RE: Here Come the Drums, Here Come the Drums...

Wow, so its been 4 months already... It's raced by and the only thing i've noticed that's really missing out here is a free weekend! We seem always to be on the move

even if it's just writing our lesson plans for the following week... the chances to take a breather are few and far between. But hey, thats a good thing! Other wise i'd be

complaining to you that I am board :) - but it does mean I owe you an apology for not blogging in so long (oops, my bad).

On the sidelines I'm also still working on that literary master piece which is turning into a bit of a monster... I'm struggling to keep up with it as the ideas are coming think

and fast (it seems I turned that creativity tap on and well I think the twisty bit broke - what do you call that bit of the tap anyway? The tap twister? the lever? tap knob? anyways...), 

Nath's been a great source of inspiration to bounce ideas off of. But I need to get them written up on the PC as they're just in paper form and so only exist as a 

single copy... crazy and a bit dangerous :) 

I would be lying if I said I'm not missing friends and family, but the truth is that keeping in touch is going ok, if a little difficult at times. But the contact and chance to chat is all 

a great help... even if it's just to keep my English up and to keep up with whats going on in the world out side of China.... and the wave of

new friends made out here in China is just immense. We visited Longgang last weekend (a town about an hour away by car) and with an hour of being in the town, I'd already

bumped into and said hello to three of my students and Nathan had texts from his students asking him 'why he was in Longang?' and if he wanted to meet up! 

Crazy how the jungle drums seem to work here. An example of it was the other day... I visited the Doctors for something just to fix up a sore throat I had (as talking all day everyday can be

quite a strain on the old voice box), so I visited the local Doc at his 'clinic' which involved a stool that you sit on (you have to check this before you sit, as a definition of  stool varies quite 

considerably in China) which is positioned at the store front next to the street. Behind you of course is the obligatory patients which have been treated and are now fixed to an IV 

which the Chinese seem to think solves all problems (that or its cheaper than prescribing medicine). Of course though, in a town devoid of foreigners, a waijiao (foreign teacher) at the Doctors because he's ill is quite a novelty and attracts quite a crowd. Approximately 50 if I counted right. Locals and Students a like. Within minutes of leaving the hospital I had txt messages wishing

that i'd get better and to take my medication I had been given on time (?) - Nath puts it down to the Chinese being a nation of total hypochondriacs. And to be honest I have to agree.

The amount of times i've seen students guzzling down a skittles collection of multi-coloured pills astounds me. And when asked, they give a plethora of answers as to why and

what the pills do (often, half of them are Chinese medicine - and they're just taking the western equivalent to make sure it works - can you see the possible problems with this?) 

As a side note over doses seem to happen and if they don't  then my thoughts are that one of the two doesn't work.... 

That was my little insight into life in China for the week (gonna try and make sure I blog more often about something a little more random - whilst Nath keeps you

up to date on the day to day goings on!) 

Have a good week all! And look out for our next blog :) 

Questions to the usual address plz ;)

All my best

Chris