Do not worry.  You are the weapon of choice.  Use banter, bottle it, spray it, and deploy in massive payloads.
• If banter fails, have a Plan B, try bribery.  Chocolates, sweets (candy?  Back off Americans), points, prizes, money, A-stars… anything.  Positive reinforcement is a posh name for bribery.  Plan C is punishment, but beware, anything you tell a Chinese student will not strike the fear that the native teachers can instill to them.  You’re threats will be empty in comparison.  That said, we don’t do threatening, it isn’t pleasant.  I recommend Plan D, “I’m going to make a phone call to your parents.”  Result.  This is the last resort.  A sudden change of attitude shall be seen.
• In class time can equally freeze or evaporate.  Some classes are similar, but others break the mould, smashing a well-established and successful lesson plan into something akin to the SwissMiniGun (look it up!).  The balance between dictating, activities and games, or open conversation needs to be timed, assessed and reviewed with precision.  The classes generally fit into several categories:

1. dynamic, flowing and bursting with energy;
2. rowdy and the whole class call or shout out answers, arms up, shouting “Teacher, Teacher, let me try”;
3. the one or two kids who do not give other kids a chance;
4. still, tired, devoid of energy, (usually sweating buckets after P.E.);
5. Friday afternoon classes.  Pandemonium, hell in a hand basket, sheer agony.

• Often classes have lulls, peaks, troughs, but on the whole my 8 different class groups are very good.  I observe the other foreign teachers in at least 4 classes each week – and am thankful I do not have grade 1 (straight out of nursery/kindergarten) or grade 2 (equally chaotic).  The grades between (3 to 6) are fantastic and angelic in many senses.  Grade 7 and 8 is where the teenage mode kicks in, is all about saving face.  The Chinese care a lot about their face (reputation and how they are perceived).
• Friday night, we ate chicken (shaped like some sort of crucifixion) from sticks at Irene’s Bar with last Wednesday’s pub quiz prize.  Yes we won again, two wins on the bounce.  This time we won by a considerable margin, thanks to the round on 90s album names and artists.

 

• Saturday night, we popped to Dongcheng (just outside Dongguan) for food with some of Briony and Becky’s training partners from Beijing.  We had Mexican.  It was okay.  My review of El Caliente is here.  Afterwards we popped into Beijing Bar, on Bar Street, a smart looking club laid out with precision and a massive DJ who looked a bit like a young Reg D. Hunter (comedian).  Everyone seemed to scatter, so me and Nikki decided to stay.  Then we tried a club across the road, Vita Bar, where the owner’s husband from Irene’s Bar (in Houjie, where we live) happened to be drinking.  His band came on and soon he was drumming.  Not bad, cover versions, but entertaining.  It then happened.
• My stomach decided to make a noise similar to a bear dragging a bar stool through a wind turbine turning backwards into a headwind on a windy winter’s night.  Up went my feet, faster than any other boy I’ve ever known, in through the swing door.  THE FOLLOWING TEXT HAS BEEN REMOVED BECAUSE THE CONTENT IS DEEMED TOO SH!T FOR PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE.
• The next day was okay.  I did not eat.  Nothing much happened.  I had another Milk Salt Black Tea (these really are wonderful, creamy, sweet and a drink to die for).

Tomorrow, our school is off to a zoo in Shenzen.  It may be this one.  I am half looking forward to it, half reserved and have very low expectations of the zoo.

How the mighty have fallen:  James and Liam, zonked.

On Wednesday, I winged two classes, due to a power outage.  The sodden ground next to my school block had flooded a wiring section.  Without the use of a projector, I soldiered on with chalk, blackboards (or chalkboards to the more politically correct amongst us, not that is matters, the boards are olive green), and dim lighting.  No ceiling fans helped me to sweat a morsel more too.

By Thursday morning power was restored, after the teachers and possibly one outside contractor later on, fixed the faulty power supply.  By Thursday evening, power had gone again, and with it two classes became cancelled (the classrooms can be very dark).  In the evening I finally Skyped my family back in Blighty, at long last!

The next day the power at my school had returned and the trench where the cable section was being repaired had a diverted power supply resembling that of a goalpost in the school garden.  Friday flew by, with highs of 28°C initiating an avalanche of aqua from my back.

I’ve got the power

26 Apr 2014

Shut down your browser with the listed timeline of Daily Mail shame, here is the next installment…

“We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…” was not sung on the journey thankfully.  We had an entertainer/guide onboard prompting renditions of Chinese power-ballads from the students. The day started in both chaos, pandemonium and pure civil order equally.  Birgitte, Esben, James, Liam and I had been told to arrive for 07:30hrs.  We did as instructed.  Bright then ushered us away to the canteen for breakfast, most of us having eaten prior to arrival.  Sometime later, on popped the class marching music and out trooped the children to the parade square/football pitch/running track.

A hoard of blue and yellow shirted guides led each class to their own bus.  Of around 1800 children, teachers and support staff, coach number 34 was last to leave.  The coach for the principal, support staff and foreign teachers, alongside a grade 9 class.  Bright sat with Esben and soon after it transpired the entertainer/guide wanted us foreigners to sing a verse.  Off the cuff, I could think of nothing but football chants.  Esben chipped in and recovered our bacon (and he’s the Dane!) with a ditty about something in Danish.  Not an inkling.  James and Liam appeared to be in a state of slumber.  Convenient.  The rest of the journey was mostly lacklustre, with just the usual amount of honking, illegal road manoeuvres and near misses that every road journey in China commands.

Our arrival at Shenzen Zoo was much better than our departure from school.  The efficiency in which we parked, departed and shuffled into the zoo with instructions to be back for `15:00hrs was almost Germanic.  After looking at the map, the zoo was laid out in a huge loop.  There was one way inwards, one way outwards – albeit via a small amusement park.  The first enclosure had Gibbons in it, and as zoos go, it did not look too bad.  We tottered around, greeting groups of students left, right and centre, passing a lake containing some pretty lethal looking Storks.  Another Gibbon island was surrounded by visitors flinging the Chinese equivalent of Worther’s Originals into the expectant apes.  To the credit of the zoo, every enclosure had signs saying, “Do not feed”; “Do not tease or stir the animals” or something protective of their stock.

 

After spotting a solitary Rhino in a small paddock, an Elephant wandered by us on foot.  I’m glad it went by foot, a bicycle would have been stranger, although in China this would also be equally likely.  I decided to pass the elephant enclosures with great caution, the blatant circus style showing and trance music left my head uneasy.  Many enclosures and a wandering wander later (including a single Chimpanzee, a huge pit of Siamese Crocodiles and some students drinking vodka based drinks) we arrived for lunch… at Ocean World.  Think a big auditorium, a pool for three dolphins and sealions, and some foreign divers.  We sat in amongst the whole school group eating our chicken, rice, tofu and vegetable takeaway delivered in a truck – for every single teacher and student in attendance.  Whilst we ate the sealions did their thing, a mermaid swam by, and three dolphins performed.  I didn’t enjoy much of it, but the students lapped it up with vigour.

We departed after viewing the remainder of the zoo, energy zapped we did not display vim or gusto, so dozed on the journey back to school.  That evening we reconvened with Bright at the market and spent around 300 Yuan, paid for by the school, on a banquet of sorts: dried squid, barbequed fish, aubergine caramelised with garlic, fried dumplings, pancake bread and many meats.

The evening arrived, food at the market (stir-fry and fried dumplings) preceded a stop at a wonky floored bar for some Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier, a break from the local produce.  This started a mini-pub crawl, somehow.  We all aimed for the new Anchor-brewery pop up bar outside Tesco.  We just did not envisage seeing four teachers there drinking, in school uniform.  They welcomed us, we joined two tables, played a dice game, emptied two 3-Litre beer towers, and a free jug of beer from the bar staff.  Soon after another teacher joined us, photographs snapped, we watched and stopped an unusual bar brawl/domestic, followed by a second tussle.  My PE Teacher colleague, Sun, being very useful (he also teaches Taekwondo).  Soon, the Chinese teachers lack of drinking ability gave rise to their departure.  We shuffled a whole 50 metres to the Snow Bar, where the owner gave us a 3 Litre tower to drink from, for free!  It really is odd at times, we tried to pay, but were told no!  We’ll have to go back sometime.  Robert, an Indian teacher, from a partnership school of our school called by, so we had a few drinks with him, his nephew and a friend Liam had met recently.  We then went to Irene’s Bar and chilled out.

Irene’s Bar had that day held a ceremony for expats to remember Anzac Day.  The national day of remembrance that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations.  Nikki and I stayed in the bar as the more spritely members of our group (Liam, Esben, James) cajoled others into a trip to Pink Lady (a massive nightclub/seedy bar).  We chatted with Troy, the nephew of the bar owner, who is in Houjie on business, shoes.  Dongguan is renowned for shoes, leather goods, furniture and prostitution, so you can usually work out somebody’s trade within minutes of saying hello.  Anyway, Troy knows his shoes, and this Sunday he is going to show us some shoe shops that make big shoes.

Ta’ra,

John

The opening of the blog

27 Jan 2014

Today, we have created this blog.  I say created, I mean, we fiddled with the settings, spliced open the internet and slapped some colours all over the show.  We have argued, battled and bid upon purples and blues.  It will change eventually, in line with our domestic disagreements.  But, now we are unemployed, soon to be homeless hobos and travel the land of Great Britain until stepping foot on an aeroplane bound for China (via Doha, Qatar).  Farewell Aviva, farewell Colchester Zoo, farewell Essex Boot Camp, farewell Merida T3 Speeder… and so on.  Over and out, Nikki & John. x

We’re not really here…

2 Feb 2014

…oh yes we are, oh no we are not, is this Punch & Judy?  The title on the main webpage is updated and running.  The links about to be passed around our family, friends and public domain (Base in the place London…).  We’ve spent today watching Wales beat Italy in Rugby Union Six Nations.  Now England are on against France, and we have a house party/rave in Cornwall.  The last week has been fastpaced with fairwell drinks in Norwich, Colchester, meeting our kid Asa and Steph down sunny Cam, Gloucestershire… bumping into Jen and Kerry around Brizzle, then meeting Nikki’s cousins for Chinese in Gloucester.  Nikki’s car just about got us to Cornwall, and I never broken the handbrake.  Honest.  Now let’s upload the blog and website – and publish.  Live.

Granny Ivy Freeman 1925-2014.

8 Feb 2014

Rest in peace.

Yawns, planes and automobiles

12 Feb 2014

How do,

So, on Monday we flew from Manchester.  We arrived in Doha around 7 hours later, before a swift changeover flight to Guangzhou.  7 hours later we arrived.  Our luggage appeared to take an extra hour on Generation Game-style carousel.  A water bottle, a ripped up pouch and a cellophane-wrapped box went round and round.  Several British folk from the original Manc flight enquired as to the whereabouts of our cargo.  We advised simply of our waiting of said gear.  Eventually our two rucksacks appeared.  Much joy broke out.  Fireworks, party poppers… are prohibited so a sky high fist did the job.

Prior to departure the check in desk staff spotted that I am of the bandy-legged persuasion.  Within 5 minutes, the outbound flight and connective flight bookings now had extra legroom (previously not available online).

In flight, Nikki watched Pacific Rim (on my recommendation), Gravity and Elysium (Matt Damon…).  I gave a look in to The Wolverine and World’s End on the basis, I could not concentrate.  The inflight grub was plentiful and very good indeed, like a posh Meals-On-Wheels.  It did the job.  Aside from the release of a thousand guffs, and a lack of sleep (the man to my left snored and I was sandwiched between him and Nikki).  I think Nikki managed a couple of hours, I’m unsure if I did, it did not feel like it.

With our luggage we proceeded beyond “Nowt to Declare” and Passport Control.  This was very efficient.  Onwards we pushed our trolley full of luggage, passing a plethora of cards with names, mostly of the local tongue and “Welcome home” before arriving at the end of the swarmed masses.  Nobody had our name.  Where was Jane from Worlda?  Before, we had chance to ask one another this question, out popped Jane in a yellow bubble jacket holding a post-it note with our names.  A friendly welcome followed before we were bundled into a bus to the city centre.  At the city centre we changed into a Taxi (not like Transformers, mind you).  From here, we were dropped at a hotel, Hua Cheng Inn.  We have looked this hotel up on Bing – Google is restricted here.  The room is spacious, well ventilated and has a lovely (low) shower.  There is a TV showing hundreds and thousands (there is about 30, really) channels in Chinese.  No BBC.  No repeats.  Yey.  Overall, the room is more than functional.  Especially, with jet-lag which hit immediately at 6pm (local time), and today at 6pm (we have napped until around 10pm local time now).  Last night, we had something akin to Pot Noodles.  They were very tangy indeed.

Be careful crossing the road.

Today… well in a moment, I’ll type about today.

Ta’ra chucks!

John (&Nikki)

“And why do we fall, Bruce?”

14 Feb 2014

Nǐmén hǎo!  (rough pronunciation as: nee-mehn haOW)

Yes, we’re going with Mandarin, apparently Cantonese is similar but regarded a tad like Welsh is to the English.  However, it is the original local regional dialect.  Mandarin is dominant.  As for learning written words, there are around 106,230 Chinese characters.  New characters are invented often, these logograms or Hanzi look grand and pretty mind.

For me, today, has been a mentally tough day.  I started off feeling very pessimistic.  Things just didn’t seem to be clicking the way the moulds seemed to be fixing for other folk.  That and my tummy felt a tad off after lunch.  However, positive mental thinking, a supportive Wife-i, clear training and guidance from Casey at Worlda has assisted.  So, from 2pm today, with feelings of, “Why am I here?” / “What have I done wrong?” / “Can I meet the challenge?” to this evening with thoughts of “I can do this” / “Stand back, freight train of effort en route“, etc, my mind is more determined.  Hence, the Batman Begins quote.

So, since last time I wrote (Nikki has not written yet, despite my asking) jet lag kicked in, a lot.  Today, I feel 80% in line with local sleeping hours.  Water (bottled, distilled, clean) is being drank at an alarming rate.  Tea is pretty much the norm here, no Earl Grey or Tetley folk in sight.

Temperature wise, we arrived, it was on a par with Blighty, mild, chilly at times.  Then it got chillier, then damper, like we’d brought the rain with us.  I thought we left that at Uncle Ed’s and Aunty Chris’s.  The hotel we are living in, for the moment, is chilly.  The cleaner keeps leaving the windows open.  We keep closing them and whacking the air-conditioner/heater combo on to full blast.  Today’s high was 12°C, but night temperatures have been pretty much 0°C.  That is preferable to the 4°C on our first day here.  Monday is expected to hit 19°C.  Sub-tropical Spring is on the way.

The usual fast food chains are dotted around and most deliver by bicycle, even the golden-M sort and Jabba-the-Pizza Hutt.  Whilst useful, there is a superabundance of local restaurants and eating establishments.  However, few and far between where you can enter, point and self serve.  An intern at Worlda, Alec assisted with our medical examination for immigration purposes and the opening of a bank account with SPD.  Alec took us for a meal at a local restaurant-cum-café.  It wasn’t bad at all.  Our trainer/colleague, Casey, introduced us to a similar eating place yesterday – and we returned today.  Rice served at first instance.  Point at meat.  Dish.  Point at vegetables.  Laugh at baked beans as you pass them.  Buy. ~ 18 RMB per person.  NB: Casey is Chinese and does not eat rice.  This should be passed by no judgement.  It is the Chinese way not to bat an eyelid at anything us foreigners consider unusual or against the norm.  I like that attitude.

Meals ate with chopsticks (where supplied):  100% success rate.  Nikki, has managed a 66% rate.  It isn’t all that bad.  Not easy, but not difficult.  I have impressed myself.

That said, Crocs are okay.  Any footwear that has no back is frowned upon and considered dirty, unhygienic and you may be labelled a hobo.  No tomb-stoning chopsticks by the way, lay them flat across the dish and not stood up!

RMB, ¥;  CNY; also CN¥, 元 and CN元 is very odd.  It resembles the worst features of using money in an Eastern European state, playing Monopoly and listening to parent’s talk of schillings and halfpennies.  ¹⁄₁₀ yuan to 100 yuan notes, and the odd lower denomination coin, lighter than air.

Anyway, time to dash, so much to type, write and relay… but I have homework.  Lesson Plan 1 (J1 and J2 levels) need tweeking.  Lesson Plan 2 needs creating!  Today is also Valentine’s Day, I wish to track down chicken feet to feed to the Wife-i.

I hope all is well.

Zài jiàn.

John (& Nikki)

A difficult day

15 Feb 2014

Boo!

To be told, you cannot do something only to later to be told you can (but you need more and more practice, where time does not permit) is a tad confusing.  Oh, and by the way, you shall be a team leader.  So you can lead, but not teach.  To be fair, I have had three tiring days (and long hours by UK standards) to prepare.  Lesson plans have been written for Junior 1 and Junior 2, as well as Primary grade 4… Nikki gets Kindergarten (in British, Nursery school and Reception).  Anyway, today from 9am to 7.30pm has been a tad stressful.  At one stage, around noon, Nikki and I had the option of switching school years.  Oh, and we have to relocate from Guangzhou to Dong Guan, still in the Guangzhou province, but slightly south of here, and north of Hong Kong.  The Pearl River flows to the west and ferries float every which way necessary.

We may have to visit the world’s largest shopping centre/mall, New South China Mall.  I’m told it is mostly empty.  Bit like the average UK high street then.  Dong Guan means smiling east.  So, we best smile.  Dongguan is just south of the Tropic of Cancer.  Best take my shorts!

Anyway, we have to check out before 9am, go to training and prepare 4 lesson plans tomorrow… then travel in the afternoon to temporary lodgings before starting work on Monday morning in Dong Guan.  So, I best stop putting off the packing of the rucksacks that is being put off by me typing the word put off in an effort to put it off further.  Am I put off by today?  No.  Until next time.

Oh, and to put things off further, we haven’t taken any photographs because we’ve only wandered around the city of Guangzhou briefly at night!

Ta’ra!

 

John (& Nikki)

Last Sunday

22 Feb 2014

Saturday night:  “You’re both going to a school in Dongguan.”

Sunday morning:  Pack.  Check out.  Practice a lesson plan?  No time, we spend most of our time resolving admin matters in Worlda’s headquarters, yey!  We set off to the coach station via taxi.  Casey, our co-worker gets us to the railway station.  A lengthy stroll with around 50 kilograms of luggage later, and we’re at Guangzhou’s bus station.  It doesn’t look much, like a throwback to Eastern European bus trips, but as long as a ship.  We join a queue for Hòujiē Zhèn, next to the queue for Dongguan.  At this stage, I have serious doubts about Casey’s navigation skills.  Ditzy is the word I shall use.  Casey is very clever, very well-intentioned and helpful, but she is to directions as ships are to falling off the planet’s edge.  She is an ex-Teacher and works something closer to 70 hours a week!!!

Sunday afternoon:  We boarded a coach, one with just 3 empty seats left.  The coach conductor moved a man (who didn’t seem too happy) from the front seat after I sat next to him.  Next thing, Nikki was plonked next to me.  We did not mind sitting apart!  Casey sat somewhere to the back of the coach.  The journey went quickly, a very straight forward journey down the 3 lane motorway where indicating is rare and undertaking could easily have two meanings.  As we left the city of Guangzhou the landscape of the Pearl River delta appeared flat as skyscrapers shrunk away and smaller buildings, farmland and regular river tributaries drew closer into view.

The coach passed a Tesco, we got excited.  We arrived in a square and grabbed our stowed luggage before popping into a taxi.  The taxi dropped us outside a school, at that stage we did not know if the school was Nikki’s or mine.  After a short wait, Casey introduced us to Bright, the head of foreign languages at the school, Dao Ming.  We had food in the school canteen before being shown around the school briefly.

My contracted hours are 35 per week, at present I am in line to do roughly 18-22 hours of teaching.  I shall not complain, we get paid 35 regardless.  So if one week, I do more, it makes very little difference.  I have to stay in the office (my own office) to assist PE Teachers as they learn English.

Not long after we had a short stroll to our temporary apartment provided by our school.  The room was one of three on the fourth floor.  It was very basic with a small double bed, fridge, wardrobe and desk in one cold room.  Outside is a tiny balcony with a washing machine and tiny bathroom outside.  The bathroom has a Chinese toilet (like a Turkish toilet, but Chinese).  We met our neighbours and the landlady.  Casey left us to go to her hotel.  To be continued…

Blue Monday

23 Feb 2014

Nín hǎo!

 

 

The Sunday night previous, we had also located the nearest supermarket, oddly a Tesco.  Not quite what you see in the UK, but close enough to recognise.  We have a VIP card (Tesco points).  The supermarket has a live food section (fish) and shedloads of Western foods.

Up and ready after a warm shower in a cold room, a quick snack and a small deposit into a Chinese toilet later…

Nikki popped off to her kindergarten class in the neighbouring school.

I was invited to attend the opening of the school ceremony.  The vibrant school colours of red and grey (or gray) covered an athletics track’s inner green full of children, from nursery (kindergarten) age to mid-teens.  The kids marched on the spot, keeping warm as much as keeping order.  Music thundered over the tannoy, not quite Boys In Blue, but equally full of trombones and heavily-priced instruments.  I felt privileged to be able to experience this.  The flag and national anthem followed, before several awards for star students.  And then as soon as it began, they scattered.

My first lesson was at 11:20 with Junior 2, level 2 (aged 13-14).  I had a few hours to run through my plan, powerpoint presentation and calm my heavy nerves.  Had the students not depended on me, and had I been in the UK, my nerves were so strong, I would have legged it.  I was proper uncomfortable.  Anyway the introduction was okay, the kids’ passion for studying and curiosity carried me through the first ten minutes.  Then my laptop and the school’s projector fell out.  I wished the ground would swallow me.  I wanted to bolt.  A rabbit in headlights.  Normal service resumed, well it seemed like a lifetime later, and the condensed lesson (with a very sweaty and panicky teacher) closed at noon.  Sink before you swim.

Lunch at the canteen was rice, something, summat and other bits.  Pak choi (Chinese cabbage), peppers and bits of meat were recognisable.

My second class (students of the same age and level) was a polar opposite to the first, sadly, I only had the Chinese teacher in the room and no head of department, principal or Casey from Worlda to see how well it went.  And then the third class (students of the same age and level), with exactly the same outcome.  Positive ending.

In the evening, we met several interns James (Manchester), Esben (Denmark), Liam (Weymouth), Bridgette (Stavanger, Norway) and others who work with Nikki.

As part of the job, breakfast (breads, light rice dish), lunch (rice, two mains, and vegetables) and dinner (like lunch) are included for both of us.  It is greasy but adequate.  All teachers eat together, so whilst our lack of Chinese is a hindrance, the local teachers lack of English is made up for by their desire to try even just a basic phrase or two.

My role includes teaching PE Teachers a spot of English and western culture/sport.  Football is not big here.  Basketball is huge.  Surprisingly, very few people here have heard of Manchester, let alone my football team (or even the dirty red lot from outside Manc).

Oh, and we cannot see comments on here.

Today, there are a few photographs added to the main website.

Until next time… zài jiàn!

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…

23 Feb 2014

Late Monday night was spent looking at apartments.  On arrival to Guangzhou we had the option of a set pay with apartments included or a slightly higher payband with no apartment included.  We figured out that based on local prices we’d be better off paying for this out of our own pocket (we’d get a better take home pay).

Two places in one block later and we decided the 2000 Yuan/month apartment, a massive 200 metres from the school gates was perfect.  It has cable TV (with 1 or 2 English language channels), a fridge/freezer.

For Tuesday, one lesson scheduled, Junior 2, level 1.  So, 12-13 year olds.  Lots of time to lesson plan and internet access at work.  Or rather no access, as the wireless router was down.  Grrrr.  The lesson went reasonably well.

PE Teacher training was scheduled for every Wednesday as of next week.  A meeting with foreign teachers and Bright was pencilled in weekly from this Thursday.  After work we went looking for HSBC and thankfully Dongguan has a branch in our area of Houjiezhen.  Admittedly, I walked a fair while there and back in my Dr. Martens and blistered my feet up pretty badly.  We needed the money for a deposit, pay the first month’s rent and to get bedding for a larger bed the landlady had agreed to fit (the following Tuesday).  Later that evening, we moved into our new apartment.  Esben and Bridgette kindly helped us carry our bags – thanks to both!

The next day, I had 2 lessons, both went reasonably well, although Chinese kids on the whole are damn bright, hardworking and focused, there is 10% of the class switched off, hard to interest and generally sat like naughty kids.  Their Chinese teachers sit in my lessons, and aren’t impartial to a good ear clobbering to get their focus.  However, on the whole, manners and obedience is present mostly.

The Wednesday evening Nikki and I joined all the foreign teachers we know (there are around a half dozen in the two schools) and watched some local opera and music on the square opposite the school.

By Thursday our apartment (at a cost of 1100 yuan per year) had internet and wi-fi installed.  My first team meeting with fellow foreign language teachers took place.  Worlda, had given me the role of Team Leader to help the interns, review and offer feedback whilst at the school, Dongguan Daoming Foreign Language School (often referred to as Oxford Kingdom).

Then Friday arrived and a release of energy in the evening.  That day, I was unaware that Friday operates on a different timetable than Monday to Thursday.  Easy mistake, which will be sorted.  4 lessons done.  Lesson plans for the following week all submitted.  Time for a well deserved beer.

Friday night lights

23 Feb 2014

Friday evening, we joined teachers from another part of the city.  Nikki’s colleagues Briony and Becky had met another group.  So we joined Peter from Birmingham, Robert from India, Peter from Denmark, Randy from China, and someone nicknamed Stretch Armstrong from China.  We did try to go to a Korean BBQ buffet, but surprisingly there wasn’t space for 14 folk.  So, Randy shouted that he knew somewhere else.  We crossed 10 lanes of traffic on foot (like you do), popped down a side road where Robert explained that the local entertainment industry (KTV, Kareoke bars etc) had all been shut down due to corruption and police raids on brothels and the like.  Someone piped up that Dongguan is seedier than Thailand and Amsterdam.  Not that it mattered, I just wanted good grub and a beer.

Within minutes we passed the first Western-style public house (it looked more like a holiday resort bar).  After our meal, we had a drink there, at 40 yuan a drink!  Most bars serving Tsing Tao were much, much cheaper!  The meal we had at “Rough-looking street eatery of the year” was cracking.  It would not be a place I would choose to eat.  Ever.  Randy and Stretch (I’m sorry, I never got his actual name) ordered us beef hotpot, some fish meal with fisheggs and noodles, and some rib based meal.  Alongside this we had shots of Budweiser (the glasses being big enough to gulp one and a half times).

Now, hygiene in food eateries is different to the UK, but every place gives you clean and sealed bowls, cups, chopsticks and there is no such thing a a three second rule here.  Food drops.  It never gets back on the bowl (plates are very rare), it should never pass your mouth!  So far, no ill effects.  We have eaten at the market twice this weekend, the food is fresh, cooked before your eyes and served well.  It isn’t quite perfect but it is authentic and the locals eat here often.  As a rule, if it is busy, there should be no need for extra loo rolls.  You do adapt pretty fast to the Chinese mentally of, eat anything.  We saw a pig being chopped up on a street corner.  Live food has mostly been restricted to fish so far.

So after that grub, we wandered some miles looking for a KTV Kareoke bar.  To our surprise, it was closed.  Police enforced.  So, we drank and played dice in a local bar, where the locals took photos with the girls and Simon (from Sweden) who dressed in a suit.  We snacked on some deep-fried fish and some other bits of meat.  Then half the group went by rickshaw and three of us by taxi to Robert’s humble abode.  His place, it turned out, was only a mile or so from our digs.  Robert made us most welcome and his balcony has a fantastic night sky view.  There is a temple in the distance we shall have to explore.  Some time later, we went home and Saturday was our first lay in since arriving.

The people of Dongguan are being influenced by the west and have more and more pets.  Mainly tiny yappy dogs.  Roosters on rooftops is normal.  The odd chirpy Myna bird on a balcony adds to the urban ambience.  In the evenings, fluttering bats add to the surreal sense that dusk and relaxed family walks is the norm.

Last night, we gathered several westerners at our digs to watch The Life of Brian and natter away.  Drink responsibly.

Today, we have looked at the neighbouring 14 apartment blocks (all secured by entry gates manned by guards) and grounds.  There is a swimming pool, basketball court and outdoor gym area.

 

Boomtown Rats got it right

24 Feb 2014

Lesson one, 75% okay.  Lesson two: pants.  Lesson three:  better, but still a car crash.

After work we handed over passport photographs for the local Police registration, but there is still no sign of our actual passports, sent by courier by Worlda from Guangzhou on Friday.  Arghhhhh!  Panic.  And in other news, Nikki is helping me loads and that is why I married her.  It will get better.

End.

News travels at a different pace

25 Feb 2014

So, some news was on the TV today from the west, and I am glad to see it is something I can relate to.  John Shepherd-Barron invented the ATM, and here in China they sometimes work, but often decline you due to their internet connections to the western servers.  HSBC is very far to walk.  Bank of China is everywhere but equally useless.  I will praise the banks here for having booths that you may enter and exit, keeping your transaction and safety in hand.  Then I looked at the date of the passing of the ATM inventor, it was some 4 years ago… news?  Also, this morning they were showing City v Barca on CCTV5.  Only a few days late.

Lesson one today had 10 observers, 6 Chinese teachers and 4 foreign teachers.  That kept the class well-behaved, too well-behaved.  They were too quiet and less reactive to questions.  I can’t wait for the feedback from Bright, the head of foreign languages.  I have great admiration for him and his management skills.  As for the lesson itself, it ran smoothly.

After lesson one I observed Esben in his lesson to 9/10 year olds.  There is a huge difference in ability and what you can teach, and how!  Older kids have more face and want respect, but don’t generally show off.

Nikki seems to be settling well with her Kindergarten Crew.  Her click of Chinese and foreign teachers always seem to be first at lunch.  Lunch is from noon until 1340hrs and involves grub, a blast of energy (basketball or running around) followed by a nap.  It really is bizarre for us westerners to see.  That said students are here early and away later than any UK 9-5 job!

So, the second piece of televised news was the passing of Egon Spengler.  Harold Ramis, director of the great Groundhog Day (a film that seems to never be off UK television during winter), star of Ghostbusters and the sequel, writer of Caddyshack and Animal House died of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis at 69 years old.  Having in recent years been tested for a form of inflammatory vasculitis of the nose, I wouldn’t want to be diganosed with that.  Grimness aside, I hope to introduce a few kids here to the joys of Ghostbusters!  Now can someone get me a copy with Chinese subtitles?

There is so little censorship as to what kids watch here, I entered a class as they ended watching some horror effort with Sean Bean, Silent Hill: Revelation.  In the UK, this was an 18 on release.  In the US, R-rated.  There were a few grimaces and downtrodden reactions by the class watching this, but on the whole, it was accepted as not being real.  Compared with the next set of 13/14 year olds watching Shrek, this was not expected.

Oh, and internet search engines annoy me.  I miss google (Google.hk is bobbins here).  I really do.  Baidu (in Chinese), Bing China is odd (see suggested subjects, I was looking for a photo of dancing), Ask (didn’t even know it still existed), toudou is like youtube but damn hard to fathom out, but is littered with piracy.

So, today, I say farewell, but wish Nikki and I luck for our first Mandarin class!